Crawford County, Pennsylvania
History
1876 ATLAS 1
"HISTORY OF THE VILLAGES AND TOWNSHIPS OF CRAWFORD COUNTY."
PINE TOWNSHIP.
Pine Township was formed from South Shenango in 1847. Its area is six thousand three hundred and sixty-nine acres. The surface is level. Pymatuning swamp occupies the entire southern portion. The soil is adapted to stock-raising. When first settled the land was covered by a heavy growth of pine, which, being cut off, left a mass of stumps which have been extracted and utilized in the construction of permanent and effective fences. Samuel Glenn, an Irishman, made himself a home in the southern part of the township, and is regarded as the first settler and the builder of the first cabin. Co[n]temporary settlers were Martin Cunningham, Robert Graham, William Burnside, Mrs. Margaret Robison, and Mrs. Patterson; all of whom settled in south Pine. Settlers in the northern portion were William Burnside in 1797 or 1798, Robert Graham in 1802, and Samuel Glenn in 1811.
The first saw-mill was erected by Amos Line, in 1820. The first framed house in the township was put up in 1824, by Joseph Allen. Amos Line kept the first store in the northern part of the township, and taught in a log school-house in Linesville in 1835, the first school in that place. Rachel V. Line, daughter of Amos Line, born in 1819, was the first white child born in the township.
The first grist-mill, and probably the first framed building in Pine, was erected in 1800 at Linesville, by Jabez Colt. The first inn-keeper in the township was Horatio N. Mead, of Linesville. Charles Master, killed during a thunder-storm by the falling of a tree, is believed to have been the first death. The first school-teacher was Joseph Line, whose school-house stood in the northeast part of the township. His first term was taught in 1824. The first church was built of logs, and stood in the northeast part of the township, and the first sermon was thought to have been preached in 1818 by Rev. McMullen, a minister of the Baptist denomination.
Linesville, named from the Lines, first settlers, is a village of some extent, situated on Mill Creek near the Conneaut line. Amos Line came from Plainfield, New Jersey, in 1818, and soon after laid out the place. He was the surveyor for the Population Company, and not only did their work in surveying, but that of the settlers as he was called upon. Till the mill was put in operation, a rough structure gave shelter to the hands, but in 1825 Mr. Line erected a frame house—the first in Linesville. The first store kept in Linesville was by Smith Line, and the first tannery in Pine was built by S. C. Stratton, in 1833 or 1834. Zeph Thayer was the pioneer doctor, and was highly esteemed professionally. William Burnside, of Ireland, was the blacksmith, Moses Lord, the shoemaker, and Joseph Allen, the carpenter, who led the van of their trade in Linesville [sic]. Line had a brick kiln, and from it built the first and only brick house in town. Line served also as first Postmaster. The village occupies considerable ground, and has a population of about five hundred. On November 12, 1873, a destructive fire swept off property to the value of twenty thousand dollars. The loss has been to a great extent repaired.
