PLACE NAMES IN WARREN COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA Ernest C. Miller did Isuspect, when Idecided to do an article on Warren County place names, what a frightening task Ihad taken upon Littlemyself. Rather than the "old-rocking-chair" exercise in source material investigation that Ihad anticipated, Iquickly ran afoul of a great mass of contradictory evidence relating to many county names. Some evidence was found to be only myth, some information had passed down through generations of a family, and some so-called "facts" were, Iam certain, manufactured on the spot as Iquestioned many people. Sorting out the accurate from the inaccurate was a long and taxing problem requiring patience, some luck, and at times Ieven thought some clairvoyance! But of all the people Italked with,and there were many, all were interested, willing, and tried to be helpful in a myriad of ways. To thank all of them by name would be impossible. Imust give well-deserved thanks to Mr.Merle H. Deardorff and Mr. Harold C. Putnam, both of Warren, who guided me unerringly many times and who prevented some possible horrible blunders. Printed sources willbe found following the text. Few if any place- name articles can ever be termed "complete" and no such claim is made for this survey ;itis hoped that it willserve as a stepping-stone towards an eventual complete listing ofall Warren County place names. — Akeley a village in Pine Grove township. Tradition says the crossroads at Akeley got its name from Levi Akeley, Jr., who settled here after his father and mother came from Brattleboro, Vermont, in 1828. The family originally settled on the east side of Conewango Creek, opposite Russell, which land was owned by Levi's older brother, Joseph, who arrived in 1815 and purchased sixhundred acres of land. While Joseph Akeley spelled his name as Akeley, the form now in Ernest C. Millerof Warren, Pennsylvania, President of the West Penn Oil Company, Inc., is an historian by avocation. He has written much on early oil history. This is his seventh article to appear in The Western Pennsylvania Historical Magazine. —Editor 16 ERNEST C. MILLER JANUARY use, there was a period of years during which some of the family spelled it Ackley. The post office was Ackley Station from 1878 to 1904 but during that year the name was changed to Akeley. The Grange, how- ever, stillclings to Ackley. The first bridge across Conewango Creek at this point was built prior to 1846 and three bridges have stood here, one having been built as a covered bridge. The present steel bridge was built about 1900 and was heavy enough to carry the track of the Warren and Jamestown Street Railway Company from 1905 to 1929. — Alcuin a small and brief Utopian settlement on the Homer Preston farm, near Lander, Farmington township. Named for Alcuin, the English scholar who aided Charlemagne in the revival of learning at the Court of Franks, 735-804. On a farm of thirty-six acres that had been given to the Order of St. Benedictine, Inc., St. John's Abbey, of Collegeville, Minnesota, a small band of devoted Roman Catholics, chiefly from the New York City area, established a craft -agrarian community inFebruary of 1940. The group learned farming methods from Rod Carlson, a farmer who had been living on the farm. Although they worked hard and long, the advent of World War IIdoomed the society; some of the members were drafted, others became discouraged and left to take good paying jobs inindustry, and new recruits could not be obtained. Following the end of World War II,the farm was sold to Robert Sukoski, one of the original members of the community, and he oper- ated ituntil 1953 when he sold it to Calvin Penly, a farmer from Ohio. — Althom Station a small settlement inDeerfield township. Named by the railroad, this was a shipping point for lumber and for silica sand. The AL part of the name came from the Allegheny River and THOMcame from Robert Thompson, hence AL-THOM. Thompson, an early settler engaged in the lumber trade, was a river pilot, and owned large tracts of land. — Babylon once a small village west of Tidioute in Triumph town- ship, now only a house or two stands at this location. Here was the resort of the infamous Ben Hogan, often called "the wickedest man in the world." He maintained a house of illrepute at Babylon during the oilboom in the area, chiefly 1866-1868. Aclergy- man riding past Hogan's place one day was stunned to observe naked women playing in the yard and is said to have proclaimed, "This is 1971 PLACE NAMES IN WARREN COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA 17 the wickedest place Ihave ever seen !Iname itBabylon !" — Barnes a village in Sheffield township. For postal purposes Barnes was called Sheffield until 1872 when it became Barnes in honor of Timothy Barnes who has aptly been called "the pioneer of Sheffield township." He was born at Litchfield, Connecticut, in 1780 and later lived inCooperstown, Clinton, and Italy Hill,inNew York state, and at one time held a commission as Captain inthe New York Militia. By 1828 he had settled along Tionesta Creek in Warren county where he built sawmills, operated them a few years, and then generally sold them. He died at the home of his son, Erastus Barnes, at the age of ninety-three. — Beantown a small village in Mead township. This name has often been used in place of Weldbank and both names refer to the same location. Years ago the Clark Bean farm was located here and the Beans had many children. They often traveled to Erie and back by the Penn- sylvania Railroad and the evening train from Erie to the east came through Weldbank about 8:30 p.m. Bean children were so often on the train that one of the conductors started to announce the stop by crying, "Weldbank and Beantown!" and thus the second name for the place was derived. (See Weldbank.) Bear Lake — borough located partly in Columbus and partly in Freehold townships, and a lake located inFreehold township one mile east of the borough. The village was called The Summit until 1872 when it was named Bear Lake, taking this name from the nearby ten-acre body of water ; itwas a feeding and watering place for bears before the big timber was removed from the area. The village was organized as a borough on September 6, 1887. Brokenstraw — a stream and a township. From the Indian word Cushanadauga, meaning "broken grass." The French rendered it as Kachinodiagon and as Gachinantiagon from expeditions through the region in 1739 and 1749, and to them it was paille coupee or "cut straw." The English called the place Buckaloons, a corruption of a Delaware Indian name. Brokenstraw was the original Warren county township organized 18 ERNEST C. MILLER JANUARY in 1800. In 1808 it was divided into Brokenstraw and Conewango townships by order of the Venango county court. The two were then split into twelve townships on March 8, 1821, but only seven were organized at that time. — Chandlers Valley a village ten miles northwest of Warren in Sugar Grove township. Named for John Chandler, a Revolutionary War veteran who settled here shortly after arriving from Connecticut about 1815. From 1848 through 1852, a considerable number of Swedish fami- lies emigrated to this area and for a few years the place was also known as Swedesburg. When the Swedes talked of the area, they generally referred to itas the vallan or valley. Chandlers Valley is considered the oldest Swedish settlement of a permanent nature in the eastern United States. Just west of the village, the Rev. Jonas Swenson organized a Lutheran Church in 1856; it was named the Hessel Valley Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Church and the name came from Hassleby, a Swedish community from which many of the people had come. The church is stillactive. — Chapman Dam (Chapman Dam State Park) located on the West Branch of Tionesta Creek, five miles west of Clarendon and U.S. Route 6. Named for Dr. Leroy E. Chapman, a long-time physician in Warren, who, as a member of the Pennsylvania Senate, introduced the billthat made this park possible. Completed in 1951, the place provides swimming, boating, camping, picnicking, hiking, and hunting and fish- ing in season. Cherry Grove — a township. Named because of the great profusion of cherry trees in the vicinity. Erected from Sheffield township by an order of the court con- firmed December 7, 1847. During 1882-1883, in this township took place one of the greatest oil booms ever witnessed in Pennsylvania. William T. Falconer and Frederick Morck of Warren owned leases in the township and they sub-leased their lands to George Dimick and Captain Peter Grace who operated as the Jamestown OilCompany. Early in January 1882, this firm started to drill a "wildcat" well 1971 PLACE NAMES IN WARREN COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA 19 on map tract 646, miles from other productive territory. In March, watching oil scouts found the new well tightly boarded up and armed guards protecting it. On March 29 the well made a large flow of oil but as sufficient tankage was not available, the well was plugged ; finally, on May 17 the plug was removed and the drill went a bit deeper. The well commenced flowing wildly and by June 13 a con- servative estimate placed its daily production at over two thousand barrels. The Buffalo (N.Y.) Express proclaimed it as "The Largest Well onEarth." The discovery of this new oil field sent prices on the oilexchanges reeling downwards as oil men rushed to the region through Sheffield and North Clarendon.