USA > Pennsylvania > Crawford County > Our country and its people. A historical and memorial record of Crawford County, Pennsylvania. > Part 87
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Richard Morris, of Rome township, is a son of James and Ann (Aglwen) Morris, was born in Lancashire, England, and came to America about 1826-27. landing in New York city. He married Jane Harrison, daughter of Ben- jamin and Jane (Inskip) Harrison, of New Jersey. They came to Rome township in 1834, where they settled on a piece of wild land, built a log liouse and made a home. His was one of the three English families that settled at what is called "The English Settlement." The three heads of these families- Richard Morris, Inskip Harrison and Benjamin Harrison-took up a section
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of land containing four hundred acres, drawing lots to determine each one's possession, and Mr. Morris drew the lot for the place where his son Edward now lives. He was a highly respected farmer, who had eight children, four of whom are living,-Benjamin, John, Inskip and Edward. The deceased are Mary Ann, James, William and George.
Henry M. Northam, M. D., of Bloomfield township, is a son of Edward and Nancy ( Hamilton) Northam, and was born in Meadville, January 8, 1858, and educated at Meadville high school, after which he attended the University . of Michigan at Ann Arbor, where he was graduated in the medical depart- ment in 1893. He removed to Pittsburg, where he remained for a time, and in 1896 located at Lincolnville.
C. C. Hill, M. D., Meadville, was born in Knox county, Ohio, August 16, 1852, son of Harrison and Helen (Bateman) Hill, of his native county. The former was born in 1819, and died in 1873, and the latter was born in 1836 and died in 1866. Of their children three survive: Clarence C., Emma, wife of William De Couders, and Bertha Hill, the two latter residents of Tompkins county, New York. December 31, 1887, Dr. Hill married Lelia, daughter of E. W. and Lurana (Levering) Brown, of Knox county, Ohio. The former died in 1894, at the age of seventy years, and the latter in 1887, at the age of sixty years. Victor Brown, the only brother of Mrs. Hill, is a resident of Morrow county, Ohio. Grandfather Joseph Hill was a native of New Jersey, and resided in Tompkins county, New York.
The earlier years of Dr. Hill were spent in Tompkins county, New York, and from the age of twelve to twenty-one in Warren, Pennsylvania, where he had the advantage of the public schools. In 1872 he entered the Jefferson Medical College at Philadelphia, where he remained one year, and then entered the Bellevue Medical College in New York city, at which he graduated in 1874. For one year after graduation he conducted a drug store for Dr. Rei- chart at Sligo Furnace, Clarion county, Pennsylvania, and in the spring of 1875 began his practice in Johnsville, Ohio, which-he continued for two years, and then moved to Levering, Knox county, Ohio. In 1877 he went to the Polyclinic at Philadelphia, and after the completion of his course he located in Meadville. This was in the spring of 1888, and he has since practiced as a leading specialist. Besides this the Doctor has been extensively interested in oil development in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio.
He is an active worker in the First Presbyterian church at Meadville.
Charles T. Waggoner, M. D., of Sparta township, is a son of Dr. George J. Waggoner, and was born in Ellington, Chautauqua county, New York, December 10, 1855. He attended the high school at Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and
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afterward studied medicine under the instructions of his father and Dr. Cogs- well, of Cedar Rapids; later he attended the Hahnemann Medical College at Chicago, Illinois, where he was graduated in 1886. He engaged in hospital work in Chicago for the two years following, after which he settled in Spar- tansburg. where he has since resided. He married Rose Griffith.
James T. Murray, Athens township, is a son of William Murray; was born in Sparta township, October 18, 1847. In 1864 he enlisted in Company C. One Hundredth Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers, and was discharged in 1865. He married Ann Post. daughter of Harvey and Chloe ( Hatch ) Post, and settled in Athens township. He is a farmer and has one son, James L., who married Anna Stearns, daughter of David Stearns.
I'illiam Thomas Neill, who at the time of his death was a resident of Titusville, was born at Neillsburg, Venango county, Pennsylvania, June 13, 1804, and died in December, 1873. He was a conspicuous landmark for a long time in all this section of country. While he did not establish his residence in Titusville until December, 1868, about five years before his death, he was a familiar figure here for more than a generation. He had large business asso- ciations ; was a stockholder and director in both the Savings Bank and the Ex- change Bank, but practically had no voice in the management of either. He died not long after the Savings Bank closed its doors in the fall of 1873. In attempting to save something from the wreck of the Exchange Bank, his sur- viving son, Joseph \. Neill, was financially ruined, and the wealth which William T. Neill had spent a lifetime in gathering was suddenly swept away in the crash of the fall of 1873.
111 1828 lie was married to Miss Jane McCaslin, who survived her hus- band about six years. At the time of his death five of his children were living ; now only two members of William T. Neill's family survive : Nancy, the wife of the late Charles R. Church, and Julia, wife of the late E. H. Berry. Mary died some years after her mother's death. Joseph .A. died suddenly in Wash- ington, D. C., in the early part of March, 1896, from supposed heart difficulty, and Samuel T. dropped dead from the same trouble off Cape May, in the sun- mer following. William T. Neill was a hero all his life, was good to the community in which he lived, and was a consistent member of the Presbyterian church and thoroughly devoted to its interests. A quarter of a century has passed since his interment in Woodlawn cemetery, but a fragrance floats over his memory. The writer discharges a grateful duty in the above tribute to a man whom he personally knew, only to remember his character with the highest respect. The world would be good if all the inhabitants were like William T. Neill.
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W'illiam H. Abbott, whose name appears many times in this history, is so closely identified with oil development in the early years of production ; his enterprise so soon started the manufacture of petroleum as an illuminant and opened for the product a market ; his record as a citizen of Titusville has been so closely for a generation interwoven with the history of the community ; he was so long the leading citizen in the progress of Titusville interests; gave so liberally of his means to many public undertakings,-that the history of the community which should omit a frequent use of his name would be a very imperfect production. William Hawkins Abbott was his full name, but Will- iam H. Abbott is a name that long has been and long will be cherished by the inhabitants of Titusville. Ile is now in the eightieth year of his age. Mr. Abbott was born October 27, 1819, in Middlebury, New Haven county, Con- necticut, the oldest son of a family of twelve children,-six sons and six daugh- ters. When Drake made his discovery, in 1859, Mr. Abbott was engaged in a large mercantile trade at Newton Falls, Trumbull county, Ohio. Early in 1860 he came to Titusville, and was quick to invest in oil property. He pur- chased one-half of the one-quarter interest which William Barnsdall owned in the James Parker farm, also a like interest in the Crossley well, then being drilled ; also a like interest in Mr. Barnsdall's lease of one hundred acres at Shreve Rock, all near Titusville, for $10,000, and immediately returned to Newton Falls to get word a few days afterward that the Barnsdall well, the next well after the Drake, was producing fifty barrels a day. Then he went to New York and opened a market with Schieffelin Brothers. At that time he was successful in enlisting George M. Mowbray, a practical chemist, to apply his art in refining oil. Mr. Abbott built the first oil refinery in the oil country. The character of packages for carrying both crude and refined oil so as to avoid leakage had to be learned by experience. In the experiments which Mr. Abbott made to that end not a small amount of money was sunk. But he was equal to the undertaking and he pushed his experiments to a suc- cessful result. To Mr. Abbott's enterprise in overcoming the many difficulties incident to the beginning of so important a business, the trade was heavily indebted. Drake was the pioneer producer, and Abbott was the pioneer in establishing petroleum as a marketable commodity.
Mr. Abbott also purchased the Van Syckel pipe line from Pithole to the Miller farm in 1866, and laid the foundation for the Pennsylvania Transporta- tion Company. To Mr. Abbott was due the construction of the Union & Titusville Railroad. That Titusville afterward lost the road by Gould's sale of it to the Oil Creek Road, was the result of no fault on the part of Mr. Abbott, who offered to Gould ten thousand dollars as a bonus if he would keep and operate the road as an independent line. Mr. Abbott also helped to build, in the fall of 1865, the plank road from Titusville through Pleasantville to Pithole.
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In the building of the St. James Memorial church and in its support for many years afterward, and always until overwhelmed by financial reverses, Mr. Abbott poured out his money without measure. He built at his own ex- pense, expending about four thousand dollars, a mission church, connected with St. James. His public spirit and generosity in the past are known to the whole community, in whose grateful recollection and in whose respect and honor Mr. Abbott has a monument.
Obed Wells .- Among the prominent early settlers of Spring township was Obed Wells, who located about two miles north of Springboro, on a very large tract of land. He had come from Vermont with Zachariah Thomas and had stopped for a time in New York state. The Thomas family located on what was known as the "Ridge Road," in the present town of West Spring- field, Erie county, on a sandy soil; while the Wells family preferred the heavier clay soils and more heavily timbered lands south of there. Two brothers of Obed Wells located in the vicinity; one, Julius Wells, established a tannery at Wellsboro, and the other, Samuel Wells, located a farm and brick-yard near Lockport,-four or five miles apart. The Wells and Thomas families inter- married, Obed Wells having married two sisters of Zachariah Thomas, whose brothers, Eri and Elijah, located in immediate proximity to the Wells farm.
Obed Wells had fourteen children. Having located a thousand acres of land, he commenced what seems now a vast undertaking for one man,-to clear a thousand acres of the heavy timber by himself,-and before his death he had created a valuable farm with all the then modern improvements; he was the first farmer to introduce a mowing machine in that country, it re- quiring four horses to work it.
His sons, Shepherd, Obed, Samuel, Justin, Jefferson, and daughters. Dorcas, Lodicia, Sylvia, Beulah, Phoebe, Malinda, Mary and Martha, all assisted in the development of the great farm and received their education in its proximity. The oldest daughter, Dorcas, married Henry Magee, the mail carrier who then carried the mail between Meadville and Erie. on horse- back. At an early day they emigrated by wagon to the then wild west, and located in the village of Chicago, where their son Henry WV. Magee, born in Meadville, Pennsylvania, has been engaged in the practice of law for thirty years, and is still a member of the Chicago bar. He was educated in the public schools of Chicago; at West Springfield, Pennsylvania ; at Kingsville, Ohio; was graduated in Hillsdale College, in Michigan, and pursued his law studies in Ann Arbor. He was admitted to the bar in Chicago in 1868, and then made the circuit of the world before entering upon the practice of law in Chicago, where he has remained continuously since 1871. He also served for three years in the civil war, and has a military record of which he may indeed be proud.
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In the early days of his residence in Crawford county, Obed Wells fre- quently walked through the forest to Meadville, a distance of fifteen miles,- for the purpose of making a small payment on his land, and he carried his wheat to the mill there. as he could get his grist ground no nearer home. Mem- bers of both the Wells and Thomas families were men of sterling worth, in- dustrious and energetic, and they did much toward developing the wild region in which they located. The toils and privations suffered by these early settlers were many and severe, but developed in them a self-reliance and de- termination to succeed, which resulted in their becoming the owners of good properties in their later years. Obed Wells, having amassed a competency, erected a fine home, which commanded an excellent view of the lowlands in the west and overlooked the Erie and Pittsburg canal, which ran by the front of the house. He enjoyed seeing the then luxurious method of travel : three horses towing the "passenger packet" at a fast walk, under the crack of the canal boy's whip, along the "eleven miles level." The "packet" then repre- sented the luxury of life in travel, as much as the "Pullman" does now, and made the farmer boy envious of the travelers who could indulge in such a palatial ride to Erie. In later times the railroad paralleled the canal, and the old Wells homestead, the pride of the country when built, became a mere re- minder of the days of the stage coach and canal packet.
I'illiam S. Morris, Rome township, was a son of Richard Morris, and was born September 9, 1842. In 1870 he married Elenora Harrison, daughter of John and Ellen Harrison, and settled on the farm where his widow now resides. He died July 25, 1891, and left seven children,-Leon, Jennie, Eliza- beth, Ella, Richard B., Bertha and Clarence W.
Hon. Frank Mantor, of Conneautville, was born in the township of Con- neant, this county, on December 31, 1827, was a bright and diligent student in the public schools and supplemented the education there acquired by at- tendance at the academies at Albion, Pennsylvania, and Kingsville and Austin- burg, Ohio. His active mind was early interested in business, and at the age of twenty-three he was a member of the mercantile house of Harmon and Mantor at Conneautville.
On November 22, 1849, he married Sarah M. Foster, of Conneautville, thus forming a union that proved most felicitous. They had a son on Novem- ber 19, 1854, whom they named George G. and who met a hero's death on December 30, 1867, while endeavoring to save a playmate from drowning.
Not long after marriage Mr. Mantor removed to Minnesota, where he became prominent in politics as a Republican. He was elected and served as a member of the constitutional convention which framed the constitution of the state in 1857, and was the first Republican candidate for treasurer of the
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new state. Returning east in 1861, Mr. Mantor entered the employ of a large wholesale house of New York city, with which he remained for thirteen years. and in 1876 was a candidate for state senator in this senatorial district. From 1879 to 1883 he held by appointment a responsible position in the state de- partment at Harrisburg under Governor Hoyt, and later for four years held one equally responsible in the insurance department. He was a member of the constitutional convention of this state held in 1882-83, and took an active part in its deliberations and work.
After serving many years in the executive department at Harrisburg he returned to Conneautville, where he held most of the offices of the borough. But the crowning work of Mr. Mantor's active and useful life was the plan- ning and organizing of the Conneaut Lake Exposition Company, which holds sessions at Conneaut Lake, where are discussed from the platform the most advanced topics of scientific and religious thought by leading lecturers, divines and statesmen, untrammeled by party fines or ecclesiastic dogmas. That Colonel Mantor and his associates succeeded in making this one of the most at- tractive of summer resorts tens of thousands can testify. It is a grand monu- mient te his memory. His death occurred January 18, 1895. and Mrs. Mantor is now one of the directors of the association and the superintendent.
Dr. Frank L. Markham, of Bloomfield township. is a son of George Markham, and was born in Panama, New York. His education was ob- tained at a common school until he was capable of entering Jamestown high school, and from there he entered Wooster University, at Cleveland, Ohio, where he graduated in 1870. He then located at Centerville, where he re- mained until 1893. and then settled at Riceville.
Amos Woodward, of Bloomfield township, was a son of Jonathan Wood- ward, and was born in New York state, his father having settled in Bloom- field township at an early day. He married Altana St. John. daughter of Samuel and Mary ( Eggelston ) St. John, who lived in Saratoga county, New York. He was a farmer and died in 1878, leaving ten children, four of whom are now living. Frank lives on the old homestead in Athens township. Penn- sylvania: Peter and Emma are school-teachers, the former residing at Lin- colnville : and Irwin lives in Athens township.
Samuel H. Nelson, merchant, Cochranton, was born in Fairfield town- ship. in 1847. His parents, Allen and Hannah ( Dunn) Nelson. were among the carly inhabitants of southern Crawford. Allen Nelson, the father of the subject of this sketch, was born June 6, 1814. in Fairfield township, on a farm occupied by his parents. David and Jane ( Milligan) Nelson. He died in 1895. at the age of eighty-three years.
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His father, David, came to Crawford county in company with Captain Buchanan in the fall of 1796, took up land in Fairfield township, built a small cabin, cleared one acre of ground, sowed rye thereon and shortly returned to Westmoreland county, and in 1797 married Jane, daughter of John Milligan : returned in the spring and began as a pioneer in the woods. His death oc- curred June, 1848, when he had arrived at the age of seventy-two years. Their family consisted of the following children: Polly, Mrs. Myers, deceased ; Betsy, wife of Thomas McDonald : John. James and David, all deceased ; Jane, Mrs. McClintock: Allen, William and Daniel. Allen married, in December, 1835. Hannah, daughter of Allen Dunn, of Sandy Lake, an old settler. She was the youngest of a family of seven children. She died in 1883, at the age of seventy-three years. To Mr. and Mrs. Nelson were born: Elizabeth, wife of William Line, now living in Kansas; David, deceased; Dunn, who married Martha Bell : Francis, married to Sarah \. Williams ; Samuel Il., the subject of this sketch: Leslie; Margaret, now Mrs. Applegate, of Kansas ; Emory and James, deceased. David Nelson was a colonel in the war of 1812. and served seven months at Fort Meigs.
Our subject has, with the exception of four years in the state of Kansas, resided in Crawford county. He began in the mercantile business first as clerk for Robert Patton in 1874, and after the death of Mr. Patton he purchased an interest in the business, which has since been conducted under the name of Patton & Nelson. In 1880 he was married to Mary P., daughter of Robert. deceased, and Jane ( McMahon) Patton. They have one son, Robert Patton Nelson. Mr. Nelson has held several municipal offices, and has been otherwise prominently identified in local affairs.
Holder T. Head .- The late Holder T. Head of Spring township was born in Cayuga county, New York, in 1823, and in 1837, when he was four- teen years old, he came to this state. Here he received a common-school edu- cation, learned the trade of carpenter and also adopted the business of farm- ing. Industrious and prudent. Mr. Head was long a faithful worker in his chosen fields, and died on April 4, 1897, leaving many friends to mourn his loss.
In September, 1845, he was married to Miss Lydia Turnure, of that part of Allegany county, New York, now comprised in Wyoming county. For over half a century they trod life's pathway together. They had five sons : William G., Jasper R., Fred C., Mark E., and O. Dorr. William married Minerva Deiter, of Saegerstown, and had three children,-Pearl E., Roby and Clarence F. Their mother died in 1892. Jasper R. Head married Anna Alee. Their children are Ralph, Bernice and Frank. Fred C. Head married Bertha Rossa and has a son, Floyd. Mark E. Head married Lizzie Hanlon, and they have two children,-Alexander and Mabel. O. Dorr Head is a resi-
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dent of Erie, where he is an ironworker. Mrs. Head's father, Peter Turnure, was a New Yorker by birth and he married Hannah Brunson, a native of Mas- sachusetts. Both are now dead. Their children were Ellen L., Lorin B., Uriah B., Lydia, Harriet N., Egbert, Lucy L., Flavius J. and Hannah.
William A. Hart, a farmer of East Fairfield township, was born near where he now resides February 14, 1838, a son of Philip and Julia ( Peter- man) Hart, of East Fairfield township. He was the second child of a family of five children, viz. : Sarah Levina, William A. (our subject ), James, Rachel and Julia. wife of W. C. Harvey, of this township. In 1863 he married Mar- garet M .. daughter of Jacob and Abigail ( Acherman) Stenbrook, of East Fair- field. This union has been blest with one son, Edmund Hart. The Sten- brooks were among the first settlers of the township, and the Hart family were originally natives of Pennsylvania, coming from York county at an early day. A family relic well preserved is a German Bible supposed to be one hun- dred and thirty years old, and has been handed down through the generations. This was faithfully read by the grandparents of our subject, Philip and Catha- rine Leist. Mr. Hart has always been a resident of the township, and has resided on his present farm since 1857.
John IT. Crider, Conneautville, was born in Cooperstown, Venango county, this state, on November 2, 1849. He was educated in the common schools and thoroughly learned the manufacture of wool. He is now pro- prietor of the Conneautville woolen mills, doing a flourishing business in the manufacture of blankets and yarns. On November 2, 1875, he married Anna Kimball of Conneautville. They have two sons, T. Howard and Gerald W. Mr. Crider's father, William B., was born in Center county, Pennsyl- vania, on February 14, 1817. He was for many years a woolen manufacturer. During the civil war William B. Crider served in the Third Artillery, Penn- sylvania Volunteers, Fifty-second Regiment, was wounded in action on James river. Virginia, and honorably discharged. John W. Crider has been proni- inent in political and social circles ; was treasurer of Crawford county for three years ; is a member of Western Crawford Lodge of Freemasons at Conneaut- ville; of Oriental Chapter. R. A. M., of Northwestern Commandery, Knights Templar, of Meadville, and Zem Zem Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., of Erie, and of Presque Isle Lodge, of Erie. Ancestry of family. English, German and Scotch.
Judd C. Drury, of Beaver township, was born September 8, 1856, at Hartford; Trumbull county, Ohio, educated at the academy at Hartford, and ยท when about seventeen years of age engaged in the produce business for three years catering to a flourishing demand from the seat of a huckster wagon. Mr.
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Drury was married in 1877 to Lucy F. Goist, of Hartford, and during August of that year located at Beaver Center, where he opened a general store and has been in continuous business ever since. Mr. Drury is an extensive shipper of hay to the extent of about one hundred and twenty-five cars each year, his partner in the hay business since 1891 being William Grubham. In 1893 he bought six hundred acres of heavily timbered land in Mckean county. Penn- sylvania, and has since been manufacturing lumber and shingles, on a large scale, his timber consisting mostly of hemlock, cherry and oak. In connection with his general merchandise trade he carries a large assortment of agricul- tural implements. Mr. Drury is a self-made man, and as the representative business man of the township has been unusually successful.
Mr. Drury is a member of the Christian church, and is an ardent Pro- hibitionist. He has been township treasurer and school director, and is active in all that pertains to the Prohibition party. In 1898 he represented the county at the state convention, and was a candidate for the legislature.
Harry L. Bail, of Spring township, was born in this township, on December 21, 1854. His education at the public schools was sup- plemented by attendance at the normal school at Edinboro. Early in life he was a farmer, but, having a decided taste for business, he was for seven years a salesman of fruit and ornamental trees. He is now, after various opera- tions, engaged in lumber interests and conducting a steam sawmill at Hickernell in company with Timothy Beals, under the firm name of Bail & Beals. Mr. Bail has held the offices of school director, auditor and assessor, and in Feb- ruary. 1896, was elected a justice of the peace, to which office he was installed in the following May. He is also an Odd Fellow, holding membership in Spring Valley Lodge, of Springboro.
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