Venango County, Pennsylvania: Her Pioneers and People (Volume 1), Part 67

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 67

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bell. Anderson's purchase was made in 1814, and ten years later he built the mill afterward operated a short distance below the old site, also erecting a carding mill farther up the creek and a sawmill farther down. The first sawmill on Little Scrubgrass creek was built by James Craig. These mills are now out of business. The only sawmills now used in the township are small movable steam mills placed wherever required for temporary needs, such as the production of railroad ties, staves, etc. There are no woolen mills in the county now.

James Anderson's son James erected and operated a distillery on his farm, later the property of his son James, in the western part of the township, where a fine spring furnished excellent water for the purpose. The "Scrub- grass whiskey" manufactured at this still, long famed for its quality, is only a memory now.

Among the early industrial institutions were the tanneries of James Perry at Lisbon and David H. MoQuiston in the northern part of the township, not far from the river ; they are no more. The creamery near Lisbon of Messrs. McCoy & McQuiston, with a large output of dairy products for the city markets, gave a great impetus to stock farming in this and adjoining townships. This large output of dairy products still continues from near Lisbon and from other creameries in the township.

In many places in the township there are veins of bituminous coal, varying from thirty inches to four feet in thickness, beneath the surface. It was first mined about 1825, in the vicinity of Crawford's Corners, but though mining operations are still continued the pro- duction does not exceed the requirements for local consumption.

The first oil well in the township was drilled in 1859 on the Rhodabarger farm near the Allegheny river, by an association known as the Sugar Camp Oil Company, which had about sixty members. According to the rules, those who failed to pay assessments forfeited their shares, and when a 600-foot hole was drilled without striking oil investors became discouraged and let their shares go, though several assessments had already been paid. J. P. Crawford, Henry Kohlmeyer and David P. Williams, the only ones who had kept up their interests, wound up the affairs of the concern. In June, 1863, Aaron Kepler drilled the first productive well in the township on the Russell farm, and he also drilled the second, on the farm of Samuel Lawrence, adjoining. The largest well in the township was on the farm of John Crawford, its daily production at first being one hundred barrels. Many wells drilled 22

years ago are still producing, there being a small regular production in the vicinity, and while no great excitement has ever attended developments in this section there seems to be a permanency about the production that fully compensates for its absence.

Scrubgrass township, though containing no villages of considerable size, is a land of prom- ise. A greater part of its 14,800 acres is level, readily cultivated, and produces good crops, of all the grains grown in a temperate climate, wheat, rye, corn, oats, besides grass and veg- etables. A portion lying along the Allegheny is rough, but has oil under the surface, as yet not nearly exhausted. There is gas also near the Butler county line which capitalists may yet develop, bringing in some cheap fuel when it is greatly needed. The coal has al- ready been mentioned. But the land, just the land, is a gold mine when it is worked scientifically, to produce the crops which the soil is capable of yielding.

FRENCH CREEK TOWNSHIP

French Creek township, named from the creek, was created by a commission appointed in March, 1806. Its boundaries have been modified at different times by the formation of other townships, and with the establishment of Mineral township were fixed as they now are. The township includes an irregular area of territory lying in the western part of the county, with Sandy Creek, Victory and Min- eral townships on the south, Mercer county on the west, and the townships of Canal and Sugar Creek on the north and northeast.

The hills and valleys of this region, with glens of wonderful beauty, should be cele- brated in song and story. The principal water courses are French and Mill creeks, which with their tributaries drain and water a large territory. Building stone of superior quality is found in various parts of the township, French creek played its part in the develop- ment of the great oil interests of Venango county, many wells having been opened here in the sixties, and others drilled from time to time. The production was unsatisfactory. Considerable land was held for a long time by oil companies ; perhaps some is yet so held.

Here, about three miles above Utica, on the Heydrick farm, Custaloga's Town (of which a full account appears in a previous chapter) was located. The Indians were still raising small crops of corn and vegetables upon the flat lands on the west side of Deer creek when the Martin family came to the township.

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Settlement .- The first white men to pene- trate the wilds of what is now French Creek township were the early French missionaries and explorers of the Allegheny valley. In December, 1753, George Washington, then a young man, went up the creek on his celebrated mission to the French commandant at Le Boeuf.

John Martin came from Maryland in 1796, and located a tract of land on French creek about three miles above Utica, upon which he made the first improvements in the township. For some years he kept the ferry at his farm known as Martin's ferry, and he is remembered as a man of great physical endurance and a true type of the honest, energetic pioneer. His five sons, David, Thomas, John, Jr., James and Solomon, grew to manhood in this township, but with the exception of John, Jr., who died in French Creek in 1862, subsequently moved to other parts of the country. John Martin, Sr., died on the old homestead at an early date. Mrs. Dewoody of Franklin and Mrs. Allen of Crawford county were daughters of John Martin, Jr.

A number of hardy pioneers came with Mar- tin from the East to explore this country. One of his contemporaries here was John Chap- man, who took up land in different parts of the township, but whose sojourn, owing to his thriftless disposition, was only temporary. He appears to have been impatient of the restraints of civilization, so much so that as soon as set- tlements began to increase he disposed of his few improvements, and with a few others of his kind drifted farther westward.

John Gordon became a resident as early as 1797-98, settling the Adams farm on Mill creek a couple of miles west of Utica. About the same time came John Cooper, who made an improvement on the Duffield place near Utica, while a brother of Cooper moved into the township prior to the year 1800 and pur- chased what is known as the Glenn farm on Mill creek.

William Duffield came to Venango from Center county about the year 1798, accom- panied by his daughter, and after selecting a tract of land one and a half miles south- east of the present site of Utica left the latter to hold the place while he went back for the rest of the family. As soon as matters could be conveniently arranged he returned with them, and was soon safely settled in his new home among the high hills and deep forests of French creek. Mr. Duffield was a native of Ireland and a descendant of a large and in- telligent family of that name which came to

America about the year 1767. He was a prom- inent resident of French Creek until his death in 1827. His sons, John, Armstrong, William and James, were all leading citizens of the community, and their numerous descendants are among the substantial people of Venango county at this time.

John Lindsay, an early settler on Mill creek, arrived about 1799 or 1800; he was also an Irishman. He claimed to have been the pio- neer mill builder of French Creek, having erected a small sawmill, near where Utica now stands, as early as 1804, and later a flour mill one and a half miles from Utica. It was while cutting ice from around the large waterwheel of this mill that he afterward met a violent death by falling among some timbers, which closing together caught his neck so that he was left hanging until life became extinct.

About this period also the Adams family moved to the township, Welden Adams lo- cating about a mile east of Waterloo (now Polk), and James making his first improve- ments on the present site of Utica. The former bore a prominent part in the early de- velopment of the region, and at one time served as commissioner of Venango county. He reared a number of children. His son John was drowned in Mill creek a short time after the family came to the county, while another son of the same name, who became well known as "Uncle John" Adams, of Polk, was at the time of his death the oldest native resident of French Creek, his birth having occurred on the old farm in February, 1807. James Adams, Jr., also a son of Welden Adams, settled the place where his son W. S. Adams afterward lived, a couple of miles west of Utica, and became prominent in the locality, serving as county commissioner and as com- missioner of the French Creek canal.

James Adams, Sr., the brother who settled at Utica, was an active business man for many years, doing much for the advancement of the community by his construction of mills and factories. These were afterward operated by his son James, whose descendants still occupy the family homestead in Utica.

Thomas Russell, the first of the well known Russell family to settle in this part of the country, came from Huntingdon county about the beginning of the nineteenth century, and located on French creek about a mile above Utica. His son Alexander. then a small boy, accompanied his father to the new country and bore his share of the many trials and hard- ships incident to life in the backwoods. It is related that on one occasion, after the fam-

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ily had been without flour several days, and were tiring of cornmeal and potatoes as a substitute for bread, young Alexander was sent on horseback with a bag of wheat to the mill at Franklin. Getting his grist, he started homeward in the afternoon. As he reached "Hanna's Gap" a large black bear came out into the road and deliberately stopped in front of the horse, frightening the boy so thoroughly that he dropped the sack of flour, and applying the switch to his horse was soon away from the threatened danger. At home he told his thrilling experience, and the fa- ther, arming himself, went back to the scene of the incident, where he found the sack of flour untouched. The bear was not to be seen.

In addition to those already noted, James and Robert Greenlee and William Vogan were living within the present limits of French Creek township as early as 1800, all in the western part near the Mercer county line.

Jacob Runninger, a native of Holland, came to the United States in 1777, and first settled in the eastern part of Pennsylvania, thence in 1801 moving to Venango county, where he bought 307 acres of land in French Creek township. He was an active business man un- til his death in 1825. His son Jacob Run- ninger came here with him, and the latter's sons, Jacob, Jr., James P., Conrad, David and John, also lived in the township. John served one term as sheriff. Other descendants remain in the county.

Hugh and John L. Hasson, father and son, became residents of French Creek in 1799 or 1800, moving from the eastern part of the State with a horse and pack saddle and a horse and sled. They settled a short distance from Utica, where Hugh Hasson died in 1815, and John L. Hasson subsequently (about 1824) moved to Canal township, where seven fami- lies of his descendants still reside, while there are others of this branch in different sections of the county. The Hassons of Oil City are not related to the family settling in French Creek township.

Another early settler was John Hanna, who emigrated from County Down, Ireland, land- ing at New Castle, Del., in 1796. After a resi- dence of two years at Lancaster, Pa., he moved to Mifflin county, and in 1802 came to Venan- go, arriving at the Blair farm, formerly the homestead of Maj. George C. McClelland, in French Creek township, on Christmas day. He remained there only a short time, making his permanent settlement on what became

known as the "Hanna tract," along the creek a few miles below Utica.

James Gilliland, who came to the township about 1804, improved a farm one and a half miles north of Waterloo. He was one of the early teachers in French Creek, and also did as much as, if not more than, any other man toward awakening an interest in the cause of religion and establishing churches in the town- ship. His sons, Joseph and Alexander C., set- tled near the place of his original settlement.

Peter Patterson, another pioneer, was born in Juniata county. Pa., and first visited this locality prior to 1800. Through his brother- in-law, James Greenlee, already a resident of this county, he was induced to make his per- manent residence here, which he did in 1807, settling a tract of 250 acres in the extreme western part of the county adjacent to the Mercer county line. He was a member of the Associate Reformed Church and died in that faith in 1840. He belonged to the organiza- tion at Cochranton, but meetings were fre- quently held at his house which ultimately re- sulted in the formation of the flourishing Unit- ed Presbyterian Church of Sandy. His wife, whose maiden name was Elizabeth Donnelly, survived him until 1862. They were the par- ents of twelve children.

John Temple and his sons, John, David and Robert, were among the first permanent resi- dents in the vicinity of Polk, where Seth Jewel, a Revolutionary soldier, also settled, improv- ing a part of the ground on which the village now stands. Other early residents near Polk were William Evans, James Nicholson and sons David and Robert, James Cannon and James McClaran; and those who came to the vicinity at an early date and took a part in the development of the country also included Au- gustus Shaw; John, James and Andrew Mc- Ginnis; David Vincent; David Gilmore and sons John, David, Brice, William and Robert ; Jonas Reynolds and sons Wolcott, Joel, Hiram, Jonas and Erastus : William and Walter Gib- son ; Aaron McKissick; Mr. Johnston; Sam- uel Bunnell; Edward Hughes; George Cum- mings ; John Cummings; William Cummings; James Hays ; Charles H. Heydrick ; Dr. Chris- topher Heydrick ; A. W. Raymond.

Mills .- Of industrial activities in French Creek township that of milling has always been the most important, the waters of Mill creek having been early utilized as the motive power for machinery. The pioneer mill builder in this part of the county was John Lindsay,

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mentioned above. His mill was a very primi- tive affair, and owing to the scarcity of water in the creek was in operation only a short time. A little later Mr. Lindsay built a flour- ing mill about one and a half miles from Utica, which like the sawmill depended for its motive power on Mill creek. This mill he operated until his death, doing a very success- ful business, and it was afterward operated by other members of the Lindsay family until its destruction by fire about 1854.

Population .- In 1880 the population of the township was 1,286; 1890, not returned sepa- rately ; 1900, 943; 1910, 1,029.

Utica borough, pleasantly located eight miles northwest of Franklin and three miles southeast of the Mercer county line, marks the site of one of the earliest improved farms in French Creek township. Settlements were made in the vicinity of the village on French creek during the latter part of the eighteenth century, and it is reasonably certain that a tem- porary resident, whose name is not known, made a few improvements upon the present site of the place as early as 1796 or 1797. Its first permanent settler was James Adams, who about the year 1800 purchased that portion of the town known as the original plat, upon which he built a house and made other neces- sary improvements. His neighbors were the Lindsay, Duffield, Martin, Gordon, Chapman, Cooper and other early families who located their respective homes within a few miles along French creek. Mr. Adams was evident- ly enterprising and energetic, judging by the fact that in addition to clearing land and de- veloping a good farm he made early use of the splendid water power of Mill creek, erect- ing a saw and grist mill and woolen factory, all of which were highly valued by the early set- tlers over the line in Mercer county as well as those in Venango. The woolen mill was the first of its kind in Venango county, and al- though quite a primitive affair appears to have been operated almost constantly during the early period of the French Creek settlement. The flouring mill, erected about 1805, was a small frame structure two and a half stories high, and was operated quite successfully un- til about 1842. The sawmill, which stood near the spot occupied by the ruins of another mill of the same kind put up at a later date, sup- plied the early inhabitants along French creek with building material for a number of years.

These mills, erected by James Adams before the founding of the village, were the first manufacturing enterprises at Utica. His first woolen mill stood on Mill creek, near the

southwest corner of the borough. The small frame building, equipped with fair machinery, operated by water power, was kept running almost constantly for a number of years, so great was the demand for its products. It ceased operations in 1846, when Mr. Adams erected a larger factory, 30 by 40 feet in di- mensions and three stories high, with ma- chinery for carding, spinning, cloth dressing and the manufacture of such woolen fabrics as local trade demanded. It was a great bene- fit to the farmers of the neighborhood, who thus found profit in sheep raising with a home market for their wool. The Adams family continued to operate it until it was burned about 1869.

While the conveniences afforded by these mills attracted attention to the place, which early became a very thriving settlement, it was not until the construction of the French Creek canal through the country that the advisability of locating a trading point on the present site of the village came to be considered. It was while work on the canal was in progress that one John Floyd erected a small store room above where the iron bridge now crosses the creek, and stocked it with a miscellaneous as- sortment of merchandise for the purpose of trading with the contractors and workmen. The venture proved financially successful and he continued the business about four or five years, when he disposed of his stock and went to Pittsburgh, in which city he subse- quently engaged profitably in the wholesale trade.

The real advancement of the town, however, dates from the advent of A. W. Raymond, who was quick to foresee the future advantages of the location from a commercial standpoint, and purchased land from the Adams family where- on in 1830 he proceeded to lay out a town which he called Utica, named after his old home, the city of Utica, N. Y. Before this year there were only a few dwellings on the present site of the borough, including the resi- dence of James Adams, which is said to have been one of the first brick houses ever erected in Venango county. It is still standing, and despite its great age is remarkably well pre- served. Mr. Raymond was soon recognized as the presiding genius and inspiration of the community. He devoted both time and means toward building up the new town and develop- ing its industries, one of his first notable im- provements being the frame store building a short distance east of the old Adams residence, where he opened a general store. Within a comparatively limited period he succeeded in

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building up an extensive and prosperous trade. was in operation until some time in the six- After continuing the business several years he ties, and, like all his enterprises, a substantial success. sold out to Adam Cooper, binding the latter by written agreement to keep in stock all the goods Several years prior to 1850 William Smiley and Brice Gilmore began merchandising, the former doing business at what was later the site of the Perrine grocery, the latter in a small building on the same street. Their capital was limited and their association with the trade brief. W. S. Devore was one of the successful merchants of the place, as was also Thomas Nesbit, who was prominently identified with business and public interests in the borough until a few years before his death in 1910. For some time the firm was Nesbit, Stevenson & Company, and Gilmore, Stevenson & Com- pany also did a good business. Messrs. Nick- lin and Bryden were also well known mer- chants, and James Fiscus was one of the early grocers, though it is said his principal stock in trade consisted of "mountain tangle foot" which brought him numerous customers of a certain class. necessary to supply the demands of the com- munity and agreeing to make no attempt at opposition in the business so long as the pledge was faithfully observed. It appears that with- in a short time Cooper's stock of goods was allowed to run down, whereupon Mr. Ray- mond, considering the agreement violated, brought a second store to the place, and Cooper immediately brought action against him. At the trial, held in Franklin, Mr. Raymond proved to the satisfaction of the court and jury that the violation was not on his part and won the case. The second store building stood on the lot occupied at this time by the resi- dence and shop of C. H. Yard. Later, in 1839, he erected a brick store on Chestnut street, in which he did a successful trade for several years. Meantime he purchased the mill property and later opened a hotel, "The Traveler's Home," which early became a fa- In the early days of the village Robert Woods established a small furniture factory on Water street which was well patronized by the residents of the locality, and a little later William Anderson began the manufacture of chairs in a small shop near the mouth of Mill creek. vorite stopping place for the traveling public. After a few more years in the mercantile busi- ness he rented his store to James McGill, of Mercer, and went to Raymilton, in Mineral township, of which village he was also found- er and proprietor.

Mr. Raymond continued his interest in Utica, however, in the early forties putting up a large brick flouring mill there where he did a very successful business for a number of years. In the fifties he disposed of his in- terests here and removed to Franklin, where he resided until his death in 1890, at the be- ginning of his ninetieth year. Later the mill had other owners, one of whom, Nesbit & Company, remodeled the building and installed improved machinery for the manufacture of flour by the roller process, the capacity of the mill in their day being fifty barrels of flour a day, besides meal and feed. For years it was run by water power, but in 1888 was converted for steam power, natural gas being used as fuel. Its location was then changed to the east side of French creek, nearly half a mile above Mill creek. Robert Lee now owns it. It is run in the fall and winter to supply local demands.

Besides merchandising and milling Mr. Ray- mond operated a small foundry for several years, manufacturing plows, hoes, and many other implements required by the local farmers. This furnace went out with the others in the county. Before 1850 he also built a dis- tillery in the lower end of the borough which

During the great oil excitement in Venango county the manufacture of sucker rods be- came a very lucrative industry, and one of the first factories was built in Utica by Elias Cozad. Later he formed a partnership in the business with Mr. Shannon and the firm soon became one of the leaders in its line in the county. The factory did a large business throughout the oil excitement, supplying most of the rods used in this part of the country, but with the decline of the oil business all work at this factory was suspended.

David Goodard started a tannery which he eventually sold out to Cornelius Wilson, who continued it with fair success until about 1872. Then he converted his shop into a factory for the production of sucker rods, and though the trade shrank somewhat when the local oil operations decreased temporarily it has been built up again, the business being now operated by two of his sons under the name of Wilson Brothers.

Local business activities are yet continued by a number of thriving establishments, at the present time including those of G. P. Brown, Leroy C. Curtis, Samuel L. Mitchell, and Shawkey Bros., merchants; Robert Lee, miller ; W. C. Dickey, undertaker; Frank M.

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Venango County, Pennsylvania: Her Pioneers and People (Volume 1), Part 67

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

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