HISTORY: Warner Beers, 1886, Part 2, Chapter 27, 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 XXVII. MIDDLESEX TOWNSHIP. MIDDLESEX TOWNSHIP was formed from a portion of North Middleton, by a decree of the court, confirmed November, 1859. It is bounded on the north by the North Mountains, on the east by Silver Spring Township, on the south by South Middleton Township, and on the west by North Middleton Township. The Conodoguinet Creek flows, with a slightly southern bend, until it reaches Middlesex, where, suddenly taking an almost northerly direction, after several smaller bends, it leaves the township. The character of the soil is the same as that of North Middleton, - the slate land lying to the north and the limestone to the south, with the creek as the dividing line. The Cumberland Valley Railroad runs through the southern and richer portion of the township. EARLY SETTLERS. The lands upon the creek were probably the ones where the early settlers founded their first homes. Where the Letort stream empties into it was a large tract, owned by Rowland Chambers, and back of him on the Conodoguinet was a settlement, where, some claims, the first mill in the county was erected. North of this, and beyond the creek, were lands of Joseph Clark and Robert Elliott, who came from Ireland about 1737. Soon after Abraham Lamberton settled on lands lately in possession of his descendants, north of the Rowland Chambers' tract, while still further north Thomas Kenny settled on a tract which is now principally in the possession of the heirs of John Wilson. East of them were John Semple, Patrick Maguire, Christopher Huston and Josiah McMeans. Other parties living in different portions of this neighborhood in 1793, were William Sanderson, Alexander McBeth, Robert Kenny, James Lamberton, David Elliott, Hugh Smith, Robert Morrison, Ralph Sterritt. We find the names also of James Giffen (Given) 1798; Robert Elliott, 1799; James Flemming, 1799; John McClintock, 1801. Sterrett's Gap was originally called Croghan's Gap, after George Croghan, one of the Indian interpreters of these early days; but whether he ever resided 306 HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY. there, or in any portion of what is now this township, we have not been able to determine. The family of Clarks were early settlers in Middlesex, and owned a tract now owned by the Clendenin heirs, just above the Carlisle Sulphur Springs. The first brick house built in this part of the county, about one-half mile or more south of Sterrett's Gap, is said to have been built by Philip Zeigler, and is still in the possession of the descendants of that family. Near this, about one mile east, on the public road leading from the Sulphur Springs, was erected the old log house, still standing, with its loopholes through which its inmates watched the Indians. This Zeigler tract was originally owned by Mr. Kenny, who was, we are told, a man of considerable acquirements, and fond of hunting. MIDDLESEX. Middlesex, situated at the confluence of the Letort and the Conodoguinet, is one of the oldest settlements in the county. The name "Middlesex" was originally given to a tract of land containing about 560 acres, located at the mouth of the Letort Spring, and afterward to the village which was built partly upon it. Some of the first buildings erected - several dwelling houses, a grist-mill saw-mill, fulling-mill and distillery - were on this tract. Others were built near it. All these, with the exception of the fulling-mill, were built prior to 1757; most, if not all of them, by John Chambers, Sr., the owner of the tract at that time. Later, from the Chambers family, the Middlesex estate came into the possession of Capt. Robert Callender, one of the largest fur traders in Pennsylvania. He held a captain's commission in the French and Indian war; was a colonel during the Revolution; distinguished himself, it said, at Braddock's defeat; and was a liberal contributor to all the then improvements in Carlisle, a man well educated and highly esteemed. He was one of the justices of Cumberland County in 1764. He commenced to trade with the Indians at an early day, and built the large flouring-mill at the mouth of Letort Run, now Middlesex. In 1774 he was appointed colonel for Cumberland County; died in 1776, and is buried in the old grave-yard at Carlisle. Capt. Robert Callender married, first, a daughter of Nicholas Scull, surveyor-general of Pennsylvania from 1748 to 1759. His daughter Anne, by this wife, married Gen. William Irvine, of Revolutionary fame. His second wife was a sister of Col. Gibson, the father of Chief Justice John Bannister Gibson, by whom he also had a number of children. In 1791 the Middlesex estate was purchased at sheriff's sale by Col. Ephriam Blaine, from whom it passed to his son, by whom it was conveyed (1818) to James Hamilton, Esq., and afterward (1831) to Hon. Charles B. Penrose, who erected the paper-mill there in about 1850. The first dwelling house stood near the present site of this paper-mill, and was still standing twenty years ago. In 1846, according to Rupp, the village consisted of eleven dwellings, one of which was a tavern, a store, a saw-mill, a grist- mill, plaster and oil-mill and a woolen factory, at that time owned principally by Mr. Penrose. It is now a scattered village of about twenty-five or thirty houses. We learn from Rupp that one of the first Indian tracts westward led past Middlesex. It extended from Simpson's Ferry (four miles below Harris'" on the Susquehanna River, crossed the Conodoguinet at Middlesex, and thence over the mountain, by way of Croghan's, now Sterrett's Gap. CARLISLE SPRINGS. Carlisle Springs is the name of a postoffice village near the North Moun- 307 HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY. tains, in the northwestern corner of the township. It was, for many years, one of the most popular watering places in the county. There is at this place a splendid spring of sulphur water, still flowing into its marble basin, in a now neglected grove. The first hotel, a small two-story frame building, was erected by Hon. William Ramsey, who was the owner of the land before 1830. In 1832 his executors conveyed this property to David Cornman, who continued to own it for a period of about twenty-one years, during which period it became a very popular summer resort. A large hotel, which would accommodate several hundred boarders, was erected by Morris Owen and A. P. Norton about 1854, which was destroyed by fire about 1867. A small hotel, near the site of the former one, was built shortly afterward, but has since been converted into a private residence. From this place a small stream, known as the Sulphur Springs Run, flows in a southeasterly direction until it empties into the Conodoguinet Creek at Middlesex. MISCELLANEOUS. There are eight schools in the township, three bridges crossing the creek, good roads, and many fine farms, with substantial buildings, bearing evidence to the prosperity and thrift of its inhabitants.