USA > Pennsylvania > Sullivan County > History of Sullivan County, Pennsylvania > Part 11
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55
George W. Yonkin was born in Wyahus- ing, Bradford county, Pennsylvania, Octo- ber 30, 1836, and remained with his parents until seventeen years of age, when he en- tered the employ of Colonel G. F. Mason, with whom he remained two years. He then went to Southport, where he worked one year for Lewis Miller, at the end of that time returning to Bradford county, where he was in the employ of William A. Parks for six years, most of this time being spent in lumber camps. Later he purchased from Mr. Ward, sixty-five acres of land, of which he immediately cleared eleven acres, and built a small frame house. He soon brought his farm into good shape and by industry and perseverance he made it productive and profitable. In 1862 he came to Sullivan county, and in 1878 he built his present residence, a camfortable house of two stories. He is popular in his neigh- borhood and has served two terms as path-
-
82 J
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY.
master. He is a member of the Reformed Lutheran church and in politics is a Demo- crat. Mr. Yonkin was married July 21, 1861, at Le Roy, Pennsylvania, to Miss Mary J. Sweeney, and of this union three children have been born. Emily married Lloyd McCarthy, and lives at Dushore, Pennsylvania; G. Addison, who married Miss Vernie Zaner, is a farmer in Cherry township; John married Miss Agnes Lutzel- man, and keeps a tavern in Lopez, Sullivan county.
Mrs. Yonkin is a daughter of John and Mary (Conners) Sweeney, and was born in county Clare, Ireland, December 10, 1841. Her parents came to America in 1852, settling in Canton, Bradford county, Penn- sylvania, where her father followed his trade as a shoemaker, He died in that city in November, 1875, aged sixty-three years, his wife surviving until 1888, when she, too, passed away, at the ripe old age of seventy- three years. Their remains are interred in Towanda, Pennsylvania. The children of this worthy couple were: Mary J., wife of our subject; Bridget, who became the wife of Thomas Carmedy, of Bernice, Pennsyl- vania; John, living in Tioga county, Penn- sylvania; Ella and James, who died in child- hood; James, employed in the state library at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; and Anna, who died at an early age. The paternal grand- parents of Mrs. Youkin were Charles and Hannah Sweeney, who spent their entire lives in their native country, Ireland. Her maternal grandparents, also, were natives of Ireland.
Mr. and Mrs. Yonkin are pleasantly situated, and are enjoying the results of their early years of labor and care. They are interested in all the public movements of the day and give their aid to all worthy ob- jects.
G EORGE LOWE CAMPBELL .- This is the age of marvelous accomplish- ments in subduing the giant forces of elec- tricity to the use of man. A great number of distinguished men have come into being as notable inventors, who are now promi- ent among those whom science and wealth delight to honor, and the names of Morse and Bell, of Brush and Edison, of Tesla and and Roentgen are familiar to all as leading spirits of the electrical world. It has, how- ever, apparently come to Sullivan county to produce an invention in this line second to none in practical utility and the useful ap- plication of electricity to the wants of to- day. A sketch of the inventor and what he has accomplished is fittingly placed on the pages of the history of his native county.
George Lowe Campbell, the inventor of the Campbell System of Electric Traction, was born at Hillsgrove, Sullivan county, Penn- sylvania, on May 28, 1866, the son of John C. and Margaret M. Campbell, of Highland Scotch origin. (See sketch of John C. Campbell on another page of this volume.) From 1868, when his parents moved to Williamsport, this state, until 1890, when he returned to this invigorating region in quest of health. Mr. Campbell did not inake his home here. Attending the public schools of Williamsport until he was thirteen years old, he then left school to enter the employ of the Central Pennsylvania Telephone & Supply Company. He gave his steady at- tention for four years to the telephone and electric-light work, and then passed two years in special studies at home. Remov- ing to Washington, District of Columbia, he there engaged in newspaper work, which he successively and successfully conducted in Washington, Rochester and Buffalo, New York, and Marion, Indiana. He rep- resented the Pittsburg Pennsylvania Press
-
NOTHING MISSING
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY.
87
during the exciting period of the Homestead strike and riots. His health failing, he re- turned to Sullivan county and spent three years at Eagle's Mere and in western Sulli- van, finally locating permanently in Dushore. He now turned his attention again to elec- tricty and brought his special knowledge of that science into practical utility and in- vented the Campbell Electric Bulletin and System of Telegraphy, and organized a com- pany for its development. He is also the inventor of an auto-electric semaphore known as the Automatic Rock-Cut Signal System. In all of these inventions Mr. Campbell has developed new and startling principles, the application of which enables him to produce results long desired and sought after, but which, until his ideas were brought into tangible form, no one had reached.
Of one of his inventions the Commer- cial and Financial World says: "The Campbell system of electric traction is well described as the simplest, best and most economical system yet invented for the propulsion of cars, street railways,, elevated railroads and tramways. It has so few working parts and is so solidly constructed that the chances for accident are reduced to a minimum. " This system has been sub- mitted to the judgment of experts and prac- tical street railway men who have had ex- perience in underground trolley work, and their unanimous opinion is that this is a system posessing absolutely none of the faults of the other magnetic or third-rail systems, and having many advantages peculiary its own. The great objection to other systems is their multiplicity of parts, separate contacts, switches, etc. As the Campbell system dispenses with all such mechanism, it is entirely free from such ob- jections. Mr. Campbell is the present 11
manager of the Campbell Electric Traction Company of Towanda, Pennsylvania, incor- porated to introduce this invention.
He has also well under way other valu- able inventions, among which is a printing telegraph, which can be constructed very simply and at a slight expense compared with the enormous cost of former instru- ments of that kind. Experiments made with it indicate that it will print a message, not one at both ends of the line as trans- mitted by the operator, but by as many like instruments as may, be connected with the transmitting wire. This invention. may eventually revolutionize telegraphy as it en- ables one to send a message, whether there is an operator at the other end of the wire or not, for the message will be clearly printed and await the operator's coming, if he be absent.
Mr. Campbell is yet a young man. He has a quick, active temperament, in which brain predominates. As a consequence he is never quiet. His temperament has been classed by phrenologists as "mental motive." When not otherwise engaged he is occupied in literary work, in which he wields a facile pen. He has written a number of humor- ous and descriptive sketches that have ap- peared in New York and Philadelphia papers, and is the author of a novel with local color entitled, "A Champion of Amateurs, " now in process of publication by a New York pub- lishing house.
Mr. Campbell was married in Williams- port, Pennsylvania, in 1879, to Miss Reba J. Sanders. They have had six children, of whom four, three sons and a daughter, are now living, the eldest being eleven years of age. Mr. Campbell's permanent home he has made at Dushore, on account of the rare healthfulness of this region, and here he is contemplating developing a beautiful
1
88
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY.
country seat on a hill overlooking the little valley in which nestles the pleasant village. He is a pleasant, genial companion, and his many friends wish him all the success that his future now promises.
H ON. JOHN YONKIN .- Prominent among the well known, thrifty and honored citizens of Cherry township, the gentleman whose name heads this sketch deserves more then a passing notice. His ancestors came to. this country almost a century ago, and they and their descendants, seemingly unaffected by the fever of change which draws so many to seek the far west. have always been loyal to the Quaker state. Mr. Yonkin himself has remained a faithful son of his native state and county, being born September 26, 1829, in Cherry town- ship, where his iong and busy life has been spent. He is the son of Henry and Barbre (Hartzigg) Yonkin, who were born at Havre, France, and in Switzerland, respectively. A brief sketch of the grandparents on both sides will be of interest to all readers of this biographical work, and is herewith presented. Henry and Elizabeth (Hartzigg) Yonkin were natives of Hesse-Cassel, Ger- many, and came to America in 1807. Prior to sailing on their long journey,-as it was considered in those days, -sonie trouble arose which caused them to be de- tained for a year before they could start. This delay, added to the rascally conduct of the captain of the vessel, who took advant- age of their youth and ignorance of travel to swindle them out of their smal! capital, caused their funds to be entirely exhausted by the time they reached the shores of the new world, and, in accordance with a custom prevailing in those days, upon land- ing they were sold to a farmer at Bethlehem
to pay for their passage. They remained with this man for several years, then lived in different parts of the state until 1823, when they removed to Cherry township, Sullivan county, which was then a part of Lycoming county. Here Mr. Yonkin pur- chased seventy-five acres of wild land, for which he paid two dollars per acre, made a clearing and built a log cabin. He followed farming and also worked as a wheelwright, and in the course of time became a well- to-do and prominent citizen of his locality. His family consisted of seven children: Henry, father of our subject; John, who married Miss Mary Lavenverg; Elizabeth, now the widow of Henry Graifley, of Cherry township; Catherine, wife of Christian Mozier; Joseph, who married Lucretia Hoffa; Jacob, living in Cherry township, whose wife, Elizabeth Moyer, is deceased; Peter, deceased, whose wife, Catherine Suber, survives himn.
Mr. Yonkin and his wife were members of the Lutheran church, and in politics he was a Democrat. He died in June, 1851. at the age of seventy-seven years. His last words to his wife were: "I wish you the good luck to live ten years more," which wish was fulfilled, his beloved compan- ion dying just ten years later, in 1861, aged eighty-six years. Both were buried in the Lutheran cemetery in Cherry township.
On the maternal side the grandparents of our subject were John and Catherine (Shiredecker) Hartzigg, natives of Switzer- land, who came to America in 1813 and set- tled in New Jersey, removing later to that portion of Muncy township, Lycoming county, now Cherry township, Sullivan county. Here Mr. Hartzigg carried on farming and also worked as a wheelwright. Once in their early settlement here Mr. Hartzigg was taken very ill. A physician
89
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY.
must be consulted and medicine obtained. To do this Mrs. Hartzigg walked forty miles in a day to Berwick, through twenty miles of unbroken forests, and the next day returned on foot the same distance to her home. He died in 1852, at the age of sev- enty-eight years, and his wife several years later, at the age of eighty years. Their children were as follows: Barbre, who be- came the wife of Henry Yonkin, father of ' our subject; John M. and William, who married sisters, Eliza and Sarah Kester; and Salina, who married Philip Miller.
Henry, father of our subject, was born in Havre, France, in 1806. He came to this country in 1824, and settled in Sullivan county, where he purchased fifty acres of wild land, at two dollars per acre, from a man named John Kunkle. To this he after- ward added fifty acres more, and eventu- ally had a fine farm. He became an influ- ential citizen and held a number of public offices, being supervisor, school director, tax collector, etc.
In politics he was a Democrat, and with his wife was a member of the Lutheran church. He died December 29, 1889, at the age of eighty-three years, his wife sur- viving him until October 7, 1891, and reach- ing the advanced age of eighty-nine years. Their children were as follows: John, the subject of this sketch; Mary C., the widow of William Smith, who resides with her daughter, Ida Zaner, in Cherry township; Charles F., living in Forks township, Sulli . van county, married Miss Wealthy Merri- thew; George W., a farmer in Cherry town- ship, married Miss Mary Sweeney, and is represented in this work; Ellen is the wife of H. G. Huffmaster, whose sketch will be found on another page; W. H. whose sketch is also included in this book, is a farmer in Cherry township and married Miss Hannah
Fairchild; Jacob died at the age of sixteen years; Emily died when eight years old; Hannah married Fain Moyer, a farmer in Lycoming county; Elmira is the wife of R. C. Kashinka, a blacksmith in Cherry township; Peter J. married Miss Elizabeth Kaneller, and farms on the old homestead; Edward married. Miss Ellen Smith, and carries on farming in Cherry township.
Judge John Yonkin left his home when sixteen years of age, intent on making his own way in the world, and going to Brad- ford county at once found employment with Colonel Gordon F. Mason, who combined the occupations of farmer and land-agent, and also operated sawmills and did a gen- eral lumbering business. He remained with this gentleman for fourteen years, a trusted and faithful employe, and in 1874 purchased from John R. Huffmaster the farm on which he now resides. The place was then an unbroken wilderness, and the price paid for it was four thousand two hun- dred dollars, Mr. Yonkin buying it for his youngest brother, to whom he offered it for four thousand dollars. The latter, however, declined to take it and Mr. Yonker moved on it himself, and has by hard work and careful management converted it into one of the finest farms in Sullivan county.
Judge Yonkin was married February 21, 1863, at the residence of the Rev. Charles L. Early, Lutheran minister in Colley town- ship, to Miss Loretta A. Barge. Mrs. Yonkin was born in Cherry township, March 16, 1841, and is a daughter of Gulieb and Sarah (Suber) Barge-the former a native of Germany and the latter of North- ampton, Pennsylvania. The father was brought to this country when a child of three years, his parents settling in Cherry town- ship, and here he spent his entire life, dying August 19, 1890, at the age of seventy-five,
90
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY.
His wife died in 1888, aged sixty-two years. Their . remains were laid to rest in Zion Lutheran cemetery. In addition to Mrs. Yonkin their family consisted of Sally A., deceased; Jacob, a farmer and fruit-grower in Wihnot township, who married Miss Frances Sacks; Emeline, the wife of Clark Fox, a farmer in Jefferson county, Kansas; Jesse married Miss Mary Bowen and lives in Bradford county, Pennsylvania; Mary S. married Michael Brobst, a farmer in Montonr county, Pennsylvania; Caroline E. is the wife of Fred Swere, of Bloomsbury. Penn- sylvania; Della C., deceased, was the wife of Freemani Frye. .
The paternal grandparents of Mrs. Yon- kin, Frederick and Mary E. Barge, were natives of Germany and came to this country in 1813, settling in Cherry town- ship, where they carried on farming. Her maternal grandparents, Jacob and Mary M. (Fronfelder) Suber, were born in Pennsylva- nia, and settled in Sullivan county in 1844.
Mr. and Mrs. Yonkin have one son, Ira B., who carries on his father's farm and is well known as a good business man. Judge Yonkin is a man of much prominence in pub- lic affairs and has filled many offices of horor and responsibility. 1le served as township treasurer four years and was school director for two terms. In 1878 he was elected county commissioner, serving for three years. In 1886 he was elected associate judge of Sullivan county, but his seat was contested by E. A. Strong. In 1891 he was again elected to this important position, which he held for one term of five years. He is a man of superior intelligence, of un- doubted integrity, genial in his manner and a general favorite with all who know him. He is thoroughly posted in all the vital questions of the day and is a most agreeable companion.
I
OHN P. McGEE, who was for many years a prominent hotel proprietor at Satterfield, Pennsylvania, was born in To- wanda, Bradford county, Pennsylvania, July 22. 1839. His parents, Patrick and Sarah (Quinn) McGee, were natives of county Antrim, Ireland, and came to New York when young people. They formed an acquaintanceship and were married in New York, going from there to Mont- rose, Pennsylvania, and subsequently to Towanda. In 1845 they removed to Sulli- van county and settled on the present site of Satterfield, which was then a wil- derness. Mr. McGee purchased fifty acres of land, some years later adding fifty acres more, for which he paid a dollar and a half an acre. A clearing was made in the woods, a log cabin built, and with their little family the young couple began their pioneer life. The father was a stone- mason by trade, but made a successful farmer, and before his death had seen his property develop into a fine farm. He died Angust 31, 1863, at the age of sixty-two years, his wife having passed away July 14. 1860, when forty-seven years of age. They had a large family of children, as follows: Mary A. married Michael Quinn, and is de- ceased; Enos lives at Bernice, Pennsylvania; Jane is deceased; John P., sul ject of this sketch; Sarah married Michael Coley, and is deceased; James lives in Bradford county. Pennsylvania; Catherine married Edward McCarty; Peter, deceased; Henry, deceased; Ellen married John McGraw, and is de- ceased: Robert, whose sketch will be found on another page, lives at Dushore.
Our subject came with his parents to Sullivan county in 1845, and at the early . age of thirteen years began working among the lumbermen and farmers, and in mines. In 1892 he built the hotel at Satterfield,
-
91
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY.
which stands twenty-two hundred feet above sea level, and this he carried on until 1896, when his son assumed charge of the business. He was a popular landlord, and is well known and respected through- out the community. He has served as road commissioner and school director, and is a member of the Catholic church. In politics he is a Democrat.
Mr. McGee was married September 17, 1865, at Dushore, to Miss Margaret Minor, who was born in Cherry township, April 9, 1840, and died November 29, 1890, aged forty-eight years. She was a daughter of John and Mary (Coyle) Minor, both natives of Ireland. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. McGee were as follows: James mar- ried Miss Mary Gilligan, and lives in Lo- pez, Pennsylvania ; Patrick F. married Miss Mary Goff, and is landlord of the Satterfield Hotel; John lives at Sayre, Pennsylvania; Mary resides at Towanda, Pennsylvania; Sarah resides at Bernice, Pennsylvania; William lives at home; Anna and Margaret are deceased.
M DEWITT SWARTS. - The financial and commercial history of Sullivan county would be very incomplete and un- satisfactory without a personal and some- what extended mention of those whose lives are interwoven so closely with its busi- ness interests. Among this number is Mr. Swarts, the courteous and obliging cashier of the First National bank of Dushore.
He was born in Wantage township, Sus- sex county. New Jersey, a son of John and Elizabeth (De Witt) Swarts, and is the fourth in order of birth in their family of ten chil- dren. He was educated in the public schools of his native township and the Mount Retirement Seminary. At the age
of sixteen he entered the office of the prothonotary as assistant to his uncle, who then held that position in Wyom- ing county, Pennsylvania. In the spring of 1861 he went to Port Jervis, New York, where he was employed as clerk in a large dry-goods store until the spring of 1865, when he removed to Towanda, Penn- sylvania, and entered the employ of Joseph Powell, a dry-goods merchant at that place. After one year spent as clerk in that estab- lishment he returned to his home in New Jersey, and during the following year ser ved as tax collector in his native township. On again going to Towanda he was employed as clerk in the dry-goods house of Taylor & Company for three years, and for the fol- lowing four years was clerk and bookkeeper for the Towanda Tanning Company at Greenwood, Pennsylvania. He was next a bookkeeper in the First National Bank, of Waverly, New York, for three years, and in a similar capacity spent six months in the Citizens' National Bank, at Towanda. He was then employed as clerk in the grocery store of Stevens & Long until 1880, for the following year was in the insurance business, and subsequently was with A. S. Gordon, a grocer, until January 1, 1881. He then opened a cash grocery of his own, which he conducted until June 15, 1882, when he went to Athens, Pennsylvania, and took charge of a store for R. H. Patch & Company, remaining there until May, 1883. Returning to Towanda, he helped W. H. D. Green open his large dry-goods store and worked for him until the fall of 1884, when he embarked in the hay business, which he carried on for eighteen months. He then conducted a general store at the nail works at South Towanda until October, 1888, when he came to Dushore and took charge of George H. Wells' interests, clos -
0
02
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY.
ing out his large mercantile business. He was largely instrumental in founding the First National Bank, which was chartered January 17, 1891, and opened for business February 2, following, with George H. Wells as president, A. H. Zaner vice-presi- dent, and M. D. Swarts as cashier. In that capacity our subject has since served with credit to himself and to the entire sat- isfaction of all concerned, and is recognized as one of the most thorough business men of the county. Energy, close application, perseverance and good management-these are the elements which have entered into his business career and secured his ad- vancement.
In 1871 Mr. Swarts married Miss Frank Carter, youngest daughter of Dr. Carter, of Towanda, and to them was born one daughter, Josephine C., who now assists her father in the bank. Mrs. Swarts, who was a most estimable lady, departed this life June 30, 1890.
LLIS SWANK, ex-sheriff of Sulli- E van county, has for many years been prominently identified with the industrial and political interests of this section, and he has taken an active part in the upbuild- ing and progress of the community. cheer- fully giving his support to those enterprises that tend to public development and mater- ially aiding in the advancement of all social, industrial, educational and moral interests.
On the paternal side Mr. Swank is of Gerinan descent, his grandfather, Solomon Swank, having been a native of Germany. Emigrating to the New World, he was one of the earliest settlers of Sullivan county, where he followed his trade of blacksmith- ing until his death. He reared seven chil- dren, namely: John, Jacob, Christian, 1
Samuel, Sarah, Elizabeth and Christiana.
Christian Swank, our subject's father, was born in Montour county, Pennsylvania, about 1820, and at a very early day ac- companied his parents on their removal to Sullivan county. When a young man he became interested in agricultural pursuits, which he still follows in Davidson township. He married Miss Mary A., daughter of Jonas Swank, and to them were born seven children: Sarah A., now the widow of Clark Mossteller, of Sullivan county; Ellis, our subject; Peter G., a farmer of Davidson township; Henry, deceased; Elizabeth J., wife of J. A. Myers, of Lycoming county, Pennsylvania; Arabella, wife of J. W. Phillips, and Jerusha, wife of Milton Flick, both of Lycoming county. The wife and mother departed this life in 1887.
Ellis Swank was born in Davidson town- ship, July IS, 1849, and has spent his en- tire life in Sullivan county, receiving his education in its common schools and aiding in the work of the home farm during his boyhood and youth. In 1867 he took up the trade of carpenter, which he success- fully followed for nine years. Subsequently he engaged in blacksmithing and sawing, while making his home in Muncy Valley. On the 17th of December, 1876, he was united in marriage with Miss Emma Phillips, of Davidson township. and four children blessed their union: Elizabeth J., who died at the age of fourteen years; Elery E .; Thomas C., and Martin E.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.