Crawford County, Pennsylvania
History
1876 ATLAS 1
"HISTORY OF THE VILLAGES AND TOWNSHIPS OF CRAWFORD COUNTY."
STEUBEN TOWNSHIP.
The township was organized in 1861, from portions adjacent of Athens, Troy, Oil Creek, and Rome, for convenience in holding elections, and the first town election was held at Hanna's house, between Tryonville and Townville. James Tryon was elected the first "squire," and Ezra Carpenter the second. The township is in shape regular; in area it has thirteen thousand seven hundred and seventy-two acres. Wrecks of old saw-mills indicates a former lumbering industry. The timber which was destroyed to make clearings in early days would, if standing, be a rich heritage to the children of the pioneers.
Dennis Carroll settled below Tryonville about 1808. It is asserted that he was the only settler to that point south of Centreville until 1828. James and David Tryon, from Litchfield, Connecticut, settled in what is now Rome Township, and in the spring of 1828 removed to what is now Tryonville, became owners of seventeen hundred acres of land, and the founders of the village bearing their name. James McGinnis and family settled just east of Tryonville Station in 1829. Col. Kingsley, from near Troy, New York, came to Steuben in 1822, and took up land just north of Townville. Noah Town bought land in 1824, upon which the village which perpetuates his name is laid out.
The first log cabin was built by Carrol, a solider of the Revolution and a pensioner. He settled on the line of two tracts to hold both—one by right of donation, the other by settlement, and lost both, they being a part of two five-hundred-acre tracts donated to Baron Steuben for military services in America. To Town, the proprietor of Townville, is ascribed the erection of the first frame house and barn. The first road was laid out in 1830, from Noah Town's to Coil's Forks in Rome Township. The pioneer saw-mill was built by Kingsley, near Townville, in 1833, on a branch of Muddy Creek; kept in repair, it is still in use. The next was built on Oil Creek, by the Tryon brothers, in 1838, and of later years a grist-mill was begun by them, but in 1865 the oil excitement was running high and an oil company bought the property, and bored for oil. It was a failure, and the mills have run down. Early meetings were held in Tryon's house by the Methodists, led by Rev. Patterson. A school-house was built in 1830, and used for meetings on Sundays. The first school-master in Tryonville was James Tryon, in the house mentioned. The building was made of lumber from the mill near by, and the roll contained the names of fifteen scholars. Tryonville is a straggling village scattered along the road from the Oil Creek and Allegheny River Railroad westward. Its first tavern-stand was kept by Lyman Jones. First mercantile firm was Lee & Thorp. Townville, on Muddy Creek, near the southwest corner of the township, is an incorporated borough since 1869, and has about three hundred inhabitants. Noah Town kept the first store. Kingsley built in the village in 1833, and Post in 1837. Ralph Clapp and John Matthews settled at the hamlet which bears the name of the former, about 1832. Clapp built the first house, and erected a saw-mill during the year of settlement. James Tryon says the business of the settler was to work, and most of them did work, as the cleared fields testify. They toiled to secure a home for their children, who live upon the lands bequeathed to them in comfort and ease.
