Chapter 12, Section 6
Madison
Red Bank postoffice, C. Shunk, postmaster, was established here May 13,
1842. It was changed to Kellersburgh, February 24, 1871; David Grant
postmaster.Keller laid out on the parcel which he had purchase the town of Kellersburgh,
consisting of twenty-three lots, thirteen of which are on the east and ten on
the west side of the Olean road, which is the main street, three rods wide.
The only other street is the one between lots Nos. 5 and 6, one rod and a half
wide. The area of each lot is 4 x 10 rods, and contains one-quarter of an
acre. The bearings of the main street and the easterly and westerly boundary
lines of the town are north ten degrees east, and south ten degrees west.
These lots were surveyed by J. E. Meredith for Nicholas Keller, Sr., July 19,
1842. The first sale of them was advertised by the proprietor in this wise:
“The site is a beautiful one and in an excellent settlement, as there is
no part of Armstrong county improving as rapidly at this time as that section.
The surrounding country abounds with iron ore and coal, and the great road,
leading from the borough of Kittanning to Olean Point, passes through the
same, also the road from the former place to the new and thriving town of
Clarion, and as the town is about midway between the two places, it offers
every inducement that the mechanic and the merchant could require.” The
sale took place on the 10th of August, which was a very warm day,
and was attended by a large number of persons who, inspirited as they were, at
least some of them, by Keller�s whisky and the music of John Campbell�s
violin, had a merry time. A number of the lots were sold at from $20 to $30
each. The proprietor retained fifteen-sixteenths of an acre for his hotel,
store, etc., between lots 19 and 20 on the westerly side of the main street.
The first separate assessment list was of twenty-two unseated lots at $10
each, in 1845. The next year sixteen unseated lots were assessed at $20 each,
and six at $15 each. In 1876 the number of taxables is 21; minister, 1;
laborers, 4; miners, 2; shoemakers, 2; blacksmith, 1; merchant, 1. The real
estate is valued at $2,780; and personal property and occupations at $595.Kellersburg has a Lutheran and a Methodist Episcopal Church. The
first-mentioned society built in 1838, two years after it was organized, a log
house of worship, but now has a very good frame building, nicely finished, 40
x 30 feet in dimensions. Rev. G. A. Reichert, the first minister, was
succeeded by Rev. Kyle. Rev W. Selner was pastor in 1876.The Methodist Episcopal Church is a substantial frame building erected in
187-. Its dimensions are 45 x 40 feet.Willink & Co. conveyed 59 acres of the southern part of allotment 2 to
Caspar Beer, June 4, 1834, for $36.87, which he conveyed to Jacob F. Keller,
July 22, 1840, for $108, and the latter conveyed 22 acres and 80 perches
thereof to John Heasley, February 16, 1860, for $265; Willink & Co. to
John Mohney 173 acres of allotment 4, June 21, 1837, for $108.12, who kept a
hotel; 135 acres and 46 perches of allotment 5 to Charles Merrill, August 28,
1838, for $1,000, which Merrill conveyed to James and Thomas Feely, November
1, 1845, they to William Garner, October 26, 1848, and he to William Geddes,
March 3, 1851, for $6,000.Adjoining that tract on the south was No. 315, covered by warrant No. 2867.
Willink & Co. conveyed 165 acres of allotment 5 to Peter Bish, December
15, 1828, for $103.12; to Jacob Moyers heretofore mentioned, 191 acres and 85
perches of allotments 2, 4, 6, November 29, 1830, for $119, of which he
conveyed 1 acre and 45 perches to Elizabeth Courson, June 9, 1856, for $50,
and 152 acres and 30 perches of allotments 4 and 6, September 7, 1846, for
$100; 48 acres and 10 perches to Samuel Cassat, October 3, 1835, for $30.40,
with which and 12 acres more and one cow, he was first assessed in 1838 at
$68. John Bain was first assessed with 70 acres of allotment 5, one horse and
one cow in 1833, at $66, to whom Willink & Co. conveyed 96 acres, February
6, 1838, for $60, of which Bain conveyed 12 acres and 33 perches to John
Shobert, November 7, 1839, for $50. On the run by which it is traversed the
latter erected a second-rate gristmill, with which he was first assessed in
1840 at $100. He conveyed this parcel, “with a frame house and gristmill
thereon,” to Abel Llewellyn, November 17, 1849, for $700. If there has
been a subsequent conveyance, it is not on record. Willink & Co. conveyed
126 acres of allotment 1 to Joshua Baughman, February 6, 1838, for $78.37,
which was occupied by his widow after his death. North of that parcel was one
containing 131 acres and 49 perches, occupied and perhaps owned by M. D.
Fayette Ely, who was first assessed with 100 acres in 1837, at $130, with
which he continued to be assessed until 1840. Jacob Pettigrew was first
assessed with 100 acres, mostly of this, but partly of tract No. 314, and one
cow, in 1837, at $83, to whom Colwell and his co-purchasers conveyed 173
acres, June 19, 1852. He conveyed 25 acres thereof to John Pettigrew, October
8, for $50, and 28 acres the next day to Josinah Pettigrew, for $84. Just
north of the Pettigrew purchase was another parcel containing about the same
quantity, which was formerly occupied by John Neil, to whom it and an
additional quantity and one horse were first assessed in 1842 at $475.Contiguous to tract No. 315 on the west was tract No. 314, covered by
warrant 2868, called “Elliott Grove,” which adjoined the original
line between Toby and Red Bank townships on the east and the
heretofore-mentioned vacant land on the south. It and several of the other
foregoing tracts14 were included in the purchase made by Sommers
Baldwin, alluded to in the sketch of the Holland Land Company, which appears
in Chapter 1. Baldwin conveyed 200 acres of allotment 5, which was in the
south central part of the tract, to Hewlett Smith, April 19, 1817, for $400.Those tracts having been revested in Willink & Co., they conveyed 165
acres and 17 perches of allotment 6, in the southeastern part of “Elliott
Grove,” to Joseph Sowash, June 3, 1830, which he conveyed to Charles B.
Schotte, April 26, 1831, for $800, which the latter conveyed to George Smith,
August 1, 1839, for $1,000, 50 acres of which Smith conveyed to Abraham
Bailey, August 23, 1851, for $500, and he to Casper Flick, March 23, 1867, for
$1,000, and Smith to Flick 100 acres, June 16, 1853, for $1,800,15
leaving about 15 acres now belonging to one or more of Smith�s heirs.Willink & Co. also conveyed other portions of “Elliott Grove”
thus: one hundred and sixty-three acres and 79 perches to John L. Mulholland,
March 1, 1832, for $102.17, which John L. Mulholland conveyed to Oliver Gray,
April 29, 1847, for $700, 104 acres and 91 perches of which he conveyed to
Harvey Gray, November 23, 1854, for $350, and 77 acres to Aaron Gray, October
9, 1855, for $350; Willink & Co. to Oliver Gray, 186 acres and 8 perches,
June 16, 1841, for $372; 194 acres and 130 perches to Samuel Balsiger, July 5,
for $194,75, a portion of which he conveyed to James Duncan, September 14,
1847, and 1 acre of which Duncan conveyed to James Craig, Samuel Craig, Sr.,
and Henry Heasley, trustees of the Middle Creek Presbyterian church, June 28,
1854, for $13.That church, so-called because of its situation between Mahoning and Red
Bank creeks, was organize by the Saltsburg Presbytery in 1844, but was not
reported as having a “pastor-elect” until 1854, and soon thereafter
a commodious frame edifice, 30 x 40 feet, was erected on that last-mentioned
acre. It enjoyed a stated supply until the next year. After a vacancy of about
four years it was favored with the ministrations of Rev. W. P. Moore,
afterward “the popular and successful pastor of Manchester church, in
Allegheny City.” Its pastor from 1863 till 1867 was Rev. J. H. Sherrard,
since of Bucyrus, Ohio, who was succeeded by Rev. J. A. E. Simpson from 1868
until 1870. About that time it was detached from the Clarion and attached to
the Kittanning Presbytery. Its membership in 1876 was seventy.Duncanville, a hamlet containing eighteen buildings, so called after James
Duncan, who in 1854, was first assessed with “a new hose and
storeroom,” is situated on this parcel. Jeremiah Bonner was assessed the
same year with “a new storehouse,” at $100. Bonner & Duncan kept
a store here for a few years. Frederick Fair was assessed as a merchant here
in 1866, and was succeeded by Thomas Meredith in 1868, who is still here. The
elections have been held here since the organization of Clarion county. Here
too, for many years was the site of one of the public schoolhouses of this
township, in which, after 1854, the annual examinations of teachers were held.
It was situated west of the Lawsonham road in a grove, built in and, like some
others of that period, was a shell that ought to have been replaced by a
better one much sooner that it was. Its successor, a comfortable frame
structure, is situated at the crossroads, about eighty rods southeast of
Duncanville.The United Brethren and the Presbyterians also have organized churches here
and have houses of worship.Other purchasers of parcels of “Elliott Grove” were: Oliver Gray,
to whom Willink & Co. conveyed 186 acres and 8 perches, June 16, 1841, for
$372; Elijah French, to whom they conveyed 139 � acres, May 29, 1844, for
$139.50. According to Meredith�s connected draft of parcels, George Craig
owned 100 acres and 10 perches, William Toy 100 acres and 150 perches, and
George Young 200 acres of “Elliott Grove,” when that draft was made.North of allotments 2 and 3 of “Elliott Grove” lay allotment 4 of
tract No. 289, warrant No. 2876, north of which and between the
above-mentioned original township line and the Nicholson tract, No. 4150, lay
the other three allotments of this tract, which was included in the Buffington
purchase 776 acres and 135 perches he conveyed, as before stated, to Reynolds
& Richey. This tract originally contained 990 acres, a small parcel of
which was conveyed to Alexander Duncan, so that after the conveyance to
Reynolds & Richey there was a residue of somewhat more that 130 acres in
the southeastern part of this tract, which are assessed in 1876 to E.
Buffington, at $798.On the south and west of the Nicholson, No. 1150, was the Holland tract,
No. 311, warrant 2870, of which Willink & Co. conveyed 220 acres, of
allotments 2 and 5, to George Craig, Sr., November 23, 1837, for $137.50, who
had been first assessed in 1834, with 180 acres, of tract 315, warrant 2869,
one horse and one cow, at $233, of which he conveyed fifty acres to Catherine
Craig, November 13, 1856, for $350. He was a member of Captain Shaeffer�s
company, Col. Snyder�s regt., in the War of 1812, and enlisted in the 103d
regt. Pa. Vols. in the late War of the Rebellion, but on account of his
advanced age, was not permitted to go to the front. At and before the time of
his purchase, allotment 1 of No. 311 was occupied by George Craig, Jr. Willink
& Co. conveyed 140 acres and 143 perches of the last-mentioned allotment
to George N. Craig, November 21, 1837, for $88.12. Colwell & Co. conveyed
75 acres and 151 perches of allotment 2 to George Craig, April 8, 1859, for
$600, with which and one yoke of oxen, he was first assessed, that year, at
$150.South of the last-preceding tract and west of “Elliott Grove” was
tract No. 313, warrant No. 2869. The earliest purchaser of a parcel of it
appears to have been Thomas Gray, to whom Willink & Co. conveyed 130 acres
and 35 perches of allotment 5, June 19, 1833, for $81, now occupied by Samuel
B. Gray, with which and one cow Thomas Gray was first assessed in 1834, at
$13.50. The company conveyed some other parcels, thus: 158 � acres of
allotment 6 to Robert Campbell, May 31, 1836, for $118.50; 179 acres and 137
perches of allotment 2 to James Coats, October 5, 1836, with which and one
horse William Coats was first assessed in 1842; 102 acres and 72 perches of
the southern part of allotments 4 and 5 to Gabriel P. Lobeau, April 4, 1837,
which he conveyed to John Harman, the present owner of the greater part of it,
July 28, 1842, for $80, 13 acres of which the latter conveyed to Lewis Enhurst
in 1872, for $150; 175 acres and 60 perches of allotment 3 to John McIninch,
June 5, 1837, for $131.50, 13 acres and 46 perches of which he conveyed to
William and John R. McCullough, October 3, 1838, and May 13, 1848, and which
they conveyed to James Taylor on the last-mentioned day, and he to W. P.
Conner, 9 acres, March 8, 1850, for $400, and then, of some other time, Conner
conveyed 4 acres to John Craig, who conveyed 1 acre and 32 perches to John A.
Craig, Joseph Earley and Samuel B. Gray, “trustees of the Coats
Graveyard,” March 12, 1870, for $5 and 17 perches, for $50, where the
latter was first assessed as a blacksmith in 1870, and around which is a small
hamlet containing six or more buildings, making somewhat of a business point.
George Craig and Andrew Earley must have settled on other portions of this
tract in 1834, as they were both then first assessed with portions of it, the
assessor then being Richard Reynolds, who very carefully noted the names of
the warrantees and the numbers of the tracts. Craig was then assessed with 180
acres and two cows, at $196; Earley with 160 acres, one horse and one cow, at
$180, and John Crozier with 100 acres in 1836, at $50. When Meredith made his
connected draft of parcels of this and other tracts, Craig owned 179 acres and
100 perches, Crozier 165 acres and 26 perches, and Earley 179 acres and 137
perches. Colwell & Co. conveyed to Earley 89 � acres of allotment 1, July
10, 1859, for $179.25. William Watterson was first assessed with 160 acres of
this tract and one cow in 1854, at $168. He transferred his interest in the
land during the ensuing year to Samuel Craig, who became a permanent resident
of that parcel, or at least until he purchased a parcel of the adjoining
tract.The only tract of the Holland Company�s lands in this county that touched
the Allegheny river was No. 312, warrant No. 2910. Robert Dixon and John Hardy
were the first purchasers of parcels of it. Willink & Co. conveyed to them
as tenants in common 155 � acres of allotment 2, December 24, 1835, for
$108.85, and 335 acres and 69 perches of allotments 1 and 2, November 2, 1836,
for $235.75. Hardy was first assessed with 167 acres, two horses and one cow
in 1841, at $382, and 170 acres at $340. Dixon was first assessed with 100
acres and one cow in 1842, at $60, and the next year with 150 acres and one
cow, at $160. Hardy kept a hotel on the parcel, which he occupied for several
years. Dixon conveyed his interest in their first parcel to Hardy, and Hardy
his interest in 178 acres of the second parcel to Dixon, April 9, 1857. Dixon
conveyed the latter quantity to Mrs. Ellen Turner, April 13; she and her
husband conveyed 1 acre and 75 perches thereof adjoining the road from the
mouth of Red Bank to Duncanville, “upon which St. Mary�s Episcopal
church has been recently erected,” to the “board of trustees of the
Diocese of Pittsburgh of the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United
States,” in April, 1872, for $1 � in other words, she gave the ground
to the church.The next sales of parcels of this tract by Willink & Co. appear from
the records to have been: 122 acres of allotment 6, the southeastern one, to
John Wilkins, July 15, 1841, for $92, which, with 403 acres and 32 perches of
allotments 5 and 6, adjoining Samuel Earley�s improvement on the south and
the Allegheny river on the west, his administrator conveyed to Aaron Whittacre�s
administrator, April 16, 1849, for $2,499.02, which became a part of the
American Furnace property. Willink & Co. conveyed 107 � acres of the west
end of allotment 4 of this tract, and the west end of allotment 1 of tract No.
313, to James Watterson, September 14, 1844, for $107, which he conveyed to
George K. Wolf May 6, 1858, for $2,000, 95 acres and 72 perches of which the
latter conveyed to the present owner, George W. Craig, April 9, 1866, for
$1,850. Willink & Co. conveyed 362 � acres of allotments 3 and 5, along
the river, to Aaron Whittacre, February 6, 1846, for $372.75, which also
became part of the American Furnace property, 54 acres and 69 perches of which
John Jamieson conveyed to Thomas Morrow, July 9, 1860, for $462. In the winter
of 1864-5 Charles A. Hardy and Aaron D. Hope expended $1,050 in the purchase
of several parcels of this tract, aggregating 112 acres; $1,100 in the
purchase of 50 acres of the Samuel Earley improvement; and $500 in the
purchase of the coal and mineral rights of two other parcels of that Holland
tract, which Robert Dixon, John Jamieson and R. C. Loomis had conveyed to John
Booher, Samuel Nichols, Thomas Morrow, John Langler and Mrs. Ellen Turner, in
which Hope still retains his interest.The surface of a large portion of the territory of this township was, when
first settled, comparatively sterile. That in the northeastern part,
especially in the vicinity of the old Red Bank Furnace, was so much so that it
was vulgarly called “Pinchgut.” The forgoing prices at which various
parcels of the land have at different periods since been sold, as well as the
present condition and appearance of the farms, indicate the beneficial effects
of a more skillful and kindly culture than was at first adopted, which was to
a great extent induced by the home market created for agricultural products by
the Red Bank and Stewardson Furnaces.Until about 1835 the only other road in this township besides the Olean was
the one cut through from Bain�s to Lawsonham. As late as 1839 there were
only two wagons in this township.The most convenient educational facilities enjoyed for several years by the
first settlers (Alexander Duncan and others, in the northern part of the
township) were afforded by the school on the north side of the Red Bank, near
where Lawsonham now is, which was first taught by James Hunter, and then
Robert Lawson and others. The first schoolhouse within the present limits of
this township was a primitive log one that was built on Elijah French�s
farm, about a mile from Gray�s Eddy and a greater distance northeast of
Rimerton. The first school in that house was taught by Henry Fox, and some of
his scholars traveled five miles daily to attend it. The second schoolhouse
was similar to that one, and situated near Kellersburgh, in which David Truitt
was the first teacher. Daylight entered both of those primitive temples of
knowledge through greased paper instead of glass.16 The next was
situated about 145 rods west of the present eastern boundary line of this
township, “near the present residence of John Bish.”17
The first under the free school law was situated nearly a mile northwest of
the last-mentioned one, on the farm of Henry Pence. Most, if not all, of the
rest were the usual log structures. One of them � the one near what is now
Centerville � was still in use on the writer�s last tour of visitation to
the schools of this county, in 1866.In 1860 the number of schools was 8; average number of months taught, 4;
male teachers, 8; female teachers, 0; average salaries, $17; male scholars,
229; female scholars, 184; average number attending school, 226; cost of
teaching each scholar per month, 35 cents; amount levied for school purposes,
$784.20; received from state appropriation, $91.87; from collectors, $563;
cost of instruction, $546; fuel and contingencies, $37.79; cost of
schoolhouses, $15.58.In 1876 the number of schools was 8; average number of months taught, 5;
male teachers, 7; female teachers, 1; average salaries of both male and
female, per month, $30; male scholars, 255; female scholars, 256; average
number attending school, 119; cost per month, 52 cents; amount of tax levied
for school and building purposes, $2,852.06; received from state
appropriation, $413.85; from taxes, etc., $3,254.01; cost of schoolhouses,
$1,303.17; paid for teachers� wages, $1,243.50; fuel, etc., $1,177.21.Population, including that of the section now included in Mahoning
township, in 1850 was: White, 1,142; colored, 9. In 1860: White, 1,140;
colored, 0. In 1870: Native, 1,485; foreign, 136. In 1876, number of taxables,
543, representing a population of 2,397.The vote on the question of granting license to sell intoxicating liquors,
February 28, 1873, was 99 against and 41 for.There are six merchants of the fourteenth class in this township, according
to the Mercantile Appraisers� List for 1876.Occupations other than agricultural and mercantile, according to the
assessment list of 1876, including the towns: laborers, 118; miners, 32;
carpenters, 4; shoemakers, 3; blacksmiths, 2; miller, 1; minister, 1; mason,
1; section boss, 1; innkeeper, 1; old persons, 5. Of those engaged in
agriculture, 7 are assessed as croppers.Source: Page(s) 259-285, History of Armstrong County, Pennsylvania by
Robert Walker Smith, Esq. Chicago: Waterman, Watkins & Co., 1883.
Transcribed December 1998 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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