HEADER
Chapter 33
Red Bank TownshipFORMER INDIAN NAME — RAFTING — EARLY SETTLEMENT –PHOENIX FURNACE —
“PRESQUE ISLE” — PIERCE — EDDYVILLE — INDEPENDENCE — MC WILLIAMS
— NORTH FREEDOM — OAK RIDGE — MUDLICK — STATISTICS — SCHOOLS —
GEOLOGICAL STRUCTUREThe present township of Red Bank contains only about one sixth or one
seventh of the territory included within its former limits. All of Red Bank
and Mahoning and a part of Madison townships in this county, and all of Red
Bank, Porter, Monroe, Limestone, Clarion and Mill Creek townships in Clarion
county were included in the original township of Red Bank.The name of this township is of course derived from Red Bank creek. The
Indian name of this stream was Lycamahoning, derived from Lycoming and
Mahoning — the former corrupted from Legauihanne, a sandy stream; the latter
corrupted from Mahonink, signifying where there is a lick. Lycamahoning, then,
must mean a sandy stream flowing from a lick, that is, Sandy Lick, which was
the name of this stream as late as 1792 from its source to its mouth,
according to Reading Howell’s map of that year. It bore that name even later.
By the act of Assembly of March 21, 1798, “Sandy Lick or Red Bank
creek” was declared to be a public stream or highway “from the mouth
up to the second or great fork.”Its original name was changed to Red Bank, by which it has been known by
the oldest inhabitants now living in the region through which it flows.
Perhaps the change may have been suggested by the red color of the soil of its
banks many miles up from its mouth. This stream was first used by Joseph
Barnett for the transportation of lumber in 1806.RAFTINGBarnett, the first white settler in Jefferson county, Pa., settled at Port
Barnett in that county prior to 1799. He and his brother-in-law, John Scott,
erected a sawmill there in the spring or early part of summer in 1806. Several
Indians were there the day the mill was raised, whom Barnett invited to dine
with him. They accepted his invitation. After dinner one of them remarked,
“Dinner — Indian sleep an hour — then strong.” They then went off
into the woods, their host supposing that he would not see them again that
day. They, however, returned in the course of an hour and vigorously aided in
raising the mill and partook of supper. The first lot of lumber which Barnett
and Scott sent down the Red Bank was a small platform of timber, which Clark
aided in running to the Allegheny river with poles instead of oars as the
propelling power. This was a rough stream, on which rafting was then very
difficult. Iron used to be transported in those early times on packhorses, in
wagons, and on sleds from Center county to Port Barnett, some of which was
sent down this creek on rafts which were occasionally wrecked on a bar between
Timber Island and the river. As the iron was thus scattered about on that bar
it received and it has retained the name of “Iron bar.”FLOODSThere was a high flood in this stream in 1806 which reached eight to ten
feet up the trees on the flat where Fairmount now is, as related by Lewis
Daubenspecht, who saw the grass, sticks and other drift which the Indians told
him were lodged in the forks of these trees when that flood subsided. There
were twenty-one feet of water on the riffle at New Bethlehem, Oct. 8, 1847,
which swept away bridges, Hass’, Knapp’s, and Robinson’s mills and milldams.
Another one, Sept. 28-29, 1861, twenty two feet high, did less damage than the
preceding one. These floods were greatly exceeded by that of 1912, which
reached the highest point ever known in the county’s history.In 1817 an act of Assembly was passed, appropriating $1,000 for the purpose
of improving this creek, and Levi Gibson and Samuel C. Orr were appointed
commissioners.That act also made it lawful for all persons owning lands adjoining this
stream to erect milldams across it, and other waterworks along it, to keep
them in good repair, and draw off enough water to operate them on their own
land, but required them “to make a slope from the top, descending fifteen
feet for every foot the dam is high, and not less than forty feet in
breadth,” so as to afford a good navigation and not to infringe the
rights and privileges of any owner of private property.The first flatboat fleet that descended this stream was piloted by Samuel
Knapp, in full Indian costume, in 1832 or 1833 — two boats loaded with sawed
lumber, owned by Uriah Matson, which found a good market in Cincinnati, with
the proceeds of which Matson purchased the goods with which he opened his
store at Brookville, Jefferson county.By the act of Assembly April 17, 1854, the Red Bank Navigation Company was
incorporated, and authorized, among other things, to clean and clear the Red
Bank, Sandy Lick and North Fork creeks of all rocks, bars and other
obstructions; to erect other dams and locks; to regulate the chutes of dams;
to control the waters by brackets and otherwise for the purpose of navigation;
to levy tolls on boards and other sawed stuff, square and other timber, and
boats that might pass down these creeks, to be collected at the mouth of Red
Bank. The company had begun the work of improvement before the charter was
granted, and had already expended over $8,000. Much of the blasting between
New Bethlehem and the mouth of the creek was done by Lewis W. Corbett in 1850.
EARLY SETTLEMENT
Some of the settlers of this township at different periods were: Joshua
Anderson, Jacob Shick, Henry Nulf, James Coulter, William Freas, Stephen B.
Young, Robert Morrison, Hugh Campbell, Alexander Colwell, Thomas Hamilton,
Alexander Craig, Thomas McConnell, Frederick Yount, Isaac Redinger, David
Yerger, John Organ, James Morgan, Charles Coleman, Arthur Fleming, Henry
Featter, James Kerr, John Holwig, Joseph Lankert, Peter Gearhart, Hugh Martin,
John McDonald, William Hannegan, Andrew Guthrie, George Wheatcroft, Philip
Kuntzleman, Isaac Cruse, Samuel Craig, George Weinberg, John Holben, Charles
Miller, George Geist, George Mitchell, John Shirey, Jonathan Mahoney, John
Hess, Jacob Stohlman.The isolation of this part of the county and the frequent incursions of the
Indians prevented the settlement of Red Bank township till long after other
parts had been well supplied with homesteaders.Philip Mechling, who died in 1883, remembers seeing but one house between
Yost Smith’s ferry on the Red Bank, in the northwestern part, and Martin’s
ferry, on the Mahoning, in the southeastern part, of this township, as he
passed from one to the other when he was collecting the United States internal
revenue tax in 1817-18, which was in the vicinity of the latter ferry. There
was but a slight increase of population throughout this township until after
the resumption of the sale of the Holland Lands in1830.One of the first settlers on Red Bank was Yost Smith, in 1807, who located
at the point where once existed an Indian village called “Old Town.”
Smith’s place was a popular resort for lumbermen in the early days of rafting,
owing to the brand of whiskey dispensed by him and the excellent cooking of
his wife.Peter Stone settled near Smith’s in 1815 and ran a ferry at that point
until 1827.A ferry on the Mahoning near the present town of Independence was
established in 1803 by Hugh Martin. His outfit consisted of one canoe, and the
assessors did not deem it of sufficient value to assess it.A flaxseed mill was erected by William Freas in 1825 on Red Bank creek and
operated until 1834. The first gristmill was put in operation in 1836 by Adam
Beck, on the Mahoning near the site of the present town of Eddyville. He
afterward added a distillery.In 1833 Isaac Redinger put up a sawmill near the present site of North
Freedom. Another mill was operated in 1849 by McCrea & Galbraith on the
Mahoning, near the site of Phoenix furnace. Daniel Hough started the first
tannery in 1842. Salt works were worked on the east side of the Mahoning in
1868, near the furnace, producing an average of eight barrels per day. The
well, 425 feet deep, was drilled by John Mock.
OLD IRON FURNACES
Phoenix furnace was located in1846 near the eastern line of the township,
close to the corners of Jefferson and Indiana counties, on the Mahoning. The
first owners were Henry Smith, W. B. Travis, Jonathan Grider and Andrew G.
Workman. It was operated in 1849 by Smith & Guthrie, and in 1850 by George
B. McFarland. This furnace was distinguished from its use of the red hematite
ore found near Milton on the lands of Hugh Allen and Wesley Coleman. This ore
was lean and of poorer quality than the buhrstone usually available elsewhere,
so, lacking the latter and dependent entirely upon the former, the furnace was
closed down in 1853, after an unsuccessful run. The methods of operation were
similar to those of the other furnaces in the county.McCrea furnace was built in 1857 by McCrea & Galbraith on the Mahoning.
It was similar to the Phoenix and ran the same course, with the exception of
using buhrstone ore. The town of McCrea furnace marks its site.
“PRESQUE ISLE”
The first attempt at founding a town was made by Archibald Glenn, who , in
1844, laid out the village of Presque Isle, probably named from the fort of
that name located in 1753, at the present site of Erie. James Stewart platted
the prospective town, and the first house was erected in 1852. Assessment
lists are poor sources of information regarding the location of a place, for
there are no definite details respecting “Presque Isle City,” as it
was called in1853, to be obtained from the books of that year, and until 1858,
when the last report was made. From statements of early settlers this little
place is supposed to have been located on or near the present settlement of
McGregor. For some reason the projected town did not grow. It reached its
greatest size in 1858, when the taxables were fifteen and property valuation
$1,303. The next year, however, the taxables were only two and the valuation
$283. Thereafter, like a ghost, it disappeared from the rolls and the memory
of the “oldest inhabitant.”
PIERCE OR “NEW SALEM”
In 1827 Tobias Shick settled on the tract north of the center of the
township on the west end of which in 1850 was laid out the town of New Salem.
The first separate assessment was for the year of 1853, when there were one
church, one physician — Dr. Alex P. Albright, a “Know Nothing,” one
carpenter and seventeen other taxables. The total valuation then was $1,270.The Evangelical, or “Albright Methodist,” called the Salem
Church, at this place was organized by Rev. Daniel Long about 1851, and its
frame edifice was erected the next year, when the membership was about fifty.
In 1876 it was 400, and they owned a parsonage. Services were held here
occasionally in later years.The United Evangelical Lutheran Church is also located here, the building
having been erected in1893. The pastor now is Rev. J. T. Shaffer.The first dwelling house (including a storeroom) was built by Jonathan
Houpt, the second by Peter Aulenbaucher, and the third by William Buffington
and Adam Miller. The Pierce post office was established here Dec. 14, 1857,
Solomon Wyant postmaster, whose successors up to 1876 were William Buffington
and Peter Hoch. The latter is still in business here. The present postmaster
is William H. Copenhaver. Another storekeeper is W. E. Miller.The assessment list for 1876 shows: Preacher, 1; school teacher, 1;
blacksmiths, 2; shoemakers, 2. Number of taxables, 23, representing a
population of 105. One of the citizens of this place, William Buffington, was
elected county commissioner in 1872, and re-elected in 1875. One of the Red
Bank district schoolhouses is situated in the upper part of this town, a short
distance west of the church, near the intersection of the public roads.
EDDYVILLE
At the juncture of Pine run and the Mahoning is an eddy which was called
Kuhn’s Eddy, from John Kuhn, who settled there in 1838 and built a sawmill,
which was afterward successively the property of Isaac Butler, James E. Brown,
Adam Beck, Francis Dobbs, John Bechtel, Jeremiah Bonner and George D. Smith,
up to 1872. Just previous to Kuhn’s settlement Adam Beck had put up a
gristmill near the same location.These industries attracted settlers, and in 1857 the town of Eddyville was
established with Turney S. Orr as postmaster. In 1876 it had, besides the two
mills, a distillery, a store, a boatyard, a blacksmith shop and about a dozen
houses.St. Mark’s Evangelical Lutheran Church was organized as a union
congregation between 1839 and 1842. The exact date is not known. At that time
Rev. Jacob F. Diefenbacher, a Reformed clergyman, ministered to the
congregation. His successor was Rev. John Althouse, of the same denomination.
The first Lutheran pastor was Rev. John G. Young, who preached occasionally in
the German language, between 1848 and 1864. Services were held in the home of
J. D. Smith, one and a half miles north of Eddyville. Two Sunday schools were
operated, one in Foreman’s schoolhouse, under Archie Glenn, and the other in
Fleming’s schoolhouse, nearer town, under the charge of Mr. Fleming. When the
first church was built Mr. Glenn assumed the entire charge of the school. In
1900 Rev. Charles E. Berkey reorganized the school as a strictly Lutheran one.Among the earliest members of the congregation were the Nulf, Smith, Beck,
Daubenspecht, Long, Holibaugh, Rugh and Rumbaugh families. A complete list is
not at hand. About 1865 the two denominations erected their first home, a
wooden one. It was used until 1903, when the Lutherans withdrew and built a
$3,000 church at Eddyville. The Reformed congregation rebuilt the church and
remained at the old location, which is on the hill above the Mahoning creek,
in Mahoning township. This church is served by Rev. H. S. Garner of Dayton.The pastors of the Lutherans have been Revs. J. G. Young, 1848-64; Henry
Gathers, 1864-68; H. Fetzer, 1868-71; W. E. Crebs, 1871-73; David Townsend,
1873-75; Wilson Selner, 1875-81; Elias A. Best, 1883-86; vacant from 1886 to
1893; William J Bucher, 1893-97; F. J. Matter, 1897-1900; C. E. Berkey,
1900-03; W. B. Clancy, 1903-10; The present pastor is Rev. William E. Sunday.
The church membership is 40, and the Sabbath school, 50.
INDEPENDENCE
The year 1855 saw the birth of this town, which is located in the deep bend
of the Mahoning at the extreme southern end of the township, cutting a corner
out of Wayne township. By the assessment rolls of 1859 it contained five
taxables, one sawmill, a foundry and a blacksmith shop. The valuation that
year was $1,245. The last separate assessment the next year gave practically
the same figures. Michael Hileman built the sawmill in 1853. Isaac Hopkins
started the foundry in 1852. These industries were successively owned by
Glenn, Hopkins & Co., 1859; E. V. Thomas, 1861; Hopkins & Lamb, 1865,
and Hopkins & Thompson, 1867-78. Michael Smith operates the foundry now,
producing stove castings and doing general repairs. There are few houses there
now, and no stores or churches. Milton, Wayne township, across the creek,
supplies the inhabitants with the necessities of life.Â
MC WILLIAMS OR “CHARLESTON”The fine mill site at the junction of Mudlick creek and Pine creek
attracted the attention of Adam Smith in 1854 and here he built a dam, ran a
sluice over the edge of a hill and erected a gristmill in the forks, adding
soon thereafter a store. He had settled here in 1830 and by 1844 his house was
the place of holding township elections. According to the assessment list of
1862 the town which had grown up at this point was called
“Charleston,” and contained the mill, ten dwellings, a schoolhouse,
sawmill, blacksmith shop and a distillery, owned by John W. Smith & Bro.
In 1864 the gristmill was owned by Charles W. Ellenberger. It was later run by
W. M. Brocius, but is now idle. The sawmill was also operated by Brocius, who
sold it to the Andrews Lumber Company, they operating it till 1907.The present town is called McWilliams and consists of eight dwelling
houses, a store kept by N. M. Richards, a church and a schoolhouse. The United
Evangelical church was built in 1894 and the present pastor is Rev. Robert
Schaffer.None of the industries are now in operation and the dam has been destroyed.
NORTH FREEDOM
The tract on which the flourishing town of North Freedom is situated was
settled in 1833 by Isaac Redinger, who built the sawmill there. In 1871
Jonathan Yount founded the town and named it. Its site is in the northeastern
corner of the township, on the Jefferson county line. In 1880 it contained
about twenty houses, a postoffice (established in 1878), two stores and a
church, erected in 1848 by the German Reformed and Lutheran denominations
jointly. The first Lutheran pastor was Rev. J. G. Young and the Reformed, Rev.
L. D. Lateman. The joint building committee was composed of George Coleman and
Peter Minnich, Lutheran, and John Shirey and Jacob Zeats, Reformed. These
congregations have since divided and built separate homes. George W. Baughman
is the present storekeeper. The pastor of the Reformed church is H. A.
Hartman. The Lutheran church is not in use now.
OAK RIDGE
This attractive little town is built on the southern shore of Red Bank
creek, in the northwest corner of this township. The name is singularly
appropriate, even at the present date, for all of the great oaks of the past
are not yet cut away, a few remaining to uphold the honor of the name.Emanual Evangelical church is situated near this town. It was built in
1851, is of brick and quite well preserved. The building committee of the date
of its birth were George Coleman, Philip Houpt, Jacob Shelly and Jacob Shick,
and the first pastor was Rev. J. G. Young. Occasional services are held there
now.This section is quite an educational center, having three schools in a
radius of three miles, and much rivalry is exhibited in the competition for
first position on the monthly reports. The teachers at present session are
Miss Emma Brocius, No. 1; Miss Margaret Robinson, No. 2; Mr. W. Drummond, No.
3.M. F. Smith is the postmaster at Oak Ridge and David Wolff has the
principal store here.
MUDLICK
This settlement, which will probably grow into a town in a few years, was
started in 1913 by the opening of Cobaugh Colliery Company’s mines, which were
idle for eight years past. The former owners worked out four veins and
abandoned operations owing to failure to obtain new leases. Their rights and
plant have been purchased by the Pine Run Coal Company, who are preparing to
open several new mines and are building homes for the operatives. Two
enterprising young men, D. B. Procius of New Bethlehem, and M. M. Shick of
Mudlick, have opened the first store at the latter place.
STATISTICS
The assessment list of this township, exclusive of Freedom, Milton and New
Salem, for 1876, exclusive of farmers, shows: County superintendent, 1;
physician, 1; school teachers, 2; blacksmiths, 4; carpenters, 3; merchant, 1;
mason, 1; millers, 2; machinist, 1; laborers, 10; wagonmaker, 1. According to
the mercantile appraiser’s list there were five merchants, all in the
fourteenth class.The first census taken after Red Bank township was reduced to its present
area by the organization of other townships was that of 1860, which shows its
population then to have been: White, 1,304; colored, 1. In 1870: native,
1,335; foreign, 6. The number of taxables, including those of the
above-mentioned towns, in 1876, was 376, representing a population of 1,729.In 1890 the population was 1,892; in 1900 it was 2,289; and in 1910 it was
2,079.The assessment returns for 1913 show: Number of acres, timber, 5,526,
cleared, 13,602, valued at $206,706; houses and lots, 232, value, $37,165,
average, $160.19; horses, 394, value, $19,380, average, $49.18; cows, 409,
value, $5,858, average, $14.32; taxable occupations, 641, amount, $12,025;
total valuation, $285,601. Money at interest, $42,941.
SCHOOLS
The first little log schoolhouse in the township was on Red Bank creek,
near the present town of Oak Ridge, and was built in 1828. Another was put up
on the site of the present one at North Freedom in 1833.In 1860 the number of schools was 10; average number of months taught, 4;
male teachers, 8; female, 2; average salaries male teachers per month, $17;
female teachers, $17; male scholars, 240; female scholars, 200; average number
attending school, 266; cost of teaching each scholar per month, 43 cents;
amount levied for school purposes, $900; received from State appropriations,
$79.59; from collectors, $1,200; cost of instruction, $664; fuel, etc., $90;
repairing schoolhouses, etc., $40.In 1876 the number of schools was 12; average number of months taught, 5;
male teachers, 12; average monthly salaries, $27.50; male scholars, 241;
female scholars, 244; average number attending school, 343; cost per month, 70
cents; amount tax levied for school and building purposes, $1,772.84; received
from State appropriations, $314.31; from taxes and other sources, $1,973.04;
cost of schoolhouses, repairs, etc., $88.68; paid teachers’ wages, $1,625;
fuel, etc., $228.30.In 1913 the number of schools was 15; months taught, 7; male teachers, 6;
female teachers, 9; average salaries, male, $43.33; female, $45.55; male
scholars, 269; female scholars, 245; average attendance, 349; cost per month,
each scholar, $1.53; tax levied, $3,061.73; received from State, $3,263.06;
other sources $3,571.26; value of schoolhouses, $9,000; teachers’ wages,
$4,690; other expenses, $1,218.81.The school directors are: H. E. Gruber, president; C. E. Shaffer,
secretary; R. H. F. Miller, treasurer; David Wolfe, B. F. Geist.
GEOLOGICAL STRUCTURE
The geological features of this township are generally indicated by the
following section, obtained above Smith’s sawmill on Pine run: Sandstone, 10
feet; upper Freeport coal, 5 feet, 8 inches; olive shale, 10 feet; Freeport
sandstone, blue shale, 10 feet; lower Freeport coal, shale, 5 feet; sandstone
(Freeport), 73 feet; black slate, four feet; Kittanning coal, 3 feet; olive
shale, 20 feet; ferriferous limestone, 8 feet; 80 feet above the run by
estimation.Furthermore, near the forks of the Mahoning and Little Mahoning the
Freeport limestone appears eighty feet above the water. At the crossing of the
Elderton road, over the Mahoning creek, the strata begin to dip more steeply
and soon the ferriferous limestone and its overlying Kittanning coal rise from
the water. The upper Freeport coal is seen a little east of the road, 150 or
200 feet above the creek, the Freeport limestone occurring at a lower level
opposite. The Greendale anticlinal crosses somewhat below Glade run, but so
rapidly does it decline, like all the others, to the southwest, that on the
Cowanshannock it does not lift the ferriferous limestone to water level,
although where the axis crosses the Mahoning that bed is at a considerable
height in the hillsides.The rocks here represented above water level belong mainly to the lower
productive group, the lower barrens being scarcely seen at all within the
limits of the township. The conglomerate and sub-conglomerate rocks make the
lower portions of the slopes along Mahoning creek, as explained in the sketch
of Wayne township, and the same rocks are seen occupying the same positions
past Eddyville and so on to the mouth of Little Mud Lick. Similar conditions
prevail along Red Bank creek, but the structure necessitates a much less area
for their exposure there. Thus the ferriferous limestone remains high above
the water level of the Mahoning along the southern edge of the township, while
along the Red Bank it gradually approaches the creek, which it finally touches
below McWilliams. Very little of the upper Freeport coal is represented, there
being only a few isolated knobs high enough to hold it. A few such knobs are
found southeast of Pierce, a few more west of this village, while at the
western edge of the township the coal is brought down from its high level to
dip under the western side of the valley of Little Mud Lick. Wherever found it
is a workable coal-bed and is usually accompanied by its limestone. The lower
Freeport coal is also present but unimportant. The upper Kittanning coal here
assumes its cannel feature over a considerable area, and it has been
repeatedly opened by the farmers. The cannel portions of the bed are from ten
to twelve feet thick, and here and there quite good, though very slaty. The
whole nature of the deposit makes the bed unreliable in point of persistency.
The lower Kittanning coal is three feet thick. The ferriferous limestone is
from eight to ten feet thick, and so favorably situated on the hills that it
can be cheaply worked for quarry lime. Little use of it has, however, been
made.The elevation above ocean level at Maysville is 1,107 feet; at Pine run,
1,100; at Millville, 1,092; at Indiantown run, 1,089 feet.The loftiest point in the township is reached near Camp run, in the western
end, and is 1,566 feet above the sea.Source: Page(s) 245-251, Armstrong County, Pa., Her People, Past and
Present, J. H. Beers & Co., 19114.
Transcribed July 2001 by James R. Hindman for the Armstrong County Smith
Project.
Contributed by James R. Hindman for use by the Armstrong County Genealogy
Project (http://www.pa-roots.com/armstrong/)Armstrong County Genealogy Project Notice:
These electronic pages cannot be reproduced in any format, for any
presentation, without prior written permission.Return to the Beers Project
Â
Return to the
Armstrong County Genealogy ProjectÂ
Return to the
Armstrong County Genealogy Project
Return to the
Armstrong County Genealogy Project
(c) Armstrong County
Genealogy Project
About Author
