Mercer County Genealogy

Places Liberty Township     

The principal early settlements of Liberty township were in the vicinity of Courtney’s Mills, on Wolf creek near the Butler county line. William Gill, a soldier of the Revolution, came to this vicinity about 1797. About the close of the century David and Thomas Courtney secured the large tract of land on both sides of Wolf creek, part of which has continued in the possession of the heirs to the present time. A log mill for making both lumber and flour was built by David Courtney in 1803, and ever since Courtney’s Mills have not only furnished a name to the community but have maintained a reputation for their products.

The Wolf Creek branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad has in recent years given railroad transportation to Liberty township. The stations of Carmona, Courtney’s Mills and Heath are shipping points for this township. Carmona is located on land owned by D. W. Smith, whose connection with the township goes back to pioneer times.

The first settler of the village of North Liberty was Hugh Foster. His son James laid out the village on the Mercer and Butler turnpike about 1821, and during that decade a tavern, a blacksmith and wagon  shop, a store, a school and a number of dwellings gave life to the little village. Robert Shaw was postmaster at the establishment of the office in 1840. The office has recently been discontinued. James George was a prominent early settler on a tract of land between Wolf creek and North Liberty. The place was called Georgetown, and a village of that name was once started but failed to grow. His brick house, built about 1828, was a landmark in that section, and his activity in various works entitle him to distinction in this history coal was mined on his place about 1822, and just across the line in Butler county a company of which he was a member struck the first oil and gas well in this part of the state, in 1838. He was also one of the early county commissioners.

The pioneer sawmill of the Uber family [was] in the western part of the township. The Uber mills along the Butler turnpike were the foundation of a small hamlet, and the presence of a German Lutheran church, dating from about 1816, and the nationality of many of the residents caused the name Amsterdam to be applied to this locality. 

Twentieth Century History of Mercer County, 1909, pages 160-161