USA > Pennsylvania > Crawford County > Our country and its people. A historical and memorial record of Crawford County, Pennsylvania. > Part 14
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But the threat of death without benefit of clergy made by colonial enactment did not deter clouds of settlers from returning, who clung to their chosen homes, fast by some crystal fountain or quick-flowing stream. The English secretary was moreover jealous of the encroachments of the Spanish at St. Louis and New Orleans, who were bidding for the fur trade of the lakes and the western settlers. By establishing the native tribes in their rights he thought to cut off this trade through their country, and not only stop emigration to these western lands but clear off the few who had already made improvements. Hence, this savage act of the Pennsylvania Legislature, imposing death on these settlers if they did not leave, was well- pleasing to the English secretary.
There was much contention at this time, both in the colonies and at the English court, to obtain grants of these western lands. The Ohio Company, Mississippi Company, and Walpole's grants, were specimens of this grasping spirit. Franklin was in England urging these grants, and was in corres- pondence with his compeers in this country. Sir William Johnson was not without ambitious designs, and he had accordingly made arrangements for a grand conclave of Indians from far and near to be held at Fort Stanwix, now Rome, New York, in the mild October days of 1768. Thomas Walker
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represented Virginia; Governor William Franklin. New Jersey; Governor Penn was present from Pennsylvania, but was obliged to retire before the business was completed. Sir William Johnson represented New York, and also the English government, orders having been transmitted to him early in the spring to make the proposed purchase of lands and settle all difficulties with the Indians. The number of savages present was extraordinary, being, according to Bancroft, a little short of three thousand. "Every art," he says, "was used to conciliate the chiefs of the Six Nations, and gifts were lavished on them with unusual generosity. They, in turn, complied with the solici- tations of the several agents. The line that was established began at the north, where Canada Creek joins Wood Creek; on leaving New York it passed from the nearest fork of the west branch of the Susquehanna to Kittanning, on the Allegheny River, whence it followed that river and the Ohio. At the mouth of the Kanawha it met the line of Stewart's treaty. Had it stopped here, the Indian frontier would have been marked all the way from northern New York to Florida. But instead of following his instructions, Sir. William Johnson pretended to recognize a right of the Six Nations to the largest part of Kentucky, and continued the line down the Ohio to the Tennessee River, which was thus constituted the western boundary of Virginia." This was in contravention of Secretary Hills- borough, and again opened the extravagant claims of Virginia.
Thus was acquired by the transactions of one day, the 5th of Novem- ber, 1768, a day ever memorable in the annals of western Pennsylvania, this hilarious carnival day of the Indians. a vast tract stretching away a thousand miles or more, enough for an empire of the largest proportions. Still, all territory to the north of the line of the treaty of 1768 remained in possession of the Indians, and continued so until after the conclusion of the Revolutionary War, so that during all these years it was at the peril of life that any settlement could be made in any part of what is now Crawford County. But on the 22d of October, 1784, another great concourse of Indians was assembled at Fort Stanwix, and a treaty was consummated whereby the Six Nations relinquished all claim to lands in the State of Pennsylvania up to the southern boundary of New York. This treaty was ratified in January, 1785, at Fort McIntosh, at the mouth of the Beaver River, by the southern Indians not present at the assembly at Fort Stanwix. It will be observed that the triangle in Erie County was not included
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in the lands given up by. the treaties of 1784-5 at Stanwix and Mcintosh. Massachusetts laid claim to this territory by virtue of her grant westward to the Pacific. But this State, as well as New York, yielded their claims to the United States government. By a treaty made on the 9th of January, 1789, with the Six Nations, they acknowledged the right of soil and juris- diction to and over the triangle to be vested in the State of Pennsylvania. Some question having been raised as to the legality of this grant, the Legis- lature empowered the Governor to draw a warrant for $800 in favor of Cornplanter, Halftown and Big Tree, in trust for the use of the tribe and in full satisfaction of all demands, in consideration of which the said chiefs, on the 3d of January, 1791, signed a release of all claims against the State for themselves and their people forever. On the 3d of March, 1792, the triangle was purchased from the United States by the Commonwealth for the sum of $151,640.25, and a month later an act of Assembly was passed to encourage its settlement by white people.
The Indians having now been placated, and all legal enactments against settlement having been annulled by the terms of purchase from the natives, enterprising frontiersmen began to turn their faces towards these delectable regions. As we have observed, when Washington, in 1753, had passed up the valley, he noted in his journal. "We passed over muchi good land since we left Venango, and through several extensive and very rich meadows, one of which I believe was nearly four miles in length, and considerably wide in some places." This journal was published in England and widely circulated in this country, portions finding their way into the newspapers.
In 1787, the very year in which the convention met which framed the Constitution of the United States, David and John Mead, who had been inhabitants of the beautiful Wyoming Valley, but at this time and for two years previous had been living in the town of Sunbury, attracted by the reports of a goodly country on the borders of the Venango River, bidding adieu to their families and turning their backs upon civilization, plunged into the then unbroken wilderness west of the Susquehanna, and, after a wearisome journey of many days over rugged mountains and across turbu- lent streams, following Indian trails and guided by that changeless star which glittered in the firmament then as now, finally reached that goodly valley, where since has grown the now busy city which bears their name.
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It was then covered by one dense forest; but fortunately the flats, now known as Dunham flats, to the west of the stream and above the confluence of the Cussawago with the Venango, had been cleared and cultivated by some unknown hand, perhaps by the French or the natives, and was now covered by luxurious prairie grass, above which the brilliant wild flowers nodded a salutation to these lonely visitants from the abodes of civilization. For many days they moved up and down the valley, examining and spying out the land, but no place seemed so inviting for habitation as these fat acres on Dunham flats, and here they determined to fix their homes.
They returned to Northumberland, and so attractive and roseate was the picture which they drew of this country that several sturdy pioneers determined to join them in the following spring, in returning to the new country to strengthen their foothold and secure a permanent settlement. And now, the way being once trod and the paths beaten, the tide of emigra- tion began to set towards this land, whose praises were justly heralded, and in a little time nearly every section of the broad. rolling territory known as Crawford County resounded with the ring of the settler's ax, and the blue smoke from the mud-chimney of his modest cabin curled among the trees.
But for several years the settlements about Meadville and the river valley were much disturbed by Indian hostilities. The theories which had been entertained by Pontiac, that if the savages held out in their war upon the English they would eventually be driven away, and the natives would retain their favorite hunting grounds, were still rife. After the Revolution, the Indians still had hopes that the English would come with great armies and conquer the colonists. So troublesome had the tribes become during the ten years succeeding the close of the American war of 1783 that the government was obliged to send armed forces to hold them in check. Expeditions were sent out under McIntosh in 1778, by Broadhead in 1780, by Crawford in 1782, by Harmer in 1789, by St. Clair in 1791, and by Wayne in 1792, which resulted with varying fortune. During all this time the frontier was lit up by the blaze of savage warfare, and the tomahawk and scalping knife were busy with their fell work. Finally, the campaign, con- ducted by General Anthony Wayne, with his characteristic energy and skill, ended in triumph in 1795, and the treaty by him concluded forever put an end to this sanguinary struggle, wherein neither helpless infancy nor trem- bling age was exempt, and was accompanied by every crime which debases
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manhood and effaces from the human character every trace of its heaven- born attributes.
Hence, though the purchase was fairly made in 1785, it was ten years later before the territory could be said to be fairly open to settlement. It was well known, however, that the lands west of the Allegheny were of excellent quality, and naturally tempted the cupidity of the adventurous, though still subject to savage sway. Three separate companies, with large capital, each sought to secure vast stretches of this territory. They were the Holland Land Company, the Population Company, and the North American Land Company. By the act of 1792, titles to lands could only be perfected by actual settlement for the space of five years, which must be begun within two years from the date of its location. But an important proviso was attached, that if settlers were prevented by armed enemies of the United States from settlement, the title was to become valid the same as if settled. This left the question open and indefinite, and gave rise to endless litigation, the Holland Company contending that Indian hostilities having prevented actual settlement for the space of two years they could then perfect their titles without actual settlement, and without waiting for the end of the five years. It may be observed here that bona fide settlers had little to complain of, and that it was the speculating class, who"were endeavoring to gain titles to lands by bogus settlement, who were loudest in their complaints. The question was decided pro and con in the lower courts repeatedly, and taken up on appeal, until it finally reached the Supreme Court of the United States, when Chief Justice Marshall delivered an opinion of the company, Mr. Justice Washington declaring: "Though the great theater of the war lies far to the northwest of the land in dispute. yet it is clearly proved that this country during this period was exposed to the repeated eruptions of the enemy, killing and plundering' such of the whites as they met with in defenceless situations. We find the settlers sometimes working out in the day time in the neighborhood of forts and returning at night within their walls for protection; sometimes giving tip the pursuit in despair and returning to the settled part of the country, then returning to this country and again abandoning it. We sometimes meet with a few men daring and hardy enough to attempt the cultivation of their lands, associating implements of husbandry with the instruments of war-the character of the husbandman with that of the soldier-and yet I do not
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recollect any instance in which, with the enterprising daring spirit, a single individual was able to make such a settlement as the law required."
Such "daring and hardy" men as are here referred to by Judge Wash- ington were those who first settled Crawford County. Upon the return of David and John Mead, in the spring of 1788, came Thomas Martin, John Watson, James F. Randolph, Thomas Grant, Cornelius Van Horn, and Christopher Snyder. With the exception of Grant, they all selected lands on the western side of the river, now Valonia, and the tracts above. Grant chose the section on which is now Meadville, and made his home at the head of Water Street. Soon tiring of the frontier, he transferred his tract to David Mead, who thus became the proprietor and real founder of the city which took his name. In the spring of the following year came the families of some of these men. Sarah Mead, daughter of David, was the first child born within the new settlement. Subsequently came Samuel Lord. John Wentworth, Frederick Haymaker, Frederick Baum, Robert Fitz Randolph, and Darius Mead. There were a few families of Indians inhabit-
· ing the neighborhood, who became the fast friends of the white men, prom- inent among whom were Canadachta and his three sons, Flying Cloud. Standing Stone and Big Sun, and Halftown, a half-brother of Cornplanter, Strike Neck and Wire Ears.
To the beginning of 1791 few disturbances from hostile Indians occurred, and little danger was apprehended; but the defeat of the army under General Harmer, and subsequently that led by St. Clair, left the hostile tribes of Ohio and western Pennsylvania free to prosecute their nefarious schemes of murder, arson and fiendish torture upon the defence- less frontiersmen. Early in this year, Flying Cloud, the ever-faithful friend of the whites, gave notice that the savages were upon the war-path. For safety, the settlers repaired to the stockade fort at Franklin. It was seed time, and these provident men were loath to let the time pass for planting. and thus fail of a crop for the sustenance of their families. Accordingly, four of them,-Cornelius Van Horn, William Gregg, Thomas Ray and Christopher,-returned with their horses and commenced ploughing. Venge- ful Indians came skulking upon their track, and, singling out Van Horn when the others were away at the dinner hour, seized him and his horses, and commenced the march westward. Eight miles away, near Conneaut Lake, they stopped for the night, when Van Horn managed to elude them.
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and made his way back, when he found that Gregg had been killed and Ray was made captive and led away to Detroit.
The party, which had come with the design of making a permanent settlement, had followed the Bald Eagle and the Chinklacamoose path, and arrived at Meadville on the 12th of May, 1788, and passed the first night under the broad spreading branches of an old cherry tree, which stood near the western entrance to the Mercer Street bridge. They had come in ample season to plant and raise crops, and had brought with them the usual im- plements of husbandry, and withal four horses. Scarcely had they made a permanent camp before they commenced plowing on the flats which they found cleared and ready for cultivation. The four horses were brought into service, and David Mead held the plow while Van Horn rode one of the horses and guided the team. In this way some eight or ten acres were broken up and planted to corn. It was up, and there was a fair prospect of a bountiful harvest, when a great June freshet came on, which washed out the entire planting. Nothing daunted, they replanted, and, favored by the . golden autumn days, the favored of the whole earth, they harvested a good crop.
David Mead, James Fitz Randolph and Cornelius Van Horn selected tracts that best suited their fancies, and prepared to make for themselves homes in the wilds of this then continuous forest. David Mead chose a stretch on the west bank of the Venango River. James Fitz Randolph selected a site two miles south of Meadville on the upland east of the river, well suited to agriculture or fruit and landscape gardening. Thomas Grant took the tract on which now Meadville is spread out. Thomas Van Horn preferred a location nearly two miles south and west of the river, where the morning sunlight looks in with cheerful ray, and where a herd of fine cows then as now would furnish milk for the city yet to be. Early in the fall of this year, Thomas Grant, tiring of the hardship of clearing the giant forest trees that covered all these acres, where now is the busy city, abandoned his claim and returned to Northumberland. Fearing that the freshets in the river might give him trouble in the future as his experience had already been, David Mead, as we have shown, took up the tract that Grant had left, and built a substantial log-house on the bank overlooking the river, near the site of James E. McFarland's present home. It was known as the block house, and became a place of refuge when threatened by
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Indian hostilities. In the autumn of 1788, David and John Mead returned. to Northumberland for their families, and brought them to their new homes on the Venango. In the following year, 1789. Darius Mead, the father - of John and David, Robert Fitz Randolph and Frederick Baum brought out their families. In this year occurred the first birth in the settlement, Sarah, daughter of David and Agnes (Wilson) Mead. She grew to woman- hood, and in 1816 was married to Rev. James Satterfield, of Mercer County.
In deciding upon this location for settlement, the Meads were influenced by several distinct considerations. In the first place, a fine valley some five miles long and "considerably wide in some places," says Washington in his journal. Here, then, was ample room for a great city. Then, there were three considerable streams here flowing into the Venango River that could be easily dammed and used for mill privileges,-Mill Run, Cussawago Creek, and Van Horn Run,-each of which have been extensively employed for mill purposes. The river itself could in time be used, but a vast expense would have to be incurred to build a dam to hold a stream so strong and turbulent as it is at some seasons of the year. By a very simple and inex- pensive device, Mill Run was harnessed to yield power. By placing a log so as to turn most of the water into a race, and in times of flood allow the great body to escape, with scarcely any expense the water was held in a pond, where Park Avenue cuts through it between Randolph and North Streets, and the necessary power was secured. David Mead built a saw-mill just below the intersection of Water and Randolph Streets very shortly after arriving, which was a great convenience to the early settlers for a wide circuit. . The saw-mill was standing and in use as late as 1860. He also built a grist-mill, using the same power.
The question was early agitated what should be the name of the new town? David Mead had given it the name of Cussawago, which was quite appropriate. But here was Mead saw-mill, and Mead grist-mill; why should not the new town be Mead-ville? So thought the new settlers, and so it was, and has been to this day.
The Mead family came originally from Devonshire to the County of Essex, England, during the reign of Henry VI., A. D. 1422, and first settled in Elmdon. There appears to have been eight distinguished fami- lies of the name in England, known by their respective coats-of-arms. four
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bearing the pelican and four the trefoil as their heraldic designs. Of the distinguished individuals who appeared among these Englisli families were Rev. Matthew Mead, a celebrated divine in the reign of Charles I., and his son, Dr. Richard Mead, who was appointed Physician in Ordinary by King George II., and who first practiced inocculation in England. The name is spelled with and without the final "e." The descendants of the Irish branch of the family, from whom the Meads of Virginia are derived, always used the final "e." The first record of any of the name in this country is the following, among the Stamford, Connecticut, town records: "December 7th1, 1641, William Mayd received from the town of Stamford a house lot and five acres of land." This William Mead, in company with his brother, John Mead, emigrated from England about the year 1640. William Mead settled in Stamford, where he died about 1670. His wife was Ruth Hardy, who died September 19th, 1657. John Mead, the brother, in 1650 removed to Greenwich, Fairfield County, Connecticut.
I. John Mead, son of William, born about 1616; died in 1096. His wife was Hannah Potter, daughter of William Potter of Stamford. They had issue,-1, John; 2, Joseph; 3, Hannah; 4, Ebenezer; 5, Jonathan; 6, David; 7. Benjamin; 9, Samuel; 10, Abigail; II, Elizabeth; 12. Mary, -all Scripture names, a family no doubt of devout Christians.
II. David Mead, of this family, born 1666, settled in Bedford, West- minster County, in the colony of New York. Of his children we have the names of William, David, Ebenezer.
III .- Ebenezer was in the direct line the father of David, born 1702.
IV. David Mead married and had issue: 1, Darius, born March 25, 1728, and married Ruth Curtis; 2, Ebenezer; 3, John; 4, William; 5, Eli, born 1740.
V. Darius Mead, sixth in descent, born March 28, 1728, in Stamford, Connecticut. In the year 1750 he settled in Hudson, New York. About 1770 he removed with his children to the Wyoming settlement, Pennsyl- vania, but subsequently followed his sons, David and John, to the new lands on the Venango River, where he was killed by the Indians in 1791. His wife, Rutlı Curtis, born May 27, 1734. in Connecticut, and died at Mead- ville in the summer of 1794, being the first death which occurred from natural causes among the white settlers of Crawford County. They had a large family of children, of whom we have only the names of the follow-
C
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ing: David, born January 17, 1752: Jeanette Finney; Agnes Wilson; Asahel, born August 9, 1754, killed at Wyoming, July 3, 1778; John, born July 22, 1756, married Katharine Forster: Ruth, born April 16, 1761; Darius, born December 9, 1764: Elizabeth, born June 1, 1769.
David, eldest son of Darius, removed to Wyoming Valley in 1770, and obtained a tract of land under the Pennsylvania title, from which he was subsequently evicted by the "Connecticut Intruders." He then took up his residence on the west bank of the north branch of the Susquehanna River, six miles north of the town of Northumberland. He served in the Revolutionary War as an officer, and was a justice of the peace. In 1795, General Mead's wife died, and in the following year he was married to Jeanette, a daughter of Robert Finney, to whom were born six children, five -Robert, Alexander, Catherine, Jane and Maria-growing to maturity. On the 31st of March, 1796, he was appointed by Governor Mifflin justice of the peace for the township of Mead for a term "so long as he shall live and behave himself well." Mead Township at that time embraced the whole of Crawford and Erie Counties. The block house erceted by Mead was designated as the place for holding elections. Upon the organization of Crawford County, in 1800, he was appointed one of the associate judges, an office which he held, with the exception of a brief period, continuously until his death. He was appointed major-general of the Fourteenth, and afterward of the Sixteenth Division of the Pennsylvania Militia by Governor McKean, and was reappointed by Governor Snyder. During the war of 1812-15, he rendered important services to Commodore Perry, in promptly marching with his command to the defence of Erie in the summer of 1813, when the fleet in process of construction in Presque Isle Bay was threatened with destruction by the enemy. In 1797, General Mead built a spacious and substantial residence on the commanding ground at the head of Water Street, where he lived until his death, on the 23d of August, 1816, in the sixty-fifth year of his age. His appearance was striking, being six feet three and a half inches in height, well proportioned, and possessed of great bodily strength.
Cornelius Van Horn, one of the most enterprising and active in the new settlement, was born in Huntington County, New Jersey, December 16th, 1750, a son of Thomas and Jane (Ten Eyck) Van Horne. He served in the Revolutionary War, and upon the death of his father inherited
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several hundred acres of land in the Wyoming Valley. This land was located in Northampton County, and was held under Pennsylvania title, being a tract over which so much trouble arose between Pennsylvania and Connecticut claimants. In 1784, he removed from Sussex County, New Jersey, to his land in the Wyoming Valley; but in the fall of that year he. with other Pennsylvanians, was driven off their lands by the claimants from Connecticut. In the fall of 1793, the Indians being troublesome in the Venango settlement, General Wilkins wrote to Van Horne, asking him to raise a sergeant's command of fifteen men for guard duty, which he did, and continued in service to the close of the year. In the summer of 1794, General Gibson sent him an ensign's commission, with instructions to enlist forty or fifty men for frontier duty. This company, to which nearly all the settlers on the Venango belonged, finding that the stockade and log-house which General Mead had erected on the west side of Water Street on the river bank was insecure, as the Indians might undermine it, erected a more substantial and secure log block-house on the northeast corner of Water Street and Steer's Alley. It was two stories, the second projecting over the first, and supplied with a small cannon capable of being moved to either cor- ner for service. This command was in active service from August 4 to Decem- ber 31, 1794, scouting through the surrounding forests and guarding against Indian surprises. In 1795, General Gibson forwarded to him a captain's commission, with orders to raise a company which was to assist in pro- tecting surveyors and workmen then engaged in laying out and building a road from Waterford to Erie. Upon the expiration of this term of service he settled permanently on his farm of over 400 acres below Meadville, where he spent the remaining years of his life. He was married September 27, 1798, to Sarah Dunn, daughter of James and Priscilla Dunn, and they had issue Jane, James, Priscilla, Harriet, Thomas and Cornelius. He lived to nearly ninety-six years, and died July 24. 1846.
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