USA > Pennsylvania > Erie County > A twentieth century history of Erie County, Pennsylvania : a narrative account of its historic progress, its people, and its principal interests, Volume I > Part 14
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In the year 1832, while John H. Walker was a member of the State legislature, he secured the passage of an act providing for the sale of the third section of reserve lands, of 2,000 acres in Millcreek township, the proceeds to be used for the construction of the canal basin in Erie harbor, but reserving from the tract a hundred acres to be used as a county-farm upon which an almshouse should be built. Commis- sioners to make a selection out of the reserve tract, for the county-farm were appointed and these, William Miles, George Moore and David Mc- Nair, chose the piece of ground on the Ridge road, about three miles west of Erie-a farm, by subsequent additions, of 118 acres. It was upon this farm-now one of the finest in Erie county-that the first almshouse was built, and completed in 1841. While John D. Stranahan of Le Bœuf was a representative in the Legislature-1867-68-an at- tempt was made to change the location of the almshouse to the southern part of the county, an act with that provision having been passed, but at the next session it was repealed.
In the year 1870 in accordance with the provisions of a new act, all the old directors went out and a new board were elected. These were Lewis W. Olds of Erie, Stephen A. Beavis of Corry, and W. W. Eaton of Fairview. This board proceeded at once to erect a new almshouse, and procured plans. Mr. Olds from the beginning advocated the erection of a commodious brick building, and though there was vigorous opposi- tion from without, his plan prevailed with his fellows of the board and a building far beyond the needs of the time was erected at a cost of $118,000. It was the most expensive public building of the time in the county. The wisdom of Mr. Olds was very shortly demonstrated. From time to time additions and improvements have been made to the building until it will now take its place as a thoroughly modern institution of its kind.
For a long time the boundary line between Erie and Crawford coun- ties was in dispute, and this was settled by the passage of an act by the Legislature in 1849-50, which provided for the appointment of a com- mission to make a survey and permanently mark the line. In pursuance of the provisions of the act Humphrey A. Hills of Albion was appointed commissioner for Erie county, and Andrew Ryan for Crawford county, and they chose H. P. Kinnear of Warren as the third member. By the commissioners Wilson King was chosen as the surveyor to represent Erie, and Mr. Jagger surveyor for Crawford. David Wilson, Mr. King's deputy, however, did most of the engineering work. The surveyors ran a perfectly straight line from east to west which added a long narrow
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strip to the southern edge of Erie county. A number of people who believed themselves citizens and tax payers of Crawford county came in time to know they lived in the county next on the north.
There were a number of other engineering inaccuracies discovered in the county in the course of time. A notable one is "the gore," as it is still known, in West Millcreek. It is a long narrow strip of land lying between the respective surveys of the engineers who laid out the Erie Reserve and those who located the line of the territory granted to the Pennsylvania Population Company, lying next and adjoining on the south, east and west. The existence of this gore was not discovered for a considerable time. It was due to the variation of the two sets of instruments employed. The engineers of the Population Company, start- ing from the same point on the bluff above the lake on the east line of the present farm of the Sterrett heirs, occupied by Alexander Rob- inson (the farm just east of Henry Y. Hartt's farm in West Millcreek) that the other engineers did, proceeded south, supposing they were fol- lowing the other line. In fact they were not, their line running slightly to the west, forming a steadliy widening wedge as they progressed south- wardly, and the new line taken as a base line, being inaccurate, when the turning point was reached the easterly line was just as inaccurate. An additional mistake was made in the chaining in this later survey, which extended the first line too far south. Near its southern end the divergence was so considerable that out of this gore Capt. John Grubb, one of the earliest settlers, an officer of the military guard of the sur- veyors, afterwards had articled to him the farm of 400 acres upon which he so long lived. There is a somewhat similar gore east of the city.
Another discrepancy is pointed out in the report of the Secretary of Internal Affairs for 1908. According to the statements contained therein it appears that in 1790 when the western boundary line of New York State was established by Andrew Ellicott, its southern terminus was 50 rods, or 825 feet east of the 225th milestone of the original northern boundary of Pennsylvania. In 1894, however, Thomas Rees, Deputy Surveyor, locating the warrants in the Triangle, made the 225th milestone his starting point, which he recognized as the southeast corner of the Triangle district. A new survey for the correction of the war- rantee map of the county was therefore ordered by the Secretary of Internal Affairs.
An account of the building of the present courthouse, begun in 1852, would naturally be included as part of the history of the county, but, located as it is in the city of Erie, it has been decided advisable that the story of that important public building shall form a part of the history of the city. For considerations of a similar nature it is deemed proper that the action taken by the county commis- sioners to meet the demands of the State at the time of the War of the
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Rebellion shall be given an account of in the chapters that will tell of the part taken by the County of Erie in that memorable conflict.
From the beginning the business affairs of the county have been managed by a board of commissioners, three in number, elected by the people. From 1800 to Jan. 1, 1876, each commissioner was elected for three years, but only one in each year, so that the board was a continuous body. It was, however, as a rule of one political complexion. From 1831 to 1876 the commissioners were all of the Whig or Republican parties. The new constitution of 1813, effected a change by providing that the minority political party should have representation on the board. To secure this elections for county commissioners are held once in three years, and no citizen is permitted to vote for more than two candidates, although commissioners may be re-elected. The commissioners' clerk is appointed by the commissioners, and from the organization of the county there have been but ten regularly serving, one other acting pro tem, from November, 1829, to February, 1830. The first clerk, Thomas Wilkins, served twenty-six years; James Skinner served twelve years ; G. W. Col- ton, eleven years; A. J. Sterrett, over eighteen years, dying while in office ; G. D. Price, seven years, and A. J. Robison the present clerk, from 1890. The other clerks served for terms varying from two to five years.
Not coming distinctively under the management of the county author- ities, but yet a prominent factor in county development during the later years of the county's history, is the Twentieth century innovation in the management of the mail service, now firmly established and invaluable to the farmers, the rural free delivery. This was introduced in 1900, when six routes were established from Erie. In 1909 the rural routes in Erie county numbered about seventy-two, the extensive service due to the active interest taken by Erie's member of Congress, Hon. Arthur L. Bates. The routes, with the year in which they were established, are : Albion, three in 1904, and one in 1907; Avonia, one in 1904; Corry, eleven in 1901; Cranseville, one in 1903; East Springfield, one in 1903; Edinboro, six in 1902 : Erie, six in 1900, and two in 1907; Fairview, one in 1904; Girard, four in 1902; Harborcreek, two in 1903; Mckean, two in 1903; Mill Village, one in 1904; North East, four in 1902, two in 1903 and one in 1905; North Springfield, one in 1903; Union City, seven in 1901; Waterford, eight in 1901; Wattsburg, four in 1903; Wesleyville, one in 1905; West Springfield, one in 1907.
CHAPTER XIV .- THE WAR CLOUD'S SHADOW.
ERIE IN 1812 .- THE UPRISING .- ERIE'S SOLDIERY .- CAPT. DOBBINS AND THE PRESIDENT .- BUILDING OF PERRY'S FLEET.
For a period of years the pioneers of Erie county, contented in the humble homes they had hewed out of the great forest, and long relieved of anxiety from fear of attack by the savages or of any other foe, dwelt in profound peace nor ever permitted their thoughts to turn toward anything that even hinted at grim war. The area. of cultivation upon their farms had steadily broadened; new settlers had come in to lend the cheer and comfort of their society; industries had begun in a small way, and commerce had ventured to spread its white wings for its initial flight. But in the minds of the new community planted in the woods there was nothing but what made for peace. Suddenly this was dispelled. War against Great Britain had been declared. Into that great conflict Erie came. The little village upon the lake was destined to play a prominent part in the history of the nation for it was Erie that made possible one of the greatest victories of that war, one notable in the history of the world. Perry's victory on Lake Erie had its working out through Erie.
Consider what it meant-that victory of Commodore Perry over the British fleet in these waters. It was in fact the decisive battle of a war that was the second war of American independence; the contest that compelled Great Britain in fact, as had previously in only shallowest form, to acknowledge the United States a sister nation ; that forced from the arrogant Briton a recognition of the full rights of the American nation. The war of 1812 was a confirmation of the status of the United States as an independent nation, and the victory achieved by Commodore Perry with the fleet of vessels built in the harbor of Erie was the severest blow up to that time administered to Great Britain by any foe, because it humbled British naval pride as it had never been before. For the first time in history a British fleet had been utterly defeated by an enemy-previously a single vessel had been compelled to yield, but Perry defeated an entire squadron. The part Erie had in that famous victory was therefore no insignificant one.
But what was the war of 1812 about, and what led up to the famous victory? The late Senator Sill presented the matter in a manner more
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terse than any other statement of the case recalled and the liberty is taken of making free quotation from what he once wrote regarding it:
The war of the Revolution left many matters not altogether set- tled. For example, there was the question of what the Americans had really won. The thirteen colonies occupied a narrow strip along the Atlantic coast. They did not extend west of the Alleghanies. The British therefore contended for the retention of the frontier posts, in- cluding Fort Presque Isle, at Erie, with the facility thus offered of inciting the Indians to the massacre of the frontier settlers. There was also the question of the nonpayment of claims or debts due to American citizens from British subjects or Tories who had left this country and sought protection under the British flag; the retention by the British of slaves or persons "held to service," claimed by Americans; the arrogant demand by the British of the right of search of American vessels and the impressment of sailors of alleged British nationality; and that the promise made by King George at the solemn audience, so long deferred, when John Adams, the first American minister, was received by that sov- ereign as the ambassador of the United States, that, now that independ- ence was acknowledged "the community of race, the identity of lineage and the uniformity of religion should cause friendship between the two countries," was made to the ear to be broken by the sense.
The irritation which had existed between France and the United States, culminating in a declaration of war under the administration of the elder Adams in 1797-98, had been succeeded by disgust at the ar- rogance of Great Britain, as manifested by her order in council of May, 1806, ordering a blockade of the European coast, from Brest to the Elbe, thus inhibiting American commerce, which evoked, in the way of retaliation, Napoleon's decree of Berlin, Nov. 21, 1806, declaring a block- ade of the British Islands, followed in course by a second order by the king and council forbidding trade between the United States and any European country under Napoleon's power, which again excited re- taliation on the part of the French in the Milan decree of Dec. 7. 180}, in which Napoleon declared "denationalized," whether found in con- tinental ports or on the high seas, any vessel which should submit to search by a British vessel, or should touch at or set sail to or from any port of Great Britain or her colonies. Under the effects of these acts American commerce was swept from the seas, causing universal distress to the United States, enhanced as it was by the embargo proclaimed by President Jefferson, inhibiting all commerce through American ports and also, the unhappy incident of the attack of the British ship Leopard upon the American frigate Chesapeake, and the incident of the Little Belt. These, with the continued effort to assert the claim to right of search of American vessels and the seizure of American sailors, became in- tolerable, and nothing during this period was more irritating than the conduct of the British minister, who was the same person who had been minister to Denmark to demand the surrender of the Danish fleet before the bombardment of Copenhagen. Here he was called Copenhagen Jack- son, and he was just as irritating at Washington; and when, upon the
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meeting of congress in 1811, the wrongs and indignities suffered by the United States were elaborated in a ringing report of a congressional committee, that congress-of which Henry Clay was speaker-upon the urgent recommendation of President Madison, on the 18th day of June, 1812, declared war against Great Britain, and though still loaded with the burden of debt caused by the Revolution, and its people, im- poverished by the paralysis of commerce which had so long existed, found that no other course was practicable on the part of the United States than to enter upon a war on sea and land.
The declaration of war in June, 1812, found the nation altogether unprepared to enter into a contest with so powerful a nation as Great Britain. We had no army or navy. We were still prostrate under the burden of debt incurred for the Revolutionary war. There were no rail- roads to afford swift transportation-indeed. even the turnpike roads that were passable were few and very far between. Steamboats came many years later; there were no canals. Communication was difficult and travel slow and laborious. It was therefore no small task that the Amer- icans addressed themselves to when they undertook to redress grievances by the science of war, and war with the most powerful nation on the earth.
Britain, on the other hand, offered a striking contrast. Rich and powerful, possessed of a strong and well organized army and the greatest navy in the world, flushed with victories, and having wide resources ; besides having the advantage of such a splendid avenue into the interior as the St. Lawrence and with Canada available for massing her forces, the tremendous advantage she possessed, observable now, was undoubt- edly apparent then.
And yet the United States, believing its cause to be a just one and the necessities of the situation pressing, did not hesitate, having decided upon war, to enter into it with all the ability it possessed. It was a dis- couraging experience that marked the opening of that great contest. Save on the sea, where the Americans proved more than a match in the en- gagements that had taken place, disaster was the order of the day. The American army was repeatedly worsted, and well nigh placed out of the fight.
It was a very sparsely settled country that bordered the southern shores of the Great Lakes in the year 1812, and the means of communi- cation were lamentably deficient. This was true not only of this par- ticular locality but of the entire northern frontier. The postal service amounted to practically nothing at all, and it is worthy of note that the information of the declaration of war at the American capital was first received by the American settlers through Canadian dispatches sent to their several posts. When Mackinaw was taken in July, the first in- telligence the garrison there had that a state of war existed was when a heavy force of British and Indians that had landed upon an uninhab-
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ited part of the island the night before, captured the American defenses without firing a gun.
At the time of the capture of Mackinaw, Captain Daniel Dobbins, in command of a merchant vessel named the Salina, was at that post. He had with him Rufus S. Reed and William W. Reed, the former and Captain Dobbins being owners of the vessel. They were taken and held as prisoners, and the Salina, along with another that had been captured were made cartels to convey the prisoners and non-combatants to Cleve- land. When they arrived at Detroit they were taken possession of by General Hull, and again they fell into the hands of the enemy on the surrender of that important post. Now Captain Dobbins, who had sailed the lakes extensively for a number of years, had during the peace- ful times that had preceded, made the acquaintance of Col. Nichols of His Majesty's service, and through the friendship that had resulted, in the hour of need obtained from the Colonel passes for himself and the two Reeds, and they accompanied Col. Lewis Cass and Capt. Saun- ders, who were in charge of paroled prisoners, across the head of the lake in open boats, to Cleveland. It was a perilous passage of three days, but the entire party reached their destination in safety. At Cleveland Capt. Dobbins obtained a small sloop and navigated it down the lake to Erie. All along the coast the inhabitants were thrown into a state of alarm at the sight of the vessel, for the news of the surren- der of Detroit by Hull had spread.
Upon his arrival at Erie, Capt. Dobbins found Gen. David Mead here, and was commissioned by the General to bear dispatches to Wash- ington. It is proper at this point to relate what was doing in a mili- tary way at Erie. Upon the breaking out of the war Gov. Snyder had organized the militia of the State into two divisions, and the western division was under the command of Major General Adamson Tanne- hill of. Pittsburg. Gen. David Mead was of his staff, and the brigade of which the Erie county militia was a part was placed in command of Brigadier General John Kelso of Erie, with Dr. John C. Wallace in command of the Erie regiment. Among the officers of the Erie regiment were Captains Andrew Cochran, Zelotus Lee, James Barr, William Dickson, Robert Davidson, Warren Foote, John Morris, and Smith and Donaldson. There was a military company in existence in Erie at the outbreak of the war, commanded by Capt. Thomas For- ster, which immediately tendered their services to the President, and were accepted. They did not form a part of the Erie regiment, but, as will be seen later, performed an important part in the work in hand.
Active duty was entered upon immediately by the Erie troops. Capt. Barr's company was sent to Sandusky and remained there through the winter of 1812-13. Capt. Cochran's company of Springfield kept guard along the western coast of Erie county, and Capt. Foote and his company were assigned to keep sentry at the head of the peninsula.
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Before the close of June Gen. Kelso ordered out his brigade for the defense of Erie and the brigade was mobilized on the John Lytle farm near what is now Waterford station on the P. & E. Railroad. U'p- wards of 2,000 men were gathered there from Erie, Crawford, Mercer and other western counties. Later in the season 4,500 men were or- dered to march to Buffalo, which was menaced by the enemy, and the western Pennsylvania force remained the winter through. Meanwhile Erie was in a state of continual alarm. The British had, for those times, a powerful squadron of vessels on Lake Erie, and every place upon the coast was in continual fear lest they should be bombarded by these ships. Erie was in especial fear. On August 25 these ships appeared off Erie, and immediately expresses were sent over the county conveying the intelligence. Gen. Kelso took prompt action, and on Sept. 4 obtained an order from the government that the State field pieces be sent to Erie. Because they were slow to arrive Gen. Kelso, through Gov. Snyder, sent a message, signed by prominent citizens, urging that efficient action for the protection of Erie be speedily taken, and on Sept. 16 the General was notified that one brass piece and four 4-pound- ers were on their way to Erie. Later, because of the absence of the troops at Buffalo, Gen. Kelso was ordered by Gov. Snyder to employ volunteers, if practicable, for the defense of Erie.
Meanwhile an altogether different line of action was being taken up. It was related above that Gen. Mead had commissioned Capt. Dobbins an express messenger to Washington bearing dispatches. These gave the first authentic information to the President of the surrender of Mackinaw and Detroit. Immediately a cabinet meeting was called be- fore which Capt. Dobbins appeared, and to the President and his ad- visers gave a full account of the situation on the frontier. Particular stress was laid upon the fact that the enemy was possessed of a power- ful fleet, with which the government had nothing that could cope. The great need on the lakes, Capt. Dobbins suggested, was a naval force strong enough to meet the British. The suggestion met with approval. Then the question arose with reference to the most suitable point for a naval depot on the lakes. Capt. Dobbins at once named Erie, and point- ed out its many advantages. The suggestion was adopted. He was offered a sailing master's commission in the navy, which he accepted and he was then ordered to Erie with instructions to immediately begin the construction of gunboats.
Upon his arrival at Erie Capt. Dobbins was ordered to report to Commodore Chauncey at Sackett's Harbor, whose jurisdiction included Lake Erie as well as Lake Ontario, or to the commanding officer at Black Rock, for further instructions, which order he obeyed, receiving from Lieut. Elliott at Black Rock a reply to the effect that in his opinion Erie was not a safe or suitable place for naval construction and direct- ing that nothing be done until Com. Chauncey should be heard from.
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Upon receipt of Elliott's letter Mr. Dobbins at once wrote a rejoinder in which he set forth the advantages of Erie, and very soon afterwards proceeded to Buffalo himself, and though he did not find Lieut. Elliott there, feeling the importance of the situation, employed a skillful ship carpenter, and returning to Erie, late in October began work upon the gunboats.
At that time there was a stream of considerable size that emptied into the bay between what are now Peach and Sassafras streets, and at its mouth there was a wide beach. The stream was called Lee's run. On the beach at the mouth of Lee's run, some little distance west of the village of Erie, Mr. Dobbins established his navy yard. The site of that navy yard is now occupied by the gas works. Erie at that time had a population of approximately 500. There were few mechanics among them and no ship carpenters. However, under the superintendence of the carpenter enlisted at Buffalo, every man who could swing an axe or handle a saw was put to work. The few house carpenters the village boasted of were impressed into the service, and all sorts of expedients were resorted to in order to provide tools and appliances for the work. Much of the material had to be got out of the trees uncut, and most of the timbers and planks had to be sawn by hand. It was a rather dis- couraging prospect, and the winter overtook them while at work, but operations were not permitted to lag for a moment. Progress was be- ing made every hour. And at that, it will be remembered, the work was progressing without instructions from either Com. Chauncey or the com- manding officer at Black Rock. Mr. Dobbins, however, knew his ground, and felt the necessity of the case. Besides that, he appreciated the fact that during the winter season he had a far better chance of pushing the work without being molested by the enemy than during the season of navigation. So the work went on.
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