History of Bradford County, Pennsylvania, with Illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 85

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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pounds of tobacco, which latter article he traded to the Indians for four hundred acres of land. This tract is yet occupied by the Hottensteins, and is situated in Maxadamy township, Berks Co., Pa.

Mrs. Ilottenstein was born in Lehigh Co., March 27, 1797. When they came to Overton they had but $5 in cash, but the husband took up one hundred acres of land, and by dint of hard work and much privation they are now quite comfortably situated.

John Heverly was the oldest son of Daniel Heverly, the first settler (1810) in Overton. His wife, Alma Kellogg, came with her parents from Columbia Co., N. Y., who lo- cated in Albany in 1813. She says they were ten days on the road, finding no roads in some places, and not a single bridge over the creeks from Towanda. She lived with her parents till 1816, when she was married to John Heverly, and went to the wilds of Overton to share the hardships of pioncer life with the man of her choice. She was born in Connecticut, Aug. 21, 1799. When they were married, Mr. Heverly had about four acres cleared, and he built his house the next year, moving into it before it had either doors or glazed windows, and hanging up sheets to keep out the rain and snow.

Their first child, Amasa, born April 11, 1817, was the first white child born in the township. Mr. Heverly had to go as far as Mr. Woodruff's, below Monroe, to get suffi- cient help to raise his house. His dogs treed four panthers one day in the woods, -an old female and her three whelps. He succeeded in killing them all, though he had to dis- patch the fourth one with a club, his ammunition giving out. He was drafted in the War of 1812, but was never called out.

Christian Heverly married, in 1819, Hannah Warren, and began life for himself on a tract of land now occupied by John Mathews. His wife died in a short time after her marriage, and he married soon after Martha Killmore, and reared a family of nine children, five of whom still survive.

Daniel Heverly married Hattie Talady, in 1818, and located on a tract of land adjoining his father's. His do- mestic relations did not prove harmonious, and he and his wife separated, and in 1821 he married Magdalene Wilt. They had a large family, four of whom are now living, and the two sons occupy the homestead. Mrs. Heverly died in 1871, and her husband in 1873.

Henry Heverly married in 1821, but his farm, about a mile from his father's, was in Sullivan county, as was a por- tion of Christian's, which adjoined Henry's. The scttle- ment of Mr. Heverly and his sons was a noted one, and was called for many years Heverly's settlement.

PIONEER ENTERPRISES.

The first attempt made for a grist-mill was that of Danl. Heverly, Sr., on the premises now owned by Henry Sher- man, but the depression of money matters, caused by the war of 1812, caused him to abandon his work before its completion.

The first saw-mill was built in 1820, on Black creek, by Daniel Heverly, Jr. It was afterwards destroyed by fire, and never rebuilt. The site of this mill is now owned by the widow McCann.

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

The first framed barn was built in the town, in 1832, by Christian Heverly, who three years subsequently built also the first framed house. The barn is not used at present, but the house is occupied.

The first newspaper taken in the town was one which Jacob Hottenstein went nine miles to the post-office for, in 1829. The name of it was Der Unabhängig Republi- kaner ( The Independent Republican), published in Lehigh county, at Allentown. This was the only paper received in the township in that year ; now over 200 weeklies and a large number of periodicals are received at Overton post- office.

The first post-office was established in 1851, and called Heverlyville, but in 1856 it was changed to Overton. The first postmaster was Edward McGovern, and the office was kept at James Heverly's.

The first store was opened in 1856, by Wm. Waltman, which was burned in 1858.

SCHOOLS.

The first school-house was built in the town in 1827. It was a small log hut, 15 by 16 feet, covered with elapboards. The seats were made of slabs with ontside uppermost. This house stood until about the time of the introduction of the free-school system, when a new framed house was built, and is yet standing on the opposite side of the road from the original site. It has not been used for several years past.

The first teacher in the old log sehool-house was Anna Kellogg, of Monroe. She received fifty cents per week for teaching reading, writing, spelling, and " some cyphering."

The first free school was taught by Mrs. Charles Diffen- bach, in her own house.

At the present time there are five organized districts in the township, and one unorganized. Five schools were

taught in the town during the year ending June 1, 1877, averaging five months each. Two male and four female teachers were employed, at an average salary of $20 per month, for both sexes ; 83 male and 74 female pupils attended the schools, the average attendance being 97; $897 were raised by tax on the property in the town, and $87.15 were received from the State, the total income for the year being $1600.44 ; $587 were paid for teachers' wages, the total expenditures being $742.99.

CHURCHES.

The first church edifice built in the town was the Roman Catholic, by Edward McGovern, in 1844. Previously, the school-house had been used for religious worship.

There are at the present time in the township four churches,-one Methodist; one Reformed church of the United States and Lutheran, near the village; one Catholic, about three miles west; and the one above mentioned, built by Edward McGovern, on his farm, about one mile north. The Reformed and Lutheran church was built in 1855, but not wholly completed until 1862-63. The first Lutheran preacher was Carl Erle, who began preaching in the school- house in 1843. He lived in Colley, Sullivan county, about sixteen miles distant, and made the journey, back and forth, on foot for many years.

The Methodist Episcopal church was built in 1873.

OVERTON.

A town-plat was laid out on the present site of Overton, in 1856, by Henry Sherman, and the first lot was sold to Joseph Mosbacker, a blacksmith. It is situated in the southeastern corner of the township, and contains three general stores, three blacksmith-shops, one cooper- and two shoe-shops, one grocery and confectionery store, one church, and a school-house.

PIKE.

THE township of Pike, so called in honor of General Pike, is situated between the townships of Warren on the north ; Tuscarora, on the south; Orwell and Herrick, on the west; and Susquehanna county, on the east. The Wyalusing creek is its principal stream, entering from Sus- quehanna county, in the sontheastern portion of the town- ship, and, running south westerly, passes out, near the south- west corner of the township, into Tuscarora. Cold creek, in the extreme western-southwestern portion of the town- ship, Roekwell creek, near the central, and Ross creek, in the extreme eastern portion of the town, are the tributaries of the Wyalusing, and flow into it from the north.

Along the Wyalusing the surface of the township is level; about Le Raysville it is a high table-land, and in other por- tions it is hilly. It was originally covered with a heavy growth of hemlock, pine, beech, maple, and other hard

woods. The soil is fertile, and the principal occupation of the farning comninnity is butter-making and cattle-raising. There are five post-offices in the township, viz., Cold Creek, Stevensville, Pike, Le Raysville, and Neath.

SETTLEMENT.

The first settlements in the township were in the southern part, along the Wyalusing. The pioneers were attracted by the beautiful and fertile flats which skirt the creek all the way to the Susquehanna county line. Covered as they were with a heavy growth of timber, they not only gave promise of unbounded fertility, but appeared much wider than they really are. An Indian path extended up the creek, it being the thoroughfare from the Muney town to Zeninge, near the present city of Binghamton. The Con- nectient land speculators had partly cleared out this trail,

RES. OF HON. P. H. BUCK, LE RAYSVILLE, BRADFORD Co., PA.

MRS. WM. S. DAVIS

WM. S. DAVIS

RESIDENCE OF W. S. DAVIS, PIKE TP, BRADFORD CO., PA .

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

so as to make a tolerable bridle-path up to the forks. This path lay along the low flats, frequently crossing the creek to avoid the hills, which at short intervals jut down to the very brink of the stream. Along this path the proprietors had surveyed lots, and opened the township for settlers in 1788. Proprietary warrants, bearing date March 17, 1774, had been surveyed, and patents were issued by the supreme executive council of Pennsylvania, dated July 23, 1786, to the " corporation for the relief of poor and distressed Presbyterian ministers, and the widows and chil- dren of poor and distressed Presbyterian ministers," and by the trustees of this corporation sold to John Nicholson, December, 1793. Wareham Kingsley owned the greater part of the Connecticut rights in the township of Allens- burg. On the north of the old warrants were the lands of Le Ray. The first settlers came up the stream, bought lands under the Connecticut title, and began settlements in the spring of 1792. Fencler, who removed to Wysox, had built himself a cabin on a rise of ground near the present road, just above Cold creek, and a few rods from the south- east corner of the township, some time before 1792. He was, however, here, as at Wysox, a squatter, leading a soli- tary life, subsisting almost entirely by hunting, holding but little intercourse with the settlers, and was regarded by them with some superstitious awe. The old house remained standing for a number of years, and was almost always inhabited.

Among the first settlers this part of Bradford County were Dimon and Benajah Bostwick, two brothers from New Mil- ford, Connecticut, who took up four hundred aeres of land on the Wyalusing creek, in the township of Pike, near what is now called Stevensville, under the Connectieut title, which they had purchased in New Milford. Dimon, with his newly-married wife, Lois Olmstead, came in about 1792, and Benajah a few years later with his wife, a sister of his brother's wife. These brothers were men of great strength of character, and were remarkable for principles of justice, integrity, and honesty, and were liberal supporters of the Episcopal church, of which they were zealous members. " Dimon was an admirable surveyor and draughtsman, a great reader, and well versed in mathematics, general litera- ture, history, and theology." Both these men attained to a patriarchal age, and after several years of retirement and disability " entered into rest," Dimon dying at the age of eighty-seven, in 1857, and Benajah in the year 1864, at eighty-eight.

The Bostwick genealogy from 1668 to 1850, published by Erastus Bostwick, of Burlington, has the following faets, which we take therefrom :

(1) John, Arthur, and Zechariah were brothers* who came from Cheshire, England, and located at Stratford, Conn., about the year 1668. (I) John removed to New Milford, Conn., in 1707, and was the second person to settle in that town. (2) John, his son, was born 1686,

died June 17, 1741, married Mercy Bushnell, of Dan- bury, Conn., Jan. 3, 1712. (3) Benajah, third son of (2) John, born Feb. 8, 1718, died Oct. 23, 1776. He married Hannah Fisk, born at New Milford, Dec. 16, 1723, and died Oct. 27, 1788. (4) David, eldest child of (3) Benajah, married Hannah Hill. Their children were (5) Dimon, born Oct. 7, 1770; (5) Benajah, born Feb. 17, 1776; Joel, born Feb. 2, 1778; Marshall, born July 25, 1779; Lucinda, born April 1, 1781; and Anne, born June 7, 1783. (5) Dimon married Lois Olmstead. Their children were Elmira, Julia, Eliza, married Rev. Samuel Marks (Episcopal), Randolph, Pernet Marshall, Esther, Valvasa, and Sarah, married Rev. Geo. P. Hopkins (Epis- copal).

(5) Benajah married Mary Olmstead. Their children were Hannah, Lucinda, Silas Jackson, and Harriet.

James Rockwell settled near the Wyalusing creek, below what is now called Stevensville, in 1790.+ He was born in East Windsor, Hartford Co., Conn. He cleared a piece of land, built a log house, and after a few years raised tobacco. He found good elay on his farm, and clearing off a piece of ground for a yard, made brick for all who wanted. His was the first brick manufactory in northern Pennsyl- vania.

Seth P. Rockwell came in from the same place, and settled in what was ealled Newtown, near what is called Rockwell creek, in 1791. A bear came to his pig-stye one night and took out a shoat for his supper, and devoured about one-half of the porker. The next night Mr. Roek- well carried the remainder of the carcass back to the pen, and laid in wait for Bruin, who came back to finish the bill-of-fare, when a well-aimed shot from Rockwell's rifle killed the animal. Mr. Rockwell did some pioneer tanning and currying by digging out a large trough, peeling hem- lock-bark and pounding it with an axe in the trough, and then tanning skins, with which he made shoes for himself and family. The leather was made up without blacking, and an old scythe answered for a currying-knife. His pioneer mill-mortar and spring-pole pestle-was free for the use of all without toll, provided they did their own pounding. Seth P. Rockwell came to the wilderness empty- handed and alone, and chopped a road up to his settlement on Rockwell creek, where for seven years his nearest neigh- bor was, on the Wyalusing, Nathan Abbottt (father of Ben- jamin Abbott), where Ransom Coolbaugh now lives. Here he found the first location that suited him, and he ealled it Newtown. Here he built his house, a log cabin, and began a clearing. In 1796 he was married, and the following summer brought his wife to his new home, but returned with her the succeeding winter, and continued this manner of residence until he cleared sufficient land to produce his own living. Mr. Rockwell was born Sept. 22, 1770, hence was not quite twenty-one years old when he went into the wilderness to hew out for himself a home. A son, Joab Rockwell, is yet a resident of the township, and has con- tributed the facts above given of the Rockwell brothers.

* David E. Bostwick adds the following MS. notes: "I am of opinion that (1) John whe first settled in New Milford, in 1707, was the son of Arthur, and not his brother." " Arthur settled in Strat- ford some time previous to 1659, and deeds appear on record there with the signatures of himself and wife to their son John, the name being spelled Bostock. They held extensive lands, and were rich."

+ Joah Rockwell is authority fer this date.

# The Abbotts were an old and prominent family in the Susque - hanna valley, and were among the most active of the Wild Yankees.

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

Nathan Abbott, and two brothers named Darius and Eli- jah Coleman, came into the settlement about the same time that Seth P. Rockwell came. The Colemans were from Litchfield Co., Conn. They were masons, and used to build chimneys for the settlers' log houses; but these struc- tures were vastly different to those of the present, sticks and mud taking the place of bricks and mortar. They were of sufficient size, too, to admit of scaffolding inside, rather than on the outside, in their construction.

Nathan Abbott was the father of Nathan, Benjamin, and John, and lived on the farm formerly owned by Ambrose Bosworth, some three miles from Le Raysville, near Seth P. Rockwell's place. He died in 1804. The Colemans' children, who were numerous, are all dead, but their grand- children are many of them still living. One of the original settlers was formerly sheriff of Litchfield Co., Conn.

Eleazer Russell came into the settlement in 1792, from the State of New York. He went from Bridgeport, Conn., to Ballston, where he bought a farm, from whenee he came to Bradford County, with a yoke of oxen and a pair of three-year old steers and a sled, in the month of March. At Athens (then Tioga Point) he was compelled to wait a week for the river to get clear of ice, before he could venture upon it with his goods loaded in a canoe. He floated down to Wyalusing, and poled the canoe up that creek, driving the cattle along the bank singly. He married Ruth Fair- child, a sister of Ephraim Fairchild, and reared a family of two sons and four daughters. One of the latter married S. P. Rockwell. Mr. Russell located on the farm now oe- cupied by - Keeney. He was killed by the fall of a tree he was chopping down. He went out before breakfast, and not coming in at the eall of his wife search was made for him, and he was found crushed under the tree, just as he was expiring. Wm. Frink married the widow, and lived for some time on the place, and then removed to New Milford, Susquehanna county, to live with his soo Benajah, who married a daughter of Esquire Hancock.

Ezekiel Brown came in about the same time as did Rus- sell, and lived next below him, on the flat where there are now some old apple-trees growing. A daughter of Mr. Brown (Rhoda) married David Olmstead, and Nancy mar- ried John Mintz. Thomas Brown, of Wyalusing, was the father of Ezekiel.

Ephraim Fairchild came in from Norwich, Conn., as early as 1793, if not earlier. He located on the place now occupied by Aden Stevens. He married a Platt. When the settlers first came to the creek there were no black walnut-trees growing on the flats. Mr. Fairchild's people went to the river, gathered a quantity of the nuts, and stored them in the attic of their log house for future use. A black squirrel, tamed and petted by the children, took a great fancy to these nuts, and, with his instinctive foresight, proceeded to appropriate the same, and store them in the ground in various localities for his future use. This plant- ing produced the fine trees of that variety now growing around Mr. Stevens's house, which measure from fifteen to eighteen inches diameter. Mr. Fairchild died on the place. His children were Edmund, David, Abel (a doctor, dying in Cleveland, O.), Hannah, Mary, Ruth, and Huldah. The Fairchild property is now held, as it ever has been, under

the Connecticut title, the Pennsylvania title never having been purchased.

Elisha Keeler came from Brookfield, Conn., to the Wyalu- sing in the spring of 1793. The family consisted of his wife Lucina ( Warner) and three children, and his aged father (Elisha). They came to Wilkes-Barre, and then pushed up the river and creek in a canoe. When near Thomas Lewis', in Merryall (Wyalusing), the eanoe upset, and spilled their goods into the river, which received a thorough drenching. After drying them, they pushed on up the creek, and dwelt in Mr. Rockwell's house for a time, until they could build one for themselves on their location, on the farm now occupied by Engene Keeler, a grandson of Elisha.

John Bradshaw and Capt. Isaac Bronson came with the Keelers. The journey was made to the Lackawanna with a yoke of oxen and one horse, but in erossing that stream the horse was drowned, and the rest of the journey was per- formed with the oxen alone. Mrs. Bradshaw was a sister of Mr. Keeler. There being nothing but a foot-path up the Wyalusing, a horse was procured, with a feather-bed for a saddle, and Mrs. Keeler, with a little child in her arms, rode to the Rockwell's, crossing the creek eight times in the journey. The old Bible of the father of Mr. Keeler was nearly ruined by its immersion in the Wyalusing, but the old patriarch, being a tailor, ironed it out leaf by leaf with his goose, and it still remains in the family, a memento of the hardships endured by the pioneers in a wild country covered with a tangled and unbroken forest. The old gen- tleman died in 1794, and is said to have been the first person buried in the Stevensville cemetery.

Mr. Keeler had purchased three hundred and thirty acres under the Connecticut title of Wareham Kingsley, and Bradshaw also bought his tract of Kingsley, and the two pioneers made their first settlement together, and sub- sequently divided the possession by mutual agreement.

Mr. Keeler was not of a robust constitution, and soon found himself unable to endure the heavy toil consequent upon clearing up his heavily-timbered possession. He had learned the trade of his father, but tailoring was a business but little patronized in the forest. Therefore, in 1804, he purchased a small stock of goods, and established himself as a merchant on the border in his dwelling-house, and con- tinued in that business for three or four years. On his ledger, which is yet in existence, occur the names of nearly every inhabitant from the river to Montrose, and in the township of Pike, the charges for whisky equaling all others combined.

Closing ont his mereantlle business, he formed a business partnership with Guy Wells, and purchased, it is said, the first wool-carding machine in the country, and set it up in the old Gordon mill. In this business he continued until near the time of his death, in November, 1814. His cus- tomers were from Black Walnut, Wyalusing, Standing Stone, Montrose, and all the intervening country. When prints were from sixty to eighty-five cents per yard, cotton handkerchiefs at eighty cents, muslin seventy-five cents, and money scarcely to be had, home-made cloth was in great demand, and wool and flax were prime necessities.

The children of Elisha Keeler were seven : Orabella (mar-

OD. PHOTO.

RESIDENCE OF MRS. A. E. SMITH, PIKE TP., BRADFORD CO, PA.

A. E. Smith

GEO H, WOOD PHOTO ...

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

ried Loomis Wells), Marietta (married John Elliott), Polly (married Justus Lewis), Charles (married a Nichols), Elisha (married a Lovett), John, and Lucy (married Roswell Co- burn). All lived in Bradford County, in Pike, Wyalusing, Herrick, and Warren. John lives in Wyalusing, and Charles lived on the homestead.

Nathan and Aden Stevens came to the present site of Stevensville in the spring of 1794. They were sons of Peter Stevens, of New Milford, Connecticut, who was a soldier in the Revolutionary army ; was wounded at the capture of Danbury, from which he never recovered, and died from the effects of the wound about a year after- wards, August 6, 1779, aged forty-eight years. The sons, Nathan and Aden, purchased the farmn of Captain Isaae Bronson, who moved into Susquehanna county. He had built a little log house at the end of the present lane be- tween Messrs. Myron and Cyrus Stevens, nearer the bank of the ereek, and eleared three or four aeres around it. Na- than soon returned to Connectieut for his family, and Aden remained, chopped a fallow, and put in a piece of grain. In the following fall Nathan returned with his family, consist- ing of his wife, Hannah Warner, and three children. The hardships common to the settlers in the wilderness were en- dured by these pioneers. Three months passed without flour in the house, eorn-meal, made in the mortar, being the only article for bread. Aden bought a cow for twenty dollars, which was pastured on the opposite side of the creek. One night she was somewhat dilatory in responding to his call to come home, and to hurry her movements he threw a stone at her, which hit and broke her leg. He paid his remaining money (nine dollars) for a hog to fatten. They moved in with two horses and a yoke of oxen. One of the horses was sold for a twenty-gallon kettle to boil sap in for maple-sugar, and while drawing wood with the other, he was frightened in going down the steep bank of a ravine, and fell and broke his neck. Bears, wild-eats, and wolves, were numerous, and the latter made havoe among the sheep of the settlers, and bounties were offered for their scalps. While hunting a wild-cat in 1839, the dogs signaled larger game, and on coming up with thiem the hunters, the Ste- vens and Rockwell brothers, found a bear, which had taken refuge in the roots of a hollow tree for his winter nap. Here he managed to keep the dogs off, but being encouraged by their masters they made another and fiercer attack, in re- pelling which Bruin ventured outside of his covert far enough to expose himself to the shots of the men, and Ste- vens lodged a ball in his head. They then dragged him out, and the last bear killed in Pike township lay at their feet.

Aden was unmarried when he first came to Pike, and for two winters he returned to Connecticut, where he taught school, returning to his forest home in the spring. The second winter he married Anise Winter, a sister of Nathan's wife. The two brothers worked the farm together the first year, and then divided it equally. Their descendants still reside on a portion of the property.

About 1800, Nathan built a new log house on the main road, and moved into it, and lived therein until the death of his wife, which occurred Sept. 25, 1847, at the age of seventy-seven years. He then lived with his son Myron

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History of Bradford County, Pennsylvania, with Illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 85

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