Birth Date23 Feb 1777
Birth PlaceMifflin county, Pennsylvania
Birth MemoMontgomery, New York
Death Date20 May 1852 Age: 75
Birth Date17 Feb 1777
Birth PlaceMontgomery, New York, United States
Burial PlaceClearfield, Clearfield, Pennsylvania, United States
Death Date21 May 1852 Age: 75
Death PlaceLawrence, Clearfield, Pennsylvania, United States
Residence Date1850
Residence PlaceLawrence, Clearfield, Pennsylvania
Residence MemoAge: 60-69
Residence Date1840
Residence PlaceClearfield, Pennsylvania, United States
Residence Date1830
Residence PlaceClearfield, Clearfield, Pennsylvania, USA
Residence Date1810
Residence PlaceClearfield, Pennsylvania, United States
Residence Date1820
Residence PlacePike Township, Clearfield Co., PA, USA
Birth Date17 Feb 17771359
Birth PlaceMontgomery County, NY, USA
Death Date21 May 18527103 Age: 75
Death PlaceLawrence Township, Clearfield Co., PA, USA
Burial PlaceOld Clearfield Cemetery, Clearfield, Clearfield Co., PA, USA7104
Misc. Notes
Matthew & Elizabeth’s was the first marriage of a Clearfield county couple. They had to go to Philipsburg in Centre county because there was no one in Clearfield county qualified to perform a marriage. They lived for many years on the Daniel Ogden place where Clearfield now stands. Together they had fifteen children, whose descendants are quite numerous.
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Birthplace source indicates Montgomer County in NY state but
may be a typo as there was also a Montgomery county, PA. BUT his father was born in CT, so it’s certainly possible he was in-fact born in NY.
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The first grist mill* in the county was built by Matthew Ogden on Moose Creek, near Clearfield, about 1804. Before Ogden built his mill, Daniel, the father, had to go to Lock Haven to get grinding done, using a canoe on the river to make the trip, and when meal was low, he used an old jointer plane turned bottom up, and by drawing an ear of corn along the surface, managed to manufacture a sufficient quantity of meal to supply the family demand.
7105____________
Like tanneries and woolen mills, grist mills were by necessity, early industries. The first ones were run by water power and located usually at the mouth of a stream. The first grist mill† in the county was located at the mouth of Moose Creek in Clearfield, 1804. This mill was built and owned by Matthew Ogden.
769____________
Grist Mills -- The first important industry to establish itself in the county was the "grist mill." The first grist mill was built in 1804 by Matthew Ogden and was located on Moose Creek about three-fourths of a mile above its mouth.
7106____________
In 1804, Matthew determined to carry into effect the project which had prompted his father in the selection of a site for a home, and commenced the erection of a grist-mill on the Chinchaclamoose, which stream afforded more advantages than the run on the homesdtead. It was situated about a half mile higher up the stream than the present [1859] mill of Judge Shaw.* That it was the first mill erected in the county, is not the only circumstance rendering it worthy of note. It was a mill built after its own plan. Had one fallen down to worship it he would not have committed idolatry, “for its likeness was not in the heavens above, nor in the earth beneath, neither in the waters which are upon the face of the earth.” It was sui generis.
In size it was about as large as the pantry of a modern house. There was no iron about it, save a spike, which for years had done service in an old wagon, replacing a bolt lost therefrom in a time, back to which the memory of man runneth not. This spike served as a spindle. The bolting cloth was a novelty. A frame covered with ‘cap-stuff,” was so arranged that it could be operated by a strap which ran to the water-wheel, but more frequently by being shaken hither and thither by the mill boy, who had packed his grain through some blazed path, or along the shore of the stream. The flour was caught in a trough, similar to those now seen near watering places, dug out of a huge stick of timber.
7107____________
Matthew Ogden’s mill was built in 1804. Ogden’s mill, in itself was one of the greatest curiosities of modern times. All the iron contained in the entire mill was a spike about a foot long, used as a spindle. Still, primitive as it was, it served to grind the grist of the pioneer, until Robert Maxwell built a better one in Pike township, on the waters of the Anderson creek.
4780____________
Mathew Ogden had many encounters with the Indians and was known as a successful Indian fighter and Mr. Bloom tells several interesting stories of his courage and diplomacy. On one occasion, being hard pressed in a running fight with the savages, he jumped into a ditch and as an Indian attempted to also clear the ditch, the opportunity was afforded Mr. Ogden of killing his pursuer and thereby saving his own life.
On another memorable occasion in order to escape capture, he crawled into a hollow log and, strange as it may seem, an industrious spider covered his hiding place with a web and when the Indians caught up with him, he had the satisfaction of overhearing their comments on his escape while they were sitting on the very log in which he was entombed.
On still another occasion he was at work near his home when two Indians approached him apparently in a friendly way but very soon they informed him that they had come to slay him. He had no weapon near but had the presence of mind to invite them into his cabin for refreshment and, there, with the quick movement that had often before saved his life, caught up his gun and killed them both.
These stories give a true indication of the tragic conditions under which pioneers lived in the early days of 1800, in a section of country that now is noted for its enlightenment and civilization.
2319____________
“Died on Friday last [May 1852], in Lawrence township, Major Matthew Ogden, at an advanced age. The deceased was among the first settlers of this part of our county.”
7108____________
A Matthew Ogden is named in December of 1806 among the 155 taxable inhabitants of Chinklacamoose/Chincleclamousche township, (Centre County) which [at the time] included all of Clearfield county.
1919____________
*Most likely Judge Richard H Shaw (1792-1876)
†A gristmill or grist mill is a building in which grain is ground into flour. In many countries these are referred to as corn mills or flour mills.
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