Union County History Annals of the Buffalo Valley by John Blair Lynn Pages 282 thru 322 Contributed for use in USGenWeb by Tony Rebuck USGENWEB NOTICE: Printing this file by non-commercial individuals and libraries is Encouraged, as long as all notices and submitter information is included. Any other use, including copying files to other sites requires permission from the submitter PRIOR to uploading to any other sites. We encourage links to state and county table of contents. 1794. FIRST BAPTIST SETTLERS - SAMPLE OF Mr. MORRISON'S SERMONS - REVEREND GEORGE GEISTWEIT - EXCITEMENT INCIDENT TO THE WHISKY INSURRECTION - COUNTY POLITICS - ELECTION RETURNS - FLAVEL ROAN'S POETRY. THOMAS SMITH appointed Justice of the Supreme Court, vice William Bradford, resigned. Senator, William Hepburn. Members of Assembly, Flavel Roan, George Hughes and Jacob Fulmer. Henry Vanderslice, Jailer. County Commissioners, Robert Fleming, Richard Sherer, and Christopher Dering. On the 8th of January a special election was held for a Senator, in the place of William Montgomery, resigned. William Hepburn was elected by sixty-four majority over Rosewell Wells, for the unexpired term. Among the Officers of West Buffalo - John Reznor, Adam Laughlin, and William Moore, assessors. The additional Taxables were - James Barklow, John Barton, John Kleckner, Solomon Kleckner, Benjamin Jones, Conrad Coons. The name of Jacob Groshong disappears from the list, and his mill is assessed to Enoch Thomas. Additional Residents of Mifflinburg - John Irvin, store-keeper; Henry Neal, Ludwig Gettig, Jacob Welker, William Welker, Israel Ritter, John Earnhart. Of Lewisburg - Alexander McBeth, Matthias Shaffer, Hugh McLaughlin, William Stedman, Esquire. 1793.] ANNALS OF BUFFALO VALLEY. 283 First Residents of New Berlin - Hugh Beatty, George Moyer, Christopher Miller, Zeba Smith, Philip Harmony, William Black, John Mitchell, and Martin Carstetter. Among the names of those who moved into the Valley this year, I note particularly James McClellan, Esquire, and Gabriel Morrison, school-teachers, both from Chester county; widow Mary Harris, grandmother of William Laird Harris, of East Buffalo; John Betz, and Samuel Baum. Improvements - The bridge across the Buffalo creek, at its mouth, For this, the court of quarter sessions directed an allowance of £50, ($133 33.) It was without a roof. Travel now deserted the road by way of the ferry, where the iron bridge now (1877) stands, for the road on the river bank. Seventy-seven years elapse, and the engines at the boat-yard of Frick, Billmyer & Co. frighten it back again. Stedman and Smith keep store at Lewisburg. The courthouse at Sunbury was commenced. William Gray, of Sunbury, Alexander Hunter, and John Weitzel were the trustees for building it. O. N. Worden, in a short history of the Baptist churches, published in Meginness' History of the West Branch, quotes from the minutes of the Philadelphia Baptist Association, (1794:) "A letter was received and read from the church in Buffalo Valley, Northumberland county, requesting to be received into the association. Postponed, no messenger appearing to receive the right hand of fellowship." Mr. Worden adds that there were a few Baptists and preaching stations in Buffalo Valley after the Revolution, but there is no knowledge of any Baptist church in Buffalo Valley until the formation of the Lewisburg church, in 1844. Colonel James Moore informs me that Colonel William Chamberlin was a Baptist; and after his arrival in the Valley, with other New Jersey people of the same persuasion, he probably made an effort to establish a Baptist church, which was abandoned, on account of the distance the people lived from each other. Additional Taxables, East Buffalo - Beatty, James; Bickle, Christopher distillery, erected by Conrad Reedy; Elliot, George; Freeman, Doctor; Pfreemer, Reverend George; Gray, Robert; Harris, Widow Mary; Hoy, John; Lytle, Anthony; Lutz, Jacob; McClellan, James; McConnel, William; McLaughlin, John; Schrack, 284 ANNALS OF BUFFALO VALLEY. [1794. Benjamin; Smith, William, store-keeper, Lewisburg; Steel, David; Stockman, Nathan; Thompson, Benjamin. Additional Taxables, White Deer - Armstrong, Andrew; Awl, Samuel; Elder, James and John; Fisher, Christian; Goodlander, Christian; Henderson, William; Hilliard, Guy; Hoffman, John; Jordan, Widow; Luther, Andrew; McCorley, Widow; McGines, Thomas; Martin, Hugh; Reninger, George; Riddle, George; Woods, John. Penn's - Drum, Charles, grist and saw-mill; Forey, Christian Hendricks, Samuel; Landis, George; Menges, Adam, grist and saw-mill; Ott, George; Page, Abraham, still; Pawling, Joseph Reish Daniel, saw-mill; Ritter, Simon, still; Stober, William; Tryon, Frederick, fiddle; Wetzel, Philip. Beaver - Aurand, Henry and George; Cummings, James; Ewing, Thomas; Ewing, John; Gill, William; Hendricks, Jacob, mill; Harman, Samuel; Hileman, Adam, mill; Romich, Joseph; Shipton, Thomas; Shultz, John; Troxell, John; Wilson, Moore. Dietrich Aurand, who had followed milling at different places down the river, removed, with his family, into the Valley, and settled on a farm on Turtle creek, midway between its source and outlet, about five miles above Jenkins' mill. The farm he was on had a reserved water right, and was given to him by his father, with the design that he should build a merchant mill on it, and he intended so to do; but the Hessian fly having proved very destructive to the wheat crops for upwards of ten years, he lost severely in purchases of wheat for the French, and lost by bailing, so he could not build the mill, and had to sell and remove to an adjoining farm, in 1801. Mr. Morrison's Sermons. The late James McClellan, Esquire, left his father's home, near Fagg's Manor church, Chester county, on the 2d of April. He had been in the habit for years of writing down a skeleton of the sermons of Messrs. Sample, Latta, senior and junior, Smith, senior and junior, Barr, Dayton, Mitchel, Findley, and others, who filled the pulpit there. The last, by Mr. Sample, was March 15. Then his manuscript is destroyed, and the next that can be made out is 18th of May, John xv, from the 16th to the end, by Mr. Morrison. 1794.] ANNALS OF BUFFALO VALLEY. 285 He says parsed by Mr. Morrison, and nothing but what is clearly contained in the verses offered. From the few skeletons preserved by Esquire McClellan, Mr. Morrison seems to have fallen into the lazy habits, still indulged in by some of our present preachers, of com- menting on quite a number of verses, instead of delivering a logical and prepared discourse on one theme. For instance, his fast-day sermon, June 13, on Matthew v, 1st to the 9th, is stenographed thus: "This is Christ's sermon on the mount. He went up on a mountain, some of the commentators say, because the law was given on a mountain. However, he made choice of this place to deliver his sermon. Verse 2: He opened his mouth, expressive of deliberation, judgment, and authority, and taught. Verse 3: This cannot mean poor in possession, as some allow, as some are poor and wicked; but it means those children of God who are broken under a sense of guilt, whatever their external circumstances may be, but frequently it is that of middle circumstances. Verse 5: The 'meek' does not mean the external, affected polish which prevails; it means a christian behavior, whereby he serves God as becometh Christians," &c., to the end. Perhaps we do injustice to Mr. Morrison's memory by putting on record this "Chatband" style of preaching, but it is the only memorial, perhaps, in existence to throw any light on his pulpit services, not abilities, may be, as he could make a flaming political harangue. At a meeting of the German Reformed Synod, held at Reading, in May, the Reverend George Geistweit was licensed as a minister, and a call immediately presented him from the Shamokin churches. The congregations in all these regions had been vacant since the Reverend J. Rahauser left them, in 1792. Mr. Geistweit preached statedly at Selinsgrove, Sunbury, &c., and occasionally in Buffalo Valley, in the newly-built town of New Berlin, at Penn's creek, &c. He labored here until the year 1804, when he accepted a call to York, Pennsylvania. He died there, November 11, 1831, aged seventy years, and was buried in the Reformed grave-yard there. There are still (1857) some people living in the Valley who were confirmed and married by him, and speak of him with great affection and gratitude. - Doctor Harbaugh. Mr. Geistweit bears the enviable reputation of having been one of the kindest and most benevolent of men. It is reported of him 286 ANNALS OF BUFFALO VALLEY. [1794. that, on one occasion, he even took the hat from his own head and gave it to a poor wanderer, whose destitute condition appealed to his charity. - Reverend D. Y. Heisler, Fathers German Reformed Church, volume 3, page 77. The Whisky Insurrection. September 30. The summer and fall of this year are noted for the excitement through the State, culminating in the whisky insurrection. Some of the whisky boys determined to erect a liberty pole, at Northumberland; Judge William Wilson, of Chillisquaque, and Judge Macpherson, of Dry Valley, hearing of it, determined to prevent it. They called upon Daniel Montgomery, also a justice, to assist them. He told them he would pull at the rope if the people required it. He, however, went with them, but rendered them no assistance in suppressing the disturbance. A fight took place Judge Wilson read the riot act, as he called it, to disperse the crowd, but they paid no attention to it. One of them presented his musket at the judge, but the old revolutionary captain cocked his pistol and made him put down the musket, under the penalty of having his brains blown out. They arrested the judge. He would not give bail, and they were afraid to put him to jail. In the melee, Jasper Ewing, the prothonotary, drew his pistol and snapped it at William Cooke. See the case reported in 1 Yeates, 419. Kennedy's Gazette, of 3d December, has General Henry Lee's proclamation to the people of western Pennsylvania, dated at camp, at Parkinson's ferry, November 8, in command of the troops of New Jersey, Maryland, and Virginia. Also, an advertisement of Doctor Priestly's works, he was then publishing. Indictments were found versus Robert Irwin, Daniel Montgomery, John Frick, William Bonham, John Mackey, senior, and Samuel McKee. Mr. Meginness says they were tried in Philadelphia, convicted, and sentenced, and that General Washington pardoned them at the end of twenty days. His account of the riot is, that the liberty pole was erected at the corner of Second and Market streets, in Northumberland. The arsenal was under care of Robert Irwin, (grandfather of the Nesbit brothers of Lewisburg.) The rioters took possession of the arsenal, and distributed the arms. The pole was driven full of nails, and guarded day and night. John Brady, 1794 ANNALS OF BUFFALO VALLEY. 287 junior, was deputy marshal, and a very determined man. A collision was imminent, when Captain Robert Cooke's company, from Lancaster, arrived, and dispersed the rioters at the point of the bayonet. An axe was called for to cut the pole down. Mrs. Bernard Hubley came running with one, her sister, Mrs. Jacob Welker, met her and tried to take the axe. Mrs. Hubley got past her, and the pole came down. This company passed through Buffalo Valley. At Andrew Billmyer's, a little beyond Lewisburg, a pole had been erected, but the report of the advancing troops got there before they did, and the pole was cut down and hid. The soldiers could not find it, and took their revenge in drinking up all the whisky, eating everything in the house, leaving word that Uncle Sam would pay the bill. Politics. By an act of the 2d of April, Dauphin and Northumberland con- stituted our congressional district, and by the act of the 22d of April, Northumberland, Luzerne and Mifflin our senatorial district, electing two members for the term of four years, and Northumberland became entitled to three members of Assembly. Slates were at that early day made at Philadelphia, but usually smashed by the people. George Green writes from Philadelphia to Robert Irwin, September 24: "SON ROBERT: I am at loss to know whether the county of North- umberland or the county of Mifflin, as I understand they are in one district, is entitled to one or two Senators. If two, Mr. Martin, I hear, is to run in your county, and there is a certain Mr. John Culbertson mentioned in the other county. I look upon him as a good man, and if there are two for the district, I could wish the two above- mentioned to run; if but one for the district, you may act as you think proper. I think they are both good men. There are great preparations being made here for an army to go to the Fort Pitt country to subdue the rioters, as they are called. It appears to me to be a serious affair. How it will turn out only time can tell." The following schedule of election returns is printed in full, so as to show the strength of party in each election district in the county. I found it among Flavel Roan's papers, kindly loaned me by his nephew, Flavel R. Clingan, of Kelly township. 288 ANNALS OF BUFFALO VALLEY. [1794. GENERAL ELECTION RETURNS - October 14, 1794 Sun Nort Buf Lyco Penn Bea Fish Tur Bald Tot bury humb falo ming Val ver ing but Eagle CONGRESS Samuel Maclay 331 236 464 30 137 118 364 220 39 1979 John Andre Hanna 68 24 14 245 17 79 6 212 206 871 John Carson SENATE George Wilson 277 125 373 109 139 103 45 267 163 1581 William Hepburn 131 139 26 230 47 113 258 293 235 1472 Samuel Dale 218 45 460 14 127 108 32 202 25 1231 Rosewell Wells 69 91 36 35 28 28 48 2 337 ASSEMBLY Flavel Roan 296 232 451 190 66 168 323 352 225 2303 George Hughes 288 148 381 71 134 42 363 259 20 1706 Jacob Fulmer 215 112 418 42 152 49 103 294 1 1386 James Davidson 72 40 51 143 52 18 243 83 175 877 William Cooke 38 144 14 211 45 68 40 175 121 856 Abraham Scott 69 67 1 38 11 5 18 115 324 SHERIFF Robert Irwin 130 161 246 137 2 43 179 196 162 1196 John Brady 66 135 91 176 22 55 135 203 102 985 Henry Shoemaker 69 7 16 122 51 25 168 134 27 619 Christopher Baldy 83 12 306 2 80 45 21 58 607 William Gray 4 12 135 28 56 1 9 90 120 455 M. Withington 228 6 20 17 20 13 2 45 351 Daniel Aurand 39 15 17 63 28 34 4 290 1794.] ANNALS OF BUFFALO VALLEY. 289 Samuel Maclay's large majority will be remarked; also, the still greater popularity of Flavel Roan, as he has a majority in every election district. It will be noticed that the Federalists ran three revolutionary officers, Surgeon Davidson, Colonel Cooke, and Major Abraham Scott, for Assembly, yet they were largely defeated by civilians Republicans, as the opposition called themselves. This must be attributed to the personal influence of William and Samuel Maclay, and the excitement caused by the whisky tax. William Maclay, I infer from his private journal, differed with General Washington very early in the first session of Congress. The Maclays, though aristocratically descended, their ancestor being Baron Fingal, were intensely democratic in sentiment. We notice William Maclay grumbles at the state or ceremony of Washington's intercourse with Congress and the public; his objections to the President's presence while business was transacted, and his boldness in speaking against the President's measures in open Senate, and the President a listener. These are matters more proper for a biography of Mr. Maclay; but their reflex influence upon Northumberland county elections must be noted in these Annals. It will be noticed that Robert Irwin has the highest vote for sheriff. Nevertheless, Governor Mifflin appoints the next highest, John Brady, a Federalist. The law then gave the Governor the privilege of appointing from the two highest candidates. Henry McAdam was elected coroner over Henry Lebo, Paul Baldy, John Gray &C. Henry Vanderslice was elected county commissioner over Charles Gobin, Thomas Forster, &C. Joseph Barnett, Hugh Beatty, and Robert Clarke, each, had quite a number of votes by Assembly. In the case of the sheriff, many depositions were filed by the friends of Irwin and those of Brady. In one by John McGrath, he says, having a store to build for Mr. Irwin, on the 29th of September, when the tree was hauled in to make the "liberty pole," he watched the pole during the night, using the unfinished store-room for that purpose, without Mr. Irwin's knowledge or concurrence; that the night of the watch Mrs. Brady gave him a quart of whisky to treat the watch with; that Lawrence Campbell brought a quart of brandy, and said that Mr. Brady had sent it; that John Brady said his brother had no more sense than Jimmy Logan, and while his 290 ANNALS OF BUFFALO VALLEY. [1794. brother was cutting the pole down here, he was helping to raise one in Milton, and that if they would raise another, he would put a silk flag on it at his own expense John Tietsworth swore, a voter in Buffalo told him that when he proposed the name of Brady for sheriff, in Buffalo, "he liked to have got his head broke for doing it," &c. A memorial to the Governor, signed by William Wilson, William Hepburn, Jasper Ewing, William Gray, Jonathan Walker, Thaddeus Hamilton, Daniel Smith, John Kidd, Bernard Hubley, Joseph J. Wallis, and B. W. Ball, sets forth, "that since the commencement of the insurrection to the westward, this county has furnished daily proofs of a disposition inimical to the cause of Government, by erecting what they call liberty poles. One attempt has been made by the friends of Government to cut down these poles, which was attended with imminent danger to the lives of some of our best citizens. The arrival of our friends from Luzerne gave great activity to the spirit of the county. They were a standard about which the friends of order might rally, and an object of dread and hatred to the party in opposition. After they had been here a few days, General Wilson and Judge Macpherson issued warrants against a number of persons who had been most active in opposition. The sheriff served them, and reported that they willingly submitted and entered into recognizances. But the moment they had done so, we are informed, that they set out through the country with inflammatory falsehoods against some of our good citizens who were candidates. Of John Brady, a candidate for the sheriff's office, and a sworn friend of Government, they reported that he had rode his horse over a pole before it was raised, and that he or his brother had assisted in cutting down a pole, and if he was elected, he would summon in juries friendly to the Government, and that by it they would all be hung." They allege that, but for these reports, Brady would have been elected. They further represent John Brady to he strongly in favor of the Government; that his father and brother were killed by the Indians, and that he had two brothers in the United States service, and allege that Irwin sympathized with the whisky insurrectionists, and ask Governor Mifflin to appoint Brady, although they admit he was two hundred votes behind Irwin. 1794.] ANNALS OF BUFFALO VALLEY. 291 David Hammond testified that the report among the people was, that William Perry Brady had cut down the liberty or whisky pole at Northumberland, and that they would not vote for John Brady on that account, "as they believed he was against the pole." John Hayes (Esquire) testified "that he saw at Derrstown, in Buf- falo township, Robert Irwin, as active a person as there was there in helping to put up a pole that was erected there, with a large flag with a motto thereon, 'Liberty;' that the people said Brady was for the Government, and, if he was elected, he would do everything in his power against them, as they had been active in raising the pole." Samuel Maus testified " that he saw John Brady assist raising the first pole at Northumberland, and had heard him say that he had helped raise a pole in Buffalo, and another in Milton, and that he would purchase a very genteel large flag for the next pole at North- umberland, and that his brother was a damned rascal for cutting down the first pole; that John Brady's girl brought the brandy to the people who were watching the tree for the pole the night before it was raised, and the girl told the people the brandy came from Mr. Brady, upon which the people cried out huzzah! for John Brady's brandy!" William Spring certified that some time in October last John Mason, of Northumberland town, came to James Tawar & Co.'s store and ordered a sufficient piece of red Persian to make colors for the liberty pole, and directed it to be charged to John Brady's account, or his own, whichever I thought proper. Henry Lebo testified that when the first pole was set up in North- umberland, the people, on motion of Mr. Eddy, formed a circle, and sat down, said Eddy in the chair; that Robert Brady came into the ring with two case bottles of whisky, and called upon him (Lebo) to tell the people this was John Brady's treat, John Brady being in the company; that this deponent, thinking his neighbor Irwin should not be behind in treating the people, went to Irwin's store, and not finding him at home, asked the clerk for a half gallon of whisky, who refused. Mrs. Irwin was then applied to, and she refused; that he then got a half gallon on his own account, took it out to the people, who, thereupon, drank his health. James Faulkner testified he heard Irwin say that a friend of Brady's told him, "that at a collection of a number of people in Younk- 292 ANNALS OF BUFFALO VALLEY. [1794. manstown, (a village in Buffalo,) at the raising of a liberty pole, John Brady came along in his route electioneering, at which place he expressed himself too freely against such unlawful measures, which exasperated the people so much, that it had completely ruined his election in the Buffalo district." Jonathan Walker (afterwards Judge Walker,) testifies "that John Brady always was, and still is, opposed to liberty poles; that William Bonham, John Mackey, and Daniel Montgomery, were the principal persons concerned in raising the pole at Northumberland; that Daniel Montgomery told him that he was determined to run Irwin in his own defense, as a number of them might be indicted for erecting liberty poles, and they had no favors to expect from John Brady if he should succeed; that Bonham said at first that he would give all his interest to, and make all the Methodists in the county vote for, John Brady, but he had changed around to Irwin, and run a dead ticket for him," &c., &c. Governor Mifflin, in a note to James Trimble, Deputy Secretary, says that he has "shown the depositions produced by the friends of the Government in favor of Brady, the lowest on the return, to Mr. Ingersoll, (the Attorney General,) and he conceives it proper that Brady should be commissioned. Therefore, let the commission forthwith issue." A Specimen of Flavel Roan's Poetry, taken from Kennedy's Gazette of May 74, 1794. MR. KENNEDY, Please to insert the following advertisement, and oblige yours, &c. FLAVEL ROAN. I am an old man, my case is quite common, I want me a wife, a likely young woman. I late had an old one, but three years ago, She sickened and died, and left me in woe; I whin'd J. B. preached a sermon when she was buried, Wore my old wig a fort'night, then long'd to be married. If any one knows where a wife's to be had, Such as seventy wishes when reason is dead: A girl that will warm my old bones in the winter, Let them leave the intelligence with Mr. Printer. 1794.] ANNALS OF BUFFALO VALLEY. 293 Deaths. Thomas Taggert, at Northumberland. Children: Robert, David, William, James; Elizabeth, married to William Bonham; Catherine, to John Painter; Christina, to James Semple; Mary, to Benjamin Patterson. Lambert Vandyke, of White Deer. Children: John, Henry, James, William, Archibald, and Alexander. Lambert's widow afterward married Benjamin Thompson. George Smith, (of Hartley now.) John Fisher, of White Deer. Children: Henry, Paul, John, Michael, George, and three daughters. One married Thomas Perry, another Jacob Wertz, and another to Philip Haines. John Fisher was one of the first settlers. Took up the land in his own name, on part of which West Milton now stands. He is buried in the corner of the field above John Datisman, Esquire's, store, where the Valley road strikes the river. He was the grandfather of Paul and Daniel, of Gregg township. Casper Bower, (East Buffalo.) Children: Henry, Margaret Holler, Susanna Dressler, Catherine Saunders, Maria Flickinger, Barbara Smith, and Maria, unmarried then. Andrew Fox, (of Hartley now.) Mathias Barnhart, East Buffalo. Children: William H., Matthias, Lorentz, Magdelena, married to Peter Getz. Edward Tate, a soldier of the Revolution. His children were, Edward, who moved to Rock Forge, Centre county, around which his descendants reside, and William, who married a daughter of Hugh Beatty, and whose children live in and near Bellefonte. Kennedy's Gazette says that "Colonel Matthew Smith died at Milton, aged fifty-four. He was captain of the rifle company that went through the wilderness with Arnold to Quebec. A company of light infantry, under Major Piatt and Captain James Boyd, marched about six miles to Warrior Run burying-ground. Many tears were shed over the old patriot's grave, and, after his remains were deposited, three volleys were fired over his grave." He was prothonotary in 1780. His son, Wilson Smith, was sheriff of Erie county in 1804, and Senator from that district in 1812. Quartermaster General under Governor Snyder, in 1814. His grandson, Matthew Smith, still resides in Waterford, in that county. [End of page 293.] 1795. HENRY SPYKER'S HOUSE - POLITICS - JAY'S TREATY - GEORGE KESTER AND ANNA M. SMITH'S REQUESTS FOR SCHOOLS - DEATH OF WILLIAM IRVINE, AND NOTICE TO HIS FAMILY. MEMBERS of Congress, Samuel Maclay, and Andrew Gregg. Senator, Samuel Dale, elected vice William Hepburn, who resigned on the 20th of April. Members of the House, Flavel Roan, Hugh White, and Robert Martin. County Commissioners, Richard Sherer, C. Dering, and Henry Vandershee. John Brady, Sheriff. In East Buffalo, the additional Taxables are - Joseph Phares, John Hubler, Jacob Lutz, Job Thomas, Doctor Rosewell Doty. John Pollock opened a store in Mr. Lewis' house, in Lewisburg. On 5th August, Henry Spyker commenced building the first brick house ever erected in Lewisburg, (still standing,) on the corner of Front and St. Catherine streets, and owned by James S. Marsh. John Meffert, of Tulpehocken, was the contractor. Most of the brick were brought from some point down the river, and a few made on Thomas Wilson's place, now a part of George Wolfe's, near the fair ground. Abraham Troxell did the hauling. In White Deer: Archibald Hawthorne appears as a taxable. In West Buffalo: John Wintelbleck, John Wilt, Joseph Wilt, Adam Armor, and John Collins. In Penn's: George Benfer, Michael Beaver, Peter Hackenberg, Samuel McClintock, Philip Yocum, (Big) John Kerstetter. 1795.] ANNALS OF BUFFALO VALLEY. 295 Saturday and Sunday, 24th and 25th of January, fell the deepest snow had for many winters - two feet on the level. From April 10th to the 19th, the weather was excessively warm, like in the middle of summer. Thursday, 19th February, was observed as a day of thanksgiving and prayer, upon a proclamation of President Washington. "Good George, take care you do not fall," writes Republican Henry Spyker, in his diary. To April Session, 1795, Hugh Wilson, Henry Dreisbach, Leffard Haughawaut, William P. Maclay, C. Baldy, and John Thompson, junior, reported that they had laid out a public road from Dreisbach's church to the Presbyterian church at Buffalo Cross-Roads. Politics. Jay's treaty with Great Britain was signed on the 19th of November, 1794. General Washington received a copy on the 7th of March, of the present year. An extra session of the Senate was called on the 6th of June, and it advised the President to ratify it, except one article in relation to the West India trade. While Washington was waiting, a little, the progress of events, one of the Virginia Senators, S. T. Mason, in violation of the obligation of secrecy, sent a copy of it to the Aurora, a violent, partisan Democratic (or Republican, as was the party name then) paper, in Philadelphia. It was spread before the people without any of the accompanying documents or letters, necessary for a fair appreciation of it by the people. The treaty was the best that could be obtained at the time, and public policy recommended its ratification. Nevertheless, the warm feeling of our people towards the French gave the opportunity to the politicians to raise a tremendous storm. Meetings were held all over the country, and the treaty denounced violently. Jay was burned in effigy, the British minister insulted, and Hamilton stoned at a public meeting. We can give no idea of the bitterness engendered, except by large quotations from speeches and correspondence of the clay. The clergy, at least many of the prominent ones, took part, and some of their vituperations appal us. The upshot of the matter was, General Washington stood firm, and the treaty became 296 ANNALS OF BUFFALO VALLEY. [1795. a law. Nevertheless, the party feeling it elicited increased until it ended in the overthrow of the Federal party, in the fall of 1800. William and Samuel Maclay were the influential men of the middle and western portions of Pennsylvania, and were decided Republicans. Buffalo Valley, ever since a hot place about election times, was doubly hot at this time. Samuel Maclay's influence, from his good character and ability, was almost unbounded. Nevertheless, Mr. Morrison led a determined few in opposition to the dominant Republicans. The result was, pew rates ceased in the Buffalo church, and we only find the names of William Sherer, John Allen, Joseph Allen, John Reznor, George Knox, Walter Clark, Joseph Patterson, William Gray, and Thomas Howard, marked as paying up their stipends. In 1797, the foregoing and William Wilson and William Irwin, Esquire, only are marked as having paid up. In 1798, occur the same names only paying up. In 1799 and 1800, the same names. In 1801, only the names of George Knox, William Wilson, William Gray, Esquire, and Walter Clark. Mr. Morrison commenced preaching at Mr. Maclay from the pulpit, and Mr. Maclay refused to go any longer, and, of course, took the larger body of the congregation with him. Mr. Morrison alleged that the majority had conspired to shut him out of the church, and he and his party went so far as to shut themselves out of the church, one day, and then went over to the school-house to hear Mr. Morrison preach, and endeavored to put the odium of it upon the majority. Marriage. December, 16, Tobias Sheckler to Catherine, daughter of George Frederick. Deaths. John Thornburg, of Lewisburg. Charles Pollock, White Deer. Henry Bolender. Theobald Miller, of Penn's. His widow married George May, of Buffalo. His children: Benjamin, who went down the Ohio, and was killed by the Indians; Valentine, father of Carpenter John, of Lewisburg; Margaret, married to John Metzgar; Catherine, to John Adam; Mary, to Philip Moore, of Freeburg; Valentine, married a daughter of Joseph Evans, of Lewisburg, served in the war of 1812; father of Reverend Theobald, of Ohio. 1795.] ANNALS OF BUFFALO VALLEY. 297 George Kester, (Hartley now.) In his will he provided for the erection of a school-house on his place, which was to be furnished with a good stove, at the expense of his estate. This is still known as the Kester school-house. A burying-ground is attached, in which are interred many of the old settlers. Kester's children were Peter, Elizabeth, Christina, and Henry. Anna M. Smith, of East Buffalo. She left in her will £30, to erect a school-house for poor children on Turtle creek. William Irvine, died November 18. His place was the "Thomas Wilson" warrantee tract, about a mile above Rengler's mill, adjoining then John Beatty, Wendell Baker, James Magee and John Sierer, two hundred and sixty acres; ninety cleared. It was sold by his executors, on 4th May, 1798, to Peter Dunkle, for $1,500. William Irvine came into the Valley, probably in the year 1774, when he patented the tract. He is marked on the assessments William Irvine, (Irish,) to distinguish him from William Irwin, Esquire, who is marked as "late of Carlisle." His wife was an Armstrong, connected with the family at Carlisle, and his eldest daughter, Catherine, (afterwards Catherine Wilson,) was born November 16, 1758. He served during the French-Indian war, 1754-1763. I have his powder horn, on which are etched the stations between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, to Fort Stanwix and Crown Point, the plan of Fort Duquesne, the English insignia "Honi soit que mal," Indians with scalping knives, &c. With the runaway of 1779, he removed his family to Cumberland county. The spring served as a hiding place for many things, and a griddle, now in possession of J. M. Linn, still shows some rust-holes gotten there. His wife died near Carlisle, and he returned to his place in the Valley, accompanied by his daughter Catherine, and from her have come down many incidents of the hardships endured by the early settlers. When alarmed by incursions of the Indians, they rendezvoused at McCandlish's, (now John Lesher's.) Once, when on a flight, the quick ear of the father caught the report of a bush cracking behind them. He pushed her behind a tree and cocked his rifle, but it was only a deer running by. Once they were pursued so close they had to leave a cow with a calf only a few days old. He pushed down the fence so that she could get into the meadow, and they then fled for their lives. 298 ANNALS OF BUFFALO VALLEY. [1796. Later in life, he married Jane Forster, daughter of John. She died in 1824, aged eighty-four, and is buried in the Lewis grave-yard. His children were, 1, Catherine, married to Hugh Wilson, father of Doctor W. I. Wilson, still living; Francis, who died February 15, 1873, Mrs. James F. Linn, Mrs. William Stedman; 2, Elizabeth, married to William Love; 3, Nancy, to William Milford. (The latter took a boat load of produce to New Orleans, in 1809, and was never heard of afterward.) His wife survived him forty-one years; 4, Mary, married to James McClellan, Esquire; 5, Sarah, married to Walter Charters. William Irvine's father's name was Andrew, of the county of Fermanagh, Ireland; and John, Matthew, and Thomas, of Philadelphia, frequently mentioned in the Pennsylvania Archives in connection with the purchase of ships for the navy and powder for the continental army, were William's cousins, as were also General William Irvine, of the Pennsylvania Line, Matthew, the celebrated surgeon of Lee's legion, and Andrew, who survived so many wounds received at Paoli. 1796. BISHOP NEWCOMER VISITS THE VALLEY - LIST OF INHABITANTS OF EAST BUFFALO. LEWISBURG, NEW BERLIN, WEST BUFFALO, WHITE DEER, AND MAHANTANGO. SENATOR, Samuel Dale, re-elected in October. Members of Assembly, Hugh White, John White, and Thomas Grant. William Cooke, commissioned Associate Judge January 19th, vice Samuel Maclay, resigned December 7, 1795. County Commissioners, Joseph Dering, Henry Vanderslice, and Nathan Stockman. Coroner, William McAdam. Brigadier General, William Wilson. Brigade Inspector, Bernard Hubley. Peter Hosterman, Justice of the Peace, commissioned March 14; George Youngman, March 17; Frederick Stees, June 9. 1796.] ANNALS OF BUFFALO VALLEY. 299 January 18, George Clark, Lazarus Finney, and Roan McClure made a valuation of the real estate, &C., of White Deer township. Real estate, $37,445; personal, $4,438 buildings, $6,448. March 18, Conrad Weiser moved from Tulpehocken to his place on the Isle of Que. - Spyker's journal. May 6, Bishop Christian Newcomer, of the United Brethren Church, visited the Valley, and held meetings on the 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th. Many souls confessed their sins, among the rest a woman came forward leading her daughter. Blessed be God she, with many others, found mercy. - Newcomer's Journal. James Jenkins sold his slave, Tom, to Colonel John Patton, of Centre county. Tom was thirty years old when the emancipation act of 1780 was passed, but was registered defectively, and lived in the belief that he was still a slave. After living many years with Colonel Patton, he came back to Buffalo Valley, and became a charge. The overseers removed him to Ferguson, in Centre, and that township had to keep him. List of Inhabitants of East Buffalo. The occupation, where not mentioned, is that of farmer; improvements, when not added to the name, are log-house and barn; c, for cabin: Alsbach, Mathias; Anderson, William, c; Aurand, John; Aurand, Dietrich, c; Aurand, Peter, c; Bailey, John; Baker, Wendell; Baldy, Christopher; Barber, Martha, c; Barnhart, Henry; Barton, John, on Jasper Ewing's place; Baum, Charles; Baum, Samuel; Beatty, Alexander; Beatty, John; Betzer, William; Betz, Abram; Betz, Solomon; Bickel, Christopher; Bickel, Jacob; Billmyer, Andrew, tavern-keeper; Boveard, James, c; Bower, Casper; Bower, George; Bower, Jacob; Burd, David, c; Campbell, John, on William Gray's place; Carothers, Samuel; Cherry, Charles, on C. Baldy's place; Christ, Adam; Croninger, Joseph; Colpetzer, Adam, c; Conaly, John, distiller; Connell, William, c; Coryell, Abram, joiner; Coryell, George; Covert, Luke, c; Cox, Tunis; Dale, Samuel, Esquire; Davis, Robert; Derr, George; Dempsey, Widow. c; Dennis, John; Dersham, Christian; Donnell, Andrew, Esquire; Doughrnan, Stephen; Dreisbach, Henry; Dreisbach, Jacob; Dreisbach, Martin; Dunlap, William, c; Dunkle, Jacob; 300 ANNALS OF BUFFALO VALLEY. [1796. Eaylor, Frederick, c; Emrey, Jacob; Emrey, William, a blacksmith, on John Sierer's place; Eyerly, Abram, stone barn; Farley, John, c; Farley, Michael; Fisher, George; Fisher, William; Foster, James; Fought, Michael; Frantz, Ludwig; Frock, Henry, c; Freeman, Reverend George; Freeman, Nathaniel; Frederick, Peter; Frederick, George; Foster, William; Gass, George; Gass, Peter Goodman, George, c; Goodman, John; Gray, Robert, c; Greenhoe, John; Grogg, Peter, c; Groninger, Joseph, c; Grove, Michael, c; Grunner, Jacob, c; Gundy, Christian, grist and saw-mill at George Derr's; Harris, Widow; Hartley, John; Haughawaut, Leffard, c; Hayes, John, surveyor; Hayes, David; Holdship, Thomas, shoe-maker; Holeman, Martin; Housel, Peter; Hoy, John; Hoy, Philip; Hubler, John; Hummel, John; Hummel, James, house-joiner; Hunter, Samuel; Huntsman, John, junior; Huntsman, James, senior; Irwin, James, c; Jenkins, James, stone gristmill; Kemble, Joseph; Kemberling, Jacob, c; Knight, Isaac, c; Lincoln, Mishael; Long, George; Lowrey, Hugh, c; Lowrey, Widow; Lutz, Jacob; McClellan, James; McConnel, William, c; McGee, James; McLaughlin, John; Maclay, Samuel, Esquire; Macpherson, John; Maize, Michael; Markle, John; May, George; Metzgar, Jacob; Miller, Benjamin; Miller, Christian; Miller, Conrad; Miller, George, c; Mizener, John; Mook, Jacob, c; Morrison, Reverend Hugh; Morrison, Gabriel, c; Morton, Japhet; Moyer, Michael, saw-mill; Nichols, James, fuller; Nickle, Samuel; Overmeier, George, senior; Overmeier, George, junior; Overmeier, Peter; Peters, Henry, c; Peters, Philip; Piper, William; Poak, William; Poak, Thomas, Malster; Pollock, John, store-keeper; Pontius, Frederick; Pontius, Nicholas; Pontius, Henry; Porter, Samuel; Ray, John; Reed, Robert, c; Reedy, Conrad; Reedy, Jacob; Rengler, John, saw and grist-mill; Rees, Daniel, c; Rees, Thomas; Richard, Henry; Rote, John; Sailor, Henry, c; Schrack, Benjamin; Scroggs, Allen, c; Seebold, Christopher, grist-mill; Sheaffer, Henry, (ferry;) Sheckler, Tobias; Sheckler, Daniel; Shipman, John, c; Shively, Henry, c; Shuck, John; Sierer, John; Smith, Michael, blacksmith; Stadler, Valentine, c; Stahl, Philip, saw-mill; Steel, David, blacksmith; Sterrett, Thomas; Struble, Conrad; Struble, Adam; Snoddy, James; Templeton, Samuel; Thomas, Job; Thompson, William, c, school-master; Thompson, James; Thomp- 1796.] ANNALS OF BUFFALO VALLEY. 301 son, Benjamin; Thompson, John, senior; Thompson, John, junior; Toner, Charles; Treasonrighter, Conrad; Ward, Thomas; Weiser, Christopher, fulling-mill; Wilson, Hugh; Wilson, Thomas; Winegarden, Widow; Wise, Peter; Wise, Frederick, blacksmith; Wise, Frederick; Wise, Jacob; Voneida, Philip. Lewisburg - Armstrong, William, tailor; Beyer, Doctor Charles, log house; Black, James, stone house, store-keeper; Caldwell, Thomas, log house, store-keeper; Dunlap, John, ferry and tavern, renter to James Black, $120; Ensworth, Andrew, log house, peddler; Evans, Joseph, log house and shop, cabinet-maker; Fulton, Henry, cabin; Gray, John, tavern; Grove, Adam, carpenter; Grove, Wendell, carpenter; Henning, Frederick, tavern, log; Hyndman, Samuel; Kemble, Lawrence, log house, tinner; Knox, George, tanner Langs, George, cooper; Lewis, Alexander, stone house and kitchen, and a frame house; McLaughlin. Hugh, tailor; Metzgar, John, two houses, store-keeper; Metzger, Daniel, saddler; Murphy, John Poak, William, log house and kitchen, tavern-keeper; Poak, Thomas, log house; Poak, George; Roan, Flavel; Sherer, Richard, log house; Stedman, William, stone house; Shaffer, Matthias, carpenter; Troxell, John; Welker, Jacob, log house; Wells, Joseph, shoe-maker; Wells, Benjamin, shoe-maker; Yentzer, Christian, log house. New Berlin - Beatty, William; Beatty, Hugh; Black, William; Cook, James; Gill, Isaac; Henderson, James; Miller, Christian, shop-keeper; Mitchell, John; Moyer, George, tailor; Overmeier, John; Rerich, William, blacksmith; Seebold, Christian, tavern-keeper; Smith, John, tavern-keeper; Smith, Peter, tailor; Specht, Adam, shoemaker; Trester, Martin. A List of all the Inhabitants of West Buffalo Township, with a Description of their Dwellings and Occupations. Anthony, George, wheelwright, round log cabin; Armstrong, William, farmer; Adamson, William, cooper, log cabin; Ammerman, Daniel, jobber, cabin; Allen, Obediah, farmer, round log cabin; Boerhave, Christopher, blacksmith, scutched log house, stable, and cabin shop, one hundred and thirty-seven acres; Beeb, George, cropper; Bruner, Jacob, farmer, cabin, one hundred acres; 302 ANNALS OF BUFFALO VALLEY. [1796. Bruner, John, jobber, cabin, one hundred acres; Brown, John, farmer, chip log house and barn, spring-house, shell of a new log house, one hundred and seventy-two acres; Brown, Christian, jobber, hewed log house, not lined; Black, William, school-master, chip log cabin; Beigh, Frederick, cordwainer, round log cabin; Bartges, Michael, nailor, frame nailor shop; Ben, James, living with his father-in-law; Books, George, sawyer, log cabin; Banter, John, farmer; Bole, Henry, farmer, chip log house and barn; Buckalew, Peter, farmer; Bubb, George, farmer, cabin; Boveard, William, jobber, log house and barn; Buyers, John, farmer, log cabin; Barton, Kimber, a school-teacher; Clarke, Joseph, colonel's son, farm occupied by John Conser, one hundred acres; Carmany, John, cordwainer, small hewed log house; Cox, William, jobber, hewed log house and kitchen; Christ, Conrad, cooper, round log cabin; Coon, Conrad, cordwainer, round log cabin; Clay, David, farmer, round log cabin; Conser, John, stiller, log house; Clark, John, farmer, log house; Coderman, George, farmer, hewed log house; Clark, Joseph, farmer, round log cabin; Carney, Anthony, blacksmith, round log cabin; Crawford, Edward, farmer, log house; Crawford, William, farmer, log house; Coderman, David, farmer, log house and barn; Carnes, William, farmer; Coderman, Jacob, farmer, log cabin; Chambers, Robert, farmer, log cabin; Chambers, Mary, housekeeper, log cabin; Chambers, Benjamin, single man; Dersham, Ludwig, farmer, hewed log house and barn, one hundred acres; Dreisbach, John, gunsmith, hewed log house, stable, brick kitchen and frame shop; Derr, Christian, house carpenter, small chip log house; Duncan, James, weaver; Douglass, William, farmer, log house; Earnhart, John, blacksmith, hewed log house and blacksmith shop; Emery, John, blacksmith, hewed log house and shop on John Kleckner's place; Evans, Nathan, saddler, round log cabin; Emery, Peter, farmer, log cabin; Emery, John, farmer, log cabin; Everet, Abel, miller; Fry, Jacob, farmer, hewed log house, kitchen, barn, and cabin; Forster; Thomas, farmer, chipped log house; Forster, Robert, farmer, hewed log house; Fough, Henry, round log cabin; Ford, Thomas, farmer, chip log cabin; Fisher, Peter, sawyer, cabin and saw-mill; Fiddler, Stephen, blacksmith, log house and shop; Frederick, Thomas, farmer, log house; Getgen, Ludwig, mason, hewed log house; Ghien, Nathan, farmer, 1796.] ANNALS OF BUFFALO VALLEY. 303 chipped log cabin; Gray, Henry, farmer, round log cabin; Getchey, Adam, farmer, chipped log cabin; Gast, Jacob, jobber, chipped log cabin; Glover, John, farmer, hewed log house and round log barn, very old; Grim, Jacob, tavern-keeper, hewed log house, grist and saw-mill; Gray, George, tenant, log cabin; Hyman, John, jobber, small cabin; Holmes, Jonathan, small hewed log house; Home, Robert, shop-keeper, hewed log house and chip log stable; Housel, Jacob, farmer, log cabin; Housel, Martin, farmer, chip log house and stable; Hamilton, Francis, jobber, round log cabin; Humler, Daniel, farmer, chipped log cabin; Helman, John, jobber, chipped log cabin; Hickson, John, farmer, hewed log house; Hull, Thomas, farmer, chipped log cabin; Hoves, John, farmer, round log barn; Hendricks, Henry, sawyer, cabin; Humler, Adam, farmer, round log cabin; Iddings, James, farmer, shell of a cabin; Iddings, William, farmer, chipped log cabin; Irwin, John, shop- keeper, hewed log house and round log house; Johnson, Christopher, farmer, grist and saw-mill; Jones, Benjamin, farmer, chipped log house; Kennedy, Alexander, farmer, chipped log cabin, old stable, chipped log house and barn, shell, one hundred and forty acres; Kemple, John, farmer, hewed log house and barn; Keney, David, farmer, round log cabin; Kleckner, John, tavern-keeper, barn, stable, and spring house; Kester, Henry, farmer, log house and sawmill; Kester, Peter, farmer, cabin; Kester, John, farmer, log cabin; Kester, John, sawyer, log house; Kester, Peter, stiller, cabin; Kleckner, Solomon clock-maker, chipped log cabin; Lyman, Michael, carpenter, hewed log house; Langabaugh, Henry, weaver, hewed log house; Leighty, John, tanner, round log house; Lowdon, John, farmer, hewed log house, barn, spring- house, and saw-mill; Laughlin, Adam, farmer, log cabin; Lewis, Paschal, farmer, log house; Mathias, Jacob, jobber, hewed log house and barn, one hundred acres; Moor, James, hunter, hewed log cabin; Moore, Henry, cordwainer, round log cabin, log still-house; Mettlen, Patrick, farmer, round log cabin; Mizner, Adam, farmer, hewed log cabin; Midker, Conrad, farmer, round log cabin thatched; Mitchell, John, farmer, round log cabin; Miller, Bastian, farmer, round log cabin, thatched roofed barn; Mann, Philip, farmer, log house; Metzger, Henry, jobber, cabin; Means, Andrew, millwright, log cabin; Mathers, Samuel, farmer, chipped log cabin; Melain, John, cord- 304 ANNALS OF BUFFALO VALLEY. [1796. wainer, hewed log house; McCutchen, Hugh, schoolmaster; McGrady, Alexander, farmer, round log cabin; McCaley, Alexander, farmer, round log cabin, barn shingled; McMurtrie, Hugh, farmer, cabin; Noll, Henry, cropper, cabin building; Neel, William, weaver, chipped log weaver shop; Neel, Henry, tailor, hewed log house; Owens, Abel, farmer, chipped log house; Pontius, Andrew, farmer, house and cabin, barn, one hundred and fifty acres; Pontius, Andrew, junior, farmer, round log house; Pontius, Henry, farmer, hewed log house and log cabin; Peterson, Robert, hunter, chipped log house and cabin stable; Piper, Henry, farmer, hewed shell house; Peters, Michael, round log cabin; Rockey, Jacob, does what he thinks best; Rearick, John, farmer, hewed log house, spring-house and cabin barn; Richey, Andrew, jobber, cabin; Rockey, William, farmer, hewed log house, cabin barn, grist and saw- mill; Rockey, John, tavern-keeper, hewed log house and kitchen, round log stable; Rote, George, tavern-keeper; Ray, George, tavern-keeper, hewed log house and barn; Royer, Peter, farmer, hewed log house and barn; Reed, Mary, Mifflinburg; Reedy, Nicholas, jobber, log house; Ross, Charles, jobber, scutched house; Rote, Peter, farmer, round log cabin; Ridabaugh, Michael, farmer, hewed log house and barn; Reznor, John, junior, farmer, log house; Reznor, John, senior, farmer, round log cabin; Reznor, George; Rote, John, Jacob, and George; Reznor, Hugh, Moses Caruther's miller; Rhinemacker, Baltzer, farmer, round log cabin; Spangler, Christian, farmer, log house and barn, one hundred and fifty acres; Spangler, John, jobber, one hundred and twenty-one acres; Shanke, Jacob, blacksmith, hewed log kitchen and shop; Skiles, James, jobber, chipped log house, small; Sample, Nicholas, carpenter, hewed log house; Stotan, William, farmer, chipped cabin, barn and still-house; Shrock, John, farmer, round log cabin; Smith, John, farmer, round cabin, house, and saw-mill, round log cabin; Shriner, Nicholas, cropper, hewed log cabin; Shriner, Peter, jobber, hewed log cabin; Smith, Melchior, farmer, chipped log house; Shirtz, Michael, farmer, log house, cabin; Snook, William, farmer, log house; Smith, Ludwig, farmer, log house, grist and saw-mill; Smith, David, farmer; Shriner, Henry, jobber, log cabin; Spencer, Joshua, jobber, cabin; Tate, David, farmer, cabin, house, scutched log barn; Thompson, James, farmer, hewed log house, round log cabin; Thomas, Enoch; 1796.] ANNALS OF BUFFALO VALLEY. 305 Tittleman, Godfrey, farmer, round log cabin; Tibbens, David, sawyer, cabin; Trippy, George, weaver; Wise, Jacob, farmer, hewed log house, spring-house, and cabin barn; Wagner, Christopher, carpenter, hewed log house; Welker, William, jobber, hewed log house and kitchen; Welker, Jacob, tailor, hewed log house; Williams, Benjamin, chipped log house; Wigdon, John, farmer, hewed log shell of a house; Wilson, Hugh, tavern-keeper, hewed log house, red log barn, on Colonel Hartley's place; Wilson, David, farmer, one slave; Wirebaugh, Catherine, house-keeper, log house; Wirebaugh, Nicholas, single man; Winkelpleck, John, farmer, log house; Ultz, Joseph, farmer, hewed log house, red log stable; Ultz, John, farmer, log cabin, round log stable; Vorgan, John, farmer, round log cabin; Youngman, George, shop- keeper, hewed log house, shop, scutched log stable; Youngman, Thomas, with his father, a shell of a scutched log house; Youngman, Elias, hatter, chipped log house; Young, Christian, potter, hewed log house, round log stable; Zellers, Peter, farmer, hewed log house, round log barn; Zipperneck, Frederick, farmer, round log house and barn'. Metzgar, Jacob, farmer, round log cabin. Single Freemen - Barnes, Aaron; Chambers, Joseph; Caruthers, Moses; Crotzer, John; Duncan, James; Emery, Joseph; Hunter, John; Love, Alexander; Moore, Jacob; Moore, John; McCalley, David; Rockey,, Jacob. A List of all the Inhabitants of White Deer Township, Dwellings, their Occupation, &c. All whose occupations are not named were farmers. Adams, Joseph, log house and barn; Adams, James, square log house and double barn; Allen, Joseph, cabin and still-house; Allen, John, cabin, stable; Anderson, Gailand, cabin, saddletree-maker; Awl, Samuel, cabin, shoe- maker; Bennage, Simon, log house, one and a halfstones, double barn; Bogender, Lemuel, Thomas Howard's place, carpenter; Bole, Samuel, log house, double barn; Bower, John, cabin and stable, shoe-maker; Boyl, William, tenant of Gideon Smith; Buchanan, David, cabin and stable, millwright; Carnahan, Robert, cabin and still-house; Chamberlin, William, frame house, log barn, oil, grist, and saw-mill, log still- house; Clark, Walter, square log house 306 ANNALS OF BUFFALO VALLEY. [1796. and double barn; Clark, Robert, square log house and double barn; Clark, William, stone house, log barn, still-house; Clark, George; Cleland, Arthur, cabin and stable; Clendening, William, cabin, weaver; Coburn, William, cabin and stable; Connelly, William, cabin, weaver; Coulter, Nathaniel, cabin, laborer; Darlington, Joseph, cabin; Davidson, Thomas, blacksmith, log house; Dean, Samuel, cabin, no trade; Dickey, George, saddler; Dinning, Samuel, log house and barn; Drielly, James, cabin, weaver; Eaker, Joseph, cabin and stable, doctor; Elder, Thomas, school-master, cabin, stable, and corn-crib; Elder, James; Farley, Caleb, cabin and stable; Finney, Robert, log house and double barn; Finney, Lazarus, no improvement; Fisher, Paul, log house and double barn; Fisher, Henry, cabin and stable; Fisher, Michael, log house; Fisher, George, no improvement; Fisher, Elizabeth; Fisher, Christian, cabin; Fisher, John, jobber; Freeman, Samuel, cabin, weaver; Fruit, Robert, square log house and barn; Fruit, Richard, log house, one and a half stories, stable; Gilliland, Joseph, cabin, cooper; Gillespie, Charles, cabin; Gilman, Henry, large cabin; Gilman, Jacob, large cabin, weaver; Goodlander, Christian, cabin, tailor; Gottshall, John, carpenter; Graham, Edward, cabin, tailor; Gray, William, Esquire, log house, one and a half stories, double barn, and still-house; Groninger, Jacob, lived on William Wilson's place, cabin, weaver; Heckle, Andrew, log house and double barn; Henderson, William, cabin, carpenter, on William Wilson's; Heriot, Samuel, carpenter; Hies, George, cabin, blacksmith; High, Peter, carpenter and tavern-keeper; Hill, John, cabin, shoe-maker; Hill, James, small cabin, shoe-maker; Hilliard, Guy, cabin, shoe- maker; Howard, Thomas, square log house and barn; Hudson, William, cabin, mason; Huffman, George, log house; Huffman, John, log house and double barn; Hunt, John, cabin, blacksmith; Hunter, Agnes, cabin; Hutchinson, Thomas, square log house, (Patterson's place;) Iddings, William, cabin, blacksmith; Iddings, Henry, log house; Iddings, Jonathan, small cabin; Iddings, Isaac, small cabin; Irwin, Richard, log house and barn, weaver; Irwin, William, cabin; Johnson, Jean, cabin, and stable; Jordon, Jean, cabin and barn, clapboard roof; Jordon, William, cabin, boatman; Keller George, small cabin, wheelright; Kelly, John, Esquire, log house and double barn; Kiles, James, cabin, laborer; 1796.] ANNALS OF BUFFALO VALLEY. 307 Laird, Matthew, log house and barn; Lantz, Arthur, log house and kitchen; Linn, John, log house, one and a half stories, double barn, and still-house; Linn, Isaiah, cabin and stable; Lukey, John, log house; Luther, Andrew, cabin and stable, tailor; McBeth, Robert, log house, blacksmith; McClenachan, Finney, small cabin; McClenachan, William, cabin and stable, carpenter; McClenachan, Andrew, square log house; McClure, Roan, cabin and double barn; McCorley, Widow, log house, still-house; McCorley, James, small cabin, laborer; McGaughey, Andrew, small cabin, school-master; McGinnes, James, weaver; McKinley, Hugh, small cabin, laborer; McLaughlin, James, small cabin, laborer; McLaughlin, William, small cabin; McWilliams, James, small cabin, laborer; Marshall, William, still-house, distiller; Marshall, Stephen, small cabin, laborer; Martin, George, log house, old stable, shoemaker; Martin, James, log house; Miller, Samuel, cabin and stable, carpenter; Mool, Nicholas, weaver, (John Huffman's;) Moore, James, cabin and stable; Moore, Joseph, log house and double barn; Moore, George, cabin; Nevius, Christian, log house and double barn; Nickles, Thomas, cabin, William Wilson's place; Nogel, Charles, log house, carpenter; Norcross, Abraham, laborer, cabin; Noroross, John, frame house, hatter, shop, ferry, and tavern; Painter, Jacob; Pollock Adam, stone house and double barn; Pollock, Joseph, log house and double barn; Rank, John, log house and stable; Reed William, stepson of C. Gillespie; Reninger, George, grist, saw-mill, cabin, and stable; Riddle, George, square log house; Rodinan, Hugh, carpenter; Shannon, William, weaver; Shaw, Hamilton, large cabin, stable; Shaw, James, cabin; Sherer, Richard, cabin, still-house, and barn; Smith, Gideon, log house, double barn, and still-house, joiner; Smith, Catherine, grist and saw-mill; Smith, Peter, cabin; Smith, John, cabin; Smith, Ludwig; Snook, Philip, double cabin; Steel, John, log house; Steel, Alexander, small cabin; Steel, William, tanner, log house, stable, tan-yard; Stillwell, Daniel, square log house; Sweesy, Daniel, cabin; Thompson, William, carpenter, cabin; Thompson, William, school-master, cabin; Vandyke, John, cabin, barn; Vandyke, Huston, shoe-maker; Vartz, Dietriok, large cabin; Vogen, Robert, small cabin, cooper; Ward, Thomas, Robert Clarke's place, old cabin, weaver; Ward, John, cabin, jobber; Ward, George, cabin, jobber; Walles, John, 308 ANNALS OF BUFFALO VALLEY. [1796. weaver, cabin; Watts, John, carpenter, cabin; Welsh, Nicholas, stable and cabin; Welsh, Ludwig; Wheeland, Michael, carpenter, cabin; Whitte- more, Peter, cabin, stable, and blacksmith shop; Wilson, William, stone house, bank barn, and apple-mill, tailor; Woods, John, cabin and still-house, reed-maker; Woodside, David, large cabin, stable, and blacksmith shop. Single Men-Adams, James; Adams, John; Chamberlin, Enoch, miller; Clark, Charles; Clark, George; Foster, Hugh, weaver; Fisher, William, miller; Huffman, George; Hawthorne, Archibald; Iddings, Samuel; Irwin, John, distiller; Irwin, Samuel, weaver; Johnston, William Lukey, William, joiner; Lukey, James; McCluskey, Patrick, distiller; Nicholas, John; Painter, Henry; Pollock, James; Pollock, Thomas; Ray, William; Russell, Alexander, distiller; Wheeland, Samuel. Penn's - Brause, Adam; Deal, John; Deitz, Jacob; Filman, John; Gaughler, Nicholas; Gehr, Jacob; Hughes, Garret; Jarret, Jacob; Kern, Widow; Kratzer, Daniel; Leckington, Abraham; Musselman, Jacob; Price, Thomas; Schuyler, Nicholas; Weirick, John. List of Residents, &c., of Mahantango Township made in 1796 - Territory, Chapman, Perry, West Perry, now in Snyder County. Albright, Frederick, senior and junior; Albright, John; Ault, George; Anderson, William; Arnold, Casper, saw-mill; Barnhart, Henry; Bay, John; Bickart, John; Birchfield, Charles; Blasser, John; Bower, Daniel; Bower, Peter; Bowman, Jacob; Bright, Michael; Brumbach, George; Burget or Burkhart, Philip, Esquire; Eckhart, Jacob; Forrey, Christian; Garman, Henry, saw-mill; Garman, John and Peter; Gaughler, George; Geltnitz, Casper; Getherd, Henry, cooper; Goy, Frederick; Graybill, Jacob; Gray- bill, Christian; Graybill, John; Gunckel, Jacob; Hallig, Jacob; Hagerman, John; Hamilton, James; Hawn, Michael, saw-mill; Hawn, Michael, junior; Heem, Paul; Heifer, Jacob; Heimback, Peter; Heintz, Doctor Christian; Heisler, Henry; Herrold, Simon, grist and saw-mill; Herrold, George; Hershey, John; Hershey, John, junior; Hetzel, Mathias; Hoff, James, tailor; Hosterman, Peter; Imhoff, Charles, two stills; Johnston, John, saw-mill; Jordon, 1796.] ANNALS OF BUFFALO VALLEY. 309 John; Keiser, Jacob; Kerstetter, John; Kerstetter, George; Kerstetter, Leonard; Kerstetter, Martin; Kerstetter, John, junior; Kerstetter, Widow; Leiter, John; Livengood, Jacob; Livengood, John, Livengood, Jacob, saw-mill; McClintock, Samuel; Martin, Jacob; Meiser, George; Meiser, Adam; Meiser, Henry, junior; Meiser, Henry, senior, saw-mill; Meiser, Michael; Meiser, Philip; Metterling, Baltzer; Nieman, Wiant, saw-mill; Nitz, Jacob and Philip; Patterson, Robert; Pfeill, Henry; Reber, John; Reed, Frederick; Reed, Casper; Reichenbach, John; Reichenbach, Jacob; Reinerd, George; Richter, Christian; Richter, John; Rine Henry, two stills; Roush, Jacob; Roush, Jacob, junior; Saddler, Stephen; Seecrist, Christian, saw-mill and distillery; Shaffer, John; Shaffer, Michael, saw-mill; Shaffer, Peter; Shedde, Henry, saw-mill Shetterly, John, saw-mill; Shetterly, Henry; Shetterly, Catherine Shetterly, Andrew; Shower, Adam and Michael: Shreiber, Philip; Smith, David, oil-mill; Snyder, Herman; Snyder, John, senior; Snyder, Thomas; Snyder, Herman, senior; Snyder, George, shoe-maker; Snyder, John, tanner; Speese, Herman; Stahl, Frederick; Stahl, John; Stees, Frederick, grist and saw-mill and shopkeeper; Stephenson, Earnest, weaver; Stephy, Adam and Leonard; Straub, Charles; Straub, Charles, junior; Straub, Peter; Strausser, Nicholas, horse jockey; Swartz, Martin; Swartz, John and Peter; Thornton, John; Thorsby, William; Troub, John; Vance, Robert; Whitmer, Widow; Whitmore, Jacob; Whitmore, Samuel, distillery; Wiant, Jacob; Wiant, John , Witmer, Abraham; Witmer, Peter, saw-mill; Woodrow, Simon; Woomer, Adam and Godfrey; Zellers, John; Zimmerman, Stophel and William; Zually, John, weaver. Single Freemen - Goy, Frederick; Haak, Jacob; Meiser, George, joiner; Nitz, Jacob; Shaffer, Andrew; Stephy, Frederick, carpenter; Whitmore, Samuel; Wiant, Michael; Zimmerman, Jacob. Married. Sunday evening, June 12, Simon Snyder, Esquire, of Selinsgrove, to Catherine, daughter of Colonel Frederick Antes, of Northumberland. Deaths. Henry Peters, East Buffalo. Children: Anna, Maria, Mary, and Barbara. 310 ANNALS OF BUFFALO VALLEY, [1797. Joseph Taveler, East Buffalo. Abraham Piatt, of Haines. Children : Jane, Eleanor, John, and James. March 14, George Riddle, son-in-law of General James Potter, deceased. 1797. WHITE DEER ELECTION DISTRICT - BOOKS' FISHER'S, AND BARBER'S MILLS BUILT - GREENVILLE LAID OUT. MEMBERS of Assembly, Simon Snyder and Samuel Maclay. County Commissioners, Henry Vanderslice, Nathan Stockman, and Charles Irwin. Justices of the Peace appointed: Thomas Shipton, January 6; John Hayes, February 2; James Parks, March 30; Thomas McCormick, Washington township, March 30; Frederick Evans, April 18; and Christian Espick, November 27. March 21, by act of Assembly, all that part of Washington that belongs to Northumberland county, and of White Deer to Little Spruce run; thence down the same to Matthew Laird's; and thence to the river, where Peter Swartz formerly lived, (now Mr. Miller's place;) thence down the river to the mouth of Buffalo creek, was included in the eighth election district, which held its election at William Gallagher's in Milton; and, by the apportionment of this year. Northumberland county became entitled to two members. Additional Taxables of White Deer - Adams, John; Adams, William; Busser, Jacob; Chamberlin, William, junior; Kelly, John, junior; Shrock, Aaron; Spotts, Jacob. Henry Gray, Thomas Fredericks, and Michael Greenhoe, had saw-mills, and George Books erected the Books' saw-mill, in West Buffalo. He was a powerful man. In a fight at Rockey's mill, he caught two men, Bogen 1797.] ANNALS OF BUFFALO VALLEY. 311 reif and Iddings, and butted their heads together. Books removed to Ohio, and died there. Peter Fisher built the grist-mill, lately Samuel Weidensaul's, on Penn's creek, at the mouth of Laurel run. Fisher's successor at the mill was John Williams, his son-in-law. George, Henry, and John Weirick built Robert Barber's grist-mill, on White Spring run. William Weirick, who was the head of the firm of Weiricks, millwrights, lost his life about this time, at a mill on the Juniata. He slept in the mill, arose in sleep, and fell through an opening to the bottom of the mill. Store-keepers in Lewisburg - James Black, who had William Hayes for his clerk, William McQuhae, and Henry Spyker. Christian Read built the barn of the latter. He charges him with sixteen gallons of whisky, used at the work from June 29 to September. April 3, George Derr sold Tobias Lehman his Lewisburg mill property and two hundred and eight acres of land. May 18, Frederick Evans laid out the property, late of George Rote, in lots, and called it Greenville. It adjoined Youngmanstown, and is now within the limits of Mifflinburg. At the election in October, Robert Irwin had eighteen hundred and forty-six votes; Robert Brady, the next highest, ten hundred and fifty-three. The majority for Irwin was so large, he could not be safely set aside, and was accordingly commissioned, October 18. Married. February 9, Thomas Howard married to Elizabeth, daughter of Widow Mary Harris. Deaths. January 8, Mary, wife of Robert Chambers, aged sixty-one years. George Rote. Children: Peter, Jacob, George, Abraham, and John. Sons-in-law, John Kessler, Michael Shirtz, Adam Colpetzer, Joseph Ultz, Frederick Bartges, and James Ben. The latter married the daughter who was a prisoner with the Indians. They last resided on Spring creek, Centre county, where she died, and he married a Widow Murphy. [End of page 311.] 1798. THE PRESBYTERIAN GRAVE-YARD AT LEWISBURG - FERRY LANDING DISPUTE - POLITICS - DEATH OF CAPTAIN JOHN LOWDON. SAMUEL DALE and Samuel Maclay, Senators. Members of Assembly, Simon Snyder and Jacob Fulmer. Sheriff, Robert Irwin. Register and Recorder, Jeremiah Simpson, commissioned July 24. Justice of the Peace, Simon Snyder, junior, March 13. John Lawson, May 3. Seventh division, Major General William Montgomery. Second brigade, Brigadier General William Wilson, commissioned March 24. Brigade Inspector, Bernard Hubley, commissioned June 8. Buffalo: Supervisors, Peter Frederick and John Beatty. Collector, Hugh Beatty. West Buffalo: Supervisors, David Smith and John Reznor. On the 4th of April West Buffalo was erected into the fourth district, and the election directed to be held at the house of James Forster. January 10, James Sherer appointed the first postmaster at Lewis- burg. In February, Walter Clark, William Gray, and William Wilson, trustees of the Presbyterian grave-yard at Lewisburg, presented a petition to the Legislature, setting forth that many had buried their friends in lot No. 48, (next Weidensaul's hotel lot,) and there were no persons buried in No. 42, (C. D. Cox's hotel lot,) and asking authority to sell No. 42, (which, with 44 and 46, were, on the 26th of March, 1785, conveyed to them for the use and benefit of the Presbyterian congregation of Buffalo, for the purpose of a burying- 1797.] ANNALS OF BUFFALO VALLEY. 313 ground, by Ludwig Derr, the proprietor,) and to buy No. 48. An act passed accordingly. - 3 Smith's Laws, 304. Additional Taxables in Penn's township - John Binkomer, storekeeper; Joseph Barger, saw-mill; Adam Brause, saw, grist-mill, and distillery; John Dusing, shoe-maker and fiddler; Frederick Dreone, surgeon and fiddler; Michael Galer, saw-mill; Adam Fisher, storehouse and ferry; Henry Hans, saw-mill; George Kessler, tanner; Valentine Laudenslager, grist-mill and store; Francis Rhoades, tavern, ferry, and store-house; John Swineford, tavern; Neal St. Clair, taxed with a negro; A. Swineford, two mulattoes. During this year James Black, owner of lot No. 341, on which Nesbit & Brother's store and house now stand, brought an ejectment to maintain their landing privilege on the river opposite that lot. William Stedman and John Smith had a store in the stone building opposite, owned by Cowden & Hepburn, and the writ was served upon them as tenants. Francis Guise had bought No. 341 of George Derr, on the 5th of October, 1785, and on his deed was recited the privilege of a landing on the bank of the river, opposite to and of the same breadth of No. 341. The claim was for the ground between the eastern boundary of said lot and low water-mark, on part of which the stone building was erected, but the landing was unobstructed. Black was defeated on the ground that an ejectment will not lie for a mere privilege or an incorporeal hereditament. - 2 Yeates, 331. Hugh Wilson bought No. 341 at the sheriff's sale of James Black's property, in 1800, and sold it 4th May, 1810, to Adam Grove, who sold it on the 8th of May, 1822, to the late Thomas Nesbit, deceased. During the summer, politics ran high; the Republicans attacking the alien and sedition laws, and elevating to the rank of martyrs those who had been prosecuted under the sedition laws. At a meeting held in Lewisburg, for the purpose of addressing the President, John Adams, Reverend Hugh Morrison was one of the principal speakers, and in his public speech, indulged in abuse of Samuel Maclay and his family. Deaths. Robert Clark, leaving a widow, Jane. Children Eleanor Fruit, 314 ANNALS OF BUFFALO VALLEY. [1798. Margaret Ayres, Robert, George, Charles, and John. His brother, Walter, and his son, John, executors. John Murphy, Lewisburg. Children: Benjamin, John, Henry, Mary, Nancy, and Sally. John Wales, New Berlin. Widow, Ann M. Children: James, John, Joseph, Jacob, and Sarah. Christian Miller, distiller, New Berlin. Captain John Lowdon died at his residence, near Mifflinburg, in February. His parents were Richard Lowdon and Patience Wright, (married by Friends' ceremony, June 5, 1728,) of Hempfield, (now Columbia, Pennsylvania.) He was born July 5, 1730; married March 27, 1760, by Thomas Barton, missionary, at Lancaster. As early as 1756, Mr. Shippen recommends him for a commission as ensign. He was an inn- keeper at Lancaster in June, 1770, and during this year took up a great deal of land in Buffalo Valley. The land on which Northumberland now stands was patented to his wife, Sarah, in 1770, and, in connection with William Patterson, he laid out that town. Reuben Haines made an addition to it, January 19, 1781, of land sold him by Lowdon in 1775 - In the spring of 1772, he moved into Buffalo Valley, residing at a place he called Silver Spring, afterward sold by his executors to Roush, now owned by Levi Shoemaker. His wife died previous to the year 1775, as during this year he signed deeds alone, and it appears by a letter dated the 18th of July, 1775, to Captain Lowdon, at that time in the field, that his five children were with his mother's family, at Hempfield. His prominence in political agitations prior to the Revolution, will be seen by the correspondence of that period, published under those years, and what he said in the cabinet he was not afraid to make good on the field of battle. As soon as the news of the battle of Bunker Hill reached the county, he enlisted a company of ninety-seven men and set off for Cambridge. After his return, on November 7, 1776, he was elected a member of the Supreme Executive Council of Northumberland county, serving for one year. He owned an immense body of land during his life, embracing nearly the whole of West Buffalo township, besides large quantities now lying in Centre and Northumberland. Philip Pontius told me he often visited at his father's, Lieutenant Henry Pontius, and he recollects his appearance distinctly. He was a large, well- proportioned man, with 1798.] ANNALS OF BUFFALO VALLEY. 315 a very pleasant expression of countenance. Doctor W. I. Wilson (of Potter's Mills) told me, when a boy he often saw Captain Lowdon at the Buffalo Cross-Roads church. He wore a cocked hat, blue coat, buff vest and breeches, silver knee and shoe buckles. He was married the second time. His will, dated November 10, 1797, named his wife, Ann, and two daughters, Susanna, married to Samuel Wright, (grandfather of Samuel Wright, of Columbia, Pennsylvania,) Catherine, unmarried, and three grandchildren, John Lowdon Stake, Charlotte and Catherine Stake. He left an annuity to his brother, Richard, who died unmarried. Captain Lowdon's children by his first wife were, Margaret, Susan, James, Patience, and Catherine. Margaret married J. Stake; Susan, Samuel Wright, above named; their child, the late John L. Wright. Margaret's children were Charlotte and Catherine. Charlotte married J. Quest; Catherine, A. Chenowith. Lowdon Stake never married, and that name became extinct. Captain Lowdon's remains were conveyed down the river to Columbia, and buried there in the old burying- ground. Mrs. Wright, mother of William Wright, of Harlem, Stephenson county, Illinois, and daughter of the late Paschal Lewis, of Buffalo Valley, now in her eighty-first year, says her father and mother went part of the way, the day of the funeral, from Lowdon's house to the river, or possibly to Penn's creek; that after Captain Lowdon's death, his slaves were brought over from his farm and left, part of them at Robert Barber's and part at her father's, to stay until such time as Robert Barber was ready to start down with a raft or ark. He took them to Columbia in that way. They had been slaves previous to 1780, and the young ones were still in their apprenticeship, and as his estate was bound to take care of the older ones, Samuel Wright, his son-in- law, set apart forty acres for their habitation and maintenance, on the east side of Columbia, back of the river. Among these were Chloe and Phillis. Chloe was a regular Congo. Phillis died a few years ago, aged one hundred and five. This was the beginning of the famous Tow Hill, so well known to Maryland and Virginia slave hunters as the refuge of their slaves. [William Wright's letter, 1871.] John C. Watson said, the day of Captain Lowdon's funeral the creek rose very high, and they could not get over with the coffin, when " Mel," Colonel Clarke's slave, shouldered the coffin and went over the foot- log with it. [End of page 315.] 1799. HARTLETON -SKETCH OF COLONEL THOMAS HARTLEY - LISTS OF TAXABLES - MARTIN DREISBACH - THOMAS WILSON. ANDREW GREGG, Member of Congress. Samuel Dale and Samuel Maclay, Senators. Jacob Fulmer and Simon Snyder, members of the House. Henry Spyker, commissioned Justice of the Peace for East Buffalo, March 9; John Cummings, Beaver, December 6. Hartleton was laid out by Colonel Thomas Hartley, who owned the site and a considerable body of land around it. His first deed for a lot is dated March 28, 1799. There is no plan of the place on record. Colonel Hartley was a distinguished lawyer, born near Reading, September 7, 1748, admitted at York, July 25, 1769. He was lieutenant colonel of sixth Pennsylvania battalion, Colonel William Irvine, and commanded the battalion after Colonel Irvine's capture at Three Rivers. The anonymous letters published in Force's Archives, describing this campaign, were written by Colonel Hartley. This battalion served one year. There were two additional regiments to the Pennsylvania line raised in the State in 1777, whose officers were to be appointed by General Washington. Colonel Hartley was appointed to one, and commanded, temporarily, a brigade at Brandywine. In 1778, his regiment was ordered into the West Branch valley. On the 13th of January, 1779, it was combined with the other additional regiment, Colonel John Patton's, under the name of eleventh, the old eleventh having been broken up; whereupon, February 13, Colonel Hartley retired from service, and Lieutenant Colonel Adam Hubley succeeded to the 1799.] ANNALS OF BUFFALO VALLEY. 317 command of the eleventh. In 1783 he was a member of the Council of Censors; in 1787, of the State Convention. In 1788, he was elected to Congress, and continued a member until his death, December 21, 1800. He died at York, aged fifty-three, and is buried in St. John's church-yard there. He left two children, Charles William Hartley, some time prothonotary of York county, and Eleanor, married to Doctor James Hall, afterward physician to the lazaretto, at Philadelphia. Among Taxables in White Deer - Awl, John; Bennage, George; Baughner, William; Bellman, George; Bennage, John; Bower, Moses; Covert, Isaac; Covert, John; Gottshall, Michael; Linn, Charles; Nees, Henry; Orr, John; Oliphant, Andrew; Rauthraff, Henry; Sheetz, Jacob. Single men - Chamberlin, Tenbrooke; Davis, Stephen; Luther, John; Stahl, George; and Rank, Adam. In West Buffalo - Christopher Johnston is taxed with grist and saw- mill; Peter Rote, grist and saw-mill; Burrows, Aaron; Betz, Adam, tavern- keeper; McClelland, James, miller at Barber's White Springs. He was a great joker, and his fun was still current among the old people when I began these Annals. Saunders, Henry; Shively, Christian, son of John; Webb, George, hatter; Wilt, Adam; Wilt, George. In East Buffalo - Auple, Conrad; Baker, Wendell, two mills; Barber, Joseph, blacksmith; Beatty, Ann, widow; Betzer, Conrad, cordwainer; Betting, Joseph; Boyles, William; Breyvogel, Jacob; Christie, James; Collin, John; Cook, John, cabin; Cornelius, John; Coser, Andrew; Ewing, Joshua; Eyer, John; Frederick, George, inn-keeper; Gross, Jacob; Hudson, William, mason; Kinney, Martin; Lehman, Tobias, two mills; McKinley, Hugh; Ness, Jonathan; Nevel, Nicholas; Oldt, John; Poeth, Joseph; Sherer, William, weaver; Shout, Adam, shoe-maker; Strayhorn, Nathaniel; St. Clair, John; Taylor, James Graham; Taylor, William, tailor; Truitt, Andrew; Watkins, Joseph, weaver; Wetzel, Jacob; Whitmer, Peter, blacksmith; Wigton, John; Wilson, Hugh, (Ridge;) Wright, John; Wolfe, Michael; Young, Jacob; Zeihrung, John. Philip Callahan was one of the principal school-teachers in the 318 ANNALS OF BUFFALO VALLEY. [1799. Valley. He had a large account at Henry Spyker's store for whisky and tobacco. The difficulty between Reverend Hugh Morrison and Honorable Samuel Maclay terminated in a suit for slander. Morrison vs. Maclay, 101 August term; Evan R. Evans for plaintiff, Messrs. Moore, Cooper, and Roberts for defendant. It was regularly continued until 1817, when the clients and most of the lawyers had appeared before another bar. George Frederick started the first hotel at Buffalo Cross-Roads. In 1799, Mifflinburg was the largest town in the Valley. Its resi- dents were Ayers, James, shoe-maker; Bartges, Michael, nailor; Barton, Kimber, tavern-keeper; Black, William, shoe-maker; Carmony, John, shoe-maker; Carothers, Moses; Clark, Daniel, tanner; Clark, Adam, jobber; Collins, Michael, jobber; Crotzer, John, carpenter; Crotzer, Jacob, tailor; Derr Christian, joiner; Dreisbach, John, gunsmith; Earnhart, John, blacksmith; Eilert, Christopher, farmer; Ely, John, clock-maker; Evans, Nathan, saddler; Forster, James, tavern-keeper; George, Simon, laborer; Getgen, Ludwig, mason; Gibbons, John, joiner; Hassenplug, Henry, brewer; Herring, Adam; Herrington, Nathan, cooper; Holmes, Robert, store-keeper; Holmes, Jonathan, jobber; Irvine, John, store-keeper; Layman, Michael, joiner; Lighty, John, tanner; Longabaugh, Henry, laborer; Moss, Patrick, jobber; Neel, Henry, tailor; Paget, George, school-teacher; Patterson, John; Patton, Andrew, wheelwright; Peters, Philip, carter; Rockey, Jacob; Rote, Widow; Rudy, Nicholas, tailor; Russ, Charles; Russ, George, tailor; Sampsel, Nicholas, wheelwright; Shock, Michael, carpenter; Shock, Jacob, blacksmith; Skiles, James; Van Buskirk, Richard, tavern-keeper; Wagner, Christopher, farmer; Webb, John, hatter; Welker, Jacob, tailor; Welker, William, jobber; Young, Peter, shoemaker; Youngman, Elias; Youngman, George, post-master; Youngman, Thomas, store-keeper. Additional Taxables in Penn's - Adams, John, weaver; Anderson, Jacob, inn-keeper; Auple, Peter, inn-keeper; Balliet, Nicholas, tanner; Bard, Jacob, skin-dresser; Berger, Bostian, weaver; Berry, John, potter; Beyer, Christian, carpenter; Bleiler, David, millwright; Bloom, Henry, weaver; Bowersox, George A., mason; Bower, Philip, inn-keeper; Boyer, John, blacksmith; Bryan, George, 1799.] ANNALS OF BUFFALO VALLEY. 319 tailor; Bucher, John, blacksmith; Bull, Nicholas, tailor; Bum, Peter, saw-mill; Clymer, Isaac, shoemaker; Cooper, Martin, cooper; Dauberman, John, carpenter; Deitz, Jacob, blacksmith; Engel, George, weaver; Epler, John, nailor; Esterlin, Frederick, carpenter; Etzweiler, George, potter; Filman, John, weaver; Fisher, Peter, weaver; Frey, David, shoe-maker; Fuehrer, Joseph, tobacconist; Gaughler, Nicholas, gunsmith; Gemberling, Jacob, nailor; Gemberling, George, carpenter; Giltner, Christian, carpenter; Grove, Richard, saddler; Grub, John, carpenter; Hackenberg, John, carpenter; Hager, John, died; Haines, John and George, wheelwrights; Harland, Thomas, miller; Holtzapple, Henry, miller; Hummel, Jacob, distiller; Hummel, Frederick, shoe- maker; Kelly, John, carpenter; Kratzer, Benjamin, shoe-maker; Kreider, Isaac, carpenter; Kuhn, Jacob, weaver; Leist, Andrew, mason; Long, Peter, shoe-maker; Maurer, John, nailor; Merkel, George, turner; Meyer, John, son of Stephen, shoe-maker; Meyer, Jacob, son of Stephen, tailor; Miller, George, tailor; Neaman, Peter, fiddler; Nelson, John, tailor; Oberdorf, Henry, mason; Oswald, John, tailor; Row, John and Frederick, masons; Rupp, George, carpenter; Shearer, Andrew, blacksmith; Shock, Jacob, blacksmith; Snyder, John, tailor; Snyder, George, shoe-maker; Snyder, George, inn-keeper; Snyder, Simon, junior, inn-keeper; Spade, George, mason; Straw, Andrew, hatter; Stump, Jacob, shoe-maker; Wales, James, millwright; Weiser, Benjamin, tailor; Weikel, Christian, tailor; Werlin, Michael, ferry and saw-mill; Westman, Jacob, carpenter; Wittenmayer, Michael, clock-maker; Wolf, Philip, millwright; Yoder, Henry, carpenter; Yoder, Jacob, potter. Beaver, additional Residents, &c. - Aurand, Daniel; Barlet, Jacob; Blompon, Conrad, mill; Cummings, John; Fry, Jacob and Abraham; Gilman, Henry; Grosscope, Samuel; Heil, Daniel; Howell, John, fulling-mill; Lehr, William; Manning, Richard; Middlesworth, John; Miller, John; Peters, Jacob; Reigeldorf, Adam; Romig, Joseph, mills; Rote, Jacob and John; Smith, Adam; Steele, Adam; Sterninger, Dewalt; Wise, John, miller; Zerns, Jacob, paper mill. Single Men - Hoyn, Henry, in a store with Henry Aurand; Kern, Adam; Kern, Peter; Mussina, Zacharias; Weber, John. At the October election, Thomas McKean received, in Northum- 320 ANNALS OF BUFFALO VALLEY. [1799. berland county, 2,997 votes; James Ross, of Pittsburgh, 637 for Governor. Jacob Fulmer and Simon Snyder were the two highest candidates for Assembly, Fulmer having 3,569; Snyder, 3,047. Deaths. On the 18th of February, Martin Dreisbach, senior, aged eighty- two. He emigrated from Germany in 1752, and came into Buffalo Valley in 1773, having purchased from Doctor William Plunket the tract still owned by the Dreisbachs. He left four sons, Henry, Jacob, John, and Martin, junior. Henry went to Ohio in the year 1804, and laid out the town of Circleville. Jacob died on John Dunkle's farm. John lived and died at Mifflinburg. George, Ellis, and John were his sons. Martin, junior, died at his place, near the church. Martin, senior, was of the German Reformed faith, and donated seven acres of his place for church and grave-yard purposes. "The Dreisbach Church" will be his memorial in all future time. One of his daughters married Henry Aurand; another, Peter Fisher. Honorable Martin Dreisbach, (third,) and Honorable John Dreisbach, formerly of the State Legislature, are of his grandchildren. Philip Stahl, of White Deer. (He was a brother of Jacob.) His children were John, Jacob, Philip, and Peter. Thomas Wilson. February 23, Thomas Wilson, of East Buffalo. He lived on the Meixell place, (fair ground.) His grandfather was the first to pass the Boyne, when William of Orange defeated the Irish Papists. For his services he drew two hundred and sixty acres of land. He resided within a mile of Coats' Hill, county town of Cavan, in the north of Ireland. He owned a large body of land there, having sixty tenants. His son Thomas had but one child, Hugh, to whom his estates descended. The latter disliked living among the Papists so much, that he sold his estates, and came to America, and finally settled in the forks of the Delaware. Hugh bought twelve hundred acres of land of the Allens, but lost six hundred, a superior title intervening. His farm in Northampton was owned, in 1844, by a man named Levan, had mills upon it, and is very valuable, In 1737, he, with Colonel 1799.] ANNALS OF BUFFALO VALLEY. 321 Martin, laid out the town of Easton, and, with Judge Craig, organized and held the first court held in Northampton county, in 1752. He left a large family. 1. William Wilson, a merchant, in Philadelphia. He went to the West Indies, and died there. 2. Ann, married to Reverend McReynolds, of Deep Run, Presbyterian preacher. 3. Elizabeth, married to Captain William Craig. 4. Charles, father of Judge Hugh Wilson, of the Ridge, some of whose grandchildren are still in the Valley: Robert, a merchant at Mifflinburg; Charles, a grandson, is baggage-master on the Pennsylvania road, at Altoona. 5. Samuel. 6. Margaret, married to McNair. 7. Francis, went back to the old country, and returned an Episcopal minister; settled near Mount Vernon, taught in General Lee's family, and was intimate in General Washington's family. His family called him "Aun Boyne," to remind him that he had made too great concessions in becoming an Episcopalian. 8. Thomas Wilson, whose death we are recording. He was twelve or thirteen years of age, when his father, Hugh, moved his family to America, making their emigration about 1730. He spent a great deal of his means purchasing flour, and forwarding it to the revolutionary army. He was paid in Continental money, and his loss on its depreciation was about seven thousand dollars, which reduced his circumstances very materially. He sold out his place in Northampton, moved to the Susquehanna, and bought the place now owned (1877) by Joseph Meixell's heirs, about one half mile from Lewisburg, where he died. His grave is under the steps of the Presbyterian church. It was not disturbed by the building, but the tombstones of himself and his son Francis, were removed to the Wilson lot, in the Lewisburg cemetery. His widow, whose name before marriage was Elizabeth Hayes, moved, in 1803, with her sons, William and Thomas, to Beaver county, where she died in 1818. Their children were Hugh, father of Francis Wilson; Sarah, married to Richard Fruit, moved to Mercer county, died in the spring of 1844; Elizabeth, married to James Duncan, of Aaronsburg; she died in 1797; Mary, married to Jonathan Coulter, sheriff of Beaver county; William Wilson, died in Beaver, 1841; James Wilson, attorney-at-law, died in New Orleans, 1800; Margaret Wilson, married John Thomas, storekeeper, at Hartley, moved to Beaver; Thomas Wilson, of Beaver, who died 6th July, 1860, aged eighty- 322 ANNALS OF BUFFALO VALLEY. [1800. five years; Colonel Joseph H. Wilson, of the one hundred and first Pennsylvania, who died near White House, Virginia, July 11, 1862, was his son. He had been district attorney of Beaver county, and a member of the Legislature. Thomas Wilson left ten children, residing in Beaver county.