History of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, with biographical selections, Part 71

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

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Birkbeck's sawmill is at the turn of the road just east of Upper Lehigh, and what was mainly South Heberton is now known as Upper Lehigh, an important mining town owned by the Upper Lehigh company. It was platted in 1865 and has nice regular streets and blocks, and is well built and noted among mining towns for its orderly neatness and superior miners' dwellings, of which there are over 200, all double tenements. The mansions of the proprietors and superintendents, chief clerk, foreman and others are elegant and modern in all improvements. The Nescopeck branch of the New Jersey Central approaches the place from the east. In 1867 a postoffice was established and the mails came from Eckley. The com- pany has first-class machine shops here, and expert machinists are employed in large numbers. The company store was opened in 1866. The Upper Lehigh hotel (built by the company) was opened for guests January 28, 1869, by Conrad Seiple. The village is supplied with pure spring water from the reservoir on the north hills. The mines at this important village were opened in 1866.

Jeddo-named for Jed Ireland. A part of the borough extends into Foster, and in this portion is the railroad depot. A short distance below this is Foundryville, where Merrick had his foundry; it is now a station and mining town.

The old, important mining town of Eckley, the place where first was developed the coal of this township in 1854, and is a part of the Coxe Bros. & Co. property, is east and a little south of Jeddo, a little more than a mile, on the north side of East Pismire hill; a branch road runs to it from the Lehigh and is on Coxe's belt line road.

Highland, another mining town of the Markle mines, is northeast of Jeddo, about two miles, and is connected with the main line of the Lehigh Valley road by the Highland Branch road. On the wagon road east of Highland is a steam sawmill.

In the extreme southeast corner of the township is the J. H. Neiss powder mill and a short distance east of it is the Pardee sawmill. The east line of the township is the Lehigh river until you approach the north line and reach White Haven.

The old Woodside slope was once an active colliery but is not worked at this time. It is a short distance west of Freeland borough and toward Drifton.

Drifton is the headquarters of Coxe Bros. & Co. ; about a mile southeast of Free- land and at the junction of the two lines of that road. It is the end of the double track of the Lehigh as you go east. Operations of this firm commenced here in 1864. It is the headquarters of the Susquehanna & Lehigh railroad-the private property of Coxe Bros. & Co. For a better idea of the place see chapter " Coal" in the paragraph "Hon. Eckley B. Coxe."

Sandy Run is another mining village on the Lehigh Valley road southeast of Freeland.

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HISTORY OF LUZERNE COUNTY.

FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP

Was formed in 1843, of territory taken from Kingston, Exeter and Dallas townships, and named in honor of Col. John Franklin, who was not only one of the heroes of the Revolution, but of the long and cruel Pennamite-Yankee wars that raged with such vigor over the beautiful valley. It is supposed that Gideon Bebee was probably the first settler on land belonging to the heirs of the late Rev. Oliver Lewis. The Bebee family did not remain long here, and when they moved away the place soon grew up with weeds and brambles. About this time Mr. Pease, of Hanover, walked twelve miles to his work, and made his clearing adjoining Bebee. Both improvements were abandoned; but the clearing was long known as Pease's field. The spot was in the northeastern part of the township. It is surmised that these attempts at settlement were made during the early seven- ties of the eighteenth century.

The township contains sixteen square miles, and fully one-half is excellent farm land. The oak and pine and hemlock forests were in an early day cleared away, and farms took their place. On the side hills are lands that produce well.

Ezra Olds and Michael Munson, from Connecticut, came in 1782. Munson's son, Salmon Munson. occupied his father's place in recent years, though the original settler did not tarry long when he came, but removed to the West. Walter Munson came from the East in 1807, and built near where his son long lived, near the Old's place. Rev. George W. Munson married Sally Ann Lewis, and resided on his father's old homestead many years. Walter Munson, Sr., was living with his family on the opposite side of the river from Wyoming when the massacre occurred; he was but five years of age at the time, but with his older brother Wilmot made the trip back to Connecticut.

The old Revolutionary soldier, Capt. Artemadorus Ingersoll, made his improve- ment just below the Munsons. He entered the patriot army when fourteen years of age, and served throughout the war; married Miss Newberry just before he came to this county, where six of their children grew to maturity. He was an excellent farmer, and operated his sawmill. The last of the Ingersoll family descendants in this part of the country was a Mr. Holmes, who died several years ago. Capt. Ingersoll died fifty-two years ago.

Another patriotic veteran who came to Franklin township in 1809 was Alexander Lord, born in Boston, June 19, 1777; when the War of 1812 broke out he volun- teered, and was a drummer in the company of Wyoming volunteers. He died September 7, 1859, aged eighty-two years.

Abel Hall came about the same time as the Munsons, settled just below the Flat Rock schoolhouse, where the family resided many years. Another family named Rogers were early settlers; one of them, Elisha Rogers, it is said built the first frame in the village of Orange. Elisha and his wife Rhoda lived to an advanced age; their son Alamanza married Mrs. Tyrrell. Her grave and that of Sylvia (Mrs. Cyrus Mann), were the first in the township marked by marble slabs.

Mr. Munson built the first sawmill in the township; it was on Sutton creek, in 1808. About the same time Elijah Brace built the first and only gristmill on the same stream. This mill was rebuilt in 1828 by Conrad Kunkle. . William Brace, Benjamin Chandler and James Hadersel, we are told by Stewart Pearce, were among the early settlers. Thomas Mann was an early settler, and improved the place where lived Charles Franz. A little later, but still old settlers, were Josephus Cone, Amos Jackson, Robert Moore, Jacob Halstead, Benjamin Decker and Jona Wood; David O. Culver came about 1790 and settled in the north- east part of the township, where he lived and died at an advanced age. The Cul- vers came of two brothers who were on board the "Mayflower." This Culver's father was David Culver.

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HISTORY OF LUZERNE COUNTY.

Rev. Oliver Lewis came about the time of the Culvers and possessed the Bebee land. He lived here and preached until his death, aged seventy-seven.

A long-time resident of the township was Samuel Snell, from New York; suc- ceeded by his eldest son, Abram V. Snell.

The later of the prominent families were the Winters, Badles, Corwins, Sewards, Hallocks, Durlands, Casterlins, Longwells, Dewitts, and a German family named Wintz.

The only village in the township is Orange, situated near its center, where Jacob Drake was the first settler, and for a long time it was called Draketown; when it became a postoffice it was called Unison. When the township was established A. C. Thompson kept store there, and he called it Franklin Center. This caused some confusion, and a new name had to be provided, and as many of the families had come from Orange, N. Y., that name was adopted. Before this name was the per- manent one, it, like many other places, had all kinds of whimsical callings. When Almanza Rodgers kept the store, he, in order to keep the shingle-makers from cheat- ing him, procured pinchers to pull out some of the inside shingles, and then the place was called "Pinchersville." The nucleus of the place has always been the store, and some of the keepers were Harley Green, James Lawrence Brown, Abel C. Thompson, Benjamin Saylor, James Holcomb and Henry Bodle. The first hotel in the place was by Peter Hallock, succeeded by John Worden, Jacob Shales, Dennis Alsop, - Felton, Hiram Brace, Harvey Brace, Maj. Warring, Mrs. Warring, - Housenick, -- Robinson, Thomas Totten, Albert Smith, Chauncey Calkins, D. A. La Barre. Dr. Skeels was the first physician; then Dr. Brace, Dr. Parker, Dr. William Thompson, Dr. McKee and Dr. John C. Morris. Orange is a very nice vil- lage, the trading and business point for the surrounding farming country. There is a store, hotel, harness shop. blacksmith shop and two churches in the hamlet.

Ketcham postoffice, in Franklin, is a farmhouse.

The first road passed from Wyoming over Olds hill to Tunhannock; a road start- ing at the river and following up Sutton creek intersected the other road on Olds hill.

The population of Franklin township in 1850 was 833; reduced in 1880 to 593; again in 1890 to 521.

FREELAND.

Perched upon the Broad mountain 2,190 feet above tidewater, sits as a jeweled crown the beautiful, thriving and bustling borough of Freeland-one of the most rapidly improving of any of the boroughs of southern Luzerne county. Here is a town built by employes-laborers mostly, who worked in the collieries near by on every hand, and while they worked in the valleys they concluded to make their homes on the bill, and the result is that in rather quick order they built here the queen town of all the surrounding country for miles and miles.

In 1842 Joseph Birkbeck purchased a part of the land on which the borough stands and immediately commenced to improve his farm, building his residence a short distance north of what is now the north borough line. The Birkbeck estate now owns the farm land joining the north borough limits. About the same time Aaron Howe (or Howey), commenced to open his farm to the west of Birkbeck, and the most of the town is built upon a part of his tract. These two then, were the pioneer settlers in this part of Foster township. They built their houses on the side of the hill and cleared and farmed the land along the billside down into the valley. The first settler within the borough limits was William Johnson, laborer; then Thomas Morgan, a blacksmith from Jeddo; he sold to Patrick McGlynn; tben came James Williamson, from Eckley, whose family still reside in the place. The first store was opened by Joseph Lindsey in 1875; then H. C. Koons started his place of business. Lindsey's store was on what is now the corner of Pine and Wal- nut streets, and Koons' was on the corner of Front and Center streets. The next store was that of Thomas Campbell, who is still one of the leading business men of

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HISTORY OF LUZERNE COUNTY.

the place. The first schoolhouse was put up in 1868, and in time, where it stood was mined under and a squeeze threatened. The house was moved on the Birk- beck land and in its new place was within what became the borough. In adjusting the affairs between the borough and township, the building and a small amount of money was awarded to the township, and it is still a township school. Then was erected the present borough school building, on Washington and Chestnut, a one- story frame, containing five rooms and all modern facilities. Belonging to the school property is 150 feet square of ground.

In 1868 A. Donop, who was a clerk for G. B. Markle, at Jeddo, with an eye to good investments and a keen appreciation of the natural location, purchased the land and laid out the village and offered lots on favorable terms to settlers. Back- ing his judgment, he at once built for himself the building known as the "Old Homestead," opposite the postoffice. He named it Freehold, and this name con- tinued until they came to name their postoffice, when it was changed to Freeland. The "point'' had already grown to such importance that a postoffice had been granted and considerable business was flowing in and out of the place. However, there was no rush of capital here, nor was there a marked inflow of people. But Mr. Donop was active in sounding the advantages of the place and he offered lots for $10 bills that now are held up in the thousand mark. There was a steady but slow growth for several years. The very modest business places that have been opened catered to the trade that was about the country at that time, when almost anything was more abundant than purchasers with hard cash.

However, before the end of the first decade, such had been the prosperity of Donop's village that necessity demanded that proper clothes be provided for the youngster, and a movement was set on foot to organize a borough. An election was held aud the vote was largely in the affirmative, and on September 11, 1876-the great centennial year-Freeland became a borough and the village swaddling clothes were laid aside forever. As the garments had not been so long worn as to be out at the seat, it has been suggested by Mr. Thomas A. Buckley that they be generously given to Drifton, Jeddo, Upper Lehigh, Oakdale, Highland, Sandy Run, Eckley, Pond Creek, Buck Mountain, Drums, Honey Hole, or any of the other of the con- tributary places to their capital and business place; for their valuable contributions in the way of bringing here their trade, and for the other contributions in the way of thrifty residents.

The first officers were elected October 10, 1876, as follows: Burgess, Rudolph Ludwig; council, Henry Koons, president council, Manus Connaghan, John L. Jones, Patrick McGlynn, Hugh O'Donnell and Christopher Wiegand. High con- stable was appropriately enough William Johnson, who built the first house in the place. A. Donop, the village proprietor, was the first clerk. The borough was formed from Foster township and is bounded by the township on all sides. The incorporators had no very exalted ideas of the future of the place, and did not cut the clothes as is done for boys, "to allow for growing." The result is that to-day the smallest part of the place is the borough proper. It is emphatically mostly an " over- flow " town, like they have overflow meetings in a hot campaign; the big end of the place is " out of doors," and it makes it a powerfully deceiving village. Strangers turn to the census and find it reported with a population of 1, 730, but when you come to see it, you find the borough boundary line is one of the main streets in the place. A witty Irishman worked out the puzzle and said it was a kangaroo town- all hind legs. This little oddity is in the course of rapid correction, and not much doubt that by the time this is in the book, the borough limits will be properly extended and then Freeland will have nearly 5,000 population, or thereabouts. A consummation the good patriots of the borough look forward to with great interest.

The burgesses and clerks in the succession are as follows: 1877, burgess, Rudolph Ludwig; clerk, A. Douop; both re-elected. In 1888, Rudolph Ludwig and George C. Farrar; 1879, D. J. McCarthy and George C. Farrar; 1880, both

A & Reynolds

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HISTORY OF LUZERNE COUNTY.

re-elected; 1881, Peter Brown and L. T. Dodson; 1882, both re-elected; 1883, Rudolph Ludwig and L. T. Dodson; 1884, both re-elected; 1885, James Collins and L. T. Dodson; 1886, Rudolph Ludwig and L. T. Dodson, but Dodson did not qualify on account of sickness, when John M. Powell was appointed temporary clerk. July, 1886, Thomas A. Buckley was elected clerk and has continuously held the office to the present; 1887, burgess, James Collins; re-elected the next year; 1889, B. F. Davis; 1890, W. D. Cowen; 1891, John M. Powell. Present city offi- cials (1892): Burgess, E. P. Gallagher; council, Patrick Dooris, president; Dr. E. W. Rutter, Henry Smith, Owen Fritzinger, James Williamson and Frank De Pierro; clerk, Thomas A. Buckley; treasurer, B. F. Davis; chief fire, Charles Shepley; chief police, J. Kenedy; solicitor, John D. Hays, who has filled the office with eminence since the borough was incorporated; street superintendent, Hugh Bagler. The prominent railroad is the Lehigh, now the Reading system, which leaves the main line at Drifton and joins it again on the way to White Haven. The New Jersey Central road runs nearly a mile north of the place and has its depot at the Upper Lehigh.

The place is surrounded by colleries; the first was the Woodside, and for a time this was the name of the place. The incentive to the growth of Freeland was when Coxe Bros. & Co., or rather when Eckley B. Coxe gave it his kind encouragement. He presented the town with ten acres of ground that is the park on the south, and in various other ways, as the old settlers will tell you, gave Freeland the " boom " that has carried it forward in such fine style.

One of the best public institutions of Freeland being the water works. It was incorporated July 20, 1883, the incorporators being the following officials: Presi- dent, Joseph Birkbeck; treasurer, Thomas Birkbeck; secretary, F. Schilcher. The works were commenced and completed in 1883, and the water was turned on in November of that year. The main supply is from two artesian wells, one on the east of town and one on the north. These furnish the finest granite-water, cool, and the freest from animal matter of any attainable waters. From the engines the water is pumped to the top of the hill west of town, where is one of the finest arranged reservoirs in the State, all under roof, and the building surrounded by a ten-foot fence quite a distance from the building, making it impossible for anything to be put in the reservoir from the outside. This water in the lower town has a fifty-pound pressure, sufficient to throw a large stream to the top of the highest building; capac- ity of reservoir, 470,000 gallons. This is, in addition to a third well, that can be used in an emergency. a reserve of water as the pumping is done direct to the pipes. The entire capacity of the pumps is sufficient for a population, in any emergency, of 50,000. The elegance of the Freeland water is another great inducement added to the place for making it a great summer resort. In many respects the altitude, the fresh, bracing winds, the cool and delightful nights, the health and its fine water will some day attract wide attention from those seeking the world's most delightful nooks as summer resorts.

At the second meeting of the council in 1876, steps were taken to grade and fix the streets and provide a "lockup." Chris Wiegand was made street supervisor and intelligently proceeded about the business. The lockup was built at the inter- section of Pine and Johnson streets and became "Fort McNellis," in honor of its first occupant. This served its purpose until 1884, when the present town building was erected, containing a council room and lockup. In 1885, 750 feet of hose was purchased; two carriages and a hook and ladder outfit provided. Bonds were issued for these improvements, that are paid off except a small amount not yet due. In 1885 a hose house was built at a cost of $1,200, and the same year the streets were re-graded. In 1890, such had been the growth of the place, that a prime system of sewers became a strong necessity; an election was held, and a hot cam- paign on the subject ensued, and, by a majority of one, it was decided to push this work. Bonds to the amount of seven per cent. of the assessed value, making $5,965

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were issued and placed on the market, and two and a half miles of main sewers are being rapidly put down. There is no call on the taxpayers to pay the interest on the public debt, as it is expressly provided that saloon licenses shall pay it all; about $2,000 annually is paid by the saloons, and this defrays the total expense of the borough. So in the matter of taxation there is no place of its size less burdened with taxes. The salaries of officials are not "bloated " sinecures, but are noted for considerable labor and nominal pay therefor.

The present remarkable spurt in the growth of Freeland is largely due to the enterprise and foresight of the borough officials of 1891. They boldly faced the unreasoning opposition of the old fogies and the happy results are visible on every hand-the permanent and valuable improvements are being added.

The large and commodious opera house was built and opened to the public in 1889 by John Jannes. His building that had formerly occupied the same ground was destroyed by fire in 1887. The building is a two-story, with a fine auditorium on the ground floor, and in this, on the main floor, are business rooms, with offices on the second floor. The planing-mill was built in 1885. In the place and adjoining are 2 hardware stores and 1 in the township; 2 drug stores; 2 leading hotels; 2 merchant tailors and 2 in township; 4 clothing; 4 shoe and boot; 2 livery; 2 black- smiths; 3 wheelwrights; 2 furniture; 2 lawyers; 5 doctors; 1 baker, 2 in township; 2 watchmakers, 2 in township; 3 milliners, 2 in township; 1 cigar factory and 1 in township; 4 bottlers; 6 general dry goods and grocery stores, and 6 in township, and 40 small notion stores in different lines; 2 very bright and progressive news- papers. The particulars of the lawyers, doctors and newspapers will be found in their respective chapters as well as a mention of the societies of which Freeland could, if inducements were offered, count up about a hundred.

Citizens Bank of Freeland was incorporated January 30, 1890; capital stock, $50,000. Officials: president, Joseph Birkbeck; vice-president, H. C. Koons; cashier, B. R. Davis; directors: Joseph Birkbeck, H. C. Koons, John M. Powell, Mathias Schwabe, Charles Dusheck, Antony Rudewick, John Smith, William Kemp, John Burton and John Wagner; secretary of board, John Smith.

HANOVER TOWNSHIP.

The early history of this, one of the original Connecticut townships, is so closely interwoven with the history of the settlement and troubles of the Wyoming valley that it is there given mostly as found in Miner's Pearce's and Chapman's and other accounts of those "times that tried men's souls." The recent History of Hanover Township, by Henry Blackman Plumb, of Sugar Notch, published in 1885, is one of the important additions to the county's literature concerning the early set- tlers on the Susquehanna river. In his preface he says: "I was born in the house of one of the old veterans of the Wyoming massacre and the Revolutionary war." This was the house of Elisha Blackman, who was eighteen years of age when the bloody July 3, 1778 burst into history. Blackman was a resident of Wilkes-Barre from 1772 to 1791, and then in Hanover township till the day of his death, 1845. Mr. Plumb had carefully digested every accessible record and all that had been pub- lished, and from the lips of his venerable kinsman had heard his recollections of the dark and dismal story that enveloped the people as a pall during the last quar- ter of the eighteenth century. Mr. Plumb has performed his task with admirable fidelity and judgment, and has unconsciously reared for himself an imperishable monument in the hearts of the descendants of the pioneers, as well as the lovers of our country and its history. A single paragraph from his preface is given that all men may know the incalculable loss that circumstances have entailed upon us all: "But I must acknowledge my great indebtedness to Hon. Steuben Jenkins, for information and documents furnished. * * * He furnished the key to unlock hidden mines of the most valuable information to a historian of Hanover. It seems to me now that without the list of ancient transfers of land (transfers previous to

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the Wyoming massacre) I should have remained ignorant of some of the most important facts contained in this book. *

* * It is understood that Mr. Jenkins is gathering materials for a copious and searching history of Wyoming to its minute particulars; and from what I have seen of his acquisitions in this respect, I have reason to think the work will be most thorough and valuable." The death of Mr. Jenkins has ended that dream and even the store of invaluable materials in Mr. Jenkins' possession when he died are not now, and may unfortunately never be accessible to the compiler of the annals of Wyoming. Mr. Plumb was the first to find access to the old Hanover Toun Record, and he tells us it is "the only book of the kind concerning Wyoming valley in existence."

The first name that will forever remain as a prime part of the story of the set- tlement of Hanover township is that of Capt. Lazarus Stewart, who fell at the head of his company of Hanover men at the battle of Wyoming, July 3, 1778. An account of him and the part he performed on that memorable day are given in previ- ous chapters. Capt. Stewart and his forty men-the "Paxton boys"-came from Lancaster first in February, 1770. They were moving in behalf of Connecticut against the Penns, capturing Fort Durkee, and the four-pound canon that had been brought here. The roster of this company is as follows: Lazarus Stewart, Thomas French, Robert Young, James Stewart, Adam Storer, Jacob Stagard, George Ely, Lodwick Shalman, George Aspen, John Lard, John McDonnell, George Meane, Lazarus Stewart, Jr., William Young, Peter Kidd, John Robinson, John Simpson, Adam Harper, Peter Seamen, John Poop, Mathias Hollenback, (spelled then Hollen- baugh), Joseph Neal, Baltzer Stagard, John Stellie. John McDormer, William Stewart, Lazarus Young, William Carpenter, Luke Shawley, Nicholas Farrings, Conrad Phillip, Casper Relker, John Sault, Peter Szchewer, Robert Kidd, Ronemus Haine, and Adam Sherer. Within the next two years the following were all that remained in Stewart's company: Lazarus Stewart, Lazarus Stewart, Jr., James Stewart, William Stewart, Robert Young, John Robinson and Thomas Robinson- eight of the Lancaster men. Their places were partly filled by Charles Stewart, David Young, John Young, James Robinson, William Graham, John Donahaw, Josias Aspia, Hugh Coffrin, and John Franklin and Silas Gore; the last two from Connecticut.

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History of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, with biographical selections, Part 71

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