History of Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, Part 81

Author: edited by John F. Meginness
Publication date: 1892
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : Brown, Runk
Number of Pages: 1650

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Lumbering .- From the earliest times lumbering has been the most active industry on Pine creek and its tributaries. At the mouth of Trout run there is a steam saw mill run by Drake, Landrus, & Company. There is a railroad about five miles long up this stream which is furnished with a locomotive and cars. It is a log road and is operated by Francis Deloy, an extensive jobber. Opposite the mouth of Cedar run John S. Tomb & Son operate a steam saw mill on a large scale, and James H. Weed & Company have a large mill at the mouth of Slate run. This firm has a railroad equipped with locomotive and cars, running back into the forest about sixteen miles, which they use for hauling logs to their mill. At the mouth of Jacob's run Wood & Childs have a steam saw mill which they operate on a large scale also.

Villages .- Several thrifty villages have grown up on Pine creek, in Brown town-

Ing.by J.R. Rice & Smě, Phila

O. H. Randall

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CUMMINGS TOWNSHIP.

ship, mainly through the lumbering operations, which received a great impetus by the opening of the railroads a few years ago. Cedar and Slate Runs, as towns, show considerable prosperity, and travelers passing through on the railroad never fail to admire the neat appearance of the dwellings of the people and the evidences of thrift to be seen on every hand. The scenery is bold and picturesque, and in many places the mountains approach a degree of rugged grandeur that is startling to the stranger.

At Slate Run, the Slate Run Lodge, No. 1028, I. O. O. F., was instituted a few years ago, and has a good membership.

Postoffices. - There are two postoffices in Brown township, Cedar and Slate Run. The Cedar Run office was opened December 13, 1853, and Lucius Truman was appointed postmaster. His successors have been Joseph Sofield, appointed August 2, 1858; Dudley A. Fish, June 9, 1862; George H. Abrams, July 16, 1864; Enoch Lloyd, September 7, 1864; Ichabod C. Brown, December 18, 1874; Miss Carry Brown, March 10, 1884; John G. Scarborough, February 9, 1886; George A. Gam- ble, present incumbent, March 26, 1889.

The office at Slate Run was established January 23, 1885, and Rosa C. Tome appointed postmaster. Grant A. Rodman, the present incumbent, succeeded her August 7, 1889.

A postoffice called Hilborn was established March 26, 1886, on the west side of Pine creek, and Mrs. Mary A. Gamble was appointed postmaster. As the business was small the office was discontinued in 1891.

Churches and Schools .- The first religious exercises were held at the house of Jacob Lamb, in 1805, by Rev. William Hay. A church was erected the same year near "Rattlesnake Rock," which was open to all denominations. In 1849-50 a church was built by the Baptists near Cedar Run, which is still in a flourishing condition. There is another Baptist church on the west side of Pine creek, called Hilburn, near the residence of Jacob Gamble. The Methodists have one at Slate Run, making three in the township.

The first school was opened and taught by John Campbell, a Scotchman, at Black Walnut Bottom in 1806, and tradition says that he taught seven days in the week. The same year a school house was erected. To-day there are six school houses in the township, viz: Childs, Trout Run, Cedar Run, Mount Ferns, Hilburn, and Slate Run. The report for 1891 shows six months taught.

CUMMINGS TOWNSHIP.

This township was organized in 1832, out of territory taken from Mifflin and Brown, and named Cummings, after John Cummings, who was one of the associate judges at the time. The survey was made by Solomon Bastress, of Jersey Shore, and to give the reader an idea of its size at the time, its boundaries are condensed from the survey:

Beginning on the east bank of Pine creek. about three and one-fourth miles from its mouth, thence to a beech on Bear run, partly by Jackson township to the supposed line of Tioga county, about 110 perches east of the first fork and main branch of Pine creek, seventeen miles from its mouth; thence to the Jersey Shore and Coudersport turnpike, southward by the same to Pine creek, southeast corner of Campbell and Nichol's line. crossing the creek and down the same to the place of beginning.

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HISTORY OF LYCOMING COUNTY.

Cummings is still a very large township, being the third in size in the county, containing an area of 41,600 acres, with 422 inhabitants by the censes of 1890. Its boundaries at the present time are as follows: On the east, Muffin and Cogan House; on the north, Pine and McHenry; on the west, Clinton county, and on the south, Watson. Pine creek runs through the center of the township, with Little Pine creek flowing from the northeast as its principal tributary. On the west are Upper and Lower Pine Bottom runs, with Ramsey's run on the east. The first fork of Larry's creek also heads in the township. The principal tributaries of Little Pine creek on the east are English run. McKee's run. and Carson run.

It consists of Red Catskill (No. IX) along the valleys of the streams, upon the side hills, and on their tops. Next occur Poco rocks (No. XI) occupying the tops of the eroded hills, and the faces of the first benches of the mountains, above which (No. IX) occurs on Puterbaugh mountain, west of Big Pine creek, between Big and Little Pine Bottom runs, and along the Jersey Shore and Condersport turnpike. Above this occurs Pottsville conglomerate (No. XII) along the pike, where prob- ably some of the lowest coal beds may exist, where there is sufficient dip of the conglomerates to bring in the measures.

There are some good quarries of flag and building stone along Pine creek; good iron ore and fire clay occur in several places in the township, but there has been no mining.

The surface of a large portion of the township is rough and mountainous, with bold and picturesqne scenery along both branches of Pine creek. There are some good farms along the valleys of these streams.

Survey and Settlement .- The first survey made in the township was lottery war- rant No. 20, granted to James Strawbridge May 17, 1785, for 311 acres at the junction of the first forks of Pine creek. This land was conveyed by Strawbridge to Alexander McDowell, for whom the survey was made September 13, 1786.

John English is claimed to have been the first settler. He located on the largest of a cluster of islands in the creek, which contained twenty-seven acres and ninety- two perches, nearly twelve miles above its month. This was in 1784. He and his brother James had served in the Revolutionary army. having entered it in 1778. Immediately on the close of the war they came here in search of a place to settle. They were of Irish origin. John English had married Fannie, daughter of Clau- dius Boatman, the previous year, and she accompanied him to the new settlement. The country was extremely wild at that time and it required some nerve to settle in what was in every respect a "howling wilderness." The Seneca Indians, whose country was less than a hundred miles north, frequently came here to hunt and fish. and parties of them passed his cabin almost daily.

John English and his wife Fannie reared a large family. Their son Claudius was the first child born on this part of the creek. This was some time in 17S5. He lived near the place of his birth until 1829. William, another son, occupied the island until 1832. Sarah, a daughter. married Thomas Ramsey, and they settled abont two miles from the island homestead. At her home her father ended his long life of ninety-four. She died in 1874.

James, the younger brother of John English, settled abont three miles up Little Pine creek in 1809 and made some improvements, for which he obtained a warrant

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CUMMINGS TOWNSHIP.

for 219 acres and eighty-five perches June 10, 1816, and on the 20th of the follow- ing Angust it was surveyed to him. James English and wife spent their lives here and reared a large family. He was a man noted for his integrity and exemplary habits, and did much during his life time to advance the interests of his locality. He built a grist and two saw mills, the ruins of which may still be seen. He died in 1855. Numerous descendants of the two brothers still live in the Pine Creek regions, while others have scattered over the country.

Industries .- Owing to the abundance of pine timber on the creek bottoms and the mountains, lumbering was the earliest and leading industry. The first saw mill was built by Capt. Christian Stake three-fourths of a mile up Little Pine creek about 1792. It rotted away and a new mill was erected on its site in 1828 by Will- iam Watson, and it was subsequently owned by John Slonaker, of Jersey Shore.

In 1815 a mill was built on Upper Pine Bottom run by Michael Brednack, which did a small jobbing business. A new mill was erected on Pine Bottom run in 1817. It passed into the hands of George and Jacob Myers, who operated it for more than twenty years. Their lumber was floated to market in rafts. Robert Carson built a mill about 1838 seven miles up Little Pine creek. Two miles below him another mill was built about the same time.

About 1836 a mill was built at the mouth of Little Pine creek by Gates & Wil- cox, which was subsequently converted into a gang .mill, and later a grist mill was attached. This mill was operated on a large scale for many years and much lumber was manufactured. It afterwards became the property of James M. and Michael Wolf, of Waterville. They also improved the grist mill and were doing a prosperous business when the great flood of June 1, 1889, came and destroyed everything. About 1824 a mill was built at the mouth of Ramsey's run by Thomas Ramsey, son- in-law of John English, Sr., which was carried on for many years. There is neither saw nor grist mill in the township now.

A furnace to manufacture pig iron was erected on Upper Pine Bottom run in 1814 by Mark Slonaker, Benjamin and Henry Tomb, John Fisher, George Tomb, Solomon Bastress, and Phillip Krebbs. Iron ore had been developed near the Cou- dersport turnpike. The hauling of the ore to the furnace, however, proved too costly to enable the company to realize a profit, as it required from one to two days to get a load of ore from the mines to the furnace. Supplies also had to be hauled fifteen miles over steep mountains. These difficulties proved too great for the com- pany, and after struggling along until about 1817, and losing nearly $7,000, they gave up the enterprise. The ruins of the old furnace were visible for many years.

Waterville .- The village of Waterville, at the junction of Little Pine creek with the main stream, was settled early but grew slowly until the advent of the railroad. It contains two stores, a hotel, and a number of pleasant dwellings. The Wolf Brothers did much to start the village on the highway of progress, until stricken by the disastrous flood of 1889.

Henry M. Wolf was among the early settlers, long before a village was thought of. His father, Michael Wolf, came from Berks county in the beginning of this century, settled in Brush valley, and cleared a farm. In 1817 he removed to Pine creek and located at Crist's mill, two miles from the mouth. There he remained until his death in 1858. Among the children of Michael Wolf was Henry M. Wolf,

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HISTORY OF LYCOMING COUNTY.

now living at Wellsboro in his seventy-eighth year. In 1837 he married Mary Gamble, of Pine creek, and the union was blessed with seven sons and two daugh- ters. Soon after marriage Mr. Wolf settled at Waterville, where he remained until a few years ago. Five of his sons served in the war. One, Andrew, was killed, and Oliver was wounded at Fredericksburg. James M., afterwards sheriff of the county, served as first lieutenant of Company I, One Hundred and Thirty-first regiment. When peace was restored he settled at Waterville and formed a partnership with his brother Michael, under the firm name of J. M. & M. Wolf, and they operated extensively as lumbermen until 1889, when their mills were destroyed by the great flood. Another brother, John G., is postmaster of Waterville. Oliver is an exten- sive lumberman and lives near Antes Fort.

Waterville is a postvillage. The postoffice was established February 22, 1849, and Abraham Harris was appointed postmaster. His successors have been Jere- miah H. Callahan, appointed May 9, 1854; John H. Bitter, August 9, 1855; Joseph Bitter, February 21, 1857; William T. Jones, March 11, 1859; Jacob Weaver, March 21, 1860; Miss Ellen Harris, March 7, 1863; John G. Wolf, August 17, 1875. He is the present incumbent.

English Mills .- The next postoffice is at English Mills, on Little Pine creek, where James English originally settled. It was established September 25, 1872, and Stephen English was appointed postmaster. He is still in office.

Ramseyville .- An office was established at Ramsey's, below Waterville, January 8, 1889, and named Ramseyville. George A. Ramsey was appointed postmaster, and he still holds the office.

Paducohi. - There are some eligible locations in this township for summer cottages. In 1886 four gentlemen of Williamsport-F. W. Page, J. B. Duble, E. A. Cornell, and J. C. Hill-united for the purpose of building a cottage on Pine creek, a short distance above Waterville, where they could take their families during the summer months for rest and recreation. A pleasant site was selected and a comfortable yet inexpensive building was erected, where, without being subjected to the annoyance, expense, and conventionalities of fashionable resorts, each family is enabled to spend a few weeks of the season with comfort, pleasure, and profit, sur- rounded by pure air and beautiful mountain scenery, and in sight of passing trains on the Fall Brook railroad. The cottage is uamed Paducohi, a title as appropriate as it is odd. When the question of selecting a name came up Miss Mable C. Duble suggested that by combining the two first letters of the last names of Page, Duble, Cornell, and Hill, a title could be produced wholly unlike any other known. Her suggestion was adopted and the cottage was named Paducohi.

Churches .- The first church was built here and dedicated by Rev. Gideon H. Day in July, 1850. Mr. Day was an active, enterprising minister of the Methodist Episcopal church. Religious meetings, however, were held in the township as early as 1805, at the house of John English, by Rev. John Thomas, the pioneer of Meth- odism in this region. Rev. Timothy Lee, another ardeut worker, conducted meet- ings here in 1809. The present church was built by the people as a Methodist Episcopal place of worship, with a clause in the deed that it should be free to all Protestant denominations when not in use by the Methodists. The Baptists and Methodists have preaching services on alternate Sundays. The Methodists also have preaching services in the East Hill and Carson school houses.

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PINE TOWNSHIP.

Schools .- The first school in the township was taught by Robert Young in 1806 at the First Fork. He was a man of great piety and noted for his strong advocacy of temperance. The first school house erected exelusively for that purpose was on the main creek, one and a quarter miles below Waterville, in 1828. There are now five in the township, named as follows: Waterville, Ramsey, English Mill, Carson, and East Hill. The report for 1891 shows an average of six months taught by five female teachers at $28 per month.

PINE TOWNSHIP.

This township was organized from territory taken from Brown, Cummings, and Cogan House townships. On a petition for division being presented in 1856, the court appointed James Wilson, W. H. Miller, and Robert Crane as viewers. They reported favorably, and on November 18, 1856, the report was confirmed nisi. In the meantime a meeting of citizens was held at the Kingston House, English Centre, and a resolution that the new township might be called Kingston was passed. The resolution seems to have had no weight, for the report of the viewers was confirmed absolute January 27, 1857, and the new township named Pine, because of the heavy forests of pine timber which covered its surface.

Pine is the first in size in the county and contains 48,640 acres. By the census of 1890 the population was 901. It is bounded on the east by Jackson and Cogan House, on the north by Tioga county, ou the west by Brown and McHenry, and on the south by Cummings and Cogan House.

The immense territory embraced by this township is very wild and mount- ainous, and until within a few years contained primitive forests. It contains about three-fourths of what is known as the Weightman or Pine Creek coal basin, which is composed of formations (Nos. XI, XII, and XIII). Among these occur quite a large area of the mountain plateau lands, being mostly (No. XI) red shale.

There is an area of valley plateau red shade (No. IX) lands at Oregon Hill, of considerable extent, and 1,650 feet above tide, which, with the narrow bottoms along the streams, makes a considerable extent of farm land outside of the coal basin.

The corustone marl (No. IX) occurs at the mouth of Otter run, some seven feet in thickness. A trial was made of it as an agricultural lime, but it was found to con- tain too much iron and wasnot successful. A specimen near this was found to con- tain bismuth. Copper shales occur at quite a number of places along Little Pine creek in thin seams and pockets near these deposits of calcareous breccia or corustone. Chlorite slates from one to twelve inches thick are also associated with these deposits, and are more or less colored green with the salts of copper. Just above English Centre a deposit of this kind extends for five or ten rods among the rocks above the public road, in the narrows on the west side of the creek; and there is another deposit three miles below the village on the east side.

Large areas of iron ore, fire clays, and coal occur in this township. The coal basin is the largest yet undeveloped in this county. (See general chapter on geology.) There are some good building and flagstone found at various places.

The surface of Pine township is mostly mountainous in the southern and central parts, and rolling in the northern part. The glacial moraine occupied the greater portion of the township. It occurs with characteristic knob-like hills, holding

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HISTORY OF LYCOMING COUNTY.

kettle holes, one and a fourth miles south of Oregon Hill, with swamps on the very summit of the mountain, about 1,900 feet above the sea. The moraine appears to leave Lycoming county in the northwest corner of Pine township.

Pine township is well watered. Little Pine creek runs through the eastern part and falls into the main creek at Waterville. Its course is through a deep and wild ravine, up which a road runs to English Centre. The scenery is bold and picturesque; the mountains are lofty and impress the traveler with their grandeur and beauty. The great flood of June 1, 1889, tore through this ravine with terrific force, destroying fine bottom farm lands by covering them with sand and stones, sweeping away fences, bridges, mills, and houses, leaving utter desolation behind. The principal tributaries of Little Pine creek on the east are Callahan's run, En - glish run, Lick run, Bear run, Block House fork, Wolf run, Rock run, and Crooked creek; on the west side, Otter run, with Buckeye branch, Pine run, Bonnell run, Four Mile run, and Hews run, flowing northeastward from Oregon Hill. In the northwestern corner rises Trout run, which flows through Brown township and empties into main Pine creek.

Although many saw mills were once operated in the township there are none now. Neither are there any grist mills. Considerable lumbering is yet done, but it consists in cutting the timber into logs and floating them to the boom at Williams- port to be manufactured. In this industry a large number of men are employed by the jobbers.

A Seminary in the Wilderness .- The first survey within the present limits of the township was lottery warrant No. 55, to Ludwig Karcher, dated May 17, 1785, calling for 419 acres, including the first fork of Pine creek. The land was sur- veyed during August, 1785, and patented October 28, 1788. The first permanent settlement was made by John Norris, who located on lands covered by warrant 1598, surveyed by Hughes & Fisher, about nineteen miles above the mouth of Little Pine creek on the west bank of the same, where the hamlet of Texas is situated. Norris settled here in 1800. He had no family but a wife and an adopted son, who afterwards took up his residence in Wellsboro. A small saw mill was built by Norris about 1803. It was a primitive affair, but served to furnish the few settlers in that region with lumber. At the same time Philip Moore, another pioneer, built a grist mill, which also served a useful purpose, as there was no other mill nearer than that of Col. Henry Antes, near Jersey Shore. Moore appears to have been a man of enterprise. About the time he built his mill he erected a large two-story frame house, divided into four square rooms below, and otherwise arranged for a dwelling. At that day such a building was looked upon as a great improve- ment in that wilderness region, attracted much attention, and called forth many curious remarks.

John Norris was a man of education. In 1806 he leased the house from Moore and turned it into a female seminary, he and his wife serving as teachers. This was a bold venture, but it proved eminently successful. There being no other school of the kind in this part of northern Pennsylvania, parents who were able to educate their daughters placed them in charge of Mr. and Mrs. Norris, and the result was that some of the best young ladies of that day were educated at the wilderness seminary. Among them may be mentioned the following: Ann Black-

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well, afterwards the wife of Benjamin Lamb; Hannah Blackwell, wife of Henry Lamb; Maria Davidson, daughter of Dr. James Davidson, the Revolutionary sur- geon, who settled near Jersey Shore; Elizabeth Burrows, of Montoursville, who became the wife of Tunison Coryell, of Williamsport; Jane Morrison, afterward married to Samuel Morrison, a namesake; Priscilla Morrisou, married to Thomas Martin, and Elizabeth Porter, who remained single. There were others, doubtless, but their names have not been preserved.

The Norris Seminary was reached by the State road, which had been opened a few years before from Newberry to Painted Post. It was regarded as an impor- tant thoroughfare at that day, and there was a great deal of travel over it-in fact, it was the main route to Wellsboro and the settlements beyond.

" The English Settlement."-It was in this township that the colony known as the "English Settlement" was founded soon after the beginning of the century, and suffered great hardships. The country was wild and inhospitable. Heavy timber covered the hills and there was no cleared land. The history of that affair, which was little less than criminal on the part of the prime mover, is as follows:

In 1805, Rev. John Hey, of the Independent Church of England, as he styled himself, was living in Philadelphia. He was an Englishman by birth. At that time there was a great rage to found colonies by those who had acquired large hodies of land. Men of means, it seems, were not content with a few hundred acres, but they sought to own tens of thousands. . This desire was largely begotten by the example of Robert Morris, Phelps & Gorham, and others, to own nearly the entire northern part of the State, and the southwestern part of New York. Land was cheap, and they imagined they saw immense wealth in these vast landed possessions.

Rev. John Hey became imbued with the same ideas, and becoming acquainted with Colonel Kingsbury, agent for Samuel W. Fisher, and others, who owned thousands of acres of wild land, conceived the idea of purchasing a large body of land for the purpose of founding a colony. Fisher was a merchant in Philadelphia. A bargain was struck and June 12, 1805, Fisher and those interested with him in the ownership of 110,859 acres (See Deed Book F, page 195), conveyed to Hey the following named fifteen tracts in consideration of $21,757: Lenox, Wheatfield, Bethlehem, Auburn, Maple Bottom, Pine Grove, Mexico, Fertility, Hampstead, Vermont, Brighton, Fairfield, Hickory Grove, Beech Plain, and Richelieu, each containing 990 acres, making a total of 14,820 acres, at a cost of about $1.47 an acre.

Having acquired this large body of land Rev. John Hey visited Haven Parish, England, for the purpose of inducing a colony of his countrymen to emigrate and settle on these lands. He painted to them in glowing language the beauty of the virgin country; how he would sell them lands at a small advance on the cost. and they could in a few years clear them and found comfortable homes. He succeeded in inducing the following parties to emigrate: Enoch Blackwell, Mr. Sherborn, Mr. Wells, Henry Hews, Jabez Hay, Joshua Blackwell, Peter Blackwell, Joseph Maggs, John Crook, William Blackwell, Nathaniel Blackwell, and Joshua Blackwell. Enoch Blackwell, Sherborn, and Wells preceded the others, who soon followed. All these emigrants, when they arrived here in 1806, made their way to Williamsport and

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History of Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, Part 81

Author: edited by John F. Meginness Publication date: 1892 Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : Brown, Runk Number of Pages: 1650

Author: edited by John F. Meginness
Publication date: 1892
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : Brown, Runk
Number of Pages: 1650