History of Washington County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 161

Author: Crumrine, Boyd, 1838-1916; Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885; Hungerford, Austin N
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia : H.L. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 1216

USA > Pennsylvania > Washington County > History of Washington County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 161

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1804 .- No records of officers elected.

1865 .- No records of officers elected.

1866.2-Robert Houston, burgess; Thomas Aubrey, George Herrington, Thomas II. Moffitt, James A. Hill, and Samuel Lopp, councilmen.

1867 .- Thomas F. Cock, burgess; Thomas II. Moffitt. James A. Dudgeon,

Alfred S. Starr, Alexander McKee, and Jacob W. Ullery, council- men.

1868 .- The election held March 20, 1868, was illegal, and the officers elected the previous year were continued (by order of court) until March, 1869.

1869 .- Thomas F. Cock, burgess ; James Patterson, J. E. Adams, Valen- tine Cowgill, John W. Bevard, and William H. Wilkins, council- men.

1870 .- Thomas Gregg, burgess; Robert Houston, William K. Gregg, John Devenny, T. C. S. Williams, and Jonathan Ryan, councilmen. 1871 .- James A. Hill, burgess ; George Herrington, A. J. Smalley, Wil- liam Houseman, Daniel French, and Simeon McCoy, councilmen. 1872 .- James H. Brown, burgess; George Herrington, Robert Houston, Thomas Storer, Thomas Gregg, S. H. Ward, and Thomas McDonald, counc.Imen.

1873 .- Robert Houston, burgess; William Reynolds, James Smith, Jacob Ullery, Martin McGill, Valentine Cowgill, and James Blair, coun- cilmen.

1874 .- George W. Cock, burgess; Samuel A. Lopp, T. C. S. Williams, James W. Hendrix, William Housemun, Jonathan Ryan, and James M. Sm'th, councilmen.

1875 .- Jabez French, burgess; William R. Britton, Adelbert L. Her- rington, William H. McKinley, Theophilus V. Dwyer, and George Livingston, councilmen.

1876 -David French, burgess ; William Houseman, George Livingston, A. J. Smalley, J. S. Houston, and William H. Johnson, councilmen. 1877 .- Jonathan Ryan, burgess; Daniel W. French, Martin McGill, Samuel Market, James A. Hill, and William K. Gregg, council- men.

1878 .- William R. Britton, burgess; George Herrington, A. J. Smalley, William Houseman, Samuel B. McCrory, Eri Moffitt, and John Wei- gel, councilmen.

1879 .- William If. Mckinley, burgess; Simeon McCoy and Mahlon H. Byland, councilmen.

1880 .- William H. Mckinley, burgess ; Daniel French, Samuel J. Price, and Robert Houston, councilmen.

1881 .- William H. McKinley, burgess; George Livingston and Hugh T. Boley, councilmen.

1882 .- A. L. Herrington, burgess; Alfred S. Starr and James H. Brown, Jr., councilmen ; Charles Gregg, clerk ; John Cornell, treasurer.

JUSTICES OF THE PEACE.

Edward M. Melchi, April 9, 1850. James Moffitt, Sept. 13, 1853. D. W. C. Harvey, April 10, 1855. James Moffitt, April 13, 1858. Elisha Griffith, April 28, 1858. Robert Mckinley, April 14, 1863. James Moffitt, April 14, 1863.

Freeman Wise, April 10, 1867. Robert Mckinley, April 14, 1868. James F. Howden, April 19, 1872. James F. Howden, Jan. 26, 1874.

Robert Mckinley, March 31, 1874. James H. Brown, March 25, 1878. Robert Mckinley, March 27, 1879.

St. John's Church (Episcopal) .- The history of this organization begins with the month of April, 1850, when the Rev. Samuel Cowell (who had been called to the rectorship of Christ Church in Browns- ville in 1845), assisted by Mr. J. Wallace, Miss Mary E. Brown, Miss Elizabeth Isler, and Miss Isabella L. Sweitzer, members of his congregation, established in the then new town hall the first Sunday-school ever held in the town of West Brownsville. Mr. Cowell removed from Brownsville in 1852, and during several subsequent years occasional services were held in West Brownsville by Revs. J. J. Page and Richard Temple.

In 1860, however, Rev. J. J. Page and Mr. J. Leathead organized the parish of St. John's. During the same year the latter was ordained deacon, and placed in charge of the parish by the bishop. During the year 1860, also, Mr. John Cock donated a lot to the vestry of the new church organization, and the stone basement of the church edifice was erected. Mr. Leathead removed from the vicinity soon after the breaking out of the civil war, and owing to the distracted state of the country, work upon the build- ing was suspended until 1870, when it was resumed and the present beautiful framed structure completed in 1871. During the intervening years, however, the Sunday-schools were regularly kept up by a number of faithful teachers.

On the 25th of November, 1873, the bishop conse- crated the new church edifice. The instrument of donation was read by Jacob McKennan, Esq., and that of consecration by the dean, Rev. R. S. Smith. An eloquent sermon was preached by Rev. Dr. Page, and the Rev. Dr. Spaulding, Revs. C. N. Spaulding, S. D. Day, and the rector, Rev. Horace E. Hayden, also participated in the ceremonies. . The building cost seven thousand dollars, and will seat comfortably two hundred and fifty people.

After the informal opening of the church (which occurred July 23, 1871), Rev. D. C. Page preached twice a month for some time. Its small congregation, however, had no settled rector until 1873, when Rev. Horace E. Hayden came. During the six and one- half years of his ministry he labored indefatigably to the wants of his parish. Many a stranger who had fallen by the wayside received Christian burial at his hands, and his unceasing labors, by day and by night, among the sick and dying, during the diphtheria epi- demic in 1878, will long be remembered by the people of Brownsville and its vicinity. In 1879 he resigned the charge of St. John's Church, and removed to Wilkesbarre, Pa. Since, only occasional services

1 John Johnston was elected burgess to fill vacancy April 10, 1855.

2 To March, 1866, borough officers had been elected in October of each year. By an act of the State Legislature, however, passed during the winter of 1865-66, the time of holding borough elections was changed to the third Friday in March, it being the time of electing justices of the peace and officers to hold general elections in the State, etc.

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WEST BROWNSVILLE BOROUGH.

have been held. At one time there were forty com- municants belonging to this church, but in conse- quence of the panic of 1873, deaths, and removals, the number of members has been greatly diminished.

Present Business Men .- The prominent business men of the town at the present time are Messrs. Axton & Pringle (successors to John S. Pringle), steamboat, hull, and barge builders, and dealers in floating crafts generally ; Messrs. Aubrey & Son, proprietors of plan- ing-mill and lumber-yard, also general contractors; Robert Mckinley, Esq., justice of the peace ; William A. Bevard, dealer in groceries, flour, and feed ; Bur- ton & Cornell, dealers in general merchandise ; Henry B. Baker, merchant and postmaster; 1 William A. Coburn, station and express agent ; J. Devenny & Co., grocers; Thomas H. Hopkins, proprietor of the " Hop- kins House;" Ransom D. Marcy, shoemaker; and Thomas H. Moffitt, carriage manufacturer.

Boat Building .- The firm of Axton & Pringle (successors to John S. Pringle), steamboat and barge builders, is one of which West Brownsville borough and Washington County can justly boast. Capt. John S. Pringle, the founder of this firm, was born in the old township of Frankstown,2 Huntingdon Co. (but now a part of Blair County, Pa.), Oct. 23, 1804. When but twelve or thirteen years of age, having attained unusual proportions for a youth of his years, he en- gaged in keel-boating on the Juniata and Susquehanna Rivers. Thus he early became accustomed to rely upon his own exertions, as well as familiar with boat architecture, etc.

In 1826, being then about twenty-two years of age, young Pringle, it seems, concluded to try his fortunes on the western side of the mountains, and, shouldering his rifle, he crossed the Alleghenies on foot, and finally reached Little Redstone. There he found one Joseph Allen engaged in the construction of keel-boats. He at once became an employé of Allen's, receiving as pay fifty cents per day and board. Very soon there- after, however, Richard Kimber, who had a boat-yard in Bridgeport, offered young Pringle one dollar and twenty-five cents per day, and thereby secured his services. Kimber was then building a steamboat for "Old Bob" Rogers, but as he had occasion to be

absent from the yard the greater part of the time, and left young Pringle in charge of the work, the latter was looked upon by Rogers as her real builder.

After this boat was completed, Mr. Rogers proposed that Pringle should build him a boat, assuming sole control architecturally and otherwise. Mr. Pringle as yet rather doubted his ability as a master-boat- builder, but upon being assured by Rogers that he (Rogers) would unhesitatingly take all the chances of success or failure, our young boat-builder, assisted greatly by such advice as the larger experience of his patron enabled him to offer, began and completed a boat which was an eminent success from the moment she was launched, whose hull, different from any to that time seen on Western waters, has since been copied by scores of Western boat-builders.

Mr. Rogers desired a boat that would displace as little water as possible, so that she could be run during low stages. The result was a flat-bottomed boat, which, as we have before stated, was a great success, as she was able to make her regular trips throughout the summer, while all others of her tonnage, and much less, were compelled to lie idle. Indeed, her owner or owners were offered several thousand dol- lars more than she cost within a very short time after completion. Mr. Pringle's fame as a boat-builder was now firmly established, and orders from the West and Southwest soon made his modest little boat-yard a very hive of industry. It was enlarged, and for years from thirty to fifty men were steadily employed, and from five to ten steamers, besides other craft, com- pleted each year.

Until the spring of 1843 his business was carried on in Bridgeport, Fayette Co. He then purchased a large portion of Ephraim L. Blaine's plat of West Brownsville (the site of the present yard), including the latter's early residence and saw-mill. Increased facilities were obtained in West Brownsville. The town was given its first impetus and the capacities for boat-building were doubled. In 1864, W. W. Aull was admitted as a partner. The firm of Pringle & Aull, however, only continued one year, for in 1865 the former purchased the latter's interest and there- upon formed a joint-stock company, known as the "Pringle Boat-Building Company," the members be- ing as follows: John Wilkinson, James Storer, John S. Gray, William Patterson, James H. Gray, John Starr, Alexander K. McKee, A. J. Smalley, James Blair, U. G. M. Perrin, Alfred S. Starr, Joseph Weaver, James Patterson, Andrew C. Axton, E. F. Wise, John Wiegel, Daniel French, Henry Minks, Robert Houston, George McClain, William Gray, John S. Pringle, J. D. S. Pringle, and Finley Patter- son.

The " Boat-Building Company" continued about three years, when John S. Pringle bought out the other members and again became sole owner. On the 1st day of January, 1879, after having been en- gaged in boat-building in this vicinity for more than

1 The first postmaster was James Moffitt, the office having been estab- lished under the Whig administrations of either Taylor or Fillmore. Squire Moffitt was a stanch Whig, anti-Masonic, and an Abolitionist. He was succeeded by Robert Mckinley. Among subsequent incumbents of the office have been Homer Chri-inger, James Muffitt (second term), Mrs. Isabella Bennington, John Ward, John Cornell, and Henry B. Baker.

" By referring to our own manuscript history of Frankstown township, we find that William Pringle (the father of John S. Pringle) was & na- tive of Scotland, and had settled in the township mentioned before the Revolutionary war, or while it was yet a part of Bedford County. In 1788, according to the first assessment of Frankstown, as of Huntingdon County, William Pringle was the owner of two hundred acres of land (uf which fifty acres were held by warrant and one hundred and fifty arres by location), two horses, and two cows. His property was valued at two hundred and one pounds, upon which a State tax of nine shillings and two pence and a county tax of four shillings and seven pence was Jevied for that year.

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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

half a century, he relinquished the business to his son, J. D. S. Pringle, and son-in-law, Andrew C. Axton. The present firm built nine steamboats in 1881, and furnished employment to sixty men. Their works are extensive, covering about ten acres of ground, while the mill in use has a capacity of sawing sixteen thou- sand feet of boat lumber per day.

The boats built by the Pringles on the Mononga- hela have always stood at the head of the list as regards speed, neatness of finish, thorough workman- ship, and the quality of material used in their con- struction. They have built more than five hundred steamers of all classes for the trade of the Mononga- hela, Ohio, Mississippi, Missouri, Cumberland, Ten- nessee, White, Red, Arkansas, and other rivers of the West and Southwest, and some of them have been sent to ply on South American waters.

In concluding this article we will add that the pioneer boat-builder, Capt. John S. Pringle, still oc- cupies the dwelling in West Brownsville purchased from Ephraim L. Blaine (father of Hon. James G. Blaine) in 1843. He has been married twice, and is the father of fifteen children. Two sons (J. D. S. and William H.) and one son-in-law (Andrew C. Axton) served in the Union army during the war of the Re- bellion. At the beginning of the war William H. Pringle was a resident of Sacramento City, Cal. He there joined a volunteer cavalry company, which was sent around Cape Horn to the port of Boston, Mass. At the latter place this company of California volun- teers, as Company L, was attached to the Second Massachusetts Cavalry. They performed gallant ser- vice in the field. Unfortunately, however, young Pringle was taken prisoner by the enemy, and for long weary months endured all the privations and horrors of the Andersonville prison-pen. He never recovered from the inhuman treatment there experi- enced, but died, like thousands of others, soon after his release and before reaching home.

John Cock and Leonard Lanehart established what was known as the "lower boat-yard" in West Brownsville about the year 1848. They continued in a very successful way until about the beginning of the war, when Thomas F. Cock and D. D. Williams assumed its management for four or five years. They, also, were very successful and netted large profits. About 1865 James M. Hutchinson, George W. Cock, and T. C. S. Williams purchased the yard, and con- tinued the business some four or five years. Their successors were H. B. Cock & Co. (a stock. company composed of several members), who were not emi- nently successful. Finally, while under the manage- ment of H. B. Cock and Thomas F. Cock, operations at this yard. ceased about the year 1875.

The Excelsior Planing-Mill of West Browns- ville, Thomas Aubrey & Son proprietors, was built by the firm of Aubrey, Cromlow & Coon,-i.e., Thomas Aubrey, Oliver C. Cromlow, and E. N. Coon,-about the year 1855. About 1867 Mr. Aubrey, having sold

out his interests, removed to the West. Under the firm-name of Cromlow & Coon the business was then continued until March, 1871, when Mr. Cromlow died, and during the same year the surviving partner went into bankruptcy. Subsequently as assignee Robert Mckinley, Esq., sold the property to Adam Jacobs and William Reynolds. In 1873 Mr. Aubrey re- turned to the village, leased the premises, and re- sumed his former occupation. He has since become part owner of the mill, and with his son, R. L. Aubrey, now conducts the business under the name of Aubrey & Son.

As builders and general contractors this firm handle more than two million feet of lumber per year, and furnish employment to about thirty men.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

JOHN SNYDER PRINGLE.

Venerable for his ripe old age and well-spent life is John S. Pringle, of West Brownsville, in which place he has resided many years, actively identified with its business and growth. He is the only son of William Pringle, a Scotchman, who emigrated to America when a young man, and Elizabeth (Snyder) Pringle, who was of German descent, and was born Oct. 23, 1804, near McKee's Gap, Blair Co., Pa. He had three sisters, but one of whom, Mrs. Esther Frederick, who is seven years his senior, is now liv- ing. His opportunities for an education were such as the subscription schools of neighborhoods in which he resided during his minority afforded. He em- ployed his spare moments in the study of business men and methods, and by the time he reached his majority he was fairly equipped for the work which was to engage his attention 'in after-years. When eighteen years of age he left his father's house, which was then in Bedford County, and came to " Redstone Old Fort." The first work which he performed after coming to Fayette County was in the boat-yard of Joseph Allen, at the mouth of Little Redstone Creek. He developed a fondness and an aptness for boat-building, and after remaining with Mr. Allen one summer was employed as foreman in the yard of Robert Rogers, of Brownsville, for whom he built the first flat-bottomed boat launched west of the Alle- ghenies. The superiority of this boat over others then in use was manifest, as was also Mr. Pringle's ability as a boat-builder, and orders for vessels like unto this one were so numerous that he determined to embark in business for himself. He began in the yard at Brownsville, and remained there until 1844, when he purchased the Ephraim Blaine property in West Brownsville, and upon it graded and established a boat-yard, which he operated until 1879, when, in- capacitated by old age and disease, he transferred his business interests to the care of his son, John D. S.

J. S. Pringle

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ALLEN TOWNSHIP.

Pringle, and his son-in-law, Andrew C. Axton, both of whom are noted for their energy and business ability.

Mr. Pringle is a courteous, hospitable gentleman, and his life has been lionest, busy, and useful. He has long been a member of the Cumberland Presby- terian Church, to whose benevolent enterprises he is a liberal contributor. He started in life with a sound and vigorous constitution, and, being temperate in his habits, he preserved a hale and healthful body more than threescore and ten years. He is respected by his neighbors, esteemed by his friends, and sin- cerely loved by his family.

He was married May 3, 1832, to Elizabeth P. Horner, who died Nov. 29, 1844. By this marriage there were six children,-Elizabeth, who married Jacob Walter, is dead; Ann is unmarried, and re- sides with her father; William H. was a soldier in the late war, and died of disease contracted in a Southern prison; George W. died when a young man; Sarah is the wife of Andrew C. Axton, who served as a soldier in the late war, enlisting in the old Washington Cavalry, which after eighteen months' service was incorporated in the Twenty-second Penn-

sylvania Cavalry. His maimed body bears witness that he loves and has served his country well. Mary died in infancy.

Mr. Pringle was married to his present wife, Sarah Ellen Snider, Oct. 16, 1845. They have ten children, all living. They are John D. S., who did good ser- vice in the war of the Rebellion as a member of Com- pany F, Eighteenth Pennsylvania Cavalry, married Cornelia Deems; David S., married Nancy J. Gam- ble; Nancy, married Newton McClaine; Ella, married William H. Michael ; Isabel, unmarried; Esther, mar- ried William H. Harrison; Mary, married John W. Thompson ; Simon P., married Margaret Moorehouse ; Christian S. and Andrew A. are unmarried.

Politically Mr. Pringle was originally a Democrat. He continued in that faith until the organization of the Republican party, since which time he has acted with it. His business life in this vicinity extends over a period of more than half a century, and in that time he has launched over five hundred boats upon the Monongahela. The largest one in that number was the " Illinois." She was three hundred and four feet long, had a fifty-two-foot beam, and was seventy-five feet across her deck.

ALLEN TOWNSHIP.

| viewers. They reported favorably in May, and again

THIS is one of the most eastern townships of Washington County, lying in a sweeping bend of the in August of that year, and at the latter term the Monongahela River, which stream forms its entire township of Allen was ordered erected, " as per draft made by the viewers." eastern and southern boundaries. On the north it is bounded by Fallowfield, and on the west by the The township, as laid out by the draft of the viewers and erected by them, embraced more of the 1 territory of Fallowfield and East Pike Run than is mentioned in the petition, and is the present territory of Allen. A petition was made to the court in 1859 for a small portion of it to be attached to East Pike Run. Viewers were appointed, who reported favor- ably. The report was approved, and the line so changed as to throw the Huggins and Chalfant farms into East Pike Run township. townships of Fallowfield and East Pike Run, in which two townships the entire territory of Allen was em- braced until the year 1852. At the February term of the Court of Quarter Sessions in 1851 there was presented "a petition of sundry inhabitants of the northeast end of East Pike Run township, and the southeast end of Fallowfield township, for a view to erect portions of said townships into a new and independent township district, line to commence on the Monongahela River at the mouth of Stony Run, near the house of Joseph Woods, thence along said The first settlements within the territory now em- braced in the township of Allen were made in the lustrum next following the year 1780, and among the names of the pioneers in this section at that time that of Speers seems to have been among the earliest, if not the first. Dr. J. S. Van Voorhis, in his pub- lished papers (1875-76) entitled "Scraps of Local History," gives an account of the first of the family of Speers who came to Western Pennsylvania, which ! is of interest in this connection, as many of them river to the mouth of Maple Creek, thence along the south branch of said creek, or across the country, to the place of beginning." Matthew Linn, John Free- man, and Jonathan Knight were appointed viewers, who on the 28th of August following reported in favor of the erection of the new township; but a remonstrance was filed in November, and the matter continued till February, 1852, when David Riddle, Marcus Black, and James Moffatt were appointed re-

644

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

settled very early in this county. He says, "For more than a century the Speers family has been identified with the valley of the Monongahela. Henry Speers, the older, and Regina Froman, his wife, were born in Germany, came to Western Penn- sylvania in 1772, and settled on the farm where the Gibsonton Distillery now stands, below Belle Ver- non, Fayette Co. The farm was at that time within the limits of Bedford County, out of which Westmoreland was made, Feb. 26, 1773. Richard Penn was Governor at the time this settlement was made. He (Henry Speers) lived in a log house, which until a few years ago stood near the residence of T. L. Daly, Esq., superintendent of the distillery. The log house, though small at first, was enlarged until it was sixty feet long. Henry Speers died in 1773, having lived only about one year after his arrival in Western Pennsylvania. By his will, dated May 14, 1773, he conveyed this farm to his son, Noah Speers, who, by his will, dated June 2, 1832, conveyed it to his son, Noah W. Speers. Henry Speers, the older, had four sons,-Jacob, Solomon, Henry, and Noah."

Henry Speers, the third son, who settled in what is now Allen township, was born in Germany, July 8, 1756, and was sixteen years old when his parents located in what is now Fayette County. On the 24th of September, 1777, he married Rebecca, a daughter of Abraham Frye, Sr., who lived on the west side of the river, in what five years later became Fallowfield township of Washington County. It was not until the year 1784 that Henry Speers became a purchaser of lands in this section. The first tract of which any record is obtained was purchased by him of John Reef. The tract was warranted to Reef under appli- cation No. 3255, and was taken up in 1769, in the latter part of April. It was not surveyed until the 8th of September, 1784, and was named "Speer's Intent," containing three hundred and nineteen acres. The arrangement was made prior even to this time. The deed of sale bears date September 14th of that year. This tract was triangular in form, with its longest base on the river. It commenced north of Maple Creek a short distance, and thence along the Monongahela south four hundred and forty-one perches. At the time of this survey the lands on the south and west were not taken up. On the river adjoining and north the land was in possession of Jacob Froman, an uncle of Henry Speers, and brother of Paul Froman and Regina Froman (Speers), the latter being his mother.

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History of Washington County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 161

Author: Crumrine, Boyd, 1838-1916; Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885; Hungerford, Austin N Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Philadelphia : H.L. Everts & Co. Number of Pages: 1216

Author: Crumrine, Boyd, 1838-1916; Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885; Hungerford, Austin N
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia : H.L. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 1216