History of that part of the Susquehanna and Juniata valleys, embraced in the counties of Mifflin, Juniata, Perry, Union and Snyder, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. V. 1, Pt. 1, Part 76

Author: Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885, ed; Hungerford, Austin N., joint ed; Everts, Peck & Richards, Philadelphia, pub
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts, Peck & Richards
Number of Pages: 936


USA > Pennsylvania > Mifflin County > History of that part of the Susquehanna and Juniata valleys, embraced in the counties of Mifflin, Juniata, Perry, Union and Snyder, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. V. 1, Pt. 1 > Part 76
USA > Pennsylvania > Perry County > History of that part of the Susquehanna and Juniata valleys, embraced in the counties of Mifflin, Juniata, Perry, Union and Snyder, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. V. 1, Pt. 1 > Part 76
USA > Pennsylvania > Union County > History of that part of the Susquehanna and Juniata valleys, embraced in the counties of Mifflin, Juniata, Perry, Union and Snyder, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. V. 1, Pt. 1 > Part 76
USA > Pennsylvania > Juniata County > History of that part of the Susquehanna and Juniata valleys, embraced in the counties of Mifflin, Juniata, Perry, Union and Snyder, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. V. 1, Pt. 1 > Part 76
USA > Pennsylvania > Snyder County > History of that part of the Susquehanna and Juniata valleys, embraced in the counties of Mifflin, Juniata, Perry, Union and Snyder, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. V. 1, Pt. 1 > Part 76


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TWENTY-EIGHTH REGIMENT, EMERGENCY TROOPS. FIELD AND STAFF.


James Chamberlin, col., Thompson G. Evans, q.m., John McCleary, It .- col., George Lotz, surgeon, Samuel HI. Orwig, q.m .- sergt.


COMPANY A. Captain. Thomas R. Jones. First Lieutenant. David M. Nesbit. Second Lieutenant. Charles S. James. First Sergeant. Owen P. Eaches. Sergeants. Ross Ward,


Benjamin F. Cox, John B. Hutton, Robert A. Townsend. Corporals. Henry 11. Witmer,


John G. Blair, John Ritner, David MeDermond, Joseph R. Frederick,


Harrison B. Garner, Joseph II. Shepperd, Henry C. Wolf.


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1.6


7.


:


413


THIE WAR FOR THE UNION.


Musicians.


Frederick E. Bower, George D. Kincade.


Privates.


David Brooks, Alfred Lilley, Franklin Bay, Howard W. Murphy, James Murty, Salman D. Munson, Abraham Mowry,


John IL. Betzer,


Bright Henry Barton, .


William K. Crites,


P. Meixell, Zaba Meixell, John Mench,


Edward Cornelius,


Zaccheus Cornelius,


Theodore McFadden,


Zaccheus Chappel,


Hugh H. Penny,


Peter Collins,


William HI. Cowley, George Dull.


Charles C. Dunkle,


William O. Donachy,


William R. Rossell,


David P. Leas,


Joseph R. Smith,


Galen H. Lotz,


George W. Truitt, Jr.


Freeman Loomis,


Robert Vanvalzah,


Clement B. Low,


William Winterbottom,


James C. Leinbach,


Jacob C. Wolf,


George O. Martz,


William J. Wolverton,


Webster R. Maul,


Isaac C. Wynn.


Charles W. Mettler,


Peter Yeager.


COMPANY F.


Captain. George W. Forrest. First Lieutenant. Andrew H. Dill. Second Lieutenant. James Hays. First Sergeant. David B. Nesbit. Sergeants. Adolphus A. Kaufman, William H. Nesbit.


J. Henry Brown,


Corporals. Joseph M. Housel,


John W. Brown, Samuel F. Gundy,


Richard Dye, Thomas Ritner, Edward H. Richards.


Musicians.


James Forest, Jacob H. Worth.


Absalom Baldwin,


Privates. Thompson Donachy,


Samuel Beck,


George Hughes,


Allen Bell, Frank Bently,


William Kennedy,


William D. Bower,


Jacob Long, William Loudenslager,


William F. Brown,


Robert M. Cathcart, George P. Derr,


Charles Marsh, J. Howard Miller, Joseph Murphy,


David H. Dotts,


M. Reese Dill, Abraham Dolby,


Alvin Nesbit, Samuel I, Pardoe,


COMPANY D. Captain. Charles C. Shorkley. First Lieutenant. Josiah Kelly. Second Lieutenant. Samuel D. Bates. First Sergeant. Samuel W. Murray. Sergeants.


William L. Nesbit, Jacob Neyhart,


Jacob K. Mertz, Sylvanus G. Bennett. Corporals.


George W. Cornelius, Thomas Shoemaker, Daniel Meyers, George B. Miller,


William T. Leinbach, William Myers, Daniel Brown, Isaac Wagner.


Musician. Edward McGregor.


Privates. Daniel W. Barnhart, Peter G. Bobb,


George J. Brensinger,


George Bowman, William W. Case, Asher Cook, Jr.


John W. Curtis, Edwin Colvert, John A. Donachy, Frank C. Derr, George Fegley, David Gebhart, Theodore A. K. Gessler, Nathaniel Giddings, Thomas A. Gill, Henry F. Grier,


Henry C. Munro, John J. Overholt, Thomas E. Phillips, John B. Probasco, David E. Rend, Jesse J. Read, Oliver J. Read, Edwin HI. Ranney, William Il. Runyan, Orlando W. Spratt, Leroy Stephens,


Thomas W. Shanafelt, Charles A. Stone,


John J. W. Schwartz,


Henry J. Henderson,


Jacob D. James,


Jesse Z. Johnson,


Robert C. Straw, Thomas J. Small,


Franklin Donahower, John Eyer, John A. Frain,


John H. Fornwalt,


Abraham H. Goodman,


Isaiah Gussler,


Samuel M. Giffin,


Jonathan W. Slear,


Henry Heitsman, Jacob Heitsman,


Charles E. Solomon,


James E. Herr,


John A. Winegarden,


Thomas Howard,


Conrad Wetzel,


John Howard,


William H. Washeliskei,


John R. Hess,


George Washeliskei,


John F. Irwin,


Benjamin H. Williams,


James W. Kelley,


Joseph H. Wagner,


George W. Zechman.


William A. Loomis, William Lokas,


George Paul, George Pross, Amariah H. Pierce, Samuel Reber,


Antis Krape,


Edward M. Reber,


Oliver P. Rearick,


Howard W. Reed,


Elisha Straub, Alfred Slifer, Samuel Stuck,


John D. Stitzer,


George C. Hall, Jacob W. Hess, Eleazer E. Ilill, John S. Hutson,


Franklin P. Startzle, Edward II. Shaffer,


William Ginter, Lorenzo D. Brewer,


Theodore Taylor,


William HI. Imhoff,


Samuel Baus, John W. Balliet,


.


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414


JUNIATA AND SUSQUEHANNA VALLEYS IN PENNSYLVANIA.


Peter G. Paul, William Search, Frank Stoughton,


George M. Poeth,


Lemuel Rank,


John Vincent,


John S. Reese, Edward Walker,


John W. Simonton,


C. C. Wertz,


Benjamin F. Smithers, John D. Wallace,


Jacob M. Smith, Peter Zentmeyer.


ONE HUNDRED DAYS' MEN (1864), PERRY COUNTY.


The following were one hundred days' men of 1864 from Perry County. They were mus- tered in from July 16 to August 12, 1864, organized at Harrisburg and mustered out No- vember 10 to 14, 1864.


COMPANY D, FIRST BATTALION .- The fol- lowing served in Company D, First Battalion, of the one hundred days' men :


1). C. Orris, Ist, lieut. ; residence, Saville township. George Flickinger, 3d sergt. ; residence, Savilletwp. Andrew J. Kochenderfer, corp. ; residence, Saville township.


Privates.


Henry O. Bender ; residence, Saville township. Benjamin F. Bender ; residence, Saville township. Henry W. Flickinger ; residence, Saville township. Martin Flickinger; residence, Saville township. William H. Graham ; residence, Saville township. David Gutshall ; residence, Saville township.


Henry S. Jacobs ; residence, Saville township. Irvin Kerr; residence, Tuscarora township. Peter Long ; residence, Saville township. William T. Odell ; residence, Tyrone township. John A. Odell; residence, Tyrone township. David M. Rice; residence, Saville township. William P. Stambaugh ; residence, Saville township. John A. Stambaugh; residence, Tyrone township.


COMPANY E, SECOND BATTALION .- The following served in Company E, Second Bat- talion, of the one hundred days' men :


Joel F. Fredericks, capt. ; residence, Bloomfield twp. John Jones, Ist sergt, ; residence, Juniata twp. Samuel Briggs, 2d. sergt. ; residence, Carroll twp. George S. Lackey, 3d sergt.


Isaac B. Trostle, 4th sergt.


James P. Laird, 5th sergt ; residence, Bloomfield twp. Israel Bair, Ist. corp. ; residence, Buffalo twp.


James E. Woods, 2d corp .; residence, Jackson twp. Wilson D. Messimer, 4th corp. ; residence, Bloom- field twp.


Carson S. Gotwalt, 5th corp. ; residence, Bloomfield 1.W1).


Charles B. Heinbach, 8th corp .; residence, Green- wood twp.


Pricales.


John C. Adams ; residence, Tyrone twp.


David R. Demaree ; residence, Newport twp. David T. Dumm ; residence, Spring twp. Henry B. Eby ; residence, Toboyne twp. John Frank ; residence, Newport twp.


A. Blain Grosh ; residence, Jackson twp. Anthony Gibbons ; residence, Spring twp. D. H. Hollenbaugh ; residence, Madison twp. Alexander M. Hench; residence, Madison twp. D. M. Hohenshildt; residence, Madison twp. Aaron Hoffman ; residence, Madison twp. George Kochenderfer ; residence, Saville twp. John Miller.


Silas H. Mickey ; residence, Carroll twp. Andrew Lightner.


Isaiah D. Musser ; residence, Newport twp.


Charles A. Murray ; residence, Bloomfield twp. John S. Musser ; residence, Newport twp. Samuel Noll ; residence, Spring twp.


John M. Noll; residence, Spring twp. Benjamin Rice ; residence, Spring twp.


William W. Sheibley ; residence, Madison twp. William F. Sheibley ; residence, Madison twp. David R. Smith ; residence, Spring twp.


Philip Shuler; residence, Jackson twp. Alfred Waggoner ; residence, Spring twp.


MISCELLANEOUS.


The following is a list of persons who resided in Mifflin County and who served in the regi- ments and companies designated :


John S. Houtz, Co. B, 10th Regt., Pa. Vols. (three months').


J. Shaffer Jacobs, Co. B, 10th Regt. Pa. Vols. (three months').


George W. Threlkeld, Co. I, 15th Regt. Pa. Vols., (three months') ; first prisoner of war taken.


Hiram Edmiston, Co. I, 15th Regt. Pa. Vols. (three months').


Samuel Tice, Co. I, 15th Regt. Pa. Vols. (three months').


Josiah Marks, Co. I, 15th Regt. Pa. Vols. (three months').


Alexander Edwards, Co. I, 15th Regt. Pa. Vols. (three months').


William H. Kreider, Co. I, 15th Regt. Pa. Vols. (three months').


James Settle, Co. I, 15th Regt. Pa. Vols. (three months').


Peter Hardsock, Co. A, 77th Regt. Pa. Vols. (three years').


Marion F. Hamaker, Co. B, 11th Regt. Pa. Vols. (three months') ; wounded at Falling Waters, Va., July 2, 1861 ; first Union soldier wounded in the war.


Rev. David MeCay, chaplain 103d Regt. Pa. Vols.


....


415


INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS.


William Earnshaw, chaplain 49th Pa. Infa'y ; chap-


lain to Soldiers' Home, Dayton, Ohio. William HI. Lepley, Co. HI, 51st Pa. Vol. Infa'y. David C. Appleby, Co. I, 149th Pa. Vol. Infa'y. Milton Lane, Co. HI, 54th Regt. Mass. Vols. William HI. Spigelmoyer, Co. 1, 184th Pa. Vol. Infa'y. John 1. Smith, Co. 1, 181th Pa. Vol. Infa'y. Jeremiah Mohuey, Co. 1, 181th Pa. Vol. Infa'y. Isaiah Marks, Co. G, 184th, Pa. Vol. Infa'y. William Whippo, Co. C, 49th Pa. Vol. Infa'y. Aaron F. Gass, Co. I, 184th Pa. Vol. Infa'y. James Potter, Co. L, 9th Pa. Cavalry. John II. Brought, Co. L, 9th Pa, Cavalry. John F. Stratford, Co. L, 19th Pa. Cavalry. John W. Bradley, Co. F, 19th Pa. Cavalry. William Lepley, Co. II, 51st Pa. Infa'y. William HI. Bengamin, Co. F, 184th Pa. Infa'y. John R. McMullin, Co. I, 21st Pa. Cavalry. William Hanan, Co. D), 130th Pa. Infa'y.' Joseph H. McClintock, Co. A. '87th Pa. Infa'y. Frank P. Kirk, Co. F, 126th Pa. Infa'y. D. Crawford Selheimer, lieut, 9th Regt. N. Y. S. M. Hon. Walter Parcells, 25th Regt. N. Y. Cavalry. Thomas Strang, Crocker's Iowa Brigade. Abram Cash, licut. 71st Regt. N. Y. Vols.


John M. Gallagher, Co. K, 143d Pa. Infa'y.


John H. MeKim, Co. G, 22d Regt. U. S. Colored Troops.


Lewis Thomas, Co. C, 8th Regt. U. S. Colored Troops.


John Boone, Co. K, 22d Regt. U. S. Colored Troops. James Gayton.


Edward C. Stones, Ist. sergt., 22d Regt. U. S. Colored Troops. William Anderson, Co. 11, 54th Mass. Vols.


Milton Lane, Co. H, 54th Mass. Vols.


Evan R. Hildebrand, 2d lieut. Co. A., 30th Regt. In- diana Vols. George H. Stains, pri. Co. E., 53d Regt. Pa. Vols. John Feeney, Co. L, 19th Pa. Cavalry. Josiah Brininger, Co. E, 93d Pa. Vols.


Samuel Lessick, Co. E, 84th Regt. Pa. Vols.


The following served in the Third Pennsyl- vania Artillery :


Battery A-William S. Settle.


Battery E-George Clum, Cyrus Corbet, Daniel Bearley, Francis H. Sample, Henry HI. Rush, Daniel Amich, Vance C. Aurand, Harry Peters, John Long, George W. Threlkeld, John A. Aultz, William George.


Battery M-John A. McDonald, John Pugh, Lewis P. Crawford, Robert Dunn, John L. North, Ser- geant Abram Harshburger, William Stull.


The following served in the Eighteenth United States Infantry :


John Martin, William H. Wagner, John Hofller, John Armstrong, James Campbell, John Brown, Thomas Havice, James Barlett (Juniata County). The following were officers in the United States regular army :


David D. Van Valzah, capt. ; Evan Miles, capt. ; David Wilson, capt. ; Richard C. Parker, major ; William C. Mitchell, bvt. brig .- gen. (deceased) ; William P. Maclay, capt., 62d Pa. Infa'y.


The following were surgeons :


Andrew J. Atkinson, Thomas A. Worrall, brig. surg. ; George ' Hoover, J. Irwin Marks, George V. Mitchell, John Norris; Drs. Bowers, Bigelow, Harshbarger, Rothrock, Mahone and Gibboney, Dr. John Van. Valzah (Illinois Vols.).


The following were hospital stewards :


Joseph McFadden, 131st Regt .; Charles Nieman, 46th Regt. ; W. F. MeCay, 107th Regt.


The following names are of persons who re- sided in Juniata County, Pa., who do not ap- pear in rosters of companies given, together with the rank, company and regiment of which they were members :


FOURTEENTH REGIMENT, COMPANY F (THREE


MONTHS').


E. W. H. Kreider. William Littlefield.


T. A. McAllister.


FIFTEENTH REGIMENT (THREE MONTHS').


Matthew Hate, sergt. Isaiah W. Marks.


Jacob Deitrich. William Roush.


William HI. Kreider. I. W. Reynolds.


CHAPTER IX.


INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS.


The Indian Paths followed by the White Man's Roads- The Pennsylvania and other Railroads within the Five Counties.


IN almost any given region of territory it will be found that the centres or chief seats of the past and present populations have occupied practically the same ground, and so general is this rule that where a marked exception has oc- curred, peculiar and potent causes may be looked for as its explanation. As a natural sequence to this truth that the centres of population of successive races have been generally one and the same, it follows that the highways of travel


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416


JUNIATA AND SUSQUEHANNA VALLEYS IN PENNSYLVANIA.


in the past and in the present must similarly " The Tuscaroras, also, who came to the Ju- niata Valley in 1713, no doubt fell in the ok routes, and used them for communication in dif- ferent directions. Even after the great body of them had removed to New York, they had a settlement in Tuscarora Valley, and used it as a stopping-place between those in the north and those still left in the south, for they continued passing backward and forward for fifty-five years. There was a regular path from the Five Nations in New York, down the Susquehanna, leaving the river at Shamokin or Sunbury, pass- ing near Richfield, Thompsontown and Mexico, crossing the Juniata at Port Royal, continuing up through Tuscarora Valley, entering Path Valley at Concord, striking the Potomac about coincide or approximate. The lines along which, with roar and rumble, the iron horse now rushes with his mighty load, making an old- time day's journey in sixty minutes, are almost exactly coincident with the first rude wagon- roads of the pioneers of a century and more ago, and also with the paths or trails along the water-courses and through the easiest mountain passes trodden from time immemorial by the moccasined foot of the red man. In one respect, then, it is literally true that civilization has fol- lowed in the footsteps of barbarism ; that the skilled surveyor and engineer has followed with scientific instruments where the ignorant savage first went, guided only by the instincts of wood- i craft. The difference between the new and the | Harper's Ferry, and continuing on down through


old is far less in the direction or lines of com- munication than in the method of travel, and the moderns, with all of their wisdom and knowl- edge, have done little besides making grand im- provements on old routes-building with stone and iron and steel, it is true, but nevertheless along the course of the old, narrow, leaf-strewn path that the Indian first found out was the most direct and practicable line of communica- tion between two given points.


Bearing in mind the foregoing general fact, it may be of interest to briefly describe the In- dian trails of the Juniata and Susquehanna region before taking up for consideration the roads and railroads and other means of transit and traffic which have succeeded them. For this purpose we draw information from the writings of two local students of and writers upon the subject.1


" There can be no doubt (says Mr. Guss) that the whole country was ramified with the paths used by the Onajutta-Haga, or the ancient people of the Juniata, who were exterminated by the Iroquois prior to the time this country was penetrated by the white people. They were a superior race, lived largely by cultivation of the soil, and beyond doubt had regular paths by which they traveled to and from their settle- ments.


I The necounts of the Indian paths or trails as here given is derived chiefly from an article by Prof. A. S. Guss and from John Blair Linn's " Annals of the Buffalo Valley."


Virginia east of the Blue Ridge, and at a later date west of the Ridge down the Shenandoah Valley. This was known as the Tuscarora Path, and this term gave the name Path Valley to a part of the present Franklin County. Another branch of this path led on up the val- ley and crossed the Potomac at Hancock, Md.


"From this path there were branches leading from Port Royal, by way of Licking Creek, to Lewistown, which, after 1755, was called the Fort Granville road ; another across Tuscarora Mountain by the Run Gap; and a couple of others farther up the valley. Many other paths ramified through the surrounding country, but the knowledge of their exact locations has per- ished in most instances. Where the soil has been left undisturbed, however, they may yet be traced in the woods for great distances."


Mr. Linn says the great Indian path through the Buffalo Valley "left the Susquehanna River at the first ravine, a few rods below the Northum- berland Bridge, passed up the river, following the main road as it now is, for a few miles ; then turning towards the river, it came down the hill upon the Merrill place ; thence followed the bank of the river up through the old Macpherson place to Lees Winfield ; thence passed through the fields from the Gundy road to Fourth Street, Lewisburgh ; thence to Buffalo Creek, where the iron bridge now is ; thence it curved towards the river, passed up through Shikellemy's town and along the river around the rocks into White


1


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417


INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS.


Deer Valley. The paths through the valley westward are obliterated, historically and topo- graphically, except the small portion of the one passing into Brush Valley, which may still be traced in the woods at Solomon Heberling's."


There was an Indian path along the Juniata River for many years, and it was the route of the Delaware Indians in 1742, when they were on their way to Philadelphia to attend a treaty, and discovered Frederick Starr and others locat- ed upon their lands on the Juniata, above Mex- ico, in Juniata County. This path passed through the Juniata Valley and on to Kittan- ning Point, near the present western line of Blair County. It was described by Governor Morris as " only a horseway through the woods and over mountains, not passable with any ear- riage." This trail became a pack-horse path used by the Indian traders in their journeys through this region. George Croghan, Thomas McKee, Jack Armstrong, Francis Ellis, Wil- liam Baskins and many others passed through this region in 1740 and succeeding years.


It was along this path, then called the " Horse- way," that Braddock's troops marched when on their way to Fort Duquesne, in 1755, and it was improved by Colonel James Burd for their pass- age. It was along this path, also, that the Rev. Charles Beatty passed, August 25, 1766, when on his missionary tour through this region. In 1769, at the October term of court, the inhabit- ants upon the route petitioned the court of Cum- berland County for a bridle-path along this trail from Aughwick to the mouth of Kishacoquillas Creek. This route, by action of court at vari- ous times, was improved, and eventually be- came the great stage and mail route from Phil- adelphia to Pittsburgh, and later the route of the canal and railroad lines, the latter being the ! great through route from Philadelphia to the West.


EARLIEST BRIDLE-PATHIS AND WAGON- ROADS .- By the Improvement Act of April 13, 1791, 300 was granted for the improvement of a road from the mouth of the Juniata to Da- vid Miller's ( Millerstown), on the Juniata, through Dick's Gap; E180 was granted for a road through the Long Narrows, and $120 for one through Jack's and Igow's Narrows. In 1807 an act 27


was passed incorporating a turnpike company to build a road along this route, which was completed at the east end in 1818, and at the west end in 1825.


The earliest evidence of a road laid out in the Indian purchase of 1754 is found in the court records at Carlisle. In 1761 a road was ordered to be laid out from Carlisle to Sherman's Valley, extending through part of Cumberland and Perry Counties.


"South of these counties there had been a road cut for military purposes, in connection with getting supplies to General Braddock, during his campaign in 1755. It passed from Fort Loudon, in Franklin County, by Fort Littleton, in Fulton, to Fort Bedford, in Bed- ford County.


"In 1762, January term, viewers previously appointed advised that a road be made through lands of Francis West and others from Carlisle across the mountain, and through Sherman's Valley 'to Alexander Logan's, and from thence to the Gap in the Tuscarora Mountain, lead- ing to Aughwick and Juneata as the nearest and best way from the head of Sherman's Valley to Carlisle.' The road from Carlisle to the gap in Tuscarora Mountain was all in Perry County. The 'Gap' is that through Liberty Valley near Bealetown. 'Aughwick' is now Shirleysburg, in Huntingdon County. The 'Juniata' is the Raystown Branch in the vicinity of Bedford. This report was con- firmed.


"In the spring of 1767 there was a petition for a road from Baskin's ferry, on the Susque- hanna, to Andrew Stephens' ferry, on Juniata." The location of this proposed road was from Baskinsville (now a part of Duncannon) to Stephens' ferry, a few miles up the Juniata River.


" At the July sessions, 1767, the court received a 'petition of the inhabitants of Kishecoquilas, Jack's Creek, Lost Creek, Juniata and Tus- corora, &c., for a road from the Sherman's Val- ley road to Kishecoquilas Valley.' On the 6th of May, 1768, the viewers reported in favor of a carriage-road from the Sherman's Valley road, beginning two and three-quarter miles from Croghan's Gap, running through Rye township


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21


418


JUNIATA AND SUSQUEHANNA VALLEYS IN PENNSYLVANIA.


and across the Juniata at the mouth of Sugar Run, into Fermanagh township, and thence through the same and Derry township, up the north side of Juniata, into Kishacoquilas Val- ley.


"Croghan's Gap is now known as Sterrett's Gap. (Sugar Run is a small stream that enters the Juniata a short distance below Raccoon Creek, in Perry County.) The signers who are represented as living in 'Juniata,' as distin- guished from Tuscarora, Lost Creek and other valleys, were the inhabitants along the river from Mexico to Thompsontown. That region was frequently mentioned in the old days as 'Juniata,' and, big 'Juniata .? "


This was the first road laid out in Mifflin and Juniata Counties.


" At the October sessions, 1767, a petition was presented from inhabitants of Lack town- ship, asking for a Bridle Road from said town- ship to eross the Tuscarora Mountain at the Run Gap, and thence to Carlisle; and from the mouth of the Long Narrows to the Run Gap and to Sherman's Valley."


Viewers were appointed, who reported to the court "that they had viewed the route on the 7th of September, 1768, and recommended 'a road from Alricks' plantation, in Sherman's Valley ; thence through the Run Gap in Tus- carora Mountain, and through lands of William Rennison, Hugh Quigley, Clement Horrell, Charles Poulk (Pollock), William Erwin and Alexander Robison, in Tuscaroras Valley, and from thence to the Long Narrows, on the Ju- niata.' The location of Rennison was where Thomas Stewart resides, in Turbett township. Horrell lived where Robert Robison resides. Pollock lived next the ridge adjoining the Sterrett place. Irwin's place was afterwards known as the old Hugh Hardy place. Robison lived on the Doty farm, in Muddy Run. The river-crossing must have been about Milford Siding. The petitioners asked for a Bridle- Path, but the viewers recommended a. Road. It seems to have been on the route of the Fort Granville road, at least from Sterrett's, over the ridge, through the Run Gap at the end of the Shade Mountain, to Licking Creek.


received from the inhabitants of Tuscarora Valley for a road ' from John Furgues', in Sher- man's Valley, round Tuskerora Mountain and by Bail's Mills; thence across the Juniata River below William Patterson's and intersecting the road lately laid out on the east side of Juniata.' Nothing further in regard to this road appears in the records. Patterson lived, at this date, on the Strouse place, opposite Mexico. The road, it seems, was to run up the valley and pass into Perry County by the Gap through Liberty Val- ley. Furgus lived in the house occupied by Alex. Logan before he was killed by the In- dians, in 1763, now owned by McMillans. This action might have been a revival of the effort to get the same road (including an exten- sion to the river) that was opposed in 1767.


" At the March sessions, 1770, there was a petition from ' inhabitants of Fermanagh town- ship for a Bridle-Road leading from the upper parts of Lost Creek to the Meeting-House in said settlement and Captain James Patterson's mill and the landing for water carriage.' The signers are William Maclay, James Purdy, Hugh McAllister, Samuel Mitchell, William Henderson, John McCartney. No further rec- ord in regard to this road is found. The ‘meet- ing-house' spoken of was at the residence of David Diven, in Walker township. The upper parts of Lost Creek was no doubt about McAl- isterville. Maclay then lived upon and owned the land where Mifflintown now stands and the farms eastward. Purdy lived on Lost Creek, near Jericho. MeAlister and Mitchell lived near MeAlisterville. Henderson lived where Joseph Rothrock resides. Patterson built the first mill in Juniata County, and the expression ' Landing for Water Carriage' shows that this was already a kind of headquarters for flat- boats on the Juniata.


" At the January term, 1771, a petition was presented for a road ' from James Gallaher's, on the Juniata River, thence to William Patter- son, Esq.'s, and from thence to James Baskin's Ferry on the Juniata River,' which road was confirmed as a Bridle-Path at the April term, 1771."




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