Despite having almost everything, settlers didn’t come early to area

By Jim Cardamon
Early in the 18th Century, the territory that was to become Mercer County probably saw Frenchmen pass through as they traveled from their forts at Presque Isle, Le Beouf and Venango to Fort Duquesne (Fort Pitt) and back. Although they traveled through the county, they never laid claim to the area.

Even though there was a Delaware town on the Shenango River just south of the present city of Sharon, the area was populated predominately by the Seneca Indian tribe. The Seneca tribe was one of the six tribes that made up the Iroquois Nation. The nearest large village was the settlement of Chief Cornplanter in Warren, Pa. The other five tribes were Mohawks, Oneida, Onondagas, Cayugas and Tuscaroras. The Indian population was never very large. The area served more as a buffer zone between the six nations to the east and the western tribes in Ohio. Today, many Indian names remain in the County: Pymatuning, Lackawanna, Shenango and Neshannock are a few.

Neshannock is a Delaware word meaning “both streams.” A fitting description of Neshannock Creek. The land had been ground into an undulating topography by the Ice Age and was covered primarily by deciduous timber. It was well watered by the Shenango River and numerous smaller streams that still flow through the county. The river entered Mercer County in what is now Greene Township approximately four miles east of the Ohio border. It traveled in a southeasterly direction until it made a turn at what is now Big Bend and moved west and then south. The river joined the Beaver River and emptied into the Ohio at Rochester, Pa. With few exceptions, the valleys created by the river’s course slope gradually and not abruptly. Rivers and streams were one of the primary sources of travel.

Even though everything was there that would have encouraged settlers, settlement was discouraged in Western Pennsylvania because of a lack of agreement with the Indians as to the interpretation of the 1754 Treaty of Albany. An adventurous Longhunter exploring this land would have had to sleep with one eye open and a hand on his rifle.

Northwestern Pennsylvania was one of the last frontiers of the state. Settlement occurred in the late 1790s and early 1800s. Mercer County was surveyed in 1785. Irish Presbyterian settlers from Westmoreland and Washington Counties were the first to settle in the county. They were followed by many ex-revolutionary soldiers. Because of inflationary pressure on the Revolution era currency, soldiers took their bonuses in what was called depreciation certificates. The certificates were redeemable in land in Western Pennsylvania.

The rest is history. Agriculture followed by coal and the Erie Canal and steel brought our county to where it is today. A great place to live.

Jim Cardamon, Hermitage, is an 18th Century American history buff and re-enactor.

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