css3menu.com

html menu by Css3Menu.com


WHO WAS - Conrad H. Sterling
in Plum Township
Venango County, Pennsylvania
By H. W. Strawbridge - June 20, 1958

Conrad Herring Sterling, a life-long resident of Plum Township, was born on May 3, 1825 a son of Simon and Hannah Herring Sterling. He was of Scotch-Irish descent. His father and an uncle, Simon and Elisha Sterling, had traveled from Rutland, Vt., to Venango County in 1818, driving a herd of cattle. Their destination was the Wabash River, but after arriving in northern Venango County, the brothers liked it so well that they decided to stay and abandoned further thoughts of the Wabash.

Eventually Elisha moved into Cherrytree Township where he remained for 36 years before moving away. He married Hannah Stewart.

Simon remained in Plum Township. His log house stood across the road and down into the field a ways from the later house occupied by his son, Conrad. Two walnut trees stood at the spot where Simon's house was located. The old house was gone even before the 1880's.

Mrs. Simon Sterling died first and was buried at Dempseytown. Simon a few years later went up to see his son, William, near Troy Center for a visit, and died there. He was buried at Troy Center.

Conrad H. Sterling bought his father's farm and also additional land from his brother Calvin and a Hilbroner family. His entire place then had 200 acres, 150 acres of which were in southeastern Plum and the remaining 50 acres in Cherrytree Township.

On March 24, 1853, Conrad married Miss Catherine Boals who was born in Center County, Pa., Aug. 15, 1832. Her parents were Jonas and Rebecca Wolfley Boals. Her grandfather, Henry Boals, fought in the Revolutionary War under Washington. Catherine came to Oakland Township with her parents when she was a girl. Her mother died when she was 12 years old and after their arrival in Oakland.

Conrad and Catherine were married in her father's house. After the wedding the entire party walked a mile and a half to see the large new house that Conrad had just built for his bride. It was the first frame house in that area and was tan colored.

Conrad indeed did a lot of clearing on his farm, as well as some done years later by his son. He was a very prosperous farmer. He raised many horses and made a specialty of raising beef cattle. He would drive 20 or 30 cattle at a time to Titusville where he sold them. He also raised flocks of sheep, he would take his sheep to Sugar Creek where he washed them prior to shearing. Then he took the wool to Cooperstown to have it carded and wound on spools. Following this he brought it home and Mrs. Sterling put it on her spinning wheel and spun it into yarn. She made blankets, woolen socks, stockings, etc.

Conrad maintained three apple orchards, a pear orchard, a peach orchard, and a cherry orchard. Thus the family had all kinds of fruit.

He also owned and operated a large cooper shop on his farm. It sat alongside the road and was a long red building. This was of course during the oil boom times. He hired several men to work in his cooper shop and they made many oil barrels which Conrad took to Oil City and sold.

Conrad was a hard worker. He was also a stern man. What he said, he expected to be carried out. He was over 6 feet tall and of average build. He was a staunch Republican and was known to have driven his team through a blinding snowstorm to vote at the Plum Center schoolhouse.

Mrs. Sterling was probably five feet, two inches tall and somewhat stoutly built. She had quite a jolly disposition. She too, worked hard. She churned a lot of butter.

Both Conrad and Catherine were true Christians and were members and regular attendants of the Second Advent Church in Wallaceville as long as that organization flourished. He would sit on the one side of the church and she on the other, which was the custom in most if not all churches in that day. After this church ceased to function, they attended the Hamilton Corners Free Methodist Church until their deaths.

The couple had four children as follows: Mrs. Margaret Elizabeth Feely, Mrs. Lusetta Ann Anderson, Hugh Nelson Sterling, and Elnetta Sterling.

Margaret's husband was Frank Feely, and they resided in Cherrytree Township.

Lusetta Ann was the wife of Dr. George Anderson of Andover, O. She died out there in 1911 as the result of a stroke.

Hugh Nelson Sterling married Ida M. Mallory of Cherrytree Township. They had several children, the eldest of whom, Mrs. Golda Rose, resides in Rouseville. Mrs. Rose is well versed in the history regarding her grandparents. Also one of her sisters, Mrs. Edythe Tryon of Titusville, knows considerable information of the family. Mrs. Tryon has the picture of her grandfather which is shown in this sketch.

The fourth and last child of Conrad's, Elnetta, died Sept. 9, 1873, at the age of twelve. It is said she was sick only around 3 days. She is buried in the Cherrytree Cemetary, and inscribed on the top of her tombstone are the words: "Blooming In Heaven."

In 1889, Conrad Sterling built a new frame house which was a large structure with nine rooms. It was painted white. There also had been a large red bank barn on the place for years.

The Sterling home was a great example of hospitality. Many were the travelers that stopped there and stayed for meals and overnight lodging. Their place became quite widely known as a very desireable place to stop. Remarkably enough, the Sterlings never charged the travelers for their meals or lodging. They just simply enjoyed having them stop and talk to them.

In 1895 a well was drilled for oil in the hill above Conrad's house at the end of one of the apple orchards. The drillers were Frank Feely and his two sons. They drilled into the second and third sands with no showing, so they drilled to the gray sand with some showing of oil. However they never shot it, and abandoned it. It would have cost $100 to have it shot, and the men were afraid to chance it. Mrs. Sterling was disappointed that they didn't shoot it.

Just previous to drilling this well, the men drilled a water well beside the oil well to have water handy in drilling the well for oil. The family once talked of putting up a windmill pump over the water well, but they never did.

Conrad died of infirmities of old age at his home on Monday morning, Dec. 13, 1909. Services for him were held in his home.

Mrs. Sterling then lived alone the remaining five years of her life and she too, died more or less of infirmities of old age on Aug. 15, 1914--her 82nd birthday. Both are buried in Greenwood Cemetery between Titusville and Hydetown.

The Sterling farm has been owned by a family named Roemer for several years.

Transcribed by Jay F. Sterling
keyworth@nauticom.net

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