CHAPTER XXXVI
HISTORY OF PINE GROVE TOWNSHIP
PINE GROVE township is a tract of land nearly six miles square, lying somewhat in the northeasterly part of Warren county, and is bounded north by Cattaraugus county in the State of New York, east by Elk township, Warren county, south by Glade and Conewango, and west by Farmington. Its surface is diversified by hill and valley, though this feature is not so prominent a characteristic of Pine Grove as of those towns lying farther south. Neither does it contain so much wild land as most of the other towns in the county, the soil of which it is composed being admirably adapted for agricultural uses. Natural irrigation is afforded by the Conewango Creek and its tributaries. This stream takes its rise in Chautauqua county, N.Y., flows southerly through Pine Grove township – a little west of the center – forms the boundary line between Conewango and Glade townships, and unites with Allegheny River just east of Warren borough. The Dunkirk, Allegheny Valley and Pittsburgh Railroad intersects the town along the east bank of this creek, making access easy to the bounteous resources of nature here provided. The township was formed on the 8th of March, 1821, and its area diminished by the formation of Farmington, 7th of October, 1853. It was first called “Number Six.”
Early Settlements. – As has been written by one of Pine Grove’s best informed local historians, “The history of Pine Grove township from its first settlement would necessarily include a recital of the sufferings, hardships, and privations of the early settlers, of which the present generation can form no adequate idea. A densely wooded country, inhabited by wild beasts, and wild men who had recently surrendered the title to their lands under compulsion,” were the conditions which confronted the unfaltering and fearless pioneers of this neighborhood, which they accepted with a readiness born of intrepidity. It was in circumstances thus inauspicious that, as early as 1795, and while the reports of savage atrocity were yet distinct and vivid, John Frew, John Russell, Robert Miles, and soon after Isaiah Jones, starting from Philadelphia, ascending the Susquehanna and Sinnemahoning, and penetrating the wilderness in what is now McKean county, found the Allegheny at “Canoe Place,” where they provided themselves with means of transportation, floated down the river to the mouth of the Conewango, and made the first permanent settlement of Warren county in the beech woods of Pine Grove and Farmington. It has been claimed that this event occurred previous to Wayne’s treaty of 1795, but we have been unable to discover any evidence sufficiently strong to confute the presumption, which “will not down,” that it was impossible for white men to make a settlement in the heart of the hostile Indian’s battleground, so far away from the protection of the government. They would not have lived to see the last faint glimmer of their first camp-fire, or to have cleared a space sufficient for their final resting-place. As soon, however, as Wayne’s treaty had laid open these rich lands to the settler, came the settler.
The smoothest and most available lands for agricultural purposes are found upon the wide flats and low, broad hills of the central and northwestern portion of the township. In the eastern and southern parts high elevations and a surface roughly corrugated by fierce water courses have rendered large areas unfit for cultivation. Originally these hills were covered with pine of a superior quality, as well as other valuable timber. It was this more than anything else that invited the early settlers to make this region their home. “We find,” says our author, “that as early as 1801 there was at least one saw-mill; and in 1803 Mulford Marsh built a mill near the Irvine mill site, Daniel McGinty and Ethan Jackson built another at Russellburg, near where now is the bridge. Water power was eagerly sought after, to drive the machinery for sawing lumber. But little attention was given to improving the land for agricultural purposes. There were a few attempts made here and there at actual settlement. Z.H. Eddy commenced in 1801 on what is now the Phillips farm, but soon after moved to Warren, where he lived until his death, at an advanced age. One Charles Biles settled on the farm now owned by S.P. Allen. A man by the name of Davis settled on the Sloan farm, but transferred his claim to Garfield, Garfield to S.W. Green, and he to Sloan, who retained it for many years. John McClain settled on the John Daley farm, and Neal McClain established himself on the Cook or Wittsie farm. Samuel Anderson was the first settler on the John Arnold farm. These attempts were made under the settlement act of 1792, which required five years to give title. But few of the first arrivals perfected the title in their own names, as a subsequent assessment mentioned only Samuel Anderson and Isaiah Jones as owning land, of those before named.
The population increased slowly until after the War of 1812, when there seemed to be a more rapid increase, principally from the Eastern States. Many located in New York, while others wound their devious way into Pennsylvania. Pine Grove obtained a portion of this influx. Thomas Martin came from Venango county in 1813, Joseph Akely in 1815, while E.L. Derby, Robert Russell, Robert Miles, Adam Aker, David C. Bowman, John Rogers, John Russell, Caleb Thompson, Joseph and Orrin Hook, Major James Herriot, Robert Valentine, Thomas Slone, John and Marshall Jones, and many others were named in the assessment roll of 1822.
Up to this time, and long after, there were no roads on the east side of the creek, and but two houses, one built and occupied by Major Herriot, near Akely Station, the other on the estate of William and Danford Hale, near the mouth of Store House Run, where there was also a saw-mill. There had been several cabins built a little above the present site of the water tank of the D., A.V. & P. Railroad, by a number of men, who obtained the timber for the first bridge across the Allegheny River, at Pittsburgh, where now stretches the iron bridge at the foot of St. Clair street. This was in 1817, and the place was long known hereabouts as “Shanty Hill Landing.”
There were but thirteen persons assessed in Pine Grove, as now constituted, in 1806. Isaiah Jones, who has been before mentioned as one of the first of the pioneers, lived on the land he selected when he first visited this township until the time of his death. The farm is now occupied by Messrs. Pitts and Way. He was appointed a justice of the peace, and acted as such until the adoption of the Constitution that made the office elective. Edward Jones, his brother, will be remembered by the older inhabitants as court crier for many years. George Slone, father of Thomas Slone, came to this township in 1799 from Cumberland county, Pa. He was by trade a blacksmith. In 1817 he emigrated to Ohio. Robert Russell, who appears in this early list, afterward became an extensive lumberman, and will again be referred to in speaking of the village. Thomas Martin and Garrett Woodworth owned and operated the mills at Russellburg, but low prices for lumber and other adverse circumstances induced them, after a brief period, to sell. Lumber, such as was manufactured here, was sold for $2.50 per thousand in Pittsburgh in the fall of 1820. Martin afterward moved to the mill on Store House Run, which he operated until it burned, about 1825 or 1826. He at the same time took up the farm now owned by Daniel Harrington, and owned it at his death. The Warren Ledger said this of him: “Thomas Martin, of this county, died the 15th of February, 1869, aged eighty-three. Mr. Martin was one of the oldest settlers of Warren county, having emigrated to this county more than fifty years ago from Kent county, in Delaware, where he was born in 1786. He was once sheriff of Warren county for three years, and county commissioner for the same length of time, and his faithful discharge of his public duties received universal commendation. He was a man of more than ordinary intelligence, his advice was often sought, and his counsels accepted. A good man has left us.”
The D., A.V. & P. Railroad was completed in 1871, which made an outlet for certain kinds of lumber and bark that had hitherto been unmarketable and comparatively valueless, besides cheapening the expense of freight for supplies.
The village of Pine Grove, now called Russellburg, was named after Robert Russell, son of that John Russell who emigrated into this township as before related, and lies buried in Pine Grove cemetery, having died 23d of March, 1819, aged seventy-eight years. Robert Russell died August 17, 1847, aged sixty-five years. The village was not regularly laid out until 1843, but had been inhabited by different families from the earliest occupation of the township. That the ground upon which the village stands had been used by the Indians and French from time immemorial, there are many evidences. Being at the head of the Seven-mile Rapids, at the foot of the deep and slack water extending into New York, it seemed to be a natural stopping place on the route from the lakes to the Ohio River, before it was abandoned for the Presque Isle portage. The first white inhabitant must have been one John Houghy, who, with his wife Betsey, lived in a cabin near those large apple trees in the field of R. Chapman, and doubtless planted them. But soon after other people came, and Mr. and Mrs. Houghy, fearing that they were liable to be too crowded, left here and commenced again near the Irvine brick house, where they lived for a time. The island opposite their last place of residence has ever since been known as Houghy’s Island. But people again becoming too thickly settled, they went down the river, and probably settled where they would not be molested by impertinent or inquisitive neighbors.
The first house erected in the village stood near the present residence of R. Chapman. Soon after, another one was built of planks, where now is the store of A.A. Clark, and in this tenement D.M. Martin was born 15th of January, 1821. The first public house was built by Lansing Wetmore, father of Judge L.D. Wetmore, now of Warren, who afterward sold to Robert Miles. After passing through various hands, it came into the possession of A.G. Lane. This was on the same ground now occupied by the hotel. Thomas Slone commenced on the opposite corner to build a public house, but sold to Marshall Jones before completion, who, after finishing it, kept tavern in it until 1824. It then burned, and was at once rebuilt by Jones. This property also went through various permutations until the winter of 1841, when both hotels were burned at once.
During the time that Jones was keeping public house he and his brother John commenced building a saw-mill across the creek on Akely Run, but soon sold to Joseph Akely, who came from Brattleboro, Vt., in 1815, and took up 600 acres of land, embracing the site of this mill. Here he manufactured lumber, cleared and cultivated land until his death, 14th of October, 1875, at the age of eighty-six years, leaving an untarnished name as an example and a heritage to his many children. As the country filled up, and saw-mills increased in number far up the Conewango in the State of New York; Pine Grove, or Russellburg, in the rafting season became a busy place, located, as it is, at the head of the rapids, where pilots were procured to pilot the rafts into the Allegheny. The Conewango seemed to afford more water than now, or at least a rafting stage of water lasted much longer. Sometimes for nearly a month the village would be thronged with raftmen engaged in transporting their lumber to a lower market. All this has passed away forever. The timber has nearly all been taken away, and probably the last raft of sawn lumber has passed out of the Conewango. With the extinguishment of this business the occupation of many of the citizens of Pine Grove has gone likewise. The whole male population seemed to depend upon going down the river as often as possible – and many thereby became intimately acquainted with the rivers, their windings and intricate channels, from here to the falls of the Ohio. That knowledge, so highly prized at one time, is useless now, except as affording an interesting and never-failing subject of conversation between old river men when they meet and tell minutely every circumstance connected with a trip made fifty or sixty years ago. Thomas Slone, who has previously been mentioned, and who died in this village 3d of October, 1886, at the age of ninety-nine years, was never so happy as when relating the rafting experiences which occurred in his boyhood. In relation to him the following is copied from the “Historical Atlas of Warren County”: “Thomas Slone was born in Cumberland county, Pa., in 1796. He came with his father to Pine Grove in 1799, and has been a resident of this township ever since. He has been one of the most active and energetic business men in Pine Grove, and always took an active interest in everything pertaining to the welfare of the township or county. He was county commissioner from 1837 to 1840. He is now in his eighty-third year, living in Russellburg, surrounded by his friends and relations, enjoying the calm reflections incident to a busy life. His wife, a few years younger, is also living” (1878 – died 1883). The following in reference to her is copied from the “Warren Centennial Business Directory”: “Jane Slone, born in 1800 in Pine Grove, is believed to be the first white child born in the county now living.”
Richard Alden came to the county in 1827 from Oneida, and built a carding-mill and cloth-dressing establishment at the head of the island at Russellburg soon after he came. This business was carried on by him until about 1835 or 1836, when he emigrated to Louisiana on the Red River. Henry Gray took his place in the mill until it was washed away, not long after, by a flood and a break in the dam. The business was again undertaken by T. Drummond, of Denver, Col., who later removed his machinery to Brookville, Pa. Woolen-factories having been established at Jamestown and elsewhere in the vicinity, the business was abandoned as unremunerative, and such machinery became useless for the reason that the women had forgotten how to spin and weave as their ancestors had been forced to do.
Dr. Newman was the first physician that resided in the village, and it has been said of him that none who have since practiced here have filled his place. He went away with Richard Alden and died in Louisiana. He was succeeded by Dr. Wheeler, a young man who read medicine with Newman, and died young of consumption. Since then the village has been blessed with many practitioners,* who have made this the halting-place, until they had learned enough to go elsewhere. Pine Grove, like most villages of its size and age, has been imposed upon by quacks.
Luke Turner came to Russellburg in 1827, kept a public house here for many years, and in 1839 moved to Limestone. His widow, now nearly eighty-eight years old, resides with R. Chapman, who married one of her daughters. She has been blind for many years, but her mind is as clear and her memory as correct as most of those who are younger.
The first bridge across the Conewango at Russellburg was built in 1827 or 1828, and was again built in 1840, and replaced by the present structure in 1853 by F.E. Perkins. The main building now occupied as a grist-mill was built for a pail-factory in 1834, and was before long abandoned. The old grist-mill was then removed, in 1838, from the present site of Thompson’s mill to this new building. In 1868 it was furnished with new machinery, and the additional portions of the building by D.M. Martin and J.S. Briggs, from whom it was purchased by A.G. Lane. The first planing-mill was started by I.W. Briggs, who has continued the business unto the present time, and now has a steam mill at the foot of East street. E.W. Thompson also carries on that kind of business in connection with his saw-mill.
The first elementary school in the township was kept in a private house in the village by a man named Stephen Rodger, who was drowned in 1815 or 1816. About the same time a school was kept in Marshtown by Hugh Marsh. (See Farmington.) The first school-house erected in Pine Grove was also in the village in the year 1818, and the first teacher in the same was named Murdick; he emigrated hither from some of the Eastern States. These schools were supported by their patrons alone, per capita. Indeed, all the schools in the township were kept up in this manner until after 1834. There are eleven school-houses in the township with 331 pupils. There are three schools in the village with an attendance of about 100 pupils.
The foregoing mosaic of interesting facts concerning the early history of Pine Grove is the work of one the best-informed of her citizens. So much has been said already that little is left for the writer but to fill up with the results of his own research a few of the fissures left by our generous contributor. The remarks made by him in respect to the busy appearance of the village during the height of lumber traffic in the spring, will apply to nearly every town in the county which is bordered or penetrated by a stream of any size. Forty or fifty years ago, in Russellburg, from nine o’clock in the morning, during the rafting seasons, the creek would be filled with rafts, and the roads would be crowded with men going and coming in every direction. This condition of things lasted until about the time of the last war, though a decline had then already begun. Men still living remember having seen the ball-room, dining-room, bar-room, halls, and even barn floors belonging to the tavern of Thomas Slone, completely covered with lumbermen who were glad to get any place of shelter for the night. The eccentric Guy C. Irvine used to cut, it is stated, about 3,000,000 feet of pine lumber a year, and Robert Russell turned out about the same amount.
Such additional information concerning the early settlers as has come to the writer he here gives as a supplement to the first part of this chapter. The farm of Isaiah Jones was in the north part of the town, adjoining the State line. Jones was found dead by the roadside not far from the brewery in Warren, and it was supposed that he had been thrown from his wagon and killed. His brother Edward was here as early as Isaiah himself, and was a near neighbor. Job Damon, who is mentioned in the list of 1822, was an eccentric sort of man, who had fifty acres of land near the New York State line, and is said to have carried his eccentricity to insanity. He was found dead near his house about twenty years ago. His life was very secluded. About 1830 Robert Russell built the brick building now occupied by Patrick Wetherby, and resided therein until his death. Previous to that time he dwelt in a framed house opposite his mills on the creek. His descendants are numerous in town, the postmaster, Harvey Russell, being one of his grandsons.
Following is the list of taxables of Pine Grove the first year after its formation (1822). It will be borne in mind that it frequently happens that many were taxed who were not residents, but merely property owners in the town:
Samuel Anderson, 200 acres; Robert Anderson; Enoch Alden, 75 acres; Hiram Alden, 75 acres; John M. Berry; Adam Acker, 100 acres; Garrett Burget, 297 acres; Peter Burget, 100 acres; David C. Bowman; Daniel Chapin; Levi Chapple, 70 acres; Andrew Chapple, 70 acres; Alanson Chapple, 70 acres; Eademus Comstock, 200 acres; Eleazer Chase; Alexander Chesney; Samuel Cowen, 200 acres; Edward Derby, carpenter; Nathan Davis; Samuel Daley; Job Damon, carpenter; Joseph Fitch, 150 acres; Josiah Gibbs; Seth W. Creen, 300 acres; Joseph Hook; Orrin Hook; Major James Herriot, 1,965 acres and a double saw-mill; William Hearns; William Heaton, 102 acres; Joseph G. Heaton, carpenter, 80 acres; Stephen Hadley, 200 acres; Isaiah Jones, “Esq.” 329 acres; Silas Rowland, 50 acres; Benjamin L. Raymond, 50 acres; David Root; Stephen Rowland, 188 acres; John Roger, 376 acres; Joel Rathbun (heirs), 650 acres; John Russell, 300 acres; Mary Russell, widow, 78 acres; Thomas Russell, 100 acres; William C. Sheldon, 130 acres; William Sheldon, 180 acres; Arthur N. Smith; William Tanner; Edward Treadway; Caleb Thompson, 300 acres; Jonathan Thompson, 150 acres; Spencer Johnston, 200 acres; Jehu Jones, 150 acres; Marshall Jones; Edward Jones, 450 acres; Joseph Jenkin, blacksmith; Ozam Kibbey, 50 acres; McConnell & Hubbell; Thomas Martin, 98 acres and two saw-mills; James Martin; John Marsh; Hugh Marsh, 300 acres; Thomas Marsh; Ross Marsh, 100 acres; Joseph Hugh Marsh, 100 acres; John Marsh, sr., 366 acres; Joseph Marsh, 50 acres; Joshua Marsh; Robert Miles, 100 acres, a tavern and one-half of an acre; John Mahon; Medad Northrop, 35 acres; Gideon M. Northrop, 100 acres; Jesse Northrop, 93 acres; Merritt Northrop, 93 acres; Joseph Northrop, 100 acres; Jeremiah C. Newman, 147 acres; Enos Northrop, 30 acres; Joseph B. Overton, 150 acres; Lewis Osborn, 100 acres; Zebulon Peterson, 50 acres; Robert Russell, 623 acres and two saw-mills; Anthony Thamer, 50 acres; Samuel Treadway; Robert Valentine, 200 acres and a saw-mill; Joseph Akely, 550 acres; Thomas Slone, one-half acre and a tavern; James G. Staunton, 200 acres; Jeremiah Sanford, 24 acres; Esquire Phillips, 85 acres; Levi Phillips, 100 acres.
Present Business. – The hotel now kept by E. Dean was built in 1870 by A.G. Lane, who had burned out on the opposite side of the street. Mr. Lane will long be remembered by the people of Russellburg as a man who has done as much to build up the village as any one who has ever lived in the town. He died suddenly in August, 1876. He was born on the 20th of February, 1812, and came to Warren from Camden, Oneida county, N.Y., when he was about four years of age. He removed to Russellburg in 1832, and made that place his home until the time of his death. He was elected treasurer of Warren county in 1865, and served the term with satisfaction to the people. He afterward filled the same office another term, in place of Chase Osgood, who failed to qualify. Mr. Lane always held a good character among his fellowmen, and has bequeathed his good qualities to his son, Hiram W. Lane. The hotel was first kept, after Mr. Lane had opened it to the public, by Dwight Hayward for four years. J.M. Martin was then proprietor for four years. His successors are Theodore Chase, L. Harrison, Mrs. Mary Miller, E. Dean, A.J. Marsh, and in May, 1886, the present proprietor, E. Dean, took possession. The house is well kept and will accommodate about twenty-five or thirty guests. Mr. Dean has been a resident of Pine Grove for forty years. He came here from Chautauqua county, N.Y.
Among the merchants now in Russellburg, H.T. Russell is of the longest standing, having engaged in mercantile business in this village for fourteen years. He has occupied the building, in which he now transacts his business, about six years. He carries a general stock valued at about $4,000. He is also postmaster, having retained the office about thirteen years. The store which he occupies was built by A.G. Lane in the summer of 1867.
A.A. Clark, who began his mercantile career in this village in 1876, now carries stock worth about $5,000. A.V. Mott, who deals in general merchandise in a building which has been used for mercantile purposes for nearly fifty years, began here in May, 1880, though he did not occupy the present building until 1883, when it was vacated by A.A. Clark. He estimates the value of his stock at about $4,000. E.H. French, a resident of this township since 1832, has been proprietor of a feed store in Russellburg since 1883. He was in the mercantile business here during the war, but sold out in 1868, and from that time to 1883 was engaged in lumbering. Before the war he was for years a practical shoemaker in Russellburg. He came in 1832 from Massachusetts with his father, Harrison French. He was born in Lowell, on the 8th of July, 1829. P.F. Lewis, the only hardware merchant in town, came from Frewsburg, N.Y., in the winter of 1885-6 and established the business which he is now successfully conducting. The harness store of M.A. Lockwood was established here in September, 1886, by the present proprietor. After serving a sort of apprenticeship with R. Chapman, John Moll started making boots and shoes in town in 1852. C. Moll also worked with Mr. Chapman as journeyman from 1850 to 1853, when he started for himself. Excepting two terms, when he lived in Corydon (1857 to 1862 and 1867 to 1871), he has passed his business life in Russellburg.
The principal blacksmithing shop now in town is that of E.D. and W.R. Johnson, who, under the style of Johnson Brothers, have done blacksmithing here for six years. In the same building J.C. Hatton carries on the business of wagon-making, and has done so for twelve or fifteen years.
The grist-mill has been mentioned in an earlier page of this chapter. The present owner and proprietor, Hiram W. Lane, bought the property of D.M. Martin in March, 1872, and has operated it with good success to the present, having considerably enlarged it and increased its facilities. Besides his custom work, he keeps well-stocked with feed and meal. The capacity of his mill is stated to be about 500 bushels of grain in twenty-four hours. The other manufacturing interests in the township are represented by a number of saw, planing-mills, etc. E.W. Thompson, who operates perhaps the most extensive mill in this part of the county, is on the site originally occupied by Robert Russell. He built his saw-mill in 1874, and first set it in operation in May, 1875. In January, 1886, he added the planing, matching, and house furnishing department, and now has practically all the facilities for providing from his own mill a complete outfit for buildings and furniture. He has the largest wheel and power in the county, operating his mill entirely by water. He now cuts about 500,000 feet of lumber annually, but expects soon to run the amount up to about 12,000,000. Mr. Thompson deserves well at the hands of his townsmen, not only by his honesty and diligence, but because he is a native of the adjoining town of Farmington, where he was born in 1835. His father, William Thompson, came from Long Island to Farmington in 1829. Since he was old enough to engage in business on his own, account Mr. Thompson has transacted successful business in this town and vicinity. He bought his present mill property of D.M. Martin and Joseph Briggs.
J.H. Dickinson has a steam saw-mill in the northeast part of the town, which he built some fifteen years ago. Near him is the mill of Lacox & Son, of Buffalo, which was erected in 1884. More than thirty years ago Chapin Hall built the mill now operated and owned by Gilbert Turner & Son. A.G. Lane acquired the property from Hall, and sold to John Schnor, the grantor to the present proprietors. It is a well appointed steam saw and lath-mill. Near the railroad station is the stave-factory, operated by steam, owned by J.H. Fry, and built some ten or twelve years ago by E.W. Thompson. Mr. Fry purchased the property of G.W. Slone. In the east part of the township is the steam saw-mill of Robert Parish & Co., which has also a shingle and planing department. This mill was erected in March, 1886. J.H. Martindale is manufacturer of grape baskets, shingles, etc., and transacts a good business in a steam mill which he erected in June, 1886.
The stone grist-mill in the south part of the township, by the railroad, was erected by Guy C. Irvine in 1836, and is now in the hands of his executors.
Near the railroad station at Russellburg is the steam cider-mill and jelly-factory of John Allen, which he built some four or five years ago, and which does a large business every season. At Ackley Station is a thrifty creamery owned and operated by Young & Clark, which has been in operation about three years.
The old mill site occupied by Thomas Slone years ago is now occupied by the saw-mill of Charles Van Arsdale. It is a good mill and manufactures a goodly amount of lumber.
About a mile east of the railroad station at Russellburg is the chemical laboratory of R.B. Day, of Dunkirk. Including his wood-choppers, Mr. Day employs some thirty men. He manufactures a wood alcohol and an acetate of lime. The works have been in operation there about six or seven years.
At Ackley Station there are two general stores, kept by W.C. Hale & Co., and Bennett & Co., respectively.
There are only two physicians at present practicing in Pine Grove township. Dr. William A. Clark is a physician of signal ability, who has been in practice here for many years. Dr. Otis G. Brown, a more recent arrival, was born at Farmington on the 3d of August, 1863, received his medical education at the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Baltimore, Md., from which he was graduated in March, 1886. After practicing five months in East Warren, he opened an office at Russellburg.
Ecclesiastical. – The oldest ecclesiastical organization in the township is the Methodist Episcopal, which was formed, it is said, about 1830. Among the first members were E.W. Chase, Almira Chase, Joseph Lindsey and Catharine Lindsey, and Richard Alden. James Gilmore seems to have been the first pastor, and was followed successively by Revs. Todd and Luce, Tacket and Stowe, Preston and Stearns, Flower and Demmon, Best and Pritchard, Bryan S. Hill, Alexander Barris and Samuel Henderson, E.I.L. Baker, John Hill, Butts, Norton, Peate and Ware, Burgess, Bush and Stocker. This brings the record down to December, 1852, at which time the following were members of this organization: Joseph Lindsey and wife, Joseph Jones and wife, H.B. Herrick and wife, F.H. Herrick and wife, John Allen and wife, J.W. Akely and wife, H. Demmon, J.W. Demmon, Ira Badger, Harriet Badger, Nancy Vansile, Mary Moll, Mary Hodges, and L. Akely.
The pastors, since 1852 and including that year, have been as follows: 1852-53, C. Irons; 1854-55, S.S. Burton; 1856, James Gilfillan; 1857-58, E.A. Anderson; 1859-60, J.C. Scofield; 1861, S.N. Warner; 1862-63, P. Burroughs; 1864-65, Z.W. Shadduck; 1866, W. Bush; 1867, S. Hollen; 1868, C.W. Reeves; 1869-70, H.W. Leslie; 1871, J.F. Hill; 1872-73, F.A. Archibald; 1874-75, E. Brown; 1876-77, A.H. Bowers; 1878-79, L.J. Bennett; 1880-81, L.F. Merritt; 1882-83, C.W. Miner; 1884-85, C.C. Hunt; Mr. Hunt is the present pastor.
From the beginning until the summer of 1854, meetings were held in private houses and in the school-house on the east side of Conewango Creek. But at that time the present house of worship was erected at a cost of about two thousand dollars, and was dedicated by J.H. Whalen, S.S. Burton, and others. The church has a membership at the present writing of about forty-eight, and the church property is valued at about $1,700.
* Says our author.
SOURCE: Page(s) 443-453, History of Warren County, J.S. Schenck & W.S. Rann, Syracuse, New York: D. Mason, 1887
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