Of Mead Township, Rev. Timothy Alden thus writes in the Allegheny Magazine, in 1817: "The Township of Mead, which obtained that appellation in honor of the late Major-General David Mead, the first citizen of the United States who explored and settled in this region, is about eighteen miles in length, from east to west, and eight in width. It is bounded on the west, about two miles and a half from French Creek on the westerly side, by Sadsbury; & on the northwest corner to French Creek by Vanango; on the north from French Creek by Rockdale; on the east by Oil Creek; on the south, to French Creek by Wayne; and from French Creek to the southwestern corner by Fairfield. it consists of 89,040 acres of land, of which 52,350 in the eastern part of the township consists of some of the donation lands of the Seventh District. The township is agreeably variegated with hills and dales, but sufficiently level for all the purposes of agriculture. Like most of the county, it is in general better for grass than for grain. For the former, no part of the United States is believed to be better adapted, and of the latter, nothing but the hand of cultivation is wanted to furnish an abundance for a numerous population From one-seventh to one-fifth may be considered first-rate land. Of the residue a hundred acres in one body can, perhaps, nowhere be found so broken or so ordinary in quality as to come under the denomination of third rate. Springs of the purest water abound in all directions, & on which never-failing brooks proceed to irrigate and enhance the value of every plantation in the township.
"Van Horn's Run, Kossewaugo Creek, on the western side of French Creek, Mill Run, rising in Wayne, taking a circuitous northwesterly course and passing through the village of Meadville, some of the branches of Little Sugar Creek, of Big Sugar Creek of Oil Creek and of Woodcock Creek on the east side of French Creek, afford many eligible sites for water-works. At present there are four mills for grain, three for sawing logs. and others are begun or contemplated. Two carding-machines and one Billing-mill are also impelled by water.
"Of forest trees the following list, though imperfect, shows something of the variety: white oak, red oak, black oak; chestnut, hickory in all its species, beech, cherry, sycamore or buttonwood, white ash, black ash, sugar tree, dark and light, soft maple, black birch, white pine, hemlock; white elm, red elm, slippery elm, sassafras, poplar or white wood, quaking asp, cucumber, ironwood, dogwood, not the poisonous kind, called boxwood in some parts, bass or linden, sumac, konnekonilc etc. Of wild fruit there are: crab-apple, plums of several kinds, and of a delicious flavor, haws, white, red and black whortleberries, blue and black in a few places, strawberries, very fine and abundant, blackberries, high and low in great plenty, raspberries, white, red and purple,
"Health, the greatest of all merely temporal blessings, is nowhere more prevalent than in this part of the country. Instances of the goitres are occasionally found, which are probably caused by the common family use of pure, cold spring water, but are seldom accompanied with much inconvenience."
Mead Township was the place of the first settlement in Crawford County. As stated in a previous chapter of this volume, a company of nine men on the 12th day of May, 1788, landed at the site of Meadville, having journeyed into the midst of the vast wilderness from Northumberland County. The outlook was a gloomy one. They were far from any white settlements and poorly supplied with the means of making a livelihood. Most of the men returned to the East, where if they must live with less independence they could at least enjoy more of the comforts of life. When Indian hostilities began all were obliged to forsake their homes till the storm blew over. For several years prior to 1795 there was doubtless little if any permanent settlement in the township or county beyond the fort at Meadville, though for a few years previous clearings were made and crops raised by the venturesome pioneers, working in bands for mutual protection David Mead patented a tract on the west bank of French Creek about one mile above Meadville, but in the fall of 1788 removed to the site of Meadville, abandoned by Thomas Grant. John Mead and Cornelius Van Horn, two early pioneers, became life-long settlers in what is now Vernon Township. James Fitz Randolph, another of the original settlers of 1788, located a tract about two miles south of Meadville in this township. Samuel Lord, John Wentworth and Frederick Haymaker, among others, followed the Mead company to French Creek. Samuel Lord settled on the tract "Mount Hope," the site of North Meadville. He had been a Revolutionary soldier and a noted Indian fighter. He kept a store in Meadville and had a large trade with the Indians, whose good-will he possessed and whose speech he had acquired. He was a Federalist in politics and took a leading interest in public affairs.
The settlement was increased in 1789 by Darius Mead, Frederick Baum and Robert Fitz Randolph. Mr. Fitz Randolph was born in Essex County, N. J.; he married when young and removed to Pennsylvania He served during the Revolution, and at its close took up his residence in Northumberland County. In 1789 he with his family immigrated to French Creek, arriving at Meadville, July 6. He settled at once on a farm two miles below, where he remained until his death, July 16, 1830, in his eighty-ninth year. During the war of 1812, in one of the alarms occasioned by the approach of the enemy at Erie, he mustered his household, consisting of four sons and two or three grandsons, and placing himself at their head marched to meet the expected foe. He was then in his seventy-second year and before reaching Erie was induced to return His sons James, Edward, Robert, Taylor and Esaac were also pioneers.
Frederick Baum settled on a tract which be patented, situated about a mile farther down French Creek, in the southwest part of Mead Township. He was a German. John Baum, who was one of the earliest settlers in the same vicinity, was reputed the strongest man in the settlements.
The northwest corner of Mead Township consists of a tract patented by Thomas Ray. He was one of the earliest to migrate to the western wilderness, and in the spring of 1791, on the day Cornelius Van Horn was taken prisoner,
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