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WHO WAS - William Billig
in Plum Township
Venango County, Pennsylvania
By H. W. Strawbridge February 1, 1957

It was in a Dutch settlement in Lehigh County, Pa., that William Billig was born in 1815. He was of pure Dutch descent. He and his brother, Lineus, moved to Mercer County when young men. Lineus settled in the Greenville area. William married Esther Richardson who was born in Mercer County in 1818, and they lived there a few years.

In 1844 the couple, together with their first two or three children, moved onto a 60-acre piece of land located a mile northwest of Wallaceville. They bought this land from Mrs. Billig's brother and sister-in-law, John and Margaret Richardson, for $240 on May 2, 1844.

William began to clear the farm and built the original set of buildings. The buildings set back quite a distance from the public roads. Two driveways led back to the; a long one from the Plum Center - Wallaceville road, and a shorter one from the Plum Center - Sunville road.

It was here that the rest of their children were born. They had altogether 12 children, ten of whom lived to maturity though possibly not listed in the correct order, the ten were: Mrs. Nancy J. Reynolds; Crawford Billig, W. Gibson Billig, Mrs. Amanda Graham, Mrs. Mary Reynolds, James Billig, Mrs. Margaret Peebles, David F. Billig; Henry Billig and Charles Billig, the youngest who was born on March 16, 1863. The two children who died were John (1849 - 1851) and Samuel (1853 - 1854). One son, Crawford, served as a cavalryman in the Civil War.

A strong spring was situated below the buildings near the 'run bottom' which was quite a deep little valley extending across the farm. Two wells were dug beside the house. One, which was located southeast of the house, was around 75 feet deep. The earth from it had been pulled up and away with a horse.

The house was a story-and-a-half structure with a large living room, a long kitchen, three bedrooms and a woodshed on the first floor. The cellar was under the kitchen which measured approximately 12 x 25 feet. The front of the house faced the south, and a pine tree stood in the front yard. A good bank barn stood below the house.

The fields didn't seen to have good soil for farming. This was mainly due to the fact that the farm was on a slope and the fields eroded. Also in his later years, Mr. Billig planted much buckwheat year after year which wasn't good for the fields.

There were two good orchards and an exceptionally large number of chestnut trees on the farm. Many chestnuts flanked both sides of the 'run bottom', and Mr. Billig built many chestnut rail fences on the farm. The family picked lots of chestnuts each fall and, peculiarly enough, they were stored under Mr. Billig's bed. There are still a few huge chestnut stubs standing today by the run bottom.

It is recorded that the township road commissioners had an order drawn on April 2, 1864, to pay William Billig a balance of $1.98 on some plank which he had sold to them.

Mr. Billig was a small, thin man. He smoked a stone pipe, using a mixture of ground-up mullein leaves and 'Flying Eagle' tobacco. Besides his farming activities, he was also a crafted shoemaker. He had his shop upstairs in his house. Being Dutch as was previously mentioned, he could speak and write German. His wife taught him to write his name in English. He talked the English language very brokenly. As an example, he pronounced the first name of his grandson, Arthur L. Billig, as 'Asur'.

Incidentally, Arthur Billig lives today on Riverside Drive, Oil City. He was born on his grandfather Billig's home in February, 1887, and he has a distinct recollection of the pioneer couple. Charles Billig was Arthur's father.

Mrs. William Billig was quite a tall woman. Her hair never turned gray, even during her last years. She was well versed in the Bible.

Three of their sons - Crawford, Gib and Henry - were coopers, and they had a cooper shop on the old place before leaving home.

The family had an 'ash hopper' which was made of boards and stood three or four feet high, similar to a small grain hopper. During the winter months they carried the ashes to this hopper and deposited them in it. When spring came they would pour water into the hopper and it would drip out the bottom into a trough as lye. From this lye they made soft soap and grease. They generally made half a barrel of soap at a time.

During one still summer night about the mid-1800s, the bank barn burned. There was no stock in it at the time. Had there been any wind blowing towards the house, it would have certainly burned too, for it got quite hot as it was. No one ever knew what caused the fire.

Mr. and Mrs. Billig finally became quite feeble, so they moved from their owl home into the home of their son, Charles. Charles had acquired 10 acres on the west side of the Billig farm and his house stood beside the Plum Center - Sunville road, at the end of the driveway coming out from the home of the old folks. On the day that the old couple moved, they were too weak to walk out, so young Arthur took them out with the team and a stoneboat on which a box was placed for the couple to sit.

In June, 1896, Mr. Billig fell and broke his hip. Due to the complications of this and the fact that pneumonia also developed, he died a very few weeks later, on July 4. The old gentleman's funeral was held at Charles' home with burial at Wallaceville.

Mrs. Billig survived her husband about a year. She also died at the home of her son on June 17, 1897, of infirmities of old age.

It was about the turn of the century that another son, David, tore down the house on the old place and hauled the lumber to Titusville where he rebuilt it on the southwest corner of East Elm and Brown streets.

The old Billig farm is presently owned by the State Game Commission. It is so thick with brush and trees around the old cellar that one can hardly wander through. Several 'corn lilies,' as some people call them, are growing near the cellar and some daffodils still bloom there each spring. The wells are filled up, and the dead pine tree still stand, though it looks ready to fall down anytime.

Transcribed by Penny Kulbacki Minnick
minnick862@verizon.net

Disclaimer:there may be errors due to transcription ofinformation from both early and late (current contributors) work.