Centennial history of Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, Part 59

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 59

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).

In the disastrous fire of August 27, 1886, the store of Boyd & Cooley, with a large portion of its contents, was destroyed. The building was owned by Mr. Boyd, and was built by him in 1858. He had just completed extensive im- provements by adding another story to the building, with French roof, etc., when the fire came and reduced it all to ashes. Scarcely had the embers cooled before Mr. Boyd began to plan for rebuilding. His first step was to pur- chase an adjoining lot, and if his present plans reach fruition, the summer of 1887 will see a fine three-story brick building erected over the now blackened waste.

2-6 Trondheim -

291

MONTROSE.

Few men at his age would undertake such an enterprise, but a pardonable pride in his old calling still clings to him, and the desire is but natural to leave to his fellow-townsmen an en- during specimen of the builder's skill, which, at the same time, will serve to remind the present and future generations of one so closely identi- fied with the development and growth of Mont- rose. Mr. Boyd has been, for these many years, a large employer of labor, both skilled and un- skilled; and there are many successful mechan- ics of to-day who " learned their trade " of him.

Mr. Boyd united with the Presbyterian Church of Montrose in 1843, and has ever been active in advancing its interests, both temporal and spiritual, having been one of its trustees, and president of the board. He is a member of Warren Lodge, No. 240, A. Y. M .; a charter member of Warren Chapter, No. 180, and a member of Great Bend Commandery, Knights Templar.

In politics, Mr. Boyd acted with the Demo- cratic party up to the time of Buchanan's ad- ministration, casting his first Presidential vote for Andrew Jackson. Since 1860 he has been an active Republican. While never seeking office, his fellow-citizens have frequently thrust office upon him. He has served two or more terms as Councilman, been elected assessor several times, was one of the commissioners ap- pointed by the Legislature to locate the Poor Asylum for Montrose and Bridgewater, and in 1851 was elected coroner of the county.

Mr. Boyd never married, but for many years he has occupied his pleasant and commodious home near the Methodist Church, where its home-comforts are shared by his two sisters, Nancy and Hannah Boyd, who reside with him.

DE WITT C. FORDHAM .- Abraham Ford- ham (1784-1859), a native of Southampton, L. I., with his wife, Letitia (Atkins) Fordham (1796-1864), whom he married in New York City in 1814, settled at Montrose in 1818, with his family. He was a cooper by trade, but before his marriage had had a quite interesting experience on the high seas. During the War of 1812 he shipped on a whaling vessel from New London, Conn., for South America, and spent on the coast of Peru and on other parts of

the coast nearly one year, when, with his com- rades, they sailed on a seal expedition ; they had completed their cargo of seals and caught a large number, which would net each a large income in the market, and were within ten days' sail of New York, when they were overtaken by a British man-of-war, their cargo taken from them, and they, penniless, landed on the coast near Norfolk, Va. Fordham, through the kindness of a gentleman who gave him ten dollars, found his way to New York, where he soon afterwards married, and soon sought this then new country for a home.

Upon arriving at Montrose, he started his cooper-shop on South Main Street, where a Mr. Morse, a tailor, now resides, and carried on his business there until his removal to Cherry Street, where he continued in business until near the close of his life. He was, during his latter years, a member of the Methodist Church, but his wife was a life-long member of the Presbyterian Church, her ancestors having been Scotch-Irish. His ancestors were English.

Their children were Abraham (1815-64), a cooper by trade, married and reared a family of children. He volunteered in the service of the United States in the fall of 1861 (Company D,) Dr. Dimock, captain, Fiftieth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, went to South Caro- lina on that perilous voyage in the " Winfield Scott," and remained with his regiment until they were called back to Virginia to confront the foe. From there they went West, where, while on detached duty, he was taken prisoner, sent to Richmond, and subsequently to Ander- sonville prison, where he suffered and died. Five of his sons-Albert, William, Amos, John and George -- also went to the war and served their country. A second son, William, born in 1816, read law with Arial Carr at Montrose, practiced his profession for many years, and resides at Kismet, Morgan County, Tenn. He handled supplies for the government during the war. Mary A., born 1818, died young. John Robert, born in 1821, learned the printer's trade of Rev. A. L. Post, was a teacher for several years, afterwards a merchant, and is at present a superintendent of the Dickson Manu- facturing Company at Scranton. Jeremiah

292

HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

(1824-49), a saddle and harness-maker at Friendsville, Pa., died at Montrose. Fitz Henry, born in 1826, a cooper at Montrose. De Witt Clinton Fordham, born at Montrose October 2, 1827, subject of this sketch. Almira E., born in 1829, never married. James A., born in 1832, resides in Pittston, Pa .; volun- teered and served until the close of the late Civil War; and Ann Eliza, born in 1825, died at the age of fourteen years.

DE WITT C. FORDHAM learned the cooper's trade of his father, and upon reaching his ma- jority, set up business for himself at the old place on Cherry Street, where he carried it on successfully until after the close of the war. His principal goods manufactured were firkins, tubs and churns for dairy use in Susquehanna County. He built the present shop in 1860. During the war, when the State called for emergency men at the time of the battle of Antietam, he responded and, under Captain R. J. Van Valk- enburg, went to Harrisburg ; but danger being averted, he returned home with the company. Upon the invasion of the State by the Con- federate Army in 1863, on June 3d of that year he volunteered as an emergency man, and was enrolled in Company B, Captain W. E. Post, Twenty-eighth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers; went with his company to Carlisle, Pa., followed Lee's army across the line of the State, and captured many prisoners, who were sent to Chambersburg. He was in service about three months and returned home. Before arriving home, however, Mr. Fordham was drafted, was ordered to Scranton, where, upon examination, he was rejected and allowed to return home.

He has, outside of his regular business, been engaged in buying produce and pork and ship- ing to New York, in loaning money, discount- ing paper and in dealing in real estate. He is the owner of two farms in Bridgewater town- ship, on one of which he fitted up, five years ago, three trout-ponds, and stocked them with trout caught in the neighboring streams. These ponds, which are beautifully laid out, are fed by seven different springs, which are one of the sources of the Wyalusing Creek, and abound with fish at various stages of growth. He is a

thorough-going business man, active and enter- prising. He is unmarried.

HENRY F. TURRELL .- His father, William Turrell (1781-1853), was son of James Turrell, Jr., and grandson of James Turrell, of New Milford, Litchfield County, Conn., where he was born. In February, 1816, having been preceded by his brother Leman, he came to Montrose, and for a short time, with his wife and two children, resided with his brother-in- law, David Benedict, who had a home on the site of the residence, now owned and occupied by George P. Little, Esq. The same spring he removed to what is now Auburn township, where he lived in a log house for about one year ; and in the spring of 1817 returned to Mont- rose, and settled where his son, Henry F., now resides, which was his home the remainder of his life. He built the present residence in 1824. He had learned the saddlery and har- ness business in New Milford, while a young man, and for several years was a merchant at Washington, near that place. In 1817 he opened a saddlery and harness-shop in the basement of the building where he resided, and continued the business there until 1835, when he erected a two-story frame building on the opposite side of the road, where he continued his business successfully, until he retired from active business in 1843. He was a man of ster- ling integrity, and one of the first to establish business in Montrose. Although not a member of any church, he was a man of correct habits, high moral sentiment, and possessed a desire to co-operate with his fellow-men in the development of the place, and in the establishment of edu- cational and religious institutions, to which he contributed. His wife, whom he married in 1808, was Polly Silvia Benedict (1785-1873), a native of the same place as himself, who was a consistent member of the Baptist Church at Montrose, who reared her children under Chris- tian influences. Their children are Urania, born in 1808, widow of the late Embley Shafer, of Montrose, a woman of great excellence and good influence, who has children, Mary Eliza- beth, wife of Clinton Lewis, of Merryall, Brad- ford County ; Amelia C., widow of the late Hon. E. B. Chase, for many years publisher of

H. Fr. Turrell

293

MONTROSE.

the Montrose Democrat, and who served in the State Legislature ; Arline M., wife of Wm. J. Crane, of Pottsville; and Wm. T. Shafer, a journalist of Evanston, Wyoming Territory. The eldest son, Hon. William J. Turrell (1814- 81), was a lawyer at Montrose; State Sena- ator in 1863, '64, '65; Speaker of the Senate in 1865, whose sketch may be found in the Bar chapter of this volume. Sarah Maria (1818-53), never married, died at Port Jervis, on her way home from Connecticut ; and Harry F. Turrell, who was born on the home- stead at Montrose, March 12, 1822, where he has resided since. He attended the Montrose Academy while a boy, and at the age of fifteen began learning the saddlery and harness trade, at which he served faithfully until he reached his majority. He bought out the business, and succeeded his father in the same, in 1843, which he continued until 1868, when he retired from that business. The building and shop was destroyed by fire in 1854, rebuilt by him the following year, and that in turn destroyed by fire in the great conflagration of August, 1886. He has been little identified with politics, but served the people as chief burgess of Montrose for three terms. He is a member of the Baptist church of Montrose. He married, July 25, 1860, Elsie H., a daughter of Thomas (1805- 85) and Jane (Hill) (1807-53), Harden- bergh, of Sullivan Co., N. Y. She was born at Fallsburgh, that county, in 1831. They have one child, Wm. H. Turrell, stationer at Mont- rose. Mrs. Turrell is a member of the Presbyterian Church at Montrose. Her grandfather, Her- man Myer Hardenbergh, was a member of the State Legislature, and died at Albany, N. Y. Her great-grandfather, Girard Hardenberg, was a large land owner in Ulster County, N. Y., and his father, Johannes Hardenbergh, was the progenitor of the family on the Hudson. Jane Hill was a daughter of James Hill, whoremoved from the Hudson, and was one of the earliest set- tlers at Fallsburgh when it was a wilderness. The children of Thomas and Jane (Hill) Harden- bergh arc Elsie H., who came as a teacher with Prof. Stoddard to Montrose, and there met her future husband ; Catherine; James ; Thomas Lockwood, deceased ; Maria Louise, a teacher

at Glens Falls ; Hannah, Josephine, Isaiah and . Jane Swift, deceased; and Elizabeth, wife of Aaron E. Wright, of New York.

HOTELS .- Isaac Post, who had a house on the post-office corner, kept the first tavern at Montrose, about 1806. He soon had goods in one corner of his tavern and thus kept a kind of combination hotel and store. He was also appointed postmaster in 1808, and for the time his place was the centre of the business activity of the settlement. He was licensed in 1807. After Mr. Post moved across the road to Boyd's corner, in 1818 or earlier, Mr. Green was there, followed by Jolin Buckingham, Leonard Searle and Patrick Hepburn, Preserved Hinds and Rosswell Morss. This for a number of years was the house of the place, especially when Leonard Searle had it. Austin Powell erected a hotel in 1812 just below the present Exchange hotel. Eli Gregory had it for a while. About 1817 Edward Fuller took the house and run it for ten years or more. His wife excelled as a cook. Stephen Hinds, who afterwards owned the house, kept boarders for a number of years. It was finally abandoned, and at last destroyed by fire. Benjamin Sayre kept the " Washington Hotel " for about ten years, from 1819. The " Keystone Hotel," kept by William K. Hatch, stood on the same site, and was destroyed by fire. The Montrose Democrat and E. L. Blakes- lec's offices occupy the site of the Washington and Keystone Hotels.

Exchange Hotel .- After Luther Catlin pur- chased the I. P. Foster tannery, his son-in-law, S. F. Keeler, converted the old Foster and Raynsford shoe and leather store into a hotel, which he called the " Farmers' Hotel." After Keeler died his executors rented it to Mr. Hollenback and Daniel McCracken. It was finally sold to Dr. Gardner, who has rented it to M. J. Harrington, Ira Woodworth, E. Guy and L. M. Baldwin, who has it now, in 1887. For a number of years it has been known as the " Exchange Hotel." It will accommodate abont forty guests.

Tarbell House .- In 1814 Daniel Curtis built a hotel on the corner opposite the court-honse, and kept it as late as 1832. It was known as the "Franklin Honse." From newspaper

294

HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

notices it appears that he occasionally gave dances in his house. He was succeeded in the business by Adolphus Olmstead, who kept it until 1838, when he was succeeded by Gen. Davis D. Warner, who kept it for a time him- self, and rented it to W. K. Hatch part of the time. January 1, 1856, Mr. Wanner sold the " Franklin House " to John S. Tarbell, a native of Vermont. When Mr. Tarbell bought the property the hotel would accommodate about forty guests. He raised the building and built it all anew, added another story and enlarged the cellar. The house is supplied with water from a well. The wind which blows so freely over the hills of Montrose is utilized in turning a wind-mill, which supplies the power that operates a force and suction pump, that carries the water to the height of one hundred and four feet from the bottom of the well into a two hundred and thirty-barrel tank, whence it is distributed to all parts of the house. The house is heated with steam and will accommo- date one hundred and twenty guests. Its promi- nent location near the court-house renders it the political headquarters of both political parties. There is one of the largest barns in Northern Pennsylvania connected with the hotel. It is sixty-six by one hundred feet, with a private carriage shed attached, twenty-one by forty-two. Mr. Tarbell was born in a hotel and has owned the " Tarbell House " for thirty years. Re- cently J. W. Burgess, a hotel man of forty years' standing, and F. E. Cramer rented the hotel, and are rendering it alike agreeable for the wayfaring man and stranger who would stop but for a night, or the summer boarder, who would tarry among the hills of Susque- hanna and breathe the pure mountain air of Montrose.

Montrose House .- Ezekiel Guy bought the R. B. Little property and rebuilt and enlarged the house for hotel purposes in 1883. It is heated by steam throughout, and can accommo- date seventy guests. It is patronized by suni- mer boarders, and is a well-kept house. The " Tarbell House," "Montrose House" and " Exchange Hotel " are the only licensed places in Montrose, which speaks volumes for the tem- perate habits and good order of her citizens.

JOHN S. TARBELL .- His ancestors were born in sunny France. His grandfather, Isaac Tarbell, came with his parents to America when a child, and settled in Boston previous to the Revolutionary War. Here he remained until his marriage, when he removed to Windsor County, Vermont, and engaged in the business of hotel-keeping. He removed, about 1820, to Jefferson County, N. Y., where he died. Their children were : Isaac, Jr., Eli, John S., Willard, Jonathan, Johanna and Sarah. Eli Tarbell was born in Windsor County, Vt., Sept. 25, 1790, where he spent the early part of his life. In 1815 he married Sibyl, daughter of Leon- ard Parker, who kept a hotel in Windsor County, Vt., where she was born March 7, 1798. Soon after his marriage Mr. Tarbell also com- menced keeping a public-house in Vermont, but in 1820 he came to Smithville, Chenango County, N. Y., where, a few years afterward, he erected a hotel and resumed the business of a hotel-keeper. He afterwards erected a larger and more commodious hotel, converting the former one into a dwelling-house, and continued the business until his death, in 1845. His widow survived him, living to see a goodly group of great-grandchildren around her, as evidenced by a picture now in possession of her son, John S. Tarbell, representing four genera- tions, and died at the ripe age of nearly eighty- three.

Their children were Sewell (1816-66) ; Laura, died young ; John S., 1819; Mary, 1821, residing at the old homestead ; Charles P., 1824, a resident of Smithville, on part of the old homestead ; George L. (1827-71) ; Francis, 1829, a resident of Olympia, Wash- ington Territory ; and James H., 1835, a resi- dent of sanie Territory.

John S. Tarbell was born in Windsor County, Vt., June 22, 1819. When one year old his parents removed to Smithville. Chenango County, N. Y. Here his boyhood and early manhood were spent. His educational advan- tages were confined to the public schools; for when old enough to help about his father's hotel, he evinced such an aptitude for the busi- ness that he became his father's invaluable I assistant, and although he made more than one

John Geterhell

295

MONTROSE.

attempt to attend boarding-school, he was each time summoned home by his father to assist in some sudden emergency. In 1843 he married Mary E., only daughter of Isaac and Emeline Ketchem, who was born in Smithville, N. Y., April 10, 1824. For two or three years after his marriage he remained with his father in the hotel, and then engaged in the mercantile bnsi- ness at Smithville, which he successfully carried on until the close of the year 1854. Early in January, 1855, he came to Montrose, and on the 8th of that month he purchased the prop- erty since so well and favorably known to the traveling public as the " Tarbell House." It was then owned by Gen. D. D. Warner, and the building had been erected in 1814 by Daniel Curtis, when Montrose was a mere hamlet. Under the able management of Mr. Tarbell the house gained an enviable reputation and a host of patrons. In 1870, finding that his pa- tronage was outgrowing his accommodations, he entirely remodeled, rebuilt and enlarged the building into the present spacious and commo- dious hotel, introducing modern improvements and conveniences, and converting it into a model travelers' home. The house is three stories in height, with a frontage of one hun- dred and two feet and a depth of seventy-eight feet, with an L adjoining. Standing nearly one thousand nine hundred feet above tide water, its cool verandahs without and its comforts within have attractions for the summer tourist seeking mountain air, fine scenery and home comforts, that cause many to tarry under its hospitable roof. In addition to the improve- ments noted, Mr. Tarbell, some years afterward, introduced water throughout his hotel, and also further conduced to the comfort of his guests by heating the hotel with steam. He contin- ued to cater to the wants and the comfort of the traveling public until a few years since, when he retired from its active control, and at the pres- ent time the hotel is under the able manage- ment of Messrs. Burgess & Cramer.

Besides the hotel property, Mr. Tarbell owns four improved farms, two of which are under his own management. The home or hotel farm, lying partly within the borough limits, and from which his hotel is supplied with vegeta-

bles, fruits, hay, etc., is one of the most valua- ble in the county. He has also been largely interested in lumbering, owning a timber tract and operating several saw-mills. He was for a time interested in a line of stages, and is a stockholder and director of the Montrose Rail- way.

In all matters connected with the devel- opnient and improvement of Montrose Mr. Tarbell has always been at the front with his influence and means. The fine block on the corner of Public Avenue and Church Street, a portion of which is occupied by the post-office, was erected by him in 1886. In 1879 his wife, a lady much respected by all who knew her, died after a short illness. Their children are Mary F., 1846, wife of John R. Raynsford, who is secretary of the Montrose Railway and present postmaster at Montrose, where he re- sides, being also largely engaged in the coal business and other enterprises; Eli K., 1850, now residing at Hurley, Wis., where he is en- gaged in the hotel business, and is also interest- ed in mineral lands there ; Emily A., 1851, married for her first husband Leonard Searle, Jr., who died in 1879. She married for her second husband Warren S. Danolds, and resides at Albion, N. Y. In 1883 Mr. Tarbell mar- ried for his second wife Mrs. Emily Birchard, a native of Binghamton, N. Y. The same year he purchased of Wm. H. Cooper his pres- ent pleasant home on North Main Street. In

politics Mr. Tarbell has acted with the Whig and Republican parties, casting his first Presi- dential vote for General Harrison and his last for James G. Blaine. He is a prominent Mason, belonging to Warren Lodge and Chapter, is a member of Malta Commandery of Binghanı- ton and a charter member of Great Bend Con- sistory, No. 32. Mr. Tarbell has fixed a land- mark in the town of his adoption by the hotel that bears his name, and in which he takes a pardonable pride. For more than thirty years he was the popular proprietor of this well- known hostelry.

Standing over six feet in height, his eordial manner and genial ways render him casy of recognition, and no person in this section of the State is more widely known. He is a man of

296

HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

marked individuality, positive in his ways, firm in his convictions and loyal to his friends.

LIVERYMEN .- The first men that kept horses to let to the public were the hotel-keepers, Captain Sayres, Leonard Searle, John S. Tar- bell, and probably a few others kept a few horses for such purposes. In 1851 David D. Hinds started the livery business at Montrose and carried it on for eight years. He kept about sixteen horses, followed by James Goodwin. He was succeeded in the business by Hugh Mitchell and J. R. Raynsford. James Goodwin purchased Raynsford's interest and Raynsford & Goodwin sold to Perigo & Hibbard, who have continued the business at the old place since. Their stable is at the rear of Dessauer's store, on Church Street. They keep twenty wagons and as many sleighs and about twelve horses. Walter Pratt keeps about ten horses and Smith & Co. about the same.

Albert Miller, in the Tarbell House basement, and -Knoll, over the post-office, are the village barbers. In 1886 Mr. Miller put in the first public batlis ever establislied in the town.

INSURANCE .- In 1824 Almon H. Read advertised as a fire insurance agent. Benja- min R. Lyons early acted as an insurance agent. F. B. Chandler also commenced nearly half a century ago and continues the business yet. Billings Stroud commenced insuring in Susque- hanna County, and did the leading insurance business in the county until he sold out to Gilbert & Kasson. In 1839 the Susquehanna Mutual Insurance Company was organized, with James C. Biddle, president ; Asa Dimock, vice-, president ; Isaac S. Kellum, treasurer ; Davis Dimock, Jr., attorney ; J. W. Raynsford, sec- retary ; J. C. Biddle, M. S. Wilson and M. C. Tyler, Executive Committee. This company did business for about ten years. Henry C. Tyler has also been in the insurance business for about twenty years.

Francis B. Chandler was born in Colerain, Mass., in 1816. He came to Montrose in 1834 and went into partnership with his brother-in- law, B. R. Lyons, and continued with him until 1851, when they dissolved. Chandler continues the mercantile business yet, also the insurance,

business, which he then took from Lyons. His first company was the Lycoming Mutual. He now has the Franklin and Pennsylvania. Mr. Chandler has been one of the active business men at Montrose for many years. His wife is a daughter of Judge Jessup.

John Strond came to South Montrose from New London and bought a property of Rev. Joseph Wood in 1820. He walked to New York and back to get forty dollars to pay off the mortgage on his place. He was a hatter by trade and followed that business for some time. His daughter, Sallie, was the wife of William Smith, a wagon-maker and painter. Billings Stroud, his son, has been insurance agent since 1851. He commenced with the State Mutual, a company which Chandler turned over to him. Afterwards the Home became his principal company. He also became adjuster for the Home Insurance Company of North America and agent for many other fire, life and accident companies. Mr. Stroud has paid a great many thousands of dollars in losses to the people of Susquehanna County.

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 59

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