Betsey Stivert Grossman must have been nervous when she agreed to accompany her husband, Benedict, upon his decision in 1797 to move their family from York County to the current Cherry Township, Butler County.

Years before relocating to the uninhabited, wooded landscape with her husband, Betsey had been captured by Native Americans in York County. She was taken in 1756 at the age of 6 and held until 1763, when she was released at Fort Pitt, now Pittsburgh.

But true to the bravery and fortitude of many Butler County pioneers, Betsey agreed to build a new life with her husband and seven children in what is now Cherry Township.

According to the 1895 book, “History of Butler County, Pennsylvania” surnames like Black, McCallen, Thompson, Hutchison, Russell, Stevenson, Christy, Stewart, Hall and Dobson began cropping up in the late 1790s in Cherry Township.

Five brothers, Samuel, David, James, John and Caleb Russell, were among the settlers of the southeast quarter of the township, and they did their part to populate the rural land.

Samuel Russell produced a dozen children from three marriages, and had almost 200 descendants by 1870, when he died at age 94.

James Russell fathered 22 children, and his brother, David, sired 23.

Regarding the township's cheerful name, most agree that the proliferation of cherry trees provided the moniker, but several older residents delighted in telling the authors of “History of Butler County, Pennsylvania” that the municipality was named for settler David Christy's highly prized “bright cherry-red cow.”

The township's population grew after the turn of the 19th Century, and descendants of some of these township homesteaders still live in and enjoy the forests and fields of the municipality.

William Hockenberry, 77, said his family arrived in Cherry Township in 1830, and he still lives on the family farm purchased there in 1892.

“We still farm it,” Hockenberry said. “It was a cattle farm for 40 years, but now we sell hay.”

Like his father, he attended the one-room Flat Rock and Coaltown elementary schools until sixth grade, then attended secondary classes in West Sunbury. The elementary schools had outhouses, no indoor running water, and pot belly stoves to keep young students warm.

Six total one-room schools educated young students, and Hockenberry's great uncle, Montgomery “Mont” Hockenberry, taught in the township for 60 years.

“I don't know how many people back in the 1860s went further than eighth grade,” Hockenberry said.

The latter elementary school he attended was not named randomly, as rich coal seams were discovered in the township in the 1800s, according to “History of Butler County, Pennsylvania.”

“The effect of the Union Coal and Coke Company and the Gomersal Coal Company's enterprise in opening up the coal fields of this section cannot be overestimated,” the book states.

Villages named Gomersal, Ferris, Coaltown, and other neighborhoods sprang up as the deep mines were relieved of their coal, which was shipped to steel mills in Pittsburgh.

“Coaltown had coke ovens in the 1860s,” Hockenberry said.

His farm had a coal mine until 1890, when the coal ran out.

“Every hill up here where I live had deep mines up one side and down the other,” Hockenberry said.

Strip mining began in the 1940s, after machinery was invented to remove the coal just under the surface, he said. Hockenberry recalls the strip mines operating in the township in the 1950s and '60s, but it largely ended after that.

The Sproul family is another with descendants still residing in the township.

Bob and Everett Smith are double cousins, as their mothers, who were Sproul sisters, married brothers who were Smiths.

The two, along with other Sproul descendants, regularly have coffee at the Keister Road home built circa 1870 by their great-grandfather, Hugh Sproul.

“Hugh bought the property in 1842,” Bob said.

He said Hugh first bought 97 acres, then two adjacent parcels, to make a 160-acre property.

Bob said when Hugh Sproul bought the land, he was only the third owner, as the state owned uninhabited land before selling it in huge tracts in the early 1800s.

Hugh's sons Andrew and Everett eventually bought the family farm, then Everett bought Andrew's half for $2,500.

“This was a beautiful farm,” Bob said, “and (Everett) got the house and everything.”

When Everett's daughters, Ruth and Sarah, married Carl and Paul Smith, respectively, both couples and their children lived in the homestead until the current Everett's father bought an adjoining property in 1944.

The house now stands empty, an aging testament to the Sproul family's long history in the township. Everett and Bob, who live next door to one another just around the corner from the homestead, are unsure what will happen to the home once they pass on.

“I don't like to think about it,” Bob said. “I'd like my kids to move back here, but they're not going to.”