History of Bradford County, Pennsylvania, with biographical selections, Part 126

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

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in Boston harbor, and threw the tea overboard; afterward he took part in the battle of Bunker Hill. It is said of him that he was never known to eat or drink anything imported from England. James Phillips, father of our subject, was drafted in the War of 1812. He belonged to a rifle company, which was drafted just before the battle of Lake Champlain, and they arrived at the scene of the fight the morning after; he received his land warrants for his services some time after Israel was grown to manhood. Israel, the fifth in a family of twelve children, was reared on his father's farm, and when a young man his family came to Smithfield township, settling near where he now resides. He was married June 13, 1847, to Helen, daughter of James G. Harkness, and born July 6, 1830; she was born in Spring- field township, and lived there until her marriage, a few weeks after which she and her husband moved into Smithfield, on a farm they now own, located about three miles from where they now live. Her pater- nal grandfather was one of the pioneers of Springfield township. Mr. and Mrs. Phillips have had born to them eleven children, nine of whom are living, as follows: Walter, born July 30, 1849 ; Jessie, born July 8, 1856; James H., born December 14, 1858 ; Stephen, born June 8, 1861; Frank, born January 17, 1863; Ida, born April 17, 1865; Dorcas, born January 19, 1868; Cora, born January 5, 1872; Reuben, born November 4, 1873. Mr. Phillips has by great perseverance and frugality accumulated a fine property, and now owns two farms of about three hundred and twenty-five acres, most of which is under a good state of cultivation. On one of his farms is one of the finest maple groves in the county, where each year he is able to manufacture a large quantity of maple sugar. He is a Republican in politics, taking an active interest in the affairs of his community, and has been school director many years.

JOHN M. PIATT, farmer, Monroe township, P. O. Liberty Corners, was born in Lansing, N. Y., January 9, 1824, and is a son of Christopher P. and Rebecca (Morris) Piatt. Two Piatt brothers came from France with LaFayette to fight for American independence; one started to return to his native country, and was never after heard of, and the other is the ancestor of all the American Piatts. In Christopher Piatt's family there were eleven children, of whom John M., the subject of this sketch, is the second ; he came to Towanda in November, 1842, and next summer went to Monroe; was West two years, in Wysox from 1849 to 1852, in Franklin from 1858 to 1860, and with these ex- ceptions has always lived in the place where he now resides. He was married, November 2, 1848, to Miss Hannah, daughter of Jobn and Nancy (Schaffer) Miggos, and they have three children : Amanda E., boru September 15, 1849, married to George B. Laporte, of Frenchtown ; Mary Ann, born June 26, 1851, married to J. C. Reynolds, of Susque- hanna, and died August 10, 1886, leaving two children ; and Lottie E .. born June 2, 1853, married to Daniel T. Benjamin, carpenter and joiner, at Athens, they have four children : Gertrude E., Clarence J., Arthur G. and Harrison Morton. Mr. Piatt is a member of the I. O. O. F. Lodge, at Monroe, and is a Prohibitionist in politics.

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WILLIAM R. PICKERING, farmer and salesman, Orwell town- ship, P. O. Allis Hollow, was born in Susquehanna county, Pa., January 7, 1830, a son of Thomas and Elizabeth Ann (Margerson) Pick- ering. His parents were born in Hull, England, where they were mar- ried, and had one child, John, before they came to this county. Seven children were born in America, viz .: Jacob, born in Philadelphia; Eliz- abeth, married to Brunson Roberts, and is now deceased ; May, died aged sixteen ; George, deceased ; Ralph, deceased; William R. and Thomas. The mother died in March, 1834, and the father then mar- ried Julia Westbrook, and by this marriage became the father of two children : William and Lucy, the latter of whom married Hollis Parks. Mr. Thomas Parks was a mason, and plied his trade in this and Sus- quehanna counties until his death. William remained, at home until about fourteen, then went to Marcus Eastabrooks', and made his home with him until the latter's death, since which time he has been con- ducting the estate left by Mr. Eastabrooks to his daughters. Our sub- ject received his education in the common schools, and assisted in clear- ing over one hundred acres of wilderness, and has followed driving oxen until he is the best driver in the county. He and Mr. Easta- brooks' eldest daughter followed clearing and log-rolling during nearly the entire time of their youth. On December 31, 1868, he bought forty-seven acres of land of W. P. Payson, to which he has added from time to time, until he now owns over two hundred acres of fine land, a large portion of which he has cleared. Mr. Pickering is an extensive farmer, and has his farms well stocked with fine blooded cattle; they have seventeen cows of the Devonshire breed and pure breed, and that they are good dairy cows the annual output of butter amply testifies. The barn was built in 1870, and additions have since been added; it is now 96x44. The house was built in 1876, and there is not a better or more commodious residence in the county. It is 107x20x25, two stories, and contains eighteen rooms. Mr. Pickering devoted his attention entirely to farming until 1887, when he accepted a position as salesman for the American Road Machine Company, and he has been with them during the summer since. He has been emi- nently successful, starting in life with nothing, and has accumulated an ample fortune through his own untiring industry. The family are members of no church, but contribute largely to the support of all. Mr. Pickering is a stanch Republican, and has held the office of judge of elections, and for the past nine years had filled the office of town commissioner.

E. CORODON PIERCE, farmer, of West Burlington township, P. O. West Burlington, was born September 5, 1851, in Smithfield township, this county, a son of William H. and Olive (Parsons) Pierce, the former of whom was of English origin, and the latter of Scotch, a native of Columbia, this county. The father removed to Springfield when a young man, was a carpenter and builder by trade, also a farmer; the mother's grandfather was one of the first settlers on Sugar creek, in Troy township. The subject of these lines, who is one of the family of nine children- three daughters and six sons-was reared on the farm and educated in the schools of the town; carried on agriculture, and by

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practicing the strictest economy, and with great perseverance, accu- mulated a fine property, being now the owner of a good farm of 130 acres, under an excellent state of cultivation; has a dairy, and follows sheep raising and general farming. He was married October 28, 1884, to Orris Claflin, of East Troy, born January 16, 1863, a daughter of Abner and Mahala (Cummings) Claflin; her mother's family were among the early settlers of Towanda township, and were agricul- turists. Mr. and Mrs. Pierce have two children: Fred and Martin. He is Independent in politics, but his sympathies are with the Pro- hibition cause; he is a member of the Patrons of Husbandry.

F. H. PIERCE, shoemaker, LeRaysville, was born in LeRaysville, this county, October 13, 1859, a son of Lewis B. and Elizabeth H. (Black) Pierce (natives of Pike township; the former of New England origin, and latter of English), and grandson of Benjamin and Mehitable (Brink) Pierce, the former of whom was born in Kingston, Pa., March 11, 1796, and came to Bradford county, in 1802, being apprenticed until twenty-one years old to Dinnon Bostwick, a blacksmith, of Wyalusing creek ; he volunteered in the War of 1812, and had reached Carlisle, Pa., when the war ended. Coming to LeRaysville in 1810, he took up land where he afterward lived and reared a family of four children, of whom Lewis B., the youngest in order of birth, was married January 18, 1855, and for four years was engaged in general mercantile business in LeRaysville, and afterward in farming, two years; he was inspector of the training militia, and in 1861 joined, as lieutenant- colonel, the One Hundred and Thirteenth, Twelfth P. V. Cavalry, known as the " Curtin Hussars," organizing his own regiment twelve hundred strong. Upon the resignation of Col. Frieschmuth he was made colonel, at Harrisburg; spent four weeks at home during the war on account of a wound; was suspended four months on account of a charge preferred against him by a Harrisburg gambler, stood his trial and was honorably re-instated, and made brevet-brigadier in the spring of 1865. In November, 1865, he removed his family to Baltimore, where he engaged in the insurance business with the Phoenix Mutual Life Insurance Company, of Hartford, Conn., in which he remained until his death, which occurred October 30, 1876. He was a graduated physician, but never practiced medicine. In his family there were three children : Martin W., in the Postoffice Department, Washington ; F. H., and Mary H., who died at the age of two years. Our subject was educated in Baltimore High School, and began work, when nineteen, in Johnson's mill, in LeRaysville, where he remained two and one-half years, then engaged with Jesse P. Carl in his present business, the firm being know as Carl & Pierce, manufacturers of all kinds of men's foot wear, doing a wholesale and retail business. Mr. Pierce was married January 3, 1883, to Cora B., daughter of George N. and Alice (Chaffee) Johnson, and they have three children : Alice E., born October 28, 1884; Marian Ellen, born June 9, 1887, and Lewis B., born December 28, 1890. Mr. Pierce is a member of the Masonic Lodge at LeRaysville, and has held all the offices in the Blue Lodge. He is a Republican, and has been school director six years. In his younger days he was an accomplished athlete, excelling as a skater and oarsman; has also

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY.

figured with success on the base-ball diamond, is now leader of the LeRaysville brass band, and is master of the cornet.

ISRAEL A. PIERCE. The progress as well as development, of any section is largely determined by the number of enterprising, intelligent and progressive citizens who make their home within its boundaries, and such a one is the subject of this brief memoir. Mr. Pierce was born in Rehoboth, Mass., October 3, 1820, a son of Israel and Polly (Walker) Pierce. His paternal grandfather, Israel Pierce, who was born in Rehoboth in 1760, came with his wife, Hannah, to Columbia township, this county, in 1830, and here they passed the remainder of their lives, he dying in 1838 and she in 1839. He served under Gen. Sullivan, in Rhode Island, during the Revolutionary War. Their son Israel (father of subject), also a native of Rehoboth, was born in 1787, settled in Columbia township, in 1831, and engaged in agricultural pursuits. He died in Troy, this county, in 1862; he was a soldier in the War of 1812. To Israel and Polly (Walker) Pierce were born four children, two of whom grew to maturity, Walker and Israel A., of whom the first named was born in 1809, and for many years was a carpenter and builder in Columbia and Troy townships, this county, but later in life followed farming; he died in October, 1888, aged seventy-nine years.

Israel Allen Pierce, whose name opens this sketch, was educated in the public schools of Providence and Warren, R. I., and in the common schools of Bradford, in which county he was reared from twelve years of age. He learned the carpenter's trade with his brother, Walker, and worked at same until 1851, from which year until 1871 he was engaged in the furniture and undertaking business in Troy. Soon afterward he embarked in the hardware trade, later adding a stock of crockery, and carried on business until he was burned out, in 1884. Having a large clientage in the settlement of estates, Mr. Pierce has, since the date just mentioned, given his attention thereto, as well as to the manage- ment of his own affairs. On August 17, 1848, he was married to Harriet G., daughter of Charles and Anne (Parmeter) Burgess, a de- scendant of an old New England family, of Pilgrim and Puritan stock; the issue of this union was two children: J. Franklin and Frederick Charles (latter deceased). J. Franklin was born May 24, 1853, and April 26, 1883, was married to Margaret, daughter of James Shannon, of Troy, this county, and by this union there is one son, Frederick Allen. Mrs. Israel A. Pierce died February 12, 1891, aged sixty-five years. Mr. Pierce is a Democrat in politics, and in 1851 he was elected a justice of the peace of Troy, which office he held for fifteen years continuously. He is an attendant of the Episcopal Church, and is one of the best known and most highly esteemed citizens of Troy.

NOBLE WILLIS PIERCE, retired farmer, Pike township, P. O. LeRaysville, was born in Susquehanna county, Pa., September 3, 1818. His father, Catlin Pierce, was born in New York, March 11, 1797, the son of Joseph Pierce, also a native of New York, who died in 1804, leaving five children : Betsey (wife of Ira Brister), Benjamin, Catlin, Sally (wife of Alby Bosworth) and Jane (whose first husband was B. B. Lewis, and her second, M. Blakesley). Catlin Pierce was educated

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in this State, his family having moved here in 1804, was a successful farmer, and died January 5, 1861; he was married, January 8, 1817, to Eunice Canfield, daughter of Andrew and Eunice (Fairchild) Canfield (she was the sixth in a family of ten children); of this marriage there were ten children : Noble Willis, Commodore Perry, Sarah A. (wife of E. T. Billings), Alvira (wife of Harris Beecher), Emaline (wife of O. R. Coggswell), Betsey (wife of William Jones), Joseph, Temper- ance E. (wife of R. Brister), William and Andrew C. Mrs. Catlin Pierce died October 2, 1872. N. Willis Pierce, the subject of this sketch, was educated in the district school, and learned the trade of wheel-right, following that and farming until 1876, when he rented a house in LeRaysville borough, and kept boarders three years, then returned to the farm until 1886; then kept the LeRaysville hotel one year, and purchased his present home on which he has lived. He is a Republican, and was constable and collector in 1875. Mr. Pierce was married, December 22, 1841, to Harriet L. Hoadley, who died in 1843, and he afterward married, December 29, 1847, Jane A. Weed, daughter of John and Sally (Goodall); she died April 12, 1857, leaving one child, James E., born July 5, 1849, and died in 1878. Mr. Pierce's third wife was Ellen W. Ford, daughter of John and Sally Merritt (she was the third of nine children, seven of whom are living); they have had one child, Frank G., born October 14, 1861, at Prattville, Pa.

STEPHEN PIERCE (deceased) was born in Smithfield township, this county, August 29, 1813, a son of Abiram and Sarah (Satterlee) Pierce, the former a son of Phineas and Ruth (Gaines) Pierce. Phin. eas was a son of Amos and Mary (Spaulding) Pierce, Amos was a son of Thomas and Mary (Wyman) Pierce, and Thomas was a son of Thomas, who was a son of Thomas and Elizabeth (Cole) Pierce- Thomas, the son of Thomas and Elizabeth Pierce, in 1633-34 came from England, and settled in Charleston, Mass. Phineas Pierce, the grandfather of our subject, with his family, settled in Springfield town- ship, this county, in 1800, removing from Poultney, Vt., and died in 1808. He was twice married; by his first wife, Ruth Gaines, he had eleven children, and by his second wife, Ruth Beebe, he had three children. Abiram, the father of our subject, who was the eighth child and third son by his first wife, was born May 20, 1786, and cleared and improved a farm in Smithfield township, which he paid for twice, owing to the Connecticut title, and died there, October 17, 1860. On January 8, 1809, he married Sarah, daughter of James Sat- terlee who was a colonel in the Revolutionary War, and who settled in Smithfield township in 1799. The issue of this union was seven children : Christopher E., William S., Stephen, Mary (Mrs. John Spaulding), Jane L. (Mrs. John J. Johnson), Amos and Emma (Mrs. Horace Pomeroy). Our subject was reared in Bradford county, edu- cated in the common schools, Clinton Liberal Institute, and a law school. He was admitted to the bar in 1837, and had an office in Troy from that time until 1860, when he removed to Wellsboro, Pa., where he was in active practice of his profession until 1867; he died February 12, 1868, at the residence of his daughter, Mrs. G. F. Red- ington, now Mrs. Robert Ayres, of Troy. Mr. Pierce married, August

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23, 1838, Mary daughter of John and Rhoda (Pierce) Ransom, of Poultney, Vt., and by her had four children : Emma J., Rollin A., Clarence W. and John R .; the sons all died of consumption.

Mr. Pierce was possessed of rare natural talent, he was noted for his logical and legal ability, and his word was as good as his bond. He died honored and respected by all who knew him. He was a prominent Mason and Odd Fellow; in religious faith he was a Univer- salist, in politics a Democrat, and in 1840-41 was a member of the Lower House of the Pennsylvania Legislature. His only daughter and only surviving child, a resident of Troy, is the wife of Capt. Rob- ert Avres, a native of Wilkes-Barre, Pa., who from 1855 to 1871 was in the United States Regular Army. He served through the Civil War, and rose from a non-commissioned officer of United States Engi- neers to the rank of captain of infantry, and was honoraby mustered out of the service, January 2, 1871.

THEODORE PIERCE, postmaster, Canton, is a native of Broome county, N. Y., born October 9, 1839. His parents were Hamilton and Eleanor (Collington) Pierce, natives of Vermont, the former of whom was a farmer and died in Broome county, N. Y., in 1858, in his fifty- third year ; the latter died in 1852, in her forty-fourth year. Theodore Pierce is the fourth in order of birth in a family of five sons and three daughters, of whom six are now living. He was reared in Broome county, and received an academic education; taught one term of school in Lehigh county, Pa., and then clerked in a store some time in Whitehaven, same State. In 1864 he joined the Government Construc- tion Corps, and was discharged in June, 1865. Returning to Broome county he farmed a short time, and was postmaster at Centre village, Broome county, two years; he was also elected a justice of the peace, but in 1869 he resigned his office, and came to Canton, where he engaged in the hardware business, which he has since followed. He was married in Broome county, N. Y., in 1867, to Malinda Light, who died in 1870. Mr. Pierce was appointed postmaster, and took charge of the office March 10, 1890 ; he served one term as burgess of Canton borough ; is a member of the F. &. A. M., Canton Lodge, No. 415, and served as master in 1880; Troy Chapter, No. 261, and Canton Commandery, No. 64. He has been treasurer of Canton Lodge several years, and is also treasurer of Canton Commandery. Politically he is a Republican.

FRANK PIKE, of Wilcox, Pike & Co., proprietors of meat-market, Sayre, is a native of Owego, N. Y., and is a son of Horace and Lavan- tia (Norton) Pike, natives of Massachusetts. The father was a farmer and died in 1868, in his sixty-fourth year, while his wife died in Owego, in 1870, in her sixty-fourth year. Our subject is the tenth, in order of birth, in a family of twelve children, and was reared in Owego until he was seven years old, when he was taken to Long Island, where he remained until he was sixteen years of age. He then returned to Owego, and served an apprenticeship at the brick-mason's trade, which he followed about six years, and then clerked for the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company about five years, when he found employment in his present occupation in Waverly, N. Y., in September, 1887. On Janu-

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ary 15, 1891, a new shop was started in Sayre, of which he has charge. He is a member of the I. O. O. F., Manoka Lodge, No. 219, and the Order of Red Men; in politics he casts his vote with the Republicans.

HON. VICTOR E. PIOLLET was born in Wysox, this county, June 24, 1812, and died August 27, 1890, seventy-eight years, three months and three days intervening between the birth and death of one of the most remarkable men ever given to Bradford county. A son of Joseph M. Piollet, of France, a soldier under Napoleon, who was severely wounded at Austerlitz, by which he was so disabled that he was made postmaster of the Army of the Alps, and retiring from the army he entered the banking house of the celebrated financier, Talley- rand, of Paris. On the banker's recommendation he was appointed, by Count LeRay du Chaumont, his agent for the sale of his lands in northern Pennsylvania, and accordingly he came to Philadelphia in 1806, stopping there one year to learn the English language. He came direct to Wysox, where he married Elizabeth Whitney, a native of Massachusetts, a lady of rare accomplishments and intelligence. Their children were: Victor E., Frances Theressa, Emily Victorine, Joseph E. and Elizabeth Josephine. The great Carlyle has described the French as " a volcanic people ;" and while we all know them as fiery and impulsive, philosophers who laugh, yet the meaning of Carlyle's words are not so readily comprehended in their full by one who has been careless of French history. Victor E. Piollet combined the remarkable qualities of the volcanic French and the stern and rigid Puritan, blended and so mixed up in him were these forces that all nature might stand up and say : "Here was a man." And over his grave the fitting words spoken by Rev. Thomas K. Beecher when he said : "Col. Piollet was a 'character;' whatever may have been his faults, follies, virtues and deservings, they were patent. They were his. No one ever called him lukewarm. His words were not whispers. He was a downright man, and all who knew him knew where to find him. * * We may recall with admiration his strength, his industry, his persistence, his constancy, his earnest prosperity, his pronounced character, his hospitality and his large acquaintance. Yes, we may note the great gap (as when a tree falls, and did not know before its spread and bigness) left by his fall."

Victor E. Piollett had precious little of book education ; he needed it not. He was his own school-master, and therefore he had a great teacher, and his rise was as the resistless up-lift of the mountain, either guiding or creating circumstances. A farmer, born and dying on the same acre, he was the greatest champion of the farmers-the whole people-that the State has produced. Philosophic in expression, fear- less in thought and deed, he despised all cant, and the arts of the dema- gogue and trimmer he spat upon. His business life, extending over a period of more than half a century, was characterized by that energy and rare ability that are given to but few men. Nature had richly endowed him with her choicest gifts; when but twenty-five years of age, in 1837, he and his brother were the contractors for the work on a section of the North Branch Canal, then under construction by the State. His promptness in the execution of the work secured him the

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favor of the State officials, and being active and influential in the coun- cils of the Democratic party, in the northern portion of the State, upon the election of Governor David R. Porter, in 1839, he was appointed superintendent of the North Branch Canal, then owned by and operated under the control of the State Government; subsequently he was elected a colonel in the State Militia. The duties of these positions he discharged with unwavering fidelity and signal ability. During his incumbency of the office of superintendent of the canal, the late David Wilmot, author of the celebrated " Wilmot Proviso," was then a young attorney, just commencing practice in the courts of Bradford county. Col. Piollet was allowed, as superintendent, $1,000 per annum for clerk hire, and he generously gave the position to Wilmot, and performed the greater portion of the duties himself.

In 1846 he was elected to the House at Harrisburg as a Democrat, and re-elected in 1847. The war between the United States and Mexico was then in progress, and while a member of the Legislature he was appointed a paymaster in the army, with the rank of major, by President Polk, and assigned to duty with the army of invasion under Gens. Tavlor and Scott. He immediately arranged his business affairs at home, and departed to enter upon his duties in Mexico. While there he became acquainted with many of the officers in the regular army, who, later, achieved distinction in the Union and Confederate armies of the late Rebellion, which acquaintance was maintained when- ever opportunity presented, during his life. Just prior to his departure for Mexico he was married to Miss Jane Miller, daughter of Hon. Jesse Miller, the then Secretary of the Commonwealth, under Governor Porter ; had been previously a member of the Twenty-fourth Congress, and a recognized leader of the Democracy in central Pennsylvania. This union was a fortunate one, Miss Miller inheriting many of the admirable characteristics of her gifted and distinguished father. She possessed a refined and cultivated taste, combined with those qualities of mind and heart which rendered her beloved and respected by a large circle of friends and acquaintances. The genuine and generous hos- pitality of Col. Piollet and his wife was unlimited, and was as exten- sive as his acquaintance. Mrs. Piollet died in March, 1879. The sur- viving children of Col. Piollet are Emily V., an estimable and accom- plished lady, now the wife of R. H. Eggleston, of New York City, and Louis, who for some years has been the active business manager of his father's farm.

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History of Bradford County, Pennsylvania, with biographical selections, Part 126

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