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
William Hall was a fine specimen of the old wagoner in the palmy days
of the road--a regular of regulars, zealous in his calling, and jealous
of his rights. Robert Bell, the quaint old wagoner before referred to,
was his uncle and his friend, who, it is said, rendered him substantial
aid in securing a foothold on the great National highway. There was a
certain kind of _esprit de corps_ among the old regular wagoners, and
William Hall possessed it in a high degree. He was well attired, and
clean in person and conversation. He was born in Adams county,
Pennsylvania, and his first appearance on the road was in the year 1838.
He was a great admirer of Thomas Corwin, and was in Ohio with his team
on the day that old-time statesman and orator was chosen Governor, a
circumstance he frequently referred to in after years with feelings of
pride and pleasure. He married a daughter of Aaron Wyatt, and
granddaughter of Major Paul, old tavern keepers, and this formed a
silken cord that bound him to the destinies of the old pike. In the
declining years of the road he became a stage proprietor, and in
conjunction with Redding Bunting (not a stranger to these pages),
operated a line of coaches between Cumberland and Washington,
Pennsylvania. This line had nothing of the whirl and dash of the older
lines of coaches. When wagons and stages ceased to enliven the road,
William Hall located in Cumberland, and is living there at this time,
one of the leading citizens of that place. Soon after he cast his lot in
Cumberland he was appointed Superintendent of the Maryland Division of
the road by Governor Hicks, and served in that office for a number of
years previous to the late war. He had a brother, Robert, who was also
an old wagoner, and subsequently, and for several years, a postal clerk
on the Baltimore & Ohio railroad between Cumberland and Pittsburg.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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