Shaler township comprises portions of Jones’ and Cunningham’s districts. January 20, 1845, a petition for the erection of a new township from parts of Ross and Indiana was presented to the court of quarter sessions, whereupon Col. James A. Gibson, Alexander V. Brackenridge and John Murray were appointed as viewers. Under date of June 10, 1845, they reported in favor of the change proposed. March 20, 1847, the new township as thus recommended was confirmed by decree of court under the name of Marion; but on the same day the name was changed to Shaler. The individual thus honored was Judge Charles Shaler, of whom mention is made in the chapter on Bench and Bar, page 253. We quote:
He was a wit, a scholar, an able judge, and an accomplished gentleman; probably the most industrious student ever at the bar. He rose about 4 o’clock in the morning, and devoted his time until court opened to carefully overhauling his cases, and was always ready at all points. When he resigned his judgeship, which he did on several occasions, he would be found the next morning at his office, and ready for all kinds of professional business. He retained his vivacity up to the age of seventy-five, when he became blind and had to retire from the bar. He died at the age of eighty-one.

The earliest settler was James Sample, of Irish descent, born in the Cumberland valley, Pennsylvania,- March 25, 1756. He was a soldier in the revolutionary war, and at its close received payment for his services in land. His tract was located near the mouth of Girty’s run, and he settled here in 1789 or 1790. The following with reference to his son appeared in a newspaper some years since:
Thomas Sample, son of James Sample, was born on Girty’s run, Allegheny county, on the 7th of January, 1791, and was nearly eighty-six years old at the time of his death. He was the second male child born north and west of the Allegheny river, the late Gen. Robinson, of Allegheny, being the first, and born about one year before him. The mother of Mr. Sample and all her family were taken prisoners by the Indians two weeks after his birth, his father, who was captain of a company of minutemen, being out on a scout at the time. The entire family was rescued from captivity the same night, through the assistance of a squaw to whom Mr. Sample’s mother had furnished clothing and other comforts the winter before. While the Indians were engaged in a war-dance around the scalps taken the day before, the squaw procured a light canoe, only large enough to carry one person safely, and taking the three oldest children, ferried them across the river through the floating ice one at a time; she then gave the canoe to the mother, who paddied to the other side, carrying her two-weeks-old babe. That night the family staid with Mr. Ewalt, who owned the farm where the arsenal now stands, and the next day they were put in Port Duquesne.

Not long after the arrival of the Samples a family of Dicks settled on the run since known by that name. The Indian party that took the Sample family captive stopped at their house on the same day. A man named Chapman, who worked for Mr. James Sample, had stopped for dinner with the Dicks on his return from a visit to a relative living with Esley Powers at the present site of Sharpsburg; he had just seated himself at the table when the Indians entered, and he was at once killed. The entire family were taken prisoners, and they were not so fortunate in making their escape as the Samples had been. After accompanying the Indians to their tribe in Ohio, they were exchanged at Detroit, and returned in about two years. So stealthy had the approach and departure of the savages been that the absence of the Dick family was not discovered until two days afterward. A party from the vicinity of Pittsburgh started in pursuit, but turned back after reaching the borders of the Indian country, to attempt to penetrate which would have been perilous at that time.

John Shaw settled on Pine creek in 1803. He died in 1844, on the place where he first made his residence. His son, Thomas Wilson Shaw, now ninety-four years of age, lives on the old place. James Miller, a neighbor of Mr. Shaw, came afterward. James Sample settled early near the mouth of Girty’s run. Benjamin Powers settled near the present borough of Etna. Jacob, Daniel and John Wise and Andrew Wible settled near the central part of the township. Jacob Huggins and Anderson settled in the same vicinity. Thomas Swords settled not far from Pine creek, near Glenshaw. Gen. Wilkins owned a large tract of land in the township, and many of these settlers purchased their farms from him.

The first mill in the township, and probably the first north of the Allegheny river, was built by James Sample, and rebuilt in 1797. Girty’s run, upon which it was situated, is so named from Simon Girty,
The outlawed white man by Ohio’s flood,
Whose vengeance shamed the Indian’s thirst for blood;
Whose hellish arts surpassed the red man’s far;
Whose hate enkindled many a border war,
Of which each grandame hath a tale.
At which man’s bosom burns and childhood’s cheek grows pale.

Born in one of the middle counties of Pennsylvania, he removed to the west at an early age. He was one of two spies intrusted with important duty by Gov. Dunmore in his western campaign, and early became familiar with Indian life. Upon the commencement of the Revolution he espoused the American cause with zeal and earnestness, but he was both ambitious and jealous, and tired of duty as a common soldier when others of less ability were promoted to positions of responsibility. Chafing under the consciousness of injury, he deserted to the British, and in the high position to which he was at once promoted the vindictiveness of his spirit found ample opportunity to effect a fearful retribution. In 1778 he appeared before Wheeling in command of a force of Indians, and demanded its surrender from Col. Zane; the attack was unsuccessful, as was also another, two years later, upon Col. Clarke at Chillicothe. This was fully compensated in 1782, when he had the satisfaction of opposing Col. William Crawford’s expedition against the Sandusky Indians. Crawford was taken prisoner, and burned at the stake with all the elements of torture the ferocity of his captors could inflict. The conduct of Girty upon this occasion was the masterpiece in a career of unparalleled infamy. His influence among the Indians was such that the melancholy event might have been averted by timely intervention; instead, he addressed the prisoner with a coarse jest, and in the same vein informed Dr. Knight that a similar fate was also in store for him. He led numerous expeditions against the settlements of Kentucky and Western Pennsylvania, in one of which Hannastown was burned and plundered; on the march through what is now Allegheny county, he encamped at the stream which bears his name. He was among the victors at St. Clair’s defeat in 1791, and was at the battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794, and met his death in 1814, by the side of Tecumseh, in Proctor’s defeat.

The township is traversed by the Butler plank-road, the Western Pennsylvania, Evergreen and Pittsburgh & Western railroads. The stations on the latter are known as Undercliff, Witmer, Glenshaw, Coaldale and Elfenwild. Glenshaw was formerly known as Shaw’s Mills. The ironworks at Etna were formerly supplied with coal from this place, and the population thus attracted forms a small village. A Presbyterian mission was established here in 1879. In 1886 a church was organized, and a tasteful house of worship has been erected. Bowerstown, a hamlet on the Evergreen railway, derives its name from that of the first settler, Jacob Bower. The only place of worship is a Lutheran church. There is also a church at Sample Farm, a thickly settled neighborhood adjoining Millvale borough on the north. The population in I860 was 2,474; in 1870, 1,473; in 1880, 1,928.