Centennial history of Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, Part 152

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 152

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South Gibson Cemetery, or Manzer burying-ground, is beautifully located on a flat sand-knoll, about twenty feet above the Tunkhannock. The flowing waters in days gone by raised a natural embankment well adapted for a burial-place. John Collar, who was the pioneer on the Manzer place, and two or three

others were buried there many years ago, and Law- rence Manzer deeded one-half acre to the Manzer family for a burying-place, but the neighbors con- tinued to want lots there until T. J. Manzer proposed to give two acres and one-half more, and he, with twenty-eight others, had the cemetery incorporated in 1870. T. J. Manzer is secretary of the company. Among the old settlers buried there we notice Isaac V. Maxon, died 1869, aged seventy-five ; Israel How- ell, died 1872, aged seventy-six; Benj. Coon, died 1881, aged eighty.

There are two small burial-places at Smiley Hollow and another at Gelatt.

EAST MOUNTAIN DISTRICT .- Alanson Belcher set- tled where his son Edgar now resides. John Washburn settled where Richard Owens lives. Willard and Warren Walker, Benjamin Suyder and Daniel Tut- tle, who was killed by a falling tree, were early settlers on East Mountain. David Holmes, son of William Holmes, of Kentuck, located where his son George now lives. His children were David E., merchant in South Gibson ; William, resident of Jackson ; Charles, who died in the army ; Jesse, Samuel, George and Sarah, wife of Richard Owens.

James Bennett, son of Levi Bennett, came to East Mountain and bought an improvement, including a log house, of Abner Walker in 1837. William Tay- lor and his son Amos took up the place where Josiah Taylor now lives. James Kelly resided where his son Thomas afterwards resided. William Gardiner where John Reese lives. Isaac Maxon was also another old settler here ; his widow, aged eighty-six, resides on the place with her son Elisha. Alonzo P. Kinney has been a resident forty years. William Owens has the Willard and Warren Walker farms. Owen and Wm. Williams, two bachelor brothers, own the Shepherdson place. There are not so many iuhabitants on East Mountain as formerly. Many of the later settlers are Welsh, who have purchased two farms in some cases and joined them together iu one farm. There has been a school in the settlement for fifty-five years or since 1832. There was a log school-house near where Belcher lives. Harriet Taylor was one of the first teachers. The school-house is now near Pickering's. Elder Fish organized a Free-Will Baptist Church, which was maintained for many years, but the little flock has been decimated by removals and death, until the organization has been given up.

Willard and Warren Walker and wives, Arnold Walker and wife, Sylvester Coon and wife, Orvis Lewis and wife, Alanson Belcher and wife, Thos. Chandler and wife, Ellen Tiffany, James Bennett and wife and others were members. The organization never had any church building, but worshipped in the school- house. Jas. Bennett superintended the Sunday-school. East Mountain was originally timbered with beech, maple and hemlock. The land receives the wash of the mountains and is very fertile.

Job Tripp lived and died ou the East Mouutain,

1 See Lanesboro' and Oakland histories for further history of the Taylors.

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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

where Solomon Pickering now lives. His children were Orson, died in the army ; Eliza Ann, wife of Nelson Resseguie; Samuel, who lives in South Gibson; Charles, who died in Scranton ; and Adaline, wife of George Van Loan, of Lenox. Benjamin Snyder came to Gibson from Clifford in 1824, and settled on the Dann farm, near Sonth Gibson, until 1836, when he removed to East Mountain. He had a family of ten children. James, resides in Lenox ; John, moved to Oregon and became a noted bridge-builder ; George, lives in Illinois; Elizabeth Keech, resides at Soutlı Gibson ; Polly, wife of William Taft, died in Gibson

and a half miles from South Gibson, on the road to Gelatt, which he run in connection with his farming. He was known as "Esquire" Williams, and served for two consecutive terms as justice of the peace, being the first one elected by the people of the town- ship after the law was enacted, providing for election instead of appointment to that office. He had previously served as constable. He also served as school director, and was one of an examining committee of teachers before the creation of the office of school superintendent. He was a man of temperate habits, firm in his convictions, a great

in 1884; Margaret, is the wife of D. T. Lawrence; Ann J., is the wife of S. D. N. Bennett ; and Adaline, is the wife of Frederick Emerick.

JOHN WILLIAMS (1788-1869), a native of Nor- wich, Conn., was among the early settlers of the township of Gibson, and came here while yet a young man, about 1814. He had been liberally educated, and was a teacher for several terms, and in this work he was known as a thorough disciplinarian. His home on the Tunkhannock is the present resi- dence of his children. He erected his first frame house upon settling on his land, and built the present residence about 1853. He owned a saw-mill on the Tunkhannock near his residence, which is about one

reader of the Bible and highly respected for his honesty of purpose. He worshipped with the Free- Will Baptists at Rock School-house and at South Gibson. He enlisted three times during the War of 1812, while a resident of Connecticut, and during luis service showed much bravery, on one occasion carrying an open keg of powder to another place when no other soldier dared to volunteer to do it. He served as captain in the old State Militia for many years, and was known as " Captain Williams" until his election as justice of the peace. During the War of the Rebellion he stood unswervingly in the Republican ranks as a supporter of the Union cause. His parents were Solomon (1756-1837) and Hannah

767

GIBSON.

Ayer (1761-1822) Williams, and his brothers and sisters were George, born 1782, died unmarried; Joseph (1784-1862), a resident of Gibson for many years, died in Wayne County; Sally, 1786, dicd young; Hannah (1791-1837); Betsey, 1793; and Solomon, 1795. His wife, the widow Lott, formerly Rhoda Poole, died in 1846. His children are,-

Solomon, eldest son of John Williams, bought one thousand acres of timber-land on the Delaware, and was successfully engaged in the lumber business when the war broke out. His love of country out- weighed the entreaties of friends and a desire for private gain. He enlisted in Company E, Captain Lewis Bunnell, One Hundred and Seventy-seventh Pennsylvania Regiment, and served nine months; was first stationed at Newport News, and at Suffolk, Va., where he remained until December, 1862, when he volunteered to help man Fort Halleck, where he remained five months. He was ordered to Fort Nan- semond, and afterwards to Fort Kingsbury, where he remained until his term of service expired. He was a brave soldier, and once, while on guard, halted com- missioned officers, refusing to let them pass, threaten- ening at the point of the bayonet their lives, if they proceeded farther. Through disability he was pre- vented from re-enlistment; returned to his former vocation, which he was soon obliged also to abandon, and returned to the old homestead. John, second sou, born 1825; married the widow Myra Ann Palmer, now deceased, resides on the homestead. Rhoda Ann, born in 1829, is the widow of Jacob Denny, resides at Equinunk, Pa., and has one sou living, Harland A. Denny; and Annettie Williams, also on the homestead. This Rhoda Lott had four children by her first husband,- Ichabod, died in Michigan ; Sally, deceased, was the wife of Edward J. Denny, of Gibson ; William died in Michigan; and Mary Lott died young.

HAMILTON BONNER was born September 3, 1806, and emigrated with his father, Chas. Bonner, to Herrick from Tyrone County, Ireland. His father settled on the Newburg turnpike near Dr. Day's, and Hamilton labored on the public works. He helped log the ground where Honesdale stands, and helped dig the Delaware and Hudson Canal from Mamakating up to Honesdale, and helped build the gravity railroad from Honesdale to Carbondale. He remembers the "Stour- bridge Lion," the first engine run in America, and says it was a clumsy thing. They could not do much with it. He finally got enough of labor on public works, and came to Harford, near the Gibson line, and bought an improvement of Michael Belcher and kept bachelor's hall awhile, but he would come in tired and his johnny cake would burn up while he was napping, and he left and found work at Skinner's Eddy. Here he met his destiny in the form of a fe- male,-Miss Hannah Pepper, whom he married and re- turned to his cabin and cleared up a place. They have children as follows : Philander, a resident of Gibson ; David, lives in Wyoming County ; and

John lives on the homestead ; Philander and David were in the army ; Eliza is the wife of Herman Web- ber, of Burrows' Hollow. Mr. Bonner was converted in 1830, after a four days' struggle, and has never had any doubts since that time. He has been Sunday- school superintendent, steward and is a licensed ex- horter in the Methodist Church.

JOHN D. PICKERING .- Jotham and Phineas Pick- ering, brothers, settled in New Milford from Massachu- setts, in 1793. Five years later, in 1798, they settled in Gibson, the latter at Gelatt Hollow. He had sons,- Augustus, Joseph and John B. The former, Jotham, a soldier in the Revolutionary War, resided on Gibson Hill and died at about fifty years of age. His chil- dren were Henry, went to Ohio; John, resided in Gibson for many years, removed to Nicholson, where he built a saw-mill, and resided until his death ; Preserved, resided adjoining the homestead in Gibson, had a son William, whose son Alden S. is the present proprietor of the hotel at South Gibson; Corbet (1796-1876), father of John D .; Potter, resided in Gibson and died in Glennwood ; Leah, wife of William Tripp, of Gibson; Mrs. Aden Cramer, of Clifford; Nabby Ann, a Mrs. Miller of Gibson ; and Polly, wife of James Waterman, of Mt. Pleasant, Wayne County. Corbet, fourth son of Jotham Pickering, married Tamar Denny, born in 1803, now living, a daughter of John Denny, who came to Gibson from Dutchess County, N. Y., in 1814, whose wife was Esther Corbet. Cor- bet resided for fifteen years after his marriage in North Gibson, and in 1833 settled on the Tunkhannock, a mile below South Gibson, where he erected a saw-mill in 1835, and a grist-mill about 1848. Here he spent the remainder of his life, running his mills and man- aging his farm. He served in the War of 1812, and went as far as Danville. Both himself and wife were members of the Baptist Church and attended at Gelatt Hollow. Their children are Louisa (1820-76), was the wife of James Snyder, of Lenox; John D., born in North Gibson February 1, 1821; Nathaniel, 1823, a farmer at Glennwood ; Harlaam, the wife of Datus Stevens, of Clifford; Alanson, deceased, resided in Clifford; Elias, resides in Moscow, Pa; Betsey, de- ceased, was the wife of Benjamin Potter, of Gibson Lovina, the wife of Emory Ehrgood, of Moscow ; Eveline, deceased, was the wife of John Traviss, of Gibson, who was killed in front of Petersburg, during the war, and after his death married Charles Lewis, both dying in Moscow ; Henry, of Yellowstone Park ; Cordilla, was the wife of Frank Gaum, and died in Michigan ; Malıala, widow of Samuel Blair, Ohio ; and James resides in Clifford.

John D. Pickering spent his boyhood on the farm of his father, and in attending the mills. He learned what hard work was, aud the important lessons of economy and industry as necessary to securing a comfortable home and a fair competence. He mar- ried, in 1841, Lucinda Conrad, of Gibson, who was born July 25, 1821, and their children are Melissa R.,

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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

1842, wife of Denison McNamara, a well-to-do far- mer, of Lenox ; Mary Julianna, 1843, wife of Samuel McNally, of Lenox; Eldridge C., 1852, succeeded to his father's homestead in Lenox ; Emma A., 1857,wife of Lucius Briggs, of Gibson. Following his marriage John D. bought a farm in Lenox, where his son now resides, where he remained until 1874, when he ercc- ted his present residence in Gibson, where he has since resided. When a young man of seventeen he served on the Canadian frontier during the Canadian Rebellion of 1837-38, and when forty-two years of

Elizabeth (1797-1878) Resseguie Conrad, of Gibson. George Conrad settled in Gibson in 1818, and was the son of William Conrad, who settled in Brooklyn in 1787, and was a Hessian soldier employed by Great Britain in the Revolutionary War. Betsey Elizabeth Resseguie was the daughter of Samuel Resseguie, a settler in Gibson in 1809.

The Conrads belonged to the Baptist Church at South Gibson. Their children are Eli, 1819, of Gibson ; Lucinda (Mrs. John D. Pickering) ; Fidelia, 1823, was the wife of Anchew Corey, of Preston

Johan Pickering

age, in 1864, he enlisted in Company D, Captain Di- mock, Fiftieth Pennsylvania Regiment, at Harrisburg, was encamped at Annapolis, and thence, by a forced march, during which many stalwart men died on the way, he was engaged in the battle of the Wilderness. The fatigue of this march resulted in permanent injury by bursting a vein on his leg, and for disabil- ity he was sent to the hospital, and remained at the hospitals at Newark, N. J., and Satterlee, Philadelphia, until he was honorably discharged May 15, 1865. His wife is a daughter of George (1794-1856) and Betsey

Wayne County, where both died; Martin, 1828, of Lenox ; Freelove, 1831, widow of John Guard, of Gib- son ; George, 1833, served nearly through the late war, was taken prisoner with thirteen others, and under- went the most inhuman treatment in Andersonville prison for sixteen months, he being the only one that survived of the thirteen, resides in Lenox; Henry F. 1835, a farmer in Gibson; William S. (1838-63), served in the late Rebellion one year, and died on the way home ; Betsey Melinda, 1841-59; and Mary, 1843, wife of Paul Barriger, Esq., of Great Bend.

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JACKSON.

CHAPTER XLIX.

JACKSON TOWNSHIP.

IN 1814, on petition of John Hilborn and others for a division of the original township of Harmony into two equal parts, six miles north and south by nine miles east and west, the court appointed Asa Dimock, Philip J. Stewart and John Kent viewers and their report setting off the lower half as a new township to be called Jackson was accepted, and fin- ally confirmed December, 1815. A petition in May previous asking to have it named Greenfield was not granted, as the viewers failed to report. The ma- jority of the voters were Democratic at that time and chose to name the township Jackson in honor of the hero of New Orleans. The area of Jackson was di- minished one-half in 1833 by the erection of the east- ern part into the township of Thomson. When Ararat was erected, in 1852, the township was further diminished, and is now nearly rectangular in shape. Oakland and Harmony lay north, Thomson east, Ararat southeast, Gibson south and New Milford west. The general elevation of the township is about one thousand six hundred feet above tide-water, although some points are one thousand seven hun- dred feet high. The hills are more rolling and the bluffs are not as abrupt as in most of the townships; hence there is very little waste land. The northern half of the township drains northward into the Sus- quehanna, and the southern portion is drained south- ward by the Tunkhannock, which takes its rise in this township. The Canawacta heads not far from the headwaters of the Tunkhannock, and flows north- ward into the Susquehanna at Lanesboro'. It is said that a party of Indians of the Conewago tribe were ac- customed to hunt and fish in this vicinity, and that the creek took its name from this circumstance. Drinker Creek, that flows northward, Meadow Brook, which flows westerly, and the West and Middle Branches of the Tunkhannock, that flow southerly, all rise within a radius of about one mile around Mount Hope. Butler Lake is the largest sheet of water in the township, being half a mile wide and more than a mile long. There was once a beaver meadow, which is now covered by a mill-pond, east of Butler Lake. Jackson township, perhaps more than any other, was covered with hard-wood forests, such as maple, beech, birch and chestnut. There was also pine and hemlock, but the prevailing timber was hard-wood. The forests were more open than now, for the deer were very numerous on these beech and maple ridges and kept the undergrowth browsed down. They usually ate the buds and small twigs, but some hard winters they gnawed down undergrowth and limbs that were one-half inch thick. The deer were very numerous when the first settlers came and for many years thereafter, and it is not improbable that

David Bryant and John Griffis each killed one thou- sand deer. Hard-wood ridges are much easier cleared than hemlock and pine-covered lands ; and hence it is not surprising that the hardy Vermont and New Hampshire settlers of Jackson early had good farms. Maple sugar making has been a source of revenue to the Jackson farmers, and is still made in considerable quantities in the township. Wealth is more evenly dis- tributed in Jackson than in any other township. The farmers generally are in comfortable circumstances. The occupatiou of the people is almost exclusively that of dairying, and they produce as good butter as any township in the county. There has been the usual accompaniment of saw-mills, a grist-mill or two, a butter-tub factory and a wagon-shop, the country store and tavern, but aside from that the people have devoted their energies to clearing up the land and making improvements thereon, and the roads in the township are very good ..

The first settlement in Jackson was near the Gib- son line, on the road from Burrows' Hollow to Jackson Centre. Two of the sons of George Gelatt made a clearing as early as 1809. They afterwards sold to Elkanah Tingley, who gave these lots to his sons, Daniel and Milton. In going northward from the Oney Sweet tavern-stand, Benjamin Tingley settled where Rexford Tingley lives; Henry Chandler where Wallace Barnes lives ; Milton Tingley just across the line in Jackson, where his son, Guilford, now lives, and Daniel Tingley cleared up the next farm where William Craft now lives, and Elder G. W. Leonard where Nathan Guile lives. Patty (Hamil- ton) Wilcox resides with her son-in-law, and is now ninety-four years old. She can spin, knit and sew, and is remarkably bright and clear for one so ad- vanced in years. She came from near where the pioneer settlers of Jackson lived, and remembers when they first started from home to come into this wilderness in 1812-13. Uriah Thayer, David and Jonathan Bryant and Darius Lamb came together and purchased six or eight hundred acres. Obed Nye bought one hundred and twenty acres of Uriah Thayer, including one acre of wheat standing on the ground. He cleared up a good farm and erected buildings. His son, Norman P. Nye, retains the homestead. The next place is the David Bryant farm, now occupied by William Holmes. Oliver Clinton also had part of the Bryant tract; his son, Truman, resides there now. David Bryant, Jairus Lamb, Hosea Benson, Daniel Ting- ley were here when Hall came, in 1815. Major Joel Lamb and family came that year and lived two or three years in the Skyrin House. The major was a large, stout, bony man, with a large hand, head and foot,-a man of strength of body and force of char- acter, well adapted for pioneer life, with its obstacles to overcome and hardships to endure. He took up four hundred acres of land and located where Fraucis Whitney resides. He cleared land and erected a good house and barn while he was living in the Sky-

770

HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

rin House. The family were Methodists and good singers. His children were (1) Jairus, who settled where Philip Steenback lives. He had preceded his father and was one of the first four emigrants from New Hampshire . and Vermont. He raised a large family, most of whom located in the township. Joel H. lives on the Hosea Benson place. Charles and Wesson live in Oakland. (2) Joel Lamb married and settled in Thomson, and was at one time the wealthiest man in the township. Two of his sons John and Ambrose, are farmers there. (3) Chauncy Lamb settled on the farm joining his brother Jairus'. He was a good citizen and raised a family of four . children, none of whom remained in the township. (4) David Lamb retained the homestead and well sustained the family name. He built a stall for the preacher's horse, which was kept clear for him at all times, with hay and oats near at hand. He had a family of three sons and three daughters. Alonzo, one of the sons, is a farmer in the township and newspaper itemizer for the Independent Republican. (5) Emily was the wife of Martin Hall. (6) Bet- sey was the wife of Torrey Whitney. (7) Almira was the wife of Enos Bryant. (8) Polly was the wife of Russell Whitney, who removed to Honesdale after living in the south part of Jackson a short time. (9) Lucinda was the wife of Lyman Lewis. (10) Samantha was the wife.of Eben C. Blanchard. (11) Lucy was unmarried.

David Bryant came into the woods where Holmes lives and took up two lots containing two hundred acres or more, and rolled up a log cabin and cleared up a place. He came in the spring of 1812, and was one of the first settlers in Jackson. He was a great hunter, and killed a great many deer. Many remark- able hunting stories of his are preserved in the tradi- tions of the neighborhood. Once he was out hunting and raised his gun to shoot a deer, and heard a rattle- snake hissing at his feet. "Most men," said he, " would have stopped to kill the snake, but I knew the snake couldn't get away and I thought the deer might, so I shot the deer first." Another time, while hunting with a bald-headed man, they both laid down in a hunter's cabin to rest; during the night the man jumped up and yelled. A bear had stuck his cold nose against the bald head of his friend, and he was scared. "You need have no fear," says Bryant; "nothing would ever eat you." He married Abigail Hilliard, and his children were Clarissa, wife of Oliver Clinton; Elias M. married Maria Wheaton and went into the woods in the edge of Thomson in 1843 and cleared up one of the best farms in that vicinity, which he now occupies. The other children were Elvira, wife of Elon Wilcox; Jane, wife of William Benson, lives in California; Alonzo and Lazelle both died while young men, leaving families; Louisa is the wife of Arthur Price and Mary is the wife of Delos Rob- erts. Horace Aldrich came on the farm adjoining Elias Bryant's in 1842, and cleared up the farm where

Harry Whitmarsh lives. Stephen Greenwood com- menced on the farm next to Aldrich about the same time. John Gunnison commenced on the place owned by Amzi Page about 1837. Ansel Page lives on the place adjoining. Moses B. Wheaton commenced on the place that Thomas Butterfield afterwards cleared up. John Martin bought of John Tanner the farm where Charles Martin has resided for many years. Charles Brown took up a place on the old Harmony Road; he afterwards sold it to his brother Ormel, whose son Zachary resides there now.

DEACON MARTIN HALL was the son of Joel (1747-1843) and Elizabeth Bush (1752-1830) Hall, who were married in January, 1772, and emigrated from Connecticut into the wilderness of Vermont, where they endured the privations and sufferings in- cident to the early pioneers of that State. Joel Hall was a farmer in Connecticut, and served as a soldier in the War of the Revolution. His brother, Hiram, was a soldier during the entire period of that war, serving seven years. When Joel Hall and wife emi- grated to Vermont, four of his brothers accompanied him. They had children,-Hannah, 1772; Joel, 1774, who came to Jackson front Vermont and re- mained ten or twelve years, then removed to Tioga County, Pa .; Justus, 1775; Israel, 1778; Martin died young ; Lotan (1783-1854); Asa, 1785, came from Vermont and settled near Jackson Corners, where he died; Elizabeth, 1789, was the wife of Jairus Lamb, one of the first settlers of Jackson (see history of Jackson and personal sketch of C. W. Lamb, son of Jairus) ; Martin, January 18, 1793. Upon coming to Vermont Joel Hall had purchased a wilderness-farm situate in the town of Halifax, in Windham County, where Martin Hall was born-being the youngest of the family. Here young Martin spent his boyhood, and remained under the parental roof-tree until he reached his majority. The opportunities for educa- tion were limited and meagre, never extending beyond three months' schooling in the winter, but so assidu- ously and perseveringly did he apply himself to his studies, that, at the age of eighteen, he taught the school in his native town, and the succeeding term also. The War of 1812 found young Hall a member of a militia company of his town, and with others he volunteered his services as a soldier, and was made a corporal in Captain Samuel Preston's company. He is now one of the honored pensioners of that war. In January, 1814, he left the homestead in Vermont and went to Oneida County, N. Y., where he worked for a brother-in-law during the summer. He then decided to visit the home of his sister, Mrs. Jairus Lamb, in the " beech-woods" of Pennsylvania, and on foot he proceeded down the Unadilla and Susquehanna Rivers to Great Bend, and from thence, through New Milford, to the clearing of his brother-in-law in Jack- son. Here he remained until October of that year, during which time he purchased of Henry Drinker one hundred and twenty-five acres of land at three dollars

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Centennial history of Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, Part 152

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