History of Venango County, Pennsylvania : its past and present, including, Part 75

Author: Bell, Herbert C. (Herbert Charles), 1868-
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Chicago : Brown, Runk & Co.
Number of Pages: 1323


USA > Pennsylvania > Venango County > History of Venango County, Pennsylvania : its past and present, including > Part 75


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Hickory Grove Church, Church of God .- The preachers of this denom- ination stationed at Barkeyville and other points frequently preached in the school houses of the township on their journeys to points across the river, and the first, or one of the first, was Reverend Jacob Domer. The organization was effected at Lyons' school house, Samuel Hovis and John Wareham be- ing the first elders. R. C. Shorts and Coulter Hoffman have since been


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HISTORY OF VENANGO COUNTY.


elected to that office. Samuel Hovis was the first Sunday school superin- tendent. The church edifice was built in the summer of 1882. Reverend J. W. Davis is the present pastor.


CHAPTER XLVI.


BIOGRAPHIES OF FRANKLIN.


G EORGE POWER was the first permanent settler of Venango county after the country came under American rule. He was a native of Mary- land, born April 10, 1762, of Irish ancestry. From boyhood he was inured to frontier life and thus became familiar with several Indian dialects, as well as the French language. He was one of those intrepid, experienced, intelli- gent, and useful frontiersmen utilized by the United States authorities as scouts, and was always ready to undergo any hardship and confront any dangers that stood in the line of duty. He was well acquainted with the habits and traits of the Indian character, and knew how to deal with them. In 1787 he came, as commissary with the command of Captain Jonathan Hart, to assist in building Fort Franklin, and on the completion of the fort he went to Fort Washington, which stood on the site of Cincinnati, Ohio, and was the rendezvous for the army operating against the western tribes. He subsequently went to Fort Vincennes, Indiana, returning to Fort Frank- lin in 1790, where he soon after established a trading post, and here the remainder of his life was spent, principally engaged in trading and carry- ing on a general merchandising business with the Indians and first white settlers of the Allegheny valley.


Mr. Power's first house was a rude log structure erected on the bank of French creek some distance below Fort Franklin, but close enough to guard against Indian depredations or surprises. This was subsequently succeeded by a substantial stone house which stood near the same site, and now occu- pied by the two-storied frame dwelling of the late Judge Trunkey. Here Mr. Power lived until the close of his eventful career, which occurred April 2, 1845.


He married Margaret Bowman, December 30, 1799, who bore him a family of nine children: Thomas Bowman; Catherine Mc., who married George Brigham; Mary, who married Frederick G. Crary; Margaret, who became the wife of Rowletter Power; Eliza, who married Benjamin A. Plumer; George; James; Benjamin L., and Sarah, who married Samuel F.


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BIOGRAPHIES OF FRANKLIN.


Plumer. All are dead excepting James of Ashtabula county, Ohio, and Mrs. Sarah Plumer of Franklin. Thomas, the oldest son, is claimed to have been the first white male born in. Franklin. Mrs. Power died July 16, 1843, aged sixty-three years. Both she and husband were reared in the Episcopal faith, but afterward united with the Presbyterian church. Polit- ically Mr. Power was a Whig. In 1814 he was elected coroner of Venango county, and was appointed county treasurer in 1825. He was fairly success- ful in the accumulation of property, and possessed considerable real estate at his death. Generous, kind, and hospitable, the memory of this old pio- neer is revered by his numerous descendants now living in Venango county, where he planted the first germ of a permanent settlement.


COLONEL SAMUEL DALE, for many years a prominent figure in the early political and military history of Venango and adjoining counties, came to Venango in the year 1800. He was born in Chester county, Pennsylvania, July 15, 1773. An ancestor, Charles Dale, native of England, who was of the army sent by William of Orange to Ireland, in 1690, after cessation of hostilities, remained in Ireland, married, and settled in County Monaghan. His son, Samuel, left three sons: Nathaniel, Mathew, and Samuel. The last named, father of the subject of this sketch, and the first representative of the family in America, arrived in 1766. He married Ann, daughter of Samuel Futhey, of Chester county, Pennsylvania, January 17, 1769. In 1774 he selected a tract of land in Buffalo valley, Union county, and founded a home there. Threatened attacks by the Indians forced him back to Chester in 1777. In 1781 he advanced with his family in the direction of his home, as far as Dauphin county, and in 1784 resumed his residence in Union. He saw at an early day that the flame of the Revolution was slowly kindling, and the records show that he took an early and active part in the defense of colonial rights. He was deemed able in debate and wise in council. For twenty-three successive years he appears to have been in the council of the state, aiding in the establishment of the government, in framing its laws, and in the selection of its principal officers.


Among the attractions at the state capital at Harrisburg are sundry time- marked documents, in appropriate frames, ornamenting the walls of the governor's room. They are kept and guarded as precious relics-as me- morial treasures-of the early days of the commonwealth, and of her worthy sons, native and adopted, whose valor and wisdom have borne such rich fruits to the state. Among these relics are the original commissions issued to the presidents and vice-presidents of the supreme executive council of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. To these commissions are subscribed the names of the members of the general assembly and supreme executive coun- cil of the state. In this body was vested the appointing power, and the name of Samuel Dale, as one of that body, appears signed to each commis- sion. He died on the 7th of September, 1804, leaving a widow and nine


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HISTORY OF VENANGO COUNTY.


children, viz. : Ruth, Samuel, William, Jane, James, Ann, Mary, Elizabeth, and Margaret.


Samuel, the second child and subject of this sketch, at the age of nine- teen years, was commissioned lieutenant of a militia company by Governor Thomas Mifflin, and then commenced the study of military tactics. In 1802 he was commissioned by Governor Thomas McKean lieutenant colonel of the One Hundred and Thirty-Second regiment, and was recommissioned in 1811 by Governor Snyder. The rank of colonel does not appear in the appoint- ments of those times in Pennsylvania. He represented the counties of Venango and Mercer in the state legislature, from 1808 to 1813. On the 19th of November, 1812, while a member of the legislature at Lancaster, he married Eliza, daughter of Michael Gundaker, one of the early and success- ful merchants of Lancaster city. He had in contemplation a commercial life in Philadelphia, but having a mathematical mind he applied himself to the study of civil engineering, and in 1800 accepted the appointment from the surveyor general of the state of deputy surveyor of Venango county. He devoted himself to the survey of the county, establishing its boundaries with a view to a correct map of the county, and in establishing the bound- aries of lands of companies and of individuals in Venango and adjoining counties, continuing in this employment until 1812. He was character- ized by a conscientious faithfulness in discharge of his duties and labors, even in the smallest undertakings, so that notwithstanding the inconveni- ences and difficulties attending surveys at that early day through the unbroken forests, they were made with such care and accuracy that, in land litigations since that time, his field notes, when applicable, have been almost invariably accepted as conclusive. His knowledge, skill, and accuracy, as a civil engineer, and the high meed of praise awarded to his work as such, by professional men, appear in the chapter of this work entitled "Land Tenure."


In his early years the Indians were numerous, and hostile to the settle- ment of what they deemed their hunting grounds by the white men, There was constant dread of their ravages. He therefore made the Indian char- acter a study, and being of an active frame and possessed of a high degree of'energy, capacity, and courage, traits admired by the Indians, and enjoin- ing fair dealing at all times with the Indian, he gained the confidence and esteem of "the Seneca's great chief," Cornplanter, and of his warriors, to such a degree as to have been one of the principal means of reconciling the Indians of this region to the peaceable settlement and occupation of the land by the white man.


In the war of 1812, the national government having determined to obtain the command on Lake Erie, and having ordered that vessels be built at the port of Erie, under the directions of Commodore O. H. Perry, a messenger reached Lancaster with instructions to Colonel Dale, July, 1813, to march


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BIOGRAPHIES OF FRANKLIN.


his regiment to Erie, to assist in protecting the vessels while crossing the bar. Within a few hours after the receipt of the message, he mounted a fleet horse, and after a long and tedious journey, was enabled to report with his regiment at Erie at the time named in the order. In January, 1814, after the burning of Buffalo, the British, with their Indian allies, were reported advancing on Erie, and he again marched to that point with his regiment.


In 1818 he chose Lancaster city for his permanent home. About the year 1829, being in western Pennsylvania, in the interest of Franklin College, of which he was a trustee, he visited Franklin. Known to almost every citizen, personally or by reputation, the early settlers gathered in from all parts of the county to grasp the hand of one whose name was as a house- hold word. December 3, 1819, he was commissioned an associate judge of the court of common pleas of Lancaster county, and filled this position up to the time of his death, September 1, 1842, fulfilling the duties of president judge during the last few years of his life. He was also honored with numerous trusts, such as president, trustee, or director of educational, monied, or benevolent institutions, for he was an active participant in all of the public enterprises of his day. He died full of honors, and with the reputation for fidelity to every one of the many trusts, public and private, committed to his care, and with the consciousness of rectitude of purpose through life. His children were Anna M., of Lancaster; Judge Michael G., of Edwardsville, Illinois; Samuel F., of Franklin, now deceased; Doctor William W., of Carlisle, Pennsylvania; James J., deceased, of Mechanics- burg, Pennsylvania; Elizabeth G., widow of William M. Black, of St. Louis; Catharine C., widow of Robert Evans, of Lancaster, and Charles H., of Franklin. Their mother died July 3, 1830. His second marriage, four years later, was with Leah, daughter of Adam Lightner, who died February 9, 1886, at the age of ninety-seven years. Colonel Dale was a Democrat in politics, and a Presbyterian in faith. - M. G. D.


SAMUEL FUTHEY DALE, son of Colonel Samuel and Eliza (Gundaker) Dale, was born on the 7th of March, 1816, in the city of Lancaster, Penn- sylvania, where his boyhood was spent. In May, 1834, he came west to look after lands owned by his father in Venango and adjoining counties, and this led to his permanent settlement in Franklin, Although but little over eighteen years of age at the time of his arrival he soon identified himself with the interests of the town, and within a few years thereafter became a prominent figure in the business enterprises of the time and place. Among his early ventures was the establishment of a line of stages between Erie and Pittsburgh at a time when such an enterprise was relatively as necessary to the prosperity of the country and the convenience of the public as a railway between the same points became at a later period. He next engaged in the manufacture of pig iron at Franklin furnace and in operating a forge, and later-from 1838 until 1845-in the manufacture of pig iron at Buchanan


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HISTORY OF VENANGO COUNTY.


furnace. In 1843 he became associated with the firm of Nock, Dangerfield & Company, in a rolling mill and a nail mill in what is now the Third ward of Franklin and operated them until the discovery of richer ores elsewhere and other causes rendered the manufacture of iron in Venango county un- profitable. In 1857 in connection with the late Orris Hall of Warren, he built the flouring mills at the mouth of French creek known as the Venango mills and operated them several years. Of local enterprises of the more public character there were few, if any, in which he did not take a prominent part. Among those in which he was the leading spirit may be mentioned the erection of the bridges over French creek at Thirteenth street, and over the Allegheny river at the foot of Eighth street after the first structures erected mainly by the state were destroyed. He took an active part in securing the completion of the Jamestown and Franklin railroad, after work upon it had ceased upon its construction as far east as Stoneboro, and to that end became a subscriber to its stock and bonds; and was one of four gentle- men, who, in 1861, in order to secure the construction of the railroad from Meadville to Franklin, became bound to pay for the right of way upon con- dition that that road should be completed before the completion of the then projected road from Corry to Titusville. He was also one of the promoters and directors of the Franklin and Oil Creek turnpike, of the Venango Water Company, and of the First National Bank of Franklin.


He was not merely an enterprising business man of quick perceptions and great energy, as this brief sketch sufficiently indicates. He was a useful and exemplary citizen in all else that these words imply. He possessed strong convictions upon all subjects which are of common concern, and exemplified those convictions in his every day life-a life which was singularly free from those faults of the grosser sort which mar many otherwise strong char- acters. Of his conversation it can be safely affirmed that it was always and everywhere fit for the home circle, and this not because he was cool and de- liberate, for he was the reverse, but because the fountain whence the words came, often unbidden, was pure. A consistent member of the Presbyterian church, he entered into all of its activities with the same zeal and spirit of liberality that he displayed in business circles, and when the time came for setting his house in order he made provision in his will for relieving the wants of a greatly neglected class of its membership after he should be gone, in much the same delicate way that characterized all of his unostentatious alms-giving during life. But his charities were not circumscribed by denom- inational lines. With the provision for members of the church of his choice is blended another for others like circumstanced outside of its pale, and so long as faithful trustees shall be found to administer the fund so provided, this last act of his life will testify to coming generations of that catholic spirit and kindliness of heart which prompted it.


Mr. Dale was married on the 8th of October, 1840, to Eliza McClelland,


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BIOGRAPHIES OF FRANKLIN.


daughter of George and Agnes McClelland, who survives him. Their chil- dren were Agnes C. (deceased), who was intermarried with Reverend Robert P. Gibson; Leah J., wife of Colonel L. H. Fassett, of Franklin; Samuel G., now deceased; Eliza E., wife of Reverend E. Middleton, of Austin, Illinois; Anna M., wife of Thomas Alexander, of Franklin, and William W., now of Denver, Colorado. He died on the 2nd of June, 1876, in the sixty- first year of his age .- C. H.


GEORGE MCCLELLAND, deceased, was born near the town of Ballabay, County Monaghan, Ireland, in 1780, and immigrated to Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, in 1795. There he grew to manhood and married Agnes Seaton. In 1803 he came to Venango county, locating in what is now Victory township, but within a few years removed to Franklin and conducted the United States hotel. He was a man of much energy and was actively associated with early business and political affairs. He built and operated a furnace at Sandy creek on the Pittsburgh road, one of the first in the county. He was one of the projectors of the Venango Democrat, and a leading man in local politics, serving as county commissioner from 1808 to 1812, as county treasurer, 1813-15, 1820-21, and in 1824, and as county auditor, 1819-21. In the later years of his life he engaged in the business of dealing in stock, buying throughout Venango and adjoining counties and selling in distant markets. While attending to interests of this nature in New York state, he died February 18, 1834, aged fifty-four years. His wife survived him until November 24, 1842.


The following children were born to George and Agnes (Seaton) McClel- land: Jane, who became the wife of Doctor Nathaniel D. Snowden; Mar- garet, who married Arnold Plumer; John, who married Eleanor Purviance of Butler, Pennsylvania, and died February 19, 1837; Nancy, who married Judge John Bredin of Butler; Harriet, deceased; Eliza, Mrs. Samuel F. Dale of Franklin; George Croghan, a sketch of whom appears in this chap- ter, and Joseph, also a resident of Franklin. Mrs. Nancy Bredin was born in 1811 in Venango county, and in 1829 was married to John Bredin, a lawyer of Butler, who then rode the district and occasionally stopped at her father's hotel in Franklin. Two years after their marriage he was appointed president judge by Governor Porter, his steadfast friend and political asso- ciate, as was also George Bancroft, the historian, with whom he sat in four presidential nominating conventions. His death occurred in May, 1851, and that of his wife in 1882. She was the mother of a large family; the eldest of her sons became judge of the same court over which his father had pre- sided; another died a few months after enlistment in the late civil war, and Judge Ebenezer McJunkin was a son-in-law. Through the wife of George McClelland, a sister of the father of Mrs. Robert Lamberton, the Lamber- ton, Seaton, and McClelland families were connected.


ARNOLD PLUMER is a conspicuous figure in the history of Venango county.


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HISTORY OF VENANGO COUNTY.


He came of that stock of people who settled New England, and who have stamped their personality indelibly upon American civilization, being the sixth in descent from Francis Plumer who with eleven other emigrants from England founded the town of Newbury, Massachusetts, in 1635. The branch of the family to which he belonged removed to what is now Alle- gheny county, Pennsylvania, soon after the British standard was planted upon the ruins of Fort Duquesne; and thence his father, Samuel Plumer, who had married Patty Adams, of the distinguished New England family of that name, removed to the farm in Jackson township, Venango county, now owned by John Fetterman. There the subject of this sketch was born on the 6th of June, 1801. His occupations and opportunities for improvement outside the home circle, were, during his boyhood, such as were the common lot of the sons of the pioneers of western Pennsylvania. Undoubtedly the best instruction which he received, or the country afforded, was given by his mother, who had brought into her frontier home the culture of the New England of her day. Aside from this, little other training preparatory to the struggle of life was within his reach, if we except that discipline, which, coming from the poverty and privations of a new country, teaches and en- forces self-denial and self-reliance.


Early in life Mr. Plumer took an active interest in politics, and soon be- came a recognized leader in the Democratic party. Four months after he had completed his twenty-second year he was elected sheriff of Venango county. On the 25th of January, 1830, Governor Wolf appointed him prothonotary and clerk of the several courts, recorder of deeds, and register of wills, which offices he held during six years. In 1836 he was elected a member of the twenty-fifth congress in the district composed of the counties of Crawford, Erie, Warren, and Venango. On the 20th of May, 1839, he was appointed by President Van Buren United States marshal for the west- ern district of Pennsylvania, in which office he served until the 6th day of May, 1841. While holding this office, viz., in October, 1840, he was elected a member of the twenty-seventh congress in the same district which he rep- resented in the twenty-fifth congress. On the 14th of December, 1847, he was again appointed United States marshal for the western district of Penn- sylvania, and served until April 3, 1848, when he resigned to accept the office of state treasurer to which he had been elected by the legislature of that year.


At the close of his term of office as state treasurer, Mr. Plumer practi- cally retired from public life, and engaged more actively in private pursuits than his official duties had before permitted. He, however, continued to take as lively an interest in politics as he had taken while holding office. It was about this period that Mr. Buchanan's candidacy for the presidency took definite shape. He and Mr. Plumer were friends of more than ordi- nary mutual regard. Mr. Plumer had the highest admiration of Mr. Bu-


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BIOGRAPHIES OF FRANKLIN.


chanan's abilities and character, and was, as the sequel abundantly proved, unselfishly devoted to his advancement. Mr. Buchanan cordially recipro- cated these sentiments. He confided in Mr. Plumer as he confided in few others, and, especially during his absence from the country, relied upon his judgment very largely in whatever affected his political prospects. To use the language of one who had an intimate knowledge of the subject about which he wrote: " When Mr. Buchanan went to England as minister in 1853, at a meeting of his friends in this city (Philadelphia) to ' send him off,' he gave in writing that in matters of importance in reference to nomination in 1856 Mr. Plumer was to decide if dissensions arose among the workers."


During Mr. Buchanan's residence in England Mr. Plumer was called upon to attest the sincerity of his friendship for him by an act of self- sacrifice. The Know-nothing wave which swept over the country in 1854 left party supremacy in Pennsylvania trembling in the balance. Until that time it was a political maxim that "As Pennsylvania goes, so goes the Union." And the taking of a presidential candidate from a state that could not be relied upon to cast its electoral vote for him was a thing not to be thought of. It was therefore doubly important to Mr. Buchanan that Democratic supremacy should be re-established in Pennsylvania beyond a doubt, before the national convention should be held in 1856. These con- siderations gave to the state election in 1855 an importance second only to that of a presidential election, although but a single officer, a canal com- missioner, was to be elected. The interests of the Democratic party in the state and nation, and the purely personal interests of Mr. Buchanan alike demanded that the strongest candidate that could be named should be put forward. He must be a pronounced friend of Mr. Buchanan, and he must not only be a man of such personal popularity as to unite his own party, but he must be of such exalted character and spotless life as to challenge the respect of his political adversaries. There were many Democrats in the state of considerable eminence whose friendship for Mr. Buchanan was as pronounced and sincere as was that of Mr. Plumer; there were others of greater personal popularity of that sort which comes from the possession of those so-called magnetic qualities which inspire the rank and file of a party with enthusiasm, and yet others whose character compared not unfavorably with his, but among them all there was no one who so well filled all the requirements of the occasion as he did. It was therefore decreed in the council of Mr. Buchanan's friends that he must accept the nomination for canal commissioner. To accept such nomination from a party whose ranks had been shattered the year before by an assault which had resulted in seat- ing the candidate of the combined Whigs and Know-nothings in the guber- natorial chair was no small sacrifice on Mr. Plumer's part. The office was not one of considerable dignity; its duties were laborious and exacting, such as could not be performed by a deputy, and its emoluments were trifling.


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HISTORY OF VENANGO COUNTY.


Its possession could not add to the fame or prestige of one who had oc- cupied higher stations, and Mr. Plumer had no need of its emoluments if they had been much greater than they were, but had need in his private business of the time which would be required for the discharge of its duties. Party exigencies and the interest of Mr. Buchanan, however, required that he should make the sacrifice. He accepted the nomination, made the canvass, and was elected. Pennsylvania being restored to the Democrats Mr. Buchanan's nomination and election the following year were assured.




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