Centennial history of Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, Part 81

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

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BUSINESS INTERESTS AND HAMLETS .- Agri- culture is the principal occupation of the peo- ple of Auburn, but other business interests exist, and no large villages, in consequence,

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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

have sprung up. None of the business centres in the township have outgrown the proportions of a hamlet. Of these cross-road places,

AUBURN FOUR CORNERS is the most impor- tant. It is at the intersection of two old high- ways, in the northeastern part of the township, and has a pleasant location on well-drained ground. In December, 1886, it had two good stores, tavern, church and about ninety inhabit- ants. Some of the residences are new and of neat design.

Kellogg Riley and Orrin Frink were the first to engage in trade at this point, and Thomas Adams came next, also before 1850. Later, Palmer Way was in trade and was also a doc- tor and preacher, moving to the State of New York. Doctor Jonathan P. Lambert opened a store near Riley's corner about this time, and also practiced medicine. The building he occu- pied has been devoted to other uses.

Doctor Elijah Snell was the last practitioner here, having his home at Auburn Corners.

In 1859 E. L. Adams put up the first store of any size, on the site of the Titman stand, and traded eleven years. That building was burned down in 1881, while occupied by B. E. James and E. C. Titman. The latter rebuilt the same year and has since merchandised there. A second good stand was opened in 1869 by P. C. Bushnell and has been occupied by him since.

Auburn Four Corners post-office was estab- lished December 12, 1832, with John Pass- more as the first postmaster. Since that tinie the appointees have been, 1834, Treadway Kellogg ; 1838, Chester Adams; 1849, J. P. Lambert ; 1850, Charles W. Coggswell and David Bushnell ; 1859, Elijah L. Adams ; 1874, P. C. Bushnell ; 1886, W. J. McDermott. A daily mail from Montrose is supplied.

The first public-house was opened in 1850 by E. L. Adamsand kept by him as the " Traveler's Home. " John Allen succeeded him and Pat- rick Riley is the present keeper. Mechanic shops have usually been carried on.

Lieutenant H. C. Titman Post, No. 93, G. A. R., was instituted at Auburn Four Corners with fifteen members, November 22, 1878. M. H. Van Scoten was the first Commander. The records were destroyed by fire when the

Titman building was burned. But the Post has flourished, having forty-nine members in November 1886. D. C. Titman was the Com- mander and D. D. Layton the Adjutant.

AUBURN FOUR CORNERS .- Lodge, No. 377, K. of P., was organized in 1881, and met statedly until the spring of 1886, when it dis- banded. The lodge had at one time about thirty members.

West of the hamlet, on Riley Creek, Milton Harris put up a saw-mill after 1816, and a grist- mill iu 1828. These were replaced by new mills in the course of years by Milton Harris, whose family operated them until 1885. Since that time William Edwards has been the owner. Lower down the stream, John Riley had a saw-mill, which has been abandoned.

AUBURN CENTRE, as its name implies, is located in the centre of the township. It con- tains about a dozen buildings, two stores, a fine, new church, and has sixty inhabitants. Abra- ham Waltman is credited with having the first store, after 1840, in a building put up by Abra- ham Lott, and which burned down in 1861. Among those in trade in that building were John Tewksbury, C. L. Lowe, A. D. Charles and E. Tewksbury. The next store was opened by Wm. White, who traded some time. Pier- son & Kinney are the present occupants. H. L. Lott also merchandises in the place. Au- burn Centre post-office was established Noven- ber 5, 1852, with Cornelius L. Lowe as the post- master. His successors have been, 1856, Abram Waltman ; 1860, Gideon L. Swisher; 1861, Henry L. Lowe; 1866, Cornelius L. Lowe; 1867, Lewis C. Swisher; 1869, Milton Harrison, Jr .; 1871, A. D. Tewksbury and C. L. Tewksbury ; 1880, Andrew L. Pierson ; 1885, H. L. Lott. The mail supply is daily from Montrose and Skinner's Eddy. Janies Lott had the first public-house in the building on the corner still occupied by his family. Another public-house was kept by William N. Bennett, in a building which was destroyed by fire, leav- ing the place without a tavern. Dr. G. M. Harrison is the resident physician. Previous practitioners were Doctors Van Ness, A. D. Tewksbury (now an eminent physiciau at El- mira, N. Y.), Dr. Lowe and Dr. Elijah Snell.

Fm . France

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AUBURN.

Auburn Centre Lodge, No. 905, I. O.O.F., had, in 1886, forty members. The aggregate number belonging has been more than fifty. The meetings are held in a neatly-furnished hall in the White building.

A Grange of Patrons of Husbandry also held its meetings in the hamlet. The membership is not large, but the grange is reported prosper- ous.

Near the hamlet a creamery was built, in 1882, by C. L. Tewksbury, which has been operated by a company since the season of 1883. The factory is supplied with good apparatus, and consumes the milk of several hundred cows.

SOUTH AUBURN hamlet is three and a half miles from the centre, in the southwestern part of the township. It has one store, two churches, shops and half a dozen residences. On account of its nearness to points on the Lehigh Valley Rail- road in Wyoming County, its business is limited. The first goods were sold out of a box-car by a man named Baker. About 1855 Thomas and Edward Dawson built a business house, in which Smith & James engaged in trade. This stand is now occupied by J. R. Carter and Harrison Place. Another stand was opened by P. D. Shannon, but he traded only a short time, when the building became a residence.

South Auburn post-office was established December 12, 1832, at the house of Edward Dawson, who was the first postmaster. In 1840 Samuel Carter succeeded him. January 4, 1844, it was discontinued. April 6, 1848, it was re-established, and Samuel Carter was again the postmaster. His successors have been, 1850, Ansel Gay ; 1853, Abram Carter ; 1855, Rufus J. Carter ; 1861, Thomas A. Daw- son ; 1863, Edward Dawson ; 1869, Phineas D. Shannon ; 1871, R. J. Carter. The office is on the Skinner's Eddy route, and has a daily mail.

North of the hamlet a public-house was kept for a number of years by Joseph Carlin, who also operated saw and feed-mills. The tavern has been discontinued, but the mills are still operated on a limited scale.

WEST AUBURN hamlet is on the Tuscarora Creek, in the north western past of the township,

and formerly bore the name of New Laceyville. This title was given on account of the principal settlers here being members of the Lacey family. West Auburn is the proper name since the post-office was established at this point. The place has been growing the past few years, and is assuming the proportions of a village. In 1886 there were two stores, shops, a fine church edifice and twenty-five residences. In 1880 the population was a little more than a hundred. The first house built in the main part of the hamlet was the residence of Eli Billings, which became the home of Edwin J. Lacey, who has resided here since 1844. On this farm David and E. J. Lacy built a shop in which they carried on their trades, the latter being a chair-maker. On this site a larger shop was built, in 1862, in which E. J. Lacey still carries on his business, and L. B. Lacey is a furniture-maker and undertaker. The motive- power is water. From 1867 to 1869 T. J. and A. F Lacey had in operation a steam planing- mill, whose machinery was removed to Wya- Insing. The hamlet has the usual mechanic shops. In years gone by John Lacey was here as a skillful blacksmith, being especially expert as a butcher-knife maker.

L. I. Dunmore engaged in merchandising in 1861, having a store on the west side of the creek. G. L. Swishler was a later merchant, and Andrew Herlinger had been in trade the past four years. In 1872 A. F. Lacey opened the second place of business, where he has since merchandised. Here was kept the West Auburn post-office from 1873 to 1885, when Andrew Herlinger succeeded him as the postmaster. The office was established March 25, 1840, and James Morley was the postmaster, keeping the office higher up the creek, at his farm-house. January 4, 1844, the office was discontinued, but was re-established August 26th of that year, and Ebenezer P. Morley became postmaster. His successors were, 1845, Jesse Hines ; 1849, Miles C. Lacey ; 1853, Jesse Hines ; 1857, Hamlet Hill; 1861, John C. Lacey ; 1864, Justus Hickok ; 1866, James A. Lacey ; 1868, Abram White ; 1870, Wesley L. France ; 1878, Alonzo F. Lacey. There is a daily mail service from the Lehigh Valley Railroad.

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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

Dr. A. A. Linabury is the resident physician. Other practitioners have been Drs. D. W. Camp and F. M. Gross.

Above the hamlet is the finc creamery of the Union Dairy Association of West Auburn, which was organized in 1882, of twelve mem- bers. The building is very complete, and it cost to get in operation three thousand two linndred dollars. Both butter and cheese are made from the milk of the three hundred cows contributing to its support.

Higher up the creek, near the Rush line, E. J. and H. C. Lacey built mills in 1866, which passed into the hands of other parties. In 1881 D. V. France demolished the saw-mill and erected a first-rate grist-mill, to which steam- power was supplied at a later day, and the mill property is now one of the most complete in the western part of the county.

On the Tuscarora Falls, near the Bradford County line, a saw-mill has been operated many years, the present owner being O. C. Roberts. Other water and steam-power mills in this sec- tion and in other parts of the township were discontinued after the timber supply became scarce.

In 1865 West Auburn was the scene of con- siderable excitement on account of the oil-well being sunk on the Tuscarora above the hamlet. It was on a small tract of land belonging to A. F. and L. B. Lacey, and concerning these opera- tions M. L. Lacey said,-

" The Petroleum Company here sunk their first well, along with about $9000 of their capital. The fact that upon one corner of the old Billings lot there was a deer lick in old times-a great resort for wild game-in- duced the early settlers to dig for salt. Men are yet living along the Susquehanna who used to come here, when boys, with their kettles, and manufacture enough for their own use. This fact, in connection with the large quantity of inflammable gas that could be seen coming up from the bed of the creek at different places, induced the projectors of the company to believe that there might be treasure under ground, even here, that would pay for seeking. A few energetic men took the matter in band and succeeded in organizing the company and raising sufficient capital to put down a well. The 17th of November, 1865, witnessed the first blow towards driving the pipe, which struck the rock at a depth of sixty feet from the surface By the 1st of January, 1866, the boring had reacbed a depth of five hundred and twenty-five feet, passing through a crevice at the depth of three hundred and forty feet, and striking a vein of salt water strongly impregnated with sulpbur, which commenced flowing from the well, accompanied by inflammable gas, at the rate of two to three gallons per minute. At the depth of four hundred and ninety-three feet, after passing through red shale, white quartz, gray wacke, and light, hard sand rock, a crevice was struck which sent up a large quantity of what oil men call 'black gas.' By the last day of January a depth of seven hundred and eighty feet was reached, during the last twenty feet of which the shows of oil were so abundant, after passing the second sand-rock, tbat the company determined to cease boring for the purpose of testing the well. Owing to a delay in the ship-

ment of the tubing, the test was not made for some two weeks, by which time the show of oil had almost entirely ceased. The test proving un- successful, the boring was resumed about the 20th of February, and con- tinued until about the middle of March, at which time a depth of ten hundred and four feet had been reached. After giving the well as thorough a test as was practicable, with the means at the company's command, it was abandoned, and the engine and machinery removed to Little Meadows for the purpose of testing that section. Thus ended the most thorough attempt ever made to develop the mineral or oleaginous resources of Auburn. The experiment was watched with considerable curiosity, and many were disappointed that it did not prove an exception to nine out of every ten wells put down in the oil regions,"

The Tuscarora Petroleum and Mining Com- pany, which carried on the above operations, was a New York company, having its office at Owego. The efforts at Little Meadows and in Apolacon township were also fruitless. After boring a few hundred feet the rock became "too shelly" to warrant expectations of petro- leum.

Retta post-office, in the Cartertown neigh- borhood, was established, in 1880, at the house of Alexander Stevens, where it is still kept. It has a tri-weekly mail from West Auburn and Rush.

RELIGIOUS mention is elsewhere made of the missionary preaching of Elder Davis Dimock, of the Baptist Church, and of the interest he awakened in religious matters. A more direct result of his labors were the number of per- sons who accepted baptism as their expression of faith. Among those baptized in Auburn and Western Springville, including what is now Dimock, in 1810, were John Passmore, Susanna Lathrop, Lydia Avery, David Avery, Lucinda Avery, Joanna Passmore, Asa Smith ; 1813, Amasa Bronson ; 1816, Lydia Lathrop, Polly Turrell, Joseph Passmore, P. Palmer, W. Lathrop and Joel Haverley. When

Auburn Baptist Church was organized, August 2, 1817, not all the above became connected, but most of them were among the constituent members, which consisted of six males and eleven females. Dyer Lathrop was elected one of the deacons and was one of the main-stays of the church many years, also serving as the first clerk. In 1831 he was succeeded in the latter office by Elijah B. Slade ; and the clerks since that time have been, 1834, E. M. Ells- worth ; 1836, John F. Dunmore ; 1839, Jotham H. Taylor ; and since May, 1875, John W. Smith. The latter is also one of the deacons, having as an associate Samuel Brundage. The

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office of deacon has also been filled by John Passmore, David Avery and Samuel Wood- ward.

Elders Davis and Solomon Dimock preached for the church in the first few years of its his- tory, and from 1822 to 1826 the Rev. Isaac Van Brunt was the preacher. After this Elder J. B. Worden, who came on a missionary trip from New York, preached in Auburn, and about the same time Elder James Clark, an- other missionary, visited this section, preach- ing repeatedly. In 1830-31 Elder Charles G. Swan was reported as a supply, who preach- ed. In 1832 Eider Joseph W. Parker was the minister of the church, which has, at this time, seventy members, though scattered over a large area of country. Two years later, twenty-four were dismissed to form the church in Dimock, and later others connected themselves with the South Auburn Church, in 1848.

The later pastors have generally served the church in connection with the church at Di- mock. In 1852, and again in 1858, the church was much strengthened by revivals, and during the pastorate of Elder H. J. Millard the churchi enjoyed a revival of eight weeks' duration, from January, 1877, which resulted in forty conver- sions. The membership in December, 1886, was fifty.

The meeting-house was built in 1855, at Beardsley's Corners, not quite a mile below the hamlet of Auburn. It is a plain frame building which has been made comfortable by recent repairs. On the church lot are also thirteen good sheds to house the teams of the attendants.

South Auburn Baptist Church .- This body is a member of the Wyoming Association, the foregoing church belonging to the Bridgewater Association. It was organized in 1848, and the meeting-house built in 1859. The building has a fine location, and is very attractive. It is a frame with three hundred and eighty sit- tings, and was repaired in the summer of 1885. The entire property is valued at $2200. For a number of years the Rev. Elijah Sturdevant was the pastor, and in 1868, under his ministry, there were thirty-six members. In 1873 the Rev. D. E. Bowen was the pastor, a position which has been filled since 1881 by the Rev. 28

G. M. Righter. The members, in 1886, num- bered forty-one, and A. J. Baldwin was the church clerk. Many of the attendants of the church live in Bradford and Wyoming Counties.

The Methodist Episcopal Church of South Auburn became an incorporated body April 16, 1850, with the following trustees : Daniel Cooley, Edward Dawson, Thomas Marshall, Robert Manning, Gregory Sterling, John Cooley and Minor Tubbs. In 1848 a plain frame meeting- house was built at the hamlet of South Auburn, whose interior was repaired in 1883. It has sittings for several hundred people, and though modest in its appearance well accommodates its numerous attendants. In 1886 the members numbered more than one hundred, many having connected themselves as the fruits of a great revival in the winter of 1885, when eighty per- sons were converted. At this time the pastor was the Rev. G. M. Chamberlain. The Rev. W. W. Smith at present fills that position. The church is connected with the Skinner's Eddy Circuit, to which she also belongs

The West Auburn Methodist Episcopal Church, which is located in the hamlet formerly called New Laceyville. The early Methodists of this sec- tion belonged to the Coggswell, Miles, James, Lacey and Eddy families, and for quite a num- ber of years the meetings were held at the school-houses or at the homes of the members. Elisha Coggswell was the leader of the class, and in 1886, L. B. Lacey sustained that rela- tion, the class having twenty-five members. Mrs. T. C. James superintended a Sunday- school which had forty-five members. The church edifice is a frame basement and super- structure, thirty-four by forty-eight feet, and there is a tower eighty feet high. In the lecture room select schools have been taught. The building cost $2500, and was embellished in the fall of 1886 at considerable expense. In 1868 it passed under the control of a board of trustees, composed of Elisha Coggswell, D. V. France, Theodore C. James, Miles C. Lacey and Asa Brooks, who became an incor- porated body on the 24th of January that year. Their successors in 1886 were John G. Taylor, Abraham Brotzman, D. V. France, Michael Devine, T. C. James and H. C. Lacey.

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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

Auburn Circuit of the Methodist Episcopal Church was formed February 27, 1858, out of Springville Circuit, which had become too large to be well served ; and the following appoint- ments were included in the new circuit : Over- field, White's Corners, Auburn Four Corners, Cartertown, Eddy's and Dunmore's. The Rev. John Mulkey was appointed preacher in charge. In 1886 the circuit had two hundred and eleven members, churches at Auburn Four Corners, Auburn Centre, East Rush, and preaching ap- pointments at Shannon Hill and Retta. The two latter had an aggregation of eighty-eight mem- bers. For a time the appointment at Jersey Hill was also a part of this circuit ; but most of the members have now connected themselves with the church at the Centre. On the 24th of August, 1864, the official members of the circuit became an incorporated body, the trustees named being James Kasson, A. W. Gray, Charles Fessenden, Lyman Coggswell, James Moore, Samuel Bertliolf, Thomas S. James, Daniel Carter and Daniel Sterling. These and their successors have control of the property of the circuit. In the spring of 1885 they secured an order from Conference authorizing them to sell the old parsonage, a mile south of Auburn Four Corners, and to build a new one in that hamlet. This was done under the direction of B. E. James, Griswold Carter, Elias Titman and J. H. Taylor, as a building committee, and, in the fall of that year, a fine residence, valued at one thousand three hundred dollars, was ready for occupancy. In 1886 the trustees of Auburn Circuit were James . Kasson, J. B. Beardsley, B. E. James, I. R. Low, C. W. Pier- son, Griswold Carter and Elias Titman. After the completion of the church at Auburn Centre three additional local trustees were selected for that church, namely, John Tewksbury, Dr. G. M. Harrison and Leander Lott.

The Methodist Episcopal Church at Auburn Four Corners was erected in 1880-81. Early in the spring of the first-named year steps were taken to ercct a creditable house of worship in the hamlet, which liad not yet been supplied with a building of that nature. To this end E. L. Adams donated a lot of ground, and one thousand five hundred dollars having been

raised by subscription, the building was com- menced by a committee composed of James Kas- son, D. C. Titman and the Rev. H. C. McDer- mott. The corner-stone was laid September 28, 1880, and the following year the church was completed and dedicated. It is an attractive frame edifice, thirty-two by fifty feet, and is sur- mounted by a spire, which has not yet been supplied with a bell. The church has a modern appearance, and its erection reflects credit upon the membership of this place. In 1886 the class numbered forty-eight persons.

The Auburn Centre Methodist Episcopal Church was dedicated November 10, 1886. The work of building was begun in the spring of that year by a committee composed of Dr. G. M. Harrison, A. L. Pierson, Leander Lott, William Stevens and Elias Titman; and the corner-stone was laid July 3, 1886. The church stands on one of the most elevated spots in the township, and, being very attractive in its ap- pearance, is a pleasing object for many miles around. It is a frame, in the Gothic style of architecture, thirty by forty-four feet, and has a spire, in which is a church-bell, the only one in Auburn. The church cost to build and furnish not far from eighteen hundred dollars, most of which was contributed by one of the members- John Tewksbury-who was one of the pioneer Methodists in Cartertown. Most of the other members at the Centre formerly worshipped in the church on Jersey Hill, in the building owned by

The Methodist Protestant Church. This house was erected, before 1849, by a few members of that faith, among them being Thomas R. White, Andrew S. Low and Joseph Pierson, on a lot secured from the farm of Elijah Crane. For a period of more than twenty years a large congregation occupied the church, but deaths and removals had made such inroads on the membership that, after the war, no regu- lar Protestant worship was maintained. This decline of interest caused the building to be used as a place in which to hold Methodist Episcopal meetings, in 1870, and for several years such services were there regularly maintained. In 1880, under the preaching of the Rev. A. G. Bloomfield, a considerable membership of

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Methodist Protestants was again gathered, and August 5th, that year, the church became an in- corporated body, on the petition of twenty mem- bers. Most of these belonged to the White, Hay, Crane, Bensinger, Pierson and McClain families. In 1886 the church had about thirty members, and was in a fair way to obtain a per- manent position among the religious bodies of the township.

The First Presbyterian Church in Auburn, was incorporated April 24, 1854, with a board of trustees comprised of Miner Riley, John Beard- sley, Lewis Lemon, Charles Fessenden, John M. Bushnell, Frederick Russell and David Bushnell. Some of these and a few others constituted a congregation, which was formed of members who had belonged to the church in Springville. An effort was made to establish a place of worship, which was not successful, and after a short period of occasional preaching in school-houses, the congregation disbanded.

St. Bonaventure Church (Roman Catholic) .- Soon after the settlement of the Roman Catholic Irish in the township, about 1840, Father John V. O'Reilley began his missionary labors among them, and the following year said Mass at the house of Cornelius Degnan, a short distance west from where the church was afterwards built. These meetings were attended by the Donlin, Reynolds, Reiley, Sheridans, Kehoe Degnan, Cavenaugh, Flannagan, Farley and other families at that time resident in the town- ship, and soon a regular mission was established. A small church was built on a centrally located lot, which was enlarged about twelve years ago, until it has seating accommodations for three hun- dred persons. Near the churchi is a commodious priest's house, and, including the grave-yard, the property embraces several acres of. land. Father Fitz Simmons came as the next mission- ary priest, and was followed by Fathers Whee- ler and Lochran, from Friendsville. Fathers Hugh and John Monnegan, from St. Joseph, also visited this section ; and later came Fathers Mattingly and Brachony from Friendsville.

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Centennial history of Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, Part 81

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