History of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, with Biographical Sketches of Many of its Pioneers and Prominent Men

1303 Pages·1883·67.423 MB·English

by  Franklin Ellis, Samuel Evans

HISTOEY
' ^.j , J
\
OF ' " '
I
t
LANCASTEE COUNTY
PENNSYLVANIA,. %\-.'''
I
I WITH . . .-C . .;'!
i - BIOGRAPHICAL SKE' T" CH'^ ES' '
:
OK MANY OF ITS
Pioneers and Prominent Men.
'.'i^V
^^^^^:^k£,
BOROUGH OF COLUMBIA. 1760640 517
Old Taverns.—When John Wright procured a tors,William andAmosGreen,offered theproperty
charterforhisferry,heerectedatavern,whichstood atpublicsaleon the24th dayofDecember, 1814.
onthenorthsideofLocustStreet,oppositethedepot Whilethe vendue was in progress, John Reynolds
oftheReadingand Columbia Railroad,intheyear (fatherofGen.Reynolds,whowaskilledatGettys-
1730. Itwas builtoflogs,twostories high,with a burgin'1863)andJasperSlaymaker,ayounglawyer
largeroomateitherend,withapassage-waybetween. of Lancaster, while on theirway to Marietta, and
JohnWright,Jr.,wasthefirstpersonwho keptthis when passingcalledouttothecrier,"Six thousand
tavern. Heremainedthereuntilhemarried,in1734, sevenhundreddollars!" Theythoughtnothingmore
whenheremoved to thewestern side ofthe ferry, ofthematter,butreceivednoticethattheywerethe
wherehebuiltahotel. highestbidders. And thustheybecametheowners
Col. John Lowden, ofRevolutionary fame, kept ofthe"FerryHouse." Theyheld thispropertyfor
theFerryHouse priortothewar. He wastheson twentyyears. Theerection ofthebridgeoverthe
ofRichard Lowden, who married John Wright's riverdestroyed its profits. They sold theproperty
daughter. He removed toBuffaloValley,upon the toJohnGuy,the famous hotel-keeperofBaltimore.
WestBranchoftheSusquehanna,fromwhich place HewasbornontheEasternShoreofMaryland. He
heraisedacompanyofvolunteers and marched to removedtothiscountyin1815andleasedtheWash-
Bostonin1776. ington Hotel at Big Cliikis, where the Lancaster
JosephJetfriescamefromQuakerstockinChester and MountJoyturnpike crosses thesame. Healso
County. He removed from there, about the year establishedalineofstages,whichran betweenLan-
1774,toHellamtownship,York Co.,where he kept casterand Harrisburg. Fromthenceheremovedto
theFerry House. He waswagon-master forYork Mariettaand kept hotelinthelarge brickbuilding
County during the Revolutionary war, and at its adjoiningAbrahamN.Cassell. Hepurchasedafarm
close, in 1783, he removed to the east side ofthe amilefarthereast,alongtheLancasterandMarietta
ferryand tookchargeoftheFerryHouse. Here- turnpike, from whence he removed to Columbia.
mainedthereuntiltheyear1794-95,when the heirs Hisdaughter,Ann,marriedthe lateMaj.Frederick
ofJamesWrighterectedanewbrickhotel nearthe Haines,ofDonegal. The hotelwasafterwardspur-
northernlineoftheirproperty,the site ofwhich is chasedbyJoseph Black,andwasthenceforth called
nowoccupiedbytheround-houseofthePennsylvania Black'sHotel. Afterhisdeceaseitwaspurchasedby
RailroadCompany,whenhetookchargeofthe new | hisson,Joseph H.Black,who,byhisintegrityand
hotel. HeremovedtoLancaster,wherehealsokept[good management, built upa very profitablebusi-
hotel. ness. HesoldthepropertytothePennsylvaniaRail-
Frederick Stump first settled atVinegar's Ferry roadCompany. Their"round-house" occupies the
aboveMarietta,afterhe came tothiscountry from spotwherethisfamoushostelrystood.
Germany. Onaccountofmalarial fever,wliichwas The"Sorrel-HorseHotel"wasbuiltbyJosephJef-
thenprevailingamongthesettlersalongtheriver,he fries,whohadbeenkeepingthehoteluponthewest-
removedtoMaytown,wherehecommencedtokeep ernsideoftheriver. ItstoodatthecornerofWalnut
tavern about the close ofthe Revolutionary war. andFrontStreets,thesiteofwhichisnowoccupied
Fromtheuceheremoved to Columbia in 1796,and bythepassengerdepotofthePennsylvaniaRailroad
rentedtheFerryHouseandferry. Onthe14thdayof Company. Itremainedin possessionoftheJeft'ries
February,1798,hepurchasedtwoacresandLotsNos.l, until 1835,when Frank Boggs,who married Maria
2,and3,whichadjoinedthefirst-namedtracton the JeUries,purchased the property and enlarged it at
south,andalltheboats belongingto theferry,from the northern side. After the death of Mr. Boggs
SamuelWright for the sum oftwothousand eight the propertywas leasedbyChip.Parsons,Mrs.Ann
hundred pounds. Thehotel,which was new,stood Haines,andthatprinceoflandlords,JohnBurr.
onLotNo.1. Thetwoacres mentionedMr.Stump On the opposite corner, adjoining the store of
soldtoSamuelMiller,wholaidthesameoutintolots. Houston, Barber&Gossler, the Washington Hotel
Theferrywasthemost profitable one on thetiver. was built by Jacob Gossler, who removed the old
Hepurchased theextensive breweryonWestKing framebuilding,anderectedathree-storybrick addi-
StreetwestoftheStevensHousein LancasterCity, tionfifty-oneyearsago. HewasfollowedbyDaniel
whichheafterwardssoldtoC.Barnitz,ofYork,Pa. HerrandJosephH.Black,anditisnowownedbythe
HealsopurchasedalargenumberoflotsinColumbia. latter. Thereputationofthehousehasalwaysbeen
HediedinColumbiain1804. HiswidowandSam- "No.1."
uelEvans,administratorsofhisestate,soldthehotel Foraperiodoffortyyearsafterthetownwaslaid
andother'propertytoSamuelMiller,whorentedthe out,theprincipalstreetthroughwhichwagonspassed
holdandferrytoJoshua Ring. Healso ranaline to the ferrywasWalnutStreet. Hence therewere
ofstagesfromLancastertoYork. several hotels along that thoroughfarewhich did a
Mr.Millersoldthehotelaiidferry-boatstoThomas largebusiness. There has been no hotel on that
BrooksFeb.14,181.4. The latterdied beforeheob- streetformanyyears. Thelargebrickbuildingnow
tained possession ofthe property. Hisadministra- ownedbyCul.McClurewasownedbyCharlesOdell.

548 HISTORY OF LANCASTER COUNTY.
Joshua Ring also keptthe tavern. Occasionally a eightyyearsago. ItstoodonthenorthsideofLocust
wandering theatrical troupe gave performances at Street,neartheColumbiaNationalBank.
thishotel. Moses Montgomerybuilt a frame tavern on the
ReubenMuUisonkeptthehotelontheeastsideof northsideofLocustStreetaboveThirdStreeteighty
Commerce Street. He was also largely interested, years'ago. HehadbeenintheIrishRebellion,and
with the lateThomasCollinsandothers,in several cameto4niericaabouttheyear1799,andsettledin
stagelinesandwasarailroadcontractor. Whenhe Columbia. He raiseda company of volunteers in
firstcametoColumbiaherantheriverinthespring 1812, and was preparing togo into the fieldwhen
oftheyearasapilot. Hewasaveryactivecitizen. he got into a scuffle with Paul Wolf, who shot
His daughter married Thomas A. Scott, the great throughawindowatacandleinliishouseoutofpure
railroadmagnate. mischief. Hewasthrownuponapileofrailsinfront
Charles Odell came from theStateofNewYork ofthetavern,andhadhiscollar-bonebroken.
andsettledinMarietta,where he remained oneor In theearly historyofthe place "cherry fairs"
twoyears. HemarriedMissLockard,ofHempfield, and "harvest homes" were quite common. They
and removed to Columbia,and took charge ofthe frequentlylastedseveraldays. Thesewereprofitable
hotTehlew"esBtlaocfkMHuollrisseonT'asv.ern,"atthecornerofFourth seaOslodnsGfroirstt-hMeillalnsd.lo—rdsT.he little corn or grist-mill
andWalnutStreets,waskeptbyoneGetzoriginally. whichstood on the north side ofShawanese Run,
Hewasfollo^vedbyHenryKnight. afew hundredyards aboveits mouth,wasbuiltof
Jacob Corapfort kept the brick hotel on Locust .stone, twostorieshigh, and abouttwenty-five feet
Street,ontheeastsideoftheReadingandColumbia square,intheyear1735. Itwaserecteduponlandof
Railroaddepot. JohnWright,andbuiltbyhisson,James,andSamuel
JamesSweenykepttaverninaframehousewhich Blunston, the old pioneersettler. Thestream was
stoodbackfromLocustStreetfifteenortwentyyards, notlarge,buttherewasamplefalltoturnan "over-
upongroundwhichisnowoccupiedbythe'"Franklin shot" wheel ofmorethan twenty feet in diameter,
House." which gave all the power required to drive the
"The Lamb Tavern"wastorn downafew years machinery long enough to grind the grists of the
agoto makeroom fortheColumbiaNationalBank, pioneersettlers.
onLocustStreet,between SecondandThirdStreets. Samuel Blunston made hiswill in 1745, andde-
Itwasanotedtaverninitstime. Therewasalarge vised toJamesWrightone-halfofthe "corn-and
yard attached to this property into which wagons grist-mill." This little mill ran dayand nightin
couldbedriven,whichmadeitadesirableplacefor the spring of 1755, grinding flour for Braddock's
teamsterstostopovernight. TheKendricks,Bink- army,andin1758forGen.Forbes'army. Theflour
ley,and MichaelStreiu (and his son,Jacob,many waspackedinkegsandcarriedon pack-horsesover
yearsafterhim)keptthistavern. the mountains toFort Bedford. Andupon several
Ezekiel Cook came from LittleBritain township otheroccasions thecolonial authoritiescalled upon
abouttheyear1812,andfirstkepttavernintheframe JamesWrighttosupplyflourfortheuseoftheasso-
house,ofwhichtheFranklinHotelisthesuccessor,on ciatedcompaniesofrangersalongthefrontiers,and
LocustStreet,nearBankAlley. HeremovedtoMa- tosupplythevagrantIndiansatTurkeyHill.
rietta,wherehekepttavernafewyears,whenhere- ThismillandlandbelongingtoitdescendedtoSam-
turnedtoColumbiaagain,wherehediedfiftyormore uelWright,theoldestsonofJames,andthefounder
years ago. Hewas a candidateforsheriffin 1827, ofColumbia,whoconveyed itto his brother,John,
butwasdefeated. who laid out thatpartof Columbia called "John
The"WashingtonHotel"wasbuiltbyJacobGoss- Wright's addition" in the year 1788. OnApril 1,
ler. HewasthesonofPhilipGossler,whoremoved 1807,JamesWright,Jr.,son ofJohn,soldthe mill,
fromYorktoColumbiaabouttheyear1798andestab- shad-fishery,andfilteenacresoflandtoJohnHalde-
lished a coal- and lumber-yard. His son,'Jacob, man,whosoldthesame,April14,1812,toRudyHerr,
marriedMiss Stump,daughterofFrederickStump, ofManortownship,forsixthousandseven hundred
wlio owned theferryand Ferry-House. He dealt andfiftypounds. JacobStricklerandhisbrother-in-
largelyin realestate. TlierewereI'ewerchanges in law, GeorgeWeaver,purchased this mill about the
theownershipor managementofthishotel thanin year1818fromRudyHerr. Theytoredowntheold
anyoftheothers. stone mill and builtone ofbrick at the cornerof
Tiie"PineCreekHotel"waskeptbyMr.Withers MillandFrontStreets. Itafterwardscameintopos-
fifty-five years ago,whowas succeeded by the late session ofWilliam Atkins,Jonathan Pusey,George
CorneliusTyson. ItislocatedonFrontStreetbelow Bogle,and is nowowned byMcBrideandMaulfnir,
Union. who haveintroduced newmachinery,and manufac-
Brown'stavernwaskeptbyJeremiahBrown,who ture"newprocess"flour. Themillisalmostwholly
camefromLittleBritain,seventyyearsago. runbysteampower.
The "SwanHotel"was builtbySamuelEberleiu The Fairview Grist-Mill is located on the north

BOROUGH OF COLUMBIA. 549
'bpbe1u7iami9onl1nkt,ebeooWbrfuiynslBedlJataitralrabmeymerer,s'lBasiabBnroReaburuetbornef,r1n,7tEle8si0aqes..ro,bniootOrfsoonfuYmgootRhrhuo.ektb,he7,rtaThtnhatdidBsaatyorhlmbedoieeflrssl,otMuawsttyahoh,s-nejiI|sdblFeheorfilaatpptzhspeHeiirovanetgSreiamlnbli,ut"1shc8i0,hni2ien,lsEdsCsw.rqhhe.ene,srHtseeleuarrthdeveCiioevreudienmnpotgbonyar,thrheikiDrmsee,dcof.tfaiorn1mtw8th,ihaetet1:8Si"4Pru5Seo.ptrnrseiaeaHfnmmeed-er
ofJames,sold themill andfifty-sevenacresofland Court of Pennsylvania, and a distinguished mem-
toJudgeWilliamA.Atlee,ofLancaster,whoresided 'beroftheChester County bar; Elizabeth; Rhoda;
inthemansionwhichstoodwhereE.K.Smith,Esq., ' Vaughan,adaughter,married Rev.Riley,ofMon-
resides. Thispropertywassold byorderoftheOr- trose; JosephSmithmarriedMary,daughterofCol.
phans'Court. Onthe28thdayofAugust,1795,Al-j PersiferFrazer and MaryWorrall Taylor,whowas
exanderScott,Esq.,andMary,hiswife,soldtheone- thegranddaughterofIsaac Taylor,thesurveyorof
halfto Alexander Anderson,who wassold outby Chester County. Mr. Smith and Frazerwere the
SheriffMichael Rine May 15, 1801,and purchased progenitorsofanumberofdistinguishedmilitaryand
jIipAbhuyigaJu,satm,aens1d8a0Wn1i,dlJlWaiimalemlsiaMimMlillMelirel,rl,eorf.meWracOhsnahnittnh,getoo1fn1tPhhCiolduaandyteylo,-f cPirveWisililodlfefiniatcmerJsP.o.hnBeAatdtaymswaisna1p8p0o2i.nteHdepwoasstmtahsetesoruboyf
I'l,Pvaaen.yd,edJaantcdhoebAplSrteorxpiaecnrkltdeyerr,tooAfJnodHheenrmspofHinae,llddoe.fmaLnMa,rnc.aosfHtaeDrlo,ndeegcmaoalnn,- i RJAeenrvns.eyRC.ehaadHrilenegsw,aBsdeabauotgrthnytei(nroNfoefLsGohogavmeiCronnlyol,regiReneaBmdueicmnkogs,rCyoo)funNatenywd,
'soldhisinteresttoMr.Strickler,fromwhomitwent[ March31, 1706,and died in Philadelphia,July28,
'tohisson,Jacob,andthelatter'sson-in-law,Ephraim 1848. WhenJeffersonwaselectedPresidentanother
mHeaTrnsh,heeayfni,drswtJ.hsoaWw.-smoilSdltlatcoeyr,SeacwmtheuodelantoTCwrousolcuwomntbti,ita.MiorchnaeeilghSbhour-- 11 ppwoohssittcmmhaassottfeel5rrcewuahnsedaehpreplodPirnfetoseridtd.weenltIvneJ1oy8eh2an5rsh.QeuwianseyappAodianmtse,d
hoodwasbuiltbyRobert Barber,thepioneersettler John Mathiotwasappointedpostmaster in 1807,
in 1727,in the meadow boluw his dwelling,which andretainedthe positionuntilhewaselectedsheriff
stoodnearKauffman'sstone-quarries. Thereisnoth- ofthecountyin1818. His father,John,wasaHu-
ingnowleftofit. guenot, and came from France to Lancaster about
ShadFisheries.—Therewerebutthreeshadfish- the beginning ofthe Revolution. He removed to
eriesalongtheshorepriortotheerectionofthedam Columbia in 1798, and opened a dry-goods and
acrosstheriver. Thefirstoneestablishedwasator grocery-storeinconnectionwithMichaelGundecker,
.near the ferry,in frontof the public ground,and ofLancaster, in the brick building he erected on
ibelongedtoJamesWrightand his lieirs. Afterhis WalnutStreet,adjoiningBankAlley. Whilehunt-
death,whenthepropertycametobedivided,in1788, inguponMifttinIsland,abovethebridge,hewasac-
hisson,JohnWriglit,establishedafisheryneartlie cidentallyshotbyafriendand killedabouttheyear
mouthofShawaneseRun,which wassoldwith the 1804. HissonJohn,asstated,waselectedsheriffin
Shawanesemillproperly. 1818,althoughaDemocrat,whosepartywasthen in
Robert Barberalsoliadafisheryoppositehisland a minority in the county. The Wrights,whowere
belowJohn Wright's. Theentire shore infrontof Federalists,allunitedinhissupport. Hewaselected
the town waswell adapted for fishing with a drag mayorof Lancasterin 1831, and re-elected eleven
seine. Theshoresloped gradually,and therewasa times. HediedJan.22,1843,agedfifty-eightyears.
gravelbottom. In theyear 1807 the quarterlyreceiptsoftheoffice
Mifilin's Island, acrosswhich theold bridge ran, werefifteen dollars,andfortheyear1815theywere
jjIhoawdneadpbryofJiatambelseMfiifsihleirny,oEsnq.the west side. It was afrnodmfiofntyedohlulnadrsr.edAalntdhotuwgehntyh-efivweastonootnesuhbujencdtretdo
I Theerectionofadamacross theriverin 1838,to militaryduty,heprocuredahorseandmarchedwith
;johffoarntmnhaeafapinosdohleTritieodsefal-obWaoatvtbeeoratthCsaatntoaplotihneett.fmeoctuutalhlyofdetshterSouyseqduael-l Citnahpe1t8U.1n2iJ,taeecxdopbSetcSatttirenisgc.klteoOrb'wseincmguosmttpoearsneoydmetiontioKneftonhrnemeastleirStvqyiuctaehreeo,yf
Post-OfficeandPostmasters.^JosephSmithcame werenotmustered,andthecompanyreturnedtoCo-
toColumbiaabout179.3,andopened astore,incon- lumbia.
nectionwithJamesWright,inthelowerroomofthe PhilipEberman,abrother-in-lawofJohnMathiot,
old FerryHouse,which stood on the north sideof wasappointedpostmasterinthefallof1818,andre-
LocustStreet,nearFront. \post-oflice was estab- tainedthe'positionuntilhewassucceededbyWilliam
lished at Columbia in 1797,andMr.Smithwasap- P.Beatty,in182.'j.
pointed the first postmaster. The receipts of the In 1837, Dr. F. A.Thomas was appointed post-
office for the year 1799 were $10.44. He was the master under the administration of Martin Van
IeighthchildofCol.RoTjertSmith,ofChesterCounty, Buren.
andwasbornSept.24,1770. HeremovedtoPhila- |I Guilford G. Claiborne was appointed postmaster

550 HISTORY OF LANCASTER COUNTY.
underGen.Harrison'sadministration iutliespring
of1841. Butforanaccidentheprobablywouldnot
havereceivedtheappointment.
AfteritwasknowninColumbiathatGen.William
H. Harrison was elected President, in November,
1840,theAnti-MasonsandWhigsofthatplacecon-
cludedthattheywould celebrate theeventbyfiring
asalutewithacannoninhonoroftheevent,in the
orchard of John L. Wright, between Secondand
ThirdStreetsandAlleys"J"and"K." Duringthe
night before this was to take place some person
spiked the cannon with a rat-tail file. Whenthe
timecame tofirethesalute therewas great disap-
pointmentamongthefriendsofGen.Harrison. Col.
Amos S. Green, Mr. Claiborne, and others, after
workingformorethananhour,succeeded ingetting
outthefile,andproceeded to announce the factby
firingthecannoninrapidsuccession. Afterfiringit
threetimes,andMr.ClaiborneandWilliam Dickey
wereforcingawaddingofsoddownuponthepowder,
aboyattemptedtojumporrunacrossinfrontofthe
cannon,whenhefell. AbrahamMyers,whohadhis
thumbuponthetouch-hole,raisedit,whenthecharge
wentoffprematurelywhenClaiborneandDickeyhad
holdofthe ramrod. The formerhadhisarmshat-
tered,which had tobe amputatedabove theelbow.
Dickeywasknockedinsensible,butrecovered. There
wasagreatdealofsympathyforMr.Claiborne. He
wasappointed postmaster,aposition heretained for
twelveyears. HewassucceededbyA.P.Modernell
in1853,whodiedwhileincommission,andhiswidow
succeededhim,andheldthepositionuntil1861,when
Henry H.Frywasappointed underPresidentLin-
coln's administration. He also diedwhile in com-
mission,andhiswidowwasappointedtosucceedhim,
andretainedthepositionfortwelveyears,whenHenry
Mullen was appointed,and is now the postmaster.
He enlisted in the "Cookman Rangers"in April,
1861,andmarchedtoCampCurtin,musteredintothe
UnitedStatesserviceinCo.K,FifthRegimentPenn-
sylvania Reserves, on the 21st of June,1861; was
appointedquartermaster-sergeantofthatregimentin
November,1861;servedthreeyears,andwasinallof
thebattleswiththeArmyofthePotomac. Afterthe
expirationofhistermofservice,onthe6thofJune,
1864,he re-enlistedasaveteran,andwasappointed
firstlieutenant ofCo.A,One HundredandNinety-
firstRegimentofPennsylvaniaVolunteers. Hewas
takenprisoneratWeldonRailroad,belowPetersburg,
Va.,on the 19thday ofAugust,1864,andwas im-
prisoned atLibby,Va.,Salisbury, N.C,and Dan-
ville, Va., where he remained till March 22,1865.
He was'mustered out with the company June28,
1645. Thebusinessoftheoffice furtheyearending
inJuly,1883,amountedtoiJ7822.88.
Taxable Inhabitants in1814-15,-The size of
the town during the warof 1812 is uppro.xiiiiately
shown bythe followinglist ofta.xable inhabitants,
mostofwhomwereheadsoffamilies: