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 54
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CHAPTER X .- HARBORCREEK.
FIRST CLEARING MADE BY THOMAS REES, ERIE COUNTY'S EARLY SUR- VEYOR .- NUMEROUS RURAL INDUSTRIES ESTABLISHED EARLY .- ITS VILLAGES.
Harborcreek township was one of the original sixteen laid out when the county was organized in 1800, but its name would appear to be a misnomer, from the fact that, in the act of the Legislature of 1792 by which the first general disposition of the land of the Triangle was made, the stream that afterwards came to be known as Mill creek, which is taken to be the origin of the name of Millcreek township, was called Harbor creek. However, though it has no stream that ever furnished a harbor, the name has been long enough identified with it to be ever divorced from it. It was settled early. The first land taken up within its boundaries was the tract of Thomas Rees, acquired in 1796. He was not an actual settler at the time, having merely acquired the land. Settle- ment began in 1797, when William Saltsman, Amasa Prindle and Andrew Elliott moved in and took up farms. In 1800 Hugh McCann and Alex- ander Brewster came in but the latter did not become a permanent resident. After clearing thirty acres of his farm he abandoned it and moved into Erie, where he remained the rest of his life. In 1801 the accessions were Thomas Moorhead, John Riblet and his sons; John, Christian and Jacob Ebersole and the Backus family. The Riblets and the Ebersoles were from Lancaster county, and were among the first of the "Pennsylvania Dutch" to come to the lake shore region. Ezekiel and Benjamin Chambers came in 1802. Thomas Moorhead's father and brothers John, Robert and George, came in at varying intervals from 1802 to 1806, and settling in the eastern part of the township, near Twelve-mile creek, gave that neighborhood the name of Moorheadville, which it bears to this day, though there is in reality no well defined village there. Following closely upon the pioneers already named and within about the first ten years of the century came Robert Scott, Thomas Greenwood, Robert Jack, John Shattuck, Aaron Hoag. Henry Clark, Andrew Culbertson, Thomas Bonnell and the Caldwell brothers. The Moorheads and several others were from the eastern part of the State; Mr. Saltsman was from Northumberland county; the rest were from New York state and New England. Among the earliest of the people of
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Harborcreek were three negro slaves brought here by Davis Rees. These were manumitted by the emancipation act at the time they reached the age of twenty-eiglit, and being provided with farms by Mr. Rees, settled permanently and reared families, so that in the course of time there was quite a colony of colored people over in the Gospel Hill region, probably more of their race than any other township of the county possessed. Dr. Ira Sherwin, for many years one of the most prominent citizens of Harborcreek, located in the township in 1825.
Though the villages of Harborcreek and Wesleyville are among the oldest in the county they neither of them ever aspired to the dignity of becoming incorporated as boroughs. Wesleyville came into existence in the early twenties, at the time John Shattuck built his mills there. In 1828 he laid out the town, owning the farm, and that year donated land and built a church for the Methodist Episcopal society. The village got its name from Rev. Hallock, father of the late Attorney John K. Hallock. of Erie, the minister being the first in charge of the church of the village. It was long a stopping place for the stages, on the Buffalo and Erie line- as was also Harborcreek. It was also in slavery days, a notable station on the so-called Underground Railroad, made so chiefly by the activity of the late Frank Henry. Frank was a son of one of the pioneers of the township, William Henry, who, settling first in Millcreek in 1803, moved into Harborcreek a few years later.
Harborcreek in the early times had numerous industries, its streams affording a pretty dependable source of power. Four-mile creek was available for but a short distance, however, but even at that was well utilized. This stream, rising in Greene township, enters the locally famous canyon before it reaches the southern boundary of Harborcreek, and then for six miles flows through a narrow gorge varying in depth from fifty to one hundred and fifty feet, emerging about a half-mile south of Wesleyville. The first mill erected in the township was that of James Foulk at the mouth of Six-mile creek, built in 1800. It was operated only a year or two, when Mr. Foulk, with Capt. Daniel Dobbins, built a much larger mill at or near the mouth of Twelve-mile creek. This mill began operations in 1803. In 1816 it came into the possession of Joseph Neely, who did a prosperous business there until 1841, when it was turned over to his son-in-law, John W. McLane, who operated it successfully until the breaking out of the war of the Rebellion, when he enlisted and went out as colonel of the Eighty-third Regiment, and lost his life at the battle of Gaines Mill. Joseph Neely in his day was a man of progress and enterprise. The first cargo of flour and pork shipped from Erie county to New York was taken through the Erie canal by Mr. Neely. the flour made at his mill on Twelve-mile creek. In 1802 John Riblet built a sawmill on Four-mile creek a half mile south of Wesleyville, and near there, at the lower end of the Four-mile creek canyon, William Saltsman built a sawmill in 1815. The records with reference to the in-
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dustries of Six-mile creek are very defective. The Backus mill was built at an early date. In 1810 a carding and woolen mill was built on that stream in South Harborcreek, to be succeeded by the large Cass woolen mill, and there were other mills and a tannery on the same stream a short distance lower down; but they have fallen into decay, long ago abandoned. The Cass woolen factory itself has been many years in disuse. John Shattuck built a grist mill on the left bank of Four-mile creek at Wesleyville in 1823, and a sawmill in 1825, and in 1826 William Saltsman built at Wesleyville the mill that for long was known as the Cooper mill. Later mills were Dodge's handle, shingle and sawmill, built in 1870, and Troop's cider and feed mill, in 1878, both credited to Har- borcreek village. The first canning factory in the county was established at Wesleyville in the seventies by W. P. Trimble.
The history of organized religious effort in Harborcreek township begins with the Baptist denomination in 1822. At that early date there was a quasi organization, of which there are traditions only. So far as inquiry can go, nothing is revealed of any record that was kept of the doings of the society then formed. No church was built and no minister ever regularly served the class or society. The first church to be built and organized into a permanent body was the Methodist Epis- copal congregation of Wesleyville, which at the time of its organization, or directly afterwards took possession of the new meeting-house built for it in 1828 by John Shattuck, the founder of Wesleyville. The Presby- terian church at Harborcreek came into existence in May, 1832, and was formed through the aid of the Presbyterian church at North East, fifty- eight of the members of that church who lived in Harborcreek township being assigned to the new church as members. The original church was built on a piece of ground donated by Judah Colt half a mile farther east than the site of the present church. Both of these earliest churches were subsequently replaced by more enduring structures, the Methodist church at Wesleyville by a brick building in 1866, and the Presbyterian church at Harborcreek by a handsome brick edifice in 1871, that cost $10.000. Rev. G. W. Cleaveland became pastor at Harborcreek in 1852, and continued as minister until his death in 1874. His successor was Rev. W. C. Mc- Beth, until 1892; then followed Rev. H. W. Warnshiers until 1903, and Rev. J. A. McGowan. The South Harborcreek Methodist Episcopal church is the outgrowth of a class that, established at an early day, had preaching for a number of years in the schoolhouse at Lowry's Corners, until a church was built in 1841 in the Walker and McGill neighborhood. The United Brethren church was organized in the Clark neighborhood in 1856, and erected a meeting-house the same year. The Methodist Episcopal church at Harborcreek village was erected in 1823 at a cost of $4,000 on a piece of ground donated by Rev. Noah Sullivan. The Baptists, Alpha in religious effort in the township, were Omega in the matter of permanent organization. This church came into existence
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through the missionary efforts of the First Baptist church of Erie, which in 18:1 started a Sunday-school at Wesleyville that met on Sunday after- noons. A suitable building was erected at the time, on land donated by Dr. Applebee, and in 1873 the mission became a full-fledged church, Rev. IV. L. Lemon being its first pastor. The story of religion in Harborcreek would not be complete without reference to Gospel Hill. It has no church, and perhaps it is not proper to say that the hill has no denomination, for as a matter of fact, the character of the locality was given to it by the Metliodists who principally live there and the name was complimentary to their unorganized zeal.
Education in Harborcreek began at an early date. In 1802 a log schoolhouse was built in the Moorhead district, but for a short time pre- viously school had been kept in the barn of Thomas Hurst, half a mile farther west. Soon afterwards a schoolhouse was built on the farm of William Wilson on the Buffalo road, near Harborcreek village. In 1811 Mrs. Burrows taught in Wesleyville, or what was later to be known as Wesleyville, and in 1825 Miss Eleanor Burgett had a school in Harbor- creek village. With the adoption of the public school laws, schoolhouses sprang up in every quarter of the township, upon nearly every road, at first small frame buildings, but later of brick and some of them of considerable pretensions. Harborcreek village for many years boasted of a two-story building that was largely patronized until 1902, when it was abandoned, a large and handsome township high school having that year been built.
Harborcreek lias had a hand in much that pertains to the activities of the county. In the railroad war, in 1853, it was scarcely less promi- nent than the city of Erie, either as regards the active opposition made to the railroad, or the part taken in creating Ripper sentiment. Indus- trially it has always been active, not alone in the mechanical industries, but those of the farm. It vies with North East as a fruit-growing sec- tion, the cultivation of the grape beginning soon after the demonstration of its practicability in this region had been made in the adjoining town- ship, and the full breadth of Harborcreek on the lake shore plain is grape land. Much of the acreage is, however, given to other fruits, which are profitably cultivated, and to market gardening, which yields satisfactory returns. In the politics of the county it has figured promi- nently. Cassius M. Wood was sent to the Legislature, and county offices were filled by these Harborcreek citizens: member of Assembly. C. MI. Wood: sheriff, John Kilpatrick and John W. McLane; register and recorder, Wm. P. Trimble ; clerk of the courts, W. P. Trimble, Rob- ert S. Moorhead ; county treasurer, James Chambers; county commis- sioners, James M. Moorhead, Samuel Low, James Chambers ; directors of the poor, George W. Walker, Benj. E. Riblet ; county surveyor, G. W. F. Sherwin; county auditors, Thomas Rees, James Chambers, Jesse Ebersole, W. P. Edwards. A remarkable career was that of James
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Chambers, who was probably the oldest justice of the peace in Pennsyl- vania, both as to his age and term of service. He was born in 1805, and was first commissioned by Gov. Ritner in 1837. From that time he held the office continuously, except as interrupted by his election to other offices, until he had passed the age of ninety years, the people of the township manifesting their respect for him to the very last, by selecting him to his final term in 1895. It was Harborcreek that contributed Col. John W. McLane, commander first of the Erie Regiment and immediately afterwards of the Eighty-third, for the War of the Rebellion, and it is not improper also to mention Frank Henry, whose zeal in the cause of abolition extended to the degree that he had enlisted to be one of John Brown's company in his famous raid but was prevented from serving only because the movement was prematurely undertaken.
CHAPTER XI .- LE BŒUF.
How IT CAME TO BE SETTLED .- THE MORAVIAN TRACT AND WILLIAM MILES .- MILLS AND STONE QUARRYING .- BOROUGH OF MILL VILLAGE.
Le Bœuf township was one of the original subdivisions of the county, and is the only one that bears a name reminiscent of the French occupancy. Its name is a sort of hall-mark of antiquity, and, directly in line with this, is its position as a rival of the town of Erie and the township of Millcreek in the claim of being the first district in Erie county to receive permanent settlers. It is, however, one of the southern tier of townships, while Erie, on the lake shore, is located in the Triangle, and to the English speaking settlers there seems to be more of history connected with the purchased part of the county than with that which was part and parcel of King Charles's grant, though that may be a mistaken idea. Situated directly south of Waterford, on the line of direct communication, by the original water route between Fort Le Bœuf and the Forks of the Ohio, it is not unnatural that pioneers prospecting for home sites should, in the fertile valley of the Venango river and its tributary, find attractive locations, and stop short of the terminus of the water route. This is what, from the record, actually occurred. Captain Robert King, a soldier of the Revolution, having first settled in Lycoming county, was not satisfied with conditions there. There were too many high hills to make it inviting to the agriculturist, and, like many others who had first chosen that county and deserted it to seek another and a better, the Captain turned his face in the direction of the foothills. Proceeding up French creek he discovered a spot that looked good to him, and there he decided to locate. That was in 1794, and the place selected was on the left bank of French creek, opposite the point where it receives the waters of Le Bœuf creek. The official map published in the report of the Secretary of Internal Affairs for 1906 shows that this piece of ground was 414 acres in extent, that the warrant for it was issued March 1, 1791, and the survey was made June 14, 1794, and that it then became the property of Robert King.
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Captain King did not then make his fixed settlement. He was content simply to drive his stakes. But, this done, he returned to Lycoming for his family and early in the summer of 1295 they all came on, and began at once to hew out of the forest a place that was to be their permanent place of abode. But they already had neighbors. Two tracts, of 431 acres each, next east, had been taken by Thomas Black and William Black, and both were in possession, having preceded the Captain and his family by but a comparatively few days. The Blacks had brought their families with them, and it was but a very brief time after they had settled in the wilderness when there occurred the interesting event of the birth of the first white child in Erie county, John R. Black, born August 29, 1:95. In 1797 the little colony of three families was enlarged by the arrival of Francis Isherwood with a son and daughter, and James, Robert and Adam Pollock. Mr. Isherwood was from Lycoming, and, having established his claim, left his son and daughter upon it to hold it and make it good while he returned for the rest of the family. In 1801 William Mallory located, and in 1802, John Clemens, James Biggers and Philip Gregory. Following closely upon these came James Wes- ton, David Boyd and Matthias Himebaugh. All were from the eastern part of the state.
While these and others came with the purpose of becoming per- manent settlers, and set about clearing the land and establishing homes, not all of them remained. In the course of a few years many of them had shifted to other localities. But there were others to take their places. Between 1815 and 1820 there was a new immigration, and these generally remained and the descendants of many of them are still residents of Le Bœuf. In 1825 there began an influx of Penn- sylvania .Germans, chiefly from Lehigh county, who settled mostly on the banks of French creek. Among these were the Burgers, who later came into prominence in various lines, including the milling business.
The industries of Le Bœuf include lumbering, quarrying, dairy- ing and the grist mill business, besides agriculture. The township was originally covered with a dense forest, much of it pine, and saw- mills were numerous. These were operated at various periods and for many years the mills of Troup, Waterhouse, Burger, Thompson and Wheeler, until in process of time not much of the timber re- mained, the last large area being secured by Hon. C. M. Wheeler, who for many years did a prosperous lumber business. The township having had, since the middle of the sixties the advantage of two lines of railroad, the Pennsylvania and the Erie (originally they were differently named) the facilities for getting the lumber to market were excellent. In the line of grist mills the principal were the Burger mill on French creek and the Wheeler mill at the junction of
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HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY
Moravian run and French creek. The grist mill on French creek near Mill village has for some years been known as May's mill. It is over forty years since cheese making began at the Wheeler factory, but the manufacture of this useful food-stuff began in that vicinity all of ten years earlier. Quarrying has been engaged in for many years, but while the stone, a fine sandstone of good texture, is itself of excellent quality, it is impregnated with petroleum to such an extent as to render it of no special value for any other purpose than bridges and rough masonry. More or less of it is obtained comparatively free from this defect, and it is then in request for foundation walls. It is obtained from a bluff about forty feet in height that extends along French creek for a mile or so, from the old Dunlap place to near the A. L. Tilden farm. Three quarries were opened, known as the Senger, Paskett and Atlantic & Great Western quarries, the last named yielding much of the stone used in construction work by the Erie Railroad.
Le Bœuf township contained the "Good Luck" tract of the Moravian Grant, made by the State to the Society of the United Brethren for the Propagation of the Gospel among the Heathen, in recognition of the good service it had performed at its own expense in cultivating peace and good will among the Indians. The Good Luck tract was 2,815 acres in extent, and the first agent of the Moravians at Le Bœuf was William Miles, one of the earliest and most active of the settlers in the county. One of his earliest acts was to establish a landing at the mouth of the South Branch of French creek, where he built a log store house to encourage the business of transportation on that stream. The land of the Moravian Grant was occupied on lease until about 1850. when it was sold, James Miles and N. Blickensderfer being the purchasers. It was by them subdivided into farms and put on the market. The first purchase of Moravian land was made by P. G. and John D. Stranahan, who moved over from Concord and settled in the vicinity of Le Bœuf station on the P. & E. Railroad. There were two other tracts of land withheld by the State. The Academy tract, granted to Waterford Acad- emy, consisted of 500 acres of land at the mouth of Le Bœuf creek. This was also for a time occupied on lease, but in 1840 the land was sold. The other tract was called the Le Bœuf Reserve and extended north from the Academy tract to Lake Le Bœuf in Waterford township. It had been withheld in order to encourage immigration. Of this tract about 400 acres were included within the boundaries of Le Bœuf township. In 1799 an act was passed by which this was sold at a low price and by the beginning of the last century it had all been sold in small quantities. The Holland Land Company, and George Fisher of Dauphin county also held extensive tracts in the township, all of which found purchasers in farmers who desired to make homes within the township.
A Methodist Episcopal society was organized in 1839, and meetings were held in a near-by schoolhouse until 1855, when the Edenville church
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was built. John W. Manross built a church in 1869, which he intended should be used by religious bodies generally. It has, however, been chiefly employed by the Methodists. The Presbyterians effected an or- ganization at Millvillage through the efforts of Rev. J. M. Gillett in 1870, and in 1812 erected a building. Rev. Gillett, who was settled at Union, supplied at Millvillage for a time, until in 1823 Rev. David Waggoner became pastor, and served until 1879. but since then, having no regular minister it has been supplied by Revs. M. Wishard, William Grassie, A. H. Caughey and J. P. Irwin. and others. The United Brethren church dates as a permanency from 1816. There had been an organization ear- lier but the society fell away, and ceased to exist until a revival in 1826 resurrected it. A church building was dedicated January 6, 1878.
Schools began in Le Bœuf before the free school period. In 1820- 21 a school was established in the Ford district in which Miss Elizabeth Strickland taught in the summer and James Skinner in the winter. Later Miss Hannah Hall was the summer teacher. This school came to be known as the Smith school and served the people of that region for many years, among the teachers being Stephen Skinner, Patrick McGill, Cyrus Nutt and Thomas Graham. A log schoolhouse was built in the northeast part of the township in 1822, and served for several years, until it was burned. Another building was erected on land owned by Adam Yocum. and among the teachers were Sophia Sackett. Mrs. Ward and Mr. Crownstar. In 1825 a school was built in the district-known as New Ireland, among the early teachers in which were Nathan Mallory, Mr. Reynolds and Emeline Stone.
There are but few villages in the township; indeed there is but one that attains to the dignity of being more than mere hamlets or neigh- borly settlements. That one is Millvillage. There is a small stream called Mill run that flows into French creek, and along this run a numn- ber of saw-mills were built. Attracted by these industries other build- ings sprang up until in time it had attained to the proportions of a real village and went by the name of Mill Town. When the Atlantic & Great Western Railroad was built in the sixties it passed through this village and located a station, calling it Millvillage. The people adopted the name, and in 18:0 it was incorporated as a borough. It grew quite rapid- ly then. Stores were opened and merchandising along varied lines was engaged in. and fresh industries were started, and in time attained to a population of between 300 and 400. The idea of laying out the town was conceived by Wm. Kingen and the survey was made by Hon. William Benson of Waterford. The Methodist church of Millvillage was built in 1878, but the organization dates back to 1810, and first built in 1850 about a half mile south of the village. That church having been burned the new edifice was built in the borough. The Presbyterian church was built in 1872, and the Free Methodist church in 1894. Roman Catholic services are conducted in the borough by priests from Corry. The
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village has its newspaper, the Millvillage Herald, started in 1876 by C. C. Wright, who sold it in 188? to J. S. Ross.
Edenville came very near to becoming a town, for at one time it boasted a store, a postoffice, a sawmill, an oil refinery and a considerable number of dwellings. But the railroad which built up Millvillage was the undoing of Edenville, which though no longer what it was still re- tains its name. The other hamlets are called New Ireland, the Wheeler and Waterhouse settlements and Le Bœuf station, which is a station chiefly because it is a point from which to ship building stone.
Le Bœuf has contributed of its men to the public service: James Pollock as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1837; in the State House of Representatives James Weston, John D. Stranahan and C. M. Wheeler have served ; A. L. Tilden was Deputy Secretary of the Commonwealth. County officers were: Sheriff. James Weston ; Commissioners, James Weston, James Pollock, A. L. Tilden ; Treasurer, W. J. Robinson; Director of the Poor, William Bracken; Auditors, Thomas Pierce, John Wood, E. K. Range, C. J. Bunnell; Steward of the Almshouse, George K. Mitchell ; Mercantile Appraiser, H. L. Minium
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