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Moore, Joseph Webster, Philo Barker, Timothy Tuttle, Silas and William Smith, Joseph Shadduck, John Daggett and John Andrews.  Now.
not a few of these names will be recognized as of the earliest settlers of North East, and lest there may seem to be an incongruity in this statement, it is proper here to explain that the original Greenfield extended to the lake shore, and that what is now the township of North East, was at the beginning known as Lower Greenfield.  These settlers were from the East, chiefly New England whence Mr. Colt had come, and represented the tide of immigration into the new country which Mr. Colt had expected to bring about, and the early advent of so many from New England will explain why Mr. Colt was so desirous of closing that bargain for 30,000 acres of land which he went to Philadelphia to accomplish.  The North East township land was a part of what constituted the tract he desired to purchase.
     There has been no reason assigned for the selection of the lofty site
chosen for Colt's Station.  It was not far from the highest altitude attained by any portion of Erie county, for, as a matter of fact, the highest land in the county is in the southeastern corner of Greenfield or the northeastern corner of Venango.  But it was all forest then, the forest primeval and well-nigh the forest impenetrable.  It stretched unbroken in every direction.  It is more than probable the reason for establishing his station where he did was that, being so elevated, it appeared to him better fitted to become a desirable section, for at the beginning of the lake shore plateau, along its entire length there was a strip of greater or less breadth that was of a wet or somewhat swampy character.  No other good explanation seems available, for one of the first undertakings of Mr. Colt was to construct a road from the station to the lake shore, at the mouth of Sixteen-mile creek, where a port was established and supplies for the interior were received from Buffalo and carted all the way up the difficult road to the depot of the Population Company.  This road was the first road cut through the forest after the advent of the permanent settlers, and was second only to that made by the French more than forty years previously, from Presque Isle to Le Boeuf.  The lake terminus of this road of Mr. Colt's came to be known as Freeport, and, though no longer a port of entry is still known by that name, at any rate to the people of North East.  Soon the road was extended southward to a place called Greenfield Village. or Little Hope (the latter not a very promising name, to be sure). The extension occurred in 1798, and the reason for it was that Mr. Bissell had established a landing there on French Creek.  Later that year the road was again extended southerly to the forks of French Creek, which later became the borough of Wattsburg at the southern edge of Venango township.  In 1800 another road, farther east, was cut through the woods from North East through Greenfield to Wattsburg.  Between 1804 and‘1806 a third road was constructed from Colt’s Station, by way of Philipsville to Waterford.

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The road from Wesleyville to Colt’s Station, to this day known as the “Station road.” was made in 1830, and it was extended to Mayville, N. Y., at the head of Chautauqua Lake.
     After Colt’s Station had been established a considerable colony sprang up around it.  In 1798 Mr. Colt brought his wife, and for a time the settlement grew.  But before long, convinced that it had been a mistake to locate where he did.  Mr. Colt, in 1804, removed to Erie and continued there until his death in 1832.  He was over seventy-one years of age when he died.  On Mr. Colt’s departure the greater portion of the colony also left, many going into Lower Greenfield or North East,
as it had then come to be known.  Enoch Marvin, one of the brothers-in-law who had helped to form the settlement, became the Population Company’s agent in the Beaver Valley, but his brother Elisha remained at the Station until his death in 1829.  His wife died there also in 1858, and at that time their son, William E. Marvin, who had lived with his mother until her death, removed to North East.
     The earliest mechanical industry of Greenfield was the sawmill of Leverett Bissell at Little Hope and it was the existence of this mill that brought about the extension of that first road southward.  Mr. Bissell was a Revolutionary soldier, and among the earliest of the settlers, took up a soldier’s right of 400 acres.  In addition to his mill he established a landing on French creek, at which batteaux unloaded supplies from the country south and west.  In the course of time considerable of a village sprang up around the mill and landing and varied industries were established, besides the sawmill, a feed-mill, two cheese factories, a blacksmith shop, creamery, cheese box factory, a shingle mill, besides stores, a schoolhouse and perhaps thirty houses.  It is still the most considerable village of the township. In 1824 a sawmill was built in the southern part of the township by John Whiteside.  For a long time, however, dairying has been the chief industry of Greenfield, aside from agriculture.  There is an Obstacle to the completely successful prosecution of farming in the late frosts, which are especially troublesome in the otherwise fertile valley of French creek.  Being on the opposite slope of the dividing ridge, and cut off from the influence of the lake, and being moreover, of so much greater altitude, this climatic condition is a serious detriment.
     The people of Greenfield are an industrious, thrifty class. but it is not a wealthy community.  It is, however, a law—abiding and intelligent people.  Schools were early established.  In 1816 A. Young taught school two miles east of Little Hope, and had a fair degree of patronage.  In 1820-21 a school was begun at Colt’s Station. Subsequently, the public school laws encouraging education. the system grew, along with the general development of the free school idea and just at the beginning of the Twentieth century, Greenfield, in line with the most progressive of the townships, established a high school.

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     In church matters Greenfield may seem to have lagged behind.  In religion it did not.  The first religious service ever held in Erie county was that conducted at Colt’s Station on July 2, 1807.  There were about thirty persons present, from Greenfield, North East and Venango, and Mr. Colt, who presided at the service, read a sermon.  The township is not very thickly populated now. It was very sparsely settled then.  It is due to the fact that the population is so scattered that there are not more church organizations.  The Methodist Episcopal church near Little Hope was organized in 1836, and erected its meeting house in 1850.  The church has maintained its organization ever since.  In 1868 a parsonage was built.  The Free-Will Baptist church was organized in 1881 and in 1882 dedicated its church, which stands near Shadduck’s Corners.  The United Brethren formed an organization about 1875, and for several years met in the schoolhouse nearby; erecting for themselves a house of worship in the Walling neighborhood in 1893.
     Men who have been honored by their constituents, by being elected to public positions, were Mark Baldwin, county auditor in 1833; William E. Marvin, county commissioner in 1845; William Parker, county com missioner in 1853, and J. Ross Raymond, member of House of Representatives, first in 1892.  A native of Greenfield, and still a property owner in the township, Emory A. Walling has thrice—indeed four times—had the distinction of being elevated to positions of trust.  Soon after being admitted to practice at the Erie bar he was, in 1881, elected district attorney, his home at the time of his election being North East. Before his term had expired, however, in 1884, he was chosen by the voters to represent the county in the State Senate. In 1896 he was elected President Judge of the Sixth District, and in 1906 was re-elected, being the only president judge re-elected in the history of the district.
     But not all of Greenfield's men worthy of note came into positions of publicity where their names were handed down to posterity in the public records.  There were heroes and honorable men of humble life who well deserve to have monuments erected to their memory.  Such a man was J. W. Babcock.  When just crossing the threshold of manhood he had the great misfortune to be crippled for life.  While at work in the woods he was struck by the branch of a falling tree and his right arm so severely injured that it withered and became useless forever after ward. It was a dreadful handicap to enter upon life’s career with, and quite enough to discourage most men.  But Mr. Babcock took up the duties of life with unabated courage.  He made his one hand serve for two.  In the labors of the farm he contrived to get along and get along well.  With his left hand he cut wood, and built buildings, he managed his horses and cattle, and attended to the duties of the field.  He married and reared a family.  With all these duties a man not crippled would have found his hands full.  But Mr. Babcock added to them those of a teacher of Sunday and day school, in the performance of his duties

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in the latter even making the quill pens for his students.  He was also the friendly adviser of everyone who had troubles and gave ready response to every one in distress.  Always cheerful, his example was an inspiration to the entire community.  So good a man was entitled to a good wife.  And such she was.  How could it be otherwise with him as a constant companion and an ever—present example?  She was the nurse of the township, and to those of her sex was a constant reliance.  J. W. Babcock and his wife were the friends of everyone, and everyone was a friend to them.  Today their only monument is a stately pine in the little cemetery.  A shaft of granite with the noble record inscribed upon it would be as appropriate in the case of J. W. Babcock as in that of any other man who ever lived.

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