Centennial history of Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, Part 134

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

USA > Pennsylvania > Susquehanna County > Centennial history of Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania > Part 134

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Elihu Smith settled on the farm below Pratt's the same year. He subsequently improved a farm nearer the Brooklyn line, which is still occupied by his de- scendants. A daughter became the wife of Orson Case, of Hopbottom, and of his sons, Elihu moved to Montrose and Gilbert to Brooklyn.

Earlier than this, in 1819, Anthony Wright, from Somers, Conn., settled on Martin's Creek, on the place next above the Sprague clearing, which was at that time occupied by Ira Sweatland, one of the claimants of the property. He was one of the pioneer Method- ists of this section, and a public-spirited citizen. He occupied his farm forty-eight years, departing this life in December, 1857, nearly seventy-four years old. Some years later his father, Captain Samuel Wright, settled southwest from him, on the west side of the ridge, where he died in 1835. Dr. Samuel Wright was a son of Anthony, and settled on the creek below the homestead, on the Sprague improvement. Loren was another son, but Samuel and Wise Wright, living in Brooklyn, were his brothers.

Lower down the creek Bela Case made a clearing, coming to the place after having lived in Brooklyn a few years after 1810, but did not remain long. His son Orson remained, and was the first permanent settler of what is now the borough of Hopbottom.

Near the township line, west from Wright's and east from Lord's, William Squiers settled in the fall of 1816. He came from Westfield, Vt. Ten years later he left this place and moved to the forks of the outlet of Tarbell Pond with Horton Creek, on the place which Levi Phelps had cleared after 1812. Here he died in 1865, but the farm is still occupied by his descendants, as is told in a separate sketch in this book.

The Waterford Assessment in 1816 gives the names of all the settlers living in what are now Brooklyn and Lathrop at that time, as follows :

Amos Bailey, Fred. Bailey, Stephen Breed, Joshua Baker, Stephen Bagley, Orlando Bagley, Jesso Bagley, Lewis Bagley, Silas Bagley, Thomas Bagley, Gideon Beebe, William Bunge, Augustus Bunge, John Babcock, Bela Case, Erastus Caswell, Asa Crandall, Joseph Chapman, Jr., Joseph Chapman, Putnam Catlin, Daniel Cone, Solomon Dickinson, Thomas Davidson, James Davidson, Calvin Davidson, Silas Ely, Gabriel Ely, William Ely, Erastus Ely, Zelopheliad Ely, Anthony Fish, Davy Fox, Cyrel Giddings, Charles Gere, Jeremiah Gere, Stephen Gere, Samuel Howard, Ephraim Howe, John James, Lawrence Johnson, Eleazer Kim- ball, Justus Kent, Valentine Lewis, Josiah Lord, Josiah Lord, Jr., Eliza Lord, John Lord, William Latham, Jedediah Lathrop, Daniel Lawrence, Bloomfield Milbourne, Eliza Mack, Enoch Mack, Elijah Mack, David Morgan, Joshua Miles, Joshua D. Miles, Mary W. Miles, Hezekiah Plo- ney, Jonathan Packley, David Phelps, Charles Perigo, Prince Perkins, William Perkins, James Packer, Ebenezer Payne, Edward Payne, Peter Paul, Noah Pratt, Levi Phelps, Edward Packer, Thaddeus Palmer, Esek H. Palmer, Nathaniel Rose, Robert Rand, Nathaniel Reynolds, David Stone, John Seymour, Elisha Safford, William Squier, James Smith, Ira Sweatland, Silas Sweatland, Thomas Saunders, Simon Sann- ders, Varnum Saunders, Joshua Saunders, Benjamin Saunders, Isaac Sterling, Nathaniel Sterling, Thomas Sterling, Reuben Seeley, William Sterling, Zara Sutliff, David Sutliff, Harris Sutliff, Aaron Squier, Isaac Smith, Anson Spicer, Pelatiah Tiffany, Alfred Tiffany, Noah Tiffany, Oluey Tiffany, Nathan Tham, Jonathan Tewksbury, Jacob Tewksbury, Thomas Tewksbury, Sargent Tewksbury, Oliver Tubbs, Mott Wilkinson, William Western, Roswell Whitney, Samnel Wright, Authony Wright, Samuel Wright, Jr., Wise Wright, Latham Williams, Jacob Worthing, Winthrop Worthing, Jonathan Worthing, Elisha Williams, Stephen Williams, Silas Witters, John Weston, Samuel Weston, Joseph Youmans, Samuel Youmans.

It will be seen that but few, comparatively, lived in the Lathrop part of Waterford, and that the south- ern part of the township was at this time an unbroken wilderness. Soon after 1816 Deacon Joshua Jackson settled on the north line, but in Brooklyn, as also did his son Joshua, who returned to New Hampshire. Joseph and Caleb, other sons of the deacon, lived in Lathrop and cleared up farms. The daughters mar- ried Ezra S. Brown and Rufus Rose. Joseph Fisk came about the same time and, after living in this neighborhood a brief period, moved to what is now Niven, in Springville, which, from his settlement there, was called "Fisk's Corners." Some of the members of his family connected themselves with the Mormon colony, which immigrated from the south- eastern part of Springfield and the southwestern part of Lathrop, to join the head of the church in the West.

DYER WILLIAMS .- The family homestead in New England was at Brooklyn, Windham County, Conn. His paternal grandfather, Thomas M. Williams, re- sided on this homestead, was drafted in the War of 1812, and went as far as New London. He died in 1829. His wife, Mary Boswell, died in 1815, and their children were Flavel M. (1800-80), Archibald, George, Betsey, Elizabeth and Clarissa. By a second wife, a Miss Bennett, Thomas had children-Hannah, wife of Henry Gardner, of Dunning, Lackawanna County, Pa., and Josiah B. Williams, of this county.

Flavel M. Williams married, in 1826, Lodema Downing (1779-1875), a native of the same place, who was reared by one Williams, and by Jacob Butts, of

680

HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

Lawrence, Otsego County, N. Y., until the age of twenty-three, when she returned to Connecticut, where they were married. They first went to Law- rence, N. Y., and resided in other places, but in 1834 came to Brooklyn, this county, his brother Archi- bald having come some years earlier. In 1843 Mr. Williams bought, of Henry Drinker, one hundred acres in Lathrop, near Lakeside, then having a small clearing and a log shanty, without a door or any roof. Here this couple began life, and with a laudable am- bition set about making themselves a home. As years came and went, the clearing became larger and the soil better prepared for crops until, in 1866, a frame

Betsey, 1835, wife of Warden Rockwell, of Lathrop; and Dyer Williams, who was born where he now resides, April 30, 1845. He had the usual opportunity, in common with other boys, of the advantages of the home-school, and as soon as old enough, assisted his father on the farm. He has made many improve- ments on the homestead, and cleared a large part of it himself, and erected a commodious barn the year before his father's death. Mr. Williams is one of the industrious, calculating, thorough farmers of the township. He has served his township as school director for six years, as supervisor for two years, and is the present treasurer, in 1887. His political affilia-

Dyer Williams

residence took the place of the log house, and well- fenced fields the place of woodland. Mr. Williams was a reading man, possessed a remarkable memory of events, and was interested in the current political topics of the day. Originally a Democrat, he became a Whig, was a warm admirer of President Lincoln, and a Republican. His wife was, early in lite, bap- tized into the Episcopal Church, and both were buried at Hillsdale Cemetery, in Lathrop. Their children are Seymour (1828-81), settled in Chicago, where lie was a member of the Board of Trade; Phebe, 1830, wife of Lyman Saunders, a farmer in Lathrop ;

tions are with the Republican party.

He married, in 1873, Amy Gray, who was born in Dimock, March 24, 1844, by whom he has one child, Arthur S. Williams.

Her father, Abisha W. Gray (1809-82), was a native of Groton, Conn., and came here with his parents, Jonas Gray (a cooper and a seafaring man), and step mother, Polly Vorce, in 1817, and settled in Dimock, where they died. His own mother, Lucy Spicer, died in Connecticut.

Abisha W. Gray married, in 1831, Mary Green, born in Rhode Island in 1812, resided in Dimock till

681

LATHROP.

1848, when he settled in Ruslı, and resided until his death. The homestead is now occupied by his widow and son, Francis M. Gray. Their other children are Jonas L .; Emily and Francis H. died young ; John W. (2d), a farmer in Rush; Amy (Mrs. Dyer Williams) ; Alice D., wife of G. L. Bullard, of Meshoppen ; and Percilla M. (1853-81), the wife of Cyrus Roberts, died in Rush. The parents of Mary Green Abel (1789- 1869) and Polly (Whitford) Green came from Rhode Island in 1817, and settled where G. C. Bronson now resides, on the Abington turnpike, in Lathrop, and the same year the mother died. Their children were Phebe, wife of Samuel Thurber, died in Wis- consin in 1886, at seventy-six years of age; Mary Green (Mrs. Gray) Wanton, 1815, resides in Lathrop ; James, 1817, of Oregon. Abel Green married Roma Nichols for his second wife, who bore him Elijah, Betsey, Sarah and Abel, all deceased. He was buried in the Nicholson cemetery.

The children of Jonas Gray are Hannah, wife of Isaac Park, of Bradford County ; Polly, wife of Liberty Sharp, of Owego, N. Y. ; Philip died of yellow fever in New Orleans; Alathea, wife of Marcus Eastabrook, of Bradford County; John W. resides in Dimock ; Oliver lived and died in Bradford County; and Abisha Gray.

Mary Boswell's father was pressed into the British army, deserted and came to America, and was a sol- dier during the Revolutionary War in support of the colonies.

Ephraim Tewksbury came about 1818, and settled on the John Lean place, in the northern part of the township, east from Horton's Creek. He was the father of sons named Isaac, Asa and Perry. The latter moved to the West. Asa died at Hopbottom, in 1871. Isaac settled on the farm south of the home- stead, but sold to Reuben Tewksbury, a son of Sar- gent Tewksbury, of Brooklyn, and moved to Hop- bottom, where he died. He was the father of sons named Edmund G., Curtis, Rufus, Ephraim and Ly- man. George L. and Isaac S. Tewksbury, sons of Jonathan, of Brooklyn, settled in the neighborhood of Tarbell's Pond. The former died on the farm he had improved, but the latter returned to Brooklyn.

In 1835 Jesse Silvius located on the west side of Tarbell's Pond, and lived there until his death, in the fall of 1886. He was the father of sons named Oscar, John and George. Of other early and prominent settlers in the neighborhood of this body of water, special sketches are given.

LORENZO SWEET .- Amos Sweet, with his wife and children-Captain Asahel, Stephen, Oney, Polly and Nancy-came from Attleborough, Mass., in the fall of 1795, to Nicholson (now Harford), and joined the Nine Partners' settlement. He built a black- smith-shop the same fall. Amos Sweet had six sons and two daughters. Amos, Jr., Elias and John, re- mained in Massachusetts until the fall of 1797, when Elias and John came to what is now Harford.

Amos, Jr., a blacksmith, remained in Attleborough. The earliest religious meetings for the purpose of reading the Scriptures were frequently held at the house of Amos Sweet as early as the latter part of 1795, and a recent writer says they were continued for twenty-five years. In 1868 Captain Asahel Sweet was living at over ninety years of age. He married in 1801, and settled on a farm in Harford, where he spent his life. He died in 1872, at over ninety-four years, and had been cared for by a daughter for some twenty years.

Elias Sweet, a son of Amos, married Abigail Fos- ter, resided in Harford, where Jackson Tingley now lives, and had children-Captain Elias, Joseph, Alfred, Hannah, wife of Saxa Seymour, was a merchant at Harford; Eliza, wife of a Mr. Capron, of Ohio; Arta, Abigail, wife of Ira Belcher, of Gibson. The others settled in Harford, except those whose settle- ment is mentioned.

Of these, Captain Elias (1794-1833) was father of Lorenzo Sweet, and married Sylvia Wright (1792- 1848), a daughter of Samuel and Azuba (Gibbs) Wright, the grandparents of Dr. Samuel Wright, herein mentioned.

This Samuel Wright was a soldier of the Revolu- tion, settled in Lathrop after his sons came here, and died in 1835.

Captain Elias Sweet owned a farm at Oakley, in Harford township, and asaw-mill there in connection with Daniel Oakley, which he managed until 1833, when he was accidentally drowned in the mill-pond. He was captain of an artillery company for several years. Their children are Lorenzo, the eldest; Wil- liam Henry resided and died in Harford; George A. resides in New Milford township; Elenora, wife of Washington Wilmarth, died in Harford ; Alfred was accidentally killed in the mill-yard; Eliza, wife of Hother Reynolds, of Brooklyn; Elias, of New Mil- ford; and Andrus Sweet, who went West and has not been since heard from. Lorenzo was twenty years old when his father was drowned. He assisted his mother in the management of the farm and mill un- til he attained his majority, and, when twenty-two years old, bought out the interest of his father's es- tate. His mother subsequently married Daniel Piper, and moved to Harford. Lorenzo, at sixteen, had be- gun learning the trade of a carpenter, and at that age had closed his school-boy days, which had been at such times in the year as he could be of little service as a worker at home.

He continued the management of the farm and saw-mill, and engaged in lumbering for seventeen years, when he sold his property at Oakley to the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad, and the same year, 1851, bought his present farm in Lathrop, one hundred and twenty-three acres, of the widow of Dr. Rose, formerly the Noah Pratt place. This has been his homestead since, the house being built by Pratt and repaired by himself in 1863. Mr.

43}

682

HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

Sweet is a careful, industrious business man. He has served as treasurer of the township for seventeen years, and assessor, and has held the office of school director and been otherwise officially identified with the community.

He married, in 1841, Lydia M. Squires, who was born July 17, 1823, a devoted wife and mother, and a member of the Methodist Church. Her father, Wil- liam Squires (1788-1865), married Betsey Brown (1795- 1864), and came from Westfield, Vt., in the fall of 1816, to a farm afterwards owned by A. Sterling, near the north line of Lathrop (then Waterford), on the

Jesse Silvius, of Lathrop ; John, of Scranton; Lydia M. (Mrs. Sweet) ; Lucy Mary, wife of Asahel Lord, resides in Wilkes-Barre; Susan E., wife of G. W. Tif- fany, of Hopbottom ; Reuben S., on the homestead ; Henry, principal of the Pittsburgh High School for many years, and a merchant in that city ; Parley P. Squires, a farmer in Lenox.

Betsey Brown was the daughter of Isaac and Lydia (Ingalls) Brown, who were also early settlers in Lathrop from Vermont, and Isaac Brown was a sol- dier of the Revolution, and died at the age of ninety- eight years.

is T

Lorenzo Sweet

first road east of Horton's Creek. About 1826 he re- moved to the Colonel Phelps place, where they spent the remainder of their lives. They were buried in the Hillsdale cemetery. Their son succeeded to the homestead, which is situated near the junction of the outlet of Tarbell's Pond and Horton's Creek. He was an active Presbyterian and a constant attendant at the Brooklyn Centre Presbyterian Church for nearly forty years.

Their children are Sarah, widow of Dr. Samuel Wright, for many years a physician of Lathrop, whose sketch is in this volume; Louisa was the first wife of

The children of Lorenzo and Lydia M. Sweet are Angelia, wife of John Bisbee, of New Milford ; Almon E., of Jetmore, Hodgman County, Kansas, a con- tractor and farmer; Levy D., a carpenter at Wichita, Kansas ; George A. Sweet, a carpenter on a part of the homestead ; and Arta L. died young.

Southwest from this locality, now called Lakeside, Jacob Decker settled in 1842, coming from Luzerne County. He removed to Wisconsin in 1866, but of his nine children James lives in Springville, Job at Factoryville, Elijah W. and Henry on part of the homestead, the remaining part being owned by Ira

ho M

Br yea La h Mi

B. of da

683

LATHROP.

B. Miller. The oldest son, Joseph, and the remainder of the family moved to the West, except three daughters, who were married in this county.

In the northeastern part of the township Isaac Brown was an early settler, but died more than forty years ago. He was the father of Eden Brown, of Lathrop, and John Brown, of Lenox. The former had a son named Carter, who removed to Winona, Minn., and another son, William Jenas, lives on the homestead. He is the father of David L. Brown, of Montrose.

West from this place Ezra S. Brown and Daniel Wood purchased a tract of land in 1832, which had previously been owned by George Harding. Brown was a carpenter by trade, and had come to Lathrop as early as 1821. He is now a resident of Hopbot- tom, more than eighty years old. Descendants of the Wood family also remain in the township. South, Joseph Gardner made some improvements and still resides in that locality, aged eighty-seven years. He is the father of sons named John, Eliphalet and Washington.

In the same district Silas Robinson, from Vermont, settled at a later period. He was the father of Wil- liam Robinson, of Bronson's Corners, and Thomas Robinson, of Factoryville. Thomas J. Robinson, a brother of Silas, lived in the upper part of the same district, where his descendants still own the farm.

JOHN JOHNSON .- Among those who have carved out a home for themselves, cleared off the forest and erected fine farm buildings surrounded with cultivated fields, probably there is no one in the township of this generation of men and women that deserve more special mention than John Johnson and his wife, Julia Ann Sutton Johnson, whom he married in 1845. He was born in Hunterdon County, N. J., November 18, 1822, and removed with his parents, Benjamin A. and Zeluma Lindsley Johnson, to Sussex County, in that State, where they settled, near Branchville. This was the home of his grandparents, his grandfather's name being John Johnson. At Branchville his father was engaged for some fourteen years in a woolen manufactory. In 1835 the family removed to Bridgewater, this county, afterwards resided in Jes- sup, and subsequently settled on a farm near the line of Springville and Lathrop, in the former township, where the parents spent the remainder of their days and were buried in the cemetery there. The mother was a devoted Christian woman, a member of the Presbyterian Church at Montrose, and afterwards united with the Presbyterian Church at Brooklyn. Their children were carefully trained in all that makes true manhood, and early taught industry, econ- omy, and how to become useful men and women and good citizens. The other children are Benjamin A., of Dimock ; William, of Lathrop; Albert Dennison, of Springville; Phebe, deceased, was the wife of C. Shelp, of Jessup; Mary Ann, deceased, was the wife of Benjamin Risley, of Dimock ; Susannah, deceased,

was the wife of Philander Strickland, of Springville ; Betsey is the wife of Giles Osborne, of Lathrop; Amanda, the wife of Tyler Waldie, a constable of Brooklyn ; and Theodore, a farmer, resides in Spring- ville. For two years after his marriage Mr. Johnson resided in Jessup, where he bought land, cleared twelve acres, and then his property was sold from un- der him, leaving him with nothing. In the spring of 1848 he settled on a woodland tract of one hundred acres, bought of the Pierpont estate, on the western line of Lathrop, where, the same scason, he cut away the forest trees and the next season erected a small frame house, and began clearing his land and pre- paring its soil for crops. After nine years, when he had made considerable improvements, his house was destroyed by fire. Nothing daunted, he fitted up his corn-house, moved in the family and used it as a domicile until he had erected another, which was the homestead until it was supplanted, in 1886, by his present fine and commodious residence. At the time his house was burned he had little means to build another, and some of his kind neighbors, by subscrip- tion, raised money and gave him to build the second one. Knowing the motive of his friends and highly appreciating their kindness, he retained the list of helpers, and, twelve years afterwards, reimbursed all of them with interest and principal. Hesubsequently, in 1864, in 1868, in 1871 and in 1872, added to his original purchase three hundred and thirty-four acres more of land adjoining, bought from the Drinker es- tate and others. Part of this he sold, leaving his present farm two hundred and eighty acres. He bought, in 1882, a property in Park Place, Scranton City, which he also owns, in 1887. He has cleared much of his land himself, erected spacious out-build- ings, substantial fences, and all his surroundings show thrift, industry and the work of an intelligent agri- culturist. Mr. Johnson may well be patterned after by the rising generation for persevering industry, integrity and an honest purpose in all the re- lations of life. His home is the welcome place for the itinerant minister and the stranger, and his liberality to every good cause equal to his means to bestow.

Their children are two sons and two daughters, all married and have homes of their own,-Manning Benoni, a farmer in Springville; Miles Hubert, a far- mer in East Bridgewater; Helen Lillia, wife of Isaac J. Kinney, of Lathrop; and Flora Ida, wife of George Thayer, of Park Place, Scranton. Mrs. Johnson at- tended the Harford Academy in girlhood, then con- ducted by Rev. Lyman Richardson, and was a teacher for five terms before her marriage. She has been a member of the Union Methodist Class in the neigh- borhood for thirty years, was one of the organizers of the Union Ladies' Aid Society on January 2, 1887, and is a woman devoted to her family, the church and every good work. Her mother, Betsey Tuttle Sutton (1796-1882), a native of Wethersfield, Vt., was a devoted member of the Methodist Church at Spring-

684

HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

ville from 1810 until her death, a period of seventy- two years. Her father, Samuel Sutton (1796-1875), was a farmer in Springville, and was a native of Milford, Pa., whose parents were Samuel and Susan- nah (Strickland) Sutton, residents also of Springvillle. Her mother, Betsey Tuttle, was a daughter of Ezra Tuttle, who came to Springville from Wethersfield, Vt., in 1801, with his family of six children, and settled near Lynn. He drove in from Vermont two cows and three horses. He was a carpenter and millwright, built the first frame house in the town- ship, and, with his sons, cleared two hundred and

first child born in the township. Mrs. Johnson's father, Samuel Sutton, had one brother, Sylvester, who died in the West, and one sister, Phebe, the wife of Charles Thomas and mother of Professor S. S. Thomas, a teacher of wide repute in the coun- ty; and another, Sally, wife of George Watson, who lived West. The children of Samuel and Betsey Sutton are Terressa A, was the wife of Rev. Welcome Smith, a Methodist minister of New York ; Manning Roach, a justice of the peace and surveyor, of New- comb, Essex County, N. Y .; Henrietta, wife of Miles Prichard, of Springville; Julia Ann, born July 9

John Johnson

fifty acres of land. He also constructed a large part | of the Wilkes-Barre and Montrose turnpike. He bought his land under the Connecticut title, but after- wards had to pay five hundred dollars to secure a legal title from Henry Drinker, the Pennsylvania claimant. He died in 1826. His children were Abi- athar, a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church over fifty years, died at over ninety ; Benoni, died young ; Sylva, a Mrs. Carrier, of Bridgewater ; Sa- brina, married a Mr. Mckenzie, of the same township ; Betsey, a Mr. Sutton ; Achsah, a Mr. Strickland, of Springville ; and Myron Tuttle, who died West, the

1824, wife of John Johnson, our subject; Samuel E., of Springville; Sabrina, wife of L. F. Rosengrant, died in Springville; Phebe, wife of Joseph Oakley, died in Springville ; Eliza, wife of E. W. Tiffany, near Tunkhannock.

LYMAN SAUNDERS .- The progenitor of the family here was Joshua, who removed with his family from Rhode Island in 1801, and settled at Mack's Corners. He sold to Elisha Mack in 1811, and in 1817 moved to Ohio with Orlando Bagley and sons, but returned after a time to Brooklyn, where they spent the re- mainder of their lives. Mrs. Joshua Saunders is

LATHROP.

685

mentioned by Dr. Peck, in his history of early Meth- odism, as one of the first class of four in the vicinity. His children were Thomas, Lyman, Nathan (killed while assisting Captain Amos Bailey clear his land in 1804, by the falling of the limb of a tree), Aaron, Sheffield, Falla (wife of Jesse Bagley, who built a hotel in Brooklyn and kept it for several years), and Martha and Eliza (who married and remained in Rhode Island). Of these, Aaron (1798-1862) was only three years old when the family came here. He married Polly Crandall, who died about 1850. She was a daughter of Caleb Crandall, settler here from

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

Centennial history of Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, Part 134

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