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 42
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June 25, 1828, the prisoner was brought into court for trial, and the following persons sworn in as jurors, viz : David Clark, Robert Grant, David Hootman, John McLoney, Reed Doake, Samuel Boreland, John Bell, Adam Wier, Richard B. Chaplan, John
369
HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY.
McCoy, Sr., Parker Scott, and Cyrus Huston. After hearing the testimony, the argument of counsel, and the charge of the court, the jury found the said Sharp guilty of murder in the first degree. On the 28th of June, 1828, his Honor Judge Baird sentenced the prisoner to be taken to the jail, from thence to the place of execu- tion on Gallows Hill, and there hanged by the neck until he be dead.
He was executed by Robert McClelland, Esq., sheriff of the county, on the 22d day of November, 1828, on Gallows Hill. Wil- liam Waugh, Esq. (Deputy Prosecuting Attorney), counsel on behalf of the commonwealth, assisted by John S. Brady, Esq. Counsel for the prisoner were Samuel McFarland, William Baird, and John Kennedy, Esqs.
FOURTH EXECUTION-ROBERT FOGLER.
On December 4, 1866, Robert W. Dinsmore, of Hopewell town- ship, was murdered about ten o'clock at night by Robert Fogler. The county court being in session, the commissioners of the county by direction of Judge Acheson, offered a reward of one thousand dollars for the apprehension of the murderer. On the following day Robert Fogler was arrested, one remarkable circumstance clearly and conclusively pointing to his guilt. In the scuffle which ensued between Mr. Dinsmore and the prisoner, the heel of Fogler's boot was knocked off, and after his arrest Sheriff Smith, having procured the boots Fogler wore, found the heel missing, and thereby circum- stantially pointing to the murderer. The prisoner was asked to explain the circumstance, when he made a full confession.
On the 20th February, 1867, the Court of Oyer and Terminer of Washington County was held, Judge Acheson on the bench, his associates Hon. John C. Chambers and John Farrer. Fogler was arraigned for the murder, the grand jury having previously found a true bill. The prisoner was defended by Messrs. James R. Ruth, I. Y. Hamilton, and L. R. Woods Little, Esqs., while the com- monwealth was represented by Boyd Crumrine, Esq., District Attor- ney, assisted by H. J. Vankirk, of this county, and N. P. Fetter- man, Esq., of Pittsburg.
The jurors who were empanelled to try the case, were Alex. B. Duval, David Bigler, W. V. McFarland, James B. Wilson, John Baker, Alexander McCalmant, John S. Barr, W. R. Sutherland, George T. Work, Lewis E. Smith, Edward R. McCready, James V. Dorsey. The trial commenced on Thursday morning and the case went to the jury at half-past four o'clock on Saturday, Febru- ary 23d, and at six o'clock a verdict was rendered of murder in the first degree.
On Thursday afternoon, February 28, Robert Fogler was brought into court and Judge Acheson pronounced the death sentence upon the prisoner. The death warrant was issued April 4, 1867, for his
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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY.
execution, which took place May 15, 1867, inside of the jail yard, about seventy persons having received tickets of admission from the sheriff.
WASHINGTON COUNTY MUTUAL INSURANCE COMPANY.
This company was incorporated April 1, 1837, for the purpose of insuring dwelling-houses, stores, shops, and other buildings and property against loss or damage by fire. The number of poli- cies which it has issued for five years amounts to twenty-eight hundred. The present efficient directors are William J. Matthews, President ; Samuel Hazlett, John Wylie, Jolin McElroy, A. C. Mor- row, Alexander Murdoch, George W. Warrick, V. Harding, David Aiken, John Hastings, Lewis Barker, John D. Boyle, and Thomas Hodgens; L. M. Marsh, Secretary.
It is worthy of remark that during the whole existence of this company, the directors have never been compelled to make an assess- ment on their deposit notes. We add their financial condition :-
Cash on deposit with Samuel Hazlett, $3,600
Interest unpaid,
3,400
Bills receivable,
.
750
Deposit notes,
.
130,000
$137,750.
GENERAL INSURANCE AGENCY.
Under this title of Fire Insurance Agency, we may add that Da- vid Aiken, Esq., many years since established a General Insurance Agency, in which capital to the amount of $17,693,055.87 is repre- sented by cash assets in the following companies :-
Home, of New York, $4,516,368.46
Ætna, of Hartford, Connecticut, 5,549,504.97
Insurance Company of North America, Phila., 2,783,580.96
Franklin, of Philadelphia, 2,825,731.67
Security, of New York, 2,017,889.81
In these companies no premium notes are taken, and consequently no assessments can be made on their policies. Dwellings and other property insured for five years. David Aiken, Esq , has appointed as solicitors for these companies, R. H. Morris and Joseph A. Mc- Kee. Mr. Aiken is also special agent for the Home Insurance Company, of New York, for the State of Pennsylvania.
CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN HON. DAVID REDDICK AND THOMAS JEFFERSON, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.
The following correspondence, which was originally intended for no other person than Mr. Reddick, was handed me by a particular friend, to insert in the History of Washington County if I deemed it of important interest. I have done so, because it places Mr. Jef-
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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY.
ferson, with regard to his religious opinions, in his true position, although his memory has been the subject of much criticism. I may state that Mr. Reddick was not only a member of the Supreme Ex- ecutive Council of Pennsylvania, from Washington County, but held many important offices of honor and trust, and was also elected an honorary member of the American Philosophical Society on Janu- ary 16, 1789, his diploma bearing the signatures of Benj. Franklin, President; Rev. Dr. Ewing, Bishop White, Vice-Presidents, and other distinguished gentlemen. The letter referred to reads thus :-
Washington, Penna., June 10, 1802.
SIR: About three weeks ago I received a letter from a respectable gen- tleman, who resides amongst the Indians, concerned in the missionary affairs of the United Brethren of Bethlehem. In this letter he has stated respecting you in the following words: "One act, however, if true, may operate in the decree of heaven much against him in the long run, viz : That he should have told the Indian chiefs, who lately visited him, that he stood in no need of being taught in Christianity, that they were a separate nation and people from the whites, and that their mode of living (without the religion of the whites) was perfectly right and conformable to the intention of their Creator, who had given then a different skin, different ideas, and a different way of maintaining themselves, and for that reason placed them on a separate island by themselves." This is reported by Capt. George Whiteeyes, one of the Indian chiefs. He has it from the month of those it was spoken to by Mr. Jefferson, through a French interpreter at a private conference ; however, please mention not my name in relating the story.
In my answer, I mentioned my disbelief of the story, that it was no doubt propagated by political enemies to injure you, and thought little more about it for some time, until I heard that a letter to the same purpose had been read in Presbytery in the State of Kentucky, upon which I began to fear that the story, if uncontradicted, might have mischievous effects. I appear alarmed, and it is pretty plain from the letter in my hand, the Mora- vians were likewise so. The story, after a continued currency, may gain credit enough to be used by the Indians, who may be averse to cultivation of their people, and at the same time operate unfavorably to yourself and your friends and country. Under this idea, I consulted Mr. Edgar and Mr. McDowell of this county on the subject, who, with me, were much uneasy about it and of opinion that you ought to be informed before the mischief might become rooted. As I am not at liberty to name the gentleman who writes me this story, I assure you he has to my knowledge given evidence of his high regard for your character at a time not long past. I am, with due respect, yours, DAVID REDDICK.
To which Thomas Jefferson replies :-
Washington, June 19, 1802.
SIR: Your letter of the 10th inst. has been received, and I am duly sensible of the favor of your attention to the calumny which was the sub- ject of it, seeing the impossibility that special vindications should ever keep pace with the endless falsehoods invented and disseminated against me. I came at once to a resolution to rest on the justice and good sense of my fellow citizens, to consider from my general character and conduct through life, not unknown to them, whether these calumnies were probable, and I have
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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY.
made it an invariable rule never to enter the lists of the public papers with the propagators of them. In private communications with my friends, I have contradicted them without reserve. In this light you will be pleased to consider the present letter as meant for your own satisfaction, and to assure you that the falsehoods may be contradicted with safety by yourself or any others, but not that this letter should get into the public papers, or itself or any copy of it go out of your hands.
I know not to what party of Indians the calumny is meant to allude, as there were several parties on visits here last summer, but it is false as to every party. I never uttered the sentiments there stated, nor anything equivalent or like to them to any Indian, or, to any other person here or any- where else. I had but one private conversation the last summer with any Indian, that was with the Little Turtle in the presence of Capt. Wells, his interpreter. I remember asking from him the opinions of the Indians with respect to a Supreme Being, the worship of Him, and a future state. He answered me frankly, but I carefully avoided the impropriety of either con- troverting or coneurring in these opinions, or of saying one syllable on the comparative merits of any religious opinion. The story, therefore, is a mere fabrication, false in its substance and in all its circumstances. I readily conjecture the missionary who wrote to you on the subject, and know his worth and candor too well not to wish that his mind should be set to rights on this subject. I will ask, if you please, that addition to your favors, and pray you to accept my esteem and best wishes. THOMAS JEFFERSON.
DAVID REDDICK, ESQ.
WASHINGTON COUNTY SABBATH SCHOOL CONVENTION.
Several of our citizens met March 29, 1862, at the house of Tho- mas Mckean, Esq., to confer about the propriety of organizing a County Sabbath School Convention, and after an interchange of opinion they decided unanimously that it was both right and expe- dient, and designated the 21st and 22d days of April as the time, and the Presbyterian church of Washington as the place.
Each Sabbath school appointed two representatives, who met and issued a call for the convention, addressed to all the pastors, super- intendents, and friends of Sabbath schools in Washington County, and also appointed a committee to superintend and direct the com- fort of delegates.
On April 21, 1862, the convention assembled in the Presbyterian church, and elected James Donehoo as president; Peter Camp and Wm McCleary, as vice-presidents ; and Thomas Mckean, D. M. Leatherman, and I. N. Hainer as secretaries.
Delegates from the following Sabbath schools were admitted :-
From the Methodist Episcopal Churches of Canonsburg, Monon- gahela City, Providence Chapel, Hanover, and Washington.
From the United Presbyterian Churches of North Buffalo, West Alexander, Canonsburg, Chartiers, Pigeon Creek, Washington, Chartiers Cross Roads, and West Middleton.
From the Presbyterian Churches of Canonsburg, Lower Tenmile, Mount Prospect, Claysville, Florence, Pigeon Creek, East Buffalo, Cross Creek, Upper Tenmile, Racoon, Chartiers, Upper Buffalo,
373
HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY.
Monongahela City, Burgettstown, Independence, Pine Grove, and Washington.
From the Protestant Episcopal Church of Washington
From the Union Sabbath School of South Pigeon Creek.
From the Lutheran Congregation of West Bethlehem, Carroll, Hillsborough, and Washington.
From the Cumberland Presbyterian Churches of Washington, Windy Gap, and Concord (at Sparta).
From the Baptist Churches of Pleasant Grove and Washington.
From the Methodist Protestant Churches of Washington and Amity.
From the Disciples Churches of Williamsburg, West Middleton, Washington, and Pleasant Valley.
A constitution was adopted, and under its provisions an execu- tive committee appointed.
May 19, 1863.
The second annual Washington County Sabbath School convened in the Presbyterian church; Wm. McDaniel, of Canonsburg, presi- dent, with the constitutional officers. In addition to the Sabbath schools reported last year the following additional ones became mem- bers, viz :-
Methodist Episcopal Churches of Bentleysville, Pigeon Creek, Beallsville, Taylor's Church, Centreville, Prospect, Clover Hill, and Zollarsville.
United Presbyterian Churches of Peters Creek, Mount Hope, and South Buffalo.
Presbyterian Churches of Fairview, Centre, and West Alexander.
Baptist Churches of Mount Hermon and Pigeon Creek.
Methodist Protestant Church of Eldersville.
Wesleyan Methodist Church of West Middleton.
Protestant Episcopal Church of West Brownsville and Monon- gahela City.
Union Sabbath Schools of Windy Gap, Ridge (East Pike Run), South Strabane Valley Missionary School.
Lutheran Churches of Bethel and Mount Zion.
Cumberland Presbyterian Churches of Pleasant Hill, Bethel (at Vanburen), Millsborough, and Greenfield.
Disciples-Peters Creek, California, Burnsville, Pigeon Creek, Buffalo (the five last not represented).
May 24, 1864.
The third annual Sabbath School County Convention assembled in the college chapel, and was presided over by Gen. James Lee, of Cross Creek, with the customary officers. Fifty-four delegates in attendance, representing the Sabbath schools of the county.
June 14, 1865.
The fourth annual Sabbath School County Convention met in the Presbyterian church of Monongahela City, and was presided
374
HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY.
over by Rev. Wm. Ewing, of Canonsburg, and other officers. Fifty- six delegates in attendance.
The questions for discussion which were usually discussed by the conventions were the relation of pastor to the Sabbath school, the plan to produce the best results, the requisite qualifications of super- intendents and teachers, the relation of the Sabbath school to family religion, the best method of teaching, the influence of Sabbath schools upon the church, how to retain the older scholars, the best mode of distributing books, and is the Sabbath school an indispen- sable auxiliary to the church. These and similar questions, all tending to promote Sabbath school instruction, and the co-opera- tion of Christians in promoting the welfare of our common country and enlarging the Redeemer's kingdom, were discussed with the happiest effects.
From the records of the County Sabbath School Conventions I learn the following interesting facts, giving each denomination the maximum in the several years reported :-
Name.
No. of Schools.
Scholars. 2114
Teachers. 226
8487
Methodist Episcopal
13
1380
147
3554
United Presbyterian .
9
719
82
2415
Cumberland Presbyterian
6
493
60
1025
Lutheran
4
299
34
1325
Protestant Episcopal
4
375
43
1042
Baptist
4
202
29
775
Disciples .
4
180
25
250
Union Schools .
3
245
38
775
Methodist Protestant
3
310
26
900
Wesleyan Methodist .
1
80
12
250
Mission School
1
75
14
Methodist Episcopal (Colored)
.
1
115
14
246
70
6587
750
21,044
GOLDEN WEDDING.
We deem it of sufficient importance to place upon record, from the minutes of the town council of Washington, the occurrence of a golden wedding which was celebrated in this borough on Monday evening, April 18, 1870.
The council adopted the following preamble and resolutions :-
WHEREAS, Joseph Henderson, Esq., and his wife celebrate the 50th anni- versary of their marriage this evening, and friends and acquaintances have assembled with them to return thanks to God that their lives have been spared for the enjoyment of fifty years of connubial felicity.
AND WHEREAS, This is the first occasion of the kind which has transpired since the foundation of our town eighty years since ; the burgesses and council of the borough of Washington feel it to be their duty as well as their individual inclination to express their sentiments on so interesting an
Vols. in Library.
Presbyterian
17
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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY.
occasion, believing that by so doing they are representing the united opinion of every citizen of your ancient borough ; therefore,
Resolved, That we congratulate Joseph Henderson, Esq.,. and his wife, upon the return of their 50th marriage anniversary-an anniversary which reminds them of their early love-of their placing upon the altar of Hymen two willing, devoted hearts, united by solemn vows-of their preeminent attachment to each other, and their devotion to each other's interest, and governed during their entire matrimonial life by the principles of the Chris- tian religion.
Resolved, That the days of the years of their existence having been pre- eminently crowned by Him who divinely ordained the marriage institution, it is our heartfelt wish that the same protecting being who is the God of all the families of the earth, will sustain, support, and keep them during the remainder of their earthly existence, giving them kind friends, obliging neighbors, and devoted citizens, and when life shall terminate, and their souls pass into the spirit-land, may a reunion take place, which shall be measured, not by the years of time, but as eternal as the existence of God.
The preamble and resolutions were prepared by Alfred Creigh, signed by all the members of the council, with the seal attached, and presented by John D. Boyle, Chief Burgess.
APPENDIX
TO
HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY.
BY
DR. ALFRED CREIGH, OF WASHINGTON.
.
APPENDIX.
CHAPTER I.
THE VIRGINIA AND PENNSYLVANIA CONTROVERSY, FROM 1752 TO 1783.
The date of the earliest settlements by Virginians and Pennsylvanians-The difficulties between the Governors of both States arising from these settle- ments-The names of the first settlers-The various acts of Captain Con- nolly as the representative of Virginia in claiming Fort Duquesne (Pitts- burg) as within Virginia-His treason-Commissioners appointed by both States to run a temporary line until the Revolutionary War would terminate -The action of both States approving of the same, and the necessity of erecting Washington County.
THE earliest account of any permanent settlement having been made west of the Allegheny Mountains may be traced to the spring of 1765. In the month of April of that year a letter is on record in the Pennsylvania archives, dated at Williamsburg, Virginia, stating that the frontier inhabitants of the colony of Virginia, as well as Maryland, are removing fast over the Allegheny Mountains, in order to settle and live there.
It is also true that in addition to this information it was asserted that it was wrong for settlements to be made west of the mountains, because a controversy between Virginia and Pennsylvania about their respective boundary lines, had been commenced as early as 1752; the former relying upon the charter of James the First, while the latter claimed under Charles the Second, in 1681, which assigns the Delaware River as the eastern boundary, to extend five degrees in longitude, to be computed from said eastern bounds. The Penns contended that Pennsylvania extended several miles beyond Fort Duquesne (Pittsburg), while, on the other hand, the Virginia claim may be more satisfactorily exhibited in the language of B. Mayer, Esq., in an address before the Maryland Historical Society, in 1851.
It was only a few years after Pontiac's war that small settlements of whites had crept westward through the defiles of the Alleghenies and along the principal paths, the northernmost of which converged at old Fort Duquesne (Pittsburg). A town was laid out on the east bank of the Monongahela, within two hundred yards of Fort
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4
APPENDIX TO
Pitt, and for seventy miles above it a route had been cut through the wilderness to Redstone old Fort, near the mouth of Dunlap's Creek, now the site of Brownsville.
About the year 1774, Virginia still claimed, by virtue of her charter, all the territory between the parallels of 36° 30' and 39º 40' north latitude, from the margin of the Atlantic due west to the Mississippi, and thus inclosed within her assumed limit, not only the region which at present is comprised in Kentucky, but also the north- ern half of Illinois, one-third of Ohio, and an extensive part of Western Pennsylvania. Settlements had been planted upon most of the eastern branches of the Monongahela, the Youghiogheny, and on the small eastern tributaries of the upper Ohio, for 120 miles below Pittsburg, as well as on the sources of the Greenbrier, the Little Kanawha, and Elk River, west of the mountains, embracing in these distriets, the northwestern counties of Virginia, and the southwestern of Pennsylvania, as at present defined. Pittsburg was claimed as a frontier town of Virginia, while the southern settlements on the tributaries of the Monongahela were held to belong to the same province.
After this digression we again return to demonstrate the fact of the early settlement of the lands west of the Allegheny Mountains, notwithstanding the claim of Virginia. On the 24th of October, 1765, His Majesty, King George II., gives the following instruction to John Penn, Lieutenant-Governor of Pennsylvania : WHEREAS, it hath been represented unto us that several persons from Pennsyl- vania and the back settlements of Virginia have immigrated to the westward of the Allegheny Mountains, and there have seated them- selves on lands contiguous to the river Ohio, in express disobedience to our royal proclamation of October 7, 1763, it is, therefore, our will and pleasure, and you are enjoined and required to put a stop to all these, and all other the like encroachments for the future, by causing all persons who have irregularly seated themselves on lands to the westward of the Allegheny Mountains, immediately to evacu- ate these premises.
On December 11, 1766, Francis Fauquier, Lieutenant-Governor of Virginia, addressed a letter to John Penn, Governor of Pennsyl- vania, in which he says : " No regard is paid to the proclamations of 7th October, 1763, and 10th of April, 1766 (by you). But the commander-in-chief has taken a more effectual method to remove them, by giving orders to an officer and party to summon the settlers on Red Sandstone Creek, to warn them to quit these illegal settle- ments, and in case of refusal to threaten military execution. "
On this subject General Gage, under date of July 2, 1766, writes to Governor Penn : If you will please to take proper and legal methods, as I presume Redstone Creek (at Brownsville) is within your government, the garrison of Fort Pitt shall assist to drive away the settlers.
The chiefs of the Six Nations at a council held at Fort Pitt, May
5
HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY.
24, 1766, said that as soon as the peace was made in 1765, contrary to our engagements with them, a number of white people came over the great mountain and settled at Redstone Creek and upon the Monongahela.
George Croghan, Esq., the Indian agent, in addressing General Gage, said : If some effectual measures are not speedily taken to remove those people settled on Redstone Creek, till a boundary can be properly settled as proposed, and the governors pursue vigorous measures, the consequences may be dreadful, and we be involved in all the calamities of another general war.
In consequence, therefore, of all the difficulties surrounding the case, and to religiously perform every engagement entered into by Governor Penn with the Indians, Alexander Mackay, commanding a part of the 42d regiment issued the following proclamation, by authority of the commander-in-chief, and dated at Redstone Creek, June 22, 1766. This proclamation was addressed: To all people now inhabiting to the westward of the Allegheny Mountains: In conse- quence of several complaints made by the savages against the people who have presumed to inhabit some parts of the country west of the Allegheny Mountains, which, by treaty, belong to them, and had never been purchased, and which is contrary to his majesty's royal proclamation. His excellency, the commander-in-chief, out of com- passion to your ignorance, before he proceeds to extremity, have been pleased to order me, with a detachment from the garrison at Fort Pitt, to come here and collect you together, to inform you of the lawless and licentious manner in which you behave, and to order you also to return to your several provinces without delay, which I am to do in the presence of some Indian chiefs now along with me. I, therefore, desire you will all come to this place along with the bearer, who I have sent on purpose to collect you together.
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