History of Bradford County, Pennsylvania, with Illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 69

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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gathering of military forces which has ever been assembled in northern Pennsylvania, when the two armies of Sullivan and Clinton joined their forees to devastate the Indian country, as it was the theatre of the most important military operations of that campaign, the base of supplies, and the advanee post of occupation. Here, on the resettlement of the county, the pioneers hastened, as the most attractive and desirable place within the county for their farms and future homes. On the beautiful plain included between the two rivers the Susquehanna company surveyed the " Town Plat of Athens," in anticipation of a future growth induced by the natural advantages of its location and surroundings.

On the west of the river is a belt of level, allnvial land, varying from half a mile to a mile and a half in width, cut nearly in two by the point of hill which comes down nearly to the river, about midway between its junction with the Susquehanna and the State line. To the west and south, the surface rises into hills and broken lands.

The broad and fertile valley lying between the two rivers, bordering on the State of New York, next to Wyoming was the most attractive part of the Susquehanna company's purchase. As early as 1775 the company granted to Asa- hel Buek, as agent for a number of proprietors, a township called Ulster, which was entirely west of the river, and the north line of which was about three miles above the june- tion of the two rivers. This grant covered a large part of the present Athens. The unsettled state of the country, from the date of the grant until the close of the Revolu- tionary war, prevented any settlement being made upon it; but immediately after the war was over settlements began to be made in several portions of it. Owing to the fact of some disagreement between certain of the proprietors and the committee of the company, and that the north line of the State was ascertained to be some distance farther north than was at first supposed, the location of Ulster was changed, by being moved farther south, and made to in- clude land on both sides of the river, and a new township was granted on the north, of which the following is the record :

"Pursuant to the votes of the Susquehanna proprietors, etc., we have surveyed a township of land beginning at a stake marked, standing on the north line of the purchase at one mile west of the Tioga Branch ; thence cast on said line, crossing both branches of the Susquehanna, five miles to a pinc-tree marked; thence south five miles; thence west five miles, crossing the Susquehanna river to a white oak marked ; thence north five miles to the place of beginning. Containing twenty-five square miles. Located and laid out at the request of Prince Bryant, Elisha Satterice, and others their associates, to the number of fifty proprietors.

" JOHN FRANKLIN, "JOHN JENKINS,

" Agents for said proprietors." " Agreeably to the request of John Franklin, Esq., and Mr. John Jenkins, the above-mentioned proprietors, for a grant of the above-

* Contributed by Edward Herrick, Esq.

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RESIDENCE OF R. A. PACKER, SAYRE, BRADFORD CO., PA.

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

describod township, confirming the same to them as a part of their general rights in the purchase, the same is hereby granted to them, agreeable to the rules and regulations of the Susquehanna Company, by the name of Athens ; provided said township does not interfero with any regular grant beretofore made by the commissioners of the Susquehanna Company.

"Witness our hands and scals this ninth day of May, 1786.

" ZEBULON BUTLER, "OBADIAH GORE, " NATHAN DENISON, " Committee for granting of township.

"The above is a true record of a survey I received to record May .22, 1786.

" Teste, SAMUEL GRAY, Clerk."

The present township of Athens covers this grant, to- gether with a belt of territory still north of this, about three-fourths of a mile wide to the State line as it was finally determined, and also includes another belt on the west about one mile wide, which was taken from the township of Durkee. This northern belt was afterwards called the Gore, and a part of it attached to Athens township by order of the committee of the company.

The proprietors of the township of Athens, according to custom, for the more equal distribution of the land among them, allotted it under three divisions. The first was the little town-lots in the village of Athens. The second division consisted of ten-acre lots on the point and on the flats. The third division was of one-hundred-acre lots on both sides of the river. As this covered less than half of the township, there was a meeting of the proprietors, April 18, 1792, at which they agreed to distribute the balance of the undivided land among themselves. But in the subsequent settlement of the Connecticut claim, title to land under this last survey was declared void.

The beautiful location and the fertile plains of the old Tioga had attractions not only for Connecticut settlers, but for others who were interested in the Pennsylvania title. We find here some early claims and locations under both the proprietary government and the commonwealth. A brief account of these early surveys will be given.

That part of the township of Athens lying east of the Susquehanna river was embraced in the purchase by the proprietaries of Pennsylvania from the Indians at the Fort Stanwix treaty of 1768. In the year 1773, Charles Stew- art, a depnty surveyor of the State, made surveys and laid warrants for the lands in that purchase. There were three warrants laid in Athens, to wit, Jacob Whetmore, of 305} acres, numbered 25; John Stover, of 322}, numbered 1790; and David Trisler, of 2803, numbered 16. These were all surveyed on the 23d day of September, 1773, and embrace all the level lands lying directly east of the village. The title to these three warrants subsequently passed into Jos. Wharton, of Philadelphia, from whom the settlers derived their title, when they became obliged to purchase the Penn- sylvania title, in order to retain their lands. The remain- der of the lands in the township east of the river was embraced almost wholly in what were known as the Le Roy and the Asylum company lands.

That part of Athens lying west of the Susquehanna was not purchased from the Indians until the second treaty of Fort Stanwix, 1784, and was known as the new purchase. The land-office was opened for the entry of lands in this

purchase May 1, 1785, and the choice of lands was disposed of by a lottery. Among other applicants was Josiah Lock- hart, of the borough of Lancaster, whose name being first drawn from the wheel, he was entitled to the first choice of all lands in all this purchase, and he selected the tract lying between the Susquehanna and Tioga rivers, known as Tioga Point. As the title to most of the lands in the present borough of Athens is derived from this warrant, it may be proper to insert the patent here :

"THE SUPREME EXECUTIVE COUNCIL OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA.

" To all to whom these presents shall come, greeting :

" Know ye that in consideration of the monies paid by Josiah Lockhart into the Receiver General's office of this Commonwealth at the granting of the warrant hereinafter mentioned, and of the sum of twelve pounds three shillings lawful money now paid hy him into the said office, there is granted by the said Commonwealth unto the said Josiah Lockhart, a certain tract of land called " Indian Arrow,'' situate in the point between Susquehanna and Tioga in the late pur- chase of Northumberland county, beginning at three walnut-trees on the bank of Tioga creek ; thence by lands of Nicholas Kisler and Arthur Irwin south eighty-six degrees east four hundred and ninety- six perches to a post on the bank of Susquehanna river ; thence down the same by the several courses thereof to the mouth of said Tioga ereek ; thence up the same by the sevoral courses thereof to the place of beginning ; containing one thousand and thirty-eight acres and an half, and allowance of six per cent. for roads, etc., with the appurte- nances [which said tract was surveyed in pursuance of a lottery war- rant number one, granted unto the said Josiah Lockhart, dated the seventeenth day of May, 1785]. To have and to hold the sind tract or parcel of land with the appurtenances unto the said Josiah Lock- hart and his heirs, to the use of him the said Josiah Lockhart, his heirs and assigns, forever, free and clear of all restrictions and reser- vations as to mines, royalties, quit-rents, or otherwise, excepting and reserving only the fifth part of all gold and silver ore for the use of this Commonwealth, to be delivered at the pit's mouth elear of all charges.

"In witness whereof, the houorable Charles Biddle, Esq., viee- president of the Supreme Executive Conneil, hath hereto set his hand and caused the State seal to be hereunto affixed in Council the third day of April, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-six, and of the Commonwealth the tenth.

" CHARLES BIDDLE, V .- P.

[SEAL.]

" Attest, JOHN ARMSTRONG, JR., Secretary."

EARLY SETTLERS.

The first settler after the war of whom there is any documentary evidence was Benjamin Patterson. The deposition of Joseph Kinney, Esq., states that he came to Sheshequin in 1783, and that Patterson came up with him and settled opposite Athens. The narrative of Elisha Forsythe states that at the time he removed from Wyoming to Choconut, in the year 1783, he " passed by Tioga Point, where but one white man, by the name of Patterson, then lived, and that he met no others between that place and Choconnt." Patterson " took np" land on the east side of the Susquehanna, on the lands embraced in the surveys of 1773. He was born at Stratford, Conn., Jan. 15, 1752, removed about 1770 with his father's family to Piermont, N. H., was in the war, probably in Sullivan's expedition, and settled here, as above stated, in 1783. Nov. 7, 1788, he sold his possession here to Robert McIlhoe, removed first to Chenango Forks, N. Y., thence to Beepre, near Cincinnati, Ohio, thence to New Madrid, Mo., and died somewhere in Kentucky, about the year 1840. In the

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

year 1784, Matthias Hollenback, of Wilkes-Barre, opened a store on the Point, and settlers began to gather around him; but it was not until 1786 that he erected his large store-house, so long known as the Hollenback house, and the warehouse, dock, etc., on the lot which he afterwards drew at the corner of the public square.

Jacob Snell came that year from Stroudsburg, on the Delaware river, and on the 5th of July his son Abraham was born, believed to have been the first white child born within the limits of the present township. It was in the fall of this year that the conference was held with the Indians by William Maclay, and the consideration for the purchase of land, made the previous year at Fort Stanwix, was paid. About this time, or early in 1785, William Miller, Daniel Moore, Christopher Hurlburt, Mason Carey, and Eldad Kellogg settled near Patterson, on the east side, and commeneed to cultivate the soil. They had no title whatever, but hoped to acquire one by possession. Hurl- burt went back after a few years to Wyoming, and these other settlers on the east side of the river soon disappeared, with the exception of Daniel Moore, some of whose descend- ants are now living in the township of Litchfield. William Miller had two sons, John, who, in 1796, was described as a millwright, and Johnston, who at the same time was a cabinet-maker, and a daughter, who married Samuel Hepburn. The sons went west many years since. David Alexander came at an early day as clerk for Matthias Hollenback ; and subsequently became a merchant, distiller, and farmer, and was at one time the owner of several lots in the village ; in Angust, 1795, he was lieensed a taverner; he left here early in the present eentury. About the same time Samuel Hepburn eame from Milton with a small stock of goods, and kept a trading establishment; in March, 1790, he was lieensed a " taverner" at Tioga " for the store and house in which he now lives." He went in a few years, about 1796, to Elmira, and thence returned to Milton.

Capt. John Snell onee said that the first house built be- tween the rivers was of logs, and built by a Dutchman named Andreas Budd. It is probable that Budd was brought here for that purpose by Mr. Hollenback, and built for him buildings necessary for his trading establishment. In 1789 he purchased a ten-acre lot on the point, and in 1793, Col. Franklin conveyed to him village lot No. 40. In 1795, Budd conveyed both these tracts to Elisha Mathewson, and left the country. In the year 1784, John Shepard was also here as a elerk for Mr. Hollenback, but did not remain permanently until the year 1786.

In 1785, William Maclay, a commissioner appointed by the general assembly, made a survey of the Susquehanna river, and established a temporary line between this State and New York. In 1786 the town was granted and sur- veyed by the Connecticut Susquehanna company, as pre- viously related, and the town plat laid out. The original proprietors of the town who drew lots in 1786 were as fol- lows, the figures after the names being the number of the lot drawn :

John Hurlburt, 1 ; Elisha Mathewson, 2; Ethan Allen, 3; Joel Thomas, 4; Oliver Bigalow, 5; Justus Gaylord, 6; Reuben Cook, 7; John O'Neil, 9; Prince Alden, 10; Thomas Maclure, 11 and 48; Phineas Stevens, 12; Uriah

Stevens, 13; Matthias Hollenback, 14; Solomon Bennett, 15; Zera Beach, 16; William Sloeum, 17; William Jake- ways, 18; Waterman Baldwin, 19; Christopher Hurlbut, 20; William Hyde, 21 ; Asaliel Buck's heirs, 22; William Jones, 24; Nathan Denison, 25 and 49; Thomas Baldwin, 26; Eldad Kellogg, 27; Benjamin Gardner, 28; William Jenkins, 29; Ebenezer Sloeum, 30; Nathan Cary, 31 ; Richard Halstead, 32; William Ross, 33; John Franklin, 34 and 40; Ishmael Bennett, 35; Elisha Harding, 36; Elisha Satterlee, 37; Benjamin Smith, 38; Abraham Mil- ler, 39 ; John Jenkins, 41 ; Ira Stephens, 42 ; John Hager- man, 43; Abraham Nesbitt, 44; Mason Fitch Alden, 45 ; Jonathan Burwell, 46; Nathaniel Cook, 47; Gideon Church, 50; John Swift, 52; Thomas Handy, 53.

Lots numbered 8, 23, and 51 were not drawn, but were held as the common property of the proprietors. The north line of the village plat was the north line of what is now ealled the old grave-yard. Lot No. 1 was the north lot on the west side of the street, and the numbers ran down on that side to No. 26; then crossing to the east side ran up the street to No. 53. Lots 1, 2, and 3, on the west side of the street, and lots 51, 52, and 53, on the east side, were each four rods wide, and all the others were six rods wide. In the centre of the plat, between lots 13 and 14 on the west side, and between lots 40 and 41 on the east side, were the two public squares, ten rods in width. The lots and squares extended through to the Susquehanna on the east, and to the Chemung on the west. Directly north of lot 53 (now the grave-yard ) was a ten-acre lot, laid out for the first minister, and north of that a lot of twenty acres, called the school-lot. No church being organized or minister being settled for many years, the title to the minister's lot became vested in the owners of the land under Pennsylvania title, who, about 1814, sold it to Michael R. Tharp, and about 1820 it passed to Judge Herrick, who resided upon it until his death, in 1873. The title to the school-lot was con- firmed to the town, and the land has been used, as origi- nally intended, for school purposes.

Many of these original proprietors and lot-owners were never residents of Athens, many others resided here for a short time only, and others made this their home during life, and their descendants are yet among us. Gen. Ethan Allen was here at the time of the drawing of lots, and remained in the valley a few weeks only, then returning to his home in Vermont. John O'Neil had a house in 1786, near where is the residence of the late Francis Tyler, but soon after left the country. Phineas Stephens and Uriah Stephens were here for a few years; it is probable that they were brothers of Capt. Ira Stephens, and that they removed to Angelica, New York. John Swift resided here for a time, and was afterwards a pioneer in the settlement of Pal- myra, New York ; was a soldier in the war of 1812, and at the time of his death in battle was a brigadier-general. Thomas Handy, who was also here a short time, was after- wards a pioneer at Elmira. Thomas Maclure was at Wyo- ming as early as 1774 ; was first sergeant of Capt. Spalding's company during the war, and came to Athens in 1786; he was the first person licensed to keep a tavern here, which was in December, 1788, and the license was renewed in March, 1789 ; in 1794 he removed to Catherinestown, N. Y.

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RESIDENCE OF Z. F.WALKER, FORMER RESIDENCE OF LATE COL. JNO. FRANKLIN, ATHENS TP, BRADFORD CO., PA.

Syphon Filtervan

( PHOTOS. BY P. R. YOUNG, ATHENS. )

Jophon J. Walker

Rebecca Me. Walker.

ZEPHON F. WALKER, the fourth obild from the union of George Walker (in German, Walger) with Znliema W. Flower, was born on 1st July, 1824, at Factoryville, N. Y. His father was a farmer. He remained upon the farm until the age of ten years, when he was adopted, and went to live with his uncla, Nathaniel Flower, in Athans township, -- the same year that Mr. Flower purchased the homestead farm of Col. John Franklin's estata. Here his time was passed in helping on the farm in the summer season and in attending school in the winter, some of the time at the old Franklin school-house, and other timas at the Athens academy. While at the academy he learned the theory of surveying, and after retiring from the school took up, without any tutor, mapping and the study of civil engineering. At the age of sixteen he was instruoted by his grandfather, Major Flower, in practical surveying, and was with him on his surveys as long as he oontinned in the business, which was in 1842. After this he continued the surveying, mapping, and civil engineering business notil August, 1875. Among his first work as a Surveyor was the allotment of the Edw. Overton tract of several thousand acres in Herrick township, and the Overton steam-mill tract in Burlington. The year 1849 he was with Col. Joseph Kingsbary writing conveyanoes, making maps, and surveying, at a salary of sixteen dollars per month. While there he made a large connected map of the warrants and subdivi- sion of the De Cater purchase in this conoty, which was sent to Mr. De Cater, in Antwerp, Belginm. The same year he made a connected map of the De Chastellnx land in Orwell, Pike, Rome, and Herrick townships. He was with Col. Kingabnry at the time of his decease.

In 1852 he was with C. L. Ward, Esq., in Towanda, at a salary of thirty dollars per month, in the field surveying in the towns of Towanda, Bur- lington, Smithfield, Ulster, Columbia, Troy, Granvilla, Canton, Leroy, Franklin, Monroe, Albany, and in Sullivan and Tioga counties. When in the office, he mada maps of the lands Mr. Ward owned and was agent for. This year Nathaniel Flower died, and the homestead of the Franklio farm came into his possession. In 1853 he was still with Mr. Ward, oo ao in- creased salary of four hundred dollars par year, acting as surveyor, collection agent, and writing convayancas, etc .; in 1854 was with Col. C. F. Wells, of Athens, at fifty dollars per month, acting as secretary, surveyor, and super- visor of his home business, which included collecting material for his new honse and farm, fencing, saw-mill rnoning, etc.

In the fall of 1854 he left Mr. Wells and went home to take care of the late Major Flower in his last illness. He was married on 9th August, 1855, to Rebecca M. Franklin (by the Rev. F. S. Warren), at Seneca, Lenawee Co., Mich., she being the great-granddaughter of Col. John Franklin, and, prob- ably, the only blood relative living in Pennsylvania. After his marriage he lived upon the farm, but continned the surveying business. In 1861 he compiled and had published a farm map of Athens township and borongh ;

in 1868 made a geological and topographical survey of the Schraeder Com- pany Coal and Iron lands in this county and an elaborate map of the same; he camped in the woods for over four months in making this survey. In the spring of 1869 he took a position as civil engineer on the Geneva, Ithaca and Sayre railroad; remained thereon till the trains were running on the Ithaca and Sayre division of it, Ootober, 1871. From this date he did a large amount of surveying, eto., among which was laying out the towns of Sayre, South Waverly, Waverly Extension, etc.

Politically his views are liberal. Originally an old-line Whig, he was with the Republicans two or three years, and declined a Domination as county surveyor at their hands, but was run by the Democrats and beaten. He has filled the office of town clerk for twelve years, that of assessor two years, and was secretary of the school board several years. Since 1875 his time has been occupied in farming, dealing in lumber, railroad ties, ato. Ha helped to raise and went as first lieutenant of a company of militia from Athens upon Gov. Curtin's call, whan Pennsylvania was invaded the first time; was at Hagerstown as the Rebs recrossed the Potomac; was in hear- ing of the cannonading at the olose of the South Mountain fight; he was drafted on Lincoln's third call, but furnished a substitute.

REBECCA M. WALKER, second child of Amos and Oynthia Franklin, was born at Seneca, Lenawee Co., Mich., August 9, 1837. Her father was son of Billy Franklin, and grandson of the late Col. John Franklin. At the age of seventeen he came to live with his grandfather In Athens, and remained there until after the death of the colonal, in 1831. In May, 1835, he married Cynthia Mckinney, and moved to Michigan, then a territory and wilderness ; purchased a farm and remained there until his death, June 2, 1845. During the year 1853, in company with her mother, sister, and two brothers, she made a visit to her mother's relatives io Bradford Co., Pa., and remained there teaching school two tarms in Athens township. She received her education mostly in the district schools of her native State. In April, 1855, she re- turned to her mother's home in Seneca, Mich., and was married there, on the 9th day of the ensuing August, to Zephon F. Walker. After her marrlage she came back to Athens, Pa., and began house-keeping on the ferm known as the Col. John Franklin homestead, where he lived, died, aod is buried. The result of this union was five children : Franklio Z., boro June 4, 1858; Nathaniel F., born May 28, 1858; Alfred Irving, boro Jan. 28, 1880; Clara, born Feb. 28, 1865; Ada May, boro April 15, 1867. All still living at home.

She has had an aotive life. Her husband's business calling him so much from home made her duties much greater ; the farm sustained a dairy, the care of which, together with that of the family and household, all devolved upon her, and a part of the time the supervision of the farm. She is a Christian woman and inculcates religious principles in her household, but belongs to no ohurch.

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

Col. John Franklin erected a house here in 1786, on lot number 40, south of the public square, and near the bank of the Susquehanna river; it was his intention to remove to this place in 1787, but he was taken to Philadelphia, and did not make Athens his home until the latter part of the year 1789. In the year 1788 came Elisha Satterlee, Elisha Mathewson, and Ira Stephens.

Benedict Satterlee was one of the forty original settlers in the township of Kingston, carly in the history of the Wyoming valley ; he was killed, not, it is believed, in the massaere, but in some of the troubles incident to the carly settlement prior to 1778, leaving a widow and six children, the eldest of whom, but thirteen years of age at the time of the massacre, was Elizabeth, afterwards the wife of Major Elisha Mathewson ; the others were Elisha, Elias, Benedict, Nathaniel, and Samuel ; the mother, fleeing with her chil- dren after the massacre, perished in the wilderness of fatigue ; these all came up under the lead of their elder brother, Elisha, to Athens in 1788. Elisha married Cyn- thia, a sister of Capt. Ira Stephens, who died May 9, 1848, aged seventy-nine years ; they had several children. John F. Satterlee, a son of Col. Elisha, was long a prom- inent citizen of Athens, and died Feb. 11, 1856, aged sixty-eight ; he married first Julia, daughter of Dr. Amos Prentice, who died Dec. 12, 1823, aged thirty-seven, and his second wife, Elizabeth, died Dec. 5, 1871, aged seventy- seven years. Benedict Satterlec was long a school-teacher at Athens, teaching as early as 1791 on the school lot orig- inally laid out for school purposes; he married Welthia, daughter of Capt. Joseph Spalding, removed to Mount Morris, New York, and died there, Jan. 8, 1813. Elias, at the time of the first assessment in 1796, was rated as a shoemaker; he studied medicine with Dr. Hopkins, and practiced his profession with great success in Elmira, until his death, by an accidental discharge of a gun, Nov. 11, 1815. Samuel and Nathaniel settled in Smithfield; and Nathaniel was the father of Col. Samuel, an officer in the war of 1812, and member of the Pennsylvania legislature.

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History of Bradford County, Pennsylvania, with Illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 69

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