HISTORY: Warner Beers, 1886, Part 2, Chapter 37, 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 XXXVII. WEST PENNSBOROUGH TOWNSHIP. PENNSBOROUGH was one of the two original townships which were formed in the North Valley as early as 1735. This was fifteen years before the formation of the county. For some few years after it was divided, for purposes of convenience, in the early tax-lists, into north, south, east and west parts of Pennsborough, until, in 1745, it seems to have been definitely divided into East and West. In the years which have intervened since its formation, West Pennsborough has been gradually reduced to its present limits. It first lost Newton, on the west, in 1767; then Dickinson, which included Penn, on the south, in 1785; and Frankford, on the north, ten years later. 361 HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY. The names of the earliest settlers found on land warrants between the years 1743 and 1786, indicate that they were all of Irish or Scotch- Irish descent. Such are the names of Atcheson, McFarlane, Dunbar, McAllister, Dunning, Ross, Mitchell, Davidson, M'Keehan, and others. Not a single German name can be found until about 1790, when the German Mennonites began to move into Cumberland from Lancaster and Lebanon counties. Some of these, as the Dillers and the Bears, not only purchased large tracts of land, but erected substantial stone dwelling houses and barns upon them, and began to improve their farms in such a manner as made them a worthy object of imitation to the earlier settlers. Some few of the Hessians captured by Washington at Trenton in 1777 settled in this township, and were represented by such names as Washmond, whose descendants lived until 1840, or later, on the farm now owned by Levi Clay, and the Rhines, who owned the property now belonging to William Kerr. The earliest settlers here, as in other portions of the county, seem to have preferred the land upon the springs or along the streams in the various portions of the township. The lands, therefore, which lay upon the Big Spring on the west, the Conodoguinet on the north, the Mount Rock Spring on the south, or McAllister's Run, seem to be those which were first settled by the early pioneers. "The earliest settlement," says Hon. Peter Ritner, "was made by a family named Atcheson at a place now owned by J. A. Laughlin, a descendant of the original settler, and at the 'Old Fort,' on land now in the possession of William Lehman, formerly of Abram Diller. This fort was built at an early day (perhaps 1733) to be a refuge from the Indians." It probably antedated the final purchase of Penn, for it was spoken of as "the Old Fort" in the original warrant for the 200 acres upon which it stood, which was taken out by James McFarlane in 1743. "One of the grandparents of the present generation of the Laughlin family was born in this fort. Abram Diller built an addition of stone to the original structure, covered the log portion with weatherboards, and occupied the whole as a dwelling house. In 1856 the entire building was accidentally burned. Adjoining the original tract on the eastward was another containing 400 acres, which was also taken up in 1743 by James McFarlane, and has since been known as the "New Farm." Both tracts were sold by him, in 1790, to Abram and Peter Diller, whose descendants are still in possession of a portion of the New Farm. None of the houses built by the original settlers are now standing, the log cabins of the Atchesons and Laughlins having long since given place to substantial stone dwellings." The farm near Mount Rock which was purchased by ex-Gov. Ritner, and which is now the residence of his son, Peter Ritner, is on a tract for which a warrant was taken out in 1732. John Davidson had land patented on Mount Rock Spring as early as 1745, and the name of McKeehan is found as early as 1751. A place several miles east of Mount Rock, on the turnpike, belonging to J. Z. Paul, was settled by John Rhoads July 22, 1762. The settlement commenced by James Chambers, whose residence was about three miles southwest of Newville, was one of the most thickly populated in the valley. It was as early as 1738 able to form a religious congregation and to call a pastor - the eloquent and celebrated Thomas Craighead. In each direction from the Big Spring the land was almost or entirely taken up before 1750, so that, says Dr. Wing, the people there presented strong claims to the county seat. Among the earliest of these settlers was David Ralston, on the road westward from the spring; Robert Patterson, on the Walnut Bottom road; 362 HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY. James McKeehan, who came from Lancaster County, for many years an elder in the church of Big Spring; John Carson, who lived on the property of Judge Montgomery; John Erwin, Richard Fulton, Samuel McCullough and Samuel Boyd. In the "reminiscences" of Rev. Dr. Junkin, first president of Lafayette College, whose father, Joseph Junkin, was one of the earliest settlers in Silver Spring Township, we find the following: "In the summer of 1799, my father lived on a farm, which he owned, two miles east of Newville, having removed to it for the purpose of making improvements, having meanwhile leased the homestead at New Kingston. That summer I went to school to William McKean in a log schoolhouse, near to one Myers' house, a tenant of Mr. Leipers. Joseph Ritner was then Myers' hired boy. I saw him many years afterward in Harrisburg, when he was Governor of Pennsylvania. My parents belonged to the Associated Reformed Church at Newville, of which, at that time, the Rev. James McConnel, a 'United Irishman,' was pastor." Joseph Ritner, the eighth and last Governor under the constitution of 1790, was born in Berks County March 25, 1780. He was the son of John Ritner, who emigrated from Alsace on the Rhine. At the age of sixteen he came to Cumberland County, and was, for a time, a hired hand on the farm of Jacob Myers, which lay on the road leading to Mount Rock, one mile east of Newville. In the year 1800 he married Susannah Alter, of West Pennsborough Township. He then removed to Washington County, from which, in 1820, he was elected to the House of Representatives, and served six consecutive terms. In 1824 he was elected speaker of that body, and was re-elected the following year. In 1835 he was elected Governor of Pennsylvania. On the expiration of his term he purchased the farm now owned by his son, Peter Ritner, on Mount Rock Spring, where he resided until his death in October, 1869. Gov. Ritner was a great friend of the common school system, and his bold and unhesitating condemnation of slavery brought forth, in his message of 1836, in admiration of that "one voice" that had spoken, a patriotic poem of praise from the pen of Whittier: "Thank God for the token! One lip is still free, One spirit untrammeled, unbending one knee! Like the oak of the mountain deep rooted and firm, Erect when the multitude bends to the storm." and in which, after using the name "Ritner," he pays a beautiful tribute to "That bold-hearted yeomanry, honest and true, Who, haters of fraud, give labor its due; Whose fathers of old sang in concert with chime On the banks of Swatara, the songs of the Rhine." Jacob Alter, whose daughter Susannah became the wife of Gov. Ritner, came from Lancaster County, and settled on the Conodoguinet Creek, at Alter's mill, in 1790. His son, Jacob Alter, Jr., was elected to the Legislature in 1814, and was for quite a number of consecutive terms a member of that body. In the January Court, 1789, viewers were appointed to lay out a private road from John Moore's house to his farm on the "Rich Lands," and from thence to Mount Rock, etc., in all a distance of two miles and 128 rods. The viewers were: George McKeehan, John Miller, James Heal, Joshua Murlin and Mathew Davidson. The road was confirmed. The oldest-burial place in the township is supposed to be the one on the tract which was known as the New Farm, near the Old Fort, in the center of which there is a plat with graves, but nothing left to tell who lie below. In the later extension of it, there are more recent graves, on the three sides of the old plat, and on some of the older grave-stones inscriptions in the German lan- 363 HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY. guage. These, however, do not date beyond the century, but there are others where the inscriptions are entirely obliterated. The first flour-mill in the township of which we have any definite information, was built in 1770, and still stands at Newville on the old Atcheson tract. Piper's mill, on the Big Spring, also in the western portion of the township, was built in 1771. There was, however, an old mill built upon the Conodoguinet Creek at a very early date, which some claim to be the oldest in the township. It was once known as Alter's mill. The warrant of the entire tract now owned by the heirs of William Alter was taken out by Richard and John Woods, in 1786, who sold the land to Landis and Bowman the same year in which their patent was granted. The mill was in existence at that date, and in 1798, it is spoken of as "the Landis' mill, formerly Woods'." The present mill was built by William Alter in 1832. Other mills in the township are as follows: On the Big Spring, Manning's, above Piper's; Ahl's, formerly Irvine's, between Piper's and Laughlin's; and Lindsey's, formerly Diller's. On the Conodoguinet are King's, formerly Shellabarger's; McCrea's, formerly Alter's; Greider's, formerly Diller's, and Lindsey's, formerly Forbes'. Alter's mill was at one time, also a local trading-post, where sugar, coffee, salt, etc., were kept for the accommodation of the people. There was also a saw-mill, a clover-mill and a distillery on his property, but the flour-mill alone remains. There was at one time quite a number of whisky distilleries in the township, such as Alter's, McFarlane's, one at Mount Rock, one at the spring where Peter Ritner lives, and another on the Weaver property, four and a half miles west of Carlisle. The first house of public entertainment is said to have been kept on the property of Henry Bear, about midway between Carlisle and Newville. The land was patented by a man named Mitchell in 1786, and the place was named Mitchellsburg. The house was known as the "Irish House," and was a place of extensive resort and drinking. It is said that a barrel of whisky was sometimes consumed in one day. No vestige of this house remains. Taverns were kept at a later day at Plainfield and on the main road leading from Carlisle. Philip Rhoads kept one three miles west of the latter place, where John Paul where John Z. Paul now lives. This last was a relay house, where the stages stopped. Mount Rock was a favorite stopping place, also, for the heavy wagons then in use. Palmstown had a tavern, and Jacob Palm kept a relay house on the now Myers' farm. Since the introduction of the "iron horse," these teams and taverns are no longer on the turnpike; they have passed away with the necessities of the early days which gave them birth. VILLAGES. Small villages are numerous. On the Cumberland Valley Railroad, which runs through Pennsborough, the first station, seven miles west of Carlisle, was occupied in 1839 by John and David Alter, and was called "Alterton." It is now called "Kerrsville." In 1856 John Greason laid out a station on his farm, now known as "Greason." The first house was built at this place some thirty-seven years ago, and the station has become the nucleus of a village. These are the only stations. The land on which Palmstown is located was surveyed in 1785, or a warrant granted to John Turner. In the patent it was called "Mount Pleasant." In 1800 the land was purchased by Jacob Palm, who kept a tavern in the first house erected at that place. The building has since received additions and is still standing, at present the property of Jacob Chiswell. The town has never been regularly laid out, but is simply a line of houses along the road. 364 HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY. The land where Springfield, at the Big Spring, stands, was patented to William McCracken and Samuel Finley at an early date, and the town was laid out probably as early as 1790. After building the first mill, Mr. McCracken sold out, in 1809, to Robert Peebles. The tract consisted of 130 acres "deeded in fee, except the part on which Springfield stands, for which the said Robert Peebles was to receive quit-rents." These quit-rents were extinguished only about thirty years ago. At one time, before the turnpike was constructed, Springfield was a more important place, and where more business was transacted than at present, there being in operation a flour-mill, three taverns, four distilleries, two stores, and the usual number of mechanic-shops. The first road laid out westward toward the Potomac crossed here at the Big Spring. There is now in the town two schools and a church belonging to the United Brethren. The situation is romantic, and the town has probably about 200 inhabitants. The western part of the land on which Plainfield stands was patented to Jacob Alter in 1793; the eastern, at an earlier date, to Richard Peters, the secretary, under the Provincial Government, in the land office in Philadelphia. In Alter's patent the tract he purchased was called Plainfield. In 1794 forty-three acres of this tract were sold to Frederick Rhoadacker, who seems to have kept a hotel there, and to have made the first improvements. It was not, however, until 1812 that several parties - viz.: Jacob Weigel, blacksmith; Henry Weigel, wagon- maker; John Howenstein, cooper; and probably some others - purchased lots from the owners, and began to ply their respective trades. The place was then, or afterward, known as "Smoketown," because the blacksmiths, manufacturing their own charcoal, kept the atmosphere surcharged with smoke. This name is used as late as 1845, when the town consisted "of a few houses." When a postoffice was established at Plainfield its original name was restored. Mount Rock, on a slight eminence, evidently so called from the large limestone rocks which protrude from the surrounding hills, is beautifully situated, seven miles west of Carlisle, near a large spring which issues from a limestone rock, the water from which, after flowing for a short distance, sinks again into the earth, and, passing under a hill, re-appears on the north side, and pursues its course to the Conodoguinet. Here, some seventy years ago, were two Miller families, Presbyterians, intermarried with the McCulloughs and McFarlands. One, John, kept a hotel at Mount Rock. Here, also, were the McKeehans, who had lands adjacent to Mount Rock, and the Davidson family, who owned lands upon the spring - both descendants of the early pioneers who settled in this county. About a half a century ago the hotel at Mount Rock was the "Furgeson House," and among the families living there were the Millers, whose land lay principally in Dickinson, the Tregos, Bixlers, Spanglers, Zinns, and others. The township elections and the musterings and reviews of the old militia were also held there. Now, the old tavern has been turned into a private dwelling and the distillery into a warehouse. There is also a Union Church here, built sometime subsequent to 1846. MISCELLANEOUS. About 1845 the Legislature passed an enactment meant to divide the township so that the eastern portion should be called "West Pennsborough Township," and the western "Big Spring Township." This, however, was opposed by the inhabitants, and the act was repealed in the succeeding Legislature. The postoffices in the township are Plainfield, Big Spring, Greason, Kerrsville and Mount Rock. The Cumberland Valley Railroad passes from east to west through the township, almost dividing it in two. 365 HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY. Portrait of James Moore 366 HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY. Blank Page