css3menu.com

html menu by Css3Menu.com


WHO WAS WHO in PLUM TOWNSHIP
~ Titusville Herald ~ 1950s - 1960s ~
By H. W. Strawbridge

Samuel Richey

It was in Turbet, Juniata County, Pa., where Samuel Richey was born on Sept. 25, 1822. He was one of eight children of William and Eleanor Duggan Richey who journeyed to Oakland Township, Venango County, with their family in 1836. The Richey family was of Scotch-Irish descent.
William Richey purchased a large tract of land situated mainly in Oakland from the Samuel Dale estate. The western part of this land was in Plum Township, and it was on this part that Samuel settled and later received by his father’s will. The father died in 1855, and the mother in 1861.
Samuel was married to Miss Hannah Mariah Tracy on Aug. 7, 1845. The wedding took place in Oakland Twp. Hannah was a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Hiel Tracy, and was born in Willit, Cortland county, N.Y., on Feb. 14, 1828. She had come to Oakland when a little girl with her father’s family.
Samuel and Hannah started their married life on their Plum farm, living there 22 years. During these years Samuel followed the vocation of farming.
On Aug. 1, 1860, Samuel sold 30 acres of his farm to a neighbor, Benjamin Strawbridge for $300. Then, on April 29, 1867, Samuel sold his farm with its remaining 76 acres to another neighbor, David A. Ketner, for $4,300. As of today, there are no buildings on the old Samuel Richey farm site.
Samuel then bought a 21-acre property in Wallaceville from James R. Grove for $3000. This large sixteen-room house stood on the southwest corner of the main corners of Wallaceville. It sat on a sloping bank with a couple of terraces in the front yard.
Here Samuel operated a general store situated along the north side of the big house. He ran this store probably until the latter 1870’s. He also conducted the Wallaceville postoffice there, having been postmaster from May, 1870, until March, 1878, when he was succeeded by Benjamin F. Mark.
Samuel and Hannah also ran a hotel in their large house for years. As one entered the front door, the stairway was in the hallway, and living rooms were on each side.
Samuel had a barn, but he farmed only on a small scale. He kept a cow or two and a team of horses. He had a garden every year.
He and Hannah had a grand total of 16 children, who with their birth years were: Clarissa Ellen Richey (1846), William Hiel Richey (1848), Nancy Jane Richey (1849), John Patterson Richey (1851), Mary Matilda Richey (1853), Lydia Catherine Richey (1855), Emily Minerva Richey (1856), Harriet Ethelwine Richey (1858), Thomas Franklin Richey (1859), Ida Violetta Richey (1861), Dora Adaline Richey (1863), Victor Berdette Richey (1864), Margaret Alilierta Richey (1866), Etta Alvira Richey (1868), Samuel Lavern Richey (1870), and George Washington Richey (1873).
The first 13 children were born on the Plum farm, and the last three in Wallaceville. Unfortunately, eight of these 16 children died young, Mary and John died Oct. 19 and 23, respectively, in 1857, probably of a contagious disease; Harriet died March 18, 1861; William died Nov. 5. 1865, aged 17; Margaret died Dec. 23, 1867; and George died April 17, 1874.
Family tradition states that one of the above little girls, likely Harriet, had had her regular supper on a particular evening. At bedtime she again got hungry and wished something to eat. However, her mother said it wasn’t long before that she had her supper and didn’t give her anything. The next morning the little girl was found dead.
Dora died Jan. 5, 1885 of tuberculosis. She was a beautiful girl and had been engaged to Walter Homan. Just six months previous, on July 2, 1884, she was surprised when 70 friends called to help celebrate her 21st birthday. She received many gifts, including a fine silk dress.
Lavern, or “Barnum” as many called him, due to his likeness of the great showman, P.T. Barnum, died Oct. 14, 1887, aged 17. He contracted typhoid fever. He was working for James R. Grove when he took ill. It was said the Lavern’s funeral was one of the largest ever seen in the village.
The first six children who died are buried in the large Richey lot in the Cherrytree Cemetery. When Dora died, the lot had been full, so Samuel and Hannah selected a new lot in the Wallaceville Cemetery and buried Dora and Lavern there. Samuel and Hannah are buried there too.
The oldest of the eight surviving children, Clarissa Ellen, married John Strawbridge on Jan. 8, 1863. They farmed east of Diamond. They had a family of eight children, all of whom are deceased. John died in 1890, and Ellen married Robert Grove on March 26, 1896. She died Dec. 1, 1902. A daughter-in-law, Mrs. Edith Strawbridge, lives today on the old home near Diamond. This writer is a great-great grandson of Samuel Richey, through this branch of the family.
Nancy Jane married Joseph A. Seely on Oct. 24, 1867. They lived near the Plum Center schoolhouse. He died in 1876. She married Henry Billig on June 8, 1885. There were three children to the first marriage, all of whom are deceased. The youngest, J. Audley Seely, was reared by Samuel and Hannah Richey. J.A. Seely’s son, Glenn Seely, who lives on the Franklin-Polk road, has quite a family record written down. Another son, Harry Seely of Alder Creek, N.Y., recalls history of the family too. There were four children to Jane’s second marriage, all of whom died young. June died in Steuben Township on June 10, 1924.
Lydia Catherine married John Grove of Sunville. They had three children, one of whom, Clyde Grove, lives in Ohio. The mother was commonly known as “Kate” Grove. She died July 3, 1899 of diabetes, and is buried at Sunville. He died in 1912.
Emily Minerva married John A. Loux on Nov. 22, 1882, which was Mr. Loux’s 32nd birthday. They had two children, one of whom lives in Franklin. She is Mrs. Hannah L. Vogan, and she, too, possesses family records. A brother, Harry Loux, died just recently. John Loux died in 1924, and Emily died in Franklin on Jan. 2, 1936.
Thomas Franklin married Miss Eliza Hennage in Salem, Pa., on Dec. 20, 1883. During his lifetime Franklin was employed in the oil fields. They had seven children, two of whom survive. They are Mr. Nellie Burger and O.C. Richey of Coraopolis, Pa. Mrs. Burger has a Richey family Bible that is 101 years old. Franklin Richey died in Coraopolis on Jan. 4, 1945, having been the last survivor of the sixteen brothers and sisters.
Ida married Smith Deemer, and they lived at Franklin for years. They had three children, two of whom are living – Frank Deemer of Indiana and Charles Deemer of Oil City. The third child, Mrs. Adda Flaugh, died in Erie slightly more than a year ago. Mrs. Flaugh’s daughter, Mrs. Ida Walters, also of Erie, has family records also. Mrs. Ida Deemer died in Erie on Nov. 13, 1937.
Etta married John S. Peebles of Cherrytree Township on Oct. 24, 1889, and they lived in Cherrytree Township. Etta died Sept. 9, 1905, following a month’s illness of complications that culminated in diphtheria. They had seven children, three of whom are living: Verne Peegles of Titusville, Mrs. Vada Lafound of Buffalo, and Clyde Peebles of Corry. The father, John, died in 1945.
Samuel Richey, the subject here, was short and quite heavy. He was probably 5 feet 6 inches in height. He was rather reserved and formal in character. For instance, when dinner was served in their home, Samuel sat at the head of the table and the plates were passed to him for filling.
For many years Samuel was Plum Township constable and tax collector. He was succeeded by W.J. Harry about 1895.
Samuel was a patriotic sort of individual. It is said he kept an American flag flying in his yard.
He was a member of the former Farmers Alliance of Wallaceville. A record indicates he was installed as its chaplain during an installation service of officers on July 9, 1892.
During his later years he was nearly always to be found sitting on his own porch or on the porch of the general store operated by Col. Long. This store was across the road from Samuel’s house. While sitting on the porches he always asked many questions to both adults and children. He was quite inquisitive in later life. Some children called him, “The Capitol of Wallaceville”.
One day a stranger walked through Wallaceville. Samuel accosted him and asked, “And what might your name be?”. The stranger replied, “It might be Smith, or it might be Jones, but its neither one and I’ll be darned (?) if I’ll tell you”, and with that he walked on!
One time his grandson, Audley Seely, and some other young fellows put an extra heavy charge of powder into an old muzzle-loading rifle. They asked Samuel to fire it. He refused, so they tied the gun to a tree and fired it with a string tied to the trigger. The gun blew up!
In May, 1887, some young jokers played a naughty trick on Samuel. They were taking some hay out of Samuel’s barn, and in the bottom of the mow they found a hen’s nest from the year before. They threw away all of the rotten eggs but one. Soon Samuel came into the barn and remarked he felt hungry. One chap handed the egg to him and told him to go to the house and boil it. “No, I’ll take it raw”, Samuel said, and he broke the egg in his hands. Needless to say, there was quite some stirring around and excitement then. It was said that, “the barn smelled as though there had been a flow of Lima Oil in the neighborhood.
Samuel always kept pigs for meat. One time he took some pork out of the brine and, rather than throw the brine away, he thought he’d give it to the living pigs in the pen. He did this and, unfortunately, killed some of the pigs. He never did this again.
Samuel was liked by everybody. He had a manner that people couldn’t help but liking him. He seemed to take an interest in all the activities about his area.
About 1898, a young resident of Wallaceville, Norman C. Neely, wrote a song about Wallaceville which was a parody to the tune of “Sidewalks of New York”. In this song Mr. Neely made mention of Samuel Richey. Mr. Neely, now 82, lives at Retail, Wash.
Mrs. Hannah Richey was a nice lady. She was short and stoutly built. She was a longtime member of the Wallaceville M.E. Church. Three of her daughters had also belonged there too. They were Emma, who joined in 1878; Dora in 1882; and Etta, around 1885.
Hannah was a charter member of the Wallaceville M.E. Ladies Aid Society. The constitutional meeting of this society was held in Hannah’s home in April, 1895.
Aug. 7, 1895, was a hot day. That was the day that Samuel and Hannah celebrated their golden wedding at their home with a large crowd on hand. Some people living today can remember it. Lee Davison of Sunville recalls being there with Mrs. R.P. Seely. Mrs. Kittie Fox of Venus recalls being there with her mother, Mrs. Nellie Orr Carpenter. Her mother had made a new fancy white dress for Kittie to wear for it. Then, Mrs. Bessie Alcorn Oxford of Kearney, Neb., remembers it. The main thing she remembers is that she nearly made herself sick drinking so much lemonade.
Samuel Richey had a cancer removed from his nose, then was alright a few years. Then another started on the side of his face. He was more or less ill his last two years. More small cancers broke out, and he also developed dropsy. He was in much distress before his death which occurred Jan. 5, 1901.
His service was held in the Methodist Church on the 7th.
Hannah continued living at Wallaceville, and would spend occasional extended visits with her children. She died at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Ida Deemer, in Franklin on the morning of Sept. 16, 1914. She was troubled with enteritis, besides infirmities of old age. She was buried at Wallaceville following a funeral in the Second Advent Church of that place. She had survived eleven of her 16 children.
The large Samuel Richey house fell in years later, and no building is on the site anymore.

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.