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. 2, Pt. 1 > Part 30
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. 2, Pt. 1 > Part 30
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. 2, Pt. 1 > Part 30
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. 2, Pt. 1 > Part 30
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. 2, Pt. 1 > Part 30
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60
Isaac, the oldest son (known in later years as Elder Isaac), warranted, May 23, 1814, three hundred acres of land adjoining land of his father, Moses, Alexander Berryhill and Isaac Jones, on which his son Moses and daughters now live. In 1820 the Kirkpatrick family were assessed as follows : Moses, Sr., three hun- dred and twenty-six acres and saw-mill ; Isaac, Sr., four hundred and seventy-six acres (now in Carroll); Isaac, one hundred and thirty-two aeres ; Moses, Jr., two hundred and thirty-one ; Thomas, two hundred and eighty-five; James, one hundred and sixty ; Alexander, one hundred and fifty; and Joseph, one hundred.
In 1830 Isaac, Jr., was assessed on four hun- dred and ninety-nine acres and saw-mill ; Thom- as, one hundred and twenty-five; Alexander, sixty-four ; the heirs of Moses, Sr., two hundred and fifty acres.
Elder Isane Kirkpatrick died September 8, 1865, in his ninetieth year, having served as an elder sixty-one years.
An act of Assembly, dated February 6, 1773, revites that James Patton had created on Sher-
man's Creek, near its mouth, a saw mill dam. Complaint was made that this dam obstructed navigation, and the act passed required James Patton, and all other parties owning or erecting dans on Sherman's Creek, to make a space twenty feet in breadth near the middle of the dam, and two feet lower than the rest, and lay a platform of stone and timber at least six feet down the stream, to form the slope for the easy and safe passage of boats, rafts or canoes.
This tract is, probably, from its location, the tract of Marens Ilulings, and the same place for which he obtained authority to erect a dam in 1787, but which he did not ereet, as his death occurred the next year. The site of an old dam is still to be seen on the property, now owned by John Young. Ofother lands warranted in this section, were two tracts warranted in June, 1762, by Robert Jones and George Allen. On the south side of the creek, along Peter's Mountain, Michael Simpson laid a warrant, in 1794, for four hundred acres. Of others who laid warrants the same year, were Adam Harbison, four hun- dred acres; John Godfrey, four hundred and fourteen acres ; John Kelso, four hundred and thirty-one acres ; John Kennedy, one hundred and eight acres; Joseph Kelso, four hundred and seven aeres, and Samuel Graham, forty-two aeres. These lands extended to the Carroll township line.
At the west point of the Horse-Shoe Moun- tain, and at the head of the stream that comes down the Cove, Joseph Watkins, on June 18, 1774, took up three hundred and twenty-nine acres of land ; below this traet Thomas White, James White, Elizabeth Branyan, Alexander Gailey and Israel Jacobs took up large tracts. The heirs of Alexander White now own the Thomas White tract.
Above where the Cove Mountain touches the Susquehanna River lies a tract of land known as the Morris Improvement, which was begun in 1790. The land was not warranted, however, until 1860, when Christian Van Flin made title. Adjoining this, David and William Ogle, in 1792, warranted about five hundred acres in separate tracts. John and Adam Fry and John Gresh took up lands also. David Stout was one of the first to take up lands along the river,
1072
JUNIATA AND SUSQUEHANNA VALLEYS IN PENNSYLVANIA.
and on the 1 Ith of March, 1755, warranted two hundred and twelve acres, which extended along the viver a distance of a mile and a half. Above the Stout lands, on the river, George Allen had settled before 1762, and from his residence here the names Allen's Cove and Allen's Island were derived. He had no title to the place, and Thomas Barnett took ont a warrant for three hundred and seventeen acres Jame 4, 1762. He resided there until 1787, when he took up the four hundred and seventeen acre tract, on a part of which New Bloomfield is located. He had two sous, Frederick and George. The Cove lands he conveyed to his son Frederick, who lived and died there, and left the property to his de- scendants. Thos. Barnett died at the residence of' his sou Geo. in 1814, to whom the New Bloom- field tract was conveyed. The island contained sixty-four acres, and was warranted October 13, 1760, and patented May 28, 1770. Its name was changed to Barnett's Island, and after the sale to Colonel Langhorne Wi-tar it was known as Wistar's Island.
THE COVE FORGE is located on the Thomas Barnett tract of land, and is situate about one and a half miles south of Duncannon, on the Susquehanna River. Several hundred acres of land were purchased about 1863 by Win. Me- Hvaine & Sons, of Philadelphia, who, ou April 11, 1861, began the erection of a forge. Ou the 4th of September, 1865, it went into blast and put in operation six fires, with the blast run by water and a hanner of Sexton's run by steam,
The furnace is operated by charcoal, which is made by the company on their own lands. A dam was creeted on the stream, which comes from the Upper Cove Mountains, at the time the forge was built, but it was found to be too small, and a large one, with an eighteen-foot breast, was erected, which backs the water for nearly a mile. The forge is still operated by the original firm.
Above the Barnett lands on the river took up two tracts of land, containing two hundred and fifty-three acres, in 1766 -one on a warrant, the other on order of survey No. 2289. The Cove Forge property is on this tract. Above this is a tract which extends to the end of Peter's Mountain. A tract of two hundred and
ninety-one acres lying on the river at the end of the mountain was taken up in 1792 by Matthew Lack. Directly above was the William Me- Quaid tract, warranted in July, 1793, on which the Duneannon Nail-Works now stand.
THE DUNCANNON IRON-WORKS are located at the junction of the Susquehanna River and Jimisita Crock, on a tract of land containing two Inmodred and twenty aeres, warranted June 2, 1762, to George Allen, and surveyed to Robert Jones. This property, in 1827, came into the possession of Stephen A. Duncan and Jolm D. Mahon, who erected thereon a forge, which was blown in in the spring of 1828. In Febru- ary of that year the firm bought of Robert Clark ninety-four acres and the lower grist-mill, saw-mill and distillery. On the 17th of April following, they purchased one thousand two hun- dred and thirty-one acres of land, in three tract-, of Andrew Mateer. The firm advertised for men to work at the iron-works July 31, 1828. The forge and forge house were destroyed by fire July 9, 1829, and were at once rebuilt and in operation in December of the same year. About 1832 or 1833, John Johnston & Co., who owned and operated Chestnut Grove Forge, Adams County, leased the Duncannon Forge and operated it until the dissolution of the firm, in September, 1831. In the spring of 1835 the stock was sold at auction sale, and in the next spring (1836) the property of Duncan d' Mahou, including from five to seven thousand acres of land, passed to Wm. Logan Fisher and Chas. W. Morgan. The forge was operated a short time, when it was torn down, and a rolling mill, sixty by one hundred feet, was built on its site, with a capacity of five thou- sand tons of bar-iron per annum. A nail- factory was built in 1839 and began in 1840. For several years prior Fisher & Morgan sent from the rolling-mill nail-irou ou flatboats to Roswell Woodward, New Cumberland, where they were manufactured into nails. Upon the completion of the nail-factory at this place, the machines (twenty-live in number) were brought to this place, and twenty thousand kegs per an- unm were manufactured. March 14, 1816, a heavy freshet in Sherman's Creek washed away the dam and part of the rolling-mill. In 1853
1073
PERRY COUNTY.
the Anthracite Furnace was built, with fourteen- feet bosh and having a capacity of twenty tons per day. It was rebuilt in 1880 with a fifteen feet bosh and having a capacity, as at present, of titteen thou-and tons per ammmm. On the 9th of January, 1860, the nail-factory was destroyed by fire, and rebuilt the same year and supplied with forty-six machines, which number has been increased from time to time, and at present sixty-four machines are in operation and one hundred and forty thousand kegs of nails are annually produced.
On the 9th of May, 1860, the dam was en- tirely swept away and was not again rebuilt. Stemm had been used partially in the rolling- mill since 1853, and since the destruction of the dam the entire works have been operated by engines of three hundred and fifty horse- power.
Fisher, Morgan & Co., on the Ist of Febru- ary, 1861, sold the property to the Duncannon Iron Company, including about eight hundred deres, which was incorporated, and which, m- der the management of John Wistar, is still conducted.
Montabello Furnace and three thousand four hundred and sixty-nine acres of land, at the time of sale of Fisher, Morgan & Co. to the present company, were retained by them until June, 1885, when it passed to Jomm Wistar, trustee for the Duncanon Iron Company, the company, however, having the management. The stave mill was used until its destruction by fire, in the spring of 1875, when a new stave mill was erceted at the month of Sherman's Creek, which is now in use.
The company have, in all departments of their work, about four hundred and fifty em- ployés.
The present stone office, thirty-five by fifty- four feet, with main room sixteen feet in height, was created in 1866. It was first ocenpied January 14, 1867. A company store has been in connection with the business since a forge was put in operation in 1828.
In the session of 1828 an act was passed by the Legislature, authorizing Stephen Duncan and John D. Mahon to build a toll-bridge arross Sherman's Creek, near its month. They
had erected the forge at or near the place the year before. It does not appear that a bridge was built by them, but, in 1832, the commnis- sioners of Perry County made a contract with Milligan and MeQuaid to erect a bridge at the place for the sun of three thousand two hun- dred dollars. The work was begun in that year and completed the next year. Eight hub- dred dollars was claimed by the contractors for extra work, which was granted. The bridge was two hundred and sixty feet in length, with a pier in the middle.
An act was passed in 1839, authorizing the construction of a bridge across the Juniata River, which was building that year; and on the 21st of June an act was passed authorizing the company to construct a railroad from the Pennsylvania Canal, at Duncan's Island, to Sherman's Creek. The managers appointed were Cornelius Baskins, president ; Amos A. Jones, Jacob Keiser, Thomas Duncan, Thomas K. Lindley, John B. Topley, John Charter> and Jacob Clay, who were also the managers of the Juniata Bridge Company. The road was to begin at a point on the Pennsylvania Canal at Duncan's Island, not exceeding one- quarter of a mile from the cast end of the bridge, to cross the same to the west bank of the Juniata River, to pass through or near Petersburg, to terminate at or near the mouth of Sherman's Creek, a distance of two miles. The railroad was built for the use of the Duncannon Iron-Works, to bring coal from the canal to the works. Horses were used to draw the cars. The bridge was washed away in 1845 and rebuilt The road was used until the destruction of the bridge by a freshet, March 17, 1865. The Iron Company then erected a warchonse and wharf at the aqueduct, and from that time have shipped their coal from the aqueduct by the Pennsylvania Railroad.
Sonoors .- The first mention of a school- house in the limits of Penn township is in the law regulating election districts, which passed the Legislature in 1797, which declared that the Union school-honse at Petersburg should be the voting-place for the district then formed. This house stood where the "lock-up" now stands. It was built of logs, chinked with
68
1074
JUNIATA AND SUSQUEHANNA VALLEYS IN PENNSYLVANIA.
clay, aud about twenty-five feet square. A broad fire-place was on one side, and the seats were without backs. It was used for school purposes nutil between 1810 and 1815; it was torn down by unknown parties.
In 1815 a frame building, now used as a dwelling-house by Mrs. George Stuart, was erected, and in its four large rooms more extended facilities were given for education. In 1871 the handsome brick structure on High Street, costing about ten thousand dollars, was com- pleted, and in its four departments two hundred children are educated.
The Mitchener school-house is the second upon the site. The first was erected many years ago and before the school law was in operation.
A school-house was built many years ago near Young's Mill .. School was taught in it by Joseph Melutire. Children attended from a circuit of four mile -.
The old Methodist Church at Young's was purchased by the school directors in 1810, and used as a school-house for many years.
The present school system of Pen township is carried on in eleven schools,-Lower Dun- cannon High, Intermediate and Primary, Bas- kinsville High and Primary, Upper Cove, Middle Cove, Lower Cove, Mitcheuer, Mount Pleasant, Hickory Grove.
CHAPTER XVI.
DUNCANNON BOROUGH.1
Ar the junction of the shallow Susque- hanna and its deep western tributary from the Allegheny Mountains, and where it cuts through its second water-gap above the Chesa- peake, lies upon its bank a town of thirteen hundred inhabitants. The suburbs of the vil- lage exceed in population the incorporated part, and lie along the Juniata River, near its mouth, over by the little Juniata Creek and up the larger Sherman's Creek for a distance of perhaps sixty rods the town north of the borough and along the Sequeluma being known as Upper Dan-
cannon, formerly Baskinsville, from the old settler, Mitchell Baskins; the part southeast of the borough along the Su-quehanna as Lower Duncannou, which is the largest section of the town not incorporated ; the more scattered part directly west of the town, along the deep narrow valley, as Stewartsville, after William J. Stew- art, Sr., son of Richard Stewart, one of the first merchants of the place; and the part owned by the Iron Company, which lies south of Sherman's Creek, along the river, by the name of Boston. These, with the borough, aggregate a population of two thousand seven hundred and fifty souls.
The interest of this cluster of settlements in an carly day was at Clark's Ferry, which wa- first a fording at the house of John Clark, and was where the first road crossed the river from Harrisburg to Huntingdon and Pittsburgh. It later became a ferry, and in 1808 became a part of a stage-route, of which Robert Clark, son of John, was one of the proprietors.
John Clark had built, years before, a stone taveru at the place, which was continued by Robert Clark. The route, upon the completion of the turnpike, in 1819-21, became the busy line of travel for the Conestoga wagons, loaded with merchandise for the western part of the State. It was not uncommon to see fifteen or twenty of these large wagons, drawn by six or eight horses cach, in the old inn-yard and along the road nearby, waiting their turn for the ferry- boats. In addition to this line of stages, Clark established a mail-coach line from the ferry through Landisburg to Concord, and from there connecting with the northern route for Pitts- burgh.
The ferry remained as the leading business place until 1838, when the Juniata Bridge Com- pany erected the bridge across the river and the ferry gradually declined. The Baskins Ferry above had disappeared some years before. Robert Clark was master of the ferry until hi- death. The tavern was later kept by Henry Amon and by John Boden, who was also n justice of the peace and taught school. Ile was elected prothonotary of the county in 1835, served his term and after a few years returnel to Duncanmon, where he died.
' By John L., Mel'askey.
1075
PERRY COUNTY.
The tract of land on which the borongh proper of Duncannon stands was warranted, June 3, 1762, by John Brown, and contained two hundred and sixty-seven acres. It was purchased, August 30, 1777, by Robert. Me- Hassy, who died a few years later, and passed to his administrator, Samuel Gondy. Marshall Stanly, assignee of John Brown, obtained judg- ment against Gondy, as administrator of Me- Hassy, and the property was sold by the high sheriff of Cumberland County to Samnel Postlethwaite, who sold it, October 16, 1786, to Robert Armstrong, who September 11, 1792, sold a part of the tract to Christian Miller, who at once laid out a town into lots and named it Petersburg, and began the sale of the lots. Lot No. 2 was on the corner of Water Street and Cumberland Street, and ran back to Market, and is now owned by Frank Harper. It was first purchased, February 20, 1793, by James Beatty, and passed respectively to Robert Beatty, John Leedy, Abraham Bixler and Cornelins Baskins. The last sold it to Robert Stewart January 2, 1830. Lot No. 16 was bought of Christian Miller, December 20, 1792, by Alexander MeLaughlin, who sold it, February 2, 1793, to Robert Chambers. It passed in 1801 to Robert Thompson, in 1810 to James Armstrong, and in 1823 to Robert Stewart, who carried on in the building upon it. a general store for many years. It is now owned by Joseph Moyal, and is used as a dwelling.
The following persons were lot-owners in Petersburg in 1795 :
Robert Armstrong, Christian Miller, Dr. McNaughton, William Beatty, James Beatty, Levi Owen, Isaac Jones, James Mehaffy, James Brown, Peter Kipp, Samnel Harvies, Philip Swisher, George Glass, John Elliot, Robert Wallace, Thomas Ecetes, Thomas Tweedy and Andrew Snider.
Christian Miller died before 1820, and in 1828 his widow, Mary, and sons and daughter -Henry, Samuel, Christian and Sarah Yeanch -were residents of New Berlin, Union County. In 1820 the widow of Robert Armstrong owned a house and two lots and a half ; Daniel Baker, a shoemaker, house and two lots ; Robert Clark, house and lot occupied by Myers, house and lot
occupied by - Wil-on and five lots ; David Carns, a lot ; the heirs of Maximillian Haines, a house and lot ; George Jones, a blacksmith ; William Irwin, a merchant, and house and lot ; James Kirk patrick, house and lot ; John Leedy, honse and lot ; Christian Miller's heirs, lots 18, 26, 29, 30, 32 and 33. Nathan Von Fossen, lots 10, 21-23; heirs of Patrick Me- Naughton, lots 8-20 ; Samuel MeKinzie, blacksmith, house and lot. In addition to the above, there were, in 1828, Samuel Alex- ander, one lot ; Robert Bonner, two lots ; Alex- ander Bonner's heirs, two lots ; William Hunter, one lot ; John Ashbel, one lot ; Lewis Gryan, hatter, one lot ; David McCoy, one lot ; Richard Stewart, merchant, two lots; Philip Swisher, two lots; John Steel, one lot ; Nathan Von Fossen, tan-yard and three lots.
In this year, 1828, the Miller heirs assigned all the lots of Christian Miller to their mother, Mary, who, on August 26th, sold lot No. 26, owned at present by Mrs. John Cromleigh, to Richard Stewart.
An old resident says about 1830 there were only eight houses, rough and rude, from the cabins down by the rolling-mill, along Sher- man's Creek, to the post-office at Clark's Ferry. Near where the bridge crosses the Little Jn- niata at end of Front Street, stands an old log- honse, built about 1794 by Christian Miller. On the point (the junction of the Susquehanna and Little Juniata Creek), now owned by A. Morrison, and at the Stevenson honse, was Jacob Young's dwelling, with an old board fence, which extended back to the erecek. Next, on the Van Fossen heirs' property, on Market Square, was Nathan Van Fossen's dwelling, his barn standing immediately across the "street," and on the corner where now stands Colonel Dickinson's hotel was a small hostelry. On the now Joseph Michener row was an old log build- ing owned by Adam Mell, the grandfather of Mrs. Michener. This ancient structure was not torn down until 1883. A few rods farther up, on the vacant lot on corner of Front and Ann, owned by John Hellley, was Polly Reed's dwelling, while opposite was Richard Stewart's store. Where T. B. Lewis' double hon-e now stands was the dwelling of Margaret Harmon.
1076
JUNIATA AND SUSQUEHANNA VALLEYS IN PENNSYLVANIA.
Mrs. Oliver Cummings, her daughter, now re- siding on High Street, yet remembers how a bear, attracted by the candies and sweets in her mother's shop-windows, tried to smash in the windows one night, when, yelling to their next neighbor, then John Boden (property now owned by Miss Lydia McDonald), he, with other neighbors, came to their relief. From this point to the house by the ferry, where John Coufler, then postmaster, officiated, there was but one dwelling.
The grist-mill now owned by George Morris was built about 1810, by John Chishohn, of Inverness, Scotland, for Ramsay, Clark &' Boden. The first member of this firm was a Carlisle lawyer, and the last member the cash- ier of the Carlisle Bank, while Clark was the Robert Clark, of Clark's Ferry. John Chis- holm milled in the structure for several years. Abont 1839 the mill passed into the hands of Amos Jones, and from him to Griffith Joues. Afterwards Stewart, Young & Rife became owners; afterwards Young & Stewart, and in November, 1885, George Morris purchased the property at sheriff's sde.
For an account of the tracts of land on which the other settlements of' Duncanon are now lo- cated, and the rise and progress of the Dunean- non Tron-Works, reference is made to the his- tory of Penn township. For the physicians who located here, an account will be found in the medical chapter of the county.
The Duncannon Record was established in 1871, by A. J. Hanck, of Mechanicsburg, as a folio sheet, twenty-six by thirty inches, neutral in polities, and issued weekly. It passed through several hands, and is now owned by Jomm L. MeCaskey, who changed its politics to Republican, and enlarged it to an eight-page quarto, twenty-six by forty inch sheet.
THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. -- Among the earliest Scotch-Irish settlers in the valley was the desire to establish the Calvinistic creed, and the Donegal Presbytery sent supply pastors, at intervals, to this section, at the request of the settlers, as early as the middle of the eighteenth century. On March 10, 1803, a regular call was extended to Rev. James Brady, of Carlisle, by the Presbyterians in this section, in connec-
tion with those of Middle Ridge aud Shermau's Creek, to have regular services. They were held, in this section, above William Irwin', store, in a stone house, until the next year, when, on the plot of ground purchased of Cor- uelins Baskins, on the eminence at the mouth of the Juniata River, a log church twenty-five by thirty feet, was built and dedicated to relig- ions worship, Miss Mary Kirkpatrick being the first child baptized within its walls.
Here the church flourished in the sparsely- settled district under the administration of their pastor, who labored in the mission work, while engaged in his regular duties as well as those of teaching young men in an academy ou his farm, now owned by Jacob Miller. (A few Lombardy poplars are the only living mom- ment of this spot.) His, pastorate closed with his death, April 24, 1821, and his remain- were laid where the shadows of his loved sane- tnary fell in the afternoons of the early con- tury, and are now marked by a marble slab.
About this time the pioneer Suuday-school of the county was organized under the auspices of Mrs. Campbell and her daughters, Miss Miller and Mrs. William Irwin. The book, were brought in a canoe, poled all the way from Harrisburg by John Harris, father of Castle- berry and Henderson Harris,
Rev. Cornelins Loughran served the congre- gation for a short time, when, November 1, 1826, Rev. John Niblock was called, and preached until his death, Angust 30, 1830. He was buried at Middle Ridge.
In January, 1831, Rev. Matthew Patter- son came to labor, and remained till October 1844, when the churches were in the hands of supplies nutil Rev. Charles B. MeClay was installed, in 18 17.
During the pastorate of Rev. Patterson, who was also a pioneer in the temperance canse, the town had grown in importance, and the regu- lar services were held in the new building ou (now) High Street, which was created in 1840- 11, and dedicated in Angust, 1811. The Sun- day school was held for a while in the old building, until the new school building was built in town, when it was held there until removed to the new church. Occasional service
بصاج
1077
PERRY COUNTY.
was also held in the old church, until an April gale in 1856 laid the old structure in ruins. The burial-ground was also enlarged by pur- chase of an additional tract of land adjoining the old yard, for twenty dollars in goldl.
Rev. MeClay dissolved his pastorate in 1818. In 1819 Rev. Hezekiah Hanson was a supply until October, 1853, when he was duly installed as the regular pastor, and served until 1856, when Rev. William B. Craig was called, who, in addition to his labors, established a congre- gational library in the church. His pastoral charge was dissolved Jne 11, 1867, and his successor, Rev. William B. Thompson, was in- stalled in September of the next year.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.