Allegheny Township was formed from a portion of Southampton in 1805. It takes
its name from the Allegheny Mountain, which forms its western border, and is a portion of
that part of Londonderry Township, Bedford County, that was annexed to Somerset County in
1800. The township is traversed by both the Forbes and the Glades roads and their successors.
The part north of the Glade Road was annexed to Stony Creek Township in 1801, reaming a part
of that township up to 1805. Lying between the Savage and the Allegheny mountains the country
is wild and broken, and mostly covered by the Catskill sandstone and Chemung shales. Such
being the case, the land in it is not the best for farming purposes, and there is much unimproved
land. No coal is found in the township, and except that there may be some beds of fire clay
in its southern part, it has no mineral wealth.
Settlements were made slowly in this portion of the county, and it was many
years before this township outgrew its primitive qualities. After other portions of the county
had comparatively well populated, much of Allegheny remained unimproved and afforded a favorite
resort for hunters. As will be seen from the following tax list, the population of the township
was small in 1814.
The following were the taxable inhabitants of Allegheny Township in 1814, according
to a duplicate list made by Wm. C. Dorsey, Esq., assessor, and Henry Imhoff and John Fleming,
assistant assessors: John Black, Jac. Burkhart (weaver), Jac. Burkhart, Dan Burkhart, Sam
Burkhart,John Burkhart, Jona Boyer, Henry Boyer (sawmill), Adam Bling (innkeeper), Jos. Cohenour,
Cornelius Devore, Wm. C. Dorsey (justice), John Fleming, Christian Grove, Peter Gardner, Christian
Gensler, Jas. Galiher (distiller), Val. Honn (innkeeper), Dav. Husband, Henry Imhoff (innkeeper
and sawmill), Jac. Kellar, Caspar Kellar, Christian Kinglesparger, Thos. Kennedy, John Lush
(shoemaker), Terrance Morrison (weaver), Elizabeth Mull (widow), Mich. Mull, John Mull, Dav.
Mull, Jac. Menges, Abram Miliron, Henry Menges,John D. Peterson, (minister), Ph. Purbaugh,
Henry Purbaugh, Adam Ross (joiner), Caspar Statler, Andrew Server, John Shaffer, John Shaffer,
Jr., Geo. Shaffer, Wm. Tipton, John Teeter, Henry Ware, John Wiely, John Teeter (sawmill),
Teeter & Mull, Jac. Weyand, Jac. Yoner, Single freeman: Isaac B. Falkerton, John Knough,
Fred. Peterson, Henry Purbaugh, Eli Runman (blacksmith), Abram Shaffer (stage driver), Peter
Shaffer, Jonathan & Thomas Tipton (shoemakers), Aquilla Wiely.
