USA > Pennsylvania > Crawford County > Our country and its people. A historical and memorial record of Crawford County, Pennsylvania. > Part 52
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Thomas Smith, Thomas McMichael and Abraham Jackson came in 1798, the two former settling in the northern part of the township. The latter came from Susquehanna County. He had served in the Indian wars, having helped to repel an Indian attack in the Susquehanna Valley, and was after- wards a soldier in the War of 1812. Daniel Dipple came fromn Cumberland County in 1800 and located in the northern part near Smith and McMichael. He was one of the first settlers in that vicinity, and neighbors were rarely seen. His death, in 1811, is said to have been the first death which took place in the township.
A large number of the pioneers of this township were Irishmen. Jere- miah Gelvin was one of these, and settled in the central part in 1797. His brother, James Gelvin, was also one of the first to arrive, locating in the north- eastern part. James Calhoun settled in the western part of the township. He had a rich vein of Irish humor, as is proved by the following anecdote. Upon his return from a trip to Meadville, during the early days of the settlement, he produced two measures, which he had procured from a tinner there, and an- nounced that he had decided to keep a tavern in his little cabin. For a stock in trade he had his three-gallon keg filled at Frame's distillery. His capital after these purchases amounted to a sixpence, and, having decided to run the tavern on a cash basis, he installed his better half as bartender and with his sixpence purchased a drink. His good wife, equally desirous of patronizing the new industry, then became a purchaser. transferring the coin to her husband for its equivalent in whisky. This procedure was continued until the keg was
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drained, when tavern keeping was abandoned and the happy couple went out of business.
Daniel Dipple, a native of Ireland, came from the Susquehanna Valley in 1802 and settled in Fallowfield. It is said that he raised the first apples produced in the township. James McEntire, another Irishman, was ship- wrecked on his way across the ocean, being one of three who escaped from a family of twelve children. He settled originally in Sadsbury Township, but having located a desirable tract of land in East Fallowfield, and fearful lest the tract should be occupied by some one else unless he took immediate possession. he built a little cabin on the place about 1802. and each week sent two of his children, a daughter and a younger boy, to occupy it while he carried on his work in Sadsbury. Every Monday morning he brought them to the cabin. with a week's provisions, and returned for them on Saturday night. Thus the two children passed the summer, alone in the wilderness, maintaining pos- session of the land. Indians were still numerous, and often stopped at the cabin to ask for food, which the children did not dare refuse. Sometimes the stock of provisions would in this way become exhausted before the end of the week, and the children, not daring to return home for fear of punishment, were put to all manner of expedients to live through the week. On one occasion they discovered a bed of wild onions in a ravine near by, and appeased the pangs of hunger with the unsavory food thus obtained. Another time they dug up some potatoes which had been planted in a field the spring before, and, taking out a few of the smallest, hardest seed potatoes which had not yet decayed. they hastily boiled them, and so keen had their appetites become that they devoured them before they were half cooked. In December of the same year James McEntire removed to the tract and remained its life-long occupant. He died in 1843. aged eighty-three years. Several years were spent as a school teacher, and he gained his living by cultivating the soil. although he was by occupation a weaver.
So many of the early settlers were of Irish birth or descent that Fallowfield was for a long time known as "Irishtown." Most of the first residents are still represented in the township by numerous families. There was also a scattering of Germans, and in later years a large number arrived from New York State. John McQueen came before 1800, from the Susquehanna Valley, and settled in the northern part of the township. Micheal Mushrush also settled in the northern part. He established a brickyard on his farm and built for himself the first brick house in the township. He was of German birth and had lived for some time near Pittsburgh, and was considered one of the most active and liberal citizens of the township. Samuel Smith came in 1798. John Findley, a tanner by trade, settled in the northern part, where he also operated a distillery.
James McEntire taught a term of school in 1809. \ log was removed
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from the wall of his weaving shop, greased paper was substituted to admit light, and by means of several other slight alterations the shop was trans- formed into a schoolroom. John McEntire, his son, plied the loom in one end of the room, while his father taught school in the other. One of those who applied for admission to the school was a strapping young giant, Jerry Gelvin by name, who wished to supply the defects of his early education by a course in reading and writing under Mr. McEntire. But the master refused to receive him, giving as a reason that he was not able to whip him, and that for the good discipline of his school he did not wish to have a pupil to whom he could not administer physical chastisement if necessary. At that time fre- quent discipline of that kind was considered almost a necessity by the teachers, but Jerry, being anxious to learn, plead his cause so eloquently and was so carnest in his promises to "be good" that he was finally received, and proved a docile pupil. The children of the Dipple. Unger. Stewart and Jackson fami- lies were among the pupils in this primitive school. Many of the pioneers of Fallowfield were educated men, qualified to teach not only the common but many of the higher branches. Elizabeth Burns was the first female teacher, receiving seventy-five cents per term for each scholar. The pay of male teachers was usually from $1.25 to $1.50 for each pupil per term of three months, but much of the pay was received in the shape of produce. Matthew McMichael erected a frame schoolhouse at his own expense and donated it to the township for public use.
East Fallowfield has always been noted for its interest in educational mat- ters and for the number and excellence of its schools. In 1896 they were nine in number, with a school year of six months. Two hundred and fifty scholars were in attendance, one hundred and thirty-nine boys and one hundred and eleven girls. The nine teachers received an average salary of $29 per month, and the average cost to the township for instruction for each child per month was $1.09. During the year $2,632.36 was raised and expended for purposes of education.
Evansburgh is a station on the New York. Pennsylvania and Ohio Rail- road, and is located on the northern line of the township. The postoffice estab- lished here is known as Stony Point.
Atlantic, situated in the southwestern part of the township, is a thriving little village of thirty or forty families. It owes much of its prosperity to the New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio Railroad, which passes through it. The settlement, which was at first known as Adamsville Station, did not prosper for some years, but has since increased steadily. The first store was estab- lished by James Nelson in 1863, and a second was soon afterwards opened by C. M. Johnson. The village now contains several stores, a hotel, schoolhouse, shops, church, and other industries, and has a slow but steady growth. Han- na's Corner's Methodist Episcopal Church is the oldest religious organization
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in the township, its beginning dating before 1815. The Keens, Mattochs, Sislys and McEntires were among the early members, when meetings were lield on week days and only once in four weeks. For some time the class wor- shiped in Keen's Hall, a room fitted up for the purpose by John Keen, over his woodhouse. In 1830 a church was built, and in 1872 this was replaced by a more commodious one at a cost of $1,700.
The first Presbyterian Church of Atlantic was organized in 1874. com- mencing with about forty members. A handsome church building was dedi- cated in 1877, free of debt, by Rev. B. M. Kerr. It cost about $3.300. Rev. Isaac W. McVitty was the first pastor, and James Hamilton, George K. Miller, John N. Kerr and S. M. Kerr were the first ruling elders. The congrega- tion is large and flourishing.
CHAPTER IX.
FAIRFIELD TOWNSHIP.
F AIRFIELD is one of the original townships into which Crawford County was divided in 1800. As at that time laid out it comprised the territory lying between French Creek on one side and Fallowfield Township on the other, having no land on the eastern side of the creek. But in 1829 the boundaries were entirely changed, the whole township being pushed farther east, thus including the territory now contained in East Fairfield, while the western part was taken from it and assigned to the new township of Green- wood. As thus constituted it included its present territory, East Fairfield, and part of Union, but when the two latter were laid out it was reduced to its present boundaries.
Fairfield Township lies on the southern line of the county, near the cen- ter. It is bounded on the north by Union and East Fairfield, on the east by East Fairfield and Wayne, on the south by Mercer County, and on the west by Greenwood. Conneaut Outlet and French Creek form its northern bound- ary. It is irregular in outline and contains 10,797 acres. The surface in the north is rolling and hilly, while in the south it is generally level. the highest land extending in a bluff along French Creek on the northeastern border. The land. which is watered by small streams flowing north into Conneaut Outlet and French Creek, is a loam in the bottoms, becoming gravelly in the uplands. White oak is the principal timber, interspersed with some chestnut, hickory and other varieties.
The settlement of Fairfield was begun at a very early period, even before
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the close of the Indian troubles. Several pioneers had taken up land here pre- vious to 1795, when settlements were made at great personal risk. Among the first was Joseph Dickson, who came from Cumberland County and settled on a tract of land in the eastern part of the township. He remained upon it throughout his life, and when he died left a family which is still represented in the county. Aaron Wright came at about the same time and settled upon land a little west of what is now Calvin's Corners. He came out alone and built a cabin upon his land, and then returned to bring his family to the habi- tation he had prepared. He was a soldier of the Revolution and remained a resident of the township until his death, in 1816.
The great land companies which played such important parts in the set- tlement of some of the other townships had no interests in Fairfield. In fact, much of the best land of this township had already been claimed before the companies began operations in this section. Several tracts in the southwestern portion were, however, included within the boundaries of what was known as Field's claim. The laws of the State governing the settlement of public land required, in addition to actual occupation and improvement, that the claimant should pay twenty cents an acre and the survey fees for each 400-acre tract. Many of the pioneers who were willing to make the necessary settle- ment and improvements did not possess the means to pay the required amounts. To remedy this Mr. Field, a wealthy citizen of Philadelphia, surveyed a large number of tracts in the southern part of the county and made agreements with pioneers without means by which they were to make the actual settlement and improvements, while he was to pay the State and survey fees. The tracts thus taken up were to be divided between them, and in this manner many were enabled to obtain homes in the wilderness who, unaided, would have found it impossible.
James Kendall settled upon one of these tracts as early as 1797, but later on removed to another locality. James Herrington located in the northern part, just below the mouth of Conneaut Outlet. He was a surveyor, and while acting as county surveyor resided for some time in Meadville, but later returned to his farm. David Nelson, who settled in the southern part of the township, had served under General Harrison in the War of 1812, holding the rank of major. He was afterwards a colonel in the militia, and became a prominent citizen of the township, of which he remained a life-long resi- dent. Allen Scroggs, who settled in the eastern part, operated a still, besides following the occupation of tilling the soil. Alexander Caldwell, who was a native of Ireland, settled here in the early part of the present century. He was a weaver, and followed his occupation here before carding mills came into use. He remained in the township throughout life, and when he died was buried on his farm, part of which was afterwards converted into a burial ground.
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William Thompson settled in the southeastern part of the township and remained there some years, later on going farther west. John Porter, a blacksmith, was a prominent citizen during the early days. He married a daughter of John May, a well-known settler in the northern part. May was a native of Ireland, but coming to America at the outbreak of the Revolution, he became an American soldier and served throughout the struggle. He after- wards came to Fairfield Township, where he remained until his death, in 1836. Archibald Hill was another Irishman who settled near the center of the township before the opening of the present century. He erected a stone house on his farm, the first in that part of the county.
These are the more prominent of that band of hardy pioneers who came from the East and settled in the dense forests of Fairfield Township. In the midst of dangers and difficulties, subject to innumerable privations and hardships, they cleared out patches here and there through the wilderness, and by dint of courage and perseverance established the homes which their descendants and successors now enjoy. They were men of stern determina- tion, of strong character and unflinching energy. It is by such men that great States are founded. And their successors are not degenerate. During the War of 1812, when Crawford County was called upon to furnish troops for service, Robert Young, then an old man, was the only resident who was not enlisted. And again, during our last fratricidal struggle, the hardy sons of Fairfield poured forth in answer to each call. to do battle for the preservation of that nation which their fathers had helped to found.
An interesting description of some of the primitive usages has been given us by Mr. Brown. In speaking of the habitations of the early settlers he says : "The floor of the cabin was made of puncheons. pieces of timber split from trees, about eighteen inches in diameter, and hewed smooth with the broad axe. These were half the length of the floor. Many of the cabins first erected in this part of the country had nothing but the earth floor. Sometimes the cabins had cellars, which were simply small excavations in the ground for the storage of a few articles of food, or perhaps cooking utensils. Access to the cellar was readily gained by lifting a loose puncheon. There was often a loft used for various purposes, among others as the guest chamber of the house. It was reached by a ladder, the sides of which were split pieces of a sapling, put together like everything else in the house, without nails.
"The furniture of the log cabin was as simple and primitive as the struc- ture itself. A forked stick set in the floor, and, supporting two poles, the other ends of which were allowed to rest upon the logs at the end and side of the cabin, formed a bedstead. A common form of a table was a smooth slab sup- ported by four rustic legs set in auger holes. Three-legged stools were made in a similar simple manner. Pegs driven into auger holes in the logs of the walls supported shelves, and others displayed the limited wardrobe of the
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family while not in use. A few other pegs, or perhaps a pair of deer horns, formed the rack upon which hung the rifle and powder horn which no cabin was without. Thesc, and perhaps a few other simple articles brought from the 'old home,' formed the furniture and furnishings of the pioneer cabin.
"The utensils for cooking and the dishes for table use were few. The best were of pewter, which the careful housewife of the olden times kept shin- ing as brightly as the most pretentious plate of our later-day fine houses. It was by no means uncominon that wooden vessels, either coopered or turned, were used upon the table. Knives and forks were few, crockery very scarce and tinware not abundant. Food was simply cooked and served, but it was of the best and most wholesome kind. The hunter kept the larder supplied with venison, bear meat, squirrels, fish, wild turkeys, and the many varieties of smaller game. Plain cornbread, baked in a kettle, in the ashes, or upon a board before the great open fireplace. answered the purposes of all kinds of pastry. The corn was among the earlier pioneers pounded or grated, there being no mills for grinding it for some time, and then only small ones, at a considerable distance away. The wild fruits in their season were made use of, and afforded a pleasant variety. Sometimes an especial effort was made to prepare a delicacy, as, for instance, when a woman experimented in mince pies, by pounding wheat for the flour to make the crust, and used crab apples for fruit. In the loft of the cabin was usually to be found a collection of arti- cles that made up the pioneer's materia medica, the herb medicines and spices. catnip. sage, tansy, fennel, boneset, pennyroyal and wormwood, each gath- ered in its season; and there were also stores of nuts and strings of dried pumpkins, with bags of berries and fruits.
"The habits of the pioneers were of a simplicity and purity in conform- ance with their surroundings and belongings. The men were engaged in the herculean labor, day after day, of enlarging the little patch of sunshine about their homes, cutting away the forest, burning off the brush and debris, prepar- ing the soil, planting, tending, harvesting, caring for the few animals which they brought with them, or soon procured, and in hunting. While they were engaged in the heavy labor of the field or forest, or following the deer, or seeking other game, their helpmeets were busied with their household duties. providing for the day and for the winter coming on, cooking, making clothes, spinning and weaving. They were fitted by nature and experience to be the consorts of the brave men who first came into the Western wilderness. They were heroic in their endurance of hardship and privation and loneliness. Their industry was well directed and unceasing. Woman's work, then, like man's, was performed under disadvantages, which have been removed in later years. She had not only the common household duties to perform, but many others. She not only made the clothing, but the fabric for it. That old, old occupa- tion of spinning and of weaving, with which woman's name has been asso-
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ciated in all history, and of which the modern world knows nothing, except through the stories of those who are grandmothers now .- that old occupation of spinning and of weaving, which seems surrounded with a glamour of romance as we look back to it through tradition and poetry, and which always conjures up thoughts of the graces and virtues of the dames and damsels of a generation that is gone-that old, old occupation of spinning and weaving, was the chief industry of the pioneer woman. Every cabin sounded with the softly whirring wheel and the rhythmic thud of the loom. The woman of pioneer times was like the woman described by Solomon: 'She seeketh woo! and flax and worketh willingly with her hands; she layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff.'
"Hospitality was simple, unaffected, hearty, unbounded. Whisky was in common use and was furnished on all occasions of sociality. Nearly every settler had his barrel stored away. It was the universal drink at bees, house- warmings, merry-makings, weddings, and was always set before the traveler who chanced to spend the night or take a meal in the log cabin. It was the good old-fashioned whisky, 'clear as amber, sweet as musk, smooth as oil,'- that the few octogenarians and nonogenarians of to-day recall to memory with an unctious gusto and a suggestive smack of the lips. The whisky came from the Monongahela district, and was boated up the Allegheny and French Creek, or hauled in wagons across the country. A few years later stills began to make their appearance, and an article of peach brandy and rye whisky manufactured ; the latter was not held in such high esteem as the peach brandy, though used in greater quantities.
"As the settlement increased the sense of loneliness and isolation was dis- pelled, the asperities of life were softened and its amenities multiplied, social gatherings became more numerous and more enjoyable. The log-rollings, harvestings and husking-bees for the men, and the apple-butter making and the quilting parties for the women, furnished frequent occasions for social intercourse. The early settlers took much pleasure and pride in rifle shooting, and as they were accustomed to the use of the gun as a means, often, of obtain- ing a subsistence, and relied upon it as a weapon of defense, they exhibited considerable skill."
During the War of 1812 Conrad Hart kept a tavern in the northern part of the township, at the sign of the Blue Ball. It was located on the Old State Road, which ran north and south through the township, from Pittsburgh to Erie. It was by this route that the munitions of war were forwarded to Erie. and all the soldiers going to or from that place passed over it, so that the Blue Ball received a generous patronage. Hart continued in business until 1820, when the Mercer and Meadville pike was built, and became the principal thoroughfare.
James Herrington built a grist mill at the mouth of Conneaut Outlet as
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early as 1803, supposed to be the first in the township. The stream was slug- gish, and in order to obtain the necessary water-fall he was obliged to build a dam five feet high, which backed the water up for a distance of several miles. A turbine wheel was used, and, with the two runs of stone in use, an exten- sive milling business was done. John May came into possession of it soon after it was built, and operated it until his death. He also kept a ferry at this point. The first saw-mill was erected by James Mumford on Wright's Run, and an early one was also built on the same stream by David Nelson. Alexan- der Dunn kept the first tavern, that of Conrad Hart, on the State Road, being the second. Stills for the manufacture of whisky were operated by a number of the early settlers.
When Joseph Dickson came into the township in 1791 it was a dense wilderness, filled with deer, bears, wildcats, raccoons and other animals. He came alone and on foot, and it is related that at night he was accustomed to seek protection from the hostile Indians within the friendly shelter of a hollow tree. At one time he was, with two settlers, named Findley and McCormick. working on the bank of French Creek, when he heard the dinner-horn and started for dinner. His companions did not follow him, and his attention being soon after attracted by two shots, he returned to the place where he had left them. An examination revealed the dead bodies of his two friends, who had been shot and scalped. As late as 1830 there is said to have been two Indians in the township for every white man.
The first library association in Crawford County was founded here some time before 1816, a fact highly creditable to the early pioncers of Fairfield Township. Books were contributed by James Herrington, Alexander Dunn. David Mumford, John May, John Porter, Thomas Haylin and several others, and in this manner quite a large library was collected, which was kept in the cabin of one of the members. It was maintained successfully for a number of years.
Calvin's Corners is a small hamlet in the northern part. It is the only postoffice in the township.
James Douglass in 1810 taught the first school in a little log cabin, and a year or two later Allison Gray taught in the same place. It was a typical pioneer schoolhouse, a round-log cabin of perhaps 16 by 24 feet, with news- paper windows, the opening made by withdrawing a log from one side of the building and replacing it with paper. A large fireplace, which extended across one end, was a very material aid in supplying light to the room. This was succeeded by a frame schoolhouse at Calvin's Corners, erected by subscrip- tion in 1816, which was also used as a place of worship by the early Meth- odists. Urania Bailey, the daughter of one of the pioneers, John Muzzy, who came from New York State, and Nathan B. Lard were among the earliest
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