The Potter journal. [volume] (Coudersport, Pa.) 1857-1872, 1859-12-15
TERMS --$l.25 PER ANMUM.


and hence the first move was to have y
road opened to Jersey Shore, of which I
will tell you more presently.
AS soou as John Heating & Co. pur-
chased these lands from Mr.. VIM. Bing.
ham, they commenced by having their
purchase well explored This task was
confded to Mr.. Francis King grandfather
Of VIM. K. King, Esq, now of Smeth.
port Pa, , who gave the greatest satisfa;.
ton to his employers as an excellent sur
vcyor; intelligent in his explorations and
IN all his observations respecting the soil,
climate, aud future prosperity of the couE-
ty. He encountered every difficulty,
every danger and privation with the great
est perseverance, and fortitude. Having
fixed upon that section of the Keatins
lands now known as Ceres, as being the
nearest to the quarter from which, sooR-
er or later, settlers and provisions must
come, Mr.. King started some time during
the year 1909, | think, to meet Mr.. Keat-
ing who had been waiting at Dykes Creek
(now known as Wellsville or Genesee, n.
\ } about eleven days, BY reason of a de-
lay in opening a road from the latter place
to Ceres. After seeing what could bs
done preparatory to the formation OF a
settlement at Ceres, Mr.. Heating and Mr.
King started together for the south, end
1t took them five days to reach the waters
OF the Susquehanna. When about threo
miles below the mouth Of the Sinnema-
hening they found two families very poor
ly off as to everything. These were the
first whites they had seen. on their Jour
noy. There was not a settler en- any of
the branches Of the Sinnemahoning. They
followed the river down to Northumber-
land, aud there made arrangements with
John Cowdcn, Esq, which enabled them
to procure all that was necessary to COM
mence at Ceres. They had to take fami-
lies and provisions up to the mouth ofth
SInnemahoning; thence up the Dnftwood;
thence across the portage to the Allcghe.
ny at Canoe-Placc (now Port Allegany;)
thence down the Allegheny to the mouth
of the Oswayo thence up the Oswayo to
Ceres, a distance Of at least two hundred
miles Of course tho expenses of such
a trip were not very light. Similar wants
required a continuation Of such expenses
for three or four years, not by the route
of the Sinnemahoning alone, but by the
Allegheny from Pittsburg. If Mr.. Bing-
ham, from whom John Heating T. Co.
purchased their lands, had Lot been car.
ried off by sudden and premature death,
he would have contributed agrceably to
his positive Intentions, BY his means, to
the improvement of his estate, especially
in that county The minority of his SON
caused delay of twenty years. Embar-
rassment in the affairs Of other large pro-
prietors; the indifference of others; the
unsettled disputes of the Pennsylvania
and Connecticut claimants; the purchase
of Indian lands the opening of the Erie
Canal, and many other circumstances have
proved great drawbacks to the settlement
of Potter aud the neighboring counties.
But Mr., Heating did not stop with
simply making explorations and surveys.
He induced men Of character to become
settlers by generous donations cf land;
and that the education of their children
might not be eglected he employed an
Englishman named John Watson as q
school teacher for five years on salary
Of 500 year. He furnished the FIRST
families With a medicine chest, and gave
premiums on Potatoes, corn, &C., which
to $3.50. With the aid of the
then Trustees of the county, Mr. Heating
got road opened from Ceres to Big Mead.
ows (neN the Manchester Mills in this
distance of ffty-Gve miles. He
gave $500 to this object, and Mr.. Wm.
Bingham gave $3.50. Mr. K employed
a man named Carson, of jersey Shore, to
clear ten acres on a lot belonging to him
self IN Potter county (now Sweden town.
ship | believe) and built house thereon
for the entertainment of travellers. He
gave to the late Mr. VIM. Ayres lease
Of the same for seven years, free, and his
choice of lot of 100 acres anywhere in
the county as consideration for his stay.
ing there. Not one of the old settlers in
Potter or this County who has stopped at
the Cold Spring Farm can forget the CON-
forts and kindness enjoyed at the hospita.
bic tre-side of Mr.. Ayres.
Shortly afterward Mr.. Heating agreed
with Major Isaac Lyman, most active,
Intelligent and persevering man, to give
% forty settlers at his choice, fifty acres
each, gratis, and to give to himself one
hundred acres gratis and ten dollars for
zach settler he would bring in with him.
Major Lyman was the father of Judge
lyman, now mail agent on the Tioga
Road
will conclude this already long CON-
nunication by word about the jersey