History of Washington County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 57

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 57

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1 A justice of this and of the Augusta County court.

2 Also a justice of this and of Augusta County court.

3 To M. Contrecœur, and his French and Indians, April 17, 1754. The post surrendered was the fort then being erected where Pittsburgh now is. Edward Ward resided in Dickinson township, Washington County, in 1787. 15

* Oct. 27, 1779. %

222

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

July 24, 1780. * * * *

" Abram Steel appeared in Consequence of a Summons, & Confest the Crime of swearing four profane oathe. 208. Lodged in the hands of Samuel Newell, Esq."

Aug. 28, 1780. *

* * * *

" Present, Edward Ward, Joseph Beelor, Richard Yeates, George Val- landigham, Oliver Miller."

* * * * *

" At a cald Court held for the tryal of J *** J ****** for passing Coun- terfeit Continental Money,

" Com'wealth v. J ****** ; by evidence of Daniel Applegate and Joseph McCune, the said J ****** is acquitted.

" 23 forty-Dollar Bills.

"7 thirty-Dollar Bills, Counterfeit, lodged in the hands of Andrew Heth."

" Ordered that Court adjourn till Court in Course.

" EDWARD WARD."

There was no "Court in Course." This was the last time a court of justice was held under the Vir- ginia jurisdiction within the limits of old Washington County. At this term, as well as at other preceding terms, much more business was done than the extracts made would indicate, for in the last day's proceed- ings the following names appear :

Richard McMahon, James Bruce, Arnold Evins, Abington George Colvin, deceased, John Miller, J *** J ****** , Hugh Brady, Sampson Beaver, David Steel, James McMullin, Garsham Hull, John Breckenridge, William May, Mordecai Richards and Stephen Rich- ards (sons of Stephen Richards, deceased), Agnes Stilk, Joseph Parkison, Elizabeth Deckert, Sarah Jacobs, Mary Boyd, Catharine Develin, Ann Walker, David Richie, John Wall, George Brown, Jacob Knight, Tobias Wood, Moses Holladay, Michael Burk, John Brotoman, William Long, Morris Hake, James Dornin, Thomas Timons, Joseph McKinnen, John Seamon, Jeremiah Morgan, and Robert Peat.

It was indeed a court of "large and varied" busi-

quarter, though Justice Goe and Miller were able to contribute one dollar, eighty-seven and one-half cents. For a history of the depreci-

ation of the Continental' currency, see III. Adams' Writings of Albert Gallatin, 261.

ness. Beside the criminal and civil trials by jury, common in our day, it granted letters testamentary and of administration, appointed guardians, qualified militia officers, established roads and ferries, author- ized and recorded ear-marks and brands, authorized sale of slaves and servants, granted licenses for ordi- naries (or taverns), bound out infant orphans, pun- ished drunkenness and "profane curses," etc., and all this was done after a primitive method of simpli- fied justice.

On Sept. 23, 1780,1 the General Assembly of Penn- sylvania had ratified the Baltimore agreement of July 31, 1779, with the disagreeable condition attached by the Virginia Legislature of June 23, 1780, the result of which was that nothing remained of Yohogania County, Virginia, but a narrow strip on the Ohio River between the mouth of Cross Creek and Mill Creek, which was merged into Ohio County, after- wards forming a part of Brooke County when organ- ized in 1797. Yohogania County, Virginia, then be- came a lost county, but soon afterwards a new county was born to take its place, Washington County, Penn- sylvania.

CHAPTER XVII.

CIVIL AND LEGAL HISTORY .- ( Continued.)

IX.

The Erection of Washington County-Appointment of Officers-Early Political Troubles-Division into Townships-Election of Justices- The New State Project.

The Erection of Washington County .- Within sixty days after the Pennsylvania Assembly had finally ratified the Baltimore agreement of Aug. 31, 1779, relating to the boundary line, with the somewhat unpalatable condition attached 1780. thereto by Virginia, President Reed, on Nov. 6, 1780, in his message to the new Assembly, then lately convened, wrote as follows : 2

" The final settlement of the contested boundaries of this State and Virginia induces us to lay before you the propriety and policy of setting off one or more counties so as to introduce law, order, and good govern- ment, where they have been long and much wanted. We think it would also conduce much to the defence of the frontiery and safety of the in- terior country, as the strength of those parts might then be organized & systematically drawn forth in case of necessity."

This necessity for the erection of "one or more counties" out of old Westmoreland must have been apparent to any one looking at the large extent of the latter county, bounded on the east by the Laurel Hills and Chestnut Ridge up from the western ter- minus of the Maryland line, on the north by the Kiskeminitas, Allegheny, and Ohio Rivers, and on the west and south by the western and southern boundaries of the State. Moreover, the Ohio River to the west of us had become the frontier line, and

1 VIII. Penn. Archives, 570.

2 XII. Col. Records, 530.

MAP of

RIVER

OHIO

Creek

Tom Mason

HANOVER

Flahertys E

RIVER

Cross

Rouds

Potat

Pittsburgh

Briskets

Run.

Flanagans

Nevils

SDICKINSON

Butlars

Ritchies

Nobles*

Toms K.

Thompsons

MC Donalds

Fowler's

SMITH

NeKeesport

Montgomerys

Armstrongs

Smiths Nad

CECIL

PETERS

Wells's

Creek

WWest Bril

Pyorgans

*Marshals. Allisons

Perrys

ha Smiths

HOPEWELL

Lambs

Parkinsons & NOTTINGHAM Costner's

Buttrio

STRABANE

Pigeon Cr.Ch.

hies

Hendersons

WASHINGTON

Wolfe's

Millers

Leets

SOMERSET

FALLOWFIELD

North

MORRI

Cookstown

DONEGAL

AMWELL

Pilce

¡ Campbell&

Ha Dods

BETHLEHEM

Dods

Middle Pork Ten

le Cr

Red Stone

Beenans

MORGAN

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Carmick-

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CUMBERLAND Greyys,

HiyerSons

Vilines * Mu

Hathawings

FRANKLIN

Corbieys Whitely Cm)

Greensburghd

GREENE

Gull

Fish Cr

Sutters

Dun

WASHINGTON COUNTY

from 1781 to 1788. Constructed Expressly for the Ilustrated History of' Washington County by JOHN G. RUPLE C.E

Raccoon

ROBIN SO

Wluites

Indiante.

Robinsons

Harmons o

ances

Millers Run

HOOHOA

phy kun

Lippen

Philips 0

Peters C

Elizabeth

Cross

Canone

Chartier's

Branch

Mingo en

Maple C

Wheeling Cr.

Lindleys

North Fork

South Fork

Fort Jackson

South Forle

Me/Millans

Streets R.

Montours Kun

CIVIL AND LEGAL-THE ERECTION OF WASHINGTON COUNTY.

223

the narrow strip of Virginia forming the Panhandle still left the Pennsylvania settlers west of the Monon- gahela to form in reality the barrier against Indian encroachment upon the interior parts of the State. | shall be and the same is hereby declared to be, erected Into a county,

The interest of our pioneers, therefore, in the pro- posed establishment of the civil and military power more conveniently at hand can easily be inferred.

Thomas Scott, Esq., the same who had been ar- - rested and brought before Lord Dunmore at Redstone on Nov. 12, 1774, and had been imprisoned by Dun- more's court at Pittsburgh on May 18, 1775, had written upon the subject of the new county or coun- ties to President Reed on Oct. 8, 1780, though his letter has not been found. It was doubtless this com- munication which had called forth the passage quoted -

from the message to the Assembly the follow- 1781. ing month, for on March 20, 1781, President Reed replied to Mr. Scott, as follows : 1

"DEAR SIR :

"I received your favor of the 8th October last but a few days ago. You will see by our public Message to the House that we have not for- gotten the important Point you dwell so much upon. I have also in private Conversation endeavored to impress it on the Minds of the Members, but the Truth is that the People of your own Country are not agreed on it,3 which with the great Load of Business arising in our great Continental Concerns has I believe kept the House from going into it. Some of the members of the House think there is more prob- ability of gaining military Assistance from the People while laying in one County than after a Division of the County. . . . Since I began this letter I find a Bill bas been brought into the House for setting off the County ; but I confess I was apprehensive it would not pass this session, until within this Day or two, But I now hope it will. .. . "

Only eight days after the date of this letter, to wit, March 28, 1781, the act erecting a new county was passed. Its provisions were as follows : 3

" SECTION I. Whereas the inhabitants of that part of Westmoreland County, which lies west of the Monongahela river, have represented to the Assembly of this State, the great hardships'they lie under, from being so remote from the present seat of Judicature and the public offices; for remedy whereof,

"SECT. 2. Be it enacted . .. That all that part of the State of Penn- sylvania west of the Monongahela river,4 and south of the Ohio, begin- ning at the junction of the said rivers; thence up the Monongahela river afuresaid, to the line run by Mason and Dixon ; thence by the said line due west to the end thereof; and from thence the same course to the end of five degrees of west longitude, to be computed from the river Delaware ; thence by a meridian line extended north, until the

1 IX. Penn. Archives, 20. How slow was the travel of information in those days!

2 Referring no doubt to opposition east of the Monongahela, where Mr. Scott still resided. In 1782, when Fayette County was proposed to be erected, there was serious opposition expressed ; see letter of Chris- topher Hays to President Moore, IX. Penn. Archives, 637.

3 See P. L. 1781, 400 ; I. Dallas' L., 874; II. Carey & Bioren, 282; I. Smith's L , 517.

4 In 1791, Gen. Ephraim Douglass, the prothonotary of Fayette County, wrote to Governor Mifflin : " ... The Act for erecting the county of Washington limits that county by the west side of the Mo- nongahela river; and this county is limited-beginning at Monongahela river where Mason aud Dixon's line crosses the same; thence down the river to the mouth of Speer's run, &c. Now, by these two acts, it would appear that the river still belonged to Westmoreland county, and that neither of the other counties have any jurisdiction on it."-Monon- gahela of Old, 105. The difficulty suggested here as to the jurisdiction of the courts of either Washington or Fayette Counties over the Mo- nougahela River does not seem of much moment, but, so far as now known, it has not yet arisen.

same shall intersect the Ohio river; and thence by the same to the place of beginning ; (the raid liney from the end of Maxon and Dixon's line to the Ohlo river, to be understood, as to be hereafter acertained by Commissioners now appointed or to be appointed for that porfy se, henceforth to be called Washington."

Thus it is seen that Washington County, as origin- ally erected, embraced all the lands lying west of the Monongahela and in the State, thus including the present Greene County and all of Allegheny and Beaver Counties south of the Monongahela and the Ohio.

At this date George Washington had firmly fixed himself in the hearts of the American people, soon to give them the avails of victory ; Cornwallis was marching and countermarching through the central portion of North Carolina, to surrender in the fall afterwards to Washington and La Fayette at York- I town. What name then the more proper for the new county than it received ?

It was provided by Section 3 of the act that the inhabitants of the said county of Washington should thereafter have and enjoy all the jurisdictions, powers, rights, liberties, and privileges whatsoever which the inhabitants of any other county enjoyed, "by any charter of privileges, or the laws of the State, or by any other ways and means whatsoever ;" and Section 4 provided "that the trustees, or any three of them, hereafter appointed by this act to take assur- ance of a piece of land, whereon to erect a court- house and prison, shall, on or before the first day of July next ensuing, divide the said county into Town- ships or Districts."

Provision was made in Section 5 for the election of inspectors by the electors in the several townships, and that the inhabitants of the county, qualified as electors, "shall (until otherwise ordered by the House of Assembly ) meet at the house of David Hoge, at the place called Catfishes Camp, in the aforesaid county, at the same time that the inhabitants of the other Counties shall meet for a like purpose, and then and there elect two representatives to serve them in As- sembly, one councilor, two fit persons for sheriffs, two fit persons for coroners, and three commissioners. . . . " Section 6 extended the jurisdiction of the justices of the Supreme Court to the said county, with power from time to time "to deliver the goal of the said county of capital and other offenders, in like manner as they are authorized to do in the other counties of this State."

"SECT. 7. And be it further enacted &c., That the freeholders of each Township or District, in the County aforesaid, are hereby authorized and required, to meet on the fifteenth day of July next, at some proper and convenient place, and elect two fit persons for Justices of the Peace for each Township."

The oaths for the inspectors and judges were pre- scribed in Section 8, and it was further enacted by

"SRCT. 9. . . . That when the persons elected for justices of the Peace, as aforesaid, or shall be appointed by the President and Council, have taken the oaths or affirmations required by the Laws of this Common- wealth, and received their commissions as directed in the Constitution of

224

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

this State, the said Justices or any three of them, shall and may hold Courts of General Quarter Sessions of the Peace and Goal Delivery, and County Courts for holding of Pleas ; . . . which said Courts shall sit aud be held for the said County of Washington, on the Tuesdays next pre- ceding the Westmoreland County Courts, in every of the months of January, April, July, and October, at the house of David Hoge aforesaid, in the said County of Washington, until a Court-house shall be built; and when the same is built and erected in the county aforesaid, the said several courts shall then be holden and kept at the said Court-house on the days before mentioned.

"SECT. 10. . .. That it shall and may be lawful to and for James Edgar, Hugh Scott, Van Swearingen, Daniel Leet and John Armstrong, or any three of them, to take up or purchase, and to take assurance to them and their heirs, of a piece of land situated in some convenient place in the said County, in trust and for the use of the inhabitants of the said Connty, and thereupon to erect and build a Court-house and Prison, sufficient to accommodate the public service of the said County."

Section 11 made provision for the raising by county rates and levies the money necessary in the opinion of the trustees for the purchase of the land and the erection of the public buildings, the amount being limited by Section 12 to the sum of one thou- sand pounds.

Actions pending in Westmoreland County against persons living in the bounds of Washington County were authorized by Section 13 to be proceeded in to final judgment, to be enforced by process from the courts of the old county.

Sections 14, 15, and 16 appointed Henry Taylor col- lector of excise in Washington County, and made provisions for his duties, powers, fees, and perquisites as such collector.

Until a sheriff and a coroner should be chosen in Washington County, it was provided by Section 17 that the sheriff and coroner of Westmoreland County should officiate, while the 18th and last section of this organic act made adequate provision for the official bonds of the sheriff and the county treasurer.

Appointments of Officers. - This act, which brought into existence the civil municipality within whose limits we live, was passed, as stated, on March 28, 1781, which was Wednesday. On Monday, April 2, 1781, there is the following record of the proceed- ings of the Supreme Executive Council : 1

" The Council taking into consideration the act of Assembly passed the twenty-eighth instant, entitled 'An Act for erecting part of the county of Westmoreland into a special county,' called by the name of Washington.

" Resolved, That Thomas Scott, Esquire, be appointed and commis- Bioned to be Prothonotary of the said county of Washington .?

1 XII. Col. Records, 681.

2 Maj .- Gen. Arthur St. Clair, in a letter to the Supreme Executive Council, dated Philadelphia, March 26, 1781 (in IX. Penn. Archives, 36), strongly recommended Michael Huffnagle, "a young gentleman now in the practice of the law in Westmoreland," for the appointment of pro- thonotary for the proposed new county, the bill for which "will proba- bly pass into a law." The special qualifications of his candidate were fully exhibited by the influential general, but Thomas Scott received the appointment unsought for, so far as known.

Mr. Scott is already well known to us. Of all the early men of our county he was at least the peer of the best of them. He continued pro- thonotary till March 28, 1789, when, having been elected to the First Congress under the Constitution of 1787, he was succeeded by his son, Alexander Scott. (See XI. Penn. Archives, 568; XVI. Col. Records,

" Resolved, That James Marshall,8 Esquire, be appointed and com- missioned to be Lieutenant of the county of Washington; and that John Cannon4 and Daniel Leet be appointed and commissioned to be sub- lieutenants of the said county." 5

40). On Nov. 21, 1786 (XV. Col. Records, 120), he was commissioned a justice (though still prothonotary), and the writer has his notes of a charge to a grand jury. The following is an obituary notice taken from the Western Telegraphe of March 6, 1796:

" In the night of Wednesday last, March 2, 1796, a few days after he had completed his fifty seventh year, died Thomas Scutt. He was born in Chester County, but from a child lived in Lancaster County till the year 1770, when he removed with his family and settled ou Dunlap's Creek, near the Monongahela. When Westmoreland County Was erected in 1773, he was appointed a justice of the peace from that county. In this capacity he was a warm and able supporter of the Pennsylvania jurisdiction, and drew on himself the particular resentment of the par- tisans of Virginia. When this contest sunk in the great cause of the Revolution, he was elected a member of the first Pennsylvania Assem- bly under the republican government, and in the year following he was elected a member of the Supreme Council. After his period of appoint- ment in the Council expired, and this county of Washington was erected in 1781, the office of clerk of the courts here was given to him. This occasioned the removal of his residence to this town In 1787 he was chosen a member of the State Convention for ratifying the Constitution of the United States, and in 1788 a member of the First Congress under this Constitution. As the change of the Constitution of Pennsylvania occasioned a new appointment of State officers in 1791, he declined being considered as a candidate for a seat in the Second Congress, with a view to retain his office of clerk of the courts of this county. But the Guv- ernor thought proper to supersede him. The chagrin arising from this appointment preyed upon his mind. At the election a few weeks after he was chosen a member of Assembly from this county, and in 1792 a member of the Third Congress.

" With but such opportunities for the study of the law as his residence in Philadelphia afforded him, and unaided by a liberal or professional education, he was early admitted to the bar in the western counties, and was a successful advocate. His arguments were natural and judicious, his language nervous, and his elocution remarkably emphatic.

"Ilis person was manly and respectable, his mental faculties strong and decisive, his manners kind and sociable, and with an extent of knowledge, and with that correctness of mind, which bardly anything but education can give, he would have been every way a great man.

" He was liberal and did not study economy. Before he was appointed clerk of the courts here his estate and his practice at the bar afforded him a competency. The appointment to that office offered him a per- manent prospect of competence for life. From his early residence in this country, and from his advantages of mind and station, he might have accumulated great wealth, but he did not, and he died but in mod- erate circumstances. He has left behind him a widow and eleven chil- dren, of whom three are sons and eight are daughters. One of his dund and three of his daughters are married. The rest are in their mother's family."

These sons were Arthur, Alexander, and Thomas. Of the'r descend- ants nothing has been learned. Of the eight daughters, Agnes first mar- ried Samuel Mckinley and became the grandmother of Alex. Mckinley, the jeweler, of Washington, aud her second husband was Heury Woods ; Elizabeth married Alex. Cunningham (from Derry, Ireland), and be- came the mother of John Cunningham, M.D., of Wouster, Ohio, and of the late Samuel Cunningham, deceased, of East Maiden Street, Wash- ington ; Margaret married David Cook ; Mary married Joseph Pente- cost, the lawyer, of Washington; Jean married David Huge (brother of John and William), appointed by President Adams register of the United States Land-Office, Steubenville, Ohio, removed by President Jackson ; Sarah married Thomas Thomson ; Mabel married Sampson S. King, lawyer, capt. 22d Inf., U.S.A., wounded at Chippewa, promoted major, died at Gettysburg; aud Rebecca married Shephard Conwell. Thomas Scott's will, in his own hand, is filed in the register's office, and is recorded in Book I., p. 283.

3 Almost always so printed, but incorrectly. He never wrote his name other than Marshel. For sketches of these officers see subsequent pages.

4 Who always wrote his name Canon.

5 The military system then in furce was created by act of March 17, 1777. In each county, as the representative of the executive, there was a lieutenant and sub-lieutenants, not exceeding five in number. The

225

CIVIL AND LEGAL-EARLY POLITICAL TROUBLES.

It appears that Col. Marshel was in Philadelphia | now and then denominated "Raskels," " Banditti," - when the act creating the county was passed,1 for on " Mobs," etc. April 4, 1781, the records of the Council say : 2

" James Marshall, Esquire, appointed by the Honorable House of As- sembly to be Register for the Probate of Wills and granting letters of administration, and Recorder of Deeds for the County of Washington, and by this Board, to be Lieutenant of the said county, attended in Council, and took the several oaths necessary to qualify him for the said offices respectively."

Early Political Troubles .- The nursing of the new county, thus given a corporate existence, and supplied with the officers necessary for the keeping of its records, and for the organization of its military power, now proceeded slowly under many and some- what serious difficulties. That these embarrassments may be realized the better by the reader, a chrono- logical order will still be followed, as the organiza- tion of the municipality is proceeded in to a legal entity, with a complete establishment of its courts and justices for the administration of the law, and at the same time, with the notice of the township divis- ions, elections, organizations of the courts, etc., will be given original writings illustrating every-day events of great public importance, the character of the prominent actors therein, themselves the chroni- clers, as well as the troubled condition of the tinies. The constant terror from Indian incursions, actual and threatened; the continued existence of the Vir- ginia usurpation, and the jealousy between the Penn- sylvanians and the Virginians; the inability of the Pennsylvania government to wield power which alone can give protection ; the resurrection and re- agitation of "The New State Project," thought in such circumstances to afford a prospect for better se- curity and permanence; and, as might be expected, the rivalry for the possession of offices, the evidence of power and position and the opportunities for wealth and advancement, even at that day strong and controlling,-all these will be unfolded as well as it is now possible. But let the reader be cautioned again not to judge of any man's real character, in this period of angry strife, from what is said of him by an opponent. The names of no unworthy men will here be found, though some of them are

power given was exercised by the lieutenant, or in his absence by two or more of the sub-lieutenants. By warrants to the constables lists were obtained of all male inhabitants between eighteen and fifty-three, ex- cepting delegates in Congress, members of the Council, judges of Su- premie Court, masters and faculties of colleges, and the clergy ; and within five days the lieutenants or sub-lieutenants divided the county into districts, each district to contain not less than 440 nor more than 680 privates, divided into eight classes, which were numbered. Each district had its field-officers, elected, being a colonel, a lieutenant-colo- Del, and a major, and each class or company its captain, two lieutenants, and ensign. The men were called (or drafted) into service by classes to serve a tour of two months, one class at a time, to be relieved by the next. Absentees paid fines, which reimbursed the State for bounties paid to substitutes. A complete system of rules and regulations was provided.

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History of Washington County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 57

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