From Venango Genealogy
Such “daring and hardy” men as are here referred to by Judge
Washington, were those who first settled Crawford county. In 1787,
David Mead, in company with his brother John, sons of Darius Mead, of
Hudson, New York, having taken up land in the Wyoming Valley, and been
dispossessed through the conflicting claims of Connecticut and
Pennsylvania, made their way through the forests, and across mountains
to the mouth of the Veanango river, and thence up that stream till they
reached a broad valley, nearly five miles in length, on whose bosom now
reposes the city of Meadville, and the one, undoubtedly, referred to by
Washington. Two years previous, at the instance of the general
government, a party of engineers, headed by William Bowen under
military escort, made a survey of a large body of land in this corner
of the State, embracing the sixth, seventh, and eighth sections, which
had been set aside for the payment of bounties to soldiers of the
Revolution.
Having had some experience in selecting lands for settlement, these two
pioneers made a thorough examination of the territory, and chose this
valley for their future habitation. They found the flats above the
confluence of the Cussawago with the Venango river cleared, and covered
with luxuriant grass, having been previously cultivated by the natives,
and perhaps by the French, who had a fort on what is now Dock street,
Meadville. Returning to the Susquehanna, in the spring of the following
year, they came again, accompanied by Thomas Martin, John Watson, James
F. Randolph, Thomas Grant, Cornelius
Van Horn, and Christopher Snyder. With the exception of Grant
they all selected lands on the western side of the river, now Valonia,
and the tracts above. Grant chose the section on which is now
Meadville, and made his home at the head of Water street. Soon tiring
of the frontier, he transferred his tract to David Mead, who thus
became the proprietor and real founder of the city which took his name.
In the spring of the following year came the families of some of these
men. Sarah Mead, daughter of David, was the first child born within the
new settlement. Subsequently came Samuel Lord, John Wentworth,
Frederick Haymaker, Frederick Baum, Robert Fitz Randolph, and Darius
Mead. These were the pioneers; but as the report of fine lands upon the
Venango spread, settlers came in great numbers. There were a few
families of Indians inhabiting the neighborhood, who became the fast
friends of the white men, prominent among whom were Canadochta and his
three sons, Flying Cloud, Standing Stone, and Big Sun, and Half-town, a
half brother of Cornplanter, Strike Neck, and Wire Ears.
To the beginning of 1791, few disturbances from hostile Indians
occurred, and little danger was apprehended; but the defeat of the army
under General Harmar, and subsequently that led by St. Clair, left the
hostile tribes of Ohio and western Pennsylvania free to prosecute their
nefarious schemes of murder, arson, and fiendish torture, upon the
helpless frontiersmen. Early in this year, Flying Cloud, the ever
faithful friend of the whites, gave notice that the savages were upon
the war path. For safety, the settlers repaired to the stockade fort at
Franklin. It was seed time, and these provident men were loath to let
the time pass for planting, and thus fail of a crop for the sustenance
of their families. Accordingly, four of them, Cornelius Van Horn, William Gregg,
Thomas Ray, and Christopher Lantz, returned with their horses, and
commenced ploughing. Vengeful Indians came skulking upon their track,
and, singling out Van Horn
when the others were away, seized him and his horses, and commenced the
march westward. Eight miles away, near Conneaut lake, they stopped for
the night, where Van Horn
managed to elude them, and made his way back, when he found that Gregg
had been killed, and, as subsequently ascertained, Ray was made captive
and led away to Detroit.
Hostilities continued during 1792; but General Anthony Wayne, who had
now been placed at the head of the troops sent against the savages,
gave them sufficient employment. Early in the year, a company of
twenty-four men, under Ensign Bond, was detailed from Wayne’s army to
protect this settlement, and was quartered at Meadville. But as the
campaign became active, it was summoned away, and the families of the
settlers again retired to the stockade at Franklin. The numbers had
considerably increased by 1794, and a militia company was formed for
self-protection Cornelius Van Horn
being elected Captain, and a block-house was erected near the head of
Water street. On the 10th of August, James Dickson, a resolute
Scotchman, was fired upon by Indians in concealment near the outskirts
of the settlement, and severely wounded in the hand and shoulder. By
dexterous management with his gun, of which he held the fire, he
baffled the endeavors of his assailants to capture him, and, though
bleeding profusely, reached the block-house. The alarm was given, and
pursuit promptly made; but the wily foe escaped. Ten days later General
Wayne inflicted a crushing defeat, and Indian warfare in this part of
the State was at an end, though occasional depredations were committed
by isolated parties for some time, James Findley and Barnabas McCormick
having been murdered in cold blood, in June of the following year, six
miles below Meadville, on the river valley.
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