SCHOOLS OF THE TOWNSHIP The first schoolhouse within the present limits of Plum Creek township was erected in 1792 on the old John Sturgeon farm, in the northeastern part of the township, half a mile from an old blockhouse that stood just over the Indiana county line. It was similar to most of the original temples of knowledge built by pioneers of the county, and the first teacher was Robert Orr Shannon. The second schoolhouse was located on land of Absalom Woodward, in the southeastern part of the township, being taught by a Mr. Donahoo, who remained as late as 1802. Schoolhouses were located after these at various convenient points, the teachers of which were: Henry Ruffner, Cornelius Roley, William St. Clair, Rev. John Kirkpatrick, Miss Ann Fulton, John Sturgeon and Anthony O'Baldwin. All of these schoolhouses were primitive log ones. The free school system was readily adopted in 1835, and the requisite number of a rather better kind of log houses were erected, at suitable distances, throughout the township, which have since been replaced by comfortable frame ones. In 1860 the number of schools was 14; average number of months taught, 4; male teachers, II; female teachers, 3; average salaries of male, per month, $12; average salaries of female, $12; male scholars, 387; female scholars, 325; average number attending school, 396; amount levied for school purposes, $1,100; for building, $300; received from State appropriation, $176.61; from collectors, $1,057.79; cost of teaching each scholar per month, 31 cents; cost of instruction, $672; fuel and contingencies, $195; building, renting, repairing schoolhouses, $310. In 1876 the number of schools (exclusive of three in that part of South Bend taken from the Plum Creek township) was 14; average number of months taught, 5; male teachers, II; female teachers, 3; average salaries, male, per month, $30.45; average salaries, female, per month, $27; male scholars, 310; female scholars, 248; average number attending school, 375; cost per month, 77 cents; amount of tax levied for school and building purposes, $3,644.57; received from State appropriation, $407.34; from taxes, etc., $2,827.71; cost of schoolhouses, $771.05; teachers' salaries, $2,080; fuel, contingencies, collectors' fees, etc., $384. The number of schools in 1913 was 16; average months taught, 7; male teachers, 10; female teachers, 6; average salaries, male, $42, female, $40; male scholars, 191; female scholars, 221; average attendance, 315; cost per month, $2.09; tax levied, $3,574.66; received from State, $2,511.54; other sources, $4,155.67; value of schoolhouses, $14,400; teachers' wages, $4,620; fuel, fees, etc., $1,413.77. The school directors are: D. E. Montgomery, president; G. A. Harkleroad, secretary; N. G. Clark, treasurer; James Nelson, A. L. Johnson. ASSESSMENT LISTS The chief occupation of the people of this township has been agricultural. The assessment list for 1876 showed the number of clergymen to be 4; physicians, 2; laborers, 52; blacksmiths, 3; millers, 3; wagonmakers, 2; peddlers, 2; mason, 1; saddler, I; shoemaker, Mercantile Number of 1; gentleman, 1. stores, 5; in twelfth class, 1; in thirteenth class, I; in fourteenth class, 3. The assessment returns for 1913 show: number of acres, 26,0914, valued at $399,500; houses and lots, value, $10,735; horses, 402, value, $21,345, average, $53.09; cows, 472, value, $8,265, average, $17.51; taxable occupations, 598, amount, $5,680; total valuation, $496,141. Money at interest, $37,530.10. GEOLOGICAL An approximate idea of the geological features around Elderton and throughout Plum Creek township is derivable from the following compilation from "Rogers' Geology of Pennsylvania": On Crooked creek, two and a half miles below Plum creek, the upper Freeport coal is seen 12 feet above the creek, and 42 inches thick as exposed; it soon dips under the stream. In the bend of Crooked creek the red and variegated shales of the Barren measures, with nodules of hematitic ore, occur 45 feet above the stream and fragments of green fossiliferous limestone 30 feet above it. The Pittsburgh coal occurs upon the upland surface three quarters of a mile southeast of this point on Crooked creek. The black limestone strata are seen rising west under the greenish strata, one quarter of a mile below the bend, and 20 feet above the creek. Over a dark greenish stratum 10 inches. thick lies a nodular limestone 5 inches thick; this, again, is capped by green shales. Half a mile below this the upper Freeport coal rises. to a height of 51 feet above the water level, and is opened 32 feet thick; roof bituminous shale, 12 feet thick. The ferriferous limestone rises from the creek at Heath's; it is full of small bivalves (terebratula, etc.), is flinty, thinly stratified, dark blue, and 5 feet thick. A quarry of silicious sandstone, greenish-gray and splitting into slabs, has been blasted in the strata, 20 feet above the limestone, which slabs are used for tombstones in Elderton. Sandstones are largely developed in the bed of the creek below the old sawmill. A coal bed 12 feet thick is there, from 20 to 25 feet above the water; the limestone is nowhere visible. A section made in the lofty sides of the valley at that place is as follows: Mahoning massive sandstone, 50 feet; upper Freeport coal, irregular (estimated to be 200 feet above the creek), 3 feet; unknown, 15 feet; Freeport limestone, 18 inches; unknown, 10 feet; sandstone and shale, 40 feet; Freeport sandstone, 50 feet; coal, a few inches; shale, 16 feet; sandstone, 4 feet; unknown, 41 feet; Kittanning coal (possibly the ferriferous coal), 11⁄2 feet; un known down to the creek and full of fossils, 6 feet thick. The depth of an old salt well at this point was said to be 500 feet. A little to the east of this appears to run the highest or axis line of the Roaring run anticlinal flexure. The Freeport limestone, bearing its characteristic minute fossils, has fallen so far in its level by the time it has reached Cochran's Mills, 300 yards above the next saltworks, that it is but 24 feet above the dam; it is seminodular, and 2 feet thick. The upper Freeport coal overlies it 22 feet, and is itself 3 feet thick. west, and the coal outcrop is 10 feet above it. It is a thicker bed some hundred yards southA coalbed is seen at a level 100 feet higher in the hillside. Beneath it is seen a massive sandstone. At the lower saltworks is a coalbed 3 feet thick and 60 feet above the stream. The highest point in the township is at the headwaters of Cherry run, about a mile northeast of Elderton, and is 1,547 feet above the level of the sea. CHAPTER XXIV BETHEL TOWNSHIP NAMED FROM OLD LUTHERAN CHURCH-PIONEERS-FIRST INDUSTRIES-LATER IMPROVEMENTS— CHURCHES-SCHOOLS-POPULATION-GEOLOGICAL This division of Armstrong county takes its Maris, Hugh Glenn, John Wigton, William name from one of the oldest Lutheran Highfield, James Glenn, John Morrison, Jacob churches in this part of Pennsylvania, situated on an eminence overlooking Crooked creek, and commanding a lovely view of the entire surrounding territory. Bethel was formed at the same time with the townships of Parks and Gilpin, out of the old Allegheny township, in 1878. It is a rich farming community and has no large towns within its bounds. PIONEERS When the three townships were included in that of Allegheny the real settlement of Bethel began, so it will be necessary to give the names of the early land owners and settlers who took up the territory included at that time. In the list below will be found names of those who obtained warrants for the land as well as those who occupied and improved it: John Elder, John Collier, David McKee, Peter Shaeffer, J. Heckman, P. Heckman, John Barrickman, James Beatty, Matthew Williams, Nicholas Bray, William Kelly, George Wolf, Samuel Cochran, Alexander Craig, John Pinkerton, George Bartram, Robert Alexander and Samuel Walker, Alexander Clark, Thomas Burd, Enoch Westcott, Samuel Waugh, Samuel Stitt, Charles Vanderen, Henry Girt, John Steele, Joseph Parker, Francis Bailey, William Stitt, George Risler, Griffith Jones, Henry Klingensmith, James Campbell, William Campbell, Jeremiah Pratt, John Hawk, Sebastian Fisher, John Vanderen, George Ingram, Philip Klingensmith, Thomas Campbell, John Hill, George Isebuster, James and John Jack, Charles Campbell, James Anderson, Hugh Cunningham, Archibald McKatten, Michael Barrackman, James Crosby, James Fitzgerald, John Montgomery, Isaac Vanhorn, John Klingensmith, John Conrad, Samuel Stitt, Robert Caldwell, Thomas York, George Elliott, John Brown, Jacob Beck, Bernard Macho, William Smith, Thomas Hood, William McAllister, Jacob Reese, Lambert Cadwallader, James Mease, George Clymer, Samuel Meredith, William heny Valley railroad, was named after Sheriff Jack, Thomas Cadwallader, Robert Hanna, Hamilton Kelly, an old steamboatman, who John Montgomery, Robert Parks, Samuel was for years station agent and postmaster Crosby, Assemus Boyer, Adam Moyer, John here. His sons were also famous on the and James Waltenbaugh, Thomas Barclay, Allegheny as boatmen. Near this place was Samuel Printz, Philip Schutt, John Scholl. formerly located the "Old Pickles Tavern" Most of the settlers in this township came near the banks of the river at Pickle's Eddy, between 1792 and 1806, the earliest ones being when in old rafting days it was not unusual Alexander and Samuel Walker, on the south for them to feed two hundred raftsmen and side of Crooked creek; James Cunningham, at store them away as best they could while they the junction of that creek and the Allegheny; united their rafts into fleets. One mile east William Beatty, on land adjoining the Manor; of Kelly's were situated the old Beatty flourand Thomas Gallagher, who kept a distillery ing mills, built in 1855, which for many years in the northeastern part. were a source of great convenience to the surrounding country. The place was named "Neale" a few years ago in honor of the late Judge Neale, and it has long been noted for its ideal country store, which has been handed down from one owner to another for more than fifty years and is now owned by Mr. S. S. Blyholder, who is a prominent officer in the State Grange, and was postmaster till 1900. The Gormans formerly owned a store near this place, which, aside from the postoffice name, has been known as Center Valley. FIRST INDUSTRIES The first mill in the township was that of Alexander Walker, on the second bend of Crooked creek, built in 1805. As the current of this creek is exceedingly swift, the mill could be operated all the year round, without freezing up, so the settlers from many miles came here for their grist. His successor was John Walker, in 1830. The increasing trade at this mill by 1836 induced Robert Walker to build a mill at the sharp turn of the creek, about a mile and a half east of the first one. This mill was a most remarkable one, from the manner in which it was built. The stream here almost doubles on itself, and in the center of the loop is a steep hill. With great originality of conception the builders tunneled through the hill, putting the mill on the lower side and the dam on the upper. By this means they obtained not only a great head of water, but located the mill upon the slope of the hill, far above high water. This plan was probably the first actual adoption of the tunnel headrace for mill purposes in this country, and was a forerunner of the vast power tunnels of the present day. The contractors who blasted the tunnel were two enterprising Englishmen named Allison and Porter, who "just happened along." They occupied six months in the work and received $1,600 for the job. So well did they do their task that the old headrace and the mill foundations are plainly to be seen at the present time. S. B. Wolf opened his blacksmith shop in Center Valley in 1849 and after his death, in 1872, his son D. E. Wolf continued the business. He has, however, now retired from this strenuous vocation. LATER IMPROVEMENTS Kelly Station, established in 1860, for many years a noted shipping point on the old Alleg There are a large number of fraternal societies in this township, but the only one that has built and owns its own hall, a fine frame structure, is the Odd Fellows, who for years have had quite an organization at Center Valley. This section, like the others, in the southern townships of the county, has the Freeport and other veins of coal, the former having been opened by a drift bank over thirty years ago to furnish coal for engines on the old Allegheny Valley Railroad. With the exceptions of some mines in and near Center Valley, this was the only works in operation until in 1902, when a large company was organized by John Achison and chartered as the "Provident Coal Company." After shipping coal and burning coke for a time, owing to financial and other reasons arising from the condition of trade the miners suspended operation until 1912, when, with other business interests in a most flourishing condition, operations were resumed, there being about $100,000 new capital contributed. A prosperous period set in for the country in the neighborhood of Kelly Station and Neale, and in fact the whole of Center Valley and surrounding country. A brisk mining town sprang up which, in 1913, promises to add greatly to the importance of Bethel township on the map and the interests of this part of the State, as it opens up a coal field of almost unlimited extent, which affords opportunity for a score of good sites for openings and tipples and siding facilities. T. G. Kelly is the storekeeper and postmaster now. LOGANSPORT An important point in this township is Logansport, on the Allegheny river. For many years this was only a railroad station, but within the last ten years a large distillery has been erected there and created quite an industrial impetus, giving work to a large number of people. The distillery is owned by Pittsburgh capitalists, who located here largely on account of the fine quality of water which is so essential in their business. The place was named after the late Squire Thomas Logan, who died in 1909, and occupied the famous old brick dwelling that for so long marked the landing for steamboats here. John W. Miller is the postmaster and storekeeper at Logansport. Most of the names we have designated as early settlers of Gilpin township would apply to this and many other nearby localities, as their descendants have intermarried until they form one great family, reminding one of a composite picture where a hundred or more. faces are blended into one. A store is kept by T. A. Fiscus near the schoolhouse, between Center Valley and Kelly Station. The resident physician is Dr. Thomas L. Aye, who has his home at Kelly Station, but is almost always traveling over the township on healing missions or in the course of his duties as school commissioner. He is one of the busiest and most popular citizens of the township. CHURCHES Crooked Creek (St. Paul's) Presbyterian church is located on that stream, not far from the site of the old Robert Walker mill, and its history is lost in the obscurity of the early times. In 1825 Alexander Walker started to construct a meetinghouse, but did not complete it, for in the summer of 1834 Dr. Joseph Painter came through that part of the county and noticed that the structure was simply a wall, and cattle used it for shelter from the winds. He took steps to render it habitable, giving the congregation, which was formed some years previously, half of his time until 1838. Then it was supplied by Rev. John Kerr until 1840. The pastors following him were Revs. Levi M. Graves, William College, G. K. Scott and Perrin Baker. Rev. J. P. Calhoun was pastor in 1884. From that date supplies have been the rule. A second log house followed the first and was replaced by a frame in 1869. It still remains in a good state of preservation. The present pastor is Rev. J. Ash. Bethel Evangelical Lutheran Church was organized in 1846, under the pastorate of Rev. David Earhart of Leechburg. The first church officers were: Joseph Snyder and Samuel Mansfield, elders; Peter Wareham and Jacob Keiffer, deacons. At a later meeting it was decided to build and the following chosen as a building committee: Solomon King, Samuel Mansfield, Jacob Wolf, Samuel Bruner, Lewis Orner, Mathias Wolf and P. Stewart. Samuel Mansfield sold the ground to the committee and they awarded the contract to P. Stewart for $400, the church to build the stone work and furnish all the heavy timbers. as well as the furnishings. The cornerstone was laid in 1847 and the building dedicated in 1850. Many different customs were adopted at times in this church's history. The second charter of 1848 did not permit the women of the congregation to vote, so in 1894 this clause was amended in their favor. In 1851 the custom of renting pews was adopted, and in 1852 a choir of eleven men was elected. Rev. David Earhart closed his pastorate in 1859 and Rev. Jacob H. Wright was called. After his departure in 1867 the following pastors served here: Revs. Michael Colver, 1867-68; John A. Ernest, 1869; G. F. Ehrenfeld, 1870; J. B. Miller, 1871; A. S. Miller, 1872-77; G. W. Leisher, 1877-85; J. W. Tressler, 1886-89; J. E. F. Hassinger, 1899-1903; E. F. Dickey, 1903. The present pastor is Rev. Elmer Kahl. Membership, 100; Sunday school, 115. In 1877, after being in use for thirty years, the old church was razed and a new one, costing $2,217, replaced it, being dedicated in 1879. The building committee was: S. B. Wolf, James Beatty, William Hileman, John Wareham and A. R. Wolf. At the time the burial ground was enlarged and laid out in walks and drives. In the summer of 1901 extensive repairs were made to the church at a cost of $1,000, making it almost new. The women of the congregation are given the credit of these improvements to a great extent. The church is financially strong and the membership is larger than most country charges. Homewood Baptist Church, at Kelly Station, is under the charge of Rev. J. W. Schumaker, who is in the Clarion Baptist Association. SCHOOLS This township furnished several teachers who have attained eminence, and one county superintendent-J. D. Wolf. The first schoolhouse in this township was that of Henry Girt, not far from Kelly Station, erected about 1821. Statistics of the schools previous to 1878 can be found in the sketch of Gilpin township. Number of schools in 1913, 7; average months taught, 7; male teachers, 5; female teachers, 2; average salaries, male, $44; female, $40; male scholars, 114; female scholars, 113; average attendance, 125; cost per month, $1.95; tax levied, $1,998.21; received from State, $1,072.86; other sources, $2,501.49; value of schoolhouses, $7,000; teachers' wages, $2,104; fuel, fees, etc., $1,007.83. The school directors are: L. P. Dunmire, president; Dr. Thomas L. Aye, secretary; S. S. Blyholder, treasurer; W. R. Miller, David Wareham. POPULATION The population of Bethel in 1880 was 871; in 1890 it was 788; in 1900, 839; in 1910, 952. In 1913 the assessment returns were: Num ber of acres, 9,357, valued at, $149,895; houses and lots, 94, valued at, $16,335, average, $173.77; horses, 172, value, $6,655, average, $38.69; cows, 163, value, $2,090, average, $12.20; taxables, 345; amount, $8,735; total valuation, $264,399. Money at interest, $68,233.15. GEOLOGICAL At the mouth of Kiskiminetas, the slaty cannel coal is separated from the bright bituminous bed by from six to eight feet of slate. The cannel stratum averages five feet in thickness. The Freeport sandstone beneath forms massive ledges along the railroad. On the east side of the Allegheny the coals are at a much higher level than on Buffalo creek, owing to a local rise in the strata, but there can be no difficulty in identification. A proximate analysis of Dodd's cannel coal by Dr. Alter, developed thirty-four per cent of volatile matter. From twenty-two pounds of the coal he obtained thirty-three ounces of crude oil, a gallon of which yielded one ounce of paraffine, besides coal tar, lighter oils, benzole, etc. A hill on the Allegheny, a short distance above Kelly Station, is the highest point in the township, being 1,420 feet above the sea. This division of Armstrong county was formed in 1849 from the western portion of Kittanning township. The first township election was held in March, 1850, at which the following officers, were elected: Judge of election, George M. King; inspectors of election, John Christy and Michael Isaman; constable, Isaac Bouch; assessor, David McLeod; justice of the peace, William Copley; supervisors, George Bouch and John Hileman; township auditors, Richard Bailey, John Shoop and John Williams; township clerk, A. J. Bailey; overseers of the poor, Josiah Copley and William Truby; fence viewers, John Davis and John R. Shoop. The record shows only five school directors to have been then elected, Matthew (Matthias) Bowser, John Christy, William Ehinger, Rev. Levi M. Graves and John Robinson. FIRST SETTLERS MANORVILLE SCHOOLS The name of this township originated from one of the proprietary manors, which was a part of the territory within what are now its boundaries. The word manor is derived from manere, to remain, because, in England, the usual residence of the owner. It was a piece of land generally consisting of several thousand acres, owned and held by a lord or some great personage, who occupied as much of it as was needed for the use of his own family, and leased the remainder to tenants for certain rents or services. This is said to have been the origin of copyhold estates, which were those held by copy of the court roll, or a tenure for which the tenant had nothing to show except the rolls made by the steward of the manor, who was the registrar of the courtbaron, and who held that court when business relating to tenures and tenancies, was before it. |