History of Bradford County, Pennsylvania, with biographical selections, Part 145

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

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GEORGE H. THOMSON, farmer, South Creek township, P. O. Fassett, was born on May 18, 1832, in Catlin, Tompkins Co., N. Y., a son of William and Sophia (Hutz) Thomson, the former a native of

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Ireland, the latter of Carlisle, Pa. William Thomson was a son of William Thomson who came to this country when his son was ten years of age, locating in Orange county, N. Y., where he lived an uneventful life. His son, William, began business in Dryden, Tompkins Co., N. Y., purchased a farm of 100 acres, which he cleared, and on which he lived several years; then removed to South Creek town- ship, on what is known as " Pigeon Hill." He purchased a farm of 160 acres, in those days a wilderness, but by hard work, economy and per- severance he converted it into a beautiful home. Here he resided until his death, which occurred about 1871, when he was aged eighty- six years. His family consisted of eleven children, ten of whom grew to maturity, eight of them now living. George H. Thomson, who is the seventh in the family, was reared and educated in South Creek township. In early life he worked at the carpenter's trade, but finally took up farming. He married, February 3, 1853, at South Creek, Ellanora, daughter of Woodard and Rhoda Bermy, and to them were born seven children, all of whom are living, as follows: Demster, married to Eugene Dewey; Timothy; Emma, married to William McCracken, a farmer; Edna, married to Albert Wood, a farmer; Zoe, married to Charles Star, a farmer; Arthur and Samuel. Mr. Thomson works a farm of 113 acres, his attention being specially devoted to dairying; his stock is fine and well graded; he owns a farm of 100 acres in Lycoming county, Pa. During the Civil War he served four months in the Construction Corps; he has held the offices, in the town, of con- stable and collector, two terms ; politically he is a Republican.

FRANK THORNTON, farmer and stock-raiser, Ulster township, P. O. Ulster, was born at Danby, Tompkins Co , N. Y., March 30, 1836, and is the son of Eliakim and Abagail (Converse) Thornton, the former a native of New York and the latter of Vermont. The grandfathers, Joseph Thornton and Francis Converse, were among the early pioneers of New York. Frank Thornton came to Bradford county in 1865, and engaged in farming. He received his education in the common schools of New York, and had a fair education for his time ; his early life was spent on a farm, but he learned the carpenter's trade, working at that for several years, and then learned the shoemaker's trade. He owns a farm of sixty-four acres in the Ulster valley. He was married in November, 1865, to Charlotte S., daughter of Royal S. and Jemima (Hugg) Alvord, and the fruit of this marriage are six children, as fol- lows: Rufus F., Clara A. (wife of E. B. Gilbert), Mary H., Nathan W., Eli W. and Florida T .; except the two eldest, the children reside at home. The family are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and Mr. Thornton is a Democrat in politics.

JOSEPH TOWNER, farmer and stock-grower, Sheshequin town- ship, was born in Rome township, May 23, 1828, a son of Enoch Tow- ner, who was a farmer and lived in this county, where he died May 19, 1873, aged ninety-four years. His early life was spent on his father's farm, attending the common schools of winters and working on the farm during summer, and received a fair schooling for the time, and at the age of nineteen he was apprenticed to learn the builders' trade, at which he served two years, and then began operations for

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himself. This he followed about twenty years and has erected build- ings in every section of the county, and assisted in building the court- house and First Ward school-house, Towanda. He enlisted in the army, August 16, 1862, as private in Company I, One Hundred and Forty-first Volunteers, and was discharged in November, 1863, as drum-major, on account of disability. He participated in the second battle of Bull Run and at Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, and various minor engagements, and was in the Patent Office Hospital three months with typhoid fever. On his return he engaged in farming in Rome township; then sold out and purchased a farm in Tioga county, N. Y., was there two years and then purchased the one he now occu- pies, about 100 acres, one-half being bottom-land, where he raises stock. He has a brick residence and elegant out-buildings; on the farm is one of the finest stone quarries in the State. He was married, in May, 1850, to Betsie Ann, daughter of Pardon Kenyon, and the issue of this union is one son, P. A. Towner, of Elmira. His wife died in October, 1851, and in July, 1863, he was married to Teresa, daughter of Theodore and Amanda (Fergurson) Gerould; her father is a native of this county and her mother of Vermont; by this mar- riage are three children, viz. : Dora E., wife of W. S. Elsbree; Ida I., wife of Lucian Gooding, of Elmira, and Jerauld E. Mr. Towner is the originator of the celebrated Towner corn, a new and valuable variety of cereal, ripening in ninety days, and yielding enormously. Mrs. Towner is a member of the Disciple Church ; he is a member of Watkins Post, G. A. R., No. 68, and is past senior commander; also member of the I. O. O. F. Valley Lodge, of Sheshequin, and has passed all the chairs; he has voted the Republican ticket since that party was organized.

WASHINGTON TOWNER, farmer, Sheshequin, was born in Rome township, this county, May 3, 1826, and is a son of Enoch and Elizabeth (Moore) Towner. Enoch was the son of Elijah Towner, who came from New York to this county in 1793, when Enoch was fourteen years old, on a prospecting trip, and stopped with Gen. Spalding in Sheshequin; Elijah returned for his family, leaving his son here, and located on the farm now owned by John S. Clark, in his log cabin, one of the earliest houses built in the neighborhood. Elijah had served in the Colonial army under Washington, and par- ticipated in twenty-seven battles; his family consisted of the following children : Ezra, Enoch, John, Elijah, Abram, Gersham, Joseph, Ben- jamin, Olive (who married Russell Pratt), Elizabeth (married to George Billings) and Anna (deceased); his wife was Mary Knapp. The father, Enoch Towner, was born in New York, October 1, 1781, and lived in the county until his death, May 19, 1873, aged ninety-two; the mother was the daughter of James Moore, born July 12, 1791, and died in 1881 in her ninetieth year. In their family were fourteen children-seven boys and seven girls -- viz .: Laura, married to E. Whitney, and died in Rome, aged seventy-seven ; Philander, married to Clarissa Davidson, of Litchfield county, Pa., and died in Rome, aged seventy-seven ; Elvira, married to Owen Robinson, of Candor, N. Y .; Evalina, mar- ried to Philander Robinson, and died in Franklin, aged sixty; Martin,

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY.

married to Abigail Bidlack, of Sheshequin, Bradford Co., Pa .; Eunice, married to Orlando Chubbuck, of Streeter, Ill .; Olive, to B. B. Hollett, of Watkins, N. Y .; Alvin, married to Diana Andrews, of Candor, N. Y., and resides in Rome township; Dr. Enoch, married to Almira Rockwell, of Rome, Bradford Co., Pa., and died in Wilson, N. Y .; Mary, married to George Smith, of Potter Co., Pa .; Washington; Joseph, married to Theresa Gerould, of Rome, Bradford Co. Pa .; Helen, married to Almeron Spencer, of Reading, N. Y., and Clinton, who died in infancy. Washington's boyhood was spent on his father's farm, work- ing on the farm in summer and attending school, during the winter, when there was school ; his advantages were, therefore, in this respect, very limited, but in after years he secured a good business education ; he remained on his father's farm until his twenty-third year, and then secured sixty acres off the old homestead, and occupied that farm until 1868, when he removed to another, the old "Towner farm," in the immediate vicinity, which contained 100 acres, and was here twelve years, then went to Rome borough, keeping charge of his farm, and remained there seven years. He then bought the farm he now occu- pies, known as the Segar farm, but was originally owned by Josiah Marshall ; this farm consists of forty-five acres, thirty-five acres being bottom-land ; the buildings are capacious and modern; the farm is well-improved and makes one of the most beautiful homes. He was married, July 3, 1849, to Esther M., daughter of Harry L. and Electa (Allis) Parks, and they have had four children : Harry L., married to Emily Mead, and is now a physician at Athens; Malon L., married to Grace Kinney, of Rome borough; Carrie E., married to Vernon L. Beckwith, of Warren, and Flora M., married to Ward Watkins, of Sheshequin. Mr. Towner is a member of the I. O. O. F., Rome Lodge, No. 480, and has passed all the degrees. The family are members of the Golden Cycle. Mrs. Towner is a member of the order of Provi- dence Shield, Branch No. 17, Athens. In politics Mr. Towner is a Republican. His uncle, Joseph Towner, was among the early preachers of the county, a man of extraordinary power. The Towner family are fine vocalists, and " Uncle Joe" could both sing and preach for the whole congregation.

H. L. TOWNER, physician and surgeon, Athens, is a native of Rome township, Bradford Co., Pa., and was born May 4, 1850, a son of Washington and Esther (Parks) Towner ; the former is a native of Rome, the latter of Orwell township, this county. The paternal great-grandfather, Elijah Towner, and the maternal great-grandfather were soldiers in the Revolutionary War. The father is a farmer and resides in Sheshequin township, this county. Dr. Towner, who is the eldest in a family of two boys and two girls, entered the Chicago Homeopathic College, in 1877, and began the practice of medicine in Athens, where he is still so engaged. He was married in Rome, this county, August 28, 1872, to Miss Ella, daughter of David and Sarah (Rudell) Newell, natives of this county (she was the second in a family of six children, and was born in Sheshequin township, August 20, 1853, and died November 7, 1882), by which union were three children : Dana W., Mary A. and Carrie B. The Doctor was married, the

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY.

second time, March 4, 1883, to Miss Emma M., daughter of Albert and Lucy M. (Taylor) Meade, the former a native of Pennsylvania, and the latter of Tioga county, N. Y. (she is the youngest in a family of three children, and was born in Tioga county, N. Y., May 18, 1859). Sheis a member of the Presbyterian Church. Dr. Towner is a member of the F. & A. M., Rural Amity Lodge, No. 70, and also of the Royal Arcanum, Queen Esther Lodge, No. 1153, and is medical examiner for the latter ; he is a Republican, and is a member of the school board. He is a member of the American Institute of Homeopathy.

S. G. TOWNSEND, farmer and stock-grower, P. O. North Rome, was born in Sheshequin, this county, May 17, 1830, and is a son of Elijah and Sallie (Gore) Townsend, the former of whom was born in New York and came to this county while yet a young man, locating in Rome township, where he purchased timbered land containing 800 acres, and for the greater portion of his life he followed lumbering and rafting; he had a family of eight children, as follows: Hannah Matilda, married to Selim Murphy, and has been dead several years; Henry, also deceased; Hezekiah has his third wife, and now resides in Idaho; Sarah, married to Enslie Gillett; Emeline, married to Henry Struble; Deborah, married to Austin Van Winkle (since deceased), and is now living in Chautauqua county, N. Y .; S. G., subject of this sketch; Mary, mar- ried to Rossiter Gillett. Mr. Townsend was born and reared on a farm, and educated in the common schools, which he attended until eighteen years old. On reaching his majority he purchased eighty-three acres, which he still owns, and began farming. In 18- he went to Wiscon- sin, and worked in the pineries two years; from there moved to Minne- sota and pre-empted a quarter section of land. Returning to Brad- ford county, he was married in 18-, then returned to Minnesota and took up his residence. While there he was elected to the office of jus- tice of the peace, In 1863 he was called home on account of an injury received by his father who was thrown from a wagon, which rendered him an invalid until his death. He at once took charge of his father's affairs, and soon brought order and success out of considerable con- fusion. He now owns over 200 acres of splendid land; the present resi- dence, built in 1874, is an elegant modern farm house; he does an exten- sive lumbering and farming business, and his farm is well stocked. Mr. Townsend was united in marriage, in November, 18-, with Elizabeth, daughter of Jonathan Hockins, of Broome county, N. Y., and to them were born five children, as follows: Eddie, Oscar, Freddie and Jessie (all deceased); Eva, married to S. E. Bradley; and they have also an adopted daughter, Frankie. Mr. Townsend has always been remark- ably successful in his business enterprises, and besides his large farm interests owns two houses and lots and three valuable vacant lots in Athens. He is an active member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and holds the position of steward; is a Republican, and has held the office of justice of the peace two terms. Among the many successful farmers of this county, none stands higher in the respect of the com- munity in which they live than Mr. Townsend.

JULIUS TOZER (second), farmer, Athens township, P. O. Waverly, N. Y., was born in Athens township, this county, January

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4, 1839, son of Joel M. and Elizabeth (Gross) Tozer, the former of whom was born in Athens, on the Chemung river, in 1806, and the latter in Bucks county, Pa. Joel Tozer was the son of Julius Tozer, who was a native of Connecticut, and removed from that State to a place called " Falling Springs" on the Susquehanna river, in this State; after a short stay he removed to Bradford county in 1791, locating on the Chemung river, north and west of Athens borough. He purchased a farm of 150 acres in the wilderness, cleared a spot for his log house, and went on building and improving, and soon added 240 to his first purchase, making nearly four hundred acres. He built . a more commodious house out of hewed logs, of which there was an abundance, then built a modern frame building to accommodate his increasing family, which numbered thirteen, eleven of whom grew to maturity and lived to good old ages-Lucy living to be ninety years of age. Julius (first) died in 1852 in his eightieth year. Joel, the father of our subject, commenced life on his father's farm; he and his brother built a sawmill, which they operated several years, after which they sold the mill property and confined themselves to farming. He lived a life uneventful, and died July 3, 1879, in the seventy-fourth year of his age; his family consisted of eight children, six of whom grew to maturity and are living at the present. Julius (second) who is the second in the family, was reared and educated in Athens, and always worked on a farm at home. He married Miss Hattie Casada, by whom he had two children : Elizabeth and Julius, both living. He is an enterprising farmer, raising a mixed crop, but giving some attention to tobacco. Mr. Tozer has the confidence of his fellow-citi- zens who elected him to the office of town commissioner; politically he is a Democrat.

RALPH TOZER, proprietor of coal yard, Athens, is a native of Athens and was born November 9, 1829, a son of Guy and Welthin (Kinney) Tozer, the former a native of Athens and the latter of She- shequin township, this county. Guy Tozer was a farmer, a soldier of the War of 1812, and was elected sheriff of Bradford county in 1836 ; he died in Athens in 1877, in his seventy-eighth year. Mrs. Guy Tozer died in 1868, in her sixty-seventh year. The grandfather, Col. Julius Tozer, was a Revolutionary veteran, raised a company from Athens and vicinity, was their captain in the War of 1812-14, and was wounded while in the service. Ralph Tozer is the second in a family of eight children, of whom five are still living, and was reared on a farm. He clerked in a store several years; studied law and was admitted to the bar in this county about the year 1853, but did not practice his profes- sion. In 1855 he went down into the Lehigh coal regions, and was in the employ of Packer, Carter & Co. twelve years, beginning as book- keeper and when he left was superintendent of their four mines ; from there he went to New York City, and was in the employ of G. B. Lin- derman & Co. nearly two years; thence went to Towanda and was superintendent of the Schrader Manufacturing Company two years ; then moved to Memphis, Tenn., and was partner in a wholesale grocery and cotton house two years. Returning to Wyoming Valley, he started two general stores under the firm name of Tozer, Crane &

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Leonard, and remained there seven years; then went to Bethlehem, and organized a store in connection with the Bethlehem Iron Works, where he remained until 1883, when he returned to his native place and bought D. C. Gray's coal yard ; in June, 1884, the coal yard was burned. Tozer's coal yard now does a retail business of about 6,000 tons a year. Mr. Tozer was married in Athens, in 1853, to Miss Sarah, daughter of Samuel and Sarah (Bidlack) Ovenshire, natives of this county (she is the youngest in a family of seven children, and was born in Athens, in July, 1831). Mr. and Mrs. Tozer had born to them two children : Ralph F. (deceased) and Albert R. Mr. Tozer is a member of the F. & A. M., Rural Amity Lodge, No. 70, and is a Democrat.

ALBERT O. TRACY, farmer, P. O. East Smithfield, was born March 15, 1829, on the farm where he now lives, a son of Bulkley and Bathsheba (Scott) Tracy, of East Haddam, Conn., who came to this county with his father when a boy, in 1805. Nehemiah Tracy was a great-great-grandson of Mary Chilson, the first woman who put her foot on . Plymouth Rock, at the landing of the Pilgrims; the family trace their ancestry back to the year 965. Hugh Tracy, who was a sheriff of Gloucestershire in the time of Queen Elizabeth and James I., was one of the family. Our subject's grandfather was a major in the Revolutionary War, and served seven years; was a man of influence and many years a strong supporter of the Congregational Church, at East Smithfield. Mr. Tracy's mother, who resides with him, and is eighty-one years of age, is a member of the same church. In early life Mr. Tracy taught school many years; he is a member of the Free- masons, and has been secretary of many Lodges and Societies in this town; is a Republican in politics and has held various offices of public trust. His mother's grandfather, William Scott, was a quarter-master in the War of the Revolution, and was probably one of the same family of Gen. Winfield Scott.

CHARLES L. TRACY, president of the First National Bank, and a member of the firm of Humphrey Bros. & Tracy, Towanda, is a native of Bradford county, born January 30, 1845, and is the son of Guy and Ulilla (Hoyt) Tracy, natives of Bradford county and Con- necticut, respectively. The father was a merchant, and for years was one of the leading prominent business men of the county, where he died in 1867, regretted by a wide circle of friends. His family was composed of one daughter and two sons, of whom Charles was the second, and who attended the public schools in his native place and then entered Fort Edward Institute, New York. Soon after leaving his school he sought and found employment as a clerk in the First National Bank of Towanda, where he remained five years ; he resigned this position to become one of the firm of Humphrey Bros. & Tracy, manufacturers of boots and shoes, an institution that is now one of the most important business concerns in the county, employing over one hundred operatives, their product being over 60,000 pairs of shoes annually, and in connection with their factory they carry on a large jobbing shoe trade. September 29, 1869, Charles L. Tracy was mar. ried to Eliza F., daughter of Hon. Judson Holcomb, who for many years was Index clerk H. R. U. S., Washington, D. C., and editor and

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one of the proprietors of the Bradford Republican. Of this marriage are the following children : Ulilla H., Clara M., Charles H. and Fan- nie Louise. The subject of this sketch is a member of the Universal- ist Church, of which he is a trustee; he is a thirty-second degree Mason; Republican in politics; and his steps in the bank have been clerk, director, vice-president, up to president, a position which he now holds.

HON. ELIJAH G. TRACY, M. D., a prominent physician of Troy, was born in Smithfield township, this county, May 30, 1825, and is a son of Orramel and Cynthia (Kellogg) Tracy, whose ancestors were of Puritan stock, having come over in the "Mayflower," in 1620. The paternal grandparents, Nehemiah and Lucy (Olmstead) Tracy, were natives of East Haddam, Conn., and settled in Bradford county in 1805, locating in Smithfield township, where they cleared and improved a farm. on which they lived and died, the grandfather dying in 1816; they reared a family of seven children, viz .: Olmstead, Orramel, Aro- bul, Bulkley, James G., Elijah S. and Sally L., of whom Orramel was born in East Haddam, Conn., in 1793, came to Smithfield with his parents in 1805, and, on attaining his majority, cleared a farm of 130 acres, on which he resided until his death, in 1857; his wife was a daughter of Samuel and Sarah (Pierce) Kellogg, of Smithfield town- ship, formerly of Poultney, Vt., by whom he had seven children, who grew to maturity: Caroline (Mrs. A. Mott), Elijah G., Alonzo, Ann E. (Mrs. Emor F. Wood), Alanson C., Chapin and Edward G. Subject, was reared in Smithfield township, educated at Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, Lima, N. Y., began the study of medicine, in 1850, with Dr. Daniel Holmes, of Smithfield, and entered the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania, at Philadelphia, in 1853. In the fall of same year, he began the practice of his profession at Windham, tliis county, later carried it on in Lycoming county, and in the fall of 1855 he located in Sylvania, this county, where he remained twenty- one years ; in 1876, he removed to Troy, where he has been in active practice since. The Doctor was married, October 26, 1856, to Juliette, a daughter of David L. and Clarissa (Baldwin) Smith, of Sylvania. Dr. Tracy is a member of the Presbyterian Church at Sylvania, which he was largely instrumental in building ; his uncle, Bulkley, and grand- father were members of the Congregational Church of Smithfield, his grandfather having erected the first Congregational Church in that township, and his uncle, Bulkley, the second. on the site of the old one; each died within a year after their respective churches were erected; the Doctor left Sylvania before the Presbyterian Church of that place was completed, thus avoiding the fate of his forefathers. Dr. Tracy is a inember of the Bradford County Medical Society and the American Medical Association. He is a Sir Knight Templar. Politically he is a stanch Republican, and was a member of the State Legislature in 1875-76.

GEORGE P. TRACY, M. D., Monroeton, was born in Towanda borough, this county, April 18, 1827, a son of George and Hannah M. (Ridgway) Tracy. His paternal grandparents were Solomon and Mary (Wells) Tracy, of whom the former was born at Preston, Conn., June 1, 1756, the second son of Isaac and Mehitable (Ford) Tracy. Isaac

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Tracy was a son of Francis Tracy, who was a son of Jonathan and Mary (Griswold) Tracy, Jonathan being a son of Lieut. Thomas Tracy, born in 1610, a native of Tewkesbury, England, who immigrated to Salem, Mass., in 1636; in 1645 he moved to Saybrook, Conn .; then in 1660 to Norwich, Conn., where he died, November 7, 1685. Solomon Tracy, paternal grandfather of our subject, was a soldier of the Revo- lutionary War, and one of the earliest pioneers of the county, having settled in Ulster, this county, in 1790, where he had, in 1788, purchased 400 acres of land under the Connecticut title, and here he resided until 1809, when he removed to Angelica, Allegany Co., N. Y .; he died in Canandaigua, N. Y., April 4, 1835 ; his widow died in Standing Stone, this county, November 22, 1848. Their children were: Mehitable (Mrs. Solomon Rawson), Charlotte (Mrs. Oliver Moore), Catherine (Mrs. Zebadiah Nobles), Hila (Mrs. Jonathan Nobles), Ira, George, Leicester, Isaac, Guy and Henry W Of these, George was born in Ulster township, this county, April 11, 1797, and removed with his father to Angelica, N. Y., in 1809. In 1824 or 1825 he bought back the old homestead in Ulster at sheriff's sale, but sold it the same year, and located in Towanda, where he engaged in mercantile business, and resided until 1832, when he removed to Monroeton, where he carried on mercantile business up to 1840. He was a justice of the peace for many years, and in 1850 was appointed associate judge of Bradford county by Governor William F. Johnston. George Tracy died June 3, 1877. His wife was a daughter of Burr and Alice (Coolbaugh) Ridgway, early and prominent settlers of Bradford county (of whom mention is made elsewhere), and by her he had children, as follows : George P., Henry C. and Burr R.

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History of Bradford County, Pennsylvania, with biographical selections, Part 145

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