USA > Pennsylvania > Washington County > History of Washington County : from its first settlement to the present time, first under Virginia as Yohogania, Ohio, or Augusta County until 1781, and subsequently under Pennsylvania > Part 41
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Alexander Reed was President, Thomas H. Baird, Secretary ; John Neal, Treasurer, and Obadiah Jennings, Councillor.
The Rev. Thomas Hoge delivered an address on the objects of the Society at its organization. The dockets of the justices of the peace at the time, abundantly show its good effects by the prosecution and fining of offenders.
1816, June 24. The moral societies of the various townships met in Washington and consolidated into a general one for the county.
1815, November 24. Washington Female Mite Society organized in the court-house.
LIBRARY COMPANY.
February 19, 1816. The Washington Library Company was established. It was held by stockholders, yet the public had access to the books by paying a small pecuniary recompense. Matthew Sample was appointed librarian.
October 5, 1818. Washington Museum opened.
October 26, 1821. Washington County Agricultural Society or- ganized.
January 15, 1829. The Mingo Creek Literary Society was esta- blished with a library attached. Samuel Morrison, President; Jas. Love, Secretary, and Edward Webb, David Barr, and David Moore were elected trustees.
STEAM MILL.
1814, January 17. David Shields, secretary of the Washington Steam Mill and Manufacturing Company, issued proposals for the erection of a mill house 47 by 50 feet, four stories high. He also notified stockholders to pay their instalments monthly, commencing on February 1st. This company was incorporated January 31, 1814.
COLD DAY.
Jannary 19, 1810, was the coldest day in the recollection of the oldest inhabitant. Many cattle were frozen to death.
TEMPERANCE SOCIETY.
1835, September 28. Washington County Temperance Society organized, and the county divided into districts in which addresses
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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY.
should be delivered. Alexander Read, president; Samuel McFar- land, secretary.
1836, May 20. Independent Blues organized as an infantry com- pany.
1836, May 23. Washington Rifle Company.
GENERAL JACKSON.
1836, September 24. A public meeting held to make arrange- ments to receive Gen. Andrew Jackson. He was received with appropriate honors, March 14, 1837.
COMMODORE ELLIOTT.
1838, October 23. The trustees of Washington College returned thanks to Commodore Elliott for a choice selection of ancient coins collected in Greece, Italy, and Palestine.
HON. ISAAC LEET.
1840, May 6. Introduced resolutions in the Senate on the im- provement of the Monongahela River, which bounds Washington County on the east, near forty miles.
POST OFFICES IN WASHINGTON COUNTY IN 1870, WITH THE NAMES OF POSTMASTERS.
Amity, Mrs. E. J. Bebout.
Atchison, Miss S. A. Johnson.
Bavington, James McBride.
Beallsville, Arthur Oddbert.
Beck's Mill, Harvey Lyon.
Bellzane, John Fields.
Bentleysville, O. T. McElheny.
Bower Hill, John Bower.
Brush Run, Samuel Merchant. Buffalo, John H. Smith.
Burgettstown, Samuel Wilson.
Bulger, James Bussell.
California, David H. Lancaster.
Candor, H. J. Cook.
Canonsburg (money order), Mrs. Eli- zabeth A. McGinnis.
Cardville, Mr. Galbreath.
Cherry Valley, Ebenezer Smith.
Claysville, W. H. Adams. Clokeysville, Samuel Clokey.
Coal Bluffs, James K. Logan. Commettsburg, Wm. Gilliland. Coon Island, George Chaney.
Cross Creek Village, A. McFarland. Dinsmore, John M. Smith.
Donley, Samuel Snodgrass.
Dunningsville, John T. Sumney.
Dunsport,
East Bethlehen, Emmor H. Griffith. East Finley, John S. Knox. Eldersville, Robert C. Osburn. Finleyville, Frank R. Storer. Florence, Samuel Livingston. Frederictown, S. G. Hill. Ginger Hill, Andrew Clark. Good Intent, Isaac S. Blair.
Hanlin Station, Charles Hanlin.
Havelock, James Euwer. Herriottsville, James P. Young. Hickory, J. M. Campbell. Independence, J. K. Mc Conaughy.
Kerr's Station, Wm. Kerr.
Lindley's Mill, S. Mc Vey. Lock No. 4, John Lomas. Locust Hill, Wm. A. Hill Long Pine, J. Huston.
Meloy, Miss Catharine Mc Wreath.
Midway, John Kennedy. Millsboro, Jesse Phillips.
Monongahela City (money order), C. Hazzard.
Mount Airy, Thos. Richardson.
Muntown, Joseph Barkley. Murdocksville, Joseph McClaren.
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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY.
Paris, Martha Bedoute.
Patterson's Mill, J. J. Elliott.
Pike Run, John Barker. Prosperity, Arvida Day. Raccoon, C. H. Bolek. Scenery Hill, Rachel Standley. Simpson's Store, John Fitzpatrick. Sparta, Milton Andrew.
Strabane, N. Buchanan.
Taylorstown, Oliver M. Wallace.
Tenmile, Joseph W. Little.
Thompsonville, A. Wilson Pollock.
Van Buren, Stephen Pipes. Vanceville, L. Vaneman. Venice, Joseph L. Scott.
Washington (money order), Wm. C. Wiley.
West Alexander, Miss E. A. Ray.
West Brownsville, John W. Ward.
West Finley, Saml. Grum.
West Middleton, G. McFadden.
Woodrow, John Morgan.
Yortysville, Mrs. J. Yorty. Zollarsville, Ed. R. Smith.
1833, April 8. The theological seminary of the Associate Pres- byterian Church at Canonsburg was incorporated ; and on April 13, 1853, an act was passed to give it perpetual succession. It was afterwards removed to Xenia, Ohio.
1854, April 29. Canonsburg Saving Fund was incorporated.
AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES. A
In 1869 there were four agricultural societies, viz :-
1. Washington Agricultural Society, established in Washington. James F. Gabby, president.
2. Union Agricultural Association, at Burgettstown. John B. Hays, of Smith township, president.
3. Mt. Pleasant Equitable Agricultural Association, at Hickory. Organized in 1859.
4. Monongahela Valley Association.
FIRE DEPARTMENT.
The first authentic account of a fire company can be traced to May 18, 1801, when the Washington Fire Company was organized, which was placed during a fire under the control of four managers. These managers placed the engine under two directors and sixteen men, the ladder party, with one director and six men, the water company with two directors and the remaining members of the com- pany. At that date we find the roll of members to consist of eighty- two members.
February 26, 1820, a fire company was organized and a new engine was purchased.
February 22, 1822, funds were appropriated to purchase another engine and make cisterns for water.
September 7, 1831, two hundred and fifty feet of hose ordered to be purchased, with suitable carriage for the same, and the engines to be kept in different parts of the borough.
February 11, 1837, the Hope and Good Intent fire companies were reorganized.
December 4, 1844, Good Intent Fire Company made application for the erection of an engine-house, and house erected on Pine
24
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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY.
Alley (Mrs. Gregg's lot). December 12, 1845, a reel and hose car- riage ordered for the same company.
July 5, 1847, Eagle Engine purchased for eight hundred dollars. October 9, 1848, engine and council-house ordered to be erected. September 17, 1859, the suction engine purchased.
SEMI-CENTENNIAL VOTERS.
At the October election in Washington, in 1869, the following eleven persons, who had voted in the year 1819, deposited their ballots for the fiftieth time, viz: Samuel Cunningham, John H. Ewing, John Grayson, John R. Griffith, John Harter, Joseph Hen- derson, Samuel Hornish, George Kuntz, Dr. F. J. Lemoyne, Jacob Slagle, and Simon Wolf. In 1819 there were three hundred and five voters, but in 1869 six hundred and ninety.
SLAVERY.
On this question we shall mention a few facts connected with the history of this county.
1781, April 30, the estate of Alexander McCandless sold a negro girl for sixty pounds.
1781, May 16, Jacob Johnston bequeaths unto his wife Mary Johnson, a negro woman slave named Suke; to his daughter Eliza- beth Pierce, a negro girl named Zelph, and her future increase ; to his daughter Eleanor Decker, the first child, male or female, of Suke ; to his daughter Esther Johnson, at the death of her mother, the above-named slave Suke. Should the said Suke have no childen, one hundred pounds, in the hands of John Buchanan, is to be divided equally between his daughters; but if children are born to the slave Suke, the money is to be divided among his five children.
1795, June 3, Reason Pumphrey sells his slaves at the following prices : Lot, aged 18 years, for seventy pounds; Ben, aged 14 years, for one hundred pounds ; Dinah, aged 10 years, for seventy- five pounds.
1795, March 20, John Moore manumitted two slaves named Abraham and Jonas.
In the Reporter of March 8, 1813, is the following advertisement : For sale, a negro boy who has thirteen years to serve ; he is stout and healthy. Apply at the office of the Reporter.
1823, December 29, the first meeting of the citizens of Washing- ton County was held to form a society for the abolition of slavery. The society organized January 26, 1824, at the court-house.
1834, July 4, Washington County Anti-slavery Society organized.
1835, October 2, the citizens of this county met to express their disapprobation of the cause of the abolitionists, and presided over by Judge Baird. Messrs. R. H. Lee, Rev. Thomas Hoge, Alexander Reed, W. K. McDonald, and Dr. John Wishart were appointed the committee to report resolutions. One of the resolutions states that
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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY.
any combination of citizens of one State organized for the purpose of disturbing the civil institutions of another State, is a violation of the spirit of the Union and of the enactments of the Federal Con- stitution, and must tend to dissolve the Union. This, with other resolutions of the same spirit, was unanimously adopted.
1836, June 23, a town meeting was held, presided over by John R. Griffith, Chief Burgess, to make arrangements to prevent aboli- tionists from holding meetings, as the citizens of this place deem it unwise and highly inexpedient for abolitionists to intrude upon the people of this county and borough the peculiar and offensive doctrines maintained and urged by the agents of the Abolition Society.
1836, June 27, a meeting was held at West Middletown denounc- ing and disapproving of the meeting at Washington on the 23d, as proscriptive in their nature and disorderly in their tendency.
Of the changes which have taken place on this subject since this period, I need not explain ; they are patent to all men; the unknown future must determine this question, involving not only the future destiny of our own nation, but the peculiar relation which the negro race shall maintain.
TURNPIKES.
1817, June 16, books were opened for the sale of stock in the Washington and Pittsburg turnpike.
1819, August 16, D. H. Blaine and James Kincaid established a line of coaches over this pike, to run tri-weekly.
NATIONAL ROAD.
1818, August 1, the U. S. mail stage commenced running from Washington City to Wheeling, over the national road. This road was located by Col. Eli Williams (who died in the 73d year of his age, January 29, 1822). The road west of the Monongahela River through Washington County was given, per contract, to John Kincaid, James Beck, Gabriel Evans, John Kennedy and John Miller, at the rate of $6400 per mile.
This road, passing through the counties of Somerset, Fayette, and Washington, was transferred by the general government to the States through which it passed, but the Governor was required to appoint a commissioner to report to the court of each county annu- ally its condition. Subsequently the court appointed the commis- sioner. The following gentlemen have filled this important office : Robert Quail, Benj. Leonard, Col. William Hopkins, William Sea- right, Joseph Doak, William Cleary, J. D. Roberts, Mark Mitchell, Samuel Beatty, Alexander Frazer, Geo. W. Botkins, John Long.
1835, June 8, mail stages established tri-weekly by John Irons from Washington to Lake Erie, connecting with the National Road Stage Company to Baltimore and Philadelphia.
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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY.
WASHINGTON AND WELLSBURG.
1819, June 12, Jonathan Knight, Moses Lyle and James Leacock were appointed commissioners to lay out a pike from Washington to Wellsburg.
1817, June 23, Washington and Williamsport Turnpike Company incorporated.
RAILROADS.
1837, January 18, a bill was presented to Senate to incorporate the Washington Railroad Company from a point at or near Allison's Run to Washington, with power to extend it north to Canonsburg. Shares of stock $50 each. The commissioners were Daniel Moore, William Hunter, Alexander Reed, James Ruple, John K. Wilson, John H. Ewing, John Cooke, John N. Dagg, and Samuel Hazlett.
HEMPFIELD RAILROAD.
1852, March 23, the Commissioners of Washington County sub- scribed for four thousand shares of stock in the Hempfield Railroad Company, shares valued at $50 each. Act passed Feb. 24, 1852.
1852, May 14, the Burgesses and Council subscribed for one thou- sand shares of stock in the Hempfield Railroad.
CHARTIERS VALLEY RAILROAD.
1854, January, the borough of Washington subscribed for five hundred shares of stock in the Chartiers Valley Railroad, amounting to twenty five thousand dollars. Chartiers Valley Railroad made application to the court for a subscription of one hundred thousand dollars.
UPPER TENMILE PLANK ROAD.
1853, June 21, the Town Council of the borough of Washington, subscribed for two hundred shares of stock at twenty-five dollars per share, to the Upper Tenmile Plank Road, leading from Washington to Prosperity, which subscription was referred to a vote of the peo- ple and carried.
TOWN CLOCK.
1852, April 26, town clock placed on cupola of court-house, it having been purchased from John B. McFadden, of Pittsburg, for the sum of four hundred dollars.
D. B. COOPER.
One of the most remarkable cases which ever transpired in the annals of jurisprudence, happened in Washington County, in which personal identity was lost, and the father and his neighbors were unable to recognize the features of the son and friend. Yet we
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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY.
shall not venture an opinion, but submit the facts, because there is too much mystery involved in the case, upon which hung the life or death of an innocent man.
On the 8th of January, 1840, D. B. Cooper, who, a short time previous, had resided with his father, Sylvanus Cooper, in Morris township in this county, but at that time residing in Lowell, Ohio, resolved to visit his home and former friends. He was accompanied as far as Wheeling in a jumper by William Long, and put up at & hotel in that city. Mr. Cooper left the hotel they were stopping at, and Mr. Long was unable to find him ; accordingly Mr. Long took Mr. Cooper's horse and jumper to his father's house, Sylvanus Coop- er, although, before doing so, he remained several days in the neigh- borhood, using the property of D. B. Cooper, and without delivering the same to Sylvanus Cooper. Suspicions arose against Mr. Long, and a warrant was issued by Justice Blaine, of Washington ; he was arrested, and so great was the excitement against him, that he could not procure bail, and was remanded to prison for thirty days unless sooner demanded by the Governor of Virginia.
Time rolls on slowly to an innocent man incarcerated in a felon's cell. Fuel is added to the flame when the intelligence reaches Washington that on Jan. 10th, 1840, a dead body is found below Wheeling, supposed to be that of D. B. Cooper. The father and his friends make immediate arrangements to visit the place of inter- ment of the dead body, while the innocent man is buoyed up with the consciousness that his own innocency will be proclaimed in due time. But not so-the father of D. B. Cooper and his friends sign and publish the following card in "Our Country," a paper published in Washington.
We, the undersigned, having seen a notice in the Wheeling Gazette of the 10th of January, of an account given by the postmaster of Granville Island, giving the description of the body of a person being found in the river at that place, and supposing from the description that it was the body of D. B. Cooper (who was missing in Wheeling on the morning of the 8th of January last), we repaired to the place and opened the grave, and from a PARTICULAR EXAMINATION OF HIS PERSON and clothing, are convinced be- yond a doubt that it was the identical body of the said D. B. Cooper. SYLVANUS COOPER, JOSEPH BRYANT, EZRA DILLE, JOHN A. DILLE, SAMUEL DAY
To this was added the annexed statement :-
The description of clothing given by the above-named persons are the same that my brother had on when he left me at Lowell, in Washington County, Ohio. ZEBULON COOPER.
On the 21st January, 1840, William Long was brought before Jus- tice Blaine for the murder of D. B. Cooper in or about Wheeling. The testimony elicited on that occasion was principally the honest confession of the prisoner to every witness, viz : that they had tra- velled from Lowell to Wheeling ; had put up at a hotel on the 7th of January ; ate supper together ; that Cooper went out and attended
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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY.
to some business ; that afterwards both parties met at a barber shop; that they returned, slept together in the same bed, and in the morn- ing before breakfast both walked to the market, and while they exami- ned a sled with bear and deer meat upon it, Cooper passed on.
Sylvanus Cooper, the father, stated that he had made the affidavit on the influence of the report that the body of his son had been found and other circumstances ; that he went to Wheeling and inquired of the landlord, who stated that both had left his house in the morning to go to market about 7 o'clock ; that Long returned without Cooper and wanted his breakfast for Cooper, but showed no signs of uneasiness about the matter, and that Long remained in the house until 12 o'clock before he left, and then left the next day.
John Morrow testified to the same statements of Long, with the addition that Stuart, a tobacconist, said it was curious that Cooper had gone off and left his horse, that likely he had got on a sled and went out to his father's, Sylvanus Cooper.
Andrew Means testified that a man by the name of Saunders told him that Long said that when they stopped at Fish Creek, Cooper went to pay his bill and pulled out a roll of money, but did not know how much there was.
James Stuart testified that he told Long that Cooper might have gone home with Saunders (the man who had the bear and deer meat), who was from Cooper's neighborhood, and that Long told him to tell Cooper that he had gone home to his father's with the horse and jumper.
We now return to Mr. D. B. Cooper, whom we had lost in Wheel- ing. Having considerable money with him and without giving his friend any notice of his intentions, and hearing of the many specu- lations which were transpiring in Illinois, he set out for that country ; two months rolled away, and poor Long is still incarcerated, yet his father Sylvanus Cooper knew that he was still alive, but on account of the certificate he had given, a copy of which has been given above, his conscience, or some other unknown cause, operated upon his mind, he resolved to keep the location of his son a profound secret, until the secret was revealed by a friend of Cooper's to whom it had been communicated. Public indignation burst forth against Sylvanus Cooper. Long was liberated, and it was said money was paid to recompense Long for his incarceration. The causes which impelled Sylvanus Cooper to take so iniquitous a course is so mysterious, that the final day of accounts will only reveal its truthfulness. We give the case therefore, as among the most extraordinary instances of per- sonal identity and of human depravity which can be anywhere found.
EXECUTIONS.
The first person executed was Thomas Richardson, on October 2, 1784. He was tried for burglary in the court, where it was held on the lot now owned by James G. Strean, on the corner of Main
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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY.
Street and Strawberry Alley. The following letter from the com- missioners of the county (viz : Van Swearingen, James Marshall, and Thomas Scott), dated Washington, June 28, 1784, explains itself :-
To his Excellency President Dickinson :
Sir : This county, as well as Fayette, has for some time past been greatly infested by a troop of robbers from the lower parts of the State, namely, Doanes and others, who, by frequent burglaries and robberies, under the countenance and protection of divers evil disposed persons amongst ourselves, have reduced us to the necessity of calling out parties of militia and making general search for the burglars and their accom- plices, whereupon the said burglars, with numbers of horses, negroes, and other valuable property, of which they had robbed the inhabitants (in the most daring and insolent manner), set off for Detroit, our party pursued about one hundred miles from this place before they overtook them. How- ever, we have now got of the said party lodged in the gaol of this county, the following persons, viz. : Abraham Doane, one who calls himself Thomas Richason, and two women who profess themselves wives to some of the party, the remainder having escaped our most vigilant pursuit, although we have recovered the greatest part of the property. We have also divers others in confinement and under recognizance as accomplices, and expect yet to make further discoveries, but our gaol being insufficient, and this same Abraham Doane having been rescued from it once before by an armed party, we are obliged to keep a strong guard constantly over them, and not having seen a supplement to the act for apprehending these vil- lians (which we are informed exists), are at a loss what to do with them, therefore prays the direction of the council in the premises.
Eph. Douglass, under date of Uniontown, May 29, 1784, says :-
The banditti have established themselves in some part of this country, not certainly known, but thought to be in the deserted part of Washing- ton County, whence they make frequent incursions into the settlements under cover of the night, terrify the inhabitants, sometimes beat them unmercifully, and always rob them of such property as they think proper, and then retire to their lurking places.
The court of Washington proceeded to the trial of Thomas Rich- ardson for burglary, and he was convicted and a full copy of the record forwarded to the Supreme Executive Council, and from the records of said council, under date of September 10, 1784, we make the following extract :-
The record of the conviction of Thomas Richardson of burglary in the county of Washington, was read and considered, upon which it was
Ordered, That execution of the sentence of the court be made and done upon him, the said Thomas Richardson, on Saturday, the 2d day of Octo- ber next, between the hours of ten of the clock in the forenoon and two of the clock in the afternoon of the same day, at the most proper and public place within the said day.
Richardson was taken from the jail in a cart to Gallows Hill (and it is from this circumstance that that locality derives its name). Arriving at the gallows, Sheriff Van Swearingen mounted the lad-
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der and fixed the rope secure, and afterwards around the neck of the culprit, when the cart was driven off and the prisoner launched into eternity.
SECOND EXECUTION-WM. CRAWFORD.
Thirty-nine years had almost elapsed before a similar scene was enacted on Gallows Hill.
WILLIAM CRAWFORD, an aged man, was tried for the murder of his own son before the Court of Oyer and Terminer of Washington, which assembled on November 20, 1822, before the Hon. Thomas H. Baird, President Judge, and his associates, Boyd Mercer and John Hamilton, Esqs.
A true bill was found by the grand jury, to which the prisoner plead, not guilty. By direction of the court a jury was empanelled of the prisoner's own selecting, consisting of Nathan Pyle, Benja- min Linton, James Ruple, Robert Gregg, Sr., William Clark, Samuel McDowell, Ebenezer Martin, Caleb Leonard, Thomas Jones, Ephraim Estep, Russel Moore, and Ezra Dille, who, being sworn and hearing the testimony, pleadings, and the charge of the court, rendered a verdict of guilty of murder in the first degree.
November 23, 1822, Judge Baird pronounced the following sen- tence upon the prisoner : "That you be taken from hence to the jail of the county of Washington, from whence you came, and from thence to the place of execution, and there be hanged by the neck until you are dead."
On the 25th November, 1822, exceptions were filed by his attor- neys in arrest of judgment, but were overruled by the court, and the prisoner was executed on the 21st day of February, 1823, on Gal- lows Hill, south of the borough.
William Baird (Deputy Prosecuting Attorney) and J. Pentecost, represented the commonwealth ; and James Ross, Parker Campbell, John Kennedy, and T. M. T. McKennan, were the counsel for the prisoner ; Robert Officer, Esq., being high sheriff of the county.
THIRD EXECUTION-CHRISTOPHER SHARP.
On the 26th day of March, 1828, a court of oyer and terminer was held in Washington, presided over by Hon. Thomas H. Baird, and Boyd Mercer and John Hamilton, Esqs., his associates. A colored man (a slave) by the name of CHRISTIAN SHARP (commonly called " Kit") was tried for the murder of his master, Robert Car- lisle, of Woodford, Kentucky. A true bill was found. The prisoner was brought into court on the 27th March, and asked a continuance of his case until the next term of court.
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