Noble McCormick, a regular old wagoner, was, while on the road, the owner of the Semans farm, near Uniontown. He sold his farm to Thomas Semans and went West. He is remembered as an habitual wearer of the broad-rimmed, yellow, long-napped regulation hat.
John Christy, an old wagoner, was eccentric as to his apparel, and careful of his money. He wore a full suit of buckskin, and improvised a savings bank by boring holes in blocks in which he placed his money, and secured it by plugging up the holes.
Charles Guttery, who recently died at an advanced age in Beallsville, Washington county, Pennsylvania, was one of the best known and most esteemed old wagoners of the road. After many years experience as a wagoner, he devoted the remainder of his life to tavern keeping.
John Yardley, as the saying goes, was a natural born wagoner. He loved the occupation, and was faithful in it, for many years. He was born in Maryland, but lived a long time at Searights, where he died. He was the father of William and Gus Yardley, of Uniontown.
David Newcomer, a farmer of German township, Fayette county, Pennsylvania, who served a term as County Commissioner, belongs to the long list of wagoners. His father, Jacob Newcomer, and Jacob F. Longanecker went to Loudon, Franklin county, Pennsylvania, in the year 1849, and each bought a new wagon and a new whip at that place. Jacob Newcomer soon thereafter became afflicted with rheumatism, and turned over his team and wagon to his son David, who traversed the road until the close of its busy era. Jacob Newcomer died in 1866, on the farm now owned and occupied by his son David.
John Ferren drove a six-horse team on the road many years for William Searight, and is remembered as a careful and discreet driver and an honest and industrious man. At the close of active business on the road, and while yet under the influence of its ancient grandeur, he married a daughter of “Wagoner Billy Shaw,” and with his newly-wedded wife went to Iowa to work out his destiny, where he has achieved success as a farmer.
James E. Kline, a driver for Jacob A. Hoover, was a soldier in the late war between the States, and died in German township, Fayette county, Pennsylvania, after the conflict ended.
Robert Hogsett, the millionaire farmer, stock dealer, manufacturer, and coke operator of Fayette county, Pennsylvania, was a sharpshooter, and hauled many a load of goods from Cumberland to Brownsville at remunerative rates per hundred. His “down loads” consisted for the most part of corn of his own raising, which he sold out through the mountains at good prices.
Hiram Hackney, for many years a prosperous farmer of Menallen township, Fayette county, Pennsylvania, now a retired resident of Uniontown, and a director in the First National Bank of that place, was a sharpshooter and a drover.