Commemorative biographical record of northeastern Pennsylvania, including the counties of Susquehanna, Wayne, Pike and Monroe, Pt. 1, Part 43

Author:
Publication date: 1900
Publisher: Chicago : J.H. Beers & Co.
Number of Pages: 2390

USA > Pennsylvania > Pike County > Commemorative biographical record of northeastern Pennsylvania, including the counties of Susquehanna, Wayne, Pike and Monroe, Pt. 1 > Part 43
USA > Pennsylvania > Monroe County > Commemorative biographical record of northeastern Pennsylvania, including the counties of Susquehanna, Wayne, Pike and Monroe, Pt. 1 > Part 43
USA > Pennsylvania > Susquehanna County > Commemorative biographical record of northeastern Pennsylvania, including the counties of Susquehanna, Wayne, Pike and Monroe, Pt. 1 > Part 43
USA > Pennsylvania > Wayne County > Commemorative biographical record of northeastern Pennsylvania, including the counties of Susquehanna, Wayne, Pike and Monroe, Pt. 1 > Part 43

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The Clark farm homestead is one of the most beautiful places of the locality. Mr. Clark's pleas- ant town residence in Honesdale is neat, and taste- fully furnished, containing an elegant library, and in this delightful home the family take great pleas- ure in entertaining their many friends. Both Mrs. Clark and her daughter are members of the M. E. Church.

JASPER T. JENNINGS. The Jennings fam- ily has been identified with this section from pioneer times, and its members have been noted for their thrift, intelligence, and public spirit.

David B. Jennings, the grandfather of this well- known resident of New Milford township, Susque- hanna county, was born in Connecticut in 1785, and his wife, Lydia ( Dehart), was the daughter of a well-to-do farmer of Paumkney, near Pater- son, New Jersey. They came to New Milford about 1816, to commence the trials and duties of life in a new and comparatively wild country. The rail- road had scarcely been thought of at that time, and the well-known old Newburg turnpike was thronged with travelers and passengers on their way to the lake country of Central and Western New York, then known as the "Great West." Mr. Jennings and his wife stopped at the "Mott Tavern," on the high hill about two miles south of the present bor- ough of New Milford, and so well pleased were they with the prospect for settlers in this vicinity that they located at the foot of the hill, near the present residence of A. C. Barrett, then known as the Captain Leach place, and later as the Meylert farm. Mr. Jennings afterward purchased what was in later days known as the Lloyd farm; and built his first log cabin near the creek, some distance above the present school house at the Barrett cor- ners. After living in this "primitive" shelter a few years, during which some of their older children were born, they built another cabin on the road from Leach Corners to the Vermont Settlement, in Jackson. This place is at present owned by D. W. Shay. In the fall of 1828 he purchased a piece of wild land in what was then known as the "East Woods," some two miles to the eastward, in the same township, and built a log house near one of the best springs in this section, intending to make his permanent home there. Hemmed in by the mighty forests, as far as the eye could reach, he struggled with all the inconveniences and privations incident to frontier life, which only those whose

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memory goes back to pioneer days can realize. Bears and panthers were often seen in those days, deer were plenty,and wolves often made the night hideous with their unearthly howling. The clearing was thickly dotted with charred stumps, and fenced with the blackened logs. Large quantities of maple sugar were made in primitive style, and on one occasion Mrs. Jennings and one or two of her children were driven from the sugar camp by wolves. Raccoons and bears came into cornfields in the night time and destroyed much of the crop, so that it became necessary to set traps for them and build fires around the borders and in the edge of the woods to frighten them away. Mr. Jennings was something of a doctor, in his day, and was often away from home. He died in August, 1848, and was buried in the New Milford cemetery ; his wife died in April, 1875, aged eighty-one years. Their children were : Charles, George, Lancaster, Rachel, David, Lydia, Mary, Eunice, Lucy, John and Sarah.

Charles and George early went west to seek their fortunes in the frontier region, now the flour- ishing Sate of Illinois. Charles first located on an eighty-acre tract, near where the great Central de- pot now stands, in the busy city of Chicago. There were but twelve log houses then where the city now is, and after staying there a few months he be- came discouraged and left the place to seek another location in Iowa, where he spent his days on a farm. He had three or four daughters, one of whom was burned to death while burning a pile of weeds. The others married and located in other States. George located in Kane county, Ill., and passed his life on a farm. One of his sons was bitten by a mad dog, and died from hydrophobia. One of his daughters married a man by the name of Abbey, and located in Wisconsin. Edith Jen- nings, youngest daughter of George and Rebecca Jennings, is a music teacher, at present located in Viroqua, Wis. Both Charles and George and also their wives have been dead many years. 3. Lancaster, our subject's father, is mentioned be- low. 4. Rachel Jennings, the oldest representative of the Jennings family now living, was born in March, 1822, and continues to reside in the town- ship. She was a tailoress, and never married.

5. David Jennings, the only surviving son of David B. Jennings, resides on the old Jennings homestead, near the fine spring where the original clearing was first made. He was born April 18, 1826. He lived with his father and mother, caring for them in their old age, and making a home for his unmarried sisters, who also helped about the housework, he being unmarried. In September, 1869, David married Miss Sarah West, of Bing- hamton, N. Y. They had four children: Arthur, born July 18, 1871, farmer ; Nettie, born November, 1873, died of malignant scarlet fever, April, 1875; buried in the New Milford cemetery; Frank, born December, 1876, farmer, married Miss Blanche Bennett, September, 1897, and has one child, Lena Ruth; and Herbert, born July 31, 1881, working

with his father on the farm. His wife, Sarah (West) Jennings, died May, 1884. His eldest sis- ter, Rachel, kept house for him awhile, and then, after renting his farm for two years, he married Mrs. Louisa Murray, of Binghamton, for his sec- ond wife. He had a bluestone quarry on his farm.

6. Lydia married John C. Dana, a farmer, and now resides near Deposit, N. Y. They commenced housekeeping in New Milford township, where they passed many years; and where most of their chil- dren were born, Mr. Dana working much of the time in the sawmill and lumber woods. Their children were: George, who married a Miss Campbell, and is at present engaged in farming in Sanford, N. Y .; Ezra, now deceased; Jane, who became the wife of Nathan Z. Sutton, farmer and stone quarryman, of New Milford township, and who also has two chil- dren; Luella, wife of Lewis Squires, farmer, of New Milford, and who has one daughter, Emogene ; Ella, who married Dr. Porter, a newspaper and lit- erary man of Ithaca, N. Y .; Emma, a fine scholar and successful teacher, and John, a farm laborer, de- ceased.

7. Mary became the second wife of George W. Lewis, a farmer, of New Milford. She had learned the weaver's trade, and used to do much weaving. Machinery was not so extensively used then as now, and a large portion of the clothing worn was home-made, the raw material being grown on the farm, and its manufacture furnishing em- ployment for young and old. The children of Mary and George Lewis were Charles E. and Joseph H., both grown up and residing in the township. Mary died suddenly from heart disease, and is buried in the New Milford cemetery. The husband, who sur- vived her some years, married again, but is now also dead.

8. Eunice became the wife of Alonzo J. Al- bright, who purchased a farm in New Milford town- ship, on the road leading from Summerville to Sus- quehanna, where they resided for a short time, when he entered the army as a volunteer in the Civil war. They finally went west, where they located on a farm

at Summit City, Grand Traverse Co., Mich. Their children were: Emma, Myrtie and Clarence, all of whom are dead.

9. Lucy never married. She worked at house- keeping for Judge Burrows several years, and died in the spring of 1870, her remains being bur- ied in the New Milford cemetery.

IO. John married Miss Lois Tinker, daugh- ter of William Tinker, of New Milford township, and purchased a farm on the East Lake road, where he settled permanently. Their children were: Wil- son, now dead; Fannie, who became the wife of William Stewart, a farmer of the same township; Mary, unmarried, living with her mother and broth- er on the farm; and Homer, also unmarried, who has charge of the farm. John was a member of the Methodist Church, a Democrat in politics, and con- scientious and straightforward in all his dealings.

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He died from cancer of the stomach, at about the age of forty-eight.

II. Sarah became the wife of Frank T. Well- man, a farmer, of the same township, living near the well-known "Wellman pond." Their children are Minnie, who became the wife of Samuel Took- er, of New Milford township, but originally from Orange county, N. Y., laborer and miner, and had one daughter, Jessie, who died in her third year ; Lillie, who became the wife of Egbert Tooker, broth- er of Samuel, farmer, living near Salamanca,, N. Y. ; and has three children, Nellie, Edward and Frank ; Ina, who became the wife of Judson Allen, farmer, residing in the same township, and who has one child, Jennie; Nellie, who became the wife of U. Grant Anderson, stone cutter, of Lakeside, in New Milford township, and has two children, Ira and Iva; Burt, unmarried, at present living with his father and helping on the farm; and Carrie, un- married, living with her parents. The annual gath- erings of the Jennings family are held on the third Wednesday in August.

Lancaster Jennings, our subject's father, was born March 13, 1821; and on coming of age he purchased a lot of wild land adjoining his father's farm on the east, and, with his axe as his only capi- tal, proceeded to make a clearing. He had a natural talent for the carpenter's trade, and at once proceeded to hew out great sticks of beech timber, larger than we would now thing of using for a sawmill, and erected for himself a rude but substantial frame house, with a great rough stone fire place and chim- ney at the end. A part of this house is still standing, and is used as a barn. His services were soon in great demand to lay out frame barns and houses ; and he helped to construct scores of buildings in differ- ent parts of the township and New Milford borough. For nearly three years he lived alone, hiring his bread baked, and working at clearing his land when not engaged elsewhere. He was strong and healthy, and often used to work all night burning log-heaps in the fallow, working all the next day as usttal. perhaps going miles away to do a day's work, and if a number of the young settlers proposed to go on a cooning expedition the next night, he was ready to go with them. He at one time worked five days and five nights in succession, in the old Belknap sawmill, which then stood on the creek about a mile south of the borough of New Milford. On March 9, 1845, he married Miss Eliza Ann Richardson, eldest daughter of Francis and Eliza (Tennant) Richardson, one of the early families of Harford township, Susquehanna county. Her father orig- inally came from Massachusetts, and was a relative of the other Richardson families so well known in the early history of Harford. They at once com- menced housekeeping in their primitive home. They raised their own grain, and flax, and wool, and manufactured it, and all their clothing was home- made. In this way they struggled along, saving a little each year to pay on their land, and eventually the debt was cancelled, and the farm was theirs.

In 1856 he built the present dwelling house, and at other times the barns, sheds, and other buildings, doing nearly all the work himself. He was drafted during the Civil war, but the great struggle closed before he was called into service, so he did not go. For many years his wife was much broken down in health, and on July 2, 1892, she died at the age of sixty-four years. He died January 21, 1895, aged nearly seventy-four years, and was buried in the New Milford cemetery. Of their seven children our subject was the eldest; (2) Olive, born Novem- ber 30, 1848, married William H. Williams, farmer, of New Milford township, June 12, 1866. He died of typhoid pneumonia, March 9, 1869, and was buried in the Williams burying ground, but a few rods from his own dwelling. They had no children. On June 12, 1870, Olive, for her second husband, married Elmiron F. Tanner, and resides on an ad- joining farm to her brother's. They had three chil- dren, Brown (deceased), Burton E., and Ella. (3) William, born October 28, 1853, farmer, married for his first wife, Miss Mary E. Titus, of Lenox township, Susquehanna county, March 22, 1874. She died March 5, 1875; they had no children; he married, for his second wife, Miss Anna Waldo, daughter of Anson Waldo, of New Milford town- ship, and after continuing the business of farming a short time, removed to Binghamton, N. Y., where he worked for a number of years at cigar making. He built a gristmill there, which he sold, and re- turning to New Milford, purchased the Enoch Smith farm, adjoining that of his brother and sister, some three miles east of New Milford, on the Jack- son road ; they have no children.

(4) Ida, born June 18, 1858, married Hiram Titus, farmer, of Lenox township, April 27, 1873. He died May 19, 1885. She continued to reside on the farm in Lenox. She has two sons, Nelson and William. (5) Judson, born May 9, 1865, died May 22, 1865; buried in the Williams cemetery. (6) Amber, born October 22, 1866, married Edgar L. Mathews, carpenter, and resides in Corning, N. Y. They have two children, Eliza and Neal. (7) Albert, born November 15, 1868, married Miss Bes- sie Hutchings, May 30, 1888. They reside in Corning, N. Y., where he has employment in the railroad shops. They have two children, Beatrice and Frederick.

Jasper T. Jennings was born February 8, 1846, on the farm which he now occupies. As the son of a busy farmer his time was filled with hard work in his youth, and his fondness for bo. As, which was shown at an early age, could only be gratified by earnest effort, and extra work at night and on stormy days. He made a resolution never to use tobacco or liquor in any form, and to lay by a cer- tain sum for the semi-annual purchase of books; and this rule strictly followed through life has re- sulted in a library of more than 1,000 volumes. So well did he improve his meagre educational oppor- tunities that he became qualified to teach, and six suc- cessive winters were spent in this work, the vaca-

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tions being devoted to farming at the homestead. On March 31, 1807, he married Miss Ella Louisa Ryncarson, daughter of Israel and Sarah ( Titus) Rynearson, formerly of Lenox. He built a new house on the homestead, and for twenty-eight years he operated the farm with his father, sharing the expenses and proceeds, but later he bought the place, including the stock and tools. As the father was left alone after the mother's death, our sub- ject removed to the old home in the spring of 1893, and still continues to reside there. His time is largely given to the active management of the farm, dairying being a specialty. Socially the family is prominent, and both Mr. and Mrs. Jennings are members of the Methodist Church. In his younger days he was an active worker in the Sunday-school, serving for years as superintendent and teacher of the Bible class.

Mr. Jennings holds the pen of a ready writer and early acquired a high reputation by his stories, essays, and educational articles. In the spring of 1874 he became a regular contributor for the Grow- ing World, published at Jersey City, N. J. ; "Won- ders of Nature, Science, and Art," a series of scien- tific papers, appeared in 37 consecutive numbers and scores of others followed. Later two series of original papers on scientific subjects appeared in "Ballous Magazine," of Boston, Mass .; "Stories of the Early Settlers" appeared in the Home Com- panion of Cleveland, Ohio; "Triumphs of Science" was published in the Young Folks Rural, of Chica- go, Ill. Other productions have appeared in the Oriental Casket, Munyons, Illustrated World, Gold- en Days, Saturday Night, Family Favorite, the Mechanical News, the Popular Monthly, and many others, beside much original matter for the different local publications of the county. He prepared a "Geography and History of Susquehanna County" in catechetical form, designed for a local school book, comprising over 1,400 questions and answers. It was published in the New Milford Advertiser in 1897, and his "Pennsylvania Geography and History" on the same plan appeared in the National Educator, in 1898 and 1899. He prepared the chapters on New Milford township and borough and part of the chapter on Geology, and Zoology, etc., for Peck's "Centenial History of Susquehanna County." Many serial sketches by him on local history have appeared at different times in the leading newspapers of the county, and are well known to home readers. He has been principal reporter from Susquehanna coun- ty for the national Department of Agriculture since 1880, and also reporter for the State Board of Agriculture. He has served on the election board at nearly two-thirds of the elections since he was twenty-one years of age, and has been elected town clerk for ten or a dozen different terms. In 1888 he received the unanimous nomination of the Democrat- ic party for representative, and made a good run ; but the party being very much in the minority, they could not hope to elect. He also received, later, the nomination for county treasurer, with the same

conditions and results. He is now numbered among. the State Lecturers for Farmers' Institutes.

Mr. and Mrs. Jennings have three children, all of whom are married : ( 1) Lulu, born February 2, 1873, was married June 16, 1889, to James H. Williams, a general farmer and stone quarryman, residing in the same township, only a short distance from our subject's home. They have four children, as follows: Verne May, born June 9, 1890; Nellie Hazel, born May 1, 1894; Clare E., born August 10, 1896, and Glen, born September 5, 1898. (2) Riley R., born July 12, 1874, was married June 12, 1895, to Miss Fannie Hannah, daughter of Alex- ander and Caroline ( Williams) Hannah, of New Milford township. They have one child, Ross How- ard, born October 27, 1897. Riley lives in the house where his father and mother commenced housekeep- ing, and works with his father on the farm. (3) Sidney, born February 27, 1876, was married March 31, 1898, to Miss Angie Crandall, daughter of James and Emma (King) Crandall, of Jackson township, where they now reside. Mr. Jennings has always. taken much interest in agricultural matters, and has given his voice and pen to the advocating of reform principles-socially, morally and politically. His inmost desire is to see a better condition for the American farmer, and the elevation and advancement of humanity in general ; a higher grade of states- manship in our home and national affairs, and a better and purer standard of citizenship.

RYNEARSON FAMILY. Isaac Rynearson is said to have been the first settler in the present limits of Lenox township; and from him all of the name in that section are descended.

More than a century ago he set out, it is thought, from New Jersey, to seek his fortune in this then wide extended wilderness ; and at Nichol- son, then called Thornbottom, he came to the last settlement on the extreme border. He was told that there was a primitive settlement at New Mil- ford; and another in Harford, then recently founded by the famous Nine Partners; but that they were many miles away, with not even a marked tree to guide him. But he was a man not easily daunted ; and getting bearings, or directions, of these places, as nearly as he could, he set out with his gun, a small pack of provisions, and a rude cane, cut from a willow sprout near his starting place. He came up the Tunkhannock creek, then thickly overshad- owed all the way by the sombre forest. He had thought that he would reach the distant settlements by nightfall; but the way was tedious, and his progress slow, and he became somewhat bewildered, fearing that he was lost, when at length the shad- ows of night crept over the great woods, and he could proceed no farther with safety. He had reached the spot now known as "Camerons Cor- ners," a short distance below the junction of the Harford and Tunkhannock creeks; and here, at the base of a large spreading tree, with one of the great roots and part of his bundle for a pillow, he

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passed the night in the forest. Bears, wolves, and panthers roamed through the wilderness in large numbers in those days, but they did not molest him, and in the morning he was so well pleased with the place that he resolved to locate there. The wil- low cane he had cut when he left Thornbottom, he stuck in the alluvial ground where he laid clown to rest and there he let it remain. In a few days green buds put forth, and it took root and grew; and a century later it was a mighty tree, standing in silent majesty, to mark the spot where the sturdy old frontiersman first pillowed his weary head in the depths of the wilder- ness. It has lately been cut down ; but its location is marked; approximately, by the present iron bridge. The pioneer constructed a rude cabin, only the nearest apology for a shelter, from the driving storm, and wild beasts; and here, regardless alike of the howling of wolves and hooting of owls, he toiled by day and slept by night, undaunted and un- moved, to clear a farm. His family soon joined him, and the ring of the axe, and wreaths of smoke curling above the tree-tops, gave indication of the home of the pioneer. The ever-ponderous old stone chimney was built, rough and uneven, and chinked with clay, and the great old-fashioned stone fire- place, erected with andirons of stone, where the bright fire set forth its cheerful glow, as it danced and roared up the huge chimney. In after years, when the Milford and Owego turnpike was built, crossed at this place by another great line of travel, Mr. Rynearson built a large and commodious pub- lic house at this spot, and the "Rynearson Tavern" became as a noted stopping place for drovers and travelers. The railroad was unknown in this sec- tion then, and the old house was nightly filled from the passing throng. He had a very large family of children, some of whom settled on the land he had purchased, said to have been a square mile in extent. He now sleeps in the little Rynearson burying ground, in the farm lot near where his first clearing was made. Some of his sons early went to Michigan, and others went to different parts of the country : and all traces of the greater portion have been lost. In later days the old hotel became known as the "Wade Tavern"; but finally passed away with the change of travel and drovers' business, and the once busy spot has changed its name to "Camerons Corners."

Aaron Rynearson, son of Isaac, located at a very early day in West Lenox township, a short dis- tance below the present homestead of Willam Pratt, on the road now leading from the "Tower Church" to Hopbottom. Like his father, he commenced by building a log house and carving out a home from the virgin forest, although when he began there were several clearings at no great distance away. His wife's maiden name was Amy Harding. Their children were: Isaac, Lydia, Israel, Catherine, Hannah and Clarissa.

I. Isaac married Eliza Felton. She has been dead many years, and he, an old man, lives with his

son. They had two children, Arthur, a farmer, who married Miss Hattie Gow, and resides in Harford, and Agnes, who became the wife of William Glaze, of Scranton.

II. Lydia married Edward Gardner, a farm- er near Loomis Lake, in Lenox, who has been dead many years. Their children are: (1) Barney, a farmer living also near Loomis Lake, who married Miss Helen Manning, and has children. (2) Will- iam, married and resides in Pittston, Penn. (3) Francellia, who resides on the old homestead with her aged mother, and (4) Orange, who is married and resides in Hopbottom, Penn., some two miles distant. Mrs. Ldyia Gardner, or "Aunt Lydia," as she is familiarly called, is a fine old lady, between eighty and ninety years of age, who still has a re- tentive memory of pioneer days, and well preserved mental faculties. She has long been a faithful member of the Free-will Baptist Church at Loomis Lake.

III. Israel passed the greater part of his life in Lenox township, though he resided a year or two in Eaton township, Wyoming county, and a couple of years in New Milford. He was born in WV. Lenox, September 6, 1826, was married Janu- ary 1, 1852, and his wife, Sarah ( Titus), daughter of Noah Titus, of Lenox, was born April 23, 1828. Their children are Ella, Asahel, Andrew, Elmer, Hattie and Earl ; all of whom, at this date ( 1900) are living: (I) Ella, born January 1, 1853, married Jasper T. Jennings of New Milford, and had three children, Lulu, Riley and Sidney. (2) Asahel, born January 13, 1857, married Miss Sarah Warner, of Bradford county, Penn., where they now reside upon a farm. (3) Andrew, the only representative of Israel's branch of the family now residing in Lenox, married Hattie D. Whiting, daughter of John L. Whiting, of W. Lenox, and resides about two miles east of Hopbottom. They have three children, Merl, Ina and Lee. (4) Elmer, born in July 1862, went west and married Miss Mary Stout of Illinois. He located in Dixon, Ill., where he is em- ployed in a large shoe factory. He has two chil- dren, Glenn, and Earl. (5) Hattie, born October 6. 1864, was married Februarv 16, 1898, to Edson West, a farmer at Snedekerville, Bradford Co., Penn. (6) Earl, born in 1872, is at present living in Bradford county, and is unmarried. On August 8. 1876, Mrs. Sarah (Titus) Rynearson died of consumption, and was buried in the Lenox Ceme- tery, near the "Tower Church." Israel Rynearson was a soldier in the Civil war, as member of Com- pany B, 177th Penn. Reg., and was a pensioner well known to most of the old soldiers of Susquehanna county. He died August 29, 1894, and was buried beside his wife. He possessed a jovial, good na- tured turn of mind, and no one enjoyed telling a good story or reminiscence better than he. He worked at one time in the well-known old black- smith shop of Charles Conrad, in Glenwood, and as- sisted in turning out the great contracts of mule shoes for western mail routes, which were manu-

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Commemorative biographical record of northeastern Pennsylvania, including the counties of Susquehanna, Wayne, Pike and Monroe, Pt. 1, Part 43

Author: Publication date: 1900 Publisher: Chicago : J.H. Beers & Co. Number of Pages: 2390

Author:
Publication date: 1900
Publisher: Chicago : J.H. Beers & Co.
Number of Pages: 2390