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WHO WAS - Grove family
in Plum Township
Venango County, Pennsylvania
By H. W. Strawbridge

A historic family of Plum Township since 1815, the Grove family was descended fromPeter Grove who was a Revolutionary War veteran and a famous Indian fighter in CentralPennsylvania.

It was on Dec. 5, 1818, that R. R. Grove, a grandson of the famous old veteran, was bornabout a mile southwest of Diamond. He was the third of ten children. His parents wereJacob and Mary Bault Grove who settle on this tract after trading a horse and saddle for it,according to family tradition.

His full name was Rezin Richard Grove. throughout his life he always signed his name asR. R. Grove.

He married Harriet Miles of Wallaceville who was born Jan. 25, 1824. Her parents wereLewis and Elizabeth Foster Miles. Lewis was a veteran of the War of 1812.

Mr. and Mrs. R. R. grove settled on an uncleared farm of 100 acres located one milesoutheast of Sunville. He bought 98 1/2 acres of this farm from his father and JohnDaugherty for $100 on Aug. 16, 1845. The latter two reserved the one and a half acresbecause there was an iron ore bank on it. However, his father willed this chunk of land toR. R. at his death in 1851.

Rezin and Harriet lived in a log cabin located near the road. This is the site of the presentBurton Brown farmstead. A good spring was nearby. In September, 1853, they boughtanother 100 acres from Isaiah Longwell of Frenchcreek Twp. for $500. This joined theeast side of Rezin’s first 100 acres.

There were actually two iron ore banks on his farm. One was on what they called the “bigfarm” across the creek, and another on the “lower 50 acres.” The ore banks were said tobe a good paying proposition in their time of use. However when the small iron furnacesclosed down, it put to an abrupt end the diggings in ore banks.

Built House Near Log Cabin
Eventually Rezin built a large frame house located several yards northwest of the log one. After a few more years, more was built onto it until it had 15 rooms. It stood below thepresent Burton Brown home. This fine 15-room house burned down from an over heatedstove pipe years after R. R. Grove died and after his heirs sold the place. The old loghouse finally fell in and the Grove family cut it up into firewood.

A large barn stood a few rods north of the log house. It stood so close to the road thatwhen threshing time came the power would be placed across the road. If passersby camealong the belt would have to be thrown to allow them by, then put back on again. Thisbarn finally fell in after the Grove heirs sold the place.

There was also a horse barn with a wagon shed attached to it on the side next to the road. This is the renovated dairy barn that Mr. Brown now uses.

The spring was never know to go dry even during the extreme drought periods. Thespringhouse that R. R. Grove built was a huge one. On top of the stone wall there was aregular building. It was removed years later.

There was a wonderful orchard on the place. It produced apples of most kinds inabundance.

Mr. and Mrs. R. R. Grove had the following children: George W. Grove, John M. Grove,Jacob Grove, Lewis Grove, Mrs. Adeline Davison, Mrs. Mary Richey, Mrs. Ellen Dunbarand Mrs. Ann Davison. Adeline was the first wife of I.H. (Houston) Davison. After herdeath Houston married her sister, Ann. Ellen didn’t marry until her later years. Herhusband was Elder Dunbar, an Advent minister of Wallaceville.

All of the above children have been dead for years. However a daughter-in-law of R. R.Grove still lives in Rocky Grove. She is Mrs. Jennie Thomas Grove, aged 94, and widowof Lewis Grove. Mrs. Grove lives with her son, Fred Grove, and she still has good health. She well remembers the R. R. Grove family. The Lewis Grove family and sister Ellenwere living with their father at the time of his death.

Interested in Oil Leases
R R. Grove was considerably interested in the oil developments. He was a party to manyleases and agreements. In fact, his first one was when he and four other men---WilliamFoster, Hugh Miles, Milton Miles and William Weakley---made a 20-year lease with JohnFoster of Cherrytree Township on Nov. 14, 1859. Less than three months after thefamous Drake well was drilled.

It is said that Mr. Grove did lose money on a lease at Reno. On May 30, 1864, he soldmost of his interests and titles in several leases to Mahlon P. Frost of Cleveland for$9,000.

Mr. Grove, his son-in-law Houston Davison, and Cyrus R. Davison of Sunville were largestockholders in a refinery which was under construction five miles below Franklin on theValley Railroad in 1881.

In the fall of 1873 Mr. Grove bought an additional 61 acres of the Joseph Welsh estate for$1,875. This joined his farm, making a total acreage of 261 acres.

He also bought 72 acres of his late brother’s (Joseph B. Grove) farm between Diamondand Wallaceville in 1873. He sold 12 acres of this to a millwright named Eckerson in thesame year, and sold the remaining 60 acres to his son, Jacob, in 1888.

R. R. Grove kept a lot of sheep and horses. He also had a small sawmill on his place foryears. It sat along a run across the road from the Matthews house. He did some customsawing, though not a great deal.

Under a big oak tree in the front of Mr. and Mrs. Brown there is presently a large “Indianrock.” The Indians had chiseled out a bowl in it in which they ground their meal. Thisrock originally sat below the buildings by the spring run. Lewis Grove and his sons movedit up to it’s present location with a team and stoneboat. The Grove family used to findseveral arrowheads on the farm.

R. R. Grove was tall and stoutly built, and was straight as an arrow, even in his last years. He was a believer and worker for good things and was very congenial. He was alwayscalling people in to have dinner or supper with the family. He was a keen memory andwas also a good singer. He was an active member of the Second Advent Church ofWallaceville, and he helped to build the church edifice in the early 1890’s.

He held a few township offices. During the period of time around 1871, he served as taxcollector, and from 1868 until 1871 he was a road commissioner. He also served as aschool director.

Mr. and Mrs. Grove raised two granddaughters and nephew. The granddaughters wereBlanche and Wealthie Richey whose mother had died when they were little girls. Thenephew was Will Paup.

Mrs. R. R. Grove was said to have been a very good looking woman when young. Shewas well liked and greatly respected. She was a member of the Sunville PresbyterianChurch. She died in 1888 from what may have been tuberculosis because she hadcoughed so much and was very weak. Just before she died she called her daughter anddaughter-in-law, Ellen and Jennie, into the bedroom and asked them to sing “God Be WithYou Till we Meet Again,” which they did. It was a difficult and sad task to do.

Mr. Grove died at his home at 10:45 p. m., Wednesday, Aug. 6, 1902. Although he hadbeen failing for some time, the immediate causes of death were dropsy and heart trouble,attended by other complications. He was buried on Friday afternoon from thePresbyterian Church.

Transcribed by Dr. Harry Sharp
NY & FL
patroon@ibm.net

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