History of the County of Westmoreland, Pennsylvania, with Biographical Sketches of Many of its Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 163

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

USA > Pennsylvania > Westmoreland County > History of the County of Westmoreland, Pennsylvania, with Biographical Sketches of Many of its Pioneers and Prominent Men > Part 163

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).

After her capture the Indians, who had left her, went to John Curry's house and plundered and burned it, and then continued on to Puckety. But the inhabitants hearing of their approach were flying in every direction. A mile up the creek they fell in with the families of Flail and Mellon. The Indians fired upon them, wounding the two men and old Mrs. Flail, and captured Elizabeth, Mr. Flail's eldest daughter. They burned the house and barn of Hugh Mellon. Some sixty women and children, who had fled from their respective homes, collected together that night at the house of Mr. Mclaughlin, where the Indians came and took a number of horses from the field. On the 24th they killed Bartholomew Gar- vey, who was on his way to Reed's Station with two horse-loads of bacon for the garrison there; this

happened fifty rods from Chambers' Station. In the following week Samuel Holmes, wife and daughter, on Crooked Creek, were taken prisoners. Miss Eliz- abeth Flail was six months in captivity. Shortly after Mrs. Harbison's return from captivity she and her husband removed to Coe's Station, seventeen miles above Pittsburgh, to begin life anew, having lost all their effects by the savages. There were no more Indian incursions until 1794, after St. Clair's defeat. In June of that year they attacked a canoe going up the Allegheny, and killed John Carter and wounded William Cousins and Peter Kinner. Two or three days after this the sav- ages attacked the boat of Capt. Sharp as he was descending the Kiskiminetas River, about fifteen miles from its mouth, and killed four of his men and mortally wounded the captain himself, who survived the wounds a few weeks and died in Pittsburgh. The boat in which they were killed and wounded floated down the stream, entered the Allegheny, and passed two stations in the night without being discovered, or without the assistance of any one on board to steer or to row her, and came opposite to Thomas Gurty's, a little below the mouth of Deer Creek, when the fourth man died, and when the women who were in the boat, fearing that the captain was about to die and that they would be left alone, called to the people on shore for their assistance, who immediately put off a boat to their rescue, and brought their boat to the shore. Four of the men had wives in the boat with them, who were compelled to witness the murder of their husbands, and to sit in their blood as it flowed freely and warm from their veins. The wife of Capt. Guthrie, who was in the boat with her husband, was shortly after she arrived in Pittsburgh delivered of her ninth child. In December, 1794, Mrs. Harbison and her husband removed again to the waters of Bull Creek. Her husband was at this time a spy and only came home once in eight or ten days. In the follow- ing spring they removed to the mouth of Buffalo Creek, at Cregg's Station. In the middle of May, on the approach of the Indians, all the women and chil- dren at the station, under the command of Mrs. Har- bison, got into a pirogue, assisted by Mrs. Mahaffey, and floated down to Owen's Station, where there were some men to protect them.

In 1791, John Clough was in the corps commanded by Capt. John Cregg,1 stationed on'Crooked Creek, on the borders of Westmoreland County. Most of the settlers lived this year at the station of nights, but John Kilpatrick remained on his clearing. One morning in March the Indians attacked his house and fired through the door, wounding a man who kept the door, and killing a child lying in a cradle. Mr. Kilpatrick and one of the militia went into the loft, made an incision in the wall, and began to fire on the Indians, and killed one of them on the spot

1 Or Craig.

Digitized by Google

676

HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

whereupon the rest made a precipitate retreat. Mrs. Kilpatrick remained below, busily engaged in run- ning bullets, while her husband and his companions were firing them off.

Allegheny township, from its peculiar position be- tween the Allegheny and Kiskiminetas River, was specially subject to Indian outrages at a time when the remainder of the county was enjoying compara- tive security.

SCHOOLS.

The condition of the schools in 1834, when the first free-school law was enacted, was as follows: The dis- tricts were few in number, and the houses built of logs and poorly seated, only rude slabs, without any support for the back, to which all the other appli- ances seemed to correspond. The schools were very large, often numbering over a hundred. The disci- pline was then enforced by a free use of the birch, for such a thing as moral suasion was not tolerated at that time, but it gradually and slowly made its ap- pearance, and unless the master treated the scholars when the holidays arrived he was of little value in the estimation of the pupils. Female teachers were not employed previous to 1834, and, in fact, the idea of a "girl" teaching school was wonderful to think about. The teachers did not have any order or sys- tem of recitation. In spelling many of the scholars seemed to be much interested, and many became fair spellers. The attendance was quite irregular, as many had a great distance to go. Among the teachers who were the most prominent were Samuel Owens, Lu- ther Bills, George Crawford, Robert Jeffrey, Samuel McConnell, and Wilson Sproull. If any one desired to teach, he would first apply to a member of the committee, and if he looked fit to teach he was then sent to some very learned man to be examined, who after a few scattered questions had been asked on the different branches taught was pronounced duly quali- fied, and immediately entered upon his duties. The wages ranged from ten to twenty dollars per month. Among the leading men in education outside of those employed as teachers were James Fitzgerald, George Bovard, John Artman, and others.

These men labored hard to advance the cause of education, yet there were not a few who worked hard in the opposite direction. From 1845 to 1860 the following persons were among the most prominent teachers : D. McKee, W. R. Trout, James Hawk, and others. The mode of teaching advanced slowly but surely ; such a thing as teachers' institutes was scarcely dreamed of, but after a great deal of reason- ing on the part of the best teachers the directors finally allowed the school-house for that purpose. In 1844 a debating society was started in what was then known as Crawford's school-house, and considerable interest was manifested by teachers and citizens. About 1851 an academy or select school was started near where Lober's school-house now stands. The professors were A. S Thorn and D. McKee, who

flourished finely for some time and accomplished much good. The text-books in the early days in this township were the Bible and Testament, spelling- book, and Western Calculator. The schools at pres- ent are in a fair condition, with a live and progressive set of teachers and directors.

PINE RUN PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

was organized by Revs. David Kirkpatrick and C. B. Bristol, with fifty-five members and four elders. It was reported to Presbytery April 13, 1847, without stating the date when it was done. For some months it was statedly supplied by Rev. Andrew McElwain, when, greatly to the regret of this people, he was sent to missionate on the Allegheny Mountains. After this it was occasionally supplied until the last Tues- day of January, 1851, when Rev. T. S. Leason was installed its first pastor for half-time. Revs. L. M. Groves preached, S. M. McClung charged the pastor, and C. B. Bristol the people. His pastorate was very successful. He was released Jan. 10, 1855. During a vacancy of two years it depended on occasional supplies. Aug. 25, 1857, Rev. Robert McMillan, grandson of Rev. Dr. McMillan, patriarch of Presby- terianism in Western Pennsylvania, being ordained at Warren, was for half-time installed over Pine Run. Revs. John Starke preached from 2 Thess. iii. 1, 8. M. McClung made the ordaining prayer, T. S. Leason charged the pastor, and W. W. Woodend the people. The labors of this humble, faithful, godly man, both publicly and from house to house, were so highly prized that for a year after he was disabled from pul- pit services they would not allow his resignation. They only consented when all hope of his recovery was lost, and he was released April 13, 1864. Dec. 28, 1864, Rev. John Orr, also ordained at Warren, was installed for half-time over Pine Run. Revs. T. D. Ewing preached from Mark xv. 16, J. M. Jones presided, proposed the constitutional questions, and made the ordaining prayer, F. Orr charged the pastor, and Dr. Donaldson the people. To a very worthy pastor he was a not less worthy successor. In his pastorate an emergency arose such as often occasions serious divisions in congregations, the erection of a new church edifice, together with change of locality. Several circumstances connected with this case seemed strongly to portend a rupture there. But the cautious management of the pastor among a people by whom he was beloved obviated the threatened difficulty and kept the church united. But very soon after they got possession of their comfortable church a distressing neuralgic affection of the head and eyes constrained him to resign the charge, April 4, 1872. In all these pastoral relations it was connected with churches on the other side of the Kiskiminetas River, first with Leechburg, and in the other two with Warren, called Apollo in 1868. At the close of the last pastorate by locality it came under care of Blairsville Presbytery. In 1873 it was statedly supplied in the last three

- Dīgitized by Google

Digitized by

Google

John & Townsend

Google Digitized by

677

ALLEGHENY TOWNSHIP.

months by Rev. J. Molton Jones, to which time, with many occasional supplies, two stated supplies, and three pastors, it had sont forth no minister.

ALLEGHENY UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH is situated about one-fourth mile from Kiskiminetas and Allegheny Junction. Services were held May 28, 1878, in School-house No. 8, and the next day, at session of Presbytery there convened, members of the Puckety, Leechburg, and Freeport Churches were organized into the Allegheny congregation. The elders are William M. McDougal, A. W. Watt, John T. Watt, James Jones, Robert Dimmitt, and Jacob P. Vantine. The edifice was completed and occupied Oct. 17, 1875, under the auspices of its present pastor, Rev. M. M. Patterson.

BROOKLAND REFORM ASSOCIATE CHURCH.

This congregation was organized in 1832. Its first edifice was a log structure, and was in 1856 replaced by the present brick building. Its pastors have been : 1882 to 1848, Rev. Hugh Walkinshaw; 1843 to 1860, Rev. Oliver Wylie, whose successor was the present pastor, Rev. Robert Reid.

THE EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH is located just east of Leechburg Station.

RAILROAD STATIONS, POST-OFFICES, ETC.

The railroad stations are Soda-Works, Mckean, Garver's Ferry, West Penn Junction (formerly Kiskiminetas and Allegheny Junction), and Leech- burg, on the Allegheny Valley Railroad; Bagdad, Grinder, and Townsend, on West Penn Railroad. The post-offices are Lucesco, Mclaughlin's Store, and Shearer's Cross-Roads.

EMPLOYMENTS.

The two coal-mines at Leechburg, operated by a company, of which David B. Ashbaugh is part owner and sole lessee and superintendent, and the one at Bagdad, owned by Hicks & Schwalm, are the only ones in the township. The former employ two hun- dred men, and produce annually one hundred and fifty thousand tons of coal.

THE LUCESCO OIL REFINERY

was first an oil-manufacturing establishment making cannel coal oil, and was started in 1858 by Dr. Alter and others of Freeport. It employed a hundred and fifty men, and built thirty houses near its works, a few hundred yards south of the Western Pennsyl- vania Railroad Junction. It was operated a few years, when the discovery of petroleum oil at Oil City by Dr. Drake caused its abandonment, as it could not compete with the newly-discovered pe- troleum.

A few rods southeast of the old oil refinery is ARCHIBALD DODDS' STORE,

established by him in 1865. He is the son of Joseph Dodds, whose father, Archibald Dodds, an emigrant

from County Monaghan, Ireland, settled some forty rods from the store here in 1825. The latter was a substantial citizen, and left a numerous offspring. Near Mr. Dodds' store reside the Reeds and Garvers, descendants of old pioneer families.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

JOHN H. TOWNSEND.

Isaac Townsend was born in Chester County, where his English ancestors, of the Friends' Society, had settled in the first part of the eighteenth century. About the year 1800 he removed to Kiskiminetas township, in Armstrong County, where he had pur- chased a farm on the Kiskiminetas River. Here with his sons he was largely engaged in the manu- facture of salt, and shortly after he became thus engaged the river from Dam No. 3 to Apollo was lined with these works, where now is but the one owned by Mr. Gammill. He used to ship the salt by boats to Pittsburgh, and pack it by horses over the mountains to the East, and afterwards his sons wag- oned it to the Eastern cities. He married Mary King. Their children were John, Isaac, Henry, Robert, William, Joseph, Polly (married first to Simon Tur- ney, and afterwards to Charles Gantz), and Susan (married to Daniel Ulam). Two other daughters died young. His second child, Isaac, married Mary Hill, daughter of John Hill (intermarried with Miss Waltz). Her father, John Hill, was one of the ear- liest and most prominent settlers on the Kiskiminetas River, and on it, in Allegheny township, very early erected a flouring-mill at what is now Bagdad Station, which was swept away two years after, as was another, built by Shiloh Hill and John Schwalm on the same site, a year later. The Hill family was of Irish extrac- tion. The children of Isaac and Mary (Hill) Town- send were John Hill, Eden, Darius, Elizabeth (married to Samuel Owens), Levi, Delilah (married to David Burkit), Polly (married to James Moore), Rachel (married to John Moore), and Susan (married to William Kubns).

Mr. Townsend's father died Aug. 7, 1866, aged seventy-seven ; his mother died June 9, 1846, aged fifty. Of his father's family, Darius and Levi went to California in the time of the gold fever. They carried letters from Mrs. John Geary to her son, John W. Geary, afterwards Governor of this State. Levi died on shipboard on their outward passage, and Darius, after a residence of three years in California, went to Mexico, where he died. Eden Townsend, of the same family, a millwright by trade, was accident- ally killed in a mill he was building at Mckeesport.

Of this family, John Henry, the eldest, was born May 30, 1819, in Armstrong County. He was raised on his father's farm, and first educated in the old-time subscription schools, but when a young man attended

Digitized by Google

678

HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

those of the free-school system just then established. In 1882 his father removed to his present farm, located in the three-bottom tract of the "Horseshoe Bend" of the Kiskiminetas. It was then all in woods save a small clearing with a log house on it. The present frame mansion was erected about 1840. The place is a part of the original Johnston tract, very early pat- ented. He was married June 26, 1849, to Eliza, daughter of John Burkit and Polly (Stout) Burkit, of Armstrong County. Their children are Newton E., Frank, Eden Augustus, Alice (married to William Adair), Barton Hill, Grant Burkit, and Florence. After his marriage Mr. Townsend removed to Apollo, and with his brother Eden erected a flouring-mill, in which he was engaged until 1854, when he came to the farm where he now resides.

In politics he is a pronounced Democrat, and active in the counsels of his party, of which he is a leading exponent in the county. Ever largely identified with the cause of education, he was for twelve years one of the township school directors, and greatly contrib- uted to the efficiency of the schools in his jurisdiction by elevating the system and in the erection of new and commodious school-houses. In 1878 he was elected a county commissioner, and served for three years, with great acceptance to the people. During this period his colleagues were Henry Keely and William Taylor, while the clerk of the board was Darwin Musick. During his administration the large and elegant " County Home" was erected,-an enduring monument to the honor and judgment of the board,-and many other valuable public improve- ments made.

On. the building of the Western Pennsylvania Railroad, in which he warmly enlisted, he gave to the railroad company the right of way through his lands, and also two lots, for the foreman's house and water-plug. The company on his ground built a station and named it, in his honor, "Townsend."

He is a member, with his family, of the Apollo Lutheran Church, to which he is a liberal contrib- utor. His elegant seat, embracing some three hun- dred acres, is beautifully located three miles above Leechburg, on the banks of the Kiskiminetas, in a section rich in historic incidents and near the site of an old Indian town. He has lived to see this magnificent valley rescued from a wilderness and dotted over with fine farms and substantial houses. When a boy he helped to boat salt and grain in boat-sections to Hol- lidaysburg, but since then have passed away the old Portage Railroad and Pennsylvania Canal, and right by his door are daily seen passing by the fleet trains on a branch of the great railroad of the State,-its proud boast,-the " Pennsylvania."

DAVID B. ASHBAUGH.

Alexander Ashbaugh was born in Baltimore County, Md., and was descended from a family of German ex- traction that in the latter part of the eighteenth century settled in that region. He married Mary Vantine, of an old and prominent pioneer family, from which union were born the following children : Andrew, Thomas, Alexander, James, William, David B., and Edessima, married to Peter Grinder. David B. Ashbaugh, his youngest son, was born Aug. 6, 1832, in Allegheny township, where his parents had settled several years previous. He has been twice married,-first to Elizabeth Grinder, who bore him two children, Albert W. and Mary Isabella, and second to Permilla Anderson, by whom the five fol- lowing children were born : Antes S., Robert N., James McCreighton, Bertie, and Custer, and also James, deceased. Mr. Ashbaugh was many years in the coal business on the Monongahela River, which be mastered in all its phases and shapes. Afterwards he was largely engaged in the construction of the Western Pennsylvania Railroad, four miles of which he graded and built. He then opened a coal-mine east of the Lynchburg tunnel to coal the railroad locomotives, and on the completion of the railroad began the shipping of coal. Soon after he opened the coal-mine west of the first one, and in the sum- mer of 1882 opened one west of Leechburg Station. These last two mines are operated by a strong com- pany, of which he is part owner, and the superin- tendent and leesee. These mines employ over two hundred hands, and produce annually some one hun- dred and fifty thousand tons of coal. This is shipped largely to the East, especially to the New Jersey Divi- sion, besides which his company coal all the engines on the Western Pennsylvania Railroad, and supply the Allegheny County work-house. The coal is of the noted Freeport vein, so well known in the com- mercial markets. Mr. Ashbaugh's residence is just at the east end of the Leechburg tunnel, where is the Kiskiminetas River. He has a beautiful seat of thirteen acres, finely. located, and embracing a very large variety of the choicest fruit. He is a member of the Leechburg Lodge, No. 651, I. O. O. F. In politics he is a stanch Republican, and but few of his party in the northern part of the county are as active as he in maintaining its organization and in political campaigns. He has been sixteen years in charge of these coal-works, known now as the " Leechburg Colliery." In connection with H. H. Ray, he has a large store at Leechburg Station, which does a very extensive business. His company's coal lands embrace some eight hundred and twenty-eight acres of splendid coal-fields, all centring around or near the tunnel, which is fifteen hundred and sixty feet in length, and around which the river flows three miles. He is one of the most experienced coal men of the county, and stands high in the esteem of his fellow-citizens, and in the business world.

Google

Digitized by

Google

Digitized by

Digitized by Google

EAST HUNTINGDON TOWNSHIP.

ORGANIZATION .- BOUNDS.

EAST HUNTINGDON TOWNSHIP was organized by a subdivision of the original Huntingdon township, being taken from South Huntingdon in 1798.1 It is bounded north by Hempfield,' east by Mount Pleas- ant, south by a part of Fayette County, and west by South Huntingdon. The township has a varied sur- face, and one continuous substratum of bituminous coal.

EARLY SETTLEMENT.

The first settlers in the township were Scotch-Irish from the eastern and northern counties of the State, among whom were John Vance, for many years a magistrate, William and Frank Vance, the Fosters, Barrs, Cochrans, McClains, and McCormicks.

From 1790 to 1800 a heavy immigration of Ger- mans and Mennonites, the latter including some of Swiss birth, came, and these thrifty men fresh from the eastern part of the State, and all possessed of considerable means for those days, bought nearly all the lands occupied by the Scotch-Irish, and entered other tracts not then taken up. This last class were most settled between Stonersville and the Fayette County line. The Mennonites purchased about twenty-five thousand acres in this and other town- ships, their principal settlement being in and about Stonersville. They were from Chester, Bucks, Lan- caster, Bedford, and Northumberland Counties. Among their leading men who located in East Huntingdon were Henry Overholt, Rev. David Funk, the Stauffers, Weltys, Peter Dillinger, Strobms, Ruths, Shupes, Fulkerths, Sherricks, Loucks, the Mumaws, Christian Stoner, the Tin- mans, Fretts, and Foxes. The German Lutheran and Reformed settlers mostly located in the north- west part of the township. Among them were Mark Leighty, Henry Lowe, Henry Null, Joseph

1 Efforts were made so early as 1794 towards the erection of this town- ship, as shown by the records of the December session of that year, viz. : " Upon the petition of a number of the Inhabitants of South Hunting- don township, setting forth that they labor under great difficulty on the account of their township being so large, and praying a division, etc." (Read and continued under advisement.)

" By act of Assembly of March 14, 1845, it was directed that that por- tion of the township of Hempfield, in the county of Westmoreland, which lies south of Big Sewickley Creek should be attached to and should thereafter constitute a part of the township of East Huntingdon, in that county, and that the said creek should thereafter be the division line between those two townships. It was provided in this act that the election district of New Stanton should remain as if the act had not passed.

Suter, Nicholas Swope (for many years a justice of the peace), the Aultmans, Klines, Harbaughs, Ruffs, Snyders, and Hunkers.

The Stauffer family is one of the oldest in the town- ship, and from it was given the name of "Stauffer's Run," a stream rising above Stonersville and run- ning south, emptying into Jacobs Creek at Scottdale. Abraham Stauffer came from Bucks County, and first settled near Scottdale, on the Fayette County side. His wife was a Miss Nisley, of Lebanon County (then Lancaster). Their son Abraham mar- ried Elizabeth Myers. The former died July 9, 1851, and the latter Nov. 11, 1878, aged ninety-five years, eleven months, and six days. They had three sons and three daughters, the latter being Mrs. Martin Loucks, Mary, married to Jacob Tinsman, and Eliza- beth, married to Jacob Harkless. Among the earliest settlers near Scottdale were the Sterretts, a very in- ! fluential family, s descendant of whom, John Sterrett, a prominent farmer, resides on his elegant farm a mile southwest of Scottdale. His grandfather was a cousin of Daniel Boone, and when the latter was re- moving to North Carolina (from which he was the. first white man to penetrate into Kentucky) he passed through this region, and passed several days visiting his kinsmen, the Sterretts, at their new cabin home here.

EARLY SCHOOLS AND TEACHERS.

The early school-houses of East Huntingdon town- ship were similar to those of other localities in the county, being built of rude logs, and having other appliances to correspond. One of the earliest houses known was built on the farm now owned by Joshua Gant, another was located on the farm now owned by Jacob Leighty. It was built in 1802, and taught by a German named Leighty, who always opened his school with singing and prayer, a practice which has been continued in some localities of this township up to the present time. Some of the early teachers were John Selby, Peter Showalter, A. St. Clair, John Baughtencarges, and others. Early action was taken in this township in regard to the acceptance of the free-school system. At an election held at the house of Peter Pool, Sept. 19, 1834, the following persons were elected school directors, viz .: Jacob Tinsman and Jacob Overholt, to serve until the next election in March ; Solomon Luter and Peter Pool, for two years ; Gasper Tarr and Henry Fretts, to serve for

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.

History of the County of Westmoreland, Pennsylvania, with Biographical Sketches of Many of its Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 163

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

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