css3menu.com

html menu by Css3Menu.com


WHO WAS WHO in PLUM TOWNSHIP
~ Titusville Herald ~
By H. W. Strawbridge

Enoch Battin

An old and much respected family name which has been known in Plum township for nearly 124 years is the Battin family. Their first settlement was between Sunville and Chapmanville with their homes situated several rods west of what is known as Battin’s Corners today. The family was of Scotch-Irish descent.
The original couple, Samuel and Mary Battin, had come to Venango county from Centre County, according to family tradition. On March 10, 1834, Samuel bought 48 acres in Plum Township from Samuel Seely for $150. There were log buildings on it, and the Seely family was supposed to vacate the premises by April 1st. It is said that Seely had one field cleared. Samuel Battin also bought 50 acres in March from William Taylor for $50, and in May, 1835, bought a lot more land from Abiel Cram. Both Taylor’s and Cram’s lands had previously belonged to Seely. Thus Battin had finally acquired a 200-acre tract which had been known as the Seely tract. Battin cleared the farm off gradually, and the logs were piled and burned.
Not much is known about Samuel and Mary Battin. It is thought her maiden name was McCauley. It is said that he was a small man, whereby she was a very large woman, and a comical incident has been handed down in this connection. One evening they visited their neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Matthews, who lived on what was later known as the Nicholas Sharp place. During the course of the evening, Mr. Battin was ready to go home and became quite impatient in this respect. But Mrs. Battin wasn’t ready to go. His impatience caused her to lose her patience, then she took him by both shoulders, set him down in a chair and said, “Now you sit there ‘till I’m ready to go!”.
She was a woman who did a lot of knitting. Even when going to a neighbor’s, she knitted all the way. The old couple were charter members of the M.E. Church of Sunville, organized in 1844, and they always remained loyal to this church.
He died May 21, 1860, aged 78, and she died Aug. 18, 1870, aged 82.
They had seven children: Mrs. Elizabeth Armstrong, Enoch Battin, Robert Battin, John Wesley Battin, Mrs. Martha Herring, Mrs. Margaret Sutley, and Hiram Battin. Three of these – Elizabeth, Robert and John, died as young adults.
The son, Enoch Battin, subject of this sketch, was born Feb.26, 1818. He was 16 years old when his father’s family moved to Plum Twp. He attended a few terms in one of the township schools.
He married Hannah Gillespie of Randolph Twp., Crawford County, on May 1, 1845. She was born in Lycoming county, near Williamsport in 1816. The couple lived on the northern one-half of the Battin tract. Enoch’s father willed the northern 100 acres to Enoch, and the southern 100 acres to Enoch’s brother, Hiram. The old log house stood on Hiram’s half. The father also willed that Enoch was to have half of the fruit in the orchard located on Hiram’s half.
Enoch and Hiram each built their own homes on their respective farms. Their homes were situated a short distance below the log house. This log house had a big stone fireplace. In the olden days a driveway extended down and circled to the right, being below the houses. In 1867 and 68 a public road was built through the Battin properties, running east and west and intersecting two other roads. This change put Enoch’s house immediately north of the new road, and Hiram’s house several rods south of the road.
The former Mt. Vernon or Battin schoolhouse also sat on the Battin land. The original two small school buildings sat on the northeast corner of the property. Later, in 1867, a new school was built farther south on Hiram’s portion of land. School ceased there in 1912.
A spring was situated beside the road near Enoch’s house. His house was a double plank frame structure, but there was no cellar under it.
Enoch’s farm was about like the average farm except it was very stony in spots. He farmed with oxen. He also went around the area with one or two other men operating an old fashioned threshing machine. He eventually planted an orchard on his place.
At the edge of his orchard there are three very old graves said to be members of the Seely family. There were once tombstones over the graves, but no more. A black cherry tree marks the tiny burial spot today.
Enoch and Hannah had three children: Robert Battin, Mrs. Margaret Jane Welsh, and Mary E. Battin. Mary died quite young. Robert built a house around 225 yards north of his father’s house and lived with his family there for years. It was there that Robert’s son, C.L. Battin, was born in October 1879. Laverne lives today in Chapmanville and can well remember his grandfather Battin.
Enoch’s daughter, Margaret Jane, married W.R. Welsh. Their late son, William (Doc) Welsh, was said to nearly be the image of his grandfather Battin. Both were of a size, had white hair and other similar characteristics. Mrs. Blanche Welsh, whose husband was Doc Welsh, lives with her son, William and family of South Troy.
Enoch was a very large, raw-boned man, weighting from 225 to 240 pounds. He was a jolly, friendly man and was a good neighbor. Sometime after a neighbor, Samuel Matthews died, Mrs. Matthews wanted to visit her relatives in Westmoreland County. She hadn’t seen them for years. So Enoch took her in the horse and buggy down there for her visit.
Enoch’s health was fairly good, only that he had a distressing asthmatic condition which made it hard for him to get his breath.
Mrs. Hannah Battin was a small woman and weighed less than 100 pounds. However she was surprisingly strong and could easily lift a 100 pound barrel of sugar off the wagon. She was quiet and had little to say. She wove many carpets, and neighbors bought them, paying her 10 cents a yard. She also wove coverlets and tablecloths. She did her weaving in the northeast upstairs room of her house.
Enoch and Hannah joined the Sunville M.E. Church sometime during the 1850’s and were members until their deaths. The original church sat where the old abandoned Methodist burial ground is in Sunville today. Enoch took part in the building of the new church edifice in 1869. It was located several rods north of the original structure. This last building was razed in the winter of 1947. Enoch had served as a steward and trustee in his church.
Enoch served in a few township offices. He served different times as assessor – once in 1849, and again in 1881, 82 and 85. He assisted assessing in 1859, 62 and 68.
Then during the period of time around 1884, he was the judge of election. He also served as a pathmaster a couple of times.
During his last years he met with a painful accident in his barn one day. He was reaching down into the cow’s manger for a pail or something. This cow had quite a crooked horn, and she swung her head in such a way that the point of her horn rammed into Enoch’s mouth and jagged out through one of his cheeks. He immediately grabbed both of her horns and freed himself from the horn. He then hurried to the house to treat the bleeding wound. The grandchildren were back at Robert’s place and they saw him hurrying. They knew something was wrong so they ran over to see what was the excitement.
Enoch died on May 24, 1888, as the result of a stroke suffered sometime previously. His firm belief in the Christian faith was made manifest by his last interview with his pastor, Rev. James Clyde, as well as by his everyday life. Rev. Clyde preached the funeral sermon in the Sunville M.E. Church. Enoch was buried in the old Methodist burial ground which is now overgrown with brush. His parents are buried there too.
Hannah Battin died of old age in her home on Christmas Eve, 1895. O.T. Bower, a former Sunville resident, but now living at Bethel, Venango County, and the late John McLaughlin of Sunville were engaged to dig Hannah’s grave beside that of Enoch’s. They had gotten down about 3 feet and the grave overflowed with water. They asked the Battin family what to do. They decided to have her grave dug in the big cemetery behind the Presbyterian Church which was done accordingly.
The old Enoch Battin house was torn down a few years later by Robert and Laverne Battin. Then a cellar was dug on the site and Robert’s house moved over onto it. But even it is gone today. The Enoch Battin farm is now owned by a great grandson, Murray Battin, who with his family live in a recently built house on the Chapmanville-Sunville road.
The northern half or 50 acres of the Hiram Battin farm is owned and farmed by W.L. Balas who lives nearby. Only the barn and machine shed stand on that place today.
A few years after Enoch and Hannah died, a couple of wells were drilled for oil on their farm, but they proved to be dry holes.

Transcribed by Paula Harry
dharry@pa.rr.com

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