USA > Pennsylvania > Westmoreland County > History of Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, Vol. I > Part 6
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Westmoreland county was therefore erected during the proprietary gov- ernment of the Penns, and placed under the reign of the English law. On April 6, 1773, in the reign of George III, the Westmoreland courts were first opened at Hanna's house. There were several houses near, and the place soon became known as Hannastown. When court was opened, William Crawford presided on the bench, and had two associate justices with him. The house in which the courts were held was a two-story log house which
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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
was also used as a dwelling house by Robert Hanna. This was the first court held west of the Allegheny Mountains, where justice, in its rude tem- ple of unhewn logs, was administered according to the forms and rules of the English law.
The first business attended to by the court on the morning of April 6, 1773, was to divide the county into townships. They made eleven townships cover- ing the territory from the Youghiogheny River to Kittanning, and from Laurel Hill to the Ohio river. These townships were named Fairfield, Don - egal, Huntingdon, Mt. Pleasant, Hempfield, Pitt, Tyrone, Spring Hill, Ma- nillin, Rostraver and Armstrong. The names are not all found now in our county. In the final division of the territory then embraced in Westmoreland, some of them fell into other counties, where they still exist by the same names. From the minutes of the court kept very completely, we learn that Mt. Pleasant township was bounded by the Loyalhanna on the north, then ex- tended through the Chestnut Ridge to Crabb Tree Run, thence down Crabb Tree to the Forbes road, thence by a straight line to Braddock's road and along it to Jacob's Creek, thence up Jacob's Creek to Fairfield township, on Chestnut Ridge. Hempfield was bounded on the north and west by the Conemaugh and Kiskiminetas rivers, and extended thence down past Brush Run and by Brush Creek to the mouth of the Youghiogheny River, and up the river to the mouth of Jacob's Creek to the Mt. Pleasant town- ship line. Spring Hill embraced all beyond the Youghiogheny River, and is now in Fayette and Washington counties. Armstrong embraced all north of the Conemaugh and Loyalhanna.
The next business of the new court was to empannel a grand jury, with John Carnahan as foreman. They then appointed constables and road super- visors. The constables had immediate business, for several jurors who had been summoned to appear were not present, and these were sent for, and when brought in by the new constables they were promptly fined for their non-at- tendance. The next business was to license certain citizens to sell intoxicating liquor. There were: Erasmus Bock, John Barr, William Elliot, George Kelly and Joseph Erwin. The latter was a tenant of Robert Hanna and kept the tavern at Hannastown, and Hanna being on the bench, of course took care of his tenant. But there is no evidence that any who applied were refused a li- cense. The court furthermore fixed the rates to be charged by the tavern keepers licensed, and directed the clerk of courts to make a copy of these rates for each one licensed, who should pay to the clerk one shilling and six pence for making it out. The rates fixed were spread on the minutes of the court and were as follows :
Whiskey, per gill, 4 pence; West India Rum, per gill, 6 pence; Continent, per gill, 4 pence ; Toddy, per gill, I shilling; One bowl of West India rum toddy in which there shall be 1/2 pint of loaf sugar, I shilling 6 pence ; A bowl of Continent, I shilling ; Maderia Wine, per bottle, 7 shillings and 6 pence; Lisbon Wine, 6 shillings; Western Toland
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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
Wines, 5 shillings ; Grain per quart, 21/2 pence; Hay and stabling per night, i shilling ; Pasturage per night or 24 hours, 6 pence ; Cider per quart, I shilling; Strong Beer per quart, 8 pence.
The incompatibility of office to which we are now accustomed was not known in that day. One man could hold as many offices as he could secure. Arthur St. Clair was our first prothonotary and clerk of courts, which offices he held in Bedford county. But he was also a justice, and sometimes sat on the common pleas bench. Occasionally too, he conducted a case, perhaps in the absence of a regular attorney. He kept the court records, and during the time of Indian incursions and during Dunmore's War, he took them to his house in Ligonier for safe keeping. James Brison was employed by St. Clair as his office clerk, and remained in the office some years after St. Clair re- signed to enter the Revolution. Those who will take the time to examine our first court records kept by Brison will feel amply repaid, and will be delighted with their legibility and artistic beauty. After one hundred and thirty-two years they are almost as bright and legible as though they were written but yes- terday.
John Proctor was appointed sheriff, a position he had held in Bedford county, though he lived west of Laurel Hill, in what is now Unity township. Part of the time he resided in Hannastown, otherwise on his farm near St. Vincent's monastery. His sureties were William Laughry and Robert Hanna, and they were approved in the presence of Michael Hufnaagle, by Arthur St. Clair, all of whom were justices. Proctor was a man of sterling qualities, and, though appointed by the Penns, he took sides against them when their Tory principles brought them into a conflict with the people. He was a colonel in ยท the militia of his day, a regiment of Associators brought into being by the gathering war clouds. During the Revolution he held many offices of trust. With Thomas Galbraith he was appointed to seize the property of Tories. Later he was a member of the Assembly. His last days were somewhat clouded, for his property was sold by the sheriff in 1791, and his family were afterwards very poor. He was a Presbyterian, and his house was used as a preaching place before a church was erected. He is buried in Unity cemetery, in an unknown grave, near his old but more fortunate neighbor, William Find- ley. We shall often have occasion to refer to John Proctor in the ensuing pages.
The election which was provided for in the erecting act was held at Hanna's house on October 1, 1773. Proctor was elected sheriff, and was commissioned again October 18th. Joseph Beeler, James Smith and James Cavett were elected first county commissioners. James Kinkaid and William Harrison were chosen coroners. Benjamin Davis, Charles Hitchman, Christopher Hays, Philip Rodgers, James McClean and Alexander Barr were elected asses- sors for the various parts of the county. All were sworn into office by St. Clair. The commissioners proceeded at once to adjust debts and levy a
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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
county tax. William Thompson was elected as our first assemblyman.
For eight years the entire county voted at Hannastown, and at several elections there were less than one hundred votes cast. In 1783 there were two other districts provided for, but when Fayette county was erected in 1784, one of them, the Redstone district, fell almost entirely within the new county. So the legislature changed the district so that those electors who still remained in Westmoreland should vote at William Moore's house, in Rostraver township. The act of September 13, 1785, redivided the county into five districts; all living north of the Conemaugh and Kiskiminetas rivers were to vote at Daniel Dixon's house ; all in Ligonier valley between Fayette county and the Conemaugh river, were to vote at Samuel Jameson's house; all in Huntington and Rostraver townships were to vote at William Moore's house, in the latter township; those in the Fort Pitt district, now Allegheny county, were to vote at Devereux Smith's house; and all who were not included in these four districts were to vote at Hannastown. By act of September 19, 1786, all in the Hannastown district were to vote there- after at Greensburg, then called Newtown. On September 29, 1789, Derry township was erected into an election district, and Moses Donald's house was named as the voting place. By act of January 11, 1803, Franklin town- ship was annexed to the Greensburg district. By act of April 4, 1805, Fairfield township, including the present township of Ligonier, was made a separate district, with a voting place at William Ramsey's, now known as Fort Palmer, and by the same act Donegal was made a district, with the voting place at Major George Ambrose's.
CHAPTER IV
Selection of a County Seat .- Old Hannastown .- Erection of a Jail .- Sentences of the Court .- Slavery.
The Act of Assembly creating the county, as we have said, provided for the appointment of trustees to locate and erect public buildings. These trus- tees were appointed by the Supreme Executive Council, the legislative body of the state, and were Robert Hanna, Joseph Erwin, John Cavett, George Wilson and Samuel Sloan. Hanna must have been a leader of men, for in this case, as in many others, he managed to have matters go his way. He was an Irishman, and had settled on the Forbes road, about midway between Ligonier and Fort Pitt. There was considerable demand for a stopping place, and he converted his house into a tavern. As early as 1770 he had several other Irish settlers near him, and in 1773 the Hanna settlement had grown to a small town, and was the only one on that section of the Forbes road. He rented his house finally to Joseph Erwin, to keep the tavern, and in some way these two induced Sloan, who was a neighboring settler, to vote with them on the question of location. Thus there were three out of five trustees who voted for Hannastown as a county seat. It was not without great opposition that this selection was made. Aeneas Mckay, a very bright and prominent citizen of Pittsburg, on March 3, 1773, wrote a letter to Arthur St. Clair in which he greatly deprecated the selection of Hannastown. After expressing surprise that the new county should thus be crippled in its infancy, he says :
"Where is the convenience for transacting business there, since there are neither houses, tables nor chairs. The people must sit at the roots of trees and on stumps, and in case of rain the lawyers' books and papers must be exposed to the weather. Nothing can be done properly except receiving fees, and everybody attending court, except the lawyers, must be sufferers.
"The whole inhabitance of Pittsburg exclaimed against this partiality. If I had as much influence among the great as you (St. Clair), I would try to have trustees selected from Philadelphia, by which means Pittsburg could not fail to be selected. But if they are selected from hereabouts, ten to one Joe Erwin, the tavern keeper, will prevail."
4
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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
We must also read St. Clair's letter to Joseph Shippen, president of the Supreme Executive Council. It is dated at Ligonier, January 15, 1774, (See Pa. Arch. vol. 4, page 471).
"Sir: This letter will be delivered to you by Mr. Hauna, one of the trustees of Westmoreland county. To some manovers of his I believe the opposition to fixing the County Town at Pittsburg is chiefly owing, as it is to his interest that it should con- tinue where the law has fixed the courts pro tempore; he lives there, used to keep a public house there and has now on that expectation, rented his house at an extravagant price. Erwin another trustee adjoins, and is also a public-house keeper. A third trustee, Sloan, lives in the neighborhood which always makes a majority for continuing the courts at the present place. A passage in the law for erecting a county is that the courts shall be held at Hanna's house till a court house and jail are built. This puts it in their power to continue them as long as they please for a little management might prevent a court house from being built these twenty years. That you will excuse inacuracies as I write in greatest hurry, Mr. Hanna holding the horse while I write. I will see you early in the spring."
On October 3, 1774, the trustees made the following report. :
"We being appointed trustees for the county of Westmoreland to make a report for a proper place, having accurately examined and considered the same, do report that 'tis our opinion that Hannas Town seems to be the most cetitrical and fit to answer the pur- pose intended. We are further of the opinion that should your Honor and the Honorable Council think the Brush Creek Manor a more proper place, it cannot be of much disad- vantage to the county. We pray your Honor sentiments on this head which will be most fully acknowledged by us. (Signed). Robert Hanna, Joseph Erwin, Samuel Sloan, John Cavett.
John Cavett signed the report, but George Wilson did not. Both he and Cavett were opposed to its location at Hannastown. They had at first voted in favor of Pittsburg, and St. Clair spoke for the minority, and even then foretold something of the great future that place had in store. He also favored Pittsburg, because, while it was really our territory, Virginia was claiming it, and he wanted to take possession and boldy assert the rights of the Province by founding a county town there. St. Clair also stated in a letter to Gov. Richard Penn that Hanna and Erwin had voted for Hannas- town through selfish motives. But how public-spirited St. Clair was can only be seen when we remember that he had then thousands of acres of land east of Hannastown, and very little around Pittsburg. In this, as in all other public matters, he easily forgot his own interests when they were in conflict with the general good.
Hannastown was really not a bad selection as viewed now, where new counties were formed all around. It was centrally located, and, except in futuro, Pittsburg had very little advantage over Hannastown, for in 1775
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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
Pittsburg had only twenty-five or thirty log houses, and the fort, while Hannastown had at all events, nearly that many.
The report and action of the trustees was never endorsed entirely by the Proprietary government, and it is doubtful if Hannastown would have be- come the permanent county seat, even though it had not met with disaster. The trustees adopted the plan feared by St. Clair in his letter above quoted. They never built a court house, but court was held in Hanna's house which, of course, was also his dwelling house.
Hannastown was a collection of from fifteen to twenty houses built of hewed logs, and roofed with split shingles, or clapboards. Most of these houses had but one story and a loft, the latter often accessible only by a ladder. The well-to-do people (for wealth has only a relative value) had two-story houses with two rooms and a large fireplace below. There was a stockade erected there in 1774 under the direction and by the advice of St. Clair. This undoubtedly helped the town and settlement a great deal, for the early pioneers felt more secure if located near a fort or stockade, and the stockade was therefore a great inducement to settlers. The town increased to from twenty-five to thirty log houses, a jail and stockade, when the Rev- olution came in 1775 and 1776, and it never grew any more, because during the war many of its citizens were bearing arms in defense of the colonies, and home improvements were sadly neglected. The best days of Hannas- town were from 1773 to 1776. Moving westward from the old counties was then at its height, and this was the popular and only highway through Pennsylvania. Then when the war clouds began to gather the militia mus- ters came into vogue, and for Westmoreland county were held at Hannas- town. This was a great event. Militia parade day, among our forefathers and for more than fifty years, remained without a rival as a means of as- sembling the honest yeomanry of our western section. Nearly all of our population then was in the country; there were few towns, and but small need for them. The people raised all they ate, and with spinning wheels and looms manufactured nearly every thing they wore from wool and flax, both home products. There were no stores, in a modern sense, at Hannas- town. There was scarcely any thing to buy and almost no money to buy it with, hence the absence of stores. Whisky, rum, etc., were sold under license, and there was also a sale for flints, powder, lead, and a few other articles, but there was no occasion for anything like our country stores are now.
Shortly after the courts were opened and the public officers sworn in, the commissioners began the erection of a jail. It was made of round logs, using only the largest trees. It was a square building, of one story and one room. It was strong enough to hold the average prisoner, and those who were considered dangerous or likely to break jail, were chained to the logs. In comparison to the number incarcerated, jail breaking was not so common then as now. Nearby the jail were the whipping post and pillory, for it
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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
must be remembered that our laws then required these instruments of punishment, and they were used, too, in Hannastown, as will be seen further on. The whipping post was a section of a small tree, about one foot in diameter, hewn flat on one side and firmly implanted in the ground. Five feet from the ground was a cross piece about six feet long, thoroughly fastened to it. The whippings were always public performances. When the wrong-doer was about to be whipped, his arms were stretched out and his hands or wrists were tied firmly to the ends of the crosspiece. The culprit was then ready to expiate his crimes and afford a public illustration of the vaunted majesty of the English law, "the accumulated wisdom of ages." The sheriff or his deputy did the whipping. Our court records show that this method of punishment was not by any means uncommon in Hannastown. The first man to be whipped was James Brigland, who in October, 1773, plead guilty to a felony and was sentenced by Judge William Crawford to receive ten lashes on his bare back, well laid on, the next morn- ing. Luke Picket was found guilty of stealing, and was sentenced to re- ceive twenty-one lashes on his bare back, well laid on, the next morning, be- tween the hours of eight and ten o'clock. So with Huens West, who was convicted of the same offense. His sentence called for but fifteen lashes.
The pillory was made like large folding doors, and fastened between two upright posts. In this door were three holes, and through these holes the head and arms of the prisoner were passed and his arms tied. In this posi- tion he was forced to stand for such a period as his sentence directed. By the English law, which was then in force in Hannastown, any person pass- ing a prisoner in the pillory had a right to throw one stone at him. The pillory was erected out in the open, where the passer-by could exercise his time-honored common law right of stone casting.
John Smith was charged with stealing, and pleaded guilty. His sen- tence reflects but little honor on our early courts. He was to receive thirty-nine lashes on the bare back, well laid on, and his ears were then to be cut off and nailed to the pillory; and he was to stand one hour in the pillory. Fortunately our early court history is not often disgraced with sentences so inhuman as this. William Howard suffered one hour in the pillory in 1774, after having received thirty lashes on the bare back, well laid on. This was, moreover, in the month of January, when the tempera- ture is not supposed to have been very mild.
In October, 1775, Elizabeth Smith was ordered to receive fifteen lashes on the bare back, well laid on. She was furthermore an indentured servant of James Kinkaid, who had therefore at that time a right to her uninterrupted services. Four days after she was whipped, James Kinkaid presented a petition to our courts setting forth that he had been unjustly deprived of her services while she was in prison, and while she was recover- ing from the effects of the sentence. He therefore asked a redress for this
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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
loss. Judges Hanna, Lochry, Sloan and Cavett were on the bench and they deliberately considered his request and decreed that she should serve Kinkaid for a period of two years after the expiration of her indenture.
James McGill was found guilty of a felony in 1782, and was sentenced to a public whipping, then to the pillory, after which his right ear was to be cut off, and he was to be branded in the forehead with a hot iron.
All of our court business of this character was conducted in the name of the King of England, George the Third. Instead of being headed "Common- wealth vs. John Smith," as is the custom now, the caption was "The King vs. John Smith," etc. But immediately after July 4, 1776, when the Decla- ration of Independence was signed, "the King" was dropped from the record, and "Republica" or "Respublica" were substituted, and later the change was made to the caption now used.
It is not pleasant to contemplate these atrocious sentences, but they are matters of our court history, and are introduced here more to show the reader how our courts have advanced in their administration of justice in the past century, than for any other reason.
Perhaps the servitude of Elizabeth Smith as refered to above needs some explanation. We had at this time three species of servitude, or slavery, in Pennsylvania, and consequently in Westmoreland county. First, there were indentured servants, who were bound either for life, or for a term of years, generally the latter. It may have been a very harmless indenture, and was of very common occurrence. A minor could thus be indentured by his parents, or when twenty-one years old could indenture himself. Some- times it was very simple, that is, when a father indentured his son to pay him a debt, or perhaps for the conveyance of a piece of land. It was, in any case, recognized by the law. The second class were foreigners who were very poor in Europe, and by indenture for a term of years secured some one to pay their passage money to America. These indentures were largely in the hands of speculators. The person giving the indenture was called a "Redemptioner," and the indenture was transferable, so that a speculator could gather up any number of people in foreign lands, inden- ture them for his own service, bring them to America, and, when here, sell their services to the highest bidder or at private sale. Thus the speculator could realize a large profit on the amount invested for passage money. This species of service is illustrated in the novels, "To Have and to Hold," and "The Redemptioner," by Miss Mary Johnston.
Our forefathers sanctioned all this by their laws, court decisions and ac- tions. It brought many inferior people to America, and perhaps some good blood, too. Redemptioners were very common in Westmoreland. Many of our farmers and well-to-do people purchased their services. Sometimes the position of a Redemptioner was better than that of the negro slave in the South, but it is a deplorable fact that the more we look into the matter, the
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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
less do we venerate our pioneer ancestors, of high pretentions and integrity. Before judging them too harshly, and before giving illustrations from our court records of the hardships of this system of servitude, it may be well to look into the condition of the country, its laws, and the age in general in which they lived, all of which should in some degree mitigate the severity of our opinion. For instance, a man in that day was allowed to beat his wife, if the stick he used was not thicker than the judge's thumb. A people are not generally better than their laws. Many who came from England and Ireland and settled in Western Pennsylvania purchased large tracts of land, and at once regarded themselves as nabobs, owners of large landed estates, like the nobles of England. They tried to emulate and imitate the weaker rather than the stronger characteristics of the landed gentry of Great Britain. Hugh Henry Brackenridge, afterwards justice of the su- preme court, and one of the brightest men of his day, in a chapter entitled "Modern Chivalry," says that we had men in Westmoreland county, who held and abused slaves and Redemptioners, who would not for a "fine cow have shaved their beards on Sunday."
Our courts frequently in other cases than Kinkaid vs. Smith, as noticed above, were called on and did extend the time of servitude of Redemptioners because of loss of time and various reasons mentioned in the petitions of the masters. This can be seen in the case of George Paul vs. Margaret Butler, July sessions, 1773, and Semple vs. Jane Adams, July sessions, 1788, and in many other intervening cases. In July sessions, 1773, John Campbell stated by petition that his servant, Michael Henry, had been sent to jail, and that the petitioner had therefore sustained a loss of 2 lbs. and 17 shil- lings, together with much time and annoyance. He therefore asked such redress as the court saw fit to grant him. The court decreed that Michael Henry should serve him four and one half months after the expiration of his indenture.
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