History of Bradford County, Pennsylvania, with Illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 94

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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The fourth generation : James married Lois Wood, to whom were born James Allen, Emeline, Emma Aun, Mar- cus B., Florilla C., Anna D., Anna, Christiana, Samuel Wood, James Orville, Malvina, and Lois Eveline. Susanna Geronld married Dntee Rice, Feb. 12, 1804, her children being Jerusha A., Maria S., Hiram, Mehitable B., Jabez Gerould, John J., James P., Caleb B., Betsy A., and Orrin B.

Ephraim B. married Betsy Foster, their only child being Theodore; second wife, Christiana Putnam ; children, Mar- tin, Maria, and Otis.

George married Bathsheba Beels, Dec. 13, 1813; chil- dren, Owen, James L., Harriet, Sarah, John, and Eph- raim B.

Ziba married Eliza Bird, Nov. 16, 1817; children, So- phia, Louisa, Betsy, Louis B., Phebe, Henry, Clayton, and Jane Eliza.

Jabez Lawrence Gerould married Margaret Beebe, in Genoa, N. Y., May 25, 1820; children, Amelia B., Jabez Abijah, A. Beebe, Henry, Clarissa P., Ruth A., John Ed- ward, and Cordelia.

Abel Judson Gerould married Naney Foster, Jan. 30, 1822; children, Betsy, Charles M., Abial F., Mary, Clinton, Clotilda, and Mayland.

Theodore* married A. F. Ferguson, Oct. 2, 1827 ; chil- dren, Maria, Theresa (wife of Joseph Towner, of Sheshe- quin), James, and Sarah.

The names above given number 58, in the fifth genera-

tion. At this reunion the widows of Ziba and Jabez Law- rence Jerould were present, aged respectively 77 and 75 years. The descendants of the children of Jabez Gerould, the Smithfield pioneer, living at that date (Sept. 15, 1874) nnumbered 335; 92 others were dead, giving a grand total of 390 descendants of the seven boys and one girl who played in the cabin in the wilds of Smithfield in 1801. Seventeen of those descendants served in the war of the Rebellion, and five were killed of whom those present had knowledge, and others served in the same cause whose names were not reported. Gen. Alfred H. Terry, of Fort Fisher fame, and the hero of many later gallant exploits, married a member of the Gerould family, she being born on the self-same day with her husband. D. D. Gerould and his wife also were born on the same day.

Phineas Piercet came from Poultney, Vt., about 1800, and settled about two miles northwest of the centre, on the property now owned by Edgar Wood. He enlisted in July, 1814, in the United States service, in a volunteer regiment under Col. Dobbins, and went to the Niagara fron- tier, and was killed in a skirmish with the enemy in Sep- tember of that year. Joshua Eames, who enlisted with Mr. Pierce, was also an early settler of the township. He died in the service, in October of that year, of disease. Col. Samuel Satterlee enlisted at the same time. Mrs. Eunice Satterlee, widow of the colonel, died in Smithfield, in Feb- rnary, 1869, at the age of ninety-two years. She was born in Connecticut in February, 1777, and her father, John Pierce, soon after her birth, removed to Wyoming valley, where he was killed at the battle and massacre in July, 1778. Her mother escaped with little Eunice, then aged about eighteen months, to the mountains, and partly led and partly carried her across the wilderness for sixty miles to the settlements on the Delaware river, from whence they returned to Connecticut. She married another man named John Pierce, and by him had one son, John L. Pierce, who was living in 1874, at the age of ninety years, in Smith- field.

Constant Williams eame from Williamstown, Mass., in 1804, and moved west about 1818. James Doty now occupies the Williams location, about two miles northeast of the centre.

In 1800, Solomon Morse,t from Poultney, Vt., and Samuel Kellogg, from the same place, came and settled in the township. J. L. Jones now occupies the farm Mr. Morse located on, and Sevellon Wilcox occupies Kellogg's original location. Morse died in 1816, leaving two sons and two daughters; the sons settled near Troy, and the danghters married and went west. Kellogg was a elothier by trade, and the inventor of a machine for shearing eloth, which revolutionized the manufacture of woolen goods, but brought no pecuniary benefit to the inventor. He was an

* See portrait in history of Shesbequin.

+ Phineas Pieree applies for No. 40 of Smithfield, of which he bought the possession of N. Satterlee.

Numbers 38 and 39 were assigned to Phineas Pieree, not being covered by Daniel Satterlee.

¿ Lots numbers 11, 14, and 35 in Smithfield taken up by Solomon Morse, on the original right of Solomon Morse, deceased, and elaimed by his heirs, and the right of James Frisbie elaimed by P. Morse.

No. 25 taken up by Samuel Kellogg on the original right of Eleazer Crary, of Wilkes-Barre, June 28, 1800 .- Sus. Co. Records.

Photo. by B. L. Wright, Cautou.

J. G. Bullock

The subject of this sketch was born in Halifax, Windham Co., Vt., Feb. 25, 1805. He was a son of Darius and Chloe Bullock. His father was one of the most prominent men in Halifax. He held the office of town elerk thirty- six years; of selectman, forty years; of justice of the peace, thirty-eight years ; he was a member of the Vermont leg- islature fifteen years ; was in the military department ten to fifteen years, and probate judge two years. It is believed that no other man in Vermont has sustained civil office in so many different departments so long a period. He died Oct. 28, 1833, aged seventy-two years. Jesse E. Bullock came on horseback with a valise to Smithfield, Bradford Co., Pa., when he was nineteen years of age. At the age of twenty-one he returned to Vermont, and was married to Sophrona Grant. He then came back to Smithfield, and went into the mercantile business, which he followed very successfully for a period of forty years, principally at Le Raysville, but also at Smithfield, Athens, and Canton. His wife died March 30, 1839. He married for his second wife Margaret B. Wright, daughter of Rufus and Betsey Wright, of Smithfield, by whom he had two children, viz., Edward and George, of whom George only is living. For

his third wife he married Betsey Gerould, a daughter of Ziba and Eliza Gerould, who emigrated from Newtown, Conn., in 1800. Her father died at eighty-one years of age. Her mother is still living, aged eighty-one. They had one son, Charles E., who is living with his mother. Mr. Bullock was justice of the peace twenty-three years. He was a member of the old Whig party, but joined the Republican party at its organization. He was a member of the Baptist church, being one of its most prominent and liberal sup- porters.

Mr. Bullock, as a merchant and citizen, was universally esteemed for his uprightness in all his business transactions. By means of excellent management he accumulated a large fortune. As a justice of the peace few men surpassed him in clear and correct decision. He always counseled settle- ment, if possible, before having recourse to law. The long period which he was in office is a practical test of the equity of his judicial career. He was a man of very strong at- tachments. When he became acquainted with a person, he proved one of the truest and firmest of friends. He died Sept. 27, 1875, of a combination of diseases incident to old age.

DR. DARIUS BULLOCK.

UW YOU

Photo. by C. F. Cook, Wilkes-Barre.

REV. C. C. CORSS.

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

and Daniel Allen came, all of them with families. George Tompkinson came in 1820. He was a sailor during the war of 1812 in the United States service, and served the greater portion of the time on the frigate "President," under Commodore Rogers, and entertained his neighbors with his graphic accounts of his " moving accidents by flood" and " hairbreadth 'seapes."'

Conrad Hartman, a Ilessian, and a very worthy man, came to reside in the township some time previous to 1816. He was forced into the service of the Elector of Hesse- Cassel, on the latter's contract with George III., and brought to America to assist the British king in subduing his rebellious subjects, the colonists. He was under Col. Rahl, and was taken prisoner at Trenton, where the colonel was killed, in December, 1776. When his comrades re- turned to Germany he concealed himself in a chimney, and remained there until the shipping left the harbor. He married in this country, and had two children, a son and daughter. His son was killed on the Niagara frontier, where they resided, by a foray of a small body of British troops, in April, 1813. Soon after this the father came to reside with his daughter in this township, where he re- mained until his death in March, 1828. The daughter, Mrs. Almira Cranmer, was, in 1870, the oldest resident living in the place in point of oeeupancy, having been there seventy years.

Nehemiah Beach and family came into the township in 1818, and lived with his wife to past eighty-five years.

PIONEER ENTERPRISES.

Reuben Mitchell erected the first framed building in the township, a dwelling-house, and Nehemiah Tracy built the second one in 1805.

The first saw-mill was erected by Phineas Pierce in or before 1806, and Mr. Tracy built the second one. The first grist-mill was ereeted in 1808, by Solomon Morse. This stood about one-fourth of a mile west of the centre. The first, and for many years the only, school-house in the town was built in 1807. It was a log building, and an- swered for school purposes for the whole settlement. It was located about half a mile east of the centre. Ephraim Gerould taught the first school in it. Schools were niain- tained for a few weeks or months each year for several years, the teachers being paid for their services in labor by those who hired them. The first framed school-house was built at the eentre in 1818. The first store was opened in 1833, where a permanent stock was kept up for sale by Lyman Durfey, and about the same time Selden Tracy opened the second one.

The first death that occurred in the township was that of one of the children of Reuben Mitchell, who died before 1797. The first white child born in the township was also a member of the same family, also previous to that date.

The first church edifice was erected in 1811 by the Con- gregational society. It was a small one, but was used by that society until 1861, when their present elegant struc- ture was erected. Rev. John Bascom was their first pastor, who came here in May, 1813, and was ordained in Jan- nary, 1814. Samuel Kellogg, Deacon Solomon Morse, and Nathan Fellows, with some of their children, were duly

organized as a Congregational church before leaving their homes in Rutland, Vt., and all came to Smithfield in 1801, thus transferring the church from the Green mountains and transplanting it in the shadows of the Alleghanies. The church so organized has continued to the present time, though all of its original members have passed to their rest.

In 1810 a Baptist church was organized, and Rev. Jonathan Stone was its first pastor, who came here in the spring of 1814, and was ordained in June, 1815 ; the meet- ing for the ordination was held in the barn of Samuel Wood.

In 1819 this society built a large meeting-house, being 36 by 50 feet, with 22-feet posts, all of heavy timbers, and well garnished with studs and braces. At the raising of this church the " Smithfield boys" had the body of the building up, and the plates on, in fifty-six minutes from the time they began work.

The further history of these churches will be found in the general history of the church in the history of the county.

A literary society was organized in the township in 1821, the members being David Farnsworth, Ansel Scott, Harry Bird, Buckley Tracy, and Darius Bullock,-all young single men, except the latter. It was continued for some years to the advantage and benefit to its members and others. It is a creditable fact to the township that it has furnished more than a dozen members of the bar and several highly useful clergymen and physicians.

INCIDENT AND REMINISCENCE.

In the year 1820, about the 20th of January, a sad and frightful accident occurred, by which the wife and child of Austin Kellogg lost their lives, being burned to death, or suffocated. Mrs. Kellogg had been " hatchelling" flax,- some forty pounds being about completed,-from which the lint or cotton had filled the room with particles more or less fine. It was supposed a coal of fire fell from the fire- place into this lint or loose tow, when it immediately blazed into flame, filling the room. A sister ran out of the house for help, and escaped ; a little girl, Louisa Kellogg (after- wards Mrs. Van Dusen), also stepped out of doors, and also escaped harm. Mrs. Kellogg, as it was supposed, took an infant child from the cradle, and went into a bedroom, as the only avenue of escape, when the flames followed her as she opened the door, by which she was overwhelmed or suffocated, as otherwise she might have escaped through the window.

On the 20th of July, 1847, a singular occurrence trans- pired, which is related as follows : The day was an extremely pleasant one even for that time of the year, the heavens were apparently cloudless, with the exception of a few fleecy cumuli, which skirted Pisgah or rested on the Towanda mountains, and the inhabitants, busily engaged in their various avocations, had failed to notice a small black cloud, which, without intercepting the rays of the sun, had as- sumed a vertical position over the village. A vivid flash of lightning, followed instantaneously by a heavy report of thunder, suddenly and unexpectedly arrested the atten- tion of all, and in a few moments it was announced that a lady in the village, Mrs. Sterry Durfey, was killed by light-

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

ning. All who could at once rushed to the house, where they found the lady apparently lifeless, and any attempt at resuscitation seemed wholly useless. However, an attempt was made, by a plentiful affusion of cold water, and, to the great satisfaction of everybody, was crowned with complete success.

The fluid struek the summit of the roof and followed down a rafter to the plate, both of which were badly shiv- ered. From the plate it went through the chamber floor and plastering, making but a small puncture, and struck a clock, to which it was probably attracted by the iron weights. From the clock the fluid went, without any apparent con- duetor, to Mrs. Durfey, and was supposed to have been attracted by her spectacles and gold beads, both of which, it was said, were partially melted. The beads were quite black and smoky, and her neck was severely burned and blistered. From Mrs. Durfey's head it descended to one foot, leaving a very perceptible and painful trace as it passed, and, destroying one of her slippers, disappeared or expended its foree in the cellar.

A serious calamity befell Isaac Ames soon after the arrival of the Becket colony, in 1810. A bear was making nightly depredations in his cornfield and that of his neigh- bor. Having ascertained the lair of the animal, they watched for him with their rifles, each taking a different side of the swamp wherein he lay. After some waiting, Mr. Ames, in changing his position, came within the ob- servation of his fellow-watcher, who mistook him for Bruin, and at once lodged a bullet in the fleshy part of his thigh. Ames lingered in pain for some months, and finally returned to Massachusetts, where the ball was extracted and he re- covered.

Another instance of watching a deer lick is given, where- in Christopher Eldridge and Samuel Satterlee played the parts, assisted by a third, whose presence was more formid- able than pleasing. They selected a dark night, and Eld- ridge posted himself in the top of a small, bushy hemlock, while Satterlee lay down by a log, and the latter was soon sleeping soundly. The man up the tree heard a slight noise below, and looking down discovered by the dim star- light the glaring eyes of some animal which appeared to have its feet on the log. He at once aimed his piece be- tween the two eyes and fired, and descending found that he had lodged a bullet in the brain of a panther of the largest size. Satterlee was wide awake the rest of the evening.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

REV. CHARLES CHAPIN CORSS

descended from a long line of Puritan ancestors. His great-great-grandfather was in Deerfield, Mass., where he died in 1696, and his great-grandfather died in Greenfield,

in 1783. Here his grandfather was born. His father, Asher Corss, was also born in the last-named town, and married Luey Grennell. Here also Charles Chapin was born, May 22, 1803.

C. C. Corss was fitted for college in Hadley academy, Mass., and entered Amherst eollege in 1826, from which he was graduated with honor in 1830. After teaching one year he spent three years in Princeton theological sem- inary, leaving it in the fall of 1834. He was licensed to preach the gospel February, 1834, by the Hampshire asso- ciation, Mass.

In December, 1834, he went to Kingston, Pa., where he remained a little more than two years, supplying the Kings- ton church one-half of the time. The other half was spent in missionary labor at different points in the Wyoming and Lackawanna valleys. At that time there were only four Presbyterian houses of worship in the valley ; one of these, at Forty fort, seldom used, was built for a union house. The other three, excepting Wilkes-Barre, were mere school- house-looking buildings. At this time Hanover, Wilkes- Barre, and Kingston were the only Presbyterian churches in the valley. In the Lackawanna valley there was not a house for religious worship belonging to any denomination, At that time Pittston was not even a village, and Scranton had no existence.

August, 1836, he was ordained sine titulo by the presby- tery of Susquehanna, at a meeting held in Smithfield; and Sept. 1, 1836, he married Miss Ann Hoyt, daughter of Ziba and Naney (née Hurlbut) Hoyt, of Kingston, Pa., where a son of Mr. Corss, Dr. Frederick Corss, A.M., now resides, and enjoys an extensive practice as a physician and surgeon.

In 1837, Mr. Corss moved to Athens, Pa., and became the supply of the church there. That had been a " plan of union" church. A portion of its members were organized by presbytery into a Presbyterian church, and Mr. Corss was installed their pastor Feb. 27, 1838. This relation continued until June 16, 1847, when it was dissolved. While at Athens, however, his time was divided between Athens and Smithfield. He went immediately from Athens to Smithfield, and supplied that church the whole time until Jan. 24, 1869. After this he preached at Barclay one year, and from that time until the present (1878) he has supplied the Reformed Presbyterian church in Ulster every alternate Sabbath.

In 1851 his wife died, and in 1866 he married Miss Lucelia Phelps, of Smithfield. In 1873 he received the honorary degree of A.M. from Amherst college. Mr. Corss, though he has nearly reached his fourscore years, still enjoys good health and unimpaired mental vigor, and has always had the respect of his brethren in the ministry on account of his superior scholarship, his clear and logical views of truth, and his irreproachable personal character.

Charles, the oldest son, is a graduate of Lafayette college, studied, and is settled at Loek Haven, Pa.

SOUTH CREEK.

THIS township is in the northern tier of towns, and in the northwestern part of the county. South creek, Buck creek, and Roaring run are the principal streams.

Philo Fassett came to South Creek in 1834. He came from Vermont to Troy, Pa., in 1808, thence to this town, where he died at the age of eighty-one.

Among other early settlers in the town were Asa Gillett, John Morrison, Gideon Andrus, Isaac Baker, and Samuel Pettingill. . These all eame in prior to 1833, except Mr. Gillett, who settled several years later. Isaac Baker had a grist-mill on South creek .*

In the neighborhood of Gillett's, there was an early settler by the name of Ezekiel Baker, one of the very first in that section. He claimed no relationship to Isaac Baker, who was located farther down the creek. Hosea, son of Ezekiel Baker, took an active part in the pioneer develop- ment of that section of country.

Jesse Moore was also an early comer. It is claimed that he and Mr. Baker were the first to break ground in the township. The hills were at that date covered with a dense and unbroken forest; along the streams was heavy pine timber.

George Dunham, though a later comer, deserves mention. Hle came from Windham, in this county. He cleared up a large amount of land, was an active man and reliable eitizen. N. Y. Glines eame a few years later. He was a justice of the peace, an active and good citizen, and raised a family of sons and daughters, who lived and died here.

N. P. Fassett, son of the Philo Fassett previously men- tioned, says, " We had no trouble about the Connecticut title; that had been disposed of before we eame. The lands belonged to the Bingham estate. The Govetts' lands reached to the ridge dividing Bently from South Creek. The settlers first went and made possession, and then sold . from one to another their possessory right or title. There was an 1100-acre tract, on which some of the settlers had been located for thirty years or more, and were making ar- rangements to purchase the Bingham title; but a Dr. Seeley ' stole a mareh' on them, bought the Bingham title, and demanded of the settlers what they deemed an exorbi- tant price, which they refused to pay. Seeley served writs of ejectment upon them, whereupon the settlers combined to resist his title. Suit was commenced against my father (Philo Fassett), and the cause was tried in the Bradford County conrt. Elisha Moore, who was former owner of the possession, was a witness in the case .; The settlers beat

Seeley on the ground of possession. This Mr. Moore was a brother of Jesse. Another brother, Asa, lived just north of us, over the State line. My father bought his possession of Mrs. Andrus, a widow woman.

" Beginning at Asa Moore's south line (which was just over the New York State line), there were woods for two miles, without a break, until you came to Gideon Andrus' place ; from there to our place was a half-mile, which was cleared ; then came another half-mile of woods to Thomp- son's, with nearly a mile of woods to the next neighbor. Beginning at the State line, the active settlers were Glines, Fassett, Thompson, and Gillett. These men made the town. Jesse Moore might be added also; he was a deacon, a quiet, conservative man. My father was a Whig ; so also were Mr. Gillett and Mr. Glines. Mr. Thompson was a Democrat, and the leader of the party in the town."}

The stage-route from Williamsport to Elmira passed down South Creek, and Gillett's was about the "half-way place" between Elmira and Troy. There were nine public- houses between the two last-named points, three of which were in South Creek, and kept respectively by Ezekiel Baker, Hervey Jones, and Mr. Gillett.

Hervey Jones settled at Gillett's about 1830-31, and kept a tavern where John Gillett now lives ; he came from Hartford, Conn., died in South Creek, but was buried at Elmira. Rev. Simeon Jones, his father, was one of the pioneer preachers of this section. Jesse Moore came from Orange Co., N. Y., in 1804, and settled the place now occu- pied by his daughter-in-law, Mrs. Jesse (Jones) Moore. He had to cut a road to get through from Southport, N. Y., when he first came into the country. Jesse Moore died in 1844; his wife died July 31, 1855, aged nearly eighty years. Jesse Moore, Jr., died March 6, 1872, over seventy years old. His wife was a daughter of David Reeves, of Orange Co., N. Y. Elisha, brother of Jesse Moore, lived on the Fassett place. ITis daughter, Hannah, married Elder Isaac Lake, and is now living near Le Roy. Asa Moore married Mercy Bentley, whose father was a resident contemporary with the Moores.

We record some of Mrs. Jesse Moore's " recollections," as having a bearing upon the early settlement of South Creek : " When my father-in-law came, there was a man by the name of Benjamin Seeley, who had a little clearing about a mile above. They did not have a spear of grass, and had to cut down trees, on which they let their cattle browse. Seeley's descendants live in Wells township. Solomon Bovier was also an early settler. He lived on the Dr. Smith place, and was a relative of Seeley, whose land joined his own. Beyond them was a family named Potter,

¿ Narrative of N. P. Fassett, Esq.

* A grandson of his is now in the clerk's office of Chemung Co., N. Y.

t At this time he was living in Millport, N. Y.

374

JOHN SALISBURY.

CAPT JOHN SALISBURY.

MRS. JOHN SALISBURY.

RESIDENCE OF CAPT JOHN SALISBURY, SPRINGFIELD , PA .

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

who came early, and took up their farm before any clearing had been made at that point, now known as Snedeckerville. These were all the settlers at that time to the end of the township ; from my husband's to the Cross-roads, there was only the Seeley house and clearing for some time.

" Aarou Stiles, father of Stephen, was living on the first little clearing below us, where John Gillett now lives. Gillett owns a part of the place. They were here when we came. The old people died here. Stephen Stiles delighted in lawsuits, and next to having one himself, he desired to have one for some one else. The family have all left the township."

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History of Bradford County, Pennsylvania, with Illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 94

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