Transcribed by: Pat Collins. For an explanation and caution about this transcription, please read this page.
Link to a sketch of Forward Township from the Atlas of Butler County, G.M. Hopkins & Co., 1874.
Surnames in this chapter are:
ADAMS, AINSLEY, ALLEN, ALTMAN, AMBERSON, ASH, BAILES, BEHM, BERRINGER, BEST, BLAKELEY, BLAKELEY, BOGGS, BOLLINGER, BOYLE, BRACKEN, BRANDON, BRINTON, BROWN, BROWN, BROWN, BRYSON, BUHL, CALDWELL, CAMPBELL, CARR, CARR, CRISWELL, CRITCHLOW, CRITCHLOW, CROFT, CROWE, CROWE, DODDS, CROWE, McALLISTER, DAMBACH, DANKS, DAVIS, DEMPSEY, DIXON, DOMENEC, DOUTHETT, DOUTHETT, DOUTHETT, DUFFIELD, DUNBAR, EATON, EVANS, FERGUSON, FORSYTHE, GALBRAITH, GAMBLE, GELBACH, GIBSON, GILLILAND, GOEHRING, GOLD, GRAHAM, GRAHAM, GRAY, HAMEL, HARBISON, HAZLETT, HEID, HENDERSON, HICKEY, HILDEBRAND, HOLT, HUNTER, IFFT, INGRAHAM, IRVINE, IRWIN, IRWIN, JOHNSON, KELKER, KENNEDY, KIRK, KNAUFF, ANDERSON, KRAMER, LANE, LARRABEE, LEFEVER, LONG, MAGEE, MARSHALL, MARTIN, McALLISTER, McCAFFERTY, McCOLLUM, McDONALD, RICHMOND, McKINNEY, McLEOD, McNAIR, McNEAL, MILLER, MINNIS, MITCHELL, PERRY, PURVIANCE, PURVIS, RADER, RATHBUN, RAY, REIBOLD, RENFREW, RICHARD, RILEY, ROBBINS, SCHILLING, SCHILLINGS, SIBBLES, SLATER, SNOW, STAMM, STEWART, STIFFY, STOVER, SUPPLE, SUTTON, THOMAS, THORN, VERDICAN, WAHL, WALDRON, WALDRON, WALKINSHAW, WALTERS, WEAVER, WELSH, WIGFIELD, WIKE, WILLIAMS, WILSON, WINNER, WINTERSTEIN, YOUNG, ZENO,
FORWARD township was organized in 1854 out of territory embraced in the original townships of Connoquenessing and Middlesex, and is one of the best watered townships in the county. It is entered near its northeast corner by the Connoquenessing creek, which after pursuing its winding way, and receiving the waters of Glade run, near the center of the township, flows northwest into Jackson township, a short distance south of the north boundary line. The surface of the township is broken and abounds in beautiful and picturesque scenery.
Below the old Renfrew mill, sandstone is seen capping the hills at elevations above the creek bottom of from 150 to 200 feet. The Upper and Lower Freeport and the Butler coals were all found in the vicinity of the mill by WEAVER, while on the CRITCHLOW farm and below it the Upper Freeport has been mined. The SLATER and HEID banks, and the opening above the old EVANS oil well, are all in the Upper Freeport, while the MARSHALL drift in the Upper Kittanning coal below BUHL's bridge, presented thirty-six inches of excellent coal. Some distance below that bridge, on the KNAUFF and ANDERSON farms, the Upper Kittanning showed a vein of forty-eight inches, and farther down, the WAHL bank proved profitable. On Breakneck creek a good cannel coal was mined some years ago. The Mahoning sandstone on the IFFT farm has been quarried, and the Butler limestone on the WAHL lands has been burned. The oil production of this township is noticed in the chapter on petroleum.
Joseph DOUTHETT came from Armagh county, Ireland, to Pennsylvania, with his family, and about 1799 located west of the present village of Brownsdale. William and Samuel SCHILLINGS came the same year, made substantial improvements, but abandoned the place, so that John CROWE took possession of it in 1813. Archibald McALLISTER, a native of Ireland and the first school teacher of this township, came from Washington county in 1801. He paid nine cents tax in 1803 for the luxury of keeping a horse. Later, he settled on what is now the BERRINGER farm, where he died before the common school system was introduced. His daughter Jane married Lewis BLAKELEY. Samuel, John, James and William MINNIS came about 1803, when Samuel established a carding and fulling mill on the Connoquenessing. Daniel MARTIN, a Scotchman, came from Scotch bottoms, near Pittsburg, in 1802 and located where the STAMMS now reside. William MARTIN, a native of Ireland, cleared the farm now owned by J.N. MILLER and worked at the carpenter's trade. Henry and Isaac EVANS and, perhaps Joseph, were here about 1802. Jesse EVANS located south of CAMPBELL's powder mill.
John BRANDON and Thomas BRANDON settled south of the present south line of Connoquenessing. The former taught school in 1806, or thereabouts, and the latter had 100 acres of land, two cows and one horse in 1803. They were leaders in the temperance movement of 1830. John BRANDON served as county commissioner. Adam BROWN, who came from Germany with his father prior to the Revolution, settled in Middlesex township toward the close of the Eighteenth century, later moved to a farm near the site of Brownsdale, where he bought a settler's right. He served on Lake Erie with Perry in 1813, and one of his sons was also in the army. Joseph ASH, who died in 1813, located in this township in 1804. He was one of the first mail carriers between Pittsburg and Erie. In his youth he was made captive by the Indians, with two brothers, after killing the mother and sister. The savages split his ears and held him for two years, when he was ransomed. Matthew WILLIAMS, a native of Antrim county, Ireland, came here in 1804, as a Covenanter preacher, but moved to Pine Creek in 1815, where he died in 1828. His cabin stood on the farm where William GOEHRING now resides. John McCOLLUM built his cabin in the wilderness in 1804 or 1805, and raised a family here, not one of whom is in Pennsylvania to-day.
The pioneers of the second decade of the century were John CROWE, a native of Ireland, who in 1812 located at Petersville; but soon after moved to a farm in Forward. He aided in the establishment of the old Covenanter church. Archibald IRWIN, a blacksmith, settled in Forward township in 1810, and taught subscription schools in that and other townships for years. He removed to Pittsburg in 1845, and died in that city. John HAMEL located south of the present village of Petersville in 1814, and John WALDRON, son of Samuel V. WALDRON, who settled in Wolf Creek township, Mercer county, in 1791, located in Forward township in 1816. He was a soldier in the War of 1812, serving in Perry's victorious squadron. He was one of the pioneer school teachers of the township.
[p. 431] In later years, came Henry GELBACH, a Bavarian, who settled in Beaver county in 1830, and removed to Forward township some years later. His son, Philip, located near him soon afterward. Nicholas BEHM and family, natives of Germany, located here in 1830, where the father died in 1871. O.A. RADER came from Germany in 1834, and four years later purchased the old BRINTON farm in this township. William HUNTER and family came to this township from Tyrone county, Ireland, in 1835. John HAZLETT located on what is now known as the James SUTTON farm in 1836. Jacob STAMM, son of a pioneer of Beaver county, located in this township in 1837. William M. MARSHALL, a native of Derry county, Ireland, established a store on the site of Evans City in 1841. In 1844 he was a merchant at Whitestown, and in 1848-49, settled on a farm in Forward township, where he also operated a coal bank.
The population in 1860 was 1,020; in 1870, 1025; in 1880, 1,133, and in 1890, 1,724. The extension of the oil field has necessarily increased the figures of four years ago.
The assessed value of real and personal property in 1894, was $361,483; the county tax levied was $145.93; the state tax, $855.61, and the total school revenue, $2,905.56, including a State appropriation of $1,254.16.
BROWN's mill originated in the horse mill started by Adam BROWN on his farm early in the century. Later he became the owner of the mill on Glade run erected by Maj. Reese EVANS, which has since been known as BROWN's mill. After his death his son, Adam, in 1833, purchased the mill from the estate. He tore down the old building and on its site erected a new saw and grist mill. Sometime in the fifties this gave place to a better one, which was destroyed by fire in November, 1859. It was rebuilt and conducted by Mr. BROWN until 1861. Afterwards came R.H. BROWN who continued as miller until 1880, when Philip GELBACH became owner. In 1891 R.H. BROWN resumed the ownership.
Moses and Brinton ROBBINS established a grist and saw mill on Glade run subsequent to 1804. Lewis BLAKELEY established and operated a distillery on the farm which Andrew BLAKELEY owned in later days.
The justices of the peace for Forward township, from 1854 to 1894, are named as follows: Caleb RICHMOND, 1854; Daniel GRAHAM, 1855; Malcom GRAHAM, 1858; Aaron BRACKEN, 1859; John W. MARTIN, 1863-74; Robert McNAIR, 1864-69; Richard S. McKINNEY, 1869; Thomas GRAHAM, 1874; Rudolph KELKER, 1875; Thomas MARTIN, 1879; D.B. DOUTHETT, 1872, 1888 and 1893; Nicholas KRAMER, 1882; Levi SLATER, 1883; Henry BUHL, 1884; Leslie P. HAZLETT, 1885; D. D. DUNBAR, 1891, and F. DAMBACH, 1894.
The Reformed Presbyterian Church of the BROWN-DOUTHETT neighborhood, was organized near the present village of Brownsdale, on Straight run, in 1806. In 1807 Rev. Matthew WILLIAMS was pastor of this church, as well as of Pine Creek, the elders at that time being Benjamin and Joseph DOUTHETT and James ANDERSON. For fourteen years meetings were held in the groves near Brownsdale or, in case of severe weather, within a tent. In 1820 the tent was moved south to the site of the Union church, and meetings were henceforth held there by Rev. Mr. WILLIAMS until his death in 1828.
North Union Reformed Presbyterian Church may be said to date back to 1833, when the "New School" and "Old School" parties of the Union church in Adams township separated. In 1835 the "old school" called Rev. Hugh WALKINSHAW as pastor. In April, 1843, he was succeeded by Rev. John GALBRAITH, who remained pastor until 1889. In 1861 a house of worship was erected on David CROWE's farm, the elders then being Robert DODDS, John MAGEE, James ANDERSON and Robert PURVIS, and the trustees, William DOUTHETT and James FORSYTHE. The present frame building is the successor of the old brick church taken down before the war. Since Mr. GALBRAITH's retirement, in 1889, the pulpit has been variously supplied. David CROWE, John FORSYTHE, John MAGEE and William ALLEN have been officially connected with this society for many years.
The Richmond Methodist Episcopal Church, west of Evans City, dates back to 1827, when Caleb RICHMOND formed a class at his home, the members being the class leader, his wife and family, the Widow LARRABEE, Nathan SLATER [p. 433] and Pereus, Seth, Barnet and Elijah SNOW. Rev. Mr. CARR urged the organization of the class during a preaching tour in the BROWN settlement, but in Caleb RICHMOND's house the western class adopted a constitution. Revs. Dr. ADAMS, who ceased practicing medicine to preach the gospel, W.C. HENDERSON, Charles THORN and Jonathan HOLT traveled this circuit for some years, and at long intervals preached here. In 1854-55 a meeting house was erected, which was the house of worship for a decade, when it was sold to three Catholic families of the district, and the Richmond class was consolidated with that at Brownsdale.
The Brownsdale Methodist Episcopal Church was originally a part of the WIGFIELD class, which in early days assembled in the WIGFIELD settlement, six miles distant from the present church, and of which Robert BROWN was leader for fully thirty years. It appears that a traveling physician, named Rev. Dr. John RATHBUN, organized the class at Robert BROWN's house in 1839, the three families of Adam, John and Robert BROWN, and the family of Joseph MILLER, contributing the principal membership. Robert BROWN may be called the father of Methodism in the Brownsdale neighborhood, for in his house meetings were generally held until the church building was dedicated, July 7, 1860, D.P. MITCHELL being then presiding elder. Rev. Mr. STOVER, who was pastor in charge at the beginning of the war, won many converts from the other local churches.
The records of the Brownsdale circuit, in possession of the secretary, M.R. BROWN, date back to May, 1869, when D.L. DEMPSEY was presiding elder; J.A. DANKS, pastor; Samuel RILEY, R.H. BROWN, A.J. EVANS, H.P. WILSON, John GAMBLE, James DIXON, Robert GIBSON, L.L. Lefever and Thomas STEWART, stewards. Thorn Creek, Petersburgh, Middlesex and Brownsdale, then formed the circuit. The names of Wendle HICKEY, Daniel WALTERS, Robert HARBISON, Nathan BROWN, class leaders, and B.S. WINNER, superintendent of Sabbath schools, appear in the record of 1869. In 1870, Washington DARBY was presiding elder, and the names of E.W. KIRK and William KENNEDY appear as stewards. Rev. Henry LONG was pastor in 1872, followed in 1873 by Rev. T.B. THOMAS; in 1874, by Rev. E.M. EATON; 1875, Rev. Nelson DAVIS; 1877, Rev. F.W. VERDICAN; 1878, Rev. S. LANE; and 1880, Rev. T.N. BOYLE. At this time, Thorn Creek, Knox Chapel, Brownsdale and Middlesex formed the circuit. Rev. T.W. ROBBINS was pastor in 1881, Louis CROFT and A. GOLD being then stewards of the class of the Middlesex church; Louis YOUNG and Mr. WIKE, at Brownsdale and Knox, and Robert GIBSON, James WELSH and Joseph CRISWELL of the Thorn Creek church. Rev. H.J. ALTMAN was pastor in 1882; Rev. M.M. HILDEBRAND in 1883-86; Rev. J.B. CALDWELL, 1886; Rev. D.L. JOHNSON, 1887, and Rev. James L. STIFFY, 1888-90. In November, 1891, Rev. D.F. BOLLINGER was appointed pastor and re-appointed in 1893.
The Methodist Episcopal Church of Petersville was incorporated March 15, 1858, with Alexander BRYSON, who was class leader for a few years before, Henry INGRAHAM, John FERGUSON, Henry V. WINTERSTEIN and Robert W. GRAHAM trustees. Rev. John AINSLEY was then pastor in charge, and was the first minister stationed there. The church, erected in 1858, and dedicated January 13, 1859, by Rev. [p. 434] MITCHELL, is a plain frame structure, thirty-six by fifty feet, completed at a cost of $1,250. The membership in 1894 was placed at seventy-five.
The Catholic Mission of Forward township owes its existence to a desire on the part of the few Catholic families resident therein, in 1865, to possess a house of worship in which religious services could be held at stated periods. On May 10 of the year named, as the result of previous negotiations, the building and lot formerly the property of the Richmond Methodist Episcopal church, south of the Richmond estate, was conveyed by John McNEAL and wife, and Francis, Thomas and Eliza McCAFFERTY, by whom it had been purchased in 1864 from Nathan BROWN and Daniel RICHARD, trustees for the Methodist society. The deed was made to Right Rev. Michael DOMENEC, bishop of Pittsburg, the property to be held by him for the use of the Catholic congregation of Forward township.
[End of Chapter 30 - Forward Township: History of Butler County Pennsylvania, R. C. Brown Co., Publishers, 1895]
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