USA > New York > Sullivan County > Gazetteer and business directory of Sullivan county, N. Y., for 1872-3 > Part 19
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Messrs. O. B. Wheeler & Sons of Oakland do an extensive business. They are engaged, in addition to their store business, in lumbering, quarrying and tanning, in which they employ two hundred men. The tannery is on the Bushkill, which furnishes the motive power. It employs 100 vats, and con- sumes 1.600 cords of bark in the manufacture of about 16,000 sides of oak-tanned leather. They quarry and ship about four car loads of stone each day. This branch of their business is constantly increasing. A ready market is found in New York for the products of both the tannery and the quarry.
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The, Wheelbarrow Manufactory of Ketchum & Bro. at Oak- land, employs from fifteen to twenty men, consumes about 250,000 feet of lumber and turns out from 13,000 to 15,000 wheelbarrows per annum. New York is the principal market.
BARNUMS STATION is on the M. & P. J. R. R., near the north line of the town. At this point is a saw mill owned and operated by Geo. W. Barnum of Monticello, who also owns quite a tract of timber land.
The five saw mills of Dodge, Hartwill & Co. manufacture annually about 700,000 feet of lumber. The Co. employ one man in each mill, who receives a stated sum for each thousand feet of lumber manufactured, and employs such additional help as he may need. They also employ other men to deliver the lumber, who are hired in the same way.
The Belford Tannery. located about one mile north of Forest- burgh village, on Black Brook, and owned by Chas. H. Gilder- sleeve, was built in 1851, by Dodge, Hartwill & Co. It was subsequently owned by Gad Wales & Co, sixteen years, and by James Gildersleeve & Co. two years, after which it came into the possession of its present owner. It contains ninety vats, with additional handlers, soaks, pools, &c .; employs about twenty operatives; consumes annually 3,000 cords of hemlock bark, and manufactures 25,000 sides of sole leather, which is disposed of in New York. Mr. Gildersleeve also has a store, containing a general assortment of merchandise. He annually uses in business about *15,000.
The saw mill of Mathews & Williams, located on a small stream in the northern part of the town, annually manufactures 200,000 feet of lumber and a considerable quantity of lath ; and that of John Kaddick, adjacent to it, about 150,000 feet.
Gillman's Tannery, ou the Mongaup, contains 108 vats, 36 handlers and 14 leaches; employs abouta dozen men; con- sumes 1,500 cords of bark per annum; and manufactures 20,000 hides of leather, the market for which is New York.
A large gang saw mill was erected just below Mongaup Falls about 1852-3 ; but after running one or two years it was burned. Since then no use has been made of this splendid water power.
Settlement was commenced prior to the Revolution, and was recommended on the Mongaup in 1795. Zephanjah, Nathan and Luther Drake were pioneers in the south-west part of the town, and Elisha Smith, near Oakland. The former came in 1:00, at which time there were no public roads in the town. It was an almost unbroken forest, infested with all kinds of wild beasts, which made frequent raids upon the sheep and
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young, cattle, and proved a great source of annoyance to the carly settlers. Footpaths were cut through the dense forest. Among the early settlers were - - Stokes, who settled at For- estburgh in 1809; Jubal Turbal, who settled at Forest Glen in 1811, and built the grist and saw mills now at that place; Jeremiah Pierson, who settled on Black Brook about the same time; John Lovelace, who came from Dutchess county in 1811; Archibald Mills,* who came from Goshen, (Orange Co.,) in July, 1819, as agent for Geo. D. Wickham, who owned a large tract of land in the town ; David Horton, who came in 1818; James Ketchum, who settled at Oakland in 1824, at which time there was but one house there; James Dill, who came from Orange county in 1825, when the town was nearly a wil- derness and contained only one public road, when the forests were full of game and the streams well supplied with trout, perch, catfish and eels; and Wm. Wells, who settled near For- estburgh in 1827. Miss Moore taught the first school at Drakestown. S. Conant kept the first inn, and Thos. Alsop, the first store, at Forestburgh. The first saw mill was built at Oakland, at the mouth of the Bushkill, in 1780, by people from the village of Minisink, in Orange county.
Rev. Isaac Thomas (Meth.) was the first preacher in the town.
The M. E. Church, located at Forestburgh, was organized in 1838, by Rev. D. Buck, with twenty members. The first pastor was Rev. Enos Greene; the present one is A. L. Smith. The first and present house of worship was erected in 1859, previ- ous to which time there was no church in the town, meetings being held in the school house. The original cost of the church edifice, which will seat 300 persons, was $1,500. The present value of Church property is $3,000. There are now fifty members.
The Presbyterian organization existed previous to the Methodist, and the Congregational still exists and is minis- tered to by Rev. Felix Kite. Neither of the latter organiza- tions have church editices. The latter uses the house erected by the Methodists.
*We are indebted to Mr. Mills for much of the information here given in regard to the early history of this town. He is now eighty years old, has resided in the town since 1819, and has surveyed most of the land in it. Ile tells the following amusing anecdote : At one time twenty eight men, some of whom were then strangers to Mr. Mille, were on a hunting excursion at a place called " Bush Ridge." Mr. Mills shot at a dear, which he only wounded. US - of the party, whose dog had been shor, on learn- 1 7 thxs Mills bad dit caarred his gon, stumbled towards him. falling and " filling" las Kun with rotten wood me he did so, and accused tim of shooting bis dog. He was " conded by ore of bi- companions, who added. "any man that will shoot a dog. oncht to be shot himself." Mr. Mills replied that he would go forty rods off and they might shoot as long as they pleased. But they concluded not to try this expedient of ertiling the dispute. and the party went In search of the deer ebot by Mr. Mills, which they soon found dead.
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FREMONT was formed from Callicoon, Nov. 1, 1851. and named in honor of John C. Fremont. It lies in the ex- treme west part of the County, upon the bank of the Delaware. Its surface is broken and hilly, especially in the west and south parts, where the summits rise from 600 to 1,000 feet above the valley, and from 1,500 to 1,800 above tide. The north-east part is more even, and adapted to grass and spring crops. It is watered by numerous small streams, the principal of which are Basket and Hankins creeks, and several small lakes, the most important of which are Long, Round and Basket ponds, in the north : Fox Pond in the east; and Trout Pond, near the center. The Erie R. K. extends through the town, along its south-west border, and the bank of the Delaware.
According to the census of 1870, the town then contained a 1 population of 2,218, many of whom are Germans who can neither read nor write the English language. Their principal occupation is lumbering and tanning.
During the year ending Sept. 30, 1871, the town contained eleven school districts and employed the same number of teachers. The number of children of school age was 893; the number attending school, 536; the average attendance, 216; and the value of school houses and sites, $5,875.
The town covers an area of 33,283 acres, only 6,304 of which, as appears from, the census of 1865, were then im- proved, leaving 26,979 acres of unimproved Jand.
DOUGLASS VILLAGE, (Long Eddy p. o.) also known as Bas- ket Station, is located in the extreme north-west corner, on the Delaware, and on the Erie R. R. It was incorporated April 19, 1867 ;* and contains two hotels, five stores, two blacksmith shops, four saw mills, (two of which are run by steam and two by water.) seventy dwellings and 450 in- habitants. There are two small religious societies here, (Methodist and Baptist.) neither of which have a church edifice. They worship in the school house.
HANKINS, (p. o.) situated on the Delaware, near the mouth of the creek whose name it bears, is a station on the Erie R. R., and contains one hotel, two stores, a small clothing store, a blacksmith shop and about one hundred inhabitants. The
*The post office wa. estabit-bed here in 1:53, and given the name of Long Eddy. In 1557, Mr. Taylor bota the depot at this place, at an expense of $1,000, giving it the h. At Ito ladare the R. R. Co. to cop their trains here, he gave gr without asking any compensation therefor.
Wer floden at its incorporation : Trustees, Chae. G. @ MAILdee. Chae. D. Brand and Ulysses Sister : 2.47-4 „Justice, samt-I M not ways, den Giankl and Joseph Dudgeon ; Collecter, Wal. T. Kellam. The great neler are: Imatees, Geo, H. Canfield. Wm. T. Kullan. Chas. G. Armstrong ;. Vin, Bet ard and Aaron Van Benechoten ; Poller .Justice, Ornati Simpson ; days . Lin Karke sad I. Wolcott. The village includes a portion of the town of Haycock, INviaware Co.
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hotel is kept by John R. Kellam, who is also proprietor of a store in which general merchandise is sold, a blacksmith shop and two saw mills, one of which is located in this town, on Hankins Creek, the other in Penn., on the west side of the Delaware. Mr. Kellam deals extensively in lumber.
FREMONT CENTER (p. v.) is located on Hankins Creek, and, as its name implies, near the center of the town. It contains one church, (M. E.) one store, one hotel, one stave factory, one carding machine, a blacksmith shop, a wagon shop, and B. P. Buckley & Son's tannery, in which is tanned about 40,000 sides per annum. .
MILESVILLE, located on Hankins Creek, nearly equi-distant from Fremont Center and Hankins Station, derives its name from the Messrs. Miles, who operate a tannery* there. In ad- dition to the tannery, it contains a store, a blacksmith and wagon shop, a hotel and about thirty dwelling houses, many of which were built and are owned by the Messrs. Miles.
OBERNBURGH, located about two miles east from Fremont Center, in the east part, contains one hotel, a brewery, a grocery, a school, a church, (Catholic) and ten dwelling houses. The inhabitants in this part of the town are mostly German.
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The first settlers were Joseph Green, at Long Eddy, John Hankins, at Hankins Station, Benjamin Misner, at Long Pond, and Zach. Ferdon, at Round Pond. Among the early settlers Was Widow Elizabeth Misner, to whom was given one hundred acres of land in the north part of the town, near Long Pond. G. Scott and Misner, settled near Fremont Center, the latter in 1846. John Minkler settled here when the town was a wilderness, and there was no mill nearer than Liberty. He helped to raise the first mill, barn and house erected in the town. John Heldrick, who settled with his family near the center, had two children, girls, the eldest of whom was six years, the younger, three or four, who strayed from home one day and became lost. The neighboring settlers assisted in the search and the lost children were found in a hollow log ; but the eldest was insane and, though she lived sixteen years, never fully recovered her senses. Sarah Phillips taught the first school ; John Ranfiesen kept the first inn ; and John Hankins kept the
* The Tannery is operated with a capital of $125.000. It gives employment to twenty- Armen. to whom is pakt in yearly wages 210.140. It receives annually 20,000 hides, web si.000; contames tral cards of hemlock bark. valued at $16.500: 000 cords of wond valned at SAW : am! ( barrels of tannervoil, valued at $450 ; and produces 40.000 eu sofrole leather, velunder 2194, 3d. Thereare used in the manufacture two rolling machines, one bark mill, two hide mills and one lignor pamp. The motive power is furnished by a steam engine of thirty-ave horse power, and a head of water equivalent to an cugine of eight horse power.
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first store and built the first saw mill. The first town meeting was held the first Tuesday in March, 1852, at the house of Ezekiel G. Scott .*
The early settlers erected a small school house, which was constructed of logs and covered with bark. In this they were accustomed occasionally to worship. Elder Little, a Baptist, who preached there, was probably the first preacher in the town. But, though the Baptists are entitled to the honor of initiating religious services, to the Catholics is due the erection of the first church edifice in the town.
The St. Mary's Church, (Roman Catholic) located at Obern- burgh, and organized with eighty members, by Rev. John Ran- feisen, its first pastor, in 1852, erected its first house of worship in 1852. The present one, which will seat 200 persons, was erected in 1861, at a cost of 81,600. The present pastor is Rev. Joseph Roesch; and the membership, 350. The Church property is valued at $3,000.
The Methodist Church, located at Fremont Center, was organ- ized by Aaron Coons, in 1860, in which year the house of wor- ship, which will seat 350 persons, was erected at a cost of 82,500. The Church property is valued at $2,700. There is no pastor.
HIGHLAND was formed from Lumberland, Dec, 17, 1853. . It is a border town, lying in the south part of the County. Its southern boundary is formed by the Delaware River. It is named from the character of its surface, which consists of high ridges between the Delaware and Mongaup rivers, 600 to 1,000 feet above the canal at Barryville, and 1,000 to 1,200 feet above tide. There are a great number of small lakes in the town, the principal of which are Washington and Wells ponds on the north line, Mud and Hagan ponds in the east, York pond in the south-west, Washington pond, used as a canal feeder, and Blind, Little and Montgomery ponds, near the center. The Delaware and Hudson Canal extends along the south border of the town, crossing the Delaware, and enters the town and county near the west line. The people are chiefly engaged in lumbering and the rudiments of farm- ing.
*A that in eting the flowing named officers were elected : Samuel McKoon, Super- ring ; Lovi Harding, Zuen Fick ; Roderick R. Levally, Thos. S. Ward and Win. C. Wood, Jantesif Ba fokke; Joon Hu'en and Joseph F. Yeudes, Assessors; Burress Phillips and James Brown, Commissioners ; Austin W. Blackman, James C. Canton and John Beck, Inspectore of Elections ; Levi Minckler, Collector ; Agron Van Benschott, Superintervient of Public Schools ; Lovi Minckler, Wm. F. Clayton, Charles Close and David Levally, Constables; Auton Van Benechoten, Sealer of Weights and Measures; and Austin W. Blackman and James Brown, Overseers of the Poor.
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The town has an area of 29,528 acres, 1,498 of which, according to the census of 1865, were improved, and 28,030, unimproved.
The population in 1870 was 958. During the year ending Sept. 30, 1871, the town contained six school districts, and employed six teachers. The number of children of school age was 372; the number attending school, 321; the average attendance, 136; and the value of school houses and sites, $3,105.
BARRYVILLE, (p. v.) near the south-east corner, is situated on the north bank of the Delaware, and on the Delaware and Hudson Canal. It contains two hotels, two churches, (Bap- tist and Union, the latter being owned by the Congregational and Methodist Societies,) four stores, three blacksmith shops, one wagon shop, a drydock, for building and repairing canal boats, a grist mill, a stone quarry, a fine public school, forty- seven dwellings and 259 inhabitants. The Delaware and Hud- son Canal Co. have a superintendent's office and a blacksmith shop located here. The village is connected with Shohola, Pa., on the opposite side of the Delaware, and a station on the N. Y. & E. R. R., by a suspension bridge of two spans, 500 feet in length, 10 feet in width and elevated 25 feet above the water. The towers on which it rests are 45 feet in height. It was built through private enterprise by Chauncey Thomas of Sbohola, at a cost of about 84,000 .*
HALF-WAY BROOK (Lumberland p. o.) is a small hamlet, situated near the center of the town. about four miles north of Barryville. It contains two churches, (Congregational and Methodist) two stores, a blacksmith shop, a saw mill, a school house, nine dwelling houses and forty-four inhabitants. The Spring Valley Lodge, No. 158, I. O. of G. T., meets each Friday night, and is doing a good work.
The first settler was John Barnes, who located at Narrow Falls. Among the other first settlers were John Carpenter,
*This is the third bridge which has been erected at this point. The first one was built by an incorporated company, organized bader an act to provide for the incorporation of bridge companies. passed April 11, 1844. The company was known as the Barry- ville & Shohola Brid re Co., and was authorized by the Supervisors of Sullivan Co. Nov. 17, 1854. The bridge was completed in 1856 at a cost of $9.000 and was blown down July 2, 1859. It was rebuilt in the fall of the same year, at a cost of $1,000 and in Dec., 1864, it again went down in consequence of the breaking of a cable, which is at- :ributed to the contraction of the metal of which it was composed. The present struc- Dire was built in isgg, ara co tof $1.000. This was the first suspension bridge that -paoned the Delaware. Hon. Juffiery h. Gardner was President of the company until his drath, when he was succeededl by Napoleon B. Jobnson, who remained as such until 195, when the effects were wohl for debt and were purchased by the present owner, who had claims against the company for $2.000. It is due to the energy of Mr. Thomas that the bridge was Arst built, and has since been kept in order. When the bridge fell from the breaking of a cable, it carried with it three teams and six persone. But no lives were lost ; nor was any one seriously injured.
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Wm. Seeley, N. Patterson and Wm. Randall, at Beaver Brook, and Benj. Hayne, at Handsome Eddy. John Carpenter en- ployed Nathaniel Wheeler to teach the first school, before the public schools were organized. G. Ferguson kept the first inn. in 1830, and Phineas Terry the first store, in 1828. N. Patterson built the first saw mill, on Beaver Brook.
The First Congregational Church, located at Half-way Brook. was organized with fourteen members, in 1799, by Rev. Isaac Sergeant, who was the first preacher in the town, and the first pastor of the Church. The first and present house of wor- ship, which will seat 200 persons, was erected in 1835, at a cost of 81,200. The present estimated value of Church property is 81,500. The present number of members is 84; and the present pastor is Rev. Felix Kyte, who has been its pastor more than 39 years. The Sunday School in connection with the Church holds regular sessions throughout the year.
The Barryville Union Church, located at Barryville, was organized with nine members, Sept. 17, 1835, and with Felix Kyte as its first pastor. He is also its present one. The first and present house of worship was erected in 1835, at a cost of 81.800. The present value of Church property is $2,500. It will seat 150 persons, and has 30 members. The edifice is owned by the Congregationalists and Methodists.
The Barryville and Shohola Baptist Church, located at Barry- ville, was organized in Feb., 1859, with eight members and J. P. Stalbird as its first pastor. The first and present house of worship, which will seat 200 persons, was erected in 1890. at a cost of $2,200. The present value of Church property is 82,000. It has no pastor.
Within the limits of this town was fought the memorable battle of Minisink, during the Revolution .* The withdrawal in February, 1979, of Count Pulaski's legion of cavalry. (which was stationed, during a part of the winter of 17;S-", at Minisink.) to join the army under Lincoln in South Caro- lina, left this settlement wholly unprotected, which, being perceived by Brant. the accomplished Mohawk warrior. deter- mined him to make a descent upon it. During the night .1 July 19. 1779, at the head of sixty Indians, and twenty-seves Tories disguised as savages, he fell upon the little town, and
* The place of confict is ghost two miles from the northern bank of the Delswe "Y .. . was the Lawaus ten River. It is about three miles from I .:
:ile. Thelar or ol ard ins daistent region continue in the same wild -ta" off, wal over to really alone and tagged ravines where the Indians and the wie m: the tough', wind deer meat in abuistance, and a panther occasionally kon suzuki prey. The place is too rocky for cultivation, and must ever remain a wilderness.» Loving's Theworld Field Buk of the Revolution, Vol. 1. page 610.
The battle took place ou and in the vicinity of the farm now owned by Harmon Twichell, near York Pond.
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Wxfore the people were aroused from their slumbers he had fired several dwellings. Being without means for defense, the inhabitants sought safety in flight to the mountains, leaving the enemy to plunder their village unopposed. Several persons were killed and others taken prisoners .* The booty was conveyed to Grassy Brook, on the Delaware, a few miles above the mouth of the Lackawaxen, where the Chief had left the main body of his warriors. When intelligence of this invasion reached Goshen, Dr. Tusten, Colonel of the local militia, issued orders to the officers of his regiment to meet him at Minisink the next day, with as many volunteers as they could muster. The call was promptly responded to, and one hundred and forty-nine hardy men, comprising many of the principal gentlemen of the vicinity, were gathered around Tusten the following morning. A council was held, and it was determined to pursue the invaders. Colonel Tusten, who well knew the warlike proficiency of Brant, opposed the measure, as & hazardous one with so small a force. He was overruled, and the debates of the council were cut short by Major Meeker, who mounted his horse, flourished his sword, and shouted, " Let the brave men follow me ; the cowards may stay behind " These words produced the desired effect, and the line of march
*James Swartwont, whose father and brothers were killed the following year, as related in our sketch of the County on page 46. narrowly escaped. He was in a black- smith shop with a negro. when he discovered the Indians close at hand, and at once crept up the chimney in the shop. The indians entered the shop, taking from it such things as they fancied, and before quitting it one of them went to the bellows and commenced blowing at a rate which proved very uncomfortable to Swartwont, who wne nearly strangled with the smoke and fumes of the burning charcoal, and had great difficulty in retaining his place in the chimney. The Indian became weary of the sport, or was induced by the negro to go st something else, when Swartwout made his escape. A man named Rolif Cuddeback was pursued some distance into the woods by an Indian. end. finding it impossible to out -trip his par-uer, when nearly overtaken, he stopped suddenly and the Indian hurled a toushawk at him, which missed its mark. Cuddeback at once grappled with the supple savage, and they had a furious battle with the weau- ons of nature. Both struggled for a knife which was in the Indian's belt : but which finally fell to the ground. Neither could safely stoop to pick it up, and so they contin- ded to struggle. Cuddeback was the most athletic of the two : but the savage had hesmeared his limbs and body with grease, so. that he could slip from Cuddeback's hands whenever he laid hold of him. Cuddeback, however, gave the red skin euch & buffeting that after awhile he was glad to beat a retreat. It is said he never recovered from the rough handling he received from the white man. Cuddeback escaped .-- Quinlan's Tom Quick, pages 1 -4-6.
One of those remarkable (remarkable because rare) Incidents attesting Brant's mag- nanimity, (for be was known at times to display this quality) occurred at this time. The Indians visited the school house, and threatened to exterminate one generation of the settlement at & blow. They took the teacher, Jeremiah VanAuken, about half & mile from the bouse and killed him. Some of the boys in the school were cleft with the tomahawk ; others fled to the woods for concealment from their bloody assailants ; while the little girls stood by the elain body of their teacher bewildered and horror "truck, not knowing their own fate, whether death or captivity. While they were
standing in this pitifu condition. Binat suddenly appeared, and, dashing some black paia: across their aprons, acu bidelas them hold up the mark when they saw an Indian coming, as it wouki save thein, with a yell he dashed into the woods and disappeared. When they saw the immunity tois mark secured them from the rapacity of the savages, the thought was surgested that they could also make it subserve their brothers' safety. The scattered boys were quickly astembled and the mark impressed on their onter gar- ments, by putting the aprons in contact with them. Thus these children were saved from injury, to the unexpected joy of their parents .- Eager'& Orange County, p. 389.
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