USA > Pennsylvania > Clinton County > Historical and biographical work, or past and present of Clinton County, comprising a sketch of every town and township of the county from date of settlement up to the present time > Part 33
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37
Among the leading citizens of Charlton not mentioned above are: George F. Ramm, William Waters, Charles Marks, Frank Lanks, George M. Betts and Stewart Condon.
The place is not so flourishing as in days gone by, but it is pleasantly located and populated by an industrious and law-abiding people.
374
PAST AND PRESENT OF CLINTON COUNTY.
CLINTONDALE.
C LINTONDALE is pleasantly located on Fishing creek, in Porter township. The village contains one church -Evangelical-of which Rev. J. J. Lohr is present pastor ; two graded public schools, one grist mill with the latest modern improved machinery, with James Bouse as miller. The mill is owned by the heirs of the late Allison White. One general store, controlled by the said heirs, with W. F. Brown as business manager ; one grocery and shoe store combined, kept by T. F. Ohl, two blacksmith shops, one kept by David Wolf, and the other by William Miller ; The village has one justice of the peace, Prof. J. S. Harter, and one excellent physician, Dr. J. H. Huston, who resides in one of the finest residences in Porter township. The place has a post-office, kept in the store room of the W. A. White Milling Co. The citizens of Clintondale are indus- trious and enterprising, and the village itself a delightful place. Only a short distance from the town is the site of the old camp meeting ground, kept up at one time by the Evangelical association. The holding of camp meetings on these grounds has been given up, and the ground, although a delightful spot in itself, now presents a very dilapidated appearance.
PINE STATION.
DINE STATION, located along the Philadelphia & Erie railroad, in Wayne township, contains about twenty dwellings, one Methodist church, one school house, two stores, kept by H. T. Kessler and Frank Maroney, one post- office, with H. F. Kessler as postmaster. The village con- tains about 120 inhabitants. The pump station of the Stand- ard Oil Co. is located here, and furnishes employment to half half a dozen persons. The place has one hotel, owned by R. C. Quiggle. Among the prominent residents of Pine Station are the Quiggles. R. C. Quiggle, whose portrait appears in
R. C. QUIGGLE,
PINE STATION, CLINTON COUNTY, PA.
375
PAST AND PRESENT OF CLINTON COUNTY.
this volume is one of the leading citizens of Wayne town- ship. The Pine M. E. church was erected in 1874, at a cost of $2,235. The Ebenezer church was erected by the Evan- gelical association in 1875, at a cost of $2,800. Both are neat and comfortable structures.
McELHATTAN.
M cELHATTAN is a small village located, on the Phila- delphia & Erie railroad, in Wayne township. The place contains two stores, kept by A. S. Stavley and John H. Chatham, Jr .; one licensed hotel, kept by Mrs. Catha- rine Beiser; a post-office, with A. S. Stavley as postmaster ; two churches, one Methodist, and the other Union. The former was built in 1873, at a cost of $2,800. The latter was erected in 1853, at a cost of $800. The place contains a freight station, ticket office and telegraph office. Mc- Elhattan was formerly called Wayne Station.
WAYNE.
T HE village of Wayne is located on the Beech Creek railroad, in Wayne township. The place contains one store, kept by B. C. Young, who is also present postmaster ; one grist mill, owned and run by Jacob Quiggle, Jr. ; two blacksmith shops, run by A. S. Showers and J. T. Sheddy ; also a ticket office, freight station and telegraph office.
KEATING.
K EATING, located on the Philadelphia & Erie railroad, in East Keating township, contains one store and post-office, kept by ex-County Treasurer Wallace Gakle, and one hotel, kept by John Gakle, his son. The Keating hotel is one of the finest structures of its kind in the county. It is a frame building, four stories high, built and owned by
376
PAST AND PRESENT OF CLINTON COUNTY.
Hon. J. W. Merrey. The house affords accommodations for fifty persons. It is well kept, at all times, and one of the greatest resorts for sportsmen on the line of the Philadel- phia & Erie railroad. The village has a ticket, freight and telegraph office, but no churches or industries.
CASTANEA.
T HE village of Castanea is located about one mile southeast of Lock Haven, in Castanea township. In 1871 Jacob Brown and Peter W. Keller purchased the farm of Joseph Hamberger, near Harvey's Gap, on the south side of Bald Eagle creek, and laid out the village of Castanea. Soon after they purchased the place they began selling lots, which were improved upon until now the village contains about thirty dwellings, a large brick school house, in which a graded school is conducted six months in the year, an ex- tensive brewery, conducted by Ferdinand Lucas, brewer of the celebrated Castanea beer. The village is on the line of the Beech Creek railroad, and contains a freight station, ticket and telegraph office. There was a post-office in the place at one time, but it was discontinued, and the residents of the village get their mail in Lock Haven. The place is pleasantly located, healthy and attractive. The Bald Eagle is crossed by a costly and substantial iron bridge, erected in 1892, and the town is likely to increase in size and popula- tion. The agent for the Beech Creek railroad company at Castanea, at present writing, is Andrew Harris, son of Alder- man J. W. Harris, of Lock Haven,
DESERTED VILLAGES IN CLINTON COUNTY.
REVELTOWN.
REVELTOWN, a deserted mining village of Clinton county, is located at what was known as the Revel Mines, about nine miles from the town of Beech Creek. The mines were operated and the town laid out in the year of 1853. The manager was an Englishman, named John Revel, sometimes called General Revel, but by what authority he held his title we know not. The mines were operated by a company of New York men, who did busi- ness in the firm name of Ashfield & Co. The town con- sisted of twenty dwellings for the miners, a grand mansion for the manager, a school house, blacksmith shop, store and stables. The tract of land consisted of 3,600 acres, about 200 of which was cleared and farmed. The mines were worked for four or five years, and then, on account of the smallness of the veins and various other reasons, they were abandoned and have never since been touched. To-day the town of Revel is deserted, the miner's dwellings have crumbled into decay, and the grand old English mansion, which was built to suit the taste of General Revel, is now but a wreck of its former grandeur. Cattle roam at will over the lawns and orchards, and seek shelter from the noonday sun in the parlor that once echoed to the mirth of voices long since hushed. General Revel is dead, his family gone, and Reveltown will soon be an unknown place.
PEACOCK.
Not one mile from Reveltown once stood the thriving mining village of Peacock. These mines were opened in 1854 by a New York firm, doing business in the name of Potter & Co. General John Revel was also superintendent of these works. The town consisted of about sixty dwell- ings and a large boarding house that could accommodate
25
378
PAST AND PRESENT OF CLINTON COUNTY.
100 persons, and was kept by Joseph W. Bigony. About 2,500 tons of coal was taken from these mines, but none was shipped away. In 1858 the mines were leased by Robert Crawford, of Lock Haven, and John Revel. The latter sold his interest to Crawford for $5,000 a few years later, and the mines, not paying, were also abandoned. The miners left, the houses were deserted, and to-day not even a log is left to mark the spot where once stood the busy mining town of Peacock.
ROCK CABIN.
Rock Cabin, which was, perhaps, the largest mining town of all, was laid out by the Fallon Brothers, of Philadelphia, in 1853, and the mines opened the same year. A great deal of money was lost here, and there was never more than 3,000 tons of coal shipped. About 11,000 tons were destroyed by fire. The superintendent of the mines was a Scotchman, named John Somerville, (father of James Somer- ville, who was for many years a resident of Bellefonte.) These mines were operated at different times for about six years, but were at last given up, and the town of 100 houses left to fall into ruins. A traveler passing the place to-day would not know that there ever was a town or even a dwelling on the spot that once boasted as lively a mining village as was to be found in the Keystone state.
EAGLETON.
Probably the most important of the four mining towns of the Tangascootac region was the town of Eagleton. It contained about sixty dwellings, a store and office, and all other necessary buildings. The town was built by the Eagleton Co., in 1853. The mines were opened at the same time. The first and only superintendent the Eagleton mines ever had was George Armstrong, who was born and reared at Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, one of the greatest mining regions of England. He superintended the opening of the mines and the building of the town, in 1853, and was the last man to leave the place when the mines were abandoned,
379
PAST AND PRESENT OF CLINTON COUNTY.
in 1865. The mines at Eagleton were prosperous for a time, and the town of Eagleton a very lively place. One of the first strikes known in Central Pennsylvania occurred at these mines in 1865. Sheriff Smith and a posse were called to the scene, but the men were peaceable, and a compromise was soon effected between them and the company. They again went to work, but the mines for various reasons were no longer profitable, and the miners soon sought homes else- where. The branch railroad, which connected with the Sunbury & Erie railroad at Queen's Run bridge, and ex- tended a distance of over ten miles to the mines of the Eagleton Co., was torn up, and the town and much valuable material left to fall into decay. A forest fire soon after- wards destroyed every vestige of the once thriving mining town of Eagleton. Archibald Munro, now senior member of the firm of Fredericks & Munro, of Farrandsville, was time keeper and paymaster at Eagleton for several years.
OLD FAMILIES OF CLINTON COUNTY.
M'CORMICK FAMILY.
P ROMINENT among those early pioneers, who were first to plant their rude cabins in the forests of the West Branch valley, were the ancestors of the present generation of McCormicks. The great- grandfather of the present generation, whose name was John McCor- mick, was born in Ireland in 1748. When he was twelve years old his parents emigrated to this country, leaving him on the Emerald Isle to be educated by his grandparents. After the family had departed for America, he became lonely for the companionship of his parents, brothers and sisters, and decided to follow theni. He ran away from his grand- parents, and hid himself on board a vessel bound for America, and after enduring the haps and mishaps of a stowaway, he finally made the voyage, and found himself in Philadelphia, penniless and among strangers. Being possessed with a due share of Scotch-Irish pluck and determination, he sought employment, and worked until he obtained sufficient funds to pay his expenses to the home of his parents, in Chester county. When he reached the dwelling of his family, his mother met him at the door, and refused him admission, not recognizing in the lad before her the son she had left to be a comfort and stay to his grandparents. He proved his identity, however, by removing his hat, and showing a scar on his fore- head. He remained in Chester county until 1772, when he came to Loyalsock, Lycoming county, where he remained until the spring of 1773, when he removed to the lower point of the Big Island, (as it was then called,) and built himself a rude dwelling, which was known as the Sas- safras cabin. He married a daughter of Robert Fleming, Esq., and afterwards purchased of Joseph Fleming the tract of land called Syca- more Point, between the Susquehanna river and the Bald Eagle creek. A biographical sketch, published at the time of his death, alludes to him as follows : "He participated to some extent in the struggle of the Revo- lution, although circumstances did not require him to take part in any actual engagement with the British. In common with all the hardy pioneers of this region, he was long in danger at the hands of the savages. He was one of the leaders in the pursuit of the Indians who murdered Messrs. Jones, Saltsman, Delong, Culbertson and son, who were killed by the Indians near the residence of Thomas Bridgens, in Allison township, in 1777. He also was among those who pursued the murderers of Messrs. Fleming and Donaldson at Pine Creek Ripples, in 1778. In 1778 he participated in the Big Runaway, and once more took up his residence in Chester county, where he remained until 1786, when he returned to his pioneer cabin on the banks of the Susquehanna, and lived there, or within
381
PAST AND PRESENT OF CLINTON COUNTY.
one mile of the spot, the remainder of his life. His death occurred in 1836. His life was a checkered one, blending hardship, danger and ad- venture with success, poverty, wealth, sorrow and happiness."
John McCormick was one of the organizers of the Great Island Presby- terian church, and his name heads the subscription list, gotten up to provide for the minister's salary for the year 1788.
The names of his children were Alexander, Benjamin, John, Joseph, David, Mollie, Elizabeth, Robert and Saul. Elizabeth, the last survivor of the family, died in 1868. Benjamin was drowned when but a boy, in the river near his home. David and Saul were ruling elders in the Great Island church, and Alexander at his death bequeathed $500 to the said church, the interest of which has helped towards the salary of the pastor since 1850.
Although the children of John McCormick are all dead and gone, yet his descendants are numerous and prominently connected with the present importance of Clinton county.
His son, Robert McCormick, was married in February, 1821, to Miss Mary White, a daughter of Colonel John White, of Pine Creek township. They had nine children, one daughter and eight sons. The daughter, who was named Elizabeth, became the wife of Robert McGowan, of Jersey Shore, but died years ago. Three of the sons have also died, namely: James, George and Alfred. John, another son, is a practicing physician at Leavenworth, Kan., where he has been for the last thirty years. Saul is a resident of Wiona, Minn. The other three, namely: Robert W., Henry and Charles S., are residents of Lock Haven at the present time. Robert McCormick, Sr., met with an accident, which re- sulted in his death. He was crossing the track of the Philadelphia & Erie railroad, when his wagon was struck by an engine. He was thrown out, receiving serious injury. He was carried to the residence of his son, Charles, on Water street, where he died Sunday, October 20th, 1867. His wife survived him eleven years. She died at the home of her son, Henry, November 12th, 1878.
The estimable wife of Hon. C. A. Mayer is a daughter of Saul McCor- mick. J. Fleming McCormick, now deceased, who was for many years a resident of Nittany Valley, was a son of Joseph McCormick, and S. Miller McCormick, one of the leading members of the Clinton county bar, is a grandson of Alexander McCormick. Robert McCormick's sons are all married, and have children. Henry, who resides on West Main street, has one daughter, Mary, who is yet a young lady, residing with her parents. Robert, who resides on Water street, has three children, two sons and one daughter. His eldest son, John Fleming McCormick, is engaged with his father in the lumber business at Lock Haven. He was married in June, 1891, to Jennie, only daughter of Charles Corss, Esq. The second son, William McCormick, is an attorney and a mem- ber of the Allegheny county bar. He resides in Pittsburg. The daughter, Mary McCormick, resides with her parents.
382
PAST AND PRESENT OF CLINTON COUNTY.
Charles McCormick, Esq., has three son, Allison W., who is a member of Clinton county bar, Sydney Fleming, another son, is engaged in the lumber business at Luverne, Minn., and Robert, the youngest, is at present a student of LaFayette college.
The present generation of McCormicks have inherited from their pioneer ancestors a due share of Scotch-Irish pluck and enterprise. The representatives of the family to-day are all successful in their chosen oc- cupations. They are noted for their generosity, and are always found ready and willing to contribute their share towards the furthering of any worthy enterprise.
In politics they are, with few exceptions, true blue Democrats. In their religious belief they follow the doctrines of the Presbyterian church, and for more than a century past the family has been prominently connected with the Great Island Presbyterian church of Lock Haven.
FLEMING FAMILY.
Prominent among the early settlers of the West Branch valley was John Fleming. He was a descendant of the Earl of Wigton, a Scottish noble- man. His ancestry can be traced back to the fourteenth century. In 1773 he secured possession of a large tract of land lying between the Sus- quehanna river and the Bald Eagle creek, which is the land upon which the city of Lock Haven and part of Flemington now stands. His terri- tory was a part of the Dr. Francis Allison tract. After the death of John Fleming, which occurred in 1777, his land, consisting of over 1,600 acres, was divided among his five sons and three daughters, namely: Joseph, John, David, Robert, Ezekiel, Mary, Elizabeth and Rosana. John Fleming built a house on the bank of the Susquehanna, near the abutments of the damn, where he died in 1777. Several hearth stones of the chimney of this house were found by workmen in excavating for the erection of the abutments at the time the dam was built, nearly half a century later.
His son, the Hon. John Fleming, who came to this section in 1773, was appointed one of the associate judges of Lycoming county by Governor Mifflin, in 1798. He was a native of Chester county, Pa., and born near the London Cross Roads. He was married to Susan Chatham, a daughter of Colonel Chatham, who at one time owned a mill and a large tract of land at Chatham's Run. Mrs. Fleming was born in Dublin, Ireland, coming to this country when an infant. She died in 1824. Hon. John Fleming had nine children, namely: General Robert Fleming, John Fleming, who was one of the first associate judges of Clinton county ; Algernon Sydney, who was sheriff of the county from 1866 to 1869; Eze- kiel, who went to Kentucky in 1833; William, who died at Alton, Ill., in 1846; Sarah, who married Joseph Montgomery; Nancy, who married David McCormick, and Mary, who was the wife of Hon. Joseph Quay.
Algernon S. Fleming was elected sheriff of Clinton county in 1866, but died before the expiration of his term. He had seven children, four sons and three daughters, all of whom are living at the present time. His
383
PAST AND PRESENT OF CLINTON COUNTY.
eldest son, James E. Fleming, is a coal dealer of Newark, N. J., where he has resided since 1865. His second son is Robert I., who was post- master of Lock Haven after the death of W. W. Rankin. He is now superintending the lumber interests of W. A. Simpson, Sr., at Brookville, Jefferson county, Pa. George M. Fleming, the third son, is now a citizen of Chicago, where he is employed as postal detective, having received this appointment during the term of Grover Cleveland. The next son is J. Wistar Fleming, who was deputy sheriff under his father, and elected to the office in 1872. A. S. A. Fleming, another son, is a resident of Hunt- ingdon county. in the employ of the Pennsylvania railroad company. The daughters are Susan C., now the wife of Charles S. McCormick, Esq .; Ellen, the wife of H. J. Nice, at present residing at Bellefonte, and Maud, the youngest of the family, who is married to Charles Ward, a brother of Monte Ward.
The Fleming family endured the hardships belonging to pioneer life, and they possessed sufficient pluck to make them formidable Indian fighters. In 1777 the fighting force of Reed's Fort consisted of fifteen men, about one-third of the number being Flemings. It is also a fact worth mentioning that they were the last to hold out against abandoning the fort at the time of the Big Runaway in 1778, although liable at any moment to be surrounded by the large force of Indians, in which case they would have been outnumbered 100 to 1.
Robert Fleming, who was an uncle of Algernon S., father of the present generations of Flemings, was the first justice of the peace in this section. It is said that his jurisdiction extended from Pine creek to Lake Erie. On one occasion when plowing in a field on the Great Island, he was con- fronted by a young couple who had come all the way from Lake Erie to be married. He stopped his plow and performed the ceremony, which united the two "souls with but a single thought," and then invited them to take dinner with him, which they did.
Flemington was named in honor of Hon. John Fleming, appointed as- sociate judge of Lycoming county in 1798. Judge Fleming was one of the first elders of the Great Island Presbyterian church, which was built in 1792.
At the time of the Big Runaway, the Flemings left with the others, and returned to Chester county, Pa., where they remained until 1783, when they came back to their forest home, on the bank of the Susque- hanna, where they found their dwellings almost as they had left them, the Indians not having disturbed anything, and in a short time they were comfortably situated, and were never afterwards molested. The vener- able wife of Algernon Sydney Fleming is yet living in Lock Haven.
QUIGGLE FAMILY.
The ancestors of the Quiggle family were among the early Dutch, or German, settlers of Pennsylvania, and came to this country about the be- ginning of the last century, (probably 1710-'20,) locating in York and Lancaster counties. The original name in German was Quickel, as vari-
384
PAST AND PRESENT OF CLINTON COUNTY.
ous old legal documents show, and this form of spelling is still followed by those descendans of the family who reside in the eastern part of the state, but the name has been anglicized by the descendants of those who moved to the western part into Quiggle, Quigley and Quigel. One Christian Quickel, of Mannheim township, Lancaster county, was a soldier in the Revolutionary war. He had five sons and one daughter, as follows: Peter, who moved to Ohio ; Balzer, whose descendants reside in Lycom- ing county ; Nicholas, ancestor of the late Hon. James W. Quiggle, father of James C. Quiggle ; Joseph M., George, Samson N., and of Sallie, (married to Joseph B. Deise,) mother of the late G. Omet and James M. Deise, and of John Q Deise, who still survives ; Philip, ancestor of the Pine Station Quiggles ; Daniel, Jacob, Richard, Robert C., Thomas, etc .; Michael, ancestor of the late Michael and Cline Quigley, and of Hon. A. J. Quigley, and through intermarriage of his daughters of the Allen, Crane, Crawford, Welsh, Stewart, Montgomery, Baird, White and Shaw families; Katie, who married a Myers. The advent of the Quiggle family into the West Branch valley occurred about the end of the last century, when Michael Quickel settled at Muncytown; John Quiggle and brother in Wayne (then called Nippenose township); Colonel William Quiggle and Balzer, up Lycoming creek.
CARSKADDON FAMILY.
James Carskaddon, Sr., the pioneer member of the family to locate in this section, came from Washington township, Northumberland county, and settled on a tract of land west of Flemington, now owned by Joseph Bridgens, Nathan Courter, Benjamin Thompson and others, located partly in Bald Eagle and partly in Allison townships. Jaines Carskaddon was a lieutenant in the Revolutionary war. He was twice married-first to Christiana Murphy. His father-in-law, John Murphy, came with him to this section and lived to be over 100 years old. By his first wife James Carskaddon had six children, three sons and three daughters. His daughters married as follows: Elsie, the eldest, married Patrick Moore, a pioneer settler of Allison township; Letitia married Edward Ritchie. The present generation of Ritchies are her grandchildren. Ann, the third daughter, married David Allen, who lived all his married life on the farm now owned by Nathan Courter. His wife received the said farm as a mar- riage portion from her father. William Allen, of Bald Eagle, and H. F. Allen, of Lock Haven, are her sons. John, the eldest son, moved to Ohio, married and reared a large family. James Carskaddon, Jr., married and lived at Flemington all his life. He was the father of nine children-five sons and four daughters. William B. Carskaddon, now a respected and prominent citizen of Lock Haven, is one of his sons. The venerable widow of A. S. Fleming and the late Mrs. Hayes Krebs were his daughters. William Carskaddon, the third son of James Carskaddon, Sr., lived during his whole life near Flemington. He was twice mar- ried, first to Anna H. Condon and last to Mrs. Jane Brady, widow of John Brady. By his last wife he had two children, namely, William Samuel and Jane Ann Carskaddon. The former is now a respected resi-
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.