BACK IN YE OLDEN DAYS.
Slaves and Distilleries Are on the Tax books of 1805.
The Commissioners have been busy during the past week, hauling down tax books used just after the organization of the county and which have laid away for years untouched. Grim age has stained the pages, yet here and there one can find some items not found on the assessor’s books today.
The tax book of Armstrong township in 1805, is perhaps the oldest book in the Commissioner’s office giving a detailed account of each man’s property. On its dusty, stained pages are still visible all the items assessed to each property holder and in this book the assessor has made note of two slaves owned then by Wm. Brady and Wm. Fulton and assessed for ten dollars.
Liquor in those good old days was then a household article and from the number of distilleries assessed, one would think that every person in the township used that which tickled the inner man. The assessor found twenty distillers during that year. Their assessed value of each was thirty dollars. The following were the proprietors and many of the names are likely familiar to some living in that neighborhood:
James Brown, 1;
John Cummins, 1;
Chas. Campbell, 1;
Patrick Daugherty, 1;
James Even, 1;
John Harrold, 2;
Thomas Jones, 1;
Randles Laughlin, 1; [see below]
John Lydick, 2;
Wm. Farland, 2;
Samuel McCartney, 1;
Patrick McGee, 2;
James Montgomery, 2.Conemaugh township had its share of still too, and in the assessor’s book of the same year is found mention of eighteen distilleries in use. Some of the taxpayers must have devoted their time to distilling, as two men are assessed with three each and several with two. The following are those who paid taxes on the distilleries and were actively engaged in the business:
Wm. Crawford, 2;
John Hindman, 1;
James Hutchinson, 2;
Jos. Henderson, 1;
Christian J. Muller, 2;
John Nesbit and David Elder, 1;
Wm. Thompson, 1;
Moses Thompson, 3;
Adam Thompson, 3;
Jos. Yeates, 2.The Mahoning which then comprised the four townships were assessed in 1808, with only six distillers. They were owned by the following persons:
Peter Crotzer, 2;
James Ewing, 1;
Robt. Hamilton, 1;
John Leasure, 1;
Frederick Clingenberger, 1.The same year Washington township was assessed with six distillers. The following persons paid taxes on these properties:
Jacob Shallaberger, 1;
James Armstrong, 1;
James Simpson, 1;
Wm. Armstrong, 1;
Jos. Lydick, 1.In those days, each man raised a quantity of rye, simply for the purpose of stilling liquor, and a large number of these distilleries perhaps were kept busy doing “custom work.” In an old tax book of Green township, was found the return sheet of an election in that township, held in the fall of 1821. Green township now polls the largest vote in the county, but in that year there were only eighteen votes polled at the fall election.
Indiana Progress (Indiana, Pennsylvania) Apr 17, 1895
More about Randall Laughlin:
And more from the following book:
Title: Report of the Commission to Locate the Site of the Frontier Forts of Pennsylvania: The frontier forts of western Pennsylvania
Volume 2
Authors: Commission to Locate the Site of the Frontier Forts of Pennsylvania, Henry Melchior Muhlenberg Richards, John M. Buckalew, Sheldon Reynolds, Jay Gilfillan Weiser, George Dallas Albert
Editor: Thomas Lynch Montgomery
Publisher: W.S. Ray, state printer, 1916 (Google book LINK)
*****
If you click on the Google book linked above, you can read more about him being captured by the Indians.
Roots, Branches, Twigs & Leaves 