History of Bradford County, Pennsylvania, with biographical selections, Part 57

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

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY.

a child, they moved to Ulster. I have heard my mother say she carried her in her arms through the Breakneck narrows on horseback.

Eli Holcomb came from Simmsbury, Conn., and in March, 1793. settled in Ulster, on the place now occupied by Mr. Walker. The Hol- comb sawmill, on Cash's creek, was known for a long distance, and lumber, with which most of the houses in Ulster and adjoining towns were built, was sawed there.

Chester Bingham was at Ulster at an early day. . Thomas Overton, born in England, came from Luzerne county to Athens, where he resided a short time, and then purchased the Solomon Tracy place in Ulster. Here he kept a public-house for a number of years.

Above the Narrows, toward Milan, Joseph C. Powell lived. The place was known by those who ran the river as Powell's eddy.

William and Joseph Loughry, probably brothers, early settled in " Ulster. By deed dated December 11, 1794, Reuben Fuller, of Tioga, conveys to William Loughry, of Tioga, a lot described as Nos. 1 and 2 of Ulster, and opposite New Sheshequin.

In the back part of Ulster is what is known as the Moore's Hill settlement. Clement Paine owned some property in this place, on the Burlington road, and had made some improvement on it, and Jeduthan, a son of Capt. Adrial Simons, was living in the same neighborhood about 1820 to 1825. Mr. Howie bought the place of Mr. Paine, and Peter McAuley was near him. Besides these there are families of Pollocks, Mathers, Dicksons and others, names familiar to every reader of Scotch history.

Ulster Village .- The present postmaster is R. A. Horton. The first postmaster, in 1870, was J. Holcomb. . The magnificent iron bridge at Ulster was built in 1889, one of the first iron bridges spanning the Susquehanna. Before this bridge was built they had an old rope ferry. Uriah Shaw, of Ulster, was born in Sheshequin in 1806, and is now eighty-six years old. His recollections of this por- tion of the county are very remarkable. He says the first coal boat on the canal, Capt. May commanding, left Pittston on November 11, 1856, and passing Ulster reached Elmira on the seventeenth. On December 18, 1771, his father, Ebenezer Shaw, died at Mrs. Gore's in Shesheqnin. aged one hundred years, three months, twelve days. The first railroad ticket sold at Ulster was bought by his brother, Norman Shaw. The railroad station, for some time, was an old canal-boat. The present station agent is Henry Shaw, appointed in April, 1871.

On the tombstones in the old Ulster grave-yard are found the fol- lowing inscriptions: Adrial Summers, died July 27, 1803. Mrs. Mercy Rice, died April 12, 1813. Mary Overton, wife of Thomas Overton, died April 15, 1815 ; Thomas Overton died November 11, 1835. Harry Carpenter died in January, 1808. Capt. Benjamin Clark, a soldier of the Revolution, died August 9, 1834, aged 87; his wife Keziah died Aug. 12, 1837, aged 91.

The first gristmill in Ulster was built in 1806, by Thomas Overton. The next one was built by Charles Welles, at first as a sawmill; was burned twice and then made a gristmill. Crescent mills, Ulster,

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY.

(steam-power), operated by A. Armstrong, lessee, has a capacity of forty barrels of flour per day.

The village of Ulster has the following industries: A sawmill, by Watkins & Gore; two general dry-goods stores ; cigar factory ; grocery store ; drug store; a livery stable; one clothing store; one millinery store; two blacksmith shops and one meat market. There are two hotels-" Van Dyke House," by E. J. Mathews, and "Ulster House," by Watkins & Gore-two churches, town hall, etc.

Milan, situated three miles above Ulster, is a railroad depot. It was formerly called " Marshall's Corners," in honor of a man of that name, who was an early settler and prominent citizen. It has one hotel, three stores and a blacksmith and wagon shop. It is a busy shipping point on the Lehigh Valley Railroad.

Moore's Hill was settled by Robert Moore in the spring of 1819, and next fall was followed by Judson Simmons; he by Alexander Hubbard ; then William Van Dyke, and after him John Lewis. This brings us to 1821. There seems to have been no additions during the next twelve years. Simmons was succeeded by his son Adrial.

CHAPTER LIII. WARREN TOWNSHIP.

W ARREN is the northeast corner township of Bradford county. Its surface is very uneven, but at the same time there is but a small portion not susceptible of cultivation. The timber is principally hemlock, birch, beech and maple, with some basswood, pine, cherry and ash. The soil is gravel and loam. The streams which drain the waters to the Susquehanna rise here. They afford good water-power for running machinery on a small scale. The crops consist of wheat, rye, oats, barley, corn, potatoes, grass and flax, potatoes leading.

In 1798, James Bowen, William Arnold, Mr. Harding and Thomas Gibson came into Warren, then known as "Martell," and made a clearing on the south branch of the Wappasening creek. at a place called for many years " the old clearing." But they found they were not on the tract of land they had designed settling on, and after obtaining their first crop they abandoned it and went farther north, to a place which has been known ever since as "Bowen Hollow," where James Bowen built a gristmill on the middle branch of the Wappasening. . Eliphalet Mason, son of Ebenezer and Mary Mason, came to Warren in 1802.

In the spring of 1800, Capt. Ebenezer and Jonathan Coburn, brothers, came, with their sons, from Connecticut and bought under Connecticut title 23.040 acres of land, and made a clearing on the same farm where they lived and died. On their arrival at Martell they found Bowen, Arnold, Fairbanks and Gibson, who had moved in witlı

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their families the season before, and made clearings. Seneca Allyn, now living in Warren, says he went with a horse to the Wysox flats, thence up the river to Owego, before he could find any grain that he could buy ; and he bought two bushels of wheat, put it into a skiff, because there was no way to get his horse across the river. He then took the grain on his shoulders and carried it two and a half miles to get it ground, then shouldered it again and brought it back to the river, where his horse was left fasting, for the very good reason that he could get nothing for him to eat.

William Arnold and Elizabeth, his wife, came from Massachusetts, in the year 1799. They brought with them three sons, James, William and Andrew-all of whom lived to be aged men, and reared families. Elizabeth Arnold died in Warren when fifty years of age, about the year 1801. Her husband died about seventeen years after, sixty-two years of age.

During the summer or fall of 1800 the first white child was born in Warren, a son of James Bowen, and was christened Harry ; a few weeks later Benedict Arnold was born, and August 10, 1801, A. S. Coburn, son of Parley Coburn.

In 1804 there were the following taxables, viz .: William Arnold, J. Bowen, Henry Billings, Ebenezer Coburn, Parley Coburn, Jonathan Coburn, Moses Coburn, Jr., Amos Coburn, Payson Corbin, Thomas Gibson, Ebenezer Lee and Roswell Lee.

The Armstrongs came in as late as 1817 or 1818. Joseph lived on the turnpike, near Alexander Dewing's. Mrs. Dewing had by her first husband four sons, Jeremiah, Andrew, Alexander and Edward. Jeremiah was a Presbyterian preacher, and had a son, Thomas S.

Luther Buffington lived in the Bowen neighborhood. Preserved Buffington, from Providence, R. I., was a brother of Mrs. William Arnold, and came from the same neighborhood. He lived in South Warren, on the farm Samuel Chaffe now lives on. His sons were : Luther, Calvin and Benjamin. A daughter, Sally, married Livingston Jenks. He lived on a farm now occupied by Esquire Burbank. He had a store and did trading for some years. He had a large family of children. He was justice of the peace for a number of years. Capt. Case also was a settler in the township. He had a son. Benjamin, who was a lawyer, and married a sister of Andrew Coburn, and Andrew Coburn married his sister.

Nathan Young married a Merrill. Came to Warren in 1815, and settled on the turnpike, a short distance from Alexander Dewing's. He had two sons, Nathan and Oscar F. Mr. Merrill moved into the county with Mr. Young, and lived near him. . Thomas and Oliver Corbin were sons of Clement. Samuel Griswold was their nearest neighbor.

Jacob Burbank married a sister of Oliver Corbin. He came from Vermont to Warren as a young man in 1813, and boarded with Oliver Corbin. He bought the farm which joined Mr. Allyn. His first farm joined Mr. Corbin, and he lived there until his wife died, and then bought the other. . A Mr. Billings lived near Mr. Cooper, and

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was an early comer in that neighborhood. Oliver Cooper married a Stein berg.

Abel and Joseph Prince were brothers, and lived in the southern part of the township. They came after 1810. . George Pendleton came to Warren about 1814. . In 1802 James Bowen built a grist- mill on the Middle branch of the Wappasening, near the center of the town.

In 1803, William Arnold and Mr. Harding went to Sheshequin to procure meat; they purchased one hundred pounds of pork, divided it equally, and started for home. Snow having fallen to some depth, and there being no track, Mr. Harding gave out when not far from where Potterville now is. Mr. Arnold left him to obtain help, but when help came they found him a stiffened corpse.

The first school was taught by R. Lee, in 1807. . The first death of an adult by disease was that of Theda Corbin. . Amos Coburn built the first framed house, and had the first " house warming."

The first church erected in the township was of the Presbyterian denomination, in 1832. . In 1816, the Congregational Church was organized with fourteen members, of whom eight lived in Warren, the rest in Orwell. . At a very early date a Baptist Society was organized at Warren; they were called "Old-School Baptists." In 1844 a New-School Baptist Church was organized at Warren Centre. In 1841 a Free Will Baptist Church was organized at the same point.

Alfred Allyn lived on the road to Pike, about two miles from Oliver Corbin's. . Among other early settlers who followed close in the wake of those already mentioned we may name Charles and Robert Sutton, Isaac Van Brunt, Samuel Mason, Lewis Barton, Samuel Mapes. . Amos Coburn built the first framed house in Warren.

South Warren has one store. . Warren Centre has two stores and one grist mill. . West Warren has one store.

CHAPTER LIV.

WELLS TOWNSHIP.

W ELLS (with Springfield and Columbia) was taken from the town- ship of Smithfield, in 1813, and named in honor of Henry Wells. It occupies a rolling and well-watered farming district, situ- ated between the head-waters of Seeley, South and Mill creeks; being bounded north by New York, east by South creek, south by Columbia, and west by the county of Tioga, and was originally covered with a heavy primeval forest of beech, maple, hemlock, pine and other timber.

The first permanent white settler was Rev. John Smith, familiarly called " Priest Smith." About 1792 he came with his family and Con-

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY.

necticut title, and located on what is now known as the Beckwith farm. He was a man of learning, and the first Christian minister in this part of the county, and new-comers would journey long distances, by marked trees, to hear him preach. He eventually moved to Kentucky. Two other families, one or both by the name of Reeder, followed Smith, and built their cabins where there is the village of Wells; one was opposite the residence of C. L. Shepard, and the other where Jolin Roy lives. In 1795, Rev. Daniel Thatcher organized a Presbyterian Church at Elmira, and constituted the adult members of these three families a branch of the same. This was the first religious organization hereabouts, but did not long con- tinne, for the Reeders soon moved away. They left a little grave where C. L. Shepard has his garden, which probably indicates the first death in town.

Lemuel Gaylord purchased and located where Mr. Pedrick is now, near the State line, in 1800. Mrs. Gaylord taught the children of her neighbors gratis, at her own house, which was the first school. . Sol- omon Judson came from Greenville, N. Y., in 1803, and located on grounds vacated by the Reeders. His children were Ithamar, Samuel, Isaac, Sarah, Mary and Jane. The aged parents were buried on the farm of John Roy ; Ithamar had a house for the entertainment of strangers, and for religious worship, a little above Shepard's store, but finally went to Ohio. Samuel and Isaac, after giving name to Judson Hill, went west. Two of the elder Judson's daughters reside in the village of Wells .. Deacon Silas Waldron arrived in 1804, and, after assisting the Judsons for a time in holding reading and prayer meetings, returned again to Connecticut. . John Osgood moved into the center of the town in 1804. His children were John, Sarah, William, Elizabeth, Levi, Mary, Thomas, Caroline, Shubael, Merrill and Esther.

Samuel Edsall came in 1805, and located in the south part of the town. Adam Seeley had made a little beginning for him. Mr. Edsall's children were Permelia, Jesse, Richard, Charles, Barton, Lemira, James, Lewis, Seeley and Jackson. This was the beginning of the remarkable immigration from New Jersey, which continued to such an extent that in 1850 one-half of the inhabitants of the town were from that State.

Shubael Rowlee arrived from New Jersey in 1807. His children were Shubael (who was a justice of the peace for twenty-two years), James, Peter, George, Jonathan, Ananias, Patty and Elizabeth, About this time Benjamin Seeley and Esquire Hyde located at Aspin- wall. Soon after, Zephaniah Knapp settled half a mile north of Hyde; he being from Orange county, N. Y. The wilderness rapidly filled up with such men as Samuel and William Ingalls, Thomas Warner and his sons-Truman, James and Hiram-James Gordon, Ralph Bovier, David Griswold and others.

The first death of an adult was that of Peabody Keyes, who, soon after moving to the village of Wells, slipped on the ice, and dislocated his neck, December 25, 1813. A boy in the same neighborhood had

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY.

died previously ; Solomon Soper's daughter had been scalded to death, on the occasion of a logging-bee at Samuel Edsall's, July 4, 1810.

Peter P. French came from Washington county, N. Y., in 1824, and built the first lumber-mill in town same year. His children were James, Seabury G., George W., Mary Ann, William H., Charlotte and Lyman. In 1826 he had a weekly mail established between Elmira and Mansfield, his sawmill giving name to the first postoffice. Pre- vious to this, the inhabitants were dependent on Elmira for news from the outside world.

Schools were established as soon as settlements were formed, the first being near where Albert Seeley lives, the next where Albert Jud- son resides, then at Aspinwall, Judson Hill, Rowlee's and other localities. Religious meetings were held from the first in the north- west part of the town, as we have seen Rev. Benjamin Oviatt came into the vicinity of the line between Wells and Columbia in 1819, and labored with great success. The first converts, consisting of twelve males and twelve females, were added to the Baptist Church, which had been organized at Sylvania in 1812 or '13. In 1821, however, the Baptist Church of Columbia and Wells was constituted, at the house of James Seeley, with forty-seven members. The entire additions during Elder Oviatt's service of three years were ninety. The present regular Baptist Church of Columbia and Wells had its origin at the Haven school-house, April 3, 1846, and their house of worship was erected in 1853.

The Methodists held meetings at the house of Samuel Ingalls, where David Fries resides, and afterward formed a class at Judson Hill, where they built a church in 1865. They have classes also at other points. A Presbyterian Church was organized at Wells by Rev. M. M. York and Rev. Simeon R. Jones, March 3, 1821, which became extinct in a few years. The North Church of Wells was constituted at the State line, November 22, 1836, and their house of worship has been moved to the village so as to accommodate all societies. The present Presbyterian Church of Wells and Columbia was organized at the school-house in Aspinwall, February 22, 1832, and their meeting- house was built in 1839. Rev. Joel Jewell has labored in the ministry of the gospel in the towns of Wells and Columbia for a period of thirty-five years, which is longer than any other minister has served in this portion of the county.

There is no mining in Wells; no manufacturing save that of butter. In 1877 the number of milch cows was 1487. John Brown sold that year, as the product from three cows, 903 pounds of butter, besides the milk and butter used in his family.

Revolutionary patriots of Wells: Shubael Rowlee, died July 1, 1829; Solomon Judson, died December 12, 1836, aged 86; Thomas Warner, died March, 1840, aged 84.

Veterans of 1812: Nathan Shepard, Sr., Wm. S. Ingalls, Shubael Rowlee, Jr., John Fitzsimmons, Strong Seeley, Amos Baker, William Osgood, Theophilus Moore, Israel Moore, Partial Mapes, Sarlls Barrett, Jesse Edsall, Richard Edsall, Joseph Capron and Thomas Ferguson.

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY.

In the Mexican War was William R. Wilson, who was in the regular and volunteer military service over fourteen years.

Wells Village has two stores, two blacksmith shops, an undertaking establisment, a cooper's shop, one hotel and a cheese box factory.

Aspinwall has one store, one blacksmith shop, an Odd Fellows hall and one church. . Daniel Strong owns a feed and cider mill, sitnated near the center of the township. There is also a creamery, owned by Warner & Gregg, situated near Aspinwall.

CHAPTER LV. WEST BURLINGTON TOWNSHIP.

T HE topography of West Burlington township, is similar to that of Burlington, of which it was formerly a part. The principal stream by which it is watered is the Sugar creek, which passes through the town in an easterly and northeasterly direction, centrally, and has several small tributary creeks, flowing in from the north and south. The soil and its productive capacity is the same as that of the sur- rounding towns, and its many roads offer good facilities for reaching a market.

The settlement of the township is given in the history of Burling- ton, the Sugar creek colonization being common to both townships. The first clearing in the town was made on the Sugar, near the mouth of Mill creek, in the east part of the town, near Burlington borough ; and at the junction of the roads, west of that point, the first church on the creek was built.

Many descendants of the old pioneers, whose names are given in the history of Burlington, are living in West Burlington, the McKeans, Ballards, Goddards, Baileys, Pratts, Swains, Beaches, Leonards and others, whose farms lie along both banks of the creek.

Organization .- The town of West Burlington was formed in 1855, from Burlington township, the boundary line between the two towns being very nearly located on the center line from north to south of the original town, in its wider part. The area of West Burlington is somewhat less than Burlington, but not much.

West Burlington Village is located in the western part of the town, at the junction of the roads north, a short distance of the bridge over the Sugar creek. It is a small hamlet, containing a postoffice, store, wagon, blacksmith and cooper shops, grocery, a school-house, and a Methodist Episcopal church, and thirty or more dwellings. On the opposite sides of the creek, the grist and saw mills of B. L. Rockwell & Sons are situated, known as the " West Burlington Mills." North of the village, in District No. 4, A. L. Ballard's sawmill is situated, and in Bloom District, No. 1, D. & G. D. Bourne have a lumber manufac- tory and steam sawmill, and in District No. 3 is still another steam sawmill.

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY.

CHAPTER LVI. WILMOT TOWNSHIP.

T HIS township was named in honor of Hon. David Wilmot. At the upper portion of the river boundary are alluvial flats, vary- ing from twenty to forty rods in width, which extend to the mouth of the Sugar run, where the flats widen and extend a couple of miles up the creek. In the lower part of the township is what is familiarly called " The Bend," or " Quick's Bend," from the name of one of the earliest settlers in the township. 'Back from the river the land is hilly, but is fertile. On the Sugar run was a lot having the name of Lincoln, which tract was granted by the Proprietaries, and patented to Reuben Hains, March 31, 1775, and by his heirs conveyed to Silas F. Andrews, who sold to Henry Brindle, April 6, 1804, and is the lot where Andrews built his mills.

The first white settler in this township was Thomas Keeney, of Litchfield county, Conn. He settled first at Wapwallepack, but came to the present township of Wilmot as early as 1786. He purchased of Zebulon Butler, of Wilkes-Barre, a Connecticut right and title to a tract of land which he supposed was on the east side of the river, in Braintrim ; but when he came to locate it he found his lot was No. 1 of Springfield, which was the farm now occupied by Joseph Gamble and the heirs of James Gamble, in Wilmot. This land he worked the first season, living in a bark and brush cabin in the ravine near the house of G. Stuart Gamble, and built a log house on the east side of the river. The bank on which the latter was erected has long since been washed away.

In 1788. Mr. Keeney brought his family from Wapwallepack. He was apprehended as one of the abductors of Timothy Pickering, taken to Wilkes-Barre, and kept in confinement all summer. . In the spring of 1788, Richard and Joshua Keeney, brothers, and probably distant relatives of Thomas, came to Wilmot from Connecticut. Richard married Mercy, a daughter of Thomas, in September, 1788. Richard and Thomas built the house occupied by Joseph Gamble. There the wife of Mark died, July 7, 1804, and he in the following October. Thomas sold the farm to Joseph Gamble's father in 1812. Jeremiab, son of Mark Keeney, lived on the Morrow place.

James Anderson emigrated from County Monaghan, Ireland, with Samuel and James Gordon ; he settled first in Dauphin county, where he married Mrs. Margaret (Cook) Bailey. In 1801 he moved on Sugar hill, in Wilmot, where Mr. Brindle, the owner, engaged him to board the hands employed in erecting buildings on the property. The next year he moved on the farm now owned by the Wilsons, in the " Bend;" and he first occupied a log house erected previous to his coming, but afterwards built on the bank of the river. The floods have since washed away the ground on which it stood.

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY.

At this time the only persons living in the " Bend," beside James Anderson, were James Quick and Thomas Keeney. In 1818, Mr. Anderson sold to the Wilsons. The eldest daughter, Elizabeth, married Abial, son of Richard Keeney, and lived near the mouth of the Tusca- rora. Mr. Anderson died suddenly in 1829, injured by the fall of a dead limb from a tree, while riding his horse on his way home from church. After his death his daughter Ellen returned and married William Lake.

James Quick, of Dutch extraction, came from near Milford, in the Minisink country, to Tunkhannock, where he remained a short time, and then located on what was known as the " Painter farm," so called from a man of that name (Philip Painter) who had settled there before the Revolutionary War. Mr. Quick came probably in 1791, for his daughter Hannah was born there in 1792. He lived for three or four years in a little log house on the north side of the small brook which runs through the farm lately owned by his son Paul, near the river, on the point of the ridge. He then built a hewn log house on the south side of the creek, nearly opposite the old one.

Christopher Schoonover, more commonly known by his Dutch name, " Stoffle," came as early as 1792 from the Delaware river, where he lived in the same neighborhood with James Quick. Schoonover had cleared a few acres on the flats, the upland being covered with timber. His house was on the bank of the river below the Wilsons. It was of logs, and covered with bark or spalts. He moved up the river into the township of Litchfield, and Cornelius Quick bought his possession, who sold to James Anderson, and he in turn to the Wilsons. Schoonover had two sons, Joseph and Solomon, and two daughters. "Stoffle " Schoonover, when he came to Wilmot, brought a young man with him, named Webster Seymour. . Nathan Beeman and his cousin, Timothy, came from Warren, Litchfield county, almost simultaneously. Nathan had a little house a short distance above the landing at Keeney's ferry. Judson Beeman, son of Timothy, was born December 29, 1785. Dr. Eben- ezer Beeman was living in Black-Walnut, and Rockwell (Timothy's half- brother) had been about this section for some time, and the representa- tions they gave of the country induced Timothy Beeman to settle there. He moved in March, 1799, with two teams, a yoke of oxen and sled, and span of horses and sleigh. They were twenty days en route. Timothy Beeman was the first settler in that part of the town, locating where Hollon lived. . Sugar Hill was then an unbroken wilderness, except that Vanderpool had built a log house on the farm where the late John Brown lived, cut a few trees, and moved away. When Mr. Beeman moved in there was no person living between his place and Ingham's, and his house was the only one in all that section.

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History of Bradford County, Pennsylvania, with biographical selections, Part 57

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