State & Union: The ‘trial’ of Father Joseph and the oil spring

Was Father Joseph de la Roche d’Allion, a Franciscan Recollect friar, the first European to see what today is known as Oil Spring near Cuba, N.Y., almost 400 years ago? An overwhelming majority of attendees of the fourth and final program of the Olean Historical Society summer lecture series Monday evening were convinced he was. The contention that he made the journey to the Oil Spring on the…