Clark House News
April 2008
Revisiting White’s Tomb
by Dorie Leathers
“I recently returned to Indiana for a visit after many years and was
surprised to find all the new development in White's Woods. The public land that
had been wild and overgrown, but still accessible to all, has been whittled to
half its former glory, so that a walk there on Christmas Day provided more than
a few surprises. 'The cliff" was still to be found, of course, though it was not
nearly as imposing as it had been when I was a child, but old familiar pathways
had vanished and, with them, certain landmarks that had been the focal point of
many a childhood excursion. What baffled me most was my inability to find even a
trace of Judge White's tomb. In fact, a fellow hiker who my wife and I
encountered that afternoon, who claimed to have extensive knowledge of the
woods, admitted to having never even heard of any tomb. Has it vanished without
a trace? Was it deemed an attractive nuisance and consequently demolished? Or
did it simply collapse under the weight of age and gothic mystery? It certainly
sparked many a childhood fantasy and even a few nightmares but I know it was no
dream. Can you tell me what became of it? And are there any photos of it in the
ICHS archives?”
Stephen Russell, Wellfleet, MA
~ White’s Woods ~
In 1820, a young Thomas White was admitted to the Philadelphia Bar. The following year he moved to Indiana and set up an office. His decision to practice in Indiana County was influenced by the number of absentee landowners who required the services of an attorney to manage their interests here. White became the legal agent for the heirs of George Clymer of Philadelphia, who at one time was the largest absentee landowner of this area with three thousand acres. Attorneys engaged by these landowners were often paid in the form of “contingent fees”, a share of land in lieu of cash. As a result, Thomas White acquired considerable land in the area and it is his name and that of his family which is associated with the woods to the north and northwest of Indiana - the land that became known as “White’s Woods”. The present property which makes up White’s Woods is only a small portion of the area that the family originally owned.
Thomas White became the first president judge for Armstrong, Westmoreland, Indiana and Cambria counties, serving from 1836 to 1847. He was active not only as a lawyer and judge, but also as a banker, businessman and politician. As one of the area’s most prominent citizens, it was in his honor that a newly formed township surrounding Indiana Borough was named.
~ The Old Stone House ~
By
the 1830s, White owned approximately a thousand acres of land. He had planned to
build an English style estate on the property and began with the construction of
a small sandstone house which was to serve as a gate lodge or house for hired
help. Thomas White never lived in this house, his permanent residence being a
large house on Philadelphia Street, now part of the downtown business district.
When his son, Richard was taken prisoner by the Confederates, Thomas was
concerned for his son’s family and arranged to move Richard’s wife and five
children into the stone house. Richard lived there when he returned home in
failing health and his widow continued to reside there after his death in 1865.
Tradition and local lore suggest that the stone house was also used as a station for the underground railway during the Civil War. Thomas White was known to be sympathetic to the abolitionist cause and, as a judge, had made some controversial decisions in favor of escaped slaves. It was also rumored that the judge’s wife was among a number of Indiana ladies involved in contributing food and supplies to these fugitives. A wooden frame addition had been added to the back of the house to accommodate the families of Thomas’ sons. White descendants who recalled the interior of the house described a deep drop off along the hall over the dining room, where only planks were laid over the ceiling rafters. This room was not a part of the original house, but of the wooden addition. Family stories referred to this dark drop off, called “the dungeon,” as a hiding place for escaped slaves heading north to freedom. There was very little left of this structure in 1980 and what, if any, evidence remains of it now would rest on privately owned property.
Thomas White also had a family burial vault constructed on the hill above the stone house. For a period of time, from the 1850s to the early 1900s, this vault held the remains of members of the White family. This is the only remaining structure that White had built for his planned English style estate. The main manor house that Thomas had envisioned and that he and his son, Richard, had planned and staked out was never built. The proposed location is not known for certain although it is said that it was near a big spring. A large spring in this general area was later damned up and used as a water supply for a brewery which was located near the railroad tracks between Chestnut and Oak streets. The small pond was known as Brewers Pond. The dam and filled-in pond are now located on private property.
~ White’s Tomb ~
Family
members who are known to have been interred in the vault included Juliet, only
daughter of Thomas White, in 1853; Mrs. Judith Lloyd McConnell, Thomas White’s
mother-in-law, also in 1853; Richard White, Thomas White’s oldest son, in 1865;
and also several of Richard’s children. Thomas White himself was buried there in
1866 followed by his widow, Catherine Brooks McConnell White, in 1880.
The following article from the Indiana Progress, October 30, 1901 explains what became of some of the tomb’s inhabitants.
On Monday the remains of Col. Richard White and his two children were removed from the vault on White’s hill and interred in the St. Bernard Catholic cemetery beside the grave of his widow, who was buried only last week. The family was prompted in taking this step on account of the condition of the vault which has been neglected for years and is showing the want of proper care. The remains of Col. Dick have been secreted in the vault since the close of the Civil War. He died on the day Abraham Lincoln was assassinated, his death due to diseases contracted during exposure in the army. All bodies were in metallic caskets, which were well preserved. Four bodies remain in the tomb, two being the remains of Judge Harry White’s parents.
An old photograph of the vault or mausoleum, taken in the 1890’s, reveals a large stone wall with an ornamental cast iron fence on the top. The inner vault would also have had a door, and there was most likely an iron gate in the outside wall. By 1920 the old family vault had been abandoned and stood empty, the remaining family members who it had sheltered having been removed to Oakland Cemetery. A portion of this silent sentinel of White’s Woods was still standing in 1980, located on privately owned land on the side of the hill not far from Fourth Ward Park. Only the inner vault remained to be seen and the White name was barely visible on the large sandstone block above the portal. It was completely empty except for trash and litter left behind by curious people. A few small pieces of extremely weathered and rusted iron fence were hidden among brambles and poison ivy. Nothing remained of the door, outer wall, or other parts of the mausoleum. The site of the tomb is now situated on private property.
Of the four children fathered by Thomas White, it was the youngest son, Harry Lloyd White, who had almost as great an impact on local history and White’s Woods as his father had. Harry, who also became a lawyer, served as general during the Civil War, as Judge of Common Pleas from 1885 to 1904 and in the United States Congress in 1877. Also very active in financial ventures he bought and sold both land and businesses. Over the years, the thousand acres that he inherited were divided up and sold, some by him and others by his heirs. The White descendants retained ownership of some parcels around the area where the old stone house once stood, but many other parcels and tracts were purchased by private individuals, businessmen, and corporations, with the largest single tract being owned by The Rochester & Pittsburgh Coal Company.
Source Notes: Stephenson, Clarence D., Indiana County 175th Anniversary
History. Vol. IV. Indiana, Pa: Halldin Publishing, 1983.
Stephenson, Richard S., An Introduction to the Human History of White’s Woods
Nature Center. Indiana, Pa:
Indiana Area Recreation and Parks Department, 1980.
The Indiana Progress, Wednesday, October 30, 1901, p. 1.
April & May, 2007
Bible Project Completed
by Danielle Kittredge
Over
the course of the last several months an extensive collection of 171 Bibles
belonging to the Indiana Genealogical and Historical Society has been recorded
in a database. For each Bible the date of publication, size, and condition were
recorded. Each Bible was also examined for any genealogical information,
handwritten notes, and inserted artifacts.
As some of the written information in the Bibles has begun to fade, the writing
becomes difficult to decipher. This is why photos have become an important part
of the documentation process. Photos preserve the writing and other artifacts in
their present state. Of course not every Bible contains a wealth of information.
Some contain only a few fragments that provide clues to their former owners
while others provide no link at all. Even if a Bible contained no personal
information, photos were still taken of the cover of each to make their
identification in the database easier.
After data for each Bible was recorded by hand, it was then entered into an
Excel document. The Bibles were all assigned numbers and the photos for each
were then linked to the corresponding entry so one can quickly view what the
Bible looks like and any information found among its pages.
Every Bible encountered during this project offered a new history to discover.
There were no two Bibles alike. The various artifacts preserved in some really
brought out the character of the Bible’s previous owner. Among some of the
numerous items found were: photos, pressed flowers and plants, swatches of
cloth, newspaper clippings, locks of hair, images cut from greeting cards, and
even a homemade remedy for small pox and scarlet fever. While we may never know
the meaning or purpose of every artifact in these Bibles, I like to think they
had great personal meaning to the ones who placed them there.
While most of the Bibles are written in English, a few were written in German,
Old English, and Welsh. The Bibles range in age from the earliest, printed in
1620, to the most recent, in 1954. Their comparative sizes varied greatly as
well. There was everything from pocket Bibles, with words so small you almost
need a magnifying glass to read them, to very large editions that weighed
several pounds.
Among the 171 Bibles there were a few that stood out for their
uniqueness and personality portrayed by the genealogy and personal artifacts
found throughout.
The first is a 1620 Bible written in Old English and gifted to the Historical
and Genealogical Society by Mr. and Mrs. Donald Miller. A unique feature about
this Bible is a page that contains the signatures and dates of past owners. Some
of the readable names include: Habyah Weld 1751, Benjamin Fistabrooke, and Mrs.
John Sutton 1867. Additionally, the excellent condition of this Bible,
considering its age, makes it a true treasure.
The second Bible, from 1938, is a collection of wartime artifacts whose photos
transport you back to another time in history. This pocket-sized edition, with
the initials A. F. F. on the cover, appears to be a gift from Allen, a solider,
to an unidentified person. Different photos and artifacts were tucked between
many of the pages. Only one of the several photos contained an inscription. This
photo simply stated ‘Roger at Key West.’
While there are many Bibles in this collection rich with history, there is not
time to talk about them all. However, I would like to mention just one more.
This last Bible, published in 1730, represents an impressive dedication to the
recording of family history. Belonging to the Morgan Family, there is an
extensive genealogy, spanning 100+ years of this family’s history from South
Wales to America.
*About the author: Danielle is a graduate student at Indiana University of PA working on her Master’s degree in Geography and Regional Planning. She was assisted on this project by Joan Magas.
Mystery Surrounds Memorial Park
by Dorie Leathers
Memorial Park began its long and colorful history as one of the three
original cemeteries located within the borough of Indiana. The land it
encompasses was donated to the German Lutheran congregation by John Conrad Rice
in 1804 for use as a burial place or construction of a church. The earliest
interment that is evidenced by a marker is that of the pioneer, John Lydick,
whose death occurred in 1803. By 1845 the cemetery had become a stop on the
Underground Railroad, where fugitive slaves hid among the tombstones and brush.
In 1853 in Indiana Weekly Register deplored the wild appearance and dilapidated
condition of the graveyard. In 1875, Borough Council prohibited any further
burials in the “Lutheran Graveyard” and two years later the cemetery was
described as “a town common for the pasturage of cows.”
The Presbyterian churchyards were also reported as being in deplorable condition
and, in 1896, the church trustees requested that persons who had relatives or
friends interred in these churchyards remove them to another burial site. How
many of these graves were relocated to the Lutheran Cemetery/Memorial Park
remains unknown. There have been reports of burials being moved from one
cemetery to another, when in fact only the tombstones were moved. According to
Dr. Beverly Chiarulli, director of Indiana University of Pennsylvania
Archaeological Services, this was a common practice in the 19th century. She
cites as an example the 740 graves discovered and excavated in the northside of
Pittsburgh during the construction of I-279. These Voegtly German Lutheran
church burials were reported to have been relocated, but only the headstones
were removed, some of which were later found in the foundation of an education
building owned by the church.
By 1928, the center of the “old Lutheran cemetery” was reported to be sunken
below street level. Clair Weaver, Commander of the American Legion post at that
time, proposed a repair and beautification project which was approved by the
Borough Council. Murphy’s Five and Ten was then under construction and four
hundred loads of dirt were hauled from the site to fill in and level the sunken
graveyard. Volunteer veterans dug out the old tombstones, cleaned them, and laid
them flat on top of the graves. One particular tree required dynamite to uproot
it and it was then discovered that the roots had encircled a casket, jarred open
by the blast. Among the contents was a tarnished button from a soldier’s
uniform. The volunteers quickly transferred the contents to another casket and
re-buried it.
In November 2006, Memorial Park became the site of a geophysical
investigation, conducted at the request of the Indiana Parks and Trails
department. The purpose of this survey was to determine if unmarked graves are
present in the park. Mr. William Johnson, of D’Appolonia Engineering of
Pittsburgh, conducted field investigations of the northwest quadrant of the
park, which is along Wayne Avenue and across from the Indiana County Historical
and Genealogical Society. Three types of ground-penetrating technology were
employed in this study: a ground-penetrating radar (GPR) machine, an electrical
resistivity meter and a deep metal detector.
The GPR machine, which projects radar into the ground, can detect disturbances
in soil layers decades after they have occurred. Soil layers will remain intact
unless disturbed, such as by digging, and the waves will reflect back in a
different pattern when this has occurred. This machine can also aid in
determining if an area dug in the soil was then filled with something else, such
as a grave. Electrical resistivity, using electrodes placed in the soil, tracks
the movement of electrical current through the ground. The progress of the
current, faster or slower, provides clues as to what may lie beneath the
surface. Deep metal detectors are used to locate metal objects and will provide
varying readings which help to identify the shape, size and density of the
object.
The results of Mr. Johnson’s field investigation were published in December 2006
by Dr. Chiarulli. The ground penetrating radar identified numerous “anomalies”
in the surveyed quadrant of the park, which could suggest as many as 124
potential burial locations in that single quadrant. There was essentially no
portion of the survey area where the ground had not been disturbed. The
assumption was made that the graves would be placed in an east-west orientation,
as would have been the practice in the 19th century, but Johnson’s study
indicates that the burials appear to overlap one another.
In summary, he reports that the area surveyed at Memorial Park appears to be so
disturbed that it is difficult to identify individual graves. Whether this
disturbance is the result of the excavation of graves for burials, removal or
relocation of interments, or the covering of the cemetery with fill cannot be
currently determined.
One of the most interesting anomalies, identified by the deep metal detector,
shows enough metal to comprise a small underground storage tank. A more likely
explanation is that a metal coffin, either of iron or lead, is present at this
location, which is within ten feet of the sidewalk along Wayne Avenue. This site
is of particular interest and will most likely be investigated further.
According to the Colonial Williamsburg website, early in the nineteenth century
the traditional coffin began to be replaced by elaborately shaped
sarcophagi of
cast iron. In 1848, Almond D. Fisk was producing metallic burial cases in
Providence, Rhode Island. The shape of his castings is reminiscent of an
Egyptian mummy, with the exception of the glass window at the head to enable
relatives to look in.
If this anomaly proves to be a metal coffin, it will not be the first to be
discovered in the area. In June of 1953, construction on the Social and
Education Center, adjacent to the Presbyterian church chapel at Seventh and
Church Streets, unearthed “a buried funeral ground in the heart of Indiana.” The
Indiana Evening Gazette reported “ancient tombstones, burial boxes and an iron
casket containing the remains of one person, were uncovered in the upheaval.
Robinson’s Funeral Home workers removed the iron casket and contemplated its
reburial in Oakland Cemetery. The buried cemetery was presumably one of three
located within the confines of the borough in the Nineteenth Century.” Yes,
folks … this would be one of the churchyards whose trustees requested the
removal and relocation of burials back in the year 1896.
Peg Ruddock …
Happy Birthday!!
by Mary Yanity
As Mark
Twain famously said…”Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it
doesn’t matter.” Now, we are not certain Peg knew Mark Twain, but she certainly
embodies his thought. Researcher, advice giver on library usage to genealogists,
historian and general great person to have around all describe Peg Ruddock.
Peg is celebrating a milestone birthday in May and a little history on her role
in the Historical and Genealogical Society is in order. Most family researchers
who use the library have no idea that, in many cases, when they find a nugget of
family history they treasure, they can thank Peg Ruddock. She has been
responsible for setting the surname file in order and on the right direction.
She set up a cross-reference file for surnames where researchers can, at a
glance, see where information about the family name they are seeking can be
found. Many aids in the Library are there because of Peg Ruddock.
The Francis Strong Helman Award is given for exemplary service to the Historical
Society. It is not given lightly nor often and, as the second recipient (after
Clarence Stephenson), Peg displayed the high standards that this award requires.
She continues, as a volunteer, to show determination to keep this Society
top-notch in its research capability.
Have I told you what Peg’s age will be? No? Good, because I don’t intend to. Let
us all give this treasure of the Historical Society best wishes of the day.
Happy Birthday, Peg!!!