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HISTORY
of
Perry County, Pennsylvania
Including Descriptions of Indian and
Pioneer Life from the Time of
Earliest Settlement
Sketches of Its Noted Men and Women
and Many Professional Men
By
H. H. HAIN
HARRISBURG, PA.
1922
Hain-Moore Company, Publishers
harrisburg, pa.
.
Copyright 1922
By
Hain-Moore Company
JUL 31 32
A681155
/
'I love tin rocks and ril
r M y () all those Perry Countians who
-Z first saw the beautiful rays of the
morning sun as it came up o'er the
Blue Ridge Mountains, who cherish
fond memories of the land of their
birth, and to those oilier citizens of the
Republic who have chosen to make
their abiding place within the borders
of the Best Little County in the Com-
monwealth, this book is respectfully
dedicated.
Thy woods and templed hills."
FOREWORD
THE lands lying north of the Kittatinny or Blue Mountain,
which wove a part of Cumberland County until 1820, when
Perry County was organized, form historically one of
Pennsylvania's most interesting sections for various reasons.
Here, when the world was in formation, geologists tell us, oc-
curred upheavals and an admixture of the elements so unusual
that Perry County, as to-day constituted, has more varieties of
soil than any other county in the State.
For many years these lands stood at the very verge of the un-
broken forests, a veritable out-post of civilization, where the war-
whoop of the red men yet echoed through the hills while the
pioneer plied axe and saw, as he hewed from the wooded lands a
home for himself and his people. Amid such surroundings there
was no place for the weakling or. timid and thus there came to
these lands a race of men and women, fearless and unafraid, who
builded their homes, carved from the wilderness their farm ,
peopled the towns, surged over the borders and became useful
citizens of other counties and states. They or their descendants
have filled positions of honor and trust, which included the Presi-
dency, the Vice-Presidency of two governments, governorships,
chief justices' places on the supreme courts of three different
states, and United States senatorships. From no other county
have come more illustrious men or those whose ancestry have
abided there, considering the small extent of territory and the
necessarily attendant small population of a rural county.
This is more than a history of Perry County, as it records
much of Indian habitation and devastation and pioneer life long
before its lands became a county, which has come down to us
through the mists of another day, being principally based on
official records and historical accounts of the period, with here and
there a tinge of tradition, when well founded, which has de-
scended down the years through generations of responsible people.
Among the first settlers were men and women of mental vigor
and talent, and these characteristics became inherent in unborn
generations, with the attendant result that Perry County has not
only been the birthplace of many men illustrious in the affairs of
state, but also of an array of men and women educated in the
learned professions, who have held, or hold, responsible positions
in their respective communities, all over Pennsylvania and in a
large majority of the states of the Union. While the book is in
no sense a biographical work, yet it is deemed fit and proper to
record the more noted. Unfortunately the list is not complete, as
7
8 FOREWORD
the whereabouts of some at this time is unknown to the author,
as many letters seeking information remaining unanswered, and
also for the reason that it is difficult to obtain the records of
those of the first half -century or more of the county's existence.
It will serve as a basis for future records.
Of all these things; of the county's beautiful scenery, with its
physical distinction and magnificent mountains, verdant valleys,
rambling and sometimes raging rivers ; of its traditions and its
treasures — its homes and its people, the book will go into detail.
It is unfortunate that the work was not undertaken a score of
years ago ; but the author, who was just young enough to be in-
cluded in the last conscription of men for the United States army,
in 1918, during the great World War, at an earlier day never
even dreamed of personally assuming a work of this importance.
Had it been undertaken then, the help of many who have since
passed away could have been enlisted, thus securing data which
has now been lost for all time.
In undertaking the task of writing and compiling a history of
the county of his nativity, the author has not done so under the
impression that he is more able to do so than others, as there are
many more competent. It was principally undertaken by him as
no other had even presumed to do so. A period of almost fifty
years had elapsed since the publication of Wright's History of
Perry County, the only separate history of the county published
since its organization, and which was written in answer to a
call from the Governor for the compilation of a history of every
county of the Commonwealth prior to the Centennial of 1876.
The book's contents are largely the result of development.
While some of the material used dates back to a boyhood scrap-
book, and more to the advantages afforded by connection as a
correspondent from boyhood and later as editor of one of the
county newspapers, and a continual collection of historical data
since, yet by far the major portion was gathered, written and
compiled during the past three years. As the prospectus an-
nouncing its coming publication was being written, June 28, 1919,
the bells and whistles at the State Capital were pealing forth the
glad tidings that the terms of peace had been signed at Versailles,
and two days later war-time prohibition became effective through-
out the Nation.
From the very beginning of writing and compiling this volume
the author has taken the public into his confidence, through
notices in the public press, and at every phase of its compilation,
and with some success. Conjointly with letters seeking informa-
tion the business end was conducted and its publication assured.
As the book goes to press the proposed edition has been almost
wholly subscribed for. Inexperienced in the writing of a book
FOREWORD 9
the triple method of traveling the territory, with the greater part
of which he was already familiar, searching legal records and
doing research work in libraries was adopted in the very begin-
ning and continued throughout, and found to be advantageous.
His place of residence and occupation made available the wonder-
ful library of the State of Pennsylvania, the library of the City
of New York, occupying a block; the Carnegie Library at Pitts-
burgh, a veritable acreage of books, and others of less impor-
tance, an advantage not available a half century ago, when the
former history was written. The work has been a pleasanl one,
done in connection with filling a regular position, and if the
reader enjoys the perusal of the volume half as much as the
author enjoyed its writing and compilation he is well repaid for
his efforts, undertaken largely as a labor of love. His one aim
has been to give to posterity all of the many good things per-
taining to his native county and its people, in so far as possible,
in the form of a single volume. Had its completion been hurried
much valuable data would have been lacking.
The history of a county differs from that of a state or nation.
its government being largely a part of a greater territory, and
necessarily includes matters of state and national importance, as.
they have a bearing upon local conditions. That tendency is a
marked one in so far as Perry County is concerned, for in both
the pioneer period and the sectional war time these lands were
at the very borderland. In this book there will be fonnd many
things which naturally are of the state and nation, hut they are
here embodied, as their bearing on local matters is of import. To
William C. Sproul, Governor of Pennsylvania; Thomas L. Mont-
gomery, then State Librarian, and H. H. Shenk, Custodian of
Public Records, the author is indebted for public sanction of the
undertaking and for putting at his disposal every facility and ad-
vantage for securing information. Should he name the published
works of others which he has searched for information it would
require pages, as he has gone over many hundreds of them.
In his many trips within and without the county, the latter
mostly spent in interviewing former Perry countians, every-
where he met with the kindest consideration .and regard and to
name a list of all who gave information is also impossible, but
they have his most profound thanks for help in the preservation
of these historical records. Here and there throughout the book
he gives mention to a few who have been of marked assistance.
Especial credit is due to Miss Margaret H. Barnett, of New
Bloomfield, who carefully read practically all of the manuscript
and made necessary corrections and valuable suggestions ; to
Prof. H. H. Shenk, custodian of Public Records of the State of
Pennsylvania, and former Professor of History in Lebanon Yal-
io FOREWORD
ley College, for performing a similar duty ; to Dr. George P.
Donehoo, secretary of the Pennsylvania Historical Commission
and a noted authority on Indian lore, and now State Librarian,
for reviewing the Indian chapters, and to the many who read and
criticised chapters with which they were especially familiar.
To those who loaned volumes from their lihraries we are in-
debted, and especially so for the valuable scrap books of Miss
Minnie Deardorff, Rev. John D. Calhoun, the late Senator Charles
H. Smiley and others. Ex-Senator James W. McKee and At-
torney George R. Barnett deserve special mention for aiding in
research work on many occasions.
The county editors have been uniformly kind and helpful in
every way, including the gratuitous use of their columns for
furthering the work and for seeking information, and the privi-
lege of searching their files. To Messrs. H. E. Sheibley and W.
W. Branyan we are also indebted for the use of a number of the
interesting electrotypes which help illustrate the book.
Upon the practical completion of the book notice was given
through the public press, inviting any interested persons to read,
criticise and correct any misstatements which they might find.
The privilege of so doing was open for a period of sixty days.
During the many days spent in the capitol building and state
library at Harrisburg the writer was treated with the utmost
courtesy and consideration, both by the employees and their
chiefs. They are skilled in their respective duties and considerate
of the general public, whose business calls them to Capitol Hill.
While the work was in progress death took from us a num-
ber of men and women who had offered help in securing material
and facts, some of which appears here and there throughout the
book. Among these were Prof. L. E. McGinnes, Prof. Daniel
Fleisher, Frank Penned, Mrs. Annie Swartz Hench, wife of Harry
F. Hench, and Mrs. Clara Lahr Moore, wife of Dr. E. E. Moore,
two cultured and learned women.
As the work took form the impression was made that no mat-
ter what proportion it assumed upon completion there would
still be a lack of finality, as ever and anon there appeared new
(or rather old) data, legend, tradition, and sketches of men —
and still more men — who had gone forth from Perry County and
its territory and lived lives of honor and distinction. There will
be errors, of course, but the statements herein made have all been
secured or transferred from historical or other books, public
records, newspaper files, scrap-books, etc., except where noted.
Where statements have differed the one supported by facts has
been used.
H. H. Hain.
Harrisburg, Pa., January io, 1922.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. Location, Physical Features, Geology, Etc. 15
II. Earliest Records of Indian Inhabitants 37
III. Intruding Settlers Evicted 57
IV. Treaty of Peace, but a Devastating In-
dian Warfare 84
V. Simon Girty, the Renegade 104
VI. Duncan's and Hauh; man's Islands [18
VII. Coming of the Trader 137
VIII. Coming of the Pioneers [48
IX. Perry County in the Revolutionary War 161
X. Perry County Territory in the War of
1812 177
XI. The Province and "Mother Cumberland" [82
XII. Perry County Established 201
XIII. The Fight for the County Seat 221
XIV. Trails and Highways 231
XV. Old Landmarks, Mills and Industries . . 247
XVI. The Earliest Churches 280
XVII. The County Schools, Past and Present 369
XVIII. Academies and Public Institutions 335
XIX. Postrider and Stagecoach 362
XX. Rivers, Streams and Old Ferries 374
XXI. River and Canal Transportation 401
XXII. Building of the Pennsylvania Railroad 421
XXIII. Projected and Other Railroads 431
XXIV. The Sunday School Movement in Perry
County 438
XXV. The Liquor Question 443
XXVI. The County's Public Officials 448
XXVII. The Bench and Bar 459
XXVIII. The Public Press ^3
XXIX. Banks and Corporations 488
XXX. County's Early Years — A Comparison . . . 407
XXXI. Perry County in the Sectional War .... 543
XXXII. The Spanish-American War 580
XXXIII. The World War and Perry County 582
XXXIV. Perry County's Noted Men 604
XXXV. Agriculture in Perry County 862
XXXVI. The Tuscarora Forest 870
XXXVII. Perry County From Many Viewpoints . . 882
XXXVIII. Perry County's Boroughs, Townships and
Villages 911
11
ILLUSTRATIONS
TAGE
The Author Frontispiece
Map of Perry County 6
Gibson's Rock 16
Susquehanna Water Gap, at Duncannon 39
The Lincoln Profile Rock 60
Junction of the Juniata and Susquehanna Rivers 82
The Indian Profile at Girty's Notch 105
Scene at Haldeman's Island 131
Sherman's Creek, near Gibson's Rock 140
A Pioneer Bride and Groom 154
The Old State House at Philadelphia 167
William Penn, the Founder of the Province 183
Landisburg, the First County Seat 202
Robert Mitchell, One of the First Commissioners 214
The Courthouse at New Bloomfield 221
New Bloomfield, Looking North 224
The Old Rice Gristmill near Landisburg 2^^
"Westover," the Gibson Mill 258
John Wister, Noted Iron Manufacturer jyS
Rev. Chas. Beatty, Pioneer Missionary 282
Rev. Jacob Gruber, a Circuit Rider 287
Pioneer Communion Service 290
Jacob Buck, a Zealous Churchman 300
Daniel A. Kline, County Supt. of Schools 310
Schoolhouses at Mt. Pleasant ^22
Lewis B. Kerr, Early County Supt. of Schools 327
vSilas Wright, Educator and Historian ^^2
The Loysville Academy 336
Football at Carson Long Institute 342
William Grier, Associate Judge and Educator 345
William Carson Long 346
Donald C. Willard 347
The Tressler Soldiers' Orphans' Home 351
Rev. Philip Willard 353
Charles A. Widle, Supt. Tressler Orphans' Home 355
The Juniata River at Iroquois 374
The Flood of 1889 at Newport 391
The Pennsylvania Canal at Mt. Patrick 402
Pennsylvania Canal and Aqueduct at Newport 41 1
The Pennsylvania Railroad Bridge at Marysville 424
Pennsylvania Railroad Tracks Along the Juniata 429
12
ILLUSTRATIONS
13
r \or,
Rev. Matthew B. Patterson 445
Judge Benjamin F. Junkin 460
Judges Charles A. and James M. Barnett 466
Judges Win. N. Seibert and James W. Shall 468
Horace E. Sheibley, Editor 477
James A. Magee and Wm. C. Lebo, Editors 479
Frank A. Fry and Sons, Editors 480
C. B. Smith and R. M. Barton, Editors |Sj
John A. Baker, Leading Abolitionist and Editor 483
John A. Magee, Democratic Editor and Congressman [X |
John H. Sheibley, Noted Republican Editor 485
The Duncannon National Bank 491
The First National Bank of New Bloomfield 492
Lieut. Edward Moore, Paul Fleisher and James Zimmerman 588
Warren G. Harding, President of the United States 609
-Thomas R. Marshall, Vice-President of the United States 612
Alexander H. Stephens, Vice-President of the Confederacy 614
James G. Blaine, Noted American Statesman 626
Chester I. Long, Lhiited States Senator 633
William Bigler, Governor of Pennsylvania 637
John Bigler, Governor of California 645
Gen. Stephen Miller, Governor of Minnesota 650
Gen. James A. Beaver, Governor of Pennsylvania 655
John Bannister Gibson, Chief Justice of Pennsylvania .... 667
Daniel Gantt, Chief Justice of Nebraska 677
Henry Calvin Thatcher, First Chief Justice of Nebraska . . 681
John A. Thatcher, Pioneer Merchant and Banker 689
The Thatcher Building at Pueblo, Colorado 691
Mahlon D. Thatcher, Noted Financier and Banker 693
Col. A. K. McClure, Noted Editor 701
Luther M. Bernheisel, Noted Builder 70 ^
Elihu C. Irvin, Noted Insurance President 707
Marie Doro, Famous Dramatic Star 709
Carlton Lewis Bretz, Noted Railroad Man 714
Elizabeth Reif snyder, M.D 717
Mina Kerr, College Dean 718
David L. Tressler, College President 720
Chas. W. Super, University President yi^
Jesse Miller, Notable Early Congressman yiy
Benj. K. Focht, Member of Congress 730
Harris J. Bixler, Member of Congress 731
J. R. Flickinger, Principal Central Slate Normal School . . y^y
L. E. McGinnes, Supt. of Steelton Schools, 742
,Wm. Nelson Ehrhart, Supt. Mahanoy City Schools 746
Theodore K. Long, Founder Carson Long Institute 748
14 ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
Sheridan E. Fry, Municipal Judge at Chicago 752
Rev. and Mrs. John R. Peale, Martyred Missionaries 754
D. F. Garland, D.D., Noted Welfare Director 763
Anna Froehlich, Noted Teacher 767
H. W. Flickinger, Expert Penman 769
Lelia Dromgold Emig, Genealogist 771
S. Nevin Hench (Inventor) and Walker A. Dromgold . . . 773
Col. George E. Kemp, Postmaster of Philadelphia 'jj'j
Wm. F. Calhoun. Speaker Illinois Assembly 780
Rev. John Dill Calhoun 784
Rev. James W r . Meminger, D.D 786
Rev. Barnett H. Hart 787
Emmett U. Aumiller, Ex-County Supt. of Schools 7<ji
S. S. Bloom, Member General Assembly of Ohio ~<)S
Rev. Roy Dunkelberger, Missionary 806
Daniel Fleisher, Supt. Lancaster County Schools 808
Milton B. Gibson, Noted Manufacturer 812
John L. McCaskey, Inventor S_>0
Samuel F. Stambaugh, Large Real Estate Dealer S46
Albert H. Stites, State Senator South Dakota 848
Centre Square and Soldiers' Monument at Bloomfield .... 916
Blain Borough and Conococheague Mountain 928
Jane ( Smiley) McCaskey 942
Duncannon Borough and Juniata Creek Road 950
Sherman's Creek near its Mouth at Duncannon 952
Clark M. Bower, Member of Assembly 969
Looking South from Liverpool 983
Marysville from Cove Mountain 100 1
Millcrstown, Oldest Town in the County 101 1
Millerstown's World War Monument 10 1 S
Newport, Perry County's Largest Town . . 1024
Ickesburg and Landscape 1052
CHAPTER I.
LOCATION.. PHYSICAL FEATURES, GEOLOGY, ETC.
PERRY COUNTY. Pennsylvania, is located in the southern
central portion of the state, just north of the Kittatinny
(Blue) Mountain, its southern boundary being within forty
miles of the Mason-Dixon Line, that historic line which not only
separated the states of Pennsylvania and Maryland, but which he-
came, politically, the boundary line between the North and the
South, on the slavery question. In fact, in much of the legislation
appertaining to slavery, this line was the barrier against which two
contending forces battled, practically from the time of the forma-
tion of the United States until the best blood of the nation was
spilled in the four years of war between the States, 1861-65.
Perry County is bounded on the north by Juniata County ; on
the east by the Susquehanna River, across which lies Dauphin
County; on the south by Cumberland County; and on the wesl
by Franklin and Juniata Counties. It contains 564 square miles.
according to Smull's Handbook, the official publication of the
commonwealth. Groff, in the History of the Juniata and Susque-
hanna Yalleys, gives the square miles as 480 ; Claypole, the geolo-
gist, gives the number at 539, and Wright, in his History of Perry
County, makes the number 550, which show considerable variance.
While the size of Perry County is relatively small, yet it is not
the smallest county in Pennsylvania, by any means. Twenty-
seven others are smaller in area, but many of them have a vastly
greater population. It is larger than either Cumberland or Dauphin.
Perry County is credited with 564 square miles. The other coun-
ties whose area is not so great are as follows : Montour, 130 square
miles; Philadelphia, 133; Delaware, 185; Union, 305; Snyder.
311; Lehigh, 344; Lawrence, 360 ; Lebanon, 360; Northampton,
3;_>; Juniata, 392; Cameron, 392; Wyoming, 30; ; Mifflin, 398;
Fulton, 402; Carbon, 406; Forest, 423; Beaver, 429; Lacka-
wanna, 451 ; Sullivan, 458 ; Columbia. 479 ; Luzerne, 484; Mont-
gomery, 484; Dauphin, 521; Cumberland, 528; Adams, 528;
Blair, 534, and Pike, 544.
In population, eleven other counties of the state have less. Ac-
cording to the census of 1920, Perry County's population was
22,875. The counties having less are Cameron, Pike, Forest, Sul-
livan, Fulton, Montour, Wyoming, Juniata, Union, Snyder, and
Potter.
15
i6
HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
The United Slates Census Bureau, in a bulletin, 192 1, classes
Perry County as one of eight "truly rural" counties in Pennsyl-
vania — along with Forest, Ful-
ton, Juniata, Pike, Snyder, Sulli-
van, and Wyoming — for the rea-
son that the 1920 census showed
no communities of 2,500 or over
in population. Were the built-up
sections at Newport in one dis-
trict, instead of being divided into
Newport and Oliver Township,
that town would show a greater
population than that figure. While
classed as a rural county, Perry
County is within fifteen minutes
of the State Capital, within three
hours of Philadelphia or the Capi-
tal of the nation at Washington,
and within five hours of New
York City. A ride of a little
over four hours and you are at
the surf of the great Atlantic
Ocean. The great bend in the
river below Newport marks the
half-way point over the Pennsyl-
vania Railroad, between New
York and Pittsburgh.
According to a bulletin of the
State Forestry Department 210
square miles are wooded land,
comprising 134,400 acres, out of
a total of 304,640.
The seventy-seventh degree of
longitude west of Greenwich
passes through the county, cut-
ting the townships of Rye, Watts,
Buffalo, and Liverpool, passing
the village of Montgomery's
Ferry, and going through Liver-
pool Borough. On its way through the state it goes through
Hanover and passes, a short distance east of Williamsport, thus
showing our relative positions with towns in the northern and
southern sections. The seventy-seventh degree also passes through
the National Capital. All the Southern states, save small sections
of Virginia and North Carolina, lie west of it, an unusual fact to
many. The entire county lies between the seventy-sixth and.
koto by 1 1 lick
GIBSON'S ROCK
Located on Sherman's Creek. By it lay
the "Allegheny Path," the First Great
Indian Trail to the West.
LOCATION, PHYSICAL FEATURES, GEOLOGY, ETC. 17
seventy-eighth degrees, and almosl all of it between the sevent}
seventh and seventy-eighth. It lies between the fortieth and fort)
first degrees of latitude. A line drawn from Pittsburgh to Read-
ing, Pennsylvania, would pass through New Bloomfield, and one
from Johnstown to Reading, through Marysville.
Considered in size, Perry County is one of the smaller counties
of the state, and yet it is almost half of the size of the state of
Rhode Island, and almost one-fourth as large as the state of Dela-
ware. Its average length is thirty-fight miles, and its average
breadth, fourteen miles. Its elevation varies very much. At the
mouth of the Juniata it is 357.4 feet above sea level, and at the
Gibson mill in Spring Township, it is 471 feet. The old road over
Bower Mountain, in Jackson Township, according to Claypole, the
geologist, is 950 feet above the valley, 1,350 feet above Landis-
burg, and 2,000 feet above the level of the sea.
Its location is in the Atlantic slope of the great Appalachian
Mountain system, of which Groff* says: "The construction of the
underground world is so beautifully simple as a whole, and so
curiously complicated in details, that it will ever stand the typical
district of the Appalachian Mountain belt of the Atlantic sea-
board." The shape of the county resembles roughly a triangle, or
rather, a pennant. Its acreage is 360,960, according to the Depart-
ment of Agriculture of the State.
Along the eastern boundary, where winds the broad Susque-
hanna, from a point about five miles above Liverpool to below
Marysville, where the river breaks through the Blue or Kittatinny
Mountain, the distance is twenty-nine miles, or twenty-one by air
*George G. Groff, M.D., former Professor of Natural History, Bucknell
University.
Gibson's Rock. Gibson's Rock is located along the north side of Sher-
man's Creek, three miles west of Shermansdale. It is a striking geological
formation, of which the county has many, and yet this is a surpassing one
in size and interest. Located at the dividing line of Spring and Carroll
Townships this mighty crag towers from the bed of Sherman's Creek
almost perpendicularly. West of it the old Indian trail, known as the
Allegheny Path, crossed the creek to the northern side. Here the moun-
tain evidently once breasted the creek and held back waters which covered
several townships, according to geologists. Picturesquely situated, this
point has long been a mecca for campers, outings, and picnics. Above it,
within sound of the human voice, stood the famous Gibson mansion, and
still stands the "Westover" or Gibson mill. In that house was born Chief
Justice John Bannister Gibson, Governor William Bigler, and John Bern-
heisel, representative in Congress from the then Territory of Utah. f,<>\
ernor William Bigler had a brother, John Bigler, who was governor of
California at the same time that his brother was governor of Pennsyl-
vania, but John Bigler was born at Landisburg, where his parents resided.
prior to coming to the Westover mill in 1809. During the early years of
the county's existence a bill passed the Pennsylvania Legislature making
Sherman's Creek navigable, and many huge boulders were blown from
flie creek's bottom, some within the shadow of the great cliff, the drill
marks being yet distinguishable.
2
l8 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
line. The trend of the river is from north to south, with consid-
erable bend to the west at Duncannon. The southern boundary,
starting at the Susquehanna River from a point seven miles north
of Harrisburg, the capital of Pennsylvania, follows the crest of
the Blue Mountain, adjoining Cumberland County, for fifty-three
miles, at an average elevation of one thousand feet above the Cum-
berland Valley, to the south. The course of the mountain for the
first twenty-two miles is almost a straight line, due westward.
Then it curves back, northward, to Welsh Hill, and makes a loop,
in which lies Green Valley. Going out again to practically the
same line from which it receded, to Pilot Knob, it makes a second
loop— deeper than the first — which is the location of Kennedy's
Valley. Thereafter its course is practically southwest to the
Franklin County line for over a dozen miles. The air line dis-
tance along the southern border is thirty-eight miles.
The extreme western boundary, which borders Franklin County,
is only a little over eight miles, crossing a series of mountains,
described further on, at very irregular intervals. From the north-
west corner it follows the crest of the Tuscarora Mountain to the
Juniata River, the first ten miles being almost straight in a north-
eastern direction. It then makes two small offsets at the west of
Madison Township and assuming the same general direction runs
"straight as a crow flies" to the western bank of the Juniata River.
At this point the line runs due north for a mile and a half, and
thence almost due east about thirteen miles to the western bank of
the Susquehanna River.
The mountains in and surrounding Perry County are from six
hundred to twelve hundred feet high, measured from the valley
levels adjoining, but are eight hundred to sixteen hundred feet
above sea level. A brief description of these mountains follows,
much of the information being drawn from the works of Professor
Claypole, the geologist:
Mountains.
Kittatinny or Blur Mountain. This mountain is known by various names.
Geographers term it the Blue Mountain; the pioneers called it the Kitta-
tinny Mountain, derived from the Indian "Kau-ta-tin-chunk," meaning the
main or principal mountain ; Conrad Weiser, the Indian interpreter, inter-
preted it as "the endless mountain" ; Richard Peters, the provincial secre-
tary, in a letter to Governor Hamilton, dated July 2, 1750, first officially
called it "the Blue Hills"; the residents east of the Susquehanna called
it the First Mountain, and the residents of the Cumberland Valley called
and many yet call it the North Mountain, as it lies north of that valley.
In a provincial record dated May 6, 1752, this mountain is called "Kekach-
tany" or "Endless Hills," the title which the Delaware Indians applied to
it. In the Albany grant of July 6, 1754, for the lands which now com-
prise Perry County and others, recorded in the provincial records of
February 3, 1755, it is called the Kittochtinny or Blue Hills, by which it
was known throughout provincial and colonial times in all records. The
LOCATION, PHYSICAL FEATURES, GEOLOGY, ETC. [9
description at the beginning of this chapter only applies to this mountain
in so far as it is the southern boundary of the county. This Indian 1
"Kautatinchunk," as quoted in some volumes, is said to have been "Tyan-
nuntasacta" by the Six Nations, and "Kekachtannin" by the Delaw
The name is defined at one place as meaning "steadfast in storm and ever
true blue." It is to be regretted that the old Indian name, Kittatinny, has
fallen somewhat into disuse. Luther Reily Kelker, in his History of
Dauphin County, speaking of the Kittatinny Mountain also being called
the Blue or North Mountain, said, "The Indian name alone should be
used; any mountain may be blue at a distance, and any one is north of
some place."
These mountains (of the Appalachian system) really stretch from a
point not far from Newburgh, New York, on the Hudson River, across
New York State, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and enter
North Carolina and Tennessee, being broken by water gaps to let through
the waters of the Delaware, the Lehigh, the Schuylkill, the Swatara, the
Susquehanna, and the Potomac (at Harper's Ferry). At the southern
part of the county its crest-length of fifty-three miles is unbroken by a
single water gap. For seventeen miles it runs, with one small zigzag,
parallel to Bower Mountain, separated from it by the steep and narrow
vale of the north branch of Laurel Run, which starts at the Franklin
County line. Both mountains run on thus southwestward through Franklin
County, unite and end before reaching Fort Loudon. Bower Mountain is
therefore only a return zigzag of Blue Mountain.
It received its name First Mountain from the early settlers of south-
eastern Pennsylvania, especially those who built their cabins along the
Susquehanna River at Columbia, Marietta, and Harrisburg, and had occa-
sion to go up the river in canoes through the water gaps. The first moun-
tain they passed by was this mountain, hence the name, First Mountain.
The second was Cove Mountain, and from the Susquehanna to the Lehigh
it has retained the name of Second Mountain ever since; the third was
the Sharp Mountain of Schuylkill County, which traverses Dauphin County,
but does not quite reach the Susquehanna River; the fourth was Peters'
Mountain, opposite Duncannon. Here, at the mouth of the Juniata the
numerals stopped, as the mountains farther up, Berry's and Buffalo, did
not run in the same general direction.
In September, 1742, David Zeisberger, the missionary, and a party of
friends, among whom was Conrad Weiser, on their way from the settled
part of the province "came to a ridge of forest-crowned mountains, across
which led a blind trail, full of loose, sharp stones, and close to high rocks
the rugged sides of which rendered horseback riding exceedingly danger-
ous. The mountains being without a name, Conrad Weiser called them
'The Thiirnstein,' in honor of Zinzendorf. They were the parallel chains
of the Blue Ridge, now known as the Second, Third, and Peters' Moun-
tains."
The western end of the Tuscarora Mountain, Conococheague Mountain,
Round Top, Little Round Top, Rising Mountain, Amberson Ridge, Bower
Mountain, and Middle or Sherman Mountain, named in order from north-
west to southeast, across the western end of the county, are all in a way
zigzags of different lengths of one range. The following description from
Claypole is given verbatim :
"A woodsman can enter Perry County from Franklin County on the
rocks at the top of the West Tuscarora Mountain, and walk along the
rocky crest of this range, alternately towards the northeast and towards
the southwest, for a total distance of thirty-live miles, reentering Franklin
County from the crest of Bower Mountain, only three miles across from
20 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
the place where he left it. In all this distance he will keep at nearly the
same elevation, say 1,600 feet above ocean level, except at three points,
where the wall on the top of which he is traveling is broken down to its
base by small streams. One of these water gaps is cut through the West
Tuscarora Mountain; a second is made by the head of Sherman's Creek,
which cuts through Rising Mountain; the third is made by Houston's Run
through the north leg of Bower Mountain. Everywhere else along the
line he will find the sharp crested mountain unbroken by gaps, with steep
rock-covered slopes or even cliffs always on his right hand, and a gentler,
smoother, but still quite steep slope on his left hand. When he turns the
east end of a zigzag he will see the mountain crest make a long slope
downward into the valleys of Perry County; and when he turns the west
ends of the zigzag, he will be on boldly scarped knobs overlooking the
shale and limestone valleys of Franklin County. On these knobs he will
always reach a somewhat higher elevation above tide. Round Top and
Little Round Top are simply the southwestward looking ends of two of
the zigzags rather more strongly pronounced than the others."
The district enclosed by these mountains is peculiarly isolated from
travel, except along the river. While the extreme western part of the
county is bound by this series of mountain ranges, yet the traveler can go
through to Amberson Valley, Franklin County, by utilizing the second
narrows and the break through Bower's Mountain.
Tuscarora Mountain. The eastern end of the Tuscarora Mountain
forms a range alone, along its crest for a distance of twenty-one miles
runs the boundary line which separates Perry from Juniata County.
Almost straight and continuous, it is broken by a ravine opposite Ickes-
burg. A small stream flows through this ravine, draining a small glen in
the heart of the mountain, three miles in length and a half-mile in width.
At this point the mountain has two crests, the county line following the
southern. This mountain slopes gently at both ends. In Gordon's His-
tory of Pennsylvania and Belknap's Gazetteer of Pennsylvania, both of
which were published in 1832, the Tuscarora is referred to as Tussey's
Mountain, in these words, "The Juniata River enters Perry County through
Tussey's Mountain." There is a mountain by that name farther up the
state, but as these two historians called the Tuscarora "Tussey's Moun-
tain" it may have been known to many others by that name and hence the
resultant confusion of pioneer and Indian history and legend.
Tiik Hill Ranges Within.
Surrounded by mountains and the Susquehanna River and penetrated
from the east to a small extent by other mountains the interior of Perry
County is an extensive wedge-shaped area of open country, traversed by
many ranges of hills, which vary from two hundred to five hundred feet
above the levels of the streams which drain them. Some of these hills
are cultivated in common with the lower soil, a prominent and extensive
example being the Middle Ridge, which extends ten miles west from
Newport.
Raccoon Ridcjc. A ridge in Tuscarora Township, starting some dis-
tance from the river. At Donally's Mills it is broken by a gap through
which flows the south branch of Raccoon Creek.
Ore Ridge. A ridge paralleling the Tuscarora Mountain at its base,
comparatively low and located within Tuscarora Township.
Hominy Ridge. The southern boundary of the western half of Tusca-
rora Township. It is of Chemung shale, which Claypole says is among
the poorest, adding "of all the Chemung districts that on Hominy Ridge
LOCATION. PHYSICAL FEATURES, GEOLOGY, ETC. 21
is the most uninviting. High, steep and rough, it presents little to attract
the farmer and the wonder arises why so much of il is cleared."
Umestone Ridge. A wooded ridge starting- at the Juniata River below
Bailey's Station, on the Pennsylvania Railroad, in Miller Township, and
extending westward through the county to the Madison Township line,
forming the boundary between Miller and Oliver Townships and -< pa
rating Spring and Tyrone from Saville. Even west of that its formation
exists, to the western end of the county, but it is more broad and is cul-
tivated. North of Andersonburg and Centre it is two and a half miles
broad. From New Bloomfield to the Juniata it has double and at some
places triple crests. Limestone generally follows its southern surface.
The U. S. Geological Survey names this ridge, Hickory Ridge, and the
northern crest, Buffalo Ridge.
Mulianoy Ridge. Mahanoy Ridge starts near the Juniata River, in Mil-
ler Township, at a point between Iroquois and Losh's Run stations, on the
Pennsylvania Railroad, and traverses Miller, Centre, and Spring Town-
ships. At four points in Miller and Centre Townships it is broken by
water gaps. Between Green Park and Landisburg it zigzags, coming to an
abrupt incline at the latter place in a promontory known as Bell's Hill.
Dick's Hill. This ridge starts in Miller Township, almost five miles
west of the Juniata River, and becomes from that point the boundary line
between Miller and Wheatfield Townships. It separates Wheatfield and
Carroll Townships from Centre and continues into Spring Township, ter-
minating at a point east of a line between Landisburg and Bridgeport, be-
ing known as Pisgah Ridge after leaving the Wheatfield Township line.
Its central portion is shown in old maps as Iron Ridge, and is sometimes
locally known as Rattlesnake Hill. This ridge was probably known as
Dick's Hill for its entire length originally, as it is mentioned as being
crossed by the old Indian trail to the West as early as 1803, by a woman
then 100 years old, as will be noted in our chapter devoted to "Trails,
Roads, and Highways." From its eastern gap, through which flows kittle
Juniata Creek, one of the three earliest churches took its name — the Dick's
Gap Church, long since gone to decay. This church was not located along
Dick's Hill however, but along Mahanoy Ridge, a short distance north.
Dick's Hill was also the site of two pioneer industries, Perry Furnace and
Montebello Furnace. Claypole says, "Curving round sharply it sweeps for
almost twenty miles under the name of 'Little Mountain' to the Susque-
hanna River at Marysville."
Pisgah Ridge. See Dick's Hill, immediately preceding.
Pine Hill. This ridge starts in Carroll Township and runs east, forming
the dividing line between Rye and Wheatfield. It is, in fact, an extension
of the Cove Mountain.
Buck Hills. South of New Germantown, in Toboyne Township, a low
range called Buck Hills rises gradually, but irregularly, until it merges
into Rising Mountain.
Chestnut Hills. The Chestnut Hills rise in Madison Township, west of
Centre, run through Jackson and Toboyne, merge into Amberson Ridge,
their ascension being gradual.
Round Top. Right after leaving the county the Conococheague Moun-
tain turns sharply and reenters the county, forming Pound Top, which
commands the head of Sherman's Valley and is a conspicuous object for
many miles. Its course is short, however, and zigzaging again, it passes
over the county line to the southwest, with a southeast dip, and continues
for about twelve miles as a range known as Dividing Mountain, as it di-
vides Path Valley and Amberson Valley, in Franklin County.
Dividing Mountain. See Round Top.
HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
Little Rount Top. Located in Toboyne Township, south of Round Top.
Rising Mountain. Returning from its long lap into Franklin County the
mountain again reenters Perry County and forms the high, broad, stony
ridge known as Rising Mountain, lying southwest of New Germantown.
To the east lie Buck Hills, which rise gradually into a mountain, hence
the name, Rising Mountain.
Amberson Ridge. After Rising Mountain crosses into Franklin it laps
and again crosses the line into Perry, being then known as Amberson
Ridge. It meets the great fold of Bower Mountain and forms a high knob
overlooking Amberson Valley, Franklin County.
Bower Mountain. Bower Mountain is a great level-crested ridge rising
near Loysville, passing through Madison Township, gently sloping upward
through Jackson Township, and on entering Toboyne it forms a small
zigzag and separates into two parts which are unnamed. Named after
Nathaniel Bower, whose 200-acre farm saddled its crest.
Mount Pisgah. The highest elevation of the little range of Pisgah
Mountains is in Carroll Township. Opposite these mountains, near where
Sherman's Creek breaks through at Gibson's Rock, was born John Ban-
nister Gibson, once Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.
It is also known locally as Pisgah Hill.
Little Mountain. A small ridge lying north of the Blue Mountain, in
Rye and Carroll Townships and a short distance into Spring Township.
Slaughterbeck Hill. Sometimes called Michael's Ridge. A conspicuous
promontory in Pfoutz Valley, Greenwood Township. It blocks entrance
from the west, rising above every other range in the township. Claypole
says of it: "It is really a fragment of the great Tuscarora anticlinal which
has been cut off by the Juniata River from the main body and constitutes
an outlier. In truth the whole of the valley is a continuation eastward of
the anticlinal ridge of the Tuscarora, eroded by long ages of frost, rain
and sunshine."
Michael's Ridge. See Slaughterbeck's Hill, immediately preceding.
Wildcat Ridge. A high and rugged ridge separating Perry and Pfoutz
Valleys, in Greenwood township. It enters Liverpool Township for a
short distance, but dies down, the two valleys here being less distinct than
farther west. Rough and rocky at places, where wildcats once had a ren-
dezvous, hence the name.
Turkey Ridge. This high ridge, at places farmed to its very top, but
mostly wooded, is the dividing line between Perry and Juniata Counties at
Liverpool Township. Like Wildcat Ridge it loses much of its steepness as
it approaches the Susquehanna River. In pioneer years noted as a great
wild turkey territory, from which comes the name, Turkey Ridge.
Half Fall Mountain. In provincial and colonial records, frequently re-
ferred to as Half Fall Hills. It lies between Buffalo and Watts Town-
ships, its crest being the township line. It is an extension, across the
Juniata, of the converging Mahanoy and Limestone Ridges, the limestone
rocks forming almost a complete dam across the river, producing a "half-
falls" from which the mountain takes its name. It spans the territory
completely between the Juniata and Susquehanna Rivers, being crossed by
a public highway. Below Montgomery's Ferry it ends in a conspicuous
bluff, near the top of which is a cave supposed to have once been the
hiding place of Simon Girty, the renegade, but which records practically
confute. (See chapter on Simon Girty.) On a promontory of the moun-
tain here is a protruding rock, which viewed coming from the north over
the Susquehanna Trail, presents the profile of an Indian as perfect as can
be found, and one which only the Creator, that greatest of artists, could
produce.
LOCATION, PHYSICAL FEATURES, GEOLOGY, ETC. 23
Mount Patrick. A name sometimes applied to the end of Berry's Moun-
tain at the village of that name.
North Mountain. See Kittatinny Mountain.
First Mountain. See Kittatinny Mountain.
Second Mountain. See Kittatinny Mountain.
Third Mountain. See Kittatinny Mountain.
Fourth Mountain. See Kittatinny Mountain. This is also known as
Peters' Mountain and is located opposite to Duncannon, the Cove Moun-
tain being in reality an extension thereof, the Susquehanna water gap
cutting through.
Peters' Mountain. See preceding paragraph.
Mount Dempsey. A high promontory of the Blue or Kittatinny Moun-
tain, where it laps, located opposite Landisburg, in Tyrone Township. One
of the most picturesque spots in the county. An Indian trail, later used as
a bridle path, passes its base.
Buck Ridge. A "breaking down" of Rising Mountain, in Toboyne Town-
ship.
Big Knob. A mountain ridge north of Blain.
Little Knob. Twin sister to Big Knob, north of Blain.
"The Crossbar." A wooded ridge running from Big Knob, north of
Blain, to the Tuscarora Mountain.
Berry's Mountain and Buffalo Mountain. These two mountains are lo-
cated in the northeast section of the county, are broken by water gaps by
the Susquehanna at Mt. Patrick and Liverpool, are seven and eight miles
long, respectively, and unite in a single elevated knob on the east bank of
the Juniata River a mile above Newport, known as Round Top, which can
be plainly seen from east of the Susquehanna. Both of them have per-
fectly straight sharp crests, long gentle slopes towards the cove which they
form, and outer terraces, that of Berry's facing south and that of Buffalo
facing northwest. Unlike the sharp ellipse of Cove Mountain, that of
Berry's Mountain is broken by a gap nearly to its base at its western end
on the southern side, by a small stream extending into the Juniata. But a
high divide behind the gap virtually closes the upper end of the cove.
Berry's Mountain runs on through Dauphin County and returns as Peters'
Mountain, then Cove Mountain. Buffalo Mountain also reappears on the
east side of the Susquehanna under the name Mahantango Mountain, and
along its crest runs the north county line of Dauphin to the northwest
corner of Schuylkill County. Buffalo Mountain separates Buffalo Town-
ship from Greenwood and Liverpool Townships.
As the Dauphin County anthracite coal basin is enclosed at its west end
by the Cove Mountain in Perry County, so is the Wiconiseo anthracite
coal basin enclosed by Berry's and Buffalo Mountains in Perry County.
The two coves resemble each other closely in shape, size and position.
Within the cove formed by Buffalo and Berry Mountains is located Hun-
ter's Valley, the northern half of Buffalo Township. Berry Mountain,
it is said, was named after a family by the name of Berry which resided
at its base, below Mt. Patrick, but as it bears the same name east of the
Susquehanna it probably derived its name from the fact that immense
quantities of berries have always grown along its sides.
Cove Mountain. The Cove Mountain, lying between Duncannon and
Marysville, is a sharply recurved ridge, one thousand feet higher than the
water level of the water gap below, like the cut-off prow of a canoe-
shaped basin— the Dauphin County anthracite coal basin, being the west
end of a long-pointed ellipse, the east end of which is Carbon County, be-
yond the Lehigh River. The Susquehanna River crosses it diagonally at
the east, the northern crest being only five miles in length and the southern
24 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
ten miles. The crest at the extreme west is known as "the horseshoe" to
sportsmen and overlooks the fertile Sherman's Valley to the west.
Conococheague Mountain. A beautiful mountain is the Conococheague.
It forms a long, straight, even-crested ridge from Madison Township,
where it starts, to its termination at Round Top, in Toboyne Township,
without break or gap of any character. Over it pass two roads, one lead-
ing north from New Germantown to Horse Valley and Juniata County,
and the other west over the bend in the range to Concord, Franklin County.
At its east end it is a perfect arch, but to the west it becomes a south-
dipping range. The Indian word, Conococheague, is recorded as meaning
"it is indeed a long way."
lUtffalo Ridge. The name applied to the ridge south of the Little Buf-
falo Creek. Also known as Furnace Hills.
Furnace I /ills. See preceding paragraph.
Bell's I /ill. The promontory ending of Mahanoy Ridge in Spring Town-
ship.
Quaker Hill. An outlying hill of the Pisgah Ridge in Spring Township.
Gallovi's Hill. In "Little Germany," John Faus (Foose), known as the
"King of Germany" on account of his large land holdings, took up 300
acres on June 12, 1794, with which he was assessed in 1820, the date of
the county's birth, and on which he had erected a sawmill and a distillery.
A tavern was kept on the old mansion farm until 1827. The sign of this
tavern, was an iron ring suspended from an arm attached to a high post,
so suggestive of a gallows that the place came to be known as "Gallows
Hill."
Welsh Hill. The point of the Blue Mountain separating Kennedy's Val-
ley from Green Valley, in Tyrone Township.
Pilot Knob. Pilot Knob is the highest spur of the Kittatinny or Blue
Mountain, and is located not far from Landisburg.
Middle Ridge. The ridge running west from Newport, through Oliver
and Juniata Townships, once wooded, but now a fertile section of farm
lands.
Crawley Hilt. A high hill in Spring Township, an outlying knoll of the
Dick's Hill range, which derived its name from a man named Crawley, who,
it is said, was murdered upon it long years ago for his money. His remains
were buried near the road which crosses the hill. But a few rods from
this road, on the south side of the hill, stood a very small stone school-
house in the shadow of a thicket, and tradition tells of the teacher raising
a window sash to get a rod without leaving the building, for it appears
that at one time the rod was a necessary accessory to every schoolhouse.
Tradition may be right, but the writer cannot conceive of any Perry
County boy allowing them to remain so handy longer than twenty-four
hours. A frame structure later took its place, but it was abandoned. Be-
tween Crawley Hill and Mahanoy Hill nestles the famous settlement
known as "Little Germany."
Iron Ridge. The name once applied to the ridge just south of Crawley
Hill, in Spring Township.
Tiii': Kittatinny Mountain Gaps.
Across the crest of the Kittatinny Mountain, where it drops,
(if ten slightly, are a number of famous gaps or passes, some of
which were the locations of old Indian trails and are mentioned in
provincial and colonial records. Starting from the Susquehanna
River these gaps in the order named are Lamb's, Miller's, Myer's,
Croghan's (now called Sterrett's), Crane's, Sharon's, Long's,
LOCATloX. PHYSICAL FEATURES, GEOLOGY, ETC. 25
Waggoner's, and IVlcClure's. A concise description of each fol-
lows:
Holt's Gap. A small gap in the mountain at ,1 poinl jusl wesl of MEai
ville, little more than a great depression.
L,amb's Gap. Crosses the mountain almost opposite what was known as
I Liftman's mill, in Rye Township, now C,1envale. On the Cumberland side
it is the boundary line between Hampden and Silver Spring Townships.
Elevation, 1,018 feet.
Miller's Gap. Crosses the mountain at a point a short distance south
west of Keystone, the road coming out at Wertzville, Cumberland Count)
Elevation, 1,080 feet.
Mxcr's Gap. Almost directly south of Crier's Point. Crossed by a 1 1
road, little better than a trail.
Dean's Gap. The road from Perry County leading up to this gap, which
lies almost two miles east of Sterrett's Gap, leaves a point known as "the
narrows" and runs in a- southeastern direction; another road from the
same point runs towards Sterrett's Gap, in a southwestern direction. There
is a considerable farm on the mountaintop at this gap, where Dr. Dean
lung resided, having a considerable medical practice in both Perry and
Cumberland Counties. The road on the Cumberland side trended in the
direction of Mechanicsburg.
Croghan's or Sterrett's Gap. Of all the gaps across the Kittatinny tins
one is the easiest for travel and the most noted historically. Through it
leads the state highway from New Bloomfield to Carlisle. Across it ran
the earliest Indian trail and in pioneer times the old Allegheny Path.
Over it passed the great Indian chiefs, the early interpreters, the early
traders and the pioneers with their meagre belongings and their first do-
mestic animals. Through its then precipitous passes came those first early
missionaries of Scotch-Irish Calvinism carrying to these inland forests
the message of the Man of Galilee, and across its picturesque ravines to-
day roll hundreds of motor cars on pleasure and business bent. From a
point of greater elevation several hundred feet west can he seen, looking
northward, the historic and picturesque Sherman's Valley, nestling be-
n the mountains, one of the famous coves of Pennsylvania, and look-
in- southward, the more extensive and productive Cumberland Valley in
all its beauty. The elevation of Sterrett's Gap is 925 feet. As late as
1877, according to Beach Nichols' Atlas of Perry, Juniata, and Mifflin
Counties, there was a post office located there known as Sterrett's Gap.
At that time there was also a store and tavern there. Authorities give
the name of the first tavern keeper as a man namel Puller. When the
county was created, in 1820, Daniel Gallatin was the tavern keeper. After
the middle of the last century there was a new hostelry built, where came
the well-to-do from Carlisle, Baltimore and other places, on leisure bent.
There came happy throngs, and there were scenes of gayety by day and
sounds of revelry by night, but with the growing popularity of the
resorts and the easy methods of travel its fame as a resort passed and a
struggling lone tavern remained. In fact, there was a road house there until
very recent years, at times being a hostelry of g 1 reputation and again
being a rendezvous for those of questionable reputation, its clientele often
changing with the change of proprietors. This gap was originally known
as Croghan's Gap, by reason of George Croghan's residing near. Croghan
was prominent in provincial all aits. An early order of survey was taken
out for the lands at this point by John Armstrong, who sold it to Nathan
Andrews. It was returned to the land office June 21, 1788, in the name of
Ralph Sterrett, who with his brothers John and James Sterrett, warranted
26 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
408 acres along the crest of the mountain, extending over three miles east
from the gap. Accordingly it came to be known as Sterrett's Gap and so
it remains, though the Sterretts are gone long since. Descendants of the
Sterretts sold the lands to William Ramsey, of Carlisle. In a mortgage
dated June 26, 1830, the Ramsey lands in Rye Township included "850
acres of land, two fulling mills, a woolen factory, three dwelling houses,
a wagonmaker shop, stable, shed and part of tavern house and part of
orchard at same place." (Part of the tavern and orchard were in Cum-
berland County, the former being built upon the line.) By right of mort-
gage James Buchanan, later President of the United States, became owner
of a part of these lands in 1835 and was assessed with 250 acres and a
fulling mill.
^ The mountain near the gap slopes so gradually that the approach from
Shermansdale and Fishing Creek is very gentle, and abundant springs of
water from high levels are available at the very top. There, upon a small
plateau, met four early highways from divergent points, which made it an
early centre of trade. And thus, at the dawn of the past century, we find
an early trading post. There were stores for exchange and sale and shops
for repairs, a tavern where man and beast were fed and cared for, and
there dwelt an early physician, Dr. Kaechline, until after a severe and in-
tensely cold midwinter night his frozen body was found near the foot of
the eastern slope, while a riderless horse at the gap stables gave the alarm,
too late. Additional facts may be found in the chapters devoted to Trails,
Roads and Highways, and Carroll Township. Something of George Cro-
ghan's life also appears in the early chapters of this book.
Crane's Gap. This gap crosses the mountain about three miles west of
Sterrett's at an elevation of 1,300 feet. The road enters Cumberland
County in North Middleton Township. At an early day it was but a foot-
path, but in 1848 was made a public road, now long abandoned.
Sharon's Gap. A small gap about a mile west of Crane's gap, called
after the original warrantee of the lands. There was once a road there,
but it too has been long since abandoned.
Long's Gap. This gap is directly south from Falling Springs, where
William Long, on February 3, 1794, warranted 400 acres of land. Its ele-
vation is 1,390 feet. To the older generation it is known as the "Forty
Shillings' Gap," tradition having it that a murder was once committed
there for the purpose of robbery and that the culprit got but forty shil-
lings. As our monetary system has had no shillings in circulation since
our divorce from George III the murder was likely a provincial tragedy.
Waggoner's Gap. Crosses the mountain south of Oak Grove Furnace
or Bridgeport. It is mentioned in early provincial annals. The road from
New Germantown, via Landisburg, leads through this gap, and was known
as the Baltimore Pike in the days when teaming to Baltimore with farm
produce was an industry.
McClure's Gap. McClure's Gap crosses the mountain at Welsh Hill,
southwest of Landisburg. There is really very little gap to the Perry
County side from the hollow on the Cumberland side, formed by the folds
in the mountain. It is crossed by a road built in 1821 to connect Landis-
burg, then the temporary county seat, with Newville, Cumberland County.
This gap is mentioned in provincial records as early as 1756. See chapter
on "Trails and Highways."
Doubling Gap. Probably named by reason of the doubling of the moun-
tain here. In a number of early publications, one as late as June 11, 1829,
however, it was called Dublin Gap, and the springs on the Cumberland
side were advertised as "Dublin, Gap Springs" as late as 1800. It was
first known as McFarlan's Gap, as James McFarlan had located about a
LOCATION, PHYSICAL FEATURES, GEOLOGY, ETC. _-;
thousand acres just below the gap. Court records bear out the fact thai
it was once known as McParlan's, as in April, 1891, a petition to the Cum-
berland County court asked for the laying out of a road from Thomas
Barnes' sulphur spring in the gap, formerly known as McFarlan's Cap. to
Carlisle. Doubling Gap figures in traditions of the first settlers and was a
commanding pass from the Shosshone Indians on the south, to the fi
Tuscaroras in the north, long before white settlers dared invade the sec-
tion. During the Provincial-Indian wars, an Indian trail from the Sus
quehanna, starting at the mouth of the Juniata, followed an almost direel
course westward across the county territory, through Doubling Gap, thence
to the mouth of Brandy Run on the Conodoguinet. Facing Doubling Gap
from Cumberland Valley, the eye meets Round Knob, 1,400 feet above
tidewater. On top of it is Flat Rock, one of the most noted lookouts in
the whole range of mountains. From its vantage point the whole Cum-
berland Valley lies before you, the South Mountain far below and the
tortuous Conodoguinet wending its way eastward. During the period from
1820 to 1846 the hostelry known as the Doubling Gap Springs Hotel was
in its heyday, and to it came men of note and prominence from far-off
points. With the coming of the railroads and the growth of seaside re-
sorts its fame gradually dwindled until it is little known.
Tuscarora Mountain Gaps.
Unlike the Kittatinny Mountain, to the county's south, the Tus-
carora Mountain, along the northern boundary, has few gaps, and
only one of importance. The gaps are mentioned in the report of
the survey of i860, which was for the purpose of locating the line
between Perry and Juniata Counties.
Waterford Gap. This is the largest gap crossing the Tuscarora Moun-
tain and the one through which crossed that old-time trail, the Allegheny
Path. Through it passed the red men on their incursions in and out of
Perry County territory and the daring and intrepid fellows who followed
them. Along this trail passed the trader, the early postrider, the circuit
rider, the pioneer emigrant on his way to the valley of the Ohio, and
through it to-day is a highway on which pass great touring cars of the
modern world. In early annals it was known as Bigham's Gap, but is de-
scribed here as Waterford Gap, as that is the official name placed upon it
by the County Line Commission. It is also sometimes called the Water-
ford Narrows. The residents of the east end of Horse Valley travel via
this gap in order to trade at East Waterford, Juniata County, their nearest
town. The public road traversing this gap extends from East Waterford
through into Horse Valley and to New Germantown.
Bigham's Gap. See Waterford Gap, immediately preceding.
Bealetoum Narrows. Another gap or break in the Tuscarora Mountain
is located southeast of Honey Grove, Juniata County, and is known as the
Bealetown Narrows. These narrows permit easy access to and from the
eastern portion of Liberty Valley, the road passing near the former site
of the Mohler tannery, and thence eastward by Walsingham schoolhouse
to Saville and Ickesburg.
Winns' Gap. Winns' Gap is located approximately two and one-half
miles east of the Waterford Gap. This gap is only a slight depression in
the mountain, and according to local gossip was frequently used by the in-
habitants living in the east end of Horse Valley for travel into Tuscarora
Valley in Juniata County. Tins end of Horse Valley is sometimes called
Kansas Valley. Only a trail or path crosses this gap.
28 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
Yai.i.kys.
The county of Perry, in itself a part of two of the most beau-
tiful valleys of Pennsylvania, the Susquehanna and Juniata, has
within its borders a number of beautiful and picturesque valleys,
many of them fertile and whose history dates back to almost the
middle of the second century past, when the pioneers braved the
untold dangers of the frontier to make their homes here. A brief
description of each :
The Susquehanna J 'alley. The long, broad and fertile drainage area of
the Susquehanna River, extending from within New York State, through
Pennsylvania to Maryland, the greater part of Perry County being drained
into the Susquehanna via Sherman's Creek, which empties into it at Dun-
cannon, and various other streams. Duncannon is located at the most
western point of the Susquehanna, the river making a sharp turn to the
southeast at that point.
The Juniata Valley. The picturesque valley drained by the Juniata
River, extending from the Allegheny Mountains to Duncannon, where the
Juniata flows into the Susquehanna. Almost half of the county is drained
by the Juniata.
Sherman's I 'alley. Sherman's Valley comprises the larger part of west-
ern Perry County, being drained by Sherman's Creek. It extends from
west of New Germantown to Duncannon. For several decades it was at
the very frontier of civilization. Across it first moved traffic to the west
of the Alleghenies, when roads were yet unknown.
Just how Sherman's Valley got its name will always remain a mystery.
There is a tradition that a trader by that name was drowned while cross-
ing Sherman's Creek, but nowhere is there record to substantiate it. How-
ever, as early as 1750 both the creek and the valley are referred to by that
name. The first person of that name to patent land was John Shearman,
and the tract was the first one east of the Haas mill tract in what is now
I 'nm Township. Here Andrew Berryhill took up 331 acres November 26,
17(10, and it is named on the warrant as "Sherman's Valley." It was sold
to Isaac Jones in 1773 and he transferred it to John Shearman, whose
patent is dated November 24, 1781. While John Shearman, as stated, was
the first person of that name to patent land, the valley had been named
long before that and the first settler may have been only a squatter and
not have patented land. In fact, when it is referred to as Sherman's or
Shearman's Valley and creek as early as 1750 it was impossible to patent
land, as the land office for these lands was not opened until February 3,
1755. Egle's "Notes and Queries," page 454, says it was so named for the
original settler, but gives no evidence to substantiate the fact, yet the
writer is inclined to give credence to that statement, as it looks plausible.
< )l actual substantiation, however, there is none. It is even likely that the
original name was Sherman and that Shearman is a German corruption,
as Shearman has the broad German sound.
Page 454, Egle's Notes and Queries, says: "In going over the files of
the Carlisle Gazette from 1787 to 1817 we find the original spelling in all
references and in official advertisements— so named for one of the early
settlers, Jacob Shearman."
Horse ]' alley. Horse Valley lies between the Tuscarora and Conoco-
cheague Mountains, in western Perry County, within the confines of To-
boyne and Jackson Townships. It was so named because the farmers of
Path Valley, Franklin County, of which it is an extension, used it as a
LOCATION, PHYSICAL FEATURES, GEOLOGY, ETC. 29
pasture for their horses, before it had been settled. It was once known as
McSwine's Valley.
Little Illinois Valley. This is a small valley located in Toboyne Town
ship. The eastern part is cultivated and the western part is wooded. On
the north it is bounded by Rising Mountain and Buck Ridge, which is a
continuation of this mountain. On the south is Amberson Ridge and
Schultz Ridge, a continuation of Amberson Ridge. It is about seven miles
long and a mile wide. Brown's Run drains it. The western end of this
valley is locally known as Fowler Hollow.
Henry's Valley. Henry's Valley is located in Toboyne and Jackson
Townships, between Bower's Mountain and the Kittatinnj or Blue Moun-
tain. It is over ten miles long and merges into Sheaffer's Valley. It was
named after John Henry, an early settler, who moved to Ohio. It is
watered by Laurel Run.
Sheaffer's Valley. Sheaffer's Valley is located in Madison and Tyrone
Townships, between Bower's Mountain and the Kittatinny or Blue Moun-
tain, and is in reality a continuation of Henry's Valley. It is about six
miles long and is watered by Laurel Run, in this section sometimes called
Patterson's Run. In earlier years there, was a preaching appointment in
this valley, and as so many families named Sheaffer resided in the valley
the itinerant missionary, in announcing his services referred to it as Sheaf-
fer's Valley, and the name stuck.
Kennedy's Valley. Kennedy's Valley is located in Tyrone Township, in
the cove formed by the folds of the Kittatinny or Blue Mountain, the
broad part lying close to Landisburg. Called after the Kennedys, early
settlers.
Green's Valley. Green's Valley is also located in Tyrone Township, in
the small cove formed by a fold of the Blue Mountain.
Liberty J 'alley. Liberty Valley lies east of the watershed which runs
from the Conococheague to the Tuscarora Mountain, and between these
mountains in Madison Township.
Raccoon J 'alley. The valley lying between the Tuscarora Mountain and
Raccoon Ridge in Tuscarora Township. Sometimes termed the Tuscarora
Valley. It is watered by Raccoon Creek, eleven miles in length.
Tuscarora J 'alley. See Raccoon Valley, immediately preceding.
Mahanoy Valley. The valley in Miller Township located between
Mahanoy Ridge and Dick's Hill.
Fishing Creek Valley. This valley comprises the most o\ Rye Town-
ship and lies between the Blue Mountain and the Cove Mountain.
Buffalo }' alley. The name given in early provincial papers to the terri-
tory drained by Buffalo Creek, which rises in Liberty Valley, Madison
Township, and flows into the Juniata above Newport.
Pfouts Valley. The limestone valley which extends from the Juniata
River to the Susquehanna River and lies between Wildcat Ridge and Tur-
key Hills, or the Juniata County line. One of the earliest points settled
after the opening of the land office.
Buclnvheat Valley. The valley located between Raccoon Ridge and
Hominy Ridge, extending west from the Juniata as far as Eshcol.
Big Buffalo Valley. The local name applied to the territory between
Hominy Ridge and Middle Ridge.
Little Buffalo Valley. Located between Middle Ridge and Buffalo
Ridge, sometimes called Furnace Hills.
Pleasant Valley. A small valley lying south of Mannsville, its location
'being between Furnace Hills and Limestone Ridge.
Perry Valley. Formerly known as Wildcat Valley. It is located in
30 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
Greenwood and Liverpool Townships, between Wildcat Ridge and Buffalo
Mountain.
Wildcat Valley. See Perry Valley, immediately preceding.
Hunter's J "alley. Hunter's Valley is a cove formed by the Buffalo and
Berry Mountain joining at the west, it lying between the two and wholly
within Buffalo Township. Named after the many persons of that name
who resided there, James Hunter being the original one. Isaiah Hunter,
long afterwards an undertaker at Millerstown, was a grandson.
Buck's J 'alley. Early known as Brush Valley. It lies between Berry
Mountain and Half Fall Mountain, in Buffalo Township, extending through
Howe to Newport on the Juniata River. Its eastern end joins the Sus-
quehanna River.
Brush Valley. See Buck's Valley, immediately preceding.
"Buck Hollow." Located in Toboyne Township, and spoken of by Clay-
pole, the geologist, as "the valley without a name."
Fishing Rod J'alley. According to an old map, located in Liverpool
Township, south of the wooded ridge, separating it from Susquehanna
Township, Juniata County.
The Cove. The Cove is a geological peculiarity. Professor Claypole
says its physical features are entirely due to the presence and direction of
the Pocono Sandstone Mountain, which crosses the Susquehanna River at
Duncannon under the name of Peters,' or Fourth Mountain, rims to the
southwest, then curves around, and, turning eastward at the horseshoe re-
turns to the Susquehanna River, which it crosses above Marysville. The
Cove is considered the western extremity of the southern angle of the
great Pottsville coal basin. It is located in Penn Township.
Limestone J'alley. Located between Limestone Ridge and Mahanoy
Ridge, starting east of New Bloomfield and running west until it merges
into Sherman's Valley near Green Park.
Sandy Hollow. Sandy Hollow is located in Carroll Township. It ex-
tends from the township's western boundary in a northeasterly direction,
for three miles. It is really a continuation of Sherman's Valley, as Sher-
man's Creek, after running close to the base of Pisgah Mountain for sev-
eral miles, turns sharply to the right, while the valley continues ahead.
Features of Distinction.
The Perry County territory belongs to one of the more impor-
tant drainage systems of the world. The Susquehanna River,
north of the Maryland line, including its tributaries, the \\ esl
Branch and the Juniata River, drains a territory comprising 21,006
square miles, according to a statement of the Forestry Department
of the State of Pennsylvania. Of this immense territory the Wesl
Branch drains 6,820 square miles; the North Branch, 5.328; the
Susquehanna, from Sunbury to its junction with the Juniata at
Duncannon, 1,552; from Duncannon to the Maryland line, 3,895,
and the Juniata, 3,411.
As the Christmas season comes around with its pleasing mem-
ories and happy greetings, with its gay decorations and beautiful
holly wreaths everywhere in evidence, being shipped from south-
ern climes, few probably know that holly grows as far north and
actually within the limits of Perry County; yet Prof. H. Justin
Roddy, of the Millersville State Normal School, in his geological
LOCATION, PHYSICAL FEATURES, GEOLOGY, ETC. 31
investigations has found it growing in Greenwood township, 1
the old home of former superintendent of schools, the late Silas
Wright.
On the old Wesley Soule farm in Centre Township, nol Ear
from New Bloomfield, there grows one of the most rare plants to
he found in America, known as the "box huckleberry." A man
named Miehaux and his son from France, came to this country
over a century ago to make botanical discoveries. They were ex-
perts in their line and probably discovered and named more plants
in America than any others. They described minutely various
plants that were later found to be extinct in the districts named
and botanists then thought they had been mistaken. Anion- these
plants was named the box huckleberry, which had been discovered
in the mountains of Virginia, which form a part of the same sys-
tem as do the Perry County mountains. None have been found
there since, and their discovery was supposed to have been a mis-
take or they had become extinct. About 1875 Spencer F. Baird,
who later became president of the Smithsonian Institute at Wash-
ington, D. C, while making investigations in Pennsylvania, dis-
covered the same plant covering a considerable area (about eight
acres) on the Soule farm.
While the species has been found extinct in Virginia, there is
one other small plot of it in the state of Delaware, on the banks
of the Indian River, near Millsboro. Prof. E. W. Claypole, the
geologist, speaks thus of it: "It appears to be a lingering relic of
the ancient flora of the county ; maintaining itself on the sterile
hillside of Chemung shale, but liable to be destroyed by cultiva-
tion at any time. It is exceeding plentiful, forming a perfect mat
over much of the ground, but its limits are sharply defined without
apparent cause." This farm, as well as the Andrew Comp farm
and others, was warranted by Robert McClay on March 22, 1793,
its extent being 436 acres.
During 1920, another colony of this famous plant, said to be the
oldest living thing on earth, was discovered within the borders of
Perry County. It is located on the lands of John Doyle, in Watts
Township, not far from the Juniata River, opposite Losh's Run Sta-
tion, on the Pennsylvania Railroad. The discovery was made by Mr.
H. A. Ward, of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, under peculiar circum-
stances. Near the colony there is a famous fossil rock, which has
been visited by geologists of note from many states. Mr. Ward
had accompanied a party of geologists there, they being under the
leadership of Dr. Benjamin L. Miller, of Princeton University.
Being more interested in plants than fossils, Mr. Miller strayed
through the ravines of the Half Falls Hills, and in a short time
discovered the mass of low shrubbery with bright, shining leaves,
being uniformly about ten inches high. He recognized it as the
$2 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
rare box huckleberry (Gaylussacia brachycera), and upon sending
specimens to such authorities as Dr. Edgar T. Wherry, of the U.
S. Bureau of Chemistry ; Dr. N. L. Britten, director-in-chief of
the New York Botanical Gardens, and Dr. J. P. Bill, a Harvard
instructor, found that he was correct, and that he had discovered
that which botanists had been seeking for over fifty years. The
main colony occupies the northern slope of a ridge for at least a
mile, and covers about two hundred feet in width. It is located
on the same chain of ridges of Chemung soil as is the colonv at
the old Soule property, the two being less than a dozen miles apart.
Mr. Ward has since discovered three additional colonies close by.
It does not grow from seed, but spreads from the roots, and does
not cross streams.
Located in Spring Township are the Warm Springs, the tract
of land on which they are located being warranted by Solomon
I >entler on March 21, 1793. James Kennedy, who was the owner
in 1830, erected bath houses there. John Hippie, who had been
sheriff of the county from 1826 to 1820. leased the property in
1830 from Kennedy for a ten-year period and erected a building
40x45 feet in size, and other additional bath houses, and in 1831
opened the place as a regular health resort, entertaining those who
during previous years had lodged in the surrounding farmhouses.
In 1838 Peter Updegraffe, by marriage connected with the owner-
ship, was in charge, employing his unoccupied time at farming and
conducting a pottery which he had erected. On August 8, T849,
H. H. Etter purchased the property, and in 1850 again opened the
house to the public. He built a seventy-five-foot extension to the
hotel. The property passed to R. M. Henderson and John Hays,
of Carlisle, who leased it to various parties until April 4, 1865,
when it was destroyed by fire. Then, on April tt, 1866, the Perry
Warm Springs Hotel Company was incorporated by A. L. Spon-
sler, Robert M. Henderson, John Greason, Jacob Rhecm, John
Hays, William T. Dewalt, and John D. Crea (probably Creigh),
with a capital stock of $10,000. The resort was again opened, but
never attained its former popularity, as the seashore and other
resorts which were reached by railroads were then being developed.
As late as 1877 lists of guests appeared in the county pres^. For
many years it has not been open as a resort. The property later
came into the possession of Abram Bower, and in TQ19 it was pur-
chased by II. B. Rhinesmith, of New Bloomfield, from the Bower
estate.
Sulphur springs abound at various places in Perry Count v.
notably in Wheat field, Juniata, and Toboyne Townships.
According to Prof. E. W. Claypole, an authority on geology, of
the Second State Geological Survey, the earliest fish fossils and the
LOCATION, PHYSICAL FEATURES, GEOLOGY, ETC. 53
earliest vertebrates found in any part of the world wen- discov-
ered in Perry County, aboul [883, in the Cat skill rock formation.
He describes these little prehistoric (ish as not more than -dx
inches in length, with thin shields protecting their vital organs.
lie says: "In every link the chain of argument is complete, and
Perry County now has the honor of contributing to geolog) the
oldest indisputable vertebrate animals which the world has yet
seen." Further on in his report, he says:
"It is a long, long" vista through which we look hack, by the help of
geology's telescope, to see these tiny ancestors of our fishes sporting in the
Silurian seas. The Tertiary and Secondary rocks abound with fish. Even
in our coal measures we find numerous species. The Devonian seas, as
I have already mentioned, swarmed with great armor-clad monsters, some
of which I have found in Perry County. These lived millions of years
ago, and few can realize what a million means. But earlier than all these
swam the little hard-shelled Pennsylvania Palaeaspis, as I have called it,
in the seas of long ago, before Tuscarora and the Blue Mountains had
raised their heads above the waters. To these queer, antiquated forms
we must look as the ancestors of some at least of our existing fish, devel-
oped by the slow process of nature, by change of environment, by compe-
tition in the struggle for existence, and by the inexorable law of the sur-
vival of the fittest. The condition of life must then have varied rapidly,
for these and every nearly allied form became extinct in Mid-Devouian
days ; and when our coal measures were laid down they were already as
much out of date and as nearly forgotten as are the armor-clad knights
of the Middle Ages at the present time. But the mud of the sea bottom
received their carcasses, buried them carefully, and has ever since faith-
fully preserved them, if not perfect, yet in a condition capable of being
recognized. And to the geologist that same sea bottom, long since dried
and turned to stone, now returns these precious remains. The day of their
resurrection has come, and the hammer has brought to light from the rocks
of Perry County the identical bones entombed, perhaps, twenty million
years ago, when its wearer turned on its back, gave up the ghost and sank
to the bottom."
Prof. Gilbert Wan Ingen, of the Geological Department of
Princeton University, assisted by 11. Justin Roddy, has been mak-
ing geological investigations throughout Perry County in recent
years, and the following extract from a personal letter from him
in Kj2i is self-explanatory:
Referring to your inquiry regarding the salina beds of Perry County.
There is only one item that is worthy of mention in a county history,
namely, that the salina beds of Perry County contain remains of the most
primitive types of fish known in North America. These were discovered
by E. W. Claypole, who described them about 1880, in the vicinity of New
Bloomfield, and have since been found by me at a certain horizon in the
salina group at several different localities scattered throughout the county.
Perry County has practically no minerals. Coal has been found
in small quantities on Cove Mountain and on Perry's Mountain in
what is known as Pocono sandstone formation, but not in suffi-
cient quantities to pay for mining and marketing.
3
34 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
There have been mines in years past of Clinton fossil ore at
Tuscarora Mountain, Millerstown; of Marcellus iron ore in small
basins of Oriskany sandstone in Limestone Ridge at a place
locally known as "Ore Bank Hill," south of Newport, in Miller
Township; on Iron Ridge, south and west of the old Perry Fur-
nace ; on Mahanoy Ridge, north and west of New Bloomfield ;
at Bell's Hill, north and west of "Little Germany"; on Pisgah
Mountain, near Oak Grove Furnace; at old Juniata Furnace, west
of Newport ; at Girty's Notch, on the Susquehanna, and at various
points along the south side of Mahanoy, Crawley's and Dick's
Hills, and back from the Susquehanna River at Marysville.
The only mineral of value ever mined to any considerable ex-
tent was iron ore, and that was principally in the vicinity of Mil-
lerstown. Ore was first discovered on lands of Abram Addams,
by Peter Wertz, in small quantities. Later the farm descended to
Mr. Adams' daughter, Mrs. McDonald, and George Maus began
actual operations. They were not worked extensively until 1867,
when Beaver, Marsh & Co. operated them and shipped the ore by
boat to their furnace at Winfield, Union County. In 1877 James
Rounsley, an experienced miner, bought the mines and shipped
much ore to that firm as long as their furnace was in operation, or
until 1892. They had built the furnace in 1853. The last ore
shipped from these mines was in 1903, by Mr. Rounsley. There
was another mine located near Millerstown, on the west side of
the river. James Lannigan began operations there in 1868 and
continued until 1875. James Rounsley purchased these mines also
in 1879 and continued their operation until 1901, his continuous
mining lasting for twenty-six years. About 1868 the Reading
[nm Company operated mines on the Thomas P. Cochran farm,
near Millerstown, but did not operate regularly. The Duncannoir
hen Company opened the mines on the Perry Kremer farm, on
the west side of the river, near Millerstown, in 1868, and operated
for about three years. The Reading Company also opened mines
on the Jonathan Black farm about 1868 and mined until 1877.
Other marts to which this ore was shipped was Lochiel, Reading,
and Harrisburg. When the Perry Furnace was in operation the
mines on the Dum farm in "Little Germany," Spring Township,
employed twelve men. With the blowing out of the charcoal fur-
naces throughout Perry County, about the middle of the last cen-
tury, these smaller operations ceased. The substitution of coal
and coke for charcoal in the iron industry spelled their end, as coal
was too far away and the product insufficient to pay.
An effort to mine coal in Berry Mountain, near Mt. Patrick,
was made by Baltimore capitalists, the McDonald-Downing Co.,
around the period of the Sectional War. A drift of three hundred
feet was made and at that point it was claimed a three-foot vein
LOCATION, PHYSICAL FEATURES, GEOLOGY, ETC. 35
of coal was discovered, said to be loo small to operate upon a
paying basis. The mouth of the drift is plainly to be seen. An-
other statement is that the firm offered a Mr. Matchett, a pros
pector, $10,000 for a three-foot vein.
An old leg-end is that the Indians once came to a blacksmith
shop on what is now the James R. Showaker place, on Shaffer
Run, in Toboyne Township, and wanted a horse shod, but were in-
formed by the smith that he had no coal, whereupon they left and
in a short time returned with the necessary coal. As coal was not
then yet in use the story must be only a legend . Coal was dis-
covered on the Cove Mountain twenty-five years ago, but not in
sufficient quantities. The Perry Forester of May 24, 1827, said
"a wry extensive bed of stone coal has been discovered near the
mouth of Sherman's Creek, on land belonging to Stephen Dun-
can." In 1857 the county press reported "a large vein of coal"
discovered on the land of D. Lupfer, one and a half miles west
of New Bloomfield. A small vein was once discovered in "Little
Germany," Spring Township, but it was only three inches thick,
soft and easily crumbled.
The great length of the zigzag beds of Lower Heidelberg lime-
stone, aggregating 150 miles, which underlie the surface, makes the
burning and marketing of lime an industry worth while, at the
same time supplying a fertilizer for the soil. Many of these lime
kilns date back to the time of the pioneer.
While Perry County is practically destitute of minerals, yet
there have been several cases of great excitement over their re-
ported discovery. Immediately after the close of the Sectional
War, in 1865. it was reported that oil had been discovered in Sa-
ville Township and two companies were formed for development
of the industry. The Snyder Spring Oil Company, with a capital
of $50,000, the shares being one dollar each, was formed and
leased the farms then owned by Godfrey Burket and William Sny-
der. The Coller Oil Company leased the lands at the headwaters
of Buffalo Creek. It had a capital of $100,000, the shares being
of a par value of five dollars. Of course, oil was never found.
During 1920 another company was organized, principally by per-
sons from outside the county, to prospect for oil in IYrr\ and
Cumberland Counties. They arc now sinking their first well near
Landisburg.
Crossing Perry County to the smith is a remarkable geological
trap-dyke formation known as [ronstone Ridge. Nine miles west
of Marysville it makes a watershed across Rye Township and its
outcroppings continue clear across Cumberland County .and are
visible in York County, it is probably two hundred feet wide.
Three others cross Rye and Penn Townships. Of these a much
smaller one than the one described runs about five hundred yards
36 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
east. Two others cross the Cove slightly northeast, one of which,
passing Duncannon, runs across Wheatfield and Watts Townships.
They cut mountains and valleys at right angles. Local tradition
would have this most prominent trap-dyke, crossing Rye Town-
ship, as extending clear south to Tennessee, but Clavpole, the geolo-
gist, whose position as an authority has never been questioned, has
it end in York County. Samuel J. Tritt, for twenty years county
surveyor of Cumberland County, who did much surveying in Perry
County, also recognized it as first becoming conspicuous in Rye
Township, and as extending across Cumberland to the Susque-
hanna River in York County. Clavpole tells us:
"Trap-dykes are ancient cracks in the earth, filled from below
by lava, which has hardened into rock. They must be of great
depth, for they can be traced along the present surface of the
earth for a great distance. The trap-dyke described by Dr. Frazer,
in his report on Lancaster County, runs in a straight line (N. R.)
forty miles. Many others exist in Adams, York, Lancaster,
Dauphin. Lebanon, Berks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and
Bucks Counties, and in middle and northern New Jersey, southern
New York, and New England.
"The most remarkable of them all starts in the South Moun-
tains, and runs in a nearly straight line across Cumberland County
(between Mechanicsburg and Carlisle), crossing the Blue Moun-
tain two miles east of Sterrett's Gap." This is the "Ironstone
Ridge" spoken of above.
Claypole further says: "At the earliest date to which geology
can point back with tolerable certainty in the history of what is
now Perry County, the interior of the North American continent
was an ocean of unknown extent into which was borne the sand
and mud of neighboring lands, swept down by the rivers of that
distant age to make the beds of rock which to-day compose the
solid land of the United States. The history of this process is
written in the rocks."
At another place the noted geologist, speaking of an unusual
feature, says: "The volcanic rocks of Perry County may seem
strange, but it has long been known that in the southeast of the
county occur some rocks of very peculiar nature, totally different
from any others. They cut across the line of the bedded rocks
quite regardless of their direction. They are very heavy, intensely
lough, and highly charged with iron. They are in effect what the
geologist calls 'trap-rocks,' what the miner calls 'elvans.' They are
composed of material that has been fused, and forced in a fused
condition into and between the other rocks, filling up cracks and
cavities and baking and hardening by its heat and strata through
which it flowed. When cooled the fluid matter became hard, and
is now known as intrusive or trap-rock."
CHAPTER II.
EARLIEST RECORDS OF INDIAN INHABITANTS.
WHEN Christopher Columbus, in October, [492, discovered
the Western Continent, which was the preliminary act in
the development of this great nation, the lands which now
comprise the county of Perry— in Pennsylvania— were, according
to all traditions, inhabited by the swarthy, copper-colored race.
from that day to be generally spoken of as Indians, on account
of the discoverer's mistaken idea that he had crossed the world
to the eastern shores of India.
When the first settlements were made in Pennsylvania by the
Dutch (not to he misconstrued as referring to the Germans) in
[623, when it was later occupied by the Swedes, the Dutch again,
the English, and eventually in 1682 by William Penn and the
Quakers, the outlying sections of which Perry was naturally a part,
were evidently overrun by these wild tribes, although almost two
hundred years had elapsed since the discovery of America.
Then for another period of a half century little is known, ex-
cept that which comes to us through the misty veil of years and
which for want of a better name is known as tradition. About
that time, however, the outlying settlements had pushed west to
the Susquehanna, and an occasional manuscript, a diary, a letter
or a record of one kind or another has been found and preserved,
so that one can get a glimpse into the lives of the Indians and the
hardy pioneers on the lands which were later to become the county
of Perry.
If any other nationality than the English under Penn had set-
tled in Pennsylvania, Perry County would probably not have ad-
vanced nearly as rapidly as it did. as the English-speaking people
were then as now, the advance agents of civilization. It is signifi-
cant that those old English charters gave title to die land straight
*The chapters of this book relating to the Indians have been passed upon
by Dr. George P. Donehoo, of Coudersport, Pennsylvania, noted authority
upon Indian History and secretary of the Pennsylvania Historical Com-
mission, and later, November, 1921, appointed State Librarian of Pennsyl-
vania, by Governor Sproul.
Common or popular usage adds the "s" to Indian names, thus Dela-
wares, Tuscaroras, although the names Delaware, Tuscarora, etc., as ap-
plied to Indian tribes, is already plural, being applied to a tribe, according
to scientific writers. Not belonging to the latter class of writers it has
been thought best to add the "s" in this book, as do even many noted
writers.
37
38 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
across the continent from ocean to ocean. The following para-
graph from George Sydney Fisher's "The Making of Pennsylva-
nia," well illustrates this :
"In nothing is the difference in nationality so distinctly shown.
The Dutchman builds trading posts and lies in his ship off shore
to collect the furs. The gentle Swede settles on the soft, rich
meadow lands, and his cattle wax fat and his barns are full of hay.
The Frenchman enters the forest, sympathizes with its inhabitants,
and turns half savage to please them. All alike bow before the
wilderness and accept it as a fact. But the Englishman destroys
it. He grasped at the continent from the beginning, and but for
him the oak and the pine would have triumphed and the prairies
still be in possession of the Indian and the buffalo." No lands in
the world advance and prosper as do those of the English-speaking
nations, and be it remembered that among the English-speaking-
people the American is always in the van.
One of the earliest records of Indian affairs in Pennsylvania is
the "Jesuit Relations of 1659," which tells of a tradition of a ten
years' war between the Mohawks and the Pennsylvania Indians,
in which the latter almost exterminated the Mohawks. This was
before either could obtain firearms. To .Captain John Smith, of
Virginia, posterity is indebted for the very first description, by a
white man, of the Indians of the interior of Pennsylvania. Pow-
hatan had told him of a mighty nation which dwelt here which
"did eat men." Smith says: "Many kingdoms he described to me
to the head of the bay, which seemed to be a mighty river, issuing
from mighty mountains betwixt two seas." On the east of the
bay Smith found an Indian who understood the language of Pow-
hatan, and he was dispatched up the river to bring down some
of them. In a few days sixty of these "gyant-like people" ap-
peared. Smith called all the country Virginia, and from a descrip-
tion by the Indians he drew a map. which is the oldest map of
any inland parts of Pennsylvania. He locates five Indian towns,
the second lowest down being designated "Attaock," a branch
which corresponds to the Juniata. This was probably the Indian
village later known as Juniata, on Duncan's Island, further de-
scribed in the chapter devoted to that island. He described the
river as "cometh three or four days from the head of the bay."
These Indians were supposed to be of the Andaste tribes, using
dialects of the throat-speaking Iroquois. Smith's description tells
of their "hellish voice, sounding from them as a voice in a vault."
The Iroquois used no lip sounds, but spoke from the throat with
an open mouth. Along the shores of the bay Smith found the
natives all fearful of the "great-water men," who principally dwelt
along the Potomac and the Susquehanna and "had so many boats
and so many men that they made war with all the world." Smith
KAKUKST KI'.CORDS OF INDIAN INHABITANTS
39
met seven canoeloads of these men at the head "i the bay, bu1
failed to understand a word spoken. Karly Virginia historians
presumed them to be of the Mohawk tribe, the ancestors of the
Five Nations, which conclusion is a matter of question and prob-
ably wrong.
The first white man to enter what is now the state of Pennsyl-
vania was Etienne Brule, a Frenchman associated with Champlain,
who was making explorations in Canada even before the English
had entered Virginia. Brule went southward through New York
to obtain aid from a body of Susquehannocks in an attack against
"A mighty River, Issuing From Mighty Mountains, Betwixt Two Seas."
■ — Capt. John Smith. (See page 38.)
a stronghold of the Iroquois. Failing to find Champlain, he re-
mained in northern Pennsylvania through the winter. Tart oi
the time he spent in making expeditions to the south. He left a
description of the Susquehanna River, which he made down to the
bay. He accordingly must have crossed Pennsylvania. In that
case he traveled through it at least a century before any other
white man.
A paper map found at the Hague in 1841 illustrates the travels
of three Dutch settlers from Albany in i6rq, who came down the
Susquehanna and crossed to the Lehigh and the Delaware, being
captured by the Minequas. Their map locates a tribe called
"Iottecas," west of the Susquehanna, in the vicinity of the Juniata
River. In 1655 a man named Visscher published a map, in Am-
4 o HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
sterdam, of New Netherlands, in which he almost accurately places
the Susquehanna, but without any West Branch or Juniata. Dur-
ing the next fifty years about fifteen maps appeared, all having
practically the same river outline. On all of them just where the
Juniata belongs, there is the name of a tribe called "Onojutta
Haga," the first part of the name meaning a projecting stone, and
the "Haga" being the Mohawk word for people or tribe. They
were a superior race and lived largely by the cultivation of the soil.
When the Dutch began selling firearms to the Iroquois, or Five
Nations, about 1640, they started a military conquest which ex-
tended as far west as the Mississippi. Among those destroyed or
subdued and incorporated into their own tribes were the Andaste
tribes in Pennsylvania, which among others included the "Standing
Stone" Indians on the Juniata. By 1676 all were exterminated.
The Iroquois then claimed all the lands of the Susquehanna and
its branches, selling to William Penn and his heirs at different
times what they had gained by conquest. While negotiating for
the sale of lands as early as 16S4 the Iroquois spoke of the entire
region as "the Susquehanna River, which we won with the sword."
In 1736 Thomas Penn, then governor, acknowledged their right
by these words: "The lands on Susquehanna, we believe, belong
to the Six Nations by the conquest of the Indian tribes on that
river."
The entire region, which of course included what is now Perry
County, was then a vast deserted space until such time as the Tus-
caroras were allowed to settle there. The Delaware's and Shaw-
nees later were allowed to settle, the Delawares coming in between
1720 and 1730. During this period not even a trader or pioneer
had ventured there and through this veil of obscurity comes no
record whatsoever of this time. However, the tribal records of
the Hurons and the Iroquois tell of vast numbers of prisoners
being brought to their New York towns from the South, as many
as six hundred at a time, and the inference is that the tribes in-
habiting this section were among the captives.
The Tuscaroras had been defeated and driven from their former
abode, and they claimed that the colonists were selling their chil-
dren into slavery. About 17 13 or 1714, they came from the South,
and settled, with the consent of the Five Nations, "on the Juniata,
in a secluded interior, not far from the Susquehanna River." At
a conference with Governor Hunter, of New York, September 20,
1714, a Chief of the Iroquois, said, "We acquaint you that the
Tuscarora Indians are come to shelter themselves among the Five
Nations."
The great path or trail to the southwest was known as the "Tus-
carora Path," when the first traders came, and this tribe's principal
settlements were likely responsible for that name, as they were
EARLIEST RECORDS OF INDIAN 1X1 1. MUTANTS 4 t
located in Tuscarora Valley, now in [uniata County; in I'atli Val-
ley, now in Franklin County, and in what is now Perry County,
principally in Raccoon Valley. These lands head not been occupied
for from a half to three quarters of a century, or since the con-
quesl by the Five Nations. According to Samuel G. Drake, an
Indian antiquarian, "the Tuscaroras from Carolina joined them
(the Five Nations) about 1712, but were not formally admitted
into the confederacy until about ten years after that ; this gained
them the name of the Six Nations." They were sometimes known
as Mingoes. In all the Albany conferences dated from 1714 to
1722 in which the members of the Five Nations participated the
Tuscaroras are not mentioned. After this probationary period
of probably ten years on the Juniata, where most of them lived,
they were formally assigned a portion of the Oneida territory and
had their council-house east of Syracuse. New York. However,
all the Tuscaroras did not migrate to New York, some choosing
to remain on the Juniata. In 1730 there is record of "three Tus-
karorows missing at Pechston" (Paxtang), now Harrisburg.
Even to the time of the Albany purchase of the lands north of the
Kittatinny or Blue Mountain, in 1754, some of the tribe still in-
habited the district. In a letter from John O'Neal to the governor
dated at Carlisle. May 2y, 1753, is the statement : "A large number
of Delawares, Shawnees and Tuscaroras continue in this vicinity
— the greater number having gone to the West." As early as 1725
the Conestogas and the Shawnees had begun working their way
westward along the Juniata and the West Branch of the Sus-
quehanna.
Among the reports and records of Fort Duquesne was found
the following, dated September 15, 1756:
"Two hundred Indians and French left Fort Duquesne to set
fire to four hundred houses in a part of Pennsylvania. That prov-
ince has suffered but little in consequence of the intrigues of the
Five Nations with Taskarosins, a tribe on the lands of that prov-
ince, and in alliance with the Five Nations. But now they have
declared that they will assist their brethren, the Delawares. and
Chouanons (Shawnees), and consequently several have sided
with them, so that the above province will be laid waste the same
as Virginia and Carolina." According to that, some were still
there in 1756.
About 1730 some Scoth-Irish, who had crossed the Susque-
hanna, settled in what was then termed the "Kittochtinny or North
Valley, near Falling Springs." This was the Cumberland Valley
of the present, and the place called Falling Springs was not the
settlement by that name in Perry County, but was where the pres-
ent town of Chambersburg stands. This is the first settlement
42 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
west of the Susquehanna of which there is record. The woods
were then full of Indians.
As George Croghan, the interpreter, who knew the languages
of the Shawnees and the Delawares, located in Cumberland
County in 1742, the presence of those tribes here is indicated.
The Delawares were known among themselves as the Leni Lenape
tribe. According to their tradition they were one of two great
peoples who inhabited the entire country, the other being the
Mingoes.
As the names Juniata and Oneida are derived from the same
source the contention is advanced that the Oneidas may have in-
habited the Juniata Valley, but according to authorities there is
nowhere any evidence to bear out that fact.
An Indian trail led westward along the Susquehanna and Juni-
ata Rivers, crossing the former near what is now Clark's Ferry,
at Duncannon; another led over the Kittatinny or Blue Moun-
tain at what was then Croghan's (now Sterrett's) Gap, and a third
led over the same mountain at McClure's Gap, the two latter cross-
ing the Tuscarora Mountain. That via Sterrett's Gap was known
as "the Allegheny Path," the first great highway to the West.
The first white men to enter Perry County territory came over
these routes, and the men were known as traders, whose vocation
necessitated their going westward as far as the Ohio. There are
evidences that these men were traders even before there is record
of it. There are some recorded statements pertaining to their
operations, but traders then, as now, do not belong to the class
which reduce events to writing.
One of them was George Croghan, whose name was given to
Sterrett's Gap. Croghan first lived in what was later to become
Cumberland County, about five miles from Harris' Ferry (now
Harrisburg), and afterwards on the mountain at the Gap, near
where the old tavern or road-house stood later. Still later he took
up his residence at Aughwick, near Mount Union, in Huntingdon
County. As early as 1747 he is mentioned as a "considerable
trader." He was well acquainted with the Indian country and
with the paths and trails. He continually used the one via the
Kittatinny and Tuscarora Mountains, from which one would infer
that it was at least preferable to the others. He served the pro-
vincial government by convoying expeditions westward for them.
He was associated much with Conrad Weiser, the Indian inter-
preter, and of them there is more further on in this book.
The scope of this book is not wide enough to go into all the
details of the often fraudulent, crafty and deceptive actions of
Mime of the pioneers, traders and officials in dealing with the In-
dians, which in a general way might be said to have been largely
responsible for much of the heart-rending suffering of the white
EARLIEST RECORDS OF INDIAN INHABITANTS 43
settlers and many of the sickening massacres perpetrated upon
them. With every setting of the sun the aborigines saw their
domain dwindling before the oncoming tide of white pioneers,
their favorite hunting grounds encroached upon and the very
streams from which came much of their subsistence marred by
the building of mill dams. Constantly impressed with such con-
ditions, but a spark was often needed to light the flame of resent-
ment which left death and destruction in its wake.
Of Our Indian Inhabitants.
The reader is familiar with the life and habits of the American
Indian ; and from what can be learned in reference to the tribes
which dwelt on what is now Perry County soil, they were the exact
counterpart of the average member of that race in industry, cruelty
and all the other characteristic traits to which they were heir.
They hunted and fished for a living, and the territory now em-
braced in Perry County was noted as a famous hunting ground,
evidences of that fact being recorded in provincial records and
mentioned in various places in this volume. The only evidences
of their industry were the locations of several patches of Indian
corn and beans which the women raised.
Their skin was red or copper-colored, their hair coarse and
black, and they had high cheek bones. The males were seldom
corpulent, were swift of foot, quick with bow and arrow and later
with firearms, and very skillful in the handling of canoes. Their
home was the tepee or wigwam, a few in after years having log
huts. These tepees were a number of poles or saplings covered
with skins of animals, the only heat afforded being from fires
built upon the ground.
Their only clothing was of skins, which they had a method of
curing so that they were soft and pliable and which they often
ornamented with paint and beads made from shells. Their moc-
casins were of deer skin and were without heels. The females
often bedecked themselves with mantles made of feathers, over-
lapping each other similar to their appearance on fowls. Their
dress was of two pieces, a shirt of leather, ornamented with fringe,
and a skirt of the same material fastened about the waist by a belt.
Their hair they made into a thick, heavy plait, which they let hang
down the back. Their heads they usually ornamented with bands
of wampum or with a small skull cap. The men went bareheaded,
with their hair fantastically trimmed, each to his own fancy. The
white man, with all his knowledge, has never been able to excel the
Indian method of tanning, the result of which was softness and
pliability.
The aborigines had a peculiar idea of government. They were
absolutely free, acknowledged no master, and yielded obedience to
a
44 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
law only in so far as they chose, and yet there existed a primitive
system of government which was a faint type of that of our pres-
ent great republic. They worshiped no graven image, but spoke
of "the great spirit" and the "happy hunting grounds." While
their ideas of a future were indistinct, yet they possessed a belief
in a hereafter. They had much reverence for the forces of nature
and measured time by the sun and the moon.
They had rude villages, one of which lay opposite the west end
of Duncannon, on Duncan's Island, known as "Choiniata," or
"Juneauta," which is known to have existed as late as 1745, the
story of. which appears in the chapter devoted to Duncan's and
llaldeman's Islands. In searching Indian historical data and tra-
dition the knowledge that there was an Indian village in western
Terr}- territory, probably near Cisna's Run, appeared somewhat
vaguely. While it is impossbile at this late day to locate it ex-
actly, it is practically certain that it was located on lands owned
by the late George Bryner and W. II. hoy, at Cisna's Run, as it
was on the north side of Sherman's Creek, on a branch of that
creek, surrounding or near a deep spring. On Mr. Loy's lands,
'most against the Bryner line. Cedar Spring, five feet deep, is
located. Mrs. Jacob hoy, -of Blain, well up in years, had as an
actual fact from her people, the location of this village. When the
writer visited the location, in midsummer of 1919, Mr. Bryner
was yet living and pointed out a mound, near the Sherman's Val-
ley Railroad, which resembled a small knoll. From William Adair,
an aged man who died many years ago, Mr. Bryner learned that
it was once the site of an Indian log hut which he had seen in his
youth, probably a lone reminder of the old Indian village.
A neighborhood story connected with an Indian woman that
lived in this hut, the last of her clan in the district, follows:
She called on a neighbor, a Mrs. Cisna. grandmother of the
late Dr. William R. Cisna, who resided near by. Mrs. Cisna.
alter washing her hands, mixed the ingredients, and kneading the
meal proceeded to bake corn bread, inviting her copper-colored
caller to remain for tea, which she did. Shortly afterwards Mrs.
CiMia returned the call and was invited to dine. She accepted,
and the Indian lady also washed her hands and proceeded to mix
the ingredients for corn bread, but mixed them in the water in
which she had washed her hands. Not wishing to offend one of
the race, Mrs. Cisna ate of this 'Sanitary" production and, not-
withstanding, lived to a ripe old age.
Between the Bryner and Loy homes and Sherman's Creek, oppo-
site the point where the Moose mill is located, was an Indian corn-
field. It is a bottom field, lying by the creek, and is as level as a
floor. The evidence that this location was thickly populated at one
time by the Indians is not only passed down by spoken word and
EARLIEST RECORDS OF INDIAN [NHABITANTS 45
records, but even in the year this is written — [919 Ex-County
Commissioner A. K. Bryner (since deceased), while plowing a
truck patch for his brother, containing less than two acres, found
a half dozen of line specimens of Endain arrowheads, which arc
in the possession of the writer. In the past few years he has also
found an Indian tomahawk. Indian tannin- stones, skinning stone-.
many arrowheads, etc. Some years ago, in the same vicinity,
William Adair, the father of Ex-County Commissioner James EC.
Adair, plowed up an Indian soapstone pot, a very rare specimen.
The latter curiosity was unearthed on the farm now owned by
A. N. Lyons.
The Lyons or old Adair farm, the Bryner and Loy farms, and
the dee]) spring are all on the location of the old Indian trail,
known to later generations as the "bridle path," still descernible
on Bowers' Mountain, opposite Cisna's Run, from whence it
crossed westward to Kistler and around the foot of Conococheague
Mountain to Juniata County and the West.
They were, generally speaking, a lazy, listless people, addicted
to the use of rum, which they knew as "walking stick," and lived
on game, fish and mussels, the Susquehanna River at that time
being prolific of the two last named products. Indian cornmeal
was their only grain product, their method of grinding it being
with a bowl and stones. With the coming of the early trader a
market was created at their door for the skins from their game,
for furs for the fair sex. The pay was often in trinkets and
gaudy fabrics for which the red man had a fancy, sometimes in
rum. and even in money, hut often the latter went for rum in the
end. In the chapter on Duncan's and Haldeman's Islands there is
a lengthy description of their mode of life by Rev. Brainerd, a
missionary who spent much time among them. In the chapter
dealing with Simon Girty much more of Indian life is to be
learned.
When the pioneers settled the county a few Indians refused to
follow their tribes in leaving their homes — just as many older
people of the present day object to locating in new sections in the
latter years of their lives — and remained. The Indian woman
mentioned above as being located at Cisna's Run, was one of these,
and an old Indian, known as "Indian John," who lived near the
Warm Springs, in Carroll Township, was another. lie used to
trade at the store of Thomas Lebo, at the point which later became
Lebo post office, and is said to have been a very old man.
At various places in this hook are recorded the taking oi cap-
trade at the store of Thomas Lebo, at the point which later became
now owned by Mrs. Charles McKeehan, located between Blain and
, New Germantown, which was warranted and settled by John Rhea,
who sold it to a family named 1 lunter, from whom the early
46 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
Briners purchased it in 1809. During an Indian invasion of the
valley two of the Hunter children, a boy and a girl, were cap-
tured by red men. The girl escaped during the following night
and returned, but the boy never came back. Long years after-
wards he wrote to George Black, a neighbor, from the far West,
making inquiry as to the disposition of his father's estate. George
Conner, a black-haired child who was favored by the Indians dur-
ing his captivity, was captured near Landisburg, but later escaped.
He was the ancestor of Mrs. Garland, of Landisburg.
The Indian was the earliest road builder, but his building con-
sisted of making a mere path through the brush either in the most
direct line or by the line of least resistance. Evidences of the old
Indian trails yet remain, as described under the chapter devoted
to trails and roads. Located along one of these old trails over
Tuscarora Mountain is a large boulder, weighing many tons and
of a size that would fill a large room of an ordinary house, known
as "Warrior Rock," famous in legend and story. They also had
a line of trails following the mountain tops, so that their per-
spective was greater. These they used in troublesome periods.
At various places in the county there are old Indian burial
places which would substantiate the fact that Indian villages were
once located in those vicinities. There is one at Saville post office,
in Saville Township. This place was formerly known as Lane's
Mill and was a great hunting and fishing ground for the aborigines.
Those located here are supposed to have been the ones which came
back to the county and did the attacking on the McMillen place,
near Kistler. An old legend tells of their getting lead near by for
the points of their arrows when they needed it, but if so, their fol-
lowers — the pale face — has failed to locate it. Several men well
up in years by the name of Elliott, who were Indian traders, re-
sided in the locality, from whom descended David Elliott, D.D.,
LL.D., the noted divine.
There is also legendary evidence of an Indian burial ground at
Blain, at the old Presbyterian cemetery. Many arrowheads are
found in the vicinity and a few years ago, in excavating- for a
grave, two skulls were found placed against each other, the skele-
tons extending in opposite directions. Tradition has it that that
was the Indian custom of interment, thus affording ^ome evidence
of the location of the Indian burial place at this point. Arrow-
heads are found even to this day along Sherman's Creek, at New
Germantown, Blain, Landisburg, Shermansdale and at many other
points. Also at Millerstown and Duncan's Island, in the Juniata
River territory.
On Quaker Ridge, near the Warm Springs, in Spring Township,
there is an Indian grave surrounded by pine trees. The aged resi-
dents of the vicinity also recall the legend of the three Indian
EARLIEST RECORDS OF INDIAN INHABITANTS 47
graves on the old Burrell farm, in Carroll Township, now owned
l»\ Willis Duncan. Near the celebrated Gibson Rock, along Sher-
man's Creek, is a spring', known to this day as Indian Spring.
According to a legend six soldiers sent from the garrison at Car-
lisle during the Indian uprisings, were waylaid there and murdered.
John Clendenin, a settler in what is now Toboyne Township,
was killed and scalped by the Indians near the site of the old
Monterey tannery. One of the saddest of all the abductions from
Perry County territory was the case of two children from the
George Kern farm, bordering New Germantown, in Toboyne
Township. Simon Kern, the ancestor, had come from his home in
Holland and had located on the farm mentioned. Two small Kern
girls were helping work in the fields when lurking Indians car-
ried them away. They traveled a considerable distance when they
were overtaken by night. During the night one of the little girls
managed to escape while her captors slept and returned to her
people. The other remained an Indian captive. Tradition tells of
a woman from the stockade at Fort Robinson returning to the
farm opposite — the McClure farm — and of her being killed and
scalped by lurking redskins.
* According to James B. Hackett, long a resident of New Bloom-
field, whose father was once a resident of Madison Township,
there was an interesting tradition connected with his father's tract
of land there which was later owned by Noble Meredith. A man
named James Dixon had first located it, but had been driven out
by the Indians, and then took up a tract in Centre Township.
John Mitchell then warranted it January 28, 1763. Three Indians
are supposed to be buried there, and men of the present generation
had the graves, then already overgrown mounds, pointed out to
them in their early years. On this tract, according to this tradi-
tion, was buried a pot or kettle of gold by a squaw, received in
return for English scalps turned over to the French. It is sup-
posed to have been left by the Indians when they were hastily
driven out. Evidently this story is a mere legend, as the red men
were too crafty to tell their white brethren their personal and
tribal affairs.
Wright's History names Millerstown as the scene of "either a
long residence or probably a fierce battle between the Delaware's
and the immigrating Shawnees," adding "the location of the con-
flict was no doubt near the canal bridge, for they were interred in
a wide and deep mound, west of the house now the residence of
Mrs. Oliver, and found by the workmen who dug the canal."
Mentioning an Indian village at or near Newport and one at Mil-
lerstown, it says: "These were the only Indian villages in Perry
County." As the soil which is now comprised in Perry County
was inhabited at different times by different tribes, and as Indian
4 <S HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
villages were formed by wigwams, which were easily movable,
the statement above is hardly borne out by facts.
( )n Clemson's Island, opposite the town of New Buffalo, located
on the Susquehanna River (not Perry County soil, however), was
an Indian mound which is remembered by those in very mature
years as being quite prominent, but now indiscernible. There are
vague accounts of the torturing of whites in Pfoutz Valley, while
the relentless savages danced about the fires which tortured and
consumed the unfortunates.
The Five; Nations.
The great western confederacy of Indian nations was styled by
the French, the "Iroquois," generally at first being known as "The
Five Nations," and later as "The Six Nations." The Mohawks
are said to be the oldest of the confederacy, the Oneidas joining
them next, the Onondagas third, the Senecas fourth, and the
Cayugas fifth. About 1713 the Tuscaroras from the Carolinas
placed themselves under the protection of this "League of Na-
tions, but was not formally admitted to membership until about
1722. The Six Nations called themselves "Aquanuschioni,"
which the interpreter tells us means "United People." The
Shawnees. who lived on the west branch of the Susquehanna and
in Cumberland County (which then included Perry), were not in
this confederacy.
Just when the Five Nations was formed is uncertain. There is
a tradition, according to the Jesuit Relations, that before the Eng-
lish settlements were made in America the Susquehannas had al-
most exterminated the Mohawks in a ten-years' war. Some his-
torians incline to the belief that at that time the Mohawks ap-
pealed to kindred tribes along the shores of Lake Ontario for aid
and that that was the beginning of the Five Nations. It is prob-
able that the Indian battles fought at Duncan's Island and likely at
Millerstown were during this war between the Susquehannas and
the Mohawks. Captain John Smith, who explored Chesapeake
Bay in 160S. says the inhabitants of the Susquehanna country
"made war with all the world," which implies that they were then
already at war with the Mohawks.
Kelker's History of Dauphin County says: "In 1633 they were
at war with the Alonquin tribes on the Delaware, maintaining their
supremacy by butchery." Later they warred with tribes from
Maryland and Virginia, and Governor Calvert, in 1642, issued a
proclamation declaring them public enemies. The end of the Sus-
quehannas came in 1675, according to the fesuit Relations, when
they were completely defeated and became the prisoners and sub-
jects of their captors, evidently the Mohawks, as Thomas Penn,
the provincial governor, later credited the Mohawks with owner-
EARLIEST RECORDS OF INDIAN INHABITANTS 49
ship of the lands "by the conquest of the [ndian tribes on that
river."
The Shawnees were a tribe of Southern Indians, having resided
near the Spanish possessions in that territory and being almost
constantly at war with their neighbors. As extermination threat-
ened them they appealed to the Five Nations and the English for
protection, which was granted them by the treaty of 1701. They
settled on the Susquehanna and its tributaries and were later as-
signed to the lands along the Ohio. However, many of them re-
fused to go, and the others kept traveling back and forth from the
Ohio. The Six Nations resided principally in New York State
and it was only by permission that the Shawnees were allowed to
occupy these lands. As an illustration of the contempt in which
they were held listen to this extract from a speech by Cannassetego,
diplomat of the Iroquois :
"We conquered you ; we made women of you ; you know you
are women, and can no more sell lands than women ; nor is it lit
you should have the power of selling lands, since you would abuse
it. The land that you claim is gone through your guts ; you have
been furnished with clothes, meat and drink, by the goods paid
you for it, and now you want it again, children as you are. But
we find you none of our blood ; you act a dishonest part, not only
in this, but in other matters ; your ears are ever open to slanderous
reports about your brethren. For all these reasons we charge you
to remove instantly ; we don't give you liberty to think about it.
Don't deliberate, but move away, and take this belt of wampum."
The Delawares, who jointly with the Shawnees occupied these
lands, were very much chagrined at being called women and usu-
ally offered other explanations than the real one.
Murder of an Early Trader.*
Many of the early traders, because of their cupidity, took ad-
vantage of the Indians by trickery and thus were at times the
cause of much trouble to the provincial authorities. Others he-
came the victims of their own greed. An instance of this kind is
reproduced here in its original form for various reasons. At that
time Duncan's Island, then known as Juniata Island, was a centre
for traders and "McKee's Place," which was just around the lower
end of Peters' Mountain, was also already inhabited by a number
of these people.
In this vicinity resided John Armstrong, or at least that is the
impression formed from the fact that among the names on the
affidavit are those of Thomas McKce, Francis Ellis, and William
Baskins, who were among the searching party, who are known
*From Conrad Weiser's journal.
Note. — Shikellamy was sometimes spelled Shickcalamy.
4
50 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
tn have been inhabitants here, and it is also probable that actions
of those clays were largely as they exist to this day, in which a
man's neighbors are those whose aid is first sought whose names
are usually used in evidence. There is record of the three pioneers
above named being located here in 1752, or eight years thereafter,
and they probably were already here in 1744.
Mnsemeelin was of the Indian tribe that inhabited the Susque-
hanna Valley. In order to let the rising generation get a glimpse
of the methods used to adjust difficulties between the province and
the Indians the documentary evidence and communications are
printed in full. It follows:
Before Cumberland County was created, when the soil of Perry
was yet an Indian domain, in 1744, one John Armstrong, a trader
witli the Indians west of the Susquehanna, and two of his em-
ployes, James Smith and Woodward Arnold, were murdered by
an Indian of the Delawares on the Juniata River. Seven settlers,
accompanied by five Indians, made a search and found the bodies.
The murderer was apprehended and turned over to the authorities,
being first imprisoned at the county seat at Lancaster, and later
removed to Philadelphia, as his countrymen were about to assemble
in conference with the whites at Lancaster, and it was deemed that
his presence there might cause friction. The Colonial governor
ordered Armstrong's property returned to his people and asked
that a delegation attend the trial of the culprit and his execution,
if found guilty. A brother of the murdered man, named Alex-
ander Armstrong, of Lancaster County, wrote a letter to the king
of the 1 )elawares — Allumoppies — at Shamokin, bearing on his
brother's death and also threats made against himself:
April 25, 1744.
To Allumoppies, King of the Delawares: Great Sir, as a parcel of your
men have murdered my brother, and two of his men, I wrote you, know-
ing you to be a king of justice, that you will send us in all the murderers
and the men that were with them. As I looked for the corpse of my
murdered brother; for that reason your men threaten my life, and I can-
not live in my house. Now as we have no inclination or mind to go to
war with you, our friends, as a friend I desire that you will keep your
men from doing me harm, and also to send the murderers and their com-
panions. I expect an answer; and am your much hurt friend and brother.
Alexander Armstrong.
According to the following deposition the bodies of the mur-
dered men were found after a search was made:
Paxton, April 19, 1744.
The deposition of the subscribers testifieth and saith, that the subscribers
having a suspicion that John Armstrong, trader, together with his men,
Tames Smith and Woodward Arnold, were murdered by the Indians.
They met at the house of Joseph Chambers, in Paxton,* and there con-
sulted to go to Shamokin, to consult with the Delaware King and Shikel-
*Now Fort Hunter.
EARLIEST RECORDS OF INDIAN INHABITANTS 51
lamy, and there council what they should do concerning the affair, where-
upon the king and council ordered eight of their men to go with the
deponents to the house of James Berry in order to go in quest of the
murdered persons, but that night they came to the said Berry's house,
three of the eight Indians ran away, and the next morning these deponents,
with the five Indians that remained, set out on their journey peaceably
to the last supposed sleeping place of the deceased, and upon their arrival
these deponents dispersed themselves in order to find out the corpse of
the deceased, and one of the deponents, named James Berry, a small dis-
tance from the aforesaid sleeping place, came to a white oak tree which
had three notches on it, and close by said tree he found a shoulder bone,
which the deponent does suppose to be John Armstrong's, and that he
himself showed it to his companions, one of whom handed it to the said
five Indians to know what bone it was, and they after passing different
sentiments upon it, handed it to a Delaware Indian, who was suspected
by the deponents, and they testify and say, that as soon as the Indian
took the bone in his hand, his nose gushed out with blood, and directly
handed it to another. From whence these deponents steered along a
path about three or four miles to the Narrows of Juniata, where they sus-
pected the murder to have been committed, and where the Allegheny road
crosses the creek, these deponents sat down in order to consult on what
measures to take in order to proceed on a discovery. Whereupon most of
the white men, these deponents, crossed the creek again, and went down
the creek, and crossed into an island, where these deponents had intelli-
gence the corpse had been thrown; and there they met the rest of the
white men and Indians, who were in company, and there consulted to go
further down the creek in quest of the corpse, and these deponents further
say, they ordered the Indians to go down the creek on the other side ; but
they all followed these deponents, at a small distance, except one Indian,
who crossed the creek again; and soon after, these deponents seeing
some Bald eagles and other fowls, suspected the corpse to be thereabouts ;
and then lost sight of the Indians, and immediately found one of the
corpse, which these deponents say, was the corpse of James Smith, one
of said Armstrong's men; and directly upon finding the corpse these de-
ponents heard three shots of guns, which they had great reason to think
were the Indians, their companions, who had deserted from them ; and in
order to let them know that they had found the corpse, these deponents
fired three guns, but to no purpose, for they never saw the Indians any
more. And about a quarter of a mile further down the creek, they saw
more Bald eagles, whereupon they made down towards the place, where
they found another corpse (being the corpse of Woodward Arnold, the
other servant of said Armstrong) lying on a rock, and then went to the
former sleeping place, where they had appointed to meet the Indians; hut
saw no Indians, only that the Indians had been there and cooked some
victuals for themselves, and had gone off.
All that night, the deponents further say, they had great reason to sus-
pect that the Indians were then thereabouts, and intended to do them
some damage; for a dog these deponents had with them, barked that
night, which was remarkable, for the said dog had not barked all the time
they were out, till that night, nor ever since, which occasioned these de-
ponents to stand upon their guard behind trees, with their guns cocked
that night. Next morning these deponents went back to the corpses which
they found to be barbarously and inhumanly murdered, by very gashed,
deep cuts on their heads with a tomahawk or such like weapon, which had
sunk into their skulls and brains; and in one of the corpses there ap-
peared a hole in his skull near the cut, which was supposed to be made
52 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
with a tomahawk, which hole these deponents do believe to be a bullet
hole. And these deponents, after taking a particular view of the corpses,
as their melancholy condition would admit, they buried them as decently
as their circumstances would allow, and returned home to Paxton, the
Allegheny road to John Harris'; thinking it dangerous to return the same
way they went out. And further these deponents say not.
These same deponents being legally qualified, before me, James Arm-
strong, one of his majesty's justices of the peace for the county of Lan-
caster, have hereunto set their hands in testimony thereof.
James Armstrong.
Alexander Armstrong, Thomas McKee, Francis Ellis, John Florster,
William Baskins, James Berry, John Watt, James Armstrong, David
Denny.
The reader will note that the circumstances stated and those
following relate to what was probably the first Indian massacre in
the vicinity, that our country was yet in "His Majesty's" domain,
and that the nearest county seat was then Lancaster. The mas-
sacre was so shocking to the pioneers that a Provincial Council
was assembled, the result of which was that the provincial inter-
preter and Indian agent, Conrad Weiser, was dispatched in the
name of the governor to Shamokin, to make demands for several
others concerned in the murder.
As this document, the proceedings of the council, has been pre-
served for posterity, it is reproduced here, spelling, language, etc.,
just as recorded, probably being the first case for that territory
where an Indian Council became necessary to the settlement of
a matter which was vital between the Indians and the provincial
government.
At a council, April 25, 1744. — "The governor, George Thomas, laid be-
fore the Board a letter dated April 22, 1744, from Mr. Cookson, at Lan-
caster, purporting that John Armstrong, an Indian trader, with his two
servants, Woodward Arnold and James Smith, had been murdered at
Juniata by three Delaware Indians, and that John Musemeelin and John-
sun of Neshalleeny, two of the Indians concerned in the murder had been
seized by the order of Shikellamy, and the other Indian chiefs at Sha-
mokin, and sent under a guard of Indians to be delivered up to justice;
that one was actually delivered up in jail at Lancaster; but the other had
made his escape from the persons to whose care he was committed.
"His honor then sent to the chief justice to consult him about the steps
proper to be taken to bring the Indian to his trial, but as he was absent at
a Court of Oyer and Terminer in Bucks County, it was the opinion of the
Board that the Indian, Musemeelin, should be immediately removed to
Philadelphia jail, and that Conrad Weiser should be immediately dis-
patched to the chiefs of the Delaware Indians at Shamokin to make a
peremptory demand in his honor's name of the other murderers concerned,
and that Shikellamy and the other Indians there do order immediate search
to be made for the goods of which the deceased was robbed, in order to
their being put into the hands of his brother for the satisfaction of his
creditors, or the support of his family. And at the same time to inform
them that the chiefs of the Indians which shall meet at Lancaster on the
treaty with our neighboring governments, will be desired to depute some
EARLIEST RECORDS OF INDIAN INHABITANTS 53
of their number to be present at the trial and at the execution of such as
shall be found .guilty.
"Conrad Weiser was accordingly sent to Shamokin. He writes in his
journal, Shamokin, May 2d, 1744: This day I delivered the governor's
message to Allumoppies, the Delaware chief, and the rest of the Dela-
ware Indians in the presence of Shikellamy and a few more of the Six
Nations. The purport of which was that 1 was sent express by the gover
nor and council to demand those that had been concerned with Musemeelin
in murdering John Armstrong, Woodward Arnold and James Smith; that
their bodies might be searched for, and decently buried ; that the goods
be likewise found and restored without fraud. It was delivered them by
me in the Mohawk language, and interpreted into Delaware by Andrew,
Madame Montour's son.
"In the afternoon Allumoppies, in the presence of the aforesaid Indians,
made the following answers :
"Brother, the Governor : It is true that we, the Delaware Indians, by
the. investigation of the evil spirit, have murdered James Armstrong and
his men ; we have transgressed and we are ashamed to look up. We
have taken the murderer and delivered him to the relations of the de-
ceased, to be dealt with according to his works.
"Brother, the Governor: Your demand for the guard is very just; we
have gathered some of them; we will do the utmost of what we can to
find them all. We do not doubt but that we can find out the most part,
and whatever is wanting, we will make up with skins, which is what the
guard are sent for to the woods.
"Brother, the Governor: The dead bodis are buried. It is certain that
John Armstrong was buried by the murderer, and the other two by those
that searched for them. Our hearts are in mourning, and we are in a
dismal condition, and cannot say anything at present.
"Then Shikellamy with the rest of the Indians of the Six Nations there
present said :
"Brother, the Governor: We have been all misinformed on both sides
about the unhappy accident. Musemeelin has certainly murdered the three
white men himself, and upon his bare accusation of Neshaleeny's son,
which was nothing but spite, the said Neshaleeny's son was seized, and
made a prisoner. Our cousins, the Delaware Indians, being then drunk,
in particular Allumoppies, never examined things, but made an innocent
person prisoner, which gave a great deal of disturbance amongst us.
However the two prisoners were sent, and by the way in going down the
river they stopped at the house of James Berry; James told the young
man, 'I am sorry to see you in such a condition, I have known you
from a boy, and always loved you.' Then the young man seemed to be
very much struck to the heart, and said, 'I have said nothing yet, but I
will tell all, let all the Indians come up, and the white people also, they
shall hear it.' And then told Musemeelin in the presence of all the peo-
ple: 'Now I am going to die for your wickedness; you have killed all
the three white men. I never did intend to kill any of them.' Then
Musemeelin in anger said: 'It is true, I have killed them; I am a man,
you are a coward; it is a great satisfaction to me to have killed them;
I will die with joy for having killed a great rogue and his companions.'
Upon which the young man was set at liberty by the Indians.
"We desire therefore our brother, the governor, will not insist to have
either of the two young men in prison or condemned to die; it is not
with Indians as with white people, to put people in prison on suspicion
or -trifles. Indians must first be found guilty of a crime, then judgment
is given and immediately executed. We will give you faithfully all the
54 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
particulars; and at the ensuing treaty entirely satisfy you; in the mean-
time we desire that good friendship and harmony continue; and that we
may live long together, is the hearty desire of your brethren, the Indians
of the United Six Nations present at Shamokin.
"The following is what Shikellamy declared to he the truth of the story
concerning the murder of John Armstrong, Woodward Arnold and James
Smith from the beginning to the end, to wit:
"That Musemeelin owing some skins to John Armstrong, the said Arm-
strung seized a horse of the said Musemeelin and a rifle gun; the gun
was taken by James Smith, deceased. Some time last winter Musemeelin
met Armstrong on the river Juniata, and paid all but twenty shillings,
for which he offered a neck-belt in pawn to Armstrong and demanded
his horse, and James Armstrong refused it, and would not deliver up the
horse, but enlarged the debt, as his usual custom was, and after some
quarrel the Indian went away in great anger without his horse to his
hunting cabin. Some time after this, Armstrong, with his two companions
on their way to Ohio, passed by the said Musemeelin's hunting cabin, his
wife, only being at home, demanded the horse of Armstrong, because he
was her proper goods, but didn't get him. Armstrong had by this time
sold or lent the horse to James Berry; after Musemeelin came from
hunting, his wife told him that Armstrong was gone by, and that she
demanded the horse of him, but did not get him — and as is thought
pressed him to pursue and take revenge of Armstrong. The third day
in the morning after James Armstrong was gone by, Musemeelin said to
the two young men that hunted with him, come let us go toward the Great
Hills to hunt bears; accordingly they went all three in company; after
they had gone a good way Musemeelin, who was foremost, was told by
the two young men that they were out of their course. Come you along,
said Musemeelin, and they accordingly followed him till they came to the
path that leads to the Ohio. Then Musemeelin told them he had a good
mind to go and fetch his horse back from Armstrong, and desired the
two young men to come along; accordingly they went. It was then al-
most night and they traveled till next morning. Musemeelin said, now they
are not far off. We will make ourselves black, then they will be frightened
and will deliver up the horse immediately, and I will tell Jack that if he
does not give me the horse I will kill him, and when he said so he
laughed. The young men thought he joked, as he used to do. They did
not blacken themselves, but he did. When the sun was above the trees,
or about an hour high, they all came to the fire, where they found James
Smith sitting, and they also sat down. Musemeelin asked where Jack
was ; Smith told him that he was gone to clear the road a little. Muse-
meelin said he wanted to speak to him, and went that way, and after he
had gone a little distance from the fire, he said something, and looked
back laughing, but he having a thick throat, and his speech being very
had, and their talking with Smith, hindered them from understanding
what he said; they did not mind it. They being hungry, Smith told them
to kill some turtles, of which they were plenty, and we would make some
bread, and by and by, they would all eat together. While they were
talking, they heard a gun go off not far off, at which time Woodward
Arnold was killed, as they learned afterwards. Soon after Musemeelin
came back and said, why did you not kill that white man according as I
bid you? At this they were surprised, and one of the young men com-
monly called Jimmy, run away to the riverside. Musemeelin said to the
other, how will you do to kill Catabaws, if you cannot kill white men?
You cowards, I'll show you how you must do; and then taking up the
English axe that lay there, he struck it three times into Smith's head, be-
EARLIEST RECORDS OF INDIAN INHABITANTS 55
fore he died. Smith never stirred. Then he told the young Indian to
call the other; but he was so terrified he could not call. Musemeelin
then went and fetched him and said to him that two of the white men
were killed, he must now go and kill the third; then each of them would
have killed one. But neither of them dare venture to talk anything about
it. Then he pressed them to go along with him— he went foremQSl ; then
one of the young men told the other as they went along, my friend, don't
you kill any of the white people, let him do what he will ; I have not
killed Smith, he has done it himself, we have no need to do such a bar-
barous thing. Musemeelin being then a good way before them in a hurry,
they soon saw John Armstrong sitting upon an old log. Musemeelin spoke
to him and said, where is my horse? Armstrong made answer and said,
he will come by and by, you shall have him. I want him now, said
Musemeelin. Armstrong answered, you shall have him. Come let us go
to that fire — which was at some distance from the place where Armstrong
sat— and let us talk and smoke together. Go along then, said Muse-
meelin. I am coming, said Armstrong, do you go before; Musemeelin,
do you go foremost. Armstrong looked then like a dead man, and went
toward the fire and was immediately shot in his back by Musemeelin and
fell. Musemeelin then took his hatchet and struck it into Armstrong's
head, and said, give me my horse, I tell you. By this time one of the
young men had fled again that had gone away before, but he returned in
a short time. Musemeelin then told the young men, they must not offer
to discover or tell a word about what had been done for their lives, but
they must help to bury Jack, and the other two were to be thrown into
the river. After that was done Musemeelin ordered them to load the
horses and follow towards the hill, where they intended to hide the goods ;
accordingly they did and as they were going, Musemeelin told them that
as there were a great many Indians hunting about that place, if they
should happen to meet with any, they must be killed to prevent betraying
them. As they went along, Musemeelin going before, the two young
men agreed to run away as soon as they could meet with any Indians,
and not to hurt anybody. They came to the desired place, the horses
were unloaded, and Musemeelin opened the bundles and offered the two
young men each a parcel of goods. They told him that they had already
sold their skins, and everybody knew they had nothing, they would cer-
tainly be charged with a black action, were they to bring any goods to the
town, and therefore they would not accept of any; but promised never-
theless not to betray him. Now, says Musemeelin, [ know what you were
talking about when you stayed so far behind.
"The two young men being in great danger of losing their lives— of
which they had been much afraid all that day— accepted of what he of-
fered to them, and the rest of the goods they put in a heap and covered
them from the rain, and then went to their hunting cabin. Musemeelin
unexpectedly finding two or three more Indians there, laid down his
goods, and said he had killed Jack Armstrong and taken pay for his horse,
and should any of them discover it, that person he would likewise kill;
but otherwise they might all take a part of the goods. The young man,
called Jitumy, went away to Shamokin, after Musemeelin was gone to
bury the goods with three more Indians, with whom he had prevailed;
one of them was Neshaleeny's son, whom he had ordered to kill James
Smith, but these Indians would not have any of the goods. Some time
after the young Indian had been in Shamokin, it was whispered about
that some of the Delaware Indians had killed Armstrong and his men.
A drunken Indian came to one of the Tudolous houses at night and told
the man of the house that he could tell him a piece of bad news. What
56 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
is that? said the other. The drunken man said, some of our Deleware
Indians have killed Armstrong and his men, which, if our chiefs should
not resent, and take them up, I will kill them myself to prevent a dis-
turbance between us and the white people, our brother. Next morning
Shikellamy and some other Indians of the Delawares were called to assist
Allomoppies in council.
"When Shikellamy and Allumoppies got one of the Tudolous Indians to
write a letter to me to desire me to come to Shamokin in all haste ; that
the Indians were much dissatisfied in mind. This letter was brought to
my house by four Delaware Indians sent express ; but I was then in
Philadelphia, and when I came home and found all particulars mentioned
in this letter, and that none of the Indians of the Six Nations had been
down, I did not care to meddle with Delaware Indian affairs, and staid
at home till I received the governor's orders to go, which was about two
weeks after. Allumoppies was advised by his council to employ a con-
jurer, as they call it to find out the murderer; accordingly he did and the
Indians met ; the seer being busy all night, told them in the morning to
examine such and such an one, they were present when Armstrong was
killed, naming the two young men ; Musemeelin was present. Accordingly
Allumoppies, Quietheyyquent and Thomas Green, an Indian, went to him
that had fled first and examined him; he told the whole story very freely;
then they went to the other, but he would not say a word, but went away
and left them. The three Indians returned to Shikellamy and informed
of what discovery they had made. When it was agreed to secure the
murderers, and deliver them up to the white people, a great noise arose
among the Delaware Indians, and some were afraid of their lives and
went into the woods ; not one cared to meddle with Musemeelin, and the
other that could not be prevailed on to discover anything, because of the
resentment of their families; but they being pressed by Shikellamy's
son to secure the murderers, otherwise they would be cut off from the
chain of friendship; four or five of the Delawares made Musemeelin
and the other young man prisoners and tied them both. They lay twenty-
four hours and none would venture to conduct them down ; because of
the great division among the Delaware Indians, and Allumoppies in danger
of being killed, fled to Shikellamy and begged for protection. At last
Shikellamy's son Jack went to the Delawares, most of them being drunk,
as they had been for several days, and told them to deliver the prisoners
to Alexander Armstrong, and they were afraid to do it ; they might sepa-
rate their heads from their bodies, and lay them in the canoe, and carry
them to Alexander to roast and eat them, that would satisfy his revenge,
as he wants to eat Indians. They prevailed with the said Jack to assist
them, and accordingly he and his brother and some of the Delawares
went with two canoes and carried them off."
No available records remain to show the final disposition of '
Musemeelin.
According to a record left by John Harris, of Harris' Ferry
(now Harrisburg), Jack's Narrows, near Mapleton on the Juniata,
came to be named this way. Harris referred to them thus: "Jack
Armstrong's narrows, so called from his being there murdered."
Other writers claim they were called after Captain Jack, a reso-
lute Indian hater, described elsewhere in this book. While either
may be the truth, yet the fact that the murder happened at this
point inclines one to believe that the mountain was named after
the trader, Armstrong, who was murdered there.
CHAPTER 111.
INTRUDING SETTLERS EVICTED.
THE lands now comprising Perry County probably caused
the provincial government a greater amount of anxiety dur-
ing a number of years than any other in Pennsylvania. In
a treaty made with the Indians for certain lands west of the Sus-
quehanna River no lands north of the Kittatinny or Blue Moun-
tains were included, yet notwithstanding this fact pioneers, im-
patient over the delays of the land office, began entering the val-
leys between the Kittatinny and Tuscarora ranges, as well as north
of the latter, erected cabins and started to clear the lands, without
the sanction of the provincial authorities, as the following pages
show.
A large delegation of Iroquois journeyed to Philadelphia in
July, 1742, to receive the second and last payment for the lands
which were sold to the proprietary in 1736. Canassatego, a chief,
made a speech in which he refers to the Juniata lands, which in-
clude the soil of Perry County and which was a matter of con-
tention for years, finally leading to the burning of the cabins of
"squatters," as portrayed further on in this chapter. He said:
"We know our lands are now become more valuable ; the white people
think we do not know their value, but we are sensible that the land is
everlasting, and the few goods we receive for it are soon worn out and
gone. For the future we will sell no lands, but when our brother Onas
(William Penn) is in the country, and we will know before hand the
quantity of goods we are to receive. Besides, we are not well used with
respect to the lands still unsold by us. Your people daily settle on these
lands and spoil our hunting. We must insist on your removing them, as
you know they have no right to the northward of Kittochtinny Hills. In
particular, we renew our complaints against some people who are settled
at Juniata, a branch of the Susquehanna, and all along the banks of that
river, as far as Mahaniay, and desire that they may be made forthwith to
go off the land, for they do great damage to our cousins, the Delawares."
This was not their first protest, as the governor's reply would
indicate. He replied that "on your former complaints against peo-
ple settling the land on Juniata, and from thence all along the river
Susquehanna as far as Mahaniay, some magistrates were sent ex-
pressly to remove them, and we thought no person would stay
after that." To which the Indians rejoined, "These persons who
were sent did not do their duty ; so far from removing the people,
they made surveys for themselves and they are in league with the
trespassers. We desire more effectual methods to be used, and
honester persons employed."
57
58 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
The governor promised them this would be done and after let-
ting the period between July 7 and October 5 elapse he issued a
proclamation from the contents of which one would infer that
the sections most in contention were at the mouth of the Juniata
and probably as far as the Juniata County line and in Fulton
County and up the Susquehanna as far as Wyoming.
These lands were among the choicest of the Indians, who made
their living by hunting and fishing, being especially noted as a great
hunting ground for deer, probably excelling all others, as the fol-
lowing extract from a letter by Conrad Weiser, the interpreter,
dated April 22, 1749, will show: He was on his way to Shamokin
with a messenger from the provincial government to the Indians
and met the sons of Shikellamy, at the trading house of Thomas
McKee, and delivered to them the message, as he had been in-
formed that all the Indians were absent from Shamokin. In the
letter referred to, addressd to Richard Peters, secretary of the
province, having just returned from this trip, he writes:
"The Indians are very uneasy about the white people settling beyond
the Endless Mountains, on Joniady (Juniata), on Sherman's Creek and
elsewhere. They tell me that about thirty families are settled upon the
Indian lands this spring, and daily more go to settle thereon. Some have
settled almost to the head of Joniady River along the path that leads to
Ohio. The Indians say (and that with truth) that that country is their
only hunting ground for deer, because farther to the north, there was
nothing but spruce woods and the ground covered with calmia (laurel)
bushes, not a single deer could be found or killed there. They asked very
seriously whether their brother Onas (William Penn) had given the people
leave to settle there. I informed them of the contrary, and told them
that I believed some of the Indians from Ohio, that were down last sum-
mer, had given liberty (with what right I could not tell) to settle. I told
them of what passed on the Tuscarora Path last summer, when the sheriff
and three magistrates were sent to turn off the people there settled; and
that 1 then perceived that the people were favored by some of the In-
dians above mentioned ; by which means the orders of the governor came
to no effect. So far they were content and said the thing must be as it
is, till the Six Nation chiefs would be down and converse with the Gov-
ernor of Pennsylvania about the affair."
The Six Nations having consulted in council on the subject
sent a delegation to Philadelphia with remonstrances, but the
Senecas had already been there and had been dismissed with £100
and little satisfaction. The Six Nations were given £50. Return-
ing disgusted they killed the cattle and ruined the orchards along
the way.
In May, 1750, a conference was held at George Croghan's, in
Pennsboro Township, Cumberland County, between the whites
and the Indians, to give the Indians the assurance that those who
had intruded on their lands on the Juniata should be removed with-
out further delay. Present at the meeting were Richard Peters,
secretary of the province ; Conrad Weiser, James Galbreath,
INTRUDING SETTLERS EVICTED 59
George Croghan, George Stevenson, William Wilson, Hermanns
Alricks, Andrew Montour, Jac-nec-doaris, Sai-nch-to-wano, Cata-
ra-dir-ha, Tohonady Huntho, a Mohawk from Ohio.
Some of these men went away peaceably, upon the promise that
when the lands were purchased from the Indians they might re-
turn to their claims, but others were morose and went to other
sections. Among those to return were Richard Kirkpatrick and
John McClure.
Secretary Peters, in an official communication, dated July 2,
1750, recounting the previous troubles along this line, takes credit
for having caused the intruders to be driven out in June, 1743.
He further says that to the best of his remembrance there were
no further encroachments until about 1747, when, among others,
"some persons had the presumption to go into a place called
Shearman's Creek, lying along the waters of Juniata, and is situ-
ate east of the Path Valley, through which the present road runs
from Harris' Ferry (now Harrisburg) to Allegheny; and lastly
they extending their settlements to big Juniata; the Indians all
this while repeatedly complaining that their hunting ground was
every day more and more taken from them ; and that there must
infallably arise quarrels between their Warriors and these settlers,
which would in the end break the chain of friendship."
The Indians then threatened to do themselves what the gov-
ernment failed to do, with the result that Richard Peters, secre-
tary of the province, with Conrad Weiser, the interpreter, were
despatched to the territory in which the new settlements were
located to expel the intruders. They were joined by the magis-
trates of the county, the delegates of the Six Nations, a chief of
the Mohawks, and Andrew Montour, an interpreter. The party
met with some resistance, but Mr. Peters, the secretary, was some-
what of a diplomat and gave money to the needy and offered a
place of refuge on farms of his own elsewhere. He also gave all
of them permission to locate on parts of the two million acres
east of the Susquehanna, purchased of the Indians the previous
year. Some accepted, and Andrew Lycon was one of them, the
town of Lykens, in upper Dauphin Comity, where he later settled,
being named after him.
In the letter from Richard Peters, the provincial secretary, to
lames Hamilton, the Colonial governor, dated July 2, 1750, among
other matters is the following report of this expedition :
"Mr. Weiser and I have received your honor's orders to give informa-
tion to the proper magistrates against all such as had presumed to settle
and remain on the lands beyond the Kittochtinny Mountains, not purchased
of the Indians, in contempt of the laws repeatedly signified by proclama-
tions, and particularly by your honor's last one, and to bring them to a
legal conviction, lest for want of their removal a breach should ensue be-
tween the Six Nations of Indians and this province. We set out on
60 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
Tuesday, the 15th day of May, 1750, for the new county of Cumberland,
where the places on which the trespassers had settled, lay.
"At Mr. Croghan's we met with five Indians, three from Shamokin, two
of which were sons of the late Shikellamy, who transact the business of
the Six Nations with this government; two were just arrived from Alle-
gheny, viz: one of the Mohock's (Mohawk) nation, called Aaron, and
Andrew Montour, the interpreter at Ohio. Mr. Montour telling us he
had a message from the Ohio Indians and Twightwees to this govern-
ment, and desiring a conference, one was held on the 18th of May last,
in the presence of James Galbreth (Galbraith), George Croghan, William
"THE LINCOLN PROFILE" or
"THE SENTINEL OF THE SUSQUEHANNA"
The lower part bears a resemblance to President Lincoln.
These rocks were blown away when the new Pennsylvania
Railroad Line was built around the Cove Mountain at
Duncannon.
Wilson, and Hermanns Alricks, Ksqs., justices of the county of Cumber-
land ; and when Mr. Montour's business was done, we, with the advice
of the other justices, imparted to the Indians the design we were assem-
bled upon, at which they expressed great satisfaction.
"Another conference was held at the instance of the Indians, in the
presence of Mr. Galbreth and Mr. Croghan, before mentioned, wherein
they expressed themselves as follows:
" 'Brethren, we have thought a great deal of what you imparted to us,
that ye were come to turn the people off, who are settled over the hills;
INTRUDING SETTLERS EVICTED 61
we are pleased to see on this occasion, and as the council of Onondago
has this affair exceedingly at heart, and it was particularly recommended
to us by the deputies of the Six Nations, when they parted from us last
summer, we desire to accompany you, but we are afraid, notwithstanding
the care of the governor, that this may prove like many former attempts ;
the people will be put off now, and next year come again; and if so the
Six Nations will no longer bear it, but do themselves justice. To pre-
vent this, therefore, when you have turned the people off, we recommend
it to the governor, to place two or three faithful persons over the moun-
tains, who may be agreeable to him and us, with commissions, empower-
ing them immediately to remove every one who may presume after this
to settle themselves, until the Six Nations shall agree to make sale of
their land.'
"To enforce this they gave a string of wampum, and received one in
return from the magistrates, with the strongest assurances that they would
do their duty.
"On Tuesday, the 226. of May, Matthew Dill, George Croghan, Benja-
min Chambers, Thomas Wilson, John Finley and James Galbreth, Esqs.,
justices of the said county of Cumberland, attended by the undersheriff,
came to Big Juniata, situate at the distance of twenty miles from the
mouth thereof, and about ten miles north from the Blue Hills, a place
much esteemed by the Indians for some of their best hunting ground, and
there they found five cabins, or log houses, one possessed by William
White,* another by George Cahoon, another not quite yet finished in pos-
session of David Hiddleston, another by George and William^ Galloway,
and another by Andrew Lycon ; of these persons William White, George
and William Galloway, David Hiddleston and George Cahoon appeared
before the magistrates, and being asked by what right or authority they
had possessed themselves of those lands and erected cabins thereon, re-
plied: 'By no right or authority but that the land belonged to the pro-
prietaries of Pennsylvania.' They were then asked whether they did not
know they were acting against the law and in contempt of frequent no-
tices given them and in contempt of the governor's proclamation. They
said they had seen one such proclamation and had nothing to say for
themselves, but craved mercy. Hereupon the said five men being con-
victed by said justices on their view, the undersheriff was charged with
them and he took William White, David Hiddleston and George Cahoon
*This is the place where Frederick Starr, a German, with several of
his countrymen, are spoken of in provincial annals as having "made set-
tlements on Big Juniata, about twenty-five miles from the mouth thereof
(recorded at other places as twenty miles), and about ten miles north
from the Blue Hills." That location is impossible, as twenty-five miles
(or twenty miles) from the mouth of the Juniata would be in Juniata
County, while ten miles north from the Blue Hills would be in the vicinity
of Wh'eatfield or Miller Township, in Perry County. Wright's History
places Starr's settlement "probably near the Pennsylvania Railroad bridge
over Buffalo Creek," above Newport, and those of Lycon and others
"probably in Pfoutz's Valley," while the records of the land office show
them to have been in Walker Township, Juniata County. In the letter to
Tames Hamilton, dated July 2, 1750, is this clause, which locates the place
in the vicinity of Thompsontown : "About the year 1740 or 1741, one
Frederick Starr, a German, with two or three more of his countrymen,
made some settlements at the above place, where we found William White,
the Gallowavs, and Andrew Lycon, on Big Juniata, situate at the distance
-of twenty-five miles from the mouth thereof," etc. As William White and
Tohn Lvcon returned to their places, after the opening of the land office,
February 3, 1754, and took up the lands legally, the location is determined.
62 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
into custody, but George and William Galloway resisted, and having got
at some distance from the undersheriff, they called to us : 'You may take
our lands and houses and do what you please with them ; we deliver them
to you with all our hearts, but we will not be carried to jail.'
"The next morning being Wednesday, the 23d of May, the said justices
went to the log house or cabin of Andrew Lycon, and finding none there
but children, and hearing that the father and mother were expected soon,
and William White and others offering to become security, jointly and
severally, and to enter into recognizance as well for Andrew's appearance
at court, and immediate removal as for their own, this proposal was ac-
cepted and William White, David Hiddleston and George Cahoon en-
tered into a recognizance of 100 pounds, and executed bonds to the pro-
prietaries in the sum of 500 pounds, reciting that they were trespassers
and had no manner of right and had delivered possession to me for the
proprietaries. When the magistrate went to the cabin of George and
William Galloway (which they had delivered up the day before, as afore-
said, after being convicted and were flying from the sheriff) all the goods
belonging to the said George and William were taken out, and the cabin
being quite empty, I took possession thereof for the proprietaries ; then a
conference was held what should be done with the empty cabin; after
great deliberation, all agreed that if some cabins were not destroyed they
would tempt the trespassers to return again, or encourage others to come
there should these go away. So what was doing would signify nothing,
since the possession of them was at such a distance from the inhabitants
and could not be kept for the proprietaries, and Mr. Weiser also giving
it as his opinion that if all the cabins were left standing the Indians
would conceive such a contemptible opinion of the government that they
would come themselves in the winter, murder the people and set their
houses on fire. On these considerations the cabin by my order, was burnt
by the undersheriff and company.
"Then the company went to the house possessed by David Hiddleston,
who had entered into bond as aforesaid, and he having voluntarily taken
out all the things which were in the cabin, and left me in possession, that
empty and unfurnished cabin was likewise set on fire, by the undersheriff,
by my order.
"The next day, being the 24th of May, Mr. Weiser and Mr. Galbreth,
with the undersheriff and myself, on our way to the mouth of the Juniata,
called at Andrew Lycon's, with intent only to inform him that his neigh-
bors were bound for his appearance and immediate removal, and to cau-
tion him not to bring himself or them into trouble by a refusal. But he
presented a loaded gun to the magistrates and sheriff and said he would
shoot the first man that dared to come nigher. On this he was disarmed,
convicted and committed to the custody of the sheriff. This whole trans-
action happened in the sight of the tribe of Indians, who by accident had
in the nighttime fixed their tent on that plantation ; and Lyken's behavior
giving them great offence the Shikellamies insisted on our burning the
cabin or they would burn it themselves. Whereupon, when everything was
taken out of it, Andrew Lycon all the while assisting, and possession
being delivered to me, the empty cabin was set on fire by the undersheriff
and Lycon was carried to jail.
"Mr. Benjamin Chambers and Mr. George Croghan had about an hour
before separated from us; and on my meeting them again in Cumberland
County, they reported to me they had been at Sheerman's Creek, or Little
Juniata, situate about six miles over the Blue Mountain, and found there
James Parker, Thomas Parker, Owen M'Keib, John M'Clure, Richard
Kirkpatrick, James Murray, John Scott, Henry Gass, John Cowan, Simon
INTRUDING SETTLERS EVICTED 63
Girtee and John Kilough, who had settled lands and erected cabins
thereon; and having convicted them of the trespass on their view, they
had bound them in recognizances of one hundred pounds to appear and
answer for their trespasses on the first day of the next Cumberland
County Court, to be held at Shippensburg, and that the said trespassers
had likewise entered into bonds to the proprietaries in 500 pounds pen-
alty, to remove off immediately with all their servants, cattle and effects
and had delivered possession of their houses to Mr. George Stevenson
for the proprietaries' use; and that Mr. Stevenson had ordered some of
the meanest of those cabins to be set on fire, where the families were not
large or the improvements considerable."
But even this did not deter aggression and at a council held at
Carlisle in 1753 the Indians again protested the occupation of their
hunting grounds and notified the authorities that "they wished the
people called back from the Juniata lands until matters were set-
tled between them and the French, lest damage should be done,
and then the English would think ill of them." That they had a
right to protest is substantiated by the fact that Alexander Roddy,
Thomas Wilson, William Patterson, James Kennedy, John and
Joseph Scott, and probably others, had located in 1753, in what
later became Tyrone Township, then generally known as Sher-
man's Valley.
As early as 1751 the number of taxables in Cumberland County
north of the Kittatinny Mountain was 1,134. Rupp's History
says : "These were chiefly Irish and some few Germans, who
seated themselves on Juniata River, Sherman's Creek, Tuscarora
Path, etc." The first settlements of these intruders on the un-
purchased lands began about the year 1740, and increased despite
the complaints of the Indians, the laws of the province and the
proclamations of the governor.
While the treaty of 1736 gave to the Penns all the lands lying
east and south of the Kittatinny or Blue Mountains, yet settle-
ments had been made west of the Susquehanna River prior to
that time, special grants having been issued for settlements. When
the Penns came the first purchase by them from the Indians in-
cluded a small domain around Philadelphia. This was at the fa-
mous council meeting of 1682. On September 17, 1718, another
treaty confirmed that sale and extended the lands as far west as
the Susquehanna River. The treaty of 1836 again confirmed the
previous ones, when on October 11, twenty-three Six Nation
chiefs sold to John, Thomas and Richard Perm all the lands on
both sides of the Susquehanna, "eastward, to the heads of the
branches or springs flowing into the river ; northward to the
Kittochtinny Hills, and westward to the setting sun." "Westward
to the setting sun" merely meant that south and east of the Kitta-
tinny Mountains all the lands, including those that drained into the
Potomac, were conveyed — nothing more — and yet many of the
64 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
white settlers construed that "westward to the setting sun" to mean
anything.
The: Albany Treaty.
Perry County is a part of the lands transferred by the Treaty
of Albany, on July 6, 1754. The deed bears the names or marks
of all the Chiefs and Sachems of the Six Nations and John and
Richard Penn and their agents. It conveys to the latter "all the
lands lying within the said province of Pennsylvania, bounded and
limited as follows : Beginning at the Kittochtinny, or Blue Hills,
on the Susquehanna River, thence along the said river a mile
above the mouth of a certain creek called Kayarondinhagh ; thence
'northwest by west as far as the said province extends, to its west-
ern lines and boundaries ; thence along the said western line or
boundary to the south line or boundary ; thence along said south
line or boundary to the south side of said Kittochtinny Hills ;
thence by south side of said hills to the place of beginning." The
price was "400 pounds, lawful money of New York."
Should these boundaries have stood practically the greater part
of western Pennsylvania to the Ohio line would have been in-
cluded, but disaffection appearing among the Indians a conference
was held at Aughwick (near Mount Union) in September, 1754,
at which the representatives of the various tribes declared that it
was not their intention to sell the lands drained by the west branch
of the Susquehanna and that they would never agree to any
boundary that extended to Lake Erie. The "certain creek" named
Kayarondinhagh, is Penn's Creek, which flows into the Susque-
hanna at Selinsgrove and a line northwest by west would strike
Lake Erie about where the city of Erie is now located. The result
of this conference was that another treaty was concluded at Eas-
ton, Pennsylvania, October 22, 1754, when the boundary lines to
the north and west were changed. The line starting above Penn's
Creek was made to run "northwest and by west to a creek called
Buffalo Creek ; thence west to the east side of the Allegheny or
Appalachian Hills ; thence along the east side of the said hills,
binding therewith to the south line or boundary of the said prov-
ince ; thence by the said south line or boundary to the south side
of the Kittochtinny Hills; thence by the south side of said hills
to the place of beginning."
The territory, as thus defined by the revised boundaries, included
all of the present counties of Perry, Juniata, Mifflin, Huntingdon,
Bedford, Blair and Fulton, almost all of Snyder, about one-half
of Centre and portions of Union. Franklin, and Somerset. The
Perry County territory is the extreme southern part of this pur-
chase.
INTRUDING SETTLERS EVICTED 65
During the preceding years pioneers had become familiar with
the lands of the new grant and when the land office opened on
February 3, 1755, on the very first day, a number of warrants
were granted to those who had located their claims. While it has
been impossible to give a full list of the warrantees during the
early settlement of the county, yet a large number are covered in
the early history of the various townships in .-mother pari of this
volume.
As will be seen in the following chapters many of these pio-
neers abandoned their homes and fled to more thickly populated
sections during the French and Indian War, many more were
killed and scalped and still others were taken prisoner by the
wily redskins.
The Six Nations were not the occupants of the territory, al-
though in authority. Many of the Delawares and the Shawnees,
who were inhabiting it did not take the treaty literally, claiming
a sort of ownership by right of occupation. This, in connection
with the settlers having come in before the purchase and the trou-
bles between the English and the French and Indians, soon made
the land a veritable "dark and bloody ground."
That Andrew Montour, the first authorized citizen of the lands
which now comprise Perry County, was sent for by Col. George
Washington in 1754, the very year of the purchase of these lands,
is attested by Montour's autograph letter, on file in the office of
the Secretary of the Commonwealth, at Harrisburg, addressed to
Governor R. H. Morris. It follows :
Sherman's Creek, 16th May, 1754.
Sir: I once more take upon me the liberty of informing you that our
Indians at Ohio are expecting every day the armed forces of this province
against the French, who, by their late encroachments, is likely to prevent
their planting, and thereby render them impossible of supporting their
families. And you may depend upon it, as a certainty, that our Indians
will not strike the French unless this province (or New York) engage with
them; and that, by. sending some number of men to their immediate as-
sistance. The reasons are plain, to wit : that they don't look upon their
late friendship with Virginia, sufficient to engage them in a war with the
French; I therefore think, with submission, that to preserve our Indian
allies, this province ought instantly to send out some men, either less or
more, which I have good reason to hope, would have the desired effect ;
otherwise I doubt there will, in a little time, be an entire separation ; the
consequences of which, you are best able to judge, &c. I am informed,
by my brother, who has lately come from the Lakes, that there is at that
place a great number of French Indians, preparing to come down to the
assistance of the French, at Ohio. I am likewise informed, by a young
Indian man (who, by my brother's directions, spent some days with the
French at Monongahela), that they expect a great number of French
down the river, very soon. I have delayed my journey to Ohio, and waited
with great impatience for advice from Philadelphia, but have not yet
received any. I am now obliged to go to Col. Washington, who has
sent for me many days ago, to go with him to meet the half-king, Mona-
5
66 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
catootha, and others, that are coming to meet the Virginia companies;
and, as they think, some from Pennsylvania — and would have been glad
to have known the design of this province, in these matters, before I
had gone. I am sir, your humble servant,
Andrew Montour.
The French and Indian War.
Prior to 1753-54 for a period of probably seventy years tbe
white settlers of the province and the Indians had gotten along
peacefully in a general way, but about this time things changed.
The Indians joined with the French against the English and
bloody massacres followed. Already Virginia was being deso-
lated and consternation seized the pioneers on every hand. The
inhabitants of the new county of Cumberland, including what is
now Perry County, petitioned Colonial Governor Hamilton for
aid. The petition :
The address of the subscribers of the county of Cumberland, sheweth
that we are now in most imminent danger by a powerful army of cruel,
merciless and inhumane enemies, by which our lives, liberties, estates, and
all that tends to promote our welfare, are in utmost danger of dreadful
destruction, and this lamentable truth is most evident from the late defeat
of the Virginia forces, and now as we are under your honor's protection,
we would beg your immediate notice, we living upon the frontiers of the
province and our enemies so close upon us, nothing doubting but these
considerations will affect your honor, and as you have our welfare at
heart, that you will defer nothing that may tend to hasten our relief.
And we have hereby appointed our most trusty friends, James Burd and
Philip Davies, our commissioners, to deliver this our petition to your
honor, and in hopes of your due attention and regard thereto, we are
your honor's devoted servants, and as in duty bound shall ever pray :
Cumberland, 15th July 1754.
To which was attached the following signatures: Benjamin Chambers,
Robert Chambers, James Carnahan, James McTeer, Charles Morrow, John
Mitchell, Joseph Armstrong, John Miller, Alexander Culbertson, James
Holiday, Nathaniel Wilson, Wm. McCord, James Jack, John Smith, Fran-
cis West, James Sharp, John Ervin, Matthew Arthur, James McCormick,
Charles Magill, George Finly, John Dotter, John Cesna, Joseph Culbert-
son, Samuel Culbertson, John Thompson, John Reynolds, George Hamil-
ton, David Magaw, James Chambers, Hermanus Alricks, Robert Meek,
Archibald Machan, Benjamin Blyth, Joseph McKinney, John Thompson,
Francis Campbell, John Finly, Isaac Miller, John Machan, John Miller,
John Blair, James Blair, James Moore, John Finly, William White, Wil-
liam Buchanan, John Montgomery, Andrew McFarlane, James Brandon,
John Pattison, John Craighead, Wm. McClure, Samuel Stevens, William
Brown, Pat McFarlan, Stephen Foulk, John Armstrong, Stephen Foulk,
Jr., William McCoskry, Charles Pattison, William Miller, John Prentice,
Arthur Forster, William Blyth, Gideon Griffith, Thomas Henderson, An-
drew Mclntyre, John McCuer, Reuben Guthrie, George Davidson, Robert
Miller, Thomas Willson, Thomas Lockert, Tobias Hendricks. It was
read in Council, August 6, 1754.
The governor, after giving proper consideration to the urgent
demands of these settlers, in the same month — August, 1754 — sent
a message to the Assembly, then in session, urging that immediate
INTRUDING SETTLERS EVICTED 67
attention be given to the matter and assistance be sent to them.
From "Votes of Assembly," 4-319, August, 1754. the document
is here reproduced :
"The people of Cumberland and the upper parts of Lancaster County,
are so apprehensive of danger, at this critical juncture, from the nearness
of French and savages under their influence, that the principal inhabitants
have, in the most earnest manner, petitioned me to provide for their pro-
tection ; representing withal, that a great number would be warm and
active in defence of themselves and their country, were they enabled so
to be, by being supplied with arms and ammunition, which many of them
are unable to purchase at their own private expense. The substance of
these several petitions, which I shall likewise order to be laid before you,
appears to me, gentlemen, to be of the greatest importance, and well
worthy of your most serious attention. You may be assured that nothing
which depends on me shall be wanting towards affording them the pro-
tection they desire; but you cannot at the same time but be sensible how
little it is in my power to answer the expectations without the aid of your
house. It becomes then my indispensable duty, and I cannot on any ac-
count whatever, excuse myself from pressing you to turn your thoughts
on the defenceless state of the province in general, as well as of our back
inhabitants in particular; and to provide such means for the security of
the whole, as shall be thought at once both reasonable and effectual to the
ends proposed; in which, as in every other matter, consistent with my
honor, and the trust reposed in me, I promise you my hearty concur-
rence."
Legislative bodies in those days seem to have been the pro-
genitors of the present-day product; and while the citizens ap-
pealed continually, and the Indians wielded the tomahawk assidu-
ously, the members of the Provincial Assembly talked continu-
ously. According to old records all they did was "talk, and talk,
and talk."
In 1755, actual hostilities had begun, between the English and
the French, in the struggle for the control of America and the
settlement of the question as to whether it would be for all time
an English-speaking or a French-speaking nation. The frontier
settlers were panic-stricken, which is not to be wondered at, for
were they not at the the verge of civilization ?
The reader will remember that February 3, i/55 — tliat ver >'
vear — i s the date upon which the land office opened at Lancaster
"for the settlement of the lands which now form the county oi
Perry.
The Indian nations were divided. Sir William Johnston had
induced the Mohawks, the Tuscaroras and the Oneidas to take
sides with the British, and the Onondagas, Cayugas and Senecas,
to remain neutral — a difficult job. Many of the Canadian Iro-
quois, however, went over to the French. Of the Susquehannas,
Delawares and Shawnees, a part, influenced by Logan, John
Thachnechtoris, Scarrooyady, Paxnons, The Belt, Zigarea and
Andrew Montour, remained true to the Colonies, offering to estab-
68 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
lish a post at Shamokin against the French; but part of them
took up the hatchet.
In the latter part of 1754 the disposition of the French toward
the frontiers was very threatening, and it was proposed to remove
the Indians from Aughwick, in what is now Huntingdon County,
to the month of the Juniata. The opinion of George Croghan, the
Indian agent then located at Aughwick, was sought, and his reply
is reproduced here as showing that the settlers at the mouth of
the Juniata River were principally traders. It follows:
"As to moving the Indians to the month of the Juniata, I think
it a very improper place, for this reason : it is settled with a set
of white men that make their living by trading with the Indians
that is settled on the river Susquehanna and sells them little else but
spirits, so that it would be impossible to keep these Indians from
spending all their clothing and then they would be forever teasing
your honor for goods. Indeed it is my opinion that were they
to live in any part of the inhabitance, it would be attended with
bad consequences, as there is no keeping them from being in-
flamed with liquor if they can get at it, cost what it will ; besides
it is dangerous for fear of their getting sickness ; then they would
say the white people killed them, and while they stay here they are
a defense to the back inhabitants, which I think lays very open
to the enemy, and I think if the government intends to build any
fortifications for the security of the back inhabitants that this
place or some place hereabouts is the properest place."
As this was the year of the Albany purchase of these lands, and
as the land office was not yet opened for settlement, the location
of these traders was evidently on Duncan's Island, then known as
Juniata Island, which was included in an earlier purchase by Penn.
Late in October, 1755, the Indians appeared in the neighborhood
of Shamokin, and early in November committed several murders
of whites under peculiarly cruel and barbarous circumstances.
Not only those on the immediate frontier, but also those farther
to the heart of the settled part of the province were in constant
dread of the savages. A proclamation signed by nine prominent
citizens advised all to repair to the frontiers and be prepared for
the "worst event." The George Gabriel's mentioned in their proc-
lamation was located "below the forks of the Susquehanna, about
thirty miles of Harris' Ferry, on the west side of the river," ac-
cording to Rupp. The proclamation:
Paxton, Oct. 31, 1755- From John Harris' at 12 p.m.
To all his majesty's subjects in the Province of Pennsylvania, or else-
where: Whereas, Andrew Montour, Belt of Wampum, two Mohawks,
and other Indians came down this day from Shamokin (where Sunbury
is now located), who say the whole body of Indians or the greatest part
of them in the French interest, is actually encamped on this side George
Gabriel's, near Susquehanna; and that we may expect an attack in three
INTRUDING SETTLERS EVICTED 69
days at farthest; and a French fort to be begun at Sbamokin in ten days
hence. Tho' this be the Indian report; we the subscribers, do give it
as our advice to repair immediately to the frontiers with all our forces
to intercept their passage into our country, and be prepared in the best
manner possible for the worst event.
Witness our hands.
James Galbreath, John Allison, Barney Hughes, Robert Wallace, John
Harris, James Pollock, James Anderson, William Work, Patrick Henry.
P. s'. They positively affirm that the above named Indians discovered
a party of the enemy at Thomas McKee's upper place on the 30th of
October last.
Mona-ca-too-tha, the Belt, and other Indians here, insist upon Mr.
Weiser's coming immediately to John Harris' with his men, and to council
with the Indians.
Before me, James Galbreath.
That the matter of calling forth the above proclamation was
urgent is attested by the fact that the latter part of the date line
shows it to have been despatched at an unusual hour, "From John
Harris' at 12 p. m.," is the inscription, and it was likely sent by
courier, or as the provincial authorities termed it, "by express."
The above is from the provincial records and also establishes
the fact that Thomas McKee had two places, a fact which has
confused many writers. McKee was an Indian trader and is men-
tioned in many records, one being in an earlier chapter of this
book, where he was one of a party to help hunt for the murderers
of John Armstrong. That he was one of these men would imply
that he probably made his headquarters at the lower place, which
was at Peters' Mountain, opposite Duncannon ; in fact his name
frequently appears in matters pertaining to the lower location.
The upper location was where McKee's Half Falls is, that place
taking its name from him. The "places" were likely trading posts
for the exchange of goods and possibly also stopping places for
travelers, but the latter is hardly likely, as the country was too
little settled to require such accommodation. People yet living
remember when Harry McKee, a descendant, owned the farm at
the end of Peters' Mountain. He later kept a hotel at the east
end of Clark's Ferry bridge.
McKee's store, mentioned in many provincial documents, was
near Peters' Mountain, and further proof of the fact is contained
in Rupp's History, page 314, where it is stated that William Clap-
ham, commandant at Fort Halifax, wrote Governor Morris, July
1, 1756, saying he would leave a sergeant and twelve men at
Harris', twenty-four at Hunter's Fort, twenty-four at McKee's
store, each in command of an ensign, and Captain Miles and
thirty-seven men at Fort Halifax, naming the points in order
coming up the river.
CamerhorT, the Moravian bishop, on January 13, 1748, after
•being at one of McKee's places, described him thus: "McKee
■jo HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
holds a captain's commission under the government; is an exten-
sive Indian trader; bears a good name among them, and drives a
brisk trade with the Allegheny country." McKee's wife was
either a white woman who had been reared among the Indians or
was herself an Indian, probably the former. There is record that
she conld speak little English. Various stories appear in historical
works as to her origin. Certain it is that, if she were even reared
among the Indians to her must be credited the half -savage nature
of Alexander McKee — son of Captain Thomas — who was the fel-
low renegade of Simon Girty. His rearing among the Indians,
where his father traded, probably also contributed to it. He was
George Croghan's assitant at Pittsburgh as Deupty Indian Agent
to the British. When a lad at the store below Peters' Mountain
he probably became acquainted with young Simon Girty, who lived
a tew miles below. The reader is referred to the chapter on Simon
Girty for further description of the younger McKee.
In a letter* addressed to "Mr. Peters, Secretary of the Prov-
ince, dated Conococheague, Nov. 2, 1755, John Potter, sheriff of
Cumberland County, after telling of the great Indian massacres in
Great Cove (now Bedford County), says: 'I am much afraid
that Juniata, Tuscarora and Sheerman's Valley hath suffered ;
there are two-thirds of the inhabitants of this valley who have
already fled, leaving their plantations ; and without speedy suc-
cour be granted I am of the opinion this county will be laid deso-
late and be without inhabitants. Last night I had a family of up-
wards of an hundred women and children, who fled for succour.
You can form no just idea of the distress and distracted condition
of our inhabitants, unless you saw and heard their cries.' "
In a letter also dated November 2, 1755, to Governor Morris,
signed by John Armstrong, f is this: "We have sent our ex-
presses everywhere and intend to collect the forces of this lower
part ; expecting the enemy at Sheerman's Valley, if not nearer at
hand. I am of the opinion that no other means than a chain of
block houses along or near the south side of the Kittatinny Moun-
tain, from Susquehanna to the temporary line, can secure the lives
and properties even of the old inhabitants of this county, the new
settlements being all fled, except those of Sheerman's Valley whom,
it God do not preserve, we fear, will suffer very soon. I am your
honor's disconsolate, humble servant," etc.
The only man, as far as official records show, who inhabited the
territory which is now Perry County, to fight in the French and
Indain W r ar with the army was Andrew Montour, the Indian
agent and trader, who resided on Sherman's Creek, near where
*Rupp's History.
fProvincial Records.
INTRUDING SF.TTLERS EVICTED
71
Montour's run empties into it. In one of his official communi-
cations to Governor Morris, Braddock says he has forty or fifty
Indians with him and has taken into the service Andrew Montour
and George Croghan. Coming from such a source it is evidently
not only official hut authentic. Another man, Alexander Stephens,
who later resided in Perry County territory, and became a captain
in the Revolution, was a soldier in this war and was present at
Braddock's defeat. He was a private in Capt. Joseph Shippen's
company of Col. William Clapham's regiment.
Most of the Indians deserted the Braddock expedition, and with
some reason. Braddock advanced with great pomp and his
method of fighting was had, in so far as Indian warfare was con-
cerned. Scarroyady, a chief, in an address to the Provincial
Council, said :
"It is now well known to you how unhappily we have been
defeated by the French near Minongelo (Monongahela). We
must let you know that it was the pride and ignorance of that
great general that came from England. He is now dead ; but
he was a bad man when he was alive ; he looked upon us as dogs,
and would never hear anything that was said to him. We often
endeavored to advise him and to tell him the danger he was in
with his soldiers ; but he never appeared pleased with us, and
that was the reason that a great many of our warriors would not
be under his command."
The following letter shows that Montour was mistrusted, and
also illustrates the distressed condition of the territory at that
period :
"Carlisle, Sunday Night, November 2, 1755.
"Dear Sir: Inclosed to Mr. Allen, by the last post, I sent you a letter
from Harris', but I believe forgot, through that day's confusion, to di-
rect it.
"You will see our melancboly circumstances by the governor's letter
and my opinion of the method of keeping the inhabitants in this county,
which will require all possible despatch. If we had immediate assurance
of relief a great number would stay ; and the inhabitants should be
advertised not to drive off, nor waste their beef cattle, &c. I have not
so much as sent off my wife, fearing an ill precedent, but must do it now,
I believe, together with the public papers and your own.
"There are no inhabiants on Juniata, nor on Tuscarora by this time,
my brother William being just come in. Montour and Monaghatootha
are going to the governor. The former is greatly suspected of being an
enemy in his heart — 'tis hard to tell — you can compare what they say to
the governor to what I have wrote. I have no notion of a large army,
but of great danger from scouting parties. John Armstrong."
Indian Massacres on County Soil.
With the defeat of General Braddock in western Pennsylvania
by the French and Indians on July 9, 1755, the Indians took the
■ji HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
warpath and laid waste all outlying' settlements. The land office
tor the settlement of these lands had only opened the third day of
the preceding February and the new settlers were unable to locate
in the territory until the coming of spring. They had cleared a
few acres of land on which was growing their first crop when the
Braddock defeat occurred.
Evidently learning of the outrages of Indians elsewhere a brave
family named Robinson,* the father's name being George Robin-
son, and their neighbors erected a log fort and stockade on a
tableland of the Robinson farm for the protection of the citi-
zens in case of attack by the Indians. That it was built during
this first year of the settlement of Perry County soil is attested
by Robert Robinson in his narrative telling of the Woolcomber
tragedy along Sherman's Creek. According to Rupp, the histo-
rian, that and other murders occurred in Sherman's Valley towards
the close of December, 1755 — the first year of the settlement of
these lands.
The story of Robert Robinson is recorded in tLoudon's Nar-
ratives, the first part of it relating to the first battle fought with
the Indians after Rraddock's defeat, in which his brother lost his
life. It follows:
"Sideling Hill was the first fought battle after Braddock's de-
feat. In the year 1756 a party of Indians came out of Conoco-
cheague to a garrison named McCord's Fort, and killed some and
took a number of prisoners. They then took their course near to
Fort Littleton. Captain Hamilton, being stationed there with a
company, hearing of their route at McCord's Fort, marched with
his company of men, having an Indian with them who was under
pay. This Indian led the company, and came on the tracks of the
Indians and soon tracked them to Sideling Hill, where they found
them with their prisoners, and having the first fire, but without
doing much damage, the Indians returned the fire, defeated our
men and killed a number of them. My brother, James Robinson,
was among the slain. The Indians had McCord's wife with them ;
they cut off Mr. James Blair's head and threw it in Mrs. McCord's
lap, saving that was her husband's head, but she knew it to be
Blair's.'"
*The name is variously spelled Robison, Robeson, and Robinson. It is
believed that the first method was the original, but as official publications
of the state use the latter and as the descendants also do, that method is
used in our pages.
fFor much of the information contained in this chapter posterity is in-
debted to Archibald Loudon, author of Loudon's Narratives. His father,
James Loudon, was a pioneer in what is now Tuscarora Township,
Perry County, and in Bull's Hill graveyard there the oldest stone marks
his grave. Archibald Loudon thus got his information at first hand, there
being no tradition about it.
INTRUDING SETTLERS EVICTED 73
Robinson further says: "In 1756, I remember of Woolcomber's
family on Shearman's Creek; the whole of the inhabitants of the
valley was gathered at Robinson's, but Woolcomber Would not
leave home; he said it was the Irish who were killing one an-
other; these peaceable people, the Indians, would not hurt any
person. Being at home and at dinner, the Indians came in, and
the Quaker asked them to come and eat dinner ; an Indian an-
nounced that he did not come to eat, but for scalps ; the son, a
boy of fourteen or fifteen years of age, when he heard the Indian
say so. repaired to a back door, and as he went out he looked
back, and saw the Indian strike the tomahawk into his father's
head. The boy then ran over the creek, which was near to the
house, and heard the screams of his mother, sisters and brother.
The boy came to our fort and gave us the alarm; about forty
went to where the murder was done and buried the dead." The
scene of this tragedy was the Burchfield farm, near Cisna's Run.
Loudon's Narratives also states that in the year 1755 Peter
Shaver, John Savage and two other men were killed at the mouth
of Shaver's Creek, or Juniata, by the Indians.
In February, 1756, Captain Patterson, with a party of scouts,
went up the Susquehanna and reported the woods, from the Juni-
ata to Shamokin, to be filled with Indians. Encountering a party
of Indians they scalped one, which later proved to be the son of
Shikellamy's sister.
In Loudon's Narratives are the following details of another
scalping: "February, 1756, a party of Indians from Shamokin
came to Juniata. They first came to Hugh Micheltrees, being on
the river, who had gone to Carlisle, and had got a young man,
named Edward Nicholas, to stay with his wife until he would
return — the Indians killed them both. The same party of In-
dians went up the river where the Lukens now live — William
Wilcox lived on the opposite side of the river, whose wife and
eldest son had come over the river on some business — the Indians
came while they were there and killed old Edward Nicholas (in
some books the name is given as Nicholson) and his wife, and took
Joseph, Thomas and Catharine Nicholas, John Wilcox, James Arm-
strong's wife and two children prisoners. An Indian named Cot-
ties (Cotter), who wished to be captain of this party, when they
did not choose him, did not go with them. He and a boy went
to Shearman's Creek and killed *William Sheridan and family,
thirteen in number. They then went down the creek to where
three old persons lived, two men and a woman, called French,
whom they killed ; of which he often boasted afterwards, that he
*Those killed at this time were William Sheridan, a Quaker, his wife,
three children and a servant; William Hamilton, his wife and daughter
and a man and two women whose last name was French.
74 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
and the boy took more scalps than the whole party." Some his-
torians locate the scene of this tragedy as "being within ten miles
of Carlisle, a little beyond Stephen's Gap," evidently meaning
Sterrett's Gap. The location of the French home is uncertain at
this distant day, but was probably in the vicinity of Dellville, as
the description says they went down the creek from the Sheridan
home. There is little doubt that the Sheridan family lived along
the creek on the farm long known as the Levi Adams farm, above
Dellville. According to the statement of Rev. L. C. Smiley, Mrs.
Ludwig Cornman, when near ninety years of age, pointed out to
his mother the location of the graves, which her father, Philip
Foulk, had shown her, telling her the story, exactly as printed
above and in Provincial Annals. It is in the meadow, adjoining
the W. A. Smiley farm, and the Sheridan house stood between
the sites of the present Adams house and barn. For years a long
stone, deeply set in the ground and projecting, marked the graves,
but Mr. Adams found it inconvenient to farm around it and broke
it off with a sledge hammer on a level with the bottom of the fur-
row. Mr. Smiley, at a later period while working in the same
meadow with Mr. Adams, was informed by him that at the time
he was unaware of the stone being a marker of so historic an inci-
dent or he would not have removed it.
Of the murder on Sherman's Creek of ten persons there remains
an affidavit made almost a decade later, being dated February 28,
1764, and signed by Alexander Stephens, then of the county of
Lancaster. He says Cotties, or Cotter, came back for a canoe
which the murderers had left and admitted that he was of the
party that killed these settlers.
On October 1, 1757, near Fort Hunter — opposite Marysville —
this Indian named Cotties saw a young fellow named William
Martin,* gathering chestnuts, and killed him. In later years he
got his just deserts. After the Indian war was over he appeared
at Fort Hunter and boasted of the friendship he had had for the
settlers. An Indian named Hambus, who had been friendly all
the while, called him a liar and told of him causing all the trouble
possible and of seeing him kill Martin. An altercation ensued, but
the white settlers stopped it. Later in the day Cotties became
drunk and while asleep the other Indian sunk his tomahawk into
his skull.
Robert Robinson, mentioned a number of times in these pages,
was a hero and well known to Archibald Loudon, both being from
Perry County territory. In introducing his narratives Mr. Lou-
*This William Martin was the second son of Samuel Martin, of Pax-
tang, whose uncle James had warranted the Fort Hunter property. He
was a brother of Captain Joseph Martin, who became owner of the Mar-
tin mills, in what is now Howe Township, upon the death of his father.
INTRUDING SETTLERS EVICTED 75
don thus refers to him: "Robert Robinson, who was an eye wit-
ness of many of the transactions related by him, was wounded at
Kittanning, when it was taken by Colonel, later General John
Armstrong, and a second time at Buffalo Creek, when two ot his
brothers fell victims to savage fury. From our long acquaintance
with this man, who is now no more, we can have no hesitation in
believing the narratives correct, to the best of his remembrance."
The French left unturned no stone in their efforts to enlist the
Delaware's and often they were successful by preying upon the
savage disposition through intrigue and deception. The following
letter from Captain McKee to Edward Shippen, headed "Foart
at Hunter's Mill, Ap'l 5th, 1756," is an example of their schemes:
"Sir: I desire to let you No that John Secalemy, Indian, is Come here
ye Day before yesterday, about 4 o'clock in ye afternoon, & Gives me an
account that there is a Great Confusion amongst ye Indians up ye North
branch of Susquehanna; the Delawares are a moving all from thence to
Ohio, and wants to Persuade ye Shanowes along with them, but they
Decline Goeing with them that course, and as they still incline to join with
us, the Shanowes are Goeing up to a Town Called Teoga, where there is a
body of ye Six Nations, and there they Intend to Remain. He has
brought two more men, som women & som children along with him, and
Sayeth that he Intends to live & Die with us, and Insists upon my Con-
ducting him down to where his Sister and children is, at Canistogo, and
I'm Loath to leave my Post, as his Honor was offended at ye last time
I did, but can't help it, he Desires to acquaint you that his sister's son
was killed at Perm's Creek, in ye scrimege w'th Cap't. Patterson. This
with Due Respect from Sir, your Hum'l Ser't,
"Thomas McKee."
There were many encounters between the English and the In-
dians. Loudon, in his narratives, says that few of the achieve-
ments equal that of Samuel Bell, a wealthy farmer of Cumberland
It follows :
"Samuel Bell and his brother, George Bell, after Braddock's defeat,
agreed to go into Shearman's Valley to hunt for deer, and were to meet
at Croghan's (now Sterrett's) Gap, on the Blue Mountain; by some
means or other they did not meet, and Samuel slept all night in a cabin
belonging to Mr. Patton, on Shearman's Creek. In the morning he had
not traveled far before he spied three Indians, who at the same time
saw him; they all fired at each other; he wounded one of the Indians,
but received no damage, except through his clothes by the shots; several
shots were fired on both sides, as each took a tree; he took out his
tomahawk and stuck it into the tree behind which he stood, so that
should they approach he might be prepared. The tree was grazed by
bullets and he had thoughts of making his escape by flight, but on reflec-
tion had doubts of his being able to outrun them. After some time the
two Indians took the wounded one and put him over a fence and one
took one course and the other another, taking a compass so that Bell
could no longer secure himself by the tree, but by trying to ensnare him
they had to expose themselves, by which means he had the good fortune
to shoot one of them dead. The other ran, took the dead Indian on his
back, one leg over each shoulder; by this time Bell's gun was again
loaded and he ran after the Indian until he came within about four yards,
76 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
fired and shot through the dead Indian and lodged his ball in the other,
who dropped the dead man and ran off. On his return, coining past the
fence where the wounded Indian was, he despatched him but did not know
he had killed the third Indian until his bones were found afterwards."
The prominent Bell families of the past and the present gen-
erations located in Rye Township are, however, not descendants
of this same family.
In a letter by James Young dated July 18, 1756, at Carlisle, to
"the Hon. Gov. Morris," among other things is another reference
to Sherman's Valley, as follows :
I left Shamokin early on Friday morning in a battoe ; we rowed her
down to Harris' Ferry before night, with four oars. There is but one
fall above those you saw, not so bad as those at Hunter's ; it is about
four miles from Fort Halifax. 1 came here yesterday noon hoping to
find money sent by the commissioners to pay the forces on this side of
the river as they promised, but as yet none is come. Neither is Colonel
Armstrong come, and I find but sixteen of his men here, the rest having
gone to Shearman's Valley to protect the farmers at the harvest, so when
the money comes I shall be at a loss for an escort. I am informed that a
number of men at the forts whose three months is expired agreeable to
their enlistments have left their posts and expect their pay when I go
there. This may be of bad consequence and I heartily wish there were
none enlisted for less than twelve months. I am persuaded the officers
would find men enough for that time.
The distress of the frontier settlements at this time had became
a tragedy and any attempt to portray their sufferings and fears
would prove a failure. In the fall of 1755 the country west of the
Susquehanna and north of the Blue or Kittatinny Mountain had
three thousand men fit to bear arms, and in August, 1756, exclu-
sive of the provincial forces, there were not one hundred, fear
having driven the greater part from their homes into the more
settled part of the province. Governor Morris, in his message to
the Assembly, August 16, 1756, said: "The people to the west of
the Susquehanna, distressed by the frequent incursions of the
enemy and weakened by their great losses, are moving into the
interior parts of the province, and I am fearful that the whole
county will be evacuated, if timely and vigorous measures are not
taken to prevent it."
The Assembly were inclined to disregard the appeals, but the
frequent reports of additional outrages impelled them to pass a
measure providing for the appropriation of forty thousand pounds
which was to be raised by taxing the proprietary estates. The
governor, being indebted to the proprietaries for his position,
vetoed the bill. The proprietary, however, made a contribution
of five thousand pounds, which was applied to the defence of the
frontier. Governor Morris and the Assembly not being able to
agree on the matter of protecting the frontier from the ravages
of the Indians the entire matter, including the petitions from citi-
INTRUDING SETTLERS EVICTED yy
zens, was laid before the King of Great Britain, who ordered a
hearing before a committee of the Privy Council. At this hearing
Cumberland County (which included Perry) and the Assembly
were represented by counsel and the Assembly was criticized for
its conduct in relation to the public defense dating as far back as
Upon consideration of the report of the committee the Privy
Council went upon record that the Legislature of Pennsylvania,
as of every other county, was bound to support its government
and its subjects; that the measures heretofore adopted by the
Assembly for that purpose were improper, inadequate and inef-
fectual ; and that there was no cause to hope for other measures
while the majority of the Assembly consisted of persons whose
avowed principles were against military service; who, though not
a sixth part of the inhabitants of the province, were admitted to
hold offices of trust and profit, and to sit in the Assembly without
their allegiance being secured by the sanction of an oath.
The massacres which followed Braddock's defeat were princi-
pally laid to King Shingas (Shingask), the greatest Delaware
warrior of his period. Among the settlements that fell prey to him
was Sherman's Valley, says Rupp, the historian. He was a small
personage but his savagery is said to have been unrelenting.
Those who had not fled or whose interests lay in the desolated
territory petitioned the governor, council, and assembly for pro-
tection against the relentless foe, the same being read in Council,
August 21, 1756. Among the signatures are the ancestors of many
Perry Countians. The petition :
To the Honorable Robert Hunter Morris, Esq., Lieut. Governor of the
Province of Pennsylvania:
The address of part of the remaining inhabitants of Cumberland County,
most humbly showeth, that the French and their savage allies, have from
time to time made several incursions into this county, have in the most
inhuman and barbarous manner murdered great numbers of our people
and carried others into captivity, and being greatly emboldened by a
series of success, not only attempted but also took Fort Granville on the
30th of July last, then commanded by the late Lieutenant Edward Arm-
strong, and carried off the greater part of the garrison, prisoners, from
whom' doubtless the enemy will be informed of the weakness of this
frontier, and how incapable we are of defending ourselves against their
incursions, which will be a great inducement for them to redouble their
attacks, and in all probability force the remaining inhabitants of this
county to evacuate it. Great numbers of the inhabitants are already fled,
and others preparing to go off; finding that it is not in the power of the
troops in the pay of the government (were we certain of their being con-
tinued) to prevent the ravages of our restless, barbarous and merciless
enemy. It is therefore greatly to be doubted that (without a further pro-
tection) the inhabitants of this comity will shortly endeavor to save them-
selves and their effects by flight, which must consequently be productive
of considerable inconveniences to his majesty's interest in general, and to
the welfare of the people of this province in particular.
;8 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
Your petitioners being fully convinced of your honor's concern for a
strict attention to his majesty's interest, have presumed to request that
your honor would be pleased to take our case into consideration, and, if
agreeable to your honor's judgment, to make application to his excellency,
General Loudon, that part of the troops now raising for his excellency's
regiment may be sent to, and for some time, continued in some of the
most important and advantageous posts in this county, by whose assistance
we may be able to continue a frontier if possible, and thereby induce the
remaining inhabitants to secure, at least, a part of the immense quantity
of grain which now lies exposed to the enemy and subject to be destroyed
or taken away by them ; and also enable the provincial troops to make
incursions into the enemy's country, which* would contribute greatly to the
safety and satisfaction of your honor's petitioners — and your petitioners,
as in duty bound shall ever pray, &c.
The signatures : Francis West, John Welch, James Dickson, Robert
Erwin, Samuel Smith, Wm. Buchanan, Daniel Williams, John Montgomery,
Thomas Barker, John Lindsay, Thomas Urie, James Buchanan, Wm.
Spear, James Pollock, Andrew Mclntyre, Robert Gibson, Garret McDaniel,
Arthur Foster, James Brandon, John Houston, Patrick McCollom, James
Reed, Thomas Lockertt, Andrew Dalton, John Irwin, Wm. BIyth, Robert
Miller, Wm. Miller, James Young, John Davis, John Mitchell, John Pat-
tison, Samuel Stevens, John Fox, Charles Pattison, John Foster, Wm.
McCaskey, Andrew Calhoun, Jas. Stackpole, Wm. Sebbe, Jas. Robb,
Samuel Anderson, Robert Robb, Samuel Hunter, A. Forster, N'ath. Smyth.
Attack of Fort Robinson.
Of the attack on Fort Robinson during harvest time in 1756
there is record, as the narrative of Robert Robinson, of that hardy
pioneer family of Robinsons, was preserved for posterity by
Loudon, the historian, in his work known as Loudon's Narratives
The Indians had murdered some persons in Sherman's Valley in
July and waylaid the fort in harvest time. They kept quiet until
the reapers had gone into the clearings to harvest, when a chance
shot at a mark by Robert Robinson caused them to imagine they
were discovered. But let us listen to his story, just as related :
"The Indians murdered some persons in the Shearman's Valley in July
and waylaid the fort in harvest time, and kept quiet until the reapers were
gone; James Wilson remaining some time behind the rest and I not being
gone to my business, which was hunting deer, for the use of the company.
Wilson standing at the Fort gate I desired liberty to shoot his gun at a
mark, upon which he gave me the gun and I shot. The Indians on the
upper side of the fort, thinking they were discovered, rushed on a daughter
of Robert Miller and instantly killed her and shot at John Simmeson.
They then made the best of it that they could and killed the wife of
James Wilson, and the widow Gibson and took Hugh Gibson and Betsy
Henry prisoners. The reapers being forty in number, returned to the fort
and the Indians dispersed."
While the Indian was scalping Mrs. Wilson, Robert Robinson
took a shot at him, wounding him, but he escaped.
The story of Hugh Gibson, who was carried away by the In-
dians at that time, reads like romance. It is recorded by Archibald
Loudon, that first historian from Perry County territory, in his
book, Loudon's Narratives, as follows :
INTRUDING SETTLERS EVICTED 79
"I was," says Gibson, "taken captive by the Indians, from Robinson's
fort, in Shearman's Valley, in July, 1756, at which time my mother was
killed; I was taken back to their towns, where I suffered much from
hunger and abuse ; many times they beat me most severely, and once
they sent me to gather wood to burn myself, but I cannot tell whether
they intended to do it or to frighten me; however, T did not remain long
before I was adopted into an Indian family, and then I lived as they did,
though the living was very poor. I was then about fourteen years of age;
my Indian father's name was Busqueetam ; he was lame in consequence of
a wound received by his knife in skinning a deer, and being unable to
walk, he ordered me to drive forks in the ground and cover it with bark
to make a lodge for him to lie in, but the forks not being secure they gave
way and the bark fell down upon him and hurt him very much, which put
him into a great rage and calling his wife, ordered us to carry him on a
blanket into the hut and I must be one that helps to carry him in ; while
we were carrying him I saw him hunting for the knife, but my Indian
mother had taken care to convey it away, and when we had got him again
fixed in his bed, my mother ordered me to conceal myself, which I did;
I afterward heard him reproving her for putting away the knife, for by
this time I had learned to understand a little of their language. However,
his passion wore off and we did very well for the future.
"Some time after this all the prisoners in the neighborhood were col-
lected to be spectators of the cruel death of a poor, unhappy woman, a
prisoner, amongst which number I was. When Colonel Armstrong de-
stroyed the Kittanning fort this woman fled to the white men, but by some
means lost them and fell into the hands of the Indians, who stripped her
naked, bound her to a post, and applying hot irons to her whilst the skin
stuck to the iron at every touch, she screaming in the most pitiful manner,
and crying for mercy, but these ruthless barbarians were deaf to her
agonizing shrieks and prayers, and continued their cruelty till death re-
leased her from the torture of those hellish fiends. Of this shocking scene
at which human nature shudders, the prisoners were all brought to be
spectators.
"I shall omit giving any account of our encamping or decamping, or our
moving from place to place, as every one knows this is the most constant
employment of Indians. I had now become pretty well acquainted with
their manners and customs, had learned their language and was become
a tolerable good hunter — was admitted to their dances, to their sacrifices
and religious ceremonies. Some of them have a tolerable good idea of
the Supreme Being; and I have heard some of them very devoutly thank-
ing their Maker, that they had seen another spring and had seen the
flowers upon the earth. I observed that their prayers and praises were
for temporal things. They had one bad custom amongst them; that if
one man kill another, the friends of the deceased, if they cannot get the
murderer, they will kill the nearest akin. I once saw an instance of this:
two of them quarreled and the one killed the other, upon which the friends
of the deceased rose in pursuit of the murderer, but he having made his
escape, his friends were all hiding themselves ; but the pursuers hap-
pened to find a brother of the murderer, a boy concealed under a log;
they immediately pulled him out from his concealment ; he plead strongly
that it was not him that killed the man ; this had no weight with the
avengers of blood; they instantly sunk their tomahawks into his body
and despatched him. But they have some rules and regulations among
them that are good; their ordinary way of living is miserable and poor,
often without food. They were amazingly dirty in their cookery; some-
times they catch a number of frogs, and hang them up to dry ; when a
So HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
deer is killed they will split up the guts and give them a plunge or two
in the water and then dry them and when they run out of provisions they
will take some of the dried frogs and some of the deer guts and boil them
till the flesh of the frogs is dissolved, then they sup the broth.
"Having now been with them a considerable time, a favorable oppor-
tunity offered for me to regain my liberty; my old father, Busqueetam,
lost a horse, and he sent me to look for him ; after searching some time
I came home and told him that I had discovered his tracks at some con-
siderable distance and that I thought I could find him ; that I would take
my gun and provisions and would hunt for three or four days and if I
could kill a bear or deer I would pack home the meat on my horse; ac-
cordingly I packed up some provisions and started towards the white set-
tlements, not fearing pursuit for some days, and by that time I would be
out of the reach of the pursuers. But before I was aware I was almost
at a large camp of Indians, by a creek side; this was in the evening and
I had to conceal myself in a thicket till it was dark and then passed the
camp, and crossed the creek in one of their canoes. I was much afraid
that their dogs would give the alarm, but happily got safe past. I trav-
eled on for several days, and on my way I spied a bear, shot at and
wounded him, so that he could not run, but being too hasty ran up to
him with my tomahawk; but before I could give a blow he gave me a
severe stroke on the leg, which pained me very much, and retarded my
journey much longer than it otherwise would have been. However I
traveled on as well as I could till I got to the Allegheny River, where I
collected some poles, with which I made a raft and bound it together with
elm bark and grape vines, by which means I got over the river, but in
crossing which I lost my gun. I arrived at Fort Pitt in fourteen days
from the time of my start, after a captivity of five years and four months."
Hugh Gibson, mentioned as being taken captive, was the son of
David Gibson, who came from County Tyrone, Ireland, about
1740 and settled in Lancaster County, where Hugh was born in
1 741. His mother's maiden name was Mary McClelland. The
father died while Hugh was quite young and the widowed mother,
with her three children, Hugh, Israel, and Mary, removed to the
vicinity of Fort Robinson, then Tyrone Township, to be near her
brother, William McClelland, who resided near Centre church.
During that summer season of 1756, when Indian uprisings were
common and the war whoop resounded through the forests, the
widow and her children had taken refuge in the stockade at Fort
Robinson. With her eldest son Hugh, Mrs. Gibson was out in
the woods looking for their cattle, when she was shot down and
scalped and her son chased and captured. He was carried away
ti» the Indian town of Kittanning and adopted into an Indian
family to take the place of a son killed in battle with the Cherokees.
llis initiation into the tribe is said to have been by washing him
thoroughly in the river which he was told washed away his white
blood. From then on he was called brother by the Indians.
He had been compelled to witness the cruel death of a. captive
and when the Indians thought that he entertained thoughts of es-
cape he was told that he would be served the same death and wag
INTRUDING SETTLERS EVICTED 81
treated with extreme cruelty. In one instance he was set to carry-
ing wood to be used in his own death by burning at the stake.
Happily this threat was never carried out. When Armstrong
took the Indian town of Kittanning with his company from Car-
lisle, Gibson was kept in the rear in the woods with the old men,
squaws and children but he was near enough to hear the sound of
the guns as they battled. After the fall of their stronghold they
retreated to the region of the Muskingum River in Ohio, where,
at the point where its two branches joined, was located a large
Delaware town. In fact, that was the extreme western point to
which traveled those early missionaries. Rev. Dnffield and Rev.
Beatty, who were the first advance agents of Christianity in Perry
County territory.
After his return to the settled portion of the province he resided
with his maternal uncle, William McClelland, near the scene of his
capture, later marrying a Miss Mary White, of Lancaster, and
rearing a large family. After the Revolutionary War he removed
to Crawford County, Pennsylvania, where he died at an advanced
age, Tuly 30, 1826. Rev. Dr. George Norcross, the prominent
divine so long pastor of the Second Presbyterian church of Car-
lisle, was a descendant, being his great-grandson.
«
Baskins Family Abducted.
Some time after Braddock's defeat Fort Granville was erected
at a place called Old Town, on the bank of the Juniata, some dis-
tance from the present site of Lewistown, then Cumberland, now
Mifflin County, where a company of enlisted soldiers were kept,
under the command of Lieutenant Armstrong. The position of
the fort was not favorable. The Indians had been lurking about
there for some time and knew that Armstrong's men were few in
number, sixty of them appeared July 22, 1756, before the fort,
and challenged the garrison to combat ; but this was declined by
the commander, in consequence of the weakness of his force. The
Indians fired at and wounded one man belonging to the fort, who
had been a short way from it, yet he got in safe ; after which
they divided themselves in small parties, one of which attacked the
plantation of one Baskins, near Juniata, whom they murdered,
burnt his house and carried off his wife and children ; and an-
other made Hugh Carroll and family prisoners.
The Indians on one occasion murdered a family of seven per-
sons on Sherman's Creek ; from there they passed over the moun-
tain at Croghan's (Sterrett's) Gap, wounded a man, killed a horse
and captured a Mrs. Boyde, her two sons and a daughter upon the
Conodoguinet Creek.
The Shawnees and Delaware Indians, aided and abetted by the
French, continued their hellishness until 1757, when negotiations
6
82
HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
for peace were begun by the chiefs of these tribes ; but the French
and the western Indians still kept up a desultory and sanguinary
warfare.
Battle With Indians at Peters' Mountain.
At Peters' Mountain, opposite the location of Duncannon, ac-
cording to the Pennsylvania Gazette of October 27, 1757, an en-
gagement took place. It says: "We have advices from Paxton,
that on the 17th inst., as four of our inhabitants, near Hunter's
Fort were pulling their Indian corn, when two of them, Alexander
Watt and John McKennet, were killed and scalped, their heads
THE CLARK'S FERRY DAM.
In the foreground, waters of the Juniata, the small boats being moored at the
eastern landing of the old Baskins Ferry, on Duncan's Island. To the right Clark's
Ferry Dam in the Susquehanna, with Peter's Mountain as a Background.
being cut off; the other two scalped. That Captain Work, of the
Augusta regiment, coming down from Fort Halifax, met the sav-
ages at Peters' Mountain, about twenty of them ; when they fired
upon him, at about forty yards' distance, upon which his party
returned the fire and put the enemy to flight, leaving behind them
five horses, with what plunder they had got ; and that one of the
Indians was supposed to be wounded, by the blood that was seen
in their tracks. None of Captain Work's men were hurt."
INTRUDING SETTLERS EVJCTED 83
Indians were used as guides and interpreters by the provincial
troops and the troops were constantly aided by the pioneers. From
a report from Col. John Armstrong dated Carlisle, July II, 1757,
the following extract relating to Sherman's Valley is made : "On
Wednesday last Lieutenant Armstrong marched with forty sol-
diers, accompanied by Mr. Smith, the Indian interpreter, and ten
Indians, into Sherman's Valley, where some of the enemy had
been discovered. They were joined by thirty of the country people
who wanted to bring over their cattle from that place. On Thurs-
day they found the tracks of the enemy and followed them with
spirit enough until evening, when the tracks made toward this
valley ; next morning the Cherokees discovered some tracks bear-
ing off to the westward, upon which they said they were discov-
ered and that those bearing towards the westward were going to
inform a body of the enemy, which they said was not far off ; upon
which the lieutenant told the interpreter that his orders particu-
larly led him to make discovery of the enemy's encampment (if
any such there was) and to know whether any were drove off for
their support. But two or three of the bravest of the Indians
freely told the interpreter that their young men were afraid that
the enemy discovered them and therefore no advantage could at
that time be got ; nor could the interpreter prevail on them to
stay any longer out. The lieutenant reconnoitered the country
towards Juniata, and returned last night without any discovery of
a lurking party of the enemy behind us."
Even if a few had remained north of the Kittatinny or Blue
Mountain to attend to the stock, or if trips were made across the
mountain for that purpose, yet Sherman's Valley was practically
abandoned in 1756, in so far as actual residence was concerned.
The settlers had gradually gone back, however, until in 1763, as
the next chapter will show, they were again driven from their
homes by a devastating and relentless Indian warfare.
CHAPTER IV.
TREATY OF PEACE, BUT A DEVASTATING INDIAN
WARFARE.
IN 1758 the provincial authorities and the Indians made a
treaty of peace and friendship at Easton, and, generally speak-
ing, the Indian massacres were over; yet unattached bands
of marauding savages appeared at times and committed murders.
In fact the war between the English and the French still continued
until 1762. A secret confederacy had also been formed by the
Shawnees and the various tribes along the Ohio and about De-
troit for the purpose of attacking simultaneously the English posts
and settlements on the frontiers, and the territory which is now
Perry County was certainly not only the frontier, but the "front
line."
This was termed by the frontier inhabitants, the Pontiac War,
by reason of Pontiac, a chief of the Ottawas, being the evil genius
who was one of the principals in the inception. The province had
dealt leniently — too leniently — with the Indians and a treaty of
peace was usually accompanied by expensive and numerous pres-
ents, which in reality put a premium on war, as there could be
no treaties of peace without the necessary preceding war. A cer-
tain day was set apart and the frontiers everywhere were to be
attacked at the same time. A bundle of small rods had been given
to every tribe and one was to be withdrawn on the morning of each
day, and on the date of the withdrawal of the final rod the general
attack was to have been made. From the bundle going to those
who were to attack Fort Pitt, at the present site of Pittsburgh,
a squaw, not in sympathy with the movement, drew a few rods.
This accounts for the actions of the Indians in attacking that place
ahead of the designated day, which news was hurried abroad and
which put some settlements on their guard.
Their plan was deliberate and skillful. The border settlements
were to be invaded during harvest, the people, corn and cattle de-
stroyed and the land thus laid waste. Traders had been invited
among them and these were first put out of the way, their goods
being plundered. The country was then put at the mercy of scalp-
ing parties and desolation followed in their wake. It is said the
roads were literally covered with women and children seeking
refuge at Lancaster and Philadelphia. The forts at Presque Isle,
Lebeuf and Venango had been captured and the garrisons mas-
sacred. For Ljgonier was barely saved. The soil of Perry was
TREATY OF PEACE— INDIAN WARFARE 85
overrun by these western Indians and fortunately records exist
which show some of the horrors, but many of them were in such
exposed places that no one was left to tell the tale.
In correspondence to the Pennsylvania Gazelle, dated Carlisle,
July 12, 1763, is the following, which covers the horrible situa-
tion, not only of what is now Perry, but of Juniata and of Cum-
berland :
"I embrace this first leisure since yesterday morning to transmit you a
brief account of our present state of affairs here, which indeed is very
distressing; every day almost affording some fresh object to awaken the
compassion, alarm the fears or kindle into resentment and vengeance every
sensible breast, while flying families obliged to abandon house and pos-
session, to save their lives by a hasty escape; mourning widows, bewail-
ing their husbands surprised and massacred by savage rage ; tender par-
ents lamenting the fruit of their own bodies, cropt in the very bloom of
life by a barbarous hand; with relations and acquaintances pouring out
sorrow for murdered neighbors and friends, present a varied scene of
mingled distress.
"When, for some time, after striking at Bedford, the Indians appeared
quiet, nor struck any other part of our frontiers, it became the prevailing
opinion, that our forts and communication, were so peculiarly the object
of their attention, that, till at least after harvest, there was little prospect
of danger over the hills, and to dissent from the generally received senti-
ment was political heresy, and attributed to timidity rather than judg-
ment, till too early conviction has decided the point in the following
manner.
"On Sunday morning, the loth inst., about nine or ten o'clock, at the
house of one William White, on Juniata, between thirty and forty miles
hence, there being in said house four men and a lad, the Indians came
rushing upon them, and shot White at the door, just stepping out to see
what the noise meant. Our people then pulled in White and shut the
door; but observing through a window the Indians setting fire to the
house, they attempted to force their way out at the door; but the first
that stept out being shot down, they drew him in and again shut the door ;
after which one attempting an escape out of the window on the loft,
was shot through the head and the lad wounded in the arm. The only
one now remaining, William Riddle, broke a hole through the roof of the
house, and an Indian who saw him looking out, alleged he was about to
fire on him, withdrew, which afforded Riddle an opportunity to make his
escape. The house, with the other four in it, was burned down, as one
McMachen informs, who was coming to it, not suspecting Indians, and
was then fired at and shot through the shoulder, but made his escape.
"The same day, about dinner time, at about a mile and a half from said
White's, at the house of Robert Campbell, six men being in the house,
as they were dining, three Indians rushed in at the door, and after firing
among them and wounding some, they tomahawked in an instant one of
the men ; whereupon one George Dodds, one of the company, sprang back
into the room, took down a rifle, shot an Indian through the body, who
was just presenting his piece to shoot him. The Indian being mortally
wounded, staggered, and letting his gun fall, was carried off by three
more. Dodds, with one or two more, getting upon the loft, broke the
'roof in order to escape, and looking out saw one of the company, Stephen
Jeffries, running, but very slowly, by reason of a wound in the breast,
and an Indian pursuing; and it is thought he could not escape, nor have
86 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
we heard of him since, so that it is past dispute, he also is murdered. The
lust that attempted getting out of the loft was fired at and drew back;
another attempting was shot dead; and of the six, Dodds, the only one,
made his escape. The same day about dusk, about six or seven miles up
Tuscarora, and about twenty-eight or thirty miles hence, they murdered
one William Anderson,* together with a boy and girl all in one house.
At White's were seen at least five, some say eight or ten, Indians, and at
Campbell's about the same number. On Monday, the nth, a party of
about twenty-four went over from the upper part of Shearman's Valley,
to see how matters were. Another party of twelve or thirteen went over
from the upper part of said valley ; and Col. John Armstrong, with
Thomas Wilson, Esq., and a party of between thirty and forty from this
town, to reconnoitre and assist in bringing in the dead.
"Of the first and third parties we have heard nothing yet; but of the
party of twelve, six are come in, and inform that they passed through the
several places in Tuscarora, and saw the houses in flames, or burnt en-
tirely down. That the grain that had been reaped the Indians burnt in
shocks and had set the fences on fire where the grain was unreaped ; that
the hogs had fallen upon and mangled several of the dead bodies ; that
the said company of twelve, suspecting danger, durst not stay to bury the
dead ; that after they had returned over the Tuscarora Mountain, about
one or two miles on this side of it, and about eighteen or twenty from
hence, they were fired on by a large party of Indians, supposed about
thirty, and were obliged to fly; that two, viz: William Robinson and John
Graham, are certainly killed, and four more are missing, who it is thought,
have fallen into the hands of the enemy, as they appeared slow in flight,
most probably wounded, and the savages pursued with violence. What
farther mischief has been done we have not heard, but expect every day
and hour, some more messages of melancholy news.
"In hearing of the above defeat, we sent out another party of thirty or
upwards, commanded by our high sheriff, Mr. Dunning, and Mr. William
Lyon, to go in quest of the enemy, or fall in with and reinforce our other
parties. There are also a number gone out from about three miles below this,
so that we now have over the hills upwards of eighty or ninety volunteers
scouring the woods. The inhabitants of Shearman's Valley, Tuscarora,
&c, are all come over, and the people of this valley, near the mountain,
are beginning to move in, so that in a few days there will be scarcely a
house inhabited north of Carlisle. Many of our people are greatly dis-
tressed, through want of arms and ammunition; and numbers of those
beat off their places have hardly money enough to purchase a pound of
powder.
"Our women and children, I suppose must move downwards, if the
enemy proceed. To-day a British vengeance begins to rise in the breasts
of our men. One of them that fell from among the twelve, as he was
just expiring, said to one of his fellows: 'Here, take my gun and kill the
first Indian you see, and all shall be well.' "
The following is an extract from a letter dated the next day,
July 13, 1763, to the same paper, and continuing the report of the
relief forces sent north of the Kittatinnies :
"Last night Colonel Armstrong returned. He left the party, who pur-
sued further and found several dead, whom they buried in the best man-
ner they could, and are now all returned in. From what appears the In-
dians are traveling from one place to another, along the valley, burning
*William Anderson was killed without warning, while reading the Bible.
TREATY OF PEACH— INDIAN WARFARE 87
the farms, and destroying all the people they meet with. This day gives
an account of six more being killed in the valley, so that since last Sunday
morning, to this day, twelve o'clock, we have a pretty authentic account
of the number slain, being twenty-five, and four or five wounded. The
Colonel, Mr. Wilson and Mr. Alricks are now on the parade, endeavoring
to raise another party, to go out and succor the sheriff and his party con-
sisting of fifty men, which marched yesterday, and I hope they will be
able to send off immediately twenty good men. The people here, I assure
you, want nothing but a good leader and a little encouragement, to make
a very good defense."
The result of these marauding expeditions is best summed up
by the Pennsylvania Gazette of July 28, 1763, in which is the fol-
lowing statement :
"Our advices from Carlisle are that the party under the sheriff, Mr.
Dunning, mentioned in our last, fell in with the enemy, at the house of
one Alexander Logan, in Shearman's Valley, supposed to be about fifteen,
or upwards, who had murdered the said Logan, his son, and another man
about two miles from said house, and mortally wounded a fourth, who is
since dead; and that at the time of their being discovered they were
rifling the house and shooting down the cattle, and it is thought, about to
return home with the spoil they had got. That our men, on seeing them,
immediately spread themselves from right to left, with a design to sur-
round them, and engaged the savages with great courage, but from their
eagerness rather too soon, as some of the party had not got up when the
skirmish began; that the enemy returned our first fire very briskly; but
our people, regardless of that, rushed upon them, when they fled, and were
pursued a considerable way, till thickets secured their escape, four or five
of them it was thought being mortally wounded ; that our parties had
brought in with them what cattle they could collect, but that great numbers
were killed by the Indians, and many of the horses that were in the val-
leys carried off; that since the 10th inst. there was an account of fifty-
four persons being killed by the enemy.
"That the Indians had set fire to houses, barns, corn, wheat and rye,
hay ; in short, to everything combustible ; so that the whole country
seemed to be in one general blaze ; that the miseries and distresses of
the poor people were really shocking to humanity, and beyond the power
of language to describe; that Carlisle was become the barrier, not a single
inhabitant being beyond it ; that every stable and hovel in the town was
crowded with miserable refugees, who were reduced to a state of beggary
and despair; their houses, cattle and harvest destroyed; and from a
plentiful, independent people, they were become real objects of charity
and comiseration ; that it was most dismal to see the streets filled with
people, in whose countenances must be discovered a mixture of grief,
madness and despair; and to hear, now and then, the sighs and groans
of men; the disconsolate lamentations of women, and the screams of
children, who had lost their nearest and dearest relatives ; and that on
both sides of the Susquehanna, for some miles, the woods were filled
with poor families, and their cattle, who made fires, and lived like sav-
ages, exposed to the inclemencies of the weather."
From a letter dated July 30, 1763, at Carlisle, the following
account is taken. It relates of the efforts made to save a part of
the harvests :
"On the 25th, a considerable number of the inhabitants of Shearman's
Valley went over, with a party of soldiers to guard them, to attempt
88 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
saving as much of their grain as might be standing, and it is hoped a
considerable quantity will yet be preserved. A party of volunteers, be-
tween twenty and thirty, went to the farther side of the valley, next to
the Tuscarora Mountain, to see what appearance there might be of the
Indians, as it was thought they would most probably be there, if any-
where in the settlement ; to search for, and bury the dead at Buffalo
Creek, and to assist the inhabitants that lived along, or near the foot of
the mountain, in bringing off what they could, which services they accord-
ingly performed, burying the remains of three persons; but saw no marks
of Indians having lately been there, excepting one track, supposed about
two or three days old, near the narrows of Buffalo Creek hill; and heard
some hallooing and firing of a gun at another place."
The murders at the home of William White, previously men-
tioned in this chapter, were in harvest time and the reapers, as the
harvest hands were then termed, were all in the house, it being
the Sabbath day, when the redskins surprised them. Robert Rob-
inson's account of many of these murders is almost parallel with
that of the accounts printed on the foregoing pages, but he goes
farther. He tells of receiving the news at Edward Elliott's, where
he and others were harvesting; how John Graham, John Christy
and James Christy heard the firing of guns at the William Ander-
son home early in the evening, and of their investigation and carry-
ing the news to Elliott's. His account further says :
"Graham and the Christys came about midnight. We, hearing the In-
dians had got so far up the Tuscarora Valley, and knowing Collins' famliy
and James Scott's were there about harvest, twelve of us concluded to go
over Bigham's Gap (the entrance to Liberty Valley) and give those
word that were there ; when we came to Collins' we saw that the Indians
had been there, had broke a wheel, emptied a bed and taken flour, of
which they made some water gruel ; we counted thirteen spoons made of
bark ; we followed the tracks made down to James Scott's, where we
found the Indians had killed some fowls; we pursued on to Graham's;
there the house was on fire and burned down to the joists. We divided
our men into two parties, six in each; my brother with his party came in
behind the barn, and myself with the other party came down through an
oats field ; I was to shoot first ; the Indians had hung a coat upon a post
on the other side of the fire from us ; I looked at it and saw it immovable,
and therefore walked down to it and found that the Indians had just left
it ; they had killed four hogs and had eaten at pleasure. Our company
took their track, and found that two companies had met at Graham's and
had gone over the Tuscarora Mountain. We took the run gap, the two
roads meeting at Nicholsons; they were there first, heard us coming and
lay in ambush for us; they had first fire; being twenty-five in number
and only twelve of us — they killed five and wounded myself. They then
went to Alexander Logan's, where they emptied some beds and passed on
to George McCord's.
"The names of the twelve were William Robison, who acted as cap-
tain; Robert Robison, the relator of this narrative; Thomas Robison,
being three brothers ; John Graham, Charles Elliott, William Christy,
James Christy, David Miller, John Elliott, Edward McConnel, William
McAlister, and John Nicholas. The persons killed were William Robi-
son, who was shot in the belly with buckshot and got about half a mile
from the ground; John Elliott, then a boy about seventeen years of age,
TREATY OF PEACE— INDIAN WARFARE 89
having emptied his gun, was pursued by an Indian with his tomahawk,
who was within a few perches of him when Elliott had poured some
powder into his gun by random, out of his powder horn, and having a
bullet in his mouth, put it in the muzzle, but had no time to ram it down;
he turned and fired at his pursuer, who clapped his hand on his stomach
and cried 'och,' then turned and fled. Elliott had run a few perches fur-
ther, when he overtook William Robison, weltering in his blood, in his
last agonies; he requested Elliott to carry him off, who excused himself
by telling of his inability to do so, and also of the danger they were in ;
he said he knew it, but desired him to take his gun with him, and, peace
or war, if ever he had an opportunity of killing an Indian, to shoot him
for his sake. Elliott brought away the gun and Robison was not found
by the Indians.
"Thomas Robison stood on the ground until the whole of his people
were fled, nor did the Indians offer to pursue, until the last man left the
field; Thomas having fired and charged a second time, the Indians were
prepared for him, and when he took aim past the tree, a number fired at
him at the same time ; one of his arms was broken ; he took his gun in
the other and fled; going up a hill he came to a high log, and clapped
his hand, in which was his gun, on the log to assist in leaping over it;
while in the attitude of stooping a bullet entered his side, going in a tri-
angular course through his body; he sunk down across the log; the In-
dians sunk the cock of his gun into his brains and mangled him very
much. John Graham was seen by David Miller sitting on a log, not far
from the place of attack, with his hands on his face, and blood running
through his fingers. Charles Elliott and Edward McConnel took a circle
round where the Indians were laying, and made the best of their way to
Buffalo Creek; but they were pursued by the Indians; and where they
crossed the creek there was a high bank, and as they were endeavoring
to ascend the bank, they were both shot and fell back into the water.
"Thus ended the unfortunate affair ; but at the same time it appears as
if the hand of Providence had been in the whole transaction, for there is
every reason to believe that spies had been viewing the place the night
before, and the Indians were within three quarters of a mile from the
place from which the men had started, when there would have been from
twenty to thirty men perhaps in the field reaping, and all the guns that
could be depended upon were in this small company, except one, so that
they might have become an easy prey, and instead of those five brave men
who lost their lives three times that number might have done so.
"A party of forty men came from Carlisle to bury the dead at Juniata ;
when they saw the dead at Buffalo Creek they returned home. Then a
party of men came with Captain Dunning; but before they came to Alex-
ander Logan's his son John, Charles Coyle, William Hamilton, with
Bartholomew Davis, followed the Indians to George McCord's, where they
were in the barn ; Logan and those with him were all killed, except Davis,
who made his escape and joined Captain Dunning. The Indians then re-
turned to Logan's house again, when Captain Dunning and his party came
on them, and they fired some time at each other; Dunning had one man
wounded.
"The relief parties took back with them what cattle they could secure,
but the Indians had killed a large number and had taken all the horses
upon which they could lay hands."
By the latter part of July, 1763, there were 1,384 refugees from
' north of the Kittatinny Mountain domiciled in barns, sheds or
other temporary place of refuge at Shippenshurg, having fled from
their homes.
90 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
The victory of Colonel Henry Bouquet over the Indians in west-
ern Pennsylavnia, in 1764, gave the settlers new courage and they
gradually returned to Sherman's Valley and the territory east of
the Juniata River, and by 1767 many of the best locations in the
county had been warranted.
*There is record of the heirs of Robert Campbell, mentioned in
this chapter as being cruelly murdered by the Indians, warranting
lands in Tuscarora Township in 1767, four years after his death.
f The Alexander Logan, whose death at the hands of the Indians
is here described, was the owner of lands near Kistler, later long
owned by the McMillens.
County Citizens Recipients of Charity.
When Perry Countains have been contributing to charity — to
flood and famine sufferers everywhere, to India, France, Belgium,
Armenia, the Harrisburg and other hospitals — little did many think-
that in its provincial days, before it arose to the dignity of a "little
commonwealth," its people were the objects of charity, owing to
their being driven out by the Indians from their homes. Such,
however, was the case. The refugees, who were in Carlisle, were
relieved to some extent in their great distress by the generosity of
the Episcopal churches of Philadelphia. On July 26, 1763, Rich-
ard Peters, the rector of Christ church and St. Peters, in Phila-
delphia (the same man who was secretary of the province), rep-
resented to the vestry "that the back inhabitants of this province
are reduced to great distress and necessity, by the present inva-
sion" and proposed that some method be formed for collecting
charily for their relief. A preamble was drawn up and a sub-
scription paper started. At the next meeting the wardens reported
that they had collected £662, 3s. Of course that amount of money
needed systematic distribution and the Philadelphia congregations
corresponded with persons in Cumberland to ascertain the extent
(jf the distress. William Thomson, an itinerant missionary for
the counties of York and Cumberland, and Francis West and
Thomas Donellon, wardens of the Episcopal church at Carlisle,
sent a reply in which, among other statements, is this : "We have
taken pains to get the number of the distressed, and upon strict
inquiry, we find seven hundred and fifty families have abandoned
their plantations, the greatest number of which have lost their crops,
some their stock and furniture, and besides, we are informed that
there are about two hundred women and children coming down
from Fort Pitt. We also find that sums of money lately sent up
are almost expended, and that each family has not received twenty
*See chapter on Tuscarora Township.
fSee chapter on Madison Township and 011 "Frontier Forts.'
TREATY OF PEACE— INDIAN WARFARE 91
shillings upon an average." The letter also tells of the great dis-
tress and says that smallpox and flux are raging among the home-
less. Upwards of two hundred of these families were in Carlisle
and the remainder in Shippenshurg, Littlestown, York and other
places. However, it must be remembered that they were not all
from Perry County territory, but from what is now Fulton,
Franklin, Bedford and farther west, as well as from the outlying
districts of Cumberland County itself.
In recounting the result of this report and appeal Rev. Dorr, in
his Historical Account of Christ and St. Peters' Church, says:
"In consequence of this information, a large supply of flour, rice, medi-
cine, and other necessaries, were immediately forwarded for the relief of
the sufferers. And to enable those, who chose to return to their planta-
tions, to defend themselves against future attacks of the Indians, the
vestry of Christ church and St. Peters were of opinion that the refugees
should be furnished with two chests of arms, and half a barrel of powder,
four hundred pounds of lead, two hundred of swan shot, and one thou-
sand flints. These were accordingly sent with instructions to sell them to
prudent and good people as are in want of them, and will use them for
their defense, for the prices charged in the invoice."
Pioneer Runners.
During these trying periods the pioneers employed men who
were dispatched as runners to give settlers notice of impending
danger. They were accustomed to hunting, immune to hardships
and with a thorough knowledge of the country. There were thirty
in the territory west of the Susquehanna and south of the Juniata
to the Allegheny Mountains. They were a lot of intrepid, resolute
fellows, on the order of our present admirable troops of State
Constabulary, and were in the command of a man who had been a
captive of the Indians for several years and knew their traits, but
whose name unfortunately fails to be recorded. According to
Votes of the Assembly, Sept. 17, 1763, the Colonial legislators
were appealed to for assistance in retaining this body of scouts in
existence.
The terror of the citizens subsided but little until Colonel Bou-
quet conquered the Indians in 1764 and compelled them to solicit
peace. A condition of the peace terms was that the Indians were
to give up all the women and children which they held in captivity.
Among them were many who had been seized as mere children and
had grown up among the savages, learning their language and for-
getting their own. Their affections were even with the savages.
Some mothers found lost children but others were unable to iden-
tify theirs. The separation between the Indians and the captives
was heart-rending, the red men shedding many tears and the cap-
tives leaving reluctantly. Many of these captives later voluntarily
rejoined the Indians. Some had married Indians, but from choice,
92 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
records tell us. A girl who had been captured at the age of four-
teen and had married an Indian and was the mother of several
children, said: "Can I enter my parents' dwelling? Will they be
kind to my children ? Will my old companions associate with the
wife of an Indian chief? Will I desert my husband, who has been
kind?" During the night she fled to her husband and children.
A great many of these prisoners were brought to Carlisle, among
them the captives from Perry County. Colonel Bouquet advertised
for those who had lost children to come and look for them.
Among those who came was an old lady who had lost a child many
years before, but she was unable to identify her. With a break-
ing heart the old lady told Colonel Bouquet her sad story, relating
how she used to sing to the little one a hymn of which the child
was so fond. The colonel requested her to sing it then, in the
presence of the captives, and she did, the words being:
'Alone, yet not alone am I,
Though in this solitude so drear ;
I feel my Saviour always nigh,
He comes my every hour to cheer."
As the sweet voice of the mother so beautifully sang the words,
from among the captives sprang a young girl and rushed into her
mother's arms.
During the time of the French and Indian War, 1756-61, the
world was largely at war. The ships of France and England even
carried it to the great high seas.
Capture; and Release of Frederick Stump.
In January. 1768, a party of Indians visited a pioneer, Frederick
Stump, later known as the "Indian killer," at his cabin on Middle
Creek (now in Snyder County), and differences arising, he
and his employe, named Ironcutter, killed the Indians and also
those at a cabin four miles distant, so that the news would not
reach the Indian settlements. The bodies were thrown into the
creek and floated down it to the Susquehanna; one was found
along the shore near what is now New Cumberland, Pa., then
below Harris' Ferry. It was interred by James Galbraith and
Jonathon Hoge, who reported it to John Penn, then provincial
governor. One William Blythe traveled to Philadelphia and under
oath stated that he had seen Stump at the home of George Gabriel
and heard his story, in which he admitted the murders.
Penn issued a proclamation offering a reward for Stump and
Ironcutter, promising to punish them with death and notifying the
Indians of what he had done. Sir William Johnson sent an ur-
gent message to the Indians, saying, "If they know any of the
relatives of these persons murdered at Middle Creek, to send them
TREATY OF PEACE— INDIAN WARFARE 93
to him, that he might wipe the tears from their eyes, comfort their
afflicted hearts and satisfy them on account of their grievances."
As soon as Capt. William Patterson, formerly of Lancaster
County, but then residing on the Juniata, heard of the murders he-
went, without waiting orders of the authorities, with a party of
nineteen men, and arrested Stump and Ironcutter, and delivered
them to John Holmes, the sheriff, at Carlisle. Aware that the
Indians would be exasperated at hearing of the murders he sent a
messenger to the west branch country to them, telling of the arrest.
As the messages and replies are of much historical interest they
are reproduced in full. First, his official report:
Carlisle, January 23, 1768.
Sir: The 21st instant, I marched a party of nineteen men to George
Gabriel's house, at Penn's Creek mouth, and made prisoners of Frederick
Stump and John Ironcutter, who were suspected to having murdered ten
of our friend Indians near Augusta; and I have this day delivered them
to Mr. Holmes at Carlisle jail.
Yesterday I sent a person to the Great Island, that understood the In-
dian language, with a talk; a copy of which is enclosed.
Myself and party were exposed to great danger, by the desperate re-
sistance made by Stump and his friends, who sided with him. The steps
I have taken, I flatter myself, will not be disapproved of by the gentle-
men in the government; my sole view being directed to the service of
the frontiers, before I heard his honor the governor's orders. The mes-
sage I sent to the Indians I hope will not be deemed assuming an author-
ity of my own, as you are very sensible I am no stranger to the Indians,
or their customs. I am, with respect,
Your most obedient humble servant,
W. Patterson.
The message to the Six Nations, in the west branch country :
Juniata, January 22, 1768.
Brothers of the Six Nations, Delawares, and other inhabitants of the
West Branch of Susquehanna, hear what I have to say to you :
With a heart swelled with grief, I have to inform you that Frederick
Stump and John Ironcutter hath, unadvisedly, murdered ten of our friend
Indians near Fort Augusta. The inhabitants of the province of Pennsyl-
vania do disapprove of the said Stump and Ironcutter's conduct; and as
proof thereof, I have taken them prisoners, and will deliver them into the
custody of officers, that will keep them ironed in prison for trial ; and I
make no doubt, as many of them as are guilty, will be condemned, and die
for the offence.
Brothers, I being truly sensible of the injury done you, I only add these
few words, with my heart's wish, that you may not rashly let go the fast
hold of our chain of friendship, for the ill-conduct of one of our bad
men. Believe me, brothers, we Englishmen, continue the same love for
you that hath usually subsisted between our grandfathers, and I desire
you to call at Fort Augusta, to trade with our people, for the necessaries
you stand in need of. I pledge you my word, that no white man there
shall molest any of you, while you behave as friends. I shall not rest by
night nor day until I receive your answer.
Your friend and brother,
W. Patterson.
<j4 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
The following answer to the above was received from the In-
dians :
February nth, 1768.
Loving Brother: I received your speech by Gertham Hicks, and have
sent one of my relatives with a string of wampum, and the following
answer :
Loving Brother: I am glad to hear from you. I understand that you
are very much grieved, and that the tears run from your eyes. With both
my hands I now wipe away those tears ; and as I don't doubt but your
heart is disturbed, I remove all the sorrow from it, and make it easy, as
it was before. I will now sit down and smoke my pipe. I have taken
fast hold of the chain of friendship; and when I give it a pull, if I find
my brothers, the English, have let it go, it will then be time for me to let
go too, and take care of my family. There are four of my relatives
murdered by Stump ; and all I desire is, that he may suffer for his wicked
action ; I shall then think that people have the same goodness in their
hearts as formerly, and intend to keep it there. As it was the evil spirit
that caused Stump to commit this bad action, I blame none of my brothers,
the English, but him.
I desire that the people of Juniata may sit still in their places, and not
put themselves to any hardships, by leaving their habitations; whenever
danger is coming, they shall know it before it comes to them.
I am, your loving brother,
Shawana Ben.
To Capt. William Patterson.*
The governor's proclamation offered £200 for Stump's appre-
hension, but not knowing of his arrest, delayed the publication for
a short period, lest news of it should reach him, and in order to
accomplish his arrest in a more secretive manner.
The council of the province advised Governor Penn to write to
General Gage and Sir William Johnson, informing them of the
murder and of the steps he was taking, and to ask Sir William to
communicate the same to the Six Nations, as soon as possible,
"in the best and most favorable manner in his power, so as to
prevent their taking immediate resentment for this unavoidable
injury, committed on their people, and to assure them of the firm
and sincere purposes of this government to give them full satis-
faction at all times for all wrongs done to the Indians, and to pre-
serve the friendship subsisting between us and them inviolable."
But before these letters and the proclamation of Chief Justice
Allen reached the magistrates and sheriffs, Stump and Ironcutter
as previously stated, had been lodged in jail ; however, before
they were brought to trial they were rescued from prison.
As white settlers had from time to time been scalped in Perry
County territory there was a certain sympathy went out to Stump
and Ironcutter with the result that on January 29, 1768, a party
of seventy or eighty armed men, supposed to be mostly from
Sherman's Valley, appeared at the Carlisle jail and overpowered
*Provincial Records.
TREATY OF PEACE— INDIAN WARFARE
95
the sheriff, John Holmes, and the jailer and released the two pris-
oners, who until that time had been kept in the dungeon. A half
dozen prominent citizens who hastily appeared to aid the sheriff
included Ephraim Blaine, who was formerly a Toboyne Township
citizen and of whose later prominence this book elsewhere goes
into detail.
While this murder and the subsequent rescue did not happen on
Perry County soil, yet they are dwelt on at some length here owing
to the fact that the greater part of the rescuers were supposed to
be from Sherman's Valley. Owing to possible complications with
the Indians the murders by Stump and Ironcutter and their sub-
sequent delivery from jail produced a great wave of excitement
in the entire colony. Governor John Penn cited the officers and
magistrates to appear before him, reprimanding the latter for their
conduct in advising the retention of the prisoners at Carlisle in-
stead of delivering them to Philadelphia, as required by the war-
rant. Tradition implies that the sheriff and jailer were passive
actors in this jail delivery.
Exploits of Captain Jack.
There are traditionary tales connected with "Captain Jack" and
his operations in Perry County, but as county lines in those days
were not in existence, his exploits may properly belong to the whole
Juniata and Cumberland Valleys. He was a white man. but was
variously termed the "black hunter," the "black rifle." the "wild
hunter of the Juniata." the "black hunter of the forest," but prin-
cipally "Captain Jack." His real name was Patrick Jack, in all
probability. He entered the forest section of Pennsylvania, some-
where in the Juniata Valley, with a few companions, built a cabin,
cleared a little land and made his living by hunting and fishing,
not having a care. He was a free and easy, happy-go-lucky type
of man until one evening in 1752, when he returned from a day
in the woods to find his cabin burned, his wife and children mur-
dered. From that moment for over a year he forsook civilization,
lived in caves, protected the frontier settlers from the Indians and
seized every opportunity for revenge that presented itself. He
was the terror of the Indians and the guardian angel of the pio-
neers. On an occasion, near Juniata — the name of the Indian
town on Duncan's Island, opposite the west end of Duncannon — ■
about midnight on a dark night, a family was suddenly awakened
by the report of a gun. Jumping from their cots they saw an
Indian fall to rise no more. The open door exposed to view the
"wild hunter," who called, "I saved yonr lives," and vanished into
darkness. He never shot foolishly and his keenness of vision was
as unerring as his aim. He formed an association to defend the
settlers against savage aggressions. On a given signal they would
ij6 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
unite. During 1756 his exploits were often heard of from the
Conococheague in Franklin County, to the Juniata River. To
some he was known as the "Half-Indian," and Colonel Armstrong,
in a letter to the governor, said : "The company under the com-
mand of the Half-Indian, having left the Great Cove, the Indians
took advantage and murdered many." Through Colonel Croghan
— for George Croghan had been made a colonel — he also proffered
his aid to Braddock. "He will march with his hunters," says the
colonel, adding, as a further description, "they are dressed in hunt-
ing shirts, moccasins, &c, are well armed and are equally regard-
less of heat and cold. They require no shelter for the night — they
ask no pay." As Captain Jack wanted to go free of the restraint
of camp life and army regulations General Braddock refused his
services. Braddock was a strict disciplinarian and despised the
Indian method of fighting. He wanted to attain a signal victory
over the French without using those methods or the help of others
who used them. However, he had already accepted a company of
Indians under Captain George Croghan. He never lived to dis-
cover his error in refusing Captain Jack's services or the fact that
the Indian method of fighting excelled that of marching in the
open, clad in gaudy uniforms, with drums beating and banners
flying. There is no doubt that among Captain Jack's daring men
were some whose homes were within the confines of what is now
Perry County.
While some historians give his name to Jack's Mountain, in the
Juniata Valley, John Harris says the mountain was named after
Jack Armstrong, who was murdered at its base by the Indians.
The latter is probably the truth, as Captain Jack's activities were
principally 1 in the territory now known as Perry and Franklin
Counties.
There is evidence of Captain Jack once owning property, the
location being described as "on back Crike, Joning Matthew
Arthor's pleas, operward of ye sad Creek," in Antrim Township,
later Franklin County. In 1748 this property passed from John
Ward to Matthew Arther, who owned the adjoining place. In
November, 1767, Arther sold it to Patrick Jack, same being re-
corded in Book C, Volume 1, at the Cumberland County court-
house.
An early writer, in referring to Doubling Gap, located on the
Blue or Kittatinny Mountain, further clinches the fact that the
Sherman's Valley was one of the principal scenes of the activities
of Captain Jack. It follows: "The place for many miles around
is invested with many historical facts and legends connected with
the early settlements of the country. It was in the adjoining valley
(Sherman's) and on these mountains that Big Beaver, a chief of
the Shoshones, with his tribe, in 1752 and for years before had
TREATY OF PEACE— INDIAN WARFARE 97
their hunting grounds, having been driven in 1677 from Caro-
lina and Georgia. This valley (Sherman's) was the grave of many
of his children and the scene of many a massacre. It was where
the far-famed and many-named Captain Jack — the Black Rifle,
the Wild Hunter, etc. — entered the woods, built his cabin and
cleared a little patch of land within sight of a spring and amused
himself with hunting and fishing."
Some authorities credit Captain Jack's real name as being Joseph
Ager, or Aiger, who settled in Cumberland County in 1851, but
the writer is inclined, after careful research, to believe that he
was no other than Patrick Jack. However, the actual establish-
ment of his real name and his early history must forever remain
an un fathomed mystery. Of Herculean proportions and of
swarthy complexion he was supposed by some to have been a
half-breed. Colonel Armstrong, in a letter to the governor, terms
him "the Half-Indian." Others term him a white man with a
past. The following, from Hanna's "The Wilderness Trail," is
self explanatory: "Captain William Patterson, who lived on Tus-
carora Creek, was a bold, resourceful, frontiersman and Indian
fighter, whose exploits, with those of his father, furnished much
of the material for the legendary history of the fictitious 'Captain
Jack,' the Wild Hunter of the Juniata." That much of the his-
tory of Captain Jack is lengendary is true, but that he was a
fictitious character only is disproved by the previous pages, the ex-
tracts being from provincial history and records.
In the possession of Miss Margaret D. McClure, of Bradford,
a daughter of William McClure, one of Perry County's noted
sons, are two old documents left by her father, which also show
that Captain Jack was very real. They follow :
The 2nd Battalion, Penna. Regiment, commanded by
Lt. Colonel Clayton, Camp Fort Loudon, August 16, 1764.
John Morrison, Soldier in Colonel Clayton's Company, discharged by
Dr. Plunkett's orders from any furtber service in the above Regiment.
Given under my hand this Patrick Jack,
day, 16th August, 1764. Capt. Lieut.
These are to certify:
That the three Marching Companies from the Second Battalion met at
Studler's Mill upon the 15th of this m. and proceeded to elect a Major,
when it appeared upon summing of the Poll that Capt. Patrick Jack and
Elias Davison, 1st Lieut., had each of them eighty-two votes.
August 22, 1776, By Theo. McPherrin,
Fort Conococheague. One of the judges of the election.
They throw further light on the length of his services, as the
first shows service as early as 1764 and the last as late as 1776.
9 8 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
Forts in and Near the County.
The horrible atrocities which occurred during the summer and
fall of 1755 almost depopulated the lands which now comprise
Perry County, as well as others, and the provincial authorities took
steps to allay fear and safeguard the pioneers by a line of forts
extending from the Delaware River across the province to the
Maryland line and at other outlying places. George Croghan was
commissioned to select the site of three, in Cumberland County,
which were located as follows: Fort Granville, in present Mifflin
County; Patterson's, in present Juniata County, and at Sideling
Hill, now in Bedford County.
Among the forts mentioned in provincial history is Fort Au-
gusta, built by Colonel Clapham's regiment, which was located
where the present town of Sunbury stands. Joseph Greenwood —
after whom Greenwood Township was named later — and George
Gabriel acted as guides for the regiment of soldiers which Colonel
Clapham was conducting to Fort Augusta, as their signatures to
an affidavit dated June 2, 1756, verifies. On account of the better
trail the movement of troops was conducted up the Perry County
side. A member of this regiment was Ensign Samuel Miles, who
twenty years later was a colonel commanding a Continental regi-
ment in the army under Washington. In a journal kept by him
he tells of this early trip up the west side of the Susquehanna to
the site of Sunbury.
Fort Robinson was built by the members of that brave and in-
trepid family by the name of Robinson, resolute woodsmen inured
to hardship, toil and danger, and their neighbors who inhabited
Sherman's Valley, as a place of refuge from Indian attack.
It was a log fort, surrounded by a stockade. It occupied a site
on the present Edward R. Loy farm, near Centre Church, being
located on a tableland with a good view of the surrounding coun-
try. At its edge was a bluff, the shelter of which was sought in
escaping to the fort. The lowlands below were heavily wooded
with large oak and maple, which also afforded protection in going
to the fort. A spring was located at the foot of the bluff where
water was secured with the least exposure, the distance from the
stockade being only the steep bank — probably twenty feet. It was
not under provincial control, at least there are no records to prove
such fact. The Robinsons figured prominently in pioneer life.
A brother of George Robinson, who located the fort and stockade
was a member of Colonel Armstrong's expedition to Kittanning.
George Robinson warranted the tract on which the fort was lo-
cated, the fort being built in 1755. The fort was evidently in the
nature of a block house, surrounded by a stockade built of heavy
planks or poles. It was located along the famous Allegheny or
TREATY OF PEACE— INDIAN WARFARE 99
Traders' Path and was the only source of protection for the trav-
eler along the Allegheny Path between the Kittatinny or Blue
Mountain and the Tuscarora. There are no traces of the pioneer
battlements, nothing to indicate the part played by these hardy
pioneers in the struggle for settlement and civilization.
While called a fort it would probably have come under the
term of stockade. The stockades of that period were practically
all of one style. They consisted of oak logs, about seventeen feet
long, set in a ditch four feet deep, the logs being usually about a
foot in diameter. Around the inside was erected a platform of
logs about four or five feet from the ground, upon which the pio-
neers stood and aimed their guns trough port holes made in the
logs. This additional elevation gave them a considerable advan-
tage in reconnoitering the surrounding country.
Speaking of the Fort Robinson site "Frontier Forts of Penn-
sylvania" queries, "Could there be a place in our commonwealth
more worthy of the fostering care of her people?" Working along
that line during 1920, the centenary of Perry County's organiza-
tion, the author of this volume took up with the State Historical
Commission the advisability of marking the site with a proper
stone and inscription, with the result that that Commission will
agree to have the bronze inscriptions placed upon a native boulder
(as being appropriate to pioneer life) if some local organization
will agree to arrange for its future care. Plans are now under
way for its consummation and within another year this historic
site will probably be marked for all time.
In a list of provincial forts prepared by Jay Gilfillen Weiser,
of Middleburg, in 1894, and published in "Frontier Forts of
Pennsylvania," the only fort credited to Perry County is Hen-
drick's, built in 1770. This is an error, as Hendrick's fort was
located in what is now Snyder County.
On a map which appears in "Frontier Forts of Pennsylvania,"
showing the disposition of the provincial troops in the Western
District for the winter season of 1764, in the territory which now
comprises Perry County, are located two detachments, one marked
"A. Grove's, an officer and 20 men," and the other, "Fisher's an
officer and 20 men." The location marked drove's is near the
centre of western Perry, vicinity of Fort Robinson, and Fisher's,
approximately where the county seat is located.
While Fort Halifax is in Dauphin County, it is to be noted
here that it was. with the exception of Fort Hunter, the only fort
really built by the province along any border of the present county
of Perry, Fort Robinson being built by the pioneers themselves,
according to the only records available. Fort Halifax stood a half
mile above where the present town of Halifax now stands, and was
garrisoned with provincial troops. Commissary General Young,
ioo HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
in a report to the governor and council, said that "Fort Halifax
was in a very bad location, being built beyond two ranges of hills
and nobody living near it, none could be protected by it ; that it
is no station for batteaux parties, having no command of the chan-
nel, which runs close to the western shore, and is besides, covered
with a large island (Clemson's) between the channel and the fort,
so that numbers of the enemy may, even in daytime, run the
river, without being seen by that garrison, and that though the fort,
or blockhouse at Hunter's was not tenable, being hastily erected
and not finished, yet the situation was the best upon the river for
every service, as well as for the protection of the frontiers."
The purpose of the construction of Fort Halifax at that location
is uncertain, as records show that but two families resided any-
where in the vicinity, and the river channel was on the opposite
side, with the Clemson Island between. In all probability it was
erected as a convenient and safe place to lodge during the two-
day trip from Fort Hunter to Fort Augusta, which was located
where Sunbury now stands. It was dismantled and abandoned in
1763. Clemson's Island, lying in the river opposite the fort, was
the home of a considerable number of Indians, who could easily
have annihilated a large party.
Fort Hunter was a provincial fort located opposite the site of
the present town of Marysville, on a small promontory, where
Fishing Creek enters the Susquehanna River, on the eastern side.
It is in Dauphin County and one of the two provincial forts
erected along the county's border. The property is now, or was
lately, in the possession of John Reilly. Its location, described in
provincial records as being "where the Blue Hills cross the Sus-
quehanna," gave it command of the passage through this water
gap and of the river itself, affording a place of rendezvous for the
batteaux which carried supplies to Fort Halifax and Fort Augusta
at Shamokin (now Sunbury). It was a blockhouse, surrounded
by a stockade, and occupied the site of the present Reilly mansion.
It was erected about 1755, as it is spoken of in official records as
early as January 10, 1756, as "the fort at Hunter's mill." Its
location was at a very romantic spot, noted for its picturesque
outlook. In 1 8 14 Archibald McAllister erected a large storage
house upon its ancient foundations. Not far above the site are
the famous "Hunter's Falls," where the river narrows to pass
through a gap and where its waters are deep and swift, as they
rush over immense ledges of rock which the waters of the cen-
turies have failed to yet wear away.
Fort Bigham, a strong blockhouse, surrounded by a small stock-
ade, commanded Bighanrs Gap on the Juniata County side, through
which lay the famous Allegheny Path to the West. It was on the
"plantation" of Samuel Bigham, a Scotch-Irish settler who had
TREATY OF PEACE— INDIAN WARFARE 101
located in the Tuscarora Valley in 1754. With Bigham came fohn
and James Gray and Robert Hoag, who joined in the erection of
the fort as' a place of refuge. Other settlers used it also until
June, 1756, when it was attacked and burned by the Indians, who
killed or took prisoner all who had sought refuge therein, the total
being twenty-three persons. It was rebuilt in 1760 by Ralph Ster-
rett, described by Jones, in his History of the Juniata Valley, as
"an old Indian trader." In this fort his first child, William Ster-
rett, was born. It is related of Sterrett that upon an occasion an
Indian tired and hungry, passing his way, was invited in and
given a meal and tobacco. He had even forgotten the occurrence
when, in 1763, the Indians again being on the warpath, he heard
a noise and looking out saw an Indian in the moonlight. He
coolly demanded his business, when the Indian recalled the hos-
pitality and stated that the Indians were as plenty as the pigeons
in the woods and before another night they would be at Fort
Bigham to scalp and kill. Nearly all the settlers of the valley
were in the fort and were awe-stricken. They immediately began
preparations and long before daybreak a train of pack horses,
carrying them and their belongings was crossing Perry County
soil, via the Allegheny Path, to Carlisle.
Until recent years there stood on the Preston A. McMillen
farm, about a mile northeast of Kistler, in northeast Madison
Township, a log building which had been used both as a residence
and as a fort. Families by the name of Logan had taken up these
lands, which included the farms now owned by Lucian McMillen,
Linn J. McMillen, and Preston A. McMillen. On this latter
property this building was erected for both a residence and the
protection of the surrounding families. Some logs from the build-
ing were used for the construction of the McMillen barn and are
pointed out to the inquirer. It was on the nature of a blockhouse.
The property on which the fort was erected is now in the hands
of the fifth generation of McMillens, one of Perry County's sub-
stantial families. As fast as possible the Indians replaced their
bows and arrows with firearms and the residents of these farms
frequently had to seek shelter from the redskins. On one occa-
sion a hog had been killed and was being prepared for use in the
cellar when an attack was made and a bullet struck above the cellar
door, imbedding itself five and one-half inches in a walnut log.
-Many people yet living saw this log when a part of the old build-
ing. The marks of other bullets could be plainly seen. When
things got too serious the settlers would flee to the mountains, all
wooded, and escape to Carlisle. The logs were hewed on both
sides, some of them being almost two feet in width. In an In-
dian account of Robert Robinson, elsewhere, he tells of a Captain
Dunning seeking Indians and coming to a certain house (Alex-
102 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
ander Logan's) after the fight on Buffalo Creek. This old block-
house was Logan's home. A favorite pastime of the McMillens
of a century ago was "digging" bullets from these old logs.
Where the Tressler Memorial Lutheran church at Loysville now
stands once stood a log cabin equipped like a blockhouse, the rear
room being without windows and having portholes. This prop-
erty was later owned by John Kistler, father of Rev. Kistler, who
was a missionary to India about i860.
While there is no official record of there having been a fort at
New Buffalo during the early settlements, yet, according to old
records Henry Meiser, of what is now Snyder County, put his
children in chaff bags and escaped to New Buffalo, where there
was a temporary fort for refuge. Evidently Fort Halifax — oppo-
site New Buffalo — was referred to.
Some of the earlier homes were equipped with portholes, for
use in case of an Indian attack. One of these was the house on
the Thomas Adams farm, near New Germantown, in Toboyne
Township, now owned by Milo N. W'illhide, its location being
just south of Sherman's Creek.
That those daring provincials located at these forts were kept
busy is attested by their many reports which are a part of the
Pennsylvania Archives. A letter from Capt. James Patterson,
commandant at Fort Hunter, dated January 10, 1758, and ad-
dressed to "the Honorable William Deney, Esq'r, Governour and
Commander in Chief of the Province of Pennsylvania," follows:
"Fort Hunter, Jan'ry ye 10th, 1758.
"I took with me 19 men & ranged from this Fort as far as Robinson's
Fort, where I lodged, keeping a guard of six men & one Corporal on
Gentry that night. The sixth day I marched towards Hunter's Fort,
ranging along the mountain foot very diligently till I came to the Fort
that evening, my men being so afflicted with sickness ; I could not send
out till the eighth day, Lieu't Allen, with 14 men, went to Range for three
days. On the 12th day Lieu't Allen, with Eighteen men & one Serjeant
ranged along the mountain about 14 miles from this Fort, where he met
Cap't Lieu't Weiser with his party & returned back towards this Fort the
next day & came to it that night. The fifteenth, Lieu't Allen, with 18 men,
kept along the Frontier till the 25th & came to this Fort that night.
"Hearing of Indians harbouring about Juniatta, on the 28th of De-
cember, I took 15 men with me up the Creek, and about 14 miles from
the mouth of it I found fresh tracks of Indians on both sides of the
Creek & followed the tracks about four miles up the said Creek, where I
lost the tracks, but I still kept up the Creek 'till I gott up about 25 miles
from the mouth of said Creek, where I encamped that night. The In-
dians I found were round me all night, for my Dogg made several
attacks towards the Woods as if he saw the Enemy and still run back to
the Centry. On the 3d of January I returned down the Creek in some
Canoes that I found on said Creek, and when I came about nine miles
down I espied about 20 Indians on the opposite side of the Creek to where
I was. They seemed to gett themselves in order to fire upon the men that
were in Canoes. I immediately ordered them all out but two men that
TREATY OF PEACE— INDIAN WARFARE 103
let the Canoes float close under the shore, and kept the Land in readiness
to fire upon the Enemy, as soon as they moved out of the place where
they lay in Ambush, but I could see no more of them. On the 5th day
of January I came to this Fort."
It will be noted that Captain Patterson terms the Juniata, "the
Creek." Fourteen miles from the month of it, where he foimd the
Indian tracks, would have been at the vicinity where Buffalo
Creek empties into the Juniata, above Newport. Having gone up
twenty-five miles from its mouth and returned nine he saw twenty
Indians. That point was probably in the vicinity of Old Ferry,
midway between Newport and Millerstown, but of course there
is no way of telling the exact locations, they probably varying a
mile or two either way.
These provincials were kept very busy by the duties of their
position ; but, with the success of the British arms, the scene of
action shifted, during 1758, and until Pontiac's war in 1763, this
pioneer garrison had little to do.
CHAPTER V.
SIMON GIRTY, THE RENEGADE.
IN that section of Perry County lying between the Juniata and
Susquehanna Rivers and along the banks of the latter there is
a mountain promontory below Montgomery's Ferry, almost
jutting to the river's edge, which bears to this day the name of
"Girty's Notch," said to have been named after Simon Girty, the
renegade, who betrayed his own race to join the redskins and
later the British. It is in Watts Township, almost on the Buffalo
Township line and along the Susquehanna Trail — the state high-
way to the north. On approaching this promontory from the
northeast there can be seen, half-way up the craggy rocks, the face
of a man — albeit an Indian — the outline of which no sculptor could
improve, put there by the Great Creator of the universe and which
tradition would have us believe is the counterpart of the Girty
profile.
There is record of the elder Simon Girty's once being a prop-
erty owner, but not here. In 1743 he cleared a tract of thirty
acres in Dauphin County, near the Susquehanna River, and made
some improvements. He resided on this place several years. Be-
coming indebted to Thomas McKee, the storekeeper, in a sum
upwards of f300 the land subsequently came into the possession
of McKee.
The Alexander McKee, referred to in connection with Girty,
the renegade, in the following pages, was a son of this Thomas
McKee, the trader, who kept a store immediately below Peters'
Mountain, in Dauphin County, opposite Allen's Cove. He was
an Indian agent for the British government and became a pro-
nounced tory.
The activities of Simon Girty, the renegade, in the provincial
affairs were of such magnitude that a brief account is not out of
place here, especially as his father — also named Simon Girty — was
one of the men ejected from Perry County soil prior to the lands
being opened for settlement, mentioned at several places in this
l)i 10k.
Almost opposite Marysville, Perry County, there empties into
the Susquehanna River a small stream known as Fishing Creek.
A few hundred yards from its mouth, prior to 1730, several broth-
ers by the name of Chambers erected a grist mill and the place
came to be known as Chambers' Mill. It was the same family of
Chambers which settled at Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, in 1736,
104
SIMON GIRTY, THE RENEGADE
105
and gave their name to that town. During the French and Indian
War a frontier fort was built at Chambers' Mill and was named
Fort Hunter, a near-by village still bearing that name. It was
also subsequently called McAllister's. Chambers' Mill was a set-
THE INDIAN PROFILE AT GIRTY'S NOTCH.
During the Pioneer Period the name of Simon Girty, the Renegade, lie-
came attached to this cliff, although nothing in Provincial Annals bears
it out. Facing south on the Susquehanna Trail the face can be plainly
seen upon the rocks, not far below Montgomery's Ferry.
tlement of unsavory reputation and is spoken of as having had
few, if any, rivals for wickedness in the province. Here Simon
Girty, the elder, who was a middle aged man, had emigrated from
the Emerald Isle, located and assumed the duties of a pack horse
driver. After saving of his earnings to go into business on a small
106 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
scale as a trader with the Indians, he married Mary Newton, an
English girl. They became the parents of four boys, Thomas,
born in 1739; Simon, with whom this story deals, born in 1741 ;
James, born in 1743, and George, born in 1745. The name is vari-
ously spelled, "Girty," "Girte," "Gerty," and sometimes "Girtee."
In a list of traders licensed in 1747 Simon Girty, the elder, does
not appear; in a list of traders unlicensed of the same date, it
does appear. However, the list of 1748 contains his name among
those licensed.
The lands lying west of the Susquehanna River and north of the
Kittatinny or Blue Mountain, which includes the present county of
Perry, had not been opened to settlement yet, but nevertheless,
by the spring of 1749 there were more than thirty families already
located there. The sheriff of Lancaster County having authority
over all the lands west of the Susquehanna except York County,
three magistrates and a provincial agent were sent to what is now
Perry County soil to warn the people to leave immediately. Little
heed was given to their words and others also went in and located.
Among these was Simon Girty, in 1749, with his wife and little
brood, settling on Sherman's Creek, but their career there was
suddenly terminated, as eight provincials appointed by the consti-
tuted authorities, accompanied by a deputy sheriff of the new-
county of Cumberland, proceeded to carry out by force the desires
of the Indians and the commands of the authorities. After burn-
ing five cabins of settlers near the Juniata they proceeded to Sher-
man's Creek, where Girty and nine other trespassers were found.
Each had settled on a separate tract and had erected a cabin.
These were also burned and the owners bound over to appear at
Shippensburg, then the seat of justice of the new county, in the
sum of one hundred pounds each. In view of the others having
remained when notified to leave during the previous year this oc-
currence can hardly be viewed with great discredit to Girty. From
here he went back to Chambers' Mill.
Girty, the elder, was a drinking man of the "spree" type, and
met his death at Chambers' Mill on one of these occasions. One
story tells of a neighbor knocking him in the head and bearing off
Mrs. Girty as a trophy of his prowess; another tells of a neighbor-
hood difficulty in which Girty was the challenger to a duel and in
which Iris antagonist put the sword through him, but both are only
traditionary tales. Even Theodore Roosevelt, in his "Winning of
the West," erroneously has him "tortured at the stake, toma-
hawked finally by a papoose held up by its father for that pur-
pose," doubtless confounding that circumstance with the one hap-
pening at the death of Turner, the man who married Girty's
widow and who was tortured at the stake at Kittanning, as de-
scribed further on in this chapter.
SIMON GIRTY, THE RENEGADE 107
The facts, according to the Magazine of American History, are
these: He was killed in a drunken revelry by an Indian known as
"the fish," at his home in the latter part of 1751. His death must
needs be avenged and the avenger in this case was John Turner,
who made his home with Girty, who killed "the fish" and thereby
fulfilled the theory of "an eye for an eye," etc. Turner's reward
came later, when, early in 1753, at Paxtang he was united in mar-
riage to Mrs. Girty, described as a woman of unblemished char-
acter.
In 1756, Turner, his wife and the four Girty boys, for their
better protection, were in the fort known as Fort Granville, lo-
cated near the present town of Lewistown, Pennsylvania, where
Turner was a second lieutenant. On July 22 a band of over a
hundred Indians and twenty-three Frenchmen from Fort Duquesne
arrived at the fort and challenged its occupants to combat, which
was declined by the commander, Captain Edward Ward. All of
Ward's men were provincials in the pay of Pennsylvania. Not
far away Sherman's Valley, comprising practically all of western
Perry County, was depopulated by reason of the Indian massacres
and expeditions, yet much grain had been sown and was now ripe
with no reapers to venture forth without protection. Captain
Ward determined to guard the harvesters and took all his men
save twenty-three to Sherman's Valley, thinking the French and
the Indians had gone.
In this he was mistaken, as they were only abiding their time.
On the very day in which he marched, they began a furious at-
tack and by a feint, entrance was gained through a ravine to
within thirty or forty feet of the fort. The lieutenant in charge,
Edward Armstrong, and a private were killed, three wounded and
the fort set on fire. The enemy then offered quarter if they would
surrender and Turner, then in charge, opened the gates. The fort
was consumed in the flames and all were taken prisoners, including
Turner, his wife and the four Girty boys. Simon Girty was then
fifteen years old. The fort was sacked before its fall and the
prisoners were compelled to lug the loot to the limit of their en-
durance. Tradition says Turner's share was a hundred pounds of
salt. The trip was over the Allegheny Mountains to Kittanning,
where there was an Indian village from which this band of In-
dians were largely recruited.
Turner, tradition says, — and it is only tradition, — was recog-
nized as the man who had slain "the fish" (who was the murderer
of the elder Girty) at Chambers' Mill and his doom was sealed.
Be that as it may, the evidence and records of his execution are
-more than tradition. "They tied him to a black post, danced
around him, made a great fire and, having heated them red-hot,
ran gun barrels through his body. Having tormented him for
ioS HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
three hours, they scalped him alive, and at last held up a boy with
a hatchet in his hand to give the finishing stroke," says Gordon in
his History of Pennsylvania. His wife sat on a log near by with
their young son and with the four Girty boys, compulsory be-
holders of the horrible affair.
The family was shortly broken up, never to be reunited.
Simon was turned over to the Senecas, one of the Six Nations,
and speedily learned their language. James was given to the
Shawnees and George to the Delawares, all being adopted. The
other brother, Thomas, had been recaptured by the whites in an
attack upon Kittanning, within forty days of his first captivity.
The Dalawares and the Shawnees, notwithstanding the fact that
the Indians had made a treaty of peace with the English at Easton
in 1757, remained hostile along the Ohio. During the autumn of
1858, however, they sent their representatives to Easton, Penn-
sylvania, and too formed a treaty of peace. As a result all white
prisoners were delivered up at Pittsburgh, and among them were
the three Girty boys, their mother ( Mrs. Turner) and her young
son, John Turner.
Having lived the wild life of the red men for some time the
boys were rough and crude and now almost grown into young
manhood. Their location at Pittsburgh placed them among a
rough and uncouth element, as it was a mere trading post and
frontier fort with the attending influences. The principal business
was trading with the Indians and the linguistic ability of these
boys, Simon being but eighteen and his brothers younger, made
their services invaluable, for collectively they could speak the lan-
guages of three different Indian nations. Simon, who had been
with the Senecas, now became popular with the Delawares, took
up their language, and in a short time could speak it fluently. One
of the principal Delaware warriors — Katepakomen — liked him so
well that he assumed his name. The capture of this Indian pre-
tender, "Simon Girty," by Colonel Henry Bouquet in 1764, when
he marched with his men west of the Ohio, is responsible for con-
flicting historical accounts, many of which assume that it was the
real Simon Girty.
Simon, and perchance his brothers also, became popular among
a certain class of the white population surrounding the post and
an incident of historical preservation is that he voted at the first
election ( i//i ) when Bedford was made a county, including
practically all the territory of western Pennsylvania. Two years
later (1773-) Westmoreland County was created, with the capital
at Hannastown, about thirty-five miles east of Pittsburgh, and it
then comprised all of these western Pennsylvania lands. The stu-
dent of history will recollect how Pennsylvania and Virginia
clashed for that territory, Pennsylvania contending that much of
SIMON GIRTY, THE RENEGADE 109
the land even along the Ohio belonged to the province, while Vir-
ginia's contention was that that state owned even the location
where Pittsburgh now stands and where the post was then located.
In the same year Lord Dnnmore, governor of Virginia, visited
the section and took measures for its being made a part of his
.state. Simon Girty took sides with Virginia. At the October ses-
sions of court of that year a warrant was issued for his arrest for
a misdemeanor, the grand jury having found a true bill, but he
escaped. Dr. John Conolly, of Pittsburgh, was the leader of the
Virginians, who, with an armed force, assailed the court at Han-
nastown and sent three of the justices to jail in Virginia. Penn-
sylvania's champion was Arthur St. Clair, also of Pittsburgh, who
caused Conolly's arrest and had him imprisoned at Hannastown.
Not only the boundary troubles, but others threatened the new
country. As the tide of emigration broke through the Alleghenies
and rolled westward in a continuous stream towards the Ohio
Valley the continuous conflict of the red and white races was again
uppermost. Southwest of Pittsburgh the Shawnees and the Min-
goes were on one side and the Virginians on the other. In this
war Simon Girty was an active participant. Taking sides with
Virginia in the boundary dispute when his own state was con-
cerned, naturally he could easily do so then. When Lord Dun-
more reached Pittsburgh with the northern branch of the Vir-
ginia army Girty became his interpreter as well as a scottt. Dun-
more had also with him several scouts whose frontier deeds made
them famous, but of a type the opposite of Girty. The criticism
of Roosevelt covering this phase in his "Winning of the West"
is "At the moment he was serving Lord Dnnmore and the whites ;
but he was by taste, habits and education a red man, who felt ill
at ease among those of his own color."
Lord Dunmore's war did not lessen the severity of the boundary
dispute around Pittsburgh and Girty was made a second lieutenant
on his retnrn from the expeditions against the Indians. The im-
mediate effect of this was to give Virginia immunity from Indian
troubles at the west and to give Pennsylvania resumption of its
trade with the Indians. But the Revolutionary War was at hand
and after the battle of Lexington patriotism west of the moun-
tains put all else to rout and at conventions held at Pittsburgh and
Hannastown practically everybody gave expressions to their senti-
ments, among them being the supporters of Lord Dnnmore. who
rallied to the Whigs, with a single exception or two, which did not
include Girty.
■ On May 1, 1776, he was appointed an interpreter by the Co-
lonial government to interpret for the Six Nations at Pittsburgh,
which practically meant for the Senecas. His wage was to be
i 10 HISTORY OF TERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
four-eights of a dollar per day. On August i it was found nec-
essary to discharge him for ill behavior.
He then exerted himself in getting recruits for the patriot army
for which he expected a captain's commission. In this he failed,
but was made a second lieutenant in Captain John Stephanson's
company of one-year men. The company was sent to Charleston,
hut for some reason he was not with them, hut on detached duty.
Early in August (1776) he resigned his commission. He was then
already plotting with the Indians. General Hand, on assuming
charge of the military affairs at Pittsburgh, discovered that there
was doubtful loyalty among some of the inhabitants. Alexander
McKee, an influential trader who had come from that part of the
province lying east of the mountains, being especially suspicioned.
He and Girty were friends. He was paroled to the immediate
vicinity. There was a movement on foot to murder all the Whigs
and turn the government over to Hamilton, the lieutenant gover-
nor, located at Detroit, and Girty was suspected of being in the
plot and was arrested and confined in the guardhouse. He soon
broke out, just to show that he could, but returned of his own
accord and was imprisoned. Later he was examined by a magis-
trate and acquitted. Being restored to confidence, during the fall
he was sent to meet the Senecas, living on the upper waters of the
Allegheny, who were supposed to be hostile to the United States.
He would have been held by them as a spy but managed to escape.
Finally from authentic reports it became known to General
I land that Alexander McKee was making preparations to leave
Pittsburgh to join the enemy. On December 29, 1777, he was
ordered to York, Pennsylvania, there to answer orders of the Con-
tinental Board of War, but the tory made excuses and was allowed
to remain. On February 7, 177S, he was again officially ordered to
York, but feigned illness and was permitted to remain. Mean-
while he was secretly preparing to take as much of his property
as was portable with him and at the earliest possible moment start
for the Indian country on his way to Detroit. He had influenced
Girty to join in the flight and on the night of March 28, 1778,
McKee and his cousin, Robert Surphlit, together with Matthew
Elliott, Simon Girty, a man named Higgins and two negroes be-
longing to McKee departed for the Indian country and Detroit,
traitors to the land of their birth.
Many reasons are advanced for Girty's disaffection, but the per-
suasion of McKee and Elliott certainly had much to do with ir.
Farther than that all must be conjecture. Perchance its inception
may have dated back to the burning of that cabin of his father by
the provincial authorities along Sherman's Creek — now a part of
Perry County — which, as a child he sat by and saw, but of which
he did not comprehend the meaning.
SIMON GIRTY, THE RENEGADE in
However, desertions to the enemy did not stop with the seven.
( )thers were disaffected, including part of the garrison at Fort
Pitt. On the night of April 20 a boat was stolen by some, who
fled down the Ohio. They were overtaken at the Muskingum
River by a party sent in pursuit and the ringleaders killed or cap-
tured. Six soldiers and two civilians escaped. Of those taken
two were shot, one hanged and two whipped, being given one
hundred lashes each. Their leaving caused great consternation
among the settlers, some! even wanting to desert their claims in
fear of the Indians. John Proctor, of Westmoreland County,
wrote to Thomas Wharton, president of the Supreme Executive
Council of Pennsylvania, on April 26, as follows : "Captain Alex-
ander McKee, with seven (six) other villains, is gone to the In-
dians ; and since then there are a sergeant and twenty-odd men
gone from Pittsburgh, of the soldiers. What may be the fate of
this country, God only knows, but at present it wears a dismal
aspect."
Girty never possessed real estate, as sometimes stated, hence he
left nothing behind. He could neither read nor write, so left no
paper which could shed any light upon his actions. Up to the
time of his desertion he was not quite so black as painted by many
historians, as his connections with the provincial government will
attest. True, he drank, gambled, associated with questionable
people, yet he was not at that time "an inveterate drunkard," "an
outlaw," "a redskin of the worst type," etc. Now, however, he
became a renegade, a deserter and a traitor to his country — what
a threefold record of infamy those words imply !
In all the American settlements west of the Allegheny Moun-
tains watered by the Ohio and its tributaries, there were not to be
found three other persons so well fitted as were McKee, Elliott
and Girty to work upon the superstitions of the western Indians
for evil to the patriot cause ; and General Hand feared the worst,
thinking they had gone over to the Indians. He and Colonel
Morgan at once prepared "addresses" and had them sent to the
Delawares. Others fearing to carry the messages, John Hecke-
welder and Joseph Bull, Moravian missionaries, offered to carry
them to Coshocton. They were searching for the whereabouts of
missionaries of their church who had gone into the Ohio valleys.
They found the Delawares about to take up arms against the
Americans. According to Heckewelder, the renegades had stopped
at their town and told them that the patriot armies were cut to
pieces, that General Washington was killed, that there was no
more congress, that the English had hung some of the members
and taken the remainder to England to hang them there, and that
the few thousand Americans who had escaped the British soldiers
were now busying themselves west of the mountains for the pur-
U2 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
pose of killing all the Indians beyond the Ohio — even the women
and children.
The renegades had left Coshocton, but "White Eyes," the Dela-
ware chief, sent the following figurative message out to the Shaw-
nees and the Mingoes : "Grandchildren, ye Shawnees ! Some
davs ago a flock of birds that came on from the east lit at Goscho-
ching (Coshocton) imposing a song of theirs upon us, which song
has nigh proved onr ruin ! Should these birds, which, on leaving
us, took their flight toward the Scioto, endeavor to impose a song
on you likewise, do not listen to them for they lie."
However, the words of "White Eyes" were of no avail to his
grandchildren on the Scioto. The renegades had there met James
Girty, who was easily persuaded to join them. The Shawnees
were wavering and he was largely responsible for turning them
from all thoughts of peace with the United States. It was about
the middle of June when the original party (James Girty not be-
ing along) reached the open arms of Lieutenant Governor Hamil-
ton at Detroit. He immediately appointed Girty as interpreter of
the Six Nations, the renegade thus becoming an employee of the
British, for his services receiving two dollars per day. McKee
was made a captain of the British Indian Department. On June
15, I//8, the Supreme Executive Council issued a proclamation
adjudging them traitors. Hamilton sent Simon Girty to the
Mingoes and James Girty to the Shawnees, each instructed to
give the best possible service both in interpreting and fighting.
Until this time neither had the blood of a fellow countryman upon
his hands. From now on this can not be said of them. For their
future attitude Hamilton was largely responsible.
Upon their reaching the Indian tribes a war party was started
for Kentucky, both being along. The party brought back seven
scalps, a woman named Mary Kennedy and seven children as
prisoners.
Simon Kenton, the scout, had left Boone's station in Kentucky
to cross the Ohio, being accompanied by Alexander Montgomery
and George Clark. They ran across some horses in the rich prai-
ries andj by the use of salt and halters succeeded in stampeding
seven towards the Ohio. The river being wild the party was de-
layed in crossing and were overtaken by the Indians. Clark es-
caped, Montgomery was killed and scalped, and Kenton was tied
upon the back of one of the wildest horses. After plunging, kick-
ing and rearing the animal finally followed the others. At four
different villages he was beaten and made to "run the gauntlet,"
almost losing his life each time. Later, while seated on the floor
of the council house with his face blackened, a sure sign of being
doomed, in walked Simon Girty, his brother James, John Ward
and an Indian with the eight captives spoken of above and the
SIMON G1RTY, THE RENEGADE 113
seven scalps. Kenton was temporarily removed but was shortly
brought back. He recognized the hated traitor. Girty threw down
a blanket and with a scowl ordered him upon it. He hesitated and
Girty impatiently jerked him upon it. Girty did not recognize him
and proceeded to quiz him for information. To the inquiry as to
where he lived he replied "In Kentucky." To other questions
Kenton gave answers which were intended to lead his interrogator
astray. Finally he was asked his name and replied, "Simon Butler,"
the name he was known by along the frontier. Girty embraced
him on the spot and told him he was condemned to death, but that
he would use every means to save his life. His pleas were ef-
fective, as the Indians relented.
A short time afterwards a party of Indians returned from the
vicinity of Wheeling defeated by the whites, some having been
killed and others wounded. Determined to be avenged they sent
to Girty to appear with Kenton, which he did. He again inter-
ested himself, but by an overwhelming vote it was decided to burn
him at the stake. However at Girty's request he was taken by the
Indians to Upper Sandusky to suffer the torture. Through the
intercession of a trader there he escaped death, being sent to De-
troit. Subsequently he fled and finally arrived safely in Kentucky.
Captain John Clark had commanded a relief party with provi-
sions for Colonel Gibson at Fort Laurens, and on his return Girty
and seventeen redskins attacked them and killed two, wounding
four and taking one prisoner. The remainder, including the cap-
tain, fought a defensive fight back to the fort. Lieutenant Gover-
nor Hamilton, getting restless, had previously captured Vincennes,
and Clarke knew that if he didn't get Hamilton and Vincennes
that Hamilton would get him. Accordingly on February 7, with
a force of 126 men he started, and on February 25 captured Ham-
ilton and the fort. Girty, in attacking Clark, had gained posses-
sion of correspondence of Colonel Gibson, which he took to De-
troit, but Hamilton had already been captured. In the corre-
spondence Gibson revealed the fact that Girty, if captured, could
expect little mercy from him. At first this caused a feeling of
despondency which developed into resentment and vindictiveness
against his countrymen far greater than before.
Girty met an American named Richard Conner at Coshocton
and told him to "tell the Americans that I desire to be shown no
favor, neither will I show any." George Girty. who had been a
second lieutenant of the Colonial troops, also deserted and on Au-
gust 8. 1779, arrived at Detroit, the third of the family to become
a renegade. He was made an interpreter and assigned to the
Sbawnees. Deer skins (known as "bucks" and "does") were
worth about a dollar each and were in some cases used as cur-
rency. Hence, a charge to George Girty reads: "To salt at
ii 4 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
Shawnees towns. 4 bucks; to 116 pounds Hour, 14 bucks; to bag
flour. 2 bucks; to tobacco, 3 bucks."
A' party of "Virginians" from near where Brownsville, Penn-
sylvania, now stands, went to New Orleans for supplies. They
had returned to about three miles below where the little Miami
joins the Ohio when Simon and George Girty, Matthew Elliott
and a hundred Indians attacked them, killing David Rogers, the
captain, and forty-one others of the party and taking five pris-
oners. The Indians lost but two, with three more slightly
wounded. They captured a quantity of rum, forty bales of dry
goods, and a "chest of hard specie."
On one occasion Simon Girty saved the life of an eighteen-
year-old boy, Henry Baker, who had been captured by a small
war party near Wheeling. He was taken to Upper Sandusky,
where he was placed with nine other prisoners, captured Ken-
tuckians. All were compelled to "run the gauntlet." The boy,
being fleet of foot, easily ran it, which so enraged a young Indian
that he knocked him down with a club after reaching the council
house. The nine Kentuckians were burned at the stake, one a
day until all had perished. Baker was compelled to witness all
this. Then it was his turn. An old chief ordered him taken out
and tied to a stake. Seeing a white man approaching on horse-
back, he resisted somewhat and then ran up and implored the rider
to save him. It was Simon Girty, who at once interceded in his
behalf. The savages relented and let him go, sending him to De-
troit as a prisoner. He escaped and reached his home in safety.
On one occasion (1781) Simon Girty had a narrow escape from
death. Captain Brant, while drinking intoxicants, boasted of his
prowess and told how he single-handed had captured a number of
the enemy. Girty's envy was awakened and he promptly told
Brant that he lied. The latter immediatelv struck him in the head
with his sword, making an ugly scar which he carried to his death
and which he later boasted of as "having received it in battle." It
was many weeks before he could even sit up.
Heckewelder, the Moravian missionary, in 1782, saw Simon
Girty frequently, he being at that time the constant companion of
Dunquat, the half-king of the Wyandottes. He had then become
more inhuman and savage thai: ever. The winter was cold, food
was scarce, the cattle were dying for want of food, there was little
wood to burn and the tents were small, many were living on the
carcasses of the starved cattle ; yet when the missionary's wife had
prepared for themselves a little food, from their scanty lot. in
walked Simon Girty and a Wyandotte Indian and helped them-
selves. The half-king had lost two sons in battle the previous
fall and was very resentful against the whites. Girty now called
SIMON GIRTY, THE RENEGADE 115
himself "Captain Girty" and would instigate among the Wyan-
dottes all the trouble possible for the Moravians.
( )n one occasion Christian Fast, of Westmoreland County,
Pennsylvania, and of the part which later became Fayette County,
a hoy of seventeen was captured. He was wounded before being
made prisoner but his life was spared, lie was adopted by a
I Vlaware family which had lost a son in a skirmish. Naturally
young Fast became melancholy at times. Thoughts of home would
steal upon him, and on one of these occasions he had proceeded
into the woods and was sitting on a log musing. He was suddenly
accosted by a white stranger and asked what he was thinking about.
He replied that he had no company and felt lonesome. "That is
not it," said the stranger. "You are thinking of home; be a good
hoy and you shall see your home again." The speaker was Simon
Girty, who had taken a liking to the boy, who later did escape and
reached his own home in safety.
While three of the Girty boys were renegades, the fourth,
Thomas Girty, lived in Pittsburgh, rather a respected citizen.
Captain Crawford, who was a fellow officer with Girty in the
Virginia militia of a period before, was captured and was burned
at the stake, and among the witnesses of the spectacle was the
renegade. Crawford was undressed, and tied to a stake about
fifteen feet high by a rope which was attached to the ligaments
of his wrists. The rope was of a length to permit his walking
around the post two or three times, returning the same way. The
fires were six or seven yards from the post. About seventy loads
of powder were shot into his body and then his ears were cut off.
On every side were tormentors with burning faggots and if be
turned about to escape torture he again met with it. In the midst
of these tortures Crawford called to Girty and begged to be shot.
In derision Girty replied that he had no gun, and laughed heartily,
all his gestures showing that he was delighted with the spectacle.
After almost two hours of torture Crawford fell upon his stom-
ach and was then scalped. Hot coals-were applied to him, hut he
again raised himself to his feet and walked around the stake,
seeming more insensible to pain than before. Dr. Knight, who
was also captured at the same time, was a witness up until this
point when he was led away.
Girty then told Knight to prepare for death, but not there, as
he was to be burned in one of the Shawnee towns. With fear-
ful oaths he told him that he need not expect to escape death, hut
should suffer it in all its agonies. Colonel John Gibson had threat-
ened to trepan him, if captured, and he told Knight that some
prisoners had informed him that if the Americans got him they
would torture him. but that he didn't believe it. He asked Knight's
opinion, hut he, having just witnessed the awful proceedings with
n6 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
Crawford, was so unnerved that he could not reply. Knight was
sent to the Shawnee town under the guard of a single Indian,
whom he killed and then escaped, finally arriving at Pittsburgh
half starved.
George Girty was about as blood-thirsty as his brother Simon.
John Stover had been of the same war party as Crawford and
Knight, and was later condemned to the stake. He was tied to the
stake and George Girty cursed him and told him he was about to
get what he deserved, but suddenly a storm broke and the Indians
sought cover, Stover in the meantime breaking his bonds and
escaping.
The news of peace between the United States and Great Britain
did not reach Fort Pitt until May. 1783, and incursions into the
settlements by small war parties of savages were still carried on.
Simon Girty led one to Nine Mile Run, within five miles of Pitts-
burgh, and took a few scalps. This was the renegade's last trip
into the state of his birth. In July, 1783, after five years of almost
constant life among the red men he returned to Detroit, where he
made his home for a short time. In 1784 he journeyed to the
Indian country for Catharine Malott, who, as a girl in her teens,
was taken prisoner on the Ohio River in 1780. She was now
grown to womanhood and wanted to escape savage life, which was,
no doubt, her only reason for marrying the renegade, which she
did late that year, settling on the Canadian side. He was still a
British government agent and was often on the American side
urging the Indians to harass the new government.
It appears nowhere that Girty possessed courage, yet his cow-
ardice is attested by hundreds of acts of a disreputable nature.
About 1798 he and his wife separated, as she could not stand his
cruel treatment. Later they lived together again. When the
Americans came to take possession of Detroit he got so frightened
that he hurriedly swam the river on horseback. He was almost
six feet tall, with black hair, a full face, a massive head, and black
eyes. He was bronzed by exposure, and dressed in Indian fashion,
being adorned with paint and feathers, and he looked every inch
an Indian.
He died on his farm, in Canada, granted him by the Britisli
government for his perfidy, in 1818, although many historians, in-
cluding Roosevelt, in his "Winning of the West," mistakenly have
him killed in battle at Proctor's defeat on the Thames. Of the
four brothers, Thomas alone led a civilized life.
Girty became an Indian of his own free will, acquired their
habits, participated in their councils, inflamed their passions, and
goaded them on to the most cruel tortures of captives ; and he
deserves to go down in history as one of the most desperate and
degenerate characters in its annals. There ever rankled in his
SIMON GIRTY, THE RENEGADE 117
bosom a dreadful hatred against his country, and while he had all
the vices of both civilized and uncivilized peoples, he had the vir-
tues of neither.
Tradition would have Simon Girty, the renegade, use the cave
or "notch" near the top of Half Falls Mountain, known as Girty's
Notch, as a hiding place and observatory during the Indian trou-
bles from 1754 to 1764, but there are official records, as stated,
during these years, which connect him indisputably with the terri-
tory lying west of Pittsburgh. It is no pleasure to the writer,
whose birthplace was within a half dozen miles of the location and
whose childhood was enlivened by tales of Girty's prowess and
deviltry, to mar this tradition, but history not only fails to bear it
out, but furnishes evidence of his activities having been in an
entirely different region.
Consul Willshire Butterfield, in his History of the Girtys, se-
verely criticizes the accounts of Simon Girty as contained in
*Wright's History of Perry County, which was published many
years ago and which were probably taken from newspaper articles
of the period, as the facilities for research at that time were lim-
ited. Many of the errors in reference to Girty are caused by con-
fusing father and son, both being named Simon.
In the vicinity of Landisburg there is a tradition that Girty's
perfidy was the result of his not having been given the command
of the whites during a skirmish at Wagner's woods, near that
town. Like the other tales which connect the renegade with Perry
County territory, there is nothing to it, as he never was in the
territory save as a boy of eight years, when his father was a
squatter, and later in crossing the territory when twelve to fifteen
years of age, with his stepfather and family on their way to Fort
Granville, near Lewistown. As stated, their capture at that place
was in 1756 and Girty's perfidy dates from 1776 to 1778, and its
actual occurrence was at Pittsburgh.
That the renegade was a thorough Indian at heart is proven by
the fact that in 1792, when a Great Council of all the north-
western tribes was convened on the Maumee, he was the only
white man admitted, among the others being forty chiefs of the
Six Nations, who counseled peace.
*In an article in the Newport (Pa.) Ledger in later years Mr. Wright
wrote: "From reliable information in the writer's possession the renegade
never visited these places (Girty's Notch) and could not have given them
his name."
CHAPTER VI.
DUNCAN'S AND HALDEMAN'S ISLANDS.
IN announcing the intention to publish this book the statement
was made that the history of Duncan's and Haldeman's Is-
lands, while located in Dauphin County, would be included for
the reason that the business and social activities of every nature—
except legal — are with the Perry County side of the river, and for
the additional reason that the history of one merges into the other.
The only reason why these two islands are not a part of Perry
County is that in the old Indian grant to Penn the line was made
the western bank of the river. Logically they should be a part of
Perry County, and in 1819 a strong effort was made to have them
attached to Cumberland County (of which Perry was then a part),
but it was defeated. Then, a year later, when Perry County was
formed, they probably could have been attached to Perry, but no
effort was made. As this chapter contains much of Indian life it
is inserted here, rather than later.
( >riginally the Juniata's waters joined with those of the Sus-
quehanna at two points, one being a channel at the north end of
Duncan's Island, thus forming between the rivers an island, orig-
inally known as Juniata Island to the natives. This channel was
known to early rivermen as "the gut." Marcus ITulings connected
it with the mainland by a causeway, so that pack horses could pass
over. Although it retains the name "island," it is in reality no
longer an island, as the channel at the upper end has long since
been filled in, the same having been done when the Pennsylvania
canal was building. During the great floods of 1846 and 1889
the embankment was swept away and each time was rebuilt at
gnat expense, the first time by the state, then in possession of the
canals, and the last time by the Pennsylvania Railroad, at an ex-
pense of $60,000. Across it passed that great artery of traffic,
the Pennsylvania canal, and over it now passes the William Penn
highway and the Susquehanna 'frail. Much of this fill-in was dug
out when the highway was put through recently, and whether this
was discreet only another great flood will tell, but rivermen eon-
tend that it will again break through.
Duncan's Island is almost two miles long, and almost all of it
is now the property of William If. Richter. It contains approxi-
mately 300 acres of land. During the first decade of the Nine-
teenth Century a village sprang up at its southern point and was
named I'envenue. It still exists, but is now largely summer cot-
118
DUNCAN'S AND HALDEMAN'S ISLANDS 719
tages. Here once stood the Indian village of "Choniata" or
"Juneauta," of which there is record as early as 1654 and as late
as 1745. From this lower point of the island a long, covered
wooden bridge spans the Susquehanna to Clark's Ferry, a station
011 the Northern Central Railway, and an iron bridge spans the
Juniata to a point near Juniata Bridge, a station on the main line
1 if the Pennsylvania Railroad.
When the Pennsylvania canal was in operation the mule teams
which drew the boats crossed the Susquehanna bridge on a tow-
path built on the outside, towing the canal boats across the river
at this point, through Green's dam — now commonly referred to
as the Clark's Ferry dam. The original ferry over the Juniata
was conducted by the Baskins family, some of whose descendants
to this day live near by.
In Watson's Annals the following statement is to be found :
"This island was the favorite home of the Indians and there are
still many Indian remains. At the angle of the canal, near the
great bridge, I saw the mound covered with trees, from which
were taken hundreds of cartloads of human bones, and which were
used with the intermixed earth as filling materials for one of the
shoulders or bastions of the dam. What sacrilege ! There were
also among them beads, trinkets, etc."
During the latter part of the last century and the beginning of
the twentieth the writer was a resident of the near by vicinity and
knows of many arrowheads, Indian hatchets, skinning stones, etc.,
being found on the islands, and present day residents say they are
still being 4 found, especially when turning up the ground. As late
as 1916 the Susquehanna Archaeological Expedition, of which Mr.
George P. Donehoo, the noted authority upon Indian and Colonial
history, was a member, found many evidences of Indian occupa-
tion upon Duncan's Island. They gathered many hundred speci-
mens of Indian origin, including banner stones, hatchets, arrow
points, etc. The upper end of the island is even now covered
with cracked stones used at fireplaces. On one of the paths at the
lower end of the island, Dr. Moorehead, of the Expedition, found
an unsual specimen — a half-finished banner stone. The so-called
Indian mound was dug into, but no traces of Indian work found
there.
Duncan's Island, even to the eye, but more so to memory,
seems a spot of fascination and romance, and its uncounted his-
torical data, like its silt levels, is more or less submerged. It was
here that tradition would have two powerful tribes, the Delawares
and Cayugas, fight for days until the eddying river inlets along
shore were crimsoned. To tell the tale we have only vast quantities
<>f broken spearheads and arrows, and they are but mute evidence,
but to the winner (the Cayugas, already familiar with firearms)
120 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
the strategic point between the rivers and the oncoming civiliza-
tion was probably worth all it cost. Luckily a few records exist
which makes it possible to get a glimpse into those early days.
Marcus Huling, who came from Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania,
is credited by various historians as probably being the first settler
of Duncan's Island, but there is no record to bear this out, but
there are records relating to Hulings which disprove it. The first
settler was William Baskins, referred to farther on. Hulings
owned the point between the two rivers, long owned by Dr. Reut-
ter's heirs. Rupp, the historian, gives the date as 1735. That he
was there in 1744 is practically certain, as he was one of the
searching party which hunted for the murdered man Armstrong
in that year. (See "Murder of an Early Trader," chapter 2.)
The locality is still the home of some of Hulings' descendants.
In a rough draft submitted to the province to protect his own
claim Hulings has left to posterity the names of a few of the
first settlers of these lands and the vicinity, as the following pages
will show, and at no place does he claim either ownership or occu-
pancy. The Hulings family was of Swedish descent and on set-
tling between the rivers he built the causeway over the strip of
water connecting the two rivers and started a ferry over the
Juniata. Trade at that time, it will be remembered, was all done
with pack horses. Later he owned a toll bridge there, which at
his death passed to Rebecca Hulings Duncan.
With Braddock's defeat in 1755 came all the horrors of Indian
warfare, and the scattered settlers in and around Perry County
were obliged to flee. However, home, then as now, was dear to
these pioneers, and some of them lingered long. Being apprised
of the near approach of the redskins Marcus Hulings, grasping a
few valuables, placed his wife and youngest child upon a large
black horse and fled to the point of the island. His other children
had previously gone to seek safety. Having forgotten something
and thinking the Indians might not have arrived he ventured to
return to the house. After carefully reconnoitering he entered
and found an Indian upstairs "coolly picking his flint." He par-
leyed with the Indian to escape death and got away. The delay
caused his wife to believe him murdered and she swam the Sus-
quehanna on horseback, although the water was high. When he
arrived at the point he crossed in a light canoe and they finally
reached Fort Hunter, having been preceded by the Baskins family
and other fugitives. Here the inhabitants of Pextang (Harris-
burg) had rallied for defense.
In 1756 Mr. Hulings went to the western part of Pennsylvania
and became the owner, whether by purchase or patent we do not
know, of the point of land located between the Monongahela and
Allegheny Rivers, where they meet and form the Ohio, and where
DUNCAN'S AND HALDEMAN'S ISLANDS 121
Pittsburgh now stands. Becoming discontented he sold this west-
ern property for £200 and returned to the one on the Juniata.
While in western Pennsylvania encroachments were made on
his lands in what is now Watts Township, Perry County, and he
protested, as the following letter still in existence, shows :
"Fort Pitt, May the 7th, 1762.
"To William Peters, Esq., Secretary to the Propriatories in land office in
Philadelphia, &c:
"The petitioner hereof humbly sheweth his grievance in a piece of un-
cultivated land, laying in Cumberland County (now Perry), on the North-
west side of Juneadey, laying in the very Forks and Point between the
two rivers, Susquehanna and Juneadey, a place that I Improved and lived
on one Year and a half on the said place till the enemeyes in the beginning
of the last Warrs drove me away from it, and I have had no opertunity
yet to take out a Warrant for it ; my next neighbor wass one Joseph
Greenwood, who sold his improvement to Mr. Neaves, a merchant in
Philadelphia, who took out a warrant for the S'd place, and gave it into
the hands of Collonel John Armstrong, who is Surveyor for Cumberland
county; and while I was absent from them parts last summer, Mr. Arm-
strong runed out that place Joyning me, for Mr. Neaves ; and as my
place layes in the verry point, have encroached too much on me and Take
away part of Improvements; the line Disided between me and Joseph
Greenwood was up to the first short small brook that emptyed into Sus-
quehanna above the point, and if I should have a strait line run'd from
the one river to the other with equal front on each River from that brook,
I shall not have 300 acres in that survey ; the land above my house upon
Juneadey is much broken and stoney. I have made a rough draft of the
place and lines, and if Your Honor will be pleased to see me righted,
the Petitioner hereof is in Duty bound ever for you to pray; from verry
humble serv't. Marcus Hulings."
Accompanying the above was a note to Mr. Peters, which shows
that Hulings also had a claim on the south (west) side of the
Juniata. The note:
"May ye 17th, 1762.
"Sir: I have left orders for Mr. Mathias Holston, living in Upper
Merrion of Philadelphia county, to take out two warrants for me, one
for the Point between the two Rivers, and one for the Improvements I
have in the place called the Onion bottom on the south side of Juneadey
right opposite to the other, where I lived six months before I moved to
the other place; from your humble servant, Marcus Hulings."
"Accompanying these letters was the rough draft spoken of in
the first letter, an attempted description of which follows : Three
islands are marked. The one now known as Duncan's is marked
"Island" and the house upon it as "Widow Baskins." The large
island in the Susquehanna known as Haldeman's is marked "Is-
land" and three houses located, the lower one being marked "Fran-
cis Baskins," the next a third up on the east side, "George Clark,"
and a little above the centre, "Francis Ellis." On the east bank
of the Susquehanna, almost opposite, is a house marked "James
Reed," while between the centre of the island and the western
shore is a small triangular island.
T22 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
On the point between the Susquehanna and Juniata Rivers is
Hillings' residence. Some distance from the point is a straight
line running from river to river, marked "this is the way I want
my line," while above, on the west bank of the Susquehanna,
nearly opposite the James Reed house, is "Mr. Neave's house."
Farther up the river, opposite a small island, is another house also
marked "Francis Ellis." A circuitous line shows where Neave's
line crossed that of Hulings. On the south side of the Juniata,
below the mouth thereof, is a house marked "William Kerl," and
opposite the points of Duncan's Island is "James Baskins'." Farther
up, in the plot called the "Onion bottom," is another house marked
"Marcus Hulings." Beyond this, on the south side of the Juniata,
is a house marked "Cornelius Acheson," who is also credited with
encroaching on Hulings' "Onion bottom" property. On the east
side of the Susquehanna River Peters' Mountain and "the nar-
roughs" are marked. As Hulings likely came to these fertile lands
with provincial sanction and probably insistence to induce settle-
ment it is believed that his claims, which also appear to be founded
on prior right, were adjusted to his satisfaction.
In 1788 Marcus Hidings died. During the earliest years of
their life in that vicinity Mrs. Hulings on mor* than one occasion
forded the Susquehanna on horseback with a oag of grain which
she took to the mill at Fort Hunter. Marcus, the eldest Hidings'
son, did not return with the family to this vicinity, but remained
in Pittsburgh, where he established a ferry at what is now the
foot of Liberty Street, over the Monongahela River. It was aft-
erwards known as Jones' Ferry. He was later employed in mov-
ing military stores on the rivers in that vicinity and in other work
in behalf of the government and pioneers. Another son located
in the western part of the province and was the owner of Hillings'
Island, in the Allegheny River.
Thomas Hulings, the youngest son, became the owner of the
estate in the East. He died in Buffalo Township in 1808. His
first wife was a daughter of General Frederick Watts, of Revolu-
tionary fame. Their oldest daughter, Rebecca, married Robert
Callendar Duncan, a son of Judge Duncan, of Carlisle and it is
through him that Duncan's Island gets its name, he eing the
grandfather of Mr. P. F. Duncan, cashier of the Duncai non Na-
tional Bank; Mrs. William Wills and Mrs. Frank McM;>rris, of
Duncannan, the line of descent coming through Benjamin Stiles
I )uncan.
As previously stated, Duncan's Island was the seat of an Indian
village, known as "Juneauta," in fact the island was known by
that name among the Indian tribes. There is a tradition which is
strongly substantiated that at one time the Cayugas and the Dela-
ware's fought a battle here. To David Brainerd, a graduate of
DUNCAN'S AND HALDRMAN'S ISLANDS 123
Vale College and a distinguished missionary, posterity is indebted
for a glimpse into the utter debauchery and dissoluteness of the
tribe of Indians located here, and in all probability a counterpart
of the lives of Indians generally in those days. It is the first
record of the Shawnees in these islands.
He became so devoted to the gospel that he consecrated his
whole life to the evangelizing of the savages, lie came down the
Susquehanna afoot and on May 19. 1745. he landed at the Indian
town of Juneauta. In his diary he says, evidently discouraged:
"Was much discouraged with the temper and behavior of the Indians
here ; although they appeared friendly when I was with them last spring,
and then gave me encouragement to come and see them again. But they
now seem resolved to retain their pagan notions, and persist in their
idolatrous practices."
On September 20 he again visited the island and while his
descriptions as recorded in his diary are rather long they are
reproduced here in full. lie says:
"Found them almost universally very busy in making preparations for
a great sacrifice and dance. Had" no opportunity to get them together, in
order to discourse with them about Christianity, by reason of their being
so much engaged about their sacrifice. My spirits were much sunk with
a prospect so very discouraging; and especially seeing I had this day no
interpreter but a pagan, who was as much attached to idolatry as any of
them, and who could neither speak nor understand the language of these
Indians; so that I was under the greatest disadvantages imaginable. How-
ever I attempted to discourse privately with some of them, but without
any appearance of success; notwithstanding, I still tarried with them,
"In the evening they met together, nearly 100 of them, and danced
around a large fire, having prepared ten fat deer for the sacrifice. The
fat of the inwards they burnt in the fire while they were dancing, which
sometimes raised the fire to a prodigious height; at the same time yelling
and shouting in such a manner that they might easily have been heard two
miles or more. They continued their sacred dance nearly all night, after
which they ate the flesh of the sacrifice, and so retired, each one to his
own lodging.
"I enjoyed little satisfaction, being entirely alone on the island, as to
Christian company, and in the midst of this idolatrous revel ; and having
walked to and fro till body and mind were pained and much oppressed,
I at length crept into a little crib made for corn and there slept on the
poles."
The next entry is dated Lord's day, Sept. 21, and continues:
"Spent the day with the Indians on the island. As soon as they were
well up in the morning I attempted to instruct them, and labored for
that purpose to get them together, but soon found they had something
else to do, for near noon they gathered together all of their conjurors
and set about half a dozen of them playing their juggling tricks and acting
their frantic, distracted postures, in order to find out why they were then
"so sickly upon the island, numbers of them at that time being disordered
with a fever and bloody flux. In this exercise they were engaged for
several hours, making all the wild, ridiculous and distracted motions
imaginable, sometimes singing, sometimes howling, sometimes extending
124 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
their hands to the utmost stretch, spreading their fingers ; they seemed to
push with them as if they designed to push something away, or at least
keep it off at arm's end; sometimes stroking their faces with their hands,
then spurting water as fine mist ; sometimes sitting flat on the earth,
then bowing their faces to the ground; then wringing their sides as if in
pain or anguish, twisting their faces, turning up their eyes, grunting,
puffing, &c.
"Their monstrous actions tended to excite ideas of horror, and seemed
to have something in them, as I thought, peculiarly suited to raise the
devil, if he could be raised by anything odd, ridiculous and frightful.
Some of them, I could observe, were much more fervent and devout in
the business than others, and seemed to chant and mutter with a great
degree of warmth and vigor, as if determined to awaken and engage the
powers below. I sat at a small distance, not more than thirty feet from
them, though undiscovered, with my Bible in my hand, resolving, if pos-
sible, to spoil their sport, and prevent their receiving any answers from
the infernal world, and there viewed the whole scene. They continued
their horrid charms and incantations for more than three hours, until they
had all wearied themselves out, although they had in that space of time
taken several intervals of rest, and at length broke up, I apprehended,
without receiving any answer at all.
"After they had done powwowing I attempted to discourse with them
about Christianity, but they soon scattered and gave me no opportunity
for anything of that nature. A view of these things, while I was entirely
alone in the wilderness, destitute of the society of any one who so much
as 'named the name of Christ' greatly sunk my spirits and gave me the
most gloomy turn of mind imaginable, almost stripped me of all resolu-
tion and hope respecting further attempts for propagating the gospel and
converting the pagans, and rendered this the most burdensome and dis-
agreeable Sabbath which I ever saw. But nothing, I can truly say, sunk
and distressed me like the loss of my hope respecting their conversion.
This concern seemed to be so great and seemed to be so much my own,
that I seemed to have nothing to do on earth if this failed. A prospect
of the greatest success in 1 the saving conversion of souls under gospel
light would have done little or nothing towards compensating for the loss
of my hope in this respect; and my spirits were so damp and depressed
that I had no heart nor power to make any further attempts among them
for that purpose, and could not possible recover my hope, resolution and
courage by the utmost of my endeavors.
"The Indians of this island can, many of them, understand the English
language considerably well, having formerly lived in some part of Mary-
land, among or near the white people, but are very drunken, vicious and
profane, although not so savage as those who have less acquaintance with
the English. Their customs, in various respects, differ from those of the
other Indians upon this river. They do not bury their dead in a common
form, but let their flesh consume above the ground, in closed cribs made
for that purpose. At the end of a year, or sometimes a longer space of
time, they take the bones when the flesh is all consumed and wash and
scrape them and afterwards bury them with some ceremony. Their method
of charming or conjuring over the sick, seems somewhat different from
that of the other Indians, though in substance the same. The whole of it
among these and others, perhaps, is an imitation of what seems, by Naa-
man's expression (Kings 2-11) to have been the custom of the ancient
heathen. It seems chiefly to consist in their 'striking their hands over the
diseased, repeatedly stroking them, and calling upon their god;' except
DUNCAN'S AND HALDEMAN'S ISLANDS 125
the spurting of water like a mist and some of the other frantic ceremonies
common to the other conjurations which I have already mentioned.
"When I was in this region in May last I had an opportunity of learning
of the notions and customs of the Indians, as well as of ohserving many
of their practices. I then traveled more than 130 miles upon the river,
above the English settlements, and in that journey met with individuals
of seven or eight distinct tribes, speaking as many different languages.
But of all the sights I ever saw among them, or indeed anywhere else,
none appeared so frightful, or so near akin to what is usually imagined
of infernal powers, none ever excited such images of terror in my mind
as the appearance of one who was a devout or zealous reformer, or rather
restorer of what he supposed was the ancient religion of the Indians.
He made his appearance in his 'pontificial' garb, which was a coat of bear
skins, dressed with the hair on and hanging down to his toes; a pair of
bear-skin stockings and a great wooden face painted, the one-half black,
the other half tawney, about the color of the Indians' skin, with an ex-
travagant mouth cut very much awry ; the face fastened to a bear-skin
cap, which was drawn over his head.
"He advanced toward me with the instrument in his hand which he
used for music in his idolatrous worship, which was a dry tortoise shell
with some corn in it, the neck of it drawn on to a piece of wood, which
made a very convenient handle. As he came forward he beat his tune
with the rattle and danced with all his might, but did not suffer any part
of his body, even his fingers, to be seen. No one would have imagined
from his appearance or actions that he could have been a human creature,
if they had not had some intimation of it otherwise. When he came near
me I could not but shrink away from him, although it was then noonday,
and I knew who it was ; his appearance and gestures were so prodigiously
frightful. He had a house consecrated to religious uses, with divers
images cut upon the several parts of it. I went in and found the ground
beat almost as hard as a rock, with their frequent dancing upon it. I
discoursed with him about Christianity. Some of my discourse he seemed
to like, but some of it he disliked extremely. He told me that God had
taught him his religion and that he would never turn from it, but wanted
to find some who would join heartily with him in it; for the Indians, he
said, were grown very degenerate and corrupt. He had thoughts, he said,
of leaving all his friends and traveling abroad in order to find some who
would join with him; for he believed that God had some good people
somewhere who felt as he did. He had not always, he said, felt as he now
did, but had formerly been like the rest of the Indians until about four
or five years before that time. Then, he said, his heart was very much
distressed, so that he could not live among the Indians, but got away into
the woods and lived alone for months. At length, he said, God comforted
his heart and showed him what he should do, and since that time he had
known God and tried to serve Him; and loved all men, be they who they
would, so as he never did before.
"He treated me with uncommon courtesy and seemed to be heart in it.
I was told by the Indians that he was opposed to their drinking strong
liquor with all his power; and that, if at any time he could not dissuade
them from it by all he could say, he would leave them and go crying into
the woods. It was manifest that he had a set of religious notions which
he had examined for himself and not taken for granted upon bare tradi-
tion ; and he relished or disrelished whatever was spoken of a religious
nature, as it either agreed or disagreed with his standard. While I was
discoursing he would sometimes say: 'Now, that I like; so God has
taught me,' &c, and some of his sentiments seemed very just. Yet he
126 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
utterly denied the existence of a devil and declared there was no such
creature known among the Indians of old times, whose religion he sup-
posed he was attempting to revive. He likewise told me that departed
souls went southward and that the difference between the good and bad
was this: that the former were admitted into a beautiful town with
spiritual walls and that the latter would forever hover around these walls
in vain attempts to get in. He seemed to be sincere, honest and conscien-
tious in his own way and according to his own religious notions, which
was more than I ever saw in any other pagan. I perceived that he was
looked upon and derided among most of the Indians as a precise zealot,
who made a needless noise about religious matters, but I must say that
there was something in his temper and disposition which looked more like
true religion than anything I ever observed among other heathen. But
alas! how deplorable is the state of the Indians upon this river! The
brief representation which I have here given of their notions and manners
is sufficient to show that they are led captive by Satan at his will in the
most eminent manner; and methinks might likewise be sufficient to excite
the compassion and engage the prayers of God's children for these, their
fellow men, who 'sit in the region of the shadow of death.' "
September 22 the entry is as follows:
"Made some further attempts to instruct and Christianize the Indians
on this island, but all to no purpose. They live so near the white people
that they are always in the way of strong liquor, as well as the ill example
of nominal Christians; which renders it so unspeakably difficult to treat
with them about Christianity."
The following summer ( 1746) Brainerd again passed up the
Susquehanna valley and made the following notations in his diary:
August 19. Lodged by the side of the Susquehanna. Was weak and
disordered both this and the preceding day, and found my spirits consid-
erably damped, meeting with none that I thought godly people.
August 21. Rode up the river about 15 miles and lodged there, in a
family which appeared quite destitute of God. Labored to discourse with
the man about the life of religion, but found him very artful in evading
such conversation. Oh, what a death it is to some, to hear of the things
of God! Was out of my element, but was not so dejected as at some
times.
August 22. Continued my course up the river, my people now being
with me who before were parted from me. Traveled above all the Eng-
lish settlements ; at night lodged in the open woods, and slept with more
comfort than while among an ungodly company of white people. Enjoyed
some liberty in secret prayer this evening; and was helped to remember
dear friends, as well as my dear flock, and the church of God in general.
Brainerd returned down the river in October, weak and feeble
from exposure in the outdoors, never again to return to his be-
loved work. lie died in New England in the following October.
Jones' History of the Juniata Valley, in speaking of Indian hos-
tilities, says :
"That they had many fierce and sanguinary struggles among themselves
is well authenticated. A battle almost of extermination was once fought
between two tribes at Juniata — now known as Duncan's Island — within
the memory of many Indians who were living when the whites settled
among them. This island must have been a famous battleground — a very
Waterloo — in its day. When the canal was in progress of construction,
DUNCAN'S AND I IA1.DKM AX'S ISLANDS 127
hundreds of skeletons were exhumed; and to this day stone arrowheads
can be found upon almost any part of the island."
Rupp, in his history, recites an early Indian story of the Bas-
kins family having been furnished the information by Mitchell
Steever, Esq., of Newport, Pa. The William Baskins referred to
was a granduncle to the late Cornelius and James Baskins, who
will be remembered by many readers of this volume and whose
descendants yet reside in various parts of the county.
It appears that at one time Baskins had a crop of grain matur-
ing on Duncan's Island while the Indians were on a rampage. He
had previously removed his family to Fort Hunter for security,
what was known as Fort Hunter in those days, being an outpost
opposite to the present town of Marysville. With part of his
family Baskins had returned to cut his grain. While engaged in
reaping they were startled by a war whoop close by, but seeing
neighboring Indians they were not alarmed. But they were de-
ceived, as the savages soon gave them to understand that they were
after scalps. They all fled, hotly pursued, toward the house, but
Mr. Baskins, caught in the act of getting his gun, was shot dead
and scalped. His wife, a son of three, and a daughter of seven
years were abducted. A man named McClean was also in the field,
but pi tinged into the Juniata and swam to "Sheep Island" (above
the iron bridge on the Juniata) and concealed himself in the cleft
of some rocks on the far side and thus eluded capture.
As a captive nearing Carlisle Mrs. Baskins escaped from the In-
dians. The daughter was taken to the Miami country, west of the
Ohio, then an unbroken wilderness, where she was held in cap-
tivity for more than six years, when, in conformity with a treaty
made with the Indians, as mentioned in a previous chapter of this
hook, she was returned. She later married a man named John
Smith, whose descendants lived in Newport, Pa., during the middle
of the last century. The lad, who was captured at the same time,
was taken to Canada, where he was raised by Sir William John-
ston, who didn't know his name and who had him baptized "Timo-
thy Murphy."
This Baskins lad ("Timothy Murphy") had a venturesome life.
He was one of the chief riflemen of Morgan's celebrated sharp-
shooters. At the battle of Bemis Heights Morgan selected a few
of his best marksmen and directed them to make (General Fraser,
of the British troops, their especial target. A number fired with
no effect, but at the crack of Murphy's gun Fraser fell.
Shortly after the battle of Monmouth, three companies of Mor-
gan's troops were sent into Schoharie, New York. Among these
-was Murphy, and the tories set an extra price upon his scalp, which
it was never necessary to pay, although many Indians tried for it.
I [e had grown into a stout, well-built man, with jet-black hair and
£28 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
eyes and was handsome. While the tories failed to get him here
he had many hairbreadth escapes, but usually in the nick of time
something turned up to save him. At one time he possessed a
double-barreled rifle, an unknown weapon to the Indians. He
was being chased by a party, and, although he could usually get
away, now they were gaining on him. He turned and shot one
and succeeded in getting behind a tree where he quickly reloaded
the empty chamber. As they again gained on him he stopped and
shot another, but they resumed the chase, desiring to capture him
alive and torture him before a slow fire. They were again gaining
and in despair he jumped behind a tree, and as they advanced shot
a third one. They immediately fled and in after years "Murphy"
learned that they had seen him fire three times without reloading
and that they thought he had "a great medicine of a gun that would
shoot forever."
When the war was over, "Murphy," true to the characteristics
of his forbears, became a farmer. Records tell of his death occur-
ring from a disease contracted while saving the children of a neigh-
bor during a winter flood.
When peace was declared and the independence of the colonies
became a fact many of the Schoharie Indians returned to settle
among the people whose buildings they had burned and whose
relatives they had killed and scalped. Of the worst of his tribe
was an Indian named Seths Henry, who had killed more than any
other and who would sometimes leave upon a dead body a war
club containing many notches cut therefrom. He too came back
and one day started to call on the different settlers. Not un-
strangely "Murphy" followed him and there is no record to show
that the Indian arrived anywhere in this world.
Then, there began strange disappearances of tories and Indians
and coincident there was always a fire of brush in the same vicin-
ity in which might have been found their ashes. The remaining
renegades and savages took the hint and left the community.
Timothy Murphy became a wonderful stump speaker and a
political power in Schoharie County. He brought William C.
Bouck into public life and later to the gubernatorial chair of New
York. His mother, the widow of William Baskins, the first set-
tler of Duncan's Island, remarried, her second husband being
Francis Ellis. He established a ferry across the Susquehanna dur-
ing the Revolution and carried on the business for many years.
After the Baskins boy's capture by the Indians he was first
heard of through Alexander Stephens, grandfather of Alexander
H. Stephens, Vice-President of the Confederacy, and father of the
late James Stephens, of Juniata Township, by a peculiar mark on
the head. He later visited Perry County and the island and James
Smith, his nephew, when in Canada during the War of 1812, vis-
DUNCAN'S AND HALDEMAN'S ISLANDS 129
ited him near a place called Maiden, and found him to he the
owner of a large estate.
The original Clark's Ferry crossed the Susquehanna at a point
about the centre of Duncannon, its western landing being at the
point where Clark's run empties into the river. The Indians had
a place in the vicinity where they forded the river, which they
knew as "Queenashawakee." The Juniata they knew as "Choini-
ata," or "Juneauta." In 1733 John Harris, who had a lust for
land, had erected a cabin and cleared some fields on the island near
"the white rock on the riverside." This caused a complaint by the
Indians. This was on Haldeman's Island.
At a Council held at Philadelphia Shikellamy, the Indian chief,
through Conrad Weiser, the interpreter, asked whether the pro-
prietary government had heard of a letter which he and Sassoonan
had sent to Harris, asking him to desist from making a plantation
at the mouth of the "Choinata," where he had built a house and
was clearing fields. They were informed that Harris had only
built that house for carrying on trade ; that his plantation on
which were houses and barns was Pextang (now Harrisburg),
where he dwelt and from which he was not supposed to remove,
and that he had no order or permit to make a settlement on the
"Choinata." Even if he had built his house for trading purposes
Shikellamy said "he ought not to have cleared fields." He was
informed that Harris had probably only cleared as much land as
was needed for raising corn for his horses, to which Shikellamy
rejoined that he "had no ill will to John Harris, in fact it was not
his custom to bear ill will, but he is afraid that the warriors of the
Six Nations, when they pass that way, may take it ill to see a settle-
ment made on lands which they had always desired to be kept
free from settlement." He was further informed that care would
be taken to issue the necessary orders.
In 1806 Robert C. Duncan, a son of the celebrated jurist,
Thomas Duncan, of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania (having
married Rebecca Hulings), moved to Duncan's Island, where he
spent the remainder of his days. It is from him that the island
takes its name. His brother Stephen resided in what is now Perry
County, near the mouth of Sherman's Creek, and was the founder
of the Duncannon Forges, the forerunner of the Duncannon Iron
Company. He subsequently removed to Washington, D. C, where
he died. Robert C. Duncan had two sons, one of whom was Dr.
Thomas Duncan, born in 18 14, a celebrated physician and a promi-
nent member of the Pennsylvania Legislature. The other was
Benjamin Stiles, horn in 1816, who went to Arkansas in his boy-
hood, where he resided until 1858. He was a real estate operator
and laid out a section of Arkadelphia, which is known to this day
as "the Duncan Addition," He returned to Duncan's Island and
9
130 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
engaged in fanning, residing in the house in which he was horn
until his death, which occurred in 1870.
Sherman Day, in his Historical Collections of Pennsylvania
( [843) pays to Mrs. Duncan, widow of the late proprietor of
Duncan's Island, the following tribute :
"About half a mile above the village (Benvenue), Mrs. Duncan,
' the accomplished widow of Robert C. Duncan, still resides in the
family mansion, where the traveler who chooses to tarry in this
delightful region may find accommodations — not a hotel, with its
bar and bottles, and blustering loafers; but in a comfortable, well-
furnished gentleman's home, with its quiet fireside, and books, and
intelligent society and amiable tea table."
The old register of this hotel, beginning with February 6, 1841,
is in the possession of Mr. P. F. Duncan, her grandson, and is a
matter of much curiosity to the present day generation. Travel
was then either overland or by packet. One entry reads thus :
"Rev. Thomas C. Thornton and lady;" also four children, "all
the family on the way to Clinton College, Mississippi." On an-
other line is "Dr. D. L. N. Reutter, residence, Breach at Dun-
can's Island." Susan Ickes Harding, a daughter of Dr. Jonas
Ickes, was one of the travelers. Mrs. Harding later became a
noted philanthropist in Central Illinois. Another name of interest
is that of Lucretia Mott, a pioneer in woman's suffrage, "on her
way to Clearfield."
Among the earlier residents of the island during the past cen-
tury were the Garmans, who settled there in 1828, Samuel Gar-
man, long ticket agent and telegrapher for the Northern Central
Railway at Clark's Ferry and now living retired at Millersburg,
being a descendant. A man by the name of Updegraff built the
"point house" in 1834. This was the house where the late J. L.
Clugston lived, he who long kept a general store at the inlet lock.
The Carpenter family came from Newport in "the forties," and
of some of that family more appears in the chapter devoted to
"River and Canal Transportation." Their sons who grew to man-
hood were James, John, Thomas and George, and their daughter,
Elizabeth, became the first wife of Stiles Duncan, owner at that
time of Duncan's Island. She died September 25, 1857, aged
twenty-four years.
The channel between the two islands once was deep and swift,
but years of constant deposit of silt has left it far less deep and
its waters seem not nearly so swift as in the days of yore. Dun-
can's Island has gone through some famous flood experiences, of
winch there is an account in the chapter devoted to Rivers and
Streams, elsewhere in this book.
Both Duncan's and Haldeman's Islands are a part of Reed
Township, Dauphin County, which was created by an act of the
DUNCAN'S AND HALDHMAN'S ISLANDS
13'
Legislature on April 6, 1849. It was named in honor of William
Reed, who resided midway between Clark's Ferry and Halifax.
Historically there appears to he little relating separately to llalde-
man's Island. It was named for one of the early owners. It is
separated from Duncan's Island by a narrow channel and unlike
Duncan's Island it is not of alluvial origin, but is elevated high
above the neighboring low-lying lands. It comprises 775 acres,
which is divided into five farms each of 155 acres, the ownership
of which remains in P. F. Duncan (two farms) and Mrs. Mary
Haldeman Armstrong (three farms). A. Stephen Duncan once
LOWER END OF HARDEMAN'S ISLAND, NEAR DUXCAXXOX.
owned the Haldeman Island also, but sold it to John Haldeman
for $11,775. It was then known as Baskins' Island. It was first
surveyed in 1760.
In the latter part of the eighteenth and the beginning of the
Nineteenth Century, before the era of internal improvements in
the state, which destroyed our fisheries, these islands were noted
for their shad fisheries, where great catches were made.
The assessment list of 175 1 describes everything above Peters'
Mountain as "Narrows of Paxtang." Those on and around the
islands at that time were Widow Murray, Robert Armstrong,
Thomas Gaston, William Forster, Thomas Clark, John McKen-
hedy, Robert Clark, Thomas Adams, Albert Adams, John Watt,
William Baskins, George Wells, Francis Glass, George Clark, John
Mecheltree, Francis Baskins (trader), John Clark, James Reed,
James English, John Gevins, John Baskins, Thomas McKee, and
I3 2 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
| (»hn Kelton. Charles Williams and John Lee (trader) are desig-
nated as "Freemen." John Kelton was the collector.
The dam across the Susquehanna, at the mouth of the Juniata,
generally known as the Clark's Ferry Dam, was originally known
as Green's Dam, by reason of the contractor's name having been
Abbott Green. Mr. Green was born at Penn's Creek, Snyder
County, and there grew to manhood. During the spring seasons
he floated rafts down the river and thus became familiar with river
traffic. He moved to Lewisburg and engaged in contracting upon
the public works then under construction by the state. The con-
struction of this dam — in that period a noted undertaking — was
the crowning work of his life.
Duncan's Island Methodist Church, Rebecca Duncan, a resi-
dent of Duncan's Island, at a very early day of Methodism, opened
her home for the preaching of that "faith. Through her efforts
and at her expense the school board later added a second story to
the public school building, which she donated to the cause for the
use of the Methodists. In it regular services were conducted until
the great flood of 1865, when, on March 16th, it was destroyed by
the onrushing waters. The word was preached by the pastors of
the Duncannon charge. At various times, and sometimes for long
continuous periods, there have been Sunday school sessions of an
undenominational character held in the public school building on
Duncan's Island.
The Clark's Ferry Bridge. The building of the Clark's Ferry
bridge was, in that day, a considerable undertaking. It was to
span the Susquehanna at a point above the location of the ferry
conducted by the Clarks, and, as it was to be a part of a great
highway across the state, men from five counties composed the
commission which was organized forks erection. The commis-
sioners appointed for that purpose were as follows: Christian
Gleim, Archibald M'Allister, Innis Green and Abraham Gross, of
Dauphin County; Robert Clark. John Boden, and Dr. Samuel
Mealy, of Cumberland County (then including Perry, from which
section these three men came) ; William Bell, Lewis Evans, David
Hidings, Robert Robinson, and John Irwin, of Mifflin County
(then including Juniata); William -Steel, Patrick Gwinn, and
Maxwell Kinkead, of Huntingdon County, and James Potter,
John Rankin, and John Irwin (Penn's Valley), of Centre County.
The commission organized on Wednesday, May 22, 181 8, by
electing John Boden, chairman, and Christian Gliem, secretary.
They began their duties by holding their first view of a site on
June 3, 1818. On April 17, 1837, a span of the bridge gave way
and one end lodged upon a pier and could not easily be removed.
It was then set on fire and floated down the river as it fell, a mass
DUNCAN'S AND HALDEMAN'S ISLANDS 133
of flaming timber. Destruction of parts of the bridge by fire and
flood at various times is told in the chapter devoted to "Rivers
and Streams."
While to the present generation it is a very, very ordinary struc-
ture, yet it is described in a noted State History of 1844 as "a
wooden bridge on the Barr plan, resting upon many piers, the
whole constructed with an elegance and strength equal to if not
surpassing any public work in the country." Harry McKee long
kept a hotel at the east end of the bridge and also owned the first
farm below the point of Peters' Mountain, which had descended
from his ancestor, Thomas McKee, the trader, spoken of in our
Indian chapters.
When the Clark's Ferry bridge burned on May 14. 1846, the de-
struction being credited to incendiarism, an arrest was made and
the verdict of guilty in the Dauphin County courts — for both land-
ings of the bridge are. in Dauphin County — doomed the defendant
to a term of years in the Eastern penitentiary, although he then
and in after years protested his innocence. According to two men
who have long resided in Perry County, one (Jesse M. Pines) re-
cently passing away, his contention may have been right. The inci-
dent is printed here for that reason and also as showing methods
of travel, etc.
Many years afterwards, over forty years ago, in the later seven-
ties, George Boyer, now an associate judge of Perry County, and
Jesse Pines took an extensive horseback ride over parts of central
and northen Pennsylvania. In the upper part of the state in a
mountainous section known as Seven Mountains, above Towanda,
they came upon a mountain tavern near a place known as Unity-
ville, where they stopped for lodging. In a forlorn, forsaken sec-
tion of the forest they took turns at sleeping, as the proprietor and
the Negro porter's appearance seemed to forbode anything but
good. They were the only occupants of the hotel. During the eve-
ning one of the travelers chanced to refer in some way to Clark's
Ferry. The colored fellow became agitated and, when asked if
he had ever been there, replied that he had, but that he left the
night that the bridge burned. Further questioning was of no avail,
as all efforts to get him to say another word about Clark's Ferry
were futile. Why did he leave the night the bridge burned ?
The Mining of River Coal.
Farther up the Susquehanna lay the rich anthracite coal beds.
From them for generations down the river with the tide drifted
' deposits of the very smaller sizes of coal, which settled in various
places where the current was not swift, forming coal beds upon the
river's bottom. When coal from the mines was selling very
134 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
cheaply and when the canals were hauling it at a very low rate the
mining or digging of this coal by pumping from the river bed would
have been unprofitable and was not even considered, but with coal
prices going up annually about 1890 there sprang up a business of
pumping this coal by suction, and several outfits followed it for
years. The coal is from the Wilkes-Barre and Wyoming districts,
principally. In the early days of coal mining, sizes smaller than
pea were thrown to the huge dumps until they became virtual
mountains, containing millions of tons. Many of them were lo-
cated along the Susquehanna and contributary streams, and from
these immense culm banks spring freshets and rainy seasons car-
ried the deposits of coal, which rivermen say exist clear to the
Chesapeake Bay and at some places have been found to be five
feet in depth.
The coal operations at Green's Dam, commonly known as the
Clark's Ferry Dam, commenced in the vicinity of Benvenue in
1890. Like many other industries it began in a small way, the
coal being taken out by hand scoops and canoes, followed by small
flats of three-ton capacity, for stove use. Shortly after Santo &
Pease, of Harrisburg, arrived with a steam outfit, with which they
loaded canal boats for transportation to Harrisburg. This was
followed by others and, in [894, a Mr. Squires, a Wilkes-Barre
machinist, built and put in operation the largest plant on the river,
with the late George B. Lukens as foreman. This plant was bought
in June, 1897, by B. F. Demaree, a Newport business man, who
retained Mr. Lukens, and added four fifty-ton flats to the plant.
With these and two canal boats the coal was conveyed to Harris-
burg, where it was largely sold to the public utility plants. Rail
shipments followed in 1902, and the orders were at times for
amounts from 500 to 5,000 tons. This coal found its way to such
buyers as Dickinson College, the Philadelphia Rapid Transit Com-
pany, the Arbuckle Coffee Company, etc. The beginning of the
erection of the stone arch railroad bridge across the Susquehanna
near Marysville necessitated the closing of the canal and the end
of that method of shipping. The Pennsylvania Railroad Company
then put in a siding near Clark's Ferry, where the coal was loaded
by derricks, operated by both horse-power and steam. With in-
creased automobile traffic the State Highway Department stopped
the swinging of derricks over the highway, and it became necessary
to introduce the hydraulic system of loading, which has materially
increased the output. The ice flood of 1919 made a breach in the
dam and injured the coal business materially, which for thirty
years flourished there, and may, eventually mean its ending. There
has been an annual increase in the production ; in 1897 it was as
little as 8,000 tons, while in 1920 it totaled 150,000 tons. An
DUNCAN'S AND HARDEMAN'S ISLANDS
135
average of thirty men have been employed by the various firms
operating. The Demaree plant is now owited by Harry V. Lukens,
who purchased it in 1908. Another operator is H. E. Lukens, his
father, who, about 1899, purchased the outfit started by a Mr.
Seiler, of Dalmatia, in 1893. The third plant still in the business
is that of Hicks Brothers, of Auburn, Pennsylvania, who pur-
chased out the plant of John Zeigler, about 1912, which he had
operated as early as 190 1. In fact, Mr. Zeigler and John Briner
had converted an old river steamer, known as the "Shad Fly," into
a coal dredge, the previous year, but had dissolved partnership, Mr.
Briner retaining the outfit, but retiring from the business about
1904.
Bald Eagle Island.
While Bald Eagle Island is a part of Dauphin County, yet its
location in the Susquehanna River at Montgomery's Ferry is but
a few hundred feet from the Perry County shore line. That it is
a part of Dauphin County comes from the fact that the county line
is stated in the act creating the county as "to the westward of the
Susquehanna." The order of survey dated October 23, 1809, to
George Eckert, "of Strasburgh Township, and county of Lancas-
ter," and John Shura, "of the township of Upper Paxton, and
county of Dauphin," describes it as "Bare Island, opposite the lands
of John Huggins, on the Cumberland County shore and about a
quarter mile below Berry's Falls or riffles." It is signed by Gov-
ernor Snyder, the third governor of Pennsylvania. Through this
earliest of records one learns the fact that it was once known as
Bare Island. It is now owned by Mr. James D. Bowman, of Mil-
lersburg, who has a fishing lodge there, which was erected by Mr.
Christian S. Albright, about 1902, and which he remodeled and
enlarged in 1909. Mr. Bowman is an adept fisherman and seldom
fails to furnish to the many large and joyous gatherings assembled
there at his command, a luncheon of black bass.
Bald Eagle Island has long been a source for finding many In-
dian relics, which would imply that it was probably an Indian
camping ground. From an Indian standpoint it possessed two
distinct advantages; one being the lookout both up and down the
river, and the other that it was an ideal fishing ground, which it
still is. There was also an early fording here, the width of the
river at this point during low water being not over five-eighths of
a mile. The island contains approximately five acres, not includ-
ing the sand bar at the north end. A third of a century ago the
Harrisburg Young Men's Christian Association used it as their
annual camping ground. The name Bald Eagle was given to the
island by reason of the fact that there once stood on it a large and
high pine tree, on which for many years the eagles had their nests
136 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
and hatched their young. The tree was blown down, but the stump
of it remained as late as 1899. There and at Mt. Patrick, that high
and steep end of Berry Mountain — about a mile north — these birds
bred and reared their young for many years. Since the pine tree
is no more they still have their habitat at Mt. Patrick, and during
the summer of 19 19 Mr. Bowman, the owner of the island, ob-
served six of them, while during 1920 he could locate but one pair.
He has often seen them dart from the air at great speed and dive
for fish, almost always with success, coming up with a large fish
in their talons. One of the largest of the eagles in the Zoological
Gardens at Philadelphia for many years was captured at Berry's
Falls, above the island and below Mt. Patrick, having hurt its wing
in diving for fish. Just below this point is where William Mont-
gomery established his ferry, soon after 1827, the village there
still bearing that name. On the Dauphin County side this ferry
was known as Morehead's.
"WHERE THE RIVERS MEET."
Landscape showing the junction of the Juniata and Susquehanna Rivers, the Clark's
Ferry Dam and Bridge, and Duncan's Island.
CHAPTER VII.
COMING OF THE TRADER.
WHO the first white man was that set foot upon the soils of
present Perry County must forever remain a mystery, for
there were no records kept of matters of that nature.
However, it must have been some trader or adventurer. In the
davs of the early settlement of the province the Indians even from
afar journeyed to the seaboard to trade with the newcomers. The
skins and furs they brought became so valuable abroad that, many
years before settlements in the interior were even dreamed of, the
trader traveled the fastnesses of the mountains and ascended the
rivers in quest of gain. Often the worst class of men went into
the business of trading and penetrating the forests, built up a
business with the Indians.
There is record of James LeTort, a trader who "went out" from
Carlisle as early as 1727. As the "Allegheny Path" was the route
of travel to "Allegheny on the branch of the Ohio," where he
traded, he was evidently among the first white men to travel this
territory. LeTort's date of settlement at Carlisle is said to have
been in 1720. By 1735 there were over twenty regular traders
journeying back and forth across the county to the Ohio
In fact, even earlier — as early as 1704, Joseph Jessup, James
LeTort, Peter Bazalion, Martin Chartier and Nocholas Goden, all
Frenchmen, were traders with the Indians on the Susquehanna
and with those west of the Alleghenies, via the old Indian trail,
supposed even then to have been the "Allegheny Path."
That traders even carried on a traffic in rum at that early day is
substantiated by a protest made July 23, 1727, at a council held at
Philadelphia by the Chiefs of the Five Nations, with Madame
Montour as interpreter. It follows :
"They desire that there may be no settlements made up Susquehannah
higher than Pextan (now Harrisburg), and that none of the settlers there-
abouts be suffered to sell or keep any rum there, for that being the road
by which their people go out to war, they are apprehensive of mischief if
they meet with liquor in these parts. They desire also, for the same rea-
sons, that none of the traders be allowed to carry any rum to the remoter
parts where James Letort trades, that is Allegheny, on the branch of the
Ohio. And this they desire may be taken notice of, as the minds of the
chiefs of all the Five Nations, for it is all those nations that now speak
by them to all our people."
After considering the matter over night the governor, on the
following day, replied, through the same interpreter :
i37
138 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
"We have not hitherto allowed any settlement to be made above Pextan,
but, as the young people grow up, they will spread, of course, yet it will
not be very speedily. The governor, however, will give orders to them all
to be civil to those of the Five Nations, as they pass that way, though it
would be better if they would pass Susquehannah above the mountains.
The sale of rum shall be prohibited both there and at Allegheny; but the
woods are so thick and dark we cannot see what is done in them. The
Indians may stave any rum they find in the woods, but, as has been said,
they must not drink or carry any away."
These old documents are the basis for the inference that pio-
neers were even then presuming to settle above the Kittatinny or
Blue Mountain; at least, the Indians were apprehensive and were
early going on record as opposed to any such aggression.
More than one of these traders had ulterior motives. The
French and the English were contending for the lands of the great
West, and to the Quaker — who largely ruled the province — it be-
came almost a necessity, owing to religious convictions and per-
sonal interests, that traders' licenses be given only to English set-
tlers and traders and to those of the Protestant faith, barring the
French Papists and with them communication to the French on the
Ohio.
The traders carried their goods on packhorses and the Indians
were an easy prey to their cupidity and avarice. In fact, many of
the early troubles of the province were reaped by reason of seed
sown by unprincipled and inconsiderate traders. Among promi-
nent early traders were George Croghan, Thomas McKee, Jack
Armstrong, Francis Ellis, and William Baskins.
Of Three Provincials.
So closely were three early interpreters associated — one the first
authorized settler of the territory which now embraces Perry
County — with the provincial life of the district that it is deemed
expedient to briefly give a few facts about them and their actions
during that important epoch of Pennsylvania life, when "the bor-
der" was the term used in referring to the lands along the Kitta-
tinny or Blue Mountains.. The names of Conrad Weiser, George
Croghan, and Andrew Montour are inseparably associated with the
pioneer life of the section, as well as of the province in general.
Conrad Weiser, the Diplomatic Interpreter.
Conrad Weiser, of all the Indian interpreters who were inter-
ested in this territory, was the most prominent. In fact, he was
the most prominent in the provincial annals of Pennsylvania.
That he crossed and recrossed the county's territory via the old
Indian trail past Gibson's Rock there is evidence. He kept a diary,
and in August, 1754, he stopped at Andrew Montour's, the fol-
lowing entry being dated September 1 of that year:
COMING OF THE TRADER
139
"Crossed the Kittatinny Mountains at George Croghan's (now Ster-
rett's) Gap and Sherman's Creek, and arrived that day at Andrew Mon-
tour's, accompanied (from Harris' Ferry) by himself, the half-king, an-
other Indian and my son. I found at Andrew Montour's about fifteen In-
dians, men, women and children, and more had been there, but had gone.
"Andrew's wife had killed a sheep for these some days ago. She com-
plained that the Indians had done great damage to the Indian corn, which
was now ready to roast."
Weiser had much to do with the Indian affairs which attended
the early settlement of Perry County soil. Three different pro-
vincial governors had entrusted him with manifold Indian affairs
where diplomacy was required and Weiser, the peacemaker, had
succeeded. What William Penn preached about treating the In-
dians squarely Conrad Weiser practiced. Had he not induced the
Five Nations to remain neutral, and had they cast their lot with
the French the chances are that to-day we would be a French de-
pendency, as the occasion for the Revolution might not have arisen,
and we would have likely remained a more or less weak French
dependency instead of a virile English-speaking nation which soon
became independent. When George Washington came to Berks
County in 1760 to attend the funeral of Conrad W r eiser, the future
father of his country stood at the open grave and made the re-
mark, "Here lies a man whom posterity will never forget."
Weiser was a farmer, an interpreter, a trader and a merchant,
having a store in Reading. As he was so great a factor in the In-
dian negotiations relating to the Perry County territory it is
deemed .expedient to give this concise account in this book.
He was born in Germany in 1696, and came to America with his
parents during the reign of Queen Anne, when fourteen years of
age. His father was a blacksmith and lived on the Mohawk River,
near a settlement of the Mohawk Indians. Conrad was sent by his
father to reside with an Indian named Tajuajanont, that he might
learn the Indian tongue. He became popular with the Indians and
obtained great influence over them even as a boy. When twenty-
six he was adopted by the family of the Turtles, a distinctive caste.
In 1729 he came to Pennsylvania, and for the remaining thirty
years of his life he was connected with the provincial government
of Pennsylvania as an interpreter. He made his home — but he
was seldom there — at Heidelberg, in Lancaster (now Berks )
County. His duties kept him continually going to the most distant
localities, and sometimes farther than the boundaries of the prov-
ince, to attend conferences with the Indians, principally the Six
Nations. As a man of honor and trust he had the implicit confi-
dence of both the settlers and the Indians. He was withal, adroit,
skillful and diplomatic.
In March, 1748, instructions were given to Weiser for a pro-
jected trip to the Ohio, the object being to cement further the good-
140 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
will of the Indians for the English. As he was ready for depar-
ture the Provincial Council sent for him and delayed the trip.
George Croghan was ready with twenty pack horses laden with
goods for the Indians and, on learning of Weiser's detention, went
alone, but returned in time to accompany him later in the summer
on his mission. It was August 1 1 before Weiser finally got started
from Heidelberg, and he undertook the trip with misgivings, as he
considered it a perilous journey, and only the necessity caused him
to go at all. On this trip he passed over the famous "Allegheny
i*/
Photo by Win. A. liberty.
A WINTER SCENE AT SHERMAN'S CREEK AND GIBSON'S ROCK.
This road is on the old "Allegheny Path" of Indian Days. The part shown is within
a quarter-mile of the historic Gibson Mill, where Chief Justice John Bannister Gibson
was born.
Path," that old Indian trail which crossed Perry County territory
to the great West. In a letter to Richard Peters, secretary of the
province, dated "Tuscarora Path, August 15, 1748," he says,
among other things: "I may be obliged to pay the debt of human
nature before I get home," which shows that his duties must have
been of a telling nature, as he was then but fifty-two years of age.
However, he escaped such misfortune and lived over a decade,
dying in 1760. While traders crossed this "path" before, yet Con-
rad Weiser is the first white man to visit Perry County soil who
has left a record of it.
For his first employment as an interpreter, in 1731, he was al-
loted forty shillings as payment. When Reading, Pennsylvania,
was laid out, in 1748, Conrad Weiser was appointed one of the
COMING OF THE TRADER 141
commissioners for that purpose, and built a house and store there
which stood until recent years. One of the men who accompanied
Weiser on one of these trips through Perry County territory is
named as William Franklin, a son of Benjamin Franklin, and who
later became governor of New Jersey.
George Croghan, Trader and Interpreter.
Of the men who had much to do with Indian affairs in what is
now Perry County, next in importance to Conrad Weiser stood
George Croghan, the trader and interpreter. He was an Irishman
by birth and came to this country in 1742, stopping at the Harris
Ferry (now Harrisburg) for a while. Soon after becoming an
Indian trader he located in Cumberland County, near what is now
Hogestown, and about eight miles from Harris' Ferry. He first
traded in a rather restricted district, the limits of which were to
Aughwick (near Mt. Union) and Path Valley, later going as far
as the Ohio River. As early as June, 1747, he is mentioned "as
a considerable trader." His long residence among Indians enabled
him to become thoroughly familiar with both the life and the habits
of the Delaware and Shawanese tribes. For that reason he became
invaluable to the province. Later on he is supposed to have lived
at Sterrett's Gap for a time, as the gap was long known as Cro-
ghan's. Afterwards he removed to Aughwick.
His first letter while in the employ of the province is dated
"May 26th, 1747," and is addressed to Richard Peters, secretary
of the province. With it he enclosed a letter from the Six Nations,
some wampum and a French scalp taken along Lake Erie.
Governor Hamilton, in a letter to Governor Hardy, dated July
5, 1756, in speaking of Croghan, who was at one time suspected of
being a spy in the pay of the French, says:
"There are many Indian traders with Braddock— Croghan among others,
who acted as a captain of the Indians under a warrant from General
Braddock, and I never heard of any objections to his conduct in that
capacity. For many years he had been very largely concerned in the Ohio
trade, was upon that river frequently, and had a considerable influence
among the Indians, speaking the language of several nations, and being
very liberal, or rather, profuse, in his gifts to them, which, with the losses
he sustained by the French, who seized great quantities of his goods, and
by not getting the debts due him from the Indians, he became bankrupt,
and since has lived at a place called Aughwick, in the back parts of the
province, where he generally had a number of the Indians with him, for
the maintenance of whom the province allowed him sums of money from
time to time, but not to his satisfaction. After this he went, by my order,
with these Indians, and joined General Braddock, who gave the warrant
I have mentioned.
"Since Braddock's defeat, he returned to Aughwick, where he remained
till an act of assembly was passed here granting him a freedom of arrest
for ten years. This was done that the province might have the benefit of
his knowledge of the woods and his influence among the Indians; and
142 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
immediately thereupon, while I was last at York, a captain's commission
was given to him, and he was ordered to raise men for the defense of the
western frontier, which he did in a very expeditious manner, but not so
frugally as the commissioners for disposing of the public money thought
he might have done. He continued in the command of one of the com-
panies he had raised, and of Fort Shirley, on the western frontier, about
three months ; during which time he sent by my direction Indian messen-
gers to the Ohio for intelligence, but never produced me any that was very
material; and having a dispute with the commissioners about some ac-
counts between them, in which he thought himself ill-used, he resigned
his commission, and about a month ago informed me that he had not re-
ceived pay upon General Braddock's warrant, and desired my recommen-
dation to General Shirley, which I gave him, and he set off directly for
Albany; and I hear he is now at Onondago with Sir William Johnston."
On his return from the Johnston conference he bore a commis-
sion as a deputy agent of Indian affairs.
Croghan had settled permanently at Aughwick in 1754 and had
built the fort and stockade there. He was appointed by the prov-
ince, in 1755, to locate three forts in what was then Cumberland
County — one at Patterson's, on the Juniata; one at or near Lewis-
town, to be known as Fort Granville, and one at Sideling Hill, now
Bedford County. He recruited men and garrisoned them very
quickly. In December of 1754 he had written Secretary Peters,
asking that no one sell liquor to the Indians on account of the
bad consequences, but admitting that he gave them a keg once a
month for a frolic. As an official he was noted for promptness.
After the evacuation of Fort Pitt we find Croghan there for a
while. On a trip down the Ohio the French captured him and
took him to Detroit. When liberated he returned to New York.
He died in 1782. In March, 1749, he was appointed a justice of
the peace of Lancaster County, to which the soil of Cumberland
yel belonged. In 1748 there is record of him having a trading
house on the Ohio. Croghan and Andrew Montour were largely
associated in business.
France claimed the vast country west of the Alleghenies, watered
by the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, and was attempting to estab-
lish her claim by locating military posts from the great lakes to
the Mississippi and along the Ohio and Allegheny Rivers. The
Indian tribes were numerous and war-like. Croghan saw the im-
portance of detaching them from the French by means of presents
and the most favorable trading terms. His suggestions were wisely
heeded by the Provincial Council. He had a thorough knowledge
of all the Indian trails and the territory of the tribes between the
Susquehanna and the Ohio. At Carlisle, on April 4, 1756, he filed
an account of his "losses occasioned by the French and Indians
driving the English traders off the Ohio." While two of the items
of probable great value have no actual valuation named, those which
do total 881 pounds.
COMING OF THE TRADER 143
( )n I une 27, 1767, Croghan and two kinsmen petitioned the New
York Council, on behalf of themselves and others, to purchase
40,000 acres of land between Otsego Lake and "Caniadcuagy"
Lake, and between the head branches of the Susquehanna. On
November 25, 1767, a return was made of a survey for him and
his associates for 100,000 acres.
In fact, the journals of George Croghan are an epitome of the
Indian history of the period. In 1750, according to it, he was on
the Ohio, enroute to the Shawnee towns ; the next season he out-
witted Joincaire on the Allegheny. In 1754 he was on the Ohio,
after Washington had passed, and in 1760-61 he was on a trip to
Detroit, via Lake Erie, in the company of Roger's Rangers. In
1765 he toured down the Ohio towards Illinois and was captured
by Ouiatanon, later making peace with Pontiac and returning.
Next to Sir William Johnson, George Croghan was the most
prominent figure among the British Indian agents during the pe-
riod of the later French wars and Pontiac's conspiracy. A pio-
neer trader, traveler and government agent, no other man of his
time knew as much of the coming great West and the counter cur-
rents, intrigues, etc., connected therewith. It was as deputy of Sir
William Johnson that he conducted the difficult negotiations at
Fort Pitt and Detroit in 1758-61 and those in Illinois in 1765, by
which Pontiac was brought to terms. His winning adherents for
the English among the wavering allies of the French, beyond the
bounds of the province, at Sandusky and Lake Erie, was but one
of his diplomatic feats. He first won the attention of Conrad
Weiser, who recommended him to the provincial authorities, where
his first service began in 1747, continuing through the active years
of his life. At the beginning of the Revolution he appeared as a
patriot, but later became the object of suspicion, and in 1778 he
was proclaimed officially by the colony as a public enemy.
Andrew Montour, First Authorized Settler.
Andrew Montour was the first authorized settler of the lands
which now comprise Perry County. He was a half-breed, the old-
est son of Madame Montour, and the brother of the celebrated
Catharine Montour. There was a conference held at George Cro-
ghan's (Sterrett's Gap) in May, 1750. and among those present
were Richard Peters, secretary of the province ; Conrad Weiser,
James Galbreath, George Stevenson, William Wilson, Hermanns
Alricks, George Croghan, Andrew Montour, three Indian delegates
from the Five Nations, and one from the Mohawks, when the ef-
fort was made to drive from the lands north of the Kittatinny
Mountain those who had settled there, the territory not having as
yet been purchased from the Indians.
144 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
They were driven from the lands on which they had settled, and
on April 18, 1752, Andrew Montour was commissioned by the
governor to settle and reside upon these Indian lands, the Indians
on July 2, 1750, having petitioned for such occupation, and ar-
rangements having been made with them for such occupation, at
a place considered most central, to see that the lands were not set-
tled upon and to warn off any who had presumed to settle there.
He was also to report the names of any who did settle there that
they might be prosecuted. He chose to settle on a stream which to
this day bears his name, Montour's run, flowing through Tyrone
Township. Just how honest Montour was in fulfilling this respon-
sible position is a matter of conjecture, but there is evidence that
the Indians were still protesting a year later at a Carlisle council
about encroachments. In fact, Montour was not only suspected
by the provincial authorities of neglecting his duty here, but he-
was on more than one occasion suspected of double dealing with
the Indians of the West and the province.
He was present at the conference at George Croghan's probably
in the capacity of an interpreter for Tohonady Huntho, the repre-
sentatives of the Mohawks from Ohio, for he was an expert in-
terpreter, speaking the language of the various Ohio tribes as well
as the Iroquois. His name will be found in our Indian chapters.
He was an interpreter and later a trader. Hanna, in The Wilder-
ness Trail, says: "Madame Montour and her son, Andrew Mon-
tour, were the most picturesque characters in the colonial history
of Pennsylvania."
There is evidence that William Patterson, John and Joseph
Scott, James Kennedy, Alexander Roddy, Thomas Wilson and
< 'hers bad located in Sherman's Valley during 1753, not a great
distance from the Montour place, but whether he notified the au-
thorities is not known, but it is a fact that be brought in his
brother-in-law, William Dason, and allowed him to locate a claim,
according to an affidavit of William Patterson some years there-
after.
His mother, the famous Madame Montour, was not a daughter
of a governor of Canada, as sometimes stated. Her father,
Pierre Couc, a Frenchman, emigrated to Canada. By an Indian
wife lie had a number of children, some of whom took the name
of Montour. In 1694 bis son, Lewis Couc. or Montour, was se-
verely wounded by the Mohawks, near Fort Lamotte, on Lake
Champlain. Madame Montour (a daughter of Lewis), then a
ten-year-old girl, is supposed to have been captured at this time
by the Five Nations and adopted. Her first appearance in history
is at an Albany conference, August 24, 171 1, where she acted as
interpreter. She seems to have been educated. She married
Carondowana, or the "Big Tree," who had adopted the name of
COMING OF THE TRADER [45
Robert Hunter, governor of New York. He was of the Oneida
tribe, a great captain of the Five Nations, and fell at the hands of
the Catawbas in 1729. When a treaty was made in Philadelphia in
1734 the proprietess of the province publicly condoled with the
widow — a rather belated function, as viewed in our day. She
was handsome and spoke French, being the object of some social
activity while in Philadelphia. Her duplicity later became apparent
to the provincial authorities.
The settlement of Andrew Montour on Montour's run was
never surveyed to him, although he took out a warrant for 143
acres adjoining the site of Landisburg. By a warrant dated July
11, 1761, he was granted 1,500 acres of land on the Juniata River
in what is now Mifflin County. He took it in two separate tracts,
the aggregate of which was over 2,500 acres. His Indian name
was Sattelihu. In 1753 the French had set a price of £100 on his
head. In the French and Indian War he was a captain of a com-
pany of Indians on the English side. He accompanied Conrad
Weiser on his mission to the settlements of the Six Nations. He
was for almost forty years in the service of Pennsylvania, Vir-
ginia, and under Sir William Johnson. He often accompanied the
Moravian missionaries, Count Zinzendorf and Bishop Spangen-
burg, to the Indian towns. To Count Zinzendorf posterity is in-
debted for a pen picture of Andrew Montour. His description :
"His face is like that of a European, but marked with a broad
Indian ring of bear's grease and paint drawn completely around it.
He wears a coat of fine cloth of cinnamon color, a black necktie
with silver spangles, a red satin vest, pantaloons, over which hangs
his shirt ; shoes and stockings, a hat and brass ornaments, some-
thing like the handle of a basket, suspended from his ears." He
died prior to 1775.
Andrew Montour's first wife was a daughter of Allumoppies,
King of the Delawares. The Province of Pennsylvania educated
his children in Philadelphia as proteges of Governor Robert
1 funter Morris. These were the first children to be sent away to
school from the soil which now comprises Perry County. Even
in that day the call for an education was in the atmosphere of
these lands.
He is first mentioned by Conrad Weiser in 1744 when he inter-
preted his Iroquois into Delaware. He assisted in nearly all the
important Indian negotiations from that time until the treaty of
Fort Stanwix in 1768, being employed in turn by the Pennsyl-
vania, Virginia, and New York governments and the Ohio Com-
pany. In 1754 he was with George Washington at the surrender
of Fort Necessity. Several times he warned the settlers of im-
pending raids, among other services bringing word of the Pontiac
outbreak. He accompanied Major Rogers as captain of Indian
10
146 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
forces, when the latter went, to take possession of Detroit, and in
1764 commanded a party against the recalcitrant Delawares. He
received for his services several grants of land in western Penn-
sylvania, as well as money.
In the autumn of 1750 Conrad Weiser reported to the governor
of the province that the French agent Joincaire was on his way to
the Ohio with a present of goods and orders from the governor
of Canada to drive out all English traders. Governor Hamilton
detailed George Croghan and Andrew Montour to hasten thither
and by use of a small present and promise of more to try and
counteract the intrigues of the French and retain the Indians in
the English interest.
At a meeting of the commissioners of the province at Carlisle,
October 1, 1753, Montour was associated with such illustrious
lights as Richard Peters, Isaac Norris, and Benjamin Franklin.
Conrad Weiser said of Montour "that he was faithful, knowing
and prudent." He operated among the more western Indians and
was rewarded financially for keeping track of their movements.
While Andrew Montour was sometimes under suspicion of
double dealing he always maintained his position with the provin-
cial government in one capacity or another. In proof of his con-
nection at the time of the French and Indian troubles, also of his
actual residence in what is now Perry County before the Albany
treaty of July 6, 1754, as the authorized representative of the
provincial authorities, the following letter is here reproduced :
Sherman's Creek, 16th May, 1754.
Sir: T once more take upon me the liberty of informing you that our
Indians at Ohio are expecting every day the armed forces of this province
against the French, who, by their late encroachments, is likely to prevent
their planting, and thereby render them impossible of supporting their
families. And you may depend upon it as a certainty, that our Indians
will not strike the French, unless this province (or New York) engage
with them ; and that by sending some number of men to their immediate
assistance. The reasons are plain ; to wit : that they don't look upon
their late friendship with Virginia, sufficient to engage them with a war
with the French ; I therefor think, with submission, that to preserve out-
Indian allies tbis province ought instantly to send out some men, either
less or more, which I have good reason to hope, would have the desired
effect; otherwise, I doubt there will, in a little time, be an entire separa-
tion; the consequences of which you are best able to judge, &c. I am in-
formed by my brother, who has lately come from the Lakes, that there is
at that place a great number of French Indians, preparing to come down
to the assistance of the French, at Ohio. I am likewise informed, by a
young Indian man (who, by my brother's directions, spent some days with
the French at Monongahela), that they expect a great number of French
down the river very soon. I have delayed my journey to Ohio and waited
with great impatience for advice from Philadelphia, but have not yet re-
ceived any. I am now obliged to go to Colonel Washington, who has sent
for me many days ago, to go with him to meet the half-king, Monacatootha,
and others, that are coming to meet the Virginia companies ; and, as they
COMING OF THE TRADER 147
think, sonic from Pennsylvania — and would have been glad to have known
the design of this province, in these matters, before 1 had gone.
I am, sir, your very humble servant,
Andrew Montour.
To Gov. H. R. Morris.
He had correspondence with the governor and council, and this
letter to the governor was copied from Montour's autograph letter
on file in the office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth at the
State Capitol in Harrisburg.
As early as 1744 we find that "Andrew Montour, Madame Mon-
tour's son, interpreted an Indian message from the Mohawk lan-
guage to that of the Delawares." During the same year he was
also the interpreter in the Jack Armstrong murder case, which ap-
pears earlier in this book. In that year we also find him as captain
of a party of Iroquois warriors, marching against the Catawbas,
of Carolina. lie fell sick and was obliged to return to Shamokin.
In May, 1745, he accompanied Weiser and Shikellamy to Onon-
daga with a message and instructions from the governor of the
province. In June, 1748, he was introduced by Weiser to the
president of the council of the province, at Philadelphia, and rec-
ommended as "faithful and prudent." During 1754 George Wash-
ington sent for Montour to meet him at Ohio, and he (Montour)
wrote to Secretary Peters, of the province, from his residence on
Sherman's Creek, the above letter, urging the immediate necessity
of sending men and arms to resist the impending French invasion.
Montour and George Croghan proceeded to Monongahela and
there, on June 9, found Washington. He commanded a mixed
company of whites and Indians under Washington.
At a conference, October 24, 1759, at Pittsburgh, Montour and
George Croghan met General Stanwix, and Montour lit the "pipe
of peace." In 1761, May 22, at a conference at the State House
in Philadelphia, Montour was the official interpreter. In 1768, at
a conference at Fort Pitt, between George Croghan, deputy agent
Indian affairs, and the Six Nations, Delawares and Shawnees,
Montour was the interpreter. He filled the same position October
24, 1768, at a great congress with the Indians at Fort Stanwix.
During 1769, on November 3, at the junction of Loyalsock
Creek and the West Branch, a tract of land was surveyed to An-
drew Montour. It contained 880 acres and was called Montour's
Reserve.
CHAPTER VIII.
COMING" OF THE PIONEERS.
THE frontier of the early Eighteenth Century was still east
of the Susquehanna. Beyond lay the forests, the hills, the
rivers and bands of Indians sometimes hostile when they
emerged. By the middle of the century adventurers — mostly
Scotch-Irish — had carried settlement across that river and were
clamoring for the right to cross the Kittatinny or Blue Mountain
to settle. When that section was thrown open they not only quickly
settled it, but passed on, and crossed the Alleghenies to the Ohio.
While that was happening in Pennsylvania the New Englanders
made their way to the Mohawk Valley of New York, then on to
the Seneca territory and along the shores of the Great Lakes, and
to the south through the Cumberland pass and over the hills of the
Carolinas was trickling civilization from the southern seaboard to
Kentucky and Tennessee.
*The date of the opening of the laud office for the settlement of
the lands which comprise Perry County was February 3, 1755,
early in the very year of Braddock's defeat, and almost coincident
with the time when that noted general was moving towards Brad-
dock's Field — as it later came to be known — where the British,
because of their pride and contempt for the advice of experienced
officers, paid for the Indian dissatisfaction of the previous year at
Albany, in connection with the purchase of these very lands. Has
it ever occurred to the reader how closely the Perry County lands
are related to the historic Braddock defeat?
Settlers had come in in large numbers during 1755; but owing
to the defeat of Braddock and the attending defection of the sav-
ages, which created a reign of terror and bloodshed throughout the
province, few claims were located and settled upon between that
year and 1761. While there was still much land open to settle-
ment south of the Blue or Kittatinny Mountain there was a scar-
city of water as compared to the north side. These earliest set-
*Legendary and traditional information, unless backed up by supporting
facts, is not to be relied upon. Various persons have furnished statements
that their ancestors were settlers of the Sherman's Valley and other parts
of Perry County as early as 1741, 1743, and various other dates. Careful
investigation has been made in provincial records, and nowhere can there
be found any permanent settlements prior to the late summer of 1753, save
those who came in as squatters and intruders and were dispossessed, men-
tion of which appears in the chapters relating to the Indians, elsewhere in
this book.
148
COMING OF THE PIONEERS 149
tiers were mostly Scotch- Irish, and it is a remarkable fact that
they invariably sought lands near the headwaters of streams, a
characteristic likely instilled deep in the race. If they could but
get their habitations near springs or running water they regarded
it of more advantage than having them on more fertile soil where
the matter of water was a question. And it must be remembered
that in Perry County these springs and streams come welling to
the surface of the earth, pure, and clear, and cold, from vast sub-
terranean caverns in the heart of the hills.
Prof. Wright, in his history, states that there is not a single
farm in Perry County of one hundred acres or more which does
not have running water upon it.
With these early Scotch-Irish came a few English, many Ger-
mans coming in later. The provincial government at first made
an effort to place the different nationalities in different sections,
hut soon found it difficult of accomplishment and a failure when
done. The Scotch-Irish, as spoken of in America, are not Irish
at all, but Scotch and English, who fled religious persecution at
home at the hands of Charles I ( 1714-1720) and found refuge in
Ireland, and their descendants. The term is of American origin
and use and is identical with the English term, Ulstermen. It de-
notes no mixture of blood of the two races, as they did not inter-
marry. They entered Ireland and took up the estates of Irish
rebels, confiscated under Queen Elizabeth and James I. James I,
by the way, was king of Scotland, and as James VI encour-
aged his Presbyterian subjects to do this. Many of them had mi-
grated early in the Seventeenth Century, about seventy-five years
before the founding of Pennsylvania. Towards the middle of
the same century Cromwell confiscated Irish lands and emigration
increased further, many English being among them. The Scotch
were principally Saxon in blood and Presbyterian in religion, de-
vout Christians, while the native Irish are Celtic in blood and Ro-
man Catholic in religion. The races are distinct in Ireland to this
day, which accounts largely for the eternal Irish question, which
at" this very time (1920) has the British Kingdom at wit's end.
The settlement of Irish and Germans north of the Kittatinny
was often the cause of neighborhood and family feuds, which ex-
isted even after the organization of the county, as there is record
of such a fight in the spring of 1823, when one of the participants,
fearing that he "had killed the dutchman," fled to Indiana, where
he became an honored citizen.
In his Making of Pennsylvania, Sydney George Fisher says :
"The thought and enterprise of New England has been built up
entirely by Congregationalists ; well on to one-half of the social
fabric of Pennsylvania has been built up by Presbyterians, and
there is scarcely a state in the Union where the influence of Cal-
150 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
vinism had not been powerfully felt." In the original settlement
of Perry County territory this Scotch-Irish element was a large
factor and their descendants are among the foremost in its affairs
and among those sent out to wider fields, one of whom, when this
is written, occupies the Vice-Presidential chair of the United
States. See biography of Thomas R. Marshall further on in this
volume.
The struggle for the possession of the new world was at first
confined to six nationalities: the Spanish, French, English, Dutch,
Swedes, and Portuguese. The Germans, distracted by their own
political divisions, seemed to have no desire to colonize. They
finally appeared in Pennsylvania half a century after most of the
English colonies had been established, but they came as immigrants
under the protection of the Bnijlisli nation, at first encouraged by
the Quakers, and later by the British Government, says Fisher.
They came principally from the Palatinate ; from Alsace, Swabia,
Saxony, and Switzerland. They had been held in more or less
subjection at home, and many of the earlier immigrants were a
very crude people. Pastorius tells of the Indians even considering
them so. He relates : "An Indian promised to sell one a turkey
ben. Instead he brought an eagle and insisted it was a turkey.
It was refused, and the Indian to a Swede, a bystander, remarked
that he thought a German, just arrived, would not know the dif-
ference." Later they came in larger numbers and of a more in-
telligent class. The German element, often referred to in our
state, as the Pennsylvania Dutch, lias been variously estimated as
composing from one-third to one-half of the population of Penn-
sylvania, and has had a great influence in the development of the
state and of Perry County, where their descendants are a thrifty
and enterprising element. In the blood of thousands of Perry
Countians and their descendants who have gone abroad is a strain
of German steadfastness and perseverance which has sent men to
the gubernatorial chair of not only our own state, but of others,
and to the highest legislative body in the world. See biographies
of noted men. In some counties the German element has lived
unto itself, using the German language, with little or no inter-
marriage with other elements, thus causing practically no advance-
ment. This was not so in Perry County. The children attended
the public schools and soon learned to use English, the parents
learning it in turn, and to-day of this original German stock not
one family uses the German language in the home. However,
about 1890 a German colony located in Watts Township, built a
small church, and a few of the parents of these families may still
use it, while the children speak English. The Germans were
mostly of the Lutheran and Reformed faith. These older settlers
COMING OF THE PIONEERS 151
and their descendants have had considerable contempt for a few
of the newer who continually talked of "The Fatherland."
Thomas Kilby Smith, in his "Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,"
says of the type of Germans which settled Perry County:
"The members of the Lutheran and Reformed Churches, who represent
the second phase of German emigration to Pennsylvania, were of a higher
type than their predecessors, most of them belonging to the middle classes
and not to the peasantry, as were the great majority of the sects who pre-
ceded them. Like the Scotch-Irish and the Welsh, they have mingled with
the community in general and have been absorbed into the population of
the state, abandoning any peculiarities of language or custom that they
may have had at the time of their arrival. They have engaged in various
occupations, with a tendency, however, to remain in the towns rather than
in the country districts. Being less numerous than the Pennsylvania Dutch
and more rapidly assimilated, they have made less impression, as a sepa-
rate people, on the civilization of the state than the Germans who pre-
ceded them. Generally speaking, they have been prosperous, have adhered
closely to their respective churches, relinquished their native tongue, and
pursued industriously their various occupations. With a few exceptions,
they have not taken a prominent part in politics or public affairs, except in
lines of philanthropy, education and music."
In the matter of noted men from the county the two races, now
much intermarried, vie with each other as to the number which
the county has sent forth.
Speaking of the German element, Prof. Wright, in his history
(1873), says: "Pfoutz's Valley is still characteristically a Ger-
man settlement, though there are many persons unable to con-
verse in any hut the English language. For our fertile soil the
German is slowly exchanging his language ; his children receive
an English education in the free schools, without dissent. In fact,
many of our best scholars were the children of German parents."
He adds, "Although the soil of Perry County was first settled by
English-speaking people, the farming population is now largely
composed of German origin."
Prof. W. C. Shuman, -formerly of Perry County, in his "Gene-
alogy of the Shuman Family," says of the Germans: "The Ger-
mans have profoundly influenced the history of Pennsylvania for
about 200 years. They have been slow, self -centered and non-
progressive ; but they have also been honest, industrious and
thrifty; and in the main, they have been on the right side of all
great issues."
The Indian troubles of 1763 again retarded settlement, but the
victory of the noted Colonel Henry Bouquet in Ohio, in 1764,
caused the Indians to pretty generally desert the central Pennsyl-
vania territory, and a tide of immigration from the eastern section
of the province began, and, owing to imperfect titles to their lands
in Chester County, later brought to the territory such men as
John Hench, Jacob Hippie, Jacob Hart man, Frederick Shull and
152 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY,- PENNSYLVANIA
Zachariah Rice, whose descendants are legion, and hundreds of
others. By 1767 many of the best plots were taken, and by 1778
the greater part of the lands.
The selling of emigrants into servitude for the payment of their
passage across the ocean was practiced. George Leonard, an early
settler of the lands which comprise Perry County, was sold in that
manner when but six years old, his father having died while aboard
.and his body cast into the sea, according to the custom.
The western part of Perry County, generally speaking, im-
presses one with the fact that it was settled before the eastern sec-
tion, or the part lying between the rivers, and records verify it. All
through western Sherman's Valley are to be found stone houses
more than a century old, built by artisans whose work has stood
the test, whose wage was likely a very meagre one and whose hours
possibly were numbered only by the number of hours of daylight.
Their work will ever stand a monument to early craftsmanship.
At only one other part of the county are there many of these old
landmarks, and that is Millerstown. (See chapter on Millerstown.)
The one on the Solomon Bower farm, in Jackson Township, now
owned by Assemblyman Clark Bower, was built in 1794, when
George Washington was President. An end was built to it in 1834
and a second story added in 1870. The large stone house on the
C. A. Anderson farm, at Andersonburg, is another fine example.
It was built in 1820. The adjoining barn was erected in 1821.
It is difficult for the present generation, with its modern homes,
many lighted by electricity and gas ; with water piped through-
out and a multitude of accessories to make life easy and comfort-
able ; with its modern method of travel in parlor cars at fifty
miles an hour; with automobiles equipped and finished finer than
the grandest carriage, and traveling thirty miles an hour (accord-
ing to law) ; with stores and shops existing at which anything
may be purchased ; with telephones in one's home whereby he may
talk to another state in a few minutes, and hundreds of other con-
veniences unnamed and unenumerated, to realize the extreme needs
and crude methods and equipment of these pioneers of civilization,
who braved the rigors of the early winters and the dangers of the
redskins to build in the wilderness a home and to wrest from the
savage a state.
When the pioneer wended his way over the Kittatinny or Blue
Mountain the country was a vast forest, whose creeks and rivers
were destitute of bridges and could only be crossed with safety
at given points, and not at all when the waters were high. There
were no roads, but only the trails and paths used by the red men
and the traders. There were no houses, no cleared lands, no
schools, nothing but the eternal stillness which one yet experiences
when traveling afoot in the fastnesses of the mountain. Upon
COMING OF THE PIONEERS 153
entering the forest their very first act was to cut the timber and
hew boards with an axe for the erection of their homes, for at
first there were even no sawmills. Instead of their floors being
sawed and planed, as are ours, they were split and hewed. Indeed,
there were some that had no floors save the earth upon which they
were built, even the old church at Dick's (jap being floorless.
While the little log house was yet in course of erection the trees
were being felled on "the clearing," which was to be the first field
of the new home, and by the time of its finishing a "patch" was
ready for planting or sowing. Then, while it was growing, there
were other lands to clear, a barn and other buildings to be built ;
and eternal vigilance was necessary to prevent the coming of the
savage with his tomahawk, in search of scalps. There was no
machinery and the crudest methods of slow and tedious operation
were necessary to the raising and threshing of crops. In fact, the
threshing of a crop, which is now done in a day or two on the
great majority of farms, then required months, as the tramping
out of grain on the barn floors, with horses, and the use of the
"flail" were the only available methods of extracting the grain.
The furnishings of the pioneers were as crude as the cabins
themselves, the tables and benches being of wood, split and hewed,
until the advent of the "up-and-down" sawmill. Dishes, plates and
spoons were of pewter, bowls were fashioned from wood, and
squashes and gourds supplied receptacles for water. The clothing
was of homespun and homemade, the women and girls being busy
with spinning wheel and needle during the long winters. The men
dressed in hunting shirts and moccasins, later in knee pants with
buckles. When the first schools were established the clearing of
lands and threshing during the long winters, and the spinning and
sewing to make the family clothing, kept many from school, even
the few months when schools were in session. Tallow candles
were used as lights, and there are many men and women yet living
who can well remember when their people used tallow candles as
their only lights, save perchance a rare oil lamp "when company
came."
Gradually roads w T ere built and travel was either afoot, on horse-
back or by wagon, all of which was slow and required much time.
Settlements were widely separated and the nearest town was in the
Cumberland Valley, then known as the "Kittochtinny Valley."
Large families were the rule and it was no uncommon thing for
a family to have over a dozen children, five or six children being
considered a small family. Many of the most prominent families
of the district were large. To-day the reverse is the case and hun-
dreds of families in the same territory number from one to three
children, the family of a half-dozen being considered large. Mr.
William Morrison, of New Germantown, a man of mature years.
154 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
to whom we are indebted for much information, was the father of
fifteen, twelve sons in succession, then a daughter, a son and a
daughter. There were many families of this size and larger.
The method of heating the first rude homes was the open fire-
place fashioned from huge stones. There were no matches, fire
being produced by the use of flint. On many occasions neighbors
borrowed fire from each other, if located in close proximity. Peo-
ple yet live who remember this. Over these rude fireplaces swung
a kettle in which the family meal was boiled. Later air-tight stoves
Ti
%
3sL
IjSHg
--:_
i - * ^
y
-WH
A PIONEER BRIDE AND GROOM.
(Copied from Miniature of 1802, when on their "honeymoon.")
Joseph Martin (1 77 7-1831), born on the "Big Island" while his father, Capt. Joseph
Martin was in the Army, his mother being Ann (Nancy) Baskins. The bride, Rachael
Gillespie (1785-1851), who in later years married secondly Rev. Jacob Gruber,
circuit rider,
were introduced, which were also very imperfect at first. Maple
sugar was extracted from trees during the early spring, and in very
rare cases its manufacture continues in the county. Hand weaving
was practiced by the housewife, and there exist to-day throughout
the county many of the finest counterpanes, of exquisite design,
heirlooms from a former generation.
Hospitality, not only to one's kin, but to strangers, was practiced
everywhere, and exists to a great extent to-day, save that a stranger
must have credentials, as many of "the gentry" took advantage of
COMING OF THE PIONEERS 155
those who took them in. In fact, hospitality in the early days was
not confined to any one section, and it is said of our first Presi-
dent, General Washington, that his family "did not sit alone to
dinner for twenty years." In the provincial days the public stop-
ping place was an "ordinary," later it became a "tavern," and still
later a "hotel," which name it retains, with variations, such as
"hostelry," "road house," "tea room," etc.
Some folks attached considerable importance to certain days and
certain signs, "planting in signs" being largely practiced. The
modern way of planting in fertile ground, well prepared and duly
cultivated, seems to be an improvement. These signs were re-
garded as foretelling the state of the weather, of health, and
whether seed should be planted. One certain day broke ice if it
found it, and formed it if there was none (rather a contrary sort
of day and emblematic of a certain type of people) ; other days
were "bad days" or "good days" for planting or sowing seeds,
others for building fences and roofing buildings, and still others
for slaughtering stock and weaning stock and even babies. It is
not strange that many of these old notions prevailed, for they
were bequeathed from sire to son and from mother to daughter
for centuries ; they came with the Pilgrim and the Cavalier from
across the sea and formed a sort of tradition among all classes.
The belief in witchcraft and sorcery is practically gone, yet once in
too was a part of the belief of many in widely scattered sections
of the Union. Even in our own day certain customs known to
our earlier years have since been replaced and proven fallacious,
and things now generally acceptable will, in the coming years, seem
as strange to the populace as does witchcraft to us now.
For many decades Bear's Almanac, a Lancaster publication, was
a part of the literature of every farm home, and largely con-
tinues so.
In the early days the currency was "eleven penny bits," "fi'
penny bits," "levies" and shillings, eight shillings making one dol-
lar. The big cents of copper appeared in 1792 and bore on their
face the head of Washington, and on the reverse side a chain of
thirteen links, emblematic of the thirteen original states.
Wild animals roamed at will and some were beasts of prey,
among them being bears, panthers, wolves, wild cats, etc. Bears
were seen in Horse Valley as late as 1885. Wolves were bad and
even the graves had to be covered with stones in early times to
insure their safety from these animals. "The Narrows," below
Mt. Patrick, was once a dangerous place owing to its being the
habitation of wolves. Near Crawley Hill, in Spring Township,
there is a small area of rocks, probably fifteen feet high, known
to this day as "the wolf rocks," and which tradition says was so
named by reason of it having been a rendezvous for wolves when
156 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
they still inhabited the forests. It is yet a den for foxes. The
Fishing Creek Valley (Rye Township) was a place noted for
wolves even to the present generation, and there are men of fifty
years who can remember them. On January 21, 1829, George
Ilollenbangh, of Toboyne Township, was hunting, and entered a
cavern in the mountains, but quickly retraced his steps, a bear fol-
lowing him out. He shot it, and another appeared. It too was
despatched. He then went for help to carry away the animals,
when a third appeared and was shot, according to the Perry For-
ester, Perry County' first paper.
There is record of a Mr. Magee, who was grandfather of Alex-
ander Magee, sheriff of Perry County in 1841-43, going to the
door of his home, in Toboyne Township, one night when he heard
a scream. He stepped out, axe in hand, and killed a panther, which
was just ready to pounce upon him. Deer, rabbits and squirrel
were common, and venison graced the table of the pioneer on
many occasions. The meats of these animals were salted down
for use during the long winters. Wild turkeys, pheasants and
partridges roamed the forests, and during certain seasons wild
pigeons collected in vast numbers. The streams, unpolluted and
at first free of dams, were alive with fish, principally bass, pike and
trout. After the severe winters shad, rockfish, salmon and perch
ascended the streams, thus probably augmenting a supply of pro-
visions which had become largely depleted.
During the summer of 1919 the late George Bryner (born in
1X32) recalled how his Grandmother Hench, who resided near the
McMillen farms, in the vicinity of Kistler, Madison Township,
used to describe the howling of the wolves and tell of using powder,
which they would ignite at night, to scare the animals from their
cattle. It appears that wolves scent trouble with the smell of
powder, as do many other wild animals.
The Susquehanna and Juniata country was once the home of
that great and picturesque bird, the American eagle, and to this
day Bald eagles inhabit the shores, including Perry County terri-
tory, but in very small numbers. Their passing is attributed to
the propensity for killing by a certain class of hunters, who never
should have been permitted to shoulder a gun. The Bald eagle
was here when the pioneer came, and unmolested, continued until
the last century was well passed, when they began to be viewed as
thieves, with the result that only a few stragglers remain. In an
interesting booklet, by that wonderful lover of outdoor life. Col.
Henry W. Shoemaker, appears this paragraph relating to the
method of their passing, which is of interest to this section :
"Charles Lukens, of Duncan's Island, near the mouth of the Juniata
River, states that a hunter, now residing at Halifax, killed a Bald eagle
on Peters' Mountains in 1910. He made ready to take the carcass to Har-
COMING OF THE PIONEERS 157
risburg to claim a bounty, but on learning tbat it was a protected bird
abandoned the trip, and it is not known what became of the eagle. Charles
Smith, an intelligent farmer residing on Haldeman's Island, states that it
was formerly not an extraordinary occurrence to see Bald eagles soaring
over the island and the river, but for several years he has not seen any.
The Rev. B. H. Hart, of Williamsport, who owns an island not far from
Liverpool, says Bald eagles were formerly seen in fair numbers along the
river and at his i-sland, though he cannot recollect having seen any for
several years."
Slowly sailing across the heavens their eagle eyes would detect
a fish in the water hundreds of yards away, and at one fell swoop
would fasten it between their beaks, and carry it to their young in
the crags of the mountain where they nested. Their nests were
built of sticks and twigs and were huge affairs when compared
with the nests of other birds. It is related that when a tree upon
which a pair nested, in a neighboring county, was cut, a small
wagonload of kindling was gathered from the nest. Naturalists
tell that these birds would tear down and rebuild their nests en-
tirely, every third or fourth year, and in the intervening years
would only rebuild the top or finishing part.
Passing of the; Buffalo.
Many, many years ago this land was overrun by great herds of
Buffalo, especially that portion of Pennsylvania which comprises
the tablelands lying between the Juniata and Susquehanna Rivers.
Part of Perry County, of course, is included in this domain, and
Buffalo Township, Perry County, was named to perpetuate the
memory thereof. There is a chapter in this book relating to Buf-
falo Township, which was, by the way, the author's birthplace.
Its lands belonged to Greenwood Township, which was a part of
Fermanagh Township — one of the original townships of Cumber-
land County, when that county was formed. Buffalo Township
became a separate unit in i/<j<j, the very year in which the illus-
trious Washington, the first President of the Republic, passed
away. Even before one of the county's townships was named
Buffalo, we find in annals relating to the pioneers and the Indians
the name of Buffalo Creek, which rises in present Madison Town-
ship, in the section known as Liberty Valley, and flows into the
Juniata above Newport, and which was most probably named
by the red men themselves. Then, besides Buffalo Creek and
Buffalo Township, there is Buffalo Church, Buffalo Mills, New
Buffalo, etc., within the limits of Perry County.
In 1655 a man named Vonder Donk published a history, in
which he said: "Many of the Netherlanders have been far into the
country more than seventy or eighty leagues from the river and
seashore. We frequently trade with the Indians who come more
than ten and twenty days' journey from the interior." He says
i 5S HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
that half of the buffaloes have disappeared and left the country,
and now "keep mostly to the Southwest, where few people go."
The heavers, of which eighty thousand are killed annually, are also
mostly taken far inland, there being few of them near the settle-
ments.
Vast herds of buffalo once roamed the Susquehanna Valley, as
they later did the plains of the great West, ever receding before
the westward sweep of the pioneer. W. T. Hornaday says that
the animals used to roam the country west of the Susquehanna,
between Harrisburg and Sunbury, and the West Branch country
of the Susquehanna. Other writers say that as late as 1773 there
were probably as many as twelve thousand bison in the herds that
came to this part of the country. Like Terry, Union County per-
petuates the name in three of its nine townships and in other ways.
According to Col. Henry W. Shoemaker, along Buffalo Path Run,
in that county, can be plainly seen the marks made by the herd, al-
though none have traveled it for almost a century and a half.
The country between Buffalo Township, in Perry County, and
the three Buffalo Townships in Union County, and westward in
northern Snyder and southern Union Counties, will ever be
memorable as the scene of the "last stand" in Pennsylvania of the
dwindling buffalo herd, in December, 1799. A coincidence, not
strange however, is that Buffalo Township was created by the
Cumberland County court — for Perry was yet a part of Cumber-
land — within ninety days prior to this incident. Almost four hun-
dred animals, unable to escape because settlements had grown up
which entirely surrounded them, had remained hidden in the fast-
nesses of the mountains to the west of Snyder and Union Coun-
ties. That last winter of the closing Eighteenth Century was se-
vere and, desperate for want of food, they braved the Middle
Creek section of that territory, scenting a barnyard haystack of a
settler. They broke through the stump fence and trampled to death
the cattle and sheep within the enclosure. The owner and a neigh-
bor succeeded in killing four.
The shots and attacking dogs drove them further down the val-
ley to a cabin which stood near where Troxelville, Snyder County,
is now located, being in the northwest section of that county.
There the wounded leader of the herd, wild with rage, broke down
the door and entered the cabin. As many as could enter followed.
They were so tightly jammed in the cabin that the only way to get
them out was to tear it away and release them. The mangled
bodies of the wife and children of the owner, crushed beyond de-
scription, were beneath them when released.
Naturally this state of affairs needed immediate attention, and
messengers went up and down the valley summoning hunters to
help exterminate the herd. Fifty men responded and started to
COMING OF THE PIONEERS
159
hunt the bison which had fled to the mountain. In the meantime
more snow had fallen and their tracks were obliterated. After a
two-day search they were found, buried to their necks in snow,
at a spot near Weikert, along Penn's Creek, in the southwest sec-
tion of Union County — the "blind end" of Buffalo Valley. Sur-
rounded by snow of awful depth, almost frozen and at the verge
of starvation thus perished the last herd of buffalo in the lands of
William Penn. In January, 1801, a straggler was found and de-
spatched at Buffalo Crossroads, near Lewisburg. A strange coin-
cidence in this connection is that the last elk in the state was killed
near the same spot, though not until almost a century later — 1878.
Early Maps Showing Locations.
Modern map makers for the great trunk lines of railroads show
almost straight lines of these arteries of travel, yet the tourist finds
his train taking innumerable curves while traveling over these
"straight lines." Naturally all maps radiate from the given centre
in the eye of the producer, and it is not strange to find, in the
many old maps available, some things which are practically cor-
rect, and much that is drawn from conjecture and description, sur-
rounding the known locality. The inaccuracies of these old maps,
with the facilities at hand for securing information, can be much
more readily excused than the modern ones "with intent afore-
thought to deceive." A man named Visscher published a map of
New Netherlands in 1655 which shows with some degree of ac-
curacy the course of the Susquehanna River, but with no west
branch of ( it or no Juniata. During the following half century
about fifteen different maps all contain the same river outline.
West of the river, about where the Juniata belongs, he locates an
Indian tribe known as the "Onojutta Haga."
Lord Baltimore had a map maker named Augustine Herman
make a map of Maryland for him in 1670, and it shows Maryland
coming up to the Blue or Kittatinny Mountain, including part of
the Cumberland Valley. It shows a group of mountains about
where Perry County is located and a note along the edge carries
the information that "beyond these mountains the streams run to
the west, either into the Bay of Mexico or the South Sea ; that
the first one discovered, a very great stream, is the 'Black Min-
quas' River (the Ohio), on which lived the tribe of that name;
that there was a branch of this river (the Conemaugh) opposite
the Susquehanna (Juniata), which entered at some leagues above
the fort." In 1698 Gabriel Thomas published a map, which places
at least a part of Cumberland County in Virginia; in fact, Vir-
ginia long claimed a large part of western Pennsylvania.
A man named Nicholas Schull, probably the most noted map
maker of those early days, made a map of the new county of Cum-
160 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
berland which was authorized by an act of Parliament in January,
1759. Of the present names we find Kittatinny and Tuscarora
Mountains, Horse Valley, Juniata and Susquehanna Rivers.
Where the Cocolamus Creek is located he has a stream named the
"Kakonalamus Creek." "Shareman's Creek" is also on this map.
In the Blue Mountain he designates one gap and names it "Steven-
son's." At a point near the present Perry-Juniata County line a
lone settler is designated as "Barber's."
In 1770 a map appeared by W. Schull, with practically the same
outlines but another settlement marked "Logan's," located on the
line of the trail from Carlisle to Fort Shirley. The Conococheague
Mountain is also marked and Logan's appears close to it. Cro-
ghan's Gap ( Sterrett's) also appears for the first time. Other
streams added are Juniata Creek, Buffalo Creek and Wild Cat
Run. Near the site of Millerstown, on the bend of the Juniata
below Newport, and near Marysville appears the word "Saut."
(Salt, in Scotch.)
When the commonwealth was new and its first governor, Thomas
Mifflin, was in office, a map appeared which contained the names
of the four townships then existing in what is now the county of
Perry, as follows : Toboyne, Tyrone, Rye, and Greenwood.
"Buffalo Hills," "Mahanoy Hill," and "Limestone Ridge" appear
for the first time. Many mills are already marked, an account of
which appears in our chapter relating to "Old Landmarks, Mills
and Industries."
On a map in the Book of Deeds, page 128, in the office of the
Secretary of the Commonwealth, the territory opposite the Cove
and located in Dauphin County, between the Blue and Peters'
Mountains, is designated as "Saint Anthony's Wilderness."
CHAPTER IX.
PERRY COUNTY IN THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR.
IT has virtually been handed down to us from father to son,
even from Plymouth Rock and Jamestown, that somewhat like
another nation, we were in a sense a chosen people — that some-
thing- greater than human foresight, something greater than finite
wisdom had guided a persecuted people to these shores and be-
stowed vision and faith upon those in whom rested the stupendous
and responsible task of erecting a new government upon an un-
heard of scheme and following a new standard of life.
Strangely enough, the first suggestion of a union of the Ameri-
can colonies came from the Province of Pennsylvania, and from
its proprietor, William Perm, who, as early as 1697, suggested it.
The pioneers had crossed the ocean to be free, but as the colonies
grew in size and in trade they found that the same forces that
drew them from the mother country now drew them together. In
1754 Benjamin Franklin, another Pennsylvania!!, elaborated upon
the Penn idea.
When the first congress of deputies assembled at New York on
October 7, 1765, the discerning ones saw in it a gleam of coming
independence. When the heel of British oppression had descended
with heavy tread upon the rights and privileges of the provinces
and they arose in their wrath against the mother country, the pio-
neers who inhabited that part of Cumberland County which is now
Perry, were unable to offer much cash, as the Indians had twice
driven them from their homes, scalped and carried off many, stolen
what they could conveniently remove and burned or destroyed the
remainder. Under such circumstances they were a people who
really needed the help of others instead of being called upon for
help, yet notwithstanding they gave of their substance, and to the
first blast of the bugle calling recruits they responded. The first
settlers to return after the second Indian invasion in 1763 went
back in 1765, so that but ten years had elapsed until the necessity
arose to defend the colonies. An effort, fathered at Philadelphia,
to have the different sections of the province send delegates to a
meeting there on July 15, 1774, to consider the indignities perpe-
trated upon the provinces, was no doubt responsible for the fol-
lowing described meeting:
. Echoing down the centuries is this first official record relating
to independence coming from Cumberland County, of which the
Perry County territory was an integral part. England, through
161
11
162 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
its German-speaking king, was oppressing the colonies, especially
New England, and a public meeting "of the freeholders and free-
men" was held Tuesday, July 12, 1774, at Carlisle, with John
Montgomery, Esq., in the chair. These resolutions show the pa-
triotic spirit of those days, just as boys from Perry showed it in
1918 at Chauteau Thierry and the Argonne Forest in the World
War, and as it was shown by Perry Countians in all the interven-
ing wars. The resolutions :
1. Resolved, That the late act of the Parliament of Great Britain, by
which the port of Boston is shut up, is oppressive to that town, and sub-
versive of the rights and liberties of the colony of Massachusetts Bay;
that the principle upon which the act is founded, is not more subversive
of the rights and liberties of that colony, than it is of all other British
colonies in North America; and therefore the inhabitants of Boston are
suffering in the common cause of all the colonies.
2. That every vigorous and prudent measure ought speedily and unani-
mously to be adopted by these colonies for obtaining redress of the griev-
ances under which the inhabitants of Boston are now laboring; and secur-
ity from grievance of the same or of a still more severe nature, under
which they and the other inhabitants of the colonies may, by a further
operation of the same principle, hereafter labor.
3. That a congress of the deputies from all colonies will be one proper
method for obtaining these purposes.
4. That the same purposes will, in the opinion of this meeting, be pro-
moted by an agreement of all the colonies not to import any merchandise
from nor export any merchandise to Great Britain, Ireland or the British
West Indies, nor to use any merchandise so imported, nor tea imported
from any place whatever till these purposes shall be obtained ; but that
the inhabitants of this county will join any restriction of that agreement
which the General Congress may think it necessary for the colonies to
confine themselves to.
5. That the inhabitants of this county will contribute to the relief of
their suffering brethren in Boston, at any time when they shall receive inti-
mation that such relief will be most seasonable.
6. That a committee be immediately appointed from this county to cor-
respond with the committee of this province, or of the other provinces,
upon the great objects of the public attention; and to cooperate in every
measure conducting to the general welfare of British America.
7. That the committee consist of the following persons, viz: James Wil-
son, John Armstrong, John Montgomery, William Irvine, Robert Callen-
dar, William Thompson, John Calhoon, Jonathon Hoge, Robert Magaw,
Ephraim Blaine, John Allison, John Harris, and Robert Miller, or any
five of them.
8. That James Wilson, Robert Magaw, and William Irvine be the depu-
ties appointed to meet the deputies from other counties of this province
at Philadelphia on Friday next, in order to concert measures preparatory
to the General Congress. John Montgomery, Chairman.
The new nation, the United States of America, had come into
being because the people could not help it, and as a protest against
indignities, taxes and officers forced upon them by the mother
country, rather than because of a great desire for it. In the reso-
lutions adopted at this Cumberland County meeting, including what
PERRY COUNTY IN THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR 163
is now Perry, the colonies, it will be noted, are named "British
America." Most Americans then held allegiance to their states
more so than to a union of all, and many believed it possible to
continue thus, independent of each other except pledged to work
together on foreign affairs. For a period of eleven years — from
1776 to 1787 — such a government, in fact, existed. George Wash-
ington, soon to be the first President of the United States, in the
meantime was conducting a movement for a united nation, by tak-
ing the matter up with the various state governors and otherwise.
But there was no unanimity. When the Constitutional Convention
met in Philadelphia in 1787 two great men — Adams and Jefferson
— were absent in Europe as envoys ; Patrick Henry, wedded to
"state's rights," refused to attend, and John Hancock, Richard
Henry Lee, and Samuel Adams, all fearing a too central govern-
ment, remained away. Perry Countians will do well to remember
that among the representatives was James Wilson, then only
twenty-three years of age, of Cumberland (then their county),
whom all historians agree was the most learned lawyer in the con-
vention and who afterwards became a justice of the United States
Supreme Court. In 1778 he removed to Philadelphia. He was
elected to Congress in 1775 and 1782. He died in the South, in
1798, and his remains rested there until within the last two dec-
ades, when they were disinterred and removed to Philadelphia.
James McLene was a member from the county to the Provincial
Conference of June, 1776, and of the Constitutional Convention
of the same year, as well as a member of the Supreme Executive
Council from Cumberland County in 1778-79, serving in the last
named body from Franklin County from 1784 to 1787.
Continental Congress adopted resolutions on May 15. 1775, rec-
ommending the adoption of a state government by each colony.
This resulted in a provincial conference held at Philadelphia on
Tuesday, June 18, which met at Carpenters' Hall, and chose Thomas
McKean president. It was unanimously resolved that a convention
should be called to form a new government. The qualification for
voters or electors were made as follows : must have attained the
age of twenty-one years, have lived in the province one year or
more, must have paid either a provincial or county tax, and swear
that he would no longer bear allegiance to King George. Repre-
sentatives to the convention needed the same qualifications, and in
addition an affidavit that he "would oppose any measures that
would interfere with or obstruct the religious principles or prac-
tices of any of the good people of the province," and still further,
sign a declaration of faith in the Trinity and in the Divine inspira-
tion of the Old and New Testaments. It was determined that each
county should have eight representatives or members, the election
of whom should be held on Monday, July 8, and that four thou-
1 64 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
sand, five hundred militia be raised to join a flying camp to con-
sist of ten thousand men in the middle colonies.
The convention met on Monday, July 15, in Philadelphia, and
Benjamin Franklin was chosen president. It continued, including
adjournments, until September 28, when the Constitution of Penn-
sylvania was adopted and signed. The lawmaking power of the
state was vested in a House of Representatives, the members of
which were to be chosen annually by ballot on the second Tuesday
of October, to meet the fourth Monday of the same month, no
member of which could serve over four years. This body was to
choose annually the state treasurer and delegates to the United
States Congress, of which no one could be a member for more
than two years successively and not be eligible for membership
again until three years had elapsed. Until a proper apportionment
could be made each county was to have six members of this
Assembly.
When the threatened storm approached, our people were equally
firm in their determination to resist all oppression. They made
preparations, adopted measures and organized for defense. From
the American Archives, Vol. II, page 516, the following is repro-
duced, being the contents of a letter from a gentleman writing
May 6, 1775, from Carlisle, the county seat:
"Yesterday the county committee met from nineteen townships, on the
short notice they had. About three thousand men have already associated.
The arms returned amount to about fifteen hundred. The committee have
voted five hundred effective men, besides commissioned officers, to be im-
mediately drafted, taken into pay, armed and disciplined, to march on the
first emergency ; to be paid and supported as long as necessary, by a tax
on all estates, real and personal, in the county ; the returns to be taken by
the township committees ; and the tax laid by the commissioners and as-
sessors ; the pay of the officers and men as usual in times past."
"This morning we met again at eight o'clock; among other subjects of
inquiry this day, the mode of drafting or taking into pay, arming and
victualling immediately the men, and the choice of field and other officers,
will among other matters be the subject of deliberation. The strength or
spirit of this county, perhaps may appear small, if judged by the number
of men proposed ; but when it is considered that we are ready to raise
fifteen hundred or two thousand, should we have support from the prov-
ince; and that independent, and in uncertain expectation of support, we
have voluntarily drawn upon this county, a debt of about £27,000 per
annum, I hope we shall not appear contemptible. We make great improve-
ments in military discipline. It is yet uncertain who may go."
On June 22, 1775, the "Colony of Pennsylvania," the name prov-
ince having become obsolete, was authorized to raise eight com-
panies of expert riflemen, instead of six companies, as authorized
by the Continental Congress on the preceding June 14, to proceed
to join the army near Boston. The result was that nine companies
responded. Cumberland (always remembering that it still included
Perry) sent one under command of Captain William Hendricks,
PERRY COUNTY IN THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR 165
its first offering upon the altar of liberty. It was one of two com-
panies to be assigned to accompany General Benedict Arnold (he
who later became a traitor) in his difficult and historical march
through Maine to the stronghold of Quebec. Captain Hendricks
is recorded as a brave and good officer, but doomed to be killed in
the attack January 1, 1776. These men were all enlisted in Tune
*775-
Cumberland County then embraced all of Perry, and this com-
pany was composed also of men from the present counties of
Juniata and Mifflin (also a part of Cumberland), and at this late
date there is no way of distinguishing the sections to which each
inhabited, hence the entire list is reprinted.
Roster of Captain Hendricks' Company.
Captain, William Hendricks. Killed at Quebec
First Lieutenant, John McClellan. Died on march, November ■* 177,
Second Lieutenant, *Francis Nichols vcinuer 3 , i 7/5 .
Third Lieutenant, George Francis
ter S o7T"7^'. D /H Th0m r? S Gib |? n ' °! L Carlisle < died at V *^' Forge, win-
ter of i /7 8) ; ♦Henry Crone, *Joseph Greer, *William McCoy.
at- j j a Privates:
*Edward Agnew.
George Albright.
♦Thomas Anderson.
♦Philip Boker, w. at Quebec.
*John Blair.
^Alexander Burns.
♦Peter Burns.
♦William Burns.
John Campbell, k. at Quebec.
♦Daniel Carlisle.
♦John Corswill.
*Roger Casey.
*Joseph Caskey.
♦John Chambers.
♦Thomas Cooke, later a lieutenant
*John Cove.
John Craig, later a lieutenant
*Matthew Cumming.
Arthur Eckles.
♦Peter Frainer.
♦Francis Furlow.
*William Gommel.
*John Gardner.
♦Daniel Graham.
*James Greer.
♦Thomas Greer.
*John Hardy.
: Elijah Herdy.
*John Henderson, w. at Quebec
*James Hogge.
*James Inload.
*Dennis Kelley, k. at Quebec.
*Wm. Kirkpatrick.
♦Robert Lynch.
♦David Lamb.
♦Thomas Lesley.
Those marked with an asterisk (*) were captured
John Lorain.
*John McChesney
♦Daniel McClellan.
*Richard McClure.
Henry McCormick.
Henry McEwen.
♦Archibald McFarlane, escaped.
♦Barnabas McGuire.
♦John McLinn.
John McMurdy.
♦Jacob Mason.
♦Philip Maxwell.
♦George Morrison.
♦George Morrow.
Edward Morton.
♦Thomas Mordoch.
♦Daniel North.
♦Daniel O'Hara.
♦William O'Hara.
♦John Ray.
♦James Reed.
George Rinehart.
♦Edward Rodden.
♦William Shannon.
♦William Smith
♦William Snell.
♦Robert Steel.
Hugh Sweeney.
Edward Sweeney.
♦Abraham Swaggerty, w.at Quebec
Matthew Taylor.
♦Henry Turpentine.
♦Michael Young.
♦Thomas Witherof.
♦Joseph Wright.
166 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
Colonel William Irvine was commissioned in [anuary, 1776, as
commander of the Sixth Battalion, Pennsylvania Troops. One of
the companies, under Capt. William Bratton, of what is now Mif-
flin County, contained soldiers whose homes were within the con-
fines of present Mifflin, Juniata, and Perry Counties. The roster
of that company follows :
William Bratton, Capt. Henry, Francis.
Thomas McCoy, Lient. Higgins, James.
Amos Chapman, Sergt. Lee, Fergus.
Thomas Giles, Sergt. Lloyd, Peter.
Timothy O'Neil, Sergt. Lowden, Richard.
Edward Steen, Drummer. McCay, Gilbert.
John Waun, Fifer. McCay, Neil.
Privates: f r C r^ iald ' ? a ? ick
McGhegan, John.
Beatty, John. McKean, John.
Carman, William. Martin, Peter.
Carter, Patrick. Moore, Fergus.
Daley, John. Prent, John.
Donovan, Daniel. Redstone, William.
Edgarton, Edward Rooney, Peter.
Elliott, James. Ryan, John.
German. Henry. Shockey, Patrick.
Giles, Thomas. Simonton, James.
Gilmore, Michael. Simonton, Thomas
Hall, David. Taylor, John.
On March 15, 1777, the battalion was reorganized at Carlisle,
and became the Seventh Pennsylvania Regiment of the Continental
Army. The men composing it were paid and mustered out, at
Carlisle, during April, 1781. Captain Bratton was wounded at
the Battle of Germantown, and a township in Mifflin County was
named in his honor.
In several other companies there were a few men from what is
now Perry County territory, but how to distinguish them is a
question. In the above roster, however, any one familiar with the
names of Perry County families will easily distinguish many of
them.
After January I, 1776, this company became a part of the First
Regiment of the Army of the United Colonies, commanded by
General George Washington, later to become first President of
the United States.
Thacher's Military Journal described the men of this battalion
as follows :
"Several companies of riflemen have arrived here from Pennsylvania
and Maryland, a distance of from five hundred to seven hundred miles.
They are remarkably stout and hardy men, many of them exceeding six
feet in height. They are dressed in rifle shirts and round hats. These
men are remarkable for the accuracy of their aim, striking a mark with
great certainty at two hundred yards' distance. At a review a company
of them, while on a quick advance, fired their balls into objects of seven-
inch diameter, at a distance of two hundred and fifty yards. They are
now stationed on our lines and their shot have frequently proved fatal to
British officers and soldiers."
PERRY COUNTY IN THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR 167
Colonel William Thompson, of Carlisle, was in command. The
Continental Congress had determined to reenlist the regiment, but
General Washington, unaware of their intentions, wrote: "They
are indeed a very useful corps; but I need not mention this, as
their importance is already well known to the Congress." On the
following July 1 the entire regiment reenlisted and became the
First Regiment of the Pennsylvania line in the Continental service.
Almost every Perry County school boy and girl is familiar with
the historical facts relating to Benedict Arnold's treason and the
attending execution of Major Andre, the British officer who was
apprehended while engaged in the nefarious project, yet how many
of even the grown people know that he was once imprisoned at
THE OLD STATE HOUSE AT PHILADELPHIA.
Here sat Gen. Frederick Watts, whose home was in what is now
Wheatfield Township, Perry County, as a Member of the Supreme
Executive Council, which governed the new State until the Union
was formed.
Carlisle and that a company of soldiers from what is now Perry
County, under command of an officer from the same territory,
threatened to take his life? The facts are these:
During the Revolution Carlisle was made an important post for
American troops, and, by reason of its being far from the line of
actual hostilities, British prisoners were frequently confined there.
Among such were two officers, Major Andre and Lieutenant
Despard, who had been captured by Montgomery at Lake Cham-
plain. While there in 1776 they occupied a stone house on the
corner of South Hanover Street and Locust Alley, and were on
parole of honor with a six-mile limit, but required to wear military
dress.
In the same neighborhood lived Mrs. Ramsey, an unflinching
W 7 hig and even a greater American, who detected two tories in
conversation with them and made information to the authorities.
The tories were pursued and arrested near South Mountain,
brought back, tried at once and imprisoned. Letters written in
[68 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
French were found upon them, but no one was able to read them.
Arnold and Despard had been in the habit of going hunting within
the limits of their parole, but were now barred from leaving town.
Accordingly they broke their fowling pieces, declaring that no
d rebel should ever burn powder in them. During their con-
finement there a man named Thompson, from what is now
I Vrry County, enlisted a company of militia in that district and
marched them to Carlisle. Whether eager to display his recruits
or not we know not, but at night he drew his company up in front
of this stone house and "swore lustily," records tell us, "that he
would have their lives, as Americans who were prisoners in hands
of the British were dying of starvation."
Through the entreaties of this same Mrs. Ramsey, Captain
Thompson, who had formerly been an apprentice to her husband,
was induced to leave. He departed, with a menacing nod of his
head, and the exclamation, "You may thank my old mistress for
your lives." The next morning she received a very polite note
from the British officers thanking her for saving them from the
valiant Captain Thompson. They were later removed to York,
and before leaving sent to' Mrs. Ramsey a box of spermacetti
candles, a rare article in those days, with a note thanking her for
her many kind favors. She returned them with a polite note to
the effect that she was too staunch a Whig to accept a gratuity
from a British officer. Despard was executed in London in 1803
for high treason, and with Arnold's fate the reader is familiar.
Committees of Observation were appointed throughout the colo-
nics, the committees representing the home county being composed
of James Wilson, John Montgomery, Robert Callendar, William
Thompson, John Calhoun, Jonathan Hoge, Robert Magaw, Eph-
raim Blaine, John Allison, John Harris, Robert Miller, John Arm-
strong, and William Irvine.
Throughout the colonies there appeared here and there sympa-
thizers with the mother country, known in their day as "tories,"
and the prototype of their ilk known as "copperheads" during the
war between the States and as "German-Americans" and "paci-
fists" during the recent great World War. The English language
does not contain words loathsome enough to describe men of that
class, who gladly enjoy the pleasures, advantages and protection
which their land affords, and yet are traitors of the foulest stripe.
That such an one had settled north of the Kittatinny Mountain,
in the territory which later became Perry County, is recorded with
deep regret, but from the public records his infamy passes to pos-
terity. The affidavit is self-explanatory:
"Cumberland County, ss. :
"Before me, C.eorge Robinson, one of His Majesty's Justices, for said
county, personally appeared Clef ton Bowen, who, being duly exam-
PERRY COUNTY IN THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR 169
ined and sworn, doth depose and say : that some time in the month of
January last, he, this deponent, was in the house of John Montgomery, in
Tryone Township, in company with a certain Edward Erwin, of Rye
Township, and this deponent says he then and there heard said Erwin
drink damnation and confusion to the Continental Congress, and damn
their proceedings, saying they were all a parcel of damned rebels, and
against spring would be cut off like a parcel of snowbirds, and more such
stuff.
"Sworn and subscribed before George Robinson, 19th February, 1776.
"Clefton Bowen."
In addition to Erwin there were a number of others of the same
ilk who left the territory soon after the British gained possession
of Philadelphia and joined them there. The list includes, accord-
ing to the Pennsylvania Archives, Alexander McDonald, Kennet
McKenzie, and Edward Erwin, all of Rye Township, farmers on
small farms, and William McPherson, William Smith, and Hugh
Gwin, of Tyrone Township. The latter was a laborer and Mc-
Pherson and Smith, blacksmiths. Their property was confiscated.
A citizen by the name of Job Stretch, who had taken up lands
in what is now Juniata Township, was an intense loyalist during
the Revolution, but began finding things getting "too warm" for
him and left for Canada, where he settled.
Leads Cornwalljs' Army Into Captivity.
To one from within the limits of what now comprises Perry
County was accorded one of the greatest honors of the entire
Revolution. When the army of the mighty Cornwallis, the British
general, laid down their arms, at Yorktown, the entire army, save
the officers, was placed in charge of the command of Colonel
George Gibson (father of the late Chief Justice Gibson), under
whose command they were marched to York, Pennsylvania, where
they were prisoners of war. Imagine, if you can, the army of that
great empire, prisoners, in the hands of a native of the soil which
comprises our little county of Perry.
*Almost seventy years after the ending of the Revolution, on
March 2, 1856, the last funeral in Perry County of a soldier of the
Revolution occurred. It was that of William Heim, of Jackson
Township, father of Rev. John W. Heim, who was the last sur-
vivor. He was aged about ninety-five years and could relate from
memory many of the incidents which resulted in the declaration
of war. The funeral of Andrew Losh, of Wheatfield Township,
*William Heim was not recruited from this territory, however, but
moved here from Northumberland County in 1815 and became a citizen.
He was ninety-five years of age, and 150 horsemen escorted his funeral
cortege, this being the only instance of this kind on record here. He is
said to have asked the national government for a pension in his later years,
but being unable to furnish other evidence than the existence of his name
on the company roll, he never received it. The state rewarded his services
with a small annuity.
i;o HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
occurring after his death on April 12, i8a<), at the age of ninety-
eight, was the next last of Revolutionary veterans.
Another prominent name connected with the Revolution from
the local territory was that of Capt. Alexander Stephens, who had
located near the Baskins' Ferry (now northern Duncannon). He
wed a daughter of James Baskins and became the grandfather
of Alexander H. Stephens, Vice-President of the Confederacy, to
whom a chapter in this book is devoted. The head of this par-
ticular Stephens clan in America was an intelligent man, as evi-
denced by various documents from his pen which we have been
privileged to read. He entered the war as a private in the Fourth
Company of the Fifth Battalion of the Cumberland County con-
tingent. He was also in the French and Indian War, being present
at Braddock's defeat as a member of Capt. Joseph Shippen's com-
pany of Col. William Clapham's regiment.
Some; of the; Patriots.
George Albright, one of the first settlers of Buck's Valley, went to
serve his country, his wife, a servant girl and several small boys doing the
farming. Mrs. Albright and the servant girl carried bags of grain to the
river on horseback. Leaving their horses there they placed the grain bags
in canoes and went down the river to the nearest mill, then at Dauphin.
While they waited until the grain was ground and they rowed the precious
load of flour up the river, the distance being about fifteen miles. Albright
returned home at the close of the war and was a respected citizen of the
little valley the balance of his days.
Benjamin Bonsall, Sr., of Greenwood Township, served at Valley Forge
with Washington during the dark days when they had little to wear and
little to eat. Aged eighty-nine years, he died in 1845.
Thomas Brown, of Tyrone Township, patriot to the core, provided in his
will for the reading of the Declaration of Independence over his open
grave, after which the minister was to pray for him and his beloved
country.
Andrew Burd, a fourteen-year-old boy from Greenwood Township, en-
tered the army as a fifer and served seven years, being mustered out in
time to get his first vote.
Edward Donelly, of Buckwheat Valley, was a member of the Colonial
militia.
The Smiley family, of Carroll Township, -had five members in the Revo-
lution, as follows: Thomas Smiley, an ensign in Colonel Watts' battalion;
John, George, William, and Samuel Smiley.
William Wallis, who was a resident of what is now Juniata Township,
Perry County, served through the Revolution and received for pay a cer-
tificate of service, which he exchanged for a set of blacksmith tools later on.
David Focht, one of Perry County's first settlers, a resident of Jackson
Township, was in the army.
Note. — According to information given to Mrs. Lelia Dromgold Emig,
author of the Hench-Dromgold genealogy, a number of Revolutionary sol-
diers are interred in the following cemeteries : Loysville cemetery, John
Hench, Michael Loy, John Hench II, and John Yohn ; Donnally's Mills,
Edward Donally and George Hench ; cemetery on ridge near Elliottsburg,
Frederick Shull ; George Hench, Duncannon.
PERRY COUNTY IN THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR 171
Benjamin Kssick, of Liverpool Township, served in the militia and lived
to be ninety-three.
Alexander Gaily, a resident of the Cove, Penn Township, served in the
Revolution and lived until 1842, being then 102 years old.
Andrew Lynch, of Tuscarora Township, was in the service of his coun-
try during the Revolution.
"William Patterson, of Petersburg, Rye Township (Duncannon), was in
the service a year, and in later years used to tell of "the tories" mustering
on Young's Hill.
Frederick Watt, later general in the patriot army, whose biography ap-
pears elsewhere in this book, was wounded in the mouth at the Wyoming
massacre, where he served with Colonel Zebulon Butler, who fought Brit-
ish, tory, and Indian forces of thrice his strength.
Englehart Wormley, one of the first settlers, was in the battle of Long
Island. He died in 1827.
Greenwood Township also furnished John Buchanan, whose descendants
long lived in the same vicinity; Robert Moody, William Rodgers, William
Philips, and others.
The state pensioned disabled Revolutionary soldiers, and among the
documents in the Bureau of Public Records at Harrisburg, is a deposition,
No. 317, relating to Robert Pendergrass, a sergeant, pensioned April 12,
1821, at $48 per annum. The oath of Hugh Sweeny is executed before
Jacob Fritz, a Perry County justice, which makes it practically certain
that Sweeny was from Perry. Pendergrass was likely from Cumberland.
Part of the deposition verifieth "that he (Sweeny) was well acquainted
with Pendergrass, that he enlisted in Capt. John Hays' company, that they
both marched from Carlisle on the sixth of April, 1776, on their way to
Kenedy (Canada), that Pendergrass remained in the service four years,
all of which time they were acquainted and part of the time messmates."
Capt. Jonathon Robison, of Sherman's Valley, was a son of George
Robinson, and suffered much in the Indian wars. Although above fifty
years of age he entered the Colonial Army. With his company he was in
the battle of Princeton, being stationed there for some time to guard
against the British and to act as scouts and intercept foraging parties.
Joseph Martin, a resident of what is now Howe Township, who became
a captain in the Revolution, sold a house on the south bank of the Juniata,
March 26, 1776, for fifty pounds, with which to purchase his horse and
equipment for the army. After spending that bitter winter with Washing-
ton's army at Valley Forge, he was taken with camp fever, and started for
home, but never arrived. Whether he perished in the wilderness or was
captured and tortured to death by the British, as tradition says, will never
be known.
*Silas Wright, in his History of Perry County, says: "The Tories
mustered their troops during the Revolutionary War on Young's Hill,"
adjoining Duncannon. He probably based the statement upon that of one
William Patterson. That fact, often quoted, seems legendary, as Dun-
cannon (then known as Clark's Ferry) was not laid out in lots until 1792,
and according to a reliable tradition, there were only eight houses from
the cabins surrounding the old forge to Clark's Run as late as 1830. When
the Revolution was taking place there evidently were very few houses
there, and just where these Tories came from would be hard to determine.
Furthermore, there are provincial records of all Tory movements and
Tories and nothing like that appears in the annals of the province, while
even the few British sympathizers within the territory are recorded as
will be seen in the foregoing pages.
172 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
In the Loysville cemetery also rests Abraham Smith, a Revolutionary
soldier, but from what territory is not known. John Ramsey, who resided
in the county, was another. Valentine Ritter was in the Revolution from
Berks County, and after the war located near Loysville.
Adam Smith, great-grandfather of the late John M. and Alvin Smith,
of Newport, served in the Continental Army, but not from what is now
Perry County.
Peter Kipp served with the Sixth Company of Second New York Ar-
tillery in the patriot army, his name appearing on the rolls until July 10,
1783. At the close of the war he settled in Buck's Valley, Buffalo Town-
ship, where he married Margaret Finton. He was a tailor and followed
his trade, going from house to house, as was the custom. His brother
Jacob, who enlisted in the same unit on the same day, was killed in the
battle of the Brandywine.
George Hench, who had settled in Perry County before the Revolution,
was a fifer in the army.
John Stewart, a Revolutionary soldier of Carlisle, settled in Perry
County prior to 1800, and his descendants live in the county.
In the Millerstown cemetery, besides Benjamin Bonsall, who died in 1845,
aged 89 years, are buried two other Revolutionary patriots. Ephraim
Williams, a cabinetmaker, died August 15, 1843, aged 86 years, and Robert
Porter (grandfather of the late T. P. Cochran), who was 86 at his death
and said to have been an officer.
Francis DeLancey, located on a farm near Kistler, after serving in the
Revolution under General Lafayette, with whom he came from France.
He was first married to a French woman in New York, from whom are
descended William and Oliver DeLancey, attorneys, whose father was
Bishop DeLancey. Dr. C. E. DeLancey and brothers are his grandsons
from the second marriage. He lived to be eighty-three.
David Mitchell, who first resided upon the farm from which the lands
for the county seat of Perry County were taken, was in the Provincial
Army under Forbes and Bouquet, as a subaltern officer, and served in the
Revolution as a major in Colonel Frederick Watts' battalion. He was
appointed by Governor McKean, in May, 1800, as brigadier general of
the militia of Perry and Franklin Counties. He represented his county
(then Cumberland) continuously in the legislature for twenty years, from
1786 to 1805, and was a presidential elector in 1813 and 1817. He was a
son of John and Agnes Mitchell, and was born July 17, 1742, in what later
became Cumberland County. He died May 25, 1818, on the Juniata, above
Newport.
That the territory which later became Perry County did well in
the way of furnishing men who then resided there or had previ-
ously been residents, as officers, is not a matter of question. By
referring to the chapter in this book devoted to the Blaine family
it will be noted that Ephraim Blaine,* once a resident of the vicin-
ity of Blain, Perry County, was Commissary General of the Colo-
nial Army and the associate of General George Washington. There
appears the story of his wonderful saving of the Revolutionary
army, which places him second only to Washington himself. Near
the close of 1776 or the beginning of 1777, when battalions began
*In the Manuscript Division of the Congressional Library, Washington,
there is a valuable collection of Letters of Col. Ephraim Blaine. (See
page 629.)
PERRY COUNTY IN THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR 173
to be designated by numerals, we find Col. Epbraim Blaine in
charge of the First Battalion. His service must have been brief
there as he is soon found to be filling the responsible post of Com-
missary General. The Second Battalion was commanded by Col.
|ohn Allison, described as "a justice of the peace of Tyrone Town-
ship, over the mountain, and a judge of the county, but after his
retirement, for he was. now past middle life." In 1778 we find
the Fourth Battalion commanded by Colonel Jonathon Robison,
"of Sherman's Valley." The battalion composed entirely of men
"from north of the mountain," was commanded by Col. Frederick
Watts, and another by Major David Mitchell.
While the Revolution was waged by the British government, yet
it was largely a personal war of the German-speaking George III,
who could not get enough of his own people interested to fight
their own kinsmen, but had to fall back on hirelings — the Hessians
— who fought for pay. Strangely enough, the histories in our
public schools are not specific upon that fact, which is largely re-
sponsible for the feeling against Great Britain in America, al-
though we dwell alongside of one of their great dependencies and
not a single fort worthy of the name guards the four thousand-
mile border on either side — unlike that of the old German mon-
archy, along whose borders frowned huge fortresses on every
hand. The writer, however, holds no brief for the British Em-
pire, neither has he any patience with those who would give that
nation equal rights in the Panama Canal.
The Continental Congress, July 18, 1875, recommended that
"all able-bodied, effective men between sixteen and fifty years of
age should immediately form themselves into companies of militia,
to consist of one captain, two lieutenants, one ensign, four ser-
geants, four corporals, one clerk, one drummer, one fifer, and
about sixty-eight privates ; the companies to be formed into regi-
ments or battalions, officered with a colonel, lieutenant colonel, two
majors, and an adjutant or quartermaster; all officers above the
rank of captain to be appointed by the provincial authorities."
Colonel Frederick Watts' Battalion.
Although occupation of the county territory was in its primary
stage practically the whole of the Seventh Battalion of Cumber-
land County Militia, with Colonel Frederick Watts in command,
was recruited here, and the battalion became a unit July 31, I777>
in the patriot army, although many of the men had been in the
service at an earlier date. There is record of some of them as
early as the beginning of 1776, and Colonel Watts was present at
.the surrender of Fort Washington, November 16, 1776. Early in
1776 there is record of the forwarding of an order for funds to
cover the expense of forwarding his men to camp.
•74
HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
The Staff. — Colonel. Frederick Watts; Lieutenant Colonel, Samuel Ross;
Major, David Mitchell; Adjutant, Thomas Bolan ; Quartermaster, Albert
Adam.
First Company. — Captain, James Fisher; First Lieutenant, Thomas
Fisher ; Second Lieutenant, Robert Scott ; Ensign, Joseph Sharpe.
John Montgomery.
James Baxter.
Francis McGarvey.
William Robertson.
Ross Mitchell.
James Shields.
Samuel Hutchinson.
James Gaudy.
Benjamin Chambers.
James Edmondstone.
James Roddy.
James Menoch.
Edward Nicholson.
Thomas Mclntire.
William Ferguson.
John Black.
Mathias Sweezy.
The rank and file of this company is named as fifty-eight, yet the
above-named is a copy of the roll of July, 1777, as printed in the State
Archives.
Patrick Cree.
Hugh Evans.
Alexander Akins.
George Brown.
Robert Boggs.
Thomas Williams.
John Campbell.
James Rhea.
Robert Purdy.
Isaac Somers.
Robert Walker.
Robert Chew.
Robert Heatly.
James Ardery.
John Piper.
George Biddle.
Second Company. — Captain, James
Marshall ; Second Lieutenant, Samuel
David Carson.
Andrew Shaw.
James Smith.
William Elliott.
William McConnell.
John Crawford.
Samuel Byars.
Archibald Kinkead.
Andrew Everhart.
Robert Creigh.
James Horn.
John McNaughton.
Alexander Fullerton.
Daniel Mulhollin.
James Barker.
The number of this company is na
names are all that appear in the State
Power ; First Lieutenant, David
Shaw; Ensign, John Kirkpatrick.
John Hunter.
Thomas McKee.
William McCoy.
John McCoy.
George McLeve.
David Baird.
David McClintock.
Samuel Glass.
James White.
Robert Johnstone.
John Phillips.
Benjamin Hillhouse.
Patrick Killian.
Richard Taylor.
William Smiley,
med as sixty-seven, yet the above
Archives, as of September, 1777.
Third Company. — Captain, Wil
Black; Second Lieutenant, John
William Murray.
George Dixson.
George Wallace.
Michael Kirkpatrick.
Thomas McTee.
Robert McKebe.
William Miller.
William Chain.
John Sanderson.
John McLean.
John McCown.
David Miller.
Thomas Noble.
liam Sanderson ; First Lieutenant. George
Simonton ; Ensign, Archibald Loudon.
David McClure.
George Brown.
Thomas Adams.
David Hartnis.
Samuel Galbreath.
William Cams.
James Gaily.
John Sedgwick.
Robert McCabe.
William Gardner, Jr.
John Neeper.
Alexander McCaskey.
Thomas Hamilton.
PERRY COUNTY IN THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR 175
Thomas Smiley. John Ewing.
John Devlin. James Maxwell.-
Hance Ferguson.
The total enrollment of this company is named as forty-six, but the
above are the only names on the State Archives list of October, 1777.
Fourth Company. — Captain, William Blain ; First Lieutenant, James
Blain; Second Lieutenant, William Murray; Ensign, Allen Nesbit.
Tames Cameron. Hugh Gormly.
Michael Marshal. John Marshall.
John McCallaster. William McClintock.
John Ardery. James McClure:
John Baker. John Smith.
Joseph Childers. William Brown.
Charles McCarty. Robert Galbreath.
William Galbreath. Abram Johnston.
Robert Boyd. John McBride.
Robert McClurg. David Martin.
James Findley. William Cunningham.
John Douglass. John Taylor.
The above is the list as recorded in the Pennsylvania Archives for Oc-
tober, 1777, although the number is quoted in some records as fifty-one.
Fifth Company.— Captain, Frederick Taylor; First Lieutenant, Daniel
Hart; Second Lieutenant, Matthew McCoy; Ensign, Thomas Watson.
Hans Kilgees. William Spottwood.
Edward O'Donald. Thomas Shedswick.
Pattrick Grant. Andrew Linch.
Robert McClintog. V Robert Irwin.
James Wymer. Hugh McCraghan.
Matthew Merrot. James Miller.
Richard Morrow. Thomas Purdy, Jr.
William Watson. William Taylor.
Hugh Miller. James Maxwell.
Clifton Bowen. William Martin.
Richard Stewart. Andrew Irwin.
Robert Huev. John Faddon.
William Williams. Samuel Glass.
Daniel Graham. Robert Adams.
Hugh Gibson. William Neeper.
Joseph Nelson. William Adams.
Andrew Kinkead. John Gardener.
Evidently the clerk of this company erred in spelling proper names;
O'Donald is likely O'Donnel ; McClintog, McClintock ; Wymer. Weimer ;
Shedswick, Sedgwick ; Linch, Lynch ; McCraghan, McCracken ; Faddon,
McFadden, and Gardener, Gardner.
Sixth Company. — Captain, Edward Graham: First Lieutenant, Samuel
Adair; Second Lieutenant, Samuel Whittaker ; Ensign, George Smiley.
William Cree. John Jamison.
William Lewis. Henry Heatly.
Francis McQuoan. Alexander Brown.
John Coulter. John Kellem.
Thomas Boyd. James Nelson.
Matthew White. Thomas Shaw.
Hugh Law. Samuel Rayney.
William McKee. Joseph Gormely.
James Kerr. John Marshall.
Thomas Barnet. Michael Marshal.
Robert Dawson. William Carson.
Samuel Ewing. William Blaine.
176 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY. PENNSYLVANIA
Hugh McClintock.
John Rea, Jr.
John Elliott.
John Smylie.
Alexander Gaely.
Moses Hays.
Edward West.
Henry Glass.
Alexander McCoy.
James Thompson.
John Nelson.
John Nelson, Jr.
In January, 1778, according to the Pennsylvania Archives, the enroll-
ment was as above, yet it is quoted at some places as seventy-eight.
Seventh Company. — Captain, John Buchanan; First Lieutenant, William
Nelson; Second Lieutenant, James Ewing ; Ensign, Benjamin Junkin.
Samuel McClelland.
Daniel Stuard.
Tames Hodkins.
John Riddle.
Matthew Kerr.
John Miller.
James Hamilton.
Samuel Neesbit.
John Cowburn.
William Shehan.
Joseph Kirkpatrick.
John Smith.
David McKee.
Henry Kelly.
Alexander Kelly.
John Ross.
George Logan.
John Cord.
Samuel Fisher.
Robert Graham.
John Camble.
Daniel Marrit.
Thomas Elliott.
Patrick Kain.
Alexander Murray, Esq.
William Erwin.
Henry Savage.
Moses Kirkpatrick. __
Peter Patterson.
William McKee.
Archibald Marrin.
Robert Cumins.
Thomas Willson.
John Kinkead.
Adrew Kinkead.
Robert Neelson.
James Byard.
The State Archives contained the above list only, yet the roster is quoted
at some places as containing fifty-five names.
Eighth ( 'ompany. — Captai
Neeper ; Second Lieutenant
James Officer.
George Morrah.
Robert Wiley.
Samuel Barnhill.
James Carson.
John McKebe.
William Kerr.
Henry Skivington.
Robert Murray.
John McCurry.
Joseph Kilpatrick.
William Murphy.
Matthew McBride.
Michael Walters.
John Wright.
William McKebe.
William Logan.
Thomas Townsley.
n, Thomas Clark ; First Lieutenant, Joseph
William Hunter; Ensign, James Fergus.
George Douglas.
John Cree.
Robert Holliday.
John Mitchell.
Joseph Patten.
Joseph Shields.
Matthew Morrison.
Michael Baskings.
Alexander Maxwell.
George Miller.
Richard Stuard.
John White.
Andrew McKee.
James McKebe.
Thomas Mclntire.
Joseph Sharp.
John McClintoch.
CHAPTER X.
PERRY COUNTY TERRITORY IN THE WAR OF 1812.
JUST what part the lands which now comprise Perry County
played in the War of 1812, or more properly, the Second War
with Great Britain, is of interest. Not only did it furnish
many men, but across it ran the nearest route to Niagara, whence
sped United States government couriers from the National Capi-
tal to the frontier. Coming from Washington, the route lay
through Sterrett's Gap, via the site of New Bloomfield and over
Middle Ridge, to Rider's Ferry, thence across the Juniata. There
was then no valley road from Bloomfield to Newport as at present,
for there was no Bloomfield and no Newport at that time. One
of the relay places, where horses were exchanged, was at Sterrett's
Gap. Whether there was another before Middle Ridge it is not
possible to say. On the top of Middle Ridge (now in Juniata
Township), three-fourths of a mile south of Milford, on the
Carlisle-Sunbury road, stood the White Ball Tavern, then kept by
Philip Clouser. There horses were again exchanged. Just at the
foot of Middle Ridge, on the same road, located on the north bank
of the Little Buffalo Creek, John Koch (Kough) kept the Blue
Ball Tavern, and as the courier would pass his place a horn sig-
naled the White Ball Tavern (Clouser's) at the top of the ridge,
so that on the arrival of the courier there the steed would be in
waiting, and scarcely a minute consumed in resuming the journey.
There were no telegraph or telephone lines in those days, and that
was the only available method of sending dispatches. It is re-
markable how quickly the journey was made by the frequent
change of horses and the occasional relief of messengers.
This war was occasioned largely by the British policy of search-
ing American vessels and impressing seamen, on the subterfuge
that they were British subjects. Anticipating the war, President
Madison had called the American Congress a month earlier, in
181 1, and it authorized a call for 100,000 volunteers, the quota of
Pennsylvania being 14,000. Governor Simon Snyder issued a call
for that number of troops on May 12, 1812. Three times the num-
ber responded. The Perry County companies which responded
were not assigned until 1814. The United States declared war
June 18, 1812. Early that year Governor Simon Snyder called
for a force of one thousand militia to help repel the British inva-
sion of the northern frontier. Cumberland County (to which
Perry then belonged) raised over half that number, a large part of
i77
12
l 7 8 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
whom came from the lands which now constitute Perry, and all of
whom were volunteers. The others came from Franklin, York,
and Adams, being drafted men, principally. These soldiers con-
stituted the Eleventh Regiment, or Division, under the command
of General Porter. They were in immediate command of Colonel
James Fenton, Lieut. Colonel Robert Bull, and Majors Galloway
and Marlin. Lieutenant Colonel Bull was from what is now Tus-
carora Township, Perry County, his father having been Henry
Bull, who built the first grist mill in Raccoon Valley, now known
as the Donnally Mill, being owned by L. E. Donnally, a former
member of the General Assembly. They were mustered in at Car-
lisle, marched to Pittsburgh, and from there to Black Rock Fort —
now the site of the city of Buffalo, New York — which they
reached about April I.
This expedition consisted of two brigades. They embarked
July 2. The first landed about a mile below Fort Erie and the sec-
ond about a mile above. A battery of "long- sixteens" was soon
placed in position and under a flag of truce the fort was given two
hours to capitulate. When the time expired 137 men, including
the officers, marched out and surrendered. At three o'clock, on the
5th, delay having been occasioned by getting supplies of food, the
army of 3,500 men marched against the enemy'^ army. Indians
had annoyed the pickets by firing upon them from concealed
points. Volunteers were called for and three hundred from the
Eleventh Regiment responded, among them officers who exchanged
their swords for guns. This was the beginning of the Battle of
Chippewa, in which Colonel Bull, the brave. Perry Countian, fig-
ured. Every man who went with General Porter was ordered to
leave his hat behind and go with head uncovered. The Indians
tied up their heads in muslin and blackened their faces with
burned wood. In less than an hour General Bull, Major Galloway
and Captain White, with a number of private soldiers, were sur-
rounded by the redskins, who had concealed themselves in high
grass and permitted the main body to pass, so that they might
secure the officers. They were made to disrobe and their clothing
divided. Major Galloway and Private Wendt were stripped of
their boots and compelled to march through thorn and stubble
"until their feet were pierced through and through," as Wendt
afterwards said. Silas Wright, in his History of Perry County
(1873), further describes the event:
"The party had advanced their prisoners but a. short distance
until they were halted, and there was evidently an Indian dissat-
isfied about something. They started again and had scarcely gone
more than half a mile when the dissatisfied Indian, then in the
rear, whooped loudly, raised his rifle and shot Colonel Bull through
the body. The ball entered the left shoulder and come out through
PERRY COUNTY IN THE WAR OF 1812
179
the right breast. After he was pierced by the bullet, Colonel Bull
raised himself on his elbow, readied out his band to Major Gallo-
way, and said, "Help me, Wendt, I am shot." The help implored
by the dying man was prevented by the Indian who bad shot him,
coming up, sinking his tomahawk into bis head and scalping him.
This act, so contrary to all laws of human warfare, was no doubt
in compliance with the order of General Riall, which was in sub-
stance, not to spare any who wore the uniform of militia officers,
while those who wore the regular officers' uniform were to be
brought into camp in safety. To this fact we ascribe the fate of a
brave soldier and a good officer." Colonel Bull was a religious
man and during his service was often among the sick, encouraging
and helping them. His age at the time was thirty-five years.
Those from within the confines of what is now Perry County
who served there, are as follows :
Captain James Piper's Company.
Privates:
Frederick Burd, Greenwood.
John Staily, Liverpool.
Jacob Potter, Buffalo. —
Jacob Liddick, Buffalo.
Peter Werner, Buffalo.
Andrew Hench, Buffalo.
Joseph Fry was killed by the Indians at Chippewa, July 5th.
Captain David Moreeand's Company.
Michael Donally, Tuscarora.
Jacob Hammaker, Watts.
Daniel Fry, Greenwood.
Abraham Fry, Greenwood.
Joseph Fry, Greenwood.
George Wendt, Liverpool T.
David Moreland, Capt., Jackson.
Robert Thompson.
John Neiper.
Amos Cadwallader.
John Kibler, Landisburg.
John Steigleman.
Richard Rodger.
George Strock.
James Adams.
John Abercrombie.
Sebastian Waggoner.
James Rodgers.
David Beems.
John Myers.
Pr'watcs:
Barkley, William, Saville.
Bower, Jacob, Saville.
Comp, , Centre.
Dissinger, George, Tyrone.
Dissinger, , Tyrone.
Evinger, Peter, Jackson.
Gutshall, George, Jackson.
Gutshall, Jacob, Toboyne.
.Garland, John, Madison.
Goodlander, John, Madison.
Hockenberry, Jos., Toboyne.
Jacobs, John, Saville.
Johnston, William, Toboyne.
Kiner, Jacob, Tyrone.
Kessler, Peter, Toboyne.
Kessler, David, Toboyne.
Kessler, Adam, Toboyne.
Mealy, Dr. Samuel, Millerstown.
Otto, Peter, Toboyne.
Ruggles, Moses, Madison.
Robinson, George, Saville.
Ross, Samuel, Tyrone.
Strock, George, Saville.
Strock, Joseph, Saville.
Stump, William, Toboyne.
Schreffler, John, Toboyne.
Schreffler, George, Toboyne.
Stambaugh, Philip, Tyrone.
Sheafer, Jacob, Tyrone.
Sheafer, Wm, Tyrone.
Swanger, Peter, Tyrone.
Stroup, •, Madison.
Scott, , Liverpool.
Sponenberger, , Liverpool.
Stewart, Richard, Tyrone.
Topley, John, Landisburg.
Weaver, Michael, Toboyne.
Wolfe, Adam, Tyrone.
Wolfe, George, Tyrone.
\\ ilson, Joseph, Tyrone.
Welch, Robert, Tyrone.
i8o HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
The following additional names are found on a muster roll,
made out September 22, 1814:
Askins, William.
Bergstresser, George.
Bower, Jacob.
Bergstresser, Solomon.
Bice, Samuel.
Bower, Peter.
Buck, George.
Dougherty, Robert.
Deckard, Philip.
Dunbar, Robert.
Dansville, Thomas.
Ewens, Moses.
Fry, Daniel.
Fry, Joseph (killed July 5th).
Fry. Abraham.
Gillam, Jacob.
Gurnard, Isaac.
Gallagher, John.
Hollenbaugh, Henry.
Hoobler, John.
Hollenbaugh, Mathias.
Hays, Robert.
Hammaker, Joseph.
Hamilton, John.
Hockenberry, Joseph.
Irwin, George.
Jordan, David.
Kennedy, Archibald.
Kelsey, George.
Kenny, Jacob.
Ledech, Jacob (Liddick).
Mores, John.
Buck, Robert.
Burd, Frederick.
Byers, Joshua.
Baughman, John.
Comp, Daniel.
Kiner, Jacob.
Clark, Thomas.
McMurray, Ezekiel.
McCoy, Thomas.
Morton, James.
Miller, William.
Neeper, James.
Potter, Jacob.
Presser, Henry.
Gray, George.
Rogers, Robert.
Ross, Henry.
Shaw, George.
Sleighter, John.
Shumbaugh, George.
Sheets, Samuel.
Stambaugh. Jacob.
Tate, William.
Taylor, Joseph.
Wilson, Joseph.
Wendt, George (taken prisoner
July 5th).
Wilson, Samuel.
Wallace, William.
Young, Abraham.
Rouse, Godfrey.
Shreffler, John.
That these men were in action and at the front is proven by the
notations as to Joseph Fry being killed and George Wendt cap-
tured. The company was also in the field at the date of the roster.
When Washington had been burned by the British and the news
reached Landisburg, Dr. John D. Creigh enrolled an entire com-
pany in the short space of two days. It was known as the Landis-
burg Infantry and completed its organization on September 6,
1814. It was at once accepted by Governor Snyder and assigned
to the second post of honor in the Pennsylvania line. Upon Octo-
ber 2 it was encamped on Bush 1 [ill, near Washington. The roster :
Captain John Creigii's Company.
John Creigh, Capt., Tyrone.
Henry Lightner, Landisburg.
Thompson, , Jackson.
Carl, Isaiah, Tyrone.
Neeper, , Tyrone.
Lackey, Henry.
Cadwallader, Amos, Tyrone.
Privates:
Bollinger, Daniel, Millerstown.
Curry, John.
Carl, David, Tyrone.
Dunbar, George.
Dunbar, John.
Dunkelberger, Benj., Tyrone.
Ernest, Jacob, Landisburg.
Foose, Michael,
Frederick, Jacob.
Fullerton, Joseph.
Gibson, Francis, Landisburg.
Henderson, Wm., Tyrone.
Hippie, John.
PERRY COUNTY IN THE WAR OF 1812 181
Holman, Conrad. Power, John, Tyrone.
Ickes, Samuel. Roddy, Alex., Tyrone.
Jones, Nathan, Landishurg. Stambaugh, Daniel, Tyrone.
Jones, Samuel, Landishurg. Smith, Philip, Tyrone.
Johnson, John, Saville. Sheibley, Barnett, Tyrone.
Jennings, Israel, Millerstown. Sheibley, Solomon.
Keck, Stephen. Sheer, .
Lightner, Jacob, Landishurg. Swarner, George.
Landis, John, Landishurg. Simons, George, S., Tyrone.
Landis, Samuel, Landishurg. West, George, Tyrone.
Lynch, . Wilson, William, Tyrone.
Mahoney, John, Landishurg. Whitmer, Barney, Tyrone.
M'Cracken, Benj., Tyrone. Zeigler, .
Marsh, Joseph, Tyrone.
John Gabel, of Howe Township, also served in this war, but with what
unit is unknown.
Michael Donnally, of what is now Tuscarora Township, was one
of the men who volunteered to go aboard Commodore Perry's
fleet, then operating on Lake Erie, expecting to stay a few days at
the utmost, but just four weeks elapsed before he got back to his
company.
Perry Countians and residents of the Juniata Valley have reason
to be proud of their record in this war. Although the British never
set foot on Pennsylvania soil, the state at one time had more men
in the field than any other, as well as having paid a larger share of
the expense. On the pretext that they were not obliged to leave
their own state, General Van Rensselaer, of New York, refused to
cross the line into Canada. General Tannehill, with a brigade of
two thousand Pennsylvanians, including local men, welcomed the
chance and promptly crossed into the enemy's country.
CHAPTER XI.
THE PROVINCE AND "MOTHER CUMBERLAND."
A HISTORY of Perry County would be incomplete without
reference to the founder of the province, the province itself,
and to Cumberland County — Mother Cumberland — during
the sixty-six years when Perry County soil was an integral part of
its domain, before attaining countyhood in its own right. William
Penn, the proprietor, has left his impress upon the land and its
people, never to be effaced. He was born in London, England,
October 16, 1644, being a son of Sir William Penn, an admiral in
the English Navy, and Margaret Jasper Penn, daughter of a Rot-
terdam merchant. He was educated at Christ Church, Oxford,
where, on hearing Thomas Loe, an eminent Quaker, he thought
well of his principles, and a few years later publicly professed
them. In consequence of this action he was twice turned out by
his father. In 1668 he began preaching and writing on the prin-
ciples of the Quakers. For this he was twice imprisoned and once
brought to trial.
In 1680 Penn petitioned Charles II for a grant of land in Amer-
ica, the Crown being in the debt of his father to the extent of some
sixteen thousand pounds. On March 4, 1681, the great seal was
affixed to the document which gave to him a grant in America —
practically the Pennsylvania of to-day, which the king named in
honor of his father. It gave to Penn almost unlimited powers,
the exceptions being the levying of taxes and the vetoing of legis-
lation. Here he founded a province where men might worship
God according to the dictates of their individual conscience. Until
1776 Penn and his heirs were the feudal lords of the land, with an
exception of two years under William III. Penn died in England
in 1718. The provincial history is largely that of the pioneers and
the Indians, the part of which relates to Perry County territory
appearing in the early chapters in this book devoted to the Indians.
Prior to the establishment of the Constitution of 1790 Pennsyl-
vania had various methods of government. The Dutch began to
rule in [609 and continued until 1638; the Dutch and Swedish
rule covered the period from 1638 to 1655, when the Dutch author-
ity again became absolute and lasted until 1664. The chief execu-
tive was then known as Vice Director. The conflict between the
English and the Dutch led to the establishment of English rule
from 1664 to 1673, when the Dutch Deputy Governor reestab-
lished the rule of his race. The English, in turn, regained their
182
THE PROVINCE AND "MOTHER CUMBERLAND" 183
lost authority in 1674 and continued it until 1681, when the pro-
prietary government under Penn was established, with various
deputy governors (including members of the Penn family) until
1777, when the Supreme Executive Council was organized.
Execution of the laws then devolved upon the president and the
supreme executive council, consisting of twelve persons, one from
WILLIAM PENN, THE FOUNDER OF PENNSYLVANIA.
the city of Philadelphia and one from each of the eleven counties
into which the province was then divided. They were, however,
chosen by district, the model of our senatorial districts in embryo.
Every member of the council was a justice of the peace for the
whole state. The president and vice-president of the state were
elected in a joint meeting of the Assembly and the Council. The
president had the judge appointing power, sat in impeachment
cases and could grant pardons. The term of the supreme court
judges was made seven years. Two or more persons were elected
in each township as justices of the peace and the Council commis-
1 84 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
sioned one or more of them for seven years. They held the courts.
Two persons were to be voted for for sheriff and the Council was
to commission one. The county commissioners and assessors of
taxes were to be elected by the people, thus embodying in the State
Constitution the principles which brought on the revolution, the
right of the people to tax themselves.
This early province is now the great Commonwealth of Penn-
sylvania, with its sixty-seven subdivisions known as counties. It is
one hundred and seventy-six miles in width from the New York
State line to Maryland, and three hundred and three miles in
length from Ohio to New Jersey. It contains 45.215 square miles
of territory and is almost as large as England and Wales com-
bined ; it is one-third larger than Ireland and larger than Holland,
Denmark, and Belgium combined. It is the only one of the thir-
teen original states having no coast line along the Atlantic Ocean.
( >f the thirteen it has exerted greater influence upon the nation
than any other, and its history has been more interesting. The
Maryland and Virginia claims to a part of the Pennsylvania domain
in the south and west and the claims of Connecticut in the Wyom-
ing Valley, and the various Indian troubles and wars, were some
of the early difficulties of the province. The pioneers and later
settlers, unlike many of the other colonies and provinces, were not
a single people but those of many nationalities. Here were to be
found the types and sects of more religious beliefs than anywhere
else, and that is largely .true to this day. Here were the beginnings
of popular government by the people. Here transportation first
developed and manufacturing started. On Pennsylvania soil were
fought battles which helped in making the Union and the greatest
battle in helping preserve the Union. Within its borders liberty
was proclaimed and that great compact between' the states — the
Constitution, was adopted. No other state in the Union has been
so typical of world progress. It is second in population, while in
land area it stands thirty-second.
Pennsylvania originally had but three counties. When William
I'enn first visited the province in 1682 — his visit covering almost
two years — he laid out three counties, Philadelphia, Bucks, and
Chester, whose boundaries were not clearly defined, but Chester
had charge of the legality of everything as far west as settlements
were then made. While there were no settlements at that time in
what is now Perry County, had such been the case it would have
been necessary to journey to West Chester to have legal action.
These original counties had seals, adopted by the provincial legis-
lature. That of Philadelphia was an anchor, of Bucks a tree, and
of Chester a plough.
The settlements of the colonists were pushing farther and far-
ther into the wilderness, as immigrants came in from across the
THE PROVINCE AND "MOTHER CUMBERLAND" 185
seas, and the necessity of having official and legal advantages closer
at hand in order to avoid far journeys to the courts caused the
citizens to petition for the erection of a new county out of the
"upper part of Chester." The petition was granted and by an act
of the Provincial Assembly, May 10, 1729, Lancaster County be-
came the fourth county of the present great commonwealth, then
in embryo. It extended westward as far as the province. From
that date any legal matters from what is now the territory compris-
ing Perry County would necessarily have been adjusted at Lan-
caster, the county seat of Lancaster County. But the territory
was uninhabited.
The continual westward trend, which has practically continued
to this day, with the attending desire for local courts, caused the
residents west of the Susquehanna to petition for the formation
of separate counties, and in 1749 York County, including the pres-
ent county of Adams — it being the fifth county and formerly a
part of Lancaster — was laid out. Cumberland, a year later — 1750
— was the sixth county created. Thus the nearest county seat to
the territory comprising Perry County, was that of Chester, then
that of Lancaster, and later that of Cumberland. It became a part
of Cumberland in 1754, where it was destined to remain for sixty-
six years, or until 1820, when it "came into its own."
In presenting a petition to the Provincial Assembly representa-
tions were made by the inhabitants of the "North Valley," as the
territory was then known, who resided west of the Susquehanna
River, that "owing to the great hardships they laid under, of being-
very remote from Lancaster, where the courts were held — some
of them one hundred miles distant — and the public offices kept,"
etc., a new county was to be desired. The act of January 27,
1750, creating Cumberland County, gave the boundaries as follows :
"That, all and singular lands lying within the Province of Pennsylvania,
to the westward of Susquehanna, and northward and westward of the
county of York, be erected into a county, to be called Cumberland ;
bounded northward and westward with the line of the province, eastward
partly with the river Susquehanna, and partly with said county of York ;
and southward in part by the line dividing said province from that of
Maryland."
Literally that would have included all of Perry and of Pennsyl-
vania to its northern border, but the lands north of the Kittatinny
or Blue Mountain had not then yet been purchased from the In-
dians. Consequently no townships were designated in the old rec-
ords as lying north of the mountains, until after the Albany pur-
chase of 1754. Neither were any justices appointed in or for
that territory. Notwithstanding that fact the author of the bill
creating Cumberland County used poor judgment, in including
within its borders, lands which were not yet purchased from the
r86 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
Indians, and there is little wonder that squatters went into the ter-
ritory and located claims. Mention of a number of these squat-
ters occur throughout this book, and among the nanus are the
forefathers of man)- present day inhabitants. Information was
not disseminated nearly so easily in provincial days and it is un-
fair to charge these squatters with disobeying the laws, when they
probably inferred from the language creating Cumberland County
that it meant just what it said, which was not the case.
This wonderful domain, when taken literally, included all of
Pennsylvania lying west of the Susquehanna River, except York
County. From it all the counties west of the Susquehanna have
been carved, either directly or indirectly, Perry being the last to
attain separation.
Cumberland County was named after a maratime county of
England, on the borders of Scotland. When the Scotch-Irish be-
gan settling the Cumberland Valley at first the Six Nations still
inhabited it. This was about 1730 or 1731. When Cumberland
County was organized it had but 807 taxable citizens.
The first Cumberland County courts, after the county's estab-
lishment in 1750, were held at Shippensburg, but were transferred
to Carlisle in 175 1, when the town was laid out. In those days the
session of Orphans' Court were sometimes held in the various dis-
tricts, and there is at least one reference to it being held on the
north side of the Kittatinny or Blue Mountain while the lands yet
belonged to Cumberland. The records state that it was held "at
William Anderson's," which location was at what is now Ander-
sonburg.
Carlisle, the new county seat, early became an educational centre,
which it is to this day. Dickinson College opened in 1783, and in
[833 came under the influence of the Methodist Church.
While Perry was yet a part of Cumberland "the Father of
His Country," President George Washington, visited Carlisle.
Incidentally, that title — the Father of His Country — was first ap-
plied to him in Baer's Almanac, published at Lancaster, Pennsyl-
vania. It was quickly adopted by the public press and will be
used as long as time lasts. It was but fit and proper that that ap-
propriate title should be first applied to him by a Pennsylvanian,
for while he was born in Virginia and died in Virginia, yet he
spent the greater number of his mature years in Pennsylvania.
No less a historian than Ex-Governor Pennypacker is responsible
for the latter statement.
In 17S7, in a list of field officers selected to command the militia
of Cumberland County, is the following: Toboyne, Tyrone, and
Pie (Rye) — Lieutenant Colonel. John Davidson; Major, Michael
Marshall.
THE PROVINCE AND "MOTHER CUMBERLAND" 187
Tn [795 the Senate of Pennsylvania voted to make Carlisle the
State Capital, but the House refused to concur.
During the period immediately prior to the Revolution, during
that war and afterwards, while Perry County was yet a part of
Cumberland, its residents had great reason to admire a fellow
citizen who was a noted lawyer, a statesman and a patriot who
was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, that
great document which has given civilization everywdiere a new
impetus. James Wilson was born in 1742 and was foremost in
all matters pertaining to the province, later to the colony, and still
later to the state. His influence upon the Constitution of the
United States — second only to that of the Declaration of Inde-
pendence — was probably greater than that of any other member
of the convention. Largely to his addresses, efforts and public ar-
ticles was due the ratification of the Constitution by Pennsylvania,
in 1 791 he established the first law school in America in connec-
tion with the University of Pennsylvania. In 1789 President
Washington appointed him a justice of the United States Supreme
Court.
It was from Cumberland County, remembering that Perry
County was an integral part at that time, that "Molly Pitcher"
went forth tc the army and the battle of Monmouth, from whence
has come her fame. Her maiden name was Ludwig, and she was
wed to a man named Hays. At that time a number of wives of
soldiers were allowed to accompany the army on errands of mercy
— to care for the wounded. They were the forerunners of the
Red Cross nurses of our time. Mrs. Hays was one of these
women and was carrying water to the soldiers when she saw her
husband fall at the battle of Monmouth. She immediately took
his place and fought courageously until the close of the battle, and
her name, "Molly Pitcher," came by reason of her carrying water
for the soldiers. She later married again, but it is as "Molly
Pitcher" that her name will descend for all time as one of the
heroines of that great conflict.
During the first thirty-two years that Perry County territory
was a part of Cumberland County there stood in Carlisle a pillory,
a whipping post and stocks, where offenders paid the penalty for
crime. The Act of 1786 did away with that form of punishment.
A considerable crime of that day was larceny, and the law provided
that for the first offense of that nature the person so convicted
should be publicly whipped on his bare back, with stripes well laid
on to the number of twenty-one. Later offenses carried a larger
number. Murder, arson, burglary, robbery and witchcraft were
-punishable by death. After 1785 the public whippings ceased, but
records show that 150 persons were so punished. Of these seven-
teen were in addition sentenced to stand in the pillory for one
1 88 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
hour, and six of them had both ears cut off and nailed to the pil-
Lory. These latter were convicted of horse stealing and passing
counterfeit money.
From 1779 to 1 7&7< m Cumberland County, eleven men and
women were sentenced to be hanged, three for murder, three for
robbery, two for burglary, two for counterfeiting, one for rape,
one for arson, and one for an unmentionable crime. The early
judges were laymen and were known as justices of the peace. Ac-
cording to a statute three were required to preside at trials. The
Act of April 3, 1791, provided for a president judge, learned in
the law. The old guardhouse, near one of the entrance gates of
the Carlisle Indian School, now again a military post, was built
by Hessian soldiers, captured by General Washington's army at
the battle of Trenton, and sent to Carlisle as prisoners of war.
A signer of the famous document known as the Declaration for
the Colony of Pennsylvania was John Creigh, one of the nine rep-
resentatives. Creigh was the father of Dr. Creigh, long a physi-
cian at Landisburg, and the grandfather of Rev. Dr. Thomas
Creigh, born in Landisburg, a noted divine. Of German origin,
transplanted to Ireland, he came to this country in 1761. He was
a lieutenant colonel of the Continental Army and a member of the
Provincial Conference which met in Carpenter's Hall in June,
1776. In February, 1778, directed by Congress, he administered
the oath to six hundred and forty-two citizens of Carlisle and
vicinity. He died February 17, 1813.
At the last election for Governor of Pennsylvania while Perry
was yet attached to Cumberland, in 18 17, William Findlay was
nominated by the (then) Republicans, and General Joseph Heister,
by the disaffected branch of the party known as "The Old School"
and the Federalists. Findlay was elected and was the governor
who signed the act creating the new county of Perry, but at the
following election for governor, in 1820, General I leister was
elected as his successor.
•Even during the term of George Washington as first President
of the United States insurrection broke out — and in our own fa-
vored Pennsylvania. Historians term it "the Whiskey Insurrec-
tion" of 1794. The farmers, and especially of western Pennsyl-
vania, distilled whiskey in large quantities, that being their prin-
cipal source of revenue. When the United States passed an act
laying an excise on liquor the measure was very unpopular in that
section, and although a people of a generally peaceful disposition,
they resisted the law. Perry County's territory, as stated, was still
a part of Cumberland, and Carlisle was its county seat. Troops
were raised at once to stand by the government and force submis-
sion of the insurrectionists. This was the occasion of President
Washington's visit to Carlisle, where he reviewed four thousand
THE PROVINCE AND "MOTHER CUMBERLAND" 189
men under arms, many of them from north of the Kittatinny or
Blue Mountain.
Among these troops was the young attorney, David Watts, son
of General Frederick Watts, born in Wheatfield Township, and
the first lad from Perry County territory to secure a college edu-
cation, who joined the troops as a private. Alive to the danger
of any refusal to support the government and resolute in his oppo-
sition to the "whiskey boys," who planted a "liberty pole" near
Carlisle, he shouldered an axe and alone, unaided and unarmed,
rode to the spot where it stood and felled it to the ground, al-
though there was a public threat to shoot any one who offered to
disturb it. Whether the planting of this "liberty pole" of 1794
was the forerunner of the "personal liberty" party of the begin-
ning of the Twentieth Century the reader must be left to conjec-
ture. Another member of the Cumberland militia company, the
Carlisle Infantry, who helped quell the insurrection was Francis
Gibson, eldest son of George Gibson, who died at Gibson's Mill
in 1856.
As the territory now comprising Perry County was yet a part
of Cumberland during the agitation attending the adpotion of the
Constitution of the United States the following episode from
Rupp's History will be of interest to the reader :
"In December, 1787, a fracas occurred between the Constitutionalists
and, Anti-Constitutionalists. A number of citizens from the county as-
sembled on the 26th (at Carlisle), to express, in their way, aided by the
firing of cannons, their feelings on the actions of the convention that had
assembled to frame the Constitution of the United States, when they were
assaulted by an adverse party; after dealing out blows they dispersed.
On Thursday, the 27th, those who had assembled the day before met again
at the courthouse, well armed with guns and muskets. They, however,
proceeded without molestation, except that those who had opposed them
also assembled, kindled a bonfire and burned several effigies. For that
temerity several, styled as rioters, were arrested and snugly lodged in jail.
They were subsequently, on a compromise between the Federalists and
Democrats, liberated. The Federalists were the Constitutionalists."
While Perry was a part of Cumberland, Jacob Alter was elected
to the Pennsylvania Legislature twenty-one consecutive times upon
the Whig ticket. His only sister became the wife of Governor
Joseph Ritner, of Pennsylvania. Cashier James T. Alter and D.
Boyd Alter, of the First National Bank of New Bloomfield, arc
of the third generation of this noted family. William Anderson,
who resided at Andersonburg, also represented Cumberland in the
legislature.
Among others located north of the Kittatinny or Blue Moun-
tains who represented Cumberland County in the legislature
* before Perry County was formed was David Mitchell, who served
for more than twenty years. (See chapter on Revolutionary
War.) He resided first on the Barnett farm at New Bloomfield,
I (jo HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
but sold it to Thomas Barnett and removed, first to Raccoon Val-
ley, but soon to the well-known Mitchell place, in the Juniata, north
of Newport, in Oliver Township. His father was Colonel John
Mitchell, commander of the Cumberland County Militia, whose re-
mains lie in the Poplar Hill graveyard, on the McKee farm, west
of New Bloomfield. An interesting document, the text of which
is here reproduced, refers to soldiers from north of the mountain,
as well as south, all of which was then Cumberland County. It is
in connection with the military career of the elder Mitchell, who
came to America from Ireland, because while enraged at a mem-
ber of parliament who voted against an issue to which he was
pledged, struck him, which either meant banishment or death. It
follows : « T n -, . , _
In Council, September 2, 1780.
"Sir: His excellency, the President of the State, having received or-
ders from General Washington to dismiss the militia for the present, but
to hold themselves in readiness to march at an hour's warning; we hereby
direct you to discharge the Cumberland Militia now under your command
at Lancaster on the conditions above expressed. At the same time ex-
pressing our warmest acknowledgments of the readiness with which your
militia have turned out on this occasion and make no doubt, but on every
future call, they will manifest the like zeal in the cause of the country.
"Your Most Honorable Servant,
"William Moore, Vice-President.
"To Colonel John Mitchell, Commanding the Cumberland Militia at Lan-
caster."
Robert Mitchell, of the third generation, being a son of David,
was one of the first board of county commissioners of Perry
County, and was interviewed by Prof. Silas Wright, the historian,
in 1872, from which interview we quote:
"I am now in my ninetieth year; was one of the first board of county
commissioners of Perry County ; have lived on this place since I was three
years old. I remember when the deer were so plenty that, from Septem-
ber to January, thirty-seven were driven into the Juniata River below the
rope ferry."
Cumberland County, its people and its traditions, more than any
other in the state, resembles the original counties of Rucks, Phila-
delphia, and Chester, formed by William Penn, along the Dela-
ware. Just as that section was the nucleus of the millions east of
the Susquehanna, so was Cumberland the nucleus of that vast
population west of the Susquehanna, occupying a far greater ter-
ritory. Just as that section takes pride in its traditions, its insti-
tutions and its ancestry, so does Cumberland. And why not?
With its institutions, dating back almost to the time of Penn; its
traditions and its location, as the very outpost of civilization for
decades, and again at the very borderland of sectional strife, its
importance historically is self-evident.
Inextricably intertwined with the history and development of
the province and of old Mother Cumberland is the series of war-
THE PROVINCE AND "MOTHER CUMBERLAND"
l 9 I
rants, patents, sales and land grants of this then frontier of civili-
zation. In a volume the size of this it has been impossible to give
any great number of them, yet, in the history of each township,
some of the more important are recorded. While squatters or in-
truders had presumed to settle within the borders of the county,
as now constituted, and had been dispossessed and in some cases
their cabins burned, yet there is evidence that a considerable num-
ber again went in before the opening of the land office on Febru-
ary 3, 1755. The purchase of 1754, consummated on July 6, had
likely no sooner been proposed than the lure of the land, like a
magnet, drew the hardy pioneer across the Kittatinny Mountain
tor a choice parcel which his eyes had previously feasted upon.
The fact that claims of that very first day mention the names of
others as "adjoining them" is in itself evidence that entry had al-
ready been made. As an example, take the very property on which
the county seat is located. According to an affidavit of Janus
Mitchell, taken before David Redich, prothonotary of Washington
County, Pennsylvania, October 19, 1801, and read before the
Board of Property, which met at Lancaster :
"In September, 1753, William Stewart, father of John (party to the
suit), made an improvement, which was the first made in that part of the
county, on a tract of land now lying in Cumberland County, bounded as
follows: Beginning at the mouth of Stewart's branch of Little Juniata
(Creek) ; then northerly, to a gap in the Mahanoi Mountain, and not to
cross said mountain, which line was agreed between John Mitchell, father
of the deponent, who assisted Stewart in building a house on said tract
some time in the fall of 1753, and Stewart moved in with his family the
next spring, cleared ground and raised a crop that season."
The land here in dispute consisted of 348 acres and was known
as the Bark Tavern tract, being located in Centre Township, the
lower boundary being near the stone house formerly owned by
Andrew Comp.
This affidavit, however, specifically states that the line "was
agreed between John Mitchell and William Stewart" and names
the date as September, 1753, which proves that Mitchell had then
already located the county seat tract. While he had located it and
agreed with "an adjoiner" upon the line, yet he had not then
erected an improvement upon it as the affidavit by James Mitchell
(the son of John) says that William Stewart "made an improve-
ment, which was the first made in that part of the county." If the
affidavit is accepted at all from a historical standpoint, and there
appears no reason why it should not be, then it must be accepted
in its entirety, which establishes 1753 as being the exact date of
the entry of the Mitchells and many others into Perry County ter
ritory, the advance guard of the pioneers.
There is quite a distinction attached to the original territory —
Perry and Cumberland Counties. In the capital at Washington —
1 92 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
in the Hall of Fame — provision has been made for the various
states to place statues of their two most illustrious sons. The State
of Georgia has chosen Alexander H. Stephens — congressman,
statesman, governor — and Dr. Crawford Long — discoverer of
anaesthesia — as Georgia's most representative citizens. Both are
the sons of natives of this original county. As stated at a num-
ber of places in this book and in a separate chapter devoted to
Mr. Stephens, his father, Andrew Stephens, was born at Dun-
cannon. Mr. Long's ancestry were from Cumberland County.
Three brothers named Long — Samuel, Andrew, and another —
with their father, emigrated from Ulster, Ireland, to Cumberland
County before the Revolution. They came of staunch stock —
Sc< itch-Irish Presbyterians — and their name in Britain is associated
with shipping and banking through generations. Of these broth-
ers, Samuel went to Georgia, another went West, and the third re-
mained in Carlisle. Samuel was born in 1753 and fought in the
Revolution as an ensign, from which one would infer that he was
barely grown to manhood when he came to America. He married
Ann Williamson about 1776. About 1790 a colony of Scotch-
Irish Presbyterians left the Cumberland Valley and went to Geor-
gia, settling in Madison County. Of that colony Samuel Long
was one of the leaders. With him went his small son, James, who
became the father of Dr. Crawford Long. A few years earlier
another colony had preceded these people to Georgia, where they
suffered many hardships, yet, in spite of settling in a wilderness,
they built at Paoli, the second Presbyterian church to be erected
in the state of Georgia — the New Hope Church, of which Samuel
and later James Long were elders. With the Longs there went to
Georgia the Groves, McCurdys and Cartlidges, all reliable fami-
lies who in after years left their impress on the state. Ansestbesia,
as the reader is aware, causes insensibility to pain and other ex-
ternal impressions. Before the discovery of surgical anaesthesia
surgery was very painful and many patients died from shock due
to pain. There has long been a contention as to who was the dis-
coverer of anaethesia, but Dr. Long's experiments and regular use
of it date to March 30, 1842, predating the actual use by the others
of from two to four years. Four Americans — Jackson, Wells,
Morton, and Long — claimed the discovery. The Medical Asso-
ciation of Georgia, in 1910, unveiled a marble monument to the
honor of Dr. Crawford Long at Jefferson, Georgia, and in the
infirmary connected with the University at Athens, Georgia, is a
Long Memorial. In 1912 the University of Pennsylvania unveiled
in its medical building a bronze medallion with the inscription.
"To the memory of Crawford W. Long,
who first used ether as an ansethetic in surgery,
March 30, 1842."
THE PROVINCE AND "MOTHER CUMBERLAND" [93
A life-sized marble statue of Dr. Long stands in Paris and the
state of Georgia has well chosen him one of its two immortals for
the Hall of Fame in the National Capitol.
James Long, the lad who left Cumberland County, married
Elizabeth Ware and became a state senator of Georgia. Llis noted
son, Dr. Crawford Long, was born at Danielsville, Georgia, No-
vember 1, 181 5. At the University of Georgia, where he gradu-
ated at nineteen, his roommate and best friend was Alexander I I.
Stephens, later vice-president of the Confederacy. At the age oi
twenty-three he was graduated at the University of Pennsylvania
in the medical course. He specialized in surgery in the New York
hospitals for two years. In 1841, then twenty-six, he located at
Jefferson, Georgia, and in 185 1 he located at Athens, Georgia,
where he practiced until his death on June 6, 1878. When Georgia .
decided to go out of the Union Dr. Long said, "This is the saddest
day of my life," He was a Whig in politics.
Old Election Districts.
The Continental Congress in session in Philadelphia passed a resolution
on May 15, 1776, in reference to the election of representatives from each
county. Prior to that time the proprietary government ruled and prac-
tically everything was done by appointment instead of by election. A new
regime had now begun and at the provincial conference held in Carpen-
ter's Hall, Philadelphia, June 18 to 25, the counties were divided into dis-
tricts. Cumberland County was divided into three districts, the third being
composed of the townships of Tyrone, Toboyne, Rye, Milford, Greenwood,
Armagh, Lack, Derry, and Fermanagh. This district comprised all of what
is now Perry, Juniata and Mifflin Counties. The voting place was to be
"at the house of Robert Campbell, in Tuscarora Valley," being in what is
now Juniata County.
The Act of June, 1777, changed the county from three to four districts,
the third being composed of Tyrone, Toboyne, and Rye, the voting place
to be at William McClure's— the farm now occupied by the county home
at Loysville. All the territory east of the river which then comprised
Greenwood Township was in the fourth district, the voting place being at
James Purley's, in Fermanagh Township, now in Juniata County.
lU By the Act of September 13, 1785, entitled 'An act to regulate the
general elections of this commonwealth and to prevent frauds therein,'
the state redistricted, and voting places fixed in each district. Cumberland
County was thrown into four districts. The first was within her present
limits. The second was composed of the townships of Rye, Tyrone, and
Toboyne, with the voting place 'at the house of William McClure, Esq.,
in the township of Tyrone.' The third district embraced Greenwood, with
the townships of Fermanagh, Milford, and Leek (Lack) (now Juniata
County), with the voting place fixed at the house of Thomas Wilson (Port
Royal), in the township of Milford.'
"The citizens of Rye and Greenwood were much inconvenienced by the
long distance to the voting places, especially Greenwood, and petition was
1. For much of the information as to old election districts we are in-
debted to William H. Sponsler's historical article on the subject, prepared
and read before the Philomathean Literary Society at New Bloomfield
Academy, many years ago,
13
1 94 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
made to the legislature asking relief, which was granted by Act of Sep-
tember 10, 1787, of which Section IV is in these words: 'And whereas,
a number of the freemen of the townships of Greenwood and Rye, in the
county of Cumberland, have, by their petition set forth that their distant
situation from the place of holding their general elections is found incon-
venient, and have, therefore, prayed this General Assembly to enact a law
by which the said townships shall be made a separate district for the
holding of their general elections. Therefore,' etc.
"The fifth section accordingly erects Rye and Greenwood into the sixth
district of Cumberland, with its voting place 'at the mill late the property
of David English, and known by the name of English's Mill' (at the mouth
of Buffalo Creek, near Newport).
"By the Act of the 19th of September, 1789, this sixth district was be-
reft of a portion of the territory, that part of Greenwood lying north of
Turkey Hills, which, by an act passed 29th of same month, was made into
a separate election district of Mifflin County.
"After Rye was taken from Tyrone and Toboyne, it was found that Mc-
Clure's, which had, no doubt, been selected with a view to accommodate
the Rye Township people, as well as the other two townships, was incon-
venient and the inhabitants asked that a more convenient place be estab-
lished. The Act of September 30, 1791, was enacted to remedy this among
others, and the place of election was fixed 'at the house now occupied by
George Robinson, in Tyrone Township (now Edward R. Loy's, Madison
Township).
"In 1787 the township of Rye and that part of Greenwood lying south
of the Half Falls Mountain were erected into a separate election district,
with its voting place 'at the Union schoolhouse, in the town of Petersburg,
in Rye Township.'
"The next change was made by the Act of March 8, 1802, Juniata Green-
wood and that part of Buffalo Township lying north of the Half Falls
Mountain had their place of holding elections fixed 'at the house now or
lately occupied by William Woods, at Millerstown, in the township of
Greenwood.'
"By the Act of March 21, 1803, the townships of Tyrone and Toboyne
heretofore together, are separated, each to constitute an election district
of itself. Tyrone was to vote 'at the schoolhouse in the town of Landis-
burg,' and Toboyne 'at the house now occupied by Henry Zimmerman, in
said township.'
"By the Act of February 11, 1805, Buffalo Township was made a sepa-
rate election district, with a voting place 'at the house now occupied by
William Thompson, in Buffalo Township.'
"By the Act of March 19. 1816, it was provided that 'the electors re-
siding within the eastern part of Greenwood Township be divided as fol-
lows: beginning in the narrows of Berris (Berry's) Mountain; thence
westerly above the summit of the said mountain, six miles; thence north-
erly by a line parallel with the river Susquehanna to the line of Cumber-
land Count}- ; thence easterly along the said line to said river ; thence
down said river to the place of beginning, shall hold their general elec-
tions at the house of Henry Raymon,' now in Liverpool Township.
"By the thirty-second section of the Act of March 24, t8i8, the voting
place of Buffalo Township was changed to the house of Frederick Deal,
in said township, and by the twelfth section of the Act of March 29, 1819,
the township of Saville was erected into a separate election district, with
voting place 'at a schoolhouse near Ickesburg, in said township.'
THE PROVINCE AND "MOTHER CUMBERLAND" 1^5
"hi [820, when the county was separated from Cumberland as a new
county the election districts and voting places were as follows: Toboyne,
house of Henry Zimmerman; Tyrone, schoolhouse, Landisburg; Saville,
schoolhouse. North Ickesburg; Buffalo, house of Frederick Deal; East
Greenwood, house of Henry Raymon; Rye, Union schoolhouse, Peters-
burg; Juniata and West Greenwood, W. Woods' house, Millerstown.
"A change was made in i860, and the following were made the voting
places: At the schoolhouse in Germantown district; at Zimmerman's
tavern for the lower district of Toboyne; at the schoolhouse in Landis-
burg for Tyrone Township; at the schoolhouse near Ickesburg for Saville;
at John Koch's (Kough's) tavern for the northern district of Juniata
Township; at the Union schoolhouse near the Methodist Church in
Wheatfield Township; at Colonel Bovard's tavern for Rye Township;
at the house of Straw, for Buffalo Township; at the house of John Gard-
ner, Millerstown, for Greenwood Township; at the house of John Eber-
ling. in Liverpool Township.
"At this time a new district was made composed of parts of Juniata,
Wheatfield, Tyrone, and Saville Townships, bounded as follows : Begin-
ning at the mouth of Little Buffalo Creek in Juniata Township; thence
up said creek to the house of John Smith, in Saville Township, including
said house; thence by a straight line to the house of Abraham Kistler,
in Tyrone Township, including said house ; thence by a straight line to
Jacob Shatto's sawmill in said township; thence down the summit of
Iron Ridge, to the house of John Greer, in Wheatfield Township, includ-
ing said house; thence along the summit of Dick's Hill to Johnston's saw-
mill in said township ; thence by a straight line to Dick's Gap, in Juniata
Township; thence along the summit of Mahanoy Hill to the house of
Alexander Watson, on the bank of Juniata River, including said house;
thence up said river to place of beginning.
"A few years later, as townships were erected, separate election dis-
tricts were made embracing the townships, and, with the exception of
Madison Township, each township is an election district to-day. The
north end of Madison was cut off into a separate district called Sandy
Hill or Northeast Madison, which practically is a separate township, with
the single exception of in the election of justices of the peace, both dis-
tricts voting for the same candidates for this one office."
Newport borough is the only town in the county which has two separate
election districts, the first and second wards.
Several special acts relating to polling places in Perry County were
passed by the Pennsylvania Legislature. That of March 4, 1842, added
Henry's Valley to Tyrone Township for voting purposes, and that of
March 12, 1849, added part of Juniata Township to Saville Township,
and made Ickesburg the polling place. An Act of March 6, 1849, annexed
to Greenwood Township for election purposes "all that part of Juniata
Township, commencing on the Juniata River, on division line of Perry and
Juniata Counties, thence along said line on Tuscarora Mountain until it
comes opposite the upper line of Samuel Black's farm, thence along said
upper line to top of Raccoon Ridge one mile, thence south to Patton's
schoolhouse, thence along the Oliver Township line to the Juniata River."
In a general election district bill vetoed by Governor Bigler and passed
over his head by the House on January if), 1844. and by the Senate, Janu-
ary 22, 1844, parts of Tyrone, Saville, and Madison Townships were made
an election district, with the voting place at Andesville (now Loysville),
It was repealed by an Act of March 9, 1844, less than sixty days later.
196 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
Lewis, The Robber.
The history of Lewis, the robber, is of no consequence in this
hook, except in so far as his depredations and abode concerns the
territory, as lie was a native of Carlisle, but even left there when
he was but three years old. The year of the organization of Perry
County was, strangely enough, coincident with the passing of
Lewis, who died July 13, 1820, in the Bellefonte jail, when only
thirty years of age, a victim of his own bad life. The very first
issues of the Perry Forester tell of his capture and later of his
death. There are those who uphold him as a gentleman robber,
who stole from the rich to give to the poor, but his own confession,
dated the day before his death, belies that assertion, as he pleads
guilty to almost the whole category of crime, save murder. How-
ever, in some instances he did steal from the rich to give to the
poor, if tradition be true; and tradition is persistent, in news-
paper and locality. This story appears with slight variations at
various places.
On one occasion Lewis dropped in to rob a home and the lady
occupant told him she was a widow, had no money and that the
constable was coming to take her cow for her overdue taxes,
accompanying the statement with tears. Lewis asked her the
amount of the taxes and gave her an amount of money sufficient
to pay them, telling her to say nothing of the fact that he had been
there or where she had gotten the money. As he was hungry she
gave him a meal. Shortly after he left, the expected officer of the
law came, the taxes were paid and he departed, but on his way
home Lewis held him up and not only got the tax money, but all
that he had. Lewis is said to have remarked that that was the best
investment he ever made.
He roamed the country from the Susquehanna west as far as
Fayette County, and was a notorious counterfeiter, according to
his own confession. ITe was always in search of victims to rob.
One of his favorite resorts was in the Kittatinny or Blue Moun-
tains, north from Doubling Gap Springs, where there was a cave,
which was the size of an ordinary living room, being formed by a
projecting rock. The spot is known to hunters to this day, its
location having been handed down from one generation to another.
Time has wrought much in its destruction by the disintegration
of the rock by the elements, partly filling the cave. From a point
not far from the cave he had a fine view of the valleys below and
the trails up the mountain. From that point he watched for offi-
cers of the law, and confederates in the valleys below used to dis-
play danger signals to him when strangers were in the vicinity.
One of these confederates was reputed to be a man named Moffitt,
and on entering the cave at one time officers found anions: other
THE PROVINCE AND "MOTHER CUMBERLAND" 197
things an almanac bearing his name. Near the big spring at Mt.
Patrick is one of the places where tradition would have a rendez-
vous of Lewis. This may have been possible, as there is a well
founded tradition that a stranger once called on Peter Musselman,
at Liverpool, to have a tooth drawn, and that he "later found it to
have been Lewis, upon whose head was a price." Mr. Musselman,
by the way, was in France as a student during the trying period
of the French Revolution.
But Lewis didn't learn his deviltry in this vicinity, as the follow-
lowing brief account of his life will show :
David Lewis was born in Carlisle, Cumberland County, Penn-
sylvania, March 4, 1790, and was one of a numerous family of
children; and according to his deathbed confession he grew up
"without regard for men and little fear of God." Three years
later his father was made a deputy district surveyor and removed
to Northumberland County, where he died several years later,
while David was yet a small boy. He remained with his mother,
doing occasional farm labor for farmers until 1807, when he left
home. After trying several avocations he enlisted in the army at
Bellefonte. A petty offense caused the sergeant to endeavor to
arrest him, but he ran away. Some time later, using the assumed
name of Armstrong Lewis, he enlisted in Capt. Wm. N. Irvin's
company of artillery in the United States service, at Carlisle. He
did this in order to get the bounty money and then decamp, but
failed. He then decided that he would study law and tried to get
out of the army for that purpose by having a writ issued. After
a tedious hearing before John D. Creigh, then associate judge of
Cumberland County, he was remanded into the army. This hear-
ing caused an inquiry to be made into his past life and it was dis-
covered that he had once before enlisted in the army under his
right name and deserted.
The rumbling of the second war with Great Britain was already
heard, and according to the strict military discipline of the time
Lewis was sentenced to be executed. His mother, then living in
Centre County, rode overland on a horse loaned by Judge Walker,
to aid him. Eventually he was reprieved in so far as the death sen-
tence was concerned, but was sentenced to life imprisonment. He
was first imprisoned, attached to a ball and chain, but gradually
ingratiated himself into the good graces of the guards and effected
his escape. Once free Lewis escaped to a small cave north of
Carlisle, where he remained until long after nightfall when hunger
drove him forth. Arousing a woman who lived by the wayside
he was served a cooked meal and given a bed, but before morning
he decamped and departed for Centre County, where his mother
lived, crossing the Kittatinny or Blue Mountain, and traveling
across what later became Perry County.
198 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
Later, meeting an itinerant tin peddler of a nomadic elan which
frequented the countryside in those days, he learned of a concern
at Burlington, Vermont, which issued counterfeit hills, and forth-
with made a trip there and in due time headed for Pennsylvania,
a counterfeiter with his wares ready for the market. While pass-
ing through New York State he bought a horse of a General Root,
then a candidate for office and paid for it with counterfeit bills.
He was soon detected and jailed in Troy, where, through a girl
friend of the sheriff's daughter, he effected his escape on a Sun-
day night while the sheriff was at church. In company with the
girl, whom he promised to marry, he arrived in Albany the next
evening and kept his word and had the marriage ceremony imme-
diately performed.
The next day Lewis imparted to his unsuspecting girl- wife the
less criminal of his actions. Up to this time he had kept her in
ignorance of any previous improprieties and insisted that his
prosecution in the horse purchase was really persecution on account
of politics. During the several days following, Lewis and his wife
traveled to New York, the latter having secured passage on the
wagon of a Yankee, bound to New York with his wares. In New
York Lewis soon associated with his kind and became an ordinary
sneak thief and burglar, according to his own confession. There
he belonged to a gang which signed a parchment with their own
blood.
After a time in New York, where he had personally robbed Mrs.
John Jacob Astor of much finery which she had purchased, he was
accused by his accomplices of not turning in all of the same to the
general "fund." He became disgusted and with his wife traveled
to New Brunswick, New Jersey, and set up housekeeping. Leav-
ing his wife there he journeyed to Princeton, posed as a Southern
planter and by gambling fleeced the students out of hundreds of
dollars. As soon as the holiday recess was over at Princeton Lewis
moved on to Philadelphia, where he resumed sneak thieving. He
had conceived a plan there to lure to the country Stephen Girard,
the wealthy banker, and hold him for a ransom, but his small
daughter's illness recalled him to New Brunswick.
After spending some time at home he started for the Canadian
lines, hut became penniless .and hired to a farmer. Hardly had he
done so until the farmer's team was impressed into the service of
the United States Army. Lewis drove it away, and when it was
no longer needed he "drove it away" again, but towards his old
haunts in Pennsylvania, selling it as soon as he could. He was
then traveling under the fictitious name of Peter Vanbeuren. He
landed at Stoyestown, Pennsylvania, where he learned from an-
other crook that his wife was dead and buried.
THE PROVINCE AND "MOTHER CUMBERLAND"
199
In the mountains near there he joined a band of counterfeiters
and, when they made some accusation against him, he waited until
they slept and robbed them. This wealth he claims to have put in
a bottle and buried, forgetting the place, but as his whole life was
crooked his statements, too, must not be taken too seriously. In
his confession he tells of stealing a horse in Maryland, coming to
Cumberland County and getting arrested for passing counterfeit
money, escaping to see his family, returning to Cumberland Count v
with other counterfeiters and embarking in the business there.
This establishment was in the South Mountain. Lewis then tells
of proceeding to Landisburg, where he passed a $100 counterfeit
note to a Mr. Anderson, a merchant, whose place was in the build-
ing owned by the heirs of George Patterson. Passing through
Roxbury, Strasburg, and Fannettsburg, he gathered in $1,500 in
real money, which he deposited in the Bedford bank. He was
arrested and found guilty of counterfeiting, his sentence being
ten years in the penitentiary, but Governor Findlay pardoned him
after serving a year. He returned to Bedford to get his money,
but it was refused. Here he fell in with a man named Rumbaugh,
but traveling under the name of Conelly, and another who called
himself Hanson. The three overtook a drover, who was return-
ing westward on horseback, and robbed him, tying both man and
horse to a tree, with a threat of death if he tried to get away.
Lewis here prevented the other two from killing the drover, say-
ing they would have to kill him first. The drover got away and
aroused the community. The robbers made for the Juniata River
country but were captured and returned to Bedford. They escaped
from there and after some more robberies, recaptures and escapes,
they turned to the Juniata River country again, with which they
were familiar, and made an effort to reach New York State. Ac-
cording to the "Life and Adventures of David Lewis," being ex-
hausted they stopped at a tavern below Lewistown. Sheriff Samuel
Edmiston learned of it and with a posse of about thirty men went
In the hotel. One man was sent in to carelessly discover whether
or not they were there. He returned and reported them in bed.
The posse closed in and a half-dozen brave men quietly ascended
the stairs and found them sleeping. On awakening Lewis he im-
mediately reached for a weapon, but the sheriff overpowered him.
When taken to the Bedford jail, he said it wouldn't hold him long,
and it didn't. The sheriff, as an extra precaution, had handcuffed
him, but he slipped the cuffs and escaped. They later got to Clear-
field County, and one day recklessly began shooting at a mark,
which aroused the neighborhood and they were surrounded, but
.defied the posse. The result was that Lewis was shot through the
arm, which shortly thereafter, July 13, 1820, caused his death, and
that Conelly was shot in the groin and died in a few hours.
200 HISTORY OP PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
When Lewis escaped from the Bedford jail he was in irons,
according to the public press of the period. He succeeded in get-
ling' to a near by woods, where, by use of a hie, he cut the irons
fi'i mi his person. The advertisements describing him make him
"six feet tall, square shoulders, reddish hair, speaks quick and has
a fierce look."
While Lewis is supposed to have had no education, his confes-
sion belies that supposition, both from the standpoint of language
and logic. He flays the Carlisle lawyers and the public officials,
naturally, for had it not been for them he might have had easier
sailing. Endeavoring to find a cause for what he terms his "mis-
fortunes and crimes," he says:
"When I look back upon my ill-spent life, and endeavor to dis-
cover the cause or source from which all my misfortunes and
crimes have sprung and proceeded, I am inclined to trace their
origin to the want of early instruction. Had my widowed mother
been possessed of the means of sending me to school, and afforded
me the opportunity of profiting by an education during the early
part of my youth, instead of being engaged in idle sports and
vicious pursuits, I might have been employed in the studies of use-
t nl knowledge, and my mind by this means have received an early
tendency to virtue and honesty from which it would have not
afterwards been diverted. But, alas! She was poor, and the Legis-
lature of Pennsylvania — I blush with indignation when I say it —
had made no provision, nor has she yet made any adequate one,
tor the gratuitious education of the children of the poor. Until
this is done and schools are established at the public expense for
teaching those who are without the means of paying for instruc-
tion, ignorance will cover the land with darkness, and vice and
crime run down our streets as a mighty torrent." -
The writer feels like apologizing for publishing this account,
but it it will show at least one boy the value of his free schooling,
where his mind is kept on useful things, instead of those of a
vicious nature, it is not done in vain. The fact that Lewis' life,
through dissipation, vice, exposure and crime, was only thirty
short years, will also impress the youth of the land as they see
about them men and women of sixty, seventy, and even eighty,
enjoying all the comforts of life, a tribute to lives of honesty, dis-
cretion and labor.
This chapter would not be complete without adding that Lewis
came of good people, that he was the only member of his family
who trod the crooked pathway and that his children lived honest
and straightforward lives. About 1845 a handsome young woman
— a daughter of the robber by a second marriage — resided with her
mother at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania's capital, where she attracted
much attention by her frank, open, womanly bearing.
CHAPTER XII.
PERRY COUNTY ESTABLISHED.
BY an act of the State Legislature of the Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania Perry County was created, the act being signed
by the governor, William Findlay, on March 22, 1820. It
was the fifty-first county of the state. The territory was a part
of the lands covered by the Indian treaty at Albany, New York,
)ulv 6, 1754, of which mention is made elsewhere. The lands
covered by this treaty were all embraced in Cumberland County
at that time, and the northern part was formed into counties, the
last one being Mifflin, in 1789.
When Perry County was formed it comprised the seven town-
ships of Cumberland County lying north of the Blue Hills, or
Kittatinny Mountains. Tyrone, early being known as "the ever-
lasting State of Tyrone," was the oldest of these townships, being
erected in 1754. The other six were Toboyne, 1762; Rye. 1766;
Greenwood, 1767 ; Juniata, 1793; Buffalo, 1798; and Saville.
1817.
The population of these townships was considerable, and with
the incoming of new settlers, frequent trips to the county seat at
Carlisle were necessary in connection with the new claims, over
roads which were at some seasons of the year almost impassable.
The fact that most of the changes in property in those days occurred
around the first of April, when the roads were at their worst, and
that the shortest routes lay over the Kittatinny Mountain, no doubt,
actuated the movement for the new county, with a county seat
within easy distance. In conformity with this desire petitions
were presented to the State Legislature then in session and the act
creating Perry County was passed.
With the passing years the residents of what is now Perry — of
the Sherman's Valley and the land between the rivers — became
discontented as a part of a county whose seat of justice was south
of that great natural barrier, the Kittatinny or Blue Mountain,
and not at all central. In fact, the physical features of the entire
territory of Cumberland at that time were such that there could
be no logical central point to locate a seat of justice ; nature had
decreed it otherwise. Those located north of the Kittatinny had
to travel distances which were as far as forty miles to the county
'seat ; unlike those of the south side they could not return to their
homes the same day, and were thus necessitated securing hotel
accommodations, which cost thousands of dollars annually. The
201
202 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
expense of both time and money required for legal action at the
far-away seat of justice (with the then methods of travel) often
was the cause of those guilty of crimes going unpunished. These
and many other reasons are enumerated in the petition praying
for the new county.
Comprising practically half of Cumberland County, the citizens
of what is now Perry contributed approximately half of the
taxes. The public buildings at Carlisle had been built by funds
supplied by taxation on both sides of the mountain, yet those early
settlers of the north side, sometimes referred to in derision as
"Hoop-Pole Perry" by those of the southern side, did not ask a
commission's action in stating just what part of their cost should
be refunded to the northern section — as is often done in this mod-
Photo by M. C. Shoivalter.
EANDISBURG, THE FIRST COUNTY SEAT.
Central section of Landisburg. To the left, the Reformed church, once the seat of
Mt. Dempsey Academy.
ern age and rightly so — but specifically stated "all of which they
are willing to give up," an everlasting credit to their magnanimity
and financial independence. Such were the sons of the pioneers!
As the population of the northern section increased, murmurings
— at first considered a mere passing whim — were heard. Gradu-
ally separation from the mother county became a matter of bitter
contention in local affairs and in elections, often causing bitterness
which passed from one generation to another. It seems strange
that in a few of the older people a trace of resentment is still to
be found, a heritage from the generation that is gone. Those who
advocated a new county were at first considered fanatics and later
— when their number had become worth reckoning with — were
known as "separatists" on the north side of the mountain and as
"seceders" on the south side. At the general elections the matter
was uppermost, and often upon it hinged defeat or political ad-
vancement. Of the bitterness, as the years passed, there is evi-
dence here and there. The story is told of an early settler and
wife visiting her people in Carlisle and of a hasty departure for
PERRY COUNTY ESTABLISHED 203
home on account ot a vow that "no child of mine shall first open
his eyes on the Cumberland side of the mountain."
Eventually, after years of consideration and when the small
body of original enthusiasts had grown to a vast majority of the
residents of the northern section, petitions were prepared and cir-
culated, with the end in view of presenting them to the Pennsyl-
vania General Assembly in session at Harrisburg, praying that a
new county be formed. The petitions were printed and a time-
worn one is in the possession of W. H. Sponsler, a New Bloom-
field attorney-at-law. At several places words are obliterated by
the ravages of time, but are supplied for the purpose of making
clear the meaning of the instrument, the contents of which follow :
The Petition,
Of the subscribers residing in that part of Cumberland County called
Shearman's Valley, situate on the north side of the Blue Mountain, to the
Honorable the Senate, and House of Representatives, of the Common-
wealth of Pennsylvania, in General Assembly met, at their session of
1819-20,
Humbly Showeth,
That your Petitioners again renew their prayers for a division of Cum-
berland County, because its local situation, and the convenience and pros-
perity of the people of Shearman's Valley, imperiously require a division.
The local situation of Cumberland County, is as follows, viz: It is bound
on the north by the Tuscarora Mountain, on the south by the South Moun-
tain. The Blue Mountain runs through the County, nearly east and west,
making a natural division of said County into two valleys, nearly of equal
territory and population. Carlisle, our present seat of Justice, is situate
in the Valley on the Southern side, not more than six miles from the
south boundary, and in the most eligible and central part of it, on the very
spot where it ought to be, had Shearman's Valley never been attached
thereto. On the north side of the Blue Mountain, lies Shearman's Valley,
our proposed new county, which is in length east and west, from forty
eight to fifty miles; and the general breadth, from sixteen to eighteen
miles ; containing twenty-two hundred taxable inhabitants. We have
forty-eight Grist and Merchant Mills, sixty Sawmills, ten Fulling Mills,
eight Carding Machines, four Oil Mills, one Forge, one Furnace, two
Tilt-hammers and one Powder Mill; we have beautiful settlements,
fertile and well cultivated lands, and wealthy inhabitants, yet notwith-
standing all our local advantages for want of a division the people from
the upper end of Shearman's Valley have to travel thirty-six, and the peo-
ple from the lower extreme, have to travel about forty miles, to Carlisle,
our present seat of Justice; and that is not all, we have to cross and re-
cross, that almost insuperable barrier, the Blue Mountain, besides the Con-
nodoguinet Creek, which is often times not fordable and in going by
Bridge, those from the upper end of Shearman's Valley, have to travel
seven additional miles in going to or coming from Carlisle.
There are a number of counties in the State, which have neither the
population, extent of territory nor fertility of soil that either the old or
new counties would have if divided, and a great many more, that the
whole amount of lands, are not valued so high, as is the land in Cumber-
land County.
Therefore, in point of numbers and wealth, we consider ourselves alto-
gether competent to support a County and the administration of Justice ;
204 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
for if a division was granted, our saving in travelling expenses, and lying
at Court in Carlisle, at so great distance from home, would amount in
short time to a sum sufficient, to make our Public Buildings; and Justice
could be administered, for much less than one-half the expense, that the
whole County now costs. For the intercourse between the people on tins
side, and the people on the other side the Blue Mountain, is so trifling,
that it rarely happens, that any suit of importance comes before the Court,
where persons from both sides are concerned. But the Court being occu-
pied by parties both from one side or the other; so that while causes
from the south side of the Blue Mountain are before the Court, the people
from the north side, who have causes depending, are obliged to lie with
their witnesses, at great expense, very often for several courts succes-
sively, which in most cases increases the expenses above the matter in
controversy: and moreover, it gives the wicked, unjust and troublesome,
a complete triumph over Justice, because many would rather give up their
just rights, than seek Justice at such a vast expense, and further, the peo-
ple on this side of the Blue Mountain, have been at their full share of ex-
penses, in building a Court House, a house for the public offices, a Jail
and Penitentiary at Carlisle; all which they are willing to give up their
part of, to the people on the other side, if the Legislature will pass a law
to divide the County.
It would be a moderate computation, to say that each taxable inhabitant
of our proposed new County, would have to go to Carlisle, at least once
a year, on business, either to Court, or some of the public offices; the ex-
penses upon the average, with loss of time, cannot be computed at less
than three dollars per man. If we were divided, there would be a saving
of at least one-half, say 3300 dollars, to the people of this side, in the bare
item of travelling expenses and loss of time. Besides there would be a
saving of at least double that sum in Mileage of Sheriffs, Jurors, and Wit-
nesses, to say nothing of the saving to the estates of widows and orphans.
Upon the whole, the people on this side of the Blue Mountain, at a mod-
erate calculation sustain a loss of at least 10,000 dollars per annum for
want of division.
We ask part of no other County, we ask barely what nature intended,
by rearing a stupendous Mountain, dividing the present large boundary of
Cumberland County into two Valleys nearly equal; each of which being
sufficiently large for a County, and the people on our side, labour under
the most intolerable inconvenience, by reason of their having to cross the
Mountain, whenever business of a public nature is to be transacted.
Therefore, your petitioners most sincerely pray that your Honorable
body, will pass a law, to divide Cumberland County, making the summit
of the Blue Mountain the division line.
And we further pray, that the Governor be authorized to appoint three
or five disinterested, respectable, Judicious and honest men, living out of
the County, to explore our new County, and fix a scite for the seat of
lustice, and your petitioners as in duty bound will ever pray.
We, the undersigned living on the south side of the Blue Mountain pray
the representatives of Pennsylvania, in general assembly met now in ses-
sion of 1819-20 to grant the people of Shearman's Valley a County north
of the Blue Mountain separate from Cumberland County and your peti-
tioners as in duty bound will pray, etc.
The words ''that your petitioners again renew their prayers,"
in the beginning of the petition, imply that previous effort or ef-
forts had been made towards separation from Cumberland County,
PERRY COUNTY ESTABLISHED 205
but attempts to find facts relating thereto have been unavailing.
While the language of the petition is more or less crude, the rea-
sons presented were plausible, as any person having even a small
knowledge of legal procedure must readily sec. Who were the
leading spirits that urged it and later saw it an accomplished fact ?
No records remain to tell, but a perusal of the early citizens whose
names stand forth in the county's first years must necessarily in-
clude many of them. Having pressed to success their design it
would be but natural to see them play a leading part in the affairs
of their new county.
To the south lay Carlisle — staid, pedantic, historic, aristocratic
and the seat of a government military post. It seemed strange to
that town "that a country of sparse population, with no towns of
importance and only a river or two and a few mountain streams
for transportation and selling mostly 'hoop poles' and furs" should
have a desire to become a separate county. Its formation would
be a great blow to the commerce and trade of Carlisle, as to it
went largely the trade of the entire Sherman's Valley, taken thence
by those who went on legal errands ; and from Carlisle came the
opposition to the birth of the new county. Until then the Sher-
man's Valley people were largely tied economically to Carlisle ;
but the building of the canals and later the railroad changed the
course of trade. The automobile has again somewhat reversed
trade conditions for residents of the vicinity of Shermansdale.
At the time of the passage of this act William Anderson, of the
Perry County territory, was one of the three members of the legis-
lature from Cumberland County.
The text of the act creating the new county follows :
The Legislative Act Creating Perry County.
An act erecting part of Cumberland County, into a separate county to be
called Perry.
Sec. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, in General Assembly met. and it is hereby
enacted by the authority of the same, That from and after the first day of
September next all that part of Cumberland County lying north of the
Blue Mountain, beginning on the summit of the Blue Mountain, where the
Franklin County line crosses the same, and running thence along the sum-
mit thereof an eastwardly course to the river Susquehanna, thence up the
west side of the same to the line of Mifflin County, thence along the Mifflin
County line to the summit of the Tuscarora Mountain, thence along the
summit of the same to the Franklin County line, thence along the same to
the place of beginning, be and the same is hereby declared to be erected
into a separate county to be called Perry.
Sec. 2. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid. That the
inhabitants of the said county of Perry from and after the first day of
September next, shall be entitled to and at all times thereafter have, all
and singular the courts, jurisdictions, offices, rights and privileges, to which
206 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
the inhabitants of other counties of this state are entitled by the Constitu-
tion and laws of this commonwealth.
Sec 3. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid. That the
several courts in and for the said county of Perry, shall be opened and
held at such house in the town of Landisburg, as may be designated by
the commissioners of said county, to be elected at the next general elec-
tion, until a courthouse shall be erected in and for said county, as is here-
inafter directed, and shall be then held at said courthouse, at which place
the returns of the general election in and for the county of Perry shall
be made.
Sec. 4. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the
suits which shall be pending and undetermined in the Court of Common
Pleas of Cumberland County, on the first day of September next, where
both parties in suit or suits shall at that time be resident in the county of
Perry, shall be transferred to the Court of Common Pleas of Perry
County, and shall be considered as pending in said court, and shall be
proceeded on in like manner as if the same had been. originally commenced
in said court, except that the fees on the same due to the officers of Cum-
berland County, shall be paid to them when recovered by the prothonotary
or sheriff of Perry County; and the prothonotary of Cumberland County
shall on or before the first day of September next purchase a docket, and
copy therein all the docket entries respecting the said suits to be trans-
ferred as aforesaid, and shall on or before the first day of November
next, have the said docket, together with the records, declarations and
other papers respecting said suits, ready to be delivered to the prothono-
tary of Perry County; the expense of said docket and copying to be paid
by the prothonotary of Perry County, and reimbursed by the said county
of Perry, on warrants to be drawn by the commissioners of Perry County
on the treasurer thereof.
Sec. 5. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That all
taxes or arrears of taxes laid or which have become due within the said
county of Perry before the passing of this act, and all sums of money due
to this commonwealth for militia fines in the said county of Perry, shall
be collected and recovered as if this act had not been passed: Provided
always, That the money arising from county taxes assessed or to be as-
sessed within the limits of the county of Perry, subsequently to the first
day of November last, shall from time to time, as the same may be col-
lected, be paid into the treasury of the county of Cumberland for the use
and benefit of the county of Perry; until a treasurer shall be appointed
in the county of Perry, and the treasurer of the county of Cumberland
shall keep separate accounts thereof, and pay the same to the treasurer
of the county of Perry as soon as he shall have been appointed; and
whatever part of said taxes may remain uncollected in the county of
Perry at the time of the appointment of the treasurer thereof, the same
shall be collected in the usual manner, and paid into the treasury of the
county of Perry.
See. 6. And he it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the
sheriff, treasurer, prothonotary and all such officers as are by law required
to give surety for the faithful discharge of the duties of their respective
offices, who shall hereafter be appointed or elected in the said county of
Perry, before they or any of them shall enter on the execution thereof,
shall give sufficient security in the same manner and form and for the
same uses, trusts and purposes, as such officers for the time being are
obliged by law to give in the county of Cumberland.
Sec. 7. And be if further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the
sheriff, coroner and other officers of the county of Cumberland, shall con-
PERRY COUNTY ESTABLISHED
2< >;
tinue to exercise the duties of their respective offices within the county
of Perry, until similar officers shall be elected or appointed, as the case
may be, agreeably to law within the said county; and the persons who
shall be appointed associate judges for the county of Perry, shall take
and subscribe the requisite oaths or affirmation of office before the pro-
thonotary of the Court of Common Pleas of the county of Cumberland,
who shall file a record of the same in the office of the prothonotary of
the Court of Common Pleas of Perry County.
Sec. 8. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the
inhabitants of the county of Perry shall elect one representative and the
county of Cumberland two, until otherwise altered, and in conjunction
with Cumberland County one senator to serve in the legislature of this
commonwealth in the same mode, under the same regulations, and make
return thereof in the same manner, as is directed by the fifteenth section
of this act.
Sec. 9. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid. That the
governor be and he is hereby authorized and required, on or before the
first day of September next ensuing, to appoint three discreet and disin-
terested persons, not resident in the counties of Cumberland or Perry,
whose duty it shall be, to fix on a proper and convenient scite for a court-
house, prison and county offices within the aforesaid county of Perry, as
near the centre thereof, as circumstances will admit, having regard to the
convenience of roads, territory, population and the accommodation of the
people of the said county generally; and said persons, or a majority of
them, having viewed the relative advantages of the several situations con-
templated by the people, shall on or before the first day of September
next, by a written report under their hands or under the hands of a ma-
jority of them, certify, describe and limit the scite or lot of land which
they shall have chosen for the purpose aforesaid, and shall transmit the
said report to the governor of this commonwealth; and the persons so as
aforesaid appointed, shall each receive three dollars per diem for their
services out of the monies to be raised in pursuance of this act: Provided
always, That before the commissioners shall proceed to perform the du-
ties enjoined on them by this act, they shall take an oath or affirmation
before some judge or justice of the peace, well and truly and with fidelity
to perform said duties without favor to any person, according to the true
intent and meaning of this act.
Sec. 10. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That it
shall and may be lawful for the commissioners of the county of Perry
who shall be elected at the next annual election, to take assurance to them
and their successors in office of such lot, or lots or piece of ground as
shall have been approved of by the persons appointed as aforesaid, or a
majority of them, for the purpose of erecting thereon a courthouse, jail
and offices for the safe keeping of the records; and the county commis-
sioners are hereby authorized to assess, levy and collect in the manner
directed by the acts for raising county rates and levies, a sufficient sum to
defray the expenses thereof, and also are hereby authorized to assess,
levy and collect for the purpose of building a courthouse and prison, which
they are hereby authorized to erect, a sufficient sum to defray the ex-
penses thereof.
Sec. 11. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the
said county of Perry shall form a part of the district composed of the
counties of Cumberland, Franklin and Adams for the election of members
of congress.
Sec. 12. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid. That the
judges of the Supreme Court shall have like powers, jurisdictions and
2o8 HISTORY OF TERRY COUNTY. PENNSYLVANIA
authorities within the said county of Perry, as hy law they are vested
with and entitled to have and exercise in other counties of this state;
and the said county is hereby annexed to the southern district of the Su-
preme Court.
Sec. 13. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the
county of Perry shall be annexed to and compose part of the ninth judi-
cial district of this commonwealth and the courts in said county of Perry
shall be held on the Monday after the courts in Franklin County.
Sec. 14. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That all
certioraries directed to and appeals from the judgment of any justice of
the peace of the said county of Perry, and all criminal prosecutions which
may originate in the said county before the test day hereinafter mentioned,
shall be proceeded in as heretofore in the Courts of Common Pleas and
Quarter Sessions of the county of Cumberland, and all process to issue
from the courts of the said county of Perry, returnable to the first term
in said county, shall bear test on the third Monday of November next.
Sec. 15. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the
judges of the district elections within each of the said counties of Cum-
berland and Perry after having formed the returns of the whole election
for senator within each county in such maimer as is or may be directed
by law, shall on the third Tuesday in October in each year send the same
by one or more of their number to the courthouse in the borough of Car-
lisle in the county of Cumberland, when and where the judges so met
shall cast up the several county returns, and execute under their respec-
tive hands as many returns for the whole district as may be requisite, and
also transmit the same as is by law required of the return judges in other
districts.
Sec. 16. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid. That in
all cases when it would be lawful for the sheriff, jailor, or prison keeper
of the county of Perry, to hold in close custody the body of any person
in the common jail of the said county, if such jail were at this time erected
in and for the said county, such persons shall be delivered to and kept in
close custody by the sheriff, jailor or prison keeper of the county of Cum-
berland, who upon delivery of such prisoner to him or to them at the
common jail in said county of Cumberland shall safely keep him, her or
them until they be discharged by due course of law, and shall also be an-
swerable in like manner and liable to the same pains and penalties as if
the persons so delivered were liable to confinement in the common jail of
Cumberland County; and the parties aggrieved shall be entitled to the
same remedies against them or any of them, as if such prisoner had been
committed to his or their custody by virtue of legal process issued by
proper authority of the said county of Cumberland: Provided always.
That the sheriff of Perry County be allowed out of the county stock of
said county, ten cents per mile as a full compensation for every person
charged with a criminal offense which he may deliver to the jail of Cum-
berland County by virtue of this act, on orders drawn by the commis-
sioners of Perry County on the treasury thereof.
Sec. 17. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the
sheriff, jailor and prison keeper of the county of Cumberland shall receive
all prisoners as aforesaid, and shall provide for .them, according to law,
and shall be entitled to the fees for keeping them, and also to such allow-
ance as is by law directed for the maintenance of prisoners in similar
cases, which allowance shall be defrayed and paid by the commissioners
of the county of Perry out of the county stock.
Sec. 18. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid. That the
sixteenth and seventeenth sections of this act shall be and continue in
PERRY COUNTY ESTABLISHED 209
force for the term of three years, or until the commissioners of Perry
County shall have certified to the court, that a jail is erected and ready
for the reception of prisoners and approved of by the court and grand
jury, who shall enter their approbation, signed by them, on the record of
said court; and from thenceforth it shall be lawful for the sheriff of
Perry County, to receive all and every person or persons who may then be
confined in the jail of Cumberland County, in pursuance of this act, and
convey them to the jail of Perry County, and to keep them in custody
until they be discharged by due course of law.
Sec. 19. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the
poorhouse establishment, which will be included in the county of Perry,
shall be and continue to be conducted as heretofore for the term of four
years, from and after the passage of this act, and at the expiration of the
said four years, the commissioners of Cumberland County shall remove
their paupers into their own county.
(Passed March 22, 1820. Recorded in Penna. Laws, No. XVIII,
p. 11.)
The northern bonndary of the new county, described as "thence
along the Mifflin County line," refers to the present Juniata
County line, as Juniata had not then yet been taken from Mifflin
and made a separate county.
When Cumberland County was erected in 1750, the eastern
boundary line was made specific, as Cumberland's lands were to
lie "to the westward of the Susquehanna." Whether that was the
intention of those who drew the act or not will never be known,
but when Perry County's territory was taken from Cumberland,
it inherited that boundary line. This line has never been changed
by man, save that by two special acts of the Pennsylvania Legisla-
ture, islands in the Susquehanna River have become a part of
Perry. The Act of March 7, 1856, detached from Upper Paxton
Township, Dauphin County, an island "by the name of Crow's
Island, to be attached to and hereafter become a part of Perry
County." The Act of March 21, 1868, detached from Middle
Paxton Township, Dauphin County, and annexed to Perm Town-
ship, Perry County, the island below Duncannon, known as Wis-
ter's Island. Just where the county line would be drawn at these
two points has never been determined.
The northern line, as stated in the act erecting Perry County,
starts at the Susquehanna at the line of Mifflin County (now the
southern line of Juniata County), "thence along the Mifflin County
line to the summit of the Tuscarora Mountain." The act creating
Mifflin County designated the southern boundary thus : "Begin-
ning at the Susquehanna River where the Turkey Hill extends to
said river; thence along said hill to Juniata, where it cuts Tusca-
rora Mountain, thence along the summit of said mountain to the
line of Franklin County." Consequently, on Turkey Hill, the
ridge which lies between Liverpool and Greenwood Townships of
Perry County and Susquehanna and Greenwood Townships of
14
210 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
Juniata County, is the county line of that part of the county lying
east of the Juniata. To residents of that section of the county
"Turkey Hill" is known as Turkey Ridge, and the first valley north
of it (in Juniata Count}) is known as Turkey Valley.
An act of the Pennsylvania Legislature, December 23, 1824,
authorized the appointment of John Harper, of Cumberland
County ; John Cox, of Franklin County, and Robert Clark, of
Perry County, to run the. line dividing Cumberland and Perry.
Perry County had been erected for fourteen years before the
northern boundary line was run by surveyors. An act of the
Pennsylvania Legislature of April 14, 1834, authorized its survey,
and David Hough, of Mifflin County; Samuel Wallick, of Juniata
County, and Jason W. Eby, of Cumberland County, were ap-
pointed commissioners to conduct it. They were required to run
the line before June 15, 1834. They were to make duplicate drafts
of the survey, inserting the courses and distances "in words, at
length," and to furnish a copy to the prothonotary of each county,
to be "thereafter considered a public record." Evidently their
task was not entirely completed until the time limit, yet the fifth
section of an act of April 4, 1835, ratified it and declared it to be
of the same effect as if finished at the appointed time. According
to records Jason W. Eby did not act, the other commissioners
running the line. In all probability the line then designated did
not meet with the approval of all, for on April 2, i860, an act
was passed by the legislature to rerun that part of the line located
west of the Juniata river. James Woods and Mitchell Patton, of
Perry County, and George W. Jacobs, of Juniata County, were
appointed commissioners for that purpose. The line was to be
located by September I, i860, and was to be marked "upon the
ground, by distinct and permanent marks, wherever and as often
as the said division line crosses any public road or highway and
at other convenient distances, on the aforesaid line." Like the
previous commissioners, they were instructed to make duplicate
drafts, but with the specific provision that they were to be "with
courses and distances plainly laid down, with reference to the im-
provements through which said line may pass, one of which they
shall deposit in each of the prothonotary's offices of the aforesaid
counties, as soon thereafter as practical, which shall be considered
as a public record." The courses and distances are merely statis-
tical and are not considered of enough importance to reproduce
here. They may be referred to at the courthouse in either Perry
or Juniata Counties. The survey of i860 differed little from that
of 1834.
The western county line was the original line between the an-
cient township of Fannett and Toboyne, Cumberland County.
Fannett became a part of Franklin County and Toboyne, a part of
PERRY COUNTY ESTABLISHED 211
Perry County. This old line sufficed until [841, when, on April
28, the Pennsylvania Legislature passed an act "for the purpose of
running and marking the lines between Franklin and Perry Coun-
ties." Abraham S. McKinney, of Cumberland Comity; John
Johnston, of Terry Comity, and Andrew Wilson, of Franklin
Comity, were appointed commissioners to run the line. To them
was left little but the actual surveying, as the language of the act
commanded them to leave the entire Amberson Valley in Franklin
County, and the entire Sherman's Valley in Ferry County. The line
was to start "at the corner of Cumberland and Franklin Counties,
on the top of the Blue Mountain ; thence by a line in the direc-
tion of Concord, to the summit of the next mountain ; thence along
the summit of said mountain as far as practicable, so as to leave
the entire valley of Amberson, in the county of Franklin, and to
divide the mountain territory as equally as possible between the
two counties ; thence along the summit of the Round Top, to the
most practicable point on the Conococheague Mountain, leaving
the entire valley called Sherman's Valley, in the county of Perry ;
and thence to the corner between Franklin, Perry and Juniata
Counties; and said commissioners are required in all cases (in
running said division line), to keep as near possible to the sum-
mit of said mountains." A year's time was allotted in which to
complete the task and triplicate copies of the survey made, one
each for the offices of the prothonotary of Perry and Franklin
Counties and a third for the office of the surveyor general. This
survey was a complicated affair to tackle, as anyone familiar with
the various laps of the mountains there can readily realize.
There is a legend that at the northeastern corner of Perry
County, in the river, there is a rock which is supposed to be the
corner stone of five counties : Northumberland, Dauphin, Perry,
Juniata, and Snyder. This is another of those local legends
which is not borne out by facts. The fact is that but three,
Dauphin, Perry, and Juniata Counties, meet at the river shore at
that point. Juniata has a short stretch of river frontage, which
bars Snyder from touching, and the Dauphin-Northumberland
line would touch the shore considerably below the Perry-Juniata
line. A similar legend, relating to the northwestern boundary,
would have four counties, Perry, Juniata, Huntingdon, and Frank-
lin, centre at a common corner. Save that of Huntingdon, the
other three do meet there.
When Perry County was formed Landisburg was designated
as the temporary county seat, pending the selection of a permanent
site, and its residents immediately, as noted elsewhere, began a
campaign to secure that advantage permanently. During the time
the town was the county seat, the courts were held in a log build-
ing, located at the northwest corner of Carlisle and Water Streets.
212 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
It was unfinished, "chunked and daubed." The entire first floor
was occupied by the court room, while the second floor was di-
vided by board partitions into an office for the county commis-
sioners, a room for the grand jury and a room for the traverse
jury. The entrance to the second story was by a rude open stair-
way from the court room. The judge's "bench" was made of un-
planed boards and was located on a raised platform at the north-
ern end of the room. At its front was a shelf, the top of which
was used to write upon or for placing documents, etc. The coun-
sel table was an ordinary pine dinner table. The clerks' desks
were very ordinary wooden affairs and the seats in the court room
ordinary board benches. A small one-story dwelling adjoined it
on the west, on Water Street, in which lived a tanner by the name
of Allen Nesbit, whose small tanyard was located on the same lot.
He rented the building to the new county for fifty dollars a year.
With the exception of the commissioners' office the other county
offices were located in the homes of the officials. The first sheriff,
Daniel Stambaugh, and also his successor, Jesse Miller, had the
office in the house located on the northeast corner of Centre Square,
the first sheriff dying there during his term. The house is now
owned by the S. P. Lightner estate. Mrs. Lightner occupying the
property.
The register and recorder's office was located on Water Street,
in a stone house belonging to Mrs. Robert Shuman at this time.
This building had once been a hotel operated by W. P. West. Its
erection was started in 1794 and it was completed in 1809. The
rear part, or addition, was built of logs and in it at one time was
a factory in which nails were made by hand, machine-made nails
being then unknown.
The prothonotary's office was located in the parlor of the Pat-
terson brick building, on Carlisle Street, until 1826, when removed
to the new courthouse at New Bloomfield. William B. Mitchell
was the prothonotary. This lot was bought December 11, 1811,
by Jacob Fritz and sold to Samuel Anderson, who built the brick
building. After 1826 it passed to Henry Fetter, who was a mer-
chant there for years.
John Topley, Sr., was the court crier. Court was called by small
boys ringing a bell along the street. Until each obtained a church
building of its own the court room was the place of worship of
the Presbyterian and Methodist congregations. When the court-
bouse at New Bloomfield was completed and the county seat re-
moved the old courthouse became the property of Robert Gibson,
who used it for a cabinet maker's shop until 1840, when he razed
it and built the present building, which is now owned by D. B.
Dromgold.
PERRY COUNTY ESTABLISHED 213
The first court of common pleas ever held in Perry County
was convened in Landisburg on December 4, 1820. John Reed,
originally of Westmoreland County, was the president judge, and
William Anderson and Jeremiah Madden were the associate
judges. David Stambaugh was sheriff. The first grand jurors
were William English, Henry Bellin, William Brown, Jacob Weib-
ley, and Joshua Jones, of Juniata Township ; Andrew Linn, Peter
Moses, Philip Fosselman, Christian Simons, Henry Hippie,
Thomas Kennedy, and John Eaton, of Tyrone Township; Con-
rad Rice, John Milligan, Thomas Milligan, Moses Oatley, Jacob
Burd, and Jacob Keiser, of Saville Township ; William Arbigast,
of Greenwood Township ; William Potter, of Buffalo Township ;
Samuel Willis, of Rye Township; Nicholas Burd, John Kogan,
and Daniel Motzer, of Toboyne Township.
The first traverse jurors were George Beard, John Linn, John
Staily, Josiah Roddy, Jacob Reiber, George Arnold, Charles El-
liott, John Moses, Peter Baker, John Elliott, John Holland, Robin-
son Black, Samuel Linn, Andrew Mateer, Thomas Black, Nicholas
Ickes, Frederick Peale, Samuel Grubb, John Purcell, Jushua
North, Jr., Charles Wright, John Keiser, William McClure, Jr.,
Michael Horting, Benjamin Leas, Sr., Daniel Bloom, Owen
Owen, Philip Deckard, John Hallopeter, John Snyder, John Rum-
baugh, Jacob Dubbs, and Samuel Thompson. They were paid for
five days, except Nicholas Ickes, who was present only four days,
at the rate of $1.00 per day and twelve and one-half cents per
mile, one way, and the total cost of this jury was $223.25.
The constables at this time were: George Fetterman, Buffalo
Township; John O'Brian, Greenwood Township; Thomas Mar-
tin, Juniata Township; Daniel McAllister, Rye Township; Ma-
thias Moyer, Saville Township; John Cree, Tyrone Township;
Abraham Kistler, Tyrone Township, and James McKim, Toboyne
Township. The grand jury were paid $1.00 per day and six cents
per mile circular, and for two days, the total cost of the first grand
jury having been $7348. The auditors were paid $2.00 per day,
and the constables were paid $1.00 per day, but no mileage, for
attending court.
The first record of a conveyance was a recorded deed from
Jacob Sole, of Juniata Township, to Elizabeth Sole, of Millers-
town, dated March 11, 1820, for three acres of land in Juniata
Township, the consideration being $1,00. The first mortgage re-
corded was given by Samuel Stroop. of Tyrone Township to John
Shuman, of Greenwood. The first proceedings in Orphans' Court
was on December 4, 1820, when Caleb North, of Greenwood, was
appointed guardian of Julia Power, minor daughter of James
Power, late of Juniata Township. The first letters testamentary
issued by the register of wills were those of Christian Seiders, of
214 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
Buffalo Township, on December 7, 1820, his executors being David
and Samuel Seiders, and his will dated November 26, 1820. The
first will recorded was that (if Abraham Grassel, dated September
26, 1819, letters not briny issued thereon until January 11, 1821.
ROBERT MITCHELL.
Our ul the first Board of County Commissioners. Mr. Mitchell
was born in 1782 and was Commissioner at 38. He died in [872,
over fifty years after the county's beginning.
The second court was held on the last Monday of January, 1821,
and there were nine suits on the trial list, one of them being Mel-
choir Miller (the grandfather of the future governor of Minne-
sota) against James Murphy.
The first board of county commissioners was composed of Rob-
ert Mitchell, Thomas Adams, and Jacob Huggins.
The register and recorder's office was removed to New Bloom-
held on March 6, 1827, and the prothonotary, treasurer's and
sheriffs offices on March 12 and 13, 1827. The first court was
held in New Bloomfield, April 2, 1827.
1'KRRY COUNTY F.STABUSHED
215
The first justices of the peace of the new county were as fol-
lows, the transcript being taken from the Executive Minutes:
Friday, November 17, 1820.
The governor this day appointed and commissioned the following named
persons to the office of justice of the peace in and for the districts here-
after mentioned in the county of Perry, that is to say : David Bloom,
Robert Adams, and Jacob Bargstresser for the district composed of the
township of Toboyne, in the said county, lately district number ten, in the
county of Cumberland; Jacob Fritz, John Taylor, Jacob Stroop, William
Power, and Henry Titzel for the district composed of the township of
Tyrone, including the township of Saville, in the said county of Perry,
lately district numbered eleven, in the county of Cumberland; John Ogle,
John Owen, and John White, in and for the district composed of the town-
ship of Rye, in the county of Perry, lately the district numbered twelve,
in the county of Cumberland; George Monroe, Benjamin Bonsall, Fred-
erick Orwan, and James Black in and for the township of Juniata, in the
said county of Perry, lately the district numbered thirteen in the said
county of Cumberland; Caleb North, John Huggins, John Purcell, Samuel
Utter, John Turner, Abraham Adams, Willian Linton, and Richard Bard,
in and for. the district composed of the township of Greenwood and Buf-
faloe, in the said county of Perry, lately the district numbered fourteen,
in the county of Cumberland. — Executive Mmutes, Volume Eleven,
pa<je 254-
Other justices of the peace commissioned during the county's
very first years were as follows :
1822. John Kooken, Toboyne; Robert Thompson, Buffalo; Francis
Gibson, Tyrone ; Thomas Gallagher, Liverpool.
1823. Andrew Linn and George Baker, Saville ; Frederick Speck, Wheat-
field.
1824. Joseph Martin, Juniata ; Alexander Rogers, Wheatfield ; George
Mitchell, Liverpool.
1825. Jacob Bloom and James R. Scott, Toboyne ; Alexander Branyan,
Rye.
Just why Perry County was so named has often been asked.
Why was this name selected rather than some other? It will be
remembered that the battle of Lake Erie was one of the greatest
events of the War of 18 12, or our Second War with England,
that Commodore Perry was the hero, and that the war was over
but six years before the erection of the county. But the great out-
standing reason was that Commodore Perry died on August 23,
1 8 19, at the Port of Spain, Island of Trinidad, and the news of
his death had just reached our shores in the year of the county's
creation; and that his death, like that of Ex-President Theodore
Roosevelt in 1919, was the occasion of much grief, the erection of
memorials, etc. Not only was he honored by the naming of Perry
County, Pennsylvania, in memory of him, but counties elsewhere
are so named. There are Perry Counties in nine other states,
as follows: Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Mis-
sissippi, Missouri, Ohio, and Tennessee.
2i6 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
And so it was named Perry — after Commodore Oliver Hazard
Perry, who in 1812, as a young lieutenant, was sent to take charge
of the fleet of boats on Lake Erie, who unfurled a blue flag bear-
ing in white letters the dying words of the gallant Lawrence,
"Don't give up the ship ;" who succeeded in overcoming the
powerful British boats and sent to General Harrison the famous
dispatch, "We have met the enemy and they are ours — two ships,
two brigs, one schooner and one sloop;" and who saved the young
nation from an enemy's entrance over the lakes. He was in
charge of the whole West Indian fleet as commodore at the time of
his death.
A newspaper notice of the period, relating to the death of the
hero for whom the new county of Perry was named, may not be
inappropriate here :
Norfolk, September 25.
Died. On the 23 of August, on board the United States schooner, Non-
such, at the moment of her arrival at Port of Spain, in the Island of
Trinidad, Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry. He was taken with yellow
fever on his passage from the town of Angostura, and although he was
attended by two able physicians, he was reduced to the greatest extremity
on the fourth day of his illness. Sensible to his approaching dissolution,
he called his officers together, and communicated his last wishes. His re-
mains were interred at Port of Spain, on the 24th of August with naval
and military honors.
Pennsylvania counties have been named under probably eight
distinct classes, as follows : First, after English shires or counties ;
second, from Indian derivation ; third, of sentimental suggestion ;
fourth, geological, geographical or faunal titles; fifth, topographi-
cally; sixth, of local historical connection; seventh, of political
significance; eighth, in honor of patriots, etc. It is the last named
and largest class which includes Perry.
A story, in connection with the locating of the temporary county
seat at Landisburg, which is persistent, coming from a dozen
widely separated sources, and always the same, is, it is believed,
worthy a place here. The reader may pass judgment upon it. On
all occasions the scorner turns up, but when this one turned up
Perry Countians were in no humor to be ridiculed, having just
came into their own after the opposition of Carlisle citizens, espe-
cially. The new county had just been created and the first court
was to be held in an improvised courthouse in Landisburg. A
number of young men from Carlisle came over and one of them
kept up a continual interrogation, "Where's the town clock?"
This angered a man named Power, and strangely enough Power
was the next man to whom he put the question. A brawny arm
shot out and the inquirer went down, but true to the species, he
retorted, "There it is; it struck one."
PERRY COUNTY ESTABLISHED
217
Strange as it may seem, within two years after the separation
of Terry County from "Mother Cumberland," there were peti-
tions out for their merging, and strangest of all, the plan advo-
cated was to annex Cumberland to Perry. A copy of the petitions
was printed in the Perry Forester, Perry County's first paper, on
l'YI unary 7, 1822. It follows:
Petition.
"To the Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania, in General Assembly met. Sheweth:
"That on account of the great dissatisfaction which prevails in the bor-
ough of Carlisle, and the surrounding country, by reason that they have
been separated from the county of Perry, and which has much increased
our taxes, and not only this, but our once thrifty and flourishing old bor-
ough of Carlisle, has become delirious and inconsolable on account of the
separation — and further, as we would prefer the name of Perry to that of
Cumberland, because the latter savors something of royalty, being taken
from the Duke of Cumberland in England, which your petitioners deem to
be repugnant to the principles of our republican government; we there-
for pray your honorable bodies to pass a law annexing Cumberland to
Perry County, and that the seat of Justice may be located at Landisburg.
"And your petitioners in duty bound will pray, &c."
When the new county of Perry was formed the keepers of tav-
erns, as they were then known, were holding licenses granted by
the Cumberland County court. Accordingly the first licenses
granted in Perry County were in 1821. From the Divisions of
Records at the State Capitol a copy of the return to the state is
made. It follows:
A list of the tavern keepers of Perry County to whom licenses have
been granted by the Court of General Quarter Sessions of the Peace for
said county, at January and April terms, 1821, and for which licenses have
been delivered to William Power, Esqr., Treasurer of Perry County, viz :
At January Sessions, 1821.
David Pfautz, John Woodburn, George Eckerd, John Flurie, Henry
Zimmerman, Anthony Brandt.
At April Sessions, 1S21.
Andrew Tressler, John Foose, Thomas Craighead, Jr., Michael Sypher,
John Hippie.
Henry Lightner, John Strawbridge, Gilbert Moon, Henry Long, John
Dunkelberger, Thomas Paul.
Christian Hippie, Peter Wolf, John Miller, Peter Musselman, Frederick
Rinehart, Henry Landis, George Wilt.
Benjamin Leas, James Baird, Peter Shively, John Snell, Daniel Gallatin,
Jonathan Harmon.
Frederick Smiley, George Billow, John Neiper, John Rice.
County of Perry, S.S.
I, Henry Miller, Esquire, Clerk of the Court of General Quarter Ses-
sions of the Peace, held at Landisburg for the County of Perry, -do hereby
certify that the within is a true statement of the tavern keepers of Perry
County licensed by the Court at the January and April sessions, 1821, and
2i8 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
that thirty-four licenses have accordinglj been delivered to William Power,
F.sqr., Treasurer of Perry County.
In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and
affixed the Seal of said Court this fifteenth day of May,
(Seal) in the year of our Lord, one thousand, eight hundred and
twenty-one. Henry Millkk,
Clerk of the Quarter Sessions.
To James Duncan Esq., Auditor
General of the Commonwealth of
I 'ennsylvania.
The following is the first return from the new county of Perry
tti the State Treasurer, being copied from the original document
in the Bureau of Records at the State Capitol :
Wm. Powers, Esq., Treasurer of Perry County in account with the State
of Pennsylvania.
Dr. With amount of eight licenses to retail foreign merchandise
and liquors to the following persons, viz: to Robert H.
McClelland, Henry Fetter, Abraham Fulweiler, George
Tharp, Henry Walters, Philip Bosserman, Edward Purcell,
Isaiah Clark, at fifteen dollars each cash $120.00
With amount of ten licenses to retailers of foreign merchan-
dise only to the following persons, viz: to Thomas Coch-
ran, David Moreland, William Irwin, Nathan Van Fossen,
Daniel Okeson, Thomas Gaulagher, John Rice. Anthony
Black, Robert Welch, Peter Beaver, at ten dollars each,
cash 100 . 00
Cr. With treasurer's commission, $217.75, at five per cent, $10.88
With amount paid constables for making returns of
eighteen retailers of foreign merchandise and
liquors at \2 l />z each 2.25
$220 . 00
13-13
Balance due stale $206.87
Settled and entered at the Auditor General's office,
December 14, 1821.
First Records of tiik Commissioners' Office.
*The first minute book of the commissioners of Perry County, which,
according to the inside of the cover, cost $3.75, has the following inscribed
on page t :
" Landisburg , Oct. 26th, 1820.
"Agreeably to previous arrangements Thomas Adams, Jacob
Huggins & Robert Mitchell, Esquires, duly elected Commis-
sioners for the County of Perry met at the house of Michael
Sypher and after having taken and subscribed the oaths of
office required by the Constitution and laws of the Common-
wealth of Pennsylvania,
lor the interesting data from this first minute book of the first Board
of Count_\ Commissioners we are indebted to Walter W. Rice, attorney-
at-law. New Bloomfield, Pa.
PERRY COUNTY ESTABLISHED
219
"Appointed Jesse Miller Clerk to their Board for the term
of one year and agreed to allow him Forty eight dollars pr.
annum.
"Oct. 27th.
"'Commissioners met. A full Board.
"Agreed with Jacob Albert for him to make the necessary
seals for the different county offices at seven dollars per seal
to be delivered on or before the 1st of Dec. next.
"Oct. 28th.
"Commissioners met. A full Board.
"Appointed William Power, Esqr., Treasurer for one year
(commission 2 per cent for all monies by him rec'd and paid
_ out according to law)."
This old minute book further shows that, on Nov. 6 and 7, 1820, Messrs.
Huggins and Mitchell, Commissioners, "attended at Carlisle for the pur-
pose of obtaining the original assessments of 1820 to get them tran-
scribed, and that, on Nov. 8, 1820, Mr. Mitchell, having obtained the said
assessments together with a transcript of the Treasurer's book of Cum-
berland County for the monies paid by the collectors of Perry County,
returned to Landisburg and met Mr. Adams. These two met on the 9th,
10th, nth and 12th of Nov., 1820, and on the 21st "a full Board" met and
agreed with George Dunbar "for the making of a bench for the Judges
of the Court & a counsel table." On Nov. 24th, 1820, the Board met for
the purpose of "selecting jurors and comparing assessments." On that
day the first order on the county treasury was granted to Robert Mitchell
for $28.00 for pay as Commissioner from Oct. 26th, 1820, to Nov. 24th,
1820. On Nov. 25th, 1820, the Commissioners bought of William Power
"6 candlesticks & 3 pair snufiiers for $4.00," which were paid for by order
No. 41 given on Feb. 2d, 182 1. On Dec. 4th, 1820, order No. 2 was given
to James Beatty "for $26.90 pay of the election officers of Juniata District
for holding 2 elections in 1820." In the first part of the minute book the
words "order given" were used, but later on "O. G." indicates that pay-
ment was ordered. On Dec. 5th, 1820, order No. 4 was given to David
Grove, return judge for Toboyne Township, for $25.20 "pay of election
officers of said District for holding 2 elections in 1820." On the same date
an order was given to Alexander Magee, for $12.00 "for a transcribing
docket to transfer suits from Cumberland County to Perry County." On
Dec. 6th, 1820, orders for $20.00 and $26.00 were given to Thomas Adams
and Jacob Huggins respectively for their pay as Commissioners from
Oct. 26th, 1820, to Dec. 6th, 1820, "both days inclusive." These bills of
the Commissioners evidently included their expenses, as no bills were
presented for expenses. On Dec. 8th, 1820, orders were granted to Jacob
Albert for $49.00 for seven seals for the county offices, George Dunbar
for $9.00 for carpenter work and Andrew Martin $9.75 for making chairs.
Robert McCoy was paid $50.00 for transcribing into a docket for the
Court of Common Pleas of Perry County the record of the suits in the
Cumberland County Court between persons residing in Perry County.
On Jan. 30th, 1821, John Diven was paid $12.00 for making a jury wheel.
and Alexander C. Martin was paid $2.58 "for the tuition of paupers as
per acct." The witnesses were paid 50 cents per day and 3 cents per mile
circular. An ink stand was bought from Samuel A. Anderson for 31 cents.
On Feb. 2d, 1821, Abraham Fulweiler was paid $106.87 for stoves, pipes.
etc., and William Power $6.45 for candlesticks, wood, etc.
On Feb. 17th, 1821, the Commissioners met to lay the tax for 1821, and
apportioning the rates on the different townships. Messrs. Huggins and
220 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
Mitchell held appeals on April 16th, 1821, at Clark's Ferry, on the 17th
at Montgomery's Ferry, on the 18th at Capt. Frederick Rinehart's for
Greenwood Township, on the 19th at the Blue Ball for Juniata Township,
and all three Commissioners held appeals on the 20th at Ickesburg for
Saville Township, on the 21st at Zimmerman's tavern for Toboyne Town-
ship, and on the 23d at their office for Tyrone Township. On the latter
day they paid Robert Kelly, Teacher, $5.91 for tuition of paupers in Sa-
ville Township. On the 24th they paid William Charters 20 cents for
candles. On April 30th, 1821, they paid John Jones $12.00 for a wolf
scalp, and on May 1st, they paid William B. Mitchell $0.75 for two old
fox scalps.
The records show that the office of tax collector was not a very de-
sirable one in those days. Henry Kline, the Collector selected for Tyrone
Township, refused to serve and paid a fine of $20.00. Robert Cree was
then selected; he refused, and a suit was commenced against him for
the fine.
The County Commissioners in the first few years of the existence of the
County received $1.50 per day, and their yearly compensation averaged
about $107.00. The Commissioners now receive $1,000.00 and their ex-
penses per year.
The amounts of the tax duplicates and collectors for the year 1821
were as follows :
Daniel Motzer, Toboyne Township $1,200.26
Henry Kline, Tyrone Township 1.575-89
Nicholas Ickes, Saville Township 692.54
Philip Bosserman, Juniata Township, 915.22
Anthony Kimmel, Rye Township, 754-71
Isaac Pfoutz, Greenwood Township, 863.99
Henry Steaphen, Buffalo Township, 421 .25
Total, $6,423 .86
A total of the duplicates for the county in 1920 was $62,950.64.
On Sept. 7, 1821, an order was given to Jacob Bishop, Keeper of the
prison of Cumberland County, for $102.15 for maintaining 5 prisoners sent
from Perry County. The daily charge was 20 cents. Among the items
104 lbs. beef at 5 cents per lb. and 8 quarts of soap at 6% cents per quart.
One of the prisoners made 45 pairs of shoes in 15 weeks, and a credit at
the rate of 40 cents per pair was allowed for his labor.
The election boards in those times consisted of 3 judges, 1 inspector and
2 clerks.
On Oct. 24, 1821, Jesse Miller was reappointed Clerk to the Commis-
sioners and his salary was increased to $100.00 per annum.
On Nov. 3d, 1821, $10.00 was paid for one year's rent for the office of
the Commissioners. On Dec. 6, 1821, $51.50 was paid to Allen Nesbet
for one year's rent for the Court House and 6 mos. interest on the first
semi-annual payment.
On Dec. 7, 1821, $27.00 was paid to William McClure, Deputy Attorney
General, as his fees in 9 criminal cases.
On Dec. 7, 1821, $5.00 was paid to John Albert for "a bell to call the
court."
On March 12th, 1827, the Commissioners held their last meeting in Lan-
disburg and removed their offices to Bloomfield.
CHAPTER XIII.
THE FIGHT FOR THE COUNTY SEAT
IN the locating of its county seat Perry County had almost as
much trouble as the United States had had just three decades
before, when for a long period Trenton, New Jersey, and the
present site were rivals; when, in 1789, the Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania, in the United States Senate, offered to deed ten
miles square around any one
of seven towns, which in-
cluded Harrisburg and Car-
lisle, and when it was pro-
posed to select a site on the
Susquehanna instead of the
Potomac.
In accordance with the pro-
visions of the act creating the
county Governor William
Findlay was empowered to
appoint a commission of
three men from without the
county to select a location for
the county seat. This com-
mission was appointed eight
days later and was composed of William Beale, of Mifflin County ;
David Maclay, of Franklin County, and Jacob Bucher, of Dauphin
County. The following extract from the Executive Minutes,
Volume 11, page 168, records the appointment:
Thursday, March 30th, 1820.
The Governor this day appointed and commissioned the following named
persons to the offices annexed to their names, respectively, that is to say.
William Beale of Mifflin County, David Maclay of Franklin County, and
Jacob Bucher of Dauphin County, to be commissioners to fix upon a
proper and convenient site for a Court house, prison, and County offices,
within the County of Perry, as near the Centre thereof as circumstances
will admit, having regard to the convenience of roads, territory, population
and the accommodation of the people of the said County generally; and
the said Commissioners, or a majority of them having viewed the relative
advantages of the several situations contemplated by the people, were re-
quired on or before the first day of September next by a written report
under their hands or under the hands of a majority of them, to certify,
describe and limit the site, or lot of land which they shall choose for the
purpose aforesaid, and to transmit the said report to the Governor; and
to do all other matters and things required of them in and by an act of
courthouse; at new bloomfii-;i v d.
HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
the General Assembly, passed on the 22c! day of March last, entitled, "An
Act erecting part of Cumberland County into a separate County to be
called Perry."
There have been many political fights in Perry County during
the past century, but from what can be gleaned from old news-
papers and records that county seat fight eclipsed them all. The
many different locations proposed complicated the situation.
Landisburg, with a taste of the dignity attached to the temporary
seat of justice, put up a stiff fight. An old subscription list shows
that the citizens obligated themselves for $1,610.00 to help secure
it. Cedar Run (vicinity of Cisna's Run, Madison Township),
then in Toboyne Township, raised the sum of $2,907.00. There
was a provision that the plot to be used was to be that of Helfen-
stine and Ury (now Wm. H. Loy's), who agreed to raise the
amount to $5,000.00, on such condition.
Casper Lupfer offered a free site on his "plantation" which was
adjoining the present site of New Bloomfield, later owned by W.
A. Sponsler, then John R. Adams, and now in the possession of
Robert E. McPherson. Inhabitants of Millerstown and vicinity
offered a site in Raccoon Valley, Tttscarora Township, opposite
Millerstown, owned by Henry Lease. Other proposed locations
were Clark's Ferry (now Duncannon), Reider's Ferry (now
Newport), George Barnett's (the present site). Captain William
Powers', west of New Bloomfield, Elliottsburg, and Douglas'
place, near Green Park.
Before the matter was finally decided and the present location
selected there were four different commissions appointed to select
a site. Public meetings were held at various places over the new
county and petitions gotten out protesting against different sites
and favoring others. The first commission, after examining the
various sites offered, which required twelve days of their time,
which shows that they covered it pretty thoroughly, decided on the
site on the farm of William Powers, about two miles west of New
Bloomfield. On the hack of the report are the signatures: David
Maclay, W. Maclay, W r . Beale and J. Bucher. How "W. Maclay"
came to have an interest in it records do not tell, but he was not
on the original appointment. Their first meeting was in June,
[820, and they made their report August 26, 1820. Millerstown
held a meeting, December 2, and resolved "that the commission
did its duty by locating it at the centre of the county."
Hardly had the report been made public when Landisburg, on
December 2, held a public meeting to protest. A resolution was
passed opposing the site as a place "having no intersection of roads.
110 direct intercourse with adjacent counties — a strong point with
Landisburg — destitute of good water, good mills or even mill sites."
Protests came from all over the new county. At the meeting
FIGHT FOR THE COUNTY SEAT
223
of the next legislature many citizens of the county petitioned for
another commission, which was granted by an act dated April 2,
iSji. which required that the new commission should examine
sites and report before June 1. This commission was composed of
William Irwin, of Centre County; Isaac Kirk, of York County,
and Christian Ley, of Lebanon County.
At times a story has been told of William Powers and the com-
mission digging a well and getting no water, of Lowers and his
negro servant hauling water into the well and of the commission,
"discouraged, resolving to stop work on the well." Nothing in
any record, in any newspaper, or used by the opposition at the
time would help to substantiate that story, and it is one of those
mythical stories which sometimes gain considerable circulation, but
which are unfounded and will not stand when scrutinized. Had
such been the case the other points seeking the location would have
grasped the information quickly and utilized it. Furthermore, the
commission had neither the authority nor the time to go into the
well-digging business.
The following entry appears on Executive Minutes of the State,
Volume 11, page 359:
Saturday, April 28th, 1821.
Under the authority contained in an Act of the General Assembly passed
the second day of the present month, entitled, "A supplement to an Act
entitled 'An Act erecting part of Cumberland County into a separate
County to be called Perry,' " the Governor this day appointed William
Irwin, of the County of Centre; Isaac Kirk, of the County of York, and
Christian Ley, of the County of Lebanon, Esquires. Commissioners to re-
view the scite lately determined upon by the Commissioners appointed in
pursuance of the original act aforesaid, for the seat of justice of the
County of Perry, and if they, or a majority of them shall be of opinion
that the said scite does not combine the interests and advantages of the
inhabitants of the said County generally, then, and in that case, they or a
majority of them, are authorized and required to select and fix upon some
other scite for a Court house, prison, and County offices, within the said
County of Perry, as near the Centre thereof as circumstances will admit. —
they, the said Commissioners to execute the said Commission according to
the true intent and meaning of the above recited Act of Assembly, and of
the ninth section of the Act to which the same is a supplement ; and to
make a report to the Governor in writing, under their respective hands and
seals, on or before the first day of June, next, certifying, describing and
limiting the scite or lot of ground which shall have been chosen by them
as aforesaid.
Sites were proposed by a committee of one from each township,
lint in the voting the result was as follows: Clark's Ferry (now
Duncannon), 5; Barnett's, 2; Landisburg, 9; county poor
farm, o.
This second commission located the site at Reider's (now New-
port ), which resulted in indignation meetings being held in the
other sections of the county. The fact that it was seven miles
from the centre of the county resulted in another lot of petitions
FIGHT FOR THE COUNTY SEAT 225
to the Slate Legislature, which, at the next session, on March 11,
[822, passed an act which created the third commission, the mem-
bers of which were named in the act.
On Friday, September 14, 1821, a meeting was held at the home
of Captain William Powers to protest against the site at Reider's
Ferry. The delegates to this meeting were:
Buffalo. — Col. Robert Thompson, Frazer Montgomery.
Juniata. — Wm. English, Finlaw McCown, John Kyser.
Rye. — John Chisholm, Abraham Brunner.
Saville. — Robert Hackett, Andrew Linn, Conrad Rice.
Toboyne. — Wm. Anderson, Robert Adams, Col. John Urie.
Tyrone. — Francis Gibson, Allen Nesbit, Wm. Wilson.
This third commission was composed of Moses Rankin, of
York; James Hindman, of Chester; Peter Frailey, of Schuylkill;
David Fullerton, of Franklin, and James Agnew, of Bedford.
They were to report before June 1, 1822. From Executive Min-
utes, Volume 11, page 527, is reproduced their official notification
from the chief executive:
Wednesday, March 27th, 1822.
A certified copy of the Act of the General Assembly passed the eleventh
instant entitled "A supplement to an Act entitled 'An Act erecting part of
Cumberland County into a separate County to be called Perry,' " was this
day transmitted by mail to each of the Commissioners named therein, to
wit : Moses Rankin, of York County ; James Hindman, of Chester
County; Peter Frailey, of Schuylkill County; David Fullerton, of Frank-
lin County, and James Agnew, of Bedford County; who were at the same
time respectively notified that the Governor by virtue of the power in the
said Act of Assembly given to him, has fixed upon the seventh day of
May, and the Town of Landisburg, in the said County of Perry, as the
time, and place of meeting of the said Commissioners.
This commission — the third — decided upon Landisburg as the
proper location. A few days later, on June 5, citizens from the
five eastern townships held a meeting at the home of John Koch,
which history tells us was at Blue Ball, Juniata Township, and ap-
pointed a committee to draw up an address to the citizens of the
county on the subject. Frazer Montgomery, John Harper, and
William Waugh composed the committee, whose report recited at
length reasons why the county seat should not be located at Lan-
disburg, which was within three miles of the Cumberland County
line, and protested the unjustness of the location to the county at
large. On October 16, 1822, a meeting of the citizens of Juniata
and Buffalo Townships was held at the home of Meredith Dar-
lington to discuss the merits and demerits of the various proposed
sites. Of this meeting there is some record; Francis McCowen
was the chairman and William Power, Jr.. secretary. Resolutions
were' passed proposing the site first selected on the Power farm,
west of New Bloomfield. This site, we are told, is at the exact
centre of the county.
15
226 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
Thai weapon of every canst', the petition, was again brought into
being and stated that three different commissions had been ap-
pointed under acts of the Pennsylvania Legislature, the last com-
mission having moved the location to Landisburg, a place which
is within three miles of the Cumberland County line and a dis-
tance of thirty-four miles from the eastern settlement. The •pro-
posed place for its location on the Power farm is named as the
admitted centre of territory and population as near as circum-
stances will admit.
On November 16, 1822, a public meeting of protest was held at
the home of John Fritz, at the Bark tavern, in Rye Township (now
Centre, near New Bloomfield), for the purpose of electing dele-
gates and recommending or requesting the citizens of the other
townships to do likewise, such delegates — two from each township
— to meet at the home of John Fritz on December 10, 1822, to
designate a place for the location of the county seat, and draft a
petition accordingly. No record of the meeting is handed down to
posterity, yet it evidently was held, for on December 23, 1822,
Mr. Mitchell, a member of the legislature, presented to the House
twenty-one petitions, signed by eight hundred of the inhabitants
of the county, praying that the seat of justice for the new county
be fixed at the point suggested by the first commission. The mem-
ber of the General Assembly from Perry County at that time was
not Mr. Mitchell, but F. M. Wadsworth, and again history fails
to tell us why the petitions was not presented by him. The com-
mission having fixed the site at Landisburg, as far as they were
concerned, reported, and an act for the confirmation thereof came
before the House on Monday, February 24, 1823, and after con-
siderable discussion passed first reading. It came up on Tuesday
for second reading, and a Mr. Todd proposed a substitute for the
act, naming Barnett's farm instead of Landisburg. On a vote this
proposition for the Barnett farm was defeated fifty-six to thirty.
The bill was killed in the Senate by a proposition to create another
commission.
The fourth commission was appointed by Governor Joseph
Heister, in accordance with an act passed March 31, 1823, being
composed of the following men : Joseph Huston, of Fayette ; Ab-
ner Leacock, of Beaver; Cromwell Pearce, of Chester; Henry
Sheete, of Montgomery, and Dr. Phineas Jenks, of Bucks. The
first stated meeting of this commission was to be at the home of
Meredith Darlington, on Wednesday, May 28, 1823, but the
weather being stormy, they postponed business until Friday. On
that day they met at Landisburg and decided to ignore all three
of the sites previously chosen. Then, on Monday, June 2, 1823,
they decided to locate the county seat on the farm of George Bar-
FIGHT FOR THK COUNTY SEAT
227
nett, in Juniata (now Centre) Township, within about two miles
of the Powers location, the one named by the first commission.
They reported, and in January, 1824, the act was introduced in
the legislature, when Jacob Huggins, then the member of the Gen-
eral Assembly from Perry County, presented nine petitions for
confirmation of this site and nine petitions for the site at Landis-
burg. On February 5, 1824, he again presented petitions, which
shows that those early Perry Countians had contracted the petition
habit. On this occasion there were nine for the New Bloomfield
(or Barnett) site and seven for Landisburg. On February 27 he
presented seven for Landisburg and one for New Bloomfield.
The matter had now narrowed down to the two sites and Mr.
Huggins stated that he was privileged to withdraw the petitions
of Abraham Reider and William Power.
The report of this fourth commission is on record in the office
of the custodian of public records at the State Capitol and is repro-
duced below :
To Joseph Hiester esquire Governor of the Commonwealth of Penna.
Sir: In compliance with an Act of the Legislature of this State passed
the 31st day of March, 1823, entitled An Act Supplementary to an Act
entitled A Supplement to an Act entitled an act erecting a part of Cum-
berland County into a separate County to be calld. Perry and in accord-
ance with our appointment we the undersigned Commissioners wiz : Ab-
ner Laycock, Cromwell Pearce, Henry Sheets and Phineas Jenks, having
met (for the purpose of carrying the requisitions of the said act into ef-
fect) at the house of Meredith Darlington in Juniata Township on the
28th day of May and after taking the requisite oaths proceeded to view
the several sites contemplated by the people as well as those fixed upon
by former Commissioners.
And from the view we have taken of the territorial bounds of said
County, the relative situation of its inhabitants, convenience of roads,
waters etc. we are of opinion that neither of the sites fixed upon by
former Commissioners are calculated to combine the interests or render
that satisfaction and accommodation to the Citizens of said County con-
templated by the law under which we act.
Therefore we have after due deliberation unanimously agreed, and
have located a site for the seat of Justice of Perry County on the farm
of George Barnett in Juniata Township described and bounded as follows,
viz : Beginning at a Post in the field west of the barn South 68 degrees
West 9 perches & two tenths from a wild Cherry tree then from said post
South 64 degrees West 34.2 perches to a post thence North 26 degrees
West 41 perches to a post thence North 64 degrees East 34.2 perches to a
post thence South 26 degrees East 41 perches to the place of beginning,
which lot or parcell of ground as above described we do hereby adjudge
and confirm as far as our power extends as laid down by said act to be
the proper site to erect the Court house, prison and County offices of said
County of Perry upon, and as such make report and return the same to
the Governor as we are by law directed.
Given under our Hands this second day of June An dom 1823.
A. Lacock. Henrv Scheetz.
Cromwell Pearce. Phs. Jenks.
228 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
Apropo of the local ion having been finally determined the fol-
lowing documents, in the possession (if the Barnett sisters, of New
Bloomfield, may be of interest:
"30th of May, 1823.
"Know all men by these presents, that I, George Barnett, of Jnniata
township, in the county of Perry, do bind myself, my heirs, executors, or
administrators to give as a donation for the use of Perry County, five
acres of Land in Case the Seat of Justice be Located on my farm, but
none of the principal springs to be included in said five acres, but is hereby
Reserved for the use of the Town & I will also Give five acres of wood-
land for the use of the County of Perry." Geo. Barxktt.
Present, Jeremiah Madden.
A copy of the original petition used in order to have the present
location chosen is also reproduced, the signatures being omitted.
It follows :
"May, 1823.
"To Joseph Huston & others, Esquires, Commissioners appointed by an
act of the General Assembly passed the 31st day of March, one thousand,
Eight Hundred and twenty three to fix and locate the Seat of Justice in
Perry County.
"The Petition of the Citizens of said County Humbly Sheweth,
"Whereas the Seat of Justice has been located by three different set of
Viewers in said County but not to the Satisfaction of a Majority of the
Inhabitants of our County we therefore Humbly set fourth and Represent
the Plantation of Mr. George Barnett in our County it being the most
Centerable scite for the Seat of Justice accommodated with Roads from
the four quarters of the County and a Variety of never failing springs in
a wholesome Pleasant situation. We are of opinion had the seat of Jus-
tice in our County been located on the above said Plantation by any of
the former Viewers the Contest now would be at an end — and if fixed
there now it would have the same Effect.
"We therefore Pray to take the above into Consideration & your Peti-
tioners will Ever Pray, &c."
On April 12, 1824, George Barnett conveyed to the commission-
ers of Perry County eight acres and one hundred and thirty-six
perches of land which was selected as the county seat site by the
commission appointed under the Act of March 31, 1823. The deed
bears the date of April 12, 1824.
A century has rolled around ; the gig, the phaeton and all of
their kind have been superseded by the automobile for trips of any
length and, after all the phases of the contest have been settled,
the experience of a century shows that in the final conclusion 'twas
well done, and to-day an automobile from one etid of the county
can reach the seat of justice as quickly as from the other.
In 1849 and again about 1886 movements were begun in efforts
towards having the county seat removed to Newport, but with no
success. The movement inaugurated in 1849 went so far as to
have a bill introduced into the legislature changing the county seat,
but it was reported negatively and died, and with it the attendant
agitation. The later movement, while resulting in nothing in so
FIGHT FOR THE COUNTY SEAT 229
far as the changing of the county seat was concerned, was the
beginning of the movements which resulted in two railroads, the
Perry County and the Newport & Sherman's Valley, being built
into western Perry County.
Three other near-by Pennsylvania counties, Mifflin, Adams, and
Franklin, each had three commissions before the sites of their
seats of justice were finally determined, but Terry County required
the fourth.
With the final conclusion of the locution of the seat of justice
"on George Barnett's farm" the officials of the new county gol
busy to comply with the sections of the act creating it, one ot
which — Section "10 — authorized the county commissioners to ac-
cept title to the site selected and to "assess, levy and collect money
to build a courthouse and prison." As these matters could not be
done in a short time the act — Section 16 — provided that "all pris-
oners of Perry County shall be kept in the Cumberland County
jail for the term of three years, or until the commissioners of
Perry County shall have certified to the court that a jail is erected
and approved by the court and grand jury." Then, on May 17,
1824, the commissioners of the new county of Perry advertised
that twenty-five lots on the public ground recently conveyed to the
county by George Barnett would be sold at "public vendue" on
Wednesday, June 23, 1824. By referring to the chapter in this
book relating to "Bloomfield Borough, the County Seat," the
reader may learn something of the sales of these first lots, also of
the taking up of this plot of land by the pioneers.
Three sales of lots were held to dispose of the lands donated by
I *eorge Barnett to the county of Perry. The first was on June 23,
[824, and Robert Elliott, Samuel Linn, and John Maxwell, the
commissioners, sold lots to the value of $1,913, one-third of which
was payable in cash on August 3d, and one-third annually for the
two succeeding years. On September 14, 1826, a second sale was
held by Robert Mitchell, Abraham Bower, and Abraham Adams,
then commissioners, and lots disposed of to the amount of $594-
The third sale was on June 28, 1828, when Abraham Bower, John
' >wen, and George Mitchell, the board of commissioners, sold a
single lot for the original price, $200, on which the former bidder
had paid §$2 and then defaulted. Thus it will be seen that the
county not only received the ground for its public buildings, but
also $2,539.00 from the sales of lots. In addition $267.50 was
subscribed and paid in cash into the treasury of the new county.
The contract for the jail was first let. On July 7, 1824, the
county commissioners, Robert Elliott, Samuel Linn, and John
Maxwell, advertised for proposals for erecting a stone jail, the
dimensions of which were to be 32x50 feet, two stories high, with
walls two and one-half feet in thickness. The lower floor was to
?30
HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
have four rooms and the tipper one six. John Rice was the con-'
tractor, the cost to he $2,400. but its final cost proved to be $2,600.
The few prisoners from the new county were transferred back
from Cumberland on its completion. John Hippie was awarded
the contract on October 1, 1827, to build a stone wall enclosing the
jail yard at a cost of $950, which he completed the following year.
This original jail, with slight alterations and improvements served
the use of the county for the remainder of the century. On April
4, 1902, bids were received for the erection of a new brick jail,
not to be enclosed by the ancient high wall, in which was also to
be the residence of the sheriff. Dean & Havens, contractors, re-
ceived the contract at $26,000, but changes in the plans increased
its cost to over $30,000. It was occupied January 1, 1903. It is
modern in every respect, it is said, but not greatly needed in Perry
County. On many occasions there have not been any prisoners
within its walls, and the average population is less than two persons.
At the election of 1824 Robert Mitchell and Abraham Bower
succeeded John Maxwell and Robert Elliott on the board of com-
missioners, the other member being Samuel Linn. On April 11,
1825, they advertised that they would receive proposals until Au-
gust 30th for the erection of a new brick courthouse, forty-five
feet square. In September the contract was awarded to John
Rice for $2,975, but later the height of the walls was increased
and a cupola added to the contract. The building was completed
in 1826 at a cost of $4,240. The courthouse then erected was in
use until 1868, when the grand jury authorized the county com-
missioners to make any alterations and additions that might be
necessary for the increasing business of the county, then about to
enter its second half-century of existence. It was considerably
enlarged and modernized and including the cost of the clock tower
cost a trifle over $25,000, the citizens of the town donating ap-
proximately $300 towards purchasing the clock. While these
alterations were being done the county offices were installed in the
basement of the Presbyterian Church, and the sessions of court
were held in the old Methodist Church on High Street. A new
addition was erected in 1892 to the north end of the building at a
cost of about $20,000. In it are the offices of the register and
recorded and prothonotary, on the first floor, and the jury rooms
and the law library on the second floor.
The removal of the public documents from Landisburg to
Bloomfield took place on March 12 and 13th, 1827.
CHAPTER XIV.
TRAILS AND HIGHWAYS.*
THE story of the settlement of Perry County territory is
also the story of the first road westward over the Allegheny
Mountains to the Ohio, which was then the "Far West."
The travel on streams was by canoe, and on land, following the
trails made by the Indians through the forests, first on foot, the
original manner of travel; later on horseback, and with the ad-
vent of roads, in carriages and wagons. These Indian trails were
generally direct, reaching the gaps in the mountains and following
streams, when the route was not too circuitous. The continual use
of given routes, even afoot, soon created paths, which the Indians
termed trails, and which often later became pack horse paths, then
roads or highways, some even becoming main highways or turn-
pikes. Some were narrow and never became utilized for vehicles,
but were used by the pioneer circuit rider, who came after the In-
dians had departed, and by the pioneers before roads became gen-
eral. These were then known as bridle paths and some of them
are yet distinguishable. One such is over the end of Bowers'
Mountain, near Cisna's Run, and another around the foot of Mt.
Dempsey, opposite Landisburg, in Sheaffer's Valley, and not far
from Sherman's Creek. Both are known to the oldest residents
of these localities from their earliest recollections.
One of these old Indian trails led from New York State, south-
west across Pennsylvania, to the Potomac, contiguous to Perry
County soil, through present Juniata County. It was known as
the Tuscarora Path, hence the names of two of the valleys through
which it passed, Tuscarora and A////. Its proximity to the county
territory is largely responsible for the seeming ease with which the
Indian warriors reached here even from remote points to wield
the tomahawk and scalping knife.
The through trail to the West, as far as the Ohio, first known
as the "Allegheny Path," led through Croghan's (now Sterrett's)
♦In discussing the inception of this volume with Prof. H. H. Shenk,
custodian of public records of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, to
whom we are indebted for many suggestions and much encouragement, he
remarked that the history of roads and highways was very much neglected,
a fact which has proven true, in so far as Perry County is concerned at
least. An effort has been made to record the earlier roads with partial
success. Following the first Indian trails in the province, roads or high-
ways were laid out, the main ones being at first known as "The King's
Highways," for the pioneers had not yet arrived at the point where free-
dom was even considered.
231
2^2 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
('..-i]). across what is now Perry County, over Tuscarora Mountain,
through Shade Ciap, Black Log, Aughwiek, Frankstown. and Hol-
lidaysburg, crossing the Allegheny Mountains at or near Kittan-
ning Point. It was the great highway to the West and was used
by George Croghan, Andrew Montour, Conrad Weiser and other
traders, interpreters and government representatives as far back
as records arc available. It was in general use by traders in 1740
and succeeding years. It was then an old Indian trail and it was
but natural for these men to use it. It became known as the
"Traders' Path" and as "The Horseway." It descended in turn
to the pioneers, but they were men of vision and soon regular
roads were laid out and built.
Watson's Annals tells of a Mrs. Murphy, who died at the age
of 100, in 1803, and who remembered "that the first 'Indian track'
to go westward was across Simpson's Ferry, four miles below
Harris', then across the Conodoguinet at Middlesex, then up the
Kittatinny Mountain across Croghan's -(Sterrett's) Gap, thence
down the mountain and across Sherman's Creek at Gibson's, thence
by Dick's Gap, thence by Sherman's Valley, by Concord, to the
burnt cabins, thence to the west of the Allegheny."
The route westward varied at points, or rather, at some places
there were several routes, but this oldest of routes over Perry
Count v's domain, was likely the main trail to which these other
routes led.
John Harris, who had been westward in 1748, left a diary which
mentions the following points with intermediate distances:
"From my ferry to George Croghan's, 5 miles; to Kittatinny Mountain,
o; to Andrew Montour's, 5; to Tuscarora Hill, 9 (Conococheague, Moun-
tain is intended) ; to *Thomas Mitchell's sleeping place, 3; to Tuscarora,
14; to Cove Spring, 10; Shadow of Death, 8; Black Log, 3; 66 miles to
this point."
"Starting at Black Log, to Aughwiek, 6; Jack Armstrong's Narrows
(so called from his being murdered there), 8; to Standing Stone (about
14 feet high and 6 inches square), 10; total, 24 miles."
The "standing stone" referred to is where Huntingdon is now
located. There was a route from Croghan's via Robert Dun-
ning's and McAllister's Gap, west of Perry County, to Path Val-
ley, but six miles of it through the gap were at the bottom of a
chasm, over a bed of stones and rocks, which the waters of ages
had washed bare, and the descent into Path Valley was very steep
and stony for an additional mile, so that the route over the Perry
*Thomas Mitchell's sleeping place was in that part of Madison Town-
ship known as Liberty Valley. It is mentioned by John Harris, in his
table of distances from Harrisburg to Logstown, in 1754, and by Conrad
Weiser. Mitchell was an Indian trader as early as 1848 and is supposed
to have made a shelter at this point.
TRAILS AND HIGHWAYS 233
County territory became the popular one. This old path, known as
the Allegheny Path, the Traders' Path, etc., came through Cro-
ghan's (now Sterrett's) Gap. followed the south side of Sherman's
Creek to a point west of Gibson's Rock, where it crossed to the
north, continuing westward to where Montour's Run joined the
creek; from there it passed onward by Fort Robinson, crossing
the Conococheague Mountain's end near the present Sandy Hill
road, past Thomas Mitchell's sleeping place (the old Meminger
place), in Liberty Valley, via Bigham's Gap to the Tuscarora Val-
ley. A tradition has the path crossing the Conococheague at a
point between Andersonburg and Blain, but the late Prof. J. R.
Flickinger, himself a resident of the immediate vicinity, wrote "it
seems improbable that a crossing so difficult would be selected,
when nature had provided an easier passage at a point almost as
direct." The sleeping places mentioned at various places were
usually either hollow logs, bark or sapling huts or abandoned In-
dian shacks, and no record remains as to the nature of the "Thomas
Mitchell sleeping place." It likely took its name from the fact that
he either improvised it or that he was the first one known to use it.
A deed on record in the Perry County courhouse. executed in
181 1, mentions the Meminger place as the location of "Mitchell's
Sleeping Place." Thomas Mitchell was an unlicensed trader in
1747. and in the minutes of the Provincial Counsel for November
15, 1753, is mentioned as a man of no character. Authorities
differ as to the route, as the following paragraph shows.
In describing this old Indian trail across the county Prof. A. L.
Guss, the historian, says : "The path by way of Bigham's Gap is
largely misunderstood. Liberty Valley was an impregnable thicket
of laurel and spruce. No early trader or adventurer passed through
it. It took much and hard labor to make a path through it. The
west Tuscarora and the Conococheague Mountains form an anti-
clinal axis, with Horse Valley scooped out of the crest. Just
where they begin to separate the broadened mountain has ravines
on each side, and it was along these ravines that the early path led
over the mountains. The old 'traders' road' passed up a ravine
north of Andersonburg and came down a ravine at Mohler's tan-
nery, in Liberty Valley, and crossed directly over the depressed
end of the Tuscarora Mountain by Bigham's Gap."
It was contended by the province at the treaty of Albany in
1754 and admitted by the Indians (the Six Nations) that "the road
to Ohio is no new road ; it is an old, frequented road; the Shaw-
nees and Delawares removed thither about thirty years ago from
Pennsylvania, ever since which that road has been traveled by our
traders at their invitation, and always with safety until within these
few years." The reader will note that it was then already called
an "old, frequented road."
234 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
That the first official journey of a representative from the colo-
nics bordering the Atlantic seaboard to the lands west of the Alle-
ghenies — that mighty empire of the West — was made over this old
Allegheny Path, through the territory now comprising Perry
County, is an historical fact. That notable journey of Conrad
Weiser at the instance of the English colonies in 1748 was the occa-
sion. Of course there were other trails to the West, but this was
at that time the principal one. "There were later three great In-
dian paths from the East to the West through western Pennsyl-
vania," says Thwaite's "Early Western Travels." "The southern
led from Fort Cumberland, on the Potomac, westward through
the valleys of Youghiogheny and Monongahela, to the forks of
the Ohio, and was the route taken by Washington in 1753, later
by Braddock's expedition, and was substantially the line of the
great Cumberland National Road of the early Nineteenth Century.
The central trail, passing through Carlisle, Shippensburg, and Bed-
ford, over Laurel Mountain, through Fort Ligonier, over Chest-
nut Ridge to *Shannopin's town, at the forks of the Ohio, was
the most direct and became the basis of General Forbes' road and
later the Pennsylvania wagon road to the Ohio. But the older, or
Kittatinny Trail, was the oldest and most used by the Indian
traders. It was this route that Conrad Weiser followed. From
Croghan's (in East Pennsboro Township, Cumberland County)
he passed over into the valley of Sherman's Creek (now in Perry
County), crossing Sterrett's Gap and the Tuscarora Mountains via
.Standing Stone (now Huntingdon). There was also a fourth
trail, still farther north, by way of Sunbury and the West Branch
to Venango."
Of the place where the Kittatinny Trail, more generally known
as the Allegheny Path, crossed the Allegheny Mountains, Jones,
in his History of the Juniata Valley (1889) says: "It is still visible
in some places where the ground was marshy, close to the run ; the
path is at least twelve inches deep and the very stones along the
road bear the marks of the iron-shod horses of the Indian traders."
As late as 1796 Carlisle was an important point for the starting of
pack horse trains for Pittsburgh and the Ohio region.
There are records to show that this old Allegheny Trail was
taken by the northern section of Liuet. Col. John Armstrong in
his expedition against the Indians at Kittanning in 1756. They
show that the expedition left Carlisle in August, Colonel Arm-
strong being personally in charge, "going via Sherman's Valley."
At Fort Shirley .additional recruits were received.
*Shannopin's town was named after a chief of that name, who died in
1749. It was situated on the Allegheny River where the present city of
Pittsburgh stands.
TRAILS AND HIGHWAYS 235
When the English and French rivalry for the possession of
America came to its inevitable end — war — Conrad Weiser, an
agent for the provincial government, was sent to the Ohio for the
purpose of conciliating the Indians, as was the custom, with valu-
able presents. At the same time his duties were not unlike those
of a spy. He was to ascertain their strength, location, mood and
prestige, and at the same time learn the objects of the French.
With the party on this trip was a son of Benjamin Franklin,
George Croghan, and Andrew Montour, and there is record of
their using this route over Perry County soil.
When there was pressing need of military operations against the
French on the Ohio, in 1754, and ways and means were under
consideration, there was no other highway ; and Governor Morris
described it as "only a horseway through the woods and over the
mountains, not passable with any carriage." Travel was not di-
verted from this road or trail until a year later, 1755, when the
southern route was made, over the Alleghenies via the route which
is to-day known as the Lincoln Highway, in order to enable Brad-
dock and his army to march against Fort Duquesne. In May of
that year the province agreed to send three hundred men, in order
to cut a wagon road from Fort Loudon, Franklin County, to join
Braddock's Road near the "turkey foot," three miles from the
forks of the Youghiogheny.
In the introductory remarks in the chapter relating to churches,
there is an account of a Presbyterian missionary, Rev. Charles
Beatty, passing over this route in 1766. It was then only an In-
dian trail over which the pioneers had entered the county's terri-
tory. However, it became the first road to be laid out in the new
purchase covered by the Albany treaty. In 1761 the Cumberland
County court ordered it laid out as a public highway between Car-
lisle and Sherman's Valley. Viewers appointed by the court rec-
ommended that the road be opened "through the lands of Francis
West (vicinity of the Gibson mill) and others, from Carlisle,
across the mountain, and through Sherman's Valley, to Alexander
Logan's, and from thence to the gap in the Tuscarora Mountain,
leading to Aughwick and Juniata, as the nearest and best way
from the head of Sherman's Valley to Carlisle." The removal of
the timber was about all that was required in making a roadway in
those days.
This old Allegheny Path should be taken over in its entirely by
the State Highway Department, if for no other reason than that
it was the first roadway to the West, but another great reason is
that a good road is needed, not only by the public but by the state,
whose reserve — the Tuscarora Forest — it passes through. There
are, only certain small links which need to be improved. From
Carlisle to a locality known as Dromgold there is already a state
236 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
mad. The stretches from Dromgold to Landisburg, from a mile
wesl of Landisburg to Loysville, and from the Waggoner Mill
bridge, via Fort Robinson, Kistler and Walsingham, to Honey
Grove, in Juniata. County, is all that requires to be taken over. A
fair road already exists over these stretches, but there is no reason
why the entire old Allegheny Path should not be kept up at state
expense. Representative Clark Bower introduced a bill to that
effect in the legislature of 1920-21, but it failed. That bill should
be introduced at each and every session until the great common-
wealth, in a way, perpetuates the first great highway to the West.
There were trails along the Juniata and Susquehanna Rivers, en-
tering the county above Duncan's and Haldeman's Islands, the lat-
ter going into the Susquehanna country and New York State and
known as the Susquehanna Trail, and the former being of a local
nature, as the traffic from Harris' Ferry westward preferred the
more direct line across present Perry County, via Black Log and
Aughwick. Hardy, in "The Wilderness Trail," says another traders'
path north of the Juniata was joined by the Shamokin Path near
what is now Mifflintown, and was crossed by the Tuscarora Path
near present Port Royal, Pennsylvania. He also says: "One
branch may have led directly up the river from the Shawnee towns
on Big Island (now Haldeman Island), and on the mainland, oppo-
site, at the mouth of the Juniata; if so the first stage may have
been by canoes, as the river, from the island to what is now New-
port, is hemmed in in some places by mountains." Tradition dif-
fers from that statement and we are inclined to be with tradition
in this case. The Indians had a fording, known as "Queenashawa-
kee," where Clark's Run enters the Susquehanna in Duncannon
Borough, and there was a trail from there through the hills via the
old Dick's Gap Church, to below the present location of Newport,
which was four miles shorter than the river route, and it was but
natural for the Indian to take the shorter route. That there was a
trail over this route is proven by the fact that the church was
located along the old trail and that the first stage line likewise fol-
lowed the trail. Furthermore, the average Indians hardly found
canoes available for "through traffic."
Further on in "The Wilderness Trail" is this reference to a
branch of the Allegheny Path which connected with the Susque-
hanna Trail : "Bishop Cameroff, who traveled along the east bank
of the Susquehanna from Paxtang to Shamokin in the winter of
1748, notes in his journal that after crossing to the north side of
Wiconisco Creek, near its mouth, on January 12th, he came to a
bouse a short distance beyond, where he halted. Here his host
informed him that on the west bank of the Susquehanna, opposite
to his home, 'began the great path to the Allegheny country, esti-
TRAILS AND HIGHWAYS 237
mated to be three or four hundred miles distant.' This must have
been in what is now Buffalo Township, Perry County."
The inception of the first road to what is now Juniata and Mif-
flin Counties dates to 1767, when a petition was presented to the
Cumberland County court to open a road from Sherman's Valley
to the ECishacoquillas Valley. In May, 1768, viewers reported in
favor of "a carriage road from the Sherman's Valley road, be-
ginning two and three-quarter miles from Croghan's (now Ster-
rett's) Gap, running through Rye Township and across the Juniata
River at the mouth of Sugar Run, into Fermanagh (now Green-
wood) Township, and thence through the same and Derry Town-
ship, up the north side of the Juniata into the Kishacoquillas Val-
ley." This road was the first to be built into these two counties.
There was also a petition during the same year for a road from
Baskins' Ferry on the Susquehanna to Andrew Stephens' Ferry
on the Juniata.
At the January term of court in 1771 a petition was presented
asking that a road be opened from James Gallagher's, on the
Juniata River, to William Patterson's, thence to James Baskins'
Ferry, on the Juniata River. At the April term of court of the
same year the request of the petitioners was granted and it was
ordered opened as a "bridle path." At the same term of court a
petition was presented asking for a road from William Patterson's
mill, on Cocolamus Creek, to Middle Creek. This was probably
intended to extend to Middleburg, Snyder County,
James Gallagher's was near where Thompsontown is now lo-
cated, and William Patterson's at Cocolamus Creek, below Millers-
town. Baskins' Ferry was at the north end of Duncannon.
Then came the American Revolution and road building was
farthest from the thoughts of men. Their whole thought was of
liberty and the preservation of that freedom which had caused
them to brave the dangers of crossing the sea. During the pro-
vincial days when the proprietary government was in power slow
progress was made with the building of roads, but when the change
was made from province to colony improvements began. In 1787
a commission was appointed to survey a road to connect the
Frankstown branch of the Juniata with the Conemaugh at Johns-
town. A year later it was contracted for, and in 1790 completed.
Another Frankstown road was authorized in 1792, south of the
previous one. In 1788, at the January term of the Cumberland
County courts a road was recommended to be laid out from
the Reed Ferry on the Susquehanna, to Boston Shade's mill, on
Cocolamus Creek. There was an act passed April 13, 1791, which
is known as the Improvement Act. It granted £300 for the im-
provement of a road from the mouth of the Juniata to David Mil-
ler's (now Millerstown) on the Juniata, through Dick's Gap.
238 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
There was a road from Carlisle to Sunbury at a very early date.
On February 3, 1794, William Long warranted 400 acres of land
located in what is now Spring Township, which is described as
"adjoining lands on the west this day granted to John Long, and
on the north by lands now in the possession of John Caven, and
to join the great road leading from Carlisle to Sunbury." This
"great road" passed through Long's Gap over the Blue Mountain.
It was originally a pack horse route or bridle path from the South
to the Susquehanna River, thence along to Sunbury.
In 1803, at the August term of court held at Carlisle, a petition
was presented, requesting the erection of a bridge across Cocolamus
Creek, on the post road from Harrisburg to Lewistown, near the
junction of the creek with the Juniata River. This road was
washed out by a flood, but its location was between the present
road and the old canal bed, where the Patterson mill was located.
Until recently there were traces of it. This old petition set forth
that during winter this road was almost impassable, by reason of
backwater from the river and ice blocking the fording. While it
is here named as "the post-road" yet the fact remains that the
Juniata Mail Stage Company did not begin operations until 1808,
but the mails were carried over the route on horseback as early
as 1798.
When the first through route was made through the Juniata Val-
ley to Pittsburgh, now known as the "Old State Road," it did not
take the river route from Clark's Ferry to Newport, but followed
the old Indian trail via Pine Grove, in what is now Miller Town-
ship, where Woodburn's tavern, an old and well-known road house,
was located. Later this part of the route was abandoned and it
followed the river bank.
In the fall of 1806 petitions favoring a turnpike along the Juni-
ata were in circulation. On March 4, 1807, the State Legislature
enacted a law to incorporate a company for building a turnpike
from Harrisburg via Lewistown and Huntingdon, to Pittsburgh.
This turnpike, which has been known by various names, frequently
as the Allegheny pike, entered Perry County at the head of Dun-
can's Island and ran west along the Juniata through Millerstown.
For many years this was a turnpike, then it relapsed into the town-
ship road class, and in 1889, the Johnstown flood year, the high
water washed out a section of five miles in Watts Township, which
remains vacated to this day, by an order of the Perry County
court, the township claiming it as a too expensive piece of road
to keep in order. As this route is now a part of the William Penn
Highway an effort is under way to have the state rebuild it, which
should be done.
The first section, from Harrisburg west, was not built until
[822, however. By an act of the Pennsylvania Legislature, dated
TRAILS AND HIGHWAYS 239
in March, 1821, two turnpike companies were chartered, the Ilar-
risburg & Millerstown Turnpike Company and the Millerstown &
Lewistown Turnpike Company. The location of two of the toll-
gates were at the Miller pottery, in Howe Township, and at a
point above Millerstown, known as "the burnt house." The lower
company in 1825 had as commissioners: George Mann, of Cum-
berland County, and the following- Perry Countians: John Fry,
Robert Clark. Cadwallader Jones, Peter Stingle, Robert Mitchell,
John Rider, Francis Beelen, Joseph Power, Thomas Power, and
Caleb North. Among" the fourteen commissioners of the Millers-
town & Lewistown Company were James Freeland and Abram
Addams. Mr. Addams, whose eldest daughter became the mother
of Governor James A. Beaver, was an influential man in the com-
munity and the new county and took a great interest in turnpike
affairs. The turnpike was completed in 1825 and the subscription
books opened at Millerstown. It was in use until 1857, when the
county authorities took charge, the turnpike companies having
abandoned it owing to the building of the canal and railroad, which
took away the principal part of the traffic.
The Harrisburg & Millerstown Turnpike Company, with a pike
of twenty-six miles, had $25,000 individual subscriptions and a
state grant of $40,000, and the Millerstown & Lewistown Turn-
pike Company had $70,000 individual subscriptions and a grant
of $39,500 from the state. Shares were $50, and the average cost
per mile about $2,000.
Before the advent of the canal and railroad the overland traffic
was largely done with large covered wagons, known as Conestoga
wagons, by reason of their being built at Lancaster, on the banks
of the Conestoga. These wagons, usually with a tar can hanging
beneath, had four-inch tires and were often drawn by six or
eight horses or mules, with jingling bells attached to the names.
Queerly enough the drivers of these wagons fastened the name
upon a present-day tobacco product. They liked to smoke to while
away the time, and at Pittsburgh there was a great demand for a
cigar which would smoke for a long period. As the demand came
from these drivers of Conestoga wagons a cigarmaker rolled a
long cigar, which he could sell at a low price — four for a cent —
and named it the "Conestoga." The product immediately became
popular, but the word was too long and became Americanized as
"stogies," and sometimes mistakenly called "tobies." To accom-
modate these drivers and their teams, road houses sprang up along
the turnpike at approximately every ten or twelve miles. There
are records which tell of a dozen or more large Conestoga wagons,
with six or eight horses each, waiting to be ferried at Clark's
Ferry, the western end of which was then at Clark's Run, near the
2 4 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
centre of present-day Duncannon. The ferry house, or road house,
still stands and is occupied by Joseph Smith as a dwelling.
As an example of what was done over the old mud roads, be-
fore the building of the turnpikes, in 1817, twelve thousand wagons
passed over the Allegheny Mountains to Baltimore and Philadel-
phia, each with four or six horses., and carrying a load of from
3,500 to 4,000 pounds. The cost from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia
was $7 to $10 per hundredweight. About 1885 the rate over the
Pennsylvania Railroad was three-fourths of a cent per mile for
each ton, or about $2.60.
When the turnpike was built through the county in the territory
which now comprises Howe Township, one of the smallest town-
ships in the county, inns or taverns were opened, known as Fahter's
Falls tavern, Fetterman's tavern, and Red Hill tavern. The latter
became a famous stopping place for the picturesque old Conestoga
wagons on which the traffic of the new nation was largely trans-
ported. It was later long in the possession of Alfred Wright.
Fetterman's was in the building now owned by Heister Moretz,
along the William Penn Highway (now under construction) where
the roads join, and Fahter's Falls (later Juniata Falls) was later
kept by John Patterson, and is now known as the Lewis Steckley
homestead.
The late Thomas H. Benton, in his "Thirty Years in the United
States Senate," in discussing the establishment of the first national
turnpikes, from the Atlantic seaboard to the Ohio, says:
'The absolute necessity for a public highway from the Atlantic
seaboard to the inland cities of the republic, which were fast
springing into existence, in the great West, were so great that the
Whigs had no difficulty in procuring the necessary appropriations
for the survey, location and construction of a national road from
tidewater at Philadelphia and Baltimore to the Ohio."
An act of the Pennsylvania Legislature dated March 29, 181 3,
authorized the appointment of commissioners "to make an arti-
ficial road from Millerstown to the Franklin County line, to go
through McKessonburg, and thence via Daniel Sprenkle's."
The road from Perry County, over the mountains to Concord,
Franklin County, was built in 1820. By reference to the chapter
in this book entitled Postrider and Stagecoach, it will be seen that
during the second year following. 1S22, the United States Gov-
ernment established a mail route over this new highway, from
Clark's Ferry (now Duncannon) to Concord.
The McClure's Cap road was built in 1S2T. It connects Landis-
burg (which was then the temporary county seat) with Newville,
Cumberland County. The following bond, etc., is published here
as of historical value and will show the names of the commissioners
and bondsmen, etc., without further description. It follows:
TRAILS AND HIGHWAYS 241
Know all men by these presents that we James W. Allen of Frandford
township, Cumberland County and State of Pennsylvania and Benjamin
Rice of Tyrone, Perry County and same State (Commissioners appointed
by an Act of Assembly for improving the State for to lay out open and
improve the road over the North mountain between Landisburg and Ncw-
ville at McClures Gap, and Jacob Alter Esquire of West Pennsboro town-
ship and James Laird Esquire of Frankford township in the County of
Cumberland aforesaid, are held and firmly bound unto his Excellency Jos-
eph Hiester Governor of Pennsylvania in the just and full Sum of Eight
hundred Dollars money of the United States: To the which payment well
and truly to be made to the Said Joseph Hiester or to his legal Attorney
or Successor in office, we do hereby bind ourselves our heirs executors,
or administrators jointly Severally, firmly by these presents: Sealed with
out Seals and dated the fifteenth day of May, one thousand Eight hundred
and twenty one.
The CONDITION of the above obligation is Such that if the above
bounden James W. Allen and Benjamin Rice as commissioners above
Stated, Shall well and truly apply Such monies as may be put into their
hands for the purpose of opening and improving Said Road agreeable to
the intent and meaning of Said Law and Settle and adjust their accounts
in manner therein directed, then the above obligation to be void, otherwise
to remain in full force and virtue in Law.
Signed and Sealed in
presence of
Paul L. Peirce James William Allen (Seal)
John Dickson Benjamin Rice (Seal)
William McCrea Jacob Alter (Seal)
John Lefever James Laird (Seal)
(Indorsed) 28th May 1821. The within bond, and Security are approved
in open Court, by the judge thereof. John Reed
James Armstrong
Isa. Graham.
Cumberland County Vs.
I do Certify the above and foregoing to be a true Copy of
the original as the Same remains filed of Record in the office
of the Court of General Quarter Session of the Peace in and
for Said County.
In witness whereof I have hereunto Set my hand and the Seal of the
Same Court at Carlisle the 28th May A. D. 1821.
J McGinnis Jr.
Clk C. Q. S.
James Allen and Benjamin Rice Commissioners under the 71st Section
of the twenty-sixth day of March 1821 have received credit in this Office
for four hundred dollars the amount expended for the improvement for
which money was appropriated in and by that Section.
Auditor Generals James Duncan
Office 27th Match, 1823. Auditor Genl.
The road from the George Barnett farm, on which New Bloom-
field is located, to Sterrett's Gap, was laid out in 1824. There was
once a military road to the Canadian frontier projected which was
to have crossed Perry County. From the Perry Forester of Sep-
tember 14, 1826, we note the fact, as follows: "Major Long, of
the engineer department, passed through Bloomfield, in this county,
16
242 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
on Thursday last, engaged in the duty assigned to him by the
United States Government, of viewing a national military road
from Washington to a point on our northern frontier."
The Act of April 14, 1827, appointed Solomon Bower, Jacob
Stambaugh, Jr., and Robert Elliot, of Perry County, and Abra-
ham Waggoner and John Hays, o£ Cumberland County, commis-
sioners to lay out a state road from Landisburg to Carlisle, by way
of Waggoner's Gap. The Perry Forester of May 24, 1827, tells
of viewers having inspected the Waggoner Gap road and found it
to have a grade of only four and one-half degrees, or one-half a
degree less than the specifications, which fixes the time of the
building of that road. In T829 Nicholas Ickes, J. Kibler, and Rob-
ert Elliott, of Perry County, and William Wharton and Henry
Hackett, of Mifflin County, were appointed commissioners to lo-
cate a state road from Landisburg, by way of Ickesburg and Run
Gap, to MifHintown. The State Legislature of 1826-27 provided
for the opening of an additional state road via Long's Gap, which
was built in 1828.
During 1827 and 1829 the Pennsylvania Legislature authorized
the opening of roads from Union County to Liverpool; from
Innis, Huntingdon County, to Landisburg; from Lewistown to
Shippensburg, via New Germantown and Three Square Hollow.
The state road leading from a point opposite Harrisburg to
Petersburg, now Duncannon, was opened in 1829. The commis-
sion who viewed the route and located it was composed of John
Clendenin, A. Wills, Alexander Branyan, R. T. Jacobs and Robert
Clark. Even before its construction there was a very rough and
stony way along the river, the last vestige of the old Indian trail.
Prior to the opening of this state road the main travel was over
the mountain, about two miles from the river, via Miller's Gap.
By an act of the Pennsylvania Legislature, of April 19, 1844,
John Wily, Robert Mitchell, Jesse Beaver, Thomas Cochran, and
Michael Steever were appointed commissioners to lay out a state
road from Reider's Ferry (now Newport) to the wot end oi Mil-
lerstown bridge, by the nearest and best route between those points.
When Carroll Township was laid out in 1843 part of the boundary
was described as being "along the great road leading to Clark's
Ferry," which shows it as a then important highway. Its route
lay through Grier's Point and Wheatfield Township.
An Act of February 14, 1845. authorized the Perry County
commissioners to pay Jackson Township $250 to help build a road
from McFarland's tannery to the Cumberland County line, its
outlet in Cumberland County being at McCormick's Mill.
The road across the Blue Mountains at Crane's Gap was for-
merly a footpath. In 1848 the road was built, but it is now little
used. About a mile farther west from Crane's Gap is a small gap
TRAILS AND HIGHWAYS
243
known as Sharron's, after James Sharron, who warranted lands
about I/69. There was once a road there also, but it was vacated
many years ago.
The Act of April 12, 1855, appointed Samuel O. Evans and
William Cox, of Juniata County, and Jesse Beaver, of Perry, to
lay out a road "from the turnpike gate east of Thompsontown, in
Juniata County, down Pfoutz Valley to the bridge over the Cocola-
mus Creek, in Perry County." An act fifteen days later, April
27th, appointed John P. Thompson and John M. Jones, of Juniata
County, and Lewis Gilfillen, of Perry County, to lay out a road
"from a point on the public road leading from Dunn's Mill to Mif-
llintuwn, at or near Hibbsfield, in the county of Juniata; thence
from a point on road leading from Thompsontown to Liverpool,
on lands of Christian Coffman, near the bridge over the Cocolamus
Creek, in Perry County."
At the April term of court in 1859 viewers were either appointed
or reported in the laying out of thirty-four different roads. At
the January term of 1861 there were thirty-three, with many at
other courts during the intervening period and shortly before and
thereafter, which would fix that as the period when the greatest
road development occurred.
An Act of March 6, 1873, required the county commissioners
to appropriate $300 towards the erection of a bridge over the Big
Buffalo Creek, on the road leading from the tanyard owned by
Rev. J. J. Hamilton, to Elliottsburg, at Spriggle's fording.
That part of the William Penn Highway directly opposite New-
port occupies the old roadway which was often the cause of trou-
ble. The original road led from Greenwood Township, over the
turnpike across the hill, and by Red Hill Church, to Newport. An act
of the legislature was passed March 21, 1865, authorizing the county
commissioners to pay $500 to aid Howe Township in making a
road recently laid out, from the east end of the Newport bridge
to a point on the Harrisburg and Millerstown turnpike, at the foot
of Buffalo Mountain. Another act, dated March 20, 1869, author-
ized the county to pay $2,000 more towards the same road and to
issue bonds for the amount. It named Lewis Gilfillen, Dr. J. E.
Singer, and Isaac Wright as commissioners to build it. There
was a provision that as soon as $3,500 was contributed the contract
was to be let. Michael Hartzell evidently had the contract, as an
act of April 24, 1873, required that the county commissioners pay
him $1,865 0I moneys so appropriated. After the 1889 flood it
was again impassable, but was finally rebuilt largely by the progres-
sive business men of Newport.
But one new state highway was granted by the Legislature of
1 92.1 -22, and that was the one provided for in a bill introduced by
Representative Clark M. Bower, of Perry County, providing for
_> 4 4 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
a new outlet from western Perry County. The present road, de-
scending into Path Valley, has a very steep grade and is a danger-
ous route, with the result that it was little traveled. The new
route is really a very old one, long since abandoned. It was in use
by the pioneers. It leaves Perry County by circling Big Round
Top and drops into Franklin County by an easy grade to Burns'
Valley and the iron bridge near Doyleshurg, where it joins route
45 of the highway system. It opens up a route from Dry Run and
Concord which saves forty miles on the trip to Harrisburg. It
connects with the Lincoln Highway at Fort Loudon, and to the
traveler from the Susquehanna and lower Juniata Valleys it means
a saving of forty miles on a westward trip. It passes through the
Tuscarora State Forest and through a mountainous section un-
equaled in Pennsylvania for beauty.
The reader can readily realize the discomforts of travel in those
early days, yet they had no terrors for even a woman when she
had the blood of the brave coursing her veins, as the following will
show: Peter Hartman, an early settler, had married Elizabeth
Oelwein, of Chester County, a relative of Gen. Anthony Wayne,
and who had inherited the vigor and indomitable bravery of the
Wayne family. In the summer of 1794, when her first child was
but six months old, she started from Buffalo Mills (located in
what is now Saville Township, Perry County) on horseback with
the baby, and traveled 120 miles to see her relatives in Chester
County, using bridle paths where there were no roads. Being a
tactful woman she met with kindness all along the route. This was
a most remarkable journey in that day and under those circum-
stances. There are many Perry Countians of to-day who can be
proud that they have coursing in their veins the same blood as
that of that Revolutionary hero. General Anthony Wayne.
In those pioneer days, Perry County territory, with the methods
of travel then available, was as far from Philadelphia as the Mis-
sissippi Valley is to-day, with our really wonderful and speedy
railroad trains. In fact, a letter will now go from Philadelphia to
Denver, Colorado, in the same length of time that was then re-
quired to carry it from Philadelphia to Carlisle.
There being only trails at first the horseback method was the
only one available, even for the transportation of weighty products.
Lack horses, each of which carried a burden of about two hun-
dred pounds over the mountains, were usually in groups of fifteen,
with two men in charge. In passing along hills and mountainsides
the loads frequently came in contact with the ground. About t8oo,
at Harris' Ferry. \'wq hundred horses were fed and rested during
a single night, which shows the extensiveness of the traffic.
With roads came that first vehicle, known as the "gig," and in
use when the new county of Perry came into being. Then came
TRAILS AND HIGHWAYS 245
the carriage, known as the "Dearborn," for milady, and to be suc-
ceeded by all varieties of carriages and buggies clown to the fash-
ionable "Jenny Lind," even to this day in use. Our century, how-
ever, has brought the motor vehicle into popular use, and the auto-
mobile is more common to-day than was the good carriage of forty
wars ago. As early as 1906 there were but 48,000 in the entire
United States, but to-day (1920) the total approximates almost
6,000,000. In the interim the bicycle was a popular vehicle for
personal trips, enjoyment and business from about 1890 until the
advefit of the automobile, but its use is now chiefly confined to
business trips of a few blocks.
"Pack Saddle Path," known to all hunters as far back as they
ran remember, starts at the lower end of Lew Run. in Tyrone
Township, and crosses the Kittatinny Mountain to the Wagner
farms in North Middleton Township, Cumberland County. Evi-
dently this run should be called Lewis Run, as tradition says that
a colored slave named Lewis is buried near the run.
On March 24. 1851, an act of the Pennsylvania Legislature au-
thorized the formation of the Millerstown, Andersonburg and
New Germantown Plank Road Company. The capital was to have
been $25 per share, and the number of shares 800. The road was
to pass through Ickesburg. The commissioners named in the act
were Samuel Black, Robert Elliott, Isaac Kinter, Wm. B. Ander-
son, Thomas Boal, Andrew S human, W. Blair, James Milligan.
Samuel Liggett, Simon Kell, James Irvin, Jacob Shnman, Kirk
Haines, T. P. Cochran, Jacob Bixler, W. I. Jones, G. W. Parsons,
Wm. Rice, Solomon Bower, and George Black.
A plank road was once projected from a point upon the Penn-
sylvania Railroad, via New Bloomfield, to New Germantown. By
an act of the Pennsylvania Legislature, dated April 12, 185 1, the
Sherman's Valley Plank Road Company was incorporated, with
forty-three stockholders. Section 1 of the act reads :
"Be it enacted, etc., That Henry Rice, George Stroop, James Macfar-
land, Benjamin Mclntire, Jonas Ickes, David Lupfer, H. F. Topley,
George Barnett, Sr., John Campbell, Conrad Roth. Jr., John R. McClintic.
George B. Arnold, Finlaw McCown, Alex. B. Anderson, A. C. Kling, Wm.
A. Sponsler, John A. Baker, John B. Topley, Samuel McKnight, C. W.
Fisher, Lindley Fisher, John Charters, Joseph Bailey, James Black, Jacob
Smith, Samuel Leiby, Joshua E. Singer, John W. Bosserman, John
Demaree, John Beaver, Wm. T. Shively, Jesse L. Gaunt, George S.
Hackett, Daniel Gannt, James F. McNeal, John Rice, David Adams, Joseph
McClure, James Kay, John Ritter, John Tressler, Wm. B. Anderson, and
Solomon Bower be and are hereby appointed commissioners to open books,
receive subscriptions, and organize a company by the name and style of
'The Sherman's Valley Plank Road Company,' with power to construct
a plank road from such point on the Pennsylvania Railroad as a majority
in value of the stockholders shall determine, through New Bloomfield, to
New Germantown, Perry County, with all the authorities and subject to
246 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
all the provisions and restrictions of the act regulating turnpike and plank
road companies, passed the 26th day of January, 1849, and its supplements,
excepting so much thereof relating to tolls as discriminates in favor of
wheels of the width of four inches and upwards; and the said company
shall have power to regulate their tolls within the limits prescribed by
said act, without reference to the width of wheels in any case, and ex-
cepting also such other portions of said act as may be inconsistent there-
with."
The capital stock was made 550 shares, the par value of which
was $20. Privilege was given to use any roacl then in existence,
save that twenty feet was to be left for the public use, free of toll
as before, and the proportionate cost of the part used to be paid
for. The road was never built. Many of the older people of the
present generation well remember these men, some of whom lived
until very recent years.
Pennsylvania has long been noted for bad roads, but on May 31,
191 1, a bill passed the Pennsylvania Legislature creating a State
Highway Department, and since that time various bills have been
passed for the rebuilding of the state highways, which have been
taken over since the passage of the original act. The voters of
Pennsylvania at an election in 1919 voted to bond the state for
fifty millions to help construct roads. Through Perry County runs
two great highways of the state system, the William Perm High-
way and the Susquehanna Trail. As a part of this great expen-
diture, during 1920 a contract was let by Lewis S. Sadler, chief
of the State Highway Department, for the construction of 41,753
feet of eighteen-foot road from the west end of Clark's Ferry
bridge (in Dauphin County) to the line between Watts and Buf-
falo Townships (in Perry County). The contract went to Mac-
Arthur Bros. Company, of New York, at $481,784.55. It is built
of one-course, reinforced concrete, and is almost eight miles in
length, over six miles of which are in Perry County. The present
governor, Wm. C. Sproul, was always interested in better high-
ways, and while a member of the State Senate many years ago,
fathered the "Sproul Good Roads Bill." He may be said to be
the pioneer good roads enthusiast of Pennsylvania.
CHAPTER XV.
OLD LANDMARKS, MILLS AND INDUSTRIES.
WHEN the pioneers first delved into the forests of what is
now the county of Perry and hewed from them their primi-
tive homesteads which soon blossomed forth with vege-
tables and grain, they, of necessity, had to cross the Blue Moun-
tain to the Cumberland Valley to have their grain ground into
Hour and meal. But that condition was short-lived, for at their
very doors was the force of streams flowing away, which, if
dammed, would drive the machinery of innumerable mills. Thus
came the building of the first mill. The lands were not open to
settlement until 1755. it will be remembered; and after Brad-
dock's defeat in June of that year, the Indian uprising drove prac-
tically all the settlers out of the territory until it was thought safe
to return. The Roddy (Waggoner) mill was built either during
the first year of settlement, 1755, or in 1762, the year of the re-
turn of the pioneers, as it was taxed in 1763, while Perry was
under the jurisdiction of Cumberland County. Its history is as
interesting as the story of Paul Revere or other tale of province
or colony with which all are familiar. When the war whoop of
the wily red men resounded through the forest, the valuable mill-
stones imported from France were taken from their places and
sunk in the mill race until all danger had passed and it was safe
for the family to return.
The flouring mill was one of Pennsylvania's original manufac-
turing industries and remains one of importance to this day. Dur-
ing the growth of the Perry County territory there have been many
mills erected, and until the advent of the steam mill this section
had more mills than any other in Pennsylvania. There was a
reason for this in the many water-power locations available, for
be it remembered that Perry County has more springs and streams
than any other, when its comparatively small extent is considered.
Of some of these mills the history follows, or is contained in the
chapters of the various townships, but as earlier records are few
and far between, there will be omissions, of course.
On a map published in 1791, when the first governor, Thomas
Mifflin, was in office, no less than ten gristmills are located by
name, and there are a number merely marked "mill." At the
mouth of the Cocolamus Creek, in Greenwood Township, was
Shade's mill, now the J. Keely Everhart mill. Above Duncan's
Island, on the Susquehanna, is one designated as Vaux's mill, and
247
248 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
at Berry's Falls (Mt. Patrick) a third. Along the entire length
of Sherman's Creek there are four mills, three being merely
marked "mill," and the fourth designated as West's, now known
as the Gibson mill, and owned by S. V. Dunkelberger. On Fish-
ing Creek Shortis' mill appears at the source, and Kincris' mill at
its mouth, where Marysville is now located. On the Little Juniata
two are marked, near its mouth, probably being the Duncannon
mill and the old Haas mill. In the Cove one is also marked. At
Buffalo Creek's headwaters Linn's mill is designated, and near
"Buffaloe Hills" is Robinson's. At the mouth of the Little Buf-
falo is English's mill, later known as M. B. Eshelman's, and now
as the T. H. Butturf mill.
As early as 1814 two townships in western Perry, not to men-
tion the other large extent of the county, had twenty-eight grist-
mills, Toboyne having ten and Tyrone eighteen. In 1792 the
county territory had thirteen flour mills. When the county was
erected, in 1820, there were forty-eight.
There is record of Marcus Hillings, an early resident of Perry
County, being authorized to erect a dam and mill at the mouth of
Sherman's Creek, on September 15, I/84. While there is no rec-
ord of its building, yet it was probably then already built, as the
great ice flood in the winter of 1784 is recorded as having "swept
away gristmill of Marcus Hidings, situated on Sherman's Creek,
three-fourths of a mile from its mouth," according to the diary
of Jacob Young, Sr. It either had been built prior to its authori-
zation, as the year 1784 appears in both cases, or was under con-
struction at the time, if Mr. Young's date is correct. The authori-
zation date is from the public records.
In those early days when roads were few and trails and bridle
paths were the avenues of traffic, it was no uncommon thing to go
to mill by horseback, the women frequently performing that duty
while the husband and sons were carving farms from the forests.
Many of these trips at first were ten to fifteen miles to the mill
and back, and some much farther, tiresome journeys, indeed, espe-
cially by bridle paths and with the probability of even meeting
redskins on the way.
At that period the mills were more or less of a rude and simple
construction. A clumsy water wheel, with intermediate cogs put
the machinery in motion. From a hopper the wheat was fed to
the stones, where a rough bolting cloth separated the wheat from
the bran. The present milling machinery is one of the most re-
markable inventions and is in general use.
The Waggoner Mill. Alexander Roddy was the builder of the
first mill in the territory, upon the site of the present Waggoner
mill, it having been long known as the Roddy mill. He first came
to Tyrone Township from Chester County and located on what
OLD LANDMARKS. MILLS, INDUSTRIES 249
later became the Stambaugh farm and erected a cabin of poles
near the spring at the picnic grounds of a generation ago. This
was before 1754. the year of the treaty with the Indians for these
lands, and he was accordingly driven out with other "squatters,"
in fact, tradition has him driven out several times. He evidently
did not return to the Stambaugh tract, for as early as March, 1755,
he is mentioned as an adjoiner of a warrant just east of this mill
tract, lie did not warrant the mill tract though until May 13,
1763. The previous year, 1762, was the time of the return of the
great number of settlers to the territory, and it is likely that he
built the mill that year, as it was already on the tax list of 1763.
The Waggoner mill is located on Roddy's Run, between Centre
and Loysville, in Madison Township, one and a half miles west of
Loysville. The warrant calls for "one hundred and forty-three
acres, including his improvements, and adjoining John Byards
(Byers), George Robinson, Roger Clark, James Thorn and Wil-
liam Officier, in Sherman's Valley." In research work it has been
found that frequently settlers lived for years on a place before
applying for a warrant. In the case of the adjoining James Thorn
tract Provincial Secretary Peters attached a note, dated April 22,
1763, which helps bear this out. It says: "The land for which
this warrant is granted, having been settled upwards of nine years
ago, the interest and quit rents is to commence from the 1st of
March, 1754."
In March, 1763, the stream is mentioned as the dividing line be-
tween Tyrone and Toboyne Townships, upon the erection of the
latter: "Alexander Roddy's mill run to be the line." As the mill
race had to be constructed and as the dam originally covered
twenty-three acres of ground, he evidently had been there long
enough before this to dig the race and build the dam — a task of
no mere days. The first mill, on the site of the present mill, was
built of logs, but was torn down and replaced by the present one
in 1812. There is a reliable family tradition that there was no mill
yet in the Tuscarora Valley, now in Juniata County, and that
women came alone to the mill on horseback by way of Bigham's
Gap (Bealetown). After the erection of the first mill Indian up-
risings were still occurring, and when conditions became alarming
the millstones, even in those days imported from France, were re-
moved from the mill and sunk in the mill race until the danger was
over. Fort Robinson was less than a half mile to the west, and
to this the owners fled for protection.
The dam was washed out by the great flood of 18S9. At times
when the dam has been cleaned as many as thirty bushels of fish
have been captured, but those were the days when the game and
fish laws were less drastic. There was also an old "up-and-down"
250
HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
sawmill and a clover mill here at one time, the clover mill still
standing.
Alexander Roddy later located in Virginia, where he died he-
fore 1786, a> at that date a property transaction refers to his tract
as "the late Alexander Roddy's." His son, James Roddy, became
the owner, and for some years it changed hands frequently. In
1784 James More purchased it at sheriff's sale. In January, 1793,
James Irvin bought it, but two months later sold it to Henry
Richard. In 1804 David Showers purchased it, and the next deed
is from the sheriff to Frederick Bryner, who erected the present
mill in 1812. In 1816 he sold it to his son, Henry Bryner. At
executor's sale in 1831, it passed to William Miller, who sold it
to Jacob Weibley and John Weidman in 1837.
On March 29. 1839, it was purchased by Benjamin Waggoner,
and it is still in the ownership of the Waggoners. The new owner
was an experienced mill man and came from a generation of mil-
lers. His father, John Waggoner, as early as 1785 had purchased
the Garwood stone mill, located in Kennedy's Valley, and in 1805
had built the Snyder mill at Bridgeport (near Lahdisburg). Ben-
jamin Waggoner's brother, John Waggoner, was the owner of the
Patterson mill. Benjamin Waggoner operated the Waggoner mill
until his death in 1850. In August, 1854, Moses Waggoner, a son,
purchased it from the heirs and erected the commodious brick-
dwelling house adjoining. He died in possession in 1876.
The mill is now owned by W. H. Waggoner* (who has since
died ) and his sister, Harriet B. Waggoner, who purchased it from
the heirs. Mr. Waggoner can remember when the flour was
packed in barrels and hauled to Baltimore to market. They are
descendants of the original owner, Alexander Roddy, who was
their great-grandfather and who was three times driven from the
mill to seek protection at the fort at Robinson's. A brother John
E. Waggoner, is a merchant and postmaster at Centre, to whom,
as well as the owners, we are indebted for much information. As
late as 1917 W. IT. Waggoner picked up an Indian skinning knife
near tin- mill, and Indian arrow darts are frequently found. In
1900 the mill was equipped as a roller mill and draws a large trade,
even from points afar. The first mill dam was almost one-fourth
mile farther up the stream.
The Martin Mil!. That a gristmill was located in what is now
Howe Township, then a part of Greenwood, before the Revolu-
tion, is fully established by public records. That its location was
*W. H. Waggoner died in 1921. He resided in the Great West for
many years, being in the cattle business from Texas as far north as British
Columbia. When the Indians still inhabited the West, train guards were
employed, and for a time Mr. Waggoner filled that position on the Union
Pacific. The death of his wife, leaving two motherless girls, one but a
few months old, necessitated his return to Pennsylvania.
OLD LANDMARKS, MILLS, INDUSTRIES 251
at the creek wesl of the farm now or lately owned by Lewis Steck-
lc\ . near the I lain Moretz place, between the William Penn 1 [igh-
way and the river, is likewise established. While the work on this
book was in progress, J. M. Martin, a prominent attorney of Min-
neapolis, came East, and with Rev. Frank T. Bell, then the pastor
of the Newport Methodist Episcopal Church, went to the tradi-
tional location of this old gristmill, the property of their common
ancestor, Samuel Martin, and still found a part of one side of the
overgrown foundation, near the month of the run — then "Bright-
well's Run" — and the spring near which stood the first stone house
of his son Joseph, afterwards Captain. That the sawmill and
gristmill were actually built is proven by the fact that they were
devised by the will of Samuel Martin, dated August 23, 1769, to
his son Joseph, being designated as "all the plantation which I
bought from Robert Brightwell, with mills thereon, and all and
every of the locations in Greenwood Township, etc." Samuel
Martin also owned the property on the south side of the Juniata,
on which many years later was located the old Caroline furnace,
near Bailey Station. Historical records relate to all the properties,
and for that reason are included in one description, under this
head. The time of passing of this old mill is veiled in obscurity.
That it was one of the first few mills within the limits of what is
now Perry County is a fact.
Samuel Martin, who located and built the mill, was a son of
Joseph Martin, one of the first settlers of present Dauphin County
(then a part of Lancaster), who located 300 acres of land at Pax-
tang, now a suburb of Harrisburg, in 1738, part of which is now
known as "Willowdale Farm" and owned by Mrs. Alice Motter
Lescure, of Harrisburg. The brick house built there by Samuel
Martin, the son, in 1760, is still standing. From there came
Samuel Martin, who located, on November 18, 1768, by applica-
tion No. 5263, 300 acres of land, "on the north side of the Juniata,
adjoining Brightwell's Run and Buffalo Hill, including the im-
provements bought of James Mahanna." Samuel Martin, how-
ever, never resided here. The mills here were in charge of his
son Joseph, later a captain in the Revolution. On the same day,
this son, Joseph, made a like location of 300 acres, "on the north
side of the Juniata, and including a run called Brightwell's Run,
joining Samuel Martin, Cumberland County." Samuel also located
200 acres at about the same time, on the south bank of the Juniata.
This is the land on which the Caroline furnace was long after-
wards built. Samuel Martin, by his will, dated August 23, 1769,
proved in Lancaster County, June 6, 1770, devises to his son Jos-
eph "the plantation I purchased of Robert Brightwell, in Green-
wood Township, Cumberland County, and mills thereon, with all
and every of the locations in Greenwood Township," and with one
252 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
location on the south side of the Juniata, described as being "at the
1 Ipper Falls, below the Great Bend in the Juniata." By the terms
of Samuel Martin's will, the devise to Joseph of the two planta-
tions or locations, together with "the Dam Stalion Colt, and his
Saddle and Bridle, with a pair of oxen commonly called Duk and
Brown, also a low Plantation Wagon," was coupled with the pro-
vision that "my son Joseph shall pay the remaining part of the
payment due unto John Bowman for the plantation willed and be-
queathed unto my son John." The devise of the Bowman plan-
tation is made to the son John on the condition that he "make no
charge for any part or parcel of his work done by him to or mak-
ing the mills on the plantation I purchased from Robert Bright-
well, in Greenwood Township, Cumberland County," which shows
that he was one of the actual builders of this primitive mill.
Joseph Martin, evidently, to secure this charge upon his land,
gave a mortgage to the executors of Samuel Martin, dated Janu-
ary 24, 1771 (recorded in Book C-i, p. 141, at Carlisle), for 250
pounds, 19 shillings and 4 pence, mortgaging 300 acres in Green-
wood Township, "bounded by Juniata on the south, with gristmill
thereon; also 200 acres in Dublin* Township (now Miller) on
the south side of the Juniata, above the falls adjoining Dick's
Hill."
On March 26, 1776, Joseph Martin and wife, by deed, recorded
in Book 1, page 101, in Carlisle, conveyed to Hugh Miller, eight
acres with house, being a "divided fifth of forty acres, bounded
west by land of Hugh Miller, north by Juniata River, east by
Samuel Hutchinson, south by William Oliphant." This deed was
not acknowledged, but proven September 4, 1789, by affidavit of
Ann Martin (then Ann McCoy), formerly widow and relict of
Joseph Martin, deceased. This hasty unacknowledged deed evi-
dently furnished Joseph with the money to purchase his equipment
for the Revolutionary War. While in the army, the mortgage was
foreclosed (Carlisle records, D-i, p. 557), but 400 acres on the
*The name Dublin Township, as recorded at Carlisle, is evidently an
error of the transcriber, as the location became a part of Tyrone Town-
ship in 1754, the very year of the purchase of the lands from the Indians.
Then in 1766, when Rye Township was formed, it was within its borders,
and when Miller Township was erected in 1852 it was within its confines.
Dublin Township is located in Huntingdon County. The Evarts-Peck
History of the Susquehanna and Juniata Valleys, page 731, says of it:
"The formation of Dublin Township, in 1767, is so imperfectly defined as
to the eastern limits that nothing can be determined by it. It was to
bound 'Ayr and Fannett Townships on the one side.' but Lack Township
is not mentioned, and there are no dividing lines as to Ayr or Lack. The
first Dublin assessment, in 1768, shows no transfer of names from Lack.
The only thing that places any part of Dublin east of Shade Mountain is
that it was to join on Fannett, which lay on the other side of the Tusca-
rora Mountain." That the Martin property is the one located in Miller
Township, however, is certain, as the description "above the falls joining
Dirk's Hill," implies. It is now in possession of Mrs. L- C. Zimmerman.
OLD LANDMARKS, MILLS, INDUSTRIES 253
north side with gristmill and improvements, was in 1787 deeded
hack to the widow, then Ann McCoy, with remainder to the three
children of Captain Joseph Martin, Samuel, Mary, and Joseph.
The heirs, in attempting- to sell this land in November, 1805
(deed recorded Carlisle, Q-l, p. 486), found it necessary in order
to supply evidence of a lost deed, to take testimony in "Perpetuam
Rei Memoriam." The record of this is in the docket of Cum-
berland County, Pennsylvania, at Carlisle, for 1800 and 1803,
and pertains to 100 acres of the tract on the north shore of the
Juniata, purchased from Robert Brightwell, who had purchased
from Frederick Stoner, and recites that the deed from St oner
bore date between the year 1763 and 1767; "that the title to the
same tract of land and possession of the same did come by diverse
deeds of sale and devises to Joseph Martin, father of the peti-
tioner (Samuel), that in the year IJJJ, the said Joseph Martin
marched as a captain to serve a tour of militia, and that he died
before his return; that the petitioner and all the children of said
Joseph were then infants; that the said deed, during the infancy
of the children of the said Joseph Martin, has been lost or mislaid,
so that it can not now be found," etc.
Capt. Joseph Martin,* after spending the winter at Valley
Forge, was taken with camp fever, and started home, but "died
before his return." His fate was never known. Whether he died
in the wilderness, or according to a tradition, was captured by the
British and died in a British "black hole," has never been known.
His three children afterwards moved to Lewistown, Pennsylvania,
where Samuel and Joseph became rivermen, engaged in transpor-
tation by arks between Lewistown and Columbia, from 1800 to
1823.
This old Martin location is historic in more ways than one.
While Samuel Martin located this land on an application from the
province, yet, in his will and in other legal papers it is spoken of
by him as "having been purchased of Robert Brightwell." The
fact is that a warrant and original order of survey were first ob-
tained on April 30, 1765, by a certain Frederick Stoner, who sold
*Captain Joseph Martin was the great-grandfather of Mr. J. M. Martin,
of Minneapolis, and of the father of Rev. Bell, the pastor of the Newport
Methodist Church, spoken of in the beginning of this sketch. The three
generations named are noted historically in three different fields. Samuel
Martin erected pioneer mills, almost at the beginning of settlement; Cap-
tain Joseph Martin, of the next generation, became a martyr to the pa-
triot cause, and Samuel and Joseph Martin, of the following generation,
were pioneer rivermen in traffic when it was done with the ancient water
craft known as arks. Captain Joseph Martin was married to Ann (Nancy)
Baskins, of Duncan's Island, and his two sons, Samuel and Joseph, were
born at the home of their grandparents there, while their father was a
captain in the Continental Army. Their mother, by the way, was* a cousin
of the grandmother of Alexander H. Stephens, notable as the Vice-Presi-
dent of the Confederacy.
254 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
and conveyed his interest to Robert Brightwell on March 17, 1768.
After eight months it passed to Samuel Martin, it would appear,
both by purchase of the previous right and by warrant from the
province, thus assuring title. The improvements of James Ma-
hanna are taken to refer to an improvement probably made by a
squatter, who had no title to the lands. On January 2, 1880, it
was conveyed by Samuel and Joseph Martin, two of the heirs of
Captain Joseph, to James McGinnes, Sr. (the husband of their
only sister Mary). He, in turn, sold to William and James Power,
by agreement dated November 7, 1801, thirty-seven acres, at the
western boundary, including the mills. On November 16, 1805,
his executors gave the deed accordingly. The patent from the
state for a part of this original tract was issued to John Patterson,
August 19, 1803, of another portion to his son John, July 25,
1863, and remained in his possession for many years. At its east-
ern boundary the latter kept a famous road house in turnpike
days, and there was located the post office known as Fahter Falls,
and later as Juniata Falls.
The Patterson Mill, near Miller st own. The first mill erected on
the Cocolamus Creek, near its mouth, in Greenwood Township,
was built by William Patterson. Jones' History of the Juniata
Valley describes it as a "tub mill" and states that it was carried
away by a flood. It was built prior to 1771, for in that year it is
named as a point on the road leading from John Gallagher's to
Baskins' Ferry. Shuman's mill, at the same point, was built be-
fore 1805, for in that year John S human is assessed with a grist-
and sawmill. John Shuman had come from Lancaster before 1800
and, after building the mill, operated it until his death, in 1818.
In that year Col. John Shuman, his son, bought it and 190 acres of
land, for $9,000. In 1827 he sold the mill to George Shuman for
$5,000. It then passed through the hands of George Maus, Syl-
vester Bergstresser, and others. Its location is a half mile east
of Millerstown, and it is now owned and operated by J. Keely
Everhart.
The Rice Mill. While the Rice mill lays no claim to being the
first mill to be erected in what is now Perry County, its history is
over a century and a third in years and it is the oldest original mill
building to remain standing in the county. It is located near Lan-
dishurg, in Tyrone Township, on Montour Creek, near the Ken-
nedy's Valley bridge. It was on this creek that the first authorized
settler, Andrew Montour, from whom it takes its name, was lo-
cated, the provincial authorities giving him permission so that he
would see that no others would settle in the territory until such
time as the lands were purchased from the Indians. In fact, he
later warranted 143 acres, located between Landisburg, Mon-
tour's Creek and Sherman's Creek, which in 1788 was surveyed
OLD LANDMARKS, MILLS, INDUSTKIKS
255
to William Mitchell, and soon passed to Abraham Landis, who was
the founder of Landisburg. In 1787 Landis had also warranted
116 acres adjoining.
( In this property the Rice mill was erected about 1786, as some
of the machinery had stamped upon it the date, "1786." It was
probably built by Shipper. Rhine, who operated it until 1795. It
was then rented to Jacob Bigler, father of the two governors whose
lives appear elsewhere in this book, and others. On June 25, 1813,
Photo by Illick.
THE RICE MILL, NEAR LANDISBURG.
The Oldest Mill Still Standing, but not the First Mill Built in the County, that
Having Been the Roddy Mill, now Waggoner's, west of Loysville.
Zachariah Rice purchased from George Stroop, who then owned
it, twenty-five acres, being a part of the Abraham Landis tract, on
which was a house erected partly of logs and partly of brick and
a gristmill.
The old mill stands there, the picture of antiquity, with much of
its original machinery. On a post is painted "1786,'' and on the
old scale beam were the words "Sbippen Rhine, 1789." Hanging
against the' old mill is the original scales, first used when the mill
began operations, the weights being stones, one of which is in
possession of the author of this book, a gift from the owner while
there seeking information. The weights were correct, the stones
being of the same weight as those of the modern scales. The doors
were hung with wooden hinges which are still doing duty. The
seventh water wheel was beins: installed at the time of the writer's
256 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
visit in 1919, the life of a wheel being about twenty-four years,
according to information furnished by John A. Saucerman, the
present proprietor.
These old mills used burrs in the grinding of the grain and were
not as speedy as modern roller equipment, yet a little incident
banded down in the Rice family shows that even in that early
period things were sometimes done with speed, although the facili-
ties were crude. It was related to us by Mrs. A. K. Rice, whose
husband was the proprietor until his death a few years ago, she in
turn having received the information from the preceding genera-
tion. Jeremiah Rice, of the second generation to own the mill,
cut wheat in the morning with an old-fashioned cradle, the imple-
ment in use in those days for that purpose ; threshed it with the
flail, that crude and noisy implement which extracted the grain
from the hulls; ground the wheat into flour in the Rice mill and
turned it over to Katharine, his good wife, who baked bread of it
and served fresh and warm to the hungry harvest hands for supper
— the entire operation occurring between sunrise and sunset.
Adjoining the old mill stands the old Rice distillery, now used
as a storage room, in the basement of which appears the inscription,
painted on a beam, "Last stilling, 1822." The brick house, located
above the mill, along the stream, was erected in 1822. It is the
equal of any summer residence to be found anywhere, and it is
little wonder that the fifth generation of the Rice family is still in
possession, the owner being John A. Saucerman, who is married
to a daughter of A. K. Rice.
There was a sawmill there built in 1842. The gristmill is used
now only as a chopping mill.
The Stokes Mill, Once the Blaine Mill The mill known to the
present or recent generation as the Stokes mill was the one built
l»v James Blaine as early as 1778, as it was assessed in that year,
and later around it sprang up the settlement now called Blain, the
final "e" being dropped. This James Blaine is the one and same
man from whom sprang the famous Blaine family, which pro-
duced the noted Commissary General of the Revolution, Ephraim
Blaine, and at a later day a noted statesman and the candidate of
the Republican party for President of the United States, James
G. Blaine. The mill later must have come into the possession of
lames S. Blaine, for on April 20, 1820, the very year of the organi-
zation of Perry County, it passed to David Moreland. By inherit-
ance it passed to his daughter. Diana Gitt, who was united in mar-
riage to Anthony Black, to whom she transferred it on December
20, 1830. On December 21, 1846, Anthony Black's administrator
deeded it to Thomas, Wayne, and James Woods. They, in turn,
sold it to Isaac Stokes on October 1, 1857. He owned it until
OLD LANDMARKS, Ml U.S. INDUSTRIES 257
April 1, 1905. at which time it was purchased from him by Wil-
liam H. Book, the present owner and operator. It is equipped
with rolls.
This title is traced for the reason that there has existed a differ-
ence of opinion as to who built the mill. Silas Wright, in his His-
tory of Perry County (1873) crediting" William Douglas with its
building, and Professor Flickinger, as a contributory editor of the
Evarts-Peck History of the Susquehanna and Juniata Valleys
1 [886), asking, "If Douglas built the mill, then where was the
gristmill situated for which James Blaine was assessed in 1778?"
Mr. Flickinger was a native of western Perry and long principal
of the Central State Normal School at Lock Haven. He adds that
Douglas was the first postmaster, the office being called Douglas'
Mill. The fact is that the first post office was called Moreland's,
being established in 1820, the very year of the county's erection,
but in 1822, when the mail contract was let it was already known
as Douglas' Mills.
There is no record of Douglas locating or purchasing lands in
that vicinity, and the mill is on the original James Blaine location.
There is a probability that he was the lessee of the mill, probably
for a long period, and that it came to be known as Douglas' Mill.
Should there have been an office there before 1820 and Douglas the
postmaster, then, evidently with Mr. Moreland's purchase in 1820,
the name was changed to Moreland's, and in a very short time re-
stored to Douglas' Mills. One fact is clear, and that is that Doug-
las never owned the mill, else the records of the recorder of deeds
are wrong.
Up to the time of the ownership of Andrew Black the mill and
the farm were always owned by one and the same party, but he
sold the farm to James McNeal, who conducted a large tannery at
the northern end of Blain, and the mill passed as previously stated.
The Endslozv Mill. Before 1778, in which year it was already
assessed in the name of James Miller, the Endslow mill was built
in what was then Toboyne Township, but in that part of the town-
ship which later became Jackson Township. Its location is one
mile east of Blain. John Moreland, an uncle of the late David
Moreland, of Blain, married Jane, the daughter of James Miller,
and her patrimony was this mill and forty acres of land. In 1822
it passed to James McNeal, whose son-in-law, Samuel Endslow, be-
came the next owner, obtaining possession about 1840. In 1869 his
son, William S. Endslow, became the owner and operated the mill
until about 1908, when he retired from both milling and farming.
About 1883 the mill, which was already the second one to occupy
the site, was burned by incendiaries, and was rebuilt by Mr. Ends-
low. Upon his retirement he sold both mill and farm to his son,
George S. Endslow, now of Lancaster County, who still owns it
17
258 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA "*]
but never operated it. The farm passed to Harry O. Hench. The
mill still stands, though idle, a relic of a past pioneer industry-
It was one of the earliest mills in the county.
"Westoirr," The Gibson Mill. When William Penn came to
.America on his second trip, about 1 700, a fellow passenger was;
Francis West, who came from the family seat at Westover, Eng-
land, and who, with his family, took up large tracts along Sher-
man's Creek, as narrated in the chapter devoted to Spring Town-
ship. His daughter, Ann West Gibson, who became the mother of
that peerless dispenser of justice, Chief Justice John Bannister
Gibson, warranted lands in 1787, and before 1779, when it was
already assessed, had erected what she called the "Westover Mill,"
Photo by W. A. Eberly.
"WESTOVER MILE," THE GIBSON MILE.
This Mill was Built by Ann West Gibson, mother of Chief Justice Gibson.
known generally as the Gibson mill, and which included a sawmill.
It is located several hundred yards west of Gibson's Rock, a
mighty profile jutting to the edge of the creek. The water by
which the mill is run does not come from Sherman's Creek, how-
ever, but from a smaller stream which flows through the wooded
hills surrounding.
It was in regular use as a gristmill until 1850. Then, after a
period of idleness covering almost twenty years it was turned into
a spoke and felloe factory by Frank Gibson, and later into a paint
mill. Then for some years it was destined to idleness, but was
again put in operation as a gristmill and is now in the ownership
of S. V. Dunkelberger. An addition was erected to it in 1871,
and at that time there was no mill machinery in the place. It is
operated by an eighteen-foot overshot water wheel of the old type.
Both the burr and modern roller process types of machinery are
OLD LANDMARKS, MILLS, INDUSTRIES 259
in use. On a corner of the foundation of this old historic land-
mark is this inscription plate: "U. S. Geological Survey; Eleva-
tion above sea level, 471 feet. A. D. 1903." The original mill is
described as being a "log structure, with only one run of stone."
It will be noted that the top story is not of stone. The original
mill tract is spoken of as containing seventy-eight acres.
The Hshelmmt Mill, now Butturf's. Just when the Eshelman,
or Butturff mill, in Oliver Township, at Newport's very border,
was built, cannot be stated exactly. It is built on a tract of land
which once comprised 185 acres and which was warranted June 5,
1772, to William West, Jr., from whom it passed on September 3
of the same year to David English. That the mill was built before
April 22, 1790, is sure, as on that day the sheriff sold it to Christo-
pher Myers. In December, 1790, it was purchased from him by
Dr. Daniel Fahnestock, of Warrington, York County. In 1814 it
was assessed in the name of Joseph Zinn. At that time the original
stone building, 50x60 feet in size, included all of the mill, but
Amos Overholtzer, who purchased it in 1873, built the brick story
to it and added improved machinery. A sawmill, plaster mill and
dwelling house with nine acres of land, were a part of the estab-
lishment. M. B. Eshelman, who purchased it in 1876, from Mr.
Oberholtzer's administrator for $17,500, added the latter. Mr.
Eshelman's heirs sold it to T. H. Butturf, in 1902, for $5,200.
The Alt. Patrick Crist mill. Shall I ever forget it? Not while
memory lasts. Geo. Blattenberger, Jr., friend of my father's, was
the miller, and to him came the grists from the countryside to be
ground into flour for the family bread. Although many years
have passed since I made my last trip there and heard the jolly
greeting and the ringing laugh of the miller, who now sleeps the
sleep that knows no waking, in the cemetery on the heights above
Liverpool, it seems as but yesterday. The way from home led
along the Pennsylvania Canal, and in its palmy days many boats
were passed on the way, and occasionally the nifty little steamer of
Col. T. T. W'eirman, the superintendent, would be passed. It was
an innovation in those days. Opposite the mill was an overflow,
where the waters of the canal fell over the side of an aqueduct
to the bed of the valley stream crossing beneath, with a swish and
a roar that drowned ordinary speaking. The trip to the mill was
never labor, as the welcome of Mr. Blattenberger, whose heart
was in the right place, far repaid any seemingly hardships.
Just when this mill was built, or when the first mill was built
at that site, is unknown, but a map of 1791 shows a mill located
at "Berry's Falls." As the locations are identical the inference is
that it was built prior to 1 791. While the property was not pat-
ented until November 10, 1829, it had been warranted long before
and made into a farm. It was early owned by a man named Bru-
2 6o HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
baker, and in August, [834, was sold as the estate of Peter Ritner
(a brother of Governor Ritner) to Simon Gratz, who transferred
ii m Simon Cameron in trust for the Lykens Valley Coal Com-
pany, who desired it for a landing' for their coal flats which
brought coal across the river to the new Susquehanna Canal. In
1841 it was purchased by George Blattenberger, Sr., familiarly
known as "Judge," having been an associate judge of the county.
He owned it until 1889, when it was purchased by Adam Barner,
who died in 1890. It is now owned by his son, George A. Barner.
The transfer of 1834 names the place as having a sawmill, a mer-
chant mill, a plaster mill, a flour mill, a trip-hammer, and a dis-
tillery. The mill has been dismantled and the building removed
and, when completed, "the Susquehanna Trail" will pass over the
site.
The farm originally included all of Mt. Patrick, the mill prop-
erty, the Jacob McConnell place, and the S. E. Bucke farm. The
distillery was located across the creek from the mill, on the mill-
house plot. The fulling mill was at the forebay of the gristmill and
the sumac mill at the Jacob McConnell place.
The Old Snyder or Hackett Mill. John Sanderson, wdio owned
eleven hundred acres of land in one body, near Elliottsburg, in
Spring Township, was assessed with two stills and a gristmill in
1792. Upon his death he devised the land covering this mill site
to his nephew, George Elliott. In 183 1 George Elliott conveyed
to George S. Hackett 400 acres upon which was erected the mill
and a distillery. In 1850 he sold it to Alexander Topley, of Bloom-
field, and upon his death, in 1854, his administrator conveyed it
to Robert and Isaac Jones. A year later they sold it to John Sny-
der, who operated it until about 1873, when it was found to be
unprofitable to continue operations. Mr. Snyder died on the
premises in 1882, and in 1907 the old mill property passed to Silas
W. Moyer, the present owner.
The Snyder Mill, now Hooke's. In 18135 John Waggoner, the
father of Benjamin Waggoner, the first of the clan of that name
to own the Roddy mill, erected a mill near Bridgeport, which is
now known as Snyder's mill. There is an article of agreement on
record dated 1805 in which Thomas Ross grants to Mr. Wag-
goner the privilege of "joining" his mill dam to lands of his. At
the same time he was the owner of the mill in Kennedy's Valley,
assessed to Robert Garwood in [782, and which he purchased a
few years later. There is record of his residence in Kennedy's
Valley until his death, and the presumption is that he built the
Snyder mill as an investment.
Mr. Waggoner died in 1834. and among other things in his ap-
praisement was ninety-two barrels of whiskey, and one barrel of
peach brandy appraised at $8.00 per barrel, for which $1.75 per
OLD LANDMARKS. MILLS, INDUSTRIES 261
barrel was paid to convey it to Baltimore in wagons. His estate
was unsettled for years, and in 1X54, the sheriff, by proceedings in
partition, deeded these lands, "having thereon erected a large brick
house, log barn, and a large stone merchant mill and other out-
buildings to Joseph McClure and William W. Snyder. Mr. Mc-
Clure died and his heirs conveyed his half to James McClure, from
whom, in 1861, Mr. Snyder secured entire ownership. Mr. Sny-
der operated the mill until his death in 1893. In 1902 the prop-
erty was conveyed to Dr. B. P. Hooke (a son-in-law of Mr. Sny-
der), who died" in 1903, and by will devised it to his son, B. P.
Hooke, the present owner.
The Bear Mill. The Bear mill is located on Sherman's Creek,
in Madison Township, south of Centre, and about one and one-
half miles from Loysville. It is on a tract warranted by John
Scouller in 1787. It was erected prior to 1814, at which time
Englehart Wormley was assessed with it. In 1835 it was in pos-
session of John Wormley. The brick mill which replaced the first
structure was erected in 1841. Henry Bear came into possession
and he and his son, Wm. F. Bear, operated it for many years. In
1889 it was purchased by Jos. B. Lightner, who in 1910 sold to
Ida Wolfe, and from her in 191 5 it was purchased by the Tressler
( )rphans' Home and an electric light plant installed.
The Patterson Mill. In 1753, as indicated in a case before the
provincial governor, William Patterson had located on Laurel Run,
Tyrone Township. He did not, however, warrant lands until 1766,
when he took up four hundred acres, some of which is still in pos-
session of the Patterson family. In 18 14 Francis Patterson had a
sawmill there, and soon after erected an oil mill. These two, and
a chopping mill were operated by Thomas Patterson in 1825.
Then, in the period between 1830 and 1840, Fahnestock and
Ferguson built a scythe and edge-tool factory there. John Wag-
goner, a son of the sire of the Waggoner family of millers, then
purchased it and turned the oil mill and the chopping mill into a
gristmill. After 1840 Solomon Hengst also conducted a foundry
"there for a few years. William A. and James F. Lightner later
came into possession of the mill, and in 1887 sold to Martin L.
Rice, who after operating it for some years, in 1903 sold it to the
Oak Extract Company, and from that time it has been dismantled
as a mill.
Bi.rler's Mill. The old Bixler flour mill is located on Tousey's
Run, in Madison Township, and is still in operation, the present
miller being George E. Beck, and the place being often known as
Beck's Mills. It was built in 1812-1814 by Zalmon and Azariah
Tousey, brothers, who had purchased the property containing 345
acres, March 7, 1812, from Hugh Hamilton, whose holdings com-
prised over six hundred acres and was known as "Hamiltonia."
262 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
This mill is located on the tract warranted by Hugh Alexander,
February 3, 1755, the day the land office was first opened to set-
tlement for Perry County. It contained 344 acres. In 180 1 this
property was transferred to Hugh Hamilton, a son of John Hamil-
ton and Margaret Alexander, the warrantee's daughter. The new
owner was also possessor of the 400 acres which adjoined and
which was warranted by John Hamilton, which made the tract a
large one as noted above. Jacob Bixler and John Flickinger, in
1836 bought it from the administrators of the Touseys and in a
tew years divided it. the mill going to Bixler with ninety acres of
land, and the rest of the lands to Flickinger.
A mute reminder of the early settlement of this young couple
and the erection of their home lies in the office of the old mill.
It is the corner stone of the old house, which Bixler tore away in
1840, it being a two-story log house. It is of marble, with an
inscription arranged as in the accompanying diagram.
A
H
M
S
T/66
N
The A is evidently the initial of the family name, Alexander,
and the II and M on a lower line probably refer to the first ini-
tials of the builders, Hugh and Martha. The date probably is con-
nected with the early occupation of the lands. The S. and N. evi-
dently refer to the directions of the compass, and the stone was
evidently used to mark their claim.
In 1846 Jacob Bixler rebuilt the east end of the mill from the
foundation, and in 1870 remodeled the interior and put in two
turbine water wheels, the first in the county. He also built the
adjoining woollen mill in 1853, of which more elsewhere. The
firm was later known as Jacob Bixler & Sons.
The present owner, George E. Beck, purchased the property and
mills from the Bixler heirs in 1888 and does a good business. The
mill is of the old-fashioned burr variety and the stones used in
grinding the grain are secured in France, none as satisfactory being
obtainable elsewhere.
Before the county was dotted with its many merchandising
places the Bixler mill made blankets and yarns, and besides whole-
saling them also ran a wagon over the county doing a retailing
business. Upon this wagon appeared in neat lettering: "Centre
Woollen Mills, Bixler & Bro., Blankets, Yarns, etc." Many Perry
Countians, even of middle age, can remember its regular trips. It
still stands in a shed at the mills, a mute reminder of a passing age.
Even the advertisements on its sides link the past with the present,
OLD LANDMARKS, MILLS, INDUSTRIES 263
for among the names are those of persons yet living, who were
then in business. The names:
"Bentzell & Bro., Tailors. New Bloomfield.
"Ensminger Livery, New Bloomfield.
"A. P. Nickel, Undertaking, New Bloomfield.
"Chas. B. Stewart, Watches, New Bloomfield.
"Wm. H. Smith, Coach Maker, New Bloomfield.
"John A. Martin, Harness, New Bloomfield."
The old woollen mill was operated until 1910. It still contains
the old looms, hut the only work done there is the carding of wool
on a small scale and principally as an accommodation, for the rais-
ing of sheep in the county has decreased as the years have passed.
The mill contained an old "hand-mule" spinner, with 160 spindles.
Bixler's Mills was once a thriving settlement, and in 1884 a post
office was established there named Bixler, since replaced by rural
delivery. Jacob Bixler was the son of a miller, Jacob Bixler, Sr.,
who came from Dauphin County in 1818 and built the mill near
Eshcol, in Saville Township.
Other Mills. The history of the various other mills, many of
them dating back a century, appears in the various chapters de-
voted to the townships and boroughs of the county, to be found
elsewhere in this book.
Sawmills.
The lands of Perry County were not long settled by any of the
white race before there began springing up here and there along
the various streams, numbers of the old-fashioned water-power
sawmills, known largely as "up-and-down" sawmills. On. them
were sawed the huge trees, which were fashioned into boards and
shingles for the building of the early homes. There were so many
of these at various times and places that it is impossible to give
with any degree of thoroughness their locations and owners.
Through them the primeval forests were turned into dwelling,
houses, barns, outbuildings, churches, bridges, schoolhonses, and
the forerunner of the brick and cement pavement — the old-time
boardwalk. The drainage basins of practically all important
streams were locations of one or more of these early manufactur-
ing plants. In a single community of which Shermansdale was the
centre, there were the McCord mill near Pisgah, the Smiley mill
on Smiley Run, the McCaskey mill in northern Carroll, the Stauf-
fer mill in a gorge of the mountain along Sherman's Creek, the
Rebert (now Smith's) mill west of that village, and that of John
H. Lonck, two miles east of Shermansdale, where he also had a
gristmill and post office known as Louck's Mills, to which the mails
were carried from Carlisle by postrider. The proprietors of four
of these mills— the McCord, Smiley, McCaskey, and Louck's—
264 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
now rest within fifty feet of each other, in the Presbyterian ceme-
tery near Shermansdale, while their mills, later developed into the
"thnndergust" type, have long since been swept away by the floods
from the very hills which their industry denuded, and of which it
was the contributing cause. Some of these old milldams were
strongly constructed and even the immense force of successive
floods has failed to remove the large boulders which were used in
their construction, among those being that at the Louck mill. In
1814 Tyrone Township alone had eighteen such mills. Later the
steam mill with its circular saw largely did the work of these more
primitive mills.
The date of the probable entry into Perry County forests of the
steam sawmill, quoted elsewhere as about 1870, is no doubt cor-
rect, as that is the year in which a Mr. Coulter, of Mechanicsburg,
put a mill in "Allen's Swamp," at the western end of the Cove
Mountain, between that mountain and Pine Hill. It took almost
four years to saw the lumber, and the sale of the outfit took place
in 1874. When that operation was started deer were still plentiful
and were often seen by the woodsmen. A heavy growth of timber
long covered the lands which comprise Perry County.
In the vicinity of "The Narrows," near the Rye-Carroll Town-
ship line, there were four of these up-and-down sawmills. They
were owned by Conrad Brubaker, Adam Nace, Henry Sykes, and
Adam Luckenbaugh. James Sykes also had a fulling mill there,
carding wool and weaving blankets. In connection with the settle-
ment known as "The Narrows," the change in population might
be noted here. Between forty and fifty persons then resided there,
while to-day there is one lone house.
That part of Perry County which included present Juniata
Township and which in 1795 included all of Tuscarora and Oliver,
and parts of Centre and Miller Townships, was once heavily
wooded. In the assessment lists of that year twelve sawmills were
enumerated. There were also two gristmills, two tanyards and
two distilleries, the latter both operated by George Hildebrand.
With the cutting of the timber came the development of the land.
Sixty years ago there were at least three sawmills on Sugar Run,
the small stream which empties into the Juniata opposite Cocola-
mus Creek. All did considerable business, yet to-day there seems
to be hardly enough water there to turn a wheel.
Fulling Mills.
On a previous page of this chapter, in connection with the Bixler
gristmill, is a description of the Bixler fulling mill, which was but
one of a number of fulling mills located throughout the county,
OLD LANDMARKS, MILLS. INDUSTRIES 265
where wool was carded and clothing manufactured. Mention of
these mills is made in the various chapters relating' to the townships
in which they were located. One of these mills was operand by
George Gutshall, at New Germantown, he also having a chopping
mill, lie was the grandfather of Mrs. Wilson Morrison, yet living
in that town, who remembers how they "carded wool into round
rolls almost a yard in length, from which the women spun the
yarn." Homespun clothing was then in general use. Mrs. Mor-
rison also tells of how they sowed flax, pulled, dried and threshed
it, using a "flax-break" to divest it of the outside shell. Although
hut a young girl she helped in this work.
"Stills" and Distilllriks.
At an early day, before the coming of the canal and the rail-
roads, the surplus products of the farms in the line of grains and
fruits were distilled into liquors. Fruits when ripe, had either to
be dried or distilled into liquors for preservation. Surrounded
by these conditions the pioneers would either erect stills or take
their apples and peaches, usually loaded in large English wagon-
beds which held from forty to eighty bushels, and have them dis-
tilled into brandy and applejack, for which the distiller received
one-half the product. It was not unusual to see a long line of
wagons awaiting their turn at these distilleries. Grains were also
distilled into liquors, as the product in that condensed form re-
quired far fewer trips to the far-away Baltimore market. There
was also a demand for these products and the state even made con-
cessions to encourage the industry, which has long since passed out
of Perry County life, and which the Eighteenth Amendment to the
Constitution of the United States this year — -1920 — eliminated for
all time.
Owing to these conditions the Perry County territory teemed
with "stills" and distilleries. As early as 1814 Tyrone Township
alone had seventeen stills on the assessment roll. Liquor seems to
have been in very general use during that early period and the price
was extremely low. Rye whiskey sold from thirty-three to thirty-
seven cents a gallon. Peach brandy was quoted at the same prices,
and applejack at twenty-five cents per gallon.
The locations of many. of these old stills are to be seen or are
pointed out by the residents. They were principally in western
Perry and in a few instances the stillhouses are still standing.
The one on the Lucian R. McMillen farm at Kistler, Madison
Township, is in good repair, and those at the Rice mill, in Tyrone
Township, and Manassas Gap, three miles south of Blain, in Jack-
son Township, still stand. A partial list of locations follow:
On the old Shearer farm, now owned by David Beaston, above Mc-
Laughlin's, in Toboyne Townsbip.
266 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
On the James Johnston farm, in Toboyne Township, one mile above
New Germantown.
On the farm of Clark Bower, in Jackson Township.
At Manassas Gap, three miles south of Plain. Operated by Philip
Stambaugh about 1830. The building still stands on the property of David
Rowe, Jr.
The Hackett distillery on Reisinger Brothers' farm, in Madison Town
ship, at a place locally known as Pine Grove, near Kistler.
A half-mile west of Blain.
On the J. E. Lyons farm, at Andersonburg.
The stone distillery on the Lucian R. McMillen farm at Kistler, Madison
Township. In good condition.
On George Palm farm, one and one-half miles east of Kistler.
Near the Lutheran Church at Saville, Saville Township.
The Conrad Ernest still at Stony Point, three miles east of Blain.
At Kistler, just west of the Lutheran Church.
On the J. S. Lightner farm, one and one-half miles southeast of Cisna's
Run.
The Baughman distillery, near Rock schoolhouse, in Saville Township.
Near the M. E. Chapel in Madison Township.
One on the W. Scott Irvine farm, in Saville Township.
On the John and Solomon Briner farm on Sherman's Creek, one and
one-half miles south of Loysville, now owned by Edward Briner.
On Montour's Run at Rice's mill, near where it joins Sherman's Creek.
It still stands.
The Wagner still, later Egolf's, in lower Kennedy's Valley, Tyrone
Township. In business as late as 1868.
Keek's distillery, on the Adam Wentzcl farm at Bridgeport, in Spring
Township. It burned in 1874, but had ceased operations a few years
previous.
On the Joseph Lightner place, "Still House Hollow," Tyrone Township.
In Landisburg, near Water Street.
( )n the Junkin place in Spring Township, now owned by George Duni.
On the farm of Samuel Ebert, north of the Tressler Orphans' Home.
At Elliottsburg, in Spring Township.
Near Jackson schoolhouse in Saville Township, about a mile north of
Elliottsburg.
In "Little Germany," Spring Township, built by John Fuas (Foose).
On property of S. W. Moyer, a short distance east of Elliottsburg.
On the Abraham Bower farm, at Falling Springs.
On Swartz farm, west of New Bloomfield, south of former steam mill.
On the J. L. Kline farm, in Liverpool Township's eastern extremity.
On the steam mill property, below Liverpool, a distillery was in opera-
tion as late as 1869. The property is now owned by Mrs. John Williamson.
At Mt. Patrick, on the western bank of the creek from the gristmill,
long known as the Blattenberger mill, now Barner's.
On the J. R. Wright farm in Greenwood Township. This is the prop-
erty which was once owned by Rev. Britton E. Collins, but, of course, he
was not the operator of a distillery, but had only purchased a farm on
which one had been located.
At Falling Springs, in Spring Township, where Abraham Bower re-
sided and operated it.
Between Pine Hill and Sherman's Creek, at Billow's old fording.
Sponsler's distillery. New Bloomfield, site of foundry, Carlisle Street.
Along Little Buffalo Creek, in Juniata Township, owned and operated
by Abram Flurie.
OLD LANDMARKS, MILLS, INDUSTRIES 267
The Tanning Industry.
The tunning of leather dates back to the time of the red men,
whose product was so finely tanned that one of Perry County's
greatest tanners tells us it has never been equaled by the whites.
Accidentally discovered by letting a hide lie among some oak hark
over winter the Indians experimented until they had perfected a
system. Their most delicate work was produced by using the
brains of the deer. A history of this little mountain-bound county
without something of its tanning industry and mention of the tan-
ner's apprentice who became Pennsylvania's most noted journalist
and a national figure (Col. A. K. McClure), would not be a his-
tory at all. At first the tanneries followed the bark to be used in
tanning, locating in the very midst of the forests, but later the
bark followed the tanneries, as they were located along the trans-
portation lines, many of the inland tanneries going out of ex-
istence.
The tanning industry in America is, in fact, one of the original
industries, and was from the early days one of the vocations of
the pioneers. Perry County at one time was among the leading
counties of the state in the tanning business, and had tanneries in
many localities, but to-day only three remain, the Beaver tannery,
near Blain, the Bechtel tannery at Newport, and the Rippman tan-
nery at Millerstown. Although some of these tanneries are out of
existence for a half-century an attempt has been made to record
their locations, in so far as possible :
Ahl's tannery, in Henry's Valley, Toboyne Township. Samuel Lupfer
ran it for years.
Tannery one mile above Fairview Church, in Toboyne Township, now
run as a chopping mill. Once owned by E. A. McLaughlin, now by Samuel
Slemmons.
Tannery in New Germantown, in Toboyne Township, near where M. E.
Church stands. Once owned by William D. Humes.
Beaver tannery at Monterey, Toboyne Township. Israel Lupfer ran it
for years. One of the three tanneries still in operation. Now owned by
Silas W. Gutshall.
Cook's tannery, in Horse Valley, Toboyne Township, near church.
Tannery in Henry's Valley.
Mohler's tannery in Liberty Valley, Madison Township. Built by Mil-
ligan & Beale.
The McNeil tannery at Blain, on the Harry N. Hall farm. Burned in
1878.
The George Hench tannery at Centre, on present Robert Hench farm.
Once the largest tannery in the county.
The Titzell tannery, between Green Park and Elliottsburg, operated
until about 1870.
The Shearer tannery, owned by the father of Ex-Sheriff H. C. Shearer
between Green Park and Landisburg, in Tyrone Township.
The Hench & Black tannery in Landisburg.
The Diven tannery in Landisburg.
268 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
Tannery in Kennedy's Valley, Tyrone Township, last operated by
"Colonel" Win. Graham, now the Newton Reisinger farm.
Tannery in Sheaffer Valley, Tyrone Township, where Harry Kiner re-
sides.
Tannery at Oak Grove, Tyrone Township, recently owned by Henchs,
now in the possession of Thomas Bernheisel.
The Abraham Wertz tannery in Tyrone Township, on Carlisle road,
three miles from Landisburg, now the Al. Dnnkelberger farm.
Tannery one mile above Elliottsbnrg, in Spring Township, last owned
by a Mr. Wentzell.
Loysville tannery, on property now owned by Mrs. William Kell.
The tannery of Daniel A. Bear's heirs, in Spring Township.
The tannery at Dromgold's corner, in Carroll Township, operated by
T. M. Dromgold.
The Ickesburg tannery, erected in 1821.
The tannery above Ickesburg, long known as the Swartz tannery.
The Eshcol tannery, erected by William Rosensteel.
The tannery at Roseburg, Saville Township.
The Millerstown tannery, one of the very first. One of the three still
in operation. Now owned by J. G. H. and C. A. Rippman, Jr.
The North tannery, in Greenwood Township.
The Newport tannery, now owned by the Elk Tanning Company. One
of the three still in operation.
The Jordan tannery, at Walnut and Front Streets, Newport.
The Peale tannery, opposite the old jail, in New Bloomfield.
Tannery one mile west of New Bloomfield, operated as early as 184,}, by
Israel Eupfer.
The tannery near Nekoda store, in Greenwood Township, known as
Shellenberger's.
The tannery at Allen's Cove (later Cove Forge, and now Covallen),
where A. G. White (father of James A. White, of Shermansdale) built
the Good Hope tannery and carried on the tanning business.
The tannery which John Bowers built at Mannsville and which he
operated as late as 1871, when he died.
The tannery on Hominy Ridge, Juniata Township, operated by Robert
Stephens. Residents who can remember to 1856 say it had then already
ceased to operate. One stone building still stands.
The William Fosselman tannery, in Tuscarora Township, later the prop-
erty of James Davis, and now owned by McClellan Lineawever. Out of
business prior to 1870.
Before the building of the narrow gauge road — the Newport &
Sherman's Valley — through western Perry County, and after
the tanneries in western Perry had largely become extinct, the
transportation of bark from that section to the Newport tannery
was extensive, and those old bark wagons drawn by four- and six-
horse teams are well remembered by many yet living. During the
bark season long lines of them passed down the main valley high-
way daily.
The first tannery in the county was built by Joshua North, on
the James Patterson farm, in Greenwood Township, before 1800.
The bark was chopped into bits with axes in those days, instead of
being ground. This tannery was later known as Jordan's. Just
when North built the tannery is unknown, but in 1776 Joshua
OLD LANDMARKS, MILLS, INDUSTRIES 269
North, tanner, and Caleb North, storekeeper, came from Chester
County and bought a number of tracts of land, including the old
tannery farm. It probably was built soon after that. The Norths
also bought the island in the Juniata, long known as North's Is-
land, and being located at the old Rope Ferry Dam. In 1800
[oshua North built the MillerstQwn tannery, selling to Isaac Mc-
Cord in 1816. During the ownership of Mr. McCord he also
bought the Jordan tannery and closed it down. He also erected
the stone house, which is the present home of J. H. G. Rippman,
in 1822. and began the erection of a new tannery in tSj_j. In
1849 Henry Hopple purchased the plant from the McCord heirs
for $2,500. and modernized it by the introduction of steam in 1867.
Two years later he sold it to Joseph Howell, of Philadelphia, for
$6,000.00. He erected a new steam tannery in 1870. In the mean-
time it had become Howell & Company, who were overcome with
financial difficulties, and the property was purchased in 1882 by
Charles A. Rippman. a skilled tanner and business man, at
assignee's sale. He put in modern leeches and modernized it
throughout with improved machinery. In 1901 Mr. Rippman sold
it to two of his sons, J. G. H. and C. A. Rippman, Jr., who are
the owners at this time. This tannery has two claims to distinc-
tion. One is that it was awarded the highest award for its product
— oak tanned sole leather, at the World's Fair at Chicago in 1893,
and the other is that it is an independent concern, altogether within
the control of its owners. Few tanneries to-day lay claim to that
distinction. Charles H. Rippman has been identified with the tan-
ning trade in Perry County longer than any other man, and his
product had a state- wide reputation.
The Beaver tannery is located in Jackson Township, two miles
south of Blain. It was established prior to 1835 by a man named
Ebright, and has been in continuous operation ever since, being the
only inland tannery in the county from among the large number to
remain in operation. The present tannery building was erected in
[849 by Samuel Mateer. The output is rough leather, harness
leather and lace leather. This tannery has been operated by three
generations of Gutshalls. Capt. Samuel Gutshall owned and
operated it for some time prior to i860. His son, David Gutshall.
then became owner and operated it until 1806, when the present
owner, Silas W. Gutshall, assumed charge, since which time he
has operated it.
The Newport tannery dates back to 1872. when John A. Bechtel
& Son purchased a plot of three acres of land in Oliver Township,
adjoining Newport Borough on the west, and extending from
Third to Front Street. This part of the township has since been
taken into the Newport Borough. The Bechtels erected on this
site a two-story stone tannery, which is still in use and now owned
270 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
by the Elk Tanning Company, Ridgway, Pa. John A. Bechtel
died in 1875, and the business was then conducted by the remaining
member of the firm, his son, H. H. Bechtel. After the sale of this
tannery (and another which he owned at Reed's Gap) to the Elk
Tanning Company in 1893, he became associated with the Ameri-
can Oak Leather Company of Cincinnati, Ohio, and at the time of
his death, July 13, 1914, was vice-president of that company.
Horace Beard, who was a grandson of John A. Bechtel, was the
first superintendent appointed by the Elk Tanning Company, serv-
ing from 1893 to 1900, when he became division superintendent
of a group of tanneries, including the Newport tannery, which he
held until his death, April 7, 1911. Edward G. Sheaf er succeeded
Mr. Beard as superintendent from 1900 to 1914, when he was
transferred to a Southern tannery, and John G. Culver appointed
superintendent, serving from 1914 to 1916. Mr. Culver was suc-
ceeded by George P. Bistline, a native of Perry County, who is
the present superintendent. This tannery increased its capacity
and has been kept in first-class condition, employing a large num-
ber of men steadily from the time of its erection. It has been idle
only sixty days since its erection in 1872. Oak tanned sole leather
has always been manufactured at this plant, and from 4,000 to
5,000 tons of rock oak bark are consumed annually, most of which
is purchased in Perry and surrounding counties.
Quite a number of the employees have worked in the tannery
for a long period of years, four men having an average of over
forty years' service. While labor troubles throughout the country
prevail this is a matter of interest. Two of these employees have
been with it over forty-five years and two others over thirty-five,
at this time (1920). These men and their length of service are
George W. Taylor, 48 years ; James Gardner, 46 years ; George
Shull, y] years, and William Gardner, 37 years.
Early Iron Industry.
There is a Jewish legend that when the temple at Jerusalem was
completed the king gave a feast to the workmen and artificers em-
ployed in its construction. The story went abroad that the par-
ticular craftsman who had done the most to complete the great
structure should have the seat of honor next to the king. A black-
smith claimed the place and the populace clamored. The great
Solomon commanded that the man be allowed to speak, whereupon
he asked how these builders could have erected the temple without
the tools which he had wrought out of iron. Solomon decreed
that "the seat is his of right; all honor to the iron worker." Dur-
ing a residence, while a newspaper proprietor, of more than a
dozen years in Duncannon, the one iron town in Perry County, 1
saw men toil amidst red-hot furnaces, while others slept, to pro-
OLD LANDMARKS. MILLS, INDUSTRIES 271
duce iron from the raw material. The scene is so vivid in my
memory to this day that I join in saying "all honor to the iron
worker," and especially those early pioneers, who wrought better
than they knew, who established primitive plants within the con-
hues of our forests and who were the heralds of the present great
iron and steel industry of the nation.
The very first one of these primitive plants within the county's
boundaries, of which we can find record, is the Boyd forge, in
Carroll Township. In 1793 William Boyd warranted 105 acres
in eastern Carroll, at Boyd's Fording, and settled there. He
erected several blacksmith forges and began the manufacture of
nails. The iron was brought from Carlisle and slit by him into
rods, and by himself and his three sons manufactured into hand-
made nails. This plant was still in operation when the county
was formed.
As early as 1804 there is record of the Lewis forge, located on
Cocolamus Creek, in Greenwood Township, near Millerstown, be-
ing in operation. Its employees were mostly negroes who lived
in a colony of huts surrounding the plant. In describing it in his
history (1873) Wright says: "The old forge hammer, broken
through the eye, still remains in the dried-up race, while the stone
abutment breastwork of the dam, on the east side of the creek,
may still be seen." It was known as Mt. Vernon forge and was
built by General James Lewis in 1804.
General Lewis was one of the proprietors of Hope furnace,
west of Lewistown, and operated the Mt. Vernon forge in con-
nection with it. He was a Berks County ironmaster, and James
Blaine, of the vicinity of Blain, Perry County, was married to his
daughter. In fact, Mr. Blaine helped him build Hope furnace in
1797 and Mt. Vernon furnace in 1804. On the retirement of Mr.
Lewis, Mr. Blaine operated the forge. He later sold to a man
named M'Gara, who failed, the property coming into the posses-
sion of Purcell & Woods. William P. Elliott and William Power
purchased from them and rebuilt the forge, but failed in 1X17,
and the property reverted to Purcell & Woods. From then it was
never operated. The forge had two fires and two large hammers,
which were supplied with charcoal from Forge Hill and pig metal
from Hope furnace and Juniata furnace in Centre Township.
Landisburg was the site of an early nail factory. It was located
on Water Street, in the rear part of a building started in 1794
and not completed until 1809. The front part is of stone, and the
rear was built of logs. It is now owned by Mrs. Robert Shuman,
and in it was located the office of the register and recorder when
Landisburg was the temporary county seat. Just when the factory
moyed therefrom is not known, but in the Perry Forester of June
21, 1 82 1, appears the advertisement of the manufacturer, Joseph
272 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
H. Kennedy, who offers "io-penny and 8-penny nails at 10 cents
per pound." He add that "wheat will be received at 40 cents, and
rye at 27 cents, in exchange."
The various chapters of this book covering the townships tell
of many early industries, among them the construction of a scythe
and edge-tool factory by Peter Fahnestock and a Mr. Ferguson,
during the period between 1830- 1840. It was located in Tyrone
Township and had also a tilt-hammer attached. Between Landis-
burg and Oak Grove, in Spring Township, Peter Moses built a
large stone blacksmith shop and manufactured screw augers. At
his death, in 1824, his son, also named Peter Moses, succeeded him.
During the first half of the Nineteenth Century various furnaces
and forges were erected throughout the county, but near its end
but two remained in business, the furnaces at Duncannon and
Newport. At this time but one, the Newport furnace, remains,
and it is in operation but a small part of the time. The first of
these furnaces to be built was the Juniata furnace. The inland
furnaces ceased operations owing to the expensive hauls of the
finished product to railroad sidings, and the Duncannon furnace
was dismantled owing to the necessity of obtaining the raw ma-
terials from far distant points at heavy cost. The first geological
survey of Perry County, made in 1839-40, was largely responsible
for the extension of the early furnace industry in Perry and ad-
joining counties, as the existence of deposits of iron ore was fully
established at that time.
Juniata Furnace. The lands upon which Juniata furnace in
Centre Township, was later erected, were warranted by James
McConaughy in 1766, and later became the property of William
Power, then a large landowner in what is now Perry County.
About 1808 Power and David Watts, of Carlisle, erected, on a
small stream which flows through the property, a small furnace,
which later came to be known as Juniata furnace. They operated
it for several years, and in 1824 the Watts heirs and Power leased
the furnace to John Everhart, of Chester County, for a ten-year
period. He erected a forge, and in 1825 put the furnace in blast,
continuing operations for several years.
During May, 1833. Charles Postley & Son, of Philadelphia, pur-
chased the furnace property and 3,500 acres of land, which in-
cluded a gristmill at the mouth of the run, paying therefor $19,500.
During January, 1834, Postley & Company advertised for "six-
teen stone and four potter hollowware moulders to work at the
[uniata Iron Works." From Postley title had passed entirely to
his sons, who sold it to John McKeehan and Matthew S. Henry
in 1837. In a year or two James McGowan acquired the interest
of Henry. Another furnace had been added further up the
stream, and under McGowan's supervision both furnaces were
OLD LANDMARKS. MILLS, [NDUSTRIES 273
operated. This firm built the gristmill, which later came to be
known as Shoaff's mill.
There was a large ore bank on the tract. A settlement had
grown up around it. comprising eleven tenement houses, coal
house, storehouse, warehouse, carpenter shop, blacksmith shop and
the gristmill. About 184c; the furnace was abandoned and the mill
passed to the ownership of William R. Shoaff. In 1855 the cast-
ing house and the office were destroyed by a cyclone which hit the
section. The property is now in possession of Ellis Shoaff", the
mill having long since ceased operations.
Flo Forge. Fio forge, in Wheat field Township, was built on
a plot of ground which was warranted in 1766 by Benjamin
Abram and which contained 207 acres. In 1827 Israel Downing
and James B. Davis purchased twenty-three acres and began the
erection of the forge, which they had almost completed in July,
1828, when they sold to Jacob Lindley and Frederick Speck. They
owned and operated it until 1841, when it passed to Elias Jackson,
Samuel Yocum, and Daniel Kough, who at the same time operated
Mary Ann furnace in Cumberland County. It later passed to a
man named Walker, who retained Kough as manager. On March
14. 1846, a great flood on Sherman's Creek carried away the dam
and the plant was abandoned.
Oak Grove Furnace. Oak Grove furnace was located in Spring
Township on a tract of land purchased from Christian Hecken-
dorn, in February, 1827, by Adam and John Hays. In a paper
dated October, 1825, Heckendorn advertised three hundred acres
of land for sale, describing it as an excellent location for a fur-
nace, having ore within a half-mile. The new owners contracted
with John Miller February 20, 1827, for "the right for twenty-
one years to dig and haul iron ore from any part of land on which
Miller lives and has his tanyard, at twenty dollars per year for
every year they dig ore." On March 16th of the same year they
contracted with Thomas March and John Souder to pay each fif-
teen dollars per year for a like privilege. During the same year
they built Charlotte furnace, it being put in blast on December 4,
1827, under the management of Colonel George Patterson. It was
operated until 1828, its capacity being twenty-five tons of metal
per week.
It was refitted during 1828-29 and was again put in blast in
1829, its name being changed to Oak Grove furnace. It passed
from the ownership of Adam and John Hays to that of Hays &
McClure, John Hays remaining in the firm. In 1831 a post office
was established there with John Hays as postmaster. In the mean-
time McClure retired from the management and John Hays con-
tinued until January 6, 1834, when he sold the furnace, his ore
rights and 2,500 acres of land to Jacob F. Plies, for $22,000. It
18
2;4 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
was later under the ownership of Plies, Hess & Company and of
Jacob F. Plies & Company, the latter company being composed of
Christian Thudium and Frederick Boger. It was abandoned about
1843 and the property passed to Christian Thudium. With its
passing also passed the post office, but many years later another
was established near by and was known as "Lebo." The James
McCormick heirs obtained possession of the property and owned
it for many years. During the ownership of both Hays and Plies
plates were manufactured or cast here for the old-fashioned "ten-
plate stoves."
Montebello Furnace. The old Montebello furnace, in Wheat-
field Township, was located on a tract of land warranted by Wil-
liam Baskins in 1766, which contained 238 acres. Its location was
on Little Juniata Creek, several miles above King's mill, and near
where Montebello Park, a popular amusement resort flourished
during the early days of the Perry County Railroad. In 1834
Jacob Lindley, Elizabeth and Hannah Downing and William
Logan Fisher purchased this and an adjoining tract, "for the pur-
pose of building a furnace thereon." It was built in a year or two,
and after a few years passed to Fisher, Morgan & Company, who
operated it until 1846 or 1848, when it was abandoned. It had a
capacity of from twenty-five to thirty tons of iron per week.
When the latter firm secured possession it was run in connection
with the Duncannon iron plant, then owned by the same firm.
They built a stave mill near the forge, which was in use until 1875,
when it was destroyed by fire. The company owned and leased
large timber tracts, from which the wood was cut and used for the
burning of charcoal. The limestone and ore was hauled in wagons
from the canal wharf at Losh's Run Station, on the Pennsylvania
Railroad, and the finished product transported in the same way to
the firm's Duncannon plant. In April, 1837, when the entire
Mahanoy Ridge burned over the industry lost three thousand
cords of wood by fire. The Forester pronounced this conflagra-
tion "a grand and imposing spectacle," instead of speaking of the
great loss.
Perry Furnace. Perry furnace was located on a tract of land
warranted by Anthony Shatto, which later came into the possession
of William Power. In 1837 Jacob Loy, John Everhart, and John
Rough, trading under the name of Loy, Everhart & Company,
purchased several hundred acres of land and erected Perry fur-
nace, where they began the manufacture of hollowware and ten-
plate stoves. After running the plant for ten years they had finan-
cial difficulties and the property was sold to Peter Cameron. The
barn of Edward Comp is located on the site of the old furnace.
Perry furnace was abandoned about 1S48. During its operation
the timber was cut from a piece of woodland about three miles
OLD LANDMARKS, MILLS, INDUSTRIES 275
long and over a mile wide, and burned into charcoal. The iron
ore mostly was procured at the Dum farm, in that section of
Spring Township known as "Little Germany." After being re-
duced to "pig iron" it was hauled overland by wagon to the Dun-
cannon rolling mills, a distance of twelve miles. The limestone
used in melting the ore was secured on the furnace farm. At one
time a village of a dozen houses was located there, being occupied
by the employees. On a single acre of ground there are nine
springs, any one of which would be ample to supply a single farm
with water. Half of them are phosphorous.
Caroline Furnace. Travelers over the lines of the Pennsylvania
Railroad will note that there stands not many rods east of Bailey
Station a stone stack almost overgrown with vines. It is a mute
reminder of the early furnace industry of Pennsylvania. There
stood Caroline furnace. Even the very lands on which it stood
have a historical setting. Samuel Martin, who located this claim
of two hundred acres, on a part of which later stood Caroline fur-
nace, also warranted an extensive acreage on the northern side of
the Juniata, on which he built a gristmill and a sawmill. The prop-
erty is described as being "at the Upper Falls, below the great bend
south of Newport." John Bowman had evidently some prior claim
on the property at Bailey Station, in Miller Township, as it is re-
ferred to in Samuel Martin's will as the property purchased of him.
In a mortgage it is mentioned as "above the Falls, adjoining Dick's
Hill." Caroline furnace was erected by John D. Creigh in 1836,
and began operations the same year. It later came-into the 1 Mis-
session of Joseph Bailey, later a congressman of the United Stales.
His residence, with numerous additions, still stands. Very little
seems to have been recorded of this old industry.
Cove Forge. About 1863 several hundred acres of land were
purchased in the Cove, Penn Township, about one and one-half
miles east of Duncannon, by Wm. Mcllvaine & Sons, of Reading,
who in April, 1864, began the erection of a forge, long known as
Cove forge. It was put in blast in September, 1865, with six fires,
being run by water-power. A sexton hammer was operated by
steam. On their lands they made charcoal for use in their own
furnaces. It was operated for about twenty years. The large
dam erected above the plant was put in by this firm, the lands now
being owned by Robert C. Neal, whose father, Robert C. Neal,
a Harrisburg capitalist, erected a fine mansion on the property,
turning it into a gentleman's country estate. It was located upon
the original Thomas Barnett tract, described in the chapter relat-
ing to Penn Township. The local passenger station was long
known as Cove Forge, but within the past decade it has been
changed to Covallen, significant of Allen's Cove, long the name
by which the Cove was known.
276 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
The Duncannon Iron Works. The location of this plant is at
the point of land lying just north of where Sherman's Creek enters
the Susquehanna. It is on part of a tract of 220 acres, warranted
June 2, 1762, to George Allen and surveyed to Robert Jones. In
1827 it passed to Stephen Duncan and John D. Mahon, who imme-
diately began the erection of a forge, which began operations in
the summer of 1828. In February of the same year the firm
bought ninety-four acres and the lower gristmill, a sawmill, and a
distillery from Robert Clark, and on April 17 they purchased 1,231
acres of land, comprised in three different tracts, from Andrew
Mateer. The firm's advertisement called for men to go to work
on July 31, 1828. The little plant run until July 9, 1829, when it
was destroyed by fire, the loss being stated as from $1,500 to
$2,000. It was at once rebuilt and in operation by December
• if the same year. The firm of Duncan & Mahon then operated
the forge until 1832 or 1833, when they leased it to John Johnston
& Company, who also operated and were the owners of Chestnut
Grove forge, in Adams County. This firm then operated it until
the dissolution of the firm in September, 1834. The stock on hand
was disposed of by public sale early in 1835 and in the spring of
1836 the property of Duncan & Mahon passed to William Logan
Fisher and Charles W. Morgan. It included the forge, which they
operated for a short time, and about six thousand acres of land,
mostly timber land.
This firm was the forerunner of the Duncannon Iron Company.
They erected the old rolling mill in 1837-38, on the site of the old
forge, which they tore down. This first rolling mill was rather
primitive, being but 60x100 feet. Its capacity was five thousand
tons of bar iron per year. The first nail factory was erected by
them in 1839 and began operations in 1840. Prior to its erection
Fisher & Morgan had been sending their bar iron in flats to New
Cumberland, where it was manufactured into nails by Roswell
Woodward. When the Duncannon nail factory was completed
that plant was dismantled and the twenty-five nail machines taken
to Duncannon and installed. The new plant then had a capacity
of twenty thousand kegs per annum. On March 14, 1846, a flood
coming down Sherman's Creek, washed away the dam and part
of the rolling mill. The mill and dam were rebuilt. This flood
also took the Juniata River bridge and the eastern span of the
Susquehanna River bridge. The furnace was erected in 1853.
Its capacity was twenty tons per day. It was remodeled in 1880,
its capacity then being fifteen thousand tons per year. The year
i860 was a bad one for the plant. The nail factory burned on
January 10th and the rolling mill dam was again washed out on
May nth. The nail factory was rebuilt at once and the number
of machines increased to forty-six, many being added later. The
OLD LANDMARKS, MILLS, INDUSTRIHS 277
output then reached 100,000 kegs of nails annually. The dam was
never rebuilt, as steam had already been used in part in the opera-
tion of the rolling mill.
In the meantime the firm had become Fisher, Morgan & Com-
pany, and on February 1, 186], their interests were purchased by
the newly organized Duncannon Iron Company, the old firm re-
taining an interest in the stock of the new concern. The transfer
of lands included about eight hundred acres. The new firm was
under the management of John Wister, later for many years its
president, and without doubt the greatest ironmaster ever inter-
ested in any Perry County plant. When Fisher, Morgan & Com-
pany sold to the Duncannon Iron Company they retained Monte-
bello furnace (which had ceased operations), and 3,469 acres of
land, which they sold in June, 1885, to John Wister, as trustee of
the Duncannon Iron Company. The iron storage house was
burned November 1., 187 r. The old stave mill, built when the first
nail factory was erected, was burned in the spring of 1875, an ^ a
new one immediately erected on the south hank of Sherman's
Creek. On March 12, 1882, the rolling mill was burned down and
again rebuilt at once. On the evening of November 28, 1888, the
main building of the nail factory was entirely destroyed by fire
and the machinery badly damaged. It too was immediately re-
built, on the opposite side of Sherman's Creek. The large stone
office building of the Duncannon Iron Company was built in 1866,
being occupied January 14, 1867. It is 35x54 in size, with the
main office room sixteen feet in height. The company store dates
back to the time of the first forge, erected in 1828. Who the early
managers of the company store were it is impossible to state. W.
J. Stewart was the manager as early as 1871. 1 1 is successor was
Ahram Hess, who was succeeded in 1882 by S. A. E. Rife. The
store closed in 1908.
John Wister was for over half a century connected with the
Duncannon Iron Works, rising from errand boy to president and
general manager. He was born in Germantown, Philadelphia,
July 15, 1829, the son of William and Sarah Logan (Fisher) Wis-
ter, the former of German and the latter of English descent. He
was educated in the Germantown Academy. He arrived at Dun-
cannon, via packet boat and on foot, November 2, 1845, to enter
the employ of an uncle, skilled in the iron business, and his first
position was that of office boy. He was then a tall, athletic young
lad of but sixteen summers. From that position of office boy
he became the noted president and general manager of the Dun-
cannon Iron Company, skilled along every operation of the iron
business, for he had made it a study. When he first came the
operation of the plant was still furnished by the waters of Sher-
man's Creek, and without any tariff on iron the workers at the
278 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
plant were paid a meagre wage, and that often in scrip. Under
his management steam was introduced and, witli a tariff placed
upon foreign production, the Duncannon plant became one of the
important iron plants of the state. Few labor troubles ever agi-
tated the Duncannon mills, and in
1895, upon the fiftieth anniver-
sary of his connection with the
plant . all the employees — over
four hundred — marched to his
residence to extend their good
will, and incidentally, present a
handsome and expensive chair to
which all had contributed a small
sum. Mr. Wister died June 4,
1900, beloved by hundreds who
had served under him at various
times. He was not only presi-
dent and general manager of the
Duncannon Iron Company, but
was president of both the Dun-
cannon National Bank and the
Trout Run Water Company. He
attained his majority in 1850, and
in 1852 the county press records
that "John Wister III, was elect-
ed corresponding secretary" of a
Republican political meeting. It
was in that small way that he be-
gan his work in the Republican
party of Perry County, from
which he later could have had anything he desired.
The furnace was run for a half century, ceasing operations in
1900, and being dismantled in 1901-02. The nail factory made cut
nails, winch were largely superceded by wire nails, and operations
in it were discontinued in 1908. The plant was taken over by the
Lebanon Iron & Steel Company, in 19 10, which has been operating
it since then, except during slack periods.
Among the exhibitors at the Centennial Exposition in Philadel-
phia, in 1776, was the Duncannon Iron Company, which displayed
a nail machine built and set up by the late William J. Black, long
in the company's employ.
An act was passed in 1839 by the Pennsylvania Legislature au-
thorizing the building of a bridge across the Juniata at Baskins'
Ferry, and the work was begun at once. On June 21, of the same
year, another act was passed, which authorized the construction of
a railroad from the Pennsylvania Canal, at Duncan's Island, to
johx wister
Tin- Greatest Iron Manufacturer of
Perry County.
OLD LANDMARKS, MILLS, INDUSTRIES
2/9
Sherman's Creek. The mad was to begin al the eastern end of
the bridge, at a point not exceeding one-fourth of a mile there-
from, and to cross to the west bank of the Juniata, passing through
or near Petersburg (now Duncannon), and to terminate at or near
the mouth of Sherman's Creek, the distance being two miles. The
directors were Cornelius Baskins, president; Amos A. Jones,
Jacob Keiser, Thomas Duncan, Thomas K. Lmdley, John B. Top-
ley, John Charters, and Jacob Clay. They were likewise the direc-
tors of the bridge. This old railroad was used and operated by the
Duncannon Iron Company in transporting to and from their plant
raw material and the finished product, shipments being made and
received at Benvenue by canal boat. The cars were drawn by
horses and mules. The bridge over which the railroad crossed the
Juniata River was washed away in 1845 and was rebuilt. On
March 17, 1865, it was again washed away. The iron company
then erected a warehouse at Aqueduct, reshipping by rail from
there to Duncannon. After that the road was no longer used, al-
though its rails lay for a number of years.
Marshall Furnace. The lands upon which Marshall furnace, in
East Newport, was built, was purchased of Elias Fisher, and in
1872, Egle, Philips & Company erected the furnace, which later
passed into the possession of the Marshall family, of Philadelphia.
Major Peter Hiestand was long superintendent of this furnace,
which ran rather regularly until about 1900, but which has run
intermittently since, owing to its distance from raw material.
CHAPTER XVI.
THE EARLIEST CHURCHES.
IT seems strange that these shores should have been hidden so
long and that they should be reserved for settlement until after
the Reformation. Could it have been mere chance, or was it
the work of an all- wise Creator? Did He reserve these lands for
the most enlightened Christian people of that age — for those west-
ern Europeans, the Pilgrim, the Puritan, the Holland Dutch, the
Friend, the German, the Scotch- Irish, and all that noble band who
braved the dangers of the deep and the terror of the red men that
they might worship God according to their own free will?
The men who founded Pennsylvania were intensely religious ;
many of them came here to have freedom of religious worship ;
they lived in a period when religious doctrines were the great ab-
sorbing questions of life, so much so that the present generation
cannot realize the zeal of their ancestry. They had family worship
in their homes. The Father's business was their first considera-
tion, and they builded well, for notwithstanding any seeming laxity
of religion, even the sneering cynic does not enter the state of wed-
lock nor have the last sad rites for a member of his family occur
without calling upon the ministry and the church, thus recognizing
its sanctity and Divine inspiration.
Those churchmen of generations ago and even of the passing
generations were men of stability and worth who stood four-
square in their communities and were as solid and trustworthy as
the very hills which surrounded them. Even to-day, is it not
largely so with the active churchmen — those who attend and par-
ticipate and whose names are upon the church books for more
than business reasons? Of course there were prejudices in those
days, but they have largely turned to dust, buried bigotries of a
departing age. In all the writer's many travels over the territory
during the past few years in only two cases did he note any evi-
dence of prejudice in regard to sect upon the part of those inter-
viewed and one of the interviewed is now numbered with the de-
parted. Joint services are held in many towns and communities
by the various denominations, and this passing of prejudice is a
heritage largely due to the "union Sunday school picnics" of yes-
teryear, when the men and women of to-day were boys and girls
and knew their neighbor of another creed was just as good a fel-
low and that there was really little difference — and no vital one —
in their beliefs. And this community spirit is growing!
280
THE EARLIEST CHURCHES 281
Some of the old-time preachers were often loud in their dis-
courses, and sometimes long. Many of them preached much of
the relent lessness of God towards evildoers, instead of dwelling
upon His love and forgiving spirit, ofttimes shouting or thunder-
ing their remarks. It is, however, even said of Jonathan Edwards,
the prominent New England theologian, whose life was passed in
benevolence, that he delighted in describing the fierceness and re-
lentless cruelty of God.
Bancroft, the historian, says : "He who will not honor the mem-
ory and respect the influence of John Calvin knows but little of
the origin of American liberty," and it was the creed of John Cal-
vin that first carried the Gospel into the territory now compri sing-
Perry County. The Scotch-Irish were the first to settle Perry
County territory, and with them came Calvinism and Presbyte-
rianism. Here, in the heart of the forests, they planted the first
churches, one of which is to-day a bulwark of strength in western
Perry, in the famous Sherman's Valley. In those early days the
church had more or less dominion as to where buildings should
be erected and where dividing lines should be drawn in the inter-
vening territory. That that question came up early in the settle-
ment is evidenced by the fact that the Presbytery of Donegal —
practically the predecessor of the Carlisle Presbytery — at a meet-
ing held April 24, 1766, appointed a committee "to attempt to set-
tle matters respecting the seat of a meetinghouse or meetinghouses
to be erected in Sherman's Valley." It was to meet the Wednes-
day after the third Sabbath of June. It was composed of Rev.
Robert Cooper, Rev. George Duffield, and the following elders:
Colonel Armstrong (with William Lyon, alternate), Thomas Wil-
son and John McKnight, the elders to devote the previous Tues-
day "to reconnoitre."
This committee met at George Robinson's — close to the present
location of Centre church — on July 2. After two days devoted to
hearing testimony and deliberating the committee came to the con-
clusion "that there ought to be a church at Alexander Morrow's
or James Blain's (where there was already a graveyard) for the
upper end of the valley, and one at George Robinson's for the
centre." Settling the place of the location for the lower meeting-
house was deferred until further light could be obtained. (Rec-
ords of Presbytery for 1766, pp. 186-189.) These incidents pre-
date the forming of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian
Church in America, which convened first in 1788.
To a little book printed in London, in 1768, entitled "The Jour-
nal of a Two-Months' Tour, with a view of Promoting Religion
Among the Frontier Inhabitants of Pennsylvania, and of Intro-
ducing Christianity Among the Indians to the Westward of the
Allegheny Mountains," we are indebted for a glimpse of the early
282 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
introduction of religious worship in Sherman's Valley. While the
title was long the pages were few, only no, and it was in the form
of a report, hy Rev. Charles Beatty, to the Earl of Darmouth and
other prominent Englishmen then interested in that work. The
time covered was in 1766, and after reciting that he was appointed
by the Synod of New York and Philadelphia to visit the frontier
inhabitants "that a better judgment might be formed what assist-
ance might be necessary to afford them, in their present low cir-
RliV. CHARGES BEATTY.
The first man to carry the Gospel to the Pioneers west of the
Kittatinny or Blue Mountain..
cumstances, in order to promote the Gospel among them ; and
likewise to visit the Indians, in case it could be done in safety, to
know whether they were inclined to receive the Gospel." Accom-
panied by a Christian Indian, he arrived in Carlisle August 15,
having traveled 122 miles. From his journal :
"Monday, August 18. — In the forenoon we were much engaged prepar-
ing for our journey; sat out with Mr. Duffield. After riding about six
miles we came to the North Mountain, which is high and steep. The day
being very warm, and we obliged to walk, or rather climb up it, the
greatest part of the way, were greatly fatigued by the time we reached the
top. After traveling four miles into Sherman's Valley, we came, in
the night, to Thomas Ross's, where we lodged."
THE EARLIEST CHURCHES 283
The statement that they came to the Ross home in the night is
an example of the perils and discomforts which attended these
early purveyors of the Word, for it must be remembered that they
were unattended by any who knew the way and that roads were
then unknown, the vast forests being broken only by trails and
paths.
In the entry following Rev. Beatty tells of his visit to that tem-
ple in the woods, not built by hands, but where for over a century
historic Centre Presbyterian Church has stood and where it has
ministered to a people who braved dangers untold to erect their
homes in a land still a forest primeval, and to their descendants.
He says :
"Tuesday, 19th. — Rode four or five miles to a place in the woods, de-
signed for building a house for worship, and preached, but io a small
auditory; notice of our preaching not having been sufficiently spread.
After sermon, I opened to the people present the principal design of the
synod in sending us to them at this time ; that it was not only to preach
the Gospel, but also to enquire into their circumstances, situation, num-
bers, and ability to support it."
"The people not being prepared to give us a full answer, promised to
send it to Carlisle before our return. After sermon we proceeded on our
way about five miles and lodged at Mr. Fergus's. The house where he
lives was attacked by the Indians in the late war, the owner of it killed,
and, if I am not mistaken, some others. While the Indians were pillaging
the house and plantation, in order to carry off what suited them, a number
of the countrymen armed came upon them ; a smart skirmish ensued, in
which the countrymen had the better. The Indians were obliged to fly, and
carried off their wounded, but left all their booty behind them."
The place here referred to was the home of Alexander Logan,
which was later occupied by Mr. Fergus. It is located near where
Sandy Hill post office was later established, in Madison Township,
and was long owned by George McMillen. From the Logan place
the party traveled along the south foot of Conococheague Moun-
tain, crossing it by the ravine north of Andersonburg, and mis-
takenly calling it the Tuscarora Mountain. In passing down the
north side they came to where Mohler's tannery was located in a
succeeding generation, and crossed Liberty Valley via Bigham's
Gap to the Tuscarora Valley, now in Juniata County.
Just how the Gospel came to be first carried west of the Kitta-
tinny Mountains is of interest to all. The origin of the missionary
tour of Rev. Charles Beatty and Rev. George Duffield to the dis-
tressed frontier, harassed by the Indians, and to the Indians them-
selves, seems to have been an action of The Corporation for the
Relief of Poor and Distressed Presbyterian Ministers of New
York, as an extract from their minutes reads :
"November 16, 1762. — At a meeting of the Corporation in the city, it
was agreed that the board appoint some of their members to wait on the
synod at their next meeting, and in their name request that some mis-
284 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
sionaries be sent to preach to the distressed frontier inhabitants, and to
report their distresses, and to let us know when new congregations are
a forming, and what is necessary to be done to promote the spread of the
Gospel among them, and that they inform us what opportunities there
may be of preaching the Gospel to the Indian nations in their neighbor-
hoods."
It was then agreed that the necessary expenses of these missi
aries be paid by this board. To many Perry Countian ^ y fee.
a surprise that the Gospel was first carried to their courv
missionaries.
After mentioning the beginning of Centre Church in 170 p QAd
that of Dick's Gap about the same time, Rev. D. H. Focht, in ..
valuable and painstaking volume, "The Churches Between the
Mountains," says : "Besides these two instances we have not found
a single reference to churches in Perry County (territory) until
1790." He fails to mention the organization of the Upper Church
at Blain at the same time, that Limestone Ridge (or Sam Fisher's
Church") existed co incidentally, and that Dick's Gap joined with
the Sherman's Creek Church as early as 1778 in calling Rev.
Thorn, all of which were long prior to 1790. Farther back in his
own book (page 286) he tells of the St. Michael's Lutheran
Church in Pfoutz Valley being organized as early as 1770 to 1773,
and of the purchase of their grounds February 15, 1776, on which
they erected a building which they used for both school and church
purposes, also long prior to 1790. This is not mentioned here in
the way of criticism, but to correct a general misunderstanding
that prevails by reason of the paragraph cited above, which is
sometimes quoted.
Early last century many of the Scotch-Irish had begun to move
westward and the new population, coming in their wake and often
purchasing their lands, was mostly of German extraction, whose
religion was principally Lutheran and German Reformed. At
first their services were almost exclusively in German, but gradu-
ally were replaced with English. Then came the Methodist
Church, with youth, zeal and earnestness, holding its meetings in
homes and schoolhouses and conducting great camp meetings in
the woods. Other denominations followed until to-day there are
ten, eight of which have numerous churches, and of the remaining
two one has two churches, and the other a single church.
The Presbyterians had been holding services and building
churches within the limits of what is now western Perry County
for several decades before the advent of the Lutherans to any ex-
tent, although the Lutherans of that section east of the Juniata,
about 1770, were holding meetings and were about organizing St.
Michael's Church, in Pfoutz Valley. Rev. Focht, in his "Churches
Between the Mountains," says the Lutheran people were occa-
sionally visited by ministers of their own churches before 1774,
THE EARLIEST CHURCHES 285
according to tradition, and that afterwards they enjoyed frequent
visits from Rev. John G. Butler, who was pastor of the Lutheran
Church of Carlisle from 1780 to 1788. Shortly after that Rev.
John Timothy Kuhl, of Franklin County, began visiting the mem-
bers in Sherman's Valley, and in 1790 he moved among them and
became the first regular pastor, having a large field and preaching
once every six weeks at each place. In an old document belonging
to the congregation at Loysville, it is written: "In the year of our
Lord 1790, the Germans in Sherman's Valley secured the Evan-
gelical Lutheran minister, the Rev. John Timotheus Kuhl, as their
pastor." Rev. Focht, in his volume, further says : "The late Mr.
George Fleisher, of Saville Township, who died in 1855, aged
eighty-four years, when nineteen years old, with a team moved
Rev. Kuril's family and effects from Franklin County to this val-
ley. Rev. Kuhl resided near where Loysville is now located.
From the above documentary evidence, we infer that he visited and
preached to the members scattered at various points in the whole
valley. Before the erection of Lebanon Church at Loysville, he
preached in barns and private dwellings at different places in that
neighborhood. Encouraged by a minister living in their midst,
and united in their desires and efforts, the membership proceeded,
in 1794, to build a house of worship at Loysville, which they de-
nominated Lebanon Church." The history of the building of that
church appears further on. The George Fleisher referred to was
the grandfather of the various heads of the Fleisher families lo-
cated about Newport some years ago and yet, viz : George, John,
Amos, Prof. Daniel, etc.
There has never been a Catholic church in Perry County.
While the canal was building, during 1827-28, services were held
occasionally in homes, as the employees were largely Irish Catho-
lics. Their number was occasionally reduced by a death, and they
purchased from John Huggins a plot of ground on the lands lying
close to Liverpool and opened a cemetery. There was hut one
tombstone in it and it marked the grave of John Doyle, a hotel
keeper. The Liverpool folks have known it as "the Irish ceme-
tery."
With the settlement of both- English-speaking and German-
speaking people in this territory the two languages were in general
use, but the public business was conducted in English. The Ger-
man element was loath to give up their language and, although
their children were learning and speaking English, they contended
against the preaching of the word in English in their churches.
The most prominent example of this was that of Rev. John William
Heim, pastor of the Loysville Lutheran Charge. When the West
Pennsylvania Synod met at New Bloomfield in September, 1842,
some of the ministers preached in the English language. Members
286 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
of the congregation at Bloomfield — also a part of his charge — knew
the necessity of introducing the English language and urged him
to have an associate pastor who could preach in English. This he
refused to do, with the result that an English Lutheran church
was organized in June, 1844,- and held its meetings in the school-
In uise, and later in the Presbyterian Church. This condition ex-
isted until 1850, after the death of Rev. Heim, which occurred the
previous year, when the two Lutheran churches were again put
under one pastorate. But, as late as 1853 there was a requirement
that one-third of the preaching should be in German.
In the early years of settlement it was a common thing to travel
long distances to church, over bridle paths and roads hardly worthy
of the name. George and Alexander Johnston, of Toboyne Town-
ship, the latter the father of Dr. A. R. Johnston, of New Bloom-
field, were members of the United Presbyterian Church at Con-
cord, Franklin County. They were born in 1802 and 1805, and
died in 1872 and 1864, respectively, so that even to almost the
middle of last century, it appears, it was not uncommon to travel
a long way to divine worship. George W. Gehr, long a newspaper
correspondent, tells of Elliottsburg citizens walking to New Bloom-
field, before the building of the schoolhouse at Elliottsburg. in
which the first services were held ; telling how the young ladies
tripped along barefooted until they came to the gristmill site west
of the county seat, where they put on shoes and hose and pro-
ceeded to church. This was a custom in various parts of the
county. H. E. Sheibley, editor of the Advocate, at New Bloom-
field, recalls the time when his people attended the United Pres-
byterian Church at Duncannon, making the ten-mile trip by car-
riage. Ann West Gibson, the mother of the celebrated Chief Jus-
tice Gibson, went from the Gibson mill, at the Spring-Carroll
line, to Carlisle to attend the services of the Church of England
(Episcopalian). In fact, many of the first pioneers crossed the
Kittatinny to Carlisle to church before they had churches in their
communities.
There seems to be a diminishing of the number of the little
country churches which once dotted the wayside, as population
seeks the great centres and since labor-saving machinery has made
less labor requirements upon the farms ; and in many cases when
one enters those that remain the attendance seems to be consid-
erably less than in the years gone by. Of course families are also
smaller, and the introduction of motor cars has also had its ef-
fect, but the passing of these churches is indeed to be regretted.
They were a leading factor in the breaking down of sectarianism,
they fostered the best in life and were to newcomers in the com-
munity a refuge from homesickness and loneliness. They were,
along with being houses of worship, also, to the country just what
THE EARLIEST CHURCHES
287
the community centres are to the great cities. Men and women,
boys and girls were better for having gone there, even if they
were not members. By referring to the chapters in this book re-
lating to the various townships it will be seen that here and there
a church that once existed has gone. In several of the smaller
towns there seems to have been too many denominations with the
natural result that the population was insufficient to support them.
Some strange facts stand out in the history of these earlier
churches of Perry County. The Dick's Gap Church was supposed
REV. JACOB GRUBER.
(An early Circuit Rider.)
Mr. Gruber was born in 1778 and died in 1850. On
February 22, 1838, he was married to Rachel (Gillespie)
Martin, widow of Capt. Joseph Martin, whose bust
appears elsewhere as "The Bride of a Century Ago."
to be central from the northern boundary to the southern county
line, as were also Blain (Upper Church) and Centre. Dick's Gap
had tree stumps for seats. The Millerstown Presbyterian Church
was organized in a bar room and often had services there. During
"the twenties," the county's early days, a pastor of that church
said "there was little or no vital Godliness." Middle Ridge Church
was practically torn down and carried away by vandals. The
church at the mouth of the Juniata (Presbyterian) was blown
down by a windstorm. With large emigration westward, espe-
cially by the Scotch-Irish element, the Presbyterian churches have
traveled hard lines in the smaller communities, but seven out of
288 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
thirteen now holding worship. Groves, homes, schoolhouses, and
even barns were used for early meetings. Few churches have
burned. Some have passed away through the loss of population
in their respective settlements. Several have been removed and
built elsewhere. Some have been flooded by high waters during
river floods.
The clergymen of Perry County are, as a rule, a zealous and in-
dustrious body, and Sunday school work and the opposition to the
liquor traffic has had their almost united enthusiastic support.
Many of them have gone to larger and broader fields. For decades
ministerial associations have been in existence in Newport and
Duncannon, and in 1920 the Ministerial Association of Western
Perry County was organized at Loysville with Rev. G. R. Heim,
of Blain, as president, and Rev. F. H. Daubenspeck, of Ickesburg,
as secretary. Rev. A. R. Longanecker, of Loysville, and Rev. E.
V. Strasbaugh, of Blain, were much interested in its organization.
The old-time prayer meeting will be remembered by many of
the readers of this hook, and through the years they will see a
vision of one and recall the kindly voice of a devout worshiper
whose presence is no longer felt, but whose example in the com-
munity is remembered to this day. Many years ago, Jacob Crist,
one of the good and substantial citizens of New Bloomfield, wrote
for the Perry Freeman a poem which is here reproduced in part,
not for any especial literary value, but as a pen picture of an old-
time prayer meeting :
PRAYER MEETING OF THE PAST.
BY JACOB CRIST.
Only ihe aged ones can know
<)f prayer meetings, long ago,
How Christian men, and women too,
Did worship God, sincere and true.
Most happy and sincere they felt,
When side by side in prayer they knelt ;
Then rise and sing while one would lead,
"Alas! and did my Saviour Bleed."
Then one would lead in prayer again,
Would read a chapter and explain.
Then sing about that Crimson Flood,
"There is a Fountain filled with Blood."
And "Come Thou Fount" they all would sing
And, "Children of the Heavenly King"
And ofttimes sing that hymn of praise,
"Awake my soul in joyful lays."
Then kneeling down without delay
In happy mood they all would pray,
Then sing some brother's favorite choice
With cheering sound, and strengthened voice.
THE EARLIEST CHURCHES jX< }
And Cennick's hymn, in highest tone,
"Jesus, my all to heaven is gone";
Then too, well nigh beyond control,
Sing "Jesus, lover of my soul."
Then for the mourners all would pray,
That Christ would wash their sins away ;
Then rise and make their voices ring,
"O for a thousand tongues to sing."
The "mourners' bench" was always there,
Where penitents would kneel for prayer,
And Christians would with talk sincere,
Encourage them to persevere.
And Jones' invitation hymn,
Which is pathetic and sublime ;
"Come, humble sinner, in whose breast"
Was sung and anxious souls were blest.
One custom then, seems no more so,
Then men and women both would go ;
Now women mostly do attend.
While men their evening elsewhere spend.
Schoolhouses then were Bethels true,
And men did not object thereto;
The fuel too was not refused.
But during winter, freely used.
Lit candles hung around the wall,
Would dimly shine within the hall,
And ofttimes when they shone too dim,
Some brother would with snuffers trim.
Oft when the meeting knelt to pray,
Bad boys would laugh, and talk and play,
And then the leader would complain
About their want of sense and brain.
Sometimes his strictures were severe,
And sometimes earnest and sincere ;
But boys are boys, as they are yet,
And good advice would soon forget.
Near ten, the leader would propose
To bring the meeting to a close ;
Then rise and sing — ere they would go — -
"Praise God, from whom all blessings flow."
Outside the girls would find their beaux
Where they would stand each side in rows,
And when some one would get the "fling,"
Then cheers and laughs and whoops would ring.
Soon would the people homeward go,
S<»me better, others so and so,
And thus repeat it o'er and o'er
Or find excuse to go no more,
ig
2Q0 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
Centre Presbyterian Church. This is the oldest church site still
in regular use in Perry County. It was the first church organiza-
tion in the territory, but the old Dick's Gap Church, shrouded
more or less in mystery, is supposed to have been erected first, al-
though in an uncompleted state as late as 1798. On September 9,
1766, Thomas Ross, John Byers, Edward Allet, John Hamilton,
PIONEER COMMUNION SERVICE.
This was the first Communion Service of "the Church at the Mouth of the
Juniata," now the Duncannon Presbyterian Church, the history of which ap-
pears in the chapter relating to Duncannon. Official records of this church
appear as early as 1804.
and Hugh Alexander, in trust for the congregation at Tyrone, in
Tyrone Township, took up the land-- upon which the church
stands. They were surveyed April 17. 1767. The incorporating
charter is signed by Governor William Findley, March 24, 1819.
The grounds originally contained over seven acres, set with a fine
stand of majestic oaks, many of which still stand. The old Centre
school stood on the tract as does a parsonage and a home for the
THF. EARLIEST CHURCHES
291
sexton. In the graveyard, with an extant (if several acres, are tomb-
stones bearing dates as early as 1766. It is the last resting place
of heroic and prominent people. The church is in the midst of
the most historic section of Perry County, in itself being the most
historic of the religions organizations. About the old church
building there stood on guard two members of the flock with guns
while the rest worshiped, as protection against the stealthy en-
croachment of Indians. Worshipers came carrying their guns,
ready for any attack.
The trustees of Centre Church in 1819, when it was chartered,
were John Linn, John Creigh, Thomas Purely, William McClure,
Charles Elliott, Samuel McCord, David Coyle, Robert Elliott, and
Samuel A. Anderson.
I11 1767 the first church was erected of logs, with dovetailed
corners. There were no arrangements for fire, even in severe
weather. Two services were held on Sunday and lunches were
brought along by the attendants who remained for the second serv-
ice. As early as 1760 there had been requests for a preacher to
the Donegal Presbytery, but the churches were not organized.
However, preachers were sent. In '1766 the Presbyterian churches
of Sherman's Valley asked for organization, and the Missionary
Board of the Presbyterian Church sent Rev. Charles Beatty to
visit the frontier settlements. (See previous pages.)
In 1793 a stone church was erected in place of the log structure.
It is said that some of the logs of this first church still are a part
of the barn on the old Wormley farm, below Waggoner's. The
third church was built in 1850, to which has since been added the
Sunday school section. The entire church has also been remodeled
several times.
After some investigation three churches were organized, as fol-
lows: the old Dick's Cap Church, Centre Church, and Blain, then
called the Upper Church. April 14, 1767, Presbytery approved it.
The "Limestone Church" (Samuel Fisher's), near Green Park,
had already been partly erected, but Presbytery refused to organ-
ize it on account of it being too near Centre Church. In 1772.
however, the request was granted and it. with Centre and Upper
(also sometimes called Toboyne) united in a call to Rev. William
Thorn, but he declined. No pastor was secured until 1778, when
Rev. John Linn was installed and remained until his death in 1820.
In the meantime the "Limestone" Church was abandoned and in
1823 the congregation at Landishurg was organized. A Rev. Gray
filled in as a supply for several years. From 1826 to 183 1 Rev.
James M. Olmstead was pastor of the Upper churches. From
183 1 to 1836 Rev. Lindley C. Rutter served, followed by Rev.
Nelson until 1842. Rev. George D. Porter followed in 1844 and
remained until 185 1, also preaching for the Millerstown church.
2i)2 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
Rev. George S. Ray, a supply, rilled in until 1854, when Landis-
burg joined in with Centre and Blain. Then came Lewis Wil-
liams, who was pastor until he died in 1857. Rev. John H. Clark-
served 1857-62, and Rev. J. H. Ramsey 1863-67.
Blain then united with Ickesburg. Centre and Landisburg called
Rev. Robert McPherson, who remained until 1881. It was sup-
plied until 1883, when Rev. John H. Cooper filled the place until
1885, first as stated supply, then as pastor.
From 1867 until the present time — a period covering more than
a halt -century — Centre Church has had but six ministers, the sixth
being the present pastor, as follows :
1868-81 —Rev. R. M. McPherson.
1883-85 — Rev. John H. Cooper.
1887-1910 — Rev. Win. M. Burchfield.
[910-14 ■ — Rev. George H. Miksch.
1915-17 —Rev. Hugh R. Magill, M.D.
1919 —Rev. Carl G. H. Ettlich.
During the pastorate of Rev. Burchfield, in 1895, Landisburg,
Blain (or Upper Church), and Buffalo (near Ickesburg) were
detached from Centre Church.
Of the "old stone church," built in 1793, Rev. William A. West,
who wrote the History of the Presbytery of Carlisle, said : "The
writer remembers well its appearance in his boyhood days, when
he enjoyed the annual treat of a visit at his maternal grandfather's,
close by. In style, in appearance, and in arrangement it was like
nearly all the stone churches of that day." Rev. D. H. Focht, in
his "Churches Between the Mountains," says that "the old church
building was not erected until 1793," but fails to state that that was
the second church to be erected there.
Blain Presbyterian Church. The question of locating the first
Presbyterian churches in the territory which now comprises Perry
County came up at Donegal Presbytery's meeting April 24, 1766,
and the committee sent to "reconnoitre" reported that there ought
to be a church at Alexander Morrow's or James Blaine's (where
there was already a graveyard) for the upper end of the valley,
and one at George Robinson's for the centre." The people of the
upper end erected their church near James Blaine's, near where
the "Upper Church" still stands, and adjoining the graveyard
spoken of. This James Blaine was the father of Ephraim Blaine,
the Perry Countian who was Commissary General during the
Revolutionary W r ar, and from him descended that great statesman,
|"ames G. Blaine, younger generations adding an "e" to' the name.
See chapter in this book entitled The Blaine Family.
The early records of this church are missing, but according to
the annals of Presbytery and early historical records there was an
organized congregation where Blain now stands as early as 1767,
THE EARLIEST CHURCHES 293
in which year it united in a call with the churches at Centre and
Dick's Cap to Presbytery for recognition and the services of a
pastor. There is no evidence of the erection of a church then and
the meetings, as they were known, were likely held in the homes.
September 8, 1772, it united with Centre and "Sam Fisher's
Church" ("Limestone" Church, near Green Park) in extending a
call to Rev. William Thom to become pastor, hut he did not accept.
They probably hack a building by this time. In 1777 they called
Rev. John Linn, and from then to 1868 its pastors were the same
as those of Centre Church. ( See preceding pages.) In that
year the Blain and Ickeshurg churches united to form a charge.
Rev. |. |. Hamilton, residing in Saville Township, was pastor
from [869-75; Lev. Robt. McPherson, stated supply. 1877-81,
and Rev. J. II. Cooper, residing in Blain, in 1884-85. Following
Rev. Cooper, Rev. \Ym. Burchfield was pastor of this church,
Buffalo (near Ickeshurg), Centre, and Landishurg, from 1887 to
[895, when Centre became a separate charge, Rev. Burchfield con-
tinuing until 1910. It then became known as the Landishurg
charge. The minister resided in that town. The pastors were:
1896-97 — Rev. Hugh G. Moody, stated supply.
1898-1902 — Rev. A. F. Lott.
1904- — Rev. Will H. Dyer.
Following that period the regular pastors of Centre Church were
again in charge, as follows:
1910-14 — Rev. George H. Miksch.
1915-17— Rev. Hugh R. Magill.
During 1920-21 Rev. Carl G. II. Ettlich, pastor of Centre
Church, was the stated supply pastor. In 1921 the Church Hill
Cemetery Association was chartered and took over all the prop-
erty of the church, which, as an organization, will cease to exist.
Through removals and deaths the membership of the Upper
(Blain) Church had become very weak and the Presbytery had
proposed selling the same, which resulted in the incorporation of
this cemetery association, the incorporators being James A. Noel,
II. M. Hall, Dr. A. R. Johnston, and others. The church will be
kept in repair for occasional meetings. This is a step in the right
direction. These old landmarks should he preserved, as nearly as
possible, in their original state.
The first church was a long, low, log building near the school-
house on "Church Hill." The present church, built long ago,
stands adjoining a small grove. While there is no evidence ob-
tainable yet, one is inclined to believe that this lot was given for
church purposes by James Blain, who warranted the tract in 1765
on which it is located, as the application for recognition by the
Presbytery is dated early the next year, April 14, 1766.
294 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
"Limestone Church." There was an early Presbyterian church
located at Green Park, being located on the site of the old burying
ground on the John Garlin farm. It was known as the "Lime-
stone" or "Lower Church," and sometimes as "Sam Fisher's
Church." and its people formed the first organization in 1766, but
the Presbytery declined to give it regular standing on account of
its nearness to Centre Church. The meetinghouse lot contained
thirty-six acres, and it was surveyed in 1768. A log church was
erected and after continuous appeals Presbytery consented June
24, 1772, and this church. Centre Church, and the Upper churches
called Rev. William Thorn, but he declined. Supply ministers
then filled in until 1777, when a call was tendered Rev. John Linn,
who was installed in June, 1778. He was in charge until his death
in 1820. This church had been abandoned, however, before his
death, and its place was filled by the organization of the Landis-
burg church a few years later. It is known in some records as
"Same Fisher's Church," as it was located upon a thirty-six-acre
plot which he took up for church purposes. It is about six miles
below Centre Church. In this old cemetery sleep the Fulwilers,
Fosters, Neilsons, McClures, and other noted families.
Dick's Cap. According to all records and to tradition the old
Dick's Gap Church, in Miller Township, Perry County, was one
of the first churches to be erected within the borders of what is
now Perry County, if it could be called a church. It was built of
logs, but for over thirty years was not filled between the logs with
mortar. It is said to have had an old-fashioned clapboard roof and
no floor, the attendants sitting on stumps and logs.
Rev. John Edgar, who wrote a history of the Presbyterian
churches of Perry County, made a careful search of all records,
and considerable information is drawn from his research.
The pioneer settlers of Sherman's Valley, which includes prac-
tically all of the county lying west of the Juniata River, asked
Donegal Presbytery for ministerial instruction in 1760. Six years
later they again appealed to the same source for church organiza-
tion. Both appeals were answered. After visits by several pio-
neer preachers three churches were organized, as follows: Dick's
Gap, which was located four miles east of New Bloomfield and
three miles west of Bailey's Station, on the present line of the
Pennsylvania Railroad ; Centre Church, the present site of the
same organization, and the Upper Church, at Blain. Presbytery
approved this arrangement on April 14. 1767, and these churches
remained under the supervision of Donegal Presbytery until the
organization of the Carlisle Presbytery, October 17, 1786.
Dick's Gap was contemporary with the two upper churches
named above and joined the Sherman's Creek Church in call-
ing ;i pastor at the same time as the upper churches called the
THE EARLIEST CHURCHES 295
Rev. John Linn. The Dick's Gap Church called Rev. Hugh Magill
in 1777. and the Sherman's Creek Church called him in 1778. He
refused to preach during 1777-78-79, and Presbytery all the while
sent supplies to these two churches. Among these supplies were
Rev. John 1 foge, Rev. Waugh, Rev. William Linn, Rev. John
Linn, Rev. Cooper, Rev. Henderson, Rev. Johnson, Rev. Mc-
Mordie. Rev. Caldwell, Rev. Wilson, Rev. Speer, and Rev. Mc-
Lane. Near the beginning of the last century Dick's Cap Church
was abandoned and Middle Ridge Church took its place.
The church was 18x20 in size, and its exact site is to-day a mat-
ter of question. It is described shortly after the half of the last
century had fled as being in "an unenclosed graveyard, in which
trees of great age are growing near to and even upon graves, and
many graves are covered with boulders, seemingly to prevent rav-
ages of wolves."
Mrs. Jane Black, mother of the late Isaac G. Black, of Dun-
cannon, remembered this old church in 1797, when still in an un-
finished state; built of pine logs, the spaces between the logs were
not filled, but she also recollected that in 1798 a coat of mud plaster
remedied that. It was, she says, roofless — wherein she differs from
other accounts — and she remembers that her grandfather, John
Graham, and Robert Johnson, were two of the elders, having
heard that they dated back to about 1773, and they were still liv-
ing in her time. Mrs. Black was born June 3, 1790, and was
a daughter of John Stewart, who resided near "the Loop" of
Sherman's Creek. She died May 1, 1881, in Philadelphia, at the
home of her son, Isaac G. Black. To her memory posterity is in-
debted for many of the few facts relating to this early church.
She became a church member in 1805, but her memory dated back
to when she was about seven, when she went with her mother and
her grandfather, John Graham, who was an elder, to communion
services in the old church. This must have been about J797-
Within the church, which was without floor, the stumps of trees
had been allowed to remain, and on these were placed split logs
for seats. This church was a regularly organized one, but the only
pastor ever called did not accept. The History of Presbytery
shows it had very little nucleus and no growth.
According to Mrs. Black she went to church on horseback, rid-
ing behind her mother, while her grandfather would lead her horse
by the bridle, passing through "Dick's Gap Trail." She recalled
being told by her people that in earlier years guards were stationed
outside the church to be on the lookout for Indians. Long lines
of people came on horseback, often two on a horse.
The consensus of opinion is that the old church stood to the east
or left of the present Church of God, and somewhat nearer the
rids-e which runs in the rear of the church. The mother of George
296 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
Barrick, of Newport, who lived to a ripe old age, and who died
almost a half century ago, remembered when the church still stood,
and gave its location as being near where the present Church of
God stands. There is a gap in the ridge known as Dick's Hill,
which probably accounts for the name Dick's Gap. It has long
since ceased to be known by that name, and is now called Pine
Grove, an unfortunate change in the eyes of those historically in-
clined. On account of a man by the name of Stingle warranting
land near by and building a sawmill, it had been known as Stingle's
( kip
As early as 1793 the church on Sherman's Creek was one of
three churches — the other two being Dick's Gap and the one at the
mouth of the Juniata — which were supplied pastors by Presbytery.
The Sherman's Creek Church was so close that it drew support
from the one at Dick's Gap. In the meantime almost all of the
communicants lived long distances to the north, and they built
Middle Ridge Church in 1804, having organized the previous year.
Thus abandoned Dick's Gap day of usefulness passed with the
ending of 1803. It stood for some years, an abandoned pile of logs.
It is said that Marcus Hidings, the pioneer, and his wife, lie
buried in the surrounding graveyard. According to tradition an
old Indian trail led by this church, which is probably true, as these
pioneers seemed to follow the trails of the departing race. Tra-
dition says also that there are graves of both traders and Indians
there. There is no way of proving the latter statement and it is
left to the reader to conjecture.
The church was built upon lands warranted by Nicholas Robi-
son, in 1766, according to Rev. Focht's "Churches Between the
Mountains." According to Mr. T. W. Campbell, a native and
resident of the neighborhood, the old Indian trail is supposed to
have passed by the site of Charles O. Houck's home, at the foot of
Dick's Hill, on the Newport-Duncannon road, the residence once
having been an old tavern but converted into a dwelling by Mr.
Houck's ancestors. Rev. Focht erred in stating "by whom or for
whom it was built it is now impossible to say," as there are many
records to show that it was of the Presbyterian faith. The cover-
ing of the graves with stones does not prove that they are Indian
-raves, as there is record that the pioneers used that method in
order to keep them from molestation by wolves.
There are some things about this old church that are hard to
understand. If it was built in 1767 why was it not "chunked and
daubed" between the logs until 1798, and why was it yet roofless
in 1797? Both these statements were made by Mrs. Black, a repu-
table and religious woman, and are evidently true, yet they nat-
urally cause inquisitiveness. That a people would meet in that
kind of a building for over thirty years, without giving it even
THE EARLIEST CHURCHES 297
the ordinary advantages which their homes possessed is indeed
strange. Might it have been that they early saw their error of
location and in the following years used it only as a sort of cam])
meeting place during the summer months? From the silence of
the long departed years there comes no voice to tell us.
Shermansdale Presbyterian Church, The date of organization
and early history of Sherman's Creek Presbyterian Church — the
forerunner of the Shermansdale Church — are enveloped in ob-
scurity. In all probability the location of the church at Dick's ( iap,
in 1767, was meant to suffice for the lower end of that part of
Perry County lying west of the Juniata. The language of the
committee conveys that thought. In October, 1777, a call from.
Dick's Cap went 'to Rev. Hugh McGill. When its acceptance was
being considered the following spring the name of the Sherman's
Creek Church first appears in the minutes of Presbytery (1778),
in regard to the proportion of his time each should have. Accord-
ing to these minutes the two churches are referred to as "the united
congregations of Dick's Gap and Sherman's Creek." In 1779 Rev.
McGill reported to Presbytery "on account of a disagreement in
his congregation respecting the places of public worship, and his
apprehension of their inability to support him," he desired to re-
linquish his call. A noteworthy fact is that from then on the
Sherman's Creek Church asked for supplies independently.
Just when the first church was built is a mystery, but it was
located between Fio Forge and Dellville (on the Charles Zeigler
farm), where an old graveyard marks the site. There rests Swiss-
helm, said to have been a squatter on the Zorger farm. A brown
stone, on which the name is still legible, marks his grave. The
church was sometimes referred to as Swisshelm's. Various vol-
umes mark the date as 1804, but that date is wrong, as the follow-
ing facts will show: Owing to the congregation's place of worship
being close to that of "the church at the mouth of the Juniata"
(the forerunner of the Duncannon Presbyterian Church), in 1801,
there is record of its being moved, first to Boyd's, now known as
the Matlack farm, and in 1802 "to Swisshelm's," now the Adam
Zorger property. Tradition has it that at these first two locations,
at the graveyard in the Zeigler field, and at Boyd's fording, at the
Matlack farm, were built small places of worship. On October 8,
1802, "verbal application was made to Presbytery for supplies
every month to preach at the house of John Fitzhelm (Swiss-
helm)." In 1804, at Pine Hill, about one hundred yards from
Sherman's Creek, and two and a half miles east of their present
church, a log church was erected. There this people worshiped
until 1843, when the church was taken down and the best of its
material used in the erection of the present church. There, in an
old graveyard, rest the Wests, Smileys, Hendersons, and others.
298 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
This church is located a half mile north of Shermansdale, upon
lands donated by William Smiley. The congregation was incor-
porated by an act of the Pennsylvania Legislature dated April
16, 1829.
The church was served altogether by supplies until 1804, when
Rev. Joseph Brady was installed, on October 3, his call including
the churches at the mouth of the Juniata and Middle Ridge, which
comprised one charge until Middle Ridge was abandoned in 1841.
He served until his death, which occurred April 24, 1 821, being
pastor when the county was organized. Rev. John Noblock
served from 1826 to 1830. Rev. Matthew B. Patterson was pastor
from 1831 to 1853, and Hezekiah Hanson, from 1854 to 1856.
Then, from 1857 to 1867 Rev. William B. Craig served the Sher-
mansdale church and the New Bloomfield church, with which it
had been united. Then Duncannon and Shermansdale were sepa-
rated from New Bloomfield, and Rev. William Thompson was
called in 1868 and remained until 1873, when Duncannon was
separated from it. Rev. S. A. Davenport was pastor from 1878
to 1880, before and after which it was filled by supplies, two of
which were Rev. J. J. Hamilton and Rev. J. A. Murray, D.D. For
one year, covering 1883-84, Rev. J. C. Garver, of the Landisburg
charge, was pastor, since which time the pastors have been the
same as those of the New Bloomfield church, with which it is
united. See New Bloomfield chapter.
Middle Ridge Church. Dick's Gap Church, in Miller Township,
was, according to all available records, one of the first churches
located in what is now Perry County. When services were no
longer held there Middle Ridge replaced it. The organization was
effected in 1803, and the church built in 1804. In that year (1803)
Rev. Joseph Brady was called to the charge, which included this
church and the ones at the mouth of the Juniata (Baskins') and
Sherman's Creek (Swisshelm's). He was installed in October,
1804, and served until his death in 1821, being buried in the Pres-
byterian cemetery which occupies the bluff above northern Dun-
cannon.
Supplies were then sent by Presbytery, among them being Rev.
Gray, who served Centre and Middle Ridge for six months, cov-
ering one winter. In November, 1826, Rev. John Niblock was
installed and served until his death, which occurred in August,
1830, at the age of thirty-two years. His remains lie buried in the
Middle Ridge graveyard, near the corner of the old church foun-
dation. During January, 1831, Rev. Matthew Patterson began
supplying the three churches, and in November was installed as
their regular pastor. He filled the position until April 13, 1842,
when the membership had dwindled and Presbytery dissolved the
congregation and directed the membership to unite with New
THE EARLIEST CHURCHES
299
Bloomfield or Millerstown, which churches had come into exist-
ence in the meantime.
When the church was no longer used by the Presbyterians, the
Associate Reformed people — known as the seceders — began wor-
shiping in it and continued to do so until i860. While the Pres-
byterians held their services there they were attended by folks
from as far as New Bloomfield, Millerstown, and other equally
distant points. There is an authentic account of young folks com-
ing from New Bloomfield on horseback to catechize, among them
being Eve, a daughter of John and Catharine (Lesh) Smith. On
their arrival Samuel Leiby, a youth, helped the fair Miss Smith
from her horse, and his gallantry won him a wife, who became
the maternal ancestor of the prominent Leiby families of Perry
County. By an act of the Pennsylvania Legislature of April 16,
1829, the churches at Middle Ridge, the mouth of the Juniata, and
Sherman's Creek were incorporated. The trustees were urged to
sell the building, but failed to do so, and no longer in use, it be-
came the object of marauders, who tore out and carried off pews,
tore the doors from their hinges, and even removed a part of the
roof. The stove had been loaned to the school board and was
destroyed when the schoolhouse was burned. Every vestige, save
the foundation, has gone to decay.
The mode of journeying to the old church was either on foot
or horseback. Behind the husband often rode the wife, and per-
haps a small child, and in many cases a mother rode with a small
child in her arms. Naturally those residing at the greatest dis-
tances started first, and as they passed others joined, crossroads
contributing large delegations. Traveling two abreast they fre-
quently arrived in great troops from different directions. The
services were held twice each Sunday, the first one in the morning
and the other in the early afternoon, lunches being carried along
to be eaten during the intervening period. Later "the Tilburry,"
a two- wheeler, came into vogue, and a few were in use by at-
tendants.
When Rev. Edgar, to whose historic articles we are indebted
for no little material used in our descriptions along religious lines,
was a resident of the county, a Miss Black, of Millerstown, sent
him a relic of that early period. It is described by him as "a little,
oblong piece of metal, marked 'M. R.,' and distributed to the
members a day or two before communion, to entitle them to a
place at the sacramental table."
This church was, originally, well founded and substantial.
When the call was sent Rev. Brady in 1803, it offered sixty pounds
for one-third of his services. Sherman's Creek Church and the
church at the mouth of the Juniata offered fifty pounds each, later
raising the amounts to sixty.
JACOB BUCK.
(Out- of the best men I ever knew.)
In almost every community throughout the county there were men
and women whose constancy and zeal never laxed, and whose com-
munities were marked by their noble lives. Such a man was Jacob
Buck, born October 9, i S 1 5 , whose death occurred February 20, 1907.
The grandson of an original pioneer after whom Buck's Valley was
named he early followed the Master and for long years was class
leader of the United Brethren congregation which worshiped at Buck's
Church, and superintendent of the Sunday School. "Grandfather
Buck," as everybody knew him, was widely known over the eastern
third of Terry County for much of his life, over 91 years.
THE EARLIEST CHURCHES 301
There was an early Sabbath school started here in 1823 or 1824,
which was well attended. Its first, superintendent was Ralph
Smiley, an unmarried man, and the owner of Fravel's mill, south
of Witherow's, whose remains lie interred in the old graveyard at
New Bloomfield.
The Gap Church. There was an early church located in Half
Falls Mountain (".a]), erected about 1780, near a beautiful spring,
on lands which were vacant until near the middle of last century.
It is supposed to have been burned down in 1800. Professor
Wright, the historian, states that "the foundation stones may still
be seen (1880) and the spot recognized." There was no grave-
yard there. The existence of this church has been questioned,
but Mrs. William Kumler, all her life a resident of the immediate
vicinity, was told of it by her aunt, Mrs. Mary Baird, who de-
scribed how they used to ride to and from the church there on
horseback, which substantiates its existence.
That this church really existed, although it has been questioned,
is further attested by a statement of I. E. Stephens, a life-time
resident of Bucks Valley, Buffalo Township, who says: "The peo-
ple in an early day worshiped in a church situated on the top of
Half Falls Mountain. It was used by the inhabitants of Buck's
Valley and those of Watts Township. This church was destroyed
by fire in 1800." Learning of its existence from an old resident
Mr. Stephens soon found himself at the mountain top, on the road
leading from Buck's Valley to New Buffalo. At the township
line, on the crest of the mountain, stands a large oak tree. Taking
thirty steps due west, and then thirty due south, he found the
remnant of the old foundation, through which now runs a wood
road.
Judging the matter by deduction, it is to be presumed that there
was an earlier church than either Buck's Church, in Buck's Valley,
or the old Union Church at the Hill, in Watts Township, for there
was an early religious spirit pervading the community in the very
early years and, not far from this location, at the Richard Baird
place (at the forks of the road near the Richard Callin residence),
was started one of the first Sunday schools in Perry County.
Further deduction is possible, for Rev. Focht, in his "Churches
Between the Mountains," says this primitive Gap Church was
burned down "about the beginning of the century." From his
volume it is also to be learned that a graveyard already existed
where the Hill Church now stands, and that the first church there
was built during the period from 1804 to 1809. If the Gap Church
existed and burned about that time, its replacement in the com-
munity at another and better location within a very few years
would be logical. Rev. Focht names Rev. Mathias Guntzel and
Rev. John Herbst, Lutheran ministers, as preaching there, the
302 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
former from about 1789 to 1796, and the latter from 1796 for a
few years.
St. Michael's Lutheran Church. When the land office opened in
1755 there were at least three Germans who warranted lands in
Pfoutz Valley. In the succeeding years many others followed,
and thus that section of Perry County became the pioneer Lu-
theran community of the county and had the first regularly organ-
ized congregation. Shortly after the expeditions of the Indians,
which ceased in 1764, they were visited by ministers who held
occasional services. Then, some time between 1770 and 1773 the
congregation was regularly organized. Baptismal records date
hack to October, 1774. Rev. Michael Enderlin then being the pas-
tor, and remaining such until April, 1789. This was the seventh
congregation to organize in what is now Perry County, and the
first outside of the Presbyterian faith. The deed to the church
grounds, dated February 15, 1776, reads in part as follows:
"This Indenture, made the fifteenth day of February, in the year of our
Lord, one thousand, seven hundred and seventy-six, by and between John
Fonts, of Greenwood Township, in Cumberland County, and Province of
Pennsylvania, of the one part, and John Long and Philip Huber and the
whole Lutheran congregation of the township, county and province afore-
said, of the other part."
While the person who wrote the deed wrote the name "Fouts,"
yet inscribed the signature is plainly Pfautz — now spelled Pfoutz.
It was recorded at Carlisle, June 13, 1788.
Prior to the deed's execution a large schoolhouse had been
erected upon the grounds, and in it the early settlers worshipped
from 1770 until 1798, as the building was their property. After
the last incursion of the Indians in 1763, when many of the resi-
dents of this section were cruelly massacred, and prior to the
erection of the school buildings services were held in the homes.
It was on these grounds that these victims were buried, before
either school building or church was there. Fearing surprise from
the Indians when funerals were held the men carried their guns.
They also came to church services carrying their guns. At that
time the surrounding cemetery was the only one in the valley.
Tradition tells of pioneers being tied to the hickory tree (now
gone) at the corner of the church land and made targets for the
deadly arrows of the red skins. It is said that the graveyard was
started by the interment of their bodies. In "The Churches Be-
tween the Mountains," Rev. D. H. Focht says : "No graveyard,
and no place of worship in Perry Count)-, is as old as this," which
he evidently later found to be incorrect, as his introduction gives
the credit for the first congregations to Centre and Dick's Gap.
From the same authority it is learned that "on the 19th of March,
in the year 1798, the church edifice was erected, and on the 25th
THE EARLIEST CHURCHES 303
of May, 1800, the church was consecrated," the services being in
German. It was a log building, about 35x45 feet in size, with a
gallery on three sides. The pulpit was high and supported by a
post, and the seat- had high and erect backs. The organ was on the
gallery fronting the pulpit, and was not used as late as 1820, having
become ruined. This old church stood until 1847, when it was re-
placed by a new one. In 1802 the congregation purchased an addi-
tional acre of ground from John Long for one dollar. Witli no
free school system in sight, it appears the proceeds of the land
were to go towards the support of the schoolmaster, who was also
to lead the singing in the church and play the organ. For many
years a congregational school was maintained there. The min-
isters were :
1774-89 — Rev. Michael Enderlin.
1789-1800 — Rev. Matthias Guntzel.
1800-04 — R ev - John Herbst.
1805-14 — Rev. J. Conrad Walter.
1815-33 — R ev - John William Heim.
During the pastorate of Rev. Walter, Rev. George Heim was
his assistant. Other ministers conducted baptismal and other cere-
monies during these years, but a careful perusal of Rev. Focht's
book will not show them as regular pastors, although a number of
historians have so stated. Then followed :
1833-35 — 'Rev. C. G. Erlenmeyer.
1 83 5 -42 — Vac ant.
1842-43 — Rev. Andrew Berg.
1843-47 — Vacant.
1847-51 — Rev. William Weaver.
Rev. Weaver found but three members of the congregation left,
but immediately began a movement for building a new church. At
a congregational meeting in March, 1847, a building committee
was appointed, consisting of David Kepner, Joseph Ulsh, Fred-
erick Reinhard, John Ulsh, and George Beaver. The carpenter
work was contracted for at $680, and the masonry done separately.
The corner stone was laid in June, and in the fall it was dedicated.
Rev. Weaver resigned in 185 1, and the pastorate was vacant until
October, 1856. Pastors since then have been:
1856-59 — Rev. Josiah Zimmerman.
1859-61 — Rev. Jacob A. Hackenber^cr.
1861-62— Rev. William O. Wilson.
In April, 1862, it became attached to the Liverpool charge, since
which time the ministers have been the same. See Liverpool
chapter.
Lebanon Lutheran Church. In 1790 the Lutherans were organ-
ized at Loysville by Rev. John Timothy Kuhl, who that year began
304 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
visiting the different sections of Sherman's Valley in the interests
of that denomination. Rev. Kuril's family came from Path Val-
ley, and George Fleisher, of Saville Township, who died -in 1855,
aged eighty-four years, hauled their household goods over the
mountains, he being then a boy of nineteen. Private homes and
barns were the scenes of many of these early meetings. Martin
Bernheisel and Michael Loy donated two acres and forty-two
perches of laud in 1794 for the erection of a church and school
building. The building was about 30x40 in size, and in 1808
was weatherboarded and painted white, from that time on being
known as "the white church." John Calhoun superintended the
building and a building committee consisted of Michael Loy,
George Hammer and Peter Sheibley. While the majority of the
congregation were Lutherans yet the Reformed denomination was
an equal owner. It was in use until 1850.
March 2, 185 1, a new church was dedicated, the pastors then
being Rev. F. Ruthrauff, Lutheran, and Rev. C. H. Leinbach, Re-
formed. Its construction was of brick and its cost about six thou-
sand dollars. In 1883 it was remodeled at a cost of about $2,500.
Rev. Kuhl served as pastor until 1796. The following five years
Rev. John Herbst, of Carlisle, acted as supply. Then came Rev.
Frederick Sanno, and later Rev. John Frederick Osterloh, who
resided on a farm in Saville Township and also occupied the pul-
pits at New Bloomfield, St. Peter's (Spring Township), and Fish-
ing Creek (Rye Township). In May, 1815, Rev. John William
Heim became pastor, and until 1828 his pastorate included not
only almost all of Perry County, but all of Juniata and Mifflin.
In that year he moved to Loysville and died there on December
27, 1849.
After Rev. Heim's death Sherman's Valley was divided into
three charges, the Upper Circuit including Loysville (Lebanon)
church, Zion, St. Peter's, and Ludolph's (Little Germany). The
middle, or Bloomfield charge, to include also Ickesburg, Shuman's,
Bealor's, and Newport, and the lower, or Petersburg charge, to in-
clude that church, Pisgah, Fishing Creek, Billow's, and New
Buffalo.
The congregation at Loysville had built a parsonage and bought
fifteen acres of land as early as 1828. While Rev. Heim was
pastor as early as 181 5, he did not reside in Loysville until this
parsonage was built, and he then gave up his appointments in Mif-
flin County. While pastor here he found time and money where-
with to purchase a farm and erect a gristmill. In 1833 he gave
ui) the congregations east of the Juniata so that they might be
formed into a separate charge, and in 1835 he gave up those in
Juniata County for a similar reason. In 1842 he still had eight
churches in Perry County.
THE EARLIEST CHURCHES 305
The church erected in 1851 was used jointly by the Lutherans
and Reformed faiths until 1909, when a separation took place, the
interest of the Lutherans having been purchased by the Reformed
people, who still use the edifice. In that year the Lutherans
erected a new church, known as the Tressler Memorial Church,
the cost of which was v$ 16,000. Its seating capacity is live hun-
dred, and it is one of the finest churches in the county.
Until 1850 the services were held entirely in German, hut in that
year Rev. Frederick Ruthrauff began preaching alternately in Eng-
iish. 1 fe resigned in 1852. In 1853 Rev. Reuben Weiser followed,
hut was elected as president of Central College of Iowa in 1856.
Rev. 1 'hilip W'illard then served two years. The succession of min-
isters from then on is as follows :
Rev. G. M Settlemoyer, 1859-61. Rev. John F. Dietrich, 1877-S0.
Rev. Peter Sahm, 1862-69. Rev - F - Aurand, 1880-83.
Rev. Daniel Sell, 1869-71. Rev. W. D. E. Scott, 1883-1906.
Rev. John B. Stroup, 1873-74. Rev. Geo. A. Royer, 1907-14.
Rev. Isaiah B. Crist, 1875-77. Rev. A. R. Longenecker, 1914-20.
Rev. J. G. C. Knipple, 1921-
Rev. John William Heim was the pastor of this church for
thirty-four years. In the spring of 1824, at Eastertide, he re-
ceived into membership a class of seventy persons.
Loysville Reformed Church. The history of the Reformed
congregation's church home is identical with that of the Lutheran
Church, described above, as the two bodies were joint owners of
the old Lebanon Church. The first minister of the Reformed con-
gregation was Rev. Jacob Scholl, who became pastor in October,
1819, although there were earlier ministers of that faith who held
occasional services, one probably being Rev. Ulrich Heininger, who
traveled Sherman's Valley. Rev. Scholl served until 1841, when
he was succeeded by Rev. Charles H. Leinbach, who served until
[859. A list of the pastors since that time will be found under the
Landisburg Reformed Church.
St. Peters Church. Two miles east of Landisburg, in Spring
Township, stood St. Peter's Church, built in 1816-17, and dedi-
cated in the spring of 1817. While its inception is shrouded in
obscurity yet it is known to have been a preaching station when
Loysville Church was formed in 1790, the ministers from Carlisle
stopping to attend to the spiritual needs of the members.
Historians place the probable date of first services as 1788, and
1809 as about when the Lutheran and Reformed congregation^
wcia' organized there. Prior to 1815 both congregations had wor-
shiped in a school building which stood on the site now occupied
by St. Peter's Union Church. This school building was likely the
property of the two congregations.
December 23, 181 5, is the date of an agreement between the
two congregations to build a church, in which it was staled that
3 o6 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
owing to the increasing number of Germans in that vicinity and
the rapid growth of the congregations, the schoolhouse was too
small for further worship. The new church was built on lands
given for the purpose by John Gamber, and was dedicated in the
spring of 1817. It was a log structure, 35x40 feet in size, and had
a gallery on three sides, a cup-shaped pulpit mounted on a high
post, and high, unpainted seats. The building committee was
Henry Kell, Reformed, and John Miller, Lutheran.
This old landmark stood until 1857, when on September 20th
the present brick church was dedicated, taking its place, and belong-
ing to the German Reformed people, the Lutherans having at the
same time erected their own church. On April 28, 1824, $800 was
paid to Samuel Ickes for fourteen acres of land for a parsonage for
the pastor of the "German Reformed Presbyterian Church," by
Philip Stambangh, trustee of Zion Church in Toboyne Township ;
Henry Kell, trustee of Lebanon Church in Tyrone Township ;
Philip Kell, trustee of St. Peter's Church in Tyrone (now Spring)
Township ; William Hippie, trustee of Fishing Creek Church (now
Rye) Township; Casper Lupfer, trustee of Christ's Church in
Juniata Township. Here the pastor resided for many years.
Rev. Alfred Helfenstein, pastor at Carlisle, was the first one to
come over the mountain and hold services. On October 3, 18 19,
Rev. Jacob Scholl assumed the regular pastorate of the Sherman's
Valley charge, which extended as far as New Bloomfield. By
1838 the work had become so extended on this charge that it was
divided. Rev. Scholl remained at the Landisburg end until 1841,
when he accepted a call to the lower end and remained pastor of
the New Bloomfield charge until his death on September 4, 1847.
His successor, Rev. C. H. Leinbach, served sixteen and a half
years. From then on the pastors have been the same as those found
under the Landisburg Reformed Church. See Landisburg chapter.
Mt. Zion Lutheran Church. The Mt. Zion Lutheran Church's
home was jointly with St. Peter's Reformed in the old Union
church building just previously described, and was known as St.
Peter's Lutheran congregation. In 1857 this old church was dis-
mantled and each congregation built its own church. The Lu-
theran then became Mt. Zion, and was dedicated May 30, 1858,
Rev. Philip Willard then became the pastor. Stephen Losh was the
contractor and the contract price was $2,300.00. George Sheaffer,
Jeremiah Dnnkelberger, and Joseph Dnnkelberger were the build-
ing committee. It was extensively repaired in 1882 and again in
1894. Starting with Rev. John F. Osterloh, in 1809, the ministers
have been the same as those of the Lutheran Church at Loysville.
See chapter relating to Tyrone Township.
71//. Pisgah Lutheran Church. The Lutherans of Carroll Town-
ship were among those who first attended church at Carlisle, cross-
THE EARLIEST CHURCHES 307
ing the Kittatinny Mountain. Later they worshiped at Ml. Zion,
described above, and at St. Peter's, in Spring Township. They
had preaching services occasionally at Reiber's schoolhouse by Rev.
Keller and Rev. Heyser, of the Carlisle churches. In 1838 they
began holding their own services regularly, every four weeks, and
a year later became a regularly organized congregation.
Their church is located in Carroll Township, on the southern
side of Sherman's Creek, and is near the site of Sutch's school-
house, which was built between 1775 and 1780. There is an old
graveyard there where many pioneers sleep. In 1842 Abraham
Jacobs donated a lot for church purposes, with a proviso that
when the Lutherans were not using it for their services it was to
be available for any Christian denomination. A frame church was
built and dedicated September 24, 1842. Its pastors were:
Rev. John Ulrich, 1838-42. Rev. Levi T. Williams, 1842-45.
Rev. Jacob kempfer, 1842. Rev. Lloyd Knight, 1845-49.
Rev. Jacob Martin, 1850.
In 1851 the church united with the Petersburg (now Duncan-
non) charge, whose pastors served it until 1870, since which time
it has had no regular services. During June, 1920, it was re-
opened for a service by Rev. Longanecker, pastor of the Loysville
church. Pastors of two other denominations joined in a com-
munity service, designed to keep this old landmark from passing.
Other Churches. The history of all the churches throughout the
county, save these very early ones, appears in the chapters devoted
to the various townships and boroughs. Where facts are missing,
and there are some, letters sent out for information remained un-
answered, with the necessarily attendant result.
Oldest Buried Ground. Just which is the oldest burial ground
in the county is at this late date a matter of conjecture. In the
Evarts, Peck & Richards History of the Juniata and Susquehanna
Valleys, Horace E. Sheibley says :
"The site of the old Sherman's Creek Church, near Shermans-
dale, is marked by an old graveyard, on what is known as the
Zeigler property, between Fio Forge and Dellville, and where tra-
dition claims that the first white man buried in the county was
laid. In it are interred ancestors of the Stewarts and Kirkpatricks,
of Duncannon." Swisshelms are also among those buried there.
The Sherman's Creek Church, which was the forerunner of the
present Shermansdale Presbyterian Church, can be traced back to
1778, when it first appeared in the records of Presbytery, but it
may have been organized before that or been a community affair
for a time. Likewise, it may have been built where burials had
previously been mack'.
In 1766 three church organizations were formed within the lim-
its of the present county; where Centre Church now stands, at
308 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
Dick's Gap, and at or near Blain. In the cemetery at Centre,
among other old stones, is one bearing the following legend:
Here lies the body of
Martha Robison,
Who departed this life
December 22, 1766,
In the 81st year of her age.
What relation she was to that memorable Robinson family
which so often befriended the persecuted pioneers and much of
whose history is recorded in these pages, must forever remain un-
known, but barring tradition, her interment must have been among
the first. So soon after the entry of the settlers in 1755 did the
Indians arrive that there may have been no deaths at that time,
but the returning settlers came back in large numbers in 1762, and
it is hardly likely that there were no deaths in over four years
among all the number, so that in the opinion of the writer the
death of Martha Robison was not the first, but it is the first of
which we could find record. Tradition has pioneers buried in the
St. Michael's Lutheran churchyard in 1763, after massacres by the
Indians. During the Indian invasion of 1755 there were also
deaths, but where burial took place is not known. The tradition
as to the old Sherman's Creek yard containing the first grave of a
white man may be correct. In the cemetery at Loysville are a
number of graves of persons who died prior to 1800, which at-
tests the fact that this was a burying ground already over a cen-
tury and a quarter ago. The Blain burial ground already existed
in .1766.
Wilson College Planned. Eighteen miles north of Mason and
Dixon's line, at Chambersburg, in the beautiful Cumberland Val-
ley, Wilson College, a leading women's college is located. Its first
board of trustees was appointed at a meeting in the Presbyterian
Church at Duncannon, at which time it was decided to open the
college. Members of the Presbytery of Carlisle began a move-
ment in 1868 for the formation of a college, and laid their repre-
sentations before the spring meeting of Presbytery at Greencastle,
April 15, 1868. It was favorably received and referred to the
Committee on Education, which met at Duncannon, in June, 1868.
There the action was favorable and the first plans of that great
institution were made in Perry County. The Pennsylvania Legis-
lature chartered it March 24, 1869. Its location was determined
by a gift of great value by Miss Sarah Wilson, which enabled the
trustees to purchase the residence of that former Perry Count ian.
Col. A. K. McClnre, together with its fifty-two acres of adjoining
lands, to-day the college grounds.
CHAPTER XVII.
THE COUNTY SCHOOLS, PAST AND PRESENT.
THE firsl schools anywhere, ordained of God, were families,
where parents taught their children to live in the fear and
admonition of the Lord. Undoubtedly, as many facts in this
book will verify, the early settlers of this territory brought with
them from their homes Christian principles, which caused them to
think early of their education along secular as well as religious
lines. The early churches were used as schools in some instances,
and where there was a schoolhouse and no church the condition
was reversed, and the "meetings," as they were then known, were
held in the schoolhouses.
When William Penn became the proprietary of the Province of
Pennsylvania he was not unmindful of the necessity of an educa-
tional system, for he knew that a free government depended on
an intelligent people for its success as well as its perpetuity. The
second Assembly convened at Philadelphia in 1683, and on March
roth of that year enacted the following law with reference to the
education of the children of the province:
"And to the end that the Poor as well as the Rich may be instructed in
good and commendable learning, which is to be preferred before wealth,
"Be it enacted by the authority aforesaid, That all persons within this
Province and territories thereof, having children, and all the Guardians
or Trustees of Orphans, shall cause such to be instructed in reading and
writing, so that they may be able to read the Scriptures, and to write by
the time they attain to the age of twelve years, and that then they be
taught some useful trade or skill, that ye poor may work to live, and the
Rich, if they become poor, may not want, of which every county court
shall take care; and in case such Parents, Guardians or Overseers shall
be found deficient in this respect, every such Parent, Guardian or Over-
seer shall pay for every such child five pounds, except there should appear
an incapacitie of body or understanding to hinder it."
While the law referred to the province generally yet it is con-
sidered especially applicable here, as Perry County has ever been
considered one of the foremost counties in the state in an educa-
tional way. It shows that the early legislators of the province
were concerned with education and that the courts by that act re-
ceived their first authority to require attendance at school.
When the State Constitution of Pennsylvania was adopted in
1790 it contained a provision for the establishment of schools
throughout the commonwealth, that the poor might be taught gratis
a,nd that the arts and sciences should be promoted through one or
more institutions of learning, but left to the legislature the fram-
309
3io
HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
ing of the provisions. Pursuant thereto the act for the education
of poor children was passed April 4, 1809. It savored more of
philanthropy than of wisdom. The assessors, according to the
provisions of the bill, were required to take a census of "all chil-
dren between the ages of five and twelve, whose parents were un-
able to pay for their schooling," thus putting both child and parent
in an equivocal position. Naturally the raising of a class distinc-
tion between pay pupils and charity pupils made the system odious
PROF. D. A. K IJ X I •; . Present Co. Supt. of Schools.
from the beginning, and the object of the law thus became prac-
tically mill and void. As a whole it developed caste among even
the children. Many of the poor would as soon have seen their
children grow np in ignorance as to have had them considered
paupers. These schools were known as "charity schools." While
generally a failure yet it did some good, and in later years the
commonwealth had the spectacle of boys whose fathers had paid
for their attendance sitting in the highest positions besides boys
whose tuition had been paid by the public, an everlasting reminder
that the Creator of the universe gives to neither rich nor poor a
COUNTY SCHOOLS, PAST AND PRESENT 311
superior quality of brains. In our highest position in the land,
the Presidency, this is well illustrated in the cases of George
Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt, Wash-
ington and Roosevelt being children of the more wealthy, and Lin-
coln being born in a log cabin and poor even when he attained that
great office. This charity idea had been tried before. About 1750
about £20,000 were raised in Europe for the purpose of opening
charity schools among the Germans in America. Some were
opened, but the Germans did not welcome the idea of charity.
The object then had a double purpose, that of weaning them from
their language, and with a political object in view. It ended in
failure.
The early settlers of the county territory experienced all the
privations incident to frontier life. The first settlers were either
driven out or murdered, and not until after the Revolution was it
possible to do anything with a view to permanency. The first
schools were usually community affairs, and the branches taught
were the rudimentary spelling, reading, writing, and arithmetic.
The houses were built of logs and were very crude. The desks or
tables and the seats were made of boards and slabs, and the win-
dows had greased paper in place of window glass.
A sparse population extending over a wide extent of country,
mainly covered with dense forests and destitute of roads and
bridges, was not conducive to the establishment of good schools
within convenient distances. The occupations of the pioneers also
were such that the time to be devoted to education was limited,
owing to the necessity of clearing lands and erecting houses and
other farm buildings, while, at the same time planting and harvest-
ing the products of the soil to maintain a livelihood. There was
no labor-saving machinery then and agricultural operations were
of necessity slow and tedious. The threshing of the crops, now
done in a day or two, then required months, as the "flail" was the
"machinery" then in use to get the grain from the stalk. The
daughters of the pioneers were just as much needed in the homes,
as then all clothing was made by hand, and the operations of the
spinning wheel and the needle (there being no sewing machines),
along with the other household duties, required their constant
attention.
The schools in those days were ruled to a great extent by cruel
methods of punishment and humiliation. The "locking out of the
teacher" was a holiday and last-day custom in many parts of the
county. At Millerstown, during one of these frolics, Valentine
Varnes, the teacher, had an arm injured, the use of which was
impaired for the balance of his life. Many pupils had no books
at all. Others had perchance a Bible, a speller or an old English
reader. A few had slates. Fewer still had foolscap paper. These
3 12
HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
were invariably boys, as it was considered unnecessary for girls
to learn to write or "figure." The few who had copy books were
also the possessors of goose quills, as Joseph Gillett did not invent
the steel pen until 1820. By introducing machinery in manufac-
ture the price became as low as twenty-five cents each, after which
a few found their way into the schools. There was no uniformity
in the use of textbooks, each pupil bringing such as the family pos-
sessed. History, geography, grammar, physiology, and algebra
were unknown in the schools of that day. In 1823 the Columbia
Standard spelling book was the one in general use in the new
county.
No attention was given to elementary sounds, yet many good
spellers came out of our earlier schools; in fact, the scholars of
a half century ago were probably better spellers than are their de-
scendants of to-day, but the present-day pupils have far more
branches. When geography was first taught the method was to
have the pupil learn all the states and their capitals, even singing
them in order to memorize. Blackboards were practically unknown
until about 1850. The teachers wrote the copy for the copy books
of foolscap paper. Shortly after the organization of Perry County
the old log schoolhouses were gradually replaced by frame struc-
tures, which had better light, but were not nearly so warm. About
the middle of the last century the red brick buildings began re-
placing the frame, being known universally as "the little red
sehoolhouse."
For those who disparage these early pioneer schools or "the little
red sehoolhouse," which followed in their wake the writer has
little sympathy, as the fine new high school building in many a
place is but the fruition of the seed sown over a century ago; and
we know that with the hundreds of disadvantages under which
they labored, they did well, and builded better than they knew.
These new high school buildings with plastered and papered walls,
fine desks, books galore, heated throughout at the same tempera-
ture, no matter what the condition of the weather, are the logical
successors of these little log schoolhouses just as much as is the
line modern passenger train with its vestibuled cars the successor
of the Conestoga wagon and the packet boat. Without the one we
would never have progressed to the other. Practically all great
institutions and machines are the results of progression and the
products of many minds and years of experience and experiment.
Throughout the state there was more or less opposition to
progress in education. A strange coincidence along this line is
worthy of reproduction here. A number of young men decided
that they wanted an academy at Bath, Northampton County, so as
to secure a more advanced education. They decided to canvass the
community for subscriptions, and among others upon whom they
COUNTY SCHOOLS, PAST AND PRESENT 3T3
called was George Wolf, a German who was located in the neigh-
borhood. He refused, remarking in broken English, "l)is etication
and dings make raskels." He later on relented and helped build
the academy. In inducing the subscription his young caller men-
tioned his two sons, George and Philip, as probable future bene-
ficiaries of the school, and suggested that his favorite son, George,
might get an education and some day become governor, to which
he replied, "Veil, den, when my George is gobernor, he will he
queer times." The sequel is that George Wolf got his English
education in that academy and did become the governor of his
state, and one of the most illustrious of his time, being the firsl
governor to call attention to the appalling condition of ignorance
which faced the commonwealth.
The passage of the act of 1834 to a great extent can be credited
to Governor Wolf, who in 1833 had become acquainted with the
fact that while there were four hundred thousand children of
school age in the state there were hut twenty thousand in school,
or while one was getting an education there were nineteen others
growing up illiterate. In his annual message to the legislature he
mentioned these facts and appealed for legislation to remedy this
a] »] tailing condition.
The first effort at establishing a free school system in the state
was in 1820, when a Dr. Cummings, a member of the Pennsylvania
Legislature, introduced a bill to establish one. It failed to pa^s
and the author was not reelected, as that act caused him to be re-
garded as a dangerous man and his constituency felt disgraced by
his actions. Henry Beeson, of Fayette County, introduced an-
other in 1825. It too failed.
All the legislative acts prior to 1834 are generally known as acts
of pauper legislation, but the legislature of that year passed the
common school act which is to-day the basis of our public school
law. This act completely revolutionized school affairs. School
directors were elected in every district, arrangements were made
for new buildings, taxes were levied and assessed, teachers were
employed, and the children of the rich and the poor met on a com-
mon level. In some districts of Perry County for a year or two
the provisions of the act were not accepted, but generally speaking,
it was the other way. In some counties it was opposed for many
years; in one where the population was mostly German, two-
thirds of the districts did not adopt it until after 1850, and some
as late as 1864. These German communities had a sort of a paro-
chial school system of their own which they feared would be de-
stroyed. As an example, of the local aversion to the free school
system, John Bair, Sr., father of John Bair, later president of the
Peoples' Bank of Newport, refused to let his children attend the
free schools of Buffalo Township for the first two terms.
314 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
When the free school law became effective in 1834 the court did
not appoint directors to serve until the necessary elections took
place the following spring. In 1836, the first year after the intro-
duction of the system, Perry County stood third in the state in its
support. Of the thirteen districts then reporting Toboyne Town-
ship was the only one to stand out against acceptance. In 1837,
Millerstown, then in Greenwood Township, had a five-months'
term. As early as that year »Saville Township had twelve female
and five male teachers. In the remainder of the county there were
only four other females employed. When it passed the represen-
tative from Perry County, then but recently formed, was John
Johnston, the second son of George and Margaret (Russell) John-
ston, emigrants who had come from Ireland and settled in Toboyne
Township. He was of athletic build and weighed more than two
hundred pounds, was well read, and was supporting Thaddeus
Stevens in the passage of the bill, when he was interrupted by a
member of slight stature, with the interrogation, "What do you
raise in Perry County?" Quick as a flash he retorted, "We raise
men," and his erect and well formed body, coupled with his ability
and quick wit, at once substantiated the statement. Within recent
years the writer had a similar experience along the same line.
Being queried by several companions as to "what Perry County
produced," the retort was, "The county school superintendents of
both your counties," for the one interrogater was from Lancaster
County, Pennsylvania, where Prof. Daniel Fleisher was then
county superintendent, and the other was from Mercer County,
New Jersey, where Prof. Joseph M. Arnold is superintendent of
schools.
These early schools were open for but short periods, from one
to three months, but the Act of 1854 made the minimum term four
months. It was increased to five months in 1872, to six months
in 1887, and to seven months in 1899. In 1893 a law was passed
providing for the furnishing of free textbooks to all pupils.
Every step in advancement along educational lines in the state
has been fought, and when the Act of 1854 created the office of
county superintendent of schools it was considered a mighty un-
popular piece of legislation, and in nearly all of the counties of the
state the position carried a niggardly wage to the new official, the
school directors being the final authority on salary. However,
the influence of the county superintendency soon became apparent
in the improved condition of the schools, in the higher standards of
teachers, and in a greater interest in education generally. The
organization of teachers' institutes and the establishment of normal
schools were two of the indirect results of the institution of the
county superintendency. As an example of the salaries first paid
county superintendents, note the following: Lancaster County
COUNTY SCHOOLS, PAST AND PRESENT 315
paid $[,500, the only county in the state to pay over $[,000. ( )nly
four counties in the slate paid $1,000, all the rest being below $800
per annum. For a large county Berks was the most conspicuous,
paying but $250, or $50 less than Terry County. Wyoming paid
$150, and Fulton and Pike $100, or less than $9 per month.
Previous to the creation of the position of county superintendent
the individual efforts of the teachers and directors, owing to isola-
tion, were practically lost on account of the lack of supervision.
Though there were advanced ideas in effect here and there, there
was 110 way of their getting into general use. Those first county
superintendents must have found as many varieties of teaching
methods and customs as there were schools.
Col. Alexander K. McClure, himself a Perry Countian, in his
book, "Old-Time Notes of Pennsylvania," published in 1905,
speaking of the period when the county was young, among other
things, says :
"Free schools were unknown and the few who dared to advocate them
did not venture to seek political preferment. The crossroad schoolhouse
was found in every community, but it was usually the centre of a neigh-
borhood five or six miles in diameter. Every schoolhouse had its teacher
during the winter season, for which he was usually paid so much by the
parent for each scholar, and "boarded around" with his patrons. Teaching
was confined to reading, writing, and arithmetic, and I well_ remember the
hostility aroused among a large portion of my school district (located in
Madison Township) when the violent innovation of teaching grammar
was made. It was long resisted, but finally succeeded to the extent of
permitting the teacher to teach it, although there were very few who ac-
cepted what was generally regarded as such a needless feature of educa-
tion for their sons. The one green memory I have of the occasional
school of that time is that of the holiday frolic. It was then that the
school children had not only absolute freedom to bar their teacher out and
keep him out even with hot pokers if he tried to climb through a window,
until he compromised by giving them a liberal supply of apples and nuts.
If the teacher had walked away, as he presumably might have done, with-
out undertaking to force his way into the schoolhouse, he would have been
promptly dismissed by the school authorities, and, while a majority of the
parents of children would have flogged their boys severely at any other
time for the antics they played upon the teacher in the holiday season,
they were expected even by the strictest of parents to take a full hand in
the holiday battle, and the boy who gave the teacher the bravest fight was
the hero of the hour. If the teacher fought his way into the schoolhouse
or entered it by compromise with the boys, the moment he was within the
sanctuary of his authority discipline was instantly resumed, but there could
be no punishment for the scholars who were in the fight.
"I well remember the early battles in the neighborhood in which I
lived made for the acceptance of the free school system. The original
free school law was very crude, but it was the best that could be obtained
at the time, and it cost the brave Dutch (meaning German) Governor
(Wolf) who signed it, and many who had supported it, defeat before the
people. It was not compulsory, and at any spring election a certain num-
ber, of citizens could call for a vote on the acceptance of the free school
law, and many times did the few Scotch-Irish in the neighborhood make
316 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
a brave struggle for the acceptance of free schools, but they were voted
down half a dozen times or more by the united vote of the Germans and
others who opposed taxation for free education. Our school system was
thus of little value, and advancement in it was very slow until Curtin be-
came secretary of the commonwealth, in 1855, when it was made a distinct
department and placed in charge of the assistant secretary of the com-
monwealth, the late Henry C. Hickok, who had heart and soul in the
cause, and under Curtin's direction gave the free school system of out-
state a standing that commanded general respect.
"Strange as it may seem in this enlightened age, with Pennsylvania en-
joying the most liberal educational policy of any state of the Union, the
free school system was simply a crude, crippled, and in some localities,
very generally decried system of free education of the children of the
state. It had been passed by Thaddeus Stevens a quarter of a century
before, but the public sentiment of the state was so overwhelmingly against
it in many communities that it was impossible to make it a homogeneous
and beneficent system. The same year that the law was passed, the people
of the state elected a legislature that was openly and positively averse to
free schools, and a bill repealing the entire system had reached a position
of final passage in the house, when Stevens, the author of the original bill,
delivered the most effective speech of his life, and doubtless one of the
ablest and most eloquent, as it literally made the house take pause and de-
feat its own openly proclaimed purpose. For many years thereafter, nota-
bly in the German counties of Berks, Lehigh, and others, delegations were
chosen to the legislature on the distinct issue of "no free schools." and it
was nearly or quite a generation after the passage of the original bill that
the acceptance of the free schools of every district was made mandatory.
"The law as first enacted authorized any township to accept the free
school system by the vote of the majority at the spring elections and put
it into operation, but in some sections of the state there were entire coun-
ties in which there was not a single accepting district. I well remember,
when a small boy, the special interest taken by my father and other
Scotch-Irish residents of the township to have the free school system ac-
cepted. They called election after election from year to year, but suffered
defeats for a decade or more, as the Germans, as a rule, were bitterly
opposed to enforced education. Although Governor Wolf, a distinct rep-
resentative of the old German element of the state, with his home among
the Germans of Northampton, had approved the school bill, a very small
percentage of the Germans of the state supported it, and it cost him his
reelection, as when he was nominated for a third term a large element of
the Democrats bolted, nominated Muhlenberg, of Berks, as a second Demo-
cratic candidate, and thus divided the Democratic vote and elected Ritner
governor."
That there never was a school at the old Dick's Gap Church, as
sometimes stated, is evident from the fact that schools were con-
ducted only in winter, and that this building was not "chunked and
daubed" as late as 1797. Just where the first school may have been
opened in the county will probably never be known, but within the
limits of what is now Perry County there was opened the first free
school in Pennsylvania west of the Susquehanna River. It was
located a quarter-mile west of Barnett's mill, near New Bloomfield.
on the Carlisle road, and was not only built at the expense of
George Barnett, owner of the lands upon which it was located,
COUNTY SCHOOLS, PAST AND PRESENT 317
but was proclaimed by him to be free to any and all children of
the neighborhood. He even paid the salary of the teacher and fur-
nished the fuel for the heating of the schoolroom. A pioneer and
real philanthropist among those of his day who believed in educa-
tion, George Barnett became the progenitor of a family which has
left its mark in legal, educational, literary, medical and business
lines. Two of his descendants have been elected president judge
of the courts of his county. Just when this building was erected
cannot be told, but as the lands passed to George Barnett on May
10, 1804 (previous ownership having been vested in his father,
Thomas Barnett), it was subsequent to that time. During 1815 a
Mrs. O'Donnell was engaged as teacher, but the school had then
been in operation for a number of years, which places the date of
its erection somewhere between 1804 and 1815. Whether Mrs.
O'Donnell taught as early as Miss Gainor Harris, at Blain, is
questioned, but the teaching period of the one was practically co-
incident with that of the other. The school at Blain, however, was
a pay school then, as all were save the Barnett school at New
Bloomfield.
That both the first free school west of the Susquehanna prior to
the free school act and the first school to be declared a free school
under that act should have been located within the boundaries of
the county of Perry is an interesting coincidence, and a fact. In
the sketch relating to Chief Justice Daniel Gantt, of Nebraska, to
be found elsewhere in this book, the statement is made which veri-
fies it. The facts are these, from the diary of the late chief jus-
tice, now in possession of his heirs, near Lincoln, Nebraska: To
help pay his expenses while reading law at New Bloomfield, he
taught a subscription school (as all schools then were save the one
previously mentioned) in Buffalo Township, at Colonel Thomp-
son's, in the part which later became Watts Township. Interested
parties from that community had ridden horseback to Harrisburg
to learn of the legislation pertaining to free schools. Hearing that
the bill had passed, they rode home during the night and arrived be-
fore morning with the news. When the future chief justice opened
his school in the morning he proclaimed it a free school — his diary
says the first school in the commonwealth under that act. As the
act had then only passed the legislature and was still unsigned by
the governor his statement that it was the first to open under the
act is no doubt correct. From the same source the statement comes
that Buffalo Township at once accepted the free school law, the
first township in the commonwealth to do so.
Perry County was one of the very first counties in the state to
hold teachers' institutes. The origin of the first one dates back to
a letter written by Samuel S. Saul, of Duncannon, dated June 7,
1854, and published in the county press. It suggested the forming
3l8 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
of a teachers' association. The call for the first County Teachers'
Institute followed, being issued July 15, 1854, and signed by
Samuel S. Saul, Joseph Ogle, William Brown, Albert E. Owen,
James G. Turbett, and R. I. Heim. It was held at New Bloom-
field, in the academy, on Wednesday, August 9, 1854. The first
officers were : Rev. R. Weiser, Loysville, president ; John A. Mc-
Croskey, New Bloomfield, secretary; committee on constitution
and by-laws: A. Owen, J. R. Titzel, W. Glover, J. A. McCroskey,
and Charles A. Barnett ; committee on work: A. D. Owen, J. R.
Titzel, and George Tressler. This committee suggested as needing
attention: 1. Small pay of teachers; 2. Incompetent teachers;
3. How to procure the best knowledge of the art of teaching ;
4. School books; 5. Duties of teachers; 6. Authority of teachers
in school government. The institute recommended Page's Theory
and Practice of Teaching and the following textbooks : Webster's
spellers, McGuffey's readers, Emerson's arithmetics, Smith's ele-
mentary grammar and Parker & Fox's advanced grammar, and
Mitchell's geographies and maps.
Then the further meetings seem to be confusing. Prof. Silas
Wright recorded that on October 26th of the same year an insti-
tute was held in Landisburg, and that on January 12, 1855, another
was held at New Bloomfield, at which the name the "Perry County
Teachers' Institute" was adopted. That would place three meet-
ings very close together. The files of the county press place the
second meeting on March 20, 1855, with A. R. Height, presi-
dent, and Albert Owen, secretary, and continuing over Tuesday,
Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. It also places the next at
Landisburg, September 7. 1855, with Daniel Gantt, president;
Henry D. Woodruff, vice-president ; Noble Meredith, secretary ;
F. M. McKeehan, treasurer, and an executive committee consisting
of Rev. George S. Rea, R. I. Heim, and D. Kistler. In the mean-
time a Perry County Teachers' Association had been formed in
April, 1855, with the following officers: Daniel Gantt, president;
D. Kistler, vice-president; Noble Meredith, secretary; F. M. Mc-
Keehan, treasurer, and an executive committee consisting of R. I.
Heim, Henry Titzel, and C. S. Toomey. As the officers of the
Landisburg session, in the main, were the same as the officers of
this association, it is presumed that the meeting of April was
merely to form the permanent organization.
Until 1869 the institute was held at various places, but since then
regularly at the county seat. State Supt. Thomas H. Burrowes
was the first instructor from without the county. At the session
of 1856 Chas. \. Barnett (later judge) presented the subject of
English Grammar. Among the early instructors were Professors
Wickersham, Brooks, and Raub. At the session of 1869 H. C.
Magee and G. C. Palm lied on a spelling contest for first place.
COUNTY SCHOOLS, PAST AND PRESENT 319
At the session of 1870 Henry Houck, later to become famous in
educational circles, and Silas Wright were among the instructors.
Shortly afterwards local institutes were started in the various
towns, covering two evenings and the intervening Saturday, and
they are continued to this day, community centres for educational
thought. Their usefulness and value are attested by the large
number of educators who have been connected with them and have
gone abroad to serve other communities. The custom of issuing
the proceedings of the Teachers' Institute in pamphlet form was
begun in 1877.
The curriculum of the grade public schools at this time includes
spelling, reading, writing, arithmetic, geography, English grammar,
United States history, and physiology. History was not required
until 1867, and physiology was added in 1885.
An act of the Pennsylvania Legislature, dated April 12, 1866,
extended to Perry and Indiana Counties the provisions which had
been granted to the counties of Lancaster and York the previous
year. This was the legislation which authorized the county to ap-
propriate $200 annually to get instructors for the annual institute
of one week. Another act was passed relating to the Perry County
Teachers' Institute. It is dated March 19, 1872, and authorized
the payment of the salaries of the teachers while attending institute.
Mr. John S. Campbell, long connected with educational work in
Perry County, during 1920, compiled for the Newport News a
historical sketch of the actions of early Newport school boards.
taken from the minutes. At a meeting November 26, 1855, it was
resolved "that all the teachers within the district of Newport are
hereby required to personally attend the meeting of the Perry
County Teachers' Institute, to be held in New Bloomfield, and be-
ginning on December 17, 1855, and that during the sessions of the
same they shall all be allowed their pay for the time thus spent as
fully as if they were actually engaged in teaching in town district,"
and "that Messrs. Alfred M. Gantt and W. S. Marshall, our teach-
ers, be requested to meet the board each on an evening on their
return from attendance at the institute and in a lecture give an
account of the doings and action of said institute with the advan-
tage it may. be to the teachers and children under their care, which
lectures at the option of Messrs. Gannt and Marshall shall or may
be public." That may have been the first or one of the first boards
to pay teachers for attending institute. Mr. Gannt's salary then
was $26 per month, and Mr. Marshall's, $25. There were then two
single room buildings. In i860 a night school was conducted by
G. McKey. During that year the borough had two schools, paying
the teachers $25 and $28 per month.
In the chapters of this book relating to the various townships and
boroughs the locations of the earliest schools are given, as it was
3 20 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
considered to be more appropriate there than in this general chap-
ter. It will be in »(cd that the first schoolhouses, established almost
coincident with the settlement of the pioneers, were invariably built
of logs, being "chunked and daubed," with few windows, and in
some a log being omitted from the regular order so as to let in
light. The reader should not consider this fact as disparaging, as
the homes of that pioneer period were practically all built in the
same manner. These first schoolhouses in many cases were built
by the communities by voluntary contributions and labor. They
usually occupied as much ground as their dimensions, playgrounds
being then unthought of. They had long desks built along the out-
side walls, the benches upon which the children sat being the same
heighth for all ages. A large wood stove occupied the centre of
each of these primitive buildings. The teachers were either the
early ministers or men who merely taught long enough to amass
enough to pay their way to other fields, using the profession as a
"stepping-stone" — an unfortunate condition which has to this day
followed in its wake. The schools were conducted for pay at a
stated price per quarter.
The old Monterey schoolhouse in Toboyne Township, which
burned about five years ago, still had the oldest type of furniture
which ever graced a schoolroom in the county. The site of this
building is now surrounded by state forest lands of the Tuscarora
forest. The East Horse Valley school, in the same township, also
has homemade furniture, but of a somewhat later type. The oldest
schoolhouse still standing in the county is in Blain Borough, but
is no longer in use as such.
According to an announcement in the Perry Forester of Novem-
ber 15, 1827, the new county had a night school in its very early
years. It follows:
Night School.
The Subscriber will commence a Night School on Monday, the 26th
instant. Persons desiring of improving themselves in the common rudi-
ments of learning, and cannot well spare the daylight, will please make
immediate application. James B. Coopek.
Landisburg, November 15, 1827.
During the period from 1851 to 1853 there was a night school
at Millerstown, among the students being the late William Kipp,
later a justice of the peace in that town for many years.
Dr. J. R. Flickinger, once county superintendent of Perry
County Schools and for many years prior to his death principal of
the State Normal School at Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, related an
early incident in connection with a schoolhouse which stood as late
as 1808 in what is now Jackson Township, on the farm later known
as the Wentz place. It follows :
"A wedding party was expected to pass the schoolhouse on a certain day,
and when they were reported to be coming by a boy stationed on the out-
COUNTY SCHOOLS, PAST AND PRESENT 32 1
side, the teacher took all his pupils to the roadside and stationed them in
rows on both sides of the mad, and when the wedding party passed
through the ranks the teacher had instructed them to make a profound
obeisance to the bride and groom. The result happened as the shrewd
teacher expected, the happy groom treating him to the contents of his
flask."
Pupils from the west end of Liberty Valley traveled to Sandy
Hill, where an early schoolhouse stood near a spring at the fool
of the hill south of the Sandy Hill store. They traveled across the
foot of Conococheague Mountain over a path trod by bears as late
as 1S70. During the shortest days of tbe year these pupils had to
take their breakfasts before daylight and start for school, and it
was long after nightfall that they returned to warm firesides and
supper. At Loysville, in Tyrone Township, the teacher and family
occupied one end of tbe schoolhouse. In some enmities that was
the general custom. By neighborhood or community spirit some-
times a schoolhouse, save the roof, was on the stum]) at the rising
of the sun. and when the sun went down, the building was finished.
( >n March 28, 1814, a bill passed the Pennsylvania Legislature
authorizing the land office to make a clear title to lands for a
school in Tobovne Township, Cumberland County — now Perry.
In the Perry Forester there was a notice published for a school
meeting to be held May 7, 1825, the call being signed by William
B. Miller, Jesse Miller, and Jacob Fritz. This was doubtless for
the purpose of carrying out the provisions oi the Act of 1825.
The Peoples' Advocate ran an educational department as earl)
as April 11, 1855, being the first paper in the county to run such
a department. Others soon followed. The same paper, beginning
August 1, 1877, published a series of articles on "History of Edu-
cation in Perry County."
During the earlier years of the existence of the public schools
many experiments naturally were made, a notable one being in
Newport Borough in 1854, when the school board decided to have
eight months' school, divided into the following terms : First term,
May, June, August, and September; second term, November, De-
cember, January, and February. That system left a two months'
vacation during March and April, and the other vacations, one in
July and one in October.
During the period of the War Between the States many teachers
who were most efficient and who had the most experience were
called to the colors, with the attending result that inexperienced
boys and girls were requisitioned to fill their places, thus lowering
the educational standard for a time. That condition had its coun-
terpart in the recent World War when salaries became so high in
other lines that many left the profession and others were called to
the colors.
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COUNTY SCHOOLS, PAST AND PRESENT 323
During the period of educational development, from prior to
the War Between the States to almost the end of the century the
public schools of the county, especially the country districts, were
attended by many scholars who had reached young manhood and
womanhood, a condition which no longer exists. With the years
the average age of the pupils has decreased, and in few country
schools can any pupils over fifteen years of age he found, and in
the borough schools few over seventeen. During the sessions of
1S73-74 there were 185 pupils in private schools, and 6,198 under
sixteen years of age, and 1,606 beyond that age in the public
schools. Yet it should be remembered that, in so far as the edu-
cators of note from the county are concerned, to a very great ex-
tent they were products of that period, and largely of the country
schools.
Ex-County Supt. Silas Wright, in a report to the state and later
in various historical articles in speaking of the visitation of
schools by the board of directors, said: "From 1874 to 1878 the
directors of Buffalo Township visited the schools as a whole board
a number of times during the term and carefully inspected the con-
dition of the schools. This was the period of most marked prog-
ress." The fact that Mr. Wright made the statement and singled
out Buffalo Township infers that that was the initial proceeding
of that kind in the Perry County schools. The records at New
Bloomfield show the election of the following men who composed
the boards there during the years of that period, who instituted
that method : John C. McGinnes and Ezra Patton, 1872 ; George
W. Potter and Robert B. Fritz, 1873 ; Samuel Bair and Jacob Mc-
Connell, 1874; Henry Hain and Michael Seiler, 1875; Jacob
Charles and Josiah Bair, 1876.
In 1836 Wheatheld Township paid its teachers $14.25- a month.
In 1838 there were eighty schools in the county, with terms rang-
ing from three to seven months. The salaries were from $15.00
to $23.00 per month. In 1840 Buffalo Township dispensed with
schools altogether in order to use the funds to build schoolhouses.
There were fifty-five schools in the remainder of the county, with
male teachers getting from $15-00 to $22.00, and females $12.00
per month.
When the law creating the office of county superintendent of
schools came into effect, in 1854, there were in Perry County 108
schools in session with an attendance of 5,984 pupils. The male
teachers received an average salary of $18.50. $11.40 being paid
females. In 1855, the law being effective for the first time, the
number of schools had increased to 138, and the salaries for males
averaged $22.75, an( l that of females, $18.72 per month. The
highest salary paid that year was $30.00. In 1876 salaries had ad-
vanced to an average of $30.57 for males, and $28.51 for females.
324 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
Later on, during the period around [890, salaries had become very
low in many of the country districts, Tuscarora Township one year
paying as little as $15.00 a month, and Carroll Township, paying
$17.00 to some of its teachers.
By 1877 there were 181 schools in the county, conducted in 160
schoolhouses, of which 119 were frame buildings, thirty-six brick
and stone, and five of logs. The grounds of 118 were reported as
of sufficient size, and of five as suitably improved. Of the build-
ings live had been built that year, twenty-four were unfit for use,
119 had suitable furniture, and twenty-eight injurious furniture.
( )f the teachers live held permanent certificates, five professional,
and the remainder were chosen from among 222 who held provi-
sional certificates. Their average age was twenty-seven years,
thirty-eight had no experience, seventy-seven had over t\vc years,
three intended to make teaching a permanent business, five had
attended a state normal school, two had graduated there, three
were reported as failures, and the average grade of provisional
certificates was 1.9, with ten applicants rejected. The estimated
number of children of school age not in school was 634. There
were thirty-four graded schools, 169 well classified, twenty-three
examinations held by the superintendent, and 115 directors pres-
ent. 'Phe higher branches were taught in eight schools and the
Bible read in all of them. There were five academies in the county,
with 270 pupils attending, and ten teachers employed. There were
4.056 males and 3,472 females in attendance in the public schools.
The teaching staff was composed of 142 males and thirty-nine fe-
males. The average salaries of males was $28.08 and of females,
$28.05. The. mill rate averaged 4.14 mills and the state appropria-
tion to the county was $6,870.66. Carroll Township paid the
smallest salaries, $18 per month. The Duncannon Borough prin-
cipal got the highest salary, $60 per month.
The Perry County schools were represented at the Philadelphia
Centennial in 1776 by an exhibit containing:
A. — A History of Perry County, by Prof. Silas Wright, once county su-
perintendent of schools.
B. — A map of Perry County, showing the division of townships, location
of towns and villages, mountains, streams, and iron ore deposits. It was
a pen and ink sketch by L. E. McGinnes, later superintendent of the Steel-
ton schools.
C. — Specimens of the work of pupils in the common branches, examina-
tion questions, and a table of school statistics of the county.
The laws governing the public schools of Pennsylvania had be-
come so extensive and complicated that, upon the report of a spe-
cial commission to investigate the subject, a school code was
adopted at the special session of the Pennsylvania Legislature in
19x1. Among other provisions was that of a state board of edu-
cation, a state superintendent and assistants, thirteen state normal
COUNTY SCHOOLS. PAST AND PRESENT 325
schools, teachers' institutes, a teachers' retirement fund, school
libraries an<l medical supervision and inspection oi the schools.
A strange contrast is that of the past and the present in the
teaching profession. During the last quarter of the past century
there were many applicants for almost every school, even at the
very low salaries then paid, while now there are very often not
enough applicants to supply the schools, although the salaries are
more than double what they then were. A. J. Magee. now pro-
prietor of Alfalfa Stock Farm at Sanford, Colorado, recalls
that in "the seventies," when lie was the successful applicant for
the Shenandoah school, near Ickesburg, in Saville Township, there
were seventeen applicants. That township then paid $31 per
month for No. 1 certificates; $2, for No. 2; $23 for No. 3, and
a further reduction, regardless of grade, for beginners. During
recent years the high salaries paid in other lines induced many of
the best teachers to adopt other vocations, with the result that
teachers' salaries had to lie advanced or a backward step taken with
the schools.
With a decrease of population, owing to smaller families and
fewer families, the wayside school buildings are dwindling in num-
ber. Taking but one district in the county as an example (Spring
Township), two have dropped out in the Perry Furnace section,
there being none between Jericho and Springdale, a distance oi not
less than six and one-half miles. Between Union and Germany
there are none, the distance being more than three miles.
During the past century, especially in the country districts, the
spelling school "and the literary society, conducted during evening
hours, were a source of ins'.ruction as well as entertainment, not
only for those of school aye, hut for the public generally. In these
spelling schools it was the custom for two "choosers" — a position
f favor — to "choose sides," words being pronounced alternately
to the "sides," the "side" having the last contestant standing being
the winner. Some are still held, hut their number is few as com-
pared with the days of yore. The literary societies produced the
best talent in their respective neighborhoods, the debates giving
many a youngster his or her first chance "to speak in public."
There are yet a number of these societies in existence and showing
real life, but as a whole, like the spelling school, they passed their
zenith with the end of the century.
The modern trend seems to be to pass over the common branches
too briefly, as an instance in the neighboring city of Harrisburg
well illustrates. During a very recent year the Colonial Dames of
that city offered three prizes of $10, $5, and $2.50 for the best
essays along patriotic lines from scholars. The first two prizes
were carried off by foreign-born children on better grammatical
326 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
expression, belter spelling, and better penmanship, all of which
shows that heritage alone cannot win against ambition.
Liverpool Borough was the first school district in Perry Comity
to have a graduating class, the year being 1884, and the principal,
E. Walt Snyder, later a physician at Liverpool and Marysville.
The first teacher in Perry County to be retired under the pro-
vision of the Teachers' Retirement legislation was T. W. Tressler,
of Juniata Township, who was retired in 1920. The previous win-
ter Mr. Tressler had taught his fifty-third term. As it is but
eight-six years (in 1920) since the advent of the free school sys-
tem it will be seen that he was identified with it for more than
sixty per cent of the time since its inception. Those fifty-three
terms were consecutive, save a single break of one term. During
the fifty-three years but one day was missed owing to illness. That
record is remarkable.
Among the teachers who taught for long periods is Capt. G. C.
Palm, late of near Sandy Hill, who taught over fifty terms and
was once a candidate for county superintendent of schools. His
first term was taught at the Sandy Hill school and he had eighty
pupils. He was then sixteen years old, and fifteen of his pupils
were older than he was. Mr. Palm was 82 years of age in Febru-
ary, 192 1, which would place the time of his entry into the pro-
fession in 1855. The late John W. Soule, of Centre Township,
was another veteran teacher, having taught thirty terms. The late
Win. A. Memiuger was another veteran, having taught thirty-one
consecutive terms. He began teaching in 1862. He was also a
surveyor for twenty-three years and long a justice of the peace in
Newport. J. J. Asper began teaching in 1875 and still teaches,
having been out of the schoolroom but one or two years during
that time. G. H. Rumbaugh has also taught about that long.
Abner Knight, father of the late Erastus L. Knight, of New-
port, taught in the county schools for forty years.
In the public press the first county superintendent quoted the
late J. A. McCroskey, of New Bloomfield, as a good teacher of
that period. Henry Thatcher, father of the noted Thatcher boys,
taught quite a number of terms, as also did Daniel Gantt, who be-
came chief justice of Nebraska. Two others who taught many
terms were John S. Campbell and S. E. Bucke, Mr. Campbell
having taught over forty terms.
An early teacher in Perry County, soon after its creation as a
county, was Ann Watts, who afterwards became a missionary in
the home field. She taught in the vicinity of Nekoda, Greenwood
Township. One of the early teachers was Thomas Cochran, at
Millerstown. Another who taught eight years in the public schools
soon after their establishment was John Raffensperger, born in the
very year of the county's erection.
COUNTY SCHOOLS, PAST AND PRESENT
327
Two others who were able men were Levis Barnett Kerr and
Silas Wright, both able school men, and both rilled the county
superintendency on more than one occasion. Of Mr. Wright more
elsewhere. Mr. Kerr was born in Tuscarora Township, March 19,
1830, so that his early schooling-
was almost coincident with the
inauguration of the free school
system. He was educated in the
public schools of the county and
in Tuscarora and Buoomfield
Academies. Mr. John S. Camp-
bell, a fellow teacher, describes
him as "a man of few w r ords,
with positive ideas." The res-
ignation of Rev. Bucher, the
county's second superintendent
of schools, was filled by his ap-
pointment. He later filled the
position twice by election. He
was a teacher in the Mt. Demp-
sey Academy at Landisburg for
three terms. He died February
7, 1905, and a day or two later
Mrs. Kerr passed away, both
being interred in the same grave.
All his children entered the teaching profession or the ministry,
where, with a single exception, they are still to be found.
The names of all these earlier teachers might well appear here
with descriptive matter, but space forbids.
Among the teachers of the latter half of last century was Wil-
liam E. Baker, born April 20, 1834, almost coincident with the in-
stitution of the free school system, with which his name is insepa-
rably connected in the annals of Perry County. He was married
into the well-known Shuman family, his wife having been Susanna
(Bixler) Shuman. Professor Baker was one of the earliest, most
proficient and successful of Perry County pedagogues. He was
horn near Ickesburg, and in that section of the county his life was
chiefly spent. He was a self-made man, of noble impulses and a
penetrating mind. At the Teachers' Institutes of those earlier days
he was an important factor. Mr. Baker died October 16, 1900.
Luke Baker, the New Bloomfield attorney, is a son.
A new era seems to have dawned upon the schools throughout
the county. When not otherwise done, the pupils have been having
the walls of their rooms papered, and have purchased window
shades, flags, victrolas, organs, pianos, singing books, as well as
contributed to local and world-wide charities, raising the money
LEWIS BARNETT KERR.
$28 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
by conducting entertainments and holding small social affairs. The
New Bloomfield school even purchased a most expensive encyclo-
paedia. Numerous literary societies are held, and at Duncannon
the schools had their own entertainment course. At a number of
places, notably the Blain Vocational School and at a number of
Buffalo Township schools, hot lunches were provided by the pu-
pils, under direction of the teacher. The Newport schools have
their own publication, "The Bine and White," and a number of the
lower grades have a school garden on lands owned by the school
district in another section of the town. New Bloomfield has a
school orchestra. A number of schools measure and weigh the
children and look after their general health. Many of the town
schools have track teams, basketball teams and baseball clubs. So
far, Tyrone Township has led the movement for consolidation, by
closing four schools and selling the buildings. A new central
school at Loysville replaces them. Even a village the size of Ickes-
burg has educational advantages now which a very few years ago
were not enjoyed by many boroughs of much larger population.
The former high school there was transformed into that of a three-
year alternating type in 1920, but in 1021 it was changed to a four-
year course with two teachers, by the Saville Township school
board. To it go the advanced pupils from the entire township.
Being a rural county and the towns considerably separated, field
dav exercises were not instituted until 192 T, when the Blain Voca-
tional School carried off first honors. The score by points was:
Blain, 66.50; Newport, 52.50; Landisburg, 3-; Duncannon, 34;
Bloomfield, 22.
The Blain Vocational School is an outgrowth of the Blain-
Jackson Joint High School, which had as principal Newton Ker-
stetter from 1914 to 1920. During the winter of 1916-17 Mr.
Kerstetter, looking towards the advancement of the schools, intro-
duced the subject of vocational training to the citizens, who sanc-
tioned it. and the Blain Vocational School came into being with the
opening of the term of 1917-18. In 1920 the State Department
classed it as one of the three best vocational schools in the state.
As an example of the advantage secured by the change it might
be noted that (luring its last year as a joint high school the state
appropriation was $172, and the payments to teachers was $735.
while during its first year as a vocational training school it received
from the state $2,637.50, which added to $586.38 tuition from non-
resident pupils, totaled $3,223.88. During the latter year the pay-
ments to teachers was $3,045.
The trend of education in the country districts is towards the
consolidation of schools, and spells the passing of the small one-
mi building in many places. The Blain Vocational School is an
TOOl
COUNTY SCHool.S, PAST AND PRESENT 329
example; the Landisburg joint high school is another. Penn and
Saville Townships established central high schools. Late in [92]
Centre school, in Wheal field Township, burned, and that township
is considering the erection of a central school at Roseglen.
It may be of interest to know just who were the first persons
from Perry County territory to graduate from college, to get a State
Normal diploma and to secure a business education. David Watts,
the only son of General Frederick Watts, horn in what is now
W'heatheld Township, on October 29, [764, matriculated at Dick-
inson College, founded in 1783, and graduated with the very first
class, the first college man horn in the territory comprising the
county. He became one of the greatest lawyers of his day and
the father of Judge Frederick Watts, the third judge to sit regu-
larly on the Perry County bench. The first graduate of a State
Normal School was Silas Wright, born in Greenwood Township,
who graduated at Millersville, the first school of that description
in Pennsylvania, in 1865. Prof. Wright was the superintendent
of the Perry County schools for three terms and the author of the
only separate History of Perry County before this volume. The
first woman graduate of a State Normal School was Miss Anna
Froelich, born in Duncannon, who also graduated at Millers-
ville, in the class of 1882. Miss Froelich was also the first Perry
County woman to become a school principal, having been principal
of the Duncannon High School in 18S5. She was long a member
of the faculty of the Central State Normal School, at Lock Haven,
and is now a member of the faculty of the Millersville State Nor-
mal School. The first native to take a business course that we
could find record of was Hugh Hart Cummins, of Liverpool, who
later became President Judge of Lycoming County.
As something of an indication of wdiere Terry County stands
educationally in the commonwealth, no less than three of her sons
have been honored with the presidency of the State Educational
Association. At the annual meeting held in Pittsburgh, in 1902,
Junius R. Flickinger, a native of Madison Township, was the pre-
siding officer. At the Altoona meeting, in 1906, Lemuel E. Mc-
Ginnes, who was reared to manhood in Buffalo Township, was the
president. In 1917 the meeting was held at Johnstown, and
Charles S. Davis, who was born in New Bloomfield, presided.
That as many as three school men from little Perry should be
selected to preside over the deliberations of this important educa-
tional body in hut little more than sixty years of its existence, i>
an honor that has come to no other locality in the state outside of
the larger cities. At the present time John C. Wagner, born in
Saville Township, is treasurer of the State Association, having
been such since 191 7. Mr. Wagner is superintendent of the Car-
lisle schools. Of the three named above who were presidents of
330 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
the State Association, Mr. Flickinger was long principal of the
Central State Normal School at Lock Haven, Mr. McGinnes was
long superintendent of the Steelton schools, and Mr. Davis was
then principal at Steelton and succeeded Mr. McGinnes as super-
intendent, the latter two having been associated in the work at
Steelton for thirty-six years.
Two of Perry's sons, David Loy Tressler, and Charles W.
Super, became college presidents, the former of Carthage College
in Illinois, and the latter of Ohio University, while a third, Junius
R. Flickinger, became principal of the Central State Normal School
of Pennsylvania. Others became founders of academies, county
superintendents in various states and counties, while still others —
many in number — became superintendents, principals and teachers.
The rolls of educational institutions throughout the land con-
tain and have contained for many years the names of hundreds of
Perry Countians. Of the academies patronized the New Bloom-
field Academy (now the Carson Long Institute) and Mercersburg
have been the leading ones. The State Normal Schools at Ship-
pensburg, Millersville, and Lock Haven, in the order named, have
had the larger number of those preparing to teach, while among
the colleges, those most patronized have been Dickinson, the Uni-
versity of Pennsylvania, State, Gettysburg, Franklin & Marshall,
and Bucknell. Among women's colleges Wilson probably leads.
There is usually a Perry County Club at the Shippensburg insti-
tution, at State College, and ofttimes at other institutions. Invari-
ably the county is represented on leading athletic teams in these
institutions, and even more frequently upon the staff of the liter-
ary clubs.
While Perry County has always been in the van in so far as edu-
cation in Pennsylvania is concerned, yet many of its school build-
ings, especially in country districts, are not the models of neatness
as are the homes which contribute the children as pupils. The
number which need paint inside and out is large. In dozens no
papering has been done since their erection many years ago. Other
counties are in the same plight, yet that fact does not mitigate the
circumstances in the least. A county which has given to the coun-
try at large four governors, three chief justices of as many states,
two college presidents, and educators like J. R. Flickinger and L. E.
McGinnes, not to mention dozens of others, cannot afford to let
any building in the county remain in any but first-class shape.
The only joint high school in the county, except the Blain Voca-
tional School, is at Landisburg, being maintained by that borough,
Tyrone and Spring Townships. It was started in 1914, the first
principal having been Rev. Thomas Matterness. The first town-
ship in Perry County to establish a township high school was Penn,
COUNTY SCHOOLS, PAST AND PRESENT 331
in [895, in the room formerly occupied by the Lower Duncannon
High School. It was later consolidated with the Duncannon Bor-
ough High School. During 1919 the county teachers formed an
association and held their first annual picnic at Groff's Woods.
In 1920 a second picnic was held. The program consisted of edu-
cational topics.
Public schools have proven that education is the greatest defense
ot a free people, that ignorance is a curse to any nation, and that
their existence is the best guarantee of the rights granted by the
Constitution. They are the virtual cradle of our democracy and,
in the classrooms and upon the playgrounds meet upon an equal
footing the sons and daughters of the wealthy and the poor. There
are instilled the lessons of democracy and there are taught the first
principles of fraternity. A writer has well said "the battleground
of the world is the heart of the child," and that government fails
at its source which ceases to make ample provision for the develop-
ment and nurture of its future citizens.
County Superintendents of Schools.
Until the creation of the office of county superintendent of
schools the public schools made slow progress, but from then on
the schools became systematized and made great progress. Perry
County has been unusually fortunate in having the highest type
of men fill this important office — educators of the type of Kerr,
Wright, Flickinger — and, in fact, one might well mention any one
of them and still be within the truth in saying that they were men
well above the average, even in educational circles.
Shortly after the passage of the act creating the position the
first convention to select a county superintendent of schools was
held in the courthouse at New Bloomfield, June 5, 1854. Joseph
Bailey, then a state senator, residing in Miller Township, was
chosen as president, and James L. Diven, of Landisburg, as secre-
tary of the convention. An effort to make the salary $600 per an-
num was lost and it was placed at half that amount. There was a
contest in which three ballots were taken, Rev. Adam R. Height,
of Mechanicsburg, winning the election and thus becoming the
first county superintendent. He had just located in the county
that year— March 1 — as pastor of the New Bloomfield Lutheran
charge. The candidates nominated and votes received were as
follows :
Rev. A. R. Height, Bloomfield, 42 47 51
William Brown, Perm, 33 42 49
Rudolphus Heim, Landisburg, 6 11
Albert A. Owen, Landisburg, 16
Henry Titzel, Juniata 4
33?
HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
Henry G. Milans, New Bloomfield ; Rev. Solomon Bingham,
Penn, and David Brink, Liverpool, were also nominated but were
withdrawn before balloting began.
Rev. Height's term is noted for his promptness in familiarizing
himself with the work of the county's schools, his efficiency, and
his energy. He used the public press to report his visits and make
suggestions towards standardizing the schools.
Three years later, at the triennial convention, Rev. Theodore P.
Bucher was elected. He was a theological student, but recently
graduated, and had attained prominence by opening the Mount
PROF. SILAS WRIGHT.
EJx-County Stii «t . of Schools and author of "A History of Perry County."'
Dempsey Academy at Landisburg. Another advantage possessed
by him was that he had been a clerk in Thatcher's store at New-
port as a boy, and his manliness and exemplary behavior was
known of among a large circle of people. He continued teaching
at the academy during the summer months while filling the office.
During the summer of 1859 Superintendent Bucher resigned,
and Lewis Barnett Kerr, of Tuscarora Township, was appointed,
his commission being dated September 1, [859. So successfully
COUNTY SCHOOLS, PAST AND PRESENT 333
did Prof. Kerr fill the position that he was elected at the third
triennial convention, which met in May, i860. Prof. Kerr's work
stands high in Perry County educational circles, even to this day.
On May 4, [863, at the fourth triennial convention, Jacob
Gantt, of Millerstown, was elected over William R. Cisna, of
Madison Township, on the fifth ballot, by a majority of fourteen
votes. Other candidates voted for were P. P. Kerr, Tuscarora
Township; P. O. Foose, Juniata, and S. IP Galbraith, New
Ploointield. Three wars previously the salary had been increased
from $300 to $400 annually, but at this convention it was again
placed at $300, but Superintendent Gantt, at a special meeting
after his election succeeded in having it raised to $500 per year.
In May, 1866, the fifth convention chose Silas Wright, of Green-
wood Township, on the third ballot, over Jacob Gantt, of Millers-
town, and George W. Lesher, of Duncannon. Prof. Wright was
graduated from the Millersville State Normal School in 1865 and
was the first State Normal graduate in the county. When elected
county superintendent he was under twenty-five years of age.
In May, 1869, at the sixth convention, Lewis B. Kerr was again
elected, having a majority of eight votes over Silas Wright, his
closest competitor. There were eleven ballots and four candidates.
The seventh convention occurred May 7, 1872, and fixed the
salary at $700 per annum. George C. Welker, of Liverpool, was
chosen over G. C. Palm, on the third ballot, by a majority of eight
votes. Before the ending of the first year of his term Superin-
tendent Welker died, and Silas Wright was appointed, his com-
mission dating April 1, 1873. So acceptably did Prof. Wright fill
the position that at the eighth convention in May, 1875, he was
elected over six competitors on the first ballot.
At the ninth convention in May, 1878, S. B. Fahnestock, of
Duncannon, was elected over Rev. John Edgar. At the tenth con-
vention, May, 1881, Junius R. Flickinger, of Madison Township,
defeated S. B. Fahnestock, of Duncannon, for reelection. At the
eleventh convention, in May, 1884, Prof. Fahnestock was again a
condidate but was defeated by E. U. Aumiller. At the twelfth
convention, in 1887, Prof. Aumiller was reelected over G. C. Palm
and E. Walt Snyder, and at the thirteenth convention he was again
reelected, his opponent then being John S. Arnold.
The fourteenth convention, in 1893, selected Joseph M. Arnold,
the other candidates being Silas Wright and J. Albert Lntz. Ah".
Arnold was reelected at the fifteenth convention, in 1896, but later
resigned and was succeeded by E. H. Bryner, by appointment of
the governor. The salary was made $1,000 per annum in [896.
At the sixteenth convention, in 1899, and the seventeenth, in 1902,
■ Mr. Bryner was reelected, the latter time over John G. Wagner.
The salary was made $1,500 in 1899, and $1,475, according to a
334 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
provision of the state law, in 1902. In 1905, at the eighteenth con-
vention, Mr. Bryner was elected for the third time, his competitors
being D. A. Kline, S. S. Willard, J. L. L. Bucke, and F. A. Ham-
ilton. Superintendent Bryner resigned in October, 1905, and S. S.
Willard was appointed by the governor to fill the vacancy.
The nineteenth convention, in 1908, brought the closest vote
since the first election, when Rev. Height led William Brown by
but two votes. At this convention the vote was D. A. Kline, 83,
and S. S. Willard, 81. At the twentieth convention, in 1911, Mr.
Kline had no opposition and was reelected. The salary was made
$15 for every school up to 100 and $5 for each additional school,
which made it $1,945. At the twenty-first convention, in May,
1914, Professor Kline was again elected without opposition, for
a term of four years, at a salary of $1,940. For the first time the
convention was held on the first Tuesday of April, 1918, instead of
in May. This was the twenty-second election and Prof. Kline was
again selected without opposition. According to statute the salary
is now $2,490.
Of the men who have filled the position Rev. A. R. Height,
Rev. T. P. Bucher, J. R. Flickinger, S. S. Willard, and D. A.
Kline were college graduates. Silas Wright, S. B. Fahnestock,
E. U. Anmiller, E. H. Bryner, and D. A. Kline were state nor-
mal school graduates, and Lewis B. Kerr, Jacob Gantt, and
George C. Welker were educated in the common schools and
academies. It will be noted that Prof. D. A. Kline, the present
incumbent, is the only one graduated from both college and normal
school. While there have been twenty-two elections to the super-
intendency and four appointments to fill vacancies created by
death and resignation, yet but twelve men have filled that respon-
sible position. *Prof. Kline has had four elections, or more than
any other. Prof. Anmiller and Prof. Bryner were elected three
times. Prof. Wright's name was voted on at more conventions
than any other, being balloted for in the convention of 1866, 1869,
1872, 1875, and 1893, being successful in 1866 and 1875. Of the
appointees, Messrs. Kerr, Wright, and Bryner were successful in
succeeding themselves.
In 1 921, the State Legislature having created the position of
assistant county superintendent, Albert J. Deckard, principal of
the Marysville schools, was appointed to that office.
*Prof. Kline was selected for the fifth time, April 11, 1922.
CHAPTER XVIII.
ACADEMIES AND PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS.
PERRY COUNTY, owing to its small extent of territory, has
never had within its borders one of the higher institutions of
learning, neither has it had a State Normal School. It was,
however, in earlier years, the home of a number of academies and
soldiers' orphans' schools, two of which have grown into other in-
stitutions of more than local note. The New Bloomfield Academy
has become the Carson Long Institute, with students from all over
the world, and the Loysville Academy, later the Loysville Orphans'
Home, has become the growing Tressler Orphans' Home of the
Lutheran Church in America. In the following pages an endeavor
has been made to record the history and growth of these institu-
tions, and the passing of those which no longer exist.
The Academies.
Perry County during the past century was the location of quite
a number of academies, and their impress has been left not only
within its borders, but from among the students at these various
institutions went forth educators and professional and business
men into many parts of Pennsylvania, and into many of the other
states of the Union. The passing of these institutions, in a way,
is to be regretted, for they gave to the boys and girls a chance to
learn, near their own homes, more than the common schools af-
forded. Of course the borough high schools have now largely
taken their places in so far as the teaching of the higher branches
is concerned. Of these academies the ones to remain in existence,
the New Bloomfield Academy, now the Carson Long Institute, and
the Loysville Academy, now the Tressler Orphans' Home, the his-
tory to date is noted. Of the others time has erased much infor-
mation, but briefly their history follows:
The First Academy. From Presbyterian records it is noted that
Rev. James Brady, of Carlisle, was called on March 10, 1803, to
become pastor of the church at the mouth of the Juniata (prede-
cessor of the Duncannon Presbyterian Church), of Dick's Gap
Church and of Sherman's Creek Church. He was installed Octo-
ber 3, 1804, and "located on a farm,, where he opened an academy"
and conducted that work along with his duties along religious lines.
He died April 24, 1821, and his remains are interred in the ceme-
tery on the heights, above Juniata Bridge Station, at the junction
of the two rivers. While the date of the establishment of this first
335
336 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
higher institution of learning within the borders of what is now
Perry County — for it was then yet a part of Cumberland — is un-
known, yet it must have been soon after his coming, as is implied
by the sentence, "located on a farm where he opened an academy."
Should it have been at a much later period the record would likely
have read "where he later or in later years opened an academy.".
No name is given to the institution, so it is here designated as The
First Academy, which, in point of fact, it was. The inference is
THE LOYSVILLE ACADEMY, LATER THE TRESSLER ORPHANS' HOME.
that it was only a day school, but that the higher branches were
taught.
Loysville Academy. This institution began in the basement of
Lebanon Church, at Loysville, in the fall of 1853, witli Josiah R.
Titzel as principal, and J. T. Ross as assistant, concluding its first
term on Friday. March 31, 1854, with an examination during the
day and an "exhibition" in the evening, not unlike the graduating
and class day exercises of latter days. B. F. Frey was principal
in 1856-57. The success of the academy from the beginning
caused Col. John Tressler, who was a prominent citizen interested
in education, to build an academy in 1855. It was a three-story
brick building with an immense schoolroom on the first floor and
with twenty rooms for students on the others. Its completion and
dedication occurred the following year. The first principal in the
new building was John A. Kunkelman, who was succeeded by
David L. Tressler, a son of the founder, who in after years be.-
ACADEMIES AND PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS 337
came the first president of Carthage College in Illinois — the first
native Perry Conntian to attain so great an honor in the educa-
tional world. In 1862, when disunion was threatened, Mr. Tressler
became captain of Company II, 133d Penna. Volunteers, in the
United States Army, and with his company went many hoys from
the institution. In 1865 it became a Soldiers' Orphan School, one
of the first in the United States, with Capt. David L. Tressler as
principal. That action destined it to become a perpetual home for
orphans, for the attention of the Lutheran Church was thereby
attracted to it as a home for orphan children, which it is to this
day, being fully described in the following pages under the title.
The Tressler Orphans' Home.
Charity School. In 1842 citizens of Madison Township erected
on lands of Mr. Samuel Hench a building which was known as
"Charity School." Little data remains as to it.
Andersonburg Academy. This academy was started by Alex-
ander Blaine Anderson, in the house now owned and occupied by
W. Scott Moose, in Madison Township, on the Blain road. It
was once known as "Sunnyside Academy." Dr. W. R. Cisna was
once principal, assisted by Rev. J. J. Kerr, pastor of the Duncan-
non Lutheran Church, it then being known as Sherman's Valley
Institute. As Rev. Kerr's incumbency at Duncannon was from
1875 to 1878, the period was within those three years. In 1866
Martin Motzer rented the building and turned it into a Soldiers'
Orphans' School, under which head it is described in the succeed-
ing pages. While an orphan school an additional building was
erected and remained standing until 1919, when it was torn down
and the timber which remained in good condition was used in St.
Mark's Lutheran Church at Kistler.
Ducme Academy (Strain's School). During the summer of
1856 Rev. John B. Strain opened an academy, known as Duane
Academy, in the dwelling of Mr. Jacob Super, near St. Samuel's
Lutheran Church, in Juniata Township. It was later conducted in
the schoolhouse which stood, on the ground now occupied by St.
Samuel's Church. Rev. Strain had as his assistant his sister, Miss
Hannah Strain. Dr. C. W. Super, later president of the Ohio
University, now of Athens, ( )hio, attended this school for a term.
Another student was the late Prof. W. C. Shuman, long principal
of the Chicago Evening Schools, and a teacher in the Cook County
Normal School.
MarkclviUc Academy. On the hill at Markelville, then known
as Bosserman's Mills, there stood a building locally termed "Wash-
ington Seminary." In the spring of 1855 a school known as Buf-
falo Creek High School was opened in this building. The law
providing for the election of county superintendents of schools
had just gone into effect during the previous year, and Rev. A. P.
22
538 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
Height, a Lutheran clergyman, was made the county superintend-
ent. He was also chosen principal of this school and filled the
positions simultaneously. A year later, in 1856, the school was
called the Buffalo Creek High School and Perry County Normal
Institute, and in 1857 the first part of the title had been dropped
and it was known as the Normal Institute at Markelville and so
advertised, the name of the town in the meantime having been
changed to Markelville. He was succeeded by Rev. George S.
Rea, a Presbyterian clergyman, who in 1801 gave place to Prof.
G. \Y. Leisher, later a Lutheran clergyman. In 1866 Prof. C. W.
Super — now Dr. Super — tried to resuscitate the academy, which
the fortunes of war had disturbed. He was succeeded by Alex-
ander Stephens and Adam Zellers, in turn. As an evidence of its
large attendance, in i860 it was attended by 112 boarding students.
In 1867 George Markel erected a two-story frame academy build-
ing in which the school was continued and the students boarded.
This building had fifteen rooms for students and the basement was
above street level and was intended for classroom use. It was
Mr. Markel's intention to make the school a permanent institu-
tion, but his death caused its discontinuance. Prof. John S.
Campbell, of Newport, states (1920), "It is a pity that this man
was called away," he having had personal knowledge of his ability
and energy.
Mount Dempsey Academy. Rev. T. P. Bucher founded the
Mount Dempsey Academy, which he then called the Landisburg
Classical School, at Landisburg, on April 8, 1856, its location being
in the basement of the Reformed Church.* It closed about 1864,
largely because the War Between the States called the young men
td arms. Rev. Bucher was elected county superintendent in 1857
and tilled that position in connection with his work at the academy.
Later principals of the academy were F. A. Cast. David Evans
(later superintendent of the Lancaster County schools), Rev. R.
X. Salem, William H. Sheibley, S. H. Galbreath, Rev. G. C. Hall.
S. C. Cooper, J. C. Sheibley, and Lewis B. Kerr (later superin-
tendent of the Perry County schools). Rev. Samuel Wagner, still
a resident of the county and long a noted minister, was one of the
students. Many lawyers, physicians and ministers secured the
rudiments of their education at this pioneer institution. The late
George Patterson, of Landisburg, interviewed by the author in
1919, while engaged in the compilation of this book, was a student
at this institution in 186 1.
Willow Grove Female Seminary. This institution was short-
lived. It had its headquarters in the Judge Junkin home, one mile
northeast of Landisburg, and was presided over by Miss E. J.
*See church on page 202, in left foreground.
ACADEMIES AND PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS 330,
Petherfridge, of whom the Freeman said: "As a female instructor
she is inferior to none in the state." Board and washing was $1.50
per week. Tuition was $4 and $5 per quarter. Other rates wire:
French, $3.00; drawing and painting, $6.00; piano, $8.00. The
attendance was limited to twenty students. This evidently is iden-
tical with the school authorized by a special act of the Pennsylvania
Legislature passed June 12, 1S40. designated as "a female semi-
nary or public school for the education of female youths in the
English or other languages, the useful arts, sciences and literature.
by the name, style and title of the Landisburg Female Seminary."
The act named John Junkin, Samuel A. Moore, Henry Fetter.
James Diven, Sr., Peter Hench, fohn Stambangh, and James Mc-
Clure, as trustees.
Susquehanna Institute. In i860 Prof. Bartlett opened the Sus-
quehanna Institute in the basement of the United Presbyterian
Church at Duncannon, being the first principal. It was continued
for a short time by Rev. William B. Craig, the Presbyterian pastor.
Duncannon Academy. Largely through the efforts of Dr. T. L.
Johnston and Dr. H. D. Reutter, who were its directors, the Dun-
cannon Academy was established in 1890, the sessions at first being
held in Pennell's Hall, and the following year on the second floor
of Odd Fellows' Hall. Seventy pupils were enrolled in 1890.
Prof. Thomas M. Stalford, of Athens, was the principal, and Prof.
W. F. Kennedy, later superintendent of the Lewistown schools,
assistant. Its life was but two years.
The Blain School. For over fifty years a summer normal was
conducted at Blain. but often under different managements.
Among the instructors were such men as Gard C. Palm, S. E.
llarkins, and Rev. Rentz.
Juniata Valley Normal School. That a State Normal School
was not located somewhere in Perry County is not the fault of
Prof. Silas Wright, but rather of the citizenship of the communi-
ties ; for Mr. Wright strained every effort to have it done. The
general apathy — sometimes even yet displayed towards incoming
things, industrial plants, etc. — was the barrier against which
Prof. Wright's efforts spent their force, and the project failed.
Looking towards the establishment of the State Normal School of
the Sixth District within the borders of the county, the Juniata
Valley Normal School was opened on April 8, 1867, in the new
brick schoolhouse at Newport, for which $12.50 a month was paid
as rental. The attendance at the first term was 14 r, a remarkably
good showing. Two terms were conducted, the first being from
April 8 to June 28, .and the second from July 29 to September 17.
The second session had an attendance of ninety-seven ; of these
twenty-two were not attendants at the first term. During the firsl
340 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
session, on May 3, the Normal Echo Literary Society was or-
ganized.
Newport not having displayed as much interest as Millerstown,
which offered its school building rent free for the school, the ses-
sions of 1868 began in the Millerstown school building on April 8,
with an .attendance of 140. At the very first term (in Newport)
the theory class numbered forty-one, a number which it always
exceeded in later years. The instructors were teachers of promi-
nence, and beside Professor Wright were Nannie J. Alexander
(Millersville, '66), a cultured musician; M. M. Rutt, of the same
class at Millersville ; Mina Kerr, and Prof. Charles W. Super,
who taught ancient languages and German, and who later became
president of the Ohio University. During 1875 Professor Super
got a temporary leave of absence from his position as head of the
department of Ancient Languages and German in Wesleyan Col-
lege in Ohio, in order to teach the languages for Mr. Wright.
A list of textbooks in use in the Juniata Valley Normal School
at Millerstown in 1868, follows : Raub's and Sander's Union Spel-
lers, Sander's Union Readers, Kidd's Elocution, Kerl's Gram-
mars, Trench's Study of Words, Brook's Arithmetics and Geome-
try, Ray's New Algebras, Payson, Dunton & Scribner's Penman-
ship, Bartholomew's Drawing, Coppee's Elements of Rhetoric and
Logic, Mitchell's Political and New Physical Geography, Apgar's
Map Drawing, Seavey's and Goodrich's History of the United
States, Sheppard's Constitution, Gray's Botany, Hillside's Geology,
Quackenbo's Natural Philosophy, Wickersham's School Economy
and Method's of Instruction, Llaven's Mental Philosophy, Hickok's
Moral Science, Harkness' Latin, etc.
A "calendar" of the Juniata Valley Normal School at Millers-
town for 1868 follows:
"First term of twelve weeks, opens April 6; closes June 26, 1868.
"Last term of eight weeks, opens August 3 ; closes September 26, 1868.
"The Faculty: Silas Wright, M.E., principal; Nannie J. Alexander, B.E. ;
Mina J. Kerr, and O. P. Wright (pupil assistant)."
The location is described as being "easy of access by private con-
veyance or stage from every section of the county, and from east
or west on the Pennsylvania Central Railroad." The price of
boarding for the session of five months is named as $60. Prof.
Silas Wright organized this school and was always its principal,
save for a few weeks of the second summer term of 187 1.
A glance over several old programs of the Normal Echo Lit-
erary Society recalls names of other days, many of whom at-
tained distinction, with a few still living and active in business.
The first anniversary of the society was celebrated Friday evening,
May 29, 1 868, the officers being:
ACADEMIES AND PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS 341
A. M. Markel, Markelville, President.
Amanda Passmore, Newport, Secretary.
Mina J. Kerr, Donally's Mills, Editress.
Charles H. Heffley, Duncannon, Critic.
( )n the program were P. S. Lesh, May N. Donally, Mina J.
Kerr, and Alfred M. Markel. A debate was a part of the pro-
gram, the question being, "Resolved, that human language is of
Divine origin." The speakers on the affirmative side were S. B.
Fahnestock, Win. N. Ehrhart, ( >. P. Wright, and H. C. Magee;
those on the negative side were II. C. Gantt, W. W. Haines, C. A.
Frank, and J. R. kunyon.
The second anniversary was celebrated Friday evening. May 28,
[869, the following being the officers:
S. B. Fahnestock, Millerstown, President.
Josephine Debray, Millerstown, Secretary.
L. C. Zimmerman, Editor.
M. E. Haines, Critic.
( )n the program were H. C. Magee, Laura E. Goodman, Haly
L, Kerr, H. C. Gantt, L. C. Zimmerman, and P. S. Lesh. The
question for debate was, "Resolved, that the crusades were bene-
ficial to Europe." Those assigned to the affirmative were O. P.
Wright and Perry K. Brandt, and those assigned to the negative
were Wm. N. Ehrhart and J. S. Runyon.
Prof. John S. Campbell, long one of Perry County's prominent
educators, with the terse comment, "It did a good work," expresses
the opinion of all who have any knowledge of the great work of
the Juniata Valley Normal School. Dozens of its students became
educators, lawyers, physicians, ministers of the Gospel, bankers,
business men and intelligent farmers and homemakers.
Carson Long Institute, Formerly New B loom field Academy.
Almost from its beginning as a town and the location of the
count v seat New Bloomfield became greatly interested in educa-
tion. Much of the credit for this interest was then due to the fami-
lies of men like George Barnett and Alexander Magee. There is
hardly a state in the Union to-day in which there are no former
attendants of New Bloomfield Academy and Carson Long Insti-
tute, many of whom have risen to positions of prominence and
trust. To name over a list of these students is like calling a roll
of honor. The writer's knowledge goes back only to the proprie-
torship of William Grier, but there was already at that time some-
thing about the institution which impressed him with its impor-
tance as a substantial educational center.
In March, 1830, there was a call in the Perry Forester for a
meeting to consider the advisability of establishing an academy,
but for some reason which has not come down to the present gen-
342 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
(■ration, the meeting was called off. In 1837 Robert Finley, of
Connecticut, opened a latin school in the corner second-story room
of the former Mansion House, now a dormitory of Carson Long
Institute. The pupils were Charles J. T. Mclntire, John A. Magee,
John Creigh, Charles A. Harnett, George Harding, and William A.
Sponsler. In the fall of 1837 Mr. Finley decided to open a semi-
nary in a building known as "the barracks," later owned by W. A.
Sponsler, the attorney.
The advertisement of December T4, 1&37, names it the Bloom-
field Seminary, and speaks of the "first term." The directors, ac-
cording to the advertisement, were: John Dickey, B. Mclntire,
David Lupfer, Wm. M. McClure, J. R. McClintock, John Dunbar,
l'OOT BALI, ON THE CAMPUS, CARSON LONG INSTITUTE.
John Boden, A. C. Harding, Robert Kelly, George Barnett, J.
Madden. James Moreland, Jonas Ickes, George Stroop.
During the winter of 1837-38 a petition was sent to the Penn-
sylvania Legislature, requesting a charter for a school to be known
as the New Bloomfield Academy, which was accordingly chartered
by an act dated April 13, 1838. The trustees mentioned in the act
were: Benjamin Mclntire, George Stroop, John McKeehan, John
D. Creigh. John Boden, Jeremiah Madden, John R. McClintock,
and Robert Elliott. At a subsequent meeting of citizens in the
courthouse the act was read and approved, thus getting the en-
dorsement of the entire community. The trustees elected Robert
Elliott, president; •John D. Creigh, secretary, and Robert Kelly,
treasurer.
A provision of the act was that the state treasurer was to pay to
the treasurer of the academy two thousand dollars, to be used to-
ACADEMIES AND PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS 343
ward the erection of suitable buildings, and the purchasing of a
necessary library, mathematical, geographical and philosophical ap-
paratus for the use of the academy, on condition that one thousand
dollars be contributed by those interested. Robert Finley was em-
ployed as principal in May, at four hundred dollars per annum.
"The barracks" then became the temporary home of the academy,
the trustees agreeing to rent from John Smith, the owner, one-half
of the building, for which they were to pay him $21.29 and taxes
for the year, for the use of the same from May 21 until April 1
of the next year. Arrangements were at once made for desks,
benches and chairs, and on May 21 the term began. The school-
room was the one in which Mr. Finley had started the seminary
and was in use until 1840, when the brick academy building was
completed. The hours were fixed at from 8 to 12 a. m., and from
2 to 5 p. m. Instruction was to be given in the following branches :
First class — Geography, English grammar, bookkeeping, arithmetic, and
modern history, at three dollars a quarter.
Second class — Natural history, natural philosophy, ancient history and
algebra to quadrated equasions, at four dollars a quarter.
Third class — The Greek and Latin languages, chemistry, astronomy, rhet-
oric, logic, the higher branches of mathematics, mental and moral phi-
losophy, and evidences of Christianity, at five dollars a quarter.
On August 3 the first quarter ended, twenty pupils having been
in attendance. An examination was held that day, also an election
of trustees at which the following were chosen: Robert Elliot,
John D. Creigh, Thomas Patterson, John Gotwalt, J. R. McClin-
tock, and B. Mclntire.
On August 18, 1838, at a meeting of the trustees the following
resolution was passed :
Resolved, that the trustees will receive proposals from persons who have
sites to locate the building for the academy, and request them to s*ate par-
ticularly the location, boundary, quantity and terms upon which it can be
had ; that the proposals be handed to the trustees on or before ten o'clock
a.m. of the first of September next. John D. Creigh, Secretary.
In answer to the resolution propositions were received from
George Barnett (two), John D. Creigh, William Power, and Jere-
miah Madden. Later others were received from Mrs. Miller and
Messrs. Mehaffy, Ickes, Klinepeter, and Clark. At the meeting
of the board on September 21 one of those proffered by George
Barnett, was selected. The site then selected was on a knoll east
of the Barnett homestead. Evidently with the history of the selec-
tion of the county seat and its petitions still fresh in their minds
a petition was gotten out requesting that the site be changed to
one at the west end of the borough, in consideration of which a
further contribution of $241 was pledged. The request was not
granted, but the supporters of the west end plan continued the
344 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
agitation with the result that, at a meeting of the trustees on March
i, 1839, the following action was taken:
"Whereas, the sum of one thousand dollars has been subscribed by in-
dividuals to aid the funds of the academy, a part of which is subscribed on
condition that the site of the academy be removed to the north end of
Carlisle Street ; therefore,
"Resolved, That the present location of the site for the academy be and
the same is hereby changed to the north end of Carlisle Street, and a
committee be appointed to enter into a contract with Mr. George Barnett
for four acres of land at said place, on such terms as they may agree upon.
"Resolved, That public notice be given by advertisements, that the trus-
tees will receive proposals on the 14th of March for building a house of
brick or stone, to be thirty feet by sixty feet from out to out and twenty-
three feet high from top of foundation, to have a cupola and also a por-
tico or vestibule in front of steps.
The contract having heen let to Dr. Jonas Ickes he immediately
began work, and it was completed and occupied in 1840. By pri-
vate subscription a bell was purchased in Philadelphia, at a cost of
$65.60.
In 1842, owing to a demand, a steward was appointed and it
was opened as a boarding school for both teachers and pupils. In
September, 1850, the trustees appointed two of their number to
confer with the Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church in refer-
ence to selling the property and academy to that denomination.
The movement was unsuccessful. In 1852 the trustees decided to
apply to the legislature for the enactment of a law enabling them
to transfer the real estate and property to the commissioners of
the county and that it be a county institution, the county to assume
the indebtedness. On petition to the legislature such an act was
passed and signed by Governor William Bigler, a Perry County
native, April 1, 1852, providing that the commissioners with others
appointed by the court act as trustees. On December 4, 1852, by
resolution of the trustees the president of the board was author-
ized to transfer by deed all the real estate belonging to the acad-
emy, which was done January 3, 1853. Under the county's man-
agement the school took on new life, and in January, 1854, the
county grand jury recommended that an additional building be
erected for the better accommodation of the pupils.
Finlaw McCown, a former trustee and a former county com-
missioner, had in the meantime bequeathed to the trustees of the
academy the sum of four hundred dollars for the purpose of help-
ing to erect an additional building. Upon the commissioners being
notified of the bequest and of the action of the grand jury they
absolutely refused to grant any assistance towards the erection of
an additional building and even withheld the right of any company
or association of so doing. Upon such refusal the trustees ap-
pointed a committee to secure grounds situated in proximity to the
academy for the purpose of erecting such building as their needs
ACADEMIES AND PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS
345
demanded. An association was organized and a small tract of
adjoining land was purchased of William McKee, eight hundred
and twenty-five dollars being subscribed by the public towards it.
The deed was presented to the trustees, who advertised for pro-
posals to build a frame building, thirty-two by fifty feet, two
stories high, to be ready for occupancy by May, 1854, at which
time it was completed and occupied.
Financial troubles continued to embarrass the academy, and dur-
ing the winter of 1854-55 a petition was presented to the legisla-
ture requesting permission to sell the property, which was granted
in an act passed and signed April 13, 1855. On April 10, [856,
Rev. |ohn B. Straw and R. G. Stephens purchased the property,
with the condition that it
should always be used as a
school of advanced education.
Prof. James A. Stephens was
placed in charge and later be-
came owner. He sold it to
George S. Rea, who continued
in charge for some time, when
he conveyed it back to Ste-
phens, who in turn sold it to
William Grier on September
25, 1868.
With Mr. Grier's adminis-
tration the academy became an
institution of a marked and
cultured character and had an
attendance of students, many
of whom had already crossed
the threshold of young man-
hood and womanhood, and
equal to that of any institution
in the State of Pennsylvania.
During Mr. Grier's proprietorship he had as principals such men
as Edgar, Flickinger, Schuyler, Arnold, and others. He sold the
academy to William Harper, June 8, 1898, and he, in turn, sold it
to George B. Roddy in June, 1905. After Mr. Roddy's death
Theodore K. Long purchased it from his executor in February,
[914.
Mr. Long changed the name from New Bloomfield Academy to
Carson Long Institute as a fitting memorial to the many excellent
qualities of his only son, William Carson Long, who losl his life
on March 5, 1912, on the Northern Pacific Railroad, at the city
of North Yakima. Washington, under circumstances keenly dis-
tressing to his parents and friends.
WILLIAM GRIER.
346 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
William Carson Long was a young man of unusual attainments.
He traveled and studied a year abroad — visiting places of interest
in Europe, Asia, and Africa. He spoke both French and German.
He prepared for college at the Harvard School, Chicago, and en-
tered Michigan University, Ann Harbor, Michigan, in 1904. While
at college he made a splendid record and became a votary of athletics
and outdoor sports. He was graduated with the degree of B.A. in
the class of 1908, and shortly afterward, in 1909, entered upon the
lumber business with the Yakima Lumber Company of North
Yakima, Washington, where he continued until his death in 1912.
He was a young man of
exceptional aptitude and
promise in his chosen busi-
ness and had he lived he
would have achieved a
high measure of success.
In choosing a memorial
Mr. Long, upon a visit to
his native county, chanced
upon the old institution
where he had prepared for
college, and in it saw the
future memorial to his son,
hence the name Carson
Long Institute.
Mr. Long expresses
character building as ap-
plied at Carson Long In-
stitute thus :
"We regard character
building as paramount in all
true educational work. Mere
knowledge is not in itself suf-
ficient. Common sense, grit,
and good manners cannot be
acquired from textbooks, yet
all these attributes, together
with a keen sense of fair play and the habit of indefatigable industry, are
essentially comprehended in a complete education. We aim to inculcate
all these qualities at Carson Long Institute."
Mr. Long's fourfold aim is to develop each student in knowl-
edge, culture, character, and efficiency; to prepare the students not
only for teaching, teachnical schools and college, but for life; to
teach them bow to learn, how to labor, and how to live.
Local school spirit is rated highly, both in the classroom and on
the athletic field. Since purchasing the academy and transforming
it to the proposed ideals of Carson Long Institute, Mr. Long in
WII.UA.U CARSON LONG.
ACADEMIES AND PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS
347
K)i4 erected the administration building, containing the president's
office, the principal's office, business department, physical labora-
tory and classrooms. The same year he purchased the old Eagle
Hotel building, now termed "Eaglerook," in which he installed a
steam heating plant and modern baths, using the building as a boys'
dormitory. In 1915 he built the junior annex, containing kitchen,
stock room, college store, and the dormitory and schoolroom of
the junior department. In 1917 he fitted up the gymnasium and
equipped it. The finest building of the lot has just been com-
menced. It will be known as the Donald C. Willard Memorial,
and will be built of brick, three
stories, 111x41 feet. It will
be of most modern design and
fireproof throughout. The
foundations for the Donald C.
Willard Memorial were com-
pleted in the summer of 192 1.
Donald Campbell Willard
died January 30, 1918, while
serving as principal. He was
the son of Prof. S. S. and Ada
(Morgan) Willard, and was
horn at Tressler Orphans'
Home, where his father was
principal of schools, on June
24, 1888, being at his death
less than thirty years of age.
Educated in the public schools,
he graduated at Mercersburg
Academy in 1904, at the head
of his class. He then entered
Princeton University at the
age of sixteen. His eyes failing, he rested two years, and then
entered the University of Pennsylvania, where he graduated with
honors in 1910. In 1912 he was made principal of the Academy,
now Carson Long Institute, remaining until his death. His father
has endowed a scholarship in his name at Mercersburg Academy,
in which students from New Bloomfield and Perry County are to
have precedence.
At a meeting of the board of trustees held at New Bloomfield,
November 11, 1921, Mr. Long turned over to the corporation a
deed and bill of sale covering all the real estate, consisting of eight
several tracts of land and buildings thereon, and all the personal
property used in and about the school. This transfer of property
terminated Mr. Long's personal ownership and placed the school
in the possession of the corporation, Carson Long Institute. Thus
DONALD C. WILLARD.
348 1 HISTORY OP PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
this noted institution, through the magnanimity of Theodore K.
Long, comes to the new corporation without the payment of a
cent or without any indebtedness whatsoever.
For over four score years this school has successfully prepared
students for college, teaching and business, literary and profes-
sional life. Its graduates are on the honor rolls of Yale, Harvard,
Princeton, and Wilson, as well as on those of many less noted in-
stitutions. The graduating class of 1921 was the forty-eighth.
While the institution was in its infancy and during its earlier years
there were no graduating classes, yet young people were being pre-
pared for college and teaching from its very organization.
A list of the principals who have been in charge of the school
from the date of its organization follows, the date named being the
beginning of the period for which they served :
1838 — Robert Finley.
1839 — Rev. Matthew B. Patterson.
1842— J. M. Stearns.
1843 — Samuel Ramsey.
1845— Rev. Martin Smith.
[850 — Rev. Matthew B. Patterson.
1853 — William S. Post (elected but did not serve).
E853 — Charles A. Barnett.
1858 — (.Tames A. Stephens.
[862 — George S. Rea.
1864 — James A. Stephens.
1869— T. A. Snively.
1870— A. R. Keiffer.
[870-W. H. Dill.
[872 — Rev. John Edgar.
1877— J. R. Flickinger.
1881 — Rev. John Edgar.
1883— J. R. Flickinger.
1884— William H. Schuyler.
1889 — Joseph M. Arnold.
1893 — Geo. W. Wagonseller (from November to February, 1894).
1894 — H. E. Sheibley (Spring term).
1894 — George B. Roddy.
1895 — Oliver J. Morelock.
1896— H. C. Mohn.
1905 — Julian C. Plan (September to end of year).
igofS — George B. Roddy (January to June).
1906 — L. E. Strohm.
1908 — A. J. Shumaker (January to June).
1908 — John F. Buckheit.
1912— Donald C. Willard.
[918 — Theodore K. Long (February to September).
1918 — George F. Schneider.
1920 — John W. Weeter.
ACADEMIES AND PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS 349
The Orphan Schools.
From the vortex of the Sectional War, while it was still being
waged with all the energy of two equally red-blooded antagonists,
save that one was not burdened with the taint of secession, there
arose in Pennsylvania the beginning of a system of Soldiers' Or-
phans' Schools, which has always stood abreast of the most ad-
vanced states of the Union. In fact, in the annals of the centuries
there is no prior record of any state or nation adopting as their
wards all the dependent children of slain and injured defenders.
As two of the early institutions devoted to the education of these
orphans were located within the limits of Perry County it is a
matter of interest to record a word of their start.
On his way to church on Thanksgiving Day, 1862, Governor
Andrew G. Curtin was met upon the street by two children asking
aid. Being of a sympathetic nature he stopped and inquired their
condition and the reason for it. Promptly came the reply, "Father
was killed in the war." He gave them a liberal contribution and
passed on into church; but the Thanksgiving sermon grated
harshly upon his ears, as he thought of the children of soldiers
fallen while fighting for the preservation of their country beg-
ging upon the streets. That was the beginning of Soldier Orphan
Schools. In a few weeks the Pennsylvania Legislature met and in
his message Governor Curtin said: "I commend to the prompt
attention of the legislature the subject of the relief of the poor
orphans of our soldiers who have given, or shall give, their lives
to the country during this crisis. In my opinion their maintenance
and education should be provided for by the state. Failing other
natural efforts of ability to provide for them, they should be hon-
orably received and fostered as the children of the commonwealth."
The legislature refused to adopt a measure that might bind the
state for heavy expenditures, but authorized the governor to ex-
pend $50,000, which the Pennsylvania Railroad had contributed
for use in any way deemed best for the prosecution of the war,
the governor to use his discretion in its expenditure. Thus there
came from that great corporation the money which provided the
beginning of that heroic institution — the Soldiers' Orphan School.
To what better project could it have been devoted?
Section 2 of the rejected bill gave any school then in existence
the right to apply to be recognized as a suitable school for the in-
struction and training of destitute children, and Section 6 pro-
vided that in no case must the cost per child per annum exceed
$100. With this slender appropriation at his command Governor
Curtin appointed Thomas H. Burrowes, LL.D., superintendent, on
June 16, 1864, and from it grew the wonderful result. The inten-
* tion at the beginning was to have a school in each of the twelve
350 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
State Normal School districts. Provision was also made that the
children should be neatly clothed in uniforms, well fed, and trained
in employment as well as intellectually. Several institutions in the
state had already taken up work in the same line on their own
responsibility, but the first schools to come to the aid of the sys-
tem after its beginning were those at Paradise, McAllisterville,
Mount Joy, Quakertown, and Orangeville. The legislature of
1865 appropriated $75,000 to continue the work. By January 1,
1866, that amount was utterly exhausted and the legislature de-
layed passing any act, quibbling over various differences. It was
then that Governor Curtin executed a shrewd move. On March
1 6th three hundred and forty-five soldiers' orphans from McAllis-
terville, Mount Joy, and Paradise arrived at Harrisburg on the
noon trains and, neatly uniformed, gave an exhibition of their train-
ing before the surprised legislators, with the result that $300,000
was appropriated, four times the amount of the previous year, and
from that day their existence was assured. Among those who spoke
was Master Frank A. Fry, of McAllisterville, he who later edited
the Newport News for many years. By the end of 1866 twenty-
four schools in the state were caring for the younger children, and
twelve for the older ones. Of these the Andersonburg School and
the Loysville Home were Perry County institutions. Of the
smaller children the former had 32 boys and 22 girls, and the lat-
ter, 66 boys and $2 girls.
In 1867 a general statute, covering every phase of requirements
for these schools, passed the legislature. During that year the cost
of the larger pupils was $150 per annum, with $25 additional for
clothing, and that of the smaller ones from $105 to $125, including
clothing.
The Andersonburg School.
Through the influence of Martin Motzer and Alexander Blaine
Anderson, during the fall of 1865, Dr. Thomas PI. Burrowes,
Superintendent of Soldiers' Orphans' Schools, visited Mr. Ander-
son's building in Madison Township, above Andersonburg. It was
a large brick building, then in use as an academy. Dr. Burrowes 1
said of it: "This is a beautiful location for a school; one of the
best I have yet selected. This must certainly be a healthy locality."
Mr. Motzer rented the building and took possession in the spring
of 1866. The first pupils arrived on September 20, 1866. and on
October 16th the school opened with Prof. William IT. Hall as
principal. Miss Laura J. Milligan followed in a short time as
assistant teacher. By the close of the second year the number of
pupils had increased to 117, and another building, 35x50 feet, was
erected. On December 1, 1872, Prof. Hall became a joint
owner, with Mr. Motzer, but retained the principalship. On
ACADEMIES AND PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS 351
September 1, 1874, Prof. Hall purchased the interest of Mr.
Motzer. Other teachers at this school were B. K. Hall, W. S.
Eulslander, B. F. Hollenbaugh, and J. R. Runyan. It was said
that not a single complaint was made against this school to the stale
authorities, a fact which they noted in a history of the schools.
This school was located in the famous Sherman's Valley, facing
Conococheague Mountain, a short distance east of Blain, sur-
rounded by a territory that has an historical interest. The main
school building is now the property of W. Scott Moose, who occu-
pies it. The additional building stood until 1919, when it was
torn down and the timbers, which were still in good condition,
were used in St. Mark's Lutheran Church at Kistler.
Loysville Orphans' Home.
What more appropriate place could have been chosen for a Sol-
diers' Orphan School than the Tressler Orphans' Home at Loys-
ville, and where could there have been found a man more entitled
to be its first principal than Capt. D. L. Tressler, the young prin-
THE TRESSLER SOLDIERS' ORPHANS' HOME.
This was first the Loysville Academy, and became the nucleus of the Tressler Orphans'
Home, both described elsewhere.
cipal of the institution (which had previously been an academy)
who, when the safety of the Unon was imperiled, dropped his edu-
cational work, and organized a company composed mostly of his
own students, and left for the front? While Perry County has
sent forth to larger fields many men of note, of heroic mould, and
of noble character, it can scarcely be doubted that D. L. Tressler,
soldier, officer, teacher, attorney, theologian, and college president,
35 2
HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
stands in the very front rank. Just as he reached the top in the
field of his choice, would he have reached it should he have chosen
the law. During the first eighteen months of the existence of this
school W. H. Minich was its superintendent, G. V. Tressler suc-
ceeding him. It was established in 1865.
J n 1867 the General Synod of the Lutheran Church, through
Rev. Philip Willard purchased the building and five acres of land,
and it became the home of both church and soldiers' orphans.
During the first two years of the church ownership it was leased
to Philip Bosserman, with Rev. John Kistler as superintendent.
An additional plot of twenty-seven and one-half acres was then
purchased by the trustees, who had been named by the Church.
On June 1, 1869, it was placed under the charge of Rev. Willard
as superintendent. When he took charge the institution had eighty
soldier orphans and eighteen wards of the Church. By 1876 the
proportion was sixty-two soldiers' orphans and forty-six Church
wards. The original brick building was 40x60, three stories high.
Upon taking charge for the Church, Rev. Willard erected a frame
building, 20x48, the first floor being a dining room and the second
a dormitory. In 1875 the old cooking house was torn away and
a new brick one, 30x50, two stories high, replaced it. It had sepa-
rate departments for cooking, for baking, for washing, and for
shower baths.
This school under the long control of Father Willard, as Rev.
Willard came to be known, had a fine reputation with the state
authorities, as their many reports testify. Among the early teach-
ers were: George Sanderson, George W. Weaver, Ira Wentzel,
Herman F. Willard, S. S. Willard, L. A. Harney. G. M. Willard,
A. M. Raff, and Misses Nettie Willard, Elsie Berg, Hattie Anstadt,
and M. L. Willard. Its further history follows:
Tiik Tkksslrr Orphans' Home.
This wonderful institution, where so many hundreds of children
have found an early home, is the result of an early academy
opened in the basement of Lebanon Church, at Loysville, in 1853,
of which Josiah R. Titzell was principal. J. T. Ross succeeded him
for a year or two. Education was then a leading topic, and there
was a demand for an institution for higher education. In 1855-56
Col. John Tressler erected a three-story brick building, with a large
auditorium on the first floor and. twenty rooms on the other floors,
to which the school was transferred. The first principal was John
A. Kunkelman. who was succeeded by a son of the founder, David
L. Tressler. In 1862, when the dismemberment of the nation was
imminent, Mr. Tressler accepted a captaincy in the United States
Army and with him went almost the entire male enrollment of the
little institution.
ACADEMIES AND PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS
6 DO
The property later was again in charge of David L. Tressler.
Opened in 1865, it was one of the first soldiers' orphan schools
in the United States, the war having hereft thousands of homes.
Of its history as a Soldiers' Orphans' School a description ap-
pears just preceding. The attention of the Lutheran Church was
attracted to it. Rev. Philip Willard acting in the capacity of repre-
sentative of the Lutheran Publication Society, of Philadelphia,
and accompanied by Daniel Eppley, of Harrisburg, visited the
institution with a view of securing it for his denomination. In
October, 1867, delegates from the East, West, Central Pennsyl-
vania and Allegheny Synods met at Loysville, and on October 30
petitioned the Perry County courts for a charter for a corpora-
tion, to be known as the "Tressler Orphans' Home of the. Evan-
gelical Lutheran Church of the
United States of America."
The charter was granted Janu-
ary 6, 1868. In the meantime
the building had been leased to
Philip Bosserman, of New-
port, and both Church and sol-
diers' orphans were admitted.
As late as 1886 the proportion
of soldiers' orphans was sev-
enty-one to seventy -nine
Church orphans.
The academy and its grounds,
comprising five acres, was pur-
chased February 20, 1868, for
$5,000, from the Tresslers,
(Capt.) Rev. D. L. Tressler
donating his share in the prop-
erty ($500), and in apprecia-
tion it was named the Tressler
Orphan Home. Twenty-five
additional acres were pur-
chased from the Tressler farm
at a cost of $90 per acre.
Rev. Willard was appointed
superintendent and sent to the
different synods and churches
to solicit subscriptions. He secured over $4,000 within a year.
The first trustees, who applied for the charter for the school and
supervised its early management, were Rev. P. Sahm and Jacob
Crist, of the Central Pennsylvania Synod ; Rev. Jeremiah Frazer
and D. K. Ramey, of the Allegheny Synod; Rev. Philip W'illard
and Henry L. Hummel, of the East Pennsylvania Synod, and Rev.
23
REV. PHIUP WILLARD,
First Superintendent Under Supervision of
the Lutheran Church.
354 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
J. H. Menges and J. Carver, of the West Pennsylvania Synod.
Almost at its beginning as a joint school for the orphans of the
state and of the Church (June i, 1869) there were eighty soldiers'
orphans and eighteen Church orphans.
Improvements began almost immediately upon the transfer to
the Church, and have never ceased, but have kept abreast of the
times. In 1872 a frame building was erected for a dining room
and dormitory, later being used as part of the Industrial School.
In 1874 a two-story kitchen and bakery was built, and in 1875 a
large and substantial barn was built. These buildings sufficed for
about a decade. Then, in 1884, a large building with basement
and three stories was erected at a cost of $10,000. Its purpose was
for schools, kitchen, and boys' dormitory. In 1887 the adjoining
George Shaffer property, a house later used as a hospital, and thir-
teen acres of land, were purchased for $2,300. Two years later
fire escapes were added to all buildings to comply with a new state
law. During that year Rev. Philip Willard, after twenty-one years
of persistent and splendid labor in the upbuilding of the Home,
retired from the superintendency. He was temporarily succeeded
by Major J. G. Bobb, of Carlisle, Pennsylvania, from November,
1889, to July, 1 891. Charles A. Widle had come to the institu-
tion in July, 1890, as disciplinarian, and upon the retirement of
Major Bobb in July 1891, he became temporary superintendent
until June, 1892, when he was elected to fill the position, and has been
continued in office ever since, a period of thirty-one years, count-
ing the temporary service. Mr. Widle had been a teacher in the
public schools of Butler and Lawrence Counties, from whence he
had been called to the service of Soldiers' ( )rphans' Schools, first
to McAllisterville, then to Chester Springs, and later to Harford,
Susquehanna County, from which place he came to the Tressler
Home in 1890.
During the period of time when the soldiers' orphans were cared
for there remained services for which the Home was not com-
pensated, and in 1890 a check for $21,000 was received from the
state in full for all overdue payments and for any services for
which compensation had not been made. The present excellent
library was started in 1892, under the direction of Miss Emma
Eppley, who was the matron, with about 700 volumes. The Home
issues a small monthly paper telling of its work and needs which
was started in May, 1892, a printing plant having been put in that
year. Its principal work is that of the Church. Through its in-
stallation many of the boys of the institution have been enabled to
learn the printing trade and hold positions in many states.
In 1894 an extension, 39x15, was added to the original academy
building for a girls' dormitory and bath rooms. In the same year
steam heat and gas light were introduced into the main buildings.
ACADEMIES AND PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS
355
The following year a steam pump was added to the water ma-
chinery, and in [896 a steam laundry, with bakery and storerooms
was built, the industrial school building erected and the Children's
Memorial Chapel begun, its dedication taking place June 20, 1900.
And then, with the end of the century (1900), Mr. J. Harry
Fritz, of Somerset, Pennsylvania, purchased the adjoining [ohn
Minich farm of twenty-two acres, for $3,500, and presented it to
the Nome as the Fritz addition. In 1901-02 Mr. Fritz had erected
CHAS. A. WIDLE.
Supt. Tressler's Orphans' Home since 1891.
and presented to the institution a fine two-story building, known
as the Fritz Memorial Library and Girls' Dormitory, its dedication
having been on June 5, 1902. Mr. Fritz was a real estate dealer
of Somerset and had a large place in his heart for needy children.
He also gave $1,100 towards the erection of the Children's Me-
morial Hospital during the same year. The heirs of Samuel and
Rachel Kunkel, two early benefactors of the Lutheran Church
whose homes had been in Harrisburg, where their impress has been
left upon Lutheran work for all time, presented a tine two-story
building — the Kunkel Memorial Children's Nursery — to the insti-
tution. It was dedicated June 13, 1901. During that year the
steam plant, from which all buildings are heated, and the acetylene
light plant were installed. In 1902 a large cistern and rain water
356 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
system was installed. In 1903 an adjoining tract of land contain-
ing fifty-two acres was purchased from George W. Loy, for
$2,500, the funds being supplied by private contributions. A year
later the Samuel Burkhart farm, near Bloserville, in Cumberland
County, was left to the Home by will. Owing to its separation
from the Home by a great mountain and a long distance, it was
sold by order of the Cumberland County courts and the funds
placed in charge of a trustee for the benefit of the Home.
The reservoir and sewer system was constructed in 1904, and a
boys' dormitory and school building in 1905-06. Owing to the
increasing size of the Home and the necessarily increasing size of
the number of employees, a double frame house was purchased in
Loysville for $2,000 in 1909, for their accommodation. The Jacob
L. Minich plot of ten acres of fine farm land adjoining the Home,
was purchased during the same year, and also a tract of twenty-
two acres from John H. Shumaker, for $2,000.
The Annie L. Lowry Memorial Hospital was erected in 1909,
being a gift through her executor, Elwood Bonsall, Esq., of
Philadelphia, who donated $8,500 from the residuary funds of her
estate under a provision of her will, which directed that such funds
be applied to "such charities as he deemed most worthy." In 1910
a modern system of sewage was installed to replace the old and then
obsolete system, at a cost of $1,556. During 1910 the old hospital
was removed to a new location and fitted up for employees of the
Home, and upon its former site a home for the use of the super-
intendent was erected at a cost of $4,500. In 1913 the ice house
was built, and in 1914 brick refrigerating rooms of an approved
type were installed.
During 1 913-14 the Sharetts Memorial, costing $10,000, was
erected by Luther T. and Edward H. Sharetts, of Keymar, Mary-
land. It houses the printing department, now grown to consid-
erable size, the gymnasium and the band room. In 1914 the Eme-
line Loy Murray Memorial was erected. It is a one-story brick
building, 26x45 feet, being a modern and up-to-date kitchen.
During 1913-14 a deep well was sunk to augment the water supply.
The year 1914 is important in the life of the Home from an-
other standpoint. As noted the Home had increased its acreage
at various times, but in 19 14 the large and fertile Arnold farm
adjoining the Home, consisting of 182 acres with farm buildings,
and a number of valuable springs, was purchased for $18,225. Its
purchase was made possible through a gift or annuity of $14,000
from Fred and Margaret Mehring, brother and sister, of Keymar,
Maryland.
In 1909 a movement was begun for the installation of elec-
tricity for lighting purposes, and in 1910 the Sherman's Valley
Electric Light, Heat & Power Company, connected with the insti-
ACADEMIES AND PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS 357
tul ion, was chartered by the commonwealth. Bear's mill, in Madi-
son Township, had been abandoned some years before for milling
purposes. The mill, with all its water rights, was purchased from
Jos. B. Lightner. The dam was rebuilt of concrete and all the
waterways renewed and a new turbine wheel with new electrical
outfit placed in the mill, where, since, January, 1910, electric cur-
rent is made to light the whole institution, also all residences and
churches in Loysville. All industrial operations of the Home are
driven by this plant. It is now planned that in 1921 the power of
the Weaver mill will be added to this plant, which will enable the
company to give service to Landisburg, Elliottsburg and interven-
ing points as well as serve the growing institution.
During the spring of 191 5 the Bear Mill farm, surrounding
the light plant, with a total acreage of 132, of which sixty is in
cultivation, was purchased. Its purchase was not made from the
point of desirability in so far as the farm land is concerned, but
as an essential to the water-power and the electric plant.
On the first day of the year, 19 19, the Home got possession of
the Weaver mill, an old, well-established and well patronized flour
and feed mill, for which $5,000 was paid. With it was a house,
barn and sixteen acres of rough land. The management foresaw
that the capacity of the light plant would soon be overtaxed with
only the power from the Bear mill, which was the reason for this
purchase. An additional twenty-eight acres of bottom and adjacent
hill lands were purchased for $375, in order to be sure of title to
all necessary water rights. April 1, 1920, the Home paid $4,000
for the David H. Kleckner place, just east of and adjoining the
Home buildings, consisting of a house and five acres of land. It
was purchased on account of water rights, as water from the
springs on the Mehring addition flowed through it, and for that
reason the Home was not at liberty to decrease the flow of the
stream. These springs have since been enlarged and connected
with the water main and an electric pump installed, and this valu-
able additional water supply made available for the institution.
Owing to incapacity it became necessary to replace the sewage
plant in 191 7 and a new plant of the Imhoff type was installed.
It was built after plans approved by the state and is supposed to
endure for a long period of years. Cement porches were added to
the Fritz dormitory in 1918-19, through a bequest of $2,000 from
Mrs. Charles S. Weiser, an original member of the Board of Lady
Visitors.
In June, 1919, one of the most modern of all the group of build-
ings was completed and given over to the Home by the Pittsburgh
Synod. It is known as the Pittsburgh Synodical Dormitory, and
is the home of forty boys from eight to twelve years of age. Its
cOst, with furnishings, was $20,000.
358 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
The Home grounds was the scene of much building activity dur-
ing the summer of 1 921. Among the projects is a large pavilion,
seating 1,300 persons, on the campus for out-door entertainments;
a second nursery building, by the West Pennsylvania Synod for
the home of twenty children from three to six years of age;
a dormitory for girls of eight to twelve years, by the Allegheny
Synod ; a dormitory for forty older boys and a vocational school
building, by the East Pennsylvania Synod. The completion of
these projected buildings will see the plans of the present manage-
ment fairly well through.
The printing plant at this institution is most complete, having
grown from a few fonts of type and a small job press to its pres-
ent size. There is printed the Orphans' Home Echoes, for which
a charge of fifteen cents per year is made, with a price of ten
cents per year in clubs. Its circulation is over 8,000. For thirty
years, or since its beginning in May, 1892, Mr. W. L. Gladfelter,
a prominent paper manufacturer of Spring Grove. Pennsylvania,
has donated all the paper used in its publication, which in the past
year alone amounted to five tons. Thirty-three church papers are
printed at the plant, most of them being monthlies, and from four
to thirty-two pages in size..
This institution closed its year in June, 1919, with an enrollment
of 262, and the year of 1920 with an enrollment of 282, which
shows its wonderful growth in taking care of orphan children of
the Church since its start with but the small number of eighteen
under Rev. Philip Willard in 1869. During the last year twenty-
five boys and twelve girls were sent from the Home, and thirty-
five girls and twenty-two boys admitted. There is always a large
waiting list. The health of the children is unusually good ; on only
a few occasions in the fifty or more years of its existence have
epidemics brought death to the inmates. The public schools of the
surrounding districts have a seven-months' term, while the Home
has a nine-months' term, with grades from the kindergarten to the
third year in high school. Of the teachers during the 1919-20
session, one was a college graduate, four State Normal graduates,
and two held provisional certificates in the county. Vocal and
musical instruction is under the charge of a special teacher. There
is a girls' orchestra and a boys' band,, each under the instruction of
a tutor. These musical organizations go on tours and give exhi-
bitions in Lutheran communities. During 1920 the band was on a
lengthy tour to western Pennsylvania. Religious instruction is a
part of the daily program, morning and evening services of a
brief nature being conducted as the children sit at table in the
dining room. A Sunday school is conducted in the chapel. That
idleness is detrimental is taught in the Home by assigning to the
pupils such tasks as they can perform. The boys assist- in the
ACADEMIES AND PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS 359
housekeeping in their own quarters, and with the heavier work
about the kitchen, dining room and grounds; with such farm work
as they are able, and in the printery and elsewhere. The girls are
employed at the various phases of housework, in the kitchen, din-
ing room, laundry and sewing room. Plans are being made for
vocational training. The Alumni Association devotes its funds to
helping pupils to a higher education.
The farming operations on the lands belonging to the Nome are
in themselves no small matter, and it is from them that comes much
of the product which sustains it. The yield of wheat last year was
1,220 bushels; of corn, after filling two 100-ton silos, 4,225 hush-
els, and of other crops accordingly. Forty fat hogs were butchered
and twenty-two large steers fed and marketed. Two tractors are
used in the cultivation of the lands. Donations from individuals
and the various congregations connected with the synods support-
ing the Home are of frequent occurrence and consist of a variety
of things from valuable and useful articles down to the smallest
things of use in the home. A modernly equipped dairy furnishes
all the milk and butter products from the Home herd. Not con-
sidering the products of the Home it costs about $48,000 annually
to sustain the Home.
in a word we are proud to have within the borders of Perry
County this wonderful institution, supported entirely by volun-
tary contributions. As a native Perry Countian the author be-
lieves that he expresses an opinion that is unanimous. Children
who are deprived of either parent, or of father and mother, are
denied or deprived of many of the inherent rights of childhood,
and it is into this breach that the Tressler Orphans' Home steps
and gives the orphan children of Lutheran parents a home, plenty
of food for the development of their bodies, proper clothing for
their protection, a liberal education and the ability to work. A
nurse is in continual attendance and a physician within a moment's
call. It is a creditable work that has been so successfully conducted
for a period of over a half-century by practically two men, Rev.
Philip Willard and Charles A. Widle, the present superintendent,
and one of whom the great Lutheran denomination should be
proud.
The County Home.
Before the formation of Perry County, the county home of
Cumberland County was located at the site of the present Perry
County Home. On April 12, 18 10, the directors of the poor and
of the House of Employment of Cumberland County purchased
from Adam Bernheisel, of Tyrone Township, his farm of 112
acres, the same having been warranted by William McClure in
1763. The sum paid was $5,196.36. In those days contracting
'was not done in the modern way and the records show that on
360 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
< >i 1 ul XT 8, 1810, the contract for masonry on the County Home
was let to Robert Cree for $1,900, for carpenter work to George
Libey ( Leiby) for $1,850, and for plastering to Thomas Redding
for $230 — making the cost of the entire building $3,980. The
building was located east of the present one and sufficed at that
time for all the territory which comprised Cumberland County,
which, of course, included the territory of present-day Perry.
When Perry County was formed the institution became the
property of the new county, with the proviso that the poor of Cum-
berland County be allowed to remain for several years, which con-
dition was carried out. The previous owner, Adam Bernheisel,
had erected a brick dwelling house, which was used by the steward
as a residence. In 1839 the almshouse was burned to the ground
and was rebuilt at once, Samuel Shuman being the contractor. The
building erected at that time stood until 1871, when it was replaced
by the present one.
The present County Home is a four-story building of brick, con-
taining about seventy rooms. Its partitions are of brick and the
stairways are of iron. Its cost was approximately $60,000, includ-
ing improvements. The county commissioners who were in office
at the time of its building were John Stephens, Zachariah Rice, and
J. A. Leinaweaver. J. R. Shuler was their clerk. It is located on
the road connecting Loysville with Landisburg, and the fine farm
produces much of the edibles of the large family which is housed
in the institution. Those who are not aged and whose health is
good help in the many duties around the farm and home. The
equipment belongs to the county. There is record of the court
appointing visitors to the County Home during the period of
1 850- 1 860.
The steward at this time is Robert Eaton, under whose manage-
ment, with the able assistance of Mrs. Eaton, the Home is con-
ducted in a practical manner. The building is neat, clean and in
order, and the farm in good shape. The present board of directors
is composed of G. W. Dunkle, of Duncannon ; S. A. Shope, of
Marysville, and E. M. Wilt, of Andersonburg.
The clerk and secretary to the board of directors from January
1, 1882, to January 1, 1911, was H. D. Stewart. Since then
Samuel Ebert is the incumbent.
As showing some of its activities the following facts are copied
from the financial statement of 1920: Seven outdoor physicians
over the county were paid $189.75 for attending the poor. Six
undertakers were paid $300 for burying eleven persons, all save
one in other parts of the county. Merchandise amounting to $2,-
627.54 was purchased for the institution, being mostly for food
and clothing. The salaries and expenses of the three directors,
the steward, the matron, the farmer, the clerk, the minister, the
ACADEMIES AND PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS 361
attorney, and the physician only total $2,058.82, surely a creditable
showing. Products not used at the Home retailed for $1,051.37,
which more than covered the cash expenditure of $1,005.53, for
the current needs of the Home and farm. Outdoor relief checks
totaled $1,295, and outdoor relief through stores amounted to
$191.06.
The number of inmates at the Home in the beginning of the
year was fifty-six, twenty-six males and thirty females. During
the year three males and three females were admitted. Two were
dismissed and one died, which closed the year with twenty-six
males and thirty-three females. Tramps were relieved to the num-
ber of 150, one being a female. During the year the following
clothing and bedding were made at the Home: 100 sheets, 100
pillowcases, 25 bedspreads, 10 chaff ticks, 75 towels, 6 tablecloths,
58 aprons, 19 dresses, 15 comforts, 12 pillows, and 10 children's
dresses.
The farm produced 600 bushels of wheat, 1,000 bushels of oats,
2,500 baskets of corn in the ear, four bushels of clover-seed, 500
bushels of potatoes, five bushels of sweet potatoes, six bushels of
turnips, fifteen bushels of onions, fifty bushels of tomatoes, and
2,000 heads of cabbage, besides all the small garden vegetables
used at the Home. The pork dressed, weighed 6,000 pounds, and
the beef, 900 pounds.
At the formation of the new county the first steward was George
Hackett. Beginning in 1839 — the records prior to that having
been destroyed by the fire which burned the building — the stewards
were :
1840-43— Daniel Minich. 1870-74 —Joseph S. Bistline.
1844-50— Benjamin Rice. 1875-76 —Isaac B. Trostle.
185 1 — H. Kleckner. 1876-79 —Henry P. Lightner.
1852-54— Benjamin Balthauser. 1879-82 — T. P. Orner.
1855-57— Jacob Balthauser. 1882-90 —P. G. Kell.
1858-59— Samuel P. Campbell. 1890-1911— John R. Boden.
1860-62— Thomas W. Morrow. 1911-12 —Irwin I. Rice.
1863-66— John Hopple. 1912-14 — Wm. J. Rice.
1867-69— Jeremiah Minich. 1914- —Robert J. Eaton.
The following paragraph, from the Perry Forester, of April
14, 1824, tells of the removal of the first of the inmates of Cum-
berland County, by the officials of that county :
"About forty of the paupers belonging to Cumberland County.
passed through Landisburg this morning from the poorhouse in
this county, on their way to Cumberland, attended by the commis-
sioners and some of the overseers of that county. About ten of
the Cumberland poor have been left by the overseers to be boarded,
which makes about twenty in all, in the Perry County poorhouse
at present." That word pauper is happily no longer in use in the
county press.
c
CHAPTER XIX.
POSTRIDER AND STAGECOACH.
ARVED in large granite letters along the Eighth Avenue
side of the massive New York post office building is this
inscription :
"Neither rain nor snow nor heat nor gloom of
night stays these couriers from the swift com-
pletion of their appointed rounds."
Herodotus, who lived some twenty-five centuries ago, was the
author of those words, but he was referring to the military cour-
iers of the Persian Cyrus — tireless horsemen who sped from place
to place throughout the empire. And yet they seem not inappro-
priate to the army of postmen from the time of the postrider down
to their present-day successors in city and country or to those tire-
less workers who work through the night on speeding trains, dis-
tributing the mails for the four corners of the earth. When storms
rage and equinoctial torrents fall the city carrier and rural de-
livery man are on their "appointed rounds." They are the only
representatives of the great United States government who come
to every man's door.
When Cumberland County was established in 1750 there was
no regular post from Philadelphia, neither did such exist at the
time of the Albany treaty in 1754, nor when the first settlers war-
ranted lands in what is now Perry County a year later. The trou-
bles with the Indians were largely responsible for the establishment
in 1757 of a weekly horseback post, history recording it as "in-
tended to better enable the governor and the assembly to com-
municate with 'his majesty's' subjects on the frontier." The first
regular post from Philadelphia to New York started in 1756, and
from Harrisburg to Pittsburgh, in 1786.
Just when the first ronte was established that carried the mails
to Perry County territory is unknown, but in 1798 Postmaster
( General Joseph Habersham issued proposals for carrying the mails,
once in two weeks, over the following routes: "From Harrisburg,
by Clark's Ferry, Millerstown, Thompsontown, Mifflintown,
Lewistown, Huntingdon, Alexandria, Bellefonte, Aaronsburg,
Miffiinburg, Eewisburg, Northumberland, and Sunbury to Harris-
burg. The mail to leave Harrisburg from October 15 to April 15,
every other Monday at 6 o'clock a. m., returning the next Mon-
day, by 7 p. m. Other seasons of the year in proportion to days'
length."
362
POSTRIDF.R AND STAGECOACH 363
Witli the turnpike came the stagecoach, considered a great affair
in that day. They continued to run until the advent of the packet
boat and even then ran during the winter months when (lie canal
could not be operated. John and Janus Patterson, of Millerstown,
drove the stagecoach which operated between that place and Clark's
Ferry about the time of the building of the canal. A whip with
four-in-hand was then the admiration of the youngsters, as are
aeroplanes of to-day. So regularly did they run upon schedule
time that residents of the wayside referred to their passing to set
their clocks, we are told.
In the days when the mails between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh
were carried by stagecoach a Perry Countian had a unique experi-
ence. Isaiah Clark, a Millerstown merchant, was on his way to
Philadelphia to purchase goods, and when near Philadelphia the
stagecoach was held up by three outlaws known as Wilson, Poteet,
and Porter. According to the late John A. Baker's version of the
affair, Clark counseled the occupants to resist, as the stage was
well filled. With pointed pistols facing them, however, all stood
while they were searched and robbed. One man hastily secreted
his purse in one of the cushions by ripping it and thus saved his
belongings. The mail pouch was rifled, which at that time was a
capital offence. The robbers being apprehended, Wilson and
Poteet are said to have been hanged. Porter, who turned "state's
evidence," was pardoned by President Andrew Jackson.
The earliest record of an effort to run a stage line into the county
was made in 1808, announcement to the public being made as
follows :
Juniata Maie Stage.
The subscribers beg leave to inform the public, that on the 3d day of
May next, their Stage will commence running from Harrisburg by the
way of Clark's Ferry, Millerstown, Thompsontown, Mifflintown, Lewis-
town, Waynesburg, and Huntingdon, to Alexandria, once a week. Leave
the House of Mr. Berryhill, Harrisburg, every Tuesday, at 1 o'clock p.m.,
and arrive at Alexandria on the Friday following ; returning, leave Alex-
andria every Saturday morning and arrive at Harrisburg on Tuesday
morning.
As the company have procured elegant and convenient Carriages, good
Horses, and careful drivers, they flatter themselves that the passage of
those who may please to favor them with their custom, will be rendered
safe, easy and agreeable.
Fare for travelers, 6 cents per mile, each entitled to 14 pounds baggage,
gratis; 150 pounds baggage equal to a passenger.
John Walker, George Mulhollan,
John M'Connell, Thomas Cochran,
George Gaebraith, John M. Davidson,
April 14, 1808. Robert Ceark.
N. B. Horses and chairs will be procured at the different towns, for
those passengers who wish to go off the road or proceed further than
Alexandria.
364 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY PENNSYLVANIA
On the afternoon of May 3 the stage "Experiment" arrived at
Clark's Ferry, crossed Duncan's Island and arrived at Millerstown
before nightfall. Such was the beginning of an enterprise which
was to continue many years and which was in that day an innova-
tion. The route was later extended to Pittsburgh and connected
with a similar one at Harrisburg for Philadelphia.
In April, 1828 — twenty years later — this line of stages began
running daily from Harrisburg to Pittsburgh. In the meantime
it had progressed from once a week to three times a week. About
1830 the three sections of stage lines was converged into two, with
the terminus of each at Huntingdon, the eastern section being
operated by Calder, Wilson & Co. Passengers were then con-
veyed from Philadelphia to Huntingdon in two days, and from
Huntingdon to Pittsburgh in three and a half days. By 1832 it
had so far advanced that passengers arrived at Huntingdon by
4 o'clock of the second day, and at Pittsburgh by evening of the
third day. To attain this speed the coaches ran both day and night,
as the trains do. At this same period an accommodation line was
run by day from Harrisburg to Pittsburgh, making the trip three
limes a week and consuming three and a half days.
Nature then was the same as now, and the elements frequently
caused serious delays in the mails, sometimes as much as several
days. The line was not without competition, and with the building
of turnpikes during the period was enabled to progress as it did.
Before the organization of Perry County, on May 26, 181 7,
and also in 1819, J. Meigs, then postmaster general, advertised for
bids to carry the United States mails over seventy-one routes in
Pennsylvania, among which were the following routes through or
contiguous to Perry County territory:
Route 49. From Harrisburg by Halifax, Selinsgrove and Sunbury, to
Northumberland, twice a week, 55 miles. Leave Harrisburg every Sunday
and Wednesday at 4 a. m., and arrive at Northumberland next day by
11 a.m. Leave Northumberland every Monday and Friday at 2 p.m., and
arrive at Harrisburg next day by 6 p. m.
Route 68. From Harrisburg by Clark's Ferry, Millerstown, Thompson-
town, Mifflintown, Lewistown, McVeytown and Huntingdon to Alexandria,
twice a week, 100 miles. Leave Harrisburg every Tuesday and Saturday
at noon, and arrive at Alexandria Thursday and Monday by 6 p. m. Leave
Alexandria every Saturday and Thursday at 6 a. m., and arrive at Harris-
burg Tuesday and Saturday by 9 a. m.
Route 70. From Carlisle by Wagner's Gap, Landisburg and Shower's
Mill to Douglas' Mill, once a week, 24 miles. Leave Carlisle every Friday
at 5 a. m., and arrive at Douglas' Mill by 2 p. m. Leave Douglas' Mill
every Thursday at noon and arrive at Carlisle by 6 p. m.
Two years later, in 18 19, the above routes were again adver-
tised and the following- one in addition :
P0STR1DER AND STAGECOACH 365
Route 73. From Frederickstown, Maryland, by Creagertown, Maryland;
Emmittsburg, Maryland; Gettysburg, Stary's, Carlisle, Shearman's Creek,
Millerstown, Straubtown, Mt. Pleasant Mills and Selinsgrove to Sunbury,
once a week, 129 miles. Leave Fredericktown every Tuesday at 2 p. m.,
and arrive at Sunbury Friday by 6 p. m. Leave Sunbury every Saturday
at 6 a. m., and arrive at Fredericktown by Tuesday at 10 a. m.
At the time (if the county's organization, in 1820, there was a
weekly mail from Carlisle to Landisburg, according to an an-
nouncement in the initial issue of the I'crry Forester, the new-
county's first newspaper, printed at Landisburg July 12, 1820.
The first mails carried into the county and through it were carried
on horseback. An original route ran through Landisburg to Car-
lisle, and that part of it exists to this day, having passed from
horseback to stagecoach, and now to automobile. When first
established the mail was carried over this route once a week, then
twice a week, later three times a week, and for many years daily.
As trails became roads so the old stagecoach, the prototype of the
ones seen in present-day moving picture shows, succeeded the
horseback method, and the celebrated Rice stage lines became
known not only throughout Perry County, but over the state and
in many other states. There are many men and women living to-
day, not yet past their "early forties," who rode on these famous
stages. The Rice family at Landisburg owned these routes and
were the original mail contractors in the territory.
At the present time, early in 1920, the mails leave Landisburg
in the morning, exchanging mails at Alinda and Shermansdale, in
Perry County, and at Carlisle Springs, in Cumberland County
(the latter service discontinued), returning in the afternoon. This
and the Ickesburg-Newport route are the only original post roads
yet in use in the county.
Another of these early contract routes where the mails were for-
warded by horseback was from New Germantown to Landisburg.
The first contractor was William Gray, whose nephew, Wilson W.
Morrison, carried the mails in saddlebags thrown across the horse's
back. This was about 1853, as near as Mr. Morrison can recollect,
for with Mrs. Morrison, he still resides at New Germantown. The
distance was about seventeen miles, and the courier left New Ger-
mantown at seven in the morning and returned about six in the
evening, stopping for the exchange of mails at Loysville, Centre.
Andersonburg, and Multicaulisville (now Blain). He first car-
ried it once a week, and later twice a week. The late W. H. Wag-
goner (1919) distinctly remembered the boy postrider on this
route. Samuel Ebert, of Loysville, also distinctly remembers
when it was carried by Mr. Morrison in saddlebags, in 1848, on
its weekly trip, each Saturday. Samuel Lupfer, born 1825, car-
ried the mail when a boy from, New Bloomfield to Milford (now
366 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
Wila). In 1851 there was a similar horseback route from Ickes-
burg to Landisburg, Roseburg being served on the way, with the
late Prof. Wm. C. Shuman as postboy. Jacob Shuman was the
contractor. Long years afterwards Prof. Shuman recalled swarms
of locusts, which often struck him in the face while riding the
mail route, that being "locust year." Jacob and Henry Stambaugh
were early postmen out of Landisburg.
As recent as "the late sixties" (prior to 1870) a stagecoach made
two trips a week over the mountain from New Germantown to
Concord, Franklin County, carrying the United States mail and
passengers. Later it was changed to three trips a week. Some
of the original patrons still reside along the route.
According to a tradition, which is in all probability true, there
was once a through mail route to the West via Liberty Valley and
through what is now the McClure State Forest. According to a
stale forest report one of the main forest roads has been developed
from this original trail or route.
In the original issue of the Perry Forester, dated July 12, 1820,
a]>] tears the following advertisement, which shows the method of
travel of the period :
Harrisburg and Bellefontc
Mail Stage.
This line will commence running on the
First Day of April
next. The Stage will leave Buffington's Inn, at Harrisburg, every Friday
at noon, and arrive at Bellefonte every Sunday afternoon; returning.
leave Bellefonte every Wednesday morning, and arrive at Harrisburg every
Friday morning.
Fare For Passengers.
From Harrisburg to Clark's Ferry, $1.00
From Clark's Ferry to Millerstown, 1.00
From Millerstown to Lewistown, 2.00
From Lewistown to Bellefonte, 2.00
From Harrisburg to Bellefonte, 6.00
Way passengers, 7 cents a mile; 17 lbs. of baggage allowed to each
passenger — all above that weight to be charged as follows: 150 lbs. at the
rate of proportion. All baggage at the risk of the owner.
Robert Clark & Co.
Clark s Ferry, March 17, 1820.
The Huntingdon, Juniata Mail Stage leaves Harrisburg as usual every
Tuesday at noon.
Two years later a stage line was put on between Clark's Ferry
(now Duncannon) and Concord, Franklin County, as the follow-
ing announcement, also from the Perry Forester, will show :
Clark's Ferry, Landisburg and Concord.
United States Mail Coach.
This line has commenced running —
The coach will leave Clark's Ferry every Wednesday morning at 4
POSTRIDER AND STAGECOACH 367
o'clock, passengers take breakfast at Landisburg and arrive at Concord
the same evening. Returning leaves Concord on Thursday morning and
arrive at Clark's Ferry the same evening.
The line is connected with the Northern route to Pittsburg, so that pas-
sengers can go on to Harrisburg without delay.
Fare For Passengers.
From Clark's Ferry to Landisburg, $1.00
From Landisburg to Concord, 1.25
Way passengers, per mile, .o6J4
Fourteen pounds baggage allowed to each passenger — all packages above
that weight to be charged as follows: 150 lbs. at the weight of a pas-
senger, greater or less weight in proportion. All baggage at the risk of
the owner. Robert Clark.
April ii, 1822.
The Perry Forester announced this route May 10. 1821, but it
appears not to have started until March 6, 1822. The original an-
nouncement called for a route "from Clark's Ferry via Landis-
burg, Douglas' Mill, and Concord, to Fannettsburg."
Robert Clark, of Clark's Ferry (now Duncannon), on October
23, 1822, announces a stage line from Bellefonte, Philipsburg,
Franklin, and Meadville. On March 23, 1825, a line was an-
nounced as starting from Clark's Ferry, through New Bloomfield
via Ickesburg, to Landisburg, the first day; to Concord via Doug-
las' Mill (Blain), the second day; back to Ickesburg via Landis-
burg the third day, and to Clark's Ferry via Bloomfield the fourth
day.
There was once a mail route from Liverpool to New Berlin,
Union County.
On June 12, 1828, another route was announced through the
new county. It was to leave Millerstown at 6 o'clock on Thurs-
day and pass through Milford and Bloomfield to Landisburg, re-
turning the same day. On Friday at 6 o'clock it was to leave Mil-
lerstown, going via Liverpool, Montgomery's Ferry, Thompson's
Crossroads, and Clark's Ferry, to Bloomfield. The next morning,
Saturday, it was to start from Bloomfield and go to Carlisle via
Landisburg and Sterrett's Gap. Clark abandoned the lines after
a time and the mails were again carried by postriders until the ad-
vent of the Rice stage line.
The mails, when first started to be carried with any regularity,
were carried once every two weeks, and then by horseback. The
route from Harrisburg to Huntingdon required four days' travel
each way. One of the offices was at Clark's Ferry, then where
Clark's Run enters the Susquehanna at what is now Duncannon.
Storms, freshets with impassable streams, icebound streams and
the "indisposition" of the carrier caused innumerable delays.
Upon the completion of the Pennsylvania Canal in 1829-30 a
line of daily packets was put on from Columbia to Harrisburg by
368 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
Calder & Wilson, and the mails came to Columbia by rail, to Har-
risburg by packet, and continued further by stagecoach, more re-
mote sections using the horseback method. The packets ran until
superseded by the railway service in 1849. It may interest the
reader to know that the first overland mail route was only inaugu-
rated April 3, i860, when a rider and pony left St. Joseph, Mis-
souri, and arrived at Sacramento, California, April nth. This
route later used stagecoaches. When ponies were yet in use and
the mail carried in saddlebags William F. Cody (Buffalo Bill) was
one of the riders. The postage was $5 per half-ounce and 200
letters were carried on the initial trip. In 1861, according to the
provisions of a bill passed by Congress the rate for letters to the
Pacific slope was made 10 cents.
In early days there were no envelopes, nor postage stamps, and
a return from Perry County to the state in 1826 is cited as an ex-
ample. It was not enclosed in any envelope or wrapping, but was
sealed with red sealing wax, the method then in use, and marked
Landisburg, Pa., 1826. It was addressed to David Mann, Auditor
General, and on one corner, underscored, are the words "On Pub-
lic Service." Opposite that, in place of stamps, the figures
"123/2." Another document is addressed to Jacob Huggins, Esq.,
Member of Assembly, Harrisburg. It is sealed the same way and
is marked "Clark's Ferry, July 21, 1825." It is a petition to have
a justice of the peace appointed for New Bloomfield, the county
seat, and states that "the jail is completed and the prisoners con-
fined therein ; we are in such cases compelled to go miles to the
nearest justice." John Harper was appointed.
Postage stamps were first used in 1847. The postage rate had
been fixed in 1 790 at six cents per half -ounce for thirty miles, and
were graduated up until the rate was twenty-five cents for four
hundred miles or more. The first great reduction in postage was
in 1845, when the rate upon letters was made five cents per half-
ounce for less than three hundred miles, and ten cents for greater
distances. In 185 1 letter postage was decreased to three cents for
distances less than 300 miles, and in 1855 prepayment of postage
was made compulsory.
The whole post office idea originated with John Hamilton, of
New Jersey, whose father was Andrew Hamilton, governor of the
Province of Pennsylvania from 1701 to 1703. Philadelphia had
no post office until 1700. Jonathan Dickinson announced in 1717
that "a regular post lias just been established between Virginia and
the northern colonies, once a month in summer, and once in two
months in winter."
The inauguration of a number of the old Perry County stage
lines dates to the following periods :
POSTRIDER AND STAGECOACH 369
I.andisburg to New Germantown, 17 miles, in 1855, with Zach. Rice, Jr.,
;is contractor.
I.andisburg to Newport, 17 miles, in 1852, with Zach. Rice, Sr., as con-
tractor.
Ickesburg to Newport, 16 miles, in 1864, with Samuel L,. Kice as con-
tractor.
Ickesburg to Millerstown, 12 miles, in 1864, with Samuel L,. Rice as
contractor.
On January 10, 1856, the Post Office Department advertised for
bids for carrying the mails over the following routes, for four
years, from July 1, 1856, to July 1, i860:
From Newport, by Juniata (now Wila), Bosserman's Mills (now Mar-
kelville) and Roseburg, to Ickesburg, 16 miles and back, three times a
week, Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.
From Newport, by New Bloomfield and EHiottsburg, to Landisburg, 19
miles and back, six times a week.
From EHiottsburg, by Andesville (now Loysville), Centre, Anderson-
burg and Blain, to New Germantown, 18 miles and back, twice a week,
Tuesday and Friday. (Just before starting the contract, on June 25, this
was changed to tri-weekly.)
From Millerstown, by Donally's Mills, to Ickesburg, 14 miles and back,
three times a week.
Zachariah Rice, Sr., was awarded the contracts, and subcon-
tracted the routes, principally to his sons. In fact, Mr. Rice was
one of the largest mail contractors in the state, at a little later
period. At one time he had over five hundred contracts, the great
majority of which he sublet. The Perry and Cumberland County
routes, however, were operated by him and his sons, of which he
had seven. These Rice brothers are remembered by many people
yet in middle life whose first glimpse of the outer world came after
an overland trip in one of the Rice stages. They were Samuel L.
Rice, Jesse Rice, William Rice, Henry C. Rice. James C. Rice,
Zachariah Rice II, and Joseph A. Rice. Several of them, in turn,
had become large mail contractors in far-away states. In inland
hamlet and town in Perry County these famous Rice stages were
awaited just as anxiously in their day as are the overland trains
of to-day, with their missives of love and devotion and those other
tidings which bring pain and anguish to the human heart. Their
rumble is but a memory.
Once, during the period from i860 to 1870, the Rices were out-
bid and they then continued the stage line from New Germantown
to Newport on their personal account, the passage between the two
points dropping to as low as 25 cents. The Newport-New Bloom-
held line was discontinued in 1892.
With the advent of the railroads mail began to be carried in
pouches to and from central distributing points, Harrisburg
being that point in so far as Perry County was concerned, but in
1864, the railway postal service was inaugurated with the distribu-
-'4
37°
HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
tion of letters and other mail en route, a system which had become
so perfected by the end of the past century that it was a marvel.
Through the distribution of the mails on moving trains, when ar-
riving at an important junction point like Pittsburgh, the mails
are all routed and ready for dispatch over the various connecting
railroads to all points of the compass. The system is the work of
no one man, but is the result of experiment and many different
men's minds for over a half century. Almost a half hundred
Perry Countians find employment in this branch of the govern-
ment service.
Since the termination of the World War of 1914-18 a number
of different routes throughout the United States have been estab-
lished for the carrying of the mails by aeroplane, but without ma-
terial success. They are more or less of a novelty and are not prac-
tical yet, and it is to be doubted if they ever will be. Their cost
far exceeds any material advantage to be gained. From the two
crests of Berry's Mountain at and opposite Mt. Patrick, where it
is broken by the Susquehanna River, there is suspended a mighty
strand of telephone wire. On September 7, 1920, one of these
through mail flyers, passing low and following the river through
the fog, struck this long wire and was instantly killed, his machine
being wrecked upon the rocks of the river.
Some Early Post Officks.
A volume known as "The Gazetteer of Pennsylvania," pub-
lished in 1832, contains a list of all the post offices in Perry County,
with the incumbents at that period. The list :
Andersonburg, James R. Morrison.
Beelen's Ferry, Francis Beelen.
Clark's Ferry, Eleazer Owen.
Douglas' Mills, Anthony Black.
F.lliottsburg, Henry C. Hackett.
Ickesburg, William Robert.
Juniata, John W. Bosserman.
Juniata Falls, Alexander Watson.
Junction, John B. Klein.
Landisburg, Francis Kelly.
Liverpool, James Jackman.
Millerstown, Edward Purcell.
Montgomery's Ferry, Win. Mont-
gomery.
New Bloomfield, Joseph Duncan.
New Buffalo, John Livingston.
New Germantown, James Ewing.
Newport, Ephraim Bosserman.
Oak Grove Furnace, John Hays.
The locations of some of these offices will puzzle many. Bee-
len's Ferry was on the Juniata near present Bailey Station, in Mil-
ler Township. Clark's Ferry was at the west end of that ferry at
its early landing at Clark's Run, near the centre of Duncannon
Borough, in the house now owned and occupied by Joseph Smith.
Duncannon and even Petersburg did not then exist. Douglas'
Mill was where Blain is. Juniata was at Mil ford, now Wila post
office. Juniata Falls was at the Patterson tavern, now Lewis
Stecklev's, in Howe Township, on the Allegheny turnpike. June-
POSTRIDEK AND STAGECOACH
^tt s T„t e r Ct t.° ftheJUnia,aMdSusa -«^"a Rivers
Opposite this lower location of n-,,-1-' ff • i , .
Ferry is spoken of as earlv is tS.t ti Y Montgomery s
John H. Thompson was appointed postmaster there "
in March, .L" L t^vas c' "B! t'f ^T^ "" 0petled
as postmaster In Decetnber nf ' ' W " h """ l ' d Black
changed to ,uniata wZ,1 " ,e sa " ,e >' e; "' ,ts "ame was
The post office TCiata S ^JTT "T^ P ° Staasto
was opened in Tu„ e q i" f"^ , Township (now Howe).
and h^iottshur "-a' $* ^ t^r^H "1 r^'
postmaster There wn, nn, , A nomas J . btevens as
Bai ly sh„r g , hm rwirComin^ inTs^ *** ^ ^
-h^m: a ^;Ln:;r ofcs ,ocated wi "™ ^^-
Alinda. T ,.i. .
A , , ickesburar. i\,r;n t
Andersonburg r. n j-, s Millerstown.
Centre. Liverpool. New Buffalo '
r>- > t^ l.ogama. M„„, o„
Cisna's Run. r^,,;,., New Germantown.
Duncannon. H j, Newport.
Elliottsburg M," "• Shermansdale:
Green Park. Marysville. Wila
The total number is twentv-twn Th P I-** j-
were Saville nnrl lw ♦ , vT aSt ones discontinued
Cie ocivitie and Montgomery's Ferrv 4hm,f ft, <-• r , ■
-■nction of the rnra, dehve^ se^ice tt^wt ^If '"
37^
HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
Acker.
Alinda.
Andersonburg.
Berlee.
Bixler.
Plain.
Centre.
Cisna Run.
Cove.
Dellville.
Donally's Mills.
Dromgold.
Duncannon.
Elliottsburg.
Erly.
Eshcol.
Falling Springs.
Ferguson.
Mount Patrick.
Nekoda.
New Bloomfield.
New Buffalo.
New Germantown.
Newport.
Pfoutz Valley.
Reward.
Roseburg.
Sandy Hill.
Saville.
Scyoc.
Shermansdale.
Sterrett's Gap.
Walsingham.
Wardville.
*Wila.
tOlmsted.
With the advent of rural delivery many Perry County post of-
fices were discontinued. In 1890 there were fifty-two offices, as
follows :
Green Park.
Grier's Point.
Hencli.
Ickesburg.
*Juniata.
Keystone.
Kistler.
Landisburg.
Lebo.
Liverpool.
Logania.
Loysville.
Mannsville.
Markelville.
Marsh Run.
Marysville.
Millerstown.
Montgomery's Ferry.
Establishment of the Rural Routes.
There are twenty-seven rural mail routes starting" from Perry
County post offices, serving the population of Perry and some of
the residents of Dauphin, Juniata, and Snyder Counties, as fol-
lows: Andersonburg, Blain, Elliottsburg, Marysville, and Ickes-
burg, one route each ; Landisburg, Liverpool, Loysville, and Sher-
mansdale, two each; New Bloomfield and Newport, three each;
Duncannon and Millerstown, four each. The initiative action to-
wards securing this service within the county is to b 
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