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| History of Cambria County, V.1 |
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CHAPTER X.
FIRST SETTLEMENTS.
Solomon and Samuel Adams were the first settlers in the county, locating their grist mill on Solomon's Run, now the Seventh ward of Johnstown, prior to 1770. They were soon followed by Captain Michael McGuire, who in 1789 settled at Loretto. Between 1797 and 1808 there were five villages founded, the first being Beula in 1797; Johnstown and Loretto in 1800; Ebensburg in 1807; and Munster in 1808. The people appear to have clustered around these localities, and as late as 1816 there were no other villages. We follow with the details of these respective communities. JOHNSTOWN IN 1790.
The people of Johnstown, and indeed all those residing in the Conemaugh valley and down the river to where the Kiskiminetas empties into the Allegheny river near Freeport, are indebted to Mr. John F. Meginness, of Williamsport, publisher of the notes of the "Journal of Samuel Maclay, while surveying the West Branch of the Susquehanna, The Sinnemahoning and the Allegheny Rivers, in 1790." Samuel Maclay was born in Lurgan township, Franklin county, June 17, 1741, subsequently locating in Buffalo valley, in what is now known as Mifflin county. Be was a brother of the Hon. William Maclay, who was the first United States Senator from Pennsylvania. Maclay was the ancestor of the late William Maclay of this city, father of Mrs. R. R. Murphy and Mrs. John Tittle. Samuel Maclay held various public offices in the Colony of Pennsylvania; he was a member of the Vth Congress, and was Speaker of the State Senate, where in 1803 he presided at the impeachment trial of Judge Addison; he was also elected United States Senator, December 14, 1802. He died October 5, 1811; his grave is within sight of the turnpike, a short distance west of Lewisburg. On April 9, 1790, Samuel Maclay, Timothy Matlack and John Adlum were commissioned by, the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania to examine the headwaters of the Vol. I-13 |
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