Morgan Land, Pennsylvania One Place Study

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: Clearfield County, Pennsylvania, United States
Surnames/tags: One_Place_Studies Pennsylvania Clearfield_County

Contents 1 Morgan Land, Pennsylvania One Place Study 2 Geography and Land 3 Transportation 4 History 4.1 Berwindale 5 Saint Aloysius Church 6 Morgan Land & Saint Aloysius Cemetery 7 Research and Contributions 8 Sources

Morgan Land, Pennsylvania One Place Study

Saint Aloysius Cemetery & Remaining Foundation of the Church Morgan Land, Clearfield County, Pennsylvania

Morgan Land is an area in Clearfield County, Pennsylvania, USA, where a number of Irish Catholics immigrants settled in the 1830s. They cleared land for farms, raised families, built a church and established a cemetery. The majority of the first generation of children moved away. The church is long gone; only the foundation remains. Most of the gravestones in the cemetery are gone. Few people remember this community.

The aim of this project is to describe the history of the land, the community, and what happened to the first generations of people from Ireland that lived there. The genealogy of the families is included which provides more rich detail to the lives of the people as they made decisions about family, occupations, and whether to stay or leave Morgan Land. This project aims is to collect what information we can to remember where many of us came from.

The earliest Irish Catholic immigrants who came to Morgan Land were the Smiths, the Gilligans, and the McAlisters. It is not known where they came from in Ireland because there is much conflicting information. However, among a few descendent families there is an oral history that the Smiths and the Gilligans had a long, close history. In Ireland, they lived in the same community and established relationships before they came to Pennsylvania. And once in Clearfield, they bought land close to each other, they married, built a church together, and went into business with each other. Many of the earliest members of the community who died here are buried in the cemetery beside their church.

Geography and Land

Continent: North America

Country: United States of America

State/Province: Pennsylvania

County: Clearfield

GPS Coordinates: 40.83311602841455, -78.53775964970195

Elevation: 563.9 m or 1850.0 feet

Clearfield County is located to the northwest of the Allgeheny Mountains in central Pennsylvania--"behind the Allegheny Mountains." ^[1] The land is very mountainous and broken; there are no long or distinct mountain ranges that can be followed through the county. Streams run through the often narrow valleys below the hills. Water from this area flows into the West Branch of the Susquehanna River. A superior quality coal was discovered there in ??? which would eventually define and shape the destiny of this area.^[2]

Large tracts of land were owned by Morgan, Rowles and Peters. The land in this area is still knowns as "Morgan's Land."^[3]

The soil varies in quality and fertiliy. The predominant businesses for the early settlers were lumbering, followed by farming. Almost all early settlers had farms, but only a few had production that went beyond family subsistance. Many jobs were created by the selling, transporting, cutting up, and rafting the lumber down the river to market. There were many sawmills. The vast forests attracted speculators and capitalists from Maine, New England, New York, New Jersey and Philadelphia. They provided excellent wages, but in the end, they profitted enormously from denuding the entire county--and beyond--of trees, leaving little benefit behind for the county.^[1]

There were many industries that supported timbering and construction, such as saw mills, foundaries, fire clay workes, machine shops, tanneries, planing mills and shook works.^[1] The first saw mill in Jordan Township was built on Potts' Run in 1842 by James McKeehan and a Mr. Quail, of Hollidaysburg, on land belonging to Morgan, Peters and Rawle of Philaelphia. Morgan Land. ^[4] When settlers first arrive it was hard to keep domestic animals, especially sheep, because of predation by wolves and bears.^[3]

From 1830 to 1890, the largest industry in the county was lumbering. Felled trees were lashed into rafts and guided down the West Branch of the Susquehanna River. During the peak period and average of 2000 rafts per year were floated down the river. According to one estimate there were twelve and a half billion board feet cut during this time.^[3]

In the last 1800s, school teacher and journalist, J. E. Rorabaugh of Ansonville, wrote:

At an early day, Jordan Township was covered with a vast forest of timber, principally pine, oak, and hemlock. Some places they were so thick that you could not see the sun except when looking straight up through the trees. The lumberman's axe and saw have laid low these vast forests until now there is hardly a tree to be found for the sun to make a shadow of.^[5]

At first coal was mined for local use by blacksmiths. Shipping coal by raft was too difficult and risky and eventually the building of train tracks enabled the shipment of large amounts of coal, starting in 1864. ^[3]

Few of the Irish Catholics of Morgan Land were involved in the labor of rafting or coal mining, although a few of them were working at "logging" or "cutting timber" on the censuses.

Very large beds of coal lay beneath the surface of Clearfield County, particularly in what was referred to as Morgan Land. The potential profit brought rapid development. Numerous references describe the high quality veins of coal running through Jordan and neighboring townships.

The coal is clean, bright, shinging and with an almost inappreciable amount of sulfur, and is low in ash.^[6]

The impact of the loss of forets and the growth of mining is shown on the Pennsylvania Farm Census of 1924. From 1920 to 1924, the number of farms decreased. In five years the number of farms decreased by 100 and the total acreage being farmed decreased nearly 35,000 acres.^[3]

There were only a few farms in the county that were self-supporting, which is one that pays its way and is profitable. According to one report, almost any farm in the county could be bought for less than the cost of the buidlings and equipment.^[3] Increasingly, families still own farms, but on the censuses, men report having other jobs.

"Immense" beds of coal lay beneath the surface of Clearfield County, particularly in what was referred to as Morgan Land. In 1878, the coal beds were characterized as "inexhaustible," which within a few decades proved false. The coal was relatively easily accessible, which supported the investment into mining operations and transportation, particularly trains.^[1]

A more detailed description of the land, natural resources and their depeletion and restoration is in Clearfield County Pennsylvania, Present and Past.^[7]

Today, Jordan Township is berift of people and communities. The population in 2020 was 476 people. (Compare that to 1890, when the populatrion of Jordan Township was 1415, and in 1900, was 1284.^[8]) The land is vacant and visibly contoured by reclamation by coal companies. Jordan Township could easily fit the description of Paradise in John Prine's song about the "coal trains hauling away" towns in Kentucky.^[9]

On the other hand for people seeking a small town, peaceful, rural place to live "surrounded by lush green hills and rolling valleys," Jordan Township offers an almost unique opportunity. The cost of living is 24% lower than the U.S. average. One can drive for miles without seeing any buildings or developments or passing any cars. (In fact, visitors are reminded to have their car's gas tank filled up before entering this area.) The roadside is now grown up with trees approaching maturity. There are village or small town signs with no visible evidence of the former communities. Most of the small towns in southern Clearfield are populated by houses built decades ago. Yet, Jordan Township public schools spend $14,414 per student, while the U.S. average is $12,383. There is one teacher for every 13.8 student.^[10]

Transportation

In 1813, a road was opened across the mountains of lower Clearfield County to Tyrone.^[3]

The Janesville Pike crosses Jordan Township. The New York Central Railods crosses Jordan and Knox townships. The old wagon route from Tyrone to Punxsutawney crosses Knox township.^[3]

History

When the Irish immigrants arrived in the 1830s, this area was a deep wilderness. The virgin forests were dense and dark. In 1840, there were only 5 people per square mile.

Berwindale

Berwindale was located at the head of North Whitmer Run, on the Pennsylvania and North Western railroad, which was buildt in 1886. A post office was established in 1883, with Anson Swan the first postmaster, followed by Michael Smith. There was a store owned and successfully managed by W. C. Spackman.^[11] Michael Smith also ran a "merchantile." [See the 1882-1883 store ledger at the Clearfield County Historical Society at the Genealogy Center on Pine Street.]

Saint Aloysius Church

Saint Aloysius Catholic Church

Morgan Land & Saint Aloysius Cemetery

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Saint_Aloysius_Cemetery%2C_Clearfield_County%2C_Pennsylvania

Link to list people included in Morgan Land One Place Study WikiTree Profiles that link here

Research and Contributions

I, Donna Marie Smith Hughes, invite all descendants of the Irish Catholics (particularly, the Smith, Gilligan & McAlisters) to join this project and provide information. I know a number of you have been working on Smith and Gilligan genealogies for years. You are welcome to set up a WikiTree account and add information directly. You can also send me information and I'll upload it. So much time has passed and so many records have been lost that family stories are important (Please provide the best source for your information, even if it's something like "Family history from my grandfather (and give his name)." If you have obituaries, newspaper articles, biographies, please send them.

• Find the route the settlers used to reach this area.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3} J. A. Caldwell. Caldwell's Illustrated Historical Combination Atlas of Clearfield County, Pennsylvania. Published by J. A. Caldwell, Condit, Ohio. 1878.
2. ↑ Day, Sherman. 1843. 1843 History of Clearfield County, Pennsylvania. Philadelphia, pp. 230-233. https://genealogytrails.com/penn/clearfield/1843history.html
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7} Wall, Thomas LIncoln. Clearfield County, Pennsylvania: Past and Present. 1925. p. 278. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=pst.000055158343&seq=208
4. ↑ J. E. Rorabaugh. Jordan Township. Pa Counties. https://archive.org/details/pennsylvaniacoun28unse/page/106/mode/2up
5. ↑ J. E. Rorabaugh. Jordan Township. Pa Counties. https://archive.org/details/pennsylvaniacoun28unse/page/106/mode/2up
6. ↑ J. E. Rorabaugh. Jordan Township. Pa Counties. https://archive.org/details/pennsylvaniacoun28unse/page/106/mode/2up
7. ↑ T. L. Wall. Clearfield County Pennsylvania Present and Past. 1925. Pages 1-19. Transcribed March 2008 by Nathan Zipfel for the Clearfield County Genealogy Project. https://www.pa-roots.com/clearfield/clearfieldpastandpresent/chapter01.html
8. ↑ Census Bulletin. Twelfth Census of the United States. Population of Pennsylvania by Counties and Minor Civil Divisions. No. 44, Washington, D.C., 30 Jan 1901. https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/decennial/1900/bulletins/demographic/44-population-pa.pdf
9. ↑ John Prine. Paradise. 2007. https://youtu.be/DEy6EuZp9IY?si=jDipfzRPTQFZrixr
10. ↑ Jordan Township (Clearfield County), PA. Best Places to Live. https://www.bestplaces.net/city/pennsylvania/jordan_township_(clearfield_county)
11. ↑ Pa Counties. https://archive.org/details/pennsylvaniacoun28unse/page/110/mode/2up

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