USA > Pennsylvania > Lackawanna County > Ransom > History and directory of Newton and Ransom townships, Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania; > Part 14
USA > Pennsylvania > Lackawanna County > Newton > History and directory of Newton and Ransom townships, Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania; > Part 14
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Some of the famous and well established col- leges of this country are within a day's journey of the Upper Susquehanna Valley. Some of the very best are within the valley. Bucknell University. Lewisburg, Pa., is situate on the west branch of the Susquehanna, and conven- ient to northeast Pennsylvania. Its campus. formed by nature as well as art, slopes steep and high above the river, protected by the grateful
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HISTORY OF LACKAWANNA COUNTY
shade of fine elin, maple, oak and other native trees. Beyond and below the campus is an ex- tensive athletic field, all commanding a most surpassing view of the great river valley at the point of confluence of the two branches.
Nature surely provided the site for Bucknell University. This great institution is engaged in the work of character building, as well as higher education, and well earns and deserves
the success she attains.
CHURCHI PRIVILEGES
AAll the leading Christian denominations are represented in the many eities, towns, hamlets and country distriets all through the valley. Most of their pulpits are supplied with able, educated pastors and preachers, and the religi- ous influence is strong and uncompromising.
CHAPTER TEN
A BRIEF HISTORY OF LACKAWANNA COUNTY
The name, Lackawannock or Lackawanna, is derived from the Delaware Indian language, and it has come to its present form through many corruptions. One historian has written, "Lackawanna is a corruption of the Indian Lee-ha-ugh-hunt or Lee-haw-hanna. The pre- fix Lee ha or Lee haw, signifies the point of intersection ; hanna, as in Susquehanna, Toby- hanna, Toppahannock, Rappahannock, Tunk- hannock, and Tunkhanna, implies, in Indian language, a stream of water." Hence, the original meaning of the word Lackawanna, is the place where two streams meet, and it was applied to the locality at the confluence of the Susquehanna and Lackawanna rivers. From this the river took its name, as did also the val- ley through which it runs, and ultimately the county which includes it.
THE MONSEY INDIANS.
When the Lackawanna valley was settled by the whites there were two Indian settlements or villages within its limits. One of these was Asserughney, at the confluence of the Susque- hanna and Lackawanna rivers, under Camp- bell's Ledge. The other was about ten miles up the Lackawanna, near the mouth of the Nay Ang (Roaring Brook ). It was called Capoose Meadows after a chief of that name, who came from New Jersey about the year 1700 and who was partly civilized, and noted for his peaceful character. Trails ran from this village to Wyoming, to Cochecton and to Oqua- go, (now Windsor) Broome county, N. Y. The Indians inhabiting these villages were Monseys. They left the village after the Wyoming Mas- sacre. In addition to these, traces were found of five other Indian villages that had long pre- viously been inhabited and abandoned, all lo- cated on the west bank of the river.
Count Zinzendorf visited the village of Ca- poose in 1742, and the date of its first occu- pancy by the Monseys must have been at least
thirty years before. A quarter of a mile up the river, on the high bank of the Lackawanna, was the Indian burying ground, long since ob- literated by the cultivation of the spot by the whites. Here in 1795 were discovered a nuni- ber of Indian graves, which were opened, ac- cording to Hollister, "by a party of settlers in search of antiquarian spoils." He continues: "As one of the mounds seemed to have been pre- pared with especial attention, and contained, with the bones of the warrior, a great quantity of the implements of the deceased, it was sup- posed, erroneously, no doubt, to have been the grave of the chieftain Capoose. These graves, few in number, perhaps pointed to the last of the group of Monsey warriors who had offered incence and sacrifiee to the great spirit of 'Ca- poose.' " Several apple trees were found in Pro- vidence by the whites who first visited the val- ley. One of these trees was felled in 1801 hav- ing one hundred and fifty concentric circles, being one hundred and fifty years old. "The domestic habits of the Monsey tribe," says Hol- lister, "when not engaged in warfare were ex- tremely simple and lazy. Patches of open land or 'Indian clearings' early were found in the valley, where onions, cantaloupes, beans, and corn, and their favorite weed tobacco, were half cultivated by the obedient squaw." The Mon- seys accompanied the Delawares to Ohio, and subsequently were merged in the latter tribe.
THE FIRST SETTLEMENT.
The first settlement in the territory which is now included in Lackawanna county, was made by John Gardner in 1769 in Ransom township near the month of Gardner's creek. For a detailed account of this settlement see Ransom township.
About the same time Topez Williams, Silas Parks and Prince Alden settled in Lackawanna township. They were dispossessed by the Pen- namites in 1770.
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HISTORY OF LACKAWANNA COUNTY
PIONEER INDUSTRIES OF THE COUNTY
The first grist- and saw-mills in the county were built by the town (then Pittston but now Lackawanna township) in 1774, just below the falls on the Lackawanna river. In 1775 they were sold to Solomon Strong, and soon after- ward were destroyed by a flood.
Another grist-mill was built by Philip Ab- bott on Roaring Brook in 1788. The construc- tion of this establishment was very simple. In October of the same year his brother, James, joined him in the enterprise, and in the spring of 1789 the firm was further strengthened by the admission of Reuben Taylor, when the mill was enlarged. Later they sold to John and Seth Howe, who in July, 1798, sold the same with improvements, to Ebenezer Slocum and James Duwain.
It is recorded that James Van Fleet (from whom Fleetville was named) made and sold nearly all the plows used in the first agriculture of the valley. He made plow-shares of gnarled knots of trees for a score of years or more. He lived to an extreme- old age.
Large numbers of sheep were raised in the early days of Providence township, and the inhabitants, depending wholly upon their own woolen goods for raiment, early gave attention to carding and fulling-mills .* The hardy pion- eer women were ever busy in dealing out their warp and filling for frocks, coats, trowsers and flannel petticoats. These mills were regarded as equally important for the prosperity of the neighborhood as the grist-mill and the saw-mill. A carding and fulling-mill was built a little above Providence in 1808 by John Watres, which passed into the hands of Carter & Miller in 1841. The earlier exports of Providence were grain, lumber and whiskey. Of the lat- ter a large quantity was manufactured at Tripp's still, half a mile below the village.
During 1826 Colonel Henry W. Drinker, of "Drinker's Beech" gave a brisk impulse to the village when he, with trifling State aid, crossed the valley with the Philadelphia and Great Bend turnpike, and opened communication with New York city by a tri-weekly stage. Pas- sengers could then go from Providence to New York by way of Stroudsburg in three days. The Lackawanna was first bridged here by Drinker in 1826.
A PIONEER'S EXPERIENCE
The locality of the thriving borough of Dun- more was often explored by passers between Connecticut and Wyoming in the early days;
*A fulling-mill, for fulling or thickening cloth by means of pestles or stampers, which alternately fall into or rise from troughs where the cloth is put with fuller's-earth or other cleansing material.
but no settlers made an opening in the forest at this point until the advent of William Alls- worth, from New York State, in 1783. Doctor Hollister gives the following incidents in the conflict of this pioneer family with the wild beasts which everywhere abounded in the prim- itive wilderness :
"From the Lackawa settlement, on the Paupack, some four and twenty miles from the cabin of Allsworth, there stood but two habitations in 1783, one at Little Meadows, the other at Cobb's, botb kept as houses of entertainment. The need of more places of rest to cheer the emigrants toiling toward Wyoming with heavy burdens, drawn by the soher team of oxen, induced Mr. Allsworth to fix his abode at this spot. While he was building his cabin from trees felled for the purpose of gaining space and material, his covered wagon furnished a home for his family. At night heaps of logs were kept burn- ing until long after midnight to intimidate wolves, bears, wildcats and panthers inhabiting the chapar- ral toward Roaring brook and Capoose. Deer and bears were so abundant for many years within sight of his clearing that his family never trusted to his rifle in vain for a supply of venison or the substan- tial haunches of the bear. In fall and winter mouths wild beasts made incursions with such fre- quency that domestic animals at night could be safely kept only in palisaded inclosures. These were a strong stockade made from a well driven sapling, and generally built contiguous to the dwelling, into which all kinds of live stock were driven for protection after nightfall. Every farm- er in the township of Providence, unwilling to see his home invaded and occupied by the common enemy at the dead of night took this precaution less than a hundred years ago. And even then they were not exempt from depredation at Mr. Allsworth's. At one time, just at the edge of evening, a bear grouped his way into the pen where some of his pigs were slumbering, seized the sow in his brawny paws and bore the noisy porker hurriedly into the woods, where it was seen no more. The affrighted pigs were left un- harmed in the pen. At another time, during the absence from home of Mr. Allsworth, a large pan- ther came to his place before sundown in search of food. This animal is as partial to veal as the bear is to pork. A calf lay in the unguarded in- closure at the time. Upon this the panther sprang, when Mrs. Allsworth, alarmed by the bleating of the calf, seized a pair of heavy tongs from the fire- place, with a heroism distinguishing most of the women of that day, drove the yellow intruder away without its intended meal. The same night, how- ever, the calf was killed by the panther, which in return was captured in a trap the same week, and slain."
A BRIEF HISTORY OF EACH TOWNSHIP.
BENTON. This township was formed from Nicholson in 1838, and was named in honor of the late Hon. Thomas H. Benton, a United States senator from Missouri. This township was first settled in 1810 or 1811 by a Mr. Bas- sett, after whom Bassett pond is named. He lo- cated at the mouth of Bassett creek near Walls- ville. At the head of Finn pond was the old camping ground of the Indians. It lay on the trail from the head waters of the Lehigh to
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TIISTORY OF LACKAWANNA COUNTY
Great Bend, on the Susquehanna. Here have been found large quantities of arrow-heads. stone hatchets, and other relies. The pioneer nurserymen were Isaac Doud and Parmenus Brundage, who set out orchards as early as 1820 in the northeastern part of the township. The pioneer school-house was built of logs about 1820, in the northeast corner of the township. The population of the township was 1,055 in 1870: 1,148 in 1880: 1.052 in 1890: 1,042 in 1900; 807 in 1910.
CARBONDALE was formed in April, 1831 from a part of Blakely and Greenfield townships. The wild land of this township was originally owned by an Englishman named Russell, liv- ing at Sunbury. It was named Carbondale by William and Maurice Wurts, of Philadel- phia, who came into possession of it in 1812. Including the city of Carbondale it contains about twenty-three square miles. The pioneer settler was David Ailsworth, who came from Rhode Island in 1802, and located on the side of the mountain. Mrs. Ailsworth was the pioneer weaver. Peter Wedeman located on "Ragged Island" in 1807. where he raised a large family. His attire was very imposing. He wore a bear-skin for a coat, the fore legs serving for sleeves; a fawn-skin vest. buckskin pants, and a raccoon skin cap with the tail hanging behind when worn. Christopher E. Wilbur came from Dutchess county, N. Y .. in 1810, to manufacture the old fashioned wooden spinning-wheels used at that time. Nearly every fireside in the valley was soon gladdened by the hum of his wheels. The population was 721 in 1870: 1.163 in 1880; 1.784 in 1890: 1.440 in 1900: 1.635 in 1910.
CLIFTON. This township was formed from Covington, December 14, 1875. Jacob Gress, the first settler, located here in 1840. He open- ed the first tavern in a log-house in the most primitive style. He was a brave hunter, and was the proud owner of seventy-three bear skins. He also killed over seven hunderd deer and a large number of panthers and wolves, and nich small game. The first store was built in 1863 or 1864 by Herbine, Baum & Co .. at Clif- ion. The population was 282 in 1880; 172 in 1890: 200 in 1900; 203 in 1910.
COVINGTON. The township of Covington was formed in 1818 from the township of Wilkes- Barre, and embraced at that time the whole of Henry Drinker's possessions in the south part of old Luzerne county. It was named Coving- ton at the suggestion of II. W. Drinker, (son of Henry Drinker) in honor of Brigadier Gen- cral Covington. who fell at the battle of Wil- liamsburg. in upper Canada. In 1787. Henry Drinker purchased about 25,000 acres, includ-
ing this township. of the State, which has since been known as "Drinker's Beech," from the timber that covered it. In the summer of 1814 this land was resurveyed by Jackson Torrey of Bethany. Wayne county, into lois averaging one hundred acres each. Lots were sold at $5 per acre on five years credit, the first two years without interest : payment to be made in lum- ber, shingles, labor, produce, or anything the farmer had to spare. The first settlement was made in 1815, by TI. W. Drinker. The cele- brated "Drinker Turnpike" was built through this township in 1828. its course being due north and south. The charter for this road was obtained in 1819. Its terminal points were Philadelphia and Great Bend. In 1827. when Edward Wardell, Jr., was township collector. the duplicate amounted to only $96. The terri- tory embraced in the township at that time covered the present townships of Covington. Lehigh, Clifton, Spring Brook. Madison, and Bnek township of Luzerne county. The popu- lation was 1,182 in 1870: 881 in 1880; 884 in 1890; 794 in 1900: 641 in 1910.
FELL. This township was first settled in 1818 by Peter F. Ball who came from the State of New York, building a log-house in the north- western part of the township. This township was formed from Carbondale township, in No- vember. 1845. and named in honor of Judge Jesse Fell, who acquired considerable fame in the Wyoming valley during its early history. A coal mine was opened on Elk creek in Decem- ber, 1864 bv J. W. and J. P. Williams. and the breaker built in 1874, having a capacity of one hundred tons per dav. The Elk creek mine was opened and the breaker built in 1873 by Clarkson & Brennan. The population was 343 in 1870: 441 in 1880: 1.154 in 1890; 2,- 404 in 1900: 4.353 in 1910.
GREENFIELD. This township covers about twenty square miles, and was formed from Abington in January. 1816. Among the pion- cer settlers were Elijah Hobb and James Sac- kett, from Vermont, the latter locating in the western part of the township about 1800. Charles Berry opened the first tavern about 1820 near Carey's Corners, which was a log- house one-and-a-half stories high, with one low room below for the guests and a little lower room above for the family. The floor between as well as the roof was made of bark. Meals were served for 121 cents, and lodging was only 6 cents. Rum was 3 cents and gin or brandy 4 cents a glass. The pioneer school- house was built in 1820. The population was 819 in 1870: 821 in 1880; 673 in 1890: 681 in 1900; 590 in 1910.
JEFFERSON. Although Jefferson township
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HISTORY OF LACKAWANNA COUNTY
was only formed in 1836, from Providence township, its settlement dates back to 1781 or 1782, when Jolin Somers made a clearing at the foot of Cobb's mountain. In 1784 he sold to Asa Cobb, who became the first permanent set- tler. For many years his cabin was the only habitation between Dunmore and the Little Meadows, in Wayne county, which offered hos- pitality to all passing between Connecticut and the Wyoming valley, and became one of the most popular stopping places on the whole route. The population was 776 in 1870; 794 in 1880; 696 in 1890; 750 in 1900; 633 in 1910.
LACKAWANNA. This township was formed in January, 1839, from portions of Pittston and Providence townships. It was settled as early as 1769 or 1770 by Topaz Williams, Silas Parks and Prince Alden, Connecticut Yankees. who were dispossessed by the Pennamites in 1770. Barnabas Carey built the first log-cabin erected by a white man above the falls of the Lackawanna. The first saw and grist mills in Lackawanna county were built by the town (then Pittston ) in 1774, just below the falls on the Lackawanna river. In 1775 they were pur- chased by Solomon Strong and soon afterward were destroyed by a flood. The population was 5,822 in 1880; 8,061 in 1890; 5,623 in 1900; 2.756 in 1910. Moosic and part of Taylor boroughs were formed from Lackawanna town- ship since 1890.
LEHIGH. When Lackawanna county was formed of Luzerne county, August 13, 1878, the line ran through Buck township, dividing it in nearly equal parts, and that portion lying east of the new line in Lackawanna county was formed in a new township and named Lehigh, from the river. The pioneer settler was Isaac Lewis, who came in 1842 and purchased land of Charles Terwilliger along the Lehigh river. The first year he cleared thirty acres, planted it all to corn, and raised the first crop in Lehigh. He was the first man married in the township. Gouldsboro is the ouly village in the township. which was made a borough May 12, 1871. The population of the township was 193 in 1880; 146 in 1890; 129 in 1900; 119 in 1910. It is settled only along the Lehigh river.
MADISON. This township was formed Aug. 7, 1849 from parts of Covington and Jefferson, and was named in honor of James Madison. The pioneer settlers, Thomas Biesecker and Richard Edwards, located in the northwest part of the township, in the fall of 1824, where they built log cabins, moving their families into them in January, 1825. The population was 1,530 in 1870: 1,041 in 1880: 1.257 in 1890; 1, 242 in 1900; 640 in 1910. The borough of Mos-
cow has been organized from a part of Madison township since 1900, with a population of 650.
NEWTON. Until 1842 this township was a part of Falls township. In that year Wy- oming county was formed from Luzerne, the easterly line of the new county running through Falls township, leaving the eastern por- tion without a name or an organization. This was organized into a township in 1844, and named Newton, after a town of that name which is the county seat of Sussex county, New Jersey, from where many of the early settlers came. Richard Gardner was the pioneer set- tler, making a clearing and building a log-house near the Ransom township line in 1803. The population was 1,057 in 1870; 1,027 in 1880; 1,059 in 1890; 1,281 in 1900; 1,417 in 1910. The inmates of the Hillside Home are included in the above.
NORTH ABINGTON. In 1867 this township was formed from Abington. In the Connecti- cut claim and survey this township was called Ebbington, in honor of Col. Ebbings, an ex- tensive land agent of Connecticut, through whom titles to these lands were obtained on very reasonable terms; but these titles proved illegal and hence valueless, under the Pennsylvania laws which finally obtained, and the land hold- ers, being indignant, changed the name to Ab- ington. Under the Pennsylvania laws this was included in a large tract called Tunkhannock. In 1806 a new township was formed from Tunkhannock including this tract, and the name Abington was restored. This included several of the surrounding townships. In 1814 a part of Abington was annexed to Nicholson, and in 1816 Greenfield township was taken off. The township was divided in 1867 into North and South Abington. The contention of the "Yankees" and "Pennamites" retarded the early settlement of Abington, as did the large and almost impassible mountains on the south. The township remained an unbroken and unknown wilderness until about 1796, when it was surveyed by a party form Rhode Island under the Connecticut claim. In 1799, Deacon William Clark and family (including his three sons, William, Jeremiah and John), Thomas Smith and Ephriam Leach came from Connecticut. Their outfit consisted of one poor horse, a drag made of poles fastened at the back of the horse for a conveyance. On this drag were placed a sap kettle, their axes, and a few clothes and provisions. They crossed the Leggett mountain, at a gap westerly from where the road now passes. They made their camp in Abington, March 15, 1799. During the summer and fall they made clearings in several places and opened a path through
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HISTORY OF LACKAWANNA COUNTY
Leggett's gap. Deacon Clark settled at what is now Clark's Green, a name given in his honor. The first teacher, preacher and postmaster was Elder John Miller. The population of North Abington township was 1,072 in -1880; 1,090 in 1890; 362 in 1900; 319 in 1910. Dalton borough and West Abington township were organized from parts of North Abington town- ship since 1890.
RANSOM. This township was formed in 1849, from parts of Exeter and Newton. It was named in honor of Captain Samuel Ran- som, who raised a company in 1777 for the de- fense of Wyoming valley, and fell in the Wy- oming Massacre, July 3, 1778. The pioneer settler, John Gardner (also first settler in Lack- awanna county), came from Colchester, Conn., in 1769, and built a log cabin along the Sus- quehanna, near the mouth of Gardner's creek. The population was 646 in 1880; 650 in 1890; 894 in 1900; 849 in 1910. The above figures include the inmates of the Ransom Home.
ROARING BROOK township was formed May 24, 1871, out of parts of the borough of Dun- more and the townships of Jefferson and Madi- son, and named from the stream passing through it. Before and after the construction of the Drinker turnpike through the township there had been no settlement, unless we count Barney Carey, who kept the toll-gate on the turnpike about a mile below Dunning. Gilbert Dunning located at that village in 1847. He raised the first crops in the township. A few years later he erected the first framed house in the township. The first school-house was built in 1855. The population was 769 in 1880; 335 in 1890; 213 in 1900; 235 in 1910.
SCOTT. This township was formed from Greenfield in 1846, and named in honor of Hon. David Scott, one of the associate judges of Luzerne county. This is one of the town- ships across which the Indians traveled from the Susquehanna to the head waters of the Dela- ware. One of their camping grounds was near Scott village. Roger Orvis, from Vermont, lo- cated in 1802 at Orvis Corners. He made the first clearing and built the pioneer log cabin. The first grist-mill was built of logs by Seth Howe, in 1800, at the outlet of Chapman's Lake. It had but one run of rock stones. The water was conveyed from the outlet through troughs of logs to an overshot wheel. The township had a population of 1,132 in 1870; 1,263 in 1880; 1,213 in 1890; 1,255 in 1900; 1,296 in 1910.
SOUTH ABINGTON. At a special meeting held in the southern district of Abington, Oct. 8, 1867, 100 votes were cast in favor of a divi-
sion of the township, and 24 against. A ma- jority being in favor of division in both dis- tricts, it was carried into effect on the 25th day of November, 1867. The population was 923 in 1880; 1,083 in 1890; 1,612 in 1900; 1,987 in 1910. (See North Abington township).
SPRING BROOK. This township was formed from Covington, Nov. 22, 1853. The north half was originally owned by Dr. Hoosic- and the south half by a Mr. Fisher, except 800 acres at Yostville, owned by H. W. Drinker. The first settlement was made in 1832 by Abraham Turner, near the centre of the township. The pioneer school-house was built in 1832. It was a framed building, and the first teacher was Miss Emeline Griffin. The population was 426 in 1870; 658 in 1880; 756 in 1890; 458 in 1900; 439 in 1910.
WEST ABINGTON township was formed from a part of North Abington January 24, 1895. At a special election, held Tuesday, January 22, 1895, at the regular polling place of North Abington township; 81 voted for and 4 against the division of the township. Two days later the court appointed the following persons elec- tors of the said township: George H. Colvin, judge of elections; W. S. Ross, majority inspec- tor of elections; H. E. Capwell, minority in- spector of elections, and George F. Gethman, constable. The population was 219 in 1900, and 216 in 1910.
TOWNSHIPS WHICH HAVE BECOME EXTINCT
The following townships have been merged into boroughs, and are now extinct :
PROVIDENCE township was formed in 1770. It was named from Providence, R. I., and was the sixth of the townships alloted by the Sus- quehanna Company to the Connecticut settlers. It originally contained twenty-five square miles.
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