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
John Short, an old wagoner, retired from the road at an early day and
took up his abode in Franklin township, Fayette county, Pennsylvania.
Before going on the road he learned the trade of a cooper, and upon
leaving it resumed work at his trade. He was a good mechanic, and made
most of the barrels used at Cook's and Sharples' mills, on Redstone
creek, for many years. His team on the road was a good one, and he owned
it. He met with an accident while working at his trade by cutting his
knee with an adze, which crippled him for life. He died in Franklin
township about eight years ago, aged nearly eighty. The old citizens of
Franklin township all knew and respected him.
William Orr, a well known old wagoner, died of cholera at Keyser's Ridge
in 1853. He left three sons. One of them died a soldier of the Northern
army in the late war, leaving a widow surviving him, now residing in
Cumberland and drawing a pension. Another son of the old wagoner is a
watchman at the rolling mill in Cumberland, and the third is on the
police force of that city.
Ashael Willison, another of the old wagoners, is still living in
Cumberland, and one of the most prominent citizens of that place. He was
postmaster at Cumberland during the first administration of President
Cleveland. From the saddle horse of a six-horse team on the old pike to
the control of a city postoffice is distinctively an American idea, and a
good one. The old wagoner made a capital postmaster. Mr. Willison is now
deputy collector of Internal Revenue for the State of Maryland.
Robert Douglas, father of the well known real estate dealer of
Uniontown, was an old wagoner. He owned his team and wagon, and hauled
between Baltimore and Wheeling at an early day. He resided near West
Newton, Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, and died there in 1861. He
was esteemed as an honest man, and was one of the few pike boys who
never took a drink of liquor.
In the year 1839 John Snider, Isaac Browning and Black Westley, made a
trip with their teams from Baltimore to Jonesboro, Tennessee, a distance
of six hundred miles. They were loaded with goods for Jonesboro
merchants, and were paid six dollars a hundred for hauling them. On
their return they drove with empty wagons to Lynchburg, Virginia, a
distance of two hundred miles, where they loaded up with pig lead, and
got two dollars a hundred for hauling it to Baltimore.
Abram Brown, the wealthy land owner of the vicinity of Uniontown, was an
old wagoner, a "sharpshooter," and always lucky in avoiding losses while
pushing over the mountains. While on the road as a wagoner he formed the
acquaintance of the girl who subsequently became his wife. She was
Hannah, now deceased, the eldest daughter of Abel Colley, who kept the
old tavern a short distance west of Searights. His wife was a good
woman, and her seemingly premature death was much lamented by a wide
circle of friends.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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