USA > Pennsylvania > Bradford County > History of Bradford County, Pennsylvania, with Illustrations and biographical sketches > Part 98
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Hon. James Tracy Hale, the oldest son of Reuben Hale, was born in Towanda township, Oct. 14, 1810. When he was about fifteen years of age the death of his father devolved the chief support of the family upon him, a relation he discharged most faithfully. Some time after his father's death he entered the office of the prothonotary of Bradford County
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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
as principal clerk. On retiring from that position he entered upon the study of the law, in the office and under the direction of his uncle, Elias W. Hale, of Lewiston, Mifflin Co., Pa., and was admitted to the bar of that county, Feb. 28, 1832. In 1835, he moved to Bellefonte, where, on May 6 of the same year, he married Miss Jane W. Huston, daughter of Hon. Chas. Huston, associate justice of the supreme court of Pennsylvania. He rapidly rose in the profession, occupying a leading and prominent posi- tion at the bar. He was engaged in the trial of all the principal causes tried in the several courts of Mifflin, Clear- field, and Clinton, until April 10, 1851, when he was appointed president-judge of what is now the twenty-fifth judicial district, to fill a vacancy. He held the position but a short time, until Dec. 1, 1851, but discharged the duties with such dispatch, promptness, ability, and impartiality, that he achieved a most excellent reputation as a jurist. He resumed his practice on retiring from the bench, and continued it until about 1856, when other enterprises in coal and timber lands and railroads engrossed his attention, to the exclusion to a great extent of his professional busi- ness. He embarked his means, industry, energy, and finan- cial skill in the construction of the Tyrone and Clearfield railroad, of which he was president from 1856 to 1860. He carried the road through the financial crisis of 1857, notwithstanding great difficulties and embarrassments, com- pleting it and putting it into running order about 1859. It remains a monument to the enterprise, energy, persever- ance, and skill of Judge Hale, more durable than granite.
Judge Hale was an ardent Whig in politics, and was a successful advocate of the principles of his party and a pop- ular stump speaker. When that party gave way to the Republican organization he united with the latter, and in 1858 was elected to congress from the 18th district, com- posed of the counties of Mifflin, Centre, Clinton, Lycoming, Potter, and Tioga. He was re-elected in 1860 and 1862, in the latter year being elected as an independent candidate over the regular Republican nomince, the district being largely Republican.
He retired from congress March 4, 1865, and immedi- ately resumed his professional calling, arguing, on March 31, a cause with great force and ability, though quite un- well. The day following he was quite sick, and grew worse, until April 6, when he died. He was buried in Bellefonte. His biographer, Adam Hoy, Esq., his law partner, in closing, thus quotes :
"His life was gentle, and the elements So moved in him that nature might stand up And say to all the world, This was a man."
Judge Hale left five children surviving.
Reuben White Hale, the second son of Reuben Hale, died in 1835, at the age of twenty-one years. He was a young man of great promise.
Maj. Elias W. Hale, the youngest son, is the only survivor of the family. He was born in 1816, and now owns and is living on the old homestead. He was born on and has always lived on the farm, and is a successful farmer and business man. In 1850 he received the appointment of deputy United States marshal, and as such enumerated the census of Towanda. In 1864 was elected presidential
elector for this congressional district. He married Miss Mary I. Taylor, of Glastonbury, Conn., in 1854, and has now five children.
Henry Head came from Dutchess Co., N. Y., with a large family of boys. He lived on what is now the Cole farm. Samuel Strickland first lived on the farm. He had been in the army and came to Towanda from Wilkes-Barre, and moved from here to Wysox. The widow of Head and her children removed to Honeoye, N. Y., the Coles buying her farm. They came in from Macedonia.
William Goff lived near Mr. Wythe. He came to To- wanda from Unadilla, subsequently to Mr. Wythe. A Mr. Heacock came to the township before 1799, and settled for a time on a lot adjoining Fox's land.
Usual Carter was also an early settler, next above Salis- bury's. He came from the Drowned Lands in Orange Co., N. Y. It is said of him " he had a great deal of wit and a number of children,"-Aaron, Moses, David, Enoch, and one daughter, Susan. She married a man named Cox. The old people and the sons went west. Moses returned, however, and remained in Bradford. The daughter moved to the State road, where she died.
Capt. George Alger settled on a place joining Mr. Wythe, the next above him. They came from Chatham Four Corners, Columbia Co., N. Y. He had one son, Ezra, who removed from the county. Capt. Alger dicd in 1803, and was buried in his garden. His wife survived him many years, being entirely blind for the last twenty years of her life. She was buried beside her husband.
Job Irish came from Columbia Co., N. Y., about 1800, or before. He first settled on the Alger place, and sold it to the captain. On Aug. 16, 1800, Jehiel Franklin sold to Job Irish lots Nos. 22, 23, and 24 of Claverack, lying on Mill creek,-the farm said Jchicl then lived on, except two pieces which he conveyed to Stephen Strickland. Irish was a pettifogger, and at times a preacher. He was buried in the Cole burying-ground. His wife lived with her daughter Elizabeth, in Smithfield, with whom she died. Their children were Henry, Jedediah, Job, George, Fred- erick, Catherine, Snsie, and Polly.
Henry Salisbury came from Columbia Co., N. Y., about 1797-98. He lived and died on the Cole place. Elisha Cole married one of Mr. Salisbury's daughters, and the old people lived with them in their latter days. He had several daughters and one son; they were Henry, Eliza- beth (married Job Irish), Amy (married Elisha Cole), Cath- erine (married Luther Hinman), and Nancy (married Elisha Wythc).
In 1800 the following were residents of the township also : A Mr. Brown lived near the site of the present rail- road-crossing. Horatio and Ephraim Ladd, who removed afterwards to Albany, and Mr. Myers, the father of Wil- liam Myers, and his wife, lived opposite Daniel Bowman. Beardsley lived on Beardsley island.
There was a distillery in 1800 also in existence, and actively in operation in the township. East of the railroad, above the iron-works, was also another one of the same manufactories, where Harry Scoville now lives.
The first school-house that accommodated the people was built about 1813, on the forks of the road near Foster's, in
*
COURT HOUSE, TOWANDA. PA.
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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
what is now North Towanda. The second one was built opposite to the present residence of H. L. Scott.
Rev. Mr. Thatcher preached, and organized a Presbyte- rian church prior to 1800, but it had but a feeble and short existence. It was organized in Rudolph Fox's house. Miner York was the first Presbyterian minister who was settled in the township. He was a learned man. He died, from a hemorrhage, in the pulpit.
INDIAN JUSTICE.
During the Revolutionary war, a former settler of Brad- ford County, whose instincts of loyalty led him to esponse the cause of the crown in its contest with the colonies, to find a more congenial neighborhood wherein to express his
honest sentiments, had removed to Canada. While there, the Indians brought in six scalps, which were valued by them at $48, the British government offering eight dollars cach for fair, eurling, black, or blonde, indiscriminately. The Tory appropriated these reminiscences of Indian war- fare, and sold them for six dollars per piece. The Indians soon found out who had despoiled them of their property, and taking the man out, they gave him a most severe castigation, not for stealing the scalps, they said, but because the white man sold them below contract price.
POPULATION.
The population of the township in 1850 was 1107; in 1860, 626 ; in 1870, 916.
TOWANDA BOROUGH .*
THE present site of the borough of Towanda, when the first settlers came to it, in 1784, was covered with a dense growth of timber, and shrubs so notedly as to be known by the older settlers as " Canewood." It now contains the dwellings, business-houses, churches, and school-houses for the accommodation of five thousand inhabitants.
Another has aptly described the beautiful surroundings of Towanda, which we quote : "The town is beautifully located. Standing on the Wysox end of the bridge, it spreads itself out before the beholder like a pre-Raphaelite picture, glowing in the sunlight and shadows. The fore- ground of the landscape is the broad, blue mirror of the Susquehanna and the long line of stately stores and ware- houses of Main street, broken by the spires of the court- house and the Presbyterian church. While rising in ter- races, peeping out from the beautiful foliage which half conceals them, the comfortable homes and neat residences on Second, Third, and Fourth streets, clinging to the hilly background, recall to the mind visions of the celebrated hanging gardens of ancient Babylon. It is a scene of natural beauty that is rare in its combinations of natural and artificial adornments,-one that is rare in any country, even in our own favored land, so beautiful by nature, so adorned by human endeavor."
The village was united with the township for municipal purposes until 1828, when it was incorporated as a borough. It improved very slowly until the canal and railroad were built through it, which gave to its growth a great impetus. Land in its vieinity, when it was first laid out, sold from 50 cents to $2.50 per acre, side-lots in the borough for $50, and corner-lots in eligible situations sold for $100; and in 1877 lots on Main street sold for $50 to $150 per front foot, and the land in the immediate vicinity sold for $100 to $150 per acre.
The borough contains 5 hotels, 2 banks, 3 public halls, 14 stores, 6 churches, a college, a graded free school, society
lodges of various orders, 2 steam fire-engines, 1 hand-engine, a hook-and-ladder company, mowing machines, nail, fanning- mill, window-sash, blind, boot and shoe, and furniture manufactories, a steam grist- and planing-mill. Three rail- roads pass through the borough, and a fourth one is in con- templation.
The population of the borough in 1850 was 1135; in 1860, 1571; in 1870, 2696, of whom 323 were foreign born and 87 colored.
When first laid out the village had but a single street,- a narrow wagon-road along what is now Main street, called the "Tioga Point" road. The ravines near Bridge and Lombard streets were erossed by bridges of logs covered with planks, which, becoming rotten, made their transit dangerous. Judge La Porte once fell through the lower one with his team, but fortunately without injury to his person or horses.
When Bradford County was organized, in 1812, for judicial purposes, commissioners were appointed to select a county seat of justice, and were limited by law to a radius of two miles from its geographical centre; the Susquehanna river, at Towanda, forming the eastern line of the radius. This being the point towards which the valleys of the Sugar, Towanda, and Wysox ereeks and the Susquehanna con- verged, the stake for the site of the court-house was set by the commissioners at that point, on a tract of land in the warrant name of William Kepple, parts of which, as appears from the town-plat, were owned by William Means, Thomas Overton, Shepard & Dorrance, Ebenezer B. Greg- ory, and Harry Spalding. The portion owned by William Means was from the square below South street-so called because it was the southernmost street of the plat-up to the run between Pine and Spruce, now called Bridge street; Overton and Shepard & Dorrance owned from Means' line up to Beech, now called State street ; Gregory owned from their line to the western terminus of Maple street, whence his line diverged northeastwardly to a point near the corner of Tanner and Second streets, whenee it diverged still
# Contributed by Hon. William Patton.
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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
farther eastwardly to the river, at the terminus of Tanner street ; Overton and Spalding owned all north of Gregory's line.
The proprietors laid out the town at the site fixed upon for the court-house in 1812, which in the original plat was called " Overton," and is so named in the deed conveying the public or court-house square, and a lot on State, below Main street, for county offices, to " Joseph Kinney, Justus Gaylord, and William Myer, commissioners of the county, and their successors in office, in trust for the use of the county, described as being a part of a large tract ealled ' Canewood,' and patented to William Kepple, May 17, 1785; who conveyed the same to Adam Kuhn, Aug. 24, 1795 ; who conveyed the same to Thomas Overton, Oct. 24, 1810; being the traet of land where the stake was stuck for the county town of Bradford County, now called Overton, containing two acres, more or less." The other lot on State street contained half an acre.
Efforts were made to call the town " Meansville," in honor of William Means, one of the proprietors, and it generally went by that name for several years. The contest over the name assumed a political phase, the Democrats favoring the name of Meansville, and the opposition that of Towanda. In 1815 the editor of the Bradford Gazette, Burr Ridgway, offered, "in the interest of peace and harmony," the name of Williamstown, as a compromise, but neither side were satisfied with it. In 1828, James P. Bull and William Patton, leading Democrats of the county, who had previously influeneed the senator from the district, Judge Ryan, to oppose its incorporation, finally yielded to the strong eurrent of popular feeling, and ac- quieseed in its incorporation by the name of Towanda, which in the Indian dialect was pronouneed To- wan-daugh, and by the primitive inhabitants in its vicinity Townday. The conflicting claims under the Connectieut and Pennsyl- vania titles were compromised and settled.
The courses of the streets were laid north 2 degrees east, and north 88 degrees west, and were laid out 3 rods, or 493 feet, in width, except Front, now called Main street,- the principal street,-Poplar, and Beach or State streets, which were 4 rods or 66 feet wide. From the river west- wardly the streets were 5 squares in length, and were called Front (now Main), Second, Third, and Fourth streets ; from south to north they were ealled South, Spruee, Pine, Pop- lar, Maple, Beech, Lombard, Tanner, Chestnut, and Walnut. Owing to the divergence of the line of the Kepple warrant from near the western terminus of Lombard street towards the river, being north 50 degrees east, some of the squares along the northern diagonal boundary line were reduced to fraetional parts of squares. As Elizabeth street (so called in honor of Elizabeth Means by her grandson, Col. John F. Means) and other streets have been laid out south of South street, the name of that street has been by common consent changed to Washington street. Since the bridge over the Susquehanna was located at the eastern terminus of Spruce street, that street has been known as Bridge . street ; and as the State road passes westwardly through the borough, and diagonally erosses Beech street, and was made to conform to it, Beech now goes by the name of State street.
In 1868 the borough couneil appointed William H. Morgan engineer, to make survey of all the open streets and alleys, and report the same as open upon the ground, which was all properly done June I, 1869. The property- owners were notified that a corrected map of all open streets and alleys of the borough, with proposed location, had been prepared under directions of town council, and objections must be filed in writing within five days, etc .; after which time the council ordained the width of the several streets, and directed the setting of permanent stonc and iron headers indieating the lines of the same.
SAYRE & CO.'S ADDITION.
The borough limits were extended north in 1867, so as to take in the farm of Wealthy Ann Kingsbury, and a portion of the same adjacent to the line of railroad was sold to Robert H. Sayre & Co., which was subdivided in 1868 into village lots, since which time a number of fine houses have been erected and a large proportion of the lots sold.
JAMES WARD'S ADDITION.
James Ward's property lies between Sayre & Co.'s addi- tion and Locust avenue, and has been subdivided into lots on the east and west boundaries, leaving his residence on the height of ground in the centre.
HOUSTON STREET SUBDIVISION.
The property of Mrs. Houston and James Foster has been subdivided into lots and nearly all sold, with grades of streets reported for record.
MERCUR & RUSSELL'S ADDITION.
This subdivision ineludes a portion of the enlarged River- side cemetery and all the lots lying between Locust avenue, York avenue, and Dietrick's line. This plat is all occupied by buildings.
MRS. BARSTOW'S SUBDIVISION.
This plat of ground lies between York avenue and Main street, north of the fine residence of William H. Morgan on that street.
BARTLETT'S ADDITION.
This subdivision lies south of Bridge street and west of Main. Sinee 1865 lots have sold rapidly. This property, in connection with the estate of David Cash on the north, has furnished considerable revenue to the borough from its rapid growth.
ELLIOTT'S ADDITION.
The estate of Thomas Elliott, which had been withheld from the market for many years, was subdivided by Wm. H. Morgan, civil engineer, in 1871, and put upon the market by Edward T. Elliott, proprictor, since which time lots have sold rapidly. Fourth street has already been extended through the property.
HENRY WARD'S ADDITION.
This addition was laid out in 1872, and comprises thirteen aeres. It is composed of seventy-six lots, which average 50 by 135 feet. The new school-house is located on this addition.
0
J.b. Adams
The subject of this sketch was born in New Marlborough, Berkshire Co., Mass., Aug. 28, 1812. He was the eldest son of a family of four children of Charles Adams, of New England birth and of English descent. His early life was spent on the farm with his father, receiving only the bene- fit of a common-school education, but this so impressed his mind with the importance of an education that, while in the field at work, or during any leisure time, he was a constant student, and very early in life gave unmistakable evidence of the possession of much intellectual ability. At the age of sixteen he became a teacher, and taught school during winters, and with his earnings spent his time in school during summers. At the age of twenty he began the study of the law with Benjamin Sheldon, father of Judge Sheldon, of Illinois. Afterwards he came to Barrington and continued his studies, and at about the age of twenty- two came to Wilkes-Barre, and entered the law-office of Judge Conningham, but finished his study of the law with the late Judge Wilmot, of Towanda, Pa., and was admitted to the practice of the supreme court of the State at the age of twenty-four years. He at once opened an office, in partnership with Mr. Edward Overton, of Towanda, with whom he continued in partnership for several years. He was afterwards a partner with Judge Mercur and others, and continued the practice of his profession in Towanda until his death, June 18, 1866.
From the time of his admission to the bar up to the time of his death he occupied a high position among his professional brethren, and as a forcible and persuasive speaker, especially in cases where the sympathies of a jury could be reached, he was unequaled by any member of the bar of Bradford County. His plain Anglo-Saxon vocabu- lary conveyed his meaning unmistakably, and at such times it was a frequent occurrence for both jury and bystanders
to be bathed in tears. Both in his professional and private business he was scrupulously honest, always regarding the oath he had taken " to behave himself in his office as at- torney with all good fidelity to the court as to the client." His honesty was not of the kind that it is a shame for a man to be without, but was inwrought in his very being, until for him to have done a dishonorable aet would have been doing violenee to every inclination of his nature. And then, again, his warm, sympathetic nature led him at all times to dis- courage litigation, and his energies were directed, first, to preventing it by painstaking and careful preparation of the papers he was called upon to write, and the admirable manner in which he executed the other business intrusted to him ; and in case litigation had been or was about to be commenced, he bent all his energies to bring about, if possi- ble, an amicable settlement. Few men leave a brighter professional record behind them.
In the year 1837, Aug. 13, he married Miss Lucy M., daughter of George and Rosseter Pynchon, of Great Bar- rington, Mass. Her father was great-grandson of John Pynchon, who was a native of England. To Mr. and Mrs. Adams were born five children : John, residing in Towanda ; Henry M., who became a lieutenant of Company I, of the 57th Regiment Pennsylvania volunteers, was in the service nearly three years, being among the first to enlist in the cause of the Union, and was killed before Petersburg just before the close of the War of the Rebellion ; Samuel C., resides at home; Lucy (deceased); Mary E., residing at home.
Mrs. Adams survives her husband, being born May 28, 1815. She is a lady of great devotion to her family. At the age of sixteen she united with the Protestant Episco- pal church, and at the time of writing this sketch, is the oldest member of the Episcopal church of Towanda.
0
James Elliott
James Elliott was born in Livingston Manor, Columbia Co., N. Y., in the year 1790. From what he recollects that his father said before his death, his grandfather with his five brothers emigrated from the north of Ireland to the British colonies of North America. One by the name of James married and settled at Albany, N. Y. John followed coasting, and was frequently on the North river.
His grandfather held some military office under the British government, as his old sword and eocked hat were always to be seen hanging in their place. John and Joseph Elliott, older brothers of the subject of this memoir, came to Bradford County in the spring of 1803. Joseph settled in Rome township, where he spent the latter part of his life, and died at the age of eighty-five years. The whole number of the family coming to this county finally, that year, was twenty persons, among whom were William Elliott, his father, and an aged grandmother, who died of the fever and ague, and was buried not far from the mouth of Wysox creek, and not a stone tells where she lies. His father rented a farm of Squire Means, who lived in a log house on the bank of the river, where now the village of Towanda is located. The farm consisted of upwards of one hundred acres of good corn land, and here the large family of boys had a good opportunity to develop their muscles, and provide means for the support of the family
by cultivating the soil. William Elliott's family of four- teen, by two wives, has at this date dwindled down to three sons and two daughters. The principal staple of flesh-food on their first coming to this county was shad, cels, and venison.
William Elliott was a religious man of the Methodist persuasion. The subject of this sketch was the only one who embraced the Baptist faith, and was baptized in the fall of 1812 at what is now Myersburg, in company with Joel Barnes, of Orwell, and Mrs. Amos Mix, of Wysox, and is thought to be the first baptism performed in this way in this vicinity. William Elliott was a pensioner of the Rev- olutionary War. Joseph Elliott, of Wyalusing, was also a pensioner. One son of William Elliott was in the War of 1812, and two of his grandsons were killed in the War of the Rebellion of 1861.
The Elliott family, although not coming here until the country had been settled some thirty years, have contrib- uted their part in the improvements of their day. James has given great attention to pisciculture, and the necessities . of the early settlers in using fish for food may have given him greater interest in that study. He has written some very instructive and interesting treatises upon that sub- jeet, which have been justly noticed by the press of his county.
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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
COURT-IIOUSE AND JAIL.
Until the court-house was built the courts were held at the Red tavern, owned by William Means, opposite the ferry, and the jail was kept by Sheriff Rockwell, at his resi- dence in Monrocton. The deed for the public square was dated April 21, 1813, and arrangements were at once con- summated for the erection of an office for the commissioners and prothonotary, Joseph Elliott contracting for the same at $335. The office was completed and occupied August 4 of the same year.
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