Michael
Greenlee. - One of the oldest settlers of Crawford county was
Michael Greenlee, who with his wife and son Robert came from Fayette county
to Pittsburg in 1795. His father was a Covenanter who fled from Scotland to
the north of Ireland to escape persecution, and from there came to this
country, settling in Delaware. He married twice. By his first wife he had
two sons, David and William. The former moved to Georgia and the latter is
thought to have gone up the James or the Red river. He was married the
second time at the age of sixty, his wife being but nineteen. He had three
children by his second wife, as follows : Michael, Allen and Elizabeth.
Michael was born in 1759, in Delaware, near the Maryland line, and was
married in 1792 to Bethiah Maxson, in Fayette county, Pennsylvania, where he
lived for a period of two years, and where his son Robert was born. He then
moved to Pittsburg, 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 Pittsburg 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 little Robert. On this journey the live stock was
driven to the new home along this 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 these 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 Pittsburg. 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,—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 has been
equability of temperament. Each successive generation has shown 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. The family has ever stood for the
highest order of citizenship, and has rendered strong allegiance to
religious, educational and all other good work.
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. She died in 1819, and Michael died in 1827, near
Mosiertown, in Cussawago township, where they were buried.
Michael and Bethiah Greenlee had a large family, of eleven children, namely:
Robert, Elizabeth, John, Esther, Jacob, Lucinda, Maxson, James, Mary,
Experience, and Edmund. All are deceased, and all, with the exception of
Robert, were born, and all, with the exception of Jacob and Maxson, spent
their lives in Crawford county. Jacob went to Conneaut, Ohio, Maxson to
Minnesota. Edmund, the youngest child, was married in 1833 to Mary
Wright Stebbins, born September 13, 1805, in Springfield, Massachusetts,
whence the family moved to Crawford county, where she met Edmund Greenlee.
Their children were Emeline, Robert, Ralph, Michael, Rachel, and Mary.
Mr. Greenlee was a man of considerable inventive
genius, and he devised and manufactured machinery for making all of his own
cheese boxes and butter kegs at the time he was conducting an extensive
dairy business. He was also a strong man, physically and mentally. His first
child, Emeline Blodgett, was married to Samuel Julius Wells, in Rundell,
Crawford county, Pennsylvania ; Michael lived in Summerhill township, near
Rundellstown, on the old farm which his father purchased and cleared, and
where the family still reside. The old homestead is now owned by the two
brothers, Robert L. and Ralph S. Greenlee, of Chicago. Rachel and Mary went
to Denver, Colorado, where they still reside. From earliest infancy there
was great difficulty in distinguishing the twins, Ralph and Robert, from
each other, so much were they alike in looks, form and manner. They were
sent to school and given the best educational advantages afforded in the
common schools of the district, pursuing their studies until nineteen years
of age, also assisting their father in the dairy business. It is
unmistakably true that none of the “Crawford county boys” have attained a
greater measure of success in life than have Ralph S. and Robert L.
Greenlee, the representative business men of Chicago, and it will certainly
be of interest to the readers of this work to note the more salient points
in their career since they have left their native county.
In 1863, at the age of twenty-five, they left the farm
and moved to Chicago to start in business on their own account. Making use
of their mechanical skill acquired while working for their father, they
opened a cooper shop, employing machinery in their work. This aroused the
ire and concerted opposition of the western coopers, for they objected to
any departure from the methods of their forefathers. The opposition was met
boldly and firmly, and finally overcome, and the firm of Greenlee Brothers
was duly prosperous. From this beginning they drifted into the manufacture
of woodworking machinery, making a specialty of the highest grades known,
and constantly adding new inventions and methods until the Greenlee machines
have become famous with manufacturers in wood throughout the world.
Immediately after the great fire of 1871 they removed to their present
quarters in West Twelfth street, where, in addition to the manufacture of
woodworking machinery, they established, in 1883, the Northwestern Stove
Repair Company, the largest concern of the kind in the world. Here, also, in
1886 they established two large foundries, under the corporation name of the
Greenlee Foundry Company.
Mr. Ralph S. Greenlee married Miss Elizabeth Brooks of
Chicago, who was born in eastern Canada. Her father, William Brooks, was for
many years a resident of Sherbrook, Canada, and one of the leading spirits
of the conservative government of the dominion. They have one child,
Gertrude, who is now Mrs. James A. Lounsbury. Mr. Robert L. Greenlee married
Miss Emily Brooks, a sister of his brother’s wife. They have three children:
William Brooks Greenlee, a graduate of Cornell University; Grace E. and
Isabel V. who are both graduates of Ogontz Seminary, at Philadelphia.
The politics of the brothers is Republican, and they
are stanch believers in the principles of their party They contribute
generously to all worthy charities, and are liberal in their contributions
to educational institutions, believing that the education of the people will
remove many of their ills. Nor is their view of education limited to the
narrow routine of the school or lecture room. They have been careful
students of men and events, and by extensive travel at home and in foreign
lands they have acquired a most valuable fund of knowledge. Few Americans
are more conversant with the wonders and beauties of the world than they.
Their first extensive travels abroad began in 1883, when Mr. Ralph S.
Greenlee, with his family, who always accompany him in his travels, made a
thorough tour of old Mexico and Europe, lasting thirteen months, and he has
but recently returned, with his wife and daughter, from a tour of the world,
lasting eighteen months. During this last trip they spent three months each
in Japan and China, visiting the interior of. both countries, and went all
through India and the island of Ceylon. Egypt and Turkey, and made a tour of
Palestine. Mr. Robert L. Greenlee and his family have traversed the same
countries, with addition of Siam, Java and Burmah.
In stature they are five feet ten inches in height.
weighing one hundred and eighty-six pounds each. They have a commanding
presence, well-formed heads, which set squarely upon their shoulders, and
are men who would attract immediate and respectful audience in any assembly.
Their eyes are dark and kindly and have that expression which places a
stranger immediately at ease in their presence. They are courteous but not
effusive, showing in this the true Scotch and English conservatism. Their
leading characteristics are inbred politeness, kindness and consideration
for others, coupled with indomitable will power, untiring energy, broad
liberality and uncompromising honesty. Their fortunes have been fairly
gained, and stand proud monuments of their sturdy manhood and genius.
Our county and its
people: a historical and memorial record of Crawford County, Pennsylvania
by Samuel P. Bates, 1899, pages 679-683.
