USA > Pennsylvania > Warren County > History of Warren County, Pennsylvania, with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of some of its Prominent Men and Pioneers > Part 57
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William English, from whom the writer has obtained much of the informa- tion concerning the early settlers of this township, was born in Lycoming county, Pa., on the 3d day of March, 1818. He was the son of John and Mary English, who were reared in the county of his birth. John English brought his family to Kinzua in the year 1821, and two years later settled on the place still occupied by his son William. John English was an honorable and successful farmer, and was also engaged to some extent in the lumber bus- iness. He died in 1868, and in five weeks was followed by his widow. In 1846 William English married Laura E. Parmenter, of Chautauqua county, N. Y., who has passed an harmonious period of forty years with her husband. They have seven children living-viz: Mary Ella, wife of Thomas Fullerton ; Orren, Solon, George W., Charles Fletcher, Alice L., wife of Hector Strong, and John, who is the only one remaining at the home of his parents. Rice English, now a resident of Kinzua, is a brother of William.
In 1831 Claudius English, an uncle of William, came to Kinzua and settled on the site of the village, and passed the remainder of his days within a mile of his first settlement.
At the time of the formation of the township there were within its limits but one or two patches of clearing, besides the already large clearing on Mor- rison's Island, which is said by some to have been the work of Indians long before the arrival of the white man. William Morrison had a small piece
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cleared on Kinzua Flat, these two being the only clearings worthy of the name. There was not a road in town, the only means of travel or transportation being furnished by the streams and canoes. Wild beasts abounded-bears, deer, wolves ; while rattlesnakes added the terrors of their presence to diminish the comfort of the human intruders. Wolves were so numerous that it was prac- tically impossible to keep sheep. There was even danger in the necessary custom of letting the cows run in the woods, with no other safeguard against loss than the tintinnabulating cow-bells which depended from their throats. There was not a sign or suspicion of a village. The inhabitants, few and far between, were not accommodated with the convenience of a store and delivery wagons, the nearest place in which to purchase goods and the necessary pro- visions of life being at what was then called a store, kept by Benjamin Marsh, just over the line, in Corydon. Most of the trade of the town, however, was given to Warren, whither the people made frequent trips in canoes. During the rafting seasons, also, it was the custom to bring large quantities of pro- visions from Pittsburgh by canoe. There was no grist-mill here, the grain being taken to Warren for grinding. It was not long after this that John English, Smith Labree, Comfort Hamlin, and John Hamlin built a grist and saw-mill near the site of the present railroad station, and on the ground now covered by the mill of H. A. Jamieson. These mills were the first erected within the present limits of the town, excepting the five mills of Jacob Hook, which stood on the strip afterward set off to Mead township. As early as 1828 John Campbell, James Stewart, and Robert Arthur, all of whom had married daughters of Martin Reese, built a saw-mill in the southwestern part of the town, and operated it until it wore out. Samuel Campbell, son of John, rebuilt it, and operated it until it went down, some ten or twelve years ago. The next mill was built several years later by Andrew Merritt and Robert Campbell about a mile above the mill last mentioned, and near the Mckean county line. Then a number of years later still John L. English and Sylvester Strong erected another mill a considerable distance below the John Campbell mill, on Kinzua Creek. About this time Stephen and Jesse Morrison, sons of Samuel, built a saw-mill on the Allegheny River, near the head of Morrison's Island; but this and all the other mills have long since gone to decay, and with the exception of the one first mentioned, which occupied the present site of H. A. Jamieson's mill, their places know them no more. The grist-mill was operated first by John English, then by Anthony Courson and others, until a few years ago Denton & Chattle assumed management and continued their joint labors for some time. Their successor, the present occupant, W. H. Hoxie, is worthy of his precession.
The Village .- Until as late as 1850 the town was without the convenience of a business center of any sort. The first settlers directly on the site of the village of Kinzua were Jacob and Comfort Hamlin, Comfort Knapp, and Smith
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Labree. Until that time there was no tavern in town, unless the name be ap- plied to the house of Smith Labree, which, during the rafting seasons, was thrown open for their entertainment, and afforded all the comforts, but none of the extraordinary privileges of a licensed tavern.
The principal credit of building up the village belongs undoubtedly to Sterling Green. He was the eldest of ten children of Seth and Sarah Jane (Portman) Green, and was born in Pine Grove, Pa., in the year 1816. His father came from Massachusetts and settled in Pine Grove about 1813, and married Miss Portman in 1815. The family removed to the head of Kinzua Flat, in Corydon, where occurred the death of Seth Green in August, 1848. Sterling went to Warren, and was for a time actively engaged in the lumber business. In 1848-49 he kept the Mansion House. In 1849, when he came to Kinzua, he found the site of the village nothing but a farm in the hands of Smith Labree. This land he purchased, and immediately laid it out into vil- lage lots, kept the first store, and built the first hotel, the Kinzua House, in 1851, and in this way became the author of the village.
The year 1851, the author has been told, is memorable from the laughable occurrence of a dispute within the town limits in the fall of that year. The menagerie of G. C. Quick & Co., en route from Warren to Smethport, was ad- mitted to the privilege (?) of performing and exhibiting to the people of Kinzua and vicinity. The proprietor, however, discouraged at the small num- ber that gathered to see his "greatest show on earth," concluded to move on without giving the exhibition. The boys of the neighborhood insisted upon his fulfilling his contract, but nevertheless he began packing his impedimenta preparatory for departure. He had not proceeded far into the wild road that led from the town before he discovered " the boys " who had opposed his go- ing felling trees across his path. They declared that unless the procession faced about and satisfied the demands of the spectators, they would fill the road with trees from Kinzua to Smethport. The proprietor, considering dis- cretion the better part of valor, yielded to their somewhat peremptory impor- tunities, pitched his tent, performed his agreement, and was permitted to go on his way unmolested. There are undoubtedly many of those " boys " now living in Kinzua, who recall the affair with a smile of satisfaction.
Present Business Interests .- Probably no town in the county has received more unmitigated benefit from the opening of a railroad through its borders than has Kinzua. It has created a market for all the products of the town, and has been greatly instrumental in increasing the population of the village.
The oldest mill and also the oldest mill site, as we have seen, in town is now owned by H. A. Jamieson, of Warren. Mr. Jamieson became the owner of this property in 1863, and has kept the mill in uninterrupted operation ever since. The grist-mill of W. H. Hoxie has been mentioned. The present pro- prietor has owned the mill, at the present writing, something over a year. The
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KINZUA TOWNSHIP.
handle-factory of Mason Sheldon was started about four years ago, as was also the oar-factory of J. W. Neily.
The oldest hotel in town is the Kinzua House, which was erected in 1851 by Sterling Green. Mr. Green kept the house himself for twenty years, and has been followed successively by McIntyre & Langworthy, Eugene Marsh, William Fogles, Joseph Clendenning, Joseph Hale, and the present landlord, T. W. Dempsey, who came into the house more than two years ago. The next hotel was the Maple Shade, which A. T. Bank's has kept since June, 1886, but which was first opened a number of years ago by J. H. Williams. Follow- ing Williams and preceding the present proprietor was L. W. Siggins.
The merchant who has been longest in continuous trade in town is John H. King, who first opened a store here in 1870. The building which he now occupies was built by him about four years ago. Mr. King carries stock worth about $7,000.
Sterling Green has dealt in general merchandise in Kinzua village in all about ten years, though he has occupied the present building only since the opening of the railroad and the oil excitement, at which time he caused its construction.
E. A. Van Scoy and G. W. Morehouse, under the style of E. A. Van Scoy & Co., erected the store building they now occupy as dealers in hardware in 1880, just previous to the opening of the railroad. They have a good trade, carrying stock valued at about $6,500.
J. Tate has dealt in general merchandise about five years.
D. G. Blackman built the store which he now occupies for mercantile pur- poses in 1882, and after renting it for one year to William Wright, came into the building himself. His stock is estimated to be worth about $3,000.
In August, 1883, J. W. Green opened a jewelry and drug store here, and a year later the business was enlarged by the addition of S. Green. The firm name is now S. Green & Co.
The harness shop of S. Norton & Co. (S. Norton and Norton Cardot) was established in the fall of 1885. These gentlemen also have shop in Sinclair- ville, N. Y.
The first resident physician in town was Dr. Nichols, who practiced here a number of years following about 1850. Before his settlement in town the inhabi- tants were accustomed to call their physicians from Warren, whither they went on floats. One of the oldest inhabitants has informed the writer that he once went to Warren for a doctor in the night, when the darkness was so intense that he could not see the hills on either side of the stream, nor even distinguish the sides of his float. After Dr. Nichols came Dr. Hector Galloway, a single man, who, in connection with business as an Esculapian minister, taught school. He was here four or five years. Dr. Thomas Eddy then came, not far from 1870, and has been here ever since. Dr. J. J. Knapp, who was born in Farmington,
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HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
this county, on the 15th of June, 1854, and was graduated in the spring of 188 I from the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Baltimore, came to Kin- zua on the last day of March, 1881.
Postmasters .- The first postmaster in town was probably Benjamin Marsh, who had his office at his house on Kinzua Flat. Jonathan Marsh then held the office for a time, and was succeeded by Hiram Gillman. Sterling Green received the first appointment after the removal of the office to the village, or rather, he removed the office to the village. He was postmaster for eighteen years. The present incumbent is Mrs. Rose Murray, who owes her position to the present national administration.
Following is a list of the present officers of the township : Commissioners, John Smith, L. S. Strong, J. C. Fuller ; judge of election, E. A. Weagraff ; inspectors of election, Lovel Gibson, G. K. Brown; school directors, Mason Sheldon, J. W. Springer, Stephen Harris, R. P. Vanarsdale, H. W. Neily, G. IV. Moorehouse ; treasurer, James Tate ; justices of the peace, R. H. English, D. G. Blackman ; constable, A. J. Williams; collector, A. J. Williams; assessor, Frank L. English ; town clerk, Frank L. English ; auditors, S. O. Campbell, E. A. Weagraff, J. H. King; pathmasters, district No. 1, Calvin Stoddard ; district No. 2, Marcellus English ; district No. 3, George W. English.
Educational .- The first settlers in this township, from 1822 to 1825, patron- ized a school kept within the present limits of Corydon. In 1825 a rude structure of logs was the first house used for educational purposes in this town, and was the place where all the schools were kept until 1829. They were sup- ported by subscription. The teachers in this house were Nelson Seaver, Pre- sene Corbin, Sophronia Inglesby, and Hiram Gillmore. In 1829 this house was burned, and for five years schools were kept in several houses, according to the immediate convenience of the citizens. Rice Hamlin, Edward Evans, and Amanda Inglesby were teachers during this period. Since 1834 the town has not been without its regular district schools, which, on the whole, have been very creditable. The village of Kinzua is now graced with a fine school-house which was built in the year 1882, and first opened in the fall of that year. The cost of its construction was something more than $5,000. The first principal was O. J. Gunning, who has been succeeded by Firth, Daniel Reeves, and the present principal, Arthur M. Marsh. The school is conveniently divided into four departments. The average attendance is stated to be about 150 pupils.
Ecclesiastical .- The only church ever within the present limits of Kinzua township is the Methodist Episcopal Church, which, previous to about 1830, like all the Methodist churches, was accounted as a part of a circuit. Services were formerly held in private houses, barns, and wherever convenience, rather than comfort, dictated. Among the first members of the class formed here were John, Jacob, and Comfort Hamlin, Samuel, James, Elijah, and Levi Mor- rison, John Campbell, and John English, with their wives. About 1848 John
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English gave the ground on which at that time the present house of worship and parsonage were erected, at a total cost of about $2,500. The present pastor is Rev. Sampson Dimick. The trustees are Loren Labree, Dr. J. J. Knapp, William English, and others.
CHAPTER XL.
HISTORY OF COLUMBUS TOWNSHIP.
1 HE territory now comprising for the most part the township of Columbus was formed as early as the 8th of March, 1821, by the name of North- west, and attached to Spring Creek. It was organized as a separate township on the 25th day of May, 1825, and from that time was called Columbus. The first township election was held in the spring of 1826, at the house of Cap- tain David Curtis. It is bounded north by Chautauqua county, N. Y., east by Freehold township in this county, south by Spring Creek, and west by Erie county, Pa. The township is said to have received its name in the following manner: David Curtis, from Sherburne, N. Y., and Kimball Webber, from Columbus, N. Y., both wanted to name the town from their former places of residence, and after much hot debate it was agreed that the person who should furnish the most whisky at election day should have the privilege of naming the new township. Webber offered five gallons and named the township. It cannot be learned at this date what the whole result of the first election was, but it is known that Joseph Munroe had already been commissioned justice of the peace by the governor, and officiated in the organization of the election board; that Edmund Rowe was the first constable; and that not all the whisky contributed for the first election was then consumed.
Early Settlers .- The earliest settlement of Columbus is not well ascer- tained, and at this period in the history of the township the facts are for the most part irretrievably lost. The first instrument procuring the settlement of this portion of the State was the Holland Land Company. Their agent for this territory was William Miles, and it seems probable that soon after the year 1795, though not before, a few settlers succeeded in building their rude huts and clearing each a small space for cultivation. But their stay was not prolonged. Those settling within the present limits of Columbus, so far as known, were Irvine, Call, Miller, two Vails, Daniel Prosser, Maxwell, and Davis. All their supplies had to be brought from Pittsburgh. They suffered privations which can not be adequately described. They struggled on until the cold season in the years 1805 and 1806, when they became discouraged,
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HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
abandoned their settlement, and sought a warmer climate and an older com- munity. As an example of the effect of those cold seasons, and the conse- quent failures in crops, the settlers had to pay three dollars per bushel for potatoes and transport them from Union, a distance of fifteen miles. On one of these improvements, as late as 1814, were the remains of a school-house, with its benches of split logs and desks of slabs, formed with the ax in the most primitive style, and fastened to the log walls with large wooden pins. In 1800 and 1801 Nathaniel Frampton, Daniel Horn, Joseph Phillis, and per- haps one or two others, made settlements here and remained a number of years, some of them until their death. In the spring of 1804 Daniel Corbett came from Lancaster county, Pa., and settled on the farm next east of Sample Flats. He weathered through the cold season, and in 1807 built a saw-mill on his farm, which enabled him to construct warmer houses for him- self and others, and to make a little money by rafting lumber down the river to market. His wife was a daughter of Nathaniel Frampton. Corbett remained on his farm until about 1830, or a little later, when he died. John Sample, another early settler, was a son-in-law of Nathaniel Frampton, and settled as early, probably, as 1800, on the tract in the southwestern part of the town, known at the present day as Sample Flats. Mr. Sample was a good farmer, increased his landed property here, and performed his duties as a citizen and a Democrat until his death, not far from twenty years ago. His grandson, John, lives now in the same neighborhood, and other grandchildren are resi- dents of this township. John Sample, jr., was a bachelor son of John, sr., and owned property adjoining his father's farm. He survived his father a few years. The Prosser clearing, named after Daniel Prosser, was about in the center of the township.
Daniel Call settled previous to 1800 on a farm about two miles northwest from what is now the borough of Columbus, the place being still recognized as Call Hill. He went away during the cold season of 1805-6.
Daniel Horn lived as late as 1806 about one mile east of the site of Co- lumbus borough, on the farm now occupied by Elmer Crosby. In 1866 he removed to Spring Creek, where his children still reside. Nathaniel Framp- ton was living in this township with his son-in-law, John Sample, until as late as 1825.
Michael and James Hare were settlers, previous to 1806, about a mile south of the site of Columbus borough. Others of the same surname lived near the site of Corry, but they had all gone away before 1806.
Luther Chase settled between 1806 and 1816 in this township, near the line of Spring Creek. Not far from 1830, it is stated, he removed to Titus- ville. He was not able to accumulate much property, for he had a large family, and when he settled here he was well along in years. He was not a public man in any sense of the word.
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James Phillis lived near the Corbett farm for a time, and after that moved around considerably. He married a daughter of James Irvin, near Wrights- ville. He was something of a lumberman, but much more of a hunter. A number of years after 1825 he went West. He has a number of descendants in the county now.
Thomas Tubbs was reared by Daniel Corbett. He was born in Lancaster county, Pa., on the IIth of August, 1793, and while a small lad was bound out to Daniel Corbett for a term of twelve years. He has written and published a pamphlet memoir of his life, and describes Corbett as cruel, tyrannical, accustomed to steal and lie. Tubbs died but a few years ago near Titusville.
These first settlers obtained their property rights by settlement and resi- dence. About the year 1822 Captain David Curtis, as agent for H. J. Huy- dekopper, the successor of the Holland Land Company, proposed to exchange wild lands in the " Brokenstraw country " for improved lands in Central New York, and being a practical surveyor, he came here with some others from Chenango county, N. Y. Soon after this time he sent Jabez Johnson to this township from Chenango county, who settled at what is now the Center. There he built a house and for some time boarded others who had come, while they were erecting houses of their own. Johnson was born on the 18th of November, 1798; was the first Yankee settler in Columbus, and became well known here before he died, on the 12th of February, 1841. He was a shoe- maker by trade and engaged in that occupation after his settlement until his death. About 1823 Captain Curtis, who was probably the wealthiest of the settlers, came here with his family and took the Johnson farm, upon which he passed the rest of his life. He was born on the 18th of August, 1786, and died July 27, 1832. His wife, Delilah, was born September 5, 1791, and died February 10, 1872.
In 1823 others came also, most of them under the influence of Captain Curtis. Among them were Aaron Walton, Porter K. Webber, Edmund Rowe, Julius Merriam, and Levi Boardman, all of them single young men engaged in chopping and clearing. The next year Kimball Webber, Matthias Spencer, Aaron Walton, sr., John Dewey, Luther Mather, and probably William Z. Bush, moved their families from New York State and became permanent set- tlers. From that time on the settlements became rapidly thicker and more modern. When Aaron Walton, sr., came here he found no store in the town- ship except a small affair kept by Porter Webber at his house about a mile east of the present borough limits. By the summer of 1825 the lumber trade had not become a very prominent industry, though it was in full tide farther down the river. The little saw-mill which Daniel Corbett had built on his farm had nearly gone to decay, and there was no other in town except the one then in process of construction by Luther Mather, at the falls, in what is now the bor- ough. Mather was also building a grist-mill - the first in the township - on
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HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
the site of the mill now owned by Aaron Francis. Mather lived then in a little sixteen by sixteen plank house on the west side of the Brokenstraw, on land now forming a part of the mill property-then the only house within the area of the present borough. The site of Columbus village was covered with an almost unbroken growth of forest; there was no bridge across the creek, only a rough log thrown over. There was no post-office, the little mail that was obtained being brought from Warren. There was no physician here, though Mrs. Aaron Walton had quite a practice in attending families at the birth of children.
Luther Mather, who took so active a part in the improvement of the town- ship, especially of the village, was a son of Stephen Mather, and was born in Bennington, Vt., on the 24th of June, 1785. He came to Columbus in March, 1825, from Jefferson county, N. Y., where he had been living for a number of years. Immediately upon arriving here he became the first settler in, and the founder of, the village of Columbus. He built a part of a saw-mill with a little lumber that he had brought with him, and from that sawed out the rest of his building material. Soon after his brother Daniel and Dr. M. F. C. Fitch bought near him, and in a settlement with J. H. Huydekopper for his services as surveyor, Captain Curtis became possessed of lands opposite and also in- cluded in the site of the borough. Daniel Mather and M. F. C. Fitch each donated lands for a public square on the west side of the creek, and Dr. Fitch surveyed and plotted that portion of the borough. David Curtis donated a public square and cemetery on the east side of the creek, and surveyed and plotted that part of the borough.
Luther Mather married November 7, 1811, Gabrielle B. Balmat, then of Jefferson county, N. Y., but a native of Paris, France. She died at Columbus in January, 1881, at the age of nearly ninety years. Her husband had gone before her on the 9th of June, 1842. They had six children, of whom five live-Harriet M., widow of Erastus Pearce, in Crawford county ; Jedediah P., now of Council Grove, Kan .; Joseph V., now of Bear Lake, in this county ; Eliza M., widow of Loren Pearce, now in Columbus, and Arvilla A., now wife of 11. A. Baker, and residing in Corry, P'a.
Among the settlers who came to Columbus during that flood-tide of immi- gration preceding 1830 was Solomon Dutton. He was born in New Hamp- shire in 1804, of Richard and Sarah (Grant) Dutton, grew to manhood in Co- lumbus, Chenango county, N. Y., and in 1829 married Rebecca Rice and re- moved to this township, where he died in 1857, and was followed by his widow in 1876. They had a family of four children-Sarah E, Adelia A., Hiram R., who died in infancy, and Richard D. After he came to this place he taught two terms of school in a log building in the district now called the center school district. He was an acting justice of the peace for more than twenty-one years, school director several years, and has held the office of assessor. It is said
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