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The township of
Greenfield, one of the sixteen established when the county was organized,
is bounded on the north by North East, o the east by Chautauqua County, N.
Y., on the south by Venango, and on the west by Harbor Creek and Greene.
Its boundary lines are all straight, with the exception of a jog of about
an eighth of a mile, commencing at the J. C. Prindle place, on the west
side, and extending to the T. C. Plumb farm on the south. As originally
established, Greenfield was considerably larger than now, a long,
wedge-shaped strip having been taken off of its northern part in 1841 and
added to North East. The township as thus reduced is about seven miles in
length from east to west, about four and three-quarters in breadth from
north to south, and embraces 19,723 acres of elevated ridge and table
land. The loftiest elevation is at the farm of F. B. Brown, in the
southwest, and about half a mile southeast from that, in Venango, is said
to be the highest point in the county. By the United States census report,
Greenfield had a population of 281 in 1820, 664 in 1830, 862 in 1840, 731
in 1850, 880 in 1860, 1,039 in 1870, and 1,020 in 1880. the assessment of
1880 gave the following results: Value of real estate, $358,977; number of
horses, 253; cows, 684; oxen, 6; value of personal property, 424,711,
value of trades and occupations, $1,400; maney at interest, $200.
The surface of Greenfield Township is mainly hilly, but there are some
fine flats along French Creek and upon a tributary of that stream which
comes in from New York at the southeast corner. The valley lands range in
width from a half mile to a mile and a half. They are mostly of a gravelly
loam, and produce corn, oats, some wheat and all kinds of fruit, except
peaches, but are much troubled with frosts. The hill lands, which are less
affected by the frosts than the valleys, are a clay loam, and yield good
crops of corn, oats and potatoes, but are best adapted for grass and
grazing. A great many cattle are raised in the township, and many tons of
butter are made and sold annually. Land ranges in price from $20 to $40 an
acre, according to its location.
Beginning the Settlement
Remote as it is at present on account of its distance from a railroad,
Greenfield was one of the first townships to be settled. After the
restoration of quiet along the border, the Triangle became a favorite
field for settlement. Among those who were impressed with the advantages
was Judah Colt, a native of Lyme, Conn., who came on in 1795. Believing
the country would fill up rapidly, he made the Population Company, which
claimed most of the lands in the county, an offer of $1 an acre for thirty
thousand acres off of the east end of the Triangle, which they declined.
They were so much pleased with his energy and shrewdness, however, that
they appointed him their agent for Erie County. Mr. Colt took up a
permanent residence in 1797, having been preceded by Elisha and Enoch
Marvin (his brothers-in-law), Cyrus Robinson, Henry and Dyer Loomis,
Charles Allen, Joseph Berry, John and William Wilson, James Moore, Joseph
Webster, Philo Barker, Timothy Tuttle, Silas and William Smith, Joseph
Shadduck and John Daggett (each accompanied by his sons), and John
Andrews. All of these were hardy and intelligent New England people. Mr.
Colt established his headquarters at what came to be known as colt's
Station, around or near which most of the emigrants settled. The same
year, Mr. Colt cut a road through from the lake at freeport to the
Station, the first in the county after the old French road, as an avenue
for supplies, which were brought by lake from Buffalo. This road was
extended in 1798 to French Creek, near what is now "Little
Hope," or Greenfield Post Office, where Mr. Bissell had established a
landing, and later in the season Mr. Colt and William Miles continued it
to the forks of French Creek. The eastern road from North East to
Wattsburg was opened about 1800; the one from Colt's Station to Waterford,
by way of Phillipsville, in 1804 or 1806; and the Station road, from
Wesleyville, by way of Colt's Station to Mayville, in 1813.
Mr. Colt brought his wife on in May, 1798, who remained with him till his
removal to Erie. In 1803, James Taylor, with wife and one child, coming
from Rockbridge County, Va., settled in the township, locating about two
miles northeast of Colt's Station. Here they remained until 1812, when
they removed to the State of New York, near the boundary line between that
State and Pennsylvania. Henry Taylor, a relative of the above named,
settled in the township at the same time. He was a man of family, and
several years later purchased land in North East Township, adjoining the
borough, upon which he resided for some years. He figured conspicuously in
the war of 1812. He was made Captain of the first military company at
North East; subsequently removed to Michigan, and there died. The
inducement that took Mr. Colt and his colony to Greenfield was the belief
then generally disseminated that the hill lands were preferable to those
of the lake shore, which were densely wooded, swampy and well-nigh
impenetrable. In a short time, Mr. Colt saw his error, and in 1804 he
removed to Erie, where he remained the balance of his life. He died
suddenly October 11, 1832, aged seventy-one years and three months. Mrs.
Colt survived till March 13, 1834, dying at the age of sixty-six. They
left no children, and the large estate Mr. Colt has acquired passed into
the hands of relatives. On Mr. Colt's departure, the greater portion of
the colony left also, scattering in various directions, and most of them
making amends for their blunder by taking up some of the choicest lands in
the county. Enoch Marvin became the company's agent in the Beaver Valley,
where he died and was buried. His brother Elisha was one of the few who
remained, and he and his wife both died at Colt's Station, the first in
1829 and the second in 1858. Their son, William E., continued to reside at
Colt's Station till the decease of his mother, when he made his home in
North East.
Other Matters
The first Protestant religious service in Erie County was held at Colt's
Station on the 2d of July, 1797, shortly after the arrival of the colony
from New England. About thirty persons assembled, from Greenfield, North
East and Venango, to whom a sermon was read by Mr. Colt. The old
graveyard, on the Erie & Mayville road, a little east of the Station,
was the earliest (1801) of which any record has been preserved in the
county. Elisha Marvin, was buried there, but his remains were taken up and
removed to North East after the death of his wife. The first celebration
in Erie County of the Nation's Independence was near Colt's Station, on
the 4th of July, 1797. The first military company in Erie County was
organized in Greenfield, in 1801. It had eighty members. Elisha Marvin was
Captain.
While Mr. Colt remained at the Station, it was a busy place, being the
depot of supplies for all the country round. For a year or two, the line
of travel from the lake was through Colt's Station to French Creek, and
then on to Pittsburgh, which lasted until a good road was opened between
Erie and Waterford. After Mr. C.'s departure, the glory of the Station
faded. Col. Joseph Selden opened a store there in 1820, which was
continued by other parties until a few years ago. Morrow B. Lowry clerked
in this store when a boy of sixteen, and B. F. Sloan spent a portion of
his youthful years in the locality. A tavern was established about fifty
years ago, and kept up till 1860 or 1865. The old tavern has been
converted into a farmhouse, and there is nothing there besides but a
schoolhouse, a liberty pole and two small dwellings.
Streams and Mills
The chief stream of Greenfield is the West Branch of French Creek, which
receives many small tributaries in the township. It heads in Findley's
Lake or "pond," about two miles from the State line, in
Chautauqua County, and running across Greenfield from the northeast to the
middle, and through the entire width of Venango from north to south, join
the East Branch in Amity, just below Wattsburg, after a course of eighteen
or twenty miles. The headwaters of Six Mile, Twelve Mile, Sixteen Mile and
of a branch of Twenty Mile Creek, are all i Greenfield, the first two
flowing into the lake in Harbor Creek, and the second two in North East.
They have their rise on the ridge north of the West Branch of French
Creek, and not more than a mile or two from that stream. Some of the
tributaries of the West Branch head within a few rods of the sources of
the lake shore creeks.
The first saw mill was built by Leverett Bissell, at or near Little Hope,
in 1799, being among the earliest in that county. Another was put up in
1824, by John Whiteside, in the south part of the township. The present
manufacturing concerns are two portable saw mills near Shadduck's Corners,
in the west portion; another near H. Raymond's close to the New York line;
T. Raymond's saw mill on French Creek, about a mile below Little Hope; a
grist mill, saw mill and cheese factory at Little Hope (the mills were
established by Whiteside and Messer over a half century ago, and the
cheese factory was built by a company about ten years ago); and A.
Moseman's cider mill, on the Wellman road, near the Greene line. Formerly
there were two grist mills and two saw mills near Raymond's but all have
been abandoned.
Village and Churches
The only settlement in the township which approaches the dignity of a
village is Greenfield, on the West Branch of French Creek, just off from
the middle road between North East and Wattsburg. The place is better
known by its nickname of Little Hope.The site of the place was taken up
about 1796, by Leverett Bissell, on a soldier's right of 400 acres. He
built a saw mill and a landing on the creek, where batteaux came up loaded
with supplies from the lower country. The original settler left the place
in 1805 or 1806 in charge of his son Cyril, who located there and died
about 1848. The present village embraces a grist mill, saw mill, cheese
factory, store, blacksmith shop, schoolhouse and twenty or thirty houses.
There is a cemetery just at the outskirts of the village, and a Methodist
Church at the corners, not far distant. The old Miller Graveyard, a few
rods to the east, is no longer used for burial purposes. Greenfield was
long the only post office in the township. Besides the burial ground
referred to, there is an old one on the Gibson place, in the eastern part
of the township. The Methodist Episcopal Church near Little Hope was
organized in 1836, and occupies a commanding position at the junction of
the Wildman and Wattsburg roads. It has a parsonage attached, built in
1868. This society was the outgrowth of a class that worshiped at an early
day, in what was known as the Campfield Schoolhouse, located about one
mile south of the present church building (in Venango Township), and
subsequently in the Miller Schoolhouse. The church building was erected
about the year 1850. The appointment has been on the North East, Wattsburg
and Greenfield and Mina Circuits respectively, the latter being formed in
1868, since which period the pastors of the charge have been as follows:
J. Mendenhall, J. Allen, W. H. Hoover, L. E. Beardsley, A. Bashline, J.
Akers, Z. W. Shadduck, G. Collier, 1882-83. What is known as the Second
Greenfield Union Free-Will Baptist Church was organized at the date of the
building of their present church edifice, situated in the western part of
the township, in 1881. This organization was made up of the two
congregations which had previously worshiped, the one at the Union
Schoolhouse in North East Township, and the other at Shadduck's
Schoolhouse in Greenfield Township, both of which had been in existence a
number of years. Among the ministers who have preached for the
congregations may be mentioned Revs. Chauncy Burch, Morton, Losee and J.
L. Higby, the latter preaching the dedicatory sermon in the church in the
spring of 1882.
The United Brethren Congregation at Shadduck's Schoolhouse was organized
with less than a dozen members by Rev. J. W. Clark about eight years ago.
It was placed on Harbor Creek Circuit of which it is now a part.
Schools
Among the early schools of the township may be mentioned one that was
taught in a schoolhouse which stood about two miles east of the present
Miller Schoolhouse, as early as 1816, and at about that time A. Young was
the "master." In the eastern part of the township, John Griswold
taught an earlier school. In this portion of the township other early
teachers were William Leonard, George Selkregg, a Miss Phillips, and Miss
Mary A. Platt. There was a log schoolhouse at Colt's Station, in which
school was held in the winter of 1820-21, by Porter Rogers. Lorenzo
Rogers, a brother to Porter, and Asa Hall, were teachers in this building.
Another of the early-built schoolhouses for this section stood in Venango
Township.
The present schools are the Wilson, in the southeast, at the crossing of
the Findley's Lake and North East & Wattsburg roads; the Davis, in the
northeast, on the last-named road; the Miller, at Greenfield Village; the
Colt's Station; the Parmenter, near the North East Township line; the
Moore, in the south, at the crossing of the Waterford and Wildman roads;
the Wildman, in the southwest, near the Greene line; the Prindle, on the
road from Hiram Shadduck's to Harbor Creek; and the Shadduck, on the
Colt's Station road, a little west of Shadduck's Corners. The township
also pays half the expense of the Union School in North East Township,
just over the line.
Roads, etc.
The main thoroughfares are the east road between North East and Wattsburg,
and the middle road, through Colt's Station, between the same point; the
Station road from Wesleyville to Mayville; and the road from Green past
the Methodist Episcopal Church and Greenfield Village to Findley's Lake.
All of these were laid out on a straight line, but had to diverge in order
to surmount the ridges. The township never had a plank road, and the
nearest railroad station is at North East. The first marriage in the
township was that of Joseph Shadduck to Betsy Willard, and the first child
born was their son Ira. Greenfield has furnished but three county
officers, viz., County Auditor, Mark Baldwin, 1833 to 1836; County
Commissioner, William E. Marvin, 1845 to 1848; William Parker, 1853 to
1856. The first frame barn ever built in Greenfield Township is still
standing at Shadduck's Corners. It was built by Joseph Shadduck about
1815. The third oldest man of whom there is any recollection in Erie
County, was James Davis, of Greenfield -- the very oldest having been
Michael Hare, who died at Waterford in 1843, aged over a hundred and
fifteen years, and whose remains are interred in the cemetery at that
borough. Davis was born in Taunton, Mass., and resided in Greenfield at a
huddle of cabins known as Log City, a mile or two toward North East from
Colt's Station. When about one hundred years old, he moved to Michigan,
where he died in the one hundred and fifth year of his age.
At what is known as Shadduck's Corners, a special post office was
established June 15, 1883, with Daniel Hunt as Postmaster. The office is
designated Hornby Post Office.
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