HISTORY: Warner Beers, 1886, Part 2, Chapter 21, Cumberland County, PA Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Judy Bookwalter Copyright 2009. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/cumberland/ ______________________________________________________________________ History of Cumberland and Adams Counties, Pennsylvania. Containing History of the Counties, Their Townships, Towns, Villages, Schools, Churches, Industries, Etc.; Portraits of Early Settlers and Prominent Men; Biographies; History of Pennsylvania; Statistical and Miscellaneous Matter, Etc., Etc. Illustrated. Chicago: Warner, Beers & Co., 1886. http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/cumberland/beers/beers.htm ______________________________________________________________________ PART II. HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY. PENNSYLVANIA. CHAPTER XXI. DICKINSON TOWNSHIP. DICKINSON TOWNSHIP was formed from a portion of West Pennsborough Township, April 17, 1785. At its formation it included the townships of Penn and Cook, and in all probability extended from South Middleton on the east to Newton on the west; and from the "great road leading from Harrisburg to Chambersburg on the north," to the Adams County line on the south. It is a rectangular township, now bounded by South Middleton (east), Penn (west), West Pennsborough (north), Adams County (south), and is about twelve miles long, north and south, and about five miles wide. The character of its soil is, in the north, undulating limestone land, which portion is covered with fine farms in a high state of cultivation. The southern portion, beginning at the Yellow Breeches Creek, is sand and gravel land, which industry has made productive; while the extreme southern section of the township is a mountain region, covered with a light growth of oak, chestnut and yellow pine. The Gettysburg & Harrisburg Railroad and the South Mountain branch, also the Mountain Creek pass through this southern section, while the Harrisburg & Potomac Railroad, running almost parallel with the Yellow Breeches Creek, passes through the center of the township. 271 HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY. The original settlers of this township were Scotch-Irish. They seemed to have settled first upon the Yellow Breeches Creek, upon which stream they purchased from the Proprietaries large tracts of land. Many of the descendants of these original settlers still live upon those lands. One of the earliest land-owners in this section was Michael Ege, the elder, who came into Cumberland County at a very early period. He owned a tract which extended from somewhere about Boiling Springs, to what is now Hay's Station, on the Harrisburg & Potomac Railroad, a distance of about twelve miles. The bulk of this land lay between what is known as the first and second range of hills along the South Mountain, which, in Dickinson, extend down on the north side of the mountain a considerable distance into the valley, at some places as far north as the Yellow Breeches Creek. This property was distributed among his children, but, with the exception of the Carlisle Ironworks, the whole of it passed out of their hands in the first generation. A large portion of this Ege tract, perhaps all of that which went to Mrs. Wilson, a daughter of Michael Ege, a considerable time after her death, and after much of it had been improved and made into farms by the purchasers, was claimed by Mrs. Wilson's heirs. This claim gave rise to very protracted litigation. It involved the title to perhaps a hundred farms or pieces of property in what is now Penn Township. After various conflicting decisions it was finally decided in favor of the purchasers and against the Wilson heirs. Among the early settlers of the township were the Houcks, or two families of Houcks. They owned what was known as the Salome Forge. The Galbreaths were an old family, as were also the Weakleys and the Lees. The Weakleys probably settled in this section as early as 1732, and owned large tracts of and four generations ago, including that now known as Barnitz Mill. Another branch of the Weakley family settled just above the Cumberland Furnace, and owned the land about Spring Mills, now called Huntsdale, and considerable farm land north, extending to the Dickinson Presbyterian Church, which is built upon land donated for that purpose by (William L. Weakley) one of the family. Three generations ago the Lees, *(four brothers, Warren, Thomas, Holiday and George), lived on the Walnut Bottom Road. The easternmost of these farms was afterwards owned by the late Sterritt Woods. These men were large, fine physical specimens of men, social, and who were fond "of the chace dancing, fiddling and hospitality." Another old family were the Woods'. There was a large cluster of them in what is now the central portion of Dickinson Township. They owned large farms, probably in all about 1,000 acres. Of this family, within the recollection of men living, was Richard Woods, Squire, and Capt. Samuel Woods, who is said to have been the determined juror who was instrumental in acquitting Prof. McClintock when he was tried for inciting the riots in Carlisle. Capt. Woods was a large man, who weighed probably over 200 pounds, walked always with a stoop, was quiet, almost forbidding in his manner, but was in reality one of the most benevolent and kindest men that ever lived. Another, David Glenn, came from the north of Newville, and settled in this portion of the county in about 1825. He owned from the Walnut Bottom Road out to the Yellow Breeches Creek. He is described as a strict Covenanter. Gen. Thomas C. Miller came (about 1830) and remained in the township until his death. He was the father of William H. Miller, Esq., a prominent *The Lee family, of Dickinson Township, acquired the title to their lands by the old English ceremony of livery of seisen - or feudal investiture, the only instance of this kind which we know of in Cumberland. 272 HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY. lawyer, still well remembered, of Carlisle. He had been a volunteer officer in the war of 1812, fought at Lundy's Lane and along the Canada border, after which he settled in Adams County, when he was elected to the Senate in the days when Thaddeus Stevens was a member of that body. He then came to Cumberland County and bought the Cumberland Furnace property, quite close to Huntsdale, just on the eastern border of Penn Township. He was a tall, venerable, fine looking man, proud, a good talker, and possessed of unusual ability. During the days of slavery, the South Mountain afforded a hiding place for colored people who attempted to escape from bondage, and Dickinson Township received its full share of these fugitives. In the year 1859, just before the breaking out of the Rebellion, occurred the last case of this kind. Three negroes, John Butler, wife and child, came in 1859 to reside in Dickinson Township, and lived in a small house near the Spruce Run. They had been slaves in Maryland, but had been manumitted by will at the death of their owner. The estate, as it turned out afterward, was insolvent, and the administrators sent their deputies to capture the human property, who were regarded as assets of the estate. At about midnight on the 12th of June, these negroes were stolen from their homes. Prompt measures were taken by the citizens of the township to discover the perpetrators of the crime, and among these, Richard Woods and John Morrison were particularly active. Myers, the principal kidnaper, was arrested just before reaching the Maryland line, and brought to Carlisle for trial. This incident gave rise to an important case, in which the question was whether they had a right to invade the free soil of Pennsylvania for such a purpose. Judge Watts and A. Brady Sharpe were concerned with the district attorney for the commonwealth, while able counsel, among whom were Bradley Johnston and Johnston Meredith, represented the rights of the State of Maryland. Myers was convicted, but the sentence was suspended and the colored people returned, when they went back to Dickinson Township, where they have since lived. In a previous case, where the slaves of one Oliver passed through the township, one of its citizens was made to pay dearly for his having given them shelter during the night. There are no villages in the township, and very little manufacturing, as its interests are almost purely of an agricultural character. There are stores at several points, and grist-mills and saw-mills sufficient to supply local demands. The hotel known as the Stone Tavern was built by James Moore about 1788, and was at one time known, we are told, as the "Cumberland Hall Tavern." CHURCHES. There are but two churches in the township; one near Barnitz's Hills, which belongs to the Methodist Protestant congregation, and which was erected originally about 1844, but has since been rebuilt and improved; and another church located on Spruce Run. Most of the people of Dickinson attend services in the churches at Carlisle or in Penn Township. After the Seceder Church was built in Carlisle in 1802, in which Rev. Francis Pringle, from Ireland, was pastor, the Woodburns, the Rosses, the Moores, and a number more of the most substantial and leading families of the congregation, lived at a considerable distance in the country, and for their convenience it was deemed expedient to provide a preaching place in the country, where public services could be occasionally held. Mr. Moore, of Dickinson Township, donated an acre from the corner of his farm, about six or seven miles from Carlisle, as a site for a meeting-house and grave-yard, and here, in 273 HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY. Portrait of Levi Kauffman 274 HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY. Blank Page 275 HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY. 1809 or 1810, a stone church was built. We are informed it was nearly opposite the Stone Tavern. The building, which was but a preaching station does not now exist. SCHOOLS, ETC. The common schools, twelve in number, are well sustained and attended, and are taught by efficient teachers. Besides the regular terms of six months, private schools are also maintained in some of the districts during the summer months. The postoffices in Dickinson Township are Mooredale, Barnitz and Uriah. There is one station on the Gettysburg & Harrisburg main line named Starners, and a station on the South Mountain Branch, called Henry Clay.