Venango County, Pennsylvania: Her Pioneers and People (Volume 1), Part 19

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 19

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VENANGO COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

prisoner crawled twice, and two others once each. But as usual Uncle Toby said to the wounded fly, "Go, poor creature, the world is large enough." These people will be appre- hended, or they will return on a kindred charge, as is usual. In the meantime they have taught the caretakers that iron bars do not make a cage, and tempered steel has been substituted. May it be long before another jail is required !

COUNTY FARM

The poor of the county were cared for by the different townships until a recent date. The legislature by an act passed April 13, 1870, conferred upon the county commissioners the duties of overseeing the poor, with authority to erect and support a county house for their care. Roland Hughes, Francis Mer- rick, John P. Crawford, M. C. Beebe, Charles H. Sheppard, R. S. McCormick and Samuel. Plumer were named as commissioners to choose a suitable location. They chose and purchased for twenty thousand dollars the Roberts and Hays farms; in Sugar Creek township, comprising two hundred and sev- enty-five acres. Plans for an appropriate building were drawn by J. M. Blackburn, archi- tect, and the contract was awarded to Dewees & Simmons, of Tionesta, at their bid of sixty- seven thousand and eight hundred fifty dol- lars. They also purchased the old courthouse for two thousand dollars. On Nov. 14, 1871, the contractors abandoned their contract, and the county commissioners continued the work by placing J. M. Shoemaker in charge, as superintendent of building. The building was completed Nov. 9, 1872, and was opened for the reception of inmates Dec. 26th.

The building is of brick, three stories high, with sandstone basement partly above ground. Its length is two hundred ninety feet; central projection, one hundred ninety feet in depth,

with tower in front. The three stories, in order, are eleven feet, fourteen feet, and twelve feet high; corridors are sixteen feet wide; transverse corridors, ten feet wide, so that crowding may be avoided in case of fire alarm, panic, etc .- a most important provision. The building is provided with convenient offices, for the stewards' apartment, directors' rooms, physicians' office, dining and sitting rooms. The kitchen, bake-room and laundry are isolated at the west end of the central projection. Fire escapes are provided. A system of water works, ample for all require- ments, belongs to the establishment.

The land of this poor farm is as fine as any in the county. It is very fertile and easy of cultivation. While true to its original inten- tion of caring for the unfortunates of the county, the farm is run on the most approved theories, to produce the most, at the least possible outlay. Improved machinery of all kinds, to make labor the most effective, has been introduced. Without losing sight of its real aim, this farm may be made a model of great value to the farming interests of the county, even while dispensing a wise and gen- erous charity. Both of these desirable ends may be attained by one and the same course. Scientific farming, proved by practical results, is the hope of coming time. In answering the call of charity in the most effective way, by testing and proving the best methods of agri- culture, our county stewards may help the world by opening the door to hope.

The poor farm is managed by a steward, .originally elected triennially by the county commissioners. At present, and this has been the custom for a good number of years past, the stewards are appointed by the commission- ers from month to month, and the changes have not been any more frequent than for- merly, under other methods.

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CHAPTER VIII POLITICAL HISTORY

EARLY ORGANIZATION-FIRST LEGAL ARCHIVES-EARLY JUDGES-CONGRESSMEN-DELEGATES TO NATIONAL CONVENTIONS-PRESIDENTIAL ELECTORS

The political history of a community is the story of its reactions toward other com- munities of the same sort. How has it ap- peared in that company? Has it kept pace with them in the march onward to better things, or has it lost step and lagged behind ?

Spaces covered with thick forests were for- merly very difficult to subdue so that they would serve the purposes of civilized life. The wilderness has ever been a stern but most efficient teacher of men. It taught them to be free; to quickly change their methods to meet the ever-changing threats of outlying dangers; to seize the initiative without let or hindrance or waiting for the consent of anyone, when confronted by the forces of hun- ger or of beasts or of savages. These are as pitiless as the lightning, or the sea in storms. To hesitate is to lose all; there must be full freedom for each to meet and to overcome the forces that mean destruction.

As the solitary places are taken by new- comers cooperation becomes inevitable. Com- mon difficulties bring men together and hold them as with bands of steel. Just here involun- tary political action begins among a group of pioneers. Leaders must be chosen to direct the work which the common welfare demands. An association of freemen, all equals, will be formed in the midst of necessities and because of them. This organization, springing into i vigorous life from the head of dire need, will proceed to transact the public business of this small group, according to the forms or laws inherited from the past but adapted to present conditions. Fling a body of Americans, like our typical pioneers, upon an island in the Pacific, or if it were possible, land them upon another planet, and they would soon organize a government, a pure democracy, a township if the space were small, or a county, or state, or a federation of equal self-governing states, when space and time suffice.

EARLY ORGANIZATION

It is true that in this Commonwealth the counties were formed or rather "declared" be- fore the townships were "erected"; but in the settlement of the county the township was first, its officers were first elected, before the county assumed definite form. The county waited awhile, inchoate, till its constituent townships acquired sufficient strength to run alone for a little way to show that they were vital things. Venango, a vast space, named but not defined, lay brooding in the forests, for years, while townships were forming, which were taken within her boundaries, and afterwards rejected to become part of a new county. So the counties were limited, even new ones were formed, only after the necessary number of working townships had been created. In 1800 Venango and four others were named, and all called "The county of Crawford"-so said the legislature-five in one, the same, but diverse. In 1805 Venango was duly formed, and her officers were elected. The naming and elec- tion is simply the point of departure. It is not history. History begins only with the for- ward movement of each county along its own pathway toward the attainment of a just and liberal civil policy.

FIRST LEGAL ARCHIVES-EARLY JUDGES

Venango history, as a vital part of a great commonwealth, begins with the holding of the first court at Franklin, Dec. 16, 1805. Previous to this time the long arm of the law had reached twice to the town of Franklin in the two earliest cases reported from this county. The first was the trial of a contractor, May I, 1794, for killing a Munsey Indian at Fort Franklin. The second was Marcus Hulings vs. Isaac Craig, in 1797, to collect freight charges for boating supplies from Pittsburgh

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VENANGO COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

to the troops at Fort Le Boeuf. At Franklin the water was too low to permit the boats to go further. Craig had to carry the cargo upon packhorses to complete the transport to Fort Le Boeuf ; hence the trouble about settle- ment. Both these cases were tried in Alle- gheny county. Alexander Addison, residing at Pittsburgh, was president judge of the Fifth district, including all the territory from the Ohio west of the Allegheny to the New York State line. He was commended by Washington for his efforts "to bring the people more ac- quainted with the laws and principles of the government." His ministrations to this county ceased with the trial of these two cases.

At the term of 1805, and subsequently, Venango was led along the intricate paths of the law by her own president judge, in com- pany with the sister counties of Crawford, Erie, Mercer and Warren. The judge was Jesse Moore, who received his appointment to the Sixth district, consisting of the counties named, April 5, 1803. He held a feudal ap- pointment for life and filled this office till his death in 1824, at the age of fifty-nine. He dressed according to the "old school," appear- ing in smallclothes, knee-breeches, shoe- buckles and long powdered queue. He was summoned to court in the loft of a log building by a tin horn blown lustily by the court crier in the direction of his hotel across the street ; but probably during the last six years of his term he was called by the tones of the bell in the cupola of the old stone courthouse. Under his tutelage, assisted by his able associate jus- tices, Thomas McKee and John Irwin, who would know the parties in the cases and perti- nent facts, the law was administered in this district for nineteen years. During this period Venango was a law-abiding, self-respecting, living unit.

The war of 1812-15 demonstrated the vigor and fairness of the county's thought concern- ing her relations toward the rest of the State and to the whole country. It learned early in its civic life the rights of its own citizens and of its neighbors, and of the far-distant ones ; and the sanctions of those rights. In war's white light all the citizens of this country looked alike to Venango county. Were they not all free, all equal, all parts of a democracy united into greater and still greater units, and finally into one great nation free in action, free in spirit to do all the things that all could do without harm to any?

It is not the purpose to detail the history of the bench ; that is done elsewhere. The politi- cal life, as activities passing into history, was quickened, developed and wisely restrained, at

times, by the courts of the county. This is true of the county's history down to the pres- ent time. Some of the president judges were later distinguished by their services in the Supreme court of the State; which has availed, perhaps more than some realize, to extend the outlook and sympathies of all thoughtful ob- servers. James Thompson, who was a special District judge in Venango county for six years, served afterward with great approval for fif- teen years as Supreme court judge, the last five years of his term as chief justice reveal- ing him as one of the great judicial authorities of the land. John Trunkey, when called to the Supreme court, proved that the insight and judgment shown in his work at Venango were equally applicable to the most complex legal problems. Christopher Heydrick, called to a seat upon the Supreme bench, demon- strated beyond cavil that in legal acumen and vision the bar of Venango was in line with the highest arenas of the law. There have been, and are, other lawyers of this bar of whom also this statement is true. Judicially Venango from the earliest times has been keep- ing step with the law-abiding elements of the country, seeking to walk in the paths of jus- tice toward civil organization.

CONGRESSMEN

Venango's political life is interwoven with that of the Commonwealth by its continuous participation in State legislation. In this way its outlook is broadened as a county; it be- comes an active part of a great State. But there is a more important phase of its life, one touched to higher issues. This is its par- ticipation in choosing the law making and executive departments of the national govern- ment. It makes the county familiar with the aims and policies of the leading parties of the country, and it takes an active part in bringing them success, or in modifying or defeating them. In our country, so vast in extent, so diverse in constituencies, so decidedly the many in the one, the best path is not always plainly discernible. Much consideration is necessary. In an autocracy no such troubles arise ; the few govern for their own benefit, the people are not consulted. In the election of the national legislature the people are not confined merely to county interests, they are considering ques- tions affecting the whole country. The groups become transformed into conscious parts of an empire, regarding the whole with telescopic thought. Venango county has been fortunate in the character of the men who have left her borders to enter the Congress of the United

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States. The first was John Galbraith, elected in 1832, and reelected in 1834. He took a prominent part as a member of important com- mittees and as a speaker upon the floor. Like many of his successors, he was a lawyer, suc- cessful in practice, well versed in the principles of jurisprudence. These early lawyers trav- eled the circuit of the district with the judge, meeting the people. Court week was gala time in the counties, numerously attended by the voters, who learned much from the lawyers, and also imparted much as they talked politics with the sense of practical men, and whittled. This was one of the chief means then as it has been recently among pioneer counties, of sup- plying the people with the trend of national affairs, and of anchoring the trained powers of the candidates to the common necessities and common sense of the people. In 1837 Mr. Gal- braith moved to Erie, and in 1838 was again re- turned to Congress from this district. In 1851 he was elected president judge, though a Dem- ocrat, of the district consisting of Erie, Craw- ford and Mercer counties. which usually went Whig by a thousand majority. His death in 1860 occurred during his judicial term. His career after leaving this county serves to strengthen the belief which prevailed while he was here, that his leadership was a valuable factor of the political life of this section.

At the close of Galbraith's second term in Congress, his successor in 1836 from Venango county was Arnold Plumer, who also followed Galbraith again in 1840. Mr. Plumer was a direct descendant, in the sixth generation, of Francis Plumer, who with a party of English emigrants settled the town of Newberry, Mass., in 1635. His father, Samuel Plumer, removed to Allegheny county soon after the British took possession there. He afterward settled upon a farm in Jackson township, where Arnold was born in 1801. The frontier life of this family was marked by the lack of many material things that minister to the comfort of life, well-built houses, stoves, windows, lights, roads, newspapers, schools. To offset these were the courage and sense of a man and the strong fine soul of a woman in the home. The neighbors were in like circumstances. Poverty taught them self-denial and self-respect. Of schooling young Arnold received little, except instruction by the mother. She belonged to a famous Massachusetts family. Her maiden name was Patty Adams, and she embodied the culture of the eastern colony. The result of her tuition shows its quality. Political life soon claimed the activities of the young man. His personality convinced men of his ability to

serve, as a flame radiates light. At the age of twenty-two he was elected sheriff of the county. In 1830 Governor Wolfe made him prothonotary, clerk of the courts, and register and recorder. He held these offices till his entrance into the Twenty-fifth Congress in 1836. In 1839 he was appointed marshal for the Western district of Pennsylvania, and left this office to enter the Twenty-seventh Con- gress in 1840. In 1847 he was again appointed United States marshal for Western Pennsyl- vania. From this office he was called to serve as State treasurer by a large majority of the legislature. At the close of his term as treas- urer he retired to care more closely for his business enterprises; of some of these, show- ing his breadth of outlook, mention has been made in another portion of this work. In the public service cords are woven strong enough often to draw an individual out of his own in- clinations. Mr. Plumer and James Buchanan were very close friends. This is shown by one incident among many that might be cited. At a meeting of his political advisers in Phila- delphia to see him off as minister to England in 1853, Mr. Buchanan advised them that if controversies arose regarding his presidential candidacy, to refer all questions to Mr. Plumer. Greater confidence could not be shown.

In 1854, the united Whig and "Know-noth- ing" parties drove in a wedge separating the Democratic party from the governorship in this State. Buchanan's friends suffered a panic. The Keystone State must be proved safely Democratic or her candidate would be impossible. In 1855 the party leaders virtually forced Mr. Plumer to run for the only State office to be filled that year. He was not seek- ing office, least of all that of canal commis- sioner, but Buchanan's promoters, including the press, insisted that he must. As the candi- date's most trusted friend, his long experience in public life, and his spotless reputation, de- cided that he must swing the State back into the fold. He entered the race, was successful, and Buchanan became president in 1856. After the election Mr. Plumer's claims to a seat in the cabinet were urged in the press, and by influential members of the party. This line of thought did not appeal to Mr. Plumer. It would seem to commercialize his efforts to help his friend and to serve his party, which to him had appeared as unselfish duties, assumed re- luctantly, not for personal reward, but because it was thought by many to be the right course. One paper spoke of his appointment as post- master general as a certainty; and this was thought authoritative, from its source near the

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President, and Mr. Buchanan had expressed but among prominent people of the nation his preference for Mr. Plumer to friends urg- toward him and his district. He possessed a "good disposition," one of the finest gifts of the gods to men. It is a figurative term mean- ing that all the man's powers are rightly placed or disposed so as to be most effective. He was worth while to the political life. He guided it pleasingly, without changing the speed or direction of its progress. ing his selection. This use of his name was unknown to Mr. Plumer, and when he learned of it he issued a statement that he was not seeking, and could not accept, a seat in the cabinet even if it were offered. His health had become impaired several years previous to this time, when he had desired to retire from the insistent demands of office, which had become irksome to him. This somewhat extended notice seems appropriate from the fact that his career is typical of the healthy growth and rapid expansion of county political life to the touch of national issues. His life brought the people to a better knowledge of the principles of their national government. He was a Dem- ocrat. It is not necessary to belong to his party in order to commend the fairness of his po- litical practices. He believed in the full dis- cussion of principles and the absolute decision of the franchise. To attain success by the methods of the "slick" political practician was an art unknown to him, was not for such as he.

Mr. Plumer was succeeded in 1842 by Gen. Samuel Hays-the title was complimentary, his commission was created by the salutations of his friends. He came to Franklin in 1803, as a young man, with no apparent resources except what his hat covered. He was direct from Ireland and possessed the pleasing traits of the race. He had a fine presence, was witty, good-natured, with an "easy-going" tongue. He made friends who stood with him through difficulties. Before many years he was known as a rising man, one whose influence was to be reckoned with in the county. In business af- fairs his judgment was shrewd but always lib- eral to others. Frontier life agreed with him, including the people of the frontier. He soon became an office holder and perhaps exceeded all others in length and variety of public serv- ice. He was a Democrat, yet he owed his success more to his personality than to his party. He was elected sheriff in 1808, 1820, 1829 and 1835. He was made a member of assembly in 1813, 1816, 1823 and 1825; of the State Senate in 1822 and 1839. He was also United States marshal of the Western district, was elected to Congress in 1842, and was made associate judge of the county in 1856. He dis- charged the duties of all parts of his official life to the satisfaction of his constituents and with credit to himself. His service had a dis- tinctive quality. At a time when political dif- ferences were tending to bitterness, his fair judgment and versatile nature did much to create good feeling, not only within the county,

The next Congressman from the county came in 1848, in the person of John W. Howe, a lawyer from Franklin. He was born in Maine, in 1801, removed to Smethport. this State, at an early age, and settled in Franklin in 1830. His law practice here was small at first. He supplemented it by serving as justice of the peace, having been appointed to that office by Governor Wolfe. His work as magis- trate commanded the respect of the county. He was the first Congressman from this county elected by the Whig party. This served to diversify and extend the activities of the po- litical life of this section. He was reelected by the Whigs two years later, during the heat of the fugitive slave law discussion. He was one of the first in this section to openly favor the anti-slavery agitation. His influence with the Whigs was lessened by his progress in the Free-soil doctrine; but this action of his was a most valuable factor of local political life. Policies must be modified, when they have brought the ship among the rocks. He was an advanced proclaimer of the needed reform-or else of the terrible storm. Like a prophet of old he sought to arouse the people.

The next Congressman nominally from this county was C. V. Culver, who was elected as a Republican in 1864. He was not a part of the county, but rather a chance visitor at- tracted hither by the hope of exploiting the immense values resulting from the oil produc- tion. He aimed to be more than a Napoleon of finance. He organized a private bank in New York City; with funds from this a sec- ond; from the two a third, and so on, each successive one spun from the insides of the others, till he had a chain of them around the oil. The mother bank might reabsorb the children, and then what? The National Banks established at this time pleased him very much. By depositing a certain sum with the United States treasurer he could receive an equal amount of gold-bearing-interest bonds, and ninety per cent additional in currency. With part of this currency another national bank could be established, from these a third. It was a greater bubble than John Law dreamed of. He expected to blow one inclosing a good

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share of the country. His success was meteoric. He had made some fine triangular calculations in the air. His only trouble was that the base line from which all his calcula- tions had been made was also in the air, un- measured and unmeasurable. The banks were so closely related that when one fell all must go down-like a row of books placed on end within touching distance along a circle. If one goes over, all the rest follow. When the crash came some were hurt worse than others. The effect upon political life-who can tell? Psychological perhaps, expressed in some such aphorism as "Beware of magicians who pro- fess to multiply dollars by moving them about, so that they appear in several places at once." Many believe that Culver & Company by re- organizing the unnoticed pieces of wreckage into a stock concern, quit with more money than it had at the start.

In 1868 Calvin W. Gilfillan was elected from Venango county. He was a Republican and a lawyer, a member of one of the most effi- cient law firms of the county, conversant with all phases of the political life of the district and its immeasurable increase in commercial activity and in importance. Under his wise guidance the political life of the county ex- panded easily and naturally along lines fitting to its recent attainment of wealth and of re- sponsibility. After the fitful fever recently in Venango's veins the change was most helpful and wholesome.

In 1874 the district chose Dr. Albert G. Egbert, from Venango, to represent it in Con- gress. He was a physician, evidently from a family line of physicians, since his two brothers were also members of the same pro- fession. All three were eminent in this chosen work. He was the first Democrat to represent the district since 1856, a period of eighteen years, indicating that the Doctor possessed strong elements of popularity. It shows also that the voters were considering and weighing the claims of the different parties. The dis- trict was alive politically, not automatic. Dr. Egbert served his constituents well, but he did not wish to continue in office. His business interests demanded his attention.

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Venango County, Pennsylvania: Her Pioneers and People (Volume 1), Part 19

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

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