The most well known of Washington's scouts in the west was Christopher Gist, originally of Cumberland, MD and later a settler in what is now Fayette County, PA (his settlement was probably the first of any size west of the Alleghenies and was located between current Uniontown and Connellsville). Before GW came along, Gist had scouted western VA, PA, and much of what is now OH (the Miami River basin) for the Ohio Company. He was undoubtedly a local and knew the area perhaps better than anyone alive at the time. Gist later moved to NC (maybe SC?) and became an Indian agent under GW's presidency. His son Nathaniel was an officer on the western frontier during the Revolution and there is much speculation that Sequoia (George Gist/Guest), the man who led the Cherokees on the Trail of Tears and invented the Cherokee syllabary, was Christopher's grandson. That was about it for western PA scouts, though. There just wasn't anyone here at the time - you can't get scouts from an empty room. >I am relieved to hear that my family is not the only weird family in Western PA. Hardly. >When I was attending college, the linguistic professor could tell which side of PGH you was raised in by your accent. This kinda localization I guess only happens if you do stay put! There are many dissertations on Pittsburghese and I won't waste everyone's time with that now. However, I'll throw this one out: In western PA the term for being nosey is "nebby." My understanding is that the Ulster-Scots word for 'nose' is 'neb.' Coincidence? I think not. >Wow, you live ON THE OTHER SIDE of the Airport? I didn't know we'd settled that area yet. Just within the past few weeks. >Where I live now is very very geographically difficult. The Allegheny which is flowing....I donno....from the NE?? You got it. It flows generally SW from there to Pittsburgh. >makes a big hairpin turn so that Westmoreland Co becomes a pimple sticking out into it on three sides. That's Arnold! BTW, not the first time I've heard Arnold described as a pimple - but the other references weren't to geography. >My ancestors moved to Westmoreland Co (southern) in 1785, then the next generation crossed the Allegheny at Freeport, and somehow hauled their tired butts up the huge bluff to the plateau. This Frances Anderson did a number of years before it was purchased from the Indians. So he settled illegally, around 1804, taking over from an earlier settler named Murphy. Thus leading to the fateful moment when your family married into mine (though you might state it the other way around). Perhaps it's no coincidence that both of our families are weird. >But the rest is still farmland peppered with an occasional Presbyterian church. This also describes the area where I live now. In a place where the cows very nearly outnumber the people, we have three Presbyterian churches - evidence that it was largely settled by S-I and that, as usual, they couldn't get along. Not one Catholic church even to this day. >They apparently do advertizing at corporate because they screwed up the address. I know this is the case because I heard a recent radio ad for the new store in which they mispronounced 'Tarentum' (TARE-un-tum instead of Tah-REN-tum). A common mistake for those furriners. Rob -----Original Message----- From: Linda Merle [mailto:merle@mail.fea.net] Sent: Tuesday, February 21, 2006 6:23 PM To: Scotch-Irish-L@rootsweb.com Subject: RE: [Sc-Ir] Subject: History Alert and W PA geography lesson Rob, have you read about scouts? It's hard to believe that GW could find decent scouts of Western PA in Williamsburg! Surely he had to recruit a few 'locals' (to use the term very broadly <grin>). If only I was closer to those daily orders -- they might show him hiring local scouts.