History of Bradford County, Pennsylvania, with biographical selections, Part 154

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

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DR. SKILES M. WOODBURN, a prominent physician of Towanda, was born in Penn township, Cumberland Co., Pa., June 20, 1850, and is a son of John and Isabella (Dunlap) Woodburn, and of Scotch-Irish descent. He was reared in Pennsylvania and Ohio, and educated in the common schools and Pennsylvania State College. He began the study of medicine, in 1869, with Dr. J. T. Rothrock, now professor of botany in the University of Pennsylvania, in which insti- tution, in 1870, he continued his medical studies, where he was grad- uated in the spring of 1872, and immediately located in Towanda, where he has been in active practice since and has built up a lucrative business. In the fall of 1871 he married Margaret E., daughter of Leonard K. and Elizabeth B. (Robbins) Dilts, of Ringoes, Hunterdon Co., N. J., and has two children living: Charles L. and Isabella E. Dr. Woodburn is a member of the Presbyterian Church, R. A., K. of H., etc., and of the Bradford County Medical Society and Pennsyl- vania State Medical Society. He was for nine years pension examiner for Bradford county, and in politics he is a Republican.

ALLEN WOODIN, liveryman, Canton, is a native of Granville township, this county, born December 18, 1843. His parents were Joseph and Sarah Jane (Vroman) Allen, natives of Newfield, N. Y., and Schoharie county, N. Y., respectively; his father, who is a black- smith and farmer, resides in Granville township; his maternal grand- father, Peter I. Vroman, was a soldier in the War of 1812. Allen Woodin, the subject of this sketch, is the eldest in a family of ten children-eight sons and two daughters (the average height of the family, including the parents, is six feet one and one-half inches). Our subject was reared in Granville township. and educated in the common schools. Ile enlisted in August, 1862. in Company I, Fif- teenth New York Engineers, and served until the close of the war;

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY.

was mustered out at Elmira in June, 1865. He then returned home and engaged in farming and lumbering, also operated a sawmill until the fall of 1883, when he removed to Canton and engaged in the livery business. He was married in Granville township, January 1, 1867, to Elise, daughter of Charles and Harriet (Brigham) Taylor, natives of Springfield and Granville townships, respectively; she is the eldest of five children, and was born in West Burlington town- ship in February, 1845. To Mr. and Mrs. Woodin were born the fol- lowing children: Jennie (wife of Burton Kiff), Harvey, Hattie, Billy, Alison, who died in 1876, and Charles. The family are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. Woodin is a member of the G. A. R., Saxon Post, No. 63, at Granville Centre; he was commander- in-chief of the Encampment of the G. A. R. during 1886; is also a member of the I. O. O. F., Canton Lodge, No. 321, and in politics he is a Democrat.

GEORGE E. WOODRUFF, proprietor of Woodruff's book-store, Towanda, was born in Monroe township, this county, September 17, 1863, and is a son of J. Ferris and Jane (Howie) Woodruff. His pater- nal grandparents were Jared and Sophia (Alden) Woodruff, pioneers of Monroe, and his maternal grandfather, William Howie, was a native of Scotland, and for several years a resident of Ulster township, this county. George E. Woodruff was reared in Monroe township and educated at Monroeton graded schools. In June, 1887, he embarked in the book and stationery business at Towanda, in which he has since successfully continued. On October 23, 1889, he was married to Hat- tie, daughter of Stanley W. and Eleanor (Stark) Little, of Towanda. He is a member of the Presbyterian Church, and is a Republican.

WILLIAM W. WOODRUFF, blacksmith, LeRoy, was born in Dresden, Ohio, September 17, 1845, a son of L. V. and Eliza (Allen) Woodruff, the former a descendant of the Quick family, a native of Wyoming county, Pa., and a blacksmith by trade. Their family consisted of five children-four sons and one daughter-three of whom grew to maturity. William W., the subject of this sketch, who is the eldest, was reared and educated in Illinois, from which State he enlisted in the army in Company C, Fifty-third V. V .; he was wounded at the battle of Jackson, July 12. 1863. After serving his country during the entire war, and being honorably discharged, he came to this county, locating in Litchfield in 1866. He was twice married : to his first wife, Gustie Johnson, on July 4, 1868; his second wife, whom he married July 21, 1888, was Rose E., daughter of James and Seba Crofutt, and by her he had two sons : John E. and James L. Mr. Woodruff is an enterprising mechanic and a good workman in general blacksmithing ; in politics he is a Democrat.

AFTON M. WOOSTER, of Wooster & Boothe. grocers, Troy, was born in LeRoy township, this county, February 5, 1849, and is a son of Malvin and Fidelia (Holcomb) Wooster. The paternal grandfather, Enos Wooster, was born in 1794, came to this county from Danbury Conn., and died in LeRoy in 1823, leaving two children, Malvin and Lucy. The maternal grandfather, Marlin Holcomb, was also a pioneer of LeRoy township. Malvin Wooster, a farmer by occupation, was

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY.

born in 1822, and died October 11, 1854; his wife died November 28, 1854, both dying with typhoid fever, which was very fatal in LeRoy that year; they had a family of five children: Lowell A., Maria (Mrs. A. E. Case), Afton M., Lillie J. (Mrs. S. S. Surdam) and Seymour M. Left an orphan at five years of age Afton M. Wooster was reared in the family of L. D. Taylor, at Granville Centre; he received a common- school education, and on reaching his majority engaged in farming one year in Troy township. He settled in Troy borough in 1872, and for six years was engaged in the dray business; in 1878 he embarked in the grocery business with Mr. O. E. Boothe, under the firm name of Wooster & Boothe, in which he has since successfully continued. He married, November 16, 1870, Philena, daughter of Dr. S. W. and Amanda (Bailey) Shepard, of Troy, and has three children: Melvin S., born February 7, 1875; Frank A., born February 7, 1881, and Harold A., born November 8, 1886. Mr. Wooster is a member of the Disciple Church, and in politics is a Republican.

ANDREW WORTENDYKE, retired farmer, Gillett, was born in Sussex county, N. J., April 29, 1820, a son of Abraham and Rachel (Doremus) Wortendyke, natives of Bergen county, N. J., the former of whom was a son of Rynear Wortendyke, who was a native of Hol- land, born March 11, 1759, and whose father removed to this country about the time the colony was started at "Bergen Hill." Rynear Wortendyke's wife, Hannah, was also a native of Holland, born May 4, 1765. Abraham, about 1820, left Bergen for New York City, where he remained six years ; he was a shoemaker by trade, but, being a natural mechanic, worked also at other vocations as opportunity pre- sented itself. In 1827 he removed to this county, locating in South Creek township, at that time a part of Wells; this was in the early settlement of the town when there were only a few houses where the village of Gillett now stands. Mr. Wortendyke experienced the priva- tions of all the pioneers ; the mill facilities were limited, taking two days to go to mill and return; at that time wages were one dollar per day in harvest season, and flour was worth twelve dollars per barrel. Dur- ing his residence in Gillett he worked at the cooper's trade, which increased the facilities on the settlement in that direction; he spent thirty-four years of his life in South Creek township, clearing and improving his farm which consisted of one hundred and twenty-one acres ; he died September 20, 1861, at the age of sixty-five years; he had a family of eight children, all of whom grew to maturity, and five of them are now living. Andrew, the second, and subject of this sketch, was reared and educated in Wells and South Creek townships, and in early life followed the example of his father, working at the cooper's trade which he pursued in connection with farming about fifteen years ; he fell heir to his father's property. In 1865 he married Nancy M., daughter of Gideon and Sarah Ingersoll, of South Creek township. The Ingersolls were among the oldest settlers in the town- ship. Mrs. Wortendyke in her maiden days was a prominent and com- petent teacher in the schools of the various townships for twenty-five years, and at her present age is a lady of marked intelligence. Mr. Wortendyke is now living in a neat little home in the village of Gil-

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY.

lett; he owns a farm of one hundred and twenty-one acres of fertile land, and it is believed that the farm lies above an iron ore mine. He has always enjoyed the confidence of his fellow-citizens who elected him to the office of town commissioner for a term of four years.

RAYMOND H. WRIGHT, farmer, P. O. Canton, is a native of Canton township, this county, and was born July 9, 1865, a son of Charles Clark and Elizabeth (Fitzwater) Wright. Charles Clark Wright was born in Middletown, Vt., August 11, 1818, and died Janu- ary 4, 1889 ; he was a son of Joel and Mary (Holbrook) Wright, natives of Connecticut. Joel Wright was a soldier in the War of 1812, removed to Canton township with his family, in 1833; he was a car- penter by trade, and died in 1866, in his eightieth year ; his wife died in 1867, in her seventy-fourth year. His father, also named Joel, was a sol- dier in the Revolutionary War. Mr. Charles Clark Wright in early life worked at the carpenter's trade with his father, and invested his savings in a land claim (then a forest), where he resided until the time of his death ; he was a ruling elder in the Presbyterian Church for more than twenty-nine years. He married, in May, 1844, Elizabeth Fitzwater, who was born in Jerusalem, N. Y., January 11, 1826, and still survives her husband. Our subject is the youngest of eight living children, as follows: Oscar, married to Mary Adell; Diantha, wife of Frank Ammerman; Silas, married to Anna Hatten; Mary, wife of John Turner; Clara, wife of Delos Webster; Martin, married to Jessie Crandle; Lena, wife of Lawrence Wright, and Raymond H., who was reared on the farm and received his education in the common and graded schools of Canton borough. He was married in Grover August 28, 1889, to Addie L., daughter of James and Cassandra (Congdon) Rittenhouse, the former of whom was born in Newfield, N. Y., March 21, 1834, and the latter in same place, February 25, 1839. They were married, December 3, 1857, and removed to LeRoy township, this county, about the year 1863, and to Canton township in 1882. James Rittenhouse is a carpenter by trade and resides in Grover. Mrs. Wright is the third in order of birth in a family of five living children, as follows : Dell (wife of Horace Kiff), Byron (married to Nelia Den- mark), Addie L. (born in LeRoy, January 20, 1864), Hattie (wife of Elisha Bloom), and Elda, still residing with her parents. Mr. and Mrs. Wright are members of the Presbyterian and Methodist Churches, respectively ; politically he is a Republican.

WILLIAM S. WRIGHT, justice of the peace, and a cooper by trade, of Burlington township, P. O. Burlington, was born May 3, 1832, in Wyoming Valley, and had friends killed by the Indians in the massacre at that place. He is a son of Chancy D. and Elizabeth (McKean) Wright, the former of whom was of English extraction, a shoe-maker, and also a rope-maker, and quite a politician; the latter was of Scotch-Irish descent. The grandfather Wright was an officer in the War of 1812, and died of a wound at the age of nearly one hundred years. Our subject was reared as a farmer, and in August, 1862, enlisted in Company E, One Hundred and Forty-first P. V. I., and at once went to the Army of the Potomac; was wounded in two places in his left leg at Chancellorsville, and laid twelve days on the

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY.

battlefield ; was taken prisoner, but was soon paroled, then exchanged, and served to the end of the war. He was, for a time, orderly on the staffs of Gens. Hancock and Humphreys. January 1, 1860, he mar- ried Emily, daughter of Daniel H. and Lydia (Morton) Lane, of Bur- lington, of Scotch-Irish origin, who was born April 24, 1844, and whose parents were of the same family as Gen. Lane, of Kansas fame. Mrs. Wright's grandfather, great-grandfather and great-great-grandfather fought side by side in the Revolutionary War; her grandfather, who died at the age of eighty years, was buried in Burlington township. She had two brothers in the Civil War, Alexander and Daniel. She has borne our subject seven children, all of whom are living, as follows : Willie S. (married to Maggie Fenner), Daniel W. (married to Jane Walters), Permelia (wife of Douglass Brown), Homer D., Howard H., Arthur L. and Lydia May. Mr. Wright is a Republican and a worker at the political wheel ; has been a justice of the peace seven years, and is on his second term ; is generally known in all political circles.

MANASSAH M. YORK, farmer, Wysox township, P. O. Wysox, was born March 28, 1821, a son of Amos and Harriet (Hinman) York. He has been engaged in contracting, lumbering, milling and boat- building, in various parts of the United States and Canada ; he was foreman on the North Branch Canal, and assisted in putting the first water over it, and has charge of keeping a portion of it in repair. He enlisted, February 15, 1864, at Ithaca, N. Y., in Company K, New York Artillery, and was in the following battles : Wilderness, North Anna, South Anna, Spottsylvania, Cold Harbor, and was wounded while on picket duty in front of Petersburg, June 17, 1864 ; was taken to Harwood Hospital, Washington, D. C., and was discharged on surgeon's certificate of disability, May 29, 1865. He returned to Wysox, boated on the canal, and contracted in lumbering as long as he remained in active life. For several years after the war he carried his disabled left arm, but was finally obliged to have it amputated at the shoulder. He purchased his present home in 1879, and has resided on it ever since. Mr. York married Arila Birchard, and they had three children : Nellie H., Loella and Frederick W. His first wife having died April 1, 1879, Mr. York married Mrs. George Fox, of Wysox. He is a member of the G. A. R. Post, at Towanda, and has always been a most loyal Democrat.

SIMEON A. YORK, farmer, P. O. Wysox, was born in Wysox township, this county, October 15, 1829, a son of Amos and Harriet (Hinman) York, the former a native of Wysox, and a descendant of the old English York family ; the latter a native of Connecticut, and of English origin. Amos and Lucretia (Miner) York, great-grand- parents of Simeon A. came to Wyalusing, in 1876, where he was taken prisoner and carried to Canada, the mother escaping with the children and making her way back to Connecticut ; one of the children died on the way. and she was obliged to bury it with her own hands under a saw- mill. Her husband, being liberated, returned to Connecticut, and was buried one day before she reached there. The paternal grandparents of Simeon A. were Rev. Manassah M. and Elizabeth (Arnold) York, who came to Wysox, and the maternal grandparents were John and

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY.

Hannah (Mallory) Hinman, who came to Wysox about 1791, the grand- father having made a previous visit and taken up a farm soon after his arrival ; he built the first gristmill in Bradford county, on the farm now owned by J. L. Morgan, and it was in operation three years, hence is not remembered by some as the first mill in the county. Rev. Manassah Minor York was about the first permanent minister in the county, and preached from Wvalusing to Athens. The children of Amos and Harriet (Hinman) York were: Wealthy Ann, married to J. V. Woodward, of Williamsport, Pa .; Nelson H., of LaGrange, Ill .; Manassah M., a one-armed soldier living in Wysox; Harriet M., deceased wife of E. A. Coolbaugh; Saphrona E., E. A. Coolbaugh's second wife ; John C., a farmer in Missouri; Simeon A., the subject of this article ; Penelopy F., who died at fifteen years of age; James S., clerk in drug store at Rockford, Ill., and three deceased. Simeon A. York has always been connected with the homestead farm and now owns seventy-five acres of it. He was married, June 11, 1856, to Jane D., daughter of John and Phebe (Kelley) Barnum, natives of Delaware county, N. Y., of English and Irish lineage, respectively ; they have six children, as follows : John, born April 9, 1857, engaged in ranch- ing in Montana ; Harriet M., born October 8, 1858, married Lyman J. Norton, a farmer, Hillsgrove, Pa .; Charley H., born August 23, 1861, a farmer, Colorado; Mary N., born March 30, 1864, married D. A. Crawn, of Wysox ; Amos M., born September 5, 1866, and Lizzie F., born March 6, 1868. Mr. and Mrs. York are members of the Presby- terian Church at Wysox, of which he is elder, Sunday-school superin- tendent and president of the board of trustees. Politically he was formerly a Democrat, then a Republican, but is now separated from all party influences, and votes independently.

EDWARD B. YOUNG, druggist, Monroeton, was born Decem- ber 11, 1838, in Beaver Meadows, Pa., a son of Edward F. and Eunice E., (Hinman) Young. His father, who was a native of Oneida county, N. Y., was a molder, machinist and draftsman by trade. As early as 1830, he located in Towanda, and later at Monroeton, where he engaged in the foundry business; from there he went to Beaver Meadow, and thence to Foundryville. In 1838, he returned to Mon- roeton, and operated a furnace and foundry, which in 1850 was com- pletely destroyed. He immediately rebuilt on the site where H. W. Rockwell's foundry now stands, and to whom he sold in 1864. He resided in Monroeton until his death. His wife was a daughter of John B. Hinman, a pioneer of Monroeton, and by her he had two children : Marion E. (Mrs. Stephen R. Ormsby) and Edward B., our subject, who was reared in his native State. He received a common- school education, and most of his life has been spent in Monroeton. where he managed the store of D. J. Sweet, for fourteen years, and was deputy postmaster during that time. For three years after the war he was in the restaurant business. He had an interest with Mr. Sweet in business two years, and since 1888 has been engaged in the drug business. He was in the Civil War, having enlisted October 14, 1861, in Company F, Twelfth Wisconsin Volunteers, and served four years, when he was honorably discharged, having re-enlisted January 3,

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1864. He married twice: his first wife was Lou Douglas, and his second was Sarah A., daughter of William B. and Mary (Warren) Reif- snyder, of Albany, this county, and by her he had five children : Car- rie E., Edward F., Willie M., Till. B. and Marion Genevieve. Politically Mr. Young is a Republican. He is a member of the K. of H., the G. A. R., and the P. O. S. of A.

JOHN M. YOUNG, proprietor of "Knight's Hotel," Troy. was born in Columbia township, Bradford Co., Pa., June 24, 1841, and is a son of Edward and Celinda (Woodruff) Young. His father was a native of Lincolnshire, England, and came to America in 1825, settling in Bradford county. In 1839 he located in Columbia township, cleared a farm, and there he died. His wife was a daughter of Jesse and Polly (Dobbins) Woodruff, pioneers of this county, and by her he had three children: William J., Henry and John M. Our subject was reared in his native township and remained on the old homestead until 1874, when he engaged in the hotel business at Troy, later at Burling- ton, and has been the proprietor of "Knight's Hotel," in Troy, since 1887. He was married October 18, 1866, to Harriet A., daughter of James and Martha (Brace) Bullock, of Columbia township, and has one son, Edward J. Mr. Young is a popular and genial landlord; politically he is a Republican.

CAPTAIN ROBERT YOUNG, farmer, P. O. Troy, was born in Glasgow, Scotland, June 30, 1819, a son of John and Mary (Anderson) Young, who came to America in 1824, locating in Schuylkill county, Pa., and later removing to Lycoming county. In 1876 the father came to Troy township, this county, and died at the residence of our subject, in 1880. Capt. Robert Young was reared in Lycoming county, learned the molder's trade, in Williamsport, in 1840, located in Troy, where he was employed in the foundry of Seth W. Paine, fifteen years; then moved to Tioga, Pa., and engaged in the foundry business for himself, two years; in 1857 he removed to Wellsboro, Pa., and conducted a foundry there until 1863. In June, 1863, he joined, as second lieuten- ant, Company A, First Batallion Pennsylvania Volunteers, and was mus- tered out after three months' service; he immediately re-enlisted as a private in Company A, One Hundred and Seventh P. V. I., and was soon after promoted to first lieutenant and later to captain, serving in latter capacity about two years, and was honorably discharged and mus- tered out of the service in August, 1865. He then located in Troy, where he was in the employ of Mr. Paine until the burning of the foundry, after which he took an interest as a stockholder in the Enter- prise Foundry and Machine Works, in Troy, with which he was con- nected until 1884, since which time he has been engaged in farming. Capt. Young was thrice married: first time to Elizabeth Williams, of Troy; and second time to Mrs. Eunice Gilmore, of Troy, and third time to Mrs. Melissa (Mosher) Lanud, of Troy, his present wife. Capt. Young is a popular and well-known citizen of Troy township, a member of the F. & A. M. and G. A. R .; in politics he is a Republican.

WILLIAM W. YOUNG, clerk, Austinville, was born in Mains- burg, Tioga Co., Pa., December 22, 1840, and is a son of William and Almira (Basett) Young, early settlers of that place. He was reared in

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY.

Tioga county, Pa., until ten years of age, when he removed to Colum- bia township, this county, where he has since resided. After reaching his majority he engaged in farming, at which occupation he continued ten years, and since then has been in the employ of the late A. B. Austin and J. W. Hibbord as clerk in a general store. He married, July 4, 1861, Sarah, daughter of Abijah and Thursa (Palmer) Ayres, of Canton township, and has four children: Austin, Lilian (Mrs. Will- iam Watkins), Lizzie and Curtis. Mr. Young was in the Civil War, having enlisted March 1, 1865, in Company I, Ninety-seventh P. V. I., and served six months, when he was honorably discharged. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and he is a Democrat.

ALFRED D. ZELLER, foreman of the car blacksmith shop of the Lehigh Valley Railroad, Sayre, is a native of Sheshequin, this county. and was born March 18, 1860, a son of Andrew and Mary (Stickles) Zeller, natives of Wurtemberg, Germany, who came to this county about the year 1851. The father, who was a stonecutter, and, during the latter part of his life, a farmer, died in Sheshequin, December 18, 1880, in his sixty-second year; the mother resides in Sheshequin. Alfred D. Zeller, who is the sixth in a family of seven children, was reared in Sheshequin, and received a common-school education. He commenced his trade in Sayre, in 1881, in the locomotive blacksmith shops, and was promoted to his present position in December, 1890. He was married in Waverly, N. Y., January 22, 1884, to Miss Hattie A., daughter of John and Hattie (Decker) Codet, the former a native of France, a ship-builder by trade, and the latter a native of this county (Mrs. Zeller is the youngest in a family of three children, and was born in Rome township, this county, December 12, 1864). To Mr. and Mrs. Zeller were born four children, viz .: Lora B., Lillie G., Jennie M. and Grace P. The family are members of the Baptist Church, and Mr. Zeller is a member of the Patriotic Order Sons of America, Iron Hall and Sexennial League, and is treasurer of the latter. In politics he is a Democrat, and was elected one of the town councilmen of the borough of Sayre in February, 1891.

INDEX.

PART I.

PAGE.

A brave girl.

A land of farmers 19

Abolition party. 289

Academies.

345

Accident at Towanda

181

Adjusting the prophecies

268

Agriculture

19, 270

Agricultural societies.

387

Canton Union society, 452-Farmers' insti- tute, 452.

Alba borough 389, 391

First school, 390.

Allen, Gen. Ethan 133

434

Allis Hollow

478

American Eagle, not web-footed 157

Amusements in Olden time .. 84

Ancient giants . 441

Anti-Masonic movement. 293

Appearance of country, discovered. .. 39,

Arrest of Col. Franklin 137

Asylum

393

Athens township ..

189, 394

Proprietors, 189-Old hotels, 393-Lots, 398. -No. 1. 398-Indian treaty, 399-Penn's purchase, 399-Village platted, 401-Trus- tees. Franklin, Satterlee and Shepard, 402 -First postoffice, 406-Cayuta mill, 406- Planing mill, 406-Cayuta Axle Company, 406.

Athens borough 408

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History of Bradford County, Pennsylvania, with biographical selections, Part 154

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