LOCAL HISTORY: Tarring S. Davis, History of Blair County, Volume I, 1931, Blair County, PA - Chapter 14 Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Judy Banja Copyright 2005. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/blair/ html file: http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/blair/1picts/davis/tdavis1.htm _______________________________________________ A HISTORY OF BLAIR COUNTY PENNSYLVANIA UNDER EDITORIAL SUPERVISION OF TARRING S. DAVIS LUCILE SHENK, ASSOCIATE EDITOR HARRISBURG: NATIONAL HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION, INC., 1931 VOLUME I CHAPTER XIV "HISTORY OF BLAIR COUNTY" AS REVIEWED BY JUDGE JOHN DEAN "HISTORY OF BLAIR COUNTY" 199 IN June, 1896, Blair County celebrated the 50th anniversary of its organization. Many historical addresses of importance were made then, from which information concerning the military, political, legal, industrial and social development of the county can be obtained. Various references to newspaper accounts of these activities have been made throughout this volume. One particularly important address was that made by Judge John Dean, descendant of Matthew Dean, one of the pioneers of Central Pennsylvania. This address was entitled "History of Blair County," and the material that it contains is valuable for the reference that is made to early settlers, principally the Germans and the Scotch-Irish. It was published in the Altoona Mirror, on June 11, 1896. Part of it follows: "* * * * * I take up and speak of that part of the history of our county, which to me is always the most interesting. Whether the people about whom I speak or wish to learn be an ancient one, and centuries ago disappeared from the earth, or be a present dominant one, who have for hundreds of years been advancing in civilization, I want to know as much as possible of their daily lives, their customs, religion, manners; how they acted in their domestic relations, how they cooked, ate and drank, and protected themselves from the weather. So in the brief time before me I shall endeavor to present to you the daily lives of our predecessors on the territory which now forms our county. * * * * * "Under Penn's great principle of religious toleration, emigrants began to pour into Pennsylvania from almost all European races. Quakers, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Lutherans, Tunkers, Catholics and Moravians in religious creed; Dutch, English, Irish, Scotch, Scotch-Irish, Swedes, Welsh and Germans. Such a conglomeration of races and religions settled no other of the original colonies. Within the next hundred years, there reached the territory now composing our county, Presbyterians, Tunkers, Lutherans, and Catholics in religion. And in race there were Scotch, Scotch-Irish, Irish and Germans. The Cove from North Woodberry Township to Williamsburg, was mainly originally settled by German Tunkers; what is now Catherine Township, Tyrone Township, Logan Township, Allegheny Township, the land around Hollidaysburg, and part of Frankstown Township, by Scotch-Irish; that part of Frankstown Township known as Scotch Valley, by Scotch. In the territory now known as Greenfield and Juniata Townships, many Lutherans settled. Some of them also settled in Frankstown Township and Sinking Valley. Blair Township was principally settled by Irish Catholics in the latter part of the last century, and most of the descendants of the original settlers still reside there. Beside these, Irish Catholics appear early in this century, from the old assessment books, scattered all over the county; especially at the early iron works, furnaces and forges. 200 BLAIR COUNTY HISTORY "As to the German element, most authorities estimate that at the commencement of the Revolutionary War, it constituted from a third to a half of the population of the state. I would judge, in looking over the assessment of 1847, the first after the organization of the county, it numbered fully one-third of our population. At an early day the Germans sought exclusiveness, preserved their own language, and neither sought nor desired intercourse with others; especially was this the case with the Tunkers; their principles were in one respect not unlike those of the Quakers; they were opposed to war, but they went further; they were non-resistants; whole families of them were massacred and scalped by the Indians in the Cove, and they resisted not; a dozen savages would devastate and destroy a settlement containing thirty men, without a hand being raised on their part. To every appeal to their courage and manhood in the frontier days, the invariable answer was, 'Gottes wille sei Gethan' - 'God's will be done.' While we cannot but admire steadfast adherence to principle, we cannot fail to see they were utterly out of place as frontiersmen. These are not the people who conquer homes in a new territory with a savage foe facing them, and if they had not had for neighbors men of a different stamp, the settlement of this great commonwealth would have been delayed half a century. "They are, however, the very embodiment of thrift and industry, and as cultivators of the soil have no equals in the United States. Travel through the Cove, where their descendants still live on the splendid limestone farms; notice the fences, straight, with no broken rails; the large bank barns, generally painted red, a touch of old country color; houses often of a size, that half a dozen would go inside the big barn, but always neat and presenting an air of comfort; what sleek, contented cattle; heavy fat horses. And these honest, simple people are the soul of hospitality; enter their houses, whether for a meal or lodging, without many words you feel you are welcome; the food, though plain, always appetizing and well cooked; the liquid beverages, cider and milk; the meals were not French, principally napkins, cut-glass and flowers; it was beef or pork, potatoes, dried apples or 'snits,' the finest of bread in huge loaves, and large wheat flour cakes. Nearly all their clothing was made on the farm, from the wool clipped from their own sheep; their shoes from hides taken from cattle on the farm, and taken to the nearest tannery to be made into leather. Often, at least such was the case thirty-five years ago - the women of the house did not speak English, and but poorly understood it; Pennsylvania Dutch was the language of a century; it is probably much the same now, for these people loathe change. In many respects they excel in good citizenship - they are never found in the courts, civil or criminal; their disputes among themselves are settled by the congregation; often outsiders impose on them, feeling sure they will not seek redress at law. They are benevolent; they would consider it disgraceful for any of their own poor to reach the almshouse; but to those without the pale they are also kind and charitable. Their taxes are always paid promptly, notwithstanding some grumbling at times at the amount. They hate debt, and seldom buy what they cannot pay for. Many years ago they did not vote, but "HISTORY OF BLAIR COUNTY" 201 this rule of their church is fast becoming obsolete. They are still averse to serving on juries, and I know of no instance in this county where they have accepted public office, tho' in other portions of the state they have done so. They were from the beginning opposed to the public schools. In 1857, when superintendent of schools, I often visited them in their homes and conversed with them on the subject. Always hospitable and kind, still I remember of no instance in which I succeeded in persuading the elder members of the faith to aid in promoting the cause of education. The fact is, their ancestors had been persecuted bitterly in Germany by both Catholics and Lutherans; in the hands of these religionists were the government and all institutions devoted to learning; by tradition they associated much learning with despotic power and cruel persecution, and they abhorred it. But in the last thirty-five years, this hostility had in great part disappeared; the younger generation, more acute in its perceptions, is more favorable to education; these citizens, before long we may hope, will take their proper place in the government of a great commonwealth, to whose material wealth they have so largely contributed. I yet expect to see a Tunker sheriff, or at least a county commissioner; my children, I doubt not, will see Tunker governors, judges and congressmen. "The other branch of German religionists, the Lutherans, had no such notions as the Tunkers. From their first coming into the colony, they took an active fighting part in affairs. In fact, when Muhlenberg, their great preacher, arrived among them in 1742, he called them a 'rough set.' He was a learned, able and pious man; it was not long until his character was felt by his co- religionists; he organized them into congregations, and sought to impress upon them the wisdom as well as duty of becoming Americanized; he opposed with all his great ability, that segregation so dear to the Tunker. He taught English himself, and had his children educated in it by an English governess. His son, Peter, was a prominent general in the Revolutionary War. Many of these Lancaster and Berks German Lutherans found their way into our valleys soon after the Revolution, and their names can be traced on the assessments from these counties. They were a far better class of citizens in one particular than the Tunkers; they took part in government, local, county and state; always voted; were always ready to take up arms in defence of their homes and country. * * * * * Of the two classes of Germans, the Tunkers and Lutherans, with their allied sects, the Lutheran contributes most to the greatness of a state, and is therefore the better citizen. In so far as greatness consists in well tilled land, large and well filled barns, the Tunker is superior. But no free commonwealth was ever built up, nor long continued free, whose citizens took no part in the government; who would vote for no candidate from the Governor to the township Supervisor. The very genius of our constitutions, state and national, demands that all citizens who value life, liberty and property, should take an active and intelligent part in politics. "We next have the Scotch and Scotch-Irish. They, as noticed, settled a large part of the most fertile part of the county. They were all Presbyterians. I 202 BLAIR COUNTY HISTORY never heard of a Scotch-Irishman in the first generation being other than Presbyterian, until I became acquainted with Mr. Thomas Rooney, late of this town, a most excellent man, now gone to his rest. He was a most exemplary Lutheran, and came to this country from Ireland in his youth. The Scotch-Irish were not all Scotch, although all who came from the north of Ireland were so called. Many of them had emigrated to Ireland from England in the reigns of Elizabeth and James I, and were co-religionists with those who emigrated from Scotland. Many of these Scotch emigrants were Celts of the same race as the native Irish; the only difference was in religion. Large numbers of these Irish settlers, Scotch and English, left Ireland in the reign of James II, and came to Pennsylvania; this migration of the Scotch-Irish continued for years on down to the Revolutionary War. It is generally supposed they were all driven from Ireland by Catholic persecution, but this is not the truth in all cases; many of them had taken long leases from the English government of Irish lands in the reigns of Queen Elizabeth and James I, and these leases were expiring in those of Charles II and James II; the government would not renew them, or demanded such exorbitant rents for the future, that they preferred to emigrate. And this state of affairs continued long after Protestant ascendancy on the English throne under William and Anne. As I always understood, from the tradition in our family, my paternal great-grandfather, Matthew Dean, came to Pennsylvania about the year 1760, because he preferred to own land here rather than lease it in Ireland. And I have no doubt that this is the case with many of that stock. "The Scotch-Irish were intense Presbyterians. A copy of the Confession of Faith, with the larger and shorter catechism, was in every Presbyterian family in my boyhood. The copy in our family was quite old; it bore a London publisher's imprint, and was said to have been brought from Ireland by my mother's ancestors. I don't remember that the doctrine was expressly taught - rather think it was not - but I got the impression somehow, from my drilling before I was twelve years old, that while those outside of the Presbyterian Church might be saved, their case was an exceedingly doubtful one. I pitied my Methodist, Lutheran and Catholic boy companions, because, not being Presbyterian boys, they were in peril of everlasting punishment. I can realize now, from my own teachings; which must have been greatly moderated in their tone by nearly a century of New World liberty, how intolerant, cruel and bigoted must have been the attitude of the religious sects of Europe in the previous century. No one who has read history, doubts that in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, religious persecution was the rule, toleration a rare exception; Catholics killed Protestants, Protestants killed Catholics; the Church of England killed both, and all because of a difference of creed as to the authority of the Pope, the efficacy of the sacraments, or the interpretation of revelation. "And on their theory, logically, they were right. They assumed their particular creed was undoubtedly orthodox; every one that differed from it was rank heresy; whosoever believed in and practised the heresy would incur eternal damnation; if no one but the then holder of the false religion should believe in "HISTORY OF BLAIR COUNTY" 203 it, the effect would be limited, but if the heretic should go on propagating the heresy, and those imbibing it should so continue, the result would be millions of souls would be destroyed. 'It is my duty to God,' they reasoned, 'to exterminate this soul-destroying heresy, and thereby save millions of souls.' And they proceeded to perform their duty, by cutting off the heads of the heretics. And assuming their premises to be correct, they were right, whether Catholic or Protestant. It took a long time, almost a century and a half of religious civilization, before the large majority of Christians of all creeds fully comprehended, that there was no divine authority committed to any man or body of men, to determine that another man would certainly be damned because of his religious creed; that the great Judge has reserved that attribute of sovereignty to Himself, and that the individual conscience was answerable to Him alone; for He alone can determine, certainly, the wickedness of the offence, and, therefore, can alone justly fix the punishment. "But out of these religious wars, persecutions and cruelties came the Scotch- Irishmen into the beautiful valleys of our county. They wanted a fertile soil and they got it; they wanted to own it; in that their desire was accomplished. The first settlers had to war with the Indians. There was no 'Gottes wille sei Gethan' with them, as with their Tunker co-settlers. Their idea was, 'The Lord has given to His saints the heathen for an inheritance.' They had no doubt as to who were the saints, nor who were the heathen. Their only season of respite from war in the early years was in winter; the Indians seldom made a winter campaign; but in sowing and reaping, their fields were guarded by the boys as sentinels. Many of them were killed by the cruel and cunning foe. Not a half mile from where we are now assembled, part of the Holliday family were massacred; in Dell Delight, one of the Moores; in Catherine Township, half of my great- grandfather's family was killed and scalped, and his house burned. Permit me to show how closely tradition connects events; the massacre of the Dean family occurred in the autumn of 1780, almost 116 years ago; my great-grandmother and four of the children were in the house, her husband and three children in the corn field; while they were in the corn field, the Indians killed and scalped all in the house, and set it on fire, without discovering those in the corn field. One of the girls in the corn field was Polly, who married Hugh Means, a farmer in the lower end of Sinking Valley. I visited her more than once from 1844 to 1848, about which time she died, I being then 10 to 12 years of age and she probably 80. More than once she narrated to me all the sickening details of the massacre, as far as she or any one knew them. So that tradition in this instance, through but two persons, runs back 116 years to a terrible event in a family. I now tell it to my children, and they pass it on, so that three or four lives will possibly reach 250 years. Some of the details of the story may be lost, some possibly added, but the substance will remain correct. I have frequently, of late years, thought of this, when I have heard scientists hoot at the value of tradition as testimony to historical facts, arguing that written evidence alone can be relied on. Tradition, in the larger number of instances, has the 204 BLAIR COUNTY HISTORY kernel of truth. But this is digression. To hear the orators of the Scotch-Irish at times, one would be lead to think that they are the embodiment of all the virtues; that but for them, there would have been no Pennsylvania, and possibly no nation. In these claims, there is much pardonable exaggeration. "In their domestic lives, the Scotch-Irish were probably more considerate of the comfort of the women of the household than the Tunkers; they were always more liberal in expenditure; they always ate the best of the product of their farms, and sold the poorest; whiskey distilled on the farm, or very near it, was used without stint; they favored education. The schoolmaster was installed as soon as possible after a settlement was made, and there were but few of the second generation who could not read, write and cypher. They had one most erroneous idea brought with them from the old country; that is, that the girls could marry and needed no estate; so in their wills in the early part of the century, you will find they generally gave about nine-tenths of their estate to the sons, dividing the remaining tenth among the daughters. I can even show you two or three wills of this kind probated after Scotch-Irishmen's decease, subsequent to the organization of this county. * * * * * "In their merry-makings they were rude; a rough and tumble fight with fists was not unusual; whiskey was a beverage among them partaken of on all occasions, whether feast, wedding or funeral. When a boy, within a radius of two miles of where I went to school, there were five distilleries, owned by Scotch-Irish Presbyterians and Pennsylvania Germans. The Washingtonian temperance reform in 1843 and 1844 closed all but one of these. But without this, it is probable they would have closed. New means of transportation enabled them to ship their rye to market in bulk, instead of concentrating it into a small package of whiskey. "As noticed, the Tunkers would not vote or hold office. No one ever said that of a Scotch-Irishman. I have never known of his refusal to vote at least once, and he was willing to hold as many offices as he was eligible to. The records of this county since its organization will, I think, bear me out in this statement. Although many of them deny, it, the Tunkers excelled them as farmers. As a rule, the Scotch-Irish farmers, after three generations, are giving way, and their places taken by others. "The Catholic Irish settled what is now Blair Township about the close of the Revolutionary War. The borough of Newry is, next to Frankstown, the oldest village in the county. I have heard the late James M. Hewit say, that when a boy, he went to Newry to see a circus; Hollidaysburg was then too insignificant to warrant the showmen in stopping; Newry was the larger town. This Irish settlement for a time throve and was prosperous, but the location of the canal and Portage Road north of it, with their junction at Hollidaysburg, arrested its growth and the location of the main line of the Pennsylvania Railroad, six miles north of Hollidaysburg, created Altoona, leaving Hollidaysburg standing still. But the Catholic settlement at Newry and Blair Township for many years was a very important part of Huntingdon County. The old settlers were "HISTORY OF BLAIR COUNTY" 205 progressive and exemplary citizens, none better; the Cassidays, McIntoshs, Conrads, McGraws, Malones and others were all active in the formation of our new county. Besides these Catholics, as I have already said, there were others scattered all over the county, but for many years Newry had the only Catholic Church. There was, when I was a boy, a small Catholic graveyard at Williamsburg, how old, I do not know, but here, every now and then, some devout member of the church was laid to rest in consecrated ground. A neat church has been erected there within thirty years. "It is but a century ago, that the two races, hostile in religion, and hating each other in Ireland, again met. In Ireland, they had been implacable foes, but when they reached this new world of religious liberty, where every one had a right to pursue his own happiness, their resentments seemed to have disappeared, and they labored together for the common good. Up until 1854, I never heard of religious proscription, or religious antagonism in politics. I know I have seen my father, at an early day, in consultation with the Catholic McKiernans and Harbasons relative to the promotion of education in the common schools, and other public measures affecting the township. But in 1854, a wave of intolerance, bigotry and proscription passed over the state. The Catholic was persecuted, just as far as our constitution permitted; he was not imprisoned, not killed on account of his religion, but he was voted out of every office he could possibly aspire to from state to township. It was a shameful persecution, and lasted about three years; in less than five years thereafter, those most active in the movement were busy denying they had any connection with it. In less than ten years, came the war for the preservation of the Union. Our Catholic fellow-citizens all around us then, by their patriotism at home in promoting enlistments, their courage on many a bloody battlefield, gave the lie to all accusations made against them in the Know-Nothing crusade. Good citizenship is not determined by creed; conscience and capacity for public service are not measured by doctrine or dogma. All religious proscription is utterly at war with the fundamental principles of our constitution. And whether our remote ancestors cut each other's heads off in Ireland two hundred years ago, because one did not acknowledge the spiritual authority of the Pope, and the other refused to acknowledge the spiritual authority of a Presbytery, or their descendants figuratively at this day cut each other's political heads off at the polls, the principle is precisely the same, religious bigotry and proscription. I speak now as a citizen of this growing county and this grand old commonwealth in which I was born and bred. No one doubts my religious creed; of a Scotch-Irish Presbyterian ancestry, religious training and education, I could not be other and do not wish to be other than Presbyterian. At the same time, with all my years of study, experience and thought, I cannot but tremble when I see the least sign of a revival of that intolerant, religious spirit which for centuries bathed Europe in blood. Lincoln said of slavery, 'A house divided against itself cannot stand.' I do not believe a house divided against itself on a religious question can stand. * * * * * "It is almost nineteen centuries since the great founder of Christianity pro- 206 BLAIR COUNTY HISTORY claimed this sum of all religion at Jacob's Well, yet, during all these centuries, it is only an occasional glimpse we get of it in practise. The Tunkers, Lutherans, Scotch-Irish and Catholic Irish lived up to it for almost seventy-five years, or until 1854. May we hope, that since the miserable failure then to adopt a religious test in politics, none other will ever be attempted. "Such were the men, such their religion, such the race of hardy people, who originally settled the territory which now forms our county. When the county was organized in 1846, many of the descendants of the original Germans and Scotch- Irish had become Methodists, and some of them Baptists. The Methodist was a missionary church; its circuit riders had penetrated into all corners of the county by that time; their congregations were organized in almost every school district; they were especially effective at the iron works; two large settled congregations with comfortable churches existed in Hollidaysburg and Williamsburg; but while strong in numbers, they were generally of limited means; their influence and wealth are mainly the growth of the last fifty years; and the same may be said of the Baptists. Many other religious sects have also in that period grown in numbers and importance. What I have sought specially to point out, is the kind and character of the people, who, by more than seventy years of struggle, made our county what it was in 1846; brought it to a point where its people had a right to demand a separate county organization, and the legislature was warranted in creating it. "When the county was formed in 1846, in my judgment the population was about 11,000. I think fully four-fifths of this was made up of first settlers and their immediate descendants. The population rapidly increased; it certainly numbers now not far from 75,000. I doubt if more than one-third of these can trace descent to the Germans, Scotch-Irish and Irish of the first half of the century; take away the population of Altoona and its immediate surroundings in Logan Township, Tyrone and Bellwood, and the last thirty years would show but little change. The greater Blair County is made up by these progressive railroad towns. True, many of their citizens are descendants of the original stock, but the larger proportion is from other counties and states, and many from beyond the seas. By their joining us, they have raised our noble old county from one of the smallest to one of the great counties in wealth, population and enterprise. In the not distant future, we shall see it reach more than one hundred thousand in population. Its past rapid growth has been due, in great degree, to the growth and liberal management of that great corporation, the Pennsylvania Railroad. Our material prosperity and progress in the future must depend largely on the prosperity of that enterprise. As it grows our county will grow. * * * * * " This account presented by Judge Dean is an excellent introduction to the history of religious denominations in Blair County. Many of the prophesies made in the foregoing address, more than thirty years ago, have come true. Members of the Pietistic sects, such as the Tunkers or Dunkards, have devoted their time and energy to law enforcement, lawmaking and administration. In our own county burgesses, commissioners and holders of township offices are "HISTORY OF BLAIR COUNTY" 207 representatives of a group who at one time were loathe to participate in political affairs. And they have become remarkable citizens, well informed and well educated. The most intelligent voter in Pennsylvania today is often the member or descendant of one of the Pietistic sects. During the period of the World War, from our neighboring county of Huntingdon, the first governor of Pennsylvania, who adhered to the principles of the German Baptist faith, served as our chief executive for four years, and was responsible for some of the finest humanitarian legislation ever produced in Pennsylvania.