USA > Pennsylvania > Westmoreland County > History of Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, Vol. I > Part 68
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Sewickley township was erected in 1835, and was named after the Big Sewickley creek, which flows from its southwestern boundary. It is bounded on the north by North Huntingdon township ; on the east by Hempfield town- ship; on the south by South Huntingdon township, and on the west by the Youghiogheny river. Among the early settlers were Gasper Markle, Jacob Painter, Anthony Blackburn, Caruthers, Carnahans, Campbells, Marchands, Milligans, Pinkertons, Gilberts, McGrews, and others.
Anthony Blackburn settled there in 1778, but removed to Canada a few years later. One of his sons returned and spent the remainder of his days in Se- wickley township. The sons who remained in Canada served in the British army in the War of 1812, and were on the northwestern frontier. These boys while residents of Sewickley township had been schoolmates of General Joseph Markle. After the war was over one of them paid a visit to Westmoreland, and stated that a few days before the commencement of the siege at Fort Meigs he was lying with a company of Indians concealed near the fort, and that while there Joseph Markle and his orderly sergeant, John C. Plumer, and a part of his company passed close by, and that he (Blackburn) recognized his old acquain- tances and schoolmates, Markle and Plumer, and permitted them to pass by without firing upon them. This perhaps saved the lives of all the party.
One of the most noted families in the township of Sewickley was the Markle family, but as its history has been considered in another part of this work nothing further need be said here.
Another noted family was the Guffey family. William Guffey, the progenitor of the family, came from Ireland, bringing with him his wife and children about 1738, and later settled in Sewickley township, in Westmoreland county, where he died in January, 1783. His son, James Guffey, was born in 1736, two years before his father left Ireland. His oldest son, John Guffey, was born in Sewickley township, August 6, 1764, and was married to Agnes Lowry, who was born April 18, 1773. His second wife was Rebecca Stewart. James Guffey was his oldest son, and was one of thirteen children. James was born at the Guffey homestead, December 15, 1791. He was a soldier in the
FRIENDS MEETING HOUSE, SEWICKLEY
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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
cavalry company under General Joseph Markle in the War of 1812, and was en- gaged in the battle of Mississinewa. Upon his return from the army he mar- ried Hannah, a daughter of James and Mary P. Scott, who was born March 6, 1791. Her father had also come from Ireland. They settled on the Guffey homestead in a log house, and it was he who built the present brick house on the homestead in 1833. He died March 22, 1841, and his wife survived him until June 10, 1878. From these people came the Guffey family, one of the most noted families in Western Pennsylvania.
The Greenawalt family was another noted one in the township. Its founder was Jacob Greenawalt, who was a native of Lancaster county, Penn- sylvania, and who settled on a farm in Sewickley township, about 1798. He was married to Martha Brenneman, and they had four sons and five daughters. From this family came Captain Caleb Greenawalt, who served with distinction in the Civil war.
Mars Hill Baptist Church was organized by Rev. Milton Sutton, in 1840. He was followed by Revs. R. R. Sutton, J. P. Rockefeller, T. G. Lonham, D. Webster, R. C. Morgan and others. Rev. O. P. Hargrave was afterwards their regular pastor for nearly a quarter of a century. They have now a very valuable church property.
About two miles north of Millgrove is situated a United Presbyterian church, and a mile farther north is a Methodist church.
SEWICKLEY MEETING .*
The Society of Friends, or Quakers, as they were called by others in de- rision, arose in England about the year 1650. They endeavored to carry out in practice the doctrines of the New Testament, and accordingly were opposed to all wars and the use of oaths, while they upheld a free gospel ministry and the equality of all men. They soon became the objects of a bitter persecution which filled the prisons to overflowing and caused the deaths of many through bar- equality of all men. They soon became the objects of a bitter persecution which William Penn obtained from King Charles II in 1681 the charter for Pennsyl- vania, with the view of founding a colony where religious liberty might be en- joyed, there were many who were ready to face the trials of a new settlement rather than those they had endured in the Old World.
The first meeting of Friends in Pennsylvania was held at what is now Chester, in Delaware county, and on the Delaware river. With the constant influx of immigrants the settlements were extended into the interior, and new meetings were set up as necessity demanded. It may be explained that aside from meetings for worship there are meetings for business, and these are de- signated as preparative, monthly, quarterly and yearly meetings. Two or more preparative meetings may form a monthly, two or more monthly meetings may form a quarterly, and usually several quarterly meetings form a yearly meet-
* This narrative was contributed by a descendant of one of the founders of Sewick- ley Meeting, from whom it came to the publishers direct.
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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
ing. The monthly meetings are the principal executive branch of the Society, and exercise an oversight over the membership in various ways. New meet- ings are established by them, subject to the approval of the quarterly meetings, and there has been a kind of genealogical succession, so to speak, throughout their history. Beginning with Chester Monthly Meeting, in 1681, we have Concord, set off in 1684; Newark, (now Kennet) from Concord, in 1686; New Garden, from Newark in 1718; Nottingham, in 1730; Hopewell in Frederick county, Virginia, in 1736; Westland, Washington county, Pennsylvania, in 1785 ; Redstone, Fayette county, 1793, and Providence, by division of Redstone, in 1817.
In 1773 John Parrish, of Philadelphia, in company with Zebulon Heston and John Lacy, paid a visit to the western Indians, and from the journal of the first the following is somewhat condensed :
8 Mo. 12th, Left Pittsburgh to visit some Friends in the new Settlement about Red- stone (Governor of Virginia just arrived at Pittsburgh)-went down the Monongahela about 6 miles and forded ; went to one Francis Fisher's a Friend who received them kindly -had a large Family of Children. 13th. Had a Meeting with his & 3 other Families. 14th. Cross'd the same Fording Place back into Braddock's Road & pass'd thro' the Field of Battle (the Bones yet in Sight)-travell'd down the Road about 30 miles from Pittsburgh ; put up at McDole's a Presbyterian, a private House. Ist Day ye 15th stay'd all day. 16th. Turned back 3 miles into the Redstone Road & in about 10 miles riding came into a small Settlement of Friends, between the two Sewickillys; and not far from Yohageni are settled Joseph Blackburn, Wm. Read, Simeon McGrey, Anthony Black- burn, Danl Hammond, James Jos. Bedsworth, - Gilbert. Had a heavenly Meeting the 17th at Jos. Blackburn's, about 30 or 40 persons being present, mostly promising Youth; went towards the upper End of Redstone & lodg'd with Daniel Ham- mand. 18th crossed the 2 Redstone Creeks along by the Fort (hilly fertile Lands) & got to Josias Crawford's where were kindly received, and next Day by him acompanied to his Brother James's. (See Penna. Magazine, xvi, 446.)
At Westland Monthly Meeting, 10 mo. 25, 1788: "Redstone Prepara- tive Meeting informs this that the friends on the Waters of Sewickley creek request the holding of a meeting among them." A committee was appointed to visit them, who reported, 12 mo. 27, that they had an opportunity with Friends on Sewickley, and believed further care to be necessary. The request was granted for them to hold a meeting at James McGrew's until further con- venience can be made, on the first and fourth days of the week, to begin at the eleventh hour, and the first meeting to be held on the eleventh day of next month. Twelve men were appointed to sit with them at the opening of the meeting. I mo. 24, 1789: "Part of the Committee appointed to have the care of the meeting on Sewickley attended the opening thereof to their satisfaction." 5 mo. 16, 1789: "Several of the committee appointed have visited the meet- ing on Sewickley divers times" and find "further care will be profitable." The old committee of twelve was released 9 mo. 26, 1789, and a committee of four appointed to extend what care may be needful. On 3 mo. 26, 1791, the com- mittee was released, and the case referred particularly to the care of Providence Preparative Meeting.
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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
The minutes of Redstone Monthly Meeting, commencing 4 mo. 26, 1793, and of which Providence Meeting, Fayette county, was a branch, show that Joseph Talbot, wife Mary and four children, Sarah, Elizabeth, Allen and Will- iam settled at Sewickley in that year. Abner Gilbert produced a certificate from Friends in Chester county, 8 mo. 31, 1798, an unmarried man. The meeting was not yet permanently established, but was "indulged" to be held for definite periods. On 12 mo. 28, 1798, "Providence Preparative Meeting informs that friends of Sewickly request the establishment of their Meeting & also the privi- ledge of holding a preparative, which being considered by this Meeting Rees Cadwalader, Jonas Cattell, William Dixon, John Cope, John Cadwalader &
Log house built hy Simon McGrew ahout 1755, and still standing. It is in Sewickley Township on land of his great-grandson, William M. McGrew. It is on the Braddock route, and tradition is that the unfortunate General stopped there on his way to Fort Duquesne.
Henry Troth are appointed to sit with friends of that Meeting, feel after their situation the propriety of such an establishment & report their sense thereof to next Meeting." Finally, on 8 mo. 30, 1799, it was agreed to establish the meeting, and the decision was forwarded to the quarterly meeting for approval : but it was not till 1826 that it was made a preparative meeting of business. Abner Gilbert was appointed an overseer 6 mo. 2, 1809, and appointed a mem- ·ber of the "Meeting for Sufferings" 3 mo. 29, 1811, in the room of his brother Benjamin, deceased. James Means was appointed an overseer 9 mo. 1, 1815.
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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
The will of James A. McGrew, dated 11th of 4th month, 1805, contains the following clause : "I give and bequeath unto the Members of Sewickly Meet- ing all that piece of land struck off by meets and bounds the other day, to Friends, their heirs and assigns forever, provided as soon as the privilege of a Meeting is taken from them it is my will that it fall to my son James, to his heirs and assigns forever, except that part that is enclosed within the fence round the burying ground it is my will and pleasure that that stand forever for a burying ground."
By indenture dated 12 mo. 12, 1832, James A. McGrew, of North Hunting- don township, son of the above James and Rebekah, his wife, released all re- versionary interest in the land to Benjamin Gilbert and George Gilbert, trustees for the Sewickley Preparative Meeting. The amount of land was said to be seven acres, and that it was part of a tract patented to the said James A. Mc- Grew, February 13, 1816. A resurvey in 1851 made it a little less than seven acres. The present meeting-house was erected about sixty years ago. The Means, Hammond, McGrew and Blackburn families were from Adams county. Benjamin Gilbert was from the vicinity of Philadelphia, about 1787, but could not have been the person mentioned by Parrish.
SUTERVILLE.
Suterville is a thrifty borough on the Youghiogheny river, and in Sewickley township. It was laid out about 1870 by the late Eli C. Suter, who was a large owner of land on the banks of the river. It is four miles below West Newton, and has gradually increased in population until it now contains about 1200 peo- ple. Its chief industry is mining coal and making coke. It has splendid trans- portation facilities for these products on the Baltimore & Ohio and the Pitts- burgh, Mckeesport & Youghiogheny railroad.
Its churches are the Catholic, Presbyterian and Methodist, each of which are strong societies.
The Allegheny and Westmoreland Bridge Company constructed a bridge across the Youghicgheny river at this place in 1896. It is about seven hundred feet long, and is a very handsome structure. The town was incorporated in 1902 by the courts of Westmoreland county. Jolin Kellner was its first chief burgess, while Matthew Osborne, Samuel Rudebaugh, John Keegan, Louis Oberdick, Philip Rinehart and James Hopkinson were the first councilmen. Their first borough election was held August 16, 1902.
Suter's Ferry was a well established crossing at this place fifty years ago. It was owned and operated by Eli C. Suter, the founder and godfather of the town. He was a man of strong character, good business habits and great energy. As long as he lived he could not be otherwise than the leader of his community.
LOYALIIANNA TOWNSHIP.
An attempt was made in 1831, as appears from our court records, to form . Loyalhanna township out of parts of Salem, Derry, and Washington townships.
TINTSMAN HOMESTEAD, HERMINIE, PA.
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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
As a result of this and other applications which followed it, the township was organized by our courts in 1833. It received its name from the well known his- toric stream which flows through its central part. It is bounded on the north by the Conemaugh river; on the east by Derry township; on the south and southwest by Salem township, and on the northwest by Bell township. It is watered by the Loyalhanna and a few minor streams which flow into it.
Among the early settlers in Loyalhanna township were the Georges, Hen- sels, Robinsons, Kerrs, McBrides, Adairs, and Stewarts. Of those who have figured prominently in the history of the township and vicinity are the names Kirkpatrick, Campbell, Sterritt, Bowman, Johnson, Semon and others. Al- most the entire township is underlaid with coal, and its surface is well adapted to agriculture. It has, of course, but little early history that may be properly told here, for it was in the pioneer days united with Salem, Derry and Wash- ington townships, and its earlier history has therefore been gone over in the description of these townships.
The Northwestern Pennsylvania Railroad runs along its northern bound- ary. Though small in area, it is filled with enterprising citizens who are noted for their thrift, industry, intelligence and morality. It has four schools, and 124 pupils enrolled.
BURRELL TOWNSHIP.
Lower and Upper Burrell townships were organized in 1879 by a division of Burrell townships into two parts. The petition of the citizens of Burrell township asked for a division on account of various reasons therein stated, and on December 22d they presented their petition to the court, with Judge James A. Logan on the bench, and on January 18, 1879, the prayer of the petitioners was finally granted, and the townships were named Upper and Lower Burrell. The original Burrell township had been taken from Allegheny township in 1852, while Judge Jeremiah Murry Burrell was on the bench, and the new division was named in his honor. The boundaries of the old township were north by Allegheny county ; on the east by Washington county ; on the south- east by Franklin township, and on the west by the Allegheny river, which separates our county from Allegheny county. The entire township of Burrell (that is the present Upper and Lower Burrell townships) is underlaid with coal, which is now being mined.
The early settlers of these townships were largely of Scotch-Irish extrac- tion. The Crooks family located on Pucketoes creek in 1791. William Ross came from Ireland, and after a short sojourn in Franklin and Adams counties moved to Burrell township. He died August 28, 1839, in the eighty-seventh year of his age. John Stewart settled there also, with his brother William, the latter living until 1850. John Bales settled in Burrell township in 1805. Other early settlers were the Mclaughlins, Byerleys, Millers, Hummels, Donnells, Hunters, Skillens, Moores, Logans, Shearers, Leslies, Blacks, Georges,
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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
Swanks, Milligans, Sands, Woodslayers, Rowans, Nelsons, Gills, Ludwigs, Dugans, Henrys, Lanes, Ingrams, Crawfords, Caldwells, Fredericks, Kunkles, McWilliams, McCutcheons, etc. One of the first pioneers in the township was James Johnston, a Revolutionary soldier who lived to be one hundred and three years old. David Alter was another early settler. His father was born in Switzerland, and came to America before the Revolution. His oldest son, Joseph, was the father of the renowned Dr. David Alter. David Alter was born in 1775, and was a captain in the War of 1812. He was the builder of Alter's mills, on Pucketoes creek. All of these early settlers from 1780 to 1792 were subjected to severe treatment on the part of the Indians who came into this township from the Indian country north of the Allegheny.
One of the oldest churches in the original Burrell township was the Puckety United Presbyterian Church. It is located about two miles southeast of Char- tiers Station. Several families from Adams and Franklin counties, among whom were the Rosses, Crooks, etc., had settled with the Watts, Skillens and others in this section, and soon formed a religious denomination. They were supplied with pastors at various times between 1795 and 1804, when they began to have regular supplies. At a meeting of the Monongahela Presbytery in 1803 an application was received from these people for a regular minister. Rev. Mungo Dick was appointed to preach to them, and also at the Yough meeting house, afterwards known as Bethesda Church. Later they were supplied by Rev. Henderson, Rev. Buchanan, and Rev. Galloway. These ministers all journeyed long distances on horseback through an almost unbroken wilderness, for there were but few roads and no bridges in the northern part of the county at that time. They preached at first in a grove on the Ross homestead. In 1806 William Ross finished a barn, and it was used as a place of worship for some months. Later came the "tent" at the forks of a road not far from Char- tier's Station. The "tent" was a temporary affair made by putting four posts in the ground and closing the spaces up on three sides and putting a rude roof over the top of it. Here the first regular services were held until a church was erected, which was about 1816. It was a log structure thirty-two by twenty- eight feet, and had no ceiling. It was warmed by a ten-plate stove. Rev. Mc- Connell was an early pastor there, and resigned as pastor in 1833. A second church of brick was built there in 1837.
The Bethesda Lutheran Church is located near the Allegheny township line, and was organized in 1864. Before that time the Lutherans had services in a schoolhouse on the Ross farm, which was erected in 1850. Their pastors were Revs. Earhart, Hoover, Barry, M. G. Earhart, who preached also at Han- key's Church, in Franklin township. The Presbyterian congregation was or- ganized in Parnassus in 1842 by Revs. James Graham and S. M. McClung. The Methodist Episcopal Church is also a congregation and a church in Lower Burrell township, a short distance from Tarentum. In 1868 the Reformed Presbyterian Church was organized at Parnassus, and they built a frame structure there in 1870.
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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
Upper Burrell township has five schools, with 105 pupils enrolled. Lower Burrell has eight schools, with 182 pupils enrolled.
PARNASSUS.
The borough of Parnassus is very beautifully situated on the eastern bank of the Allegheny river, in Lower Burrell township. The Allegheny Valley rail- road passes by it, and was built in 1855 and 1856. The town took its name from a church called Parnassus Church, on the Logan homestead. John W. Logan laid out the town shortly after the building of the railroad. The bor- ough was incorporated by Act of Assembly passed April 9, 1872. The first section of the Act directed the court of quarter sessions to appoint three per- sons to make out the boundaries of the borough and make a report to the court. C. F. Warden, John M. Dickey and J. F. Mccullough were accordingly ap- pointed, and they filed their report on August 6th. Since then Parnassus has gradually increased in population and in business industries, and nearby are the thriving towns of New Kensington and Arnold. All should be incorporated in one borough, and we understand such a project is in contemplation. In that event the incorporation would be one of the first towns in the county.
NEW KENSINGTON.
This place, together with Arnold and Parnassus, adjunct towns, has a population of between nine and ten thousand. It was started as a "boom town," promoted by a party of Pittsburgh capitalists, incorporated as the Bur- rell Improvement Company, with Samuel E. Moore as president, and Joseph P. Cappeau as secretary and treasurer, who secured parts of the Stephen Young and the late Rev. Alex. Young farms. Engineers were set to work early in the spring of 1891 to lay out and plot the town of Kingston (later styled New Kensington). The sale of lots began June Ioth. Free railway transportation was widely issued from the Pittsburgh office of the Land Company, and fully fifteen thousand people came to look the ground over. The sale continued for three days. It took a stout heart to pay fabulous prices for lots when the corn rows were so plainly in sight and only furrows marking the streets, avenues and alleys, with muslin signs bearing the names of proposed manufacturing plants to be built. Yet in the face of all this newness of "things yet to be," some $63,000 worth of lots were sold the first day, and the sales in the three days amounted to over $135,000.
The pioneer plants built were the Pittsburgh Reduction Company's works, which have ever since been the real life of the borough, and the Excelsior Glass Works, making the famous "Excelsior Lamp Chimneys," which concern finally merged into that of the Reduction Company. Then followed, one after the other, factories including the Sterling White Lead Company, Bradley Stove Works, Pennsylvania Tin Plate Company, the Hunt Air Brake Works, Cold Rolled Steel Plant, Enameling Works, Plate-Glass Company, Glenn Drilling
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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
Company, and Chambers Glass Works of Arnold borough ; a nail works and a piano factory survived hardly long enough to have a place in history. Some of these plants removed to other places, some were merged into others, and some fell into a dreamless sleep and are numbered in the defunct list today. In 1905 the Pittsburgh Reduction Company is in the front rank of manufacturing plants of the borough. It is exclusively engaged in the work of reducing that most wonderful metal-aluminum-from clay by a secret process in which electricity is a medium, and finally working it out into a hundred and one different articles of commercial value to the domestic life and to the arts and sciences the world over. This company commenced on a modest scale, employing less than a score of workmen, but has so rapidly grown that six hundred skilled and un- skilled workmen now find employment. The same concern has branch works at Niagara Falls, New York, East St. Louis, Illinois, and in Canada. The New Kensington works makes the metal into "pigs," and also furnishes large amounts of finished goods, including automobile beds, ocean cables, etc. Just now they are supplying vast quantities of aluminum for the subways of New York and Brooklyn. At first it was sold for three dollars per pound, but by cheap process it has become a cheap commodity, yet it affords large profits, amounting to one hundred per cent. in recent dividends on the stock.
Another great industry of New Kensington is the works of the American Tin-Plate Company, (now a part of the property of the consolidated American Sheet and Tin Plate Company) now equipped at this branch plant with seven hot mills and twelve tinning sets. The annual product capacity is 350,000 boxes of tin-plate. The number of men employed is about five hundred. This is styled the "Pittsburgh plant." The "Pennsylvania," another plant of the same company, became a part of the American Tin-Plate Company in Decem- ber, 1898, and is now equipped with six hot mills and twelve tinning sets. The annual product capacity being 300,00 boxes of tin plate.
At Arnold borough the Chambers Glass Works was built in 1892, and finally came to rank as the largest single window glass plant in America, and is now a part of the great American Window Glass Trust.
The Columbia Drilling Company are makers of all sorts of earth drills, from the smallest tube-well size to those used in oil and gas wells, where the depth ranges from one to three thousand feet. They sell in all parts of the world, in- cluding Alaska, Peru, Siam and Siberia. The Clay Pot Factory, wherein are made pots suitable for melting various substances, has become no small con- cern. There are also good roller flour mills in operation at this point, as well as two large breweries, one having a capacity of 50,000 barrels per year. These were started in 1897.
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