Centennial history of Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, Part 74

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 74

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John L. Lake rendered great assistanee to his father in paying for his farm in Warren County, and in early life learned the necessity of indus- try and economy, the sure road to a sueeessful business eareer. He had limited opportunities for obtaining an education from books in boy- hood, but beeame inured to hard work and gained praetical lessons therefrom. In 1856 he came to Susquehanna County, and purehased one hundred and six aeres of land in the south- west eorner of Dimoek township, to which he has added until he is the owner of four hun- dred and twelve acres, nearly all in one traet. He bought the Newton saw-mill, on White Creek, in 1878, which he has eondueted since. Naturally taking to the stoek business, he began in 1876 buying stoek, and marketing in the eoal regions, and subsequently in New York, Seranton and Newark. He has been sueceeded in this business by his son, William L. Lake, who buys and ships large herds of stoek from this eounty, Buffalo and other places, to New York and other Eastern markets. Mr. Lake, with the assistance of his sons, manages this large farm suecessfully. He has been active in I local polities, and has served as supervisor and

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HISTORY OF SUSUQEHANNA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

path-master for over twenty years. He is tem- perate in his habits and never tasted either liquor or tobacco. He is prompt in business matters, and known for liis integrity in all the relations of life. He married Joanna Hay in 1861, who died ten years afterward, leaving three children-William L., George M. and Charles H. Lake. His wife was a daughter

one child, Jacob B. Stephens, and for her second husband, she married Alfred L. Risley, and re- sides at Springville.

B. L. BRUSH .- The first representatives of this family in Susquehanna County settled in Oakland township in 1820, came from Connec- ticut and founded the settlement known as Brushville. Lewis Brush, one of the sons,

& & Lake

of Peter and Susan Hay, of Warren County, N. J., who settled at Auburn Corners, this county, about thirty-five years ago, and were farmers. His second wife, whom he mar- ried in 1873, is Mrs. Mary C. (Raub) Vough, who was born October 5, 1829. She is a daughter of Michael (1792-1869) and Mary (1796-1863) (Read) Raub, who were farmers near Blairstown, N. J., where the family of Raub have resided for several generations. Her grandfather, Michael Raub, was a soldier in the Revolution. Mrs. Lake had one child by her first husband, Mary, whose first hus- band was Minor Stephens, by whom she had

located for a time in Bridgewater township, in the Watrous district, and thence removed to Dimock in 1838. He was a Representative to the Legislature during 1843-44 for the district composed of Susquehanna and Wyoming Coun- ties, and received his nomination from the Democratic party. He subsequently served as justice of the peace for many years, and his judgment and counsel were accepted and relied upon. Hon. Lewis Brush married Lucy Ann Williams, also from Connecticut stock, who bore the following living children : Dr. Platt E., who studied medicine and practiced several years successfully ; was a surgeon during the

DIMOCK.

385

Rebellion, and now resides at Springville; Bruce L., born 1838, subject of this sketch ; Helen M., married T. B. Williams, Esq., of this township ; Eugenia, married Theodore Baker, of Dimock township ; Moselle, married, first, James Rymer, and, second, a Mr. Will- man, now living at Jermyn, Pa. Mr. Brush died in this township in 1866. Bruce L. Brush obtained a good education from books in the district schools, the Montrose Academy,

account of physical disability. In 1860 he bought the farm beautifully located between the two Elk Lakes, and in 1878 erccted the present home. A farmer, he has given but little attention to other matters than the science of farming, though he has been somewhat ac- tive in the laudable Grange movement and Odd-Fellowship. His fellow-townsmen have recognized his stanch and honorable character by election to various offices, and he has accept-

B. L. Brush

the Harford Academy and the Woodruff Acad- emy, in his native town, under the tuition of Hon. William H. Ainey, now of Allentown. He afterwards taught in the district schools several winters and worked upon his father's farm during the summer seasons. When the first draft of men for the war was made he was one of those upon whom the lot fell, and ex- pected to be engaged for the next nine months, but, on reaching Harrisburg, was exempted on

ably served as school director, constable, assessor and supervisor. When the Montrose Railway project was under way he gave the right of way to the company through his portion of his de- ceased father's home farm, and has always exhib- ited an interest in matters of publicimprovement. He married, January 7, 1863, Sabra A., the adopted daughter of David and Sabra (Smith) Young, born 1840, and has children,-Viola A., the wife of C. W. Stedman, a farmer of

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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

Rush ; and Lizzie P. The other children of Mr. and Mrs. Young were Edward, Mary and Henry, the latter of whom is now a resident of Washington Territory. The Young family is of Scotch-Irish descent, and settled in what is now Dauphin County, Pa., at an early date, and came to Susquehanna County in 1815. The late ex-Sheriff John Young was a cousin to David Young.

JUDGE I. P. BAKER .- His grandparents, John and Hannah Baker, were natives of and resided in Chester County, Pa. Their son Joseph (1768-1837) married Elizabeth (1769- 1843), a daughter of William and Deborah Baldwin, who bore him the following children : John, born in 1788, married Emily Johnson, who resides in Dimock township, being now in her eighty-fifth year ; Deborah, born in 1790, married Amos Baldwin, of Chester County ; Hannah, born in 1791, wife of Abraham Bailey, of Dimock township; William, born in 1793; Mary, 1794, became the wife of Lewis Bailey, of Chester County ; Joseph, 1797; Eli, 1799; Eliza, 1801, married Samuel Woodward, of Brooklyn township; Margaret, 1802, wife of Ezekiel W. Harlan, of Mauch Chunk, Pa .; Julia, 1804; Elizabeth, 1806 ; married George Gates, of Dimock, now in his eighty-ninth year ; Abeline, 1810, is the wife of Urbane Smith, a justice of the peace in Dimock ; and Judge Isaac P. Baker, who was also born in Chester County, February 7, 1812. Joseph Baker was a thorough-going and enterprising business man, and while a resident of Chester County carried on a grist-mill, saw-mill and nail-factory on Brandywine River, until the great flood came and destroyed his entire property, even washing away his books and papers. In 1821 he purchased some three hundred acres of land at Dimock Four Corners, this county, and the following spring removed tlience with his family, excepting his eldest daughter, Deborah, who remained in Chester County. He largely improved this property while good health lasted, but a stroke of paraly- sis made him an invalid for several years before his death. His mother was a niece of Daniel Boone, and the family is of Quaker origin. Isaac P. Baker, the youngest child, remembers

attending school at the old log school-house several miles distant from their home, to whichi he walked through woods and over streams. Upon reaching his majority he spent one year in boating coal from Mauch Chunk to Philadel- phia, and was often brought in company with the late Judge Asa Packer, who began the same business at the same time. Returning home, he managed his father's farm for two years, and in 1837 he began buying cattle in various parts of the State and driving them to Eastern Pennsyl- vania markets for sale. This business proved to be his principal life-work. He continued to buy stock in Pennsylvania, New York and Ohio for market in the eastern part of this State, and for about five years was associated with Squire Urbane Smith, and during the last few years shipped them by carloads from Buffalo and central points in Ohio until 1872, when he retired from the business and located on the farm which he had all these years heretofore carried on himself. Here he resided until 1884, when, being succeeded on the home property by his son, Theodore H., he settled at Dimock Four Corners, where he has since re- sided. Judge Baker has been an active busi- ness man, and, together with his other affairs, was a promoter of the Montrose Railway. He early took an interest in political circles, was a member of the old Whig party, and upon the organization of the Republican party, in 1856, was one of the first to advocate its principles and assist in its formation. Notwithstanding his large business operations in the West, lie has invariably exercised the right of suffrage at home, and strenuously upheld as a leader, by every honest measure and reasonable effort, the principles of reform in the Republican party. In 1861 he accepted the nomination of his party for associate judge, was elected and, with the late Judge Charles F. Read, served for a term of five years. He sat on the bench with Judge Mercur for four years, and with the late

Judge Farris B. Streeter for one year. Together with his wife and many others, he became a member of the Baptist Church at Dimock dur- ing a series of revival meetings held there in 1841, by Elder A. L. Post. He married, in 1839, Annis H., a daughter of William G. and

C.P. Baker

387

DIMOCK.

Elizabeth (Carrington) Handrick, of Middle- town, this county, who was born August 15, 1814, a woman well known for her intelligence, hospitality and womanly virtues. Their chil- dren are Elizabeth M. (1842-68), was the wife of L. W. Hamlin, of Salem, Wayne County, Pa .; Theodore H., born in 1844, married Eugenia B., a daugliter of the late Hon. Lewis Brush ; Lillie A., born in 1847, is the wife of Dr. Lee Hollister, of Wilkes-Barre; Isabella E., (1851-64) ; William J., born in 1853, married Ida, a daughter of Friend and Hannah Hol- lister.

debt for his farm, from which he was only re- leased after twenty years of industry and toil and the hearty assistance of his sons.

William Bunnell was four years old wheu his parents settled in Bridgewater. In youth he was a close student of books and completed his education under Dr. Lyman Richardson, at Harford, and under Elder Gray, at Montrose Academy. He was a teacher for two winter terms, but from 1854 to 1858, as a traveling salesman, made a series of tours through Mis- sissippi and other Southern States. On Decem- ber 21, 1858, he married Mary J., a daughter of Isaiah (1785-1858) and Polly (Williams) Maine (1792-1878). Her father was in the War of 1812, and came to Dimock from Groton, Conn., in 1818, settling where his son, I. A. Maine, now resides. His purchase being made under the Connecticut title, he was compelled to pay for a second time. The children of Isaiah Maine are Alanson, a retired farmer at Dimock Cor- ners ; Isaiah A., a farmer in Dimock ; William (1820-41) read law at Montrose, but died be- fore being admitted to the bar; Thomas, a farmer in Dimock, died in 1883; Mary J., wife of William Bunnell, whose children are Alice (1860-86) ; Lucy Jane, a graduate of Mansfield Normal School, is a teacher in Bridgewater ; Fanny L. and Willard M. Bunnell. Mr. Bunnell has been a farmer and a merchant ; he has been prominent in local politics ; was a War Democrat and has served his township in various capacities offici- ally. In 1880 he espoused the principles of the Greenback party, and advocated measures adopted by both branches of Congress in 1862, whereby all money furnished by the govern- ment should be a legal tender for all debts, both public and private. In the fall of 1881, in company with T. B. Williams and S. J. Northrop, he established the National Record at Montrose, which was devoted to the Green- back sentiment. He took charge of the outside work until the patronage of the paper reached eighteen hundred subscribers. Mr. Bunnell sold out his interest in the newspaper in the fall of the same year.

WILLIAM BUNNELL .- His paternal grand- father, James (1768-1841), a native of Litch- field County, Conn., married Azuba Carter (1768-1816) ; was a blacksmith by trade and died in Southeast Bridgewater, this county. Their children were Ephraim K. (1798-1881) died in Bridgewater; Avis (1800-82) married Daniel Landon and resided in Susquehanna County at one time and dicd in New York State ; Elijah (1803-72); Dotha, born in 1810, inarried a Mr. Tooley and resided in Tennessee, where she has a large family ; James A. (1813- 86) settled in Dimock in 1849, where he died thirty-seven years afterwards; Lucy, born in 1805, the wife of Charles Farnham, resided in Massachusetts ; Matilda (1807-53), wife of Harry Stone, resided and died in Litchfield County, Conn., where also Samuel Bunnell (1816-84), the youngest child, lived and died. Elijah Bunnell married Lucy (1804-64), a daughter of Apollos and Eunice (Throop) Stone, of Litchfield County, who were of Scotch® origin. Their children are Kirby, born 1827, a farmer in Bridgewater township; William, born February 27,1829; Dotha Ann (1831-38) and Truman S. (1834-38)-both died of an epidemic, scarlet fever, the same year ; Lucy J., born 1836, married Henry Rogers, now of Lawrence, Kan. ; and Harry, who died young. Elijah Bunnell came to Susquehanna County in May, 1833, driving through by the New- burg turnpike, and settled on the farm where his son Kirby now resides. He was known as a great hunter, and supplied his table largely with choice wild game, besides disposing of He was one of the early promoters of the his surplus meats to his neighbors. He ran in Grange movement in the county, one of the men

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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

to bring about its resuscitation, and is an active member of Susquehanna Grange, No. 74. He was one of the promoters of the Montrose Railway and was active in the establishment of the Farmers' Institute, in 1886. Mr. Bunnell has been frequently invited to deliver addresses upon various topics, and his earnest advocacy of the principles of his theme, his wide range of thought and common-sense ideas have won for him no little consideration among his fellow- men.

JAMES A. BUNNELL, son of James and Azuba Bunnell, owned the Hoar farm, and spent the remainder of his life there after settling in Dimock from Connecticut. He was born in Litchfield County, and his wife, Mary Ann Hall, born in New Haven County in 1815, sur- vives, in 1886, residing with her children. The eldest, Frederick Hall Bunnell, was born in Waterbury, Conn., January 12, 1840; Robert O. is a farmer and carpenter in Dimock ; Ly- man W., also a farmer in Dimock ; and Wel- come L., a farmer in Springville.

FREDERICK H. BUNNELL was nine years old when his parents came to Susquehanna County. He was raised on the home farm, and obtained his education at the district school and at the Dimock Academy. For three terms he was a teacher. In 1863 he went to Chicago, and on September 1, 1884, enlisted at Grand Rapids, in Company A., Twenty-first Michigan Regiment of Infantry. He was first employed in an Engineer Corps on the hospital buildings at Lookout Mountain, and subsequently sent to Alabama under General Rosseau. Returning to Chatta- nooga, his regiment (Twenty-first Michigan) was ordered to Dalton on guard. After one week there they marched to Atlanta, Ga., where they arrived in November, and found the city on fire. Here they were assigned to the Second Brigade, First Division, Fourteenth Army Corps, under General Sherman. The next day they started through Georgia, went to Savan- nah, and threw up breastworks, but the city having been taken by the navy, and Fort McAllister surrendered, they marched into the city without fighting, on December 21st. In January they left and marched through Lexing- ton and Columbia, then on fire, and were en-

gaged in the battles of Adairsville and Benton- ville in March, where they lost seventy men. On March 24th Mr. Bunnell was detailed to serve as hospital guard at division headquar- ters, which position le filled until the war ended. He was discharged at Washington, June 8, 1865, and went to Detroit, where the regiment was disbanded. Returning home, he married, the same year, Harriet, a daughter of Jacob B. and Catherine (Sherman) Wallace, by whom he has children,-James Wallace, Francis Elmer, Let- tie Mary, Irene Estella, Byron Bruce and John M. Bunnell. The fourth child, Kirby, died young.

Since the close of the war Mr. Bunnell has been a farmer in Dimock. He was one of the char- ter members of Susquehanna Grange, P. of H., and its first regularly initiated member, and has been identified with the Grange movement since. He was elected Overseer of the Pomona Grange in December, 1885, the same month elected Master of Susquehanna Grange, and on June 1, 1886, he was appointed by the State Grange Deputy of the south part of Susque- hanna County. Since holding the office he has organized Elk Lake Grange, No. 806, with twenty-nine charter members, and in December, 1886, reorganized Union Grange, No. 152, with thirteen members. By virtue of the last two offices he is a member of the State Grange.

CHAPTER XXIV.

SPRINGVILLE TOWNSHIP.

THIS township was erected in April, 1814, out of the south western part of the old township of Bridgewater. At the same time the south- eastern part of that township was erected into the old township of Waterford (including La- throp and Brooklyn), which became the eastern boundary of Springville. The northern limits of the new township extended within five miles of Montrose, including the greater part of what became Dimock in 1832. Wyoming County lies south, and west were Auburn and about one mile of Rush, until after Dimock was

Im Burnell

389

SPRINGVILLE.

erected, when that township became the northern boundary of Springville, whose area was now reduced to about thirty square miles-six miles along the Wyoming line and five miles north and south.

" At different periods since the erection of Susque- hanna County there has been more or less disquiet among the residents remote from the seat of justice, and those of Springville have been of the number. As early as 1839 the matter of annexing Springville and Auburn to portions of Luzerne and Bradford, to form a new county, with Skinner's Eddy for a county- seat, was openly agitated. Again, in 1842, it was only vigilance on the part of some that prevented their loss to Susquehanna, when Wyoming County was organized. To this day there are those who con- tend that the township, for half a mile within its southern border, belongs of right to Wyoming, since the line dividing them is the unrectified one of 1810- 12. This should have been due east from Wyalusing Falls, and was so run by the surveyors going east; but the party from the east line of the county, on account of some variation understood by surveyors, failed to meet those from the west, being considerably south of them. The matter was finally compromised by making the line not "due east and west," as directed. This had so long been acquiesced in, and farms and town arrangements were so well established in 1842, it was concluded best to make no changes."1

The lands of the township are elevated and slope well towards the south, the general level being broken by high ridges along the water- courses. Most of the streams drain southward, the principal one being Meshoppen Creek. It enters the township at the northeastern part, and, after taking the waters of Pond Brook, passes out of it east of the centre. In the southwestern corner White Creek passes into Auburn, draining that part of the township. In all parts of Springville good springs abound, and in the eastern section there are several small lakes or ponds. The streams have enough fall to afford mill-sites, but lack the volume to make the operation of machinery profitable. The low lands are limited, but in several sections the uplands are handsomely located, and, having a soil naturally fertile, some of the finest farms in the county have there been made since tlie timber growth has been removed. The higher parts were once covered with beech, maple and

hickory, and the hillsides and lower lands with elms, basswood and hemlock. But few pines and scarcely any oak were found in the town- ship. The cereals do well, but dairying has become the principal occupation of the people.

THE PIONEERS .- Not possessing so many inviting natural features as some other town- ships in the county, settlements in Springville did not antedate the century. The first clearing was made in the fall of 1800, near where the Presbyterian Church was afterwards built, by Captain Jeremiah Spencer and his sons, who put in six acres of wheat. He was a native of New Hampshire, and had served in the Revo- lutionary War, but lived in Rensselaer County, N. Y., prior to his coming here. Captain Spencer and his brother Samuel had come to this section to survey a township six miles square, for Oliver Ashley, of Connecticut, who had bought such a tract of land of the State, for a half-bushel of silver dollars, and to which he gave the name of " Victory." On an old map such a township appears, having an irregular shape, whose southern line ran near where is now the hamlet of Lynn. It embraced in the main what is now Springville township and a part of Auburn. The family of Captain Spencer came in 1801, and consisted of his wife (wlio was a sister of Judge Ashley), sons named Daniel and Francis B., and five daughters. Captain Spencer died in 1825, aged seventy-five years. He was interred in the cemetery for which he donated the land, as were also some of the members of his family. Francis B. Spencer lived at Springville, being the first postmaster at that place, in 1815, and was well educated for those times. He died at Factoryville, Jan- uary 1, 1869. Daniel Spencer was widely known as a great hunter, and some remarkable stories of his skill are related.

" Hazard's Register contained a notice of Daniel Spencer's wonderful pound of gunpowder, entitled, 'Susquehanna County against the world!' 'In the early settlement of this county, Mr. Spencer, of Springville township, killed, with one pound of pow- der, one hundred and five deer, nine bears, three foxes, one wolf, three owls and a number of partridges and quails. Mr. Spencer has killed upwards of fif- teen hundred deer since he came to reside in this county.'

1 Miss Blackman.

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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

"The following is the testimony of one of his former neighbors: 'He was out one day in the fall of the year, when the bucks frequently get into a family quarrel, as in this case. He found two lusty bucks that had been fighting, and in the battle their horns, being long and prongy, became locked together so firmly that they could not be separated by any effort they could make, and one of them died either in the battle or by starvation, and the other had dragged his dead comrade around until he was just alive and had become a mere skeleton.'

" The road from Colonel Parke's to Springville Hollow was opened in 1803 or 1804 by the Spencers. Previous to that, only marked trees and a bridle-path had guided the traveler to the Susquehanna River at the mouth of the Meshoppen."

Samuel Spencer, the brother of Captain Spencer, bouglit five hundred acres of land in the present Lymanville neighborhood, south of the Connecticut township of Victory, for which he paid Colonel Jenkins, of Wyoming, a horse and saddle. Returning to New Hampshire, Spencer sold this land to his. brother-in-law, Gideon Lyman, of Wethersfield, Conn., for five hundred dollars, but who did not occupy it until 1803. In March of that year lie came, with his wife and eleven children, and made a temporary home on the place which afterwards became the farm of Justus Knapp, on account of its nearness to Captain Spencer, who re- turned with them from the East, where he had been on a visit. As soon as he could prepare a house, Gideon Lyman moved his family to the land he had bought of Samuel Spencer-to the locality which has ever since been known by lıis name.

Owing to his generosity while on the way hither, in relieving a friend pressed by a creditor, Mr. Lyman had only fifty cents in his pocket when he reached his destination. The louse he occupied was built by felling basswood trces, splitting them open, and laying them up with the flat side inward. It was probably eighteen by fourteen feet, and had to accommo- date thirteen persons through the summer. The roof was made of white ash bark, but the floor was of the same material as the sides of the building. Two barrels of pork constituted the stock of provisions, and Mr. Lyman was obliged to go to Exeter, near Wilkes-Barre, and sell a horse to get grain for bread. This

left him only one horse. He sold a bed to buy a cow. To crown his discouragement, he found he held a worthless title, and had eventually to buy of Mr. Drinker, recovering nothing of what he had paid in good faith to the claimant under the Connecticut title. But he had been a soldier in the Revolutionary army, and was not easily daunted. His first house was built about ten or twelve rods from one of the most bountiful springs in our country ; but this was so concealed by laurels that he had lived upon thic place several years before it was discovered. Subsequently he built nearer it, and the house is now occupied by his grandson, James H. Lyman. The spring supplied him, and many of the neighbors, with an unfailing stream of purc, cold water during protracted drouths. Here he lived until his death, in May, 1824. His children all lived to old age, and all but one " were present at his funeral. His sons were Elijah, Gideon, Joseph Arvin, Samuel, John and Prentiss. Elijah is still living (September, 1869), in Allegany County, N. Y., aged eighty-seven. His sister, Dolly Oakley, is eighty-five. Gideon, a twin with the latter, died when fifty-five years old. Naomi Spencer died when sixty-nine; Samuel when seventy- one; Joseph Arvin in his sixty-second year. The five others are living, the youngest being seventy-one."

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Centennial history of Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, Part 74

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