Morris Twp. (pp. 842-850) History of Washington County, Pennsylvania*
Morris is one of the southern tier of townships of Washington County, being bounded on the south by Greene County, on the west by East Finley township, on the north by Franklin, and on the east by Amwell, which last-named township originally included the territory which afterwards became the township of Morris.
At the September term of 1788 there was presented to the Court of Quarter Sessions a petition, signed by David Dille, Thomas Axtell, and thirty-three others, inhabitants of the west and southwest parts of Amwell township, representing that they "labour under great Inconveniences from the Intolerable length of the township; that many are obliged to travel near twenty miles to work on some of the publick highways. . .; that the township is so large as renders it Inconvenient and oppressive as well to a great number of the Inhabitants as the Officers thereof in the discharge of their respective duties; that a division of said Township will tend to the ease and Conveniency of the Inhabitants, . . ." and for these and other reasons set forth, praying that such division be made, and a new township erected from the western pear of the township of Amwell.
The petition bears the following indorsement, showing the action of the court, viz.: "September, 1788, Petition for the division of Amwell township. To be called Morris township. Granted by the court. Certificate sent up." The township of Morris retained its original territory until Aug. 13, 1855, when the northern portion was set off by order of the court to form the township of Franklin, thus reducing Morris to its present limits.
The township from its erection in 1788 was an independent district until 1803, when it was embraced with Amwell in District No. 10, and so remained till 1838, when it again became a separate district. The names of justices who had jurisdiction over its territory while it was a part of District No. 10 will be found in the list for Amwell township. The list of justices for Morris for the periods from 1788 to 1803 and from 1840 to the present time is here given, viz.:
Ebenezer Goble, March 12, 1793.
William Lindley, April 14, 1840.
William Cracroft, April 14, 1840; Sept. 15, 1845.
William Lindley, April 15, 1845; April 9, 1850.
Abraham Hinkin, April 9, 1850; April 10, 1855.
Thomas Hanna, April 16, 1856.
William Sanders, June 23, 1857.
William Conklin, March 9, 1861.Timothy Ross, May 10, 1861.
Thomas Hanna, April 14, 1863.
William Conklin, April 17, 1866.
Matthias Minton, April 14, 1868.
William Parcel, April 11, 1871.
Matthias Minton, April, 15, 1873; Jan. 9, 1874.
William Parcel, Feb. 16, 1874.
Matthias Minton, March 25, 1878.
M. W. Wood, April 9, 1881.Demas Lindley with his family came in 1773 to settle west of the Monongahela, in the section of country which afterwards became Washington County, and with him came about twenty other families, all from New Jersey, and nearly all from the county of Morris, which had been Mr. Lindley's home before his emigration. Four of the families settled on the south fork of Ten-Mile Creek, near Jefferson, Greene Co. The others settled at different points on the north and middle forks of the same creek. Demas Lindley located upon four hundred acres of land situated on the middle fork of Ten-Mile, adjacent to the lands of Caleb and John Lindley, James Draper, and J. McVaugh. This property was warranted to him Feb. 5, 1785, and surveyed December 6th of the same year, receiving the title of "Mill Place," its location being very near the present village of Prosperity. Mr. Lindley became the owner of another tract of land called "Headquarters," which was warranted to him April 18, 1796, as containing three hundred and sixty-eight acres.
Demas Lindley and Jacob Cook were the two most prominent and influential men among the early settlers along Ten-Mile Creek. They were very active in the frontier movements against the Indians, and a fort was early established upon the property of Mr. Lindley, called Lindley's Fort, and was a rendezvous for the residents in this part of the country.
Mr. Lindley build a grist- and merchant-mill on his property soon after his settlement here, and mills which are known as "Lindley's Mills" still occupy the same site. Both Mr. Lindley and Mr. Cook, mentioned above, had much to do with the organization and establishment of the Upper and Lower Ten-Mile Churches.
Demas Lindley's sons located about him, and all owed their prosperous start in life to his influence and assistance. They were Zenas, Joseph, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. When Demas Lindley died, in 1818, his will was found to have been made Dec. 20, 1802. It devised the whole of his estate to his son, John Lindley (as the only one who had not been previously provided for), with the provision that he pay to each of his sisters--Joanna, Sarah, and Abigail Lindley-twenty pounds in produce.
Among the families who emigrated from New Jersey in 1773, or shortly after, were those of Caleb, John, and Levi Lindsey, brothers, and relatives of Demas and Naphthali Lindley. Caleb located land adjoining Naphthali, to which was given the name of "Potato Hollow," containing four hundred acres. He also purchased a part of the tract "Fox Chase," of Naphthali Lindsey, who had previously warranted and patented it. On the 23rd of February, 1796, Caleb Lindley sold to Naphthali Lindley forty-six acres, part of "Potato Hollow," and on the 5th of June the next year fifty-seven acres of the same tract to Abigail Loveridge, and on the 16th of June, 1815, on hundred and nine acres to his son Lewis. This also was from the "Potato Hollow" tract. Mr. Lindley had three wives, by whom he had four sons--John, Lewis, Samuel, and William--and two daughters, Sarah (Mrs. Minton) and Cassandra (Mrs. Larimore). To John and Lewis he had given farms before his death. He died in 1836, his last wife, Elizabeth, surviving him. His son William died before his father, and left two sons--John and Caleb--and daughters,--Keziah, Mary, Jane, and Nelly.
John Lindley, who came in the country with the others, obtained a warrant in April, 1786, for a tract of land on Ten-Mile Creek near the others. This was surveyed to him under the name of "Linsey-Woolsey." On the 28th of November, 1796, he purchased a large tract of Caleb Lindsey. He died about 1806, and left a wife (Martha), seven sons,--Samuel, Robert, John, William, James, Thomas, and Joseph,--and two daughters, one of whom was named Martha. Their descendants are numerous in the township.
Levi Lindley, who came with Caleb, John, and the others, purchased a tract of land called "Bucks' Flat" of Benjamin Ryce. Mr. Lindley lived here but a few years, and died in 1801. A part of the property which he then owned came to him from his wife. This was left to his son William. There was devised to Benjamin all the land lying south of Ten-Mile Creek, and the use of sugar-trees on the north side opposite the sugar-trees on the south side. The land of which he was in possession in Virginia, near the waters of Dunkard Creek, was divided between his sons, Ziba, Timothy, Benjamin, and William.
David McCollum was an Irishman by birth, who emigrated to America before the commencement of the Revolution. He entered the service in the Revolution, and continued until the close of the war. Having married a lady of Scotch nativity, he came into Washington County, and took up a tract of land containing sixty acres, situated on the north fork of Ten-Mile Creek, in the territory now included in Morris township. From this very small beginning Mr. McCollum rapidly advanced to prosperity, and in 1810 had a handsome farm of five hundred and eighty acres. The family of David McCollum were three sons and seven daughters,--Samuel, Asa, Daniel, Lucy, Annie, Sarah, Lydia, Abigail, Mary, and Melinda McCollum. Many of their descendents are living in Morris township.
Samuel Rutan, from Sussex County, N.J., established his home in this township soon after the close of the Revolutionary war. He married Miss Eleanor Beadle, and their eight children were Jacob, Abraham, John, Sarah, Elizabeth, Catharine, Annie, and Fanny Rutan. Several of these emigrated with their families to Ohio.
Matthias and Philip Minton were brothers who emigrated from Morris County, N.J., to Morris township, Washington County, in 1786. They purchased a part of the tract "Fox Chase," warranted by the Lindley family, and Matthias Minton married Sallie, S., a daughter of Caleb Lindley. The children of Matthias and Sallie Minton were ten,--Caleb, Mary, Matthias, Josephus, Kezia, Rachel, Cynthia, Phebe, Eliza, and Matthias. The first son named Matthias died when but an infant of one month; the second of the name grew to manhood, married Margaret Hanna, and resides in the village of Prosperity, where he holds the office of justice of the peace. The son Caleb died at the age of three years, Josephus was drowned when of the same age, and Rachel, who remained single, died in 1825. Mary became the wife of Leonard Vail, of Vermont. Kezia married Rev. Stephen Winget, and resided in the village of Prosperity. Cynthia became the wife of C.C. Kaine, the editor of a journal called Our Country, and died in Harrisburg, Pa. Phebe married Henry Wilson, and still lives in Washington. Eliza, who became the wife of Dr. J. W. Blachly, is a resident of Prosperity village.
Caleb Winget was a native of New Jersey, and lived there until he had become a man of family. Some time before 1786 he removed with his family to Washington County, Pa., where the tract of land he located in Morris township was warranted in the name of his son, Daniel Winget.
Caleb Winget had six children,--Reuben, Ziba, Stephen, Daniel, William, and Hannah. William Winget's wife was Nancy Hampton, and the number or their children was ten,--Moses, John, Reuben, Stephen, Elizabeth, Hannah, Margaret, Sarah, Ann, and Phebe Winget.
Hugh Hanna, a native of Ireland, moved into Morris township about the year 1790, and purchased the farm on which Henry M. Conklin at present resides. Upon this place he passed the remainder of his days, and at his death left a family of eight children. They were John V., James, Hugh, Thomas, Nancy, Elizabeth, Martha, and Rebecca Hanna. John V. Hanna married Lydia McCollum, and settled upon a farm near that of his father, where he lived for many years. He afterwards purchased and resided upon another farm, remaining on it until his death. Of his children, the son Thomas lives upon the farm where his father died, the daughter Matilda became the wife of John Braden and lives in Rankinville, and Margaret, who became the wife of Matthias Minton, resides in the village of Prosperity. James Hanna, the son of Hugh Hanna, Sr., removed to Ohio; Hugh, Jr., went to Connellsville, in this State, and Thomas died young; the daughter Nancy married Jacob Hathaway, and lived on the home farm; Elizabeth became the wife of Samuel Clutter, of Hopewell township; Martha married Dr. Spencer Blachly, of Waynesburg, Pa., and Rebecca died unmarried.
About the year 1790, Arthur Langdon removed from the vicinity of Baltimore, Md., to Morris township, bringing his family with him. His children were John, Nimrod, Sarah, and Nancy Langdon. Nimrod Langdon married Mary Huston, and resided all his life in West Finley; Sarah Langdon became Mrs. Moses Braddock; Nancy Langdon married John Brooks, and died in this township; John Langdon married Mary Miller, and lived and died in Morris township. His sons, Gibson, and Hiram Langdon, reside in Ten-Mile village. Daniel, Isaac, and Francis Langdon, the sons of Nimrod Langdon, are residents of Washington and Greene Counties.
Bethuel, Luther, and Daniel Day were three brothers who came from their native State, New Jersey, to Morris township, accompanied by five of six sisters. Luther Day's wife was Mary Vankirk, and their children were seven, four sons and three daughters. The daughter Priscilla married Benjamin McVay, Lavina married Demas Lindley, and Maria married Ira Dille. The son, William Day, married Sarah Patterson, and still lives in this township. Daniel married Lavina Clutter, and also resides in Morris township. Arvidi married Elizabeth Baldwin, and lives in the village of Prosperity. Artemas married and removed to Ohio.
William Ringland emigrated from Ireland in the year 1795, coming almost directly to Morris township. He located upon the property now owned by Joseph Ringland, Esq., a grandson. The children of William and Prudence Ringland were George, Thomas, James, William, Margaret, Eliza, Molly, Jane, Catharine, and Nancy. The homestead of William Ringland was situated on Ten-Mile Creek, and upon this place he resided until his death. William Ringland, Jr., married Mary Bane, George married Miss McGuire, and James married Miss Sarah Stockdale. Joseph Ringland, who now owns and occupies the old homestead, is a son of James Ringland, and the only male representative of the family in Washington County.
James Connit, whose home was in Bound Brook, N. J. came to Morris township in 1802. His wife was Jane Powell, a native of the State of New York. There family numbered thirteen children. Of these Sarah, John, Milton, Joseph, Jane, and Lydia Connit all died single. Melissa is still living unmarried. James Connit married Rebecca Cary. He is still living on the Demas Lindley tract of land, near Prosperity, and is eighty-six years of age. He has but one child, Isaac N. Connit. Eliza Connit married Daniel Ferrell, and lived and died in East Finley township. Priscilla became Mrs. Norman Powers, and is now a resident of Greene County. Isaac Connit, Sr., married Abby French, and removed to Ohio. Spencer Connit died in Greene County.
George Harris, a Revolutionary soldier, who fought at Monmouth and Princeton, settled in the township very early, and died Feb. 3, 1822, at an advanced age, leaving a numerous family and descendants.
A four-hundred-acre tract of land was warranted in this township, July 17, 1785, by Samuel Parkhurst. It adjoined the lands of Caleb Lindley, Daniel Parkhurst, and Jacob Rude. He was one of the constituent members of the Ten-Mile Baptist Church, which was organized in 1772, and was the clerk of the church in 1773. He married a daughter of the Rev. David Sutton.
Village of Prosperity.--The village plat was laid out in 1848 by Robert Wallace, who built the first house, which is still standing, owned by John M. Day, and occupied as a store. The first postmaster was T. D. Minton. Arvidi Day is the present postmaster, and has occupied the position twenty-six years.
The town contains at present fourteen dwellinghouses, a school-house, and the Upper Ten-Mile Presbyterian Church. The business places are the store of Miss Mary E. Brownlee; shoe-shop of Nathan Daley; blacksmith-shop, A. L. Hayden; drug-store, David Dille; Matthias Minton, justice of the peace; two physicians, and a lodge of Odd-Fellows, viz.: Morris Lodge, No. 936, which was organized on the 10th of August 1876, with following officers: Samuel Houghland, N. G.; Silas Young, V. G.; Isaac Mankey, Sec.; and William Miller, Treas. The present officers are Joseph Dunn, N. G.; James B. Allison, V. G.; M. Minton, Sec. The society has a membership of forty-five. Nineveh Lodge, No. 583, of Greene County, was consolidated with Morris Lodge in 1881.
Upper Ten-Mile Presbyterian Church.--The churches of Upper and Lower
Ten-Mile were organized Aug. 15, 1781, as one church. Prior to that time, however, services had been held by these people in different places, the first time upon the visit of the Rev. Thaddeus Dodd in the spring of 1777. He was a graduate of Princeton College, and had been licensed by the Presbytery of New York. He remained with this people, preaching in private houses in the forest, and in the different forts or blockhouses in this, section of country, till August of that year, when he returned to the East, and was ordained by the Presbytery of New York in the early part of October, 1777. He visited this place again later in the year and returned home after a short stay. He was prevailed upon by Lindley, Cook, and others to come out to this people and become their pastor. This he promised to do. After his return home he preached in Maryland and Virginia, and had strong inducements to remain, but he had given his promise, and in the September of 1779 he arrived at Ten-Mile with his wife and two children (one of whom, Cephas, became a minister and pastor over the church his father organized). Services were held at different places, but no distinct effort was made towards a permanent organization until August, 1781, when twenty-three persons gathered at the house of Jacob Cook and organized a church, of which the following named were the constituent members, viz. : Thaddeus Dodd, V.D.M., and Phebe, his wife; Demas Lindley (elder) and Joanna, his wife; Jabez Baldwin; William Leonard and Mary, his wife; William Hays and Anna, his wife; David Dille and Elizabeth, his wife; Jacob Cooke and Phebe, his wife; Daniel Axtell and Ruth, his wife; Joseph Coe and Abigail, his wife; John Eddy and Mary, his wife; Daniel Dodd and Charity, his wife; Abner Brown and Paul Brown; and Jacob Cook, Joseph Coe, and Daniel Axtell were chosen elders. "After this," says the church record, "we set several times when we should have the sacrament of the Lord's Supper administered, but could not compass our designs on account of the incursions of the savages." The next entry is as follows: "Wednesday, April 30, 1783. The session met at Mr. Lindley's fort. Present: Thaddeus Dodd, V.D.M. Demas Lindley, Joseph Coe, Jacob Cooke, Daniel Axtell, elders. At this session twenty-two persons joined."
The sacrament of the Lord's Supper was first administered on the third Sabbath of May, 1783, by the Rev. Thaddeus Dodd, their pastor, assisted by the Rev. John McMillan. The meeting was held in Daniel Axtell's barn.
The church increased in numbers under Mr. Dodd's efforts, and became strong. Mr. Dodd died of consumption May 20, 1793, after a ministry of nearly sixteen years. The funeral discourse was preached by the Rev. Dr. McMillan from Rev. xiv. 13. From the record of the Redstone Presbytery it is found that in October, 1793, this church, then styled the United Congregation of Upper and Lower Ten-Mile, presented a call to Mr. Thomas Marques, a licentiate of the Presbytery of Redstone. This call was not accepted. On the 10th of April, 1794, the society presented a call to Mr. Thomas Moore, a licentiate of the association of Bristol, Mass., who had been taken under the care of Redstone Presbytery. Mr. Moore, accepted the call on the 19th of August, and was ordained and installed in September or October, 1794. Mr. Moore continued pastor of this people ten years. The years 1799, 1802, and 1803 seem to have been signalized by an abundant increase. The two latter years embrace the period known as the "Falling Revival." Rev. Cephas Dodd, a son of Rev. Thaddeus Dodd, succeeded Rev. Moore. The same meeting of Presbytery dismissed Mr. Moore and ordained and installed Mr. Dodd, 14th December, 1803, and though it was midwinter, all the services connected with them were held "in Joseph Riggs' sugar-camp, with the open canopy of heaven for a temple, the snow for a carpet, and the wind whistling through the leafless branches of the trees as an accompaniment to the solemn music, as it pealed forth from a choir consisting of hundreds of voices." Mr. Dodd was dismissed from his double charge April 15, 1817, and thenceforward the two congregations became distinct bodies.
The Rev. Thomas Hoge, of Washington, succeeded the Rev. Mr. Dodd as stated supply, and served the people for about two years. His successor was Rev. Andrew Wylie, D.D., president of Washington College, from about 1819 to 1821. Next was the Rev. Boyd Mercer, long an associate judge of the county court, who supplied this church for two years. Next was Rev. Ludovicus Robbins, supply for one year.
A period of several years elapsed before the congregation were again under the charge of a regular pastor. In December, 1827, the Rev. Cornelius Laughran was installed as pastor of the congregation of Upper Ten-Mile. In the fall of 1830, Rev. Jacob Lindley, a member of the Presbytery of Washington, became the stated supply of this congregation. Laughran had been dismissed, tried, and convicted by the Presbytery of Washington on charges preferred by the congregation of Upper Ten-Mile. Chagrined and exasperated by this rebuke, he and his friends wrote to the Cumberland Presbyterians in Tennessee, inviting a visit from them. This invitation was accepted, and the next year (1831) five of their ministers, among the ablest in their body, came on. Before their arrival Mr. Lindley preached a sermon in this pulpit, in which he exhorted the people to give them a generous welcome. In the course of the summer and autumn these ministers held campmeetings at different places, preached with zeal and fervor, producing great excitement, and numbered their converts by hundreds. A joint session of this new church with the Presbyterians was held Sept. 11, 1832. Sixty-two persons were received; only thirteen joined the mother-church. A Cumberland Presbyterian Church was immediately organized. Rev. Lindley was about to be tried for his disloyalty to the interests of his church when he withdrew from that body. His name was stricken from the list of Presbyterian ministers. "The whirlwind of 1831 swept with a desolating fury over this fair and lovely Zion, prostrating towers and battlements, and in one brief hour laying in ruins the whole stately structure. When, in 1832, Presbytery sent a committee to inquire into the condition of things here, only seven individuals in a concourse of hundreds gathered upon the occasion were found willing to rise in the places and declare themselves old-fashioned Presbyterians. Five members of the session bent to the storm, and five stood firm to their post. These latter were Jacob Hathaway, James Reed, Reuben Sanders, Zenas Condit, and Lewis Dille. The condition of the church became a by-word. It remained without a pastor for many years. The venerable Dr. Elliott, of Washington, preached here twice in 1832. In the year 1838 Rev. James M. Smith was ordained and installed pastor of this long-vacant congregation. Mr. Smith was dismissed in 1841. Two years again pass without a regular pastor. The supplies were Alfred Paull, Mr. Miller, Rev. John R. Dundas."
In the spring of 1846 the Rev. Nicholas Murray, a professor in Washington College, received and accepted a call. Murray continued with this church until his decease, March 23, 1853.
Rev. Cyrus Braddock, then a licentiate, supplied the church for a season, when the Rev. E. C. Wines took charge.
In 1854 the third house of worship was erected upon the site occupied by its two predecessors. The house was paid for by the congregation. A handsome communion-service was presented by a kind Methodist brother of Morris County, N. J., whence the original settlers had emigrated. The pastorate of Dr. E. C. Wines having terminated, the people of Ten-Mile, early in the spring of 1859, called as their pastor the Rev. N. B. Lyons. He was installed by a committee of the Presbytery of Washington on the second day of June in that year.
In January, 1860, the congregation was called to suffer the loss of their almost new church by fire.
Services were held in the mean time in the public school-house, and during fair weather in the grove. A brick church was erected on the site of its three predecessors in 1860, and dedicated to the worship of God.
Rev. Mr. Lyons asked to be released from this church in the year 1868, to assume the labors of another congregation. He preached his farewell sermon to the congregation Jan. 26, 1868. His successor was Prof. Henry Woods, of Washington and Jefferson College.
Rev. Mr. Lyons died May 19, 1868. Rev. Henry Woods remained in charge during two and one-half years, until the fall of 1870. Rev. William Ewing then preached one year. In the fall of 1871 the Rev. S. M. Glenn was invited to take the pastoral oversight of the church.
The pastoral relations were again broken September 1, A.D. 1878, when the Rev. S. M. Glenn took charge of another field,--Sandy Lake, Pa. The present supply (1882) is the Rev. J. H. Sherrard. A parsonage, with four acres of land, was purchased for two thousand nine hundred dollars, and first occupied by the pastor in 1872.
The first house of worship was erected in 1792 on land donated by Demas Lindley "for the occupancy and use of a Presbyterian church and for no other purpose whatever." The second house--a frame building forty-five by fifty feet in size, with twenty-five feet posts, and with a gallery on two sides and one end--was erected in 1818. The erection of the third house of worship in 1854, its destruction by fire in 1860, and the building of the present brick edifice have already been mentioned.
There is a Sabbath-school (organized in 1825) connected with the church. It has one hundred and thirty pupils, sixteen teachers, and a good library.
Mount Zion Methodist Episcopal Church.-The house of worship of this congregation was erected in 1856, about two miles west of Prosperity, on the farm of Robert Andrews. The church is united in the Claysville charge of Washington district, with Claysville, Stony Point, and Liberty Chapel. It has at present seventy members. The pastor in charge is the Rev. Thomas Patterson, who succeeded the Rev. G. W. Sheets. The names of earlier pastors will be found in the history of the Claysville Methodist Episcopal Church.
Physicians.--About the year 1794 one Dr. William Blachly moved to this county and settled in Morris township, at what is now known as Lindley's Mills Station. He practiced medicine in that region of country for some twelve or fifteen years, after which he moved to the State of Ohio. He was the first physician located in the township. It is said of him that he was more remarkable for his energy and boldness of character then learning and skill in the profession. He was succeeded by Dr. Henry W. Blachly, son of Dr. Ebenezer S. Blachly, of Paterson, N.J., and a distant relative of the aforesaid Dr. William Blachly.
Dr. Henry W. Blachly received his medical education in New York City, and practiced one year in copartnership with Dr. William Budd in that city before coming to Morris township, where he settled near the village of Prosperity in 1806. He had an extensive practice for over forty years, and ever held a first rank in the profession. He was also a surgeon of much skill, and kept himself in readiness to operate when necessary. He had a number of medical students under his tuition, and left four sons and two sons-in-law in the profession at his death. His end was sudden and unlooked for, having attended his patients until within a few hours of his death, at the age of sixty-three. His widow still survives, at the great age of ninety-three.
Dr. Stephen L. Blachly, son of Henry W., succeeded his father, having been his partner in the practice for twelve years. He still continues in the practice. A more extended biographical sketch of Dr. Blachly is given elsewhere in the history of this township.
In the year 1849, Dr. Joseph Warren Blachly, also son of Henry W., located after his father's death in the village of Prosperity, and continued the practice of medicine for some ten years in that vicinity. His health failing him he removed to Washington, and engaged in the drug trade.
For the last five years Dr. Oliver L. Blachly, son of Stephen L., has been associated with his father in general practice, He graduated in his scientific course at Waynesburg College, and in his medical course at Jefferson College, Philadelphia. He is a member of the County Medical Society, also of the State and United States Medical Associations, and the Alumni Association of Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia. Thus have the Dr. Blachlys administered to the wants of suffering humanity in Morris township for a period of eighty-seven years successively.
In the year 1865, Dr. Ezra Cary, formerly of New Jersey, located in the village of Prosperity. Dr. Cary was associated with the medical corps of the army for some time during the war of the Rebellion, after which he took his degree from the Jefferson College, Philadelphia. He is a member of the County Medical Society. His practice has been remunerative and honorable.
Concord is a hamlet situated in the southwest corner of the township, and contains three dwellings, a grocery-store, a blacksmith-shop, a post-office, of which T. W. Minton is postmaster, and the old Concord Cumberland Presbyterian Church. The history of this church (the first of this denomination in the county) will be found in an article on Cumberland Presbyterianism in the general history, contributed by the Rev. Azel Freeman.
Sparta.--The old village (if it could properly be so termed) of Sparta was laid out in 1816, as is shown by an advertisement found in the Washington Reporter of January in that year, as follows:
"LOOK HERE.
"The Subscriber informs the public that he has laid out a town on the waters of Ten Mile, Morris Township, Washington County, 11 miles from Washington, 14 from Waynesburgh, and 16 from Alexandria. Said town lies between the Middle and North fork of Ten Mile, and in a beautiful Situation; being on the public road that leads from Washington to Riason's Station, and surrounded by a rich country. There are five Grist-mills and five saw-mills adjacent thereto. Also a Fulling-mill with one mile of this town, and there is a great abundance of building stone and stone coal-banks. The lots will be laid out in a parallelogram square, so as to contain one-forth on an acre of land. Good spring-water in abundance to be had very convenient. Any persons desirous of purchasing lots in this beautiful situation may have the terms of sale made known by application to the proprietor.
"John Brooks.
"P.S.--This town is adjacent to places of public worship and schoolhouses.
"Jan. 29, 1816."
The town, so magnificent is its location and advantages, was evidently all on paper. It does not appear that any of its lots were sold, nor it there found in any records anything to show that John Brooks ever bought, sold, or owned any lands in this township. But that there was a post-office located there at that time or not long afterwards appears from an advertisement of Aaron Kerr, postmaster, dated "Sparta, Washington Co., Aug. 17, 1818," in which he requests "all wishing mail sent to this office to notify him." Mr. Kerr opened a store and remained as post-master till 1822. A notice in the Reporter of June 1st of that year says, "John Lindley is appointed postmaster of Sparta, in place of Aaron Kerr, removed." Mr. Lindley at this time lived on the adjoining farm. About 1830, Leonard Vail, who also lived near, opened a store at Sparta and did a thriving business for several years in wagoning, buying cattle, and selling goods. He was appointed postmaster in 1835, At this time there were two other post-offices established on the route from Washington to Waynesburg,--one at Van Buren, two and a half miles north of where Sparta post-office was then kept, and another three miles east of Sparta, called Lindley Mills post-office. The growth of the country by this time demanded another post-office westward from where Sparta was then located. The citizens of this region petitioned for the removal of Sparta post-office westward two and a half miles, which gave about equal distances between the three post-offices above named, and after a vigorous contest the department granted the removal and appointed Dr. S. L. Blachly postmaster in 1842. That removal settled the location of Sparta up to this time. It has for many years been a business point for the accommodation of the surrounding country, and now is furnished with a daily mail. Sparta is situated twelve miles a little west of south from Washington, and fourteen miles north of Waynesburg, on a branch of Middle Fork of Ten Mile. Sparta at present contains six dwellings, a smith-shop, store, post-office, grist-mill, and two physicians, Dr. S. L. and Dr. O. L. Blachly.
Lindley's Mills.--This village ( also post-office and railway station of same name) is situated in the southeast past of Morris township, and contains eight dwellings, a store, blacksmith-shop, mill, and the depot of the Waynesburg and Washington Railroad. The post-office at Lindley's Mills had been established before the removal of the office from old Sparta three miles up the Middle Fork. The present postmaster of Lindley's Mills is John Nickerson. The site of Lindley's Mills was included in a tract taken up in 1788 by Joseph Headley, who erected a mill of logs, which he afterwards replaced by a frame building. Later the mill was rebuilt by Adam Weir. The mill property is now owned by John Clutter, Sr.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.
DR. STEPHEN L. BLACHLY.
Dr. Stephen L. Blachly traces his paternal ancestry nearly two and one-half centuries to one Thomas Blachly, who was of Hartford in 1640, New Haven in 1643, and Branford in 1645. He signed the agreement with those who migrated from Branford to settle in Newark, N.J., but did not go with them, and did not receive a part of the division of lands set off to him. His children were Aaron, Moses, Miriam, and Abigail.
Aaron Blachly married Mary Dodd, of Guilford. They had nine children,--Mary, Thomas, Dr. Ebenezer, Hannah, Daniel, Joseph, Benjamin, Sarah, and Susanna in uncertain order. He sold his land in Newark, and was of Guilford in 1683.
Dr. Ebenezer Blachly, the first, lived at Dix Hills, Huntington township, L. I. The children were Elizabeth, Dr. Ebenezer, Joseph, Benjamin, and Daniel.
Dr. Ebenezer, the second, was born in 1709, and died at "The Ponds," N.J. He married Hannah Miller, and had eight children,--Francis, Zophar, Dr. Ebenezer, Miller, Sarah, Cornelius, Mary, and Marcy.
Dr. Ebenezer Blachly, the third, was born in 1735, and died April 19, 1805. He married Mary Wickham, and lived and died near Mendham, N.J. He was on of the founders of the New Jersey Medical Society in 1766, and was a surgeon in the Revolutionary war. He had twelve children in his family,-- seven sons and five daughters. Five of his sons, viz., Ebenezer, Henry W., Absalom, William, and Cornelius C., were physicians, and his oldest daughter, Mary, married a physician, Dr. Hezekiah Stites Woodruff.
Dr. Ebenezer Blachly, the fourth, was born in 1760, and died Aug. 20, 1812. He entered the American service under age in the Revolution as surgeon's mate to a North Carolina regiment which was encamped near the old Raritan bridge in the winter of 1778. He also acted as a volunteer assistant surgeon to a regiment in the Pennsylvania line. He was at the battle of White Plains in 1776, in winter-quarters at Valley Forge in 1777, and in the battle of Monmouth in 1778. After the war he married Elizabeth, daughter of Col. Oliver Spencer, and settled in Paterson, N.J., where he enjoyed an extensive and successful practice. He had nine children, -- Nancy, Dr. Ebenezer S., Dr. Henry Wickham, Mary J., Juliana, Bayard P., a druggist of New York City, Eliza, Joseph W., and Oliver, wholesale dry-goods merchants of Cincinnati.
Dr. Henry Wickham Blachly was born April 17, 1786, in Paterson, N.J. He read medicine with his father, and after finishing his medical studies in New York City, practiced there for a short time with Dr. William Budd. He then settled in Washington County, Pa., where he practiced for forty years. He was devoted to his calling, and was very successful. He married Hannah Loveridge, Jan. 9, 1806. They had twelve children, -- Ebenezer S., Milton, Eveline, Maria J., Stephen L., Eliza, Oliver B., Joseph Warren, Lucilla Caroline, Harriet Newell, Henry W., and Hannah Louisa, named in the order of their births.
Dr. Ebenezer S. Blachly completed his medical course in Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia. He was married twice. His first wife was Martha Hanna, who was the mother of his children, five in number, and after her death he married Elizabeth Alison, who is still living. But one of his children, Bayard Milton Blachly, grew to maturity. He was a physician, and practiced for about thirty years in Waynesburg, Greene Co., Pa., the scene of his father's professional labors.
Milton Blachly died when sixteen years of age. Eveline Blachly married Dr. William B. Porter, of Fayette County, Pa. They died leaving three children, -- Maria, who married Francis Braddock; Louisa, who married William Carter; John Henry, who married Hannah McAfee. He was a physician, and died soon after completing his medical studies.
Maria J. Blachly married Dr. Lutellus Lindley, of Connellsville, Fayette Co., Pa. She died leaving one son, Dr. Henry B. Lindley, of Perrysville, Allegheny Co., Pa.
Eliza Blachly married John Milton Lindley. He died leaving three children,-- Bayard, Colin, and Sarah.
Oliver B. Blachly married for his first wife Ellen Cracraft, by whom he had five children, --Byron, Henry, Oliver, Mary, and Howard. His second wife was Ella Hunt.
Joseph Warren Blachly was a physician who practiced successfully in his native county for a number of years. He married Eliza Minton, by whom he had four children,-- Maria; Ella, who is dead; Joseph Warren, who is dead; and Frank, who married Hannah Post. He is a physician, and practices at Good Intent, Washington County, Pa.
Lucilla Caroline Blachly married I. N. Day, a farmer of Morris township, Washington County, Pa. Their living children are Henry B., married to Alice Vail; Homer, married to Nettie Donahey, is a physician practicing in Smyrna, Ohio; Cora L.
Harriet Newell Blachly married Harvey Lindley. Their children are Henry B., who married Sarah Vankirk, and died at the age of thirty-three years; Ann Eliza, married to Samuel Cozad; Oscar, Howard, and Abraham Lincoln.
Henry W. Blachly is a physician practicing in Cavette, Ohio. He married Caroline Cracraft, and has two children,--Mary, married to Dr. Emrick, of Dowds' Station, Iowa; and Henry W., who is a lawyer in Van Wert, Ohio.
Hannah Louisa Blachly, the youngest of the family never married.
Dr. Stephen L. Blachly, of this family, so remarkable for its medical proclivities, was born in Sparta, Washington Co., Pa., Dec. 11, 1815, and has spent all of his professional life in the locality where his father so long wore the wreath of medical honor. Having completed his preparatory education at Washington College, in his native county, he read medicine under the direction of his father, and afterward entered Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, from which institution he received his degree. He was associated with his father in the practice of his profession until the death of the latter in 1849, practiced alone until 1877, and since that date has associated with him his son, Dr. Oliver L. Blachly. While engaging in a general practice, he has given special attention to surgery, and for a number of years has attended all of the surgical cases in his vicinity, performing amputations, etc., sometimes using in his operations a case of surgical instruments now in his possession, and once owned by his great-grandfather, Dr. Ebenezer Blachly the third, and used by him during his service as a surgeon in the Revolutionary war.
Dr. S. L. Blachly is one of the oldest practitioners in the county, and one of the oldest members of the Washington County Medical Society, of which he has been president at various times. He is a member of the State Medical Society of Pennsylvania, of which he was elected first vice-president in 1873, and by which he was appointed censor for the Eighth District in 1874, which position he has held by annual appointment ever since.
He is also a member of the American Medical Association and of the Alumni Association of Jefferson Medical College. His practice, extending over a large district, has involved much hard labor, and has been fairly remunerative. During the late was he served as a volunteer surgeon after the second battle of Bull Run, and after the battle of the Wilderness. He has been a diligent student of medical journals, and occasionally a contributor to the same. His intelligent discharge of his professional duties and his careful observance of the rules of medical ethics have secured for him the confidence of his neighbors and the good will of his professional brethren. He is likewise esteemed as a man and a citizen. He has been a member of Upper Ten-Mile Presbyterian Church for over forty years, and an elder in the same for twenty-five years. He was married Jan. 9, 1840, to Sarah, daughter of Benjamin Lindley, who was a descendent of Francis Lindley, who came to this country with his Puritan brethren from Holland in the "Mayflower." By his marriage there were five children, two of whom died in infancy. Those living are Mary Minerva, married to Stephen J. Day, a merchant in Sparta; Henry Spencer, a druggist of Waynesburg, Greene Co., Pa.; and Dr. Oliver L., married to Anna Sherrard, daughter of Rev. John Sherrard. They have one son, Stephen Lindley Blachly. Sarah (Lindley) Blachly died Nov. 25, 1857, and the doctor was married July 28, 1859, to his present wife, Maria Wade, daughter of James and Margaret Wade, of Fayette County, Pa.