History of Washington County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 213

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 213

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On the retirement of Dr. White from the practice, his son-in-law, Dr. John Hanna Donnan (son of the Rev. Alexander Donnan), commenced the practice of medicine, and continued till the fall of 1861, when declining health warning him of approaching dissolu- tion, he sent for Dr. D. M. C. McCarrell, a young man of promise located at Frankfort, Pa., who, being strongly pressed both by the doctor and his friends, consented to locate. After several months of disease and suffering, Dr. Dorman died March 9, 1862, of chronic disease of the liver and bowels, in the forty- seventh year of his age. As above mentioned, Dr. McCarrell commenced the practice of medicine in Hickory in the fall of 1861, and he has been in con- tinuous practice since. In the year 1863, Dr. A. M. Rea was a practitioner, and is now located in one of the northern counties of this State. In the year 1864, Dr. D. M. Read located here, and continued till 1868, when he removed West, where he died. In 1868, Dr. Isaac. W. Chisholm located, and continued in prac- tice a period of two years, when he removed to Ohio, and is now in practice in New Concord, in that State. In 1870, Dr. Joseph McElroy, a former student of Dr. McCarrell's, located here, going into partnership with him, and has continued so since.

Schools.1-The earliest school in Mount Pleasant township was on the farm of John McCalmont, known as the Cowen farm, in the winter of 1783 and '84. There was a school taught there, but by whom is not known at this time. William Marshall, who died in 1860, aged ninety-three years, used to relate his going that winter to this house. Among the young men that attended were Daniel Johnston. About the year 1795 this same Daniel Johnston taught in the same old school-house. The venerable David Lyle used to relate many things that happened during Johnston's teaching.

The next school-house built was near where Mount Prospect Church now stands. This was built about the year 1797. A widow lady with two daughters moved into the building, and taught school in it for some time. During the autumn of that year an old gentleman from Cross Creek named Reynolds one day called to pay his addresses to the lady teacher. The school was dismissed for the occasion. In a few weeks the lady teacher's name was changed to Mrs. Reynolds, and she removed to Cross Creek. Soon after the house was burned by an incendiary. Another house was then built on the farm of John Lyle.

This site was in the big woods known as "Poplar Hollow." The base of the old chimney can still be seen. The first teacher who taught there was John Dickey, a Scotch-Irishman, who died about 1860 in Hanover township.

Some years before the commencement of the pres- ent century a school-house was built on the farm of John Knight, now Joseph Rea's, on the old road. The remains can still be seen. A man named Mc- Cready taught there in the year 1803. He was a very severe disciplinarian, and taught in after-years in Cross Creek township, but was always a dread to the scholars both large and small. What became of him or where he went to no one knows. In the same house school was taught in the winters of 1811-12. Samuel Campbell and George Wallace, two of the scholars that year, enlisted in the navy in 1812, and were both killed in Perry's victory on Lake Erie.

Some time about 1800 a school-house was built on the farm lately owned by George Carroll. Here Samuel Lyle taught, and a number of others now forgotten. Lyle removed to West Middletown in 1811, and taught some two years, dying there in 1813.

There was another school-house on the farm now owned by Jacob Donaldson, Jr., on the State road near Mr. Orne's. This was built prior to 1800. Among the teachers were Thomas Merchant, who taught a number of years, and John Hogwe, a Scotchman, also taught there in the winter of 1812-13. He died some fifty years ago at the house of Ludwic McCarrel, in Mount Pleasant township, and was interred in the Hickory churchyard.

From the venerable William Rankin it is learned that about 1806 Humphrey Atcheson taught school in a log house on John Henderson's farm. James Rankin was a teacher about the same time. In 1807, James Irwin and Robert McClure were assessed as school-teachers. In 1818 and 1819, John Crawford and Humphrey Dedworth taught school in a log house on what is now the McCluskey farm. About 1820, James Rankin went to school on the Edward Cherry farm. John Hoge and Alexander Hays were the teachers. The school continued till 1826. A school was taught on the Josiah Allen farm (now J. Edgar Rankin) about the same time. Richard Me- Clure was the first teacher, and Henry Robinson suc- ceeded him.

In 1835 the township voted upon the acceptance or rejection of the school law, and declared in favor of it. S. Wort and William Rankin were chosen school directors. The township was divided into eight dis- tricts. Frame school-houses were built in each dis- trict, the greater part of which have been replaced. A new school-house was erected at Hickory in the fall of 1855, and opened with ceremonies on the 3d of December in that year. The districts have re- mained as at first, with the exception of Hickory, which was made independent about 1865.

1 Chiefly contributed by J. M. K. Reed, Esq.

NORTH STRABANE TOWNSHIP.

STRABANE was an original township. For its erec- tion reference is made to the history of South Strabane. The division of the township into North and South Strabane was made by order of court at the May term in the year 1831.

The township was an independent district for the election of justices from its erection till 1803, when it was embraced with Washington as District No. 1, and so remained until 1838, at which time it again became | former adjoining Preston, the latter adjoining Harri- son, and being the southernmost. David Evans' tract was on the West Branch south of Preston, west of Harrison, and north of Fooks.

independent. The list of justices of old Strabane and of District No. 1 are here given from the first until 1838, from which time the justices only of North Strabane are mentioned :

Alexander Edldie, July 15, 1781. Daniel Leet, July 15, 1781. Nicholas Little, July 15, 1791. David Clark, July 15, 1781. IIenry Taylor, July 15, 1781. John White, July 15, 1781. Matthew Ritchie, Oct. G, 1784. Henry Taylor, Sept. 30, 1788. Thomas McNary, Feb. 8, 1790. George Craighead, Jan. 19, 1799. Alexander Lyttle, April 6, 1805. John Culmery, Aj &1 1, 1811. James Orr, Feb. 8, 1812. David Little, Dec. 11, 1813.

James Blaine, Jan. 1, 1817. Joshua Monroe, March 12, 1819. Richard Johnston, March 22, 1819. Daniel Palmer, May 7, 1819. Matthew McNary, Dec. 4, 1820. David Quail, Jan. 31, 1822. John Marshall, May 20, 1822. Thomas Morgan, Dec. 3, 1823. Matthew Linn, Dec. 20, 1825. Thomas Smith, Jan. 23, 1826, James McDowell, May 19, 1830. Dickerson Roberts, May, 1833. Archibald Kerr, Nov. 14, 1835.

North Strabane.

David Quail, April 14, 1840. Matthew McNary, April 14, 1840. Matthew Linn, April 15, 1845. Matthew McNary, April 15, 1845. Matthew Linn, April 9, 1850. Ira C. Bebont, April 15, 1851. Matthew Linn, April 10, 1855. David Keyes, April 16, 1856. James Kerr, April 12, 1859.

Matthew Linn, April 10, 1860. James Kerr, April 14, 1864. Matthew Linn, June 3, 1865. Matthew Linn, March 29, 1870. J. B. McBride, April 19, 1872. William Reas, May 24, 1874. William Reas, April 11, 1874. Wm. H. Lawrence, March 21, 1877. William Pease, March 27, 1879.

The Morganza Tract and Morgan Family .- When the proprietaries' land-office was opened, April 3, 1769, there were three thousand two hundred ap- plications on file, and on these warrants were issued in the order of the dates of applications. The first warrant issued for lands in this county was No. 517 to William Preston, and three others were issued im- mediately afterwards for tracts contiguous to Preston's, and all adjoining each other, forming a body of land of nearly eleven hundred and forty acres, all in the township of North Strabane. These tracts were all surveyed Nov. 3, 1769, as follows: William Preston, warrant No. 517, "Leicester," 374 acres; Robert Har- rison, warrant No. 549, "Norfolk," 273 acres, 3 roods, and 33 perches; Paul Fooks, warrant No. 1916,

"Shrewsbury," 288 acres, 3 roods, and 3 perches ; David Evans, warrant No. 1969, " Leeds," 201 acres, 3 roods, and 26 perches. The original survey is now in possession of D. T. Morgan, Washington, Pa.

The tract of William Preston was in the forks of the East and West Branches of Chartiers Creek, and lay on both those streams. The land of Robert Har- rison and Paul Fooks was on the East Branch, the

Dr. John Morgan, of Philadelphia, had become interested with others in the purchase of large tracts of land in the Western country, and purchased these four tracts lying in the valley of the Chartiers, con- taining eleven hundred and thirty-eight acres two roods and twenty-two perches, with six per cent. al- lowance. The Preston, Harrison, and Fooks tracts were deeded to him May 1, 1769, and the Evans tract May 1, 1771.

A certain William Wilson had settled upon a part of these lands, and had made some improvements, and by an article executed Oct. 18, 1774, between Morgan and Wilson, the former agreed to purchase Wilson's improvements at such valuation as should be put upon them by referees agreed on by the two parties. Beyond the making of these betterments and their purchase by Dr. Morgan, nothing is known of the progress made in the improvement of these lands until they came into possession of Col. George Morgan, a brother of Dr. John Morgan. The latter died in 1789, and in his will, made July 22, 1788, and probated Dec. 23, 1769, he devised to his brother, Col. George Morgan, all his estate, real and personal, ex- cept such bequests as are otherwise mentioned. The lands in the valley of Chartiers were still in the pos- session of Dr. Morgan, and by this will the title be- came vested in Col. George Morgan. His relations with the government as Indian agent at Pittsburgh from 1775 to 1779 brought him into this section of country, and it is quite probable that he then visited those lands at that time, but nothing definite is known.

He came to the property in 1789, and from an ad- vertisement issued in the Pittsburgh Gazette, bearing date Nov. 26, 1796, it is evident that the land had been pretty well improved, and that settlers, or rather . tenants, had been living upon it some time. The

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NORTH STRABANE TOWNSHIP.

time that Col. George Morgan removed to the West- ern country to reside has been a matter of dispute, but one which a letter written to his son in 1796 and the advertisement hereafter given definitely settled. His son George, when sixteen years of age, was at- tending school at Princeton, preparatory to a three years' course at college. The letter referred to is written from Prospect (where he resided), a short dis- tance from Princeton, and was written for the purpose of ascertaining whether George would prefer remain- ing at school, finish his course, and prepare himself for a profession, or to go West with the family. He says, "The resolution I have long since formed to leave New Jersey has now become necessary to be executed. ... As there are good schools in Pennsyl- vania, I shall take Tom with me. I hope to leave Prospect next October." It is evident he removed at the time he intended, as on the 26th of November, 1796, he published an advertisement in the Pittsburgh Gazette, in which he said,-

"I have six farms in and adjoining the forks of Chartiers Creek, twelve or thirteen miles due south from Pittsburgh, which I will rent for one year or a term of years, taking a share, or cash, or a certain quantity of produce in payment. On each farm are buildings with from forty to eighty acres of clear land under fence, with a propor- tion of good meadow. On one of them is an orchard of one hundred bearing apple trees, and on two of them are distill houses. . .. Lots will be ceded on easy terms to those who wish to build for themselves, which may be done as cheap in stone and lime as in wood. . .. One able to erect suitable buildings here for an inn to accommodate trav- elers will meet particular encouragement, as the great number passing the route stand in daily and hourly need of supplies and accommoda- tions here.

" Mr. Moses Coe's saw and grist mill adjoin Morganza, about nine hundred yards down the Little Chartiers from the Cross-Roads, and Mr. J. Struthers' Fulling Saw and Grist Mills adjoin it on the West, one mile from the intersection of the above-mentioned public roads, from whence it is two miles to Mr. McMillan's Presbyterian Meeting- House, three miles to Canonsburg, and nine miles to the county town of Washington. ... "

The advertisement was dated "Morganza, Nov. 26, 1796," this being the first mention found of the name which Col. Morgan gave to his great tract, the name "Morganza," which is still well known as ap- plied to these lands.

* It was evidently Col. Morgan's intention to make extensive improvements at Morganza. On the Wil- liam Preston tract, "Leicester," he built a large frame house, about fifty feet square, two stories high, with an extensive wing on each end. In the rear of these buildings was a frame barn one hundred and thirty by one hundred and fifty feet. The main road passed on the south side of the house, and along this he planted trees. He brought with him from Prospect many articles of comfort and elegance, and was sur- rounded with much of culture and taste. Upon this farm he lived with his family till his death.

In the fall of 1806, Col. Aaron Burr (with whom Col. Morgan had long been acquainted.) visited him at Morganza, with the purpose (as it afterwards be- came evident) of enlisting Morgan with him in his scheme for the founding of a Southwestern govern- ment. At Col. Morgan's dinner-table the subject of

a dismemberment of the Union was adroitly brought up by Col. Burr, who remarked that, so weak was the government, two hundred men could drive Con- gress into the Potomac, with the President at their head; also, that with five hundred men he could take possession of the city of New York. To this remark Thomas replied that he would be d-d if the little town of Canonsburg could be taken with that number of men. To all his specious arguments and overtures Col. Morgan turned a deaf ear, and Col. Burr left baffled, and with his companion, Col. Du- peistre (De Peyster ?), left the next morning, and proceeded to Wheeling. When Col. Burr was after- wards tried for treason at Richmond, Va., Col. George Morgan and two of his sons, John and Thomas, were called as witnesses, and related the circumstances of Burr's visit at their home, and the conversation that there took place. It was while at Richmond on this occasion that Thomas Morgan, son of Col. George, became acquainted with Catharine Duane, daughter of Col. William Duane, of Philadelphia, who not long afterwards became his wife. Mrs. Catharine Duane Morgan was a woman of remarkable talent, and one whose name was for many years a familiar one in Wash- ington County.

Col. George Morgan lived but a few years after that time, and died in 1810. His wife survived him fifteen years. They were both buried in the family ground at Morganza.

On the 24th of October, 1764, Col. George Morgan was married by the Rev. George Whitefield, at Phila- delphia, to Miss Mary Boynton. Their children were John, Ann, George, Thomas, and Maria.

John Morgan was born in 1770, was educated at Princeton College, married Margaret, the only daugh- ter of James Bunyan, of New York City, in 1795. He removed to this place with his father's family. His father-in-law, James Bunyan, also came to this sec- tion and purchased land on Chartiers Creek, opposite Morganza, in Cecil township. Col. John Morgan lived on this property, and died there in 1819, leaving five sons and three daughters. The only survivors are Col. James B. Morgan, of Pittsburgh, and Mrs. Barker, wife of Major Barker, of Washington, D. C. Thomas Gibbs Morgan, a son of Col. John Morgan, emigrated to New Orleans about 1824, where he re- sided until his death. He was one of the leading lawyers of the State. His son, Philip Gibbs Morgan, also an attorney, is now minister to Mexico.

Ann Morgan, the eldest daughter of Col. George Morgan, was born in 1772, and became the wife of Thomas S. Gibbs, of John's Island, S. C., in 1793. He died in 1798, leaving three sons and one daughter. Later she married John Gibbs, a brother of her first husband.

George Morgan was born in May, 1780, educated at Princeton College, came West after he had finished his studies, and attended to his father's business. He

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HISTORY OF' WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

had charge of the saw- and grist-mill built across the creek in Cecil township. After the division and sale of the property he went to Bower Hill, Allegheny County, where he resided on a farm of about five hundred acres. His children were David T. Morgan, Mary B., Elizabeth, Nancy, Maria, George, Matilda, William McK., and Lauretta. Of these, David T., George, Maria (Mrs. James Watson), and Lauretta are living in Washington, Pa. William McKennan Morgan became a physician, studied medicine with Dr. F. J. Le Moyne, practiced in Pittsburgh, and died about 1854.

Thomas Morgan, the youngest son of Col. George Morgan, was born Aug. 25, 1784. Came to Morganza with his brother's family in 1796. Studied law in Pittsburgh, and was admitted to practice in Wash- ington County in 1813. He was elected to the Legis- lature of the State in 1814-15, was prothonotary from 1821-23, postmaster at Washington, Pa., from 1829 to 1839. He was prominent in the organization of the Franklin Bank (now the First National), and of the Washington Female Seminary. He died July 19, 1855, aged seventy-one years. He married Catharine Duane, as before mentioned. She survived him eight years, and died March 23, 1863, at the age of seventy- six years. Their children were Thomas J., William D., George W., and Anna. Thomas J. Morgan was born at Morganza April 3, 1815, and died Nov. 30, 1850. He commenced the study of law with Isaac Leet. He established a newspaper at Washington called Our Country, which he published a few years. In the summer of 1836 he raised a company of men for the war in Texas. In December of 1837 he was located at Columbus, Ohio, and received the appoint- ment of chief clerk in the post-office of that city. In 1841 he completed his study of the law in Co- lumbus with Noah H. Swayne. Was clerk of the Senate of Ohio in 1841-42. In the spring of 1846 he was appointed law clerk in the office of the solicitor . of the treasury of the United States. In the spring of 1847 he was appointed secretary of legation at Brazil, under Governor David Todd, of Ohio. He died of yellow fever at Rio de Janeiro, March 30, 1850.

William Duane Morgan, son of Thomas, is now living at Newark, Ohio. Gen. George W. Morgan resides at Mount Vernon, Ohio, and Miss Anna Mor- gan is still a resident of Washington, Pa.

Maria Morgan, the youngest child of Col. George Morgan, was born in 1787, and became the wife of Dudley Woodbridge, of Marietta, Ohio, where she settled. Their descendants are numerous in that place.

About 1818 a division took place of the Morganza tract, which later was sold in parcels to several dif- ferent purchasers. It is now owned by Samuel Vane- man, William Pollock, McClelland Brothers, and John McConnell. The old homestead is owned by William Pollock, who married a daughter of James Murray, by whom it was purchased from the heirs.

Other Settlements .- Dorsey Pentecost was one of the first to take up lands in the "New Purchase" in Western Pennsylvania. In 1769 a return of a survey was made to him from the surveyor's office of a tract of land which contained three hundred and fifty-two acres, and was called "Green Way.". It was situated on the Youghiogheny River, in what is now Rostraver township, Westmoreland County. Soon after this purchase he came into possession. of other tracts, one of three hundred and seven acres, another of five hundred and twenty-one acres, an- other of one hundred and sixty-three acres, and still another of four hundred and six acres, all lying in the neighborhood of the Youghiogheny except one, which was near the mouth of Mingo Creek, in what is now Washington County. The "Green Way" tract was the one on which he settled, and was known as the Mansion tract. The valley of the Chartiers attracted his attention, and he determined to sell his property on the Youghiogheny and remove to that section. On the 16th of May, 1777, he sold the "Green Way" tract to Samuel Purviance, Jr., and Robert Purviance, merchants of Baltimore, Md., for £500, and soon after disposed of the others. He was a Virginian, and as a portion of this territory was in dispute between Pennsylvania and Virginia, he be- came an active Virginia partisan. His connection with the boundary controversy between Pennsylvania and Virginia will be found mentioned elsewhere. His first purchase in what is now Washington County, except the tract on Mingo Creek, was made in the summer of 1777 from Paul Froman, of Yohogania County, Va. The deed recites that in consideration of £2000 the former conveys to Dorsey Pentecost that plantation on both sides of the East Fork of " Chur- tees" Creek, adjoining lands " claimed by Thomas Edgerton, Nathaniel Blackmore, Thomas Cook, James Allison, and others." Later, Pentecost pur- chased other lands in what is now South Strabane township.

Upon this tract of land purchased of Froman a mill had been erected, known in the early records as " Froman's Mill on Chartiers." On this tract Dor- sey Pentecost built his log house, near the present residence of John Gamble, and resided there for some years. The titles to these lands, after the pur- chase from Froman, he secured from Virginia by certificates dated Dec. 20, 1779. They were after- wards confirmed by warrants of acceptance, and were surveyed to him on the 20th of April, 1786, as follows: "Independence," 403 acres; "The Big Meadow," 407 acres; "Sugar Tree 'Hill," 402 acres ; and "Gravity," 194 acres.

"The Recovery," containing one hundred and forty- seven acres, was a pre-emption warrant in the name of George Rooles, assigned to Dorsey Pentecost, and surveyed to him on the 20th of December, 1786, adjoin- ing lands of James Campbell and Thomas White. It was located on the North Fork of Chartiers.

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NORTHI STRABANE TOWNSIIIP.

The records show further that Mr. Pentecost was extensively interested in real estate transactions in other localities from 1779 to 1786, both on his indi- vidual account, as partner with Levi Hollingsworth, with Samuel and Robert Purviance, and as a member and director of the Ohio Trading Company, composed of himself, John Canon (the proprietor of Canons- burg), Andrew Robinson, Samuel Mccullough, and Ebenezer Zane, of Ohio County, Va., Thomas Cook, Isaac Cox, and James McMahon. He had interests in large tracts on Saw-Mill Run, on "Tumblestone's" Run, above Logstown, on the south side of the Ohio, at the mouth of Chartiers Creek, and at other places.

On the large tract of land on which he lived in the township of Strabane, and on the site of the present town of Linden, Mr. Pentecost laid out a town in 1778-79 by the name of " Louisburgh," which is to- day one of the lost towns of the county. The only evidence of its existence is contained in the records of the county, from which it is learned that on the 20th of May, 1779, Dorsey Pentecost conveyed to Benjamin Mills lots Nos. 1 and 2 "in the town of Louisburgh, laid out on the mansion plantation of the said Dorsey Pentecost, adjoining the lots whereon the said Pentecost's Mills are erected," and on June 11, 1779, lots Nos. 72 and 73 are conveyed by him to Charles Records.

About the year 1784, Mr. Pentecost, by his large landed interests, became involved in financial diffi- culties, owing to the lessening of values, a depreci- ated currency, and other causes. On the 26th of February, 1785, he mortgaged his lands to Levi Hol- lingsworth to secure the existing indebtedness and future advances. This mortgage was satisfied eleven years later.

On March 29, 1786, Mr. Pentecost executed a power of attorney to Gabriel Peterson to enable the latter to collect debts and demands for him " in the western part of Virginia, commonly called Kaintucky Country ;" also "in the Illinois country, at the villages of Kas- kaskie, Kahokia, Post St. Vincen, or elsewhere below the falls of the Ohio." On Sept. 29, 1786, he executed a power of attorney to George McCormick and Andrew Swearingen to sell ten lots of five acres each, laid out on the Richard Yeates tract.

Other mortgages were afterwards given and other powers of attorney executed by Mr. Pentecost for the selling of his lands in Washington County and other localities; and in November, 1789, certain lands which he had mortgaged to Levi Hollingsworth, July 25, 1787, were sold by David Williamson, sheriff of the county. But in the mean time (in or about the year 1786) he removed to Frederick County, Va., and re- tired permanently from all participation in the affairs of Washington County. He had held the highest po- sitions in the gift of the people of the county where he had resided. His public acts will be more fully, as well as more appropriately, mentioned in the accounts of the boundary controversy and other po-

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History of Washington County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 213

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