USA > Pennsylvania > Crawford County > Our country and its people. A historical and memorial record of Crawford County, Pennsylvania. > Part 57
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The United Presbyterian Church on Kerr Hill was organized December 6, 1852. The house of worship was built in 1857. Andrew A. Kerr and William Mars were chosen elders. Upon the death of the latter in 1877, Robert Mack and Benjamin J. Mars were elected elders. Rev. J. R. Slentz became pastor in September, 1855. Following him Rev. A. Murray was installed as pas tor, in February, 1860. Rev. John Jamison succeeded in August, 1864. Rev. J. L. Clark was pastor from August, 1876, to June, 1883. Rev. James Dodds was afterward pastor for several years, until his resignation in 1896. Since that time the congregation has had no shepherd. Robert Mack and Benjamin J. Mars still continue to serve as elders.
The first manufacturing industry of importance in Oil Creek was started before the township, or even the county, was formed. The Holland Land Company in 1798 built a saw mill and a grist mill on Pine Creek, a little north- east of East Titusville, perhaps half a mile away. The grist mill came to be called the Holland mill because of its ownership. It was purchased by John Watson in the early part of the century. Mr. Watson owned and operated the mills for years afterward. In later years Alexander Thompson built a grist mill lower down on Pine Creek, near the Venango County line. About the
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year 1824 Joseph L. Chase & Co. built on Pine Creek, a little below the John Watson mills, a saw mill and a grist mill. Soon after this Mr. Watson dis- mantled his industry, and built a mill still lower down, and south of Titus- ville. The Chase grist mill was operated about forty years after its con- struction.
Charles Ridgway at an early date built a saw mill a little north of Hyde- town, on Little Oil Creek, or Thompson's Run. James, the son of Daniel Titus, built a saw mill higher up the run. Adam Holliday built a saw mill on Oil Creek, about a mile above where the stream crosses the west line of Titusville, about the year 1815. John Thompson built a saw mill on Thomp- son's Run about three miles north of Titusville, about the year 1825.
At the present time there are two grist mills in Oil Creek Township. One is about half a mile west of the western boundary of the city. The other is about where the old John Thompson saw mill was, three miles from Titusville, on Thompson's Run. The latter mill is owned and operated by James M. Kerr. The one near Titusville is owned and operated by the Kerr Hill Mill Co. The company was organized in 1884. It is an ordinary partnership. Its first members were Hugh Jamison, J. W. Crawford, A. B. Kerr and G. B. Kerr. The members of the present firm are A. B. Kerr, G. B. Kerr and S. M. Con- over. A new grist mill is in process of erection at East Titusville.
Another industry largely cultivated in the early history of Oil Creek was the manufacture of whiskey. The production of this liquor was regarded at that period as legitimate and reputable. The trade in alcoholic liquors was engaged in by the best citizens in the community. Every grocery dealer kept in stock whiskey as well as flour. Distilleries in Oil Creek Township were numerous. Adulteration of whiskey in those days was not thought of. As rum was the favorite product of New England, whiskey was the choice bev- erage of the people of Irish extraction, both Protestant and Catholic.
There are in the township fourteen schools, three of which are graded, having two schools each, making seventeen schools in all. The present school directors are H. M. Kerr, Winfield Kerr, Charles Weed, John C. Ross, Will- ard J. Gilson and Albert B. Kerr.
There are two villages in the township, Hydetown and Kerr Hill. The latter has two very neat church edifices, of which an account has already been given. It has one store of general merchandise, and one blacksmith shop. Kerr Hill is a hamlet, but a tidy hamlet. The Kerr Hill community, embrac- ing the inhabitants of the surrounding country, represents intelligence and good morals. When the Kerr Hill Presbyterian Church was formed in 1854, the Titusville congregation gave up twenty-eight of its substantial members. The loss of such a body of earnest and devoted worshipers seriously weakened, for the time, the Titusville church. Several years passed before the parent church recovered its former strength.
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Peter Titus, as has already been stated, with his brother Daniel, settled upon what is now embraced within the limits of Hydetown. Charles Ridg- way, a millwright, married Fanny, one of the daughters of Peter Titus. Ridg- way secured a large body of land, a part of which, at least, lay within the pres- ent borough of Hydetown. Ridgway and James Titus, the son of Daniel Titus. each built a saw mill on Little Oil Creek, a little above the present village of Hydetown. Daniel Titus had previously erected a mill in the village, and the lumber business was carried on there extensively for several years afterward. In 1846 Elijah Hyde and his sons came to the place and purchased the Titus mills. These afterward came to be known as the Hyde mills. Mr. Hyde and his son also opened a store. A postoffice was established at the place, and William Hyde was the first postmaster. The name of the postoffice was Oil Creek, but it was afterward changed to Hydetown.
Oil Creek Borough was incorporated by order of the Crawford County court in 1868. The name has since been changed to Hydetown. The bur- gesses have been as follows: 1868. W. C. Hyde: 1869-70, Rettben Rogers : 1871-72. L. G. Worden: 1873, J. G. Titus; 1874-75. G. H. Sanford : 1876, E. I. Roffee: 1877. J. E. Paul; 1878, S. S. Spaulding: 1879. W. A. Baker; 1880, Joseph Fertig; 1881, H. Malin; 1882, J. E. Paul; 1883, C. E. Akin ; 1884, G. H. Sanford ( who resigned before the close of the term, when C. E. Akin was appointed to the vacancy ) ; 1885, C. E. Akin: 1886, C. E. Akin : 1887, E. I. Roffee ; 1888. H. Malin : 1889, H. Malin : 1890. S. F. Powers; 1891, Henry Morse: 1892, Samuel F. Powers; 1893, Samuel C. Davis; 1894. W. C. Fulmer ; 1895-96-97-98. H. Malin.
The Baptist Church of Hydetown was organized April 27. 1879. under the direction of Rev. John L. Bailey, who was pastor several years afterward. At the beginning there were only four members. They were Mrs. Louisa Ridgway. Mrs. Anna C. Spaulding. Mrs. Helen Kerr and Mrs. Harrict A. Roffee. At first meetings were held in the Union School building. But sub- sequently a very tasteful church and parsonage, in one edifice, were erected. It was dedicated in 1882. The present pastor is Rev. E. H. Anderson, who preaches every two weeks at Hydetown, and alternately at Centreville and Breedtown. At present the number of members of the Hydetown church is about forty. The church has had a Sabbath school connected with it for the last sixteen years. There are now six teachers and about thirty pupils in reg- ular attendance.
The Methodist Episcopal Church at Hydetown belongs to a circuit. A class was formed in 1847 by Rev. John Abbott, then in charge of the Oil Creek circuit. The first members of the class were Joseph Spaulding and wife, Oran Davenport and wife, Thomas Titus and wife, and Mrs. Baugher. Meetings were held in the schoolhouse. The Hydetown charge was organized by Rev. John Peate, P. E., in 1874, with Hydetown, Tryonville and Bethel classes.
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In 1877 Troy, of the Sunville circuit, was added. The other three had pre- viously belonged to the Titusville circuit. In 1886 a house of worship was built at Hydetown. The present pastor is Rev. S. E. Winger, now in his third pas- toral year. Ile preaches on a circuit, which includes with Hydetown, East Troy, Tryonville, Bethel and White Oak. The Hydetown church at present has twenty-seven communicants.
The Union Church at Hydetown was dedicated March 23, 1890. It was built for the original purpose of accommodating the Union Sabbath school. It is non-denominational. The building is under the charge of five trustees. It is not to be opened indiscriminately to everybody who might apply for its use, but the intention is to admit to its pulpit clergymen of reputable standing in any evangelical denomination, who are not able to get admission to other pulpits in the borough. All the other pulpits might be preoccupied, or sectarian prejudice might exclude worthy clergymen. For instance, a Universalist min- ister might be shut out of the other houses of worship in the place because of his peculiar doctrine, while some people might desire to listen to the preaching by the Universalist minister. In such a case, it may be supposed that the doors of the Union Church would be opened to the excluded clergyman.
The important institution of Hydetown is the Ridgway Sanitarium. Many years ago Sammuel Ridgway experimented extensively in the production of a medicinal liniment. He ultimately succeeded in getting a compound of remarkable potency for the relief and cure of people afflicted with rheumatism, neuralgia and other kindred ailments. As a result he established at Hydetown a large hospital or sanitarium, in which with his liniment and a special massage treatment he expels disease and restores the sick to health. The institution has acquired a wide reputation and patients come to it from distant parts for treatment. Those suffering from general debility find benefit from the massage method. The sanitarium is now a hotel as well as hospital.
The citizens of Hydetown have always given a good deal of attention to their schools. Miss Sally Shelmadine taught in the place as early as 1830. The first schoolhouse, erected in 1838, stood on the lot of the present Union School building. The members of the present board of school directors are Joseph Fertig, president ; J. T. Farrer, treasurer ; C. E. Akin, secretary; Fred Ford. Jacob Grider and E. C. Newton.
The number of inhabitants of Hydetown is about five hundred. The Oil Creek Railroad, now the W. N. Y. & P., has passed through the village since its construction in 1863. The trolley line now connects Titusville and Hydetown. The distance between the western boundary of the city and the eastern part of Hydetown is about two miles. Charles A. Ridgway is the hospital steward of the 16th Regiment, Pennsylvania National Guard. He ac- companied the regiment during the late war, and returned from the West
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Indies with a saffron-hued complexion. Dr. W. A. Baker, physician, is located in Hydetown. There are at present in the village three general stores and groceries, one hardware store, two blacksmith shops and one cider mill.
CHAPTER XV.
PINE TOWNSHIP.
P INE TOWNSHIP was included within the boundaries of North She- mango until 1845. But the Shenango Creek and Pymatuning Swamp seemed to naturally divide the township into two parts, and as com- munication was thus rendered difficult between the northern and southern set- tlements, it was thought best to divide the township, using as a line of division the Shenango Creek, which flowed in a northwesterly direction diagonally across it. Pine was the name given to the northeastern corner thus set off, probably derived from the prevailing kind of timber. A great deal of it was formerly logged and burned, and large amounts were sawed into lumber for home use and for exportation. In former days pine logs were rafted down the Shenango Creek to Newcastle. The pine stumps, owing to the resistance of the roots to decay, are valuable for fencing, and large quantities are extracted and utilized for this purpose.
The surface of Pine Township is almost level, rising gradually toward the north. The entire southern half is covered by the famous Pymatuning Swamp, so that only the northern part is available for cultivation. Stock raising and dairying form the chief agricultural pursuits. That vast body of waste land known as the Pymatuning Swamp, although extending into Sadsbury and North Shenango, has a larger area in Pine than in any other township. It extends in a general northwest and southeast direction, following the course of the Shenango Creek, and according to a survey made by Colonel Worrall in 1868, has an area of about nine thousand acres. In the early times it was a favorite resort for wild pigeons, and they were killed in incredible numbers. They were so numerous that they could be knocked off the limbs by the dozen with a club, and even picked by hand from the bushes. Mr. Alfred Huidekoper, writing of it in 1846, said: "It has every appearance of having once been a lake, whose bed has been gradually filled up with accumulated vegetable mat- ter. Covered with the cranberry vine, with occasional clumps of elders, and islands of birch and other timber, the subsoil is so Icose that a pole can be thrust into it to a depth of from ten to twenty feet. Ditches that have been
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cut through it for the purpose of draining it exhibit fallen timber below ground, and the dead stumps of trees still standing in place show by the diver- gence of their roots that the surface of the soil is now from two to three feet higher than it was when the trees were growing." Old Indian canoes have been found buried in the soil and show that at one time the lake was navigable. The land is not so miry as in former years, and by drainage much is being re- claimed and is now fit for farming. Swamp willow, witch-hazel, whortleberry bushes, elders and clumps of tamarack or larch and other trees still cover parts of the ground. The vegetation is close and dense and consists of a great variety of plants, among them the beautiful "side saddle flower" being found in great abundance.
The Pymatuning Swamp was a favorite resort of the Indians, and many a tradition concerning it has been handed down from them. The early settlers were supplied with salt by the Indians, and the fact that it was warm when they received it led to the belief that it was obtained in the vicinity of the swamp. Many attempts were made to discover from where and in what manner it was obtained, but the locality remains a secret to this day.
William Burnside was a blacksmith, who located on a tract of land in the northern part of what is now Pine, as early as 1797 or 1798. His is the first settlement on record. He was an Irishman, and boldly took possession of a tract with the belief that he could hold it by complying with the provisions of the land act. But he was defeated when the case came to trial and was obliged to vacate. He removed to Meadville, but afterward returned to Lines- ville, where he was accidentally killed about 1826 at a log rolling. Samuel Glenn, another native of the Emerald Isle, located in the southern part of the township at an early date, and is by some claimed to have been the first settler. He spent the remainder of his days upon the farm which he cleared. Robert Graham, a miller by trade, was also of Irish extraction. He came in 1802 and took up a tract upon which he passed the remainder of his life. Martin Cunningham. another early settler in Pine Township, was an Irishman, and resided in the southern part until his death. A widow by the name of Jane Patterson settled with her family about a mile south of Linesville. She was a weaver and was one of the first settlers, but after her death the children re- moved from the township.
Another pioneer settler was Samuel Mckay, a bachelor, who lived the life of a recluse in a cabin just south of Linesville. As the settlers increased around him he left his first claim and retreated still further into the wilderness.
Jabez Colt, the agent of the Pennsylvania Population Company, had in 1797 attempted to build up a town in Conneaut Township by means of arti- ficial immigration. The name of Colt's Station had been given to the place, but in a year or two it had completely disappeared. In 1800 he repeated the experiment in Pine Township. He built a grist mill and erected a half dozen
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log cabins as a nucleus of the prospective city. A tannery was also started. When Crawford County was organized he made a vain attempt to have the county seat located in the western part on the land owned by the company which he represented. The name of Colt's New Station was given to the place, in distinction from the former Colt's Station in Conneaut Township. But the country was too new and thinly settled to support a place of any size, and when the artificial stimulus which started it had been withdrawn it de- creased in numbers and was soon entirely abandoned. It was located about a half a mile north of the present village of Linesville.
The first school in the township was taught in 1824 by Joseph Line, in the northeastern part. Many of the children from Pine now attend school in Lines- ville, so that the records do not show for Pine Township as large a proportion of schools as would otherwise be the case. Almost eight hundred dollars was raised and expended in 1896 for the use of the schools.
BOROUGH OF LINESVILLE.
The Borough of Linesville, the only postoffice within the territory of Pine, is a spacious little village situated in the northeastern part of the town- ship. It has a population of between five and six hundred. The Erie and Pittsburg Railroad passes through the village. It was the western terminus of the former Meadville and Linesville Railroad, now a branch of the Pitts- burg. Bessemer and Lake Erie Railroad.
Linesville was founded by Amos Line, who in 1800 had been a surveyor in the employ of the Pennsylvania Population Company. His home was in Plainfield, New Jersey, but having purchased a traet of land in Pine Town- ship he removed to it in 1818. He paid for his traet four dollars an aere, and built a cabin in the northern part, near the township line. For some years he kept a small store here, but in 1823, his cabin having burned down, he removed to the site of Linesville, where he had previously built a mill. Here he lived for two years, occupying an old log cabin, but in 1825 removed to a frame house he had built beside the mill. It was about the same year that le laid out the village, and several of the lots were soon disposed of. William Burnside and Jesse Gilliland, blacksmiths, were among the first settlers; also Joseph Allen, a carpenter ; William Russell and Moses Lord, shoemakers, and Samuel Shattuck, a cooper.
The plot of the village, as recorded in 1838, contained a public square, sev- enty-five lots, and five streets, Pymatuning and Mercer streets extending north and south, and Erie, Mill and Conneaut crossing them in an east and west direction. Joseph Allen laid out the southern part, which was recorded in 1842. The first tannery was erected by C. S. Stratton about 1837. Two years later, Smith Line, a son of the proprietor, opened the first store. Amos Line was the first postmaster, and the records show that the receipts for the
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first quarter amounted to twenty-five cents, the postage on one letter. Mr. Line was a Quaker in belief, and worshiped with the Quaker congregation in Conneaut Township. He died in 1853 at the age of seventy-seven, leaving a family still represented in the township.
Jabez Colt, while trying to secure the county seat for the western part of the county, had erected a mill at Linesville in 1800, it being fed by water power by means of a long race. The mill was abandoned soon afterward, and when Mr. Line came to the neighborhood in 1818 it had fallen into total decay. About two years later, however, he erected a new grist mill and afterward added a saw mill. In 1837 he sold the mill to Joseph Boyd, and a year after- ward the grist mill was burned. It was rebuilt some years later by the Lines- ville Industrial Association, and has since then been burned and again rebuilt. An extensive lumbering business was for some time carried on, large quan- tities being shipped by the canal from Shermansville.
Linesville's first newspaper was founded in 1875 by Britton & McCoy, under the name of the Leader. After various vicissitudes it was converted into the Linesville Herald, under which name it is still published in the form of a semi-weekly, and finds a large circulation. The Linesville Gasctte. founded after the Leader: had but a brief existence, and was later on published for a few months under the name of the American Citizen.
Amos Line, the first settler, also taught the first school in Linesville, in 1835. in a log building which stood on the south side of Main Street. Joseph Allen was another early teacher. In 1841 the first schoolhouse was built, at the northwest corner of Main Street, in the eastern part of the borough, a dis- trict school, consisting of one room. Later on a frame building. also of one room, was erected on West Main Street, on the site of the present schoolhouse, and as the village grew an addition was built. After this a two-story frame building was used for some time, when in 1880 a handsome brick building was erected. In 1896 five schools were in operation, with a school year of eight months. Two hundred and eight scholars were in attendance, although somme were from Pine Township, and the average cost for each pupil per month was $2. Almost $2,000 was raised for purposes of public instruction.
The St. Philip's Catholic Church of Linesville worshiped for several years in private houses. In 1870 a church edifice was erected on South Mercer Street and services regularly held. About twenty-five families are included in the congregation. The Methodists of Linesville held meetings for many years in the schoolhouse, at which time John Thayer, John Rea and A. G. Woods were leading members. In 1860 a church building was erected. The congre- gation, which is small, forms a part of the Linesville circuit.
The first church edifice in Linesville was erected by the Baptist Church in 1852. Back in the early days of the settlement a society of this denomination had flourished, and worshiped in a log cabin about a mile east of Linesville.
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Services were held here as early as 1818 by Rev. McMillan: and William Ward, James Bishop, Moses Bishop and William Bunnell were among the early members. These services were continued during many years. About 1846 a Baptist Church was organized at Linesville, and was reorganized in 1851 by Rev. E. M. Alden, with eighteen members. Within the next year they had built a large building at a cost of $2,500.
CHAPTER XVI.
RANDOLPH TOWNSHIP.
R ANDOLPH is an interior township, situated a little southeast of the center of the county, and has an area of 25, 188 acres. The soil is quite hilly, and is drained by Woodcock and Sugar creeks, the former flow- ing north into Richmond and the latter following a southerly direction into Wayne. The eastern part of the township is comparatively new and is not so thickly settled, but the soil is good throughout, is well adapted to grazing and produces good crops. A portion of the land was marshy in early times, but clearing has made it tillable. Dairying and stock raising are the chief pursuits, although lumbering was formerly carried on quite extensively. Maple, birch, ash, poplar, cherry, chestnut, elm and oak are the chief varieties of forest timber.
Randolph Township was organized in 1824 from parts of Mead, Rockdale and Oil Creek. and its original limits included what is now the northern part of Randolph, the greater part of Richmond, and the western sections of Troy, Steuben and Athens. It was laid out with its present outlines in 1829. Rich- mond bounds it on the north, Steuben and Troy on the east, Wayne on the south and Mead on the west. The northern and southeastern parts of the township were donation lands, while the southwestern corner was the property of the Holland Land Company. It was on these tracts of the Holland Com- pany that the first settlements were made. As the conditions necessary to maintain a valid title required a residence and improvements on each tract, the company offered a gratuity of one hundred acres to each one fulfilling the terms of settlement, in order to place an occupant on each tract at the earliest possible date. Many of the pioneers then coming into the country gladly availed themselves of this opportunity to secure a home.
The question as to who made the first settlement in Randolph Township is a disputed one. It is not doubted that the Johnsons made a settlement in
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1797, although, according to some accounts James Brawley, often called the second pioneer, was there two years before that date. But by the records of the Holland Land Company and according to the traditions handed down from the earliest settlers, the honor of making the first settlement belongs to Alexander Johnson and his son Josepli. The latter, when but a boy of eighteen years, left his home in Dauphin County and started out on foot to seek his fortune in the western wilderness. He reached Meadville in the June of 1797, and thence striking out to the east, he reached the lands of the Holland Land Com- pany in Randolph Township. He selected a tract on which to locate, and re- turning to Meadville contracted with the company, in his own and his father's name, for its settlement. He built a small hut on the land, constructing the roof with the boughs of trees, and spent the summer there, returning in the autumn to his old home. Early in the next spring he started out again, this time accompanied by his father's family, and again reached his wilderness home. They constructed a log cabin and began the work of clearing the land and preparing it for cultivation. Here they remained throughout life, one of the most prominent families of pioneer times, the elder Johnson dying in 1823.
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