History of Mercer County, Pennsylvania : its past and present, Part 19

Author:
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : Brown, Runk
Number of Pages: 1288

USA > Pennsylvania > Mercer County > History of Mercer County, Pennsylvania : its past and present > Part 19

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1826.

J. Andrew Shulze 72,710

John Sergeant. 1,175 Thomas M. Howe .. 1 John Hickman. 1 Scattering (no record). 1,174

1829.

George Wolf 78,219

Joseph Ritner

51,776

George E. Baum ..

Giles Lewis ..

Frank R. Williams

1832

George Wolf ..

91,335

Joseph Ritner

88,165

1835

Joseph Ritner.

94,023

Goorge Wolf.

65,804

Henry A. Muhlenberg ...

40,586

1838.

David R. Porter.

.127,827

Joseph Ritner

122,321

1841.

David R. Porter 136,504

John Banks.

113,473

T. J. Lemoyne ..

763

James S. Negley.

George F. Horton. 18

Samuel L. Carpenter

Ellis Lewis

1844.

Francis R. Shunk. 160,322

Joseph Markle.

156,040

Julius J. Lemoyne. 10

John Haney

James Page

1847.

Francis R. Shunk 146,081

James Irvin

128,148

Emanuel C. Reigart.

11,247

F. J. Lemoyne 1,861

George M. Keim

Abijah Morrison

1848.

William F. Johnston. 168,522 R. L. Miller. 1

Morris Longstreth .. 168,225 J. H. Hopkins.

E. B. Gazzam 48 A. G. Williams 1

Scattering (no record)

1851.

William Bigler. 186,489 Silas M. Baily

William F. Johnston .. 178,034

1854.

James Pollock 203,822 William Bigler. 166,991

B. Rush Bradford ..

2,194

1857.

William F. Packer. 188,846 David Wilmot. 149,139

Isaac Hazlehurst 28,168

James Pollock.

George R. Barret 1

William Steel. 1

1. Samuel McFarland 1

Andrew G. Curtin .. 262,346 Henry D. Foster .. .230,239

1866.

John W. Geary

307,274

Hiester Clymer.

.290,097

1869.

John W. Geary

290,552

Asa Packer

285,956

W. D. Kelly.

W. J. Robinson

1872.

John F. Hartranft ..

353,387

Charles R. Buckalen

.317,760

S. B. Chase ..

1,197

William P. Schell.

1875.

John F. Hartranft.

.304,175

Cyrus L. Pershing ..

292,145

R. Audley Brown

13,244

Phillip Wendle.

J. W. Brown

G. D. Coleman ..

G. F. Reinhard

James Staples.

Richard Vaux

Craig Biddle.

Francis W. Hughes

Henry C. Tyler

W. D. Brown.

George V. Lawrence

A. L. Brown

1878.

H. M. Hoyt ...

319,490

Andrew H. Dill.

.297,137

Samuel R. Mason ..

81,758

Franklin H. Lane.

3,753

S. Matson

John McKee.

D. Kirk

James Musgrove.

A. S. Post .. 9

C. A. Cornen

Seth Yocum.

Edward E. Orvis.

1882.

Robert E. Pattison

355,791

James A. Beaver.

.315,589

John Stewart.

43,743

Thomas A. Armstrong.

23,996

Alfred C. Pettit

5,196

Scattering.

1886.

Samuel H. Lane

John Fertig

Jack Ross.

Kimber Cleaver

1,850

Andrew Gregg ..

1863.

A. G. Curtin. .269,506 George W. Woodward .. 254,171

Andrew Gragg .. 53 F. P. Swartz. 1

HISTORY OF MERCER COUNTY, ,

PENNSYLVANIA.

your Nu. S. Sarain

HISTORY OF MERCER COUNTY.

CHAPTER I.

PHYSICAL FEATURES AND SUBDIVISIONS-BOUNDARIES AND AREA-TOPOG- RAPHY-DRAINAGE-TIDE ELEVATIONS-SOIL-VEGETATION-ACT CREAT- ING THE COUNTY-FIRST ELECTION DISTRICTS-ORIGINAL TOWNSHIPS AND THEIR PROGENY-POPULATION OF THE COUNTY BY DECADES.

M ERCER COUNTY, as originally defined by act of General Assembly, 12th March, 1800, lies between Crawford on the north, and Beaver on the south, on the line dividing Pennsylvania and Ohio. Its length was thirty-two miles along the State line, and breadth, eastward, where it is bounded by Venango County, twenty-eight miles, the southeast corner jutting on Butler County, the square corners of both being cut off to make a fitting adjustment.

The surface of the county is undulating, but little broken, and peculiarly well watered. It is covered with springs and small streams running into the larger creeks. These creeks consist of the Big Shenango on the west, which rises in Crawford County; Neshannock in the center, with heads all over the northern central portion of the county, and Wolf Creek on the east. These streams all run in a southerly direction, and eventually are swallowed up in the Big Beaver, that empties itself into the Ohio River at Rochester. In addition to these there is the Little Shenango, that runs across a portion of the northern end of the county from east to west, rising six or seven miles east of the central line from south to north, and that empties into the Big Shenango at Greenville; and also Sandy Creek, that takes its rise in Crawford County, and running diagonally through the northeast quarter, empties itself into the Allegheny River about twelve miles below Franklin. Sandy Lake, a sheet of water about a mile and a half long and half a mile wide, situated near the center of the northeast quarter of the county, discharges its surplus water into Sandy Creek. The character of its general surface, its bountiful supply of water, and richness of soil was well calculated to make it the foremost agricultural county in this part of the State; nor has it disappointed the anticipations of its early settlers, for it is now not only a fine agricultural, but a heavy and prosperous mining and iron county, notwithstanding that it lost nearly a fourth of its territory in the erection of Lawrence County.

When Mr. Garvin prepared his manuscript the second geological survey had not been made. From the excellent report of Prof. I. C. White we gather some interesting facts relating to Mercer County, the report being dated 1879. For the sake of convenience these facts are grouped as follows:

1. Topography .- Mercer County, unlike those of its sisters, Beaver and Lawrence, has not had its surface materially modified by the operation of

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HISTORY OF MERCER COUNTY.

modern agencies. Glacial ice has swept over its territory and leveled its hill peaks and filled up its fertile valleys. The result is undulation, but none of the abrupt peaks which exist in portions of Beaver and southern Lawrence. Then, too, the valleys of its principal streams have been widened and straight- ened. Even the Shenango, whose actual bed is tortuous, has a comparatively straight valley bed along which it is supposed at one time to have held its way. The valleys, too, are bounded in the main with walls that slope gradually instead of abruptly. The only exceptions are found in the cases where streams have changed their channels, or have worn through the deposits to the underlying solid rock.

2. Drainage .- Though the drainage of the county is somewhat compli- cated, the rain-water finally all reaches the Big Beaver River, except what falls upon the four northeastern townships, which finds its outlet into the Allegheny. The "divide" which makes this division passes across the county from north- west to southeast. Near the head of Little Shenango, nothing except an instrumental survey will determine the exact location of the divide between the waters that flow southwest into the Shenango and those which flow south- east through Sandy Lake and Sandy Creek into the Allegheny. This condition of things was produced, it is supposed, by a glacial stream which cut through the intervening barrier.

The Shenango is the principal agency in drainage, the entire western half being accommodated by it. Entering Mercer from Crawford County, at James- town, it receives two principal tributaries, Little Shenango at Greenville, with Crooked Creek as its leading contributor, and Pymatuning west of Clarks- ville, with Booth Run as a feeder; and having made some tortuous windings, leaves the county about as far from the State line as where it entered it.

Big Run rises in Greene Township and, taking a southeasterly course through West Salem, empties into the Shenango River near the southeast corner of the latter subdivision.

Neshannock Creek, formed by the union at Mercer of Otter and Mill Creeks with their tributaries, drains the central portion of the county, and finally joins the Shenango River at New Castle, and ultimately through the Big Beaver contributes its stock to the Ohio. Little Neshannock, formed at the Big Bend divide, drops into the main stream a little south of the county line.

Wolf Creek, draining the southeastern portion of the county, flows rapidly into Butler County and joins Slippery Rock Creek, and through the Conno- quenessing enters Big Beaver.

Sandy Creek, coming into the county from Crawford, flows southeasterly and, receiving the contents of Sandy Lake, joins the Allegheny River in Venango County.

French Creek, fed by North Deer Creek, drains a small portion of the northeastern part of the county into the Allegheny at Franklin.

3. Tide Elevations .- It will be interesting to know the elevations of various places in the county above the tide or sea level. The following state- ment shows such altitudes at different railroad stations in the county. On the Erie & Pittsburg the following elevations are given in the survey:

Jamestown, 979 feet; Greenville, 961 feet; Shenango, 941 feet; Transfer, 990 feet; Clarksville, 894 feet; Sharpsville, 948 feet; Sharon, 853 feet; Wheatland, 841 feet; Middlesex, 833 feet.

These are on the grade of the Jamestown & Franklin branch of the Lake Shore:

Naples, 1,165 feet; Stoneboro, 1,171 feet; Coal Branch, 1,199 feet; Clark's, 1,164 feet; Hadley, 1,074 feet; Salem, 998 feet; Amasa, 987 feet.

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HISTORY OF MERCER COUNTY.

These are on the line of the Pittsburgh, Shenango & Lake Erie Road:

New Hamburg, 1,158 feet; Fredonia, 1,177 feet; Cool Spring, 1,127 feet; Mercer, 1,108 feet; Pardoe, 1,205 feet; Grove City, 1, 250 feet.

The following are on the line of the old New Castle & Franklin Road:

Coulson, 1,277 feet; Summit, 1,388 feet; Garvin, 1,327 feet; Jackson Centre, 1,257 feet; Turner's, 1,137 feet; Mercer, 1,097 feet; Hope Mills, 1,107 feet; Nelson, 1,060 feet; Leesburg, 1,045 feet.

4. Soil .- Mercer County shows unmistakable marks of having been sub- jected to the presence of northern ice. Glacial marks are to be seen in various parts of the county, notably on the road between Greenville and Mercer, about three miles from the former place. Even on the summit of Keel Ridge, 1, 250 feet above tide, the sandstone indicates glacial scratches. A sheet of drift, in some cases more than a hundred feet thick, covers the county. Its composition is var- ious, including a bluish-white clay of great fineness mingled with an occasional rock boulder, and innumerable cobble stones of various sizes. These boulders are often worn by attrition, and include varieties of granite, greenstone, gneiss, limestone, sandstone, shale, coal and most of the varieties of crystaline rocks. The soil is derived mainly from this drift, and is well adapted to the production of the cereals. Under-drainage is a necessity which intelligent and progressive farmers appreciate.

5. Vegetation .- The vegetation of the county is such as characterizes the western part of the State, and includes various forms of herbs, shrubs and trees, both domestic and wild. These vegetable forms are sometimes classified as to their utility for medicinal, esculent and ornamental and useful purposes, as follows:

Medicinal .- Senna, lobelia, ginseng, smartweed, Jamestown weed, snake root, blood root, wahoo, tobacco, marshmallow, pleurisy root, gentian, etc.

Esculent. - Artichoke, potatoes, millet, oats, pea, hop, cherry, plum, apple, mulberry, quince, hickory, maple, persimmon, walnut, chestnut, hazel- nut, strawberry, blackberry, raspberry, dewberry, corn, squash, pumpkin, gooseberry, etc.

Ornamental .- Poplar, aspen, linden, maple, horse-chestnut, catalpa, laurel, honey locust, dogwood, holly, evergreen, ivy, honeysuckle, sumach, elm, mountain ash, etc.

Useful for Fabrics .- Hemp, flax, pines, cedar, oak, birch, beech, ash, elm, willow, gum, hickory, sycamore, hemlock, etc.

The act of the Legislature creating the county of Mercer, was passed on the 12th of March, 1800, and reads as follows:

SECTION III. And be it enacted by the authority aforesaid, That all parts of Allegheny County which shall be included within the following boundaries. viz: Beginning at the northeast corner of the county of Beaver, thence northeastwardly along the line of the coun- ty of Butler, to the corner of said county of Butler and of the county of Venango, herein- after described, thence northerly on a line parallel to the western boundry of the State, to the north line of the 5th donation district, thence at a right angle along said line west- wardly to the western boundary of the State, thence southerly along said boundary to the northwest corner of the county of Beaver, thence eastwardly along the north boundary of the county of Beaver to the place of beginning, be, and the same is hereby erected into a separate county, to be henceforth called Mercer County, and the place of holding the court of justice in and for the said county shall be fixed by the Legislature at any place at a distance not greater than five miles from the center of said county, which may be most beneficial and convenient for said county. And the Governor shall, and he is hereby empowered to appoint three commissioners, any two of which shall run and ascertain and plainly mark the boundary lines of the said county of Mercer, and shall receive as a full compensation for their services thercin, the sum of two dollars for every mile so run and marked, to be paid out of the moneys which shall be raised for the county uses, within the county of Mercer.

140

HISTORY OF MERCER COUNTY.

Section I, of the same act, erected the county of Beaver; Sec. IV, the county of Crawford; Sec. V, the county of Erie; Sec. VI, the county of War- ren; Sec. VII, the county of Venango, and Sec. IX, the county of Armstrong. Excluding Armstrong, these counties were authorized to elect two members to the House of Representatives, and adding the county of Washington, were entitled to one Senator.

The election districts established by this act for Mercer County were two- one at the house of Benjamin Stokely, at which the inhabitants comprehended within the third, fourth and fifth districts of donation lands were to vote, and the other at the house of John Elliott, at which the inhabitants comprehended within the first and second donation districts were to be entitled to vote. The Stokely district comprised the northern half of the county, and the Elliott dis- trict the southern half, as well as a large portion of Beaver County, as the northern line of the first district of donation lands was also the line dividing the counties of Beaver and Mercer. The house of Elliott stood on the Beaver side of the line.

The assessments of taxes made in 1800 were for the townships of Neshan- nock and North Beaver, the dividing lines of which the author (Mr. Garvin) has failed to discover. But as the names of Loutzenhiser, Bean, Christy, Klingensmith, Roberts and Williamson, who are known to have settled in the northwest corner of the county, as well as of Budd, Reno, Hull and Hoagland, in the neighborhood of Sharon, and the Alexanders, Stokely, Simpson, Gar- vins and Zahnisers, north and northeast of Mercer, the presumption is that the Neshannock Township of 1800 consisted of the territory included within a line starting near Sharon, and running east near to the line now dividing Jackson from Worth Township; thence north to the Crawford County line; thence west to the State line, and thence south to the place of beginning.

Reasoning from the same analogy, as the names of Welch, Sankey, Robin- son and the Neals, that settled along the Shenango and Mahoning, and those of the Dennistons and the Gealys, William and John, and the McCrumbs, that set- tled in Springfield and Slippery Rock, as well as the Hezlips and Means, that settled where Wilmington now stands, and the McBrides, James and Robert, the Waldrons, Samuel, James and John, that were near Wolf Creek, indicate that the southern half of the county, with the exception of a part of the east side of Wolf Creek, was included in North Beaver, which perhaps also took in that part of Beaver County included in the election district that voted at the house of John Elliott. In Irwin Township of Venango County the names of the "Ten Milers," the Axtells, Condits, Dodds, Riggs, etc., who settled on Sandy Creek, near where Middletown now stands, in the township of New Vernon; those of Adam Carnahan and William and Jacob Reed, in what was afterward known as French Creek Township, and the Carrols, Carmichaels and Colemans, who were settlers in the neighborhood of the present villages of Millbrook and Hendersonville, induces the conclusion that what are the present townships of Worth, Sandy Lake, Mill Creek, French Creek, and perhaps a part of New Ver- non, Deer Creek and Wolf Creek, were then included in Venango Township, the line between the two counties probably not having been ascertained and marked when the tax assessments for 1800 were made.

In 1801 there appears to have been four townships-the name Neshannock, which the previous year was applied to the northwest part of the county, was this year applied to the southwest quarter, and the name of Salem introduced in its place.as designating the northwest portion. Sandy Lake designated the northeast quarter, and Cool Spring the southeast-North Beaver being elimi- nated from the list of Mercer County townships.

141

HISTORY OF MERCER COUNTY.

In 1802 a further change was made. The name of Wolf Creek was substi- tuted for that of Cool Spring in designating the southeast quarter of the county. Pymatuning was erected out of the southern half of the Salem Township of the previous year-the name of Sandy Lake was dropped, and that of Sandy Creek introduced, which covered the northern half of the northeast quarter of the county, while to the southern half of this quarter was transferred the name of Cool Spring. There were now six townships in the county-the southern half being occupied by Neshannock and Wolf Creek, and the northern half by Pymatuning, Salem, Sandy Creek and Cool Spring.

Thus far, in all practical matters, Mercer County was but an appendage to Crawford, the county commissioners of which appropriated the moneys raised by the taxes they authorized, and before the courts of which all causes from Mercer County were tried. To these county commissioners, or the courts of Crawford County, are to be attributed the naming of the first six townships of Mercer County, and the singular changes of names and locations that have been traced in the preceding page.

The arrangements of 1802 stood until 1805, when Mercer had her own courts and board of county commissioners. These concurring a further division was then authorized, and July 1, 1805, David Watson, Jr., was instructed to make the survey. On the 19th of August following the survey was completed, and we find that West Salem was taken from the west end of Salem, French Creek from the east end of Sandy Creek, Delaware from the east end of Pyma- tuning, Sandy Lake from the east end of Cool Spring, Shenango and Lacka- wannock from the northern half of Neshannock, Mahoning from the southwest corner of Neshannock, and Mercer, the county town, and Springfield and Slippery Rock from the west end of Wolf Creek, making fifteen townships and the county seat. With the exception of where the townships of Wolf Creek and Slippery Rock joined the corner of Butler County, the townships of the county were all now of the same size, eight miles in length from north to south, and seven in width.

The first break in this arrangement of townships was made in 1833, when Hickory was taken out of about equal parts of Pymatuning and Shenango. Greene Township was taken out of the northern part of West Salem in 1844. Wilmington from the southern part of Lackawannock in 1846. In 1849 Findley was taken from the northern part of Springfield, East Lackawannock from the eastern part of Lackawannock, Worth from the southern part of Sandy Lake, and Mill Creek from the southern part of French Creek. In 1850 three new townships were erected out of Cool Spring, to wit: Fairview, in the northwest corner, Lake, in the northeast, and Jackson in the southeast, leaving the old name to the southwest corner. In 1851 Wolf Creek was divided so as to make three townships: to the southwest part was given the name of Liberty, to the central part the name of Pine, the northern part retaining the original name of Wolf Creek. In the same year Sandy Creek was so cut up as to make four townships out of it: Deer Creek in the northeast corner, New Vernon in the southeast, Perry in the southwest, and Sandy Creek in the northwest. Hempfield and Sugar Grove were erected in 1856, being chiefly taken from the western half of Salem Township, the first getting, in addition, all that part of West Salem that adjoined it east of the Shenango River, and the latter a little piece from the eastern end of Greene.

For school purposes, several little innovations have since been made in the lines thus established, but the general direction and plan remains as detailed. With regard to Deer Creek there was a contest that lasted several years as to what name it should bear. When first laid out it was called Ross, in compli-

142

HISTORY OF MERCER COUNTY.

ment to a Democratic family by that name that were among its early settlers. A Whig member being elected to the Legislature the name was changed by act of General Assembly to that of Deer Creek; a Democrat succeeding, the name of Ross, by the same authority, was re-instated, and Deer Creek abolished; a Whig or Know-Nothing following, Ross was again suppressed, and Deer Creek re-established, and as the Democrats failed to elect their candidates to the Legislature for several years afterward, the last name has acquired a permanency that is not likely to be again disturbed.

In 1808, for the alleged reason that so much of the line dividing Mercer and Crawford Counties as lay west of French Creek Township, in Mercer County, ran through and divided the tracts of land that lay along it, this line was moved about half a mile south by authority of the Legislature, thus taking from Mercer and giving to Crawford County a strip of territory twenty-one miles long and half a mile wide off the north ends of Sandy Creek, Salem and West Salem Townships. The Jamestown people, about 1855, recovered their lost portion through the Legislature, and thus the appearance which that borough makes on the map, in having its northern portion, as it were, thrust into Crawford County.

In 1849 the townships of Mahoning, Neshannock and Slippery Rock, together with a strip of territory of about half a mile in width taken from the southern sides of the townships of Springfield, Wilmington and Shenango, were detached from Mercer to contribute to the erection of Lawrence County. In these townships were the villages of Harlansburg, New Wilmington, Pulaski, New Bedford, Hillsville, Edenburg, Eastbrook, and the borough of New Castle, containing altogether quite a third of the population of the county. And thus stands the bounds of Mercer County, with its subdivisions into townships in the one hundred and twelfth year of independence, and the eighty-eighth year of its erection as a separate county by the Legislature of Pennsylvania.

The growth of the county since its formation has been steady and reliable. There has been no fluctuation, as the following table will demonstrate: In 1800 Mercer County contained a population of 3,228; 1810, 8,272; 1820, 11,681; 1830, 19, 729; 1840, 32,873; 1850, 33,172; 1860, 36,856; 1870, 49,977; 1880, 56,162; while to-day there is over 60,000 inhabitants within its bound- aries. The small increase from 1840 to 1850 may be attributed to the fact that Lawrence County was erected in 1849, taking from the southern part of Mercer a large and populous territory.

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HISTORY OF MERCER COUNTY.

CHAPTER II.

LAND TITLES-PENN'S TITLE NOT RECOGNIZED BY THE INDIANS-TREATIES AT FORTS STANWIX AND MCINTOSH-SURVEYORS ENDEAVOR TO LOCATE CLAIMS OF REVOLUTIONARY SOLDIERS-CONFERENCE OF THE SENECA CHIEFS, CORN- PLANTER, HALF-TOWN AND BIG TREE, WITH PRESIDENT WASHINGTON- WAYNE'S VICTORY OVER THE SAVAGES AT FALLEN TIMBERS-TREATY OF GREENVILLE-DEPRECIATION LANDS-BOUNTY OR DONATION LANDS-TERMS OF SETTLEMENT-JOHN CARMICHAEL'S EFFORT IN WORTH TOWNSHIP-JOHN NICHOLSON AND THE PENNSYLVANIA POPULATION COMPANY-JOHN AND DAVID HOGE-HOLLAND AND NORTH AMERICAN LAND COMPANIES-DR. NATHANIEL BEDFORD-LODGE, PROBST AND WALKER-LITIGATION GROWING OUT OF CONFLICTING CLAIMS-LAND WARRANTS, PATENTS AND DEEDS.

A LTHOUGH within the limits of Pennsylvania, as defined by the charter of Charles II of England in 1681, the Indian title to the lands in this part of the State was not extinguished by purchase until January, 1785, at Fort McIntosh, where the town of Beaver now stands. In the previous Octo- ber, the commissioners, appointed by the Congress of the United States, met the chief men of the Six Nations of Indians at Fort Stanwix, in New York State, to negotiate a peace and settle upon boundaries, at which time and place the commissioners of Pennsylvania made a purchase of the right and title of the Six Nations to all their lands within the limits of the State. The treaty at Fort McIntosh was held with other tribes, the Delawares and Wyandots being among the number, and claiming property in lands included within the limits of the State; and from them the commissioners made a further purchase, thus extinguishing, as they supposed, all Indian title to the soil of Pennsyl- vania, a little over a hundred years after the date of the charter to William Penn, and four years after the King of England had specifically recognized Pennsylvania to be a free and sovereign State.

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History of Mercer County, Pennsylvania : its past and present, Part 19

Author: Publication date: 1888 Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : Brown, Runk Number of Pages: 1288

Author:
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : Brown, Runk
Number of Pages: 1288