USA > Pennsylvania > Lycoming County > Genealogical and personal history of Lycoming County, Pennsylvania. Volume I > Part 1
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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
Gc 974.801 L98c v.1 1136131
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 02219 8664
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015
https://archive.org/details/genealogicalpers01coll
Tellou.
Emerson Collius
GENEALOGICAL AND PERSONAL
HISTORY
OF
LYCOMING COUNTY.
PENNSYLVANIA.
UNDER THE EDITORIAL SUPERVISION OF EMERSON COLLINS, of Williamsport, Pennsylvania, AND
JOHN W. JORDAN, LL.D., of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
"Knowledge of kindred and the genealogies of the ancient families deserveth the highest praise. Herein consisteth a part of the knowledge of a man's oren self. It is a great spur to look back on the worth of our line."-LORD BACON.
"There is no heroic poem in the world but is at the bottom the life of a man."-SIR WALTER SCOTT.
ILLUSTRATED. VOLUME I.
NEW YORK CHICAGO THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY
1906
INTRODUCTORY. 1136131
The history of Pennsylvania and of its various political subdivisions has been written by various authors and at various times, each succeed- ing writer adding a new chapter of annals, or treating his subject from a different view point. Such history, splendid narrative that it is, is principally concerned, however, with what has been accomplished by the people in the mass, and takes little note of individuals, except those so pre-eminent as leaders as to come under the full glare of fame.
Hence it follows that genealogical and family memoirs are of pe- culiar importance, including, as they do, the personal annals of those who make heroes possible-those who have marched in the ranks of progress, bearing the heat and burden of the day-portraying the spirit which actuated them, and holding up their effort for an example to those who come afterward. As was written by Martineau: "To have had forefathers renowned for honorable deeds, to belong by nature to those who have bravely borne their part in life and refreshed the world with mighty thoughts and healthy admiration, is a privilege which it were mean and self-willed to despise. It is as a security given for us of old, which it were false-hearted not to redeem; and in virtues bred of a noble stock, mellowed as they are by reverence, there is often a grace and ripeness wanting to self-made and brand-new excellence. Of like value to a people are heroic national traditions, giving them a deter- minate character to sustain among the tribes of men, making them fa- miliar with images of great and strenuous life, and kindling them with faith in glorious possibilities."
Every community with a history worthy of the name will appre- ciate in high degree a genealogical and personal history of its leading families and prominent citizens. Such a work is that which is now presented, containing in permanent form the family annals of one of the most interesting sections of the country. Containing, as it does, a history of the most important families of the county, and tracing their descendants to every part of the Union, it possesses value of the highest
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INTRODUCTORY
importance in its historic utility as a memorial of the development and progress of the community from its first settlement, and in the personal interest attaching to the personal records. On both these accounts it will prove a useful contribution to current literature and a valuable legacy to future generations. The preservation of the data thus collected will afford the means of illustrating and confirming, and, in some instances, of correcting and amending, extant histories. More than this, it will supply material for future historians. The genealogical records will enable the reader to trace the lines of conspicuous families from the first settlers of the county, through their various branches, at home and elsewhere, to the living representatives.
Beginning with the coming of the Swedes to the banks of the river Delaware, in the early part of the seventeenth century, down to the present early days of the twentieth century, the vast region known by the distinguishing name of Pennsylvania, at first a province and now a commonwealth of commanding importance, has held, at whatever stage of its development, a conspicuous and highly important place in its rela- tionship to the sisterhood of states comprising the great and unbroken Federal Union. It was the central colony and the connecting link be- tween the north and south for many years during the formative gov- ernmental epoch. Its men of influence molded the political history of the American people during a long and stirring period. Its principal city was long the seat of government of the United States, and has been, from the earliest days to the present, a principal center of all that marks the progress of civilization-in the arts and sciences, in every product of human mind and hand. Not once in the almost two and a half cen- turies of its existence has Pennsylvania retrograded or stood still; its career has ever been a steadfast and unfaltering forward.
In the long chapter of progress made by the commonwealth of Penn- sylvania, the county of Lycoming occupies a most honorable place. As originally constituted, it was an empire in extent, about twelve thousand square miles in area, out of which magnificent domain have been carved, in whole or in part, thirteen other counties-Armstrong, Bradford, Centre, Clearfield, Clinton, Indiana, Jefferson, McKean, Potter, Sulli- van, Tioga, Venango and Warren.
The few people who inhabited the territory of Lycoming in the colonial era, before its creation as a county, were of sterling character, possessing in marked degree those traits and virtues which distinguished
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INTRODUCTORY
the best type of pioneers. Plain farmers and humble mechanics, prob- ably without what might be termed a lettered man among them, yet were they men of no ordinary mold. Great as was their strength of character, and broad (for the times) as was their mental scope, they were building far better than they knew. Simple and clean in their lives, the homes which they builded were humble, but they were the seat of the domestic virtues, and the children they reared inherited the athletic frame, rugged constitution and deep-seated principles of their forbears. These, too, in their day aided in the establishment of a free national government,
Old Wallis House, near Hartley Hall, in Muncy Township; oldest house in Lycoming County.
and to them belongs a unique distinction, that of being the actors in the most remarkable coincident of the Revolutionary struggle. Here on Pine Creek, on Indian lands, outside of the jurisdiction of all provincial law, on the Fourth of July, 1776, the " Squatter Sovereigns " (as they were termed), separated from the Continental Congress at Philadelphia by a space of more than two hundred miles, and entirely ignorant of the momentous action of that body (although it was anticipated, but with- out a thought as to when the mighty moment should come), drew up and adopted a series of resolutions absolving themselves from all alle- giance to Great Britain, and declaring themselves free and independent henceforth and forever.
In the following years of war against kingly authority, it was the
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fortune of the sons of Lycoming to bear a gallant part in the great struggle. Of those who served in the Continental ranks, some were among Morgan's riflemen at Quebec and Saratoga. Those who re- mained behind were called upon to fight a hideous foe in defense of their homes and families against the Indian hordes, and, while thus pro- tecting their own doors, serve a double purpose in so diverting consid-
Old Russell Inn, first house in Williamsport.
erable numbers of their enemies as to give protection, in a measure, to their compatriots serving under Washington in New Jersey and lower Pennsylvania. So it came about that the portion of Lycoming county lying north of the Muncy Hills and westward along the Susquehanna river to the Indian lands above Lycoming Creek, was the theatre, during the Colonial and Revolutionary periods, of many of the most sanguinary conflicts known in the history of the country. In the region referred to there was scarcely a square mile of ground that was left unstained by
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INTRODUCTORY
blood and unscarred by flame. Frequent descents were made by bands of hostile savages, who burned the cabins and slaughtered with fiendish barbarity, or carried into captivity, the settlers who were unable to make their escape. It was here that occurred, in the midheat of the Revolu- tionary war, in July of 1778, the great panic, or "Big Runaway," as it is known in the local annals of the day, and which stands without a parallel in the history of American pioneer settlements, when the Muncy Hills region was forsaken by its population, who in hurried flight sought escape from the Indians, Tories and British, fresh from their slaughter
Friends' Meeting House at Pennsdale.
work at Wyoming, the pathway of the fleeing settlers made lurid by the flames of their burning homes, fired by the pursuing enemy. One relic of those days of dreadful horror is yet preserved in the old stone portion of the Wallis House, near Hartley Hall, in Muncy township. This, the oldest building in Lycoming county, was built in 1770, by Samuel Wallis. During the " Big Runaway " it was abandoned by its owner, but escaped destruction on account of the great solidity of its stone walls, though it is believed that the roof was burned off and the interior woodwork destroyed. It was thoroughly restored by Mr. Wallis, who there dis- pensed, for the times, a liberal and elegant hospitality. The old man- sion was the scene of many important gatherings, and in it were held the first meetings of Friends in Lycoming county.
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How quickly the people turned to the arts of peace so soon as the oppressor was gone and his savage allies driven westward, is discovered in the fact that education and religion became their chief concern after they had fairly established the machinery of civil government. The county of Lycoming was created by Act of Assembly in 1795, which became a law by the signature of Governor Thomas Mifflin on April 13 of that year. Jaysburg, where the county seat was first located, was soon abandoned for the more promising site of Williamsport. Here for two years (1797-98) were held the courts of the county, in the Russell Inn, a log building erected by James Russell in 1796. This was not
Blooming Grove Dunker Church, Hepburn Township.
only the first house in Williamsport for the entertainment of travelers, but it was the first building of any description in the place, and for many years all matters of public moment were discussed and determined upon within its walls. It remained as an interesting landmark until it was burned down during the great fire of 1871. From the humble village beginning of Williamsport has developed a modern city with a popu- lation of forty thousand souls. The seat of many and varied industries, its religious and educational institutions are also abundantly cared for, and its principal school is of wide fame. Dickinson Seminary, the logical outgrowth of the Williamsport Academy of 1811, has figured largely in its graduates in ministerial, literary, political and commercial
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INTRODUCTORY
fields, both at home and abroad, and its influence and usefulness were never wider than at the present time.
Lycoming county possesses an equally interesting religious history. Two ancient congregations link the present with the past. The Friends' Meeting House at Pennsdale (founded in 1799) is one of the oldest places of worship in the county, and has heard the voices of some of the most eminent preachers, men and women, during more than a century past. At Blooming Grove, in Hepburn township, is the old Dunker church edifice erected in 1828. The baptisms administered at this old church marked the beginning of a religious epoch of peculiar interest and significance-the founding of the first organized German Baptist church in the United States.
In each generation, and at every stage of progress, the people of Lycoming county have had the service of men of the loftiest character and highest capability, in arms, in the arts of peace, in statesmanship, in affairs and in letters. It is to connect the active progressive men of the present generation with their illustrious ancestry that the present vol- umes were undertaken, in the conviction that-
" It is indeed a blessing when the virtues Of noble races are hereditary, And do derive themselves from the imitation Of virtuous ancestors."
The honorable ancestry which belongs to the people of Lycoming county is a noble heritage, and the story of its achievements is a sacred trust committed to its descendants, upon whom devolves the perpetuation of their record. History is constantly making, and that of yesterday and to-day is as important in its place as that of the centuries past. Throughout the county are those who are memorialized in these pages, through whose sagacity, determination and philanthropy states and com- munities have been benefited in material ways and in religious, educa- tional and political affairs-in all that stands for progress and improve- ment.
For aid in the preparation of these volumes especial thanks are due to Mr. Emerson Collins, of Williamsport, of more than local fame as a genealogist and historian. Out of his abundant store of material, fa- miliarity with the official records of Lycoming county and intimate ac-
INTRODUCTORY
quaintance with its people, he has been enabled to point with accurate knowledge to the ancestral history of various leading families, and to the personal history of conspicuous men of affairs in his native county. This has been with him no perfunctory task, but a labor of love, well becoming one who holds in sincere appreciation the sturdy race from whom he sprang, and among whom he was reared, and who possesses the rare ability of rightly weighing their lives and achievements.
With reference to the biographical matter contained in these pages, it is to be said that in its preparation the publishers have observed the utmost care. With such a mass of material, as a matter of necessity the work must needs be committed to various writers. If, in some cases, the sketch should be incomplete or faulty, the shortcoming is ascribable to the paucity of data furnished, many families being without exact records in their family lines. In all cases the sketches have been sub- mitted to the subject or to his representative for correction and revision.
It is believed that the present work will prove a real addition to the existing mass of literature concerning the people of the county of Ly- coming, and that, without it, much valuable information would be irre- trievably lost, owing to the passing away of many custodians of family records and the dispersion and disappearance of such matter.
THE PUBLISHERS.
INDEX.
Adams, Charles M., 242. Allison, Dudley B., 51I.
Barton, Isaac. 285. Beeber, John A., 46. Beeber, William P., 421. Bell, G. Franklin, 283. Bennett, Charles E., 399. Bly, David, 253. Bodine, DeWitt. 65. Bowman, Benjamin C., 109. Bowman, Benjamin C., 117. Bowman, Francis C., 114. Bowman, James W., 118. Breining, J. A., 447. Breining, The Family, 445. Breining, William H., 449. Brown, Henry, 384. Brown, James V., 382. Brown, Stephen S., 385. Brown, The Family. 381. Bubb, Harry C., 142. Bubb, Nathaniel B., 139.
Burrows, John, 143. Burrows, Sabin H., 168. Burrows; The Family, 162.
Carpenter, William G., 245. Castlebury, Frank F., 248. Champion. Joseph, 472. Champion, The Family, 471. Cole. Ezbon W., 494. Coleman, Clinton B., 425. Coleman, Fletcher, 404. Collins, Emerson, 228. Coryell, Bingham H., 56. Coryell, John B., 52. Coryell, John G., 55. Coryell, The Family, 51. Croll, George W., 265. Cummings, Frank P., 401.
Davies, The Family. 454. Davies, Thomas A., 457. Davis, Ernest H., 420. Decker, William, 208. Deemer, Elias, 4. Deemer, The Family, I. Detwiler, Benjamin H., 450.
Ecroyd, The Family, 310.
Emery, John B .. 464. Evans, Charles F., Jr., 215. Evenden, George W., 271.
Flanagan, Patrick B., 244.
Foresman, Henry M., 15. Foresman, Seth T., 6.
Gilmore, Walter C., 279.
Gleim, Charles, 21I. Gray, Edward J., 104. Green, Henry C., 240.
Haines, William E., 304.
Hays, John K., 406.
Healey, Frank F., 460.
Herdic, Carl, 369.
Herdic. James P .. 370.
Herdic, The Family, 366.
Hermance, Albert D., 120. Hill, Charles J., 351. Hill, The Family, 346.
Howard, William. 191.
Hubbard, N. Robert. 373. Humes, Hamilton B., 57.
Humes, Samuel, 60. Hunt, John H .. 201.
Jackson, Anthony R., 200. Johnson Henry, 80.
Kaupp, Otto G., 412. Kiess, Howard S, JO1. Kiess, William H., 230.
xiii
King, William L., 478. Kline, James N., 442.
Koch, August, 275. Koch, Edmund G., 387. Koch, The Family, 386. Koeper, John, 415. Krause, James B., 222.
Laedlein, John F., 196. Laird, Herbert R., 391.
Lamade, Dietrick, 434.
Lamade. Fred M., 438. Lamade, John H., 432.
Lamade, The Family, 427. Lamade, William M., 44I.
Lieb, Theodore H., 251. Linck, J. H., 319.
Lose, Charles, 97. . Lycoming National Bank, 381.
Maitland, Isaac B., 273.
Mansel, James, 206.
McCormick, Henry C., 19.
McCormick, Horace G., 185.
McCormick, Seth T., 21.
McMinn, Charles V., 338.
McMinn, John M., 32I.
Metzger, Charles H., 362.
Metzger, George B. M., 274.
Miller, Fred R., 299.
Miller, William H., 487.
Milnor, Harvey G., 508.
Mosser, Henry S., 179.
Munson, C. LaRue, 28.
Mussina, Joseph W., 194.
Neff, Jacob A., 237.
Niemeyer, Adolph, 198. Nutt, George D., 183.
Parsons, Anson V., 374.
Parsons, Henry C., 375.
Parsons, The Family, 374.
Payne, Fred H., 496.
Pennington, Wellman L., 448. Perley, Allen P., 37.
Quigel, The Family, 354. Quigel, Valentine W., 356.
Reading, John G., 138.
INDEX
Reading, The Family, 130. Riddell, William, 261. Russell, Evan, 345.
Schnee, Harry N., 263.
Schneider, George L., 295. Schneider, The Family, 293.
Shiffler, Aaron G., 213. Slate, Hyman A., 389. Sloan, William H., 41I.
Sprout, Charles H., 80. Sprout, Clarence E., 88. Sprout, Lewis B., 76.
Sprout, Morton I., 86. Sprout, The Family, 69.
Stearns, Charles R., 46. Stearns, Laten L., 39.
Stuempfle, David, 343.
Stuempfle, Gustave A., 344.
Stuempfle, Herman O. D., 344.
Stuempfle, John F., 344.
Stuempfle, The Family, 34I.
Susquehanna Trust & Safe Deposit Com- pany, 463.
Taylor, Edward L .. 218.
Thompson, William F., 357.
Thorne, Robert H., 488.
Tinsman, Garret D., 176. Tomb, Mary M., 506.
Turner, Otto W., 482.
Ulmer, Levi J., 314.
Waldron, John, 83.
Waltz, The Family, 484.
Waltz, William L., 486.
Watson, John H., 376.
Weaver, J. Heisley. 502.
White, John, 173.
White, Henry 174. White, Henry W., 175.
White, The Family, 171.
Williams, Samuel N., 128.
Williamsport Dickinson Seminary, 98.
Wilson, The Family, 394.
Winter, John C., 233. Wolfe, Charles D., 267.
Youngman, Charles W., 481.
Feias Deener
LYCOMING COUNTY.
DEEMER FAMILY.
A great deal of genealogical information with reference to the Deemer family was gathered some years ago by William A. Lambert, now a resident of Neligh, Nebraska. A native of Bucks county, Penn- sylvania, he was living there when the war broke out, and shortly after- ward removed to his present home. He left behind him in the custody of his family his historical manuscript, which was put away in a chest. This was invaded by mice, and his material was rendered absolutely undecipherable. In a later year Mr. Lambert wrote the narrative from memory as well as he could, and placed it in charge of General William W. H. Davis, of Doylestown, and from it is taken what follows, which is authentic as nearly as may be.
The immigrant ancestors of the American branch of the Diemer (as was the original form of the name) family came from Rhenish Bavaria. They were Protestants in religion, being adherents of the doctrines of Zwingli, the great Swiss reformer. They came to America very early in the eighteenth century, presumably with that great influx of their countrymen, who came about 1707. As the family tradition has it, they came to Pennsylvania "more than one hundred years pre- vious to the second war with Great Britain." This would fix the date of their coming at not later than 171I, but the earlier date of 1707 is generally accepted as the true one. They first settled near Germantown, and engaged in clearing off land for other families, getting out timber
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LYCOMING COUNTY
for building purposes, burning charcoal, and cutting up wood for fuel, which they marketed in Philadelphia. From the vicinity of Germantown they removed to Providence township, Philadelphia (now Montgomery ) county.
John Deemer was a landowner in Lower Providence township, in 1734, but the family was settled there before that time. In 1727 a German Reformed church (said by some to be the first regularly organ- ized church of that denomination in the United States, but which Mr. Lambert doubts) was organized at Skippack by the Rev. George Die- mer, and it is believed that he or his ancestors were among the first German Reformers in America.
About 1740 a part of the Deemer family (as the name now ap- pears) removed from their Montgomery county home and settled in Durham, Bucks county. Here they followed farming, charcoal burn- ing, and working in the iron furnaces. Some years after settling in Durham, a part of the family located in Nockamixon, and the greater number of their descendants of the present day live in these two town- ships, with a number in Williams township, Northampton county. Joseph Deemer, a native of Durham, when a young man located in Hunterdon county, New Jersey, and worked at "the Forge," presuma- bly Exeter Forge. When the Revolutionary war broke out he enlisted in the First New Jersey Regiment, and served throughout the entire struggle, belonging during that time to four or five different organiza- tions. All trace of him is lost soon after the restoration of peace. Perti- nent to this narrative is the fact that after a lapse of eighty years an- other Deemer, Edward, also a native of Durham, enlisted in a New Jersey regiment (the Thirty-first) and served in the Civil war.
Dr. Henry M. Muhlenberg, the father of the Lutheran church in America, in his diary makes frequent mention of a Rev. Diemer who
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LYCOMING COUNTY
preached at various places during the Revolutionary war, and with whom he seems to have been on intimate terms. It is to be inferred from the diary that Mr. Diemer was a Lutheran. The Deemers (Diemers) were all originally, and nearly all continued so, members of the Reformed church, and if this Diemer was a member of this branch (and of this there is no assurance) he departed from the faith of his kinsmen. This, however, would not be a radical charge, for the gulf between the two denominations is not broad. There were other changes, too, for at a later day there were some members of the family living in Williams township who became Methodists under the preaching of Bishop Asbury and other pioneer ministers of that denomination. After some of the family had embraced Methodism, those of the family who adhered to the ancestral faith cut off all further intercourse with them, and for more than a generation the two branches acted the part of utter stran- gers to each other.
Some time after the removal of a portion of the Deemer family from Montgomery county to Durham, some of those who remained in Providence removed to the Susquehanna river, and at a later time to the Juniata, where further knowledge of them ceases. As has been stated, the Deemer family furnished at least one soldier to the Revolutionary war, one to the Mexican war, and quite a number to the Union during the Civil war. Originally Federalists in politics, they, in common with the great mass of the settlers of German extraction in the upper end of the county, rebelled against the Federalist system of taxation, and be- came "Jeffersonian Republicans" and afterward Democrats, which, with few exceptions, they are to the present day. The Deemers were always noted for industry and integrity. From the middle of the eighteenth century to the present time there has scarely been a period of ten years when one or more Deemers were not employed in the iron furnaces at
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LYCOMING COUNTY
Durham. In early years they did considerable freighting over the mountains and down the river, but to a large extent abandoned this occu- pation when the Delaware canal had been completed. While that water- way was in course of construction they aided in the work, several of them serving under the afterward celebrated George Law, who built the Durham lock and aqueduct, and also the lock and aqueduct at the Narrows.
Elias Deemer, of the city of Williamsport, was born in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, and is the son of John Deemer, who resided in Durham township, Bucks county, and was a farmer, and John Deemer was the son of Michael Deemer, who resided in Kintnerville, Nocka- mixon township, Bucks county. Michael Deemer's ancestry we are unable to trace, but he was born in this country, in Nockamixon or Dur- ham county, about 1773. He was a large landowner and prominent man in that locality. John Deemer had five children, two sons and three daughters. Edward Deemer, the oldest of the children, a native of Durham township, Bucks county, and who enlisted in the Thirty-first New Jersey Regiment and served during the Civil war, was a brother of Elias Deemer, of this city.
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