History of the counties of McKean, Elk, Cameron and Potter, Pennsylvania, with biographical selections; including their early settlement and development; a description of the historic and interesting localities; sketches of their cities, towns and villages biographies of representative citizens; outline history of Pennsylvania; statistics, Part 105

Author: Leeson, M. A. (Michael A.) comp. cn; J.H. Beers & Co., pub
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Chicago, J. H. Beers & Co.
Number of Pages: 1320

USA > Pennsylvania > McKean County > History of the counties of McKean, Elk, Cameron and Potter, Pennsylvania, with biographical selections; including their early settlement and development; a description of the historic and interesting localities; sketches of their cities, towns and villages biographies of representative citizens; outline history of Pennsylvania; statistics > Part 105
USA > Pennsylvania > Potter County > History of the counties of McKean, Elk, Cameron and Potter, Pennsylvania, with biographical selections; including their early settlement and development; a description of the historic and interesting localities; sketches of their cities, towns and villages biographies of representative citizens; outline history of Pennsylvania; statistics > Part 105
USA > Pennsylvania > Elk County > History of the counties of McKean, Elk, Cameron and Potter, Pennsylvania, with biographical selections; including their early settlement and development; a description of the historic and interesting localities; sketches of their cities, towns and villages biographies of representative citizens; outline history of Pennsylvania; statistics > Part 105
USA > Pennsylvania > Cameron County > History of the counties of McKean, Elk, Cameron and Potter, Pennsylvania, with biographical selections; including their early settlement and development; a description of the historic and interesting localities; sketches of their cities, towns and villages biographies of representative citizens; outline history of Pennsylvania; statistics > Part 105

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+ Lydia Crow Freeman, born in Hampden county, Mass., in 1801. came with her father. David Crow, in 1816, married Seneca Freeman in 1818. died December 2, 1886.

+ Marianne Freeman, who died at Richard Chadwick's house, in Rich Valley, August 11. 1888, was born in Connectient, January 17, 1807. She came with her father. Brewster Freeman, to Emporium in 1817, settling where Judge Wiley resides, and was the last survivor of this family. Her grandmother, Margaret (Brewster) Freeman, was a great-granddaughter of Brewster, who came to Plymouth Rock in 1623.

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HISTORY OF CAMERON COUNTY.

of a dainty meal, by flapping his tail against the rock. Mr. Earl lost no time in obtaining accurate information as to his position, and taking sight at him with the gun which, happily for him, was now at hand. he fired, hitting the beast through the head; he then speedily reloaded and with a second shot com- pletely dispatched him. He measured the animal and found him to be eleven feet in length. This is but one of a multitude of exciting instances when himself and family, in common with others of the early settlers, experienced fearful encounters with the wild beasts of the forest, and realized hair-breadth escapes from impending death.

The third settlement made within the limits of the county, was that of Rich Valley, in 1811. This settlement was made upon lands owned by Griffith and Coxe, and was a part of a large tract purchased by them from the Holland Land Company, to which we have already referred. The purchase is said to have contained 112.000 acres. Col. Elihu Chadwick, of Monmouth county, N. J., was the agent of these lands. To induce settlers to remove here, they agreed to give each actual settler eight acres in the town of Rich Valley and fifty acres outside of the town. Col. Chadwick came himself to the mouth of North creek and erected a saw-mill in 1811, but returned to his home in New Jersey, and did not permanently remove until 1816. The same year Joseph Housler came from Monmouth county, N. J., and settled at the mouth of North creek temporarily. He then took up a tract of land for himself-did settler's duty, as it was termed, which was simply a compliance with the conditions im- posed by the owners of the land, and had his land deeded to him. He was the first permanent settler in the town of Rich Valley. His sons were Abra- ham, Joseph, Aden, John and William, not the parties of the name now living there, except John and William, the others being dead. The present Joseph, Aden and Nathan are the sons of Abraham, and grandsons of the original settler. John and William, who are alive, and are here to-day, are sons of the first settler, and accompanied him when he came from New Jersey. In the year 1818 Robert and William Lewis came from New Jersey and settled also in the town of Rich Valley, Robert, on land now owned and oc- cupied by A. K. Morton, and William, where Humphrey Lewis now lives. Robert was the father of Robert and Benjamin and John F., both now de- ceased, also of James, Philip and Morris, who still survive. William Lewis was father of the present William Lewis, living at the month of Clear creek. In 1816 Col. Elihu Chadwick, whom we have seen was the agent of the Coxe and Griffith lands, and who had already erected a mill at the mouth of North creek, having some time previously removed to this State, came to this settlement and located with his family. His sons were Richard, John, Elihn, Francis J. and Jeremiah. Three of these are living at the present time, and one, Francis J., is at the present time a well-known citizen of the county. From the above-mentioned three families, Rich Valley has been mostly settled.

The next settlement was made up the Portage creek, in 1820, by Hiram Sizer, who came from the State of Massachusetts. His widow still lives on the spot where they first settled fifty-six years ago. She was then a mature matron thirty-four years of age. She is now ninety, and perhaps the oldest person in Cameron county. Her recollection of those early times is quite good. and she tells with a great deal of earnestness the story of the pri- vations and hardships inseparably associated with a pioneer life. The next year, Brewster Freeman, Jr., settled at what is now called Prestonville. Six or seven years subsequently, Zenos C. Cowley came to the same place, from whom the name of Cowley's run was derived. Samuel Bliss settled on the place now occupied by Lucien B. Jones. A Mr. Rice also soon settled up in

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HISTORY OF CAMERON COUNTY.

the neighborhood of the salt works. Isaac Burlingame came to the settle- ment about sixteen years after the Sizers moved there, and William Ensign, Sr., still later; others kept coming and going, till finally that branch has become pretty well settled up to the salt-works, a distance of nine miles from the mouth.

West creek was not settled for a long time after the other places we have noted had been occupied. The brothers, John and Benjamin Morrison, moved up the stream in 1844, and cleared farms; Adam Armstrong also cleared a farm in the vicinity. In 1841 William Gwin and Windell Bartholomew made clearings up near the Beechwood station. Squire Nelson and his good wife settled on the first fork of the Siunemahoning about 1822, when Coudersport, the county seat of Potter county, consisted of three houses, and the nearest point on the Sinnemahoning was forty miles away. They occupied a house midway between Coudersport and Sinnemahoning, it being a wilderness in all direc- tions, except a path on the banks of the creek to its mouth. The Squire states that more than once in his time he was compelled to go to the mouth of the first fork for flour, which he carried home on his back. In making the trip to and from his home, he crossed the creek seventeen times going down and eleven times coming back. He had a small piece of ground in the wilderness, on which he and his good wife had a cabin and barn. Any morning he could take his old flintlock, go to the edge of the clearing and secure one of the largest bucks or an elegant doe in twenty minutes' time, and if his taste ran not in that direction and was inclined for trout, in an hour's time he could catch enough to last a week. William Nelson also moved up the stream and occupied the house now owned and occupied by the Sanford brothers, where his son David was born in 1842. The Sanfords moved up there about 1842.

Having given a sketch of the settlement of the various parts of the county, we shall further notice a few more names of persons who came in at an early date and joined interest with those already there. Hugh Coleman came to the Second Fork about 1820. He had three sons: John, Jacob and Washing- ton. The first is still living at that place and for years was the proprietor of the land first occupied by Overturf, one of the very first settlers. David Bai- ley, father of James Bailey, recently deceased, settled in the year on the ground now occupied and owned by Reuben Collins. He was a millwright, and built a mill on the spot which was largely patronized in that early day. In 1820 he removed to the First Fork and assisted in the settlement of that section. Ben- jamin Brooks, brother to John Brooks, also about the same time settled up the Fork. George and Henry Lorshburgh, in 1822, moved upon the First Fork. Edmund Huff came to the country abont the year 1822, married a daughter of John Spangler, in 1823, who still lives and is present to-day. He settled finally in the year 1827 on land about three miles below Emporium on the Driftwood branch. The parties who settled the country first were, as we must have seen from the brief account given, mostly men of uncommon energy. This and a love for adventure, as well as the desire to procure for themselves and families a home, led them to these mountain wilds. They were in some respects rude and uncultivated, many of them, but they were hospitable to strangers and neighborly toward each other.

The immigrants made their entrances by the Indian paths on foot or on horseback, or by canoes or Indian boats propelled against the current by set- ting poles. These boats or canoes were manned by a bowman and a steers- man, who, by placing their poles with steel-pointed sockets upon the bottom of the stream threw their weight upon the poles thus placed, and by frequent and repeated processes and propulsions (guiding the boat at the same time) often

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HISTORY OF CAMERON COUNTY.

made fifteen to twenty-five miles a day against the current with a cargo of three-quarters to one ton weight in their boats. On some occasions, in case of low water in the streams, the boat's crew would be compelled to remove the gravel and fragments of rock from the line of their course, and wade for miles at a time, carrying and dragging their boats forward by their almost superhuman strength: such frequent exercises developed an unusual vigorous muscle, and it would seem fabulous to relate the extraordinary feats frequently performed by these athletics of pioneer life.

The early settlers were a hardy, active, energetic, go-ahead class of people, hailing mostly from eastern and middle Pennsylvania, from the State of New Jersey, and from New England States. As a class they were rude, yet honest in their dealings; though boorish, they were hospitable and generous. The first settlers in America brought with them the traditions of Europe, and the fearful condemnations for witchcraft began at Salem, in 1692. Three chil- dren of Rev. Dr. Parris complained of being tortured by witches. The ex- citement soon spread. and others, both adults and children, complained of being bewitched, and accused those against whom they held some pique. Rev. Cotton Mather. Rev. Mr. Noyes, of Salem, and the president of Harvard Col- lege, and many others, encouraged arrests, the result of which twenty persons were executed in one year, being suspected of witchcraft, while many others were banished. Some of the pioneers of this county, in order to protect themselves from witchery, would burn hens' feathers, and assafœtida, for in- cense, and shoot silver slugs at rude drawn portraits of those who were sus- pected of witchcraft. A kind of lunacy also prevailed to some extent; pota- toes and other vegetables were planted in the moon, or rather when the horns of the moon indicated the proper time. Houses were roofed when the horns of the moon were down, so that the shingles would not cap and draw the nails; fences were laid when the horns of the moon were up, that the rails might not sink into the ground, and the medicinal wants of these primitive people were not administered to in any degree in accordance with the practice of more modern times.

The early settlers were for a long time compelled to bring all their sup- plies from Big Island in canoes. Lock Haven did not then exist. Three men named Moran. Hugh Penny and Mcknight kept store at "Big Island," who used to furnish the settlers with their supplies and take their timber-rafts as pay. The nearest store in 1820 was six miles above Clearfield town, and kept by John Irvin. Notwithstanding the store at Big Island, though more remote, was for most purposes most convenient to trade with. Being along the river it could be reached with the canoes, and besides for the same reason it was easier to convey the timber in exchange.

A considerable amount of whisky was consumed, and a canoe was not con- sidered properly laden unless at least one barrel of the stimulant was among the stores. The trip up was generally made lively by its cheering influence. The article was then. as now, potent in its influence over the hearts of men. He who had a bottle of whisky in his hands and a barrel in his canoe pos- sessed the open sesame to every heart and every house. They were also compelled to convey their grain in the same manner down the river to Linden, near Williamsport, to be ground. and then pole it back again to their resi- dences, nearly 100 miles. Some used hand-mills for their corn, and in time small grist-mills were established at various places in the county. The first grist-mill erected within the limits of the county was located near the mouth of Clear creek, about 1811. It had no bolt attached to it. The same year Col. Chadwick built his saw- and grist-mill at the mouth of North creek. This had a good bolt attached, and is said to have made good flour.

of Ar leachman

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HISTORY OF CAMERON COUNTY.

Then followed Earl's mill at the confluence of West creek with the main branch. Then McKisson's, at Hunt's run, Bailey's, at the grind-stone bridge, Sterling's, at Sterling run, and Wykoff's, below Sinnemahoning, also Sizer's, up the Portage. These small mills did good service by way of grinding corn, but scarcely attempted to grind wheat, although in time Sizer did this success- fully. But, with even this accommodation, for a long while the difficulty of reaching these mills was an inconvenience that to us would be simply intol- erable. Seneca Freeman has, while living on the First Fork at the mouth of the East Fork, carried sixty pounds of corn meal upon his back, repeatedly, from Earl's mill to his home, a distance of twenty-two miles. Long after those early beginnings, the Sanfords have done the same, carrying upon their backs, to and fro, a grist to the Sizer mill from their present residence. Sometimes the supply has been so low with some families that they were compelled to sub- sist upon sap-porridge, as it was termed, which was simply the sap boiled down and thickened with corn meal. One old lady has stated that on one occa- sion she had company and nothing to supply the table with but beet-tops boiled as greens. But, she added, "we were happy as could be," showing that the "contented mind is a continual feast." The same necessity existed for economy with regard to clothing as with food. Another individual asserts that on one occasion he attended a wedding party at Driftwood, when fourteen of the guests wore buckskin pants, and they were all "happy too." One pair of shoes a year, of coarse material, was about all the wealthiest parent could afford his sons or daughters.

The woods, however, abounded with game, and the waters with fish, and it was seldom that any family need go without a plentiful supply of fresh meat or fish for the table. Deer, elk and bear were very plentiful. Numerous parties have related their seeing as many as twenty elk in a lick at once, and some as many as fifty or a hundred. A good hunter could kill several in one herd, and thus in a short time furnish sufficient meat for several families. Robert Richey on one occasion told of a hunt he with some others had at night on the Driftwood branch, not far below Emporium, when the deer were so thick in the stream that one of them actually jumped into the canoe in which several of the hunters were, and was taken alive.

Before David Crow moved to Smethport from Emporium, he was the only one in that section who owned a horse or colt. On one occasion Jim Lewis, it is alleged, was watching a salt-lick, and in the darkness Squire Crow's colt came along, when Lewis killed the animal, thinking it was a deer. A year or two later Jim experienced religion, and, wishing to be on the right side of the squire, confessed to the fact of killing the colt. The squire, who had a hare- lip, and consequently an uneasy manner of speaking, said, "Can you prove it ?" Lewis replied, "I did it squire:" but the squire would not accept the state- ment, saying that Jim was such a liar, proof should be given.

F. W. Conable, referred to in the history of the Methodist Church of Em- porium, left behind him a graphic description of life on the Sinnemahoning in 1839, when Amos Worcester and wife came with him. He found here block- houses, some being two-story dwellings. At Pine Street (Sterling) was a Pres- byterian log building, and another at Youngwoman's Town, both deserted by the Presbyterian evangelist and people. The new comers used them uncere- moniously, and in 1840 claimed fifteen or twenty appointments in their wide mission. On an island in the river, near the present town of Emporium, lived Mr. Hollen, whose son, Samuel, was a local preacher. John Shaffer. another member, lived near Pine Street meeting house, in his two-story Methodist tavern; John Ellis lived near Hollen's house, and William Lane, an English

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HISTORY OF CAMERON COUNTY.

blacksmith, at East Fork, who had his little daughter to blow and strike for him until her brother grew strong enough for the work. John Chadwick lived at Shippen, and Richard Chadwick at Smethport, while the Shaffers of First Fork, the Logues, Berfields and Bairds also resided within the mission.

Early in the "thirties" William Lewis,* of Shippen, tracked a wolf to his rocky den, and then called on Ben. Freeman to assist in the capture. The latter was left at the mouth of the cave to shoot the animal, while Lewis entered to hunt him out. After a long creep through the darkness, Lewis saw the glaring eyes of the animal, but on went the hunter, until the scared wolf jumped past him, only to be shot by Freeman, Lewis, proceeding farther, caught two whelps, and carried them home.

In 1832, when the salt works were running on Portage creek, a strong lum- berman named Magee, went to the deer lick, a mile from the works, to watch for deer. Looking from his blind in the early evening. he saw two gleaming eyes among the lower branches of a tree not far away. Thinking it was a wild- cat he took steady aim, fired, and in an instant he saw the body of a huge panther fall to earth. Withont halting he fled to the works. Returning with help next morning, the men found the panther dead, the largest ever known in this section of Pennsylvania .... George Parker, who resides three miles above Sizer's springs, killed 3,000 deer, 300 elk, 10 panthers, 150 black bears and other game, with a gun which he purchased in 1839. This was exclusive of his heavy hunting here in earlier years.

The capture of Connelly and Lewis was made about four miles up the Drift- wood branch, on the Brooks and Smith farms. now owned by William Nelson and William G. Huntley, near the Huntley station, in the latter part of June, 1820. The sheriff of Centre county, with a posse of twelve armed men, were dispatched in pursuit of the robbers (who were declared outlaws) with author- ity to capture them, dead or alive. Passing into Clearfield county, where the mother of Lewis lived with her second husband, and through the mountains to Bennett's branch, where a brother of David Lewis resided, and about eighteen miles up the same, and not finding any track of the fugitives the pursuers de- scended the branch, and the Sinnemahoning to Grove creek, where they met with one David Brooks who had come that morning from his father's on the Driftwood, who informed the posse that two strangers bearing the description of the robbers were seen going up the Driftwood branch. They turned in pur- suit, taking Brooks with them as a guide. After having reached Tanglefoot run, about a half mile below the residence of Samuel Smith, they met Will- iam Shephard, who lived at the mouth of Bennett's branch, and who was on his way home from Smith's, where he had been all forenoon with a party, in- cluding Connelly and Lewis, firing at a target and indulging in potations of old rye, alternately with draughts of protoxide of hydrogen, a very delicious beverage, and one indispensable to maintain the equilibrium of seventy five per cent of those who imbibe. Obtaining advices of the whereabouts of the rob- bers, they detailed Shephard to return to Smith's, and to privately inform him, so that he might keep his family in the house and avoid danger, while Brooks was detailed to conduct the posse, by a path through the woods, to a point on the summit of a hill commanding Smith's residence, and about one hundred feet therefrom. Shephard arriving at the house about the time some one called "treat," and delayed his message to gulp a bumper or two, when he perceived

+ William Lewis, who died May 6, 1889, took with him a man named Brighton, to hunt down a panther which he had previously discovered in a rock crevice two miles south of Emporium. Entering the den, he left Brighton outside to give battle to the panther, and so well did the guard do his duty that the mother panther fell dead, leaving the daring hunters to take home five cubs. The time of this occurrence is placed at about 1813.

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HISTORY OF CAMERON COUNTY.

a motion in the bushes at the top of the hill, he wildly and with gesticulations exclaimed: "Take care of yourselves, the sheriff and his men are here," upon which the whole posse charged down the hill firing as they ran. Connelly seized his gun when the alarm was given, Lewis surrendered, and was shot in the arm afterward. Connelly was shot in the abdomen; he bounded across the field and the river, leaping the fences until, having reached the potato field of Benjamin Brooks, on the opposite side of the river, he wheeled about, present- ing his gun through the fence toward his pursuers, saying: "Gentlemen, I will have shot about with you." His gun was, however, unloaded, and he had dropped his ammunition. He soon retreated a few rods into the bushes, and was lost from sight. His pursuers, who had maintained a respectful distance, at length appeared with gun in hand, approaching the residence of Benjamin Brooks (an old Revolutionary soldier), who met them in the front yard, de- manding of them an explanation of the cause of such demonstrations, upon which the party briefly related the history of the adventure. After the party had very circumspectly reconnoitered the situation without advancing into the copse, they concluded that the wounded robber had made his escape up the mountain, and as they were about abandoning further search, one of the party, when about retiring, observed a glimpse of the clothing of the wounded man through the bushes, where they found him asleep, being faint and ex- hausted from loss of blood, he having crawled into the top of a large red oak tree, which had been recently blown down by the storm.

Procuring a bed-sheet and pillow from Mrs. Brooks. they carried the wounded man into a canoe, which they had procured of one of the neighbors for the purpose, and having placed both robbers therein, they descended the Sinnemahoning and the west branch, stopping at some point on the river over night, where they left the wounded men lying in the water in the canoe. keeping guard over them, and on the next day arrived at some of the farm houses, where the city of Lock Haven is now situate, and from thence they assayed to convey the prisoners by wagon to Bellefonte. Connelly, however, died at Carskadden, near the scene of his last robbery, on July 3, 1820, and David Lewis died in the Bellefonte jail, from gangrene, during the month. John Brooks, who relates the above incident, is the only living witness of the fight.

CHAPTER III.

TRANSACTIONS OF THE COUNTY COMMISSIONERS.

ESTABLISHMENT OF THE COUNTY-LOCATION OF COUNTY SEAT-CAPT. ROGERS REMINISCENCES-FIRST MEETING OF THE COMMISSIONERS-DOINGS OF THE COMMISSIONERS FROM 1860-WAR TAX-APPOINTMENTS-COUNTY OFFICES, JAIL, ETC.

T THE act establishing Cameron county was approved March 29, 1860. The report of the committee appointed by Gov. Packer to determine where the county seat should be located. The gentlemen composing that committee were A. B. Cummings, F. W. Knox and P. F. Kelley. They reported on August 6, 1860, and fixed the location in the township of Shippen, bounded and described as follows: "On the north by Sixth street, and on the south by

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HISTORY OF CAMERON COUNTY.

Fifth street, on the east by Chestnut street, and on the west by a thirty - foot wide alley, as shown on a plat accompanying the report." Capt. Rogers, in his reminiscences of Emporium in 1860, says: "The idea of creating a new county out of portions of MeKean, Potter, Elk and Clinton was not seriously contemplated until the Sunbury & Erie (now Philadelphia & Erie) Railroad was completed to Lock Haven and Warren, and grading was being pushed west and east of those two points. The people of MeKean county did not at first look with much favor upon the project, because it would take from us Shippen township, which was then one of the most if not the most important township as to wealth and population, in the county. There were forcible reasons ad- vanced, however, why that township should be permitted to go, prominent among which was its location and the difficulties and great inconvenience en- countered, particularly during inclement seasons, in getting to the county seat. The more the question was discussed the more willing were the citizens of Me- Kean to submit to the divorcement, and when the legislature of 1860 assembled there were many petitions for, and few remonstrances from Mckean county against, the organization of the new county. During that session of the legis- lature I was in Harrisburg, and took considerable interest in the passage of the bill creating the county of Cameron. It was there that I made the acquaint- ance of a number of gentlemen who were interested in what was known as the ' Land Company,' and who controlled a piece of territory on which the prin- cipal portion of Emporium is now built. They consulted me considerably dur- ing the winter about moving my printing office to Shippen (now Emporium), and presented in glowing colors what an important town it would be when the railroad was completed, and the railroad shops, which were certain to be located there, were in full blast. They assured me that it would be second only to Altoona, as a railroad town, in the State. I was inclined to give some weight to their statements, for I knew that several of the gentlemen who were interested in the 'Land Company' were connected with the building of the road, and supposed that they knew what they were talking about."

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Author: Leeson, M. A. (Michael A.) comp. cn; J.H. Beers & Co., pub Publication date: 1890 Publisher: Chicago, J. H. Beers & Co. Number of Pages: 1320

Author: Leeson, M. A. (Michael A.) comp. cn; J.H. Beers & Co., pub
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Chicago, J. H. Beers & Co.
Number of Pages: 1320