CHAPTER III.

PIONEERS AND PIONEER DAYS.

PREHISTORIC REMAINS-INDIANS-INDIAN LAND PURCHASES-SALE OF LANDSEARLY SURVEYS AND SETTLEMENTS-EARLY TAX PAYERS-UNDERGROUND RAILROAD-HUNTING-STORMS AND FLOODS-FIRST COURT-HOUSE-FIRST

BALL-EARLY WEDDING-EARLY INCIDENTS AND REMINISCENCES-COUNTY CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION.

THE pioneers were the sent followed the dexing Indians se close of that Ney

HE pioneers were the self-commissioned explorers and settlers of the New

cooked their frugal meals by the deserted camp-fires of the evacuating tribes; others joined the adventurous band in the wilderness, while yet the Allegheny Divide was considered the limit line of settlement, and all may be considered satellites of that star which has carried empire westward since the days of the Revolution. Their objects and hopes belonged to that peculiar form of American civilization which desires, to this day, to settle on the horizon, a feat of irresistible fascination to them, which they performed practically, although the thing was theoretically impossible.

The Treaty Indians, whose old country they entered, were comparatively modern settlers. There were men here before them, who lived in the age of giant nature. On the Fisher farm, near Bradford, in the Tuna Valley flats, there were relics of a large race exhumed years ago. It appears an aged tree was felled and uprooted to make way for improvements, and beneath were found large skulls, any one of which could encase the head of any modern man; while thigh-bones and shin-bones were several inches longer than those of the present people. Near Kane are other souvenirs of prehistoric times, and on other sections evidences of possession by an unknown race are not wanting.

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On a map made by the French in 1763 the territory along the lake extending southward is marked: The seat of war, the mart of trade and chief hunting grounds of the Six Nations on the lakes and the Ohio." Sixty years prior to the date of this map Le Houton published an account of a decade passed by him among the savages on the south of Lake Erie-"the Iroquois, Illinois, Oumanies and others who are so savage that it is a risk to stay with them." The Iroquois had exterminated the Eriez and the Massasaugas about the year 1650. The Eriez were named in 1626, when the French missionaries first came among them, as the Neutre Nation, and were governed by a queenYagowania-whose prime minister was a warrior named Ragnotha. În 1634 some Senecas murdered a son of the chief of the Massasaugas, and a deputation from that tribe waited on the queen to ask for justice. Two Seneca warriors also came, who, on learning of the queen's intention to set out with her warriors to give justice, fled to their people to give warning. On the approach of the Eriez the Senecas offered battle and forced the imperial troops to fly, after leaving 600 warriors on the field. In 1650 the Iroquois invaded the district and, though driven back seven times, ultimately conquered, particularly during the year of pestilence, when disease swept away great numbers of the nation. In 1712 the Tuscaroras were admitted to the Iroquois confederacy and the name "Six Nations" took the place of that of "Five Nations."

Their territory stretched from Vermont to the upper end of Lake Erie and embraced the country at the heads of the Allegheny and Susquehanna, with the seat of council in the Onondaga Valley. The Senecas, a tribe of the original Five Nations, occupied the territory along the Allegheny and near the Pennsylvania-New York line, and in the treaty of 1784 they were particularly concerned. In 1789 a supplementary treaty was made and $800 granted to Cornplanter, Half-Town and Big Tree in trust for the tribe. This treaty was signed in 1791 by the chiefs, and in March, 1792, the triangle was purchased from the United States by the commonwealth. In April, 1792, the assembly passed an act to encourage settlement here, and in 1794 troops were stationed at Le Bœuf to keep peace, as many of the Senecas refused to respect the treaty and charged Cornplanter and the other chiefs with being traitors. The British emissaries of course urged on the disaffected braves, Brandt, chief of the Mohawks, being one of the diplomats; but their logic could not influence Cornplanter, although British interest in justice to the Indians was manifested by two armed vessels lying off Presque Isle to enforce the claims of the discontented Senecas. In 1795 other treaties were negotiated, and the threatened Anglo-Indian raid on the young republic was postponed. At this time there were eighty Senecas at Cornplanter's town, west of the present city of Bradford, where a large tract of land was reserved to them. In 1866 the legislature authorized the building of a monument to Cornplanter which was completed and dedicated at Jennesedaga October 18, 1867. The chiefs of the Senecas. who signed the treaty in 1789 were Gyantwachia (Cornplanter), Guyasota (Big Cross), Kanassee (New Arrow), Achiont (Half Town), Anachkont (Wasp), Chishekoa (Wood Bug), Sessewa (Big Bale of a Kettle), Sciawhowa (Council Keeper), Tewanias (Broken Twig), Souachshowa (Full Moon), Cachunevasse (Twenty Canoes), Onesechter, Kiandock-Gowa and Owenewah.

The

The purchase from the Indians (Six Nations, Wyandots and Delawares) in October, 1784, embraced all the territory lying north and west of a line from the mouth of Beaver creek on the Ohio; thence by said river up the Allegheny to Kittanning; thence by line to Upper Canoe Place on the West Branch of the Susquehanna; thence by that river to the mouth of Pine creek, and north by this creek to the New York State line. In 1758 and at other periods the Indians ceded their possessions in this district in small parcels, but the "New Purchase treaties and the power of the whites soon did away with requests of favors from the red men, and ended in the expulsion of the aborigines. Susquehanna Company's purchase of 1754 is bounded by a line drawn north and south through Benizette, Shippen, Norwich, Liberty and other townships to the New York State line. In 1785 the act of Pennsylvania declared that the land purchased from the Indians in 1784 and defined in the treaty of Fort Stanwix and Fort McIntosh, should be attached to Westmoreland and Northumberland counties, and that the Allegheny river from Kittanning to the mouth of Conewango creek should be the county line. The land office was opened in 1785, but the homestead of 400 acres and actual settlement thereon, together with the Indian wars down to 1796, made the plan of sale useless. In 1793 an act was passed allowing the sale of lands in 1,000-acre warrants on condition of settlement, except during Indian troubles. Under this permit the Holland Land Company purchased 1,140 warrants, and in 1801 the condition of settlement being removed, this company, with the Keatings, Binghams and others, located their warrants at will, and within a few years essayed to develop the wilderness-John Keating being in the advance.

Byron D. Hamlin, speaking on this subject, states that the legislature of 1785 provided for the sale of the "Waste Lands," as the whole territory was

named. A lottery-wheel was the system of auction selected. An application ticket, with the number of acres applied for written thereon, was placed in one urn and a similar ticket with the warrant number, etc., placed in another. Of course each applicant drew in or about the number of acres he wished to purchase, and as early as May 17, 1785, some of the purchasers found their lands in what are now known as Liberty and Eldred townships. The survey was made in 1787-88. In the latter year it was seen that the desire to purchase this wild land was limited, owing to the price ($80 per 100 acres) being too high. It was reduced, and again reduced, in 1792, to $13 per 100 acres, and in that and the following year the greater part of McKean and adjoining counties became private property. William Bingham and the Holland Land Company were the principal purchasers. In 1796 John Keating purchased a large area from the Binghams, and in 1816 Benjamin B. Cooper purchased the Holland Company's lands and sold to the Jones Brothers, the Ridgways, the Wernwags, Halseys and smaller owners. The first attempt at settlement was made at Ceres by John Keating's agent, Francis King, in 1798. On July 1, 1801, surveys of the Keating property were commenced. In 1804 the cemetery at Cerestown was platted; Coudersport was surveyed in July, 1807, and Smethport in August, 1807. At this time there was not a wagon road in McKean county. Every family had its own grist mill; the meat market was the forest; the dry goods factory was the family spinning-wheel or loom in the lean-to; nails and hardware for building were manufactured from wood; tea and coffee were improvised from the most convenient sources, and whisky was deferred for a more refined generation. Jersey Shore, one hundred miles distant, was the nearest post-office. Two weeks' travel through the wilderness (the carrier bearing his own provisions) were required to make the round trip, his pockets being the mail-bag and his ardor for news his reward. The census taker had not then been seen. His first visit was made in 1810, when he found a population of 141 whites and one colored resident in McKean county, and in Potter county twenty-eight whites and one colored citizen.

The original deed of Robert Morris, one of the Revolutionary fathers, and his wife Mary, to lands in McKean and other counties dated January 6, 1797, is in possession of Mr. Hamlin, and also one from William Bingham to Omer Talon (afterward conveyed to John Keating & Company), dated December 21, 1796, covers about 300,000 acres in McKean and Potter counties, for $80,000. In 1801 Francis King surveyed the boundaries of the Keating lands, adjoining the New York and Holland purchase in New York State, and the lands of the Binghams, Ridgways and Joneses in Pennsylvania. When the New York & Pennsylvania boundary commission was in session this old field book was produced. The present owner of this parchment, speaking of the early land purchases, calculates that up to 1874 each acre cost the proprietor $26. To arrive at this total he takes the original cost, 133 cents per acre, with interest compounded at six per cent, and finds $15.12. Prior to 1840 wild lands were assessed 50 cents per acre on which a five-mill county tax and a five-mill road tax were levied, or a one-half cent per acre. From 1840 to 1860 the taxation was three cents per acre, and from 1860 to 1874 five cents per acre was levied. Mr. Hamlin thinks that the total cost of each acre of wild land to the original owners was $35 including costs of transfers, agencies and other expenditures.

The survey of the town of Smethport was a most important event of pioneer days. The King survey notes read as follows:

The first of the seventh month, 1801. Began at a hemlock corner sixty-three perches west of the Holland Company's thirteen-mile stake on the State line, when we found a south line, which proved to be a district line, dividing Districts 2 and 3, and traveled it south

through a thick windfall. Second day. State line marked on a beech with the initials T. W., October 10, 1792;" soil, chocolate colored; timber, white pine, hemlock, beech, sugar tree, etc. Our provisions being exhausted we returned home. On the twelfth of

the tenth month. Found a line blazed for a road from the head of Pine creek to the head of Oswayo in the fall of 1797. We then went to meet the pack-horses on the south branch of the Allegheny. Nineteenth of the twelfth month. Found a sugar tree corner with initials, one marked "O. S. S." and under it the letters "S. T. E." Seventeenth of the tenth month, 1805. Proceeded with the road and lodged at the Allegheny. Running of the town lots of Smethport, etc. Twenty-fourth of the eighth month, 1807, left home to go to Smethport and loaded at the mouth of our creek; 25th, continued up the river and lodged at the mouth of Potato creek; 26th, camped near the forks of the creek; 27th, still raining, went up the small branch, and built a camp; 28th, finished camp and moved into it; 19th of the ninth month finished survey of the town.

In 1832 Orlo J. Hamlin contributed to the pages of Hazzard's Gazetteer, the history of this county published therein, parts of which are used in this work. After the publication of the Gazetteer, the pioneer historian of McKean county continued the good work, and from among the documents in possession of his son, Henry Hamlin, one from which the following summary of early history is extracted was found:

Seventeen hundred and ninety-nine to 1800, Ceres township settled by Francis King and others, agent and employes of John Keating....1808 (about), Corydon township settled by Philip Tome and others from the west branch of the Susquehanna....1810-12 (about), Hamilton township settled by George Morrison and others of the west branch of the same river....1812-15 (about), Liberty township settled by ex-Judge Foster from New Jersey, ex-Judge Samuel Staunton. Sr., from Wayne county, Penn., L. Lillibridge, Dr. H. Coleman and others....1810, Keating township (Farmers Valley), settled by Joseph and George Otto, the Stulls and others from Northampton county, Penn., six families .1808, Eldred township settled by the Wrights, Jacob Knapp, Joseph Stull, Nathan Dennis, E. Larrabee and others....1815, Norwich township settled by Jonathan Colegrove and fourteen families from North Atlantic States....1809-14*, Sergeant township first settled at Instanter, next by Joel Bishop in 1811; Sweeten, David Combs, Sr.,

R. Beckwith and others settled in 1814 near Bishops summit, and at Clermont farm Paul E. Scull, John Garlick, Philip Lee and others about 1819 20....1824 (about), Lafayette township settled by George W. Griswold and others....1823-24 (about), Bradford first settled by Dr. William M. Bennett, the Farrs, Scotts, Fosters and others....1846-47, Otto township settled by Arthur Prentiss and others....1822-23 (about), Hamlin township first settled by Seth Marvin....1840-41, Annin township first settled by Evaus, Kenney and others....1858 (about). Wetmore township first settled by Grover and others.... 1820-21, Clermont farm, named by Jacob Ridgway after his return from Belgium, where he was United States consul for a term.

The oldest tax roll in possession of the commissioner's clerk covers the years 1806-12. The tax payers (of course non-resident) were William Bingham, John Barron, Ezekiel King, William Barker. Robert Blackwell, Henry Clymer, Henry Drinker, Robert Gillmor, Samuel Hughes. George Harrison, William Lloyd, George Meade, Nicklen Griffith, John Olden, Jonathan B. Smith. Thomas Stewarton. Thomas Willing, Charles Willing, Wilhelm Wellick and Henry Wykoff. The valuation was 50 cents per acre, and the tax averaged $2.47 on 990-acre tracts and $2.75 on 1,099-acre tracts. Four years later (in 1810) Commissioners Pennington, Glen and Herring of Centre county confirmed the assessment roll, and assessed the unseated lands of McKean county at 50 cents per acre, on which a tax of two and one-fourth mills per dollar was ordered to be levied, the assessment to continue in force until 1813.

Joseph Stull and his brother, Jacob, settled below Smethport, four miles above Eldred, on the Allegheny, in 1810. A few years later Indians camped at the mouth of Potato creek, and while making for this camp a warrior, being overtaken by night, wrapped his blanket around him and lay face downward to sleep. He was followed by a panther, who sprung on him as soon as he laid down, striking the claws into the sides of the redman and the teeth into

* See history of townships, and of Sergeant township for sketch of Instanter.

his neck. The Indian caught a small tree near by, and, raising himself, stabbed the panther in the heart, and then lay down to die with the beast. Next morning his brother Indians set out in search and found the hero of the fight almost dead. They took him to Jacob Stull's house, where he recovered after some weeks.

Asylum Peters died at the house of Walter Edgecomb, in Homer township, Potter county, November 24, 1880. He was born in Bradford, Penn., in 1793, and named after his native township. In 1806 he came to Ceres as cook for Gen. Brevost, a surveyor, and when that work was completed he was sold to William Ayers for $100 and the further consideration that he should receive a fair common education until he was of age, when he was to be set free. In 1808 Ayers moved to the Keating farm, six miles east of Coudersport, on the old Boone road, then the only road in the county, bringing Peters with him.

During the years when the abolition movement first gathered sympathizers, the King settlement above Ceres became an important underground railroad depot. As long ago as 1827 or 1828, Smethport was a way-station on the underground railroad leading from the South to the North, whereon runaway slaves used to travel in making their escape into Canada, then a land of freedom to the black man. In other words, runaway slaves striking the Allegheny river at Warren, would take a short cut, the one used by lumbermen in this region returning from Pittsburgh, and reaching what was then known as the "Four Corners pass through Smethport, Eldred and Olean, and so on by way of Buffalo to Canada. It was at the above mentioned, that four forlorn looking slaves, foot sore and weary, and terribly hungry withal, arrived in the little village of Smethport, and stopped at a hotel kept by David Young. They acknowledged that they were runaway slaves, fleeing from hard-hearted masters, and were also out of money. Through the kindness of several of the people of Smethport, the negroes were provided with a good meal at a hotel, a small amount of money furnished them, and were sent on their way. The next stopping place was in Olean, at the hotel kept by Backus. Fearing pursuit from their masters, the slaves were directed to a lumber camp about one mile from the village, which shelter they used for a hiding place and also intended to make it their resting place for the night. Hardly had these four negroes left Smethport when two men on horseback arrived in pursuit, they being the owners of the runaways. Getting no information from the Smethport people, the horsemen hastened to Olean, at which place they arrived just as the slaves had entered their hiding place, though unseen by their masters-and here comes the gist of our tale. The citizens of Olean, who were aware of the pursuit, and fearing that the negroes might be captured, employed a little strategy for the occasion. Sending messengers to the camp with information about the state of matters, the slaves speedily sought their safety. In the meantime the slave owners were informed that the objects of their pursuit might be found in a certain camp near Olean, and kind hands directed their course to the desired point. But upon their arrival, a sad fate awaited them. A bucket of tar and a quantity of feathers were in readiness, and masked men spread the unsightly covering without stint upon the persons of the slave owners, and then left them to their own musings. The next seen of the pursuers, who by this time had become sadder, but wiser men, was in a hotel kept by John Lee near by where the bridge crosses the Allegheny at Eldred. Through grease, soap, water and other appliances and a sojourn of a week, the unfortunate slave owners presented a somewhat better appearance and departed for their Southern homes, and their poor slaves reached the Mecca of their hopes in Canada.

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