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

Grove Guild

Grove Guild, one of Plum township’s most successful farmers, was born east of Diamond on Dec. 17, 1855, a son of Romanzo D. and Margaret Grove Guild.
He received the common school education. He grew into a strapping, dark curly haired young man – a powerful individual who couldn’t be excelled when it came to wielding an axe, grain cradle or scythe. He was a man “born to work” as events will later show.
Grove helped his father in farming and also worked several years doing farm work for his near neighbor, John Strawbridge.
On Dec. 13, 1878, he was married to Miss Dellafina Rosella Proper, a daughter of Jacob L. (Little Jake) and Paulina Reynolds Proper of Fairview. The wedding was in her home with Rev. Isaac Bennehoff, pastor of the United Brethren Charge of Bradford, officiating. Dellafina, or “Della”, born March 25, 1858, was given her first and middle names by two aunts.
The wedding took place very quietly. Not even Grove’s family knew it. Della later said that she did not want to be serenaded – hence the main reason. It was probably a month later before the general public knew it.
The couple moved on 83 acres of land adjoining his father’s farm on the east. Grove’s place is the present Wasyl Bihun place. Grove bargained for this land from Mrs. Rachel Alcorn Ross of Waterford for $1,500. By October, 1884, he had it paid and received his deed. He first built a small house, which is the present back part of the Bihun house. He built a barn 48 feet square which stood until fire destroyed it on July 31, 1954, when the A. Zaremba family owned the farm.

Cleared His Farm

Grove cleared the entire portion of this farm. He hired men to help him, one of whom was a young neighbor, Lole Thomas. Large heaps of logs were burned. Grove also made railroad ties, many of them seven-inch ties, with a broad axe and split rails for his new fences.
Squire Jake Proper of Diamond told Grove to let all the timber grow so that he would later have dollars instead of cents. Grove replied, “What would I do then for a living?”. Squire Jake said to go and work out. However, Grove wanted to be his own boss, so down came the stands of chestnut and oak. Grove said years later that Squire Jake had the right idea. He had “burned money up”. The white oak trees that still stand in front of the Bihun house were part of that forest. Grove left them for shade in the front yard.
In 1884 he bought an additional seven acres to the north from Jesse Alcorn for $1,255. This was a cleared portion and on it were a strong spring and a small house. A family named Cook had lived there prior to Grove’s purchasing it. No one ever lived there afterwards. In 1887 he bought an additional 28 acres from Marion Tipton for $350, 36 acres of the southwest corner of Stone Springhouse Corners in 1900; 17 acres adjoining his farm from Billy McCue for $400 in 1907; and 12 adjoining acres from Mrs. Hettie Thomas for $300 in 1915.
Then, when his aged neighbor to the north, Cyrel Green, wanted to sell his farm to Grove too, Grove gave an emphatic no, saying he was “land poor” enough by then.
Besides the above land, Grove also tilled the farm of his late father-in-law at Fairview. Della inherited this after her father’s death.

Was Deer Hunter

Grove Guild was an enthusiastic deer hunter in his younger years. He then sported a 45.70 rifle and often went with T.D. Thompson and Elmer Sterns of the Diamond area and a young Mr. Grove of Plum to the big woods either in the areas of Sheffield, Hearts Content or Tionesta. They generally stayed a week or two. Grove wasn’t quite as lucky as Thompson or Sterns. He said that it was his luck to drive the deer to some one else to shoot. He did however get a few. He and Sterns once got what was considered the largest buck shot in the Buck Mills area near Sheffield. It is said that it dressed over 200 pounds, and they had quite a time dragging it out.
Grove was one of the very few men who could venture through the big woods and not need a compass. He had a natural sense of directions. After hunting in Hearts Content he often shouldered his gun and walked across country to home. He used an octagon barreled 30-30 during his last years.
Grove raised more grain than any other farmer of the township in his time. In certain years he raised between two and three thousand bushels. His main crops were oats and buckwheat. It was always a full day’s threshing job there. One day around 1910 Ghering and Markley, threshers, threshed 1,000 bushels beside the horse barn which contained the grain bins. What a huge straw-stack was left afterwards.
On an August day about 1915 they were threshing late that evening at Grove’s when smoke was noticed in the west. The men quit and went to the fire which was Claude Mallory’s barn below the cemetery.
After Grove bought the McCue piece of land he planted it to buckwheat. That fall after threshing he sold the grain and paid for the land from the proceeds. Mack Brothers of Titusville bought a good share of his buckwheat each year. He sold some oats for seed each year too.
At different times he got up at 2 o’clock in the morning and drove his team to Oil City to sell a load of hay or potatoes. All this farming was done with two teams of horses which Grove and his sons used. He wouldn’t consent to a tractor because he thought it packed the ground too much. He dug long stone ditches to drain a couple of swamps in his fields. These worked successfully for several years until they clogged up.
Around 1910 Grove and his sons dug a ditch 18 or 20 inches deep from the back spring to a dug well in his yard and laid 2,600 to 2,700 feet of three quarter inch pipe through which a metal ram pumped water to the well. This was still functioning when the J.M. Bilynec family lived there in the late 1930’s and 40’s.

Prize for Heavy Corn

In November 1895, J.H. Rickenbrode, merchant at Diamond, offered as a prize a tubular lantern to the farmer who presented the heaviest amount of shelled corn from one ear. Grove won, his ear of corn produced 16 ½ oz. of shelled corn.
During Grove’s last years he kept 12 or 14 head of cattle, mainly grade Holsteins. He sent milk to the new Titusville Dairy Products when it opened in 1926.
Grove and Della had the following six children: John Proper Guild, Jan. 10, 1881; Clifford O. Guild, May 29, 1884; Bessie Vivian Guild, Oct. 3, 1886; Jacob Ray Guild, Dec. 7, 1888; Margaret Virginia Guild, Oct. 24, 1892; and Hobson Romanzo Guild, April 26, 1899.
John farmed his late grandfather Proper’s farm at Fairview during his later years, and also operated a cider mill there. For some time he also owned property in the Cashup hunting region. He was unmarried. He fell dead off a chair in his Fairview home on Jan. 9, 1938, the result of a heart attack. He had had a goiter operation about three months previously.
Clifford first farmed at home with his father, then bought a sawmill which he operated successfully for nearly 10 years. He moved from Fairview to Erie in August when he entered Titusville Hospital with a serious illness. He is still a patient there. He was a good piano player years ago. He is unmarried.
Bessie was married in her home to Clyde Hipple on Aug. 10, 1913. They farmed awhile at Fairview then operated the W.J. Stevens farm on the Church Run Road. Later they lived on the Kuhns farm at Gresham. They presently live in Titusville and Mr. Hipple has been herdsman at the J.M. Kelly farm several years now. They have three sons – Howard Hipple, Hanford Hipple and Harold Hipple, all of whom reside in Titusville.
Ray first worked on the home farm. In later years he was employed in construction work – one firm being O’Shea’s Contractors in Titusville. Ray was noted as a fine violin player. He never married. On Jan. 1, 1943, he died in Titusville Hospital after being struck by an automobile near Grand Valley the night before. He sustained a fractured right clavicle, both lower legs and several ribs broken, and cuts and abrasions about his head.
Margaret was married on July 12, 1921, to Lewis H. Petit. They began housekeeping in Titusville. Margaret attended schools first at Sunville, then later at Edinboro and Greensburg. She graduated from the Clarion State Teachers College, following which she taught school. Mr. Pettit worked in the office of the Titusville Cyclops for years, then in Cleveland where they lived until a few years ago. They presently live at St. Petersburg, Florida.

Farmed at Diamond

Hobson was married on June 12, 1919, at Mayville, N.Y. to Miss Lena Bandley of Maple Hill. They first lived at Diamond where he farmed. Then they lived on the Warner farm on Church Run Road for several years. Presently, they live in Titusville and he is employed at Harvey & Dubiel Supply Co. They have two daughters: Mrs. Marie Mattacks of Meadville and Mrs. Donna L’Huillier of Titusville.
In 1891 Grove had a large new house built with Bill Borger and Jack Harry of Sunville and Bradleytown, respectively, carpentering it. Most of the lumber came off the farm. It was built immediately in front of the old one. In 1897 he had the horse barn built, hiring George Markley Sr. and John Swanson to carpenter it. This building still stands near the road.
On the Fourth of July, 1892 or 93, Grove performed an act of heroism. Miss Lucy Ghering of East Troy and her beau were at the home of her brother-in-law and sister at Diamond, Mr. and Mrs. J.M. Shriver, and all were preparing to go to an ice cream social at the Sunville Academy. Lucy was in the buggy holding one line while her beau, who was holding the other line, was about to step in. Suddenly the horse lit out and down the hill it ran with Lucy holding one line. They crossed the bridge, and coming towards them were Grove and Della in their buggy. He immediately saw the circumstances, jumped out and flailed his arms to stop the horse, Lucy’s horse slowed somewhat, but continued. Grove grabbed the bridle and slid his heels several rods before the horse stopped. Lucy, who was later Mrs. Kees of Titusville, always thought a lot of Grove Guild after that episode.
Grove was a charter member of the defunct Diamond IOOF lodge, chartered Feb. 12, 1895. He was the first treasurer, which capacity he held for two years. He was installed as noble grand in October, 1897, and in 1900 he was the lodge’s representative to Grand Lodge held in Harrisburg. He always remained a faithful member and he walked to the meetings.

Charter Grange Members

He and Della were charter members of the Diamond Grange which was organized April 19, 1906.
In 1896 he was elected a Plum Township supervisor on the Republican ticket. He served in this office successfully until around the time of the First World War, except the approximate period of 1907-10. He had charge of the roads in the eastern section of the township, and he operated a large scraper that required three teams of horses to pull.
Grove was little over six feet tall and weighed 195 pounds. He became quite bald at last, and what hair he did have turned gray. He was a serious dispositioned man. He was always a healthy man. Only once in a great while he would have a stomach ache. To cure that he would soak stalks of penny-royal in water, steep it, then drink it.
His strength was great. In the old Diamond store he used to grab a 108 pound keg of nails by the ends, arms outstretched, and lift it over his head without bending his elbows. Also he was known to back up to a wheel of a threshing machine, grab it with both hands and lift it while somebody put a board under it to level the machine.
Grove liked music very well but was no musician himself. He would strum on the piano and violin for his own amusement. In fact his home was the second one in the Diamond area to have an upright piano placed in it. Grove paid over $300 for it new about 1903. It was bought mainly for the benefit of Cliff.
Grove had a 1923 Chevrolet truck but didn’t operate it himself. He tried driving it, but he would either push the wrong pedal or go into the ditch, so he gave up and let the boys use it. Cliff owned a new 1925 Flint sedan.
Della was a fairly heavy woman, and was probably 5 feet, 6 inches tall. She became thinner in her later years. She was a neat, stylish dressed lady. She kept busy with the general farmwife’s duties and made a good share of the clothing for her children. She was a member of the Diamond U.B. Church for many years.
In December 1926, Grove and his neighbor, Ben Strawbridge, were hunting deer in the Cashup area. They came out of the woods near the Stone Arch bridge. They then walked to the second house above the bridge and made arrangements for room and board there the next hunting season. These plans were never to materialize.

Falls Through Hole

On the late afternoon of May 29, 1927, Grove was pushing straw through a hole in the floor above the cow stable. Somehow he lost his footing and tumbled down the hole, head first, and the right side of his head struck the edge of the concrete gutter. He was rendered unconscious. Later Cliff went to the barn, discovered him and carried him to the house. An ambulance came from Titusville and took him to the city hospital. He suffered a concussion of the brain besides bruises on his body and one hip. He never regained his senses and died at 7:15 a.m., Monday, April 4.
A Titusville undertaker, the late W. J. Arnold, conducted the funeral in the Guild home the following Wednesday afternoon with an unusually large attendance on hand. The Diamond pastor, Rev.R.H. Eggleston, had the sermon. Grove was buried in the family plot in the Diamond Cemetery.
The Guild farm was sold by the family in 1933.
Della died Feb. 21, 1937, at her home at Fairview following an illness of about six weeks. It seems that she had pneumonia with complications.

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.