Centennial history of Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, Part 71

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

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led by P. S. Shelp. A large Sunday-school has Wm. Robertson as its superintendent.

FREDERICK DAYTON. - Eli and Hannalı (Baldwin) Dayton were natives of Litchfield County, Conn., where both died. He was a farmer and a hero of the Revolutionary War. Enlisting soon after the beginning of that eventful struggle, he served for three years in the army and took part in the campaign with General Montgomery in Canada. Discharged through a severe illness, he returned to his home. He had children,-Lucinda, Daniel, Isaac, all born there. Daniel Dayton (1788- 1870), in 1811, married Mary Ann, daughter of Canfield and Mary Ann Stone, also of Litch- field County. She died at the age of twenty- six, after bearing Mary Ann, born 1813 (Mrs. Ahira Wickham, now of Towanda, Pa.) ; Han- nah (1815-47) was the wife of N. C. Wick- wire, and died in Illinois; and Daniel C., born 1816, a retired merchant in Towanda, Pa. For his second wife, in 1818, he married Catharine (1799-1857), daughter of William Clark, of Cornwall, Conn. Their children arc Fred- erick, born 1819; William, born 1821, a farmer in Litchfield County ; and Isaac, born 1828, also a farmer there. In his eighty-second year Mr. Dayton came to Susquehanna County to visit his son Frederick, with whom he re- mained six months. Returning to his home in the fall, he lived until the following May, and died on the old homestead.

Frederick Dayton, born at New Preston, Conn., spent his boyhood upon the farm of his father and obtained his education at the district schools and at the Warren Academy. During the succeeding eight years he taught school, the first three being at Fishkill, N. Y., the remain- ing five in his native State, excepting one term in Pennsylvania. In 1845 he came to this county and bought the present homestcad, then comprising one hundred and twenty-five acres, and since increased to one hundred and forty- three acres, upon which he erected commodious farm buildings. In 1845 he married Sophronia, daughter of Judson and Polly (Turrell) Stone, of Forest Lake township. She was born in 1827, and her children are as follows : Watson, born 1846, a farmer of Jessup, who married

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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

Betsey Ann White, of Le Raysville, Pa. ; Can- field S., born 1850, an artist-painter, located at Cincinnati, Ohio, who married Jessie Rockwell, of Towanda, Pa .; Urania E., born 1856, mar- ried Charles B. Mckean, a tanner at Irvonia, Clearfield County, Pa .; Clark D., born 1858, a farmer in Forest Lake, who married Sarah M. Tilden ; and Zaidee Catharine, born 1860, the wife of Milton E. Birchard, residing on the homestead.

In all good works he found a ready and valuable aid in Mrs. Dayton, who was in all things a true and loving wife and devoted mother. Upon family and friends her example has been stamped and long will be remembered. A sufferer for many months from creeping palsy, she bore all with resignation and fortitude, and died, surrounded by family and friends, Sep- tember 22, 1886. For years she had belonged to the Middletown Baptist Church, which her

Dayton

Mr. Dayton has never been a politician, though his services have been freely given to the township in various offices, among them be- ing school director, supervisor and poormaster. During the Rebellion he was an ardent and outspoken supporter of the National Govern- ment, and his voice and purse were frequently called upon during that troublous period. He has always attended closely to his farm interests and may safely be called a representative farmer.

husband also attends; and the membership of that church bear many happy thoughts of her friendship and comfort during the various trials of life.

CHAPTER XXIII.

DIMOCK TOWNSHIP.

DIMOCK was erected December, 1832, as the nineteenth township in the county, with the fol-

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DIMOCK.

lowing bounds : North, Bridgewater, from which nearly one-fourth of the area was taken ; south, Springfield, from which the remainder of what is now Dimock was taken; east, Brooklyn ; west, Auburn and Rush. After Jessup was erected, in 1846, that township became the northwestern boundary, and a slight change in that line was subsequently made. The town- ship was named in honor of Davis Dimock, associate judge of the county at the time the township was formed. Its dimensions are not quite seven miles from west to east, and a little less than four and a half miles from north to south. Under the Connecticut surveys this area comprised parts of the towns of Cheleur, Bidwell, Dandolo and Manor, and settlers were, therefore, first attracted to different localities, as they had purchased lands before immigrating.

The general surface is elevated, and nearly the entire slope is towards the south. In the north- western part, beyond the ridge, which trends west, near the north line of the township, are two sheets of water, of symmetrical appearance and closely united, which bear the name of Elk Lakes. The outlet is a small stream called Lake Creek, which flows northwest, through Rush, into the Wyalusing. The lakes cover about one hundred and fifty acres, and have, in late years, been regarded as one, and called Elk Lake. On account of some of the early settlers in this locality, this body of water was also long known by the name of Lathrop Lake. The surrounding country is very attractive. About a mile south is Young's Pond, a small body of water, which is the source of a branch of White Creek, which drains that part of the township. East of the centre the drainage is into Meshop- pen Creek, whose main stream is for several miles parallel with the Brooklyn line, thence bends southwest, passing into Springville below Parkvale. Its principal branch in the township is the outlet of Cape's Ponds, small sheets of water north of the centre. Numerous springs abound, forming brooks, which afford living water for most of the farms. In some sections the presence of mineral springs has been noted.

" A mineral spring was discovered in 1871 on the farm of Widow John Rosencrants, in Dimock town- ship, near the Meshoppen Creek, half a mile above

the State road. The water of this spring has not yet been analyzed; but, judging from the smell, taste and appearances, the ingredients are sulphur and iron. On confining the water in a jug, the presence of sul- phur is acknowledged by all ; and a portion of the iron precipitates itself from the water in a few days' time, and the smell and taste soon disappear. Allowing the air to come in contact with the water in an open bottle, it turns to a dark color; but if the bottle is kept corked, the water seems to remain good any length of time."

The township had much valuable timber, and several fine belts of the original growth still remain ; but the greater part of the surface has been cleared up. A large quantity of the trees on the lower lands were elns and lindens, from which circumstance Dimock has been called the " Bass Wood" township. On the higlier ridges were groves of fine trees; and a considerable quantity of hemlock also abounded.

The soil does not vary from that found in the central part of the county, and the farm pro- ducts are, like those of the surrounding town- ships, mainly those of the dairy. Attention has been paid to the breeding of fine cattle, and good herds are owned by P. C. Conklin, E. Tiffany and others.

THE EARLY SETTLERS of Dimock were not as numerous as those of other sections of the county, where richness of soil and proximity to markets induced them to locate. But they be- longed to the same hardy, self-reliant and de- termined class of people as formed the nucleus of other prosperous settlements, and despite adverse conditions, attracted desirable neighbors. Among those coming first were, according to Miss Blackman, Thomas and Henry Parke, in 1796 ; Joseph Chapman and son, Joseph (in Cheleur), temporarily, in 1798 ; George Mowry, and sons, Charles and Ezekiel (in Manor), in 1799 ; Martin Myers and Thomas Giles, the same year; Asa and Ezekiel Lathrop and Asahel Avery soon after 1800.

Thomas Parke, commonly called Col. Parke, came from Charleston, Rhode Island, in June, 1796, to occupy a tract of ten thousand acres of land, which he had purchased under the Con- necticut title. These lands constituted nearly half the area of the town of Bidwell, along the waters of the Meshoppen, in what is now Dimock and Springville. He fixed his residence

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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

in the southeastern part of Dimock, at a place which became known as Parkvale, where he and his younger brother, Henry, commenced to make a clearing. They were the sons of Capt. Benjamin Parke, who commanded a com- pany at the battle of Bunker Hill, and who lost his life in that engagement. Thomas and Henry being the younger of four sons, were placed under the care of their grandfather, a Puritan clergyman, who gave them a good edu- cation. Thomas was a good practical surveyor, and occasionally contributed to the newspapers of that period. When he came here there were but two settlers west of the "Nine Partners," and west to the Wyalusing, a distance of twenty- five miles, was an unbroken forest. With the aid of his compass he explored and marked a path to the forks of the Wyalusing, the nearest point where he could obtain bread-stuffs, which he carried to his home on his back. In the winter of 1797 he walked home to Charleston, R. I., and returned the same way the following spring.

He busied himself preparing a home, and in 1800 he returned to Rhode Island, and was married to Eunice Champlin, of New York. In the spring of 1802 he brought her, with their infant son, Benjamin, to this home in the wild woods, where she acquitted herself in a manner worthy of a pioneer and proved her- self a true helpmeet. On the 5th of December, 1802, their daughter, Sarah C., was born to them, and this was the first birth in the township. Of this pioneer home, and the life the occupants led, the Hon. Benjamin Parke said, October 5, 1885,-

"That dwelling stood in a beautiful valley, nearly surrounded by hills, beside a brook of pure water which ran through and gave name to the valley. Though of unhewn logs, it was of ample size and comfortable. It appeared, however, as a home far different to those who then saw it for the first time, than it did to the one who had toiled six years to pre- pare it. Col. Parke brought with him his sister, a young and accomplished girl, besides his wife and infant son. They, as most of the women who emi- grated.early to Susquehanna County, had been reared in the bosom of New England families, and left the society of dear friends and relations. They had en- joyed, too, from childhood; a frequent intercourse with the city of Newport, the then emporium of New

England fashion and style. What a change and contrast ! A small clearing in the midst of a dense forest; few neighbors within five miles, and none nearer than a mile and a half of their dwelling. Their house, being of larger size than most others near, and upon the only traveled road leading eastward, in that section, was the general stopping-place of most of those coming from the Eastern States, to look for or settle upon farms in that part of the country. Here they were most cheerfully received, and enter- tained without charge, though beds and floors were frequently filled and covered with lodgers.

"No one then thought of receiving pay from such transient guests. Their company and the news they brought from the outer world was more than an equivalent for their entertaiment."

A home of greater comfort and beauty was afterwards erected near the site of the old cabin, and under its hospitable roof eight children were reared. It was also a place where the old pioneers delighted to gather and recount their experiences when this country was but sparsely settled. Here, too, temporarily lived Henry Parke, of whom an old citizen said :

" An uncle of the Hon. Benjamin Parke was occa- sionally a resident there for some days together. He was a very sociable, intelligent gentleman, and I was often entertained with his account of the first settle- ment of that region. Among other things, he told of backing provision from Black Walnut Bottom, on the river, following a line of marked trees; and once, being belated, he failed to find the elearing, and camped by the side of a log till morning. Starting again, in a few moments he discovered the clearing, and was much vexed that he had lain out so near home."

It is said that this exposure permanently in- jured his constitution and hastened his death, which occurred in New York City in 1831. Henry Parke was never married, but resided. with his sister on the farm which afterwards became known as " Woodburne." Here Asahel Avery and others had cleared up five acres of land for Charles Miner, who never occupied it. In the house which Henry Parke built on this place he taught school about 1810, and children from the families of Avery, West aud Fuller attended. The two last-named lived in the township of Bridgewater.

A short time prior to his death, the Hon. Charles Miner wrote concerning this section, as he recollected it in 1800,-

DIMOCK.

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"Thomas Parke and his brother, Henry-active, intelligent men-with a black boy, were alone in Bid- well. Charles Mowry was one of my fellow-students in Nature's beechwoods academy. After I became a printer, he wrote an article for iny paper. I said to him, 'Mr. Mowry, you are capable of better things than rolling logs. Come to my office, and in two years you will be fitted for a printer and editor.' Brother Asher, at Doylestown, needing help, he en- tered his office, proved a good writer, clear, nervous; became preceptor in the academy; established a pa- per at Downingtown, Chester County, which he sus- tained with profit and reputation many years. He was invited by Governor Findlay's friends to remove to Harrisburg, and he afterwards became canal commis- sioner. As honest and clever a fellow as ever breathed, but as thorough a Democrat as I was Federalist."

Colonel Thomas Parke firmly believed in the validity of his Connecticut titles, and defended them by argument and with his pen until the decree at Trenton was promulgated, which he never believed was just or right. He was loyal to his own convictions and to the interests of his neighbors, "refusing to give up the agency of the Connecticut claimants, and to accept an agency on the other side, together with a lease for all the lands he claimed, which would have made his title indisputable. He thought that in so doing he would show a distrust of the title under which he and others claimed lands, give his opponents an advantage over others for whom he acted, and thereby injure those who, relying upon his integrity, had intrusted their interests to his care, and who were not present to accept a surrender of his agency, and aet for themselves. By this decision he lost all the worldly estate he possessed, and was afterwards obliged to purchase upon credit from his suc- cessful opponents, paying, by surveying, about six hundred acres, including the farm upon which he resided and died, in 1842. 1

Most of the early years of his residence in Dimock Col. Parke devoted to surveying the county into townships and lots, and was for three years one of the commissioners of Luzerne County, and one of the three trustees appointed by the Governor, in 1811, to run the lines, lay off and organize Susquehanna County. He took a great interest in military matters, and Jesse Bagley said, in 1871, ---

" In 1806 I worked for Colonel Parke when the first militia training was held there ; Thomas Parke, Cap- tain ; Myron Kasson, Lieutenant; Joseph Chapman, Ensign, and myself Sergeant or Corporal. Abiathar Tuttle is the only man now living who trained with me. Captain (afterwards Colonel) Parke proposed that to every one who would the next time appear in uniform-blue coat and white pantaloons-he would give a dinner. About twenty so appeared, and were treated to an excellent dinner."

Mrs. Parke survived her husband sixteen years, departing this life November 10, 1858, in the ninetieth year of her age. Their eldest son, the Hon. Benjamin Parke, LL.D., re- turned to the ancestral home in 1860, after an absence of thirty years, and soon after engaged in an extensive milling enterprise which wrecked his fortune. He removed to Harris- burg, where he died, and the homestead at Dimock passed into other hands, none of the Parke family remaining.

Captain Joseph Chapman held a Connecticut title for four hundred acres of land in " Chie- leur," which shared the same fate as Colonel Parke's. He and his son, Joseph, came to this tract in 1798, cleared up a site for a house south of Dimock village, which was built the follow- ing year. They named their place "Mont- calm," and returned to Brooklyn to spend the winter. In the fall of 1799 Martin Myers oc- cupied this house until he could build his own, in the same neighborhood, farther south. In the spring of 1800 Captain Chapman brought his family from Dandolo (Brooklyn) to " Montcalm," but Joseph Chapman, Jr., re- mained in Brooklyn, occupying a farm which has remained in possession of their family.

"Isaac A. and Edward, sons of Captain Joseph Chapman, were boys who spent their days in the la- borious occupation of felling and clearing the forest, and assisting to provide for the wants of the family ; and their evenings by the light of a huge blazing fire, studying whatever books could be obtained from the few 'settlers,' who lived within a circle of from ten to twenty miles around, and who were all neighbors warmly interested in each other's welfare and happi-

ness. In this manner, aided by a very intelligent elder sister, and the occasional assistance of the more educated of the settlers, did these two brothers edu- cate and improve themselves to such a degree, that to human apprehension, only an early death prevented them from being the very first men in our State.

1 Miss Black man.

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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

They were both excellent mathematicians, practical surveyors and draughtsmen. Poetry and landscape painting were occasionally resorted to as an amuse- ment, and many of the singular events and rude scenes of that new and wild country were the subjects of their pen and pencil. Edward afterwards studied law, and commenced the practice at Sunbury, where he died deeply lamented by all who ever had the pleasure of his acquaintance." (From Harrisburg Keystone, 1839. B. Parke, Esq., Editor).

" In reference to the sister to whom they were so much indebted, the Hon. Charles Miner said : ‘Miss Lydia Chapman, a lady of high intelligence and great merit, became an inhabitant of Wilkes-Barre and an instructress of a school. Married with Dr. G. W. Trott ; their accomplished daughter intermarried with the Hon. G. W. Woodward.'

" He added: 'Edward and Isaac Abel Chapman open upon the world first-rate men. The fine poem by Edward commencing -

"Columbia's shores are wild and wide, Columbia's hills are high, And rudely planted side by side, Her forests meet the eye "-

justly challenges the critic's praise.

"' Isaac became an editor; proved an excellent writer, but was too independent to be a party printer in ancient times. For many years he was engineer in the employ of the Mauch Chunk Company, whose confidence and favor attest the scientific accuracy and social merit.'

"In 1826 Isaac A. Chapman invented the syphon canal-lock. His death occurred December, 1827, at Mauch Chunk. Two years later proposals were issued for the publication of his 'History of Wyoming,' which eventually appeared. The preface, by himself, bears date July 11, 1818. He took the census of Sus- quehanna County in 1810."

In about 1813 " Montcalm " became the home of Jolin Bolles, who came from Wilkes- Barre with his family to occupy it, and lived there several years. Later he lived at Dimock Corners, on the farm where afterwards resided Lewis Brush, but died in Bridgewater, ninety years old. "Montcalm" became the property of Nathan Tingley, who was a later settler, but who became very prominently identified with the affairs of Dimock.

" Martin Myers was a Hessian soldier in the British army during the Revolution. He came to Pennsyl- vania from one of the New England States, having left the service before the close of the war, and set- tled down as a peaceable citizen of the country against which he had been sent to fight. By the con- tract between the Government of Great Britain and the Prince of Hesse-Cassel, a sum of money was to be !

paid to the latter for all the Hessians not returned, and they were, at the end of the war, carefully sought for to be taken back. Myers, not wishing to return, sought concealment, and was aided by a young woman with whom he had become acquainted. He was not found, and after the troops had left the country this woman became his wife. In the fall of 1799 he is said to have carried the following load upon his back from Black's mill, on the Wyalusing, up to the forks of the creek, a distance of ten miles, the flour of one bushel of wheat, one bushcl of rye, fourteen shad and a gun. At the Forks he added to his load one gal- lon and a pint of whiskey, a large bake-kettle weigh- ing twenty-five pounds, and a common-sized cross-cut saw, all of which he carried without assistance thir- teen miles farther to his own residence. These thirteen miles were entirely in the woods, and he was guided only by a line of marked trees. This Samson-like feat was performed by no 'Samson in size,' as we are told by his daughter, Mrs. Button, who also in- forms us that his grave is one-half mile east of Dimock Corners. He has a son, Alvin, now living in Rush. Another son, Surzardis, formerly resided in Dimock."1

" In 1799, Thomas Giles, from Connecticut, moved in between Colonel Parke's place and Brooklyn. Soon after, his daughter Fanny, aged four years, while gathering chestnuts in the woods near the house, was lost. Many people joined in the search for her. 'On the third day there were persons there who lived thirty miles away. No trace of her was ever found.' "

The Lathrops came from Connecticut and located south of the lakes near the Auburn line. Asa Lathrop began making a clearing on the hill south of the Corners in 1800, but did not bring his family until the following year. After living there a short time he removed to the outlet of the lakes and built there one of the pioneer mills of the county. From this fact his name became fixed upon the locality and was also applied to the lakes. These mills, though several times rebuilt and owned by other parties, are still frequently spoken of as Lathrop's. He died in 1827, aged seventy-two years, and was the father of sons named James, Walter and Asa. The former was the father of sons named Israel B., William F., Austin B. and Charles J., most of whom remained identified with the interests of this part of the county.

In the early period of their residence at this place wild animals were numerous and bold,

1 Black man,

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DIMOCK.

and it is related of James Lathrop that, hearing the squealing of pigs, one bright moonlight night, about 1810, he rose, went out, and found a bear had scaled the log fence-five feet high-with a porker weighing two hundred pounds ; and had walked off hugging it, and was then in the act of getting over another fence, when, seeing Mr. Lathrop coming and brandishing a bush-hook, he dropped the porker and took to the woods on all-fours.

It is probable that Ezekiel Lathrop came about the same time, or a little earlier than the family of Asa Lathrop, and that his settlement here was induced by the improvements made by Asa the previous year. His location was nearer the Auburn line, on the farm which was later known as the Dyer Lathrop place, who was one of the sons. Other sons were named Spencer, Nehemiah, Ezekiel and Jolın. Sev- eral of these became octogenarians. At the house of Ezekiel Lathrop were held the first religious meetings in Dimock, the services being those of the Baptist Church, Elder Davis Dimock and other missionaries being the preachers.

Samuel Robinson, father of John W. Rob- inson, who was a large land-owner in the town- ship, and lived west of Ezekiel Avery, also came from Connecticut at an early day. John W. Robinson had been in the county as early as 1798, assisting Colonel Ezekiel Hyde as a sur- veyor. He probably accompanied him to Wilkes-Barre, where he engaged in mercantile business, and was married to a daughter of the revolutionary soldier, Colonel Zeb. Butler. Later. he purchased the Wallace interest in lands in Susquehanna County-about eight thousand acres unsold, and all the contracts previously made-and took up his residence in Dimock, to look after his interests. For a home, he bought the house of John Willianis, about 1811. The latter had bought it a few years previously of Asahel Avery, one of the first settlers of the township. Robinson found himself unable to raise the mortgages which he had given Wallace for the lands he had pur- chased, and became financially embarrassed. This was due, doubtless, to the long time he allowed the settlers to make their payments.

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Centennial history of Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, Part 71

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