USA > Pennsylvania > Crawford County > Our country and its people. A historical and memorial record of Crawford County, Pennsylvania. > Part 63
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The original "Shadeland" consisted of but a few hundred acres, but new territory has been acquired until now the estate comprises several thousand acres. Had these enterprising gentlemen, instead of having inherited their estate, traveled the country over to find a location exactly fitted to the re- quirements of their business, they could not have chosen a better. Situated in the best farming section of Pennsylvania, it is remarkably healthy, and has never been visited by any of the fearful contagions which in other sections have made havoc among the stock. The large farm is in a high state of cultivation, and the rich pastures, covered with a carpet of native grasses, are well watered by pure springs and clear running brooks. A large creek runs through the center of a rich valley, across which the farm extends well up the hills on either side, thus giving all the varieties of soil and grasses so neces- sary for the health and thrift of horses and cattle. The buildings consist of sixteen different groups, some of which contain six or eight barns. They are thus isolated because more healthy for the stock, safer in case of fire and more convenient to the different sections of the farm. Stock from this establish- ment has gone to almost every State and Territory of the United States, to various European countries, to Canada, Mexico, South and Central America.
The great industry has brought forth a little settlement of employees, buyers and shippers. A postoffice has been established, a Western Union Telegraph office, railway stations of the Erie and Pittsburg and the Pittsburg, Bessemer and Lake Erie railroads, and express offices of both the Adams and Wells-Fargo companies. The cable address is "Shadeland, U. S. A."
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BOROUGH OF CONNEAUTVILLE.
The borough of Conneautville was founded in 1804 by Alexander Power. He had, while a young man, been engaged with a party in the work of sur- veying northwestern Pennsylvania during the years of 1794 and 1795. Their adventures with the Indians were varied and exciting, and they were obliged repeatedly to flee from hostile bands. On one occasion their camp with its equipage was scattered and destroyed, and one of their number. James Thompson, was captured and taken West by the savages. It was while en- gaged in this work that Mr. Power selected several tracts in what is now Spring Township, for which he later on secured a patent. He returned to his former home in Perry County, and in 1798 set out on horseback to locate on his Western lands, bringing with him his wife, to whom he had been married but a short time. He settled at first at the head of Conneaut Lake and for six years remained there, clearing and cultivating his land. In 1804 he re- moved with his wife and two children to the present site of Conneautville, and took possession of the land he had selected many years before while on the surveying party. In 1798 he had been appointed a justice of the peace for Allegheny County, which then embraced what is now Crawford. In 1800 he had built a sawmill, and in 1815 received an appointment as the first post- master of Conneautville, his son William being the second.
The village was laid out by Alexander Power in 1815, and was rectan- gular in shape, including what now lies between High and Main, and Arch and Pearl streets, with several lots on the southwest side of Main Street. For several years the village was known as Powerstown, William Power laying out an addition which extended to the southern line of Spring Township, and it was afterward extended across the line into Summerhill. The original plat included the public square, and when the canal was built the direction of some of the streets was changed. The first house was built by Alexander Power before the town was laid out. William Douglas and Henry Christie erected cabins within the village in 1816, and the next year William Crozier began keeping the first tavern in a frame house he had built. The first store was kept in Alexander Power's dwelling house by Richard Dibble, who com- menced business in 1815. Peter Benway followed his trade of shoemaking, commencing business in 1819. In the same year Curtis Adams erected a hewed log cooper shop. but his health failing he abandoned the business, and several years later the building became the schoolhouse and village ball room. The first blacksmith was Joseph Pratt, who came in 1820 and occupied the site of the Courier office, on Main Street. Mr. Power opened a store in the front room of his dwelling about 1819, and in 1827 Zimri Lewis also began business.
Conneautville was incorporated as a borough in 1844 by an act of the
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State Legislature, and the first election was held on May 24. 1844. John E. Patton was elected the first Burgess, and William S. Crozier, Minor T. Carr, George M. Myler and Charles Rich composed the first council. The borough received its territory partly from Spring and partly from Summerhill, the greater part being taken from the former township. It is located in the valley of Conncaut Creek, on the main line of the Pittsburg, Bessemer and Lake Erie Railroad, and one and one-half miles east of the Erie and Pittsburg, with which it maintains communication by means of hack lines. The old Beaver and Erie Canal also passed through it. Conneautville is the center and trad- ing point of a considerable portion of northwestern Crawford, and is sur- rounded by a rich and populous agricultural district. In 1821 Francis Mc- Guire erected a tannery on the corner of Main and Pearl streets, and other industries sprung up. The village continued to grow slowly, receiving a decided impetus when the canal was constructed, which produced an influx of laborers, mechanics and tradesmen, and the tide of prosperity which then set in has continued without serious interruption to the present. Two great fires have visited the town, one in 1867 and another in 1874. but the burnt districts were soon rebuilt and left no lasting damage. During the busy days of the canal a great amount of business was transacted at Conneautville, a heavy lumber traffic being induced by the facilities for transportation afforded by this water course. In 1860 the village had attained to a population of about 1,200, but with the discontinuance of the canal came a depression in trade, and in 1870 the population had decreased to 1,000. Since then busi ness has again revived, and Conneautville has improved in many respects.
Several large factories are numbered among the industries of Conneaut- ville, among which the extensive tannery of Mr. Bolard is especially desery ing of mention. The village is provided with numerous dry goods, drug, clothing, jewelry, furniture, boot and shoe, hardware and millinery stores, groceries, tailoring establishments and tin shops ; meat markets, hotels, livery stables, blacksmith shops, harness shops and shoe shops ; churches, schools, physicians, a lawyer and a well edited newspaper. The Conneautville Na- tional Bank, of which Hon. J. C. Sturtevant is President, was organized in 1861, and has a capital of $100,000. A cemetery was laid out in 1836, and in 1864 it was greatly enlarged and beautified.
The first fair of the Crawford County Agricultural Society was held at Conneautville in 1852, it being the first organization of the kind in the county. Ever since that date fairs have been held annually, which have increased in exhibits and the number of visitors until now the society is one of the best and most successful in this portion of the State. The spacious and well im- proved grounds, finely adapted to the purpose, are situated near the south- eastern corner of the borough, and here each year are to be seen some of the
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finest agricultural and other products of the rich and fertile district in which Conneautville is located.
In 1846 the first newspaper published in Conneautville was started by Platt & Son, under the name of the Union. The next year it was discon- tinued. The Crisis, commenced in 1868 by Mr. Field, was another unsuc- cessful venture, and after a three months' existence it was removed to Girard. In 1847 A. T. Mead and George W. Brown issued the first number of the Conneautville Courier. It prospered to such an extent that the introduc- tion of a steam press became necessary, and after passing through various hands it was sold to J. E. and W. A. Rupert and united with the Record, a paper started by John W. Patton in 1858 as an advertising sheet, but which soon developed into a regular weekly and a formidable rival of the Courier. The Rupert Brothers for some time published the consolidated papers under the name of the Record and Courier, until in 1870 they restored to it its old name of the Conncautville Courier. Under that name it is still pub- lished by James E. Rupert & Son, being Republican in politics, local in char- acter, and has a wide circulation throughout Crawford County. In 1881 William F. Zell started the Conneautville Independent, but after various changes in ownership it was discontinued.
The first school within the limits of the borough was taught by Josiah Brooks in a log schoolhouse erected about 1812. The windows were made of greased paper instead of glass, and the chimney was built of sticks of wood and mortar made of clay and chopped straw. Sheffield Randall, James Mc- Intire and Samuel Steele taught there at various times. During the War of 1812 a messenger brought the news that the English were landing Indians at the mouth of Conneaut Creek to plunder and slaughter the settlers. The children were at once sent to their homes through the woods to spread the alarm, in order that the farmers might be on the defensive, but the report proved to be false, and no Indians appeared. In 1828 a frame schoolhouse was erected on the corner of Water and Center streets. In 1868 a substantial brick schoolhouse was erected by the borough at a cost of $20,000. In 1896 five schools were maintained during a school year of eight months, one hun- dred and ninety-four scholars being in attendance. The average cost per month to the borough for each scholar amounted to $1.55, the total amount expended for purposes of education exceeding $2,700.
The Conneautville Methodist Episcopal Class was organized by Rev. Davis in the spring of 1829, with seven original members. The early meet- ings were held in a schoolhouse, until in 1837 a frame church was built at a cost of $875. This building was used until 1877, when it was replaced by a handsome brick edifice which cost, exclusive of the lot, more than $8,300. In 1829 Conneautville class was made a part of the Springfield circuit, in 1833 of the Summerhill, and in 1834 of the Harmonsburgh. Several other changes
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followed until in 1868 Conneautville was inade a regular station. Jesse Dan- ley and wife, Thomas Landon, wife and daughter Esther, and George Nelson and his granddaughter. Margaret Nelson, were the seven original members.
The First Presbyterian Church of Conneautville was organized in 1835 by Rev. Peter Hessinger, with nine members. The congregation was sup- plied by various preachers until 1843, when Rev. J. W. Dickey was ordained and installed the first pastor, in connection with the Harmonsburgh and Evansburgh churches. In 1854 the congregation was divided into two branches, but their differences were finally settled and they reunited in 1865. The first church building was a frame structure built in 1848. In 1871 a handsome brick structure, with stone trimmings, and a spire one hundred and forty feet high, was constructed at a cost of $17,000. There is a large and flourishing membership.
The Conneautville Universalist Church was organized in 1843 with nine- teen members. Early meetings were held in a schoolhouse. About 1850 a frame church was built at the north extremity of Pearl Street. The society was organized under the supervision of Rev. B. F. Hitchcock, who became the first pastor. The first church bell and the first organ in the village were purchased by this society.
The Roman Catholic Church of St. Peter's held its first meetings in the barn of Thomas Henrietta in 1850. Services were held in the houses of the members until the purchase of an old frame schoolhouse in the southern part of the village. This was used until 1871. when they purchased the old academy. During the first years the congregation was attended by the priest from Crossingville. Forty or fifty families are connected with St. Peter's.
The Conneautville Protestant Episcopal Church had its origin in meet- ings conducted here as early as 1850 by Rev. Samuel T. Lord. Regular services were soon afterward commenced and continued until about 1860. About 1868 the church was reorganized by Rev. S. B. Moore. a missionary. In 1870 a church edifice was erected at a cost of $5.000 and consecrated by Rt. Rev. J. B. Kerfoot, of Pittsburg. The membership has been greatly weakened by removals from the vicinity.
BOROUGHI OF SPRING.
The borough of Spring was settled early in the century, James Orr and Thomas Ford being the first to locate within its limits. It owes much of its importance to the opening of the Beaver and Erie Canal. although it had be- gun to assume the appearance of a trading point some time before. The first store was opened in 1835 by Harry Pond, and about the same time Collins Hall erected a woolen, fulling and saw mill. Hawley Dauchey 'built a sec- ond sawmill some time afterward. The opening of the canal contributed to its growth, although it increased slowly. It has had a steady growth even
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since the canal was abandoned. The place was known as Spring Corner; during the early years and a postoffice was kept about a mile north of the village. In 1866 it was incorporated as a borough and Jonathan Sheldon was elected the first Burgess.
Springboro is situated in the western part of Spring Township, on Con- neaut Creek, about three miles north of Conneautville. The houses, which are neat, new structures of remarkable beauty for a village of that size, are scattered along Beaver and Main streets, which intersect one another at "the center." The village has grown steadily from the beginning, and con- tains a number of prosperous, well-to-do citizens. There are a number of stores and shops of various sorts, sawmills, wagon works, hotel, schools and churches.
The first schoolhouse was a primitive log cabin which stood on the hill east of the village. In 1872 the Odd Fellows' Hall on Beaver Street was purchased for a schoolhouse, and was used until 1880, when a commodious, two-story frame structure was erected on the same site at a cost of $4,500. In 1896 three schools were in operation during eight months of the year, and were attended by one hundred and sixty-eight scholars. They were provided instruction at an average cost per month for each pupil of $1.09. The total amount expended during the year for school purposes was almost $1.900.
The Christian Church of Springboro was organized in 1825. when Rev. Asa Morrison gathered together a large congregation. The Whitmans, Baldwins, Sturtevants, Wells, Halls, and Bowmans were among the early members. The first meetings were conducted in the schoolhouse, and about 1845 a commodious frame edifice was erected on the south side of Cussawago Street, it being the first church building within the limits of the borough.
The Methodist Episcopal Church of Springboro was organized in 1828 by Rev. Daniel Ritchie, of the Albion circuit. The five original members were Joel Jones and his wife, Maria Cook, Mary Cook, and George R. Cook, and the first meetings were held on the upper floor of Butler's tannery. They were continued there for a year or two, after which they were held in the school- house for five or six years. About that time Mr. Butler erected a store room at the northeast corner of Main and Cussawago streets, and its upper floor was used for meeting's until 1864. when a frame church was built on the north side of Cussawago Street, at a cost of $1,200.
The First Baptist Church of Springboro was organized in 1833 by Rev. O. L. Dunfee, of North Shenango. The first members were Nathaniel Pond, Henry Wait. John Gillett, Liba Woodard, Silas Cooper, Hiram Shel- don. Mary Pond. Polly Wait. Tryphosia Conover, Sybil Woodard. Polly Gleason. Mary Cutler. Ruth Gillett. Jerusha Mann and Sylvia Hammon. Rev. Adrian Foote, of Meadville, preached occasionally for a few months, after
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which Rev. Levi Fuller was secured as pastor. For some time meetings were held in the old hotel, and later on in the schoolhouse east of town, until, in 1853. they erected a church building. In May, 1880, it was burned, but work was at once commenced on a new structure, which was dedicated in 1882. It is a handsome Gothic building, with a good-sized chapel in the rear. . \ large membership worships there, Rev. II. H. Emmett being the present pastor.
CHAPTER XXIV.
STEUBEN TOWNSHIP.
S TEUBEN is an interior township, lying east of the center of the county. and contains 14,394 acres. It was formed in 1851 from parts of Troy and Athens. Athens bounds it on the north, Rome and Oil Creek on the east, Troy on the south and Randolph and Richmond on the west. The larger portion consists of land of the Seventh Donation District, with some tracts of the Holland Land Company in the eastern part. It is drained in the east by Oil Creek and the small streams tributary to it, and in the west by the headwaters of Muddy Creek and the northern branch of Sugar Creek. The Western New York and Pennsylvania Railroad, extends north and south through the eastern part, with a station at Tryonville. The land has been settled very slowly, and although almost a century has elapsed since the first settlement was made, there still remain some tracts which have not been brought under cultivation.
Dennis Carrol, who is considered the first settler, is supposed to have located in the eastern part in 1808, or even earlier, and for twenty years was its only occupant. He did not remain in one place, but wandered about, and he was also an early settler in Rome Township. He built a cabin in Steuben and remained there until his wife died, when he removed to Erie City.
In 1821 Philip Navy, a native of Germany, came from Lancaster County and settled in the northwestern part of the township. Before coming out he had exchanged his house and lot in Lancaster for the farm on which he settled, and upon his arrival found that he had paid for it at the rate of eight dollars an acre, four times as much as it was worth. Dense forests then covered this section, and he was forced to cut a road through before he could bring his family to his tract, leaving them in the meantime at Newtontown. in Troy Township. He spent the remainder of his life in the work of clear- ing his farm and bringing it under cultivation. At first there were no neigh-
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bors within a radius of six miles. The early settlers in this section did not stop to fell the trees, they girdled the oak and chestnut, and then cleared out the underbrush with fire and planted their crops under the bare limbs of the trees. Five or ten acrés of land might be planted thus the first season, and the crop, as it ripened in the autumn, would be gathered with the least possible waste, as it was the food supply of the pioneer and his family, and upon its safe preservation depended their existence, perhaps, in the struggle to live through the winter. While the first crop was growing the pioneer had time to construct a cabin of some sort, to serve him as a refuge from the winter's cold. the wild beasts of the forest, and the savage red men.
It was usual for a number of settlers to go into the wilderness together and settle near to one another, so as to be able to assist in case of need. To erect a log cabin required the combined efforts of several men, and on these occasions the settlers from all the surrounding country turned out to assist. If a settler were completely isolated from his fellow men his lot was a hard one, for without help he could build only a small and temporary shelter. In case of sickness or accident, too, he ran the risk of suffering before the neces- sary assistance could be summoned. Philip Navy, being ill one day and with- out any meat in the house, hired Samuel Winton to hunt a day in the woods for him, the pay to be one dollar. Winton went into the woods and killed seven deer, bringing them to Navy's cabin, and returned to his own residence, seven miles away. in the same day. Navy died in 1824, and soon afterward his widow married Walter Wood, who had come out from Vermont several years before. They lived on the farm for a short time, then removed to near Centerville.
John Baker, Zephaniah Kingsley, George Northum and Silas Mason made a settlement in 1822 in the vicinity of Townville. The two latter, both of whom came from Fort Ann, New York, located just west of the village, but both afterward removed from the township. Baker secured land north of the village, where he remained throughout life, and numerous descendants still reside in the same vicinity. The Kingsleys settled upon the present site of Townville. Harvey Hull also located there about the same time. James and David Tryon came in 1828 and took up their residence upon the present site of Tryonville. They had been operating a carding and fulling mill in Rome Township, and came to Steuben with the intention of lumbering. They secured more than a thousand acres of land, and made the first improve- ment of any consequence in this part of Steuben, at one time having three sawmills in operation. James R. Maginnis settled the next year in the same vicinity.
About 1832 Reuben Phillips came from Waterloo, New York, and set- tled north of Townville. He was a Quaker in religious belief. He engaged in farming, which he followed throughout life, leaving a family of three sons
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and two daughters. The Winstons, Gilletts, Ponds. Smiths and other fan- ilies moved into the township from 1830 to 1840, and most of them are still represented by their descendants. The population of the township has in- creased slowly, but steadily. Lumbering was the principal industry, the country being full of fine timber, and great quantities of it were sawed and shipped to Pittsburg. Many pine shingles were also made, being at that date split out and shaved by hand. During the oil excitement Steuben Township received an impetus, the rapid growth of Titusville and vicinity furnishing a ready market for lumber and farm products at advanced prices. Much of the eastern part of the township was leased by oil speculators, but the test wells put down failed to develop any of the looked-for petroleum.
No schools existed in Steuben during the earlier years. In 1856 there were six schools in operation during four months of the year. Two hundred and eighteen pupils attended them, the average cost for each pupil per month being twenty-seven cents. Five hundred and twenty-five dollars was raised during the year for school purposes. In his annual report for that year the State superintendent of schools said. "Great improvements have been made in the art of teaching and in the standards of qualifications among our teachers; in the architecture and furniture of the schoolhouses; in the establishment of graded schools, and in the apparatus so needed in the schoolroom. And it is gratifying to hear that a large proportion of the teachers are natives of the State and have been educated in our public schools. The duty of fostering our system of public instruction need not now be urged. It has been gain- ing in strength and usefulness for twenty years. It has conquered prejudice and now fairly rests on enlightened public opinion. * The great principle of universal suffrage, which lies at the foundation of our theory of government, can only be protected from abuse by the education of the masses, and without it they are insensible to its perfection and can have no just appreciation of the value of its perpetuity."
In 1896, the schools, which were barely established forty years before, had increased in number to seven, and from their former unstable condition to a high degree of efficiency. The term had been increased in length to seven months, almost doubling the educational work of the schools in that respect alone. Two hundred and nine pupils were in attendance, at an aver- age cost to the township per month for each scholar of $1.56. An amount exceeding $2,300 was raised in the township during 1896 and expended by the authorities for the support of the schools.
Clappville, a little hamlet in the eastern part of the township, was set- tled by Ralph Clapp, a Methodist minister who came here about 1840. He built a sawmill, but after a few years' residence went to other parts. The village, which lies about a mile southwest of Tryonville, consists of a little store and eight or ten houses.
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