History of Bradford County, Pennsylvania, with Illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 115

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

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his daughter Catherine, wife of Joseph Stalford* (spelled Stalmford in the will), the lower part of the land, which included the site of the mission. In May, Mr. Stalford and his family, consisting of his wife and four children, moved from near Valley Forge, Montgomery county, to the Wyalusing land, where all but one of his family lived during life. In 1796, Joseph Stalford had the highest val- uation of any man in the township. He died in Wyalusing, in 1801, in the forty-seventh year of his age.

Benjamin, who married Urania Turrell, inherited the central part of the farm, which covers a large part of the mission village. Benjamin died in 1841, and his farm descended to his son, Levi P., who resides on the premises at the present time. Besides his farming operations, Mr. Stalford has been largely engaged in lumbering, until the depressed condition of the markets, and the gradual dimi- nution of his forests, have warned him to spare the trees. The good judgment, pleasing manners, and generous dispo-

sition of the judge have won for him the estcem and confi- dence of his townsmen, who frequently call on him to fill the several township offices in which, usually, there is much work and little pay. Besides these he was elected justice of the peace, in 1847, and held the office for five years, and in 1863 he was elected associate judge for Bradford County, and held this office for five years.

In 1842 he. married Mary Rebecca O'Callaghan, of Aurora, N. Y., born Oct. 16, 1818. In her home, Mrs. Stalford has dispensed a generous hospitality to their nu- merous friends, pervading her household with her energy, and filling it with the sunshine of a kind and genial spirit. To Mr. and Mrs. Stalford have been born cight children, four sons and four daughters, all of whom are still living. The homestead house, a view of which is given in another place, looks down upon the site of the deserted Indian town, and the waving grain and luxuriant grass which fill his barns grows upon the land once planted by the red man.

WYSOX.

WYsox was cut off from Tioga in 1795, but then it was eighty miles in length from east to west by about six in width from north to south; but the old town has been cut down from time to time to form other townships, until now its area is not more than fifteen square miles. On the broad plains at the mouth of the creek, and sweeping around nearly oppo- site to Towanda, are some of the finest farms in the county, and susceptible of very high cultivation, while the hill lands, though better adapted to grazing, vet produce very fine crops.

The township affords some magnificent landscape views. The outlook from the " Red Rocks" is one of the finest in this county, which is noted for its fine scenery, and is equaled by another, though of different character, yet equally interesting,-the view on " Pond hill," a represen- tation of which forms the frontispiece to this work.

Back of the mountain and nearly opposite the railroad bridge is the echo canon of which Wilson speaks in his " Foresters," quoted in Chapter V.

The town is bounded by Sheshequin, Rome, and Stand- ing Stone and the river. The Wysox creek flows through the town, receiving the principal affluent at Myersburg, which is the outlet of the lake on Pond hill, and in the several hundred feet fall which it makes in reaching the plains affords almost unlimited water-power for manufactur- ing purposes, whenever there is sufficient capital and enter- prise found to utilize it.

Farther to the north is what is called the Little Wysox, or Laning's creek. In old papers it is called Mill creek, and sometimes Franklin's mill creek, from the improve- ments built upon it early in the history of the township. These two creeks, with their affluents, are the principal streams of the township.

EARLY SURVEYS.

Wysox includes the most of certified Claverack, which it will be remembered was one of the seventeen townships. The grantees of this township residing on the Hudson river doubtless gave the name to the locality from Claverackt on that river.

"GRANT OF CLOVENICK TOWNSHIP.

" Pursuant to the vetes of the Susquehanna company of proprietors to locate and lay ont townships to a number of proprietors, applying to take up » townsbip, as will appear by said vote, I have, by the approbation of the committee appointed to direct the laying out of townships, surveyed and laid out a township ou the east branch of tbe Susquehanna river iu said purchase, beginning at a place called aud known by the name of Wysock creek, about five hundred yards below wbere said creek empties into the east branch of the Susque- hanna river, at a white-oak tree; tbence south 59º west, five miles and sixty rods; thence north 31º west, five miles ; thence north 59º east, five miles ; theuce south 30° east, five miles, to the first-men- tioned bound, containing twenty-five square miles, exclusive of the river, lying partly upon each side of the said river, which I have surveyed at the request of Col. John H. Lydius, Capt. Abraham Lansing, Baltiaser Lydins, Peter Hogaboom, and otbers their asso-

# Samuel Stalford, the father of Joseph, was born in the parish of Tipperary, Ireland, in 1718, emigrated young to America, married Elizabeth Richardson, of Philadelphia, removed first to Montgomery county, then to Wyalusing, where be died in 1802.

+ By the old people the name was usually spoken and sometimes written Cloverick. Claverack is derived from the Dutch Klauver- arch, meaning Clover reach.

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

eiates, proprietors in said purchase, a list of whom is herewith de- livered to the committee aforesaid.

" JEREMIAH HOGABOOM. " Agent for said Proprietors.

" WESTMORELAND, June 4, 1778.

" The above survey is approved, as witness our hands and seals.

" ZEBULON BUTLER, " OBADIAH GORE,

"Committee of the Susquehanna Company.

" The above is a true record, recorded August 31, 1786.

"Teste, SAML. GRAY, Clerk."

" This is to certify that Cel. Jeremiah Hogaboem and Capt. Selo- men Strong laid out and located a township on the Susquehanna river, in the Susquehanna purchase, agreeably to the rules and orders of the Susquehanna company, and was granted to them hy the com- mittee appointed for that purpose, and are still entitled to it, pre- vided they proceed to settle it by the first of May next.

" ZEBULON BUTLER, " OBADIAH GORE, " Committee for Laying Out Townships." "WYOMING, CONN., December, 1785."

The township was called Strong and Hogaboom's town, because they had by far a greater number of rights in the town than any other proprietor, being eighteen and one- half fifty-third parts of it. Besides these, Jehiel Franklin held three, the Scovilles two, Moses Coolbaugh one, Icha- bod Blackman one, and Joshua Wyeth one, making a total of eight fifty-third parts beside.

In 1802 the following persons were claimants :* Orr Scoville (4), James Scoville and Joshua Wythe (6), Jos- hua Wyeth (7), Abel Newell (10), Richard Horton (11), Theophilus Moger (17), Sebastian Stope (18, Henry Stope, Henry Tuttle, and Nancy Mann (19), John Shep- ard and Moses Coolbangh (20), Job Irish and Nancy Strickland (22), Nancy Strickland, William Means, and Job Irish (23, 24), Abial Foster (36), Ezra Rutty (+1, 1 42, 43, 46, 47), John Smith and Abial Foster (69, 70, 71), William Means (79, 80), John Shepard vs. William Jones (8000 acres), James Davidson, Gibert Horton, Elijah Horton, Zachariah Price, Joseph Salisbury, Josiah Tuttle.

The following notes, also from the records of the Sus- quehanna company, have a value as denoting. the move- ments of the men who were early in the township.

A certificate was granted to Jehiel Franklin March 3, 1795, stating he was a proprietor in Muney, and has per- mission to enter his right in Claverack.

The right of Daniel Franklin, deceased, entered in Claverack March 9, 1795 (Jehiel Franklin was appointed administrator of Daniel Franklin's estate, Feb. 9, 1793).

Whereas, Roswell Franklin, deceased, late of Wyoming, conveyed his right to Jehiel Franklin; it is approved to be laid in Claverack. March 3, 1795.

David Shoemaker, of Northampton Co., Pa., a certificate of a right in the Susquehanna purchase, sold at Wyoming, Feb. 23, 1786, and entered in Claverack on the lot Moses Coolbangh now lives on. March 3, 1795.

Joshua Wythe, of Choconut, N. Y., a half-share certificate. This certifies the within right is entered in the town of Claverack, on a lot of land, the possession of which was purchased by the said Wythe of John Hath (Heath ?), provided it does not interfere with any other regular grant under the Susquehanna company. Dec. 4, 1792.

Josiah Bullard, of South Brimfield, Hampshire Co., Mass., to Oliver Parks, a half-right, formerly belonging to John Bozworth, late of Windsor, Conn., but now resident at said Susquehanna. Feb. 13, 1779.

Jacob Myer and Ebenezer B. Gregory, of Tyringham, Mass., to Isaac Northrup, of Hudson, N. Y., a part of the township of Hancock. July 16, 1796.

Amos Draper, of Union, N. Y., to James McMaster, of the same place, April 4, 1795, a lot in Claverack, on the northwesterly side of Wysocks creek, and known by the name of the Wysocks great marsh, containing a bed of iron ore, being the same I obtained a lease of from Henry Tuttle and Isaac Strope.

Henry Platner, of Claverack, N. Y., to Pelatiah Fitch, a tract of land in Salem. Dec. 27, 1796.

There were granted to Benjamin Chew and to Joseph Shippen each a warrant for three thousand acres on " Wy- socking creek," dated Aug. 20, 1774, and sold as Nicholson lands by United States marshal, Sept. 26, 1801.

Other warrants for large tracts were granted, but the locations were so indefinite that no description can be ob- tained from the records. The releases of Pennsylvania claimants of land in Claverack, were Chickneyance Van- cleve, for two hundred and ninety-one acres on warrant of April 3, 1769, released by the heirs of Charles Stewart ; John Hall, Robert Davidson, Joseph Davidson, and Wil- liam Davidson, containing one thousand two hundred and eighty-two acres, on warrants dated Sept. 16, 1774, released by the heirs of Charles Stewart; Philip Johnston, three hundred and seventy acres, of warrant April 3, 1769, by Scudder and wife; Benjamin Eishleman, by John Whar- ton ; John Vanderen, by the executors of Robert Lettis Hooper. These various warrants covered the best lands of the valley.

SETTLEMENT.

The first settlement on the territory included in the present township of Wysox was made in 1776, by Isaac and Hermanas Van Valkenburg, and the sons-in-law of Isaac Van Valkenburg, Sebastian and Isaac Strope, who came from near Claverack, on the Hudson river, in the present · county of Columbia (then Albany), New York, to the In- dian meadows, or Misciscum, near the present Frenchtown railroad depot, in May, 1773.

On April 7, 1787, Isaac Van Valkenburg and Bastian Strope quitclaimed to William Ross, by deed, " a lot im- proved in May, 1773, lying on Misciscum flat, two miles below the Standing Stone, and six miles above Wya- lusing."

Early in 1776, having bought a right in the Susque- hanna company, they located it in Wysox, and moved upon the lower part of the flats, their house standing on the west side of the Wysox creek and near its mouth, a short distance southeast of the present residence of Dr. Madill. Under date of Feb. 17, 1776, Capt. Solomon Strong sells to Isaac and " Harmanos" Van Valkenburg and to " Bos- tian" Strope each one-half share in the Susquehanna com- pany's purchase, which the grantor bought of Samuel Hogs- kiss and Daniel Lawrence, they being original proprietors. The settlement was made some time before the survey and allotment of Claverack, in which it was included, and

# The numbers of the lots claimed are in parentheses.

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

according to the rules of the company the family had the land due them on their right surveyed to them where they located.

The family consisted of Isaac Van Valkenburg and his wife; Herman Van Valkenburg, a brother of Isaac, who was a bachelor and died unmarried ; Sebastian Strope, whose wife, Lydia, was a daughter of Isaac Van Valken- burg, and John Strope, who married another daughter of Isaac; and another daughter who was unmarried, and probably a son, John Van Valkenburg. It is probable that Herman died before the captivity of the family by the Indians .* Isaac Van Valkenburg and his wife died in Wysox, after their return to the township, after the war closed, which was about 1785.

The wife of Sebastian Strope was unfortunately killed about the year 1814, by a fall from a wagon. Sebastian died in Wysox, June 4, 1805, aged seventy years. His neighbors bore testimony to his worth and integrity as a man and citizen. He was in the Colonial army, and eu- gaged at the battle of Wyoming, and escaped from the fearful massacre by hiding in a patch of thistles which had grown up in an old stack-yard. He was a fearful and silent spectator of the butchery of Lieut. Shoemaker by the tory Windecker, after he had promised his unfortunate vietim quarter.

Sebastian Strope had three sons, Henry, John, and Isaac, and four daughters, Mary, Jane, Elizabeth, and Hannah. Henry married Catherine, daughter of Rudolph Fox, and remained in Wysox ; had one son, Harry, and six dangh- ters, Mrs. George Scott, Mrs. William Hart, Mrs. Stevens, Mrs. Hewitt, and two others, whose names we have not learned. Isaac married Lucy White. She was drowned | with her sister-in-law, Hannah, in the Susquehanna, while going down to Frenchtown in a canoe. Isaac sold his farm in 1808 and removed to Cayuga Co., N. Y., and from thence went to Portage Co., Wis., where he died at the residence of his son, Miner Strope, in 1861, aged seventy years. John married Eleanor, daughter of Rudolph Fox :' (1801), and went to Ohio. He had a son, Isaac, and a daughter, Mary (Polly). Mary, daughter of Sebastian, married a Talliday, and removed to the west. Jane mar- ried (first) a Mr. White, and (second) a Mr. Whitaker, and lived in Owego, N. Y. Elizabeth married William (?) Denninger, and removed west. Hannah was drowned as stated above.

We give a few incidents concerning the captivity of the Strope family, which are not contained in the general nar- rative in Chapter III.

When the family were captured, they took away with them the old Dutch family Bible. The Indians threw the Bible into the fire, but Mrs. Strope plucked it out after it had been somewhat damaged. Henry Tuttle, of Wysox, the husband of Mary Strope, granddaughter of the lady who rescued the book, has the same now in his possession. Mrs. Sebastian Strope was subjected to many trials during her captivity, none of which were more distressing than the following : she was made the victim of her tormentors in their horrid sport, who, taking advantage of her anxiety to

learn the fate of her husband, told her, as they brought in the reeking scalps of the settlers they had slain, that " Boss John's" (as they called Sebastian, a corruption of Bostian) scalp was among them. She made frequent examinations of the bloody trophies to see if, indeed, their fiendish stories were true.

Besides the family of Sebastian, his brother, called " Big John" Strope, his wife and children, were also taken pris- oners, and, when the exchange was effected, he was not in- eluded in the cartel. When he returned, his person showed scars and callosities made by the tortures he had endured. He was a man of large frame and indomitable will, and suf- fered the persecutions of his tormentors like a martyr.

Roswell Franklin was probably originally from Litchfield Co., Conn., and was among the earliest immigrants to Wy- oming. On Sept. 24, 1770, he was admitted a settler in Wilkes-Barre, but sold his right to Benjamin Clarke before April 30, 1772. At the first town-meeting in Westmore- land, March 1, 1774, the town was divided into districts, one of which comprised " ye town of Hanover and all the land south of Wilkes-Barre and west on Susquehanna river and east on the Lehigh," of which district Roswell Frank- lin was chosen selectman. At a town-meeting, Dec. 6, 1774, he was chosen one of the school committee.t

In the battle of Wyoming he served as an ensign, and afterwards, when Col. Franklin organized the refugees who returned to Wyoming into a military company, Roswell was his lieutenant. Having killed an Indian while on a scont in June, 1780, he was marked as a victim for savage ven- geance. How that vengeance was consummated will be found detailed in Chapter III.

In 1784 or 1785, Roswell Franklin removed from Han- over to Wysox flats, opposite the lower part of Towanda, where he settled, owning lots Nos. 22, 23, and 24 of Claverack. He and his brother Jehiel, who came into the town at the same time, owned the entire flats, and lived in a double log house below Edward Coolbaugh's present place.

Roswell Franklin removed to central New York in 1789, , in which year he built the first house in Cayuga county. In raising it every white man within a distance of fifty miles was present, and yet they numbered but a baker's dozen. The Indians, however, lent a helping hand, sev- eral of them being present. It was situated in the present village of Aurora, and was fourteen feet square. Franklin committed suicide.

His sons were John, William, Samuel, Daniel, and Cor- nelius, and his daughters were Betsey, Alice, Eleanor, and Julia.

Jehiel Franklin lived on the present Lanning place. He sold to Solomon Franklin, his son, who sold to Job Irish. Jehiel and his son removed to Canada in 1804.

Jesse Allen was one of the earliest of the settlers of Wysox before 1787. He was a Revolutionary soldier. He cleared up the old York farm, which he afterwards sold to Theophilus Moger, and moved to Pond hill and cleared up another large farm. He raised the trees for the greater part of the old orchards of Wysox, bringing in the apple- seeds from Catskill, N. Y.

See Chapter III. for account of the captivity of this family.

+ Miner.

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

Ralph Martin and wife came up the river also very early, before 1789, and settled on the Conklin farm, near Myers- burg, where they raised a large family, and where also they both died. He and Moses Coolbaugh were brothers-in- law.

Moses Coolbaugh came to Wysox about 1790,* from Northampton Co., Pa., near the Delaware river. When he came the low land below his house was covered with willows, in which were several Indian huts of some of the Delaware tribe, probably ; they used to make willow baskets. He bought of Asahel Roberts, who had preceded him and made the original location. Roberts cultivated a part of the flats which had been cleared by the Indians. Coolbaugh bought eighty acres, and Roberts removed to Breakneck, near Sheshequin, where he died. The farm is now owned by Darius Williams, and the house built by Roberts stood on the land now occupied by Mr. Williams' orehard. Mr. Coolbaugh brought his family up from Kingston on a Dur- ham boat, and first occupied a house of Roswell Franklin, opposite Towanda. He afterwards cleared up the Roberts farm and settled thereon, and died there Feb. 22, 1814, aged sixty-two years. His wife Hannah died Nov. 13, 1828, aged seventy-three years. Mr. Coolbaugh was the first justice of the peace under Governor M'Kean.t He was elected to the legislature, and had to resign his office as justice, and was succeeded by William Myer, but when Mr. Coolbaugh returned from the capital he brought his commission back with him, and there were then two justices in Wysox. Mr. Coolbaugh, in excavating a hole in his garden to bury potatoes in, exhumed the body of an Indian in a sitting posture. William Coolbaugh, a brother of Moses, lived on the present farm of Myer, which he after- wards sold to Amos Mix.

The children of Moses and Hannah (Shoemaker) Cool- bangh were William, Daniel, Samuel, Cornelius, Elsie (married Burr Ridgway), Sarah (married Pieree), and Lana (married William Allen).

William Coolbaugh's children were John, Harry, Betsey, Sally, Polly, Moses, and Ellen.

Ralph Martin, who married Ann Shoemaker, came to Wysox with his brother-in-law, moved first on the present farm of Joseph Conklin, cleared up the same, reared his family, and died there.

John Hinman came from Woodbury, Conn., to Wysox in 1791 .¿ He was born Feb. 5, 1748. He and his family, consisting of his wife and two sons, came with a yoke of oxen, which the little boys rode. He left the remainder of his family in Connecticut. He took up a large tract of land, and lost a portion of it through a defective title. He and James Lewis were in partnership for a time, Mr. Hin- man succeeding to the entire interest, and Mr. Lewis re- moving upon Towanda creek, where he died. Mr. Hinman sold a large portion of his property, including the will, to Judge Harry Morgan, and moved to the Genesce country, where he died, May 27, 1833. Mrs. Hinman (Hannah

Mallory) died December, 1805, aged fifty-four years. Their children were John B., Abner C., James, Walker, Jemima, Sarah, Eunice, and Harriet.

Jemima married a Moger; Sarah, a Curtis ; Eunice, a Talmage; Harriet married Amos York, of Wysox ; and Charlotte married Sheffield Wilcox, and lived in Albany township. Abner C. lived and died in Wysox, and John B. in Albany and Monroe.

A deed to John Hinman from Aaron Dean, for one-half of a possession called Nelson's possession, is dated May 1, 1791. The deed of Jesse Allen to Dean and James Lewis is dated Dec. 11, 1790, conveys " a lot in Wisox, bounded by Jehiel Franklin, on which is also a saw-mill," and ex- cepts " mill-stones and irons." Lewis sold his interest to Hinman Dec. 13, 1793. The grist-mill was built by Hin- man and Lewis.

Nancy Mann, a maiden lady, in 1799, lived where Joseph Piollet now does. Her father's name was Adam, who died on the farm. She sold to Nathaniel Moger, and went to Arkport, N. Y., in 1802.

Mathias Fencelor, alias Von Sler, was a Hollander, and came from Philadelphia to Cold Creek before 1789, and removed to Wysox about 1790. He was known as " the hermit," and subsisted chiefly by hunting and trapping. He made no clearing, but had a good hewed log house on a portion of the farm of Samuel Bowman, of Wilkes-Barre. He had no family, and lived alone. He used to make flax hetchels and peddle them through the settlement, packing them on his back.

One of these relics is now in the possession of Mrs. J. D. Ridgway. His dress was as peculiar as were his man- ners, and consisted of buckskin breeches coming half-way between his knees and ankles, buckskin jacket, coarse shirt, frock, cap, and moccasins. He died in the winter or spring of 1806, which fact was discovered by two young nien, John Parks and Moses Moody, who were returning from Myer's mill with a load of grists. They went into his house, where they found the old man (he was then about seventy years) lifeless and cold on his bunk of hemlock- boughs and skins. The boys hastened to give the alarm. In the mean time, Esquire Coolbaugh prepared to hold an inquest ; and, while the jury was being summoned, Willard Green volunteered to stay and guard the dead man. It was late in the evening when the justice, constable, William Allen, and the jury arrived, and proceeded to enter the house. The constable, with a lantern, led the way, and opening the door, a voice called out, sepulchrally, " Voicelle le vous, monsieur !" to the consternation and affright of the constable, who beat a precipitate retreat from the door. However, he was reassured as he beheld Green raise up from the corner and laugh instead of, as he supposed, the defunct. Said some one to Green, " Why, were you not afraid to lie there ?" " Afraid ! Why should I be afraid of a man dead whom I did not fear while living !"

Adrian Manville came into possession of the place shortly after Fencelor's death, and afterwards sold it to Dr. Barstow, who built a house upon the knoll ,and, after a few years, erected a very large and elegant mansion for those days, and named it " Fencelor Castle," in reference to the old hermit. It is now owned by J. W. Pool.

# Asahel Roberts, of " Wisocks," to Moses Coolbaugh, of " Wisocks," Jan. 4, 1791, a deed for a lot in Wisocks, witnessed by Jehiel Franklin and David Holbrook. Luzerne county deed records.

+ Commissioned March 5, 1793.

# Another authority says 1788.

STEPHEN STRICKLAND.

MRS. STEPHEN STRICKLAND.

( PHOTOS. BY GEO. H. WOOD, TOWANDA.PA.)

" VALLEY FARM", RESIDENCE OF STEPHEN STRICKLAND, JR., WYSOX TP. BRADFORD CO. PA.

457

IIISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

Wilbur and Robert Bennett came into Wysox about 1800, and exchanged land at Wilkes-Barre with Capt. Samuel Bowman for his tract. Wilbur raised a large fam- ily, and lived and died on his farm. He was a justice of the peace at one time. Robert's farm joined Wilbur's.

Joshua Shores came from Newark, N. J., to Wysox in 1795, and settled near Piollet's, where he lived two years, and then removed to the hill since known as Shores' hill. It was then covered with white-pine timber, and water-power was abundant. His Connectieut title failing, he bought his land of Dorrance and Shepard. He died on the hill about 1825, aged about seventy years. His wife, also a native of New Jersey, died in 1835, at the age of seventy-eight years. Their children were William, Sally, Betsey, Samuel, Caleb, Nathaniel, Anthony King, and Polly.

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History of Bradford County, Pennsylvania, with Illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 115

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