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WHO WAS - William H. Proper
in Plum Township
Venango County, Pennsylvania
By Howard Strawbridge June 25, 1957

William Hall Proper was born in 1832 on his father's farm located south of Diamond. His parents were Daniel and Margaret Archer Proper. Daniel had served as a fifer in the War of 1812. William was one of several children and he spent his boyhood days on the old farm.

About 1855 he married Mary Green, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Orrin Green. It is said that Mr. Green got killed in an accident in some way. The mother later remarried.

William and Mary began housekeeping in a house which was later known as the Cheney house. It sat across the road from the house owned by the late Robert Kightlinger. The Cheney house has been gone for scores of years.

William and Mary lived here but a few years when they moved over to the other road near his father's farm. Here they lived in a log house and farmed 75 acres, according to old assessment records. Only a very small portion of their land touched the public road. So William bought an additional five acres which embraced the road. However, the south boundary line of this five-acre piece extended right through the Thomas Martin home. Then they decided to change the boundaries and move the five-acre piece north enough to include an area of two acres. It was on these two acres that William built the horse barn which still stands and is the only remaining building of the William Proper homestead. Gerald Sager now owns the horse barn and a portion of the old William Proper farm.

No Oil Found on Land

In 1864 William leased 30 acres of his land by the creek to Doe and Smith, oil speculators. There is no record of any oil being found there.

Mr. Proper bought 25 acres in March, 1867, from William and Nancy Luce for $400. This made his farm contain 100 acres. An article of agreement was drawn up between Mr. Proper and Mr. and Mrs. Luce when this land transaction was made. It was dated April 9, 1867, and provided that if this 25-acre piece of land would become valuable by oil or other minerals in paying quantities within thirty years, Mr. Proper was to deed it back to the Luces and have his $400 refunded. However, there was never any oil found on it. This article of agreement is now owned by Sharp W. Proper of Titusville, who is a grandson of William H. Proper. Sharp Proper was born in his grandparent's home in 1898.

Mr. Proper made additional small purchases of land until his farm finally contained 127 acres. He bought these pieces of land from Eliza Dart and Mr. and Mrs. Washington Redman (Cheney land); Robert Kightlinger (one acre across the road from Kightlinger place); and John D. Grove (south part of Wm. Proper farm).

In 1872 Mr. Proper built a new plank frame house immediately northwest of the log house. Here he spent the rest of his life. Incidentally this house burned down on July 4, 1939, many years after the place left the hands of the Proper family.

The cattle barn stood a few rods south of the frame house. Mr. Proper raised the old-time red Durham cattle. These cattle were large animals that could stand bad weather and would live on roughage that modern breeds of cattle would not thrive on so well. Mr. Proper usually had a yoke of oxen too.

He raised several teams of heavy horses. some would weight as much as 1,800 pounds each. He would break them, then sell them. They were of course kept in the horse barn that still stands. He had a very good double driving harness and always drove two horses in a top buggy. The names of his team of horses were "Deak" and "Ben."

One Daughter Still Living

Mr. and Mrs. Proper had 10 children as follows: Mrs. Estella Fabian, Mrs. Hettie Davison, Kermal W. Proper, Mrs. Matie Slagle, Esley Dan Proper, Ward A. Proper, Otis G. Proper, Lee J. Proper, Carl A. Proper and Mrs. Grace Johnson. All are dead except Mrs. Slagle who is still living in California and is in her 97th year. Her health is not good.

William H. Proper was a highly esteemed gentleman and had a large number of friends. His byword was "By Jingos." Although his picture in this sketch shows him clean - shaven, he generally had a beard.

He was a very religious man and was a charter member of the United Brethren Church of Diamond which organized in the winter of 1859 in the original Diamond schoolhouse. He was one of the three trustees that received the first deed of land for the church on Jan. 17, 1862. The amount of $15 was paid to Morgan J., Robert and Eli A. Proper for this lot.

William Proper was also a charter member of the Free Methodist Church of Diamond which organized in January and February, 1893. He was also one of the three trustees who received the deed of land from John Wright for this new church. He furnished a lot of the lumber off his own farm to build this church. It was sawed out at Wright's mill. Mr. Proper was a good speaker. When he stepped up to the pulpit to preach, one could hear a pin fall.

Builds Present Grange Hall

In March, 1885, Mrs. Proper bought one acre of land in Diamond from Thomas Shonts. Mr. and Mrs. Proper thought that the community was in need of a building for a social center and a store. So they had a two-story hall built in the fall of 1893. The lumber came from Mr. Proper's farm and it was hemlock. The carpenter was J. W. Beers of Chapmanville who is still living in Gaithersburg, Md. The total cost of this building was $700. It is the present Grange hall.

Mr. Proper had been troubled with hernia for years. On Monday morning, March 8, 1897, he took suddenly ill with this ailment. On the next day he was laid out on the dining room table and physicians performed an operation. In that early day surgery was not successful in many instances. So it was in this case. Gangrene set in and Mr. Proper died on Thursday night, March 11, at 10 o'clock.

The funeral was held in the Free Methodist Church with Rev. J. M. Critchlow delivering an impressive sermon, taken from Job 31:14 -- "What then shall I do when God riseth up? and , when he visiteth, what shall I answer him?"

Mrs. Proper stayed at Diamond until around 1903 when she married Maurice M. Freeman of Enterprise. She spent the rest of her life in that community. She was a rather heavy woman of average height. In 1911 she sold the Proper hall in Diamond to the Grange organization for $500. She died at Enterprise on March 26, 1923, aged 84 years. She was buried at Diamond beside her first husband.

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.