Crawford County, Pennsylvania
History
1876 ATLAS 1
"HISTORY OF THE VILLAGES AND TOWNSHIPS OF CRAWFORD COUNTY."
BEAVER TOWNSHIP.
A few old men, with willing spirit but defective memory, supply the meagre outlines of early settlement and pioneer privations. A third generation has well-nigh passed away since those memorable days, when the adventurous pioneer ventured into the forests of Western Pennsylvania, and choosing a tract near river, creek, or spring, reared an humble dwelling; and, going east, returned again with family, sometimes with company, often alone, and incurred hardships, privations, and danger. Traveling a trackless forest, little could be carried with them to insure home comforts. Arrived at the chosen site, how did it appear? Water convenient of access, the log cabin built, and a patch of land cleared of trees, but thick with stumps and charred logs. Where are the neighbors for help in sickness and for friendly intercourse? The echo of a distant axe, and the occasional far-off thunder of a falling tree, tell of some other brave-hearted borderer. Brief mention of a few of the old frontiersmen and initial efforts, looking to a future civilization, are all that can be gained, and these but fragments. Following on the track of a previous compiler, his record is found true in most particulars, and is reproduced with omissions and additions.
The township of Beaver is but a limited portion of what is called Old Beaver, and lies in the northwest corner of the County. Its area is twenty-one thousand six hundred and sixty-eight acres; its surface is level and inclines northward. Its organization dates from 1811. The lands were well wooded, and gave employment in later years to the lumbermen. Settlement became general, and many improvements had begun, when the question of valid claims arose, and many left not to return again. The names of Richard Durham, Philip McGuire, and George and William Foster are associated with early settlement. William Foster, son of George, arrived in the township about the year 1800. He is said to have hauled a barrel of flour upon a hand sled through the woods to his tract; and this, with game from about him, supplied his food. The Fosters settled near the centre of the township, McGuire in the southern part, Silverthorn in the southeast, on a run which took his name, and Thompson in the southwest. Van Crozier, Neild, Larkins, Browns, Gateses, Hollenbecks, and many others, came in and began to make themselves homes. The news of litigation was marked by general abandonment of claims. Richard Durham, Philip McGuire, and George Foster were located on lands not claimed by Holland Company and held their claims by actual settlement. Lotan Reid was a settler in Beaver in 1834. Then, even roads were unknown, and the blazed tree was the pioneer’s guide to and from his wood-encircled home. The first road laid out bore the name of the Old Fisher Road, from a family of the name of Fisher, past whose mills (located in what is now Spring Township) the route lay. Indications of the existence of salt water in the southwest part of the township caused a firm named Clark, Magaw & Shryack to bore a well; the result was a partial success; but the traffic on French Creek rendered it unprofitable, and it was soon abandoned. Lately, borings have been made for oil. Early grist and saw-mills were built; one on a run north of Beaver Centre was called after the builder,—Griswald’s Mill; another near by was erected by Robert Foster. It had a single run of stones, obtained from adjacent rocks. The first saw-mill is accredited to William Plymat, and stood about a mile west of the centre. The initial merchant of Beaver was Lester Griswald, son of Elind, an old resident. There have been no taverns in the township. The first doctor was Dr. Bemers, from Meadville. He came out to attend disbanded soldiers of Harrison’s army taken with typhoid fever. Among early Justices was Ark. Jenks, a man well known and of fair ability. An early marriage was that of William Crozier to Mary Fisher, in the year 1802. Meetings were held by traveling missionaries and preachers sent out from Meadville, and church organization and house-building are of recent date. Education receives fair attention. Manufacture is principally represented by J. W. Wood and Co.’s establishment, started in 1865, and doing a good business in the production of hand-rakes, felloes, spokes, wagon-poles, and shafts. The lowland is rich, and answers well for farming and grazing, and the township is by nature well calculated for these avocations.
