Around Randolph Township and Guys Mills
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About this ebook
Cheryl Seber Weiderspahn
Cheryl Seber Weiderspahn is a lifelong local history enthusiast with an intimate understanding of the region. Around Randolph Township and Guys Mills features rare, never-published photographs from the personal collections of area residents and the Crawford County Historical Society
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Around Randolph Township and Guys Mills - Cheryl Seber Weiderspahn
Wilson.
INTRODUCTION
From 1795 through the early 1820s, small groups of settlers immigrated from New York and other New England states. A dozen settlers attempted an existence in this primeval forest. These pioneers experienced starvation and poverty, merciless winters and isolation, pestilence and illness, hostile Native American raids, and attacks by wild animals. Some succumbed to the hardships. With fortitude and perseverance, others tamed and civilized the land and populated it with descendants who still live here today.
One influential early pioneer was Jacob Guy Esq. (1779–1850), a well-educated New Englander. Early accounts claim that Guy owned as much as 10,000 acres (nearly half) of Randolph Township. Dubbed a Land Baron,
he constantly bought land and resold to incoming settlers. Jacob Guy’s early foresight enabled his crossroads, once known as Guytown, to mature and become the hub of all Randolph Township. He was remembered as a keen bookkeeper, shrewd businessman, surveyor, justice of the peace, political activist, mill proprietor, and store merchant. Jacob and Susanna Guy’s union brought forth nine children, and records show that the Guy offspring continued to contribute to the area by becoming a schoolmistress, a hotel proprietor, a tavern owner, a sawmill operator, farmers, and an Episcopal minister.
Life in the unbroken wilderness began to change. The 1820s and 1830s saw a rapid influx of settlers. Slowly Randolph was dotted with small clearings, then self-sufficient farms. Ambitious tradesmen sold services and scores of businesses sprouted up. With a high priority in education and spiritual fervor, schools and churches soon followed. The close-knit crossroad communities of Guys Mills, Black Ash, Mount Hope, Brawley Stand, and Hickory Corners flourished. These rural villages were self-sufficient prior to the advent of the automobile. This area pioneered in independently owned local phone, newspaper, electric, and water systems.
Randolph Township was touched by the great oil boom to the east. Edwin Drake’s historic Titusville oil discovery in 1859 changed the landscape and economics of the area. The Guy House Hotel was a main overnight stopping place for fortune seekers between the county seat in Meadville and the Titusville Oil Fields. John D. Rockefeller inspected an oil well in Guys Mills to investigate the possibility of obtaining a lease. Barrel makers could not keep up with the demand. Eastbound wagons of empty barrels and westbound wagons of barrels full of crude crisscrossed Randolph Township.
So, Around Randolph Township and Guys Mills celebrates the ambitious vision, the moral courage, and the physical stamina of those early forefathers.
Therefore this story is painted in broad strokes. It was no easy chore to condense over 200 years of milestones into 128 pages! I labored to provide the reader with an appreciation and understanding of the past and a connection to these communities. I have attempted to instill a pride in our beautiful area and its colorful past. You will notice that the history of this area is well seasoned with a healthy sense of humor. Perhaps it was this humor that carried them through the hardships and struggles.
Following the standardized format of Arcadia’s Images of America series, this photograph essay is a visual history of yesteryear. Because a picture truly is worth a thousand words,
this book gives unlimited insight into our past. Care was given to compose the captions to be entertaining readable accounts as well as a historically accurate reference.
Because photography was rare in this area prior to 1900, there were times that I would like to have included an event, person, building, or business, but no photograph was available. I contacted over 20 people before finding a photograph of the Black Ash Methodist Church! And in requests for photographs of other subjects, the trust and generosity of my fellow Randolphians overwhelmed me. The number of allotted pages did not allow me to use all of the hundreds of old photographs that were loaned to me. You will notice that there are no current photographs in this book. I could have run around the township snapping pictures, but my goal was to provide only vintage images. The vast majority of these vintage images have never been published or presented to the public. With only a couple exceptions, all the 210 photographs contained in this book are prior to 1970.
On a personal level, writing about John Brown not being the choirmaster at Guys Mills Congregational church (see page 41) was perhaps the most difficult part of writing this book. An image of this congregation appears on the cover of this book. That is my hometown church and even I had helped spread the myth. I selfishly considered remaining silent and to letting the legend remain intact. But truth is truth, facts are facts, and a responsible historian reports facts.
I fondly remember spending many childhood hours crosswise on my bed with my elbows propped on my bedroom windowsill. From my vantage point, I could watch the people of Guys Mills scurry around below like ants on an anthill. I suppose this is when my love affair with the area began. I lived here, went to school here, married here, and dedicated my children here. I could go on and on about my passion for Randolph Township.
Today Randolph is a tranquil scenic township where family ties are strong, and good friends are precious. Our beloved Randolph Township has a rich past. May her future be one full of prosperity and memories to preserve.
Rev. T. H. Delamater, pastor of the Guys Mills Congregational Church, wrote this about Randolph Township in 1876: "A howling wilderness around,