Centennial history of Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, Part 111

Author: Stocker, Rhamanthus Menville, 1848-
Publication date: 1887
Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : R. T. Peck
Number of Pages: 1318

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was unable to elicit anything definite. Mr. Hale had not yet heard of the tragedy ; but the next day, on hearing of it, he related what he discovered in Tread- well's strange appearance. Then Treadwell was vis- ited, and, among other questions, was asked where his gun was. He said that on coming across the river it fell out of the boat into the river. The place where he said he lost it was searched, but the gun could not be found there ; yet a day or two after it was found in a hollow log on the farm where Mr. Teal now lives, near Hickory Grove. Treadwell was then arrested. About the same time it was learned that a Mr. Wel- ton, who lived several miles above Windsor, return- ing from down the river, had passed over the road where Harper was killed, about an hour before the crime was committed. On being sent for, Mr. Welton said that when he was passing the place he saw a man through the bushes, lying by the side of a log, about twenty feet above the road. The man, looking up, frightened Mr. Welton ; but instead of running away, Welton walked right up to him and asked what he was doing there ? The man said he was sick. Wel- ton discovered that the man's face was blackened with coal, and knowing of no better way to insure his safety he said, " Here, come with me ; I have got something with me that will help you," and taking a bottle of whiskey from his pocket, he induced the man to go with him. The man took a drink from the bot- tle and walked down the road towards Lanesboro' with Welton. Coming to the edge of the woods he turned back and Mr. Welton pursucd his way alone. While Mr. Welton was walking with him he discov- ered that the stranger had a scar under his chin. Mr. Welton said he thought he could pick him out of any crowd, however large. So Treadwell was placed among a large crowd of men at Munson's tavern at Hickory Grove, and Mr. Welton, passing through the crowd, walked up to Treadwell and said, " This is the man ; by that scar I know he is the very man." Treadwell was tried and convicted. Before his execu- tion he made a partial confession. He also stated that the money could be found at a certain place near his home; yet diligent search for it at the place desig- nated was fruitless.

The beginning of the nineteenth century marks the period of great activity in the laying out and building of roads in this part of the State ; thus the number of families making settlements in Harmony was perceptibly increased, so much as to cause the formation of a township in 1809. The records show that in 1813 the tax-list included the following free- holders: Hezekiah Bushnell, John Comfort, Joshua Clark, David Hine, Isaac Hale, Jesse Hale, Joseph Hilborn, John Hilborn, William Hilborn, Nathaniel Lewis, Israel Reynolds, Marmaduke Salesbury, Adam Swagart, Whipple Tarbox, John Snow, William Travis, Ezckiel Travis, Samuel Treadwell, John Travis, Jr., John C. Travis, Jonathan Treadwell, James Westfall, Nathaniel West, Shubel Williams,

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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

John Hilborn, Isaac Hale and John Comfort, assess- ors. As so much territory has since been taken from Harmony to form other townships, more than one- half of this list would be outside the present bound- aries of Harmony, and a history of a number of these men will be found in connection with the his- tory of those townships.

JAMES NEWMAN came from Connecticut in 1812. He bought a part of the Pickering tract, on the Star- rucca, about one mile from its mouth. He married Betsey Rouse, and together they began the formation of a home in the forest. He was a man of influence, -honest, ambitious and energetic, both in action and speech. She was an estimable woman in every re- spect ; hence their offspring have been among the most respected citizens of Harmony. Mr. Newman 'died in 1848, and his widow survived him twenty-six years, living with her daughter at Lanesboro' until 1874, the time of her death. Their only son, Martin Newman, became quite noted as an inventor of ma- chinery and implements used in the industrial arts. He also gained considerable prominence as an artist in sketching, painting and engraving. Several years ago he removed to Wisconsin, where he now resides.

DANIEL TARBELL came from New York State in 1813. He was a shoemaker by trade. Much of the time, for the first few years, he worked for John Comfort, about the mill, the dam across the river and the race. Between him and James Newman a very warm friendship existed, which led to the marriage of Mr. Tarbell to Sarah Rouse, Mrs. Newman's sis- ter. Subsequently Mr. Tarbell returned to New York State, where, a few years since, he died.

JOSEPH MCKUNE, Sr., came from Orange County, N. Y., to Harmony in 1812, and about twenty years after he moved into another part of the township that is now embraced in Oakland. His son, ROBERT Mc- KUNE, who has been mentioned in connection with the history of the Hilborn family, was born in Orange County, N. Y., in 1786, and died in Harmony March 4, 1861. His death was the result of an accident that occurred to him near the Cascade, less than one-half of a mile from his house. He was sitting on a gravel car that formed part of the construction train which was being loaded with gravel, in conversation with the foreman of the gang, when the train suddenly started, Mr. McKune was thrown under the wheels of the car and crushed. Quite early in life he married a young lady, who died about nine years after they were mar- ried. In 1817 he married Miss Mary Hilborn, and removed to Sullivan County, N. Y., but after Jolin Hilborn's death, in 1826, they returned to Harmony and came into possession of the Hilborn homestead. There Mrs. McKune is still living with her son Charles and his wife. The fruit of the first marriage was two daughters and one son, viz. : the eldest daugh- ter, Mary Ann, married James Comfort ; Esther mar- ried S. O. Lyons, and is now living in Lanesboro'; and Joseph Fowler, who resides up the river, just over the

State line, about one mile from the old homestead. By the second marriage there were seven children. Three sons died at their parents' home, at the ages of twelve, seventeen and twenty-eight years. W. P., who owned a part of the land now embraced in Susquehan- na Depot borough, at the time the Erie Railroad was located through Harmony, died in Susquehanna a few years ago. The youngest son resides in Colorado, and the eldest in California.

JOHN HILBORN MCKUNE, the eldest son of Robert and Mary McKune, has so great distinction in California that his many friends and acquaintances in Susquehanna County hold him in highest admira- tion. He was born in Sullivan County, N. Y., in 1819. His mother was his principal instructor; yet a few months each year he attended school at the log school- house that stood near where the Starrucca viaduct is now. In 1819 he entered the law-office of Bentley & Richards, at Montrose, as a student, and was admitted to the Susquehanna bar in 1844. In 1849 he went to California, settled in Sacramento City, and in 1850 was elected county attorney. In 1854, he was ap- pointed United States law agent by President Pierce, to ascertain and settle private land claims. He was a member of the Democratic Electoral College of Cali- fornia in 1856 ; in 1857 a member of the Legislature, chairman of the committee appointed to impeach State Treasurer Bates; in 1858 district judge for the Sixth Judicial District, and held the office eleven years. In 1872, he was appointed code commissioner to revise and codify the State laws. He is also a mem- ber of the "Society of Pioneers" of California.

JOSIAH BENEDICT came to Harmony about 1816. He occupied land on the Starrucca Creek, between Schlager's and Brandt. Two of his daughters and one son, Jeremiah Benedict, reside in the same neighbor- hood, and one son, Daniel Benedict, is living in Oak- land.

MARTIN LANE, in 1818, bought four hundred and eighty acres of land of John Comfort. This pur- chase included the mills at Lanesboro'. A few years after he died, and his son Jesse came into possession of the property. Jesse Lane, however, after his father's death, purchased much more land lying adjacent, and in 1841 he sold fourteen hundred acres to Lyons & Taylor, and soon after removed to Wilmington, Dela- ware. While living in Harmony Jesse Lane was extensively engaged in lumbering, and after leaving this place he became a lumber merchant in Wilming- ton, where he accumulated a very large fortune from the successful business he conducted.

TAYLOR FAMILY .- David Taylor and Mercy his wife, settled at Smiley, in Gibson township, as early as 1804. He built the hotel still standing on the Newburg turnpike, east of the creek at Smiley, and at the time it was erected there were only two frame houses besides it in Gibson. He was a con- tractor in the vicinity of his home, and with his sons constructed portions of the turnpike, from 1807 to

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1810. One son, Amos, had settled in Gibson before he died, and resided ou the west side of the Tunk- hannock, a mile below the hotel, and was succeeded by his son William in the ownership of the property. As early as 1814 David Taylor removed to Great Bend township, aud settled at what was after- wards Taylortown, which was named for him (now called Hickory Grove). He frequently accommodated travelers with quarters and board on their journey through the new country and entertained them with, old-fashioned hospitality. Another of his sons, Thomas succeeded to this homestead at his father's death, and is the father of Mrs. Joseph Shipley, of Oakland. A

a farmer, lumberman and business man, spent most of his life at Lanesboro' where he was among its early enterprising men, and there died (his wife was Lydia Newman (1815-67), who bore him children,- Veloua, wife of Robert Day; Sybil Ida, wife of Arthur Tremain ; and Agnes E., (wife of Charles M. Taylor, of Harmony) David; (1814-73), born in the lake country ; Daniel, 1816; Hannah (1817-66), was the wife of George Buck and resided at Red Rock ; Josiah (1819-42) ; Jones (1821-84), married Leah Newman (1828-54), was a farmer in Harmony town- ship from 1848 till his death, and had children-Edith O., wife of Henry Helmer of Susquehanna; Clara I.,

Good Taylor

third son, William (1780-1851), was a hatter by trade, | and used to make hats, and, with a load of them, take a trip to different localities in this State and New York, where he sold them to merchants and others. William Taylor married, at Mount Bethel, Pennsyl- vania, Elizabeth Jones (1789-1864), and for a time carried on his business near Smiley Hollow. He also resided in the lake country a short time, but in 1816 he came to Great Bend township, settled at Taylor. town and the remainder of his life was mostly spent in farming and lumbering. His children are Jacob (1810-83), born in Gibson ; Jonathan (1812-60),

wife of Frank Ames. By his second wife, Rhoda E. Vinton, a native of Afton, New York, Jones had children,-William S., Flora E., and Frank O. Tay- lor; Elizabeth born iu 1823, is the widow of Samuel Brush, of Brushville, in Oakland; Williamson (1826- 46) ; Sally Ann (1830-80), was the wife of Edgar Thomas of Lanesboro, an enterprising business man, lumberman ; and Permelia J., born in 1834, is the wife of Noble Thomas, a lumberman, also of Lanes- boro. The three eldest sons spent most of their active business life at Lanesboro,' where their public spirit and enterprise did much to build up the

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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

place, and three of the sons married sisters, daughters of James (1792-1848) and Betsey Rouse (1798-1874) Newman. This James Newman served in the War of 1812, in Connecticut, and at its close settled on Starrucca Creek, in Harmony, where he spent the remainder of his life, a respectable farmer and an esteemed citizen. His only son, Martin Newman, 1822, is a merchant at Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. His father was Nehemiah Newman (1767-1843), who came to Harmony late in life and died here. Anoth- er son of Nehemiah, Martin resided at Lanesboro,' Montrose and Little Meadows, and was buried at the former place. The other children remained in Con- necticut.

JACOB TAYLOR, eldest son of William, married, in 1833, Hannah Newman, who was born in Har- mony February 12, 1816, a woman of genial manners and known hospitality, whose devotion to her family and womanly virtues have left their impress upon the minds of her children. Their children are Emmazilla Betsey, 1835, is the wife of Harmon K. Newell, ex-county register and recorder, a promi- nent Baptist and a merchant at Lanesboro' who settled here from Berkshire, Massachusetts, in 1851; Martin Jones, 1837, an agent of the Delaware and Hudson Railroad at Lanesboro'; James O., 1846, a manufac- turer at Susquehanna, served as an emergency volun- teer upon the invasion of the State by the rebels during the late Rebellion ; Jacob Edwin, 1848, of Lanes- boro' ; Hannah Ada, 1853, died at the age of seven ; and Leah Elizabeth Taylor, died young. Jacob, in common with the other children, had little opportunity for an education from books, but had such parental training as gave him practical ideas, self-reliance and honest motives in life's work. Until 1842, after his marriage, he resided at Taylortown, where he was en- gaged in the lumber business, which he had previous- ly assisted his father in carrying on.

In that year he settled at Lanesboro', where he was largely engaged in the same business until within a few years of his death. During the construction of the Erie Railway at this point he furnished large quantities of different kinds of lumber and timber for the company, and was employed in the construction of its famous bridges and viaduct in the vicinity. He built his residence at Lanesboro' in 1851, the present home of his widow. Mr. Taylor was no seeker after political preferment, although he regularly exercised the right of suffrage, and he was a member of the Whig and Republican parties. He was energetic in business, social in his intercourse with his fellow- men and sympathetic towards those in need in excess of his means to bestow.

DAVID TAYLOR, third sou of William, was two years old when his parents returned to Great Bend township from the lake country. He remained at home during his minority engaged in lumbering and farming, except that during one winter season, just

before reaching his majority, he got one term at school, but for which time he afterwards worked out and earned fifty dollars with which to reimburse his father and make up the loss-a matter here mentioned to show the very striking contrast of school facilities then to be obtained and thosc now offered to the ris- ing generation. He was a young man of much reso- lution, energy and self-reliance, and unassisted pecu- niarily in the outset, by his perseverance and the ju- dicious management of his business, he made a com- fortable competence for himself and family. He was a man of correct habits, and, like his brother Jacob, sympathized with those less fortunate than himself, and lent assistance to the poor, and gave liberally to churches and charities. The Taylors were attendants of the Universalist Church at Lanesboro', and later at Susquehanna. After becoming of age he bought six hundred acres of timber land of his father in the east woods, where he built a saw-mill and carried on the lumber business until 1845, when he settled at Lanes- boro' and joined his brother Jonathan in the purchase of the Jesse Lane property, consisting of a large real estate, including a grist-mill and saw-mill. He owned this but a few months, and sold his interest to his brother Jacob. In 1851 he removed to the William Hilborn place, near the Cascade, which he purchased, and after five years sold it and bought property at Bethel Hill, formerly belonging to James Comfort. In 1866 he bought the John Comfort farm, where he resided until his death. During the entire time of his residence at Lanesboro' he was largely engaged in the lumber business, but before his death he had disposed of much of his real estate. David Taylor never held political office, save to serve for a few terms as con- stable, but he believed in the principles of the Repub- lican party, and supported it with his vote and influ- ence. He married, in 1840, Amity Salisbury, who died seven years later, who was a daughter of Marmaduke Salisbury, a resident of Great Bend in 1804, and after- wards of Susquehanna. In 1849 he married for his second wife the widow of Ansel Benton, formerly Cor- nelia B. Wicks, of Afton, N. Y., the daughter of Sam- uel (1777-1852) and Margaret Pearsall (1776-1845) Wicks-the former a native of Catskill, N. Y., the latter born in Nova Scotia. She was born in 1817 and is a woman of marked intelligence and high moral sentiment. Her only child by her first marriage is Adelia L. Benton (1844), the wife of A. C. Hyde, of Afton. By her secoud marriage she has children,- Nora T. (1849), wife of Adelbert J. Slager, professor in the German Theological School at Dubuque, Iowa, a native of Harmony ; Charles M., born in 1855, a farmer on the Susquehanna, in Harmony township, married Agnes E., a daughter of Jonathan Taylor, before men- tioned; and Nellie Elizabeth, born in 1858, the wife of Dr. Morgan L. Miller, a physician at Lanesboro' since 1882.

DAVID LYONS .- His paternal grandparents were

Daniel Taylor

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David (1737-1803) and Abigail Draper (1740-1829) Lyons, who resided at Coleraine, Mass., where they were farmers. This David was one of the men who dared to pitch the British tea into Boston harbor in 1773, and defy the authority of the Crown and Parlia- ment of the mother-country in placing a duty thereon. Their children were Dr. Jere, a graduate of Cam- bridge and a physician at Coleraine until his death, in 1825, father of B. R. Lyons, of Montrose; Jesse, a cabinet-maker; Seth, served in the Revolutionary War; Abigail; Nancy; David; Aaron, settled on the

Coleraine, October 22, 1805 ; John, a mechanic and farmer, resides in Erie County ; Jesse, a drover and farmer, lived in the same county, where he died leaving a family ; and Betsey, the widow of Confucius Loomis, resided at Great Bend. By a second wife, Anna Smith, daughter of Joshua Smith, of Spring- ville, Daniel Lyons had children Barker, died, in Vineland, N. J .; Susan Mary, died at eighteen ; Sabra Ann, wife of Dr. G. R. Westcott, a banker in St. Paul, Minn .; Joshua resides on the Pacific coast ; Horace and Silas, of Topeka, Kansas; Daniel, a mer-

David Lyony

homestead in Coleraine ; Dr. Joel, practiced medicine near Coleraine; Polly ; and Daniel Lyons (1778-1850), a cabinet-maker, who came to Great Bend from Mas- sachusetts in 1812, where he conducted this business. He was one of the elected managers of the first Great Bend Bridge Company in 1814, and had been one of the subscribers to its stock in 1812. He was a deacon in the Baptist Church, and alone built the meeting- house there in 1825, and for some time conducted the meetings of the church. His first wife, Rebecca Barker, died in 1819, and was the daughter of Elder Stephen Barker, a Baptist clergyman of Massachu- setts. Only four of their eight children grew to man's estate, married and reared families,-David, born in

chant in Binghamton'; and George Lyons, an engineer in Kansas. David Lyons, eldest son of above, learned cabinet-making and the use of tools with his father, but had only the meagre opportunities of a private school for a short time for getting book knowledge. He was seven years old when the family settled at Great Bend. He relates that at the age of seventeen the elder Drinker, a Quaker, came there and engaged him to convey himself and trunk to John Hilborn's, in Harmony ; that he made the journey with great difficulty, cutting his road at times, and using only the forewheels of his wagon to convey the trunk for a part of the way, and crossed the Susquehanna in a canoe,- showing the newness of the country as late as 1822.

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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

In 1827 he married Amanda Smith, who died in 1872, aged sixty-eight years. For one year after his mar- riage he kept a hotel at the Bend, and then, in part- nership with a Mr. Austin, bought some five hundred acres of timber land on the Belmont turnpike, in Harmony, and divided it between them. He built a frame house on his part, and for two years resided in this place. He then spent one year in New York, working at the carpenter's trade, and in 1829 settled in Lanesboro', where he has since resided. During his residence here he has engaged in contracting and building and in the manufacture of wagons in sum- mer, and in lumbering during the winter months. Upon his return from New York he bought, with Jonathan Taylor, one thousand four hundred acres of timber land and the mills, the Lane property, which .he subsequently sold to the Taylors. He used to haul his lumber to Hale's Eddy, and thence, by raft, marketed it in Philadelphia. Mr. Lyons built his present residence, and he erected a grist-mill at Lanesboro' for Jesse Lane in 1839. He has been also a dealer in lumber and real estate. David Lyons be- longs to a generation of men most of whom long since passed away. Temperate in his habits, and by nature possessed of a robust constitution, he bears his four- score and two years without much faltering in his step, and with a reasonably fair preservation of mind. While others have sought the arena of public life and local official place, he has been content to attend to his own business ; and although he was once elected a justice of the peace, he declined to serve. He is a man of good business judginent, marked individuality and conservative ways, and by his own self-reliance and labor and calculation has made a competence for himself and family. He calculates interest in difficult questions at his present age of eighty-two with rapidity and accuracy, and is apt in all business matters. His wife was a member of the Baptist Church at Susque- hanna. His children are Amelia, widow of David A. Lyons, of Susquehanna; Sarah H., unmarried, re- sides with her father; Julia A., died at nineteen ; Nancy, wife of C. B. Smith, of Stamford, Conn .; Charles J., of Windsor, N. Y.

JOSEPH AUSTIN came from Great Bend to Har- mony in 1825. He purchased land on the Canawacta, and for a number of years conducted a very success- ful lumbering business. In May, 1847, he took a quantity of lumber to Philadelphia, and while re- maining there a few days to dispose of it, he was taken ill and soon died. David Lyons, Mr. Austin's life-long friend, was with him, and took care of him until he died, and then brought the remains home to Lanesboro', where Mr. Austin was buried.

AGRICULTURE .- Although the surface, generally speaking, is not well adapted to agricultural pursuits, yet, by dint of much perseverance and industry, a number of very good farms have been developed. Jacob Stover, on the Canawacta, has the best one in the township. Mr. Stover was born in England. He

came to Harmony in 1845, with but a few dollars in his pocket ; but he had a fixed purpose to acquire a comfortable home for himself and family. He has been signally successful. He purchased about one hundred and twenty acres of wild land, and clearing away a small place, he erected a log house and a log barn. Here he has lived and toiled until the present time, and the reward of his industry and frugality is seen in the beautiful and fertile fields and orchards surrounding his fine residence and barns, erected in 1860, in place of the log ones first mentioned. C. E. Van Horn, on the east side of the same creek, oppo- site from Mr. Stover's farm, is not only a painstaking and thorough farmer, but quite extensively engaged as a general agent for the sale of mowing-machines and other kinds of agricultural implements. Other good farms that will attract the attention of the passer-by are owned by Jonathan Stover, E. S. Foote, Frank Lyons, Henry Helmer, C. M. Taylor, James New- man, Charles J. McKune, N. R. Comfort, M. J. Tay- lor and James Buckley.

LUMBERMEN .- The extensive pine and hemlock forests that originally covered the surface in Har- mony afforded excellent opportunities to lumbermen. The first mill was built at Lanesboro', by John Com- fort, in 1810. A few years later a mill was built at Melrose by the Nine Partners, and about the same year the one at Brandt by Jonathan Treadwell, and about 1826 James Comfort erected one at Comfort's Pond. In 1846 Enoch Copley put up a mill on the Starrucca, about two miles above Brandt, and the same year Wm. Hilborn one on the Cascade; in 1848, Taylor & Lyons one near the mouth of the Starrucca, at Lanesboro' ; in 1849, George Dyer one on the Cana- wacta ; in 1855, J. B. Stevens one at Stevens' Point ; and more recently several steam-mills have been put up at various points in the township. At these places an immense quantity of lumber has been manufactur- ed, and from them exported to cities and towns far and near. The industry has indeed been an im- portant and extensive one, conducted at Lanesboro' by John Comfort, Martin Lane, Jesse Lane, David Lyon, Jonathan Taylor, Jacob Taylor, the Thomas brothers, Elias Young, C. S. Bennett, H. Perrine, H. C. Bross ; at Brandt by Jonathan Treadwell, James Kirk, Enoch Copely; at Stevens' Point by J. B. Stevens, David Taylor, James Connelly ; at Melrose by the Nine Part- ners, James Mumford, Bennett & Webster, John Ward & Co .; at Comfort's Pond by James Comfort, Silas Comfort, D. R. Pope, the Thomas brothers; on the Canawacta by Geo. Dyer, Lyon & Martin, F. A. Lyon ; and on the Cascade by Win. Hilborn and J. B. Watrous. At the present time those most exten- sively engaged in the business are Mumford & Stone, near Stevens' Point; F. E. Putnam, near the same place; Fred. James, at Lanesboro'; and F. A. Lyon, on the Canawacta.

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Centennial history of Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, Part 111

Author: Stocker, Rhamanthus Menville, 1848- Publication date: 1887 Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : R. T. Peck Number of Pages: 1318

Author: Stocker, Rhamanthus Menville, 1848-
Publication date: 1887
Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : R. T. Peck
Number of Pages: 1318