Michael Greenlee and Bethiah Maxson
Husband Michael Greenlee 1
Born: 1759 - Delaware 2 Christened: Died: 1827 - near Mosiertown, Crawford Co, PA 3 Buried: - Cussewago Twp, Crawford Co, PA
Father: [Father] Greenlee ( - ) Mother: Unknown ( - )
Marriage: 1792 - Fayette Co, PA 2
Wife Bethiah Maxson 2
Born: Christened: Died: 1819 - ? Crawford Co, PA 3 Buried: - Cussewago Twp, Crawford Co, PA
Children
1 M Robert Greenlee 4
Born: - Fayette Co, PA Christened: Died: Buried:
2 F Elizabeth Greenlee 3
Born: - Crawford Co, PA Christened: Died: Buried:
3 M John Greenlee 3
Born: - Crawford Co, PA Christened: Died: Buried:
4 F Esther Greenlee 3
Born: - Crawford Co, PA Christened: Died: Buried:Spouse: [Unk] Curtis ( - )
5 M Jacob Greenlee 3
Born: - Crawford Co, PA Christened: Died: Buried:
6 F Lucinda Greenlee 5 6
Born: 2 Jan 1803 - Crawford Co, PA 5 Christened: Died: Aft 1885 Buried:Spouse: Lemuel Stebbins (1798-1852) 5 7 Marr: 6 Mar 1823 - Cussewago Twp, Crawford Co, PA 5
7 M Maxson Greenlee 3
Born: - Crawford Co, PA Christened: Died: Buried:
8 M James Greenlee 3
Born: - Crawford Co, PA Christened: Died: Buried:
9 F Mary Greenlee 3
Born: - Crawford Co, PA Christened: Died: Buried:
10 F Experience Greenlee 3
Born: - Crawford Co, PA Christened: Died: Buried:
11 M Edmund Greenlee 6
Born: - Crawford Co, PA Christened: Died: Buried:Spouse: Mary Wright Stebbins (1805- ) 7 Marr: 1833 3
General Notes: Husband - Michael Greenlee
He was born in Delaware, near the Maryland line, and was married in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, where he lived for a period of two years, and where his son Robert was born. He then moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he remained one year, and then, in company with his family and a small colony of settlers, came up the Allegheny river and French creek on a flat-bottom boat or raft, which was pushed up the streams with setting poles, to Meadville, where there was a small settlement. He brought with him eighteen barrels of flour, two barrels of side pork, a lot of flax, one and one-half bushels of salt, one yoke of oxen, one cow, two two-year-old heifers, one mare, one large black-walnut chest and other household goods. There was nothing but an Indian trail through the woods from Pittsburgh to Meadville at that time, and the only stopping place in the whole distance was where James and Philip Dunn had settled. Here they stopped for a rest. During their trip up the river it rained so that their beds were getting wet, and he put boards on barrels for covering for his wife and son. On this journey the live stock were driven to the new home along the primitive trail through the forest, and on this trip Mr. Greenlee injured his back pushing the boat, from the effect of which he never recovered. He remained one year on French Creek Flats, near Meadville, where he raised a patch of corn. When the crop was ready to harvest, being unable to walk, he took a chain and rode one of the oxen into the field, where he hitched the chain around shocks of corn and drew them to a shed, thus saving his corn, while his neighbors left theirs in the field and it was swept down the creek in a freshet and was lost. The spring following, in March, 1797, he went on horseback to Venango township, now Cussawago township, and secured four hundred acres of land and built a small log cabin. When he thus went to look for land, a man had agreed to come out from Meadville and bring him a gun and fire tools, but disappointed him, and the consequence was that he was obliged to stay in the woods all night with his horse and dog, without fire or gun, there being four inches of snow on the ground. He made his bed beside a fallen tree, against which he stood pieces of bark for covering. His dog barked continually, thus keeping the wild animals away; otherwise it seemed to him as though he must have been killed by them, as all through the long, weary night the denizens of the forest gave distinct evidence of their presence.
In order to get supplies for their families, the men had to go through the woods on horseback along an Indian trail to Pittsburgh. During his absence on one of these trips, which took several days, Mr. Greenlee's wife was very much annoyed by wolves, bears and panthers, which came alarmingly near. She took lighted pine torches and threw them at the animals, which were afraid of fire, thus keeping them away. A blanket was used to cover the entrance to the little cabin and served in lieu of a door.
That fall Mr. Greenlee hired the underbrush dug out and the large trees girdled on one acre of ground, for which service he paid five dollars, and the ground was prepared for seed in as effective a way as possible. He bought one bushel of seed wheat, costing four dollars, and sowed it on this acre of ground, which produced thirty bushels. There was a brush fence around this acre, somewhat protecting it from wild animals, but nevertheless it was necessary to guard it both day and night until the crop was harvested. That one bushel was all the wheat he ever bought for the use of his family. Being an invalid, as stated above, he was unable personally to do much farm work, so he took up the manufacture of reeds for weaving, and other similar work. He always kept a yoke of oxen, and changed work with his neighbors by letting them use his ox team, and thus managed to get his heavy farm work done,\emdash work which his boys were unable to do by reason of their youth. It is said of him that he never gave a note in his life and never had a lawsuit. A notable characteristic of the Greenlee family was equability of temperament. Each successive generation shows the same mildness of disposition, the same gentle and kindly nature, and the deepest sympathy and regard for all men. Sterling integrity of character, strong mentality and excellent business ability have also been typified in the various representatives of the name.
Mr. Greenlee was a First-day Baptist and his wife a Seventh-day Baptist, and accordingly they kept both days holy. Their home was always open to the itinerant clergymen of both denominations, and was to these noble pioneer workers in the Master's vineyard a home indeed. Mrs. Greenlee, in the meantime, lost her health and did most of her work in bed, such as sewing, knitting, mending, and sometimes spinning, the last work being accomplished by having one of the children turn the wheel for her. She was also quite a poet.
1 Samuel P. Bates, LL.D., Our County and Its People, A Historical and Memorial Record of Crawford County, Pennsylvania (W. A. Fergusson & Co., 1899), Pg 679.
2 Samuel P. Bates, LL.D., Our County and Its People, A Historical and Memorial Record of Crawford County, Pennsylvania (W. A. Fergusson & Co., 1899), Pg 680.
3 Samuel P. Bates, LL.D., Our County and Its People, A Historical and Memorial Record of Crawford County, Pennsylvania (W. A. Fergusson & Co., 1899), Pg 681.
4 Samuel P. Bates, LL.D., Our County and Its People, A Historical and Memorial Record of Crawford County, Pennsylvania (W. A. Fergusson & Co., 1899), Pg 679, 681.
5 —, The History of Crawford County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: Warner Beers & Co., 1885), Pg 853.
6 Samuel P. Bates, LL.D., Our County and Its People, A Historical and Memorial Record of Crawford County, Pennsylvania (W. A. Fergusson & Co., 1899), Pg 681, 880.
7
Samuel P. Bates, LL.D., Our County and Its People, A Historical and Memorial Record of Crawford County, Pennsylvania (W. A. Fergusson & Co., 1899), Pg 880.
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