Aaron Benedict was surveying land in Northwestern Pennsylvania for the Holland Land Company in 1819 when he decided to purchase 400 acres in what would become the northwest corner of Venango County. From the beginning, Benedict, on the lookout for profitable business opportunities, saw the potential in the quality of the local clay for pottery making. Within a few years the Benedict family, which consisted of 19 children, opened a pottery factory, which along with lumber, served as Pleasantville's economic engine until just before the Civil War.