USA > Pennsylvania > McKean County > Bradford > Illustrated history of Bradford, McKean County, Pa. > Part 1
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15
HISTORY OF
BRADFORD, PA.
B. Broughton
Gc 974.802 B72h 1273964
M. L
GENEALCY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 00826 3268
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016
https://archive.org/details/illustratedhisto00hatc
BRADFORD
C. E. BURK.
A. L. BURK.
BURK BROTHERS, Publishers.
ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF
BRADFORD
MCKEAN COUNTY, PA.
Containing Sketches and Illustrations of the Village in the early days of its existence, together with Photographs and Biographies of the Present time.
„Eramine history, for it is philosophy teaching by experience * * history is the essence of innumerable biographies * * In a certain sense, all men are historians."-Carlyle.
Editor, VERNELLE A. HATCH.
De 974.802 B12h
BURK BROTHERS, BRADFORD, PA. 1901.
COPYRIGHT APPLIED FOR, JUNE, 1901, BY
BURK BROTHERS.
THE HAUSAUER PRESS
CAXTON BLDG., BUFFALO, N.Y.
- $ 12. 50 911. 24
BY WAY OF PREFACE.
1273964
I N PRESENTING to the public Historical Bradford, the pub- lishers take this opportunity to extend to all who assisted in the enterprise their heartfelt thanks. In preparing the histor- ical features, old records have been searched, old files of news- papers examined, and old residents interviewed. Especial thanks are due Hon. Lewis Emery Jr., Hon. Loyal Ward, C. C. Melvin, P. L. Webster, A. W. Newell, Albert DeGolier, George A. Berry, B. M. Bailey, Frank W. Davis, John McCrum, Hon. George C. Fagnan, Mayor Joseph Greenwald, and City Clerk Edward C. Charlton foi material aid and encouragement. The newspaper fraternity has also assisted in the preparation of the work by permitting the examination of valuable files and with many helpful suggestions. The Evening Record, Evening Star, Morning Era, Sunday Herald and Sunday Journal have each and all co-operated with the publishers in a manner inost gratifying.
The number of citizens who have assisted financially to make this little volume what it is, is too large to warrant individual mention here, but their liberality is fully remembered and thoroughly appre- ciated.
Literary credit is given several who contributed historical sketches to other publications, among which may be mentioned the "History of Mckean County", published by J. H. Beers and Co. of Chicago, the "Sketches in Crude Oil'' by John T. McLaurin, and the Bradford Sun- day Post, issued in 1896.
The work is in no sense a history except in so far as illustrations are history. An effort has been made to collect the essential facts re- garding the founding of the place, its subsequent growth and develop- ment, and some of the interesting incidents that characterized life in the oil regions. Necessarily much of interest has been omitted. Possibly in the short sketch prepared will be found occasional errors and for these imperfections one and all the publisher begs the kind indulgence of the public.
Pains have been taken to make the illustrated features of the publication as complete and perfect as possible. The illustrations are a history in themselves. A whole chapter of description could not tell as clearly the condition of the village a quarter of a century ago as the single picture taken at the time and faithfully reproduced by the half-tone processes of today. Therefore these illustrations taken in connection with the accompanying text the publishers hope will prove satisfactory to patrons and public and they believe the book is of sufficient value to justify its preservation for the inspection of future generations.
FLOWING OIL WELL, BRADFORD.
By permission of J. A. Teulon.
BRADFORD
HE City of Bradford is situated a mile and a half south of the northern line of Bradford Township. Bradford Township is in the northern part of Mckean County. Mckean County is in the north- western part of Pennsylvania, bordering on Cattaraugus and Alle- ghany Counties, State of New York,
The city lies in a valley. The east and west branches of the Tuna Creek converge at this point, and flowing in a northerly direction, enter the Alleghany River near Carrolton. Huge hills partially covered with forest growth line the valley on both sides from Bradford to the State line. The highest of these hills, Mount Raub, a mile east of Bradford, is 2,225 feet above sea level. From that point there is a gradual downward slope to the state line, at which place it is only 1,415 feet above the sea.
Valley and creek derive their names from Indian sources. A large eddy at the mouth of the creek was called Ichunuagwant in the Indian language. A liberal translation of this tongue-twisting cognomen is " Big Cove with large Mouth." A slight modification and we have Tunungwant (Crooked Creek) or Tuna for short.
Bradford began as a lumber camp. Rough, brawny, hard-fisted, sternly honest men made up the pioneer population. They cut the timber from the slanting hill- sides, sawed it into lumber and rafted it down the river to Pittsburg and other cities. By the time the forests failed, a thriving and busy village had sprung into existence. This village, although a natural center of population, would have lan- guished in the rut of village life had it not been for the oil discoveries in the early seventies. For years previous, oil operators and prospectors with primitive appar- atus and profound ignorance, had prodded experimentally in the ground in and about Bradford. When at last the drill cut through the earth crust that separated the subterranean ocean of oil from the surface, there came a wild, mad rush of fortune seekers. These men built Bradford.
Lumbering lent the first impetus to the growth of Bradford, Oil operations took it up and carried it along. The manufacturer followed the oil producer, and in this way a little lumber camp was, in a few short years, changed to a busy, bustling city. To describe in brief, bare outline the details of that transformation, is the purpose of the sketch which follows :
7
THE PIONEER PERIOD.
T
CHAPTER I.
HE early history of Bradford is tinged with that flavor of romance that clings to all accounts of the privations of the pioneer days. Tales of the trials of the early settlers in their struggles to subdue savage nature, traditions of the time when Bradford was but Burough buried in the midst of an immense pine forest, with here and there a muddy trail to mark the limits of the town, a time when the ring of the lumberman's axe and the howl of the wolf were the only sounds to break the solitude, when log roads and skidways and chutes claimed the attention of the hard-working inhabitants, and derricks, and pipe lines, and refineries, were unknown, these things constitute a series of chapters in the growth and development of this capital of oildom that serve amply to illustrate the old adage that truth is stranger than fiction.
The beginning of the building of Bradford Township was in 1823 or there- abouts. That year Dr. William M. Bennett accompanied by several others came to this region. Beer's history of McKean county enumerates as early settlers with Mr. Bennett, the Pikes, Farrs, Scotts, Fosters, Beardsleys, Harts, Dolloffs, and Fishers, and says the Hart family of fourteen members settled on the site of this township in about 1827 remaining there for years, welcoming new comers and hailing new settlers. They saw settlers build up north of them and south of them at DeGolier, but their chosen spot was merely a mark in the forest.
Imagination may perhaps picture to the mind the present site of Brad- ford as these hardy pioneers beheld it in those early days. Lofty hills of almost mountainous proportions, covered with a dense growth of timber, rolled up against the horizon line in irregular outline as far as the eye could reach. The valley at the base of these hills, itself thickly studded with the stately pine, was beautified by pretty sparkling streams which converging at this point wound a sinuous course through the forest green on their way to the distant river. Trees, lofty and beautiful, grew to the waters edge, and their wide spreading boughs meeting in magnificent archways overhead, waved and rustled to the motion of the breeze, whispering perhaps to these pioneers alluring prophesies of future greatness, prophesies which in the fullness of time were destined to become realities.
So much for the beginning. It is not recorded anywhere that these settlers made any particular effort to build a village and it was not until 1837 that the people came to stay. The year previous, 1836, the United States Land Company was organized in Boston for the purpose of purchasing and
8
developing the rich resources of western Pennsylvania. This company pur- chased 160,000 acres of land, paying for the same the ridiculously low price of six and one- fourth cents per acre, and in 1837 Col. Levitt C. Little was sent to this wilderness to act as the company's agent. Accompanied by his wife and two step sons, P. L. Webster, seven years old, and C. D. Webster, nine years old, Col. Little started on his journey. At Olean he embarked on the river and drifted down as far as the mouth of the Tunungwant Creek, at which point he remained from September to December. Again embarking
BRADFORD IN 1847, THEN CALLED LITTLETON.
John Willoughby's House. L C Little's House.
R. W. Davis's House.
Birdsall's House. Dr. Old's House. P. Ackley's House.
Robt. Old's House.
in his little canoes he continued his journey and soon reached the present site of Bradford where he determined to locate permanently. As previously stated, this region was at that time an almost unbroken wilderness and the only evidence of civilization to be found was a little one-story log house which Mr. Bennett had built years before. This little hut, however, was better than none; it at least would afford shelter, and Col. Little lost no time in moving in, after enlarging it sufficient to accommodate the family.
The following summer Col. Little decided to build a more commodious house and he accordingly erected the two-story frame dwelling which was subsequently known as the Bradford house. Other buildings followed. The second house was erected on what is now known as Mechanic street by John
9
Willoughby in 1839. Dr. E. C. Olds, who combined with his professional practice the avocations of shoemaker and tanner, also built a house on Mechanic street and George Burtsell, another mechanic built a house on the same street about the same time. It was from this that Mechanic street derived its name.
All the old citizens who remember Col. Little agree that he was an ener- getic, wide-awake gentleman who in these days would in common parlance be termed a "hustler." That he saw with prophetic vision the importance of the locality as a possible future center of population, and realized its present value as a lumber center is evident from the fact that he located here and made the spot the base for future operations. In 1838 a man named Leech came to the place and assisted the Colonel in surveying and laying out the town
COL. LEVITT C. LITTLE
MRS. COL. L. C. LITTLE.
which was appropriately named Littleton. Another surveyor named Sam Ames came to this section about the same time and he too engaged in mapping out this wild country. Soon the work became too arduous for one, and in 1840 a man named Little, a cousin of the colonel was also engaged.
Surveyor Ames it is said brought the first wagon into this section, driving from Smethport with a span of horses. Another early arrival was one Jim Jacobs, a full blooded Seneca Indian, who came from Red House to settle in the Tuna valley. He is said to have been above the average in intelligence and professing Christianity, he earned the respect and good will of all his neighbors. Another well known character was "Duty" White, who resided in this section about the same time.
Lumbering was of course the chief occupation of those days, John J. McLaurin in his entertaining "Sketches in Crude Oil," says "The vast forests were divided into huge blocks such as the Bingham, Borden, Clark & Babcock,
10
Kingsbury and Quintuple tracts. Lum- ber was rafted to distant points and thousands of hardy woodmen shan- tied in rough huts each winter. They beguiled the long evenings singing coarse songs, playing cards, imbibing the vintage of Kentucky or New Eng- land from a black jug, and telling stories so ribald the mules drooped their ears to hide their blushes. But they were open hearted, sternly honest, sticklers for fair play, hard working and admirable forerunners of the ap- proaching civilization. To the sturdy blows of the rugged chopper and raftsman all classes are indebted for fuel, shelter and innumerable comforts. Like the rafts they steered to Pittsburg and the wild beasts they hunted, most of these brave fellows have drifted away never to return."
"DUTY" WHITE.
These few sentences are an admirable summary of conditions that existed in those days. Hon. Loyal Ward who came here in the early days, and has since been an honored citizen, furnishes memoranda for publication in this work which affords further insight into the characteristics of these pioneers.
JIM JACOBS.
Mr. Ward writes :
I came to Bradford 50 years ago and was engaged to teach the Kendall Creek or Tarport school, now the sixth ward of Bradford. Tarport was then the business center of the Tuna Valley, which contained three general furnish- ing stores, one grocery and one hotel, all in full blast and doing a flourishing business. The first, second, third, fourth and fifth wards of Bradford were then called Littleton, named after Col. L. C. Little the United States Land Company's agent here. Conrtary to my expectations I found here a very progressive, intelligent and wealthy people, people accustomed to the refinements of society. Among some of the most prominent men I might name John F. Melvin, a lumberman and merchant. Mr. Melvin was an educated Christian gentleman, belong- ing to the M. E. church and for some time postmaster at Kendall's Creek.
11
JOHN F. MELVIN.
One of the first settlers. Appointed the first Postmaster in the Valley. Held position for 25 years.
and pluck. At State Line were Leech and John- son, lumbermen, William H. Beardsley and Messrs. Crook, Harris and others, all sturdy and intelligent men. I found my environ- ment better than before. Want was not known in this valley. The lumbering busi- ness gave employment with good wages to the laborers and they lived well. Money was plentiful. Churches and schools were well sus- tained. There were fifteen saw mills cutting lumber for the Allegany and Ohio river markets. Besides these, there were the square timber and shingle enter- prises.
These hills were a wav ing mass of pine beautiful to behold. The lofty tree tops towered high above the other timber and werc almost always in motion.
There was also Sabinas Walker, Judge Holmes, a Mr. Porter, Har- vey D. Hicks, W. R. Fisher, Zera Fisher, Enos Parsons and J. S. Sew- ard, all engaged in the mercantile or lumbering business, residing at Ken- dall or Tarport.
At Littleton were Col. Little, agent, D. Kingsbury, successor to the United States Land Company, E. C. Olds, P. L. and C. D. Webster, S. Porter, Congregational minister, Rev. Prosser, Baptist minister, and A. K. Johnson, all talented and in- fluential men. At DeGolier were Nathan DeGolier, lumberman and miller, M. and R. Inglesby and others, thrifty business men. At Foster Brook were Samuel Bradley, a wealthy lumbernian, H. W. Barr, lumberman, L. S. Foster, father of Hon. C. H. Foster, deceased, all men of character
CAPT. WILLIAM FISHER.
12
In the spring the men were busy rafting and running out of the Tuna the vast amount of lumber cut during the winter. It took an army of men to handle it. Hotels along the creek were few and far between, and these few were crowded by the lumbermen who frequently spent the night in hilarity.
I recollect one occasion when a large crowd stopped at the Rice hotel at Ervine mills below Limestone, and there being no place to sleep, they concluded to run the hotel on their own account. Accordingly they seized the landlord and securely fastening him in a rear room, took possession of the house. A barrel of whiskey was rolled out, set up on a counter and one of the party installed as barkeeper. Well neither pen nor tongue can adequately describe the scene that ensued, all in good cheer, no one angry or in fighting mood.
The following morning the men liberated their prisoner and offered to pay in full for all the damage done, but the landlord said nix. Sheriffs and constables were in demand. Rest assured those men never engaged in the
ARTHUR BUCHANAN.
HANK B. DOLLOFF.
First white person born in the Valley.
hotel business again and they never entertained any hard feelings towards the landlord who ultimately got a good price for the night's frolic.
On another occasion after the lumber was coupled up at the mouth of the creek ready to start down the river, some of the raftsmen, expressing the opinion that it was a serious matter to start on such a voyage, suggested that none but baptized hands be taken. This suggestion meeting with the approval of the wilder element, they proceeded to ordain two or three ministers to baptize the balance of the hands as they came down to the rafts to start. A large strong fellow by the name of Col. C C Melvin, and one other giant got their commission and they at once proceeded to take the raftsmen one by one to the edge of the raft and without allowing them time for repentance or forgiveness of sins, plunged them into the river. If Joseph McClure had been there he too would have submitted to that part of Christianity."
From these reminiscences a fairly accurate idea of the life of the early settlers may be obtained. Hardy, industrious, self reliant, they engaged
13
BRADFORD : 1876
fearlessly in the task of conquering the wilderness, and they won. Many of the luxuries and refinements of civilization were perhaps lacking. but all men were equal here and the healthy open air life in the forest was not so unpleasant as many might imagine. All day long the forest echoed to the sound of the axe and the crash of the falling pines. The logs were cut into suitable lengths and rolled on skidways to wait for winter, when they were hauled to the creek, there to await the opening of spring, when the rafting operations begun.
The little settlement grew rapidly. Four houses had been built in 1839. In 1840 Sands Niles built a house on Main street on the spot where the present opera house now stands. This was the first house to be erected on Main street. The first store was built by John F. Melvin and A. K. Johnson in 1853. This building was also located on the corner of Main and Congress streets, and was called the "Old Red Store" by reason of the fact that it was painted red, the paint being manufactured from red clay dug from the surrounding hills, ground to powder in the old grist mill and then mixed with oil to give it the proper consistency. This quaint old building is still standing on Congress street, an interesting landmark of the pioneer period.
Prior to this, however, a saw mill had been built on Mechanic street just above the bridge and a grist mill was also built to bridge that awful chasm between high priced flour and low priced wheat. Rude roads were cut through the clearing. A bridge was built across the Tuna and the little settlement began to assume the airs and importance of a real village.
In 1850 the United States Land Company disposed of its real estate holdings to Daniel Kingsbury. The transaction involved the transfer of about 50,000 acres. The deed bears date of November 20, 1850. Col. Little retained his position as agent up to the date of his death in 1854. That year the name of the settlement was changed from Littleton to Bradford
Just why this change was made is a question that no one seems able to answer. The Bradford Post, issued in 1896, in an interesting historical sketch has this to say on the subject. "The name of Bradford had been prominent in the affairs of Pennsylvania since the revolution. President Washington had appointed William Bradford, the first printer in Penr syl- vania, to various responsible positions, and the name of Ontario county in 1812 had been changed to Bradford county in his honor. In 1828 that district, including warrant 3906 and site of the future village was designated Bradford. It is said that Daniel Kingsbury, jealous of the honor bestowed upon Col. Little was the person who caused the appellation to be changed. Another story is that a project had been set on foot to build a railroad from Buffalo to Pittsburg over nearly if not the same course of the present Buffalo, Rochester and Pittsburg system, which had been given the title of the Buffalo, Bradford and Pittsburg Railroad, and that the wide attention that the scheme had received. However this may be, the name of Littleton was permuted for Bradford and when the Miner began publication in 1858, it had become well known as such."
15
8281
SHOWING GROWTH IN TWO YEARS.
16
CHAPTER II.
IGRESSING for a moment it may perhaps be pertinent to refer more specifically to some of the early settlers to whose industry and thrift was due the success of the settlement. As early as 1826 a party located in the Tuna Valley at State Line. In that party were William Barnes, William Lawrence, Aaron Kellogg, Prosper Moore, Isaac Farr and John F. Melvin. Mr. Melvin engaged in the lumber and mercantile business and was the first postmaster in the valley, a position which he held for 25 years.
L. S. Foster and family came to the valley in February, 1827, and took up a tract of land on Foster Brook, which has since become known as Foster Farm. Mr. Foster resided here until the time of his death in 1882 at the ripe age of 90 years. One of his children, Hon. C. H. Foster was at the time of his arrival in the valley a babe in arms.
Among others who came to the valley shortly after were Thomas Dolloff, Andrew L. Buchanan, Captain William Fisher, Henry Webb, Joshua Barron, Gahlon Meddock, Squire Meddock, Ambrose Gillman, Jacob Millard, Ambrose Corey, Jacob Stull, William Bennett, Barnabas Pike, Martin Burney and George Brookmire.
The first white child born in the valley was Henry Bradford Dolloff. This was in 1828. The first wedding in the settlement occurred on July 12, of the same year, on which occasion John F. Melvin was married to Miss Lucretia Farr, daughter of Isaac Farr. The children of this marriage now living are C. C. and Thomas J. Melvin, Mrs. C. H. Foster and Mrs. Loyal Ward.
The Beardsley farm at State Line was settled in 1830 by John Beardsley and later Parkhurst Colegrove and family moved into the valley, locating near the Erie station at Tarport or East Bradford.
In the meantime settlers began to come to the east branch of the Tuna. The first to arrive were the DeGoliers who came from Steuben County, N. Y. The party consisted of Abel, Samuel, James and Nathan DeGolier and Samuel Hotchkiss, brother-in-law of the last named. Hotchkiss located north of Lewis Run. Samuel DeGolier located at Toad Hollow and Nathan established himself at DeGolier. Each of these gentlemen built a log cabin and then started on foot for Prattsburg, Steuben county, for their families, eventually returning safely, although a portion of the route lay through a trackless forest, the only indication of the direction being the "blaze" marks on the trees.
Philo Ackley, then a boy nine years old accompanied the DeGoliers on their return trip, and his experience in the lonely forest will remain fresh in his memory as long as life lasts He was employed by Nathan DeGolier in the grist mill erected in 1832 and this mill with its primitive machinery ground
17
the grain brought there by the farmers for many miles around. The stones used in the mill are now in the possession of Sylvester DeGolier of Toad Hollow.
Abel DeGolier did not re- main in the valley very long. He was a preacher, carpenter and joiner and removing to Smethport died in 1833, aged 31 years. His son, Albert De- Golier, was then a child two years old, and it was arranged that he should live with Wal- ter Edson in the Kendall Creek Valley. He made the trip on horseback in the dead of win- ter, arriving safe and sound.
The settlers in this section at that time were Warren Ed- son, Philetus Corwin, Andrew P. L. WEBSTER. Brown, Absalom Hutchinson, George Smith, John Whipple, Orson Hogle, Samuel Whipple and Zadok Reynolds.
These settlements were of course separate and distinct from Bradford and when Col. Little came seven years later he found considerable rivalry between the two places as to which should be chosen as the site for his real estate operations. Apparently he was not favorably impressed with the claims of either, and subsequent events justified his choice. The original map made by Surveyor Leech in 1838 was two years later materially modified by C. D. Webster, who can claim the credit of preparing the first accurate map of the village.
Quoting from the Post again : "At that time the principal highways were Mechanic street and the Corydon road. The former covered the same course it does now from School street to Tib- betts avenue, where it swerved to the east instead of passing over the hills as it does now. Corydon road did not extend further than its intersec-
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.