Donated by Marta Burns, thank you Marta!
[Marta Burns]
The following is a list of persons who were engaged in business in the
town in 1838 as shown by the assessment role of that year:
Merchants:
Chamberson Anderson, David Clark, Catharine Campbell, Henrietta Gregg,
Elizabeth Garrett, Samuel Mount, Robert McElheney, James Orr, Alexander
Reed, Colin M Reed, James Stewart (also a tobacconist), George K Scott,
William Smith, Robert Tener, John K Wilson, Marsh & McMichael, Daniel L
Shields, Henry Kuntz, Alexander Sweeney, James Langley, Henry Langley
Attorneys:
Alexander W Acheson, Daniel T Baldwin, Joseph Henderson, Isaac Leet, John
S Brady, Thomas McGiffin, Thomas M T McKennan (deputy attorney general),
William Waugh, John L Gow, Zachariah S Yarnall
Physicians:
J Julius Le Moyne (also a druggist), F Julius Le Moyne, Samuel Murdoch
(druggist), James Stevens, John Wishart, William B Lank
Stage proprietors:
Scott & Stone (also in the oyster business), Daniel Moore
Stage agent: John Hutchinson
Early Taverns
The tavern kept by John Huston in 1774 was located just beyond the limits
of the town on property now owned by Mrs Swartz. A part of the old Huston
farm is now embraced in the present limits of the borough. The first
person to keep a public house withint the limits of Washington as then
defined was James Wilson. He purchased a lot of David Hoge on the
northwest corner of Beau and Main Streets and at the first term of court
of Washington county held in October, 1781, he was licensed for "keeping
a public house of entertainment at Catfish Camp." He erected a log house
in which he opened his tavern which he kept until his death in 1792.
At this house the Hon William A Atlee and the Hon George Bryan, judges of
the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, were in the habit of stopping when
holding courts of Oyer and Terminer in Washington county. The house was
kept as a tavern as late as 1840 and in later years was weatherboarded.
It was finally torn down and Smith's store was erected upon its site. The
property was owned many years by Hugh Wilson, son of James Wilson.
John Dodd was one of the original proprietors of land adjoining the town
of Washington. Very soon after the town was laid out, he purchased lot
274 on the east side of Main street and in 1782 was licensed to keep a
tavern. He built a log house on the site now occupied by Hastings
hardware store and the Washington Savings Bank. In this house he kept
tavern until his death in 1795 which occurred while returning from New
Orleans. The deed for this lot bears the date July 27, 1786, but this lot
with lot 58 were purchased on a certificate which was the case with early
lots. Judge J C Chambers of this county is a descendant of John Dodd.
Charles Dodd, a brother of John Dodd, was licensed to keep a tavern in
April, 1782. He kept in a log house which stood on lot 58 now occupied by
Streans hardware store. At this place the first courts were held, and in
a log stable in the rear the prisoners of the county were confined. The
deed to the lot was made to John Dodd May 30, 1789. On the 13th of
August, 1792, John Dodd sold the house and lot to Daniel Kehr/Kerr who
kept a tavern a year or two but later followed his trade of shoemaker in
the same house many years. His son, Isaac Kehr/Kerr, succeeded to the
property and lived there till his death.
History of Washington County, Pennsylvania: with biographical sketches
of many of its pioneers and prominent men / edited by Boyd Crumrine.
Illustrated. Philadelphia: L.H. Everts and Co., 1882. P493
Historic Pittsburgh
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