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CHAPTER XXXII.

I t is conceded that the Honorable Andrew Stewart was Uniontown's most distinguished public resident. He was the eldest son of Abraham Stewart and Mary Oliphant, the former of York and the latter of Chester county, Pennsylvania.

He was born on his father's farm, June 11, 1191, in German township where the village of hlcClellandtown is now located. I t appears that Abraham Stewart, a prominent citizen in his day, traded this farm to William McClelland for one in Wharton township, known as the " Land of Cakes," and where the son, Andrew, was reared. When a boy, a t the age of thirteen years, he witnessed the re-interment of the bones of General Edward Braddock, when his father, as road supervisor, removed them from their original burial place in the old Braddock road, to their present site. After attending the schools of his locality he taught a few terms and clerked in a furnace store.

He read law and was admitted to the bar of Fayette county January, 1815, and was soon after elected to the general assembly, in which body he served three years, after which he was appointed United States District Attorney by President Monroe, but resigned the office in 1820 to take his seat in congress to which he had been elected from this district, where he served with signal ability and entire satisfaction to his constituency for a period of sixteen years out of twenty-six and then declined further re-elections, closing his last term in 1849, being cotemporary with John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren, John Tyler, James Buchanan, Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson and many others of national repute. His acquaintance with the public men of the time was extensive.

In the campaign of 1822, Mr. Stewart received a handsome majority over Mr. Clevenger, his Greene county competitor, by the free and abundant distribution of watermelons.

In the campaign of 1828, Thomas Irwin defeated Mr.

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776 History of Ulziontowtt, Pel1 wylvatlia.

Stewart for congress, and Mr. Stewart was burned in effigy in front of the court house. This disgraceful conduct on the part of a few of the lower class met with such condemnation and rebuke by the masses of the people, and so increased the popularity of Mr. Stewart that a t the next election he defeated Mr. Irwin by an overwhelming majority.

During the Jackson-Adams campaign, 1818, Mr. Stewart was favorable to Adams, and although Jackson had a majority of 2,800 in this congressional district, Mr. Stewart was elected by a majority more than two to one over his competitor, a result unprecedented in the history of elections.

Mr. Stewart was the first to bring the construction of the Chesapeake and Ohio canal before congress, which was to ex- tend from Georgetown in the District of Columbia to Lake

A Erie, and to have passed the distance of two hundred and fifty miles through Pennsylvania. Rather than abandon the project, which a t first did not meet the approval of congress, he secured the services of James Shriver, a competent surveyor, who made a survey, and whose report removed all doubt of the practica- bility of the enterprise. An appropriation was secured, and on the fourth day of July, 1828, ground was first broken in its construction by President John Quincy Adams and others prominently connected with the head of the government and by foreign representatives. The construction was completed as far as Cumberland, where, after some time, the project was abandoned.

In the convention at Philadelphia in 1848, that nominated Zachary Taylor for the presidency, it was left to the Pennsyl- vania delegation to nominate a candidate for the vice-presidency, and upon the first ballot Mr. Stewart received fourteen out of twenty-six, the remaining twelve were scattering, when, without taking a second ballot to make i t unanimous, the chair- man of the delegation hurried back into the convention and reported that they had failed to agree, whereupon Mr. Fillmore was nominated and confirmed, otherwise had Mr. Stewart received the nomination, to which he was justly entitled, he would have succeeded to the presidency of the United States upon the death of President Taylor.

Mr. Stewart was married in 1828, to Miss Elizabeth Shriver, daughter of David Shriver, superintendent of the eastern division of the National road. extending from Cumberland, Mary-



History of Union town, Pennsylvania. 777

land, to within one mile of Brownsville, Pennsylvania, by which marriage he had six children. His first child, David Shriver Stewart, was born on what was since known as the Hugh Gra- ham farm, three miles west of Uniontown. One son, Lieutenant William F. Stewart, U. S. N., was lost a t sea when the British steamer, " Bombay," collided with the United States steamer, " Oneida," off Yokohama, Japan, January 24, 1370.

Mr. Stewart owned the lot on the corner of Morgantown and West blain streets on which he built a row of brick houses known as " Stewart's Row," in which he made his residence while he erected a large brick residence next east of the court house in 1835, and in which he had his law office. This building was subsequently used as a hotel and known as the Clinton House. I t was torn away preparatory to the erection of the present court house. In this he lived while he also erected a frame mansion near the eastern part of town in which he spent the latter part of his honorable life, and where he died July 16, 1872, in the eighty-second year of his age.

Mr. Stewart had bought over 80,000 acres of land in Fayette county, and at his death owned between 30,000 and 40,000 acres. His name is perpetuated by the naming of a township in his honor in 1855.

Soon after the Soldiers' Orphan school was established at Uniontown Mr. Stewart magnanimously offered to appropriate the interest of ten thousand dollars to be distributed annually among the children who should leave that school at the age of sixteen years, according to merit, based upon scholarship, industry and good conduct. This happily conceived proposition to assist these dependent children, was faithfully executed for several years, and perhaps ceased only at the death of Mr. Stewart.

From the fact that Mr. Stewart was an uncompromising advocate of a tariff for the protection of American industries he acquired the sobriquet of " Tariff Andy," and in order that Mr. Stewart may not be misunderstood, the following is his own version of his policy :

" Protect and cherish your national industry by a wise system of finance, selecting in the first place those articles which you can and ought to supply to the'extent of your own wants- food, clothing, habitation and defense-and to these give ample and adequate protection, so as to secure at all times an abund-



778 History of Uniontown, Pennsylvania.

ant supply a t home. Next select the luxuries consumed by the rich, and impose on them such duties as the wants of the Govern- ment may require for revenue; and then take the necessaries of life consumed by the poor, and articles which we cannot supply, used in manufactories, and make them free, or subject to the lowest rates of duty."

Previous to the .partial dispersion of the Highland clans in the rebellion of 1715, a portion of the clan McClean sought a home in Ireland. The father of Alexander was born there and emigrated to America a t an early age, and settled on Marsh creek in York, now Adams county, near the eastern slope of South mountain. The Marsh Creek burying ground contains numerous McCleans lying side by side.

Colonel Alexander McClean was born in York county, Pennsylvania, November 20, 1746, and was the seventh son of nine children of William McClean and Elizabeth Rule, who were married February 10, 1732. He was of a family of surveyors and received his instructions in the field, as he accom- pznied his elder brothers, Archibald, Moses and Samuel, who were engaged in running the New Castle circle, or boundary between this commonwealth and the state of Delaware, in the year 1761, prior to the arrival of Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon, celebrated mathematicians and surveyors of London, who were employed to determine the line between Pennsylvania and Maryland. They re-surveyed the line run by the Messrs. McClean in 1764, and their field notes of that date testify to the accuracy of the work done by their predecessors thus: "The tangent line of the New Castle circle as fixed by them would not pass one inch to the westward or eastward of the tangent point." The report of Colonel J. D. Graham, engaged in the re-survey of 1850, says: " W e are surprised, at this day, that the length of the radius should have been so correctly obtained by such a method as was employed in running the original line."

On January 7, 1765, the famous Mason and Dixon line or the southern boundary of Pennsylvania, was begun, and Colonel McClean was employed to accompany them as far as they ran the line, which terminated a t the third crossing of Dunkard creek, near the crossing of the great Catawba Indian trail or



History of Uniontown, Pennsylvania. 779

war path, where Mason and Dixon ceased their labors December 26, 1767. Here the line remained unfinished for fifteen years, owing greatly to the Revolutionary war, and the dispute between Virginia and ~ e n n s ~ l v a n i a , as both claimed the territory.

Colonel McClean was commissioned in July, 1781, to continue the line to the southwest corner of the province, but operations were delayed until November 4th, when arrangements were completed that Colonel McClean, on the part of Pennsylvania and Colonel Joseph Nevill, on the part of Virginia, began at the post indicating the terminus of the Mason and Dixon survey, and ran the line twenty-three miles and eighteen perches, by November 17, 1782, this being the distance com- puted by the former surveyors as locating the terminus of the southern boundary of the state. Here they planted a post, thirty miles from any habitation which was intended as a temporary location for the southwest corner of the state.

I n connection with Mr. St. Clair, on the part of Virginia, Colonel McClean ran the meridian boundary by astronomical observation from the southwest corner to the Ohio river, a distance of 63.6 miles. This was a most difficult part of the line on account of the rough and almost inaccessible route. At the completion of which, Colonel McClean assumed the responsi- bility of issuing to the militia, by which he was accompanied as guards, orders for provisions to be drawn at Beesontown (as Uniontown was then called) on their way home, and to be paid for by Pennsylvania.

The report 6f Mr. C. H. Sinclare, on the re-survey of 1883, says of this part of the line: " The hills were so steep i t was often with difficulty they could be climbed, frequently reaching the height of several hundred feet and impossible to do ac- curate- chaining; but when the date of tracing the first line, and the imperfect instruments are considered, the agreement between the two lines, shows very satisfactory work done one hundred years ago, and represented the best skill of the day."

On May 10, 1786, Colonel McClean was commissioned to assist Colonel Andrew Porter in running the line and marking the western boundary of the commonwealth, by astronomical observation, to the northwest corner. On June 19th, they began at Shenango creek, forty miles north of the Ohio river, to which point Colonel Porter had run the line the previous summer. On the 13th of September the northern terminus of the line was



780 - History of Uniontown, Pennsylvania.

reached, and on the following day their camp was pitched on the shore of Lake Erie, and by October 4th, the line was finished to that point; the distance from the Ohio river being 91 miles, 4.778 feet, and from the southwest corner 155 miles, 266 perches.

In Colonel Porter's journal he mentions Colonel McClean as " indefatigable in clearing the way." About twenty-three miles south of Lake Erie a swamp of six or seven miles in length was encountered, which, in the report of the re-survey of 1818, was pronounced to be " the most abominable swamp in the world," and here work was abandoned from December 6, 1878, until the 15th of the following January, and then only by " great and persevering effort" was the line extended through the swamp.

The surveyor's report for the re-survey of 1881, says of the work from the Ohio river to Lake Erie: '' The original line had been very carefully run, was practically straight and was very nearly on the true meridian."

Thus we find that Colonel McClean was employed in the running of every foot of the southern and western boundaries of Pennsylvania excepting that portion from the Ohio river north to Shenango creek, a distance of forty miles.

December 18, 1780, the general assembly of Pennsylvania passed an act to settle upon a basis of gold and silver the depreciation in the pay of officers and enlisted men of the Penn- sylvania line engaged in the Revolutionary war. The officers and soldiers were issued certificates of depreciation which Pennsylvania afterwards redeemed in full.

I n pursuance of the above act the general assembly passed an act to lay off a certain tract of land extending from the western boundary of the state to the Allegheny river, and from the Ohio river on the south to the mouth of Mahoning creek on the north, bounded on the north by the line dividing what was known as the Depreciation lands from those on the north known as the Donation lands extending to Lake Erie and which had been previously run by Colonel McClean. This tract com- prised an area of 720,000 acres, and embraced part of what is now the counties of Allegheny, Armstrong, Butler, Beaver and Lawrence, to be laid off in tracts of not less than two hundred nor more than three hundred acres. each. These lots were to be sold at auction, the consideration to be paid in gold, silver or certificates of depreciation; patents to be issued to




the several buyers; the cash, silver or gold, to be used for the redemption of such certificates as might remain unsatisfied at the close of the sales.

This tract was divided into five districts and a surveyor was appointed for each. Colonel hlcClean was appointed in 1753 for the first, it being a parallelogram of twelve miles wide by twenty-one in length, aggregating nearly 161,280 acres, the western boundary of which was the western boundary of the state ; the southern boundary was the Ohio river, and extended up said river to the mouth of Beaver creek, thence north to the northern boundary of said lands. The survey of this district was considered to be the most liable to Indian interference, and General William Irwin, then in command a t Fort Pitt, was instructed to furnish a guard while the western and northern boundaries were being .run, as it was not deemed safe to proceed without.

The district surveyed by Colonel McClean was run off in the summer of 1785, with the exception of the western boundary which could not be run until that line was determined to Lake Erie, which was accomplished, as before stated, by Colonel Andrew Porter and Colonel McClean in the fall of 1786. He was commissioned also to survey the two tracts of three thousand acres each reserved by the State; one of these tracts lying in the forks of the Ohio and Allegheny rivers, and the other on both sides of the mouth of Beaver creek, including Fort McIntosh.

When the Penns opened a land office in Philadelphia, April 3, 1769, for the sale of lands in the " New Purchase," Colonel McClean moved to Stony creek, near Stoystown, now in Somer- set county, and from here he moved his quarters to suit his occupation. As soon as titles could be acquired in what is now Fayette county, he was employed in surveying for those who had previously located on " tomahawk rights," which was a precarious right, but generally respected by the frontier settlers.

While employed on the Mason and Dixon line Colonel Mc- Clean was bitten by a venomous serpent and was taken to a frontier cabin at the glades of Coxe's creek, near Stoystown, for treatment where he formed the acquaintance of Miss Sarah Holmes. This acquaintance soon ripened into friendship and she became his bride October 26, 1775, and at which place their




first child was born September '7, 17'76, and here they made their home for about three years.

Moving west of the mountains he purchased the farm that had been warranted to James Stewart June 14, 1769, about one mile east of Uniontown, and now owned by the Stewart Iron company, where the Beeson coke works are now located. Here he made his home until he moved into town, about 1783.

The first survey found recorded as surveyed by him as deputy surveyor within the present limits of Fayette county is dated in the year 1772, while all previous returns, and many subsequent ones, were made in the name of his elder brothers, Archibald and Moses, who were also deputy surveyors, although he held commissions as deputy surveyor for different districts from 1169 to 1825, when on account of age he declined to have them renewed. His district was extended westward of the Monongahela river February 23, 1773, and October 1, 1791, his commission, which was repeatedly renewed, embraced the territory of the whole of Fayette county, Rostraver township in the counties of Westmoreland and Allegheny, and Mifflin, Brothers Valley and Turkey Foot, together with that part of Quemahoning township lying southward of the great road to Fort Pitt in the county of Bedford. He was commissioned one of three, February 26, 1773, to run the line of separation between the counties of Westmoreland and Bedford.

I n the summer of 1781, the expedition under the command of General George Rogers Clarke was organized to proceed against Detroit, and drafts were made throughout the Monon- gahela valley, and among those drafted was Colonel McClean,- but either through the intercession of his brother Archibald, a t Yorktown, with the Supreme Executive Council, or by virtue of his commission, held under Pennsylvania as chief surveyor to run the temporary boundary line, upon which work he was about to engage, he was excused from military service. I n this expedition Colonel Lochry, with forty-two of his men, was killed on the Ohio river at the mouth of the Miami, August 24th, and Edward Cook was appointed to fill his place as sub- lieutenant of Westmoreland county, and in 1782 Colonel Mc- Clean was appointed to succeed Colonel Cook to that office; hence he acquired the title of colonel, by which he was ever afterward known. He entered upon the duties of that office in the spring and summer of 1782, holding courts of appeal at



Histmy of U niontown, Pennsylvania. 783

various times and at convenient places. These courts were held for the hearing of excuses for not rendering military duty, and transacting business of a military character.

In 1782, Colonel McClean was elected also a member of the assembly from Westmoreland county, in order to secure the erection of a new county from this part of Westmoreland, which object was accomplished September 26, 1783. He was re-elected to the assembly October 3, 1783.

Upon the erection of Fayette county, Colonel McClean applied for the appointment to the office of prothonotary, but General Ephraim Douglass secured the appointment and entered upon the duties of that office a t the first session of court, and in writing to General William Irvine at Fort Pitt, he pays Colonel McClean the following compliment : " Notwithstanding the disappointment Colonel McClean must have felt a t not securing this office, as he has a numerous small family depende<t upon him, he received me with a degree of generous friendship that does honor to the goodness of his heart, and continues to show every mark of satisfaction at my appointment."

Colonel Mcclean, however, was appointed October 31, 1783, by the Supreme Executive Council an associate justice to preside over the first courts held in the new county, as the following commission will witness :

In the name and by the authority of the Freemen [Seal] of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, The Supreme

Executive Council of the said Commonwealth :

T o Alexander McClean, Esq., of the county of Fayette: We, reposing especial trust and confidence in your patriot-

ism, prudence, integrity and ability, have appointed you Presi- dent of the Court of Common Pleas of the county of Fayette, and giving hereby and g-anting unto you, the said Alexander McClean, full power and authority to execute and perform all the several acts and things to the said office belonging during pleasure. And hereby requiring all officers, civil and military, and all other subjects of this Commonwealth to obey and respect you accordingly.

Given in Council under the hand of the President and seal of the State a t Philadelphia the thirty-first day of October in




the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty- three.

Attest : John Armstrong, Jr. John Dickinson.

The duties of the above office he filled until April, 1787. The appointment to the offices of register of wills and

recorder of deeds for the county of Fayette was conferred upon Colonel McClean December 6, 1783, which office he filled with ability and entire satisfaction continuously for a period of just fifty years. To be sure the business done at these offices at this early date was not sufficient to occupy much of his time, thus affording ample opportunity to attend to many duties besides. The first deed was recorded January 13, 1784, and in the entire year the number recorded was ninety-nine, and in the following year fifty, and in that following forty-two; in the same length of time there were sixteen wills recorded, making in the aggregate two hundred and seven instruments recorded in the first three years of the history of the county. The fees then ranged from fifty to seventy-five cents for recording and comparing.

The first term oi court of Quarter Sessions and of Com- mon Pleas was held on the fourth Tuesday in December, 1783, in a school house which stood on the Central Public grounds, now occupied by the sheriff's residence and jail, before Philip Rogers, Esq., and his associates, Alexander McClean, Robert Adams, John Allen, Robert Ritchie and Andrew Rabb, all justices in and for the county of Westmoreland.

By the act of assembly founding Dickinson college at Car- lisle, Pa., in 1'283, Colonel McClean was honored by being appointed one of its trustees. This venerable institution of learning is still in a flourishing condition.

Early in February, 1784, the partition line separating Fay- ette from Westmoreland county was run, and Colonel McClean, who was executive person, generously agreed to be responsible for the expenses until the commissioners should have the funds to meet them.

In 1788, the State of Pennsylvania decided to lay out a good wagon road from Shippensburg to Fort Pitt, in pursuance of which Colonzl McClean was commissioned, with two others, in ~bvember, 1789, to make the location from Bedford to Fort Pitt, a distance of over eighty-five miles. Arrangements were



THE OLD H E N R Y BEESOS MANSTOX.



Histmy of Uniontown, Pennsylvania. 785;

made to meet at Bedford the latter part of November, but one of the commissioners being sick and the other failing to attend, the colonel proceeded at once and marked off the course with stakes indicating the amount of fills and cuts and accomplished the task successfully.

When in 1791, John Hopwood laid out the town which he named Woodstock, now known as the village of Hopwood, two and a half miles east of Uniontown, he provided for the founding of an " Academy of Learning" for which Colonel McClean was appointed one of the trustees to collect, receive and hold in trust the funds for building and endowing the same. This academy was taken in charge by the Baptist church and was in a flourishing condition in 1794, and doubtless, was one of the first academies in this part of the state.'

He was one of the three commissioners who ran the line of separation between the counties of Washington and Greene upon the formation of the latter, February 9, 1796.

Soon after the laying out of Uniontown Colonel McClean purchased several town lots and some out-lots. He owned nearly all the lots on the north side of East Main street from the court house to Redstone creek. On lot number 20 he built for his own use the most pretentious residence in the village. This stood some distance back from the street, and had a covered balcony at the upper windows on the west, and the interior was finished in panel work, carved cornices and other ornamentations unusual in houses of that day west of the mountains. Into this he moved on coming to town, and spent the remainder of his days, although on the 3rd of Sep- tember, 1806, he deeded this property to Thomas Meason, and upon which the Clinton House was afterward erected, and the site is now occupied by the present court house.

Besides the several town lots and out-lots, Colonel Mc- Clean acquired lands in various parts within the present county limits, to the amount of nine thousand acres, which would equal a body of land four miles in length by three and a half miles in breadth. Upon portions of this land some of his sons settled, but none were successful as farmers. When he had reached about his sixtieth year, financial difficulties began to overtake him, and his numerous family, instead of being a support, became a burden for him to bear, and debt after debt accumulated,




and tract by tract of his land was sold at great sacrifice, until a few years before his deathall had been swept away.

Not ten years before his death the sheriff sold almost the last tract situated near the foot of Laurel Hill, and Colonel McClean being register and recorder, it was his painful duty to record this deed, which in so doing, he began in his elegant and almost matchless style of penmanship, but his eyes soon fill with tears and his hand trembles, and while recording the words " all his goods and chattels" the faithful old surveyor and recorder, now in his seventy-eighth year, burst into tears and his clerk takes up the pen and resumes the record.

Of Colonel McClean9s military record. there is much ob- scurity. It is recorded that he served in the McIntosh expedition against the Indians in 1780, in which much privation was endured and but little good accomplished. In a Ietter written to President Dickinson of the Supreme Executive Council, July 16, 1784, he states: " I have shared the fatigues of the most difficult campaign that has been carried on in this country, and was a witness to both the sufferings and fortitudes, and have suffered on fatigue." The Pennsylvania archives, 3rd Series, Vol. 23, page 529, give Colonel McClean as a pen- sioner of the State militia. Frequently at public gatherings he was introduced as a Revolutionary soldier and read the Dec- laration of Independence.

Colonel McClean was described as a stout, heavy-set man susceptible of long continued labor without fatigue; of a com- panionable disposition, and with his fund of information and varied experience was always entertaining in the extreme. Judge James Veech, in his sketch of Colonel McClean, describes him as " a quiet, unobtrusive man, devoted to the duties of his office, and caring little else than to discharge them with diligence, accuracy and fidelity. He held office longer-from 1772 to 1834--than any other man who has ever resided in Western Pennsylvania; and it is not probable that in this respect he will ever have a successor, so unyielding is the rotatory tendency of modern ' progress.' As Register, Recorder and Surveyor, for more than half a century, he had been conversant with all the estates, titles and lands of the county, with all their vacancies, defects and modes of settlement; yet with all these opportunities of acquiring wealth, he died in comparative



Histmy of Uniontown, Pennsylva nia. 787

poverty-a sad monument to his integrity. He wrote more deeds and wills a t seven and sixpence each ($1.00), and dis- pensed more gratuitous council in ordinary legal affairs, than, at reasonable fees, would enrich a modern scrivener or counselor."

His beautiful, copper-plate style of penmanship elicits the highest encomiums from all who search the early records of the office. He made his own pens from the quill of the goose, as steel pens were not in use in his day, and he could write the broad, heavy headlines in Old English text or the whole of the

(6 Lord's prayer within the circumference of an elevenpenny bit."

Colonel McCleanYs wife, Sarah Holmes, was born at the Glades of Coxe's creek, near Stoystown, now in Somerset county, April 14, 1750. She was a robust, active woman and a fit companion for a hardy frontier settler. She was accus- tomed to outdoor exercise and was an excellent horse-woman and loved to ride to the hounds. She could mount her horse, which she kept for the chase, without upping-block, and frequently exhibited her skill by mounting her horse from the ground at the age of seventy-five years. In a sort of a diary kept by Colonel McClean, frequent mention is made of his wife attending the chase, the last mention of which bears the date of February 3, 1828, in which he states that the chase was long and his wife did not arrive home until after midnight, when she put away her horse and came to bed. She was then at the age of seventy-eight years.

She died first of a family of twelve children, March 26, 1832, within but a few days of her eighty-second birthday.

Their family consisted of: Ann, born September 7, 1776, married to John Ward, and settled a t Steubenville, Ohio, where they became quite prominent; Joseph, born November 17, 177'7, married to Nancy Salters; Elizabeth, born March 27, 1779, married to Thomas Hadden, Esq., the first resident attorney of the Fayette county bar; William, born October 14, 1780, married to (first), Mary Burker, (second), Nancy Mc- Laughlin and (third), Libbie Finley ; Alexander, born Sep- tember 17, 1782, never married, served in the war of 1812; Ephraim, born July 23, 1784, rnHrried to Tamzon Slack, kept tavern on the summit of Laurel Hill; Stephen, born September 23, 1786, married to Nancy McClean and lived a t Lemont; John,




born February 28, 1788, married to Mary Wilson; Richard, born May 17, 1790, never married; Moses, born March 12, 1793, married to (first), Jane McClean, (second), Nancy Sullivan.

Colonel k1cClean died January 7, 1834, aged 88 years, 1 month and 17 days.

The minutes of the court have the following entry: " Jan- uary 8, 1834.-At the meeting of the court this morning Mr. (John M.) Austin arose and informed the Court of the death of Colonel McClean, which took place last night. After a few remarks, in which Mr. Austin alluded in terms of deserved eulogy to the high character with which the deceased sustained as an officer and man, and in general in all the social relations, he moved the following resolution, viz. :

"That when the court adjourns, it adjourns to meet at 4 o'clock p. rn., in order to give the Court and bar, grand and trav- erse jurors and others attending the court an opportunity of attending the funeral, which was adopted and ordered accordingly."

The following is the inscription on the tombstone erected over the grave of Colonel McClean in the old Presbyterian burying ground east of the court house:

Col. Alexander McClean, Born Nov. 20, 11'46, died Dec. 7, 1834,

In the 88th year of his age.

" He was a soldier in the revolution. Was a representative from Westmoreland county in the Legislature of Pennsylvania at the time Fayette county was established. And was register and recorder of this county from its organization in 1783 until his death. In his departure he exemplified the virtues of his life, for he lived a patriot and died a Christian."

The discrepancy in the date of the death of Colonel McClean as noticed above can be accounted for from the fact that the date on the tombstone was doubtless recorded some years after his death while that of the minutes of the court was recorded at the time.

GENERAL EPHRAIM DOUGLASS. One of the most prominent characters in the early history

of Uniontown was General Ephraim Douglass. Of his nativity



History of Uniontow, Pennsylvania. 789 \

nothing is certainly known, but his early business associates and friends cluster around Carlisle in Cumberland county, Pennsylvania. His father was Adam Douglass, and he had a brother, Joseph, who was connected with him in business in Pittsburgh and also after locating in Uniontown.

It appears that he located at Pittsburgh as early as 1768, a t which place he was joined later by his father, mother and brother; one sister married and remained in Cumberland county. But nineteen years of age, yet full of energy, and pos- sessing a fairly good English education, with steady habits and considerable diligence and skill, he engaged in several kinds of employments, and soon gained the acquaintance of the foremost Indian traders and early settlers around the old frontier post.

In 1771 he began to engage in the Indian trade, furnishing the Indians with powder, lead, tomahawks, beads and coarse articles of clothing in exchange for peltry of all sorts, then quite a lucrative business. These, when dried, were sent to Philadelphia on pack-horses and sold; the pack-horse trains bringing back goods for the traders.

He soon became associated with others in the business and opened trading posts at other localities in the Indian country. Indian troubles and the Revolutionary war put an end to their business, although Douglass, for business purposes, avoided participation in the troubles.

The Eighth Regiment of The Pennsylvania Line was raised in July of 177'6, for the defense of the western frontiers, to gar- rison the posts of Presque Isle, Le Boeuf and Kittanning, to consist of seven companies from Westmoreland and one from Bedford county, under the command of Colonel Aeneas Mackay, of which Ephraim Douglass was appointed Quartermaster September 12, 17'76. On the 23rd of November the regiment was ordered to march to Brunswick, New Jersey, or to join Washington wherever he might be found. Soon after joining the main army near New York he became aide-de-camp to Major General Lincoln and was serving in that capacity with a body of 500 troops under that general's command at Bond Brook when Lord Cornwallis, in command of 2,000 British, made an ascent from Brunswick. General Lincoln retreated with a loss of sixty men and sundry prisoners, among the latter was Major Douglass. He was carried to New York, then held by the



790 History of Uniontom, Pennsylvania.

enemy, where he was subjected to many privations until exchanged.

General Washington wrote to General Lincoln on the 25th of October, l'i'?"?, that he would try to get Douglass exchanged for some of the captives of Burgoyne's army, as soon as his turn came. But the odds, especially in officers, being greatly against the Americans, the British having five prisoners to the Americans one of theirs, and the difference in the treatment of prisoners, postponed the release of the major for a considerable time. During his long captivity his health gave way, and con- tracting a cutaneous disease, he resorted to mercury and bathing which well nigh cost him his life. He was exchanged in No- vember, 1780, and soon after rejoined his regiment which had been ordered to Pittsburgh for the defense of the western frontier.

The Supreme Executive Council, in 1780, passed an act to reimburse the officers and enlisted men of the Pennsylvania Line engaged in the Revolutionary war, estimating in specie all sums of continental money, and certificates were issued to that effect.

I n pursuance of the above act, the lands lying between the Allegheny river and the western boundary of the state, and from the Ohio river to the mouth of Mahoning creek, embracing an area of 720,000 acres, and comprising what is now partTof the wealthy and populous counties of Allegheny, Butler, Beaver and Lawrence, was to be laid off into lots and be sold, the proceeds thereof to be applied for the redemption of such certificates as might be unsatisfied at the end of the sales.

This tract, known as the Depreciation Lands, was dividGd into five districts and surveyors appointed for each. A part of tract number three, three miles in width and over thirty miles in length, was assigned to General Douglass, in 1785, and was surveyed by Robert Stevenson.

I n August of 1781, Major Douglass was again settled a t Pittsburgh, and, at the close of which year the government solicited his services on a special secret mission among the In- dian tribes of the Northwest. A letter from his friend, General Irvine states: " I have heard of your magnanimous enterprise in penetrating the Indian country-that you have been absent and not heard from for some months-that the time fixed for



History of Uniontown, Penmyhania. 791

your return was lapsed, and that your friends about Pittsburgh had given you up as lost. He returned in May, 1788.

From the first of September, 1782 to the last of April, 1783, he served as Intendant of British prisoners a t Philadelphia. On the first of May, 1783, congress resolved upon another embassy to the Indian tribes of the Northwest to inform them that peace had been agreed upon, and that hostilities had ceased between the American colonies and Great Britain, and that the forts now held by the British troops would soon be evacuated-that the United States wished to enter into friendly treaties with them, and that unless they acceded to friendly offers and ceased their hostilities, congress would take measures to compel them thereto.

The secretary of war immediately selected Major Douglass for this important and dangerous mission. He set out from Fort Pitt on the 7th of June, with horses and attendants, pass- ing through the hostile wilderness of the Northwest to San- dusky, where he was detained several days; thence to Detroit, Niagara and Oswego; all of which posts were held by British garrisons. The British commandants would not permit him to make the Indians a public exposition of his mission, although treated with great civility and respect by both British and In- dians. While at Detroit, there was held a grand council of eleven Indian tribes, who seemed glad to hear that peace had been de- clared, and gave evidence of satisfaction a t having him among them. He could assume the r6le of a chief so completely as to deceive the Indians themselves.

He returned from this mission in August and immediately repaired to Princeton and reported the results of his mission to congress. For this service, congress voted him five hundred dollars.

Soon after his return from his mission among the Indians the movement for the formation of a new county out of a part of Westmoreland was about to be accomplished, and General Douglass forwarded the following memorial to the Supreme Executive Council :

" T o the Honorable the Supreme Executive Council of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania :

"The memorial of Ephraim Douglass humbly showeth that having, true to his principles, made an early sacrifice of his interest, he entered into and continued in the service of his




country until the loss of health, conspiring with other mis- fortunes, obliged him to return at a time when his return to civil life offered him no prospect of a retire to his former pursuits in it. That he has since earned a precarious subsistence by the accidental services he has been occasionally employed to perform; but being now altogether without business, and strongly desirous of obtaining some permanent independent employment, he looks up to your honorable body for the ac- complishment of that desire with all the confidence which a knowledge of your justice and readiness in rewarding your faithful servants can inspire.

" That your memorialist having heard of a new county being created from a part of Westmoreland, begs leave humbly to offer himself a candidate for the office of prothonotary in the county of Fayette, and prays your acceptance of his services.

" Your memorialist, as in duty bound, will ever pray." " Ephraim Douglass."

His application was successful, and on the sixth day of October, 1783, he was appointed prothonotary and clerk of the courts of Fayette county, and entered upon the duties of his new offices, being here at the first court, held on the first Tues- day in December following: Offices which he held uninter- ruptedly until December, 1808, when he resigned.

General Douglass' description of the first courts held in the new county, as written to John Dickinson, Esq., President of Supreme Executive Council, February 2, 1784, is as follows:

" Sir : "The courts were opened for this county on 23rd of De-

cember, last. The gathering of the people was pretty numerous, and I was not alone in fearing that we should have frequent proofs of that turbulence of spirit with which they have been so generally, and perhaps too justly, stigmatized. But I now feel great satisfaction in doing them the justice to say that they behaved, to a man, with decency and good order. Our grand jury was really respectable-equal at least to many I have seen in courts of long standing. Little was done other than dividing the county into townships."

GENERAL DOUGLASS' DESCRIPTION OF UNIONTOWN. General Douglass in writing to his friend General Irvine

soon after locating in Uniontown described the. place as follows :




" This Uniontown is the most obscure spot on the face of the globe. I have been here seven or eight weeks without one opportunity of writing to the land of the living, and, though con- siderably south of you, so cold that a person not knowing the latitude would conclude we were placed near one of the poles. Pray, have you had a severe winter below? W e have been frozen up here for a month past, but a great many of us having been bred in another state, the eating of hominy is as natural to us as the drinking of whisky in the morning.

'' The town and its appurtenances consist of our president and a lovely little family, a court house and school house in one, a mill and consequently a miller, four taverns, three smith shops, five retail shops, two tan yards, one of them only occupied, one saddler's shop, two hatters' shops, one mason, one cake woman (we had two, but one of them having committed a petit larceny, is upon banishment), two widows and some reputed maids, to which may be added a distillery. The upper part of this edifice is the habitation at will of your humble servant, who, besides the smoke of his own chimney, which is intolerable enough, is fumigated by that of two stills below, exclusive of the other effluvia that arises from the dirty vessels in which they pre- pare the materials for the stills. The upper floor of my parlor, which is also my chamber and office, is laid with loose clap- boards or puncheons, and both the gable ends are entirely open; and yet this is the best place in my power to procure till the weather will permit me to build, and even this I am subject t o . be turned out of the moment the owner, who is a t Kentucky, and hourly expected, returns.

"I can say little of the country in general but that it is very poor in everything but its soil, which is excellent, and that part contiguous to the town is really beautiful, being level. and prettily situate, accommodated with good water and excellent meadow-ground. But money we have not, nor any practicable way of making i t ; how taxes will be collected, debts paid, or fees discharged I know not; and yet the good people appear willing enough to run in debt and go to law. I shall be able

.to give you a better account of this hereafter. " Col. McClean received me with a degree of generous

friendship that does honor to the goodness of his heart, and continues to show every mark of satisfaction a t my appointment. He is determined to act under the commission sent him



794 History of Ugziontown, Pennsylvania.

by Council-that of register and recorder-and though the fees would, had he declined it, have been a considerable addition to my profits, I cannot say I regret his keeping them. He has a numerous small family, and though of an ample fortune in lands, has not cash at command.

" The general curse of the country, disunion, rages in this little mudhole, with as if they had each pursuits of the utmost importance, and the most opposed to each other, when in truth they have no pursuits at all that deserve the name, except that of obtaining food and whisky, for rainment they scarcely use any.

" The commissioners-trustees, I should say-have fixed on a spot in one end of the town for the public buildings, which was by far the most proper in every point of view, exclusive of the saving expense; the other end took the alarm and charged them with partiality, and have been ever since uttering their complaints. And at the late election for justices, two having been carried in this end of the town and none in the other, has made them quite outrageous. This trash is not worth troubling you with, therefore I beg your pardon, and am, with unfeigned esteem, dear general,

" Your humble servant, " Ephraim Douglass."

By an act of assembly incorporating Uniontown into a borough, April 4,1796, General Douglass was made chief burgess until the election to be held the first Monday in May, 1797.

General Douglass purchased lot No. 7 in the original plot of the town, February 28, 1792, paying therefor the third of five pounds. On this lot, in a log house, he made his home until he

. erected a two-story brick residence immediately east of the log. I n this new brick he made his residence until he removed to his farm two miles north of town about 1824.

General Douglass was appointed treasurer of the county in 1789, which office he filled with signal ability until January, 1800. During these years the duties of this office were exceedingly onerous and responsible. Besides the county levies during this period, a state tax of greater amount, yearly until 1790, w a s to be collected and remitted, to meet the State's. quotas to support the Federal Government and pay the war debt. For until the new Federal Constitution of 1789 became




effective, Congress assessed certain sums of revenue to be fur- nished by each State, and the State apportioned the sum among its counties. This had to be paid in gold or silver, or in certain government certificates. And the great scarcity of money in this part of the country made the burden of its payment very grievous, and its collection exceedingly difficult and unpleasant. Nevertheless Fayette county was prompt to pay her quota, as the following letter from the Comptroller General's office to General Douglass will testify :

" Sir : " The honorable situation in which the county of Fayette is

placed by the punctual discharge of her taxes, reflects high credit upon the officers employed in the laying, collecting and paying the same, as well as upon the county a t large. May you long continue, and I hope you will long continue in the same laudable situation. Your example will have a good influence upon others, so that you not only do your duty yourselves, but in some degree procure the same to be done by others. The bearer is riding the state for money, but from you we ask none. You have anticipated our demand, and I know will continue to send it down as fast as you receive it.

" I am, with respect, Sir, " Your most humble servant,

" John Nicholson."

Some idea of the difficulty of collecting the taxes at the early formation of the county is obtained from a letter written by General Douglass to the Secretary of State, in which he says : " The county commissioners are so counteracted by the rabble of this county, that it appears hardly probable the taxes will ever be collected in the present mode. In the township of Menallen in particular, the terror of undertaking the duty of collector has determined several to refuse it, under the severe penalty annexed. Two only have accepted, and these have been robbed by some ruffians unknown, and in the night, of their duplicates. The inhabitants of other townships have not gone to such lengths, but complain so much of the hardship and the want of money that I fear very little is to be hoped from them."

It appears that General Douglass has experienced considerable trouble in securing his pay for the time he was held




a prisoner by the British, and the following letter written to John Nicholson, Comptroller General, dated Uniontown, 16th April, 1784, is most emphatic.

" Sir : "And now, Sir, I will for the last time, trouble you with

the mention of an affair which has already created some trouble to us both. My opinion, when founded on principle, I can never sacrifice to any other gentleman, but I am less wedded to my interest. The efforts I have already made to accommodate the dispute between us have convinced me that you are not less tenacious of yours. I have neither leisure, opportunity nor in- clination to undergo the drudgery and expense of a tedious lawsuit, whereby this matter might be settled in time; nor am I of that importunacy of disposition to trouble the legislature, after having once troubled the Supreme Executive power of the State, with an application on this subject; though I should not doubt of a determination in my favor. T o avoid, therefore, both the one and the other, and to satisfy you, I have sent you my certificate, in the confidence that I shall now be allowed the satisfaction I shall derive from the recollection of having served and suffered, forfeited my interest and ruined my constitution, without any reward; for rather than accept of less than I believe myself entitled to, I would wish to have nothing.

" I have the honor to be, etc. " Ephraim Douglass."

In April, 1793, General Douglass was commissioned Brig- adier General for the county of Fayette, and was in command of the 1st Brigade, 4th Division of Militia and at the annual parades of the militia he was a conspicuous figure on horseback. He was a man of high stature and most imposing appearance, remarkably neat and exact in gait and dress, with long queue and powdered hair, and in his prime was of great athletic vigor and perfectly fearless. It is related of him, that having been taken prisoner by the Indians that he enticed his keepers to the river to try their skill on the ice, and after floundering for a while he was off like a flash and soon outstripped his pursuers. He was a peer among the great and highminded judges and attorneys of his day and enjoyed their society and confidence. His temper was very irritable, and he was subject to impetuous



History of Uniontom, Pennsylvania. 797

rage. He was conscious of these frailties, and assigned them as a reason why he never married. The extent to which he gave rein to his passion may be judged by the facts that a t one time he chopped a horse's head off with an ax because he refused to pull a load, and at another he burned his hay crop because it had gotten wet two or three times before he could have it hauled to the barn or put in stack.

He was the first by several years to use a landau or car- riage in the town, the top of which could be thrown open. His love of display was conspicuous when being driven out in his landau by having a servant boy running before to throw the loose stones out of the way; as also when on military parade, mounted on a prancing charger, he won the admiration of all. His fine physical form and dignified military bearing amply justified the highest encomiums. He always kept a number of servants to do his bidding, and woe be to the one who failed to obey his commands.

During the Whisky Insurrection of 1194, when incendiary letters, signed by (' Tom the Tinker," were being sent to all who were disposed to comply with the excise law, a company of about one hundred and fifty men came to town and erected a liberty pole in defiance of the excise law, and also one on the Colonel Gaddis farm, two miles south of town, and General Douglass cut them both down in defense of the law and in defiance of " Tom the Tinker."

On Octob-er 21, 17'86, Thomas Freeman as agent and attorney-in-fact for his Excellency, General George Washington, conveyed to Ephraim Douglass, E s ~ . , three negroes, viz.: One boy named Joe, one girl named Alice, both slaves for life, and one girl named Dorcas, born within the United States and is to serve until she arrives at the age of twenty-one years; for the sum of one hundred and sixty-five pounds, ten shillings.

Signed, Thomas Freeman, Agent and attorney-in-fact for His Excellency.

General Douglass was appointed as agent for the state iq looking after lands forefeited to the government by those who adhered to and advocated the cause of England in the struggle of the American colonists for their independence.

In the discharge of these duties General Douglass seized u p o ~ a tract of 295% acres and allowance of land situated on



3'98 History of Uniontown, Pemsylvania.

Dunlap's creek that had been warranted to Anthony Yeldell in 1772. This tract is known as the Mendenhall Dam tract, and as Yeldell was attainted as a tory in 1779, the tract was seized upon and sold by General Douglass to James McDonald, and the proceeds accrued to the state.

General Douglass spent the latter part of his eventful life on his farm of about one hundred acres, two miles north of town, and was buried in the orchard a short distance in the rear of his residence. A neat sandstone monument marked the grave and bore the following inscription :

" Gratitude. The children of Daniel and Sarah Keller, as a tribute of

gratitude and respect, erect this monument to the memory of their grandfather,

Major General Ephraim Douglass, who died July 17, 1833, in the 84th year of his age."

A neat iron fence enclosed the lot.

WILL OF GENERAL EPHRAIM DOUGLASS. In the name of God, Amen; I, Ephraim Douglass of Union

township, Fayette county, Pennsylvania, believing that I must shortly bid adieu to time, do make the following disposition of my real ar,d personal estate wherein I have been favored by the providence of the eternal God to whom I commit my irn- moral spirit, confident that whatsoever He may destine i t He will do right, and to His will I entirely and cheerfully submit.

First:-I devise and bequeath unto Ephraim Douglass of Uniontown and Ellen, his wife, their heirs and assigns, all my property within the borough of Uniontown and lying south of the street called Elbow street in said town, containing three town lots, with a brick dwelling, a log in front, and several other erections, and a meadow lot containing between four and five acres.

Second:-I devise and bequeath unto Bertha, the wife of Samuel Swearingen of Union township, one lot of ground situated on the north side of Elbow street in Uniontown, being the eastward of two lots owned by- me on that side of said



History of Uniontown, Penmylvania. 799

street, to hold the same with the tenements and appurtenances to the said Bertha, her heirs and assigns forever.

Third:-I devise and bequeath unto Louisa, the wife of Samuel Miner of Union township, my meadow lot situated on Redstone creek one mile below Uniontown, containing about thirty acres, with the tenements and appurtenances thereto belonging, to hold the same to the said Louisa, her heirs and assigns forever.

Fourth :-I devise and bequeath unto Ann Keller, daughter of Daniel and Sarah Keller, the westermost of two lots I own on the north side of Elbow street, to hold the same with the tenements and appurtenances thereto belonging, to her, the said Ann and her heirs and assiglis forever.

Fifth :-I devise and bequeath unto Douglass Keller, eldest son of Daniel and Sarah Keller, the small farm I now live on in Union township, containing about one hundred acres more or less, to hold the same with the tenements and appurtenances thereunto belonging, unto the said Douglass Keller, his heirs and assigns forever.

Sixth:-I devise and bequeath all the rest and residue of my estate, real and personal, to my executors hereafter named in trust for the use and benefit of Eliza Douglass of Uniontown, Erwin Keller, Mary Keller, Sarah Keller and Harriet Keller, to each of whom I request my said executors to pay the sum of six hundred dollars out of the said hereby devised to them as soon as practicable after the same may be collected if they be respectively of age, and provided the sum wiii admit of such dividend, and I hereby appoint my said executors or the survivor of them, testamentary guardians of such of the last mentioned legatees as may not have attained twenty-one years of age, and shall remain unmarriid a t the time they, my said executors shall have collected the said fund or any part thereof, and may think proper to strike a dividend of such part or the whole as they may in their discretion think most advisable for the accommodation of all the legatees. If the fund hereby devised to my executors in trust as aforesaid shall not yield sufficient to divide six hundred dollars to each of the last named legatees, five in number, then it is my will that said fund be equally divided between the said five legatees, but if it should yield a surplus, I will and bequeath that the surplus equally to be divided to and among all the devisees and legatees named in




this my will, but I charge the whole of said fund with payment of my just debts, if there should be any, with payment of my funeral expenses and with all charges and expenses of carrying the trust hereby confided into execution by my said executors, or the survivor of them.

Seventh :-If any of my devisees or legatees shall die under age and unmarried, it is my will that his or her estate or legacy be reduced to money and divided among the survivors equally, and of any of those already married should die before the estate or legacy devised to him or her shall become vested, it is my will that his or her child or children shall take such estate or legacy as such child or children's parents so dying would have taken, had he or she lived until his or her devise or legacy might have vested such estate or legacy to be reduced to money by my executors or survivor of them, and the proceeds thereof to be paid all to one, if but one child, or divided into as many shares as the parent dying has left children, and paid over to them or their guardians. If Ephraim Douglass or his wife, Ellen, should die before his or her estate or interest hereby devised and bequeathed to them shall become vested without issue living at his or her death, i t is my will that the estate and legacy hereby devised and bequezthed to either so dying shall keep and vest in the survivor of them as fully and for such estate and interest as either so dying could c r might have been entitled to hold and claimed if he or she had lived.

The preceding seventh section is intended to whether the death of any devisee or legatee shall happen before or after the death of the testator.

I do hereby constitute Ellis Baily acd Isaac Beeson of Uniontown, executors of this my last will and testament, with the hope that they will undertake the execution thereof.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand seal this 24th day of July, 1826.

Signed and published in presence of John Lyon. Henry Ebert.

Recorded July 19, 1833.

and

On January 2, 1913, the remains of General Douglass were removed from their original burial place, which had become neglected and were re-interred in Union cemetery where the



Histmy of Uniontown, Pennsylvania. 801

grave will be decorated with flowers on each recurring memorial day.

Doctor Solomon Drown was a resident of Morgantown when he selected a tract of fourteen acres of land just east of the then village of Uniontown in 1794, and became a resident of the town two years later. He was a gentleman of means, education and refinement as well as a physician of extensive practice and high rank. His presence soon made a favorable impression upon the community that a century of years has not effaced.

Dr. Drown was born in Providence, Rhode Island, March 11, 1753, and was married to Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Russell, in Hillston, Mass. They both died a t Hygeia, at Foster, Rhode Island; he on February 5, 1834, and Mrs. Drown on March 15, 1844.

Dr. Drown was graduated at Rhode Island college, now Brown University, in 1773; studied medicine and received medical degrees from the University of Pennsylvania, and also from Darmouth college, New Hampshire. He entered the United States service in 1776 as surgeon's mate in the general hospital under John Morgan, director general of hospitals, and was located in New York, West Chester, New Castle, Newark and other places. In 1777 he was located in Rhode Island State hospital for seven months, after which he was promoted to the rank of surgeon in Colonel Crary's regiment, and was in Sul- livan's expedition on Rhode Island. He was afterwards in Bristol, and in 1780, was appointed surgeon to LieutXol. At- well's regiment. In the fall of this same year he went on a cruise, as surgeon, in the private sloop of war " Hope," his journal of which has been published.

Dr. Drown won the regard of Lafayette, the Counts de Rochambeau and D'Estaing as well as other French officers to such a degree by his medical ability and skill as a surgeon that the chief of the medical staff entrusted their individual soldiers to his care when they left for home.

In 1783 Dr. Drown was elected to the Board of Fellows in Brown University, and through his labors and contributions a botanical garden was established in connection with the university, and part of the college campus was set apart for the



802 History of Uniontop, Pennsytvania.

cultivation of rare and interesting shrubs and trees. A year later he went to London and spent several years in traveling over England, and in visiting the hospitals and medical schools of that country, and in May, 1785, he visited Holland and Belgium for similar purposes and then went to Paris. While in France he was often the guest of Dr. Franklin at Passy, in whose society he met Mr. Jefferson and other gentlemen of distinction. On his return to Providence he resumed the practice of medicine, but in 1788, he journeyed to Ohio and took up his residence at Marietta, where he remained for nearly a year. While there he delivered a funeral eulogy upon Gen. James M. Varnum, whom he had attended in his last sickness, and also the first anniversary oration on the settlement of Mari- etta, April 7, l'i'89. He was also present and participated with General Arthur St. Clair and others in the treaties at Fort Harmar' in 1788-9, with Corn Planter and other Indian chiefs. Returning to his native town, he continued the practice of medicine until 1792, when he removed to Morgantown, now West Virginia, stopping enroute to visit General Washington at Mt. Vernon.

Upon his locating in Uniontown, Dr. Drown resumed the practice of his profession, and at a Fourth of July celebration in 1796, he was the orator of the occasion. This address was delivered in front of the court house on the occasion of a military and civic parade, and it is a matter of regret that the address was not preserved.

Dr. Drown remained a resident of this town seven years, and in July, 1801, he concluded to return to, Rhode Island; Besides the property above mentioned, Dr. Drown owned a farm of 200 acres in Springhill township, none of which was disposed of until after his death. The mansion property at Uniontown was divided into small parts and sold by Richard Beeson, Esq., as attorney for the heirs. Dr. Drown retraced his steps to Rhode Island, removing his family and household effects by the slow, tedious and expensive way of wagoning, and being a man of energy and still in the prime of life, became impatient of the lumbering wagons as they crossed the mountains. He cut for himself a hickory walking stick, by the aid of which he walked a considerable portion of the way to his native state. This walking stick was kept as an heirloom in the family.




Soon after his return to Rhode Island Dr. Drown settled in Foster and purchased a farm of 200 acres on the highest point in the state which he named " Mount Hygeia." On this he erected a large and commodious but plain frame mansion, being the third dwelling ever erected on the farm. In this he spent the remainder of his days practicing his profession and cultivating flowers and choice plants for the study of botany.

At the time of his purchase of this farm there stood on it an aged apple tree of the variety known as the Rhode Island Greening. This tree was known to be sixty years old at the time Dr. Drown purchased the farm and by his care and skillful treatment that tree bore fruit up to the year 1900, and was supposed to be the oldest tree of its kind then in the United States.

Dr. Drown left a widow, three sons and five daughters, and in his death his family, friends and community at large sustained an irreparable loss, and it is with pride that Uniontown can boast that among her former citizens was Doctor Solomon Drown.

Adieu, my sweet garden, to thee! Adieu to each favorite flower,

The woodbine that mantles the tree, Constructing simplicity's bower,

Adieu to the sweet blushing rose, T o the lily as fragrant as white,

The crocus in autumn that blows, Protracting the pasture's delight,

Adieu to the pleasures of May, Each plant in my garden so fair,

The tree that rich blossoms display, And burdens with odors the air,

Adieu to each picturesque scene, That grove of choice persian bloom

You spartium of delicate mein, Enchanting the summer's perfume.

Adieu to the nest in the hedge, Let virtue perennial prevail,

The younglings in safety shall fledge, And harmony pour o'er the dale,




Adieu ! rising village, adieu ! Ye inhabitants, generous and kind,

Our hearts shall return oft to you, Whom reluctant we now leave behind,

Attracted by dear natal soil, The spot where our relatives dwell,

W e boldly encounter each toil, And bid you a cordial farewell.

Henry Clay Dean, although not a citizen of this town for a great length of time-from his eccentricities, his wonderful ability to remember what he read, and his national reputation as an orator, is remembered as a brilliant member of our local bar. He was born at McClellandtown, Fayette county, Pa., October 27, 1822. His mother being incompetent to care for him, he was taken in infancy by Thomas Wilson of near Middle Run, German township and was nursed at the breast of Mrs. Wilson and reared as one of the family, and by them given the name of Henry Clay.

After attending the schools of the day he taught a number of sessions, after which he attended several sessions at Madison college at Uniontown. He then entered the law office of the Honorable Andrew Stewart as a law student about 1840, but Mr. Stewart being engaged in politics he recited to Nathaniel Ewing, Esq. He followed Mr. Stewart politically until the breaking out of the civil war, which he denounced in the most emphatic terms.

H e was admitted to the Fayette county bar, probably in 1863, but never practiced here. For several years he was a minister of the Methodist church in Virginia, where he gained much renown as an orator, although his youthful teachings were Calvanistic. He next settled in Van Buren county, Iowa, in 1850, on a thousand acre farm and continued preaching until the split in the Methodist church, when he quit preaching and resumed the practice of law. He next drifted into Missouri where he located on an eighteen hundred acre farm, on the Chariton river, naming his place the "Rebel's Cove," at the same time resuming the practice of law. He defended many murder cases and never lost one to the gallows. He defended seven cases of murder in one year, and cleared every one,




so powerful was the persuasive force of his marvelous eloquence.

One writer describes him as he addressed a jury in a very important case when pitted against other legal giants, thus: "He spoke as though all the illustrations suited to his a r g k ment were piled up before him like a rick of bricks to be taken down and used one after another, without loss of time, yet each fitted to its place; and as he warmed up to the closing, it seemed as if he had the Bible, Shakespeare, and in fact, the whole range of English literature on a blackboard before him." His library of 4,500 volumes and his household effects were all destroyed by fire. He was elected chaplain of the United States senate in 1855, on the recommendation of George W. Jones, U. S. senator of Iowa. He was on the electoral ticket for Stephen A. Douglass for president in 1860, but always refused to become a candidate for any office.

When asked why he left Iowa he replied: "The Black Republicans came into power in Iowa; they enacted the ne- farious prohibition law, there was whisky gone ; they abolished capital punishment, there was hanging gone; now they are drifting into Universalism, there is hell gone. I will not live in a state that does not believe in whisky. hanging and hell."

Although he was opposed to secession and disliked Jeffer- son Davis and denounced slave holding, language failed to furnish him adequate adjectives to express his vituperations against the civil war, and especially against Abraham Lincoln. He was arrested and confined in jail for several weeks for his disloyal expressions. His acrimonious attitude towards the government was based upon his opposition to secession of the Southern States, believing that diplomacy could have settled the differences between the two sections.

He prepared the manuscript for two volumes entitled " The Crimes of the Civil War," wherein he expressed his views in emphatic and bitter terms. But one volume was published; the manuscript of the other was destroyed in the fire that destroyed his library.

Personally he was uncouth in manners, slouchy and slovenly in dress, and in many ways repulsive, yet his conversational powers and his matchless gift of oratory attracted throngs of anxious hearers.

He was married near Beverly, West Virginia, and died in




Putnam county, Missouri, February 6, 1887, leaving a fam'ily of seven children.

A familiar and mysterious character whose name was Wil- liam Stanford, and was known as " Crazy Billy," was a resident of Uniontown for more than half a century.

He was a native of England, and coming to the United States, he secured employment for a while in several of the eastern cities before he made his sudden and sensational appearance in Fayette county.

On Saturday, January 15, 1831, he made his appearance a t the home of Alexander Crow, then in Springhill, now in Nichol- son township, and behaving rudely, Mr. Crow attempted to eject the intruder when " Billy" seized an ax and drove the family from the house. A posse was summoned and "Billy" was overpowered and tied astride a horse and brought to Uniontown and committed to jail. The following day Mr. Crow made information against " Billy" before Peter Stentz, a justice of the peace, and he was held for trial. While " Billy " was confined in the jail one John Updegraff was arrested for drunkenness and disorderly conduct and placed in the jail, where while sleeping off his stupor, " Billy " took a billet of fire wood and with one blow killed Updegraff. This occurred on the 14th of March, and on June 14, " Billy" was placed on trial and pronounced insane and remanded to prison. He was heavily ironed and kept in close confinement for several years, but when Wil- liam Snyder became sheriff in 184?', his kind-hearted wife, con- cluding that "Billy" was not vicious, allowed him his freedom about the jail and court house, where he became useful as chore boy.

~ i t h o L ~ h his conversation was incoherent and he was much given to unintelligible mutterings, he apparently never enjoyed a lucid moment, nor was he subject to violent attacks of insanity. His disposition was even and-mild, and once when asked if he had not killed a man in the jail he replied: " No, but I once killed a sheep in the jail." His clothing, apparently, was that cast away by the different sheriffs under whom he served, and a t whose hands he received the kindest treatment. H e was not filthy in his habits, but careless in his dress-never having his shoes tied, and his coat thrown over his shoulder. We was re-



History of U~ziontozvn, Pennsytvania. 807

garded as a mascot about the court house where he made himself useful as an errand boy.

He died at the sheriff's residence January 26, 1883, at the age of about eighty years. After his death his body lay in state in the court house, where it was viewed by many sympathetic friends. His remains were interred in Oak Grove cemetery with the Episcopal burial service, and a section of one of the columns of the old court house was placed to mark his grave. A small marble block surmounts the sandstone base, on which is inscribed " William Stanford, died January 26, 1883."

The last words spoken by " Billy " were in his dying throes, when, it appears, a flash of light fell across his beclouded memory, he turned his eyes upon his attendant and calling him by name, said : "Oh, Gardner, if I could only see my mother-." Colonel Searight, who knew " Billy " intimately, in his history of the " Old Pike," closes his notes on " Billy" with the following touching and beautiful paragraph: "This was not a lucid interval in the ordinary meaning of the phrase, but an expiring thought, a final flash of affection, a wonderful testimo- nial to the sweetest of all names, and a most forcible and strik- ing illustration of the ineffaceable impression made by a mother's care and love, and all the more, since at no time before, during his long sojourn at Uniontown, was he ever known to have mentioned his mother or his father. A poor, unfortunate luna- tic, separated for more than a half century from the parental roof, a stranger in a strange land, tossed by the billows of a hard fate, and lying down to die, light flashes upon his long distempered mind, and his last and only thought is 'Mother."'



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