USA > Pennsylvania > Perry County > History of Perry County, Pennsylvania, including descriptions of Indians and pioneer life from the time of earliest settlement, sketches of its noted men and women and many professional men > Part 31
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111 | Part 112 | Part 113 | Part 114 | Part 115 | Part 116 | Part 117 | Part 118 | Part 119 | Part 120 | Part 121 | Part 122 | Part 123
276
HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
The Duncannon Iron Works. The location of this plant is at the point of land lying just north of where Sherman's Creek enters the Susquehanna. It is on part of a tract of 220 acres, warranted June 2, 1762, to George Allen and surveyed to Robert Jones. In 1827 it passed to Stephen Duncan and John D. Mahon, who imme- diately began the erection of a forge, which began operations in the summer of 1828. In February of the same year the firm bought ninety-four acres and the lower gristmill, a sawmill, and a distillery from Robert Clark, and on April 17 they purchased 1,231 acres of land, comprised in three different tracts, from Andrew Mateer. The firm's advertisement called for men to go to work on July 31, 1828. The little plant run until July 9, 1829, when it was destroyed by fire, the loss being stated as from $1,500 to $2,000. It was at once rebuilt and in operation by December of the same year. The firm of Duncan & Mahon then operated the forge until 1832 or 1833, when they leased it to John Johnston & Company, who also operated and were the owners of Chestnut Grove forge, in Adams County. This firm then operated it until the dissolution of the firm in September, 1834. The stock on hand was disposed of by public sale early in 1835 and in the spring of 1836 the property of Duncan & Mahon passed to William Logan Fisher and Charles W. Morgan. It included the forge, which they operated for a short time, and about six thousand acres of land, mostly timber land.
This firm was the forerunner of the Duncannon Iron Company. They erected the old rolling mill in 1837-38, on the site of the old forge, which they tore down. This first rolling mill was rather primitive, being but 60x100 feet. Its capacity was five thousand tons of bar iron per year. The first nail factory was erected by them in 1839 and began operations in 1840. Prior to its erection Fisher & Morgan had been sending their bar iron in flats to New Cumberland, where it was manufactured into nails by Roswell Woodward. When the Duncannon nail factory was completed that plant was dismantled and the twenty-five nail machines taken to Duncannon and installed. The new plant then had a capacity of twenty thousand kegs per annum. On March 14, 1846, a flood coming down Sherman's Creek, washed away the dam and part of the rolling mill. The mill and dam were rebuilt. This flood also took the Juniata River bridge and the eastern span of the Susquehanna River bridge. The furnace was erected in 1853. Its capacity was twenty tons per day. It was remodeled in 1880, its capacity then being fifteen thousand tons per year. The year 1860 was a bad one for the plant. The nail factory burned on January 10th and the rolling mill dam was again washed out on May 11th. The nail factory was rebuilt at once and the number of machines increased to forty-six, many being added later. The
277
OLD LANDMARKS, MILLS, INDUSTRIES
output then reached 100,000 kegs of nails annually. The dam was never rebuilt, as steam had already been used in part in the opera- tion of the rolling mill.
In the meantime the firm had become Fisher, Morgan & Com- pany, and on February 1, 1861, their interests were purchased by the newly organized Duncannon Iron Company, the old firm re- taining an interest in the stock of the new concern. The transfer of lands included about eight hundred acres. The new firm was under the management of John Wister, later for many years its president, and without doubt the greatest ironmaster ever inter- ested in any Perry County plant. When Fisher, Morgan & Com- pany sold to the Duncannon Iron Company they retained Monte- bello furnace (which had ceased operations), and 3,469 acres of land, which they sold in June, 1885, to John Wister, as trustee of the Duncannon Iron Company. The iron storage house was burned November 1, 1871. The old stave mill, built when the first nail factory was erected, was burned in the spring of 1875, and a new one immediately erected on the south bank of Sherman's Creek. On March 12, 1882, the rolling mill was burned down and again rebuilt at once. On the evening of November 28, 1888, the main building of the nail factory was entirely destroyed by fire and the machinery badly damaged. It too was immediately re- built, on the opposite side of Sherman's Creek. The large stone office building of the Duncannon Iron Company was built in 1866, being occupied January 14, 1867. It is 35x54 in size, with the main office room sixteen feet in height. The company store dates back to the time of the first forge, erected in 1828. Who the early managers of the company store were it is impossible to state. W. J. Stewart was the manager as early as 1871. His successor was Abram Hess, who was succeeded in 1882 by S. A. E. Rife. The store closed in 1908.
John Wister was for over half a century connected with the Duncannon Iron Works, rising from errand boy to president and general manager. He was born in Germantown, Philadelphia, July 15, 1829, the son of William and Sarah Logan ( Fisher) Wis- ter, the former of German and the latter of English descent. He was educated in the Germantown Academy. He arrived at Dun- cannon, via packet boat and on foot, November 2, 1845, to enter the employ of an uncle, skilled in the iron business, and his first position was that of office boy. He was then a tall, athletic young lad of but sixteen summers. From that position of office boy he became the noted president and general manager of the Dun- cannon Iron Company, skilled along every operation of the iron business, for he had made it a study. When he first came the operation of the plant was still furnished by the waters of Sher- man's Creek, and without any tariff on iron the workers at the
278
HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
plant were paid a meagre wage, and that often in scrip. Under his management steam was introduced and, with a tariff placed upon foreign production, the Duncannon plant became one of the important iron plants of the state. Few labor troubles ever agi- tated the Duncannon mills, and in 1895, upon the fiftieth anniver- sary of his connection with the plant . all the employees - over four hundred - marched to his residence to extend their good will, and incidentally, present a handsome and expensive chair to which all had contributed a small St11. Mr. Wister died June 4, 1900, beloved by hundreds who had served under him at various times. He was not only presi- dent and general manager of the Duncannon Iron Company, but was president of both the Dun- cannon National Bank and the Trout Run Water Company. He attained his majority in 1850, and in 1852 the county press records that "John Wister III, was elect- ed corresponding secretary" of a Republican political meeting. It JOHN WISTER The Greatest Iron Manufacturer of Perry County. was in that small way that he be- gan his work in the Republican party of Perry County, from which he later could have had anything he desired.
The furnace was run for a half century, ceasing operations in 1900, and being dismantled in 1901-02. The nail factory made cut nails, which were largely superceded by wire nails, and operations in it were discontinued in 1908. The plant was taken over by the Lebanon Iron & Steel Company, in 1910, which has been operating it since then, except during slack periods.
Among the exhibitors at the Centennial Exposition in Philadel- phia, in 1776, was the Duncannon Iron Company, which displayed a nail machine built and set up by the late William J. Black, long in the company's employ.
An act was passed in 1839 by the Pennsylvania Legislature au- thorizing the building of a bridge across the Juniata at Baskins' Ferry, and the work was begun at once. On June 21, of the same year, another act was passed, which authorized the construction of a railroad from the Pennsylvania Canal, at Duncan's Island, to
279
OLD LANDMARKS, MILLS, INDUSTRIES
Sherman's Creek. The road was to begin at the eastern end of the bridge, at a point not exceeding one-fourth of a mile there- from, and to cross to the west bank of the Juniata, passing through or near Petersburg (now Duncannon), and to terminate at or near the mouth of Sherman's Creek, the distance being two miles. The directors were Cornelius Baskins, president; Amos A. Jones, Jacob Keiser, Thomas Duncan, Thomas K. Lindley, John B. Top- ley, John Charters, and Jacob Clay. They were likewise the direc- tors of the bridge. This old railroad was used and operated by the Duncannon Iron Company in transporting to and from their plant raw material and the finished product, shipments being made and received at Benvenue by canal boat. The cars were drawn by horses and mules. The bridge over which the railroad crossed the Juniata River was washed away in 1845 and was rebuilt. On March 17, 1865, it was again washed away. The iron company then erected a warehouse at Aqueduct, reshipping by rail from there to Duncannon. After that the road was no longer used, al- though its rails lay for a number of years.
Marshall Furnace. The lands upon which Marshall furnace, in East Newport, was built, was purchased of Elias Fisher, and in 1872, Egle, Philips & Company erected the furnace, which later passed into the possession of the Marshall family, of Philadelphia. Major Peter Hiestand was long superintendent of this furnace, which ran rather regularly until about 1900, but which has run intermittently since, owing to its distance from raw material.
CHAPTER XVI.
THE EARLIEST CHURCHES.
I 'T' seems strange that these shores should have been hidden so long and that they should be reserved for settlement until after the Reformation. Could it have been mere chance, or was it the work of an all-wise Creator? Did He reserve these lands for the most enlightened Christian people of that age-for those west- ern Europeans, the Pilgrim, the Puritan, the Holland Dutch, the Friend, the German, the Scotch-Irish, and all that noble band who braved the dangers of the deep and the terror of the red men that they might worship God according to their own free will?
The men who founded Pennsylvania were intensely religious; many of them came here to have freedom of religious worship; they lived in a period when religious doctrines were the great ab- sorbing questions of life, so much so that the present generation cannot realize the zeal of their ancestry. They had family worship in their homes. The Father's business was their first considera- tion, and they builded well, for notwithstanding any seeming laxity of religion, even the sneering cynic does not enter the state of wed- lock nor have the last sad rites for a member of his family occur without calling upon the ministry and the church, thus recognizing its sanctity and Divine inspiration.
Those churchmen of generations ago and even of the passing generations were men of stability and worth who stood four- square in their communities and were as solid and trustworthy as the very hills which surrounded them. Even to-day, is it not largely so with the active churchmen-those who attend and par- ticipate and whose names are upon the church books for more than business reasons? Of course there were prejudices in those days, but they have largely turned to dust, buried bigotries of a departing age. In all the writer's many travels over the territory during the past few years in only two cases did he note any evi- dence of prejudice in regard to sect upon the part of those inter- viewed and one of the interviewed is now numbered with the de- parted. Joint services are held in many towns and communities by the various denominations, and this passing of prejudice is a heritage largely due to the "union Sunday school picnics" of yes- teryear, when the men and women of to-day were boys and girls and knew their neighbor of another creed was just as good a fel- low and that there was really little difference-and no vital one- in their beliefs. And this community spirit is growing !
280
281
THE EARLIEST CHURCHES
Some of the old-time preachers were often loud in their dis- courses, and sometimes long. Many of them preached much of the relentlessness of God towards evildoers, instead of dwelling upon His love and forgiving spirit, ofttimes shouting or thunder- ing their remarks. It is, however, even said of Jonathan Edwards, the prominent New England theologian, whose life was passed in benevolence, that he delighted in describing the fierceness and re- lentless cruelty of God.
Bancroft, the historian, says: "He who will not honor the mem- ory and respect the influence of John Calvin knows but little of the origin of American liberty," and it was the creed of John Cal- vin that first carried the Gospel into the territory now comprising Perry County. The Scotch-Irish were the first to settle Perry County territory, and with them came Calvinism and Presbyte- rianism. Here, in the heart of the forests, they planted the first churches, one of which is to-day a bulwark of strength in western Perry, in the famous Sherman's Valley. In those early days the church had more or less dominion as to where buildings should be erected and where dividing lines should be drawn in the inter- vening territory. That that question came up early in the settle- ment is evidenced by the fact that the Presbytery of Donegal- practically the predecessor of the Carlisle Presbytery-at a meet- ing held April 24, 1766, appointed a committee "to attempt to set- tle matters respecting the seat of a meetinghouse or meetinghonses to be erected in Sherman's Valley." It was to meet the Wednes- day after the third Sabbath of June. It was composed of Rev. Robert Cooper, Rev. George Duffield, and the following elders: Colonel Armstrong ( with William Lyon, alternate), Thomas Wil- son and John McKnight, the elders to devote the previous Thes- (lay "to reconnoitre."
This committee met at George Robinson's-close to the present location of Centre church-on July 2. After two days devoted to hearing testimony and deliberating the committee came to the con- clusion "that there ought to be a church at Alexander Morrow's or James Blain's ( where there was already a graveyard) for the upper end of the valley, and one at George Robinson's for the centre." Settling the place of the location for the lower meeting- house was deferred until further light could be obtained. (Rec- ords of Presbytery for 1766, pp. 186-189.) These incidents pre- date the forming of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America, which convened first in 1788.
l'o a little book printed in London, in 1768, entitled "The Jour- nal of a Two-Months' Tour, with a view of Promoting Religion Among the Frontier Inhabitants of Pennsylvania, and of Intro- ducing Christianity Among the Indians to the Westward of the Allegheny Mountains," we are indebted for a glimpse of the early
282
HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
introduction of religious worship in Sherman's Valley. While the title was long the pages were few, only 110, and it was in the form of a report, by Rev. Charles Beatty, to the Earl of Darmouth and other prominent Englishmen then interested in that work. The time covered was in 1766, and after reciting that he was appointed by the Synod of New York and Philadelphia to visit the frontier inhabitants "that a better judgment might be formed what assist- ance might be necessary to afford them, in their present low cir-
REV. CHARLES BEATTY. The first man to carry the Gospel to the Pioneers west of the Kittatinny or Blue Mountain ..
eumstances, in order to promote the Gospel among them; and likewise to visit the Indians, in case it could be done in safety, to know whether they were inclined to receive the Gospel." Accom- panied by a Christian Indian, he arrived in Carlisle August 15, having traveled 122 miles. From his journal :
"Monday, August 18 .- In the forenoon we were much engaged prepar- ing for our journey; sat out with Mr. Duffield. After riding about six miles we came to the North Mountain, which is high and steep. The day being very warm, and we obliged to walk, or rather climb up it, the greatest part of the way, were greatly fatigued by the time we reached the top. After traveling four miles into Sherman's Valley, we came, in the night, to Thomas Ross's, where we lodged."
283
THE EARLIEST CHURCHES
The statement that they came to the Ross home in the night is an example of the perils and discomforts which attended these early purveyors of the Word, for it must be remembered that they were unattended by any who knew the way and that roads were then unknown, the vast forests being broken only by trails and paths.
In the entry following Rev. Beatty tells of his visit to that tem- ple in the woods, not built by hands, but where for over a century historic Centre Presbyterian Church has stood and where it has ministered to a people who braved dangers untold to erect their homes in a land still a forest primeval, and to their descendants. Ile says :
"Tuesday, 19th .- Rode four or five miles to a place in the woods, de- signed for building a house for worship, and preached, but io a small auditory; notice of our preaching not having been sufficiently spread. After sermon, I opened to the people present the principal design of the synod in sending us to them at this time; that it was not only to preach the Gospel, but also to enquire into their circumstances, situation, num- bers, and ability to support it."
"The people not being prepared to give us a full answer, promised to send it to Carlisle before our return. After sermon we proceeded on our way about five miles and lodged at Mr. Fergus's. The house where he lives was attacked by the Indians in the late war, the owner of it killed. and, if I am not mistaken, some others. While the Indians were pillaging the house and plantation, in order to carry off what suited them, a number of the countrymen armed came upon them; a smart skirmish ensued, in which the countrymen had the better. The Indians were obliged to fly, and carried off their wounded, but left all their booty behind them."
The place here referred to was the home of Alexander Logan, which was later occupied by Mr. Fergus. It is located near where Sandy Hill post office was later established, in Madison Township, and was long owned by George McMillen. From the Logan place the party traveled along the south foot of Conococheague Moun- tain, crossing it by the ravine north of Andersonburg, and mis- takenly calling it the Tuscarora Mountain. In passing down the north side they came to where Mohler's tannery was located in a succeeding generation, and crossed Liberty Valley via Bigham's Gap to the Tuscarora Valley, now in Juniata County.
Just how the Gospel came to be first carried west of the Kitta- tinny Mountains is of interest to all. The origin of the missionary tour of Rev. Charles Beatty and Rev. George Duffield to the dis- tressed frontier, harassed by the Indians, and to the Indians them- selves, seems to have been an action of The Corporation for the Relief of Poor and Distressed Presbyterian Ministers of New York, as an extract from their minutes reads :
"November 16, 1762 .-- At a meeting of the Corporation in the city, it was agreed that the board appoint some of their members to wait on the synod at their next meeting, and in their name request that some mis-
284
HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
sionaries be sent to preach to the distressed frontier inhabitants, and to report their distresses, and to let us know when new congregations are a forming, and what is necessary to be done to promote the spread of the Gospel among them, and that they inform us what opportunities there may be of preaching the Gospel to the Indian nations in their neighbor- hoods."
It was then agreed that the necessary expenses of these mission- aries be paid by this board. To many Perry Countians ? may be a surprise that the Gospel was first carried to their counter by missionaries.
After mentioning the beginning of Centre Church in 1706 and that of Dick's Gap about the same time, Rev. D. H. Focht, in his valuable and painstaking volume, "The Churches Between the Mountains," says: "Besides these two instances we have not found a single reference to churches in Perry County (territory) until 1790." He fails to mention the organization of the Upper Church at Blain at the same time, that Limestone Ridge (or Sam Fisher's Church") existed coincidentally, and that Dick's Gap joined with the Sherman's Creek Church as early as 1778 in calling Rev. Thom, all of which were long prior to 1790. Farther back in his own book (page 286) he tells of the St. Michael's Lutheran Church in Pfoutz Valley being organized as early as 1770 to 1773. and of the purchase of their grounds February 15, 1776, on which they erected a building which they used for both school and church purposes, also long prior to 1790. This is not mentioned here in the way of criticism, but to correct a general misunderstanding that prevails by reason of the paragraph cited above, which is sometimes quoted.
Early last century many of the Scotch-Irish had begun to move westward and the new population, coming in their wake and often purchasing their lands, was mostly of German extraction, whose religion was principally Lutheran and German Reformed. At first their services were almost exclusively in German, but gradu- ally were replaced with English. Then came the Methodist Church, with youth, zeal and earnestness, holding its meetings in homes and schoolhouses and conducting great camp meetings in the woods. Other denominations followed until to-day there are ten, eight of which have numerous churches, and of the remaining two one has two churches, and the other a single church.
'The Presbyterians had been holding services and building churches within the limits of what is now western Perry County for several decades before the advent of the Lutherans to any ex- tent, although the Lutherans of that section east of the Juniata, about 1770, were holding meetings and were about organizing St. Michael's Church, in Pfoutz Valley. Rev. Focht, in his "Churches Between the Mountains," says the Lutheran people were occa- sionally visited by ministers of their own churches before 1774,
285
THE EARLIEST CHURCHES
according to tradition, and that afterwards they enjoyed frequent visits from Rev. John G. Butler, who was pastor of the Lutheran Church of Carlisle from 1780 to 1788. Shortly after that Rev. John Timothy Kuhl, of Franklin County, began visiting the mem- bers in Sherman's Valley, and in 1790 he moved among them and became the first regular pastor, having a large field and preaching once every six weeks at each place. In an old document belonging to the congregation at Loysville, it is written: "In the year of our Lord 1790, the Germans in Sherman's Valley secured the Evan- gelical Lutheran minister, the Rev. John Timotheus Kuhl, as their pastor." Rev. Focht, in his volume, further says: "The late Mr. George Fleisher, of Saville Township, who died in 1855, aged eighty-four years, when nineteen years old, with a team moved Rev. Kuhl's family and effects from Franklin County to this val- ley. Rev. Kuhl resided near where Loysville is now located. From the above documentary evidence, we infer that he visited and preached to the members scattered at various points in the whole valley. Before the erection of Lebanon Church at Loysville, he preached in barns and private dwellings at different places in that neighborhood. Encouraged by a minister living in their midst, and united in their desires and efforts, the membership proceeded, in 1794, to build a house of worship at Loysville, which they de- nominated Lebanon Church." The history of the building of that church appears further on. The George Fleisher referred to was the grandfather of the various heads of the Fleisher families lo- cated about Newport some years ago and yet, viz: George, John, Amos, Prof. Daniel, etc.
There has never been a Catholic church in Perry County. While the canal was building, during 1827-28, services were held occasionally in homes, as the employees were largely Irish Catho- lics. Their number was occasionally reduced by a death, and they purchased from John Huggins a plot of ground on the lands lying close to Liverpool and opened a cemetery. There was but one tombstone in it and it marked the grave of John Doyle, a hotel keeper. The Liverpool folks have known it as "the Irish ceme- tery."
With the settlement of both. English-speaking and German- speaking people in this territory the two languages were in general use, but the public business was conducted in English. The Ger- inan element was loath to give up their language and, although their children were learning and speaking English, they contended against the preaching of the word in English in their churches. The most prominent example of this was that of Rev. John William Heim, pastor of the Loysville Lutheran Charge. When the West Pennsylvania Synod met at New Bloomfield in September, 1842, some of the ministers preached in the English language. Members
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.