The Old Pike: A History of the National Road, with Incidents, Accidents, and Anecdotes ThereonSearight, Thomas B. (Thomas Brownfield)
History
The Old Pike: A History of the National Road, with Incidents, Accidents, and Anecdotes Thereon
Searight, Thomas B. (Thomas Brownfield)
Cumberland Road; Pennsylvania -- Biography
Brownfield, in Uniontown. I often stayed with Arthur Wallace, five miles
east of Brownsville. I remember one night at Wallace's, after caring for
my team, I accompanied his two fine and handsome daughters to a party
about a mile distant in the country, where I danced all night, till
broad daylight, and then walked home with the girls in the morning."
John Grace was another old wagoner, who became wealthy. The old pike
boys will remember him as the driver of a black team. He was a Maryland
man. When the old road yielded its grasp on trade, to the iron railway,
Grace settled in or near Zanesville, Ohio, where he still lives, or was
living a few years ago, worth a hundred thousand dollars. He transported
his family to Ohio in his big road wagon.
Jesse Franks, and his son Conrad, of High House, Fayette county, Pa.,
were old wagoners. Conrad's team ran off near Cumberland, on one of his
trips, overthrowing the wagon, and causing an ugly dislocation of
Conrad's thigh, from which he suffered great pain for many weeks.
John Manaway, late owner of the Spottsylvania House, Uniontown, drove a
team on the road for many years, and no man enjoyed the business more
than he.
There was an Ohio man of the name of Lucas, called Gov. Lucas, because a
man of like name was an early Governor of Ohio, who was an old wagoner,
and his team consisted of but five horses, yet he hauled the biggest
loads on the road. He was the owner of the team he drove. In the year
1844, one of his loads weighed twelve thousand pounds--"one hundred and
twenty hundred," as the old wagoners termed it, and the biggest load
ever hauled over the road up to that date.
William King, of Washington county, Pa., an old wagoner, was noted for
his steady habits. On one of his trips over the road, and going down the
eastern slope of Laurel Hill, when it was covered with ice, his wagon
slipped from the road and fell over the bank near the old Price
residence, dragging the team after it. Strange to say, the horses were
uninjured and but little damage done to the wagon. The contents of the
load were Ohio tobacco and bacon. After getting things restored, King
drove to Jimmy Snyder's, stayed all night, and the next morning
proceeded on his journey to Baltimore. He was the owner of a farm in
Washington county.
Joseph Thompson, an old wagoner on the road, is now and has been for
many years in charge of the large and valuable coal farm belonging to
the estate of the Hon. James G. Blaine, on the Monongahela river, near
Pittsburg. A trusty old wagoner, he has approved himself the trusty
agent of the great statesman.
Jacob Probasco was an old wagoner, and also kept a tavern at Jockey
Hollow. He went west and founded a fortune.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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