Venango County, Pennsylvania: Her Pioneers and People (Volume 1), Part 86

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

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all her life she was a member of Fairfield Presbyterian Church, and died in the full hope of a blessed immortality. Her death was caused by neuralgia of the heart. Mr. Bor- land passed away in 1866. We have the fol- lowing record of their family: John R., the eldest, is mentioned below; Catharine, born April 15, 1830, died Aug. 27, 1831 ; Samuel, born July 8. 1832, died the same day; Isaac Holloway, born Feb. 25, 1834, married Dec. 24, 1857, Sarah E. Allen ; Margaret, born Nov. 8, 1836, died Dec. 29, 1839; Martha, born Nov. 22, 1839, married Daniel McClung ; Anna, born Sept. 24. 1842, married Andrew C. Mont- gomery ; Isabella, born June 2, 1845, died April 13, 1848.

John R. Borland remained on his father's farm until of age, and meantime was allowed the ordinary advantages for education which the local common schools could give. He early manifested a taste for study, and began to read medical textbooks as early as his sixteenth year, later reading medicine regularly with Dr. J. R. Andrews, of New Vernon, a physician of the Reformed school, for nearly three years, and beginning practice in July, 1851, at Har- lansburg, Lawrence Co., Pa. There he fol- lowed his profession for thirteen years, mean- time continuing his studies and graduating at the Philadelphia University of Medicine and Surgery in 1865, in which year he formed a partnership with Dr. Isaac St. Clair and be- came established at Franklin, Venango county. When the Northwestern Eclectic Medical Association was formed in that part of Penn- sylvania, Dr. Borland was one of its most active members, and in 1873 he united with the National Eclectic Medical Association at Boston. He was also a member of the State Eclectic Medical Society. The Reform Medi- cal College of Georgia, which had a brilliant career, had been obliged to suspend during the war. It was subsequently reestablished as an Eclectic College, and in 1879 Dr. Borland was chosen for the chair of theory and practice of medicine, accepting the appointment, which he filled during 1879-80, being also lecturer on clinical medicine, and the faculty added to his honors as well as responsibility by electing him dean. The institution, coming thus under his direction, immediately gave promise of greater prosperity. and being an admirable teacher, with qualities which won the high personal regard of the students, he was urged to con- tinue his work there. But the emoluments of the college chair would not support his house- hold, and on that account he could not afford to sacrifice the business which he had estab-

lished at Franklin, where he resumed practice upon severing his relations with the college. He himself was a graduate of the institution in 1880.

Dr. Borland always took a leading part in local religious, temperance and social work be- sides attending to the demands of a very wide practice, and his three years of service as mem- ber of the Franklin board of health, and two years as county physician, might well be classed as social work for the community. He always felt very strongly on the subject of temper- ance, and changed from the Republican to the Prohibition party in 1872, when the State Leg- islature repealed the local option law. He felt that it was time for every advocate of prohibi- tion to declare himself openly in its favor. He was repeatedly nominated by the party for im- portant positions, for the assembly in 1880, State Senate in 1882 and Congress in 1884, in the latter year polling twelve hundred votes, the largest number ever given to a Prohibition candidate in the district. A few years before his death his neighbors described Dr. Borland not so much as old, but as eighty-four years young. "the youngest old man in the city." He walked the streets, case in hand, with not a limp, nor a bend, nor a gesture, to indicate de- cline in life. He died Dec. 26, 1916, in his eighty-ninth year. He gave the same close at- tention to practice at the office as in the city, and was frequently called to go long distances to consultations. He contributed considerably to medical journals.

On June 29, 1852, Dr. Borland married, in Harlansburg, Pa., Elizabeth Emery, who was born Jan. 21, 1834, daughter of Isaac and Nancy (Gillespie) Emery, and died March 27, 1907. Of the nine children born to this mar- riage, James Brown is a resident of Franklin; Isaac Huston, born Sept. 14, 1859, deceased, was a carriage manufacturer of Franklin, and married Anna Cummings, of that city ; Mary Jane and Nettie survive; Charles Emery, Emma Josephine, Laura Ellen, Nannie Malinda and Luella are deceased.

JAMES BROWN BORLAND was born Dec. 7. 1861. at Harlansburg, Lawrence Co., Pa., and was in his fourth year when the family settled at Franklin, where he has since lived. During his student years in the public schools he gave signs of his predilection for his life work, editing and issuing a paper containing school news, setting the type himself and printing it on a small hand press, using type and an old army press owned by his father. He left school before the completion of the course to go into real newspaper work, commencing the

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publication of the Franklin Evening News when he was but sixteen years old. He was its editor, and president of the Evening News Printing Company, which publishes the l'enango Citizen-Press, a weekly newspaper founded in 1855, until 1917, when he assumed his present responsibilities as managing editor and business manager of the Venango Daily Herald. This is a Franklin evening paper published by the Venango Printing Company, chartered Oct. 13, 1902, of which Mr. Borland is president, his fellow officers being: C. H. Sheasley, secretary and treasurer ; the directors are Mr. Borland, Mr. Sheasley, W. W. Bleak- ley, W. W. Miller, J. E. Gill, A. R. Osmer, and G. A. Fahey (assistant business manager and advertising manager of the Herald). The establishment is at No. 1252 Liberty street, Franklin, with a branch office at No. 214 Sen- eca street, Oil City. Mr. Borland's standing among newspaper men is well merited.

On Sept. 5, 1900, Mr. Borland married Genevieve Murrin, daughter of John and Agnes (McGarry ) Murrin, both of whom are deceased. Mrs. Borland is also deceased.

HARVEY MADISON HASKELL (de- ceased), a resident of Venango county from 1864 until his death, is one of the memorable men of early fame as oil operators in this re- gion. With a taste for the excitement and adventure that were long associated with ac- tivity in the oil industry he combined many of the traits essentially typical of present-day business methods in all fields, particularly an appreciation of the value of scientific knowl- edge of his property and the capacity for large ventures which often accompanies wide vision. Mr. Haskell was one of those attracted to Pit- hole in 1864 and one of the group that re- moved thence to Pleasantville, where he be- came permanently established. Much of the prosperity in the latter field after the first wave of heavy yields subsided was due to his persistence in overcoming certain obstacles which had caused untimely cessation of pro- duction in many wells. His sons have fol- lowed him in the business with even greater success, made possible by modern understand- ing of the best means of exploiting the great natural commodity which has revolutionized conditions in all branches of industry. Mr. Haskell died in his prime, but not before he had the satisfaction of realizing many of his ambitions, and he laid a foundation upon which his four sons have built up enterprises now among the most extensive of their kind in the country.

Born Dec. 31, 1831, at Tunbridge, Vt., Mr. Haskell belonged to a family of English origin settled in that State from about 1662. There he remained up to about the time he reached his majority, when he went West to Portage, Wis., at which place he soon became clerk of the court, holding that position until he left. His brother, Col. Frank Haskell, commanded a Wisconsin regiment in the Civil war until he met his death at Cold Harbor; his troops took part in the battle of Gettysburg. The discovery of oil at Pithole, Pa., drew Harvey M. Has- kell hither in 1864, and he at once set about securing oil leases, sinking a number of wells, some of which yielded as much as one hundred barrels a day. His profits enabled him to ex- tend his operations, so that he acquired sev- eral good wells in the surrounding territory. In 1868, with the decline of the Pithole opera- tions, he located four miles north at Pleasant- ville, in which locality a number of productive wells had been brought in, many of the build- ings from Pithole being removed to that point. The land in the vicinity was divided up into small tracts of two or three acres for leasing, some of these small plots bringing almost fab- ulous prices. Mr. Haskell extended his opera- tions into the Shamburg field, two or three miles west of Pleasantville, and also had a valuable lease on the Bean farm near Pithole. He had the experience common to practically all operators in the section. A light-colored oil-bearing sand was struck at a depth of about three hundred feet, but it was so impregnated with paraffin that a coating of wax soon formed, preventing the flow of the oil, many good wells being put out of commission in this way. At first the operators tried drilling two hundred feet deeper, to the black oil sand, but these wells also often ceased to produce within a few weeks from the same cause, the wax flowing down from the upper strata and clog- ging the opening effectively. It was obvious that some efficacious method of dealing with this difficulty would be very valuable, and con- siderable thought was given to the problem, Mr. Haskell being one of the first to suggest suitable treatment. He believed that by main- taining a thorough saturation of the well with benzine or even with the oil from the upper sand the formation of the wax could be so re- tarded as to mitigate its bad effects. Benzine was so employed for some years, being a cheap article in those days when there was little de- mand for it in the arts. Mr. Haskell had tested his ideas sufficiently to give him abso- lute faith in them, and he imparted his views to his sons and during his last years also pub-

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lished articles setting them forth, in order to interest others, feeling that the successful appli- cation of his method would greatly extend the productive period of the entire Pleasantville territory, or any other where similar conditions prevailed. He made preparations to demon- strate his plan on a large scale, buying large tracts in what became known as the Tight- pinch district, where he knew all the wells were drilled through a productive amber vein saturated with oil, but like Moses he was never permitted to enter the promised land to which he led so many others. His death on Feb. 25, 1888, occurred in the midst of these negotia- tions, but it is noteworthy that his ideas were carried out almost to the letter and resulted in bringing into profitable activity between one thousand and two thousand wells operating in the amber sand. His arrangements to take over a tract adjoining what he already had had gone so far that when it was purchased by W. P. Black he turned over a three-eighths in- terest in it at a nominal price to Mrs. Haskell and Col. Isaac Doolittle, who had been a part- ner of Mr. Haskell in some previous opera- tions. The yield of black sand oil there had almost ceased, but production was brought up to one hundred and fifty barrels a day of the amber sand fluid, and the property was later sold for fifty thousand dollars. In every local- ity where the plan was applied the productive area was much extended, no other one thing ever devised having probably such great value in retaining production at a profitable stage all over the northern part of Venango county. In one instance (after Mr. Haskell's death) a well yielding only a barrel a day of black sand oil was shot by his son and had a daily flow of fifty barrels in the amber sand, and at the end of a year was still producing ten barrels daily. A. P. Bennett was Mr. Haskell's part- ner in many operations, restricting oil opera- tions to producing crude oil. For several years Mr. Haskell was cashier of the Citizens' Bank at Pleasantville.

In 1866 Mr. Haskell married Adelia M. Miles, who is connected with several old Phila- delphia families, tracing her ancestry on both sides from French Huguenot stock. Her mother, whose maiden name was Keene, was a descendant of one of those who bought land patents on the border of the city when it was still held by the Duke of York, and this an- cestor was a vestryman of old Christ Church at the time of the erection of the present church, of which, as a fine example of Colonial architecture, Philadelphians are justly proud. Mr. and Mrs. Haskell met at Portage, Wis.,

while she was on a visit there. During their early married life they boarded at the "Chase House" in Pithole, then a town of ten thou- sand population, and this famous oil region hotel was one of the buildings removed to Pleasantville at the time of the exodus pre- viously mentioned, the family staying in it at the new location until they began housekeep- ing, in the dwelling which Mrs. Haskell con- tinues to occupy-her home for fifty years. Mr. and Mrs. Haskell had five children, Frank, William A .. Fred M., Annie ( who died when five years old), and Harvey Harrison, Wil- liam A. and Fred M. Haskell remaining with their mother at the old home in Pleasantville. Mrs. Haskell is a woman of native refinement and broad culture. In her early years she had the advantages of metropolitan life, but she found social conditions no less interesting at Pithole, whose population included many resi- dents of the best quality, some of the keenest witted and ablest men of the country having been attracted to the district. Her personal- ity has largely influenced the character of her sons, who have made successful efforts to realize the high ideals of civic, business, social and domestic relations instilled by their charm- ing home life.

HASKELL BROTHERS, of Pleasantville, sons of the late Harvey Madison Haskell, are recognized leaders among the producing firms in the oil business in the United States. The partnership includes the four brothers, Frank, William A .. Fred M. and Harvey Harrison Haskell. At the time of their father's death, in 1888. the two elder sons gave up their stud- ies at Allegheny College, Meadville, Pa., to assume the management of his extensive af- fairs. Five years later the eldest, Frank Has- kell, went into the newer oil fields, as detailed farther on in this article, though he has never given up his interest in the home concern. The three other brothers have continued opera- tions in partnership, and have so extended their interests that they are now producing in the oil territories of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, West Virginia, Kentucky and Oklahoma as well as in their home State, where their hold- ings lie in Venango, Butler and Warren coun- ties. In the course of their widespread activi- ties they have owned and operated over one, thousand wells, about one third of this num- ber being in Pennsylvania-approximately one hundred in Venango county. The brothers developed their father's well conceived ideas as to the possibilities of amber oil sands, nearly all their Venango wells now yielding

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that product, which has proved one of their valuable assets. As illustrative of the influ- ence which temporary conditions have on im- portant transactions, the brothers in 1899 leased to the Standard Oil Company a 320- acre tract for which they received a one- hundred-dollar-per-acre cash bonus besides the regular compensation in share, though it is safe to say that the cash bonus was not real- ized out of the profits for a number of years.

As progressive operators, the Haskell Broth- ers investigated the possibilities of gas pro- duction on their properties, and so far as they are concerned that end of the business has emerged from the experimental stage, casing head gas being now produced at four plants owned by them, although the venture is one of comparatively recent origin. Though they have never been ostentatious or spectacular in any of their operations, they have given substantial evidences of ability and judgment which hold the respect of all their contempo- raries in business, making no displays of ac- tivity to attract curious attention or create sharp and possibly harmful changes in oil conditions, but using their means and facili- ties wisely toward the creation of steady pros- perity.

HARVEY HARRISON HASKELL married Cath- erine Sargent, of Titusville, and they have three children, Harrison, Catherine and John.

FRANK HASKELL, eldest of the four broth- ers, was born in 1867 at Philadelphia, whence he was brought to Pithole in infancy. His early life was spent at Pleasantville, where he attended public school, later entering Alle- gheny College, where he was a student at the time of his father's death. He left his stud- ies to take up the serious business of managing his father's estate, and until 1893 carried on oil operations in Venango and Warren coun- ties in association with his brothers and other partners. Then he went to Indiana and took an active and successful part in the oil de- velopment there, a short time after his mar- riage establishing his home in Pittsburgh, where he continued to reside until 1905, mean- while operating extensively in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky and Illinois. Having become interested in the Mid-Continent field he removed to Independ- ence, Kans., and in 1907 went to Robinson, Ill., to take the management of the Associated Producers Company, the producing branch of the Tidewater Oil Company in that field. He built up the plant and business to profit- able proportions, remaining there until the Illinois field declined and he was sent to Tulsa,

Okla., as manager of another Tidewater sub- sidiary, the Okla Oil Company, of which he was also vice president. This has since be- come the Tidal Oil Company, who are among the conspicuously successful operators in the Mid-Continent field, owning and operating about twenty-five hundred wells. The opera- tions are conducted on a large scale and emi- nently sound principles, the property of the company being one of the best equipped in the business, with a stable production almost unrivaled. Mr. Haskell is the largest indi- vidual owner of Tidal stock. He is a director in the Exchange National Bank, the leading financial institution of Tulsa, and a member of numerous clubs and other local organiza- tions in that city, where he now makes his home. He has the reputation of being one of the best judges of oil sands and values in the business to-day. Mr. Haskell married Jane Mitchell Brown, daughter of Alexander W. Brown, of Pleasantville, who is mentioned elsewhere in this work. They have three chil- dren, Richard, Frances and Rebecca.

JAMES H. OSMER, for forty years recog- nized as one of the leading lawyers of western Pennsylvania, settled at Franklin in 1865. From that time without interruption he held a high place in the profession. While he was perhaps better known as a criminal lawyer of exceptional ability and success, his talent for forceful argument and logical conclusion mak- ing him a strong advocate, yet his practice and success embraced all the phases of the law. No lawyer at the Venango county bar ever took more personal interest in the causes of his clients, and their confidence was his highest reward. His sons could hardly choose better standards than those set by their father. They are associated in practice in Franklin at the present time.

Mr. Osmer was a native of England. but was brought to America by his parents the year of his birth. He was a grandson of John Osmer and a son of Reuben Osmer, the latter born in England, probably near Dover, in the County of Kent. About 1823 he married Catherine Gilbert, daughter of John Gilbert, and of their large family seven were born in England, James being an infant when his par- ents came to this country, in 1832. They settled in Center county, Pa., Mr. Osmer rent- ing land until he could afford to purchase a farm of his own. He was a man of sterling character and deep religious convictions, for many years an active member of the Methodist

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Church, but during his later life associated with the United Brethren. His children were born as follows: John J., June 6, 1826; William, May 19, 1827; Mary, April 12, 1828 (married James Crust) ; Abraham and Sarah, twins, Jan. 11, 1829; John, Dec. 9, 1829; James H., Jan. 23, 1832; Ann, Feb. 9, 1833 (Mrs. Clark) ; Edward G., Feb. 13, 1834; Omar, Jan. 22, 1836 (married Kate Long- well ) : Catherine, March 12, 1838; Elizabeth, Aug. 18, 1840; Sophia, April 18, 1842 (mar- ried Edward Longwell) ; Emily, June 11, 1844.

James H. Osmer spent his early life in Center county, Pa. It was necessary for him to begin assisting his father with the farm work at a very early age, but he was ambitious to acquire an education, and studied evenings when he could not be spared for attendance at school. For a few months he went to a private school in the home neighborhood, and by the time he was eighteen years old was prepared to enter the Bellefonte Academy in Center county. He put his acquirements to practical use, teaching school, and thus earned enough to continue his studies, entering Mount Pleas- ant College in Westmoreland county, and also studying at Pinegrove Academy in Center county and Dickinson Seminary, at Williams- port, Pa. Altogether he gained an unusually good literary education, which proved an excel- lent foundation for his law studies, commenced in June, 1856, in the office of Robertson & Fassett, of Elmira, N. Y. Meantime he con- tinued to support himself at teaching, acting as principal of one of the city schools. In November, 1858, he was admitted to the bar, at Cortland, N. Y., and at once established an office of his own at Horseheads, a suburb of Elmira. After several years' successful prac- tice in that location Mr. Osmer returned to Pennsylvania, in the spring of 1865, some of his clients owning property in the oil country which could be handled better at Franklin than from a distance. His conscientious and skill- ful attention to this business attracted the notice of a number of people who wanted re- liable legal advice and assistance, and the in- cidental work which came to him in this way was of such volume that he decided to settle at Franklin, which was ever afterward his home. He secured admission to the bar of Venango county in August, 1865, and soon be- came well known in the local courts, building up a large clientele within a comparatively short period. He was admitted to the Supreme and Superior courts of the State, to the United States District and Circuit courts, and to the Supreme court of the United States, the varied

nature of his practice carrying him into all. Mr. Osmer never allowed himself to grow in- different to the interest of any client, taking as much pains with each case as if it were the only thing he had to do, and his confidence in every cause he sought to defend, his careful prepara- tion for trial, and never-relaxing vigilance in points of law, were the factors upon which he relied for success. For over thirty years he was interested as counsel in every important criminal case tried in Venango county. Though he lived to be past eighty, Mr. Osmer went to his office daily until almost the close of his life. His vigorous mentality was unim- paired after years of strenuous work, and his value as a counselor never declined.

In June, 1859, Mr. Osmer married Mary J. Griggs, who was born Nov. 16, 1835, in Steu- ben county, N. Y., daughter of Samuel and Amy (Church) Griggs, and died Nov. 30, 1910. Four children were born to them: Lincoln, born April 8, 1860, who died Feb. 18, 1863; William, born Jan. 8, 1865, who died in September of the same year; Archibald R., born Oct. 12, 1866, and Newton F., born July 23, 1868.

Mr. Osmer was a Unitarian in religious be- lief, joining the First Church of Franklin. In his young manhood he was an ardent aboli- tionist, and joined the Republican party upon its formation, taking a prominent part in cam- paign work for many years. He was chosen a delegate to the National convention of 1876, but was prevented by illness from attending. In the fall of 1878 he was elected to represent his Congressional district, and, during his term in Congress, was a member of the com- mittees on Education and Labor. He served a number of years as a member of the school board in his home town. Fraternally Mr. Os- mer affiliated with Myrtle Lodge, No. 316, F. & A. M., and with Franklin Lodge, No. IIO, B. P. O. Elks.

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Venango County, Pennsylvania: Her Pioneers and People (Volume 1), Part 86

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

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