My Genealogy Hound

CASPER REEL, SR. (deceased), the pioneer of Ross township, was born May 11, 1742, in Frankfort, Germany. Emigrating to America, he made his home in Lancaster county, Pa., and served in the Revolution under Gen. Washington, participating in the battle of Brandywine and other engagements. His old watch and other interesting relics are yet in possession of his granddaughter, Almatia L. Reel. He came to Allegheny county in 1783, and was the first white settler in Ross township, where he built a cabin in 1792, and the same year planted many fruit seeds. The Indians, with whom he had many adventures, becoming too troublesome, he abandoned his place, but returned with his family in 1795. He had taken up one thousand acres of the choicest land in Ross township, where he was a central figure until his death, which occurred Oct. 10, 1824. He was an extensive trapper on Beaver river, and an expert in dressing skins, thus making considerable money, even in those days. Once upon returning from his traps on the Beaver river, in company with his brother-in-law John Wise, he was accosted by a white man standing on the shore, who asked for something to eat. Suspicious of his new acquaintance, he gradually headed his canoe toward the opposite shore and at the same time kept up a conversation by inquiring if there were any Indians about. Upon receiving the answer, “no, they are all gone to hell,” his brother-in-law began to insist that they should go to his relief; but he was ordered to lie down flat in the canoe. The Indians, now perceiving their device about spoiled, arose from their ambush and fired upon the canoe, but fortunately the occupants escaped unharmed, though the canoe was hit in several places. It was Simon Girty. Previous to 1795 there was a gathering of a number of the settlers in what was then known as the Winebiddle farm, the object being the raising of a building, and among the number was an Indian who pretended to be friendly to the settlers, but when he became somewhat under the influence of “fire-water” his Indian proclivities began to show themselves in such a manner that he became obnoxious. His bragging about the number of white scalps he had taken so exasperated Casper Reel, Sr., that he sprang upon the redskin and with one slash of his knife cut off the Indian’s ear so quickly that he could recognize nothing but the man with the red jacket. He was also a good husbandman, and his love for horticultural pursuits has descended to his grandchildren, the old homestead bearing evidence of their thrift. He was the first collector north of Allegheny river, his territory extending to the lakes. March 2, 1784, he married Elizabeth Wise, who was born Oct. 2, 1760, in Lancaster, Pa., and died Aug 20, 1843. They had ten children: Mary, Jacob, John, Daniel, Conrad, Casper, Jr., and David (twins), William and a twin sister, and Elizabeth. The order of their deaths is as follows: In their younger ages—Daniel, Jacob, John (who died in the war of 1812, at Fort Maumee rapids, April 6, 1813, aged twenty-three years), and William who was killed by being thrown from a fractious horse. The more recent deaths have been those of David, in his seventieth year; Conrad, in his seventy-sixth year; Mary (Mrs. Johnston), in her ninety-fifth year, and Casper, Jr. (or second), who was born Jan. 22, 1798, and died April 25, 1887. He was an enterprising farmer, a member and liberal supporter of the Presbyterian Church and most honorable in all transactions. Politically he was a life-long democrat, casting his first presidential vote, in 1820, for Monroe, and his last, in 1884, for Cleveland. In 1820 there were forty-three votes polled in Ross township, which then extended to the Allegheny river, including what is now Allegheny City. Mr. Reel married Elizabeth Nesmith, daughter of Capt. James Miller, of Belfast, Me., a woman of intelligence and great refinement. She died March 17, 1883, in the fullness of well-spent years, aged eighty-two. Five children blessed this union: Mrs. Elizabeth M. Jackman; James Miller and Mary Crooks, who died in childhood; Casper, Jr. (or third), a faithful son, who died suddenly, Jan. 5, 1887, in the prime of manhood; he was educated at Jefferson College, was well-informed on matters at home and abroad, and was a citizen of sterling qualities; Almatia L. Reel, the youngest, who yet resides at Reel’s Hall, the old homestead.

The youngest member of the family, Mrs. Elizabeth Quaill, is still living, and is near the close of her eighty-sixth year. Her mind and memory are remarkably bright and retentive. Her jollity of temperament and affability of manner make her the most precious jewel to be found in the homes of her children. She is the last link that connects the long past with the present, and to converse with her is to be carried back, as it were to the living past, into all its varied steps of progression, from the departure of the savage and his rude customs up the rugged road to the higher and grander times in which we now live and flourish as a nation and a people. The members of the old Reel family were strict Presbyterians. The older members were formerly of the Church of England, and were attendants at the church located on Smithfield street, Pittsburgh. This is corroborated by a Bible and common-prayer book of the Church of England (now in the possession of Jacob G. Reel), which the old gentleman carried in his pocket throughout the revolutionary war, and which was once the means of saving his life by warding off a bullet that otherwise would have killed him. The book was published by Susannah Collins, in 1724, for the Company of Stationers, London. The Hiland Presbyterian Church near Perrysville was located by Casper Reel, Sr., and it was here the family subsequently became Presbyterians, and remained such until separated by marriage, when three of them afterward became Methodists. The location of the Hiland Presbyterian Church proved in after years to be a most central one, as it became a numerous body, and notwithstanding its passage by time into the third generation it is still a stanch body. A large burial-ground attached to the church was the common burial-place for all, and in it shows where most of the former worshipers lie.

The first marriage that occurred in Ross township was at the farm residence of Casper Reel. It was the union of his employes, Christopher Rineman and Charlotte Zimmerman, in June, 1795. The ceremony was performed by Squire Robinson, father of the late Gen. William Robinson, of Allegheny City. The presents were a pan full of cherries.