History of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, with biographical selections, Part 69

Author: Bradsby, H. C. (Henry C.)
Publication date: 1893
Publisher: Chicago : S. B. Nelson
Number of Pages: 1532

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Moosehead is a station on the railroad-a hamlet and a postoffice. The Luzerne Ochre works are now about the chief industry in the township. A branch railroad runs to the mill. The mills and quarry of this growing industry are in Denison township, but the most of the company's land lies in Bear Creek township. About two miles above White Haven is a branch of the Lehigh Valley railroad built to the rock quarry opened by John Dunaker in 1888, in a very small way, but has now grown to the extent that the concern ships daily five or six car loads of stone to market. It is a species of gray granite and flagstone, found valuable in building and street improvement. The supply of this valuable material seems to be inex- haustible and promises to grow with the public demand.

...

Edmund & Butter,

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HISTORY OF LUZERNE COUNTY.

DORRANCE TOWNSHIP.

In 1850 it had a population of 420; 1860, 553; 1880, 639; 1890, 742, a very moderate growth in forty years, and still it is not jealous of Chicago, nor even Wright township. It lies between the coal-bearing lands of the north and of the south; is rough and mountainous, and but little adapted to agriculture. Its first attraction must have been its game and fish, and the hunters and fishermen were followed by the sawmill men, looking for mill sites on the streams with an eye to converting into lumber the grand old trees that had faced the storms of centuries and bided the coming of the utilitarian white man. White and yellow pine, oak and hemlock were its abundant forest trees, and when these are gone it is estimated that agriculture is barely possible on about one-fifth of its twenty-eight square miles of territory.

It bears the immortal name of Col. George Dorrance, who fell in the Wyoming battle July 3, 1778. The first settlers were from Northampton county and came from the southeast, piloted by the little army, which, under Capt. Klader were so cruelly massacred in Sugarloaf township. Just why they should cross Sugarloaf valley and continue on to this point is now not apparent. The first came in 1785, one year after John Balliett arrived, and settled in what is now Butler valley. A number of people came to the Sugarloaf in 1785; and the few who pushed across that valley and on to this place must have been of the character of the old pioneer who left the new country in disgust when he heard a neighbor had settled within fifty miles of his cabin-because he " would not be crowded." In 1865 it had four sawmills, one gristmill and a tavern; the latter was at the only hamlet in the township Dorrance. but there was not a store or church in the township. Pelts, whisky and lumber were the active lists on its board of trade. Then F. K. Miller built a tannery in the southeast corner of the township, on a branch of Wapwallopen creek. In the township is the drainage Wapwallopen creek and Little Wapwallopen creek; the former running nearly along the north line of the township and the other in the south part of Dorrance. It has been suggested that this part of the county was handi- capped with these names-ruthlessly saddled on two little streams. It is further said that the pioneer Irishman school-teacher in this section never could spell the creek's name exactly right, but contented himself with the idem sonans rule and wrote it " Whackwallopem." The word is a hybrid, a cross between Indian, Port- uguese, Dutch-Irish and Pigeon English, and the natives have long since ignored it wholly and simply say " up on the crick." It is a tradition that the original flax-breaker name means black water, because the water is so awfully black from the coal washings. As there are no coal mines along the streams and as the name is much older than the discovery of coal in the county, the tradition is therefore reasonably well verified by the water being blackened in some of the other streams in the county where coal is actively mined.

In time after Miller built his sawmill there was a gristmill built south of the vil- lage of Dorrance, and another in the north part of the township. Each of these gristmills was on one of the two Wapwallopen creeks, possibly tempted to thus build in the hope of utilizing the names for mill stones. One thing is certain, all the game and the saw logs have disappeared.

The first settlers along the creek in the south part of the township were: the Woodrings, Eishenbrout, Reinheimers, Wener, Heller, Whitebread and Eroh. Along the creek in the north part of the township were Myers, Bleim, Vander- marle, Engler, Lutz and Stuart.

Dorrance township was taken from Newport in 1840.

Dorrance village (must not be confounded with Dorranceton borough) is the only hamlet in it, and is located near the center of its territory. The two roads crossed there and for a long time it was Dorrance corners. Two of the above pio- neers settled there and then the roads crossed each other and in time a blacksmith,

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HISTORY OF LUZERNE COUNTY.

wagon maker and tavern keeper were domiciled in the place, and a schoolhouse -- combination "meeting-house "-was in the course of time the addition to the place.

When this was Hanover township among some of the prominent families were John Arnold's, George Stair's, John Hawk's and Stephen Lee's.

DORRANCETON BOROUGH.

Of the many beautiful suburban residence boroughs that so surround Wilkes- Barre, and are practically a part of the city by the intimate connection of electric and steam railways, there are none more beautiful and inviting than this. Its broad and elegant avenues and ornamental shade trees, the spacious lawns and the modern built mansions, and the healthy, clear, unvexed air that sings through the great old trees, as well as the quiet and orderly movements of the people, to one transported in a few moments from the thronging city, with its slums and odorous alleys, is a magical and refreshing change. At all hours you can go and come from Dorrance- ton to the city almost as you travel in dreams, where time and space are never reck- oned. The lots and grounds about the handsome residences are trim and as well kept as on the proudest avenues of the great cities. And of the people, there are so many evidences here of refinement and a high order of culture as makes the stranger want to get out of the car and shake hands with every one.

It is hardly worth while to say the place gets its name from the Dorrance family -a name standing out as prominent as any of the first families that came and fought the long and desperate battles for the possession of these rich and beautiful lands. Col. Charles Dorrance, who died January 18, 1892, at an advanced age, was the worthy representative of an illustrious ancestor.

The borough was incorporated June 20, 1887. First officers: burgess, George H. Butler; council, Col. Charles Dorrance, president; Noah Pettebone, secretary; Jacob S. Pettebone, treasurer; Thomas Eley, B. F. Dorrance, J. F. Welton; high constable, A. Van Campen. There are about 1,200 acres within the borough lines.

Present officers: burgess, Henry M. Gordon; council, Robert Bye, president; D. P. R. Arner, secretary ; J. S. Pettebone, treasurer; Benjamin Dorrance, Thomas H. Eley, Noah Pettebone, G. L. Marcy and S. B. Vaughan; assessor, Joseph F. Walter; collector, John King; constable, John Finney.

. In the place are a planing mill, 2 general stores, 1 meat market.

EDWARDSVILLE BOROUGH.

This place laps so closely on to Kingston that it is very difficult for the stranger to know when he is in one or the other place; the line is simply one of the promi- nent streets. The town is the product of the collieries that are within its lines and closely adjacent. Its people are mostly miners and their families, and these mines were developed and are now operated by the Kingston Coal company. The population is estimated at nearly 4,000. The borough has both steam and electric railway service. The postoffice name is Edwardsdale. The place was incorporated June 16, 1884. The first burgess and justice of the peace was Fred Williams. Council: James Curry, president; Herbert S. Jones, secretary; John Vahley, treasurer; Jacob Linn, John Lohman, David Baird; constable, Walter E. Davis.

Present officers: Rees M. Davis, burgess; council: H. C. Howells, president; John R. Price, secretary; William P. Evans, treasurer: John Lohman, John Arm- strong, Gwylym P. Evans, George W. Edwards, William Cook; assessor, Hugh Jones; collector, James Armstrong.

Business: Two blacksmiths, one carpet weaver, one cigar factory, four con- fectioners, nine dressmakers, two druggists, seven general stores, fifteen grocers, one hardware, one hotel, two meat markets, one stove and tinware store, two under- takers.

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HISTORY OF LUZERNE COUNTY.

EXETER BOROUGH

Is in many respects the most remarkable, and even historical, of any spot in the county. "Remember the Hardings," was the battle cry with which the leaders of the patriotic forces entered upon the fatal battle of Wyoming, July 3, 1778. It is remarkable in extent of territory, being nearly four and a half miles long north and south and two miles wide; remarkable in the further fact that it surrounds on three sides another borough-West Pittston; remarkable again that in its council and school board it always elects three Democrats and three Republicans. And, while this is not of record, yet it is said that it was made one long borough to accommo- date a couple of prominent and rather contentious citizens-one at each end-so that they, while in the same borough, could each be a kind of czar at the respective ends. It is said that all this has worked most admirably, and by turns the two "emperors" have had pretty much everything their own way. The experiment has worked smoothly and Exeter is the borough of peace and prosperity- full of great men, the descendants of great men and of Revolutionary relics, and every foot of it has some special history of interest.

Exeter borough was incorporated February 8, 1884. The law requires that a plat be made of a borough and put on record. Attracted by the general outlines, with no resident exactly able to give correctly the boundary at every point, and some who could not tell whether they lived in the borough or not, the scribe made a faithful search of the records, but failed to find any trace of them, however.

In general terms Exeter borough is situated on the northwestern bank of the Susquehanna river, its northern line (including Scoville's island) extending along down the river to the north borough line of West Pittston, then following the borough line west, south and east to the river, and then along the river to the Kingston township line, following that west 300 rods and then turns north and turns east to the place of beginning. It is all within Exeter township. It has within it the former hamlet of Sturmerville, the camping ground, or Indian park, where the Indians camped the night before they engaged in battle, July 3, 1778; a part of the battle-ground where the fight commenced on the bloody day, that is, where the Indians and British were drawn up in line and where the patriots went out, met them and first drew their fire, and where the heavy mortality occurred. All this is within the boundary lines of Exeter borough. The patriot forces fell back across the township line into Kingston township and in the direction to where now stands the memorial momument. Their slow and stubborn retreat marked the ground with blood, and there lay the dead and the dying. The sad story of that day has been written and re-written now for more than a century; horrible enough in its literal details, but here imagination has woven still more a nightmare of horrors that have found their way to the school books.

From that bloody day to this, excepting the long cruel contention with the Penn- sylvania proprietaries, the men of peace and pastoral pursuits have been engaged in binding up the bruises of war and creating the present domain of peace and boun- teous plenty.

There is a population of 850 souls in the borough, but it is just now on the threshold of additions and improvements that will send it forward in the next decade at a tremendous pace. The Delaware, Lackawanna & Western railroad and the Harvey's Lake branch of the Lehigh Valley railroad pass through the place, both having depots. The electric street line from Wilkes-Barre to Pittston is now just opened to the public. There are three colleries, the Schooley, the Mount Lookout and the John Hutchins; the Forest Castle brewery, built in 1874, employing fifty men. Vast coal deposits are under nearly the entire borough; a large portion of this is the property of the railroads. A few years ago there was a pistol factory. This was operated some time, then converted into a silk mill in 1889, and after two years, 1891, was closed. It has 5 stores, 2 hotels, 1 brickyard, 3 gardening farms that are conducted on a large scale, 2 school buildings, 150 enrolled pupils.

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HISTORY OF LUZERNE COUNTY.

James S. Slocum was elected first burgess and served by re-elections eight years; succeeded in 1892 by the present burgess, J. J. McCalley. First council: Mathew Dougher, Abraham Hoover, Col. A. D. Mason, Isaac Carpenter, J. B. Carpenter, J. J. McCalley.

In 1885 A. O. Farnham was elected secretary and has continued in office to the present. In 1890 he was elected treasurer, and in 1891 assessor, and continues to hold the three offices.

Present council: J. B. Carpenter, Mathew Dougher, William Pocknell, James McCabe, Thomas Mackin and Robert Ferguson.

First school board: William Slocum, president; A. O. Farnham, J. T. Kern, Arthur Roberts, Bernard O'Brien, Philip James. Even here were the strict rules of three Democrats and three Republicans.

EXETER TOWNSHIP

Is one of the original " certified " townships that retained its name in the divis- ion of the county in 1790; it was named for Exeter, R. I. and it is suggestive of the bloodiest chapter concerning the Wyoming valley and northern Penn- sylvania. Its area has been much changed since its first formation under Con- necticut, by taking off other townships and by carving out West Pittston and Exeter boroughs. Here the Hardings were murdered by some of the Indians of the British invader, Col. Butler, July 1, 1778. A full account of this is given in a preceding general chapter. In the account of West Pittston borough is found where the recent digging of a post hole for the electric car wires was exhumed the bones of one of the brave Hardings, who died with the others not far from where his bones had lain for more than a century. A part of the first graveyard had become a part of the street and no one knew where the first graves were until this recent find. The field where these men were at work when they were ambushed and so cruelly mur- dered and scalped is still a part of Exeter township. A portion of Col. Zebulon Butler's patriots came to the scene of the murder the day after its occurrence, and then the next day occurred the Wyoming massacre. All this occurred in what was once Exeter township, but the battle ground, or a part of it, is now within the lines of Exeter borough, and will therefore be again referred to in the account of that place.

The township extends along the west bank of the Susquehanna river, whereas originally it extended across the river and included Ransom township in the adjoin- ing county. When Franklin township was taken from the west side it left the town- ship a long strip, commencing at the extreme northeast of the county and following down the river to the Kingston township line, containing an area of about twenty- three square miles, less the boronghs of West Pittston and Exeter. It has much agricultural land in it-the valleys being rich and the hills proving fertile. In 1880 there were over 100 farms in the township, and since the rapid growth of the adjacent boroughs that furnish excellent markets, the increase of gardening and truck planting has been marked. This industry has succeeded the once all-impor- tant one of lumbering.

One of the curious incidents of the early settlements of this and many other parts of the valley was that the first settlers were in the heart of the rich and level valleys to make homes and farms on, and these lands were the first sought for. The flood that came down the river in 1785 caused many to seek the hills and abandon their valley land or sell at a low price. Then again the heavy growth of timber on the back hills was taken as an evidence by many that the soil must be rich and produc- tive, and in not a few cases this decided many to pass over the valleys that had been denuded of much of its timber by the Indians. They would kill the trees by girdling, wait for them to rot down and in the meantime plant here and there their few vege- tables. And then, too, in this condition a heavy growth of grass would come on the ground and furnish food for their ponies.

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HISTORY OF LUZERNE COUNTY.

The north limit of the Wyoming coal field along the Susquehanna is near the crossing of the center of the township.

One of the noted spots in the township is the old Harding cemetery, and by some believed to be the oldest or first burying place in the township. This, how- ever, is a mistake, as there were burials where is now West Pittson at an earlier date than here. It was at the latter place the victims of the massacre of the Hardings in 1778 were interred. Capt. Stephen Harding was the first burial here in 1816. It was then a cultivated field, and for some time was used solely as a family bury- ing ground.

In this township-the southern part, were Forts Jenkins and Wintermoot, but more of this in the account of the borough of Exeter.

The ancient township records are lost. The oldest official document giving some idea of the settlers at the close of the last century is the following list of taxables for 1796:

Joel Atherton, Joseph Black, Moses Bennett, Timothy Beebe, Roswell Beach, Peleg Comstock, Joseph Dailey, David Dailey, Jacob Drake, William Foster, Isaac Finch, Richard Gardner, John Gardner, Thomas Gardner, Abraham Goodwin, Richard Halsted, William Harding, Samuel Hadley, James Hadley, Stephen Hard- ing, David Harding, Edward Hadsall, John Hadsall, Joseph Hadsall, William Had- sall, Peter Harris, Micajah Harding, Thomas Harding, Artimedorus Ingersol, Ben- jamin Jones, Sr., Nathaniel Jones, Sr., Majah Jones, Justus Jones, Benjamin Jones, Jr., Thomas Joslin, Sr., Palmer Jenkins, Thomas Joslin, Jr., John Jenkins, Thomas Jenkins, John Knapp, Comfort Kinyan, Andrew Montanye, John McMillen, Benja- min McAfee, Benjamin Newbury, William Ogden, Jacob Wright, William Slocum, William Stage, James Sutton, Moses Scovell, Elisha Scovell, James Scovell, David Shauntz, David Smith, David Skeel, William Tripp, Abner Tuttle, David Smith, Jr., Gilbert Townsend, Lazarus Townsend, William Thompson, Thomas Williams, Ebenezer Williams, Allen Whitman, Zebediah Whitman, Nathan Whitlock, Joseph Whitlock and John Scott.

Two years later Capt. Stephen Harding, John Jenkins, Peter Harris, David Smith, S. Dailey and J. Phillips were made commissioners to lay out additional public roads in the township.

It should be remembered that this was the old township before any territory was taken off.

In 1776 James Sutton, with James Hadsall as partner, built the first gristmill and sawmill on Sutton's creek (now called at that place Coray creek). There the first grist was ground and the first board sawed. Hadsall was murdered and the mill destroyed during the invasion of 1778, and all that remains of the old mill is a crank preserved by the Wyoming Historical and Geological society as a relic of the oldest mill in the Wyoming valley.

Several years later Samuel Sutton, a son of James Sutton, built a second grist- mill on the same site, and in 1846 E. A. Coray, having become owner of this site, erected the present gristmill. Subsequently another sawmill was built farther up the creek.

Loyd Jones operated a plaster and clover-mill on Lewis creek in 1845. The farmers brought their clover seed in the chaff to the mill to be separated and cleaned. The introduction of horse-power threshers put an end to this enterprise.

The Indian trail through Exeter was along the old turnpike, now the public road along the river. One of the first taverns here was built by Lewis Jones in 1806, near the present residence of George Miller.

The old " Red tavern " on Peter Sharpe's place was built the same year, and was kept by John Harding. Mr. Sharpe's house was formerly kept as a stage house by Isaac Harding. There was also another tavern, kept by the Scovells, down the river near Squire Slocum's. It was used for years as headquarters for the rafts- men on the river.

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HISTORY OF LUZERNE COUNTY.

Mr. Jones had near his inn a stillhouse, which did a business of fair proportions and constituted a valuable auxiliary to his tavern. He also opened a store in 1806, and kept it two years, when the principal stock in trade was salt, which was then worth $4 per bushel, used to cure the shad taken from the river in great abundance. It was hardly worth while to bring hogs here in the early times until the hunters had cleared out to a considerable extent the bears.

James Hadsall, a descendant of the famous Hadsall family, and who was a small boy at the time of the massacre, lived in the township to be nearly one hundred years old, and who could well remember when all the goods, including salt, was carted all the way over the mountains from Philadelphia.

The biographical sketches of the Jenkinses, Hardings and Hadsalls, and others of the first leading men here are given in another chapter.

One of the notable spots is called Indian park. This is where the savages camped the night before the battle of the 3d. It is owned by James S. Slocum, who is a descendant of Johnson Scovell, who purchased the land in 1776, and it is now Mr. Slocum's farm and home. This gentleman bears a name that will live as long as that of the Wyoming valley, is a pleasant bachelor, and seems set in the notion of allowing, so far as he is concerned, the name to perish with him. His public spirit, however, in other respects is very fine. At his own expense he built the Slocum chapel and donated it to the public as a place of worship.

Exeter postoffice was one of the earliest established in the northern part of the township.

In 1866 Stewart Pearce gave the following names and ages of the then living oldest settlers of the township: William Lane, seventy-seven; John Shales, seventy- five; Mrs. Hoover, seventy-five.

In 1795 a subscription paper to raise funds to erect a "meeting house " was signed by John Jenkins, £5; James Scoville, £5; and Benjamin Smith, Elisha Scoville and Thomas Jenkins, £1 each.

The township line crosses " The plains" (so often mentioned in accounts of the battle), a short distance below the historic Old Jenkins house.

Harding is the only postoffice now in the township since the formation of Exeter and West Pittston boroughs.

FAIRMOUNT TOWNSHIP

Was formed from Huntington township in 1834; lies north of the latter, and its west line is the county line, as is its north line. The mountains are in the north end of the township, and Red Rock is at the south foot of the mountains. Among the earliest improvements was that of the old Berwick turnpike, built through this section in 1810. All the township except the mountainous northern part, the North mountain, is fair arable land, and is well settled by a most excellent class of farmers, noted for their good morals and general intelligence-especially their universal sobriety, there being but one licensed hotel in the township. Of the nature of the land in the famed Huntington valley, see the account of "Hunting- ton." Speaking of the township in 1866, Stewart Pearce in his Annals says:

The first saw-mills in Fairmount, were erected about the year 1837, on Hunting- ton creek and Maple run, by Shadrach Laycock and Peter Boston.

This township contains forty-four square miles, of which one-tenth is cleared and cultivated. The surface is undulating, and the soil yields wheat, rye, corn, buckwheat and oats. The timber is principally pine, hemlock and oak. It has fifteen sawmills and one tavern, but no gristmill and no church.

Its population in 1840 was 594, and in 1850 it was 958; in 1880, 1,085 and in 1890, 1,090.

In 1838 the governor appointed Jacob Ogden and Levi Seward as justices of the peace; 1840, Levi Seward and Silas Callender; 1845, Jonathan Pennington and James Laycock; 1850, J. C. Pennington and James F. Laycock; 1875, Nathan Kleintob and Thomas Ogden.

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HISTORY OF LUZERNE COUNTY.

The summit of North mountain is some 2,000 feet above the Susquehanna at Beach Haven, and from it can be seen ten of the counties in this State, also the celebrated Water Gap on the Delaware.

In the summer of 1878 Col. Rickets built an observatory on the top of this mountain, and made it easy of access by a winding road. This tower, fifty feet high, with a sixteen-foot base, was destroyed by a gale in the latter part of 1878. He built a second one.

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History of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, with biographical selections, Part 69

Author: Bradsby, H. C. (Henry C.) Publication date: 1893 Publisher: Chicago : S. B. Nelson Number of Pages: 1532

Author: Bradsby, H. C. (Henry C.)
Publication date: 1893
Publisher: Chicago : S. B. Nelson
Number of Pages: 1532