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 8
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HISTORY OF MIFFLIN COUNTY.
John Marsdon.
In meeting, conversing with and making notes for this depart- ment of this work, no more pleasant duty occurs than to record the biography of a gentleman of the moral and intellectual elements of character that are the constituents of him whose name heads this article. Were we asked to select a gentleman whose character and abilities we would choose to set forth as a model, our beau ideal of" what an American citizen should be, we would with pride point to the subject of this sketch. Mr. Marsdon was born October, 1806, in the home where he now resides, and which has been his home, and a very happy one, from the day that that valuable accession was made to the population of Mifflin county to the present time. It is situated about eight miles south-west of Lewistown, in the beau- tiful valley of the Juniata, and in the most beautiful location of that beautiful valley. His grandfather came up the Long Narrows in a canoe with his wife and oldest children ; bought this farm from a Mr. Richardson, who first located it, and sold it to Mr. Jones, and he sold it to Mr. Campbell, who sold it to the grandfather of Mr. Marsdon, who had to move once away from the Indians. Mr. Mars- don's father was born in Dauphin or Montgomery county. These events were before the revolutionary war. As man has sometimes, and in different ages of the world before discovered, that it was "not good for man to be alone," in 1839 our subject came to the same conclusion, and he and Miss Strode united their destinies to make the journey of life together, and happy indeed have their an- ticipations been realized.
"For hand in hand through life they go, Its chequered paths of joy and woe."
Their only descendant was a daughter, now the wife of Hon. R. D. Campbell, Esq., of West End, Kishacoquillas Valley. Mr. Mars- don has served his country in that most important of all official po- sitions, viz : school director at various times ; also county commis -. sioner, &c., &c., as every good and substantial citizen is called on to do, and all has been performed with fidelity and trust. May his shadow never grow less, and his family and neighbors long enjoy his society now so highly appreciated by them.
Elias W. Dixon.
A neighbor of the gentleman above sketched. Born March 13, 1816 ; also in his present residence; been a farmer on the same farm ; was never married ; ancestors from Ireland in 1800; a model citizen and neighbor.
77
HISTORY OF MIFFLIN COUNTY.
Moses Kelley.
In gathering notes for sketches of the historical families of Mif- flin county, we depend on their descendants, acquaintances and friends and the records of the State and county for their history and antecedent experiences. With the subject now before us we can vary this programme.
By one of those strange mutations which time has wrought the author is now in Mifflin county, and that, after an absence of forty- five years, to write this work, and when a child it was the privilege of the writer to play at the home of Mr. Kelley and to receive kindness from himself and family never to be forgotten, little dreaming the developments of the half a century next to come.
Moses Kelley was born 1768, and was in the fort at Logan in safety from the Indians at the age of nine years. His home for a long term of years was near the Presbyterian Church in Little Valley, where he reared an interesting family and where the locali- ty still bears his honored name.
He passed to his final home in 1853 at the ripe matnrity of eighty-five years. Mr. Kelley at the age of eighteen years voted for General Washington for first President of the United States, as all were then voters who were able and liable to military duty, and he voted for every President thereafter in successive rotation until Franklin Pierce. His family consisted of two sons; John, who has long since passed to his final reward, and Matthew, still a resi- dent of an adjoining county. Also five daughters : one of whom, Elizabeth, born in 1809, married in 1829 to
Mr. Henry Mc Cauly.
A native of Huntingdon county, born in 1807, and settled in Mif- flin county in 1810, in Little Valley, and removed to Kishacoquillas in 1856, where he now resides, with an amiable and interesting family, and one of the substantial citizens of that terrestrial para- dise where all are so markedly prosperous and happy, enjoying his health at his advanced age as few ever do, and here he will await his summons to
"Cross over that river, that cold dark river,
To gardens and fields that are blooming forever."
Possessed of more natural abilities than usually fall to the lot of mortal man, and also of a good education and much reading, it follows of a necessity that he has ever held a position of influ- ence among his friends and acquaintances, and is one whose opinions
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HISTORY OF MIFFLIN COUNTY.
are sought and relied on by his neighbors. He is, as might be ex- pected in a man of strong sense, entirely free from all ostentation and pretense, but a model of genial sociability and neighborly kindness.
The Cochrane Family.
We extract the following sketch from the "Bellevue Local News," published at Bellevue, Ohio, the home of this family after their re- moval from Mifflin county in 1835, and while it was intended only as local information there, as of one of the old families of that neigh- borhood, it is equally appropriate in the biographical department of this work :
"ALEXANDER COCHRANE
" Emigrated to America abont the year 1752 or '3, from Ireland,. and first visited lower Pennsylvania and Kentucky, and finally located lands in Kishacoquillas Valley, in Mifflin county, Pennsyl- vania, 1755. He was then a yonng, enterprising, single man, and with other early pioneers, encountered many inconveniences from the Indian marauders of those times; had to work with his rifle beside him in the field, and sleep concealed in the woods at night, for fear of an attack on his cabin. On one occasion, while lying in the woods between two logs, Indians passed over him ignorant of his presence. He went to Kentucky about 1758, and married, bringing his wife Nancy to partake of his frontier home. He erected a small stone house on his lands, which was the first stone house in Big Valley, and is still standing and ocenpied. Omitting the ens- tomary incidents and vicissitudes of pioneer experience, we give the names of the family born in that old stone house: John, August 7, 1763 ; Jean, February 20, 1766; Sarah, February 7, 1769 ; David, January 2, 1771 ; Rachel, April 1, 1773; Martha, Novem- ber 27, 1774; James, May 13, 1777; Nancy, September 23, 1779; Joseph, April 11, 1781 ; Andrew, April 29, 1784; Robert, April 28, 1787. . The precise date of the death of Alexander Cochrane, is not known to the writer, but perhaps in the summer of 1807, as his will is still in existence, dated October 3d, 1807. Executors of the will were his sons James and Joseph Cochrane; witnesses, James Alexander and Joshua Dorman. John Norris, register for the pro- bate of wills and granting letters of administration. Date of in- ventory of personal property, October 15, 1807 ; appraisers, Robert Glass and Robert Sterrett. By the provisions of the will, his son.
HISTORY OF MIFFLIN COUNTY.
Joseph inherited the old homestead, he paying off the other heirs. He erected a log house where Charles Naginey now resides, and married Mrs. Elizabeth Campbell, widow of James Campbell, in 1808. Their descendants, ten in number, were born here, except the youngest. He sold the old home farm in 1828, and removed to. Dry Valley, where he resided until 1835, when he removed to this vicinity, (Bellevue). Elizabeth Hooven, his wife, was born near Carlisle, April 8, 1785. Mr. and Mrs. Cochrane lived together twenty-eight years, had ten children, eight of whom still survive. He died of consumption, August 4th, 1836, on the old farm near- Bellevue, and was buried in the cemetery of the German Reformed Church, adjoining the old farm. He was a man of great mental vigor, and held important official positions before and after his re- moval to the west. His commission in the army of 1812, signed by Governor Simon Snyder, and his commission as postmaster in- 1835, from Amos Kendall, are still in existence. He was self-edu- cated, having never attended school. This he spoke of as his mis- fortune, not his boast. He was set and determined in his opinions, which were only liable to change when his judgment was convinced. A kind and accommodating neighbor ; generous to a fault, watchful as to the wants of the poor, whom it seemed his delight to favor. Elizabeth, his wife, was a model women as wife, mother, friend and neighbor. The ruling element of her nature was kindness, a model of good, cheerful, healthful country life. "Her children rise np- and call her blessed." She never knew what an enemy was, for she had excessive kindness for all God's creatures. A deep religious feeling pervaded her nature. She died March 7th, 1846, and was buried beside her husband. She died as she had lived, calmly, sweetly and peacefully, as an infant goes to sleep.
" Mary Jane Campbell, daughter by her first husband, now resides in Jefferson county, Pennsylvania, aged 73, her descendants to the third generation are in her vicinity. Nancy, the oldest by second marriage, was born in 1810, married Rudolph Shirk, died in Michi- gan July 26, 1854. Thomas M., born in 1811, has resided since 1850 at Amity, Yam Hill county, Oregon. Rosana, born in 1813, married Samuel Clark, resides near Monroe City, Michigan. Eliza beth, born in 1816, married P. Miller, resides at Bellevue, Ohio. Catharine, born in 1818, married George Gear, resides at Findlay, Ohio. William A., born in 1820, married Mrs. P. Smith, resides at Fremont, Ohio. Samuel, born in 1822, died 1824. Joseph, born in 1825, is long a resident of Illinois. John R., born in 1828, mar-
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HISTORY OF MIFFLIN COUNTY.
ried Miss Frances Young, a native of the island of Iceland, resides at Laporte, Indiana. Henry, born in 1831, died in 1846."
From the preceding extract, published at the old family home, in Ohio, in "Local News," it will be observed that eight of the family still live of the ten originally forming it, ages varying from fifty-two to seventy-three, and we can further state that all of those now living are models of good health, and have the promise of large additions to their term of longevity, as they refuse to grow old as the years roll by. This family so widely scattered seldom meet ; several members of it have not seen each other for thirty-five years, and in one case for a longer time.
Charles Naginey.
The United States and especially Pennsylvania and Mifflin county are indebted to Europe for the intelligence, the muscle, the enter- prise and commendable stability of moral character that has de- veloped and maintained the country in its present condition. It is to these it owes its prosperity in morals and enterprise, schools and churches. . Our school system and the educated intelligence of the masses of our people have no rival on the face of this mundane sphere. These thoughts were induced by our acquaintance with the descendants and family of him whose name heads this article, and who emigrated to America in 1795, and located in Chester county, Pa., but hearing of the opening for enterprise and muscle he loaded his wife and child into a cart and wended his way to carve out his fortune in Kishacoquillas Valley, and located there in 1802. The shadows that blight our path of life are those we make by standing in our own light. Mr. Naginey first located on the Reed farm, and from there he removed to the farm of James Alexander, at Big Spring, and earned his bread by thrashing with a flail for the twelfth bushel. He then removed to Stud's farm, where he re- mained eight years, and then on others, and last to one owned by Andrew McFarlane. After a residence here he bought the Coch- rane estate, settled on by Alexander Cochrane, in 1755. He made this his home in 1834, and here his son, Charles Naginey, still re- sides. He had descendants four sons and eight daughters, three sons and three daughters still live, Charles on the old homestead, in Big Valley, John a short distance north-east, and Alexander in southern Ohio. The sisters are Mrs. W. McNitt, Mrs. Brisbane, of Pana, II- linois, Mrs. M. R. McAndees, of Fairfield county, Ohio. Charles' descendants are one son, four daughters. John D.'s descendants
JOHN SWARTZEL, ESQ.
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HISTORY OF MIFFLIN COUNTY.
are four sons, two daughters. Alexander's descendants are one son, two daughters. These gentlemen and their descendants compose a part of that population of Big Valley that is difficult to describe. They have held responsible official positions, and their neighbors, in placing them there, have put on record most weighty and tangi- ble proofs of the estimations in which they are held in this respect. Nor were these promotions given them as strangers and unknown, but because they were known, for from their boyhood days they had been with them, faithful and reliable in all the relations of life, they bid fair for more extended usefulness in their county and neigh- borhood. To record here what partial friends and neighbors say to us of these gentlemen and their families would partake too much of flattery for these pages, on which we propose to record only facts in the lives of those of whom we write; but when the acts of men's lifes flatter them, then it is history and not pen-pictures given by the writer; hence, by their affability and honorable upright lives, they have placed encomiums upon themselves. Upright, honest and reliable in all the relations of life is the most candid record we can make of these gentlemen and their exemplary families.
The Swartzel Family.
Most varied were the experiences of the pioneer to this region during the Indian collisions and rivalries, in the chase and other- wise. The settlers of Big Valley saw much of this. John Brown's first home was in a sycamore stump, 52 feet in circumference, near Brown's Mills. Indians took prisoners, and families of children were not an hour safe from these incursions. The ancestry of the family above named on the mother's side, were descended from the Rubles, and located in East End in 1780. An Indian raid was made on their settlement, and about fifty in number. They secreted themselves in the woods, and seven of their number came to attack Ruble's house. Peter saw them coming and gave the alarm. The sons were Jacob and Michael. Jacob crept under a bed with a small child, and the dogs attacked the Indians, who were afraid to fire on the dogs for fear of a large number of whites who might be concealed in the cabin and attack them, with their guns emptied on the dogs. The mother was pulling hemp, and becoming alarmed for the safety of her child fainted away, and a son covered her with hemp, where she remained a long time in an unconscious state. "This son, after covering his mother with hemp, out of sight of the ' Indians, went to secure help, which help came along the mountain, 6
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HISTORY OF MIFFLIN COUNTY.
secure from Indian observation until they could see if the cabin had been burned. They found the house standing, gained courage, while the Indians returned to their company, taking a Mr. Wilson, also a boy named McNitt with them. The latter was afterwards restored to his family. The ancestry on the father's side, were from Bavaria, and came as early as 1760 to this country. One de- scendant, viz : Peter, settled near Hagerstown, Maryland, married Catharine Wirt of Germany. Their descendants, eleven in number, were born between 1771 and 1796, and in 1798 all moved to Wash- ington county, Pennsylvania, except one daughter named Barbara. Of the third generation are Peter, Mathias and Abraham, who came to Mifflin county, where it appears the ancestry had property at an early date, for Mathias' will provides that his wife Anna he sup- ported from his farm in Mifflin county, bearing date 1770. Mathias, the grandfather of John Swartzel, Esq., of East End, once made a monster canoe, in which he took forty bushels of wheat from East End to Lewistown, on the creek, when roads and wagons were not the predominant means of transportation, as they have since been ..
John Swartzel, Esq.
A descendant of the above-named Mathias Swartzel, is one of the substantial well-to-do residents of East End, and is the oc- cupant of a splendid home in surroundings that is "equaled by few, excelled by none," and surrounded by an interesting family, four sons and three daughters; one son resides in Indiana, and two in Washington, D. C.
Mr. Swartzel is now sixty years of age, and both he and his com- panion bid fair to long be a blessing to their family, their friends, their neighborhood and the religions institutions of our country. A pleasing fact is exemplified in this family, that is a feeling of general interest in all moral enterprises regardless of dividing . denominational lines. They prove to us, that as education and intelligence increase, the partition walls become lower between . religious organizations, and the higher a man stands in education, piety and intelligence, the sooner he is able to look over these walls, and they finally lose their dividing power, and the upper strata of intelligence and piety find themselves equally at home, on either side of where the walls once stood. It is not true that "ignorance is the mother of devotion," but it is true that ignorance is the mother of bigotry and superstition, and bigotry and super-
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HISTORY OF MIFFLIN COUNTY.
stition are the foundations on which these partition walls rest, and we are happy to observe that they are fast disappearing.
It is the pride and the glory of this century, that the sciences, the arts and discoveries are moving forward to the annihilation of time and space ; that educated intelligence, the people, is at the head of civil government ; that the revelation of God's word and his works are in happy unison, and science, and not ignorance, is the handmaid of religion.
James Sterrett.
The Sterrett family are not new-comers nor recent arrivals in Kishacoquillas Valley, but are among the oldest and most substan- tial of the old and substantial inhabitants of Big Valley. The gentleman whose name heads this notice was from Lancaster coun- ty, Pennsylvania, and settled in East End in 1797. His sons were David, Robert and John, all farmers. David Sterrett had three daughters and one son. All are dead. Robert Sterrett's family were thirteen in number, four of whom are living. John Sterrett's family were Matilda, Sarah, Nathaniel W., John T. and James C. Sterrett.
Nathaniel W. Sterrett, Esq.,
Is one of the old-timers of East End at the present time. He mar- ried Rebecca, daughter of Robert Sterrett, in 1842. They have had thirteen descendants, only four of whom are now living. Na- thaniel and Rebecca occupy a pleasant home at Loch's Mills, where they live in the enjoyment of the bounties of Providence, enjoying good health, and are fine illustrations of a happy closing of well- spent lives. The years of their pilgrimage, up to the present time, is sixty-eight years, each being born in the same year. Nathaniel W. Sterrett has served his full proportion of time in the service of county, township and school district in the usual official capacities thereof creditably and acceptably. David, brother of the above, died in California without offspring. Sally and Jane, sisters of the same, died in Ohio; James died in Clarion county, Pennsylvania, and Green Sterrett, a brother, in this county ; also Mary and Rosanna died in Mifflin county. The Sterrett family have a record in Big Valley second to none, for substantial business integrity. May their shadows never grow less. Robert Sterrett, the father of Mrs. Rebecca Sterrett, was the gentleman designated in the last will and testament of the author's grandfather, to act as appraiser
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HISTORY OF MIFFLIN COUNTY.
of his personal estate, and we find the same name conspicuous in the early township records of Armagh township, copied in another part of this work.
Moses Thompson,
Beautiful is the gray morning as the sun rises from his misty bed, "rejoicing as a strong man to run a race," and sheds his illuminat- ing beams over the earth, dispelling the darkness and gloom. Beau- tiful in his meridian splendor when from his zenith height he pours his health-giving light over more than half the surface of this im- mense globe. Beautiful as he descends below the western horizon gilding the earth, clouds and sky with many shades of crimson and gold. Beautiful is the majestic river as it pours its ceaseless tide in unabating fullness towards the restless ocean. Beautiful are the evergreen clad hills, the mountain slope, the deep chasm in which pours the vexed turbulent stream to find a more placid bed. Beau- tiful is the peaceful valley in the stillness and quiet of the Sabbath rest, broken only by the bleat of flocks, the low of herds or the chime of Sabbath bells. Beautiful the infant reposing on its mother's breast or in its cradled slumber of unconsciousness, await- ing its opening life. Beautiful the life of that man or woman ar- riving at maturity filling the sphere of usefulness, allotted by the Creator, shedding benignant blessings on all that may come within the sphere of their influence for good. The preceding emblems of hu- man life are called to mind as we contemplate the mission of the early pioneer, and his sphere of usefulness which he may himself even contemplate as he looks back from his declining sky, on a life well spent in the interest of God and humanity, casting haloes of color- ing gorgeous to behold on the objects of his attention in his course through life. Nature has bestowed on him a diploma for fidelity to her laws, by extending the years of his pilgrimage even beyond the three-score years and ten allotted to her less faithful subjects. The above thoughts followed our receiving the biography and expe- riences of the family, and the numerous descendants of him whose name heads this article, as their lives of usefulness have come down to succeeding generations, and no more worthy nor exem- plary citizens are now in Mifflin county. Moses Thompson, the an- cestor of the present generation bearing that name, was an early settler ; first located where MeNitts now own. He moved from there to the home now occupied and owned by Ira Thompson, and resided there many years. WILLIAM THOMPSON, their son, was
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HISTORY OF MIFFLIN COUNTY.
born there, and was the first postmaster where Milroy now is, then called Valley Post Office, and was established in 1828. The turnpike to Lewistown was built in 1818. He erected the old stone house in the north end of town in 1800, which was then the first hotel in Perryville. He was one of the early prominent and influential citi- zens of the valley, and he can be looked back to by an honorable line of descendants with pride. His father, Moses Thompson, was cotemporary with McFarlane and others of the early pioneers. MOSES THOMPSON, the present postmaster, was born in the old stone house in 1818, and succeeded his father as postmaster and has for many years, is now whitening with age, but bids fair for many years of extended usefulness to his family and the community of which he is so prominent a member.
General John P. Taylor.
Colonel of 1st Cavalry and Brevet Brigadier-General.
Born June 26, 1827, in Kishacoquillas Valley, Mifflin county, where, for three generations, his ancestors have resided. He was a son of John Taylor and Elizabeth (McMonigle) Taylor. His home was near the spring of the celebrated Indian chief, Logan, with whom the family were on most friendly terms. Planning to go to Mexico with the troops, he was defeated by his parents. In a cavalry com- pany, formed in 1859, he was a lieutenant, which at a meeting in 1861, pledged its services to the Governor of Pennsylvania. He entered the cavalry at its formation as a captain, and was pro- moted in 1862, as lieutenant-colonel ; was prominent at Dranesville, charging through the town; followed Bayard to Harrisonburg, Cross Keys, Locust Grove and Cedar Mountains, his horse, in the latter battle, falling under him, and inflicting severe injury, and leaving him in the enemy's lines, but he adroitly man- aged to make his escape. "The coolness of Colonel Taylor," says General Bayard, "in covering his retreat deserves the thanks of the commanding general." In the action at Brady's Station, where Colonel Taylor led the sabre charge, and in the midst of the battle succeeded to the command of the brigade; at Culpepper, where, dismounted, he led his regiment to complete victory; at Mine Run where he captured the entire skirmish line of the enemy ; at Auburn where he prudently aroused his brigade before dawn, and was in readiness to receive a powerful attack intended as a surprise, and in the movement of Sheridan upon the rear of the
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