Place:Venango, Pennsylvania, United States

Watchers
NameVenango
Alt namesVenangosource: Getty Vocabulary Program
Vinangosource: USGS, GNIS Digital Gazetteer (1994) GNIS42032475
Wenangosource: USGS, GNIS Digital Gazetteer (1994) GNIS42032475
Weningosource: USGS, GNIS Digital Gazetteer (1994) GNIS42032475
TypeCounty
Coordinates41.5°N 79.867°W
Located inPennsylvania, United States     (1800 - )
See alsoAllegheny, Pennsylvania, United StatesParent county (source: Source:Population of States and Counties of the United States: 1790-1990)
Clarion, Pennsylvania, United StatesChild county (source: Source:Population of States and Counties of the United States: 1790-1990)
Northumberland, Pennsylvania, United StatesParent county (source: Source:Population of States and Counties of the United States: 1790-1990)
Contained Places
Borough
Barkeyville
Clintonville
Cooperstown
Pleasantville
Polk
Rouseville
Sugarcreek
Utica
Cemetery
Grove Hill Cemetery
New Presbyterian Cemetery
Old St. Joseph Cemetery
Rockland Cemetery
Saint Patricks Cemetery
Scrubgrass Stone Church Cemetery
Census-designated place
Hasson Heights
Seneca
Woodland Heights
Inhabited place
Ahrensville
Ajax
Astral
Barrs Corners
Belmar
Blacks
Bleakley Hill
Bradleytown
Brandon
Bredinsburg
Breedtown
Bullion
Bully Hill
Canal Center
Chapmanville
Cherrytree
Clapp Lease
Coal City
Coal Hill
Colonial Village
Cranberry
Crawford Corners
Cyrus
Dempseytown
Diamond
Dotter
Eagle Rock
Eakin Corner
East Sandy
East Shamburg
Egypt Corners
Emlenton
Fertigs
Five Points
Foster Corner
Foster
Fosters Corner
Franklin
Galena Hill
Goodmans Corners
Grandview
Green Oaks
Gurney Hill
Hampton Station
Hannasville
Haslets Corner
Henderson Station
Henrys Bend
Hill City
Humphreys Corner
Kaneville
Kennerdell
Kilgore
Lisbon
Maple Shade
Mapledale
Mariasville
Mason
McClintock
McPhersons Corner
Mount Pleasant
Nectarine
Nickleville
Nicklin
Niles
North Sandy
Oak Hill
Oil City
Oleopolis
Oliver Manor
Owltown
Pearl
Pecan
Petroleum Center
Pinegrove
Pioneer
Pithole City
Pittsville
Plum Corner
Plum
Plumer
Point Hill
President
Raymilton
Riddle Crossroads
Rockland
Rockmere
Rose Gardens
Rynd Farm
Sadlers Corner
Saint George
Sawtown
Shamburg
Smith Corners
Smiths Corners
Stanleys Corner
Sunville
Sutton Mill
Takitezy
Tippery
Toonerville
Twin Churchs
Twin Oaks
Uniontown
Van
Venango
Venus
Victory Heights
Wallace Corners
Wallaceville
Wesley
Wilson Mills
Township
Allegheny
Canal
Cherrytree (township)
Cornplanter
Frenchcreek
Irwin
Oakland
Oilcreek
Plum (township)
Richland Township
Scrubgrass
Sugarcreek (township)
Unknown
Reno
Rocky Grove
source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names
source: Family History Library Catalog


the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Venango County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2010 census, the population was 54,984. Its county seat is Franklin. The county was created in 1800 and later organized in 1805.

Venango County comprises the Oil City, PA Micropolitan Statistical Area. It is defined as part of the Pittsburgh media market.

Contents

History

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Venango County was created on March 12, 1800, from parts of Allegheny and Lycoming Counties. The name "Venango" is derived from the Native American name of the region, Onenge, meaning Otter. This was corrupted in English as the Venango River. The settlement at its mouth was likewise called Venango, and is the site of present-day South Side of Oil City.

Venango County was home to an oil boom in the years following discovery of natural oil (petroleum) in the mid-1850s.

George Bissell, a Yale University chemistry professor, and Edwin L. Drake, a former railroad conductor, made the first successful use of a drilling rig on August 28, 1859, near Titusville. (Although Titusville is in Crawford County, the first oil well was drilled outside of town, less than a mile inside of the Venango County boundary) This single well soon exceeded the entire cumulative oil output of Europe since the 1650s. Within weeks, oil derricks were erected all over the area. Other oil boom towns located in Venango County included Franklin, Oil City, and the now defunct Pithole City. The principal product of the oil was kerosene.

McClintocksville was a small community in Cornplanter Township in Venango County. In 1861, it was the location of Wamsutta Oil Refinery, the first business venture of Henry Huttleston Rogers, who became a leading United States capitalist, businessman, industrialist, financier, and philanthropist. Rogers and his young wife Abbie Palmer Gifford Rogers lived in a one-room shack there along Oil Creek for several years beginning in 1862.

Shortly afterward, Rogers met oil pioneer Charles Pratt, who purchased the entire output of the tiny Wamsutta Oil Refinery. In 1867, Rogers joined Pratt in forming Charles Pratt and Company, which was purchased by Standard Oil in 1874. Rogers became one of the key men in John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil Trust.

After joining Standard Oil, Rogers invested heavily in various industries, including copper, steel, mining, and railways. The Virginian Railway is widely considered his final life's achievement. Rogers amassed a great fortune, estimated at over $100 million, and became one of the wealthiest men in the United States. He was also a generous philanthropist, providing many public works for his hometown of Fairhaven, Massachusetts, and financially assisting helping such notables as Mark Twain, Helen Keller, and Dr. Booker T. Washington.

Perhaps in one of history's ironies, another resident of Venango County about the same time as Henry and Abbie Rogers was a little girl named Ida M. Tarbell, whose father was an independent producer whose small business was ruined by the South Improvement Company scheme of 1871 and the conglomerate which became Standard Oil. Introduced to each other in 1902 by their mutual friend Twain, Tarbell, who had become an investigative journalist and Rogers, who knew of her work, shared meetings and information over a two-year period which led to her epoch work, The History of the Standard Oil Company, published in 1904, which many historians feel helped fuel public sentiment against the giant company and helped lead to the court-ordered break-up of it in 1911.

The oil heritage of Venango County is commemorated by a Pennsylvania State Park and many heritage sites which help tell the story and memorialize the people of the oil boom of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Timeline

Date Event Source
1800 County formed Source:Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources
1800 First census Source:Population of States and Counties of the United States: 1790-1990
1805 Land records recorded Source:Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources
1806 Probate records recorded Source:Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources
1870 No significant boundary changes after this year Source:Population of States and Counties of the United States: 1790-1990

Population History

source: Source:Population of States and Counties of the United States: 1790-1990
Census Year Population
1800 1,130
1810 3,060
1820 4,915
1830 9,470
1840 17,900
1850 18,310
1860 25,043
1870 47,925
1880 43,670
1890 46,640
1900 49,648
1910 56,359
1920 59,184
1930 63,226
1940 63,958
1950 65,328
1960 65,295
1970 62,353
1980 64,444
1990 59,381

Research Tips

External links

  • Outstanding guide to Venango County family history and genealogy resources (FamilySearch Research Wiki). Birth, marriage, and death records, censuses, wills, deeds, county histories, cemeteries, churches, newspapers, libraries, and genealogical societies.
  • www.co.venango.pa.us/


This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at Venango County, Pennsylvania. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with WeRelate, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.