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David S. Criswell |
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DAVID S. CRISWELL, oil producer, was born January 12, 1842, in Clarion county, this state, and is a brother of R. W. Criswell. He was educated in the common schools of Armstrong county. He enlisted in 1863 in Captain J. B. Guthrie’s independent company, and was discharged after a service of ten months with the President’s Guards. Returning from the war, he drilled what was known as the Criswell well in Cornplanter township, which turned out one hundred barrels of oil per day, at a time when oil was worth seven dollars and fifty cents per barrel. From 1880 to 1884 he was promoter and superintendent of silver mines in Arizona for an Oil City company. With the exception of this brief period, he has been producing oil since beginning that business. In 1874 he drilled the first well from the top of the ground to the fourth sand, in Armstrong county, securing a three thousand barrel well, which flowed for eighteen months. Criswell City, of that county, took its name after this well, and Mr. Criswell is rightly credited as being the originator of the fourth sand theory. He was married September 13, 1864, to Miss Mary E. Widget, a native of Oil City, and to this union five children have been born: Robert N., assistant book-keeper for the Derrick; Mabel L.; Maude; Byron G., and Minnie L. He is a member and past commander of Post 435, G. A. R., and is a Republican.
History of Venango County, Pennsylvania
: its past and present, including its aboriginal history, the French and
British occupation of the country, its early settlement and subsequent
growth, a description of its historic and interesting localities, its rich
oil deposits and their development, sketches of its cities, boroughs,
townships, and villages, neighborhood and family history, portraits and
biographies of pioneers and representative citizens, statistics, etc.,
etc.
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