History of Washington County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 210

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 210

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).

David Atcheson, the oldest son, had part of the estate, and lived and died there.

Matthew Reed Atcheson, the second son of Mat- thew, Sr., lived on part of the tract, which his father gave him by deed Dec. 10, 1803. He was justice of the peace many years, and died on the farm, leaving five sons, who all moved to Ohio except Samuel, who

1 From an account of the murder by the Rev. John T. Brownlee. It will be noticed that he gives the name Isabel to the murdered girl, while the account in the newspaper has it Mary.

2 Mr. Ridgeway had started for church, and proceeded some distance, when he recollected he had left his tobacco behind, and returned to the house for it, when there was no one in the house but the child, who was afterwards found murdered.

853

MOUNT PLEASANT TOWNSHIP.

lives on the old homestead. Humphrey, the third son of Matthew, took out a warrant for three hundred acres of land, "including an improvement on the head-waters of Raccoon Creek," on the 8th of Sep- tember, 1785. He was a school-teacher, and taught in the township. He gave to his sons David and John all of the land covered by the warrant except one hundred and nineteen acres, which was the home- stead. John sold his portion to David and went West. Humphrey went West after a few years. Hum- phrey Atcheson, Sr., died about the 1st of December, 1814. John McCammant, Jr., now owns the home- stead.

John McCalmont was a blacksmith and farmer. He had a distillery on the farm now owned by Alexander McCalmont, his son, on the road from Hickory to Burgettstown. He bought the farm of Robert Atche- son, and lived there till his death. James, his eldest son, lives near Raccoon Church. John lives in the township, southwest of Hickory.

Before the year 1800, John Cloud lived on a farm adjoining that of William Hughes, where he remained a number of years. He was an elder in the Raccoon Church during the pastorate of the Rev. Moses Allen, and later moved to Beaver County, Pa., and still later to Ohio, then to Salem, Beaver Co., Pa. He was an elder in the churches where he lived. His son, afterwards the Rev. John Cloud, was born Dec. 9, 1801, on the farm in Mount Pleasant (then in Cross Creek township). He graduated at Jefferson College in 1830, and entered the Allegheny 'Seminary, and prosecuted a full course of theological study. He was ordained by the Presbytery of New York, in the Brick Church (Dr. Spring's), on the 11th day of Oc- tober, 1833, with a view to foreign missionary work. He entered upon these duties at once, and sailed for Africa on the 6th of November the same year, with the Rev. Matthew Laird and wife. A few weeks after reaching Monrovia (the place of their labors) he was prostrated by the African fever, which so reduced him that a commencement of active duty in the spring brought on dysentery, from which he died April 9, 1834. Two sons and a daughter of John Cloud, Sr., still reside at Hookstown, Beaver Co., Pa., where the father lived in his latter days.

William Patterson, before 1788, owned one hun- dred and fifty acres of land, and later owned three hundred and fifty-five acres on the road from Canons- burg to Hickory. He lived here many years. He finally sold to David Huston, of Canonsburg, and he and his sons went West. He lived here for a time, and his son David now owns it.

built a tannery, which was in operation until about 1835. He was elected a justice of the peace and served several terms, and was an elder in Upper Buf- falo Church. He died in March, 1831, aged seventy- six years. A son, Dr. John Hughes, was a surgeon, and died in the war of 1812 at Lower Sandusky. James remained on the homestead. He was elected justice of the peace in 1840, and held the position for several terms. Was an elder in Mount Prospect Pres- byterian Church, active in all good works, and died in 1872, highly beloved and respected by all.

Robert Lyle, a native of Northampton County, Pa., and a brother of Aaron and John Lyle, came to this township with his wife and one child in 1784, and bought one hundred and forty acres of land of David Decker, and also the eighty acres of John Brown, and on which he settled. Four years later, Oct. 31, 1789, he purchased a tract of one hundred and forty acres adjoining of David Decker, and sold the first tract to his brother, John Lyle. On this last tract he moved and lived till his death, Nov. 25, 1843. He was an elder at different periods in Cross Creek, Up- per Buffalo, and Mount Prospect Churches. He had four sons,-Samuel, David, John, and William. Sam- uel was a teacher, and died in West Middletown in 1813. David died on the home farm in 1863, a bache- lor. John and William married and removed to Bel- mont County, Ohio. The former died in 1851, the latter in 1854. Of the seven daughters, Ann married Robert Simpson in 1820, and in 1827 lived in Cross Creek township on land now owned by their son, James Simpson. Isabel married John White, and lived in Hopewell township. Their son, R. Lyle White, was an editor, and for a time edited a paper in Connellsville, Fayette Co. Margaret married James Dinsmore, and settled in Cross Creek town- ship. She still lives on the place where they settled. Mary married William Smith, and settled near Mans- field, Ohio. Their son, Dr. William Smith, was a lieutenant in the Mexican war, a lieutenant-colonel in the late Rebellion, and is now an eminent physician in Van Wert, Ohio. Rosanna became the wife of William Reed, of Cross Creek township, and settled in Ashland County, Ohio. Their son, Joseph R. Reed, is now judge of a district embracing ten coun- ties in Iowa. He resides at Council Bluffs.

John Lyle was a native of Northampton County, and brother of Aaron and Robert Lyle. He was a lieutenant in the Revolutionary war, and was at the battle of Long Island. He came to the county with his brothers, and about 1876 purchased of his brother Robert the one hundred and forty acres he first pur- chased of Decker and Wilson, where - Miller now lives. Here he lived, and died in 1826, aged seventy-four years. His children were David, John, and Joseph, Elizabeth and Nancy. David married a daughter of Peter Kidd, and moved to Ohio. John lived on the homestead, a bachelor, and died in 1853. He was

William Hughes, a native of York County, Pa., was a soldier in the Revolutionary war. He emi- grated to this county and settled in 1778, in the lower part of Cross Creek township (now Jefferson). He returned East and married, and in the spring of the next year came out. to what is now Mount Pleasant township, with John and Elias Cowen. Mr. Hughes . county commissioner in 1822. Joseph lived on a farm

854

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

adjoining the homestead, and died in October, 1881, aged eighty-four years. Elizabeth became the wife of John Proudfoot, and moved to near Burgettstown, where their descendants still live. Nancy became the wife of William Rankin, and remained in the town- ship. She died in 1870. .

James Simpson, a native of Ireland, emigrated to Delaware in 1768, was in the Revolutionary war. In 1779 he married Margaret Conier, and in 1783, with two others, made a tour of the Western country with a view to the purchase of land. There were no pub- lic roads, but the trail (supposed to be the old Mingo path) was marked by blazed trees. At that time but three cabins were at Burgettstown; the millwrights were placing the burr-stones in Burgett's mill. He settled first in Chartiers township, between Pigeon Creek and Chartiers Creek. On the 10th of April, 1797, he purchased fifty acres of land of George Stephenson, adjoining Hugh Patton, John Woods, George Stephenson, and Francis Andrew. It was part of two tracts on the head-waters of southwest fork of Chartiers Creek, one of which was called " Hillsbury," the other " Walnut Bottom." His wife died in 1815, and his death occurred in September, 1819. They left four sons-John, James, William, and Robert -- and four daughters, who all married and removed to Ohio. John and James also went to Ohio and settled. William and Robert remained' on the homestead, now owned by William Simpson, the son of William. Robert, in 1827, purchased a farm in Cross Creek township, where he lived till his death, April 22, 1875, aged seventy-eight years. James, the. son of Robert, now lives on the property in Cross Creek. There is no person living who is as well in- formed as James Simpson on all matters pertaining to the history of the western and northwestern part of Washington County, and it is from him that most of the facts given in this work in reference to the north- western townships of this county have been obtained.

Robert and Thomas Thompson, on the 24th of Feb- ruary, 1790, purchased twenty acres of land on the north fork of Chartiers Creek, in Chartiers township (now Mount Pleasant), including a water-mill, horse- mill, with dam and tail-race. This land was purchased of Hugh McKnight, and is now owned by Owen Mc- Knight. The mill has long since been torn down. Later they purchased an adjoining fifty acres of James McElroy. On this farm they lived. Robert died in 1799, and left six children,-Joseph, Andrew, Alex- ander, James, and Robert and Lydia. The latter were twins, and born the year their father died. Joseph, the oldest; settled in Mount Pleasant township, where Alexander Gaston now lives. His sons-Joseph, Al- exander, and James-were all ministers of the United Presbyterian Church. Joseph was born Sept. 15, 1823, graduated at Jefferson College, Canonsburg, in 1848, was licensed to preach in 1851, and was called to a mission church in West Twenty-fifth Street, New York City, and the same year received a call from a

church in Baltimore, Md., and from the congregation of Mount Pleasant, his native township. The last call he accepted, and was ordained and installed April 25, 1853, and remained pastor of the church till his death, Dec. 16, 1861.

Alexander, a son of Joseph Thompson, Sr., was born Dec. 16, 1816, taught school for a time in Cross Creek. Entered junior class in Jefferson College, Canonsburg, in 1843. He entered the ministry and labored in New York City and State, and finally was given charge of a mission in Wilkinsville, Mass., where he died Nov. 12, 1854. James, also a son of Joseph, became a min- ister of the United Presbyterian Church, and labored in New York City and died there. John, another son of Joseph, lived and died at Canonsburg.

Andrew Thompson, a son of Robert, married Eliza- beth Bell, settled on part of his father's homestead, and died in 1859. His son Robert now owns the farm. James Thompson, a son of Robert, lived for a time with John Dawson, at the tavern called "Cross Keys," about half a mile south from Hickory. It was the old Chapman tavern stand. He married Martha Ham- mond. Her father, John Hammond, settled there in 1807. James Hammond and his wife are now living at Woodrow, he at the age of eighty-eight, and she at seventy-six years. Robert married Nancy Guthrie, and settled in Bloomfield, Ohio. Lydia, the twin sister of Robert, became the wife of Alexander Mc- Call, and settled in Iowa.

Thomas Cherry emigrated from near Bristol, Eng- land, with his wife and three children, in 1770, and settled in Frederick County, Md. In 1774 he came to what is now Mount Pleasant township. He built a cabin about one hundred rods west of William P. Cherry's present residence. At this place he lived but a short time after making his entry. He was found dead at a spring near the place, with a bullet- hole through his brain and his empty gun beside him. His scalp was not taken. His own gun was dis- charged, and the character of the wound led to the conclusion that his death was accidental. The next year his son John was killed by the Indians. Two hundred acres of the tract which was patented as Fairfield, April 12, 1788, was left to 'Moses Cherry. He married Jane Atcheson, daughter of Matthew Atcheson. In addition to this he took up a tract ad- joining and east of the home farm. He was in the war of 1812, and died soon after, on the farm, in 1815, aged forty-five years. His children all went West. No descendants of this branch now live in the town- ship. The farm passed from the heirs of Moses Cherry to John McBirney, whose sons now occupy it.

Edward, the youngest son of Thomas Cherry, mar- ried Rebecca Perrin, of Hopewell township (now In- dependence). He purchased the homestead of the heirs, and' was born, lived, and died on the homestead. His death occurred July 1, 1854, at the age of seventy- eight years. He had ten children, of whom William P. is the eldest, now in his seventy-eighth year. He,

855

MOUNT PLEASANT TOWNSHIP.

with two sisters, Maria and Sarah, all unmarried, are living on the homestead. Rebecca, also unmarried, lived with them until her death, Oct. 8, 1881. Of the other children, Aaron removed to Tuscarawas County, Ohio, where he died. Edward is settled on a part of the home farm, where he still lives.

The Cherry Fort was situated on this farm a few yards northeast of William P. Cherry's present resi- dence, and consisted of three log buildings, one twenty- five feet square, the others smaller. They were ar- ranged in a triangular form and inclosed with a stockade. This fort was built in the summer and fall of 1774, and was the residence of the Cherrys, and where in time of danger the McCartys, Rankins, and others fled. The large building was two stories in height, with a half-story above, and was built to with- stand a formidable attack. Edward Cherry, the young- est son of Thomas, occupied this house many years after, and William P., his oldest son, was born there.

William Rankin, in the fall of 1773, came to what is now Mount Pleasant township, and purchased six- teen hundred acres of land, a part of which had been improved, and returned to his home in Winchester, Va. In the following spring some of his sons came out, cleared land, and planted corn. One or two cabins were erected on the place. In the fall of that year, 1774, William Rankin, with his wife and seven sons and two daughters, moved out to the new planta- tion, leaving at the old home two sons, David and William, who were married and settled there. Octo- ber 31st, William and his family moved into a cabin which stood on the hill above the barn in the rear of James Rankin's present residence, and near a fine spring. Here they lived for several years, when Wil- liam Rankin built a hewed log house, larger and more commodious, north of the old cabin, where he lived till his death.

Zachariah Rankin, a son of William, took up a tract of land near his father's on a Virginia certificate. It was surveyed in 1785 as " Black-Oak Ridge," con- taining three hundred and thirty-seven acres, adjoin- ing William Martin and John Lyle, on the waters of Raccoon Creek. In the October following he was bitten by a mad wolf, and died three months after- wards of hydrophobia. He was married, and a daughter was born after his death. She inherited the property, and became the wife of Jesse Woods. In 1806 they sold the property to John McCammant, whose son, Alexander McCammant, William and Zachariah Rankin took out a Virginia certificate for four hundred and two acres of land February, 1780, that was surveyed as "Chestnut Ridge."

Thomas Rankin, also a son of William, received a tract of land of his father, containing two hundred and fifty acres, a part of two tracts patented by his father,-"Chestnut Ridge" and "High Spring,"-and Feb. 15, 1790, he received a patent for a tract adjoin- ing Samuel Rankin. He lived on part of his lands many years, and sold to John Cunningham, and moved

near Cadiz, Ohio, where he died. Samuel Rankin, also a son of William, settled on land left him by his father. James, his son, now owns one hundred and twenty-five acres of it, and the heirs of David own a part. He died July 10, 1820, and left ten children. William and John settled where James now' lives. After his father's death he purchased their interest, and has since lived there. The old mill was built as a saw-mill in 1806, by Samuel Rankin, and in a few years was changed to a grist-mill, and is still used in that work.

The Farrar family of this county are descended from James Farrar, who resided at the beginning of the Revolutionary war in Hunterdon County, N. J. He had six sons-James, John, Peter, Richard, An- drew, and Samuel-and several daughters, of whom all trace has been lost by reason of their marriage and change of name. The oldest son, James, was an army blacksmith, and with his father worked for the American army during its operations in New Jersey. The sons John and Peter were soldiers in Washing- ton's army. and were both killed at the battle of Long Island, Aug. 27, 1776.

After the close of the war, Andrew, who is the im- mediate ancestor of the family, married Margaret Moore, the daughter of one James Moore, a Scotch- Irishman, who resided in what was known as the Craig settlement, in Northampton County, Pa., and removed in 1785 with his brother-in-law, Aaron Lyle (who had married Ellen Moore), across the mountains to Western Pennsylvania, and settled in Mount Pleas- ant township, where he died Nov. 5, 1832. His family were James, who married a McFarland, and removed to Guernsey County, Ohio, where he died in 1862; Polly, who married John Corey, and removed to Marion County, Ind., where she died in 1872. Nancy, who married first John Gillespie, and after his death --- Alcorn, and removed to Indiana, where she died; John, who married a Dunlap, and died at Midway, this county, in 1842; Samuel, who married a Siman- ton, and died at Mount Pleasant township in 1867 ; Thomas, who married a McFarland, and went to California, from where he never returned ; Andrew, who married a Buchanan, and died at Buffalo, in Hopewell township, in 1867; Aaron, who married a Griffith, and died at Buffalo in 1846; Eleanor, who married Thomas Johnston, and died in 1821; and Joseph, who removed to Ohio in 1834, where he mar- ried Isabella Elliott, removed to Iowa in 1854, and died in 1859.

The Simantons are descended from one Robert Simanton, who prior to the Revolution lived in North- ampton Co., Pa. His children were John, James, Ephraim, Robert, Peter, Benjamin, Jane, Margaret, Esther, and Polly. The oldest son, John, was a soldier in the patriot army, and died on an English prison- ship in New York harbor. James and Peter were also in the Continental service, and about 1810 removed across the mountains, and settled in Washington

856

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

County, the former one mile west of Briceland's Cross- Roads, where he died in 1819, and the latter in Mount Pleasant township, on Cherry's Run, where he died in 1836 at the age of seventy years. James left one son, who never married, but removed to Ohio and died years ago; he also left a number of daugh- ters, who cannot now be traced.

Peter Simanton married a McFarren ; his children were, first, Jane, who married Samuel Farrar, and died in 1881; second, John, who married first a Ram- sey, and second Eliza Allen, granddaughter of Rev. John McMillan, and died in 1871; and, third, Isa- bella, who married Robert Johnston, and died 1830. Jane left a number of descendants, who reside in Mount Pleasant and Smith townships. John left one son, Harper Simanton, who resides on the old home- stead in Cherry valley, and two married daughters, Mrs. William Campbell, of Midway, and Mrs. Robert Patterson, of Westmoreland County, Pa.

James McElroy, a native of Scotland, emigrated to this country, and purchased a tract of land on Vir- ginia certificate. He lived on the place the remainder of his days, and died at an advanced age. He had three sons, Alexander, James, and John. Alexander later owned the farm ; Nancy, a daughter of Alex- ander, married James Cotton, who now owns the farm. They live in Washington. Eliza J., also a daughter of Alexander, married Joseph Rea, and settled in the neighborhood. James, an only son, was a farmer, and settled in Allegheny County. James, son of James McElroy, Sr., settled in Jefferson County, Ohio; John, also a son, settled in this township on a farm on the head-waters of Chartiers Creek, now owned by Mrs. Robert Maxwell; he lived and died there, and left four sons, James, John, Ebenezer, and Alex- ander, and seven daughters, Susan, Margaret, Eleanor, Mary, Elizabeth, Tabitha, and Jane. James settled on his father's farm, and died in Cross Creek town- ship; John and Ebenezer moved to Ohio, and died there. John McElroy, of Washington, is a son of John. Alexander, son of James McElroy, Jr., lived on a farm near the home farm. Dr. Joseph McElroy, of Hickory, is a son. Eleanor married James Canon, a son of John Canon, of Canonsburg, and lived near the homestead of her father. Margaret married - Smith, and lived near the home farm; the other daughters married and settled in Ohio.

Alexander McConaughy, an Irishman, came to this county and purchased a farm of one hundred and eighty acres, now owned by his great-grandson, Alex- ander McConaughy. He had a son David, to whom his father left the farm. David had three sons, John, David, and Alexander. He died in October, 1827. John sold his portion of the farm to David and Alex- ander, and purchased a farm below Hickory, now owned by James White. He later moved to Ohio, where he died. David went to Ohio, and Alexander lived on the home farm, and died about 1870. His son Matthew now owns the farm.

The Washington Lands .- In the section of coun- try lying between Raccoon Creek and Miller's Run, in Mount Pleasant township, lies a large body of lands, which are among the richest and most productive in the county. These lands, drained on the east by Miller's Run and on the west by Raccoon Creek, in- clude more than two thousand eight hundred acres, which have been known and mentioned for more than a century as "the Washington lands," having been at one time owned by George Washington, of Mount Vernon.

In 1767, before the trans-Allegheny region had been ceded by the Indians, Washington, who had seen it in 1753-55, wrote from Mount Vernon (Sep- tember 21st) to his friend, Capt. William Crawford, who had settled at Stewart's Crossings on the Yough- iogheny, "to look me out a tract of about fifteen hundred or two thousand or more acres somewhere in your neighborhood, meaning only by this that it may be as contiguous to your own settlement as such a body of good land can be found. It will be easy for you to conceive that ordinary or even middling lands would never answer my purpose or expectations so far from navigation and under such a load of ex- penses as these lands are encumbered with. No, a tract to please me must be rich . . . and, if possible, level. Could such a piece be found, you would do me a singular favor in falling upon some method of se- curing it immediately from the attempts of others, as nothing is more certain than that the lands cannot remain long ungranted when once it is known that rights are to be had. . . . "

Under this arrangement and as soon as application could be filed in the land-office for lands in the "New Purchase" of 1768, four tracts of land, aggre- gating sixteen hundred and sixty-one acres, in what is now Perry township, Fayette Co., were taken up, warranted to George Washington, William Athel, John Bishop, John Paty, and Thomas Jones. These warrants were all dated April 3, 1769. They all passed soon after to George Washington, for whom they were originally intended, and were patented to him Feb. 28, 1782. The next year after these lands had been secured Washington made a tour through the section now Washington County, and having formed a favorable opinion of it, he instructed his agent, Capt. William Crawford, to select and purchase lands for him in this section. Thereupon Capt. Crawford examined the great tract owned or claimed by George Croghan, but made no purchase from them. In a letter to Washington, dated April 20, 1771, he said, --

" Agreeable to your request I went to view Col. Croghan's land, but before it could be done the line was to be run, which I attended, and viewed the whole, but I could not find the quantity of land you wanted, nor one thousand acres such as you would like, or such as I would have. What land is worth anything is already taken by somebody, whose . . survey comes within the line we run. But the colonel is not content with that line, as he thinks it does not include lands enough. I am afraid he has not a proper title to what he is now claiming; but I will avoid giving him any certain answer about the land as long as I can

MOUNT PLEASANT TOWNSHIP.

857

possibly do so. I have found some good tracts of land on the head of Chartiers Creek and the head of Raccoon Creek. It is good level farm- ing land, and good meadow, but not that quantity you wanted. I bd- lieve I can procure you a tract in one body of three thousand acres, which is very good, well watered, and about fifteen or twenty miles from the fort. I have not told him where the line lies, and I am afraid to tell him till he runs the line, for I think if he knew of it he would run it on purpose to have the selling of it to you, as he prides himself much upon it and makes it a handle to all bargains he is making with other people."

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.

History of Washington County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 210

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