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JEFFERSON BOROUGH HISTORY
From  the "Early History of The Peters Creek Valley and The First Settlers"
Compiled by Noah Thompson  1973

The total area of the Borough of Jefferson is 16.8 square miles or 10,752 Acres. Its history dates back to January 22, 1828 when it was cre­ated as a Township from the old Township of Mifflin. At that time, the community was called “Jefferson Township” in honor of Thomas Jefferson.

In 1845, Snowden Township was formed from a part of Jefferson Town­ship. Population of the Township in 1860 was 1601 persons, in 1870 it was 2066 persons and reached a total population of 3227 persons in 1880 (about equal to the population of 1930). Jefferson Township became a First Class Township in 1914 and in 1950 Jefferson was chartered as a Borough. The Borough of Pleasant Hills seceded from Jefferson Township in 1947 and by so doing, drastically reduced the population and urbanized area of the Township.

The Borough is located along the southerly boundary of Allegheny County and is primarily residential in nature with approximately one-third of its area presently being used for residential purposes. The residential use is primarily single family dwellings with slightly over one percent being multiple family units. Another third of the Borough exists in the form of open space and or vacant ground with the balance being. made up of in­dustrial, commercial, mining, farming, etc.

The major portion of the Borough of Jefferson drains into two water­sheds, the Peters Creek Watershed which ultimately drains into the Mon­ongahela River at Clairton, and the Calamity Hollow and West Elizabeth watershed which drains to the Monongahela River in the vicinity of West Elizabeth Borough.

Present development has occurred almost exclusively in the flat up­land areas. These developments are scattered and separated by large open tracts and or hills and valleys.

THE BENJAMIN KUYKENDALL FAMILY
(The following was taken from the Western Pennsylvania Historical magazine written by Mrs. Margaret Pearson Bothwell) 

The earliest settler in the lower Peters’ Creek Valley was the Benjamin Kuykendall family. There were and are many variations in the spelling of Benjamin’s surname.

Benjamin Kuykendall (1722-1789) settled in southwestern Pennsylvania about two hundred and sixteen years ago. He was a man of ability and a patriot of boundless courage. He served as one of the justices of one of the courts that Virginia had established on land it claimed, but which was eventually recognized as being within the boundaries of Pennsylvania. He was a justice of the Court of Yohogania County from the time of its first session on December 23, 1776, until its final session in the late summer of 1780. A namesake and relative of his served for awhile as a constable of that court. In the first minutes of said court the Justice’s surname was spelled KirKindall and later on, in those minutes, it was spelled Kuykendall.

Benjamin Kuykendall had traveled the “Mon trail” in the early 1750’s. The minutes of the Court of Yohogania County prove that he was in the area that became Pittsburgh as early as 1754. The minutes of the session of October 26, 1779, reported: Benjamin Kuykendall  being sworn Sayeth, that in the Spring of the year 1754 he saw Maj. Edward Ward on his march to Virginia from what is now Fort Pitt, that the said. Major Ward had command of the party with him & that he understood that he was the commanding officer of the post at the aforesaid. place as an officer in the Virginia line & surrendered to the French.

Benjamin KirKindall (Kuykendall) and Major Edward Ward, Croghan’s half-brother, had taken the oath as Justices of the Court of Yohogania County, on the first day’s session of that court on December 23, 1776, which was twenty-two years after Benjamin Kuykendall had seen Edward Ward marching to Virginia after Ward had surrendered to the French the fort at the Point in Pittsburgh. Ward averred in a deposition that be and his thirty-three soldiers and eight workmen had to surrender because Contre­coeur, the French commander, had one thousand French and Indians under his command. George Washington confirmed those figures in a letter which he wrote regarding the surrender.

One of the tracts of land owned by Benjamin Kuykendall was named “Ravensburg.” The name has special significance even today for residents of Clairton, Pennsylvania, for the forebears of many of them knew the vicinity as Ravensburg. A bridge which some persons refer to as the “Peters Creek Bridge” was opened to the public on August 25, 1966, but its official name is Ravensburg Bridge. Benjamin Kuykendall’s descendents have cause to rejoice because the name of his plantation, Ravensburg, survives today in the name of that bridge. His descendents can also be proud of the fact that Benjamin Kuykendall had been recognized as being the first person to settle in the area that now has the name “Clairton.” The inscription on his tombstone gave his age as sixty-seven years at death, but another source indicates that he died at sixty-six years of age.

Mrs. Cleopatra (Reed) Hanrack of Pittsburgh, a descendant of Ben­jamin Kuykendall, says that “Benjamin married in Romney, Virginia, in 1756 or 1758, either a Ferree or a Heath, but his bride went by the name of Sarah Ferree.” Whether Benjamin’s bride’s surname was Ferree or Heath, she was a member of one of the pioneer families of western Pennsylvania.

Despite the uncertainty as to whether or not Benjamin Kuykendall’s wife’s surname was Heath or Ferree, it is a fact that the Ferree and the Kuy­kendall families were related, for Christiana (or Christina as she was often called), one of Benjamin’s daughters, became the wife of Colonel Joel Ferree, son of Pennsylvania’s famous gunsmith, Joel Ferree (1731-1801), Christi­ana’s husband died in 1813. He stated, among other things in his last will and testament, “There is a legacy due my wife from the estate of her deceas­ed brother, Moses Kurkendall, in the State of Kentucky.” It is known that Moses Kurkendall was the eldest son of Justice Benjamin Kuykendall.

The story that has filtered down from Justice Benjamin Kuykendall’s time to his present-day descendants is that he first saw the Peters Creek area while he was en route to the Point, and decided then that he would settle there as soon as he could  and settle there he did!

Benjamin Kuykendall was with General Edward Braddock when Braddock set out in mid-1755 to wrest Fort Duquesne from the French - a ven­ture in which Braddock not only failed, but lost his life. Braddock was wounded in battle on July 9, 1755, and died four days later.

Sarah, Benjamin Kuykeridall’s wife, must have been blessed with the best of good health, for she bore to Benjamin three sons and at least eight daughters in their log house in the grand wilderness that today, completely altered by time and people, is the city of Clairton, Pennsylvania. The Kuy­kendall children must have had a wonderful time roaming the verdant hills and valleys near their home, and bathing and wading in the Monongahela River.

Legend has it that Justice Kuykendall had nine daughters and he may have had nine; but, if so, one may have died before he made his will, for the names of only eight daughters appear in his will. His wife and their three Sons were also mentioned in the will, and so was his brother Nathaniel.

When Benjamin Kuykendall’s life ended on Oct. 18, 1789, the family had his body laid to rest in his Ravensburg land which he had enjoyed for many years. The tombstone which was later placed at his grave had in­scribed on it:

The body of another Benjamin Kuykendall was laid to rest later in Peters Creek Cemetery. The inscription on his tombstone was:

Some writers had mistakenly concluded that the man died in 1802 was Justice Benjamin Kuykendall.