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WHO WAS WHO in PLUM TOWNSHIP
Titusville Herald - May 18, 1962
By H. W. Strawbridge

Miss Jane Richardson

Miss Jane Richardson was born near West Salem, Mercer County on June 16 of a year that is now uncertain. Various records give the years of 1820, 1829 and 1830. She was one of eight children of John and Margaret Crawford Richardson.

The Richardson family was of Scotch-Irish descent. Jane’s grandfather, also named John Richardson, was born in 1752, probably in Scotland. His wife was Nancy Mossman, who came from a wealthy family. It is thought the Richardsons came with the Mossmans to America. They lived awhile in Maryland, then finally settled in Mercer County. John Sr. died in 1805 and Nancy in 1848 (aged 96) and they are buried in the United Presbyterian Cemetery at Greenville.

These interesting early records are filed by Mr. and Mrs. Samuel I. Small of Newtontown, the former being a descendent of the Richardsons.

John Jr. and Margaret (Jane’s parents) moved from Mercer County to Plum Township in 1840. They located on a 200-acre tract directly in the center of the township, which is known as Plum Center. He was first assessed as John “Richeson” on 200 acre valued at $225, one yoke of oxen valued at $25 and two cows at $16. He bought this tract from Joseph Morrison of Meadville for $700.

John died in 1862 or 63 and he willed his property to some of his children. Jane, the only one who never married, got the home place with approximately 65 acres. This place today is occupied by the Raymond Dempsey family.

Still Called “Aunt”

Jane became known to everybody as “Aunt” Jane Richardson. Even though she has been dead well over a half a century, ones who knew her still refer to her today as “Aunt” Jane.

She was a tall, raw-boned woman with brown hair. She enjoyed having visitors. She always had a good garden, kept two cows and made butter, and had a few chickens. Every fall she had a pig fattened for butchering. She is remembered as having been a good-hearted woman and a fine neighbor. One person stated you couldn’t beat her dried apple pies that she baked. They were the best.

At the time she inherited the place a log house sat very near the present one. In the latter 1880s the large part of the present house was constructed, and the smaller part moved up from near the corners and attached to it. James Brush, her nephew, did the carpenter work. In fact, he had lived in the smaller part when it sat near the corners.

The original barn sat across the road from the present barn. The present one was constructed about 68 or 70 years ago. Irve Sherman and George Grove, who had a sawmill on the Burnheimer tract not too far away, took the contract to build the new barn for $250. They furnished the timbers, hemlock lumber and other necessities, including the carpentering. On the day of the raising a large crowd of men came to help. Several were pushing up one particular eight-inch square timber with pike poles when one pole slipped and timber fell back onto the ground. One neighbor, W. A. Jennings, got a bad brushing by it. His ear and one side of his face were painfully bruised. It just missed his shoulder. He was fortunate that it wasn’t a worse accident.

Aunt Jane had no cellar under her seven-room house. She had a cave house just north of the house. A well was about three rods from the house, but it would go dry in droughts. Then she carried water from a neighbor’s place.

Sold 15 Acres

In 1871 she sold 15 acres to Grant Seely who built a new home on that piece. In fact he did her farming on the shares. Then in 1874 she sold a half-acre to the township school board for $30. The former Plum Center schoolhouse was built on this lot which was located on the corner. Her farm thus became a 50 acre farm which it remained until her death.

Aunt Jane generally had someone stay with her at nights because she had a fear of being alone. Several people, mostly nieces and nephews, and other relatives stayed with her at different times. Included were Will and Leonard Fortune, Jessie and Ethel Brush, Crawford Lamberton, Jennie Lamberton, Laverne Morse, Maude Stevens and Nancy Mook.

In her later years she spent her winters at either the Grant Seely home or the Jim Brush home.

Frank Seely, who still lives near the old Richardson place, recalls Aunt Jane very well. She once told him that when a girl in 1833 she could remember of watching the stars fall like fireworks one night. Others had seen the unusual spectacle at that time. The fact is almost lost now by the passing of time.

She said she was a schoolteacher in her younger years. She described how they spelled then. Spell a word in syllables, then pronounce that syllable, and continue so until completed. The word she used as an example was AN-TI-DU-LUVIAN.

Aunt Jane often quoted poetry. One little verse she often repeated was as follows:
The little wren is very small,
The hummingbird is smaller still;
The lady bird is smaller yet
And very beautifully dressed.

Arthur Billig of Oil City states when a little boy he used to take his Grandmother Billig over in his little “express wagon” to see Aunt Jane. They were sisters and lived close to each other. Arthur also used to hitch up Aunt Jean’s horse and buggy and take her to the store at either Chapmanville or Wallaceville.

Hired Wood Cut

She hired young fellows to cut her wood each year. She once hired Oren and Burke Seely to do this task. She decided later in the day to go out to the woods and see how they were doing. They were cutting quaken-aspen, a poor wood, and she stopped them from cutting any more of that worthless wood.

Many an evening one could have found Aunt Jane sitting with her sunbonnet still on and reading a dime novel by the light of an old oil lamp. She would be smoking her pipe. Let it be remembered that pipe smoking was a common and honorable estate by many elderly women in the olden days. Most did not hesitate to smoke their pipes before company. There were a few, however, who did their smoking strictly in private, like in their bedrooms or in certain outbuildings. Aunt Jane was not of this latter group.

The greatest shock she undoubtedly experience occurred the night of Jan. 18, 1897. She was awakened that night by sounds from the other rooms. When she opened the door to investigate she was confronted by four would-be-robbers who roughly ordered her to get back into her room. Her nephew, Len Fortune, was staying with her then. When the men came to his bedroom door and started past it, he stepped out with a shotgun. However, they fired first, the bullet hitting him in the upper right arm and passing through the door. This caused his shotgun blast to hit the ceiling instead of the robbers. Immediately they fled without any loot.

Several of the area neighbors were notified immediately and they took out after the intruders. Just below the viaduct at Rynd Farm they were discovered hurrying down the railroad track below. Two of the neighbors, George Grove and Ralph Billig, hustled on down to Rouseville and managed to capture one or two of the fellows. The rest were captured later and finally all were sent to prison.

Was a Mistake

The fact that the culprits hit Aunt Jane’s home was a mistake. Their intention had been to rob the nearby home of Joseph Ford, a prosperous farmer who peddled produce in Rouseville nearly every week. The would-be robbers, from Oil City and Rouseville, decided to rob his place. They learned that Ford’s house was “the first one on the right” after leaving the corners at Plum Center. So was Aunt Jane’s house “the first one on the right” after leaving the same corners. However, it depended on which turn one took at the corners. The foursome picked the wrong turn and struck the Richardson home.

Her nephew, Len Fortune, who got shot in the episode, is still living in Crawford County and is about in his mid-80s.

Aunt Jane spent her last winter, which was the winter of 1907, with the Grant Seely family. She had poor health then due to the infirmities of her years. She fell on the ice on Feb. 19, and worsened steadily after that until her death at 6 o’clock the morning of March 25. Dr. W. J. Richey of Chapmanville was her doctor. Immediately upon her death, Mrs. Seely rang the dinner bell a long time to draw some neighbors to the place. The clanging bell was heard quite distinctly at the Webster home located a distance south of the Seely place.

Aunt Jane Richardson was buried in the Wallaceville Cemetery following a service in the Methodist Church of that place on March 28.

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.