USA > Pennsylvania > Luzerne County > History of Luzerne, Lackawanna, and Wyoming counties, Pa.; with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of their prominent men and pioneers > Part 118
USA > Pennsylvania > Lackawanna County > History of Luzerne, Lackawanna, and Wyoming counties, Pa.; with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of their prominent men and pioneers > Part 118
USA > Pennsylvania > Wyoming County > History of Luzerne, Lackawanna, and Wyoming counties, Pa.; with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of their prominent men and pioneers > Part 118
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A noteworthy landmark at Slocum Hollow was the old Slocum house. It was erected by Ebenezer Slocum in 1805, and during its existence was the oldest house in Scranton. It stood on a stone foundation which with the chimney and other mason work was built by Chester Kimball. The main part was 17 by 44 feet, and had a wing at the rear 17 by 34 feet. The upper portion was burned April roth, 1869, and repaired in the following month. In a room over the kitchen was organized the first lodge of Odd Fellows in Scranton. It was torn down in 1865 to enlarge the yard of the Lackawanna Iron and Coal Company's works. The second frame house was built by Benjamin Slocum, who at the time of his advent at the Hollow and for some years later was a single man.
He married Phebe La France, daughter of an early set- tler. Ebenezer had been married for a considerable time to a daughter of Doctor Davis, who joined him at the Hollow in 1800. Another early settler was Elisha Hitchcock, in ISog.
The old road through the Lackawanna valley passed near the foot of the Hyde Park hill and about on the line of Wyoming street. Preserved Taylor lived on land now covered by the culm pile of the Mount Pleasant colliery, and Holden Tripp's residence was several rods northeast of the same. A little south from where the street rail- way diverges from Wyoming street stood another dwel- ling and a distillery. About 1790 the course of the road was changed here and laid upon the present line of Main street, or nearly so. About the same time a Mr. Lindley made a clearing and built a log house a short distance northerly from the corner of Main and Washington streets, about where the Calvin Washburn house now stands. A Mr. Dolph made a clearing and built nearly opposite, on what has since been known as the Knapp place. Another of the same name settled near the westerly corner of Main street and Sixth avenue, on the site of the residence of the late Benjamin Fellows, Esq. Later came William Bishop,a Baptist preacher and school teacher, who cleared the land and built a house on the ground occupied by the residence of the late Judge Merrifield, one of the apple trees planted by him remain- ing. These were the first settlements made on the hill. Originally that whole section was a dense forest, thickly marked by lofty pines, many of the stumps of which have been removed within the last thirty years. The houses were all built of logs. Joseph Fel- lows, Esq. (father of Joseph, Benjamin, Henry and Sylvester Fellows and Mrs. Knapp. Mrs. Brown and Mrs. Heermans came about 1795. He seems to have been a contractor for most of the lands about Hyde Park, as his son Joseph subsequently paid for and re- ceived the titles to the same. In 1814 came Philip, father of Sylvanus, John and Edmund Heermans. He lived at first in the Bishop house, and afterward built, on the northerly corner of Jackson and Main streets, the house which was later so long known as " the old white tavern." This was the first framed house erected in the place, and after being considerably enlarged remained the principal hotel for many years.
The locality of the thriving borough of Dunmore was often explored by passers between Connecticut and Wyo- ming in the early days; but no settlers made an opening in the forest at this point until the advent of William Alls- worth, from New York State, in 1783.
PIONEER EXPERIENCES.
Doctor Hollister gives the following incidents in the conflict of this pioneer family with the wild beasts which everywhere abounded in the primitive wilderness:
" From the Lackawa settlement, on the Paupack. some four and twenty miles from the cabin of Allsworth, there stood but two habitations in 1783, one at Little Meadows, the other at Cobb's, both kept as houses of entertainment. The need of more places of rest to cheer the emigrants toiling toward Wyoming with heavy
-
385
TROUBLES OF THE PROVIDENCE PIONEERS-TAXPAYERS IN 1796.
burdens, drawn by the sober team of oxen, induced Mr. Allsworth to fix his abode at this spot. While he was building his cabin from trees felled for the purpose of gaining space and material. his covered wagon furnished a home for his family. At night heaps of logs were kept burning until long after midnight to intimidate wolves, bears, wildcats and panthers inhabiting the chaparral toward Roar- ing brook and Capoose. Deer and bears were so abundant for many years within sight of his clearing that his family never trusted to his rifle in vain for a supply of venison or the substantial haunches of the bear. In the fall and winter months wild beasts made in- cursions with such frequency that domestic animals at night could be safely kept only in palisaded inclosures. These were a strong stockade made from the well driven sapling, and generally built contignous to the dwelling, into which all kinds of live stock were driven for protection after nightfall. Every fariner in the town- ship of Providence unwilling to see his home invaded and occupied by the common enemy at the dead of night took this precaution less than eighty years ago. And even then they were not exempt from depreda- tion at Mr. Allsworth's. At one time, just at the edge of evening, a bear groped his way into the pen where some of his pigs were slinbering, seized the sow in his brawny paws and bore the noisy porker hurriedly into the woods, where it was seen no more. The affrighted pigs were left unharmed in the pen. At another time, during the absence from home of Mr. Allsworth, a large panther came to his place before sun- down in search of food. This animal is as partial to veal as the bear is to pork. A calf lay in the unguarded inclosure at the time. Upon this the panther sprang, when Mrs. Allsworth, alarined by the bleat of the calf, scized a pair of licavy tongs from the fire-place, and, with a heroism distinguishing most of the women of that day, drove the yellow intruder away without its intended meal. The same night, however, the calf was killed by the panther, which in return was captured in a trap the same weck, and slain."
LOCAL INCIDENTS OF THE MASSACRES OF 177S AND 1779.
Alarmed in 1778 by the increasing enmity of the In- dians, who were incited to lawless deeds by the tories and British, most of the settlers in Providence fled to Strouds- burg or sought fancied safety at Wyoming; but Isaac Tripp, Timothy Keyes, James Hocksey and Andrew Hickman and his wife remained. Hickman and his wife and child were killed. Keyes and Hocksey were taken prisoners and were tomahawked and scalped in the forest above Leggett's gap (now Abington), while Isaac Tripp the younger, taken at the same time, was released.
During the autumn of 1778 some of the settlers came back to Capoose and saved a small portion of their crops. On this and the abundant game, which could be had for the killing, they lived comfortably and unmolested through the following winter. In March, 1779, however, Isaac Tripp, jr., who had escaped death only at the caprice of his savage captors the previous year, " was shot in his own house on the flats; and three men named Jones, Avery and Lyons were carried away in the forest and never heard of afterward." It was not until after Sulli- van's campaign that the majority of the settlers who had removed ventured back to Providence to rebuild their cabins, and for the second time set up their homes in the township; and even then, intimidated by the Pennamites, they were unable to make very rapid advances towards improvements and civilization for several years.
TAX ASSESSMENT IN 1796.
In 1796 the number of persons liable to taxation in the township, which then embraced the entire settlement from Pittston to Rix's gap, was ninety, twenty-nine of whom were non-residents, as is indicated by the following assessment roll for that year:
: No. Oxen.
1 -¿: | Horses.
Farmer.
Providence.
86
Atherton, lohn ..
2
Farmer.
do
1.51
Atherton, Elezer
do
1.29
Atwater, Benjamin.
do
do
1.26
Abbott, Philip
: :
Inkeeper.
do
2.65
Abbott, James ...
: 22
do
do
4.69
Bishop, William ..
Preacher.
do
1.00
Brown, James ..
1 --
Farmer.
do
3.3439
Brown, Benjamin
do
do
Bagley, Asher.
1
do
do
.07
Butler, Zeb'n, heirs ..
Wilkes-Barre.
1.25
Benedict, Silas.
1
1 Farmer.
Providence.
Carey, Barnabas.
do
do
Corcy, Phehe.
Spinster.
do
2.26
Cogwell, William.
Farmer.
do
1.56%
Carey, John.
Farmer.
Providence.
1.20
Chamberlain, John
Clark, William.
Conner, James ..
.65
Covel, Matthew
Physician.
Wilkes-Barre. Providence.
.71
Dolph, Charles ..
do
do
1.77
Dolph, Moscs.
1
do
do
1.99
Dean, Jonathan
..
do
Rhode Island. Providence.
.30
Goodridg, William
1
do
do do Connecticut. Providence. do
.60
Gifford, John.
1
do
do
do
1.14
How, John, jr.
Hoyt, Ranstord.
1 1
do
1.26
Hall, Nathan ..
1
.65
Hunter, John.
do
2.00
Halstead, John
1
do
do
20
Hopkins, Ichabod.
do
Stockbridge.
1.33
Howard, James.
Connecticut.
.60
Hibbert, Ebenezer ...
Nanticoke.
.40
Lutz, Conrad.
3
do
1
do
.16
Lamkins, John
1
do
.62
Lewis, Jaincs.
4
do
do
2.27
Lewis, James
do
do
.50
Lutz, Jacob ..
do
do
1.07
Lutzens. Nicholas.
10
1
3.03
Miller, Christopher
do
do
.30
McDaniel, John ..
Mills, John.
1 Farmer.
Pittston.
Obedike, Lodwick.
Rhode Island.
Park, Ebenezer.
do
Providence.
1.69
Picket, Thomas.
do
do
.2516
Pedrick. Benjamin ..
do
do
2.072
Potter, David.
do
Wilkes-Barre.
1.10
Ross, Timothy.
do
Providence.
.11%
Rozel, John ..
de
New York.
3.00
Smith, Thomas.
do
Providenec.
1.62
Stephen, Timothy
do
do
1.70
Simral, William
1 Farmer.
Providence.
.75
Scott, Daniel
do
do
.79
Scarles, Constant.
do
1.14
Sills, Shadrick.
Lonenburg.
1.10
Selah, Obediah
Stanton. William.
f
do
1.71
Taylor, John ..
2 ..
de
do
Taylor, Preserved.
3
1
do
do
1.82
Taylor, Abrahamn.
1
do
do
.50
Tompkins, Benjamin ....
1
do
do
.80
Tripp, Isaac, Jr.
1
do
do
.441%
Tripp, Amasey.
do
do
1.00
Tripp, Isaac.
:-
do
do
15.89
Wright, Thomas.
Merchant.
Piltston.
2.12
Washburn, Elizabeth
Spinster.
Providence.
.45
EARLY TOWN MEETINGS UNDER THE COUNTY ORGANIZA-
TION -- BALLOTS.
Town meetings in the early days were held at the house of Stephen Tripp. The first of which there is any record was in 1813. The entire vote of the township then extending jurisdiction over the subsequently organ- ized towns of Lackawanna, Covington, Blakeley, Jeffer-
Tax.
Names of Inhabitants.
Occupation or profession.
Residence.
Atherton, Cornelius.
====== ICows.
Tailor.
do
16
Bagley, James.
do
1.56
Bidwell, David.
Bates, Solomon
1.01 .30
Cobb, Asa ..
Dolph, Aaron ..
2
Farmer.
Dolph, Jonathan.
C:
do
1.10
Fellows, Joseph
1.41
Gardner, Stephen.
do
2.553%
Gaylor, John
do
Hoyt, Stephen.
:
1.14 .33
Hardy, William
do
do do New York. Providenec.
.06
Halstead, Jonar.
: :
do
do
1
Providence.
1.44
Lutz, John ...
do
Miller, Samuel ..
do
Pittston.
.60
Ross, William.
Ross, Nathan ..
1.72%
Ralph, Jonathan ..
1
1
Providence.
.60 .85
Taylor, Daniel.
201010:
do
do
.35
How, John ..
.0734
Holmes, Enoch
3
Lutzs, Mich.
1
do
1.05 . 77
Slaiter, Samuel.
.88
Bagley, Jesse ..
.06
Alesworth, William
386
HISTORY OF LACKAWANNA COUNTY.
son, Scott and Greenfield was as follows in the years mentioned: 1813-Federal vote 46, Democratic 36; 1814- Federal 47, Democratic 36; 1815-Federal 51, Demo- cratic 44. The voters were few, and the electtions had no stirring interest.
THE PIONEER DOCTOR AND PREACHER.
According to Hollister, "the general history of the township contains little of general interest. Roads were few and rugged, and the inhabitants, priding themselves in assiduous labor and frugality, lived and died con- tented. They enjoyed neither churches nor school- houses, for none had yet emerged from the clearings; were annoyed by few and only light taxes; the general health was good, with no prevailing sickness until 1805, when the typhus fever or 'black tongue,' as it was termed, carried its ravages into settlements just begin- ning to feel the impulse of prosperity along the borders of the Susquehanna and the Lackawanna. Drs. Joseph Davis and Nathaniel Giddings (the latter of whom set- tled in Pittston in 1783) became the healing Elishas to many a needy household." The first named was the pio- neer physician in the township. He settled in 1800 at "Slocum Hollow," though he had originally located near Spring brook. He was born in New Haven, Conn., in 1732, and graduated at Yale College. Such was his ability and force of character that, in spite of uncouth manners and eccentric habits, he controlled almost the entire surgical practice of the two valleys and a large ex- tent of country for a hundred and fifty miles around. As he grew old the doctor became a persistent hoarder of money, and quite a sum of silver dollars was found in an old wooden chest some years after his death, which occurred July 30th, 1830, at the extraordinary age of 98. In 1823 Dr. Silas B. Robinson came into the township, where he practiced his profession until his death, in 1860. It is said that his manners were blunt, his heart kind and his life blameless. He was well known and everywhere welcome.
William Bishop, who has been alluded to as the first settler at Hyde Park, was the first preacher who took up his residence in the township, and was a Baptist.
EARLY ROADS.
One of the three war paths of the Indians leading out of Wyoming terminated at Cochecton, a small Indian settlement on the upper Delaware, and passed through Providence, following the course thus minutely described by Doctor Hollister: "Leaving the valley at Asserughney village, standing at the mouth of the stream, it followed the eastern bank of the Lackawanna up to Spring brook, Stafford Meadow and Nay Aug, or Roaring brook, cross- ing the last two named ones a short distance below the present location of Scranton, and passed into the Indian town of Capoose. Here one path led off to Oquago, New York (now Windsor), through Leggett's gap and the Abingtonian wilderness; while the other, diverging from Capoose in an easterly direction, passing along where Dunmore now stands up the mountain slope to its very
.
summit " crossed the Moosic range and emerged through Salem to the low Wallenpaupack country beyond. The first road from Pittston to the Delaware, passing on the line of the old warrior's trail through Providence, was commenced in November, 1772; and "every person owning a settling right in the valley, or on 'ye east branch of the Susquehanna river,' from the Indian village of Capoose to the mouth of the stream, assisted toward its construction." The wages paid were one and three shillings per diem, according to the locality, those east of the great swamp (now known as "Shades of Death ") receiving the higher rate. Isaac Tripp was appointed to oversee the work and was paid five shillings a day. The next road of importance was the Drinker turnpike, chartered in 1819 and completed in 1826. The Luzerne and Wayne county turnpike was constructed the same year, and intersected the former at Providence village.
There was no bridge spanning the Lackawanna at Providence until the year just mentioned, the only means of crossing the river there previously having been sup- plied by fording places; though in 1796 Joseph Fellows, sen., aided by the Capoose farmers, had thrown one of a single span across the river lower down, on the flats, where a fordway now marks the spot.
PRIMITIVE MILLS.
James Leggett has been mentioned as a settler in 1775. After getting his improvement under some advancement he removed to White Plains, N. Y., where he remained until the close of the Revolutionary war, when he re- turned to Providence and not long afterward erected a saw-mill on Leggett's creek, as the stream is called in his honor. That it was a very small affair and very simple in construction may well be imagined. For sev- eral years after that grain could not be milled until it was carried twenty miles away in the Wyoming valley, unless, as was frequently the case, recourse was had to the "hominy l:lock " so common in the days of our pioneer forefathers.
The manifest necessity of a grist mill nearer home led Philip Abbott to build on Roaring brook, in 1788, the first establishment of the kind in the vicinity. The con- struction of this establishment was simple in the ex- treme. It soon became evident that capital was requisite to enlarge and improve the mill. In October of the same year Mr. Abbott's brother James joined him in the en- terprise, and the firm was further strengthened by the admission of Reuben Taylor in the spring of 1789. A year later, however, they sold the mill and their other property at the Hollow to John and Seth Howe, who in July, 1798, sold the same with their improvements, as has been stated, to Ebenezer Slocum and James Duwain. A saw-mill was built early by Captain John Stafford on Stafford Meadow brook about half a mile below Scranton, which Hollister states was planned in 1790. That it was not immediately constructed and put in running order is evident from the statement that the plank used upon the bridge built by Joseph Fellows, sen., and others in 1796 were "the first production of this mill."
TRIPP'S DRIVING TEAM.
TRIPP'S SLOPE
32754
View of Scranton from Fountain RESIDENCE OF COL. IRA TRIPP, BETWEEN PROVIDENCE AND HYDE PARK, CITY OF SCRANTON, PA. Lackawanna County.
JAMES JORDAN. Olyphant, Lackawanna Co., Pa.
SUMNER D.DAVIS, M. D. Jermyn , Lackawanna Co., Pa.
JOHN FOOTE, M.D. Archbald, Lackawanna Co., Pa.
MARTIN CRIPPEN Olyphant, Lackawanna Co.,Pa.
387
THE SLOCUM MILLS AND IRON WORKS.
In 1796 a small grist-mill was built by Isaac and Stephen Tripp, on Leggett's creek, in Providence. The dam was three times built and washed away, in conse- quence of defective construction; and thus proving a failure the mill was abandoned. About the same time or a little later the same parties established two stills on Tripp's flats, which were in successful operation for some time.
THE OPERATIONS OF THE SLOCUMS.
The grist-mill at the Hollow was enlarged and im- proved and a distillery added to it in 1798 and 1799. During the latter year Slocum and his partner, Jantes Duwain, built a saw-mill a little above the grist-mill. A log blacksmith shop was erected near the creek. This, with the mills and distillery, four or five rude houses and a cooper shop constituted all that was visible in the way of architecture of the settlement of Slocum Hollow in the early part of 1800. In that year, after consultation with Dr. William Hooker Smith (who, having faith in the deposits of iron ore in the vicinity, had established a forge at the locality known as " Old Forge " in the spring of 1789), the Slocum brothers (Duwain having withdrawn from the firm, discouraged by the loss of the two mill dams by the spring freshet, and his place having been filled by Benjamin Slocum) constructed a forge at the Hollow, which, as the day of anthracite was yet in the future, depended solely on charcoal as a heating agent. The forge had two fires and one trip hammer and smith shop attached, worked by Peter La France, foreman, and John Gordon, Thomas Williams, George Worten and Henry Stark (the latter two being colored, and at that time slaves), who wrought from the ore and iron all of the needed implements of the country for many miles around. The iron ore was placed in stone furnaces, where it was mixed with the proper quantity of charcoal and melted and separated from the slag. It was again heated and formed into balls, making a fair quality of iron, said to have been strong and worked into any desired shape by means of the trip hammer.
The dams were speedily rebuilt by a "bee," in which every farmer in the township participated. and conse- quently the proprietors did not lose much by the disaster by which they were swept away, and the public suffered little inconvenience. The grist-mill was a success. It was patronized by the settlers far and wide. Elisha Hitchcock was a young and energetic man and a mill- wright by trade. He repaired the mill and in 1811 mar- ried Ebenezer Slocum's eldest daughter, Ruth. Mr. Hitchcock remained in the place of his early business experiences, became identified in after years with other enterprises and died much esteemcd by all who knew him. His wife survived him. In 1811 the Slocums put a second still in operation, and while the wood-choppers cleared the land about the Hollow the place turned out such quantities of iron, lumber, flour, feed and whiskey as to bring the settlement before the country as one of promise and importance. " All transactions here and all transactions upon my father's books," states the venerable
Joseph Slocum, a son of Ebenezer Slocum (now in his eighty-first year, a resident of Scranton) "bear the name of Unionville as late as 1828; but the place was known far and near as Slocum Hollow, and was so named in 1816 by a jolly Dutchman named James Snyder. That year was known as the 'cold season.' Little or no corn escaped the ravages of the frost, which killed all perisha- ble vegetation. This Dutchman, who was fond of whis- key and convivial sports, employed at the forge, had ever before called the place Skunk's Misery; but when this frost, with its disastrous breath, froze everything it could reach, he indignantly exclaimed that this spot was fit only for a Slocum to live in, and he should name it Slo- cum Holler." The Slocums kept many teams on the road carting whiskey, pork, beef, flour and feed to Eas- ton, Wilkes-Barre, Montrose, Paupack and Bethany. From 30 to 50 men were employed about the works. The coal and ore were moved by ox teams. The first collier who supplied the forge with coal was a man named Ostin. The Slocum Hollow iron was used and held in high esteem in all directions, but the product of the forge gradually diminished as the ore began to fail, and June Ioth, 1822, the last iron was made by the Slocums. "Up to this time," remarks Hollister, "these primitive iron works were, in the hands of these unobtrusive men, yielding their conquests and diffusing a spirit of enter- prise amidst accumulative difficulties, in a valley having no outlet by railroad, no navigable route to the sea other than shallow waters long skimmed by the Indian's canoe." Rival forges and furnaces sprung up, reducing the demand for the Slocum Hollow iron; the cost of transporting the ore over roads at times impassable was an item of much importance in the competition; and the works, which had been in constant use for over a quar- ter of a century, had become unequal to the purpose for which they were intended. The last whiskey was made at the Hollow in December, 1826. Jacob Myers, in 1824, and William Johnson, in 1826, were the last distillers there. The succession of harvests throughout the sur- rounding country, together with the absence of an avail- able grain market and the frequent calls for whiskey from abroad, had rendered the stills not only a profitable property to their owners, but a commercial necessity to the community.
Ebenezer and Benjamin Slocum dissolved partnership in the spring of 1826, and the latter removed to Tunk- hannock, Wyoming county, where he died in 1832. The decline and abandonment of the business at the Hollow by Ebenezer Slocum has been thus commented on by his son, Joseph Slocum:
" As business slackened and declining years came over father, and wishing to divide the property, one still-house was abandoned and a di- vision of the lands effected. April loth, 1828, I took my father's place in business here, in connection with my brother Samuel. The stone store- house, cooper shop and other improvements were in a tolerably good condition, excepting two or three log houses, abandoned in 1817. We erected a new barn in the rear of the Slocum house and carried on faren- ing and business generally. By father's advice Mr. Hitchcock put in a tub water wheel and gearing for the saw-mill, which, proving a failure, prevented the use of the mill for nearly n year. Father's death, July 25th, 182, placed the entire property in the hands of Merritt Slocum, ad- ministrator, who turned the still-house into a dwelling and proceeded to apportion and divide the estate into four shares. Lot No. 1, or saw-mill
388
HISTORY OF LACKAWANNA COUNTY.
lot, consisting of 503 acres, valued at $4,415, fell into the hands of Alva and Sylvenas Heermans, was afterwards owned by Messrs. Merrifield, Albro and Rickerson, and from them passed to the Scrantons. Lot No. 2, or grist-mill lot, of 372 acres, valued at $7,500, went to Ebenezer Slo- cum, jr., and Aaron Brown, and after two other changes was sold to the Serantous. Lot No. 3, or honse lot, of 388 acres, valued at $3,560, and No. 4, or Griffin tot, of 595 aeres, valued at $1,500, passed to Joseph and Samuel Slocan conjointly. We dissolved partnership in 1837."
Mr. Joseph Slocum erected a saw-mill in 1848, which he sold to Thomas P. Remington, who failed to pay for it. It was sold at sheriff's sale and bid in by Mr. Slocum, who sold it to John Beekman in 1858. It has long since gone to decay, and the only work of the Slocums now left to view is the grist mill dam built in 1800, the frame of which is substantially the same as then. The grist-mill was torn down in the summer of 1856. During their active career at the Hollow the Slocums had become possessed of over 1,800 acres of land, nearly all of which was underlaid with coal.
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