USA > Pennsylvania > Crawford County > Our country and its people. A historical and memorial record of Crawford County, Pennsylvania. > Part 58
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James Brawley, by sonie accounted the first settler, but who, according to the more trustworthy accounts, did not come to Randolph until 1797 or 1798, located on the land of the Holland Land Company and built a cabin. Having. procured some seed potatoes at Franklin he carried them upon his back through the woods up French and Sugar creeks, following an Indian path. He cleared a small patch of land and planted it with potatoes, after which he joined a sur- veying party in Erie County. In the fall, upon returning to dig his potatoes, he was surprised to find his cabin occupied by Indians, who, supposing the claim abandoned, had dug and eaten his potatoes and were preparing to depart. But desiring to compensate him for his loss, the Indians opened their packages and shared with him their store of furs and dried meat. He exchanged these for a quantity of wheat, which he sowed, and then returned to Lycoming County. The next spring he brought his mother's family with him to his new home, arriving in June. They were six weeks upon the journey, which, like all pioneer emigration of those times, was accomplished in face of the greatest difficulties. They came directly through the woods with their ox team, driving before them several cows, the milk from which was strained, and being put into a churn was converted into butter by the motion of the wagon. When they reached their destination they were almost penniless, the last twenty-five cents being expended for a quart of salt. There were no mills in the neigh- borhood, and for some time the family lived on whole wheat boiled in milk. In the fall Brawley learned that a mill had been erected by the Holland Com- pany on Pine Creek, near Titusville. Loading four bushels of wheat upon an ox he started out through the unbroken forest, with no path and no guide to follow, save a pocket compass. He was six days upon the road. At night he
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removed the load from the ox and turned it out to browse, while he built a fire, beside which he encamped, and by which the ox was accustomed to lie when he had appeased his hunger. When he returned with the wheat flour there was a day of festivity in the Brawley household.
For many years James Brawley held a commission as justice of the peace. He also built the first saw mill and the first frame house and barn in the town- ship. In 1800 he married Mary Glen, a daughter of William Glen, of Mead Township, and theirs was probably the first marriage contracted in the township. William R. Brawley, their son, was doubtless the first white child born there, while Mary Brawley, who died in 1805, is supposed to have been the first person who died in the township. In company with Alexander Johnson Mr. Brawley took the contract to carry the mail once a week between Meadville and Mayville, N. Y. They performed the journey on horseback, going in turn upon alternate weeks, commencing in 1818 and continuing during a num- ber of years. Hugh Brawley, who came to the township with his brother James, settled upon a tract near him, where he remained throughout life. He was an active member of the Presbyterian Church.
Beriah Battles, who contracted to settle a Holland Land Company tract in Randolph and an adjoining one in Mead Township, built his cabin on the township line at Frenchtown. He did not remain long, emigrating soon after- ward to Ohio. Archibald Stewart, who came from Lycoming County, set- tled a tract in the same vicinity, upon which he remained until his death. Be- sides being a farmer he also followed the occupation of a weaver. Andrew McFadden settled here at an early date and remained until death, leav- ing a family which is now widely scattered. The Daniels were a numerous family who settled upon Holland tracts in Randolph Township. Samuel, Jolin, Daniel and Abraham were all farmers, and all took up land here at an early date. Mary, wife of Andrew McFadden; Sarah, wife of Joseph Armstrong, and Lucy, wife of Hugh Brawley, were their sisters. They were all members of the Methodist Church, and Abraham was a local preacher. Daniel built a small powder mill before 1810 and supplied gunpowder to such of his neigh- bors as were fond of hunting. Amos Daniels was another pioncer who settled in this township.
The Donation Lands, comprising the northern and eastern portions of the township, and which were reserved for the soldiers of the Revolution, were settled much later. A large proportion of the soldiers who drew lands here made no settlements, and for many years the ownership of much of the land was unknown, being held by non-residents. Isaac Berlin, an old soldier, drew a tract in the extreme northwestern corner of the township. He brought his family from across the mountains and commenced a settlement upon it, but the solitude proving irksome and the unresponsive character of the soil dis- couraging him, he soon left it and purchased a farm on French Creek, in Wood-
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cock Township. A Revolutionary hero named Meheffy settled here, remaining but a short time. The only permanent settlement made by an old soldier in the township was that of Dennis Kane, an Irishman, who settled about 1805 upon a tract in the southern part of the township. He built a cabin in the woods, far from any other settlement, and remained a lifelong and respected citizen. Michael Radle, a German by birth, was an early pioneer in the northern part. He came with his family from Philadelphia about 1806 and settled in the central part, some distance northeast of Guy's Mills. For many years three or four miles separated him from his nearest neighbors. Aided by his three sons, William, Andrew and John, he cleared away the forest and tilled the land, until by his industry he had a large and valuable farm, of which he remained a lifelong occupant. He is still represented in the township by numerous descendants.
The soldiers to whom the donation lands belonged manifested little dispo- sition to settle upon them, and as late as 1815 the township showed few signs of settlement except the scattered clearings made by the pioneers mentioned above. Large numbers of the unclaimed donation tracts were sold by the county commissioners for delinquent taxes. Extensive litigation frequently resulted from this, the soldiers or their representatives appearing and contest- ing their validity. Often the matter was settled by a compromise, but the original warrantees usually maintained their claims and in consequence the tax titles were looked upon with distrust. There were a great many tracts in this district which had not been drawn at all by the soldiers, and these could be entered upon by any settler and the title secured by paying to the State the amount required by law.
A company was organized by Jacob Guy, Melanchthon Wheeler, and Troop Barney, all residents of Whitehall, Washington County, N. Y., which pur- chased a large quantity of the land sold at tax sale. Another company com- posed of Ward Barney, George Barney and William A. Moore, also of Wash- ington County, N. Y., made large investments in these tax titles and sold out their claims to incoming settlers. Jacob Gny, a member of the first company, settled in Meadville in 1813, and two years later moved to Randolph Township. He was a native of Concord, New Hampshire, and had graduated at Dart- mouth College. He settled at Guy's Mills and was prominently identified with the interests of the township, in the development of which he was largely in- strumental. He was the first justice of the peace, and it is said that the set- tlers kept him busy during the winter examining wolves' scalps, on which there was a bounty. The first house built at Guy's Mills was erected for him, being constructed of poles and covered with hemlock brush. He lived upon the land which he settled during the remainder of his life.
A large number of the settlers of the donation lands came from Wash- ing County, New York. Among the earliest to arrive were Russell Mattison
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and Joel Jones, who about 1816 settled near Mr. Guy's estate. Moses Gilbert came from Fort Ann, New York, and settled near a spring in the central part, in 1818, and remained until his death. His descendants are still prominent in the township. Andrew Barney settled in the northern part of the township, Elkanah Barney came about 1820 and located a mile southwest of Guy's Mills, and Joshua Barlow settled about 1824 on the west line of the township. These with Ezra Carpenter, Isaac Childs, Hiram Cornwell, Alfred Curtis, Luke Hotchkiss, Samuel Hatch, James McLaughlin and Nathan Southwick, were all immigrants from Washington County, New York.
Leonard Hall, a native of Vermont, came in 1817 and settled in the north- ern part of the township. on a tract which occupied the present site of Hickory Corners, where he was the first settler. He walked the whole of the way from Vermont, averaging, according to his account, the almost incredible distance of forty miles a day. He was married in 1820, and his wedding trip consisted of a visit to his then far distant Vermont home. The journey was made with an ox sled, for which he was obliged to cut a road for some distance, while his father-in-law, who accompanied him a part of the way, drove the ox and sled bearing his wife. One cannot but admire the energy and deter- mination with which these hardy settlers entered into every phase of their life. Few bridegrooms would attempt such an undertaking in these degen- erate days. Philip Cutshall was one of the earliest settlers in the northern part of the township. He was a Pennsylvania German, and with his sons, John, Jacob and George, came, in 1814, from his home in Cumberland County. They came through the woods with a six-horse team, crossing the streams that were too deep to ford by using their wagon box as a boat, in which they transferred their goods, a few at a time. One of their horses died on the way, so a bull which they drove was placed in the harness and driven in its stead the remainder of the distance. George was obliged to go to Meadville to work out his road tax, as there were no roads in his vicinity. William Waid came from New York State in 1816 and settled on a tract just north of Guy's. His brothers, Seth and Warner, settled on an adjoining tract. John Dickson, from Boston, was a carpenter, who remained until his death upon a tract which he settled in the center of the township. Thomas McFadden, who was raised in Crawford County, purchased and cleared a farm in the northeastern part of Randolph, while Elias Thayer made an early settlement near the township center.
It was well toward the middle of the century before the township was thoroughly settled, although the period of the greatest immigration was between the years 1820 and 1830. John Oaks settled at an early date in the southeastern part of the township, on lands of the Sixth Donation District. He came from Massachusetts about 1816, bringing with him a large family. John Byham also came at an early date, and Lemuel Smith and Jonas Byham,
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both from Worcester County, Massachusetts, had settled here before the organization of the township. Pickett and Mckay are remembered as early residents, and James Douglass had settled here before 1810, but afterward removed to Meadville. The first saw mill was built by James Brawley. It stood upon his farm, and the power was obtained from the water of a small branch of Sugar Creek. Another one was erected by Jacob Guy, a year or two later, in the wilderness at Guy's Mills. Another was soon afterward constructed by George Cutshall, and others were put in operation in various parts of the township. A number of these are still in use.
John Kane, a son of Dennis Kane, taught the first school in the town- ship, in 1813, in a little log schoolhouse that stood near the southwestern cor- ner of the township. It was constructed of rough logs, and greased paper was substituted in the windows for glass. The Johnsons, McDills, Brawleys and Daniels attended here. Henry Thurston, son of David Thurston of Mead Township, and Allison De France, a son of James De France, also a pioneer of Mead, were teachers here in early days. In 1820 a second log schoolhouse was reared in the same neighborhood. The first school in the vicinity of Guy's Mills was taught by Mary Guy, in the upper story of a barn.
Soon after the adoption of the common school system, in 1836, there were seven schools in operation, conducted by twelve teachers, six male and six female. Their pay was eleven dollars per month for the males and four dol- lars per month for the females. Three hundred scholars were in attendance, the school year having a length of four and one-half months. The character and qualifications of the teachers were considered good, and they were re- ported as being fully competent to teach reading, writing, arithmetic, geog- raphy and grammar. The new system was well received and in successful operation, and the progress of the scholars was reported as being as good as could be expected.
In 1896 the number of schools had increased to seventeen, with a school year of seven months' duration. There were four hundred and seventeen scholars in attendance, at an average monthly cost to the township for each child of $1.24. A total amount of $4.362.89 was expended for school pur- poses during the year. A recent county superintendent. in reporting to the State upon the condition of the Crawford County schools, speaks as follows of the great progress made during the past few years : "I haveseen a graded sys- tem, which simplifies and unifies the work, established in all the country schools ; I have seen the teaching force animated and vivified by a system of professional reading : I have seen the attendance at normal schools more than double from this county: I have seen more than one thousand pupils from country schools complete the common school course and receive their diplomas or certificates of standing, ready to go into high schools or normal schools; I have seen town- ship high schools established in several townships and boroughs, where ninth
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and tenth year work was done that was a source of pride to the patrons, teachers and, in fact, all connected with the school work of the county ; I have seen the teachers of the county paid, in the aggregate, thousands of dollars more for their services than was ever paid them before."
Guy's Mills, the only village in the township, is located a little west of the center, in the midst of a rich agricultural region. The first settlement here was made by Jacob Guy in 1813, the whole region in that vicinity being then an unbroken wilderness. Soon after he located here he built a saw mill, which gave the name of Guy's Mills to the place, and one has been operated here ever since. About 1828 Noah Hall opened a small store and for several years supplied the neighboring families with some of the necessities of life. Five years later Jacob Guy established a store of much greater magnitude, and kept it for several years. James Foreman opened the first tavern in 1838. and about the same time a postoffice was established there. In 1860 the village consisted of nothing more than a store, a mill and half a dozen houses; but soon after that period it began to increase in size and has had since then a slow but steady growth. It contains stores, shops and mills of various kinds, an excellent hotel, the Guy House, besides schools and churches. Guy's Mills is the trading center of a region of unusual richness and productiveness, and its stores are filled with a greater and more varied stock of goods than is usually found in places of the same size.
Hickory Corners is a cross-road station in the northern part of the town- ship. Randolph Postoffice is located there.
Sugar Lake Postoffice is in the southern part of the township. Black Ash is a settlement in the southeastern corner.
The Baptist Church of Guy's Mills was organized at Dewey's Corners, Mead Township, in 1820, under the name of the "Mead Baptist Church." There were ten original members : Joel Jones and his wife Rhoda, Mrs. Lovey Wood, Benjamin Sweeney and his wife Mehitable, John Pratt and his wife Rebecca, Russell Mattison and his wife Phoebe, and Levi Dewey. Soon after its organization large accessions were made to the membership, and for more than a year meetings were held in Mead Township. After that the religious exercises were conducted in the schoolhouse at Guy's Mills until 1826, when a frame meeting house, the first religious structure in the township, was erected in the village. In 1868 this was replaced by a more commodious build- ing at a cost of $1,800. Rev. Oliver Alfred was the first pastor. This was the first Baptist church organized in the portion of Crawford County lying east of French Creek, and several other congregations in neighboring townships have been formed from its membership.
A Methodist class was organized in 1822, at the house of Daniel Hunt, in Richmond Township, and from this the Methodist Society of Guy's Mills was formed. The services were continued in that township until about 1848,
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when a frame structure was built in the northern part of Randolph, at Hickory Corners. Daniel and Luther Hunt and Delos Crouch were at that time prom- inent members. The services were conducted here until 1871, when a society was formed at Guy's Mills from the membership of the Hickory Corners church and a few members from Mount Hope. A handsome frame edifice was constructed in 1871 at a cost of $3,500.
The First Congregational Church of Randolph was organized in 1825 as a Presbyterian and Congregational Society, and as a Congregational Church in 1839. Rev. Timothy Alden, of Meadville, and Rev. Amos Chase, of Titus- ville, held Presbyterian services in this locality before the organization of the church. The Guys, Stewarts, Parkers, Kanes, Brawleys, Waids, Mc- Laughlins and Barlows were prominent among the early members. In 1845 a frame church was erected at Guy's Mills, before which the services had been lield in a schoolhouse. The church was remodeled and enlarged in 1871 at a cost of about $5,000, and now has a large and flourishing membership.
As early as 1812 Methodist meetings were held at the cabin of Mr. Dan- iels, in the southwestern part of the township. They were continued regularly until 1825, when the membership was greatly increased by a revival, and a frame church was built about half a mile south of Guy's Mills. John Smith, David Jones, David Hanks, Thomas Wilder, Reuben Smith and William Waid were the leading members. Here regular services were maintained until 1858, when a church was built on the Oil Creek Road, on a lot donated by Levi Oaks, in the southern part of the township. The Mount Hope Church, as it was called, was built at a cost of $900, and besides the society of the old Guy's church, the members of a class which had been organized about a year before a mile further south in Wayne Township, joined the new society. D. W. Bannister, Joel Smith, John Oaks, Stephen Reese and Smith Byham were prominent members at that period.
East Randolph Church was organized in 1850 by Rev. Edwin Hull, who became the first pastor. For some time the society worshiped in a schoolhouse in the southeastern corner of the township, but in 1866 a building was erected at a cost of $1.275. Mark Bogardus and wife, Nicholas Bogardus and wife, and Mr. Loveless were early members.
CHAPTER XVII.
RICHMOND TOWNSHIP.
R ICHMOND TOWNSHIP was organized in 1829 from parts of Ran- dolph and Rockdale. The whole southern part was included within this Seventh Donation District and formed a part of Mead Township until 1824, when Randolph was organized. Along the northern border is a narrow strip of the land of the Eighth Donation District, and this formed a portion of Rockdale until the organization of Richmond in 1829. Between the two extended a narrow strip. having an average width in this township of half a mile, which, on account of the inaccuracy of the early surveys, was in- cluded within neither the Seventh nor Eiglith Donation districts. This re- mained for a long time ungranted and unclaimed, and was finally settled as State land.
Richmond Township is situated in the interior of Crawford County, east of the center, and forms an approximate square, six iniles in dimensions, with an area of 20,993 acres. It is bounded on the north by Rockdale, on the east by Athens and Steuben, on the south by Randolph and on the west by Wood- cock. The principal stream is Woodcock Creek, which flows westward through the southern part, while its northern branch rises in the northwestern corner of the township. Muddy Creek flows in a northwesterly direction across the northeastern corner, where it receives Macky Creek, which rises in the western part and flows east. It is a rich dairy township, and dairying is a leading pursuit of the inhabitants, while lumbering is also an industry of some import- ance. The surface in general is rolling, with some lowlands in the south- eastern part. The streams are skirted by wide valleys which rise by gradual „slopes to ridges of comparatively level land. Here the soil is a gravelly clay, and the timber is principally oak and chestnut, with some hickory, beech and other varieties. On the lowlands, where the soil is a gravelly loam, a great deal of hemlock is found, while in the drier portions beech and maple, with some ash and butternut, abound.
In common with the other townships of eastern Crawford, Richmond remained unsettled until a comparatively late date. Almost all of the land in the township was included in the Donation Tracts, reserved for the soldiers of the Revolution, yet it cannot be found that a single settlement was made in the township by one of them. With the characteristic carelessness and gen- erosity of men of his profession, the old soldier held in low repute the war-
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rant granted him by the Commonwealth for a tract of land in the West, and usually sold his title for a trifle to the speculators, who made a practice of searching out the scattered heroes of the Revolution and obtaining their titles to the land. No concerted action, such as was made in the western part of the county, was possible in the military lands. Each soldier drew a definite lot and must settle on that particular tract. If a venturesome pioneer obtained a warrant for land, he had not the power of selection, but must find the lot from among hundreds of others, and the chances were that it would be iniles re- mote from any other habitation. This prevented those who came out together from settling in the same neighborhood, as was the custom in other localities. For this and many other reasons the settlement of Richmond was delayed long after other portions of the county were occupied, and it was not till 1817 that the first successful effort was made to wrest a home from this silent wil- derness.
.A temporary settlement had been made in the northeastern portion of the township, by several families, some years prior to 1817. They erected cabins and cleared and planted little patches of ground, but discouraged by the deso- lateness of the region and tiring of their long continued isolation from the other settlements, while finding the soil unresponsive and barren, they deserted the place after a few years' residence. George Miller, who afterward located in Rockdale, was one of these transitory settlers, and a Mr. Falkouburg was another.
The first permanent settler was Ebenezer Hunt, a native of Vermont, who left that State in the fall of 1815, and passed the winter in Erie County, having come most of the distance on foot. He then resided a year in Mead- ville, and, having purchased a tract of two hundred acres in Richmond Town- ship, started to take possession of it in the spring of 1817. The land, which had been sold for taxes at Commissioners' sale, cost him $500. Accompanied by his brother, Daniel Hunt, he made his way to his land through the tan- gled forest from Guy's Mills, then the nearest habitation. A brush camp was temporarily erected beside a fallen hemlock, and served to shelter the two, brothers until, without any assistance, they had built a log cabin, about twelve by fourteen feet. They split out a floor from the timber, fashioned a rude door, and as they had brought no furniture with them they made a table, stools and some other articles. With their rude cabin and its furnishings, and their desolate environment, they presented a type of the backwoods home such as many settlers possessed, and which a life time of hard labor and economical management scarcely sufficed to furnish with the common conveniences of life. In 1820, David Hunt, the father of the two pioneers, brought out his family to the settlement prepared by his sons, and remained with them until his death. In 1822 Ebenezer Hunt was married to Lavinia Hatch, of Randolpli Town- ship, and passed the remainder of his life in tilling the soil.
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