USA > Pennsylvania > Warren County > History of Warren County, Pennsylvania, with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of some of its Prominent Men and Pioneers > Part 48
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In 1797 Callender Irvine, then a young man, undertook in person, aided only by his servant, "Black Tom," to make the actual settlement then required to perfect the title which his father, the famous Revolutionary general, had pro- cured. The first house stood on the ground now occupied by the railroad station at Irvineton, but this was abandoned for higher ground after the mem- orable " Pumpkin Flood " of 1805. When he came here his nearest neighbors were John McKinney, two miles above him, Mathew Young, on the site of Youngsville, and Robert Andrews, at Pittsfield. The Irvine family are of Scotch descent, some of their ancestors having received a grant of land in Ulster
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county, Ireland, from James VI. For some time before the year 1804 (when his father died) Callender Irvine was in command of the fort at Erie, Pa .; but he then resigned his command to look after the extensive property left to him. He shortly afterward became commissary-general of the United States army, a position which he filled for some thirty-four years and until his death. (For a sketch of this family, especially of Dr. William Irvine, see later pages of this work.) The title to this extended property in the eastern part of Broken- straw has thus never been vested in any hands but of the Irvine family.
In the spring of 1796 Mathew Young, a Scotchman and a bachelor, "pitched his tent" on the site of the borough of Youngsville, and began a career which justly entitled him to the distinction of bequeathing his name to the beautiful and prosperous village that sprang up around him. Mr. Johnson relates an incident of him which so tersely illustrates one of his peculiarities that we cannot forbear inserting it in this place : "Late in the spring of that year (1796) Callender Irvine, anxious to cultivate acquaintance with his neigh- bors, and to see how they prospered, walked up to see Mr. Young, and found him engaged in opening out what is now the main street of the borough, and extending it down the creek. He inquired of Young, with real curiosity, what he was about, and why he was not putting in some crops. With the utmost simplicity he replied : 'Why, man, I'm more fond of a beautiful prospect.' To which Mr. Irvine retorted : ' The prospect is, you will either starve or have to leave the country before spring.' Sure enough, when fall came he had no corn and was kept from starvation only by the surplus of provisions Irvine had and generously furnished him, when he went abroad to winter."
Young lived for many years the life of a recluse, making his home most of the time with John McKinney, sr., at whose house he often taught children in the evenings. He taught school frequently in town, a calling for which he was well adapted, being well educated, and a friend and general favorite of chil- dren. He was county treasurer from 1821 to 1823, the second to hold that office (Archibald Tanner being the first). In 1807 he built the first saw-mill, on what is called the Siggins water power. He died on the 4th of August, 1825, while on a visit to Charles Smith, in Deerfield township, and was brought back in a canoe and buried in the village cemetery at Youngsville. His remains now lie in the cemetery of the Odd Fellows. He is described, by one who well remembers his appearance, as being tall, slender, and erect, with very light complexion and (in later years) with white hair. " He was simple in his character, earnest in his purposes, and eccentric in his habits, with a kind heart for all, and an integrity that was never tarnished."
In 1798 Hugh Wilson emigrated from Northumberland county and set- tled on the place now occupied by the Rouse Hospital. He owned this entire farm of four hundred acres, and became a prominent and influential farmer and lumberman, though he had no mills. He reared a large family, and had one
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of the best farms in the county at the time. About 1835, by some misadven- ture in business, he became involved in debt, and was obliged to leave the home to which he had become endeared. He went to Clearfield county, where he died in 1846. He was a man of generous and manly impulses, and an honest purpose. His hospitality was boundless.
Contemporary with him, Joseph Gray settled on what was afterward called the McGuire and still later the Horn place, on the Brokenstraw.
In 1793 Darius Mead, with his sons David, John, Darius, and Joseph, and two daughters, emigrated from the Susquehanna River in what is now known as Lycoming county, to the tract of land now embracing Meadville, from whom it took its name. By reason of the hostile demonstrations of the Indians they removed to Franklin, where was a fort and United States garrison. The following spring, while the father was plowing in a field in the vicinity, a party of three Indians came stealthily and suddenly upon him, seized and bound him hand and foot. They took him about twenty miles into the woods westerly from Franklin, where they stopped to encamp for the night. While the Indians were cutting wood for their camp fire, Mead succeeded in extricating one of his hands. As one of the Indians came up with an armful of wood, and was bending over in the act of kindling the fire, Mead stepped up, and drawing a large hunting knife from the Indian's belt, plunged it into his heart. The other two came up at that moment, and a desperate encounter at once com- menced. It is supposed that Mead succeeded in mortally wounding one of his antagonists, but he was finally overpowered and brutally murdered, and cut to pieces with a tomahawk.
After the subsidence of the Indian troubles, David and John Mead returned to Meadville. In the spring of 1799 Joseph and Darius removed to Warren county with their families, the former settling on the Big Brokenstraw, where Mead's mill now stands, about a mile west of Youngsville. Darius located on the farm more recently owned and occupied by Captain James Bonner. In a year or two, however, he joined his brother, and with him built a grist-mill and two saw-mills. This was the first grist-mill in Warren county, there being at that time no mill within a radius of thirty miles. To the mill at Union, and that belonging to the Holland Land Company at Titusville, many grists were borne from this county on the backs of their owners or of the patient oxen, guided through the trackless forests only by Indian trails. Mead's mill, it has been said, was the Mecca to which the population of a large district made regular pilgrimages for supplies. It is said that in dry times some grists came forty miles. The inhabitants of Columbus brought their grists to this mill in canoes. Darius Mead was an acting justice for several years, and was hospita- ble and social in his habits. It is told of him that once, pending the delivery of a sermon at his house the Rev. Bishop Roberts, Darius Mead and his friend Isaiah Jones went to the cupboard and indulged in a drink of whisky. When
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requested to postpone the drinking until after the services were over, he replied : "Bishop, stick to your text; never mind us and we'll not disturb you."
Darius Mead died in 1813, and was buried in the cemetery on the original John Andrews farm. In 1813 Joseph removed to a farm on the Allegheny River, three miles below Warren, including the island which still bears his name, and passed the remainder of his life there, dying in March, 1846. His wife, Hannah, died on the 25th of February, 1856, at the age of seventy-seven years and four months. They were the parents of fourteen children, eleven of whom were living at the time of their mother's death. Many of the descend- ants of these hardy brothers are now living in Brokenstraw township, and are worthy of their ancestry.
After the death of Darius Mead the mill came into the hands of his nephew, John Mead, who had labored in them since 1807, as a hired man. John Mead, jr., was born near Sunbury, Pa., on the 28th of August, 1786. While he was yet a mere child his father, John, sr., removed to the valley of French Creek at Meadville, as before stated. In the spring of 1807 John, jr., came to the valley of the Brokenstraw, in company with his brother William, to labor in the mills of his uncles, Joseph and Darius. He married Sallie Hoff- man on the 12th of October, 1809, and built his house on a piece of land which his father-in-law gave him. In 1814 he and John Garner bought the Mathew Young tract of 400 acres, for $2,500 - the tract containing nearly all the land now within the limits of the borough of Youngsville. He rebuilt the Mead mills several times. He died on the 4th of November, 1870. Before his death his son Darius operated the mills for some time, and finally sold the saw-mill to Mad. Alger and the grist-mill to H. T. Marshall. In connection with these mills it is well to mention honest and ingenious John Gregg, who came in the early part of this century and settled about two miles north of Youngsville. He ground the corn for the Mead mill, and also preached the gospel according to the Methodist persuasion, made hickory splint cables for the lumbermen at three dollars apiece, and educated two sons for the ministry. His brother, Samuel Gregg, a bachelor, hired out to Judge Siggins and cleared for him the place now occupied by his son, William F. Siggins.
Another early settler, whose arrival in Brokenstraw antedates the year 1806, was William Arthur, who lived two miles west of Youngsville on the Brokenstraw, and as late as 1820 owned the mills at Wrightsville. His farm is now occupied by his son, William Callender Arthur. William Carpenter, also here previous to 1806, lived on the Brokenstraw, and is remembered as a lumberman of considerable activity. On one occasion he accompanied John Siggins and Daniel Horn to New Orleans on a raft. On their way back Sig- gins died at Natchez. Carpenter died some time previous to 1830, and has now no descendants in town. Still others who are mentioned in the list of taxables for 1806 were William Cochran, a single man, who sawed in the mill
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of Judge Siggins, and who afterward went to Pithole during the oil excite- ment, and became wealthy; David Carr, who owned two hundred acres of land at the mouth of the Brokenstraw ; Abraham Davis, brother of Elijah, who (Abraham) lived on the Brokenstraw in the eastern part of the borough of Youngsville, on the place now occupied by his son, William A. Davis, and who farmed and lumbered until his death, something over twenty years ago ; John Davis, brother of Abraham, who lived on what is now East Main street in Youngsville, on the place now occupied by his descendants, who was the father of ex-Sheriffs Sylvester and Sylvanus Davis, now of Warren, and who, though poor, left his children an inheritance of brain and brawn which has secured them a competence and a good position in life; William Davis, brother of John Davis, and father-in-law of W. H. Shortt, who, until his death about seven years ago, lived in the eastern part of Youngsville borough ; Philip Huff- man, who lived in the western part of the present township of Brokenstraw, and carried on quite a farm there, where he died more than thirty years ago, an old man ; and Barnabas Mckinney, who at first lived on a farm near the present Irvinton, until the early death of his wife, after which he came to live with his nephew at Youngsville.
Nearly or quite all of the settlers before 1806 have now been mentioned, among them being some of the most prominent men in the history of the town. This chapter would be very incomplete, however, without some men- tion of such men as Judge Siggins and Abraham Davis, and others who arrived between the years 1806 and 1820. Judge William Siggins was born in Center county, Pa., in 1789. His father died in 1801, and two years later he came with his brother George to Pithole, in Venango county, then a wilder- ness almost uninhabited. It is related that the few settlers who were there were holding at that time an old-fashioned revival, that William Siggins was converted from the primrose paths of religious indifference, that he had the power, and that he received a pions impulse which did not forsake him in all the after years of struggle and activity. In 1807 he settled on the Broken- straw, on the site of Youngsville and of the place now occupied by his son, William F. Siggins. There was no house of worship in this neighborhood then, and four years elapsed with little opportunity for Christian converse. In 1811, however, he had the privilege of going to Meadville to attend the first camp-meeting ever held in this part of the country. He married in 1812, and at that time built a grist-mill at Pitholc. In 1815 he returned to Youngsville, where he remained until his death, on the 15th of July, 1875. His wife preceded him in 1855. Judge Siggins was a life-long and fervent Christian, though for reasons best known to himself he severed his connection with the church as early as 1837. He had not only a "sound mind in a sound body," but a powerful mind in a powerful body, and it was a pity that he had not the ad- vantage of a more thorough academic training, which would have made him
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more skillful in the use of the weapons that nature had put into his hands. He bore an active part in the War of 1812, and was with Commodore Perry at Erie. His mind was admirably adapted for judicial labors, a fact sufficiently attested by his long service as justice of the peace, and his long train of deci- sions, not one of which, it is said, was reversed on appeal. He was also asso- ciate judge for the five years following 1842. He was decidedly impulsive in disposition, though his strong sense of justice usually checked him from mak- ing a perverse use of his natural force.
The parents of Judge Siggins were both from the north of Ireland, and were of Scotch descent. His wife was Polly Wilson, of Center county, Pa. They had twelve children -eight sons and four daughters - of whom three sons and two daughters are now living. Two of the sons, Nathaniel and Will- iam F., now reside in Youngsville. His youngest son, Porter, served during the late war in the One Hundred and Eleventh Regiment of Pennsylvania Vol- unteers, and rendered distinguished assistance to the Northern cause - taking part in nineteen engagements. He was killed at Antietam by a bullet, which passed through a pocket Testament to his heart. (For a sketch of William F. Siggins, see biographical notes at the close of the volume.)
James Davis, who is now the most aged of the surviving settlers in Bro- kenstraw, came to this township from Columbus with his father, Elijah Davis, in 1809. Elijah came to Columbus from Northumberland county six years previously. In 1809 they settled on the site of Irvinton. In 1815 they removed to what is now Youngsville, where Elijah Davis died in 1823. James Davis was born in Columbus on the 2d day of October, 1804. On the 7th day of November, 1827, he married Jane Martin, a native of what is now Fulton county, N. Y., who at the present writing (December, 1886) is still living with her husband. On the 7th of November, 1886, they were given a party by their numerous friends in Youngsville, and presented with several elegant gifts. Mr. and Mrs. Davis have seven children now living-two sons and five daughters. Mr. Davis says that when he came here in 1809 the " forest primeval " had hardly been broken into. The largest clearing was a five or six-acre plot at Irvinton. On the east side of the Brokenstraw, in what is now Youngsville, Mathew Young had cleared a tract of nearly the same extent, and had built and started a single saw-mill. Young then kept bachelor's hall in a small log house on the ground between the present Wade house and the hardware store. John Arthur then lived on the site of the present residence of William F. Siggins, and operated the saw-mill for Young. The two saw-mills and the grist-mill of Joseph and Darius Mead were then in active operation in the western part of the town. One John Crawford lived near the turn of the road leading to Tidioute, at Irvinton, the place being afterward occupied by John Long. Joseph Gray lived near the site of the Irvinton station, where the spring and the oak trees may now be seen. John Andrews had built a saw-
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mill below Irvinton, and lived where Dr. William Irvine recently died. There were no hotels or taverns in town, and no mills but those mentioned. The principal business even at that early date was the rafting of lumber to Pitts- burgh and New Orleans. The principal farmers in this neighborhood were Hugh Wilson, on the Rouse farm, and John Mckinney, on the next farm below.
Settlers Arriving between 1806 and 1820. - Following are brief items concerning the inhabitants of Brokenstraw township, whose arrival dates be- tween the years 1806 and 1820. Joel Barton was a farmer who lived about one and a half miles north of Youngsville, and a number of years after his arrival here removed to Pittsfield. Stephen Crippen lived about one and a half miles south of Youngsville. He was a carpenter by trade. He went west as many as thirty years ago. John Camp, a millwright, and an officer of the Methodist Church, lived on what is now called the Charles Whit- ney place. He was more than an ordinary man. About 1828 or 1830 he went to Missouri. John Crippen took up a farm on York Hill, also about one and a half miles south from Youngsville, but afterward sold his farm and moved to Youngsville, where he died, probably about twenty-five years ago. It seems that he has descendants now in Deerfield township. Judge Isaac Con- nelly settled on the farm which lies on the eastern line of Youngsville borough. He was the first associate judge appointed in Warren county, in 1819, and held that office for twenty-one consecutive years. His son, W. W. Connelly, who now lives near Tidioute, was also associate for the five years following 1876. Isaac Connelly lived for a number of years in Deerfield township, where he owned and operated a saw-mill, but came back to Brokenstraw, where he died about 1864. None of his descendants are now in town, though he has two sons and several daughters elsewhere.
Isaac Davis lived on Hull's Hill for a number of years, but died in Youngs- ville. He had a large family. John Dougherty was one of the earliest of the school teachers in Youngsville. Between 1825 and 1830 he removed to Buf- falo, where he became a merchant and speculator in lands, and acquired great wealth. Jeremiah Dunn, it is said, gave Dunn's Eddy its name by the prox- imity to that place of his residence. This is two miles below Irvinton, in the Allegheny River. He had an early tavern at that point, but went away years ago, and none of the family remain in the vicinity. Richard Duprey occupied a farm in the northern part of the town, toward Sugar Grove. Although he had a large farm, he also had a large family, and the wants of the one en- croached to such a degree upon the productiveness of the other that poor Duprey was nearly always "hard up." He died at least as early as 1850, leaving descendants which still survive. Andrew or "Andy " Farrely lived below Irvinton, and had a whisky distillery near "Still House Run." He also engaged more or less extensively in the lumber trade. He is described
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as a hearty, driving fellow, tall and stout, and withal a good judge of whisky. He moved away at a pretty early day, leaving no descendants hereabouts. Roger Filer was a carpenter and joiner, and lived in Youngsville, where two of his sons, Samuel and Wallace, still reside and carry on the trade of their father. Roger died here of old age only a few years ago. Christopher Green came here in 1817, and settled about half a mile east of the business part of Youngsville borough. In 1820 he removed to Yankee Bush, in Conewango township. James Green (grandfather of Dorwin Green, now a respected resi- dent of Youngsville) also came here in 1817, and for some time kept a shoe shop in the western part of the borough. James Sturdevant, also grandfather of Dorwin Green, came in 1817, and brought Dorwin with him, then an in- fant. Sturdevant settled on a farm in what is now the western part of the borough. He died very early, and was one of the first tenants of the old burying-ground. John Garner, who only a few years ago moved to Ohio, was an early settler on a farm about three miles west of the borough. He also owned and operated a saw-mill. Nathan Howard was the first occupant of what is now called Crull's Island, in the Allegheny River, and gave to that isl- and his name for a number of years. He went away, however, at an early day, and little is known about him. Powell Hoffman lived many years on the line between Pittsfield and Brokenstraw. His brother Jacob lived on the adjoining farm. They at last sold out and went to Union City. Descendants of theirs are now residing at Corry. Hull's Hill derived its name from Chester Hull, who was the first settler on its bosom. There he reared a large family and carried on a large farm. Three of his sons became Methodist ministers. Chester Hull died on Hull's Hill as early, probably, as 1825. Miner Noble, a cabinet-maker, lived and moved and had his being and plied his trade in the eastern part of the borough until about fifty years ago, when he and all his house went West. Amasa Ransom, a lumberman and farmer, lived about one mile west of the borough. He went to Beaver, Pa., forty years ago, though his son Adoniram has repurchased the old place and now occupies it.
John Siggins was a single man and a brother of William, with whom he abode. He died previous to 1830. Another brother, Alexander, was a black- smith in Youngsville, and the pillar of the Methodist Church. His death oc- curred about twenty-five years ago.
Adam Shutt lived and died on the Barney Mckinney place, adjoining the Rouse farm. He reared a family of a number of sons and two daughters. One son, Jacob, is now an influential citizen of Covington, Ky., and another, William G., lives in Pittsford.
Stephen Littlefield, a carpenter by trade, resided about two miles west of Youngsville until the oil excitement "in the sixties," when he sold out and removed to Kingsville, O. He was a strong Democrat and an influential poli- tician. He was elected the second sheriff of Warren county in 1822. His
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descendants are not living in this neighborhood at the present time. Thomas MeGuire had a farm and dwelling house a short distance west of the site of the railroad station at Irvineton, where he died not far from forty years ago. Philip Mead lived in the western part of Brokenstraw township. He had a large family of children, a number of whom are now residents of this vicin- ity. He died about twenty years ago. He was but distantly related to his namesake, who was so long a merchant and justice of the peace in Youngs- ville. Samuel Trask, a farmer, lived in the western part of Youngsville village, where he died ten or twelve years ago. He had quite a family. A grand- daughter, Sigourney by name, is at the head of a mission at Hong Kong, and is also a physician. Alfred Van Armon will be mentioned again in connection with the early taverns of the town. He was accustomed, when his guests were treating each other, to invite himself to join them with the remark, " What have I done that I shouldn't have a drink ?" and thus receive pay for drinking his own liquor. Charles Whitney, who died about twenty years ago at his home in the western part of Youngsville borough, was one of the wealthiest and most extensive lumbermen of early times. None of his chil- dren are now living. Nehemiah York, who has the distinction of giving his name to York Hill, acquired his possessions in part by taking up 400 acres of State land. He died at his home but a few years ago, leaving "him surviv- ing," according to legal phrase, a number of sons and daughters.
Henry Kinnear, son of Robert, was born in Ireland on Easter Sunday in 1764. He came to this country about the year 1790. After passing a short time in the eastern part of Pennsylvania, he settled in Center county, where he remained a number of years. He married in 1797. Thenee he went to Venango county, near Titusville, and came to Youngsville in 1815. During this season he purchased a part of the Mathew Young traet, built and occu- pied a small log house, and in the following summer erected a small framed storehouse. These buildings stood about on the site of the present Odd Fel- lows' Hall. Henry Kinnear was the first merchant in Youngsville. On the 6th day of August, 1816, he was appointed and commissioned a justice of the peace by Simon Snyder, then governor of the State. His commission was recorded in Franklin, Venango county, on the 27th of August, 1816, and again in Warren county on the 19th of December, 1820. In 1819 he was appointed one of the first commissioners of Warren county, continuing in that office two terms. Besides clearing his land and cultivating in some measure his farm, he kept a store sufficiently stocked to supply the needs of the community, and continued an acting justice of the peace during his lifetime.
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