In a state of mind bordering on distraction, Holliday wandered about until nearly dark, when he got upon the Brush Mountain trail, on his way to Sinking Valley. His mind, however, was so deeply affected that he seemed to care little whither he went; and, the night being exceedingly dark, the horse lost the trail and wandered about the mountain for hours. Just at daybreak Mr. Holliday reached the fort, haggard and careworn, without hat or shoes, his clothes in tatters and his body lacerated and bleeding. He did not recognize either the fort or the sentinel on duty. He was taken in, and the fort alarmed, but it was some time before he could make anything like an intelligible statement of what had occurred the day previous. Without waiting for the particulars in detail, a command of fifteen men were despatched to Holliday’s farm. They found the bodies of Patrick and Adam precisely where they fell, and that of Janet but a short distance from the shed, and all scalped. As soon as the necessary arrangements could be made, the bodies of the slain were interred on the farm; and a rude tombstone still marks the spot where the victims of savage cruelty repose.
This was a sad blow to Mr. Holliday; and it was long before he recovered from it effectually. But the times steeled men to bear misfortunes that would now crush and annihilate the bravest.
After the declaration of peace, or, rather, after the ratification of the treaty, Gordon came back to Pennsylvania and claimed his land under its stipulation. He had no difficulty in proving that he had never taken up arms against the colonies, and Congress agreed to purchase back his lands. The Commissioners to adjust claims, after examining the lands, reported them worth sixteen dollars an acre; and this amount was paid to Adam Holliday, who suddenly found himself the greatest monied man in this county—having in his possession sixteen or seventeen thousand dollars. Adam Holliday lived to a good old age, and died at his residence on the bank of the river, in 1801. He left two heirs—his son John, and a daughter married to William Reynolds.
After the estate was settled up, it was found that John Holliday was the richest man in this county. He married the daughter of Lazarus Lowry, of Frankstown, in 1803, and in 1807 he left for Johnstown, where he purchased the farm, and all the land upon which Johnstown now stands, from a Doctor Anderson, of Bedford. Fearing the place would never be one of any importance, John Holliday, in a few years, sold out to Peter Livergood for eight dollars an acre, returned to Hollidaysburg, and entered into mercantile pursuits.
William Holliday, too, died at a good old age, and lies buried on his farm by the side of his children, who were massacred by the Indians. In the ordinary transmutation of worldly affairs, the lands of both the old pioneers passed out of the hands of their descendants; yet a beautiful town stands as a lasting monument to the name, and the descendants have multiplied until the name of Holliday is known, not only in Pennsylvania, but over the whole Union.
[Note.—There are several contradictory accounts in existence touching the massacre of the Holliday children. Our account of it is evidently the true version, for it was given to us by Mr. Maguire, who received it from Mr. Holliday shortly after the occurrence of the tragedy. It may be as well here to state that the original Hollidays were Irishmen and Presbyterians. It is necessary to state this, because we have heard arguments about their religious faith. Some avow that they were Catholics, and as an evidence refer to the fact that William called one of his offspring “Patrick.” Without being able to account for the name of a saint so prominent in the calendar as Patrick being found in a Presbyterian family, we can only give the words of Mr. Maguire, who said: “I was a Catholic, and old Billy and Adam Holliday were Presbyterians; but in those days we found matters of more importance to attend to than quarrelling about religion. We all worshipped the same God, and some of the forms and ceremonies attending church were very much alike, especially in 1778, when the men of all denominations, in place of hymn-books, prayer-books, and Bibles, carried to church with them loaded rifles!”]
GEORGE CROGAN AND AUGHWICK, HUNTINGDON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
BY JAMES S. O’NEILL, ELIZABETH, N. J.
George Crogan was born in Dublin, Ireland. He came to Aughwick Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania, about the year 1742 and soon after took up the business of an Indian trader. At first he located at Harris’ trading house, now Harrisburg, on the Susquehanna, and from there moved over the river into Cumberland, some eight miles from his first place. From there he made excursions to Path Valley, Aughwick and finally to the Ohio river by way of the old Bedford trail. His long residence among the Indians not only enabled him to study Indian character thoroughly, but he acquired the language of both the Delaware and Shawnee tribes.
The history of Aughwick and of Crogan are identical during the years 1754–55–56. Aughwick was not originally an Indian town, as is generally supposed, but was a settlement of whites to which the Indians came after Crogan had made it his residence, the time of their coming being clearly shown by official records. It is therefore difficult, if not impossible, to give any reliable information concerning the origin of the name. There is no certainty that it belongs to any of the Indian languages; the probability is that it is derived from one of the European tongues. The first settlers there, as in nearly all parts of Huntingdon County, were Irish. They could furnish a name, or the town which they may have proposed founding, without resort to any other vocabulary than their own. Aughwick is said to resemble in sound two Irish words which mean literally “Swift running steed.” In early times the orthography of the name was almost as various as were the hands by which it was first written. Crogan at first wrote it “Aughick,” afterwards “Aughick Old Town” and finally “Aughwik Old Town.” Crogan—first letter—published in the Colonial Records, is dated “May 26, 1747,” and is directed to Richard Peters. It was accompanied by a letter from the Six Nations, some wampum and a French scalp, taken somewhere on Lake Erie. In a letter from Governor Hamilton to Governor Hardy, dated July 5, 1756, in speaking of Crogan, who was at one time suspected of being a spy in the pay of the French, Hamilton says: “There were many Indian traders with Braddock—Crogan among others, who acted as a captain of the Indians under a warrant from General Braddock, and I never heard of any objections to his conduct in that capacity. For many years he had been very largely concerned in the Ohio trade, was upon that river frequently, and had a considerable influence among the Indians, speaking the language of several nations, and being very liberal in his gifts to them, which, with the losses he sustained by the French, who seized great quantities of his goods, and by not getting the debts due to him from the Indians, he became bankrupt, and since has lived at a place called Aughwick, in the back parts of this province, where he generally had a number of Indians with him, for the maintenance of whom the province allowed him sums of money from time to time, but not to his satisfaction. After this he went by my order with these Indians, and joined General Braddock, who gave the warrant I have mentioned. Since Braddock’s defeat, he returned to Aughwick, where he remained till an act of assembly was passed here granting him a freedom from arrest for ten years. This was done that the province might have the benefit of his knowledge among the Indians; and immediately thereupon, while I was last at York, a captain’s commission was given to him, and he was ordered to raise men for the defence of the western frontier, which he did in a very expeditious manner, but not so frugally as the commissioners for disposing the public money thought he might have done. He continued in the command of the companies he had raised, and of Fort Shirley, on the western frontier, about three months; having a dispute with the commissioners about some accounts between them, in which he thought himself ill-used, he resigned his commission, and about a month ago informed me that he had not received pay upon General Braddock’s warrant, and desired my recommendation to General Shirley; which I gave him, and he set off directly for Albany, New York.”