USA > Pennsylvania > Adams County > The history and topography of Dauphin, Cumberland, Franklin, Bedford, Adams, and Perry counties [Pennsylvania] > Part 44
USA > Pennsylvania > Bedford County > The history and topography of Dauphin, Cumberland, Franklin, Bedford, Adams, and Perry counties [Pennsylvania] > Part 44
USA > Pennsylvania > Cumberland County > The history and topography of Dauphin, Cumberland, Franklin, Bedford, Adams, and Perry counties [Pennsylvania] > Part 44
USA > Pennsylvania > Dauphin County > The history and topography of Dauphin, Cumberland, Franklin, Bedford, Adams, and Perry counties [Pennsylvania] > Part 44
USA > Pennsylvania > Franklin County > The history and topography of Dauphin, Cumberland, Franklin, Bedford, Adams, and Perry counties [Pennsylvania] > Part 44
USA > Pennsylvania > Perry County > The history and topography of Dauphin, Cumberland, Franklin, Bedford, Adams, and Perry counties [Pennsylvania] > Part 44
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The public buildings are a splendid court house erected in 1843, at a cost of $44,545.00, built of bricks, with an Ionic colonade in front, surmounted by a beautiful cupola, with a statue of Benjamin Frank- lin to crown it ; a substantially built jail, a large brick structure erec- ted at a cost of $30,000; a banking house, a market house, a spacious academy, ten churches, viz : Associate Reformed, Presbyterian, Ger- man Reformed, two Lutheran, (one of which was originally built by the German Reformed) Methodist Episcopal, Catholic, United Breth- ren, and two African churches ; there are four newspapers published here, viz : The Weekly Messenger, edited by the Rev. R. S. Fisher ; The Zeit-Schrift (semi-monthly) edited by Rev. B. S. Schneck ; The Repository & Whig, edited by Joseph Pritts, Esq., and The Chambers- burg Times, edited by F. G. May, Esq. These papers are all conduc- ted with more than ordinary ability. There are a numbor of well kept hotels and houses of entertainment kept here.
The water power here is unsurpassed; east of the Alleghany, Fall- ing Spring and the Conococheague afford an abundance of water pow- er, and drive 2 flouring mills, 2 fulling mills, a straw paper mill, a cotton and woollen manufactory, oil mill, carding machines, and the machinery of the most celebrated edge tool factory in the State. It is estimated that the water power in, and within 5 miles of Chambers- burg, is equal to the propelling 100 pair of mill stones. In times of excessive freshets these streams become flush, and transcend their usual bounds. This was the case in the summer of 1831, when the damage done by the mighty rush of these waters was estimated at forty thousand dollars.
463
HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY.
The following, written in 1832, by the Hon. George Chambers, con tains many interesting incidents touching the early settlements of Falling Springs and Conococheague-
" James, Robert, Joseph and Benjamin Chambers, 4 brothers, emi- grated from the county of Antrim, in Ireland, to the province of Penn- sylvania, between the years 1726 and 1730. They settled and built a mill shortly after, at the mouth of Fishing creek, now in Dauphin co., on the Susquehanna, and appropriated a tract of very fine land at that place, which was lately owned and occupied by Archibald McAlister ; though the land office of Pa. was not open for the sale of lands west of the Susquehanna, as they were not purchased of the Indians till Oct. 1736, yet the proprietary offices and agents were disposed to en- courage settlements west of that river with the consent of the Indians, who were conciliated by the settlers. These settlements were incited and recognised, though without official grants, in order to resist the encroachments of the Marylanders, on what was considered part of the province of Pa. This policy, and the fine country forming that part of the Kittatinny valley extending from the Susquehanna, at the mouth of Conodoguinet, along the waters of the beautiful Conoco- cheague to the Potomac, induced men of enterprise to seek and locate desirable situations for water works and farms, in the valleys of those two streams and of Yellow Breeches creek. These adventurous broth- ers were among the first to explore and settle in this valley. James made a settlement at the head of Green Spring, near Newville, Cum- berland ; Robert at the head of Middle Spring, near Shippensburg; and Joseph and Benjamin at the confluence of Falling Spring and Conoco- cheague creeks, where Chambersburg is situated. These settlements and locations were made about or before 1730. By an arrangement among the brothers, Joseph returned to their property at the mouth of Fishing creek, and Benjamin, the younger brother, improved his set- tlement at the Falling Spring. He built a hewed log house, which he covered with lapped shingles, fastened by nails, a style of building out of the common mode of round logs and clapboard roofs secured by beams. Some time after, Benjamin being induced to visit the east side of the Susquehanna, left his house unoccupied for a short time, and on his return, he found it burned to ashes. This was afterwards ascertained to be the work of an unprincipled hunter, who was in- duced to do it for the sake of the NAILS, which at that day, in this wild region, were esteemed no ordinary prize.
"Benjamin prosecuted anew his improvements, building houses, clearing lands, and soon after the commission from the proprietary go- vernment to Samuel Blunston, allowing licences for the settlement of lands west of the Susquehanna, on 30th March, 1734, Benjamin ob- tained from Blunston a license authorizing and securing his settlement by a grant of four hundred acres of land at the Falling Spring's mouth on both sides of the Conococheague, for the conveniency of a grist mill and plantation, then Lancaster county. Having acquired the art and business of a millwright, he built himself, immediately, a saw mill at the mouth of Falling Spring. This was an important improvement to himself and others disposed to settle in the surrounding wilderness. In a few years, he erected a flouring mill ; an accommodation which contributed much to the comfort of the early settlers, and had consid- erable influence in inducing settlements in the vicinity.
464
HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY.
" Benjamin Chambers was about 21 years of age when he made his settlement on the Falling Spring. He had, when living east of the Susquehanna, been attracted to. . the spot by. a description he re- ceived from a hunter, whs had observed the fine waterfall in one of his excursions through the valley. He was the first white settler in what is now Franklin county. From his acquaintance with the business of a millwright, and the use and value of water power, his attention was directed to advantageous situations for water- works. He married shortly after his settlement a Miss Patterson, residing near Lancaster, who was the mother of his eldest son, James. .
" He maintained a friendly intercourse with the Indians in his vicinity, who were attached to him; with them he traded, and had so much of their confidence and respect that they did not injure or offer to molest him. On one occasion, being engaged in haymaking in his meadow below Chambersburg, where the foundry and brick- yards now are, he observed some Indians secretly stalking in the thickets around the meadow. Suspecting some mischievous design. he gave them a severe chase, in the night, with some dogs, across she creek and through the woods, to the great alarm of the Indians, who afterwards acknowledged they had gone to the meadow for the purpose of taking from Benjamin his watch, and carrying off a ne- gro woman whom he owned ; and who, they thought, would be useful to raise corn for them : but they declared that they would not have' hurt the colonel.
" He used his influence with his acquaintances to settle in his neighborhood, directing their attention to desirabie and advantageous situations for farms. His first wife lived but a few years. Some time afterwards he married a Miss Williams, the daughter of a Welsh clergyman, residing in Virginia. She was born in Wales, and brought over to this country when very young. By her he had 7 children, viz: Ruhannah, married to Dr. Colhoun-William, Benjamin- Jane, married to Adam Ross-Joseph, George-and Hetty, married to Wm. M. Brown, Esq. Col. Benjamin Chambers was commissioned a justice of the peace, and also a colonel of the militia under the royal government at an early period. As an arbitrator he settled many con- troversies between his neighbors, and from his reputation for judg- ment and integrity, he was appealed to for direction and advice by the early setllers. He gratuitously prescribed and administered medicine to many, and as there was no regular physician in the neighborhood, it is said he was called upon to bleed and extract teeth for the relief of his acquaintances.
" During the controversy between Lord Baltimore and the Penns, relating to the boundary between the provinces, Benjamin Cham- bers, who will hereafter be designated as Col. Chambers, was pre- vailed on to visit England to assist by his knowledge and testimony in terminating this controversy, which was embarrassing and protract- ing the settlement of these provinces.
" From England he visited Ireland, his native soil, and prevailed on a number of acquaintances to accompany him, with their families, and settle in his neighborhood, having afforded them assistance. As the western Indians, after Braddock's defeat, in 1755, became trouble- some, and made incursions east of the mountains, killing and making
465
HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY.
prisoners of many of the white inhabitants, Col. Chambers, for the se- curity of his family and his, neighbors, erected, where the borough of Chambersburg now is, a large stone dwelling-house, surrounded by the water from Falling Spring, and situated where the large straw paper-mill now is. The dwelling house, for greater security against the attempts of the Indians to fire it, was roofed with lead. The dwell- ings and the mills were surrounded by a stoccade fort. This fort, with the aid of fire-arms, a blunderbuss and swivel, was so formidable to the Indian parties who passed the country, that it was seldom assailed, and no one sheltered by it was killed or wounded; although in the country around, at different times, those who ventured out on their farms, were surprised and either slaughtered or carried off prisoners, with all the horrors and aggravations of savage warfare.
"A man by the name of Mckinney, who had sought shelter with his family in the fort about 1756, ventured out in company with his son to visit his dwelling aud plantation, where the Hollowell paper-mill is, on the creek below Chambersburg. They were discovered, how- ever, by the Indians, and both killed and scalped, and their dead bo- dies brought to the fort and buried. Col. Chambers was active in organizing the militia, and was of much assistance to Gen. Forbes in 1758, in giving him information and aiding him in the opening of a road, as well as affording him supplies in his march through the valley, and across the mountains, in his campaign. His saw and flour mills were of such accommodation and notoriety in the Conococheague settlement, that they were long known and spoken of for a great distance around as the mills. The first flour-mill, built in part with logs, was burned, and a stone mill was afterwards er- ected by the colonel, part of the walls of which are incorporated in those of the fulling-mill and cotton factory of Thomas Chambers.
"In 1764, Col. Chambers laid out the town of Chambersburg ad- joining his mills. The intercourse with the western country being at that time very limited, and most af the trade and travel along the val- ley to the south, he was induced to lay his lots in that direction, and the town did not extend beyond the creek to the west. Some of the old trees of his orchard are still standing (1832) on the west of the creek, on the grounds of Joseph Chambers and Mr. King's heirs. The in- creasing trade with the western country, after the revolution, produced an extension of the town on the west side of the creek, which was lo- cated by Capt. Chambers, son of the colonel, about 1791. The first stone house erected in the town is still standing at the corner, built by . Jack, about 1770, and now owned by L. Denig, Esq. The first courts holden in the county were in this house, up stairs and on one occasion the crowd was so great as to strain the beams and fracture the walls, causing great confusion and alarm to the court and bar.
" Chambersburg remained but a small village until after the erection of Franklin into a separate county in 1784, since which period it has progressively improved.
" Col. Chambers had appropriated to the use of the public for a bu- rial-ground a romantic cedar grove on the banks of the creek. This spot still retains some of the beauties of nature and rural scenery. This, with some additional grounds, he conveyed by deed of gift to P. Varen and others, as trustees, on the 1st January, 1768, in trust for the Presbyterian congregation of the Falling Spring, now professing
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466
HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY.
amd adhering to, and that shall hereafter adhere to and profess the Westminster profession of faith, and the mode of church government therein contained, and to and for the use of a meeting-house or Pres- byterian church, session house, school-house, burying-place, grave- yard, and such religious purposes. Of this congregation he was an efficient, active and attentive member. He also continued a member of the board of trustees until 1787, when, on account of his advanced age and infirmities, he asked leave to resign.
"The first settlers who were possessed of farms, were mostly emigrants from the north of Ireland, and members of the Presbyte- rian church. It would seem that the Falling Spring congregation were more numerous in 1786 than in 1832, though at the latter period the population of Chambersburg was tenfold that of 1786. After the revolutionary war and peace, a German population supplanted the first settlers, and possessed themselves of most of their choice plan- tations by purchase, and the families and descendants of these settlers moved west of the mountains.
"At the commencement of the revolutionary war, in 1775, Col. Cham- bers was so infirm and advanced in years, being then about 70 years of age, as to be incapable of the fatigues and exposure of a campaign so distant as the heights of Boston. Patriotism shone forth in his family. His eldest son, James, raised a company of infantry from the neighborhood, which he commanded as captain, and in 1775 marched, accompanied by his younger brothers William and Ben- jamin as cadets, to join the American army, then encamped on the high ground of Boston, where the royal army was besieged : (Wil- liam was about 22 years old and Benjamin 20). His three sons re- mained in the army during that campaign; James having been ad- vanced to the rank of colonel, and William and Benjamin to that of captain. They were also with the army during the arduous and trying campaigns of '76-'77 in the Jerseys, as well as at the battles of Brandywine and Germantown in 1778. On account of the infirmity of their father, and the embarrassed situation of his property and pe- cuniary affairs, which had been deprived of the necessary attentions of the young men, the younger brothers, William and Benjamin, re- turned home and attended to the farm and mills. They occasionally, however, assisted in the pursuit of Indians who had dared at times to make incursions upon the settlements about Bedford and Huntingdon.
" James remained in the army until the close of the revolutionary war, and afterwards was appointed a general of the militia, a brigade of whom, including a number of volunteers he commanded in the army to suppress the Western or Whiskey insurrection in Pennsylvania in 1794.
"Shortly after the peace of 1783, William, Benjamin and George, erected a furnace in the Path valley, called Mt. Pleasant, the oldest furnace in the county. None of them had any experience in the bu- siness, but by industry, perseverance, and judgment, they were suc- cessful, and established in the woods an extensive manufactory of iron which was not only profitable to themselves, but highly advantageous to a considerable extent of country.
" Col. Benjamin Chambers, the father of the settlement, died 17th Feb. 1788, aged 80 years. Jane, his wife, died in 1795, aged 70: Capt. Benjamin Chambers died in 1813.
467
HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY.
" Col. James Chambers erected a forge where Loudon now is, af- ter the revolution, and with his son Benjamin, and son-in-law A. Dunlap, Esq. erected a furnace about a mile from Loudon.
"In 1760 Col. Benjamin Chambers lived in a small log house near the mill-race at the west end of the garden of George Cham- bers, near the alley and race.
" From old Henry Snider, aged 75, in 1834, Mr. Chambers learn- ed that his father, Peter Snider, came to the county before 1760- That he was born where he now lives, in 1759.
"A man by the name of Somerfield kept the first store on the northwest corner of Front and Queen streets.
"The first tavern was kept by Robert Jack, in the-little log house which stood where the Chambersburg bank now is."
MERCERSBURG, a post town and borough, in Montgomery township, on the turnpike road leading from McConnellstown to Waynesboro', fifteen miles south west from Chambersburg, eighty-three miles north west from Washington city. The town, for its elevated situation, com- manding view of picturesque scenery, fertility of soil of the surround- ing country, salubrity of air, can vie with any in the State.
The town was laid out about the year 1780, by Mr. Smith, and named in honor of Conrad Mercer, a distinguished officer of the revolution- ary army. It was incorporated as a borough by an act passed in April 1831, and contains about 150 dwellings, many of them large and com- modious ; five churches ; Presbyterian, Lutheran, Seceder, Methodist and 2 German German Reformed; one of which has recently been erected.
Marshall College, the Theological Seminary of the German Refor- med Church, and affiliated institutions are located here. The town contains 4 dry goods stores, 1 grocery, 2 druggists, 3 confectionaries, 4 tailor shops, 6 shoe makers, 2 hatters, 2 wagon makers, 1 coach ma- ker, 1 plough maker, 2 weavers, 2 silversmiths, 3 butchers, 2 livery stables, 2 oyster cellars, 4 tan yards, 1 distillery, 1 pottery, 3 hotels, 4 rough carpenters, 6 house joiners, 4 cabinet makers, 5 chair makers, 4 saddlers, 4 coopers, 4 blacksmiths, 1 public school, 1 Female Semi- nary, 1 flouring mill, 2 brick yards, 7 physicians.
A weekly paper is published here by Messrs. Mckinstry and Doyle. The paper is called "The Mercersburg Visitor."
THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY OF THE GER. REF. CHURCH .- This Institution was established originally at Carlisle. It went into operation first in the spring of 1825, with five students, under the care of the Rev. Dr. Lewis Mayer, who had been previously elected Professor of Theology by the Synod of the Church, At the same time the Rev. James R. Reily, under an appointment from the Board of Directors sailed for Europe, to collect funds and books for the infant interest. His mission proved on the whole quite successful, and resulted particularly in the acquisition of a respectable library.
Great remissness however was shown at home, in carrying forward the undertaking. For years it was left to languish, in the midst of difficulties which continually threatened its dissolution, and severely tried the faith and patience of the excellent man who was placed at its head.
After a short time, the Institution was transferred to York. Here a Grammar School wat established in connection with it, in the year
468
HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY.
1832. This fell under the care particularly of Dr. Frederick A. Rauch, who had been called in to assist the Professor of Theology, in his ar- duous work. To the hands of the same gentleman, was committed. subsequently the department of Biblical Literature in the Seminary.
It was resolved finally, in view of a liberal offer made from the place, to locate the institutions permanently at Mercersburg. The Grammar School accordingly was transferred to this village in the fall of 1835; where it was raised the following year to the dignity of a regular College. In proper season afterwards, the same transfer took place in the case of the Seminary also. The removal was followed in the course of a short time, by the resignation of the Professor, whose name had been identified with all its fortunes from the begin- ning.
The vacancy thus created was filled by the appointment and call, on the part of the Synod, of the Rev. Dr. John W. Nevin, who was Professor at the time in the Western Theological Seminary at Pitts- burg. He came to Mescersburg in the spring of the year 1840, and has been actively engaged in the service of institution from that time to the present.
A great calamity was sustained the following year, in the death of the Professor of Biblical Literature, who was at the same time Presi . dent of the College. By this event, the Seminary was left again with only a single Professor, as at the beginning ; a difficulty for which no remedy has been provided until quite recently.
Early in the year 1843, at a special meeting of the Synod convened for the purpose, at Lebanon, a call was made out for the Rev. Dr. Krummacher, of Elberfeld, in Prussia, the distinguished author of Elijah the Fishbite, and other popular works, to occupy what is term- ed the German Professorship of Theology in the Institution ; and two members of the Synod, the Rev. Dr. Hoffeditz and the Rev. Mr. Schneck crossed the Atlantic soon after, as the commissioners of the Church, to place the call in his hands. This movement served greatly to bring both the Seminary and the Church into notice, both in Germany and in this country. Dr. Krummacher found himself reluctantly constrained to decline the invitation. The great object of the mission however, may be said to have been secured notwithstanding. After special in- quiry and conference with the best advisers in Germany, the delegates returned prepared to recommend a different man for the vacant station: and the consequence was the unanimous election, at the meeting of the Synod in Winchester, in the fall of 1843, of the Rev. Dr. Philip Schaf, private lecturer at the time in the University of Berlin, to fill the post. A call accordingly was soon after forwarded to him, and ac- cepted. He reached the country in July 1844, and is now laboring in the Seminary as Professor of Church History and Sacred Literature. His lectures are delivered in the German tongue.
The Seminary buildings are handsomely situated on an elevated piece of ground, a short distance east of the town ; and by the traveller from the west in particular, may be seen with great advantage, a great way off. They consist of a main edifice 120 feet in length and 4 stories high, and two handsome dwelling houses for professors. The front of the main building is rendered more imposing, by a portico standing out from the central section, with large columns carried up to the roof. The property altogether may be rated at a value of twenty-five thous- and dollars.
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HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY.
" The Library of the Seminary is estimated at about 7000 volumes. Many of these are very valuable. The proportion of English books is comparatively small.
The number of students in attendance at the institution has been lat- terly from fifteen to twenty. The regular course of study extends over a period of two years and a half, embracing the branches that are usu- ally taught in institutions of this kind. To the students the instruction is all free ; and the opportunities of the Seminary are open alike to all denominations, so far as there may be a disposition in any case to em- ulate them.
MARSHALL COLLEGE .- Originally, as we have already seen, a mere dependency of the Theological Seminary, the College has since risen to high separate importance, and bids fair yet to throw its parent com- pletely into the shade. No institution perhaps in the country, has within the same short period of time exhibited the same measure of success, or accumulated an equal amount of promise.
Marshall College, (so called in compliment to the memory of the late Chief Justice of that name,) was founded, under a charter from Legislature of Pennsylvania, in the year 1836. It sprang, as before mentioned, from the High School established in connection with the Seminary of the German Reformed Church; which had been removed ten years before from the borough of York to Mercersburg. It stands of course in intimate connection with the Seminary still. The prima- ry object of the two institutions may be regarded as one and the same. The church needs ministers, and she is concerned to have them prop- erly educated for their high and responsible work. It is her zeal for this interest which has given birth to Marshall College. Harvard Uni- versity, Yale College, and Nassau Hall, owe their origin to a similar zeal mainly, on the part of the religious denominatious by which they were founded.
The College is the daughter of the Church, and as such consecrated to the service of religion as well as letters. Like the Institutions which have just been named however, it aims at more than simply to meet the want which is felt with regard to the sacred ministry. It is design- ed to promote the interest of education generally within the bounds of the German church. At the same time its privileges are not restricted in any way to these limits. Though founded by the Reformed church and looking to it mainly of course for patronage and support, its con- stitution is altogether catholic and free, as much so as that of any of the colleges of New England. The church as such exercises no eccle- siastical supervision over it, more than the Presbyterian Church does over Nassau Hall.
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