Centennial history of Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, Part 114

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

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Meetings were held at private houses in the winter and in barns in the summer, and, after the log school- house at Lanesboro' was built, meetings were often

held therein. In 1834 the church at Lanesboro' was erected, and in 1881 a very neat and comfortable parsonage was built. There are three appointments for preaching service on the charge,-namely, Lanes- boro', Bethel Hill and Stevens' Point. At Bethel Hill there is a church which was erected but a few years ago. Its neatness and comfort speak well for the Methodist people living in that locality. Noble Thomas is the class-leader at Lanesboro', Jacob Stoner at Bethel Hill, and William Terrill at Stevens' Point. At the present time the trustees are Edgar Thomas, Noble Thomas, F. A. Lyons, Luther Barnes, N. R. Comfort, Thomas Speers, H. K. Newell, Almon Barnes, James M. Thomas. Number of members is uinety-three. The number of scholars in the Sunday- schools is about two hundred. F. A. Lyons is the superintendent of the school at Lanesboro'.

Pastors .- The following-named ministers are among those who officiated here previous to 1869: Revs. D. Davis, P. Bartlett, N. S. De Witt, Geo. N. Leach. C. V. Arnold, H. R. Clark, Alfred Bingham, F. L. Hiller, and G. R. Hair. Since that date, N. S. De Witt, R. J. Kellogg, A. F. Harding, S. W. Spencer, S. W. Cole, C. H. Jewell, J. H. Hewitt, J. R. Wagner, T. C. Ros- kelly and Wm. Bixby, the present pastor, who has been a faithful and fearless preacher of the Methodist Church since 1837, at which time he was admitted to the Oneida Conference.

SCHOOLS .- The first school-house in Harmony was erected about 1813, on the north side of the Starrucca Creek, and on the east side of the wagon-road that leads from Lanesboro' to Windsor, or about where the blacksmith-shop now stands. This was a log school- house, with no furniture but the rudest kind of benches. Yet in this rude building some excellent work was done. Here Caleb Barnes was employed to teach in 1816. He was educated in Boston, Mass., and, after leaving this place, he tauglit a number of years in Sullivan County, N. Y., where he established a reputation as a teacher that is seldom surpassed. In that old log school-house Silas and James Comfort, and others that afterwards became quite noted, re- ceived the principal part of their education until they were old enough to pursue their studies alone. This school-house was used about twenty years, and then a frame building was put up, and was located several rods farther north.

The slab school-house at Brandt was erected a few years after the one above mentioned. Now at this place there is a neat and comfortable school-house, nicely painted without, and furnished within with improved iron forms and cherry and maple desks, oc- cupied by happy and cheerful pupils.

The name of Susan Belcher will be cherished for generations by those living in this vicinity. In 1857 she was engaged to teach this school, and for thirteen years she conducted it with the most satisfactory re- sults. She was born in Cherry Valley, Otsego Coun- ty, N. Y. After receiving a very thorough education

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she was employed to teach in the Young Ladies' Seminary at Elmira, N. Y. Mr. Brandt's daughters attended that school, and thus he, becoming ac- quainted with Miss Belcher, insisted on her coming to this place ; and on paying her quite a liberal salary in addition to what the School Board would pay, she was induced to come, and here she remained until she was married and removed to Indiana.

George T. Frazier was the last township inspector, under the old law, before the enactments of 1854.

The first Board of School Directors, under the new law, was composed of William Purdie, president; Benjamin Comfort, secretary ; Jacob Taylor, treas- urer; and Harvey Shutts, Henry H. Sampson and William P. Conklin. The amount of the tax raised that year for school purposes was $307.45. Teachers were paid eight dollars a month.

There are now in the township eight school dis- tricts, namely : Pleasant Valley, Deep Hollow, Pros- pect Hill, Brandt, Stevens' Point, Melrose, Bethel Hill and Cascade. In 1886 a new school-house was built at Stevens' Point. It cost five hundred and sixty dollars, and about one hundred and thirty dollars was paid for the furniture; and the same year a new building was erected in the Deep Hollow District at a cost of about four hundred dollars. Several of the buildings in this township are furnished with im- proved seats and desks. In 1886 there was expended for teachers' wages thirteen hundred and fifty-six dollars, and for fuel and other necessary contingent purposes about four hundred and twenty-five dollars more. The directors at the present time are N. R. Comfort, president ; C. E. Van Horn, secretary ; and O. L. Watkins, Harvey Bryant, Simpson Reynolds and S. H. Carnegie. Perhaps no man in Harmony has taken a deeper interest in her public schools than James Buckley, for a long term of years past, lias done. Having held the office of school director for a number of terms, in 1886 he resigned, on account of his being appointed deputy register and recorder, and hence necessarily absent from the township most of the time.

CHAPTER XL.

SUSQUEHANNA BOROUGH.

BOATMEN floating down the Susquehanna River eighty years ago, saw on the left, where Susquehanna now is, two precipitous hills, closely and stubbornly abutting the river, and against each other, separated only by the Drinker Creek, on its way to the river from Fox's Pond, a small lake about five miles to the south. The eye resting on these hills, fell only on the placid heavens and the dense setting of unbroken verdure. Not an opening could be detected, from the summit of the hills to the river's bank. So dense

was the foliage that the creek itself was hidden from view, as well as the rocks along the bank of the river. Seemingly, not satisfied with individuality in her display, Nature, as with ties of union, had bound together many of these trees with numerous vines of wild-grape and ivy. But a few years after the wood- man's axe resounded through these hills, and was re- echoed from the river below, uncovering a surface rugged and defiant. To the writer it is evident that Nature never intended that man should build a town here, for such a presumption would imply an intermission of reason, and an utter disregard for con- venience. Yet man's indomitable purpose to bring everything under subjection to him has here so far been achieved as to cover these precipitous hills with manufactories, stores, hotels, offices and dwellings, oc- cupied by three thousand five hundred people.

The land embraced in this borough was included in the Drinker tract, purchased by Henry Drinker late in the last century ; subsequently conveyed by him to John Hilborn, and from Mr. Hilborn to suc- ceeding grantees until 1846, when it was owned by Wm. H. Sabin, William B. Stoddard, Joel Sales- bury and William P. McKune. The farms owned by Messrs. Stoddard and Salesbury were soon after sold to the Erie Railway Company ; the one owned by Mr. McKune, to James H. Smith; and Mr. Sabin's to Sedate Griswold. The railway company locating its shops at this place caused its land to be run out into lots and streets, Mr. Smith following the company's example. A number of years later Mr. Griswold's farm was also run out to conform with the other plans. On account of the deep chasm through which Drinker Creek flows, but one street (Main) entirely intersects the town from east to west, and this crosses the creek near its mouth. But on both hills, on either side of the creek, nearly all of the streets converge towards Main Street, so that, in going from one part of the town to the other, one must pass directly through the centre, as if drawn by gravitation. In the side-walks of many of the streets are flights of stairs with rests at intervals ; otherwise, footmen would find progress exceedingly difficult, especially in winter ; and along some of these streets teams never attempt to pass. Yet, after ascending to the plateaus on either side of the town, there are good building-lots, on which are to be found many comfortable and pleasant dwellings, the homes of hundreds of machinists and skilled workmen, that find employment in the shops below, into the tops of whose ponderous and lofty smoke- stacks their families can almost look. Mr. McKune's house stood near the place where L. S. Page, Esq., now lives; Mr. Salesbury's, on the lower side of Main Street, about opposite Guttenberg, Eisman & Co.'s store ; Mr. Stoddard's, about where John Scoville now lives; and Mr. Griswold's, near the place where J. C. McCauley resides. In 1846 ground at this place was first broken for the railroad, and in 1848 the road was completed to Binghamton, the first passenger train

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running over the road to that city in December of that year.

It then became evident that at this point oppor- tuuities of rare importance were presented to business men ; and these opportunities were not long left un- improved. Eliot Benson was the first on thic ground. He erected a hotel on the corner of A and Drinker Streets. A part of the ground where it stood is now covered by the building occupied by Robert Wallace as a flour and feed-store. This was called the Har- mony House. Soon after a number of stores were erected by the following-named persons, in the order in which their names appear, and at the places designated : James M. Ward, corner of A (Main) and First Streets ; Messrs. Wm. Smith and R. H. McKune, where Guttenberg, Eisman & Co.'s store is; L. S. Page, where J. C. Cook's store is; James Bell, where Lannon & Baxter's store is; and Mr. Bell, selling out to Mr. Hubbard, erected another, which he still occu- pies ; Dennis McDonald, where J. C. Kane & Bro.'s store is; Dr. Bronson, where Kittell's hotel is; Dr. West, where S. Maroney's store is; and Wm. G. Shrimpton, a jeweler's store and bakery, where Shaeff Bros. are. In 1852 James Kirk erected another hotel where Gaylord Curtis now lives, and a little later others were erected,-one by Drs. Smith and Shutts, about where the Van Aiken and Birdsall brick build- ings are, and another by James Kirk, which is now known as the Chaffee house. Soon after Henry Per- rine opened a meat-market where Henry Sperl's gun- shop is. About the same time that the above-men- tioned enterprises were being carried on, or a little later, other business men came to Susquehanna and engaged in various pursuits. Among the number were Robert Nicol, Gaylord Curtis, C. A. Miller, C. S. Bennett, Thomas Carr, D. W. Norton, Thomas Ingstrum, John Lannon, A. H. McCollum, A. W. Rowley, Timothy Boyle, Washington Boyle, Miles Creegan, Brace Gilbert, Augustus Gilbert, A. J. Scy- mour, S. Seymour, Wm. M. Post, Walter Barber, J. H. Cook, J. C. Cook, M. H. Eisman, David Lyon, F. D. Lyon, Samuel Falkenbury, J. Van Barriger, D. R. Pope, A. C. Parliman, Thomas Canavan, Wm. Clark, Lewis Freeman, et al.

In 1853 Susquehanna Depot Borough was incorpo- rated, and soon after the borough officers were elected. Lewis S. Page was the president of the first Town Council, and Robert Nicol, R. H. McKune, John Ward, A. W. Rowley and Wm. Hubbard were mem- bers.

BURGESSES .- Owing to the destruction of the bor- ough records by the fire of 1874, it is difficult, with ac- curacy, to ascertain who were the burgesses prior to that time. It is thought, by a number of men, who have been engaged in business here continually since the borough was incorporated, that the following list is quite reliable : James B. Gregg, John Ward, Samuel Falkenbury, Captain York, William Hubbard, James Bell, Robert Wallace, Charles Ernst, Samuel Smith,

Gaylord Curtis, John Fitzsimmons, Wallace Falken- bury, 1874; James G. Drake, 1875; Dennis Casey and Michael Lanning, 1876; Geo. A. Post, 1877; John Dolan, 1878; Geo. T. Frazier, 1879-80 ; Morris Pren- dergast, 1881-82 ; John R. Townsend, 1883; John O'Connell, 1884; Charles Langford, 1885; James Burns, 1886; Andrew Ryan, 1887. The present Town Council is composed of John McMahon, Wm. Allpaugh, E. Doherty, F. Perry, C. O'Connell, John Dunlea.

POSTMASTERS .- The Susquehanna Depot post-office was established November 1, 1850, and in 1869 the name was changed to Susquehanna. The following have been commissioned postmasters for this office : James M. Ward, November 1, 1850; C. S. Bennett, 1852; R. H. McKune, 1853; A. W. Rowley, 1854; Laban F. Clark, 1861; Walter Barber, 1867; H. P. Moody, 1869; Isaac W. Jones, 1869; James McKin- ney, 1885.

In addition to the very extensive railroad-shops in Susquehanna, there are at the present time six dry- goods stores, two merchant tailoring establishments, six millinery stores, one ladies' bazaar, fourteen groceries, three drug stores, three hardware stores, three boot and shoe stores, three jewelers' stores, two flour and feed stores, two furniture stores, one music store, one bakery and confectionery store, two stove and tin stores, five hotels, two wagon-shops, four meat markets, two marble-shops, one steam- mill for manufacturing doors, sash and blinds and for planing and matching lumber, three banks, two insurance and real estate offices, two coal offices, six barber-shops, two weekly newspaper publishing and job printing houses, with steam-power presses, one daily newspaper, five churches, four school buildings, six clergymen, seven physicians, four law- yers, besides blacksmith-shops, boot and shoe-shops, etc.

Joel Salesbury now lives in Thomson ; William B. Stoddart in Starrucca, Wayne County ; and W. P. McKune, J. H. Smith and Sedate Griswold are dead.

SEDATE GRISWOLD was born in Massachusetts in 1802, and when quite young removed to Wayne County, in this State. In 1848 he bought the farm above mentioned, and came to Susquehanna, where he died in 1872. Three of Mr. Griswold's daughters are now living in Susquehanna,-Mrs. Hamilton Fordyce, Mrs. J. R. McCauley and Mrs. F. B. Thayer. Mr. Thayer came from Otsego County, N. Y., to Susquehanna in 1852, and entered the ser- vice of the railroad company as a locomotive engi- neer. He followed this business principally on the Susquehanna Division fifteen years, and then, in 1867, engaged in the grocery business in this place until 1885, when he retired.

WILLIAM SMITH came from Sullivan County, N. Y., to Lanesboro' in 1838, and from Lanesboro' to Susquehanna in 1851. Forming a partnership with R. H. McKune, they engaged in general mercantile

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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

business. They also conducted a tailoring business, a bakery and a lumber-yard. They employed about fifty men. The first sewing-machine ever brought into Susquehanna was purchased by them and used in their shop. A few years after the partnership was dissolved; Mr. McKune removed to Scranton and Mr. Smith engaged in other business in this place, where he still resides.

LEVI S. PAGE was born in Vermont in 1817, and came with his parents to Jackson, in this county, when about one year old. He attended the Montrose and Harford Academies, fitting himself for a teacher. He spent six years as a carpenter and house- builder at Montrose; was a farmer in New Milford for a time, and in 1851 came to Susquehanna, where he has dealt quite largely in real estate, been a mer- chant for some twelve years, and actively engaged in other business until 1872, since which time the duties of justice of the peace have occupied most of his attention. In 1854 he was elected school director and held the office fourteen years. He was the president of the first Town Council that was or- ganized in Susquehanna. He was borough treasurer in 1881-82. In 1858 lie was elected county commis- sioner. In 1848 he married Miss Lucy Ann Bart- lett, of Jackson. They have three children-one son and two daughters-living in this place.

JAMES BELL was born in England; came to this place in 1848 with a large number of other carpenters in the employ of the railroad company, and assisted in building the original depot, freight-house and the shops. He soon after engaged in trade on a very small scale, commencing with two or three trunks full of ready-made clothing and Yankee notions. In 1854 he established a boot and shoe-store, which he con- ducted alone until 1874, when he took his stepson, John Brewer, into partnership with him, under the firm-name of Bell & Son. The business conducted at this store has had a longer continuance than any other one in Susquehanna borough, and been attended with marked prosperity.

CHARLES A. MILLER was born in Massachusetts in 1833, and when six months old came with his parents to Harmony. But a few years after they re- moved to Jackson, and in 1847 returned to Harmony and soon settled in this place. Mr. Miller entered the service of the railroad company as a carpenter, and was employed on the bridges along the road. But on meeting with a serious accident he left this business and learned the watch-maker's trade, and worked at watch-making and repairing in Mr. Bell's store a short time, when he put in a stock of jewelry on one side of the store and conducted the business here un- til 1860, at which time he built the store where Gaylord, Curtis & Co.'s bank is, and removed his business to that place. He discontinued at the latter place in 1877, and one year after became proprietor of the Star- rucca House, the railroad company's hotel and res- taurant. For a number of years he was a member of

the private banking-house of Curtis & Miller. He has been the secretary, treasury and general manager of the Water Company since it was formed, in 1874. A few years since he was a partner in the firm of A. Smith & Co., of Harmony, proprietors of the acid fac- tory. He has been quite extensively engaged in lum- bering, farming and quarrying, and shipping flagging- stone in Harmony, besides having done more build- ing in Susquehanna than any other person. In 1858 he married Miss Mary R. Fuller. They have five children,-Frank A. conducted a jeweler's store here a few years, then became editor and proprietor of the Susquehanna Transcript, but selling out in 1885, he removed to Denver, Col., where he is now engaged as editor and proprietor of the Journal of Commerce. The second son is a book-keeper in the First National Bank ; the youngest son is attending the Mansfield Normal School; and the two daughters, having com- pleted their studies, are at home.

DENNIS MCDONALD was born in Ireland in 1811, and died at Susquehanna in 1860. He came to Amer- ica in 1832, and located at Silver Lake, this county. In 1844 he married Miss Margaret Donnelly, daughter of Michael Donnelly, one of the pioneers of the Cho- conut Valley. In 1847 Mr. McDonald came to Lanesboro', where, taking a contract to build several miles of the Erie Railroad, he began his career as a railroad contractor. In 1849 he removed to Susque- hanna and continued railroad grading on contracts with the Erie until the road was completed. He subsequently had contracts with the Albany and Sus- quehanna road, and filled several contracts at Sus- quehanna for the construction of buildings, and until his death was prominent in carrying forward the growing enterprises of the town. Mrs. McDonald died in 1883. Four of their children now live in Buffalo, N. Y., and two reside in this place ; one son, Thomas McDonald, is a leading grocer of this place. When fourteen years of age he entered, as clerk, a store which his mother was conducting, and in 1862 he engaged in business for himself, opening a grocery- store on Main Street. At that store and in other ones in town he has, in all, spent about twenty years in this business. In 1880-81 he was deputy sheriff of this county. He was a member of the School Board six years, prior to 1880, and during his terms of service held the offices of secretary and president.

C. S. BENNETT came to Susquehanna from New Milford, and for a number of years conducted a store on Main Street. Gradually extending his business into other channels, he afterwards was more exten- sively engaged in real estate speculations than any other man ever has been in Susquehanna. He ac- quired a large property, which he lost mostly in 1873 through the shrinkage of values. He resides in his native county, Chenango, N. Y.

ALEXANDER W. ROWLEY was born in 1818 in Greene County, N. Y., and died at Susquehanna in 1878. He came to Susquehanna in 1851, and the

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next year erected the store now occupied by Morris Prendergast and Thomas Reilly, where for a number of years he conducted a tin-shop and kept in stock stoves, tin and copper-ware and a general line of hardware. In 1854 he was appointed postmaster, and the post-office was kept in his store. Subse- quently he sold his store and goods, and engaged in lumbering, furnishing lumber, cross ties and fencing material for the railroad company in large quantities. He was justice of the peace in Greene County, N. Y., before coming here, and held several borough offices here. He left behind him a most enviable name and reputation, and was a man held in high esteem by the people.

JOHN LANNON was born in Ireland in 1818, came to America in 1844 and located in Maine, where he married Catherine Sullivan in 1846. About one year after they removed to Lanesboro', where Mr. Lannon was employed by the railroad company in building the viaduct. He came to Susquehanna in 1849, and for about two years continued in the company's ser- vice as a stone-mason and bricklayer. He then en- gaged for himself as a jobber and building contractor, and many of the buildings in this place, or their foundations, have been constructed under his super- vision. He has three children living. The eldest re- sides in one of the Western States; John P. is a ma- chinist, employed in the railroad-shops at Susque- hanna; and Joseph F. is engaged in mercantile busi- ness in this place, as the senior member of the firm of Lannon & Baxter, formed in 1861. He is a mem- ber of the Board of School Directors, and for the past five years has been secretary of the Board. Robert M. died April, 1886, at about twenty-five years of age. Graduating at Mansfield Normal School in 1878, he received an appointment as principal of the graded school at Nanticoke, Pa. After four years he entered the profession of the law, was admitted to the Susquehanna County bar in 1884, and commenced to practice at this place, with prospects unusually bright. The year before his death he was the bor- ough attorney and secretary of the Town Council.

HON. JUDSON H. COOK .- His great-grandfather was Samuel Cook, a native of Rhode Island, who removed from that State to New York. His son, James Cook, was a resident of Otsego County, N. Y., where he married Lovisa Griffith, and in 1814 he came from that place to New Milford, where he pur- chased a farm, upon which he resided for nearly thirty years. At the end of this time he went to Herrick and resided with his son James most of the time until his decease. They had children,-Sally, Griffin, Dimmis, Emily, Leonard and James. Griffin Cook, the father of Judge Cook, was born in Otsego County, N. Y., March 18, 1805. His early education was limited to that usually within reach of the farm- ers' boys of that day. He was nine years old when his father came to New Milford, with whom he re- mained, assisting on the farm until after he attained his

majority, when he married Ezoa S., daughter of Cap- tain Levi and Priscilla (Ingalls) Page, who came from Vermont in 1815 and settled in Jackson, where they resided until their death. Immediately after his mar- riage he commenced housekeeping on a farın in New Milford, where he remained for two years. In 1832 he removed to Jackson and purchased an unimproved farm near Page's Pond, a fishing hut being the only building (?) upon it. This farm he cleared up with the assistance of his sons, improved it, erected com- modious farm buildings and owned it at the time of his death. Their children were Judson H., Nov. 1, 1831; Daniel F., 1833, married and residing in Ne- braska ; John C., 1834, married and a merchant in Sus- quehanna for twenty-five years ; William W. (1836- 41); Urbane S. (1839-62) was a soldier of the late war and first lieutenant in Schooley's Battery ; Lovisa P. (1844-68).

In 1868 his first wife, Ezoa S., died, and in the fol- lowing year he married Mrs. Ann Legg, of Thomson. After his second mrrriage he left the New Milford farm and purchased a place in Thomson township (now Thomson borough), where he resided until his death, in 1880. His widow survives him. Judson H. was born in New Milford township, and was one year old when his parents removed to Jackson. His edu- cational advantages were limited, the nearest school being one and a half miles distant, and when old enough to assist on the farm he only attended winters. He remained on the farm with his father until he was seventeen, when he went to learn the carpenter's trade. From this time until he was of age he worked at his trade, the proceeds of his labor going to his father, and he had the satisfaction of knowing that his last year's wages made the last payment on his father's farm. Upon attaining his majority he came to Susquehanna, then a flourishing village, and set up business for himself as a carpenter and builder. His carpenter-shop was situated nearly opposite the present Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1854 he purchased two lots on Washington Street and erected thereon a dwelling-house. The year fol- lowing he married Mary Bartlett, daughter of Wm. A. Bartlett, of Jackson, and went to housekeeping in his new dwelling on Washington Street. He continued the business of contracting and building for three or four years, during which time he added to the rap- idly-growing town some twenty-five or thirty build- ings. In 1856 he entered the employ of the Erie Railway Company in their carpenter-shop, where he remained until himself and brother, John C., entered into partnership in the mercantile business, under the firm-name of J. C. & J. H. Cook. This partnership was continued until 1875, when it was dissolved by mu- tual consent. The same year he erected a large three- story wooden building, which was known as the "Cook Block," and stood on the site of the present Brandt Block. Upon its completion Mr. Cook again engaged in a general mercantile business, this time

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Centennial history of Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, Part 114

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