In the fall of 1796 a company of Westmoreland County citizens visited the valley on a land-prospecting tour. These were the Klingensmiths, Kecks, Loutzenhisers, Christys, and perhaps others, several of whom selected lands in this township. Daniel Klingensmith, a German by birth, was the father of the family of that name, and in the spring of 1797 settled permanently on the site of the Greenville Rolling Mills, where both he and wife spent the balance of their lives. His wife was a sister of Jacob Hommer, Sr., and was also a native of Germany. His family consisted of three sons and three daughters, Peter, Daniel, John, Mary, who married Jacob Loutzenhiser; Catharine became the wife of Joseph Keck, and Magdalena married Abraham Keck. His son Peter settled on the William Bortz farm, where a daughter, Susan, was born October 17, 1799, the first female born in the township. She became the wife of William McLaughlin. Peter finally sold his farm and removed into Pymatuning Township, where he passed the remaining years of his life, being drowned in the Big Run in 1842. His brother Daniel died young, and John settled and died on the Howe farm.
