Centennial history of Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, Part 20

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 20

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).

together with the advertisements, comprised the larger part of the matter found in the early newspapers here and elsewhere; consequently, the historian finds more of local history in the advertisements than elsewhere in them. All those local happenings which are written up with such minntiæ of detail nowadays were almost entirely wanting in the early newspaper ; and personal mention was reserved for celebrated persons This newspaper, small as it was, each page being eleven by eighteen inches, was filled with news under great difficulties. In 1817 he begged his readers " to excuse the barrenness of the Centinel, for he had received no papers by the mail." Alas! no mail, no telegraph, no telephone and no idea of how to make local events interesting. No hunting stories, no early pioneer struggles for existence, no new arrival of settlers, all of which would have been a thonsand-fold more interesting to us now,-all are deferred to far-fetched news; but if he found it a difficult matter to fill his paper with news, it was still more difficult to get pay for it. In the spring of 1818 the Centinel contained the following appeal from the editor: "Help me or I die! For three months I have not received as much money from the whole of my patrons as the paper itself costs for one bare week." May 9, 1818, he changed the name of his paper, making the following announcement to his patrons : "This number terminates the Centinel forever. The Montrose Gazette will be published at this office hereafter, the same day of the week as the Centinel has been." The terms were $2.00 for one year and $2.50 if not paid within the year. December 15, 1821, Justin Clark announced that "his health had become so slender that longer to continue in the business would be injurions to himself and the public; that he had sold to two worthy young men, James'Catlin and George Fuller, in whom he had the firmest confidence." The politics continued the same as before -- that is, Demo- cratic-Republican.

Justin Clark was a lame man and went on crutches. He came from Cooperstown, N. Y., and probably returned to that place after he sold to Catlin & Fuller. He died shortly after leaving here, in 1822. Garner Isbell took

102

HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

the first paper that was printed at Montrose from the press, and he preserved the files for a number of years. His son, L. F. Isbell, a jew- eler at New Milford, has them now. Mr. Isbell was a cabinet-maker, and was an ingeni- ous man at almost every kind of mechanical work. He kept the presses in repair for years, and sometimes rendered other assistance in con- nection with the papers. He built a house just beyond where the rink now is, and subsequently moved into Bridgewater township, on the South road, where he died, aged about sixty.

The first number of the Messenger was issued by Adam Waldie, who came here from Phila- delphia, June 24, 1820. This was a four-col- umn folio, of the same size as the Centinel. In his prospectus the editor says : "In politics the editor of the Messenger will strive to steer clear of all party distinctions. He professes no par- tiality for such artificial and invidious classifica- tions ; but since they do exist, he shall be so far impartial as to publish, with equal readiness, communications from either, only let the lan- guage be temperate and respectful, without which, be the writer whom he may, no commu- nication can be inserted." About the same time that Adam Waldie started his independent paper, some parties, supposed to have been Isaac Post and possibly Garner Isbell, published the Republican Reformer ; about the same time The Pennsylvanian, another campaign paper, dated at Dundaff, but really published at Montrose, was issued. Neither the Reformer nor the Pennsylvanian were issued beyond a few numbers. The second volume of the Messenger was named the Susquehanna County Herald. Aug. 3, 1822, Adam Waldie sold the Herald to 1 Samuel C. Wilson & Co. The new editor an- nounced that the Herald would partake more of a political character. It would support Demo- cratic-Republican principles.

" 2 In 1823 the Montrose Gazette and Susquehanna County Herald were united, and the publication was continued three years by James Catlin.

" In 1824 he edited and printed, also, The Repository, a literary and religious semi-monthly magazine; and

in the fall of the same year he began to issue Elder Dimock's Christian Magazine.

" Vol. I. The Christian Magazine, a monthly publi- cation, devoted to the public for general information. Published by Davis Dimock, pastor of the Baptist church, at Bridgewater. Montrose : printed by James Catlin, at the Gazette office. Commenced November 1, 1824, comprising thirty-two pages, about the size of this book, at $1 cash, or $1.25 in grain, flax or wool.

"Vol. II. The same title, but issued semi-monthly, on eight pages, at 872 cents cash, in advance ; $1 in grain, etc.

" Vol. III. Baptist Mirror and Christian Magazine, etc. Printed by Dimock & Fuller, office of the Register, enlarged to three columns to a page, eight columns semi-monthly ; closed September 17, 1827."

James Catlin, son of Putnam Catlin, and brother of George Catlin, the artist, married a sister of Benjamin Sayre and moved to the South. He died at Milton, Florida, in Novem- ber, 1847.

"In 1824 George Fuller established and edited the Susquehanna County Republican ; the second year he was joined by S. C. Wilson.

"December, 1825, both the Gazette and the Repub- lican were merged into the Register.

"The Register was established by Davis Dimock, Jr., and George Fuller. After one year the name was changed to The Susquehanna Register, and was pub- lished three years longer by the same parties, who favored the election of Jackson; George Fuller then withdrew, and D. Dimock, Jr., continued its publica- tion alone until January, 1831, when C. L. Ward became his partner.

"The accession of Mr. Ward to the editorship was at a period of moment to popular education and the prosecution of the public works; and his best efforts were given to their promotion.

" From the above time until March, 1836, he con- ducted the paper, being for the first two or three months the associate of Davis Dimock, Jr., and for the last fifteen having James W. Chapman in partnership.

"In 1832-34 the paper had an additional title, the Northern Pennsylvanian. In 1835 only the original name was used, but the following year the Northern Farmer was attached to it.

"Mr. Ward sold out to D. Dimock, Jr., the firm- name becoming J. W. Chapman & Co. until Septem- ber, 1835, when J. W. Chapman bought out D. Dimock, Jr., and it became a Whig journal."

The Susquehanna Register and Northern Farmer, in 1837, was a six column folio, each page being about fifteen by twenty-two inches. Its motto was: " The will of the people is the

1 Samuel C. Wilson is still living at Belfast, New York, aged eighty- two. He is a brother of Mason Wilson.

2 Blackman's "History."

THE PRESS.

103

legitimate source, and the happiness of the people the true end of government." This paper was conducted by James W. Chapman alone through four volumes.

" In 1841 he was joined by B. H. Mills, but after April, 1843, was again alone until 1856, when, for one year, Theodore Smith was his publisher and co- editor.

"June, 1851, The Susquehanna Register establish- ment passed into the hands of John C. Miller, and April, 1852, it was published by Homer H. Frazier.

"In 1854 H. H. Frazier and Theodore Smith were editors and publishers of the last volume of the paper. "January, 1855, its name was changed to the Independent Republican, C. F. Read, associate editor, with H. H. Frazier the publisher."

Homer H. Frazier built up the Independent Republican until it had a large circulation. He gave particular attention to the local depart- ment, and made it one of the best paying news- papers in Northern Pennsylvania. In August, 1876, James P. Taylor bought the Independent Republican office. He enlarged the paper from a nine to a ten-column folio, the entire sheet being thirty by forty-nine inches. Mr. Taylor has also made a specialty of the local department. Its circulation is five thousand. We follow the history of the Independent Republican with short sketches of Christopher L. Ward and James W. Chapman, editors of the Register, and Homer H. Frazier and James P. Taylor, editors of the Independent Republican.

cause. He was a good writer ; but having a dis- inclination to enter political life, he severed his connection with the Register in 1836. He read law with William Jessup and was admitted to the bar in 1837. He removed to Towanda, Brad- ford County, shortly afterwards, and became president of the Atlantic and Great Western Railway, during its construction through Penn- sylvania, and through his instrumentality the means for its early completion were obtained in Europe. He was a well-read and clear- minded lawyer, but his multiplied business affairs took him from his profession, thongh he had been successful in it. He died at To- wanda, May 14, 1870, aged sixty-three years.

HON. JAMES W. CHAPMAN was born in what is now Brooklyn township (then Bridge- water, Luzerne County) May 7, 1804. His father was known as Joseph Chapman, Jr., and was a native of New London County, Conn. His grandfather, Captain Joseph Chapman, Sr., of the Revolution, came to Pennsylvania in 1798 and moved his family here in 1799. Joseph Chapman, Jr., married Betsey Leffing- well, of Norwich, Conn., in 1800. James W. Chapman's parents and grandparents were among the pioneers of Susquehanna County, and he had only the advantages of the very common schools of the backwoods, attending summers from five until nine years of age, and winter schools until in his sixteenth year, when he was employed to teach a small school ; he continued to teach from that time for ten years. He studied grammar and surveying without an instructor, at spare intervals while teaching and working on his father's farm. In 1833-34 he conducted the Mauch Chunk Courier. He returned to Montrose and joined C. L. Ward in the publication of the Susquehanna County Register, and from 1835 to 1851, either with others or alone, he conducted that paper. Mr. Chapman is a smooth writer, with a vein of humor that holds the attention. He wrote with care not to offend. Since his withdrawal from journalism he has devoted most of his time to surveying, which lic commenced in 1824. He was appointed deputy, by the surveyor-general, in 1830, and served until he went to Mauch

CHRISTOPHER L. WARD was born in New Milford in 1807. He was studious in his youth and acquired, by study and reading, a fair edu- cation. The habits of industry early acquired never left him : " His diversions indicated the bent of his mind." From the school-boy to the printer-apprentice, and through the initiatory studies of his profession, he gathered many curious things, and delighted in arranging them appropriately ; and in later years this propensity led to his acquisition of a valuable library. With freedom from other demands upon his time, he might have made a success in the world of letters. In 1831 he became the partner of Davis Dimock in conducting the Susquehanna Register. He became editor at the time when the public-school law was being agitated, and he gave his best efforts to the promotion of that . Chunk. He has served as county surveyor, by

104

HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

election, since 1862, excepting a short time when he was associate judge. He served as transcrib- ing clerk of the State Senate in 1847. In 1850 he took the census of the eastern half of the county, and in 1880 took the census of the borough. In 1871 lie was elected associate judge along with Judson H. Cook ; they were the last to act in that capacity in Susquehanna County, the office having been abolished by the Constitution of 1873. Mr. Chapman married, in 1844, Betsey Bisbee, who was born in 1825, being a daughter of Major Seth and Leah (Aldridge) Bisbee, of Lathrop. Their children, are Charles Miner, the late editor of the Tunk- hannock Republican, and Ella W., wife of S. L. Brown, a large oil jobber, of Wilkes-Barre.

HOMER H. FRAZIER was born at Canton, Conn., December 21, 1822. Thomas Frazier, the founder of the family in America, came from Scotland to New York City at a date unknown to the family. His son Daniel married Abigail Holliday, and removed to Connecticut and set- tled on a farm. Their son Thomas married Deborah Selden Nott, a sister of the celebrated Samuel Nott, D.D., and Eliphalet Nott, D.D., for many years president of Union College, New York. Stephen N. (1793-1880), son of Thomas, married Abigail M. Case (1795-1885). Their children were George F., Stephen N., Homer H., Eliphalet W., John J., Charles H., Eliza M. and Cestus C. Homer H. married Caroline B. Birchard, of Montrose. The parents of Mrs. Frazier were Jesse Tracy (1802-53) and La- mira (Smith) Birchard (1803-72), married Jan- uary 22, 1828. Their children were Asher L. (1829-82), Harriet H. (1832-40), Caroline Brewster, born April 28, 1835, wife of H. H. Frazier, and Charles H., now in Philadel- phia. The Birchards were an old family from New London County, Conn.

Jesse Birchard (1770-1840) and Harriet (Smith) first came to Susquehanna County in 1799, and located at Birchardsville, Forest Lake township. Their children were Asahel (1800- 35), Jesse T. and John S. A sister of Jesse Birchard married a Tracy, the father of Thomas H. R. Tracy, for many years superintendent of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company. When about ten years of age H. H. Frazier's

parents removed with their family to the State of New York, and after residing successively at Catskill, Cairo, Coventry and Colesville, at length located on a farm in Harmony township, Susquehanna County. Mr. Frazier was fond of agricultural pursuits, and at the same time a lover of books. His father spoke of him as a "wonderful boy, and very industrious." Owing to the moderate circumstances of his parents, his educational advantages were confined entirely to the district school and a select school of his older brother, George, at Windsor, N. Y. He sometimes assisted his brother in teaching, and afterwards taught a number of terms. He entered the law-office of Hon. B. S. Bentley at Montrose, April 1, 1847, and was admitted to the bar August 21, 1848. For a time he was employed in J. T. Richards' office, and subse- quently formed a partnership with F. A. Case. In the Susquehanna Register of April 29, 1852, John Miller, in his valedictory, speaks of his successor, Homer H. Frazier, as a ripe scholar and a writer of no ordinary merit. In his salutatory, Mr. Frazier speaks of himself as a Whig by education and by "conviction," and announced that if any one made personal as- saults upon him (with goose quill), that he should " let him alone severely." His first edi- torial was brief and modest, and his promises then made were well sustained. On the 4th of January, 1855, in connection with Hon. Charles F. Read, Mr. Frazier issued the first number of the Independent Republican, under the motto of " Freedom and right against slavery and wrong." For a short time (or until his removal to Scranton to establish the Seranton Republican) Theodore Smith assisted in the publication of the paper. During the campaign of 1856 Mr. Frazier was corresponding editor of the Scranton Republican. The circulation of the Register rose from seven or eight hun- dred under Mr. Frazier's twenty-four years' management to over five thousand. Starting with the organization of the Republican party, it was from the first, one of its able, earnest and efficient organs. Passing through the trouble- some times of anti-slavery agitation, followed by the War of the Rebellion, perhaps few political editors were more candid and fair than Mr.

James P. Taylor

105

THE PRESS.

Frazier. He gave particular attention to the local department, and made his paper of practi- cal value in its moral, literary and scientific character. Seldom absent from his post, the editor was faithful in the discharge of his duties, and the physical and mental strain upon his system eventually caused his death. In his intercourse with correspondents, patrons, em- ployes and others he was genial and pleasant. As a citizen he was beloved and respected by all classes for the rectitude and purity of his character. The paper which he edited is a monument of the best years of his life. In his domestic relations he was remarkably happy as husband and father. His children were Wini- fred, George H., Herbert R., Marion L. and Jesse B. Mr. Frazier died May 16, 1876, aged fifty-three years. Mrs. Frazier married again and resides at Montrose, the wife of Orlando Watrous.

THEODORE SMITH commenced to learn the printer's trade in the Argus office, at Towanda. He came to Montrose and finished his trade with James W. Chapman, in the Register office. When H. H. Frazier took charge of the paper and changed the name to Independent Republi- can, he assisted its publication until he took a press from Montrose to Scranton and founded the Scranton Republican, with the understand- ing that the press should be returned to Mont- rose if the venture proved to be unsuccessful. The paper was started, as a campaign sheet, in 1856, during the Fremont canvass. It was a six-column folio, issued weekly. He sold it to F. A. McCartney, who had it about two years, when it came back into the hands of Mr. Smith and T. P. Alliger, who conducted it until 1864; then, after passing through a number of hands, Joseph Scranton purchased it, and established the daily Morning Republican in 1867. In 1864 Mr. Smith returned to Montrose, and again took the place of foreman (which had been filled by Wallace Lyons during his ab- sence) on the Independent Republican, where he is still actively employed. Mr. Smith has been forty-seven years in the business, and is one of the oldest printers actively engaged in the employment in the State.

JAMES P. TAYLOR was born at West Ches-

ter, the county-seat of Chester County, Pa., July 8, 1843. Here he enjoyed the advantages of excellent public schools during his early boy- hood, and later finished his education at the West Chester Academy and at the State Nor- mal School, at Millersville, Pa.

On the anniversary of his seventeenth birth- day he entered the printing-office of the West Chester Village Record, as an indentured ap- prentice, to learn the mystery of the " art pre- servative." Here he served a full term appren- ticeship of four years, leaving the office about a year after its expiration with a thorough and practical knowledge of the craft.

The invasion of Pennsylvania by Lee, in 1863, occurred during his apprenticeship, and in response to calls for volunteers, he, with nearly the whole available force of the office, asked leave to go ; but the publisher positively refused permission, declaring that the office had already been so depleted of help by the enlistment of all the men, that the boys under his control must stay and keep the paper going. But the next morning found nearly all of them on the road to the front, they having resolved to test the quality of a different kind of " shooting-stick" than that found in a printing- office.

Mr. Taylor joined an independent battery of light artillery, commanded by Captain George R. Guss. Many of the officers and men were from Col. Hyatt's Military School, then located at West Chester. Upon reaching Chambers- burg the battery was fully supplied with guns, horses and equipments. It remained in the field until the pressing exigency that called it to the defense of the State had ceased, when it proceeded to Harrisburg, and was mustered out, Mr. Taylor getting back to his case in the Village Record office early in September.

In 1866, soon after leaving the Record office, he went West, as associate editor and one of the proprietors of the Daily Pantograph, at Bloom- ington, Ill., the oldest and at that time the only daily paper in the city. Here he remained un- til November, 1870, when he severed his con- nection with the Pantograph and returned to Pennsylvania.

A few weeks after his return East, at the

106

HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

solicitation of Hon. William P. Miner, editor of the Record of the Times, he went to Wilkes- Barre, Pa., and connected himself with that paper. Shortly afterwards he, with Robert Morton, leased the paper from Mr. Miner for the period of two years. The new firm con- ducted the paper most successfully until the expiration of their lease, when Mr. Miner again assumed control, Mr. Taylor remaining as gen- eral manager and assistant editor. In 1873 the Daily Record of the Times, the first daily paper in the city, was established, and the first number bore his name as managing editor.

In June, 1876, Homer H. Frazier, editor and proprietor of the Independent Republican, printed at Montrose, Pa., died. Mr. Frazier had been its editor and publisher for nearly twenty-five years, and the paper was recognized, wherever known, as one of the best weeklies in the State, having a circulation not exceeded by any paper in Pennsylvania outside the large cities.

On the 1st day of August, 1876, Mr. Taylor, having purchased the Independent Republican establishment, relinquished his editorial duties at Wilkes-Barre to assume control of that paper as its editor and proprietor. Since assuming its editorial management, in 1876, the paper has received his personal and undivided atten- tion.

Not only has it maintained its previous high standing and influence, but marked improve- ments have been inaugurated, materially in- creasing its circulation and usefulness. The paper has been enlarged from a nine-column to a large ten-column folio; steam-power has been introduced, new machinery and presses have been added, with an entire renewal of material, and the office supplied with steam heating apparatus.

tous distribution among his subscribers of new and superior varieties of seeds, and during the last five years he has been the means of intro- ducing, in this way, over twenty-five new varie- ties of potatoes, some of them proving of much value to the farmers. In 1885, as an encour- agement to farmers' boys to till the soil, he offered several money premiums to boys under a certain age who should raise the most corn from a given number of square feet of ground. Many boys entered the contest, and the result showed that the soil of Susquehanna County is not only fertile, but astonishingly productive; but the practical lesson in agriculture which the boys received was the main object of Mr. Taylor's premiums.

Since a boy of seventeen a printing-office has been his business-home, and his life since then has been spent in the printing, publishing and editing of newspapers.

Mr. Taylor was married, April 16, 1873, to Miss Maggie D. Ayres, a daughter of Addis M. and Debbie R. Ayres, of Wilkes-Barre, Pa. Mrs. Taylor was born in Chester County, Pa., of which county her parents were natives.

Mr. Taylor has two children, both daughters -Mamie S., born at Wilkes-Barre, Pa., April 5, 1875; Jeanette A., born at Montrose, Pa., November 27, 1877.

He is a member of the Presbyterian Church of Montrose, and a member of the following- naned societies : Masons (Knights Templar), Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias, Improved Order of Red Men and Grand Army of the Republic.

In politics Mr. Taylor has always been a Republican, and the Independent Republican is the recognized Republican organ of the county.

Mr. Taylor comes from good old Quaker stock, his ancestors all being natives of Chester County, Pa., and of the Quaker faith. His father, William W. Taylor, was born Septem- ber 22, 1818, the son of William H. Taylor (1779-1841) and Elizabeth Taylor (1781-1825). He was married, January 23, 1844, to Hannah P. Pyle, daughter of James Pyle (1782-1825) and Elizabeth Pyle (1793-1833). She was

A large percentage of the patrons of the Independent Republican being engaged in agri- culture, Mr. Taylor has always, without stint, endeavored to contribute to their welfare in every manner. His columns are largely de- voted to farm topics and general information to the agriculturist. For several years, among his endeavors to encourage and stimulate this important industry has been the annual gratui- born at Kennett Square, Chester County, Pa.,

107

THE PRESS.

September 24, 1820, and is a second cousin of the late Bayard Taylor, the author, traveler and poet ; her mother, Elizabeth Pyle (née Elizabeth Taylor), being a daughter of Jacob Taylor, brother of Bayard Taylor's father, John Taylor.

In 1867 Mr. Taylor's father removed with his family to the State of Illinois. During his residence in his native county of Chester he was a prominent and successful carpenter, con- tractor and builder, and many of the prominent public and private buildings at the county-seat and throughont the county were erected under his supervision, as was also the Chester Creek water-works, that supplies West Chester with water.

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 20

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