HARRISON WIGGINS.
There is not a more familiar name among the old pike boys than that of Morris Mauler. He was an old wagoner, stage driver and tavern keeper. He was born in Uniontown in the year 1806. The house in which he first beheld the light of day, was a log building on the Skiles corner, kept as a tavern by his father. Before he reached the age of twenty-one he was on the road with a six-horse team and a big wagon, hauling goods from the city of Baltimore to points west. He continued a wagoner for many years, and afterward became a stage driver. He drove on Stockton’s line. From stage driving he went to tavern keeping. His first venture as a tavern keeper was at Mt. Washington, when the old tavern stand at that point was owned by the late Hon. Nathaniel Ewing. He subsequently and successively kept the old Probasco house at Jockey Hollow, the old Gaither house, the Yeast house, and a house in Hopwood. He always furnished good entertainment for strangers and travelers, as well as for friends and acquaintances, and as a consequence, was well patronized. He died about seven years ago at Fairchance, and when his light went out a shadow of sorrow passed over the hearts of all the old pike boys.
James Mauler, a son of Morris, above mentioned, is also an old wagoner. He went on the road with a team in the year 1830, and remained on it as long as he could obtain a load of goods to haul over it. He is still living and in robust health, at Brownfield station, four miles south of Uniontown.
JOHN MARKER.
John Marker, now residing in the east end of Uniontown, is an old wagoner. He was born at the Little Crossings in the State of Maryland, in the year 1816, and while yet a lad began to drive a team on the road for Joseph Plucker. In 1839 he quit the service of Plucker and came to Wharton township, Fayette county, Pa., and soon thereafter began driving again, first for Sebastian Rush and next for Nicholas McCartney. He is a near relative of the Shipley, McCollough and McCartney families, all of the old pike. Marker says he never suffered an “upset” himself, but saw a great many “upsets” on the road. He also states that he saw a stage driver killed near Little Crossings in 1835 by the “running off” of his team and the “upsetting” of the coach. The name of this unfortunate stage driver was James Rhodes, and he drove on Stockton’s line. John Marker, in his prime, was one of the stoutest men on the road, upwards of six feet in height, and rounded out in proportion, but, being of an amiable temperament, he never engaged in broils, realizing, no doubt, and acting upon the poetic sentiment that:
“It is excellent to have a giant’s strength,
But tyrannous to use it as a giant.”
He still clings to the old road, breaking stone to repair it, when his health will permit. He is in the 76th year of his age.