Barnett Township, Forest County, Pennsylvania.
Barnett
Township juts out to the border of Jefferson county between Elk and
Clarion. Millstone creek flows through the northwest corner, and, apart
from this, the eastern half of the township boasts of only a few
rivulets. The western half is a region of small rivers. Maple creek
heads up north of Marienville, but assumes some pretensions in the
northwest corner of this township, whence it flows south to Clarington,
where it enters the Clarion river, receiving Huling's run and a few
rivulets in its course. Paralleling it on the west are Coleman and
Troutman runs, each the drainer of beautiful valleys. At Redclyffe the
elevation is 1,615 feet-- high enough to warrant the existence of coal;
but up to 1884 little or nothing was done toward developing its
deposits. Sandstone is found here, as in other sections. In 1889 the
oil fever reached this township, when experienced oil men were sincere
in their opinions that petroleum existed in commercial quantities.
The
population of 1880, including the inhabitants in Cooksburg, was 615.
in 1888 there were 105 Republicans, 79 Democrats, and 1 Prohibitionist
recorded as voting, or a total of 185, representing a population of 925.
The
township officers chosen for 1890, are as follows: Constable and
collector, J. B. Campbell; treasurer, Jacob Mays; clerk, J. E. Cosgrove;
road commissioner, E. A Kuhn; judge of election, Wm. Crossman; overseer
of the poor, A. Cook; auditor, James Gray; school directory, Clarence
Pratt and R. W. Brenneman.
The owners of personal property in
Barnett township in 1852, were John Agnew, J. M. Adams, William and W. A
Arthurs, Alphonzo Vaubiot, W., W. Andrews, Isaac Attlebarge, T.
Anderson (carpenter), Anderson {Agnew}, (mason), George Agnew, Thady
Armstrong, William Allen, Jacob Braden, Arch. Black, Oran Butterfield,
D. Burk, James Brandon, John Brandon, Jesse Burchfield, Horace Byham,
Robert Black, James Black, John Blacklock, Daniel Black, Daniel Berlin,
Daniel {Cook}, John Jr.{Cook}, William {Cook}, Andrew {Cook}, Jeremiah
{Cook}, George {Cook}, David {Cook} and John Cook, Simon and William
Chapman, W. R. and James Coon, Samuel Consanus, Adam Cupler, A.
Coventry, E. Cline, C. Smith, Patrick Kearney, Wm. and Ed. Collins,
Alex. Craig, R. Custard, James U. {Daniels}, Jeptha {Daniels}, Henry
{Daniels} and W. R. Daniels, Elijah Davis, W. M. Davis, John Dodge, J.
Donaldson, Joseph Dunlap, Hiram Drake, John C. David, R. H. and William
Downey, Y. Eshelman, John Fitzgerald, E. Forsyth, Jesse Ferry, Sam
Fulton, James Forest, John Grant, Milton Gibbs, John Gordon, W. L.
Gould, John Houston, W. P. Hutcheson, Nelson Haight, Robert Huling,
William Hayden, Lewis Herring and son, Joseph Herring, John Hasley,
Peter Hasley, Sol. Hallman, Peter Hicks, William Hottell, Squire Horton,
Stephen Hill, A. Jeffries, James Irwin, John Irwin, Chas. C. and Henry
Johnson, Christian Kuntz, John and Peter Knight, Phil. Keller
(blacksmith), Thomas Kerr, William Kerr, John Kellogue, F. Kennedy, Sam.
Long, James Law, A. Lucas, Noble Lucas, D. Motherell, Dave Munn, John
Andrew, William and Thomas B. Maze, Henry Moody, Jr., John Moore, John
McNaughton, Tom McKay (tailor), Sam Mitchell, Moses McCallum, Alex.
Murray, David Munn, Jr., Joseph Martin, John McNeil, R. Moodie, Pascal
Moodie, John McMichael (millright), W. P. Miller, John McKenney, H.
Mimm, William Martin, A. McCutcheson, Sylvester Nolton, John Nolton,
George Nealy, J. C. Nolton, Asa Nichols, James Phipps, George Painter,
G. W. Pratt, Sedate Porter, A. J. Platt, Dave Powell, Dan. Poff, J. R.
Reynolds, James Rogers, Joseph and William Reynolds, Grove Reed, Rets
& Co., Rust & Co., Amos Richards, the Ralstons (3), Ellis Russel
{Smith}, William Roberts {Smith}, Eli {Smith} and Amos Smith
(carpenters), Shippen, Morrison & Co., John Snyder, W. J. Spence, D.
Stowe & Co., John Spafford, Jonah Slocum, R. Smith, George Swarm,
W. Stewart, William Shields, A. Strominger, James Truby, William Titus,
Dan. Titus, David K. Torney (one watch), Oramill Thing, W. H. Thompson,
Elihu Wing, Homer Wing, Charles Wing, Joseph Wallace, Dan. Wolford,
Robert Wallace, Dan. Whitman, Jo. Wagoner, James Wallace, Lenni Weaver,
(cabinet maker), Sam. N. Warren, James Wing, Benj. Wing, Palmer Worden,
John Wright and Charles Yeomans. In March, 1852, William Titus was
appointed collector. The value of unseated lands was $72,516, and of
seated lands, $40,304.
The pioneers, many of whom are named
above, came into this wilderness to hew out homes for their families,
and win from the forest that independence which an older civilization
denied. Many of them succeeded in this peculiarly American design, and
around Cooksburg and Clarington, names connected closely with the first
development of this section are found to-day.
Clarington, twelve
miles from the railroad at Brookville, is the market town of Barnett
township. J. B. Pearasll & Co. and the Shields brothers were
general merchants in 1884, and Peter Hesley was grocer.
~ History of McKean, Elk and Forest Counties, by M A Leeson, J.H. Beers & Co, 1890, Pages 901-902
