Transcribed by Ed Book
This information is from pages 280 through 282 of the State-Book of Pennsylvania, 2nd ed., by Thomas H. Burrowes, published by Uriah Hunt & Sons, Philadelphia, 1847. This work was apparently intended for use as a textbook in Pennsylvania schools and is a fascinating resource on the history of Pennsylvania before 1847.
1. BUTLER, a western county, is bounded E. by Armstrong and Clarion, N. by Venango, W. by Beaver and Mercer, and S. by Allegheny. Area, 780 sq. miles.
2. It presents neither mountains, nor any considerable hills. The surface is of a rolling or undulating character.
3. No large STREAM passes through this county, but the Allegheny touches its north-east and south-east corners. The creeks are, Con-e-que-nes'-sing, Slippery-rock, and Muddy.
4. The SOIL is tolerably fertile, with very little waste land. A large portion of it is sandy, but in the south it is more loamy and of greater fertility.
5. The valuable MINERALS are, abundance of bituminous coal, iron-ore, limestone, and salt.
6. It contains 17 townships, 5 boroughs, and several villages.
7. The BOROUGHS are, Butler, the seat of justice, on Conequenessing creek, with 861 inhabitants, Harmony, Zelienople, Prospect, and Portersville; the villages are Centreville, Woodville, Murrinsville, Summerville, &c.
8. The PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS are, graded roads, called "clay pikes," leading from Butler to Pittsburg, Mercer, Freeport, and Harmony.
9. The POPULATION, in 1840 was 22,378; and, in 1845, the assessed property was $2,361,209.
10. The FIRST SETTLERS were from the other parts of the state. Many Germans, Irish, and some Scotch have since taken up their residence.
11. Their PURSUITS are mainly agricultural, though a number are engaged in manufactures.
12. The PRODUCTIONS are, grain and live-stock, with some wool and silk. There are several iron-furnaces, woolen factories, saw and oil-mills. Little lumber is sent to market.
13. The LITERARY INSTITUTIONS are, 1 academy, and 152 common schools. The spirit of education is increasing.
14. Butler elects 1 member to the House of Representatives, and, with Allegheny, 1 to the Senate of the state; with Armstrong, Indiana, and Clearfield, 1 member of Congress; and is in the seventeenth judicial district.
15. The Townships are, Buffalo, Butler, N. Butler, Centre, Cherry, Clearfield, E. Conequenessing, W. Conequenessing, Cranberry, Donegal, Franklin, Mercer, Middlesex, Muddy creek, Parker, Slippery-rock, and Venango.
16. The Town of Butler occupies a high position with an extensive prospect, near the centre of the county. It is a pleasant, quiet county-seat, with the usual county buildings, of a plain substantial kind. It has 7 churches and an academy. It was laid out in 1800, and incorporated in 1817, taking its name from the county. It is 30 miles N. of Pittsburg, 205 W. of Harrisburg, and 300 of Philadelphia.
17. Harmony, 14 miles S. W. of Butler is a thriving village. It was founded by the German Society of Harmony, (who now reside at Economy in Beaver county,) in 1804, when they first settled in Pennsylvania. They sold their large estate here in 1814, for a considerable sum of money, and removed to Indiana, whence they returned to Beaver county in 1825.
18. Zelienople is near Harmony on the Conequenessing, and 15 miles from the county-town. It is a pleasant village, with over 300 inhabitants. It is in a fertile region, abounding with coal, limestone, and iron-ore.
19. Centreville is 17 miles N. W. of Butler, on the turnpike to Mercer. It is a thriving village, of recent growth, with nearly 300 inhabitants.
20. This county possesses most of the elements of comfort and prosperity. The climate is salubrious, the waters are pure and abundant, and the soil is kindly and generally productive. It has also abundance of iron, coal, salt, and limestone. To these natural advantages, numerous manufactures have been added, consisting of iron-works, woolen factories, and flour, saw, and oil-mills. Some attention has also been paid to the production of wool and silk.
21. The cultivation of the mulberry and the production of silk seem to form an employment very suitable to the population and climate of the greater portion of this state. The labour of feeding the silkworms is light and pleasant, and can be chiefly performed by females and children, without material interruption to other business. The business, also, is one that can be commenced at little expense. A few mulberry-trees, some silkworm eggs, and a book descriptive of the means of using them, are all that is needed. With this stock to begin with, the business can be enlarged to any extent, both the tree and the worm being of easy propagation.
22. HISTORY.--A band of the Delaware tribe occupied the territory of Butler before its settlement by the whites. Their village, about 10 miles N. W. of Butler, was called Kaskaskunk. This was in 1770, when the Moravians first visited the region. No permanent settlement was effected till 1792, when the law for the settlement of that part of the state, north and west of the Ohio and Allegheny rivers and Conewango creek, was passed. Though this law effected the settlement of the county, which mainly took place about 1796, it opened a wide door for imposition upon the real settlers by the land-jobbers, and produced numberless controversies. The county was taken off Allegheny in 1800, and named in honour of General Richard Butler, who fell at St. Clair's defeat in 1791. In 1805, the United States Supreme Court settled the land controversies by which the improvement of the county had been retarded. Since that event, its increase in population and wealth has been slow but steady.
23. NOTED CITIZENS.--William Ayres was the first prothonotary of the courts, and afterwards filled several honourable stations. John Gilmore was long a citizen of Butler. He was at various times a member of the state legislature, and of Congress, and state treasurer.