Casper Reel (1742-1824)
Casper Reel was born in Frankfurt, Germany on May 11, 1742.
Around 1761, he and his family immigrated to America. His father allegedly died on the voyage from Germany. The rest of his family made it and originally settled near Baltimore, but they eventually wound up in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. After moving to Lancaster, his mother, brother, and sister were killed by Native Americans.
By 1773-1774, he had moved to Fort Pitt. He was a skin dresser by trade, but in Pittsburgh, he also became a trader and storekeeper. When the Revolutionary War broke out, he enlisted in the Continental Army, serving under George Washington and fighting at the Battle of Brandywine.
After having been gone for 10 years, he returned to Lancaster and married his sweetheart Elizabeth Wise on March 2, 1784. He returned to Pittsburgh with his wife and their first child and bought two lots of land on Fifth Avenue between Smithfield and Wood. The couple had five children between 1784 and 1794: Mary born in 1785, Jacob born in 1787, John born in 1789, Daniel born in 1791, and Conrad born in 1793.
In 1792, Reel obtained 727 acres of land north of the Allegheny for his service in the army. Shortly thereafter, he hired a woodcutter and traveled up the Venango Trail about six miles, arriving in what is now West View. He surveyed and staked off the land himself. They built a small log cabin near a creek between present-day Cornell Avenue and West View Park.
The woodcutter returned to Pittsburgh, leaving Casper Reel to live alone in his cabin. He set out to prepare the cabin for his wife and children. He cleared the grounds, hunted, and planted many fruit seeds. However, he would not stay there for long. One day after returning from working in the woods, he discovered that a group of Native Americans was nearby. He went to enter his cabin when suddenly an arrow flew past him and became lodged in the cabin door. The group of Native Americans had gathered outside his cabin, evidently displeased at his presence on their land. They exchanged fire, but Casper Reel was only one against many. He likely would have been killed if it had not been for the arrival of a band of soldiers, who managed to make the Native Americans retreat. It is said that the soldiers happened to be in the area because they were searching for Simon Girty, a white man who had joined a group of renegade Native Americans.
Ultimately, the persistent danger of Native American attacks forced him to temporarily abandon his cabin that same year. He would not return until 1794, after the Native Americans were defeated at the Battle of Fallen Timbers and pushed out of the Ohio River Valley. Upon returning to his land, he built a new log cabin for his family which was completed by the spring of 1795. This log cabin still stands today at 148 Georgetown Avenue.
On January 22, 1798, Casper and Elizabeth welcomed twins, David and Casper, Jr. They were the first white children born north of the Allegheny. Casper and Elizabeth went on to have ten children total: Mary, Jacob, John, Daniel, Conrad, David, Casper Jr., William, William’s twin sister who died in infancy, and Elizabeth.
Casper Reel became a successful farmer and fruit grower, and eventually the first tax collector in the area from the Allegheny River to Lake Erie. He was also a trapper on the Beaver River. He went on to be one of the wealthiest men and largest landowners in the area. In 1813, he built an estate called Reel Hall. The Reel family occupied the house for over a hundred years. In 1919 after the death of his granddaughter, Almatia Reel, the Reel Farm was sold to the Highland Country Club. Reel Hall was incorporated into the country club’s clubhouse. In addition, the country club preserved and maintained the family burial site.
On April 6, 1813, his son John was killed in the War of 1812 at Fort Meigs on the Maumee River. He was only 23. Casper Reel, Sr. traveled to Ohio himself to retrieve his body.
Casper Reel, Sr. died on October 10, 1824 and is buried in the Reel family cemetery. Also buried there are his wife, four sons (Daniel, Jacob, John, and William), their infant daughter, a sister-in-law, and a black servant. His wife, Elizabeth, died on August 20, 1943.
Today, Reel is considered the first settler north of the Allegheny. His tenacity and determination to settle this land paved the way for further settlement in the present-day West View/Ross area. The family burial grounds are now located within the Highland Estates, and while the exact location is unknown, they are thought to be off of Oakmont Avenue under a tree.
Casper Reel's second log cabin, located at 147 Georgetown Ave