Centennial history of Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, Part 64

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

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man on guard all night. About two o'clock two big men came in and looked around, and locked the door as they went out. Our watchman awakened us and we heard many persons whispering around the barn. We got what arms we had ready, for wc had resolved on liberty or death. Billy Brooks, a big, stout man who afterward lived with the Sayres brothers a great many years, said, ' Follow me.' He gave a run and butted against that door with his head, knocking some of the boards as much 'as ten feet. We all fol- lowed him and were pursued. It had rained that night and the streams were swollen, which was prov- idential for us. I was supple then ; taking a pole, I lcaped across the creek and helped the others over. We were on the outskirts of Gettysburg. It was morning and there was no woods. We crept into a cave1 in the rocks. The bloodhounds did not get our track. We saw our mistress' sons ride past. About noon two of our men would go out. Providentially, they fell into the hands of some colored people near Gettysburg. The Abolitionists had heard of our es- cape. They sent out and found us and gave us some- thing to eat and directed us towards Lisbon Forge, while our owners went towards Harrisburg. We had a number of adventures as we traveled nights. We came near being drowned twice,-once in crossing a creek on poles and in crossing the Susquehanna. A little man they called 'John the Baptist' was hired by the Abolitionists to row us over. The Susque- hanna was high and the logs and floating timbers were coming down the river with great speed. We had a narrow boat and when we got out in the swift current we found that our boatman was drunk. Billy Brooks, who had followed the river, laid him down in the bottom of the boat and took the oars. John Stout nearly upset us in plunging for his hat. Finally we reached Wilkes-Barre and Gildersleeve sent us to Montrose. When we got here Benjamin R. Lyon di- rected us to Judge Post. He assured us of our safety and encouraged us. There was a little house where the jail stands, which was the only house used for colored people then. William L. Post hired me and I worked for him nine years. The Posts were all good to us. That woman that sits there was a little girl then (referring to his wife). She showed me into Mr. Post's house. I came here in 1842 and have been a local preacher in Zion Church about thirty- four years."

Zion Church was organized in the little house that stood where the jail stands about 1844, by Rev. John Tappin. The first leader was Peter Lee, assisted by John Carter, and John Booey was local preacher. There were about twelve members at the time of organization. Rev.

1 Persons familiar with Gettysburg battle-field will remember the Devil's Den, a cave under Little Round Top, which was probably where these poor fugitives hid from their relentless pursuers.

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Wm. Smith, Jane Gilmore and John Stout are the only ones now living here that belonged to the first class. Thos. Cook, Alfred Youngs, Benj. Howard and Alfred Wells belonged to that first class. There are about thirty members now. The first little church was built about 1847 ; the present church about 1859.

The Bethel Church was first organized about three miles beyond Montrose. They built a church here afterwards. The Posts did not neglect the education of these fugitives. Two of Isaac Post's daughters taught a number of them to read, and Miss Jane Post gave music lessons to two of the girls. One of the most noted characters among them was John Booey; he had thick lips and was very dull and stupid; he thought he had a call to preach, and was anxious to learn to read ; most of them could learn and Miss Post tried to teach him, but it was a hopeless task. One day, after she had been away from the place some time, he came with his Testament to show Miss Post how he could read; he made his own selection and pointed with his finger as he began to repeat Scripture. Miss Post observed that the finger did not point at the same words he was repeat- ing. He had learned to repeat a passage of Scripture and was trying to make her believe that he was reading. He tried to preach occa- sionally; once he forgot his text. He said, "I have dun forgot my text, but den let not your hearts be troublesome." He closed sometimes in grandiloquent style, like the following: "Mine eyes am closed in silence, and jaw cleaved to de roof of de mouf, and hope to 'sess dat pardon bought by de blood ob de Lord, who lay in de heart ob de earth forty days and forty nights." Sometimes he blundered out some truth. Once he prayed that " de Lord would bress those who had so often dissembled at dat place." Lewis Williams, a colored barber ; Ed. Williams' widow, and a few others, have accu- mulated some property. In 1840 there were ninety-seven colored people in the county. There are about one hundred colored people at Montrose now. Many of them have removed, and the old slaves are nearly all dead.

CHAPTER XXI.

BRIDGEWATER TOWNSHIP.1

"AT January sessions, 1805, the court of Luzerne County was petitioned by Thomas Parke and others to erect a township from parts of Tunkhannock, Braintrim, Nicholson and Rush, to be called Bridgewater. Its dimensions were described thus :

'Beginning at a point one mile above where Mar- tin's Creek empties into the Tunkhannock, thence northerly to the forks of Martin's Creek, easterly from Bloomfield Milbourne's, thence north to intersect the south line of Lawsville, thence on that line to the southwest corner of Lawsville, thence northerly to the State line, thence west to the thirty-second mile-stone, thence south till it shall intersect a line to be drawn due west from place of beginning.'

"On hearing the petition, Judge Rush directed the commissioners to return a plot, which they did, November, 1806, and the court then con- firnied it. The original dimensions of Bridge- water included a small portion of what is now Wyoming County. Springville, Dimock, La- throp, Brooklyn, Silver Lake and portions of Forest Lake, Jessup and Franklin have been taken from it. It is more nearly the central township of the county than any other. Mon- trose, the county-seat, is about four miles west of a central north and south line, and one mile north of an east and west line. The site of the court-house was located in 1811. The township is a water-shed for three streams, the sources of which are in the vicinity of Montrose, and which in three different directions at length reach the Susquehanna River, viz., Snake Creek running north, the Meshoppen south, and the Wyalusing west and south. The Snake and Wyalusing Creeks, which rise within half a mile of each other, are probably one hundred miles apart at their mouths; but the Meshoppen, though run- ning for many miles at nearly a right angle witlı the latter, falls into the Susquehanna but a short distance below it. Hopbottom Creek is the outlet of Heart Lake on the east line of Bridge- water; it runs southwardly into Martin's Creek, and eventually into the Tunkhannock. Jones'

1 Blackman.

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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

Lake, within a mile of Montrose, is the principal source of Snake Creek; Williams' Pond, in the northern part of the township, is another, but inferior source of it. Cold Brook, near the line of Silver Lake, is a tributary of Silver Creek, which is itself a tributary of Snake Creek. A small pond near the south line of Bridgewater has an outlet emptying into the Meshoppen."

The elevation of the borough above sea level is from sixteen hundred to seventeen hundred feet. The township varies in elevation from thirteen hundred to seventeen hundred feet. Stephen Wilson, Samuel Wilson, Samuel Coggs- well, Nehemiah Maine, Samuel Maine, David Doud, Ozem Cook, Elisha Lewis, Robert Day, Daniel and Eldad Brewster, Daniel Foster and John Reynolds were all here from 1799 to 1801.

Stephen Wilson was the first permanent set- tler in what is now Bridgewater. He came from Vermont originally, and built a cabin just south of the present borough limits in the fall of 1798. In the spring of 1799 he found his way through the wilderness to his humble habi- tation, with his wife and two children, David and Mason S., and his brother-in-law, Samuel Coggswell. His house was located on the path from the source of the Wyalusing to the Nine Partners' settlement. The door of his cabin ever stood ajar to the pioneers, many of whom were entertained under his hospitable roof. His brother, Samuel Wilson, commenced on what was afterwards known as the Roberts farm. He sold this improvement and built another log cabin and finally left the county. Samuel Coggswell located a little west of Stephen Wil- son, on what was afterwards the Park farm, within the Connecticut township of Manor. Nehemiah Maine took up land under Connecti- cut title, just east of the Reuben Wells home- stead. The same year Ozem Cook located in Manor, on what was afterwards the Moses S. Tyler farm.

Robert Day was a man of Christian integ- rity, a member of the Baptist Church. Hc aided David Harris in the erection of the first grist- mill down on the Wyalusing, and had a farm between that point and Montrose, where he spent most of his days. His first wife was a

daughter of Jedediah Hewitt. H. H. Day, Esq., one of his children, afterwards resided in Susquehanna. Daniel Brewster occupied a farm since occupied by Thomas Johnson. He was in the War of 1812. He removed and died at Frenchtown Mountain, aged ninety-two.

Joshua W. Raynsford came from Windham Co., Conn., in 1801, to the small clearing made by Amolo Balch, one and one-half miles south of Stephen Wilson. His squatter's right was valueless, and he repaired to Philadelphia afoot, in order to obtain a valid title. He brought his family in 1802. The little log house that stood down by the spring had oiled paper for window lights, like the rest of the cabins in the vicinity. Mr. Raynsford thought that he would be a little more aristocratic than his neighbors and purchased twelve panes of seven by nine glass, which he brought very carefully from Wilkes- Barre, only to have his plans broken by the steelyards which Mrs. Raynsford carelessly threw upon the glass as it lay upon the bed. Joseph Raynsford, his father, came shortly after and erected a frame story and a half house, wherein the first Congregational Church of Bridgewater was organized in 1810. Joshua W. Raynsford was a man of marked characteristics and became a leading man in the new settle- ment. He was the first school-teacher in 1803 and had forty-two pupils. He was a leading spirit in the establishment of the Susquehanna County Academy, and in the organization of the Congregational Church. Owing to some difficulty he left that church, and became the prime mover in the organization of St. Paul's Episcopal Church. He moved to Montrose in 1817 and had his residence and justice of the peace office opposite . Jerre Lyons'. His first wife was Hannah, daughter of Walter Lathrop. Their children were Mary Ann, wife of D. D. Warner; Edward, a merchant in Owego, N. Y., where he married Charlotte Drake. John R. Raynsford, one of their sons, is postmaster of Montrose and station agent of the Narrow- Gauge Railway. Edward, another son, resides at Susquehanna. Hannah, of the original fam- ily, was wife of C. L. Ward, Esq. The other children were Salome, Frederick and Jones.

Daniel Foster came to Bridgewater in 1800,

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along with Captain Hinds. He built the first saw-mill in Bridgewater, on a branch of the Wyalusing, where William Barron now lives. His son, Walter Foster, married Maria Bentley and lived at Montrose. Their son, Bentley S. Foster, is a Presbyterian minister at South Amboy, N. J. Stephen Bentley came to Bridgewater and lived on a farm until he died, in 1833-34. Maria was the oldest child ; Mar- shall was a farmer in Bridgewater many years, and finally came to Montrose, where he died ; Stephen moved to New York and became a land agent ; Benjamin S. became a judge at Williams- port ; Jane E. taught school, and was seven years superintendent of the Soldiers' Orphans' Home at Wilkes-Barre, (she now resides with Mrs. Riley at Montrose) ; George V. was a merchant and president of the National Bank at Mont- rose from 1881 to '85. His first wife was Catharine Sayre, and their son, Geo. F. Bentley, is a lawyer in New York. His second wife is a sister of Mrs. Thos. Dickson.

John Reynolds came with Capt. Hinds in 1800, and lived on the opposite side of the Wy- alusing from Daniel Foster. His wife was a Halsey. He built the first fulling-mill in this vicinity on the Wyalusing soon after he came here. He was a Revolutionary soldier, member of the Baptist Church and a good moral man. He lived to be ninety-five years old. His son, Joseph Reynolds, married Effie Marsh, and followed the same business that his father started-carding, coloring, fulling and dressing cloth. They took produce or almost anything for pay. He died before his father did, in 1832, and left a widow and seven children. Of Joseph Reynolds' children, George M. learned the printer's trade of Geo. Fuller, and worked at his trade in Carbondale and Honesdale, where he published a newspaper and finally moved West ; Albert G. lived in Brooklyn, and had a feed and carding-mill at South Pond; John is a farmer in New Milford; Henrietta is the wife of Nathaniel K. Sutton, a lumberman ; Margaret's first husband was Wm. H. Norris, by whom she had two sons, who were in the army. Her second husband was Sheldon Meacham.

Elias West, for many years toll-gate keeper,

settled near the line of Dimock township, on the turnpike. David Harris came from Southamp- ton, L. I., and. as already intimated, built the first grist-mill on the Wyalusing about this time. Jonathan Wheaton settled about one- half mile east of B. Hinds, toward Jones' Pond, which was then called Wheaton's Pond. Abinoam Hinds and his brother-in-law, Isaac Peckins, came from Middleboro', Mass., in 1803. 1 Isaac Peckins' residence was within the present borough limits. He died in May, 1849, aged eighty-four.

DAVID D. HINDS .- His grandfather was Elder Ebenezer Hinds, and his great-grandfather was also a Baptist minister in New England. His father, Abinoam Hinds (1764-1849), was a native of Middleboro', Mass., and came to . Montrose in 1802, two years after his brother, Captain Bartlet Hinds, who came in 1800, and whose sketch may be found in the early history of Montrose. When a boy, Abinoam Hinds left home and went to sea, where he remained for some seven years engaged on a whaling vessel. Returning, he married Susan Snow, who bore him the following children : Susan became the wife of Stephen Hinds, her cousin, and resided at Montrose, a son of whom, Leonard B., was a lawyer at Susquehanna, this county, for thirty- three years, and died in 1882, aged fifty-four years ; Mark died in Olean, Pa. ; Richard died in the South ; Lydia was the wife of Ackley

1 A newspaper writer, under the heading of A Drawn Battle, says : "Over thirty years ago, the vencrable Isaac Peckins thus narrated to me an adventure which happened about two miles northwest of Montrose : 'Que day I went out to cut an ox-yoke, iu a little swale or swamp near the medder on your father's farm. The briers on the wet ground had grown up drefful thick, and taller than my head. Wal, I was chopping when I heercd a kind of growling and stirring among the bushes on ahead. I looked and see a little kind of sheep path that way. So I got down ou my hands and knees-for I couldn't go straight-aud crawled along under some ways. At last I came to a round spot about as large as this room. There wa'u't anything onto it, but the tall briers rose all around. Right on t'other end there was another hole which led out. Just as I popped up my head and stood straight, there stood a great black bear within three feet of me. He stood still and looked right at me. I had left my axe behind, and I had nothing to defeud myself. I remembered an old hunter't used to be around here, named Hale, who said there was no animal in this country that would touch a man if he looked at it straight in the eye. So I looked at him, and stepped towards him. He brussled up and snarled and stood still. I thought it was a ticklish place. I lifted up my voice and yelled and heowled as loud as I could. That scemed to set the creetur crazy. He heowlcd and toro the ground with his feet. I didn't know what would become of me. At last I took off my old hat, shook it and ran at him. All at once lie dropped his brussels, turned round, dropped his tail and run out the other hole. I followed him, and was near enough when he went out to kick him behind. I had a good will to, but thought I was satisfied to get off as well, and I weut back by my hole. Terrible great crectur!'"

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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

Bronson and died at Jacksonville, Fla .; Abi- noam settled in Dixon, Ill., where he died at the age of sixty-nine ; he resided at Montrose until 1856 ; Preserved resides at Little Mead- ows, Pa .; and Agnes, the wife of John Stout, died at Owego, N. Y.

Abinoam Hinds and Isaac Peckins came here together, with their families and effects, in 1803, the former having decided to locate here on his visit the preceding year. They came with a

and no communication with other parts of the country save by tedious journeys on horse-back, or by means of a rude vehicle on almost impas- sable roads and by circuitous routes following some Indian trail or a line of marked trees. Abinoam Hinds settled on the farm now the property of Mrs. Watrous, formerly Mrs. H. H. Frazier, just outside of the borough, which, with the aid of his sons, he largely cleared of its forest trees, and brought into a state of cul-

DD Hinds

yoke of oxen and one horse the entire journey, | tivation. In the chamber of his log house Dr. and it may be difficult, nearly a century after Rose, an early physician, had his office for a time. Mr. Hinds had also another farm; the property is now in the possession of Eben Cobb, most of which he also cleared. In connection witlı Colonel Frank Fordham, he carried on a distillery near and below where Foster's tan- nery was located. He went to Philadelphia with his team of horses and yoke of oxen and carted tlience the mill-stones for Bela Jones, when that gentleman erected his grist-mill at this event, for the reader to leave his surround- ings of a beautiful village, with its fine residences, churches and schools, the country covered with a network of well-worked public roads, railroads and highly cultivated farms, and return to the same locality, then an almost unbroken wilderness, with only here and there, miles apart, a clearing or a log house, with none of the rapid modes of travel now so common,

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the foot of the lake which bears his name, and is said to have brought the first load of goods for Isaac Post from New York City, to be sold at Montrose. He was a man of great industry, frugality and integrity in all his relations with his fellow-men, and died at the residence of his son, David D., in Wysox, Pa., at the age of eighty-five years. After the death of his first wife he married Rachel Vail (1783-1876), a native of Cooperstown, N. Y., who came to Montrose and was residing with Elder Dimock, a Baptist clergyman, at the time of her mar- riage. By this union they had children,-John B., resides in Wysox, Pa., and was born in 1816; Ebenezer went to Iowa in 1860, where he died in 1885; Leonard B., resides in Frank- lin township; Major David D. ; Conrad, acci- dentally killed in youth ; and Hannah, the wife of James Van Tuyl, of Towanda, Pa.

David D. Hinds was born on the homestead in Bridgewater township January 28, 1822, and after he was nine years of age depended upon his own efforts for his sustenance. At that age he was bound out to Samuel Barclay, in Dim- ock township, but only served one year. He afterwards resided with Robert Day and also with Miles Turrell ; but when thirteen, through the solicitation of Mrs. Susannah Post, he went to live with Isaac Post, then a merchant and banker at Montrose. Young Hinds was a boy of quick perception in matters of business, earnest in his work and faithful and honest in all he had to do, and at this time had never attended school. Mr. Post placed him under the instruction of the well-known teacher, Benjamin S. Bentley, where he first learned the alphabet and the rudiments of an education, and where he continued for some time. He remained with Mr. Post until 1846, serving, after reaching his majority, for eleven dollars per month, which he added to the eighty-four dollars given him by Mr. Post when he came of age. In all Mr. Post's general business matters David was his trusty boy, and whether in teaming goods from New York, taking care of his bank at night or collecting his accounts, he always found him faithful to his charge and an expert in his work. On August 14, 1845, he married Malvina, a daughter of Perry and

Eliza (Morse) Jenks, who was born April 28, 1822, in Lawrence, Otsego County, N. Y. The demands of a family led him to sever his business relations with Mr. Post, two years after his marriage, and start business on his own account, and accordingly, in 1847, he purchased a farm in Wysox, Bradford County, which, after farming and lumbering for four years, he sold and returned to Montrose, where he carried on the livery business for over eight years. In 1859 he purchased the Benjamin Sayre farm, near Montrose, which he carried on for some eight ycars, sold it, and, in 1866, bought his present farm of two hundred acres, in North Bridgewater, which was formerly the farm of Caleb Bush, where he has resided since. Mr. Hinds may safely be classed among the intelli- gent and thorough farmers of Susquehanna County, and in all the improvements, the fences and buildings, of his present farm, the handi- work of a practical farmer may be seen.

He has never held office except to serve as the present poor commissioner of the township, having been elected in the spring of 1886, and he has served eighteen years on the trustee board of the Methodist Episcopal Church. When only eighteen years old he took an active interest in the militia drill of those days, and was elected major by a large majority over his competitors, and received his commission from Governor Porter. During the late Civil War Major Hinds gave his time and money freely in doing necessary home work preparatory to enlisting men leaving for the war, and he served in the capacity of a recruiting officer, though not officially, in filling the companies com- manded by Captains Stone, Dimock and Young. He volunteered as a private in Captain Stone's company, but on arriving at Scranton was re- jected on account of disability by the examin- ing surgeon. Although he received little edu- cation from books when a boy, Major Hinds is a ready accountant in business matters, has a retentive memory and is possessed of much natural talent and intellectual force. His word is his bond, and his integrity is beyond criti- cism. Both himself and wife are members of the church, the former of the Methodist, the latter of the Baptist Church. His children

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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

married, in 1834, Nancy (1804-68), a daughter of Zebulon Deans and Lucy (Chafee) Deans, a native of Putnam, Conn. Her father was a blacksmith by trade, and served in the War of 1812. She had brothers and sisters, but none of them came to this county. The children are Albert T., farmer in Bridgewater; Ed- ward Clinton ; and George P., a farmer on the homestead. Reuben Wells made large improve- ments on his part of the farm, and added one hundred and twenty-five acres, making his total number two hundred and forty-five acres. Prior to 1830 he assisted his father in erecting the present residence. He was a man of great industry, and managed his business affairs with prudence and economy. He accumulated a fair competence, which was divided among his sons at his death. He was well thought of by his townsmen, and he served for many years as poormaster, supervisor and assessor of Bridge- water. Both himself and wife were members of the Presbyterian Church at Montrose, con- tributors to all worthy local enterprises, and both were buried in the plot on the homestead.

Edward Clinton Wells, second son of Reuben, was born on the homestead near South Mont- rose, October 22, 1840. He was educated at the district school, Harford University, Montrose Academy, and for six terms was a teacher. After his marriage, in 1864, he re- sided on a rented farm near the homestead for four years. In the spring of 1869 he pur- chased a farm of one hundred and fifty acres, three-fourths of a mile west of South Montrose, which he managed until 1878, In 1877 he purchased twenty-five acres just north of that village, upon which he erected his present resid- ence, which will vie with any in the township in its various appointments. In 1882 he added to the last-mentioned purchase one hundred and ten acres more of land contiguous thereto. He may be safely classed among the intelligent and industrious farmers of Susquehanna County. He has served his township in various official capacities, and was assessor for five years, school director for six years and supervisor for three years, and a member of the Farmers' Institute. His wife is Emma L., a daughter of Joseph S. (1800-76) and Catharine (1807-75) (End-

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Centennial history of Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, Part 64

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