History of Bradford County, Pennsylvania, with biographical selections, Part 92

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

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REUBEN FRUTCHEY, farmer, New Era, was born in Northampton county, Pa., April 16, 1824, the son of William and Sally (Smith) Frutchey, both of whom were born in the same county. Ifis father was a carpenter and followed this occupation a number of years; his family consisted of six children, all of whom grew to maturity, and five

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY.

are now living. Reuben is the third of the family, and was reared and educated between Northampton and Monroe counties. In early life he learned the millwright trade, at which he worked forty-four years, working all over this and the adjacent counties in erecting saw and grist mills. He removed to this county when twenty-one years of age, locating Terrytown on the Susquehanna river, in 1845. He married February 5, 1847, Miss Mary Ann, daughter of Septimus and Margaret Bacon; they had born to them seven children, six of whom grew to maturity: Frances, Heber, Philemon, Edward E., Joseph and Lesley. Mrs. Frutchey was born in Huntington, Luzerne Co., Pa., December 28, 1828, and came to this county about 1844; her ancestors are of New England birth, but French extraction; her parents removed from Monroe to Luzerne county; her grandmother Bacon raised silk-worms along the Huntington creek, Luzerne county, to a great advantage, and sent the raw material to New York City, where it was manufactured into fabrics of value and beauty. Mr. Frutchey has lived on his present farm fifteen years; he is a general farmer but pays especial attention to fruit raising; he has two hundred peach trees of various kinds, also German prunes, apricots, etc .; his farm consists of seventy acres of fertile land; Mr. Frutchey is a Presbyterian ; in politics he is a Democrat.

W. R. FULFORD, train dispatcher, Sayre, is a native of Standing Stone, this county, and was born May 14, 1859, a son of John R. and Sallie A. (Huff) Fulford, the former a native of New Jersey and the latter of this county. The father is a blacksmith, and resides in Standing Stone. Our subject, who is the second in order of birth in a family of four children, was reared in Standing Stone, and at the age of eighteen years began an apprenticeship at telegraphy at his native place. In 1879 he went to Lincoln, Neb., and had charge of a tele- graph office there about two years; then returned home and went to Laceyville, where he remained until February 1, 1883, when he came to Sayre. He was promoted to assistant train dispatcher in December, 1886, and to his present position December 15, 1889. He was married in Towanda, October 12, 1887, to Miss Anna, daughter of Thomas C. and Harriet (Mathewson) DeLano, the former a native of Oneida county, N. Y., the latter of Athens township. Thomas C. DeLano was a merchant for more than thirty years in this county, and is now in Chicago, Ill. Mrs. Fulford's great-grandfathers, Mathewson and Stevens, were officers in the Revolutionary War. She is the younger of two children, and was born at Spanish Hill, Sayre township, this county, March 17, 1861 ; her sister, Harriet, married W. H. Poole, of Chicago, Ill. Mr. and Mrs. Fulford are members of the Episcopal Church. He is a member of the Patriotic Sons of America, is a Dem- ocrat, and holds the office of borough auditor.

EDGAR S. FULLER first opened his eyes upon this busy world on the third of January, 1845, in the township of Herrick, this county, but cameto Camptown in 1856 or 1857, when his father, Almon Fuller, moved his family to the latter place. Edgar was the third child in a family of nine, seven of whom are now living, and received the usual education, which, in those days, was accorded to the average child of a thrifty farmer. It consisted of a few months of each year in the com-

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY.

mon public schools, usually presided over by a splendid specimen of physical manhood and birch "gads." Our subject was, however, an apt scholar, and made the most of his opportunities, which resulted in such success as, at the age of twenty, enabled him to change his posi- tion from that of a pupil to a teacher. For three years he presided in the school rooms, and then turned his attention to a mercantile career by entering the employ of Dunham & Dyer, manufacturers, of New Era, Pa., as traveling salesman, his territory lying principally in the State of Illinois. This position he continued until January 26, 1868, when he gave it up, and two days thereafter formed a partnership with Griffin Magee, a practical tanner, and built a large two-story tannery in Camptown, the upper floor of which was devoted to the manufac- ture of harness, over which Mr. Fuller assumed direct supervision. The business flourished for a couple of years, when the firm was dis- solved by mutual consent, and Mr. Fuller prepared to carry on the manufacture of harness on a more extensive scale, and to infuse his ideas of progressive enterprise into a business which he had decided to make a life work. The large factory which he now occupies was speedily built, and " E. S. Fuller's Excelsior Harness Shop " at once took front rank in that line of business, not only in the county, but throughout the northeastern part of the State. He was not a prac- tical harness-maker to begin with, but by employing the best of work- men, and watching closely their methods, he soon became an expert with the knife and thread, having mastered his trade without serving an apprenticeship. He manufactured none but the best of goods, which, together with honorable methods and a liberal use of printers' ink, secured him a patronage equaled by few concerns of the kind in this section. His harness regularly took the red ribbons at the annual county fairs, and to-day he has customers in many distant towns, to say nothing of the exclusive control of the local trade. In addition to the manufacture of harness he is an extensive dealer in horse furnishing goods-robes, blankets, dusters, whips, Irish and Scotch collars, oils, etc. Mr. Fuller is a splendid specimen of the self-made man, who, from the groundwork of brain and muscle, has forced his way, unaided, through the vicissitudes of life to a prominent position in the business world, and is looked upon as one of the leading business men of the section in which he lives. On October 27, 1868, Mr. Fuller married Miss Amanda M. Camp, daughter of Homer Camp, of Camptown, a lady of refinement and most excellent parentage. Of this union five children have been born, three of whom-Harriet A., Almon H. and Emily S .- are living. Loula Belle and Elizabeth died in infancy. Mr. Fuller is a steward and trustee of the M. E. Church of Camptown, a member of the State Encampment, and Past Chief Patriarch I. O. O. F. He enlisted in the army during the Rebellion, but the war closed before his services were demanded on the field. Politically, he is an influential Republican, and has filled the various town offices with credit and honor.

GEORGE L. FULLER, salesman, Athens, is a native of Sheshequin township, this county, and was born June 10, 1841, a son of Richard and Salinda (Blackman) Fuller, also natives of Sheshequin township.

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY.

The father who was a farmer and lumberman, died in his native place in June, 1880, in his sixty-ninth year; the mother is still living. The grandfather, Nathaniel Fuller, was a soldier in the War of 1812, and was killed while in the service. George L. Fuller is the fourth of a . family of eleven children, and was reared on a farm; after leaving the common school he attended high school two terms, and taught one term a district school. On August 9,1861, he enlisted in the army, in Company D, Thirty-ninth Ill. V. I., was wounded at the battle of Winchester, March 22, 1862, and was in the hospital seven weeks; when he returned to his command he participated in the following engagements: Siege of Morris Island, Sumter, Charleston, Drury's Bluff, in Seven Days' Fight, with McClellan on the Peninsular Cam- paign and the siege of Petersburg, where he was discharged, Septem- ber 10, 1864. Returning to Sheshequin he engaged in farming until 1880, when he removed to Athens and engaged in the confectionery business. This he sold at the expiration of nine years, and since then he has been salesman in J. W. Carroll's clothing house. Mr. Fuller was married in Sheshequin January 5, 1865, to Miss Rachel, daughter of John B. and Lucinda (Horton) Smith (her father, who was a farmer, died in September, 1881; Mrs. Lucinda Smith died in 1875). Mrs. Fuller is the second in a family of eight children, and was born in Sheshequin township October 5, 1843. Mr. and Mrs. Fuller are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church ; he is a member of the I. O. O. F., Valley Lodge, No. 446, and has passed the chairs in the subordinate and in the Rebekah Lodges; is also a member of the Union Veteran Legion, No. 28, and the G. A. R., Perkins Post, No. 202. He is a Republican, and was census enumerator in 1880; also served as auditor in Sheshequin, nine years in succession, and several years as inspector and judge of elections.

I. C. FULLER, manufacturer, was born in Herrick township, July 27, 1850, and is a son of Almond and Adelia (Camp) Fuller. His father was a natural mechanic and was a farmer, millwright, shoe- maker, blacksmith and carpenter; he had a family of ten children (of whom seven are living), viz .: N. A. (died June 29, 1891), late of Wya- lusing, carpenter and joiner; Mary C., married Lewis Wells, and after his death, Franklin Jones, and now resides on the old homestead at Camptown; Edgar S., harness-maker at Camptown ; Emeline J., mar- ried to G. L. Lewis, farmer and mechanic of Camptown ; Lois L., mar- ried to Elwood Vaughn and after his death to Rev. Newton J. Barnes, and died in 1890; I. C .; Guy H., editor and proprietor of the James- town Sun; Lettie J., married to P. Smith, merchant, Camptown ; Lillian May, married to John Nesbit, hardware merchant, Tekamah, Neb .; Judson died when a child. I. C. Fuller passed his early boy- bood in Herrick; his parents removed to Camptown, where he remained until he started out for himself. He was educated in the common schools, and, when seventeen, began teaching, continued dur- ing winters about six years, and worked at the carpenter's trade and attended school during summers. March 16, 1874, he came to Wvalus- ing and entered the employ of the planing mills, which Mr. Fuller now owns; after working there about ten days, he was made fore-

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY.

man of the mill, and filled that position until September 27, 1877. The mill was purchased by William T. Horton, and November 15, 1877, he was made superintendent of the same; January 6, 1882, he purchased one-half interest in the mill, and the entire business, Janu- ary 6, 1887, since which time he has been sole proprietor; he has machinery for doing all kinds of scroll and finishing work, and sup- plies all kinds of building material; his sheds, buildings and yards cover about two acres of ground, and he has extensive outside interests and trade; he uses an H. B. Schenck planer, which is the best manu- factured; he employs a force of six men constantly, and more when pressure of work demands. When he first came to Wyalusing, he lived in the Henry Gaylord house, but, in 1877, he built him a small house on the hill and removed to that, where he remained until the first day of 1889, when his present elegant residence being completed, he removed to his new home, which for style of architecture, beauty and elegance of finish and conveniences cannot be excelled in the county ; it contains thirteen rooms, besides cellars, closets and halls. He owns several other valuable pieces of town property and large real estate interests in the coal regions, a small farm with good build- ings in Merryall and various other interests. He was married, Sep- tember 7, 1875, to Melissa Wells, a daughter of Abel and Margaret (Ney) Wells, of Monroe county, Pa., and they have two children ; Flor- ence, born April 13, 1881, and Ernistine, born May 16, 1884. He is a Democrat, but takes but slight interest in politics. Mr. Fuller is a bril- liant example of one of Bradford's self-made men; started in life with no capital but sound judgment, unflagging industry and determination to succeed, and by close attention to business and unflinching honesty, he has not only acquired a fortune in a very short time, but what is far better, has secured the respect, trust and esteem of all his custom- ers, and has the confidence and friendship of all.

N. A. FULLER (deceased), late of Wyalusing, was born June 18, 1840, at Camptown, and spent his boyhood at Camptown, working on a farm and in the shoe shop of his father. He was educated in the Camptown Academy, and, when nineteen, began his apprentice- ship to learn the carpenter's and joiner's trade, under L. W. Camp, and then D. D. Chaffee, working with them about three years. In August, 1861, he enlisted in Company F, Fifty-second P. V. I., hav- ing served three months prior, in the State militia, and served until July, 1865, when he was discharged with his regiment ; he was through the Peninsular campaign and then transferred to the South, where he lay before Charleston during all the weary months of the bombardment, and after the fall of Charleston joined Sherman's army, and was with it during the campaign through the Carolinas, in pursuit of Johnston ; he was sent to Salisbury where he was mnustered ont. He was in Hilton Head Hospital about two months, suffering from a low fever. He enlisted as corporal, and was promoted to second lieutenant. He returned home and resumed his occupation of carpenter, working in Wyalusing, Her- rick, Pike and Tuscarora townships, and residing at Camptown until 1888, when he removed to Wyalusing. He was united in wedlock, Octo- ber, 1865, with Delia M., daughter of Charles Biles, of Homet's Ferry,

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY.

and this union was blessed with four children, viz .: Jennie A. (deceased); Roy V. (deceased); Charles H. and Mary L. He died very suddenly of heart failure, June 22, 1891, aged fifty-one years. He was a mem- ber of the Presbyterian Church, Camptown, and an elder of the same, a member of the I. O. O. F., Wyalusing Lodge, No. 503, Camptown, and had passed all the chairs, taken all degrees, and was a member of the State Encampment; also a member of Hurst Post, No. 74, G. A. R., Camptown, and was Post commander of the same in 1887. He was formerly a Republican, but later espoused the cause of the Prohibition party.

R. J. FULLER, merchant, Camptown, was born in Herrick, where his father now lives, August 15, 1849, a son of Cyrus and Mary Ann (Taylor) Fuller. His father has always been a farmer and drover ; he had a family of nine children. R. J. Fuller passed his boyhood on the farm; at the age of twenty-two he began business, becoming a member of the firm of Fuller, Edwards, Lafferty & Co., grocers, where he remained two years ; then was engaged as traveling salesman with James McBride & Co., tobacco cutters, of Monroe, Mich .; one and one- half years was with George Smith, a general merchant of Wysox. In 1877 he came to Camptown, built and stocked his present store- room and has been engaged in general merchandise since. He carries a full stock of general goods; is senior member of the firm of Fuller & Blocher, owners of Camptown Creamery, built in the spring of 1890. He was married, October 19, 1875, to Annie A. Landon, daughter of Senator Landon, of Herrick, and has two daughters, Aline and Annie E. Mr. Fuller is a member of the Freemasons.

FINLEY FURMAN, farmer, P. O. Sylvania, was born in Colum- bia township, this county, March 2, 1842, and is a son of John H. and Diana B. (Merritt) Furman. His paternal grandfather, Peter Furman, and maternal grandfather, Curtis Merritt, son of Calvin Merritt (the second latter being from Rutland, Vt.), were all pioneers of Columbia township. The father of our subject, who was a native of Columbia township, in early life taught school, but later engaged in the tannery business in Troy, and for several years was in the hotel business at Sylvania and Burlington. Prior to the Civil War he removed to Kansas, where he engaged in farming, and died in 1883, aged seventy years. Finley Furman was reared in Bradford county, educated in the common schools, and at Mansfield Seminary. Since attaining his majority, with the exception of five years that he was in the mercan- tile business at Austinville, he has been engaged in farming. He was twice married, first time to Rachel A., daughter of Lorenzo N. and Jane (Scouten) Tinkham, of Columbia township, this county. and by her there is one child living, Edna M., who graduated in the Mansfield State Normal School in the class of 1886; Mr. Furman's second wife was Carrie B. Buckbee, daughter of John and Hannah (Beers) Buck- bee, of Lawrenceville, Tioga Co., Pa., and by her he has two children : Nora and Anna. Mr. Furman is a member of the Presbyterian Church and I. O. O. F .; politically he is a Republican.

HIRAM FURMAN, farmer, P. O. Snedekerville, was born in Columbia township, this county, May 28, 1821, and is a son of Peter

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY.

and Diadama (Holiday) Furman. His paternal grandparents were William and Abigail Halleck, pioneers of Columbia township, where they settled in 1813 ; the grandfather was a justice of the peace several years, and resided in the township until his death. Peter Furman, father of subject, cleared and improved a farm near Columbia Cross Roads, and lived in the township until his death. His children were as follows : Maria, John H., Jane (Mrs. Hiram Mason), Pamphelia (Mrs, William B. Watkins), George, William, Hiram, Eurania (Mrs. Decatur Goodrick), Orrin, Volney, Howard, Alvin, Caroline (Mrs. Alanson Taylor) and Philander. Hiram Furman was reared in his native county, and has spent most of his life in farming. During the Civil War he served eight months in the Western Bridge Corps, and was honorably discharged. He was married twice : first time to Matilda, daughter of Malashi and Jane (Mason) Howland, of Columbia town- ship, and by her he had two children : Antoinette and Sidney H .; his second wife was Betsey Potter, of Columbia township. Mr. Furman is a well-known farmer and citizen of Columbia township; politically he is a Democrat.

JAMES B. FURMAN, farmer, P. O. Austinville, was born near Columbus, Ohio, September 20, 1846, and is a son of Peter S. and Elethear (Besley) Furman. His paternal grandfather, John Furman, was a son of William and Abigail (Halleck) Furman, who settled in Columbia township, this county, in 1813. John Furman was a prom- inent farmer of Columbia township, where he died. His wife was Betsey Bogart, by whom he had fifteen children : Peter S., Harriet (Mrs. Andrew Gernert), Eliza (Mrs. Uel Porter), Cornelius, James, William, Paul, Sally (Mrs. Barlow Gates), Elinus, Fanny, Juliette (Mrs. Chester Updyke), Charles, Mariette (Mrs. James Kinnear), Bet- sey Ann (Mrs. Raymond Gernert) and Robert. Of these, Peter S. was reared in Columbia township, where he cleared the farm now owned by R. Gernert. In 1832 he removed to Bellefonte, Centre Co., Pa .; from there to Petersburg, Va., in 1836; thence to Ohio, in 1840, and from there to Wisconsin, in 1848, where he engaged in farm- ing and trading ; in 1852 he was killed by a Spaniard while in dispute over a land title. His wife (Elethear) was a daughter of Oliver and Rhoda (Westbrook) Besley, pioneers of Columbia township, and by her he had six children, as follows: Cornelia, Cordelia (Mrs. David Ware), Samuel B., Catherine (Mrs. Hiram Wilcox), James B. and Charles W. Our subject moved to Wisconsin, with his father, in 1848, and at the age of fourteen came with his brother, Samuel B., to Columbia township, where he has since resided. He was in the Civil War, having enlisted March 1, 1864, in Company C, Seventh Pennsyl- vania Cavalry, and participated in the battle of Selma; also some minor engagements, and was honorably discharged at Harrisburg, Pa., in September, 1865, since when he has been engaged in farm- ing in Columbia township. In March, 1868, he married Electa M., daughter of Philo and Sarah A. (Lamphere) Besley, of Columbia town- ship, and by her has two children : Walter P. and Eva M. He is a a member of the G. A. R., and in politics is a Republican.

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY.

JOHN M. FURMAN, retired physician and surgeon, Sugar Run, was born May 1, 1816, in Greenwich, N. Y., and is the third child in a family of eight children of Ezra and Laura (Atkins) Furman, the fomer a native of New York and the latter of Vermont, both being of New England origin. John M. Furman removed to Wyoming county with his father in 1838, where they engaged in farming. He was educated in the common and select schools, and read medicine with Dr. W. W. Crandall, of Tunkhannock; also received private instruction of Prof. Roberts, of Philadelphia. He began the practice of medicine in Herrick, in 1847, remaining there twenty years, and then located in Rome, where he resided until September 6, 1862, when he enlisted in Company D, Seventeenth Pennsylvania Cavalry. He was detailed as hospital steward, and was mustered out April 16, 1863. On account of ill health contracted in the army, he was practically unemployed till 1871, when he resumed the practice of medicine in Dimock, Pa., where he remained about five years and then moved to Auburn Centre, same State. In 1881 he came to Terrytown, Bradford county, wbere he remained eight years, and after spending one year in Wyoming county, he located in his present home. Dr. Furman was married Decem- ber 31, 1840, to Miss Lydia M., daughter of Richard and Hannah (Davis) Douglass, of Wyoming county, Pa. They have had eleven children : Alonzo H., born April 15, 1842; Amanda D., born May 8, 1844; Richard E., born July 16, 1845; Mary Jane, born October 4, 1847; Emma L., born August 8, 1849; Laura A., born June 14, 1852; George W., born September 4, 1854; Harriet E., born March 7, 1857; Sarah H., born June 16, 1860; John W., born June 10, 1863, and Jesse K., born August 31, 1866, died April 30, 1881. The Doctor is a member of the G. A. R. at Wyalusing, and is a Republican.

WILLIAM GALLIGHER, farmer, of Wyalusing township, P. O. Wyalusing, was born in Wyalusing township, this county, April 30. 1847, the son of Francis and Lydia (Brown) Galligher, the latter of whom was a daughter of Oliver Brown and granddaughter of Humphrey Brown. The father was a native of Ireland, and came to this country about 1824, when eighteen years old, and stopped at Philadelphia, where for twelve years he was on the police force ; then removed to Browntown and followed farming and the trade of mason ; he was married in Wyalusing township, near Homet's Ferry, and had four children : Onis, died in infancy ; William; Mary, married to Fred Skift, locomotive engineer, residing in Towanda; Jane, married to Henry Benedict, freight conductor on the Lehigh Valley Railroad, in Towanda; Mary is deceased. William passed his boyhood at Fairbanks, attending school until February 29, 1864, when he enlisted in Company I, Fiftieth P. V. I .; he was in the battles of the Wilderness, Spottsylvania and Cold Harbor, and was struck on the knee by a piece of shell, and was furloughed twenty days, but rejoined the regiment before Petersburg and went from there to Arlington Heights ; was taken sick and remained in the hospital until the war closed; he received his discharge July 10, 1865. After coming home he was sick for some time; then followed boating as steersman on the North Branch Canal four or five years, then farmed. In 1876

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY .-

he bought the old "White Tavern" stand in Browntown, which had never been out of the Brown family; it was burned June 24, 1890, and he proposes to rebuild it at once. Mr. Galligher was married, Septem- ber 9, 1889, to Belle Brown, daughter of Jonathan Brown, of Fairbanks; her father, who was a soldier of the Civil War, and followed farming, is now deceased. To Mr. and Mr. Galligher was born one child, Daniel B., who died in infancy. They are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Browntown; he is also a member of Jackson Post, No. 78, G. A. R., Wyalusing, and is a Republican.

JUDSON J. GAMBLE, cooper, Sugar Run, was born July 26, 1852, at Sugar Run, Bradford Co., Pa., and is the youngest son of William and Irene (Beman) Gamble, the former a native of Bradford county, and the latter of Wyoming county, Pa. When eighteen years of age our subject began life for himself at the carpenter's trade, later learned that of a cooper, and for ten years was a member of the firm of Gamble Bros., manufacturers and dressers of lumber at Sugar Run. He was married January 1, 1877, to Lucinda, daughter of Joseph and Adaline (Rosencrans) Ashcraft, of Wilmot township, this county, and they have had five children, as follows: Elnora, born May 13, 1878, and died August 13, 1890; Mabel, born January 3, 1880; Mandana, born October 16, 1883; Georgiana, born February 10, 1886, and died March 27, 1889, and Harrison, born August 25, 1888. Mr. Gamble is a member of the I. O. O. F., White Lilly Lodge, No. 808; has held the office of constable one year, and in politics is a Republican.

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History of Bradford County, Pennsylvania, with biographical selections, Part 92

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