History of Washington County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 58

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 58

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1 See letter, Dorsey Pentecost to Prest. Reed. IX. Penn. Archives, 316, hereafter quoted.

2 XII. Col. Records, 683.

And let it be remembered (it is now written once for all) that, starting from the spring of 1774, when Cresap stopped with his party, one of them wounded, at "Catfish Camp," at the beginning of Dunmore's war, until 1795, when Wayne's treaty gave final peace to the borders,-in all a period of twenty-one years, -there was not a day when fear did not find a place at the fireside of the settler.

On April 20, 1781, the Supreme Executive Council®

"Ordered, That Col. James Marshall,' Lieutenant of the county of Washington, be authorized and directed to call out forty men of the militia of that county ; or if the m'litia shall not be organized sufficient for that purpose, to raise the said number of men, for the purpose of es- corting and guarding the Commissioners appointed to run the Line be- tween this state and Virginia, during the time they shall be on that service; and that he be authorized to call on the commanding officer at Fort Pitt for ammunition for that purpose."

The running of the boundary line was delayed, however, as has appeared in a former chapter, and on June 5, 1781, Col. Marshel wrote to President Reed as follows :5

" SIR,

"Since my arrival in this County, I have been making what progress I Can in organizing the Militia, altho as yet, Deprived of the Assistance of the Sub-Lientenants by the Indefatigable Opposition of a Certain Mr. Penticost [Dorsey Pentecost] and a few of his adherents, the old enemies of this government, who Immediately on my arrival got to- gether at their Court-house, in what they call Yuhogania County, which is wholly involved in this and Westmoreland Counties, and to which the Government of Virginia has Sent no Orders for some Considerable time past. Notwithstanding, they have resulved to go on with the jurisdic- tion of Virginia, both Civil and Military until the line is Actually run. Whereupon the said Penticost swore into an Old Commission of County Lieutenant that he pretended to have by him for a long time, and there- upon assumed the Command of the Militia. Mr. Cannon [John Canon] (a Civil Officer under the government of Virginia,) one of our Sub-Lieu- tenants, publickly declares that government have Infringed upou the Rights of the people in appointing officers for them before they were represented, and instead of assisting me in Organizing the Militia, is using all his Influence to prevent it. Mr. Lite [Leet] the other Sub- Lieutenant refuses doing anything until the artists arrive on the spot, which leaves me without assistance, and must Consequently delay the formation of the Militia. However, I expect in a short time to have the business Compleated, and that the artists will not fail in being on the line as soon as possible, which might prove fatal to the Interests of the State in this Quarter; for altho the people at large are well affected to this government, the junto aforesaid are Indefatigable, and a failure on the part of the artists would afford them great Opportunity of doeing mischief; in a word Mr. Penticost and Mr. Cannon are ringleaders of Sedition, and are doeing every thing in their power to revive the juris- diction of Virginia, in order to keep this Country in Confusion, and there not being a Court of Justice in this County, these disturbers of the peace go unpunished; two or three words of an Order from your Excellency would put the affairs of this Country into a better situation, and at the same time Oblige a whole County.

" The Indians have not done any damage on the frontiers of this County for some time past, altho they never had a better Opportunity, and were it not for Col. Broadhead's late Expedition and the Expecta- tion of General Clark being in their Country this Summer, I am per- suaded they would have laid a Considerable part of our Country waste by this time; let me hope then, that as soon as there may be a Neces- sity, you will Enable us to Call out a number of our Militia for the de-

3 Ibid., 699.

4 Erroneous spelling of Marshel's name preserved.

5 IX. Penn. Archives, 193.

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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

fence of the Frontiers, and that we may be supplied with ammunition as soon as possible.

" I have the Honour to be with Very great Respect and Esteem your Excellency's Most Obedient and very Humble servant.1

1 In this letter are found four of the old worthies : James Marshel, born Feb. 20, 1753, in north of Ireland, obtained rights to about fifteen hun- dred acres in what is now Cross Creek township, between 1776 and 1778. From the fact that two cousins, John and Robert. came west near to him from that part of Lancaster now Dauphin, it is thought he too had come thence. On the erection of Washington County, John became an influential justice ; Robert is said to have been in Williamson's expedi- tion, for which he expressed his regret all his life. In 1779, when Rev. Joseph Smith was called by the Presbyterian congregations of Buffalo and Cross Creek (Adam and Andrew Poe signing), Col. Marshel, to have Rev. Smith brought out, gave two hundred acres of his land to Capt. Joseph Reed, the great-grandfather of J. M. K. Reed, Esq., and his brother, John C. Reed, who now occupy it. Marshel became an elder in the Buffalo Church, but it is said that in his later days he was not dis- tinguished for his piety. On Nov. 3, 1784, he resigned his offices of county lieutenant, register, and recorder, and succeeded Van Swearingen as sheriff, and on Jan. 17, 1789, was himself succeeded by Col. David Wil- liamson. He was again recorder and register from 1791 to 1795. With David Bradford and Rev. David Phillips, he represented Westmoreland County at the Pittsburgh meeting in September, 1791, " to take into con- sideration" the excise law, and afterwards took a prominent part in the Whiskey Insurrection. In July, 1794, he was present with Bradford when the captured mail was opened at Canonsburg, and two days afterward, with Bradford and others, signed the call for the militia to rendezvous at Braddock's Fields. In the Whiskey Insurrection he seemed to be wholly in the control of Bradford, following, though un- willingly, when the latter led. In 1795 or '96 he sold his lands in West- moreland County and removed to Wellsburg, W. Va., where he resided till his death, March 17, 1829. He left surviving a son, John, born about 1783; studied law with Parker Campbell, admitted in 1807, went into mercantile business ; commissioned sheriff in 1835, and in 1836 was made cashier of the Franklin Bank of Washington, so remained till a year or so before his death in 1863. Col. Marshel also left a son Robert, who settled in Ohio, a daughter who married William McCluney, and two other daughters, who died unmarried. John Marshel, cashier, left a daughter Rachel, wife of Dr. Lafferty, Brownsville ; another daughter, wife of Dr. Cowen ; Rebecca, widow of the late Dr. M. H. Clark, Wash- ington ; and Jane, wife of S. A. Clarke, bookseller, Pittsburgh.

Dorsey Pentecost ; see note to later page.

John Canon .- Though Findley, " Whiskey Insurrection," 95, says, writ- ing in 1794, that Canon was from Chester County, doubted; for there is some evidence that he came to this county from Virginia. He is first found in what afterward became Washington County in February, 1774, when he and Henry Taylor were appointed by the Westmoreland County Court as road-viewers. Already well known to us as a justice of the Augusta County and Yohogania County Courts, it must be inferred that he was quite a partisan of the Virginia jurisdiction. The office of sub-lieu- tenant of the militia, from which he derived his title, was abolished in 1783, but on Oct. 6, 1784, he was commissioned a justice of the peace and of the courts, and recommissioned Aug. 24, 1790, holding that office till his death. He had acquired Virginia rights to the several tracts afterwards surveyed by Pennsylvania as Abington, Mount Airy, and Canon Hill, containing nearly twelve hundred acres; on parts of the two former he laid out Canonsburg ; the first lot sold March 15, 1787, about which time he with others brought about the establishment of a High School in Canonsburg, which in 1791 was organized as an acad- emy, incorporated in 1794, with himself as one of the trustees. He died in 1799, just before the academy he had aided to found becante Jefferson College. To but a slight extent involved in the Whiskey Insurrection, | purchase ground for the public buildings; and besides his office as sub-

on July 26, 1794, he was present, with Bradford, Marshel, and others, at the opening of the captured mail at Canonsburg, and also signed the call for the Braddock's Field rendezvous. Col. Canon left a widow, Jeannette ; sons, John, Samuel, William, Joshua; daughters, Jean, Anne, Margaret .. Of these survivors little is known. Joshua settled at Bur- getstown; his children, Abigail, wife of John Dougherty, one of whose daughters is wife of M. R. Allen ; Ellen, wife of a Mr. McCne ; Jane, wife of Josiah Scott, Florence; Margaret, wife of John Fulton, Burgetstown ; Martha never married ; Julia, wife of M. M. Brockman, Burgetstown; John, married Asenath Boyd, of West Middletown, re- moved to California, where he lives. Jean, daughter of Col. Cannon, married Rev. Robert Patterson, son of Rev. Joseph Patterson, in August,

On June 27, 1781, Col. Marshel again addressed a communication to President Reed,2 informing him of new developments since his letter of the 5th :

" SIR:

" Since I had the honour of Addressing your Excellency last, the Old Enemies of this government and their adherents have exerted them- selves to the Utmost to prevent this County being organized. On the 5th Inst. a Council of the Militia Officers of Youghagena County was held at their Court-house and in Consequence of sd Council, the fifth part of the Militia of sd County was drafted for General Clark's Expedi- tion, but the people did not Conceive they were Under the Jurisdiction of Virginia, therefore they denied their Authority, and almost Univer- sally Refused doing duty under any government whatever uutil the line between the States is actually run.

"Upon finding the Commissioners did not arrive by the time appointed to run the line, I did not know well what part to act, fearing the Conse- quence of Involving the good Subjects of this State in a Civil War with Col. Penticost's Banditti, and a new Government party that Exists here, and of Exposing our frontier Settlements to the greatest danger from the Indians, (who no doubt well know our unhappy Situation). I thought it most Advisable to postpone Organizing the Militia until the Commis- sioners arrive on the spot. Let me hope then that your Excellency will forward the Commissioners with all possible Dispatch, as it is Clearly Impossible to do anything to purpose in this County until their arrival. The Expiration of the several periods Given us to expect them, discour- ages our best friends, and gives the aforementioned party great Opportu- nity of keeping up the Coufusion, which they hope will issue in driving the whole people into their favorite scheme of New Guvernment. Some of those Gentlemen formerly Elected members of Virginia Assembly, on this side the Mountains, are lately gone down on no other business than

1801. A son of this union is Mr. Robert Patterson, of the Presbyterian Banner, of Pittsburgh, whose wife is Eliza Acheson Baird, a daughter of Hon. Thomas H. Baird. A writer in the Presbyterian Magazin, Febru- ary, 1857, says, "Col. Canon, the founder of Canonsburg, was an ac- tive, intelligent, and gentlemanly man. He died when but little past the meridian of life, leaving a widow and several children. Mrs. Canon was regarded as the lady of the place, and deservedly ; for she was eminently pious, friendly, and generous. Her house was the seat of hospitality, the favorite resort of Christian ministers and serious students."

Daniel Leet .- Isaac Leet, the father of Daniel, died in Washington County in 1802, and is buried, as is also his widow, in the burial-place on the farm of S. K. Weirich. Daniel was born in New Jersey, Nov. 6, 1748; was by prof .ssion a surveyor, and, as the reader will recollect, pro- duced his commission as such from the College of William and Mary, Va., to the Augusta County Court on April 17, 1776, and was sworn into office as a deputy under Col. William Crawford. As such deputy he made many of the Virginia surveys in Washington County in 1780. He prob- ably first came to this country in 1773, for on September 23d of that year Washington writes to Crawford, "By Mr. Leet I informed you of the unhappy cause which prevented my going out this fall."-Washington- Crawford Letters, 28. He had been previously employed by Washington to survey lands for him in Virginia. In 1778 be was with the militia as adjutant, under Gen. McIntosh, at Fort Laurens. During the Revolu- tion he also served with the Virginia line as quartermaster and paymas- ter. In 1782 he was brigade-major in the unfortunate expedition, under Col. Crawford's command, against the Sandusky Indians, in which his brave superior was tortured to death at the stake. On this occasion, after Maj. Brinton was wounded, Maj. Leet commanded a division, and ex- hibited much bravery and vigilance. (See Butterfield's Crawford's Expe- dition, 77, 124, 207, 219, 296.) He is appointed in the act erecting the county one of the trustees to divide the county into townships, and to

lieutenant, he was one of the first justices commissioned for the courts of the county. His homestead was what is now known as the Shields' tract a few miles south of Washington, where his only child, Eliza, was born. She married David Shields, who resided in Washington from 180} to 1823, when he removed to the Sewickly Bottoms, Allegheny County. Of this union there were nine children, of whom but three married. Two of these three are dead, leaving descendants ; the other, the widow of John K. Wilson, Esq., and mother of D. S. Wilson, Esq., of the Wash- ington bar, still lives. In 1829, Daniel Leet removed from Washington County to the home of his daughter, Mrs. Shields, and there died June 18, 1830

2 IX. Pennsylvania Archives, 233.

CIVIL AND LEGAL-EARLY POLITICAL TROUBLES.

227

to Endeavor delaying the line, in order to forward their business of new Government, and a Committee has been formed in this County for some time who go well nigh assuming the government of the County, which appears preparatory to something more Compulsive.

" Let me again urge the Necessity of the Commissioners being on the line as soon as possible from this one Consideration, that a failure on their part will Expose the friends of this government to the Contempt and Malice of their enemies. There is at this time upwards of two thousand five hundred Effective men in this County, but if we remain much longer in our present Situation, we must unavoidably be reduced, either by Internal or External Enemies, and perhaps by both. On the 17th Inst., a party of about twenty Indians attacked the frontier Inhat- itants, wounded one man, and took off a whole family prisoners, which has occasioned great part of the frontiers to be evacuated."

The references in the foregoing letter to Gen. George Rogers Clarke's expedition of 1781, against the British and Indians at Detroit, to obtain men for which the Virginia militia officers for Yohogania County instituted a draft and enforced it with great severity in Monongahela valley, as well as to the "New State Project" now revived, and which caused no little concern at the State capital, will hereafter be more fully explained.

On July 23, 1781, President Reed replied to the two letters from Col. Marshel, as follows : 1

" SIR :

" I have received two Letters from you, one of the 5th & the other of 27th June, which I have laid before the Council. We are sorry to hear of the Obstructions which have been thrown in your Way by ill design- ing People, who keep up unhappy Contests for sinister Purposes. We hope the time will soon come when these Machinations will be at an Eud, as we are resolved as soon as the Line is run, to exert the Power of legal & coercive Authority over all who shall presume to disturb the publick Tranquility & distress the County by their mal Practices." [The presi- dent then proceeded to explain the delay in running the boundary line, and the necessity of its early completion ; the agreement with Virginia to mark a temporary boundary, and the appointment of Alexander Mc- Clean on the part of Pennsylvania for that purpose; announcing the in- tention of the Council, as soon as that line was run and reported, to issue a proclamation calling upon the people within this State to conform to its laws and government, as quoted from this letter in our Boundary controversy, and concluding :] " You and the other Friends of this State may depend upon a firm and vigorous Support in your Attachment to it, & that we shall most heartily concur in every Measure to Establish Peace, Good Order, & Government as soon as possible."

Dorsey Pentecost seems to have received informa- tion of the subject matter of Col. Marshel's two let- ters to President Reed, of the 5th and 27th of June, for on July 27, 1781, he addressed to the latter the following letter :2

" SIR :

"I am now in General Clarke's Camp, about three miles below Fort Pitt, and about to leave this Country on the Expedition under that Gentleman's Command, & from some recent Transactions that have hap- pened here, & being apprised of some unwarrantable Representations that have, and are about to be made to your Excellency in Council, re- specting the Common Welfare of this country, & in which my Life, Property, & Consequently my Character is Concerned, & not being able (owing to my immediate service in the Public) to attend 80 8000 A8 I would wish at Philadelphia, have taken the Liberty to trouble your Ex- cellency with the following plain State of Facts.

"This country (I mean West of the Monongahela River) has ever been considered by a majority of its Inhabitants to be within the State of Virginia ; it has been under that Jurisdiction without Controversy since the year 1774, but on the Publication of the Agreement made be- tween the Commissioners for the two States, Virginia and Pennsylvania, at Baltimore, 1779, and a Report immediately following that the Line

should be run without Procrastination in Consequence thereof; this produced a Relaxation amongst the Officers (particularly in the Mili- tary Line), knowing that such an Agreement would luclude the Whole, or nearly so, of Yuhogania County, and by that means the whole Coun- try was thrown Into perfect Anarchy & Contusion. The Indians through the Course of the last Summer were exceedingly troublesome, & butch- ered up many of the defenceless Frontier -; myself and some others apprehending e rly Visits from them this Spring, and knowing the con- fused Situation of the People, from the Reasons above mentioned, went personally to the Frontier Settlements, & found them In the greatest Dejection of Spirits; they expected nothing but Desolation & all the Cruelty to be feared from an extensive Combination of Savagen (this was the latter Part of the Winter). At our Return We advertised a meeting of the Principal People to endeavor to fall on some Plan for the Def nce of those helpless Persons (the Frontiera) ; accordingly a num- ber of Gentlemen met, and We then recommended that every District as they then stood, should choose two men out of each to form a General Committee for that Purpose ; that was also accordingly done. We then proceeded to direct (with the acquiescence of the People) to raise by Hire 100 men, to be stationed and employed as aforesaid; this alarmed the Pockets uf some Gentlemen (notwithstanding We advised as our Opinion that Government would countenance the inea-ure whenever it should be established, & the men allowed Militia pay) ; they therefore opposed the measures, published Pieces (or at least a Piece) setting forth the Enormity of the Expence, the Impropriety of the attempt, with many other unwarrantable assertions,-in short, Sir, the Piece was in- flammatory, alarming, & decorated with Falsehood.

" This impeded the good Intent of the Committee, but did not quite frustrate their honest endeavors, for the Commanding officers at Fort Pitt not only countenanced but gave every Spur to facilitate so laudable a measure. We hired thirty men, sent them to the Frontiers, and they are there yet.

" About this Time the Spring Session met, and a certain James Mar- shall (a Person of Yesterday amongst us,) a Frontier luhabitant, & a member of Committee, went home from one of the meetings, prepared a Petition to the Assembly, went to a few of the Frontier Companies who were in the greatest Distress; he flattered them that he would pro- cure from the Assembly immediate Succor for them ; they agreed to the Proposal, aud gave him money of Convoy & sent him to Philadelphia. At his return he brought the Act of Assembly creating that part of Westmoreland lying west of Monongalia into a Separate County by the name of Washington & for himself three Commissions, Lieutenant Re- Curder & Register, for said County; and in that Act of Assembly, on his (Mr. Marshall's) or some of his Friends Representation, a Sett of men were appointed, who all (except Cupt. Swearingen & Mr. D. Leet,) are strangers to the Country, being Gentlemen that have but recently come among us.

" While Mr. Marshall was at Philadelphia, Genl. Clark came here with an Intent to carry an Expedition against the Savages, which was prin- cipally intended to have been aided by Volunteers from this County. He consulted myself with many others on the most probable plan for Success. Every Effort was tried, but to no effect; the Frontiers were murdered every Day, & the Militia could not be gut out. The Field offi- cers of Yohogauia County called on me, & requested that I would take the Command of the same, & I endeavored to save it from utter Destruc- tion. I accordingly swore into a Commission for that Purpose, which had been in the County upwards of a year, & which I had neglected to qualify to on account of the apparent Probability there was fora Change of Government.

"Soon after this, Genl. Clark had a meeting of the Principal People to consult on the most Plausible Plan to raise the Militia for his expedi- tion. They after long deliberation, Resolved, that nothing could effect so desirable a Plan, save my Exertions as County Lieut. of Yohogania, and in the most pointed Terms (in an address to me) requested that I would put my Command in Force, and use every Exertion to facilitate the Expedition. The Day following I was furnished with a Demand from Genl. Clark for the Quota of the County. I went into the Business with Revolution, conducted myself with a steady Firmness, and with a great Deal of Fatigue, Trouble, & Perplexity, I have accomplished that Busi- ness and the Militia are now encampt.

" This has been the Part that I have acted from the Principle only of saving this unhappy Country from the inevitable ruin with which it is threatened, though my Conduct has been misconstrued by Mr. Marshall and his adherents, as intended to oppose the authority of the State of Pennsylvania, on account of my bearing some Considerable Commis- sions in the other State. And here I beg Leave to inform you, Sir, (whatever you may have heard to the Contrary) that Commissions &

1 X.I. Penn. Archives, 304.

2 Ibid., 315.

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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

Command were never Objects that gave me one moments Uneasiness, and its a matter of total Indifference to me who doth the Public Busi- ness, so it is well done, and a man in office acquainted with the Bonum Publicum. And I would further inform you that every Office that I have filled, I undertook from a Principle of serving the Public with my utmost abilities and industry.

"I am conscions of the Rectitnde of my Intentions, and I scorn the Censures of discontented Partisans; I have always been vigilant to ef- fect the Business I have engaged in, and have generally succeeded to their mortification with advantage to the Public.

"It may not be amiss to let your Excellency in Council know that I waited on Mr. Mar-hall as soon as I heard of his Return from Phila- delphia, & the Office he was to fill whenever the County should be estab- lished, & offered that if he could or would undertake to regulate the Militia, protect the Frontiers, & afford Genl. Clark Assistance, I was ready to retire, but that, I apprehended, it was totally out of his Power until the Line of Division between the States was run, & that the People could be assured that they were on a permanent Footing, and whether the Errors and Impositions heretofore practiced on us, on account of the Territorial Dispute, would not rather be augmented than abated ;-- upon the whole, whether it would not be the best to desist from the Exercise of his Office as County Lieutenant until the Line was run, or the authority of Pennsylvania regularly extended ; to these Propositions he gave the following categorical answer: 'that he was determined to support the Honour and Dignity of an officer, & he meant immediately to organize the militia.'

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History of Washington County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 58

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