The Oil City Library will be the site for a workshop from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, Feb. 10, to explore the celebrity Coal Oil Johnny.
This workshop, presented by oil historian Neil McElwee of Oil City, will discuss 1859-1869 in the Oil Creek Valley, especially the communities where John Washington Steele and the McClintock
and Moffitt families resided. John Washington Steele married Eleanor J. Moffitt of Dempseytown in 1862.
John Washington Steele, also known as Coal Oil Johnny, was born in 1843 near Sheakleyville, Mercer County, and adopted by Culbertson McClintock and his wife Sarah McKnight McClintock in
1845. The McClintocks made their home on the west bank of Oil Creek. Their property, which was a strong oil producer in the 1860s, made Steele a wealthy young man. Coal Oil Johnny’s antics in Philadelphia, some true and some embellished, were made famous across the country through gossip and newspaper coverage.
Registration for the workshop is $15 per person or $25 for two people, and will include workshop materials and refreshments. People should register by Wednesday, Feb. 7, by contacting Jennifer
Burden at the Oil Region Alliance, at 677-3152, Ext. 116, or at jburden@oilregion.org.
The program is part of a year-long series of public programs and activities is being coordinated by the nonprofit Oil Region Alliance, which owns and operates the Coal Oil Johnny House located today in Rynd Farm at the south tip of Oil Creek State Park, just east of Route 8 north of Rouseville, Pennsylvania. Proceeds are being earmarked for the ongoing maintenance and operation of
this circa 1850 farmhouse.
For more information about the McClintock family or to schedule a private tour of the Coal Oil Johnny House, people may contact Burden.
