History of Warren County – Table of Contents

Byadmin

Dec 10, 2008

CHAPTER I – OUR SUBJECT SOMEWHAT EXPLAINED.

The Beginning of Warren County’s History – Date of Organization – It s Boundaries – Its Area and Streams – Origin of its Name – The System to be Pursued in Succeeding Chapters

CHAPTER II – NATURAL FEATURES, ETC.

Topography – Character of Forests – The Soil – Its Products – Minerals – The Animal Kingdom – The Eries-The Kahquahs, or Neuter Nation – The Hurons – The Iroquois – Earlier Occupants – Inferences

CHAPTER III – EUROPEAN DISCOVERIES, ETC., 1534-1655.

The French in New France – The Puritans in New England o- The Dutch in New Netherlands – Activity of the French – Dutch Progress – The Jesuits – The Company of a Hundred Partners-Capture and Restoration of New France–Great Extent of the Province of Massachusetts Bay – Breboeuf and Chaumonot – Destruction of the Kahquahs and Eries – Seneca Tradition – French Account – Indian Hatchets 21

CHAPTER IV – THE IROQUOIS.

Their Name as Applied by Themselves – System of Clans-Its Importance – Its Probable Origin o- The Grand Council – Sachems and War-chiefs – Line of Descent – Choice of Sachems – Religious Belief – Natural Attributes – Family Relations, etc

CHAPTER V – FROM 1655 TO 1680.

The Iroquois Triumphant – Obliteration of Dutch Power – French Progress – La Salle Visits the Senecas – Greenhalgh’s Estimates – La Salle on the Niagara – Building of the Griffin – Its First and Last Voyage – La Salle’s Subsequent Career

CHAPTER VI – THE PROVINCE OF PENNSYLVANIA.

Europeans Struggle for Supremacy Along the Atlantic Coast – Quakers Settle in New Jersey – William Penn Appointed a Trustee – His Labors in Their Behalf – An Early Description of the New Country – Admiral Penn – A Province Granted to His Son – I t is Named Pennsylvania – Its Extent – A Miscalculation – Penn Purchases the Lower Counties – Outlines His Policy – Sends Governor Markham to Take Possession – Names Commissioners – Their Duties – An Address to the Indians – The Site for a New City Selected

CHAPTER VII – PENN IN PENNSYLVANIA.

William Penn Sails for America – His Advice to His Family – The Voyage – Warmly Received at New Castle-The] First Assembly- Penn Visits New York and Maryland – Unsatisfactory Conference with Lord Baltimore – The Great Treaty with the Indians – The Walking Purchase – Great Influx of Colonists – Counties Formed – Meeting of the First General Assembly – Sitting of the First Grand Jury – First Conviction – Another Fruitless Interview with Lord Baltimore – Baltimore’s Demand – Penn’s Anxiety – His Liberal Offer – Baltimore’s Adherents Invade the Lower Counties – Penn Determines to Return to England – His Farewell to His Colonists.

CHAPTER VIII – FRENCH DOMINION.

A Slight Ascendency – De Nonville Attacks the Senecas – Origin of Fort Niagara – Count Frontenac in the Field – Treaty of Ryswick – Queen Anne’s War – The Iroquois Neutral – The Tuscaroras – Joncaire – Fort Niagara Rebuilt – French Power Increasing – Conflicting Claims – Secret Instructions – DeCeleron Takes Possession of the Allegheny Valley – Buries a Lead Plate at Mouth of the Conewango – The Six Nations Alarmed – French Establish a Line of Forts – The Ohio Company – Virginia’s Claim – Washington as an Envoy – French Build Fort DuQuesne – Washington and his Virginians Captured – Braddock’s Disastrous Campaign – The Final Struggle – French Defeated all Along the Line – Their Surrender of Power in the New World

CHAPTER IX – ENGLISH DOMINION.

Pontiac’s Conspiracy – The Devil’s Hole – A Fight at Black Rock – Bradstreet’s Expedition- Sulky Senecas – The Troops Composing Bradstreet’s Command – Israel Putnam – The Revolution – Four Iroquois Tribes Hostile – The Treaty at Oswego – A Price for American Scalps – Brant, the Mohawk-Principal Seneca Chiefs-Wyoming- Cornplanter Conspicuous – His Many Names, etc. – Cherry Valley – Americans Retaliate – Brodhead’s Expedition-Sullivan’s Indian Campaign – Results – Close of the War, and of English Rule

CHAPTER X – FROM 1783 TO 1790.

Forlorn Condition of the Senecas at the Close of the Revolutionary War -Willing to Cede the Remainder of their Lands in Pennsylvania – Commissioners Appointed to Treat with Them – A Sum Appropriated to Purchase Indian Goods – Quantity and Kind of Goods with which Purchase was Made – Treaty of Port Stanwix – Boundaries of the Tract Acquired by Pennsylvania – Cornplanter the Friend of the Whites – Subsequent Indignation of His Tribe – General Irvine Explores the New Purchase – Extracts from His Report – Running the Boundary Line Between New York and Pennsylvania – Interesting Details – Early Names of Warren County Streams – Indian Villages – Pertinent Suggestions – A Tract of Land Granted to Cornplanter – Survey of Lands of the Mouth of the Conewango – An Account of the First Official Exploration of the Head Waters of the Allegheny

CHAPTER XL – CORNPLANTER AND OTHER INDIANS-1790-91.

The Seneca Chieftain Invited to Visit Philadelphia – Letter from Thomas Mifflin – Ensign Jeffers’s Letter – The Journey – Arrival in the Quaker City – Subsequent Proceedings- Cornplanter’s Speech to the Supreme Executive Council – President Mifflin’s Reply – Cornplanter Meets President Washington – Returns to His Forest Home with Gifts and Various Supplies – Attempts on the Part of Pittsburgh Thieves to Steal the Same – Colonel Brodhead’s Opinion of Early Pittsburgh Residents – Cornplanter Makes Choice of the Lands Granted Him – Their Location, etc. – Sketch of His Life

CHAPTER XII – FROM 1791 TO 1800.

Troublous Times on the Border – Baneful British Influence – Uneasy Iroquois – Colonel Proctor Visits Them – Interesting Details Gathered From His Journal – His Mission a Failure – St. Clair Defeated – The Iroquois Become Insolent-Their Arrogant Demands – Cornplanter Joins the Malcontents – Extracts from Letters Written by Andrew Ellioott, Brant the Mohawk, and John Adlum – Wayne’s Victory – Salutary Effects – Iroquois Ardor Cooled – The Treaty at Canandaigua – The British Retire from American Territory – Cornplanter’s Speech at Franklin – The Holland Land Company – Town of Warren Laid Out by State Commissioners – Survey of Lands West of the Allegheny River – Advent of the First Settlers – A Block-house at Warren – Navigable Waters – Origin of the Reserve Tracts and Academy Lands

CHAPTER XIII – THE ERA OF FORMATION, EARLY SETTLEMENTS, ETC., FROM 1800 TO 1819.

Formation of Warren County – Its Original Boundaries – Temporarily Attached to Crawford County – Crawford County Organized – Erection of Brokenstraw Township – It Becomes the First Election District of Crawford – Warren County Annexed to Venango in 1805–Brokenstraw Still Continues as the Sole Township of Warren County – Its Taxable Inhabitants in 1806 – Who were the First Settlers – A Mooted Question – An Order to Erect New Townships – Early Inn-Keepers – Division of the County into Two Townships – Their Names and Boundaries – Their Taxable Inhabitants in 1808 – Visited by Western Indians – A Want of Confidence – Council Held with Cornplanter – Veterans of the War of 1812-15 – A Transfer of Lands by the Holland Land Company – Cornplanter as He Appeared in 1816 – The Taxables of the County During the Same Year – Subsequent Rapid Increase in Population.

CHAPTER XIV – FROM THE ORGANIZATION OF THE COUNTY UNTIL 1830.

Onerous Duties Imposed Upon Early Inhabitants – Passage of the Act of Organization – Its Provisions – Initial Proceedings of County Commissioners – The First Term of Court – Its Officers – Jurors – Attorneys – Early Inn-keepers – Reminiscences Concerning the First Term of Court-Population of the County in 1820 – New Townships formed in 1821 – The Attempts to Collect Taxes from Cornplanter – The Old Chief Victorious – The Hook Murder Trial – Incidents Connected Therewith – Results – Other Early Events

CHAPTER XV – FROM 1830 TO 1861.

The First Steamboat on the Upper Waters of the Allegheny – An Account of the Trip – Cornplanter a Passenger – Merchants and Inn-keepers in 1830 – National Character of Early Settlers – The Scotch-Irish at First in the Ascendency – Origin of the Term Scotch-Irish – Those of English Descent in Final Control – Early Routes of Travel – A Remarkable Journey – Barefooted in Midwinter – An Influx of Alsatians – Death of Cornplanter – Incorporators of Various Associations – Lumbering – River Navigation – Store Goods – Prices – Routes Pursued in Transit – Part of McKean County Annexed to Warren – The Whigs and Democrats – The First Telegraph Line – Merchants of the County in 1850 – The Whigs Disband – Organization of the American Party – Temporary Success – Causes Leading to the Formation of the Republican Party – An Incident in the Career of Jeff. Davis – Republicans Gain Control of the County in 1856 – New County Scheme – Petroleum Discoveries – Titusville to the Front – Warren Men Also – Railroad Completed from Erie to Warren – Tidioute Oil Field – Election in 1860

CHAPTER XVI – DURING AND SINCE THE LATE WAR.

Mutterings of the Coming Storm – The Outbreak – Call for Troops- Citizens of Warren in Council – Their Proceedings – The First Two Companies of Volunteers – Others in Readiness – Leaving Home for the Front – Brief Allusion to Other Organizations – Number of Warren County Men in the Field to November 1, 1862 – Events of 1863 – Tribulations of the Stay-at-Homes in 1864 – Relieved by Rebel Recruits – The Draft of 1865 – Probable Total Number of Troops Furnished – Victorious Rejoicings – Ladies’ Aid Society – Dedication of Cornplanter’s Monument – An Influx of Scandinavians – Another New County Project Defeated – Gradual Development of Oil Interests – Conclusion of Continuous History

CHAPTER XVII – THIRTY-NINTH REGIMENT – TENTH RESERVE.

Where Recruited-The Warren Guards – Regimental Rendezvous – Organization of the Regiment – I t Proceeds to Harrisburg – Thence to Washington – Brigade Assignment- General Ord in Command – The Fight at Dranesville – A Weary March to Fredericksburg – Transferred to the Peninsula – In Fitz John Porter’s Command – Battle of Mechanicsville – Gaines’s Mill-Gallant Behavior of the Tenth Reserve – I t Sustains Heavy Loss – White Oak Swamp – Men Completely Exhausted – Close of the “Seven Days’ Fight” – The Reserves at Second Bull Run – South Mountain – Antietam – Fredericksburg – Gettysburg – Winter Quarters 1863-64 – In the Wilderness – On Hand at Spottsylvania Court-House – Bethesda Church the Tenth Reserve’s Last Battle-Field-Muster Out-Roster of its Members from Warren County

CHAPTER XVIII – FORTY-SECOND REGIMENT – BUCKTAIL RIFLES.

Manner of Recruiting Its First Companies – The Unique Material of Which It Was Composed- Woodsmen to the Front- Floating Down the Susquehanna – Captain Stone’s Raftmen – The First Company to Leave Warren – To Pittsburgh in Boats of Their Own Make – By Rail to Harrisburg – Regimental Organization – Captain Stone Promoted – The First March – On the Upper Potomac-The Bucktails Join the Pennsylvania Reserves – Gallant Conduct at Dranesville – Captain McNeil of Warren Chosen as Colonel – A Temporary Division of the Regiment- Major Stone’s Battalion in the “Seven Days’ Fight” – Winning Imperishable Honors – But at Great Loss of Life – Wonderful Bridge Building Peat – The Rifles of the Bucktails Again in Use at Second Bull Run-Services Rendered by Lieutenant-Colonel Kane’s Battalion in the Shenandoah – The Regiment Again United – Its Services at South Mountain – Antietam – Death of Colonel McNeil – An Incident in His Military Career – Fredericksburg – Gettysburg – Death of Colonel Taylor, McNeil’s Successor – In the Wilderness – At Spottsylvania – Bethesda Church – Expiration of Term of Service – Roster of the Warren County Men

CHAPTER XIX – FIFTY-EIGHTH AND EIGHTY-THIRD REGIMENTS.

Colonel Curtis, of Warren, Authorized to Raise a Regiment – Is but Partially Successful – Its Consolidation with Another Fractional Command – The Field Officers-Regiment Proceeds to Fortress Monroe – Its Services in that Department – Ordered to Beaufort, N. C. – Transferred to the Army of the James – Charging Fort Harrison – Subsequent Services – Muster Out – Eighty-Third Regiment – Where Recruited – Becomes Part of the Fifth Corps-Hotly Engaged During the Peninsula Campaign – Its Losses-Second Bull Run – Fredericksburg – Holding Little Round Top at Gettysburg – Worthless Substitutes and Drafted Men – Final Movements

CHAPTER XX – ONE HUNDRED AND ELEVENTH REGIMENT.

In What Counties Recruited – Its Warren County Companies – Regimental Rendezvous – Original Field Officers – Equipped at Harrisburg – Proceeds to Baltimore – Thence to Harper’s Ferry – Assigned to Banks’s Second Corps – In Action at Cedar Mountain – Heroic Daring Displayed at Antietam – Assigned to the Twelfth Corps – Winter Quarters 1862-63 – At Chancellors ville – Gettysburg – Transferred to the Army of the Cumberland – Attacked at Midnight in the Wauhatchie Valley – Rebels Defeated – Lookout Mountain – Re-enlisting for a Second Term – Eleventh and Twelfth Corps Consolidated as the Twentieth – The Atlanta Campaign – Hard Marching and Fighting of Daily Occurrence – Before Atlanta – Death of Colonel Cobham – Atlanta Occupied – The March Through Georgia – Savannah Falls – Sweeping Northward Through the Carolinas – The Round-up at Washington, D. C.- Final Duties- Muster Out – Names and Record of Its Warren County Members.

CHAPTER XXI – ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTEENTH AND ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY-FIFTH REGIMENTS.

The One Hundred and Thirteenth Regiment of the Line or Twelfth Cavalry – Organized Near Philadelphia – Joins Pope in Virginia-Subsequent Services in the Shenandoah Valley – The First Command to Discover Lee’s Northward Movement in 1863 – Nearly Surrounded at Winchester – Cutting its Way Out – On the Upper Potomac – In Pursuit of Early – Its Last Battle – Muster Out-Roster of Company K – One Hundred and Forty-fifth Regiment – Company F Recruited at Tidioute – The Regiment is Ordered to the Front Without Adequate Equipments – In Line at Antietam – Assigned to the Second Corps – Its Desperate Struggle at Fredericksburg – Great Losses – Chancellorsville – With Hancock at Gettysburg – In the Wilderness with Grant – Charging the Enemy’s Works at Spottsylvania – Cold Harbor – Petersburg – Part of the Regiment Captured – Other Movements and Battles – Names, Etc., of Its Warren County Members

CHAPTER XXII – ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-FIRST AND ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-NINTH REGIMENTS.

One Hundred and Fifty-first Regiment – Company F Recruited in Warren County – Regimental Organization – Colonel Harrison Allen, of Warren, in Command – Joins the Army of the Potomac – Assigned to the First Corps – The Chancellorsville Campaign- The Weary March to Gettysburg – The Battle – Heroic Conduct During the First Day’s Fight – Frightful Losses – Retiring through the Town to a New Position – Continuance of the Battle – Victory, Though at a Fearful Cost-The Regiment Highly Complimented by General Doubleday – Its Warren County Men – One Hundred and Fifty-ninth Regiment, Otherwise Fourteenth Cavalry – Names of Its Warren County Members – Regiment Organized at Pittsburg – Its Field Officers -Ordered to Harper’s Ferry – Campaigning in the Shenandoah Valley – Attached to General Averell’s Command – A Series of Raids and Battles -Brilliant Success Attending the Raid on the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad – Great Destruction of Rebel Property- A March over the Alleghenies in Midwinter – Swimming Icy Torrents and Swollen Rivers – Co-operating with General Crook – Hunter’s Lynchburg Campaign – Another Terrible March Accomplished – Details of Other Feats Performed and Battles Fought-Close of the War – Transferred to Fort Leavenworth – Muster Out

CHAPTER XXIII – ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-SECOND REGIMENT AND OTHER COMMANDS.

One Hundred and Eighty-second of the Line, Otherwise the Twenty-first Cavalry – Its Warren County Contingent – Serves a Six Months’ Term – Reorganized to Serve for Three Years – For Four Months Renders Gallant Service as an Infantry Regiment of the Fifth Corps – Its Battles – Remounted and Assigned to Gregg’s Division – Subsequent Marches and Engagements – Names, Etc., of the Warren County Men – One Hundred and Ninety-third Regiment – Part of Company I Recruited in Warren County – Regiment Serves One Hundred Days – Two Hundred and Eleventh Regiment- Term One Year – Contains a Full Warren County Company – In Virginia – Makes a Brilliant Record – Roster of Company G – Captain James’s Independent Company – An Account of Its Services – Names of Members – Captain Baldwin’s Company of Militia of 1862 – List of members

CHAPTER XXIV – COUNTY BUILDINGS, ETC.

Utilizing the Rooms of Private Dwellings for Public Purposes – The First Jail – The Village School-House Used as a Court-Room – Reminiscences Concerning Jail Breakers – The First Court-House – The Second Jail – Stone Office Building – Destruction of Same by Fire – Another Erected of Brick – The Third or Present Jail – The New Court-House – County Farm

CHAPTER XXV – TOWNSHIP ORGANIZATIONS.

Brokenstraw the Original Township of the County – Conewango Organized in 1808 – Spring Creek, Sugar Grove, Pine Grove, Kinzua, and Deerfield in 1821 – Columbus in 1825 – Limestone in 1829 -Elk in 1830 -Sheffield and Freehold in 1833 – Pleasant in 1834 – Southwest in 1838 -Eldred in 1843 -Glade in 1844 -Corydon in 1846 – Mead, Cherry Grove, and Pittsfield in 1847 – Farmington in 1853 – Triumph in 1878 – Watson in 1880 – Borough Incorporations

CHAPTER XXVI – AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES.

The First “Agricultural Show “-Organization of the Warren County Agricultural Society – Its Officers – First Annual Fair – Names of Those to Whom were Awarded Premiums – Extract from Judge Wetmore’s Address – Subsequent Fairs, Officers, etc.- Organization of the Union Agricultural Society – Sugar Grove its Headquarters – The Warren County Agricultural Fair Association Organized – Its Officers – Annual Exhibitions – Remarks

CHAPTER XXVII – THE PRESS.

A Description of Warren’s First Printer and Publisher – The Conewango Emigrant – Its First Editor – Interesting Details – The Warren Gazette – Its Editors, Publishers, etc.-Voice of the People-The Union- Warren Bulletin – Democratic Advocate – Warren Standard-Warren Ledger – People’s Monitor-Warren Mail-Youngsville Express – Tidioute Publications – Warren Mirror-Clarendon Record – Evening Paragraph- Sugar Grove News – Bear Lake Record

CHAPTER XXVIII – PETROLEUM.

The ” Fontaine de Bitume “-The Earliest French Missionaries Aware of its Existence- Also the English-Early References to the Same-Washington and Jefferson Speak of “Bituminous Oil” in Virginia-Evidences that the French Gathered the Oil at Titusville- It is Known to Early Inhabitants as ” Seneca Oil”-An Account of the First Producer and Refiner of Petroleum in Pennsylvania-He Terms it “Carbon Oil”- Colonel Drake’s Discovery-Descriptions by Correspondents-Great Excitement at Titusville-Warren Men as Pioneer Operators-Subsequent Developments of Oil Producing Territory-Handsome Profits-Tidioute Field Opened–Squatters-Early Manner of Shipments-Annual Production of Pennsylvania and New York Fields Since 1859

CHAPTER XXIX – CIVIL LIST.

Members of the United States House of Representatives – Judge United States Court of Claims – United States Consul – Lieutenant-Governor – Auditor-General – Member of State Constitutional Convention – State Senators – Members of Assembly – President Judges-Sheriffs – County Commissioners – Prothonotaries – County Treasurers- Registers and Recorders – County Commissioners’ Clerks – Jury Commissioners – Coroners – Justices of the Peace

CHAPTER XXX – RIVER NAVIGATION, ETC., WAGON ROADS, RAILROADS.

Source of the Conewango-Navigable Waters of the County-Asking Aid for Their Improvement- Survey of the Allegheny by U. S. Engineers-Its Length and Fall from Olean to Pittsburgh-Early Manner of Transporting Freight and Passengers-Keelboats- Their Great Usefulness-Shipping Lumber to New Orleans-Names of Steamboats Engaged in the Warren and Pittsburgh Trade-An Immense Raft-Description of Rafting-Nathan Brown’s Ventures-Wagon Roads Laid Out by the Pioneers- Present Condition of Highways – Railroads-Celebrating the Opening of Railway Communication with Erie-Date of Completing Other Railroads

CHAPTER XXXI – THE BENCH AND BAR

Interesting Memoirs of the President Judges now Deceased-Pull Mention of Those Who Survive-The Bar-A Complete Roll of Attorneys Admitted Since the Organization of the County-Remarks Concerning Some of the Earliest Resident Attorneys-Notes Relating to Present Attorneys in Active Practice

CHAPTER XXXII – HISTORY OF THE BOROUGH OF WARREN

CHAPTER XXXIII – HISTORY OF CONEWANGO TOWNSHIP

CHAPTER XXXIV – HISTORY OF BROKENSTRAW TOWNSHIP

CHAPTER XXXV – HISTORY OF SUGAR GROVE TOWNSHIP

CHAPTER XXXVI – HISTORY OF PINE GROVE TOWNSHIP

CHAPTER XXXVII – HISTORY OF DEERFIELD TOWNSHIP

CHAPTER XXXVIII – HISTORY OF SPRING CREEK TOWNSHIP

CHAPTER XXXIX – HISTORY OF KINZUA TOWNSHIP

CHAPTER XL – HISTORY OF COLUMBUS TOWNSHIP

CHAPTER XLI – HISTORY OF LIMESTONE TOWNSHIP

CHAPTER XLII – HISTORY OF ELK TOWNSHIP

CHAPTER XLIII – HISTORY OP SHEFFIELD TOWNSHIP