Centennial history of Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, Part 135

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

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bottom; James, a blacksmith at Bisbee's Corners, Lathrop; Lucy, wife of Jerry Stanton, of Waverly, Pa. ; and Sarah died young. By his second marriage, to the Widow Hawley, Aaron Saunders had children, -Judson, of Kansas, and Ida Saunders, of Nicholson. Lyman Saunders, son of Aaron, had to depend upon his own resources for a start in life, and in boyhood became inured to labor on the farm. In 1852 he married Phebe Williams, who was born in Lawrence, Otsego County, N. Y., June 14, 1830, and who was a teacher for three terms before her marriage. Lyman was ten years old when his parents settled on his present

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Rhode Island as early as 1812. After their marriage they settled where William Ainey now resides, where he cleared a large part of the farm. In 1836 he re- moved to the farm where his son Lyman now re- sides, situated on Lord Pond or Briar Lake. Both himself and wife were buried in the Brooklyn cemetery.

Their children are Joseph, a miller at Hopbottom ; Eleanor, wife of Chauncey Scott; Lathrop; Lyman, born in Lathrop October 8, 1826; Warren died a young man ; Lurama, wife of Henry M. Williams, of Brooklyn; Benjamin, a blacksmith in Boooklyn ; Harriet, wife of A. J. Chamberlin ; Martin, of Hop-

farm, and he himself, by his own industry, paid for this one hundred and four acres of land, upon which he built his residence in 1853. His principal busi- ness has been general farming and sheep-raising, which he has followed successfully. He has been a life-long Democrat, was a warm supporter of the Union cause during the War of the Rebellion, and although not himself drafted, he bought a substitute for the army, paying therefor seven hundred dollars. He has served as supervisor of Lathrop for fourteen years, postmaster for thirteen years, and has been a school director. They have children,-Charles S. died in 1855, aged about two years; Alpha L., wife of

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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

Charles Mckinney, of East Bridgewater; Everett J., farmer on the turnpike in Lathrop ; Annie G. and Harry D. Saunders at home.

Mrs. Saunders' father, Flavel M. Williams (1800- 80), married, in 1826, Lodema Downing (1799-1875), and left Brooklyn, Conn., for Lawrence, Otsego County, N. Y., where they remained until 1834, when they came to Brooklyn, this county, and subsequently settled at Lakeside, in Lathrop, where they died. They were buried at Hillsdale, in Lathrop. Her grandfather was Thomas Williams, a soldier of the War of 1812. Flavel Williams' children are Seymour, a member of the Board of Trade of Chicago, born in 1828, died in 1881; Phebe (Mrs. Lyman Saunders) ; Betsey, born in 1835, wife of Worden Rockwell, of Lathrop; Dyer, who owns the old homestead at . Lakeside. Caleb Crandall, the maternal grandfather of Lyman Saunders, resided in what was then Brook- lyn, was married four times, and reared children as follows: Polly, Asa, Eliza (drowned in the Hopbottom Creek), Nancy (wife of Thomas Wilmot, of Harford). By his second wife, George, Henry, James and two daughters ; by his third wife, Sarah (wife of Myron Reynolds, of New Milford), Caleb, Elizabeth (wife of Rufus Conrad, of Lenox), and Joshua Crandall.

ZOPHAR R. S. MACKEY, who had come to Clifford in 1824 with his father, George W. Mackey, from Rensselaerville, N. Y., settled in Lathrop from Clif- ford in 1856, and purchased one hundred and fifty acres, containing a small log house, into which he moved his family. He was a war Democrat until 1876, and a Greenbacker thereafter until his death, in 1884. He had a family of ten children,-Francis, Joshua D., Geo. S., Jared, John B., Mina M., Nellie, Nelson, Manly and Frank. The sons are Greenback- ers. George Searle at one time cast the only temper- ance vote in the township. He was secretary of the first Greenback club, and active in starting the National Record, a Greenback organ.

In 1848 the following were the taxables of the newly-organized township of Lathrop :

John Ainey, John Blanchard, Jeremiah Bailey, Edon Brown, Ezra S. Brown, George N. Benjamin, Harlow Button, Seth Bisbee, Oliver G. Bowman, William Cherry, Amos Cook, Ebenezer Coke, William Driggs, David Davis, Jacob Decker, George Decker, William Felton, Christian Felton, Wanton Green, Charles Griffis, Joseph Gardner, James Haynes, Cyrus Haynes, Stephen Hazleton, Jr., Marquis Inkly, Benjamin Jolin- son, John Johnson, Horace Jayne, Ebenezer Jayne, Justus M. Lee, Elisha L. Lathrop, Lyman Lathrop, Samuel Lindsley, John Lindsley, Elisha Lord, John Lord, Charles Lord, John Lord, Jr., Joshua Lord, Josiah Lord, Julius Lord, Mary Lord, Drew Lord, Parker Miles, William Miles, Daniel Miles, Joshua Millard, Alfred Pratt, Noah Pratt, Francis Perkins, Chris. Perkins, Rufus Phillips, Timothy Quick, Silas A. Robin- son, William Robinson, Thomas Robinson, Hiram Rockwell, Jane Rose, Rufus Rose, John Shaefer, Elihu B. Smith, Gilbert N. Smith, Elihu Smith, Richard Smith, David G. Smith, Martin Silsbury, William Sweet, William B. Sweet, Balzer Steel, John Steel, John Squiers, William Squiers, Richard Selden, Daniel Searle, Jesse Silvius, Aaron Saunders, Joseph Saunders, Lyman Saunders, George W. Tiffany, George L. Tewksbury, Isaac S. Tewksbury, Reuben Tewksbury, Russell Tewks- bury, Clarissa Tewksbury, Edmund G. Tewksbury, Curtis L. Tewks- bury, Elijah Welch, Jr., Stephen S. Welch, Flavel M. Williams, Ira Waterman, Charles Waterman, David N. Waterman, Anthony Wright, Horace Wright, Leister Wright, Ora Wright, Francillo Wright, Daniel

Wood, John Wood, Woodbury Wilbur, Daniel Westbrook, Ferdinand Whipple.

BUSINESS INTERESTS .- Agriculture and its kindred pursuits constitute the chief employment of the people of Lathrop, and there has been but little mercantile business outside the limits of Hopbottom. At Bron- son's Corners, John N. Gardner had a small store, in a building which has been removed ; and higher up the turnpike, H. N. Tiffany is now trading in a room of the Elisha Lord house. Near by he erected a small building, called "Concert Hall," in which festive and public gatherings are held. The school-house at Bronson's Corners, being centrally located, has been much used for public occasions, and there the annual township meetings are held. In this neighborhood was established the Lathrop post-office, on the 8th of May, 1848, with Francis Perkins as postmaster. He was succeeded by Christopher S. Perkins, in 1849, and in 1852 the office was discontinued. May 19, 1858, the office was re-established, and Edmund G. Tewksbury was appointed postmaster. Since that time the successive appointees have been, 1861, John N. Gardner; 1862, Elisha N. Lord; 1866, Ezra S. Brown ; 1867, Elzinia Brown ; 1872, R. O. Silvius ; 1878, Mina M. Mackey ; Sept. 1868, William H. Knapp; and since 1883, Benoni T. Strickland. A tri-weekly mail is supplied.

At Lakeside near the mouth of Tarbell Pond, Enoch Lord improved a power for a saw-mill in 1820, which still does good service, the mill having been rebuilt several times. Among other operators have been George L. Tewksbury, W. Waterman, Brownson and Newton, and the present, James Mack. It does a good local business. Lower down the stream was the William Squier's saw-mill, operated by water-power, and later a steam saw-mill by R. S. Squiers did good service, but both have been abandoned. Below this point, on Horton's Creek, -Daniel Searle had a saw mill which cut up the greater part of a tract of thir- teen hundred acres of fine pine timber. For a time R. S. Searle, at that time but a young man, had charge of the mills, and made heavy shipments down the Tunkhannock and the Susquehanna, by means of rafts, some of which were taken as far as Baltimore before they were broken up. The mill was sold to W. H. Osborn, and later to T. Waterman, but the dam has been removed, and the land it occupied is now used for farming purposes. Higher up the stream Joseph Gardner had a mill, which has also been abandoned as have, also, been some operated on Martin Creek.

A recent industry, and one which promises to be of much benefit to the township, is the quarrying of flagstones in the ridges along Horton's and Martin Creeks. In the former, especially, are found large stones of very superior quality, and paying quarries have been opened on the farms of R. S. Squiers and William Osborn, from which unusually fine stone has been shipped. In all five quarries are in oper- ation, and more than fifty men are employed.

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HOPBOTTOM.

The apply jelly factory of the Mackey Bros. is an important industry, whose usefulness will be greatly extended in the near future. The Lathrop First Methodist Episcopal Church was incorporated Nov. 22, 1870, on the petition of Sidney Osborn, S. C. Osborn, J. F. Gray, Humphrey Lord, Jedediah Safford, William Johnson, R. O. Silvius, D. N. Waterman, John Waterman, L. P. Mack, John T. Shipley and Jesse Silvius, with the latter, James Mack, B. T. Strickland and John Miller as trustees. These took charge of the church edifice, which was then being built at Lakeside, and which was dedicated February 16, 1871.

A lot of land on the east shore of the lake, was secured from the Strickland farm, on which was built a plain house, with sittings for several hundred people. The outlay was $2,600, of which amount $1000 was unsecured on the day of dedication, lent with the generous help of friends, from Wyoming County, $1,100 was raised that day, and the house was con- secrated free from debt, and has since been a com- fortable place of worship. Previous meetings were held in Lakeside and Hillsdale school-houses, the ap- pointments being connected with the old Brooklyn circuit; and it is said, that these gatherings were sometimes the occasion of decided opposition to re- ligious worship. An earnest interest in spiritual matters produced by several revivals, not only changed this feeling, but wrought upon the sympathy of the community to help provide a permanent place of worship. Among the earlier Methodists were numbers belonging to the Silvius, Miller, Mack, Os- born, Tewksbury, Decker and Thayre families. In 1887 the church had about thirty members, constitut- ing a class of which James Baker was the leader. The appointment belongs to West Nicholson circuit, the Rev. I. F. Towner being the preacher in charge. Jesse Silvius was class leader from 1869 to 1876, followed by G. L. Thayer, J. B. Williams and Jas. Baker. A Sunday-school was organized in 1869, with Sidney Osborn first superintendent, followed by Geo. Searle Mackey, and many others. The Lathrop Six Principle Baptist Church, is the name of a sect holding its meetings in the Decker School-house. For a time covenant meetings were held once a month, and stated preaching every two weeks ; but in recent years, the services have been held with less frequency, and are now only of occasional occurrence. Most of those formerly belonging here removed, and the organization has only a nominal existence. Henry Decker and H. Jacques were resident ministers. Others who preached in Lathrop were Elders D. T. Ross, A. A. Maryott and John M. Salisbury.

HILLSDALE CEMETERY, opposite the school-house district bearing this name, has a pleasant location and contains one acre of land, secured from the farm of Alfred Pratt. This attractive place of the dead owes its existence to the efforts of Mrs. Lake Bronson, who exerted herself to solicit funds to improve it, in 1859.

A substantial stone-wall surrounding it, and rows of fine maple trees add to the attractions of the place. It is said, that Mrs. Eli Pratt was the first person in- terred in this ground. There are now many memen- toes to the dead some of them being handsome monu- ments. The cemetery is well kept and is in charge of trustees P. S. Bronson, William Robinson and H. W. Tiffany

An account of the Lathrop Cemetery, near Hop- bottom, may be read in the sketch of that village.

CHAPTER XLV.

HOPBOTTOM BOROUGH.

THIS thriving borough is a station on the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad, in the township of Lathrop, one mile from its northeastern corner. It is solely the creation of the railroad, and whatever prosperity the place has had was produced by that thoroughfare. The location is not as favorable for village purposes as those of some other towns in the county, as the valley at this point is narrow and can be reached from the east and the west only by passing over high hills, on roads which are kept in repair with some difficulty. A natural advantage is the water-power of Martin's Creek, afforded at this point, which has been well utilized. Until the building of the railroad, in 1850-51, this section was a comparative wilderness. There was no improved highway, and on the east side of the creek but a small clearing had been made by Orson Case, the first permanent settler, but who does not appear to have had any title to the lands on which he lived, and which was a part of a large tract belonging to Major Post, of Montrose. West of the creek was a small tenant farm belonging to Jeremiah Blanchard, a non-resident of the county. When the railroad was located, James G. and Marcus Case, sons of Orson, contracted with the Post family for what is now the most of the village site, and soon after sub-divided the lands. Sales of smaller tracts were made to Wm. B. Adams, Alfred Jeffres, Truman and Elisha Bell and David Wilmarth, most of whom occupied their purchases. The Bells donated lands for station purposes and trains occasionally stopped after 1852, but it was not until 1863 that a substantial depot building was provided by the company. Prior to that time an old frame, which had been a corn- house, accommodated the public, and Anson B. Mer- rill was the first station agent, being also the store- keeper and the postmaster. After the increase of railroad business the name of the station was changed to Foster, the name of the post-office also being changed to that title in 1875. In a short time the village and post-office reclaimed the name of Hop- bottom, but the name of the station has since been continued as Foster.

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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

The shipments from the station are very heavy, the aggregate business being greater than that of any other station on this road in the county. The aver- age passenger traffic is about five hundred dollars per month. In 1883 the present neat and commodious station-house replaced the first depot building, and, at an earlier period, Foster became an important water station on the road. C. G. Merrill is remem- bered as one of the early agents, but, since 1864, that position has been very acceptably filled by O. D. Roberts, whose enterprise has helped to promote the business of the place. Albert Titus has here been in the employ of the railroad company since 1851, and is one of the pioneers of the village.

Amos B. Merrill, a son of Amos Merrill, a pioneer in Brooklyn, was a permanent settler next to the Case family. He reared sons named Jonathan, An- drew, Daniel, Leander, Ansel and James, some of whom have continued in Hopbottom.

Lyman Kellum, a carpenter by trade, came from Brooklyn in 1852, his family being the third to take up its permanent residence here. He became a jus- tice of the peace of Lathrop, engaged in the lumber business, and, in 1878, opened a part of the present Foster House. He died in 1880, having reared sons names Charles H., of Hopbottom, Samuel and Wil- liam, of Scranton.

ELISHA AND TRUMAN BELL .- The Bell family in New England date back to 1637, when Abraham Bell is noticed in the New Haven records. John Bell (1701-76), an early settler of Southington, Conn., married, in 1727, Rachel (1703-68), a daughter of Samuel and Rebecca (Clark) Woodruff, by whom he had children,-Elizabeth, Ruth, Elinah, Huldah, John, Rachel, Solomon, Hezekiah, Elisha (1743-1835) and Rebecca Bell. Of these children, Elisha married in Southington, in 1876, Thankful Bartholomew (1746- 87), and had the following children : Rachel, Mar- gurette, Luthena, Elias, Ruth and Rollin Bell (1786- 1863). He sold his farm of fifty acres in Southing- ton, where he had lived, and gave a deed to William Henson, dated February 8, 1787, and he was dismiss- ed from the Congregational Church records there by letter dated March 31, 1805, to Nicholson, Luzerne County, Pa. He came to Lenox (part of Nichol- son), this county, with his family, in 1794, and by his second wife had two children born here,-Sterling and Calvin; the latter was drafted in the War of 1812, and went as far as Danviile. Rollin was also drafted in that war, but not called to serve. Of these children, Elias went to Ohio, thence to Indiana, where he died; Sterling resided and died in Clifford ; Calvin succeeded to the homestead, which was located in the interior of the township, and was in turn succeeded in the ownership of the property by his son William, who resides on it in 1887.

Rollin married Anna Millard (1788-1869), a daugh- ter of Solomon Millard, one of the foremost and enterprising early settlers of Lenox, who was in the

township prior to 1797, and served in the Revolu- tionary War. He owned a farm of two hundred and sixty acres on the Tuckhannock, most of which he cleared. The homestead is now the property of his daughter, Mrs. Charles Kent, of Brooklyn. He was a large real estate owner, a man of broad views, gave his children practical ideas by his own example, and as good an education as the home schools afforded. He was upright in his dealings, honest in his pur- poses and free from all ostentation. His wife was a member of the Baptist Church, and a worthy help- meet in their mutual life-work. Their children are Solomon (1810-44), a carpenter resided in Harford ; Elisha, born March 14, 1812; Worthy (1814-54) was a farmer in Lenox ; Sarah, 1816, first the wife of Daniel Roberts, whose son is Oscar D. Roberts, depot- master at Hopbottom, and the present wife of Charles Kent, before mentioned; Truman, born December 7, 1818; Ira D., 1823, a farmer in Lathrop; and Stephen Bell, a farmer in Hopbottom Borough, whose only children are Mrs. Arthur Robinson, of Lathrop, and Mrs. Irwin W. Wright, of Hop Bottom.

ELISHA BELL became inured to farm-work in his boyhood, and early learned that economy and indus- try are essential characteristics to him who would at- tain financial success. He remained at home until the age of twenty, and in 1832 married Icy B. Miller (1814-56), a daughter of Samuel and Icy (Bender) Miller, early settlers of Clifford, who bore him chil- dren,-Alonzo E .; Polly Ann, died in 1855, aged twenty ; Philander ; Clarinda Rosina, died in 1842, aged two years ; Charles H. died in 1864, aged twen- ty-two; Solomon W .; and Samuel Galusha Bell. All the surviving sons are farmers in Lenox-Philander and Samuel G. on the homestead.

At the time of his marriage he bought a woodland tract of land-two hundred and fifty acres-and set about making a home for himself. He cleared one hundred and fifty acres of this land himself, erected farm-buildings thereon and farmed it there until 1854, when he settled at Hopbottom, where he has been a merchant from 1854 to 1866, with his brother Tru- man as partner (E. & T. Bell) for ten years of the time. The brothers bought a saw-mill a mile or two below Hopbottom, on Martin's Creek, in 1856, of which he has been sole owner since 1857, and run it, shipping his lumber to Scranton, until 1886, when he sold it. Mr. Bell has been a very active business- man, has dealt largely in real estate and been the owner at times of several farms. The judicious management of his business has gained him a compe- tence, and he can happily see his sons settled in life on farms donated by their father.

The political alliance of the family is with the Democratic party. He has never sought any official preferment, nor has he shrunk from duty when placed upon him by his townsmen, and has served as assessor and school director. The family are identified with the Universalist Church, and Mr. Bell was a large con-

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HOPBOTTOM.

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tributor to the present church edifice at Hopbottom. For his second wife he married, in 1870, Mrs. Richard Huglies, née Martha M. Tanner, who was born October 4, 1830, and is a daughter of Seneca F. Tanner (1808- 79) and Louisa F. Payne (born 1806), who resided for a time in Harford, and afterwards in Lenox. Louisa F. Payne was a daughter of Amos (1765-1862) and Susan (Moss) Payne (1772-1852), settlers of Lenox in 1812 from Connecticut; the former served in the War of the Revolution. Seneca F. Tanner was a son of Clark S. and Sabra Tanner. Richard Hughes, born in Lancashire, England, in 1823, married Martha

Lenox December 7, 1818, the fourth son of Rollin and Anna Bell. In common with the other children, he obtained a liberal education in the home district school, and by attending one term at the Harford Academy. He thoroughly learned farming, and re- mained with his father until 1844, when he married Harriet Peck (1821-55), a daughter of Captain Free- man and Eunice (Otis) Peck, who settled in Harford in 1806. This Freeman Peck was one of the first members of the Universalist Church upon its organi- zation at Brooklyn, in 1826. Mr. Bell's only child by this marriage is Eunice E., the wife of William

Elisha Bell

M. Tanner in 1845, by whom he had children- Seneca Freeman, an engineer on the Delaware, Lack- awanna and Western Railroad, resides at Hampden, N. J .; Sarah Ann, wife of Samuel Kellum, of Scran- ton ; Richard Hayden, an engineer in Franklin, this county. The father served in the Confederate army, was a musician, and was last heard of in the hos- pital. The other children of Seneca F. and Louisa F. Tanner, are Mordecai C., of Harford; Cyrus F., of Lenox; Seneca Riley died in 1864, aged twenty- three years, (these three sons all served in the late Rebellion), and Amos Tanner, a carpenter, residing in Lenox.

TRUMAN BELL was born on the homestead in

E. Carpenter, of Binghamton. After his marriage he settled on eighty acres of the homestead, given him by his father, only being required to pay the right of soil to William Hartley, who had title from the State, at one dollar per acre. He cleared seventy acres of this land, added other land to it, erected farm buildings and resided there until 1856, when he re- moved to Hopbottom and was the partner of his brother Elisha (E. & T. Bell) in mercantile business for twelve years, when they sold out the business to Johnson & Reese. They had bonght the Case saw- mill in 1865, on Martin's Creek, of which Mr. Bell became sole owner in 1867. Since this date he has been engaged in lumbering and managing his real

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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

estate. Industrious, judicious and prompt in busi- ness matters, he has the confidence of all who know him, and he is the trusted counselor of his neighbors, and has been frequently of service to them in con- veyancing of a local nature. He served as justice of the peace of Lenox, assessor, school director and su- pervisor, and as a member of the Board of School Directors-during the war assisted in raising the bounty-money for soldiers. During his residence in Hopbottom he has been burgess two years; member of the Borough Council five years ; school director thirteen years; and assessor, both of the borough of

1817, is a daughter of Captain Stephen Williams, an early settler in Brooklyn from Connecticut.

W. M. Tingley, a descendant of one of the oldest families of Brooklyn, became connected with the in- terests of the village in 1854, and is still an honored citizen of the place. He reared a number of sons, who, like their father, are remarkably tall men, their average height being nearly six feet two inches. In 1864 Emanuel Carpenter became a resident of Hop- bottom, and engaged in the staging business, but all his sons became successful railroad men. The popu- lation of the village increased slowly until in more

Truman Bell

Hopbottom and township of Lathrop, for several years. Himself and wife are members of the Uni- versalist Church, and he assisted, by liberal contribu- tion, in the building of the present church edifice in the borough. In 1858 he married his second wife, Fannie M. Kellum, who was born November 21, 1839, by whom he has children,-Jennie Eliza, wife of Charles H. Hoover, of Binghamton, and Luther P. Bell. His father, Lyman W. Kellum (1812-80), a native of Bridgewater, resided in Brooklyn until 1852, when he settled at Hopbottom, where he built the " Foster House," now managed by his widow and children. Her mother, Sally Ann Williams, born

recent years, when it became more permanent and a better class of residences were erected. In 1887 there were three hundred and fifty inhabitants, a good school-house, two churches, six stores, two public- houses and other interests noted below. The first building in Hopbottom which had a noteworthy size was a part of the present "Exchange Hotel," which was erected in 1853 by David Wilmarth. It was enlarged by him from time to time, and he kept it until 1885, when Asa Day became the landlord. Opposite from it, on the south side of the railroad, the popular "Foster Honse " was opened in 1878 by Lyman Kellum, which has been kept by his family

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Centennial history of Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, Part 135

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