History of Bradford County, Pennsylvania, with biographical selections, Part 129

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

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J. SCOTT PULTZ, conductor on the L. V. R. R., Sayre, is a native of Burlington, this county, a son of Henry and Adeline (Wheeler) Pultz, the former a native of Owego, and the latter of Schoharie county, N. Y. Henry Pultz is a farmer, residing in Bur- lington, this county, and is now in his seventy-fifth year. The mother is in her seventy-sixth year. The subject of this biographical memoir is the youngest in a family of four children, of whom two are now living, himself and a sister, Dorleaki, wife of Philander Long, residing in Wellsboro, Pa. J. Scott Pultz was reared in Burlington, and received his education in the public schools; then worked at the carpenter's trade, building wooden bridges, until 1877. when he went to work on the Northern Central Railroad, but only remained there a short time, when he went to work on the L. V. R. R. as brakeman ; was promoted to conductor on that line June, 1880, and has held that position since. He is a member of the Order of Red Men, the Order of Railway Conductors, Southern Tier Division, No. 10; Iron Hall and Conductors' Aid Association. Politically, he is a Republican.

LUMAN PUTNAM, retired, Granville Centre, was born in Great Barrington, Mass., September 22, 1801, and is a son of John and Lendy (Andrus) Putnam, who settled in Granville township, this county, in 1817, locating on the farm now occupied by subject, where they started a clearing, and died. The father was a soldier of the Revolutionary War, serving nearly four years; he was twice married, his first wife being Fiche VanDeusen, by whom he had two children : Katie, and Lucretia (Mrs. Joseph Bush); by his second wife, Lendy (Andrus), he had children, as follows : Luman, Henry, Fiche (Mrs. Stephen Landon), Isaac, Lydia (Mrs. Heman Bruce), Sally (Mrs. Luther F. Clark), Jane (Mrs. VanRensalear Champney). Mr. Putnam died in 1844 at the

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age of seventy-six years. The subject of this memoir was reared in his native town, until nearly sixteen years of age, when he removed with his parents to Granville, and, with the exception of three and one-half years he lived in Wayne county, N. Y .; has since resided there, occupying the old homestead, most of which he cleared and improved. He married twice : his first wife was Jerusha, daughter of Scoville and Jerusha (Hale) Bailey, of Granville township, and by her he had children, as follows: Lurenda (Mrs. Benjamin S. Smiley), Amanda (Mrs. Dr. Charles Drake), Lucretia, Selenda (Mrs. Valentine Saxton), Eliza (Mrs. A. S. Rockwell), Luman, Jr., and Harvey. Mr. Putnam is a member of the Church of Christ; he was justice of the peace of Granville eighteen years, eight years by appointment of the Governor, and ten years by election of the people; was county auditor and commissioner, each one term, and also revenue commissioner of the district of Bradford, Susquehanna and Sullivan counties ; was delegate to the State Convention, at Harrisburg, in 1854, that nominated Will- iam Bigler for governor. Since 1856 he has been a Republican.

PHILANDER PUTNAM, farmer, Granville Centre, was born in Granville township, January 5, 1831, and is a son of Harry and Mary Saxton) Putnam; his paternal grandfather, John Putnam, formerly of Massachusetts, settled in Granville township in 1817, cleared and improved a farm and died there; his maternal grandfather, Benjamin Saxton, settled in Granville in 1807. Harry Putnam, father of the subject of this sketch, cleared and improved a farm in Granville, on which he lived and died; his children were: Erastus, Philander, John, Jane, Benjamin and Lura (Mrs. Aaron Waldron). Philander Putnam was reared in Granville, began life as a farmer, which he has always followed, clearing and improving most of the farm where he now resides. In October, 1852, he married Mary, daughter of Ambrose Spencer, of Granville township, and has six children, as follows : Edward, Leslie F., Merton A., Scott W., Rosalia (Mrs. Irvin Caster- line) and Milan H. Mr. Putnam was in the Civil War, enlisting in October, 1862, in Company D, Third Pennsylvania Artillery, and was honorably discharged, after six months' service, on account of disability. He is an attendant and supporter of the Christian Church ; is a mem- ber of the G. A. R., and in politics is a Republican.

EDWARD W. PUTNAM, superintendent of the County Poor House, and farmer, P. O. Burlington, was born. in Granville, this county, February 10, 1854, a son of Philander and Mary (Spencer) Putnam, natives of this county, and probably direct descendants of Gen. Israel Putnam, of Revolutionary fame. Philander Putnam, who is a farmer in Granville township, was in the War of the Rebellion, three years, and participated in many of the hard-fought battles. Edward W. Putnam was reared on the farm, and educated in the schools of his native town, followed farming until the time of his ap- pointment as the superintendent of the County Farm, in January, 1887, which farm comprises 267 acres of fine land, the buildings being probably the finest of any similar ones in the State. Mr. Putnam was married, September 29, 1885, to Amanda Herda, of Burlington, born February 14, 1861, a daughter of Frederick and Sophia (Herbst)

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Herda, the former a native of Germany, and the latter of Detroit, Mich. Mr. and Mrs. Putnam have had one son, named Walter, born January 8, 1887. Mr. Putnam is a Republican in politics, takes an active interest in the affairs of the party, and has become deservedly popular in the responsible position he now occupies.

MRS. ELIZABETH QUICK, Wilmot township, was born May 5, 1842, and is a daughter of George and Margaret (Frutchey) Kintner, natives of Pennsylvania and of German lineage. She was married Jnly 4, 1865, to Thomas, son of Panl and Mary (Miller) Quick, of Wilmot, and who died April 19, 1881. They had five children : Eva, born October 1, 1866, died October 31, 1889; Bertha A., born Septem- ber 29, 1868; Cora E., born May 13, 1871; Panline, born March 18, 1873, and Thomas M., born May 28, 1880. Mr. Quick enlisted August 7, 1862, in Company A, One Hundred and Forty first P. V. I., and served his country's cause until May 16, 1865, when he was mustered out with his regiment. Mrs. Quick is a member of the Presbyterian Church.

W. CLINTON QUICK, farmer, Wilmot township, was born in Wilmot, this county, January 2, 1841, and is a son of George and Jane (Howey) Quick, the former a native of Pennsylvania and the latter of New Jersey, both being of Holland origin. He began life for himself at the age of sixteen, working at farm labor, and enlisted at Laceyville, October 2, 1861, in Company B, Eighty-fourth P. V. I., and was in the following engagements : Bath, Hancock, Winchester, Front Royal, Port Republic, Rappahannock Station, Slaughter Mountain, Thorough- fare Gap, Bull Run, Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, where he received a gunshot-wound in the right forearm, and was also struck in the side by a spent minie-ball, seriously injuring his lungs; he was taken prisoner, but was paroled in fourteen days, when he was taken to the Little Potomac Creek field hospital, and later to West Philadelphia Hospital and was discharged, for physical disabilities caused by wounds and exposure, on July 30, 1863. He then returned to Wilmot township, and in 1884 purchased his present home. Mr. Quick was married, Nov. 4, 1867, to Miss Eliza, daughter of Daniel Crandell, of Wilmot, and they have four children : Minnie E., born August 30, 1868 ; Alice L., born November 8, 1871; Stanley A., born March 17, 1875 ; Florence N., born March 15, 1878. Mr. Quick's loyalty to the Union cause on the field of battle is paralleled only by his fidelity to the Democratic party.

PROF. EDWIN E. QUINLAN, A. M., principal of the Susque- hanna Collegiate Institute, Towanda. The biographer notes, always with peculiar pleasure, the rise and progress in life of the few men who are classed as "self-made." There is something fascinating in the idea of the youth, rough and rugged; starting ont in the world, conscious only of his high resolution to succeed, and to travel along those higher walks of life, that are so inviting to all noble ambitions. Prof. Quin- lan is a native of Fallsburg, N. Y., where he was born, January 5, 1848, a son of Bennett and Abbie S. (Knox) Quinlan, respectable farmers in their native State, and descendants, in the remote years, of the Scotch- Irish and German. The parents were well-to-do people, with well cul-

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tivated fields, fair education and Christian character. The old gentle- man has now retired from the active cares of life, and is at the old New York home. In such surroundings, young Edwin grew to a lad of six- teen, and from a fair farm hand in summer, and a pupil in the common- schools or academy in winter, he became a school teacher. He taught his first five months for a total salary of $100, and "boarded around." The next year we find him in charge of the schools at Monticello, N. Y., the seat of justice of Sullivan county, and his salary is now the compar- atively princely sum of fifty dollars a month. At eighteen he became one of the instructors at the Monticello Academy, at that time a large and flourishing institution, where he taught two years, in a school of eight teachers. It was chiefly in this school, by his untiring application to private study, that he prepared himself for college. At the end of his two years' teaching he was enabled to enter Cornell University, and was a speaker at the first public exercises ever held by the students of

that institution. While teaching he had earned and saved consider- able to pay a portion of his way in college. In 1870 he left the univer- sity, to accept a position in the Susquehanna Collegiate Institute, Towanda. He had been elected principal, with Prof. George W. Ryan of the Institute. These young men entered upon the work with a zeal that soon lifted it into permanent prominence. After three years Mr. Ryan retired to take charge of the Towanda public schools, when Prof. Quinlan became sole in charge. The standard of scholarship, under his administration, has been raised, and the institution placed on a sure foot- ing, and is one of the flourishing and prominent schools of the State. There were fourteen graduates in 1889, and in the year of 1890, sixteen. In his chosen field of labor in Towanda, Prof. Quinlan has now been engaged twenty-one years, and nearly 3,000 pupils have passed through his hands as their instructor. In the colleges and universities where students have gone from his Institute the certificates of his school are received in lieu of an examination. The Professor is a member of the Presbyterian Church, teacher of the Bible-class of the Sunday-school, and is an earnest and effective Christian worker in other fields of Chris- tian activity. In 1876 he received an honorary degree from Lafayette College; he is esteemed as a highly cultured gentleman, of fine physique, ^ and equipped for higher work in the paths of literature and science; broad and liberal as a Christian teacher, who combines, with intense love of his profession, the equipments of a practical and efficient finan- cier. Politically, he esteems it a privilege and duty to vote for the best man, regardless of the name of the party to which he may belong. Prof. Edwin E. Quinlan and Miss Jennette A. Snook were joined in marriage in Brooklyn, N. Y., August 22, 1870, and there have been born three children: Mary F., Charles E. and Alice E. The family worship at the Presbyterian Church, of which he is an elder. Prof. Quinlan has large interests in the lumber business, and this is more profitable, from a financial point of view, than is his compensation as teacher, yet he follows the latter almost wholly from a feeling of devotion to the cause.

He has published a small work on language teaching, entitled, " The Student's Hand-Book on the English Sentence," several thousand of

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which have already been used in Pennsylvania schools, without being pushed by any agent or publishing house.

JOHN M. RAHM, roadmaster, Northern Division, Lehigh Valley Railroad, Towanda, was born in Wooster, Ohio, September 25, 1839, a son of David and Hannah (Davis) Rahm, natives of Middletown and Catawissa, Pa., respectively. The paternal grandfather, Melchoir Rham, was a native of Germany, and a pioneer of Wayne county, Ohio, where he died. The maternal grandfather was John Davis, of German descent, who resided at Catawissa, Pa. The parents of our subject settled in Standing Stone, this county, in 1855, and in 1867 removed to Towanda, where they resided until their death. David Rahm was superintendent of the North Branch Canal from 1855 until it was abandoned, in 1872, and was afterward in the employ of the Pennsylvania & New York Canal Railroad Company until his death in 1882. His children were five in number : John M., Joseph R., Sarah E., Isaac M. and Susie E. John M. Rham was reared in Penn- sylvania, where he received a common-school education, and when sixteen years of age he entered the employ of the State, as foreman of a canal division, and served five years. The property being purchased by the North Branch Canal Company, he continued with them in the same capacity, three years, when he was appointed supervisor of a division of thirty miles, which he held until January, 1866, when the property came into the control of the Pennsylvania & New York Canal & Railroad Company, and he continued with them in same position until December, 1867, when he was appointed roadmaster of the divi- sion between Towanda and Waverly, of which he had charge two years. Then in the same capacity he took charge of the road between Waverly and Pittston, which position he still fills, and since 1869 in the interest of the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company, and now has charge of 356 miles of track. Mr. Rahm was married, January 2, 1866, to Amelia, daughter of Alexander and Eleanor (Stevens) Ennis, grand- daughter, on the paternal side, of Levi Ennis, and, on the maternal side, of Asa Stevens, son of Jonathan, a son of Asa Stevens, who settled in the Wyoming Valley in 1772. He was a lieutenant in Wilkes-Barre , county and was active in the battle at Wyoming, where he was among the slain. Both grandfathers, as well as the great-grandfather of Mrs. Rahm (Jonathan Stevens), were pioneers of Standing Stone, this county. Mr. and Mrs. Rahm have one daughter, Millie L. (Mrs. Edward L. Smith), who has one son, David R. Mrs. Rahm and daughter are members of the Universalist Church. Mr. Rahm is a member of the F. & A. M., and is serving his second term as member of Towanda council ; politically he is a Democrat.

OLIVER B. RAKE, stone-cutter, Wilmot township, P. O. Lacey- ville, Wyoming county, was born in Wyalusing, July 15, 1859, and is a son of William and Lydia (Brown) Rake, natives of Pennsylvania, the former of German and the latter of Irish descent. Our subject began life for himself at fourteen, as an apprentice to the stone-cutter's trade in Black Walnut, Pa., and in two years was recommended as a jour- neyman. He then went to Myersburg, and worked one year, during which time he did all the fine stone-cutting for the building of the

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" Ward House " and the " Seeley House," at Towanda. In 1878 he was a partner in operating the Conklin quarry at Myersburg, and then sold out and went to Windsor, N. Y., where he was engaged in bridge building, and remained nearly a year, when he was foreman at Lanesborough, Pa., where he remained until 1881. He then went to Meshoppen, but after a short time removed to Towanda, Pa., where he had charge of the Fox quarry, for the Wyoming Valley Blue Stone Company, three years. He then removed to Tioga county, Pa., and was there as fore- man until he located in Laceyville, and was then foreman in the Rockey Forest quarry, in Wilmot, where he is now. Mr. Rake was married, March 26, 1881, to Miss Anna E., daughter of Charles Turner, of Stroudsburg, Monroe Co., Pa., and they have two children: Nina D., born March 29, 1882, and Maggie E., born August 5, 1883. Mr. Rake is a very skillful mechanic, and is regarded as master of his art; his political sympathies are with the Republican party.

L. D. RANDALL, of the firm of Randall & Son, millers, Canton township, P. O. Canton, is a native of Armenia township, this county, born June 26, 1849, and is a son of Daniel and Charlotte (McIntosh) Randall, natives of Delaware and Schoharie counties, N. Y., respect- ively. Daniel Randall is a farmer, and resided on the farm near which the mill property is located, about one mile east of Canton. He served one term as township commissioner; Mrs. Randall died in 1881, in her fifty-fourth year. The subject of these lines is the eldest in a family of three children. They removed from Armenia township to Tioga county, Pa., when he was ten years of age, where he remained about six years, working on the farm, and then removed to Troy, where he learned the miller's trade, which he followed six years, and then came to Canton, and has since been connected with the gristmill. Mr. Randall was married in Union township, Tioga Co., Pa., in 1875, to Miss Electa, daughter of Samuel and Maria (Spencer) Morgan, natives of Wayne and Tioga counties, Pa. Mr. Morgan is a farmer, and resides in Tioga county. Mrs. Randall is the second in order of birth in a family of nine children, and was born in Tioga county, Pa., in July, 1849; politically Mr. Randall is a Democrat.

MILES F. RANSOM, farmer, Ulster, born in Tioga county, N. Y., a son of Ira Ransom, who was the first male child born in the town. His grandfather, Forman, was a scout in Washington's army, and was sheriff of Tioga county many years. His great-grandfather, Ransom, was a captain in the Revolutionary War, and was massacred at Wyom- ing. Mr. Ransom came to this town about fifty years ago, and was married, August 20, 1846, to Adelaide D., daughter of Mathias and Susan (Minier) Lent; there have been born to them six children, five of whom are living, as follows: Alice, born April 30, 1848; William, born March 9, 1850, married to Marion McCauly; Jessie H., born February 25, 1856, married to Robert N. Nichol ; George Palmer, born June 12, 1865 ; and Anna H., born June 6, 1870. Mrs. Ransom traces her ancestry back to the Dutch, who first settled on Manhattan Island, N. Y .; her parents were pioneers of Wysox, who settled there about ninety years ago. Mr. Ransom's mother, Sarah Forman, was of the same family as Miles Standish, the captain of the famous "Mayflower."

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The Formans were Puritans. Mr. Ransom has been a successful man, and prospered in all of his enterprises ; has been largely engaged in rais- ing fine horses, cattle and sheep, and has sold some of the finest horses in the county ; he is a Democrat, and has been county commissioner and auditor. His daughters, Alice, Anna H. and Mrs. Nichol, are mem- bers of the Roman Catholic Church.

W. R. RAYMOND, freight conductor, Athens township, P. O. Sayre, a native of Athens township, this county, was born October 8, 1854. His parents were John R. and E. C. (Crans) Raymond, the former a native of Tioga county, N. Y., and the latter of Athens county. The father was a farmer and lumberman, and died in Athens township in 1856, and the mother, after his death, married Andrew J. Lyon, and they are now residents of Waverly ; she is a descendant of Adam Crans, a pioneer settler of this county, and a sister of the late R. G. Crans, a merchant of Waverly. Our subject, who is the younger of two children, resided in Athens township until he was eight years of age, when the family removed to Factoryville, where they remained about four years, and then came to Waverly. Here our subject received an academic education, and afterward clerked in a dry-goods and grocery store, and then was in the employ of Westfall & Bonnell, flour and feed dealers. He then made a trip West, returned, and was engaged in the trade on his own account a short time. In 1870 he again went West, traveling through Michigan, Illinois, Montana and Can- ada; and returned home in 1872. In 1876 he went on the L. V. R. R. as brakeman, was promoted to conductor in 1880, and has held that position since. Mr. Raymond was married in Waverly, in 1878, to Miss Henrietta, daughter of Alfred and Lucinda (Rosencrantz) Good- dle, natives of Wyoming county (she is an only child and was born in Tunkhannock, in September, 1857). To Mr. and Mrs. Raymond was born one daughter, Loui. Mrs. Raymond is a member of the Episco- pal Church ; he is a member of the Order of Railway Conductors, Waverly Division, No. 10, and is a Democrat in politics.

CHARLES REED, physician and surgeon, Wysox, was born in Wysox, this county. September 3, 1857, and is a son of J. Myer and Stella L. (Goodrich) Reed, the former a native of Amenia, N. Y., and of English and German origin ; the latter a native of Towanda, and a granddaughter of John Fox, one of the first settlers in Bradford county. Charles Reed, who is the third of five living children, was reared on the farm, educated in the common school at Myersburg, the Susquehanna Collegiate Institute, and, after one year spent in studying medicine with Dr. T. F. Madill, of Wysox, entered Jefferson Medical College, where he was graduated in 1880, taking the third honor in a class of 213. He then entered into partnership with Dr. Madill in the practice of medicine, which was continued two years, when he opened an office of his own at Wysox, where he has since practiced. In 1891, he went to Europe to further pursue the study of medicine, and specialize diseases of the heart and lungs. and spent two months at Berlin. attending lectures and studying Dr. Koch's treatment for con- sumption. Before departing for Europe, he was commissioned, by Gov. Pattison, a medical representative of Pennsylvania at Berlin.

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After leaving that place, he spent some time in traveling through Italy, Austria, France and England, visiting many interesting places, galleries, hospitals, etc., and returned to America, April 3, 1891. Since his return, Dr. Reed's practice, which was already very large, has increased so that he can scarcely attend to it; he has cases in the neighboring counties, from Elmira to Wilkes-Barre, where he has suc- cessfully used Dr. Koch's world-renowned "Lymph." The Doctor was married, May 8, 1883, to Miss Nellie W., daughter of Urbane and Lydia (Weber) Dilley, of Wilkes-Barre, and they have two children : Edward U., born May 1, 1884, and Charles B., born June 4, 1887. Dr. and Mrs. Reed are members of the Presbyterian Church, of which he is elder and trustee. He is a member of the Bradford County Medical Society, and of the American Medical Association. Politically he is a pronounced Democrat.

WILLIAM RELYEA, farmer, of Wells township, P. O. Gillett, was born in Middletown, Delaware Co., N. Y., September 7, 1829, a son of Daniel and Eliza (Murdock) Relyea, the former born in Ulster, the latter in Delaware county, N. Y. Daniel removed to this county in 1835, locating in South Creek township, where he took up a farm of 150 acres, in what was then a wilderness. He, like all old pioneers, had to contend with the hardships incident to pioneer life; he built a log house, wielding his ax in felling the timber that circumscribed his prog- ress, and at times the rod and gun were called into requisition. He cleared up his farm, and made improvements in other respects, besides adding more to what he already had. He died in 1890, at the ad- vanced age of eighty-six, having lived in this county over fifty-five years. He reared nine children, eight of whom grew to maturity, and five of whom are now living. The subject of this sketch inherited the same enterprising spirit that his father had, and was reared and edu- cated in South Creek at the common school. He entered into business for himself, at the age of twenty-one, having, before that age, pur- chased his present home, upon which he has lived all his days, except ten years he spent in Columbia township, though, while there, he retained his farm in Wells. He is a practical farmer, and made his money out of the soil on which he lives, by hard work, perseverance and economy. At the age of about twenty Mr. Relyea married, for his first wife, Miss Jane, daughter of John and Jerusha Ann McMullen, October 4, 1849, at Rutland, Tioga, Co., Pa., and there were born to them four children : Lydia R., Emma, William H. and Martha, all of whom are married and prosperous. For his second wife he married Miss Margaret, daughter of John and Mary Wilson, March 1, 1866, at Columbia, this county; by this marriage he had five children, three of whom are living: Wilson, Nellie and Minta, and they are at home and unmarried. Mr. Relyea is a general farmer, but pays especial attention to dairying. His premises are well watered, as he keeps a wind-mill continually in motion ; his fish pond is spacious, containing the palatable carp in abundance. Mr. Relyea is now serving his sec- ond term as town commissioner, an office he fills to the satisfaction of all ; he is a member of the I. O. O. F. and the Grange.

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History of Bradford County, Pennsylvania, with biographical selections, Part 129

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