Chapter 3 – Township Division and Organization, History of Armstrong County Pennsylvania

Chapter 3
TOWNSHIP DIVISION AND ORGANIZATION

Importance of the Township Politically � The Townships of Armstrong
and Wheatfield in 1792 � Original Divisions of the County � Allegheny �
Buffalo � Toby � Origin of Names � Subdivisions of the Original
Townships.

IN passing from a general sketch of our county to the more narrowly local
sketches of its subdivisions into city, townships, and boroughs, the passing
remark may here be pertinent, that when the communal and municipal
organizations, or what we call cities, towns, and boroughs, which had been
crushed out by the Eastern Emperors, began to be re-invigorated, in the
eleventh century, the first municipal, or as we would say, city, township, or
borough elections were held in the Sclavic city of Ragusa, in that part of
Dalmatia inhabited by people of Sclavic origin.

It is said that the commune, or township, is the fountain-head, the
corner-stone of American society. The township was the primitive state from
which the start was made. The township, therefore, still remains in its
function, the generating power, the foundation, the nursery of self-government
and of American social order. In the township, as well as everywhere else in
this country, observes De Tocqueville, the people are the only source of
power; but in no stage of government does the body of citizens exercise a more
immediate influence. On the self-government of the townships, says another
foreign observer of American institutions, reposes the freedom of the state,
and from it is evolved in wider and wider all-embracing circles the whole
existing political structure.

In the early days of the Province and Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, those
important sub-divisions embraced large areas of territory within their limits.
A map of Pennsylvania, by Reading Howells, published in 1792, for the use of
which the writer is indebted to Grier C. Orr, shows only two townships �
Armstrong and Wheatfiled � as before stated, north of the Kiskiminetas and
Conemaugh rivers, in the territory of which Armstrong and Indiana counties are
now composed.

ARMSTRONG TOWNSHIP

�At a Court of General Quarter Session of the Peace, held at Robert Hanna�s,
Esquire, for the county of Westmoreland, the sixth day of April, in the
thirteenth year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord, George the third, by the
grace of God, of Great Britain, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the
Faith, etc. And in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and
seventy-three, before William Crawford, Esquire, and his associate justices of
the same court.

�The court proceeded to divide the said county into the following
townships by the limits and descriptions hereinafter following, viz.:

�Fairfield * * * Donegal * * * Huntington * * * Mount Pleasant * * *
Hempfield * * * Pitt * * * Tyrone * * * Spring Hill * * * Manallan * * *
Rostraver * * * Armstrong. Beginning where the line of the county
crosses the Connemach� � nearly midway between Conemaugh Furnace and Sang
Hollow, on the Pennsylvania Railroad � �then running with that river to
the line of Fairfield, along that line to the Loyal Haunon, then down the
Loyal Haunon and the Kiskiminetas to the Allegheny, then up the Allegheny to
the Kittanning, then with a straight line to the headwaters of Two Lick or
Black Lick Creek, and thence with a straight line to the beginning.� (Vide
minutes of said court.) So that Armstrong township must have embraced a large
portion of the territory out of which Wheatfield township was afterward
formed.

In 1773 the constable of Armstrong township and Andrew Mitchell, and the
supervisor John Pomeroy. April sessions, 1790, constable, James McLean;
supervisors, Isaac Ardem and James Smith. The returns made by the county
treasurer for this township in 1796, were: Costs, �98 6s 6d; state tax �11
18s 9d; county tax �360 9s 3d.

On that map are marks or characters indicating the locations of
dwelling-houses, furnaces, houses of worship, mills, roads, and Indian paths,
none of which are thus indicated within which are now the limits of this
county, except an Indian town near the mouth of Mahoning, and an Indiana path,
by which the Indians of the West communicated with the Susquehanna country,
extending southeast from the site of Kittanning to, or at least in the
direction of Kittanning Point on the Allegheny Mountain, which was so called
because of the Indian path diverged therefrom to Kittanning. On Scull�s map
it is named the Ohio path. By the act of March 29, 1792, the freemen of the
first district of Westmoreland county were directed to meet for holding
election at the house then occupied by William Neil, in Armstrong township.

It was customary, prior to 1803, for the Courts of Quarter Session, without
legislative authority, to erect townships in their respective counties, and
send up their proceeding for approval to the council under the Proprietary
Government, and to the legislature after the Province became a state.

This county, when organized in 1800, contained within its limits only two
organized townships, viz., Allegheny and Buffalo. Toby township was organized
soon afterward. Those were the three original townships of this county, and
the only ones mentioned in the settlement of account between this and
Westmoreland county for the year 1802, 1804, and 1805, there was due this
county the before-stated balance of $2,978.11.

ALLEGHENY TOWNSHIP

was organized by the Court of Quarter Sessions of Westmoreland county,
December 1795. Its boundaries were specified in the petition of the
inhabitants of Armstrong township for a division of the latter; �A line
beginning at the mouth of Altman�s run� � now in Indiana county, about
half a mile below Livermore ��thence up said run to Wm. Neil�s, and
thence to James Smith, Esq., both farms to be included on the east side of
said line, and running thence to Plum creek, and up the north branch of said
creek to the purchase line, and make a suitable division of said township,
which the petitioners pray the court will grant and establish.� Order or
decree of the court: �June sessions, 1795. The said petition read and
continued, and now, to wit, December sessions, 1795, the court divide the said
township agreeably to the prayer of the petitions, and order the southwest
division to be erected into a new township to be hereafter known by the name
of Allegheny township,� which was bounded on the east by the Allegheny
river, and on the east by the aforesaid line from the mouth of Altman�s run,
and of course embraced portions of what are now Armstrong and Indiana
counties. By the Act of March 29, 1802, it was erected into an election
district, and the elections were directed to be held at the house of George
Painter, miller, at the mouth of Cherry run in hat township, near what are now
Carnahan�s mills. The taxes laid on the land in this ancient township, in
1802, were: seated $187.37; unseated $512.82. In 1804, $206.24 seated; $516.80
unseated. In 1805, $276.10 seated; $384.68 unseated. The assessment list for
1805-6 shows the seated lands to have been then valued at $29,028.55; number
of horses, 337; number of cattle, 545. The only store-keeper was Hugh Brown,
whose occupation was valued at $40. Mechanics � Bernhard Davers, mason;
George Beer, gunsmith; Peter Rupert, weaver; John Steele, wheelwright; John
Schall and Joseph Thorn, blacksmiths; Smith McMillin and John King, tailors.
Each one�s trade was valued at $10, except Thorn�s, which was valued at
$20. Wm. Sheerer�s tanyard, $15. Mills � Samuel Beer, one grist and one
saw-mill; James Findley and Thos. Dickey, ditto; Daniel Linsibigler, one
sawmill; George Painter, one grist and one saw-mill; the occupation of Findley
& Dickey was valued at $30. Schoolmasters � James Moore, Jacob Schell
and Wm. Smith. Distilleries � John Willis�, valued at $15; Thos. Gallagher�s
at $25; James Hall�s, $25; Church Smith�s, $30; Robert Sloan�s, $15. All
the foregoing were out of the town of Kittanning which was then partly in that
township. Ferries � Jas. Cunningham, Peter LeFevre, Patrick O�Donnell and
John Postlethwaite, were each assessed with one.

BUFFALO TOWNSHIP

is a descendant from Pitt township. At December sessions, 1788, of the
Court of Quarter Sessions of Allegheny county, Moore, St. Clair, Mifflin,
Elizabeth, Versailles, Plumb and Pitt townships were organized. The boundaries
of the last named were: �Beginning at the mouth of Pickety�s run, thence
up the Allegheny river and by the line of the county� � which then
extended alone the river to the northern boundary of Pennsylvania, Lake Erie
and the western boundary line of the State � �to the mouth of Flaherty�s
run; thence up the river to the mouth of the Monogahela river; thence up said
river to the mouth of Turtle creek; thence by line of Plumb township to the
place beginning,� which last mentioned line was changed somewhat at the next
June session. At the same session Deer and Pine townships were formed out of
Pitt. As to the former, it was �ordered that Gapen�s and Moore�s
surveyor districts be erected into a new township called Deer township.� It
is necessary in order to form and adequate idea of the area of that township
to know the areas of these two districts. The former began �at the southeast
corner of District No. 3; from thence extending by the same due west to the
corner of District No. 4� � about five miles slightly east of south from
the Borough of Mercer � �thence due south about nineteen miles� �
along the western line of Butler county � �to the corner of Daniel and
Jonathan Leet�s districts; thence by Jonathan Leet�s and Stephen Gapen�s
districts due east to the river Allegheny, near Mohulbaughtitem� �
Mahoning � �and from thence up the Allegheny river by the several courses
thereof to the place of beginning,� which must have been near what is now
Rockland, in Venango county. The latter began �at northeast corner of
District No. 9� � at on near the center of Butler county � �thence
south to the Allegheny river; thence up the same by the courses and distances
thereof to the mouth of Mohulbaughtitem creek; thence west by the northern
boundary of the late Depreciation district to the beginning,� being what
were afterward the Cunningham and Elder districts. By the act of Assembly of
April 4, 1798, such parts of Allegheny county as lay within Elder�s
district, being a part of the township of Deer, were made an election
district, and the house of James McCormick, in the town of Freeport, was
designated as the place for holding elections.

On the petition of the inhabitants of Pine and Deer townships the court of
quarter sessions of Allegheny county, December, 1797, made the following
order, it having been represented by the county commissioners, as well from
the information and complaints of others as from their own knowledge, that
those two last-mentioned townships were too large and inconvenient for the
assessment and collection of taxes: �It is ordered that the said township of
Pine be divided, etc., �and that the township of Deer be divided by the east
line of Cunningham�s surveyor district� � which extended from a point
near Springdale on the Allegheny river due north to the line between the
Depreciation and Donation lands, but the new township line extended to the
northern line of Moore�s district above-mentioned � �and that the upper
division thereof be a new township called Buffalo township,� which embrace
portions of Allegheny, Butler and Venango counties, and all of that portion of
Armstrong county on the west side of the Allegheny river. The places for
holding election in Buffalo township were: By act of March 12, 1800, at the
house of John Smith, which was in the western part of what is not North
Buffalo township; by act of February 7, 1803, at the house of John McDowel,
which was about two mile northeast of where Worthington now is, and by act of
April 11, 1811, at the house of Jacob Young, which is near Slate Lick. The
last one was designated after the organization of Sugar creek township.

In 1802, the taxes on seated land were $517.23, on unseated, $129.50; in
1804, on seated, $555.60, on unseated, $129.50; in 1805, on seated, $491.83,
on unseated, $68.43.

TOBY TOWNSHIP

was organized by the court of quarter session of Westmoreland county, at
September sessions, 1801, with the following boundaries, on the application of
the commissioners of that county, the whole of Armstrong county being then
within the jurisdiction of that count, as provided by the act of March 12,
1800: �Bounded on the north by the Allegheny river, on the east by Toby�s
creek, on the south by the line between Hamilton and Wood�s (late) district,
on the west by the old purchase line, to be hereafter known by the name of
Toby township.� A glance at the map will show that either the clerk of the
court erred in recording these boundaries, or the commissioners erred in
setting them forth in their application � the original papers cannot be
found � for the original boundaries were: Bounded on the north and northeast
by Toby�s creek, on the east by the line between the Hamilton and Wood�s
districts, which was a little east of what is now the western boundary of
Jefferson county, on the south by the old purchase line, and on the west by
the Allegheny river, including, of course, until September 18, 1806, all that
portion of what is now the borough of Kittanning north of that purchase line
which crosses that borough diagonally in the easterly direction from a point a
few yards above the mouth of Truby�s run. The course of that line from
Cherry Tree, on the west back of the Susquehanna, to the Allegheny river, is
79_ west.

Taxes laid in 1802 on seated land, $76.23, on unseated, $429.27; in 1804,
on seated, $110.64, on unseated, $1,110.76; in 1805, on seated, $170.69, on
unseated, $920.50)*^*

The place for holding election in this township was directed by act of
April 3, 1804, to be at the house of Abraham Standford, who then lived near
what is now Currlsville.

The total valuation of unseated lands in this township for 1805 was
$229,434.11. In 1806, the following persons were assessed with other
occupation that agricultural: James Calhoun, William Cochran, William Frazier,
John Love and Robert Wilson, weavers; William Kelly, schoolmaster; William
Sypes, potter; John Guthrie, carpenter. John Simpkins, wagon maker; John
Wilson, tanner; James McElhenry, wheelwright; and Alexander Moore, one house
and lot, $90. McElhenry and Moore were within the present limits of the
borough of Kittanning, and Sypes somewhere between Crooked and Mahoning
creeks, James Calhoun and William Cochran within the present limits of Pine.

The township was named from Toby�s creek, which skirted its northwestern
border. The Indians must have named the stream from the Toby-hanna, an eastern
tributary of the Lehigh river in what is now Monroe county, Pennsylvania.
Toby, according to Heckewelder, is Tobeco � from Toby-hanna,
corrupted from Topi-hanna, signifying alder stream, i.e., a
stream whose banks are fringed with alders. This tributary of the Allegheny
bore the name of Toby more than a century ago. Toby was its original name,
prior to 1758. The traditions that it was named after certain individuals at
later periods are mere figments of the imagination, as is manifest from the
journal kept by Christian Frederick Post of his mission from the government of
Pennsylvania to the Delawares and other Indians at Kuskuskking, Sakonk, and
other points west of the Allegheny, in the last-mentioned year. He was sent on
that mission to prevail on them to withdraw from the French interest. His
journal begins July 15 and ends September 20. He says, under date of August 3:
�We came to a part of a river called Tobeco� � probably
Little Toby � �over the mountains.� Under date of August 5: �We set
our early this day, and mad a good long stretch, crossing the big river Tobeco�
� Toby�s creek � where he and the Indian chief, Pisquetomen, who
traveled with him, �lodged between two mountains,� as he called the hills.
On that day he lost his pocket-book, containing three pounds and five
shillings and some other things, among which were some writings which he alone
could read. The next day they �passed the big river Weshwaucks� �
probably either Point or East Sandy creek � and �crossed a fine meadow two
miles in length,� where they slept that night, without anything to eat. On
the 7^th they �came in sight of Fort Venango,� afterward called
Fort Franklin.

It is said that Toby�s creek was, in the latter part of the last or fore
part of this century, called Stump creek for a comparatively short distance
above its mouth, by lumbermen and others who descended the Allegheny river. It
was declared a public highway from its mouth to the second fork by the act of
March 21, 1798. Two hundred dollars were appropriated by act of March 24,
1817, for improving it. Thomas R. Peters and his heirs were authorized by act
of April 2, 1822, to erect and forever maintain a dam or dyke across it near
Turkey run. In the last mentioned act it is called �Toby�s creek, or
Clarion river,� and that is the first act in which it is designated by the
latter name, which it must have received before the last-mentioned year, but
not, as some suppose, by legislative enactment. After careful inquiry, the
writer is persuaded that this change of name originated in the suggestion of
the late David Lawson.

SUBDIVISION OF THE ORIGINAL TOWNSHIPS.

The act of March 24, 1803, authorized the courts of quarter sessions of the
several counties of this state to erect new townships, divide any township
already erected, or to alter the lines of any two or more adjoining townships
so as to suit the inhabitants thereof, upon application made to them by
petition, upon which they were required to appoint three impartial men, if
necessary, to inquire into the propriety of granting the prayer of the
petitioners, whose duty was to make a plot or draft of the township proposed
to by altered, or to change the lines of any two or more adjoining townships,
as the case might be, if the same could not be fully designated by natural
lines and boundaries, all of which they, or any two of them, were to report to
the next court of quarter sessions, together with their opinion of the same,
and at the next court after that to which the report was to be made, the court
should confirm or set aside the same as to them should seem just and
reasonable.

The petition of sundry inhabitants of Armstrong county was presented to the
proper court as December sessions, 1805, setting forth that the then townships
were too extensive for the performance of the duties of the township officers;
that the petitioners experienced great inconvenience from the township
divisions, and praying the court to appoint proper persons to divide the
county into several townships, so as to suit the convenience of the
inhabitants. Whereupon the court appointed Robert Beatty, John Corbett and
John McDowell for that purpose, who were required to report to the then next,
or March, Courts of Quarter Sessions. The presentation of their report having
been continued at the March and June sessions, was made at September sessions,
1806, in which they expressed the opinion that the county ought to be divided
into six townships, as designated in the accompanying plot or draft:

�No. 1, Toby township, beginning at Bucanon�s most eastern district
line� � 4_ 18 43/100� west longitude from Philadelphia � �where the
same crosses Toby�s creek; thence south by said line to where the same creek
crosses Mahoning creek, thence down said creek to the mouth on Allegheny
river, thence up said river to the mouth of Toby�s creek, thence up said
creek to the place of beginning.� Erected into a separate election district
and general election directed to be held at the house then occupied by Thos.
McKibbins, by act of April 11, 1807, about four miles east of Parker�s
Landing.

�No. 2, Red Bank township, beginning on the aforesaid district
line on Toby�s creek, thence by the said line of Toby township to the
Mahoning creek, thence up said creek to the line of Indiana county, thence
north by said county line and the line of Jefferson county to Toby�s creek,
thence down said creek to the place of beginning.� Erected into a separate
election district and election directed to be held at the house then occupied
by Samuel C. Orr. Act of April 11, 1807.

A glance at a township map will show that all the present townships between
Clarion river and Red Bank creek, in Clarion county, have descended, so to
speak, primarily from Toby township and secondarily from Toby and Red Bank
townships.

�No. 3, Kittanning township, beginning at the mouth of Mahoning
creek, on the Allegheny river, thence up said creek to the line of Indiana
county, thence by the line of said county south to the old purchase line (of
1768), from thence along the line of said county to a small run, a branch of
Crooked creek, thence sown said run to the mouth putting into Crooked creek,
the first run above the brest of Esquire Clark�s mill-dam� � now owned
by Townsend & Bro. � �thence down said creek to the mouth on the
Allegheny river, thence up said river to the place of beginning.� Erected
into a separate election district and general election directed to be held at
the commissioner�s office in the town of Kittanning. Act of April 11, 1807.

�No. 4, Allegheny township beginning at the mouth of Crooked
creek, thence own the Allegheny river to the mouth of Kiskiminetas river,
thence up said river to the county line, thence along said line to the above
run, the line of Kittanning township, thence along said line to the place of
beginning.� Erected into a separate election district and general election
directed to be held at the mouse then occupied by Solomon Shoemaker. Act of
April 11, 1807. Place of election changed to house of Eliab Eakman by act of
March 29, 1813.

�No. 5, Buffalo township, beginning at the mouth of the Buffalo
creek, thence up the Allegheny river to the mouth of Limestone run, thence
west to the line of Armstrong county, thence along said line to the line of
Buffalo township, thence along said line to the place of beginning.� By act
of April 11, 1807, this township was erected into an election district, the
elections to be held at the house fixed as Jacob Young�s/

�No. 6, Sugar Creek township, beginning at the mouth of Limestone
run, on the Allegheny river, thence up said river to the line of Armstrong
county� � the northwest corner of the county � �thence along said line
to the line of Buffalo township, thence east along said line to the place of
beginning.� By Act of April 11, 1807, this township was erected into an
election district, the election to be held at the house then occupied by Jost
Weiles.

The report of the viewers, or commissioners, recommending the foregoing
divisions and organizations of townships, was confirmed by the court September
18, 1806.

Source: Page(s) 101-105, History of Armstrong County, Pennsylvania by
Robert Walker Smith, Esq. Chicago: Waterman, Watkins & Co., 1883.
Transcribed March 2000 by Carl Waltenbaugh for the Armstrong County Smith
Project.
Contributed by Carl Waltenbaugh 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 Historical Index

Return to the Smith Project