USA > Pennsylvania > Westmoreland County > History of Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, Vol. I > Part 64
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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
OLD TREES MILL, BUILT IN 1802.
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"ROXBURG." Old Trees Homestead, Built in 1820.
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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
rocks and heavy fallen trees, rendered them almost impassable for anything save a train of packhorses. One of the chief provisions which people must have and which could not be produced, was salt. A single horse, he says, would carry three or four hundred pounds on a pack-saddle from the east to the west. Money was almost unknown among the early settlers. Everything was bar- tered for some other product. Even pack-horse trains carried products from the east and traded it for material which they carried back on their return trip. Neighbors frequently went together and collected a large number of horses, which they loaded with goods and journeyed east. Sometimes this caravan would number as many as one hundred horses, which would pass east in a single file, one man having charge of six or eight horses.
Politics was a subject never discussed then by the people. Nearly all the county officers were appointed by the governor, and no conventions were held then to nominate tickets to the few elective offices. Those who aspired to pub- lic office announced their candidacy in the newspapers. The public then met, and, with five or six candidates to choose from, each man voted for whom he pleased. The October election in the early days was held in Hannastown and later at Greensburg. Scarcely ever one-third of the electors voted at a county election. The election for governor would, however, bring out a larger vote. When he was a boy, Mr. Bigham says, he attended an October election in Greensburg at which Gregg and Schultz were candidates, and was amazed to find the streets of the town crowded with people. About that time the cus- tom of appointing presidential electors came in vogue, and his grandfather was greatly annoyed with the complicated machinery of an electoral ticket. Every- one knew General Jackson, "Old Hickory," as they loved to call him, and of the battle of New Orleans, but they had not heard of the thirty-two persons who were to be voted for as electors. They had elected Washington, Jeffer- son, etc., in the old way, why was this not sufficient ?
In 1840 a man named Anderson, originally from Greensburg, was taken to the Western Penitentiary, having been convicted of robbery. He had formerly been a schoolmaster, but took to the woods and soon became one of the most noted and daring highwaymen we have ever had in Westmoreland county. It is said that he was extremely supple, and could leap to the boot of a stage- coach and steal articles from it so quickly that it could not be noticed by the driver or those in the coach. Stealing was a mania with him. He stole arti- cles that were of no value to him at all. When taken to prison he became stub- born and unmanageable, refused to eat, and when placed in his cell stopped up all the holes in it, turned on the hydrant, and when rescued was almost drowned. After lingering in this manner for some days, without taking any nourishment, he died. He had a cave in Salem township where he secreted all of his plunder, and kept hidden from the officers of the law. He was at the zenith of his career of robbery and intimidation from 1835 to 1840. He was probably no more, after all, than a kleptomaniac, but terrorized the country for many years until finally captured.
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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
Congruity Presbyterian Church first asked for a supply on July 31, 1789. two months after the organization of the General Assembly. On September 20th, 1790, Rev. Samuel Porter and Rev. John McPherrin were ordained minis- ters in a tent on James McKee's farm, and Porter was installed as pastor of Congruity and Poke Run churches. Congruity Church has raised perhaps a larger number of young men for the ministry than any other in the county. Among others were Rev. Samuel Porter, Jr., W. K. Marshall, Edward R. Geary, Craig McClelland, William Edgar, John Steel, William F. Kean, Laz- arus B. Shryock, Samuel P. Bollman, John M. Jones, David L. Dickey and others.
The first pastor, Rev. Samuel Porter, was born in Ireland, June 11, 1760, and was of Covenanter parentage. He came to America in 1783, and spent some time in Mercersburg. In 1784 he went to Washington county, where he taught school. There he came under the notice of some of the renowned men of the Presbyterian Church, and he was induced to enter upon a course of study preparatory to entering the ministry. He studied under James Hughes, John Brice and Joseph Patterson and others. After three years he was li- censed by the Red Stone Presbytery on November 12, 1789, and in April of the following year began his work at Congruity and Poke Run. The region em- braced by his congregation was little less than a backwoods or frontier settle- ment at that time. Many of the people were as wild and uncultivated as the country in which they lived, and they were greatly in need of the refining in- fluences of the gospel. It is said that on one occasion when Rev. Porter was preaching in the woods, two young men withdrew from the congregation and ran a foot race in full view of the preacher and his hearers. Under his faithful work the congregation increased very rapidly, and in eight years they felt them- selves able to support a pastor alone, so Poke Run was taken from Congruity in 1798. This was due in part to the fact that Mr. Porter did not regard him- self as physically able to attend to the wants of both people. Congruity con- gregation promised him a salary of "one hundred and twenty pounds per year, to be paid one-half in merchantable wheat at five shillings per bushel, and the remainder in cash." To this Mr. Porter agreed, and continued his pastoral re- lations in that church until his death, September 10, 1825, in all a period of thirty-five years.
While Mr. Porter was pastor there, a new stone tavern was built on the pike, scarcely a mile from the church, and was opened by the owner, a very clever and ingenious landlord, who invited the young folks to have a house- warming and dance in his new tavern. Tickets were distributed and guests in- vited, many of whom were members of Congruity Church. On the Sunday previous to the intended ball, Mr. Porter, after preaching one of his customary eloquent sermons, before dismissing the congregation, said that the Presbytery would meet the following Tuesday in Greensburg, and also said that on Thurs- day evening at early candle-light a ball would be held about three-fourths of a mile from that place. He said it was to be hoped that all polite young ladies
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and gentlemen would attend, for it was a place where politeness and manners could be learned and cultivated, and that many other things could be said in favor of such places which it was not necessary for him to mention at the time. For his own part, if he did not attend, the young folks, he hoped, would excuse him, as it was likely he might be detained by the Presbytery, but if he should return in time and nothing else prevented him, he would be present and would open the exercises of the night by reading a text of scripture, singing a psalm, etc. Then, with full and solemn voice and in his most impressive manner, he read the 9th verse of the IIth chapter of Ecclesiastes ; next he announced and read the 73rd Psalm, and then offered prayer. He prayed for the thoughtless and gay, and asked the Great Spirit to guard them from the vices which might lead the youthful minds astray, after which, with a most solemn benediction, he dismissed his congregation. The evening set for the ball arrived and passed away, but no ball was held, the whole community having been awakened by the venerable pastor's words. During his last years he was enfeebled and unable to stand, and therefore preached while sitting in a split-bottom chair which stood in the pulpit. He was succeeded by Rev. Samuel McFarren, who preached there forty-two years with great success. He resigned January 11th, 1870, because of his old age, although the members generally favored his con- tinuance. He died August 4th of the same year. He was succeeded by Rev. W. J. Bollman, who resigned in 1872, and Rev. William B. Craig, of Carlyle Presbytery, followed him.
The Fennell congregation, a Reformed and Lutheran church, is an offspring of the Trinity Reformed congregation of New Salem. In 1858 Rev. R. P. Thomas was engaged to preach to them at Concord schoolhouse every two weeks. In 1859 a lot of ground was purchased upon which a church edifice was built, and a graveyard was laid out. The edifice is of frame, and is forty- five by thirty-two feet. It was dedicated February 27, 1860, by Rev. N. P. Hacke. The Lutheran congregation, occupying the same house, was organized in 1859. The first pastor was Rev. A. Vetter, who was succeeded by Rev. V. B. Christy, and they have now a large membership.
The Presbyterian Church in New Salem was organized chiefly from mem- bers of the Congruity Church, on Christmas Day, 1849. Rev. James C. Car- son, the first pastor, was installed on February II, 1851. A substantial church edifice was erected about that time. Rev. Carson was succeeded by Rev. David Harbison, who in turn gave way to Rev. J. L. Thompson in 1876. He was born in Washington county, was graduated in the class of '69 of the Washington and Jefferson College, and soon after that entered the ministry. Rev. J. C. Carson, the first pastor, died July 5, 1870. The church building was built by contract by D. W. Shryock, late of Greensburg. It was forty-eight by fifty-six feet, and cost $1.520, and was built in 1850.
The Trinity Reformed Church was organized by members of this denomina- tion, a great many of whom lived around New Salem. They, in connection with the Lutheran Church, organized a congregation and built a church edifice
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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
in 1849. The first pastor that served them was Rev. S. H. Giesey. He con- tinued pastor until August 1, 1855, when he was succeeded by Rev. Thomas G. Apple. He was succeeded by Rev. R. P. Thomas in 1858, who in turn gave way to Rev. T. J. Barklay in 1864.
The Salem Evangelical Lutheran Church was organized in 1850, with about thirty-three communicants. A temporary church had been built in 1849 and dedicated 1850. In 1868 they built a brick church, which is still standing. The pastors have been Rev. Michael Eyster, C. H. Hurst, A. Yetter, J. D. English, V. B. Christy, J. A. Bauman, J. D. Roth.
The Methodist Episcopal Church of New Salem was organized in 1833. Their first edifice erected that year was a brick structure which fell down in 1844 and was replaced by a frame building in 1846. This stood until 1874. when a new one was erected, which has been since torn down and a fourth erected. The pastors have been W. W. Roup. S. B. Slease, M. B. Pugh. A. H. Miller, George Orbin, W. Johnson, J. B. Gray, W. S. Cummins.
For many years the Convenanters had a regular place of worship in this town, with Rev. Mr. Cannon as pastor, preaching the last Sunday of each month. They frequently preached in David Christy's woods, a short distance out of town. This congregation has been abandoned, and its members have largely united themselves with other churches. Salem township has eighteen schools, with 665 pupils enrolled.
NEW SALEM.
The town of New Salem was incorporated as a borough in 1833. Delmont has been the name of the postoffice in this place for the last twenty-five years, and its real name has been almost entirely lost, the town being generall; known by the name of its postoffice. Previous to the founding of the town. Hugh Bigham had started a store where the town now stands. Prior to 1833 there were no churches in New Salem, though there were preachers who fre- quently preached in schoolhouses or at an adjoining grove. The Methodis s in reality effected the first organization in the village. It is situated on a tract of land warranted to William Wilson on November 8, 1874. By his will he divided the land between his sons George and Thomas Wilson, from whom it was obtained on December 7, 1812. The town was laid out in 1814. Before the Pennsylvania railroad was built New Salem was a very important center, for it was one of the main stopping places of the Northern Pike. Lately the borough has been somewhat awakened by the coal industry, which has opened the thriving town of Export, within two miles of that place, and which has built a railroad from the Pennsylvania railroad to Export, affording an outlet for the people of New Salem and Salem township. When the borough was incorporated in 1833 by the General Assembly the citizens were to meet on the first Tuesday of May of each year at the house of Henry Hugus to hold their
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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
annual election. Thomas Wilson was the first judge of the election. The borough has three schools, with 118 pupils enrolled.
SOUTH HUNTINGDON TOWNSHIP.
South Huntingdon township was one of the original townships organized April 6, 1773. Its boundaries began at the mouth of Brush run, where it emp- ties into Brush creek; thence along Byerly's path to Braddock's road and along said road to the line of Mt. Pleasant township; and thence by the line of Tyrone and Pittown township; thence to the beginning. The officers at the first election were George Shilling, constable; James Baird and William Mar- shall, overseers of the poor; David Vance, road supervisor. This township remained as originally laid out until January, 1790, when the court divided it into North and South Huntingdon townships. The original township was then again divided into East and South Huntingdon townships. This was in 1798. The present boundaries of the township are: North by Sewickley ; northeast by Hempfield; east by East Huntingdon township ; south by Fayette county, and on the west by the Youghiogheny river. The surface of the township is diversified, part of it being hilly and part quite level. It contains vast deposits of bituminous coal, which is now in process of development. The Pittsburgh and Connellsville railroad runs along the Youghiogheny river the entire length of the township, and it affords a splendid outlet for the transpor- tation of coal.
The first settlers in the township were the Millers, Shulls, Finleys, Plum- ers, Blackburns, Markles, Rodarnels, etc. One of the first settlers was George Plumer, who was born December 5. 1752, and died January 8, 1843. He is said to be the first child born west of the Alleghany mountains. He was once a prisoner for four or five days in Fort Duquesne, having been captured by an Indian chief, Killbuck. Plumer afterward became a member of the state and national legislatures, and served with credit and ability in both positions. He was a ruling elder in the Presbyterian church, and exercised a great influ- ence in the community in which he lived.
One of the oldest Presbyterian Churches in the southwestern part of Pennsylvania was located in this township, and is known as the Sewickley Church. It was one of the original churches of the old Red Stone Presbytery. It is supposed that it was organized as early as 1776, by Rev. Dr. Power, of Mt. Pleasant, who was its first pastor, and remained so until 1787. It then remained vacant for some time, when it was united with Long Run and came under the pastoral charge of Rev. William Swan, in October, 1793. In 1821 this congregation was united with Mt. Pleasant, and Rev. A. O. Patterson was installed and served them until 1834. In April, 1836, Sewickley, having been separated from Mt. Pleasant, secured the services of William Anan as their pastor. He was succeeded by Rev. J. B. McKee in 1842, who in turn gave way to Rev. Richard Graham, who continued to minister to them until 1850. In
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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
1852 Rev. Cyrus Riggs was installed, and was succeeded later by Rev. J. H. Stevenson. The original congregation of Sewickley was greatly weakened by a separate organization which was formed in the town of West Newton. The present building is the second one built, and is of stone, the original structure having been of logs. It is situated in South Huntingdon township across the Sewickley creek, and had its name long before the township was formed or named. In a burying ground nearby sleep the remains of four generations of the citizens of this community. Taken all in all it is one of the chief objects of historic interest in the township, and around it gather many local associations fraught with great interest to the student. The first building was of logs, which grew around the space where the church stood. For many years it had no stove, and the people of the congregation sat shivering from the cold winds that blew through the open cracks of the church. When they introduced the first stove it was regarded by some of the old-timers with great suspicion. It scarcely was a stove, it was merely the lower part of a stove, the bowl part in which they burned wood, and the smoke was supposed to escape through a hole in the roof. In the history of old Red Stone Church is a subscription paper signed by the members of this congregation, and all money subscribed for the salary of Rev. Mr. Swan. This was when money was scarce and when grain had scarcely a market value. For the consideration of raising cne-half of Rev. Swan's services as pastor "They agreed to pay the amount set opposite their names, one-half in cash and the other half in produce, at the following rates, viz. : wheat, four shillings per bushel : rye, three shillings per bushel ; corn, two shillings and six pence per bushel, to be delivered at such place or places within the bounds of the congregation as the said minister, or a treasurer chosen by the people, should appoint. Witness our hands this 17th day of August, 1792." The township has eighteen schools, and 831 pupils enrolled.
WEST NEWTON.
In 1837 a petition was signed by various lot holders in the village of West Newton praying the court to incorporate their village into a borough accord- ing to an Act of Assembly passed on the first day of April, 1834. This was refused by the court on June 1, 1838. In 1842 the legislature passed an act, a section of which related to West Newton, and read as follows: "That so much of the third section of the Act of the first of April, 1834, entitled 'An Act to provide for the incorporation of boroughs' as requires applications for the incorporation of boroughs to be laid before the Grand Jury be, and the same is, hereby repealed as respects Westmoreland county in the case of the applica- tion for the incorporation of West Newton in said County, and the Court of Quarter Sessions of said Court is hereby authorized to incorporate West Newton into a Borough, on application, at their first term if the said Court think proper to do so." After the passage of this act the citizens again asked the court to incorporate them, and on the 26th of February, 1842, the court
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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
granted the prayers of the petitioners, and the borough was therefore de- clared duly incorporated. Judge Thomas White was then on the bench. The first election was held at the school house where the township elections had been held. By an order of the court of September 3, 1853. the privileges of the Act of Assembly of the 3rd of April. 1851, were extended to the borough of West Newton.
The whole valley of the Youghioghney river from Mckeesport to Connells- ville is one continuous hive of industry. It is filled with towns, villages and hamlets, and manufacturing of almost all kinds is carried on there throughout the entire district. In addition to this, from almost every hill, coal mines, shafts, tipples, etc., may be seen in every direction. Added to these are hun- dreds of coke ovens which continually send forth their volumes of smoke. This valley is perhaps the busiest in the county.
W'est Newton is built about half-way between Pittsburgh and Connellsville and about fifteen miles from the mouth of the Youghiogheny river. It is sit- uated on a plane at the southwestern base of a hill which rises high above the floor. a clapboard roof, greased paper windows, and was built in all other ways fertile agricultural region. It is one of the best and wealthiest of the older towns in Westmoreland county. The founders of the town of West Newton were men of high culture and intellect. Prominent among them were the Markles, Plumers and Blackburns. They were generally of Scotch-Irish and Yankee extraction, and at a later period came quite a number of Germans. At present the population is composed in part of foreigners of almost every na- tionality, this being due to its diversified industries.
The town was laid out in January, 1796. by Isaac Robb, who came from New Jersey and took up the land upon which it is now built. When the army to quell the Whisky Insurrection in 1794 passed through this section they tore down Robb's fences, and this aggravated him so that he refused to put them up again. He thereupon made a lottery and sold off the lots for a town. The survey and plotting were made by two men named Davis and Newkirk. The founder of the town was, therefore. Isaac Robb, who after this became a trader on the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, going down with goods as far as New Orleans. In 1807 his boat lay at West Newton, and, when visiting it one night when the river was rising rapidly, he missed his bearings and fell into the water and was drowned, although he was said to be a splendid swimmer. Originally the town had been called West Newton, but, being founded by Mr. Robb, for many years it was universally called Robb's Town in honor of him. But in 1835, when they began to talk of having the village incorporated, the original and proper name was restored to it, and by this name it has since been known. Still farther back, in 1796, the place was known as Simrall's Ferry, which the reader may have noticed in the account of the Whisky Insurrection.
Jonathan Plumer came west as a commissary with General Braddock's army in 1755. and filled a like position with Forbes' army in 1758, and was
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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
the father of George Plumer, of whom we have spoken as a member of con- gress ( 1821-27).
The town of West Newton began to grow about 1806, and from that time until 1820, when the national road was built, there was a great deal of ship- ping by keel-boats to Pittsburgh. When slack-water dams were introduced in the Youghiogheny river, travel by steamers became quite extensive. The first steamer to come up that far was the "Tom Shriber." The slack-water naviga- tion was abandoned because the dams were swept away by high water, it being difficult to hold them on account of the fall of the river. The Pittsburgh and Connellsville railroad was opened up and passed West Newton in 1855, and this added greatly to the importance of the town.
WEST NEWTON SCHOOL HOUSE,
The first schoolhouse in West Newton was built before the beginning of the last century, and most likely as early as 1795. Its first teacher was a man named Grim, who was succeeded by William Blackburn, Nathaniel Nesbit. William Baldwin and others. It was a house built of round logs, with a clay Alcor, a clapboard roof, greased paper windows, and was built in all other ways like the school houses of that early period, which have been heretofore de- scribed. In 1809 a schoolhouse was built on the farm of John Caruthers, and its first teacher was William Baldwin. A school was taught in the town in 1816 by N. R. Smith. This school was held in a cabin, and when this became too small the school was removed to the building owned by Colonel James B.
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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
Oliver. In 1820 the first brick schoolhouse in the town was built. It was an eight-cornered structure, and when finished was the finest schoolhouse in the county. Its first teacher was N. R. Smith, who afterward became princi- cipal of the Greensburg Academy. Among the other teachers in this school house was Edgar Cowan, who afterward became a United States senator from Pennsylvania. The building is still standing, and is preserved as one of the heirlooms of a former generation to the present town of West Newton. It is still used as a school building, and the picture given in this work is a true rep- resentation of it. In 1850, this being found too small, another brick building was provided on Third street, and used for schools for fifteen years. In 1865 the first ward building was erected. In 1884 more room was demanded, and another fine building was erected, now known as the Second Ward School. In the sixties Rev. O. H. Miller conducted a select school, and soon thereafter George Richey organized an academy, which succeeded well for several years. In 1894 Reverends Drs. Eaton, Meloy and Garvin opened the West Newton Academy as a college preparatory, and normal school.
The Methodist Episcopal Church was organized with eleven members on the 28th day of February, 1839, by the late venerable Rev. Dr. Samuel Wake- field. This society built a small brick church on Second street, where they worshipped for nearly forty years. In 1880 they erected their present beauti- ful edifice. For a more extended sketch of Dr. Wakefield, see chapter on gen- eral church history.
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