Crawford County, Pennsylvania
History
1876 ATLAS 1
"HISTORY OF THE VILLAGES AND TOWNSHIPS OF CRAWFORD COUNTY."
WEST FALLOWFIELD TOWNSHIP.
The township of West Fallowfield was formed in 1845. Its area is six thousand six hundred and twenty-nine acres. The surface is uneven, and sustains a heavy growth of pine, oak, and chestnut. Crooked Creek is the boundary line on the east. The oldest Justice of the Peace was Hugh Andrews, appointed at an early date, and held for life. An early marriage was of William Henry to Nancy Rankin, on March 7, 1807. Hugh Fletcher was chain-carrier to the surveyors of this region, and settled during 1797 in the north part of the township. Among the early settlers of the strip of land known as West Fallowfield, were Thomas and George McClellan, Adam Owry, a Revolutionary soldier, and his brother John, made simple by injuries received while running the gauntlet among the Indians, and Samuel Rogers. William Henry, from Fayette County, with knapsack on his back and rifle in hand, came out in 1800 to seek a home, and located just west of Hartstown. While heads of numerous families were seekers for new homes, it is remarkable in the early settlement of Crawford that a large number of her pioneers were young men, single. Henry's first cover was a shelter supported by forked sticks, and roofed with bark. He next built a pole hut, and, being unable to make a door, cut a hole in a log near the top, through which he used to crawl in and out. The general first crop was potatoes. Henry and Owry built the first hewed-log houses. The first raising was of Thomas McLanahan's double hewed-log barn. It was raised in 1810, and destroyed by fire in 1818. The first saw-mill stood a mile east of Adamsville, and was built by McClellan. William Campbell erected the first grist-mill, a mile south of the same village. Henry was the first tanner west of Meadville. His first tanning was of a horse-skin, and the skin of a calf partly eaten by wolves, done in a dug-out trough. Next season, vats were made lined with puncheon. A tannery was built in 1806, and burnt by incendiary in 1818. During twelve years work has been abundant. Another tannery was erected in 1819, and still stands on the Henry farm on the State road. Work was done in the building as late as 1872. Home distilling was common, and seven stills were in operation at one time. The first store was kept at Hart's Corners by Cyrus T. Cummings, who boarded with Henry. Adam Owry was the pioneer blacksmith, and followed the trade till his death. His shop was at Adamsville, a village in the southern part of the township. Pioneer schools were kept in abandoned cabins. Hartstown is located north of the centre of the township. It owes its name to James and William Hart, brothers and landowners in the vicinity. Dr. Steen built the second structure and the first hewed-log house in the place. The next was by Thomas Rogers, the village "smithy." The pioneer merchant was John McFarn, who wagoned his goods from Pittsburgh. Squire Henry, Jr., was the first resident carpenter. La Fevre was the first landlord in Hartsville, in a house built by Hart. Ezra Buell was a teacher prior to 1822, in a house on the village-site. Teachers were wanted, and Buell was called upon to teach a school when in his eighty-fourth year. The old pedagogue lived to be nearly a century old, and was buried in the village cemetery. Hartstown was incorporated in 1851. A reservoir covering six hundred acres was a favorite fishing resort. The water was let off in 1872, and large quantities of bass, white-fish, and pickerel were taken by the villagers and farmers of the vicinity.
