Jefferson County, Pennsylvania : her pioneers and people, 1800-1915, Volume I, Part 13

Author: McKnight, W. J. (William James), 1836-1918
Publication date: 1917
Publisher: Chicago : J.H. Beers
Number of Pages: 650

USA > Pennsylvania > Jefferson County > Jefferson County, Pennsylvania : her pioneers and people, 1800-1915, Volume I > Part 13

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The law practically as it now exists, embody- ing the present system of examination of ap- plications for patents, was passed July 4. 1836. The present method of numbering patents began on that date with No. I. By December, 1890, No. 442,090 had been issued. In 1836 only one hundred and nine patents were granted; in 1910 the number reached thirty-five thousand, one hundred and eighteen. And now we have totaled a round million.

On July 1, 1790, the first United States patent was issued to one Samuel Hopkins of Vermont, for the making of pot and pearl ashes; Commissioner of Patents Moore granted to an Akron, Ohio, man patent No. 1,000,000, for the invention of a puncture- proof tire. Within the compass of the one hundred and twenty-one years between these dates there lies recorded in the Patent Office at Washington the triumph of American ingenuity and research, upon which, in large measure, has depended the material progress of the whole world. Inventions and labor- saving machines have made more millionaires than all other sources combined. Two-thirds of the wealth of the United States owes its existence to inventions patented by American citizens.

France comes nearest the United States in the inventive genius of her people, with some- thing like four hundred and twenty-six thou- sand, less than half the number of patents granted in America. Following France are Great Britain, with four hundred and fifteen thousand ; Germany, two hundred and thirty- six thousand; Belgium, two hundred and twenty-eight thousand; Canada, one.hundred and twenty-six thousand; Italy and Sardinia, ninety-four thousand, and Austria-Hungary. sixty-eight thousand.

Benjamin Franklin was the first inventor of distinction in the United States. He was the originator of many contrivances, giving to the world the ingenious chair convertible into a stepladder which is in use at the present time in thousands of American households. He was followed by Eli Whitney, inventor of the cotton gin ; John Fitch and Robert Fulton, in- ventors of steam vessels; Jethro Wood. inventor of the modern castiron plow : Thomas Blanchard, inventor of a tack machine: Ross Winans, many inventions relating to railways : Cyrus H. McCormick, inventor of harvesting machines; Charles Goodyear, inventor of rubber mixtures ; S. F. B. Morse, inventor of the electric telegraph: Elias Howe, inventor of the modern sewing machines; Joseph Henry, inventor of the present form of

JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

electro-magnet, which laid the foundation of practically the entire electrical art ; Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone ; Thomas A. Edison, inventor of the incandes- cent lamp, the talking machine and many im- provements on the moving picture machine, and the electric telegraph instruments and other devices ; John Ericsson, inventor of a hot air engine, screw propellers for steamships, etc .; Charles F. Bush, prominently identified with the development of the dynamo, are light and storage battery; George Westinghouse, inventor of air brakes for railway trains, etc. ; Ottmar Mergenthaler, inventor of the linotype machine.

Thomas Jefferson was one of the most re- markable inventors. Not only did he contrive a plow which marked an epoch in the develop- ment of that indispensable farming implement, but he was the originator of the copying press, so familiar to everybody as a modern office convenience, and likewise of the equally well known revolving chair. Both of these devices are to-day substantially what he made them.

In the early days there was a notable lack of all those mechanical conveniences and nice little utensils which are considered indis- pensable in the kitchen nowadays. There was not even an egg-beater or flour-sifter. In the dwelling of one hundred years ago the windows knew no screens to keep out flies and mosquitoes. Perhaps there was a mirror, that article of luxury being very costly.

Before "stocks" were invented oxen had to be thrown and tied and the shoes nailed on while down. Joseph Mccullough was the first to use stocks in Jefferson county.

The typewriter machine was distinctly an epoch-maker. It opened an entirely new field for women's work, creating an immense de- mand for stenographers by making transcrib- ing easier.

By no means to be forgotten is the improved printing press, which, as developed for news- paper use, prints several colors at one im- pression, folding, stitching and counting in an hour twelve thousand supplements of twenty- four pages each. One hundred years ago the entire process of making a book or newspaper was done by hand-striking enough, though less so than the circumstance that in those days, and even at a much later period, the adhesive stamp and the mailing envelope were both unknown.

The Seven Wonders of the modern world: First, wireless communication ; second, tele- phone ; third, aeroplane ; fourth, radium ; fifth, antiseptics and antitoxins; sixth, spectrum

analysis; seventh, X-rays-all of practical utility. Of the ancient wonders only one, the Pharos, the four-hundred-foot lighthouse of Alexandria, was a practical utility.

LIST OF INVENTIONS, ETC., IN CIIRONOLOGICAL ORDER*

About zo A. D. the first glass bottle was made by the Romans.

Horseshoes of iron were first made in 481. Quill pens were first made in 538.

Glass windows were first used in 1180.

Family names were first adopted in 1190.

Alcohol was discovered in the thirteenth century.

Chimneys in houses were first used in 1236.

Lead pipes for conveying water, 1252.

Alexander del Spina made the first pair of spectacles in 1285.

Tallow candles for lights, 1290.

Paper first made from linen. 1302.

Woolen cloth first made in England, 1331.

First iron wire drawn at Nuremberg, 1351. Muskets first used in 1370.

Side saddles were first used in 1380. Pre- vious to that time women rode astridle.

Art of painting in oil colors, 1410.

· Printing invented about 1440.

Pistols first used in 1444.

First printed almanac issued in Hungary. I 470.

Billiards invented in France, 1471.

Watches made in Germany, 1477.

The first book containing musical characters was issued in 1495.

Bombshells first made in Holland, 1495.

Variations of compass first noticed, 1540.

Pins first used in England, 1540.

Steel needles first made in England, 1545.

Covered carriages first used in England. 1 580.

Circulation of blood discovered by Harvey, 1619.

Newspaper first printed. 1630.

First steam engine invented, 1649.

First fire engine invented, 1649.

Advertisements first appeared in news- papers, 1652.

Buckles first made in 1680.

Under date of November 24, 1695, we find the first reference to a thimble in literature, when that useful article was mentioned as a "'thumb-bell." The man who introduced thimbles to England was John Lofting, a metal worker of Holland, who settled in England in

* See also chronology of Industrial Activities, in this chapter.

JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

the latter part of the seventeenth century and practiced their manufacture in various metals with great success.

The first typewriter was made in 1714, by Henry Mills.

First cotton planted in the United States, 1759.

Steam engine improved by Watt, 1767.

The torpedo was first made in 1777.

Steam cotton mill erected, 1783.

Stereotype printing invented in Scotland, 1785.

Animal magnetism recognized by Mesmer, 1788.

Sabbath school established in Yorkshire, England, 1789.

The pioneer use of gas for practical illu- mination was in 1802.

In 1807 wooden clocks were made by ma- chinery.

In 1809 Fulton patented the steamboat.

The pioneer mill to make finished cloth from raw cotton was erected in Waltham, Mass., in 1813.

Velocipede invented by Drais, 1817.

Steel pens were first made in 1820.

First horse railroad built in 1826.

Coal oil first used as an illuminant, 1826.

Electro-magnetic telegraph invented

by Morse, 1832.

Vulcanized rubber was patented in 1838.

In 1840 Daguerre first made his pictures.

The express business was started about 1810.

The pioneer telegram was sent in 1845.

Stem-winding watches were the invention of Noel, 1851.

Roller skates were invented by Pimpton, 1863.

The telephone came into use in 1876, the phonograph in 1878.

Cable and electric roads are new since 1880, and so likewise is the bicycle, commercially speaking.

When Mr. Edison was making the experi- ments which finally resulted in the develop- ment of the electric light, the general opinion of scientists and practical mechanicians was that he was attempting the impossible. In earlier years, however, Morse had had great trouble to persuade Congress to appropriate the small amount of money required for test- ing his telegraph between Baltimore and Washington. Nearly everybody thought hin a crank, and he came very near to literal starvation.

Up to within the last half dozen years ap- plicants for patents on flying machines were

regarded by patent office examiners as in much the same class with inventors of con- trivances for perpetual motion.

Archimedes invented the crowbar.

Arkwright, the spinning frame.

Bacon (Roger), gunpowder (in England). Caxton, first printing press in England.

Sir Humphrey Davy, the safety lamp. Marconi, wireless telegraph.

. TELEPHONE

In August, 1891, the Central District and Printing Telegraph Company, of Pittsburgh, Pa., erected a telephone line through Jeffer- son county and into Clarion and Clearfield counties. The main line ran from Punxsu- tawney to Reynoldsville and to Clarion, with a switch and a line to Du Bois. They estab- lished pay stations at Punxsutawney, Big Run, Reynoldsville, Brookville and Corsica, Falls Creek and Du Bois, and now in 1915 achievement in communication opens up amaz- ing possibilities. The human voice, it seems, can be carried wherever wireless waves can travel-and that means everywhere-just as freely as telegraphic dots and dashes. Presi- dent Vail of the American Telegraph and Telephone Company, has talked into a tele- phone transmitter at New York and been heard at San Francisco, over several hundred miles of wire and through two thousand miles of vacant space. That feat has been quickly followed by a telephone conversation wholly by wireless across a stretch of land and sea four thousand nine hundred miles, from Washington to Honolulu. It is now practic- able to telephone through the ether from New York to London, Paris, Berlin, Petrograd or Constantinople, or from San Francisco to Pekin or Tokyo. London statesmen might communicate directly by word of mouth with Egypt, India and South Africa. All that is necessary is the installation of apparatus already perfected.

THIE FIRST ALMANAC

Found in a Tomb, It Is Said to Date Back to About 1200 B. C.

The first almanacs were of Arabian origin, and reflected the local genius of the people in a very striking way. They served as models in other countries for hundreds of years. The oldest known copy of such a work is pre- served in the British Museum, and dates back

JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

to the time of Rameses the Great of Egypt. who lived 1,200 years before Christ. It is written on papyrus, in red ink, and covers a period of six years. The entries relate to religious ceremonies, to the fates of children born on given days, and to the regulation of business enterprises in accordance with plane- tary influences. "Do nothing at all this day," is one of the warnings. "If thou seest any- thing at all this day it will be fortunate," is another entry. "Look not at a rat this day." "Wash not with water this day." "Go out not before daylight this day," are some of the additional cautions.

Next after this in point of age among the existing specimens of ancient almanacs are some composed in the fourth century. They are Roman Church calendars, giving the names of the saints and other religious infor- mation. The Baltic nations, who were not versed in papyrus-making, had calendars en-

graved on axe-helves, walking sticks and other articles of personal use. The days were notched with a broad mark for Sunday, and the saints' days were symbolized in various devices, such as a harp for St. David's, a gridiron for St. Lawrence's, a lover's knot for St. Valentine's, and so on. The Saxon almanacs are numerous and contain historical as well as ecclesiastical entries.

The first printed almanac was issued in Hungary in 1470.

It is possible to trace in these curious records all the changes of popular belief and taste. They were prepared to meet the current de- mand and to constitute a systematic story of what took place in successive periods and how knowledge increased with the revolving years. We owe to them most that we know of the people for whom they were made and by whom they were indorsed.

CHAPTER IV PIONEER EXPLORERS AND SETTLERS

INDIAN TRAILS, THE WHITE MAN'S PATH-DAVID AND JOHN MEADE-MEADE'S PACKHORSE TRAIL -PIONEER SETTLEMENT IN THE NORTHWEST-PIONEER EXPLORERS AND SETTLERS

Previous to the white man's advent here this wilderness had public highways, but they were for the wild animals and savage Indians. These thoroughfares were called "deer paths" and "Indian trails." These paths were usually well beaten, and crossed each other as civilized roads do. The first trail discovered and traversed by the white man was the Indian Chinklacamoose ("where moose meet") path. extending from what was Clearfield town to what is now Kittanning. This Indian trail passed through Punxsutawney, and over it and through this Indian town Allegheny In- (lians carried their white prisoners from the eastern part of the State to what was then called Kittany, on the Allegheny river. Indian trails were "bee lines," over hill and dale. from point to point. Here and there were open spots on the summits, where runners signaled their coming by fires when on urgent business, and were promptly met at stated places by fresh men.

DAVID AND JOHN MEADE-MEADE'S TRAIL

From a most careful and thorough search to ascertain when the first path or trail of the

white man was made through or in what is now our county. I find it to be in the year 1787. In this year of grace two hardy and courageous men, David and John Meade, were living in what is now Sunbury. Pa., where John was keeping an inn or tavern. These two brothers. having read Gen. George Washington's report to Governor Dinwiddie, of Virginia. of the rich lands and valleys that were unoccupied in what is now called Venango and Crawford counties, Pa., determined to explore that region for themselves. To reach this unin- habited section they were compelled to open a path from east to west, through what is now called Jefferson (then Northumberland) county, and which path is now called in history "Meade's Trail." This trail passed through what are now West Reynoldsville, Port Bar- nett and Brookville, down near Allgeier's brewery and across the creek at White Street bridge.

PIONEER SETTLEMENT IN NORTHWEST

These men, with their goods packed on four horses, passed through where Brookville now is in 1788, and settled in and around

JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

what is now Meadville, then Allegheny county. Meade's trail commenced at the mouth of Anderson's creek, near Curwensville, Clear- field Co., Pa., and over this trail until 1802 all transportation had to be carried into or through this wilderness on packsaddles by packhorses. A packhorse load was from two hundred to three hundred pounds. In 1802-03 the first wagon road, or old Milesburg and Waterford State road, was opened for travel. The Meade settlers in Crawford county in 1788 comprised the pioneer permanent set- tlement in northwestern Pennsylvania.

Of the pioneer settlers who came over this trail and settled in what is now Jefferson county I will give a brief account. In 1800 Joseph Barnett and Samuel Scott settled forty miles west of Curwensville, Clearfield county. They were men of great energy and industry, and soon made valuable improvements. They built a sawmill, which was a great help to the people, providing them with boards, etc. They settled among the Indians of the Seneca tribe, who were, however, civil. Joseph Barnett was a very eccentric, high-minded man, and took a leading part in all the business transactions of the day, a man long to be remembered by those who knew him. Shortly after their mill was made, perhaps as early as 1802. Henry Fir, a German, and a number of other families settled on the west of Mill creek, Jacob Mason, L. Long, John Dickson, Freedom Stiles, and a very large negro by the name of Fudge Van Camp, whose wool was as white as the wool of a sheep and whose face was as black as charcoal, and yet he was married to a white woman. He was fine-featured and thin-lipped.

Fudge Van Camp was born a slave, but pur- chased his freedom after he served as a teamster in the Revolutionary war. He came to Port Barnett from Easton, Northampton Co., Pa., in the winter of 1801, traveling this distance on foot. The last thirty-three miles were made without food. in a heavy snowstorm and in a two-foot fall of snow. Van Camp was a large and powerful man, but gave out ,and had to work his way for the last mile or two on his hands and knees to Port Barnett. He arrived there at midnight exhausted and almost frozen. He came over what was then called the Military or Miles- burg & Le Boeuf State road. Being pleased with the country, he returned to Easton only to migrate here with his four children, bring- ing his effects on two horses, and settled on what is now the Ray McConnell farm. He brought appleseeds with him and planted them on his farm, this being the first effort

to raise fruit in this wilderness. Some of the trees are still living. Fudge Van Camp married a white woman. She died in Eas- ton. His family consisted of two sons and two daughters, Richard and Enos, Susan and Sarah. Susan married Charles Sutherland. and Sarah married William Douglass, who was a hunter. Richard married Ruth Stiles. a white woman, and left the county ; he was the great-grandfather of Tom and Tobias Enty. Fudge Van Camp was the only colored person living in the county as late as 1810. He was a fiddler and a great fighter, and was the orchestra for all the early frolics.

In about 1802 John Scott came to the county and settled on the farm where Corsica now stands; about 1805 Peter Jones, John Roll Sr., the Vasbinder families and Elijah Gra- ham; and in 1806 John Matson and some · others settled near where Brookville now stands. In the southern part of the county, near Mahoning, John Bell settled at an early day. He was a man of iron will and great perseverance, afraid of neither man nor beast, and was a mighty hunter. Moses Knapp was also an early settler. "Port Barnett," as the settlement of Barnett and Scott was called, was the only stopping place from Curwensville for all those who came in 1801-02 through or for the wilderness over the "trail." We imagine that these buildings would have a very welcome look to those footsore and weary travelers-an oasis in the desert, as it were.

In the year 1801, with a courage nothing could daunt, ten men left their old homes and all the comforts of the more thickly settled and okdler portions of the eastern part of the State for the unsettled wilderness of the more western part, leaving behind them the many associations which rendered the old homes so dear, and going forth, strong in might and firm in the faith of the God of their fathers. to plant homes and erect new altars around which to rear their young families. Brave hearts beat in the bosoms of those men and women who made so many and great sacri- fices in order to develop the resources of a portion of country almost unknown at that time. When we look abroad to-day and see what rapid strides have been made in the march of civilization, we say all honor to our forefathers who did so great a part of the work. It would be difficult for those of the present day to imagine how families could move upon horseback through an almost un- broken wilderness, with no road save an "Indian trail," the women mounted upon horses, the cooking utensils, farming imple-

JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

ments, such as hoes, axes, ploughs and shovels. together with bedding and provision, placed on what were called packsaddles, while fol- lowing upon foot were the men with guns upon their shoulders, ready to take down any small game that might cross their path, which would go toward making up their next meal. After a long and toilsome journey these pioneers halted on their course in what was then called Armstrong county (now Clarion county ), and they immediately began the clear- ing of their lands, which they had purchased from Gen. James Potter, of the far-famed "Potter Fort," in Penn's Valley, in Centre county, familiar to every one who has ever read of the terrible depredations committed by the Indians in that part of the country at an early period of its history.

During the first two years after the settle- ment the people had to pack their flour upon horseback from Centre, Westmoreland and In- diana counties ; also their iron and salt, which was ten dollars per barrel; iron was fifteen cents per pound. Coffee and tea were but little used, tea being four dollars per pound, coffee seventy-five cents. Those articles were con- sidered great luxuries, both from the high price at which they came, and the difficulties attending their transportation through the woods, following the Indian trail. As to vegetables and animal food, there was no scarcity, as every one had gardens and the forest abounded with wild game. These dense forests were the abode of wild animals and game in greater numbers than almost any other part of the country. Panthers, bears and wolves roamed the woods, the deer traveled about in droves, and flocks of wild turkeys were numerous. There were always some expert huntsmen who kept the settle- ment supplied with meat. Those who were not sure shots themselves would go to work for a hunter, while he would go out and supply his less fortunate neighbor. I knew one hunter who killed one hundred and fifty deer and twenty bears in the first two years of the settlement, besides any amount of small game. Many, however, got along badly, some having nothing but potatoes and salt for substantials.

When people began to need barns and larger houses, one would start out and invite the whole country for miles around, often going ten or twelve miles, and then it often took two or three days to raise a log barn, using horses to help to get up the logs.

PIONEER EXPLORERS AND SETTLERS

In regard to the first settlement and early history of the county I have made diligent research, and find, what is not unusual, some conflicting accounts and statements. These I have endeavored to compile, arrange and harmonize to the best of my ability.

From the best information I am enabled to gather and obtain, Andrew Barnett and Sam- uel Scott were sent in 1795 by Joseph Barnett, who was then living in either Northumberland, Lycoming or Dauphin county, Pa., to explore the famous region then about French creek (now Crawford county, Pa.). But when these two explorers reached Mill creek, now Port Barnett, they were forcibly impressed with the great natural advantages of the place for a sawmill. They stopped over two or three days to examine the creek. They explored as far down as to where Summerville now is, and after this careful inspection concluded that this spot, where "the lofty pine leaned gloomiily over every hillside," was just the ideal home for a lumberman. They went no farther west, but returned east, and informed Joseph Barnett of their "Eureka." In the spring of 1797 Joseph and Andrew Barnett, Samuel Scott and Moses Knapp came from their home at the mouth of Pine creek, then in Lycoming county, to the ideal millsite of Andrew, and so well pleased were they all that they commenced the erection of the pioneer cabin and mill in the wilderness, in what was then Pinecreek township, Lycoming county. The cabin and mill were on the pres- ent site of Humphrey's mill and grounds at Port Barnett. The Indians assisted, about nine in number, to raise these buildings, and not a stroke of work would these savages do until they had eaten up all the provisions Mr. Barnett had. This took three days. Then the rascals exclaimed. "Me cat, me sleep : now me strong, now me work." In the fall of the same year Joseph Barnett returned to his family, leaving his brother Andrew and Scott to finish some work. In a short time thereafter Andrew Barnett became ill and died, and was buried on the north bank of the creek, at the junction of Sandy Lick and Mill creek, Scott and two Indians being the only attendants at the funeral. Joseph Barnett was, therefore, soon followed by Scott, who was his brother- in-law, bringing the melancholy tidings of this event, which for a time cast a gloom over the future prospects of these sturdy pioneers.

In 1798, however, Joseph Barnett, Scott

ME DRINK-ME SLEEP-ME STRONG RAISING THE FIRST SAW MILL 1797 - IN JEFFERSON COUNTY PA AT THE JUNCTION DE MILL CREEK AND SANDY LICK

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Jefferson County, Pennsylvania : her pioneers and people, 1800-1915, Volume I, Part 13

Author: McKnight, W. J. (William James), 1836-1918 Publication date: 1917 Publisher: Chicago : J.H. Beers Number of Pages: 650

Author: McKnight, W. J. (William James), 1836-1918
Publication date: 1917
Publisher: Chicago : J.H. Beers
Number of Pages: 650