EARLY
INNS AND INNKEEPERS
in what is now Lawrence
County
When hauling was done on horseback, or by wagons and omnibuses, the
inn, as a place of entertainment, was an important factor of growing
civilization. The weary traveler had to find a stranger’s home, and
this, as he alighted from his horse or his clumsy hack, he always found
at the wayside inn. Whisky, music, good victuals in great abundance,
clean beds, with well. filled straw ticks and feather-beds, and not
infrequently the excitement of the rustic dance, awaited his pleasure. A
social time was enjoyed. The old-time inn was one of the important
educational factors of the times. From the old time inn, or tavern, has
sprung the modern hotel, with register, sample rooms, reading and
writing apartments, high-toned clerks and landlords, and numerous
commercial guests. To trace the transition carefully would require a
volume. Appended is a list of those who have been permitted in Mercer
County [list includes only the portion of Mercer County that later
became Lawrence County] to keep tavern and to deal out drink as the public demanded, from
1804 to 1834, inclusive. Many of these, it will be seen, were residents
of country places. Latterly these houses of entertainment have naturally
gravitated to towns and cities, the centers of business activity.
1804: John Small, Neshannock Township; Joseph Townsend, Neshannock Township; Joshua Cook, Neshannock
Township
1805: John Small, Neshannock
Township
1806: Jesse
Dushane, New Castle; Levi Hunt, Slippery Rock Township; John Anderson,
Neshannock Township; Alexander
Paden, New Castle; Alexander Hawthorn, New Castle; John Picky, New
Castle.
1807: John Shurtz, Mahoning Township; John Sampson, Neshannock
Township; Jonathan Harlin, Slippery Rock Township; Jesse Dushane, New Castle;
Robert Wallace, New Castle; Levi Hunt,
Slippery Rock Township; Alexander
Hawthorn, New Castle; Daniel Inbody, Mahoning Township.
1808: John Sampson, Neshannock Township;
Jonathan Harlin, Slippery Rock
Township; Robert Wallace,
New Castle; Levi Hunt, Slippery Rock Township.
1809: Alexander Hawthorn, New Castle; Robert Wallace, New Castle; Daniel Inbody, Mahoning Township; Jesse Dushane,
New Castle; Abraham Hunt, Slippery Rock Township.
1810: Alexander Hawthorn, New Castle;
Robert Wallace, New Castle.
1811: James Walker, Slippery Rock
Township; Joseph Mitchell, New
Castle; Joseph H. Reynolds, Mahoning Township; Robert
Wallace, New Castle; Jesse Dushane, New Castle.
1812: Joseph Mitchell, New Castle; Adam
Thompson, Salem Township; William Nicholson, Slippery Rock Township; Robert Wallace, New Castle; Joseph W.
Reynolds, Mahoning Township; Jesse Dushane, New Castle.
1813: Joseph W.
Reynolds, Mahoning Township; William Nicholson, Slippery Rock Township;
Cornelius Mortimus, Slippery Rock Township; Robert Wallace, New Castle.
1814: Joseph W. Reynolds, Mahoning
Township; George W.
Bartlett, Slippery Rock Township; Neal Gillespie, Slippery Rock
Township; Robert Wallace, New Castle; John C. Stewart, New Castle; Jesse Dushane, New Castle; James Denniston, Slippery
Rock Township.
1815: Robert Wallace, New Castle;
Alexander Hawthorn, New Castle; Neal
Gillespie, Slippery Rock Township; Arthur
Chenowith, New Castle.
1816: Robert Wallace, New Castle;
Alexander Hawthorn, New Castle; James Waugh, Mahoning Township; William Elder,
Slippery Rock Township; Jesse
Dushane, New Castle; Arthur Chenowith, New
Castle.
1817: Thomas
Boozle, Slippery Rock Township; Neal Gillespie, Slippery Rock Township; Robert Wallace, New Castle;
Alexander Hawthorn, New Castle; James Sutton, New Castle; William
Elder, Slippery Bock Township; Arthur Chenowith, New Castle; John P. Farrell, New Castle;
1818: James Waugh, New Bedford; Neal Gillespie,
Slippery Rock Township; Thomas Boozle, Slippery Rock Township; Robert Wallace, New Castle; Alexander Hawthorn, New
Castle; Jesse Dushane, New Castle; William Elder,
Slippery Rock Township; Arthur Chenowith, New Castle.
1819: Neal Gillespie, Slippery Rock
Township; Jesse Dushane, New Castle; Alexander
Hawthorn, New Castle; James Waugh,
Mahoning Township; John Piper, Mahoning Township; Robert
Wallace, New Castle; Arthur Chenowith, New Castle.
1820: William Elder, Slippery Rock Township; Elizabeth Gillespie, Slippery
Rock Township; Alexander Hawthorn, New Castle; Jesse Dushane, New Castle;
Arthur Chenowith, New Castle.
1821: Alexander Hawthorn, New Castle;
Jesse Dushane, New
Castle; Arthur Chenowith, New Castle.
1822: Samuel Burchfleld, Harlansburg; Alexander Hawthorn, New Castle; William Elder, Harlansburg;
Arthur Chenowith, New Castle.
1823: Jesse Dushane, New Castle; Alexander Hawthorn,
New Castle; William Elder, Harlansburg; Arthur Chenowith, New Castle.
1824: Jesse Dushane, New Castle; Alexander Hawthorn, New Castle;
Samuel Burchfield, Harlansburg; William Elder,
Harlansburg; Arthur Chenowith, New Castle; James Park, Edenburgh.
1825: Jesse
Dushane, New Castle; Alexander Hawthorn, New
Castle; William Porter, New Bedford; William Elder,
Harlansburg; James Park, Edenburgh.
1826: Jesse
Dushane, New Castle; Alexander Hawthorn, New Castle; Anthony Squiers,
New Castle; William Coovert, Edenburgh.
1827: William Porter, New Bedford;
William Elder, Harlansburg; Jesse Dushane, New Castle; Anthony Squiers, New Castle;
Alexander Hawthorn, New Castle.
1828: John
Pollock, New Bedford; Cornelius Riley, New Castle; Anthony Squiers, New Castle;
Alexander Hawthorn, New Castle; William Elder,
Harlansburg; John Parks,
Edenburgh; Jesse T. Dushane, New Castle.
1829: John Boyd, Harlansburg; Joseph T. Dushane, New Castle;
Alexander Hawthorn, New Castle; Anthony Squiers, New Castle; John
Pollock, New Bedford; Alexander Campbell, Edenburgh.
1830: John Shearer, New Castle;
John Boyd, Harlansburg; James Caldwell, Harlansburg; Archibald Douglas, New Bedford;
Anthony Squiers, New Castle; Alexander Hawthorn, New Castle.
1831: John Shearer, New Castle; John Boyd, Harlansburg; James Caldwell, Harlansburg;
Alexander Hawthorn, New Castle;
Jesse Dushane, New Castle; A. A. Douglas, New Bedford.
1832: Thomas Wilson, New Wilmington; John Boyd, Harlansburg; Elizabeth O’Brien, New Castle; John Shearer,
New Castle; John
Book, New Bedford; Thomas Coovert, Edenburgh; Andrew Lewis, New Castle.
1833: Charles Kelly, New Castle; John
Shearer, New Castle; Andrew Lewis, New Castle; James
Caldwell, Harlansburg; Thomas Wilson, New Wilmington; Isaac Emery, Harlansburg; Jacob Lager, Samuel Harriott, New Castle; Thomas Coovert,
Edenburgh.
1834: James Shearer, New Castle; A.
Lewis, New Castle; David Sharper, New Castle; A. A. Douglas, New Bedford; James Caldwell, Harlansburg; Andrew
Morrison, Pulaski; G. Kirkpatrick, Harlansburg; Richard Hammond, Wilmington.
History of Mercer County, 1888, pages
178-183
.
