DAVID MAHANY.
Onward, westward and upward, the crest of Negro Mountain is reached. There are several versions of the origin of the name of this mountain. Probably the one most worthy of acceptance is that in the early collisions between the whites and the Indians, a negro appeared as an ally of the Indians in a conflict on this mountain, and was among the slain. Negro Mountain is two thousand eight hundred and twenty-five feet above the level of the Atlantic ocean, and the second highest elevation on the line of the road. The old commissioners give the height of the mountain as two thousand three hundred and twenty-eight and twelve one-hundredths feet, from their base of measurement in the Potomac, near Cumberland, and as before stated, make no mention of Keyser’s Ridge. In the year 1836 Dennis Hoblitzell kept a tavern near the summit of Negro Mountain, on the eastern slope. He was the father of Mrs. McClelland, of the McClelland house in Uniontown. This old tavern is a stone building, on the north side of the road, and the same that in after years became celebrated as a resort for hog drovers, under the management of William Sheets. It was kept as a tavern after Hoblitzell left it, and before the time of Sheets, by Thomas Beall.
Two miles west from Negro Mountain Keyser’s Ridge looms up in view. This was a famous locality in the prosperous days of the road. It is a bald, bleak range, not inaptly described as the back-bone of the mountains. It is two thousand eight hundred and forty-three feet above sea level, and the highest point on the road. In the olden time snow drifts often accumulated to the depth of twenty feet on Keyser’s Ridge, and stages and wagons were compelled to take to the skirting glades to avoid them. Francis McCambridge kept a tavern here as early as 1820, and was succeeded by Robert Hunter, and he by James Stoddard, some time previous to 1840. Hunter went from this house to Petersburg. James Stoddard was the grandfather of Mrs. McClelland, of the McClelland house, Uniontown. Stages stopped at Stoddard’s, as well as wagoners and travelers of every description. The log cabin boys of Uniontown stopped at Stoddard’s the first night out on their memorable trip to Baltimore, in 1840, to attend the great Whig mass meeting of that year in that city. They had with them, on wheels, a regular log cabin, well stored with refreshments of every kind, and the very best; and every mile of their long journey resounded with lusty shouts for “Tippecanoe and Tyler, too.” E. B. Dawson, esq., and Lucien B. Bowie, of Uniontown, are the only survivors of that unique pilgrimage, so far as can be ascertained. The party consisted of such distinguished and well remembered Whigs, of Uniontown, as James Veech, Alfred Patterson, Rice G. Hopwood, Thomas R. Davidson, Lee Haymaker, John Harvey, William McDonald, Robert L. Barry, James Endsley, William E. Austin, E. B. Dawson and Lucien B. Bowie. There were doubtless others, but owing to the long lapse of time their names are not recalled. Redding Bunting drove the team that hauled the cabin, and Thomas A. Wiley was with the party as an employe of the Stockton stage line, which furnished four coaches for the transportation of the political pilgrims. James Endsley was of the Somerfield family of Endsleys, and died in that place in July, 1893. At Middletown, a short distance east of South Mountain, in Maryland, the log cabin boys were confronted with a petticoat suspended from a pole, which excited them to rage. A collision and a fight ensued. John Harvey, the muscular man of the log cabin boys, engaged a like representative of the other side, and it is claimed, by the friends of Harvey, that he vanquished his antagonist. It is not improbable that both sides claimed a victory. The party reached Baltimore safely and on time, and were received in that city with great enthusiasm. They were tendered a reception speech, which was delivered by “The Milford Bard,” a celebrated Baltimore poet and orator of that day, and the speech responsive was made by William E. Austin, who was a graceful orator, and his effort on this occasion was one of his best. The Stoddard House, at Keyser’s Ridge, was subsequently and successively kept by Dennis Hoblitzell, William Fear, one of the McCurdys, Adam Yeast and David Johnson, the latter the stepfather of Mrs. McClelland, of the McClelland House, Uniontown, before mentioned, who was born in this house when it was kept by her father, Dennis Hoblitzell. William Fear owned the old Stoddard House, and sold it to Perry Shultz, who conducted it as a tavern for a number of years, in addition to the parties above named. William and Daniel Fear were brothers. William, upon quitting the road, removed to Virginia, where he lived to an old age and died. Daniel exchanged the mountains for the rich valley of the Monongahela, and ended his days in Brownsville. In 1840 Truman Fairall built a house on Keyser’s Ridge, and conducted it as a tavern down to the year 1853, and a short time thereafter moved to the State of Iowa, where he spent the remainder of his life. The Stockton line of coaches stopped at Fairall’s. Fairall was a native of Old Virginia. Samuel Fairall, a son of Truman, the old tavern keeper, at one time a student in the Dunlap’s Creek Academy, near Merrittstown, Fayette county, Pennsylvania, is a law judge in one of the courts of Iowa.
About half a mile west of Keyser’s Ridge, and in the year 1850, John Woods built a house and conducted it as a tavern until the close of business on the road. He was an uncle of Henry, Thomas and Alexander Woods, of Uniontown, and an old wagoner. Sandy Connor, the old blacksmith of Keyser’s Ridge, and occasionally a stage driver, retired to an humble dwelling on the road side, opposite the Woods House, and there in the depths of the mountains took final leave of the old road and all its endearing memories.
Two miles west of Keyser’s Ridge an old wagon stand tavern was kept by Daniel Fear, before mentioned, who was the father of John G. Fear, who kept the old Workman House, in Brownsville, a few years ago, George W. Fear, formerly a wholesale liquor merchant in the same place, and Frank Fear, who once kept the Yough House in Connellsville. The old Fear tavern referred to was also at one time kept by Harvey Bane and by William Carlisle, and later by David Johnson. It was a frame house on the north side of the road. Within the venerable walls of this old tavern, and amid the romantic walks about it, when it was kept by David Johnson, Alfred McClelland, the renowned old tavern keeper of Uniontown, wooed and won his bride, and here in 1856 was happily married to Miss Sarah E. Hoblitzell, now, and for many years, a widow, and reigning mistress of the old McClelland House, in Uniontown, one of the most famous of all the far famed hostelries of the road.
About three-fourths of a mile west from the old Fear House, in later years better known as the Bane House, James Reynolds established a tavern as early as the year 1818, and continued to preside over it and entertain the traveling public until the year 1843. It was a popular wagon stand in its day. James Reynolds, its old proprietor, was the father of William Reynolds, elsewhere mentioned as an old wagoner, tavern keeper and express agent. Daniel Fear succeeded James Reynolds in the old house mentioned, and conducted it for a term of four years. He next moved to a wooden house about three hundred yards to the westward, and kept it as a tavern for two years. This old house was built by Jacob Frederic Augustine, and known as the Augustine House. From this old house Daniel Fear moved to Sand Springs, and kept the old Hiram Sutton house at that point for a term of two years, at the end of which he moved to Brownsville, and died suddenly in Uniontown on July 7, 1854, while on a business errand to that place. John Woods succeeded Fear in the Augustine House.
Within a distance of one hundred yards westward from the old Reynolds House, and in the year 1845, Henry Walters erected a wooden building and embarked in the business of tavern keeping. After a brief experience in this line, he removed to Hopwood, where he operated a blacksmith shop. While in Hopwood, and from the savings of tavern keeping and blacksmithing, he purchased the land on Dunbar’s Camp, occupied it a number of years, sold it at an advance to Dr. Waters, of the Soldiers’ Orphans’ School, and with his added accumulations, bought the old Grier-Brown farm on Redstone creek, in Franklin township, Fayette county, Pennsylvania, founded the village of Waltersburg, and about two years ago died, leaving his family a comfortable inheritance. He is well remembered as an amiable, industrious and money accumulating citizen of German origin.