ALLEGHENY TOWNSHIP - 675 They reached the Indian camp two miles above Butler before dark, and at night put her into a large dark bottom up a run, where they cut the brush in a thicket and pinioned her arms back, but left her hands with a little liberty. The next night they changed her to another station in the same valley. On the morning of the 24th, when her guard fell asleep, she escaped with her infant at her breast, being guided in her directions by a flock of robins, and wandered about, often hiding in rocks and caves to escape her pursuers, who frequently passed almost over her. On Saturday, May 26th, the fifth day, she struck the headwaters of Pine Creek, which falls into the Allegheny four miles above Pittsburgh, not then knowing where she was. Several times she had narrow escapes from wolves. and rattlesnakes. Changing her course she came to Squaw Run (head-waters), and in the evening to within a mile of Allegheny River. The next morning (Sunday), the sixth day, she was wellnigh exhausted, but wandered around, and came opposite to the fort at the point of Six-Mile Island. She saw three men on the other side of the river and called tO' them, but they seemed unwilling to risk the danger of coming after her, and requested to know who she was. She replied, and they asked her to walk up the bank for a while to see if the Indians were making a decoy of her or not ; but she answered that her feet were so sore that she could not walk. Then one of them, James Closier, got into a canoe to fetch her, and the other two stood on the bank With their rifles cocked ready to fire on the Indians provided they were using her as a decoy. When Mr. Closier came near the shore and saw her haggard situation lie exclaimed, " Who in the name of God are you ?" He was one of her nearest neighbors before she was taken, yet in six days she was so much altered that he did not know her, either by her voice or countenance. She had her infant at her breast, and was at once taken to the fort, where two of the women, Sarah Carter and Mary Ann Crozier, picked out of her feet and legs one hundred and fifty thorns, as counted by Felix Nigley, and the next evening at Pittsburgh as many more were extracted. After her capture the Indians, who had left her, went to John Curry's house and plundered and burned it, and then continued on to Puckety. But the inhabitants hearing of their approach were flying in every direction. A mile up the creek they fell in with the families of Flail and Mellon. The Indians fired upon them, wounding the two men and old Mrs. Flail, and captured Elizabeth, Mr. Flail's eldest daughter. They burned the house and barn of Hugh Mellon. Some sixty women and children, who had fled from their respective homes, collected together that night at the house of Mr. McLaughlin, where the Indians came and took a number of horses from the field. On the 24th they killed Bartholomew Garvey, who was on his way to Reed's Station with two horse-loads of bacon for the garrison there ; this happened fifty rods from Chambers' Station. In the following week Samuel Holmes, wife and daughter, on Crooked Creek, were taken prisoners. Miss Elizabeth Flail was six months in captivity. Shortly after Mrs. Harbison's return from captivity she and her husband removed to Coe's Station, seventeen miles above Pittsburgh, to begin life anew, having lost all their effects by the savages. There were no more Indian incursions until 1794, after St. Clair's defeat. In June of that year they attacked a canoe going up the Allegheny, and killed John Carter and wounded William Cousins and Peter Kinner. Two or three days after this the savages attacked the boat of Capt. Sharp as he was descending the Kiskiminetas River, about fifteen miles from its mouth, and killed four of his men and mortally wounded the captain himself, who survived the wounds a few weeks and died in Pittsburgh. The boat, in which they were killed and wounded floated down the stream, entered the Allegheny, and passed two stations in the night without being discovered, or without the assistance of any one on board to steer or to row her, and came opposite to Thomas Gurty's, a little below the mouth of Deer Creek, when the fourth man died, and when the women who were in the boat, fearing that the captain was about to die and that they would be left alone, called to the people on shore for their assistance, who immediately put off a boat to their rescue, and brought their boat to the shore. Four of the men had wives in the boat with them, who were compelled to witness the murder of their husbands, and to sit in their blood as it flowed freely and warm from their veins. The wife of Capt. Guthrie, who was in the boat with her husband, was shortly after she arrived in Pittsburgh delivered of her ninth child. In December, 1794, Mrs. Harbison and her husband removed again to the waters of Bull Creek. Her husband was at this time a spy and only came home once in eight or ten days. In the following spring they removed to the mouth of Buffalo Creek, at Cregg's Station. In the middle of May, on the approach of the Indians, all the women and children at the station, under the command of Mrs. Harbison, got into a pirogue, assisted by Mrs. Mahaffey, and floated down to Owen's Station, where there were some men to protect them. In 1791, John Clough was in the corps commanded by Capt. John Cregg, 1 stationed on Crooked Creek, on the borders of Westmoreland County. Most of the settlers lived this year at the station of nights, but John Kilpatrick remained on his clearing. One morning in March the Indians attacked his house and fired through the door, wounding a man who kept the door, and killing a child lying in a cradle. Mr. Kilpatrick and one of the militia went into the loft, made an incision in the wall, and began to fire on the Indians, and killed one of them on the spot 1 Or Craig. 676 - HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. whereupon the rest made a precipitate retreat. Mrs. Kilpatrick remained below, busily engaged in running bullets, while her husband and his companions were firing them off. Allegheny township, from its peculiar position between the Allegheny and Kiskiminetas River, was specially subject to Indian outrages at a time when the remainder of the county was enjoying comparative security. SCHOOLS. The condition of the schools in 1834, when the first free-school law was enacted, was as follows : The districts were few in number, and the houses built of logs and poorly seated, only rude slabs, without any support for the back, to which all the other appliances seemed to correspond. The schools were very large, often numbering over a hundred. The discipline was then enforced by a free use of the birch, for such a thing as moral suasion was not tolerated at that time, but it gradually and slowly made its appearance, and unless the master treated the scholars when the holidays arrived he was of little value in the estimation of the pupils. Female teachers were not employed previous to 1834, and, in fact, the idea of a " girl" teaching school was wonderful to think about. The teachers did not have any order or system of recitation. In spelling many of the scholars seemed to be much interested, and many became fair spellers. The attendance was quite irregular, as many had a great distance to go. Among the teachers who were the most prominent were Samuel Owens, Luther Bills, George Crawford, Robert Jeffrey, Samuel McConnel , and Wilson Sproull. If any one desired to teach, he would first apply to a member of the committee, and if he looked fit to teach he was then sent to some very learned man to be examined, who after a few scattered questions had been asked on the different branches taught was pronounced duly qualified, and immediately entered upon his duties. The wages ranged from ten to twenty dollars per month. Among the leading men in education outside of those employed as teachers were James Fitzgerald, George Bovard, John Adman, and others. These men labored hard to advance the cause of education, yet there were not a few who worked hard in the opposite direction. From 1845 to 1860 the following persons were among the most prominent teachers : D. McKee, W. R. Trout, James Hawk, and others. The mode of teaching advanced slowly but surely ; such a thing as teachers' institutes was scarcely dreamed of, but after a great deal of reasoning on the part of the best. teachers the directors finally allowed the school-house for that purpose. In 1844 a debating society was started in what was then known as Crawford's school-house, and considerable interest was manifested by teachers and citizens. About 1851 an academy or select school was started near where Lober's school-house now stands. The professors were A. S Thorn and D. McKee, who flourished finely for some time and accomplished much good. The text-books in the early days in this township were the Bible and Testament, spelling-book, and Western Calculator. The schools at present are in a fair condition, with a live and progressive set of teachers and directors. PINE RUN PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH was organized by Revs. David Kirkpatrick and C. B. Bristol, with fifty-five members and four elders. It was reported. to Presbytery April 13, 1847, without stating the date when it was done. For some months it was statedly supplied by Rev. Andrew McElwain, when, greatly to the regret of this people, he was sent to missionate on the Allegheny Mountains. After this it was occasionally supplied until the last Tuesday of January, 1851, when Rev. T. S. Leason was installed its first pastor for half-time. Revs. L. M. Groves preached, S. M. McClung charged the pastor, and C. B. Bristol the people. His pastorate was very successful. He was released Jan. 10, 1855. During a vacancy of two years it depended on occasional supplies. Aug. 25, 1857, Rev. Robert McMillan, grandson of Rev. Dr. McMillan, patriarch of Presbyterianism in Western Pennsylvania, being ordained at Warren, was for half-time installed over Pine Run. Revs. John Starke preached from 2 Thess. iii. 1, S. M. McClung made the ordaining prayer, T. S. Leason charged the pastor, and W. W. Woodend the people. The labors of this humble, faithful, godly man, both publicly and from house to house, were so highly prized that for a year after he was disabled from pulpit services they would not allow his resignation. They only consented when all hope of his recovery was lost, and he was released April 13, 1864. Dec. 28, 1864, Rev. John Orr, also ordained at Warren, was installed for half-time over Pine Run. Revs. T. D. Ewing preached from Mark xv. 16, J. M. Jones presided, proposed the constitutional questions, and made the ordaining prayer, F. Orr charged the pastor, and Dr. Donaldson the people. To a very worthy pastor he was a not less worthy successor. In his pastorate an emergency arose such as often occasions serious divisions in congregations, the erection of a new church edifice, together with change of locality. Several circumstances connected with this case seemed strongly to portend a rupture there. But the cautious management of the pastor among a people by whom he was beloved obviated the threatened difficulty and kept the church united. But very soon after they got possession of their comfortable church a distressing neuralgic affection of the head and eyes constrained him to resign the charge, April 4, 1872. In all these pastoral relations it was connected with churches on the other side of the Kiskiminetas River, first with Leechburg, and in the other two with Warren, called Apollo, in 1868. At the close of the last pastorate by locality it came under care of Blairsville Presbytery. In 1873 it was statedly supplied in the last three ALLEGHENY TOWNSHIP - 677 months by Rev. J. Molton Jones, to which time., with many occasional supplies, two stated supplies, and three pastors, it had sent forth no minister. ALLEGHENY UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH is situated about one-fourth mile from Kiskiminetas and Allegheny Junction. Services were held May 23, 1873, in School-house No. 8, and the next day, at session of Presbytery there convened, members of the Puckety, Leechburg, and Freeport Churches were organized into the Allegheny congregation. The elders are William M. McDougal, A. W. Watt, John T. Watt, James Jones, Robert Dimmitt, and Jacob P. Vantine. The edifice was completed and occupied Oct. 17, 1875, under the auspices of its present pastor, Rev. M. M. Patterson. BROOKLAND REFORM ASSOCIATE CHURCH. This congregation was organized in 1832. Its first edifice was a log structure, and was in 1856 replaced by the present brick building. Its pastors have been : 1832 to 1843, Rev. Hugh Walkinshaw ; 1843 to 1860, Rev. Oliver Wylie, whose successor was the present pastor, Rev. Robert Reid. THE EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH is located just east of Leechburg Station. RAILROAD STATIONS, POST-OFFICES, ETC. The railroad stations are Soda-Works, McKean, Garver's Ferry, West Penn Junction (formerly Kiskiminetas and Allegheny Junction), and Leechburg, on the Allegheny Valley Railroad ; Bagdad, Grinder, and Townsend, on West Penn Railroad. The post-offices are Lucesco, McLaughlin's Store, and Shearer's Cross-Roads. EMPLOYMENTS. The two coal-mines at Leechburg, operated by a company, of which David B. Ashbaugh is part owner and sole lessee and superintendent, and the one at Bagdad, owned by Hicks & Schwalm, are the only ones in the township. The former employ two hundred men, and produce annually one hundred and fifty thousand tons of coal. THE LUCESCO OIL REFINERY was first an oil-manufacturing establishment making cannel coal oil, and was started in 1858 by Dr. Alter and others of Freeport. It employed a hundred and fifty men, and built thirty houses near its works, a few hundred yards south of the Western Pennsylvania Railroad Junction. It was operated a few years, when the discovery of petroleum oil at Oil City by Dr. Drake caused its abandonment, as it could not compete with the newly-discovered petroleum. A few rods southeast of the old oil refinery is ARCHIBALD DODDS' STORE, established by him in 1865. He is the son of Joseph Dodds, whose father, Archibald Dodds, an emigrant from County Monaghan, Ireland, settled some forty rods from the store here in 1825. The latter was a substantial citizen, and left a numerous offspring. Near Mr. Dodds' store reside the Reeds and Garvers, descendants of old pioneer families. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. JOHN H. TOWNSEND. Isaac Townsend was born in Chester County, where his English ancestors, of the Friends' Society, had settled in the first part of the eighteenth century. About the year 1800 he removed to Kiskiminetas township, in Armstrong County, where he had purchased a farm on the Kiskiminetas River. Here with his sons he was largely engaged in the manufacture of salt, and shortly after he became thus engaged the river from Darn No. 3 to Apollo was lined with these works, where now is but the one owned by Mr. Gammill. He used to ship the salt by boats to Pittsburgh, and pack it by horses over the mountains to the East, and afterwards his sons wagoned it to the Eastern cities. He married Mary King. Their children were John, Isaac, Henry, Robert, William, Joseph, Polly (married first to Simon Turney, and afterwards to Charles Gantz), and Susan (married to Daniel Ulam). Two other daughters died young. His second child, Isaac, married Mary Hill, daughter of John Hill (intermarried with Miss Waltz). Her father, John Hill, was one of the earliest and most prominent settlers on the Kiskiminetas River, and on it, in Allegheny township, very early erected a flouring-mill at what is now Bagdad Station, which was swept away two years after, as was another, built by Shiloh Hill and John Schwalm on the same site, a year later. The Hill family was of Irish extraction. The children of Isaac and Mary (Hill) Townsend were John Hill, Eden, Darius, Elizabeth (married to Samuel Owens), Levi, Delilah (married to David Burkit), Polly (married to James Moore), Rachel (married to John Moore), and Susan (married to William Kuhns). Mr. Townsend's father died Aug. 7, 1866, aged seventy-seven ; his mother died June 9, 1846, aged fifty. Of his father's family, Darius and Levi went to California in the time of the gold fever. They carried letters from Mrs. John Geary to her son, John W. Geary, afterwards Governor of this State. Levi died on shipboard on their outward passage, and Darius, after a residence of three years in California, went to Mexico, where he died. Eden Townsend, of the same family, a millwright by trade, was accidentally killed in a mill he was building at McKeesport. Of this family, John Henry, the eldest, was born May 30, 1819, in Armstrong County. He was raised on his father's farm, and first educated in the old-time subscription schools, but when a young man attended HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA - 678 those of the free-school system just then established. In 1832 his father removed to his present farm, located in the three-bottom tract of the " Horseshoe Bend" of the Kiskiminetas. It was then all in woods save a small clearing with a log house on it. The present frame mansion was erected about 1840. The place is a part of the original Johnston tract, very early patented. He was married June 26, 1849, to Eliza, daughter of John Burkit and Polly (Stout) Burkit, of Armstrong County. Their children are Newton E., Frank, Eden Augustus, Alice (married to William Adair), Barton Hill, Grant Burkit, and Florence. After his marriage Mr. Townsend removed to Apollo, and with his brother Eden erected a flouring-mill, in which he was engaged until 1854, when he came to the farm where he now resides. In politics he is a pronounced Democrat, and active in the counsels of his party, of which he is a leading exponent in the county. Ever largely identified with the cause of education, he was for twelve years one of the township school directors, and greatly contributed to the efficiency of the schools in his jurisdiction by elevating the system and in the erection of new and commodious school-houses. In 1878 he was elected a county commissioner, and served for three years, with great acceptance to the people. During this period his colleagues were Henry Keely and William Taylor, while the clerk of the board was Darwin Musick. During his administration the large and elegant " County Home" was erected,—an enduring monument to the honor and judgment of the board,—and many other valuable public improvements made. On, the building of the Western Pennsylvania Railroad, in which he warmly enlisted, he gave to the railroad company the right of way through his lands, and also two lots, for the foreman's house and water-plug. The company on his ground built a station and named it, in his honor, "Townsend." He is a member, with his family, of the Apollo Lutheran Church, to which he is a liberal contributor. His elegant seat, embracing some three hundred acres, is beautifully located three miles above Leechburg, on the banks of the Kiskiminetas, in a section rich in historic incidents and near the site of an old Indian town. He has lived to see this magnificent valley rescued from a wilderness and dotted over with fine farms and substantial houses. When a boy he helped to boat salt and grain in boat-sections to Hollidaysburg, but since then have passed away the old Portage Railroad and Pennsylvania Canal, and right by his door are daily seen passing by the fleet trains on a branch of the great railroad of the State,—its proud boast,—the "Pennsylvania." DAVID D. ASHBAUGH. Alexander Ashbaugh was born in Baltimore County, Md., and was descended from a family of German extraction that in the latter part of the eighteenth century settled in that region. He married Mary Vantine, of an old and prominent pioneer family, from which union were born the following children : Andrew, Thomas, Alexander, James, William, David B., and Edessima, married to Peter Grinder. David B. Ashbaugh, his youngest son, was born Aug. 6, 1832, in. Allegheny township, where his parents had settled several years previous. He has been twice married,—first to Elizabeth Grinder, who bore him two children, Albert W. and Mary Isabella, and second to Permilla Anderson, by whom the five following children were born : Antes S., Robert N., James McCreighton, Bertie, and Custer, and also James, deceased. Mr. Ashbaugh was many years in the coal business on the Monongahela River, which he mastered in all its phases and shapes. Afterwards he was largely engaged in the construction of the Western Pennsylvania Railroad, four miles of which he graded and built. He then opened a coal-mine east of the Lynchburg tunnel to coal the railroad locomotives, and on the completion of the railroad began the shipping of coal. Soon after he opened the coal-mine west of the first one, and in the summer of 1882 opened one west of Leechburg Station. These last two mines are operated by a strong company, of which he is part owner, and the superintendent and lessee. These mines employ over two hundred hands, and produce annually some one hundred and fifty thousand tons of coal. This is shipped largely to the East, especially to the New Jersey Division, besides which his company coal all the engines on the Western Pennsylvania Railroad, and supply the Allegheny County work-house. The coal is of the noted Freeport vein, so well known in the commercial Markets. Mr. Ashbaugh's residence is just at the east end of the Leechburg tunnel, where is the Kiskiminetas River. He has a beautiful seat of thirteen acres, finely, located, and embracing a very large variety of the choicest fruit. He is a member of the Leechburg Lodge, No. 651, I. O. O. F. In politics he is a stanch Republican, and but few of his party in the northern part of the county are as active as he in maintaining its organization and in political campaigns. He has been sixteen years in charge of these coal-works, known now as the " Leechburg Colliery." In connection with H. H. Ray, he has a large store at Leechburg Station, which does a very extensive business. His company's coal lands embrace some eight hundred and twenty-eight acres of splendid coal-fields, all centering around or near the tunnel, which is fifteen hundred and sixty feet in length, and around which the river flows three miles. He is one of the most experienced coal men of the county, and stands high in the esteem of his fellow-citizens, and in the business world. EAST HUNTINGDON TOWNSHIP. ORGANIZATION.—BOUNDS. EAST HUNTINGDON TOWNSHIP was organized by a subdivision of the original Huntingdon township, being taken from South Huntingdon in 1798.1 It is bounded north by Hempfield,2 east by Mount Pleasant, south by a part of Fayette County, and west by South Huntingdon. The township has a varied surface, and one continuous substratum of bituminous coal. EARLY SETTLEMENT. The first settlers in the township were Scotch-Irish from the eastern and northern counties of the State, among whom were John Vance, for many years a magistrate, William and Frank Vance, the Fosters, Barrs, Cochrans, McClains, and McCormicks. From 1790 to 1800 a heavy immigration of Germans and Mennonites, the latter including some of Swiss birth, came, and these thrifty men fresh from the eastern part of the State, and all possessed of considerable means for those days, bought nearly all the lands occupied by the Scotch-Irish, and entered other tracts not then taken up. This last class were most settled between Stonersville and the Fayette County line. The Mennonites purchased about twenty-five thousand acres in this and other townships, their principal settlement being in and about Stonersville. They were from Chester, Bucks, Lancaster, Bedford, and Northumberland Counties. Among their leading men who located in East Huntingdon were Henry Overholt, Rev. David Funk, the Stauffers, Weltys, Peter Dillinger, Strohms, Ruths, Shupes, Fulkerths, Sherricks, Loucks, the Mumaws, Christian Stoner, the Tinmans, Fretts, and Foxes. The German Lutheran and Reformed settlers mostly located in the northwest part of the township. Among them were Mark Leighty, Henry Lowe, Henry Null, Joseph 1 Efforts were made so early as 1794 towards the erection of this township, as shown by the records of the December session of that year, viz.: "Upon the petition of a number of the inhabitants of South Huntingdon township, setting forth that they labor under great difficulty on the account of their township being so large, and praying a division, etc." (Read and continued under advisement.) 2 By act of Assembly of March 14, 1845, it was directed that that portion of the township of Hempfield, in the county of Westmoreland, which lies south of Big Sewickley Creek should be attached to and should thereafter constitute a part of the township of East Huntingdon, in that county, and that the said creek should thereafter be the division line between those two townships. It was provided in this act that the election district of New Stanton should remain as if the act had not passed. Suter, Nicholas Swope (for many years a justice of the peace), the Aultmans, Klines, Harbaughs, Ruffs, Snyders, and Hunkers. The Stauffer family is one of the oldest in the township, and from it was given the name of " Stauffer's Run," a stream rising above Stonersville and running south, emptying into Jacobs Creek at Scottdale. Abraham Stauffer came from Bucks County, and first settled near Scottdale, cm the Fayette County side. His wife was a Miss Nisley, of Lebanon County (then Lancaster). Their son Abraham married Elizabeth Myers. The former died July 9, 18M, and the latter Nov. 11, 1878, aged ninety-five years, eleven months, and six days. They had three sons and three daughters, the latter being Mrs. Martin Loucks, Mary, married to Jacob Tinsman, and Elizabeth, married to Jacob Harkless. Among the earliest settlers near Scottdale were the Sterretts, a very influential family, a descendant of whom, John Sterrett, a prominent farmer, resides on his elegant farm a mile southwest of Scottdale. His grandfather was a cousin of Daniel Boone, and when the latter was removing to North Carolina (from which he was the first white man to penetrate into Kentucky) he passed through this region, and passed several days visiting his kinsmen, the Sterretts, at their new cabin home here. EARLY SCHOOLS AND TEACHERS. The early school-houses of East Huntingdon town, ship were similar to those of other localities in the county, being built of rude logs, and having other appliances to correspond. One of the earliest houses known was built on the farm now owned by Joshua Gant, another was located on the farm now owned by Jacob Leighty. It was built in 1802, and taught by a German named Leighty, who always opened his school with singing and prayer, a practice which has been continued in some localities of this township up to the present time. Some of the early teachers were John Selby, Peter Showalter, A. St. Clair, John Baughtencarges, and others. Early action was taken in this township in regard to the acceptance of the free-school system. At an election held at the house of Peter Pool, Sept. 19, 1834, the following persons were elected school directors, viz.: Jacob Tinsman and Jacob Overholt, to serve until the next election in March ; Solomon Luter and Peter Pool, for two years ; Gasper Tarr and Henry Fretts, to serve for - 679 - 680 - HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. three years. This same set of directors met at the house of Christian Fox, Oct. 6, 1834, and after organizing appointed Jacob Tinsman as delegate, to meet other delegates in Greensburg the first Tuesday in November following, to perform such duties as were enjoined upon them by law to establish a general system of education. Agreeably to the time appointed by the general delegates at Greensburg, an election was held at the house of Peter Pool, May 21, 1836, in order to take the vote of the citizens whether there should be a tax levied or not; the result of said election was seventy-four voting no tax and two voting tax. How the schools were kept open from 1834 to 1837 we have been unable to learn. We find, however, that directors were elected each year, viz.: Jacob Tinsman and Jacob Overholt, re-elected in 1835; John Stoner and A. Overholt, elected in 1836; and William McMaster and J. Fulkerth, in 1837. After this we find another election was ordered to take the voice of the citizens whether the schools should be continued or not. Said election was held at the house of Peter Pool, on the first Tuesday of May, 1837, fifty-six voting no school and thirty-four voting school. The law required that in order to defeat the system a majority of the citizens in the district must vote against it, and fifty-six not being that majority, the system was declared adopted. Soon after this the directors began to sub-district the township and erect houses. In a few years after this the system began to gain favor, and at present in educational matters it is considered one of the foremost townships in the county. It has been extremely fortunate in always having good directors, who ever aimed to employ first-class teachers, and herein lies the cause of success in East Huntingdon. Blackboards were brought prominently into use in 1853. District institutes were organized in 1857, and have continued to be a leading feature of its schools ever since. Among the prominent directors since 1840 were J. B. Sherrick, H. W. Stoner, S. Dillinger, H. S. Overholt, Maj. R. Warden, S. Warden, D. Snyder, and many other good names. Among the principal teachers have been J. B. R. Sherrick, D. McGinnis, :John Sample, William Foster, John Harrold, etc. At a later date there have been as directors, J. S. Fretts, J. B. Stoner, J. S. Warden, John Sillaman, B. Hurst, H. R. Fox, and others ; and teachers, J. D. Cope, P. Loucks, J. Sillaman, J. Chamberlain, J. H. Bryan, W. H. Morrow, etc. LUTHERAN AND (ZION'S) REFORMED CHURCH (UNION). This congregation was formerly known by the name of " Schwabs," afterwards changed to Swopes. The name was taken from that of a family in the neigh.. borhood. The name of the family was doubtless derived from the country in Germany from which they came,—Das Schwaben Land. The congregation is now called " Zion's." The church is located four miles southwest of Mount Pleasant, about two hun dred yards to the right of Ragentown road, and nearly four miles northwest of Scottdale. It was organized about 1789, but no records are accessible prior to 1822. A log church which stood in the graveyard on the right of the road Was used for many years as a place of worship. A brick church was built on the opposite side of the road, qn land donated by Jacob Leighty, about 1862. It is a neat, comfortable, and substantial edifice. In the summer of 1872 the inside received a coat of paint, the chancel was completed and carpeted, and other improvements added. It was organized by Rev. John William Weber, and afterwards served by Revs. William Weinel, H. E. F. Voight, L. H. Keafauver, F. K. Levan, C. C. Russell, J. A Peters A. J. Heller, and D. B. Lady. Mr. Weinel took charge in 1817, and continued as pastor until 1825, the last year in which record of his communions are found. At the communion held July 15, 1825, Rev. Nicholas P. Hacke, D.D., officiated, and at those of April 19 and Nov. 22, 1829, Rev. C. Zwidler officiated. These are the only communions held, or at least the only ones recorded, between 1824, when Rev. Weinel held his last, and 1835, when Rev. Voight held his first one. It is probable that there was no stated preaching between 1825 and 1835. Mr. Voight preached here until 1864. From 1858 to 1860, Rev. L. H. Keafauver was English supply, holding a service in this language once every two months. In 1860 Rev. C. C. Russell succeeded him, who was followed in 1861 by Rev. F. K. Levan, who continued in the office of English supply or assistant pastor until 1864, when, Father Voight being disabled, the congregation became part of the newly-formed. Mount Pleasant charge, and was placed under the sole pas- toral care of Rev. J. A. Peters. Under the ministry of Rev. William Weinel especially from 1822 to 1825, the congregation seems to have enjoyed a season of great prosperity. In 1822 twenty-three persons were confirmed. Two years afterwards there were twenty-five more. In 1835 forty-five communed at one time. During the interregnum from 1825 to 1835 the congregation became necessarily much scattered. At the communion held by Rev. C. Zwidler in 1829 twenty-eight persons communed, including nine who were confirmed on the occasion. The communicants during Rev. H. E. F. Voight's ministry ranged from ten to thirty-two, when the congregation numbered from forty to fifty. English services were first introduced into the congregation by Rev. Kefauver in 1858. The following year a class of fifteen were confirmed, and the congregation took a new lease of life. In December, 1865, under the pastorate of Rev. Peters, eight were confirmed, and in May of same year forty-one communed. In May, 1871, Rev. Heller being pastor, three persons were confirmed and thirty-four communed. The number of confirmations under the pastorate of Rev. Lady up to 1877 were twenty, and the highest number present at one communion thirty-nine. The congre- EAST HUNTINGDON TOWNSHIP - 681 gation then numbered forty-eight confirmed and twenty-five unconfirmed members, with the following consistory : Elders, Peter Steinman, Jacob Leighty, Sr., M. J. Leighty ; Deacons, M. M. Leighty, Jacob Felgar, and George S. Lowe. Its flourishing Sunday-school numbers about one hundred teachers and scholars, of which for several years M. M. and J. R. Leighty were the superintendents. JACOBS CREEK METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH was organized with nineteen members in 1817, and its old log church erected the same year, and at that time was the only meeting-house of this denomination in all this region. Its present brick edifice was built during the late war, and is on the site of the old church, three-fourths of a mile southwest of Scott-dale. It has the same pastor as the latter. Its trustees are John Keiser, Daniel Fretz, John Kell, Jacob Hall, and J. D. Porter, Sunday-school superintendent. PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH (SCOTTDALE). The Presbyterian congregation was organized May 13, 1874, with nineteen members, and O. B. Robertson as elder. Previous to this time Presbyterian services were held in the school-house and Reformed Church. Rev. Dr. John McMillan, of Mount Pleasant, effected its organization, and preached statedly from November, 1875, to the same month of 1876. Then was called Rev. J. H. Stevenson, late of Sewickley and Tyrone Churches, who has been its only pastor from 1876 to the present. He was born in Bellefontaine, Logan Co., Ohio ; graduated at the Ohio University, at Oxford, and the Western Theological Seminary, and has been nineteen years in the ministry. His grandmother, Sarah Marquis, was the first white woman baptized by a Presbyterian clergyman west of the Allegheny Mountains. He preached also at Tyrone Church. The present elders are O. B. Robertson, John Robertson, and Dr. A. J. Rogers, and deacons, John Walter and John Robertson. The superintendent of Sunday-school is John Robertson. The church membership is one hundred and eight. The edifice is a brick structure, erected in 1876, and dedicated April 22, 1877. TRINITY REFORMED CHURCH (SCOTTDALE). This church was organized July 20, 1873, by Rev. L. B. Leasure, under a commission from the Westmoreland Classis. The following were the officers and members of this organization : Elder, Dr. N. L. Kline ; deacon, Daniel Byers ; members, William A. Kifer, Sarah Kifer, Eliza Kline, Christiana Schwartzendruber, Rebecca Evans, Hannah Evans, Rebecca Martz, Mr. Waugaman, Mrs. Waugaman. Rev. L. B. Leasure was the first pastor. The first trustees were elected Nov. 7, 1873, viz.: Dr. N. L. Kline and William A. Kifer. The corner-stone of the edifice was laid Nov. 9,1873, by the pastor, with a sermon by Rev. J. M. Titzel. May 4, 1874, Zephaniah Brinker was elected a trustee, and one elder and two deacons were added to the consistory, increasing the number of officers to five: At this date, as the records show, the name of the place was changed from Fountain Mills to Scottdale. The new edifice was dedicated June 27,1874, Rev. N. P. Hacke, D.D., preaching in German in the morning, and Rev. G. B.. Russell, D.D., in the evening. Soon after this Rev. Leasure's labors as pastor ceased. Aug. 2,1874, the communion was administered by Rev. L. Cort, with twenty persons participating, showing an addition of nine new members. Another addition of nine members was made April 3,1875, at the communion under Rev. L. Cort, acting as a supply. The next pastor was Rev. W. C. B. Shullenberger, elected June 28, 1875, who began his labors Aug. 8,1875. Under his pastorate the constitution of the congregation was adopted and seventeen persons added to the membership, making in all forty-six. His successor, Rev. Samuel Z. Beam, took charge of the mission Nov. 1,1876, and is the present pastor. METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH (SCOTTDALE). The congregation was organized in 1875, under the auspices of Rev. A. P. Leonard, of Jacobs Creek Church, three-fourths of a mile distant, southwest, of which it is the offspring. The pastors have been : 1875-77, A. P. Leonard ; 1877-79, B. T. Thomas ; 1879-82, D. N. Stafford. The latter was born in Tuscarawas County, Ohio, educated at Scio College, Harrison County, in that State, and has been seven years in the ministry.. Up to the building of the present church services were held in rented churches and tabernacles. Its edifice, an elegant brick, two-story structure, sixty-two by forty-two feet, was erected in 1881. The first service was held therein November 27th of that year, and it was dedicated on December 18th following, when Rev. Samuel Wakefield, aged eighty-five years, preached the sermon. Its vestibule is eleven feet square and its tower one hundred and five feet high. Its architect was Peter S. Loucks. It is a station connected with Jacobs Creek Church. The trustees are Dr. A. W. Strickler, Thomas Tennant, James Jones, Peter Campbell, J. W. Wiley ; and Sunday-school superintendent, Clark Grazier. Its membership is one hundred. It is the second and the Presbyterian the first brick church erected in the borough. ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH, OF SCOTTDALE. Before 1876 masses were said and services held in Mr. Kehoe's dwelling, attended by Rev. Father Watters and other priests from Connellsville. In 1876 the old Protestant Episcopal Church frame edifice was purchased from Maj. Knop, in which worship was had until December, 1881, when the new and commodious brick edifice was far enough completed to hold services in it. Father Thomas McAnew was pastor from 1876 to 1879, when he was succeeded by Rev. M. A. Lambing, the present learned and popular 682 - HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. pastor, under whose successful auspices the new church was erected, together with the frame residence adjoining. The parish extends from Morgan's to and including Mount Pleasant, and has over sixteen hundred souls. It is three times as large as when Father Lambing became the pastor. He also says mass every other Sunday at Bridgeport, near Mount Pleasant. Some four hundred Poles and Hungarians belong to his congregations. UNITED BRETHREN IN CHRIST (SCOTTDALE). This congregation was organized in 1874, and its neat frame edifice erected the same year. Its pastors have been : 1874:76, W. A. Jackson ; 1876, Joseph Metzgar; 1877, David Speck ; 1878, Martin 0. Lane ; 1879-82, Isaiah Potter. He also preaches at Walnut, Fayette Co., Barren Run, at South Huntingdon township, and at Mount Nebo Church, two miles northwest of Scottdale. The membership is fifty. The church officials are: Trustees, Albert Keister, Nathaniel King, Joseph Herbert; Class-leader, David Metzgar ; Assistant, Peter Sherrick ; Steward, Nathaniel King ; and Sunday-school Superintendent, Jacob B. Sherrick. BAPTIST CHURCH (SCOTTDALE) was organized April 17,1875, and May 9th following Rev. W. T. Hughes was called as pastor. It has now no pastor, its last incumbent, Rev. Collins, having left in 1880. Its edifice, a frame, was built after the town was laid out. THE UNITED PRESBYTERIAN (SCOTTDALE) congregation was the first one organized in the town. It has never had a building, and at present has no pastor. THE MENNONITE CHURCH AND CEMETERY (STONERSVILLE). The first church building was a log structure, built in 1800, on the extreme lower corner of the graveyard. In 1840 it was replaced by the present substantial brick edifice. The first pastors were Revs. David Funk, Stauffer, and Welty, after whom were Henry Yetter, John Overholt, and Martin Loucks. For a good many years it has had no regular pastors, but has been supplied occasionally by ministers from a distance, perhaps as often as once a month. The membership is now quite small, as in the past two decades many have connected themselves with the Church of God and the United Brethren in Christ. The cemetery is now controlled by the Mennonite Cemetery Association, organized a few years ago. THE CHURCH OF GOD (STONERSVILLE). The congregation of this church was organized in 1841, in which year was erected in Bethany a frame church edifice, now used as a cooper's shop. Its first pastor was Rev. Joseph A. Dobson. In 1863 the congregation abandoned the old meeting-house in Bethany and erected a commodious brick church in Stonersville. Here its first pastor in the new edifice was Rev. Jacob A. Dohmer, and the present one is Rev. Robert L. Burns. The congregation is very large and flourishing, with an excellent Sunday-school. The first two pastors at the old meetinghouse in Bethany were John and Thomas H. Hickernell. SCOTTDALE. The Southwest Pennsylvania Railroad was completed as far as Scottdale in the spring of 1873, when the present site of the borough was farm lands. The town was laid out that year by Peter S. Loucks and his sister Catharine, on the south side of the Pittsburgh road, and by Jacob S. Loucks on the north side a short time later. Peter S. Loucks subsequently made two additions, one on the west and the other on the northeast, and Jacob S. one. After the Loucks laid out the original town Everson, McCrum & Co. made an addition out of land bought of the Loucks brothers. The town was the outgrowth of the railroad, and was very appropriately named in honor of its then celebrated president, Col. Thomas A. Scott. The first store opened here was by Livingood & Miller, and the second by Parker & Smith. The first house built after that was 'by James Kehoe, on Pittsburgh Street and still occupied by him. The next were Abe Bosier's and John Rites'. The first hotel was kept by Lewis Stimple, and the second by Henry Branthoover. The first resident physician was Dr. C. D. Fortney, the next Dr. A. Rogers, followed by Dr. B. R. Mitchell ; then came Dr. Robert McConaughy, who afterwards removed, and the last Dr. A. W. Strickler, who came from Fayette County in 1877. The only lawyer settled here is J. R. Smith, who came from Huntingdon County in 1881. The first magistrates were N. L. K. Kline and William G. Hays ; the latter resigning was succeeded by T. W. Ault, who with Joseph K. Eicher (succeeding Kline) are the present incumbents. The two oldest persons in town are Col. Brinker and Thomas Kehoe. In the fall of 1872, Peter S. Loucks had laid out fourteen lots, and his brother, Jacob S., ten, thinking these would answer, but in the following year such a demand arose for lots that they at once laid out the town regularly into a large number. Pittsburgh Street (road) was the division line between their two tracts. The first lots were sold in fall of 1872 (twenty-four), at one hundred and fifty dollars each, and were seventy-two by one hundred and fifty feet, since when several of them have sold at one thousand dollars. Subsequently a majority of the lots were one hundred and ten by thirty feet, and were sold at from one hundred and twenty-five to two hundred and fifty dollars each. About fifty acres of the land of the brothers Peter S. and Jacob S. Loucks and their sister Catherine went to make up the town. The " Fountain Mill" and distillery then stood where the furnace is, and was the property of W. A. Keifer. The houses of Peter S. Loucks, Jacob S. Loucks, and EAST HUNTINGDON TOWNSHIP - 683 David F. Stoner (the latter built 1872-73) are in the 1 limits of the borough, and were built before the town was laid out, but are not on the lots but are farm i lands. P. C. Hockenbury, who has been a resident , of this region since 1824, was the first saddler and harness-maker. When the old Fountain Mill was re-moved for the furnace it was the fourth mill. The first one, a. log structure, was built about 1800 by a Mr. Hoke, and in 1822 the second one, a frame building, was owned and operated by John W. Stauffer. BOROUGH INCORPORATION AND OFFICERS. The borough of Scottdale was incorporated by the Court of Common Pleas in the winter of 1874. 1 The first officers since 1874 have been : 1874.—Burgess, Robert Foster; Council, P. S. Loucks, T. W. Ault, James L. Klingensmith, E. C. Price, James Morgan; Secretary, T. W. Ault; Treasurer, P. S. Loucks ; Street Commissioner, O. B. Robertson ; Assessor, P. C. Hockenbury ; High Constable, A. G. H. Cooper. 1875.—Burgess, P. C. Hockenbury ; Council, J. D. Hill, Joseph K. Eicher, R. H. Everson, William Dick, Peter Campbell ; Constable, H. C. Miller; Secretary, T. W. Ault. 1876.—Burgess, P. C. Hockenbury ; Council, James L. Dick, Peter Campbell, G. B. Gray, R, H. Everson, Morgan Keddle ; Constable, Reason Lynch ; Secretary, T. W. Ault. 1877.—Burgess, P. C. Hockenbury ; Council, Morgan Keddle, David Dick, T. C. Kenney, John M. Smith, George H. Everson; Constable, S. J. Lint ; Secretary, T. . Ault. 1878.—Burgess, P. C. Hockenbury ; Council, John Robertson, John Walter; Morgan Keddle, J. D. Hill, T. C. Kenney ; Constable, C. H. C. Cope; Secretary, T. W. Ault. 1879.—Burgess, John Robertson; Council, H. C. Hubbs, J. D. Hill, T. C. Kenney, William Dick, Dr. A. W. Strickler; Constable, Samuel Bishop, J. K. Eicher. 1880.—Burgess, H. B. Orr; Council, Nathaniel Miles, J. R. Taylor, Joeeph McCullough, N. L. K. Kline, W. A. Lockard ; Constable, A. B. Finley ; Secretary, T. W. Ault, J. R. Taylor. 1881.—Burgess, P. C. Hockenbury ; Council, Nathaniel Miles, P. S. Loucks, John Klingensmith, John Robertson, E. H. Reid ; Con-stable, J. R. Torrance; Secretary, T. W. Ault. 1882.—Burgess, Joseph K. Eicher ; Council, E. H. Reid, E. A. Humphries, William Kelly, J. D. Hill, J. W. Thomas. BOROUGH SCHOOLS. Before 1878 the schools were held in a small frame school building of one room, located on the site of the present two-story brick edifice, built in 1878. The first one was the property of the township, and was taken into the limits of the borough. The school board in January, 1882, consists of George H. Everson, president ; Dr. A. W. Strickler, secretary ; Jacob S. Loucks, treasurer ; James Smith, Dr. B. R. Mitchell, and John Lott. The teachers are : Room No. 1, E. P. Weddle, principal, succeeding 1 At the February session, 1874, the petition of certain citizens of East Huntingdon township was presented to the court, praying for the organization of a borough in the vicinity of that portion of the town-ship known as Fountain Mills. By the affidavit of Robert Foster and J. P. Herrington it was set forth that at the time the petition was taken around among the inhabitants of the proposed borough of Scottdale it was signed by a majority of the freeholders residing within tile limits proposed. By order of court of Feb. 5, 1874, the prayer of the petitioners was granted and the borough was incorporated. The third Tuesday in February, 1874, was fixed as the time of holding the first election, which was to be held at the school-house therein, with Walter P. Brown as judge, and Robert Foster and John Loucks as inspectors. The borough was also declared to be a separate school district. E. H. Bair, resigned from sickness. No. 2, John Wed-dle ; No. 3, H. R. Francis ; No. 4, A. T. Fleming. The number of pupils is over two hundred, and the annual cost of running the schools is $1650. ORDERS, SOCIETIES, ETC. SCOTTDALE LODGE, No. 885, I. O. O. F., was chartered Sept. 2,1874, with the following officers and charter members: N. G., J. M. Kelly ; V. G., A. H. Brown ; Sec., H. J. Shirey ; Asst. Sec., J. W. Whitey ; Treas., J. S. Klingensmith. The. following are the Past Grands who are yet members : J. S. Klingensmith, E. A. Humphreys, Samuel Talhammer, C. W. Mytinger, Hugh Wilson, J. S. Albright, David Christ, J. W. Ruth. The officers for 1882 are : N. G., John A. Husher ; V. G., H. D. Leach ; Sec., John S. Albright; Asst. Sec., Milton Peddicord ; Treas., J. S. Klingensmith ; Trustees, J. S. Albright, C. W. Mytinger, George Gettamy. The lodge has a membership of sixty-three, and meets every Tuesday night. FOUNTAIN LODGE, No. 443, K. OF P., was chartered May 15, 18—, with the following charter members : J. V. Branthoover, David Jones, J. Prytherch, C. W. Mytinger, J. Caldwell, M. Jones, W. T. Brown, Charles Maguire, John Caldwell, Joseph McCullough. The officers for 1882 are : C. C., J. B. Klingensmith ; V. C., H. D. Leach ; Prel., Milton Peddicord ; M. A., Desmoine Bewlby ; K. of R. and S., C. W. Mytinger ; M. of F., L. Llewellyn ; M. of E., John Rutherford ; Trustees, Nathan Smith, J. B. Klingensmith, H. D. Leach. It meets every Fri-day evening, and has forty-seven members. SCOTTDALE CIRCLE, No. 121, BROTHERHOOD OF THE UNION, was chartered Aug. 16,1876, with the following charter members : W. C. Kinney, Isaac Barnum, William Barnum, Franklin Chain, Joseph Reagan, Isaac Robinson, William Gorman, Daniel Kline, Robert L. Kline, James Kline, George W. Bowers, William S. Lynch. SCOTTDALE LODGE, No. 1063, I. O. G. T., was chartered April 8, 1878. Its first officers and charter members were : W. C. T., John F. Kaine ; W. V. T., Lizzie Prytherch ; W. C. H. A. P., R. McConaughy ; W. S. E. C., L. N. Eicher ; W. A. S., Molly Prytherch ; W. F. S., Annie E. Eicher ; W. T. R. E. A., S. K Hockenbury ; W. M., John Might ; W. D. M., Della Browning ; W. I. G., Jennie Crockett ; W. O. G., David Jones, Jr. ; W. R. H. S., Lyde Jones ; W. I. H. G., Maggie White; P. W. C. T., George Barkel. Members, T. B. Ivan, H. Lentz, B. F. Hubbs, David Jones. COL. ELLSWORTH POST, No. 209, GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC. This post. was chartered May 26,1881, with the fol-lowing charter members : S. L. Steinsman, John W. Thomas, J. S. Klingensmith, J. K. Eicher, Samuel Ferguson, John Connely, 'S. D. Altman, Nathan 684 - HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. Smith, Benjamin Newcomer, George Lemon, John S. Booker, David Bare, J. G. Anderson, Henry C. Estep, John T. Moffett, George Segor, A. B. Findley, Joseph Cox, John Might. SCOTTDALE BUILDING AND LOAN ASSOCIATION was organized April 24, 1876, with the following officers : President, W. T. Brown; Secretary, T. W. Ault; Treasurer, P. S. Loucks ; Directors, Dr. A. J. Rogers, G. H. Everson, J. W. Robe, O. B. Robertson, T. W. McCune, S. J. Zearley, G. B. Gray, I. M. Kelly. 1877.---President, W. T. Brown ; Secretary, T. W. Ault; Treasurer, P. S. Loucks; Directors, T. W. McCune, J. W. Robe, S. J. Zearley, David F. Stoner, Dr. A. J. Rogers, G. H. Everson, P. C. Hockenburg 1878.—President, W. T. Brown ; Secretary, T. W. Ault; Treasurer, P. S. Loucks ; Directors, J. S. Klingensmith, Dr. A. J. Rogers, Maj. J. M. Knap, M. S. Loucks, S. R. Eicher, P. C. Hockenbury, John Walter, David F. Stoner. 1879.—President, P. S. Loucks; Secretary, T. W. Ault; Treasurer, D. F. Stoner; Directors, John Klingensmith, S. R. Eicher, L. N. Sisley, W. T. Brown, John Robertson, W. K. Herbert, Jacob S. Loucks. 1880.—President, P. S. Loucks; Secretary, T. W. Ault; Treasurer, John S. Parker; Directors, John Robertson, John Rutherford, W. K. Herbert, S. D. Aultman, John Walter, David Dick, John Klingensmith, S. R. Eicher. 1881.—President, P. S. Loucks; Secretary, T. W. Ault; Treasurer, John P. Klingensmith ; Directors, John Robertson, S. It. Eicher, T. W. Ault, W. K. Herbert, David Dick, Dr. A. J. Rogers, J. A. Barnhart, John Walter, John Rutherford. THE LECTURE ASSOCIATION. Officers for 1882 are : President, J. R. Stauffer ; Secretary and Treasurer, E. A. McCown; Committee, E. H. Reid, George H. Everson, George H. Fulton, E. O. Humphries, J. D. Hill, Nathaniel Miles, T. F. Cummings. THE POST-OFFICE was established in 1873, and H. C. Hubbs appointed postmaster. The first year the proceeds of the office netted him forty-five dollars. Before that time the office was "Fountain Mills," on the Fayette County side of Jacobs Creek. Mr. Hubbs first kept it in the "Company Store" building, and afterwards removed it to the Livengood building on the corner, where it remained until 1880, when it was changed to its present location. In 1881 he was succeeded by the present popular incumbent, J. C. Farrar, who removed to this town five years ago from Cumberland, Md. In December, 1881, it was made a Presidential office, with salary at fourteen hundred dollars per year, to take effect April 1, 1882. ADAMS EXPRESS OFFICE was established in 1873, with H. C. Hubbs as agent, who has held this position to the present time. STATION AGENT. The first depot or station was built in 1880, and opened in January following, with H. C. Hubbs as station- and ticket-agent. Previous to this there was nothing but a platform to accommodate people, who were obliged to stand exposed to the inclement weather, and that, too, in a town named in honor of Col. Thomas A. Scott, so long the noted president of the Pennsylvania Railroad. VARIOUS BUSINESS AND MANUFACTURING INTERESTS. The extensive planing-mill and lumber manufactory of Ruth & Stoner was established in 1873 by Peter S. and Jacob S. Loucks. They operated it on a large scale until January, 1882, when Messrs. Ruth & Stoner leased it. It employs some fifteen hands in manufacturing doors, sash, joists, etc., used by them in building houses. The Loucks brothers in their nine years' business erected many of the buildings in the town. The Loucks brothers, Peter S. and Jacob S., have a large warehouse, in which they store grain, seeds, wool, etc., in the buying and selling of which they are extensively engaged. In 1878, Zearley & Pool erected a planing-mill and lumber establishment, which E. H. Reid purchased and operated after them. It is now conducted by John H. Seivers, lessee of the property of Mr. Reid, and is situated on Broadway, one square from Pittsburgh Street. It employs some twenty hands, and procures its lumber from the West and Northern Pennsylvania. Since its erection, four years ago, it has built many buildings in the place. The largest store here is that of E. H. Reid, formerly owned by the Furnace Company, of whom Mr. Reid purchased some years since. He is an old merchant, having been in business nearly fifteen years at Broad Ford. Another large dry-goods store, etc., is that of J. S. Parker, successors of Parker & Smith, who started the second store in the place. There are two large hotels, and every kind of industry is well represented. There are no licensed places for the sale of spirituous or malt liquors in less quantities than the gallon or keg. The private banking-house of J. S. Stauffer and P. S. Loucks, doing business as the Scottdale Bank, has just (1882) been established in the borough. It proposes doing a general banking business, receiving deposits and making discounts. John M. Stauffer is cashier. The bank is located in Loucks' Block, a new building, on Pittsburgh Street. STONERSVILLE. This town, a station on the South Penn Railroad, is on parts of the old tracts of land owned by Matthias Camp and Henry Fox. In 1800, when there was no building on the site of the present town, the Mennonite Church congregation purchased of Mr. Camp an acre and a half of ground, on which the same year they erected a log meeting-house, a school-house, and laid out a graveyard. This was the first start of the place. Shortly afterwards Christian Stoner erected a saw-mill, carding-machine, and fulling-mill on land purchased of Joseph Fulkerth. He also put up a cabinet-maker's shop and made coffins, being the first undertaker in the township. Next was the erection of a log house on the old State road, on the Fulkerth land, east of the railroad, which was built along here in 1872. The opening of the railroad was the be- EAST HUNTINGDON TOWNSHIP - 685 ginning of the place, which before was hardly a hamlet. That year Hurst, Stoner & CO., composed of Braden Hurst, B. B. Stoner, Mr: Shaw, and W. B. Neal, established their coke-works, now having seventy ovens. They laid out thirty lots along the State road. Their firm is the same now, but the partners are Braden Burst, with Messrs. Rafferty and McClure. The next year S. Warden & Co. opened their coke-works and built twenty company buildings for their workmen. This company (three-fourths of whose. stock is now owned by the Southwest Coal Co-npany) have at present seventy-two ovens. . The first physician here was the present practitioner, Dr. J. E. Rigg, who located in 1875. The State road, from Mount Pleasant to Smith's Ferry, passed by its site,, and on it a mile west of Stonersville a Mr. Keggy kept tavern several years before 1800, when Rev. David Funk purchased the place. The post-office was established June 1, 1877, and Braden Hurst appointed postmaster, who still holds the office. The. present stores are kept by J. J. Hurst & Co. and William A. Byers, and the grocery by E. H. Trout. THE SCHOOLS. The first school-house was a little rude log hut. It was torn down, and the second one erected, a small brick structure, in 1836. In this house the first teacher was a Mr. Lutis, an educated sea-captain from Germany. It being too small a new one was built (brick) in 1850, which was replaced in 1876 by the fourth and present one, a fine two-story building, with two rooms. The four school-houses were on four different lots, two located north of the State road and two south. The present teachers are W. E. and E. Loucks, both experienced educators and sons of the late Rev. Peter Loucks. SHOUP'S MILL, an extensive steam flouring-mill, a frame building, three stories in height, is the first grist-mill erected here, and was built in 1881 by its proprietors, P. L. and J. B. Shoup, descendants of an old family, early settled in the township. REAGANTOWN is a hamlet in the western part of the township, whose vicinity was early settled by the Suters Smiths, Snyders, Lowes, McCurdys, Henkstellers, Reagans (from whom it took its name), Fosters. Here was the " Harmony" Presbyterian Church, erected in 1849, and the place of attendance on church worship by that denomination for miles around until 1879, when the congregation was absorbed into the Scottdale Church. Tho miles south of it is the Wesleyan Chapel, near which the old families of Hixons, Espeys, Felgars, Stein-mans, Houghs, Foxes, Kellys, Durstines, Hutchinsons, and Fretts reside. HUNKER STATION is on the railroad just below the Hempfield township line, and is quite a shipping point. - 44 - "McKean's Old Stand" is in the northwest part of the townShip, in a neighborhood early settled by the Nulls, RUM, Lowes, Bryans, Reagers, and Kellys. THE SOUTHWEST PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD traverses the entire length of the township, and has been the means of adding largely to its wealth and population, and has stations at every necessary point to accommodate the rich mineral and agricultural productions produced in its limits. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. THE OVERHOLT FAMILY (WEST OVERTON). In 1800, Abraham Overholt came from Bucks County, where his ancestors had settled half a century before, and located where is now the village of West Overton. His wife was a Stauffer, by whom the following children were born : Henry, Jacob, Abraham, Martin, Christian S., John, died young, Annie, married to John Tintsman, and Elizabeth, married to John W. Frick. I. Of these, Henry's children were: 1, Sarah A., married to A. S. R. Overholt; 2, Benjamin F. ; 3, Maria ; 4, Abbie C. ; 5, Abraham ; 6, Henry C. ; 7, Jennie C., married to Nathaniel Miles. II. Jacob's children were: 1, Maria; 2, Elizabeth ; 3, Abraham ; 4, Isaac; 5, Mary Ann ; 6, Fenton ; 7, Christopher ; 8, *Jacob Webster ; 9, Emma Fox. III. Abraham's children were : 1, George ; 2, John ; 3, Norman ; 4, Mary. IV. Martin's children were : 1, Hudson ; 2, James ; 3, Henry ; 4, Elizabeth, married to Mr. Richey; 5, Ida. V. Annie Tintsman's children were : 1, Jacob O. Tintsman ; 2, A. O. Tintsman, a coal king of Pittsburgh ; 3, Henry O. Tintsman, of Mount 'Pleasant ; 4, John, died in late war in the army ; 5, Annie, married to Loren Leassure; 6, Emma, married to Dr. Kline, of Greensburg. VI. Elizabeth Frick's children were :1, Maria, married to J. S. R. Overholt; 2, H. Clay Frick, a coal prince of Pittsburgh ; 3, Annie, married to Mr. Braddock, merchant of Mount Pleasant; 4, Aaron ; 5, Edgar; 6, Sallie. VII. Christian S. Overholt's children were : 1, Alice Carey ; 2, Charles ; 3, Elmore ; 4, Mary, married to George McKean ; 5, Annie ; 6, William. Jacob Overholt was a brother of Abraham, and came here from Bucks County about the time of the latter's arrival, and located midway between Scottdale and West. Overton. He was a noted veterinary surgeon in his day. He married Elizabeth Detwiler, by whom were born the following children : John D., Henry D., Annie, married to Abraham Sherrick, Jacob, Susan, married to Christian Stauffer, and Martin; 686 - HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. Of these the eldest, John D., married Elizabeth, daughter of Christian Stauffer, by whom the following children were born : Agnes, married to Abraham Bechtell ; Jacob ; Ann, married to Alexander H. Boyd ; Elizabeth, Christian, John, and Aaron S. R., the last two being twins and the youngest. Abraham Overholt established a small still on his farm in 1810, which used only a bushel and a half of grain per day. Before 1859 it had been enlarged, but in that year the firm of A. & H. Overholt erected on the same site the present distillery. It is a brick structure, six stories in height, one hundred by sixty feet, with capacity for two hundred and fifty bushels daily. On the first addition, about 1830, to the establishment a flouring-mill was added and steam-power introduced. Both corn and rye whiskey are made, and the superiority of its brands of flour and whiskey has given the mills a great celebrity. They are now operated by A. C. Overholt & Co., who have one hundred and thirty coke-ovens just north of the village, of which sixty-two were started in 1873, and the others in 1878. These give employment to over a hundred men, and produce one hundred and eighty tons of coke daily. With the distillery is connected a large farm, on which is the elegant brick mansion in which A. S. R. Overholt resides, and which was built in 1838 by Abraham Overholt. The post-office was established in 1850, and since 1866 A. R. S. Overholt has been postmaster, his predecessor being Jacob O. Tintsman. The village was laid out and built by Abraham and Henry Overholt, and grew up settled by their employes. The first store was kept by Christian S. Overholt & Co., and the present one by A. C. Overholt & Co. The village is prettily located in a rich agricultural and coal region, and many of its residences are fine brick structures. This place owes its existence to the Overholt family, who early settled in and around it, and where their descendants are still very numerous, being intermarried with many of the neighboring families. THE STONER FAMILY. The ancestor of the Stoner family in this county came from Switzerland in the middle of the last century, landed at Philadelphia, and settled in Chester County. He subsequently removed to Morrison's Cove, in Bedford County. His son Christian, born in Chester County, came to East Huntingdon township in 1799 from Bedford County, where he had lived several years. Here, near Stonersville, he purchased five hundred acres of land, now in four farms. Tobias Landis now lives on the old Stoner homestead, the other three parts being owned by the grandsons of Christian, viz.: Adam Stoner, Christian Stoner, and Solomon B. Stoner, there being a few small subdivisions besides. He died in 1814, and his wife, Barbara, in 1816. Of his land when he came one hundred acres had been put in cultivation by previous owners, and had a cabin on it, the remainder being in woods: His neighbors were Abraham Ruth on the west, George Muman on southeast, and Rev. David Funk on the east.. Abraham's children were John, Abraham, Barbara,. married to John Werts, Elizabeth, married to Christian Sherrick, Christian, Jacob, Daniel (the first born in this county, the others having been born before their parents' arrival here), Henry, Anna, married to John Rudabaugh, and David. Of these the eldest, John, was born in June, 1787, and was married Oct. 11, 1811, to Magdalena Fox, daughter of Henry Fox. He died Aug 7, 1868, and his wife April 21, 1858, in her sixty-eighth year. Their children were Elizabeth, born 1814, and married to David Funk, grandson of the Mennonite preacher ; Henry W., born 1816 ; John H., born 1818 ; Mary, born 1821, and married to David Funk ; she dying he married her sister Elizabeth ; Jacob F., born 1823 ; Adam,. born 1826 ; Christian F., horn 1828; Anna, born 1830, and married to David Landis ; and Magdalena, born 1833, and married to Rev. Reuben H. Bolton. The locality settled by the Stoner family was early called "the Stoner settlement," and the name of Stonerville was given to the village (now a thriving town) in recognition of this family, so prominent in this region since 799. Leuffer Station is on the land of Henry W. Stoner. THE FOX FAMILY. Henry Fox 'waS born in Chester County in 1745, and early (in 1797) settled in this township, two and a half miles west of Mount Pleasant, and near the Stoners. He had two sons and several daughters. Mr. Fox's selection of land, over three hundred acres, was ever considered the finest of the early purchases, being the clearest from the hollows and runs. His daughter Magdalena married John Stoner, and was the mother of the well-known citizen, Henry W. Stoner. Mr. Fox died July 25, 1824, aged seventy-nine years, and his wife, Mary, Aug. 30, 1834, aged eighty. THE DILLINGER FAMILY.-BETHANY STATION. Daniel Dillinger was born, Aug. 6, 1787, in the east part of the State, and came to this county at an early period, settling at Bethany, on the farm now owned by his son Samuel, and occupied by Moses Hickson, He died Feb. 9, 1845, aged fifty-seven years, and his wife (Mary Myers) June 19, 1871, aged eighty-one. She was born in Lancaster County. Their children were Daniel, Christian, Joseph, Jacob, Samuel, Daniel, Abraham, Elizabeth, married to Alexander Myers ; Sarah, to Michael Sheetz ; and Mary, first to John McCollum, and afterwards to John Billheimer. Of these Samuel Dillinger was born Oct. 28, 1810, and married Sarah Loucks, born in 1808. He moved to his home farm in 1832, before which, after his mar- EAST HUNTINGDON TOWNSHIP - 687 riage, he lived near Scottdale. Their children were : Annie, married to Joseph Hickson, and deceased ; Mary, married to Abraham Sherrick ; Catharine, married to Moses Hickson ; Sarah, married to J. C. Fox ; John L., married to Mary McIntyre ; Elizabeth, married to C. T. Hanna ; Eliza, married to A. A. Hasson ; Daniel L. ; Samuel, married to Katie Hutchinson. About 1830, Samuel Dillinger started a small still on his farm in 1851, and in 1852 erected a frame distillery at Old Bethany (West Bethany post-office), to which in 1856 he added a grist-mill, which -was operated until 1881, when destroyed 'by fire. The same Mr. Dillinger, with his two sons, Daniel L. and Samuel, erected a new three-story frame distillery at Bethany Station, and began distilling in March, 1882. The firm of S. Dillinger & Sons manufacture pure rye whiskey, the only rye distillery now in operation in the township. It has a capacity for two hundred bushels a day. Its market is Pittsburgh and the East. All its grain is purchased in the West. Mr. Dillinger owns nearly a thousand acres of land in the township, half of which is full of undeveloped coal. They have at Tarr's Station sixty-four coke-ovens, and fifty-one at Hawkeye Station. The former were erected in 1879, and the latter in 1871. This firm does a very extensive business in its distillery, coke-ovens, and flour trade. Bethany Station is a growing village that arose nearly three years ago on the Dillingers establishing their coke-ovens, and is fast increasing in population and business. It lies a mile and a half northeast of Old Bethany and a mile northwest of Tarr's Station. The Dillinger family is excelled by no other in the northern part of the township in amount of business done, and has ever been specially active in the cause of education, several of the best school-houses being built through the persistent energy of Samuel Dillinger, Sr. He was one of the projectors of the South Penn Railroad in 1870 and 1871, at which time he and his sons had seventy coke-ovens in Fayette County, at Pennsville, now owned by A. O. Tinstman, who purchased them in 1881. They employ at their two coke-works over a hundred men. THE TARR FAMILY.—TARR STATION. About 1794, John B. Tarr, whose father was an emigrant from Germany before 1760, came from near Ellicott's Mills, Md., and settled where Henry W. Stoner now resides. In this part of the township he purchased several hundred acres of land. His children were Henry, Peter, Christian, Daniel, and Gasper. Of these, Christian Tarr was a senator and representative in the State Legislature from Fayette County, and a member of Congress. Gasper married Ann Reid, of Lancaster County, and lived in the brick house where his son Henry's son now resides. His children were Catherine, married to Paoli Shepherd ; Frederick ; Esther, married to George Sherbondy ; John Balser ; James R.; Gasper ; Margaret, married to John Husband ; Matilda, married to Robert Neal ; Henry ; Paoli ; and Samuel, who died in his twenty-second year. Of these, the venerable John Balser Tarr was born Oct. 9, 1799. He attended several terms of the neighborhood subscription school, three-fourths of a mile from his father's, taught by John Selby. He was married in 1827 to Harriet Reagan, who died some ten years ago. He moved to his present farm in 1835. He served twenty-two years as magistrate, having first been appointed under the old constitution by the Governor,. and several times elected by the people. His lather, Gasper Tarr, was a soldier in the war of 1812, and helped to build Reid's Station, on the Allegheny River, above Kittanning. Among the neighbors of his grandfather, in the early settlement of this region, were Jacob Gardner, Henry Loucks, Melchior Sherbondy, Matthias Camp, and Mark Leighty. Tarr's Station was named after James R. Tarr, who owned the land on which it is located. Here are the extensive coke-works of Peter Tart, embracing eighty ovens, also the one hundred and thirty-eight coke-ovens of the Southwest Coal and Coke Company (Frick & Co., proprietors), which succeeded Stoner (Joseph), Hitchman & Co. It is a corporation which owns eleven hundred acres of coal land, employs over two hundred men, and has fifty dwellings for its workmen. It has another opening at Stonersville. Since the building of the South Pennsylvania Railroad in 1872 all of its engines have been coaled here. One of the most active of its business men, who has very largely contributed to the development of the place, is Joseph Stoner, who has lately retired from the coke and mercantile business, and is now devoting his time to the Mount Pleasant Bank, of which he is a fourth proprietor. The Robbstown and Mount Pleasant turnpike was completed in 1821, and was chartered in 1819. The managers from this region were Gasper Tarr, John Stoner, and" Henry Null. The majority of its stock is now held by Henry J1. Null, of Greensburg, but John B. Tarr is its secretary and treasurer. THE LOUCKS FAMILY in this county is descended from an ancestor who emigrated from Germany in 1759 and settled in Bucks County. From him sprang a grandson, Peter Loucks, who removed in 1800 and settled first just across Jacobs Creek in Fayette County, on a farm where now is McClure & Co.'s coke-works. Here he remained a year. He then purchased eighty acres of' land, now a part of his grandson's (Peter S. Loucks) place, of John Hugus, with a cabin on it, into which he moved. Two years later he bought another eighty-acre tract, included in the present town of Scottdale, of a Mr. Galloway. At that time an old house, stable, and blacksmith-shop were on this place, all standing on the site of the Methodist. Episcopal Church lot, 688 - HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND .COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. He had married in Bucks County Anna Overholt, by whom there were born the following children : Henry, Catharine, Jacob, Mary, and Martin, and those born after their arrival here were Sarah, married to Samuel Dillinger, John, Nancy, died young, and Peter, the latter living in Indiana. The original emigrant Loucks died about 1825, and his widow subsequently married Martin Stauffer. Rev. Martin Loucks, who was only a year old when his parents came here, was born in 798, and married Nancy Stauffer. He was a well-known Mennonite preacher, and preached at the old church in Stonersville. He died Nov. 7, 1869, aged seventy years, and his widow resides with her son, Peter S. Their children were Elizabeth, married to David F. Stoner and deceased ; Jacob, Anna, Catherine, Abraham, Peter Stauffer, and John. In old times the nearest schoolhouse to the Loucks place was on the Overton farm, a mile distant, and was a stone structure, octagon-shaped. The old Peter Loucks homestead of eighty acres is now included in the limits of Scottdale borough. John, second child of Peter Loucks, born here after his arrival from Bucks County, was the father of the late P. Loucks, who became an eminent minister of the Church of God denomination. The latter married the youngest daughter of John Fox, who moved to Westmoreland County when there was but one house where the town of Mount Pleasant now stands. Her mother, Frederica Carolina Sherbus, was from the canton of Kircheimlanden, Switzerland, and married Mr. John Fox in 1820. She died May 23; 1876, aged seventy-eight. Rev. P. Loucks had five children, two of whom, W. E. and E., are the teachers of the Stonersville schools. Peter Loucks, the first of the name in the county, died July 10, 1825, aged sixty-four years, and his wife, Anna (Overholt), March 15, 1845, in her seventy-fifth year. SAMUEL DILLINGER. In the early part of the present century Samuel Dillinger, of whose family a genealogical sketch appears elsewhere in this volume, began his life-work, with no capital save a strong body, a stout heart, and willing hands. To any one who gazes upon his broad acres and busy manufacturing establishments to-day his success is manifest. Indeed, no one embodying his characteristics could fail. Owing to the fact that it was necessary for him to devote his youthful days to manual labor, his early education was very limited. This deficiency he supplied by diligent study during the spare moments of after-years. His business education is of the very best, and was obtained from the business world by careful study of business men. While he has labored diligently to promote his individual interests, he has not been unmindful of his duties as a citizen. He has always taken a proper interest in politics, and has held the local offices usually intrusted to business men. The free-school system has ever found in him a true friend and liberal supporter. He has always taken an active interest in whatever contributed to increase the industries or develop the resources of the country. Benevolent and hospitable, the poor have always resorted to him confidently in their time of need. His life has been one of usefulness, and commands the respect of those who know him. Although he has passed the allotted time of threescore and ten years, he is still vigorous in health, and enjoys the results of his years of toil, having committed the management of his large business interest to his sons. May 19, 1881, he and his wife, Sarah (Loucks) Dillinger, who has contributed so largely to her husband's success by saving his earnings and making his home comfortable and happy, celebrated their golden wedding. Here were assembled their children and numerous grandchildren, together with the few who remain of the happy company which met more than half a century ago to bid them Godspeed through their wedded life. Both Mr. Dillinger and his wife possess many of the virtues of the sturdy race from which they sprang. ABRAHAM OVERHOLT AND HENRY S. OVERHOLT. The late Abraham Overholt, the immediate progenitor of the large family bearing his name in Westmoreland County, and who made that name a household word, not only in Western Pennsylvania but in almost every region of the country, was descended from the immigrant Martin Overholt, who came to America from Germany some time early in the eighteenth century and settled in Bucks County, Pa., where he died in his thirty-seventh year, leaving a family of children, one of whom was Henry Overholt, who married a Miss Anna Beitler, by whom he had twelve children, all of whom were born in Bucks County, and who came with their parents from that county to Westmoreland County in the year 1800. At that time several of the children were married. Of the married the daughters bore the names of Loucks, Fretts, and Stauffer. The family, with its married accessions, " colonized" on a tract of land then wild, but since long known as the Overholt homestead, in West Overton. The next to the youngest of the family was Abraham Overholt, with whose name this sketch opens. He was at that time in his seventeenth year, and had learned the domestic weaver's trade in Bucks County, and while his brothers cleared the land he wrought at the loom for the family and the wide-about neighborhood. Mr. Overholt prosecuted his trade continuously till about 1810, when he and his younger brother, Christian, purchased a 'special interest in the homestead farm, and after a couple of years' co-partnership with his brother in farming he bought out the latter's interest (comprising one hundred and fifty acres), at fifty dollars EAST HUNTINGDON TOWNSHIP - 689 an acre, a price then regarded high. This purchase included a log distillery having the capacity of three or four bushels of grain per day only. At that time nearly every farm in the neighborhood possessed its private distillery. Mr. Overholt soon after the purchase built a stone distillery, which had a capacity of from forty to fifty bushels per day, but he had no mill, and got his grain chopped on Jacobs Creek, in what is now Scottdale, and at Bridgeport. The hauling of the " chop" from those places to the distillery was principally done by cattle, driven by Mr. Overholt's younger sons, in whose minds dwell vivid memories of those slow and dreaded days, when the cattle were likely to "stall" at various points along the road. About 1834, Mr. Overholt built a brick flouring-mill, and thereafter did his own chopping for the distillery. This mill and the distillery above mentioned were kept running till 1859, when both were taken down, and on their site was erected a large structure, comprising mill and distillery, and in dimensions a hundred feet in length, sixty-three feet in width, and six stories in height. The capacity of the distillery is two hundred bushels a day, that of the mill fifty barrels of flour. A short time before the erection of the new b.uilding, Mr. Henry S. Overholt, the oldest child of Abraham Overholt,, purchased a half-interest in his father's farm and flouring and distilling business, and with him conducted the same till Jan. 15, 1870, when Abraham Overholt died, and on the 18th of June in the same year, and after a short illness, Henry followed his father to the grave. During the period of his partnership with his father, in fact, for ten years before the partnership was entered into, Mr. Henry S. Overholt conducted the business of the mill and distillery, the elder Overholt generally supervising. It should be here noted that Abraham Overholt was the first discoverer of coal in this portion of Westmoreland County, and commenced to use it before others made use of it. Prior to its discovery coal was brought from the other sides of the mountains to the blacksmith-shops of the region, and which it was found stood over the finest strata of coal. Mr. Overholt used to exhibit his coal-mines in an early day as a curiosity to visiting strangers from the East. Mr. Abraham Overholt as a business man was distinguished for the order with which lie conducted all his affairs, for his firmness and decision, for promptness, great energy, and punctuality. He was never known to disappoint a creditor seeking payment, was gentle to his employes, and straightforward in all his dealings. As a citizen he was what his character as a business man would indicate. He was public-spirited, and was one of the earliest and most earnest advocates of the present common-school system of.the State. In politics he was ardent. During Jackson's latter term as President he was a " Jackson man," but opposed Van Buren, and became an old-line Whig, and continued such till the advent of the Re- publican party, when he naturally united with it, and took extreme interest in its welfare. He was a warm Lincoln man, and during the late war was deeply aroused over the affairs of the country. Be, ing then nearly eighty years of age, he nevertheless visited the seat of war twice, in his anxiety over the state of the country and to encourage soldiers in the field with whom he was personally acquainted. Mr. Henry S. Overholt, who was born Aug. 70, 1810, and who was at the time of his death in his sixtieth year, possessed many of the characteristics of his father. He was considered one of the best business men in Western Pennsylvania. A marked peculiarity of this gentleman was his reticence as to his own affairs, and which he preserved in such manner that they who were curious and inquisitive, and deemed that they had some light at the beginning of impertinent investigations, were sure to find in the end that they then knew nothing. Socially he was not garrulous, and though quiet was very popular, and much beloved by all who knew him. His life was eminently moral from boyhood to the day of his death. In 1809, Abraham Overholt married Maria Stauffer, daughter of the Rev. John Stauffer and Elizabeth, his wife. Feb. 10, 1846, Mr. Henry S. Overholt was united in marriage with Miss Abigail Carpenter, born March 13, 1824, a daughter of Benjamin F. and Mary Sarver Carpenter, of Versailles township, Allegheny Co., Pa. Mrs. Abigail Overholt survives her husband, and resides in the village of West Overton. She is the mother of seven children,—Sarah A. Overholt, intermarried with Aaron S. R. Overholt (not a blood relative of hers), Benjamin F., Maria Carpenter, Abigail C., Abraham C., Henry C., and Jennie C., the wife of Nathaniel Miles, a native of Pittsburgh. The record of the children of Abraham' Overholt will be found under the heading, " The Overholt Family," in another part of this volume. JACOB S. OVERHOLT. The late Jacob S. Overholt, of Emma Mines, East Huntingdon township, and who died April 20, 1859, was the second son and third child of Abraham Overholt, and was born at West Overton, Oct. 18, 1814. He was reared upon the homestead farm, and was educated in the common schools, and while young, though somewhat employed upon the farm, was also engaged in his father's distillery, learning the business of distilling, in which the elder Overholt had peculiar skill, and in which Jacob soon became so proficient that he and his elder brother, Henry S., were practically intrusted by their father with the management of the business at an early age. At the time when Jacob entered the distillery the business was comparatively small•; but the close attention, 690 - HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. prudence, and activity of the young Jacob, with his brother, pushed it forward with gradual and safe progress, so that at the time he arrived at thirty years of age the business of the distillery; with that of a flouring-mill, both in the same building, had reached large proportions. The brothers continued for several years to conduct a prosperous business at West Overton, and in 1855 Jacob amicably dissolved business with his brother and removed to Broad Ford, Fayette Co., where he took into partnership with himself his cousin, Henry O. Overholt, and there established a saw-mill, mainly for supplying the firm with materials with which to build up a then prospective village and a distillery, which in time became the most famous of the Overholt distilleries. The old distillery has since been pulled down, a larger one having taken its place since the death of Mr. Overholt. Under the immediate oversight of Jacob Overholt, the locality of Broad Ford, containing three dwellings when he first went there, shortly grew into a busy village. Mr. Overholt paid strict personal attention to his large business until his last illness. He was a man of great energy and business activity and integrity, and in the expressive language of one who knew him well, " he was everybody's friend." He was noted for his charity, never allowing the needy to go unserved by his door. Dec. 29, 1836, Mr. Overholt was united in marriage with Miss Mary Fox, daughter of Christian and Elizabeth Funk Fox, who resided near Stonerville, in East Huntingdon township. Mrs. Mary Fox Overholt was born Dec. 6, 1816, and resides on the farm purchased by her husband the year after their marriage, and then called Emma Mines, and on which spot were born most of her children, nine in number, all but one living, and whose names are Maria F., Elizabeth F. (deceased), Abraham F., Isaac F., Mary Ann, Fenton C., Christian F., Jacob Webster, and Emma F. OLIVER HOWARD ROBERTSON. Mr. Robertson was born in South Huntingdon township, Jan. 16, 1839. He was brought up on the farm and elsewhere until eighteen years of age, and in youth attended school in the " Old Gate School-House," but had no particular affection for his teachers, and was a truant boy who loved to roam the hills, generally alone, and does not regret that he was a romp and escaped often as he did from what was to him a prison-house, that old school-house. From seven years of age on he often accompanied his father when going about the country engaged in the stock business, and thus his school-days were interrupted, and he was unable to keep along steadily with his classes, and was consequently discouraged. To this, fact Mr. Robertson attributes in a measure his early desire for playing truant, which grew upon him, and he was only occasionally in the school-house up to eighteen years of age, when he " graduated" himself under a chestnut-tree on Painter's Hill, and started off (running away) to see honors in a higher school, that of the business world. He first hired out to a farmer, his uncle, Andrew Robertson, then an old bachelor, and proceeded to do the first real work he had then ever done. He found the plow and the hoe and the cattle and team-horses more congenial to his tastes than the teachers and the "picture-books" (geographies, etc.), which they understood little and he less. But his first bliss was short-lived. An old maid kept house for his uncle; he "did not like her much," and one night when his uncle was off courting, and Oliver was away a little late, she locked him out. The night was too cold to allow him to sleep comfortably in the oat-straw in a barn, and so he danced most of the night to keep warm. He " graduated" from this school the next morning, leaving his uncle's house, and " took a contract" for rooting up bushes for Col. Painter, of Hempfield township. for ten dollars; but a day's work demonstrated to him that his education there would cost him at least a hundred dollars, and he " graduated" thence the next day ; but finally his uncle sought him and apprised him that the old maid would stay with him only a month, after which time the uncle married, and 0. B. went to live with him, and remained with him two years and four months, doing good service as a farmer. He then went to work hauling coal for Painter's salt-works for ten dollars a month and personal board and horse-feed. He then felt rich, " and was, too." Three months at this business made him rich enough, and he then went to learn barn-building of one Jacob Pore, of his township, and stayed with him a year at seven dollars a month, "board and horse fed," and then took Pore into partnership for a year, and next year went to contracting alone in house-building and hired Pore. Pore worked a month, and 0. B. not being suited with him "turned him off," and Pore " went to farming and peeling willows." 0. B. and he " are now and always have been the best of friends." About this time the Rebellion had come along, and was proceeding pretty briskly, when 0. B. enlisted in the State service for three months in a cavalry regiment, furnishing his own horse, whiskey, and chickens. He "graduated" at this business at the end of the term, bearing off honors as a soldier, and the affection of his comrades as a good fellow more given to fun than blood. He returned to contracting in house-building for a year, and feeling that his country could not get along without his services in the field, exchanged the chisel and plane for a gun and bayonet., and started off with Company G, One Hundred and Third Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, down into South Carolina, where he had plenty of fun and whiskey and no fighting, except for rations (the war closing up soon after he got into the field). Nearly all the regiment took sick of fever and ague in. the South. Some died EAST HUNTINGDON TOWNSHIP - 691 on the way home. O. B. was left in South Carolina in charge of the sick, and remained there with them a few days, and then brought them to Harrisburg; and soon after the regiment was mustered out, and O. B. " graduated" forever as a soldier. He returned to his native hills, and went to house-building again. In 1866 he bought a farm and went to tilling it; found the farm lonesome, and in a month hired help, put them in charge of the farm, and went himself to contracting, " graduating" then from personal farming. His farm ran on in charge of his men for four years, at the end of which lie sold it, making " a good thing of it." Meanwhile he prosecuted house-building, how successfully is nobody's business. After selling his farm he rented another for two years, and put his family and stock on it, and continued building, too. At the end of the two years he sold his stock, but kept his family and two teams of horses and a spotted coach dog (" a good one, which he bought for ten cents when he was a puppy"), and moved into the ancient locality of Fountain Mills, then a desolate place, containing a grist-mill and a couple of little houses, now the flourishing borough of Scott-dale. A rolling-mill and a blast-furnace were at that time in process of building within the limits of the present Scottdale, and tenant-house-builders were in requisition. O. B. contracted, and continued to contract till the spring of 1881, when he graduated" at contracting in house-building, saving to himself for his labor four good tenant-houses and his private residence, with sundry lots paid for to put more houses on, and a drug-store, a dry-goods store, and other unmentionable properties, to say nothing of the best team of bay draught-horses in town. In 1881, feeling inclined to take a rest, he went into the butchering business, thinking he could thereby easily be of great service to his fellow-citizens ; but he finds it the hardest business he ever worked at, both for his back and his pantaloons, which are constantly torn in their legs, and lie is " right in that business now," and does not know whether he will quit it or not before he gets all his money scattered out. When that times comes he proposes to quit and go to collecting. O. B. was one of the primeval fathers of the borough of Scottdale, helping to organize the same. He was street commissioner the first year, but the people complained of mud in wet weather and dust in dry, and at the end of the year he Ceased to be a candidate for further honors in that line. He was for one term a member of the Common Council, but next year sought retirement, and found it in the will of the people. The next year he was not made a burgess, though his fellow-citizens " ran" him for the office which that character is supposed to "fill" in boroughs, some of them forgetting, however, to go to the polls and vote for him ; they even voted for another, who bore the honors of the office, to the relief of the grateful 0. B. O. B. is in politics .a Democrat, and always has been, being the only one of his family of that faith. In religion he is a Presbyterian, and an elder of the church. In this matter he agrees with his family. When the church was organized in Scottdale, in 1874, there were but fifteen organizing members, about evenly divided as to sex. He was at the time of the organization of the church elected elder, and held the office for three years, as well as that of trustee, secretary, and treasurer of the church, and was never charged with defalcation or other peculiar misdemeanors in his church life. In 1863, just before going to the tented field, it occurred to 0. B. that he better bring a five years' courtship to a close, and he married Miss Mary A. Mitchell, then a full orphan, a daughter of the late James and Margaret Martin Mitchell, of South Huntingdon township. She died in 1873, leaving three children,—Harry Ross, Nettie Bell, and Hazel James,—all now 'living, Nettie being the wife of Dr. B. R. Mitchell, whom she married at the age of fourteen. Harry is a graduate of the School of Pharmacy, at Pittsburgh, and is in the drug and medicine business in Scottdale. Hazel is going to school, and though but twelve years old enjoys sharing with his retired father the burdens of cattle-driving for Pittsburgh, riding his Texan pony, which he would not part with for all Scottdale. In 1876, Mr. Robertson married Miss Anna Linda Livingstone, of Allegheny County. By her he has had two children, one of whom, John, is living. O. B., who never allows anything to bother him, considered himself always happy in matrimonial relations, and is apparently destined to enjoy a lengthened old age after he arrives at it. We must not forget to note here for the integrity of history that Mr. O. B. Robertson is probably of Scotch, but perhaps of English, descent. His grandfather, who used to keep a hotel on his farm of about eight hundred acres in South . Huntingdon township, and was familiarly known as " Old Johnny Robertson," came into Westmoreland County from east of the mountains, and, so far as known, brought no record 'of his ancestry with him, if he had any. He married a Miss Joanna Jack for his first wife, and by her had seven children. She dying he married a Miss Nichols. Losing the latter he married a third, a Miss Harriet Jewett, of Ohio. She is now living in Pittsburgh, and after the death of Mr. Robertson, which occurred about 1852, she married again. The children of Mr. John Robertson by his first wife were named John (deceased), Andrew, Joseph, William, Thomas (deceased), Sarah (deceased), and Eleanor (deceased). O. B. Robertson is the son of Joseph Robertson, who is the only one of the sons of John Robertson Who has been the father of male children. His mother, who died about 1858, was a Miss Isabella Bovard before her marriage, a daughter of Oliver 692 - HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. Bovard, of South Huntingdon township. Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Robertson were the parents of eight children who grew to manhood and womanhood, and six' of whom are living,—Joanna J. ; O. B.; John ; Eleanor (deceased) ; Margaret (deceased); Thomas ; Andrew, and Isabella. DR. NICHOLAS L. K. KLINE. Dr. Nicholas L. K. Kline, surgeon dentist of Scottdale, is a son of the late John Kline, of Penn township, and was born Nov. 1, 1836, and is of German descent. A record of his ancestry in this country for several generations may be found in the interesting biographical sketch of W. J. K. Kline, M.D., in the Greensburg chapter of biographies in this volume. Dr. Kline was brought up on the homestead farm, and was educated in the common schools, and at the age of eighteen years made a trip at coal-boating from Pittsburgh to New Orleans, after which he entered Leechburg Academy, in Armstrong County, which institution he attended in summer sessions. In the winter he taught school in his native township, commencing his career as a school-teacher in 1857. He followed school-teaching for four years. In 1861-62, Dr. Kline was occupied in the oil regions in Venango County, Pa., in company with his brother, now Dr. Kline, of Greensburg, operating.in oil. Returning from the oil regions he went to the study of dentistry in the office of the late Dr. A. E. Fisher, of Greensburg, where he remained for about two years, and then located at Irwin Station for the practice of his profession. When the doctor settled at Irwin it contained only ten houses, but the enterprise of the doctor and others so improved it that in a few years it was incorporated as a borough, the doctor being one of the incorporators. In 1867 he, in company with his brother Amos, established there a drug-store, which, together with his dental business, he conducted for some years. Finally he sold his interest in the drug-store, and after remaining a year longer at Irwin moved to Scottdale, August, 1873, where he still resides, practicing dentistry, and enjoying a good practice. He is devoted to his profession, and conscientious in his work as well as skillful. Those once employing him remain his friends, and re-employ him on occasion. As an evidence of his sedulous industry it may be mentioned that he has without assistance manufactured over three thousand sets of teeth aside from all his other professional work. When he settled at Scottdale that now flourishing borough was a new place, almost as fresh and youthful in appearance as a Western city on the prairie when just staked out and boasting only the cabins of the first wagon-load of " colonists." Scottdale at that time had but Ave dwelling-houses. The building of the rolling-mill had just commenced. Dr. Kline was one of the incorporators of the borough, and soon after its incorporation was elected the first justice of the peace of the place. He served as such .for five years and two months. He has always' taken an interest in the improvement of the borough, and has been one of the Council. Dr. Kline is a member and elder of the Reformed Church, and was one of the eleven founders of the church in Scottdale, and together with his wife, who for about. seven years prior to the present has been the organist thereof, has taken an active interest in its growth and maintenance. Jan. 17, 1865, Dr. Kline married Miss Elizabeth Boice, of Greensburg, whose maternal great-grandfather, Richard Hardin, was an Englishman by birth, but a soldier on the side of the colonies in the Revolutionary war. Her grandfather, also Richard Hardin, was a soldier in the war of 1812. Mr. and Mrs. Boice were the parents of nine children. Mr. Boice died in 1843 at the age of thirty-six years. Some years after his death his widow married Mr. Joseph Walter, of Greensburg, who is now dead. Mrs. Walter is living in Greensburg, and is seventy years of age. JOHN STERRETT, ESQ. Mr. John Sterrett, a venerable bachelor, well-to-do farmer, and highly respected and intelligent citizen and native of East Huntingdon township, is of Scotch-Irish extraction. His grandfather Sterrett came to America from the north of Ireland, 1760, and settled on a farm about seven miles distant from the battle-field of Brandywine, in Chester County, Pa. Two of his oldest children, James and John, participated in that battle. In Chester County he reared to maturity a family of four sons and three daughters, and about 1786 he with his wife and children started out for Kentucky to join Daniel Boone, but reaching the place now called Mount Pleasant, in Westmoreland County, on the day before Christmas, they found themselves snow-bound, the snow being three feet deep. Compelled to tarry till spring, they finally made permanent residence in Westmoreland County, settling on a tract of land of three hundred and fifty-five acres, with an allowance of six per cent. for roads, etc., thrown in, and which was bought of Isaac Meason. The present farm of John Sterrett belonged to this tract. Upon this land the boys put up (at a point only a few rods in front of where Mr. Sterrett's house now stands) a good log cabin, which the family occupied for some time. The third son in number was Moses, the father of our John Sterrett. He married Margaret Woodrow, daughter of John Woodrow, a farmer, and a descendant of Puritan stock. John and Margaret Sterrett had eight children,—Polly, who married John Smith, and moved to Mount Vernon, Ohio, where she died Jan. 9, 1879; James, deceased ; John ; Elizabeth ; Moses, now residing in Springfield, Fayette Co., Pa. ; William, who died young ; Samuel, died aged about twenty-one; and Jesse, who died at EAST HUNTINGDON TOWNSHIP - 693 about the same age. Moses Sterrett died Jan. 5, 1839, in the seventy-seventh year of his age. His wife preceded him to the grave, she dying Jan. 1, 1831, at about the age of fifty-nine years. John Sterrett was born Nov. 23, 1805, and was brought up on the homestead farm, and got his book education in the common and subscription schools, going into arithmetic as far as " the rule of three," where the teachers of those days usually came to a halt. A few pages of what was miscalled " grammar" (a dictionary of synonymous terms prefixed to a spelling-book) was the end of " literary" education in the schools. On each Saturday Mr. Sterrett's teacher brought to the school-house a bottle of whiskey to induce the large boys to cut wood for the fires of the coming week. Thus the school was "run" in the winters. Mr. Sterrett relates several amusing anecdotes of the teachers of his early days. They all wrote a fine hand, though but few of them knew enough to keep a farm account. On his native farm Mr. Sterrett has resided all his life. After the death of his father the sister, Elizabeth (still living in vigorous old age), and he accepted the farm as their portion in the settlement of the esstate, and have since occupied it jointly, keeping no accounts between themselves, both having wrought industriously. They have greatly improved the farm, erected upon it an excellent house and spacious outbuildings, and are passing their old days as farmers in peace and quiet. Mr. Sterrett, unvexed by a wife and family, has in his lifetime found much time to read, and is a gentleman of more intellectual property than most farmers or other men weighed down with family cares. In politics Mr. Sterrett is a Republican, and says he doesn't know how he could be anything else. (But this remark must not be construed as reflecting upon the honesty or ignorance of his neighbors who are not Republicans.) He was formerly an Old-Line Whig. About forty years ago he attached himself to the Methodist order, but has never attended church much. Miss Elizabeth Sterrett, his co-farming sister, belongs to the Presbyterian Church. A branch of the Southwest Pennsylvania Railroad, called the Hickman Run Branch, is now in process of grading across the Sterrett farm, running over the old play-ground immediately about the cabin wherein Mr. Sterrett was born. Thus the car of progress rolls on mercilessly, invading and destroying the sacred places of memory. Mr. Sterrett from his house • looks down upon the broken and violated landscape, the theatre of his childhood's gambols and afterwards a beauty-spot of his farm, with no poetic affections, it may well be conceived, for railroad schemes. E. H. REID. Mr. E. H. Reid, merchant, operator in coal and coke, and a general business man of Scottdale, is of Scotch-Irish descent, his father when quite a young man having come to this country from Belfast, Ireland, settling in Westmoreland County, Pa., where he married Miss Mary Henry, daughter of Edward Henry, after whom the subject of these notes was named. Mr. Reid, while receiving a good education, was early put to a practical business life, acting as clerk in his father's store until about his fifteenth year, when he " started out for himself," finding employment in a store in Allegheny. County, where he enjoyed special advantages for a business education, until about the age of nineteen. He then took a trip to the Western States, and located in Missouri for about a year, and then returned to Allegheny County, and engaged in business as before, continuing there, except for a short time in the oil regions, until he removed to Broad Ford, Fayette Co., in 1867, and went into business there for himself as a general merchant. He remained there until 1878, in the mean time being engaged in the coal business and making investments in real estate, he at the present time owning in that locality an excellent farm, underlaid in good part with the famous coking coal, and on which stands Tyrone Presbyterian Church. In 1878, removing to Scottdale, he established himself in business, purchasing the merchandise and store buildings of the rolling-mill and furnace companies, thereby acquiring an extensive trade, which he has greatly increased, he now paying the largest mercantile tax in the county, besides owning several manufacturing establishments in the place. In connection with a few other gentlemen Mr. Reid recently organized the Connellsville and Ursina Coal and Coke Company, having a paid-up capital of four hundred thousand dollars, and owning six thousand five hundred acres of land underlaid with coking coal, iron ore, and immense beds of limestone, of which company he and his brother, Col. J. M. Reid, of Dunbar, own the controlling interest, as well as of the Ursina and North Fork Railroad, owned by the same company. Mr. Reid is the oldest of four brothers, three of them located in Fayette County, all active, energetic business men, who with their mother and one sister constitute the living members of the family. PETER STAUFFER LOUCKS. Under the heading "The Loucks Family," a chapter which appears elsewhere in this volume, will be found a brief record of the immediate ancestry, etc., of Peter S. Loucks. The parentage of Mr. Loucks is therein noted, but is here repeated for the convenience of this sketch. Mr. Loucks is the son of the late Rev. Martin 694 - HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COVNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. Loucks, who died Nov. 7, 1869, in the seventy-first year of his age, and Nancy Stauffer (born Feb. 9, 1808), his wife, still living, and who is the daughter of the late Abraham and Elizabeth Myers Stauffer, natives of eastern counties of Pennsylvania, both of German descent. Abraham Stauffer died in Tyrone township, Fayette County, in 1855, at about sixty-one years of age. His wife, Elizabeth, died in Scottdale, Nov. 11, 1878, in the ninety-sixth year of her age. Martin Loucks and Nancy Stauffer were intermarried June 15, 1826. Martin Loucks was brought up on the homestead farm, and was educated in the common schools of East Huntingdon township, and became a farmer, and continued such during life. He was reared under the religious instructions of the Mennonite Church, and some time after his marriage, at about the age of thirty years, he was chosen, according to the customs and rites of his church, a preacher, and fulfilled the duties of his office, which was an unsalaried one, during his life. His duties took him frequently into various parts of his own county and adjoining counties. Mr. Loucks was greatly beloved by his people. Though forbidden by the laws of his church to hold political office, he took interest in politics as a Whig and afterwards as an earnest Republican. Rev. Mr. and Mrs. Loucks were the parents of eight children, five sons and three daughters, whose names are cited in the record above referred to. Of these children Peter Stauffer Loucks is the sixth in number, and was born May 3, 1841, on the old home-stead farm of his grandfather and father, a beautiful spot, lying about fifty rods west of Jacobs Creek in East Huntingdon township, from the site of the house in which he was born and from his present residence near by a fine view of Chestnut Ridge and Laurel Hill being afforded. Mr. Loucks was educated at home and in the common schools. His father was a great friend of education, and took pains to instruct his children at home, as well as to watch them when attending school, to see that they spent their time profitably and made progress in their studies. Indeed, he was exceedingly particular in the matter of the education, religious and literary, of his children. Peter continued attendance upon school in the winter season till about twenty-one years of age, and occupied himself on the farm under his father until, when about twen- ty-six years of age, he and his brother Martin were given by their father entire charge of the farm, which they conducted till after the death of the elder Mr. Loucks, whereafter, under the provisions of the father's will, they came into possession of the farm, and Martin, after about two years, sold his interest to Peter and his sister Catharine, who now own the farm jointly. The farm is devoted to the common agricultural purposes and to the raising of stock for the markets. Mr. Loucks has paid more or less at-tention to the rearing of improved breeds of Durham short-horned cattle and the imported English breeds of draught horses. A portion of Mr. Loucks' farm, or about sixty acres thereof, has been laid out at different times into dwelling-house lots and sites for business houses, a considerable part of the most active or business portions of Scottdale now occupying the same. In the spring of 1873 Mr. Loucks, in connection with his brothers and T. J. Larimer and William Leeper, under the firm-name of Loucks, Larimer & Co., established in Scottdale a planing-mill for the manufacture of all kinds of worked lumber necessary for building purposes, and took extensive contracts for building. After the death of Mr. Leeper in March, 1880, Mr. Loucks and his brother Jacob purchased the interests of all others in the concern, and carried on the business As the firm of P. S. Loucks & Co. till Jan. 1, 1882, when they leased the establishment to Ruth & Stoner, who now conduct the business. Mr. Loucks has actively engaged in promoting the interests of Scottdale and largely contributed to its rapid growth, and is the owner of several of the best buildings, dwellings, and business, houses of that borough. Mr. Loucks, with his brother Jacob, has since April, 1881, been engaged in the grain-shipping busi-ness, with Scottdale as the centre of operations, bring-ing grain from the West and elsewhere and distributing it to the East and various points. In politics Mr. Loucks is a Republican, but does not aspire to office, but has held borough and town. ship offices. May 29, 1878, Mr. Loucks married Miss Mary A. Boyd, daughter of George W. Boyd and Martha Smith, his wife, both of Fayette County, and descend. ants of the earliest settlers of that county. The issue of this marriage is one son, Arthur, born June 18, 1880. LIGONIER TOWNSHIP. DESCRIPTION, NAME. ETC. IN historic interest no name in the annals of Western Pennsylvania is more conspicuous than Ligonier, the name of a township and a borough in Westmoreland County. But although the name is familiar in the earliest mention of that section of country now particularly identified with it, yet it does not seem to be generally known that the name "Ligonier" designates any civil or political subdivision of territory. It was originally the name of the stockade fort first erected by the English and Americans when they came into Western Pennsylvania, and it thus came to be the general name by which that contiguous region of country was designated. The name has by common consent been applied to the whole valley lying between Laurel Hill and Chestnut Ridge in our county. The township of Ligonier was not erected until 1822. That part of the township lying in the interior, or between the more abrupt ridge of hills, is tolerably level, and is well adapted to agriculture. There are many streams, and the surface of the land next these is well adapted for meadow, and these portions were among the first to be opened out and cultivated by the early settlers. Next the mountain ranges designated the surface is more abrupt and broken, and although not specially adapted to farming, yet the labor and toil of three or four generations have made homely farms and comfortable homes to abound even there. Much of the surface is even yet covered with good timber, which has been and is now being raised with remuneration, and which is a source of some wealth. The principal streams are, first, the Loyalhanna, frequently called a river, as it is designated in the old colonial and French maps, a stream of much beauty, whose praises have been sung by many an aspirant to poetic fame, and whose name mingles in the romantic stories of the Western border. Then follow the Four-Mile Run, Mill Creek, Coalpit Run, Furnace Run, and others, affluents of the Loyalhanna. These were early utilized for grist-mill and saw-mill purposes, and later for furnace and foundry purposes, at the time when water was the only expedient for motive-power. Thus it was that a large proportion of the early settlers heated along these streams. Mill-seats were erected in the valley at a very early date, St. Clair being one possibly so early as 1781, on Mill Creek. Nathan Young made an improvement before 1769 on Chestnut Ridge, in Fairfield township ; about the same time Peter Detar, who afterwards removed into Hempfield township. Frederick Rohrer, innkeeper, from Hagerstown, Md., took up land in 1775 adjoining the mill-tract of St. Clair ; Simon Eaker (Eicher), John Ramsey, James Pollock, Garrett Pendergrass, Daniel Savoyer, Andrew Bonjour, Samuel Shannon, James Knox, Richard Shannon, Isaac Stimble, Robert McLaughlin, William McKinzie, John Campbell, Thomas Galbraith, an innkeeper in Ligonier, in 773. St. Clair and Huffnagle both resided in Ligonier town then. Abel Fisher, Henry Kerns, McDowells, Kelsos (now Keltzes). METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, Redstone District of the Baltimore Conference was formed May 28, 1784, and comprised all of Western Pennsylvania, extending from Maryland and Virginia to the York State line. The two circuit-riders for that year were John Cooper and Samuel Breeze. In 1785 the presiding elder was Thomas Foster, with Peter Moriarity, John Fidler, and William Lee preachers. In 1786, Enoch Martin was presiding elder, with John Smith, Robert Ayers, and Stephen Deakens preachers. In 1787 the presiding elder was Joseph Cromwell, and the preachers, William Phoebus, J. Willson, and E. Phelps. In 788, under Richard Whatcoat, presiding elder, Jacob Seaton and Lashley Matthews, the circuit-riders, established the Ligonier Methodist Episcopal Church, and had preaching, the first Methodist preaching in Ligonier Valley, and the second in the county. It was held at the house of Jacob Shaw, now in the territory of Cook township. Mr. Shaw was the class-leader, and the class consisted of his wife, three daughters,—Charlotte, Jane, and Prudence,—and Betsey Gibbins. A few months afterwards Sarah, Elizabeth, and Esther Roberts, all noted singers, joined the class, which was the organization of this church, then as now called " Ligonier!' In 1801 the name of the district was changed from Redstone to Pittsburgh, and in 1804 from the latter to Monongahela. In 1789, Robert M. and Mary Roberts, parents of the distinguished Bishop Richford Roberts, joined the church in the month of May. The latter was •born Aug. 21, 1778, in Frederick County, Md., became bishop in 1816, and died March 26, 1843. He came to Ligonier - 695 - 696 - HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. Valley when a little lad of seven or eight years with his parents. Thomas and John Roberts also joined the same year. In 1790 the place of holding preaching was changed from the house of Jacob Shaw to that of Robert M. Roberts, on the farm now owned, near Ligonier, by Benjamin Deeds. In May, 1792, Bishop Robert R. Roberts was converted. In 1797 two of the members, Stephen Riley, and William Lindsey, removed to Venango County. In 1811 the place of preaching was changed from the house of John Roberts to that of Cornelius Riley, father of Rev. James Riley and grandfather of Rev. McKendree Riley. From 1789 to 1813 the presiding elders and preachers were as follows: