«*^« ^ i\^ U -^^5 ^ r^-)'^"^4\^ ^^.'^ a,^ ^ ^^X:^<1$1()^ ■ k CANONSBURG CENTENNIAL ■D E I g h t e c n N i 71 e t e e 71 H u n d 7' e d T iv o H It 71 d r e d T iv o Addresses in Commem- oration of the One Hun- dredth Anniversary of the Incorporation of the ^ BOROUGH OF CANONSBURG Washington County ^ Pennsylvania EDITED FOR THE COMMITTEE BY BLAINE EWING, L. L. B. V o % C'> COPYRIGHT 1903 BY BLAINE EWING Pittsburgh Printing Company Pittsburgh, Pa. Canonsburg Centennial CONTENTS Page Introductory i The Meeting of February 22nd. 1902 4 Address of W. B. Smiley, D. D 7 " " Blaine Ewing 11 " D. H. Fee 26 " Rev. J. M. Work 36 Part Second Preliminary ., 41 Address of Thomas Patterson 49 Reply of Thomas Reese 60 Address of John R. Paxton, D. D 63 Address of Matthew Brown Riddle, D. D 79 Centennial Ode by David Reed Miller, D. D 89 Address of A. A. Lambing, L. L. D loi Address of Blaine Ewing 1 19 Appendices 163 Index to Portraits W. B. Chambers ix T. M. Potts •• xi John L. McClelland xi \V. B. Gowern xi Samuel McWilliams xiii David H. Fee xiii Samuel Munnell xiii Stewart McPeake xiii W. L. McCloy xiii J. V. H. Cook XV George Briceland xv J. Brad Johnson xv S. A. Lacock xv George D. McNutt xv Contents William H. Paxton xvii John B. Donaldson, M. D xvii S. Clark Smith xvii David Hart xvii Thomas Patterson, facing page SO John R. Paxton, D. D., facing page 64 M. B. Riddle, D. D., facing page 80 A. A. Lambing, LL. D., facing page 102 Blaine Ewing, facing page 120 Rev. Robert Patterson, facing page 149 Aunt Margaret McCroby, facing page Tz List of Illustrations The Watson Corner xix Canonsburg in 1833 xxi Dr. McMillan's log college xxiii Chartiers Woolen Factory 8 The Black Horse Tavern 14 The Briceland Tavern 16 Hector McFadden's Hotel 22 The West Ward Public School 24 , Canonsburg after the fire 28 , Col. George Morgan's House 132 Trying to hear the speakers 40 Trying to hear the speakers 44 View of the Parade 48 Columbia and the thirteen states S6 The Canonsburg Council in 1902 60 • Miller's Run Church 84 The Philadelphia Company Exhibit 96 The Hill Church 128 . The First Plot of Canonsburg 146 y The Second Plot of Canonsburg Appendix The Churches of Canonsburg 128-136 Jefferson College as it now appears 152 ■ Deed of John Canon Appendix Map showing the Patents granted to John Canon. Appendix. • Map showing the road from Canonsburg to Pittsburg. Appendix. '' Power of Attorney from George Washington to John Canon, Front- ispiece. Canonsburg Centennial Central Committee W. B. Chambers, Chairman. William H. Paxton, Th. Maxwell Potts, vice chairman. S. Clark Smith, John S. McClelland, Secretary. John B. Donaldson, M. D., Samuel McWilliams, David Hart, D. H. Fee. R. Fred Douds, Walter L. McCloy, Wesley Greer, Esq., Stewart McP^ake, Blaine Ewing. Esq., Samuel Munnell. Sr., Joseph B. Donaldson, J. V. H. Cook, John C. Morgan, J. Brad. Johnson, Ralph Martin, L. A. Lacock, M. D., Joseph G. Charlton, George D. McNutt, John L. Cockins, Esq. Sub-Committees FINANCE COMMITTEE. Joseph B. Donaldson, Chairman. George V. Harsha, Walter L. McCloy, Oliver L. Paxton, John A. Berry, R. Fred Douds, S. A. Crozier, W. K. Galbraith, Richard Jones, W. J. Gowern, Dr. S. A. Lacock, Culbert M. Greer, George G. McMillan, George C. McPeake, Homer Shaffer. Howard L. Cockins, COMMITTEE ON SPEAKERS. Dr. John B. Donaldson, Chairman. Rev. W. B. Smiley, D. D. Rev. D. W. Heazelton. COMMITTEE ON MILITARY RECORD. John V. H. Cook, Addison Coleman, H. A. Huston, Jas. F. Speer, Wm. McWilliams, David Hart. J. Brad Johnson, Thomas Reese, John W Grubbs. Sub-Committees COMMITTEE ON RULES. Wesley Greer, Chairman. Samuel McWilliams, T. Maxwell Potts, W. B. Chambers. COMMITTEE ON MUSIC. David Hart, Chairman. J. W. Munnell, Dr. J. C. Rankin, M. C. Wilson, W. A. Dickson, Ross Hott. COMMITTEE ON INVITATIONS. Samuel McWilliams, Chairman. John McCahon, Thos. Maxwell Potts, Miss Natalie Snyder, Miss Jeanette Dickson, Ralph Martin. RECEPTION COMMITTEE. R. Fred Douds, Chairman. Dr. W. H. Alexander. Rev. W. F. Brown, D. D., Wesley Greer, John L. McClelland, Robert M. McCullough, Wm. H. Paxton, R. H. Black, W. L. McCloy, Ralph Martin, C. C. Johnson, W. H. McNary, George D. McNutt, Robert T. Kirk, D. H. Fee, Joseph G. Charlton, W. K. Galbraith. COMMITTEE ON PROGRAMME. Wesley Greer, Chairman. John L. McClelland. William H. Paxton, W. J. Gowern, Dr. Jno. B. Donaldson, Wm. B. Chambers. COMMITTEE ON MEDALS AND BADGES. S. Clark Smith, Chairman. Dr. A. L. Runnion. George McWilliams. COMMITTEE ON GROUNDS. J. V. H. Cook, Chairman. Canonsburg Centennial COMMITTEE ON DATE OF CELEBRATION. Dr. S. A. Lacock, Chairman. COMMITTEE ON PRIVILEGES. John L. Cockins, Chairman. HISTORICAL COMMITTEE. S. Blaine Ewing, Chairman. Wesley Greer, T. Maxwell Potts, Samuel McMillan, Dr. Jno. Morrison. COMMITTEE ON DECORATIONS. George D. McNutt. Chairman. A. A. Adams. COMMITTEE ON CANON DESCENDENTS. S. Blaine Ewing, Chairman. D. H. Fee. C. M. Greer. COMMITTEE ON PARADE. W. H. Paxton, Chairman. L. M. Porter, C. M. Greer, G. C. McPeake, H. L. Cockins, Si L. Kennedy, W. A. Dickson, A. A. Rowe, George McWilliams. PRESS COMMITTEE. John C. Morgan, Chairman. COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION. Samuel Munell, Sr., Chairman. MEMBERS OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE W. B. CHAMBERS CHAIRMAN TH. MAXWELL POTTS VICE-CHAIRMAN WILLIAM J. GOWERN TREASURER JOHN L. McClelland SECRETARY SAMUEL McWlLLIAMS SAMUEL MUNNELL, SR. STEWART McPEAKE D. H. FEE WALTER L. McCLOY J. V. H. COOK GEORGE BRICELAND J. BRAD JOHNSON S. A. LACOCK, M. D. GEORGE D. McNUTT WILLIAM H. PAXTON JOHN B. DONALDSON, M. D. S. CLARK SMITH DAVID HART ^ w ; ) >- m (/J h y, z o Of! '4, < Q u J [A; -rtiM 2 ^ 9 ^ ID . o u < m- O ^ i ^ O o Introductory ESIDE the crystal waters of the Char- tiers, unpolhited by a teeming popula- tion with its many mills and industries, in the long ago the town of Canonsburg, sat on the southern slope of a command- ing hill and gazed upon the changing seasons as they came and went. Since it was first projected and plotted on the records, the United States has passed from a colony of Great Britain into a mighty nation, independent, aggressive and powerful. Its sons have gone forth to labor in the great world, or fight for the nation. From the time of the nation's birth through the Revolution, the Mexican War, the Rebellion and the war with Spain, our town has not been without representatives in its country's battles : — some returned to its hospitable homes and some have left but an empty chair to chronicle their deeds of valor and sacrifice. In other pursuits its sons and daughters have scattered far and wide in every vocation in life, and upon the soil ot India, Siam, China, Japan and Africa, yea, almost in every country of the inhabited globe, some of our people have set up their household gods, and their childrens' children trace back their genealogy to old Canonsburg. What manner of men they were, these old worthies of our town and vicinity, how they lived and worked, joyed and sorrowed, and at last were laid to rest beneath the white head stones that dot the hillside of the fertile valley, have they not been chronicled in the history of Western Pennsylvania both religious and educational, time and Introductory again? But of the municipal history of the town but Httle had been written ; to recount that history, to chronicle the first century of urban life and properly celebrate our loo years of incorporated existence, as well as to render fitting- tribute to the sturdy men and women of this outpost of civilization, — this watch tower of learning, both sacred and profane, — it became our sacred duty to furnish an op- portunity to recount the past and tell of its mighty men. In very truth no feeble folk were they : and lest we forget our heritage of sacrifice and suffering, it becomes us to stop in the hurry for wealth, to forget for the time railroads, trolley cars and lot sales, oil, gas, and coal, iron, steel and tin and go back to the time when men lived out of doors and on top of the ground, not in and under it, as we do now. The Inception of the Idea When it began to dawn on the good people of Canons- burg that their town had almost completed a century of existence, that on February 22nd, 1902, we had completed one hundred years of incorporated life as a borough, it be came evident that some recognition should be taken ot that fact, and that it should not go unchronicled, the fol- lowing pages were written, to give to those who love the memory of the old town the words of praise and kindly remembrance spoken at its Centenary Celebration. The city fathers of long ago had shown their usual dis- regard of weather when they incorporated the town at such a time, as February, but to Canonsburgers the 22nd has greater interest than even the birth of Washington, its own birthday being the same. That some official recogni- tion should be made of the event was so generally con- ceded that a meeting of the citizens was called in the borough building early in January, 1902. This meeting was largely attended and much discussion resulted, indeed Canonsburg Centennial SO various were the suggestions and so animated did the discussion become, that a committee of six was appointed to formulate a plan for the celebration, which should as far as possible, coincide with the ideas expressed in the citi- zens committee. This committee was accordingly appoint- ed and on January 13th, 1902, it met in the office of T. M. Potts there being present Mr. Potts, Wm. H. Pax- ton, Joseph B. Donaldson, David Hart, Samuel Munnell, Sr., John L. McClelland and W. L. McCloy. On January 31st this committee made its report to the Central Com- mittee. At the previous meetings of the Committee Capt. David Hart, the Burgess of the Town had acted as chair- man of the meeting' ex officio. On February loth, 1902, the executive committee, after being called to order by the chairman proceeded to a permanent organization by electing Wm. B. Chambers^ Chairman, Thomas Maxwell Potts, vice-chairman, John L. McClelland, Secretary and W. J. Gowern, Treasurer. The chairmen of the numerous sub-committees were appointed as recited in the report of W. B. Chambers to the meeting of Council, who chose their assistants as there enumerated. As a result of this recommendation of the committee, the Borough Council, by resolution called an open meeting of the Council, to be held in the Opera House on Saturday^ February 22nd, 1902, at one o'clock p. m.^ for the purpose of giving official sanction to the Centennial Celebration, and invited the public to meet with it at that time and be present to endorse the action of Cotmcil in taking under its official wing the laudable object of the committee, viz., to properly celebrate the ending of our century of exist- ence and officially launch us into the large celebration which was to follow ; to make the occurrence of the day a part of the official record of theBorough, to perpetuate the present and known history of the town and rescue from oblivion what had been learned of our fast vanishing past. Introductory The meeting was accordingly held and well attended. After the Canonsburg Orchestra had played several selections to the great enjoyment of the audience, Capt. David Hart called the meeting to order. Present David Hart chair- man, A. D. Anderson, T. M. Reese and W. A. Mathews. Proceedings of the Meeting of Feb. 22, 1902 Held in Morgan's Opera House. The chairman called for the reading of the minutes of the previous meeting, which on motion of Anderson, was dispensed with. The chairman then called for remarks from any one authorized to state the purpose of the meet- ing, whereupon W. B. Chambers advancing addressed council as follows : Mr. Chairman, Members of the Town Council of the Borough of Canonsburg : Gentlemen: — I wish to bring before your Honorable Body at the time a matter of public importance, one that relates to the public good and interest of our Borough, and one that I trust will call for favorable action on your part officially. In the way of a pubhc celebration of the looth anniversary of our Borough. Gentlemen : — At a public meeting of our citizens, held in the month of January, 1902, it was the sentiment of that meeting that a public celebration of our lOOth anniversary should be held. A Committee composed of the following well known citizens — viz : T. M. Potts, J. L. McClelland, David Hart, Samuel Munnell, Sr., W. H. Paxton and W. L. McCloy, submitted the following recommendations, to an adjourned meeting held on January 31st, 1902; which report was received and accepted. This Committee recom- mended : Canonsburg Centennial 1st, That the Burgess and Town Council be request- ed to take official action, so that a proper minute may be made and entered upon the records of the Borough as a matter of History. That they are requested to call a meeting of the citizens to be held in some suitable place on Saturday February 22nd, 1902, at one o'clock P. M.^ when a preliminary celebration may be had, in the way of a few short addresses, and the adoption of an outline for a more elaborate celebration at a future date to be deter- mined. 2nd. That a Central Committee of twenty-five or more Citizens be appointed who shall have charge and control of all matters pertaining to the celebration. That this Central Committee shall organize as soon as possible by electing a Chairman, Vice Chairman, Secretary, Treasurer and such other officers as they may deem or find necessary from time to time. This Committee shall appoint all sub- committees for attending to special details, and that these sub-committees shall from time to time report to the Cen- tral Committee as necessity may require. That the Cen- tral Committee and all other committees shall keep a min- ute of all their proceedings, so that the whole may be pre- served as a matter of historical interest. 3rd. That the following named persons shall consti- tute the Central Committee of twenty-five or more — David Hart, R. Fred Douds, Wesley Greer, John L. Cockins, S. Blaine Ewing, Samuel Munnell, Sr., T. M. Potts, J. V. H. Cook, Ralph Martin, William B. Chambers, John L. Mc- Clelland, Joseph B. Donaldson, John C. Morgan, J. Brad- ford Johnston, William H. Paxton, William J. Gowern, S. C. Smith, Dr. John B. Donaldson, Dr. S. A. Lacock, George D. McNutt, Stewart McPeake, W. L. McCloy, D. H. Fee, Joseph G. Charlton, George Briceland, Samuel McWilliams. In pursuance, therefore, to the recommen- dation of the committee, this Central Committee, T have Introductory just read^ convened in the Town Hall on February loth, 1902, and was called to order by David Hart, Esq. The following permanent organization took place by unanimous consent : Wm. B. Chambers, Chairman, T. M. Potts, Vice Chairman, J, L. McClelland, Secretary and W. J. Gowern Treasurer ; whereupon the following members were named as Chairmen of Sub-Committees : Joseph B. Donaldson, Finance. Dr. John B. Donaldson, Speakers. David Hart, Music. J. V. H. Cook, Grounds and Military Record. Dr. S. A. Lacock, Date of Celebration. John L. Cockin, Privileges. S. Blaine Ewing, Historical Events and Canon Descendents. W. H. Paxon, Parade. S, Clark Smith, Med- als and Badges. Wesley Greer, Programme. J. C. Mor- gan, Press. Stewart McPeake, Fire Works, etc. Samuel Munnell, Sr., Transportation. Samuel McWilliams, Invita- tions. The Committee on date of celebration have named Thursday, June 26th, 1902. It is our purpose to carry out on that day a celebration, one that will bring to our town thousands and thousands of visitors. We expect to have with us, the Governor of our State and other State officials. Distinguished men, Senators and Congressmen, Judges of our Courts, Representatives of the different Arts, Trades, Manufacturies, Industries and Business Houses of our town, each appropriately decorated and festooned in an ar- tistic way, the whole making an attraction that will be well worth coming miles to see. We say to you. Gentlemen, you will see on your streets that day more people than were ever in the confines of our Borough. We want to make it a gala day, a Joyous occasion, and one to be re- membered with pleasure by all present. And now. Gentlemen, having shown to you, that we are a duly and regularly organized body of your citizens, or- ganized in the interest, and working as we trust, for the future welfare and to advance the interests of our town by Canonsburg Centennial a public Celebration, we would request that you would take such official action at this time, as would authorize us in the name of the Borough, to carry out such a public Cele- bration of our one hundredth anniversary on June 26th, as will be a credit to the Borough which you so ably repre- sent, to the people of the same, and to the Central Com- mittee and their assisants in whose behalf I make this re- quest. Gentlemen, I thank you for your attention, and the in- terest you have already shown in the coming event, in the splendid preliminary meeting, you are about to favor us with, and I respectfully ask a favorable consideration at this time. The adoption of this resolution presented by Mr. Chambers, was moved by Reese, seconded by Anderson, and was adopted by Council. Rev. W. B. Smiley, D. D., being called on responded as follows : Mr. Chairman, Members of Council, Ladies and Gentle- men : — -It is somewhat difficult for those whose conceptions of social life are fashioned to a good degree by the condi- tions that prevail in these first years of the 2Gth century, to fully realize what it meant to found a town a hundred years ago. When we look around us and see towns not more than 5 or may be 10 years old that are larger, and possessed of greater industrial interests than our own, now about to enter upon the second century of its existence, there may be some disposition to ask ourselves the ques- tion, or at least for some of our neighbors over on the river to ask us, what have you done in all these years to be worthy of such a great celebration? But taking the pre- vailing conditions into account, I think I am safely within the bounds of truth when I say that Canonsburg during Address of W. B. Smiley the first half of the last century, exercised a greater influ- ence, with her few hundred of citizens, than do the mush- room towns of the present day with their thousands of a population. You cannot always determine the value of a thing by its size or the rapidity of its growth. Boasting of more physical proportions reminds one of what Alexan- der Stevens once said to the council opposing him in a case in court^ who was somewhat inclined to help along a bad cause by berating his opponent and reflecting upon his di- minutive stature. "Why_, sir", said he to Mr. Stevens, "I could swallow a man like you". "If you did", was the quick reply, "you would have more brains in your stomach than you ever had in your head". It is brain rather than brawn, quality rather than quantity, personality rather than proportions that counts in the make up of a town, as well as of an individual ; and whilst we would not wish to intimate that these modern towns that are meeting with such rapid growth, are altogether lacking in these better elements, yet I give myself credit for perfect candor and sincerity when I say that few communities have been more richly blessed with a predominance of all the better qual- ities that go to make up the highest type of society, than this old town of Canonsburg during all these years of her existence. A leading thinker of the present day and a close student of human nature, has often said to me, "there is a marrow about the native stock of that community, which is rarely found elsewhere". Now this is not said that we may pufif ourselves up with pride, but that we may do honor to the generations gone, and that the younger ones may know something of the quality of the material that was built into the foundation of our community, which accounts in great measure for its substantial character at the present time. To start a town a hundred years ago was a different matter from what it is now. With the conditions that prevail at present, a dense Canonsburg Centennial population already in existence, and multitudes coming in upon us every day from foreign shores, it would be a more difficult thing to discover how not to have a town, than how to build one. But very different were the conditions when our grand- fathers laid out and incorporated this town. At that time Pittsburg was not deserving of the dignity of being called a town. All this region around about us was then a forest. And to make a town certainly a few people are a necessity. Just how many signed the petition for this corporation, I am not informed, but probably enough to provide candi- dates for all the offices, and possibly not a sufficient num- ber over and above this to make a respectable remon- strance, else it is probable that like our neighboring bor- ough of Houston, it would have had considerable history before it became a town at all. But it is enough for us to know that there were enough progressive citizens in this region to establish an organized borough lOo years ago, else the occasion of this speech this afternoon would not have been furnished us, and our town would have been just like any other common ordinary place, instead of the digni- fied, honored and prosperous community that it is, with a hundred years of history behind it, every one of which re- cords the doings of noble and worthy men, the fathers and grandfathers of those who are here to-day. The town was called Canonsburg^ and sometimes by our neighbors. Gun- town, possibly for the purpose of frightening the Indians, who filled the woods that surrounded it. But seriously the name Canonsburg stands for something, wherever we may go, that is more useful and honorable and influential than warfare, and gunpowder. Whatever our community may become in the future, you can never separate from her past history, the thought of education and culture, and religious life and character. For years she had no peers west of the mountains as a religfious and educational center from lo Address of W. B. Smiley which went forth streams to make glad this Western Con- tinent. The type of character developed here during the middle half of the last century had in it elements of worth the equal of any thing ever produced in the fertile soil of this new world. And it is no mean responsibility that is laid upon us in receiving such a blessing from the genera- tions that have gone before us in the community. And in the changing character of the contributing elements by which the town's existence is maintained and continued, we should seek to guard sacredly the honor that has been clinging, through all these years, to the name by which we are known. It may have a new element added to its meaning by the time another generation has come into being by reason of the increased smoke that shall arise from the busy hive of its material industry ; and we shall be disappointed if it does not come to be a center of great material prosperity. But in order to this, let us not feel that it is necessary to cut loose from the moorings of the past. Mills were never intended to take the place of Col- leges, nor to lessen the necessity for their existence. And churches will never be more needed and their teachings never more helpful than in the day of our greatest pros- perity. In our haste to be rich and great^ let us resolve to maintain our integrity and honor, and with these founda- tion stones underneath, there is nothing to be feared for the safety of the structure, no matter how fast we may en- large it. Address of Blaine Ewing Read at the open meeting of Council on February 22, 1902. A brief sketch of our Founder, John Canon, and his town in its infancy. iRANCIS PARKMAN, writing of the County west of the Alleghenies, in 1760^ says, "One vast and continuous forest shadowed the fertile soil, covering the lands as the grass covers a garden lawn, sweeping over hill and hollow in endless undulation, burying mountains in ver- dure and mantling brooks and rivers from the light of day. Here and there in some rich meadow, opened to the sun, the Indian squaw turned the black mould with their rude in- struments of bone and iron, and sowed their scanty store of maize and beans". Although our County was not the permanent abiding place of any Indian tribes, when the white man had set up his cabin here,, he was liable to have a visit, none too wel- come, from his red brother. Into this wilderness the pioneer, John Canon, forced his way. The first mark of civilization was usually a mill in which to grind the grain for his frugal existence. Around a mill a few houses were gradually collected, and such was Canonsburg in the early history. Located along an old Indian trail, which wended its crooked way directly up the hill, gradually a few cabins collected, and the squatter be- came lord of the soil. Westmoreland County was erected on the 26th of February, 1771, and at the January Sessions of '74, John Canon was one of the viewers "to view a road to begin at Thomas Guess' (Gists) from thence to Paul Fronian's Mill Address of Blaine Ewing on Chartiers Creek." The last named mill being at the present site of the Town of Linden, North Strabane Town- ship. At this time the most westward county of Virginia was Augusta County, with its County Seat at Staunton in the Shenandoah Valley. On a claim based on the Charter of the London Company, the western boundery of the County was only fixed by the limits of settlements in the North- western boundary. Lord Dunmore claimed jurisdiction over this section of country, and adjourned Court from Staunton to Fort Dun- more, at Pittsburgh. He then issued new commissions of the peace, and among the names of the justices of the peace issued by Dunmore in 1774, John Canon's name ap- peared. On this very day, one hundred and twenty-seven years ago, he took the oath of adjuration and allegiance to his Brittanic Majesty as a justice of Dunmore's Court, on the present site of Pittsburgh, and regularly thereafter sat in its deliberations. He seems to have been tenacious of authority, and a supporter of his allegiance, for he sat in judgment on Thomas Scott an adherent of Pennsylvania jurisdiction, who afterwards became the first Prothonotary of Wash- ington County. It was as difficult a matter then, as now, to serve two masters, and to the trials of the frontier, and incursions of the Indians, was added the rival claims of Virginia and Pennsylvania jurisdictions. When, however, the boundery controversy was settled, and Virginia Courts had ceased to exist, we find him as one of the first representatives from Washington County to the Supreme Executive Council at Philadelphia. The organization of Washington County from a part of Westmoreland County, occurred on the 28th of March. Canonsburg Centennial i$ 1781, and four days later, the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania appointed David Leet and John Canon sub-lieutenants of said County. The first election in the new County for representatives to the Supreme Executive Council resulted in the election of Hon. James Edgar and John Canon, the returns of which election were read in Council at Philadelphia, No- vember 30th, 1 781. He was active in the defense of the frontier as shown by the following minute of the Council : December 29th, 1781. "On consideration of the pro- posals made by John Canon, Esq., for supplying the Militia and Rangers of the County of Washington, which may be employed for the defense of the frontiers of said County. Ordered, that twelve pence per ration in specie, be al- lowed for the rations delivered at such places as the said troops may from time to time be stationed, within said County of Washington. The rations to consist of one pound of beef, or three-fourths pound of pork : one gill of whiskey per day, and one quart of salt and two quarts of vinegar per hundred rations." And to show that Col. Canon was actually engaged in supplying the troops with subsistence, we see a note of the fact that on April 17th, 1782, "an order was drawn on the Treasurer in favor of John Canon, Esq., for the sum of one hundred pounds specie, in part of contract for supplying the troops stationed in the County of Washington with provision." And on February 15th, 1783, "An order was drawn on the Treasurer in favor of Col. John Canon for ninety-five pounds, six shillings, balance of his account for rations furnished to the Militia and Rangers in Washington County from February 1782 to February 1783." On November 20th of the next year, we see another voucher drawn on the Treasurer, in favor of Col, Canon 14 Address of Blaine Ewing for rations furnished the Rangers and Militia in Washing- ton County, up to and including August, 1783. . On October 6th, 1784, in pursuance of an election in this region, he was commissioned with Matthew Ritchie, one of the Justices of Court of Common Pleas for Washington County. He was again called to sit in the Councils of this State as we see by a minute dated December ist, 1789. "An order was drawn on the Treasurer in favor of John Cannon, Esq., for fifty-three pounds, ten shilings, for his attendance in Council from the 7th to the nth of February, and from the loth of August until the 2nd of October, 1789, and his mileage coming to Philadelphia and return- ing to Washington County." A still earlier mention of Canon appears in the records of Youghiogheny County, in reference to the "public salt" which sold for the price of six pounds, ten shillings per bushel, by order of Court one year before. This enormous price will serve to illustrate the difficulties under which the people west of the Alleghenies labored for means of transportation. "On September 29th, 1779, the Court or- dered that Col. John Canon have the public salt which now lies at Alexandria, brought up to this (Youghiogheny) County and distribute it to the persons entitled to receive it, and that he be authorized to contract for the carriage on such terms as he can, taking care in the distribution to fix the price so as to raise the money due thereon for the original cost." But our hero was not perfect. While it can be, and lias been successfully shown by others that he was not im- plicated in the expedition against the Moravian Indians, when popular excitement ran high, and the whole people were embroiled over the whiskey insurrection, John Canon's name led the list in the call for Militia to meet at r > Saa^Milii— aaw Canonsburg Centennial I5 Braddock's Field in July, '94. In which call the admission was made that the letters taken from the mails were in the possession of the Committee. That he was present at Henry Westbay's Tavern (the old Black Horse Tavern) when the mail bag containing let- ters from this section to the authorities at Philadelphia, was opened, seems to be conclusively proved, being invited in by the others more deeply implicated, to embroil as many as possible, in the general catastrophe. That he was not visited with severe punishment is attributed to the in- tervention of Washington, whose attorney in fact, he was, having charge of the renting of his farms in the "Wash- ington Tract" in Mt. Pleasant Township. At such a time it would have been suicidal to afifect in- difference, and I doubt if he even felt it. A Scotchman by birth and bred for generations to hate an exciseman, he was, on principal, opposed to the government's usurpation of power, as it was then generally called, as we saw how hard the excise legislation was on his friends and neigh- bors. Distilling of liquor was practiced everywhere, and was the only means of earning money for this section, cut off from communication from the rest of the world by moun- tains that were almost im.passible. The Ohio river was in the control of the French, and afforded no exit for our commerce. After a lapse of over one hundred years, it would be strange if we could not see som.e faults in any man, but these arose more from quick sympathies and a hasty tem- per than from lack of good judgment. He was the firm friend of education in the broad sense. When proposals for the donation of a lot for an academy, were rejected by the founder of Washington, Col. Canon, in 1 79 1, not only gave the lot, but advanced the money to i6 Address of Blaine Ewing build the stone college which stood where the West Ward public school now stands. At a time when deeds were carelessly written as a rule, and any memorandum of sale was considered sufficient. John Canon's deeds are models of good conveyancing and full recitals. Many an attorney in looking over the records has had cause to bless him for reciting tuUy and accurate- ly, the entire history or reason which led up to the con- veyance. Judged by the estimation in which he was held by his contemporaries^ by his public service, and the offices he held, he stood the full test of good citizenship. John Canon's death occurred in 1798 when but little past the meridian of life just before the Academy he had helped to found, became Jefferson College. He left a widow, Janet, and four sons, John^ Samuel, William and Joshua and three daughters, Jean, Anne and Margaret. He is described as an active, intelligent and gentlemanly man and from what has preceded, he certainly led a strenuous life, full of action and excitement, and dignified by gener- ous service rendered to his country, the cause of educa- tion and religion. General Washington himself says of him in his diary September^ 1784, "I lodged at a Col. Can- on^s on the waters of Shurtees Creek ; a kind, hospitable man ; and sensible." But turning our attention from the founder of the town to the town itself we find that according to the best records obtainable, Canonsburg was laid out on the 15th of April, 1788, and later, on February 22nd, 1802, erected into a Borough by act of the Legislature of Pennsylvania, and is the oldest borough in the County of Washington. The Act of incorporation is too long to read here, but it directed the citizens v/ho had resided within the Borough for six months, last preceeding the election, to meet in one of the rooms of the College in the Borough, on the "• 2 Ti 55 1 C/5 Canonsburg Centennial 17 first Mondav of May in each year, between the hours of 12 and 6 o'clock in the evening, and elect by ballot one re- spectable citizen, residing therein, as Burgess, and five re- spectable citizens to be a Town Council. Among the duties of Council as prescribed in the Act is to "appoint a town clerk and other officers as may be necessary to regulate the digging and gathering coal in the coal banks adjacent to said town, by the inhabitants there- of, in such manner, that the private rights of individuals be not impaired or injured, and manage the affairs of the coal banks so far as the rights of the inhabitants of said Bor- ough extends to the same." An election was accordingly held on the third of May, 1802, which resulted in the election of Samuel Murdoch as Burgess ; and William Clarke, Thomas Briceland, William White, John Johnston and John Watson, Esq., as Council; John McGill was elected high constable. Samuel Murdoch, Esq., was elected (by Council) over- seer of the streets, lanes, alleys and roads within the Bor- ough : William Clarke, Treasurer : Thomas Briceland and William White to regulate partition walls and fences : An- drew Munroe (Nailor), Clerk of Market.* Borough of Canonsburg, May 26, 1802, the Town Council met ; all present. I St. Resolved that David Wilson & Wm. Hartupee be and they are hereby appointed Overseers of the poor. 2nd. That Thomas Briceland, William White & John Johnston be managers of the Coal Bank. 3rd. Resolved that all Officers of the Borough ap- pointed by Council be sworn duly to execute their respec- tive offices. The first act of this Council was as follows : "Resolved that the High Constable shall forthwith take a return of all * This name should be spelled Munro. i8 Address of Blaine Ewing taxable property within the Borough of Canonsburg, which property shall be all in and out lots, cows and horses above three years old," and the next. "Resolved that from and after three weeks from the publication of this act, all Hogs, shoats and pigs running at large within the bounds of said borough, without yokes and rings, upon complaint shall become a forfeiture to said Borough", which is closely fol- lowed by a note in the margin. "Hog law repealed." "Resolved that all Tavern Keepers, Cyder and Beer Houses shall have their doors shut by ten o'clock (Tavern keepers for the reception of Travellers only excepted."") On May iith^ 1802, the members of Council voted themselves "forty cents per day for their services," but in the following April they repealed the ordinance, doubtless under pressure. And also voted to sit with closed doors, the clerk being authorized to receive and present all peti- tions. The first tax duplicate shows 87 names and at one cent on the dollar (which was the limit allowed by the charter) the tax amounted to $122.53. In June, 1802, it was enacted "That for the better se- curing the peace and happiness of said Borough of Canons- burg, that a pair of stocks be made and placed near the Market House, to confine offenders in, whose crimes may not merit greater punishment. And the Burgess is hereby directed to carry the above resolution into effect without delay, and is authorized to draw his bill upon the Treasurer for the amount of expense, which may have been incurred in so doing." "Whereas, persons frequently come to the Borough under the characters of Mounte-banks, stage-players and exhibitions of Puppet-shows. Therefore, be it enacted by the Town Council that if such Alounte-banks, play actors or managers of a Puppet-show shall exhibit in their profes- sion for money, within the said Borough, that such per- Canonsburg Centennial 19 sons shall be fined in the sum of fifty dollars with cost of suit." Passed June 25, 1802. No prohibition, however, was enacted against a free show. The tender solicitude of the city Fathers was also man- ifested for the old Market House. "Be it enacted &c. that the superintending and care of the Market House devolve particularly upon the clerk of the Market, who is, hereby, directed to take care that no injury shall be done to it, either by boys swinging upon the gates, breaking the roof with stones, or hurting in any manner, or by any person bringing a nuisance into it, such as horses, cows, sheep, hogs, &s. ; and if any person shall so offend the Clerk, if he sees proper may apply to the Burgess, who shall issue his warrant to apprehend such offender, and upon conviction punish him or her by fine, (or imprisonment in the stocks) according to the nature of the offense." The words in parenthesis have a pen line drawn through them. This was evidently aimed at the pranks of the students of 1802. In 1804, the market days were fixed on Tuesdays and Saturdays, and "no meat, butter, fruit, vegetables, or other articles" were to be offered for sale at any other place than at the market before 10 o'clock A. M., on pain of forfeiture to any person who chose to take them, and no butcher was allowed to sell any meat on any other day in the week than market days, unles he would notify every family in the Borough of the fact. The reason of this enactment does not appear, unless it was to prevent the early birds from intercepting the people on their way to market, and buying the best to be had. April 6, 1808 "Resolved that every person residing within the Borough shall be entitled to receive coal from the Bank known by the name of Laughlins'' Bank." This enactment seems to be a breach of the conditions of sale, contained in Canon's deeds, wherein some such wording as this is used, varying in different deeds. "With Address of Blaine Ewing the privilege of the Coal Bank South of the Dam forever, to take as much Coal therefrom, as will be suflficient firing, for the houses now built, or that may be hereafter built, upon the hereby granted lot of ground ; provided the said Abraham Singhorse, his heirs and assigns do not injure the works of the Dam." See Deed John Canon to Abraham Singhorse, April 9, 1795. Deed Book O. 519. Just when this valuable right was lost the minutes do not disclose, but it evidently continued for many years and the question was finally submitted to Thomas McGif- fin, Esq., but his decision was not recorded. In the statement of Borough expenses for 1805 this item occurs, "By Thompson & Weavers bill for building bridge at creek $65.00." I presume this was at the foot of what was then Main Street, now Central Avenue. June 6, 1808, Manasha Miles, by his son Richard hired stall and Block No. i for which he is to pay $1.5,0 per An. (i. e. a stall in the Old Market House.) After much conversation on different proposals the fol- lowing was passed. "That every member of Council who does not attend at the places of meeting, due notice being given, within 15 minutes shall be find fifty cents." This is the way they secured a quorum in 1808. "Feb. 14, 1810. Resolved that a beam sufficient to draw 150 lbs. and small weights be purchased for the use of the Market-house, for the use of said Borough." And in the same year an ordinance was passed that "All meat or any other article brought to the market house for sale, shall be weighed by the public scales only. Any person or persons found weighing any article or articles with steel-yard, or any other way but the above mentioned, for each offense, shall pay one dollar to be recovered by the Burgess, one half to the use of the informer, the other half for the use of the Borough." Canonsburg Centennial In the year 1810, 5 mills tax were levied, June 19; Sep- tember 20th an additional |- per cent amounting to $195. 97^ was levied. "Whereas, application was made by a number of the in- habitants of the Borough stating that two or three feet off the side of Water Street was wanted to make the scite of the school house more commodious, therefore, Resolved by the authority of the Town Council, that forty feet in length and three feet in breadth, off the South side of Water Street, any where opposite Alex. Murdock, Esq., lots on said street, be granted in perpetuity to Craig Ritchie, Esq., John Watson, Esq., and Doctor Samuel Murdock and other subscribers and their successors^ to a paper containing articles of association for building and maintaining a school house in the Borough of Canonsburg, dated the day of August, 1816. Done in Council the 2nd day of July, 1816." "May 6, 1820, Resolved that a special meeting of Coun- cil be held at Joshua Emery's Friday at 5 o'clock to hear Rev. Mr. Gibson on certain charges alledged against Mary Abbel as a nuisance." Friday, xA.ugust 25, 1820, By an unanimous vote $50 of the taxes of 1820 "and one hundred dollars of the taxes to be collected off the Borough in 1821 shall be appropriated to Joshua Emery and Geo. McCook expressly for to defray in part the expenses incurred in making a part of the road lately made from the site of the old Market House towards the land of the heirs of Saml. Thompson, dec, which road is a street as far as the Borough line extends.'' (i. e. West College street.) "Moved that the old Market House be taken down and that a site be fixed upon for building a new one, and that the supervisor give notice to the citizens to meet at the Market House on Saturday 26th inst. to have their voice^ as respects the contemplated one." Address of Blaine Ewing May 1 6, 1821. Inquiry having been made for some things formaly kept in the Market House, John Sample and George McFarlane report that the scales, plough and timber of the old Market House, are in the possession of Andrew Munroe. In February, 1822, it appears that numerous attempts had been made to burn different houses in the town, and that the citizens, for their own safety, had formed the in- habitants into a company of patrol, divided into classes of four each, to patrol the town during the night. The Council confirmed the Act of the Committee of Safety and fined any male taxable citizen two dollars, who refused to serve as patrol, when the turn of his class came. In May of 1825, the question of bringing the streets to grade was first taken up, and the contract let to Andrew Van Eman to grade Main street between the turnpike and the Borough line at the Mill. This was done after a public meeting held at the Post Office, in which the cost was lim- ited to one cent on the dollar of valuation. In May, 1827, a resolution of Council was passed grant- ing a strip of land, in perpetuity, between the houses of Hector McFadden and Andrew Munro, 25 by 45 feet, to the persons who subscribed to the erection of the new market house, the upper end to be 20 feet below the house of Hector McFadden, and imposing new regulations for the care of the market, and adding that no meat be sold at any other time than market days, and not before five o'clock A. M. It also admonished the butcher who left the Market last, to put the scales and weights away in the place appointed for their safe keeping. Hector McFadden lived in the house on the south-east corner of College street and Central avenue, long occupied by Mrs. Ferguson, and Andrew Munro was the step-father HECTOR McFADDEX'S HOTEL From a photcc;raph by F. C. Dunlk\y Canonsburg Centennial 23 of John E. Black, who succeeded him as postmaster, and lived on the south-west corner of the same streets. There were two Andrew Monros. Andrew Monro (Nailor) above mentioned, and Andrew Munroe who spelled his name with the addition of the "e", who kept a Tavern which stood on the lot lately owned by William Campbell, dec, nearly opposite the college. One peculiarity in the tax assessments appears to be that there was no uniformity about the value of a trade or profession. I will cite a few instances : Rev. Dr. Brown's profession is valued at $800.00 Dr. Stevenson's profession is valued at 150.00 Dr. Leatherman's profession is valued at 300.00 James McClelland, Trade 150.00 Joshua Emery, Tavern 150.00 John H. Martin, Trade 125.00 Craig Ritchie, Store 200.00 John Watson, Office Justice of Peace 200.00 John Watson, Trade 150.00 Boyd Emery, Student 50.00 In March, 1830, the question of grading and laying side-walks and water courses was first taken up, and in the same year a seal was procured for the Borough. On August 7th, 1833, parts of Green and Market streets were stoned. Now called Greenside and Central avenues. "August 27, 1836. On motion resolved that Joseph Parkinson gets the coal bank until the first of April at one dollar and seventy-five cents per hundred bushels and re- pair the bridge at his own expense." _, "Dec. 4, 1837. Resolved, That Hugh Ballentine have the privilege of charging 2| cents in place of two cents until wages fall : and when they fall the price of coal is to fall accordingly.-" 24 Address of Blaine Ewing After several years discussion, a fire engine was pro- cured in 1840, and a fire company formed to supply the "Hibernia Fire Engine" with water in case of fire, and on all days of training with the engine. But the citizens seem to have wearied quickly of pump- ing and carrying water to be squirted at nothing in par- ticular, when this fire engine was "exercised" ; and judging from the number and stringency of the resolutions passed to bring them to a realization of their deficiencies, their weariness increased year by year. In June, 1843, the Council circulated a paper to take the signatures of the citizens for, and against, the purchase of the lot on which the old stone college stood, for a public school; and on March 12th, 1844, the building of said Town House or Town Hall as it was commonly called, was let to Andrew H. Griffin for $1,050.00. The old books of the Borough of Canonsburg do not contain much of interest to the resident of to-day, unless his ancestors have resided here ; but to one interested in the history of the old inhabitants they are full of informa- tion. The assesment lists for over fifty years contain the names of every person who had any occupation or who paid tax, and in these lists you will find many of the pioneer residents of the county. One name struck me as occurring in the records with regularity each year, for the first fifty years of the Bor- ough's existence, and it still occurs, viz : — that of Reynolds C. Neil. There is much more of interest, to those who hke to delve into the past, contained in the books of the Borough, than is here recited ; but time forbids to continue. It is history by suggestion rather than by recital. You must let your imagination picture the scene from these brief suggestions. In this short sketch, I have merely Canonsburg Centennial 25 quoted from the books at hand, and indicated the occur- rences which called for mention either by ordinance of the Borough Council, or such brief mention of John Canon as occurred in the records of the County and Executive Coun- cil of Pennsylvania ; preferring to be sure of my ground and quote from the originals verbatim, rather than to rely on local tradition. ^ Address of David H. Fee |HE "Notes Alan" had predicted the Cen- tennial Celebration as early as December 3rd^ 1901, and since that time spent his days in writing articles to boom the idea. At night, from his beautiful home on the very summit of Sheep-hill he scanned the heavens for portents, and finding no baleful stars in conjunction, cast the horoscope of the future Canonsburg as follows : Mr. Chairman, and Fellow Citizens : We stand to-day upon an eminence which overlooks one hundred years of incorporated community life ; a cen- tury filled with struggles, but Crowned with triumphs of which we have a right to be proud. From a few straggling log huts on two mud roads, which the "City Fathers" of 1802, strove to dignify by the name of "streets", we have come to be in 1902, a prosper- ous little city of nearly 5,000 inhabitants. The log huts of the pioneers long since gave way to more commodious and ornate structures, and these are in their turn being re~ placed by residences of a still more artistic and costly style of architecture. Our streets have increased in num- ber and length, and while we can not boast of their good condition, we can and do "live in hopes" that once the Town Council gets through with the questions connected with a water supply and a system of sewers, they will man- fully and courageously tackle the street-paving question. Wonderful has been the progress of Western Pennsyl- vania during the century closing with to-day. At its be- Canonsburg Centennial 27 ginning, Pittsburg was but a straggling country town. David Hamilton, great grandfather to the speaker, who settled on "The Rich Hills", in North Strabane township in 1780 and who lived there sixty years, dying in 1840, at the age of 90, used to say that he remembered Pittsburg when it was not larger than Canonsburg ; and certainly the Canonsburg of 1825 and of 1830 was not much to boast of in point of size. In 1802 not even a pike connected Can- onsburg with Pittsburg. Indeed^ at that early day Pitts- burg had hardly come to be recognized as the metropolis of Western Pennsylvania. In fact, they were rivals to the honor of being considered the biggest and best town in the "Western Country". A gentleman who travelled through Western Pennsylvania, at about that period and who gave his impressions in one of the Eastern public prints said in speaking of Pittsburg, that "it would never amount to much as it was too near Brownsville." Too near Brownsville !" Think of it. No, there was no pike in 1802, nor for nearly a quartei of a century later. But once the pike was projected, and it was seen that it was going to be built, great things were predicted for Canonsburg, as a result. "Just wait until the Pike is completed and then you will see the town grow," was the talk among the business men and the owners of real estate and they were right — the town did grow, — but not so rapidly as they predicted. Many years later, these same people, or their successors said, "Oh, if we could only get the Chartiers railroad completed, how this old town of Canonsburg would boom", and they were right — but still the boom did not materialize as soon as some ot them expected, — and many of the Fathers died without seeing the Promised Land, — or as we would say in modern parlance, — ."they fell outside the breast works." But so true is it, as the poet has told us, "that man never is, but always to be blest," (and the same remark applies to com- 28 Address of David H, Fee munities as well as to individuals), that with a splendid railroad connecting us with Pittsburg, the trains on which whirl us to the Union Station in 45 minutes, (which time will soon be reduced to 30), we are just as far from being satisfied as were our forefathers v/ith their mud roads, and later their pike and we are trying to induce the Wabash to build a line up the Valley, and are longing for the day when the trolley car shall tread the valley. 1802 appears to have been a big year in the history of the town. Not was only it the year in which Canonsburg was incorporated into a borough ; it was also the year in which Old Jefferson College was chartered. And, by the way, the Centennial celebration of the founding of Old Jef- ferson, — Canonsburg's college, is to be held in the town of Washington during the coming October. "But that is another story". But it may be that the boom of 1802 was more of a pa- per-boom than one might suppose possible, considering that the community did not have a printed organ of public opinion for many years thereafter. Colonel Canon was a big man, it must be remembered, in Western Pennsylvania counsels, and his influence no doubt went a long ways. It is probable that one of the principal reasons why Canons- burg was incorporated before some other towns in West- ern Pennsylvania was that Col. John Canon, the town's founder, was a member of the legislature, and had worked long enough on a mill to understand "log rolling". Proof of the Colonel's influence in the Pennsylvania General As- sembly is found in the fact that he succeeded in having Chartiers Creek declared (not made) as some writers have wrongfully asserted, a navigable stream. The tradition, however, that the volume of water in the creek was mater- ially increased by the enactment of the statute, is not sub- stantiated. TWO VIEWS AFTKR THE KIRK OF NOVEMBER 14, 1S9S Photographs bv B. E. Canonsburg Centennial 29 A century is a long period of time, and its days and months and years, afford time for the making of much his- tory. We realize the truthfulness of this statement in some fair measure^ when we remember that the College, which was chartered here in 1802, and for which the men and women, of the community prayed and gave and labored so faithfully, and which graduated such a host of good and great men, whose influence will be felt in ever-widening circles, as long as time shall last, arose, flourished, and passed away, more than thirty years before the completion of the century. The removal of the College, however was not the unmixed evil which it appeared to be at the time. Even there the law of Compensation, of which Emer- son has so beautifully and truthfully written, still obtained. The town never really began to grow and prosper in a material way until after the College had been united with the sister institution at Washington. The men and women who planted the banner of civiliza- tion in the Western wilderness, a century and a quarter ago, were firm belevers in three institutions, viz., the home, the Church and the School. And no sooner had they erect- ed the log cabin and founded a home than they began to take thought for the establishment of a place of public wor- ship. And Rev. McMillan and Rev. Dr. Mathew Hender- son, were men approved of God and selected by men to carry the Word of Life to the earnest, faithful people who first settled this region ; and theirs were literally the voices of men crying in the Wilderness, "Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight." The men and women of the early days, — "airly days", Whitcomb Riley would call them, — were of strong faith. There was no "halting be- tween two opinions," with them. Like Paul they knew on whom they had believed. With them the Bible from lid to lid was the Word of God ; heaven a literal city with gates of pearls and streets paved with gold of the kind that dol- 30 Address of David H. Fee lars are made of, and hell a place of literal fire and brim- stone. These things are believed, because their Bibles and their preachers said they were true. And they had no dis- position to doubt either. Indeed, it was not an age of doubt, but an age of belief, and the belief made strong men and women, and laid the foundations for the christian civil- ization, which as a community, is our chief blessing to-day. When disposed to speak slightingly of the narrowness and crudeness and literalness of the lives and creeds of the pioneers, let us think of their labors, and of the great blessings, material, social, intellectual and moral which they have bequeathed us ; and uncover in honor of their memories. As the traveller pauses when his weary feet have reach- ed at last, the summit of some lofty range of hills and gazes back along the road over which his dust-covered feet have travelled ; and then faces forward, and fronts still loftier heights, which yet remain to be scaled, so we to-day are interested in looking back over the way along which we as a community have travelled during the past hundred years. But, while we are interested in looking backward, we are still more interested in looking forward ; in peering in- to the future. And at least one reason for this is plain. The story of the past has been told. What has been writ has been writ, and no power human or Divine may change it ; but the story of the future is unwritten and we can picture it as taking anyone of a thousand different forms which the fancy may dictate. The future has the fascination of the mysterious, of the unknown. And, to-day interested as we are in the story of the past, we cannot forbear trying to peep over and under the curtain which shuts us out from the future, and read the story which fate has locked in her strong box for the people who shall be on the stage of ac- tion and of the Canonsburg Opera House, on the 22nd of Pebruary, 2002. Canonsburg Centennia 31 What changes have taken place since 1802? Then the people of the community, surrounded by almost intermin- able forests and in the midst of a struggle for existence^ were putting forth every efifort to found in the wilderness a school devoted to the higher education ; in which their sons might be trained for honorable, useful and influential lives, and this not so much in order that they might be successful in a material way, as that they might be instrumental in ex- tending the kingdom of God and advancing the welfare of men. At the close of the century what do we find? Well, among other things this : The college, founded by the pioneers, has arisen, flourished and passed from us, and its influence while still felt in the community has largely ceased to be^ and it is material instead of intellectual, de- velopment that is claiming the attention of the people. We are building and operating iron and steel mills, and bridge works, and potteries, and stove works, and coal mines, and we are projecting trolley lines and competing lines of steam railways. Instead of streets crowded with students on their way to and from recitations, we see an army of brawny, honest workmen, carrying dinner pails as they hurry to and from the mills and mines. The soot and smoke from the furnaces darken the sky^ and the clang of machinery jars upon the nerves of the few remaining per- sons of leisure as they take their morning constitutionals. And as the Right Reverend John R, Paxton remarked in an address a few years since: "where once death-like si- lence reigned from dusk to dawn, now the visitor to his na- tive town is aroused by the whistle of the iron and steel mill at the ungodly hour of 2 A. M." What will the future bring to us? We cannot tell. Let us hope that she will deal kindly with us, as taken as a whole the past has dealt. That there is to be great material expansion and de- velopment in the coming years, we think it is safe to pre- 32 Address of David H. Fee diet. Situated as we are in one of the most productive and beautiful valleys, in the State within the limits, and indeed near the hub of the Pittsburg District, which is now the greatest manufacturing district on the Western Continent, and destined to become immeasurably greater in the not distant future, we can reasonably look forward to the time when our population, our business and our industrial plants shall be far in advance of the present. Pittsburg is grow- ing as never before in her history. Her waves of popula- tion and business are reaching out farther and farther with each year; and the day is not distant when she will be a city of 1,000,000 inhabitants, and in all the valleys leading back into the hills from the head-waters of the Ohio, teeming thousands of people will live and move and do business. This Chartiers Valley will be densely populated from Washington to Pittsburg, and the trains on two dou- ble-track steel railroads will fly backwards and forwards, and the trolley cars will whirr and buzz every hour of the day and night. And this development, which is sure to come^ means that the two Canonsburgs are to continue to grow and spread East and West and North and South. And this material growth and development is some- thing to be desired and to labor for. Material develop- ment, increase in population, the accumulation of wealth are good, but we shall make a mistake if we come to look upon them as the chief good. They are only to be desired as means to an end ; as helps to secure a good which is higher and nobler and better. After everything possible has been said in favor of the Gospel of Wealth, Truth will still com- pel us to agree with the Divine Man of Nazareth when he said, "A man's life consisteth, not in the abundance of the (material) things which he possesseth. The mind is more than matter, the heart's love better than gold, and the spirit of more worth than the body." Canonsburg Centennial 33 While we are increasing population and accumulating material wealth, let us not forget the institutions which were so dear to the minds and the hearts of the pioneers. Let us not forget that the home is the corner stone of so- ciety and of the State, and labor to keep it sweet and pure. Let us not forget that education is one of the things which the founders of the town regarded as of the greatest im- portance, and "showed their faith by their works". And not only did they labor to establish the higher institutions of learning, but they believed in the study of the common branches, — in popular education, — the public schools. And the people of Canonsburg have always shown a commend- able interest in their public schools, and have labored for their advancement. We hope that this interest may con- tinue ; that they may never be satisfied with present attain- ments, but that there may be a constant efifort to make the schools better with each succeeding year. Is it not true that the number of graduates from our High School is much smaller than it should be? Especially is it true that the number of boys who complete the course is discreditably small. Does this not argue that the value placed upon education in the homes is less than it should be? Is it no also true that the number of graduates from our High School, who become students and graduate from higher in- stitutions of learning is smaller than it should be? Should not Canonsburg, which has always been noted for the intel- ligence of its people and its love of education show its re- gard for culture by sending out a larger number of men and women devoted to intellectual pursuits? Our partial fail- ure in this respect we do not blame upon our schools, but rather would we say that the fault lies at the doors of the parents, who show their lack of appreciation of learning by taking their children away from school as soon as they are able to earn a little money. Let us try to change public sentiment on this matter ; and let us hope that in the com- 34 Address of David H. Fee ing years, Canonsburg may have many sons and daughters who shall make her name glorious in all the professions, including literature, and may they never forget when they journey from home to register from "Canonsburg" and not write "Pittsburg", after their names as some of the leading lights of the present day. And the Church what shall we say of it? What can we say of it that will do justice to the subject? In Canonsburg, the Church has been a controlling influence from the earli- est days. Without the Church, Canonsburg would not be Canonsburg. Men of intellectual and moral force, who have lived in this place or vicinity, and who have also been well acquainted with many other widely scattered commu- ties, bear testimony to the fact that they have found here a moral atmosphere and a devotion to the cause of Chris- tianity which they have not met with elsewhere. This is a reputation of which we should be proud and which we should strive to maintain. Some people say that the Church costs too much money, — more money than she is worth, — but that is wrong. The Church is worth ten times what she costs to this, or any other community. Try to imagine what this community would be without the Church. You cannot. It would be a little section of per- dition on earth. Our conception of Christianity is broader and deeper than was that of the pioneers. Our creeds, if they have not yet been revised in the books, have been re- vised in the minds and hearts of the men and women who profess them, and we realize, and the pioneers did not, that love to man is but another form of love to God ; and we are ready to heed the good Quaker poet when he says to us : "Hold fast your Puritan heritage. But let the free thought of the age, Its light and hope and sweetness add. To the stern faith the fathers had." Canonsburg Centennial 35 To-day at high noon the bells and whistles announced that the town was one hundred years old as a borough, and already the new century has crowded out the old. The glories of the past and the glories of the present, will be dimmed with the passing years. Year will follow hard up- on year, and decade upon decade. The generations will quickly come and go, but Canonsburg shall not perish, but endure and flourish, as long as the spirit of the fathers ani- mates their sons. "And cast in some diviner mould, May the new cycle shame the old." Address of Rev. J. M. Work FTER the conclusion of Mr. Fee's address and a selection from the orchestra, Rev. J. M. Work made an address as fol- lows : "I am glad this last piece of music was so long and good, for it will make up for the rest of the programme. One hundred and seventy years ago to- day Geo. Washington was born, and loo years ago to-day this town was born in the eyes of the law, and according to the authority of the state. The circumstances that surround- ed those men are very different from the circumstances that surround us. At that time the nation was just starting. One hundred years ago would put you back into the admin- istration of Jefferson and to the first Town Council of Can- onsburg. That council was organized two years and four months after the death of Geo. Washington. In 1802 Ohio was admitted into the Union, and in 1789, when Washington took the oath of office on Wall street, on the 30th of April, Dr. John McMillan was then running his Log Cabin College. Then they had neither week-day nor Sunday papers, bring- ing the news from all over the world. They had no tele- graph. They had natural gas, but they didn't have it. They lived on the top of the ground, and not under it as we do. "We owe a great deal to those who came here with a Bible in one hand and the log cabin college in the other. Possibly the great glory of this town lies in the history of Jefferson College, for all through the life of the college, men were graduating who became mighty in the law and also in the gospel. Canonsburg Centennial 37 "Jefferson College has sent her men into the highest places in life. Certainly we would not forget those who have done so much for us. Suppose those pioneers had come without their Bibles and their religion, what would have been the result? Their legacy to us and ours would have been very different. I doubt if there were as many people in Canonsburg 100 years ago as there are here this afternoon. But whether many or few, let us not forget the debt of gratitude we owe them. The people are interested, and they are going to be more interested on the 26th of June. On that day we expect the history of the town to be given in full, and the honor will be given to whom honor is due. Lincoln was once asked how long a man's legs ought to be, and he said, 'They ought to reach from the body to the ground at least.' I think that a speech ought to reach from the beginning to the end, and mine has almost reached the end. "But I wish to say this, in honor of those who were here at 'the beginning of things.' They did their work well. They built upon the foundation stones of righteousness and truth. It can truly be said of such men, 'they can not expire.' " " These shall resist the empire of decay, When time is o'er, and worlds have passed away ; Cold in the dust the perished heart may lie, But that which warmed it once can never die." After Mr. Work's remarks, Mr. T. M. Potts, vice- chairman of the Central Committee, and in its behalf, asked of council its official sanction for the proceedings of the day, and also requested that to the committee, as outlined in Mr. W. B. Chambers' report, be committed the charge and man- agement of the future arrangements for a larger and more complete celebration of the founding of the town to be held on June 26th, 1902. 38 Address of J. M. Work In accordance with the suggestion a resolution was offered and passed entrusting to the committee, on behalf of the borough council, the full responsibility and power to ar- range for the Centennial Exercises, after which the meeting adjourned with the singing of our national hymn. CENTENARY CELEBRATION OF THE BOROUGH OF CANONSBURG HELD ON THE Campus of Jefferson College June 26, 1902 Including the Speeches at the Unveiling of the Memorial Tablet in Honor OF JOHN CANON AT THE NEW BOROUGH BUILDING Centenary Centennial AVING had a small taste of Centennial Celebration on the 22nd of February, the Canonsburgers seemed to like the sample they had had, and prepared to go into the larger event with full en- thusiasm. The executive committee held regular weekly meetings and dis- cussed the attractions to be procured, the entertainment to be provided, and how to feed and house the people. The committee on date of celebration fixed Thursday, June 26th, 1902, and decided that it would be better to fill one day so full that it must inevitably run over a little, than attempt two days of festivity. Rules of procedure were adopted for the guidance of all committees, such as Finance, Reception, Music, Concessions, etc. On March 24th, at the meeting of the committee, Dr. John B. Don- aldson reported that the following speakers had been se- lected : Rev. Dr. John R. Paxton, D.D. ; poem by Rev. David R. Miller, D.D. ; historical address, Blaine Ewing, Esq., and an address by Rev. Mathew Brown Riddle, D.D. On March 31st, on motion of D. H. Fee, a com- mittee was appointed of which Mr. Fee was chairman, to find if possible the location of the residence of John Canon, for the purpose of erecting a tablet to mark the spot. Almost at the inception of the idea to hold a centennial, a communication was received from some of the descend- ents of John Canon offering to present a memorial tablet to the municipality in memory of their illustrious ancestor, if a suitable location could be secured. After some discus- 42 Canonsburg Centennial sion it was decided to erect the tablet on the new Borough building, as being peculiarly appropriate, to the memory of the man who owned the land upon which the town was built, and the donors were notified that the committee would gladly receive the tablet and provide a suitable location. Thomas Patterson, Esq., of the Pittsburg Bar, was chosen to pre- sent the Canon Memorial Tablet to the town. As a means of notifying the world that we intended to celebrate in right royal fashion, appropriate letter heads bearing pictures of the old log cabin college and various in- dustries of the town were struck ofif and were widely circu- lated by the citizens and business men- using them in their correspondence. The privilege of selling souvenir buttons and badges was awarded to S. Clark Smith, and a book containing numerous and handsome half-tones of the business houses, residences and public buildings of the town, and the pictures of many of its prominent citizens, was gotten up and sold on a private enterprise. The Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania sug- gested that as our Centennial embraced so large a part of the pioneer history of our county, that their society be ac- corded official recognition. This idea was most gladly ac- ceded to, and Rev. A. A. Lambing, D.D., President of the society, was requested to be present on that day and take part in sketching the history of the westward march of civili- zation and industrial conquest. To enumerate all the occurrences in committee would weary the readers, but the minutes are evidence of one thing at least, that the old town did not intend to be caught nap- ping, short of provisions or reception committees, speakers or lunch counters on that great day, when the crowds should come. The committees sent out hundreds of invitations to the old inhabitants and their friends, and even "a friend of me' friend's friend," was welcome on that day, and if he could Canonsburg Centennial 43 lay claim to any of the blood-royal of the old inhabitants, he was the guest of the town, and the best to be had was his without the asking. After the town had spent much money in decorations, the houses festooned with flags and bunting and the streets spanned with arches galore, upon the night of the day be- fore the celebration it started to rain. There were many forebodings for the morrow, but we even had a committee on weather. Early on the morning of the 26th a meeting of the weather committee was held, whereat were present C. C. Johnson, Samuel Munnell, Sr., and Wm. B. Chambers, and after solemn discussion decided that the celebration should go on. The decorations looked somewhat bedrag- gled when wet, but a brisk wind starting up, they showed that they were of the same quality as the morals of the early settlers, they didn't come out in the wash, and by the time our visitors began to arrive, the old town found itself in such a dress of glad clothes as has never been seen in the valley before or since. But to tell of it all would be a waste of time. If you were there to meet old friends and renew acquaintanceships, broken off perhaps in the long ago, to see the loyal sons and daughters of the town come trooping back, it were folly to try to describe it. If you were not there, no language at my command could convey any competent idea. To be seen scattered through this book are pictures that may recall a few familiar scenes, but no sensitive silver spread on the photographic plate, can picture the bracing atmosphere, the ambient air, or the beauty of the eternal hills dressed in liv- ing green. The speeches, indeed, are here for your perusal and profit if you choose to read them, but any attempt to con- vey to the friends afar off any competent idea, to enumerate the family reunions, the reminiscences that were recount- ed, or the guests entertained, would seem cold and form- al in comparison with the reality. 44 Canonsburg Centennial The Great Day The morning of centennial day, long expected and pre- pared for, arrived at last. Despite the heavy rain of the previous evening, it dawned bright and clear, with a refresh- ing breeze blowing. The rain had merely cleared the air, washed the face of nature for the great event, and thor- oughly laid the dust. Instead of spoiling the day it merely enhanced the beauty of the scene and made the green hills around Canonsburg fairly glisten under the bright, clear sky and June sun. With the coming of daylight the visitors began to arrive, by every means of conveyance known to the road, and the railroads soon added to the crowd with trains full to the platforms. At 6 A. M. bells had been rung and whistles screeched a welcome to those who had already come and hurried on the leisurely visitor, fearing he might be too late. And the crowds arrived. From a town of 4,000 peo- ple we were suddenly raised to a population of 10,000 people or more, with streets crowded and vehicles moving in every direction. A careful canvass of the restaurants and accommoda- tions for visitors had been made, and the central committee had issued a thousand meal tickets for its guests. Every arrangement that foresight could make or hospitality suggest had been made for the entertainment of the invited guests, speakers, and visiting organizations that helped to swell the parade. It was a day of old-fashioned hospitality, where one of the requisites to enjoyment is always a full meal. All the citizens kept open house and there were few who did not find some friend glad to accept the invitation, "Come and take dinner with me." The descendents of Colonel Canon were provided for as guests of the town, and those who had passed the meridian of life were met in carriages and conveyed wherever they wished. A room had been set aside for their special conven- Canonsburg Centennial 45 ience, with attendant in charge to look after their wants, and every courtesy possible was shown them. Here they met and became acquainted, or renewed old friendships and told stories of the olden time. And with the crowd came the genial fakir — as necessary and adjunct to a crowd (if it wants to enjoy itself), as pea- nuts to a circus, loud of attire often and with brazen lungs, he sold buttons, canes and souvenirs — each one the only au- thorized and genuine article, and kept things moving in his department. Program The following is the program for Centennial Day Ex- ercises 6 A. M. — Ringing of Bells and Blowing Whistles. 9 A. M. — Starting of the Parade. 10 A. M.^ — Reunion Canon Descendants. 12 Noon. — Balloon Ascension. 1 P. M.— Presentation of Canon Mural Tablet, at Borough Building. 2 P. M. — Exercises at College Campus. 6 P. M. — Balloon Ascension. 7 to 9 P. .M.— Concerts by Bands. Afternoon Program Following is the program of the exercises held on the College campus : Music, Band. Invocation, Rev. W. F. Brown. Music, Band. Address, S. Blaine Ewing, Esq. Music, Glee Club. Address, Rev. Dr. John R. Paxton. 46 Canonsburg Centennial Music, Band. Poem, Rev. D. R. Miller, D. D. Music, Glee Club. Address, Rev. M. B. Riddle, D. D. Music, Band. Address, Rev. W. A. Lambing, LL. D. Music, Band. Evening Program Program for evening concert, June 26, by the Muni- cipal Band, of Washington, Pa., J. H. Dever, Director. March, "Chicago Marine Band," Seitz Selection, "The Little Duchess," DeKoven Comique, "Scandels Douis," Keehle Waltz, "For-get-me-not," Brooks Dance (characteristic), "True Love," Kretschun Fantasia, "Southern Memories," Hecker Serenade, "Old Church Organ," Seitz March (complimentary) "The Batchelor Maids," St. Clair The parade was made up of many miUtary, civic and other organizations, and would have done credit to a town many times the size of Canonsburg. The business men had responded to the efforts of our genial chairman, W. B. Chambers, and put in the parade floats, vans, and wagons gaily decorated and ornamented with flags, bunting and brilliant colors, or glistening with the merchandise and pro- ducts of each house or factory. During the parade thou- sands of people lined the streets. The line of march was taken up on West Pike street and moved over the various streets of the town, an enumeration of which need not be made here. If, however, this account should survive far Canonsburg Centennial 47 into the future it might be of interest to know the com- position of the parade. The procession moved in the fol- lowing order : Chief Marshall, W. H. Paxton, Capt. Lon M. Porter, Chief-of-Staff and Aides, G. A. R. Band of Pittsburg, Paxton Post No. 126, G. A. R., Veterans of the Spanish and Philippine War, John H. Paxton Camp, Sons of Veterans, Carriages Containing Speakers and Members of Centennial Committee, The Borough Council, Washington Military Band, Company H, Tenth Regiment, N. G. P., Local Lodge, L O. O. F., Guenther's Brass Band, Pennsylvania Reform School Band, Reform School Boys, 350 Strong, Thompsonville Cornet Band, Canonsburg Fire Company, Wagons Containing "Girls of 1902," The Fairies (a Load of Little Girls), The Brownies (a Load of Small Boys), Columbia and the Thirteen Original States, The Six Rural Mail Carriers, and more than fifty floats and decorated wagons, represent- ing the different mills, factories, industries and commer- cial establishments of the town, impossible of description here, a list of which, taken from the next edition of the Canonsburg Notes, is appended : 48 Canonsburg Centennial "Some of the floats were remarkable creations, and rep- resented much time and expense on the part of the firms represented by them. The following firms had floats in the parade: M. Bernstein, represented by an old Conestoga wagon; Manufacturers' Gas Company, Alex. Speer, furni- ture; Philadelphia Gas Company, miniature oil derrick, with steam engine running and drill at work ; George Hiles, sad- dler, a splendid design; J. W. Hiles, shoes, a cleverly con- structed outfit; W. J. Elliott, hardware; W. H. Taylor, groceries ; Stumpert, bakery ; Adams & Newton, gents' fur- nishings ; S. A. Crozier, dry goods, a ship run by unseen power, one of the best floats in line ; Potts Bros., grocers ; Heinz's pickles ; City Meat Market ; John T. Thompson, blacksmith and horseshoer, with horse on board; Simpson Stove Company, stoves and ranges made in Canonsburg; Canonsburg Milling Co., flour; W. H. & Joseph Heagen, grocers ; J. A. Hilfiger & Sons, groceries ; the Daily Notes, with newsboys aboard; G. W. Colwell, marble dealer, de- sign, a grave with head and footstone, etc. ; H. L. Cockins, furniture; George C. McPeake, real estate, with design of miniature plat of lots ; R. W. Gibbs, barber shop in opera- tion; W. V. White & Co., groceries; Home Supply Co., groceries, etc.; H. B. Thompson, florist; H. M. Layburn, confectioner ; Briceland & Jackson, shoes ; W. T. Reynolds, musical instruments, a clever design; I. N. Hughes, drug- gist; baseball team, fruit dealers, etc. It would be unfair to make special mention of any one or more of the floats; all were excellent and the parade feature was an immense success. Nothing here ever ap- proached it before and nothing will soon approach it again." ADDRESS OF THOMAS PATTERSON, ESQ. Delivered at the UNVEILING OF THE MURAL TABLET In Memory of COLONEL JOHN CANON Founder of the Town of Canonsburg and Donor of the land upon which he built the Old Stone Academy A. D. 1791 Which was in 1802 Incorporated as JEFFERSON COLLEGE THOINIAS PATTERSON, ESQ. Address of Thomas Patterson, Esq. The presentation of the tablet in memory of Colonel John Canon had been set for one o'clock P. M. The pa- rade was scarcely over until it was time to hurry off to hear the exercises, and some of us had scant time to do justice to the bountiful dinners which the hostesses of Canonsburg had provided. But true to his training as a good attorney, and in keeping with the traditions of the family, promptly at one o'clock, Thomas Patterson, Esq., of Pittsburg, arose to unveil the tablet in memory of his illustrious great grand- father, and on behalf of the numerous descendants of the worthy founder of our town, presented the memorial to the burgess and town council, assembled on the platform be- side him. A platform had been erected before the new bor- ough building, and from this he addressed the council and a large audience of citizens and distinguished strangers, as follows : Ladies and Gentlemen, Citizens of the Town of Canons- burg and Visitors Within Its Gates : I am here to-day as one of the descendants of Col. John Canon, the founder of the town, whose name it bears, to present to you on behalf of those descendants, the bronze tablet to his memory which is placed upon the walls of your town hall, and also in their name to thank you for the op- portunity of doing this thing, and for the appreciation which your gathering here shows of him whose life something more than one hundred ago was identified with that of the community and the college. While recognizing this kindly motive for your atten- tion and presence, I should be blind, indeed, if I did not see 52 Address of Thomas Patterson there something more than this, something which shows an appreciation of the value of the historic past, and of the name not of one man only, but of all the men of that mighty past, who stood for education and truth and freedom, and who have made this region the seat of mental and moral movements which have been far-reaching beyond the power of man to estimate or measure. It is, therefore, not merely as a descendant of Col. Canon that I would speak to you, but recognizing the present as the happy occasion of linking together the past, and the present, to pass beyond the theme merely of his life and work, and if I may, add to the merely personal features of this sketch something of the time that is past, and something of what it meant. It is, perhaps, the most singular thing connected with the theme before us that we know so little of the details of the life of Col. Canon. He lived and died here, he twice married and had a number of children, most of whom dwelt in the neighborhood and in their turn married and left chil- dren to survive them, and so again until the third, fourth and fifth generation of his descendants are represented here, yet amongst all these there is but little left of tradition or account as to what manner of man their ancestor really was. We are ignorant even of his birthplace and his family his- tory. It is rumored that he came from Virginia, and in view of his relations with Washington, as well as his loyal de- fense of the Virginia titles, this supposition does not seem unreasonable. It seems probable that he came here as one of the colonists hurried forward from Maryland and Vir- ginia by Lord Dunmore, the governor of the latter State, to occupy and hold this territory, under the military pro- tection of Col. Cresap. At all events, we learn from the history of Washington County that, with the exception of his appointment by the Court of Westmoreland County to act as viewer of the road from Mt. Braddock to Chartiers Creek, his first appearance of record is as holding Dunmore's commission as one of the judges of Augusta County, which Canonsburg Centennial 53 under the claims of Virginia extended to the Ohio river. Dunmore is charged with having sent these colonists and the military force, which guarded them, out here for the purpose of bringing on war with the Indian tribes along the Ohio river, with the ultimate and sinister object of making these tribes the enemies of the colonists in the struggle which he foresaw would shortly ensue between them and the crown. The fact that shortly afterwards such a war with the Indians, known as Cresap's war, did break out, started by the ever to be regretted murder of Logan's family — a murder, however, for which Col. Cresap should not be blamed — certainly seem to lend color to this view. In addition to stirring up trouble with the hitherto friendly Delawares, Dunmore also did his best to set the colonies of Pennsylvania and Virginia by the ears, seizing Fort Pitt with a strong force under Dr. Connally, and causing it to be rechristened Fort Dunmore, to the great anger and distress of the good citizens of our State. They were troublous times for the settler in Washington County, with the tom.ahawk dug up by the red men and the white neigh- bors, who were his natural friends and allies, exasperated to the point of open warfare by the high-handed action of the royal governor. That in all these times Col. Canon acted the part of a good patriot and was not involved in the machinations of the governor is shown by the fact that in 1777, two years after Dunmore and Connally had slipped away in their man- of-war, he was chosen colonel of the Washington County Militia, and was afterwards appointed sub-lieutenant of the county under Col. James Marshall. The red slayers were too close at hand in those days and too greatly exasperated by the artifices of Dunmore to permit many of the men able to carry arms to leave the county to serve at the front ; but such aid as could be ren- dered in sending provisions and supplies to the army in the field was given, and in this work Col. Canon is reported to 54 Address of Thomas Patterson have been prominent and effective. That he took an active part in the operations against the Indians is also matter of history, and indeed to have held the position of colonel of the militia and sub-lieutenant of the county in those days, when every man was a soldier, necessarily entailed the duties of active command, and required unquestioned courage, en- durance and loyalty. From one unfounded charge, in this connection, his name has been cleared, and it is only necessary to refer to it because at one time the story was circulated that he had been one of the leaders in the movement against the Moravian Indians, which ended in the deplorable massacre of these Christianized people at Gnadenhutten. This charge has been completely disproved, and ample retraction made. At some time prior to 1781, Col. Canon had had sur- veyed to him the tract of 1,200 acres where the town of Canonsburg now stands, and which appears to have been even at that early day the point of intersection of two roads and to the prophetic eye of the pioneer a location of promise. While we do not know the date of the building of the mill, we know it must have been prior to the date men- tioned, for in that year viewers were appointed to view a road "From John Canon, his mill, to Pittsburg." Incredible as it may seem to us to-day, two boatloads of flour, so the story vouched for by his daughter, Mrs, Rob- ert Patterson, goes, were taken down Chartiers in the flood water, and so on down the river to New Orleans. Probably this was done only in a spirit of half humorous enterprise and of showing some of the possibilities of the country and location. In 1787 he still further proved his faith by his works and laid out a town near Canon Hill, which taking its name from its founder, was called Canonsburg. Here the fore- fathers of the hamlet wrestled with the forest, cleared their fields, builded their houses, watched against Indian forays, little thinking that the town they tore out of the heart of Canonsburg Centennial 55 the wilderness would one day be famous as the great seat of education west of the Alleghenies. Four years after that there was a movement inaugu- rated for the purpose of putting the academy, which had for some time maintained a struggling existence, upon a more substantial footing. The story is familiar to you all, how it was first offered to the founder of Washington, who could not see his way clear to do anything for it, and how Col. Canon gave a lot for the site of the college, and afterwards put up for them the original stone building, to be repaid for the latter as and when the trustees might have the means at their command to do so. It is because I would speak later on more fully of this great work that I must pass rapidly over other events. It was not only his own affairs that Col. Canon had to take in charge, for on November 30th, 1786, George Wash- ington appointed him his attorney in fact to manage his then large property interests in this neighborhood. The power of attorney is still preserved, but unfortunately most of the correspondence has been lost or destroyed, a sacrifice to that spirit of cleaning up which marks the American household. His own interests, as well as those of his principal, Gen. Washington, were closely identified with Virginia. It is little wonder then that we find him stoutly arrayed on the side of that state, and although directed, on April 2nd, 1 78 1, by the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania to call out forty men of the militia to act as guard for the com- missioners appointed to run the line between Pennsylvania and Virginia, his resistance to the measure was so vigorous as to call forth a sharp remonstrance from his chief. Col. Marshall, the Lieutenant of the County. The latter wrote to President Reed of the Supreme Executive Council, under date of June 5th, "Mr. Canon (a civil officer under the government of Virginia) one of our sub-lieutenants, publicly declares that government have in- fringed upon the rights of the people in appointing officers 56 Address of Thomas Patterson for them before they were represented, and instead of assist- ing me in organizing the militia, is using all his influence in preventing it. . . . In a word Mr. Pentecost and Mr. Canon are ringleaders of sedition, and are doing everything in their power to revive the jurisdiction of Virginia." We do not know how the matter was finally adjusted, but from what we know of the Colonel I think we are justi- fied in assuming that they had to sit on his head until the procession got safely past. The story of the whiskey in- surrection has been told so often and so well as to need only a passing mention. How the farmers of this district were unable to market their grain across the mountains by reason of the long and expensive haul, how they were forced to convert it into whiskey as being the only portable com- modity they could manufacture, and how the Federal Ex- cise tax destroyed all profit on even this limited industry are familiar to all. The character of the people upon whom this blow fell was of a kind which rendered them peculiarly disposed to rebellion. They had never been in bondage to any man. Living with rifle in hand, self-reliant, self-sus- taining, they followed and obeyed leaders of their own choosing, and only those so long as their sovereign pleasure willed it. The land was theirs, they had driven the Indian and cleared the forest from the face of it. The crops were theirs, for in the sweat of their brows they had sown and harvested them. By their own hands, they had converted the product of their land into another form. Could it then be credited that a something called a Federal Government three hundred miles away, should have the right to stop them between the farm and the market place, and levy a ruinous toll on this that was their very own? People of the Anglo-Saxon race have ever been prone to resent by something more than words that which they believe to be an invasion of their rights, and these were people with whom the thought and the act lay very close to- gether. Protests being unheeded, violence soon followed. Canonsburg Centennial 57 How the mail was stopped and the mail bag opened; how Mr. Neville's house was attacked and burned; how the in- surgents were summoned to arms ; and how the whole move- ment collapsed with the appearance of the Federal troops. Are not all these things written in the book of the chronicles of Western Pennsylvania. In all these things Col. Canon took an important, and to his credit be it said, an undis- guised part. He was present that night in the tavern at Canonsburg when the mail was opened, and his is the first name signed to the famous call for the armed gathering at Braddock's Field, on August ist, 1794. If it be true, as some assert, that Alexander Hamilton brought on the trouble, or rather forced it to a head in order that he might demonstrate the existence of a National Gov- ernment, it certainly must be conceded that he accomplished his purpose. The young nation that had so recently seated itself in Philadelphia, struck but once and needed not to strike a second time, and it was many long years afterwards before men dared to talk openly of the thing called rebellion. But whatever Hamilton's plans may have been, his great chief was too close to the people of this section to deal harshly with them after the law was vindicated. Were they not bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh? He knew the manner of men they were, their hot rage, their impatience with what they conceived to be oppression, their unwilling- ness to submit to bit or bridle. Even their faults were dear to him, and so very gently as one might chide an erring child, he taught them their duty, and then let the whole mat- ter drop back into its place as an object lesson, knowing well that new issues and new conditions would soon make it but a memory. Four years afterwards, on November 6th, 1798, in his fifty-eighth year. Col. Canon passed from this life. The scroll of what he did, of his errors and his achievements, is soon written. Brief as it is we gather this much that he was a man of his time and people. His faults and his vir- 58 Address of Thomas Patterson tues were those of the men about him. There were giants in those days, and this perhaps is the highest tribute we can pay to his memory that among his fellows he was given a place of prominence and they looked upon him as a leader. The men of that day, who made up the fringe of civilization, while they suffered the loss of the refinements and culture of the older centers had their compensation in the development of a ready and courageous manhood. Put the tape line on them where you will and you will find strong sinew and swelling muscle. On the world's firing line there was no place for the coward or the weakling. All things to them were possible, all forms of energy were theirs, whether it was clearing the forests or tilling the fields, meeting an In- dian attack or leading a foray on a Pennsylvania town, send- ing flour to New Orleans or settling the boundary between two great states, flinging defiance at the Federal Government or founding a college, all came naturally to hand, and all this they did simply and strongly by virtue of their great manhood. And all this that they did, they did in the open — in the light of the noonday sun. Those that were pleased might applaud, and those who blamed might criticise, they recked nothing of either blame or criticism, thoughtful only of the work to which they had set their hands and how it might be made perfect. The workman dies but his work goes on. Of all the work to which Col. Canon put his hand, that which most greatly lived after him, that which speaks in loudest tongue the praise of him and his generation is the founding of Jefferson College. They did a work there, the men of that far oft* day, the effect of which they could but dimly foresee and appreciate, and which now none but God can measure. Without a word of depreciation for the institution which has taken its place, and which is doing a great and noble work, as a descendant of the founder of Jefferson, and the son of one of its graduates and professors who loved it as he loved his life, I may be pardoned if I dwell thoughtfully upon its memory. Canonsburg Centennial 59 That its graduates have entered upon and graced every honorable walk of life, that its Alumni have been justices of Supreme Courts, governors, cabinet officers, statesmen, in a word have taken the highest honors and filled the highest positions which our civic life affords, does not by any means indicate the extent or the character of the results of the life of that great institution. In how many un-cymballed pulpits, in how many quiet Christian homes, in how many offices and counting rooms have the graduates of old Jeffer- son stood for the great truths of head and heart that were taught them within those walls above us. For two-thirds of a century she stood for all that is best in educational work, and to her support not many rich and mighty contributed, but the farmer and mechanic, the toiling men and the toiling women of this comjnunity gave that which they could but ill afford to spare, and the giving of which had to be made up for by other economies ; and to her service a band of scholarly gentlemen gave their timiC as professors at salaries which a skilled laborer of the day would reject as an insult. And from her doors there went forth year by year classes of men trained to the highest work of the brain and the noblest thought of the soul, who in their turn have passed on to others the light which they received, and so in ever increasing circles its training has told and in its influence has been felt. In these days when the standard and measure of all success seem to be the accumulation of v/ealth, when the millionaire is eclipsed only by the multi-millionaire, there is something in the heroic story of Jefferson College which speaks in a different tongue, that expresses itself in values that cannot be transmuted into gold," a story of hardship and privatation and toil freely and gladly given for the sake of truth and knowledge. But think not of her as dead, write not over her portals "Ishabod," think of her rather as living and increasing in the hearts of our children and of their children down the long years. And write over her gates her true inscription — "Her children shall rise up and call her blessed." Reply of Thomas Reese The speech of acceptance in behalf of the Borough of Canonsburg was made by Thomas Reese, Chairman of Council, who spoke as follows : Mr. Patterson and the other descendants of Col. John Canon here assembled : As the representatives of the corporate authorities of the Borough of Canonsburg, it affords me great pleasure to extend you greeting; to welcome you as the honored guests of this borough on this occasion ; to be able to say to you that to-day the town is yours as it was once that of your illustrious progenitor over one hundred years ago. To-day, our people accept you as the rightful owners of the borough, they concede that your title to it is more clear and more enduring than it could be in any legal in- strument because it has descended to you in the stronger bond- of blood relationship to its founder. We meekly sub- mit that your power is supreme in Canonsburg to-day. Do as you may, say what you wish, we dare not molest you. Canonsburg is yours. Take it and do with it as you will. Descendants of Col. John Canon, let me say to you that, many times, within the last one hundred years have the peo- ple of our classic old town had cause to feel proud of the honors bestowed upon it. To old Jefiferson College and its long list of eminent graduates, do we owe much for these honors. It was your distinguished ancestor vv^ho donated the site upon which this noble institution was built and for years it stood a splendid and imposing monument to his beneficient generosity and the indefatigable labors of his compatriot pioneers. But now, that the college, with all its Canonsburg Centennial 6i pleasing memories, is gone, we have naught remaining but its silent walls, which, sooner or later, must crumble under the effects of the different elements to which it is exposed. You to-day have come forward and presented to the vested authorities of this municipality for its safe guarding and preservation, a tablet that you earnestly wish and as we fervently pray may be more enduring than the walls of the edifice once known as Jefferson College. It has remained for you, worthy descendants of a worthy sire, to confer upon Canonsburg the greatest honor ever bestowed upon it. It is a source of extreme gratification to me to accept in behalf of the local government and the good people of our town, this memorial ; though I fear that any attempt of mine to express their appreciation would fall far short of that purpose. Dedicated, as it is, to the memory of Col. John Canon, founder of this town and donor of the site of Jeffer- son College, I can pledge you the faith of our people that that sacred design shall not be lost sight of; that the lofty sentiment it inspires shall ever be kept uppermost in our fninds. This, to us, I assure you, will be a most pleasing and, at the same time, a most religious duty ; a duty we be- lieve that will be very obediently performed by those who will follow us. To jealously care for and preserve it to those who suc- ceed us, will be our first and most important obligation, so that when the time comes that we must shuffle off this earth, it shall remain without any blemish or stain of unfulfilled promises. In the name of the people of Canonsburg, I again most sincerely thank you. OLD SEAL OF BOROUGH OF CANONSBURG ADDRESS OF JOHN R. PAXTON, D. D; Delivered at the CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF CANONSBURG, PA. JUNE 26, 1902 JOHN R. PAXTON, D. D. Address of Dr. John R. Paxton. ELLOW native born, adopted citizens and curious strangers, lured hither by that glory of our old town of which fame has long since taken charge. For you all the old burg has a cordial greeting, a hospitable welcome, — three brass bands and triumphal arches galore. Well, it is so, this our old town Guntown, like Barney Macroby, has completed its century of corporate exist- ence, and has passed its one hundredth year. I usually speak of it as Guntown, it is a shorter name than Canonsbvirg and means the same thing, for all canons are guns. I mean no disrespect to Col. John Canon, our illustrious founder. From all accounts, Col. John Canon was a good sized son of a gun himself, with a long range and of a big bore. It appears that Col. John was about the whole thing hereabouts, — from 1770 till his death in 1799. He must have been as much of a hustler as Acheson, and as shrewd as Quay in managing the machine of his day, for he was always in some office and never out of power in either state or national affairs in this county while he lived. George Washington was his guest up in his home on Sheep Hill or which ever one it was. Philadelphia knew him, often saw his rugged but striking countenance, and heard his passionate appeals for money and arms to fight the Indians on the frontier. He was our first Justice of the Peace, and Justice of the Court of Common Pleas ; our first representative to the State Legislature or Council. He wrote all the wills, sur- veyed all the lands, drew all conveyances. In a word, — 66 Address of Dr. John R. Paxton he was It, the one big pebble on the Shurtee's shore, — as the immortal father of his country called Chartiers Creek, — Shurtees or Shirt-tail. If there was no salt in all the country to cure bacon and pickle beef and venison, Col. John secured an order of court to seize all public salt in Alexandria, Virginia, and contract for its carriage to the Monongahela River and thence to Washington County. And salt was salt in 1780 out in this region. It took a good cow and her calf to get a bushel of it in barter. It sold in money for $40 a bushel. Moreover, Col. John Canon knew a good fat contract when he saw it and usually got it. In 1 78 1, as Hon. Blaine Ewing relates, Col. Canon se- cured the contract supplying the militia and rangers of Washington County with a pound of beef, three-fourths pound of pork and one gill of whiskey a day ; and he did it and got his money. But Col. Canon always furnished good whiskey and full rations ; he was not like the howling pa- triot during our Civil War, always crying "On to Rich- mond, bleed and die for your country, Soldiers," at the same time filling a contract for horses for the Govern- ment : — colored boy rode a prancing bay up to the pur- chasing officer, sold him, rode away, and in a half hour sold the same horse again to the same man. Take him all in all, as Founder of our town; donor of the lot on which our first academy of classical learning was built (after Washington refused to give it ; slow people up there !) ; take him as frontier defender ; organizer of com- panies and battalions of scouts and rangers ; as public of- ficer, lawyer, judge, citizen, neighbor and man. Col. John Canon was a man, as Kipling would say, to gloat over; to hurrah for ; to admire in life ; to remember with pride and gratitude long after he was dead. They did well to name the town for him for he was a man set four square to all winds that blew, as a good Presbyterian ought to be : Canonsburg Centennial 67 he did his duty as he saw it : he feared God as he knew Him. He hated ignorance as the hideous mother of all superstition, witchcraft, lawlessness and violent excesses, and cheerfully gave of his money and property to provide education for the children of the rude pioneers among whom he lived. We are debtors to Col. John Canon for more than the name of the town in which we were born, for he furnished McMillan the means to build the first stone academy pre- cursor of Jefferson College. It was he who said, "Let there be light in this town set on a hill" ; it was he who lighted the first torch of knowledge, west of the mountains and equipped the first preachers and school teachers for the making of the vast and mighty west. Let us — as the Puri- tans used to say in their solemn conclaves, — "Let us first of all praise famous men," and therefore, we, on our hun- dredth anniversary, praise Col. John Canon. Now let us see who came here, whence they came, and what they found. Fellow natives born, — 'let us grant it nearly all our fathers worked in their shirt sleeves, or our grandfathers did, as Oliver Wendell Holmes says. You see, emigration, as Emerson says, usually travels on its belly, nor on its conscience, not on principal, or in- dignation over rights withheld, or wrongs inflicted. Some Pilgrims and Puritans emigrated on their con- science, at least they said they did. I don't believe it alto- gether. The Pilgrims fancied themselves the only "truly pious" in England, and since they couldn't have their own way there, and wouldn't conform to State Church, they emigrated for liberty; for the right to worship God accord- ing to the dictates of their own conscience ; and Jo, as soon as they got to Massachusetts they wouldn't permit anyone to live in their colony who didn't believe and wor- ship as they did, and with glorious inconsistency began at once to pillory Quakers ; whip Baptists ; banish Episco- 68 Address of Dr. John R. Paxton palians,and burn witches, to the glory of God. Nice fine conscience those old fanatics had down on Cape Cod and Boston Bay ! But let them live and let live their creed. I am glad I with my jovial soul^ was born later in Western Pennsylvania; but let them sleep in peace. They were grand men in their stern ascetic way, and benefactors of all the country ; exalting right manners, establishing col- leges and schools, and standing wherever they went for loyalty to truth, and duty, integrity, honor and fear of God. But Emerson is right, — ^people usually emigrate on their belly, not on their conscience ; they move away be- cause they are hungry; they leave their home to get more to eat ; to better their fortunes ; to find cheap lands in Australia, South America, or in our own great west. Thus, the people who came to Western Pennsylvania between 1760 and the year 1800 were all poor. They crossed the mountains, endured every hardship, braved the treacher- ous Indian and faced the perils of wild beasts^ because they were hungry and poor and wanted land to cultivate and forests to kill game in. There were precious few rich heirlooms ever found in the cabins of our first settlers, no Chippendale sideboard, no Dutch tall clocks that crossed the seas and the moun- tains ; no ancestral silver adorned the pioneer's table. Happy, indeed, the family that boasted pewter or iron spoons and forks. The hunting knife did service for the men, and china was scarcely known. Yes, the belly's want to get square-meals, — turned the stream of emigra- tion to the head waters of the Ohio, during the last quar- ter of the I 8th century. The first pioneers and settlers came from Northern Maryland and Virginia; these people loved water, shore fronts, fishing, horse-racing, and always settled along the rivers at Brownsville, Pittsburg, Wellsburg and Wheeling. The Scotch-Irish or Protestant Irish from Ulster came Canonsburg Centennial 69 next; we find them here in Washington County as early as 1765, fresh from Ireland and green as Erin's Isle. These Scotch-Irish loved the interior regions, the lands back from the rivers and greedily took them up far from the other settlers. When the War of the Revolution was ended, hordes of emigrants poured into our country from the Cumberland Valley, and the German settlements of Eastern Pennsyl- vania. Discharged veterans came home from Yorkto\yn, married wives, and leaving the old home in the valley, crossed the mountains with a few pack horses, and set- tling in the trackless forest, soon cleared a patch for culti- vation and began "to turn the wilderness into a fruitful garden", as Dodridge says, from whom I shall quote my facts. Just as my companions in arms, after muster out usually married in our country the girl they left behind them, and ofif to Kansas or Nebraska, went hot foot, claim- ing the 160 acres of good land and established homes. The toughest, thriftiest, frugalist people of the mixed multitude that settled our country, were the Protestant Irish Presbyterians. They loved the land and stuck to it ; they squeezed out the less thrifty, pleasure-loving Mary- landers and Virginians, and to-day we may truly say that the country is overwhelming Scotch-Irish ; as Presbyter- ians we own it and dominate it. And, by the way, we have supplied this country with more Presidents, — no arguing — ^more preachers, Judges, College Presidents, great merchants and manufacturers (to say nothing of fine farmers), than all the Yankees have, or cavaliers of the South, — at least I think we have. For the Scotch-Irish will at any time mortgage his farm to send his son to college and buy his daughter a piano. He believes in churches, and built one every ten miles through the whole great Cumberland Valley. Not a bad sort, these Scotch-Irish ; often narrow, close in yo Address of Dr. John R. Paxton money matters, stubborn in opinion and awfully strict in religious observances, yet pure in life, honest in all af- fairs, lovers of truth, devotees of liberty, ardent patriots pouring out their blood in three wars for this country. George Washington said, "if all failed, he would hold the mountains with the Scotch-Irish." I often fancy now how I would have loved life as a young pioneer in Washington County, in 1785. What a country it must have been to the eye, if one could only climb a tall tree on top of Sheep Hill and look up and down Chartiers Valley ! — hardwood forests stretching from horizon to horizon, and their green tops soaring and waving adoration to heaven; not an open spot of ground away from the creek, and on its high banks where storms had leveled the trees, blackberries grew in the wind- fall ! Surely it was glorious to fill the lungs with that un- polluted air, — to build a camp iire by the creek under a bluff, — to catch the gamy bass and perch, — cut a steak from the loins of a deer just shot, — mix corn-meal and water^ and cover the cake in the wood ashes. What a meal after a day's march ! Then the awful silence before the voices of the night began to be heard, — throw more logs on the fire, — spread those sycamore boughs thick against the bank, — unroll the blankets, — off with the moccasins, — ^stretch the tired feet towards the fire, — give me a coal for my pipe: — Nov/, listen! First the howl of a wolf, and then the growl of a bear, and heavens ! — what's that? The cry of a panther and screech of a wild cat. Oh, it surely was jolly to be a first settler ; and life was full of zest, because always full of peril. You know you must have risk and dangers to live at the highest point. In piping times of peace, plenty and safety, life loses all zest, becomes monotonous, stale, flat, unprofitable. We die of ennui. The nerves grow dull and scant of life. Oh, it takes a Canonsburg Centennial 71 battle charge, or a panther crouching for a leap on a tree over your head : it takes the consciousness that Indians are in the woods, — one after you, — to make life interesting. There was a Frenchman who killed himself because of the monotony of life ; there was nothing to do but eating, going to bed and getting up. He would have had variety enough had he been one of Col. Canon's rangers. For in those brave days of old they seldom took their clothes off and their only bath was out in the fresh cool air. But life was intensely interesting. Such supple muscles, such sharp eager eyes and keen ears ; it was a hazard of for- tune and of life every day. The dogs were trained not to bark for fear of Indians. The fires were put out before twilight fell lest a scouting Indian see the smoke from a hill miles away, and his blood curdling yell be heard before morning at the cabin door. Only in the winter time did the settlers dwell apart in their own cabins on their own lands. In summer they lived in forts. Early every morning, the men, say a score or more, would ride to Matthew White's farm ; stack their rifles in the middle of the wheat field to be reaped ; post sentinels with rifles outside the fence by the forest to watch for Indians and give alarm. So they lived, — their lives in their hands. Every fall after the scattered families returned to their cabins, they found their hogs and sheep devoured by wolves or bears or panthers, and their corn eaten by squirrels. Every fall some one or more families would be massacred by Indians, their cabins burned and crops de- stroyed, and live stock carried off. The nearest settlers would see the lurid smoke against the evening sky. The men would seize their rifles, the women snatch up their babies and flee to the woods to cower in trembling anxiety the long night through, stifling the babies' cry. So they lived, — panther in the woods, rat- 72 Address of Dr. John R. Paxton tlesnake and copperhead in every clearing and blackberry patch, and sculking Indian, with noiseless tread, stealing on the cabin or field to murder a man or woman. Jolly, wasn't it? No monotony; no loafing on store boxes swapping stories or talking stale politics in those days. Once the wolves went mad ; got hydrophobia and at- tacked everything in sight, — men, hogs, sheep, horses and cows. A mad wolf bit Captain Rankin of Raccoon Creek, and he died horribly, tied to his bed; so McCamant of Cross Creek died from a mad wolf's bite : but it rid the country of wolves. They bit one another in their dens and thousands died. The worst terror of early settlers was bears. They were not afraid of men; they had never been hunted and cowed. You see they say that bears got their taste for white man's flesh from Braddock's defeat. Hundreds were left unburied on that fatal field. The bears ate 'em and liked white men so much that for years they kept this sweet taste in their mouth, and would pursue and attack every white man they saw. They were like the South Sea cannibals, after they roasted the first white Scotch mis- sionary and ate him, they wouldn't eat common darkey men with any gusto any more. And when a big chief bagged a lot of fresh Scotch missionaries, it was indeed a royal compliment to be asked, ''Come with me, the pot is on the fire, have some hot Scotch with me to-day." But it was an acquired taste with bears and they were glad to lose it before the white men's rifles. The law was kind to our pioneer settlers. It gave every man who built a cabin and raised a crop in one field, 400 acres outright and a preemption right to 1000 acres more, secured by a warrant of the nearest land office. The Marylanders and Virginians cared little for land. They thought it would bear only two or three crops and then he exhausted, as in Virginia it was exhausted by to- AUNT MARGARET McCROBY Canonsburg Centennial 73 bacco. The shrewd Scotch-Irish knew better and got most of their holdings. Well, can you imagine it? A whole country in which there wasn^t a store, a shop or mill at first, a whole coun- try with no money at all? All the early settlers had to barter for salt, iron and powder, and lead was peltry and furs. Every year a car- avan of young men would go to Baltimore ; their pack horses loaded with furs to barter for salt, and as I have said every bushel of salt was worth a cow and calf. How would you like it to eat Johnny cake all winter for breakfast, hog and hominy for dinner, and mush and milk for supper? They wore linsey made of flax and wool ; flax was the chain and wool the filling, whatever that was. Every cabin had a loom ; every woman was a weaver ; every family tanned its own leather, made its own shoes, all its own clothes and ground its own grain. They cut or burned a hole in a butt of a tree slanting towards the bottom and pounded their corn into meal. When mills were built, towns grew up around them ; a blacksmith with a forge, a harness maker, a variety store, a tavern, a doctor, then a preacher and civilization had dawned. At first there was no salt, no iron, no castings ; there wasn't a hairpin in all the country, nor a buckle, nor corset, nor nail. Think of a woman without a hairpin or pin. How could she hold her multitudinous things to- gether and on without them? Where would she be when her low-necked gowns said to her, my lady, one more ef- fort and I shall be free ; when you turn that corner and your partner swings you, — without that indispensable hair- pin? Their cabins ; — we will go out and look at the original log college of McMillan's of blessed memory. There is another just like it over at Beach Nobs in which my 74 Address of Dr. John R. Paxton grandmother, daughter of Capt. Thomas Dill was born ; a pious man; his coat of arms a broken reed bending over some smoking flax. Called himself Tommy Dill; the bruised reed, his humility and piety still descend to one, at least, of his posterity. Still you see, love never fails, whether we wear satin or linsey-woolsey ; custom changes, fashion comes and goes but love abides. So they went courting over those hills, and through the dense woods in spite of panther and Indian. They talk- ed sweet nothings outside of cabins under the harvest moon, and then they married. Next^ they selected a site, took up 400 acres and after the wedding festivities, which lasted at least three days, the neighbors gathered to build the newly married pair a cabin. It took just three days to raise a house^ finish it, and on the fourth d^ay the bridal pair moved in. They did it thus : — some men went to the woods and cut down trees of equal length and thickness ; some with teams hauled logs to the site ; others of experi- ence notched the logs, called corner men ; others put them together. While the cabin was rising, other men hewed out clapboards for roof, puncheons for floors ; others were at work on the chimney, built outside of wood and lined inside with stone. The old men, meantime, whittled pegs to drive in the logs to hold breeches and petticoats, and a shelf for the gourd and pewter ware. Others made a table, a big puncheon board supported on four round legs ; the boys drove chunks between logs and a rough mason mixed mortar and daubed it on the chunks ; and so in three days it was built, door cut, floor leveled ; and then came bride and groom, the house warming and Black Betty till all were glorious and happy. By the way, there wasn't a bird, or rat, or bees or but- terfly in all the wilderness, till the pioneers made clearings. Robins and song birds only crossed the mountains aftet settlers came. I quote from Dodridge. Crows and Canonsburg Centennial 75 blackbirds had no use for the country till man felled the trees^ let in sunlight, and worms came to the surface, — corn was planted and bees hummed over flowers and clover. The summers were cool for the trees shaded the land and kept it damp in August. The streams were low in summer, no grinding done after late in May. The win- ters were long; snow fell in November^ three feet deep, and there "was nothing doing" except get wood, feed stock and go to mill. You know this country west of rivers in 1775 all be- longed to Virginia and was called Westmoreland County. Lord Dunmore made Col. John Canon a Justice of Peace in 1774 and held court in Pittsburg, — but at last Pennsyl- vania got us, and Washington County was cut ofif West- moreland County^ or otherwise my company might have fought with Old Virginia in Stonewall Jackson's Brigade. Think of it : — the width of a narrow river, or an imaginary line determined whether we died for the Confederacy or the Union. As it was, late in 1780, Gen. Neville came from Virginia with 300 slaves to settle on the Monongahela. He bought Neville Island. He bought much land in Ohio and took slaves there. These slaves scattered. Aunt M. McCroby^ aged 113, remembers it well. Now in conclusion, concerning the old town itself, these past 100 years. Dr. Riddle and others will tell of all its glory. "How far one little candle sent its beams", how the McMillins and Browns and Riddles of blessed and glorious memory made Jefferson College renowned to India's Coral Strand, etc. ; how we educated martyrs for God, who died by violence in the Indian mutiny, holding out the lamps of life to its heathen people in Allahabad; how we provided beautiful wives for hundreds of minis- ters and Jefferson's Alumni. How we kept Pittsburg from degeneracy and decay and profligacy by supplying her with nearly all her Preachers, Judges, with all her famous yg Address of Dr. John R. Paxton lawyers, and doctors, and her stores and factories. With truly pious Washington County youths to fill her U. P. Churches. Without Washington County and Washington and Jefferson College, Pittsburg might have been as cor- rupt as Paris, as dead as Brownsville, as slow as Phila- delphia. "What makes you smell so sweet? asked a traveller of a piece of clay he picked up. "Oh, once a rose was plant- ed in me," replied the clay. Just so, — and what makes Pittsburg great, prosperous, powerful? Oh, Washington County is close by, invades it, distinguishes it, — is the rose making it smell sweet and blossom in perennial prosperity. But the town and its people. Well, it is not so hand- some as it once was, but there is more money in circula- tion. It used to be that a half dollar started going in the town, never got out of it; passed from one pocket to an- other till every man had had it, and it was worn smooth on its travels. For that half dollar had often been in the collection bag for foreign missions ; it often treated girls to ice cream soda at John Brown's ; it bought taffy from Dungy ; it passed through Black and McDaniels or Ritchie's store a thousand times ; it bought watermelon from Jimmy Horner; it bought medicines for the sick; it helped to dig graves and gardens ; and paid Aunt Mar- garet for washing new born babies, lots of them, twelve children in every family. But the town, well, if you want characters, idiosyn- crasies fully developed,you must go to small towns to find these. In cities conventionality kills eccentricity. In big towns people all look alike, all dress alike, — as much aa marbles in a bag or peas in a pod. The tailor makes us, fashion fits us to its procrustean bed. We hear the same story; take off our hats same way; say "thanks", "beg pardon", "yes indeed", "awfully", all in the same tone. But Canonsburg Centennial 77 small towns haven't enough dudes in clothes to make one ashamed or noticeable in last year's hat, or an old coat out of fashion. So, it is go as you please, and dress as you like, and grow your own native traits to their fullest development. At least it used to be so in old Guntown, when Johnny Land tingled his triangle ; when Barnum Weaver conduct- ed an auction sale ; when Squire Hornish used to sing so loud in the Methodist Church that he confused and threw out of tune the Presbyterian choir a half mile away. It used to be so when Gen. ■ — addressed the Divine Providence in prayer as "Oh, Thou Rambugnify- ing God" or when my splendid old dad in his shop in his shirt sleeves used to argue down the old seceders on close communion and infant damnation. Yes, it used to be so that every man in town grew like a tree unpruned, — conventions never vexed our daddies ; — everybody was himself, not an ape, imitating the great Matthew Brown or the aggressive, R. S. Breckenridge or the exquisite Dr. Alden. What could be droller, yea, finer, in its naked naturalness than the death-bed of that good woman of our town, who, when her pastor stood by her dy- ing bed and asked her if he should commend her soul to God in prayer, smiled and said, "Dear Will, I heard your grandfather preach for twenty-five years. I have heard more sermons than there are leaves on a sugar maple, and long prayers enough to do for all eternity. So, Will, if it is just the same to you, Fll dispense with prayer and die while you whistle 'Listen to the Mocking Bird,' " and he omitted prayer and whistled the mocking bird to her great comfort. ADDRESS OF MATTHEW BROWN RIDDLE, D. D. Read at the CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF CANONS- BURG, WASHINGTON CO., PA. JUNE 26, 1902 MATTHEW BROWN RIDDLE, D. D. Address of Matthew Brown Riddle, D. D. HIS borough was _voung when I first knew it ; and I was so young that my chief delight in it was as the place where I could run barefoot. My recollection of it covers more than sixty years, and my relations to it make it a privilege for me to speak at this Centennial celebration. Representing a family that has made no small contri- bution to the history of Canonsburg, I am also the sole survivor of the Faculty of Jefiferson College, the institu- tion which gave this Borough its unique position in West- ern Pennsylvania. It is not my task to give a historical sketch ; that falls to more competent hands. But in view of what I know of the story, it seems proper to urge upon those present the importance of preserving the memories of those earlier days. To live aright in the present, to face the future hopefully, it is necessary to cultivate a genuine historic spirit. By this is meant that attitude to the past which neither thoughtlessly ignores it, nor blindly adores it. We are the heirs of our ancestors, and we ought to cherish our heritage. But we are also the actors of our own time, and hence should use the past to shed the light of experi- ence upon our own path of duty. Unfortunately, our American life has too little historic atmosphere. Our monuments of the past are all too rare. The busy rush of our life allows too little time for memory to garner 82 Address of Rev. Matthew Brown Riddle thought and feeling from the generations gone before. Such celebrations as this will help to supply the lack. This region is especially barren of a literature that re- calls in vital fashion, the days of our forefathers. History is, indeed, taught in mechanical methods ; names and dates are memorized, only to be forgotten. But the life in Western Pennsylvania has scarcely been portrayed at all. New England has her story-tellers ; so have other sec- tions ; the South, the West, the South-west, the Pacific Coast ; even Canada has a more abundant folk-lore than Western Pennsylvania. Yet Western Pennsylvania was the centre of the world's history, in the middle of the eighteenth century, and in the events that made the nine- teenth century so great no region played a more import- ant part than this one; whether in church or in state, in education or in industry, in war or in peace. This Borough of Canonsburg, moreover, has been one of the finest ex- amples of this peculiar and rich Western Pennsylvania life. What a field it ofifers to one who would put on record with literary skill the life to which I have referred ! No- where can a more remarkable collection of peculiar "char- acters" be found. Yet the field is almost fallow ground. Dr. H. C. McCook has made one notable contribution, but that is all. Nor does his book touch upon the century we to-day commemorate. The Whiskey Insurrection ante- dated the formation of this borough, though I knew men here who saw the conflict at Col. Neville's house on Bow- er Hill. Morganza is near at hand but the rich resources of history pertaining to Col. Morgan and his family, full of romantic interest, are known to very few. Of course, the story of McMillan's log cabin, and of Jefiferson College, has received attention and will receive yet more ; but the life of the borough, made peculiar by the presence of the college, has not been portrayed. We know some names and dates, but nothing has been done to make us see the Canonsburg Centennial 83 real men and women^ to understand their peculiarities, to share in their joys and sorrows, to sympathize with their hopes and struggles. These people deserve the attention of the literary artist. The conditions of their lives were peculiar ; they belonged to a race with remarkably distinct characteristics, of speech, of thought, of religion, and of action. There was much to develop individuality also, so that there need be no lack of originality in the char- acters to be portrayed. The romantic element can readily be found. Family tradition has shown me that very clear- ly. When will the artist come to portray this life? Soon, I hope, for recent years have obliterated much that is dis- tinctive ; it will not be long before no one can recall the people of Canonsburg as they were in the earlier half of the nineteenth century. No attempt can be made on this occasion to do justice to such a topic, but I may be permitted to suggest some of the salient features of that past hfe. First and foremost, at least for many, stands the pecu- liar life produced by the presence of the college. The ele- ments brought here by the institution affected the whole community. The college itself had its own distinctive characteristics. It was Jefferson College, and it put its own mark on its men. In the early days the students came from a wide region, and inter-communication had not yet destroyed their provincial peculiarities. The col- lege life, the college politics, the rivalries of the two great literary societies, the pranks, the games, the slang, — all these were largely distinctive. The modern stories of college life do not portray Jefferson College as I knew it in the days when she sent out the men who have done her such honor, that she is not ashamed to challenge compari- son with other and wealthier institutions. In those days, the college was made by the teachers, not by the buildings, not by the endowments. Here is a 84 Address of Rev. Matthew Brown Riddle story to be told : that of the noble men who with salaries next to nothing, with appliances that a high school would despise to-day, — did yet educate, in the highest sense of the term, the young men who came to Canonsburg. If these teachers were poor, they spent of what they had to build up the college. These things, I know — these things I ought to say here to-day. The question of a teacher's influence depends on the size of his soul, not on the size of his brain ; and the greatness of a college depends on the size and number of the souls in its Faculty, not upon the amount of its endowment or the numbers in its catalogue. Measured by this standard, Canonsburg was the seat of a ''great" college. None of us now living knew President Matliew Brown in his prime ; some of us knew him in the weakness of his old age when his eccentricities, rather than his excellence, impressed us, but the testimony of his pupils is unanimous as to his power. He gripped the souls of men with hooks of steel; he lifted them into a higher intellectual and moral atmosphere ; he achieved spiritual triumphs over their wayward natures. Though I am his grandson and namesake, I speak without partiality when I say that there was not in his generation a greater teacher, in this wide sense, than Mathew Brown, of Jefferson Col- lege, Canonsburg, Pennsylvania. More of you knew and loved his only son, also President of the College. Refined, sensitive, delicate, of exquisite taste, and remarkable elo- quence, he seemed at first too gentle and lovable for the rough task of college administration. But how well he succeeded ; how beloved he was ; how scathing the rebukes that fell from his polished lips; how cheering the counsel he occasionally volunteered. These two, I single out, be- cause to-day I am talking of those I knew well, giving reminiscences, not a history. Of the last President, my father, I cannot trust myself to speak. There were others whom I knew and loved. Longest in my memory, as he a. ■A t -I 5 ai P Canonsburg Centennial 85 was longest in service, — dear old Dr. William Smith. So christian^ so faithful, so lovable; for forty-four years he was in active service as Professor, for fifty years he preached at Miller's Run. That sentence sums up more of godly life and labor than can be credited to many. I met him during the Civil War and alluded to his sons in the Army ; said he in reply : "If I had twenty boys, I would have them all go." There was the acute Prof. Snyder whom I knew about as early as I recall any human being, and with whose his- tory I have many peculiar ties ; Prof. Samuel Williams and his brother Aaron, thorough teachers, both of them; genial and gentle Robert Patterson ; witty and wise Sam- uel Jones ; noble little John Fraser ; and the last one to go Alonzo Linn. Each of these names represents a living man, each a study for a character sketch, and what is bet- ter each a power for blessing to others. The father of the new President of Princeton Univer- sity preached at the Hill Church, and was for a time Pro- fessor in the college. Along this line I cannot venture further. Then the borough inhabitants. What marked charac- ters most of them had ! It would be possible for me to be- gin down at the mill and name a resident in each house up the street, out to Mr. McDaniel's and not one of these would be without some distinct peculiarity that deserved special notice. But I do not dare to make such a list. A literary genius, knowing them as I do, might by his art reproduce the life of Canonsburg from these characters ; neither photographing nor caricaturing, he might yet show what kind of people dwelt here, how their Scotch- Irish type of character took on various shadings and made men of individuality, of patient labor, of prejudice indeed, but yet of purity and probity. Even the colored people had their own peculiar life. They were not like the South- 86 Address of Rev. Matthew Brown Riddle em slaves, nor were they like the serving men in our Northern cities. Some of them had ties with the college families, and the college life affected more than a little. I dared not catalogue the white residents, but I will name Dan Arnott, Elias Praul, Tom Sluby, old Moses Brown, last and not least — Dungee, who sold taffy and other goodies to the students. But the peculiar religious life of Canonsburg must not be passed over. The borough and adjacent region was overwhelmingly Presbyterian, as is well-known. But there were three distinct denominations : the Presbyterians, the Associate Presbyterians, usually called "Seceders" and the Associate Reformed Presbyterians, then called "Union" : the second and third now forming the United Presby- terian Church. The original place of worship for the Presbyterians was at the Chartiers (or "Hill") church. Dr. McMillan's. Afterwards the church in Canonsburg used the chapel of the college. Providence Hall. The outward manifestation of this religious difference on Sunday morn- ing (Sabbath they called it) was in two steady streams of worshippers passing through Canonsburg, in opposite di- rections. Old Dr. Ramsey on a venerable steed passed along this upper road out to the Seceder Church. Others came down the hill to the turn. They, rode, as a rule, a whole family on two horses — the numerous children equally divided. The other stream passed down to the bridge to the Union Church. Why they went different ways some could not tell; but they were none the less tenacious and zealous on that account. The "Sedecers" had a Theological seminary out the pike. Dr. Beveridge being principal professor. The most prominent layman among the Seceders was Mr. Daniel Huston, whose home was near the village that now bears his name. To one unfamiliar with Scottish, or Pensylvania relig- ious history, Jhese denominations seem grotesque surviv- Canonsburg Centennial S7 als of past controversies, yet they represented a sturdy adherence to principle, an unflinching persistence in main- taining what was held to be right, and I am not disposed to criticize them. Here, in this rugged devotion to minute differences, is a fine field for the literary artist. Some- one ought to depict for posterity the old-time Seceders, But the most characteristic feature of religious life in probably the most distinctly Pennsylvanian produce in the Canonsburg was the college "revival". One of the earliest is identified by tradition, vvith Dr. Paxton's great-grand- father,one of the latest I witnessed, as well as several others. It is difficult to describe the "revivals". A great wave of religious feeling would sweep over this entire community, often beginning at a college prayer-meeting. Special services would be Held, and sometimes for weeks the college chapel would be filled every evening. Some people doubt the genuineness of such movements, but I cannot do so. Statistics I will not give you, but a little story I can tell. One Sunday evening in the Adirondacks a party of Presbyterian ministers was driving back from evening service. In the twilight they began to talk freely of their spiritual life. Five of them were, or had been. Professors of Theology^ and it appeared that every one of these was awakened to religious life during a revival in Canonsburg. "By their fruits ye shall know them," and the fruits of these college revivals still abide in abundance. There is scarcely a land the world around, where there has not been, as missionary of the cross, some one who here con- secrated himself to the services of Jesus Christ. This was the great recruiting station for soldiers of Jesus Christ. It is not for us to-day to forget this, still less to think lightly of it. Address of Rev. Matthew Brown Riddle Citizens of Canonsburg and friends : Thus lightly I have sketched some traits of the past. This is your herit- age — ^what will you do with it? Forget it or ignore it, or treasure it? Treasure it as a stimulus for the present and a guide for the future, in dependence on the God of our fathers. CENTENNIAL ODE BY DAVID REED MILLER, D. D. Read at the CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF CANONS- BURG, WASHINGTON CO., PA. JUNE 26, 1902 DAVID REED MILLER, D. D. Centennial Ode I. With glad salutations we join in your cheer, And greet you in this your centennial year. A hundred to-day? Can it be, as I'm told, Your jubilant town is a century old? So joyous, exuberant, full of its fun — There's something wrong somewhere — you're not twenty-one! The blush on your cheek and the smile in your eye? Some scapegrace has sprung an uproarious lie ! Believe not a word the traducer may say. The census is Jalse, you are sixteen to-day ! Your eye is not dim nor your vigor decayed; You're blithe as a bride for her husband arrayed; So jocund and smiling, so winsome and fair, So roguish, coquettish and so debonair. And if you're a hundred — I question the truth — You've quaffed at the fount of perpetual youth! And if some misguided old fellow should say, In the midst of his gab: "You're a hundred to-day," Lead him out of the crowd, but take care where he's led: The silly old skeesicks is out of his head. 'Tis true in the days that we call, Long ago, Some brave pioneers made their way through the snow. Through rain and through sleet, through the forests and streams, And founded their homes in the land of their dreams. They builded their cabins, their schools and their kirk, And practiced the gospel of vigorous work. They laid the foundations and taught us the way And fashioned the glory we live in to-day. Of course they died young, and their children, I'm told, Grow fairer and stronger, but never grow old. 92 Centennial Ode The red, spotted lilies grew rank in the vales, The children reechoed the call of the quails. The sounds of the axes and falling of trees New noises conveyed to the resonant breeze. The wild, antlered deer raised his head in surprise. And gazed on the scene with his wondering eyes. Sequestered and lonely the log cabin stood Mid tree-tops and stumps in the edge of the wood. And ever the beasts and the birds lingered near To study the tricks of the lone pioneer. When Freedom was bound and her manacled word Appealed to the world for the right to be heard: Your fathers came here in the strength of their prime The heralds of truth in the vanguard of time. Heroic, high-minded, God-fearing they came To wrest from the forests a home and a name. To-day what they toiled for ennobles your hills. The crown of your progress their planning fulfills. The hope that you cherish, the good that you share Have sprung to their height from the pioneer's prayer. And what are the blessings we share here to-day, For which in their wisdom they blazed not the way? Our schools and our courts, and our government, too- 'Twas out of their planting this excellence grew. Our freedom of conscience, our rights before God. Sprang into their bloom from the Puritan sod. The right of petition, the right of redress. The right of free speech and the right of free press — By these we have slowly climbed into the light: The stairs by our sires were laid down in the night. H. The current of the dateless years. The thought that moves the hemispheres Is guiltless of repression; Is masterful progression. Canonsburg Centennial 93 Some Luther finds a Bible chained, And from its sacred pages A blessing rises unrestrained, To glorify the ages. Some Franklin flings his kite in air, And taps our God's resources; And lo ! our planet everywhere Pulsates with subtle forces. Some pilgrim gains his Plymouth shoals Through tears and spoliation; And from that rock immortal souls Proclaim their coronation ! Some Edison assaults the realm Of fiery disk and crescent; When blazing gets our world o'erwhelm With blessings incandescent. 'Tis from the germ the cedar springs ; The raindrop broods the ocean ; The nestling soars on solar wings And spurns a world's commotion. The smaller to the larger grows, The higher truth revealing; The bud is father to the rose, Its fuller life concealing. The coral lays the mountain down; The sunbeam fills creation; The helpless infant grasps the crown; A word o'erwhelms a nation. The round earth rolls its upward way From primal night chaotic; And awes its highest charm to-day To a divine Exotic. 94 Centennial Ode The world has traced its royal creeds On units and beginnings. No arts sublime, no matchless deeds, But have their plasmic innings. 'Tis nature's law where'er you turn, The less involves the greater: The flames that to the heavens burr Have their volcanic crater. From units units upward spring. And ever multiplying; With larger faith their tribute bring. The larger faith supplying. So we to-day. of other days. Are but an evolution; Our starry flag with peaceful rays Was born of revolution. We've had our Gettysburg because Our Bunker Hill preceded; The good that comes from freedom's laws Was by our sires conceded. And if King George had ne'er been shorn From Sandy Hook to Braddock's; Ulysses Grant had never worn The crown of Appomattox. Had John Paul Jones not won the day, Nor wrecked the king's flotilla, Our flag had never graced the Bay And Fortress of Manila. H we are strong it is because Our grandsires laid the courses That form the bases of our laws And national resources. Canonsburg Centennial or Their toil a richer harvest yields, A larger wealth has granted; We reap to-day the ripened fields Because our sires have planted. In church and state and busy mart, They held the true ideal : Their worship was a thing of heart. Their trust divinely real. Where would have been our faith so fair In all this favored nation, If Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, ne'er Had sprung the Reformation? Or what, perchance, had been our lot — Sngelic or satanic? — If stormy seas had never brought The pilgrims puritanic? The wrongs of country oft they shared. Nor sought her spoliation. They knew the right, and knowing dared. To seek her coronation. When Fre»dom lay in shackles bound They bended low to raise her; And when she came a princess crowned. They were the first to praise her; They sought no shackles for their land. And those they found were broken; To valor true they gave a hand When treason was outspoken. They marched where'er the drum-beat gave Its warlike invitation. No alien banner long could wave When they upheld the nation. 96 Centennial Ode III. Now as these things you contemplate, Tell me, what makes a nation great? Is it some trick of sword or pen. Some holocaust of slaughtered men? The treasured ores of countless mines, Or woodlands with their stately pines? Or streams with packets crowded o'er? Or mills that smoke from shore to shore? Is it in fields of golden grain? In commerce of the pathless main? In iron rails with rushing wheels? In furnace blasts or flying reels? Is it in cities rich and great? Or in the circumstance of state? Is it in learning's rich domain? In graneries that feed the brain? Or is a nation's greatness blent In some set form of government? Ah, no! the glory of a state Springs not from these, however great. A nation is immortal when It rests on brave, true-hearted men: Men who retain the will of Him Who dwells between the cherubim. You may have mines and mills and marts; You may have commerce schools and arts: Your rivers and your seas may bear Your splendid traffic everywhere; The spirit of your mills may rise To cloud the sapphire of your skies; But if you fail in men — true men, God help your hopeless country then! Your commerce will in time decay; Your pomp and pride will pass away. No matter what you have or hold Of broad domain or treasured gold; y Q u ^ f^ c Canonsburg Centennial 97 No matter though you wildly cheer The starry flag we all revere ; When virtue fades and men decay The strongest state will pass away. When zeal for righteousness has fled, Half mast your flag; your hope is dead. When honor bids farewell to men, Woe to your chosen country then. When men no longer seek the right. Pull down the shades, fast comes the night. When manhood and the^Christlife die, Then truth is bond-slave to a lie; When love of equity has flov/n, Ensceptred wrong usurps the throne; Or when a free man's vital breath Is some mad party shibboleth, Then let the conscious state beware. Then germs of death have entered there! The weakest link will test the chain. The strongest oft is strong in vain. . No matter what your triumphs be. What victories your eyes may see; What vast dominions you behold, Or where your tides of wealth have rolled; No land shall long her triumphs laud That disregards the laws of God. Go, trace the pathway of the sun Where'er his fiery coursers run; From noon to noon, from shore to shore, Roam where you will the wide world o'er, You'll find nowhere on earth a zone That will approximate our own ! Go where all crystal rivers flow. And on their tides thy courses row ; Ascend the mountains where they lie, And view the lands from sky to sky; Take if you will the morning breeze, And on its wings explore the seas ; Centennial Ode Become a comrade of the light And sound the deeps of day and night: Where'er you go; where'er you rest, You'll find no land so truly blest, As where Columbia proudly scars The blue air with her stripes and stars. But should you ask what makes us great, Where rests the majesty of state? My answer is, as yours must be. In men, true men, in God set free ! IV. In all this triumph of the years, This building of the hemispheres ; Hadst thou no part, no hand to share The wonders that were fashioned there? Aye, from your classic halls have gone The nation's truest brain and brawn ; In all the land, from east to west. Through them thou hast thy country blest. And far beyond the sounding seas Have gone thy blessed ministries Thy sons in alien lands have trod, True heralds of the will of God. Thy daughters to the lowly there Have v/rought the answer to thj'- pray'r. Far o'er the earth thy stars have shone And led the Christ-bought to the throne. Thy soldier boys to battle went, Their blood with brother's blood was blent, And by their graves and manly scars They gave us back the stripes and stars. Canonsburg Centennial Your fathers with their voice and pen Stood for the equal rights of men ; They showed the panting refugee The North-star route to liberty. Wherever human hands unbind The shackles of the deathless mind; Wherever man has led his friend To some diviner, nobler end ; Where right is right and truth is true, And men for men have dared to do; Where faith is kinsman to the soul, And love of God controls the whole ; There have thy silent forces wrought The highest good that men have sought: And all thy graces still shall run Through ampler arcs till time is done. LofC. *r FAMOUS AND FORGOTTEN BY-PATHS AND HIGHWAYS OF SOUTH-WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA REV. A. A. LAMBING, LL. D., President of the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania Read at the CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF CANONSBURG, WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNA. JUNE 25, 1902 REV. A. A. LAMBING, L.L. D. Address of Rev. A. A. Lambing I. R. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen : — Old Father Time, notwithstanding his advanced age, is starting out at such a rapid pace in this new century that it becomes necessary for us to pause at intervals and cast a hasty glance at the past, lest it might be entirely forgotten. One of the m.ost effectual and at the same time most pleas- ing ways of doing this is to celebrate the centennial of the various counties, cities, towns, churches and institutions of the section of country in which our lot chances to be cast. There the aged enjoy a season of pleasant reunion after perhaps years of separation where the reminiscences of days gone by are leisurely passed in review, old friend- ships are renewed ; and the young are taught the whole- some lesson that it was in the courage, the daring, and the privations inseparable from pioneer life, that the tree of liberty, peace and prosperity was planted, under whose protecting shadow they are now permitted to enjoy a de- gree of prosperity and enlightenment the like of which the world has perhaps never before witnessed. But while we are permitted to profit by the blessings of the present and to feel sanguine of the future, let us beware of forgetting the past and the wholesome lessons that it teaches. We of south-western Pennsylvania have a very fruitful field in which to study pioneer history. It would indeed be difficult to find in the vast area of our great nation a better field for historic investigation, or meet with more noble deeds of valor, suft'ering and privation for the de- velopment and building up of a new country than are pre- I04 Address of Rev. A. A. Lambing sented in the early history of the territory around the head waters of the Ohio. But the treatment of these subjects does not fall to my lot on this occasion. I take it for granted that whatever relates to this thriving bor- ough's early history in its several branches has been or will be treated of by speakers who are more familiar with its details than I can profess to be. And it is fitting that such matters should be dealt with by those who have been living actors and factors in what they discuss, or who have it fresh in all its vivid colors from those who immediately preceded them. I have thought it well to select a more general topic, which will not, I trust, be devoid of inter- est^ and which is very intimately connected with the cele- bration in which I have the pleasure of taking part : "Fa- mous and Forgotten By-Paths and Highways of South- Western Pennsylvania." II. It is needless to insist on the importance of means of communication for travel and traffic between places and peoples ; they are essentially necessary _, and even the rude sons of the forest could not dispense with them. They were found in every part of the country by the first pale- faced adventures, and nowhere perhaps, more plentifully than in South- Western Pennsylvania. By means of them the pioneer explorers were able to penetrate into every part of the country ; by them the Indian trader could bring his trinkets and wares on pack horses to the most remote villages, and cheat the ignorant aborigenes to his heart's content; by them the land-grabbers could survey the for- ests, "locate'' the most desirable tracts and 1^ their plans for taking possession of them. These paths or trails were Canonsburg Centennial 105 generally found to be the best routes for passing difficult hills and mountains, fording streams and reaching strat- egic points ; and later, when the military roads were to be opened, wagon roads to be cut for the early settlers, and turnpikes built for the increasing traffic, they were seen to be especially valuable guides for the ax-men and survey- ors. Fortunately for the early settlers the greater number of these led from the east to the west ; though other im- portant ones, crossing them from north to south, were not wanting. Notable among these Indian trails was the fa- mous Kittanning path, which, starting from the east, crossed the Alleghenies at the picturesque Kittanning Point so vvell known and jo much admired by passengers on the Pennsylvania Railroad, and extended to Kittan- ning, the best known Indian village west of the mountains. Next came the Frankstown road, v/hich started from the town of the same name on the Juniata river a few miles below Hollidaysburg, crossed the mountains and cout tinned its course to the forks of the Ohio. Its memory survives in Frankstown Avenue, Pittsburg. There were others of minor importance ; but two, were of special in- terest in this connection, as being instrumental in promot- ing the exploration and settlement of this part of the State. The first of these was Nemacolin's path, of which Mr. Veech writes (Monongahela of Old, pp. 26, 2y) ; "Nemacohn's path led from the mouth of Will's creek (Cumberland, Md.) to the forks of the Ohio (Pittsburg). It doubtless existed as a purely Indian trail before Nema- colin's time. For when the Virginia, Maryland and Penn- sylvania traders on the Ohio began their operations per- haps as early as 1740, they procured Indians to show them the best and easiest route and this was the one they adopted. So says Washington. And when the Ohio Com- pany was formed, in 1748 and preparing to go into the Ohio Indian trade on a large scale they procured Col. io6 Address of Rev. A. A. Lambing Thomas Cresap of Old Town, Mr]., to engage some trusty Indians to mark and clear the pathway. For this purpose he engaged Nemacolin, a well known Delaware Indian, who resided at the mouth of Dunlap's creek, which, in, early times was callel Nemocolin's creek. The commis- sioner and engineer, with the aid of other Indians, execut- ed the work, in 1750, by blazing the trees, and cutting away and removing the bushes and fallen timber so as to make it a good pack-horse path. Washington says that the Ohio Company, in 1753, at a considerable expense, opened the road. "In 1754 the troops whom I had the honor to command, greatly repaired it, as far as Gist's plantation, and, in 1755, it was widened and completed by Gen. Braddock to within fix miles of Fort Duquesne.'' This is a brief history of the celebrated Braddock's Road. Dimlap, an Indian trader, continued Nemacolin's path from the top of the ridge to the mouth of Dunlap's creek, immediately above the present Brownsville ; and as Brad- dock succeeded in giving his name to Nemacolin's path, so Dunlap gave his to the creek, which had formerly borne the name of the same Indian. Few paths have contrib- uted so much to the development of the western country as this. It became at an early day the route by which emigrants came to Pittsburg, and passed by means of the rivers to Kentucky and the Illinois country. Its import- ance in this particular can hardly be overestimated ; but it does not enter into my present purpose to treat further of it. Suffice it to say that in the later part of 1759 Col. James Burd was sent out with two hundred men by Col. Bouquet who was in command of the royal troops at Car- lisle to open and complete the road which had been made by Braddock from the top of the Chestnut ridge to the Monongahela river at near the mouth of Restone, that is to change it from a bridle path to a wagon road in order Canonsburg Centennial 107 to facilitate commitnication with Fort Pitt, or Pittsburg. (Frontier Forts of Pennsylvania, vol. ]L pp. 382,383.) The second important Indian trail was that which led from the Monongahela at the mouth of Red Stone to the Ohio river at Wheeling. It passed through a place famil- iarly called Catfish's Camp, which occupied a spot on or near where Washington now stands. Catfish was a Chief, we are to!d,of the Kuskee Indians, was a friend of the white man, and was the owner of large tracts of land ; but little further is known of him with certainty. The fact, however, that the national road later on followed the path more or less closely is sufficient to show that it was an im- portant factor in the early settlement of this section of country. But being familiar to so many among you, I shall not pause to treat of it at any length. The Indian trails not only showed the early explorers the best places for crossing hills, mountains and other difficult places, but having to take into account the ford- ing of streams that might intercept their course, were of no little service also in showing the best places for cross- ing them. Long before the use of wagons in the convey- ing of passengers and merchandise to the frontier, and when pack-horses were still the ordinary means of trans- portation, it became necesary to call some kind of craft into requisition in crossing rivers when it might be im- possible to wade them ; and this led to the establishment of ferries at various points. Brief reference will be made to a few of these, which had more or less to do with the settlement and development of this section of country. Treating of the brief period during which Virginia ex- ercised jurisdiction over a section of the south-western part of our State, Mr. Alfred Creigh, writes, in his History of Washington County (p. 22) : "The court licensed the following persons to establish ferries at dififerent localities within the county of Youghiogheny, from 1775 to 1779. io8 Address of Rev. A. A. Lambing Henry Heath, on his plantation on the Monongahela river. William Lynn,on the Monongahela river, from his house to the land of Francis Hall. Michael Cressay, at Redstone, old fort (Brownsville), to the land of Indian Peter. James Devore, from his house on the Monongahela river, to the mouth of Pigeon creek. To Samuel Sinclair, who lives in the forks of the Monongahela and Youghiogheny rivers, to have a ferry over each of the rivers. Jacob Bausman, across the Monongahela river, from his house to the town opposite (Fort Dunmore). Christopher Carpenter, across the Monongahela river, to the lands of Andrew Heath. The prices established by the court for ferriage were, four pence for any head of neat cattle, and the same for a foot person ; two shillings and six pence for a man, and the same for a horse." I shall not delay to locate such of these ferries as are not clearly designated ; suffice it to say that, they were all found between the present Pittsburg and Brownsville. A few of them will, however, be re- ferred to more in detail. I. The town of West Newton, on the Youghiogheny, was first known as Robbstown, and Robb's, or Simrall's ferry was established there sometime before the close of the eighteenth century, for the accommodation of such pioneers as crossed the mountains by the military roads of Braddock and Forbes, on their way to the West. It was by this ferry that the New England colony to the Muskingum crossed the Youghiogheny river under the leadership of Rufus Putnam, and founded the beautiful little city of Marietta, Ohio, April 7, 1788. And there can be little doubt that some of the early settlers of Washing- ton county availed themselves of the same ferry. I shall not refer to any ferry at the forks of the Ohio, the site of Pittsburg; it could hardly have exercised any notable in- fluence on the settlement of a section of country accessible by routes better known and more accessible. Canonsburg Centennial 109 2. Next, then, we have the ferry at the forks of the Yough, the site of the present McKeesport and it is de- serving of a more extended notice, both on account of its importance in itself, and of the influence which it must have exercised in the settlment of at least the northern portion of Washington county. Like most river towns McKeesport boasted of a ferry at an early day in its his- tory. Says the annalist of the place : "It is a well-estab- lished fact that David McKee the original, owner of the land upon which the town was first built, appeared on the Monongahela before the cessation of hostihties between the French and the English, and that he was well received by Queen Aliquippa. He settled at the forks of the Yough by her permission, and in 1769, the colonial gov- ernment confirmed to him the exclusive right of operating a ferry over the two rivers at their confluence." 3. It may strike some persons with surprise to be told that Elizabeth is the oldest town in Allegheny county. It was founded by Col. Stephen Bayard in 1787, and was named after his wife Elizabeth, who was a daughter of Col. Aeneas Mackay. The Pennsylvania Journal of Janu- ary 13, 1788, enumerating the advantages of the town, in an advertisement for the sale of lots, says, among other things : "This town is situated on the east side of the Mo- nongahela river, between Red Stone, Old Fort and Pitts- burg, twenty miles above the latter by water and fifteen by land. The roads from the lower counties lead directly through it to Washington and Wheeling." And there was necessarily a ferry to carry the settlers across the river on their way to their new prospective homes. 4. Continuing up the river and coming more di- rectly into comunication with Washington county, we reach Aionongahela City and at the same time a ver}- im- portant ferry. That flourishing little city was first known in frontier history as Parkison's Ferry. John Parkison is Address of Rev, A. A. Lambing said to have secured a tract of seventy acres of land upon which a part of the city now stands, by a warrant issued August 27, 1769. It is sometimes spoken of as Southark, or Southwork. At the time, it is hardly necessary to say, both Pennsylvania and Virginia laid claim to the territory embraced in the south-western part of our State., The first court, held under Lord Dunmore, Governor of Vir- ginia, in 1775, authorized James Devore to keep a ferry "from his house on the Monongahela river to the mouth of Pigeon creek/' On February 11, 1780, James Parkison secured a tract of three hundred eighteen acres more. The place was known among the early settlers as "The Mouth of Pigeon Creek'', or, "Devore's Ferry." On April 13, 1782, an act was passed by which the ferry landing of Joseph Parkison and Jacobus Devore was established "thirty perches below the mouth of Pigeon creek." Parki- son kept a store and carried on a small trade with the In- dians as well as the whites ; and in time he felt sufficiently encouraged with his success to lay out a town. This he did in 1792 ; and put the following advertisement in the, Pitts- burg Gazette in October of that year. "The subscriber has laid out a part of his farm on the Monongahela river in the county of Washington, State of Pennsylvania, at the mouth of Pigeon creek^ opposite Devore's Ferry, into lots for a town, the sale of which will begin on the premises on the 15th of November next." 5. One would naturally expect that Old Redstone, or later, Brownsville, would be noted for its ferry ; but scarce- ly any mention is made of one there in pioneer history. And, if we pause for a moment to reflect, this will not ap- pear at all strange. Brownsville was not noted as a place for crossing the river, but as one of embarkation for Pitts- burg or the western countries ; and hence, while it had its ferry, and did a fair business with it in transporting the early settlers of this section of the State across the Mo- Canonsburg Centennial nongahela, this was a matter of only secondary import- ance, and in consequence, claims little of the local annal- ist's attention. But let this suffice for ferries ; turn we now to roads. Coming to roads, however indifferent some of them may at first have been, we begm with Bi'addock's Road; which, though it did not penetrate into Washington county^ was yet made use of by not a few of the early set- tlers. It was the first road for vehicles at least to the top of the Chestnut ridge ; and it rendered the cutting of a road to the Monongahela far less difficult and expensive than it Avould otherwise have been. Forbes' Road, which led across the mountains from the east by way of Carlisle, Chambersburg, Bedford, Ligonier and Hannahstown to Pittsburg, opened the second thoroughfare to the waters leading south and west, and contributed at least to a lim- ited extent to the settlement and development of the south-western portion of the State. But for the town and surrounding country, whose hundredth year we are now celebrating, Brownsville must be regarded as the principal distributing point. We have seen that Braddock's Road v/as continued from the top of the ridge to the Mononga- hela by Col. James BiutI, in 1759. Thus the way was opened for the great artery of travel and traffic which was destined to diffuse the nation's blood, energy and wealth not only throughout this section^ but also far across the waters of the Ohio. And, as a conclusion of my remarks, I shall turn my attention briefly to it. And what could be more worthy or more appropriate than the greatest na- tional road of the United States ! By way of contrast let me again refer to the bridle-path and mountain road that led across from Cumberland, threading their way through the forests^ to the river. All merchandise was carried on pack-horses and contemporarv accounts tell us that tvv'O men could manage ten or fifteen horses, each carrying Address of Rev. A. A. Lambing about two hundred pounds, by tying one to the other in single file ; one of the men taking charge of the lead horse to pioneer and the other the hinder one to keep an eye on the proper adjustment of the loads, and stir up any that appeared to lag. Bells were indispensable accompaniments to the horses by which their position could be easily ascer- tained in the morning when hunting up, previous to a start. Some grass or leaves were inserted in the bell to prevent the clapper from acting during the travel of the day. Succeeding this primitive sort of road and transpor- tation, was, as we have said, the indifferent wagon road. Speaking of it, Mr. Sherman Day, in his Historical Col- lections of Pennsylvania, says : "The first wagon load of merchandise that was over the mountains on the southern route, or that traversed by the National Road, was in 1789. They were for Jacob Bowman, who had settled at Browns- ville as a merchant in 1787. The wagoner was John Hay- den, who also resided in Fayette county. He drove four horses, and brought out about twenty hundred pounds, for which he received three dollars per hundred, and was nearly a month making the trip to and from Hagerstown, Maryland, a distance of about one hundred and forty miles."" Mr. Thomas B. Searight's valuable work, "The Old Pike," shall be my authority for nearly all I shall have to say of this King of Roads and I shall not hesitate to quote verbatim from his learned pages. He says (p. 14.) "Tradition, cheerfully acquiesced in by popular thought^ attributes to Henry Clay the conception of the National Road, but this seems to be an error. The Hon. Andrew Stewart, in a speech delivered in Congress January 2"], 1826, asserted that Mr. Albert Gallatin was the very first man that even suggested the plan for making the "Cum- berland Road," as the National Road was sometimes called. Whatever vieAvs and opinions may have been en- tertained regarding the project, it was not until 1806, Canonsburg Centennial II3 when Jefferson was president, that the proposition for a national road took practical shape. The first step was the appointment of commissioners to lay out the road, wih an appropriation of money to meet the consequent expenses, (p. 13.) I shall not delay to remark on the vicis- situdes through which the project passed from its incip- iency to it completion, and indeed through its entire exist- ence. Being an undertaking of national importance, it naturally awakened national interest, and the expression of a nation's opinions and views, which can never be a unit. But, as Mr. Searight very truly says : "From the time it was thrown open to the public, in the year 1818, until the coming of railroads west of the Allegheny moun- tains, in 1852, the National Road was the great highway, over which passed the bulk of trade and travel, and the mails between the east and the west. Its numerous and stately stone bridges with handsomely turned arches, its iron mile posts, and its old iron gates, attest the skill of the workmen engaged in its construction, and to this day remain enduring monuments of its grandeur and solidity, all save the imposing iron gates, which have disappeared by process of conversions prompted by some utilitarian idea, savoring in no little measure of sacrilege. Many of the illustrious statesmen and heroes of the early period of our national existence passed over the National Road from their homes to the capital and back, at the opening and closing of the sessions of Congress. Jackson, Harri- son, Clay, Sam Houston, Polk, Taylor, Crittenden, Shel- by, Allen, Scott, Butler, the eccentric Davy Crockett, and many of their contemporaries in public service, were fa- miliar figures in the eyes of the dwellers by the roadside. As many as twenty four-horse coaches have been counted in line at one time on the road, and large, broad-wheeled wagons, covered with white canvass stretched over bows, laden with merchandise and drawn by six Conestoga 114 Address of Rev. A. A. Lambing horses, were visible all the day long at every point, and many times until late in the evening, besides innumerable caravans of horses, mules, cattle, hogs, and sheep. It looked more like the leading avenue of a great city than a road through rural ditricts. "The road had its peculiar nomenclature, familiar to the tens of thousands who traveled over it in its palmy days. The names, for example, applied to peculiar local- ities on the line, are of striking import, and blend harmon- iously with the unique history of the road. With the names omitted, the road would be robbed of much of what adds interest to its history. Among the best remembered of these are, The Shades of Death, The Narrows, Piney Grove, Big Crossing, Negro Mountain, Keyser's Ridge, Wodcock Hill, Chalk Hill, Big Savage, Little Savage, Snake Hill, Laurel Hill, The Turkey's Nest, Egg Nog Hill, Coon Island, and Wheeling Hill, Rich memories cluster around every one of these names, and the old wag- oners and stage drivers delight to linger over the scenes they bring to mind." I shall not delay to recount any of the reminiscenses of taverns, wagon and stage drivers, the numerous adventures and hair-breadth escapes, as well as the accidents that marked the history of the road. Nor of the system by which the road was kept in repair, and the legislation that was found necessary to that end. Let me give only one example of a single trip on the road, where many others no less remarkable might be added. In 1838 Daniel Barcus engaged v/ith John Hopkins, a merchant doing business at the foot of Light and Pratt streets, Balti- more, to haul a load of general merchandise, weighing 8,300 pounds, to Mt. Vernon, Ohio. He delivered the goods in good condition at the end of thirty days from the date of his departure from Baltimore, His route was over the National Road to Wheeling, thence to Zanesville and Jacktown, Ohio, thence, thirty-two miles, from the Canonsburg Centennial jjr latter place to the point of destination, the distance being 397 miles. He received $4.25 per hundred for hauling the goods. At Mt. Vernon he loaded back with Ohio tobacco, 7,200 pounds in hogshead, for which he received $2.75 per hundred. (Searight, p. 112.) The teamsters like all other persons engaged in the same occupation, formed a class by themselves with their friendships and enmities, their likes and dislikes, and one of the means by which they used to while away a part of their time on a road so fa- miliar to them was by smoking; and, we are told, they used to buy very cheap cigars. To meet this demand a cigar manufacturer in Washington, Pa., whose name is lost to fame, concluded to turn a penny by making a cheap "roll-up" for them at four for a cent. They soon became very popular with the drivers, and were at first called Con- estoga cigars; since, by usage, corrupted into "stogies" and "tobies". (Searight, p. 144.) But the rapid transmis^^ion of the mails would natural- ly be a matter of the very first importance ; and the more so as telegraph lines, and much more telephones, were, as yet, things of the future. The fame attained by the Na- tional Road in this particular is deserving of notice. And in this, as in every thing else, there were not wanting those who were ambitious of standing at, or least very near, the head of their profession. Among these, we are told by the historian of the Road, was Redding Bunting, who was probably more widely known and had more friends than any other old stage driver on the road. He was a great favorite of Mr. Stockton, the leading propri- etor of the line. His commanding appearance is im- pressed upon the memories of all who knew him. He stood six feet six inches in his stockings, and straight as an arrow without any redundant flesh; and was endowed with a large fund of what was then, and is still very prop- erly known as "horse sense". During the presidency of ii6 Address of Rev. A. A. Lambing Mr. Van Buren, it was deemed desirable by the authorities that one of his special messages should be speedily spread before the people. Accordingly arangements were made with the Stockton line, which had the contract for carry- ing the mails, to transmit the message of the President with all possible dispatch. The Baltimore and Ohio rail- road at that time was not in operation west of Frederick City, Maryland. Mr. Bunting, as agent of the company, repaired to that point to receive the coming document and convey it to Wheeling. He sat by the side of the driver the entire distance from Frederick to Wheeling to super- intend the matter and urge up the speed. The distance between the two points is 222 miles, and was covered in twenty-three hours and thirty minutes. Among the driv- ers between the relays was Homor Westover, who drove the coach from Uniontown to Brownsville, covering the twelve miles in the almost incredible space of forty-four minutes. In the year 1846, after the railroad was com- pleted to Cumberland, he rivaled, if he did not surpass that remarkable feat of rapid transit, in driving the mail coach from Cumberland to Wheeling, which carried the messages of President Polk, officially proclaiming that war existed between the United States and Mexico. Leav- ing Cumberland at two o'clock in the morning, he reached Uniontown at eight o'clock of the same morning, break- fasted there with his passengers, at his own house, (for he was then proprietor of the National), and set out, reach- ing Washington at eleven o'clock, and Wheeling at two, covering a distance of 132 miles in twelve hours. (Sea- right, pp. 52, 53.) While realizing the stubborn fact that, the world will move and the present will constantly retire into the past, we cannot cast a retrospective glance at the years gone by without a feeling of regret ; nor can we blame men all of whose associations, memories and interests were associ- Canonsburg Centennial 117 ated with the National Road for looking with an unfriend- ly, almost a hostile eye, on the march of an irresistible progress which put an end to their calling. But those men and those means filled their place and filled it in a manner that can cause them little regret in laying down the burden of life or being cast aside ; and while we profit by their manly deeds we should be careful not to permit memory to be lost in oblivion. It is sad, we repeat with Mr. Searight, to think that nearly all the old drivers, so full of life and hope and promise when pursuing their fa- vorite calling on the nation's great highway, have answered the summons that awaits the whole human fam- ily; and of the vast multitude that witnessed and admired the dashing exploits of the old drivers, but few remain to relate the story. (Searight, p. 183.) ^ "THE CHARTEE OR SHURTEE SETTLEMENT" THE PRECURSOR OF THE TOWN OF CANONSBURG A brief account of its early settlers, whence they came, their political and religious affiliations and the part they played in the early history of South- Western Pennsylvania BY BLAINE EW^ING, ESQ. Read at the CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF CANONSBURG, WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNA. JUNE 25, 1902 BLAINE EWIXG, ESy. Address of Blaine Ewing, Esq. E celebrate, to-day, one hundred years of the incorporated history of the Borough of Canon sburg; and as we have to go back to its infancy, and hope to get some Hght on the reason of its exist- ence, let us look at its family genealogy as a Borough. If a child's training should begin one hundred years before it is born, — an axiom which recognizes the efifect of heredity as well as training and environment, — it cannot be foreign to our subject, to antedate the incorporation of the Borough and look at the general character of the country round about, prior to that incident. In these days much labor and time are spent in hunting up our family history in the efifort to learn who we are, and whence we came ; and while family pride may enter in- to the scheme, and inflate our ideas about our illustrious ancestry, it does little harm, if thereby, we collect and pre- serve the fast vanishing history of our early times. The educational history of our town and vicinity has been well and frequently written, and the clergy, with that unconscious assumption of superior usefulness, so com- monly seen, have carefully collected and amplified, not only the biography of the pioneer preachers, but every lit- tle incident of their lives. An instance of this mental atti- tude is shown in a phrase of Dr. McMillan's, characteristic of the whole literature, when in speaking of his students, he says, "Some of these became useful, and others eminent ministers of the Gospel." Address of Blaine Swing Perhaps my taking the side of the merely useful com- mon citizen, as against the eminent minister of the gospel, may be the survival of that spirit of combativeness, which has been so much commented on by our adversaries and distorted to our injury. The attempt then to depict our history, is not merely a desire to magnify the past, or bask in the reflected glory of the early pioneers, but such occasions as this are de- fensible on the broader ground, that they furnish the color and detail that give local history its chief charm. "'The early years of the time we celebrate are clustered all over with events which are not merely of curious interest, but of transcendent importance". "In them and their con- necting antecedents we must seek the foundations and builders of our social fabric." Judge Veech. Secular His- tory. In these latter days, the days of everything big, of world wide commerce and big combines ; the days of the huge aggregate, instead of the individual and his accom- plishments, these recitals may seem pitifully small and un- important, but like Paul to Titus we can say "Let no man despise thee" for in no section of the United States, New England not excepted, has there been more efficacious work done for humanity, than right here in Washington County, as originally formed, and in no part of the County, more than about the settlements adjacent to the congrega- tions of Dr. John McMillan and Dr. Mathew Henderson. In Washington County as then formed, was founded that second nursery of Scotch Irish Presbyterianism, (in imitation of that in the Cumberland Valley,) the source from whence they came originally ; though maybe by a circuitous route. Of them Tlieodore Roosevelt in his "Winning of the West"^ says "The back woodsmen of Pennsylvania had lit- tle in common with the peaceful population of the Quakers The Chartee or Shurtee Settlement 123 and Germans, who lived between the Delaware and Sus- quehanna ; and their near kinsmen of the Blue Ridge and the Great Smoky Mountains were separated by an equally wide gulf, from the aristocratic planter communities that flourished in the tide water regions of Virginia and the Carolinas. Near the coast the lines of division between the colonies correspond fairly well with the differences be- tween the population ; but after striking the foot-hills, though the political boundaries continued to run east and west, those both of ethnic and physical significance began to run north and south. The backv;oodsmen were Americans by birth and par- entage, and of a mixed race ; but the dominant strain in their blood was that of the Presbyterian Irish, the Scotch Irish as they were often called. Full credit has been awarded the Roundhead and the Cavalier for their leader- ship in history ; nor have we been altogether blind to the deeds of the Hollander and the Hugenot, but it is doubtful if we have wholly realized the importance of the part play- ed by that stern and virile people, the Irish, whose preach- ers taught the creed of Knox and Calvin. These Irish representatives of the Covenanters were in the West^ al- most what the Puritans were in the North-east, and more than the Cavaliers were in the South. Mingled with the descendents of many other places they nevertheless formed the distinctively and intensely American stock, who were the pioneers of our people in their march westward, and the vanguard of the army of fighting settlers, who, with the axe and rifle, won their way from the Alleghenies to the Rio Grande and the Pacific. The two facts of most importance to remember in deal- ing with our pioneer history are. First,— that the western portion of Virginia and the Carolinas were peopled by an entirely different stock, from that which had long existed in the tide water region of these colonies ; and secondly. 124 Address of Blaine Ewing that except for those in the CaroHnas who came from Charleston, the immigrants of this stock were mostly from the north, from their great breeding ground and nursery in Western Pennsylvania." Who then are the people, the Scotch Irish, and whence did they come? If they have played so great a part in his- tory, have been able to maintain themselves distinct so long, and impress their more vigorous personnel on the people west of the Alleghenies ; to embrace and assimilate so many diverse elements, yet still, to retain in large meas- ures, their own characteristics, and in a word to dominate the section where they settled, — they must be worthy of some study. The Scotch-Irish Migration It is not my province to go back to the beginning of things, yet I cannot forbear a slight reference to the suc- cessive steps by which our ancestry was prepared for their country. "The first successful efforts to plant English Colonies in North America vv^ere within twenty-five years after 1600. These were in the North and South leaving the temperate latitude for further occupancy. Cotempor- aneous with these efforts was another scheme of coloniza- tion, conducted under the auspices of the same king, which has had a more salutary and enduring influence upon American character than any other, — the colonization of the Scotch in the North of Ireland. For us, at least, no two classes of widely separated events could have been better timed. The colonists in Ulster and their descend- ents, were for about a century, trained in religious faith and physical endurance, before their country became ready for their reception ; so that when they did come they were enabled to settle in controlling numbers, just where they would best develop their character and growth, and from which they could diflfuse themselves into other localities of strategic importance. ' ' Judge Veech's Secular History p. 289. The Chartee or Shurtee Settlement 125 "The first migration from Ulster to Pennsylvania — and it was to Pennsylvania that nearly all the immigrants came prior to the Revolution — was from 1717-1750," (ib. p. 294.) Though religious persecution had been much mitigated in England, yet landlords in Ulster, taking advantage of the prosperity that had attended the labors of the Scotch, up- on the expiration of the leases, raised the rents to such a figure that it was ruinous to many, and burdensome on all. To an American^ this may seem strange, but even to-day the land is held by but a few. "The north of Ireland is di- vided into the counties of Antrim, Down, Armagh, Lon- donderry (formerly Coleraine), Tyrone, Monaghan, Done- gal, Fremanagh and Cavan. These nine counties comprise the ancient province of Ulster, which includes a fourth part of the island, or 8567 square miles of territory." At the census of 1881, one-third of Ulster was under cultivation, more than one-third in pasturage, and a little less than one-fourth classed as waste land, mountains and bogs, in all 5,321,580 acres. Of this area there were 22,000 own- ers, but of the whole area, 72% belonged to 477 people, and 40% of it or 2,088,170 acres was owned by only 95 per- sons. Hanna, The Scotch Irish p. 159. With such a proportion of the land in the hands of so few, even to-day, the renter can either pay what is de- manded or starve, if he be unable to do as our ancestors did, leave for a more favored clime. They had heard of the lands across the sea where toleration was greater, taxes light, and tithes unknown, and here they decided to emi- grate and found a "Church without a Bishop and a Com- monwealth without a King." "James Logan, the secretary and chief counsellor of the proprietary government, an Irish Quaker, wrote in 1729, "It looks as if Ireland is to send all her inhabitants hither, for last week not less than six ships arrived, and every day two or three arrive also. The common fear is 126 Address of Blaine Ewing if they continue to come they will make themselves pro- prietors of the province/' and another writer says that for several years prior to 1750, about 12,000 arrived annually. In September, 1736, one thousand families sailed for the Delaware from Belfast alone." Judge Veech, Secular His- tory p. 295^ They landed at Philadelphia and Wilming- ton; the latter place, the center of a circle that forms a part of the Southern boundary of Pennsylvania, the his- tory of which together with the line westward, is unique in the annals of state boundaries ; — and settled in a region bounded on the north by the towns of York, Columbia and Lancaster, and included within the peninsula formed by the Brandywine, Delaware and Susquehanna. Within this area, not greater than the Counties of Washington and Al- legheny, you will find the original nursery of the Scotch- Irish ; not the only one, but the center from which the peo- ple came to this county of ours, which in turn became a second nursery of the allied faiths of Presbyterianism. It held within its grasp the contiguous corners of three colonies, and there protected in a peculiar way, with great advantage for access and increase, as well as avenues of diffusion and egress, in all directions north, west and south, lived our ancestors of Chester, Lancaster and York Counties, Pennsylvania., New Castle County, Delaware, and Cecil County, Maryland. Judge Veech's Secular His- tory p. 289-293. In this section, as soon as settled, they not only built churches, but founded grammar schools, academies and schools of Divinity. There were not less than four notable schools in this region, from which the academies and log colleges of our county drew both their teachers and their inspiration. From Faggs-Manor, the school of Rev. John Blair, (in what is now Londonderry Township, Chester County), and the Academy at Pequea (situate in Salisbury Township, The Chartee or Shurtee Settlement 127 Lancaster County), came Dr. John McMillan and Rev. James Power, two of our pioneer preachers, and Rev. James Waddel, the blind preacher, immortalized in Wirt's "British Spy." West Nottingham in Cecil County, Maryland, near the Pennsylvania line, taught by Rev. Samuel Finley^ was one of the most celebrated schools in the middle colonies. From it came such men as Dr. Benjamin Rush and his brother, Judge Jacob Rush of Philadelphia, Col. John Bay- ard, and Gov. Henry of Maryland, Rev. Dr. John Ewing, the first Provost of the University of Pennsylvania, and one of the Engineers to run Mason & Dixon line, and Rev. Joseph Smith, one of the pioneer preachers of our section as well as many others of note. (Futhey MMS.) State Ridge and Chanceford congregations in the southern part of York County, contributed some emment men to our section. The Hon. Hugh Henry Brackenridge, then a small child direct from Scotland, received here his primary education, later graduated at Princeton; studied theology and moved to Western Pennsylvania about 1781. He afterwards studied law, and rose in his profession to eminence, becoming a judge of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. He is remembered best perhaps as the his- torian of the Whiskey Insurrection. James Ross is descended from settlers in this congre- gation ; he became eminent for his talents and learning, and distinguished as an advocate and statesman. He was a member of the Pennsylvania State Convention to form a Constitution in 1790. Yet in a peculiar sense he belongs to Canonsburg, for he was the first teacher in McMillan's log college. Whether he was a fine Latin scholar or not, as asserted on one side and as vigorously denied on the other, I cannot say, but you can read up the voluminous evidence in the History of Jefferson College and decide for vour- self. 128 Address of Blaine Ewing James Edgar of Cross Creek was another of the pioneers from the congregation of State Ridge. He was Associate Judge of Washington County in 1791 ; one of the original trustees of Jefferson College, and he and John Canon were the first representatives to the Supreme Executive Council from the new County of Washington. In order to show the environment and previous train- ing of our ancestors, I have thus briefly set out their dif- ferent migrations ; firsts from Scotland to Ireland, then af- ter about a century to their nursery between the Delaware and Susquehanna. Among the churches just mentioned, Dr. McMillan preached in the beginning of his missionary journey in 1775, which culminated as far as we are concerned in the services hfid the "4th S. of August at John McDowell's on Shirtee." (Diary of Dr. McMillan.) The settlement of "Shurtee" or "Chartee" (as it was spelled phonetically in whatever way the writer chose) will be noticed as early as 1774. How many families it then contained, it is not in my power to say, but it is probable that Canon had already located his claim, and it is certain the middle and east prong of Chartiers contained a goodly number of scattered settlers. This is affirmed by the appointment of Canon to view a road from Gists in Fayette County (Mt. Braddock) to Paul Froman's on the East Fork of Chartiers, as mention- ed in the Records of Westmorland County in January, 1774. Only a short time prior to this date, four years at most, a few scattered patches of corn, well trodden down by the buffalo and ravaged by the armies of squirrels and raccoons^ foreshadowed the coming of the sturdy pioneer ; or the deadened trees beside a spring, proclaimed that the tomahawk claimant had pre-empted the soil. But the settlements were not such as would be so called in this day. Up to the very door of the cabin stretched the 'imMS' < a w w z u-< < > J cq ■Ji W o The Chartee or Shurtee Settlement 129 forest still and silent. In it, stealthily crept the dreaded Indian, whose coming no one could foreshadow, before he fell upon the homestead of the pioneer, who had invaded his domain, and in which forest when he had once vanished from view, no posse dare follow. How far it extended no man could tell. All they knew was that their most daring- hunters and adventures had found no end, but impenetra- ble and silent, it stretched away over hills and mountains in endless undulation, its shade so deep that the light of day scarce penetrated its southern slopes, until the leaves had fallen. Dr. Doddridge tells us that in his life time he had no- ticed marked changes in climate. When he first ventured into this section the snows lay long and deep amid the un- broken forests, and the summers were short and hot. With the first breath of spring, the season that brings such joy to the hearts of all in this day, the fathers and mothers of that day looked with a kind of terror on the trees as they clothed themselves in verdure, and deepened the gath- ering shadows of pathless woods. Then it was that the Indian chose his season of warfare and rapine. Then was the season of their scanty harvests, planted in fear, and worked in parties large enough to afiford a respectable fighting force, while the families huddled together in the stockades and forts, watched and waited for the return of the men. Not a single time did they open the gates of their forts in the morning without the fear that the savages were lying in ambush. Then the adventuresome pioneer who refused to Hsten to warnings, boasted that his crop of corn was better worked than that of his more circumspect neighbor, who retired within the fort at the first call of spring. If the savages had been seen in the neighbor- hood, runners were sent out in all directions. At night he came stealthily to the window or door, and gently rapped to awaken the sleepers. Constant fear taught our fore- 130 Address of Blaine Ewing^ fathers to sleep lightly. A few whispered words exchanged, and he disappeared in the forest to warn the next cabin. All was then quick and silent preparation. No light dare be struck, not even to stir the fire, but dressing the chil- dren as quickly as possible, and praying that the baby would continue to sleep, — for his cry might mean destruc- tion, — they caught up a few articles in the dark and tak- ing the rifle from the peg, feared every shadow, while they stole off to the fort. The older children were so imbued with fear, that the mere name "Indian" whispered in their ears, made them mute. Thus does Dr. Doddridge, the best historian of his time, describe the early settlers. That he writes the truth, he challenges his contemporaries to deny, in whose recol- lection the scenes were still fresh; and while he is quoted by all historians of the times we celebrate, it is peculiarly true of our neighborhood here for he was one of the first pioneers of Washington County. il have heard similar scenes described and thought them imported into our history, and, by similarity of situation and coincidence in time, attributed to our situation here ; but find that the converse is the truth, as he is the source from which most of the historians of early times draw their pictures, and paint their manners and customs. He is al- most "to the manner born," cominghereasalittlechildand educated in the old stone Academy which Canon and Mc- Millan and Henderson founded. It is a relief to find that he was not a Presbyterian. The First Settlement When the first settlement was made in Washington County, is too difficult a question to settle here, even if it were possible. As, however, it was the policy of both the Pennsylvania and Virginia colonies to prohibit settlements on the Indian lands before the title was purchased from them, there could have been no legal settlement here prior to the treaty of Fort Stanwix on November 5th, 1768. The Chartee or Shurtee Settlement 131 That picturesque little army of scientists, axmen, and laborers, with their fourteen Indian warriors as guides^ en- gaged in running Mason & Dixon's line, reached the Mo- nongahela River on the 27th of September, 1767. When they had crossed it, and pressed through the wilderness as far as the second crossing of Dunkard's Creek, where the Old Catawba war path crosses, the Indians halted there, and announced that they were instructed by their chiefs, not to allow the line to cross that path ; and there it rested for about fifteen years. Taking that as a basis, and following the meanders of the Delaware as our west- ern boundary (and it appears that Penn never thought of a straight one), most of Washington County would be thrown into Virginia, At this time, Fayette County had a considerable num- ber of settlers. Penn issued a proclamation and had the Assembly pass a law on February 3rd, 1768, inflicting death without "Benefit of Clergy" on those disorderly set- tlers who had settled on the Indian lands prior to their purchase, or who refused to move when warned away, or returned after such warning. While this fulmination terri- fied the inhabitants of "Old Fiaf for awhile, the alarm soon subsided, when a delegation of Indians from the Mingo settlement, hearing that commissioners had come to warn away the settlers, heard all they had to say and then told the white man to "stay till the treaty". Though the Six Nations continued to complain of the intrusion of the white man on their hunting grounds, yet when George Croghan, had assembled his council at Pittsburg, in April of the same year, and as a result, the commissioners asked for representative Indians to accompany them among the settlers and warn them off, they flatly refused, Guyasutha very justly suggesting, that Penn would soon buy the land from the Six Nations (as he did at the treaty of Fort Stan- wix), and that they did not want to alienate the settlers. The Chartee or Shurtee Settlement 133 settlers, and if we had access to the Virginia Land office files, I have no doubt, many others, even in the vicinity of Canonsburg, could be enumerated. The antipathy between the Scotch Irish and Quakers may be further accounted for, by their aggressive likes and dislikes. For the Quakers, the Scotch Irish had an intense contempt. "The fundamental principle of the Quakers re- ligion was what they called the universal light, or the in- ward light. It was a feeling, they said, given to every man, born into the world, and was sufficient to guide him to all religious truth, and save his soul." It was not iden- tical with conscience, but given to enlighten it ; and to bring this inward light to perfection, all strife, worldly am- bition, exciting sports, discussion of politics, and pursuit of war should be avoided, and the soul cultivated by stillness, and quiet reflection on God, till it brought itself into His likeness. They were also adherents of the doctrine of per- fectionism, rejected all sacrament, and believed in present day revelations, of equal authority with the old, Fisher, Making of Pennsylvania, 43. When you contrast with this, the original sin and total depravity Presbyterian, educated to political discussion, religious controversy and war ; quick to revenge an insult and fight for his rights ; despising the Quaker for his solici- tude for the Indian on the one hand, and on the other his total failure to protect the white man (who had to fight for his existence with the actual savage, in all the unmention- able cruelty of Indian forays, and who held no picturesque illusions in regard to him, engendered by a safe distance with mountain ranges intervening), when, I say, you con- sider the fundamental differences of thought, religion and conduct, it is little wonder that there was small foundation for mutual respect. The Scotch Irish were blind to any good in the Quak- ers except their religious toleration, which they thought 124 Address of Blaine Ewing arose from their policy of non-resistence ; and the Quaker, when forced to enter into the active administration of af- fairs, contrary to the strict tenets of his rehgion, if he did not admire his pugnacious backwoods subject, was at least willing to concede his value when a fight was on hand ; and of these they had a superabundance. All these many causes, combined to convince the inhabitants of this sec- tion, that they were under the jurisdiction of Virginia. Westmoreland County was established on February 26th, 1773, and, that which afterwards became Washington County, was divided into two townships, Pitts and Spring- hill. Pitt being the most northerly and including all north of a line run westwardly from the present site of Browns- ville to the western boundary of the Province ; thus includ- ing most of Washington as now formed, all of Allegheny, and part of Beaver. In Mr. Cumrine's History is found one of the first peti- tions for roads in this section, October Sessions, 1773. "Upon Petition of Divers Inhabitants of the Township of Pitt in the County of Westmoreland, humbly showeth; that whereas your petitioners together with a number of other inhabitants of the Township aforesaid, labor under great difficulties and disadvantages for want of a public road, leading from the south-west side of the Monongahela river, opposite the Town of Pittsburgh, by Dr. Edward Hand's land on Chartiers, to the settlements on said creek, supposed to be at or near the western boundary of the Province of Pennsylvania, etc. . ." These settlements were doubtless the Chartiers settlements referred to previously and to be mentioned hereafter. If Pennsylvania's most western county had no more definite idea of its extent than this, we can easily see that the inhabitants in gen- eral must have been at sea completely. It being there- fore a matter of doubt where Pennsylvania ended and Virginia began, the settlers here having no love for The Chartee or Shurtee Settlement 135 the government of Pennsylvania, and the prices of land being much higher here than in the neighboring Colony of Virginia, seem to have chosen the latter in pretty large numbers. Penn^s line (run in 1767, to a point on Duncard Creek in what is now Greene County), showed that if the me- anders of the Delaware river were followed on the west^ that the line would fall only about six miles west of Pitts- burgh. But when the Earl of Dunmore began to covet the allegiance of the settlers about the head waters of the Ohio, he repudiated even the accuracy of these measure- ments, and sent his emissary. Dr. Connolly, to Pittsburgh, of which he took possession in January of 1774. Then be- gan a veritable reign of terror caused by the white man, in the contending jurisdictions of the two colonies. Then followed arrests and counter arrests, violence and militia musters, threats and protests. When the loyal adherents of the Pennsylvania jurisdiction, appealed to their officers for protection, Connolly arrested, not only the complain- ant, but the officer also ; and sometimes in addition to threats and abuses, pulled down a few houses around the ears of the inhabitants, as a mark of tender regard and so- licitude for his subjects. He headed a band of retainers against Hannastown ; liberated the prisoners there, and in the pleasant little speeches made on that occasion, one Vance, told the Sheriff of Westmoreland County that he would be arrested, "and that he had positive orders if any person tried to arrest them under Pennsylvania warrants, to shoot them, and he would do it." 4th American Ar- chives, Page 1272. A letter written by Joseph Spear, February 23, 1774, a trader at Pittsburgh, informed St. Clair, that the Vir- ginians had held several musters up the Monongahela late- ly, "One at Redstone Old Fort, and one yesterday at Paul Froman's, on the other side of the Monongahela" on the East Branch of the Chartiers Creek, and one at Pente- 136 Address of Blaine Ewing cost's own house. In consequence of which Pentecost warned Mr. Swearingen not to serve any longer as a Pennsylvania Magistrate, at his peril. On March 30th, 1774^ a party from "Chartee Settle- ment" joined the Doctor at Pittsburgh, and in aid of his designs, lent him countenance, while he informed the Pennsylvania magistrates that he had the full support of Dunmore,who applauded him for his firmness in resistance of the Pennsylvania government, particularly his refusal to give bail when arrested. American Archives, 4 Ser. Vol. I, p. 269. To trace all the various acts by which the Virginians asserted their authority would be impossible here. They precipitated a war with the savages, which was openly sought by Connolly, for he says in a letter, in July 19th, 1774, to St. Clair, who had counselled moderation, "I am determined no longer to be a dupe to their amicable pro- fessions, but on the contrary, shall pursue every measure to offend them." Amer. Arch. Series 4, Vol. i ; p. 678. The same Dr. Connolly, writing to the Lord Dun- more, March 24th, 1774, after a fullsome address, says, "you have it now in your power, my Lord, to render the name of Dunmore, as memorable in Virginia as that of Marlborough in Great Britain. Do not let the opportunity slip." American Archives ; Ser. 4 ; Vol. i ; Page 278. How he preceded to do it is a matter of history. Connolly in pursuance of his plan of afifronting the Indians, tried to arrest the friendly Shawanees, who piloted traders into Pittsburgh and protected them from the Mingos en route. Letters of Arthur St. Clair, Amer. Arch. Vol. i, p. 474. Mr. Butler was a trader who seems to have sided with Pennsylvania. Michael Cresap *attached his canoes about 90 miles below Pittsburgh, and on April 24th, 1774, killed and scalped the two Indian guides, and then attacked the Shawaneese chiefs. About the same time a party headed * This charge has been vigorously denied by one of his officers and ardent admirers, who afterwards married his widow. 5l" ^" -^C^-^ I: ,\j ^ THE CHURCHES OF CANONSBURG The Chartee or Shurtee Settlement 137 by Greathouse, treacherously murdered and then scalped, nine Indians at the Baker's near Yellow Creek. As a re- sult the inhabitants of Raccoon and Wheeling Creek fled from the settlements. Amer. Archives, Ser. 4; Vol. i ; page 468. Letter of Devereux Smith. That this would provoke retaliation was well understood, and not until Logan had returned with 13 scalps was he satisfied for the loss of his relations, and justly laying the blame where it belonged, said, "that he would sit still until he heard what the long knife (the Virginians) would say." Amer. Archives ; Vol. I ; p. 456, Vol. I, 474. On June 20th, 1774, Dunmore advises sending Capt. Wm. Crawford against the Indians, and let the cat out of the bag still further when he adds, "I would recommend it to all officers going out on parties, to make as many pris- oners as they can, of women and children, and should you be so fortunate as to reduce those savages to sue for peace, I would not grant it to them on any terms, till they were effectually chastised for their insolence^ and then on no terms without bringing in six of their heads, as host- ages, for their future good behavior, and these to be re- lieved annually, and that they trade with us only for what they want." Amer. Archives Series 4, Vol i, page 473. Here is the solution of the whole matter. The attempt- ed arrests of friendly Indians, — who were piloting white men, who were Pennsylvania's adherents to safety ; — the instigations of forays such as Logan's, so that retaliation could be disguised as a war of defence ; and Connolly^s subsequent ignominious arrest and detention, all show how he duped the people of Washington County, and how bitterly they suffered long after his removal, by the Indian massacres in retaliation for his misdeeds. Truly "the evil that men do lives after them". But what as to Dunmore. To add to the double dam- nation of Lord Dunmore in the eyes of his former subjects, 138 Address of Blaine Ewing I will only add, that when "menaced by one branch of the legislature and abandoned by the other," he had fled on board a British man of war, in the Chesapeake ; accused of trying to incite the negroes in Virginia to rise and massa- cre their masters, his vindication fails so utterly. For in a letter from the Earl of Dartmouth, to Lord Dunmore, dat- ed August 2nd, 177s, we read as follows, "My Lord, the hope you held out to us in your letter of May ist, that you should be able to collect among the Indians, negroes and other persons, a force sufficient, if not to subdue the rebellion, at least to defend the government, was encour- aging ; but I find by your letters, delivered to me by Lieu- tenant Collins^ that you have been obliged from the vio- lence of the times, menaced by one branch of the legisla- ture, and abandoned by the other, to yield up all the pow- ers of Government and retire yourself on board the Fowey." Amer. Archives, Ser. 4; Vol. 3 ; page 6. •' The Chartee or Shirtee Settlements " The "Chartee or Shirtee Settlements" before mention- ed, can now be examined more carefully. When Doctor McMillan, after his first missionary visit here, in August of 1775, had decided to come to this country, he bought a farm. As the recitals in old deeds are good evidence, I give the way they locate his land and describe the parties. The deed is dated September 9th, 1777, "Know all men by these presents, that we Michael Thomas and Thomas Cook of Shirtee's Settlement, in the County of Youghio- gheny and Commonwealth of Virginia, Farmers, for and in consideration of the sum of one hundred ninety-five pounds fifteen shillings and six pence current lawful money of the State of Pennsylvania, to us in hand well and truly paid by John McDowell Esq., of the Settlement, County and Commonwealth aforesaid. Trustee, Agent and Attor- ney in fact, to John McMillan, Clergyman (?) of Faggs' Mannour and Chester County in the State above said for and on behalf of said John McMillan * * * * grant, bargain The Chartee or Shurtee Settlement 139 and sell, etc., all our right, title, claim, etc., of, in and to a certain tract of land late the property of Thomas Cook aforesaid, and now in the possession^ tenure and occupa- tion of the aforesaid Michael Thomas, situate, lying and being in the Settlement, County and Commonwealth afore- said, on the western side of the eastern prong of Shirtee's Creek. Bounded on the south by lands of Paul Froman, on the west by those of Samuel Shannon, on the north by those of Doctor Morgan and on the east by the prong aforesaid and containing^ as by the platt may more fully appear, three hundred and thirteen acres and four tenths." You will not fail to notice the location of the Shirtee Settlement, nor the fact that it is put in Virginia. This deed was recorded in Youghiogheny County Court on March 24, 1778, Dorsey Pentecost, being clerk. The Shirtee Settlement was perhaps a vague term, as to boundary, but I think the centre of at least an influential branch, if not its Capital, was the region around what is now the town of Linden, North Strabane Township, near which was Paul Froman's Mill. The influence of this pow- erful settlement, whose inhabitants very naturally were ad- herents of the jurisdiction of Virginia, is plainly manifested in many ways. The first owner of the Mill was Paul Froman. He was also the patentee of about 1700 acres of land in that sec- tion. The Mill afterwards became the property of Dorsey Pentecost and finally that of Walter Buchanan, who moved from Canonsburg to it about 1806. Both Frohman & Pentecost succeeded in making it the nucleus of most of the roads in this part of the country, and it does not seem a far-fetched conclusion — that they hoped to make it the future county seat ; when a new county should be organized. Mr. Crumrine, in his history, prints a part of the records of the Court of West Augusta and Youghiogheny Coun- 140 Address of Blaine Ewing ties, Virginia, in which we see that many roads led to it ; it had road viewers and supervisors in plenty ; and grand jurors and justices in abundance. There was already a road from Gist's in Fayatte County to Ft. Dunmore (as Pittsburg was then called) ; to connect with it, another was viewed crossing the River at James Devore's Ferry (Mbnongahela) and thence ''to Paul Froman's on Shirtees Creek" ; and to show they were prompt, this was done the first day the Court sat. On the 23rd of February, 1775, the next day, a road view is ordered from "Thomas Gist's to Paul Froman's Mill on Shirtees Creek", and another from Redstone Old Fort (Brownsville) to the same Mill. And the viewers from this section were Paul Froman, Thos. Edgerton, Na- thaniel Blackmore and James Innis. For the protection of the cattle, there were brands or ear marks recorded in Court. John Canon early records his, "A crop in the right ear, and a half crop in the left". He had become a member of the Court the day before. May 1 6th, 1775, on motion of Capt. Paul Froman, it is ordered that James Innis (a surveyor), Thomas Edgerton and John Munn "view the most convenient way from Fro- man's Mill on Shirtees Creek to Froman's Mill on the east side of the Monongahela." September 22nd, 1775, Catfish Camp secures a road to Providence Mounce's Mill on the Youghiogheny, and it became the duty of Evan Williams to keep it in order from Pigeon Creek to the east fork of "Churtees Creek", and that of Garret Van Emen thence to Catfish. On April 17th, 1776, "Solomon Froman is appointed constable in room of Nathaniel Blackmore, and it is or- dered that he be summoned before Mr. John Canon to be sworn into said office." On the same day, the viewers report in favor of the The Chartee or Shurtee Settlement 141 road from the east fork to Froman's Mill on the Mononga- hela, and John Munn is made surveyor of this end of it. The District of West Augusta, having ceased to exist in October^ 1776, by its subdivision into the Counties of Yohogania, Ohio and Monongalia, a new order goes into effect. Yohogania embraced almost all of Washington, (as it now is). At the first sessions of the new County Court, John Canon receives his title as Colonel of Militia. It proceeded to lay out more roads centering at Fro- man's Mill ; appointed Justices of the Peace, Constables and JRoad Viewers, and divided the entire County into dis- tricts, in which some one was appointed to take a tour and tender the oath of allegiance and fidelity to the State of Virginia, to all free male inhabitants within the same. John McDowell's district extended from the mouth of the east fork of Chartiers, to the head waters of Peter's Creek, and thence south along the east side of Chartiers Creek to the south bounds of the county beyond Washington; and Andrew Swearingen took the west side of the Creek from Houstonville to the head waters of Cross Creek and thence south to a similar point. This old Virginia Court had to punish for contempt as well as other Courts in later days. "Robert Hamilton, a prisoner in the Sherifif's custody, came into Court and in the grocest and most imperlite manner, insulted the Court, and Richard Yeates in particular : ordered that the Sherifif confine the feet of the said Robert Hamilton in the lower rails of the fence for the space of five minutes." Froman in 1777, sold his mill to Dorsey Pentecost, but the east ork of "Charteers" seems to continue a Mecca for roads for another is ordered from the Court House east of the Monongahela crossing Peter's Creek to this Mill, which was soon opened. But Catfish Camp had hard work to get its road to this 142 Address of Blaine Ewing^ Mill, for in 1778, though formerly applied for by Richard Yeates, it was found necessary to attach the viewers for contempt, among them James Allison and Henry Taylor, the ancestors of Judge Taylor and Jonathan Allison. David Phillips and others wanted another road to Pen- tecost's Mill, and had a view from thence to the present site of McKeesport. John Munn (of Munntown) at the same Court is li- censed to keep an "Ordinary" or Tavern, and doubtless conformed to the rules of Court in charging a shilling for one-half pint of whiskey, with the addition of six pence for making it into a "tody", or one shilling nine pence for a hot breakfast ; while "Lodging with Clean Sheets per Nighf cost only six pence. Samuel Cook condemned land on Brusky Run to build a Mill, in 1778; and Nicholas Peas the following year on Chartiers. These references to the "Shurtees Settlement" have been made, not to weary the listeners, but to show the in" fluence exerted from 1774 to 1780 by this settlement in the Courts of Virginia, and because it shows indisputable evi- dence that such men as Paul Froman, Dorsey Pentecost, John Canon, Matthew Ritchie, Joshua Wright and John McDowell lived here. All of which sat as Justices of the Court except the first. As Justice of the Peace from the other side of Char- tiers, we see the names of James Scott and John Reed, both of Miller's Run; as early as 1779 and though a little further south than our immediate vicinity, we mention James Edgar and Henry Taylor. As road viewers, we find the names of Thomas Cook, who sold Dr. McMillan his home farm ; and James Innis who surveyed it, John Munn of Munntown, and Thomas Edgerton ; mention is made of others that locates Evan Williams on Pigeon Creek ; Garret Van Emen near the The Chartee or Shurtee Settlement 143 mouth of the east fork of Chartiers ; Samuel Cook on Brush Run ; David Phillips in Cecil Township ; and James Allison in Chartiers; and Nathaniel Blackmore, John Crow, John McMillan, Henry Johnston, John McDowell, John Paramour and Thomas Rankin, all in North Stra- bane Township. The names cited include only a small pro- portion of the inhabitants ; they merely fix a few of them in such locations that there can be no mistake. There were many other families named, which I feel sure belonged in the vicinity, but it was only occasionally that one was designated by his locality in such a way as to make his lo- cation beyond dispute. In that day, as well as this, only a small proportion of the names of the inhabitants appeared on the Court records, and in each of the road views mentioned, the tith- ables within three miles on each side of the proposed roads^ were ordered to work on it, showing the presence of a pretty considerable population. Having considered the "Chartee" or "Shirtee" Settle- ment and shown its existence as early as 1774, in sufficient numbers to be a decided factor in politics, let us turn our attention to Canonsburg. Canon's Mill The earliest mention I can find of a mill here is in Washington County records, where at the first term of Court, beginning October 2nd^ 1781, viewers were appoint- ed to view a road from "John Cannon, his mill, to Pitts- burgh-" Had a mill existed here prior to that time, under the Virginia regime, it is not probable that John Canon, sit- ting as one of the Justices of that Court, and seeing many views to the Froman Mill on the east branch of Chartiers, and afterwards to the same mill, when sold to Dorsey Pen- tecost, would have forgotten to divert some attention to his own property. 144 Address of Blaine Ewing However, Canon was not remiss in urging his claims for recognition, when he once got started. He tried to have the County Seat located here, and had so far suc- ceeded as to call forth an indignant protest from David Hoge, in a letter to the Supreme Executive Council, in November, 1781, in which he hints that he had heard, that a gentleman who would shortly appear as a member of that body, "had used his schemes to have the Court House and town on his own land about eight miles distant from the place where the trustees agreed on," viz. Catfish, and suggesting, that, if Canon used his influence to prevent the council from giving their approbation to the selection that the trustees had made, that their prudent attention, if such a thing should be attempted, would be gratefully acknowl- edged by their most obedient servant, David Hoge. Wash- ington County Courts of Justice p. 217. The location of Canon's house and mill is shown in a curious way. A road to Jacob Bausman's Ferry opposite Pittsburgh was reported in June of 1784, and ordered to be opened thirty-three feet wide. On the map showing its courses and distances, both the house of John Canon and General Neville are shown, and as they both were viewers and signed the order filed with the plot, it is not probable that they would sanction a false location for either house. This plot may throw some light on a locally disputed question, as to the site of John Canon's House. The authority to grant roads having been for some time now vested at Washington, instead of the east fork of Chartiers having its own way undisputed, the County seat seems to have been somewhat jealous of our Found- er's influence, for at No. 6 September Sessions of 1784, we find the following curious record : — "To the Worshipful Court of Washington County now sitting, The petition of a number of the inhabitants of Strabane Township hum- 1/ 5 The Chartee or Shurtee Settlement 145 bly showeth; your petitioners being well assured from the Great Care taken by your Worships, respecting Laying out of Roads for the Benefit of the Public at Large,and al- so to prevent too Great a Number therof: Consider our property and Personal Services Secure from the Imposi- tion of Individuals, it was therefore resolved by the said Court that all Petitions for by-roads should be laid over until the principale Roads should be Laid off, also that all Subsequent Petitions for New Roads should not be ad- mitted of, unless setting ofif at a Reasonable Distance from the principale Roads ; it was also Resolved by the Sd Court that the Following principal Roads Should be Suf- ficient, viz : One from the town of Washington to Pitts- burg ; Second, from the sd town toward - Wheeling ; thirdly. One Leading (from) sd town to Redstone Old Fort ; forthly ; one towards the forks of Ten Mile Creek ; fifthly, one leading Lyndlys Mill and. Sixthly, One towards Mingo bottom ; Seventhly one toward baker's or Pardon's Bottom ; Eighthly, One towards Devores Ferry : yet not with standing that Great Care your petitioners find that John Canori= Esqr., has some years agoe obtained an order from Sd Court for the viewing of a publick Road from the said town of Washington to his mill, and have some Resons to believe that the Sd Return will be ofifered to the Sd Court for Confirmation, we your humble Peti- tioners, Conceive that the Sd Road as it is now Laid out, to be unnecessary because it runs the Greatest part of the way parallel with the Pittsburgh Road, and about three quarters of a mile Distant, also that it is near seven miles Distance from Sd Mill to Sd town, and that it is only Six Miles from sd town to Mr. McMullen's Meeting, hous, and but one mile from Sd Meeting house to Can- non's Mill ; therefore as the Public Can Receive no benefit, nor Individuals any great Damage by not granting Said Road, we therefore pray that the sd return may not be 146 Address of Blaine Ewing confirmed, as it now stands_, and your Pet., etc., will be in Duty bound to pray." The above is signed by about sixty subscribers, but the ink has so far faded that I could only make out a few names, among which, however, are Nathaniel White, Samuel Pollock, John White, Hugh Cotton, John Munel, David Parkeson, Isaac Leet and Jonathan Leet. This road had many vicissitudes before it was allowed to rest. It was applied for by the citizens of Cecil and Strabane Townships, who as usual, allege the inconven- ience under which they labor for want of it. It was reviewed in 1786 and reported on favorably by a Board, three of whom were John Dodd, James Allison and Craig Ritchie, and in the following year, another view was made in which, although it was admitted to be the best route, two of the viewers thought it too near the one al" ready existing. The First Plot of Canonsburg Two years later, April 15, 1788, Canon laid out the first plan of the town. It shows the mill in the present location, and the names of purchasers were inserted on the various lots. It was proved, after his death, on the oath of James McCready, one of the subscribing witnesses to the agree- ment thereto attached, and recorded January 24, 1800. Though recorded as a plan of the tovvn, more properly speaking it was a guarantee on the part of the proprietor to convey the land when a patent was issued which was not done until the 27th day of March 1793. The delay may be partly accounted for by the following: At a special meeting of the Board of Property 30th Aug. 1790, "J^'^'^cs Allison Esq., on oath declared that the two tracts called 'Sugar Grove' and 'Canonhill' for which John Canon ap- plies for Patents, do not interfere with the land in dispute between said Canon & John Boys. Therefore Patents are allov^^ed." Pa. Archives Series 3, Vol. i. Page 709. PLAN or TOWN JOHN CANON U/'ON C^flRri£R3 CR£EH yVASH/NGTON C OUHTY, Pfl. y^AT IS'^ I7B7 y^ar '£■* i7e7 jA^ f^fffrs^ yinD»£<~^£ ^'"":^ 3 -rf=t£:£T /^a^ /J* '7^7 ^/fS r^ofl ft is<. S r>aviD i'.>,yi,i/' ,^,'./ ./i-Zr^'t ,J ..... ' ■;■ '■ ■ ■ /-. / . / ., / - ,- • / /y , ■ ,. . ,y ^. , ^ / . . . , , . V I /f /,/■ y-" . ■:■ ^.. ..■- /■..-.•../;:,... ■;.-"v,;:;. ^^ .v^ INDENTURE OF JOHN CANON TO THE TRUSTEES OF CANONSBURG ACADEMY FOR THE OLD STONE COLLEGE The lot was given and building started in the summer 1791 but the deed was not delivered until 1796 Half Tone from the original. See page 149 f, l -MO/i^ 5 10 v4 ■0 2 •0 v ^ fi:/t/UJ t W ^| \ ^ •^ P. iJ X ^(5 la J ^ t. '^ \ % « <■ y ^ VJ * VJ 5 E ~ k w 5^ 1) i H a r^ ^ ^ 5 N X \ \\ t^ ^? \ X y X f- X - (n <0 SI ^J 9 '<' 9 ^ IS X U] O L ■ . ^ 55 5 Oo 55. a « J Hi: X ' 5: -J '0 li) It . ? fl) 1 * t :>ifse/ poe* - ^^viw^o^J ^^^5.^5;-; •*%'\ ^^'^•^^l-^^ /**^:^'^o .^^-^^^ »bv^ ,,,*'* y .. V^^'^ao'^ V*^-*\-&^^ "'^^'^^'^o'^ ^^ **o, »•" A X^*^^,'^ 4?* ,*r^%^ ^•o'' ^-^Ti'/ ^o^'i^-.o' V*^-*,/ ^c LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 014 313 207 9