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WHO WAS WHO in PLUM TOWNSHIP
~ Titusville Herald 1960s ~ Sept. 13, 1957 ~
By H. W. Strawbridge

Grandison W. Grove

Grandison Whitmore Grove was born a mile southwest of Diamond on Dec. 23, 1825. He was a son of Jacob and Mary Bault Grove, early pioneers of Plum Township. Grandison was the sixth of ten children. Throughout his life he was generally known as “Grant” Grove. However he will be referred to as Grandison in this biography, so as not to confuse him with his youngest son whose first name was Grant.
Grandison was married to Miss Angeline E. Welsh who was born Sept. 25, 1828. She was a daughter of William and Sidney Pearson Welsh whose home was somewhere other than here. Her mother died in July, 1830, when Angeline was less than two years old. Her father moved with his children to Plum Township several years later
Grandison and Angeline began housekeeping on what was later known as the Joseph Ford place near Plum Center. This had been a part of his father’s huge farm. Just before his father died on Nov. 1, 1851, he willed this part containing 100 acres and also a yoke of oxen to him. Grandison and Angeline lived here several years.
About 1863 or ’64, they decided to build on a new location on top of the hill above the later David Grove buildings, or the present Leslie Findley place. Grandison had dug a well and put a barn there firs. Before a house was built, Mrs. Grove’s father, William Welsh, died rather unexpectedly on Sept. 20, 1864.
Then Grandison and Angeline changed their minds. They bought out the share of her brother, David B. Welsh for $2,500 the following year and moved onto her father’s 100-acre farm, located nearly one half of a mile “as the crow flies”, east of their former home. This gave them a total of 200 acres. This was told by Don Crowther of Beaver, Pa., who is a grandson of Grandison W. Grove.
Grandison and Angeline spent the remainder of their lives on this place. A long lane, nearly one-fourth of a mile long, extended from the public road back to the buildings. The old Texas schoolhouse sat at the end of the lane by the public road. There was a large house and a shed-barn on this place. The part of the lane nearer to the buildings sloped downgrade to the buildings. The barn stood several rods above the house. Naturally there was a fine spring near the house and a watering trough sat by the pasture. There was a small orchard which had very good apples.
On the hill where they had started to build then changed their minds, only the well remains today. It is in one of Mr. Findley’s fields and is covered over with rock. The barn was moved downhill by David W. Grove and it is Mr. Findley’s present barn.
Grandison and Angeline had the following children: David W. Grove, Myron J. Grove, Mrs. Martha J. Armagost, J. (Jeff) Grove, Mrs. Elizabeth A. Crowther, Mrs. Martha A. Grace, Grant S. Grove, and Mrs. Suie I. Baldensburger. Myron died on Oct. 15, 1853, at the age of 13 months. David was the father of Clyde Grove, 81, who now lives in Diamond. Mr. and Mrs. Clyde Grove recently observed their 51st wedding anniversary.
Grandison was a large man and weighed nearly 250 pounds. He was baldheaded and had whiskers. He was somewhat outspoken in manner; in other words, when talking to someone, he would give out his opinion of anything regardless of whether or not it agreed with that person. He liked music and could play the violin.
He was quite a joker and enjoyed playing occasional tricks on people. One time his brother, Rezin Grove and Rezin’s grandson, Fred Grove, both of Sunville, drove up to Grandison’s with their team and wagon on an errand. Grandison had placed an artificial spotted snake overhead in the barn and had a string hanging down nearby to pull to let the fake snake fall down. When young Fred was standing in the proper place Grandison pulled the string and down fell the snake right beside Fred, scaring him. Grandison got quite a laugh over this.
Grandison kept the normal amount of cattle and horses at that time and generally employed a hired man on his farm. One comical incident is still related about one of his hired men who was from Dempseytown area. It was haying time and evidently this fellow had never helped to hay before, because Grandison was explaining to him how to set the fork in a load of hay, then to keep hold of the trip rope so that he could easily trip it when the fork of hay was over the mow. Grandison drove a spirited team of horses to pull off the hay. When he drove clear out with his team, he looked back to the barn and really got a shock. The foolish hired man kept hold of the trip rope all right – he rode the fork of hay right up over the mow, then tripped it and down he went with the hay! Fortunately he stayed on top of the falling hay and wasn’t hurt. The mow had an earthen bottom with rails laid in it, therefore he could have been easily hurt or killed.
Grandison was a lover of horses. The one outstanding thing that people of today remember about Grandison Grove is that he had the nicest buggy horse of anybody in the country. He always kept his horse well conditioned and groomed. When he drove by with his horse and buggy or sleigh, he drew the admiration of everybody. He had a large bay horse which was decked in a shiny harness and which had hip bells “as big as a man’s fist”, as a fellow put it once. He would drive this nice horse twice a week to Diamond to get his mail. He had strings of sleigh bells which could be plainly heard on clear frosty days over to the Grant Seely home near Plum Center. Grandison raised many horses and he also had some knowledge of doctoring them. Each spring he was called upon to go to several farms where colts were in need of attention.
He was so particular with his horses that he disliked having his sons take them out with the buggy on “courting nights”. Many times he refused permission. However, the sons were not to be outdone. Occasionally one would steal up to the barn, harness the horse, and light out quickly. Sometimes Grandison would hear him and hurry up to the barn to stop him. If he was too late, he (Grandison) would cut across his fields to Philander’s Hollow in another attempt to stop him since the son would have to drive out the lane and down the road. Grandison would reach the road just as the son rode by and he would make a grab for the fleeting bridle and miss! Generally the son got a stern lecture from father the next morning.
Grandison was also a hunter and G.C. Markley of Titusville remembers going rabbit hunting with the old gentleman.
Eventually he sold off parts of his 200 acres. He sold 50 acres of his first farm to Joseph Ford in 1870 for $1, 350. He also sold part of his farm to his son, David who always lived in that section. Then in 1889 he sold 15 acres on the corner opposite the Plum Center schoolhouse to Mr. and Mrs. Grant Seely for $390.
Very few facts are known about Mrs. Angeline Grove. She was a fleshy woman and was known as a very good cook. She had heart trouble, and during the last year or so of her life she more or less sat around, in poor health. She died on Aug. 12, 1887.
After his mother’s death the son, Jeff, lived awhile with his father. Later Jeff moved away.
During the first part of October, 1899, Grandison married Mrs. Mary Luse Benedict, a widow from the Pleasantville area. They were given a noisy, old-fashioned serenade at his home on the evening of Oct. 11. The new Mrs. Grove was an attractive and neat appearing lady.
Grandison used to hire young fellows to cut his winter’s wood for him during his later years. One winter Frank Seeley and Art Morvin cut 44 cords of wood for him and stayed there for their dinners. Then at another time Frank Seeley and Lee Davison cup up a large oak tree into firewood for him.
When he was old, neighbors helped him put up his hay. The Charles Billig family did his haying a couple of summers. Some of his hay was not so good and it had penny-royal and weeds in it. Grandison jokingly said that these weeds would make good horse medicine during the winter months.
He had heart trouble during his last years and didn’t do much except his few daily chores. He would sit by the kitchen window on the north side of his house and watch the horse-drawn traffic go by on the other road past the DeWayne Proper place.
On Sunday, Jan. 20, 1907, Grandison went up to the barn to do his evening chores. When he was long overdue from retuning to the house, Mrs. Grove went up to investigate about 6 o’clock. When she stepped into the barn she was shocked to find him lying dead in the first horse stall. (He kept his horse in the farthest stall). He had had a sudden heart attack and dropped dead.
Mrs. Grove ran over to the Joseph Ford place in the deep snow to get help and was all tired out when she arrived there. Then she and members of the Ford family went down to get David Grove, and all went back to the old place and carried the old gentleman’s body into the house. Dr. W.J. Richey of Chapmanville was summoned to ascertain the presumed cause of death.
Mr. Grove was buried on Wednesday afternoon Jan. 23. The undertaker was Willis L. Arnold Sr., who is still in the business at Townville. At that time he had succeeded his father, Joseph W. Arnold, only a short time previous. The driver of Mr. Arnold’s livery team was Clyde Stockwell, now living in Tryonville.
There was a brief prayer service for Mr. Grove in his home, then all loaded up to go to the M.E. Church at Wallaceville for the funeral. As there was quite a grade leading up from the house, one of the horses on the hearse became balky and it absolutely refused to go. The entire procession waited while Mr. Arnold and Mrs. Stockwell tried to urge the horse on. Finally after very patient but gentle persuasion, the horse decided to go, and on down to Wallaceville the procession journeyed without further ado. After his death Mrs. Grove held a public sale and she moved away. She died Aug. 29, 1919.
Nobody ever lived in the old Grove house after she moved away. Clyde Grove bought the place from the heirs and he tore down the house in 1921 and used some of its pine lumber in his own new house which he build on the present W.A. Larson place. The old barn fell in, and a couple of neighbors hauled some of its timbers away.
However, a man named Jim Huling built a very small house on the old cellar and lived there two or three years around the mid or latter 1920’s. It was torn down shortly afterwards.
The Grandison Grove place is now State Game Lands and it is planted to spruce trees. Trees and brush are growing in and around the old cellar. The spring however is walled up in good shape and water still surges away from it.

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.