USA > Pennsylvania > A pioneer outline history of northwestern Pennsylvania > Part 47
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" The names of the men were as follows: William Young, Sr., Philip Clover, Sr., John Love, James Potter, John Roll, Sr., James McFadden, John C. Corbet, Samuel Wilson, Sr., William Smith, and Philip Clover, Jr. Samuel Wilson returned to Centre County to spend the winter, but death removed him. In the following spring of 1802 his widow and her five sons returned,-namely, Robert, John, William, Samuel, and David. Those who did not take their families along in 1801 built their cabins, cleared some land, put in some wheat, raised potatoes and turnips, put them in their cabins and covered them with earth for safe-keeping for the next summer's use, and when they got all their work done, in the fall they returned to
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their families in Centre and Mifflin Counties. In the spring of 1802 those, with some others, who also came at an early date, James Laughlin and Frederick Miles, built a saw-mill in 1804, at or near the mouth of Pine Creek, and they were the first to run timber to Pittsburg from what is now Clarion County.
" The food and raiment of the first settlers made a near approach to that of John the Baptist in the wilderness. Instead of locusts they had wild turkey, deer, and bear meat, and their raiment consisted of home- spun woollen, linen, or tow cloth, the wool and flax being all prepared for weaving by hand, there being no carding-machines in the county for many years after its first settlement; then women carded by hand. When woollen cloth was wanted for men's wear, the process of fulling was as follows: The required quantity of flannel was laid upon the bare floor, and a quantity of soap and water thrown over it; then a number of men seated upon stools would take hold of a rope tied in a circle and begin to kick the flannel with their bare feet. When it was supposed to be fulled sufficiently, the men were released from their task, which was a tiresome one, yet a mirth provoking one, too, for, if it were possible, one or so must come from his seat, to be landed in the midst of the heap of flannel and soapsuds, much to the merriment of the more fortunate ones. Flax was prepared by drying over a fire, then breaking, scutching, and hackling before being ready to spin. The linen and tow cloth supplied the place of muslin and calico of the present day. That which was for dress goods was made striped, either by color or blue through the white, which was considered a nice summer suit, when made into what was called a short gown and petticoat, which matched very well with the calfskin slippers of that day. The nearest store was at Kittanning, thirty-five miles distant, and calico was fifty cents per yard, and the road but a pathway through the woods.
" In those days men appeared at church in linen shirts with collars four inches wide turned down over the shoulders, linen vest: no coat in summer. Some wore cowhide shoes, others moccasins of buckskin, others again with their feet bare. In winter, men wore deerskin pantaloons and a long loose robe called a hunting-shirt, bound round the body with a leathern girdle, and some a flannel warmus, which was a short kind of a coat. the women wearing flannel almost exclusively in the winter.
" During the first two years after the first settlement the people had to pack their flour upon horseback from Centre. Westmoreland, and Indiana Counties ; also their iron and salt, which was at ten dollars per barrel: iron fifteen cents per pound. Coffee and tea were but little used, tea being four dol- lars per pound, coffee seventy-five cents. Those articles were considered great luxuries, both from the high price at which they came, and the difficulties attending their transportation through the woods, following the Indian trail. As to vegetables and animal food, there was no scarcity, as every one had
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gardens and the forest abounded with wild game, and then there were some expert huntsmen that kept the settlement supplied with meat. Those who were not a sure shot themselves would go and work for the hunter while he would go out and supply his less fortunate neighbor. Many, however, got along badly, some having nothing but potatoes and salt for substantials. I knew one hunter who killed one hundred and fifty deer and twenty bears in the first two years of the settlement, besides any amount of small game. When people began to need barns and larger houses, one would start out and invite the whole country for miles around, often going ten or twelve miles, and then it often took two or three days to raise a log barn, using horses to help to get up the logs."
Judge Peter Clover says,-
" The first white man who settled within the limits of Clarion County was Captain Samuel Brady, who settled on the land upon which East Brady now stands, about the close of the Revolutionary War, and remained long enough to obtain a settlement right.
" Captain Brady was born on the Susquehanna, near Northumberland, and his father and mother were both killed by the Indians. He swore eternal vengeance against the whole savage tribe, and became during the Revolu- tionary War a noted Indian hunter and scout, and conducted many small expeditions through Western Pennsylvania and Ohio against the Indians for General Broadhead, who was the commander of Fort Pitt. A description of these will not be of interest in this sketch, except what relates to Clarion County.
" The Indians had become very troublesome along the Allegheny River, and had committed many depredations on the lower settlements. General Broadhead started with a considerable force up the river after them. Cap- tain Brady, who was in advance with a small body of scouts, discovered the Indians on the flat where East Brady and Mr. Cunningham's farm now are, and, with the eye of a commander of no small merit, he took in the situation in a moment. He, being familiar with the locality, concluded the Indians would make for the narrow pass where the steep hill puts in between East Brady and Catfish. So, without giving them any notice of his presence, he stationed himself and his men along the rocky cliff. The Indians, as soon as the main army approached, retreated up the river with intent to gain the narrow pass, which a small force could easily defend against a large one. But when they arrived there they found Captain Brady and his men in this impregnable position, who opened fire upon them, and with the main army in their rear escape seemed impossible; and few did escape. Some attempted to cross the river where the water is always dead, and nearly the whole party were killed or taken prisoners.
" Captain Brady had only a cabin on this land, and followed hunting game and Indians after the war closed. He was indicted in Pittsburg for
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killing an Indian, and gave the Brady's Bend tract of land to Judge Ross, who was an attorney in Pittsburg at that time, for defending him, and who succeeded in having him acquitted. Judge Ross did obtain the title to this land, but the recital in the deeds on record do not show how or from whom he received his title.
" During the war of 1812 Captain Neely raised a company of volunteer minute men for the protection of the harbor of Erie. He was the captain. James Thompson first lieutenant, and Nathaniel Lang second lieutenant. They held themselves in readiness to march at any moment, and were under command of General Meade. In 1814 they were ordered out just in harvest time. In a few hours they were on their march to Lake Erie, leaving the harvest, then just ripe, to the care of the women and children, taking with them their provisions and bedding not furnished by the government, but by themselves. This company was composed of the old settlers I have named. and many others. There were, during that war, many who went with General Robert Orr (then major) in his memorable campaign to Fort Meigs. Among these may be mentioned Colonel John Sloan, the noted Indian fighter. The second settler was Absalom Travis, about 1792.
" The first settlements on Red Bank Creek were made in 1801-2-3-5, by Archibald McKelip, Henry Nulf, Jacob Hetrick, John Shafer, John Mohney. Jacob Miller, the Doverspike family, Moses Kirkpatrick, William Latimer. John Ardery, John Wilkins, John Washy, and Calvin McNutt. Some of the above-named came from Westmoreland County, some from Lehigh County.
" The first child that was born in the county was Mary Guthrie, and the second was Thomas Young.
" The first church that was organized was the Presbyterian. Its first regular pastor was the Rev. Robert McGarrah. When he first began to preach I do not know, but it must have been as early as 1804. He was ordained in the year 1806, at Thomas Brown's, near Reidsburg. The pioneer Presbyterian Churches were Licking and New Rehoboth, both organ- ized in 1802 by Rev. John McPherrin.
" The first store was kept where Rimersburg now stands, by a good old man by the name of James Pinks, in 1812. People from a great distance went there to make their purchases.
" At the breaking out of the war of 1812 there was a draft made in Clarion County, and a number of our neighbors were drafted into the army. It was a sad day for all. I well remember, as a boy, the morning they started. They were all to meet at my father's, and when they were all ready to go they discharged their guns in a tree-top that stood near by, and amid many tears they marched away. The army was gathered along the lakes and at the different forts, this being after Hull's surrender. The names of those that were drafted were Captain John Guthrie. Alexander and Thomas
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Guthrie, William Maffett, Robert Allison, John, James, and Joshua Rea, John Wilson, Jacob Fiscus, Hugh Reid, Henry Goheen. James Guthrie went as a substitute for William Maffett and Hugh Reid; Captain Guthrie was discharged at Pittsburg, Captain Wallace taking command. Out of all who went, none were lost; they all returned.
" In 1840 the townships comprising Clarion County, and the population of each, although reported in the census returns of the county to which they had formerly belonged, were as follows :
" Townships from Armstrong County: Clarion, 2239; Madison, 1305; Monroe, 1151 : Perry, 1122; Redbank. 3070; Toby, 1829.
" Townships from Venango County: Beaver, 1611; Elk, 585; Farm- ington, 799: Paint. 491 : Richland, 1388.
" Total population. 15.590.
E.C. HALL.
Turning a boat
" In the forties the lumber and boat-building business was very flourish- ing in this county.
" The iron business was commenced here about 1830. Shippen, Black, Hamilton, Humes, and Judge Myers were the pioneers.
" At one time twenty-seven or twenty-eight furnaces were in full opera- tion, making nearly if not entirely forty thousand tons of iron each year. It was then called the iron county. These furnaces were all run with charcoal, and made a superior quality of metal; but all have ceased operations and many have disappeared, so that no vestige of them remains except large piles of cinders that centuries will hardly obliterate.
"We find traces of the example of the Indian in the first white men. The first settlers above Titusville, on Oil Creek, in 1809, took their bags of
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grain on their backs, walked to Erie, fifty-three miles, to the mill, and brought home their flour in the same way. The lumbermen at Warren and on the Brokenstraw, as related in the address of Judge Johnson to the old settlers of Warren County, rafted their lumber to New Orleans, and walked home."
The pioneer post-office was in 1818, at the house of James McGonagle, two miles east of Strattonville. This was a horseback route: Josiah Cope- ley, carrier. The route was from Indiana once a week via Greensburg. Freeport, Roseburg, Lawrenceburg (Parker), to Butler; thence back via Kittanning to Indiana. There were mail routes through, but no post-office in the county before this one. In 1830 venison hams sold for one and a half cents a pound.
The pioneer grist-mill was built in 1803, on Catfish Run, by Jonathan Mortimer. The pioneer road was the old State Road. (See chapter on that subject, page 181.) It crossed the Clarion in Mill Creek Township. Robert Henry, John Allison, and Thomas Guthrie were the contractors for the Clarion portion of the road.
On February 23, 1829, the pioneer steamboat ascended the Allegheny to the mouth of the Clarion. In 1830, steamers began to make regular trips.
CHAPTER XXVIII
CAMERON COUNTY-FORMATION OF COUNTY-LOCATION OF COUNTY SEAT- COURTS-OFFICERS-TRAILS AND ROADS-SETTLERS-TRANSPORTATION - WHISKEY-ANIMALS-JOHN BROOKS-SCHOOLS AND CHURCHES-NEWS- PAPERS-THE CLAFFLIN GIRLS-DESPERADOES-STORE -TOWNSHIPS - INDIAN ATROCITIES
CAMERON COUNTY, named for the Hon. Simon Cameron, was organized by act of Assembly, March 29, 1860, from parts of Clinton, Elk, Mckean, and Potter Counties. It contains three hundred and eight-one square miles, two hundred and forty-three thousand eight hundred and forty acres, and is within the purchase of October 23, 1784, known as the New Purchase. Its history is not germane to this book, but I will give some reminiscences of the pioneer settlers, being mostly writings of John Brooks and taken from the county history.
The same Indians were here in great numbers that inhabited the north- west purchase, and countless thousands of rattle- and other snakes. If the man "who eats them alive" had been one of the pioneers, he soon would have weighed four hundred pounds.
The celebrated battle of Peter Groves with the Indians took place at the mouth of a creek called Groves Run, just near the first fork of the Sinnemahoning. It occurred long before the whites were there. John Rohrer was the pioneer surveyor in the county in 1786. Sinnemahoning was surveyed in 1805. The pioneer preaching in the county was by a circuit rider in 1810, at Sinnemahoning.
The pioneer settlement was at second fork, now called Driftwood. In 1804 John Jordan, a mighty hunter, settled there. In 1808, William Nanny settled a short distance up the Bennett's branch. The pioneers jocularly called him " Billy Nanny." Other settlers located in this vicinity. In 1810 John Earl, Sr., was the pioneer to settle on the site of what is now Emporium.
" The immigrants made their entrances by the Indian paths on foot or on horseback, or by canoes or Indian boats propelled against the current by setting poles. These boats or canoes were manned by a bowman and a steersman, who, by placing their poles with steel-pointed sockets upon the bottom of the stream, threw their weight upon the poles thus placed, and by frequent and repeated processes and propulsions (guiding the boat at the same time) often made fifteen to twenty-five miles a day against the current
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with a cargo of three-quarters to one ton weight in their boats. On some occasions, in case of low water in the streams, the boat's crew would be com- pelled to remove the gravel and fragments of rock from the line of their course, and wade for miles at a time, carrying and dragging their boats forward by their almost superhuman strength; such frequent exercises developed an unusually vigorous muscle, and it would seem fabulous to relate the extraordinary feats frequently performed by these athletics of pioneer life."
" The early settlers were a hardy, active, energetic, go-a-head class of people, hailing mostly from eastern and middle Pennsylvania, from the State of New Jersey, and from the New England States. As a class they were rude, yet honest in their dealings; though boorish, they were hospitable and generous. The first settlers in America brought with them the traditions of Europe, and the fearful condemnations for witchcraft began at Salem. in 1692. Three children of Rev. Dr. Parris complained of being tortured by witches. The excitement soon spread, and others, both adults and chil- dren, complained of being bewitched, and accused those against whom they held some pique. Rev. Cotton Mather, Rev. Mr. Noyes, of Salem, the president of Harvard College, and many others encouraged arrests, as the result of which twenty persons, suspected of witchcraft, were executed in one year, while many others were banished. Some of the pioneers of this county, in order to protect themselves from witchery, would burn hen's feathers, and assafœtida, for incense, and shoot silver slugs at rudely drawn portraits of those who were suspected of witchcraft. A kind of lunacy also prevailed to some extent ; potatoes and other vegetables were planted in the moon, or rather when the horns of the moon indicated the proper time. Houses were roofed when the horns of the moon were down, so that the shingles would not cap and draw the nails; fences were laid when the horns of the moon were up, that the rails might not sink into the ground, and the medicinal wants of these primitive people were not administered to in any degree in accordance with the practice of more modern times."
" The early settlers were for a long time compelled to bring all their supplies from Big Island in canoes. Lock Haven did not then exist. Three men named Moran, Hugh Penny, and McKnight kept store at 'Big Island,' who used to furnish the settlers with their supplies and take their timber- rafts as pay. The nearest store in 1820 was six miles above Clearfield town, and kept by John Irvin. Notwithstanding, the store at Big Island, though more remote, was for most purposes most convenient to trade with. Being along the river, it could be reached with the canoes, and besides, for the same reason, it was easier to convey the timber in exchange."
" A considerable amount of whiskey was consumed, and a canoe was not considered properly laden unless at least one barrel of the stimulant was among the stores. The trip up was generally made lively by its cheering
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influence. The article was then, as now, potent in its influence over the hearts of men. He who had a bottle of whiskey in his hands and a barrel in his canoe possessed the open sesame to every heart and every house. They were also compelled to convey their grain in the same manner down the river to Linden, near Williamsport, to be ground, and then pole it back again to their residences, nearly one hundred miles. Some used hand-mills for their corn, and in time small grist-mills were established at various places in the county. The first grist-mill erected within the limits of the county was located near the mouth of Clear Creek, about 1811. It had no bolt attached to it. The same year Colonel Chadwick built his saw- and grist-mill at the mouth of North Creek. This had a good bolt attached, and is said to have made good flour."
"Early in the 'thirties' William Lewis, of Shippen, tracked a wolf to his rocky den, and then called on Ben. Freeman to assist in the capture. The latter was left at the mouth of the cave to shoot the animal, while Lewis entered to hunt him out. After a long creep through the darkness, Lewis saw the glaring eyes of the animal, but on went the hunter, until the scared wolf jumped past him, only to be shot by Freeman. Lewis, proceed- ing farther, caught two whelps, and carried them home."
"In 1832, when the salt-works were running on Portage Creek, a strong lumberman named Magee went to the deer lick, a mile from the works, to watch for deer. Looking from his blind in the early evening, he saw two gleaming eyes among the lower branches of a tree not far away. Thinking it was a wild cat, he took a steady aim, fired, and in an instant he saw the body of a huge panther fall to earth. Without halting, he fled to the works. Returning with help next morning, the men found the panther dead, the largest ever known in this section of Pennsylvania. . . . George Parker, who resides three miles above Sizer's Springs, killed three thousand deer, three hundred elks, ten panthers, one hundred and fifty black bears, and other game, with a gun which he purchased in 1839. This was exclusive of his heavy hunting here in earlier years." He is now dead.
John Brooks, speaking of pioneers, says,-
" Occupying, as they did, the remote outskirts of civilization, they were subjected to many privations incident to this rugged section of country. Several of these early immigrants had done efficient service in the Revolu- tionary War and in the war of 1812. Almost all of the vocations of the industrial classes were represented, and all could aid in the work of extem- porizing a cabin for the accommodation of the recent immigrant. Among these early pioneers there were but few who professed Christianity, prac- tically ; most of them, however, held some theory of religion, mostly Baptist or Presbyterian in their views. Profanity was the common spice of con- versation, and God was, if ' not in all their thoughts,' in all their mouths, and invoked in execrations and imprecations more frequently than by benedictions.
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The use of whiskey was general ; used by clergymen and at funerals, and upon all occasions; some more recent immigrants kept no cow, but always kept whiskey in their houses, alleging that a barrel of whiskey was of more value in a family than a cow."
Some of the descendants of the early settlers yet have a remarkable prescience, and they prognosticate seasons and storms with great assurance. Their prevision enables them to anticipate all the changes of the weather, and they are remarkable for their generosity, essaying upon every opportunity to gratuitously advise all who may hear their converse of the future approach- ing vicissitudes, and mutations, that so much concern the lunatics. Some consult the milt or spleen of the hog, that organ situate in the left hypochon- drium, and which was supposed by the ancients to be the seat of anger and melancholy; and from this organ they augur the severity of the approaching winter. Some would quench their fires to prevent the generation of salamanders. The shrunken sinews in the shoulder of a horse were cured by placing some of the hair in auger-holes, in some peculiar places. at some pecular lunation. Incised wounds also were more readily healed by anointing the instrument that made the wound. Blood was stayed, pain mitigated, and bots in horses cured by pow-wowing or reciting some cabal- istic phrase.
J. J. Chadwick, in his sketch of the Methodist Church, states: "About 1806 Joseph Ellicott opened a road from Dunstown, opposite Big Island. on the Susquehanna, to Ellicottville, New York. Along its course, through the valley of the Sinnemahoning, twenty or thirty families settled previous to the general survey of the region, and, as hunting was the general amuse- ment, every adult male had a rifle and every family a supply of hounds."
John Brooks was the pioneer historian in the county. The pioneer school was taught in the summer of 1817 by Miss Eliza Dodge, in a barn at the mouth of North Creek. The pioneer physician to practise within the county was Dr. Kincaid, father of the great Baptist missionary in India. Eugenio Kincaid. An amusing incident occurred in the doctor's practice .- viz .: He was treating a patient at the old Dent place on Bennett's Branch. Leaving his pill-bags near the creek while he went into the house, a cow ate the pill-bags and all their contents, and when the doctor returned for them, the cow was quietly chewing her cud. I suppose the patient recovered. I don't know about the cow.
Some time about 1830 "Buck" Clafflin settled at Sinnemahoning and started a store. It was here that Victoria (Mrs. Woodhull) and Tennie C. Claflin were born, and ran barefoot until from three to five years old. The Shafer house was erected on the Clafflins' old home.
The pioneer election of county officers was held October 11. 1860. The pioneer sessions of court had to be held in a frame school-house. The Philadelphia Land Company had, however, already become alive to the
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advantages of the situation, and this corporation donated five thousand dollars toward a court-house, on condition that it should be located on lands owned by them, about a quarter of a mile west of the rising village. The situation suggested was eminently desirable, being a sightly knoll; and, as individual enterprise furnished the remainder of the necessary funds, the pioneer court-house required no levy of taxes. In December, 1860, a news- paper, called The Citizen, opened a journalistic career, although there was at the time only twenty-seven buildings and not more than one hundred and ten inhabitants in the village, which was incorporated as a borough in 1864. Previous to incorporation it was known as Shippen, being a part of Shippen Township. But a century previous, a shrewd reasoner, that cities are the result of geographical situation, had cut the name " Emporium" on the bark of a tree when its site was naught but a savage wilderness, and this name was put in the act of incorporation as a borough, with the confident expec- tation that the conceptive possibility would swiftly crystalize.
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