History of Bradford County, Pennsylvania, with Illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 111

Author: Craft, David, 1832-1908; L.H. Everts & Co
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Philadelphia : L. H. Everts
Number of Pages: 812

USA > Pennsylvania > Bradford County > History of Bradford County, Pennsylvania, with Illustrations and biographical sketches > Part 111

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).

+ His true name was Stephen, but when the Rosses brought him to Wilkes- Barre they called him " Jo," which name clung to him while in this country.

į Narrative of Joseph Gamble.

¿ Amos York.

438

HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

in Wilmot before Nathan or his father came to the country. Without doubt the two contestants for this honor were the first who attempted to " teach the young idea."

Mrs. Lake is the only surviving child of the old pioneer, James Anderson. Her mother is said to have been a skillful marksman, and it is related that on one occasion, when a party of hunters were watching for deer near her house, she caught up a gun and brought down a deer that had come up from a direction opposite to that which the hunters expected them to approach. Mrs. Lake says the wolves could be heard at all hours of the night, and were frequently seen in the daytime. The sheep were herded every night in pens, near the house, built wolf-proof. It was a common occurrence for bears to carry off pigs from the door-steps in broad daylight. In the early days the settlers lived mostly by hunting and fishing.

John Quick, now (1878) eighty-five years old, says, " A panther came one night to Joseph Ingham's; he had two dogs. The panther killed one of the dogs, and, after finishing his meal, started for the woods. A light snow had fallen the evening before, so that his track was easily followed. The next morning Mr. Ingham, with Eliphalet Marsh and some others, started in pursuit. They tracked him less than a mile, and found the ' varmint' had taken a little circuit nearly back to his track, made a nest, and

lain down. When found the dogs attacked the panther, who made for the nearest tree, from which he was dis- patched. He measured more than seven feet from tip to tip. Deer could be seen often as many as eighteen in a drove. I have seen them standing in the river fighting off the flies like cattle. They were quite destructive to the wheat, as they had an ugly habit of walking through the fields and biting off the wheat-heads."

Most of the trade was done by boats passing up and down the river. Mrs. Lake says that a man named Wal- lace, from Northumberland, was their principal merchant.

There are eleven school districts, in each of which there are a sufficient number of families to maintain a good school. The township has rapidly increased in population. In 1850, the census returns gave it at 550 ; in 1860, after the town- ship lines were changed, at 1026; in 1870, 1365 white, and no colored,-1230 of native and 135 of foreign birth.

Sugar Run is the most important settlement in the town- ship. There are two post-offices, one at Sugar Run, and the other, called Elwell, in honor of Judge Elwell, is at the centre. The only church in the township is in the back part of the town, on the Albany road to Dushore. In this neighborhood a number of families, of which that of Cum- misky is the most important, have settled within a few years past.

WINDHAM.

" AT the commencement of the present century the see- tion of country now called Windham was a wilderness, where roamed only wild animals. Although the early settlers la- bored industriously to clear and improve their farms, for a long time their crops were inadequate to supply their wants, and many of the poorer families suffered for the necessaries of life. It was not uncommon to see half-grown children of both sexes in a state of nudity, with the exception, per- haps, of the fig-leaf. The houses were mostly hovels, and few and far between. Schools, if they could so be called, were kept in the old log shanty, and religious worship was held in private houses or barns.

" In no part of the country has property changed hands more often than here,-many a farm having been owned by more than a dozen different persons. During the successive years in which the writer prepared tax duplicates, there were more changes of the resident taxables than the whole number at any one time on the list. At some places of public worship, congregations have changed entirely within a few years, none of the former ones remaining." *

One of the very first settlers in Windham was Philo Brainerd. He came in 1801, bringing his family, consist- ing of wife, four sons, and one daughter; he was induced to locate here from reports of the cheapness of the lands,

fertility of the soil, and advantages of water-power for the construction of mills. He first purchased a tract of land of Col. Hale, a Connecticut claimant, but the title proving worthless he lost the whole, after having built upon it the mills which were afterwards known as the Shoemaker's mills, now owned by some of the Judson family. He next pur- chased a section of State's land, 640 acres, which he divided among his sons, retaining the central portion for himself. He then made an opening on the right bank of the Wap- pusening, and built a log house near the hickory-tree which is yet standing. He built a framed house in 1809 on the Four Corners, but the first framed house in the township was erected by Darius Brainerd, in 1808, on a little emi- nenee some rods south of the creek. This house was burned in January, 1829.

Jephtha Brainerd was born at Chatham, Ct., in 1754. Although a farmer by occupation, in his younger days he served as sailor for a few years, and seven years in the struggle of the American Revolution, ending with being captured by the British and confined in a prison-ship. In 1779 he married Abigail Mack, who was born in East Haddam, Ct., in 1758. Their children were Darius, born Oct., 1780 ; Levi, born Nov. 29, 1781; Drusilla, born Aug., 1783; Jephtha, Jr., born July 23, 1787 ; and Henry, born Oct. 11, 1799.

Jephtha Brainerd was not only a kindly and social neigh-

# Contributed by Philo Brainerd.

RESIDENCE OF J. O. DAWES, WINDHAM, BRADFORD COUNTY, PA.

439

HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

bor, a capital story-teller over his mug of cider, but a promi- nent man in the pioneer settlement, being often chosen to adjudicate disputes, and having served as a member of the legislature.

Darius Brainerd was drafted near the close of the last war with England, and went as far as Wilkes-Barre, when peace was proclaimed, and he returned. On one occasion, while hunting, he was mistaken in a thicket for a deer, and received a charge of ball and buck-shot from his brother Henry's gun, which made him lame for the remainder of his days. He married Tamar Williamson, of Owego; his location was east of the forks at Windham Centre. He had quite a family, many of whom are still living in the county. Philo, his son, resides at Towanda. He died April 12, 1824, leaving a widow, one daughter, and five sons.

Jephtha Brainerd, Jr., married Betsey Smith, in 1810. He was an inveterate joker, and yet was appointed a justice of the peace, and licensed as a Methodist preacher. He removed to Illinois in 1837.

Drusilla Brainerd was married to John Dunham, in 1808. They had two daughters and one son, John L., who inherited a portion of the Brainerd estate, the son receiving the old homestead, which he occupied until 1848, when he sold to P. Kuykendall, and moved to Sullivan Co., Pa. The daughters are living still, in prosperous circumstances. Drusilla died a widow, Aug. 12, 1825.

Levi Brainerd died Sept. 25, 1827, and Henry Brainerd in April, 1824. Neither were married. Abigail (Mack) Brainerd died in 1837; her husband, Jephtha, lived to a good old age, and died July 3, 1825 .*

Daniel Doane moved into Windham in the fall of 1800. He lived on the corner where the Windham Centre post- office is now located. His son, Seth, narrates that Thomas and John Fox were the only men there when his father came, they having come the preceding spring. The children of Daniel were Seth, Daniel, Jr., Joseph, Nathan, Reuben, Charles, Sally, and Phoebe. Seth Doan was born on Cape Cod, Mass., in 1788; he married Lydia Bardwell, daughter of Silas Bardwell, whose wife was Lorena Abbott. They died of smallpox, at Wysox, about 1812. Seth, now "four- score-and-ten,'' lives near the old homestead.

Daniel Doan, Jr., married Sylvia, daughter of James Bost wick, of New York ; he moved to Litchfield in 1844, thence to Potter Co, where he died in his eightieth year.

Joseph Doan lived about three-fourths of a mile from the centre, on the place now occupied by his youngest son, Joseph. He lived and died there.

Among the earliest settlers of this township we may name Stephen Smith, who came from New Berlin, Chenango Co., N. Y., about 1805, and settled where the widow Doan| now lives ; he remained until 1817, when he sold to Joseph Webster and moved to Susquehanna Co., N. Y. He was an old man, had been a captain in the Revolutionary war, and was the first settler on the place.

Gerard Smith, brother of Rensselaer and grandson of Capt. Stephen Smith, came in 1805 and settled on the Web- ster place, purchasing of Rensselaer Moon. He built two saw-mills on the Wappusening, at Madden's, the first in the

township. There was also a grist-mill at the same location, contemporaneous with the mills above mentioned. Gerard Smith sold to Joseph Webster, and removed to Illinois.

Rensselaer Smith, born in 1801, came from Chenango Co., N. Y., to Windham, in 1812. The Foxes, from Con- necticut, had preceded him, and were among the first settlers. Jonah Fox lived at the Johnsons' present location, and his son, Thomas, lived where Jacob Reed formerly kept tavern. Russell, another son, lived nearly opposite liis father's place. The sons of Thomas Fox were Harry, Silas, and George. They lived near the State line.

David Short, a preacher, with his father and brothers, Renben and Abel, came from Rhode Island to Coopers- town, N. Y., thence to the Wappusening, in Windham, about 1807, and located where the widow Doan now resides. They did not remain, removing to Tioga county before 1810.

Other early settlers were Lyman Winchester, who lived a little above Brainerd's, and was a great hunter ; Nathan Spalding, from Rhode Island, who sold his possession to Daniel Doan, Sr., and moved into Warren ; Augustns Hulon, who lived where the creek crosses the road below Windham Centre, and who was connected with and always followed Captain Smith in his migrations ; and Jonathan Pease, who took out a patent for a large tract of land, in behalf of the settlers, and then deeded off their respective lots to them. He died Aug. 2, 1836, aged sixty-nine years. His wife died March 16, 1845, in her eightieth year.

Joseph Webster, in 1813, came from Tolland Co., Conn., and settled on the place now occupied by George Smith, purchasing of Capt. Smith, Gerard Smith, and Augustus Hulon. He died in 1830. At the time of his coming Edmund Russell was justice of the peace; Mr. Webster succeeded him, and continued in office until his death.

Edmund Russell and Parley Johnson (brothers-in-law of Mr. Webster) settled in Windham a year or two before him, and gave such a flattering description of the country as to induce Mr. W. to locate there. His business was largely lumbering. Nathan Doan married his widow, who still survives.

John Russell, with his family, came from Litchfield Co., Conn., to Orwell, in 1800 ; after various changes, he settled in Windham, in 1817, where he bought a tract of land, upon which he lived until his death, in 1820, aged sixty- four years.

Edmund Russell, son of the above, lived in Windham. He died Feb. 21, 1840, aged sixty-one. Of the other sons, Henry died in 1871, aged eighty-three years ; John, Jr., moved to Wisconsin in 1819, and died there; William lived next below Esquire William Russell, and died in 1858, aged sixty-four years ; Samuel, born in 1784, died in 1832; Julius, born 1796, died in 1868; George W. lived in Windham until 1842, and subsequently went to Wisconsin. Of the daughters, Brazilla lived at or near Hartford, Pa .; Sarah was married to Col. Theron Darling, and lived in Orwell ; Polly (Mary) was the wife successively of Mr. Anthony and James Bush, and resided in Windham. James Bush died Feb. 17, 1861, aged eighty-two.

Edmund Russell was the first of the family to move into Windham. He built the stone tavern commonly called the " stone jug."

* Narrative of Philo Brainerd.

440

HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

Parley Johnson came from Tolland, Ct., in 1811 (likely in 1809), and settled near Shoemaker's mill, on the Wap- pusening. He was a blacksmith by trade.

Amos Verbeck, an old pioneer, who lived on the State line, came, in 1804, from the Hudson river. He sold to Stephen Morey, and went to Wisconsin, with his children, in 1844.

Benjamin Shoemaker, son of Daniel, and half-brother of Elijah, of Wyoming valley, came from Northampton county and settled in Bradford as early as 1800. He removed from the Mockatawangum flats, where he bought eleven hundred acres of land, to the Wappusening, in 1813, where he purchased the grist-mill since known as Shoemaker's, built by Jephtha Brainerd in 1790. It was a small log building, containing one run of stone, and was burnt in 1815. Another one was erected on its site, which is still standing.

Caleb Wright built the first saw-mill and grist-mill on the Wappusening. For a number of years logs were hauled to the mills near the river, where they were sawed, and the lumber run down the river in rafts. Wright's mill was built as early as 1812. The Dunhams now own the site. Seth Doan built a saw-mill on the head-waters of the Wy- sox as early as 1848, on a lot bought of Col. Kingsbury.

Benjamin Shoemaker kept a public-house from the time of his settlement until his death, and his wife kept it after his demise. It was a general stopping-place for the people down the river when going to Ithaca for plaster, and many are the stories remembered of the jokes and tricks with which these now old mnen (as many of them are still living) were entertained in their boyhood days at Shoemaker's. Mr. Shoemaker married Eunice Shaw, of Cherry Creek, Northampton county. She died in 1858, aged seventy- seven.

John S. Madden, a native of Ireland, on the Wappu- sening, is an enterprising citizen. At his place in Wind- ham, about two miles below the centre, are saw-, grist-, plaster-, and carding-mills, and tannery. Madden has been largely interested in the Eureka mowing-machine works in Towanda, and in some projected railroads.

James Mapes sold his place to Benjamin Shoemaker, and soon after removed.

Hesselgesser was an old hunter and squatter. He lived on the hill, on the farm of Samuel Shoemaker, purchased in 1815 by Mrs. Benjamin Shoemaker.

Many interesting reminiscences are handed down to us by the descendants of the old pioneers. It is said that when Mr. Johnson was moving to this country he lost a horse, and harnessed himself to the side of the remaining horse and drew the load until he could procure another. Tyle Sherman carried two bushels of wheat a distance of seven miles to Shoemaker's mills, and laid his load down but once. In 1802 the late Henry Russell, then seventeen years of age, was sent to mill, with Josiah Grant, to get two bushels of wheat ground. They traveled two hundred and sixty-two miles, over paths only indicated by blazed trees, to obtain the flour needed. At another time he took a small grist in a canoe from Nichols to Lackawanna (now Pittston), poling* the canoe down and back, over two hun- dred miles. Such were the discouragements experienced by the early settlers.

In 1815 there were but 2 horses in the town. Now there are 298. Lumbering was largely engaged in in the early days. At one time there were 12 saw-mills; now only 4.

Windham contains four church edifices, well attended, -- 2 Baptist, 2 union (see Chapter XII.),-and 11 schools, in large and commodious structures. Where once stood the dark and gloomy forest now spreads the fertile field, and the log hut has given place to the comfortable, in some in- stances costly and beautiful, dwelling.

It may be said to the credit of Windham that very few crimes have been committed by any of its citizens. Most of her people are honest, intelligent, and enterprising. Several of her citizens have filled various State and county offices. At present political parties are about equally divided. The religious denominations are Methodists and Baptists.

West Windham and Windham Centre are the principal places of business in the township.

There are twelve school districts. The census reports a population of 957 in 1850; 1128 in 1860; 1188 in 1870, of whom 1158 were native and 30 foreign born.

^ Bradford Argus, Oct. 12, 1871.

HINGKANSHEN STORE

. 3.

RESIDENCE OF J. W. INGHAM, SUGAR RUN, BRADFORD CO., PA.

LIBRAS

RESIDENCE OF J. R. TAYLOR, WYALUSING, BRADFORD CO., PA .

David Craft

WYALUSING.

WYALUSING, as it is now hemmed in, is only a very small portion of the old town as it was at first constituted in 1790, and is the only one which has retained its original naine. It extends to Wyoming county on the south, to Tuscarora and Pike on the east, Herrick on the north, and Standing Stone on the north west.

The Susquehanna forms an irregular boundary on the west and south. The Wyalusing creek drains the whole township except one or two insignificant creeks ; it enters the township at its northeast corner, and empties into the river at the village of Wyalusing. It divides the township in two unequal parts, the one cast of the creek containing about half the area of the other. At Wyalusing, in the southern part of the township, are the broad plains on which the old Indian town and its adjacent clearings were situated. At Fairbanks, the old Indian Miciscum, the plains are not as broad, but the slopes of the hills are more gentle, and the meadows of more than a century ago are yet fertile fields. The soil of the township is good, there being scarcely any untillable land within its lines. The valley of the Wyalu- sing embraces some of the finest land in the county, and was not only eagerly sought after by the early settlers, but their descendants remain on the old plantations.

About one-half of certified Springfield was embraced in Wyalusing, the remaining part of it being located in Wil- mot and Terry townships. The grant and boundaries of Springfield are as follows :

" Whereas, upon the application of Anderson Dana, Nathan Kingsley, Amos York, James Wells, and others, their associates, proprietors in the Connecticut-Susquehanna purchase, made to the committee of said company, in the year one thousand seven hundred and seventy-seven, pray- ing for a grant of a township, agreeable to the regulations of said company, the said committee in pursuance thereto did grant to the said applicants and their associates a cer- tain township of land described in a survey made by Samuel Gordon, Oct. 22, 1777, bounded as follows, viz. : Beginning at a cherry-tree standing near the bank of the Susquehanna river, on the west side, opposite the lower island at Wyalu- sing falls, running thence north 15° west five miles to a pine ; thence south 75° west five miles to a stake ; thence south 15° east five miles to a stake; thence north 75° east five miles to the first-mentioned bounds, containing 16,000 acres of land, which said town is known and described on the plan of said purchase by the name of Springfield (which said township was to be filled up, divided, and settled agreeable to the rules and regulations of the company then in force). And, whereas, it appears that the aforesaid grant has been lost, and has not been entered on record, and the proprietors aforesaid have made application to us the subscribers, com- missioners of the Susquehanna company aforesaid, for a con-

firmation of the aforesaid survey and grant, and pray that the same may be confirmed agreeable to the true intent and meaning of the aforesaid survey and grant, therefore be it known to whom it may concern, that we, the commissioners of the Susquehanna company, in pursuance of the powers and authority vested in us, do approve, ratify, and confirm the said tract, survey, and township of land known and de- scribed as aforesaid, to be and belong to the said Dana and his associates, their heirs or assigns, agreeable to the true intent and meaning of the above-recited grant, as part of their original right in Susquehanna purchase, as fully and amply as though the same had been completed and recorded.

"Given under our hands and seals, at our office in Athens, January 3, 1798.

(Signed) " JOHN FRANKLIN, " ELISHA SATTERLEE, " JOHN JENKINS, " Commissioners."

The following depositions also relate to the grant and lo- cation of the original township :

" April 20, 1802, Samuel Gordon, examined on his solemn declara- tion (after the custom of the Independents), handed a paper to the commission, says that he assisted to locate the five-mile township of Springfield, previous to the grant in 1777, with Anderson Dana, deceased, and Phineas Pierce. This was the location on which the grant was founded. Witness made a plot of it and gave it to Mr. Dana. The survey began at a cherry-tree on the west or south west side of the river, hence up the river north 15° west; that to run the township strictly according to the original grant there would have heen left a how upon the river, but the then committee of proprietors directed him to run the lines down to the river and to corner upou the river; says it was his original intention to have run out the town- ship in a diamond-like form, so as to take in part of Frenchtown flats, but under the direction of the committee he ran it out square from north 15° west and south 75° west. The lines were never elosed, hut at the direction of the committee he ran ont the width of the lots; can remember no more of these boundaries, nor has he now in his possession any field-notes or memoranda respecting them ; what he had he lent, a considerable time ago, to a person who came to him accompanied by some of his friends up the river, whose names he does not now nor can he recolleet ; he expects to receive them again. Mr. Hurlbut, the surveyor under the commissioners appointed to put in execution the confirming law, horrowed them, and they were some time in possession of the commissioners. He was employed to sur- vey the township of Springfield under that commission, and did so. He was paid for making out a draft, but never did make it, hecause the township committee were to furnish parchment for that purpose, which they never did; he has not now the field-notes or any minutes of that survey ; he was assisted therein hy Capt. Nathaniel Landon, and he then ran out the lots agreeable to the old courses and bounds, which survey of the lots corresponds to their present situation; the then commissioners made him declare, on his solemn affirmation, that he would confine his survey to old corners and known honndaries. The only member of the committee of the Susquehanna company who signed the grant was Col. Nathan Denison; regularly there would have heen three of the committee. (N. B .- Thomas Wigton explains this by the others being absent at that time in the army, wherein

441

442

HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

they held commissions.) This is the substance of Gordon's statement, taken accurately by Thomas Cooper.

" After the town of Springfield was located, in the year 1777, ap- plication was made for a grant, to which one of the committee put his name and no more. This grant was never put on the records of the Susquehanna company. The number of lots ordered to be laid in a five-mile township were laid out under the direction of the com- mittee of the proprietors, though the outlines of the town were not run. There were no corners made to any lots supposed to be in the town only those hutting on the river; division lines were run some distaneu from these corners from the river, hut no lines closed. I cannot certify how many settlers were in the town before the time expired for putting in twenty.

"To whom it may concern.

(Signed) " S. GORDON."

" Thomas Wigton, examined, deposes that he possesses the original grant of Springfield, having obtained it from Col. Denison in 1777. The grant was given in 1777; that he has it not now with him, but has sent for it to bis lodgings at Wilkes-Barre. The township was loeated square from north 15° west and south 75° west. The grant was only signed by Col. Deaison, he heing the only committee man en the ground entitled to issue grants. Col. Butler was absent with the command of his regiment, and Obadiah Gore as a lieutenant under Capt. Solomon Strong in the Continental army. Those who were settled on the ground were allowed their possessions as lots, but they were proportionally issued.

(Signed) " THOMAS COOPER.

"Sept. 21, 1802."

LIST OF THE PROPRIETORS OF SPRINGFIELD .*

Jonathan Avery (1), Jonathan Weeks (2, 48), Philip Weeks (3), Thomas Weeks (4), Thomas Wigton (5, 6), William Church (7), Benjamin Eaton (8, 9), William McKarrichan, Esq. (10, 11), Ministerial lot (12, 46), Cap- tain Landon (13), Benjamin Budd (14, 15, 16), Col. Deni- son (17, 24), Dana Hateh (18, Dodge), Elias Church (19, Dodge), Perrin Ross (20, 21, Gaylord), Elisha Blackman (22, 30), Ebenezer Andrews (23, 26), William Dunn (25, Dalton), Ephraim Tyler (27, Lewis), Amos Draper (28), Samuel Gordon (29), Elijah Shoemaker (31), Amos York (32, 33), Nathan Kingsley (34, 35), Gideon Baldwin (36), Anderson Dana (37), Lieut. Wells (38, 39), Elihu Wil- liams (40, 47), Benjamin Pawling (41, 42, 43, 44), School lot (45), Jonathan Weeks, Jr. (49), Bartholomew Weeks (50), Capt. Carr (51, 52, Bennett), James Forsyth (53, Bennett).

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.

History of Bradford County, Pennsylvania, with Illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 111

Author: Craft, David, 1832-1908; L.H. Everts & Co Publication date: 1878 Publisher: Philadelphia : L. H. Everts Number of Pages: 812

Author: Craft, David, 1832-1908; L.H. Everts & Co
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Philadelphia : L. H. Everts
Number of Pages: 812