Centennial history of Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, Part 75

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 75

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).

Having such a large family, and being so far removed from the sources of supplies, with few means to procure what was obtainable, the Lymans suffered many hardships, which were shared by other families in this locality.

"One summer there was a scarcity of bread. A crop of rye was growing, and as soon as it was full in the head it was cut in small quantities, and when dry, was taken out of the straw, cleaned, and set before what was called a Dutch fireplace, and kiln-dried ; it was then ground in a coffee-mill, the hopper of which would not hold more than a pint, then sifted and made into something called bread.

"Gideon Lyman one Sabbath morning, searching for his cow, found some raspberries; anything so gratifying and exciting he did not think it right to tell his wife during holy time, and so waited until evening, when custom closed its observance. His wife was then unable to sleep for joy. In the morn- ing, pails of berries were secured.

" A few years later Mrs. L. and a young woman

SPRINGVILLE.

391

set out with a lantern one evening, to go about a mile and a half to watch with a sick neighbor. Starting from a house where they had been visiting in the afternoon, they lost their way, and spent the night in the woods. A brisk snow-storm added to the unpleasantness of the situation, but they made a fire, and as they had a hymn-book, they passed the time in singing hymns. In the morning they pro- ceeded on their way and crossed a wolf's track in the snow before they reached the small stream which they followed to their destination."1

In 1801 Ezra Tuttle, a neighbor of Gideon Lyman, came and settled on what afterwards became known as the Packer farm, north of Captain Spencer. He had bought three hundred acres of land under the Connec- ticut title, paying one dollar an acre therefor to Colonel Ezekiel Hyde, of Rush ; but to per- fect the title he was obliged, afterwards, to pay the Pennsylvania claimant, Henry Drinker, an additional five hundred dollars. He built the first frame house in the township, and he and his sons cleared up two hundred and fifty acres of land. They also constructed a large part of the turnpike from Montrose to Tunk- hannock, in 1815, and opened other roads in the township. Some of his other early im- provements are also well remembered. His death occurred in 1826, and he was interred in the cemetery near the homestead. His son Myron was the first child born in Springville. and after residing here many years le removed to the West in 1846. Of the other six children composing the family, two were sons and four daughters. The latter married,-Sylvia, Wells Carrier ; Sabina, Benajalı Mckenzie; Betsey, Samuel Sutton; Achsa, George Strickland. Benoni Tuttle, one of the sons, died in the township many years ago. Abiathar Tuttle, the other son, and the oldest of the family, was thirteen years old when his parents came to reside in Springville. He became a carpenter, and helped to put up many of the buildings occupied by the early settlers. In later life he resided on the farm now occupied by John Tut- tle, north of Springville village. For more than sixty years he was an exemplary member of the Methodist Church, and also became a Frec and Accepted Mason at an early day. He

died March 7, 1879, at the advanced age of ninety-one years, having retained his physical and mental powers to the last. He was interred at White Haven, Pa.

In 1800 Salmon Thomas came from New Hampshire, made a small clearing, sowed wheat and returned to his home. In 1801 he came back, accompanied by his father and brother Charles. Both of the former took up one hundred acres of land on the hill southwest of Spring Hollow. The sons being single, lived with their father, Samuel Thomas. In 1805 Salmon married Rosalinda, daughter of Ezekiel Lathrop. They reared sons named Reuben, Benjamin, Dennison, Salmon, Davis (still living on the homestead) and Edwin. Charles Thomas marricd Plicbe Sutton and settled on a farm adjoining the homestead. Their children were seven sons and one daughter, namely: Eri, Francis, John, George, Charles, Daniel, Almeda, and Samuel S. The latter is a resident near Lynn Station, and is a teacher of more than thirty years' standing. Samuel Thomas, Jr., a brother of Salmon and Charles, came at a later day, and after living near the north line of the township some years, removed to Connecticut.

HON. ASA PACKER, son of Elisha Packer, of Groton, New London County, Conn., was born in that town on the 29th day of December, 1805. As soon as he was old enough to do for himself, a situation was pro- cured for liim in the tannery of Mr. Elias Smith, of North Stonington. In the year 1822, when but seventeen years of age, he set out on foot, with a few dollars in his pocket and his worldly goods comprised in a knapsack, for Susquehanna County, Pa. Here he appren- ticed himself to the trade of carpenter and joiner in Hopbottom, (now Brooklyn). While so engaged, he went with his employer to Springville, to build the mansion of the late William Drinker, Esq. on the place recently occu- pied by Thomas Nicholson, Esq., and since pur- chascd by Mr. Packer himself. It was liere also that he first met the daughter of Zophar Blake- slee, Saralı Minerva, who afterwards became his wife. He heard of the Lehigh Valley as affording greater remuneration for labor, and superior opportunities for advancement. He

1 Blackman.

392

HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

was induced, therefore, to remove thither, and in the spring of 1833 located at Mauch Chunk. He brought to his new home but a few hundred dollars, his capital consisting rather of his active mind, strong arms and industrious habits. His first and second summers were spent in boating coal from Mauch Chunk to Philadelphia, himself acting as master of his own boat. The energy and capacity which he displayed while thus employed commended him to the favorable notice of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company, with whom he after- wards formed a profitable connection, which lasted a number of years.

He subsequently formed a partnership with his brother under the firm-name of A. & R. W. Packer. They did a large business at Mauch Chunk, took contracts for the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company, and were the first through transporters of coal to New York market. In 1851 Judge Packer purchased nearly all the stock of the Lehigh Valley Rail- road, and afterwards became its president. Under his management the road, in connection withi vast coal interests, became a great success, and Mr. Packer became the wealthiest man in the State. He was twice a member of Con- gress, Democratic candidate for governor in 1859 and undoubtedly elected, but counted out in Philadelphia. He founded the Lehigh Uni- versity in 1865, assisted very materially in building the Montrose Railway in 1871. He died May 17, 1879. (For further account see Lehigh and Carbon history.)

BLAKSLEE .- Zophar, Benjamin and Aaron Blakslee came from Connecticut in 1801 and settled in Springville. Aaron,1 the youngest (1784-1859), settled where H. K. Sherman resides, north of Springville, which was his liome until his death. He married a sister of Freeman Lane. He was a leading member of the Methodist Church, and contributed largely to the erection of the church edifice at Spring- ville. His house was the welcome stopping -. place for itinerant clergymen. He had two sons-Erasmus Darwin (1818-47) and Rev. Geo. H. Blakeslee (1817-76), the latter a Meth-

odist minister, thirty-five years a member of Wyoming Conference, married the daughter of James Cargill, of Jackson. His daughters were Mariah, 1812, widow of Dwight Risley, now residing in Springville; Angeline (1813- 70), married Charles Keeney, of Braintrim ; Eleanor, 1822, married A. D. Woodhouse, of Springville ; Miranda (1828-81), married Oscar Marsh, and after his death became the wife of Stephen Clark, of Carbondale. Benjamin lived and died in Dimock. One son of his, Lyman, resides at Lynn, whose daughter is the wife of James M. Jeffers, a merchant of that place. Another son is Hiram, of Dimock. Zophar Blakslee (1776-1836) occupied the hol- low now covered by the village of Springville until 1829, when he subsequently removed to near the Auburn line and settled on a farm, where he died. His widow remained on this homestead for nearly thirty years after his death. His first wife was Clarinda Whitmore, who died prior to 1810, leaving children- Lucius, a merchant and contractor, who lived and died in White Haven, Pa .; Sarah Minerva became the wife of Judge Asa Packer, of Mauch Chunk; Hannah was the wife of Charles Ashley, of Springville, and died on her way to California; Clarinda married William Baker ; and Fanny was first the wife of Caleb Barnes, of Springville, and after his death married William Cooley, of Auburn. His second wife, Abigail Taylor (1777-1864), bore him children -James I., born in 1815, president of the Montrose Railway, trustee of the Packer estate, and a prominent railroad and coal man, resides at Mauch Chunk ; Benjamin Franklin, March 3, 1820 ; William W., a merchant at Wetherly, Pa .; Lucinda, the wife of Abram Luce, resides at Lynn; Eunice, wife of John Crellin, of White Haven, Pa .; Gibson lived and died on the homestead ; Eliza, first the wife of Franklin Griswold and second of Lafayette Safford, of Auburn ; Marion is the wife of Charles O. Skeer, of Mauch Chunk; Lemuel, born May 3, 1831 ; and Betsey Mariah, married Lyman G. Cogswell, of Lynn.

BENJAMIN F. BLAKSLEE was sixteen years old at the death of his father, and took charge of the home farm until he reached his majority,

1 This branch of the family spell the name Blakeslee.

SPRINGVILLE.

393

when he purchased a part of it, and there car- ried on general farming until 1874. At this date he settled at Lynn, where he has since re- sided and continued the management of his farm. Although his opportunities for book- knowledge were limited in boyhood, yet his home training and early farm experience gave him practical ideas of a business life. In com- mon with other citizens, his desire for an outlet by railroad to the county-seat, connecting with lines reaching to the sea-board, whereby the products of this section of the county might be

B.S. Blakeslee

placed in the best markets, led him to be one of the first to agitate the subject of a railroad con- necting Montrose with the Lehigh system. When the matter assumed practical shape, lie was made one of the executive committee at the first meeting held at Montrose for the organiza- tion of the Montrose Railway, and was one of the board of commissioners prior to the election of directors. He was sole solicitor for stock for the new road along the route and elsewhere, col- lected the same, and to his persevering efforts in both of these departments may be largely attributed the success of the enterprise. He has

been a director of the road since its organization. Mr. Blakslce has taken little interest in politics, save to exercise the right of suffrage, yet has served his township as supervisor and collector. He married, in 1840, Eliza Mack (1818-75) a daughter of Elijah Mack, an early settler of Brooklyn. Their children are Edward M., a farmer and merchant at Lynn, the mercantile business being a partnership under the firm- name of Greenwood & Blakslee; Sarah A., first married Samuel Tyler, of Dimock, and after his death married William Low, of Auburn; Mary L. is the widow of the Rev. Wm. H. Gavitt, a Methodist elergyman and now residing in Springville; Lucy M., wife of J. Cokely, of Springville ; and Dore and Lizzie, dressmakers, residing at Lynn. For his second wife, Mr. Blakslee married, in 1878, the widow of Charles H. Silkman, a lawyer of Seranton, formerly Mary E. Rogers, the daughter of Noah (1794- 1855) and Lucy Bidwell (1805-74) Rogers, who were early settlers of Waymart, Pa. This Noah Rogers was a prominent and influential cit- izen of Wayne County, and one of the projectors of the Delaware and Hudson Railroad. Mrs. Blakslee has been an earnest worker in the church and Sunday-school since the age of fourteen, has written religious articles for publication, and essays to read in public. She has fine musical talent, having composed several pieces of music, and for many years was a successful teacher of instrumental music. In 1857 she was organist at the Adams Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church, and twenty years after at the Park Place Methodist Episcopal Church, both of Scranton, Pa. She has three sons-Warren D. and Lewis P. Silkman, and Franklin A. Blaks- lee. One of her brothers, A. N. Rogers, since 1865, has been superintendent and general agent of the Bobtail Gold-Mining Co., of Cen- tral City, Colorado. Another brother, William E. Rogers, M.D., was a practicing physician in Scranton (1856-60), but most of his time since 1861 was spent in the Eastern States. He died in Concord, N. H., in 1886.

LEMUEL BLAKSLEE, youngest son of Zophar Blakslee, was five years old when his father died, and at the tender age of eleven years left the parental roof and went out into the world

394

HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

to carve out a home and competence for him- self. From that time nntil seventeen years of age he worked ont by the month. He then took his first trip from home, visited Mauch Chunk, and saw for the first time the operations of coal-mining. The next year he returned to that place, and for two years worked for his brother-in-law, Asa Packer. For one year fol- lowing he farmed it in Jessup, when, upon reaching his majority, he began working at the carpenter's trade, which he continued until six years after his marriage. In 1856 he built a house on his own account, on the homestead,

CP Gammel Blakeslee

for his mother, and there himself resided also until 1862. For two years following he farmed it in Auburn township. For six years there- after he resided on the Packer place, in Dimock ; owned a farm at Kasson Corners for one year, and then purchased one on the Montrose and Tunkhannock turnpike, known as the " Porter place," which he still owns, adjoining the vil- lage. Mr. Blakslee has always exhibited a commendable enterprise, and he has evidenced his public spirit in several instances to the benefit of his fellow-townsmen. The depot

building at Springville is owned by him, which he erected in 1876, and his present residence, on the west part of the Porter farm, near the depot, he built the year following. He also laid out and opened the street known as Depot Street, and donated the land npon which the graded school building is erected, situate on that street. He has been station agent at Springville since 1877, and during the con- struction of the road assisted in building its water-tanks. Depending upon his own re- sources from boyhood, by self-reliance and a laudable ambition, he has, by honorable methods, made a competence for himself and family ; and besides his present property, is a half-owner with his brother, James I., of the Asa Packer place, one mile northwest of Springville. He married, in 1855, Charlotte Lane, who was born in Springville March 15, 1837. She is a daughter of Thomas (1791- 1852) and Sarah Harkins (1794-1880) Lane, who resided one mile northwest of Springville village. Sarah Harkins was the daughter of Jeremiah Harkins, who was an early settler in Springville. Thomas Lane was the son of Gershon Lane, who settled in Springville about 1808. The children of Thomas Lane are Rou- etta, 1820, wife of Joseph Bramhall, of Wyoming County ; Hannah, 1824, married Jackson Lewis, of Bradford County ; Clemen- tine, 1829, wife of Aaron Bunnell, of Wyom- ing County ; Anna Maria, 1833, wife of Lucius Williams, of Newark Valley, N. Y .; and Charlotte Lane (Mrs. Blakslee). Lemuel and Charlotte Blakslee's children are Jessie M .; Louise E .; Robert L .; Sarah M., who died yonng ; James A .; Lottie C .; Marion C .; and Kate H. Blakslee.

HARVEY K. SHERMAN .- His grandfather, Christopher Sherman (1758-1835), was a native of the island of Rhode Island, where he mar- ried Patience Childs. He was by occupation a farmer, and served as a soldier in the Revolu- tionary War. Their children were Jonathan Childs, Hiram, Jesse and Abel. Of these, Jesse settled in what is now Jessnp, and raised a large family. He afterwards removed to the State of Indiana, where he died. Abel also came and settled in Jessup, reared a large family,

SPRINGVILLE.

395

and resided there until his death. Jonathan Childs Sherman was born in Portsmouth, R. I., October 30, 1785. When about twelve years old his parents moved to Washington County, Vt. Here he learned the trade of a cloth-dresser, at which he worked until 1809, when he came to Bridgewater (now Jessup), and purchased a tract of two hundred acres of land, upon which a small clearing had been made by Elisha Griffis.

drick, late of Springville; Lillis (1816-40) ; Avilda (1818-52), was the wife of Ralph S. Birchard, late of Jessup. In 1823 he married, for his second wife, Comfort (1795-1872), daughter of Luther and Amy Kallum, born in New London, Conn., from which place her parents removed to Bridgewater (now Forest Lake), where she married Mr. Sherman. Luther Kal- lum was a soldier of the Revolution. Their

7 76 Sherman

Here he remained until fall, cleared up a piece of land, put in a crop, erected a log house, and then returned to Vermont, where he worked at his trade during the winter. In the spring of the following year he married Abigail Cornell (1792-1822), and with his bride came to their wilderness home in Jessup, and commenced housekeeping amid the discomforts and priva- tions of pioneer life. They had children,- David C. (1811-85), who for a number of years resided in Jessup, but afterwards removed to Bradford County, Pa., where he died ; Rebecca S. (1814-78), was the wife of William B. Han-

children are Harvey K., 1826 ; Amy A. (1827- 70), was the wife of Andrew Blaisdell, late of Montrose ; Comfort C., 1829, widow of Nelson Bolles, late of Jessup; Samuel H. (1830-64), resided in St. Louis, and enlisted under the first call of President Lincoln for troops; Ruth, 1832, wife of Chester Wright, of Forest Lake ; Perry C. (1834-62), was a member of Com- pany H, Fourth Pennsylvania Reserves, and was killed at the battle of Charles City Cross- Roads June 28, 1862; Mortimore O., 1836, now residing in Colorado. In 1811 Mr. Sher- man was commissioned by Governor Simon

396

HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

Snyder a lieutenant of the Seventh Company, One Hundred and Twenty-ninth Regiment of State Militia, for four years. In 1828 he was appointed, by Governor Andrew Schultz, a jus- tice of the peace for the township of Bridge- water, which office he held for a long term of years. He was known and designated for many years only as " Esquire " Sherman. In politics he was a Jacksonian Democrat, held the office of collector, and was elected one of the commis- sioners of the county. He was a prominent Mason, and for one or two years Lodge No. 206, of which he was a meniber, met at his house in Jessup. He left among his papers a certificate and traveling card from the Grand Lodge, at Philadelphia. He died esteemed and respected by his neighbors and all who knew him.

Harvey K. Sherman was born in Bridge- water (now Jessup) March 5, 1826. His boy- hood was spent on his father's farm, and he had the usual advantages of the district schools. Heremained with his father until he was twenty- one, and then worked out for a year for B. H. Mills. The following year he worked the homestead farm on shares. In 1848 he mar- ried Eunice (1823-51), daughter of Samuel and Eunice Backus, of Bridgewater, Pa. The same year he purchased seventy-five acres of the home farm, and the following year commenced farming for himself, built a barn and made other improvements. In 1853 he married, for his second wife, Amy, 1828, danghter of Asa- hel B. and Melinda Prichard, who came from Connecticut and settled in Springville in 1817. (For history of Prichard family, see sketch of Orrin Prichard.) After his marriage he re- turned to his farm in Jessup, where he remained until 1856 (the year his father died), when he removed to the homestead. After his father's death he purchased it of the heirs and remained on it until 1864, when he sold it to Jasper Run- dell, and came to Springville. Here he pur- chased a farm of one hundred acres, known as the Aaron Blakeslee farm, upon which is still standing the house in which Judge Asa Packer and wife first went to housekeeping. To this farm Mr. Sherman has added sixty-eight acres, erected new barn and commodious out-buildings, and all the appointments of his farm evidence

the handiwork of a practical and intelligent farmer. Their children are Earnest P. (1858- 63); Morton R. (1859-63) ; Edward H., 1865, educated at the district and graded schools, and is now a student at the Mansfield Normal school, in the graduating course. Mr. Sherman has been identified with the Republican party since its organization, and has been active in support of its principles and in aid of its suc- cess. He was a stanch Unionist during the Rebellion, and from his home three young men enlisted and gave their lives to their country- his brother, Perry C., Albert P. Birchard and George Eckhart, while another, Samuel Tarbot, was seriously wounded. He served the town- ship of Jessup as constable and collector and school director for five years, and has served three terms as assessor since coming to Spring- ville. In 1849 Governor Johnson commissioned him a captain in the Susquehanna Troop of the Third Cavalry Regiment of Pennsylvania Mili- tia. Himself and wife are members of the Methodist Church of Springville. When the Montrose Railroad was first talked of, Mr. Sherman took much interest in the enterprise, and, with others, was instrumental in securing its successful accomplishment. He is a stock- holder in the road, and has been a member of its board of directors since the company organized.

In 1802 Myron Kasson, a native of Litchfield County, Conn., came from Auburn, where he had begun to make a clearing in 1799, but which he exchanged for a tract of land in Springville, which had been purchased by Chester Adams, but not improved by him. This place, located in the northwestern part of the township, Kasson cleared up, and lived there until his death, in 1859, three months after the decease of his wife. He was the father of George and Jabez Kasson, who moved to the West, and of James Kasson, residing on the homestead. The latter is the father of Myron Kasson, of Montrose. Daughters of Myron Kasson the elder married John B. Beardsley, of Auburn, and Lyman Blakeslee, of Lynn. Myron Kasson was one of the most prominent men of the township in his time and also figured in the affairs of the county with credit to his townsmen and honor to himself.

397

SPRINGVILLE.

In 1802 or 1803 Reuben Spencer, a brother of Jeremiah and Samuel, came to Springville, but died in 1804. The same year Eunice Spen- cer became the wife of Abel Marcy, of Tunk- hannock, which was the first marriage in the township. With Reuben Spencer came Daniel Brewster and Aaron Avery, who became dis- couraged in the course of a few years, and fear- ing starvation, removed to New York. Avery afterwards came back and remained in the township many years.

In 1803 Frazier Eaton and family came, set- tling in the northern part of Springville, and the following year Thomas Cassedy, wife and two children settled in the neighborhood of Capt. Spencer's place.

In 1806 Pardon Fish, Ebenezer Fish and John Bullock, with their families, came from Saratoga County, N. Y., and found a temporary home in the house which Gideon Lyman had occupied just below Capt. Spencer's, in the sum- mer of 1803. They soon after secured more comfortable homes, and most of them became permanent settlers. Pardon Fish, Sr., died in the township, after 1850, in his ninety-ninth year. Descendants of the family are still in Springville. With this company came Justus Knapp, at that time in his seventh year, who remained in the township continuously until his death, in December, 1870. He had a family of nine children,-five sons and four daughters,- most of whom died before their father. The last son was killed at Gettysburg July 2, 1863. Jus- tus Knapp was for many years a justice of the peace, taking that office in 1846. When he came to Springville the improvements at Mon- trose consisted of two log houses, and of the set- tlements south, to where he located, he said, in 1870,-

" There was a log house near where the Widow Is- bell now lives, accupied by Dr. James Cook ; the next house south was Roberts'; the next what is called the Raynsford house ; the next Deacon Wells' and Deans'; the next was where Friend Hollister now lives, near the north line of Dimock township, that being the last place where we stayed overnight till we arrived at our place of destination.

" Near Dimock Corners Captain Joseph Chapman lived ; the next house was occupied by Martin Myers; the next by Benjamin Blakeslee ; the next by Frazier

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 75

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