Pitcairn High School - Retrospect Yearbook (Pitcairn, PA)

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7 Borough Building, Light Plant, Police Department and Hose Company No. 1 I Interior of Light Plant Borough Employees sixteen W. B. BEST, Electrician F irst Row-E. M. Border, Henry 0. Loop, Charles R King, J. D. Rice. Sevond Row-Roy Hector, N. N. Mills, G. J. Stromcr August St1'OSCllCl11l.

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6-4f0u'a'uf .of Pilcavw Marching home from the 1Vyoming Valley. and having lost 300 men, they arrived at Fort Pitt on September 10, 1778. At the close of the war, Elizabeth McKay Bayard, as heir of her father, was the owner of the 300 acres. now Pitcairn, while her husband, Major Step- hen Bayard, had acquired title to a large tract of land on the Monongahela River on the site of the present Borough of Elizabeth. Major Bayard and his wife decided to es- tablish their home on tl1e Monongahela tract, which they named Elizabeth, and the land at Dirty Clamp was offered for sale. Our records show a sale of tl1e tract by Stephen Bayard and Elizabeth Bayard, his wife, to George McDowell for 66 pounds Eng- lish money, which represents about S300 for the 300 acres. In 1794, after 50 strenuous years, the Mc- Kay tract was now on its way towards de- velopment. That part of Pitcairn which we know as Kenney Avenue, Wood Street, and North Pitcairn was part of another large farm of about 300 acres lying just west of' the Dirty Camp tract. This acreage was conveyed by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in 1789 to William Pelton and Samuel Jones, then to Dunning McNair, who is the record owner in 1794 at the end of our first fifty years. Thus at the close of' the first half century of the story ot' Pitcairn in 1794, we find the land upon which the town has been built, con- sisting of' two 300 acre tracts, completely wrested from the Indians and well identified by surveys, improved by dwelling houses and barns surrounded by several hundred acres of cleared land with a well-established road run- ning along Turtle Creek to Fort Pitt. The three great detriments to settlers have been completely removed. Mountain barriers have been removed by the building of sub- stantial roads over the Allegheniesg the In- dians had been driven far out into the Ohio Country, and the tangled titles to the land had all been adjusted. During the first titty years we lived under the rule of five different counties, but now we were permanently a part of Allegheny County with our county seat in Pittsburgh. Instead of King George of England as our ruler in 1744, we lived in 1794 under the lead- ership of President George 1Vashington with our own Constitutional government establish- ed just five years before and our National Capitol in the city of New York. Chapter II-1794-1844 Having brought into the early picture of Pitcairn two tracts of land, which now make up the greater part ol' the town, it will be ne- cessary to follow the story of each of these farms through the second fifty years. George McDowell is now the owner of the Dirty Camp triangular tract of 300 acres which included all of Broadway from the Brick Yards east to the Yocum home, and ex- tending northward to Ninth Street. For the second time in the chain of this title death enters into the story. Soon after his purchase of the land, George McDowell died leaving as his only heir his sister, Euphemia Grant. Miss Grant evidently was not interested in Pitcairn real estate for in 1807 she sold her inheritance to George Wallace. In tracing the chain of owners of the orig- inal site of Pitcairn we find that death took but few holidays, for soon after George Wal- lace assumed ownership of his land he, like the former owners, McKay and McDowell, passed on to his reward. By his will the farm became the property of his widow and children, Irwin and Henry Wallace. Sad to relate, the next misfortune to turn up in the succession of our owners was not death, but a sheriff sale. It seems that George Wallace had mortgag- ed his farm to the Bank of Pittsburgh a11d that after his death, the widow and children were unable to meet the payments on the mortgage, whereupon, the bank by Morgan Neville, Sheriff, sold the tract in 1822 to the Bank of Pittsburgh. The Bank of Pittsburgh, continuing as owner for eleven years, rented tl1e farm to various tenants until they sold to Michael Shields. After an ownership of two years Shields. on October 28, 1835, sold the entire tract to John McGinnis, who was the grandfather of John C. McGinnis, our well-known local at- torney. Mr. McGinnis was tl1e first owner to become firmly attached to the soil, for in tl1e seventy years which elapsed from the original title to Aneas McKay to the coming of the first John McGinnis, none seemed to leave any marked impression on the farm, nor in the community, other than the building of the customary houses and barns. Cffontinued on page 171 fifteen

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As for the land west of the McGinnis farm, we have seen that in 1794 it was owned by Dunning McNair. Later McNair made sale of the acreage to James lieeds, who finally completed the title and secured a patent from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in 1806. Soon thereafter in 1807 James Leeds and his wife, Isabella, transferred the farm to William Steele. Steele owned the tract for ten years. dur- ing which time he erected a substantial log dwelling house, two double barns and a milk house. This log dwelling built about 1812, is still standing in the rear of the present Toohill property on NVall Avenue, north of VVood Street and is the oldest building in Pitcairn, being 132 years old. Willianl Steele made his home on the farm for 13 years when Michael Wall became the owner in 1820. ln the deed to Wall the tract is described as containing 300 acres on which are erected a dwelling house, two double barns, and a milk house, and of which about 130 acres are cleared. Before closing the story of our first century we might, with profit, recall the way of life in those log cabins of long ago. Could we find a key that would unlock the door of one of those cabins of the pioneers, we would find ourselves in a different world. Few of the present-day conveniences were known. The log house was built in a small clearing near a spring, the water from which served many purposes. For family use, water was carried into the cabin in rude home-made wooden pails. Just below the spring was the spring house, through which the water flowed in a wooden or stone drain, which, filled with crocks of milk and butter, was the only cool- ing system of that early day. ln the earliest cabins window glass was un- known, the only light from the outside com- ing through greased paper panes cut through the low walls. The roof was built of rough split slabs known as clapboards which were about four feet long and six inches wide. The door of the cabin was made likewise of split wood. It hung on wooden hinges and when closed was fastened by an inside latch. To this latch was attached a leather strap, made of bear or deer skin, which during the daytime extended through a hole in the door, and hung on the outside so that anyone entering could pull the leather cord and lift the inside latch. At night this latch was pulled inside so that no one could enter. This gave rise to the old-time expression of friendly greeting to neighboring settlers, Our latchstring hangs out for you. The cabi11s were generally built 0116 and one-half stories in height, the chief living room being on the ground fioor with a second floor room under the roof. The only access to the upper floor was from the outside by pins driven into the logs forming a ladder from the ground to an upstairs window. Taking up almost an entire end of the cabin was the chimney or fireplace built of rough stones. In this fireplace hung pots and skillets in which food was prepared. The only heat in the cabin came from this fire- place with the result that most of the heat went up the chimney, and while benches near the fireplace were blistered by the heat, water in buckets at the other end of the cabin would be solidly frozen. There being no schools, children were taught to read and write by their parents. How- ever, since so many of the first settlers were u11able to so teach their children, it is not strange that many of the young folks grew up in total ignorance of books. Religious services were held occasionally by preachers, called circuit riders, who at long intervals rode into the clearings on horseback. Returning to purely local history it would seem that the first John McGinnis had a vision of a tow11 built on his extensive plantation. Making his vision come to pass, he laid out a plan of seven lots at the cross roads where the Tilbrook Road crossed the Great State Road, across from the present southern e11d of Brin- ton Avenue. Lots in the place, known as Mc- Ginnisville, were offered for sale i11 1841 and in a short time all were sold. Soon three well- built log houses and a black smith shop con- stituted our earliest village. These log cabins have long since been removed a11d in their stead stands the present row of dwellings on tl1e south side of upper Broadway. It is worthy to 11ote in our history that of the builders and residents of these log houses in McGinnisville. more than a century ago, in each case descendants of these early build- ers still live in our town. These three early families were the Barrs, Nasers, and Glews. CContinued on page 195 .fefventefn