History of Bradford County, Pennsylvania, with biographical selections, Part 121

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

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J. R. MURRAY, dealer in boots and shoes, Sayre, is a native of Orange county. N. Y., born February 3, 1845, and is a son of Thomas and Harriet (Dunning) Murray, also natives of Orange county. The father, who was a farmer, died in 1879, in his seventy-third year; the mother survives. Our subject's maternal grandfather, Benjamin Dun- ning, was a soldier in the War of 1812. J. R. Murray, who is the eldest in a family of six children, received a public-school education, read law and was admitted to the bar in Tioga county, N. Y., in 1875, but did not practice his profession long, as he engaged in the insurance business, in 1867, and has followed it more or less since. He was inarried, in Wav- erly, to Addie E., daughter of George and Emily (Crawford) Goulden, natives of Connecticut, the former of whom is a cabinet-maker (she is the second in a family of eight children, and was born in Waverly, April 12, 1848). Mrs. A. E. Murray had a ladies' fancy-goods store in Waverly about four years. To this union were born two children, viz .: Albert and Lora. The family removed to Sayre in 1883, and he engaged in his present business. Mrs. Murray is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. Murray is a member of the Royal Arcanum and Equitable Aid Union; is chief engineer of the Fire Depart- ment of Sayre, and is a member of the Wilbur Hook and Ladder Com- pany. He is a Republican, and served as justice of the peace, two terms,

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY.

police justice, one term, and was town clerk and collector, Waverly, N. Y. He is now a justice of the peace for Sayre borough, having been elected to that office in February, 1891, for a term of five years. His peculiar fitness for the office was so well known that he was elected without opposition. Mr. Murray is a fluent and eloquent speaker, and has delivered a good many addresses in his section of the county. He has, upon two different occasions, delivered the Memorial Address at Sayre and at Waverly, and they were spoken of as the finest ever delivered at either of these places.

BERLIN F. MYER, coal merchant, Towanda, was born in Monroe township, this county, March, 1843, and is a son of Henry B. and Sarah (Young) Myer. His paternal grandfather, Jacob Myer, a native of New Jersey, settled in Franklin township, in 1817. His maternal grandfather was Martin Young, formerly of Orange county, N. Y., and later a pioneer miller of Bradford county. [For history of the Myer family see sketch of Capt. George V. Myer.] Berlin F. Myer was reared in Monroe township, receiving a common and select school education. He was in the Civil War, enlisting August 9, 1861, in Company K, Fiftieth P. V. I., and participated in the battles of Hilton Head, Second Bull Run, South Mountain and Antietam; after the battle of Antietam he was detailed as clerk in the commissary depart- ment, Army of the Potomac, and at Fort Foote. He was captured by the enemy during Stuart's raid just before the battle of Gettys- burg, but escaped the following day. He was mustered out of the service in November, 1864, and afterward was a sutler in the army at Fort Foote one year. He returned home in 1865, and in 1866 engaged in the market business at Monroeton, continuing there until 1869, when he located in Towanda, and was in the grocery business two years, then for eleven years furnished meat for the Schræder Coal Company, at their mines at Carbon run. In 1885 he was in the mercantile business at Monroeton with D. J. Sweet, under the firm name of Myer & Co. Since 1887 he has been engaged in the coal, baled hay and lime business at Towanda. Mr. Myer married, in 1868, Orace A., daughter of Lorenzo D. and Cynthia (Mace) Bowman, of Towanda, and has four children, as follows: Joseph H., Theresa, Robert A. and Louisa A. Mr. Mver is a member of the Masonic Fraternity, K. of P. and G. A. R., and politically he is a Republican.

CAPTAIN GEORGE V. MYER, pension and patent attorney and city engineer, Towanda, was born in Monroe township, this county, August 5, 1841, and is a son of IIenry B. and Sarah (Young) Myer. His paternal grandfather, Jacob Myer, was a native of New Jersey and settled in Franklin township, in this county, in 1817, and was a farmer. He reared a large family, of whom the father of George V. was the second son, and succeeded to the homestead; he followed farming and lumbering until 1858, and is still a resident of Monroe township. His wife was a daugter of Martin Young, formerly of Orange county, N. Y., who was one of the pioneer millers of Bradford county. By her he had six children, viz .: George V., Berlin F., Ella A. (Mrs. D. J. Sweet), Esther St. L. (Mrs. Eli Griggs), Charles M. and Anna M. (Mrs. Dr. W. J. De Voe). George V., the subject of this

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY.

sketch, was reared in Bradford county, educated at Susquehanna Collegiate Institute, and the Polytechnic College, Philadelphia. He has been a resident of Towanda since 1867, and for sixteen years has followed the business of a pension and patent attorney. He was in the Civil War, enlisting August 9, 1861, in Company K, Fiftieth Regiment P. V. I., and re-enlisted January 1, 1864. He was promoted to lieu- tenant and to captain of his company. He was wounded and taken prisoner at the battle of Spottsylvania Court House, was paroled and exchanged April 11, 1865, being for eleven months a prisoner-of-war ; he was honorably discharged from the service July 31, 1865. Capt. Myer was married, in 1869, to Ella V., daughter of D. W. Brown, of Wyalusing, this county, and has three children, as follows : Harry W., Willie W. and Cecil B. He is a member of the Masonic Fraternity, the G. A. R., and the Union Veteran Legion, and he has served one term as surveyor of Bradford county ; in politics he is a Republican.

WILLIAM G. MYERS, conductor on the L. V. R. R., residence Sayre, is a native of Sullivan county, N. Y., and was born May 22, 1850. His young life was a tragedy ; his mother died when he was an infant, and from the best information he can get his father was killed by an accident when he (William G.) was about eighteen months old, and he was left alone in the wide world, with neither kith nor kin to claim him. Mr. Miles kept him until he was nine years of age, when the lad commenced to search for the whole story of his parents and relatives, trying to get some definite information in regard to them. He learned that his father had made arrangements with Mr. Miles (in case any- thing happened him) that he was to take charge of him, and get his pay from the estate. At nine years of age young Myers started out to make his own living, without even having any of the advantages of school. He began work, the first year, for L. Hindman in the lumber- ing business, and followed that until 1867, when he went as a brakeman on the Erie Railroad, and worked on that line a short time; then went to breaking on the Albany & Susquehanna Railroad, and worked on that line about two years, when he returned to the Erie road and was there several years; in 1874 he went to braking on the L. V. R. R., was promoted to conductor, in June, 1881, and has held that position since. He had mastered by his own industry all the education necessary for the position. He was married, in Waverly, N. Y., December 20, 1877, to Dora Belle Tozer, daughter of Frank Tozer, natives of New York ; she was the youngest in order of birth in a family of three children, and was born in Waverly, N. Y., February 9, 1860, and died March 10, 1889, a most estimable wife, and a consistent mem- ber of the Baptist Church. To Mr. and Mrs Myers were born four children, as follows: Frank T., Lizzie (deceased), George F. and Nellie D. Mr. Myers is a member of the K. of P., No. 101, Waverly; Equitable Aid Union, and Sexennial League. He is a Democrat.

A. J. NASH, proprietor of the "Mountain View House," Canton, is a native of Winfield, Herkimer Co., N. Y., and was born October 31, 1842, a son of William S. and Jane (Maxum) Nash, natives of Lancashire, England, and Warren county, N. Y., respectively, of Eng- lish and Scotch descent. William S. Nash came from England to

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY.

Warren county, N. Y., when he was about eighteen years of age; he was a mechanic, and died in Steuben county, N. Y., in 1861, in his fifty-eighth year. Mrs. Nash resides in Cohocton, Steuben Co., N. Y. A. J. Nash, who is fifth in order of birth in a family of seven children, was reared in Herkimer, Otsego and Steuben counties, N. Y. At the breaking out of the war, responding to a call of his country, he enlisted, May 16, 1861, in Company D, Twenty-third N. Y. V. I., from Elmira, N. Y., for two years, and re-enlisted, in 1864, in Company C, One Hundred and Eleventh Regiment, N. Y. V. I. After enlisting in 1861, he was detached and put in Gibbon's Fourth Artillery Regulars, on detached service. He participated in the following engagements : Battles of Bull Run, Centreville, Fredericksburg, South Mountain, Antietam, Slaughter Mountain, and was wounded at Gravelly Run, Va., in April, 1865, and was sent to Douglass General Hospital, at Washing- ton, where he was mustered out at the close of the war. He returned to Elmira, but removed to Blossburg, Pa., where he engaged in the boot and shoe business up to October, 1885; then removed to Norfolk, Va., and bought a truck farm four miles from the city. Here he remained one year, and then returned to Blossburg. In the spring of 1888, he removed to Roaring Branch, and engaged in the hotel busi- ness ; was there until April 1, 1891, when he came to Canton, and took charge of the "Mountain View House." Mr. Nash was married in Blossburg, Pa., in 1866, to Ellen R., daughter of John and Rebecca (Schriner) Evans, natives of Ireland and Tioga county, Pa., respect- ively ; she was the youngest in a family of two daughters and one son, and was born in Blossburg, August 22, 1845. To Mr. and Mrs. Nash were born seven children : Fred B., Willard A., Charles A., Hester E., Jay Raymond (deceased), Jennie and Bella. Mr. Nash is a member of the Masonic Fraternity, Blossburg Lodge, No. 350, A. Y. M .; also a member of the G. A. R., Ingham Post, No. 91. Politically he is a Democrat.

DANIEL C. NEWELL, cabinet-maker, Troy, was born in Cum- berland, Md., March 5, 1841, a son of Lewis P. and Caroline M. (Web- ler) Newell, natives of Connecticut. His father was a millwright by trade, and in early life located in Armenia township, this county, remaining there several years. In 1839 he went to Cumberland, Md .; returned to Bradford county in 1859, and resided in Armenia town- ship until 1890, when he removed to Tioga county, Pa .; where he now resides. Daniel C. Newell, the subject of this sketch, was reared. in Cumberland, Md., and at the age of twenty he located in Troy. Pa., where he learned the cabinet-maker's trade. He was in the Civil War, enlisting September 15, 1864, in Company K, Fifteenth New York Engineers, and was honorably discharged, June 13, 1865, after nine months' service. He has resided in Troy township since 1861, and was married, March 23, 1864, to Betsy A., daughter of Timothy and Delia (Cowell) Case, of Troy, and they have two children: Fred W. and Grace M. Mr. Newell has been in the employ of L. H. Oliver. of Troy, twenty-two years; he is a member of the G. A. R., and in politics is a Republican.

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY.

E. J. NEWELL, a prominent farmer of Sheshequin township, P. O. Hornbrook, was born January 26, 1829, in Sheshequin township, this county, on the farm now occupied by John Chaffee, and is a son of Stephen and Catherine (Cole) Newell, the former of whom was a native of Bradford county, and the latter of Kingston, N. Y. Grand- father Abel Newell came to this county from Connecticut about 1784, locating in the vicinity of Hornbrook, and lived here until his death ; the grandmother's maiden name was Sallie Wilcox ; a portion of her family passed through the terrors of the Wyoming massacre. Stephen Newell was born in 1800, and passed his entire life on the farm now occupied by his son ; he had ten children, viz .: Maria (died in infancy), David, John, Sallie (married to William Skinner, of Minnesota), Cath- erine (married to Joseph Keegan), William (died aged seventeen), Sylvie (married to George Frink, and died, leaving a family of three children), George (died aged seventeen), Mary (married to Ransom Horton) and E. J. Our subject's early life was spent on his father's farm, with only the average advantages of a farmer's son. When twenty-six years old he commenced life for himself, managing his father's farm, and then purchased part of what is now known as the Lige Horton farm, which he still owns; it contains sixty acres, and is a part of the old homestead. He married, August 3, 1854, Eliza, daugh- ter of Abram and Caroline Patterson, and to this union came children as follows: Eva (married to Joel Horton, a teacher), Aline (married to C. A. Child, a merchant, of Franklyndale). Mrs. Newell is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. Newell is a member of the I. O. O. F., Valley Lodge, No. 446, and has passed all the chairs except No. 2; in politics he is a Republican. Mr. and Mrs. Newell have passed almost their entire lives in the neighborhood where they now reside, and are noted for their kindness and hospitality ; and at their fireside the young people of the vicinity always find a welcome, and are sure to spend a pleasant time. Mrs. Newell, like her sister Mrs. Culver, has always been a great reader, and has a fine library.

J. J. NEWELL, farmer, surveyor and veterinary surgeon, Orwell, was born April 8, 1831, in the house he occupies, in Orwell township, this county, a son of James D. and Licena A. (Grant) Newell. J. J. Newell was born and reared on a farm, educated in the common schools and at Towanda Academy, and when seventeen years old began the study of surveying, linder the instruction of Robert McKee, and after a few months he began surveying, which he has followed more or less constantly since. He took possession of his present farm in 1852. In 1857 he was elected county surveyor, has served nine years, and has probably done more surveying than any other man in the county, being noted for the thoroughness and accuracy of his work. Over twenty years ago he began the study of veterinary surgery, is now a registered doctor, and has an extensive practice, having been exceptionally successful. He owns one hundred and four acres of fine farm land, well stocked with cattle, sheep and horses. Mr. Newell has been twice married: the first time, December 29, 1852, to Charlotte Elsbree, who died August 31, 1857, and he then married, December 31, 1857, Amanda M. Cowles, daughter of William and Polly W. (Russell) Cowles,

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY.

whose family consisted of four children, viz .: Amanda M., born July 19, 1832 ; John H., born December 5, 1834; Chester G., born October 15, 1836, and Mary E., born September 29, 1839, married to Charles Beers, of Orwell Hill, and died in 1886. Mr. and Mrs. Newell have had four children, as follows: Maggie St Leon, born June 29, 1860, died aged seven years ; Willie E., born December 15, 1861, died the same week as his sister, both dying of diphtheria; Henry G., born June 13, 1868, and James W., born December 27, 1869. Henry G. bas great mechanical ingenuity, and has made some useful inventions, among others an appliance for gearing on wind engines, which shows great ingenuity. The family are members of and active workers in the Presbyterian Church. Henry is also a member of the Y. P. S. C. E., and an active worker in it. Mr. Newell is a stanch member of the Republican party.

DR. J. K. NEWELL, banker and State Senator, Towanda, is a native of Wysox township, this county, and was born July 28, 1843. His parents were Charles and Julia (Smith) Newell, natives of County Monaghan, Ireland. The Doctor is the fifth in the order of birth in a family of two sons and four daughters. He received his education in the public schools, and in the Wyoming Seminary at Kingston, Luzerne Co., Pa., studied dentistry at LeRaysville, this county, and in 1866 opened an office at Wyalusing, where he practiced his profession twenty- four years. He was elected, in 1884, State Senator in the Twenty-third District, composed of Bradford and Wyoming counties, and was re-elected in 1888, serving two full terms with distinguished ability and eminence. On January 1, 1890, he was elected cashier of the Citizens National Bank, his present position. Mr. Newell was married in Wysox, in 1874, to Miss Adelaide, daughter of Henry Passmore, and to them were born two sons: Henry P. and James M. (deceased). Dr. Newell is a member of the F. & A. M. and the I. O. O. F., No. 808, Wyalusing, and is a Republican in politics.

ALBERT S. NEWMAN, merchant, P. O. East Smithfield, was born February 16, 1842, in Eaton, Wyoming Co., Pa., and came to Canton, this county, with his father, when four years of age. He is a son of Samuel H. and Abbie A. (Manley) Newman, natives of Penn- sylvania. His father was a merchant, and he entered his father's store, and when a young man went to Troy and clerked several years ; then commenced in mercantile pursuits for himself, and remained there until 1880, when he came to East Smithfield. He was united in marriage, June 10, 1865, with Carrie, daughter of John and Eliza (Reynolds) Mc Dougal, of Alba. There has come to them one daughter, Helen M., born February 16, 1867, now the wife of James H. Phillips, of Smith- field. Mr. Newman is a member of the I. O. O. F .; is a Republican, and takes an active interest in politics; has been a school director seven years. He has a fine farm of 140 acres, which he carries on besides his extensive mercantile interests, and raises stock for the market. Mr. Newman is a very genial and agreeable gentleman, and is respected by a wide circle of friends; his wife is a consistent member of the Baptist Church.

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY.

HENRY T. NEWMAN, farmer, Warren township, P. O. Warren Centre. Many years ago three Newman brothers came to America in the ship "May Flower ;" one returned, another settled in Connecti- cut and the third in Rhode Island, and from the latter descended the Newmans of Bradford county, the link being traced by a son, Samuel Newman, a Presbyterian minister, of whose family not much is definitely known, except that he had a son, Jesse Newman. The latter died in 1814, and his widow died in 1820; of their children was Nathan Newman, who first married Mary Cole, and by her had three children ; his second marriage was with Chloe Cole, and by her he had four children ; his eldest son was John Newman (by the first wife), who married Sarah Taft, June 6, 1814, and removed to this county in 1819, in company with his brother Nathan, the transportation and possession being two yoke of oxen and a horse; they made their permanent home in Warren township, and boldly met the hard fate of all early pioneers. John Newman died March 20, 1863, and his widow, May 16, 1869; they had one child, who grew to maturity- Henry T., the subject of this sketch, who was born July 13, 1817. He was sixteen months old when the family came to this county, and was carried in his mother's arms most of the way. These pioneers followed in the long way, through the forests, marking the trees, and it was literally in the wilderness that this child grew and imbibed his first lessons of life, and saw his parents commence the little clearing that eventually became the farm home. He remembers his first impressions, that this dear old farm was the center of the earth, and he felt genuine sorrow for the poor people that lived so far off as New York or London, supposing that they must be very lonesome so " far, far away from home." He has become one of the most important farmers, and is proprietor of 250 acres of fine farm land. He was mar- ried, May 6, 1841, in Warren Centre, to Martha A. Bowen, daughter of George Bowen, and to this union were born two children, Sarah and David C. Sarah married Lewis N. Wade, of Owego, and has three children : George H., John W. and Louis D. Of these children, George H. married Bessie Root, and has one child, Edna A. This last introduces us to the seventh generation that have been looked upon by Henry T. Newman, who had but one ambition-to care for his family. Both ancestors and descendants have always voted the Republican ticket, and Mr. Newman, has in time past, reluctantly filled the local offices of school director, assessor, clerk and auditor.

DAVID C. NEWMAN, farmer, of Warren township, P. O. War- ren Centre, was born October 23, 1853, in Warren township, this county, a son of Henry T. and Martha A. (Bowen) Newman, whose sketch is given above. David's sister, Mrs. Lewis N. Wade, resides in Owego, and has three sons: George H., an electrician and superin- tendent of electric lights in Atlanta, Ga .; John W., Jr., a dentist at Sua Paulo, Brazil, S. A., and Louis D., a school lad. David C. New- man, the subject of the sketch, was reared on his father's farm in Warren township, engaged in farming, and now owns a valuable farm of 150 acres. He was married at Little Meadows, in 1872, to Belle W., daughter of William P. and Jane (Carey) Arnold, natives of

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY.

Pennsylvania. William P. Arnold is the son of Benedict Arnold, and his wife the daughter of Daniel A. Carey, better known as "Squire Carey," as he had been justice over twenty years. Belle, the eldest of his children, was born, educated and married in the township. Mr. and Mrs. Newman had four children: Charles, born February 3, 1874; William, born June 9, 1876; Noah, born September 10, 1878, and Martha J., born April 5, 1880. Mr. Newman is a charter member of Sexennial League; has been town collector, and is a Republican in politics. Mrs. David Newman's mother is a widow, the father having died in 1887.

C. F. NICHOLS, justice of the peace, and ticket agent of the D. L. & W. R. R., Athens, is a native of Burlington, this county, and was born October 2, 1824. His parents were Earl and Ursula (Clark) Nich- ols, the former of whom, a native of Rutland, Vt., came to this county when quite young ; the latter was a native of Burlington township. The father was a prominent farmer, and died on his farm in June, 1866, in his sixty-seventh year; Ursula Nichols died in 1885 in her eighty-fifth year. C. F. Nichols is the eldest in a family of five chil- dren, and was reared on a farm, receiving his early education in the common schools; then attended the academy at Waverly, one year, and Troy Academy, two years; was offered and accepted the principalship of the Bellefonte school one year; taught five years in Burlington vil- lage, and three years in the district school. He' purchased a farm in 1851, and farmed until 1869, except the time he was in the army. He enlisted in August, 1864, in Company B, Two Hundred and Seventh Pennsylvania Regiment, and was mustered out in Washington in May, 1865. In 1869 he entered the Towanda postoffice as clerk, where he remained two years; then was elected president of the Boss Fanning Mill Manufacturing Company, a position he held three years; after which he went to Kansas, and acted as newspaper correspondent about six months, and then returned home. In April, 1878, he visited McPherson City, Kan., whither he moved the following year, and purchased a farm of 160 acres, which he operated by hired help. He was elected and served four years as justice of the peace, and police judge. Returning, in the spring of 1884, to Elmira, he here remained about one year; was then appointed ticket agent of the D. L. & W. R. R. and removed to Towanda, where he remained until the spring of 1888, when he came to Athens. Mr. Nichols was married in Burlington, April 10, 1851, to Martha, daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth (Lowe) Smith, natives of Orange county, N. Y .; she is the fifth in a family of eight children, and was born in Nichols, N. Y., February 9, 1824. To Mr. and Mrs. Nichols have been born four children, as follows: Ulysses A., deceased; Albert, a telegraph operator in Missouri; Maur- ice J., manager of the Western Union Telegraph, Cheyenne, Wyo., and Maria E., wife of L. H. Woodward, conductor on the Lehigh Valley Railroad. Mrs. Nichols is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. Nichols was elected auditor of Bradford county in 1851, and elected to the State Legislature in 1856, and re-elected in 1857; has served twelve years as justice of the peace; was appointed sergeant-at- arms of the House of Representatives, in 1873; is a member of the G. A. R., Perkins Post, No. 200, and politically is a Republican.

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY.

JAMES W. NICHOLS, farmer, Burlington township, P. O. Moun- tain Lake, was born October 1, 1826, in Burlington township, this county, a son of Earl and Ursula (Clarke) Nichols. His father, who was of English origin and a native of Chenango county, N. Y., removed to this county with his father when a lad, who settled on Sugar creek, near where the village of Burlington now stands; the grandfather of James W. Nichols was born in Connecticut, and was but a lad during the Revolutionary War ; he married in his native State, and removed to Chenango county, N. Y., remaining only a few years, then came to Burlington, where he was one of the pioneers of the town; he reared a family of ten children, of whom Earl was the second; he died at the advanced age of ninety-seven. Earl Nichols, who was a farmer and a man of influence, died when sixty-six years of age; the mother died at eighty-two years. James W. Nichols, the subject of this sketch, who is the second in a family of five children, was reared on a farm and has always followed agricultural pursuits ; he resides on the old homestead which comprises 296 acres of land, a fine elevation on the mountain, south of the village. He was married, November 8, 1848, to Anna Walters, a native of the south of Wales, who was born February 5, 1826, and removed to America with her parents (who were farmers) at the age of five years; her father died when eighty-two years old, and her mother at seventy-seven. Mr. and Mrs. Nichols have had four children, as follows: James O'Mera, Mary U., Linnie A. and Jennie W. Mr. Nichols is a Republican in politics, and is a member of the Knights of Honor. He is one of the substantial men of the township. Mrs. Nichols and two daughters, Mary and Jennie, are members of the M. E. Church at Mountain Lake.

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History of Bradford County, Pennsylvania, with biographical selections, Part 121

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