History of Bradford County, Pennsylvania, with biographical selections, Part 79

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

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B. M. CLARK, undertaker, Rome, was born July 22, 1845, on the farm owned by his brother, and is a son of Harry and Ellen (Brown) Clark, natives of this county. His boyhood was passed on his father's farm, and in attending school in Rome and Orwell ; he afterward learned the trade of mason. His first farm was the old homestead which contained one hundred and twenty acres, which he sold to his brother, and in 1876 he built his present residence-an elegant house containing all modern conveniences. He was united in marriage October 20, 1868, with Eliza Vought, daughter of John and Esther (Horton) Vought (the former born at Standing Stone, and the latter in Sheshequin), whose family consisted of six children of which Mrs. Clark is the second. Mr. and Mrs. Clark have an adopted child, May, now in her twelfth year ; the family worship at the Baptist Church. Mr. Clark is an unswerving Republican in politics, and has held the office of township commissioner for two years, besides other local offices. The Clark family are well-known and highly respected by a large circle of friends.

GILBERT M. CLARK, shoe merchant, contractor, and dealer in horses, Towanda, was born in Athens township, this county, Sep- tember 14, 1846, and is a son of Samuel S. and Rachel (Smith) Clark, both natives of New York State, who settled in Athens township about 1830, where his father engaged in lumbering and farming, and cleared and improved the farm on which he at present resides ; their children were Charles M., James H., Samuel W., Gilbert M. and Rachel A.

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(Mrs. Edgar Knight). Our subject was reared in Athens township, where he received a common-school education. During the late Civil War he was engaged in buying horses for the Government, and in 1866 settled in Towanda, where he was engaged as a contractor on what is now the Lehigh Valley Railroad, one and a half years. In 1868 he embarked in the shoe business, which, with the exception of one year, he has since carried on. Since 1885 he has also been engaged as a con- tractor on street paving, and since 1887 as a buyer and seller of Cana- dian horses. On January 20, 1870, he married Mary, daughter of Abraham and Eliza (Reed) Clark, of Angelica, N. Y. He is a Royal Arch Mason, Scottish Rite, and is a past high priest of Chapter No. 108 of Towanda ; politically he is a stanch Democrat.

HARRY CLARK, retired farmer, was born in Rome township, Bradford Co., Pa., May 1, 1808, and is the son of Laflet and Lois (Parks) Clark.' Laflet Clark was a native of Pennsylvania, who came to this county and located at Standing Stone several years prior to Harry's birth, and was a pioneer farmer and lumberman of this section ; he died in Rome township at the advanced age of eighty-four years. Harry Clark spent his boyhood in the wilderness, attending school as much as the opportunities would permit ; his first teacher was Lena Woodburn, and he was present when that school-house was demolished by a cyclone ; he passed his boyhood and early manhood in clearing away the forests, and has made thirty-seven trips down the river lumbering, walking all the way on the return trip, which usually required five days ; he earned the money with which to buy his first pair of shoes by cutting the timber from one acre of land, and then got cheated in the shoes ; he now owns one hundred and thirty acres. Mr. Clark was twice married, first, January 27, 1839, to Ellen Brown, who died October 14, 1854; for his second wife he married, January 19, 1855, C. O. Parks; he has had six children, five by his first wife, and one by his second, viz. : John M., B. M., Laflet, Lemuel, Ellen (married to Oscar Middaugh), Frances (married to William Loyd). Mr. Clark is one of the old landmarks of this section, having spent his long, and useful life within the township's borders ; he is a Republican.

H. L. CLARK, of the firm of Gleason & Clarks, tanners, Canton, was born in Canton, this county, June 23, 1869, a son of Byron W. and Elizabeth (Mitchell) Clark. He is the third in order of birth in a fam- ily of four children, and was reared in Canton, and received his educa- tion in the graded schools of that place; took a course in bookkeeping and stenography at the School of Commerce, in Elmira, N. Y., and taught the latter branch a short time in the college there. He held the position of private secretary for the president of the New York and Pennsylvania Telephone Company, in New York City, about two months, then returning to Canton, he purchased in May, 1887, all interest in the Canton tannery, which he has been connected with since. He was married in Canton February 6, 1890, to Ida G., daughter of Henry and Maria (Griffin) Spencer, natives of Union township, Tioga Co., Pa., and Canton township, this county, respect- ively. Henry Spencer is a farmer, and resides in Canton township. Mrs. Clark is the only child, and was born in Canton township, Octo-

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ber 11, 1867 ; she is a member of the Disciple Church, Mr. Clark being a member of the Baptist. Politically he is a Prohibitionist.

J. FRED CLARK, of the firm of Gleason & Clarks, tanners, is a native of Tioga county, Pa., and was born March 14, 1864, a son of Byron and Elizabeth (Mitchell) Clark, also natives of Tioga county. The father, who was a druggist and banker, served as burgess of the borough, and was a school director, being a member of the board when the school was established ; he died in 1879, in his forty-eighth year. Mrs. Clark married the second time, and is now the wife of L. R. Gleason, and resides in Canton. Our subject, who is the eldest in a family of four children, was reared in Tioga county, Pa., until four years of age, when the family moved to Canton. He received his education in the borough schools, and the Elmira School of Commerce. He clerked in his father's drug store until 1880, and then attended the high school, studying special branches in 1882; went West and traveled through different States six months, after which he returned and went to work in the Canton tannery, and in 1884 he purchased from the heirs his father's interest in the drug store of Clark & Whit- man, and was in the drug business until 1887. Selling his interest to his partner, J. O. Whitman, he, with his brother, H. B., bought a one- half interest in the Canton Tannery, since which time he has been superintendent of the business. Mr. Clark was married in Addison, N. Y., in 1885, to Frances C., daughter of George and Anna (Baldwun) Taggart, natives of New York; her father was a merchant and hotel keeper; he served as quarter-master during the war, and was made brevet major for gallant service. Mrs. Clark is the third in a family of four children, and was born in Addison, N. Y., September 28. 1863; she is a member of the Episcopal, Mr. Clark of the Baptist, Church. Politically, he is a Prohibitionist.

S. S. CLARK, farmer, Athens township, P. O. Wilawana, was born October 25, 1810, in Candor, Tioga Co., N. Y., a son of Samuel S. and Mary (Van Tile) Clark, both of whom were born in Orange county, N. Y., of English and Dutch descent. S. S. Clark, Sr., was the son of Jacob Clark, a soldier of Revolutionary fame. Jonathan Van Tile, his grandfather, was also in the Revolutionary War. S. S. Clark died about 1824; his wife in 1814. Our subject was four years old when his mother died, and fourteen at the time of his father's death; he is the fourth in a family of eight, only two of whom are now living; he is eighty-one years old and is in good health. He removed to this county in November, 1835, locating in what is now known as Wila- wana, but then as Orcut Creek, and a wilderness, but by patience and hard toil he has made it a paradise. Daniel Orcut was the first settler. and sold Mr. Clark his lot of thirty-five acres, to which he has added two other lots of fifty and twenty-three acres, respectively. In De- cember, 1831, he married Rachel, daughter of Waite and Rachel Smith, and to this union were born seven children, five of whom are now liv- ing, as follows : Charles M .; J. H., a contractor on the D. L. & W. R. R .; S. W., grain dealer in Elmira, N. Y .; G. M., who has a shoe store in Towanda; and R. A. (Mrs. Knight). Mr. Clark is a retired farmer, living with his daughter, Mrs. R. A. Knight, on his own homestead ;

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his wife died May 4, 1877, at the age of sixty-four years. He has held the office of justice of the peace ten years ; is a member of the F. & A. M., and politically he is a Democrat.

ISAAC CLEAVER, of Cleaver & Bailey, prominent dealers in gen- eral merchandise, Troy, was born in Covington, Tioga Co., Pa., Janu ary 21, 1843, a son of Samuel and Mary E. (Jackson) Cleaver, and comes of Quaker stock. He was reared in his native county and received a common-school education ; when twenty years of age he began his business career as a clerk in his native town, and in 1865 located in Troy where he was clerk in the store of Newberry & Peck until 1874, when he was admitted into partnership, and that business was conducted under the firm name of Newberry, Peck & Co., until January 1, 1890, when Messrs. Newberry & Peck retired, and the firm has since been Cleaver & Bailey. Mr. Cleaver married, in 1867, Maria L., daughter of James H. and Lydia (Palmer) Willour, and by her has two children : Harry and Mary Emily. Mr. Cleaver is one of the live enterprising business men of Troy, and a popular merchant ; he is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, a Sir Knight Templar, and in politics a Republican.

E. J. CLEVELAND, attorney at law and insurance agent, Canton, is a native of Masonville, Delaware Co., N. Y., born July 7, 1856, a son of Dr. J. E. Cleveland, of Canton, also a native of Masonville, born August 4, 1829 ; his parents were Josiah D. and Lucy (Bryant) Cleve- land, natives of Connecticut. The Doctor began the practice of med- icine in his native place in 1859, and in the fall of 1860 came to Canton ; after remaining about eight months he removed to Ogdensburg, Tioga Co., Pa., where he practiced until 1875, then returned to Canton, and has followed his profession in that place since. He was married in Franklin, N. Y., in 1850, to Nancy T., daughter of John and Phoebe (Kiff) Lyon, natives of Bloomville, Delaware Co., N. Y. Mrs. Cleve- land was born in Bloomville, N. Y., March 17, 1827. The subject of this memoir, who is the younger of two children living, was reared in his native place until three years of age, when the family removed to Ogdensburg, Pa. There he remained until 1875, when he removed to Canton, and has since resided here. He received his education in the graded schools, and took private lessons of Prof. H. E. Raessly, now superintendent of the Tioga County Schools ; began reading law under Davis & Carnochan in 1878, and was admitted to the bar in February, 1881 ; engaged in the insurance business in 1885, purchasing the agencies of John A. Moody and R. M. Manley. He was married in Canton, July 16, 1884, to Jennie F., daughter of Francis S. and Elizabeth W. (Davis) Elliott, natives of Bradford county. Francis Elliott was a builder and contractor, and died in Canton in 1880, aged sixty years. Mrs. Cleveland is the fifth in the order of birth in a family of three daughters and three sons, and was born in Canton township, this county, in October 1859. To Mr. and Mrs. Cleveland were born two children : Florence J. and Eloise F. Mrs. Cleveland is a member of the Disciple Church. Mr. Cleveland is a member of the F. & A. M., Canton Lodge. No. 415, and Troy Chapter, No. 261; also a member of the I. O. O. F., Canton Lodge, No. 321, and holds the office of U. G. of

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the Canton Encampment, also the office of S. W .; is secretary of the Innes Hose Co .; secretary of the Equitable Aid Union, and secretary of the Underwriters Association. Politically he is an Independent, and is serving his second term as justice of the peace.

FRANKLIN COBURN, farmer and stock grower, P. O. Warren Centre, is a native of Warren township, this county, born July 18, 1831, on the farm where he resides, a son of Daniel H. and Harriet (Dening) Coburn, natives of Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, respect- ively, and of good old English stock. Daniel was the son of Moses and Maria (Horton) Coburn, of Connecticut. Moses came to this county about the year 1800, and located in Warren township, where his wife died in December, 1849, he dying June 1, 1850 ; their children were nine in number, as follows: Daniel H., Roswell L. (married to Lucy Keeler, both deceased, leaving five children), Frances (Mrs. James Olmstead, who died, the mother of seven children), Phebe (Mrs. Nathan Young, Jr., who died July 27, 1844, her husband June 2, 1890), Mary (deceased), Augustus (married to Sophia Manning, had four children, and both died in 1873), George (married to Caroline Barton, and had four children), Harriet (Mrs. Herman Knapp, had three children, and she died in 1880) Betsey (Mrs. Landers) residing in Owego. Daniel H. Coburn was reared in Warren township, and died in 1876; his wife in 1872; they had six children: Franklin, Maria (Mrs. John C. Manning), Mary S. (Mrs. Newman N. Bowen, who had four children and died in 1876), Ellen (Mrs. Lewis A. Bosworth, died in 1864), Julia (Mrs. George M. Griswold, of Owego, has three children) and Daniel F. (who served his country in the Civil War in the One Hundred and Ninth N. Y. V. I., and was killed January 16, 1865, by the explosion at Fort Fisher; at the time of his death he was a lieutenant). Franklin Coburn grew to manhood on the farm, and learned a more practical life than that of books, but was sufficiently advanced to teach school several terms, going to New Jersey, in 1851, to teach, returning in 1866, and has since devoted his time wholly to his farm of one hundred and forty acres. He was married in New Jersey, in 1856, to Catherine M. Mauley, daughter of Rev. John and Martha Vandeveer, natives of New Jersey, and of English descent, who reared a family of seven children, Catherine being the second (she was reared and educated in New Brunswick). To Mr. and Mrs. Coburn have been born five children, as follows : Charles R., married to Carrie Chaffee, and has one child, Hattie ; Martha D .; Daniel F .; Sarah D. and Maud E. The family worship at the Presbyterian Church, of which Mr. Coburn is elder; in politics he is a Republican.

J. P. COBURN, merchant, Orwell Hill, was born in Warren town- ship, this county, December 16, 1837, a son of Sidney and Lois (Mer- ricle) Coburn, whose ancestors came from Connecticut to Warren town- ship, this county, in an early day. Sidney Coburn was born in War- ren township in 1802, and died in 1844. He had a family of four children, of whom J. P. is the youngest ; the mother died May 6, 1891. J. P. Coburn lived on his father's farm and received his early education in the district schools, and at Towanda Collegiate Institute. He began his attendance there, teaching winters, and continued his

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attendance, teaching during the winter terms four years. On August 13, 1862, he enlisted in Company B, One Hundred and Forty-first Regiment ; was soon promoted to corporal, and was on detached duty as clerk in the commissary department ; he was nevr off duty or absent a day from his brigade during his time of service. He was mustered out with his regiment, returned home and resumed teaching and farming until 1869, when he sold his farm and formed a partner ship with A. C. Frisbie, opening a store at Orwell Hill, where he has since remained. In 1876 he purchased his partner's interest, and has continued alone; was elected a member of the Legislature of Penn- sylvania in 1882, serving one term. Is a stock-holder and one of the managers of the Orwell Creamery Company, which was organized in 1887 (the company manufactured about 47.000 pounds of butter in 1890, and paid the farmers over $7,000 for milk). He was one of the corporators of the Orwell library in 1876, and has ever since been its librarian. Mr. Coburn was married in September, 1871, to Harriet G., a daughter of Lewis Barns, and they have four children : Sidney L., Lois D., Carrie E. and Gertrude. The family are members of the Presbyterian Church, of which he is secretary, and member of the board of trustees; he has been a member of the F. & A. M. over twenty years ; is a member of Stevens Post, No. 69, G. A. R., and in politics he is a Republican.

LEWIS B. COBURN, hardware merchant, Towanda, was born in Warren township, this county, September 22, 1845, and is a son of George and Caroline (Barton) Coburn. His paternal grandfather, Moses Coburn, was a native of New England and a pioneer of War- ren township, where he cleared and improved a farm, and reared a family of nine children, as follows: Daniel, Roswell, Augustus, Frances (Mrs. James Olmstead), George, Harriet (Mrs. Harmon Knapp), Mary, Phebe (Mrs. Nathan Young) and Betsey (Mrs. Landers). The maternal grandfather was Lewis Barton, a pioneer of Susquehanna county, Pa. George Coburn spent most of his life in farming and teaching school, for which his services were much sought. He died in Tioga county, N. Y., in 1878; his children were: Arabella (Mrs. John Kelley), Caroline, Lewis B. and Edward. Lewis B. Co- burn was reared in Tioga county, N. Y., and educated in the public and commercial schools of Syracuse, N. Y., and at the Owego Acad- emy, Owego, N. Y. He began life as a clerk, and in 1886 engaged in the hardware business in Towanda, where by close attention to the wants of the people he has built up a lucrative trade. In 1868 he married Mary, daughter of Charles and Harriet (Dickerson) Amnes, of West Warren, this county. Mr. Coburn has been a resident of Towanda since 1869, and is one of its representative citizens and business men ; politically he is a Republican.

EDGAR H. CODDING, editor of the LeRaysville Advertiser, was born April 4, 1856, in Pike township, this county, a son of Dr. David S. and Asenath Celinda (Ladd) Codding, the former a native of Dutchess county, N. Y., and the latter of Albany township, this county. Mr. Codding, who is the eighth in a family of ten children, was educated at the LeRaysville graded school, and began life for

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY.

himself by teaching the Beecher school in Pike township, when but eighteen years of age. He taught six years, and then spent about one year in the West, where he was engaged in mercantile business ; then followed the grocery business in LeRaysville, two years, after which he was employed by George Bailey, two years in the mercantile business. In January, 1887, he purchased the LeRaysville Advertiser, and later admitted F. M. Wheaton as partner. On January, 30, 1884, Mr. Codding married Helen, daughter of George S. and Lucy (Cor- bin) Gorham, who were among the early settlers in Warren township. Mrs. Codding is a member of the Congregational Church. Mr. Cod- ding in his political views is a Republican.

COLONEL JOHN A. CODDING, Towanda. Every old and long established community, by an un written law of selection, tends toward the process of sitting out and placing at the fore some recognized common leader in our social and business life. These chosen men lead, not by virtue generally of any written law, but mostly by that instinct of cohesion and dependence upon superiors that is an under-current in every social life, and in all communities. In the rude and wild tribes these leaders are their fighters, and the degrees of civilization are measured by the domination of mind, and to this advance in time comes that yet higher type of " mentor and friend " who combines integrity of character with broadening of intellect. The appositeness of these reflections, linked to the gentleman's name that heads this sketch, will be apparent by the briefest recital of the public and private positions of honor and trust that the good will of his old neighbors and friends have put upon Col. Codding through a continuous generation of years. Forty years ago he was an humble mechanic, and an occa- sional short winter-term school teacher, and was in 1853 constructing canal locks, railroad bridges, stone and brick buildings, and plaster- ing houses and, though by nature retiring and negative, yet his neighbors found him out, and from a private adviser and friend they promoted him, by their spontaneous will, from the trowel and the hammer to high sheriff of the county, in which he served from 1854 until 1857, and was then made deputy-sheriff, and was in this position three years from 1857 to 1860. In 1862 he filled, by appointment of Gov. Curtin (who had already sent him, unsolicited, a full captain's commission), the difficult and responsible office of commissioner of the draft, and he performed its every duty with eminence and fidelity. A short parenthesis just here is necessary : When the war came Col. Codding was by far the leading military character of the county. He had had vast experience and varied service in the old State militia, a strong military organization in peace times. He had served for years as Brigade Inspector, the district then being composed of five counties, and in this service had passed the grades of captain, major, lieutenant- colonel to Brigade Inspector, a most responsible position, with suffi- cient salary to command his undivided time and attention. He thus served until the old military organization of the State was changed in 1845, and at the breaking out of war the Governor looked naturally to him as the one man of military affairs in Bradford, and was ready to give him any position he might prefer. He began organizing and

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drilling a company, and soon this grew so large that it was divided into two companies, and it fell to the second company to go en masse · into the service, while Col. Codding continued to raise and drill men and forward them to the front. In this way he rendered his country invaluable service.

In 1880 the Colonel was made clerk to the prothonotary of Bradford county, and served to the satisfaction of the entire community, four years ; in 1880 he was made a magistrate, has filled the office con- tinuously since, and was again elected for five years, from May, 1891, where perhaps, as mutual friend of neighbors, hot and eager for legal frays, he has rendered more valuable services to a greater number of people than has probably any other man ever in the county. In 1876 he became president of the Eureka Mower Company, Towanda, and his clear judgment and quick perceptions were of the highest measure to that concern. In 1854 he was the close friend of Hon. David Wilmot and Judge Mercur, in founding in this State the Republican party, where, as everywhere, his advice was clear cut, carrying much weight, and he was a real factor in swinging the great Commonwealth into line where a Lincoln was to lead and a Grant to command.

The social side of this man's life is not so easily written, but it is in the hearts of the many whom he has befriended in the hour of trial and great need, attested joyfully by all in open glad acts at every opportunity. He has now reached that age, but that is all, when the average man would begin to retire from active life. Born in Dutchess county, N. Y., July 6, 1819, of David and Susannah (Wood) Codding, the son of an honest mechanic, and himself successfully passing the degrees of the mechanic's craft, from the humblest to the highest. His father's family came to Bradford county in 1823, locating in Pike township, and in time the father taught school and became a distinguished minister of the Protestant Methodist Church; he died in August, 1874. His family numbered six children, of whom John A. was the fourth in the order of birth. He now looks back with no inconsiderable pride upon some of the substantial buildings in this county and in Elmira, N. Y., that are yet evidences of his skilled hand, when he was a young mechanic on the threshold of his long, useful and honorable life. In November, 1847, John A. Codding and Per- ciller L. Hodge were joined in the bonds of wedlock at her home in LeRaysville ; she was a daughter of Rev. James and Rebecca (Miller) Hodge, natives of Pennsylvania. Of this union there were four children, as follows : James H. Codding, John W. Codding, Dr. Charles L. Codding, of Duluth, and Mary (Mrs. Alexander H. Davis). Mrs. Codding departed this life February 4, 1888.

Dr. Charles L. Codding was born in the court-house in Towanda, while his father was sheriff ; is a distinguished physician of Duluth, Minn. Mrs. Mary (Codding) Davis is a resident of Duluth, Minn. Two of this family of children have gone out from the roof-tree, bear- ing in their hearts the admonitions of their childhood home, and two are here in their native place, while all have so deported themselves as to advance along that higher plane of life that comes of the wise and gentle ministrations imparted to them in their tender childhood, hon-

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History of Bradford County, Pennsylvania, with biographical selections, Part 79

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