A Forest Sounds Like a Ship at Sea:
What came before in Ridgebury
Day 8: Remote Residency at Uillinn: West Cork Arts Centre, Skibbereen, Ireland, 7/18/22 to 8/13/22, Maria Driscoll McMahon checking in from New York State
In order to understand what is there now, we have to understand what has been there before. Matthew Carl
One of my objectives in doing this project is to try to visualize the world as newcomers to the "Irish Settlement" in Ridgebury, Pa. saw it as early as 1832. The following excerpt provided some hints. Even in its brevity the account offers profound insights into the character of the immigrants escaping severe hardship around the time of the potato famine as they sought opportunity in a new land. It appears, however, that some Ridgebury settlers dodged the famine as their arrival predates the deadly blight by about ten years.
THE IRISH SETTLEMENT
The above is the name given to the settlement in the southeast part of Ridgeberry, and which extends slightly into the adjacent towns of Athens and Smithfield. Its area was, as late as 1839, an unbroken wilderness. The greater portion of the land originally belonged to Charles Carroll, who acquired his title from the State in 1792. It was subsequently divided among his heirs and legatees, and was not offered for sale until about the year before named, 1839.
About that time Cornelius O'Driscoll commenced a clearing, and soon put up a small log house for himself and family, on the present farm of Corkins. He came to America, remained four years, and then returned and brought out his family, accompanied by several of his neighbors. The North Branch canal was just then being constructed, and the prices offered for work seemed fabulous to the new comers. Driscoll boughtof Patrick and Williston. He brought his family to his clearing in 1840, and died February, 1876, aged ninety-six.
Richard O'Connor was the next settler, with his two sons. They came in 1840. James White was the third settler, and came in 1841. He bought the possession of John Downs, one mile south of the Catholic Church, on which he is yet living. James White emigrated from Ireland, andlanded in Quebec, in April, 1837. His son, the present owner of the farm, was born the following December, on Victor E. Piollet's farm, in Wysox. From there he moved to Browntown, and thence to Ridgeberry.
George O'Leary was the fourth settler, and had a large family of sons. He came from the mouth of Sugar creek in 1842, and settled on the farm now lives on, nearly opposite the church. His house was burned down recently. These four families were the pioneers. After them, the Irishmen came by squads, among them Daniel Desmond, with his sons John and Timothy, Richard Hurley, John Mahoney, Patrick Butler, Daniel Chambers, George Chambers, Thomas Chambers, Daniel Cain, and James Crowley. There are now about a hundred families in the settlement.
Father O'Reilly came on horseback to the settlement in March, 1843, and was the first priest who celebrated mass in the township. There were fifteen or twenty persons present. The service was held in the house of Daniel Cain. After that be came quite regularly. The chapel was built in 1847, by Colonel Scott, for $750, In 1877 it was enlarged and refitted.
Father O'Reilly was bitterly opposed to liquor-drinking and the traffic in that beverage. One of the women of the settlers, while they were working on the canal, sold whisky to the men, and on one occasion,, when she had just laid a fresh barrel on tap, the priest came along, and taking an axe knocked the head of the barrel in, and let the whisky run out on the ground.
Nearly all of the present settlers formerly worked on the public works, and when work ceased on the North Branch canal, they came one after another to the settlement. They helped one another in their clearings, and were very social in their habits. They were charged a large price for their lands, but by perseverance, industry, and frugality they have paid for them, and their neat homes, well-tilled farms, and numerous, well-kept herds, attest their success and prosperity.
Although the painting above depicts a mid 19th century scene near Watkins Glen, NY, the "Southern Tier" New York State border is very close to the Northeastern Pa. hamlet of Ridgebury. In fact, Watkins Glen is only 33 miles away. Certainly the wild scene witnessed by newcomers to Ridgebury was not unlike the landscape depicted by Hope.
According to Dan Rhodes, Education Coordinator for the Bradford County Conservation District, The "unbroken wilderness" of Ridgebury, Pa. would have included evergreen, hemlocks, white pine, maple, oak, beech, birch, and, perhaps, 30 - 40 percent chestnut trees. Animals would have included wolves, mountain lions, wolverines, elk, fishers, pine martens, moose. Although the Irish were relative newcomers to America, there were still areas of rugged wild nature in the mid 19th century.
Hudson River School painter, Asher Durand painted many scenes from the Catskill wilderness about the same time. Although a little farther from Ridgebury than Watkins Glen, the Catskills are still only 144 miles away. Here Durand depicts beech trees which were also present in the Ridgebury, Pa. woods at the same time.
Pennsylvania literally translates to "Penn's Woods," and although the idyllic scenes in the paintings were surely not unlike the scene in Ridgebury, the sylvan paradise would soon be in jeopardy.
After all, the state of Pennsylvania once contained 29 million acres of forest. It is said that John Bartram in 1743 came upon woodlands so dense along the Susquehanna River that, We observed the tops of the trees to be so close to one another for many miles together, that there is no seeing which way the clouds drive, nor which way the wind sets: and it seems almost as is the sun had never shone on the ground, since the creation.
By the mid 19th century, millions of forests were cleared for agriculture. As we have seen, taming the wilderness was surely the case in Ridgebury, Pa. My own ancestor, Cornelius Driscoll, was the first of the Irish to "commence a clearing" in order to build a home, start farming, and growing potatoes. Agriculture would not be the only demand on Pennsylvania woodlands.
Between 1760 and 1895, more than four million acres of forest were harvested two to four times to feed the charcoal furnaces of Pennsylvania's iron industry. When the outbreak of the Civil War unleashed an unprecedented demand for the wood needed to build new railroads and fortifications, the nation turned to the forests of Pennsylvania, where "the trees came down like tall grass before a giant scythe."
White Pine was desired to build masts of clipper ships. White pine, hemlocks, chestnuts and other hard woods were used for building furniture and homes. Sawmills - even portable saw mills - sprung up all over the state. 60 miles from Ridgebury, Williamsport, Pa. was known as the "lumber capital" of the world and became home to more millionaires than anywhere else in the country.
The boom would not last indefinitely. By the 1900s, the state was dubbed "The Pennsylvania Desert" as sixty percent of the forests had been decimated. Joseph Rothrock said There are few places in the East where the natural beauties of mountain scenery and the natural resources of timber lands have been destroyed to the extent that has taken place in northern Pennsylvania. ExplorePAHistory.com - Stories from PA History
For Cornelius and the Irish of Ridgebury, Pa. the deforestation of their state would not be unlike the deforestation of their native Ireland.
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| "The Pennsylvania Desert" |
Pennsylvania Forest History:
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