AREA HISTORY: History of Adams County, Chapter IX, Adams County, PA Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Kathy Francis Copyright 2005. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/adams/ _______________________________________________ History of Cumberland and Adams Counties, Pennsylvania Chicago: Warner, Beers & Co., 1886 _______________________________________________ Part III, History of Adams County, Pages 36-43 CHAPTER IX. ERECTION OF COUNTY-DATE OF ITS CREATION-BOUNDARY LINE, AREA AND POPULATION-JAMES GETTYS-SELECTION OF COUNTY SEAT-TAXES LEVIED-COUNTY BUILDINGS. When a question of greatest importance locally to the people of what was then this portion of York County came up, namely, the erection of a new county, then again to a slight extent became visible the race prejudice that had not wholly been eradicated by long companionship of misery that visited all the people of this country during the Revolution. Toward the close of the eighteenth century, as early as 1790, it became evident that there must be a new county formed. A large and rapidly increasing population had already found prosperous and happy homes in this southwestern portion of York County, and they were without mails, courts, or marts for traffic, except to go all the way to the town of York. The question was started for discussion, and while all could see the imperious necessity for a change in this respect, yet many did not desire to risk the plunge from the sphere of the known evils into the regions of the unknown. The movement to form a county originated with the Scotch-Irish, who largely held possession of the northern portion of the territory out of which the new county was to be formed, and the southern part of this territory was in the possession of the Dutch, with a very light sprinkling of Germans and a very few Scotch- Irish. The Dutch did not desire to be stricken off into a new county with the Scotch-Irish; they believed they would be outnumbered, outvoted, and in the end, from foretastes in elections in former times in York County, they were apparently justified in their apprehensions. The leaders of the Scotch-Irish were strong, active and aggressive men; at least they were never noted for great diffidence in laying claims to their plain and just rights. The leaders of the Dutch were slow, solid and, upon even slight pretexts, stubborn as the granite hills about them. But those incongruities were eventually overcome by the commanding necessities of the time, and a new county was created, called in honor of the then President of the United States-Adams County. The act of the Legislature creating Adams County is of date January 22, 1800. And it goes without the saying that, with the division among the people, it was carried through the Legislature successfully by what in modern times has come to be called “log-rolling;” that is, by combinations among parties in the Legislature. In numerous other parts of the State where new counties were wanted, or other wants were pressing upon the constituents of members, all these parties would join and vote in turn for each other’s measures. In this case, at least, “log-rolling” was a beneficent thing in the end for our people, and gave the great commonwealth one of her most prolific agricultural municipalities, almost literally a community of farmers with no great individual fortunes, and almost without a trace of extreme poverty and suffering. For, after all, the farm is the great alma mater of all-the factory, the railroads, commerce and the comforts and joys of our best civilization coming from that one common source. The commissioners appointed to run the boundary line of the new county were Jacob Spangler, deputy surveyor of York County; Samuel Sloan, deputy surveyor of Adams County, and William Waugh, and they fixed upon the following boundary lines; “Beginning at the line of Cumberland County where the road from Carlisle to Baltimore leads through Trent’s Gap; then following said road to Binders; thence on a straight line to Conowago Creek, opposite the mouth of Abbott’s Run; thence along the line of Manheim and Berwick Townships westwardly, until it strikes the road leading from Oxford to Hanovertown; and from thence a due south course until it strikes the Maryland line; thence along the Maryland line to the line of Franklin County; thence along the line of Franklin and Cumberland Counties to the place of beginning.” It contains 531 square miles in an area of twenty-four by twenty-seven miles. The total acreage is 339,133 acres, originally all timber land; in farms and other improvements, the timber area has been reduced to 50,000 acres. When the county was formed there was a population, as given by the United States census of that year, of 13,172, including, as the tax-books show, nine negro slaves. The owners of these slaves were James Gettys, two women; Widow McPherson, one man; William McClellan, one man; Alexander Russell, one woman; Reynolds Ramsey, one woman; James Scott, a man and a woman; William McPherson, two men. The highest assessed value of any slave was $150. The assessor’s books for 1801 show that this year there was added to the slave owners James Scott, “one negro man;” and the next year Alexander Cobean was assessed “one negro woman, $100,” and Conrad Hoke “negro woman fifty years old,” no value given. Slaves were now freely introduced and in considerable numbers, and some of the quaintest documents in the spelling and structure of sentences that we remember to have come across, are the few original bills of sale of slaves that have been preserved among old papers and documents. The total number of “taxables” in Adams County in the year 1800 was 2,563, and the next year the total number of negro slaves was ninety-four. In addition to the negro slaves (these people all then called their farms “plantations”), there were the indentured or bonded white men-men who had given so many years, as agreed upon where the capitalist made both sides of the bargain, of their labor, for money or sustenance, generally claimed to have been furnished to convey the servant to this country. These servants, or they and their time, were matters of transfer as any other property. There are no records by which the number of this class of people here can now be ascertained. But when a newspaper commenced to be published in Gettysburg it was a frequent occurrence to see advertisements offering rewards from 1 cent to $10 for the recapture of these runaways. They would grow tired of their cruel bargain and “go West to grow up with the country”-not even taking with them Greeley’s historical half-dollar or perfected Hoe printing press. The new county was about to be formed and its municipal machinery to be put in operation. The contention over the subject was of the deepest interest. The preponderance of population was along the east side of the county, with the Scotch-Irish in possession of the north and the Dutch of the south. Here were distinct interests, each determined to do the very best they could in securing an advantageous location of the county seat. It was a tempting morsel, and a field-day to sections of the county, contending communities, and even to nearly every individual who owned a tract of land, on which he had a shanty and a truck patch cleared, that did not lie on the extreme borders of the county. Many of these excited owners of “plantations” no doubt saw his shanty and small clearing blown in a night into embryo county capitals, and could almost see the future great city, with its teeming population, factories, grand avenue, palatial residences, baronial castles, its towers and minarets gleaming in the early morning sun, and chink in his pockets the fabulous prices per front foot the incoming rush of humanity would thrust upon him. Like other elections or selections all could not realize their fond dreams. James Gettys, a man of brains, force of character and resources, had opened a farm, a very large farm for that time, where the borough of Gettysburg now stands. The improvement included nearly all of the present town limits. He had built a small shanty near a spring-of which there were many in the locality-on the north side of the hill, some distance north of where the McClellan house now stands, or a little northeast of the triangle. And as soon as he had fairly got his farm opened the talk commenced about forming a new county, to include substantially the present county boundaries, and this early suggestion, or perhaps even earlier than this, the natural location of the place and the settlements north and south and around it suggested to Gettys to lay out a town on his land. It cannot now be ascertained what was the true date of the commencement to build a town here. He put up a spacious two story log house, the first real residence built here, which, with the kitchen and outbuildings standing upon the elevation, made quite a show. This house stood a short distance north of where the “Globe Inn” now is-northeast of the triangle. He opened this as a hotel. The house stood as he built it until a few years ago (1880) when it was burned; a remarkable fact being that it stood for a century, the first house put up, and was the first residence in the place consumed by fire. To return a little, by way of explanation, it is necessary here to say that in 1790 the subject of forming a new county progressed so far as to appoint three commissioners to select a county seat, and James Cunningham, Jonathan Hoge and James Johnston had been chosen commissioners to make the selection. They selected a tract belonging to Garret Van Orsdel, in Strabane Township, “between the two roads leading from Hunters and Gettystown to the brick house, including part of said road.” Then in 1791 the subject was again put in motion, and Rev. Alexander Dobbin and David Moore were chosen to select the county seat location. The matter ran along with nothing further done until 1799, when Gettys, in order to be in apt time, deeded to Dobbin and Moore, for the use of the new county, 200 lots, with the quit rents, and also a lot for a “gaol” and a court house lot. James Gettys purchased the land now occupied by the borough in 1790, and it is probable, though no official or other evidence as to dates are now to be found, he soon after conceived the idea of making the future county seat, and so announced to the world, and offered inducements for people to come here and settle. One of the conditions in his deed to the trustees was the “enhanced value of the remainder of the property from the location of the town seat here.” The ground rent upon each of the lots donated to the county was 7s. 6d. The long document is signed by James and Mary Gettys. In the meantime other parties were as busy as was Gettys in the effort to secure the future county town. The most formidable rival was Hunterstown. The strong champions of this place were Dickson, Brinkerhoff, Shriver and others. It was then very near the center of population of the county, while Gettystown was very near the geographical center. The latter was championed by such strong men as the McPhersons, McCleans, McSherrys, Horners Cobean, Crawford, Dunwoody and many others of nearly equal force of character. The commissioners, Alexander Dobbin and David Moore, as early as required by the act, had fixed upon Gettysburg, and on the 23d of February of that year they deeded the lots and property conveyed to them by Gettys to the county in the name of the three county commissions, Robert McIlhenny, Jacob Grenamire and David Edie. In Gettys’ deed he gives the name of the place as “Gettystown.” On further examination of the act creating the county it seems that the friends of “Gettystown” managed this part of their work as shrewdly as they had that of forming the county. They had the Legislature fix the county seat at this place; and the tempting inducement to do this was a bond shown the member of the Legislature, signed by prominent men, offering to pay a large sum toward erecting the county buildings. The act authorized the county commissioners to levy a tax of $3,000 for public buildings on the county, and it was agreed that the additional $7,000 for that purpose should be contributed by private subscriptions. The act recites the essence of the bond, which is signed by Henry Hoke, James Scott, William McClellan, George Kerr, William McPherson, Alexander Cobean, Alexander Irwin, Alexander Russell, Walter Smith, William Hamilton, John Myers, Emanuel Zeigler and Samuel Sloan, and was for the sum of $7,000, to be paid one-third in six months after the passage of the bill, and the two-thirds in equal annual payments thereafter. Then for the first time in this act of the Legislature it is called “Gettysburg.” This strong and effective bond, effective in making this the county seat, was in the handwriting of Alexander Russell. The venerable document is without date, and was long ago marked across its face “Cancelled.” It had been paid according to its tenor. The people, moved by a generous public sentiment, and as many had pledged, no doubt, the signers of the $7,000 bond, started subscription papers. Five papers were circulated, and the following receipt explains fully the result of this movement: Received January 6, 1801, of Reynolds Ramsay, Henry Hoke, Alexander Russell, Alexander Cobean, Mathew Smith, Alexander Irwin, George Kerr and James Scott, five subscription papers, wherein a number of the inhabitants of Gettysburg and its vicinity had subscribed certain sums of money supposed to be eight thousand eight hundred and ninety-seven dollars and thirty-three cents, for the purpose of erecting publick buildings in a county proposed to be struck off the county of York. From whom I am directed to collect the sums set opposite the respective names of the aforesaid subscribers. [Signed] Robt. Hayes. There is no doubt there was a mistake of a year in the date of this instrument. This is made plain by the sentence “in a county proposed to be struck off.” Robert Hayes, then, was then commissioner to collect subscriptions and the county fund, and make the payments on the public buildings-court house and jail. Like all general subscription papers this was a hard work to perform, and all the time he was giving notices to “pay up”-threatening suits against delinquents, etc., etc. The most of them paid by labor and materials furnished. William McClellan, Henry Hoke and William Hamilton were appointed by law commissioners to contract and superintend the erection of the county buildings. February 29, 1804, the commissioners made a statement, in which they charge themselves with $3,000 received from the county, and $7,000 from Robert Hayes; total, $10,000. They are then credited with $9,802.70, money paid for labor and materials on the court house and jail. This would indicate the cost of these buildings. Walter Smith, Henry Hull and Michael Slagle were the commissioners of the county who, on January 28, 1804, certified to the correctness of this report. The largest single item in the list of payment is $3,913.12˝, paid Alexander Cobean for building the jail. The court house was constructed after the one style of all such building of that day-of brick, with stone foundation, and square. The lower floor was the court room, a door in the north and south, the south door only being used, as the judge’s bench was placed against the north door. The house stood in the center of the public square. On each side of the south door was a stairway leading to the galleries, the left stairway also leading to the three rooms on the upper floor, grand and petit juror’s rooms. About one-third of the space in the main court room was given to juries, on the right and left of the judge, and the attorneys sat in front of the judge. Two great wood stoves heated the room. This was the court house room and accommodations that served well for over fifty years. The building, now the store of Weaver & Co., on the northeast corner of the square, was occupied by the county officers, clerks, etc. When the business of the courts and county officers, and the needs of the inhabitants had long outgrown the accommodations of the old court house, the people began to importune the grand jury to put up a new and suitable building. All the leading citizens saw the urgent necessity for this, and yet they dreaded the great expense. The Democrats had only fairly got in power in the county, and shrewd party leaders were nervous when they thought of a heavy tax upon the people for even the best of purposes. But the people prevailed, and in March, 1858, the new court house, as it now stands, was contracted for, and in 1859 it was completed and ready for occupancy. The building is a credit to the county- ample in proportions, strong and solidly built from foundation stone to turret, commodious and well appointed in its court room and offices, with strong fire- proof vaults, and crowned with steeple containing bell and town clock. It is a perpetual testimony to the good judgment and integrity of the authorities under whose auspices it was built, especially when it is known that, in its completion, the whole cost was less than $20,000. There are many counties in the country that have paid from $40,000 to $120,000 for their court houses, that in every respect were not superior to the Adams County Court House. A great improvement to the town was tearing down the old court house in the public square, and throwing these grounds open to the public use. The jail, after a fashion, held the few criminals committed to its keeping; that is, like all jails, held some, while others escaped. In 1832, “when the stars fell,” there was a murderer in the jail, and it is supposed this awful display of heavenly fire-works frightened the poor fellow so that he broke out, went to the blacksmith shop, filed off his shackles and fled to the woods, and, as he forgot to come back and give himself up to be hanged, it may be inferred he is still fleeing from the “stars” that do not pursue. On the night of January 7, 1850, there was discovered a bright fire burning in the jail. The discovery was made by a young man of Gettysburg who had been out late interviewing his sweetheart, and he gave the alarm; but it was too late to save the building, and it burned to the ground. Two men, Toner and Musselman, who were demented to some extent, were confined in the building, and one had in some way started the fire, as it had commenced in his cell, and Musselman’s body was almost wholly consumed. Toner was suffocated. The jail, as it now stands, was built in 1851. The county hospital originally built in 1817-18. The building stands a few rods northeast of Gettysburg. The new part was built in 1878, and this and the other building that had been previously constructed at different times, give ample accommodation and comfort to the county’s poor unfortunates. These are the county buildings. The economy and honesty exercised in their construction and management are well attested to by the assessor’s books calling upon the people to pay the bills. Then, in addition to these county buildings, the county is most abundantly supplied with stone and iron bridges and free turnpike roads. And to all this we can add no word of commendation to the two generations of men who have controlled and performed all these splendid and durable public improvements, then to call the attention of the reader to the light county tax-a little less on the average than three mills-that is levied on the people. In these respects no county in the Union has been more fortunate. Literally, no stealing from the public has so far blurred the fair name of Adams County.