Crawford County, Pennsylvania
History
1876 ATLAS 1
"HISTORY OF THE VILLAGES AND TOWNSHIPS OF CRAWFORD COUNTY."
GREENWOOD TOWNSHIP.
Greenwood was formed in 1830. It contains nineteen thousand three hundred and eighty-seven acres. The surface is level. It is well watered and the soil is productive. The population numbers about two thousand, and the climate is remarkably healthy. Geneva, incorporated as a borough January 23, 1872, is a fine town in the northern part. It formerly bore the name of Sutton's Corners, from John Sutton, and has a present population of over four hundred. Peter Smith, from Blooming Valley, was the first merchant in Geneva, and sold the first goods there in 1860. West Greenwood, south of the centre, was formerly known as Porter's Corners, from Francis Porter; it contains a church, school-house, and a few dwellings. Asher and William Williams were early pioneers. Abraham Martin settled here in 1794. Samuel Anderson came in 1796, and settled near the centre. Richard Custard settled in the eastern part in 1797. John McMichael moved in 1798 from Meadville to the western part of Greenwood. Robert Adams, a soldier of 1812, moved in with a yoke of oxen in 1801, and located on the present farm of George Adams. Alexander Clark and Thomas Abbott arrived in 1802; and John Sutton, of New Jersey, in 1803. During this last year Francis Porter made his way here from Cumberland County with a five-horse team, and settled upon a tract of land on which the Greenfield Presbyterian church stands. Other and later settlers were William Brooks, Joseph Thatcher, and John M. Wood.
The first grist- and saw-mill erected in the township was put up by John McMichael in 1799. During the years preceding 1812, when neighbors were few and scattered, strange as it seems, there was more of sociality than now exists in narrower limits. Visits were made, and all gathered around the blazing hearth and listened to tales of the French and Indian war; they heard of the savage whoop and the gauntlet race, the burned dwelling and the captured household, and stood by each other when England and her wild allies threatened this region with torch and knife. The thrilling tales of war and hunting told around those fires are heard no more; actor and hearer are passed away, and the historical record merely intimates there were those thrilling scenes and chivalrous deeds.
The women of that day sang at the wheel as the modern belle at the piano. Without wash-board or machine, their linen was clean and white. With kitchen fire-place, where were the crane and pot-hook and an out-door clay oven, cooking and baking were achieved of plain and wholesome food, and things unknown were felt no loss.
