From Crawford County History

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, Stripe 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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