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Francis Halyday |
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FRANCIS HALYDAY, a pioneer of the Oil Creek valley, settled on the Allegheny at the mouth of Oil creek early in the present century on a tract of land which he purchased from the state in 1803, part of it now occupied by Oil City. Holidaysburg was his native place, but his ancestors were Irish. The few brief years allotted to him in his new home were still sufficient to earn the character of an honorable, trustworthy citizen among the pioneers. He died in 1811. His wife, Sarah Horth, daughter of Hiram Horth, of New York, was a woman of singular energy and attainments for the period in which she lived. Of Scotch parentage she brought to her husband a dowry of tact and management more valuable than gold in their wilderness home. With early widowhood there came the responsibility and support and education of eight children, the youngest, a son but two years old, and the eldest, her only manly help, to be speedily summoned to the defense of his country. Her nearest neighbors were Indians, and doubtless her best friend was their chief, Cornplanter, who was ever a welcome guest in her home and ever ready to exchange the wild game of the forest for her savory domestic meats and pastries. As these wild sons of the forest helped to lighten her burdens not less did she and her daughters contribute to the comfort and care of squaw and papoose when sickness and death invaded their tents, and not infrequently were the tears of Indians and pale faces mingled at the open grave. The bold bluff on the north side of the creek overlooking both creek and river was the burial ground of the Senecas at that time, and a similar spot on the opposite hill (now Clark’s Summit) was made sacred to their white friends, as one after another their loved ones were consigned to their last repose. To Francis and Sarah Halyday there were born the following children: Columbus, who went with his comrades to the defense of Erie, was brought home sick of fever, and died in 1813; Uretta, who married Alexander Carle in 1812, and died in 1829 leaving five children, viz.: Lovina, Columbus, Mary, James, and Sarah; Margaret married Samuel Hunter, and died in 1817, leaving two children since deceased; Sarah married Moses Davidson in 1816, and died in 1817, leaving one child, Francis; Cassandra, married to James Bannon, died in 1846; Lovina died in 1813, aged twelve years; Amelia, born December 10, 1805. married Captain Samuel Phipps in 1823, and died September 28, 1870; and James, born January 13, 1809, married Almira Coe, October 16, 1828, and died in Oil City November 9, 1884. The following, taken from a late sketch of Oil City, is appropriate here: “In his youth James Halyday’s playmates were the Indian boys of Cornplanter’s tribe, and little he dreamed of the city, founded as if by the magician’ s wand on his old home. His life was passed within half a mile of the place of his birth (near the site of the Petroleum house, Third ward) and he watched the changing scenes of the discovery of oil, the building up of the busy marts of trade, the floods and fires and the gradual development of this section, culminating in making this city the ‘oil metropolis of the world,’ all passing before his eyes like the dissolving views of the stereopticon.” Peculiarly kind and benevolent to all who needed either sympathy or more material aid, the memory of James and Almira Halyday will be cherished for many years by those whom destiny has brought to occupy their native place.
History of Venango County, Pennsylvania
: its past and present, including its aboriginal history, the French and
British occupation of the country, its early settlement and subsequent
growth, a description of its historic and interesting localities, its rich
oil deposits and their development, sketches of its cities, boroughs,
townships, and villages, neighborhood and family history, portraits and
biographies of pioneers and representative citizens, statistics, etc.,
etc.
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