These two tracts of land were near the present site of New Derry.

Both names are familiar to all who are conversant with our pioneer history. Not long after that another white man came to visit him and located on a tract of land nearby. He did not remain in the valley, but crossed the Chestnut Ridge, selected a piece of land, and took possession of it. He came west on the Forbes Road and stopped at Fort Ligonier, where he had relatives living, and who were compelled to live under the shadow of the garrison because of the Indians. He had heard of the large quantity of land in this section from the soldiers that had returned with Forbes' army, and he made up his mind to leave the rich Cumberland Valley and come and locate west of the Alleghany Mountains. He had been a farmer in the Cumberland Valley, and was of Scotch-Irish descent. Among the very first, if not the first settlers, was John Pomroy. Some of the soldiers who came west with Forbes' army settled there as early as 1762, and were there as pioneers and citizens when Pontiac's war came in 1763. The first settlement made in Derry Township was almost as early as the earliest in the county. The boroughs within the limits of the township are: Latrobe, New Alexandria, Livermore, Derry and Cokeville. The township is now bounded on the north by the Conemaugh River, which separates Westmoreland from Indiana County on the east by the townships of Fairfield and Ligonier, the dividing line being the crest of Chestnut Ridge: on the south by the townships of Unity and Salem, the natural boundary line being Loyalhanna Creek and on the northwest by the township of Loyalhanna. It was cut down by the formation of Indiana County and by the formation of Loyalhanna Township on the Westmoreland side. It was therefore much larger originally than at the present time. The original boundaries began at the Loyalhanna and ran thence along the Fairfield line to Blacklick Creek, thence to the Conemaugh River and down the river to the Kiskiminetas and thence by the Loyalhanna to the place of beginning. It was, moreover, the first township erected after the original ones erected when the county was formed.

It was established and organized by the court of quarter sessions at April term of court, held in Hannastown in 1775. One of the largest and most important townships in Westmoreland County is the township of Derry.

Derry township pennsylvania