Centennial history of Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, Part 85

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 85

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The members in 1886 numbered seventy-five, and included, as a resident minister, Elder H. J. Millard.

The church edifice in Rush village was com- menced in the spring of 1866, and was dedi- icated, free from debt, February 21, 1867. It is a neat frame building, with spire, but no bell, and cost twenty-five hundred dollars. It has since been repaired, and twelve sheds were built at a cost of twenty-five dollars each, making the whole a creditable church property.

The Presbyterian Church at Rush was organ- ized May 11, 1848, in the old school-house, near the present residence of W. L. Vaughn, by a committee composed of the Revs. S. F. Colt F. D. Ladd and T. Thomas, appointed by the Presbytery of Susquehanna. The constituent members were David Hillis and wife, Mary Ann, Margaret (wife of John Hillis), all by certificate from the Presbyterian Church of Wyalusing ; and by certificate from the Presby- terian Church of Bally Bay, Ireland, Nathaniel Hillis and wife, Mary Ann, Robert Hillis and wife, Margaret, William Caldwell and wife, Catherine, Mrs. Susan Hill and her daughter Margaret.

David Hillis was ordained as elder, and the Rev. T. Thomas became the monthly supply. The meetings were first held in the school- house, where the congregation was organized, but after a time the morning service was held in the old school-house at Rushville. The ministry of the Rev. Thomas continued three years, when only occasional preaching was had until January, 1854, when the Rev. D. Cook, of Rome, Pa., supplied the pulpit once a month for a year. Then came the Rev. C. Huntington for about the same period ; but much of the time in the ensuing years there was no regular preaching.

The congregation having become weak and in a measure disorganized by the removal of some of its members, a petition was presented to the Pres- bytery in the spring of 1861, asking for a new organization. Accordingly, a committee, com- posed of the Revs. Julius Foster, Thomas S. Dewing and T. Thomas, visited Rush, and held a meeting at the house of C. Bixby to consider the matter. Having listened to the desire and reasons for a new congregation, and approving the same, they organized it with the name of

The Presbyterian Church of Rushville on the 6th of June, 1861. Those constituting the membership were David Hillis and his wife, Mary Ann ; Nathaniel Hillis and his wife, Mary Ann; Robert Hillis and his wife, Mar- garet ; John Wood and Nancy, his wife ; Mrs. Margaret Hillis, Miss Margaret Hillis, Alanson Lung, Catherine Caldwell; and by examina- tion, Chandler Bixby and his wife, Urania. But four of these survived in December, 1886, and two only sustained an active relation. David Hillis and Chandler Bixby were chosen elders, and Nathaniel Hillis deacon, and entered upon the duties of their offices. . Two days later, June 8, 1861, at a preparatory meeting, Henry J. Champion and his wife, Julia, united with the church.

Soon after the church building at Ruslıville was begun, and completed in 1862, chiefly through the energy and means of the building committee-Chandler Bixby, Henry J. Cham- pion and David Hillis. It is a neat edifice, and stands as a worthy memorial to those who ex- erted themselves so much to erect it. Con-

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nected with it is a well-kept cemetery. In 1886 the property was in charge of trustees W. H. Sherwood, M. A. Wood and J. S. Hillis.

The congregation has never had a settled pastor, nor has the stated supply ever lived among this people. In 1863 the Rev. T. Thomas commenced to serve the church half the time, in connection with churches in Brad- ford County, and has since so continued. In December, 1886, there were twenty-three mem- bers, and William T. Haney was the ruling elder. He was the sole survivor of the four members ordained to this office, David Hillis, Chandler Bixby and Henry J. Champion hav- ing deceased.1

The Methodist Episcopal Church has three houses of worship in the township-on Devine Ridge, near Rush village, and at East Rush. The latter is a small frame building, having a very plain exterior and with not quite two hundred sittings. Formerly a large class wor- shipped there, but the number has diminished to thirty-five. These are a part of the Auburn Circuit, and have had the same ministry as the churches of that denomination in the eastern part of that township.

The church on Devine Ridge is also a plain frame building, but well accommodates the people of that section. It was completed in 1868, mainly by George Devine and his five sons, who lived in the immediate locality. The church is a part of the Fairdale Circuit, and the names of the ministers who served it can be seen in an account of that circuit in the annals of Forest Lake.

The Rush Centre Methodist Episcopal Church is a little more than a mile from the village of Rush, and was built in 1871, during the pastor- ate of the Rev. Miner Swallow. It is a frame building with a few hundred sittings, and had as its first trustees Justus Hickock, Dr. Elijah Snell, J. D. Baker, S. Smith and J. T. Birch- ard. The work of the church was begun in 1865, when the Rev. G. S. Transue caine to this section as a missionary. The following year Rush Circuit was formed.

Prior to this the ministers who preached here

belonged to the Springfield Circuit, the appoint- ments being along the Wyalusing Creek, and among those preaching the Word was the Rev. Elijah Snell, now living in the western part of Jessup, and who sustains a local relation to Rush Circuit. In 1876 a comfortable parson- age was provided in Rush village at a cost of about eight hundred dollars. The church at Rush Centre had, in 1886, twenty-eight mem- bers, and also maintained a Sabbath-school. The circuit embraces, among other appointments, the class at Elk Lake, in Dimock, which is in a flourishing condition, and has lately had a large increase of membership.

The Roman Catholic Chapel, near Bixby's Pond, on the northern township line, was built about 1859, under the direction of Father O'Reilley, at that time the priest at St. Joseph. It is a frame building, surmounted by a cross, and stands on one and a half acres of land, for- merly belonging to the William Golden farm. Its location in this section makes it a convenient place of worship for the Catholics of the north- ern part of Rush and the southern part of Mid- dletown. A part of the church lot is set aside for burial purposes. The chapel is at present a part of the Friendsville parish.

The Cemetery at East Rush has a beautiful location on the top of the hill north of the Cor- ners. It embraces half an acre of ground, and is inclosed by a substantial iron fence. The neighbors of this part of the township control it, and one of the old committees having it in charge was composed of A. W. Gray, B. A. Jones, Sr., and James Moore. Those controlling it in 1886 were T. A. Roberts, F. M. Gray and B. A. Jones. It contains some neat memorials to the dead. The cemetery at Vaughn's school- house is small, but contains the graves of the members of a number of early families.

CHAPTER XXVII.

MIDDLETOWN TOWNSHIP.

WHEN Rush was finally divided, in 1814, in- to three townships, the one occupying the middle position appropriately received the name of

1 From data furnished by Rev. T. Thomas.

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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

Middletown. As originally erected, it was six miles from north to south, and extended eight miles from west to east. This area was reduced by the formation of Forest Lake in 1836, when some of its territory on the east was shorn off, and in 1848, when Friendsville was incorporat- ed as a borough. In more recent years Forest Lake again demanded a part of the territory along the eastern border, which, being annexed to that township, has left Middletown with its original limits north and south, and but little more than five miles from west to east. On the north are Apolacon and Friendsville, on the east Forest Lake, on the south the mother township, Rush, and on the west Bradford County.

The surface is very much broken by high hills along the water-courses, and there are few level lands except in the northwestern part and near the eastern border. The soil is fairly fer- tile, but the improvements throughout the township are not as fine as in some other parts of the county. In some localities excellent farms may be seen, and in the past ten years the character of farm property has been much advanced. The drainage of Middletown is afforded by the North Branch of the Wyalusing and its affluent streams. The creek rises in Apolacon, and flowing south through the town- ship, takes the waters of many small brooks. In the vicinity of Middletown Centre small salt marshes are found on this stream, where are saline springs of good quality, and evidences of other minerals also appear. The creek affords water-power, which was improved to cut up the heavy timber, which once covered the greater part of the surface of the township. Its main branch is the outlet of Wyalusing Lake, in Apolacon township, which, after flow- ing southwest in Middletown, passes out of the township into Bradford County ; thence, after a course of a few miles, re-enters the township, flows southeast and into the North Branch, in Rush township.

It was upon this stream that the first mill- sites were improved. The only lake in the township is Bixby's Pond, on the southern line and lying partly in Rush. Its outlet flows through that township. It is a small but

pretty sheet of water, and received its name from Darius Bixby, who owned lands bordering on it.

The Settlement of Middletown is detailed with difficulty on account of the boundary changes and the almost complete change of its popula- tion. With few exceptions, the native element has been displaced by the sturdy yeomanry of Welsh or Irish descent, or foreign born of these nationalities. Even among thiese, many changes in the ownership of lands have occurred, so that the story of pioneer life is divested of that interest which attaches to a locality called home by four or five consecutive generations. The first settlers were New Englanders, who were attracted to this section by the expectation that they could obtain lands under the Connecticut title, in the township known to them as Locke. It need not be said that this hope was illusive ; nor did they find the national advantages as at- tractive as they had been led to expect. Roads were made with difficulty, and the first neces- saries of cven their simple lives had to be carried many miles on the backs of the stronger men, who had to cross and recross the Wyalusing on foot- logs a dozen times in the course of a few miles. Some less fortunate had to eke out a living which seems impossible in those times of plenty. When the Canfields came here, in 1799, they had, for some days, only the milk of a cow as their sustenance. The men would go into the woods to chop until they were faint, when they would eat the inside of bark, and, at the close of their day's work, have milk alone for supper. The same year a family moved upon the head- waters of Wyalusing Creek, one of the surviv- ors of which states, that one winter they kept their cows alive by cutting down trees for them to browse upon the buds, sprouts and tender limbs; yet, when spring came, some liad to be drawn on sleds to the pasture-fields. He also states that the people, to eke out their meal, in some cases mixed the inner, pulp-like part of hemlock bark with it.

For a few years there were no mills nearer than at the mouth of the Wyalusing or at Camptown, and the settlers were obliged to use a mortar and pestle to crush their corn. To facilitate this work a spring pestle was used.

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MIDDLETOWN.

A large hard-wood tree was cut down and a hole burned in the top of the stump. The pestle, or pounder, was made of a sapling, five or six inches in diameter, and about five feet long, with a stick run through for handles. This was attached to a spring pole, so adjusted that the pestle could work in the wooden mor- tar, and the grinding apparatus was complete. Such a mill was early provided on the Joseph Ross place, which was used not only by his family, but by his neighbors.

To Riel Brister and Benjamin Abbott must be given credit for making the first settlement in the township. They came in the spring of 1799, and located on the North Branch, south of the Centre. In the fall of the same year Andrew Canfield and Silas Beardslee came ; and Albert Camp and Joseph Ross in the spring of 1800. These six families aggregated forty-five persons, all located on the North Branch ; and the next year Joshua Grant was added to them. Riel Brister had six children, among them being a son, named Ira. He was a great hunter, having an especial reputation as a wolf-slayer. He died prior to 1815, but members of his family remained in the township many years later, the names of Ira, Linas and Riel Brister appearing among the taxables of 1838.

Benjamin Abbott finally located north of Middletown Centre, but removed to Rush, and, in 1856, to Bradford County, where he died two years later. He was at the Wyoming massacre, and used to delight in relating incidents con- nected with that event.

Silas Beardslee had a family of eight chil- dren, and lived near Abbott. In 1820 he met an accidental death, his neck being broken by falling from a load of hay. Two years later the widow and her children removed to the southwestern part of Apolacon, but since 1856 the descendants have lived in Little Meadows.

Andrew Canfield left Connecticut in 1797, and, coming to this county, lived first at the forks of the Wyalusing, afterwards locating on the North Branch, just above Riel Brister. His family consisted of six children, his son Amos being at that time seventeen years of age. He was a devoted Methodist, and the itinerant found a home at liis place, often preaching

there. The first graveyard in the township was also located on his farm He died in June, 1843, aged eighty-five years, and is buried in that cemetery. The son, Amos, cleared up a farm, north of the Centre, and was a prominent citizen in the township, becoming very aged be- fore his death. Jeremiah Canfield, a brother of Austin, was an early settler in the northern part of the township.

Albert Camp lived above Andrew Canfield and below Middletown Centre. He was a son of Job Camp, who was a pioneer at Camptown, on the Wyalusing, in Bradford County, in 1793. He was an aged man when he came, and died in 1822. His daughter, Polly, was the wife of Joseph Ross, who lived on the farm next above, on the North Branch. Of his sons, Isaac moved to Bradford County, Levi and Jonathan to Illinois, and Nelson remained on the homestead many years. Nearly all of this once numerous family have removed from this part of the county.

Joseph Ross was a native of Connecticut, and one of three brothers who settled on Wyalusing. His father, Licutenant Perrin Ross, was a soldier in the Revolution, and hearing of the threatened attack on the settlers of the Wyoming Valley, where he lived, rode down three horses to reach home the day before. He lost his life in that massacre, after having started his wife and six children, with one pack- horse, across the mountain to their eastern home. Mrs. Ross returned to the Wyoming Valley and married a man named Allen. Joseph having become a young man, followed the tide of immigration up the Wyalusing, living for a short time below Rushville, and then on the Jabez Hyde place. At the former place he set out an orchard, some of whose trees still re- main. Coming to Middletown in the spring of 1800, he soon after built a barn, which yet stands, on the farm he cleared up, and other improvements, in a repaired condition, remain. Among his early occupations were those of surveying and tanning. He had a small tan- nery on his farm, where he prepared leather for himself and neighbors. His place being a sort of a centre, he was often called on to assist those less fortunate than himself, and neither

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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

he nor his wife turned a deaf ear to these ap- peals, though often having but a scant subsist- ence themselves. Joseph Ross died May 10, 1855, aged eighty-one years; but his widow, Polly, survived him until April 27, 1864, in her eighty-fifth year. Of their ten children,- Otis, born in 1804, is still living on the home- stead, and is the father of Joseph and Perrin S. Ross; Norman moved to Michigan ; Orrin J. to Bradford County ; Anna married Nathan Taylor ; Betsey married James Lewis ; Amanda married Dexter Wilson ; Mary married Alfred Wilson, of Apolacon ; Auxilla became the wife of Charles R. Hoadley, of Rush.

In the latter township, at the forks of the Wyalusing, lived Daniel Ross, a brother of Joseph and the father of sons named John, William, Danicl and Hiram. The youngest of the three brothers spoken of above (sons of Perrin Ross), Jesse, did not live in the county, but two of his sons, Perrin and Isaac H., were citizens of Susquehanna.

In 1801, or possibly the year before, Darius Coleman joined the settlers on the North Branch, locating on the farm below Riel Bris- ter. Like most of his neighbors, he was a great hunter, and scores of animals killed each year attested to his skill in this occupation. His old house was on the opposite side of the road from his later residence, and his land extended to the Rush line. He was diligent in business and prospered as have also his sons. Alonzo occupied the homestead, and Amos and Darius lived in the same neighborhood. The former's residence is one of the best improvements in the township. West from this place, near the Brad- ford line, Isaac Pratt settled in 1801, and lived there many years, as also did his son, Russell Pratt. The former's farm was afterwards occupied by Jeremiah Canfield, Jr., and other members of that family still live in that part of Middletown.

In the northern part of the township Henry Ellsworth located prior to 1807. Other mem- bers of the family were Joseph, John and Jonathan. The latter was a fearless hunter, and many stories of his boldness are told. It is said that he once crawled into a large hollow log thinking that it might be the lair of some wild

beast, and was rewarded by finding three young panthers, which he bore home in triumph, un- disturbed by the mother animal. Joseph Ells- worth made the first improvements on the N. Billings place. Near the same time Darius Bixby came to the township, and finally settled in the southern part, on the pond which bears his name. His sons, Asa and Richard lived near him, the latter being across the line in Rush township.

"1Samuel Wilson, a native of Massachusetts, and a soldier of 1812, came from St. Lawrence County, N. Y., in 1813, with his wife and seven children. Three children were added to the family here. He had six sons, the oldest two being now dead. The four living, in their best days, weighed not less than seven hundred and eighty pounds altogether; all, like their father, light in flesh and heavy in bone and muscle. As a pioneer, he acted well his part, having chopped and cleared more than two hundred acres of heavily-timbered land in this county, and had chop- ped three hundred acres before he came here. He was a man of powerful frame and iron will, and gen- erally succeeded in everything he undertook. He was as skillful with the rifle as powerful with the axe. "He was for fifty-one years a taxable citizen of Middletown, and died on the farm on which he first settled, in 1864, in the eighty-fifth year of his age. All his sons and daughters were strong and healthy, the youngest being thirty-seven before death made an inroad among their number. Of grandchildren he had seventy five born during his lifetime."

His children were Roswell, Harry, Abner, Heber, Alexis C. and John B., the latter still liv- ing and occupying the homestead. The daughters married into well-known families as follows : Hannah, for her first husband, Gilbert Dimon, and for her second, John Barnum ; Jane, John Barnum ; Harriet, Lewis Beebe ; Katharine, Robert Addison. Nearly the entire family has deceased, but many descendants remain in the county.

In 1816 the principal settlers on the North Branch were Samuel Wilson, where the Apola- con line crosses it, and then downward were, in the order of their names : Henry Ellsworth, Jeremiah Canfield, Silas Beardslee, Amos Can- field, Joseph Ross, Albert Camp, Joseph Ells- worth, Andrew Canfield, Riel Brister and Darius Coleman. East from Wilson's was

1 Miss Blackman in 1872.

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MIDDLETOWN.

Samuel Spafford, a native of New Hampshire, and the stream in that locality was called Spaf- ford's Creeek, from his residence. A daughter married Daniel Baxter, and for her second husband, Michael Callahan, an early Irish set- tler on Wolf road. Another daughter married Miles Baldwin.

In 1815 the following were reported as the taxables of Middletown, including a large part of the present township of Forest Lake :

Benjamin Abbott, Darius Benby, Linns Brister, Ira Brister, Jacob Bumps, Isaac Bumps, Daniel Bumps, John Bumps, David Bumps, Asa Brown, Jesse Birchard, Philo Bostwick, Philip Blair, William Beards- lee, Silas Beardslee, Perry Ball, James Baker, Jabez A. Birchard, George Bumps, Erastus Bliss, Isaac Benjamin, Jonathan Caswell, Samuel Coggs- well, Wilson Canfield, Amnos Canfield, Albert Camp, Richard Chatman, Darius Coleman, Jeremiah Canfield, Samuel Clark, Ira Denel; Peter Deuel, Saul Dimock, Timothy Dimock, John Ellsworth, Henry Ells- worth, Jonathan Ellsworth, Joseph Ellsworth, John W. Fishback, Wil- liam Ladd, Philo Moorhonse, Loami Mott, Orange Mott, Elisha Mott, Joseph Marsh, Isaac Pratt, Joseph Ross, B. Scofield, Asahel South, Jonathan Steenhurgh, Alba Stone, Garrard Stone, Judson Stone, Nathan Tupper, Henry Tupper, Seth Taylor, Lemon Taylor, Ahiathar Thatcher, William Thatcher, Warner Turner, Ira Thomas, Samuel Wilson, Jeliiel Warner, Jonathau Wharton.

In 1817 improvements were begun in Jack- son Valley by Samuel and Abner Taggart, natives of New Hampshire, and the farm the former improved is still called the Taggart place. He was a person of some distinction, serving in the Legislature in 1848. Charles S. Campbell came to that locality the same year, but removed to Friendsville, where he died in 1852. His son, Charles, was the first merchant in the township, outside of that village, having a store in Jackson Valley. Peter Saunderson came to the same locality in 1818, having lived a few years in Choconut after his removal from New Hampshire. He died on this place, which was afterwards the home of his son James. The other sons deceased or renioved. Some five years later Jolin Buxton came to the valley from the State of New Hampshire and cleared up one hundred acres of land, which passed into the hands of Eliab Buxton, and after his death became known as the Darling place. Another son, John Buxton, Jr., im- proved fifty-six acres of land, a part of which is now occupied by John T. Buxton.

A mile east was Corentine Galutia, from Litchfield, Conn., who cleared up a large farm and lived on the place until his death. Otis Ross began opening a farm in the same locality in 1829, clearing upwards of fifty acres, which

is now known as the Samuel F. William place. In the fall of 1829 Sumner Holman began boarding with him, while he cleared up a farm in this neighborhood, and took occasional days off hunting. In the course of nine months he killed eighty-two deer, one wolf, several wild- cats and innumerable wild pigeons. That year the pigeons liad a roost near Snyder's Hotel, in Rush, and were so plentiful that they destroyed some crops. Holman removed to the West. Caleb C. True was also in this locality, but farther west, and later lived in Bradford County. He was the father of Hiram R. True, who lived on the North Branch.

In the northeastern part of the township settlements were made by a number of Friends, in 1819 and the next, few years following, among them being William Salter, Samuel Savage, John Buxton and Henry M. Pierce. The latter was an Englishman and, it is said, held a peerage in the old country. He lived on the present Morris place, where he educated liis family well. One of his sons, Henry M., be- came an LL.D., and was for some years the president of Rutgers College, in New York. Another son, immigrating to California, became one of the most wealthy men of that State. Dr. Levi Roberts lived in the Middletown part of Friendsville front about 1820 until his death, in 1825. The Pierce farm afterwards passed into the hands of Caleb Carmalt, whose real estate holdings in the township were at one time more than one thousand acres, a small proportion of it only being improved. A part of this estate is now owned by the oldest daughter of Carmalt, the widow of Captain J. C. Morris, and is one of the finest places in that part of the township. While living on this farm Captain Morris was enlisted in the advancement of the agricultural interests of the county, and also served as presi- dent of the State Agricultural Society. His gallant services in the late war are still re- membered by those who served under him from this section.

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Centennial history of Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, Part 85

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