Chapter 15 – Mahoning, History of Armstrong County Pennsylvania

Chapter 15

Mahoning
Township

Organized in 1851 from Territory in Madison, Pine, Wayne and Red Bank
Townships- Boundaries- First Election- Mahoning Creek Navigation Company-
The Early Settlers and First Owners of the Land Tracts- Transfers- Village
of Texas, now Oakland- Joint Stock Company- Methodist Episcopal Church-
Baptist Church- Brethren in Christ Congregation- Oakland Classical and
Normal Institute- Red Bank Cannel Coal and Iron Company- Dunkard Church-
Mahoning Furnace- Casper Nulf and Wife, Centenarians- German Reformed and
Lutheran Churches- Putneyville- Building Flatboats- Methodist Episcopal
Church- United Presbyterian Church- Firebrick Works- Population- Educational
and Other Statistics of the Township- Geology.

THE petition of divers inhabitants of Madison, Pine, Wayne and Red Bank
townships having been presented to the court of quarter sessions of this
county, December 19, 1849, praying for the erection of a new township out of
parts of the above-mentioned ones, James Stewart, William Kirkpatrick and
Joseph Lowry were, December 21, appointed viewers, to whom the usual order
was issued May 14, 1850, which was not executed. A second petition,
therefore, was presented December 17, held over March 7, and March 21, 1851,
the court appointed William Kirkpatrick, James Stewart and Archibald Glenn
viewers. Their report, favoring the granting of the prayer of the
petitioners, was presented and read June 9, and confirmed September 20,
1851, and the new township was then organized and christened Mahoning.
Omitting a tedious, formidable number of courses and distances, its
boundaries or outlines, as designated in the report of the viewers and
confirmed by the court, are: Beginning below Olney furnace, on Mahoning
creek, at the point where the new line* between Wayne and Red Bank townships
strikes the creek; thence down the Mahoning to a point opposite the mouth of
Pine run; thence by various courses and distances northwesterly to a white
oak; thence northerly along a line dividing school districts, i.e.,
sub-districts, as they then were, along the eastern boundary of Robert
Morrison’s land; thence northwesterly to the Red Bank creek, at or near the
west end of the Fort Smith tract; thence along the left bank of Red Bank
creek, around its big bend to a point opposite the mouth of Leatherwood
creek; thence southwesterly to “a school district line;” thence along that
line passing George Nulf’s improvement, “taking a section off Madison
township,” to a black oak; thence southeasterly to the Mahoning creek;
thence down the same, “taking a section off Pine township,” to a hemlock,
the corner of George Reedy’s land; thence southwesterly, northeasterly and
northwesterly to the corner of Pine and Wayne townships, as it stood before
the division; thence southeasterly to a white oak by the roadside; thence
northeasterly and southwesterly to the place of beginning, “containing about
twenty-five square miles.”

At the first township election the following officers were elected: Judge of
election, William R. Hamilton; inspectors of election, John Sheridan, John
McCauley; assessor, Samuel Ferguson; assistant assessors, John A. Colwell,
Alexander Cathcart; supervisors, William Smullin, Thomas Buzzard; township
clerk, Milton Osbein; township auditors, David Putney three years, R.C.
Williamson two years, John Sheridan one year; school directors, J.W. Powell
and J.J. Wich three years, James Stockdill and John Shoemaker two years,
James McLaw and Thomas Buzzard one year; overseers of the poor, Peter
Shoemaker and John Duff; justice of the peace, James T. Putney; constable,
Absalom Smullin.

This township was, of course, named from Mahoning creek, which skirts its
southeastern, and, with its deep bends, flows through its southern, part.
The meaning of Mahoning, as elsewhere given,** is a stream flowing from or
near a lick.

By the act of assembly, March 21, 1808, this creek was declared to be a
public highway for the passage of rafts, boats and other vessels, from its
confluence with the Allegheny river to the mouth of Canoe creek in Indiana
county. That act authorizes the inhabitants along its banks, and others
desirous of using it for navigation, to remove all natural and artificial
obstructions in it, except dams for mills and other waterworks, and to erect
slopes at the mill and other dams, which must be so constructed as not to
injure the works of such dams. Any person owning or possessing lands along
this stream has the liberty to construct dams across it, subject, however,
to the restrictions and provisions of the general act authorizing the
riparian owners to erect dams for mills on navigabel streams. William Travis
and Joseph Marshall were appointed to superintend the expenditure of $800
for the improvement of this stream, authorized by the act of March 24, 1817,
to whom an order for their services for $201 was issued by the commissioners
of this county December 23, 1818. The erection of the first bridge across it
was at a point a short distance above its mouth, on the Olean road, which
was granted to John Weld June 19, 1822, at $500. Vestiges of its southern
abutment are still visible.

By the act of assembly, April 22, 1858, the Mahoning Navigation Company was
incorporated, and Henry Brown, Stacy B. Williams, Isaac C. Jordan, Harrison
M. Coon and James E. Mitchell were appointed commissioners- for the
last-named three William Bell, Charles Kremer and Irvin Gillespie were
substituted by the supplement to that act passed April 10, 1863- who were
authorized to open books for subscription to the capital stock of the
company, and keep them open until $5,000 should be subscribed, but no
longer. The par value of each share is $10. The charter officers are one
president and four managers, who are to be elected annually. Each
stockholder has one vote for each of his shares not exceeding ten, and one
for every five shares exceeding ten. The president and managers have the
requisite power to make such by-laws and regulations not inconsistent with
the constitution and laws of the United States and of this state. Besides
the usual powers conferred upon such corporations, the special ones
conferred upon the president and managers of this company are to clean and
clear the Mahoning, Canoe, Big Run Stump, and East branch creeks from all
rocks, bars and other obstructions; to erect dams and locks, to bracket and
regulate and alter the dams that were then and to be thereafter erected in
these streams, so that no injury be done to the water power of the owners;
to control their waters by bracket or otherwise for the purpose of
navigation; to levy tolls not exceeding one and one-fourth cent for each
five miles run upon the Mahoning, and by the supplementary act of April 10,
1863, on the other above-mentioned streams, per thousand feet of boards or
other sawed stuff; one and one-fourth cent for every fifty feet, lineal
measure, of square or other timber; the same per foot of every boat passing
down these creeks, to be collected at their mouths, and at such other points
along these streams as may be necessary; and, besides various other
specified things, including the levying of tolls upon logs, viz.,
twenty-five cents per hundred logs for every five miles they are driven down
these streams, generally to do all things necessary for their safe
navigation. Any person who runs his rafts, boats, logs and other craft past
a collector’s office without paying his toll is subject to a fine of five
dollars. The tolls are liens upon the property on which they are assessed
and levied, into whosesoever hands it may come. Among other provisions is
this: Whenever the dividends arising from the tolls shall in gross equal the
amount of stock actually subscribed, clear of all expenses, and ten per
centum per annum, the tolls shall be reduced so as to be only sufficient for
the improvement of these streams.

The act of assembly, April 2, 1869, declares the Mahoning creek to be a
navigable stream and public highway for all kinds of crafts that can
navigate it, both up and down, from its mouth to the Mahoning furnace or
iron works. It also authorizes John A. Colwell to make, at his own expense,
a towing-path for horses to travel on along this stream between those two
points, for the purpose of towing boats laden with metal or merchandise.
When thus made, it is to be open for public use, free of expense or toll to
him. He has the right, on the same conditions, to improve the bed of the
creek by removing stone and widening the channel. He is to pay the owner of
the land for the right of way for the towing-path such an equivalent as may
be agreed upon between him and them, but if they cannot agree, the damages
are to be assessed by three persons “appointed by the courts,” in the same
manner as damages are assessed for lands taken for public roads in this
county; and in case of a failure to agree, the owners of land along the
route of the towing-path shall not delay the making of it, but he is
authorized to tender them a bond for the payment of such damages as may be
legally assessed, and thereupon he shall proceed to make the towing-path.

The portion of “Quito” in this township, elsewhere mentioned as conveyed by
Isaac Cruse to George Weinberg, was successively owned by William Benton,
Abraham Mohney, Rev. John G. Young, who conveyed 115 acres, April 26, 1867,
to Moses Stahlman for $2,600. Other portions of “Quito” in this township are
now owned chiefly by John A. Colwell, Elias and John Cunselman and William
Procious and Blinker & Jones, to the latter of whom and another Craig
conveyed 272 acres and 130 perches, June 2, 1874, for $12,500, excepting the
half acre on which schoolhouse No. 6 is situated. John McClelland and his
family occupied a log house on this parcel in the winter of 1845-6. On one
of the severely cold nights of that winter, the house- it was a log one-
caught fire in the upper part from, it was supposed, the chimney, which was
constructed of wooden slats and daubing of clay. The four children, sound
asleep in the loft, were consumed by the flames, which had enveloped them
before they were aware of their peril. The father and mother were not
awakened until the devouring element had nearly caught them asleep on the
first floor, from which they had barely time to escape with their lives in
their nightclothes through a window near their bed. Frederick Mohney was the
first one who discovered the fire. He hastened to it, and found Mrs.
McClelland trying to keep from freezing by walking to and fro near the
burning cabin, and her husband sitting on a log near by sadly moaning. When
asked why he moaned so, he pointed to the flames, and with heart-rending
anguish, said: “There is my all- my four boys!” The population in this
region was then sparse, but as the painful intelligence of their terrible
calamity spread, contributions of clothing, provisions and other necessaries
flowed in upon them, and thus they were made as comfortable as that
intensely afflictive bereavement would permit. They soon afterward removed
to Craigsville, in the western part of this county, where he for several
years followed his trade of miller. In 1867, he received the nomination as
republican candidate for county treasurer, but died before the election.
Samuel W. Hamilton, of Mahoning township was nominated and elected.

There is a larger area of “Lurgan” than of either “Quito” or No. 2903 in
this township. That parcel of it conveyed by Stephen B. Young to Samuel S.
Harrison and Hugh Campbell was by them conveyed, March 3, 1850, to William
Horn, who conveyed 50 acres, May 10, 1856, to Elias Cunselman for $800. A
considerable portion of the parcel conveyed by Stephen B. Young to Robert
Morrison is now owned by the latter’s son, James H., and a portion by
another son, Harvey Morrison, besides the 100 acres conveyed by Alexander
Cathcart, April 7, 1863, to D. Slade for $1,000.

The parcel containing 310 acres and 116 perches which Young conveyed to
Henry D. Foster, December 1, 1840, for $2,000, the latter conveyed to Mrs.
Elizabeth Hewett, September 6, 1843, for $3,000, who conveyed 100 acres and
50 perches thereof to her son, Robert Ferguson, June 6, 1854, for $1 and the
annual payment to her during her life of $20, and the residue she divided
between her other son, Samuel Ferguson, and her son-in-law, John Duff, or
his wife. The Fergusons settled here 1844, and Duff in 1845. The parcel, 343
acres and 108 perches, purchased by Campbell, was conveyed by him to
Alexander Colwell, June 7, 1849, for $1,000, which was devised to and is
retained by his daughter, Mrs. Harriet H. Calhoun.

Of the parcel contiguous to “Lurgan” on the south, No. 2903, William
Hamilton conveyed 117 acres and 19 perches to Alexander Colwell, May 19,
1843, for $110, which he also devised to Mrs. Calhoun. William R. Hamilton
conveyed 225 acres and 142 perches to John A. Colwell & Co., February 2,
1854, for $1,000, the other portions remaining as noticed in the sketch of
Red Bank township.

Another parcel of it became vested in Thomas McConnell, who conveyed
one-half of it to James E. Brown, so that they are its present joint owners.
Camp run, formed by tributaries from the northeast and northwest, traverses
this tract and empties into the Mahoning creek at the foot of the deep bend
northeast from Putneyville. It is so named from an Indian camp that existed
on the bottom between the mouth of this run and that of Little Mud Lick,
before and for a short time after the beginning of this century. Some of the
early white settlers, Robert Cathcart and others, used to state that some of
the Indians who occupied that camp were still there after they came here.
About 125 rods east of the junction of these tributaries to Camp run is a
subterranean burnt district, containing about three acres, judging from the
red color of the surface above it. The roof of the cavity, caused by the
burning of the coal, appears to be two or three feet thick, as it extends
under the hill. The roof appears to have been slate, fireclay and other
matter, as appears from cemented portions of it. At least some of the coal
is of two kinds- block coal, an analysis of which is elsewhere given, and
bituminous, closely united without slate or any other matter between them-
the former about eleven and the latter four feet thick The depth of the
ashes on the floor or at the bottom of the cavity is from three to four
feet. Their color is similar to that of lime. The block coal is very easily
ignited, and the subterranean ignition in this instance may have originated
from some fire kindled by the Indians who occupied that camp. The trees on
the surface appear to have grown up since the extinguishment of the
subterranean fire. One of them, near the opening, is about eighteen inches
in diameter.

The earliest permanent white settlers on 2903 were William R. Hamilton and
John Kuhn. It is still sparsely inhabited.

Adjoining “Lurgan” on the west was the upper or northeastern portion of a
large vacant tract, in the northern part of which, as Lawson & Orr’s map of
original tracts indicates, Jacob Hettrick settled as early as 1808, for he
was assess ed that year with 50 acres at $37- his kind of title being
“improvement.” Next south of that parcel was the one occupied under an
“improvement” right by Robert Cathcart, who must have settled on it in or
before 1805, as he was first assessed in 1806 with 330 acres, one horse and
three cattle, at $320. His two-story red house, the first frame one in this
section, was for many years one among the few for several miles around. The
commissioners of this county granted him an order, March 20, 1810, for $16
for killing two panthers. Before his death- June 4, 1846- which occurred in
the fore part of August, 1847, he had agreed to sell 51 acres and 31 perches
of his land to John A. Colwell & Co., which his executors conveyed to them,
March 23, 1849, for $255. They also conveyed 15 acres to his son, Alexander
Cathcart, March 19, 1851, for $225, in pursuance of an agreement made in
that decedent’s lifetime. The rest of his estate, real, personal and
“merchandise,” he devised and bequeathed to his children.

Contiguous to the above-mentioned parcels of that vacant land on the west,
including the one covered by Alexander Cathcart’s warrant, was another one,
on which John Moorehead, who came from Franklin county, Pennsylvania,
settled, probably in 1807, was first assessed with 100 acres, “improvement,”
two horses and two cattle, at $88, in 1808, and was somewhat notable in
those early times as a moneyed man. He obtained a warrant, No. 6029, for 438
acres and 47 perches, March 20, 1811, which, mainly, by his will, registered
March 19, 1839, he devised to his sons Isaac and Joseph, to be divided by
them “according to the division made by Robert Richards,” which they did by
conveyances to each other, February 5, 1848, the patent for the same having
been granted to them, June 30, 1844. Isaac took the eastern purpart,
containing 194 acres and 117 perches, and Joseph the western, 239 acres and
44 perches, Several town lots were laid out on each side of the Anderson
Creek road in the southern part of Joseph’s purpart, surveyed by J.E.
Meredith probably in February, 1848. Joseph Moorehead conveyed 176 acres of
the southern portion of his purpart along the northwestern side of the
Anderson Creek road, to William R. Hamilton, March 14, 1854, for $3,000, who
laid out a number of lots, surveyed by John Steele, consisting of a part of
the town of Texas, now Oakland, within the limits of which there were a very
few residents in 1848. The assessment list of Red Bank township for 1850
shows that this town or village then contained eight taxables, including one
stonemason and one bricklayer, and a total valuation of real and personal
property and occupations amounting to $772. All of the Hamilton lots are on
the northwestern side of the Main street, as the Anderson Creek road is here
called, between the Brethren in Christ Church and the eastern line of the
Lamberson land, about eleven rods east of the road which intersects Main
street and extends thence northwesterly across Red Bank creek, about 350
rods below the point where the Rockport road crosses it. The lots west of
that road were laid out on Isaac Lamberson’s land, and those on the
southeastern side of that street and east of that road are parcels of the
Joseph Moorehead purpart.

For the purpose of showing the general value of these town lots, the
following conveyances are here given, as found in the public records: Wm. R.
Hamilton to Jane Hettrich, May 7, 1858, lots Nos. 7 and 8 for $90; to Mary
Reese, March 4, 1859, lot No. 5,$68.33; to Mahoning school district, same
day, lot No. 10, for $40, on which the present frame, painted schoolhouse
was erected; to Christian Reesman, April 1, 1861, lot No. 2, $50; to Lewis
W. Corbett, December 12, 1864, lots Nos. 6, 7, 10, $145. Lot No. 1 appears
to have been purchased by Henry Musser, and by sheriff’s sale and other
transfers became vested in Hamilton, Shoemaker & Co., who conveyed it to
Joseph T. Shoemaker, June 19, 1863, for $25. On this lot was located the
storehouse of the Joint Stock Company of Oakland, or the Oakland Company
trading store. The organization of this company was effected in the summer
of 1856, and it went into operation under a constitution signed by John
Steel, Samuel Ferguson, John Shoemaker and William R. Hamilton, September 26
of the last-mentioned year, and was recorded in the recorder’s office of
this county, March 10, 1858. Forty-seven persons, five of whom were females,
became stockholders, their respective number of shares varying from one to
six, amounting to $5,200. The constitution contained stringent and
prudential provisions for starting and managing the business of this
company, which was not to be dissolved before 1862. A joint stock store was
opened and supervised by three directors, prudent, conscientious men, chosen
by the stockholders. Its business, however, after a continuance of several
years, was not a financial success, and in winding it up there was incipient
litigation, which was finally checked.

Plots of the Lamberson lots were made by Jonathan E. Meredith in February,
1848, and March, 1849, and another one by David Putney, March 19, 1868. Some
of them were sold thus: To Joseph W. Moorehead, May 17, 1869, 19,200 square
feet of lots 13 and 14, for $205, and 5,152 square feet of lot 14, April 26,
1871, for $52; to P.W. Shoemaker, April 28, 1875, the portion added to lot
9, for $158. Lamberson conveyed 2,970 square feet on the south side of Main
street and about fifteen rods nearly west from the angle in this street, to
the trustees of the Methodist Episcopal church of Oakland, September 19,
1874, for $10, on which, in that year, was erected the present church
edifice, frame, 30×40 feet, one story, fifteen feet. The writer has not
ascertained when this church was organized. It is without regular
classleaders, and enjoys preaching, generally, only once in two weeks. The
old Oakland schoolhouse, frame, unpainted, was situated northwesterly from
this lot, on the opposite side of the Anderson creek road.

The lots on the southeastern side of Main street were surveyed by Jonathan
E. Meredith probably in 1848-9, and belonged originally to the Joseph
Moorehead purpart (except the one owned by David Jones), which, or a
considerable portion of which, appear by recitals in some of the conveyances
to have been purchased of Moorehead by D. and J. Baughman. As a number of
those conveyances are not recorded, so full a statement of the prices for
which these lots were sold as is desirable cannot be here given. The one now
occupied by Dr. W.S. Hosack, containing about one-quarter of an acre,
appears to have been owned by Stephen Norris, which was conveyed by Sheriff
Kelly to Wm. R. Hamilton, June 3, 1857, for $30, by whom it was conveyed to
Samuel McGary, May 10, 1858, for $92, who, the same day, conveyed it to
James A. Truitt for $274.50. Adjoining the road from Mahoning furnace on the
east was a parcel containing 2 acres and 55 perches, consisting partly of
the George Nulf tract, which, with other contiguous land, became vested in
Samuel Copenhauer, who conveyed to John Carson, and he to John and James
Murphy. They conveyed these 2 acres and 55 perches to Mary Reece, March 27,
1855, for $275, of which she conveyed 1 acre and 32 perches to Joseph T.
Shoemaker, February 2, 1874, for $65. George C. Nulf conveyed 85 perches to
Mrs. Reece March 25, 1857, for $35. Along both sides of the road from
Mahoning furnace and along the southeastern side of Main street, contiguous
in part to the Norris lot, was a parcel containing 12 acres and 138 perches,
the northern part of which Moorehead conveyed to Joseph Baughman, and Nulf
the southern part to Samuel Copenhauer; the Moorehead and Nulf portions
having thus became vested in Copenhauer, he conveyed the entire parcel,
February 12, 1848, to John Carson, and he to Joseph W. Powell, March 8;
Powell to George C. Nulf, December 8, 1852; Nulf to George Reesman, January
21, 1859; Reesman to John McCauley, November 18, and McCauley to James A.
Truitt, January 30, 1860, for $420, on which Truitt, resides, and where he
has had his store and kept the Oakland postoffice for several years, he
having been the deputy and, the postmaster since about 1848. This office was
established in 1841, and was kept elsewhere until about 1846. George Nulf
kept a hotel on this parcel from about 1847 until the building thus occupied
was burned in
18-. Truitt started his tannery about 50 rods south of Main street, on the
eastern side of the road from Mahoning furnace, on this parcel in 1860. The
present church edifice of the Baptist Congregation, frame, 36×56 feet, two
stories, the first twelve and the second sixteen feet in the clear, which
cost $5,000, was erected on this parcel in 1874, adjacent to which is the
parsonage.*** This church was organized April 10, 1837, by Rev. Thomas
Wilson, and worshiped elsewhere until the completion of this edifice. It was
incorporated by the court of common pleas of this county September 13, 1876,
its corporate name being the “Red Bank Baptist Church of Oakland.” The
number of its members is sixty, and of Sabbath-school scholars seventy-five.
A union Sabbath school, with different officers, which most of the scholars
of the Baptist school attend, is held, at a different hour, in this edifice,
except in the winter. Lot No. 1 was conveyed by John Heighhold, who
purchased it at sheriff’s sale, to Mary Reece October 3, 1856, for $75, and
the lot now owned by Julia Taylor, contiguous to the church lot, was
conveyed to her by Truitt, November 23, 1867, for $75.

The Brethren in Christ congregation have a church edifice at the
northeastern extremity of this village, on Peter Shoemaker’s land, frame,
31×41 feet, one story. It formerly belonged to the Methodist congregation,
and was erected in 1844 on that part of the Bryan lands conveyed to William
Smullin, and was purchased by Peter Shoemaker in 1872, taken down, removed
to its present site, and reconstructed just as it was before its removal.
This church was organized prior to 1846, and worshiped elsewhere until the
present edifice was provided. It has been so carefully fostered by Peter
Shoemaker and some of his kindred that it has frequently been called
“Shoemaker’s church.” Its membership is 67, but is at present without a
resident minister.

The educational facilities of this village have been thus far those afforded
by the public school.(4*)

Dr. W.S. Hosack is the first resident physician of Oakland. He settled here
in 1874. The second one is Dr. P.W. Shoemaker, who settled here in 1875.

The separate assessment list of Oakland for 1876 shows its number of
taxables to be 55; laborers, 26; carpenters, 7; single men, 3; merchants, 2;
physicians, 2; shoemaker, 1; plasterer, 1; schoolteacher, 1; farmer, 1;
artist, 1; pauper, 1; landlord, 1. Before the completion of the Allegheny
Valley and Low Grade railroads, when the travel and hauling of freight along
this route were considerable, there were two hotels, which were reasonably
well patronized.

Adjoining the Isaac Moorehead purpart of the John Moorehead tract on the
east was another part of the vacant land which was covered by the warrant to
Alexander Cathcart, dated February 22, to whom the patent was granted May
29, 1836. No important transfers of any of this tract occurred until January
15, 1870, when Cathcart’s two parcels (including the one conveyed to him by
his father’s executors), aggregating 399 acres and 96 perches (exclusive of
the “Gumbert lot,” which had been previously conveyed to James E. Brown), to
James H. Mayo for $14,095. On the same day Jacob Anthony conveyed to Mayo 50
acres and 32 1/2 perches, part of the Isaac Moorehead purpart, and 50 acres
conveyed to him by Philip Shoemaker, guardian of the minor children of Jos.
Shoemaker, for $3,000; and Philip Shoemaker to same 50 acres and 32 perches,
which he had purchased from Alexander Colwell, and 35 acres, which he had
purchased at sheriff’s sale for $3,400. Mayo purchased these lands for the
Red Bank Cannel Coal & Iron Company, of which he was a member. This company
commenced operations in six or seven weeks after those purchases were made,
but little was done, except to prepare for shipping their coal, when
railroad facilities should be afforded. It was incorporated in accordance
with the general act of assembly, passed April 21, 1854, to enable joint
owners, tenants in common, and adjoining owners of mineral lands to manage
and develop the mineral resources in their lands. The charter members were
Chester Snow, of Harwick; Jonathan Higgins, Orleans; J.K. Butler, Dennisport;
Francis Childs, Charlestown; Charles B. Lane, Boston; George W. Lobdell,
Mettapoisett, Massachusetts; and James H. Mayo, Ridgeway, Pennsylvania.
Their certificate or application for a charter set forth, among other
things, the objects of the company to be, the developing of their lands, and
the mining, preparing for and the carrying to market of the coal, iron,
fire-clay and other minerals and mineral products which might be found in
and under their lands; to construct roads, railroads on their lands; to
erect dwelling-houses and other necessary buildings; to introduce all
necessary machinery for raising, preparing their minerals for and removing
them to market, and to make all other improvements preparatory to leasing
their lands; that their land was divided into 5,000 shares, the par value of
each $100; and that each of the above-mentioned members owned 625 shares. F.
Carroll Brewster, then the attorney-general of this state, having examined
and considered their certificate or application, certified, January 24,
1871, that it was properly drawn and signed, and the same was duly recorded,
February 14, in Deed Book No. 39, page 221, in the recorder’s office of this
county.

The writer has ascertained these additional facts from a communication of
A.S.R. Richards, one of the company’s clerks: “This company now owns nearly
2,000 acres of land in fee simple, most of which is well adapted to
agriculture, affording all the feed necessary for their stock and a surplus
for sale. The local name of the colliery, which is a mile and a quarter in
an airline northeast of Oakland, is ‘Bostonia.’ The first shipment of their
coal east was in June, 1873, just after the opening of the Low Grade
division of the Allegheny Valley Railroad. There are five workable veins of
coal on this company’s property- an excellent gas coal known as the Red Bank
‘Orrel,’ which is extensively mined, and shipped to gas companies in
Northern and Eastern New York, northern part of this state, to Canada and
elsewhere. Veins 2, 3, 4 have not yet been worked; vein 5 is cannel, the
largest in the United States, and which is claimed to be superior to the
Scotch and but little inferior to the English cannel, large quantities of
which are shipped to Boston, Philadelphia and New York, Pittsburgh, Chicago,
Michigan and Canada, where it is used as fuel in grates and stoves in
dwelling-houses and to gas companies within a radius of 500 miles, by which
it is used as an ‘enricher.’ The company’s extensive deposits of iron ore,
limestone and other minerals remain as yet comparatively intact, awaiting
their demand hereafter for manufacturing purposes in their native territory.
When the vein of coal already opened is worked to its full capacity, the
daily shipments from it reach 250 tons, requiring the services of sixty
miners, three inside and two outside drivers, two inside and four outside
laborers, one blacksmith, one engineer, one weighmaster, one stableman, one
inside foreman, one clerk and one manager, in all about seventy eight
employés on an average, but sometimes numbering 125. All the employés are
paid in full on or about the 15th of each month, each monthly disbursement
amounting to about $5,000; the colliery is equipped with a locomotive;
numerous pit-cars, a large blacksmith and car shop, all the tools necessary
for the prosecution of an extensive business; pockets, screens and other
appliances to prepare the coal for the varied demands of the market.
Connected with these works are about five miles of a track of T iron rail;
their capacity is equal to a daily production of 350 tons of coal, and
twenty-eight neat and comfortable cottages have been erected for the
employés, which are provided with all the modern conveniences, the
circumjacent grounds of which are tastefully laid out and beautifully
adorned with flowers, shrubbery and fruit-trees. The general depression of
business has caused a considerable reduction of the quantity of coal mined
at and shipped from this colliery, and all connected with it are eagerly
waiting for a general revival of business and consequent increase of the
demand for the immense products which this colliery is capable of yielding.

In the assessment list of Mahoning township for 1876 is a separate one for
this colliery, or cannel coal works, showing this company to be assessed
with 1,019 acres of land at $20,980, and with personal property, $550; the
number of taxables, 26, and their personal property and occupations,
$1,741.50. The 26 taxables are of course that portion of the employés
residing at the colliery. The total valuation of the company’s and the
employés’ property and occupations is $23,271.50.

James Parker appears to have settled contemporaneously with Robert Cathcart
(in 1805) on a portion of this vacant land, probably adjacent to the
southern line of the latter’s tract, with 400 acres of which, and two horses
and one cow, $335, he appears to have been assessed in 1806. His name
appears for the last time on the Red Bank list in 1810, with the same
quantity of land, and with one horse and one cow, $306. He and Cathcart
occasionally went out together on hunting expeditions, and it may have been
on one of these that the latter killed the panthers above mentioned. It used
to be related by John Millison, who was an early settler in another part of
what is now this township, that on a certain occasion Parker went to a point
on the Mahoning, called in those times the “Fish-Basket,” to obtain some
fish. He hitched his mare on the bank or bluff above the creek, which was
captured by an Indian while he was getting his fish. When Parker discovered
his loss, he made immediate pursuit, recaptured his mare, and remarked:
“That young Indian will never steal another horse.” That was probably in
1807, as Parker was thereafter assessed with only one horse.

The name of Stofel Reighard appears on the map of original tracts as
occupying at least a part of the land which Parker to have abandoned. His
name is on the Red Bank tax list only for the year 1822, when he was
assessed with 206 acres. Edward Blakeley settled on the southeastern part of
this large tract of vacant land in 1806. He was first assessed in Red Bank
township for the next year with 200 acres, “improvement,” two horses and two
cattle, at $140, and Robert Blakeney with 100 acres, “improvement,” and one
horse, for 1808, at $58. Both of those parcels appear to have been covered
by a warrant to Mrs. Catherine Blakeney in February, 1836. By her will,
registered August 1, 1837, she devised the northern part, or “end” as she
designates it, on which she and her youngest son, Robert, had resided before
her death, to him, and the remainder south of a division line from east to
west, to her son James, and her daughters Jane, wife of Jacob Nulf, and
Margaret, wife of Samuel Buzzard. The southwestern portion of this southern
purpart is skirted by the northern half of the deep northeastern bend in the
Mahoning. The northern purpart contained, according to J.E. Meredith’s
survey, 130 acres and allowance, and the southern one 190 acres and 94
perches. James Blakeney and his sisters conveyed 158 acres and 80 perches of
their purpart to Charles Johnston, September 16, 1835, for $300; Johnston,
60 acres and allowance to Christian Shunk, June 29, 1846, for $240; Shunk to
A. and J.A. Colwell, 63 1/2 acres, April 11, 1848, for $700, of which they
conveyed 10 acres and 105 perches to Joseph Shoemaker, December 30, 1856,
for $85.25. Johnston conveyed 131 acres to Philip Shoemaker, October 14,
1854, for $850, of which the latter conveyed 7 acres and 27 perches to
Joseph Shoemaker, March 5, 1857, for $28.67. Philip Shoemaker also
purchased- the records do not show either when or for what amount- Robert
Blakeney’s purpart, a part of which, along “the road leading from Nulf’s old
fording to McKallip’s mill,” he conveyed to James and Eli Simmers, July 23,
1855, in 67 acres and 21 perches of which John Shobert had, in 1844, an
interest, of which he was divested by sheriff’s sale, and of which Jeremiah
Bonner became the purchaser for $350, and which he conveyed to Peter George,
March 10, 1845, for $400. It is described as lying “along the Hogback road,”
and adjoining land of George Nulf on the west. One acre and four perches of
it was sold by James Simmers to Hannah Simmers, September 6, 1856, for $62.

Philip Shoemaker settled on that parcel of these vacant lands north of
Blakeney’s, probably in 1814, for he was first assessed on the list of Red
Bank township the next year, with 400 acres- perhaps the same that had been
occupied by James Parker- and two horses, at $400. His cousin, Peter
Shoemaker, who, it is said, was his favorite kinsman, settled on the western
portion of that parcel probably in 1824. He was first assessed in 1825 on
the last-mentioned list with 200 acres and one horse at $421. He was a
prominent and active member of the Brethren in Christ church, which seceded
from the German Baptist, or Dunkard church, of which his brother George was
for many years the pastor. A church edifice, brick, about forty feet square,
was erected on his land, about 235 rods east of Oakland, in 1846, and was
completed in the autumn of 1847. In 1872 the edifice heretofore mentioned,
at the northeastern extremity of Oakland, was substituted for this one,
which has since been converted into a dwelling-house. Fifty rods north of
this brick building is an acre of ground which Philip and Peter Shoemaker
conveyed to Alexander Cathcart, Jacob Anthony and William Smullin and their
successors, “including a house sometimes occupied as a schoolhouse,”
“intended as a public burying-ground,” February 27, 1840, for $5. It is a
part of the land included in the patent to Philip Shoemaker, dated May 25,
1827, and in the purpart which he had conveyed to Peter, June 17, 1824.

Another portion of these vacant lands lay south of Joseph Moorehead’s, west
of the Blakeneys’ purparts, on which George Nulf settled, probably, in 1821,
when he was assessed with two oxen and one cow at $38; in 1824, with 160
acres; in 1826, with 100 acres, “improvement;” in 1826, with 100 acres,
“Mahoning,” i.e., on the Mahoning. He obtained a warrant, dated June 12,
1837, on which a patent for 208 acres and 48 perches was granted to John
Gebhart, April 11, 1838, for $4.84, the upper or northern part of which was
included in the above-mentioned conveyance of Nulf to Copenhauer, and which
is now owned by Truitt. Nulf conveyed 111 acres of it to Wm. McMillen, March
6, 1848, for $950. John Thorn obtained a warrant for 100 acres of these
vacant lands March 6, 1827, and the patent August 7, 1828, 24 acres and 70
perches of which are south and east of the Colwell and Shunk warrant for 33
acres, and north of the Mahoning, and the rest in the northern part of the
eastern bend of this creek, which he conveyed to Yost Smith January 25,
1831, for $280, and which the latter’s widow and heirs conveyed to Colwell
and Shunk September 29, 1845, for $1,300.

A small tract of 33 acres and allowance in the southwestern part of these
vacant lands, west of the southern purpart of the Blakeney and west of the
Thorn-Smith tract, was left vacant after George Nulf had acquired title to
his tract, for which a warrant was granted to John A. Colwell and Christian
Shunk, April 3, 1845, and which was thereon surveyed to them May 1, by J.E.
Meredith, special deputy surveyor. The patent was granted to John A. Colwell
March 11, 1847. A narrow strip of it extends across the Mahoning to the
northern line of “Pleasant Valley.” In the northeastern acute angle formed
by the eastern line of this narrow strip and the left bank of the creek, on
the southeastern side of the creek, is the site of the Mahoning Furnace,
which was erected by Alexander and John A. Colwell in the summer of 1845. It
was a steam, cold-blast, charcoal furnace until 1860, when its fuel was
changed to coke. It is ten feet across the bosh by thirty-three feet high,
and made in forty-six weeks, in 1856, 4,796 tons of forge metal out of hard
blue carbonate, lying on a limestone bed in the coal measures, 100 feet
above water level, within the distance of a mile from the stack. Its annual
average production has been about 2,000 tons, and the number of employés
100. The metal is transported in flatboats down the Mahoning creek and
Allegheny river, some to Kittanning, but most of it to Pittsburgh. John A.
Colwell purchased Shunk’s and his wife’s interest in this tract and the
adjoining Thorn-Smith one, both containing 133 acres, March 2, 1846, for
$8,000, and in the 63 1/2 acres of the southern purpart of the Blakeney
tract, as above mentioned, April 11, 1848, for $700, those parcels
constituting but a small portion of the aggregate quantity of land in this
vicinity belonging to the furnace property. The only dwelling-houses within
convenient distance when the erection of the furnace was begun were the log
one, built by Adam Nulf many years ago, on the opposite side of the creek,
and another log one on this side. The latter was used for some time as a
boarding-house for the large number of men employed in that erection. The
present number of buildings on both sides of the creek is twenty, besides
the schoolhouse, built in 1855-6, and used for church purposes, sawmill,
coal and coke yards, and 150 rods of rail, or tramway. The partnership in
this furnace business between Alexander and John A. Colwell was dissolved by
the death of the former in 1868, and since then it has been controlled by
the latter. The bridge across the Mahoning at this point was erected in
1847-8 by the furnace company; also the second superstructure. It was
afterward declared a county bridge, and the present superstructure was
erected at the joint expense of the county and the owners of the furnace.

There was still another parcel, a small one, of these vacant lands south of
Nulf’s, covered by a warrant to Shunk, which became a part of the Furnace
property.

Contiguous to those vacant lands on the east and southeast was a
considerable body of the Bryan lands, for which Arthur Bryan obtained a
warrant dated October 20, 1786, which he, in October, 1787, conveyed to
George Bryan, and of which, among other lands, the act of assembly, March
17, 1820, as stated in the sketch of Cowanshannock township, authorized
partition to be made among the latter’s heirs, by Robert Orr, Jr., of this
county, Thomas Smith and Joseph Spangler, of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
Within a month after the passage of that act the partition was made, and the
instrument evidencing it is dated April 20, and which was recorded May 8, of
the same year. It and the accompanying diagram show this tract to have been
thus divided into three purparts, each containing 363 acres and 120 perches.
The northeastern one, No. 3, was allotted to Francis Bryan, of Albany, New
York; the western and central one, No. 2, to George Bryan, of Lancaster,
Pennsylvania, and the southern one, No. 1, to Mary Bryan, probably of
Philadelphia. Francis Bryan, by Robert Orr, his attorney-in-fact, conveyed
his entire purpart to William Smullin, April 3, 1835, for $1,455, to which
he removed about that time, where he has ever since since resided, most of
which has been retained by him, and on which substantial improvements have
been made. One of the township schoolhouses, erected many years ago, is at
the cross-roads near his homestead, a few rods south of which is the site of
a camp-ground where the Methodist denomination of the circumjacent region
formerly held their camp-meetings. About 1843-4 the frame church edifice was
erected near that site, which was subsequently removed to Oakland by Peter
Shoemaker, and which was the only one used by the Methodists in this
township for a period of eight years. Smullin conveyed 103 acres and 115
perches to Henry R. Hamilton, March 13, 1839; he to William Hamilton,
January 12, 1841; and he to Wm. R. Hamilton, April 21, 1843, for $1,237.42,
on which he resides and where he has established his homestead and made
valuable improvements. He purchased from Smullen 12 acres and 113 perches,
February 12, 1846, for $131.25.

An Indian path in old times extended from the run near Wm. R. Hamilton’s
house across the Mahoning about forty rods above the mill at Putneyville to
the vicinity of Olney Furnace, where it forked- one branch extending to
Punxsutawney, and the other via Dayton, and across the north branch of Plum
creek near Plumville, Indiana county.

George Bryan conveyed his entire purpart to John Smullin, May 16, 1838, for
$2,200; he conveyed 265 acres to Samuel Hamilton, April 1, 1845, for $1,584,
who devised the same to John J. Hamilton, and he to Joseph K. Hamilton, the
present owner, April 16, 1855, for $5,000.

Mary Bryan, to whom the southern purpart, No. 1, was allotted, married
Thomas Park. After his death she conveyed this entire purpart to George T.
Bryan and John McCarter, the latter of Charleston, South Carolina, in trust
for Sarah, wife of Jonathan Bryan, which they conveyed to Alexander Colwell,
February 17, 1848, for $1,818.75, 100 acres of which he conveyed to Joseph
Shoemaker, April 5, 1850, for $800. Other portions of it have not been much,
if at all, cultivated. At the northern bend of the Mahoning in the southern
part of it was the “Fish-Basket,” heretofore mentioned, which was a
favorable point for catching fish, and to which the early white settlers and
Indians in this region resorted for that purpose. In 1865 a well was drilled
here for oil to the depth of 800 or 900 feet, and then abandoned. A large
deposit of very strong salt water was found, a few buckets of which having
been boiled yielded a large percentage of salt.

In the southern part of what is now this township, including what has from
early times been called “the Cove,” “the Big Cove,” “the Mahoning Cove,”
west of the two deep bends, crossed by a line extending due south from a
point about 60 rods east of the mouth of Long Run, on the Red Bank to and
across the Mahoning, and east of that part of the Mahoning which is the
southern part of the western boundary line between this and Madison
township, lay three contiguous tracts, the easternmost one of which, called
“Pleasant Valley,” was covered by warrant No. 5172, 660 acres, granted to
Isaac Anderson February 15, 1794; the central one, called “Curiosity,” was
covered by warrant No. 453, 413 acres, granted to Jeremiah Murry May 17,
1785, and the western one, called “Isaac’s Choice,” covered by warrant No.
3833, 220 acres, granted to Isaac Anderson April 27, 1793. Murry conveyed
No. 453 to Anderson December 13, 1790, and Anderson conveyed all these three
tracts, February 4, 1795, to George Roberts, of Philadelphia, to whom the
patents were granted February 10. The aggregate number of acres in the three
tracts was 1,293, which, in 1807, were assessed at $646.50. “Curiosity” was
seated by Jacob Anthony in 1816, and John Edwards was assessed with 125
acres of it, one horse and one cow, in 1818, at $88. “Isaac’s Choice” by
Philip Anthony in 1817, and “Pleasant Valley” in 1818. There was, however, a
sale by Roberts’ heirs of 43 acres and 141 perches of “Pleasant Valley” to
Jacob Nulf December 23, 1806- probably a mistake either in the deed or the
record, as the deed was acknowledged December 24, 1836- for $88. That parcel
is described in the deed as adjoining lands of John Shoemaker, Alexander and
John White, and “the meeting-house lot.” It does not appear from any of the
tax or assessment lists that either Nulf or any of his adjoiners resided
here when that conveyance was made. Thomas Blair, it may be remarked in
passing, offered these three tracts for sale by advertisement in the
Kittanning Gazette March 22, 1826. Roberts’ heirs conveyed 15 acres and 78
perches of “Pleasant Valley” to Nulf, April 30, 1832, for $31, which, with
an additional quantity subsequently purchased by him, aggregating 220 acres,
he agreed to sell to Christian Shunk, November 27, 1844, for $3,000, which
the latter agreed to sell to John A. Colwell, March 2, 1846. Nulf having
died without executing a deed to Shunk or Colwell, by virtue of a decree of
the proper court for the specific performance of the contract between Nulf
and Shunk, James Galbraith, Nulf’s administrator, conveyed these 220 acres
to Colwell on the payment of $905, the unpaid balance of the purchase money.
This “meeting-house lot” contains five acres of “Pleasant Valley.” It was
conveyed by Roberts’ heirs November 21, 1832, for $10, to John White and
John Shoemaker, who agreed and declared, December 16, 1834, that they and
their executors and administrators should hold, possess and be interested in
these five acres and all their appurtenances, and “the buildings erected and
to be erected thereon,” in trust for the persons resident in the vicinity
thereof, for the purposes of a public burying-ground, the erection thereon
of meeting-houses, schoolhouses, and other buildings for public use. They
also agreed that upon a written request of two-thirds of the male citizens
residing within five miles of this lot being presented to them, their heirs
and legal representatives, they would duly convey their trust to such
trustees as should be selected by those persons, who should hold the same in
trust for those purposes in the same manner as they then held them, subject
to such modifications as two-thirds of such citizens might deem best
calculated to effect the design of the trust. A log church edifice was
erected thereon perhaps in 1812 or 1813, for Philip Mechling remembers
having passed it one summer-day when a meeting of some kind was being held
in it, and having noticed the people within looking at him through the open
spaces between the logs, which had not then been filled with clay or mortar.
The house then had the appearance of having been built several years. He is
not certain whether he was then riding as constable or sheriff. If as the
former, it was in 1815, but if as the latter, it was in 1817-18. That
edifice was used for church purposes by different denominations, and for a
schoolhouse for several years after the furnace went into operation. Some
portions of it still remain. This “meeting-house lot” is situated at an
angle on the eastern side of the “Hogback road,” and is designated “Cem.” on
the township map, being about 130 rods south of Mahoning Furnace. Rev. B.B.
Killikelly preached in that house occasionally.

Roberts’ heirs conveyed other parcels thus: 103 acres and 41 perches of
“Pleasant Valley” to John and Alexander White, September 1, 1830, for $303,
for which they were first assessed in 1831; 91 acres and 60 perches, partly
of “Curiosity,” to Michael Hollobough, November 1, 1830, for $182.70; 186
acres, wholly of “Pleasant Valley,” to John Nulf, April 21, 1838, for $314;
58 acres, parts of “Pleasant Valley” and “Curiosity,” to Adam Nulf, November
1, 1830, for $116.40; 100 acres, parts of “Curiosity” and “Isaac’s Choice,”
to John Martin, November 1, 1830, for $200; 112 acres, parts of the
last-mentioned tracts, to Jacob B. Hettrick, September 4, 1828, for $225; 51
acres of “Curiosity” to George Stewart, June 17, 1837, for $115.50; 68 acres
and 29 perches of “Isaac’s Choice” to Philip Anthony, June 18, 1837, for
$160. In the southwestern part of this township is a portion of the Robert
Morris tract, No. 4528, noticed in the sketch of Pine township, 235 acres
and 80 perches of which Robert Orr conveyed to George Reedy, August 28,
1847, for $824, now owned in part at least by James Roberts. All the rest of
what is now Mahoning township, besides those three tracts, and the
northwestern corner of the S. Wallis tract, No. 4128, was covered by
warrants of the Holland Land Company. Adjoining “Curiosity” and “Pleasant
Valley” on the north, was that company’s tract No. 317, warrant No. 2880,
the southeastern part of which, consisting of allotment 6 and part of
allotment 4, became vested in Adam Nulf, on the right bank of the Mahoning,
in the southeastern part of which he settled. The log house in which he
lived is still there, and is said to have been built in 1799 or 1800. He
must have planted an orchard soon after his settlement, for it contained the
oldest trees and the largest number of them in this section of the country.
If he settled here as early as above indicated, he must have escaped the
assessor’s notice for several years, for his name is not found on any tax
list until that of Red Bank township for 1809, when he was assessed with 50
acres, improvement, and one horse, at $190. He died intestate, and his heirs
entered into an agreement, November 14, 1837 (his widow having previously
died), for an amicable partition of the lands which he had left, consisting
of about 215 acres, nearly all of which was then in Red Bank township,
which, except the 15 acres on the left bank of the Mahoning, then in Wayne
township, which their father had agreed to sell to Jacob Nulf, on which
about 40 acres were then cleared, and on which there were a house, stable
and the above-mentioned orchard, which they finally agreed to sell to the
highest and best bidder on the first Monday of April, 1838. They, however,
did not thus sell their land, but subsequently conveyed them to the Colwells,
so that they are now included in the Furnace property.

In the eastern part of the broad, deep bend in the Mahoning in the
southeastern part of this township, opposite Eddyville, is a portion of the
Holland land, covered by warrant No. 3150, the patent for which is dated
July 21, 1836, in the southeastern portion of which is the Smith burying
ground, quite an old one, which is somewhat overgrown with weeds and bushes,
in which are the graves of Gasper or Casper Nulf, Sr., and his wife. They
had formerly resided on another Holland tract on the north side of the Red
Bank. The assessment list of 1817 shows that he had “moved away” – that is,
he had the year before removed thence, where he had resided since 1808, when
he was first assessed there with 100 acres, two horses and one cow at $51.
He was first assessed on the Plum Creek township tax list for 1817, when the
territory within this bend was in that township. His and his wife’s deaths
were noticed in the Kittanning Gazette thus: “Died, February 1, 1837, Casper
Nulf, aged one hundred and six years, and on November 11, 1836, Phebe, his
wife, aged one hundred and three years. They had lived together more than
eighty years, and were the parents of eighteen children. Their descendants
are believed to number 300. They had supported themselves by their own
industry until within three years of their deaths.”

George Smith, almost a centenarian, who was employed as rodman, axman or
chain-carrier in the surveys of the Holland lands many years ago, was an
early settler on this tract, in this part of what is now this township, of
which Willink & Co. conveyed to him 105 acres, September 17, 1839, for $275.

There may have been some other cotemporaneous early settlers on it besides
those above mentioned. The later settlers appear from the following
conveyances: Willink & Co. to Andrew Foreman, who had settled on it in 1830,
105 acres in the northeastern part of the bend, January 9, 1839, for $250,
and he to Reuben Huffman, March 14, 102 acres and 32 perches thereof for
$900; Willink & Co. to John Doverspike, March 12, 1840, 121 acres and 120
perches for $303.

The German Reformed and Lutheran churches were organized in this bend.
Services were held by clergymen of both these denominations in George
Smith’s house, in an old log schoolhouse and elsewhere until 1873, when the
present neat and substantial frame edifice, 40×40 feet, was completed, in
which there has been regular preaching, alternately, by clergymen of both
these denominations.

This Le Roy & Co. tract and warrant No. 3119 were laid over the southern
part of an earlier one to Charles Campbell. It was not known for many years
just where the latter was laid, but it extended about an equal distance
north and south of the Mahoning, was surveyed on warrant No. 3832 April 22,
1793, and contained 226 acres and 70 perches, and which was conveyed by
Campbell’s heirs to John McCrea, who instituted an action of ejectment,
October 6, 1857, against its occupants, John Kuhn, John Huffman, Daniel
Doverspike and Andrew Foreman, which finally resulted in McCrea’s recovering
all but the 58 acres included in the commissioner’s deed to Doverspike.

Adjoining the last-mentioned tract on the west was tract No. 320, covered by
warrant No. 3119, the eastern part of which is traversed by Millseat run,
which flows in a northwesterly course and empties into the Mahoning about
150 rods below the “Narrow Sluice,” where this creek is only twenty-two feet
wide. Tradition relates that a mill, with one set of stone, was erected in
the first decade of this century, by Adam Smith, on this run, 75 rods
northeasterly from the present schoolhouse No. 5, but ceased to be used many
years since. John Daubenspike’s name on this tract is one of the few that
appears on the map of the original tracts which were between the Mahoning
and Red Bank creeks. He settled on it in 1816, and was assessed on the Plum
creek township list for the next year with 130 acres at $130. The Holland
Company did not obtain their patent for this tract until November 3, 1827.
They conveyed to him 92 acres and 110 perches of it June 24, 1830, then in
Wayne township, for $150; and 56 acres and 46 perches of it March 21, 1832,
for $28.75; 150 acres and 91 perches to Andrew Foreman, February 26, 1841,
for $125, on which is the public schoolhouse No. 5; 85 acres and 48 perches
to David McCullough, December 15, 1842, for $70; 100 acres and 39 perches to
John Huffman, September 21, 1842, for $82; 208 acres and 100 perches to
David Putney, March 14, 1843, for $150- he must have settled on this tract
in 1834, about which time he removed hither from Freeport, for he was first
assessed for the next year on the Wayne township list, with 750 acres of No.
3119, and two horses, at $622. He may have agreed to purchase that or a
greater quantity from the Holland Company, and they may have conveyed
directly to his vendees. The only persons, according to the tax lists,
assessed with parcels of this tract in 1840 were John Daubenspike and David
Putney. The latter built his sawmill in 1835-6 and his gristmill in 1838-9,
on the western part of his parcel, near the left bank of the Mahoning.

That portion of Putneyville on the same bank was founded by him. Fifteen
town lots, between East Main and East Water streets, were laid out in 1841,
surveyed by J.E. Meredith July 7, 1842, several of which are numbered. The
two earliest sales of them were, according to the public records: David
Putney to Dr. J.H. Wick, the first resident physician here, lot No. 5,
containing 45 perches, September 29, 1848, for $40; lot No. 6, 24 perches,
to Ambrose Shobert same day for $30, and lot No. 3 to David Kirkland for
$20. The following conveyances are given as indicating the value of real
estate in various portions of the eastern part of this town, at different
periods: David Putney to George S. Putney, 1 acre and 118 perches, December
27, 1850, for $10, which was not, of course, the full pecuniary value, but
as he also conveyed another parcel for a similar consideration to one of his
other sons, portions of which the former and the heirs of the latter
conveyed to others, it is here given; 13 4/10 perches to Wm. Cunningham,
February 28, 1861, for $50, which, with the improvements, the latter
conveyed to G.S. Putney, November 25, 1865, for $800; 1 acre and 25 perches
to S.B. Putney for $50; 504 feet to Wm. A. Brown, March 26, 1861, for $5;
lot No. 2, 26 perches, to Andrew Bradenbaugh et al., October 28, 1865, for
$5; George S. Putney to George Beck, same day, one-half an acre and one-half
a perch for $50; David Putney to W.C. Putney et al., 2 acres and 81 perches,
between Main street and the Mahoning, November 30, 1867, for $150; George S.
Putney to Adam Nulf, 90 perches, December 12, for $50; to Susan Boyle,
one-fourth of an acre, December 25, 1862, for $33; to C.C. Keesey, two lots
between First, Second, Keesey and Walnut streets, May 11, 1874, for $510.

The postoffice, David Putney, postmaster, was established here July 18,
1844.

The building of flatboats for transporting pig-metal to market was begun
here in 1847-8, which has been continued to the present time by the Putneys,
and has afforded employment to an average of ten or twelve persons. About
fifteen are built annually. Their length, at first, was seventy-five or
eighty, and their width eighteen feet. Since the improvement of the
navigation of the Mahoning below this point, their width has been increased
to twenty-five, and their length to one hundred and seventy-five feet. The
boat-yard is at the junction of First, East Main and East Water streets.

The tannery south of Walnut, and between Second and Third streets, was
established in 1852-3. James Wilson was first assessed as a tanner here in
1853. This tannery was first assessed to J.T. and G.S. Putney in 1855. It
was originally one of the common kind, but it is now operated by steam.

The common school has afforded the chief educational facilities. Rev. J.A.
Campbell, the first county superintendent, taught a normal class here in
1855-6.

The second resident physician in this part of the town is Dr. Theodore P.
Klingensmith, who settled here in 1874.

The first store here was opened by George W. Goheen in 1845, with which and
a house and lot he was then assessed at $700. He does not appear to have
been assessed with the store after 1846. The mercantile business in this
part of the town has since then been chiefly limited to the Putney brothers
and sons. G.S. Putney and sons are the present owners of two stores- one
containing a general assortment of goods and the other limited to hardware.

The place of worship of the Methodist Episcopal church was changed from
edifice near William Smullins’ to this place, in 1844, and held public
services in the schoolhouse and occasionally in the Associate Reformed or
U.P. church edifice, until their present edifice, frame, 40×60 feet, two
stories, costing $5,000, was erected, in 1873, on the northeast side of
First, about sixteen rods above Grant street, on a lot conveyed, December
27, 1870, by George S. Putney to Amzi Loomis, John F. Gearhart, William B.
Smullin and himself, trustees, “containing sixty-four perches, also five
feet from the south line for hitching purposes.”

David Putney, endearingly called Father Putney by his neighbors, was elected
a member of assembly in 1853, but was defeated for the nomination the next
year on account of the hue and cry raised against him because of his
instrumentality in procuring the passage of an act authorizing the taxing of
dogs for the purpose of paying damages for the loss of sheep killed by them-
a piece of legislation that was needed and which has since been supplied.
His son, George S. Putney, was elected to the same office in 1870, and
served during the next session of the legislature.

The Associate Reformed, now called United Presbyterian church, was dependent
on supplies most, if not all the time, until quite recent years, when it
ceased to exercise its ecclesiastical functions. Its membership was too
small to maintain a regular pastor. The lot, containing 100 perches,
adjoining Grant, between Third and Fourth streets, on which its frame
edifice is situated, was conveyed by J.T. and G.S. Putney to James L.
Armstrong, John Duff and Samuel Ferguson, committee or trustees, and their
successors, December 8, 1853, for $1. The congregation became divested of
their title to it by sheriff’s sale to William R. Hamilton, who had been one
of the chief contributors to the maintenance of the organization during its
ephemeral existence.

The first bridge across the Mahoning, connecting the two parts of this town,
was erected at an early date. The present superstructure is the third one.

Lodge No. 735, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, was established here
December 1, 1870.

The western portion of Putneyville is situated on the right bank of the
Mahoning on a part of the Le Roy & Co. tract No. 319, warrant No. 3000, the
patent for which to the Holland Company is dated February 12, 1829, which
Willink & Co. conveyed to John Millison, October 8, 1836,(5*) that is, the
upper or northwestern part of the 98 acres and 8 perches which were then
conveyed to him for $197- that part seeming on a connected draft to project
into the northeastern and southern purparts of the Arthur Bryan tract. This
part of the town does not appear to have been laid out, like the eastern
part, into town lots. Small parcels have, however, been sold to divers
persons at various times. Millison conveyed half an acre to J.T. and G.S.
Putney, July 7, 1842, for $2; 1 acre and 84 perches to John Grinder, June
17, 1850, for $200, and 1 acre and 8 perches to him, December 7, 1853, for
$100; Grinder to John C. and Miles D. Gray, part of the parcel which
Millison had conveyed to him, June 17, 1850, for $111.50- they were first
assessed on the Putneyville list in 1856, and John C. Gray as a merchant in
1862- his store being on this lot, south of West Main and west of Short
streets. South of the former and east of the latter street is the parcel
which Millison conveyed to Grinder, 1 acre and 84 perches, June 17, 1850,
for $200 (where the latter opened a hotel in 1860), 52 4/5 perches of which
Grinder reconveyed to Millison, January 28, 1860, for $100, and which
Millison conveyed to Michael Huffman, June 2, 1866, for $100, where the
latter kept one of the two hotels in this town for several years, and which
is now kept by S. Nulf. Opposite this hotel, on the corner of West Main and
West Water streets, is the other hotel, kept by Joseph C. Schrecongost,
which is on the parcel conveyed by Millison to Enoch Lewis, November 11,
1848, who conveyed it to George W. Goheen, May 1, 1861, for $500, and he to
Schrecongost, June 6, 1850- their deeds evidence this anachronism- for $500,
where he was first assessed as an innkeeper in 1860. Grinder to L.W.
Corbett, one-fourth acre, which the latter conveyed to Jas. L. Hettrich,
July 21, 1861, for $52.50. Conveyances of various other parcels have been
made from one to another which have not yet been recorded.

The first separate assessment list for Putneyville was in 1851, showing that
the entire town then contained 24 taxables, indicating the number of
inhabitants then to have been 110. Though the occupations were assessed at
$320, there are no specifications of what any of them were. The aggregate
valuation of real estate was $1,735, and of personal $165. The assessment
list for 1876 shows: taxables, 51, indicating the population to be 234. The
occupations were specified thus: Minister, 1; school-teacher, 1; surveyor,
1; physician, 1; farmers, 2; laborers, 8; merchants, 2; millers, 2;
shoemakers, 2; blacksmith, 1; cabinetmaker, 1.

Willink & Co. conveyed other portions of this tract: 87 acres and 6 perches
to John Daubenspike, June 17, 1829, for $168; 224 acres and 19 perches to
John Shoemaker, December 20, 1832, for $140.07, and he to Jacob Smith 164
acres and 87 perches, June 23, 1840, for $662.50; 93 acres and 63 perches to
Peter Hine, December 19, 1833, for $58.30, and he to George S. Putney; 186
acres and 100 perches to A. and J.A. Colwell, August 18, 1847, for $186.60.
Sixty-five acres “in the northwestern corner” of this tract in the southern
half of the eastern bend of the Mahoning, southeast of the furnace, were
conveyed by Benjamin B. Cooper to John Thorn, January 6, 1819, for $97.50.
This parcel appears to have belonged to the heirs of Yost Smith, and it is
now a part of the furnace property.

Passing up to the northern portion of this township, west of “Quito,” is the
territory convered by the warrant to Willink & Co., No. 2896, on tract No.
280, called “Lisburn,” 990 acres, divided into six allotments, the patent of
which is dated September 6, 1802. Allotment 2 is in the northeastern part
and chiefly on the northern or Clarion side of the Red Bank, traversed by
Leasure’s Run, and on which the town of New Bethlehem is situated. Lewis
Dauhenspecht appears to have been the first permanent white settler on this
allotment when it was in Toby township. He was first assessed on the list of
that township as a single man in 1806, and the next year with 200 acres,
“improvement.” Willink & Co. conveyed 130 acres and 16 perches to him
October 5, 1811, for $195. The portion of this allotment on the southern, or
Armstrong side of the Red Bank continued to be owned by Daubenspike and his
heirs, who released to his son Lewis April 2, 1850, for $654, until the
latter conveyed 54 acres and 124 perches, including
one-half an acre formerly sold, to William R. Hamilton, January 22, 1874,
for $7,500, on a part of which he laid out the town of South Bethlehem. As
indicating the value of real estate in this new town a few years since and
up to the present time, the following conveyances are here given: Wm. R.
Hamilton to C.C.Cochran, lot No. 79, 64 perches, October 23, 1875, for $250;
12 acres and 49 perches, “beginning at the corner of Short and Broad
streets,” to Washington Craig & Co., November 16, for $2,750; lots Nos. 5
and 7 to James H. Craig, November 19, for $500; lots Nos. 10 and 12 to C.H.
Ide, March 15, 1876, for $1,500; lot No. 81 to Mary C. McMillen, March 25,
for $300; lot No. 8 to George E. Cowan, April 6, for $200; lots Nos. 16, 18,
20, 22, 78 to Philip Eaker, May 7, for $1,200; lots Nos. 104, 106 to W.
Craig & Co., December 28, for $200; lot No. 85 to James McMillen, May 10,
for $250;(6*) lot No. 8 to L.W. Corbett, May 27, for $500. In West
Bethlehem: Lots 40, 42, 44 and part of 46 to Jacob F. Anthony, June 2, for
$1,325;
two-fifths of an acre to L.M. Putney, January 6; 64 perches to Mahoning
school district September 1.

The major part of allotment 1, in the northwestern part of this tract, is on
the north side of the Red Bank. This allotment has upon it on the map of
original tracts the name of Casper Nulf, probably the younger. Casper Nulf,
Sr., was first assessed with 100 acres, two horses and one cow, on the list
of Red Bank township in 1808, at $51, and Casper Nulf, Jr., with 50 acres,
one horse and two cows, in 1812, at $100. It was probably from this
allotment that the former “moved away” – to Plum Creek township in 1816-17,
where he and his wife died at the advanced age heretofore mentioned.
Benjamin B. Casper conveyed this allotment to John Mohney, December 20,
1831, for $165, and he to Frederick Mohney, March 7, 1835, for $300, who had
been assessed with it, one horse and one cow at $207, in 1833. Willink & Co.
conveyed 157 acres and 46 perches of allotment 6 to James Cathcart, who had
formerly occupied a parcel of “Lurgan,” March 13, 1838, for $118. He must
also have acquired allotment 4, or a portion of it, for he conveyed 59 acres
and 148 perches off the east end of it and allotment 6 to John Corbett,
April 1, 1851, for $49.62, and 137 acres and 12 perches off the same to
George Space, March 29, 1855, for $1,500; he had been assessed with 94 acres
at $94, in 1844. Moses McLain was assessed with 100 acres of allotment 3,
one horse and two cows at $72, in 1831. It does not appear from the records
that he purchased this parcel. A portion of this tract was included in the
purchase made by Alexander Colwell and his co-vendees, for they conveyed 157
acres of it- it seems to have been of this allotment- to Thomas McKelvy,
April 15, 1863, for $460, which he conveyed to Isaac Lamberson July 22,
1865, for $600, 28 acres of which the latter conveyed to George Seward
October 14 for $250. The father of the last-named, Chauncy Seward, who
claimed to be a kinsman of ex-Governor, Senator, Secretary William H.
Seward- he may have descended from the family or a branch of the family of
Deacon Seward, of Durham, Connecticut, where there were families by the name
of both Chauncy and Seward- settled on this part of this tract about 1839,
for he was assessed with 350 acres of it, two horses and two cows in 1840,
at $435. Whatever inchoate title he may have acquired does not appear to
have been perfected. Lamberson conveyed 100 acres to John McClain, July 31,
1866, for $ —–, and McClain to James H. Mayo, June 28, 1871, for $1,500.
Willink & Co. conveyed 94 acres and 93 perches of allotment 4 to Frederick
Mohney, March 13, 1838, for $70.90. The latter conveyed 27 acres and 139
perches, either of this or an adjoining allotment, to John Lamberson, May
12, 1862, for $350. James McLain was assessed with 170 acres of allotment 5
and one yoke of oxen in 1837, at $115. Colwell et al. conveyed this
allotment to him December 19, 1849, for $171.50, and McClain to Mayo, June
6, 1872, for $5,000, so that this allotment, on which was formerly a
schoolhouse, and the above-mentioned John McClain parcel are now a portion
of the Red Bank Cannel Coal and Iron Company’s property.

Adjoining the last preceding tract on the west was the Holland tract No.
281, covered by warrant to Willink & Co. No. 2891, the chief part of which
was in the upper part of the Great bend in Red Bank creek, in what is now
Clarion county. It contained six allotments. Portions of 2, 4, 6 are on the
east side, and portions of 3, 5 are on the west side, of the Great bend.
Jacob Anthony was assessed with 200 acres of it, two horses and three cows
in 1824, at $93. James Anthony’s name appears on the Red Bank township
assessment list the same year. He appears to have been assessed with 50
acres, the eastern part of allotment 2,260 acres of some other tract, one
yoke of oxen and two cows at $120. Willink & Co. conveyed 72 acres and 32
perches of the east end of this allotment to him February 3, 1837, for
$54.45.

Benjamin Price was assessed on the Red Bank township list in 1833 with 140
acres in the east end of allotment 4, two horses and two cattle, at $201.
Willink & Co. conveyed to his administrator in trust for his heirs 111 acres
and 4 perches thereof June 14, 1841, for $130, which his widow and heirs
conveyed to Jacob Nulf March 19, 1845, for $700, which, with other land
belonging to his estate, was divided by proceedings in partition February
20, 1854, into two purparts, the one of which contained 108 acres and 137
perches and the other the same quantity less three perches. The former, “A,”
valued at $1,632.84, was taken by Barbara Baughman, and the other, valued at
$1,197.21, by the guardian of Jacob Nulf, Jr., which the latter with his
mother and the other heirs, for the purpose of releasing him from his
recognizance, conveyed to David Gumbert August 21, 1865, for $1,525. A
parcel in the west end of allotment 5, on the west side of the Great Bend,
was formerly conveyed to James Bleakney, who conveyed the same to George W.
Goheen March 15, 1845, and Goheen to the present owner, Joseph Hettrich, 82
acres, May 19, 1857, for $300. The Rockford road seems to cross the Red Bank
on or near the line between allotments 4 and 6.

The tract next south of the last preceding one was No. 291, covered by
warrant No. 2886, a considerable portion of which is within the Great Bend
in what is now Clarion county, the patent for which to Willink & Co. is
dated September 6, 1802. Jacob Anthony was, according to one of J.E.
Meredith’s connected drafts, formerly the owner or occupant of the portions
of allotments 4 and 6 east of the Red Bank. He was probably here, or in the
vicinity, in 1822, when he was first assessed with one cow at $10, with 200
acres, two horses and three cattle at $93, in 1824, and with 400 acres of
Holland land, two horses and two cattle at $500, in 1837, which must have
included the quantity in the southern part of the Great bend, which he also
owned. The records in this county do not show from whom he purchased or to
whom he sold. Willink & Co. conveyed 100 acres of the east end of allotment
2 to Wm. Anthony August 4, 1847, for $109. The eastern part of allotment 6
was settled by William McClain, who was first assessed with 50 acres of it,
one horse and two cows in 1832, at $62.50. He afterward, according to
Meredith’s connected draft, possessed 106 acres and 50 perches, the title
papers of which are not recorded. There is a parcel consisting mostly of
allotment 1, in the northwestern part of this tract, on which Samuel Buzzard
settled in 1833. He was first assessed with 75 acres and two cows at $91;
the next year, being then in Red Bank, but after 1836, in Madison, township.
Colwell et al., in pursuance of a previous agreement, conveyed 181 acres and
60 perches to Robert Blakeney, in trust for Samuel Buzzard’s heirs, December
23, 1852, which they conveyed to William Willison May 27, 1858, for $400, 10
acres of which, along the southern or left bank of Red Bank creek, became
vested in David Stewart, on which he erected the firebrick works in 1872-3.
The cost of these works, including that of the railroad from them to the
claybank, and of the bridge and trestle-work, was about $32,000. The clay
used in the manufacture of the brick, which is said to be of an excellent
quality, its analysis comparing favorably with that of any other in this
country or in Europe, is obtained from a vein from four to ten feet thick on
the farm of Thomas Buzzard, about three-quarters of a mile southeasterly
from the works, up the creek. The capacity of these works, up the creek. The
capacity of these works is said to be adequate to the daily manufacture of
8,000 bricks and work for about thirty employés, though the present daily
production is only about 3,000. During the time of their erection about
fifty persons were employed. The number employed in 1874, when these works
were first represented in a separate assessment list, was fourteen,
including the proprietor, one manager, one yard-manager, one clerk, one
miner and eight laborers. The number in 1876 is only three. This property
now belongs to John B. Bell, of Allegheny City, and the estate of Samuel M.
Kiers, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Next south or above that Buzzard-Willison parcel is the one on which Thomas
Buzzard settled in 1836, when his land, two horses and two cows were
assessed at $225. Willink & Co. conveyed 168 acres and 155 perches of
allotment 3 to him, June 19, 1847, for $338. Contiguous thereto on the south
is the western end of allotment 5, containing 132 acres and 22 perches,
which Willink & Co. conveyed to George Nulf, August 15, 1839, for $265.50,
with 50 acres of which, one yoke of oxen and one cow he had been first
assessed in 1831. The Oakland postoffice, George Nulf, postmaster, was
established here December 20, 1841. The first edifice of the Red Bank
Baptist church, frame, was erected on this parcel in 1846, and was burned in
the fall of 1873. Its site may yet be recognized by the graveyard north of
the Anderson Creek road, nearly opposite the schoolhouse. This part of
allotment 5, except the Baptist church lot, and 50 acres and 70 perches of
allotment 2, tract 309, warrant 2864, were conveyed by George C. Nulf to
John McCauley, October 9, 1855, for $2,800. The latter conveyed these two
parcels and another one of 4 acres and 100 perches, which he had purchased
from Thomas Buzzard, to W.W. Wakelee, March 13, 1865, and which Wakelee
reconveyed to McCauley, January 17, 1868, for $3,000. One hundred and
thirty-eight acres of the last-mentioned parcel were, according to
Meredith’s connected draft, occupied by W. Mitchell. Another parcel,
according to the same, 126 acres and 127 perches, southeast and east of the
latter and south of the Great Bend, was occupied by Samuel Adams, who
appears to have removed hither from “Springfield” – that part of it north of
the Mahoning- in 1834, when he was first assessed in Red Bank township with
100 acres of the Holland land, probably the parcel of allotments 1, 3,
containing 127 1/2 acres, conveyed by Willink & Co. to James Anthony, August
11, 1845, for $122.50. Fifty acres of it became vested in Samuel W. Kinney,
which he conveyed to James Stewart, July 19, 1850, for $400, which passed
from him to Joseph K. Wright by sheriff’s sale, in March, 1856, and which he
conveyed to John McCauley in June, 1862, for $400. East of the last-named
parcel and southeast of the Great Bend was another parcel, consisting of
parts of allotment 6, of tract 291, warrant 2881, and allotment 2, of tract
308, warrant 2886, with which, 318 acres, two horses and one cow, Conrad
Lamberson was first assessed at $209, in 1835, and which Willink & Co.
conveyed to him, October 3, for $337. He conveyed this parcel to his son,
Isaac Lamberson, and his son-in-law, James Anthony, January 8, 1839, each
one’s purpart to be determined by the survey and division made by Robert
Richards, December 1, 1838. Anthony’s purpart, containing 140 acres and 34
perches, included the western portion of the parcel, and Lamberson’s, 151
acres and 84 perches, the eastern portion, in the northeastern part of which
are the town lots which he laid out in the village of Oakland. The agreement
between the grantor and grantees was that the former and his wife should
have the privilege of living on either of these purparts, either in the
house where they then resided, or with the family of either one or the other
of the grantees; that the grantor be furnished with hay and pasturage for
one cow, sufficient firewood, one-fourth of all the grain raised on those
premises, fifty pounds of beef and fifty pounds of pork annually, and that
he should have the privilege of digging for and raising stone coal thereon
during his life. Anthony conveyed 35 acres of his purpart to Henry Adams,
May 23, 1857, for $175, and 52 acres and 96 perches to John Shoemaker (of
Philip), May 19, 1866, for $631; and Lamberson, 136 acres and 130 perches of
his purpart to Charles E. Andrews, March 29, 1873, for $5,500.

Other portions of tract 308, warrant 2886, south of the foregoing, were
conveyed by Willink & Co., namely: 164 acres and 52 perches of allotment 6
to Philip Shoemaker, June 22, 1831, for $125, and 175 acres of allotment 5,
September 20, 1832, for $127.50, and he to his son John, 112 acres and 10
perches of allotment 6, February 27, 1840, for $100, and the east half of
allotment 5, together with the east end of allotment 1, tract 317, warrant
2880, for $120.60. John Reedy was assessed with 160 acres of allotment 2 of
the last-mentioned tract, one yoke of oxen and one cow, in 1836, at $48. He
did not perfect his inchoate title. This allotment was included in the sale
from Willink & Co. to Colwell et al., who conveyed 125 acres and 10 perches
of it to John Beham, February 5, 1856, who conveyed this parcel to J.A.
Colwell & Co., May 10, 1871, for $3,000.(7*) It is singular that in the
several deeds this allotment is described as No. 2 of tract 319, warrant
3000, the northeast corner of which adjoins the southwest corner of the
southern purpart of the Bryan tract. Willink & Co. conveyed 93 acres and 50
perches of allotment 1 to Daniel Reedy, May 1, 1840, for $93.33, with 46
acres of which he is still assessed; and 172 acres and 72 perches of
allotment 3 and 5 to Joseph K. Wright, July 15, 1841, for $112.50, with 160
acres of which his heirs are still assessed.

The population of this township, including that of the above-mentioned
towns, in 1860, was 1,446 white; in 1870, native, 1,333; foreign, 69, and
colored, 1. The number of taxables in 1876 is 426, indicating a population
of 1,959.

In 1860 the number of schools was 9; average number months taught, 4; male
teachers, 7; female teachers, 2; average monthly salaries of male, $16.86;
average monthly salaries of female, $17.50; male scholars, 208; female
scholars, 163; average number attending school, 226; cost of teaching each
scholar per month, 54 cents; amount tax levied, $734.02; received from state
appropriation, $72.07; received from collectors, $673.16; cost of
instruction, $612; cost of fuel and contingencies, $185.74; cost of
schoolhouse, $378.66.

In 1876 the number of schools was 10; average number months taught, 5; male
teachers, 7; female teachers, 5; average salaries male per month, $31.14;
average salaries female per month, $25.40; male scholars, 272; female
scholars, 242; average number attending school, 322; cost per month, 76
cents; amount tax levied, $3,035.89; received from state appropriation,
$378.51; from taxes and other sources, $2,974.56; cost of schoolhouses,
$1,158.79; paid teachers, $1,615; paid fuel, etc., $517.90.

The vote on the question of granting license to sell intoxicating liquors
was, for, 35; against, 119.

The population of this township having been small and sparse prior to the
adoption of the common school system, the educational facilities were
correspondingly meager. The buildings purposely erected for schoolhouses
before the passage of the free or common school law of 1834 appear to have
been the primitive log ones heretofore mentioned, located nearly a mile east
of Oakland, in the “Cove,” and on Millseat run. The pioneer teachers were
Robert Walker, George Ellenberger and William Foster.

The mercantile appraiser’s list for 1876 shows the merchants in this
township to be two in the fourteenth class, three in the thirteenth, and one
the eleventh.

The general geological features of this township, as communicated to the
writer by W.G. Platt, after completing his geological survey of this county:
The deep valleys of Mahoning and Red Bank creeks exhibited conglomerate and
subconglomerate rocks. The lower productive measures usually make up the
interval between the conglomerate and the highlands, except in the eastern
corner of the township, where a small portion of the lower barrens cap the
hills. Of these lower barrens the Mahoning sandstone forms the principal
part. It is handsomely exhibited on the slopes overlooking Putneyville from
the north. It is very massive and seventy-five feet thick. The lower
productive coal measures present some exceptional features of interest, the
entire group, with all its coals and limestones, being favorably situated
for study. At the “Point,” at Putneyville, a complete section of those
measures is obtained, displaying all the typical members of the group in
connected succession. By typical members are meant the following strata in
descending order: Freeport upper coal, formerly called Upper Freeport, 3 1/2
feet thick; Freeport upper limestone, the one chiefly mined in this
vicinity; Freeport lower coal; Freeport lower limestone, the middle bed at
Bostonia; Freeport sandstone, massive and prominent; the Kittanning upper
coal; the Johnstown cement limestone; Kittanning middle coal; Kittanning
lower coal, 3 feet thick; ferriferous limestone, 10 feet thick, and supports
its usual iron ore; Clarion coal; Brookville coal. The last-mentioned coals
are not important here. Further down the Mahoning the ferriferous limestone
and iron ore used at Colwell’s furnace, where the Upper Freeport coal
supplies the fuel for the stack. The Pottsville conglomerate is conspicuous
at the base of the slopes at Putneyville and below the furnace, and extends
along Red Bank creek to the outskirts of New Bethlehem, where it sinks under
water level.

In the eastern part of this township, including the heretofore-mentioned
subterranean burnt district, is the continuation of the stratum of block
coal described in the sketch of Red Bank township, where it is from 10 to 12
feet thick, which contained, according to Dr. F.A. Genth’s analysis of a
specimen of it, moisture, 1.06; volatile matter, 34.00; fixed carbon, 56.78;
ash, 8.16 100.00; sulphur, .21. This stratum extends northwesterly, and as
it approaches Bostonia, is what is commonly called cannel coal, though in
reality a cannel slate, containing, according to A.S. McCreath’s analysis of
a specimen of it, 25 per cent of ash. This deposit, says Platt, is
irregular, existing only in “pots” or concave areas, disconnected, and often
widely separated, so that the occurrence of cannel is confined to certain
localities. The thickness or thinness of the mass may be judged by the depth
or shallowness of the “pots.” A mistaken idea prevails in the Red Bank
region that the outspread of the “cannel” is as regular as that of one of
the coalbeds of the productive series. The origin of these “pots” is not
exactly clear. They may represent depressions which existed originally in
the surface when the coalbed was formed; or they may be due to floating
sheets of vegetation, similar to those which now exist in the Dismal Swamp,
North Carolina. Underlying the “cannel” at all points is a thin layer of
bituminous coal, with a regular and continuous outspread, being the
equivalent of the Kittanning upper coal, by which the geological horizon of
the cannel deposit is defined.

An anti-clinal axis crops the western part of this township, passing over
the Mahoning valley, near the Mahoning furnace, thence between Oakland and
the Narrows, and across Red Bank creek in the neck of the Great Bend. The
eastern part of this township is a synclinal, perfectly regular and without
any disturbances.

The elevation above ocean level at New Bethlehem is 1,079.8 feet; at
Bostonia junction, 1,073.8 feet; at the west end of the railroad tunnel,
Anthony’s Neck, 1,050.8 feet; at Leatherwood, 1,026.8 feet.

WILLIAM FREAME JOHNSTON.

(GOVERNOR OF PENNSYLVANIA, 1848-52.)

William Freame Johnston, the third Governor of Pennsylvania under the
constitution of 1838, was born at Greensburg, Westmoreland county,
Pennsylvania, November 29, 1808. His paternal ancestors were originally from
Annandale, Scotland, where they at one time held valuable estates. The head
of the house, Alexander Johnston, however, being killed at the battle of
Fontenoy, April 30, 1745, the estate fell into dispute, and finally, through
political strife, was lost. The family then removed to Ireland and settled
in County Fermagh, where, in July, 1772, the governor’s father, Alexander
Johnston, was born. He emigrated to America in 1796, and after serving for a
time as a surveyor in Western Pennsylvania, located in Westmoreland county,
of which he was sheriff when his son, William F., was born. The mother of
the governor, Elizabeth Freame, was born in Franklin county, Pennsylvania,
in November, 1781, and was a daughter of William Freame, a private in the
British army, who bore arms against the French in America, and afterward
accepted the proposition of the English government to remain in this
country. The issue of the marriage of Alexander Johnston with Elizabeth
Freame was eight sons and two daughters. The subject of our sketch was not
the only member of the family who attained exalted position. Several of the
sons bore themselves gallantly as officers in the Mexican war and the war
for the Union.

The subject of this sketch had a limited common school and academic
education, but acquired a great fund of general information by reading and
observation. He studied law under Major, J.B. Alexander, and was admitted to
the bar in May, 1829, when in his twenty-first year. Shortly afterward he
removed to Armstrong county, and here he engaged in practice, and soon rose
to a commanding position. He was appointed by Attorney-Gen. Samuel Douglas,
and subsequently by Attorney-Gen. Lewis, district attorney for Armstrong
county, which office he held until the expiration of Gov. Wolf’s first term.
For several years he represented the county in the lower house of the
legislature, and in 1847 was elected a member of the senate from the
district composed of the counties of Armstrong, Indiana, Cambria and
Clearfield. “As a legislator, Mr. Johnston,” says a biographer, “was bold
and original, not beholden to precedents, and was an acknowledged leader.”
During the period in which he was in the legislature a great financial
crisis occurred, and the distress which ensued was extreme. “At this crisis
Mr. Johnston came forward with a proposition to issue relief notes, for the
payment or funding of which the state pledged its faith. This he advocated
with his usual energy and logical acuteness, and though a majority of the
legislature was politically opposed to him, it was adopted, and gave instant
relief.” In 1847 Mr. Johnston was elected president of the senate. By a
provision of the constitution- if any vacancy occur by death or otherwise,
in the office of governor, the speaker of the senate become the acting
executive officer- Gov. Shunk resigning on the 9th of July because of ill
health, Speaker Johnston became governor. In 1848 he was the Whig nominee
for the office, and was elected over Morris Longstreth, after a very sharp
and remarkably close contest. Gov. Johnston managed the financial affairs of
the commonwealth during his administration in a very creditable manner. One
of the subjects which first and most fully occupied his attention was the
material interests of the commonwealth, and he argued with great ability in
his first message for a protective tariff. One work of lasting and high
value which he accomplished was the publication of twenty-eight large
volumes, known as the Colonial Records and Pennsylvania Archives, composed
of important papers relating to the most interesting period of state
history. Upon retiring from office, after failing to secure a reelection,
Mr. Johnston returned to Kittanning, engaged in the practice of his
profession, and also entered upon an active business life, at different
periods being interested in the manufacture of iron, boring for salt, the
production of oil from bituminous shales, and the refining of petroleum. He
was prominent in organizing the Allegheny Valley Railroad Company, and was
its first president. Under his management the road was built from pittsburgh
to Kittanning. During the war of the rebellion he took an active part in
organizing troops. and superintended the construction of the defenses at
Pittsburgh. He was appointed by President Andrew Johnson collector of the
port of Philadelphia, the duties of which office he discharged for several
months, but through the hostility of a majority of the senate to the
President, he was rejected by that body, though ample testimony was given
that the office was faithfully and impartially administered. He then
practiced law in Philadelphia, associating with himself Hon. George S.
Selden, of Meadville, and subsequently- some time in 1868- returned to
Kittanning. In 1871 he removed to Pittsburgh, and he died there at the
residence of Mrs. Samuel Bailey, October 25, 1872. At the commemorative
meeting of the Armstrong bar Judge Logan made a brief address, a single
paragraph from which will convey some idea of the Governor’s character.
“gladly testify,” said he, “to the fine ability of Gov. Johnston as a
lawyer, and his powers as an advocate; to his marked courtesy of address,
and his uniformly gentlemanly bearing; to his absolute integrity in
professional relation, always the characteristic of the great lawyer and
man; and to his scorn of the wrong. To say that Gov. Johnston was
distinguished in these things is but the tribute of truth to the
recollection of a man whose presence commanded affection, and whose memory
compels respect.”

Mr. Johnston was married April 12, 1832, to Miss Mary Monteith. The
offspring of their union were five sons and two daughters.

GEORGE S. PUTNEY.

The father of the subject of this sketch, David Putney, the beginner of the
improvement which developed into Putneyville, where his descendants reside,
was born in Connecticut, October 18, 1794, and came to Pittsburgh, then
considered a town of the Far West, before he was of age. There he married,
upon September 29, 1818, Miss Lavinia Stevenson, who was born January 7,
1796. The children of David Putney and wife were: James Thompson, born July
8, 1819; George Stevenson, May 29, 1821; David Taylor, August 20, 1823; Mary
Eleanor (Smullin), September 26, 1825; William Nelson, April 13, 1829;
Samuel Boyd, May 24, 1831; Nelson Osborne, September 7, 1833, and Ezra
Judson, July 31, 1837. Of this family the only members now living are the
subject of our sketch and Mrs. Smullin, both of whom reside in Putneyville.
Shortly after their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Putney moved to Freeport, and it
was there that their son George Stevenson was born. In 1833 David Putney
purchased from the Holland Land Company, at $1.50 per acre, a tract of 1,000
acres of land surrounding and including the site of the present village
named after him. Soon after this purchase was made, Mr. Putney, with his
sons James Thompson and George Stevenson, came to the spot where the village
now stands. The bottomlands and the hillsides were then covered with a thick
growth of laurel and hazel-brush, through which a road was cut with
considerable difficulty. A little shanty was erected upon the creek bank,
near where the gristmill now stands. The material of which it was
constructed was slabs gathered along the creek, and it was roofed with bark
taken in large pieces from trees in the vicinity. This served as their home,
and in it George S. Putney discharged the duties of head cook. Instead of
plates fresh chips of wood were used, each serving for only one meal and
then going into the fire over which the next was cooked. About four months
later a second cabin was built, similar to an near the first. This was to
serve the purpose of a store, and was stocked with a limited assortment of
staple goods brought from Freeport and Pittsburgh. For about a year there
were no other buildings erected, but during that period Mr. Putney was
engaged in working upon a headrace and dam and taking out timber for a grist
and saw mill, employing ten or twelve hands. The sawmill was completed the
second year. Shanty life no longer possessing the charm of novelty, and now
having a mill to manufacture lumber, a story-and-a-half frame dwelling-house
was erected- the first in the neighborhood. Father and sons were then made
happy by association with the rest of the family, who moved up from
Freeport; and George S. Putney, being relieved from the duties of chief
cook, was promoted to the position of “boss sawyer” in the mill, and
commenced getting out the lumber for the gristmill, which was built and put
in successful operation during the third year of the settlement. The elder
Mr. Putney was a natural genius in mechanics and a typical New England
pioneer, able to turn his hand to almost any industry. With the improvements
alluded to business was continued very successfully up to the spring of
1840, by which time considerable land had been cleared and the sunshine
allowed to reach the fertile soil of the little valley. A few houses for
tenants had also been erected. About this time David Putney contracted to
furnish a large amount of timber for the completion of dam No. 1 on the
Monongahela river, at Pittsburgh, and to meet the contract he purchased some
rafts on Mahoning and Red Bank creeks. But in addition to these purchases he
was obliged to buy a tract of timber land on the Clarion river, where he and
his son James Thompson went to get out what they needed. The two brothers
being greatly attached to each other, James Thompson refused to stay longer
than about thirty days, and returned home. His father then summoned George
S. to his assistance. In a reasonable time the timber was all taken out and
in readiness for high water to run it to market. George S. Putney, having to
remain there awaiting a rise, went to work and took out frame timber for the
Methodist Episcopal church at Freeport. To their misfortune there was no
freshet during the fall sufficient to afford them the opportunity to make a
delivery, and the timber was frozen up in the ice the following winter and
lost. In consequence, David Putney became financially involved, and in 1842
was obliged to effect a sale of the greater part of his property to meet his
indebtedness. It was then that James Thompson and George S. Putney, by
request of their creditors, purchased the grist and saw mills with about 190
acres of land surrounding them, agreeing to pay therefor the sum of $4,000.
This was for the time, and to them, in their condition, a heavy undertaking,
as they were entirely destitute of funds and had to rely wholly upon the
proceeds of the mills to pay for the property. About the same time they made
another purchase, which time has demonstrated to have been a wise one. This
was a tract of pine land in Henderson township, Jefferson county, then of
small value, but now, left unmolested and with a railroad running through
it, worth from $75,000 to $80,000. Fortunately for the young men who
succeeded their father in business, the Mahoning furnace was put in
operation, in 1845, by John A. Colwell & Co., and an outlet was demanded for
the metal which they manufactured. This the Putney brothers supplied,
putting up a boat scaffold and building boats upon which, under contract,
they carried the company’s pig-iron down the creek and the Allegheny river
to Pittsburgh. They put up a new sawmill, entered into a general lumber
business, and in 1848 engaged in merchandizing, taking into partnership in
the latter a third brother, David T. These industries were fairly
remunerative, but it was the business of building and purchasing boats to
carry metal for the furnace people which gave them the greater part of the
revenue with which they discharged their indebtedness. By 1852 they had
discharged the obligations which they incurred at the start. The partnership
in the store remained unchanged until 1854, when David T. Putney went to the
West for grain, and on his return home was attacked with cholera and died on
the steamer, near St. Louis, May 2, 1855, his remains being brought to
Putneyville. In the meantime a tannery had been established, and this, with
the two mills, the store, boating interest, etc., was carried on by James T.
and George S. Putney quite successfully until the death of the former,
December 24, 1858. During this year the gristmill was burned, and at the
time of James T. Putney’s death a new one was in process of construction.
Upon his brother’s death, George S. Putney bought from his heirs his entire
interest in the firm property, with the exception of two tracts of land. He
now had the business of the two mills, the store, tannery and metal-carrying
to attend to, and employed his brother, Samuel B. Putney, and A. Smullin to
assist him, the former devoting his attention principally to the boat
business, and the latter going into the store. Both continued with him
during the war. Through this period Mr. Putney carried on business under
many disadvantages, chief among which was an almost universal credit system.
He had, about the time the war broke out, suffered a severe loss by a great
flood, which carried away his milldam, boats, and some other property. But
notwithstanding his misfortune, he was able during the war to assist others
who needed favors. No soldier’s widow or other deserving person was obliged
to go without the comforts of life because lacking the cash with which to
buy them. His liberality also found expression in large money subscriptions
to protect from the draft some of his fellowmen who could illy afford to go
into the army and abandon family and the business or labor which supported
them. He paid many times the amount which, had he been subject to the draft
and chosen, would have hired a substitute, and did it disinterestedly Mr.
Putney worked on alone, ambitiously, although with little encouragement,
until 1868, when he was joined by his sons, W.F. Taylor and L. Miles, the
latter assuming the active management and attending to the bookkeeping and
buying. From the fact that Mr. Putney had not been able to give his personal
attention to the store its business had declined, but under the new
management it was rapidly built up, and the other lines of business were
correspondingly developed. In 1869 the sawmill was rebuilt, and the boat
scaffold soon after. By 1870 the business of the store had so increased that
its proprietors were compelled to build an addition. The gristmill was
remodeled at a cost of from $7,000 to $8,000, and steam introduced in the
tannery. Various improvements attested from time to time the enterprise and
energy of father and sons. Upon Sunday, October 7, 1877, fire destroyed the
store, and Mr. Putney and his sons suffered a loss over and above their
insurance of about $10,000. L. Miles Putney was in New York buying goods at
the time, and was apprised of the calamity by telegraph. After a few
messages had been passed between himself and the people at home, it was
decided to continue the business and he went on with his purchases. Business
was resumed, eight days afterward, in a small building and under many
disadvantages, but the firm had a prosperous trade. Preparations were made
for building a new store as soon as the adjusting agent of the insurance
company had estimated and reported the losses by the fire, and the new
structure was erected and goods sold in it in April, 1878. It was fully
completed by July of that year This store building, of which the sole
architect was Mr. L. Miles Putney, is 80 feet deep by 40 in width, and two
stories in hight. The store proper, than which there is none finer in
Pennsylvania outside of the great cities, is 24×80 feet, and is adjoined by
a wareroom and private office. It is a marvel of convenience and elegance,
and contains many ingenious devices which are suggestive of the New England
descent of its designer. The second story is finished off in fine style as a
hall, which is occupied by Putneyville Lodge, No. 735, I.O.O.F.

The firm of George S. Putney & Sons is now engaged in this store, in which
they do a large business, in the grist and saw mills, a boatyard, farming,
stock raising and a general lumber business.

Mr. George S. Putney’s father, David, lived to see the country in which he
settled finely developed and to enjoy the sight of a well-ordered village
developed through his own and his family’s enterprise upon the land which he
took up at an early day in its virgin state. He was honored by an election
to the legislature in 1854, and was a useful, esteemed citizen all of his
life. He died August 31, 1879, and his wife, Lavina, April 20, 1878.

George S. Putney, who has carried on and amplified the enterprises begun by
his father, and resulting in the building up of Putneyville, has been, like
him, a most highly respected resident of Armstrong county, and one who has
materially aided in its improvement. He was elected to the legislature, upon
the democratic ticket, in 1870, defeating M.M. Steele. He has held nearly
all the offices of trust and honor in the gift of his fellow-townsmen, and
both in official and private life done much to advance the interests of the
community. The new house of worship of the Methodist Episcopal church, of
which he is a member, was built largely through his influence and pecuniary
aid.

Mr. Putney was married, October 10, 1844, to Margaret, daughter of Jacob and
Susannah Andrews, born in Allegheny county, July 25 1826. To his wife, a
very superior woman, great credit is due for wise assistance which very
materially enhanced her husband’s success and prosperity. The offspring of
this union were six sons, of whom four are living. Their names and
respective dates of birth are as follows: Nelson Boyd, born October 20, 1845
(died April 27, 1861); William Taylor, June 30, 1847; Lemuel Miles, June 17,
1849; Homer Clark, December 25, 1855 (died April 6, 1881); George Wesley,
October 8, 1860, and Calvin Kingsley, April 23, 1867.

William Taylor Putney was married to Clara B. Hamilton, December 25, 1872,
and George Wesley Putney to Nancy Nolf, December 8, 1881.

* See sketch of Wayne township.

** See sketch of Red Bank township.

*** This lot, 12,480 square feet, was conveyed by James A. Truitt to this
church, August 1, 1877, for $1.

(4*) The Oakland Classical and Normal Institute, under the principalship of
Lebbens J. Shoemaker, A.B., a graduate of Princeton College, was opened in
the first story of the Baptist church, April 11, 1877, in which instruction
is given in the common and higher English branches and the Greek and Latin
languages. The average number of pupils, male and female, is sixty-eight,
and of those pursuing the higher English branches and Greek and Latin is
sixteen. A literacy society for improvement in composition and speaking,
conducted by the students, is connected with this institution.

(5*) He was first assessed with fifty acres of it and two oxen in 1832, at
$100.

(6*) Since the centennial year- in South Bethlehem- lots Nos. 14, 17, 19 to
C.C. Cochran, December 20, 1877, $900; to A.S. Brown, lot No. 54, October
30, for $200; lots Nos. 27, 28, 29, 31, 69, 71, 73, 75, 80 and 82 to Geo. S.
Putney and sons, January 15, 1878, for $1,830.

(7*) J.A. Colwell & Co. conveyed 118 acres and 153 perches of this parcel to
Hirem Beham, November 11, 1878, for $2,900.

Source: Page(s) 346-363, History of Armstrong County, Pennsylvania by
Robert Walker Smith, Esq. Chicago: Waterman, Watkins & Co., 1883.

Contributed by Carol Eddleman for use by the Armstrong County Genealogy Project
(http://www.pa-roots.com/armstrong/)

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