Michael Greenlee

biography

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.