FAMILY LORE: Nancy Leichner of Smethport has a family legend
about how Bradford got its name. Her great-great-grandfather was
Henry Bradford Dollorf, that same man we wrote about previously who
was the first white child born in the Bradford Valley.
The story passed down in her family, she tells us, is that Henry
was indeed the namesake of the town itself – something we had
hypothesized.
Our previous columns, based on written histories of the area,
conclude that Bradford City took its name from Bradford Township
which took its name from Bradford, N.H., home of many original
settlers in this region.
However, we have to believe that the early dwellers may have
also leaned toward the name “Bradford” based on the family name of
this pioneer citizen. If we find anything in the literature, we’ll
let you know.
LUMBER CO.: More today on that old lumber company in Smethport,
Holmes and Gilfillan.
Pauline Brown of Smethport tells us this business was in town at
least in 1947 because that’s when her family bought lumber and
constructed their first home..
Jerry Kleisath of Preble, N.Y., writes: “Holmes and Gilfillan
was a lumber yard located at the corner of Water Street and
Mechanic Street next to the lake and dam. They also owned a farm at
the foot of Bush Hill. Bernard Ball had something to do with them,
possible part owner. The Balls lived on Bank Street as our next
door neighbors in 1935 and 1936.”
We can pin that down, thanks to a phone call from Carol Ball of
Smethport who tells us her husband’s father initially had been a
bookkeeper at the lumber company which was established in the
1800s. The company was acquired and passed through her husband’s
family eventually winding up with her husband, Bernard, who ran it
after he graduated from college. It remained in family hands until
he closed it in the late 1960s.
TIMBUCK: Rodger Klenovich of Greenville writes, “The hamlet
around the intersection of U.S. Route 219 and State Route 59 is
referred to as Timbuck on old maps of the area. No one seems to
know how or why the area received that appellation. Any chance an
RTS reader out there somewhere might be able help solve the
mystery? I have tried the internet and the McKean County Historical
Society. No luck so far.”
