History of Bradford County, Pennsylvania, with biographical selections, Part 84

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

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township offices. He is a member of the I. O. O. F. and of the State Encampment, and has passed all the chairs.

JOHN M. CURRIER, farmer and stockman, Warren Centre, was born in Warren township, his natal day being June 29, 1839; he is a son of John M. and Anna (Underwood) Currier, natives of Vermont and Massachusetts, respectively, and of the rugged Scotch extraction. His father, who was a farmer, came to this county in 1815, being one of the earliest settlers in Warren township, and cleared his land and here made his permanent home; he died in 1861; his widow died in 1873; they had twelve children of whom John M. is the seventh in the order of birth. Our subject commenced life on his own account as a farmer, and has labored patiently in his chosen vineyard until the pres- ent time, being now the owner of 105 broad acres, all in a high state of cultivation, with ample and elegant farm buildings, and well stocked. Mr. Currier was married in Chenango county, New York, November 1, 1858, to Catherine Sleeper, daughter of Josephus and Maria (Bowen) Sleeper, natives of Vermont and Rhode Island, respectively; they had eight children, of whom Catherine was the eldest; she was reared in her native place and attended school at Greene village, N. Y. To Mr. and Mrs. Currier have been born children as follows: Anna (Mrs. George A. Bowen), of Herrick township, who has four children ; Geo. E ; Olive S. and Maria R. (twins) (Olive S. married Fred E. Pitcher and has one child ; Maria R. married James N. Clapp, of Tioga county, N. Y., and has one child) ; and Grace L. with her parents. The family worship at the Regular Baptist Church, in which Mr. Currier holds the offices of trustee and collector; in politics he is a Republican and has held the offices of assessor and commissioner. When he purchased the elegant farm he now owns there were but twenty-three aeres eleared and a little log house was all the improvement-but little, indeed, to indicate its present wealth and elegance. The family is one of the most highly respected in the county.

S. O. DAGGETT, proprietor of the "Stimson House," Athens, is a native of Daggett's Mills, Tioga Co., Pa., and was born September 15, 1846 ; his parents are Louis and Ellen S. (Wells) Daggett, residing in Tioga, the former a native of Tioga county, N. Y., and the latter of Y'ates county, same State ; the father has been engaged in the mer- cantile, lumbering and hotel business. Subject's great-grandfathers, Daggett and Wells, were soldiers in the Revolutionary War. S. O. Daggett is the elder of two living children, and his brother, W. L. Daggett, is the proprietor of the "Bush House," Bellefonte, Pa. Our subject completed his education in Mansfield State Normal School, and when about seventeen years of age, engaged in the mercantile business in Tioga, and also in the lumbering trade. In 1870 he engaged in the hotel business with his father, in Lawrenceville, and was there six years ; in 1878 in a hotel in Tioga, also with the " Brooklyn House" a short time, and then the " Park Hotel " (a summer resort), over two years ; went to Horseheads and ran the "Rayant House" two years, and from there to Wellsboro in control of the " Wilcox House" six years ; then to Blossburg, at the head of the "Seymore House " about a year, and thence to Athens, March 2, 1890, and took charge of the

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"Stimson House." He was first married, in 1878, in Havana, N. Y., to Miss Ell, daughter of Ebeau and Helen (Miller) Boynton, natives of Schuyler county, N. Y., and this county, respectively. She was the elder of their two children, and was born in Reading, Schuyler Co., N. Y., December 23, 1860, and died October 2, 1885; they had two daughters: Georgia and Leah. Mr. Daggett married again, at Watkins, N. Y., in March, 1880, his second wife being Miss Jessie, daughter of S. V. and Mary (Jeroe) Brown. She is a member of the Presbyterian Church. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, Ossice Lodge, No. 317, Tioga Chapter and Teodotin Commandery, and is a Republican.

JACOB DANIELS, locomotive engineer, Sayre, is a native of Rhein, Germany, born October 27, 1835, and is a son of Jacob and Maria (Hilbert) Daniels, natives of Germany; the father, who was a farmer, died in his native home in 1838, in his thirty-seventh year; the mother died in 1837, in her thirty-fifth year. Jacob who is the second in the family of three children was reared in his native place until the age of eighteen, when he emigrated to New York City and from there moved to St. Clair, Schuylkill Co., Pa., where he worked in the coal mines about three years, and then found employment on the Little Schuylkill Railroad for a short time, he then went to firing for the Catawissa Railroad, and was on that line about three years when he was pro- moted to engineer, continuing in that employ until 1871, when he went on the Lehigh Valley Railroad as engineer, and has been in this employ ever since. He was married in Pottsville in 1855 to Miss Maria, dangh- ter of Fredrick and Hannah Henninger, natives of Pennsylvania and who was the fifth in a family of thirteen children; she was born in Catawissa Valley, October 10, 1837, and died December 1, 1889; she was a consistent member of the Episcopal Church. To Mr. and Mrs. Daniels were born seven children, as follows : Jacob F., a locomotive engineer, married to Ella Stevens; Hattie, wife of Eugene Finch, of Binghamton, N. Y .; William H., a locomotive engineer, married to Ella Miller; Charles, a locomotive engineer; George B., deceased; Jesse, a fireman, and Robert F., deceased. Mr. Daniels is a member of the Presbyterian Church: of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, Sayre Division, No. 380, and of the Knights of Honor, A. O. U. M. and Red Men; in politics he is a Democrat.

WILLIAM H. DANIELS, locomotive engineer, Sayre, is a native of Williamsport, and was born in November, 1860, a son of Jacob and Maria (Henninger) Daniels, the former of whom was a native of Ger- many and the latter of Pennsylvania. William is the third in order of birth, in a family of seven children ; was reared in Williamsport until eleven years of age, and then came with the family to Waverly ; received a public-school education, and in 1876 went on the Lehigh Valley Railroad as brakeman, and October 26, 1881, was changed to fireman. and was promoted to engineer, October 19, 1886, and has held that position since. lIe married, in Sayre, August 5, 1886, Miss Ella J., daughter of James and Rebecca (Albright) Miller, natives of Pennsylvania ; her father was a locomotive engineer, and is now in the employ of the same road, at the round-house in Elmira ; she is the

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eldest in a family of three children, and was born in Mauch Chunk, January 28, 1865. To Mr. and Mrs. Daniels was born a daughter, Mabel; they are members of the Episcopal Church. He is a member of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, Sayre Division, No. 380, and No. 1817, and is a Democrat in politics.

CHARLES VIRGIL DARE, M. D., Troy, was born in Bridgeton, Cumberland Co., N. J., August 26, 1822, a son of John and Rachel (Watson) Dare, and is of Scotch descent. He was reared in his native State, educated in the common schools of his day, and after serving an apprenticeship at the drug business and for a time being one of the proprietors of a drug store in Salem, N. J., he, in 1850, began the study of medicine with Dr. A. E. Small, of Philadelphia, and in the spring of 1854 was graduated from the Homeopathic Medical College of Pennsylvania. Same year he began the practice of his profession at Millville, N. J., and in December, 1854, he removed to Chester, Pa., remaining there until 1859, when he located in Troy, where he has since resided. He was in active practice up to September, 1864, when he enlisted in Company H, One Hundred and Eleventh N. Y. V. I. and in February, 1865, was promoted to assistant-surgeon of the regi- ment, in which capacity he served until his discharge in June, 1865. On his return home he resumed the practice of his profession in which. he still continues. On December 2, 1845, he married Harriet Osborne, daughter of Nathan and Sarah (Rose) Sheppard, of Cedarville, N. J., by whom he had six children, four of whom grew to maturity : Laura V. (Mrs. John L. French), Kate S. (Mrs. E. F. Lummis), Charles W. and Mary S. Dr. Dare is a member of the Presbyterian Church and an ex-honorary member of the Hahnemann Homeopathic Medical Society, of Pennsylvania ; in politics he is a Republican. His only son, Charles W. Dare, was born November 9, 1856, at Chester, Pa., and received an academical education, and for fifteen years has been engaged as a clerk in the drug business; was graduated from the Phila- delphia College of Pharmacy in 1882. Politically he is a Republican. JABEZ G. DAUGHERTY, proprietor of "Daugherty's Hotel," Wysox, was born in Belvedere, N. J., February 28, 1835, son of Igna- tius and Sarah (Sidell) Daugherty, natives of New Jersey and of Hol- land origin. His father, who was a miller by trade, reared a family of eleven children of whom J. G. is the third. Our subject acquired a common-school education, and at twenty-one engaged in the milling business in Susquehanna county, where he remained one year, and then boated on the North Branch Canal two years ; then again carried on the milling business five years in Susquehanna county; and one year in Monroeton. In 1865 he purchased the VanBrunt mill at Wysox, where he did a general milling business eight years ; then sold out to R. S. Barnes, of Rome, and engaged in the hotel business in Dushore, where he remained one year. He then located in his present place of business, where he has since remained. Mr. Daugherty was married March 6, 1859, to Miss Samantha, daughter of John and Martha (Sickler) Smith, of Wysox, and they have had born to them four chil- dren : Lillie R., born December 1, 1859, married to George Sill, a farmer, Orwell; George Mcclellan, born August 22, 1863 (was named

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after Gen. George B. McClellan, and died November 6, 1864, the day of Mcclellan's defeat for the presidency); John W., born January 25, 1868 (is engaged with his father); and Martha E., born May 2, 1870, married to George Ridgeway, of Wysox. Mrs. Daugherty and the children are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Myers- burg; Mr. Daugherty is a member of the Masonic Lodge at Dushore, and is a stanch Democrat.

J. A. DAVIDSON, clerk with the Cayuta Wheel & Foundry Co., Sayre, is a native of Orange county, N. Y., born May 10, 1855, and is a son of George and Elizabeth Davidson, natives of County Down, Ireland, who immigrated to New York City about the year 1842; his father is a soap manufacturer; his mother died in 1859, in her thirty- eighth year. This gentleman is the sixth in order of birth of a family of seven living children ; was reared in Orange county and received a fair public-school education ; then clerked in a grocery store in Rockland county, N. Y., about six years, then in 1875, went to Rock Island, Ill., and worked in his uncle's soap factory about two years ; returned to Orange county, and remained there abouta year, and then came to Sayre, and has been in the employ of the Caynta Wheel & Foundry Co. since. He mar- ried Miss Leora, daughter of John and Lucy (Wrigley) Bensley, the former a native of this county and the latter of England. His wife is the second in the order of birth in a family of six children, and was born in this county May 6, 1859; to them were born three daughters, as follows: Margaret, Grace and Mildred. Mr. Davidson is a Republican.

THADDEUS B. DAVIDSON, farmer, Ridgebury township, P. O. Wilawana, was born in Ridgebury, this county, August 16, 1827, and is a son of Jonathan and Polly (Brown) Davidson, the former a native of Scotland, the latter of New York. In his father's family there were nine children, of whom he is the eighth. He was reared on a farm, edu- cated in the common school, and began life for himself, farming, at the age of twenty-two, and has made this the chief occupation of his life. Mr. Davidson was married July 17, 1853, to Miss Elizabeth, daughter of Mills and Sarah (Spencer) Carr, of Ridgebury, and they had one child, Wilmot, born April 7, 1857, and died February 28, 1879. Mr. David- son may well be counted among the successful farmers of Bradford county. In his political predilections he is a Republican.

EVAN W. DAVIES, farmer, Pike township, P. O. Neath, was born February 8, 1811, in Languik, South Wales, a son of William and Eliza- beth W. (Rees) Davies. His father, who was a tailor by trade, came to America in 1831, and started a tailor shop in Carbondale, Pa., where he died in 1833; in his family there were four girls and one boy, Evan W., the second in order of birth, and the only survivor. The subject of this sketch was educated in Wales, where he learned the tailor's trade; he worked at this successively in Carbondale, Pa., Owego, N. Y., and Towanda, Pa., and he has owned, and partially cleared, several farms; he purchased his present home of sixty-nine acres, in 1871. He has been twice married: first time to Sarah, daughter of Samuel and Mary Thomas, and second time to Eleanor, daughter of John and Mary Perry. and she is still living; they have no children. Mr. and Mrs.

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Davies are members of the Congregational Church at Neath; he is a Republican in politics.

E. W. DAVIES, postmaster, Athens, is a native of the borough, born June 30, 1845, a son of Thomas R. and Ascenoth (Woodburn) Davies, the former a native of Wales, the latter of Cherry Valley. N. Y .; they died in Athens. E. W. Davies, who is the youngest in a family of ten children, received a public-school education, and also at- tended the academy at Athens. He commenced, in 1863, to learn the jeweler's trade in Caledonia, Ontario, working there about five years, except the time he was in the Government service; from there went to Bay City, Mich., where he worked at his trade four years; then went to Ithaca, N. Y., and engaged in the jeweler's trade with Mr. Phelps, under the firm name of Phelps & Davies, and continued there about five years, when he returned to Athens and embarked in the jewelry trade. He was appointed postmaster at Athens, March 20, 1890, and took charge of the office April 1. Being too young to enlist in the army, he joined the construction corps, and after the capture of Atlanta was discharged on account of sickness. Mr. Davies was mar- ried in Athens, in 1871, to Sarah, daughter of Benjamin and Mary (Tuttle) Wanzer (she was the eldest of two children who grew to maturity ; she died in 1880 a faithful mother), by which union there were four children, one of whom is now living, Eugene W. Davies, Jr. Mrs. Davies was a member of the Episcopal Church. Mr. Davies was married, the second time, in Ithaca, N. Y., in 1882, to Miss Emma Hughes, the youngest in the family of six children of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Hughes, natives of Wales. Mrs. Davies is a member of the Episcopal Church. He is a member of the F. & A. M., Rural Amity Lodge, No. 70, and also of the Sexennial League, Athens. Politically, he is a Republican.

JOHN D. DAVIES. In the year 1832, David Davies, a tailor at Languik, South Wales, bade farewell to his native land and, crossing the Atlantic, made his way into northern Pennsylvania there to make a home for himself and family, and enjoy the advantages of our free and grand Republic. The eldest of his children, John D., who is the sub- ject of this sketch, may well be counted among the successful farmers of Pike township. He was born May 31, 1822, and in 1834 he and his mother, Elizabeth (Howell) Davies, and five children followed their father to this country. John D. attended school in the old log house at South Warren, until his seventeenth year, and assisted the family in clearing a farm of 250 acres. At the age of twenty-four years he began life for himself, and engaged in mining at Carbondale, Pa., where he remained twelve years. In 1850 he purchased his present home of seventy-five acres in Pike township. Mr. Davies was mar- ried July 12, 1851, to Ann, daughter of John and Mary (Davis) Ellis, of Carbondale, Pa., and this union has been blessed with the fol- lowing children : David Henry, born February 28, 1853, an eminent physician of Nanticoke, Pa .; John Ellis, born August 8, 1855, a law- yer, of Duluth, Minn .; Mary E., born May 23, 1857, married to The- ophilus Farnells, a farmer, of Middletown ; Emma, born April 23, 1859, married to Berton Jones, a farmer, of Pike township, and died Novem-

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ber 23, 1889 ; William (deceased) born October 27, 1863; Margaret A .. born April 5, 1865 (was graduated from the Susquehanna Collegi- ate Institute in 1888, and has since been teaching in Nanticoke graded school); Rees O., born July 12, 1868. a student in Colgate Academy, and Sarah Jane, born October 18, 1878, a teacher of Warren township. David Davies died in March, 1883, at the age of eighty-five, and his wife, Elizabeth, died in 1856 aged sixty-one. The family are members of the Congregational Church at Neath.

MONTAGUE A. DAVIES, veterinary surgeon, Troy, was born in Potton, Bedfordshire, England, June 20, 1867, and is a son of Rev. B. T. and Jeannette (Packman) Davies, who came to America in 1871; the father, who is a clergyman of the Baptist Church, located in Troy in 1887, and for three years was pastor of the Baptist Church of that place. Our subject was reared in New York and Pennsylvania ; was educated in the public schools, and in 1885 began the study of veter- inary surgery, and was graduated from the Ontario College of Veter- inary Surgery, Toronto, Canada, in 1889. Previous to his graduating he had practiced his profession in Tonawanda and Lockport, N. Y., and has succeeded in building up a business that is daily increasing; he is a member of the Veterinary Surgeons' Society of Toronto. Politically he is a republican.

HON. WILLIAM T. DAVIES, Towanda, was born in Glamor- ganshire, Wales, December 20, 1831, and when but two years of age came with his parent's family to this country and located in Warren township, this county, and is both a fair specimen of the products of Bradford county as well as of the possibilities in this country of the average farmer boy in the race of life. His parents were David and Elizabeth Davies, who spent the remainder of their lives in this county, and whose family of children were ten, and in the order of birth as follows: John, Mary, Philip, Evan, Ann, William T. (these were born in Wales) and Thomas (died in 1881), Rees, Elizabeth and Catherine, born in Bradford county. Dr. Rees Davies is a prominent physician of Wilkes-Barre; Mrs. Mary Davies (husband and wife the same sur- name) lives in Wisconsin, and the others in this county-but a link in the circle gone, in this average of sixty years, of the sons and daughters of David and Elizabeth Davies; a strong and virile race, truly, whose coming and whose lives have added much and detracted nothing from the line of illustrious men and women of the county. The father an humble Welsh yeoman, who became a citizen by choice of adoption, and reared his sons and daughters true Americans, imbued with the spirit of liberty and restless ambitions and high purposes of the best in this favored land. In this household of strong and healthy children were impressed the lessons of industry, frugality and probity, that distinguishes our agricultural classes, and have proved the strong foundations upon which have grown this broad and marvelous Union and sisterhood of States. Gov. Davies is now in his sixtieth year, in the high meridian of his mental and physical life, and the once rustic farm boy of Warren township has just retired from the second highest office in the State councils, Lieutenant-Governor of the Common wealth, and from the plow handle to the helm of State are the rising rounds

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of the ladder, commencing in the country school, the valedictorian of the class of '53 at Owego Academy, N. Y .; a student in the law office, first of Judge Elwell and then in that of Judge David Wilmot; principal of the Towanda schools 1856 to 1860 ; responding to the call of his country as a private, and, by rapid steps, captain of Company B, One Hundred and Forty-first Pennsylvania Volunteers, and in 1863 reluctantly compelled from a long attack of typhoid fever to accept a surgeon's certificate of disability, and return a private citizen ; and again an active lawyer forging his way to the front of the strong Brad- ford bar ; called by the suffrage of the people in 1865 to the office of District Attorney; sent a delegate to the National Republican Con- vention in 1876, and the same year elected to the State Senate, and re-elected in 1880, in which body he was fitly made chairman of the Judiciary General Committee; strongly supported for the office of State Treasurer in 1881; nominated in 1882 for Lieutenant-Governor, and defeated with the entire ticket, and again nominated for the same office in 1886 and elected. Step by step a busy and varied life, typical of the best features of our best form of civilization. William T. Davies and Mary Watkins were united in the bonds of wedlock. She is the daughter of William and Almira (Hulett) Watkins, of Vermont, who came to this county immediately after their marriage in 1828, and settled in Towanda on the premises now occupied by Gov. Davies as a law office. Of the Watkins family but two survive : Mrs. Davies and her brother, Hersey, of Oregon; another brother was the distinguished Col. G. H. Watkins who fell nobly battling for the Union at the head of his regiment in the charge on Petersburg, June 18, 1864, and her sister was Mrs. H. L. Lamoureux, who died in Towanda in 1885. The sons and daughters of Mr. and Mrs. W. T. Davies, in the order of birth, were as follows: Irene M., Thomas W. (deceased), Guy H., W. T., Jr., and Mary E.

A. M. DAVIS, conductor on the L. V. R. R., is a native of Fulton- ville, Montgomery Co., N. Y., and was born June 20, 1833. His parents were Benjamin H. and Eve (Vedder) Davis, natives of New York, the former of whom was a farmer, and died in Rockford, Ill., in 1873, in his seventy-sixth year ; the latter died in 1871, in her sixty- fifth year. The grandfather, Valentine Davis, was a soldier in the War of 1812. A. M. Davis is the third in a, family of four children, of whom two are living. He received an academical education in the old his- toric academy of Athens ; was reared in Waverly from the age of four years until he reached his legal majority, and began his railroad career by braking on the Erie four years; then went to Rockford, Ill., in 1857, and farmed near the city. Responding to the call of his country, he enlisted in August, 1862, in Company C, Seventy-fourth Ill. V. I., and some of the engagements he took part in were the bat- tle of Stone River and all the battles of the Atlanta campaign, Chica- mauga, Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge, and siege of Knoxville; was taken prisoner at Jonesboro, but escaped the same night; was in the Army of the Cumberland under Gens. Rosecrans and Thomas; was mustered out at Nashville, Tenn., in June, 1865, and returned to Rock- ford, where he was engaged in mercantile trade about three years ;

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then engaged in the steamboat business on Rock river, as captain ; after which he traveled through 'Wisconsin, Iowa and Illinois on patent- right business, until July, 1876, when he was employed in braking on the Lehigh Valley Railroad. In May, 1877, he was promoted to con- ductor on coal train, and he was promoted to fast freight conductor from Waverly to Hornellsville, in 1884, and in May, 1889, was pro- moted to extra passenger conductor. He was married in Waverly in August, 1853, to Miss Sarah A., daughter of E. A. and Harriet (Young) Shaw, the former a native of Green Bush (near Albany, N. Y.,) and the latter of Orange county; the father was a saddler and harness maker, and died in Waverly in March, 1884, in his seventy-seventh year. The mother died April 30, 1874, in her sixty-ninth year. Mrs. Davis is the eldest in a family of five children, and was born in Orange county, N. Y., November 23, 1831. To Mr. and Mrs. Davis was born a daughter, Josephine Estelle, now the wife of Frank Bennett. Mrs. Davis is a member of the Episcopal Church. Mr. Davis is a member of the F. & A. M., Star in the East, No. 166, Rockford, Ill., and of the G. A. R. Politically he is a Republican.

GEORGE E. DAVIS, superintendent Union Bridge Company Athens township, P. O. Athens, is a native of Philadelphia, born June 30, 1843. His parents are William E. and Ann (Marsden) Davis, the former a native of Wales and the latter of England. They came to this country in early life, and the father was a wool-carder. George E. Davis, who is the eldest in a family of six children, served an apprenticeship at the house carpenter's trade in Easton, Pa. On Jann- ary 7, 1863, he enlisted in Battery B, First P. L. A. and served until the close of the war; he was mustered out at Harrisburg in June, 1865, returned home and engaged in bridge building: he erected the first building for the Bridge Company at Athens, was the first regular superintendent the company employed, and has held that position up to the present time. Mr. Davis was married at Bloomsburg, Pa., in 1865, to Miss Martha M., daughter of Brigham and Susan (Geiger) Bowdoin, the former a native of Massachusetts, the latter of Pennsyl- vania, who reside in Danville, this State. She is the second in a. family of four children, and was born in Danville, Sept. 8, 1845. To Mr. and Mrs. Davis were born five children, viz .: Anna, Laura, Will- iam E., Charlotte M. and Mabel. The family are members of the Episcopal Church ; Mr. Davis is a member of the F. & A. M. Rural Amity Lodge, No. 70, of Chapter No. 116, and Commandery No. 16 at Towanda; he is a Republican, and served two years as burgess of Athens.

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History of Bradford County, Pennsylvania, with biographical selections, Part 84

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