USA > Pennsylvania > Erie County > History of Erie county, Pennsylvania. Containing a history of the county; its townships, towns, villages schools, churches, industries, etc > Part 90
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781
MCKEAN TOWNSHIP.
1812. Hannah, daughter of James Talmadge, was the first white child born in the township. The event occurred in 1798. David Sterrett, son of Robert, settled on the homestead farm. He was the father of Robert W., Thomas, James and Andrew J., and of Mrs. Wright, Norton, Brockway and Hall. James Aubrey's father was a Surgeon in Wolfe's army at the storming of Quebec. Stephen Oliver enlisted in the American Army at the outbreak of the Revolution and served until its close. He died January 14, 1857, aged ninety-seven years.
Lemuel Stancliff, one of the first settlers referred to, was a soldier in Washington's army at the time of Arnold's treason. Among the other early set- tlers were the following:In 1809, Ira Glazier, from Oneida County, N. Y., and Ezra White; in 1825. the Washburns, from Massachusetts; about 1826, Benja- min F. Morey, of Berkshire, Vt .; in 1831, John Drown, of Lyons, N. Y. ; about 1835, the Marshes, from Nova Scotia, and Peter J Barron, from France; in 1837, Oren Reed, from Otsego County, N. Y .; in 1840, Lorenz, Antony and Daniel Hauck, all from Germany.
PUBLIC OFFICERS.
The State and county officers from Mckean Township have been as follows: State Senate, Joseph M. Sterrett, 1837 to 1841 Associate Judge, Joseph M. Sterrett, 1850 to 1856. Assembly, Stephen Skinner, 1840 and 1842. County Commissioners, Joseph M. Sterrett, 1829 to 1831; Stephen Skinner, 1834 to 1837; Thomas Sterrett, 1837 to 1839 (died in office); Thomas Dunn, 1850 to 1853. Clerk to Commissioners, A. J. Sterrett, 1863 to 1881. Directors of the Poor, David Sterrett, 1847 to 1850; John Parmeter, 1852 to 1855; James Dunn, 1874 to 1877; Seymour Washburn, 1877 to 1880. Steward of the Alms- house, Thomas Dunn, 1858 to 1863. Jury Commissioner, William Grant, 1873 to 1876. County Surveyors, Hiram Bumphrey, 1833; Stephen Skinner, 1836 to 1839. County Auditors, Thomas Dunn, 1810 to 1821, 1822 to 1825; Eli Webster, 1829 to 1832; Oren Reed, 1852 to 1855, 1863 to 1865; Elias Brecht, 1857 to 1860. Joseph M. Sterrett left his father's house in Mckean when a boy, to learn the printing trade. He founded the Erie Gazette, and ever after resided in Erie. A. J. Sterrett was born in McKean, but left home at an early age.
BOROUGH OF MIDDLEBORO.
Middleboro was incorporated as a borough in 1861, embodying about two- thirds of a mile square. It had a population of 126 in 1870, and 210 in 1880, being the smallest election district in the county in point of numbers. The village is situated on the plank road, nearly in the center of the township (which gave it its name), at the junction of the South Branch with the main stream of Elk Creek, ten miles south of Erie and eight north of Edinboro. Benjamin Cullom built the first house in Middleboro in 1810, on the site of Hartley Lampson's. He died in Mckean Township in May, 1883, at the age of ninety-six years. Middleboro contains a Catholic and a Methodist Episco- pal Church, a schoolhouse, one hotel, two dry goods stores, oue grocery, one drug store, four blacksmith shops, one harness shop, one wagon, carriage and sleigh factory, two wagon shops, one saw mill, one saw, planing and shingle mill, two millinery stores and one shoe-maker shop. The public hall of the vil- lage is in the upper story of Peck's Block. W. A. Bean's cheese factory is situated just outside the borough. The post office name of the borough is
782
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.
McKean Corners. A shovel-handle factory was erected at Middleboro by Francis Lampson in 1861, burned in 1868, rebuilt the same year by A. H. Lamp- son, and moved to Leipsic, Ohio, about 1873.
The Mckean Methodist Episcopal Church was organized by Rev. Russell Stancliff in 1819, at the hewed-log house of Lemuel Stancliff, about a half mile south of Middleboro, with the following members: Job Stafford and wife, Lucy Stafford, Polly, May and Deborah Irish. The next fall a revival was held, which added a number of others to the class. The meetings were held in various schoolhouses until 1837, when a substantial frame meeting- house was erected. It was extensively repaired and enlarged in 1869, and still serves the congregation. Among the earliest ministers were Revs. Eddy, Alfred Bronson and Mack. Latterly, Rev. G. W. Staples, 1881-82. The cir- cuit is composed of Middleboro, Lawrence Schoolhouse (Summit Township), South Hill and McLane. Preaching takes place at each point once in two weeks.
St. Francis Catholic Church at Middleboro was built in 1876, at a cost, in- cluding bell and furniture, of $3,400. It superseded an old frame building, which stood two miles north of Middleboro, and was dedicated in 1833. The congregation was organized a few years prior to the building of this first church. The earliest Fathers of this congregation were Revs. Steinbaugh, Hartman and Joseph Oberhofer. Edward Hasse is the present priest. The soci- ety includes about fifty-four families. Services are conducted in both the English and the German languages.
Bates Post, No 83, G. A. R., was organized at Middleboro, August 21, 1880, with thirty-three members. Its first officers were: N. N. Newell, Com .; J. G. Grimler, S. V. C .; E. W. Davis, J. V. C .; L. W. Eastman, O. D .; Will- iam A. Herrick, Chaplain; John Weigel, Q. M .; J. W. Jarvis, Sergt .; P. A. Myers, Adjt. The post now numbers about seventy members and meets each alternate Saturday evening.
Diligent Lodge, No. 183, A. O. U. W., was instituted November 5, 1880, with eleven charter members, as follows: D. R. Waggoner, P. M. W .; G. W. Ney- land, M. W .; David Rohrer, F .; F. G. Weigel, O .; John Weigel, Guide; C. F. Schuetz, Fin .; C. M. Morey, Receiver; F. M. Gould, Recorder; Henry Soety, I. W .; George Schuetz, O. W., and George Stancliff. The present membership is forty-two, and the lodge meets every Thursday evening at Weigel's Hall.
CHAPTER XIII.
GREENFIELD TOWNSHIP.
THE township of Greenfield, one of the sixteen established when the county was organized, is bounded on the north by North East, on the east by Chautauqua County, N. Y., on the south by Venango, and on the west by Har- bor Creek and Greene. Its boundary lines are all straight, with the exception of a jog of about an eighth of a mile, commencing at the J. C. Prindle place, on the west side, and extending to the T. C. Plumb farm on the south. As originally established, Greenfield was considerably larger than now, a long, wedge-shaped strip having been taken off of its northern part in 1841 and added to North East. The township as thus reduced is about seven miles in
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783
GREENFIELD TOWNSHIP.
length from east to west, about four and three-quarters in breadth from north to south, and embraces 19,723 acres of elevated ridge and table land. The loftiest elevation is at the farm of F. B. Brown, in the southwest, and about half a mile southeast from that, in Venango, is said to be the highest point in the county. By the United States census report, Greenfield had a population of 281 in 1820, 664 in 1830, 862 in 1840, 731 in 1850, 880 in 1860, 1,039 in 1870, and 1,020 in 1880. The assessment of 1880 gave the following results: Value of real estate, $358,977; number of horses, 253; cows, 684; oxen, 6; value of personal property, $24,711; value of trades and occupations, $1,400; money at interest, $200.
The surface of Greenfield Township is mainly hilly, but there are some fine flats along French Creek and upon a tributary of that stream which comes in from New York at the southeast corner. The valley lands range in width from a half mile to a mile and a half. They are mostly of a gravelly loam, and produce corn, oats, some wheat and all kinds of fruit, except peaches, but are much troubled with frosts. The hill lands, which are less affected by the frosts than the valleys, are a clay loam, and yield good crops of corn, oats and potatoes, but are best adapted for grass and grazing. A great many cattle are raised in the township, and many tons of butter are made and sold annually. Land ranges in price from $20 to $40 an acre, according to its location.
BEGINNING THE SETTLEMENT.
Remote as it is at present on account of its distance from a railroad, Geeenfield was one of the first townships to be settled. After the restoration of quiet along the border, the Triangle became a favorite field for settlement. Among those who were impressed with its advantages was Judah Colt, a native of Lyme, Conn., who came on in 1795. Believing the country would fill up rapidly, he made the Population Company, which claimed most of the lands in the county, an offer of $1 an acre for thirty thousand acres off of the east end of the Triangle, which they declined. They were so much pleased with his energy and shrewdness, however, that they appointed him their agent for Erie County. Mr. Colt took up a permanent residence in 1797, having been pre- ceded by Elisha and Enoch Marvin (his brothers-in-law), Cyrus Robinson, Henry and Dyer Loomis, Charles Allen, Joseph Berry, John and William Wil- son, James Moore, Joseph Webster, Philo Barker, Timothy Tuttle, Silas and William Smith, Joseph Shadduck and John Daggett (each accompanied by his sons), and John Andrews. All of these were hardy and intelligent New En- gland people. Mr. Colt established his headquarters at what came to be known as Colt's Station, around or near which most of the emigrants settled. The same year, Mr. Colt cut a road through from the lake at Freeport to the Station, the first in the county after the old French road, as an avenue for supplies, which were brought by lake from Buffalo. This road was extended in 1798 to French Creek, near what is now "Little Hope," or Greenfield Post Office, where Mr. Bissell had established a landing, and later in the season Mr. Colt and William Miles continued it to the forks of French Creek. The eastern road from North East to Wattsburg was opened about 1800; the one from Colt's Station to Waterford, by way of Phillipsville, in 1804 or 1806; and the Station road, from Wesleyville, by way of Colt's Station to Mayville, in 1813.
Mr. Colt brought his wife on in May, 1798, who remained with him till his removal to Erie. In 1803, James Taylor, with wife and one child, coming from Rockbridge County, Va., settled in the township, locating about two miles northeast of Colt's Station. Here they remained until 1812, when they re- moved to the State of New York, near the boundary line between that State
784
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.
and Pennsylvania. Henry Taylor, a relative of the above named, settled in the township at the same time. He was a man of family, and several years later purchased land in North East Township, adjoining the borough, upon which he resided for some years. He figured conspicuously in the war of 1812. He was made Captain of the first military company at North East; subsequently removed to Michigan, and there died. The inducement that took Mr. Colt and his colony to Greenfield was the belief then generally disseminated that the hill lands were preferable to those of the lake shore, which were densely wood- ed, swampy and well-nigh impenetrable. In a short time, Mr. Colt saw his error, and in 1804 he removed to Erie, where he remained the balance of his life. He died suddenly October 11, 1832, aged seventy-one years and three months. Mrs. Colt survived till March 13, 1834, dying at the age of sixty-six. They left no children, and the large estate Mr. Colt had acquired passed into the hands of relatives. On Mr. Colt's departure, the greater portion of the colony left also, scattering in various directions, and most of them making amends for their blunder by taking up some of the choicest lauds in the county. Enoch Marvin became the company's agent in the Beaver Valley, where he died and was buried. His brother Elisha was one of the few who remained, and he and his wife both died at Colt's Station, the first in 1829 and the second in 1858. Their son, William E., continued to reside at Colt's Station till the decease of his mother, when he made his home in North East.
OTHER MATTERS.
The first Protestant religions service in Erie County was held at Colt's Station on the 2d of July, 1797, shortly after the arrival of the colony from New England. About thirty persons assembled, from Greenfield, North East and Venango, to whom a sermon was read by Mr. Colt. The old graveyard, on the Erie & Mayville road, a little east of the Station, was the earliest (1801) of which any record has been preserved in the county. Elisha Marvin, was buried there, but his remains were taken up and removed to North East after the death of his wife. The first celebration in Erie County of the Na- tion's Independence was near Colt's Station, on the 4th of July, 1797. The first military company in Erie County was organized in Greenfield, in 1801. It had eighty members. Elisha Marvin was Captain.
While Mr. Colt remained at the Station, it was a busy place, being the depot of supplies for all the country round. For a year or two, the line of travel from the lake was through Colt's Station to French Creek, and then on to Pittsburgh, which lasted until a good road was opened between Erie and Waterford. After Mr. C.'s departure, the glory of the Station faded. Col. Joseph Selden opened a store there in 1820, which was continued by other parties until a few years ago. Morrow B. Lowry clerked in this store when a boy of sixteen, and B. F. Sloan spent a portion of his youthful years in the locality. A tavern was established about fifty years ago, and kept up till 1860 or 1865. The old tavern has been converted into a farmhouse, and there is nothing there besides but a schoolhouse, a liberty pole and two small dwellings. -
STREAMS AND MILLS.
The chief stream of Greenfield is the West Branch of French Creek, which receives many small tributaries in the township. It heads in Findley's Lake or "pond," abont two miles from the State line, in Chautauqua County, and running across Greenfield from the northeast to the middle, and through the entire width of Venango from north to south, joins the East Branch in Amity, just below Wattsburg, after a course of eighteen or twenty miles. The head-
785
GREENFIELD TOWNSHIP.
waters of Six Mile, Twelve Mile, Sixteen Mile and of a branch of Twenty Mile Creek, are all in Greenfield, the first two flowing into the lake in Harbor Creek, and the second two in North East. They have their rise on the ridge north of the West Branch of French Creek, and not more than a mile or two from that stream. Some of the tributaries of the West Branch head within a few rods of the sources of the lake shore creeks.
The first saw mill was built by Leverett Bissell, at or near Little Hope, in 1799, being among the earliest in that county. Another was put up in 1824, by John Whiteside, in the south part of the township. The present manufact- uring concerns are two portable saw mills near Shadduck's Corners, in the west portion; another near H. Raymond's, close to the New York line; T. Ray- mond's saw mill on French Creek, about a mile below Little Hope; a grist mill, saw mill and cheese factory at Little Hope (the mills were established by Whiteside and Messer over a half century ago, and the cheese factory was built by a company about ten years ago); and A. Moseman's cider mill, on the Wellman road, near the Greene line. Formerly there were two grist mills aud two saw mills near Raymond's, but all have been abandoned.
VILLAGE AND CHURCHES.
The only settlement in the township which approaches the dignity of a vil- lage is Greenfield, on the West Branch of French Creek, just off from the middle road between North East and Wattsburg. The place is better known by its nickname of Little Hope. The site of the place was taken up about 1796, by Leverett Bissell, on a soldier's right of 400 acres. He built a saw mill and a landing on the creek, where batteaux came up loaded with supplies from the lower country. The original settler left the place in 1805 or 1806 in charge of his son Cyril. who located there and died about 1848. The present village embraces a grist mill, saw mill, cheese factory, store, blacksmith shop, school- house and twenty or thirty houses. There is a cemetery just at the outskirts of the village, and a Methodist Church at the corners, not far distant. The old Miller Graveyard, a few rods to the east, is no longer used for burial pur- poses. Greenfield was long the only post office in the township. Besides the burial ground referred to, there is an old one on the Gilson place, in the eastern part of the township. The Methodist Episcopal Church near Little Hope was organized in 1836, and occupies a commanding position at the junction of the Wildman and Wattsburg roads. It has a parsonage attached, built in 1868. This society was the outgrowth of a class that worshiped at an early day, in what was known as the Campfield Schoolhouse, located about one mile south of the present church building (in Venango Township), and subsequently in the Miller Schoolhouse. The church building was erected about the year 1850. The appointment has been on the North East, Wattsburg and Green- field and Mina Circuits respectively, the latter being formed in 1868, since which period the pastors of the charge have been as follows: J. K. Menden- hall, J. Allen, W. H. Hoover, L. E. Beardsley, A. Bashline. J. Akers, Z. W. Shadduck, G. Collier, 1882-83. What is known as the Second Greenfield Union Free-Will Baptist Church was organized at the date of the building of their present church edifice, situated in the western part of the township, in 1881. This organization was made up of the two congregations which had previously worshiped, the one at the Union Schoolhouse in North East Town- ship, and the other at Shadduck's Schoolhouse in Greenfield Township, both of which had been in existence a number of years. Among the ministers who have preached for the congregations may be mentioned Revs. Chauncy
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HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.
Burch, Morton, Losee and J. L. Higby, the latter preaching the dedicatory sermon in the church in the spring of 1882.
The United Brethren Congregation at Shadduck's Schoolhouse was organ- ized with less than a dozen members by Rev. J. W. Clark about eight years ago. It was placed on Harbor Creek Circuit, of which it is now a part.
SCHOOLS.
Among the early schools of the township may be mentioned one that way taught in a schoolhouse which stood about two miles east of the present Miller Schoolhouse, as early as 1816, and at about that time A. Young was the "master." In the eastern part of the township, John Griswold taught an earlier school. In this portion of the township other early teachers were Will- iam Leonard, George Selkregg, a Miss Phillips, and Miss Mary A. Platt. There was a log schoolhouse at Colt's Station, in which school was held in the winter of 1820-21, by Porter Rogers. Lorenzo Rogers, a brother to Porter, and Asa Hall, were teachers in this building. Another of the early-built schoolhouses for this section stood in Venango Township.
The present schools are the Wilson, in the southeast, at the crossing of the Findley's Lake and North East & Wattsburg roads; the Davis, in the north- east, on the last-named road; the Miller, at Greenfield Village; the Colt's Sta- tion; the Parmenter, near the North East Township line; the Moore, in the south, at the crossing of the Waterford and Wildmau roads; the Wildman, in the southwest, near the Greene line; the Prindle, on the road from Hiram Shadduck's to Harbor Creek; and the Shadduck, on the Colt's Station road, a lit- tle west of Shadduck's Corners. The township also pays half the expense of the Union School in North East Township, just over the line.
ROADS, ETC.
The main thoroughfares are the east road between North East and Watts- burg, and the middle road, through Colt's Station, between the same points; the Station road from Wesleyville to Mayville; and the road from Greene past the Methodist Episcopal Church and Greenfield Village to Findley's Lake. All of these were laid out on a straight line, but had to diverge in order to sur- mount the ridges. The township never had a plank road, and the nearest railroad station is at North East. The first marriage in the township was that of Joseph Shadduck to Betsy Willard, and the first child born was their son Ira. Greenfield has furnished but three county officers, viz., County Auditor, Mark Baldwin, 1833 to 1836; County Commissioner, William E. Marvin, 1845 to 1848; William Parker, 1853 to 1856. The first frame barn ever built in Greenfield Township is still standing at Shadduck's Corners. It was built by Joseph Shadduck about 1815. The third oldest man of whom there is any recollection in Erie County, was James Davis, of Greenfield-the very oldest having been Michael Hare, who died at Waterford in 1843, aged over a hundred and fifteen years, and whose remains are interred in the cemetery at that bor- ough. Davis was born in Taunton, Mass., and resided in Greenfield at a hud- dle of cabins known as Log City, a mile or two toward North East from Colt's Station. When about one hundred years old, he moved to Michigan, where he died in the one hundred and fifth year of his age.
At what is known as Shadduck's Corners, a special post office was estab- lished June 15, 1883, with Daniel Hunt as Postmaster. The office is desig- nated Hornby Post Office.
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789
GREENE TOWNSHIP.
CHAPTER XIV.
GREENE TOWNSHIP.
T THIS township-one of the original sixteen-was known as Beaver Dam until 1840, when the present name was adopted in honor of Gen. Nathaniel Greene, of Revolutionary memory. Its western boundary has been twice changed-first, by adding a piece to Mckean, and second, by the erection of Summit in 1854. Greene Township is bounded on the north by Mill Creek and Harbor Creek, on the east by Greenfield and Venango, on the south by Waterford and on the west by Summit and Mill Creek. Its greatest extent is seven miles from north to south, and six from east to west. It has an area of 22,020 acres, and contained 140 inhabitants in 1820, 443 in 1830, 1,081 in 1840, 1,542 in 1850, 1,450 in 1860, 1,395 in 1870, and 1,531 in 1880. By the assessment of 1883, the valuation of real estate was $560,517; the number of horses, 428; of cows, 795, and of oxen, 28; the value of personal property, $40,100; and the amount of money at interest was $19,023.
FIRST SETTLERS.
The earliest settlers in Greene Township were Peter Himebaugh and Con- rad Wineman, two Pennsylvania Germans, who took up lands in 1800 along Le Bœuf Creek, and remained there the balance of their lives. About 1802, Jacob and Samuel Brown, Thomas Bunnell, and John and Ambrose Coover settled in the Le Bœuf Valley. In the spring of 1802, Thomas Hinton, with five sons and two daughters, made their homes in the northeast, in what has ever since been known as Wales, from their native country. The Browns built mills on the creek, and for a long period supplied a good portion of the timber used at Erie. In the Welsh settlement, the Hintons were followed by the Joneses, Knoyles, Morgans, Wilkinses and others of their countrymen. From 1804 on, a number of persons went in and left, and the tide of emigra- tion did not commence again until 1816. Between that year and 1818, a colony of New England people located in the township, among whom may be named Cyril Drown and sons, Martin Hayes and sons, Isaac and David Church, Ben- jamin Gunnison, Roger Root, David Edwards and S. T. Rockwood. Weed's Corners was settled in 1828 by William B. Weed and William Yaple, who went there when the country south of Hayes's to Lake Pleasant was a con- tinuous forest. The first German emigration was in 1833, when the Hirts, Pringles, Kellers and others settled on and near the Wattsburg road. Mr. Knhl and sons removed from Mill Creek in 1835. The Irish began settling in the township about 1836, mostly on the Kuhl road. Among their number, the Barrys, Gallaghers, Morrisons, McManuses, Cosgroves and McGinneses were first on the ground. H. L. Pinney bought a farm in Greene in 1843, and moved there the next year. E. O. Pinney first rented a farm in 1843, and purchased in 1846; and Martin Pinney made the township his home in 1851. The first two are cousins of Martin Pinney and his brother Elisha Pinney, of Mckean. Their fathers were twins, and looked so much alike that they could scarcely be told apart by their wives. Elijah, the father of H. L. and E. O., located in Harbor Creek in 1835; Elisha, the father of Martin and Elisha, Jr.,
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790
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.
in Mckean in 1836. Griffith Hinton, one of the sons of Thomas, above re- ferred to, died at the residence of his son-in-law, Sumner Bemis, on the 15th of March, 1880, at the advanced age of ninety-six years. The Hinton family came from Wales in 1801, but did not settle in this county till the next year. Griffith Hinton served in the war of 1812. He removed from Greene Township to Harbor Creek in 1834.
LANDS.
Greene is one of the most elevated townships in the county, containing the dividing ridge from which the waters of Mill Creek, Walnut Creek, Four Mile Creek and Six Mile Creek flow into the lake, and of Le Bœuf Creek to the south. The main body of the land is clay and gravel, best for grazing, and great numbers of cattle are raised, and cheese and butter produced. There is a good valley along Le Bœuf Creek, in the southwest, ranging from half a mile to a mile in width, which is somewhat damp, but is rich in its yield of grass. Wheat is raised to some extent, but the valley is rather frosty for corn. Greene Township produces big crops of oats and potatoes, and fruits of all kinds are as certain a yield as in any other section of the county. The value of land is from $30 to $50 and acre. A considerable area of forest land still exists, and the township may be said to be the main supply point of Erie for firewood. The township post offices are West Greene, East Greene, Hamot and Six Mile Creek.
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