USA > Pennsylvania > Venango County > History of Venango County, Pennsylvania : its past and present, including > Part 9
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In Canal township the earliest authenticated settlement was that of Hugh and Alexander Johnston, father and son, natives of the North of Ire- land, who came here prior to 1797, locating in the vicinity of Utica. John and James Foster, Jacob Whitman, Thomas Logue, and Thomas Smiley; William Brown, a veteran of the Revolution from New York, who kept a well known hostelry at Hannaville many years; James McCune, whose settle- ment was made prior to 1805; John Hastings, John Duffield, Samuel and Alexander Ray, Jacob Lupher, John Cooper, William and John Boughner, W. P. Clough, William and David Gilmore, and John Mawhinney were also among the earliest permanent settlers.
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EARLY SETTLEMENT.
Jackson township embraces a considerable part of the valley of Sugar creek and was settled quite as early as Canal. Robert Beatty, who located on "the prairie," at the extreme southern border of the township, was the first settler in the valley of that stream between its mouth and the Crawford county line. William Cooper, a soldier of the Revolution, located at Coop- erstown in 1797. Samuel Plumer, from Allegheny county and the son of Nathaniel Plumer, who settled at Mt. Washington, Pittsburgh, in 1789, removed to this township in 1800, remaining until 1810, when he returned to Allegheny county. He will be better remembered as the father of Arnold Plumer, who was born in this township. James McCurdy, also a Revolu- tionary veteran; Samuel Small, from Bucks county; James Alexander, John McFadden, Robert Mason, William McIntosh, John Bleakley, and John Gib- bon may also be mentioned as pioneers.
Although an interior subdivision of this county and remote from the great water highway by which it was ordinarily reached, Oakland town- ship was settled quite as early as the adjoining territory. Lawrence Demp- sey, a native of Ireland, father of David Dempsey, who represented this county in the legislature in 1814, and of Peter Dempsey, founder of Demp- seytown, located near that village in 1797, removing thither from Centre county. There were three arrivals in 1798: Robert McElhaney, from West- moreland county, William McClain, and James Gordon; and quite a number of accessions in 1800, prominent among whom were Jonah Reynolds from the state of New York; Charles Stevenson, a Revolutionary soldier; William Moorehead, who removed to Cincinnati within a few years; Edward Patchel, from whom Patchel's run derives its name; and James Mason, from North- umberland county. Francis Carter, also a Revolutionary soldier; George Kean, who visited this locality in 1798, accompanied by his brother Will- iam; Alexander McCormick, and Alexander Fowler became residents in 1802. William Hays and William Reed arrived in 1803; Philip Kees, another Rev- olutionary veteran, and Philip Walls, in 1804; and John Fetterman, in 1805.
The earliest settlement in the valley of Oil creek occurred in 1795, when James Ricketts from Huntingdon county, a professional hunter who had an extensive aquaintance with the western frontier, established himself in bache- lor style at a temporary cabin on Cherry run, but the brief stay evidently intended at first ultimately lengthened into a life-long residence. The first settlers on Oil creek in Cornplanter township in order from the Allegheny river were Francis Halyday, Hamilton Mcclintock, Francis Culbertson, Ambrose Rynd, Francis Buchanan, James and Robert Story, and Francis McClintock. The Mcclintocks were from Lancaster county. Ambrose Rynd emigrated from Ireland in 1799, and after spending a year in West- moreland county, came to Venango in 1800, accompanied by his son John, a well known and useful citizen; Francis Halyday settled at the site of Oil City (Third ward) in 1803. The Allender family, who gave their name to a
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HISTORY OF VENANGO COUNTY.
1
small stream in the northeastern part of the township; Thomas Prather from Franklin county, the McFates, Lambs, Morrisons, and Shaws were among the first to settle in the central and eastern part of Cornplanter.
The Pithole settlement was among the earliest in the county. In 1796 Alexander McElhaney came here and remained a few months, but Indian troubles having become alarmingly probable, he returned to Centre county. The Dawson family, who were probably the earliest adherents of Methodism in the county; Hugh and Michael McGerald, who sustain a similar relation to the local history of the Catholic church, and Isaac Connely, father of George W. Connely, prothonotary of the county, were among the first permanent settlers on the headwaters of Pithole creek, in Allegheny township. Aspen- wall Cornwell arrived in 1819; David Dunham, in 1821; Ebenezer Byles, in 1825; John Tennent, in 1826, and John Lamb, in 1827.
The Flemings were the earliest settlers in Oil Creek township. Andrew and Daniel Fleming visited this locality from Fayette county in 1795, and returned to remain permanently in the following year. Jacob Richards and Abraham Sowers were there at a date several years later, but neither remained very long. James Shreve, from Fayette county; John Lytle, a native of Ireland; William Poor, originally from Massachusetts, and James Miller, upon whose land the town of Miller Farm was built, were early res- idents in various parts of the township. Abraham Lovell located at the site of Pleasantville in 1820, and Aaron Benedict in 1821.
On the opposite side of Oil creek William Reynolds appears as the first settler in Cherry Tree in 1797. He was a native of England, and located at Cherry Tree village. There were two arrivals in 1798, James Tuthill and John Strawbridge, the former from eastern Pennsylvania and the latter from the Susquehanna valley. Four Irwin brothers settled in Cherry Tree at the beginning of the century: Samuel, the first postmaster of the town- ship and father of Judge Richard Irwin; John, associate judge of Venango county from 1805 to 1838; James, and Ninian, a member of the first board of county commissioners. They came here from Union county. Thomas Hamilton and four sons, James, father of John Hamilton, second sheriff of the county, Thomas, Hugh, and Archibald, arrived in 1801, and in the same year Elial Farr came from New England, and Henry Prather from the east- ern part of Pennsylvania. There were several German families, those of George Tarr, Andrew Coover, and Jacob Casper being the most prominent. Elisha Archer came to the township in 1801; Elijah Stewart, in 1802; Manus McFadden and Edward Griffin, in 1803 and 1802 respectively-they were the only Irish Catholics among the early population; John Stiver, William Wilson, Arthur Robison, Charles Ingram, David Kidd, Robert W. Granger, Robert Curry, and Alexander Davidson, prior to 1805; James Alcorn, in 1811, and Joseph Breed, in 1818.
In the extreme northwestern part of the county Benjamin August was
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probably the first settler. He was a native Russian, the only representative of that nationality known to have been among the pioneers, and settled in Plum township about the year 1798. Jacob Jennings, a blacksmith by occupation, located at the site of Bradleytown in 1800, and Samuel Proper arrived from Scoharie county, New York, in 1801.
Patrick McCrea, who came to the site of the village of Eagle Rock in President township in 1797, was the first settler on the Allegheny river between Franklin and Warren, and the first Catholic in Venango county. He was born and reared in Ireland, held a commission in the British army, and was a man of education. John Henry, also a Catholic and a native of Ireland, came to the county in 1798, and settled at the point afterward known as Henry's Bend in 1802. Here he resided until his death March 16, 1858, aged eighty-seven. Samuel Rhoads arrived prior to 1805, taking land at the locality known as Henry's Bend in the same township. In 1813-14 he sold to Francis Culbertson. Robert Elliott settled at the mouth of Hemlock creek upon a tract embracing the site of the village of President at a later date.
That part of the county east and south of the Allegheny river was almost uninhabited nearly a decade after other portions of its territory had received a considerable population. The commissioners of Crawford county formed a number of justices' districts in Venango in 1803, embodying as part of their report to the court of quarter sessions the statement that there was not to their knowledge on this extensive region (Clarion river was then the southern boundary of the county and the line of Jefferson its limit on the east) a single taxable inhabitant. It is probable, however, that James Ritchey settled at the mouth of Ritchey's run in 1796 on the Clarion county side of that stream. In Richland township, Venango county, the early settlers were Moses and Andrew Porter, Johnson McGinnis, Samuel Stewart, and John Kerr, within a distance of several miles from the river; James Say, John Donaldson, John Bell, William Nickle, William Adams, Daniel O'Neill, Samuel Huston, Alexander Sullinger, James Downing, John and James Levier, John McDonald, Henry Mays, Andrew Weaver, George Myers, Robert Criswell, Abraham Persing, and several members of the Karns family.
It is a matter of current tradition that John Watt was the first settler in Rockland, that he came from Butler county in 1809, and that Andrew Mait- land arrived from the same locality in the same year. John Sullinger from Westmoreland county, a Revolutionary soldier, visited this township in 1805 and secured a tract of land, to which he brought his family in 1813. James Crawford first improved the tract on which Davis' Corners is situated. John, Donaldson followed Watt and Maitland from Butler county in 1815. Mat- thias and John Stover, Peter Lovell, Enoch Battin, John Hetzler, John and David Jolly were the pioneers in the vicinity of Freedom; William Mc-
-
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HISTORY OF VENANGO COUNTY.
Clatchey, William Craig, the Graham family, Abraham Witherup, Daniel Mc- Millin, and William Hill, at different points on the Allegheny river; David and Daniel Smith, William, Samuel, and Joseph Ross, in the neighborhood of Davis' Corners; John Haggerty, John Prior, Silas Brown, and John McDonald, in the eastern part of the township.
There is no authentic record of settlement in Cranberry prior to 1807, when Joel Sage located on the stream that bears his name. The first inhab- itants of this extensive township lived along the river, and, beginning at the mouth of East Sandy, in the following order: Samuel Lindsay, - Thomas, John Seidels, Andrew Downing, Isaac Smith, Samuel Howe, and Joel Sage. The Brandons-John, William, James, and Elliott, from Cumberland coun- ty; William Dickson, from Centre county; Alexander Strain, Ephraim Turk, and Samuel Culbertson, from Butler county, and Zelotus Jewel from New York state were the pioneers in the vicinity of Salina; James Crawford from Rockland township, Joseph Kennedy from Cumberland county, James Thompson, James Moorhead, John McCool, and Cornelius Houser, at " The Meadows"; James Eaton, Michael White, Michael Frawley, Matthew Gibbon, and Joseph Gillman, on the state road within a few miles of Franklin; John McCurry, Nicholas Lake, Silas Tibbitts, William Stewart, William Craig, Constantine Daugherty, William Allison, Samuel Mckinney, John McBride, and Hutchinson Borland, in the neighborhood of Salem City; and Jacob Zeigler, William Prior,.Peter Smith, and Owen Boyle, on the Susquehanna and Waterford turnpike near East Sandy.
John Hicks and Ebenezer Kingsley appear among the taxable inhabitants of Allegheny township in 1805, and although it may be questioned whether they were living within the present limits of Pinegrove at that time tradi- tion ascribes to them the honor of its first settlement. H. G. Spofford appeared in 1817, and erected the first substantial improvements. The first permanent settler was Samuel Powell, who arrived July 19, 1818, from Albany, New York. The Stover family, originally from Maryland, were the first residents at Centerville, and Marvin Perry, a county commissioner at an early date, was a pioneer in the south western part of the township. Among others worthy of mention in this connection were the Gilsons, Hales, Whit- neys, Dimonds, Gayettys, and Schwabs.
As evidenced by the assessment books of 1805, the year in which the county was separately organized, the taxables of the respective townships at that date were as follows:
Allegheny Township .- Alexander Allender, John Anderson, Thomas Anderson, John Blood, Henry Boner, John Boner, John Buck, Thomas Boyd, Felix Campbell, William Chapple, John Conoway, William Cooper, Francis Culbertson, James Davidson, Thomas Davidson, James Dawson, Thomas Dawson, Daniel Dougherty, Andrew Fleming, James Fleming, John Fleming, Sarah Fleming, Samuel Fleming, Henry Gates, Charles Gordon,
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Michael Graham, James Green, Joel Green, Samuel Gregg, Daniel Guinn, John Hamilton, Richard Hamilton, John Hardy, John Henry, John Hicks, Moses Hicks, John Hinds, Alexander Holeman, Charles Holeman, Eli Hole- man, Tabitha Holeman, Benjamin Huffman, Joseph Huff, Roland Hunter, John Kerr, Andrew Kinnear, David Kinnear, William Kinnear, Ebenezer Kingsley, James Lamb, John Lytle, William Lytle, Cornelius Mellon, Will- iam Middleton, William Miles, Andrew Miller, Thomas McCaman, Daniel McCaslin, James McCaslin, Joseph McCaslin, James McConnell, John McConnell, Michael McCrea, Patrick McCrea, Alexander McElhaney, Rob- ert McFate, Barney McGentry, Hugh McGerald, Michael McGerald, Mar- garet McGrady, William Neill, John Nelson, Thomas Nelson, Henry O'Bril, Samuel Patterson, Abraham Prather, Thomas Prather, Thomas H. Prather, Arthur Reihard, Samuel Rhoads, James Riley, Jacob Richards, James Ricketts, John Ryan, Jesse Sage, Noah Sage, George Sampson, John Siggins, William 'Siggins, George Simonton, Robert Simonton, Thomas Simonton, James Shreve, Abraham Sowers, Chauncey Stanley, John Stewart, Walter Stewart, John Storm, Alexander Thompson, John Thompson, Lewis Thompson, William Tripp, George Tubbs, Barbara Valentine, William Val- entine, John Watson, Robert Watson, James Walker, John Wilkins, Thomas Wilson.
Irwin Township .- James Adams, Welden Adams, William Adams, Ja- cob Allen, Philip Allen, Andrew Allison, John Applegate, George Arm- strong, Samuel Atkinson, Robert Atwell, Aaron Austin, Moses Austin, Er- nest Baker, John Baker, William Baker, Thomas Baird, John Barron, George Bartlett, Isaac Bennett, John Black, Thomas Black, Robert Blaine, David Blair, John Blair, Matthew Blair, John Bonner, John Bradford, Thomas Brandon, Timothy Breece, David Brown, John Bullion, Thomas Bullion, Moses Bonnell, William Burns, Robert Calvert, Daniel Camp, William Carter, George Carson, Peter Cole, Daniel Cooper, Elias Cooper, Samuel Cooper, William Cooper, Patrick Coulter, William Courtney, Caleb Crane, Martin Crigher, Robert Crawford, William Crawford, James Craig, Henry Crull, Alexander Culbertson, John Culbertson, James Darraugh, William Darraugh, Archibald Davidson, James Davidson, Patrick David- son, William Davidson, Benjamin Davis, William Davis, Hugh Derumple, George Dewoody, John Dewoody, William Dewoody, Adam Dinsmore, Will- iam Dixon, John Donaldson, Robert Donaldson, Thomas Donaldson, John Duffield, William Duffield, John Eakin, William Eakin, Samuel Eakin, Will- iam Evans, James Fearis, John Ferron, William Flatcher, James Fleming, Matthew Fleming, James Foster, George Fowler, John Fritz, Martin Fritz, Craft Ghost, Philip Ghost, Samuel Gildersleeve, Brice Gilmore, David Gil- more, James Glenn, John' Gordon, Alexander Graham, James Graham, Robert Graham, Thomas Graham, William Graham, James Greenlee, Rob- ert Greenlee, Samuel Grimes, Edward Hale, James Hall, Thomas Hamilton,
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HISTORY OF VENANGO COUNTY.
Ebenezer Hanna, John Hanna, Hugh Hasson, Samuel Hathaway, Simeon Hathaway, John Hays, Samuel Hays, William Hays, James G. Heron, Will- iam Hill, Adam Hoffman, James Hoffman, Michael Hoffman, Philip Hoff- man, William Hood, Marcus Hulings, John Irwin, Patrick Jack, Thomas Jacob, Robert Jamison, Solomon Jennings, Seth Jewel, Robert Johnson, Samuel Jolly, Thomas Jones, William Jones, Robert Jones, John Ireland, William Irwin, John Karns, R. Thomas Kennedy, George Kring, William Larrimer, James Leslie, Samuel Lindsay, John Lindsay, Jonathan Luce, James Lynn, William Lynn, William Lyons, David Martin, James Martin, John Martin, William Martin, Patrick Means, Thomas Milford, William Milford, William Minter, James Mitchell, Robert Mitchell, Richard Mon- jar, Samuel Monjar, John Morrison, Patrick McAvey, James McClaran, John McClaran, Thomas McClaran, George McClelland, David McCon- naughy, Thomas McCormick, Hugh Mccutcheon, Alexander McDowell, James McDowell, Nathan McDowell, Patrick McDowell, Miles McEib, Edward McFadden, Philip Mckay, Thomas McKee, William McKee, Hugh McMani- gal, Alexander McMichael, Daniel McMillin, John McMillin, Isaac McMurdy, Alexander McQuiston, John McQuiston, Sarah McTeer, John Nelson, James Nicholson, Edward Patchel, James Patchel, Moses Perry, John Phipps, Na- than Phipps, Richard Pope, Alexander Porter, Hugh Porter, George Power, Dennis Pursel, Daniel Rankin, John Ray, James Ray, Samuel Ray, Joseph Reddick, Jacob Rice, Matthew Riddle, Jonathan Riggs, Isaac Rob- ertson, William Robertson, Samuel Robb, Jacob Runninger, Margaret Rus- "sell, Thomas Russell, William Russell, David Say, Adam Scott, James Scott, Robert Scott, William Scott, Abraham Selders, Robert Selders, Will- iam Shannon, Augustus Shaw, Anthony Shirkley, John Sidell, Shadrach Simcox, John Sloan, William Sloan, Andrew Smith, Joseph Smith, Will- iam Smith, John Stephens, William Stoops, Michael Stufflet, Samuel Stuff- let, Philip Surrenna, Reuben Sutton, Richard Sutton, Stephen Sutton, Aaron Taylor, Adam Taylor, James Taylor, Frances Tracy, Israel Tuthill, Jacob Vaughn, William Valentine, Simon Vanosdale, John Van Siebel, Salis- bury Vincent, John Walter, Peter Walter, Daniel Wasson, John Whann, William Whann, James White, John Wilson, Benjamin Williams, Jesse Williams, Levi Williams, John Witherup, Andrew Woodruff, John D. Wood, John Wooderson, Lewis Wright, Samuel Wylie.
Sugar Creek Township .- Joseph Allen, Samuel Allen, John Andrews, Elisha Archer, John Archer, John Armstrong, James Arthur, Robert Arthur, Benjamin August, Robert Beatty, James Boal, Francis Boal, Andrew Bow- man, James Bowman, John Bowman, Joseph Bowman, William Brandon, George Brison, John Brookmire, Francis Buchanan, Nathaniel Cary, An- drew Campbell, John Carter, Francis Carter, Jacob Casper, William Christy, Hugh Clifford, Frederick Coffman, Henry Coffman, Isaac Connely, William Connely, Andrew Coover, Jacob Coover, Samuel Cousins, Thomas Cousins,
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EARLY SETTLEMENT.
William Cousins, William Crain, Philip Cutchall, John Cully, Samuel Dale, Joshua Davis, Alexander Davidson, Yost Deets, Simon Deacon, Peter Dempsey, William Derman, Michael Diven, Robert Dickson, William Dreffs, Robert Elliott, Elial Farr, Daniel Fleming, Ross Foster, Alexander Fowler, James Gordon, Patrick Gordon, John Gregg, Samuel Gregg, Edward Grif- fin, Barnabas Griffin, Edward Hale, Archibald Hamilton, Hugh Hamilton, James Hamilton, Thomas Hamilton, John Hays, William Hays, James Henry, Francis Halyday, James Hulings, Marcus Hulings, Samuel Hulings, Robert Huston, George Ingram, James Irwin, John Irwin, Ninian Irwin, Samuel Irwin, Jacob Jennings, Alexander Johnston, Hugh Johnston, Rob- ert Johnston, William Johnston, George Kean, John Kelly, Thomas Kelly, Robert Kelso, Philip King, Robert Martin, David Martin, James Mason, Joseph Mercer, James Miller, William Moorhead, John Murphy, John Mc- Clain, William McClain, Francis McClintock, Mary McCullom, Daniel McCombs, John McCombs, William McCombs, James McCormick, Mary McCormick, Alexander McDowell, Robert McElhaney, Manus McFadden, Neal McFadden, David McGeehan, John Nelson, Y. Nicholas, Isaac Paine, William Pastoris, Edward Patchel, James Patchel, Samuel Plumer, Henry Prather, Joseph Proper, Samuel Proper, Dennis Pursel, John Ray, Samuel Ray, William Reed, John Reynolds, Lydia Reynolds, Jonah Reynolds, William Reynolds, Jacob Rice, Susannah Ridgway, Ebenezer Roberts, John Rodgers, James Ross, Richard Ross, James Russell, Ambrose Rynd, John Rynd, Noah Sage, Robert Semple, James Shaw, Hugh Shaw, Robert Shaw, Charles Stevenson, Andrew Stewart, Elijah Stewart, John Stewart, John Stiver, James Story, Robert Story, Christian Sutley, George Sutley, Robert Sutley, George Tarr, Luther Thomas, John Todd, Elizabeth Tuthill, James Tuthill, John Tuthill, William Tuthill, Isaac Walls, Jacob Whitman, John Wilson, Peter Wilson, Thomas Wilson, William Valentine.
There were two circumstances that for many years retarded the settle- ment of Venango county. The first was the fact that large bodies of land were owned by land companies, and although in the market and open to settle- ment, these lands were so burdened with restrictions that few cared to locate upon them. The other unfavorable circumstance was, that several of the donation districts were partly situated in the county; they were free from taxation as long as the soldier retained possession, and hence the owners were often well content to allow their value to appreciate. Much of this land was not open to settlement for many years. After the war of 1812, the tide of population swept in with great force. Lands were in demand, busi- ness had received a quickened impulse, and everything indicated prosperity. The soldiers' claims, many of which were in the hands of strangers and many wholly fictitious, were beginning to be extinguished, and were no longer a barrier to the improvement and growth of the country.
The population of the county in 1800 was one thousand, one hundred
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HISTORY OF VENANGO COUNTY.
and thirty; in 1810, three thousand and sixty; in 1820, four thousand, nine hundred and fifteen; in 1830, nine thousand, four hundred and seventy; in 1840, seventeen thousand, nine hundred; in 1850, eighteen thousand, three hundred and three; in 1860, twenty-five thousand and forty-four; in 1870, forty-seven thousand, nine hundred and thirty-five; and in 1880, forty- three thousand, six hundred and seventy.
CHAPTER X.
EARLY SOCIAL LIFE.
CHARACTER OF THE PEOPLE WHO FORMED THE EARLY POPULATION OF THIS. COUNTY-HOUSEHOLD FURNITURE-SOCIAL CUSTOMS-GAME-DOMES- TIC MANUFACTURES - PIONEER ARCHITECTURE - CONVIVIAL HABITS-EDUCATIONAL FACILITIES-EARLY SCHOOLS. TEACHERS, AND TEXT BOOKS-THE POSTAL SERVICE-FINANCIAL METHODS.
N O better class of people ever settled up a new country than those of the early days of Venango county. They were largely from the eastern portion of the state, and descendants of Irish emigrants, who came- across the sea for conscience sake, in the days of persecution, though many of them were natives of the "Sea-girt Isle." They brought with them their morality, their religion, their love of liberty and hatred of tyranny. They came here to hew out homes from the mighty forest, and did not for- get the God of their fathers. There were also Germans and the descendants of Germans, who had been good citizens in the home land and brought the points of their early training to their new forest homes, and the settlements soon became homogeneous in their association.
The people who settled in this county when it was a wilderness are worthy of all honor and kind remembrance. A late writer has said: " A more intelligent, virtuous, and resolute class of men never settled any country than the first settlers of western Pennsylvania; and the women who shared their sacrifices were no less worthy." They came here, many of them, in poverty. They found the land covered with timber. There were for many years neither mills nor factories. With their own strong arms they must cut down the forest and fence the fields and build log cabins. Some of the first settlers lived on potatoes chiefly the first year of their coming.
An old veteran out to the west of us, who came here about the beginning of the century, thus relates his experience: "Me and the woman came out
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EARLY SOCIAL LIFE.
on foot, driving one little cow, and carrying all our effects on our backs. The first year we eat potatoes and slept on good clean leaves gathered up in the woods. The first wheat I raised, I took a bushel on my back, walked to Pittsburgh, got it ground and carried back the flour." And this was no uncommon experience. Sometimes they pounded their corn in mortars cut out of stumps.
Some of our first settlers on French creek took their wheat and corn in canoes and skiffs up to Meadville to be ground. They were obliged to live within themselves. Clothing was made at home. Shoes and hats were. manufactured in the household. Out on Sugar creek, Andrew Bowman com- menced tanning for himself and neighbors by laying down his hides in troughs cut from chestnut trees. This was about eighty years ago.
The furniture was of the most primitive kind. At first the bed was a. kind of bunk made against the wall of the cabin; then a home-made arrangement of timber, with elm bark cordage, and the bedstead was sup- plied. The first chairs were made at home. A rude frame work was con- structed and the seat made of splints, obtained by pounding strips of black ash until the growths separated, and with a little dressing were ready for the purpose. Then gradually mechanics came in and the arts of civilization ministered to the comfort and convenience of the people.
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