Chapter 1
Historical Sketch of Armstrong County
Part 3
MORE FAVORABLE CIRCUMSTANCES.
Wiser legislation, Gen. Wayne’s treaty with the Indians at Fort Grenville,
Ohio, and other causes, operated favorably in causing permanent settlements to
be made in this section of the state, from and after 1796. Such had been the
increase of population therein that the Legislature, by act of March 12, 1800,
organized the counties of Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Erie, Venango and Warren.POPULATION AND NATIONALITY OF EARLY SETTLERS.
In 1800 the population of Armstrong county, when its territory was more
extensive than it now is, was 2,339; in 1810 it was 6,143; in 1820 it was
10,234; in 1830 it was 17,625; in 1840 it was 18,685. After deducting the
number in that portion detached in the formation of Clarion county in 1850, it
was 29,500; in 1860 it was 35,797; in 1870 it was 43,382. The number of
taxable inhabitants in 1870 was 9,335. Dividing the whole population by the
number of taxables gives 4 621/1000, or about 4 3/5 inhabitants for each
taxable. The number of taxables this year is 11,843, which multiplied by 4
3/5, gives 54,477 as the total population of this county in the centennial
year, 1876. The colored population was 96 in 1830, 129 in 1850, 178 in 1860,
179 in 1870.The early settlers of this county were chiefly of Scotch-Irish and German
descent. Most of the former came from Westmoreland and adjacent counties, and
most of the latter from Lehigh and Northampton.CABIN BUILDING � NEIGHBORLY KINDNESS.
In early times, in this as in other counties, neighbors were sparse and
less independent than in older and denser society. Neighborly kindness was
then cordial as well as necessary. The interchange of obliging acts was
frequent and pleasing. If, for instance, a log cabin was to be raised, the
inhabitants from several miles around would assemble where the cabin was to be
erected, with their teams, axes, and other implements needed for the purpose.
Such a cabin was generally one and a half stories high, roofed with clapboards
and weight-poles, with openings cut in the side and end of the building for a
door and chimney. The logs were round, the loft was covered with split
puncheons, and the chimney was chunked and daubed. The walls and roof were
made from the stump in a single day. The work was cheerfully done by neighbors
for a neighbor. At the close of the day, when their work of charity was done,
the ground floor was cleared and then followed a jolly hoe-down until
midnight, the dancers and lookers on being exhilarated by what was left of the
contents of a five-gallon keg of whisky, which was placed, at the beginning of
the dance, in a corner of the room. The light of science had not then
disclosed to these good-hearted pioneers in the wilderness the true character
of the mocking fiend that lurked in their whisky-kegs.GAME.
For years after the early settlement there was an abundance of deer, wild
turkeys, rabbits, squirrels, foxes, crows and partridges. Wolves must have
been troublesome, for there are several items of amounts paid for wolf scalps,
and wolf orders in the statement of the final settlement made between the
commissioners of Armstrong and Westmoreland counties in 1808: For 1803, wolf
scalps, $195.67; for 1804, wolf orders, $139.33; for 1805, wolf orders,
$96.60; for 1806, wolf orders, $104; for 1807, wolf orders, $8; for 1808, wolf
orders, $24. Total for those years, $567.60. The bounty paid for a full-grown
wolf’s or panther’s scalp was $8 until 1820, and after that $12. Trivial
amounts are still paid annually for fox scalps. Crows and squirrels must have
been destructive pests, for it was provided by the act of March 4, 1807, that
a tax of $300 be levied, out of which the county treasurer was required to pay
for all scalps produced to and receipted by a justice of the peace and then
burned, viz., for each crow’s scalp, three cents; for each squirrel’s scalp,
one and one-half cents.AMUSEMENTS.
The amusements in rural districts in early times consisted chiefly of
frolics, or, as elsewhere called, bees, grubbings, rail-maulings, corn-huskings,
quiltings, singing-schools at private houses, and occasional dances at
frolics. In 1828 there was a prevalent mania for circular fox and wolf hunts.
The areas of the several circles covered nearly the entire territory of the
county. Several columns in the papers were filled with notices of the routes,
times and arrangements. Those hunts temporarily excited a deep and general
interest in the aged, middle-aged, and the young. They were designed not only
for amusement, but for the beneficial purpose of exterminating these
pestiferous and destructive animals. Yet the Indiana and Jefferson Whig
denounced them as demoralizing and causing a useless waste of time.THE ARMSTRONG PURCHASE.
Gen. Armstrong purchased from the proprietors of the then Province of
Pennsylvania 556 � acres with the usual allowances. The tract was surveyed to
him by virtue of a proprietary letter to the secretary, dated May 29, 1771, on
November 5, 1794. The patent for that tract bears date March 22, 1775. It is
thus described: “A certain tract of land called ‘Victory,’ etc. Beginning
at a marked black oak11 by the side of the Allegheny River; thence
by vacant hills east thirty-eight perches to a marked white oak; south four
degrees, west one hundred and ten perches to a marked maple; south
seventy-nine degrees, east forty-seven perches to a marked white oak; north
thirteen degrees, east one hundred and thirteen perches to a marked white oak;
south seventy-seven degrees, east forty-nine perches to a marked black oak;
south forty degrees, east ninety-six perches to a marked white oak; south two
and three-fourths degrees, east four hundred and fifty-four perches to a
marked sugar-tree; south six degrees, west eighty-four perches to a marked
hickory12 at the side of the Allegheny River aforesaid; thence up
the same river seven hundred and two perches to the place of beginning,
containing five hundred and fifty-six and one-half acres and the usual
allowances, including the Indian town and settlement called Kittanning.”
That tract of land, with other property, was devised by the will of Gen.
Armstrong, proven July 25, 1797, to his two sons, John and James. The former
was secretary of war during a part of Madison’s administration.COUNTY SEAT.
The seat of justice of this county was directed by act of assembly to be
located at a distance not greater than five miles from “Old Kittanning
Town.” By the same act of March 12, 1800, John Craig, James Sloan and
James Barr were named and constituted trustees to receive and hold the title
for the necessary public buildings; and for that purpose they were authorized
to receive proposals in writing from any person or body corporate for the
conveyance or grant of any lands within the limits of that act. That portion
of that act was repealed by the act of April 4, 1803, and James Sloan, James
Matthews and Alexander Walker were appointed trustees for the county, for
locating the county seat and organizing the county. The last-named declined to
act, and the duties were performed and the powers exercised by James Sloan and
James Matthews. It having been contemplated by the legislature to lay out a
town to be called Kittanning, in the most convenient place for the seat of
justice of this county, and the above-described tract of land having been
considered the most convenient therefor, application was made to Dr. James
Armstrong, of Carlisle, Pennsylvania, one of the devisees of Gen. Armstrong,
for so much of that tract as might be necessary for that purpose, who, in
behalf of himself and his brother, John Armstrong, the other devisee, as well
for enhancing the residue of the tract as for and in consideration of one-half
of the purchase-money of all the town lots to be laid out, executed and
delivered to the governor of this state, to and for the use of this county, an
obligation whereby he bound himself and his brother John to make and execute a
deed of conveyance in fee simple to the trustees of this county, which offer
the trustees were, by an act of 1803, empowered to accept. In pursuance
thereof, John Armstrong and Alida his wife � a daughter of Chancellor
Livingston � and Dr. James Armstrong and Mary his wife, did, by their deed
dated December 17, 1804, convey to James Sloan, James Matthews and Alexander
Walker, the trustees or commissioners of this county, and their successors,
that part of the above-described tract bounded thus: “Beginning at a post
on the Allegheny River, thence north fifty-one degrees, east one hundred and
fifteen and one-tenth perches to a post; thence south thirty-nine degrees,
east one hundred and sixty-three and nine-tenths perches to a post; thence
south fifty-one degrees, west thirty-five and five-tenths perches to a post;
thence south thirty-nine degrees, east forty and seven-tenths perches to a
post; thence south fifty-one degrees, west twenty-four perches and seven
tenths to a post; thence south thirty-nine degrees, east thirty-six and seven
tenths perches to a white oak; thence south fifty degrees, west fifty-four and
nine-tenths perches to a walnut tree on the Allegheny river aforesaid; thence
up the same north thirty degrees, west two hundred and forty-one and
nine-tenths perches to the place of beginning, containing one hundred and
fifty acres, be the same more or less.”By the act of 1804 the trustees or commissioners of this county were
authorized to lay out in that one hundred and fifty acre tract lots for the
public buildings, and to sell the remainder in town lots, containing not less
than one-fourth nor more than two-thirds of an acre each. Two acres were
reserved for public use, namely, one acre on the southeast corner of Market
and Jefferson streets, where the first court-house and public offices were
erected, and the other acre on the northwest corner of Market and McKean
streets, on which the first jail was erected. One-half of the proceeds arising
from the sale of those lots went to the donors, and the other half was to be
applied to the erection of the public buildings.Our county town was laid out in 1803, with convenient streets and alleys
crossing one another at right angles. It was divided into two hundred and
forty-eight in-lots and twenty-seven out-lots. One hundred and sixty-one
in-lots were sold soon after and assessed at $1858, or an average of $11.54
per lot. The eighty-seven in-lots then remaining unsold were assessed at $882,
or an average of $10.14 per lot. The twenty-seven out-lots at $288, or the
average of $10.67 per lot.ATTACHED TO WESTMORELAND.
This county was for several years after its organization by the act of 1800
attached to Westmoreland county, until there was an enumeration of its taxable
inhabitants. The first settlement of accounts between the boards of
commissioners of the two counties was in 1808, when there was found to be a
balance due from Westmoreland to Armstrong county of $2,978.11, which was
certified by the commissioners of the former, and for which they also
certified that they would draw an order on the treasurer of our county.JUDICIAL ORGANIZATION.
Armstrong county was organized for judicial purposes in 1805, and the first
court was held in a log house, on lot number 121, the present site of the
Reynolds house, in December of that year. The bench was a very primitive one,
and consisted in part of a carpenter’s bench. The chair in which the president
judge then sat is now in the possession of Mrs. Jane Williams, of
Kittanningborough. It is a splint-bottom arm-chair.At that and subsequent terms, until the bell for the court-house was
procured, the times for opening the daily sessions of the court were signified
by the blowing of a horn by the court crier, who was James Hannegan.John Young, of Greensburgh, was so after appointed president judge of the
judicial district, then composed of Armstrong, Cambria, Indiana, Somerset and
Westmoreland counties, and Capt. Robert Orr, George Ross and James Barr, Esqs.,
were appointed associate judges of the several courts of this county. The
constitution of 1790 prescribed that the governor should appoint, unless
otherwise directed by law, “not fewer than four judges in each
county.” The act of February 24, 1806, prescribed that if a vacancy
should thereafter happen in any county then organized, by the death
resignation or removal of any associate judge or otherwise, the governor
should not supply the same unless the number of associates should thereby be
reduced to less than two; in which case, or in case of any county thereafter
organized, he should commission so many as would complete that number in each
county, and no more. The act of April 14, 1834, prescribed that the courts of
common pleas of the several counties of this commonwealth, except
Philadelphia, should consist of a president judge and two associate judges,
who, as was the case before, were also constituted judges of the courts of
Oyer and Terminer, quarter-sessions of the peace and orphan’s courts.The courts were held in the jail after it was built until the first
court-house was erected.THE FIRST COURT.
From the minutes of December sessions, 1805, recorded in the neat and
legible chirography of Paul Morrow, the first prothonotary of the Court of
Common Pleas and clerk of the other courts, it appears thus: Present, Samuel
Roberts, Esquire, President, and James Barr, Robert Orr and George Ross,
Esquires Justices of the same court. Sheriff: John Orr, Esq. Coroner:
������ �����. Constables: Alexr. Blair, Buffalo
township; James Scott, Allegheny township; and Joseph Reed, Toby township.
Attorneys admitted: Samuel Massey, Samuel Guthrie, George Armstrong, John B.
Alexander and Wm. Ayers. John B. Alexander was sworn to execute the office of
Attorney-General within the county of Armstrong.Grand Jurors: Wm. Parker, Esq., James McCormick, Adam Maxwell, Joseph
Shields, Gideon Gibson, James Elgin, John Laughlin, Isaac Townsend, John
Corbett, Wm. Freeman, Sam’l Orr, Esq., Sam’l Walker, Capt. Thos. Johnston,
James Coulter, Jacob Allimony, John Craig, Esq., James Lindly, Col. Elijah
Mounts, Thos. Barr, John Henry, James Clark, Esq., James Thompson and David
Todd.Traverse Jurors: James Smith, Jacob Young, Philip Bolin, Sam’l Hill, Parker
Truitt, Jacob Wolf, James Gaff, Thos. Herron, George Beck, John Week, Eli
Bradford, Tate Allison, Peter Le Fever, John Beatty, Wm. Cochran, Michael
Anderson, Gilbert Wright, Timothy Lermonton, Thos. Foster, John Patrick,
Andrew Milligan, Thos. Watson, Abraham Gardner, Sam’l Elder, Philip Templeton,
Ezekiel Lewis, John Davis and Joseph McKee.Petitioners for tavern licenses recommended: David Reynolds, David Shields,
Joseph Wiles and Wm. Cochran.Ex. Orders: Petitions were also presented for the division of this county
into townships, for the Crooked Creek bridge, and for public roads from
Kittanning to Toby’s Creek, from Freeport to the Butler county line, from
Freeport to Brown’s Ferry, and from Thomas’s Mill to Reed’s Mill. Viewers were
appointed.In the Common Pleas nine suits and one certiorari were brought to December
term, 1805, none of which were then tried. Eight judgments by confession on
warrant of attorney were also entered as of that term.It appears from the court minutes that Judge Barr was on the bench, for the
last time, at December term, 1817; Judge Ross, at March term, 1829, his
successor Joseph Rankin; Judge Orr, at June term, 1833, his successor the late
Gen. Robert Orr; Judge Young, at September term, 1836, his successor Thomas
White, of Indiana, Pennsylvania. So that the first Judges of the courts of
this county held their respective positions as follows: Judge Barr 12 years,
Judge Ross 24 years, Judge Orr 28 years, and Judge Young 31 years. The act of
1806 obviated the filling of the vacancy caused by the retirement of Judge
Barr. Joseph Rankin, then a Member of Assembly, was appointed, though not an
ostensible applicant, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Judge Ross.
There were several earnest applicants for the vacancy caused by the death of
Judge Orr in 1833. Governor Wolf was not a little perplexed by the eager
contest between them, to compromise which he tendered the appointment to the
son of the deceased, the late Gen. Robert Orr, who at first declined it
because he did not wish it, but was finally persuaded by the Governor and
Philip Mechling, who was then in the State Senate, to accept it. The tendering
of the appointment to Gen. Orr was suggested to the Governor by Mr. Mechling.The circuit court was occasionally held at Kittanning by Chief-Justice
Tighlman, and Justices Yeates and Huston, of the Supreme Court of
Pennsylvania, from 1807 until 1834, when it was abolished.THE FIRST COURT-HOUSE
was built on one of the acres reserved for public buildings, situate on the
southeast corner of Market and Jefferson streets, on the present sites of J.
A. Gault & Co.’s and McConnell & Campbell’s stores in the then town of
Kittanning. It was a substantial brick edifice, about fifty feet square, two
stories high, with two one story brick wings containing the county offices,
the one fronting on Market and the other Jefferson street. The roof of the
main building was hipped, in the center of which was a cupola in which the
bell was suspended. The court-room, in the first or lower story, lacked proper
means of ventilation. The jury-rooms were in the second story. Both the brick
and wood work, the latter especially, was, in its day, considered a fine
specimen of architectural taste and skill. For about two-fifths of a century
that edifice was used as a temple of justice, and for a considerable portion
of that period as a temple of religion by various denominations, and for
political and other secular meetings.Its erection must have been begun in 1809, as the date of the first order
for brick, viz., 120,000 at $5 per thousand, is October 7, 1809. It and the
public offices were not probably completed until about 1819. An order was
issued February 29, 1812, for $5.20 for boards and nails to close it up; July
10, 1816, one for $100, the first payment for plastering and painting the
first and second stories; August 7, 1818, one for $212.81 � for the bell �
283 � lbs. at 75 cents; and September 23, 1819, one for $290 for building the
registrar’s office. The latest order on account of that court-house and its
annexes appears to have been issued March 21, 1820, for $33.78 for carpenter
work in the “new room.” The commissioners’ order-book shows the
total amount of orders issued on that account to have been $7,859.19.In 1805 a substantial two-story stone jail was erected on the acre reserved
for public use, extending from Market, along the west side of McKean street,
to a public alley near the present site of the Methodist Episcopal church.THE SECOND COURT-HOUSE.
New public buildings at length became necessary. But the county
commissioners hesitated to erect them, more on account of the expense that
would be incurred than their lack of conviction that they were needed. By the
act of April 8, 1850, they were authorized to divide the two acres reserved
for public buildings into lots, sell them, and use the proceeds in the
erection of new buildings elsewhere within the Borough of Kittanning, which
they did. A new two-story brick court-house, with its westerly end fronting
toward the river, the offices on the first floor and the court-room in the
second story, was erected in 1852-3, at the head of the easterly extension of
Market street. The good acoustic properties of the court-room were, to say the
least, among the chief excellencies of that edifice, which was not so well
constructed and hated as a court-house ought to be. It was destroyed by fire,
which was discovered about noon, March 10, 1858 � shortly before or during
the noon adjournment of the courts. The writer was absent at the time but was
informed on his return that some people from the country, taxpayers, regarded
its destruction with complacency, and some of them even exclaimed, “Let
it burn!” The dockets and papers in the county offices were saved, but
were sadly disarranged in their hurried removal to the rooms that were
temporarily used as offices.THE SECOND JAIL.
A new stone jail was erected cotemporaneously with, and a few yards
northwardly of, the second court-house. It was a two-story structure with a
two-story brick jailer’s house attached, fronting the road or street extending
northwardly from the head of Market street. That jail at length proved to be
insecure both for the health and custody of the prisoners. Their escapes
through the roof and elsewhere became frequent. After several presentments by
the grand jury respecting its condition, the county commissioners contracted
with Harrison Bros. of Pittsburgh for raising the walls several feet higher,
and putting on a new and secure roof. On the removal of the old roof it was
discovered that the walls were insufficient for sustaining the increased
weight of such a new roof as would be adequate for the retention of the
prisoners. It therefore became necessary to tear down the old walls and build
new ones. A farmer, passing by one day and observing the material of the old
walls as it lay before him, remarked, “Those were never fit for prison
walls.”THE THIRD AND PRESENT COURT-HOUSE
was erected by Hulings & Dickey, on the site of the burned one, in
1858-60, at a cost of about $32,000. It is a substantial building, partly of
brick and partly of stone, of the Corinthian order of architecture. Its sides
front nearly west and east. There is an elegant portico on its west front,
with stone columns, and capitals and all parts of that order, the whole
resting on an arcade of cut stone. The dimensions of this edifice are 105 feet
by 65 feet. A beautiful cupola or dome, highly ornamented, crowns the center,
with a large bell therein suspended. The first story, which is reached from
the western side by a fight of stone steps of the same length as the portico,
is divided into a cross hall, with a floor laid with English variegated tile,
grand-jury and witness rooms, the commissioners’, prothonotary’s, register and
recorder’s, sheriff’s and county treasurer’s offices, three of which offices
are substantially fire-proof. The court-room is in the second story. It is
elegantly frescoed, ceiling twenty-three feet, length sixty-two feet, and
breadth fifty-eight feet. Being so nearly square in shape, its acoustic
properties are very unfavorable for both speaking and hearing. That defect has
been obviated by suspending a screen,13 twelve feet wide, from the
ceiling, the entire width of the room, making that part of the room where the
speaking is done, so far as sound is concerned, a parallelogram 58×31 feet,
causing an almost entire cessation of the previous excessive reverberation
incident to a large room that is square, or nearly so, in shape. The rest of
the second story contains vestibules separated by flights of stairs in the
lower or southerly end, and a hall twelve feet wide, reached by a flight of
stairs, and two traverse jury rooms, one of which is used for an office by the
county superintendent of common schools.THE THIRD AND PRESENT JAIL.
On the presentments of two grand juries, after the tearing down of the
second jail, recommending the erection of a new jail and jailer’s house, the
plan and specifications of the present structure having been before these
grand juries, were adopted, and the contract for building both was made with
Harrison Bros., and for superintending the work with Jas. McCullough, Jr. The
erection was commenced in 1870, and was completed in 1873. The whole structure
cost $252,000. It is one of the strongest, securest and most substantial
buildings in the United States. It is constructed of stone, brick and iron. It
contains twenty-four cells, 8×13 feet each. The ceiling is 13 � feet high.
The ventilation is good. The main corridor is 68×16 feet, and 38 feet high.
The jailer’s house contains eight rooms with proper ventilation. The woodwork
of the whole building is of North Carolina pine, with iron guards on the
outside of the windows of the jailer’s house, made of 1 � inch round iron.
The dimensions of the entire structure on the ground are 114×50 feet. Its
foundation is 24 feet deep, down from the surface, and 7 feet wide at the
bottom. It required that depth for a solid foundation, which greatly increased
the cost. The tower is 96 feet high, 18 feet square at the base and 10 feet
square at the top, all of solid stone, neatly tooled, and surmounted with
battlements. All the outer surface of the house and jail, including gutters
and cornices, is an Ashlar facing of wrought stone, neatly tooled. The outer
walls are 2 � feet thick, and are lined on the inside with brick 4 inches
thick. All the floors are brick, 13 inches thick. The arches are of solid
concrete 4 inches thick, and of cast iron 1 inch thick. The flagging in the
main corridor and cells is 2 � inches thick � brick in the former and wood
in the latter. There are four large rooms in the jail part to be used as
hospitals when needed. Both the house and jail are well supplied with gas and
water from the Kittanning Gas and Water Works. The house part of the structure
is octagonal, with bay fronts and surmounted with battlements. All the window
and door openings, the tower, battlements and outer walls are of cut stone,
the facing on the front side of the house being finely wrought, and the doors
and windows capped with elaborately wrought, substantial and beautiful
keystone arches. All the stone of which all the outer walls of both house and
jail are constructed was obtained from the sandstone quarry at Catfish,
Clarion county Pennsylvania, and is said to be among the best for outer walls
and to stand the chemical test better than any other stone used for building
in Pittsburgh. All the stonework is laid or put together with the best of
hydraulic cement, no lime having been used except in plastering the inner
walls.This jail is on the site of the second one, a little west of north of the
present court-house, with an interval between the two of nearly thirteen feet.
The material and workmanship of it and the jailer’s house are such that both
will stand for centuries, unless they are purposely torn down by official
authority and human instrumentality, or overthrown by some powerful convulsion
of nature.Source: Page(s) 13-59, History of Armstrong County, Pennsylvania by Robert
Walker Smith, Esq. Chicago: Waterman, Watkins & Co., 1883.
Transcribed January 1999 by Jeffrey Bish for the Armstrong County Smith
Project.
Contributed by Jeffrey Bish for use by the Armstrong County Genealogy Project
(http://www.pa-roots.com/armstrong/)Armstrong County Genealogy Project Notice:
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