Founding of Uniontown, PA

The Founding

of Beeson Town/

Uniontown, PA

Henry Beeson

Jacob Beeson

On July 4th, 1776, Henry Beeson opened up his land in Fayette County, PA for purchase. It was to become, in 1796, the town of Uniontown, PA. The following excerpts were taken from a late 1800 newspaper article. It was published most recently in the "Fayette County Tourism Guide", Fall 1996, on the occasion of the Bicentennial Celebration of of the founding of Uniontown, PA.

"The erection of a mill by Henry Beeson naturally induced settlements to be made in the near vicinity. He received numerous communications from various sources requesting him as a matter of accommodation to sell off small tracts upon which new settlers and tradesmen might build homes. It is related that Col. Alexander McClean prevailed on him to lay out a town, as the tide of immigrations was beginning to flow this way, and that in the near future a town located here would attain some prominence. Mr. Beeson would have spurned the idea of being a "land boomer" in the sense that term is used today, but in compliance with the expressed wishes of many friends he had a plot made for a small village. Col. McClean was said to be and no doubt was the surveyor who laid off the town and made the plot. The original copy was preserved and is now the prized inheritance of Mr. Beeson's great grand daughter, Miss Mary I. Beeson.

On the 4th day of July, 1776, the grandest assemblage that ever met was in session at Philadelphia and signed the grandest political document the world ever knew, thus laying out the foundation of the best government on the face of the globe, while at the same time there was gathered at the old Beeson mill, a motley crowd who there and then laid the corner stone of what was destined to be the shire town of Fayette County, and they cracked no bell either. This new town was ever recognized by its founder as Beesontown, but from Beeson's mill the transition was natural and easy to that of Beeson Town. From its very inception, Mr. Beeson named it "the town of Union.""

The Plot Map of Beeson's Town listed the following owners. If you have an ancestor listed below and would like me to link to your email address or website so other researchers can find you, please contact me.

Beeson, ?	Beeson, Jesse	Beeson, John	Beeson, Mary, Jr.	Beeson, Mercer
Brownfield, Benjamin	Brownfield, Charles	Brownfield, Edward	Brownfield, Elizabeth	Collins, John
Dawson, Henry	Fordyce, George	Gadd, Thomas	Gallaher, James	Hansucker, John
Hatfield, ?	Hoover, Andrew	Jotleff, William	Kendall, James	Kidd, John
Lott, Spring	McCarty, Adam	McClean, Alexander	McClean, James	McClean, John
McClean, Joseph	McClean, Samuel	McFortine, Thomas	McIntire, John	McTortin, John
Moore, Augustin	Parr, Richard	Patrick, Peter	Patten, John	Robinson, Aaron
Springer, Dennis	Springer, Jacob	Springer, Josiah	Springer, Nathan	Stephens, Dennis
Stillwell, Obediah	Stillwell, Samuel	Waller, John	Walter, Conrad	Wilson, Thomas

The Founding

of Beeson Town/

Uniontown, PA

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