Twentieth century history of Altoona and Blair County, Pennsylvania, and representative citizens, Part 36

Author: Sell, Jesse C 1872-
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: Chicago, Richmond-Arnold Publishing
Number of Pages: 1036

USA > Pennsylvania > Blair County > Altoona > Twentieth century history of Altoona and Blair County, Pennsylvania, and representative citizens > Part 36

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Manasseh Bradley, William Clark, John Clark, Abraham Crane, Robert Edington, Jacob Fetter, John Hunter, Jacob Myers, Daniel Swartz, John Swartz, Giles Stephens, John Tussey, Caleb Tipton, Timothy Van Schoick, Aaron Van Schoick and Peter Wertz.

During the April sessions of the court of quarter sessions of Huntingdon county, in the year 1808, before Hon. Jonathan Walker, president judge, the petition of a number of the inhabitants of Allegheny township was read, praying for a division of the township. Whereupon the court appointed John Blair, John Patton and Andrew Henderson a com- mission to inquire and report to the next court agreeably to the act of assembly of March 24, 1803. At the August term of 1808, it being the "next term," the same order was contin- ued, and was continued through succeeding terms until the August session of 1810, when Messrs. Henderson, Patton and Blair ren- dered their report, recommending a division of the township. Thereupon the court or- dered the division, directing the newly created township to be called Antis. From 1810 to 1850, Antis included, besides its present ter- ritory, a considerable portion of Logan town- ship, the latter division having been formed from Antis and Allegheny in the latter year.

Edward Bell was the first retailer of mer- chandise in the township, and he had the field to himself until 1828, when he had a compet- itor, Dudley H. Burnham. From 1829 to 1841, Edward Bell again occupied the field alone. During the latter year, though, and for a few years succeeding, Graham McCam- ant and John Krotzer were mentioned as merchants. John Bell and Josiah Clossen were the inn-keepers in 1830. In 1840 the merchants and inn-keepers noted were John Dougherty, Martin Bell, Benjamin F. Bell, John Bell and Graham McCamant. The Cranes were also early inn-keepers at Davids- burg, or Hensheytown.

Bellwood, having been incorporated as a borough, there are left but three villages in the township, Tipton, Fostoria and Davids- burg, or Hensheytown. Tipton was laid out

LUTHERAN CHURCH, ROARING SPRING

NASON HOSPITAL, ROARING SPRING

CHURCH OF GOD, ROARING SPRING

M. E. CHURCH, ROARING SPRING

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by Herman Haupt on January 21, 1856. The original plot contained 154 lots, besides the station grounds of the Pennsylvania Railroad company. William P. Dysart was also an early resident and large property owner, and his descendants still own the property he ac- quired. The first settlers in the vicinity were the Tiptons, and from them the place derives its name. In 1828 the Antis forge was built by Dysart & Lloyd. It had three fires and was sold to Graham McCamant in 1833. About the year 1855 operations were discon- tinued and the town never had any industry afterwards. The Baptist church was built in 1841, the Presbyterian church in 1845, and very soon thereafter the brick Methodist Episcopal church, which was subsequently burned.

Fostoria is a station on the Pennsylvania railroad, having about 100 inhabitants. It contains a few stores. Davidsburg, or, as now known, Hensheytown, was laid out by John Henshey in 1827, and so named in honor of his son David. Long before the beginning of the Revolutionary war Captain Logan, the Indian chief, and the firm friend of the Amer- icans, built his wigwam at the beautiful spring here which still bears his name. Subsequently he removed to the locality now known as Ty- rone. In 1792, however, Christian Black, a tanner as well as farmer, became the owner of the lands surrounding Logan's spring, and as the remains of old tan vats attest, here carried on his business for some years. He finally sold out to Thomas Ricketts, who transferred the premises to John Henshey in 1824. Until the building of the Pennsylvania railroad and the consequent diversion of travel from the wagon road which led from Bellefonte to the Portage railroad at Duncansville, Davidsburg was quite an active business center, and at one time could boast of two taverns, three stores, a tannery, two shoe-shops, two tailor shops, blacksmith, cabinet and carpenter shops. Its glory has departed, however, it being now but a quiet little village, having no business inter- ests. For many years John Bell, as post- master, handled all the mail matter arriving

in the township at the Antis postoffice. Dr. Crawford Irwin, for many years a leading physician of Hollidaysburg, was the first phy- sician to locate at Hensheytown. After him came Drs. Giles, Baldwin, Confer and Clark, the last named having been in the vicinity un- til the spring of 1881.

The most important industry within the confines of Antis township at the present time is the manufacturing plant of H. S. Kerbaugh, limited. The firm is largely engaged in rail- road contract work, and at these works all the tools, shovels, cars, etc., used by the firm in its operations are manufactured. The plant is located near Bellwood and gives employment to about 100 men, mostly skilled workmen.

The Tyrone division of the Logan Valley Railway company extends through Antistown- ship and it has given an impetus to building operations, many people who are employed in Bellwood, Altoona and Tyrone having erected homes at places along the line. Some very fine farms are found in the Tuckahoe and Logan valleys and much attention is devoted to market gardening in recent years.

The people of the township have always been abreast of the times in matters of educa- tion. A township high school has been suc- cessfully conducted for several years and al- together there are seventeen schools in the township, the directors at present being Wil- liam Fouss, Harry Manley, Fred Bland, D. W. Irwin, F. M. Glasgow and William L. Snouffer.

BLAIR TOWNSHIP.

The township of Blair, one of the three interior divisions of Blair county, enjoys the distinction of including within its bor- ders three boroughs, viz .: Hollidaysburg, Gaysport and Newry, besides a portion of the borough of Dunsansville. It was formed from Frankstown in 1839, and, as now defined, is bounded on the north by Al- legheny and Frankstown, east by Franks- town and Taylor, south by Taylor and Freedom, and west by Freedom and Alle- gheny townships. Although its surface is

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broken, hills, dales and bottom lands abounding, good farm lands predominate. Including Newry and Duncansville it con- tained 1,176 inhabitants in 1860; 1,571 in 1870 and 1, 426 in 1880. Exclusive of these places the population in 1890 was 1,054 and 1,043 in 1900.

During the Revolutionary period, or from 1768 to 1786, a considerable number of set- tlers had located in that portion of Franks- town township now known as the township of Blair. Among them were Patrick Cas- sidy, the founder of Newry; Henry Cham- pinou, Michael Fetter, who built the fourth grist-mill in the upper valley of the Juniata, and who with his sons, Michael, George, Samuel and John, occupied the premises, later known as McCahan's mills, now the residence of John N. Vipond; Paul Frazier, William and John Holliday, John, James, Angus and Patrick McDonald, Thomas and John McCune, Jacob Shingletaker, William Pringle and John Wareham.

During the January sessions of the Hunt- ingdon county court of quarter sessions in the year 1839, before the Hon. Thomas Burnside, president judge, and Joseph Adams and John Kerr, esqs., associate judges, the report of the commissioners, appointed at January sessions, 1838, to in- quire into the propriety of forming a new township from the township of Frankstown, continued to the same commissioners at April sessions, 1838, August sessions read and approved, November sessions contin- ued, was, January sessions, 1839, read and confirmed and the division decreed. Max- well Kinkead and Alexander Dysart were the commissioners. In April, 1863, George L. Cowan, Job M. Spang and Jacob L. Mar- tin, commissioners appointed by the court for the purpose, ran a new line between

Blair and . Freedom townships, which changed the boundary line, increasing the area of Freedom township, and conse- quently diminishing that of Blair.

The creation of the boroughs of Holli- daysburg, Gaysport, Newry and Duncans- ville left Blair township with no towns of any size. There are, however, the villages of Catfish, Vicksburg and Reservoir. At Catfish were located two hotels, which by their location along the pike leading from Hollidaysburg to Morrison's cove, enjoyed a large patronage. The Ingram house was conducted for many years by Humphrey Ingram, and the Catfish hotel by William Detrich, whose widow still conducts it. Vicksburg, near the Pennsylvania railroad station of Brooks' Mills, had for most of its residents for many years the sons of Daniel Delozier, one of the pioneer residents of the township, and their descendents. A church, built by the Progressive Brethren in 1885, is located here. Reservoir, located at the breast of the old reservoir, which fed the canal, is a village of about 100 inhab- itants. It contains two churches, a Meth- odist and a Baptist, both established as mis- sions by the Hollidaysburg churches. The reservoir, which is treated fully in a sep- arate chapter, was located within Blair township.

The dismemberment of the township left it with but four schools, but its people have always been abreast of the times in educa- tional matters. In 1909 a handsome two- story brick building replaced the old struc- ture in the Rhodes district, it being dedi- cated with appropriate ceremonies on Oc- tober 30. The members of the school board in 1909-10 are Thomas A. Stover, C. C. Young, A. L. McIntyre, R. S. Delozior, David Garland and W. J. Ellenberger.

CHAPTER XVI.

HISTORY OF THE TOWNSHIPS (CONTINUED).

History of Catharine, Frankstown and Freedom Townships.

CATHARINE TOWNSHIP.

Catharine township occupies a central po- sition on the eastern border of the county. Formerly a part of Morris township, in Huntingdon county, it began its existence as a separate organization in the year 1846, contemporaneously with that of Blair county, section two of the act organizing the latter county, approved February 26, 1846, reading as follows:

"That each of the portions of said Morris township, according to the said division line made by William Reed and others, shall hereafter .be separate and distinct town- ships for all purposes; the portion lying westward of said line to be called Catharine township, and shall hold its general and township elections at the house now occu- pied by Walter Graham."

Its name was bestowed in honor of Cath- arine, wife of Alexander Gwin, who was a member of the house of representatives at the time the act was passed.

A little more than ten years later, or on the 19th day of June, 1857, the report of Robert R. Hamilton, Thomas B. Buchanan and John H. Stiffler, commissioners ap- pointed to survey and establish a new boun- dary line between Catharine and Franks- town townships, was confirmed and ordered to be placed on record. This line is de- scribed as "beginning at a post by the Juniata river near Canoe Furnace; thence north five and one-half degrees west 385 perches west to a chestnut-oak on the sum-

mit of Canoe mountain; thence north thir- ty-three degrees west 695 perches to the summit of Brush mountain." Thus the territory of Catharine township was con- siderably increased.

As now formed the township is bounded on the north by Tyrone township and Hunt- ingdon county, east by Huntingdon county, south by Woodbury township, and west by Frankstown and Tyrone townships. Its principal water-courses are the Frankstown branch of the Juniata, which in its north- easterly flow forms the major portion of the boundary line between Woodbury and Catharine townships. Canoe creek, Fox, Roaring and Yellow Springs runs. Its sur- face, although broken by mountains and ridges, affords a considerable scope of good farming lands, which are utilized success- fully, well-cultivated fields and handsome farm buildings dotting a landscape most picturesque.

In 1846 its taxables numbered 185. It had 815 inhabitants in 1860; 907 in 1870; 579 in 1880; 513 in 1890, and 712 in 1900. The decrease after 1870 was owing to the abandonment of the canal and the cessation of work at Etna furnace.

The Etna furnace was the first establish- ment for the manufacture of iron erected within the present limits of Blair county. Messrs. Canan, Stewart & Moore became the owners of the lands upon which it, the forge, grist-mill, etc., were situated, in 1808. They began the erection of the furnace soon

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HISTORY OF BLAIR COUNTY

after, and it was completed and put into blast in 1809. Mr. Stewart finally became the sole owner, and continued to operate the mills, furnace and forge until 1823, when Thomas Jackson by purchase became the owner. Since Mr. Jackson's time the prop- erty has been in possession of Henry Fisher, Henry Spang, Harry A. Spang, Spang, Keller & Co., Isett, Keller & Co., Samuel Isett, who with his son, continued the business until 1877, when work at Etna was abandoned. Only its ruins remain to- day.

The township can boast of no village, but at Yellow Springs, in the central part, is a store, post-office, blacksmith shop and a few dwellings. The turnpike passes here, and during the pike's palmy days the Yel- low Springs tavern and toll-gate were im- portant and well-known landmarks on this once famous highway. On the turnpike, but a considerable distance east from the Springs, is situated a frame Lutheran church edifice and burial-place, and still further to the eastward stands a commodi- ous Presbyterian house of worship con- structed of brick. At Etna there is a Meth- odist Episcopal chapel and in the northeast part of the township stands a building known as Keller's reformed church.

The Kittanning path, or trail, famous and widely known during the colonial days and the war of the Revolution, in passing from Frankstown to Water street, inter- sected the present township of Catharine; and it is probable that in following up this broad aboriginal avenue and the valley of the Frankstown branch of the Juniata, the hardy pioneers of a century and a half ago obtained a first glimpse of the present county of Blair from a point within the borders of this little township.

When this immediate region was first vis- ited by the whites it is now impossible to determine, but probably not earlier than the year 1750. In 1756 Colonel Armstrong led his avenging expeditionary force through this township and on westward along the

Kittanning path to his objective-point, the Indian town of Kittanning, lying west of the Alleghenies, which was reached and de- stroyed. Doubtless these fertile valleys then presented an inviting aspect to many of his followers, and they resolved that at no distant day their homes should be es- tablished here, but they were then in the midst of what is known as the French and Indian war, and for seven long years there- after the border settlements of New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia were ravaged by the Indians and their no less savage allies, the French from Canada.

In consequence of the state of affairs existing during the continuance of this war it was not possible for settlers to locate and remain in the Canoe valley, nor is it likely that any attempted it prior to the year 1765. After the latter date, however, and before the beginning of the war of the Revolution, it is presumable that a few families became established as residents, forming an outly- ing settlement, as it were, in their relation to the settlers of the Sinking valley.

Among the early settlers who had made homes in the neighborhood of Water street and in the Canoe valley before the war of the Revolution began were John and Mat- thew Dean, the Stewarts, Ferguses, Beattys, Moreheads, and Lowrys, Jacob Roller, John Bell, the Simontons, Van Sants, John Sanders, Samuel Davis and Ed- ward Milligan. Following them, probably after the cessation of hostilities in 1783, came the Kinkeads, Clarks and others. The early settlers were mainly Scotch, or Scotch-Irish, stanch Presbyterians. They endured great hardships, met appalling dangers, and until 1781 frequently bap- tized this soil with their blood. The mas- sacre of the Dean family and other thrill- ing events of the times are set forth in another chapter.

After the restoration of peace the settle- ments here, as well as in other portions of the county, increased but slowly. The es- tablishment of the Etna furnace and forge

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in 1809 accelerated improvements some- what, yet at the time of the second war be- tween the United States and Great Britain the major portion of the present township was denominated unseated land. Most of those now residing in the township are the descendents of the early settlers, and the township has given to the county and the state many men of prominence. There are five schools maintained by the township and great interest has always been taken in educational matters. The present mem- bers of the board are Lewis H. Isenberg, I. Martin McCall, S. M. Isenberg, J. M. Koo- ken, A. C. Shultz and L. E. Hetrick.

FRANKSTOWN TOWNSHIP.

Frankstown township of today embraces by a very small part, comparatively speaking, of its original proportions. Organized as a town- ship of Bedford county at an early day, it be- came a part of Huntingdon upon the organi- zation of that county in 1787, and then con- tained territory comprised in the present town- ships of Allegheny, Antis, Blair, Frankstown, Logan and a part of Catharine, and by a change made in the boundary line dividing Frankstown and Catharine townships, a por- tion of the former was transferred to the lat- ter in 1857.

As now organized this ancient township is bounded on the north by Logan and Tyrone, east by Catharine, Woodbury and Huston, south by Woodbury and Huston, and west by Taylor, Blair, Allegheny, Logan and Tyrone; it being very irregular in form, and touched by eight different townships. Some portions of its surface are rugged and lying waste, but along the streams, and particularly in Scotch Valley, some fine farming lands are found and utilized to a large extent.

It had a population of 1,363 inhabitants in 1860; 1,553 ten years later, and 1,783 in 1880. In 1890 the number had decreased to 1,505, and in 1900 the number reached 1,609.

The village of Frankstown, once a place of considerable commercial importance, a bor- ough, and in early days a prominent landmark

in the central portion of the state, has long since been nothing but an insignificant ham- let, its glory having departed with the begin- ning of the rise of its near neighbor, Holli- daysburg. It had a furnace, but like all the other furnaces in Blair county, it went out of blast in the early eighties, which accounts for the loss in population between 1880 and 1890. The town is a station on the line of the Peters- burg branch of the Pennsylvania railroad and recently has received some impetus by reason of the fact that it is at the eastern end of a large classification yard built by the east of Hollidaysburg.

Early History, Settlers, Etc .- Assunne- pachla was the Indian name of Frankstown, signifying in their language a meeting of many waters, or the place where the waters join. Here they had a village known to the Indian traders as early as 1730, and here they continued undisturbed until during the French and Indian war, or in the year 1755, when the major portion of the warriors at Asunne- pachla went to the Ohio river valley, and took up the hatchet for their "brothers" the French. This act the colonial government officials per- suaded themselves to believe was mercenary on the part of the savages. The real cause, however, was the great and universal dissatis- faction which followed the purchase of the Juniata valley, besides the greater portion of western Pennsylvania, by the Penns, for four hundred pounds, from the Iroquois at Albany in 1754.

After the final settlement of this difficulty by a treaty held between Penn's representa- tives and the savages, and confirmed October 23, 1758, it is believed that a considerable number of those who had joined the French returned to the wigwams at Assunnepachla. At least this town continued to be a prominent Indian settlement until the army of General John Forbes marched up the Raystown branch in 1758, when the spies sent out by the Indi- ans brought back such exaggerated reports of the warlike appearance and strength of the army that the settlement was entirely broken up, and the warriors crossed the Alleghenies

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by the Kittanning Path, and bade farewell to the valley which they were only too well con- vinced was no longer their own.

Some years before the departure of the In- dians from Assunnepachla, however, the local- ity had become known to the Indian traders as Frankstown, from the fact that an old Ger- man Indian trader by the name of Stephen Frank had established himself here, and was engaged in bartering with the Indians. He, in common with other Indian traders, lived upon terms of the greatest friendship with the savages. He died among them, and it was after his death that one of the chiefs took his name of Frank; hence has arisen the errone- ous impression that the was given to this old town in honor of an Indian chief.

Soon after the close of the French and In- dian war settlements of whites began to show in the region west of Tussey's mountain, and to distinguish the locality a wide scope of country stretching from the mountain afore- said to the Alleghenies was given the name of Frankstown district. The Scotch and Scotch- Irish, the German Lutherans, and many native Americans equally as hardy and venturesome were gradually pushing out their settlements to the westward, and before the close of the year 1770 it is probable that a score or more of families were snugly domiciled in the re- gion then known as the Frankstown district.

Frankstown Village .- Just when this local- ity assumed the aspects of a village we cannot determine, but probably about the year 1800, upon the establishment of Lazarus Lowry's grist- and saw-mills. At that time John Cun- ningham was the inn-keeper. In 1810, Dr. John Buchanan was the resident physician, and the manufactories consisted principally of distilleries, though Joseph Patton had a tan- nery in operation. The village then contained twenty houses and lots. In 1820 among its business men were Samuel Crawford, Henry Denlinger, each of whom owned mills; Peter Hewit, a distiller and merchant; John F. Lowry, proprietor of a grist and saw-mill; Lowry & Garber, merchants, and Joseph Pat- ton, tanner. The merchants in the township

in 1834 were James McNamara, Robert Mc- Namara, Christian Garber, John Swope, Alex- ander Knox, William Shiffler and John M. Blair & Son. The tavern keepers in 1832 were Henry Denlinger, Charles Cox, John Kinports, James Buchanan, David McKillip, Jacob Weidensall, William Donaldson, Wil- liam Johnson, Philip Leamer, Jacon Noffsker, John Cannon, Jeremiah Murray, James John- ston, John Lytle, Bartle Hartford and Michael Hayden.

The Huntingdon, Cambria and Indiana turnpike was then an important avenue of travel, and the proposed canal and Portage railroad, which its projectors intended should connect at Frankstown, was then agitating the minds of all of those in the state foremost in works of internal improvement.

Supposing that Frankstown must be the western terminus of the eastern canal, and consequently the eastern terminus of the Port- age railroad, the residents and property-own- ers in the village during the years from 1825 to 1831, or until it was determined that Hol- lidaysburg should be the terminus, became possessed of great expectations as to the fu- ture. The village was incorporated as a bor- ough, real estate rose rapidly in value and various business enterprises were projected. But a property owner demanded an exorbit- ant price for a sufficient quantity of land on which to construct a canal basin. The resi- dents and friends of Hollidaysburg were pressing their claims and offering special in- ducements meanwhile, and it was finally deter- mined that the latter town should be the terminus of the canal and railroad. This de- termination and its speedy accomplishment ended the prospects for future greatness of Frankstown and it has remained a quiet little village to this day.

The Frankstown furnace was built by Daniel Hileman and Stephen Hammond about 1836. After various changes of ownership it came into the possession of the Blair Iron and Coal company in 1878 and was managed by that company until about 1885, when it was put out of blast and dismantled. During the

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latter years of its operation it afforded em- ployment for fifty men and produced 550 tons of pig iron per month. George W. Grier was the last manager of the furnace.

Geeseytown and Canoe Creek are the only other villages in Frankstown township. The former place was settled by Conrad Geesey, the progenitor of the family in this county and a sturdy German Lutheran, and the Geesey homestead is one of the old landmarks of Blair county. Geeseytown contains several stores, shops, a Lutheran church and about a dozen dwelling houses and a granger's hall.

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Twentieth century history of Altoona and Blair County, Pennsylvania, and representative citizens, Part 36

Author: Sell, Jesse C 1872- Publication date: 1911 Publisher: Chicago, Richmond-Arnold Publishing Number of Pages: 1036

Author: Sell, Jesse C 1872-
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: Chicago, Richmond-Arnold Publishing
Number of Pages: 1036