History of the County of Westmoreland, Pennsylvania, with Biographical Sketches of Many of its Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 14

Author: George Dallas Albert, editor
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USA > Pennsylvania > Westmoreland County > History of the County of Westmoreland, Pennsylvania, with Biographical Sketches of Many of its Pioneers and Prominent Men > Part 14

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Caspar Smidley

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Nicholas Smidley

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Daniel Pamer tent in 50

Joseph Erwin tent in 25

James Kincade tent in 25

Abraham Leasure

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" Conditioned for the appearance of the said William Forgeson, Michael Stockberger, George Beard, Jane, AcQuiston, Anthony Walter, Caspar Smidley, Nicholas Smidley, & D Pamer at the next Court of General

Robert Hannas Esquire for

Quarter Sessions of the Peace at

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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

At the first sessions of the court, after the justices had finished the dividing of the county into town- ships, they proceeded to still further improve the or- ganization of the county and courts. A grand jury

the county of Westmoreland to answer to a certain Bad of fun tient found against them A .. "

ADDITIONAL RECORDS.

" I'MON the Petition of a Number of the Inhaltante of the Tax nelip of Springhill and of these on the West Sale of Motiongahela Hiver, In the county of Westmoreland setting forth That we your l'etttioners ate at present under difficult circumstan e for want of a Road le uling into any publ ch Rund where we can possibly pas with your mente We their. fore Humble request that your Worships would be pleased to Grant a publick Road to begin at or near the Month of a Ran known by the Name of the Fish Pott Run about two Slikes below the Mouth of tet Mile Creek on the West side of Monongahela River dit bring a conte- bient place for a ferry is also a good direction for a leading Road to the Best western part of the Settlement) thence the nearest and best way to the Forks of Dunlaps Path and General Braddos hs Road on the top of Lawyer Hill The Court appoints John Moore, Thatins Scott, Henry Brawn, Thomas Brownfield, James Mc Lean & Philip. Shate to View the said Road, that they or any four of them if the [Vjere caner, do lay out the same by courses & distances the nearest & best way & make tepent of their proceedings to the next Court. Continued untill next Sessions. October Continued. January Contd.

" U'p 'x the Petition of Sundry Inhabitants of the Township of Spring- bill & Tyrone setting forth : that your Petitioners have found the round leading from Washington's Spring to Seweekly Clerk, as it is now opened to be convenient for your Petitioners & others the Inhabitants of the adjacent Townships, and praying your Worships to appout some persons to view the same & if they find it of public use to lay out the same by courses & distances. The Court appoints Isaac Pearce. Charles Hartimit, Moses Smith, John Vance, William Mckee & William Massey to view the mail Ground, that they or any four of them if they see cause do lay out the same by conrscs & distances the nearest & best way & make lie port of their proceedings to the next Contt.

" UPON the Petition of sundrey of the Inteditants of the County of Went- moreland setting forth That Whereas the great Road leading from the Town of Bedford to Fort Pitt is hardly passable for the Swamps & logs across the Rond, and as the said Road is not laid out by an order of Court the supervisors will not take upon them to mend the ward Road. There- fore we pray your Worships to appoint Jen to view the sand Road from the top of Luwiel Hill & to lay out the same by courses and distances the nearest & best way they shall think proper & the least injurious to the Settlements thereabouts The Court appoints Samuel Shahtion, Archi- bald Lochry, Joseph Erwin, John Sampson, Eli Mires & Samuel Moote- head to view the said Road that they or any four of them if they see cause do lay out the same by courses & distances the nearest & best way & make report of their Proceedings to the next Court.

"CONSTABLES.

" John Smith of Fairfield fined 20s remitted John Cavenot of Donnegal do. 20s remitted George Shilling of Huntington jur: to attend John MeClellan of Mount Pleasant jur: to attend John Brown of Hempfield jur: to attend Jacob Sinnett of the Town of Pittsburgh jur: to attend John Sampson of Pitt fined 20% remitted William Mckee of Tyrone jur: to attend John Masterson of Springhill jur: to attotal Nathaniel Me- Cartney of Manillen jur : to attend Baltzer Shilling of Rowstraver jur: to attend Andrew Mitchell of Armstrong jur.

"OVERSEERS OF THE POOR.

" James Mckay & James Friend of Manillen Joseph Caldwell & Aron Moore of Springhill John Orusby & Jacob Bou-man of Pitt George Paul & David Allen of Tyrone Daniel Hendricks & James McCurdy of Fai :- field Solomon & John Shepperd of Mount Plea-ant Samuel Miller & Alexander Thompson of Hempfield Alexander Mitchell & Samuel Big- gart of Ros-traver William Mitchell & James Wallace of Armstrong Samuel Shannon and Edward MeDowel of Donnegal James Baird & William Marshall of Huntington.

"SUPERVISORS.

" Edward Brownfield of Manellen Jonathan John of Springhill Henry Small of Pitt Valentine Crawford of Tyrone James How of Fairfield James Scott of Mount Pleasant Wendel Oury of Hempfield Eysham

was named, with John Carnahan as foreman, and a list of indictments preferred in the name of the king. A number of constables were appointed, and also supervisors for the care of the roads. The constables

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" Hat's for Tworn keepers of Westmoreland County

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Western Toland Wines

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Pa-turage'{ Night or 24 hours

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" The Tavern keepers to be furnished by the Clerk of Seasons with a copy of the above regulation for which they are to pay one shilling & six pence, which Copy they are to hy up in some public just of their respective Houses open to the inspection of all jetons."

The Best ton nalup for med after these original ones was Derry, erected at the April sessions, 1955. It was to begin " at the Loyalhauna ; theuce along Fairneld till it sticken Blackjack ; theme along down Twolich Creek till it strikes Connemang; thence down Connemaugh till it strikes Kiskiminetas; thence up Loyalhanna to the place of begin- bing."

At April sessions, 1776 : " The court orders that the line between Fairhell and Donegal is to be the Laurel Run, the run next Liguuler, this side Langhlin's plantation, and adjoining the same.

" The court orders that that part of Fairfield township beginning at Galbraith's Run, next his house, befug the same house that Johu Hiuks- ton* formerly occupied to the west of Squirrel Hill, be erected foto a township to be called Wheats. l, and it to be a division line between the same township and Fairfield."

At January sessions, Bist. " The Court erect that part of Westel County included within the following har sin in a township-That is to may, Beginning at the west side of the Monongahela River, at the month of Peter's Creek. theure up the mid creek to the head thereof, thence with a straight line to the he id of Sawmill Creek, thonce up the Ohio River to the mouth of the Monongahela, thence up that river to the place of beginning, the same to be called Wharton."

January Newtonk, 1751 :

"The Court completing the large extent of the township of Tyrone, do hereby erect that part of the said township lying mouth of the Youghto- gheny River into a separate township hereafter to be called Franklin." (This now in Fayette, and not the Franklin in Westmoreland.)

The following excerpts are taken from the oldest records, in addition to those before cited :

This entry at July session, 1779, will ind cate in part the duties of the overseets, an office now vacated in our contity,-

" William Shaw late Overseer for Hempfield gives Information of the following strays, viz. One young mare in the possession of Robert Hanna, a bay house years six old in the possession of John Jack- son. A mare in the possession of James Blair and a Creature in the possession of Robert Taylor."

At the April sessions of 1780 a constable was appointed for Hannas- town, as there had previously been one appointed for Pittsburgh.

" At this sessions Captain Nehemiah Stokely [late of the Revolution- ary army ] was recommended to his excellency the Persident [of Penna. ! for license to sell spiritnous liquors by small measure at his house on Sewickley."

* This is Capt. Hinkston, who ran the Indian down and scalped bim as related by Capt. Smith. See infru.

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WESTMORELAND COUNTY ORGANIZED-COURTS ESTABLISHED, ETC.

were set right to work, and some jurors who had been summoned not attending were fined. A few persons were recommended to sell spirituous liquors, among whom was Joseph Erwin, who kept an inn at Han- nastown, near the ancient court-house. Rates regu- lating the sale of liquors and fixing the price of lodging were published. All liquors and drink were sold by measure. We learn by the rates, still pre- served, that whiskey was to be charged for at four pence per gill; strong beer, eight pence per quart; cider, one shilling per quart ; pasturage for twenty- four hours, six pence ; hay and stabling for the night, one shilling ; grain, two and one-half pence per quart. The tavern-keepers were furnished by the clerk with a copy of the regulations on the payment of one shilling six pence, and these were to be fixed in some conspicuous place, open to the inspection of all.

As drink was sold by measure, the custom of those indulging was to sit down by themselves and sip and sip. It was not a social custom to treat each other, which custom with us is, in truth, a modern American one, and even, it is said, does not yet obtain among either the Irish or German, both allowed to be, as a people, rather given to intemperance in drinking.

As to the county offices, there was at first no dis- tinction between the functions of these. One man might hold two or more of the county offices at one time. For many years the duties of prothonotary, clerk of the Court of Quarter Sessions, of the register and recorder were exercised by a single person. St. Clair was appointed the first prothonotary and clerk of the courts which sat at Hannastown.1 He had

In the October sessions of 1782: "Robert Jackson being brought be- fore the Court and charged with striking the Honorable Christopher Hays, Esq., the said Robert Jackson submits to the Court and is fined in the sum of fifteen Pounds, besides costs of amercement and stand com- mitted until complied with."

At this sessions, "John Ormsby Recommended to keep a Public House of Entertainment in Pittsburgh."

At the April sessions of 1783, "John Hays, Sr., of Hanna's Town, being brought before the Court and charged of keeping a disorderly Ilonse, Encouraging Drunkenness in soldiers and others, it was ordered that the said Jolin Hays be amerced in the sum of Two Pounds for use of Commonwealth, Pay Costs, etc." Among the witnesses for common- wealth were Lieut. John Cummins and Ensign William Cooper.

1 COPY OF ST. CLAIR'S COMMISSION.

In the Common Pleas Docket, 1773.

The Honorable RICHARD PENN, ESQUIRE, Lieutenant-Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Province of Pennsylvania, and Counties of [SKAL] New Castle, Kent, and Sussex on Delaware, to Arthur St Clair, of the County of Westmoreland, within the Thomas and John Penn, Proprietat- ries and Govern- ors of Pennsyl- vania. said Province, Esquire, Greeting, Reposing special Trust and Confidence in your Loyalty, Knowledge, Care, and Fidelity, know that I hace ordained, cousti- tuted, and appointed, und by these presents do ordain, constitute, and appoint you, the zuid ARTHUR ST. CLAIR, to be PROTHONOTARY or principal clerk of the County Court of Common Pleas of and for the said County of Westmoreland, Giving hereby and Granting yon full Power and Authority to execute the said Office of Prothonotary or Principal Clerk of the County Court of Com- mon Pleas of and for the County Aforesaid, in all the several Parts and Branches thereof, and the keeping of all Records, Books, and Writings whatsoever to the said Office belonging. To Hold, Exercise, and Enjoy the said office with all Fees, Profits, Perquisites, Emoluments, and Advan-

filled the same offices in Bedford County from 1771 to 1773. He was the custodian of the records of the court; and these, as is said, during some of the dan- gerous times after, he kept at his house, which, it is alleged, became a custom with succeeding officers. Most of the records of the first courts at Hannastown were written by James Brison, who was employed as clerk by St. Clair, and he did the office-work also for Huffnagle, St. Clair's successor. When Allegheny County was formed out of Westmoreland, Brison was appointed prothonotary of the new county. There cannot be enough said of the legibility and the artistic clearness of these first records. They are yet, after the usage of a hundred years, clear and readable, while many others, extending back no farther than forty or fifty years, are sometimes almost indecipher- able. A copy of St. Clair's commission and some of his autographs may be seen in the offices.

The records of the courts, dating from a brief time after their organization, while they were legibly written, were, speaking in a general way, poorly kept, in a loose method, and often by incompetent clerks. Scanty as they were, some of them have been lost, purloined, or destroyed. We look in vain for the records of the dates of the most interest next to the original ones,-the time covering the Revolution, the destruction of Hannastown, and of the removal of the courts to Greensburg. At a time during the Revu lution, and at a time subsequent, these records were scattered, and were in the private possession of some of the officers, sometimes, it is true, from apprehended trouble. Huffnagle had been appointed the prothon- otary when St. Clair took the field in 1776, and Huff- nagle in turn going into the army as a captain, another officer under the new government was ap- pointed in his stead. Huffnagle refused to give up the records, and had them sent out of the county. A demand was made upon him for the books and documents, which demand he thought proper to re- fuse. President Wharton then laid the matter before Gen. Washington, and requested the general to order Huffnagle before the Council at once to answer for what he termed his audacious insult.2 Huffnagle

tages from thence lawfully arising, or thereunto of Right in any wise appertaining, until my further Pleasure shall be made known therein.

Giren under my Hand and the Great Seal of the said Province at Phila- delphia, the twenty-seventh day of February in the thirteenth year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord, George the Third, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, and so forth : and in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and seventy-three. RICH'D PENN.

2 PRESIDENT WHARTON TO GENERAL WASHINGTON.

PHILADELPHIA, June 25, 1777.

SIR,-Mr. Mich1. Hoffnagle, now a capt", in the Sth Pennsyl. Regiment in the Continental Service, was appointed Deputy Prothonotary for the County of Westmoreland under the late government, but since the es- tablishment of the present another has been appointed to the office of Prothonotary, and a demand made of Mr. Hoffuagle of the Books and publick Records of said County, which he has not only thought proper to refuse, but has, as the Council is informed upon Oath, secreted them in some other County. This is not only a breach of trust and must be attended with great inconveni s to the good people of the Courts,

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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

escaped by speedily returning the records, and saved his reputation by bending with the wind. But out- side of this particular instance we have every assur- ance that the prothonotaries kept the records as private property, much as the dockets of the justices of the peace. And, by the way, so Angrant had become the abuse of retaining and secreting official papers that in 1804 (April 3d) was passed a law, by which it was declared the duty of every person ap- pointed to an office to call upon his predecessor and demand all documents belonging to such office, which could not be retained under a severe penalty.

John Proctor, who had been sheriff of Bedford, was appointed the first sheriff of Westmoreland. Proctor for a time lived at Hannastown, but his farm and place of residence were within the present limits of Unity township. St. Clair resided at this time near Ligonier. They were both near the great mili- tary road, St. Clair being beside it. He dated all his correspondence from Ligonier. This location was convenient for sending packages and letters both east and west, for it was only by regular or special express-riders that news and documents could then be transmitted. Although not on the road Proctor had easy access to it.

Proctor was commissioned sheriff of the county Oct. 18, 1773. Previous to this time he had exercised his office by virtue of his former commission. You will notice the brotherhood in Proctor's bail bond. William Lochry and Robert Hanna were approved of as sufficient sureties, in presence of and before David Espy and Michael Huffnagle, by Arthur St. Clair, on the 3d of May, 1774.

Of John Proctor history and biography are silent, notwithstanding that he was high in favor with the provincial government, and was by nature a leader of men. The deputy proprietary chose to give him the first commission as sheriff for the county. He, with all this, took sides ardently with the cause of the people. The first regiment, or battalion, of asso- ciators was placed under his command, and he was always at the head of a body of militia. During the war he held several offices of responsibility. He was appointed one of the two persons for the county to seize the personal effects of traitors, his colleague. being Thomas Galbraith. He was also a member of the Assembly. But he did not rise to prominence in the military service. It is presumed that the latter part of his life was under a cloud, for his property was taken in execution about 1791 and sold, and his

but is a most audacious Insult Offr'd to the State. I therefore request your Excell'y will be so obliging as to order the said Mr. Hoffungle to attend this Council immediately, to give satisfaction in the premises, re- lying at the same time that the necessity of this application will plead au excuse for the Council in giving your Excell'y nny extraordinary trouble at this very critical juncture. I have the Honor to be with great respect,

Your Excell. most obed. Hum. Ser't,

THos. WHARTON, JR., President.

See also "Penn. Arch.," 2d Series, vol. iii. p. 108. .

family became destitute. He lived close to Archi- bald Lochry on the Twelve-Mile Run, a small stream which crossed the Stoystown and Greensburg turnpike, and empties into the Fourteen-Mile Run at the foot of the hill on the road from Latrobe to St. Vincent's Monastery and College. Both he and Lochry, with their brothers, took up bodies of land at the opening of the office in 1769, and both were settlers of the county before it was erected. He was in religion a Presbyterian, and entertained with hos- pitality the misionary fathers who came into the country, notably Dr. McMillan, who in his journal mentions the Proctors. The rude shed called Proc- tor's tent was the incipient church of the Unity con- gregation. Hle lies buried in the old graveyard, now part of U'nity cemetery, but his grave is unknown. In the same yard lie the remains of William Findley and many of Proctor's neighbors. If he had left enough to erect a tombstone over his grave, saved out of the profusion of his liberality, the people would have been glad to raise his virtue to the skies. When the citizen-soldiery on a late Decoration Day went in procession to publicly decorate the graves of the departed heroes who died for their country in all her glorious wars, they were afraid to scatter lilies over the hollow place which tradition pointed out as the resting place of Col. Proctor lest it should turn out, which was as probable, that they were hanging garlands on the grave of a suspicious character whose nech was broken by # fall from his horse when running a race for a gallon of whiskey, and who was buried in forma pauperis.

In pursuance of previous arrangements, an election was held for county officers on the 1st of October fol- lowing. We may observe that most officers were elective, the appointment of some, however, being of the franchise of the Governor, and by him or his de- puties thus filled. Joseph Beeler, James Smith, and James Cavett were elected the first commissioners; and John Proctor sheriff, who was succeeded by James Carnahan ; James Kinkaid and William Harrison were elected coroners; and Benjamin Davis, Charles Hichman (Hitchman), Christopher Hays, Alexander Barr, James McCleane, and Philip Rogers, assessors. The commissioners were sworn in office by St. Clair. They were to adjust the county debts, and assess and levy the county rates and levies. Among the most prominent who sat on this board was Capt. James Smith, the celebrated Indian captive, who was also returned to a scat in the Assembly, and was a repre- sentative for Westmoreland in the Convention in 1776. He lived on Jacobs Creek. William Thompson was chosen the member of Assembly at this election. At all the first elections the whole county voted at the house of Robert Hanna; and at many of these elec- tions the poll fell short of a hundred votes.

In 1784 there were three election districts, for on the erection of Fayette County it was found that the third district of Westmoreland fell within the limits

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FIRST JAIL-EARLY PUNISHMENTS-SLAVERY IN 1781.

of the new county, and it was so altered that the electors remaining in Westmoreland should meet at the house of William Moore, in Rostraver township. By the act regulating the general elections of the Commonwealth, passed the 13th of September, 1785, the county was divided into five districts. Those who resided on the north side of the Kiskiminetas and Conemaugh were to vote at the house of Daniel Dick- son ; those bounded by the Laurel Hill, Conemaugh, the Chestnut Ridge, and the Fayette County line should hold their elections at the house of Samuel Jameson ; those of Huntingdon and Rostraver town- ships at the house of William Moore, in Rostraver; the people of the Fort Pitt district were to vote at the house of Devereaux Smith, in the town of Fort Pitt; and all the freemen of the county who were not included in the above boundaries were to vote at Hannastown. But by the act of 19th of September, 1786, the inhabitants of this fifth district were to vote at Greensburg, otherwise Newton, at the court-house, Greensburg having been selected in the mean time by the committee and designated as the proper place for holding the courts.

By the act of the 29th of September, 1789, Derry township was erected into a separate election district, and the freemen were to vote at the house of Moses Donald.

By an act of the 11th of January, 1803, all that part of Franklin township north of the Frankstown road was annexed to the fifth or Greensburg district, and to vote at the court-house. By act of the 4th of April, 1805, Fairfield township was made a separate district, the voting-place to be at William Ramsay's, best known as "Palmer's Fort;" and by the same act Donegal township was made a district, with the voting-place at the house of Maj. John Ambrose.

CHAPTER XI.

FIRST JAIL-EARLY PUNISHIMENTS-SLAVERY IN

1781.

Erection of the Jail at Hanna's-The Pillory-The Whipping-Post-The Stocks-The First Indictment in the Quarter Sessions-James Brig- land and Luke Picket whipped at the Post-Vestiges of English Ju- dicial Process-Elizabeth Smith whipped at the Post and sentenced to Two Years at Hard Labor with an Inhuman Master for Larceny- Flexible Consciences-Slavery and Servitude in the Old Westmoreland -Bill of Sale for a Negro Woman Slave -Extent of Slavery in the County in 1781-Reference to the List of Slaves made out in Pursu- ance of an Act of Assembly.

As soon as the place of justice had been fixed at Hanna's a jail was begun. It was built at first of round unhewn logs, of one story in height, and of one apartment, and in near proximity were soon erected a whipping-post and a pillory. The whipping-post was a large sapling placed in the ground firmly, with a cross-piece fixed at such a height that when the convict to be punished was brought out and his wrists tied together they might be fastened at the length of

his arms, above his head, to it. The pillory, an in- strument known in the law as an instrument of pun- ishment, but in reality an instrument of torture, is described as a frame-work raised from the ground and made with holes and folding-doors, through which the hands and head of the criminal were passed. By common law anybody passing a prisoner in the pil- lory for a felony might throw one stone at him. The pillory, therefore, as a place of punishment was a success, but as a place of amusement it is not to be commended. The stocks is an instrument to confine the legs. As there were no stocks available at all times, the lowermost rails of the nearest stake-and- rider fence were used to answer. We may conclude, rationally, that the stocks were, from time to time, demolished, and this not at the ordinary instance of the executives of the law. The miserable condition of the building and its insufficiency called for its condemnation frequently by the grand jury of the county.

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History of the County of Westmoreland, Pennsylvania, with Biographical Sketches of Many of its Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 14

Author: George Dallas Albert, editor Publication date: Publisher: Number of Pages:

Author: George Dallas Albert, editor
Publication date:
Publisher:
Number of Pages: