Forest County HistoryÂ
Source: A Pioneer History of Northwestern Pennsylvania [1905],
Formation of Forest County
Early Settlers in Forest County
Municipal History
Educational & Religious
Early Business Ventures
Boat Building Along the Clarion River
Formation of Forest County
Forest County is the only county in the state of Pennsylvania created by a
joint resolution of the Legislature. Approved on 11 April 1848, this resolution
detached Forest County from Jefferson and Elk Counties. In April 1850 the
Legislature fixed the southern boundary of the county at the north bank of the
Clarion River, from a point where the east line of Clarion County crosses that
river to the west line of Elk County. Forest County remained attached to
Jefferson County for judicial purposes until it was fully organized. The Act of
15 April 1851 placed the new county in the 18th judicial district, with
Marienville established as the county seat. In 1866 five additional townships
were detached from Venango County and the county seat was transferred to
Tionesta.
Early Settlers in Forest County
Cyrus Blood was one of the earliest settlers in Forest County. He brought his
family into the wilderness in 1833, to an area later called “The Blood
Settlement.” When he settled here, the region was full of panthers, bears,
wolves, wild cats and deer. Mr. Blood was a powerful man, possessing great
energy and courage. He was well educated and a surveyor by trade. Cyrus was born
in New Lebanon, NH on 3 March 1795. He was educated in Boston, and at twenty-two
he migrated to Chambersburg, Pa. where he served as principal at the academy
there. He later became the school principal at the Hagerstown Academy, and later
a professor at Dickinson College, in Carlile, Pa.Ambitious to found a county, Cyrus Blood made several visits into the
Pennsylvania wilderness. Finding the northern part of Jefferson County an almost
unbroken wilderness, he purchased a tract of land where Marienville is now
located, and decided to settle there.It was understood that when Cyrus purchased
his property from the Holland Land Company that a road would be opened into it
for him. But when he arrived in 1833 where the village of Corsica now is, he
found, to his annoyance, that no road had been constructed. Leaving his family
behind, he started from what was then Armstrong’s Mill, now Clariongton, and
with an ox-team sled and men to cut their way step by step through twelve miles
of wilderness to his future home. Every night the men camped on and around the
ox-sled. When the crew reached Blood’s purchase, a patch of ground was cleared
and a log cabin was raised. In October Cyrus Blood , along with his wife and
five children, took possession of this forest home. Panthers were so plentiful
at this time that the children could watch them playing outside in the garden.
Municipal History
The first county election was held in Forest county on 13 October 1857, and
the following officials were chosen: Associate Judges, Cyrus Blood and Milton
Gibb; Prothonotary, G.W. Rose; Sheriff, John Gaul; Coroner, Archibald Black;
Commissioner, Samuel Kincaid ; and Auditor, Timothy Caldwell. Prisoners were
kept in the Jefferson County jail in Brookville.The first court session was held 21 December 1857, in what was then called
Marien (now Marienville). President Judge, John S. McCalmont; Associate Judges,
Cyrus Blood and Milton Gibbs. W.W. Corbet, as prothonotary of Jefferson County
was present and swore in the associate judges. Thomas B. Mayes was appointed
court crier and William Walton, of Jenks Township, to act as tipstaff. At the
suggestions of the judge, W.P. Jenks and L.D. Rogers of Brookville, were the
first lawyers admitted to the “bar” of Forest County. The rules
governing Jefferson County bar were adopted to govern the Forest County court.
James D. Flick was appointed constable of Barnett Township, with Cyrus Blood
chosen as county surveyor. John Conrad moved to Forest County in the summer of
1857, and served as the first district attorney, from 1858-1860. Although
elections were held in Forest County as early as 1852, the state vote was still
counted with Jefferson County for a number of years afterward. The pionerr
courthouse of Forest County was built in Marionville by Bennett Dobbs, of hewed
logs and afterward weatherboarded and painted white. On 8 March 1815 the sun was
darkened for a week with pigeons. On 1 April 1854 the same event again occurred.
Educational and Religious
The first school was established in what is now Tionesta Borough in 1820. The
first schoolmaster was John D. Hunt. He taught school in the winter of 1833-34
in Cyrus Blood’s home. The first school building was in Marienville in 1840,
with Cyrus Blood, school master. The first missionary to locate and preach here
was Rev. David Zeisberger, in October 1767. The first preacher was Dr. Otis
Smith and the first sermon preached to white people was at Mr. Blood’s home. The
appropriation for schools in 1850 was as follows: Jenks Twp: $10.56, Barnett
Twp: $63.96, Tionesta: $4.10. Heath had a population of 187 and Barnett, 479.
Early Business Ventures
Among the first settlers to arrive in Forest County were two hunters, John
Aylesworth who resided in Jenks Township, and Ebenezeer Kingsley, who settled in
Tionesta in 1825. Beavers made there home here along the great flag swamp and
the beaver meadows along Salmon Creek. The pelts were then sold by the trappers
in Brookville. The first saw mill was built in 1823 by Isaac Ball, Luther Barnes
and William Manross, at the place now called Balltown. The usual food at the
mill was said to be one barrel of flour and two barrels of whiskey. Retailers of
foreign merchandise in 1854 were: Howe & Co, C.C. Johnson, shipper, and
Morrison & P. Woodward. Licensed hotels: Clarington, 1855, Peter G. Reed
& Oramel Thing. the first store was opened in Cooksburg by the Honorable
Andrew Cook in 1852. The first coal in Forest County was mined in Balltown. The
first tavern was located in the house of Cyrus Blood. He also built the first
grist mill at Salmon Creek in 1840. Colonel John D. Hunt was appointed
postmaster on 25 September 1851. Early mail service was begun from Brookville by
Claringtion to Marienville, twenty-six miles and return, once a week. Dr. D.
Bachman who moved to Clarington 29 May 1857, and served as the first physician
in Forest County; however, his stay here was short.
Boat Building Along the Clarion
As early as 1830, boats were being built at Port Barnett and North Fork for
the transportation of Centre County pig metal, salt and coal to markets. Anthony
and Jacob Esbaugh constructed these boats of the finest Forest County lumber.
Each gunwale was hewed out of the straightest pine trees that could be found,
vis 28 inches high at the “rake” fourteen inches at the stern, ten
inches thick, and forty feet long, two gunwales to a boat. The ties were hewed
six inches thick, with a six inch face, mortised dovetailed, and keyed into the
gunwale six feet apart. The six “streamers” for a boat were sawed
three by twelve inches, sixteen feet long, and pinned to the ties with one pin
in the middle of each streamer. These pins were made of white oak 1 1/2 inches
square and ten inches long. The plank for the “bottoms” were
constructed of first class, white pine 1 1/2 inches thick and pinned to the
streamers and gunwales with white oak pins, caulked with flax or tow. All these
early boats were built on the ground and turned by about ten men- and a gallon
of whiskey- over on a bed made of brush to keep the planks in the bottom from
springing. All boats were “sided up” with white oak studding two and a
half by five inches and six feet long. Each studding was mortised into a gunwale
two feet apart. Inside the boat a siding eighteen inches high was pinned on the
boats. These boats were sold at Broken Rock and sold again in Pittsburgh as coal
barges, for transporting coal down the Mississippi. The boats were manned by two
or three men, with the pilot always at the stern. The boats were tied with
halyards made of twisted hickory saplings. In later years the boats were built
on the Big Toby at Maple Creek, Clarington, Millstone, Wynkoop, Spring Creek,
Irvine and Ridgeway.
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(c) Forest County Pennsylvania Genealogy Project
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