History of Bradford County, Pennsylvania, with biographical selections, Part 99

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

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FRANCIS R. HICKOCK, farmer, P. O. LeRoy, was born in Troy township, this county, May 11, 1837, a son of Hiram H. and Fanny (Kipp) Hickock, natives of Troy and Ulster county, N. Y., respect- ively. Grandfather James Hickock was a man of enterprise, and was engaged in various pursuits ; had been a hotel-keeper, cloth-fuller and was also a farmer on a limited scale; he located in Troy in 1809, and erected the first foundry there. Hiram H. Hickock's family consisted of three sons and three daughters, the subject of these lines being the eldest. He was reared in Troy, and educated in the common school. During the War of the Rebellion he served his country in Company C, Third Pennsylvania Artillery, headquarters at Fortress Monroe. After serv- ing a term of two years, he was honorably discharged, and now draws a pension of $8.00 per month. He has never married, but lives with his mother on a small and comfortable farm on the Towanda creek ; he is a member of the G. A. R. Post, also of the I. O. O. F., and in politics he is a Republican.

F. M. HICKS, contractor and builder, Rome, is a native of Wysox, this county, born July 21, 1847, and is a son of Hugh and Catherine (Miller) Hicks, agriculturists, the father a native of Warren county, N. J. The paternal grandfather, with two brothers, emigrated from London in Colonial times, and all three served under Gen. Washington. The maternal grandfather was F. Miller (widely known as " Freddie"), who was an inn-keeper near Washington, N. J., where he died, aged ninety, and his wife, of German descent, died at the advanced age of ninety-six. The father of F. M. Hicks had a family of seven children, as follows : Willie (died young), Sarah M., John, Jane M., George Oliver, F. M. and Norman. Hugh Hicks died in May, 1877; his

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widow survives, aged seventy-six years. F. M. was obliged to quit school at the age of nine, on account of ill-health, and when but four- teen years old, July 8, 1861, he enlisted as a drummer in the Twenty- eighth P. V. I., and was soon after discharged, but again enlisted, in 1863, in the emergency call of the State, where he served three months, and in December, 1863, again enlisted, at Owego, N. Y., in Company L, Fifth New York Cavalry, Capt. George C. Morton, and was in the service until finally mustered out, June 19, 1865, having experienced as hard service as did any of the survivors of the war. He was in the battles of the Wilderness, Hanover Court House, and in Wilson's unfor- tunate raid, where the Union forces were disastrously defeated, and among the prisoners captured by the enemy was Mr. Hicks. An account of his months of prison life, from June 28, 1864, until April following, is a story of unspeakable horrors, and his unvarnished story, told without passion, is well-nigh incredible, when taken with the fact. that be survives to tell it. In sickness, starvation, covered with vermin, and exposed to the pitiless elements, and under the sleepless eye of guards that were instructed to shoot down victims for small infraction of the rules, and then at times sentenced to the yet greater agonies of the dungeon, a veritable " Black Hole " itself, without ventilation, and with puddles of water for beds, were the long-drawn-out days and months of this captive's experience. Having experienced the worst of Libby and Andersonville, under the heartless Wiltz, and others no less cruel, he was finally carried to Richmond on the way to an exchange, and from there to Goldsboro. The awful condition of the sufferers is slightly shown in the fact that, of twenty-eight who had been loaded in a box car, nineteen were dead when the box was opened at Rich- mond. From Goldsboro he was sent to Egan's landing, and then sent by ambulance to the Union lines, and transported to the Annapolis Hospital, and after long suffering, when able to walk, was sent home on furlough. When captured he weighed 168 pounds, and when sent home, ninety-six pounds. In 1866 he learned the carpenter's and joiner's trade at Williamsport, then removed to Towanda, and worked in Frost's factory until 1873, when he returned to Williamsport, and was pat- tern-maker one year; then made his home in Rome, and engaged as contractor and house builder until 1877, when, with his brother, he engaged in the furniture trade, which they continued until 1880. In that year he went to Philadelphia, and became a commercial traveler for the house of Wanamaker, and represented various houses, but, his health failing, he returned to his present home. F. M. Hicks and Charlotte Mann were joined in wedlock in June, 1865 ; she is a daughter of Samuel and Sarah (Weaver) Mann, natives of New York. To this union have been born the following children: Nellie M .; Charles Whitney, farmer, in Wysox; Samuel, bookkeeper, in Philadelphia; Mary and George, with their parents. The family worship at the Presby- terian Church, and are widely esteemed by all who enjoy their inti- macy in social life. Mr. Hicks is not only a prominent Democrat, but is a member of the State Democratic Central Committee ; is a charter member of Stevens Post, No. 69, G. A. R., and has filled all the offices except commander, and is a member of the Cavalry Society of the United States.

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY.

MRS. DOLLY HILL, Windham township, P. O. North Orwell. " This venerable Mother in Israel " has come to us from a former gen- eration, a typical heroine of the "kingdom of the dead yesterdays," and the story of her strange, eventful life may well be reckoned in this age as a part of sacred history. Her father was Thomas Fox, who died in 1827, and her mother survived until 1854. John Hill was the father of Chester Hill; he came from Massachusetts to Owego, and settled on the place called the "Deep Well District;" he was a mechanic and put up the first frame house in Owego ; he had preceded his family to the wild western wilderness, and when he sent for them to join him, the brave mother hired a man to transport herself and eight children to Otsego lake, where she purchased canoes, lashed them together, loaded them, mostly with children, and bravely floated down to Owego. The family remained at this place until 1812, when they came to Orwell. Altogether there were eleven children in this family. The descendants of John Hill number 160, and at a recent family reunion were the twin sons, Chauncey and Chester, aged eighty- six, who were a part of the " luggage " in that canoe voyage mentioned above, which was made in 1794. Of these twins, Chester Hill married Dolly Fox, who was born in Glastonbury, September 11, 1796, the daughter of Thomas and Chloe Fox, and came to Bradford county, in 1798 with her father's family, and went to the public schools in .Orwell; in her father's family were six children, of whom she was the fifth. She was married in 1814 to Chester Hill, then just returned from the War of 1812. They settled in Orwell (where the husband died February 23, 1879, aged eighty-seven, and to them were born children as follows: Eliza, wife of James Higgins, with whom the mother resided at time of her decease; Cornelia, wife of David Nichols; George S., who married Mary Ann Pressure, and has four children (he was a soldier in the Civil War, and died in the service);

hloe, wife of J. O. Frost, of Towanda; Lavina, wife of Edwin Allis ; Chauncey, of Orwell, who married Sarah Tyrell, and after her death married Sarah Buttles ; Almira, wife of Ebenezer Snell, of Pike town- ship; Susan A., wife of Harlow Buttles, of Orwell : Orrin, who mar- ried Adele McQuary; and Emeline, wife of Nehemiah Neal, of Nichols, N. Y. Mr. and Mrs. James Higgins had born to them nine children as follows : Albert C., born August 1, 1837; Franklin, born February 21, 1839; Mervin, born July 11, 1841 (he enlisted in the fiftieth Regi- ment, Company G, was wounded and taken prisoner, and died in Salis- bury prison after being in prison five months; he had served three years, and had been in twenty-nine hard-fought battles); Adeline E., born April 18, 1844; Emeline S., born November 4, 1846, wife of Eli Morris; Charles O., born September 6, 1849, died April 2, 1855; Rhoda G., born June 11 1854, wife of Aaron VanEtten; Olla A., born June 4, 1856, wife o, George Towner; Hortense, born July 10, 1859, wife of James Simons. Mrs. Chester Hill died May 19, 1891, aged ninety-five years, eight months, and at the time of her death there were eighty-eight great-grandchildren, and five great-great-grand- children.

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY.

CHAUNCEY HILL, retired farmer, of Orwell township, P. O. South Hill was born in Orwell township, on the farm now owned by Daniel Boardman, December 28, 1829, and is a son of Chester and Dolly (Fox) Hill. He was reared on a farin and received his education in the common schools, and resided with his uncle George Fox, who was an extensive stock dealer, and assisted driving his cattle to market. After reaching his majority he engaged in farining, and purchased a farm of sixty acres, which he conducted fourteen years; then sold it to G. M. Prince, and purchased the "Old Gibbs" farm of seventy-four acres. In 1886 he sold 135 acres to John Phillips, and owns the remainder, and also some valuable property on Orwell hill. He has been twice married, the first time, June 18, 1849, to Sarah, daughter of Reuben Tyrell, a pioneer of Windham township, and by this marriage had four children: M. A., married to Eliza Biggsby; Dora, married to Walter Wat- erman, now a widow; Nora, married to Ira Morris, and one who died in infancy. His first wife died May 16, 1886, and December 17, 1887, be married Sarah, widow of Samuel F. Buttles, a daughter of Jonas and Sarah (Shuman) Lear; she was born in Bucks county, Pa., March 28, 1845. Of her father's family of six children she was the youngest ; she was first married June 24, 1866, and had four children, viz .: Cora, born April 20, 1867; Lizzie, born May 2, 1870; Emily, born Novem- ber 23, 1877; and Ada, born October 16, 1879. The house they now occupy was built by her husband, Samuel Buttles, before the war. Her father was born in 1806, and still lives in Herricksville. She is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. Hill is a Republi- can, and has held the various township offices. Mr. and Mrs. Hill have a large circle of friends, and enjoy life; they are prepared to pass the autumn of existence unvexed by storms or ill-winds, and are noted for their social qualities and great hospitality.

EDGAR J. HILL, a popular jeweler of Troy, was born in Sullivan, Tioga Co., Pa., on August 17, 1852, and is a son of Garnwood II .. and Alpha (Palmer) Hill; his paternal grandparents, William and Polly (Hopkins) Hill, and maternal grandparents, Stephen and Lydia (Case) Palmer, of New England, were pioneers of Tioga county, Pa. Our subject was reared in his native county, and educated in the com- mon schools, he learned the jeweler's trade with his brother, and in 1876 located in Troy, where for four years he was employed in a cooper shop. In 1880 he embarked in the jewelry business, in which he has since continued, and has built up a successful business. He married, October 5, 1875, Myra S., daughter of Hezekiah C. and Julia (Sherman) Dickinson, of Troy, by whom he has two children: Vivian E. and Charles S. Mr. Hill is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church ; is a Sir Knight Templar, and in politics is a Republican.

JOHN L. HILL, farmer, Standing Stone township, P. O. Wysox, was born in Sussex county, New Jersey, April 7, 1844, and his father, Michael Hill, was born in the same place, also his grandfather, Uriah Hill, who married Sally Blackford and had three children : Andrew ; Judy, wife of Elias Culver ; and Michael. The last named was educated in Standing Stone township, where he lived until his fourteenth year, when he went back to New Jersey and was apprenticed to a tanner.

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY.

After learning his trade, he followed it and farming until his death in March, 1887. He married Susan Martin, daughter. of Jacob and Plebe (Hall) Martin, and had ten children : Mary A., wife of John R. Fox ; Jacob N .; Caroline, wife of John McCracken ; George B .; Robert ; John L .; Hester, wife of Henry Mitten ; Obadiah; Richard M., and Matilda C., wife of John Layton. Mrs. Michael Hill died February 28, 1889. John L. Hill was educated in New Jersey until his twentieth year, and began farming, when he came to Standing Stone in 1865, and purchased in 1880, from David Dixon, fifty acres, his present farm. He was school director three terms, and politically is a Democrat. He inarried, in August, 1866, Sarah, daughter of Isaac and Rebecca (Schoon- over) Lundy; she was the seventh of ten children. To this union were born seven children: Alice R. (deceased); Manning L. (deceased); Frankie ; Ella, wife of Howard Brown; Tillie; Flora and Jessie. Mr. and Mrs. Hill and family belong to the Methodist Episcopal Church, but attend all churches.

JONATHAN A. HILL, of Monroe township, P. O. Powell, was born in Milo, Me., January 15, 1831, and is the eldest of the six chil- dren of Hezekiah and Emily M. Hill, natives of New Hampshire, and of English origin ; his great-grandfather was an English officer in the Revolutionary War. The Hills, on the maternal side, continued in the regular army until the Civil War. Jonathan A. Hill was educated in the common school and in the Corinna Academy at Corinna, Me., and began life for himself at twenty, learning the tanner's trade, which he has since followed, except four years spent in the army. He enlisted at Augusta, Me., November 2, 1861, as captain of Company K, Eleventh Regiment Maine Infantry, and in Gen. Keyes' corps in the Peninsular campaign in 1862, then went to Morris Island, Charleston Harbor, with Gen. Terry, and in 1864 came back and was assigned to the Army of the James under Gen. Benjamin F. Butler; was promoted to major, June 17, 1864, and June 25, 1864, to lieutenant-colonel; he lost his right arm at Deep Run, August 16, 1864, and rejoined his regiment the following November, and was promoted to colonel. He was with Gen. Dandy's brigade, Gen. Foster's division and Gibbon's corps in the last campaign from Petersburg to Appomattox Court House; was taken prisoner on the morning of April 9, 1865, and was a prisoner until the surrender of Lee; he was brevetted brigadier-general, April 9, 1865, and detailed as president of military commission at Richmond until October, and was then sent in command of the Northwestern Department of Virginia, with headquarters at Lynchburg, and in Janu- ary, 1866, to the northeastern part of Virginia, with headquarters at Fredericksburg ; in February, 1866, he went to City Point, Va., where he mustered out the last volunteers in Virginia, and then took his regi- ment to Augusta, Me., where they disbanded February 9, 1866. He was postmaster at Auburn, N. Y., in 1867, and then returned to the tanning business in northern New York in 1868, and went into partnership with Thomas E. Proctor, of Boston, Mass., in 1881, at Greenwood, Powell P. O., where he has erected a beautiful residence, and removed his family to that place in 1890. Gen. Hill married, January 16, 1856, Miss Lucy M., daughter of Rev. Robert R. and Margaret (Ulmer)

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Richards, of Rockland, Me., who were of Scotch and German origin. They have five children, viz .: Hattie M., born in 1857, married to W. W. Clark, lawyer, of Wayland, N. Y .; Katie E., born in 1859, married to M. Claud Gregg, merchant tailor, Rochester, N. Y .; Lulu M., born in March, 1862, married to Dr. James Wallace Douglass, Boonville, N. Y .; George R., born in 1867, married, September 2, 1891, to Miss Mabel L. Snow, of Boonville, N. Y., and is in the employ of his father at Forest- port, N. Y .; and Jonathan A., Jr., who is at present taking a course at Hamilton College. Our subject is a member of the Military Order of Loyal Legion of the United States, New York Commandery; a Royal Arch Mason at Bangor, Me., and is a Republican in his political views.

LORENZO D. HILL, builder and contractor, Burlington, was born in Burlington, this county, November 5, 1840, a son of George C. and Fanny (Brown) Hill, former of whom was a native of Connecticut, a farmer, bridge-builder and a wagon-maker, and latter a native of Wyalusing, this county. Their family consisted of twelve children, nine of whom grew to maturity, the subject of this memoir being the fifth in the family. The father died in June, 1888, at the age of seventy-nine years, and the mother in October, 1870, at the age of fifty-eight years. Lorenzo D. Hill was reared on a farm, and to the trade of his father. In 1868 he embarked in business as an architect and builder, and he has carried on an extensive business in several towns of the county. He also owns a fine farm near Burlington village. In August, 1862, he enlisted in Company E, One Hundred and Forty-first P. V. I., and at once joined the Army of the Potomac ; was wounded at the battle of Fredericksburg, December 13, 1862, by the explosion of a shell, from which he was so much disabled as to cause his discharge, and he is now a pensioner. He was married November 5. 1863, to Emma A. Kingsley, who was born July 29, 1841, daughter of Harmon S. and Susan A. (Bush) Kingsley, former of whom, born in East Smithfield, this county, April 12, 1816, died in March, 1889, aged seventy-three years, and latter, born in Rhode Island, March 19, 1818, died at the age of sixty-three years. To Mr. and Mrs. Hill have been born two sons: Seaver D., married to Lizzie Watters, and Dean W. Mr. Hill is a Republican, has held several positions of public trust, and is a member of the G. A. R. The family are consistent members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and take an active interest in the Sundav-school.

RANDOLPH P. HILL, merchant and postmaster, Burlington, was born in the village of Burlington, this county, January 23, 1850, a son of Sherman H. and Julia A. (Porter) Hill, the former a native of Vermont, born of French extraction on the maternal side of Irish origin; he is still living at the age of seventy-seven years; is a farmer and mill-wright, also the owner of a fine farm of 200 acres ; has been a Republican and has served in the council of the borough since its formation, and was burgess of the village; is a stanch supporter of the Union Church and is one of its officers. Grandfather Hill located in Susquehanna county in the early part of this century, settling in the wilderness and clearing a large farm. Randolph P. was reared on the farm, educated in the schools of the village and at the Troy graded school. He

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY.

engaged in farming, at which he continued nine years, when, in March, 1883, he embarked in mercantile trade at Burlington, where he has since enjoyed a large patronage, being the leading man in the trade of the township. He was appointed postmaster at the com- mencement of the present administration. On October 29, 1873, Mr. Hill was married to Celia Pratt, of West Burlington, this county, born November 14, 1850, a daughter of Perry B. and Betsy A. (Phelps) Pratt, of English origin and natives of this county. To Mr. and Mrs. Hill have been born four children: Sherman H., Anna Laura, Harry Howard and Lulu Betsy. He is a Republican, and takes an active interest in the affairs of the town and county ; is a member of the I. O. O. F., and is one of the progressive men of the township.

ALBERT SAMUEL HILLIS, farmer in Herrick township, P. O. Rummerfield Creek, was born in Herrick township, this county, Janu- ary 2, 1852. His father, William Hillis, was born in Ireland in 1823. and came to this county in 1839; he worked for Francis Stethers, his brother-in-law, one year, then went to Laceyville and worked two years. On July 3, 1841, he married Caroline, daughter of Peter and Levina Hallock, natives of New York (she was the seventh in a family of ten children) ; he came to Herrick township, locating on his present farm, and partly erected a log house; then in company with John Nesbit and Richard Hillis he went to Laceyville for his wife and household effects. When they returned, it was early in the evening in November, and there were two feet of snow on the ground; they could have no fire, as the fireplace had not been completed ; neither was there a floor, door or window in the house. The larger portion of their goods was left out in the snow all night, but they managed to put up a bed, and retired. The next day he finished the fireplace and built a rousing fire ; the window he made of glass which he had brought from Laceyville; the door was made of rough slabs, fastened together with wooden pins and hung on wooden hinges. His wife aided him in laying the floor, which was made of rough slabs similar to the door, and then he divided his house into a dining-room, bed-room and pantry ; after this everything went along pleasantly. His first prop- erty was the DuPont tract, seventy-six acres of which was paid for the following winter. He sold to A. Newell 200,000 feet of lumber which he was to cut and skid, and receive $2.00 per thousand. He worked from the early part of December to about the first of March, and completed his task ; but to do so he was compelled to rise at 4 A. M., and frequently would not finish his day's work until 9 P. M. In 1847 he and his brother Samuel purchased fifty-two acres on which his present home now stands, and they have lived together ever since. He afterward added more, and built his present house in 1853. He is a member of the Presbyterian Church, and politically is a Democrat. His wife died October 27, 1890; they had six children, as follows: Mahaley (wife of J. A. Rolls), Harriet (wife of R. S. Hankinson), Wilbert, Albert S., Mary (deceased), and one child that died in infancy. Albert S. Hillis was educated in his native place until his nineteenth year, then worked at home on the farm until the fall of 1880, when his father built him a house, and he and his brother Wilbert have

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY.

since managed their father's farm. He married, January 28, 1880, Ella Jane, daughter of David and Margaret Jane (Lee) Nesbit, the second in a family of seven children, five of whom are living. Mr. and Mrs. Hillis have had two children, namely : Ernest Arthur, born February 11, 1887, and Hallock Lee, born December 10, 1888. Mr. Hillis is a Democrat, and is much esteemed as one of the industrious and reliable men of the county.

JOHN BARTLETT HINDS, farmer, Wysox township, was born February 16, 1816, a son of Abinoham and Rachel (Vail) Hinds, the former of whom was a sailor, and married, for his first wife, Susanna Snow, and they had ten children ; he settled in Susquehanna county about 1790, and married his second wife, Rachel Vail, who bore him eight children, of whom the first died in infancy, and John B. was the second. The subject of this memoir was placed upon his own resources at the age of thirteen, and when fourteen began an apprenticeship at the carpenter's and joiner's trade, which he has since followed, to some extent as a contractor and general builder. He purchased his present home, in 1861, of M. Reed ; in 1860 he was appointed door-keeper of the Senate at Harrisburg, which position he held six years. During the war he made frequent visits to the battle-field, and rendered much private assistance to his Bradford county friends, whom he found in distress ; he volunteered for active service, but was rejected. In 1864 he was appointed, by Gov. Curtin, commissioner of the army, to receive the votes of the soldiers ; in 1871 was elected commissioner of Brad- ford county ; has also held the office of town commissioner, triennial assessor and school director ; has frequently acted as attorney before justices, having had as many as twenty-five cases in a single year. Mr. Hinds was married, March 2, 1834, to Sarah E., daughter of Jonathan and Betsey (Dart) Wood, early settlers in Susquehanna county, and they have had children, as follows : Mariette, born December 28, 1834, married to J. S. Frink, of Rome; Agnes L., born May 22, 1838, died January 19, 1854 (her father was wont to speak of her as a bright, sweet girl); Adelaide, born March 6, 1840, died May 6, 1840; Eliza J., born June 9, 1842, died September 23, 1849 ; Adolphus H., born Sep- tember 7, 1844; Eliza A., born March 6, 1847, married A. F. Eddy, a blacksmith, of Rome township; Charles H., born May 30, 1849, died September 23, 1851; Charlotte E., born July 7, 1851, died June 1, 1854; Charles D., born May 2, 1853, died September 3, 1854; Ella May, born July 13, 1855, married to J. R. Furman, of Towanda ; John Fremont, born July 15, 1859, married and living at home. Mrs. Hinds died April 14, 1883, and Mr. Hinds was then married to Mary E., daughter of E. Furman and Amanda (Forbes) Barnes. Mr. Hinds is an enthusiastic adherent of the Republican party.

A. H. HINDS, farmer, Wysox, P. O. Wysox, was born in Bridge- water, Susquehanna Co., Pa., September 7, 1844, and is a son of John B. and Sarah (Wood) Hinds. He purchased his present home of 130 acres in 1868, where he has since been engaged in farming; also operated a threshing machine twelve seasons. Mr. Hinds was mar- ried, March 28, 1866, to Miss Hattie, daughter of Eaden and Matilda (Walker) Titus, of Herrick, and they have three children: Jennie L.,

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History of Bradford County, Pennsylvania, with biographical selections, Part 99

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