McKEAN HILLS: “When morn with its splendor illumines the
sky/Save where a star lingers to watch the night die/And the gray
shrouding mist from the valley uprolled/Is changed by the sun to an
ocean of gold/That bears on its bosom cloud land as fair

“As ever took shape in the realms of the air; /Ah! who that,
enraptured, has gazed on the scene/Can forget the bright valleys
and hills of McKean?”

That poetic homage to McKean County, written by Jennie E. Groves
and appearing in The Reporter of Jan. 31, 1890, is part of a
“History of McKean, from History of the Counties of McKean, Elk,
Cameron, and Potter, Pennsylvania,” J.H. Beers, Chicago, 1890.

The information from Beers was contributed by Joyce A. Anthony.
We discovered it by Googling “history of Bradford, Pa.” It was on a
Web site titled Roots Web, part of PAGenWeb.

Here’s some excerpts: “How often the Indians camped in this
beautiful valley of the Tuna will never be learned any more than
the history of the people who were here before them.”

“How often the ancient Mount Raub was ascended by the watchmen
of the tribes to give warning of the advance of hostiles of the
same race, or to signal the approach of friends, as they turned the
distant valley curve, can never be known, but enough has been told
by the Cornplanters to point out the fact that Indians hunted here
before the coming of Seneca or Delaware, and that the valley, from
Foster Brook to Marilla Creek, on the west branch, and Rutherford
Run on east branch, was a favorite site for their camps.

“As told in the third chapter, remains of ancient settlement
were unearthed a few years ago.

“From 1823 to 1827 the pioneers of a new race appeared on the
scene. Dr. William M. Bennett, after whom Bennett’s Branch is
named, the Pikes, Farrs, Scotts, Fosters, Beardsleys, Harts,
Dollops and Fishers came into the beautiful wilderness. This
immigration took place almost a quarter of a century after Robert
Morris, of Revolutionary fame, lost his title to lands here,
leaving them to revert to the Binghams.”

“The Hart family, fourteen members, settled on the site of
Bradford in about 1827. For years they held possession of the
Forks, welcoming newcomers and hailing new settlers.”

To be continued tomorrow.