History of Bradford County, Pennsylvania, with biographical selections, Part 27

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

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Thomas Simpson, the first publisher of the Gazette, understood well the demands of his patrons, as may be seen from the fact that with his paper filled with war and politics, he yet found frequent occa- sion to publish long religious sermons that bristled generally with doctrinal points, the animus of which is noticed in the opening sentence of one now before us: "How long, O inhabitants of the earth ! will you suffer yourselves to be deceived by false teachers, delusive spirits, and doctrines of devils ?" Then follows a number of " How longs," concluding with "How long will you catch at perishable things, out- ward ordinances or water baptism? when you are commanded not to touch, taste or handle those things that perish with the using, after the doctrines and commandments of men ! * * * Why follow phan- toms that can not save you at the hour of death ?-- take nothing with you that you can not carry into the gates of Heaven : Can you carry water there ? NO! my friend."

There is food for reflection in this ancient sermon. It was the earnest words of a very earnest man, addressed to a people in active accord with the speaker. It is a marked characteristic of the times and the people, and yet how can we reconcile the fact that only a few years before this preacher preached, Goldsmith had evolved from his brain that lovable character, the immortal " Vicar of Wakefield "-the ideal of a preacher and his family, and their simple daily home life, as drawn from the fancy of the strolling musician, who played his flute

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through Europe, to the servant girls and the stable boys, for a chance crust of bread. The demands of mankind called forth the sermon of the living preacher; the divine genius of Goldsmith warbled as the birds of the wilderness carol to the skies. To-day this good man and his sermon on baptism would, in one of our very fashionable city churches, be laughed at; but you must not imagine that, therefore, Goldsmith would, on the other hand, be lifted up and lionized by all people. On Broadway, he would be much the poor, wretched outcast he was one hundred years ago in the streets of London-just as likely to freeze and starve in a garret to-day as he did then; but the preacher and his great sermon would be haughtily directed by the bishop's but- ler to apply at the " Little Church Around the Corner."

In the early part of 1813, three men were arrested and examined in the preliminary court in New York, on the charge of treason. The Bradford Gazette published the account of the trial, under the head of " More Treason," and is content to simply give the facts and the gist of the testimony, without a word of comment. The parties tried were Abijah and Jacob Biglow and J. W. Jenkins, and, except Abijah, were convicted and bound over to the court, but, when the time for trial came on, these men had fled to Canada. Their treason consisted in having aided in the escape of some British prisoners. As remarked, there were no comments in the Gazette, no vituperation of Americans, who, in the hour of the country's peril, were giving significant aid and comfort to the invading foc, unless, indeed, the words " more treason," that stood at the head of the article, might be construed as a comment a solemn reflection that there were others in the country who had been playing the part of Judases toward their Government. The mod- eration of the paper is significant of the manner of our fathers-a strong contrast indeed to the temper of the people in our late Civil War.

This leads us to a notice of the fact that Bradford county, when it was formed, had men in it who were well known to all the people as Tories during the War for Independence. They were never molested, there did not seem to be any thought of ill-treating them. They were neighbored with as were other people; assisted in sickness and in emergencies as were others, as even kith and kin, and if the fact was ever thrown offensively in their faces there is no record or mention of it. These men so tolerant toward the poor Tories-the men so viciously ignorant as not to sympathize with the liberties of their fellow-men, and who committed treason to God and man by their blind adherence to and sympathy for the vile oppressor, and esteemed the fathers as simply rebels deserving the most ignominious death- were never molested, it seems, and it is doubtful if they were greatly discriminated against by the very neighbors who held themselves so ready to punish blasphemy, or even a mild form of heresy-a people who would punish the husband for kissing his wife on Sunday ; that had enacted and mercilessly enforced the Blue Laws, and yet so readily forgave treason. In the accounts of the bloody massacre that followed the battle and surrender of Wyoming, are to be found the sickening details of a brother in cold blood shooting to death his pleading

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY.

brother, who had escaped unarmed from the fort, and was skulking and hiding, in the vain attempt to get away. The unnatural monster, in answer to the prayer of his brother to spare his life, and he would therefore humbly serve him all his days as a menial slave, was the incredibly brutal one of, " You are a d-d rebel," and the rifle finished the sentence. In behalf of the brave revolutionists there is nothing of such infernalism as this charged against them during the long seven years of war; even the invading enemy were human, and the painted savages were guiltless of that depth of horror-it was a Tory. Not a representative one of course, for such a villain repre- sented nothing of man or beast, except himself-he stands alone in his matchless infamy.

When there were enough permanent settlers here to form a new county, they had reached a time when men began to draw away from that intense age of religious fanaticism, that wild craze on the subject that had whelmed the civilized world in the five hundred years of the Dark Ages, and were inclined to mix in their thoughts and purposes some of the more practical affairs of life. They were rapidly extend- ing the view of life, and the beliefs in supernatural powers in the most trivial affairs among men were loosening their long clutch of men's minds. The representatives of the church, while they had lost none of men's devotional respect for the cloth, for the sacred office they exercised, yet their power in the family circle and in the State, and in the material concerns of the individual were slowly waning. The influence of the churchmen was thereby signally bettered. A century preceding, the church had ruled the State and unfortunately wielded the gleaming sword, and interminable religious wars had blasted the bloom of earth, and the most horrid persecutions had filled the air with the wails of the dying, innocent victims. From these cruel ages the world was slowly emerging, but resistlessly, because slowly, like the rise of the continents from the great ocean's depths, men were tasting the right of self-government; feeling the power and the good of regulating their own private and social affairs. Would they rush to the other extreme ?

The people of Bradford county were deeply interested in the cause of education, even before the county was formed. Their attention was called to the fact that Virginia had already taken steps for the early establishment of public free schools, and appeals were sent to the Leg- islature to consider the subject. In nearly every rude log church a short term of school was taught, at first by the preacher in charge,and in time by his assistant. These were the most primitive subscription schools, to which each parent or guardian paid the bills monthly of the children they sent, and so rigid was their economy that the expense of sending a child to these pay-schools was but a fraction of what it now costs to send one to our supposed perfected free schools. A dollar's worth of text books then would supply a large family of school chil- dren their entire school days; in this as in other things, it is left to us to estimate the changes from that time to this.

A striking illustration of the prevalent credulity of the times the Gazette of 1814 publishes an obituary which is dressed in the extraordi-

& N.VandzRo

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY.

nary circumstance of being in mourning, that it is ornamented with an inverted rule at each end of the article. It is an account of the death of a Maj. Richard Elliott, of Ohio. Evidently it was not that they knew the man or had a personal interest in him, but it was the man- ner of the man's death that made it of such vital importance. The name of the man who gave the account is given as a voucher of its truth and credibility. The substance is that on a certain Sabbath even- ing the man was passing along the highway, when he saw two lights in the shape of half-moons coming toward him; when the lights met him they seemed to close him in a circle about the breast, when a voice pronounced these words : " Are you prepared to die ?" Without hesitation, the man answered " If it is God's will, I think Iam." The lights then passed on, but turned and followed him until he came opposite the graveyard where they made a stand ; he could see them, by looking back, for half a mile. When the man arrived at home he told his wife, and assured her that he had but a short time to live ; he related the same to several people, and announced to all that he was about to die. The lights were met on Friday evening, about 9 o'clock; on Tuesday following, the man was raving insane, and in twenty-four hours died. The lugubrious story concludes with the words : "This is a simple statement of the circumstances of his sickness and death."

The story is circumstantially told, and is quite ghostly. The men of that day, in their leather jerkins, and the dames at the looms and the spinning-wheels must have read and heard it with complete awe, and the children, no doubt, were freshly alarmed at the dark, and would shut their eyes in the fear of seeing the dreaded moon-shaped lights. The poor man was simply mad -insane beyond question from the first, and then, as now, there were no certain medicaments for the mind diseased. The moon-shaped lights were but witches in another form -men were moving slowly away from the suttee of the East, or when "Auld Clootie" would daily come up through the hot crater's mouth to waylay the innocent people on the road, as he had been often caught. in the act of finding a person alone, near a graveyard, and seized him, and, despite his struggles and cries, had carried him off, and with his precious burden had plunged into the vomiting volcano, on his return visit to his realms with his trophy. Men's beliefs were emerging slowly from these frightful conjurings -- the travail of the dreary ages. The story of man's frightful superstitions- shadows to us, but horribly real to them-is one of the most painful chapters in human history ; it had filled the world to the mountains' peaks with the deepest gloom, and in trembling and despair they literally called upon the rocks and the mountains to fall upon them and hide them forever from the face of an angry God. However, they were slowly approaching this age in the idea that the Supreme was not always so unreasonably angry with his children, and that he is all love and justice. "I thy God am a jealous God " is now more generally read " And He so loved the world, etc." The pendulum swings; it can never be at rest-the ebb and flow of the wind, as it rises, slowly and spirally, toward God's throne. The opposing theories : inappeasable wrath, implacable hate or mad, convulsive, unreasoning love-the orthodox, with clubs and

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knocks, the altruist sweating blood over the innocent failings of ignorance, and offering up the great vicarious sacrifice, are but the ceaseless moan of the great ocean of men's troubled souls moving through the unending eternities. Possibly, here, as everywhere, when the historian comes, great enough, wise enough, and fearless enough to point out the truth that ever lies in the mean of all extremes, then may mankind begin to feel and know that our civilization is safe, founded upon the rock against which the winds and the storms may beat in vain, and foolish good men will cease to heart-bleed and wail in sadness over the cruel contentions of men- over these beastly struggles to trample upon each other. "All's well !"

Adjusting the prophecies, was in the early part of this century the serious work of many of the world's holy seers; these cabalistic interpreters were a very important feature of the times, and they burned the midnight oil, and the press teamed with their books for all men to read. For a period of twenty years or more these things raged with the utmost activity, like everything of the kind in answer to a popular demand. The obscure parts of the books of Daniel and the Revelations of John, were the fruitful sources of supply for the remarkable output of the press of that day. These ranged in all degrees from the most learned and solemn to the serio-comic, but all intended to show that the great oracles of the church were still abroad in the land; their erudition was astounding, their secular flavoring overpowering, and their demonstrations startling, ludicrous and whimsical.

A man named Kett wrote and published a book entitled, "History, the best interpreter of Prophecy," and he seriously demonstrates " The man of sin " is at once " both the Papal power and the French infi- delity ; " that the " little horn of Daniel's fourth beast " designates Mohammedanism, Popery and French infidelity ; the beast of the bottomless pit which slays the two witnesses spoken of in the 11th Chapter of Revelations typifies the same infidel power ; that Daniel's little horn of the goat and of his third beast, the leopard, symbolize Mohammed and the French infidelity ; that the second beast of St. John, which is to arise out of the earth and " the images to which he is to give life " are "infidelity and democracy;" that the two horns of the beast are "the German illuminati and French pseudo philosophers ; that the particular democratic tyranny, symbolized by the image of the beast, is the revolutionary Republic of France, and that the mark of the beast is the tri-colored cockade.

A contemporary of Kett's was one who called himself Galloway. This oracle read that the earth out of which John's second beast arose was France; the beast himself the French Republic-his head the legislature; his two horns the committee of safety, and the fire he was to call down was the wrath of God ; his marvelous performances were the French victories; the image he was to set up, the prostitute goddess of reason and liberty ; his mark the cap of liberty and the cockade ; that his number Latinized, is 666, the name of the monarch Louis XVI.

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One of our New England prophet interpreters transposed Napoleon's name into this same mystical number, and a wag set about it and made the same translation of the signs apply to Jefferson's red plush breeches. That irreverent but clever wag deserves a bright immortality. He struck the whole gang of lunatics a staggering blow; in the language of the ring, " an uppercut," so neat and deft that it must have brought a grin of approval from even the severest old gospelers of that day.

In December, 1815, Benjamin Austin, of Boston, addressed a long letter to ex-President Jefferson, propounding very important questions on subjects that were then coming to the surface in this country. To this Mr. Jefferson replied at length, and both were deemed of sufficient importance to republish in the Gazette. The opening paragraph of Mr. Jefferson's reply refers to the existing horrible conditions in France; blames much of this on Napoleon, who failed to use his legitimate powers in the establishment and support of free government, and predicts that the great French people will come in time out of the fiery ordeal in signal triumph and ultimate freedom and democracy. He then says :

"You tell me I am quoted by those who wish to continue our dependence on England for manufactures. There was a time when I might have been so quoted with more candor, but within the thirty years since elapsed how are things changed? We were then in peace, our independent place among nations was then acknowledged ; a commerce which offered the raw materials in exchange for the same material, after receiving the last touch of industry, was worthy the attention of all nations. It was expected that those especially to whom manufacturing industry was important would cherish the friendship of such customers by every favor. *

* * Under this prospect the question seemed legitimate, whether with such an immensity of unimproved land, court- ing the hand of husbandry, the industry of agriculture or that of man- ufactures, would add most to that of the national wealth. And the doubt on the utility of American manufactures was entertained on this consideration chiefly; that to the labor of the husbandman a vast addition is made by the spontaneous energies of the earth on which it is employed; for one grain of wheat committed to the earth she renders twenty, thirty and even fifty fold-whereas the labor of the manufacturer falls in most instances vastly below this. * * * What a field it did promise for the occupation of the ocean-what a nursery for that class of citizens who were to exercise and maintain our equal rights on that element. This was the state of things in 1785, when the 'Notes on Virginia ' were first published; when the ocean being. open to all nations, and their common right in it acknowledged and exercised. * * * But who in 1785 could foresee the rapid depravity which was to render the close of that century a disgrace to the history of civilized society? Who would have imagined that the two most distinguished in the rank of nations for science and civilization would have suddenly descended from that honorable eminence, and setting at defiance all those moral laws established by the Author of nature between nation and nation, as between man and man, would cover earth and sea with robberies and piracies merely because

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strong enough to do it with temporal impunity, and that under this disbandonment of nations from social order, we should have been despoiled of a thousand ships and have thousands of our citizens reduced to Algerine slavery?" He proceeds to show that the French joined England in this crusade against American com- merce on the seas. Being thus excluded from the free interchange of nations, he reaches the question of making ourselves independent for the comforts of life, and declares "we must fabricate them for our- selves." " We must now," he continues, " place the manufacturer by the side of the agriculturist. The former question is suppressed or rather assumes a new form. The grand inquiry now is, shall we make our own comforts or go without them, at the will of a foreign nation ? * * * I am proud to say I am not one of these [opposed to American mann- factures]. Experience has taught me that manufactures are now as necessary to our independence as to our comfort, and if those who quote me as of a different opinion will keep pace with me in purchas- ing nothing foreign, where an equivalent of domestic fabrics can be obtained, without regard to difference of price, it will not be our fault if we do not soon have a supply at home equal to our demand. If it shall be proposed to go beyond our supply, the question of '85 will then recur, viz. : Will our surplus labor then be more beneficially employed in the culture of the earth or in the fabrication of art? We have time yet for consideration before that question will press upon us ; and the maxims to be applied will depend on the circumstances that will then exist. For in so complicated a science as political economy, no one axiom can be laid down as wise and expedient for all times and circumstances."

To this beginning of the subjects concerning our foreign commerce we have now added our seventy-five years of experimenting and much continuous discussion. At certain periods the question would be laid temporarily aside for other issues, yet when these had their time and passed away, then the two great political parties would resume the never-ending discussions of the questions of the tariffs. Is not much of the same uncertainty among the people to be found now that there was three-quarters of a century ago? At the National fall election of 1888, after more than a year of continuous discussion of the subject of high tariff and low tariff on imports, a year of discussion in which there were less of side issues than had ever before been connected with the tariff question, and the vote of the country sustained the advocates of tariff-President Harrison was elected on this issue in 1888, and this was emphasized by the election of a majority in Congress of that po- litical faith. The three co-ordinate branches of government were now in accord, and it was claimed, with much apparent truth, that the ques- tion was now happily settled-the people had declared for that policy. But in two short years, 1890, with the issue still more sharply defined, in the election of a new Congress, the results of 1888 were overwhelm- ingly reversed. Thus one election "settles" this important question, and immediately following the next election will completely unsettle it, it seems. These whirligigs of time are not only interesting to the historian, but they are the poised scales in which he may. best weigh

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and judge the important movements of the American people. These remarkable changes, something approaching a quick revolution of the public judgment, may render the lives of the professional politicians a burden, delicious to the "outs," calamitous to the "ins ;" but they are on the whole a good sign-they bespeak the activity of the public mind on questions of the common weal where numerous mistakes are atoned in final justice and truth.

CHAPTER XIV. BRADFORD COUNTY CIVIL LIST.

PAST AND PRESENT STATE OFFICIALS-PAST AND PRESENT COUNTY OFFICIALS.

LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR.

William T. Davies

1886-91

Samuel Mckean

1835-39

David Wilmot

1861-63

Samuel McKean

1822-24

John Laporte

1834-36

David Wilmot

1844-50

Henry W. Tracy

1862-64

Ulysses Mercur

1864-71

Joseph Powell

1874-76

Edward Overton

1876-80

JUDGE OF THE UNITED STATES COURT OF CLAIMS.

David Wilmot CONSUL TO SANTA CRUZ, WEST INDIES.

1863-68

Edward H. Perkins

1862 -

Henry W. Tracy

1866-68

Joseph Powell

1885 (Incumbent)

SURVEYOR OF PORT OF PHILADELPHIA.

E. Reed Myer

1861-67

E. O'Meara Goodrich

1869-81

DEPUTY SURVEYOR OF PORT OF PHILADELPHIA.

1869-81

Hiram P. Goodrich SECRETARY OF THE COMMONWEALTH.

Samuel Mckean 1829-32

DEPUTY SECRETARY OF THE COMMONWEALTH.

Elisha S. Goodrich 1852-55

SURVEYOR GENERAL.

1845-51

John Laporte

UNITED STATES SENATORS.

MEMBERS OF CONGRESS. ,

DEPUTY COLLECTOR OF PORT OF PHILADELPHIA. 1

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY.

JUSTICE OF SUPREME COURT.

Ulysses Mercur, 1872 -- became Chief Justice, January, 1883, and died in office.

STATE SUPERINTENDENT OF COMMON SCHOOLS.

Charles R. Coburn . STATE SENATORS. 1863-66.

Henry Welles, 1815-18. District-Lycoming, Clinton, Centre, McKean, Bradford and Tioga. Samuel Mckean, 1829-30 (resigned to become Secretary of Commonwealth)-Bradford, Susquehanna and Tioga. Reuben Wilbur, 1830-37-Bradford, Susquehanna and Tioga. Elihu Case, 1837-40-Susquebanna and Bradford. Gordon F. Mason, 1846-49 -- Bradford and Tioga. George Sanderson, 1850-53-Susque- hanna, Bradford, Wyoming. E. Reed Myer, 1856-59-Susquehanna, Bradford and Wyoming. George Landon, 1859-62 and 1865-68 -- Susquehanna, Bradford and Wyoming. Delos Rockwell, 1874-76 -- Susquehanna, Bradford and Wyoming. William T. Davies, 1876-84 -Bradford and Wyoming. J. K. Newell, 1884 (incumbent)-Brad- ford and Wyoming.

MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

From 1774 to 1782, inclusive, Bradford county formed part of Westmoreland, State of Connecticut, and sent members to the semi- annual sessions of the Legislature at Hartford, as follows: September, 1774, Christopher Avery ; October, 1781, Obadiah Gore, Capt. John Franklin ; May, 1782, Obadiah Gore ; October, 1782, Obadiah Gore.

District-Lycoming, Bradford, Tioga and Potter Counties-1813- 14-Henry Welles.

District-Bradford and Tioga Counties -- 1815-19, Samel Mckean, 1820-22, Simon Kinney.

District-Bradford County (one member)-1822-23, Wm. Myer ; 1823-26, Lemuel Streeter; 1826-28, Constant Mathewson ; 1828-29, John Laporte.

District-Bradford and Tioga (two members) .- 1829-32, John La- porte ; 1832-33, Ellis Lewis ; 1833-35, Lockwood Smith ; 1835-36, Darins Bullock, Isaac Myer.

District-Bradford (one member) .- 1836-37, Isaac Cooley; 1837-38, George Kinney; 1838-40, David S. Barstow ; 1840-41, Stephen Pierce; 1841-43, William Elwell.

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History of Bradford County, Pennsylvania, with biographical selections, Part 27

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