History of the County of Westmoreland, Pennsylvania, with Biographical Sketches of Many of its Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 173

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 173

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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

all grades of certificates, from provisional to perma- pent, and was regarded as one of the principal and most successful educators in the county.

When the civil war broke out he enlisted in 1868 in the First Pennsylvania Cavalry, Col. Dale, and served in this regiment until he was discharged at the expiration of his term of enlistment. He ro-en- listed in the latter part of 1864, in the Two Hundred and Eleventh Pennsylvania Volunteers, Col. Trim- ble, afterwards Col. Levi A. Dodd. He went out as second lieutenant of Company E, was promoted to first lieutenant of the company, and served as quar- termaster of the regiment; was in the battles of Fort Steadman, Hatcher's Run, and in the closing battles before Petersburg, and was honorably discharged at the end of the war.

After the war he again took up his profession, and taught a select school in Ligonier borough for ten months, and continued teaching in different places until 1868, when he engaged in the mercantile busi- nees at Derry Station as junior partner of T. G. Stewart & Co., in which he remained for one year, when he went to Indiana County, where he started in business for himself in his own name. After re- maining here eighteen months he removed to Stahls- town, in Westmoreland. Here he began business in his own name in 1870, and so carried it on with such success that after it had assumed such proportions that it was necessary for additional assistance in its management he took in his younger brother, James, as & partner. The firm is now styled Lewis Thomp- son & Brother.

Mr. Thompson, possessing all the essential elements of a successful business man, has built up a trade of great extent. Their business is the largest in their section of the country. He was elected a justice of the peace while he was a resident of Indiana County, and in 1874 when he removed to Stahlstown, and again in 1879. He is known as a gentleman who takes an active part in all public improvements, and as an advocate of all reform measures calculated to better the society and the world about him. His family has been in politics Whig and Republican, Mr. Thompson casting his first vote for Lincoln. He is also a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and has held the office of class-leader and steward in the congregation to which he belongs ever since he has resided in Stahlstown.

He was married in 1868 to Miss Malinda Withrow, oldest daughter of James Withrow. Eaq., of Cook township. She died in 1865, leaving a daughter. He again married in 1867, Lucinda Parke, who is a daughter of Zebulon Parke, deceased, of Cook town- ship, and a granddaughter of Zebulon Parke, a Revo- lutionary officer of considerable distinction. Their family consists of one daughter, a son dying in infancy.

WILLIAM WEAVER.

The now venerable William Weaver, of Cook town- ship, was born in Somerset County, Pa., Sept. 18, 1809. His grandfather was William Weaver, a native of Germany, and a minister in the German Reformed Church. He emigrated to America when a young man, and died in the early part of the present cen- tury in Sewickley, Westmoreland Co. His father was also named William. He was a millwright by trade, and married Mary Aukeny, daughter of Christian Aukeny, of Somerset County, Pa., where he located and engaged in milling. In 1812 he removed to what is now known as Weaver's Mill, in Westmoreland County. Here he spent the remainder of his life. There were fifteen children in his family, thirteen of whom are still living.

William is the fourth child, and was about three years old when his father settled here. His oppor- tunities for obtaining an education were very limited. He learned the business of farming and the milling trade, and after his father's death, in 1828, he pur- chased the mill and land belonging thereto. He was married Sept. 7, 1887, to Jane Grove. They have five children,-Mary, married to L. N. Phillippi, resides in Kansas; Jacob G., married to Sarah J. Hood, is engaged in the milling business at the old homestead; Margaret, married John W. Phillippi, and lives near Ligonier; William C. is engaged in the manufacture of buggies in Somerset, Pa .; Lewis A. is a merchant, and resides with his father.

Mr. Weaver holds the important local office of school director, and during George Ritner's admin- istration was first lieutenant of the Donegal militia.

He and his wife have long been members of the Pleasant Grove Presbyterian Church. Mr. Weaver has held the office of elder in that organization for more than thirty years. He has lived a quiet, useful life, and has the respect of his neighbors.

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PENN TOWNSHIP.

AFTER the application for the erection of a new township had been pending for ten years the Court of Quarter Sessions for this county, on Feb. 28, 1855, erected the new township, entitled "Penn township." It received its name from the founder of the State of Pennsylvania. The new township was formed out of portions of Hempfield, Franklin, Salem, and North Huntingdon townships.

Penn township includes within its bounds the " Manor of Denmark," as laid out by the proprie- taries of the Province of Pennsylvania, and is con- cidered to be one of the most fertile portions of the State. ... We annex its boundaries as erected :

"Beginning at a point on Turtle Orsek where the State road from Gressetarg to Chalfant's crosses the same; thence in a direct line southeast to John I. Marchand's; themes southeast along the road leading to Welthour's mill on Bush Creek ; thence np said creek, and by Altmsa's mill, Klingensmith's mill, cad Joba Harman's mill to where the State road to Balem crosses the same on Peter Row's farm ; thenos along maid road to near the house of Isaac Keck, in Salem town - chip; thence by the Puokety road to the Orose-roads on Borland's farm; thence south of John Borland's and Glunt's farm to Lyone' run; thence down Lyond' ran to Turtle Creek; thenos down Turtle Creek to the place of beginning."

Within its limits is a part of the old Penn Manor, and also the village of Bouquet, named after the famous British officer who was engaged in the early Indian wars in its immediate vicinity.

The surface of the township is hilly, the soil fer- tile, and the farms well cultivated. There exists an abundance of coal, which is susceptible of easy ex- traction, being very near the surface. The veins are generally six feet in thickness. There are extensive coal-works in various parts of the township.

EARLY SETTLEMENT.

Its territory was occupied by pioneers at an early date. George McWilliams located on a farm now owned by his grandson, A. McWilliams, and was driven off and kept off his lands seven years by the Indians, and went for safety to Mckeesport, where there was a small fort for the protection of the early settlers. He brought a saddle from Ireland when he emigrated, with which he paid for about three hun- dred and fifty acres of land, now located in the north- west part of the township. The fifth generation of the family is now residing on the place. He built a house near where the present residence of A. Mc- Williams stands, which is considerably over a hundred years old. Jacob Berlin settled in the township very

early, and in his house the Rodgers family was cap- tured and carried away into captivity. The house of Jacob Berlin was better than the cabins generally, and had a bright shingled roof, which frightened the Indians off from attacking it, as they looked upon that sparkling roof with fear and superstition.

Among the first settlers were Balthazer Myers, the Ewings, Fritchmans, George McWilliams, Paul Neligh, Adam Kemerer, Christian Eberhard, Jacob Brinker, Michael Fink, the Knappenbergers, Keisters, Heislers, Kistlers, Byerlis, Snyders, Berlins, Lauffers, Degardens, Beswicks, Gongaures, Mulls, Waugamans, Blackburns, Millers, Holtzers, Soles, Walthours, Highbergers, Shusters, Brawleys, Sowashes, New- dorfers, Kifers, Kinglensmiths, Thomases, Klines, Clarks, and others.

The Klingensmith family, on the farm formerly of Marchand or Foster, now owned and in possession of Mr. Ferree, were all massacred by the Indians, except a little boy, whom they carried off, and who was kept away until he was twenty-eight years of age. He then returned and claimed the farm, but as no one could identify him he lost it, and returned in disgust to the Indians, among whom he ever afterwards lived. This murdered family, father, mother, and four chil- dren, were buried by the neighbors, all in one grave, behind their cabin. An apple-tree grew at the grave, and fell only a few years ago. For several years after this sad occurrence the children at school were in constant dread of Indian raids, and alarms were common.

We are indebted to Dr. Frank Cowan for the fol- lowing, it being part of a letter from Cyrus Cort, Esq., a descendant of Andrew Byerly, addressed to Mr. Cowan, who has taken much interest in our early county history, and by whom we have been much encouraged in the course of our inquiries :

"In the northern and western parts of Westmoreland you will find persons bearing the name of Byerly, or whose maternal ancestors bore that name. These are the descendants of Andrew Byerly, who came to this country from the German Fatherland in the early days of colonial history. He settled first in Lancaster County, Pa., and built either the first bouse or first hotel erected in that place. He afterwards moved to Cumberland, Md., where he followed the occupation of baker. He baked for Braddock's army when it lay at that place previous to its ill- fated expedition. And now for an Incident. While the army was en- camped at Cumberland, a number of friendly Indian chiefs, with their warriors of the Catawba tribe, visited the camp and offered their ser- vices to Gen. Braddock, desiring to accompany his army in the expedi- tion that proved so disastrous. The haughty Briton despised such allies, and foolishly declined to accept their services. In his chagrin at being

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rejected cae of the chiste laid o weger of thirty chilling thet bo bed s warrior that could best any white man running. Gon. George West- lagise, then mejor and aide-de-cung, took the bot, and gut Andrew Byerly to consent to a fost-race with -the Indian, which bo att, and come off victorious. In course of time Byarty moved to Bedford, Pa., Where he baked for the British garrison stationed at that piace. He "forwards received a grant of three hundred acres of land on Basty Ben, near where Harrison City now stunde, from the British offcer cose- masding at Fort Dequesse, in order to make a comfortable stopping- plass for express-riders and parties traveling between Fort Duquesne and the more castern forte and stations, vis .: Ligonier, Bedford, London, che. Andrew Byarty hed occupied Mis ciation in the wilderness bet a fow mesthe when the Pontiac Indian catbreak occurred. A general rally of the Western caveges took piese for the extermination of the willes. All the forte in Western Penneyivanis were speedily favested by the Indians. Providentially the Byeriys were notified in the nick of time by an Indian or Indisas whom they had befriended. The family sought protection in Fort Ligonier. Jacob Byerly, who resided to many years slong the turnpike between Jacksonville and Stewartville, West- moreland Co., Pa., and whose remains lie beneath a military monument in the Brush Creek burial-ground, was then three years old, and need to say that ho distinctly recollected the flight of the family from their homse at Byerly's Station to Fort Ligonier.

"The first night the family occupied one of the outhouses attached to the fort. Next morning a body of Indiaas commenced Aring upon the fort for admission. Before the family could get in the ballets of the foriges were rattling against the gate above their heads.

. "At length Col. Bouquet, or Bosquet, as they need to spell it, the gui- Jest. Owies ofloer in the British service, came from Carlisle, to the relief of the besteged forts with an army of five hundred men. The Indians Eintsdrew a few days before the arrival of Col. Bouquet to Fort Ligonier. Troms this point Andrew Byerly accompanied Col. Bouquet. He took slong his son Michael, with the view of recovering some of the prop- orty which wee left behind in their flight to the fort. After proceeding few salles from Fort Ligonier, for camse canse or the other, the boy Michael wee directed by his father to return and remain at the fort. As be ran back to Fort Ligonier, he saw a great many trails where the In- dians had crossed the road immediately in the rear of the advancing army. Next day, when Col. Bouquet with his forces wee in the immedi- ate vicinity of the Byerly farm and station, the advanced guard or for- lorn hope, consisting of Andrew Byerly and eighteen soldiers, wes Ared upon by the Indians in ambush. Twelve out of the eighteen fell from the effect of the first volley from the concealed savages. Mr. Byerly and six other survivors succeeded in reaching the main body of the army. Thus began the battle of Bushy Run. It commenced about two in the afternoon and continued till night, when it cessed. At daylight next morning it was again resumed, and lasted until about 11 o'clock A.K. At this point Capt. Bullet told Col. Bouquet that they must try some other plan, or they would all be slain by the Indians. The col- onel asked Bullet what he thought had best be done. Bullet proposed . mascuvre by which he might move down a ravine with a company of soldiers and get in the rear of the savages. The colonel directed him to proceed accordingly. With his company the captain soon gained the rear umperceived by the Indians, and gave them an unexpected volley frodo that quarter. This, in connection with other movements on the part of the soldiers of Bouquet, led the savages to believe that reinforce- meats had come to the aid of the whites, and with a despairing yell they took to their heels in wild dismay. Andrew Byerly himself heard Capt. Bullett ask Col. Bouquet for the company which gained the rear of the savages and turned the tide of battle. His oldest con, Michael By- orly, used to my that he frequently heard Col. Bouquet and other British officers state afterwards, at his father's house, that they lost one hun- dred and thirty men in the battle. A number of wounded died after- wards, ten of whom were buried where Harrison City now stands. Mrs. Byerly, whose maiden name was Beatrice Gulden, or Goolden, was a Swiss by birth, and from the same part of Switzerland that Col. Bouquet balled from. They had several long conversations respecting the battle afterwards when Col. Bouquet stopped at their station-house, as he went to and fro between the different forts on the frontier."

EARLY SCHOOLS.

As may be supposed, the standard of education was not very high. The old-time schoolmasters went around nearly every fall, as soon as the farmers had housed their potatoes and corn, with their subscrip-

tiom-books or papers, and when any pedagogue ob- tained the necessary number of scholars to remuner- ate him for his winter's work he signified the day he would take up school. The class-books were the New England Primer, United States Spelling-Book, West- ern Calculator, and Bible and Testament. The cate- chiem had to be committed to memory, and was a very prominent feature throughout the term, which usually was from December 1st to April 1st. The picture of John Rogers at the stake was indelibly fixed on every young mind. The writing department was exclusively by copies written at the top of a page of foolscap by the master himself, such as "Com- mand you may your mind from play," and as steel or other metallic pens had not then come into existence, it kept the "master" pretty busy to have all the quill-pens mended before school opened in the morn- ing, and mend for such as had no pen-knife or could not do it during the day. School-hours were from 8 A.M. to 5 P.M., with an hour's recees at noon for din- ner, when the very young but old-fashioned little women unrolled from the lunch-basket or satchel the thick slices of solid home-made bread, well covered with the yellow, and that again deeply overlaid with apple-butter or, sauce, and they and their young brothers demolished it all with keen, sharp appetites. Those who could not pay for their schooling were not / neglected, as all 'were free and expected to attend school, and at the end of the term the township off- cers certified such scholars as were too poor to pay to the county commissioners, from whom the " master" received his pay for the indigent ones. Education in all essentials, solid education to make good and use- ful citizens, was as thorough then as now. It was more highly prized then than now. Boys went to school every winter from the age of seven or eight till about sixteen. Their time was of value, they had to pay for tuition, and they appreciated the importance of it in after-life, hence they went at it with a will, just as energetically as they would go into a harvest- field, consequently they became expert and thoroughly drilled in spelling, reading, writing, and arithmetic. These are the essential tools for the transaction of business, as well as the keys to knowledge, and as the latter is impossible in.the aggregate either to acquire or retain, and as each can profit most by acquiring that which belongs to his trade or profession, the old system worked well, and produced strong men and women in all departments of life. Those who had a taste for going farther than the rudiments of these schools always succeeded in obtaining what they wanted, for "wherever there is a will there is a way."

MANOR CHURCH (UNION).

"Denmark Manor," a fine tract of land, lying from eight to twenty miles west of Greensburg, was so des- ignated by the Penns. This part of the county is at home called simply "The Manor." Hence the name of . this particular district. The settlement very early

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contained among its hardy pioneers a goodly number of Germans, among whom were the Degardens, Brinkers, Nelighs [Nalys], Lauffers, Finks, Eber- hards, Snyders, Berlins, Byerles, Kemerers, Kistlers, Heislers, Keisters, Knappenbergers, etc. Many of the immigrants came from Northampton, York, Adams, and Franklin Counties, and some from Maryland. For years the members of the Reformed Church in this section belonged to the Brush Creek congregation, one of the oldest in Western Pennsyl- vania. They would come from Puckety Run, Beaver Run, and from beyond New Salem. But these dis- tances being found so inconvenient, they resolved to organize a congregation more accessible to themselves and children. Nothing is on record of their action prior to December, 1809, when a building committee was appointed to erect a union house of worship. It was composed of Paul Neligh and Adam Kemerer, Reformed, and Christian Eberhard, Lutheran. Be- zahlmeisters, paymasters for the work, or treasurers, were Jacob Brinker, Reformed, and Michael Fink, Lutheran. Jan. 12, 1811, a contract was entered into for the erection of the church edifice, to be in size thirty-eight by forty-six feet. Peter Henkel was to receive two hundred and twenty-five dollars for the mason-work. May 15, 1811, the work began. The committee furnished the material, such as stone, brick, mortar, scaffolding,. and the boarding of the hands. The corner-stone was laid June 8, 1811, by Revs. John William Weber, Reformed, and Michael John Steck. Jacob Dry contracted with the building committee, Dec. 24, 1818, at six hundred dollars, for doing the joiner-work, the painting, and glazing. All the material needed and a dwelling for the contractor was to be furnished him. The work was to begin by May 12. 1814. He was to be paid in full for his work June 7, 1815, when, no doubt, the edifice was finished and dedicated. A debt, however, for materials still remained at late as the fall of 1825, when it was paid by subscription. The church grounds were owned by Conrad Knappenberger and Jacob Brinker, from whom two acres were at first bought, and afterwards more was added by purchases from Paul Brinker and Jacob Lauffer.

Universally at that time the German Churches had a school-house near by, which was the case here. The German school-teacher at this place when Dr. Hacke came into the charge was Andreas Almose, who also led the singing of the congregation. After the school-house was in part turned into a dwelling it furnished a home for the sexton. The old structure is now over sixty-five years old. In the severest cold weather the public services were held in the old log school-house, which, " when no school was kept, was a convenient, and common retreat for the neighbors' sheep, which sought shelter there." The windows furnished sufficient light, and the old log benches, splitting at the auger-holes or losing a leg, would sometimes, when heavily crowded, break down in the

midst of the solemn services, causing some most ludicrous interruptions. . From such considerations, among others, it was finally determined to introduce stoves into the church. But there the difficult prob- lem then was how to get rid of the smoke. There were in this church, as in those elsewhere, no flues or chimneys built, against which omission Jacob Brinker had stoutly remonstrated. As the smoke had to be passed out somehow, they first ran the end of a pipe through a broken window-pane, then they put the pipes out over the two doors, and next one was put through the wall on either side of the pulpit. This, it was true, gave some warmth to the minister, but when the wind came from that quarter it put him under a cloud sometimes, greatly to his discomfort. According as the wind blew the house would be filled with smoke, not of incense, well-nigh suffocating the pastor and incensing the people to tears. Then the pipes were taken at the next trial through the ceiling and out of the roof, but this at one time set the house on fire, so at last the chimney was built, and relief was thus obtained.

The Reformed pastors have been : 1815-16, John William Weber; 1816-19, Henry Habliston ; 1819, Nicholas P. Hacke, D.D.

Hill's congregation and that at New Salem are daughters of the Manor Church, but lately other great losses have befallen it by removals to Manor Station, Scottdale, Greensburg, etc.

THE LUTHERAN CONGREGATION, ST. JOHN'S,

was organized in 1807-8, but divine services were held occasionally ten years or more previous to this date at the houses in the vicinity of the present church edifice by Rev. Michael John Steck. The Lutheran pastors have been : 1807-30, Michael John Steck ; 1830-48, John Michael Steck (son of above) ; 1848-68, Jonas Mechling, after whom the congrega- tion was served by several ministers till March, 1875, when Rev. J. A. Scheffer received and accepted a call.

In early times, and largely continued to the present time, all their church properties were held in union between the Reformed and the Lutherans. This grew out of the circumstances holding in olden times. In Germany and in Eastern Pennsylvania many families of the twin churches of the Reformation were intermarried. The original sharp controversial dif -. ferences had to a great degree subsided into a broader. fraternity. The two denominations were practically much alike in origin, history, customs, language, and worship. They mutually intermingled freely in social and religious life. Their aims, trials, dangers, hopes, fears, and gains were one. Being each weak in num- bers, and so unable at that time to build separate churches for each denomination's scattered people, they joined both hands and means in the work. Neither church had ministers enough to supply every small congregation with its own service, if but only

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once a week. In most cases, indeed, every four weeks, or at longer intervals, was as often as they could hold service. Hence, living in the same community, they could reciprocally attend each other's service alter- nately in the same house of worship. Thus at the same time, whether the appointment were by a Lutheran minister on one Sunday in each month, and by a Reformed minister on a Sunday at an inter- val between, the same mixed audience would be pres- ent at church. So, too, the same schoolmaster taught all the children of the two denominations, the cate- chism of the Reformed Church to the children who were designated to be trained in that system of doc- trine, and the Lutheran catechism was as carefully taught to the children sent by the Lutheran families. Sometimes children of mixed families were divided between the two systems of faith held respectively by the father and mother, so that some were taught by the schoolmaster as Lutherans and others as Reformed. Then, too, if the minister of the one church was more popular, more partisan, or of greater personal influence than his colleague of the other, he could get most of the children to attend his "Kinder- lehre," and confirm them in that faith. Generally this union relation was respected and worked har- moniously, but sometimes was liable to friction, if not indeed to engender party jealousy and become subject to proselyting.

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History of the County of Westmoreland, Pennsylvania, with Biographical Sketches of Many of its Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 173

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

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