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-9, s Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2018 with funding from This project is made possible by a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries https://archive.org/details/pennsylvaniacoun05unse_0 MARK TWAIN’S scaap moK. PATENTS: UNITED STATES. GREAT BRITAIN. FRANCE. June 24.TH, 1873. May i6th, 1877. May i8th, 1877. TRADE MARKS: UNITED STATES. GREAT BRITAIN. Registered No. 5,896. Registered No. 15,979. DIRECTIONS. Use but little moisture, and only on the gummed lines. Press the scrap on without wetting it. DANIEL SLOTE & COMPANY, NEW YORK. I INDEX. From, SOME UNWKITI'EN HISTORY. i * it* HOW GOV. PIERPONT ONCE PAID THE OLD JOE DICKSON HOME¬ PITTSBURGH A VISIT. STEAD, NEAR PITTSBURG, Being R:i*e<l—A House That Was Arrangements for I ntertainlnsc Ex- Governor Fleming anti Early. Built in the Days When Comfort and Security from Indians and Wild Beasts Took Precedence Over Captain Charles W. Batchelor made a statement to the executive committee of Architectural Beauty and Finish. | the chamber of commerce yesterday re¬ Said to Be 128 Years Old—Interest¬ garding an incident which happened dur¬ ing Ancient History. ing the great civil war which he claims j 'tras never made public before. The com¬ Much interest is being manifested at mittee met at 2:30 yesterday afternoon to present among the citizens of Ems- I complete arrangements for entertaining worth and Clifton, a few miles from ex-Governor Fleming and party, of West Pittsburg down the Fort Wayne road, Virginia, who will arrive in this city over over the razing of what is supposed the Baltimore & Ohio to-morrow afternoon by some to be the oldest landmark of at 2 o’clock. Captain Batchelor’s state¬ the kind in Killbuck township, if not ment to the committee was as follows: in the Ohio valley. The house in ques¬ “West Virginians,” he said, “ought to tion was erected by Joseph Dickson be especially interested in Pittsburgh trom shortly before or about the beginning the tact that this city was once the seat of government of that state.” of the present century, according to “When and under what circum¬ the reckoning of some of the older res¬ stances?” asked half a dozen members of idents, while others maintain that it the committee in a chorus. was built in the year 1766, which would Shortly after the 'Old Dominion’ had make it 128 years old. Mr. Samuel Courtney, one of the oldest residents of been divided into two states,” continued the captain, “Governor Pierpont, who the township and a gentleman who is had just been elected chief executive of the well versed in the early history of the same, in speaking of the matter last 'New Dominion,’ got frightened at the evening inclined to the belief that the. raids the rebels under Moseby were old William Dickson house, which making into the new state stands on what is now known as the and he and his staff silently Brading property, is the oldest build- j folded their tents and stole over into ing of the kind in the locality. Said i Pennsylvania. I was in the custom house he: “The two houses in question here at the time, and Governor Pierpont were both built during the last cen- and his staff made their headquarters tury. They, with what is known as there tor about 10 days. But as the rebels the old Courtney homestead and the | did not make any more raids into West old Duff homestead, form a quartet of ' Virginia the governor and his staff slipped very old buildings. I doubt if there . back home as silently as they came away. are many older in the Ohio valley. } This, to my knowledge, has never been My impression is,” added he, “that the:, made public before, but I see no harm in old William Dickson house was erected telling it at this late date.'’1 J * about the year 1790. William Dickson. • The committee made final arrangements had three sons—John, Joseph and for furnishing refreshments to over 100 David. Owing .to a misunderstanding j West Virginia guests on hoard the train, with his father, Joe left home and was I and the furnishing of carriages to be disinherited, his father leaving a vast I placed at the disposal of the guests when tract of land, consisting of several I they arrive in the city. hundred acres, to the other children. J The committee extends a cordial invita¬ Joe, in the meantime, went to Missouri, I tion to all former West Virginians who where he erected a large flouring mill, are now located in Pittsburgh to attend which done, and having received his® the meeting at the chamber of commerce pay for the same, he returned home on rooms at 2:30 o clock to-iqorrow afternoon, horseback, his trip through the forest where an informal reception will take being regarded as remarkable in thosa ; place. It will be a pleasant opportunity days, for the country was full of In¬ to meet merchants and other West Vir¬ dians and all manner of wild beasts. ginians who wili be brought into closer However, after his return home, with business relations with this community the assistanec of his two brothers and by the opening of the new State Line my father, who in the meantime had railroad. married a sister. he purchased 275 '7 °f If-nd.for $500 and paid for it There are many reasons why the pro¬ SaLe of wfleat at 25 cents a bushei and corn at 10 cents a bushel posed monument should be erected, and the suggestion of Dr. Toner gains t0 calTied by canoes to Sawmill Run, a distance of about seven strength from the fact that the memorial miles. Said Mr. Courtney: “The could be placed near the point where the accident occurred to Washington, “which ?t1CtkhQ°tn <br°the!'s and father owned, at that time about 1,000 acres of land was the most perilous in his eventful on the Ohio river extending from what life.” He alludes to the fall from the raft Hnn01wwVllle station Jo Clifton sta¬ while crossing the Allegheny river at a tion. William Tueteberg, a former time when the stream was swollen and owner of the old Joseph Dickson house covered with floating ice. He escaped places its age at 12S years. I pur¬ drowning by swimming, and in company chased 160 acres of the Joseph Dick¬ with his guide took refuge on what was son property about thirty years ago subsequently known as Washington’s ^n<+v^Ve<^ mos^ the time since that island, but familiar to our people as Herrs m the old house until six years ago1 and Wainwrights. Dr, Toner thinks the The original house, which stands on spot where Washington landed on the the Beaver road, was built of logs and bank of the Allegheny after this hazard¬ contained two rooms. Later a stone ous exploit is deserving of a nation’s mon¬ addition was built to it, the basement ument to mark it, and the people of this .. ol which answered for a springhouse community will unanimously agree with inside of which was the finest spring* , him. We commend his letter to the care¬ m Allegheny county, the spring itself ful consideration of our readers. ’ being cut out of solid rock. In this springhouse my wife made thousands of. pounds of butter. As stated, the A WASHINGTON MONUMENT. spring was a remarkably fine one and in the early days was known all over J. M. Toner Suggests a Disposition ol the country, it being a watering place the Arsenal Property—Isaac for travelers of the Beaver road and Craig Indorses It. others. Yes,” said Mr. Tueteberg To the Editor of the Commercial Gazette: "there was about 275 acres in the tract purchased by Joseph Dickson and my I send you herewith a letter from Dr. recollection is that he paid $475 for it. Toner, the eminent historian of Wash¬ Joe Dickson had a family of four boys ington, D. C., who has done so much to and two girls, of whom William, James1 preserve Washington’s early journals, and Matilda are dead. Joseph and and enriched them with his annotations. John now live at New Castle, Pa., and The last one published is the “Journal Sarah—now Mrs. James Wilson—re-| of Col. George Washington, commanding sides in Virginia. The propertv was a ftepartminfc of Virginia’s troops, sent by sold some time ago by Mr. Tueteberg! Gov. Dinwiddle of Virginia across the to Thomas Parker. Recently it passed Allegheny mountains in 1754, to build into the hands of another party and it forts at the head of the Ohio.” The jour¬ is the latter who is removing the old nal was captured at Fort Necessity by land mark which in the early days the French. I would be greatly pleased furnished hospitality to many persons if you will start a movement for a monu¬ whose descendants will learn with a ment at the Allegheny arsenal as sug¬ pang of regret of its demolition. gested by Dr. Toner. I am sure not only Director Bigelow, but all good citi- ze)V? .Y'Ul back the move, and that a , sufficient sum can be raised by volun- (Jomnwraal contribution similar to that which the Pennsylvania State Society of the Cin¬ cinnati have ready to erect in Philadel¬ phia. Dr. Toner would have great in¬ PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING fluence in congress to pass a bill, such as he mentions in his letter.
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