The Monongahela of Old, Or, Historical Sketches of South-Western
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iA^'^^t J A,^ CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME OF THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND GIVEN IN 1891 BY HENRY WILLIAMS SAGE Cornell University Library F 157M58 V41 Monongahela of old or. Historical sketc 3 1924 028 854 359 olin uw The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://archive.org/details/cu31924028854359 THE MONONGAHELA OF OLD; OR, HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF SOUTH-WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA TO THE YEAR 1800 JAMES VEECH. FOR PRIVATE DISTRIBUTION ONLY. PITTSBURGH: 1858—1892 : (This unfinished work of the author, which has been "in sheets" since 1858, is now issued for private distribution only. By the addi- tion of pages 241-259, which were included in a pamphlet issued in 1857, entitled "Mason and Dixon's Line," the chapter relating to the boundary controversy between Pennsylvania and Virginia is com- pleted.) s Copyright Mrs. E. V. Blaine. 1892. Copyright re-issued to James Hadden. 1910. PREFACE James Veech, the author of this work, was born in Menallen township, Fayette county, Pennsylvania, September i8, 1808. He was graduated at Jefferson college, Cannonsburg, in 1827, and read law in Uniontown with James Todd who was appointed Attorney General of the State, i835-'38. He was admitted to the bar of Fay- ette county in 1831, and was married to Maria Ewing, a sister of Hon. Nathaniel Ewing, in 1832, and practiced his profession in Uniontown until 1834, when he moved to Pittsburg, where in the same year he was appointed Assistant District Attorney for Alle- gheny county by Governor Ritner, which position he filled until 1838, when he returned to Uniontown and resumed his practice there. In 1861 he accepted the appointment of paymaster in the army, and left Uniontown. Taking up his residence again in Pittsburg, in 1862, he opened a law office and became associated with D. T. Wat- son in the law firm of Veech and Watson. He was for years a director in the Monongahela Navigation Com- pany, and also in the Bank of Pittsburg. In 1855 he was a candi- date for United States Senator, and in 1857 he was nominated for supreme judge, but was defeated by Justice William Strong. Dur- ing this campaign the title of "judge" was popularly given to him, by which title he was ever afterwards known. Judge Veech was a high minded gentleman of the old school ; his dignified manner and profound legal ability commanded the respect of all. He retired from active life in 1872, and spent his later years in the congenial pursuits of history and literature in which he ac- quired fame. In later years he made his home at Emsworth, on the Ohio river, six miles below Pittsburgh, on the Ft. Wayne road, where he died December 11, 1879, ^'^'^ ^i^ death was the occasion of marked sor- row and respect of the bar and public of Pittsburg as well as his many friends in Uniontown. He was buried in Union cemetery at Uniontown. He was survived by his wife and five daughters. His only son, David Henry Veech, having died in 1874, leaving a son, James Veech. This last named was an only son back through five generations, viz : James, of David Henry, of James, of David, of James. The inception of this book dates from 1850, when Freeman Lewis, a competent surveyor of Uniontown, projected a history, of Fayette county, and had already gathered some material for the purpose. The work soon grew to such proportions that Mr. Lewis was unable to handle it and proposed to transfer the undertaking to Mr. Veech, who immediately applied himself to collecting the necessary data, and in 1859, it was placed in the hands of the printer. The book was then printed, but was left in sheet form for several years, the manuscript having not all been furnished to the printer. In the middle of the chapter on the famous Mason and Dixon Line the history stopped short, and in this unfinished form a few copies were bound and furnished to a few of his personal friends as the work was originally intended for private distribution only. In 1892, Mr. Veech's daughter, Mrs. E. V. Blaine, completed the chapter on Mason and Dixon's Line, and a supplement thereto and published a few copies of the still incomplete work. It is ever to be regretted that Mr. Veech did not finish the work he had so ably begun and for which he was so amply fitted. The appointment as paymaster of the army, the duties of which com- pelled him to relinquish work on the history for the time, after Avhich failing health compelled him to abandon it entirely. The book as published, contains eight chapters and a supplement, which is not half of what the volume was originally intended to be. It will remain the standard history of Fayette county and will be referred to as such by all future histories of Western Pennsylvania. THE MONONGAHELA OF OLD. CHAPTER I. ANTIQUITIES Ante-Indian Inhabitants—Old Ports; their forms; sites; localities—Mounds- Indian Towns—Indians Graves—Curious chain. Of the original human inhabitants of the territory, of which Fay- ette county is a part, we know but little. When Anglo-Saxon trad- ers and hunters first penetrated its wilds, it was the hunting ground of the Mingo Indians, or Six Nations (a ) the ; seat of whose power and chief population was Western New York. Delawares, whose original home was the western shore of the river of that name, and Shawnese, who, came from the Cumberland river, were also found. But that these were the successors of a race more intelligent, or of a people of different habits of life, seems clearly deducible from the remains of fortifications scattered all over the territory, and which are very distinct from those known to have been constructed by the tribes of Indians named, or any of their modern compeers. These remains of embankments, or "old forts," are numerous in Fayette county. That they are very ancient is shown by many facts. The Indians, known to us, could give no satisfactory account of when, how, or by whom they were erected; or for what purpose, except for defense. While the trees of the sur- rounding forests were chiefly oak, the growths upon, and within the lines of the old forts, were generally of large black walnut, (a)Called also the Iroquois. They were a Confederacy of the Mohawks, One- idas, Onondagoes, Cayugas, Senecas and Tuscaroras. The Delawares and Shaw- nese were in league with them, but rather as conquered dependents. 20 THE MONONGAHELA OF OLD. Those that we have seen were of diminutive size, and may have been thrown up to commemorate some minor events, or to cover the remains of a warrior. Our territory, having been an Indian hunting" ground, had within it but few Indian towns or villages, and these of no great magnitude or celebrity. There was one on the farm of James Ewing, near the southern corner of Redstone, and the line between German and Luzerne townships, close to a fine limestone spring. Near it, on a ridge, were many Indian graves. Another was near where Abram Brown lived, about four miles west of Uniontown. There was also one on land of John M. Austin, Esq., formerl}^ Samuel Stevens, near 'Sock. The only one we know of north of the Yough, was on the Strickler land, eastward of the Broad ford. Piles of stones, called Indian graves, were numerous in many places in Fayette, generally near the sites of Indian villages. They were generally on stony ridges, often twenty or thirty of them in a row. In many of them have been found human bones indicating a stature of from six to seven feet. They also contained arrow heads, spear points and hatchets, of stone and flint, nicely and regularly shaped—but how done, is the wonder. On a commanding eminence, overlooking the Yough river, upon land now of Col. A. M. Hill, formerly Wm. Dickerson, there are great numbers of these Indian graves ; among which, underneath a large stone, Mr. John Cottom, a few years ago found a very curious chain, consisting of a central ring, and five chains of about two feet in length, each branching off from it, having at their end, clamps, somewhat after the manner of hand-cuf?s, large enough to enclose a man's neck—indicating that its use was to confine prisoners—perhaps to fasten them to the burning stake. The chains were of an antique character, but well made, and seemed to have gone through fire. There are many other localities within our county limits, which may be justly ranked as antiquities ; but we reserve them to be in- terspersed in our subsequent sketches of events, and localities of distinct classes, with which they are intimately connected. They will lose none of their interest by their associations. CHAPTER 11. SETTLERS' FORTS, Fayette territory exempt from Indian cruelties—Description of Settlers' Forts; their names and localities—An all-smoke incident. We might refer these to our sketch of "Early Settlements;" but, as localities, we prefer introducing them immediately after the old forts, with which they are often confounded. For reasons which will be unfolded in the sequel, the territory of Fayette County was, after the end of the old French war, in 1763, and during all the period of its early settlement, remarkably exempt from those terrific incursions of the savages which made forting so common and necessary in the surrounding country.