History of the County of Westmoreland, Pennsylvania, with Biographical Sketches of Many of its Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 167

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 167

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en. Kline

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John Sterett

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EAST HUNTINGDON TOWNSHIP.

about the same age. Moses Sterrett died Jan. 5, 1839, in the seventy-seventh year of his age. His wife preceded him to the grave, she dying Jan. 1, 1881, at about the age of fifty-nine years.

John Sterrett was born Nov. 23, 1805, and was brought up on the homestead farm, and got his book education in the common and subscription schools, going into arithmetic as far as "the rule of three," where the teachers of those days usually came to a halt. A few pages of what was miscalled " gram- mar" (a dictionary of synonymous terms prefixed to a spelling-book) was the end of "literary" education in the schools. On each Saturday Mr. Sterrett's teacher brought to the school-house a bottle of whis- key to induce the large boys to cut wood for the fires of the coming week. Thus the school was "run" in the winters. Mr. Sterrett relates several amusing anecdotes of the teachers of his early days. They all wrote a fine hand, though but few of them knew enough to keep a farm account.

On his native farm Mr. Sterrett has resided all his life. After the death of his father the sister, Eliza- beth (still living in vigorous old age), and he accepted the farm as their portion in the settlement of the es- state, and have since occupied it jointly, keeping no accounts between themselves, both having wrought industriously. They have greatly improved the farm, erected upon it an excellent house and spacious out- buildings, and are passing their old days as farmers in peace and quiet. Mr. Sterrett, unvexed by a wife and family, has in his lifetime found much time to read, and is a gentleman of more intellectual prop- erty than most farmers or other men weighed down with family cares.

In politics Mr. Sterrett is a Republican, and says he doesn't know how he could be anything else. (But this remark must not be construed as reflecting upon the honesty or ignorance of his neighbors who are not Republicans.) He was formerly an Old-Line Whig.

About forty years ago he attached himself to the Methodist order, but has never attended church much. Miss Elizabeth Sterrett, his co-farming sis- ter, belongs to the Presbyterian Church.

A branch of the Southwest Pennsylvania Railroad, called the Hickman Run Branch, is now in process of grading across the Sterrett farm, running over the old play-ground immediately about the cabin wherein Mr. Sterrett was born. Thus the car of progress rolls on mercilessly, invading and destroying the sacred places of memory. Mr. Sterrett from his house . looks down upon the broken and violated landscape, the theatre of his childhood's gambols and after- wards a beauty-spot of his farm, with no poetic affections, it may well be conceived, for railroad schemes.

E. H. REID.

Mr. E. H. Reid, merchant, operator in coal and coke, and a general business man of Scottdale, is of Scotch-Irish descent, his father when quite a young man having come to this country from Belfast, Ire- land, settling in Westmoreland County, Pa., where he married Miss Mary Henry, daughter of Edward Henry, after whom the subject of these notes was named. Mr. Reid, while receiving a good education, was early put to a practical business life, acting as clerk in his father's store until about his fifteenth year, when he " started out for himself," finding em- ployment in a store in Allegheny County, where he enjoyed special advantages for a business education, until about the age of nineteen. He then took a trip to the Western States, and located in Missouri for about a year, and then returned to Allegheny County, and engaged in business as before, continuing there, except for a short time in the oil regions, until he removed to Broad Ford, Fayette Co., in 1867, and went into business there for himself as a general merchant. He remained there until 1878, in the mean time being engaged in the coal business and making investments in real estate, he at the present time owning in that locality an excellent farm, underlaid in good part with the famous coking coal, and on which stands Tyrone Presbyterian Church. In 1878, removing to Scottdale, he established himself in business, pur- chasing the merchandise and store buildings of the rolling-mill and furnace companies, thereby acquiring an extensive trade, which he has greatly increased, he now paying the largest mercantile tax in the county, besides owning several manufacturing estab- lishments in the place.

In connection with a few other gentlemen Mr. Reid recently organized the Connellsville and Ursina Coal and Coke Company, having a paid-up capital of four hundred thousand dollars, and owning six thousand five hundred acres of land underlaid with coking coal, iron ore, and immense beds of limestone, of which company he and his brother, Col. J. M. Reid, of Dunbar, own the controlling interest, as well as of the Ursina and North Fork Railroad, owned by the same company.

Mr. Reid is the oldest of four brothers, three of them located in Fayette County, all active, energetic business men, who with their mother and one sister constitute the living members of the family.

PETER STAUFFER LOUCKS.

Under the heading "The Loucks Family," a chap- ter which appears elsewhere in this volume, will be found a brief record of the immediate ancestry, etc., of Peter S. Loucks. The parentage of Mr. Loucks is therein noted, but is here repeated for the convenience of this sketch.

Mr. Loucks is the son of the late Rev. Martin

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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

Loucks, who died Nov. 7, 1869, in the seventy-first year of his age, and Nancy Stauffer (born Feb. 9, 1808), his wife, still living, and who is the daughter of the late Abraham and Elizabeth Myers Stauffer, natives of eastern counties of Pennsylvania, both of German descent. Abraham Stauffer died in Tyrone township, Fayette County, in 1855, at about sixty-one years of age. His wife, Elizabeth, died in Scottdale, Nov. 11, 1878, in the ninety-sixth year of her age. Martin Loucks and Nancy Stauffer were intermar- ried June 15, 1826.

Martin Loucks was brought up on the homestead farm, and was educated in the common schools of Fast Huntingdon township, and became a farmer, and con- tinued such during life. He was reared under the re- ligious instructions of the Mennonite Church, and some time after his marriage, at about the age of thirty years, he was chosen, according to the customs and rites of his church, a preacher, and fulfilled the duties of his office, which was an unsalaried one, during his life. His duties took him frequently into various parts of his own county and adjoining coun- ties. Mr. Loucks was greatly beloved by his people. Though forbidden by the laws of his church to hold political office, he took interest in politics as a Whig and afterwards as an earnest Republican.

Rev. Mr. and Mrs. Loucks were the parents of eight children, five sons and three daughters, whose names are cited in the record above referred to. Of these children Peter Stauffer Loucks is the sixth in number, and was born May 3, 1841, on the old home- stead farm of his grandfather and father, a beautiful spot, lying about fifty rods west of Jacobs Creek in East Huntingdon township, from the site of the house in which he was born and from his present residence near by a fine view of Chestnut Ridge and Laurel Hill being afforded.

Mr. Loucks was educated at home and in the com- mon schools. His father was a great friend of edu- cation, and took pains to instruct his children at home, as well as to watch them when attending school, to see that they spent their time profitably and made progress in their studies. Indeed, he was exceedingly particular in the matter of the education, religious and literary, of his children. Peter contin- ued attendance upon school in the winter season till about twenty-one years of age, and occupied himself on the farm under his father until, when about twen-

ty-six years of age, he and his brother Martin were given by their father entire charge of the farm, which they conducted till after the death of the elder Mr. Loucks, whereafter, under the provisions of the father's will, they came into possession of the farm, and Martin, after about two years, sold his interest to Peter and his sister Catharine, who now own the farm jointly. The farm is devoted to the common agricultural purposes and to the raising of stock for the markets. Mr. Loucks has paid more or less at- tention to the rearing of improved breeds of Durham short-horned cattle and the imported English breeds of draught horses.

A portion of Mr. Loucks' farm, or about sixty acres thereof, has been laid out at different times into dwelling-house lots and sites. for business houses, a considerable part of the most active or business por- tions of Scottdale now occupying the same.

In the spring of 1878 Mr. Loucks, in connection with his brothers and T. J. Larimer and William Leeper, under the firm-name of Loucks, Larimer & Co., established in Scottdale a planing-mill for the manufacture of all kinds of worked lumber necessary for building purposes, and took extensive contracts for building. After the death of Mr. Leeper in March, 1880, Mr. Loucks and his brother Jacob purchased the interests of all others in the concern, and carried on the business as the firm of P. S. Loucks & Co. till Jan. 1, 1882, when they leased the estab- lishment to Ruth & Stoner, who now conduct the business. Mr. Loucks has actively engaged in pro- moting the interests of Scottdale and largely contrib- uted to its rapid growth, and is the owner of several of the best buildings, dwellings, and business: houses of that borough.

Mr. Loucks, with his brother Jacob, has since April, 1881, been engaged in the grain-shipping busi- ness, with Scottdale as the centre of operations, bring- ing grain from the West and elsewhere and distribut- ing it to the East and various points.

In politics Mr. Loucks is a Republican, but does .not aspire to office, but has held borough and town. ship offices.

May '29, 1878, Mr. Loucks married Mies Mary A. Boyd, daughter of George W. Boyd and Martha Smith, his wife, both of Fayette County, and descend- ants of the earliest settlers of that county. The issue of this marriage is one son, Arthur, born June 18, 1880.

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LIGONIER TOWNSHIP.

DESCRIPTION, NAME, ETC.

IN historic interest no name in the annals of West- ern Pennsylvania is more conspicuous than Ligonier, the name of a township and a borough in Westmore- land County. But although the name is familiar in the earliest mention of that section of country now particularly identified with it, yet it does not seem to be generally known that the name "Ligonier" desig- nates any civil or political subdivision of territory. It was originally the name of the stockade fort first erected by the English and Americans when they came into Western Pennsylvania, and it thus came to be the general name by which that contiguous region of country was designated. The name has by com- mon consent been applied to the whole valley lying between Laurel Hill and Chestnut Ridge in our county.

The township of Ligonier was not erected until 1822. That part of the township lying in the interior, or between the more abrupt ridge of hills, is tolerably level, and is well adapted to agriculture. There are many streams, and the surface of the land next these is well adapted for meadow, and these portions were among the first to be opened out and cultivated by the early settlers. Next the mountain ranges designated the surface is more abrupt and broken, and although not specially adapted to farming, yet the labor and toil of three or four generations have made homely farms and comfortable homes to abound even there. Much of the surface is even yet covered with good timber, which has been and is now being raised with remuneration, and which is a source of some wealth.

The principal streams are, first, the Loyalhanna, frequently called a river, as it is designated in the old colonial and French maps, a stream of much beauty, whose praises have been sung by many an aspirant to poetic fame, and whose name mingles in the ro- mantic stories of the Western border. Then follow the Four-Mile Run, Mill Creek, Coalpit Run, Fur- nace Run, and others, affluents of the Loyalhanna. These were early utilized for grist-mill and saw-mill purposes, and later for furnace and foundry purposes, at the time when water was the only expedient for motive-power. Thus it was that a large proportion of the early settlers located along these streams. Mill- seats were erected in the valley at a very early date, St. Clair being one possibly so early as 1781, on Mill Creek.

Nathan Young made an improvement before 1769 on Chestnut Ridge, in Fairfield township; about the same time Peter Detar, who afterwards removed into Hempfield township. Frederick Rohrer, innkeeper, from Hagerstown, Md., took up land in 1775 adjoin- ing the mill-tract of St. Clair ; Simon Eaker (Eicher), John Ramsey, James Pollock, Garrett Pendergrass, Daniel Savoyer, Andrew Bonjour, Samuel Shannon, James Knox, Richard Shannon, Isaac Stimble, Rob- ert Mclaughlin, William McKinzie, John Campbell, Thomas Galbraith, an innkeeper in Ligonier, in 1778. St. Clair and Huffnagle both resided in Ligonier town then. Abel Fisher, Henry Kerns, McDowells, Kelsos (now Keltzes).

METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.

Redstone District of the Baltimore Conference was formed May 28, 1784, and comprised all of Western Pennsylvania, extending from Maryland and Vir- ginia to the York State line. The two circuit-riders for that year were John Cooper and Samuel Breeze. In 1785 the presiding elder was Thomas Foster, with Peter Moriarity, John Fidler, and William Lee preachers. In 1786, Enoch Martin was presiding elder, with John Smith, Robert Ayers, and Stephen Deakens preachers. In 1787 the presiding elder was Joseph Cromwell, and the preachers, William Phoe- bus, J. Willson, and E. Phelps. In 1788, under Richard Whatcoat, presiding elder, Jacob Seaton and Lashley Matthews, the circuit-riders, established the Ligonier Methodist Episcopal Church, and had preaching, the first Methodist preaching in Ligonier Valley, and the second in the county. It was held at the house of Jacob Shaw, now in the territory of Cook township. Mr. Shaw was the class-leader, and the class consisted of his wife, three daughters,- Charlotte, Jane, and Prudence,-and Betsey Gibbins. A few months afterwards Sarah, Elizabeth, and Esther Roberts, all noted singers, joined the- class, which was the organization of this church, then as now called "Ligonier." In 1801 the name of the district was changed from Redstone to Pittsburgh, and in 1804 from the latter to Monongahela. In 1789, Robert M. and Mary Roberts, parents of the distin- guished Bishop Richford Roberts, joined the church in the month of May. The latter was born Aug. 21, 1778, in Frederick County, Md., became bishop in 1816, and died March 26, 1843. He came to Ligonier

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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

Valley when a little lad of seven or eight years with his parents. Thomas and John Roberts also joined the same year. In 1790 the place of holding preach- ing was changed from the house of Jacob Shaw to that of Robert M. Roberts, on the farm now owned, near Ligonier, by Benjamin Deeds. In May, 1792, Bishop Robert R. Roberts was converted. In 1797 two of the members, Stephen Riley and William Lindsey, removed to Venango County. In 1811 the place of preaching was changed from the house of John Roberts to that of Cornelius Riley, father of Rev. James Riley and grandfather of Rev. Mc- Kendree Riley. From 1789 to 1813 the presiding elders and preachers were as follows:

Preachers.

1789

Presiding Elders. Henry Willis. Lemuel Green.

John Simmons. Nicholas Sebrell.

1790

.Charles Conaway.

Amos G. Thompson.

1791.

Amos G. Thompson.

1792

Amos G. Thompson.

1793.

.Charles Conaway.

1794.

Charles Conaway.

John Phillips. Dauiel Hitt.

1795.

Charles Conaway.

1796.

Valentine Cook.

James L. Higgins. Charles Conaway. James Smith.

1797

Valentine Cook.

Solomon Harris.

1798.

Valentino Cook.

Thomas Haymond.

James Paynter.

1799.

.. Valentine Cook.

1800

Valentine Cook.

Charles Burgoon. James Paynter. Rezin Cord. Leanc Robbins.

1801

.Thornton Fleming.

1802

.Thornton Fleming.

1803

Thornton Fleming.

1804

.Thornton Fleming.

1806

.James Hunter.

1806

.Thornton Fleming.

1807

Thornton Fleming.

1806

Thornton Fleming.

William Lowman. Thomas Dougherty.

1800

Thornton Fleming.

Juseph Lamston. Tobias Biley. James Wilson.

1811.

Jacob Gruber.

Jacob Young.

1812

.Jacob Gruber.

Lewis R. Fectige.

1813

.Jacob Gruber.

Thornton Fleming.

Lashley Matthews.

The latter dying on his way to the Baltimore Con- ference, by his will his horse, saddle-bags, cloak, and great cloak were sold, and the proceeds given to the chartered ministerial fund. From this time to 1871 the record is lost. Since then the pastors have been : 1871-74, A. B. Leonard; 1874-76, Samuel Wakefield ; 1876, C. W. Miller ; 1877-80, J. P. Riley ; 1880-82, A. C. Johnson. The present large brick church edifice was erected in 1857, before which . time the church was on the upper end of the grave- yard. John Murdock is the Sunday-school superin- tendent. The congregation is the second one of this denomination in the county, and only preceded some two years by " Fell's Church," in Rostraver town- ship.

PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.

Although this church, known as Ligonier Church, and situated in the borough of Ligonier, is compara- tively of modern date, the members of the original organization were made up of parts of the Fairfield and the Donegal congregations, which, we will remem- ber, were included in the Old Redstone Presbytery. In " Old Redstone," according to Dr. Donaldson, it is erroneously reported as organized about 1798, to get the portion of Mr. Hill's time withdrawn from Wheatfield. The first notice of it on the Presbyterian records is Oct. 22, 1817, when Mr. Hill having with- drawn from Donegal and begun to preach at Ligonier, by direction of Presbytery resigned the old charge and accepted a joint call from Fairfield and Ligonier, and over the charge thus modified was installed Tuesday, Nov. 3, 1818. Rev. William Speer preached, R. Lee charged the pastor, and John Ross the people. At his decease, four years later, Donegal inquired of the Presbytery whether Ligonier should any longer be considered a separate church. April 6, 1823, Pres- bytery directed the two churches to settle this ques- tion between themselves, and it was decided in the affirmative. At the installation of Rev. S. Swan, June 17, 1824, it obtained nominally one-fourth of his pas- toral labors. But during the larger part of seventeen years, on every alternate Sabbath, he preached one discourse in Donegal and another in Ligonier, or occasionally in Laughlinstown, belonging to the same church. Thus each of these churches had virtually half-time services. After the resignation of Mr. Swan, Oct. 5, 1841, Donegal and Ligonier constituted a full charge. Revs. A. B. Clark, David Harbison, J. A. Brown, Ross Stevenson, and E. G. Mckinley. were the pastors for the times respectively, as stated in the case of Donegal. The last named still con- tinues in the charge. Among the elders, Thomas Wilson, John McConaughey, and Dr. Johnson Miller may be mentioned. John McConaughey, Jr., son of the elder, is the only ministerial son of the church.

LIGONIER REFORMED AND LUTHERAN CHURCH.

In the Ligonier Valley Rev. John William Weber, the first Reformed missionary west of the Allegheny Mountains, preached to the pioneer fathers and mothers who settled in its forests a hundred years ago. He died in 1816, and was succeeded April 26, 1818, by Rev. William Weinel. During his ministry a church was built about two miles southwest of the place now occupied by Ligonier borough. It was called the "Old Dutch Meeting-house." It was a rude structure, having but one window, and the pul- pit in the corner. They wanted a high pulpit, and not wishing to place it before the only window so as to exclude the light of the sun, they concluded to put the light of the gospel not under a bushel, but up in the corner. It was customary for the men to go armed to worship, which had become necessary in earlier times, on account of Indians and wild

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Thomas Haymond.

Dauiel Fidler. Jumos Coleman. William McClanehan. Jacob Peck. Thomas Bell. Seely Buun. Samuel Hitt.

Jesse Stevenson. Ama Akin. Lashity Matthews. James Quinn. Thomas Budd. James Hunter. Simon Gillespie. Willinin Page. William Knox. James Hunter, 8. Henkle. William Page. Robert Bolton. John West.

1810.

.Thornton Fleming.

Simon Lonck.

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LIGONIER TOWNSHIP.

beasts. The habit clung to them after there was lit- tle danger from either source. Sometimes game was killed on the way to Zion. On one occasion one of the elders, Henry Brant, on his way to church was met by a bear. Bruin climbed a tree. Mr. Brant discharged his gun several times at the bear and then climbed up after him. The animal had been se- verely wounded, but was not dead. In his death struggles he embraced Mr. Brant with more strength than affection, and the two fell together to the ground. Mr. Brant barely escaped with his life, and was too late for church. Rev. N. P. Hacke became pastor in 1828, and held his first communion June 22d, with the following communicants: Matthias Marker, Martin Philippi, John Brant, Fred Hargonet, Margaret Marker, Elizabeth Philippi, Eve Eliza Brant, Annie Maria Dietz, Sarah Nicely, Maria Marker, Eve Bar- rone. Rev. Dr. Hacke was succeeded June 17, 1832, by Rev. H. E. F. Voight, who continued to visit the people from his home in Mount Pleasant until March 1, 1857. Under his pastorate the congregation with the Lutherans built a new union church edifice. A lot was purchased of Jacob Lowry, and a brick struc- ture erected in 1852 at a cost of $3000. The Re- formed congregation, being weaker than that of the Lutheran side, contributed less than half the means, but have an equal share in the property. It is on Main Street, near the railroad depot. In 1857 the Lutherans outnumbered the Reformed interest three to one, as from the unwillingness of the latter to have preaching in English many of its young people left it. In 1859, Rev. C. C. Russell was sent to it as a missionary. In June, 1870, Rev. John I. Swander became pastor of Latrobe charge, of which it was a part. Then the elders were Adam Brant, Daniel Bitner; deacons, Henry Brant, William Schaffer. The present Lutheran pastor is Rev. L. H. McMurry, whose congregation is large and flourishing.

The United Presbyterian Church has a substantial edifice here, erected in 1876, before which preaching was had a year or two in the school-houses. It is a mission of the Fairfield Church, of which Rev. William H. Vincent is the pastor. The latter's edi- fice was built in 1849, and took the place of an old log structure erected about 1800. Mr. Vincent was born in Lawrence County, and educated at West- minster College, and has been pastor of Fairfield since 1873. Under his labors this mission church was built to meet the wants of many of his flock living several miles from the mother-church.

The Roman Catholic Church has a commodious edifice and a large congregation here. There is no resident pastor, the masses and services being at- tended by visiting fathers from St. Vincents Abbey.

LIGONIER BOROUGH. HISTORICAL.

The region of country about the Loyalhanna, and particularly about the site of old Fort Ligonier, was a |

familiar country for the early Indians. An evidence that the Indians were at one time numerous through- out the whole range of country from the Laurel Hill to the Ohio River is adduced from the fact of their having named all the streams which flow into the Allegheny and the Monongahela, no less than from the remains of ancient burial-places scattered all over the slopes of the hills that lie next the mountain ranges. There were several Indian paths or highways which crossed each other and came from many direc- tions together at this point. But whether the particu- lar line which might be indicated by the line of the Laurel Hill on the east was the boundary line of those nomadic tribes which at one time abounded in the space lying between these mountains and the source of the Ohio is a question which may reasonably be suggested to antiquaries. Without inquiring into the plausibility of the theory lately advanced that this region was a separate region for a race preceding the red man, we may state that from a time before it was known to the whites there were more or less Indian settlements about here. The oldest settlers declared that there were in Ligonier Valley remains of what they called an Indian fort, similar in structure to the fort at Indian Creek and at the Old Redstone, made before the whites ventured into these regions. They state also that it was evident there were places where they raised their corn, places cleared from the sur- rounding wilderness. As to the Indian trails about the Loyalhanna near Ligonier, it is certain that the great north-and-south trail from the New York In- dians to their Southern confederates passed near here, and that the trails from the western waters of Penn- sylvania joined this main trail here. One came from Kittanning and the Cherry Tree region to here, cross- ing the Conemaugh in its route, and one passing more directly west crossed the Loyalhanna between eight and nine miles west of the point fixed as Ligo- nier. These various paths separated into.others, and struck out in divers directions. Thus we see by the Journal of Christian Post, 1758, that the last-named trail, after following the course of the Loyalhanna' at the distance of nine or ten miles from Ligonier, for a distance of several miles farther divided, one path continuing along the stream towards the old Seneca town along the Kiskiminetas, and the other trending through the wilderness towards Fort Du- quesne, afterwards Fort Pitt. On these trails it was

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History of the County of Westmoreland, Pennsylvania, with Biographical Sketches of Many of its Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 167

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

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