History of Bradford County, Pennsylvania, with biographical selections, Part 83

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

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In 1887 he published the history of the One Hundred and Forty- first Regiment, which, by common consent, ranks among the very best of regimental histories. In 1891 he wrote the early history of the city of Scranton, published by H. W. Crew, of Washington, D. C. Besides these he has been an almost constant contributor to the press of articles of a historical and literary character. In the midst of these active literary labors, Mr. Craft has had charge of a large and laborious field, where he has done most acceptable and successful work as a pastor. He has been also active in promoting educational and moral society, frequently called to speak at teachers' associations, temperance meet- ings, etc. In 1889, after passing through the subordinate offices, he was unanimously elected grand master of the I. O. O. F., of Pennsyl- vania, where he had the oversight of one thousand subordinate societies numbering about one hundred thousand members. On April, 1891, he accepted a call to the pastorate of the First Presbyterian Church in Lawrenceville, Pa., where he now resides. On June 11, 1861, Mr. Craft married Jane Elizabeth, daughter of the late Dr. G. F. and Abigail Horton, and two children-one son and one daughter, both unmarried-have been born to them.

MACKAY CRAIG, merchant, Bentley Creek, was born April 6, 1832, in County Down, Ireland, a son of Joseph (a hotel keeper) and Jane (Walker) Craig, natives of the same county and of Scotch-Irish ancestry. The family immigrated to America when the subject of these lines was an infant, and settled near Burdett Schuyler Co., N. Y., where the father engaged in teaching school, and after three years they came to Ridgebury township, this county, where they engaged in

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY.

farming ; the family consisted of four sons and one daughter. Mackay Craig was reared on the farm and carried on farming for himself until the spring of 1870, when he embarked in mercantile business at Bent- ley Creek. In the spring of 1874 he formed a partnership with E. M. Tuton under the firm name of Craig & Tuton, who have had one of the most extensive trades in the township; they carry a large stock of general merchandise, and are also dealers in agricultural implements. Mr. Craig was married, March 25, 1871, to Jane, daughter of Hosea and Letitia (Wilson) Kennedy, farmers, of Springfield township; she had two brothers, Orr and Alexander, in the Civil War, both of whom saw much hard service, and were made prisoners. Mr. Craig's brother John was also a soldier in that war. To Mr. and Mrs. Craig have been born three children, one son and two daughters: Hosea and Letitia (twins), born March 25, 1872 (Hosea is a clerk in his father's store, and Letitia is the wife of Jud S. Thompson, who is also a clerk in the same store), and Ethlyn L. born May 30, 1875, died Nov. 4, 1876. Mr. Craig is a Republican in politics, and has held several offices of public trust in his township.

SAMUEL W. CRAIG, farmer, P. O. Bentley Creek, was born April 10, 1838, on the farm where he now resides, in Ridgebury township, this county, a son of Joseph and Jane (Walker) Craig, of Scotch-Irish ancestry. The family removed to America in 1832. Our subject is a brother of Mackay Craig, a merchant, of Bentley Creek, and is the youngest in a family of four sons and one daughter; his father was killed by an accident at the age of forty-one years, and the mother died aged seventy-two years. His brother, John, was a soldier in the Civil War. Mr. Craig was reared a farmer, and has continued to follow that occupation, being now the owner of a fine farm of 200 acres, including the old homestead, where he carries on dairying and sheep raising. The farm is nicely located on one of the finest elevations in the township. He was united in marriage, October 3, 1867, with Laura, daughter of Hiram and Jane (Furman) Mason, of Columbia, who were among the earliest settlers of the township of South Creek ; she was born February 8, 1848. Her grandfather Mason came from Ireland when only fourteen years of age, and settled in Delaware county, N. Y .; her father is an extensive farmer and dairyman, now aged eighty-three years ; her mother died at the age of seventy-six years. To Mr. and Mrs. Craig have been born one son and one daughter : Edwin M., born February 13, 1870, and Jennie, born November 3, 1872. Mr. Craig is a Republican in politics, and has been auditor, school director and judge of elections; also held several other offices of public trust. He is one of the enterprising and reliable men of the township.

CHARLES H. CRANDAL, farmer, P. O. Stevensville, was born in Pike township, this county, May 21, 1837, a son of Dr. Edward and Mary E. (Bosworth) Crandal, latter of whom is a daughter of Salmon and Sarah (Olmstead) Bosworth. Salmon Bosworth and his brother, Josiah, were the first of the name to locate in Bradford county, and in 1798 they settled on the farm where Charles H. Crandal now lives, coming from Connecticut. Dr. Edward Crandal was a native of New

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY.

York, born of New England origin. In his family were ten children of whom, Charles H., the fifth in order of birth, was educated in the common school, Saint Timothy's Hall, Md., and Kenyon College, at Gambier, Ohio. He began for himself at the age of twenty-one on his father's farm, but on August 10, 1862, he enlisted at LeRaysville, and was mustered in at Harrisburg in Company B, One Hundred and Forty-first Regiment P. V. I., took part in the battle of Mobile and in several skirmishes ; was then detailed as a Hospital nurse, acting in that position in the Patent Office and Lincoln's Hospitals, and the Washington and McClellan Hospital, at Nicetown, near Philadelphia. In October, 1863, he was ordered to join his regiment, and was after- ward transferred to the First Mississippi United States Colored Troops as second-lieutenant, where he remained until the close of the war, being mustered out as captain Fifty-first U. S. C. I., June 16, 1866, at Baton Rouge, La ; then went to Alton, Ill., where he was engaged in the manufacture of a washing fluid until December, 1866, when he returned home, and has since carried on farming. In 1871 he purchased his present home of his mother, which contains 100 acres of fertile and well cultivated land. Mr. Crandal was married June 29, 1871, to Mrs. Benjamin B. Babcock, daughter of Dr. Hiram and Elizabeth H. (Eastabrook) Knapp, of Orwell, the former a native of New York, and the latter of Connecticut. In their family there were ten children, of whom Armenia is the sixth, and of them two where physicians. Mr. and Mrs. Crandal have one child, Rowland J., born April 5, 1874. They are members of the Protestant Episcopal Church. In politics he is a Republican, has held the office of justice of the peace six years ; has also been constable in Pike township.

GEORGE A.CRANDALL, farmer, P.O. Troy, was born in Cortland county, N. Y., November 14, 1829, a son of Allen and Sarah (Chase) Crandall, natives of Cortland and Delaware counties, N. Y., respect- ively, who settled in Columbia township, this county, in 1835, where his father purchased a tract of three hundred acres, cleared a part of it, but later sold it and removed to Alba, where he died in 1876; his widow still survives at the age of eighty-two ; he was a carpenter by trade, which he followed as an occupation most of his life; his child- ren were : George, Burdette (deceased), DeWitt C., Ann (Mrs. James Reynolds, deceased), Henry, Minnie (Mrs. Edward Lewis), Wallace, Charles L. and Mary (Mrs. J. W. Gould). Our subject was reared in Bradford county from six years of age, where, with the exception of two years, he has since resided ; in early life he followed the carpen- ter's trade, but his principal occupation has been farming; he has been a resident of Troy township upward of twenty years, and owns 170 acres of land. He married, in 1854, Mary E., daughter of Loomis and Emaline (Howland) Newberry, of Springfield township, this county. Mr. Crandall is a well-known and respected citizen of Troy township ; in politics he is a Republican.

GILBERT B. CRANDALL, carpenter, P. O. Sugar Run, was born October 27, 1836, and is a son of Daniel D. and Melissa (Todd) Crandall, the former a native of Connecticut, born of New England parentage, the latter a native of Pennsylvania, of Irish lineage. He

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY.

began life for himself at the age of twenty-four, farming and lumber- ing in Wilmot township, continuing in same until August 11, 1862, when he enlisted at Towanda in Company H, Fifty-Seventh Regiment P. V. I. While in the service he was in the following engagements: Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Wilderness, Spottsyl- vania, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, the Weldon Raid, Deep Bottom, and several minor engagements; he received a slight wound in the foot at Fredericksburg, and was discharged June 10, 1865, when he returned and began farming in Wilmot township, which he continued five years, and then learned the carpenter's trade, at which he has since been engaged in various parts of this State. Mr. Crandall was married Sep- tember 7, 1865, to Susan M., daughter of George Quick, of Wilmot. Mrs. Crandall died April 6, 1874, leaving one child, Stella; another daughter, Josephine, had died in 1872. Mr. Crandall was re-married, January 30, 1877, this time to Isabell B., daughter of William and Irene Gamble, of Bradford county, Pa., and they have one child, Cyrene M., born June 14, 1881. Mr. Crandall is a member of the G. A. R. at Wyalusing, and in politics is a Republican.

ASHBEL L. CRANMER, retired, Monroeton, was born in Monroe township, this county, January 6, 1809, and is a son of Samuel and Sarah (Hubbell) Cranmer. His father, who was a native of New Jersey, a son of Noadiah and Catherine Cranmer, settled in Monroe township about 1790, cleared and improved a farm which is now owned by subject, and died there in 1845 in his seventy-ninth year. He was twice married, first time to Hannah Miller, by whom he had six children who grew to maturity: Josiah, Elizabeth (Mrs. John R. Brown), Jedediah, John, Noadiah and Samuel; his second wife was Sarah Hubbell, by whom he had two children who grew to maturity: Ashbel L. and Enoch H. The subject of these lines was reared on the old homestead, where he resided until 1863, since which time he has occupied his present residence in Monroeton. For twenty years, from 1853 to 1873, Mr. Cranmer was engaged in mercantile business in Monroeton. He was also for some years extensively engaged in lumbering and contracting; erected the covered bridge known as the Rockwell bridge at Monroeton, in 1851, and the canal acqueduct above Towanda, in 1852. On November 18, 1834, he married Mary H., daughter of Joseph and Mary (Mason) Griggs, of Monroe township, and has had five children: Albert, Bernard, Elma (Mrs. Elias Park), Wayland S. and Julia (Mrs. Hiram Sweet). Mr. Cranmer has always been a Democrat, and served as commissioner of Bradford county, one term; was a member of the board that erected the present court-house at Towanda; from 1840 until 1850 was a justice of the peace.

CHESTER W. CRANMER, farmer, Smithfield township, P. O. East Smithfield, was born, October 22, 1835, in the house where he now lives, a son of Calvin and Almira (Hartman) Cranmer. The father came to Smithfield township when a young man, with his parents from Monroe, this county. His mother came when a child seven years of age, with her uncle, Samuel Morse, who was of the third family in the township. Mr. Cranmer's grandfather was a Revolu- tionary soldier, and a brave and valiant hero. He was united in mar-

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY.

riage, August 29, 1855, with Flotilda, daughter of Judson and Nancy (Foster) Gerould. Her grandfather, Geronld, was the fourth settler in the township, who came here in the spring of 1802; she was born October 26, 1835, the eldest of eleven. The Geroulds trace their genealogy back to Jacques (or James) Gerould, who was a French Huguenot, of the Province of Languedoc, and who, at the revocation of the "Edict of Nantes," which occurred in 1685, came to this coun- try and settled at Medfield, Mass. He was a physician, and died October 25, 1760. There have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Cranmer six children, five of whom are living, as follows: Orvil C., born Sep- tember 3, 1856, married to Rosna Soper; N. Adella, born September 16, 1858, married to Henry Gates, of Milan ; Clarissa E., born June 29, 1868, married to Daniel Truesdale, of Springfield ; Hattie C., born October 29, 1869, and Francis B., born July 2, 1875. Mr. Cranmer has a fine farm of about ninety acres, which he manages successfully; he is a natural artist, and has some very fine specimens of his work in wood and pencil. He was for a number of years a designer and carver for a large furniture manufacturing firm at Chicago and Minneapolis. He is a Democrat, and has held several offices of public trust.

HUGH CRAWFORD, proprietor of a saw and feed mill, Canton, is a native of Ohio township, Allegheny Co., Pa., born November 28, 1840, a son of William and Harriet (Steward) Crawford, natives of Carlisle and Allegheny county, Pa., respectively. The father, who was a farmer, died in Ohio township in 1876 in his eighty-fourth year ; the mother died in 1874 in her seventy-third year. Hugh Craw- ford is one of a family of twelve children-ten sons and two daugh- ters-of whom ten are living. He was reared in Allegheny county, receiving his education in the common schools, and afterward worked two years making brick for Moore Bros., at Dixmont, Pa., for the asylum that was being built there. On April 28, 1861, he enlisted in Company H, Eighth Pennsylvania Reserve, and re-enlisted September 21, 1861, in Company B. Fourth Pennsylvania Cavalry. He partici- pated in the following: The Peninsular campaign, the battles of An- tietam, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Wilderness, Spottsylvania Court House, Petersburg and in a number of minor engagements; he was run over by a wagon July 11, 1864, and was mustered out in front of Petersburg, October 28, 1864. He returned home and worked in a sawmill one year, and then, in 1866, went to Tioga county, Pa., whence, after remaining one year, he returned to Allegheny City, and was there one year when he removed with his family to Tioga county, Pa .; he went to Nevada where for a time he worked in timber, and then with his brother ran freight teams from Battle Mountain to Aus- tin, 104 miles, and from there to Carson City, 116 miles. They con- tinued in the freight business about eighteen months; then returned to Tioga county, and purchased a one-half interest in a water-power saw- mill, which they changed to a steam-power mill. At the end of six vears he sold and went to Fall Brook, where he operated the Fall Brook Coal Company's mill two years; then moved to Canton, this county, October 7, 1886, and built the mill he now owns. Ile is exten- sively engaged in timber land, and carries on a grocery business as well.

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In 1865 Mr. Crawford was married, in Troy, to Lucy, daughter of William and Elizabeth (Kiff) McIntosh, natives of Delaware county, N. Y .; she is the fifteenth in order of birth of a family of sixteen chil- dren, and was born in Tioga county, Pa., in August, 1848. To Mr. and Mrs. Crawford were born seven children, viz .: William J., married to Meda Andrus; Byron H., married to Ada Watts ; Harriet J .; James ; Minnie (deceased); Lena B. and Charles. Mrs. Crawford is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He is a member of the G. A. R., Ingham Post, No. 91, and Union Veteran Legion, No. 48. Politically he is a Republican, and he served nine years as school director in Tioga county, Pa., during eight of which he was president of the board.

HARRISON CRUM, P. O. Athens, was born in Spencer, Tioga Co., N. Y., January 3, 1820, a son of William and Lucinda (Hubbard) Crum, former of whom was a farmer living near Lake Champlain, and was an eye witness to the last naval battle between Great Britain and the United States, and with others was fired at by the British. In their family there were ten children (five of whom are living), of whom Harrison is the sixth in order of birth ; Peter lives at Spencer, N. Y .; James in Windham; Delila was married to James Underwood, de- ceased ; Amanda was married to David Watkins ; William died at the age of seventy-five in Illinois ; Lois died about the year 1835; Char- lotte died about 1880; Emily died in 1884; McDonough died in 1887 at Candor, N. Y. Harrison Crum was reared in his native place, receiving his schooling in an old log school-house, which he attended in the winters until he was fifteen ; at sixteen he commenced business for himself on a farm, working thereon four years, and for twenty years thereafter he was employed in carpentering and lumbering. In 1863 he purchased the farm he now occupies, which contains sixty-four acres, and the comfortable surroundings amply attest to the persever- ance and industry of Mr. Crum, who, in his declining years, is now enjoying the fruits of his labor. He was married, in 1846, to Elizabeth Snyder, daughter of David and Hannah (Haner) Snyder, of Columbia county, N. Y., and they have four children ; Avista, married to John Rifenburg, of Athens; Lueyette, married to Frank Rogers, also of Athens; Cassandra, married to Horace Rogers, of Nebraska, and G. W., married to Hattie Allen, and, in his father's declining years, is assisting in conducting the farm. The family worship at the Baptist Church, and in politics Mr. Crum is a Republican.

GEORGE CUFFMAN, farmer, of South Creek township, P. O. Fassett, was born in Dryden, Tompkins Co., N. Y., December 16, 1819, a son of Asa Cuffman, a native of Germany. Asa Cuffman came to this country about 1813, locating in Dryden, Tompkins Co., N. Y .; where he owned and cultivated a small farm, living there the remainder of his life ; he died in 1875, at the age of sixty-two years; his family consisted of six children, all of whom grew to maturity, four are now living. George Cuffman the youngest of the family was reared and educated in Dryden, Tompkins Co., N. Y., he has followed farming as an occupation; starting at the age of nineteen for himself. When twenty-one years old he married, January 9, 1841, Susan, daughter of John Benjamin; they have had two children born to them, one of

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whom is now living, Thomas T., married to Mary Ameigh, and has five children. In 1862 George Cuffman entered the army as a private in Company G, One Hundred and Seventy-first P. V. I .; served nine months, was honorably discharged, and now receives a pension of $12.00 per month; he resides on a well-cultivated little farm of twenty acres, having completed a new and beautiful residence ; when he first came to this county, in 1869, he settled near Troy, removing later to his present residence. Mr. Cuffman is a member of the G. A. R., Pettingill Post ; politically he is a Republican.

RULANDUS CULP, farmer, P. O. Bentley Creek, was born November 27, 1824, in Elmira, N. Y., a son of Samuel and Polly (Miller) Culp, former of whom was born of German ancestry, in Tioga county, N. Y., and latter on Long Island, N. Y. Samuel Culp was a farmer and lumberman. He reared a family of six children (of whom the subject of this sketch is the second), and died in 1884, at the age of eighty-three years, the mother having passed away in 1878 when aged eighty-one. Mr. Culp's great-grandfather, Col. John Hendy, was a colonel in the Revolutionary War in Gen. Sullivan's army, and was through Pennsylvania and New York States; he was one of the first settlers of Chemung county, N. Y., having located in 1781, at the place where Elmira now stands. Rulandus Culp was on the Erie and Che- mung Canal from the time he was fourteen years of age until about the year 1857, when he settled in Springfield township on the farm where he now resides. He owns 220 acres of as fine prime land as there is in the township, and is one of the most successful and prosperous farmers, dairying being his principal business. On Decem- ber 25, 1848, Mr. Culp was united in marriage with Maru J., daughter of Joseph and Nancy (Gibson) Mayhood, of Springfield. She was born June 2, 1824, in County Down, Ireland, and her parents came to America, about 1840, settling on the farm where Mr. and Mrs. Culp now reside; the father died aged eighty-six, and the mother at the age of seventy-three. Mrs. Culp had one brother, John Mayhood, in the Civil War, serving during the entire struggle. To Mr. and Mrs. Culp have been born six children viz. : Georgia, born July 25, 1850; Emma, born September 25, 1854; Joseph R., born July 25, 1857, mar- ried to Carrie Aber; J. Thompson, born August 2, 1860, married to Jen- nie Gonzales; Jennie, born November 21, 1864; Grant, born March 4, 1869. Mr. Culp is a strong Prohibitionist. Mrs. Culp is a consistent member of the Baptist Church, as are also her children: Georgia, Jen- nie and Joseph R.

LAFAYETTE J. CULVER, farmer and stock-grower, of Sheshe- quin township. P. O. Sheshequin, is a native of the same, having been born May 23, 1831, a son of Daniel B. and Josephine (Horton) Culver. Timothy Culver, paternal grandfather of our subject, among the first settlers of Bradford county, participated in the Revolutionary War. The maternal grandmother, who was a sister of Dr. Jayne, of Philadel- phia, was born on the Delaware river. Daniel B. Culver, father of Lafayette J., was born in Sheshequin township in April, 1806, and died in the same township August 5, 1856, and his wife passed away in the following September, aged forty-nine years, both dying of typhoid

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fever. Their family numbered seven children, of whom the following is a brief record : William died in infancy ; Lafayette J. is the subject proper of this memoir; Hiram enlisted in the service of his country in the Civil War, and gave his life for his country at the battle of the Wilderness; James resides in Buffalo; Oran is in this county; Emily (the only daughter) is married to L. H. Kilmer, of Sheshequin ; Mahlon died when young.

Lafayette J. Culver was educated in the public schools, and com- menced work when very young, having to assist his father, with whom he carried on farming, until the latter's decease. He then purchased the old homestead, which he cultivated seventeen years, when he sold the farm, moved to North Towanda and was connected with the flour- ing mill there, one year, although a resident two years; and thence went to Wysox, remaining six years. In 1881 he was commissioned by the Government Department of Agriculture, LeDuc, to raise the cane for the experiments in sugar-making at Washington, D. C., and remained there one year. Mr. Culver then purchased and moved to the farm he now occupies-the old Gore homestead-one of the first to be reclaimed from the wilderness in the county. The house on it was built by Judge Gore nearly seventy-five years ago, and is nailed together with nails forged by blacksmiths. The farm had fallen sadly into decay when Mr. Culver took possession ; but he repaired it, built new barns, put up fresh fences, and it is now one of the finest prop- erties in the county, located in the lower portion of the valley and abutting mountains, replete with old historical associations, all com- bining to make it a most pleasant and desirable home. The farm con- sists of 400 acres, seventy-five of which are bottom land, only a small portion of it being unfit for cultivation. Here he grows about five tons of tobacco annually, and raises Oxford-Down sheep and Percheron horses.

Mr. Culver was united in marriage January 21, 1857, with Mary Patterson, a daughter of Abraham and Caroline (Ashman) Patterson. Her ancestry on her father's side was Scotch-Irish, on her mother's, German, and her paternal ancestor settled at Paterson, N. J., the place taking its name from him. Her maternal grandfather ran away from college in Hamburg, Germany, at the age of eighteen, enlisted with the Hessians on purpose to get to America, to help fight for our inde- pendence, and as soon as he arrived here he deserted and joined Wash- ington's army, with which he fought until the close of the war. Mrs. Culver's father's family consisted of six children, born in Orange county, N. Y., viz .: William, of South Waverly; Nancy Ellen, who married Lor- enzo Dow Post. and died in Sheshequin; Henry C. (deceased); J. S., of the Exchange Hotel, Athens; Eliza, wife of E. J. Newell, of Sheshe- quin, and Mary (Mrs. Culver). To Mr. and Mrs. Culver, have been born, two children, viz .: Josephine, married to P. C. Gore, of Sheshequin, and Carrie Ellen, who was married to Victor E. Piollet, but was left a widow within a few months. Mr. Culver was the first man to be drafted into military service in Sheshequin, but was rejected on account of physical disability. Politically he is a Republican, and was elected to the Legislature, in 1888, by a vote of 4,000 majority; he has held all the

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History of Bradford County, Pennsylvania, with biographical selections, Part 83

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