John Oyler: Tax collector tarred, feathered in 1791 by Whiskey Rebels, later became Bridgeville Pioneer

John F. Oyler | Friday, January 31, 2020 12:01 a.m.

One of the most interesting persons to crop up in our review of “Pop” Ferree’s workbooks is a gentleman named Robert Johnson. He is mentioned prominently on page 46 of “Bridging the Years,” the official publication of Bridgeville’s Golden Jubilee in 1951, in an article titled “Bridgeville’s First Factory.”

According to this source, Johnson is the same gentleman who became famous as the first excise tax collector to be tarred and feathered by the Whiskey Rebels, at Pigeon Creek, on Sept. 6, 1791. The description of the grist mill he built a dozen years later is confirmed by several entries in Mr. Ferree’s workbook.

Despite his traumatic experience in 1791, Johnson continued his career as a tax collector. A notice in the Dec. 14, 1793 Pittsburgh Weekly Gazette informs those distillers who have not “entered their stills according to law” are subject to suits and seizures.

Johnson’s first appearance in the Ferree Workbook is April 15, 1796, when he purchased a plot containing 40 acres from a man named Peter Body, for 200 pounds ($1,000 dollars). An examination of the survey for this property, which was originally part of Benjamin Rennoe’s warrant, suggests that this site was primarily Fryer’s Hill, bounded by meandering McLaughlin Run.

Fourteen years later, Johnson sold that property to John Herriot for $800. In 1820, Herriot sold it to William Fryer for $3,500.

On March 18, 1803, Johnson purchased a “zig-zag strip” 66 feet wide, totaling less than three acres, for building a “water works.” He intended to remove water from Chartiers Creek downstream from the present Bethany Church to power a water wheel for a grist mill, returning the spent water to Chartiers Creek near the mouth of McLaughlin Run.

A plot of the survey for this site suggests that he planned to dig a ditch roughly parallel to Washington Avenue, zig-zag across at Sarasnick’s, and terminate at what is now Triangle Park. Apparently that is where the mill actually was constructed.

According to the article in “Bridging the Years,” the mill went into operation in 1803. The authors reported having the saw mill account books in their possession. The customers in the account books are a splendid record of the local residents at that time, including Presley Neville, William Herriot, Moses Middleswarth, Moses Coulter, George Vallandingham, and Francis Lesnett, among others.

Also in Ferree’s workbook is a document signed by Daniel Herbert, owner of land downstream from the spot where Johnson removed water from Chartiers Creek, confirming his agreement with the removal of the water, providing it doesn’t cause “stagnation and corruption” of the water downstream.

On May 27, 1807, Johnson purchased 400 acres of land west of Chartiers Creek from Presley Neville for $4,500. This is the site originally warranted to John Campbell. It extends along the west shore of the Creek from Coal Pit Run to Millers Run. Neville had acquired it from Campbell’s sister following his death.

Still lots of questions, but it does appear that Johnson was a significant person in this area at the turn of the 19th century. If the mill was indeed at the Triangle Park site, one wonders how he obtained permission to discharge the spent water on someone else’s property.