USA > New York > Tioga County > Owego > Early Owego, N.Y.; some account of the early settlement of the village in Tioga County, N.Y., called Ah-wa-ga by the Indians, which name was corrupted by gradual evolution into Owago, Owego, Owegy and finally Owego > Part 6
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41
"I was living at Winship's when I got married. I went to Catskill for eight months and learnt my trade. then came back and married a daugh- ter of Captain Parks; was married at 21 years of age. Sabin taught the first school at Choconut (Union) and was a surveyor.
"When we first started from Wyom- ing we expected to. stop at Towanda and make a settlement. A family by the name of Fox came up with us fromi Wyoming. They had lived there before the troubles several years, but the Indians drove them away. .. But we did not remain at Towanda long; we went on further to Tioga Point, and so to Choconut. When I came back from Geneva I, went down the river as far as Towanda to see the same people we came up with, but I did not remain a great while. They were not relations of mine and so I came on up to Jabez Winship's.
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"We ground our meal by a hand mill. Some stones were used by Win- chell on the other side of the river on Choconut creek. That was the first grist mill in this part of the
country. This was after I came back from Geneva (not the first, the last.). My father went first clear to Wilkes- Barre to mill.
"When his father came back the Shawnee. Indians attacked him, burnt his hay stack. He fed to his canoe, sunk himselfin the water from time to time as they fired nine rounds at him. Next day he could not swim. Frank- lin's family were captured by the In- · dians. Sixty men went in pursuit and overtook them just below Tioga Point. Mrs. Franklin was shot through the head, and the Indians dashed the brains of the child out. The survivors were brought to my father's house."
DR. ELISHA ELY.
Dr. Elisha Fly, one of the earliest. settlers in Owego, was born at Lyme, Conn., in 1748. His greatgrandfather Richard Ely, a widower, who was born in 1619, came from Plymouth, England, to America between 1660 and 1663 with his son's, William and Richard, and settled at Lyme, where he died in 1684. His eldest, son, William, had ten children, the fourth of whom was Daniel Ely, the father of. Dr. Elisha Ely. Daniel Ely was married four times and had in all twelve children, five by his fourth wife, Ruhama Turner. The twelfth child was Dr. Elisha Ely.
Dr. Ely was a surgeon in the revo- lutionary army, with the rank of cap- tain. His record, as it appears in the Historical Record of Officers of the Continental Army, 1775 to 1783, is as follows:
Elisha Ely (Conn.) Surgeon's mate, 10th Continental Infantry, 1 January, 1776. . Surgeon 19th Continental. in- fantry, 19 July to 31 December, 1776. Captain 6th Conn., 1 January, 1777. Resigned 28 August, 1780.
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Dr. Ely married .Susannah Bloomer, of Rye, N. Y., in 1781, the year fol- lowing his resignation from the army. He practised medicine at Saybrook, Conn., until his removal to Owego. He left Saybrook in the fall of 1798 with $16.000 in his possession, with which he purchased two townships of land in northern Pennsylvania under the Connecticut title. The title was in dispute between. Connecticut and Pennsylvania and was finally decided in favor of Pennsylvania, conse- quently the purchasers under the Con- nectient title lost all they had in- vested ..
When Dr. Ely came to Owego he was a cripple from wounds received while in the army .. He came with his wife and their eight children. They came from: New York city to. Catskill, by water, and their trip through the woods. from Catskill occupied six days. . They came with a wagon, a yoke of oxen, a span of horses, and the first chaise ever seen in this sec- tion, bringing all the household goods they could carry.
Dr. Ily had intended to stay in Owego and : practise medicine during the winter and go on the next spring to Wellsboro, Pa., where the land he had purchased was situated. The loss of this Pennsylvania land impover- ished him. . His health had been im- paired while in the army, and in 1801, three years after his coming here, he died of consumption.
After Dr. Ely's death his widow . lived in the north side of west Front · street in a house which stood .where the residence of John Jones now stands, and she remained there until her death on July 21, 1823.
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The children of Dr. Elisha and Susannah. (Bloomer) Ely, all of whom except James Ely were born in Con- necticut, were as follows:
1. Nancy . Ely, born in. 1782. She was married to Archibald White, of Owego. He died in New York of yel- low fever in. August, 1802. Her see- ond husband was Abner Murray, of Athens, Pa., to whom she was married in 1821. She died in 1862.
2. Susanah Ely, born 1783; died 1817
3. Gilbert Bloomer Ely, born . 1785. Married Elizabeth . McClain in 1809. He died in 1831 and she in 1825.
4. Elisha Ely; born 1788. Left Owego and settled in California.
5. . William Alfred Ely; born 16 Oct., 1789. Married Ann S. Gregory .in 1810. He died in Owego 27 Nov., 1863, and she 20 Jan., 1884.
6. Edward Ely, born 1791. . Mar- vied Fanny Avery, of Trumansburg. He died in Owego 'in 1844.
T. Harriet Bly, born 1794. Married John' Carmichael in 1835. She died i .Sept., 1881.
. 8. Daniel Ely, born 1797. . Married Lois Gridley Kelsey,. of Hartford, Conn., 1832. He died in Owego 25 Nov., 1844.
9. James Ely, born 1798. Married Cynthia. Bundy. . He died in Grand Rapids, Mich., 20 Dec., 1862.
Archibald" White, who married Nancy Ely, came to Owego about the year 1800 and in the winter of 1800- 01 was a clerk in Thomas Duane's store. He was from the north of Ire- land, born in Belfast. : When he came to America he landed in Baltimore, Md. Thence he went to Wilkes-Barre, Pa., where he become acquainted with Mr. Duane. When Mr. Duane came with his family to Owego in : 1800 White accompanied him.
White's mother and William Patter- son, of Baltimore, the father of Elizą- beth Patterson, Prince Jerome Bona-
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parte's wife, were brother and sister. The only child of . Archibald and Nancy (Ely) White was Maria Patter- son White, who was married to Elihu Parmenter, of. Owego. Mr. Parmenter built - and conducted the tannery in the northern part of this village, later known as the Dean tannery, and con- ducted it until his death. He was killed by the cars, near his home, Sept. 30, 1872. He was about 74 years of age at the time of his death. Mrs. Parmenter died 17: June, 1860, aged 55 years.
The Ely brothers were all mer- chants. William A: Ely was early in life a clerk in Gen. Oliver Hunting- ton's store. In December, 1814, he purchased for $300 the land on the south side of Main street opposite. and east of North avenue. It ex- tended from Lake street west to the publie burying ground .. The old bury- ing ground. occupied all the land on which the telephone office, and the sheriff's :residence now stand in Main street. and extended south in Court street to John f. Taylor's lot, south of and adjoining the county clerk's office.
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On the lot he purchased Mr. Ely built a two-story wooden building. which stood opposite north avenue on the ground where J. S. Houk's hard- ware store is now. In this building Wii. A. and James Ely conducted a general mercantile business several years. The store was afterward oc- cupied by Jolm Hollenback, then by E. B. Hurlbert, and later by John Cameron as a grocery. It was burned Oct. 16, 1870.
In 1827, Win. A., James, and Daniel Ely formed a new partnership and
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did a general mercantile business in a new brick building on the south side of Front street, two doors east of the bridge. This partnership was dis- solved in May, 1830, and Daniel Ely continued the business. William A. . and James Ely at the same time formed a partnership with Charles and Printice Ransom, under the firm name of Ely & Ransoms, which firm continued in existence until the end of the following June, when Charles Ransom withdrew from the partner- ship. Their store was east of and ad- joining that of James Ely, who sold his stock to Heggie & Mack, in June, 1831, James Ely was afterward a partner of Jonathan Platt .. Their store was on the south side of Front street, opposite where Ahwaga hall now is.
William A. Ely was at one time in business alone in Caldwell Row, a row of wooden shops, stores, and dwellings, which was buried in the great fire of 1849. It was on the north side of Front street and ex- tended from Lake street to the line between Ahwaga hall and the Ah- waga house block.
Elisha and James Ely at one time kept a hat store in Main street, where they bought furs and manufactured fur 'and wool hats and caps from the raw material. In the spring of 1819 they sold the business to Col. Chas .. B. Pixley. In manufacturing wool hats Col. Pixley was accustomed to dye them and then wash them in the sluiceway of the old mill of his father, Col. David Pixley, on the west side of the Owego creek, hear the Indian spring, by putting them in the water with tongs. Elisha Ely later had a
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WILLIAM A. ELY.
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hat store above the bridge in Front street.
William A. Ely built the brick house on the north side of Front street on the second lot east of Church street now owned and occupied by Mrs. Henry Young. Here he lived until his death in 1863. Mr. Ely was extensively engaged for several years in the manufatcure of lumber, which was the most important industry here in his day. He was not only a promi- nent business man but was also active in public affairs. He was su- pervisor of the town of Owego thir- teen years between 1824 and 1840.
James Ely lived on the north side of Front street, near William street. He removed to Grand Rapids, Mich., where he died in 1862. He was super- visor of the town of Owego in 1844, 1845, and 1852, and he represented Tioga county in the assembly in 1851.
Col. Daniel Ely lived in the house now occupied by Dr. J.T. Greenleaf in , Main street. He was postmaster of Owego from Feb. 4, 1842, until his death in November, 1844.
Gilbert and Daniel Ely were both officers in the state militia. Gilbert Ely was appointed ensign in Col. Samuel Seymour's regiment of in- fantry in 1807. In 1809 Jesse Mc- Quigg was appointed ensign "vice G. Ely, moved." Daniel Ely in 1822 was captain of riflemen in the 145th regi- ment.
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GEN. OLIVER HUNTINGTON.
One of the earliest settlers in Owe- go and the first druggist here was Gen. Oliver Huntington, who came at the age of 23 years with his wife and two children . to this village from Ellington, Conn., in 1804, and . lived here during the rest of his life.
At the northeast corner of Front and Lake streets stood a small wooden building, in which Gen. Hunt- ington established the first drug store ever opened in Owego. An advertise- ment of his store, published in the old "American Farmer," may be of in- terest here, as it is the first advertise- ment of a drug store published in this place.
DRUGS & MEDICINES, ETC.
Just received from New York and for fale by the fubferiber, a new and general affortment of DRUGS & MEDICINES. confifting of Opium. camphor, jallap, calomel, blue vitriol, fenni, rhubarb, &e .. with various others, too numerous to be inferted in an advertifement, and all the Patent Medicines that are in moft efteem.
Mo Practitioners of Phyfic, and others, may be fupplied on as. reafonable terms as can be obtained at Catfkill, or other places on the North river. OLIVER HUNTINGTON. Owego Village. July 31ft, 1810.
Gen. Huntington lived in a little red house which ,stood on the west side of North avenue, a little north of Main street. James A. Dean bought the lot in the spring of 1866, tore down the house and built a brick store on the site. This is the third store north of Main street and is sepa- rated from the store south of it by a narrow lane. In the old red house Deacon Francis Armstrong lived for many years.
In addition to his drug business Gen, Huntington engaged extensively in shipping produce of various kinds down the Susquehanna river, which stream was then the only outlet for
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the products of this part of the country.
In September, 1804, Gen. Hunting- ton had purchased property north of this village, lying on the north side ofthe small brook known as the Hunt- ington creek, and which was so named in honor of him. A little west of the highway now known as North avenue he built a few years before his death a small house, which is still standing, although somewhat al- tered from its original proportions. There he lived during the rest of his life. This house was later owned and occupied by John James Beers, and afterward the property was pur- chased by Ephraim -H. House.
Gen. Huntington was appointed sheriff of Broome county. Feb. 24, 1816, and held the office until June 10, 1818. He was prominent in mili- tary affairs. In 1809 he was ap- pointed Second Major in Lieut .- Col. Asa Camp's regiment of New York in- . fantry. The next year he was pro- moted to Lieut .- Col. Commandant of the 53d regiment, and in 1812 to Brigadier-General of the 41st brigade.
Gen. Huntington was a descendant of Simon and Margaret Huntington, non-conformists, who left England on account of religious persecution and came to America in 1663 and settled at Windsor, Conn.
Gen. Huntington was born Dec. 22, 1771. His first wife was Abigail Tal- cott, daughter of Capt. Gad and Abi- gail Talcott, of Hebron, Conn. She died in Owego June 18, 1815, aged 43 years. Her body is buried in the Presbyterian church yard. His second
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wife was .Mrs. Richards, a sister of Samuel Avery.
Gen. Huntington died Nov. 13, 1823. Although he was only 52 years of age at the time of his death he had been commonly known on account of his. venerable appearance as "old Gen. Huntington." The children of Gen. Oliver and Abigail (Talcott) Hunt- ington were as follows:
1. Abigail Huntington; born . 25 Sept., 1796. Married Henry Gregory 10 Feb., 1818. They lived at Ithaca.
2. Wait Talcott Huntington, born at Ellington, Conn., . 9 May, 1798. Married Saphronia Carter, of Aurora, N. Y., 11 March, 1840.
3: Orestes Lynde Huntington, born at Ellington, Conn., 22 March, 1803. Married Harriet Terrill at Ithaca, N. Y. He was a cabinet maker.
4. Horatio Lord Huntington, born at Owego, 14 Dec., 1805. Married. Ann Turner at Adams, Ill., 31. May, 1839.
5. Harriet Huntington, born
at Owego, 3 March, 1808. Married 5 May, 1833, to Wm. Townley. They lived at Albany, Ill.
'6. George Oliver Huntington, born at Owego 7 Oct., 1810. Married Cor- nelia DeKrafft, of Washington, D. C., at Quincy, Ill., 21 May, 1840.
Wait T. Huntington, the eldest son of Gen. Huntington, removed from Owego to Ithaca, where he taught school for a short time .. Then he en- gaged in the mercantile business and conducted a brewery, and became a. man of considerable prominence. He was elected clerk of Tompkins county in 1837 and served three years. He was clerk of the town of Ithaca in 1826 and 1832, and president of the village in 1834 and 1835. He was also elected a justice of the peace in 1859. In 1860 he removed to New York city, where he engaged in the manufacture
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of the now popular calendar attach- ment for clocks, of which he was the inventor. He for several years held a position in the New York post of- fice, which he resigned in March, 1878, in order to spend the rest of his life in peaceful retirement. He died . at the home of his daughter at Moravia, N. Y., Jan. 8, 1881, aged 82 years.
JOHN HOLLENBACK. .
John Hollenback was one of the early merchants of Owego. He was a large owner of timbered property, a manufacturer of lumber, and a man of extensive business transactions. He was a son of Geo. Hollenback, of Mill Creek, a place situated about a mile above Wilkes-Barre, Pa., and was born November 2, 1780. He came to Owego in 1801 or 1802 and began a general mercantile business. His first store was on the south side of Front street. above Lake street. At night he slept on a side sole leather on the counter of his store.
Mr. Hollenback was successful in all his undertakings. Hfe invested largely in real estate. In 1805 he owned two hundred acres east of Paige street, and in 1815 he was the possessor of 85615 acres, comprising nearly all the land bounded west by a line east of Paige street and ex- tending a little cast of the Little Nan- ticoke creek. At the time of his death in 1847 he owned about 2.000 acres of land in a body in and near Owego village; together with his father's homestead at Wilkes-Barre. Pa.
In 1813 or 1814 Mr. Hollenback had the lease of the Onondaga and Mon-
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tezuma salt works. In 1814, at the close of the war of 1812 he owned all the salt that was in the market and had it stored in arks on the Susque- hanna river at Port Deposit, Md. This salt was held from $16 to $20 a barrel. Had the war continued a few months longer he would have made a clear profit of $40,000, but peace was declared Dec. 24, and the price fell so low that Mr. Hollenback lost about · $20,000 on his investment.
Soon after. this Mr. Hollenback opened a hardware and tin store in James Pumpelly's two story wooden building, which stood on the north side of Front street, a few rods west of Paige street. The upper part of the building was occupied by Stephen B. Leonard as the publication office of the Owego Gazette and as a post of- fice, Mr. Leonard being the postmas- ter. This store, which was then con: sidered "out of the village," was af- terward. converted into a . dwelling house and is now occupied by A. C .. Burt.
About the year 1832 Mr. Hollenback moved down into Judge Drake's store, which stood on the south side. of Front street, opposite Lake street and was on the site of the present Central drug store. There he remained three or four years, and then removed to the store that William A. Ely had built and occupied on the south side of Main street,opposite North avenue.
In 1840 he removed once more, this time into the Camp store, which stood on the south side of Front street, a little west of Park street. A little later he removed up the street to Charles Pumpelly's old . store, which .stood opposite where the Ahwaga
JOHN HOLLENBACK.
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house now stands, and there he con- tinued the mercantile business until his death, June 13, 1847. .
Soon after coming to Owego Mr. Hollenback established a. branch store at Ithaca, in . 1804, which was managed by a man named Isaacs.
Mr. Hollenback . was a man of strong determination and extraordi- nary energy of character. In his cen- tennial history of Tioga county, pub- lished in 1876, William F. Warner wrote of . Mr. Hollenback as follows:
"Had this gentleman lived at a time when military leadership was demanded, he would unqestionably have made one of the ablest com- manders who ever led an army. He dealt largely in the purchase, and manufacture of lumber. His impaired hearing forced him to withdraw from social life, and he devoted himself assiduously to his extensive business. Those, however, who had access to him in his home circle, found him a genial man and an accomplished con- versationalist: He was . well . in- formed, and kept abreast with the foremost in all matters of general in- terest, although seemingly absorbed in- business. matters."
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While conducting the Ithaca store . Mr. Hollenback had some trouble with Eleazer Dana, one of the: early lawyers in Owego. In order to annoy Mr. Hollenback Mr. Dana waited un- til he had left town and got nearly to Ithaca, when he served a summons upon him and caused his immediate return. to Owego. . Mr. Hollenback was so' infuriated at this summary action that he attacked Mr. Dana with a cowhide. Mr .: Dana sued him for as- sault. and recovered $300 damages.
When Mr. Hollenback began busi- ness in Owego he could not agree with one of his rivals in the mercan-
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tile business. He employed many men in making arks and rafts of lum- ber, but for some unknown reason the men would leave his employ abruptly when he most needed their services, and would make no explana-
tion for their course. Finally one man was candid enough to iiform him that his rival in busi- ness was the cause, he telling the men that Mr. Hollenback was irre- sponsible and they would not receive their wages. Mr. Hollenback, with his rawhide, went to his business rival and threatened to use the whip over his shoulders should there be any repetition of the trouble. It is: needless to say that he was subjected to no further. amioyance.
Mr. Hollenback was a hard worker himself, and would employ none who was idle or lazy. It is related of him that when an applicant for work came to him he would examine the seat of his trousers. If it was patched or worn, he would give him no employ- ment.
Mr. Hollenback lived in a house which stood on the north side of Front street, on the third lot west of Paige street, later owned by his brother-in-law, William Pumpelly. The house stood so near the street that when Front street was regularly laid out and straightened by a sur- veyor, the house was left close upon the sidewalk .. This house, which was a large one, was several years after- ward cut in two, moved away, and converted into tenant houses.
Mr. Hollenback's wife was Susan Welles, daughter of George and Pru- dence (Talcott) Welles. They were married Sept. 24, 1805. She was
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born Jan. 10, 1783, and died in Owego Feb. 7, 1865. Geo. Welles was a na- tive of Connecticut, who settled at Athens, Pa., about the year 1800.
The portrait of Mr. Hollenback, which illustrates this article, is from a photograph taken by Mr. LaSon from an oil painting. The painting is the work of Mrs. Hollenback's sister, Miss M. A. Welles, who afterward be- came Mrs. Win. Pumpelly. The paint- ing was owned by the family of Geo. W. Hollenback for many years, and it is now the property of Frank Ml. Baker, of Owego.
Some time previous to his death Mr. Hollenback had expressed his in- tention of founding some kind of a public institution in Owego, by which his name would be handed down to posterity, and he had made a partial will to that effect; but he was taken ill while his nephew, Geo. W. Hollen- back, who for many years had had almost entire charge of his extensive lumber business, was down the river, and, at the last moment, being un- able to carry his intention into effect, he devised the greater portion of his large estate to his nephew, at the same time leaving a portion of the property in trust for the support of his widow during her life:
At the time of his death Mr. Hol- lenback had one brother, Matthias Hollenback, living at Wilkes-Barre.
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GEORGE W. HOLLENBACK.
The first Hollenback in this country . of whom there is any record was George Hollenback, a sturdy Dutch- man, who settled in Wyoming county, Pa. He had a. son, John Hollenback (1), who was born about 1720, whose wife was Eleanor Jones. Their chil- dren were George, Matthias H., and John Hollenback (2).
George Hollenback' was the father ; of John Hollenback, the Owego mer- chant.
Matthias H. Hollenback, a promi- nent business man of his day in Penn- sylvania, had three children a's fol- lows:
Eleanor Jones Hollenback, who married Charles F. Welles, of Athens, Pa
John Welles Hollenback.
Mary Ann Hollenback, who married Gen. John Laning, one of the. early merchants of Owego.
The third brother, John Hollenback (2) had a son also named John Hol- lenback (3), who was the father of Geo, W. Hollenback, of Owego. This John Hollenback (3) was born Oct. 14, 1775, at Martinsburg, Va., under the rule of King George III., but the family were not enthusiastically loyal subjects. In 1783, after the declara- tion of peace, his parents removed to Morgantown, West Virginia, and in 1793 to Wilkes-Barre, Pa. He was engaged for his uncle, Matthias Hol- lenback, in trade along the Susque- hanna river in 1796. The next year he came up . the river in a Durham boat and established a shad fishery at Wyalusing, the first in that part of the country. He soon afterward re- turned down the river with his boat heavily laden with salted shad. In
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1801 he opened a store at Wyalusing, which was considered a marvel at the time, as he brought 2,400 pounds of goods from Philadelphia . in wagons to Middletown, . where they were . loaded. on boats and pushed up the river. Mr. Hollenback died at. Wya- lusing March 13, 1867, aged 91 years.
Geo. W. Hollenback who was the oldest one of John Hollenback's fif- teen children, was born Aug. 25, 1806, at Wyalusing and came to Owego to attend school in 1816, at ten years of age, and remained here during the summer. December 5, 1828, he came again to Owego to live, and was a clerk in his uncle, John Hollenback's, store until August, 1831. In Decem- ber, 1838, he again returned to Owego to resume his duties as his uncle's clerk, and he lived here all the rest of his life.
From six to nine months each year his time was occupied up and down the Susquehanna river attending to . his employer's lumber business. In the fall of 1847, after John Hollen- back's death, he entered into partner- ship with William H. Bell in the mer- cantile and lumber business and the partnership continued twenty years.
Wm. H. Bell was a son of William Bell, a farmer, who lived on the West Owego creek, about six miles north of Owego, where he was born, Nov. · 18, 1811. At an early age he entered the store of Martin & Andrews at : Wysox, Pa., as a clerk. He afterward came to Owego and was for three years a clerk in David P. Tinkham's store. He was next employed in the same capacity in the stores of John Hollenback and Platt & Ely.
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