Venango County, Pennsylvania: Her Pioneers and People (Volume 1), Part 108

Author: Babcock, Charles A.
Publication date: 1879
Publisher:
Number of Pages:

USA > Pennsylvania > Venango County > Venango County, Pennsylvania: Her Pioneers and People (Volume 1) > Part 108

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

tures, which began soon after the discovery of oil in this region, acquiring his first interest in that line in the early sixties, in a production where development was started before the fa- mous Drake well was brought in. The drilling was done by the spring-pole method, and the tubing, which was all of copper, was brought from New York.

In 1847 Mr. Beatty married Agnes Sample Braham, who was born Oct. 18, 1825, on a farm now included in the city of New Castle, Pa., and died Aug. 8, 1909. She is buried with her husband at Grove City. They were mem- bers of the U. P. Church, which he served offi- cially, and in political principle he was a Re- publican. Mr. and Mrs. Beatty had a large family, viz .: Melvina, Ralph S., deceased; Mary, deceased, who was the wife of Dr. James Palmer; Viola, deceased in infancy ; Henry Bruce, born Aug. 16, 1857, who mar- ried Lucinda May Strong (she is deceased) ; E. Calvin, mentioned below ; John, deceased in infancy; Agnes, wife of W. I. Womer; and Leroy B., who married Mneatha Strong, daughter of Elizur Strong. During the Span- ish-American war Leroy B. Beatty enlisted and served in the Philippines, being a private in Company H, 10th Regiment, P. V. I., and mustered out as quartermaster sergeant.

Samuel Braham, father of Mrs. Agnes Sample (Braham) Beatty, sold his farm near New Castle, Lawrence Co., Pa., in 1834, and moved to Butler county, where he also farmed. A coal company bought his Butler county prop- erty, and on moving from it he located at Slippery Rock, that county, where he resided until his death at the age of eighty-four years. His wife, Mary Ann ( Patton), died when sev- enty-four years old, and they are buried in the Harmony cemetery in Butler county. Their children were: Three sons that died in infancy ; Hugh, who married Ann Mifflin ; William Pat- ton, who married Rebecca Snyder; Agnes Sample, Mrs. Ebenezer S. Beatty : Jane, Mrs. Alexander Dugan; Mary Ann, who died when twenty-two years old; Eliza, Mrs. Hiram Snyder ; Samuel, who married Emily McCoy : Margaret, Mrs. Thomas Mifflin; Isabella ; Sarah Ann, Mrs. William Kirkpatrick : Asenath Martha, Mrs. Samuel McCleary ; and Jemima, who died when six months old. The family were Covenanters in religion.

Mrs. Mary Ann ( Patton) Braham was also of Covenanter stock. Her grandfather. Wil- liam Patton, Sr., was the son of a curate in Ireland. He eloped with a lady of good birth, and having decided to make his home in

Digitized by Google

547

VENANGO COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

America came to this country alone, leaving his wife and child in Ireland. He bought a farm near New Castle, Del., and prepared a home for his family, and wrote them a letter stating that he would start for Ireland the next morning, to fetch them. It was the last news of him they ever had, and his wife and child were cared for by his brother, Rev. Mr. Pat- ton. The child, William Patton, Jr., lived in Ireland until after his marriage, being obliged to leave the country because of his connection with the Society of United Irishmen, and first located in the Cishecoquilis valley in Mifflin county, Pa. In the latter part of the year 1800 he moved to Mercer (now Lawrence) county, settling on the Scrubgrass road three miles from New Castle, where he farmed during the rest of his life. He and his wife Jane Spear are buried in the old Neshannock Church cemetery near New Castle. They adhered to the Cov- enanter faith, and he was a Whig in politics. Their family consisted of ten children: Jane, Mrs. Alexander Wright; Margaret, Mrs. Joseph Wylie; John, who married Mary Wright ; William, who married Jennie Braham; Jacob, who married Elizabeth Shaw; Mary Ann, Mrs. Samuel Braham; Isabelle ; David, who died when five years old; Archibald, who married Eliza Stunkard; and Eliza, who mar- ried James Love and (second) John Kirk- patrick.

E. Calvin Beatty was born March 10, 1860, on his father's farm in Mercer county, Pa., in a log house standing near the Craig school- house. He moved with his parents to Rouse- ville March 27, 1867, and received his educa- tion in the public schools of that borough. He began work in the oil fields at such an early age that he witnessed practically all of the de- velopment of the industry, which had hardly departed from the crude first methods in his boyhood. When twelve years old he worked in the power house on his father's production, reversing the engine when it was used in "pulling" a well, a process done away with by the invention of the reverse action on steam engines. and he became familiar with all the ordinary duties about the wells within the next few years. In 1879 he was employed on the Quintuple tract near Song Bird, in the Bradford field, by the E. Strong Company. In 1884 he became a member of the Oil City Oil Exchange, upon which he operated profitably until the next year. But speculation in pipe line certificates had declined and he resumed activities as an operator, in which capacity he has since been most prominently associated with the oil business. From 1884 he was in

partnership with O. H. Strong and his brother H. B. Beatty under the firm name of H. B. Beatty & Company, having a tract of 150 acres at Tiona, in Warren county, where they brought in some very good wells, E. C. Beatty and his father-in-law, William Helm, eventu- ally taking over this property, which they have worked as Beatty & Helm. Mr. Beatty has also been interested with the firm known as the Helm, Meley Company in operations in War- ren county. He has also been engaged in gas production, but an unfortunate investment in that line a few years ago swept away his ac- cumulations, leaving him to start life over again. However, his experience led him into profitable oil operations in which he has more than retrieved his losses, his holdings in the shallow sand development in Oklahoma prov- ing highly remunerative. He originally had eight hundred acres in that territory, near Nowata, but he has been selling gradually, still retaining ninety acres in fee, with twenty-seven producing wells. For a number of years Mr. Beatty was manager of the Oakwood Farm & Garden Company, whose property in Cran- berry township, near Oil City, ranks with the leading horticultural establishments of the United States, its shipments of cut flowers reaching enormous proportions. He owns and manages a fine truck farm in Dorchester county, Md., on the "East Shore" near Chesa- peake Bay, having acquired 180 acres in two pieces. all of which is under cultivation. There are fifty-five acres in wheat. He spends the summers there with his family.

On Jan. 22, 1884, Mr. Beatty was married at Tidioute, Pa., to Barbara Ida Elizabeth Helm, who was born July 19, 1864, daughter of Wil- liam Helm, and they are the parents of the fol- lowing children : Elliott Braham, born Nov. 29. 1884, is a graduate of the Oil City high school and now engaged at the Oakwood Rose Gardens ; Mabel Alicia, born Jan. 3, 1886, is a missionary of the Methodist Episcopal Church in western China, having been educated in the Oil City high school, Allegheny College (B. A.), Boston University (A. M.) and Cin- cinnati Training School for Christian Serv- ive : Maude Irene, born Dec. 2, 1888, was edu- cated in the Oil City high school, Allegheny College and the Library School at Albany, N. Y., and is now acting as librarian at St. Joseph, Mo .; Vina Marguerite. born Sept. 22, 1895, was also educated at the Oil City high school and Allegheny College, later taking a com- mercial course at Welsh's business college in Oil City; Clara Barbara, born April 16, 1898. finished the course in the grade schools and

Digitized by Google

548

VENANGO COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

two years of high school in Oil City, and Jen- nings Seminary, Aurora, Ill., class of 1918; Marshall Helm, born June 29, 1903, is attend- ing the Junior high school in Oil City ; Robert Bruce, born Aug. 3, 1904, is also attending the Junior high school. The family have lived in Oil City since 1888, and for a number of years have occupied their present beautiful home at No. 517 West Third street, in the Fourth ward, one of the most attractive residences in that desirable location. Mr. Beatty is a prominent Odd Fellow, having been a member of Oil City Lodge, No. 589, for over thirty years and treasurer of that body for several years. Politically he is a Republican.

The Helm family is one of long standing in Armstrong county, Pa., where Jacob Hellam, Mrs. Beatty's grandfather, was born Aug. 15, 1815, at Cowansville. He owned one hundred acres of land near Cowansville, and followed farming, dying at his homestead Feb. 8, 1895, in his eightieth year. He married Elizabeth Fair, like himself a native of Washington township, Armstrong Co., Pa., born March I, 1824, and who survived until March 3, 1902. They are buried in the cemetery of old St. Mark's Lutheran Church at Cowansville, hav- ing been long-time members of that denomina- tion. Mr. Hellam was a Republican in political opinion. Their children were: William, men- tioned below; Sylvanus, who is buried in the National cemetery at Washington, D. C .; Mary, wife of Peter C. Blocher; Sarah Jane, wife of William E. Mateer ; Catherine, wife of C. Robert Hayes; Alvira, wife of Benja- min T. Mealy; Cyrus, who married Emma Frick; Amanda, wife of John E. Templeton : Albert Milton, who married Ida May Coleman : and Eunice, who married R. James Dickey and ( second) a Mr. Schall. The mother was a granddaughter of Michael and Mary B. (Steelsmith ) Fair, the former of whom died Aug. 10, 1860, aged eighty-four years, nine months, the latter July 7, 1870, aged ninety years, thirteen days; her father and mother, Jacob and Sarah (Wolf ) Steelsmith, died aged eighty-five years (in 1828) and ninety-three years, respectively. They are all interred in a private burial ground in Washington township, Armstrong county, near Cowansville, and all were residents of that township. Sarah, daughter of Michael, married her cousin Peter Fair, and they were the parents of Mrs. Jacob Hellam. He died Sept. 23, 1878, aged eighty- two years, two months, five days, and his wife Sarah passed away Dec. 4, 1891, aged ninety- one years, twenty-nine days. They were farm- ing people.

William Helm, father of Mrs. E. Calvin Beatty, changed the name from its original form Hellam. He was born Feb. 25, 1842, at Cowansville, Armstrong Co., Pa., and after his marriage removed to Forest county, Pa., set- tling upon a tract of one thousand acres which his father had purchased from the Holland Land Company, living for a time at Babylon Hill and moving thence to Tidioute, Warren county. He sold books for a time, but he was a pioneer oil producer in Warren county, where he owned many acres of valuable land, his family still retaining some of his oil produc- tions there. His life was very successful. Upon his retirement he went to Colorado Springs, Colo., on account of the health of his daughter Florence, and he died there Nov. 6, 1908, being buried in the Evergeen cemetery at Colorado Springs. Originally a Lutheran in religion, he was for some years associated with the Methodist Church, but returned to the old denomination before his death. Politically he was a Republican. By his marriage to Cath- erine Ellen Woods were born five children : Barbara Ida Elizabeth, Mrs. E. Calvin Beatty ; Clara Regina; Jacob Clemence, who married Claudia Godfrey : Herbert Ernest, deceased in infancy ; and Florence Olivia, who died when twenty years old.

Mrs. Helm survives her husband and con- tinues to reside at Colorado Springs. She was born July 6, 1844, near Kittanning, Armstrong Co., Pa., daughter of Jacob Woods, a farmer of that vicinity, who is buried with his wife Barbara (Wideman) in western Iowa. They had children: Daniel. Lebbaeus, Isaac, John, Lavina, Caroline, Mary, Eli and Catherine, all the sons but Eli serving as Union soldiers dur- ing the Civil war. The parents were Lutherans. and Mr. Woods was a Republican politically.

Daniel Wideman, maternal grandfather of Mrs. Helm, was of German birth, coming from Paulse, on the Rhine, and he was educated for the Lutheran ministry, in which his father and several brothers spent their lives. He left Germany to escape conscription, settled in Pennsylvania, and married Catherine Shanks, of Lancaster county, this State. They were farming people in Westmoreland county, Mrs. Wideman dying at Mount Pleasant. that county, aged eighty-six years. She and her hus- band are buried there. They always remained in the Lutheran Church. Their children were as follows: Benjamin, who died in Nebraska in 1897, aged ninety-one years: Daniel, who died in Illinois: Barbara : Caroline, wife of David Baum : Michael : Philip; Harriet, Mrs. John Troxell, of Westmoreland county ; Lydia,

Digitized by Google

549

VENANGO COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

Mrs. William Squires ; Jacob; Catherine, Mrs. a wornout tract of one hundred acres, which Joseph Baum; and Joseph.

JOHN LESTER EAKIN, one of the largest land owners in southern Venango county, is centrally located in Clinton township four miles north of Clintonville and two miles east of Bullion, his home and central interests being on the old Kennerdell farm three and a half miles west of the town of Kennerdell. As agricultural, oil and ore land it is one of the most valuable tracts in the region, and under Mr. Eakin's business-like management is yield- ing well in every line.

The Eakin family is an old one in this sec- tion of Venango county, John Lester Eakin being of the third generation here. His great- grandparents, Samuel and Maria Eakin, came to this country from Ireland and made their home in Butler county, Pa. His grandfather, William Eakin, was born in Ireland, and was two years old when brought to the United States. He was reared in Butler county, and at the time of his marriage to Maria Robb settled in the woods in Irwin township, Ven- ango county, on a tract of land lying partly in what is now Clinton township, making a permanent home on that place. This farm lies in what has since become famous as the Bul- lion oil field. He cleared and improved it, building a house in 1843 and a barn in 1846 or 1847, and the property is now in the posses- sion of his grandsons, Elliott Eakin owning part of it and another grandson, Walter P. Eakin, owning the oil rights, from which he receives substantial royalties. William Eakin died at the age of seventy-three years, his wife Maria (Robb) at the age of eighty-seven, and they are buried at Amity Presbyterian Church. They had a large family, five sons and five daughters, namely: David R., father of John Lester Eakin; Samuel, who died in Mercer county when sixty-nine years old; William, who lived in Irwin township and died at Franklin; James, who died on the old farm (his sons are Elliott and Walter Eakin, above mentioned) ; Isaac, of Pittsburgh; Elizabeth, widow of James Coulter. living in Grove City ; Sarah. widow of Archibald Davidson, of Crawfordsville, Iowa; Mary Jane, deceased, who was the wife of Walter Hovis ; Belle, who married John T. Hovis and lives on a farm adjoining the homestead; and Margaret, of Grove City.

David R. Eakin was born Feb. 9, 1831, two miles west of his late home, which is half a mile east of Bullion store. He obtained that property in 1856. at which time it was

during his active years he converted into a valuable farm property, improving the land by judicious cultivation and putting up all the buildings now standing there. The house was erected fifteen years ago, on the site of one which had been burned, and the barn has been built since. Oil has also been developed upon the farm, Mr. Eakin's son John having sunk the first well there. Mr. Eakin led a thrifty, prosperous life, and died April 27, 1918, at the age of eighty-seven, after enjoying well earned leisure for many years. He is buried in Pleas- ant View M. E. cemetery. He was long a sup- porter of the Pleasant View M. E. Church, and of late years a Prohibitionist in political af- filiation, formerly voting the Democratic ticket. On May 1, 1860, Mr. Eakin married Elizabeth Sutton, daughter of Solomon and Almira (Knowlton) Sutton, who lived on a farm adjoining the Smith or V. S. Sutton place. She was born near there and was twenty-one years old at the time of her mar- riage. Mrs. Eakin had the following brothers and sisters : F. A. Sutton, deceased, of Mead- ville, Pa .; L. B., of Butler, Pa .; Albert, of Sistersville, W. Va .; Miller, of Portland, Ore- gon ; Steward, a resident of Wisconsin ; Lewis, of Butler county, Pa .; Robert, deceased, of Portland, Oregon ; Walter, deceased, formerly of Apollo, Pa .; Mrs. J. W. Gray, of Marietta, Ohio; and Mrs. David Garret, deceased.

To Mr. and Mrs. Eakin were born the fol- lowing children: William, who died when twenty-one years old; Rosa, who died when nineteen years old; Alonzo, who died when past forty years old (he was engaged in the oil business) ; Mary, wife of W. L. Sutton, of Sistersville, W. Va., where he is the present mayor of the city ; Jennie, living at home ; Ella, who was a dressmaker and died at the age of thirty-one years; Frank J., a farmer of Clinton township : John Lester; Floyd R., living at the old home, and engaged as a farmer, oil man, real estate dealer, etc. ; and Blanche, who died when nineteen years old.

John Lester Eakin was born May 22, 1877. on the old Eakin homestead, where he spent his boyhood and youth, receiving his education in the common schools of the neighborhood. During his young manhood he was engaged as a pumper in the local oil fields for two years, and for another two years was employed in various capacities in the oil fields of Virginia and Ohio. Returning to Venango county in 1900 he took an oil lease on the home place and began to operate in company with his brother F. J. Eakin, sinking two producing

Digitized by Google

550

VENANGO COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

wells the first year. He bought his brother's interest and continued the work alone, and he has held that lease ever since, drilling sixteen wells in the twenty-five-acre tract, which proved to be the most productive territory in the Bullion field. The average yield per well was five barrels daily, and it is holding up well under steady production. Later he bought the rest of the lease on the D. R. Eakin farm, with forty wells, which he now holds, having drilled three of these since. The Bullion field was apparently petered out when he renewed opera- tions there in 1900. The earlier development, conducted some twenty years previously, had been entirely in the third sand, but his new finds were all in the second sand, and the first well he sunk yielded well enough to start the present activities there. When his second well produced ten barrels daily investment was en- livened immediately, and he and others have been operating in the vicinity since with great profit. He bought the Hovis farm there, 157 acres upon which no exploitation had taken place, and drilled one well which enabled him to sell the property for thirty thousand dollars. Mr. Eakin holds a lease of 135 acres of the Plumer farm near Kennerdell, where he has drilled twenty-two wells, all producing; no new wells have been opened there in the last five years, nor has he done any development work during the last four or five years on the Surrena farm, north of Clintonville, which he bought when it had seven producing wells, having drilled sixteen more-all of the twenty- three yield at present. When he purchased the Hollister lease, a thirty-acre tract, there were four wells in operation, and he has put down seven more, having eleven producing there now. With a partner he is interested in a 100-acre lease at Raymilton, this county, where six wells have been sunk, all with a valuable third sand production.

Originally Mr. Eakin owned only a half in- terest in his present large property in Clinton township, the old Kennerdell farm, which com- prises 960 acres, but after three years he ac- quired full possession, and during his owner- ship the oil wells there have been increased from fifteen to forty-eight, and the develop- ment is being continued steadily with encour- 'aging prospects. The production is excellent, principally third sand oil. Mr. Eakin's time is largely taken up with his numerous oil prop- erties, but he is giving considerable attention at present to the improvement of his home property in other lines also, its valuable re- sources holding every promise of adequate re- turns. The arable land was largely grown up

with brush when he acquired the place, but he now has one hundred acres under cultivation in general farm products and in a profitable state of fertility. A large tract on this property is leased to a Pittsburgh concern which has already taken out many tons of "bog" iron ore, a valuable soft ore of deep red color especially useful in the manufacture of paint. This deposit covers a large area of the farm, on which there is also much valuable timber. Mr. Eakin has a very desirable home there, conveniently equipped, and heated with gas from his own wells. His broad ideas and keen comprehension of the possibilities of this estate have been well illustrated in the work which has been done there so far, and assure its thorough exploitation along modern lines. Be- yond giving his support and encouragement to the Prohibition party he takes no part in public affairs, but he has always shown himself wholly public-spirited on local questions and can be counted upon for intelligent coopera- tion in any cause which he considers vital to the best interests of the community.

At the age of twenty-eight years Mr. Eakin married Sarah E. Cokain, daughter of Sylves- ter and Elvira (Monjar) Cokain, and they have two children, David E. and J. Lester, Jr. Mr. Eakin belongs to the Methodist Episcopal Church at Pleasant View, Mrs. Eakin to the Presbyterian Church at Clintonville.

Sylvester Cokain, father of Mrs. Eakin, died at the Kennerdell farm about 1905, at the age of fifty-six years. He had operated the oil lease there for some time, and also had a lease on 100 acres of the Plumer farm, which his widow still retains. Mrs. Cokain is now re- siding in Franklin.

WILLIAM C. TYLER, M. D., has the dis- tinction of being the oldest resident of the borough of Rouseville, where he has been en- gaged in medical practice for over fifty years, prominent in business circles and an effective worker in its advancement along material and social lines, both officially and in his capacity as a private citizen. Dr. Tyler came here in 1864 from Ohio, where he was born and reared. but the family is of English extraction and his earlier ancestors in this country were established in Connecticut.

Calvin Tyler, the Doctor's father. was born April 13. 1797. in Greene county. N. Y .. was reared on a farm, and followed agricultural pursuits throughout his active years. In 1824 he married Emma White, who was a descend- ant of Peregrine White. born Nov. 20. 1620. on the "Mayflower," while the vessel lay at

Digitized by Google

551

VENANGO COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

anchor in Cape Cod harbor, being a son of William and Susanna White. As the first white child born in New England Peregrine White received a grant of two hundred acres of land from the General Court. His father dying during the first winter at Plymouth, his mother married Gov. Edward Winslow (theirs being the first wedding to take place in New England), Peregrine White being thus a half- brother of Josiah Winslow, first native gov- ernor of Plymouth Colony. He filled various civil and military offices in the colony, and it is said of him that he "was vigorous and of a comely aspect to the last." He died in Marsh- field, Mass., July 22, 1704.

In 1831 Mr. and Mrs. Calvin Tyler moved to Hiram, Portage Co., Ohio, where he bought the farm whereon they continued to make their home until 1874, in which year they came to Rouseville to pass their remaining days with their son. Dr. Tyler. In 1826 they had joined the Baptist Church at Mexico, N. Y., and soon after moving to Ohio Mr. Tyler with a few other like-minded spirits founded the First Baptist Church of Garrettsville, where he held membership and served as deacon until his re- moval to Rouseville. Thereafter he was asso- ciated with the Baptist Church in that borough until it was disbanded, when he united with the Baptist Church in Oil City, of which he was a faithful member until his death. Orig- inally a Democrat in politics, Mr. Tyler became a Republican at the time of Lincoln's first can- didacy, and always supported the ticket after- ward, voting at eighteen presidential elections. He was a loyal citizen, personally a man of many excellences of character, and a consistent Christian in his daily walk in life. He and his wife both died at their son's home in Rouse- ville, she in 1886, aged eighty-two years, he on December 4, 1890, in his ninety-fourth year. and they are buried at West Farmington. Ohio. They were the parents of three sons and two daughters.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

Venango County, Pennsylvania: Her Pioneers and People (Volume 1), Part 108

Author: Babcock, Charles A. Publication date: 1879 Publisher: Number of Pages:

Author: Babcock, Charles A.
Publication date: 1879
Publisher:
Number of Pages: