History of Bradford County, Pennsylvania, with biographical selections, Part 104

Author: Bradsby, H. C. (Henry C.)
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Chicago, S. B. Nelson
Number of Pages: 1340

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MRS. SOLOME B. (RICHISON) INMAN, P. O. Gillett, widow of the late Benjamin Inman, was born in Cherry Valley, N. Y., Sep- tember 20, 1813, a daughter of Luther and Rebecca (Bell) Richison. The Richison and Inman families removed to this county about the same time, in 1831, and located in Ridgebury, and Solome was then seventeen years of age. Mr. Richison's family consisted of nine chil- dren, of whom Mrs. Inman is the fourth; she and a younger brother are all who are living of the nine, and she is now in her seventy- eighth year. They began housekeeping in a log house, sixteen feet square, with hemlock boards and basswood bark ceiling; here they lived twenty-one years as pioneers in the wilderness, enduring the hardships of all early settlers; then built a frame house, in which they lived fifteen years, when this was burnt ; they then built the house the family now occupy. Mrs. Inman reared a family of nine children-six

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY.

sons and three daughters-eight of whom grew to maturity, and five of these are now living ; four of the sons served their country in the Civil War, and one, John, lost his life in Andersonville prison. Mr. Inman lived to be seventy-three years of age, and died in 1883; his son Edward works the farm; they are general farmers, raising stock, wool, grain, and pay especial attention to dairying. Edward married Clara, daughter of Hiram and' Elizabeth Joiner, and to them were born four children ; he has been honored with the offices of asses- sor and town treasurer.

THE ADAM INNES FAMILY, Granville Centre, is one of the most important in south west Bradford county. Adam Innes, the orig- inal Scotchman of this American race, was born in Musselburgh, Scot- land, April 10, 1820, and died in Granville Centre, this county, March 10, 1886, aged sixty-five years and eleven months. He was the only son and child who grew to maturity in the family of Robert and Mar- ian Kirkwood Innes. In the old country his parents were of the mid- dle class, and he had only limited educational advantages. In his youth he was apprenticed to the tanner's trade, and his principal and important lessons in young life were industry, thoroughness and a rigid economy, and in these lay the foundation of his successes and fortune. He completed his apprenticeship, a thorough and master workman, and for some time worked in the tannery in Linlithgow, Scotland, at which place he was married, October 4, 1844, to Helen McNeil, a native of that place, born April 17, 1821, a daughter of Daniel and Mary (Duncan) McNeil, of the counties of Edinburgh and Linlithgow, respectively, who had eight children-five daughters and three sons-of whom Helen was the second in order of birth. Four years after marriage they emigrated from their native land, coming direct to America to make their future permanent home, stopping first in Norwich, New London Co., Conn., where he worked a short time at his trade, and then removed to Ulster county, N. Y., where he was in the employ of one, Abram Schultz, at whose death he secured an interest with the heirs in the tannery. In time Mr. Innes was operating the two tanneries by con- tract, and thus continued until 1865, when he removed to Granville Centre, and purchased the old Martin tannery. By this time his repu- tation for his products was widely extended. When he took hold of this establishment it was a very small affair, but he increased its capac- ity from 7,000 sides per year to 28,000, and yet the demand for his goods outran the supply. In 1870 he built the " Caledonia Tannery " at Grover, Canton township, with a capacity of 32,000 sides annually, and placed his son. Daniel, in charge. In 1880 he established the " Wallace Tannery," at Roaring Branch, with a capacity of 40,000 sides annually, under his son, John A. Adam Innes was also for some time associated with Brainard Bowen, of Troy, in the tannery there. In February, 1881, he helped to establish the First National Bank of Canton, and was elected its president ; was re-elected three times, but in January, 1885, on account of his health, he declined further service in that capacity. He was one of the promoters, and vice-president, of the Keystone Land and Cattle Company, owning a ranch and large tract of land in Dakota. In February, 1884, he became a member of

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY.

the extensive leather firm of Schultz, Innes & Co., of Nos. 111, 113 and 115 Cliff St., N. Y., which continued until his death ; was also a large stockholder in the Citizens National Bank, Towanda.

This is a mere skeleton outline of the vast business career of Adam Innes. His force of character, his clear, strong judgment, his never- questioned integrity, his broad and generous equity, justice and helpful charity were known, but slightly compared to their reality, by those who even knew him best. Exemplary in private life, and most worthy in his social mingling with the world, his strong Scotch blood was at its very best among his closest intimates, and under his family roof-tree. "A man among men"-rearing a model family, purifying the social atmosphere in which he moved, and devoting his great life to the development of his adopted country, State and neighborhood. A pro- ducer where he found barrenness and want; developing that higher and better civilization that makes this earth wholesome, and the human heart vocal with joys. No urgency from his many friends could ever induce him to stand for political office; his impulses were in a different and, it is not too much to say, a higher plane of existence. His whole nature was retiring, modest and self-abnegating in the extreme. He was a member of the Congregational Church, but his religion went out to his fellow-man and knew no sectarianism. He was buried under the auspices of the F. & A. M. Lodge of Troy, and about his fresh-opened tomb the whole community stood as deep and sincere mourners, and no man has ever been laid away that has been more grievously missed. His rare life was not a fitful fever nor a fretful dream, but a sublime reality, tinged with the golden aureole, and he sleeps well.

MRS. ADAM INNES spent her early life in her native Scotland home, and learned at the paternal knee those noble lessons of life that made her in time " a blessed mother in Israel." Her faithful and eminent husband's proudest boast to his most intimate circle of friends, when old age was coming on, was that he owed far more of his success to her than to any one, or all else; that in every important transaction, after their marriage, he consulted her, not only as an equal, but as his superior, and her approval was of supreme and last importance. She was of the most rugged of Scotch blood-patient, brave, womanly and yet of strong judgment and remarkable executive ability. In their home she was mother, the highest that can be said of mortal ; in social and friendship's wide domain she stood a constant and joyous benedic- tion, generous, Christain, kind, tender and loving in all her impulses ; first her husband, then her children, then all mankind. She was one year younger than her husband, survived him nearly two years, dying February 23, 1888, and then was laid at rest by his side-in life united, in death not separated-and they sleep sweetly in Granville Cemetery. Though painfully afflicted during the last nine years of her life with a rheumatic affection, her patient fortitude and Christain gentleness never deserted her; serene in the memory of her late departed companion, happy and content in the presence of her loving children. She awaited the end as the beautiful child nestles in its mother's bosom, and closes its eves in a sweet and dreamless sleep. Their children were five sons and three daughters : Robert, of Bodines; Daniel, and Mary C., Mrs. James

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY.

H. Eastgate, of Grover; Olivia, Mrs. Charles G. Sayles, of Granville Centre; John A., Colin A., and Helen J. Innes, of Canton, and Judson K., of Granville Centre.

DANIEL INNES, president First National Bank, Canton, was born in Linlithgow, Scotland, February 28, 1848, the second in the fam- ily of eight children born to Adam and Helen (McNeil) Innes, also na- tives of Scotland. When he was ten weeks old his parents removed to this country, and he was reared principally in Ulster county, N. Y., receiving his education in the public and high schools. He learned the tanner's trade with his father, and in the fall of 1870 was placed in charge of the Caledonia Tannery, which he still retains. He was married at Granville, this county, in 1872, to Miss Pamelia A., daughter of John and Polly (Miles) Vroman, of Canton, natives of this county and Mehoop- any, Wyoming Co., Pa., respectively. Mrs. Innes, who is the second in a family of four living children, was born in Burlington township, this county, April 4, 1849. To Mr. and Mrs. Innes were born four children, viz .: Charles Arthur, Floyd Adam, Edna Ann and Edward Richardson. Our subject has been president of the First National Bank of Canton since the spring of 1885; is one of the trustees of the hospital at Blossburg; is a stockholder in the Keystone Land and Cattle Company, of South Dakota; also a stockholder in the State Bank, of Lisbon, Dak .; is interested in the firm of Schultz, Innes & Co., of New York. He is a member of the Masonic Fraternity; Canton Lodge, No. 415; Troy Chapter, No. 261; Canton Commandery, No. 64; is also a member of the Lodge of Perfection, of Towanda, and politically he is a Republican.

JOHN A. INNES, tanner, Canton, is a native of Ulster county, N. Y., born July 20, 1855, a son of Adam and Helen (McNeil) Innes, a sketch of whom precedes this. He is the fifth in order of birth in a family of eight children, and was reared in Ulster county, N. Y., until ten years of age, when they came with the family to Granville Centre. He received a public school education, and learned the tanning trade with his father, with whom he remained until February, 1883, when he and three of his brothers bought their father's tanneries at Gran- ville Centre, Grover and Roaring Branch, the firm name being A. Innes Sons. Their product is union crop sole leather. Mr. Innes is a mem- ber of the firm of Schultz, Innes & Co., hide and leather merchants, of New York, and they have also a branch house in Boston. He is also connected with the Keystone Cattle Company, whose ranch is in South Dakota. They have 14,000 acres of hemlock timber, required for the bark; a farm near Canton containing 200 acres; fine-bred trotting horses, cattle, etc. Mr. Innes was married in Troy, September 19, 1878, to Jennie E. Williams, born in Troy township, this county, January 15, 1853, second in the family of four children of Samuel and Eliza (Clifton) Williams. To them were born six children, as follows : Edith M., Paul E. (deceased), Ralph (deceased), John A., Daniel T. and Gertrude P. Mr. Innes is a director of the First National Bank of Canton, is a member of the Masonic Fraternity, Canton Lodge, No. 415, Troy Chapter, No. 261, and Canton Commandery, No. 64 ; was emi- nent commander of the latter in 1888. Politically he is a Republican.

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY.

J. K. INNES, tanner, Granville Centre, is a native of Ulster Co., N. Y., born December 25, 1862, the youngest in the family of eight children born to Adam and Helen (McNeil) Innes. He was educated in the public school, at Granville Centre, and the graded schools at Troy; also attended the Susquehanna Collegiate Institute, at Towanda. When three years old he was brought by his parents from Ulster county, N. Y., to Bradford county, Pa., and has since resided in Granville township. He learned the tanner's trade with his father, and in the spring of 1883 took charge of the Scotia Tannery, where he has remained until the present time. The product of the tannery is 30,000 sides annually. On September 15, 1886, Mr. Innes was married in Granville township to Jennie, daughter of P. J. and Almina (Case) Catlin, natives of Schuyler county, N. Y., who had a family of three daughters of whom Mrs. Innes is the second, born in Granville township, August 30, 1867. Her father is a farmer of that township, and served his country in the Civil War; her grandfather, George Catlin, was a native of New York, has been a resident of Granville township, this county, forty years, and is now eighty-three years of age. Mr. and Mrs. Innes have had born to them one daughter, Laura A., born November 6, 1888. Our subject is a member of the Masonic Fraternity, Troy Lodge, No. 306, Troy Chapter, No. 261, Canton Commandery, No. 64; also, a member of the I. O. O. F., Granville Centre, No. 687; has passed all the chairs, and is holding the office of treasurer at the present time ; politically he is a Republican.

CHARLES N. IRVINE, farmer, Monroe township, P. O. Liberty Corners, was born in Monroe township, on the old Welch Irvine homestead, August 9, 1846, and is a son of Guy C. and Deborah A. (Hollon) Irvine, the former of whom was born August 25, 1816, a son of Welch Irvine who removed to Monroe in 1814, and was of Scotch- Irish origin ; the latter was a branch of the Hollon family, well known in Monroe. In his father's family there were two children : Lyman Welch, born January 8, 1842, who lives on the old homestead (he was in the quartermaster's department at Murfreesboro, Tenn., during the war; he married Lorania II. Van Gorder, by whom he has two children : Zilpha, born April 27, 1873, married to Clark A. Dodson, a farmer and lumberman, Shickshinny, Pa., and Deborah E., born January 12. 1877), and Charles N. The subject of this sketch spent his boyhood on the farm, was educated in the common school, also in Monroe graded school, and at twenty-one engaged in business for himself; he worked his father's farm seven years, and then located on his present home, which he had previously purchased. Mr. Irvine was married, January 26, 1874, to Miss Alice A., daughter of Wells and Mary A. (Shiner) Goff, of Monroe ; she died Septeniber 19, 1888, leaving two children : Carrie D., born November 14, 1875, and Guy C., born March 28, 1879. Mr. Irvine was afterward married, March 18, 1891, to Miss Sarah, daughter of F. Wilson and Mary (Hanna) Frutchey, of Frenchtown. Lyman and Charles N. Irvine are Republicans in poli- tics, and have been freqnent holders of town offices in Monroe township.

JAMES W. IRVINE, merchant, Liberty Corners, was born in Monroe, this county, March 6, 1825, and is a son of Welch and Mary

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY.

M. (Kester) Irvine, natives of Cumberland and Union counties, respec- tively. Welch Irvine was of Scotch descent, his wife of German. His parents fled from the Indians, from Northumberland county to Cumberland county, and while there in camp Welch was born, but his mother died soon after; the exact date of his birth is unknown, but it is thought to be not far from June 15, 1780. George, the brother of Welch, removed to Bradford county ; coming up Lycoming creek, which he crossed thirty-six times, he arrived in Fowlertown after dark, December 17, 1813. Andrew -- a half-brother-located in Towanda, in 1812, where he erected and operated a tannery till 1836, when he removed to Warren county, Pa., where he bought property and engaged extensively in lumbering and farming. On the property which he purchased, and which is now in possession of his children, are several productive oil and gas wells. In 1814, Welch removed and located on the farm now owned by E. T. Parks, where he remained till sometime in 1815, when he moved onto the land which he bought at Liberty Corners, and followed farming and boat-building until his death, which occurred February 12, 1850. In his family there were six children, of whom J. W. is the fifth. He began life for himself, farming, at nine- teen, which he followed until the spring of 1866, when he engaged in clerking, which he followed two years in Taylorsville and Scranton, and then located in his present place of business, where he has since kept a general store, and dealt quite extensively in Syracuse chilled plows, and has also given some attention to farming. He was married, January 8, 1851, to Miss Almira, daughter of Jeremiah and Elizabeth Orcutt) Hollon, and they have had the following named children : Leonard S., born September 9, 1853, a farmer in Monroe township; Mary E., born May 20, 1860, died August 19, 1865; Alice and Addie M. (twins), born July 1, 1864 (Addie M. died April 10, 1872, and Alice was married June 6, 1888, to O. Delos Davis, who was born in Steuben county, N. Y., June 25, 1864, and is a son of Rev. Orson D. and Malissa (Knowles) Davis (he is in the employ of Mr. Irvine); they have one child, Irvine D., born April 2, 1889). Mr. Irvine is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church; has always been a supporter of all public and educational enterprises, taught school at Smithfield as early as 1843, and then taught, off and on, twelve years, having at times as many as eighty pupils ; he is a Republican in politics, and was post- master from 1872 till 1886.

J. M. IRVINE, farmer and stock-raiser, Wyalusing township, P. O. Homet's Ferry, was born in Wyalusing township. this county, February 20, 1858, and is a son of John Irvine. He was reared on the farm he now occupies, was educated in the common school, and upon reaching his majority was already a well-equipped farmer. He has always resided on the old homestead, which he has owned since 1872; it contains 100 acres of productive land, well improved and well stocked with horses and cattle. He combines hay-pressing and thresh- ing with farming, and owns a fine steam rig for that purpose. Mr. Irvine was married, October 23, 1883, to Della Biles, a daughter of Charles Biles, of the same vicinity, and their union has been blessed with two children : Raymond and Christine. He is a member of Fair-

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY.

banks Association P. of I., No. 3304, and politically he is a Democrat. Mr. Irvine, who is one of Wyalusing's successful young farmers, has all the qualities that go to make up a leading man of his class-indus- try, honesty, frugality and intelligence.

ROBERT M. IRVINE, farmer, Monroe township, P. O. Liberty Corners, was born in Monroe, June 24, 1846, and is a son of William W. and Eliza (Hollon) Irvine. Robert spent his boyhood on the farm, and attended the common schools. He then took up farming, and has followed it since, on a portion of the old Irvine homestead. He was married, March 15, 1871, to Miss Myra Dell, daughter of Charles and Elizabeth (DuBois) Marcy, the former a native of Monroe and of New England origin, and the latter a native of New York State, of German lineage. One son and two daughters blessed this happy union, viz .: Alice A. (born November 2, 1872), Jennie M. (born July 20, 1875), and Frederick E. (born May 11, 1879). Mr. Irvine is an earnest and enthusiastic Democrat.

WASHINGTON IRVINE, farmer and stock-grower, Wyalusing township, P. O. Homet's Ferry, was born in Asylum township, this county, January 9, 1832, and is a son of John and Martha (Arnot) Irvine. When he was eight years of age he came with his parents to the old homestead, now occupied by his brother, John M., and there he passed his boyhood, assisting in clearing and cultivating the land, and during winters attending school at Fairbanks school-house. He remained with his father, on the old homestead, until he was thirty- three years old, and then removed to his present place, which at that time was an old frame house, with about fifteen acres of cleared land, which be at once began clearing and improving. and now he has seventy acres of fine farm land, fifty acres being cleared, and all well improved, with good buildings and fences. Mr. Irvine was united in marriage, December 25, 1864, with Lucy A., daughter of Thomas and Juliett (French) Doud, residents of Franklin township. Her father died in 1871, aged sixty-four years; her mother is yet living; they had a family of six children, three vet living, Mrs. Irvine being the eldest in the family. This union has been blessed with three children : Alice, married to S. D. Eilenberger, an employé of Frost & Sons; Margaret and Bertha, students at the Susquehanna Collegiate Institute, Towanda. Mr. Irvine, has always been a farmer, and has his farm well stocked with horses and cattle ; he is a member of the Fairbanks Association, Patrons of Industry, and is a Democrat.

WILLIAM W. IRVINE, farmer, Monroe township, P. O. Liberty Corners, was born in Northumberland county, Pa., April 5, 1812, and is a son of George and Margaret (Reed) Irvine, natives of Pennsyl- vania, the former of Protestant-Irish origin ; the ancestors of the latter lived in Pennsylvania many generations. In their family there were nine children of whom subject is the sixth ; the other eight lived to be over sixty years of age, two sisters and the subject of this sketch being the only survivors. George Irvine came to Monroe township in 1813, and lived near where Monroeton now is, until he built his house of hewn logs, where William W. now resides. The last-named gentle- man worked for the general interest of the family until he was nearly

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY.

thirty, and then engaged in farming and lumbering on the old home- stead, which he has since followed. He was married, October 16, 1842, to Miss Eliza, daughter of Jeremiah and Betsey (Orcutt) Hollon, and they have five children (three of whom are living) : Robert, born June 28, 1846 ; George P., born July 24, 1850, died July 24, 1851; Edward O., born May 31, 1853, clerk in C. P. Welles' store, Towanda; Walter W., born July 3, 1855, residing at home, and Alice V., born April 16, 1858, died November 19, 1865. Mr. and Mrs. Irvine are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and he has not failed to poll a Dem- ocratic ballot at general election in fifty-eight years.

PHILEMON ISBELL, farmer, of Burlington township, P. O. Luther's Mills, was born in Eaton, Madison Co., N. Y., September 20, 1809, a son of Noah and Nancy (Slocum) Isbell, of English and Welch origin, natives of Massachusetts. Noah was a tanner and currier, also a farmer, and died when our subject was three years of age; the mother then married John Hall, a farmer of Onondaga county, N. Y. When Philemon was fourteen years of age the family removed to Owego N. Y., where he was reared on the farm, and, soon after attaining his majority, he engaged in farming for himself, in Michigan, where he remained until 1843, when he came to Bradford county, and settled in Burlington, where he has been engaged in lum- bering and farming. He married. in February, 1833, Margaret Ann McNeil, of Scotch ancestry, born May 10, 1810, a daughter of Francis and Polly (Norton) McNeil. To this union were born eleven children, seven of whom are living, as follows : Hulda, John, Nancy, Polly, Maria, Sherman and William. John is a farmer in Burlington, and was a soldier in an Engineer Corps in the Civil War; he married Mary, a daughter of Welcome and Julia Ann (Jones) Rice ; her father is living at the age of eighty-one years. William was married to Franc Adamson, who died, and for his second wife he married Alice, daugh- ter of J. and Lydia (Bennett) Campbell, of North Towanda; he is a farmer on the old homestead (a fine farm of about 100 acres) with his father. Philemon Isbell, the subject of this sketch, was many years a Democrat, but since Buchanan's administration he has been a Republi- can, as are the sons. The family are members of the Methodist Epis- copal Church, having joined the same about 1850. They are hard- working people, and respected by all.

W. C. JACKSON, farmer, P. O. Terrytown, was born near Dushore, Sullivan Co., Pa., October 28, 1861, a son of Andrew R. and Matilda (Lawrence) Jackson, the former born in Berwick, Columbia Co., Pa, January 2, 1819; the latter in Upper Augusta township (near Sunbury), Northumberland Co., Pa., and removed to this county in 1867, locating at Terrytown, on the Susquehanna river, on a portion of the Dodge property. Andrew Jackson resided on this place until he died, November 22, 1885, at the age of sixty six years. He was a good citizen and a worthy resident of the town; his chil- dren number seven, two by first marriage, who are both living, and five by second marriage, three of whom grew to maturity, and are now living. The subject of these lines was reared and educated in Terry township, having come with his father when very young, and always

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY.

confined himself to farming, at which he is an adept. At the age of twenty-four, March 25, 1886, he married, at West Terry, Miss Agnes I., daughter of Peter and Margaret Layman, and there was born to them one child, Edith L., now aged three years. Mr. Jackson is a prosperous, industrious general farmer; some of his stock are regis- tered, and very fine; he is a member in good standing of the Presby- terian Church, also of the P. of I .; politically he is an Independent.

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History of Bradford County, Pennsylvania, with biographical selections, Part 104

Author: Bradsby, H. C. (Henry C.) Publication date: 1891 Publisher: Chicago, S. B. Nelson Number of Pages: 1340

Author: Bradsby, H. C. (Henry C.)
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Chicago, S. B. Nelson
Number of Pages: 1340