USA > Pennsylvania > A pioneer outline history of northwestern Pennsylvania > Part 60
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" These rafts, like immense floating islands, form at once the vehicle and the temporary residence of several families on their way down the river. Old and young, from the gray-haired pioneer of sixty down to the boy of twelve years, are interested in their departure, and compose the crews to navigate them. There is not probably a boy of twelve years old living on any stream in Warren County who has not made his voyage to Cincinnati, perhaps to ' Orleans.'
"It is a cheering sight to see the bright broad raft floating slowly down the picturesque passes of the Allegheny, with its little shanties, and busy population ; some lifting the long heavy oars, some cooking at the great fire. some eating their bacon from a broad clean shingle .- superior to French porcelain,-some lounging in the sun, and some practising their coarse wit upon the gazers from the shore, and making the wild hills echo with their shouts. The unsettled habits induced by these semiannual voyages are far from being congenial to the agricultural interests of the county. Among those who have become distinguished in the lumber business is Guy C. Irwin, Esq .. who resides on the Conewango, a short distance below Pine Grove. He is a complete Napoleon in the lumber business. His name, person, and char- acter, are known in every large town from Olean to New Orleans. He owns. or has owned, more pine lands and saw-mills, and ' run' more lumber, than any man on the waters of the Allegheny. While the business was driven to its full extent in 1836-38, he frequently sent to market twenty millions of fest
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of boards in a season. The shore for a mile or two above Pittsburg is fre- quently lined with his rafts waiting a rise of the waters. Mr. Irvin came out from the West Branch of the Susquehanna about the year 1817, with little other capital than a strong, comprehensive mind, and an untiring spirit of enterprise.
" The failure of the Lumberman's Bank at Warren, three or four years since, was fraught with disaster to the middle and poorer classes of citizens of Warren County. The history of this bank, could its material be gathered at this day, would be an excellent beacon for similar institutions. By means of the great extent of country throughout which the lumber trade was prose- cuted, its bills were widely circulated, as well at home as at Pittsburg, Cin- cinnati, and farther down. The short and prompt loans originally made, became long ones, and eventually permanent; the borrowers were few, and heavy dealers and land speculators ; they soon had the bank in their power ; the securities assumed the form of pine lands, and unsalable property, the specie was exhausted, the bank failed, with a circulation in the hands of the needy, who sold at a heavy discount to the large borrowers, who thus paid their debts at an easy rate.
"'In a note, by the editors of the United States Gazette, referring to the ancient village of Ephrata, situated in Lancaster County, in this State, the fact is noted that " one of the first printing-presses introduced into the State" was located in that village. As a small item of history connected with our profession we have to add. that the identical press in question became the property of the editor of this paper in the year 1804. He caused the wood- work to be renewed, and removed it to Meadville in the fall of that year. It was the first printing-press introduced into this State northwest of the Alle- gheny River, and from which the first sheet issued in this region. All the continental money issued by Congress, while in session at Lancaster and York, during the Revolutionary War, was struck upon it. This relic of antiquity is now, we believe, the property of Mr. Purviance, of the neighboring county of Warren, and from which the Union, a very respectable sheet, is issued. Long may it continue to administer to the welfare, prosperity, and happiness of the Union.'-Crawford Messenger, 1830.
"' The Hon. Joseph Hackney departed this life at Warren on the 20th of May, 1832, at the age of sixty-nine years.
". He was distinguished for stanch integrity, uprightness, and generosity in his intercourse with the world; modest, unobtrusive, amiable, and possess- ing reliance, for at least the last year of his pilgrimage, on the atonement of the blessed Redeemer.
". A development of the murderous outrage upon the happiness of his paternal roof by a savage foe would harrow up the feelings of sensibility. He was a soldier with Colonel Harmar, at the building of Fort Harmar, at the mouth of the Muskingum, in 1785.
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"' In 1789 he went with Major (afterwards General) Doughty, up the Tennessee River, to conciliate the Indians in that region by a distribution of presents from the United States. The party, consisting of fifteen, landed at the encampment of the first Indian village. The tawny natives seemed to manifest great friendship, but the discerning Major Doughty descried some- thing which foreboded treachery. He put his men on their guard, and. having bestowed the presents designed, the Indians all gave them their hands in token of their pretended amicable feelings, but Doughty and his men had scarcely wheeled their boat in order to proceed to another village, when the savages levelled their muskets and killed eleven at the first fire. Mr. Hackney escaped with his life, as did the two officers and one more; but one of his arms was broken by a ball, and hung useless at his side. With the other he managed the boat. The enemy pursued, to the number of sixty, yet by the well-directed fire of the three uninjured warriors, using the loaded guns of their fallen brethren, they killed many of their pursuers, beat off the residue, and defeated them !
"' Mr. Hackney then repaired to a Spanish fort on the Mississippi, where, with surgical aid and the blessings of Heaven, his limb was fully restored.
"' He was afterwards with Harmar on his campaign in 1790. During this memorable period, he was sent out under Major Willis and Lieutenant Ebenezer Frothingham, on what may with propriety be called a forlorn hope, as one of a battalion intrusted with a duty, in the region of the Sandusky. The Indians killed every member of the battalion except cleven, of which Mr. Hackney was one.
"' In 1793 he settled in Meadville, diligent in his lawful pursuits, happy in his domestic relations, and beloved by all his acquaintance. He was colonel of the first regiment in Crawford County.
"' He removed to the banks of the Konnewonggo, in 1817, and gained by his urbanity, hospitality, and correct conduct the esteem of his fellow-citi- zens, and their suffrages for various offices. He was appointed an associate judge, on the organization of Warren County for judicial purposes, and dis- charged the duties of the office with dignity, establishing his character as an upright and useful judge till the close of his life. - Crawford Messenger.
" Pine Grove is situated on the right bank of the Conewango, seven miles above Warren, at the head of the rapids. It is compactly built, containing some forty or fifty dwellings, store, taverns, etc. Russel's mills are situated here, on one of the best water-privileges in the county. Three saw-mills and a grist-mill, besides other works, are in operation here, and nearly a mile below is another large saw-mill. Establishments like these, it is said, might be erected on each mile between Pine Grove and Warren.
" Youngsville is situated on both sides of Big Brokenstraw, three miles from its mouth. It contains about twenty dwellings and a Methodist church. Some of the largest and best-cultivated farms in the county surround this
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village. Sugar Grove is situated in the township of that name, one and a half miles south of the New York State line. It contains some twenty or thirty dwellings, a saw- and grist-mill. It is pleasantly situated, and surrounded with groves of sugar-maple,-hence the name. Lottsville is in the same town- ship, on the Little Brokenstraw. Fayette is on a branch of the Big Broken- straw, in Columbus Township. At all these places there are good water- privileges. At each of these villages there is a post-office, as also at Deerfield, Kinjua, Spring Valley, and Irvine.
" A colony of German Protestants have recently purchased (May, 1843) ten thousand acres of land in Limestone Township, which they are about settling on the principle of community of property. It is believed, however, that they intend to retain the common property organization for only five or ten years, or until the land is fully paid for, when they expect to divide the shares. A similar colony, of the Catholic denomination, have also purchased a tract in the eastern part of the county, near the boundary of Mckean County.
" About six miles below Warren, near the mouth of Brokenstraw Creek, the traveller, who has thus far passed the usual plain log or frame cottages by the roadside, is struck with the appearance of an elegant mansion of stone, of a chaste and neat design, standing a little back from the road, with a fine farm around it. A short distance beyond he sees another, after the same model, adorning a similar farm; a little farther on, another still, and near it, by the roadside, the ' Cornplanter Hotel,' built of freestone, in a style and of a magnitude that would do honor to Chestnut Street, in Philadelphia. Opposite the hotel is a row of stores, in the same style of architecture; a neat bridge crosses the creek; on one side are the wild rocky hills, and on the other the broad alluvial meadows that border the Allegheny. Besides the buildings enu- merated above, there is a mill and miller's house; two other elegant stone cot- tages below the creek ; and about a mile below, near the Allegheny, is the man- sion of the proprietor. This village, intended eventually to become the town of Cornplanter, was erected and is owned entirely by Dr. William A. Irvine. It stands on a large tract of fine land inherited from his father, the late Com- missary-General Callender Irvine, who was the son of General William Irvine of the Revolutionary army. The village was built in anticipation of the con- struction of the Sunbury and Erie Railroad, which was located directly through it, and was to pass up the Brokenstraw valley. It will be some years before this road is constructed.
" On the flats below the village once stood an Indian village, called Buck- aloon, which was destroyed by a detachment under Colonel Broadhead from Pittsburg, in 1781. It required a siege of some days to drive out the Indians, who retreated to the hills in the rear of the village. Several days afterwards Major Morrison (afterwards a distinguished citizen of Lexington, Kentucky) returned to reconnoitre, and had stooped to drink at the mouth of the creek, when a rifle ball from an Indian splashed the water in his face. This fact
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was long after confirmed to Dr. Irvine by one of Cornplanter's men. General William Irvine was for several years engaged as commissioner for the State in superintending the surveys of land northwest of the Allegheny, under the land law of 1792; and either he or his son, General Callender Irvine, took up large tracts on Brokenstraw Creek. The latter came to this place in 1795, erected a cabin, and placed in charge of it, by way of perfecting 'an actual settlement,' a faithful old negro slave. A very affectionate intimacy subsisted between General Irvine and Cornplanter, and reciprocal visits were often made by them. One day while General Callender Irvine was staying at the cabin, two Monseys, a small clan of whom lived in the vicinity, came to the cabin for some salt. Salt in those days was as precious as silver, being packed on horses over the mountains. The old negro took out his measure of salt to give them a little, but they wanted the whole, and vowed they would have it by fair means or foul. General Irvine here interfered and drove them off. A few days afterwards one of Cornplanter's men came down to visit and hunt, and spent a fortnight with the general. This was no uncommon occur- rence at his hospitable cabin, and he thought nothing of it. Months after- wards Cornplanter told the general that the Monseys had threatened his (the general's ) life, and that he had sent the Indian down secretly to watch their movements.
" Kinjua is a small village on the left bank of the Allegheny, at the mouth of Kinjua Creek, and twelve miles above Warren. Five miles above Kinjua. on the right bank of the Allegheny, and four miles below the State line, is the reservation and late residence of Cornplanter, the distinguished Seneca chief. The Allegheny reservation of the Seneca nation is above the State line, extending for thirty miles along the river, and one mile in breadth. The Senecas were by far the most numerous and warlike of the Six Nations. The peculiar organization of that confederacy, and the rank which the Senecas held in it, have been mentioned on page 6 of the Outline History. The history of their wrongs at the hands of land speculators, and of the gradual diminution of their numbers, belongs more properly to the history of New York than to that of Pennsylvania. By various treaties they have been de- prived of one piece of their fair domain after another, until they were crowded upon four small reservations, one at Tonawanta, eight or ten miles north west of Batavia, one three miles east of Buffalo, one at Cattaraugus Creek. twenty-eight miles south of Buffalo, and the fourth on the Allegheny, as men- tioned above. At each of these reservations, except the Tonawanta, the American Board have a mission station, with a church and schools. The following is from the Dayspring of February, 1842:
"' The whole number of schools on all the reservations is twelve, con- taining two hundred and ten pupils. In addition to these are eight Sabbath- schools, embracing one hundred and fifty-five pupils. To the four churches about fifty members have been added during the year 1842. And there has
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been a very great advance in the cause of temperance. For three years past there has been great excitement and alienation growing out of their political difficulties. In 1838 a treaty was obtained from them, in which the Senecas sold all their reservations except the last two, and that portion of the Tus- carora which the Tuscaroras held by purchase. By the conditions of this treaty they were to receive one hundred thousand dollars, also one hundred and two thousand dollars for their improvements ; and the United States gov- ernment was to furnish four hundred thousand dollars to remove them west of the Mississippi and support them one year in the West. It has been estimated that the allowance made them for their improvements will not be half adequate to enable them to make as good houses and fields on the new lands to which they go, as they had on those which they leave, and that by this bargain, should it be carried into effect, they would lose more than half their available prop- erty, and be for some years to come comparatively poor and destitute. A compromise was effected last spring, by which they sell only a part of Tusca- rora and the whole Tonawanda and Buffalo reservations, and receive a pro- portionable part of the compensation stipulated in the former treaty; but they receive nothing for removal and subsistence. The case at present stands thus. The Indians on the ceded part of the Tuscarora reservation must remove to that part which is not sold. Here they will have land enough for their present wants. The Indians on the Tonawanda and Buffalo reservations must all remove. Cattaraugus and Allegheny remain for the present undisturbed. The Indians from Tonawanda and Buffalo intend, most of them, to settle at Cat- taraugus. Some say they will go west of the Mississippi, some to Canada, and a few will probably go to Allegheny. Two years are allowed by the treaty for removing. nearly eighteen months of which still remain. The present number of Indians on these reservations is about three thousand. - Day's Collections.
" The year 1800 was made memorable in the history of Pennsylvania by the erection of several new counties in the northwestern quarter of the State, from territory which had been temporarily attached to organized counties whose seats of justice were hundreds of miles distant. Thus, by an act of the State Legislature passed March 12, of that year, the counties of Beaver, Butler, Mercer, Crawford, Erie, Warren, Venango, and Armstrong were formed from territory previously embraced by Westmoreland, Washington, Allegheny, and Lycoming Counties. Warren was formed from Allegheny and Lycoming Counties, and the clause of the act relating to its boundaries reads as follows :
"' That so much of the counties of Allegheny and Lycoming, as shall be included within the following boundaries,-viz., Beginning at the southeast corner of Crawford County, in the north line of the sixth donation district : thence the course of the said line eastwardly across the Allegheny River, until it shall intersect the line dividing Johnson's and Potter's districts, in the
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county of Lycoming ; thence northerly along the said line to the line of the State of New York; thence westwardly along the line of the said State to the corner of Erie County ; thence southerly by the eastern boundaries of the counties of Erie and Crawford, to the place of beginning.'
" The same act further provided that the place for holding .courts of justice within the county should be the town of Warren. Also, that the governor be empowered to appoint three commissioners to run. ascertain, and mark the boundary lines of the county; that the commissioners be paid the sum of two dollars per day while so engaged, and that the boundaries described be run ' on or before the 15th day of June next.' William Miles, Thomas Miles, and John Andrews, the latter being then a resident of the county, were appointed, but what their duties were. or what they did, if any- thing, does not appear.
" It was further provided by this act that the counties of Crawford. Mercer, Venango, Warren, and Erie (' until an enumeration of the taxable inhabitants within the aforesaid counties respectively shall be made, and it shall be otherwise directed by law') should form one county under the name of Crawford County. Meadville thus became the seat of justice for a vast. sparsely settled region, and people of to-day can hardly realize the vicissitudes experienced by the pioneers who, when obliged to visit the county seat to transact legal or other business, or were summoned to attend courts, etc .. were compelled, in going and returning, to travel from seventy-five to one hundred and fifty miles through dense forests, and along winding, parth overgrown Indian trails, providing the ' trails' led in the right direction : other- wise the undertaking was still more hazardous.
" Only a few weeks had passed after the passage of the above-mentioned act ere the county of Crawford was duly organized as a separate division of the State, and its first officers installed in office. The first session of court was held in the upper story of William Dick's residence, on the northeast corner of Water Street and Cherry Alley, in Meadville. The record of this session begins as follows: 'At a Court of Common. Pleas held and kept at Meadville, for the county of Crawford, the seventh day of July, Anno Domini. One Thousand Eight Hundred, before David Mead and John Kelso, judges. present, and from thence continued by adjournment until the ninth day of the same month inclusive.' Mead and Kelso were only associate judges, and not learned in law. Their attention at this time was chiefly directed to the admis sion of attorneys, to the erection of townships, the issuing of licenses, and the appointing of certain township officers.
" During the second session of the court of Crawford County, hell at the place above described in October, 1800. Hon. Alexander Addison presiding. the first grand jury met. It was during this term, also, that the township of Brokenstraw (the original township of Warren) was erected. The order of court respecting this subdivision reads as follows: ' In pursuance to sundry
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petitions presented, the court directed the following townships to be laid off. . . . Also all that part of Warren County situate west of River Allegheny and Conewago Creek be erected into a township and the name thereof to be Brokenstraw.' (See Docket No. 1, page II, Judicial Records of Crawford County.) Judge Addison resided at Pittsburg, and was a gentleman pos- sessed of a fine mind and great attainments, but he was subsequently im- peached and removed from office, because of his absolute refusal to allow an associate judge to charge a jury after his own charge had been delivered.
" On the 21st of February, 1801, another act was passed relating to the new county of Warren, by the provisions of which it was denominated the First Election District of Crawford County, and the electors residing therein were directed to hold their general elections at the house of Robert Andrews, who then lived in the Brokenstraw valley, or where Pittsfield now stands.
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Pioneer court-house
" This arrangement continued until April 1, 1805, when an act was passed providing for the organization of Venango County from and after September I of that year. By the same legislative act Warren County was detached from Crawford and annexed to Venango, for judicial and all other purposes of government ; thus becoming part of the Sixth Judicial District, of which the Hon. Jesse Moore was then serving as president judge."
The pioneer court in Warren was held Monday, November 29, 1819, Sheriff Bowman, Prothonotary Alexander McCalmont, and Court Crier Mor- rison were there from Venango County to help organize the court. The president judge was Jesse Moore, of Meadville, assisted by Associate Judges Hackney and Connelly. The pioneer local lawyer was Abner Hazeltine.
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"In December, 1806, Daniel Jackson, of the town of Warren, and Giles White, of Brokenstraw Township, were recommended to the governor by the court as suitable persons to keep houses of public entertainment. One year later Salmon Fuller, a millwright, was licensed to keep a public house in Conewango Township. These were the first persons licensed to ' keep tavern' in Warren County of whom we have authentic knowledge.
" In the summer of 1816 Rev. Timothy Alden, before mentioned as the founder of the Allegheny College, set out on a brief missionary tour among the Indians residing on the upper waters of the Allegheny, and spent some days at the village of the venerable chieftain, Cornplanter. Upon his return to Meadville he wrote a letter to the Rev. Joseph Mckean, of Harvard Uni- versity, giving an account of his labors, etc., wherein he says, * Cornplanter. as soon as apprised of our arrival, came over to see us, and immediately took charge of our horses. Though the chief Sachem of his tribe, and having many around to obey his commands, yet, in the ancient patriarchal style, he chose to serve himself, and actually went into the field, cut the oats, and faithfully fed our beasts from time to time, while we continued in the place, in ipso persona propria. . . .
"'Cornplanter has been the greatest warrior the Senecas have ever had ; yet he has always been remarkable for his humane treatment of the women and children of his enemies, who at any time have fallen into his hands. He is a man of strong mind and masterly eloquence. At the treaty of Fort Stanwix he greatly distinguished himself by his talents and address, insomuch that by general suffrage he has ever held the first place of power among the chiefs of his nation.
"'He appears to be about sixty-eight years of age.' (Mr. Alden was mistaken as to Cornplanter's age. He was born about 1732, and in 1816 was eighty-four years old.) 'His countenance is strongly marked with the lines of intelligence and reflection. Contrary to the aboriginal custom, his chin is covered with a beard three or four inches in length, and upon his head are many of the blossoms of age. His house is of princely dimensions compared with the generality of Indian huts, and has a piazza in front. He is the owner of about fifteen hundred acres of excellent land, six hundred of which encircle the ground plot of his little town. From the United States he receives, annu- ally, according to stipulation, two hundred and fifty dollars, besides his pro- portion of nine thousand dollars equally divided, one-half in goods and one- half in money, among those of every age and condition in the tribe.""
We again quote from Warren County History of 1887:
" For five years the inhabitants of Warren County had plodded their weary way from their log cabins in the wilderness, over the hills to Meadville. when it was necessary to transact public or legal business, and for fourteen years more had they made toilsome journeys to Franklin, a distance of sixty- five miles from the then hamlet of Warren, when business of the same nature
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