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- H I S T O R Y OF WARREN COUNTY PENNSYLVANIA
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
OF SOME OF ITS PROMINENT MEN AND PIONEERS
HISTORY OF CORYDON TOWNSHIP
In 1817 James Richards passed through the land on his way to
Cincinnati, and his daughter, Mrs. Lucinda Morrison, is now a resident of Corydon, and will be mentioned in this chapter in connection with the early settlers. The first female child born in town was Martha Forbes, daughter of Abel Morrison.
From Mrs. Lucinda Morrison, wife of Abel Morrison, now living in Corydon, the writer obtained the following description of the country in 1827, when she was brought hither. Her maiden name was Lucinda Richards. She was born in Lisle, Broome county, N. Y., and passed through Corydon in 1817, on the way to Cincinnati with her father, James Richards. In 1818 she was married to Abel Morrison, who was a native of Lycoming county. In 1827 they settled on the very place now occupied by Mrs. Morrison. At first they lived in a plank house. There were then in the whole town but three other houses, two of logs, and one shanty. Russell Freeman lived a short distance south of the Morrison settlement in a log house. In another log house, farther
north, had recently settled Dr. Benjamin Blodgett, the first physician, the first postmaster, the first merchant, and the second settler in town. Still farther north, in the shanty already mentioned, lived Philip Tome. Very soon after the arrival of Abel Morrison came William Case. At that time the face of the township as it is now constituted was a trackless wilderness, unrelieved by a clearing, and inhabited by the brutal denizens?bears, deer, wolves, and occasionally
a panther. Immediately after the settlement of these few families
here, however, improvements began to make their inroads on the forests.
Mills were at once erected?partly for the profit expected from their operation, but more immediately because of the necessity of boards for building. Abel Morrison's mill stood where it still stands (although of course it has been many times repaired), and is now owned by Flavius Josephus Morrison. A short time before this was erected Enoch Oilman built a mill, the first one in town, on the site of the large mill now in Corydon village. It was put up in the summer of 1827, while Abel Morrison's was delayed until the following year.
Previous to 1830 one Wheeler built a mill between the other two, the same frame standing there now and at present used by Sunderland & Payne for a handle factory. In the winter of 1827-28 there was a school-house built of planks, a little way northeast from the dwelling house of Abel Morrison. It was first taught by Sabra Blodgett, a relative of Dr. Blodgett, for six months, and under her administration it was a very efficient school. There was an attendance of about fifteen or twenty pupils. Religious meetings were held almost from the beginning in this school-house, and a little later; also in the
one farther down the river, and on the site of the present school-house. The first tavern was kept by Jacob McCall, on the site of the present hotel, a number of years previous to 1853. He also had the post-office in his tavern for a time. The first store was kept by John Converse, a little way south of the tavern, from the time of his arrival in 1830 until his death a number of years thereafter.
George and Augustus Wetmore and L. D. Wetmore, brothers, at
a more recent time had a saw-mill on the site of the present large mill, previous to the erection of the pulp-mill. There has never been a grist-mill in town, though for a brief period Alanson G., son of Abel Morrison, ground feed and made staves and shingles on the east side of the mill now operated by his brother.
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1795 - 1874 (79 years)