Venango County, Pennsylvania: Her Pioneers and People (Volume 1), Part 65

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 65

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county, Pa., settled a tract of land on the line of Butler and Venango counties, the larger portion of the land lying in Venango. They cleared a small patch, and after planting it with potatoes returned to their old home. Com- ing out again in the fall, they dug the crop and planted wheat. In the spring of 1798 Isaac brought out his family and made a permanent settlement. In 1797 Richard Monjar, a na- tive of Maryland, settled upon the land long in the possession of his son Surrena, a 400- acre tract where he made the first clearing and built a log house. He was a shoemaker, and the first of his trade to settle in the township. He died about 1832, his wife, Elizabeth (Ghost), surviving until 1867. Their chil- dren were: Mary, Francis, Christina, Sarah. Barbara, George K., Samuel B., Surrena and Philip G. E. Hayes Monjar, son of Surrena, now has the property.

Another early settler was Thomas Bullion. His birthplace is unknown, but he came here from Maryland, according to the best authori- ties in 1797-98. He made a settlement upon the land where Walter Hoffman afterward lived. and built a small distillery upon his farm which he operated for a number of years. It was related by some who knew him that he was "owl-eyed," being able to distinguish hardly anything during daylight, but with sight so keen at night that he could see distinctly the smallest objects. Late in life he married Nancy Kelso, but he left no descendants, and at his death his property passed into the hands of a

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nephew, James Kelso. The great Bullion oil district, Bullion post office, a school and a small run were named in his honor.

In 1798 William Davidson came from Hunt- ingdon county, Pa., and secured a 400-acre tract, his homestead coming into the possession of his grandson, Isaiah McDowell. He was of Irish extraction and a native of Huntingdon county, where his wife, Jane ( McConohue) was also born. Mr. Davidson and one son, Patrick, were members of Capt. Hugh Mc- Manigal's company, which went to the defense of Erie in 1813. Mr. Davidson was one of the original members of Amity Presbyterian Church, organized about 1800, and served as an elder for many years. He was also one of the early constables, and met his death while performing his duties as such, being shot and killed by a man named Scott upon whom he was serving a warrant of arrest. Mr. David- son was the grandfather of thirty-four chil- dren, who scattered over eight States of the Union, and none of his name is left in the township.

About the time of Davidson's arrival came also Jonathan Morris, a native of Lancaster county, Pa., and the Ross and Wanders fam- ilies. Jonathan Morris had the following children: John, William, James, Betsey, Rachel, Pattie (who married Washington Eakin), Reuben and Jane (who married Milo Welton).

In 1799 Adam Dinsmore induced William and Hugh McManigal, John Crain and David Martin to locate in Irwin township. All were natives of Ireland and had first settled in Mif- Ain county, this State. Hugh McManigal had command of a company from this county at Erie in 1813. He and his brother at one time owned some eight hundred acres here, William settling on the land now owned by the Lat- shaws. John Crain settled upon the land now in the possession of the descendants of John J. Kilgore, and David Martin on the land where his grandson Joseph Martin lived until luis death in 1917, his son John now occupying it. He took up 400 acres, and is the only one of this group now represented by descendants in the township, where a number of them now reside. Martin was a weaver by trade, and in his log cabin wove many yards of cloth for the carly settlers and their families. In Ireland he married Nancy Ramsey, and his family consisted of eight children : John, James, Polly ( married George McMurdy), Nancy (married John Sheilds), Jane (married William Sheilds), Betsey (married Oliver Waldron), Rosie (married Joseph Osborne) and Pattie

(married James Mitchell). The parents died on the old homestead.

Edward McFadden, a native of Ireland, first settled in Luzerne county, Pa., came to Irwin township a short time prior to 1800, lo- cating upon the land now belonging to the descendants of Maj. John Phipps ; his children were William, John, Michael, Charles, Sarah and Mary. William Adams settled here in 1800; Robert Jones, Moses Bonner and Robert Burns, in 1802; and John Bullion, a brother of Thomas Bullion, in 1803. None of them but William Adams have descendants in the township at present. William Baker arrived from Westmoreland county, Pa., in 1805, and his posterity still reside in the township. The same year brought William Robinson, who settled the land that passed into the hands of Henry Stevenson, who sold it to John Ayers. It is related that a Mormon preacher named Snow came to Irwin township in 1837, and among his converts were Henry Stevenson and several daughters and a man by the name of David Mckee, these two and their families accompanying Snow to Salt Lake City.

Joseph Allen, who made a settlement in 1813, coming from Penn's Valley, Center Co., Pa., was the ancestor of the Allens of Irwin township.

John J. Kilgore, who came in 1815, pur- chased two 400-acre tracts, one of which he traded for a horse. His father, who settled in Mercer county, Pa., in 1800, was one of a family of twenty, nineteen sons and one daugh- ter, children of a minister of Cumberland county, Pa., whose family settled there prior to the Revolutionary war. It was related by the elder Kilgore that his father used to say that he had nineteen sons and one daughter, but each of his boys had one sister. In June, 1817, owing no doubt to a scarcity of the neces- saries of life, for at this period Irwin township was but a wilderness, John J. Kilgore and two companions went to Franklin, hired a canoe, and paddled down the river to Pittsburgh, where they bought a load of provisions, on the return journey pushing the canoe up the stream with poles. They made the trip in ten days, during which time they slept but one night under a roof. Game was abundant in those days. In 1819 there was a heavy fall of snow, and Mr. Kilgore's son related that his father in company with his hired man killed sixteen deer in one day.

In 1830 the tide of emigration set in, the land was rapidly cleared up, and Irwin was developed to compare favorably with any town- ship in the county. It is one of the best agri-

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cultural districts in the county, with undulat- ing surface and fertile soil, drained by the headwaters of Scrubgrass creek and its tribu- taries. Rich coal deposits lie beneath the sur- face.

Taverns .- The first hotel in Irwin township was a log structure, erected about 1800 by Henry Crull. A man by the name of Knowles succeeded Crull, and after him it was owned in turn by Olds, Jones and Hugh Cochran, at whose death Hezekiah Mays acquired the property and ran the house for many years. The log building was torn down after a few years and replaced by a frame house, which gave way in time to the substantial residence of Mr. Mays. Located at Mays' Corners, on the Pittsburgh and Franklin road, in the days of the stage lines it was one of the stations where changes were made.

George McMurdy also built one of the early taverns, in 1812, and in connection with the hotel operated a distillery adjoining.

About 1849 Robert Allen of Butler county built the brick hotel on the Pittsburgh and Franklin road just north of the limits of Bark- eyville, and ran a store in connection with the hotel, which subsequently passed into the hands of a Mr. McKelvey.

The "McCloskey House" in Mechanicsville was built about 1850 by Michael McCloskey.

The hotels located on the Pittsburgh-Frank- lin road passed away soon after the stages did.

Mills .- The first gristmill erected in Irwin township was built by John Crain about 1805, on the north branch of Scrubgrass creek, about one and a half miles east of the residence of A. J. Kilgore. In 1815 it passed into the hands of John J. Kilgore, who ran it for a number of years and then sold it to George Eagles, who removed it to Sandy Lake, Mercer county.

In 1839 John Gilmore and Thomas Martin erected a gristmill on the headwaters of the north branch of Scrubgrass creek. It was a log structure with undershot wheel, and fur- nished with two sets of buhrs of native stone. After the original owners had operated it a short time, it passed into the hands of a man named Barnes, and subsequently was purchased by Thomas Thornberry. It was torn down in 1849, and the mill known as the Gilmore mill was built by Thomas Thornberry and Philip Surrena. In 1857 Solomon Thorn pur- chased Thornberry's interest, and in 1863 Sur- rena sold his share to John Kilpatrick. In 1866 William King bought Kilpatrick's interest, and was bought out in 1868 by Alexander Gil- more, Gilmore and Thorn running the mill

until 1885, when the latter's interest was pur- chased by Amos Gilmore. He was succeeded by L. B. Gilmore.

The mill known as Walter's mill, at the headwaters of Wolf creek, was built in 1840 by John Gilmore and Thomas Williams. It had an overshot wheel furnished with native buhrs. At Gilmore's death it passed into the hands of David Walter.

Several sawmills have been erected in the township, but have long since passed out of use. One stood upon the McMurdy farm, one close to the site of the Walter mill, and another upon the land owned by John Latchaw.

Population .- In 1870 Irwin township had a population of 1,489; 1880, 1,584; 1890, 1,396; . 1900, 1,262 ; 1910, 1,278.

Villages .- The site of Mechanicsville (Wes- ley post office) was originally part of the land that belonged to John Ross, a tract of four acres. It is not known whether John Ross gave it to his son, but about 1840 Ayers Ross, a son of John Ross, built a blacksmith shop and a log cabin which were the first buildings erected inside the limits of the village. Within a short time John Bryan erected a wagon shop and a log house. The first merchant was J. P. Billingsley. John Conrad soon came and engaged in shoemaking. Dr. Boyd was the first physician to locate in the town. The first postmaster was D. W. Henderson. In 1850 Thomas Galloway purchased the Ross farm and built a cheese factory in the suburbs. The first hotel was built in 1850 by Michael Mc- Closkey, who was its landlord for many years. Soon after the "McCloskey House" was built the village grew, and at one time supported four general stores. During the last few years many of its former residents have departed, and the place has been ravaged by fire. The first schoolhouse erected within the limits of the village was built in 1870, and the church in 1889. The present population places Wes- ley among the lesser pioneer settlements.

Barkeyville is situated in the southern part of the township. In 1850 Henry Barkey opened a general store at this location, and the following year formed a partnership with Abraham Hunsberger. Shortly after several parties who owned land on the main road sur- veyed a few lots. The store of the above men- tioned firm was the first building erected in what soon became known as Barkeyville ; then Michael Liken erected a frame house there and engaged in shoemaking; Rev. Abraham Raysor, who was called to the pastorate of the Church of God, next built a frame house ; and Hugh Hasson built the' first blacksmith shop.

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Mr. Barkey, in connection with his partner, then purchased the land on both sides of the road within the limits of the present village and laid it out in lots. Abraham Hunsberger was the first postmaster. The town is now on the rural route from Harrisville, Butler coun- ty. After Mr. Barkey's retirement from the business, in 1885, Mr. Hunsberger continued his association with it until his death, in 1902. and his son Charles F. Hunsberger succeeded him. There are now three general stores, and the village is surrounded by a live community. In close proximity to oil territory, the little vil- lage is keeping up in the general progress. On the edge of the town are located the Church of God and the Barkeyville Academy. Some of the best people of the county received their education at the academy, which has added considerable prestige to the town.

Nectarine is a four corners three miles west of Clintonville, with one store. It is served by rural free delivery from Harrisville.

ALLEGHENY TOWNSHIP

Allegheny township originally included all that part of Venango county north and west of the Allegheny river and east of Oil creek, and was one of the three townships erected in 1800. It was reduced to its present limits in 1866 by the formation of Oil Creek township and the annexation of the eastern part of Venango county to Forest county.

Pioneers .- One of the earliest settlements in the county was that of Pithole. What attracted settlers to this region, distant from any of the traveled routes or water highways which penetrated the wilds of western Pennsylvania, is difficult to determine. The Holland Com- pany offered one hundred acres of land to anyone who would make a settlement thereon, and thus probably many were induced to lo- cate in a country which they had never seen, and which often proved disappointing. The larger number of those who settled here at a very early date removed to other localities after a brief struggle, leaving no record of them- selves and very little evidence of their resi- dence. One such was Alexander McElhaney, who came from Center County, Pa., in 1796, but was impelled to go back within a brief period by the alarming probability of Indian hostilities. Several years later he returned, but in a short time removed to Sandy Creek township, where his descendants are still to be found.

Three brothers, Thomas, John and James Dawson, came from eastern Pennsylvania to

the southwestern part of Allegheny township when the surrounding country was a wilder- ness. Thomas was the only one who remained in the township (he and James appearing on a tax list of 1805), where he became a farmer of comparative wealth and prominent in local affairs. The family was of Scotch-Irish de- scent and actively identified with Methodism in this section. There is a numerous connec- tion of the name in Forest county.

The tax list referred to also contains the names of Hugh and Michael McGerald, whose land was about midway between the Warren and Dunham roads.

In 1803 Isaac Connely located in the town- ship half a mile from the Warren road, at some distance from any route of travel used at that time, and one of the first births in the township was that of his son George W. (afterward pro- thonotary of the county), Sept. 3, 1804. Isaac Connely was born in Ireland in 1747, lived in Philadelphia during the Revolution and there kept the "Black Horse Tavern," a well known hostelry, at the close of the war moving to Center county and thence to Allegheny town- ship. He was a man of extensive reading, and at one time a teacher of Latin and German. He married three times, and died July 4, 1823. A clump of trees in a field on the Alfred Lamb farm is pointed out as marking the location of the Connely burying ground.

Among the pioneers of Allegheny were also two Revolutionary soldiers, Aspenwall Corn- well and David Dunham. Cornwell came from New York City, and made the trip hither with his family by way of the Allegheny river to Holeman's Ferry, Forest county, arriving at their destination in August, 1819. The Corn- well farm was on the Warren road, and Aspen- wall .Cornwell, Jr., lived there many years after the death of his father, selling out when oil was discovered and removing to the West. The property was later owned by E. Van Wyck.

David Dunham came fram Fabius, Onon- daga Co., N. Y., in 1819 purchasing 288 acres of land east of Pleasantville, to which he moved with his family two years later, travel- ing by sleigh to Orleans Point, and thence by boat down the Allegheny river to Holeman's Ferry. His son Edwin Dunham, who was born in 1800, came here two years before the rest of the family, married a daughter of Aspen- wall Cornwell, Sr., and at the time of his death was one of the oldest residents of the town- ship.

Capt. Ebenezer Byles, who settled the Clark farm, arrived in 1825 from Hartford, Conn.,

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where he had been sheriff. His military title was acquired by service in the war of 1812. Of his four sons, Dwight, Matthew, Cornelius and Edwin, Dwight was a farmer in this town- ship; Edwin, a dentist at Pleasantville; Mat- ' miles area, or 17,900 acres. Its surface is thew and Cornelius became doctors, the former at Utica, this county, the latter at Fredonia, Mercer county.

The next year came John Tennent, a lineal descendant of Rev. Gilbert Tennent, founder of the Log College in Bucks county, Pa. He was from Colchester, New London Co., Conn., and made the journey by way of the Erie canal, for the most part then through a wil- derness, the trip from Albany to Buffalo tak- ing two weeks. There he embarked on a ves- sel for Erie, whence he completed his travels by wagon. He had secured six hundred acres of land and brought with him his wife and two daughters, one of the latter being Mrs. James McClintock, who lived in Oil City. The frame house built within a few years after the family arrived is now one of the oldest dwell- ings in the township.

John Lamb, a native of Center county, Pa., became a resident of Venango county in 1827 and established the first tannery in the town- ship (and the only industry of the kind there), also engaging in lumbering in Forest county, and in merchandising. It was through his ef- forts that Lambs post office was obtained for the convenience of the neighborhood, and it was kept at his house.

In 1831 Jacob Blanck, a native of New York City, purchased a thousand acres of land in Venango county, removing his family here the following year. He lived to the age of ninety, dying in 1877. Thomas Mitchell, James Mc- Casland, Robert Ensign and William Haworth may also be mentioned among the pioneers of the township. The latter had a distillery on his farm at an early date and operated it for many years.

Mills .- The first mill between Cherry run and Tidioute was built by Alpheus Jones prior to 1833 on Pithole creek. The machinery was improved by John Haworth, who was propri- etor for a time and sold the property to Sam- uel W. Stewart. The second mill was built by Nelson Tyrrell on Pithole creek, below the mouth of Dunham run.

Population .- In 1870 the township had 1,485 inhabitants ; 1880, 1,043 ; 1890, 536; 1900, 406; 1910, 310.

The variation in population from 1,485 in 1870 to 310 in 1910 contains a strong hint of the history of this abandoned township. Many, pumpers and oil gaugers, and owners of the oil

rights remaining, estimate that the population in 1920 will not exceed one half the number returned at the census of 1910. The township comprises approximately twenty-eight square

rough and rocky, and was covered with a dense growth of forest trees, sheltering a great va- riety of wild animals. After cutting down the trees, and burning them, the settlers found a soil well interspersed with rocks, which had to be blasted to reduce them to movable sizes and then hauled to one side. It must have been a struggle to support a scant existence here. A number came, stayed a short time, and went leaving barely a trace of their claims or improvements after their departure. Some settlers even built temporary houses which they abandoned to the newcomer. Yet many came who with Spartan courage remained, and conquered homes in this almost unknown wilderness. So far as soil is concerned it is doubtless the poorest in arable land of any township in the county. From 1826 to 1865 this region had a slow but steady growth. Then the earth opened, disclosing untold wealth under the feet of the hard-working pi- oneers. From 1865 to 1875 the owners of the land were busy getting the wealth which had lain unsuspected so long-since the rocks were formed-a few hundred feet below. Many acquired fortunes and departed. Others lost all' they had and also departed. Three churches, and as many schoolhouses, were left to blacken and rot by the roadsides. No church building is now within its limits. One may travel along the roads for miles without seeing an inhabited house. Leaving Pleasant- ville, going southeast one and a half miles, the "Bean farm" is seen, with a fairly good, very old house, one of the first built in the township, now owned by Mr. Ferrel of Pleasantville. Two miles farther in the same direction the former lively town of "Cash Up" is reached, now consisting of one shanty occupied by an oil pumper. Several little cemeteries along the roads, some in clumps of native trees, oth- ers near decaying timbers, of a church possibly. some with headstones, others with none, re- cord a silent story. It is hoped that the set- tlers, who were as brave and good men and women as any coming to this county, are some- where in happier surroundings.

SUGAR CREEK TOWNSHIP

Sugar Creek was one of the three townships of Venango county founded by the Crawford county court Oct. 6, 1800, and at that time took

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in the extensive territory in the county north of French creek and the Allegheny river and west of Oil creek. In 1806 Plum and Cherry- tree townships were formed from the north- ern part of this area, and Oil Creek from its southeastern part, but the latter was attached to Sugar Creek for government purposes and never sustained more than a nominal exist- ence. On Nov. 26, 1832, the court of Quarter Sessions was petitioned to form several new townships from the territory, and Richard Irwin, John Anderson and Aaron McKissick, to whom the matter was referred, reported fa- vorably to the erection of a new township from the contiguous portions of Sugar Creek and Allegheny, and another from the central part of Sugar Creek, the remaining parts of the respective townships to retain their orig- inal names.

The largest stream in this territory is Sugar creek, which flows into French creek not far from the line of Canal township, receiving the waters of Lupher's run. Foster's run and Deck- er's run also. Two Mile run drains a large territory on the east, and between these two principal streams is Patchel run, a branch of French creek. Brannon run and Shaffer run empty into the Allegheny east of Two Mile run. In the valley of Sugar creek there are some fine farming lands, and the well known Franklin oil district, described fully in an- other chapter, is located principally within the limits of this township.

Pioneers .- The following were taxed in Sugar Creek in 1808: Robert Arthur, James Arthur, Joseph Allen, John Andrew, Arthur Boon, John Armstrong. Francis Buchanan, James Brown, Andrew Bowman, John Brown, James Bowls, David Blair, Robert Beatty. Nathaniel Cary, John Carter, Francis Carter, Thomas Carter, Hugh Clifford, William Cou- sins, Samuel Cousins, William Crane, Martin Clifford, Philip Cutshall, Thomas Cousins, William Crozier, Peter Dempsey, Yost Deets, Joshua Davis, Alexander Fowler, John Foster, Ross Foster, James Foster, Patrick Gordon, David Gilmore, Charles Gordon, James Gor- don, James Henry, William Hayes, John Greer Hayes, John Hayes, Francis Halyday, Robert Huston. William Hood, William Harrison, James Johnston, Alexander Johnston. William Johnston, George Kain, John Kelly. Philip Kees, Hamilton Mcclintock, Francis McClin- tock, Robert McClintock, Alexander McCor- mick. James Mason, John McCalmont, William McMaster, James McCune, George Murrin, John McDonald. David Martin, James McCur- dy, Dennis Pursell, James Patchell, Ambrose

Rynd, Jonah Reynolds, William Reed, Sam- uel Ray, Ebenezer Roberts, Jacob Rice, Mat- thias Stockbarger, Jean Story, George Sutley, Robert Shaw, Hugh Shaw, Jacob Sutley, Christian Sutley, James Shaw, William Shaw, Abraham Selders, Luther Thomas, William Thompson, Isaac Walls, John Whitman, Jacob Whitman, John Wilson.

At that time the township extended west- ward from Oil creek to the Crawford county line and north so as to include a large part of what is now Oakland and Jackson townships, hence the larger number of those whose names appear in the above list resided beyond the present limits of Sugar Creek. What is now the Third ward of Franklin was also one of the earliest settled parts of this township, and the record of its settlement has been in- cluded in the chapter on that city.

Among the earliest pioneers was Jacob Whitman, who had previously lived in the Susquehanna valley. He came to this county with three sons, John, Jonathan and William, John, the eldest, settling here on a tract of one hundred acres later known as the Mclaughlin farm. He married Jane Davis, and Jacob, the eldest of their seven children, was the progeni- tor of the present generation of the family. John Whitman was a boatman, and when the naval stores for the equipment of Perry's fleet were transported up French creek he assisted in that work. His brothers are also thought to have been boatmen.

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Venango County, Pennsylvania: Her Pioneers and People (Volume 1), Part 65

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

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