Centennial history of Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, Part 24

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 24

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Proud Susquehanna rolls his waters on,

Scarce mindful of the changes time has brought ; The Delaware and Iroquois have gone,

And every work by nature's children wrought ; Yet the same spirit which her children caught

From cloud and sunshine, wood and mountain stream,

And which the laws of life and virtue taught, Still lingers on his shores, and still the theme Inspires of ancient legend and of poet's dream.

Hidden remote in Pennsylvania's hills, Thy vine-clad cottages, O fair Montrose ! Thy fields of green watered by mountain rills, And the pure sparkle of thy winter's snows No romance of forgotten years disclose ; Yet here strange legends of the past abound, Here hostile ashes side by side repose,

For thine was once the " Dark and Bloody Ground," Where heroes strove for fame and graves of glory found.

DESCRIPTION OF ENISKIN.

A lonely lake, once called the Whispering Wave, At twilight hour mirrored a maiden face Of wondrous beauty, pure as sculptors grave On spotless stone, yet dark as limners trace On chancel windows ; and a forni whose grace Was like the supple willow's bending o'er Ewayea's dreamy tide-maiden of royal race,

Named, as a crystal pebble on the shore, Eniskin-fairest spirit of the days of yore.

Her dress was green and russet, Nature's prints Of spring and autumn, gathered at her waist By woven belt of red and orange splints ;

White moccasins her slender feet encased, Beaded and worked in Nature's faultless taste Of blending figures. Olive leggings bound

Her rounded limbs, vermillion beads embraced Her neck, bright-tinted as her lips ; around Her form a scarlet mantle gracefully was wound.

Of noble birth-daughter of Tamanend- Alike for courage, strength and counsel famed ; The most renowned of the illustrious dead

In Indian legend and tradition named ; Whose mighty deeds heroic souls inflamed, And o'er his tribe a matchless lustre threw,

That long the brave inspired, the faltering shamed- No glory but her sire's she deemed as true, And in its inspiration, pride and spirit grew.

Beneath a spreading elm, whose branches swept The ground, her infancy was nursed. Here hung, In the cool summer shadows, while she slept,

Her tiny hammock, by the breezes swung And branches tossed ; nursed as the oriole's young, That built its netted hammock o'er her own, And 'mid the leaves from morn till evening sung, Thus had her life begun, and thus had grown, And naught but Nature's freedom, music, gladness known.

SAD REJECTION OF HER LOVER.

" Beware, O Nepanet !" Eniskin quick Replied with flashing eyes and form erect

" How thou dost to thy chieftain's daughter speak With mocking words. How couldst thou expect- No glory having won-I should reject Thy love? 'Twere needless thou shouldst bid adieu

To me."-Then suddenly her words were checked With choking sobs, and in her light canoe, As swift as swallow o'er the lake she flew,

Till hid within the shadows of the mountains, Wooded and dark beyond. Here resting from

Her flight, o'erwhelmed with shame and grief, the fountains

Of bitterness o'erflowed in tears. No room For reconciliation now ; yet whom But Nepanet can she e'er love ? and he Can ne'er forgive her bitter words, nor come Again as oft in days gone by, when she, While yet afar, would run to meet him joyfully.

DR. E. L. BLAKESLEE is not only a phy- sician and lawyer, but he is also something of a poet. He delivered the centennial poem July

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4, 1876, from which the following extracts are taken :

THE BIRTH OF COLUMBIA. Fair land, in beauty wild and green, Ere man thy native smile had seen, How long since Ocean gave thee birth And made thee Hemisphere of earth ? Or since the sea surge beat thy shore, And rivers rocky channels wore, Or red man started bison's tread O'er native meads, unbounded spread ? Or why sprang up from Ocean's deep, From night of long and billowy sleep, The land with forests green and wild, To rock the cradle of the child ? Heaven's descending favorite born, Liberty's babe of coming morn, Where mountain breeze shall fan her face Aud teach her freedom's queenly grace. And hardship's toil make strong the arm To strike, when foe shall threaten harm ; Christening her of Ocean birth, Columbia, fairest of the earth !

BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL.

When noonday sun with streaming gold, A-down the blue his chariot rolled, Where sleeps the bay, in waters still Beneath the brow of Bunker Hill ; The burnished armor of the foe, Its glittering sheen and silver glow, Shall shimmer in the warm blood's flow Ere day declining shadows bring Of night, on swift and sable wing. The sweeping scythe the day before Cut close the sward where human gore Ran redder streams in redder sea Than ever flowed Thermopyla. The ill-arrayed, determined band, Upon the brow now boldly stand, And sternly wait the coming foe With serried lines in scarlet glow. The belching cannon's seething flame, O'er jarring earth deep grumbling came, The sleety fire far-flashing, rung Through rolling clouds, its rattling tongue ; With bauners flaunting in their pride, Their lines moved up the sloping side. Our fathers stood in silence still, Content to wait their leader's will, Until they saw the flashing eye And heard brave Prescott sound the cry. Then, like volcano's molten tide, Hot, sweeping down the bursting side, The fiery blast, with bending gale, Sent down her drifts of leaden hail ! While broken lines now backward reel, Beneath the blows of dripping steel ;

Again they come, again recoil, O'er slippery steps of reddest soil.

At dangerous post, where country calls, Brave WARREN stands, but stands and falls ! When foes' thinned ranks fain take the field, With thrice in numbers fully steeled, And leave upou contested plain, The whitening bones of hundred slain, They're welcome to their Cadmean gain.

THE RED, WHITE AND BLUE.

Pale Liberty in vestal robe Of starry light, in azure wove, Her flowing hair unbound and free As waves that roll upon the sea ; And fire celestial in her eye, Which saddened when the wafted sigh Fell on her ear, and looking far Away where rolled the burning star, Her sister called aud victory came With flashing eyes on wings of flame, Her thunderbolts were blazing white, Her robes were flecked in boreal light, Descending now but hovering o'er The struggling field of human gore, Now hears her sister's pleading voice, But long withholds bestowing choice, No wreath to man she ever gave, Or gift, except the nobly brave ! She counts the scars and glory won, And touched the sword of WASHINGTON ! Then rising in her reddest fold Around her sisters blue it rolled, While Seraphs their white streamers flew, And made our own RED, WHITE AND BLUE ; When Britons saw that Banner wave On YORKTOWN plains, above the brave, With lights that bore a magic spell, Their boasted cross and lion fell.

JOHN WESLEY CARGILL was born in Jack- son May 25, 1831. He obtained his education at the common schools and attended the Wyo- ming Seminary and Harford Academy one term each. He taught school nine winters. His first term was taught in a log school-house in Jackson. He is a farmer and has been something of a politician. He is not as stable in politics or religion as some men. He has been an Anti-Slavery man, Republican, Green- backer, Democrat and, lastly, a Prohibitionist. He evidently has no traditional love for party names and views things from his own stand- point. He was elected county auditor in 1853, and State Representative in 1879. It was dur- ing his term that Kemble and others tried to

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bribe the Legislature to indemnify the Penn- sylvania Railroad for losses sustained in the Pittsburgh riot. Mr. Cargill was approached on the subject and money was offered him. He led the bribers on, and finally exposed the whole plot, and under lead of Charles S. Wolfe the bribers were convicted, and some four million dollars was saved to the State of Pennsylvania. But Mr. Cargill's best gift is in the poetic line. He commenced to write some pieces while young, and has written much more within the last two years,-in all some forty short poems, among them " The Pirate Ship," " Susquehanna County," "Spirit Home of the Indians," "Sink- ing of the Island of Atlantis," "Border of Hades," "Land of Despair," "Charge of the Louisiana Tigers at Gettysburg," etc. He has printed but two pieces, but commits his verses to memory, and often repeats them to his friends. He is one of the most natural poets that Susque- hanna County has ever produced.

ISLAND OF DEADLAND. In a worn-out planet.

There is an island in a wide distant ocean

Where silence and gloom and despair ever reign ; No waves on that deep inky sea are in motion,

A shadow death sends o'er the land and the main.

No soft fragrant breeze o'er this island is blowing, No clouds ever fly through the dead, silent air,

The shore dry and barren-no green grass is growing, No flowers ever bloom in this land of despair.

We see no bright streamlets, no clear, sparkling foun- tains,

No trees in this desolate land are in sight;

The sun, veiled in mourning, looks on the black mountains,

In sorrow 'tis shining ; how dim is its light !

The ocean, the wide, stagnant ocean, is lying In sullen despair in its deep and wide bed ;

No birds from the shore o'er this dark sea are flying ; The black inky waters are silent and dead.

No forms that have life are before us appearing ; From demons unseen we hear not a breath ;

No sound from the mountain or plain are we hearing, To break for one moment the stillness of death.

Oh! Let the wild storm break the silence here reign- ing,

Let demon-tossed billows dash on this dark shore.

No answer comes back to our prayer or complaining ; The land and the sea are as dead as before.

MISS SARAH JONES, daughter of Austin Jones, was born at Harford February 18, 1828, and was educated in the common schools, Harford Academy and Ontario Female Semi- nary, where she graduated in 1852. She taught fourteen years in that school, and since her return to Harford has been teaching nearly every year. She has been a teacher for thirty- five years, and has written poetry as occasion has seemed to require for anniversaries or for some particular purpose. She wrote a poem for the Adam Miller semi-centennial, entitled "An Echo of Fifty Years," which was pub- lished with the addresses on that occasion. We quote the following, entitled

LILACS FOR PAPA.

"Oh ! lilacs for Papa," the children cried, And the taller boy on tiptoe tried To pull the clustering branches down Within the reach of the small hands brown That broke the blossoms with eager glee From the very heart of the laden tree ; All shouting in chorus, with cheeks aglow, As they swung their treasures to and fro,

"Sweet lilacs for Papa, he loves them so."

They lay on his table, his desk, his chair, And filled the house with their fragrance rare, Till the question asked in each chosen spot Was not where are they, but where are they not ? As he fondly smiled in each rosy face, His own grew soft with a tender grace ; All care and grief through those sunny hours Seemed banished far from his world of flowers, While he heard glad voices with rippling flow Sing " Lilacs for Papa, he loves them so."

Years came and went and the " children three" Still gathered flowers from the lilac tree. They grew in staturc and mind and heart, And of Papa's life were the richest part.

They did not see that his cheeks grew pale, That his quick, firm footsteps began to fail ; They only knew that his loving voice Made their pulses thrill and their hearts rejoice ; So they kept on singing, as long ago.

"Sweet lilacs for Papa, he loves them so."

O thought of anguish ! there came a day When the children stood in the smiling May, And listened under the lilac trce To the song of bird and the hum of bec,

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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

And saw the shadowy branches wave While they gathered blossoms for Papa's grave ; And whispered sadly in accents low "Sweet lilacs as ever, he loved them so."

One beautiful May as the years sped on, The sweet flowers bloomed, but the boys were gone, And a lovely maiden stood alone By a mossy mound with lilacs strown. " I have not forgotten," she softly sighed, " When 'Lilacs for Papa ' we gaily cried, And so to-day from the dear old tree I have gathered blossoms enough for three, For he would miss them, I almost know, Should I fail to bring them, he loved them so."

Soon one by one will the " children three " Go forth from the shade of the household tree ; Two noble men and a woman sweet The joys and sorrows of life to meet. Then lilac buds as they bloom and fade Will never on Papa's grave be laid ; But memory's choicest flowers will rest In tender silence above his breast ; And the children still, as they older grow, While watching the lilacs come and go, Will love them because he loved them so.

WALLACE L. THACHER, son of Russell B. Thacher, was born in Harford, March 28, 1841. He received his education in the common schools, and was onc term in Harford Academy, but his principal education has been by study at home. He has taught nineteen terms of school, covering a period of thirty years. He has been school director, and has often reported the proceedings of the County Institutes for the local press. He read an article on the tariff at an institute, which was published. In 1879 he published a work on "Civil Government," adapted to use in the common schools. It is an excellent little work, the result of four years of labor and thought on the part of the author. It is used in the schools of Susquehanna County to a considerable extent, and is deserving of a wider recognition than it has yet received. The degree of A.M. was recently conferred upon him by Lafayette College.

WM. A. CROSSMAN, in 1867, prepared a work to facilitate county business, entitled " Assessors' Form Guide," and its worth is securing its use in several counties besides our own.

HONORABLE S. B. CHASE of Great Bend, has issued several works, among which are the fol-

lowing : " Digest and Treatise on Parliamentary Law " (now in its ninth edition) ; "Good of the Order ; " "Manual of Good Templars ; " His- tory of Good Templars," for Mill's Temperance Manual.

MRS. S. B. CHASE, in 1870, issued " Derry's Lake," a good temperance story.

MRS. LAURA TROWBRIDGE, of Great Bend, is the author of a cook-book of " more than thir- teen hundred sensible receipts," from a practical cook.

HENRY MCKINNEY, son of John McKin- ney, was born at Binghamton February 12, 1818. His father moved to Great Bend when he was young, and became the leading mer- chant in what is now Hallstead for about fifteen years. Henry was educated at Great Bend, Montrose and Oxford Academy, New York, and assisted his father in his saw-mill and store. After several store ventures in Bradford County, in which he lost money, he came back to Great Bend and clerked for his father, and finally succeeded him in the busi- ness, which he closed out in 1866, when his wife died. In 1870 he began trade at Plym- outh, Luzerne County, and in the unequal contest with company stores, his attention was directed to the unfairness of the monopoly system, which led to the production of a pam- phlet on "Capital and Labor." The evils of in- temperance led to the production of an exhaus- tive Bible essay, entitled "No License for Alcoholic Drinks in the Bible." His last pro- duction is a work of two hundred and forty pages, entitled " Romanism," which was pub- lished in 1886.

MARY HARRIET OVERFIELD, the eldest of eighteen children, was born March 26, 1837, in Auburn township, Susquehanna County, Pa. Her parents were William Overfield and Anna Bunnell, who settled on Shannon Hill, Auburn township, in 1836. She was educated at the district schools, besides attending to the duties devolving upon an eldest daughter in a large family,with a beloved mother blind four years who died when the daughter was seventeen, bringing added responsibility. The following winter a broken term of school was attended at North Flat, taught by Henry W. Smith, A.M. A

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school paper, " The Good Templar," was issued under the nom de plume of "Topsy." At eighteen she commenced school at Wyoming Seminary, and took a scientific course, accom- panied by French, German and drawing. Here she edited a school newspaper, taught school, and graduated in the class of '59. She taught at Moscow, Meshoppen and Wyoming Seminary. In 1860 she was married to John M. France ; in 1873 was elected lecturer in Auburn Grange, No. 101, P. of H. From that time correspond- ence, essays, obituaries and poems have accumu- lated, and have been published in the Montrose Democrat, Independent Republican, New Milford Advertiser, Farmer's Friend of the Patrons of Husbandry and other papers. In 1853 Lieuten- ant D. C. Titman Post, G. A. R., made M. H. Vanscotan historian of Company H, P. V. R. C., Thirty-third Regiment in line, and he so- licited Mrs. France's services, who, from his retentive memory, compiled a book of one hundred pages, which serves as a milestone of one of the actual experiences of war. Mrs. France has been devoting her energies of late largely to the advancement of the farmers' in- terest as lecturer of Pomona Grange and chairman of the committee on programmes.

JASPER T. JENNINGS was born in New Milford, on the farm on which he now resides, February 8, 1846. His father commenced there in the forest, with no capital save his axe, a strong arm and a determined purpose; conse- quently his son was called upon to perform manual labor on the farm as soon as his services were of any value. At the age of nine he was kept from school summers. He attended the district schools winters, with one term at New Milford Academy while it was under the man- agement of W. W. Watson ; this comprised his school advantages, but his education has been obtained principally at home. When he was fourteen years of age he resolved to never use tobacco, liquor nor tea in any form, and that he would save a small sum of money for the semi- annual purchase of books ; as a result, he has a library of some four or five hundred volumes. 'Stormy days and the midnight hours found him poring over books relating to history, geology, physiology, astronomy, etc. In 1871 he entered

the school-room as a teacher, and taught six successive winters, and returned to his farm labors in the summer. He commenced writing serials and descriptive articles for his own amusement. The local press received some of his articles favorably, and he wrote an article on astronomy for the Growing World, then published in Jersey City, N. J., which was accepted, and a desire expressed for more. He was finally engaged as a permanent contributor, and in 1874 wrote a series of articles on " Won- ders of Nature, Science and Art." Since then he has written for the Young Folks' Rural, Home Companion, Oriental Casket, Munyon's Illustrated World, Chicago Popular Monthly, Saturday Night, New Milford Advertiser and other publications. His last literary work has been the history of New Milford borough and township for this work. He has held the posi- tion of principal statistical correspondent from Susquehanna County for the Department of Agriculture since 1881. Mr. Jennings is a hard student, wields a ready pen and has good descriptive powers.

1 CAPTAIN H. F. BEARDSLEY is a frequent contributor to the columns of the local press, and in the field of poetry he wields a " metrical " pen. Besides many fugitive pieces that have appeared in print from time to time, his more notable poetical contributions are "The Vision of James Buchanan," published in 1861, the poem delivered at the laying of the corner-stone of the County Soldiers' Monument, and the Grant Memorial Poem, read on the occasion of the memorial exercises at Montrose, Pa .; a brief extract from the latter is here given :

* * *

To-day, in his coffin, the Hero is lying,

There to wait the last summons-the last bugle-call; He was victor in life-no less victor in dying, For the foes he once vanquished are bearing his pall: Friends who were ever true,

Army and Navy, too, Wearers of Gray and Blue,

Bear him to rest.

'Tis well he should sleep near the gates of that city, Where wife, home and children his pathway did cheer ;

1 See military chapter for sketch.

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Where the hand of affection, when Death had no pity, Stretched forth and upheld him, when Death's hand was near.

But the place matters not: in the hearts of the nation, The grave of our Hero will ever be found ;

And the cycles of Time, in their endless duration, Shall mark on the ages his deathless renown.

Where the Hudson's dark waters in grandeur and glory

Roll ceaselessly on to their home in the sea,

There raise the proud arch that shall herald the story Of Liberty's homage-OUR GRANT-unto thee.

* * * * *

My comrades, 'mid this universal grief That stirs a Nation's heart, there comes to us A dearer and more tender memory- Of comradeship. Our old commander's dead ! The unbidden tear, on veteran's cheek, Is no unmanly sign. Bond fraternal That did bind him to us now is broken. But if, as we believe, there is a bright Beyond-a glorious hereafter-then When hand grasps hand, That broken band Re-welded in fraternal love, Shall comrades greet When comrades meet-

On Heaven's camping-ground, above.

Besides those already mentioned, there are many others that occasionally write for the newspapers. Among them, W. B. Deans, Jas. C. Bushnell, E. A. Weston and many others occasionally contribute to the local press.

CHAPTER XII.

MEDICAL HISTORY.

Early Practico-Sketches of Physicians-Dentistry.

DR. CAPERTON, at Hopbottom, in 1787, may have been the first physician in the county, but he remained only a short time, and Rev. Daniel Buck, who came to Great Bend in 1788 and practiced medicine, is thought by some to be entitled to the honor of being the pioneer physician of the county.

Almost all the early physicians, and a great majority of all the physicians of the county, belonged to the "regular" practice, as distin- guished from the systems which have sprung

up in the county during the past half-century. Few of the medical pioneers had much oppor- tunity for acquiring their medical education, and most of them were self-made men, who, by their diligent study of nature, by their patience- and faithfulness in practice, wrought a grand and beneficent work in the generation in which they lived. Most of them were in moderate circumstances, commencing with a horse, a few books and a small supply of medicines as the. outfit. For many years the saddle-horse and capacious saddle-bags were indispensable for- practice among the primitive forests and rugged hills of Susquehanna County ; but as the wood- lands receded before the feller's axe, and the.

A DOCTOR OF YE OLDEN TYME.

roads improved, the two-wheeled sulky and other vehicles with modern comforts and con- veniences came into use.

Pioneer medical practice was one of hard- ship, privation and toil, too often unappreciated and unrequited. Few of these worthy pioneers. acquired wealth, but many of them acquired what is better,-a good name. With the in- crease of population, physicians are located much nearer each other, and consequently, as a rule, have shorter rides to visit their patients, which they can now do with ease and comfort, in the elegant vehicles, and over the fine roads of the present day.

The botanic and eclectic systems of practice appeared in the county about 1840, and the ho- mœopathic system about 1860. At a meeting of physicians held at West Harford, Susquehanna County, August 15, 1872, an organization, called the Susquehanna Eclectic Medical Society, was' formed, as an auxiliary to the State and Na- tional Societies-President, E. N. Loomis, of Oakley. This society was short-lived, and has.

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never been revived. The homœopaths have done very little that is apparent in the way of medical organization. Except, therefore, as con- tained in the individual sketchies of the prac- titioners of the different systems, the history of the medical profession is largely embodied in the history of the Susquehanna County Medi- cal Society.

Perfection of character cannot be claimed for every member of the medical profession of the county. From the nature of the case, they have been subjected to severe trials and peculiar temptations. Their anxious, weary vigils, fa- tigue, exposure, irregularity of mcals and the restful repose of sleep, the awful responsibility where the issues of life and death rest upon them, with faithful service sometimes poorly recompensed, and sometimes with base ingrati- tude, to say nothing of the uncharitable treat- ment of selfish rivals,-all tend to break down the physical system, depress and dishearten the spirit, until exhausted nature calls imperatively for some relief; so that, here and there, one and another have fallen victims to the inebriat- ing cup, to enable them to tide over places to which their unaided powers have secmed une- qual. It is a sad thing to record, that the lustre of some of the brilliant stars in the medical galaxy of the county has been dimmed by habits of intemperance ; but it is also very grat- ifying to be able to say that these cases have been exceptional, that the great majority have been men of temperate habits and some of them earnest advocates of total abstinence. So, too, in regard to any obliquity of moral character, the rule has been on the side of rectitude.

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Centennial history of Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, Part 24

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