This article is the third in a series of biographical sketches about Jacob Fought, a blacksmith and innkeeper who moved from Berks County to rural Cumberland County in 1798, and to Carlisle in 1806. In 1811, he became proprietor of the Sign of the Plough and Harrow, a tavern located one and one-half blocks east of the town square. For an account of his early years in Cumberland County, see the Volume 20 issue of Cumberland County History entitled "Jacob Fought's Early Years in Cumberland County (1798-1811)," pages 56-69, and another article published in Volume 21, Number 1 entitled "Jacob Fought, Carlisle Tavern Keeper, 1815-19," pages 3-12.
Jacob Fought's last years are traced by examining his business, legal and social relations between 1830 and 1837. The first part of the article chronologically narrates business, civil, and social events in which he participated. The second part relates social transactions involving thirty-one people with whom he came into contact during 1830-37. Those interactions were not chance encounters but were built on a history of previous engagements. They enlighten us about the life and character of Jacob Fought and the Carlisle vicinity. Through documents archived in Cumberland County, they illustrate that who a person is or becomes must be understood in relation to his neighbors, friends, acquaintances, business associates, and legal adversaries.
1830 EVENTS
In April, Jacob Fought relocated his tavern, which he had operated on east High Street since 1811, to south Hanover Street, just three doors south of the courthouse. This may have been lot #139, but not much is known about the disposition of this property between its original ownership by Robert Callender c. 1760, and 1858 when it was owned by James Hoffer. Later, evidence will be presented that the owner of lot #140 may also have purchased lot #139. Fought renewed his proprietorship of the Sign of the Plough and Harrow, and announced the relocation in a newspaper advertisement. His inn was equipped for entertainment, offered room rentals by the week, month, or year, and had sheds and a stable "for the convenience of market people, drovers, &c." There was much competition among taverns at this location. A large tavern occupied lots #140 and #141, bordering to the north. On lot #137, two doors south, there was a tavern called the Carlisle Inn and Travellers's Rest that was a daily stage stop between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Around the corner was yet another tavern on lot #142.
The census taken that year tabulated Jacob's household including two males between 60 and 70, one male between 20 and 30, a young boy less than five, and five females, three between 15-20, one between 25-30, and one between 50-60.10 Likely included among them were his son Simon, wife Catherine, and daughters Julianna, Isabella, and Rachel, all of whom except Julianna migrated to Ohio seven years later. The youngest boy may have been a grandson, but the other two were probably boarders in his inn.
In November, Fought was listed as a creditor in an insolvency petition filed by Samuel Wightman. Wightman owed Fought 62 cents by book account. That same month, Fought reassigned to Robert McClan a debt owed by Jacob Stouffer. The fieri facias (judicial writ directing the sheriff to satisfy a judgement from the debtor's property) was to be satisfied from Stouffer's four-acre tract of land on which was located a sawmill and partly finished house in Perry County, Pennsylvania, north of Cumberland County. The reassignment indicates a debt to McClan that Fought was trying to satisfy or at least partially satisfy by reassigning what was owed to him. McClan had been his landlord until 1827 or 1828 at the former location of the tavern, and had previously legally seized Fought's possessions to recover rent in arrears. McClan will be discussed below. The Stouffer debt may have originated with a note Stouffer signed to Fought in 1819 that was the subject of a suit brought by Fought against Stouffer in 1820.
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