USA > Pennsylvania > Bradford County > Annual of the Bradford County Historical Society, 1906 > Part 19
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Count Zinzendorf In Pennsylvania.
Watch of the Lord." They styled themselves "United Fratrum," or United Brethren, and again became pros- perous and full of the Missionary spirit. If Christian zeal is manifested by Missionary work among the heathen, then the Moravians were (in proportion to their numbers) the most zealous and active Christians in the world.
Wealth, pleasure and politics had no charms for Zin- zendorf. They could not satisfy his longing to do good and be a benefit to the world. He possessed the Mis- sionary spirit in the highest degree, and by his direction and financial aid Missionaries were sent to the Arctic shores of Greenland, and of the Baltic, and the torrid heat of the West Indies, to the East Indies and South America. He was particularly interested in the welfare of the North American Indians, and after having ob- tained permission of the British Parliament, Missionaries were sent thither in 1735 and established a station at Bethlehem in Pennsylvania.
When in England he visited John Wesley, with whom he had corresponded, and was cordially received by the great founder of the Methodist church. Eventually he became a preacher of the Gospel himself, and in 1741 crossed the Atlantic, accompanied by his daughter, and came to Bethlehem in Pennsylvania, where some of his Missionaries had been located for several years. He journeyed thence to Tulpehocken, near the west side of Berks county, to engage Conrad Weiser, the celebrated interpreter, to go with him to the Iroquois, or Six Na- tions of Indians resident in Central New York, to ob- tain their good will and permission to establish missions among them and also at Wyoming, where they claimed authority but then inhabited by the Shawanese.
Count Zinzendorf In Pennsylvania.
Weiser had been nurtured in the Moravian faith, but was now connected with the Seventh Day Baptists. He had been for a number of years the principal interpreter for the colony of Pennsylvania, and Governor Thomas objected to his going with the Count, lest through his in- fluence he might become so absorbed in his Missionary enterprises that the colony would lose his invaluable ser- vices. Weiser had great influence with the Six Nations, with whom he had lived for fifteen years when a young man. They were acquainted with him, and had confi- dence in his honesty and candor. As negotiations be- tween them and Pennsylvania were now going on, his services might be needed at any time, and it would be impossible to supply his place. Weiser, though favora- bly disposed towards the evangelization of the savages, did not like to lose the friendship of the governor, and his valuable position, declined going to New York, but finally consented to go with the Count and introduce him to some Indians residing on the West Branch of the Sus- quehanna, near the present town of Muncy. While on this trip they called on Madame Montour, who dwelt where the present village of Montoursville now stands, which was named in her honor.
Zinzendorf remarks in his journal that : "Madame Montour was a Freuen woman, who was captured by the Indians in Canada when but ten years of age. She had forgotten most of her early teachings and believed that Bethlehem, the Saviour's birthplace, was in France and that his crucifiers were Englishmen." Like Frances Slo- cuin, she had married an Indian, had raised a family of In- dians and become an Indian woman to all appearance. Zinzendorf was at Weiser's house, when a large party of Ir-
Count Zinsendorf In Pennsylvania.
oquois sachems stopped there on their return from Phil- adelphia. With Weiser's assistance these chiefs were won over to Zinzendorf's project of establishing missions among them. In reply to the Count's speech, they said : "Brother, you have journeyed a long way from beyond the sea, in order to preach to the white people and to the Indians. You did not know that we were here (in Penn- sylvania) and we did not know of your coming. The Great Spirit has brought us together. Come to our peo- ple. You will be welcome. Take this fathom of wam- pum, it is a token that our words are true." It is prob- able they were sincere, but the chiefs of the Six Nations could outdo Talleyrand in duplicity and adroit diplo- macy.
After their return from the West Branch, Zinzendorf wanted to go up into the Wyoming Valley. Knowing that the Shawanese were in an ugly mood towards white men, on account of wrongs they had received, Weiser endeavored to prevail on him not to go there, as he feared his life would be in danger ; but he went, accom- panied by his daughter and a Missionary, named Mack, and his wife as interpreters. He went with true aposto- lic zeal to preach the Gospel to the heathen inhabitants of the place, but was coldly received as they suspected him of being the spy of white men, who wanted to get possession of their lands. They could not comprehend that he came with disinterested motives, impelled by a resistless impulse to make them better and happier as converts to the Christian faith.
Their experience with white men was against it. His tent was pitched at a distance from the tent of his daughter and the others, in order that he might not be
Count Zinzendorf In Pennsylvania.
interrupted in his work. An Indian peered into his tent one day, saw him reading some letters received from Germany and reported that he found him looking at his deeds for their lands. A plot was then made to assassinate him, and had it not been for the timely arri- val of Conrad Weiser he would have been murdered. Weiser had been troubled about Zinzendorf. His mind was filled with a presentment that some hidden danger was threatening the Count, and he started at once for Wyoming where he arrived just in time to save his life and perhaps the lives of the whole party.
"His presence," writes Zinzendorf of Weiser, "and the bold authority with which he dealt with the Shawanese put an end to their evil purposes." Weiser told them that they themselves were there only as tenants of the Six Nations, and that to his personal knowledge this dis- tinguished stranger had full permission to come there and preach, and that if any harm came to him they would be held responsible by their masters-the Six Na- tions.
Evidently the story of his miraculous preservation by the rattlesnake crawling on his feet under the table, and lying coiled up there when the assassins came to do their bloody work, is a pure fiction. "His presence " (Wei- ser's), wrote Zinzendorf in his journal, "and the bold manner in which he dealt with the Shawanese, put an end to their evil purposes." Neither Zinzendorf, nor any of his party, nor Weiser, nor the Indians ever men- tioned anything about a rattlesnake in his tent.
The concoctor of the rattlesnake romance had a little episode to set the machinery of his imagination at work. It was stated by Mack, that one day as he passed near
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Count Zinzendorf In Pennsylvania.
the Count's tent two "blowing snakes" (hissing adders) started out of the grass and ran under his tent and into their holes, near where he was writing. Investigation showed that the tent had been pitched over their den." After preaching to the Indians at Wyoming for twenty days without effect, he and his party went to Bethlehem and Weiser returned to Tulpehocken. Not long after Zinzendorf's Missionary labor in the Wyoming Valley, he returned to Europe where he died the 9th of May, 1760, aged 60 years.
More than seventy years ago I helped kill two hissing adders on my father's farm at Sugar Run. They resem- bled the common water snakes in shape, being shorter and thicker than the blacksnakes, and of a brown instead of the shining black of the blacksnakes. When they hissed their throats swelled out larger than their heads. They seem to have disappeared from this part of Penn- sylvania. It was said their bite was no more poisonous than that of the common streaked snakes.
Judge Obadiah Gore.
From Address of Major W. H. H. Gore, a Great- Grandson, at the Unveiling of Portrait of Judge Gore, June 23, 1910, at Rooms of the Bradford County Historical Society.
P RIDE of ancestry is inherent in the human race from earliest ages, as is evidenced in the Jews, boasting of their descent from Abraham, and our aborigines in their war dances, singing the deeds of their fathers, and the mem- bers of the D. A. R. are proud to claim descent from Revolutionary sires. Hence, I may be excused if I say, I am proud to claim descent from him whose portrait you have just unveiled.
Judge Gore comes of English ancestry, and is of the fourth generation from John Gore and wife, Rhoda, who settled in Roxbury, Mass., now a part of the city of Bos- ton, in 1635. His father, Obadiah Gore, moved to Con- necticut, where our subject was born in the town of Nor- wich in 1744. He resided there and at Plainfield until after his marriage to Anna Avery. His mother was Hannah Park, sister of Thomas Park, who settled in Litchfield. He had five children : Avery, who married
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Judge Obadiah Gore.
Lucy, daughter of Silas Gore; Anna married John Shep- hard ; Hannah married Elisha Durkee ; Wealthy Ann married John Spalding, and Sally married Isaac Cash. He moved to Wyoming with his father, brothers and sis- ters in 1768. Several of the family were blacksmiths. He and his brother, Daniel, were the first to use anthra- cite coal for blacksmith purposes, and it was their suc- cess that brought about the success of burning it in a grate in the old Fell house. He took up a farm where the village of Kingston now is and had a town house in Wilkes-Barre, near the site of the Wyoming Valley ho- tel. He, with others, built a mill on a creek now known as Mill Creek, above Wilkes-Barre. Having settled under the Connecticut grant, he became actively engaged in the Pennamite war. He, with his brother, Daniel, built the wooden cannon which held the enemy in check, but it would not stand the pressure and soon exploded ; but I am not going to give a history of that war, as it is famil- iar to students of history.
When the war with the mother country broke out he raised a company of twenty men and joined a regiment under Colonel Nichols from Orange county, N. Y. Af- ter serving a few months he was commissioned lieuten- ant by John Hancock and served with the Continental Troops, which was the nucleus of the army, the same as the Regulars of today. On Hancock's retirement from the presidency of congress, he was re-commissioned by John Jenkins, Hancock's successor. He served in all about six years and was engaged in numerous battles. He was not present at the battle of Wyoming, but ar- rived soon after to find three brothers and two brothers- in-law slain. He assisted in getting his family back to
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Judge Obadiah Gore.
Connecticut, where they remained for a time then all re- turned to Wyoming.
After the close of the war the Pennamite trouble again broke out, and he disposed of his possessions in Wyom- ing, moved his family to Sheshequin Valley and pur- chased lands from Isaac Stille and Nicholas Totemy, half bloods, to whom it had been granted by the government for services during the war. In 1785 he built a frame barn, the first frame building erected in the county ; the next year he built the house now occupied by Mrs. Ryn- ders. He erected a still, which was considered a neces- sity in those days. He opened a general merchandise store and kept a house of entertainment, or tav- ern. The early settlers of Watertown, now Rome and Smithfield, would leave their families there while they went to their farms and built a log house, then return and move them to their new home. He was ap- pointed associate judge of Luzerne county and served two terms in the state legislature. He was ever ready to as- sist his neighbors financially, and many of the early set- tlers are indebted to him for his kindness in aiding them until they could get their clearings made and crops raised. The farmers had to go a long way to mill, and in 1806 he built a water mill opposite where the Valley House now stands. He entered into partnership with William Presher, and the contract reads that "he can have the use of all the land necessary, together with a road leading to the main road, and that the said Oba- diah Gore will be to one-half the expense of said mill, excepting whiskey." He has numerons descendants in this and other states, who are proud to claim him as their ancestor. He died March 22, 1821, and his wife, Anna Avery, April 24, 1829. Both are buried in the Gore cemetery, on the farm settled by him, and a monument has been erected over his grave by his grandchildren.
The Old Towanda Academy.
History and Reminiscences -- Paper by A. H. Kingsbury Before the Bradford County Historical Society, March 25, 1905.
I N compiling the following article upon the subject of the old Towanda Academy, I find in its early history but few facts re- corded in relation to it. Educational insti- tutions up to that time had been in a crude or chrysalis state. The three R's, "reading, riting and rithmetic," were the principal studies, and I well remember attend- ihg school at the old school house in North Towanda, where we sat facing the wall, with our books and slates upon a rough desk in front, (with many a hieroglyphic carved upon its surface by the sharp blades of mischiev- ous boys) ; our seat the round side of a slab with rough legs under it, which raised it sufficiently high to enable us to swing our feet back and forth as we pursued our studies. The teacher being behind us, gave but little chance for mischief, while it made it peculiarly conven- ient for him to hit us a rap if he thought we were not paying attention to our duties.
The advancement from the old country school into the
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The Old Towanda Academy.
academic stage of education might be styled the bursting of the chrysalis into the worm, to be followed by the fur- ther development into the free school or butterfly exist- ence. You will please excuse me from naming its fur- ther development into the collegiate system, where I should judge that the principal fad is athletics, and the young man that can butt in and knock down the most opponents in a game of football is the most noted scholar and graduates with the highest honors.
Having tired of the irregularities and non-progressive- ness in education, certain enterprising citizens of the vil- lage of Towanda circulated a paper and obtained funds sufficient for a two story brick building, which was to be styled the Towanda Academy. The building (which is still standing and which has been remodeled into a fine modern residence, at the present time owned and occu- pied by Dr. Henri Lane) was erected in 1835, and the school opened in 1836 with flattering prospects. Its his- tory records that it was established June 16th, 1836, with the following named gentlemen : James P. Bull, J. D. Montanye, Isaac Myer, Hiram Mix, Burton Kings- bury, Enos Tompkins, David Cash, N. B. Storm and George A. Mix as trustees. I have been unable to ascer- tain who was the first of the teachers in that institution, but among the worthy pedagogues who "taught the young idea how to shoot" in the early days, were Pro- fessors Vandercook, Nash, Worthing, Lyman, Scott, Bur- hans, Slack, George R. Barker, a distinguished teacher, Miss Blackman, afterwards noted as the historian of Sus- quehanna county, Henry M. Hoyt, since governor of Pennsylvania, Orville H. Platt, for many years and still U. S. Senator of the state of Connecticut, and I might
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The Old Towanda Academy.
take occasion to mention that he married a Towanda lady, one of his scholars. Senator Platt at that time was an assistant teacher to Prof. Frederick W. Gunn, an em- inent educator and founder of the Gunnery, an educa- tional institution of celebrity in the town of Washing- ton, Conn.
Professor Gunn was very popular with his scholars, owing partially to the fact that at intermission he would almost invariably go to the play-ground with them and take an active part in their recreations, which at that time consisted of such plays as keno, a sort of hide and-go-seek, and shinny, a football game in which you were very liable to get your shins bruised and from which probably the present game of football derived its origin. In this game I have never forgotten how Guy H. Watkins, whom we are all proud to remember as one of our brightest young men and bravest soldiers, used to delight in tripping up the professor and getting the ball away from him. Mr. Gunn being a down-east Yankee, could both give and take a joke with equal zest and I cannot at this time re- frain from rehearsing some of them that come to mind from those long by gone days. He probably thought the joke was on him in more ways than one, when upon com- ing to the academy one morning after an important visit from the stork the previous night, he found the boys shouting in unison, "Mr. Gunn has got a little pistol." Again, at that time, it was one of the rules that once every two weeks all the boys of suitable age should com- mit to memory and recite a piece before the school and whatever guests that should come in to hear the exer- cises. A number of scholars having become lax in this duty were admonished by the professor, that the next
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The Old Towanda Academy.
speaking day they must each and every one have a piece, no matter if it be short, or suffer the consequences. Well, as I think the suggestion of our leader in all prac- tical jokism or other deviltry, Guy Watkins, we got our heads together and put up a job, and on the next exer- cise day when called upon we all certainly had commit- ted to memory pieces that were short enough and as de- void of sense as they were of length. I remember a number of them, my own best of all, which as a speci- men I will rehearse. It was a striking piece of poetry :
" The thunder rolled, the lightning flashed, And grandma's teapot went to smash. The wind it whistled, the rain it poured And granddad lay in the corner and snored."
After the rehearsal (to the delight of the guests and chagrin of the professor) of about a half dozen of such short emanations from the pens of the poets, the profes- sor caught on and excused the balance of the boys. One more incident in connection with this school was this : One of the scholars had gotten into the habit of playing hookey on compositian day, until at last the patience of the professor had become exhausted, and he told him that the next week he must have a compo. or take a whaling. When the day came around Burt was asked if he had his compo. prepared, and answered "yes, sir !" Upon the platform he read the following, which if brev- ity is the soul of wit, was somewhat humorous : Subject -"Weather." "Weather is a very good thing, we all ought to keep a lot of it on hand." Then the speaker made his bow and exit. I think for brevity this has only been equalled by the Indian boy at school, whose subject was "The Owl"-big eye, up tree, sleep day.
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The Old Towanda Academy.
Having given these remembrances of the teachers and incidents of a few school happenings, I will now notice some of the many scholars who attended the academy on "Science Hill," as its location was then dubbed and af- terwards became eminent in literature, law, politics and finance.
There was Hon. Ulysses Mercur, who climbed round by round up the ladder of success, from being a promi- nent member of the Bar to congressman, thence on up to Judge of our county courts, and still higher until he stood upon the top round, that of Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of this great state. And when he took his departure for the great unknown left behind a repu- tation pure and sans reproach.
Mahlon C. Mercur, the oldest living student, a mem- ber of this Society, who I regret to say is incapaciated by age from attending this meeting-a man whose history, achievements and characteristics are so well known in this vicinity that it needs no pen to portray them.
Orrin D. Bartlett, well remembered in this community ; E. Omera Goodrich and his brother, Hiram P. The late Joseph Powell, another successful man in politics and fi- nance, and who, although he met with reverses in the fi- nancial struggle, never lost the friendship and popularity which he gained in his advancement, and Judge E. A. Parsons, honest and true.
General H. J. Madill, whose history is so well known that it would be a work of supererogation for me to try to rehearse it and which, were it published, would be a volume of itself.
The lately mourned Hon. Edward Overton, Jr. was
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The Old Towanda Academy.
another of the old academy boys, who afterwards made himself famous in law, politics and war.
Guy H. Watkins, foremost in social qualities, truly a friend to be remembered, appreciated and loved for his many excellencies, one of the bravest of the brave, he who told the boys who went into the army with him that he would stay with them to the last, and who, al- though having received almost a death wound that enti- tled him to discharge and an appointment to high civil office, nobly refused the offer, went back and fulfilled his promise, and met his death upon the bloody field of carnage.
N. N. Betts, Jr., who, although he in his youthful days may have many times slid down the hill from the old academy to the river, has since climbed the hill of fi- nancial success, was also one of my well remembered schoolmates.
George, Burton and Edward Kingsbury were also scholars under Professors Gunn and Platt. George after- ward was successful as a banker; Burton removed to Kansas, was elected and served many years as Probate Judge, and gained a name as a public speaker and a writer of both prose and poetry. Edward died in the service of his country, while acting as aide upon the mil- itary staff of some general in Kentucky. My brother, Hon. W. W. Kingsbury, who after obtaining the rudi- ments of education in the old institution, became some- what known in literature and politics, was a schoolmate there at one time with the afterward widely known, greatly gifted, song and negro melody composer (among which were the exceedingly sweet and popular ones of "Way Down Upon the Swaunee River," "My Old Ken-
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The Old Towanda Academy.
tucky Home," "Farewell" and others equally melodious), Stephen C. Foster, who came here with his brother, Wil- liam B. Foster, chief engineer on the construction corps of the North Branch canal.
To better portray some of the youthful characteristics of this prominent genius, I will quote this "Simple Tribute to a Cherished Friend" written by his schoolmate, W. W. Kingsbury, in after years as his memory harked back to boyhood days and the friends of his youth : "Well do I remember the inimitable Stephen C. Foster. He was my special friend and companion ; being a year older than myself and considerably larger, he used to defend me in my boyhood antagonisms with belligerent schoolmates. We often played truant together, rambling by shady streams or gathering wild strawberries in the meadows or pastures, removed from the sound of the old academy bell. One mutual luxury, in which we jointly indulged in those excursions without leave, was in going barefoot and wading pools of running water that meandered through Mercur's farm and down Mix's Run, in the vil- lage of my nativity. Foster wore a fine quality of hose, and I remember how it shocked me to see him cast them away, when wild by perspiration or muddy water. His was a nature generous to a fault, with a soul attuned to harmony. His love of music was an all-absorbing pas- sion, and his execution on the flute was the very genius of melody, and gave rise to those flights of inspired pathos, which have charmed the English-speaking world with their excellence from cabfn to palace. Genial, well re- membered friend, how proud I have been in the thought that it was my good fortune to have been the boyhood comrade of a character, commanding such world-wide
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The Old Towanda Academy.
fame as you have established in the hearts of a song-lov- ing people. If, as I firmly believe, we are permitted to prosecute the avocations of this life to an advanced state of perfection as we cross to the shining shore, I expect to hear your divine invocation, both vocal and instrumen- tal, melodiously singing through the corridors of a do- main pre-eminently "fairer than this."
In looking over this assemblage, I observe the pres- ence of a few of the female students who attended at the old school, and, lest they they think I may be remiss in not giving them some notice, I will say that a number of their sex became conspicuous for their literary abilities, among those I remember Mrs. Laura Watkins Lamor- eaux and Mrs. Emeline Goodenough Lamoreaux, and most of them filled with honor those lovelier positions of true wives and good mothers. The academy was suc- ceeded in 1854 by the Susquehanna Collegiate Institute, after which it, with its surroundings, became private property and was changed into a dwelling place. Of the many who obtained their send-off in the paths of educa- tion at that school, but few are now on this side of the great divide, and those few have passed the allotted time of three-score years and ten.
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