History of Cameron County PA

Transcribed by Nancy Piper

History of the counties of McKean, Elk, Cameron and Potter, Pennsylvania : with biographical selections, including their early settlement and development, a description of the historic and interesting localities, sketches of their cities, towns and villages, portraits of prominent men, biographies of representative citizens, outline history of Pennsylvania, statistics.. Chicago: J.H. Beers & Co., 1890.

Chapter II, Page 824-830

Dr. Lanning, in his Centennial History, founded on recollections of John Brooks and others, states that the first survey made in this county was performed by John Rohrer in 1786. He ran out the ground upon which the Emporium Tannery stands, and for some distance above that. John Hanna ran out some lots up the Portage, and also the diamond lots, upon which Rich Valley was afterward located, in 1792 or 1794. The first improvement made within the limits of the county was the building of the Ellicott road in 1806. The extended through the county, and also through what is now called McKean county, and into Cattaraugus county, N.Y., terminating at Ellicottsville. The object of the road was to render accessible the lands belonging to the Holland Land Company, which lay along the latter portion of its route, and at its termination. F. J. Chadwick, speaking on this subject says: "In 1806 Joseph Ellicott, with Joseph Mason for his foreman and book-keeper, constructed a wagon road from Dunnstown up the Susquehanna river to Cook's run. There they left the river and went over Baird's mountain to the valley of the Sinnemahoning, near Round island; thence up the Sinnemahoning to the Big Elk lick, on the Driftwood branch, thence northwestwardly over the high lands. They crossed Marvin creek about seven miles west of Smethport, and took the high lands again, and went down the Tunuangwant creek on the branch upon which the Mount Alton Railroad is now constructed. It was continued down said creek to its mouth; then it crossed the Allegheny river and ended at Ellicottsville, in Cattaraugus county, N.Y. It was the only wagon roas on the Sinnemohoning for many years."

The first settlement made in the county was at the site now called Driftwood. It was then, and for a long time afterward, known as Second Fork, Sinnemahoning being known as First Fork. The first man who settled there was John Jordan. This occurred in the year 1804. Jordan was a man about forty years of age. He was a great hunter, and probably was led to seek a home in this remote and solitary wilderness as much on account of his fondness for the chase, and the abundant opportunities the country at that time afforded for its gratification, as for any other reason. He is said to have killed ninety-six elk. He had five sons: Hugh, John, William, James and Andrew, whose descendants are in the county at the present time. The next year, 1806, Jordan was followed by Levi Hicks, Andrew Overturf and Samuel Smith, the two former having families and the latter being a single man. Levi Hicks settled between the First Fork and Second Fork, on ground afterward known as the Shaffer farm, now occupied by Malden Wykoff. He here cleared about thirty acres of land, which, in 1812, he sold to Jacob Burge, who had settled near him a year or two previous. Hicks then removed up the Bennett's branch to the mouth of Hick's run, and took up land which is now occupied by his descendants. His son, John, is still living, a man seventy-eight years of age, whose memory is still clear touching the history of those early days. John was eight years old when the family first moved here, and has been a resident of this county over seventy years. Levi, the father, was thirty-five years of age when he moved to the country, and had the honor of making and running the first raft ever taken down the Sinnemahoning.

Andrew Overturff settled on the point of land at the confluence of the two steams, the Driftwood and the Bennett's branches. It was at his house the incident occurred which has been the occasion of so much merriment abroad at the expense of the early settlers of this country. The settlement which we have already notices, between the First Fork and Second Fork, extended itsef shortly in four different directions up the Bennett's and Driftwood branches, down the main creek, and up the First Fork.

In 1808 William Nanny, settled a short distance up the Bennett's branch, at the mouth of a small run which bears his name at the present day. He was called Billy Nanny, the first instance on record where a single person represented both sexes of the goat. About the year 1810, or some time shortly afterward, Stephen Berfield settled on this side of the stream, near the site of the hotel. He shortly after sold his improvement to Edward Richey, and moved to Dent's run in Elk county, making the first improvement there. About the same time, Andrew and James Jordan, brothers of John, the first settlers in the county, settled up the Driftwood branch, the former near William Nelson's place, and the latter near Harrison Logue's place. In 1810 John Spangler advanced still farther up the stream, and settled between what is now known as Cameron and Sterling, on ground now occupied and owned by James and Thomas Strawbridge.

Under date of December 16, 1811, William Coxe, William McMurtrie, Edward Shippen and W. S. Coxe issued circulars from Burlington, N.J., showing the value of their lands in McKean and Clearfield counties. They refer to the Portage road, commencing two miles below Rich Valley, where a dozen of families then resided, to a road then opening from Instanter to Kersey's mills, four miles from their tract, to the Ellicott road, laid out some years before by the Holland Land Company, through the town of Rich Valley, within ten miles of the salt works then erected, and close to the grist-mill in operation there and the saw-mill then being constructed by Col. Chadwick, who with Dr. Daniel Rogers were the agents of the company, the latter residing on Bennett's branch. The route from the North Atlantic States was via Crooked creek; thence through Coudersport to Canoe place, whence a road by the Portage branch of the Sinnemahoning, twenty-three miles, lads to the tract. In 1811 or 1812 Joseph Mason settled about a mile below Sterling on ground now occupied by his son, Henry Mason. His male descendants were Joseph, James, Henry, John, William and Alexander, three of whom are living still near the spot first occupied and improved by their father. About the year 1812 or 1814 John Shaffer, William Sterling, John Strawbridge and Joseph Richey, father of Robert and Joseph, living near Cameron came to Sterling run and settled in the immediate vicinity. After the same time also Isaac mcKisson settled at Hunt's run, so called from the family to whom the lands belonged. This is the present village of Cameron.

Meanwhile the settlement has pushed in other directions. Jacob Burge had settled in 1809 or 1810 near to the Hick's improvement, and in 1812 bought it from Levi Hicks, who removed to the mouth of Hick's run, where his descendants remain to this day. Shortly after this Jacob Miller and Amos Mix settled up Bennett's branch, near the mouth of Mix run, also Thomas Dent nearer to the village of Driftwood. Other settlers kept filling up the colony. Jerry Gaines, a colored man and a fugitive from slavery in the State of Virginia, settled and improved land near the present Grove station. He was afterward bought out by William Floyd.

John Ramage settled near the Fork in 1813, and shortly afterward Joseph Brooks and Benjamin Brooks, his father, who was also the father of John Brooks, Esq., settled in the same vicinity. The former remained in the county, the latter removing to the Irwin farm, near the present city of Lock Haven, where his son, John, was born in 1814. Again he returned to the county, and in 1819 settled near the Fork, and the next year moved to the Huntley farm and made improvements. His son, John Brooks, is a distinguished citizen of the county, and can at the present time county 458 descendants of his father within a radius of twenty-five miles from his residence near Sinnemahoning.

In 1812 William A. Wykoff, from Monmouth, N.J., came to the country, and after prospecting a while concluded to settle up Rich Valley, near the present residence of William Lewis. He chiseled his name and the date upon a stone and returned for his family. In coming with his family, the water became so low that it was impossible to push up the steam the canoe containing his family and goods, which at that time was the only mode of traveling in the country; he was therefore compelled to settled at what is now known as Wykoff run. His sons were Cyrenus, John, William, Alexander and Charles, so of whom with their descendants are well-known citizens of the county at the present time.

James Bailey, who died May 28, 1786, came to Sinnemahoning in 1815. He was one of four of the first who came to Sinnemahong that were born from August 20 to October 25, 1800 and died within two months, or from March 29 to May 28, 1876; John M. Lloyd died March 29, Mrs. Elizabeth Miller, on April 7; John Wykoff, April 9 and James Bailey, May 28, 1876; Frederick Sizer died also in the Centennial year. In the years 1816-17 Geoge, Archie and Thomas Logue settled at the mouth of the First Fork on the lower side of the creek.

In 1820 William Barr, who was born near the present city of Lock Haven, and raised about four miles below Keating, removed to his present location at Bennett's branch at the mouth of Barr run. He was twenty-two years of age. Some time, about 1820 or 1822, James Wylie and John Murrey settled about twelve miles up the First Fork. Isaac Brownson and the Logues had previously settled a short distance up. They were followed shortly by others, mostly descendants of those who had settled near the mouth of the Fork. In 1826 Jacob Smith, father of Samuel Smith, and other of that name, came to Sterling run accompanied by Samuel Chapman, father of those of that name living there now, and the Widow Summerson, with her son John and a daughter; John was then a lad of five years of age.

Having followed the history of the first settlement for twenty-one years, we go back to 1810 and trace that of the second settlement, which was located on the site of the present borough of Emporium. In the spring of 1810 John Earl, Sr., father of the present John Earl of that borough, a native of North Carolina, thirty-five years of age, accompanied by his sons, John and William, came to the vicinity of Lock Haven, or rather Big Island, as it then was termed. They here fell in with the agent for Griffith & Company's lands, situated in the upper part of this county. They were induced by him to come up the stream to this place. All above Hunt's run was then an unbroken wilderness. They settled first about two miles up the main stream, at what is known as Georgia Mill or Gearysburg, they cleared a piece of land here, but were shortly followed by tow of their former neighbors, Philemon Preny and Earl Mastin, purchased their improvements, when they again located near the Portage on the site now occupied by Hon. Seneca Freeman. After remaining there three or four years, having some dispute about the price of the land, which belonged to a non-resident by the name of Wilson, they again removed. The land was then purchased of Wilson by Col. E. Chadwick,* in 1813, who sold it to D.Crow,** who, with Lemuel Lucore, Sr., and others, had come into the country in 1816. The Earls then located on land that had not been taken up, at the confluence of West creek and the main branch near Isha Craven's. Here they built a saw-mill and a grist-mill.

In 1814 Seneca Freeman, then a young man of twenty-one years, visited through this country, stopping a short time at the Earl's.*** In 1817 Brewster, father of Seneca, accompanied by his family, comprising four sons, Seneca, Brewster, Samuel and Benjamin, moved to the country and settled on the ground now occupied by the Wylie and Sage farms. In the fall of 1810, the first year of the settlement, Mr. John Earl, Sr., started on a visit to see his nearest neighbor, John Spangler, who, as we have seen, had settled between Cameron and Sterling. His son, John, proposed he should carry his gun along, as he might possibly meet with game on the way. His son John, proposed he should carry his gun along, as he might possibly meet with game on the way. The father was not inclined to do so, but finally yielded to the persuasion of his son. As he came near the spot where the Canoe run bridge is now located, he heard a singular noise, which attracted his attention. He stopped a moment to reconnoiter, and observed a motion in the bushes. On closer inspection he perceived, at a very short distance in advance of him, a very large panther. The beast had seen him first, and was standing near a rock congratulating himself on the prospect of a dainty meal, by flapping his tail against the rock. Mr. Earl lost no time in obtaining accurate information as to his position, and taking sight at him with the gun which, happily for him, was now at hand, he fired, hitting the beast through the head; he then speedily reloaded and with a second shot completely dispatched him. He measured the animal and found him to be eleven feet in length. This is but one of a multitude of exciting instances when himself and family, in common with others of the early settlers, experienced fearful encounters with the wild beasts of the forest, and realized hair- breadth escapes from impending death.

The third settlement made within the limits of the county, was that of Rich Valley, in 1811. This settlement was made upon lands owned by Griffith and Coxe, and was a part of a large tract purchased by them from the Holland Land Company, to which we have already referred. The purchase is said to have contained 112,000 acres. Col. Elihu Chadwick, of Monmouth county, N.J., was the agent of these lands. To induce settlers to remove here, they agreed to give each actual settler eight acres in the town of Rich Valley and fifty acres outside of the town. Col. Chadwick came himself to the mouth of North creek and erected a saw- mill in 1811, but returned to his home in New Jersey, and did not permanently remove until 1816. The same year Joseph Housler came from Monmouth county, N.J., and settled at the mouth of North creek temporarily. He then took up a tract of land for himself - did settler's duty, as it was termed, which was simply a compliance with the conditions imposed by the owners of the land, and had his land deeded to him. He was the first permanent settler in the town of Rich Valley. His sons were Abraham, Joseph; Aden, John and William, not the parties of the name now hiving there, except John and William, the others being dead. The present Joseph, Aden and Nathan are the sons of Abraham, and grandsons of the original settler. John and William, who are alive, and are here today, are sons of the first settler, and accompanied him when he came from New Jersey. In the year 1818 Robert and William Lewis came from New Jersey and settled also in the town of Rich Valley, Robert, on land now owned and occupied by A.K. Morton, and William, where Humphrey Lewis now lives. Robert was the father of Robert and Benjamin and John F., both now deceased, also of James, Philip and Morris, who still survive. William Lewis was father of the present William Lewis, living at the mouth of Clear creek. In 1816 Col. Elihu Chadwick, whom we have seen was the agent of the Coxe and Griffith lands, and who had already erected a mill at the mouth of North creek, having some time previously removed to this State, came to this settlement and located with his family. His sons were Richard, John, Elihu, Francis J. and Jeremiah. Three of these are living at the present time, and one, Francis J., is at the present time a well-known citizen of the county. From the above- mentioned three families, Rich Valley has been mostly settled.

The next settlement was made up the Portage creek, in 1820, by Hiram Sizer, who came from the State of Massachusetts. His widow still lives on the spot where they first settled fifty- six years ago. She was then a mature matron thirty- four years of age. She is now ninety, and perhaps the oldest person in Cameron county. Her recollection of those early times is quite good and she tells with a great deal of earnestness the story of the privations and hardships inseparably associated with a pioneer life. The next year, Brewster Freeman, Jr., settled at what is now called Prestonville. Six or seven years subsequently, Zenos C. Cowley came to the same place, from whom the name of Cowley's run was derived. Samuel Bliss settled on the place now occupied by Lucien B. Jones. A Mr. Rice also soon settled up in the neighborhood of the salt works. Isaac Burlingame came to the settlement about sixteen years after the Sizers moved there, and William Ensign, Sr., still later; others kept coming and going, till finally that branch has become pretty well settled up to the salt- works, a distance of nine miles from the mouth.

West creek was not settled for a long time after the other places we have noted had been occupied. The brothers, John and Benjamin Morrison, moved up the stream in 1844, and cleared farms; Adam Armstrong also cleared a farm in the vicinity. In 1841 William Gwin and Windell Bartholomew made clearings up near the Beechwood station. Squire Nelson and his good wife settled on the first fork of the Sinnemahoning about 1822, when Coudersport, the county seat of Potter county, consisted of three houses, and the nearest point on the Sinnemahoning was forty miles away. They occupied a house midway between Coudersport and Sinnemahoning, it being a wilderness in all directions, except a path on the banks of the creek to its mouth. The Squire states that more than once in his time he was compelled to go to the mouth of the first fork for flour, which he carried home on his back. In making the trip to and from his home, he crossed the creek seventeen times going down and eleven times coming back. He had a small piece of ground in the wilderness, on which he and his good wife had a cabin and barn. Any morning he could take his old flintlock, go to the edge of the clearing and secure one of the largest bucks or an elegant doe in twenty minutes time, and if his taste ran not in that direction and was inclined for trout, in an hour's time he could catch enough to last a week. William Nelson also moved up the stream and occupied the house now owned and occupied by the Sanford brothers, where his son David was born in 1842. The Sanfords moved up there about 1842.

Having given a sketch of the settlement of the various parts of the county, we shall further notice a few more names of persons who came in at an early date and joined interest with those already there. Hugh Coleman came to the Second Fork about 1820. He had three sons: John, Jacob and Washington. The first is still living at that place and for years was the proprietor of the land first occupied by Overturf, one of the very first settlers. David Bailey, father of James Bailey, recently deceased, settled in the year on the ground now occupied and owned by Reuben Collins. He was a millwright, and built a mill on the spot which was largely patronized in that early day. In 1820 he removed to the First Fork and assisted in the settlement of that section. Benjamin Brooks, brother to John Brooks, also about the same time settled up the Fork. George and Henry Lorshburgh, in 1822, moved upon the First Fork. Edmund Huff came to the country about the year 1822, married a daughter of John Spangler, in 1823, who still lives and is present today. He settled finally in the year 1827 on land about three miles below Emporium on the Driftwood branch. The parties who settled the country first were, as we must have seen from the brief account given, mostly men of uncommon energy. This and a love for adventure, as well as the desire to procure for themselves and families a home, led them to these mountain wilds. They were in some respects rude and uncultivated, many of them, but they were hospitable to strangers and neighborly toward each other.

The immigrants made their entrances by the Indian paths on foot or on horseback, or by canoes or Indian boats propelled against the current by setting poles. These boats or canoes were manned by a bowman and a steersman, who, by placing their poles with steel- pointed sockets upon the bottom of the stream threw their weight upon the poles thus placed, and by frequent and repeated processes and propulsions (guiding the boat at the same time) often made fifteen to twenty- five miles a day against the current with a cargo of three- quarters to one ton weight in their boats. On some occasions, in case of low water in the streams, the boat's crew would be compelled to remove the gravel and fragments of rock from the line of their course, and wade for miles at a time, carrying and dragging their boats forward by their almost superhuman strength; such frequent exercises developed an unusual vigorous muscle, and. it would seem fabulous to relate .the extraordinary feats frequently performed by these athletics of pioneer life.

The early settlers were a hardy, active, energetic, go-ahead class of people, hailing mostly from eastern and middle Pennsylvania, from the State of New Jersey, and from New England States. As a class they were rude, yet honest in their dealings; though boorish, they were hospitable and generous. The first settlers in America brought with them the traditions of Europe, and the fearful condemnations for witchcraft began at Salem, in 1692. Three children of Rev. Dr. Parris complained of being tortured by witches. The excitement soon spread, and others, both adults and children, complained of being bewitched, and accused those against whom they held some pique. Rev. Cotton Mather, Rev. Mr. Noyes, of Salem, and the president of Harvard College, and many others, encouraged arrests, the result of which twenty persons were executed in one year, being suspected of witchcraft, while many others were banished. Some of the pioneers of this county, in order to protect themselves from witchery, would burn hens' feathers, and assafoetida, for incense, and shoot silver slugs at rude drawn portraits of those who were suspected of witchcraft. A kind of lunacy also prevailed to some extent; potatoes and other vegetables were planted in the moon, or rather when the horns of the moon indicated the proper time. Houses were roofed when the horns of the moon were down, so that the shingles would not cap and draw the nails; fences were laid, when the horns of the moon were up, that the rails might not sink into the ground, and the medicinal wants of these primitive people were not administered to in any degree in accordance with the practice of more modern times.

The early settlers were for a long time compelled to bring all their supplies from Big Island in canoes. Lock Haven did not then exist. Three men named Moran, Hugh Penny and McKnight kept store at "Big Island," who used to furnish the settlers with their supplies and take their timber rafts as pay. The nearest store in 1820 was six miles above Clearfield town, and kept by John Irvin. Notwithstanding the store at Big Island, though more remote, was for most purposes most convenient to trade with. Being along the river it could be reached with the canoes, and besides for the same reason it was easier to convey the timber in exchange.

A considerable amount of whisky was consumed, and a canoe was not considered properly laden unless at least one barrel of the stimulant was among the stores. The trip up was generally made lively by its cheering influence. The article was then, as now, potent in its influence over the hearts of men. He who had a bottle of whisky in his hands and a barrel in his canoe possessed the open sesame to every heart and every house. They were also compelled to convey their grain in the same manner down the river to Linden, near Williamsport, to be ground, and then pole it back again to their residences, nearly 100 miles. Some used hand- mills for their corn, and in time small grist- mills were established at various places in the county. The first grist- mill erected within the limits of the county was located near the mouth of Clear creek, about 1811. It had no bolt attached to it. The same year Col. Chadwick built his saw- and grist- mill at the mouth of North creek. This had a good bolt attached, and is said to have made good flour.

*Elihu Chadwick was appointed lieutenant-colonel of the Third Regiment vice James Green, promoted from Monmouth, N. J. Richard Chadwick states that this commission was signed by Washington. His memorandum of Revolutionary affairs, in 1779, refers to the landing of the British and refugees near Sandy Hook, June 10, and the manner in which Capt. Jeremiah Chadwick and Lieut. Elihu Chadwick struck their trail while reconnoitering on the 11th, sent for help to the camp of the Continentals, drove the British to their boats, then poured in such a fire as to force them to take refuge under the banks, and after a terrible battle conquered.

**Lydia Crow Freeman, born in Hampden county, Mass., in 1801, came with her father, David Crow, in 1816, married Seneca Freeman in 1818, died December 2, 1886.

***Marianne Freeman, who died at Richard Chadwick's house, in Rich Valley, August 11, 1888, was born in Connecticut, January 17, 1807. She came with her father, Brewster Freeman, to Emporium in 1817, settling where Judge Wiley resides, and was the last survivor of this family. Her grandmother, Margaret (Brewster) Freeman, was a great-granddaughter of Brewster, who came to Plymouth Rock in 1623.

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