History of Luzerne, Lackawanna, and Wyoming counties, Pa.; with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of their prominent men and pioneers, Part 172

Author: Munsell, W.W., & Co., New York
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: New York, W.W. Munsell & co.
Number of Pages: 900

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 172
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 172
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 172

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

houses of different members, and preaching generally occurred during the week, the first Sabbath preaching being at the house of Mr. Pace in 1819. By contribu- tions of labor and time as well as money the first church was built. It was dedicated in 1829. It became too small and was removed, and in 1870 the present house of worship was erected, at a cost of $3,000. The society owns a parsonage, which was purchased about forty years ago.

A class has existed a number of years at Vernon as a branch of the Centre Moreland church. It was formed into a church and built a house of worship in 1873, and is in a flourishing condition.

Baptist .- The Baptist church of Centre Moreland was set off from the church of Exeter and North Moreland in 1849. For some years meetings were held at the houses of the members. The present commodious church was dedicated in 1857. The organization is now pros- perous.

A Baptist church was dedicated at Vernon Decem- ber 18th, 1873. The members of this society were for- merly with the church at Centre Moreland, but, residing at a distance, erected this building as a matter of con- venience. They are presided over by the minister at Centre Moreland.

The Presbyterian church was organized Sunday, Decem- ber 9th, 1821, with Daniel Locke and Leonard House as elder and deacon; Jehiel Fuller, Ebenezer Brown and Isaac Harris as elders, and a membership of fifteen. About this time was formed the first Sunday-school in the township, and the meetings were held at the school- house in Centre Moreland. The present church building was erected in 1820. The pastors have been Rev. Messrs. Rhodes, Todd, Oliver, Evans, Snowden, Van Allen and others. Regular services are not now held.

OVERFIELD TOWNSHIP.

N 1795 Abel Patrick located a little south of Lake Winola. Paul Huber owned a clear- ing a mile east of the lake. In 1880 Azor Philo came and settled at the east end of the lake. Thomas Overton and the family of John Wilson settled nearly a mile south of it, and Edward Schofield a mile west. In 1803 Zu- riel Sherwood located on the north side of the lake, and in 1804 John C. Williams at the southeast corner. In 1803 William Rogers built a saw-mill for Thomas Over- ton at the outlet of the lake. Caleb Avery located on the property now owned by Charles Frear. The farm where John C. Williams located in 1804 is now owned by Martin Sickles. Here also lived Elisha Armstrong.

The old "block " school-house was built many years ago, of logs, by a few of the settlers, the Williamses, Pat- ricks, Posts, Agers and others. About ten years ago it gave place to a larger and more convenient framed struc-

528

HISTORY OF WYOMING COUNTY.

turc, where one of the district schools is still kept; the old name of the school-house is still retained.

The township had 433 inhabitants in 1870, and lost 40 in the ensuing decade.

OVERFIELD M. E. CHURCH.

This church is in the Newton circuit, Wyoming dis- trict. The society was first organized April 2nd, 1854, by D. A. Shepard, presiding elder, and C. S. Rice, preacher in charge, with Daniel Ross as class-leader, and David Osterhout assistant, and the following members: Daniel Ross, David and Elizabeth Osterhout, Samuel and Elizabeth Tranger, Sylvester Gregory, Joseph G. and Eleanor E. Osborne, Abraham and Sarah Evans and James and Mary Stevens. Meetings were then held in an old school-house near where the present meeting house stands. The charter was granted on the 20th of August, 1870, to the "First M. E. Church of Crooked Lake" (now Lake Winola). Samuel Shook, Thomas Hough, Charles Frear, James Stevens and Lyman Swartz were the trustces. They obtained from James Stevens one third of an acre of land, on which a church edifice was built at a cost of $2,478. It was dedi- cated by Rev. Dr. R. Nelson on the 24th of September, 1871, during the pastorate of Rev. R. S. Rose. The membership June 29th, 1880, was 60.

The Sabbathi-school was organized in the early days of the society. It has 80 scholars and teachers. C E. Frear has been the superintendent a number of quarters.

The ministers here have been Revs. C. L. Rice, John La Bar, P. S. Holbrook, J. W. Munger, G. M. Peck, D. Personius, G. W. Leach, J. N. Pardee, Asa J. Van Cleft, E. Puffer, Isaac Austin, R. S. Rose, A. Brigham, A. J. Arnold and William Shelp.

TUNKHANNOCK TOWNSHIP.

AND titles in Wyoming county, as in other parts of the State, were acquired by warrant from the general land office, payment of pur- chase money, survey by the county surveyor, return to the land office and a patent. The above constituted a perfect title from the State. The early settlers of Wyoming county mostly claimed titles to their land under the Connecticut claim- ants. Under the Connecticut jurisdiction seventeen towns (those marked "original" on the map at the beginning of this volume) were organized, surveyed and established. Thrce of these town's were located within the bounds of Wyoming county; they were called Put- nam, Braintrim and North Moreland. Putnam was where Tunkhannock now is, and was named after General Is- rael Putnam, of Connecticut, of Revolutionary fame. In 1786 the name was changed to Tunkhannock and the boundaries greatly enlarged. The other Yankee towns in this county retained their original names.

The following is a copy of the proceedings of a meet- ing heid at the city of Norwich, Conn., by which the township of Putnam was authorized to be surveyed and organized:

" Agreeable to a vote of the Susquehanna proprietors, at their meet- ing held at Norwich the Ist day of April, 1772, improvising a committee to make out grant of township of five mites square to a number of pro- prietors, who shall appear by themselves or agent with proper creden- tials to make it appear they are proprietors and their ta ves paid, as may be seen by said vote, and pursuant thereto ; Isaac Tripp, Esq., appearing as an agent for the number of twenty persons, proprietors in said Sus- quehanna purchase and their taxes paid, and also exhibiting a survey of a township of land on the east branch of the Susquehanna at a place called Tuukhannoek for a confirmation of the same to said proprietors ; beginning at a marked tree on the east side of the said Susquehanna river, thence up the river two iniles as the river runs, thence north 57º west four miles and three-quarters of a mile to a stake, thence north 20° east three miles to a marked tree, thence south 85º east eight miles to a tree marked, thence south 27º west four miles and three-quarters of a mile to the first mentioned bounds, containing 25 square miles exclusive of the river, surveyed at the request of Messrs. Job Randall, Esq., Dr. Ephraimn Bowen and others, a list of whom is herewith delivered to the committee of settlers ; and agreeably to the request of said agent for a confirmation of said township from us the subscribers, a committee appointed for that purpose, we do now accept and approve of said sur- vey, and hereby grant the same to said proprietors as a part of their general right, throughout the Susquehanna purchase, so far as is con- sistent with rules of the Susquehanna company, and provided it does not interfere with any former grant heretofore laid out by the Susque- hanna company ; and said town is known by the name of Putnam.

" Westmoreland, October 24th, 1775."

" Zebulon Butler, " Obadiah Gore, jr., " Nathan Denison, )

Committee appointed to order and direet the company towns." "Upon the application of Isaac Tripp, Esq., Elisha Wilcox, Job Tripp, Philip Buck and others to have a meeting of the proprietors of the township of Putnam, in order to chose a proprietors' clerk and to come into some regular method to survey the lots in said town, and to do any other business proper to be done at said meeting," the proprietors were summoned to meet at the house of Zebulon Marcy in said township on the 12th of Septem- ber following. The call for a meeting was dated " West- moreland, this 20th day of August, 1776," and signed by John Jenkins as justice of the peace. At this meeting it was voted that Elisha Wilcox be moderator for the day; that Zebulon Marcy be the proprietors' clerk; that a " committee be chosen and authorized to admit proprie- tors into and fill up the vacant lots in said township," and that Isaac Tripp, Elisha Wilcox and Zebulon Marcy be such committee; that "the agent or clerk, with five other proprietors of said town, shall be a sufficient warn- ing" for future meetings; and that the meeting be ad- journed until the 4th of November next, at the same place. The following is " a list of the proprietors of the township of Putnam, with the number of their lots, as they were recorded by order of Isaac Tripp, Esq., in 1777:

Jeremiah Angel, 1; Samuel Warner, 2; Jeremiah Whipple, 3 ; David Braton, 4; Charles Keen, 5; Elijah Shoemaker, 6; Job Randall, 9; Charles Keen, 10; Simon Whipple, 11; Zebulon Marcy, 12; Jabesh Green, 13; Samuel Gorton, 15; Paul Green, 16; Jonathan Slocum, 17; Benjamin Bowen, 18; Job Tripp ye 3d, 20; Increase Billings, 21; Zebulon Marcy, 22; Elisha Wilcox, 23; Benjamin Bowen, 24 : Jabesh Whipple, 25; David Green, 26 ; Ephraim Bowen, 27; Isaac Tripp, jr., 28 ; James Arnold, 30; Jonathan Randall, 36; Philip Beekman, 39 and 40; Ephraim Bowen, 41; Jsaae Tripp, 42; Jonathan Randall, 44; Simon Whipple, 47; Joseph Lippett, 50 and 51; John Gardner, 52 ; James Arnold, 53.

The stirring events of the Revolution intervened, and the new settlers either fled from this disputed ground or took sides in the contest. On the 27th of April, 1786,

529

OLD PUTNAM AND ITS PIONEERS.

other allotments of land were made and the following were the persons who drew then:

Elijah Shoemaker, Joseph Soule, Zebulon Marey, Nathaniel Platt, David Braton, Ephraim Bowen, John P. Schott, Usel Bates, Williams, jr., Caleb Bates, Clement West, Ezra Rulty, William Miller, Gideon Oster- hout, Joseph Kilbourn, Jonathan Sloeum, Job Tripp 38, Increase Bill- ings, Ephraim Sanford, Isaac Tripp, Isaac Tripp, jr., Joseph Arthur, Archibald Bowen, Nathaniel Goodspeed, Nathan Barlow, Jolin Platnor, Johu Carey, Elijah Oakley, Reuben Taylor, Nathaniel Platt, Barnabas Carey, Frederick Budd, Amos Egglestone, Elisha Wilcox, Daniel Taylor.

As will be seen, of the twenty-eight old proprietors only the Billings, Slocum, Marcy, Braton, Tripp and Bowen families appear in the above mentioned allotments, and they were probably all of the first settlers who re- turned after the war; the other incorporators having come in from the Wyoming valley and other localities after the declaration of peace. The name chosen in 1788 for the enlarged township was evidently the Indian name. The territory of the new town comprised what is now included in the townships of Eaton, Clinton and part of Nicholson.

In March, 1787, the Legislature of Pennsylvania passed " an act for ascertaining and confirming to certain persons called Connecticut claimants the land by them claimed within the county of Luzerne, and for other purposes." This act gave to actual settlers under the Connecticut title a pre-emption right to the lands claimed by them in the seventeen townships organized and established pre- vious to the Trenton decree. Under this act commis- sioners were appointed by the State to hear and deter- mine who were actual settlers, and to whom certificates should be given. Upon these certificates the titles to their lands were consummated. The early deeds con- veying lands within these towns generally contained a descriptive recital as follows : " It being lot No .- in the certified township of-, one of the seventeen townships of Luzerne county."

About 1771 Zebulon Marcy came from Pittston to this point, and Philip Buck and a Hollander named Adam Wortman also settled here, while John Secord built his cabin about two miles above what is now the village of Tunkhannock; and within a year or two families named Anguish, Ancre and Simmons settled along the west bank of the river. Wortman and others of the low Dutch settlers were tories during the Revolution. The fate of Wortman was that of a traitor, and was decided before the settlers left the valley, as related on page 51.

Events crowded thickly upon each other in those days, and in the spring of 1778 the settlers were forced to leave their homes and retire to the forts in Wyoming valley; and at Forty Fort nine days before the massacre, on June 24th, Sarah, a daughter of Zebulon Marcy, was born. With the Marcys at that place were the families of Increase and Samuel Billings. After the massacre all who had families removed to safer localities. In the flight a little son of Zebulon Marcy died, and was buried on Pocono mountain. Of the families who went to Dutchess county, N. Y., the Marcys and Billingses re- turned after Sullivan's expedition, and after the close of the war were active in the reorganization of the town- ship.

The stirring memories of the Revolution kept alive a military ardor that resulted in the formation of militia organizations. Just after the close of the war of 1812 we find Major Slocum, one of the earliest hotel keepers of Tunkhannock, clearing and "grubbing " a parade ground of forty acres for his regiment. General training was in vogue until 1838, when the last inspection was made.

The first merchants were George Miller and John McCord, who, from some point near Harrisburgh, in 1798 poled their first stock of goods up the river in canoes and afterward employed Durham boats. Miller & McCord established a shad fishery and opened a barter trade in these fish, which were plenty and cheap, a bushel of salt being considered a fair equivalent for one hundred of them. The firm took these fish to the Dutch settlements below, and later to Elmira, whence they were carted to Seneca lake, taken in boats to Geneva and distributed in central New York. McCord married Sarah Marcy, who was born in Forty Fort. He died at Tunkhannock about 1813, the owner of lot 13, on which a good part of the village now stands.

The Osterhout family seem to have settled here about 1775, as the name of Peter Osterhout appears on the roll of Captain Ransom's company as having enlisted January Ist, 1777. He was a brother of Jeremiah, who settled on the farm now owned by Jonathan Jenkins and Hon. John Jackson. The family were originally from Holland and retired from the valley during the war, returning with the Marcys. After Miller and Mc- Cord, Isaac Osterhout and Elijah Barnam kept a store at Tunkhannock until the death of Barnam. Osterhout married a daughter of Dr. William Hooker Smith. The next merchants were the Jewetts, John Buckingham, and Stephen, David, Thomas and Andrew King. From the close of the war of 1812 the Kings carried on an ex- tensive shipment of lumber, shingles and staves by arks and rafts to Baltimore for about seven years, the firm dis- solving in 1820, Thomas Butler King going to Georgia, where he afterward became a prominent member of Congress, and Andrew practicing law in Allentown.

Dr. Nathan Jackson, from Connecticut, in 1797 settled on the mountain between Tunkhannock and Osterhout's, married Unity Willard and practiced medicine many years. In 1820 he removed to Wilkes-Barre. His son Thomas became the leading physician of Binghamton, and the youngest son, Hon. John Jackson, who now lives on the old homestead where he was born, has been for many years one of Tunkhannock's leading citizens, and has been honored with the highest offices in the gift of the people of Wyoming county.

Among the more prominent of the old "proprietors " of Putnam was Increase Billings, who drew lot 23, on Tunkhannock creek, and settled there. His brother Sam- uel enlisted in Captain Ransom's company in 1777, for three years. His family were with the Marcys in Forty Fort. He finally settled them in the valley, came home on a sick furlough and died. One of his grandsons Ziba Billings, has been sheriff of the county, and is

530

HISTORY OF WYOMING COUNTY.

now one of the proprietors of the Packer House in Tunkhannock.

Solomon Avery came from Connecticut to the Wyo- ming valley at an early date. He was a son of Humphrey Avery, of Groton, Conn. His son Cyrus married Lydia, daughter of Zebulon Marcy. Solomon Avery was one of the first justices of the peace, and was also county audi- tor and treasurer of Luzerne county. His son Miles set- tled in Falls township, and his son Cyrus died in 1833, owner of the farm on which his father located.

The preachers of the last century were Newton Emmet and John Wilson, who settled in what is now Eaton. The first church edifice erected was that of the Presbyterian society.

One of the first school-houses in the township was built at La Grange about 1814. Hiram Lusk taught the school in 1815.

The development of a lumber country is necessarily slow, and so for the first half century of the township's existence a large portion of its inhabitants have been engaged in the manufacture, shipment and sale of its timber. Farming interests were neither early nor fully de- veloped. The only events that have seemed to favor their development have been the building of the North Branch Canal and the Lehigh Valley and Montrose railroads.

The post-offices in the township of Tunkhannock are La Grange, Dixon and Bardwell. They are of recent origin. The first named is served from the Tunkhannock borough office; the others by the Nicholson route, three times a week.

The population of the township was 1, 212 in 1870, and 1,354 in 1880.

TUNKHANNOCK BOROUGH.

UNKHANNOCK borough was organized in 1841, and the first charter election was held in September of that year, when John Montanye was elected chief burgess. The erection of the county buildings and the opening of the canal and railroad each gave an impetus to man- ufactures and business in general.

The first school-house was built and used for the double purpose of church and school. It stood opposite Dr. Keating's in " Limerick." It was built in 1816, and used until the present brick building was erected. Sallie .Kellogg was the first teacher. The number of schools re- ported by Superintendent Lee in 1877 was thirteen. .

The first hotel was built by John McCord, in 1811. Before the fire of 1850 a framed hotel occupied the site of the Piatt House. Old Fort Sumter was a feature that, with the Hufford House, disappeared in the flames of 1870. A large framed hotel, built by Carter Hickock in 1814, was the predecessor of Wall's, which was built by Henry Stark in 1844, and the Keeler House was erected

by Milo Keeler in 1874 on the site of the old Hufford. The Packer House was built by Ziba Billings in 1872, and is kept by Billings & Reynolds. The Warren Street Hotel was developed from a dwelling house by F. G. Os- terhout; and the Wyoming Valley House, a small framed building, completes the list. One of the most popular early hotels was built by Major Slocum in 1814. It now stands on Tioga above Slocum street, and is a private dwelling, the property of William Benedict.

In 1850 a fire destroyed the block running through from Bridge to Warren on the north side of Tioga street, involving a heavy loss. The great flood of March, 1865, swept away the two middle spans of the Tunkhannock bridge and carried off one or two small dwellings. Oc- tober 27th, 1870, a fire broke out in the stables of the Hufford House, which stood near where the Keeler House now stands, and destroyed twenty-two buildings, causing a loss of $100,000. The burned district is now covered by elegant and substantial brick blocks. Another good effect of the fire was a due appreciation of the value of a reliable water supply and fire department. An effort in favor of the latter resulted in the organization and equipment of the present efficient hose company. The population of the borough in 1870 was 953, and in 1880 1,117.

POST-OFFICES AND MAIL ROUTES. (

The post-office here was established April Ist, 1801, 1 and Isaac Slocum appointed postmaster. July Ist, 1811, Elijah Barnum was appointed; Charles Osterhout, No- vember 12th, 1812; John Buckingham, August 27th, 1817; Merritt Slocum, April 2nd, 1824; B. Tuttle, Janu- ary 20th, 1825; Henry Stark, September 23d, 1828; Samuel Stark 2nd, December 7th, 1836; William B. Moneypenny in January, 1841; Peter M. Osterhout in July of the same year; William Bolton, 1845; Nelson C. Martin and Charles E. Lathrop, 1849; John Brisbin and Jaines Kelley, 1853; George A. Chase and Alvin Day, 1857; Thomas A. Miller, 1861; William Burgess, 1865; Frank L. Sittzer, 1866; William Burgess and Charles J. Wright, 1867; Thomas A. Miller, 1869; Hiram W. Bard- well, 1874.

The first regular mail route was by a lumber wagon driven from Kingston to Painted Post, making one trip a week. After the completion of the Montrose turnpike mails were carried weekly from Tunkhannock to Mon- trose, thence to Great Bend and from there to Binghanı- ton, N. Y., the same carrier going through the entire distance, often on foot. To-day the office is in receipt of two New York and two Philadelphia mails daily, with stage mail routes embracing all points in the county. It is on Warren and Tioga streets.

THE PRESS.

The press of Tunkhannock has been practically that of the county; since, excepting two short-lived journals at Nicholson, the journalistic enterprise of Wyoming county has centered at this point.

---

JONATHAN JENKINS.

FISH POND

HOMESTEAD OF JABEZ JENKINS-RES. OF JONATHAN JENKINS, TUNKHANNOCK TP., WYOMING CO., PA

OLALERIN

ISL. BROWN

BOOKS

STATIONERY

OIL TANK

OFFICE

Barreling Room

No. 2 PUBLIC SQUARE

OFFICE AT THE WORKS

S . L. BROWN & CO.

WHOLESALE DEALER IN

LUBRICATING, MINERS and REFINED OILS

OTIS

S.L.BROWN & CO.

S. L. BROWN & COS, OIL WAREHOUSES, WILKES-BARRE, PA.

S.L.BROWN & Co

531

NEWSPAPERS OF TUNKHANNOCK-BUSINESS ESTABLISHMENTS.

The Wyoming Patrol and Republican Standard was established by Bolton & Lee, and the first number was issued Thursday, May 19th, 1841. It was a six-column sheet and not remarkable for energy as a news-gatherer, but was delivered to subscribers in the outlying towns by means of a carrier on horseback.

About 1855 Dr. John V. Smith edited the North Branch Democrat. Alvin Day published the paper from 1857 until 1860, and then sold it to B. B. Emory, who changed its name to the Intelligencer and converted it politically, but discontinued it to take a government position at Washington.

The Tiffany Brothers started in 1860 the Wyoming Republican. This venture was finally abandoned.

The Intelligencer was succeeded by the Wyoming Democrat in 1861, Edward Kitchen publishing the first three numbers and then disposing of it to Harvey Sickler, who was succeeded in 1871 by Alvin & John Day, the first of whom is the present editor in chief. During Mr. Day's administration the paper has been enlarged from a seven to a nine column page and its circulation increased by the addition of 500 new subscribers. It is ably con- ducted and a credit to the party whose organ it is. In March, 1880, Charles F. Terry, a young lawyer, was ad- mitted to partnership in its publication, the firm now being Day & Terry.

In 1869 the Tunkhannock Republican arose from the ashes of its predecessor, under the management of Perry Marcy, as an organ of temperance and Republicanism. In 1873 A. F. Yost, the acting editor, formed a partner- ship with Mr. Furman and leased the paper. The firm was subsequently dissolved and Mr. Furman conducted the paper until 1875, when Mr. Marcy again took charge, in order to support the prohibition State ticket and op- pose the election of Hartranft for governor. In Janu- ary, 1876, he retired, and sold the business to Cyrus D. Camp. Under the progressive and vigorous management of the present proprietor, and his adherance to the party principles, the Republican party has been united and strengthened, the circulation of the paper doubled, and, enlarged by the addition of a supplement, it now claims to be " the largest paper published in Wyoming county."

In 1876 the Nicholson Standard was removed to this place by its founder, E. L. Day, and in March, 1879, con- verted into an independent Democratic paper, edited by John L. Garmon. During the year he disposed of it to Bacon & Son, who have enlarged it from a six-column folio to a quarto of the same number of columns per page, and now claims the largest circulation in the place.

MERCANTILE, MANUFACTURING AND BANKING IN- TERESTS.

Draper Billing's, successor to Phillips & Billings, oc- cupies a fine brick building on Bridge street, erected by him after the burning of his store in 1870. Osterhout & Wheelock, in the new brick block opposite Billings, al- though only in operation since 1879, are among the lead- ing houses in their display of general merchandise. The clothing house of Barham, Bogart & Co. was founded by

Henry Barham in 1851. In 1865 C. P. Miller was ad- mitted, and he retired in 1879, E. P. Bogart and H. A. Barham (a son of the senior partner) being then admit- ted. The store and shops of this firm are on Tioga street, and their business is extensive. The manufacturing is done under the personal supervision of Henry Barham. Mills & Billings's extensive hardware store occupies the corner of Warren and Tioga streets. This firm succeeds O. S. Mills & Co., who founded the business in 1866. The new firm of Bogart, Degnan & Co. is in the Bunnell block, on Warren street, and consists of H. Wells Bogart, Joseph Degnan and Frank C. Bunnell. Mrs. B. B. Bed- ford, whose elegant brick building is one of the features of Tioga street, is the leading dealer in millinery goods and ladies' furnishing goods. F. M. Winans, Pic- ture Frame Manufacturer on Bridge street, deals in frames, cornices and upholsterers' supplies. George W. Gray's Bakery and Confectionery Establishment is one of the oldest concerns in the place. Mr. Gray succeeded his father in business. The Excelsior Drug Store of S. S. Hatfield, on Tioga street, is a widely known and ably managed pharmacy, Mr. Hatfield being a practical chemist of considerable experience. In ad- dition to these, there are a co-operative grocery store, the dry-goods stores of J. G. Leighton. A. B. Mott, Stark and F. L. Sittzer, and a boot and shoe store kept by J. K. Slausson; three drinking saloons, two tobacco stores and three millinery shops and the drug stores of Samuel Stark and Doctor Chase. Gerhart's Machine Shops are the successor of the foundry built by Cyrus Avery in 1840, which, after passing through several hands, became the property of Hon. C. D. Gearhart in 1850. He made ex- tensive additions to its buildings and machinery and car- ries on a considerable business in making railroad cast- ings, circular saw-mills, stoves and agricultural machin- ery, among his customers being the Lehigh Valley and Montrose Railway Companies. The shops employ fif- teen men and add materially to the business of the vil- lage. The Tunkhannock Tannery was established in 1866 by the Palen Brothers. It is now the property of H. G. Lapham & Co., of New York city. The local heads of the establishment are Rufus P. Northrop, tanner, and William C. Kittredge, outside manager. The present ca- pacity of the tannery is 30,000 hides or 60,000 sides of leather per annum, being an increase of one third over former years, and at this writing it is intended to be still farther enlarged, especially the "beam house " by one- third, and by other important additions and improve- ments. The tine required for tanning is five months. None but the very best "green salted, city slaughtered" hides-those from heavy and superior cattle-are used, being shipped from New York; and the leather (trade mark " Union Crop ") manufactured ranks in the market as A 1, without any superior, and is used exclusively for soles of the finest quality of boots and shoes. Six thou- sand tons of bark are yearly required in the work, forty- five men are employed, and the amount of money annu- ally expended in Tunkhannock and vicinity alone ex- ceeds $60,000, while the sales foot up over $450,000.

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History of Luzerne, Lackawanna, and Wyoming counties, Pa.; with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of their prominent men and pioneers, Part 172

Author: Munsell, W.W., & Co., New York Publication date: 1880 Publisher: New York, W.W. Munsell & co. Number of Pages: 900

Author: Munsell, W.W., & Co., New York
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: New York, W.W. Munsell & co.
Number of Pages: 900