Crawford County, Pennsylvania
History
1876 ATLAS 1
"HISTORY OF THE VILLAGES AND TOWNSHIPS OF CRAWFORD COUNTY."
SPARTA TOWNSHIP.
The township of Sparta was organized from Bloomfield in 1830. Its area is twenty-three thousand nine hundred and thirteen acres. Population in 1870 was one thousand one hundred and thirty-one. Hugh Coil, Andrew Britton, Patrick and Hugh FitzPatrick, Walter Crouch, Daniel Bolders, and Reuben Blakeslee were the earliest settlers. Hugh FitzPatrick had settled on land now owned by Mrs. Groom, and erected a cabin. He was missed on February 7, 1817, and found murdered. His assassin was a man named VanHollen, who was taken to Meadville and hanged during August of the same year. The Coils were early settlers of Oil Creek, now Rome Township. A son named Hugh removed to Sparta about 1815, and settled near the central south part of the township. Andrew Britton came with his father from near Philadelphia and settled in the west part of Sparta, on the farm now owned by Horace Alsdurf. Walter Crouch settled on the White place, now owned by Mr. Merchant. Daniel Bolden was a neighbor to Coil, and came into the County about 1823, and Reuben Blakeslee and his son Abraham came from New York to Meadville in 1817, and settled about a mile and a half southeast of Sparta on April 11, 1818. Defective land titles occasioned late settlement. The south two-thirds of the township constituted what was known as the Eighth Donation District. It was surveyed into lots of from two hundred to three hundred acres, and after a number of years was, to a great extent, sold for taxes. Any soldier's heir had a right to his land if called for anytime before being of age, and after that time had two years for redemption; and settlement followed the extinction of military claims. The first frame house in the township was erected by Andrew Britton. The State Road cut through by Abraham Kightinger, of Wayne Township, was the first laid out, and the trees felled about 1824. Grist-mills were built, the first by Andrew Britton, on Britton's Run; the second by a man named Saxton, who sold to Moses Higgins, who ran it for several years; it stood on Cold Brook, a branch of Patrick Run. The saw-mill of William B. Sterling was the pioneer establishment of the kind in the township; it was built on the East Branch of Oil Creek, about a mile and a half south of Spartansburg. After running sometime, Sterling changed it to a carding- and fulling-mill, and conducted the business, he being a fuller by trade. Not that he was celebrated nor widely known, but because he was the pioneer of his trade, we name Ichabod Blakeslee as Sparta's first blacksmith. His shop stood about two miles northwest of Spartansburg, and was the only one for several years. Early houses of entertainment for travelers were kept by Blakeslee and George White, at whose log cabin the first election was held, and where the post office of East Bloomfield was established; Mr. White being the first post-master. Prior to the erection of school-house or church, religious meetings were held at the house of Marcus Turner during 1826-7 by Rev. Timothy Chase. A man name Gleason officiated as herb-doctor, but the primal regular physician was Dr. Horace Eaton. The first assemblage of children for purposes of education was in a log house which stood at Five Mile Brook; Phoebe Patton is remembered as the school-mistress. The house, burning down, was rebuilt of plank. Spartansburg, situated northeast of the centre of the township, is a thriving town, enjoying railroad communication with points north and south, via the Oil Creek and Allegheny River Railroad. The tracts upon which it stands were owned by Judge Barlow, John Reynolds and Blakeslee. Andrew and Aaron Akin bought one tract of Barlow, and McWilliams fifty acres of a second tract. Lawton Akin, father of Andrew and Aaron, built the first dwelling in the town--it seems almost unnecessary to say that it was built of logs. The first tavern building was erected by Sylvester Taylor for a store-house, but the property was sold to Edwin Curtis, who converted it into a public house. The first school-house in the town stood on the Akin property, east of the creek, and subserved the double purpose of schools during the week and church on Sunday. The first store was built by the Akinses in 1837, and the place was known as Akinsville until the establishment of a post-office, when it was changed to Spartansburg. Its incorporation as a borough was effected in 1856. The present population is not far from six hundred. A carding- and fulling-mill was started by McWilliams & Emerson, and changed afterwards to a woolen-factory, and the present mill, run by Harvey Lamb, is as good as any of its size in the State. The town has two churches, two hotels, and several stores.
