Jamestown

Jamestown is located in Greene Township in the northwestern part of Mercer County, Pennsylvania. It ranks among the first boroughs of the county in its settlement. James Campbell, I was a native of County Antrim, Ireland, and came to Mercer County in 1798. He secured a tract of land containing 400 acres, paying $1.25 per acre, comprising part of the territory included in Jamestown and extending eastward over a portion of Greene Twp., Crawford, Mercer, and Allegheny counties, forming a part of the "Indiana Purchase" of 1784.

Tradition tells us that Mr. Campbell was located on what is now known as Seminary Hill, and his dwelling place was a cave where he lived for one year. Subsequently, he built a log cabin on his eastern 100 acres on land now owned by a great-grandson, W.H. Campbell. Between 1815 and 1817, he purchased 40 additional acres from Robert Carr, which included the present Mill site and attendant privileges on the Shenango. His improvements were on the eastern part of the tract. He had four sons, each of whom he gave 100 acres of land.

A little above the present mill site, John and James Campbell II built the first grist mill out of hewn logs and a small shanty of the same material to accommodate the mill hands. This was the first house in Jamestown and was subsequently used by James Campbell II as a dwelling house.

The mill, like similar enterprises elsewhere, formed the nucleus of the future town and was hailed as a public benefactor by the settlers for miles around as several families had located in the vicinity and had been compelled to either grind the grain in hand mills or pack it on horseback long distances to other mills, which being diminutive affairs, required time which the settlers did not have to spare. The mill stood until 1856 when a new one was built.

The mill property has changed owners several times and is now owned and operated by the McQuiston Company.

James Campbell II erected the second dwelling within the borough limits. It was a frame building east of the E. and P. Railroad on Liberty Street. The present building is preserved and remodeled and is now occupied by Dr. Bailey's office. Could it speak, we would hear of wonderful changes it has witnessed since its first erection, when it formed a part of the wilderness. Forests have vanished, cities have taken their place, railroads have succeeded Indian trails and cow paths, and the labor of days and weeks has become the pastime of a moment. Generations have come and gone, the way of all the living, and still it stands - a silent relic of the past.

Little progress was made from 1802 until 1830, when John Williamson, an uncle of the present James Campbell III, settled here and built the second frame structure, which was located on Liberty and Water Streets and afterwards owned by Jacob Moats. Though the accounts are conflicting, it seems to have been a store, a dwelling house, and a bar all under one roof.

The village was laid out in 1832 by John Keck, who requested Mr. Williamson name it. He did so by calling it Jamestown in honor of James Campbell, its first settler. Purchasers began to flock in, and from that year, Jamestown's prosperity began to date.

The first tailor was William Rodgers, Mrs. William Laughlin's father, who built a building that was later used as a storeroom by Dr. Gibson.

Matthew Hunter built the first blacksmith shop in 1834. Henry Irons built the first tannery in 1832, which stands where W.A. McMaster's barn now stands. (It is thought the McMaster farm was located where once was the McMunigle farm. Paul and Esther McClimans now own that land.)

John Williamson built the first saw mill for Richard Carr on the Shenango River in 1835. It supplied a long-felt want, lumber being a great necessity in the town's growth. John Williamson was elected the first Justice of the Peace in 1832, resigning to become the first Postmaster the following year. On his recommendation, J.B. Herrick was appointed to fill the vacancy. Previously, the nearest Post Office was in Greenville, PA, from which the mail was carried on horseback. At that time, the village was only partially cleared. In 1835, Samuel Madge and Frank McGarvey erected dwelling houses.

In 1832, John Carr began working in John Williamson's store. Later, he married Rebecca Andrews, purchased a lot, and built. He then engaged in business for himself, becoming the founder of the present mercantile establishment known as Carr Company.

The first physician to locate in Jamestown was Dr. James Dowling. (The present Greene Twp. Supervisors Building, the Carr House, was formerly Dowling School.) He arrived in the spring of 1832, living in part of Williamson's house, and soon after, bought property and built a dwelling house for himself.

He was a genial man and successful physician who remained in the village until 1836, when he moved to Brookville, PA, where he died in his seventies.

In 1836, John Williamson built a second grist mill on the west side of the dam, who seems to have figured in almost every enterprise undertaken in the village during the first four or five years of its existence. Thomas Sherbondy was a partner, and the mill operated for several years.

The County appropriated money and built the first wooden bridge across the Shenango River in 1837. The same year, the oldest son of James Campbell II was killed in his father's mill by being caught in the belt of a large grindstone, which whirled him rapidly around a shaft, killing him before assistance could be rendered. He was the second white child born in the place, the first being a sister who died in infancy. Many sad deaths seem to have attended the Campbell family besides the one related. The oldest son of James Campbell, Sr., was riding through the woods near his home with a scythe on his shoulder when it caught in a twig, turning him and the scythe point toward his leg and severing an artery from which he bled to death in a short time. John, another son, was found dead in the woods from cold and exposure, and the youngest son of James Campbell II was crushed under a cart.

Dr. Gibson succeeded Dr. Dowling, settling in Jamestown in 1836. He was born in Oswego County, New York, in 1813. He married Susan Beatty of near Meadville, the youngest daughter of James Beatty. He had an extensive practice and continued to make his home here until his death in 1887. We have been unable to secure the exact date when Dr. Samuel Clark, a half-brother of Dr. Gibson, was located in Jamestown. Still, he was a successful practitioner here for many years, building the original house, which John Carr afterwards purchased and remodeled, and a building that stood on the present site of Dr. Mitchell's home. He moved to Cleveland, Ohio, in the early sixties.

The village was highly favored with faithful physicians: Drs. Weidman, Gamble, Clark, the Moreland brothers (James and Andrew), Mitchell brothers, Gibson, and the present physicians - Drs. M.A., Carl, Nelson Bailey, and Harper. (To update - R.A. and B.B. Snodgrass, Drs. Blair, Carrier, Riffer, McLaughlin, Paul Marley, Gilchrest, and J.J. McParland.)