History of Bradford County, Pennsylvania, with Illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 112

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 112

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In 1802, the elaimants were Thomas Keeney (1), David Richards (2), James Quick (3), Stiles Goodsell (4), Joshua Keeney (5), Jonas Ingham (8, 9), Matthias Hollenback (10, 11, 13, 37, 38, 39, 40), Public land (12, 36, 46), Jonathan Terry (14, 15), Jolin Horton (16), Abigail Dodge (17, 18, 19, 22, 23, 24, 25), Abigail Dodge and William Dalton (26), Elijah Shoemaker and David Lake (29), Jolın and Daniel Porter (30), Benjamin Ackley and Joseph C. Town (31, 32), Miner York (33), M. Hollen- back and N. Kingsley (34, 35), Pawling heirs (41, 42, 43, 44), Gideon Baldwin and John Taylor (48, 50), Jus- tus Gaylord (51, 52, 53).

The present township of Wyalnsing was nearly eovercd with proprietary grants. Beginning on the south, was one to Renben Hains, next was that of Job Chillaway. Above the Chillaway lot were two warrants in the name of Benja- min Bear and William Smith, of April 3, 1769, surveyed

for William Smith, of Lancaster, while the mission was in existence. The lots were sold as John Nicholson's land by the United States marshal, Sept. 26, 1801, to Sarah Camp. bell and Rebecca Robbins, for two cents per acre, and released in favor of the State. A tract of land containing 3520 acres and allowance, called " Dundee," was surveyed on a warrant of the honorable Proprietors of Pennsylvania, dated Sept. 27, 1773, for 10,000 acres, "situate on the easterly side of the northeast branch of the Susquehanna and on a large stream called Wyaloosing," surveyed Oct. 4, 5, and 6, 1773, by Charles Stewart, deputy surveyor. This " manor of Dundee" was a narrow strip of land cover- ing the creek flats and following the windings of the stream above Camptown. This is also on the list of relcases for Springfield. Above the manor a line of proprietary war- rants extended to the county line, of which an account is given in Pike township. In the upper part of the town- ship five warrants were granted, which together contained 1525 acres, viz., in the names of Christopher Gasselman, Philip Suber, and Valentine Taylor, April 3, 1769, John Kinney and John King, July 17, 1769, and were surveyed Sept. 30 and October 1, 1773, and patented March 16, 1775. In the order of John Penn directing the surveys to be accepted, on the Suber lot the order reads, " adjoining Chris- topher Goetzelman, or some of Wiehware's people above Wyaloosing." On the Gasselman order, " below the Rush meadows and above Wyaloosing." All of these lots except the John King warrant were sold to John Gibson, of Phila- delphia, who released so much of theni as was included in Springfield, and sold the remainder to John Bunnell, Feb. 11, 1839. John King conveyed " Walnut Grove" to Peter De Haven and Adam Hubley, to whom it was patented April 30, 1785. They made partition of their lands Nov. 25, 1785. The later warrants were mostly owned by Samuel Meredith, for whom Dr. Robert H. Rose was the agent.

RE-SETTLEMENT.

As soon as the war had closed, and it was safe for the old settlers to return to their homes, they began one by one to find their way up the river to their old settlements. There were also quite a number who, wishing to escape the troubles then being experienced in Wyoming, deter- mined to get away from there as soon as possible.

Among the very earliest of the settlers in Wyalusing, after the war, was Thomas Brown and his family. Mr. Brown was from Stonington, Conn., and in his younger days a seafaring man. His first wife was Deborah Holdich, with whom he lived twelve years, and had no children. His second wife was Hannah Spooner, by whom he had two children,-one, Thomas, was slain in the battle of Wyoming ; and one daughter, who married a Hicks. He married for a third wife Patience Brockaway, who was the mother of the large family now living in the county. Mr. Brown moved from Stonington to Quaker Hill, Dutchess Co., N. Y .; from thence to Wilkes-Barre, in 1776, and resided about eighty rods below where the bridge now is. Henry Elliott and his family came from the same place, and lived in the house next to the Browns. Here both families met at the time of the battle, whose fearful horrors were fresh in the minds of those who witnessed them till

# Figures in parenthesis the number of the lot on the draft.

Photos by G. H. Wood, Towanda.

JOHN INGHAM.

MRS. JOHN INGHAM.

JOHN INGHAM.

John Ingham was born in Bucks Co., Pa., Nov. 13, 1784. His father, Jonas Ingham, was born in the same county, of Quaker parentage, in 1746, and was by trade a clothier. In 1777 and 1778 he was in active service as a militia-man : first as lieutenant, then as captain. In this campaign, during the months of November, Decem- her, and January, he suffered much with cold, lying out of doors on the ground with no other covering than a single blanket. At the battle of Gulph Mills he was among the last to leave the grounds, and came near being taken prisoner. He married Miss Elizabeth Beaumont, of Bucks connty. In 1789 he came up the river to Wya- lusing and bought the Connecticut title to what had been known as "Staple's pitch," and where the Skiffs had lived prior to the battle of Wyoming. Here he found the log cabin the Skiffs had built, but their clearings had grown up to brush. On this place he settled, nearly three miles from any inhabitant. In his journal, Mr. Ingham says,-

" After the repeal of the confirming law the settling of land under Pennsylvania title was little thought of, and the inhabitants had frequent meetings. At Tioga Point, at one of them, I expressed my- self with so much spirit on the subject of the repeal of the confirming law that they saw fit to choose me one of their directors. After this I was requested to deliver a discourse, on the Fourth of July (1801), to include this subject. The discourse I delivered pleased the people very much, who were now settling under Connecticut title, and the legislature of Pennsylvania was passing very severe laws against them, as the Intrusion laws and Territorial act, and the people were very much harassed by them."

In 1804 he was chosen, as he says, very unexpectedly to himself, to represent Luzerne county in the State legislature, and through his efforts the obnoxious laws above referred to were repealed. The next year the whole settlement was thrown into a ferment by an ejectment suit being brought against Mr. Ingham, which was finally terminated by purchasing the Pennsylvania title. The next year after (1806), as Mr. Robinson, a well-known surveyor, was tracing the Dundee Manor line, some of the people near Camptown, fearing that this was done to dispossess them of their lands, determined to stop the survey. Here we will let Mr. Ingham tell the story : "The inhabitants in the settlement were all of them very averse to any surveys being made, for fear of ejectments, and thereby furnishing the means for land- owners to prove their rights. Some of them queried with me what kind of opposition to make. I told them to make any kind of oppo- sition they pleased, only to kill and hurt nobody, nor let anybody appear in arms. When this surveyor came a great many of the in- habitants collected, some in the woods shooting, others around the surveyor threatening him. I was afraid some worse mischief would happen, so I ordered some one to break the compass or I would. Upon this one of the company broke the compass, and the surveyor went away. And not a great while afterwards a United States officer

was sent to arrest those who stopped the surveyor and broke his com- pass, and four of them were taken and had to go to Philadelphia. I went with them to excuse them, and take their part and defend them as well as I could. Accordingly, when they appeared before the court, in the representation which I made to the lawyer who spoke for me, I took all the blame upon myself. I stated the case as it really was. I said the people were ignorant and only did what I bid them, which I thought was better than might have happened other- wise. This the lawyer stated to the court in a few words, then ex- patiated largely on the commendable part I had acted. Before he was done another lawyer got up and addressed the court, and said he was perfectly well acquainted with me and that I was a very good man. Thus, contrary to my expectations, I received great honor and applause, when I apprehended I should receive severe censure and reprimand as the encourager and ringleader of outlaws. They were all dismissed to go home about their business with only paying the cost."

Subsequently, Mr. Ingham entered into an extensive correspondence with the Pennsylvania claimants of the land, for the purpose of ob- taining from them some adjustment of the title which the Connecticut people would accept. But in this his efforts were unavailing.

Mr. Ingham died suddenly in Bloomsburg, N. J., Oct. 28, 1820. Mr. Miner says of him that he possessed a mind highly cultivated by scientific research, was a model of temperance, and a promoter of the peace and harmony of society.

John Ingham came to Wyalusing about 1795. He married, July 9, 1809, Marinda, daughter of Edmund Stone and Susan Hotchkiss, born April 11, 1789, in New Milford, Conn. Her parents soon after moved to Delhi, N. Y., thence to Wyalusing, in 1802, afterwards to Bridgewater, Susquehanna county, where both died the same day of the month, though in different years. The family consisted of eight sons and four daughters; three sons and three daughters still survive.

To John and Marinda Ingham were born Rebecca, Charles K., Emily M., Sarah A., Harriet S., Mary P., and Susan E.

John Ingham brought the first set of carding-machines to Wyalu- sing from Cooperstown, N. Y., about 1807.

He established without doubt the first manufactory of window-sash in the northern part of the State, if not the first in the Stato itself. Carried on blacksmithing and edge-tools when the iron had to be conveyed up the river from Marietta on Durham boats, often occupy- ing three or four weeks to a trip.

While riding his horse by the school-house, accompanied by bis dog,-where the Merryall burying-ground now is,-a panther sprang upon his dog, when Joseph Elliott, residing close by, came out with his gun and shot-the dog. Reloading his gun, the second shot brought down the panther. It was just after school was out. Tho panther no doubt had been attracted thither by the children's oast-off dinners, or, perhaps, to make his supper from some truant scholar lingering behind the rest,

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

the day of their death. Joseph Elliott, a son of Henry, was wounded in the battle, but escaped; and a brother of his took the two families to Catawissa, while Thomas Brown rode a horse. From there they went to Goshen, where both families remained until November, when they returned to the valley. They remained in Wilkes-Barre until 1783, when they moved to Wyalusing. For two years they worked the flats (now owned by G. H. Welles), and then purchased the farm in Browntown, where they bought part of No. 48. Here Mr. Brown died, June 25, 1791, aged seventy-four years.

He had children : Ezekiel, married Polly Hancock, and lived in Pike township, about a mile and a half above Stevensville; Humphrey, married Hannah, daughter of Oliver Dodge, and lived in Wyalusing; Daniel, married Polly, daughter of Thomas Wigton ; Allen, married Polly Clear; Charles, married Fanny Gilbert, and lived in Mon- roeton ; Jabez, married Lydia, daughter of Wareham Kings- ley, was a carpenter, and lived in Oswego ; and Benjamin, married Polly, daughter of William Huyck, and lived in

About 1802 he moved up the creek, near the Susque- hanna county line, where he died in 1820.

Mr. Kingsley returned to his old home in 1785, where he owned lots 34 and 35. He built a distillery near where Mr. Welles' stone-quarry now is. He was a justice of the peace and judge of the court in 1787, and in his old age was taken west, where he died.

Mr. Kingsley's wife, Roceclana, died in Wyalusing, but the exact date has not been ascertained. Nathan Kingsley had one son, Wareham, who survived the battle. He mar- ried Urania Turrell, and had three sons and three daughters, viz., Lydia, Roswell, Nathan, Chester B., Abigail, and Roccelana. Lydia married Jabez Brown ; Nathan returned to Connecticut; Chester went south; Wareham died at the house of his son, Nathan. Mr. William Kingsley, of Standing Stone, is a grandson of Wareham. The old house in which Mr. Kingsley lived is still standing, and is the oldest house in the county,-a representation of which is here given.

About the same time the York family returned to their

Standing Stone. Henry Elliott and his family soon followed the Browns to Wyalusing. Joseph Elliott married, for a first wife, one of Thomas Brown's daughters. Henry Elliott, whose wife was Mary Kegwin, died Dec. 21, 1809, aged ninety-seven years ; and Mary, his wife, died Dec. 1, 1806, aged ninety-one years. Of the other three sons of Henry Elliott, Jabez was shot by the Indians while on the Sullivan expedition, at Tioga Point; Henry died before the Revolu- tionary war, in Orange county ; John went to Detroit, and was an officer in the army in the war of 1812; Joseph Elliott married a daughter of Thomas Lewis, raised a family, of whom Hon. John (whose picture and biography are found on another page) was the oldest son. Joseph Elliott died March 31, 1849, aged ninety-three years.

Isaac Hancock, who was one of the earliest settlers in Wyalusing before the Revolutionary war, returned immedi- ately after its close. He had a log house at the point of the ridge, just west of the Sugar Run Ferry road, which he kept as a place of entertainment. He was commis- sioned a justice of the peace Sept. 1, 1791.

old home. Their house, though standing, was considerably dilapidated, their fences were decayed, and their clearings covered with bushes. During their eight years' absence, things had remained very nearly as they left them, except what had resulted from the want of care and labor ; even the stick of wood which Mrs. York's son was chopping when he saw the Indians coming with his father lay upon the ground just as he left it. A less spirited and earnest woman, under such circumstances and surrounded by such painful associations, would have given up all hope and sat down in despair. But her son, who had now become a young man, meeting his responsibilities with manly courage, and aided by his mother's counsel, with great energy set about repairing the injury their farm had sustained during their absence, and his labors were attended with so much success that he was able in a short time to place the family beyond the reach of want. Mrs. York was a prominent woman in the little community where she lived. She died in Wysox, Oct. 30, 1818, and was buried in Wyalusing. She was the mother of twelve children. The oldest, Wealthy

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

Ann, died at the age of six years; Esther married William Smith, of Brooklyn, Conn .; Lucretia married Capt. Aho- liab Buck, who was killed in the battle of Wyoming. She married for her second husband Major Gaylord. Wealthy Ann (2) was married to Benjamin Smith, of Kingston, Pa. ; Keziah to Job Turrell, of New Milford, Conn. ; Sarah to Robert Carr, of Yates Co., N. Y .; Temperance to Daniel Turrell ; Manasseh Miner married Betsey Arnold, became a minister of the gospel, who was well known and greatly respected and beloved. Abundant in labor, fervent in his zeal for the truth, a consistent Christian, he died at Wysox, and is buried in the old burying-ground in the rear of the brick church. Berintha, another daughter of Mrs. York, was married to Sherman Buck, and Hannah to Stephen Beckwith. Two other sons, the youngest of the family, both died in infancy. Robert Carr was from Jamestown, R. I., and came to Wyalusing about the time of Mrs. York, and about 1802 moved into the State of New York. Ste- phen Beekwith and Sherman Buck also remained a few years in Wyalnsing, and then went to Yates Co., N. Y.

Very nearly the same time Amos Bennett came to Wya- lusing, and settled on one of the lots afterwards purchased by Maj. Gaylord. He built a little tub-mill on the small stream above Bascom Taylor's place, near which he lived; and his two sons-in-law; Richard Benjamin and Benjamin Akla, lived on the same property, but nearer the village. They were from Florida, Orange Co., N. Y. In 1793 they moved into Asylum township.

Gideon Baldwin was an early settler in the lower part of the town, on the farm now owned by David Brown. Mr. Baldwin was an early settler in Hanover, Luzerne Co., Pa., and was intrusted with several important offices while a resident of that town. He bonght a part of No. 48 of Springfield, where he lived until 1794, when he sold to Humphrey Brown and moved to Wysox, where he died. He had one son, Gideon, Jr., who lived in Browntown, and his widow spent her last days with this son. Mr. Justus Lewis tells the following anecdote of her: The mother of Gideon Baldwin was a pious old lady, a Methodist, and her home the house of the minister. She had the habit of falling asleep as soon as meeting began. When she roused up at the close of the exercise, the question would gener- ally be asked by some wag, " Well, Mother Baldwin, how did you like the sermon ?" Her invariable answer would be, " I never heard such an awakening sermon in my life." The old Mr. Baldwin's house was the home of the early Methodist itinerant and the place of Methodist preaching, while that of Mrs. York was the home of the first Pres- byterian preachers.

In 1787, Thomas Lewis and the family of Lieut. James Wells came to Wyalusing. Mr. Justus Lewis says they came up the river in the same boat. In the biographical sketch of Mr. Lewis the history of that family is given.

In the Wells family was the widow, Hannah (née Loomis, born March 28, 1754), and her children, Hannah, Betsey, Olive, Reuben, Amasa, Gny, Cyrus, Theodosia, Alice, and Mary. James, the oldest son, lived at Honeoye Falls. Cyrus, after remaining a year or two at Wyalusing, also went into the State of New York. Reuben moved up the Wyalusing next below Mr. Lewis, whence he removed to

Bridgewater, Susquehanna county, where he died at a very advanced age. Amasa moved on the place afterwards owned by Elijah Camp, where he lived until 1817, when he re- moved near Le Raysville, where he died in 1836, at the age of seventy-one years. He was a man held in high esteem for his many virtues and Christian character. Under the old militia law he was made a major, and performed his duties acceptably.

Guy Wells was born in New London, Conn., the old home of the Wells family, in 1766, and in 1790 was mar- ried to Elizabeth, daughter of Perrin Ross, who was killed in the battle of Wyoming. Mr. Wells moved up the Wyalusing, and built the house afterwards occupied by Elisha Lewis, where he died in 1828. About the year 1800, the townships of Braintrim and Wyalusing were united in one election district, and Guy Wells was chosen justice of the peace. He continued to hold the office until 1825, so that he well earned the title esquire, by which he was designated, and left an honorable testimony to his character for judgment and integrity, as well as to the respect in which he was held by the people of his neigh- borhood.

Among the early settlers in the lower part of the town was the family of Mr. Stalford, whose history is given in the biographical sketch of Hon. L. P. Stalford. Other early settlers in the town below the creek were Peter Ste- vens, who lived where G. H. Welles now does, had a little store, went up to the mouth of Cold creek in 1801 or 1802, where his wife died, and then moved to the west. Daniel Sterling, who lived between the canal and the creek, had a store and kept a house of entertainment, and was the first postmaster, being appointed in 1801. In 1802 he moved to Black-Walnut.

Justus Gaylord, Jr., and his father's (Justus Gaylord*) family lived on a lot which forms the lower part of the Welles farm, coming there previous to 1787. Oct. 7, 1790, Stephen Beckwith, administrator of the estate of Abraham Bowman, sold lots numbered 51, 52, 53 to Robert Latti- more, whose wife was a sister of Beckwith's, and who lived for a few years at Wyalusing, in a house near where Mr. Bixby now lives, and then moved to Wayne Co., N. Y .; having sold the Bowman lots to Justus Gaylord, Jr., Oct. 7, 1796. A son of Justus Gaylord, Sr., Ambrose, mar- ried a Carney, and settled at Black-Walnut, Wyoming county. As early as the spring of 1776 he and his brother Justus moved to Miciscum, the Indian meadows, on the farm now owned by Seth Homet aud others, where their father owned twelve hundred acres of land, three hundred of which were on the west side of the river, where Richard Gilbert now lives. Numbers 20 and 21 of Springfield had been purchased by Perrin Ross, of Plymouth, and sold to Justus Gaylord, May 28, 1777, on which it is likely the boys lived previous to the battle of Wyoming, as their names are on the Springfield list, the accuracy of which was testified to by Justus, Jr. At the time of the battle of

# Deacon William Gaylord, of Dorchester, was ancestor of the family, whose third son was Walter, whose first son was Joseph, whose first son was Joseph, whose second son was Lieut. Samuel, whore second son was Justus of Wyalusiog.

MRS. L. P. STALFORD.

L. P. STALFORD.

( PHOTOS. BY GED. H. WOOD. )

No. 8

U. S.

MAIL

L. V. R.R. BAGGAGE

RESIDENCE OF L. P. STALFORD, WYALUSING, PA .

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

Wyoming, Mrs. Gaylord, the mother, was sick. After the capitulation the Indians came into the house to look for the boys, who were known to be in the patriot army. On seeing the sick woman, they inquired what was the matter, and were told she had the smallpox ; whereupon the Indians rushed out of the house pell-mell, more afraid of that loath- some disease than of the Yankee bullets. That night Mr. Gaylord, Sr., took his family down the river to Berwick, and thence to Connecticut. Afterwards he returned to Wyoming, where his house and effects were swept away in the great ice-flood ; but the family, after great peril, escaped,-the daughter Dama, who afterwards married David Shoemaker and lived on the old Miciscum place, having been taken in a canoe from the forks of a tree, where she had been carried by the flood. Soon after this disaster they moved up to Wyalusing. Eleazer took the farm on the Frenchtown side of the river, sold the pos- session to Mr. Gilbert, and moved to Black-Walnut. Eliza- beth married Thomas Wigton, an Irishman, who emigrated probably with Samuel Gordon, and an early settler at Meshoppen. His family lived on the east side of the river, near the depot, and a few rods from the Shoemakers. Other sons were Ludd, who perished in the war, Timothy, who died in Candor, N. Y., in 1852, at the age of eighty, and Chauney, the youngest, who went to Geneva, N. Y., where he was accidentally thrown from a building ; his back was broken by the fall, and he died soon after receiving the injury.

About the year 1801 the old gentleman divided a large part of his estate among his children, and went to Black- Walnut, where he lived until about 1814, when he removed to Delaware Co., Ohio, where he died in 1820, at the age of eighty-eight. Of Justus an account is given in the biog- raphy of Henry Gaylord.

The Susquehanna company, ever anxious for the welfare of the settlers, offered a township of land to the one who should build the first mill in Springfield township. This offer was accepted by Samuel Gordon, who, in 1793,* built his mill near the site of the present Lewis mill, on the Wy- alusing, about three miles from the river.

Mr. Gordon was born near Ballibay, in the county of Monaghan, Ireland, in 1740. He was of Scotch descent, of good family, education, and property. He left his native country, accompanied by two brothers-one of whom, James Gordon, subsequently settled near Standing Stone-and a young man named Gillespie, during some difficulties in that country, at which time their property was confiscated. For a time Mr. Gordon followed the sea, after which he settled in Elizabeth, N. J., where he married Mrs. Jane Gillespie, widow of his late fellow-passenger across the Atlantic. Afterwards he moved to Wyoming, and during the years of 1776 and 1777 spent some time in the neighborhood of Wy- alusing making surveys, under direction of the Susquehanna company, having been appointed State surveyor by a special act of the legislature of Connecticut, December, 1776. On the breaking out of the Revolutionary war, Mr. Gordon re- tired to New Jersey, where he remained until 1792, when

he again entered into the employment of the Susquehanna company as a surveyor, and at the same time operated quite extensively as a land-dealer. His mill, which was commenced soon after, consisted of one run of home-made stone, with- out bolts, was built under great difficulties arising from the scarcity of money in the settlement and the want of expe- rienced workmen, while all of the iron used in its construc- tion was transported from Wilkes-Barre at much trouble and expense. The mill being completed, on the 1st of May, 1795, the township of Walsingham was surveyed to Mr. Gordon, according to previous stipulation. He was also one of the proprietors of Stephensburg ; but, owing to the invalidity of Connecticut titles in these townships, he failed to receive any advantage from these possessions. Under date of April 28, 1805, the proprietors of Springfield grant to Samuel Gordon one of the unappropriated lots, called the Bayonet lot, in consideration of " extraordinary expen- ses in rebuilding his mill destroyed by fire and afterwards greatly injured by an uncommon freshet." Even the mill, which had cost him so much, was lost through some defect in the title. Two persons by the name of Porter purchased the Pennsylvania title for the land on which it was built, and Mr. Gordon, becoming alarmed for the validity of his. claim, as additional security was induced to take a lease of the lands under the Porters; and this acknowledgment of their claim lost him the property, which the commissioners, in 1804, assigned to the Porters. Mr. Gordon was there- fore compelled to vacate the land and leave his improve- ments made at so much sacrifice. This is but a single. instance out of many where this complication of title led to like disastrous results, by which families, once in com -. fortable circumstances, were suddenly reduced to poverty. On the organization of the township, Mr. Gordon was ap- pointed clerk, and for many years the records, which are beautifully written, were kept by him. He died in Wya- lusing in 1810, where his only surviving daughter, who has furnished most of the facts in this sketch, erected a stone to his memory.

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History of Bradford County, Pennsylvania, with Illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 112

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