History of Washington County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 234

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 234

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Davis

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SOUTH STRABANE TOWNSHIP.

Presbyterian Church in this township by Joseph Brundige in the year 1840.

Enterprise Coal-Works .- On the 1st of April, 1873, operations were commenced for sinking a shaft seven by eleven feet in size, for the purpose of mining coal. After reaching a depth of one hundred and fifty feet they struck the Pittsburgh vein, which at that place was four feet in thickness. The land was owned by James Walter and Julius Le Moyne, and the sinking of the shaft and mining was under thé management of the former. In December of that year mining commenced ; from ten to twenty-five men were employed, and entries were opened from both the east and west sides. After the several changes, the original proprietors retiring, the property came into possession of V. Harding, who now owns it. There is one main entry running northerly, and nine cross entries, five on the west side and four on the east, extending as follows: West side, No. 1, 1400 feet; No. 2, 1400 feet; No. 3, 700 feet; No. 4, 500 feet ; No. 5,250 feet. About 800 feet from the main entry is an air-shaft, six by six feet. East side : No. 1, 125 feet ; No. 2, 750 feet; No. 3, 150 feet; No. 4, 175 feet. The entries on the east side and Nos. 3, 4, and 5 on the west side are not worked at present. About 12,000 tons were mined in 1881. A branch road runs from the works to connect with the Pitts- burgh Southern Railroad.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

SAMUEL VANCE.

Samuel Vance was born in Somerset township, Washington County, Pa., March 13, 1791. His father, Isaac Vance, was of Scotch-Irish parentage, and a native of the valley of Virginia. His mother, Mary Cotton, of Puritan ancestry, was born in Bedford County, Pa. Both families came to this country about the year 1780.

The life of Samuel was the uneventful one of a well-to-do Washington County farmer. He was a man of noble impulses, strict integrity, and high character. His reading and thinking made him one of the earliest and most pronounced temperance men, and an anti-slavery man when that movement was first begun. He was twice married, his wives being cousins, Martha and Mary Fife, of Allegheny County, Pa. He had eight children, four of whom survive him. In 1834 he was chosen a ruling elder in the First Presbyterian Church of Washington, in which relation he continued until the time of his death, Feb. 28, 1874. His good judgment, practical common sense, and unflinching honesty were often called into requisition in public local trusts and interests.

HUSTON PAUL.

William Paul, a native of Pennsylvania, and Han- nah Slack, a native of New Jersey, were married in the beginning of the present century, and settled in Amwell township, Washington Co., Pa. They had twelve children, all of whom grew to manhood and womanhood and married. Huston Paul was their third child, and was born Nov. 10, 1805. He enjoyed but meagre advantages of study in childhood, it being necessary for him very early in life to devote his time to manuál labor. He was married Oct. 4, 1827, to Nancy, youngest daughter of Martin and Catharine Heckathorn, of Greene Co., Pa. For five years after his marriage he was engaged in milling. He then purchased the farm where he now resides. His life has been one of temperance, industry, and prudent economy. Although he has almost reached the age of fourscore years, he is still active, the result, no doubt, of his even-tempered, abstemious life. He has four children,-Hannah married John C. Hastings, a hardware merchant of Washington, Pa., where they reside. They have two children,-William, married to Sadie Ashbrook, and Annie G. Catharine is un- married, and resides with her father. William mar- ried Martha Vance. He is a farmer, and resides in Franklin township, Washington Co. They have seven children,-Philo V., Samuel H., Cary B., Isaac E., Mary R., Nancy, and Martha.

Nancy is unmarried, and resides with her father.

WILLIAM DAVIS.

William Davis was born in West Bethlehem town- ship, Washington Co., Pa., Oct. 6, 1810, and is the son of Joshua and Mary Davis. His father was born in Pennsylvania, and his mother was a native of Ireland. William was the oldest of their children, and he and Mrs. Lucinda Smith, of Pittsburgh, are the only ones now living. Mr. Davis in his childhood attended the so-called subscription schools of the neighborhood in which his father resided. He engaged in farm labor early in life, and continued to work for different far- mers, carefully husbanding his earnings, until 1847, when he purchased and moved to the farm where he now resides, and since that time he has devoted himself to agriculture and the growing of Saxony wool, in both of which he has been eminently successful. He was married Jan. 28, 1836, to Juliet Palmer, who died Oct. 11, 1841. They had three children. George married Elizabeth Martin, and is engaged in mer- chandising in Washington, Pa. John K. married Margaret Smith, and is a farmer in Somerset town- ship. Mary Elizabeth died in infancy. Aug. 15, 1844, Mr. Davis married Phebe E. Moore, who died July 8, 1852. His present wife's maiden name was Mary Kerr. They have one son, William H., who is a farmer and resides with his parents. Mr. Davis has held a number of important township offices,

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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

and was for nine years a member of the Poor Board of the county. He discharged the duties of these posi- tions in a manner creditable to himself and his con- stituency. He is also a director of the First National Bank of Washington, Pa., which position he has held for a number of years. He has long been a member of the Presbyterian Church, and for a number of years has held the office of elder in that organization.

He is pleasant and unobtrusive in manner, of a kind and benevolent spirit, greatly attached to his home, and is much respected by his neighbors. His success in life is due to his integrity, his industry, his devotion, and his unselfishness.

GEORGE M. RAMSEY, M.D.

Of the early history of Dr. George M. Ramsey's family little is known. His great-grandfather came to this country at the age of twelve years. His grandfather, William Ramsey, was born in Bucks Co., Pa., in the year 1755. At the age of sixteen he took the colonial oath of allegiance, and enlisted early in the war of independence as captain. When reconnoitring one day he unexpectedly met two mounted British officers, one of whom he captured, notwithstanding he was himself on foot. The gov- ernment presented him with the sword of the officer he captured in recognition of his bravery and agility. After the surrender of Yorktown he started on foot for home, and becoming weary on the way he hung his cumbrous sabre on the limb of a tree and left his trophy there, which in after-years he greatly regretted. In 1780 he married Martha Allan, of Ches- ter County, Pa. In 1800 he moved to Washington County, and purchased the tract of land now com- prising the farms of John S. Barr and S. B. Wier, in Somerset township. He built a mill and pottery near where the United Presbyterian Church now stands. William Ramsey with his family were at- tendants and communicants of Pigeon Creek Pres- byterian Church. In 1815 he moved to Ohio, where he died at the age of eighty-six years. His remains were buried at Morristown, Ohio.

Josiah Ramsey, the doctor's father, was born Dec. 4, 1783, near Chambersburg, Pa. ; was seventeen years old when he came to Washington County. In 1804 he married Catharine McIlvaine, and had born unto him twelve children, nine daughters and three sons, William, George M., and Josiah Allan. A few years after his marriage he bought the farm in South Strabane where all of his children except three were born. He was a man of exemplary life, a Presby- terian of the Calvinistic type, industrious, and dex- trous with the use of tools, but remained a farmer. He died at the age of fifty-three years, and his re- mains were buried at Pigeon Creek Cemetery.

His oldest son, William Ramsey, was born Jan. 16, 1812. He remained at home, was a steady-going far-

mer, and never married. He was an ardent Republi- can, a consistent member of the Presbyterian Church for about forty years, a ruling elder in the same for about twenty-five years. He died June 30, 1880, and a handsome monument marks the place of his burial in Pigeon Creek Cemetery.

Josiah Allan, the youngest son and the youngest of the family, was born March 31, 1828. He received a liberal education, graduating from Washington College in the class of 1850. He read medicine at Mckeesport, Allegheny Co., Pa., and began prac- ticing at Braddock Fields, the same county, where he married Mary West, daughter of Rev. Nathaniel West, D.D.

After a few years he moved to Philadelphia, where he practiced until the beginning of the Rebellion, and being surgeon of a volunteer regiment of Philadel- phia, he entered the service with his regiment under the call for seventy-five thousand men to serve for three months. At the expiration of his three months' service he was appointed and commissioned surgeon of the One Hundred and Twenty-first Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, and continued in service in the Army of the Potomac until it disbanded in 1865. He then returned to Philadelphia and resumed the prac- tice of medicine. Jan. 1, 1870, his wife died, and in September, 1871, he married Emeline E. Ramalee, of Philadelphia, and to them was born one son, Paul Lemoyne Allan Ramsey. Dr. Josiah Allan Ramsey was a man of delicate constitution, of courteous and genial manner. He died Jan. 8, 1873, and his re- mains were buried in Mount Vernon Cemetery, Phila- delphia.

Dr. George M. Ramsey was born April 19, 1820, in South Strabane township, Washington County. When fifteen years of age his father died ; he remained at home two years after his death, and then went to the carpenter trade. In the autumn of 1846, his health failing, he was advised by his physician to go South. He first went to Louisiana, where he spent the winter ; he then went to St. Louis, Mo., and in the midsum- mer to Mineral Point, Wis. His health not im- proving he again went South via New Orleans and Mobile to Selma, Ala. In the autumn of 1848 he taught school in Arkansas for two and a half months, when he was obliged to leave without compensation for his work because of his sympathy for, and sup- posed aid to, slaves escaping from their masters. He again went to St. Louis, thence to Alabama, where he spent the winter of 1848. In the summer of 1849 he returned to his home in Washington County, and in the autumn of the same year began the study of medicine in Canonsburg, Pa. He graduated at Jef- ferson Medical College in the class of 1852, and in October of that year began practice in St. Louis, Mo. In June, 1853, he was appointed surgeon on a vessel bound for Australia, and went to New York City to embark, but finding the vessel not seaworthy he re- fused to accept the position. He remained in New

yours Inly Growl Ramsey

SOUTH STRABANE TOWNSHIP.

959

York City until the beginning of the civil war, when he was appointed surgeon of the soldiers' barracks in Pearl Street, and was examining surgeon until Oc- tober, 1861, when, at his request, he was ordered to report to the Ninety-fifth Regiment New York Volunteers for duty. This regiment was ordered to Washington, and in March, 1862, entered Virginia, and was attached to the Army of the Potomac. Sur- geon Ramsey was in all of the battles fought by the Army of the Potomac until February, 1863. At the battle of Gettysburg he had charge of a hospital containing over a thousand wounded Union and several hundred rebel soldiers. He performed all the operations required with a death-rate of only seven per thousand. In February, 1863, he was ordered to report to the Secretary of the Navy for detached service, but remained surgeon of the Ninety-fifth New York ;

ories are certainly quite novel, and may not meet with approval, but to preserve them and invite dis- cussion a summary is here made as nearly as possible in his own language :

The velocity and direction in which clouds move (even when affected by the earth's surface), when compared with the velocity and direction of the earth's rotation, "demonstrate that the wind always moves eastward, and in the aggregate has a greater velocity than the earth's surface over which it moves. Air-motion is always eastward, although it may di- verge northward or southward, thereby resulting in a compound motion, yet its eastward motion is always the greatest." "Air-pressure upon the earth's surface is more than one ton to each square foot of surface." " Now considering the earth as virtually in a state of equilibrium in space, that gravity is not exerted upon

Volunteers, and, at his own request, was permitted to return to duty with his old regiment. Immediately upon his return he was ordered to duty as brigade- surgeon at brigade headquarters, and was finally mus- tered out of service with his regiment, July 18, 1865. He then returned to New York City and resumed the practice of medicine. In April, 1872, he married Anna Martha Gaffney, and in the autumn of 1876 he returned to the old homestead in Washington County, Pa., where he now resides.

Dr. Ramsey is especially fond of scientific studies, and for many years has been engaged upon the diffi- cult problem of accounting for the diurnal motion of the earth. While residing in New York he delivered lectures upon the subject before scientific societies, and in 1869 he published a work of two hundred and sixty-four pages, entitled "Cosmology," in which his theories are propounded and discussed. These the-

it in a way to impede rotation, that this air-pressure in motion is exerted in the direction of rotation, and that its velocity is greater than the earth's velocity of rotation, it follows," in Dr. Ramsey's opinion, "that the earth's diurnal rotation is produced and perpetu- ated by atmospheric pressure in motion." "The at- mosphere is, in fact, a great elastic belt, enveloping the earth from pole to pole, moving with a velocity greater than that of the earth's surface, and exerting its mighty power to rotate the earth with a leverage of four thousand miles." Hence is to be discovered another law of nature in operation; "whereby at long but undefined periods the earth is virtually capsized. causing geological and glacial periods and changes in the geographical position of the polar centres."

In the diagram to illustrate these views, S repre- sents the sun ; B the earth at her vernal equinox; C

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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

and D the earth at her solstices. "One law of atmos- plainly seen," says the doctor, "if the divergence were greater the rotary power would be exerted with greater force upon the earth around her polar diam- eter, resulting in a change in the direction of rotation so as to coincide with the line of air-motion, and this pheric motion is that it always crosses the line of illumination at right angles, as is shown by the arrows. At B it is seen that the earth's line of rota- tion and air-motion coincide; while at the solstices, C and D, they diverge 45°. Now, the atmosphere ' change in the direction of rotation would produce a being the cause of the earth's rotary motion, it is | deluge that would submerge whole continents."

UNION TOWNSHIP.

THE township of Union lies in the northeast corner of Washington County, on the convex side of a sweep- ing bend of the Monongahela River, which forms its entire eastern boundary. On the north and northeast the township is bounded by Allegheny County, on the west by Peters and Nottingham townships, and on the south by the township of Carroll. Besides the Monongahela River, which forms the eastern boundary of the township, as already mentioned, the only streams of sufficient size and importance to be worthy of mention are Mingo Creek in the southern and Peters Creek in the northern part of the town- ship. Both these streams flow in an easterly course into the Monongahela. These, with a number of smaller creeks and runs, tributaries of the two principal creeks and of the Monongahela, comprise all the waters of Union township. Along the margin of the river are bottom-lands, ranging from one-eighth to three-quarters of a mile in width. From the western and northwestern borders of these bottoms the land rises abruptly into a range of high "river hills," from the tops of which elevations there stretches away to- wards the interior a succession of high rolling uplands, everywhere tillable and admirably adapted for pur- poses of agriculture and grazing. The hills are un- derlaid with a rich and heavy vein of coal, and above this vein is found an unlimited supply of stone of the most excellent and durable quality for purposes of building, to which use it has been successfully ap- plied by the inhabitants of this locality almost from the time of the building of the homes of the earliest settlers.

The territory of which this township is composed was that part of Peters and that part of Notting- ham townships lying along the Monongahela River. The first action towards the erection of a township upon this territory was the presentation, at the Jan- uary session of court in 1835, of a petition ' from " sundry inhabitants of Peters and Nottingham town- ships for a new township out of part of said town- ships." On the 26th of the same month the court appointed viewers, who reported at the June term. A

review was granted, and on the 3d of October a re- review was granted. On the 23d of December, 1835, the re-reviewers " reported in favor a new township." which report was approved, and on the 31st of March, 1836, the court confirmed the report, and decreed the erection of a new township to be named " Union."

Dissatisfaction seems to have grown out of this procedure, and the inhabitants of the new township presented a petition at the June term of court, 1836, " for a view of said township, for the purpose of be- ing annexed to Carroll township, from the great in- convenience respecting schools." Commissioners were appointed on the 23d of June to examine the merits of the case. It was in their hands for some time, and not until Nov. 15, 1839,-was a final report made, which was " That there is no alteration neces- sary." This was approved, and on the 21st of Feb- ruary the action was confirmed.

Early Settlements and Settlers .- The following is a list of the names of persons assessed in Peters and Nottingham townships in 1788, on lands now within the limits of Union township, viz. : In Peters township, John Anderson, 80 acres; James Ander- son, 30 acres; James Barclay, 250 acres ; John Barr ; John Cox, 300 acres; John Campbell, 160 acres; Edward Campbell, 50 acres ; Robert Estep, 300 acres ; John Finley, 125 acres; James Gailey, 50 acres ; Widow Pyatt, 200 acres; Thomas Williams, 150 acres. In Nottingham township, John Barr, 140 acres ; Joseph Bentley, 115 acres; Charles Bradford, 65 acres; Philip Dailey, 110 acres; Charles Dailey, 260 acres ; Nathan Dailey, 300 acres; Jacob Fegley, 325 acres ; Zachariah Fegley ; Simeon Fegley ; John Holcroft, 400 acres ; John Happer, 300 acres ; James Logan, 100 acres ; Robert Little, 400 acres.

Settlements had been made in many places along the Monongahela River before the land was ceded by the Indians to the Penns, but within the limits of Union township no evidence is found of such prior settlements. The earliest date brought to notice is discovered in a Virginia certificate that was issued to Gabriel Cox, Jan. 5, 1780.

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UNION TOWNSHIP.

This tract of 400 acres was granted to Gabriel Cox as a settlement right, and was surveyed to him as 315} acres, under the title of "Coxbury." It was located adjoining the property of Robert Little, Robert Estep, and Samuel Irwin, and also adjoining another tract of land which Cox owned, and which was called "Cox's Addition." The last-named tract was granted to Mr. Cox under the pre-emption, and was surveyed as 262 acres. Gabriel Cox and his wife, Sarah, lived at this place until about the year 1790, but whether they had any family, or to what place they removed at that time, is not known. None of their descendants are in the county. The land occu- pied by Mr. Cox is now owned by Andrew McClure and Messrs. Morrison and Dennison. It is, however, authentic that Gabriel Cox was a major under the authority of Virginia from 1776 to 1781; also, that he was a participant in the various expeditions that went out from Washington County against the In- dians from 1778 to 1782.

John Campbell and his son Edward were residents of this county as early as 1779, as the name of the father appears upon a' recorded deed of that date. John Campbell took up a tract of land containing 311 acres, to which was given the name of "Camp- bellton," and he received a patent for it Sept. 9, 1788. On April 5, 1807, he purchased 226 acres of land adjoining the tracts of Abram Mellinger and Enoch Wright, on Peters Creek, on the Washington road. This tract was named "Partnership." Mr. Campbell held this property for several years, and Jan. 23, 1823, sold it to his son Edward. It is now occupied by Mrs. Freitchman and others. John Campbell was appointed justice of the peace Feb. 8, 1799, which office he held for many years.

Philip Dailey received Jan. 17, 1780, a Virginia certificate for a tract " adjoining lands of Gabriel Cox, and including his settlement made in the year of our Lord 1773." This tract was surveyed as two hundred and twenty-three acres under the name of " Dauphin." At his death Philip Dailey left this property by will to his sons, Philip, Charles, and Samuel Dailey.

Nathan Dailey, a brother of Philip, Sr., warranted a tract of land containing two hundred and eighty- nine acres, called "Falling Timber Bottom." The application for this land was dated May 23, 1769. The land was also secured by Mr. Dailey upon.a Vir- ginia certificate, and the warrant of acceptance was given Dec. 16, 1792. One hundred and twenty-seven acres of this property was conveyed by Nathan Dailey to his son Nathan in October, 1816, and one hundred and twenty-seven acres was sold by him, Jan. 13, 1818, to Joseph Bentley. The part given to Nathan Dailey, Jr:, was in turn left by him to his son Isaac, who afterwards sold a portion of it to John Hindman.

John Holcroft was a native of Fairfield County, Conn. The exact date of his arrival in Washington County is not known, but he was here prior to 1786, and at that time he was living on land belonging to

Dorsey Pentecost. On Dec. 30, 1786, he leased of Dorsey Pentecost property described as "the lands now in possession of John Holcroft, Hugh and James Miller, James Patterson, John Spivey, Benjamin Johnston, John Williamson, William McCoy, and William Leaman, and one other tract on the west fork of Chartiers Creek." It appears that the lands had been leased prior to this date, but Pentecost re- linquished all right and title to the rents, in consid- eration of which Holcroft was to pay him £200 in gold or silver coin. How long Holcroft retained pos- session of the lands under this lease is not known. During the Whiskey Insurrection Holcroft was living in what is now Union township, and was one of the foremost and most active of the insurgents. The land upon which he then lived is east of Gastonville, on the Finleyville and Elizabeth road. It has passed through many hands and is now owned by Joel Sick- man and others, the old log house which he occupied standing near the present stone house of Mr. Sick- man. In 1788, Holcroft was assessed upon a tract of four hundred acres of land called "Liberty Hall," that was taken up by Samuel Irwin upon a Virginia certificate. In January, 1795, Holcroft bought it. He lived in this township until 1818, when he died far advanced in years. His wife, Rachel Holcroft, survived him, as did his eight sons and eight daugh- ters. The sons were John B., Seely, Richard, James, George, Nathaniel, Elijah, and William Holcroft. The daughters were Mrs. Elizabeth Lockwood, Mrs. Mary Scofield, Mrs. Deborah Donalson, Mrs. Rachel Applegate, Mrs. Sarah Gallagher, Mrs. Gerty Sprig, Mrs. Margaret Seely, and Mrs. Betsey Storer. The son William was the youngest of the family. The Holcroft property or a part of it is now owned by John Houston.

Richard James, of Upper Freehold, Monmouth Co., N. J., purchased of Gabriel Cox, April 20, 1786, five hundred and five acres of land in which was included the whole of the tract called "Coxbury," and a part "Cox's Addition." Again, on Oct. 28, 1793, Richard James, "in consideration of the love, good will, and natural affection which he hath and doth bear toward his son, and the farther consideration of ten shil- lings," conveyed to his son, Robert James, one-half of the land purchased of Gabriel Cox, which was two hundred and fifty-two and one-half acres. Also at the same time, and for the same reasons and con- sideration, he conveyed to his son William the other half,-two hundred and fifty-two and one-half acres, -the latter half containing houses, barns, stables, and all other buildings. Upon coming into possession of their property in 1793 the two brothers, Robert and William James, both single men, came to Washing- ton County. Robert built a log house upon the lower part of his land, and soon after married Catherine, a daughter of Mr. Gallagher, who lived near in Alle- gheny County. About the year 1800, Robert James built the stone house now owned by Mrs. Gilmore,

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History of Washington County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 234

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