USA > Pennsylvania > Susquehanna County > History of Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania. from a period preceding its settlement to recent times, including the annals and geography of each townshipAlso a sketch of woman's work in the county for the United States sanitary commission, and a list of the soldiers of the national army furnished by many of the townships > Part 10
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The sum of one hundred and fifty dollars was drawn from the county treasury for the erection of bridges over the large creeks of this town.
Asa Eddy was justice of the peace when all Luzerne County, then including Susquehanna, Bradford, and Wyoming, besides the most of its present territory, had but ten justices. His jurisdiction extended over more than half of what is now Sus- quehanna County, as it was composed of Nicholson, Willing- borough, and Lawsville, in their original extent. The whole number of taxables in his district was two hundred and eighty- six.
Rush, as a justice's district, containing one hundred and three taxables, occupied the remaining part of our territory
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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.
(Isaac Hancock, J. P.), with the exception of a fraction of Braintrim.
In 1802, a road was viewed from the settlement near the mouth of the Snake Creek to Great Bend, four miles. Timothy Pickering, Jr., was one of the viewers of another road in Wil- lingborough about the same time. No portion of the county, at this period, was so well provided with roads, such as they were, and still the river was the great highway.
Ichabod Buck, Rufus Lines, and Hezekiah Leach, were ap- pointed supervisors of this district in 1803.
Jason Wilson, early in the century, was located near the east line of Liberty. Jotham French was here in 1804. At the same time, Marmaduke Salsbury lived on the south side of the Susquehanna River, at the mouth of Mitchell's Creek. He afterwards moved to Harmony, now Susquehanna Depot. C. Longstreet had come from New Milford to the ferry-house. Elections were held here. The total vote for Congressman, in 1804, was one hundred and thirty-nine. In 1805, orders drawn on the treasurer of Luzerne, by the supervisors of Willingboro', amounted to one hundred and seventy-nine dollars.
In 1806, Nicholson was made a separate district; Willing- borough and Lawsville were still in one. Hitherto, great indefi- niteness appears to have existed in Wilkes-Barre, as to the locality of persons in either of these sections, persons in Great Bend being placed in Nicholson, and vice versa. Wilkes-Barre post-office received letters for persons at Great Bend.
New Milford township was erected, August, 1807, and then the taxables of Willingborough were reduced to thirty-one, though still including those of Harmony and Oakland.
It is just possible Wm. Preston, a taxable of 1801, was on the Strong farm, after Sylvanus Hatch, and before Josiah Stewart, but it is certain the latter had occupied it prior to 1807. An advertisement appeared in the Luzerne 'Federalist,' in April of the same year, which runs thus :-
" To be sold, a valuable plantation at the Great Bend of the Susquehanna, by Josiah Stewart. The public ferry appertains to the farm, which has also an orchard of two hundred bearing trees. The turnpike from Newburgh crosses to the State line."
From the Bend, Mr. Stewart moved to where Mckinney's Mills are; then to Snake Creek, within half a mile of the State line, where he built and run a saw-mill, then returned to Great Bend, and afterwards to Windsor. Elections were held at his house after the organization of Susquehanna County.
In connection with a sketch of Josiah Stewart, given by Mr. Du Bois, his remarks respecting the ancestors of Mr. S., at Wyoming, though a digression here, may be allowed as a part
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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.
of the history of the county with which our settlers were still connected in 1807.
" Among those that left Forty Fort, on the morning of the great battle and massacre, were Captain Lazarus Stewart and his son Lieut. Lazarus Stewart, Jr. Captain Stewart had often before led the settlers against their Pennamite foes, in their murderous raids against the Connecticut settlers, and was fitly chosen to command a company, in this their day of trial. His son Lieut. Lazarus Stewart, Jr., also, as lieutenant, commanded a company ; both were slain fighting bravely at the head of their men, and terrible indeed was that fearful struggle. That noble band of heroes, numbering three hun- deed, fought not only for their own lives, but for the lives and safety of their wives and dear ones who had fled to the forts for safety, and were now trembling with fear lest the tide of battle should turn against their only protectors. But these brave men were doomed; they were greatly out-num- bered, out-flanked, and surrounded, and an indiscriminate massacre followed. The Indians were stimulated by promises of gold and plunder to deeds of terrible cruelty. Few families in the valley suffered more than the Stewarts on that bloody day. Josiah Stewart, a son of Lieut. Lazarus Stewart, Jr., and a grandson of Captain Lazarus Stewart, too young to engage in the terrible strife of that fearful day, escaped the slaughter that followed, and afterwards settled on the Susquehanna River, at Great Bend, and at one time owned and occupied what was afterwards known as the "Thomson Farm," upon which Great Bend Borough is now located. Josiah Stewart came here at an early day, and although not wealthy, was an enterprising citizen, had something to do in building, and at one time owned our first grist-mill, and built one of the first saw-mills in the neighborhood. His family consisted of his wife, and three sons-Lazarus, the eldest (named after his grandfather, Captain Lazarus Stewart, who fell in the Wyoming massa- cre), Charles, and Espy. His daughters were Hannah, Pattie, Betsey, and Frances. Mr. Stewart believed in the education of the youth of our country, especially females. On them (he used to say), as teachers and mothers, the future welfare of our country depended; and, acting upon this belief, he gave his daughters as good an education as his means would warrant, and some of your readers will remember the days of log school-houses and slab-benches, and with what fidelity and perseverance, as school-teachers, Hannah, Pattie, Betsey, and Frances Stewart labored to educate the children of the early settlers. As to his sons, Mr. Stewart used to say that they must get along through the world with less education, as they, in all probability, as pioneers, would have to rough it, as he and his father had done. This saying, as to his sons, proved prophetic. Lazarus, the eldest, not finding a place on this continent that suited him to settle upon, took to the sea. Charles, after living in the neighborhood several years, moved to the West as a pioneer. Espy, the youngest son, following the tide of emigration westward, never rested until from the western slope of the Rocky Mountains he saw before him that great barrier to further western progress, the Pacific Ocean. He settled in California.
"Josiah Stewart had one peculiarity which the writer never noticed in any other person, that of sleeping in a standing position. If he could touch one shoulder to a tree, or to the wall of a room, he would sleep as soundly in an upright position, as if reclining upon a bed of down. Perhaps he acquired this habit from standing sentinel in Wyoming Valley, in those troublous times, and watching the Pennamites on the one hand, and the Indians on the other, while the older and more able-bodied members were laboring in the fields ; for it is a well-known fact that in those days, those that were not old enough to labor were thus posted as sentinels, to give warning of the approach of their enemies. Young Stewart thus stood and watched hour
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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.
after hour, until exhausted nature sought repose in balmy sleep ; and yet he kept his position of apparent watchfulness.
" Mr. Stewart lived to a good old age. His life was a life of usefulness as a citizen, and as a pioneer he labored hard to smooth the way for those who should come after him. He died in the adjoining town of Windsor, N. Y., at the residence of his son, Charles Stewart."
In 1807, William Thomson, afterwards an associate judge of Susquehanna County for many years, came to Great Bend and purchased the farm advertised by Josiah Stewart, the oldest cultivated farm in the township. He was a native of Scotland. He filled several important offices, the duties of which he per- formed with ability and fidelity. He had a large estate which he had accumulated by industry and economy, and which he bequeathed to needy friends. He died January 30, 1842, in his seventy-eighth year. His house formed a wing of the National Hotel, which was burned December 13, 1869.
Samuel Blair, Alexander McDonald, Daniel and Harvey Curtis, Thomas Newell, James Clark (one mile south of the village), Moses Foster (three miles ditto), James Gould, Morris Jackson, David Buck, and Charles Fraser were all here before November, 1807.
Dr. Charles Fraser, a native of Connecticut, came to Great Bend from Sangerfield, Oneida County, N. Y. With but temporary absence, he resided at Great Bend, as a practicing physician, until the fall of 1812. Being then elected to fill the offices of prothonotary, register and recorder, he removed to Montrose.
Previous to 1807 Joseph Bowes, an Englishman, came to Great Bend, and erected a large house (dwelling and store) on the south bank of the Susquehanna River, the present resi- dence of Dr. E. Patrick. It has been used as a church and a seminary, and is rich in local historical associations.1
Dr. Eleazar Parker came to Great Bend August, 1807. He was commissioned, February, 1808, the first postmaster in Sus- quehanna County. (See Physicians.)
J. J. Way was a taxable of 1807.
Asahel Avery, Sr., and family came from their farm (now Woodbourne) and located one-half mile south of the ferry.
1 The residence of Dr. E. Patrick was burned on the night of the 9th Decem- ber, 1869. It had not been occupied for some time, and the origin of the fire could not have been accidental. This time-honored building, erected in 1805, was so substantially built that it still retained its "youthful appearance"-and together with the beautiful grounds and shrubbery by which it was surrounded, made it an ornament to the village. Many persons will remember it as the residence of Mrs. Jane A. Lusk, formerly of Montrose, whose noble life and, character are still as fresh and green as the evergreens that cover her tomb, in sight of the smouldering ashes of her hospitable home-made beautiful and attractive by her own hands. After this house had ceased to be used for school purposes, it stood empty a long time until the Erie Railroad was constructing, when Nicholas Du Bois occupied it.
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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.
November, 1808, Dr. R. H. Rose petitioned for a road from Silver Lake to Great Bend, which was granted June, 1809. In the mean time he had purchased of the Francis estate lands extending from the river to the State line, and also west and south of the river, in the vicinity of Great Bend. He laid out the latter in village lots, and in accordance with his wish, the road following the river for a short distance from the Bowes mansion was vacated.
Captain Benjamin Case removed from Newburgh, N. Y., with his family, in 1808, to Great Bend. After a few years he removed to Warren, Pa., where, "as one of the pioneers of this then remote section, he pitched his tent, and aided in the work of civilization and progress, and where, after a life of honor and usefulness, he was gathered to his fathers." His son, Benjamin T., married in Warren, and, in 1816, removed to Montrose.
Mr. Joseph Backus, now of Bridgewater, says of himself in 1809 :-
"Being then a lad of seventeen, I was wending my way from the land of steady habits, in company with Captain Gifford, who was on his way hither to visit his friends, who had previously emigrated to this then uncultivated wilderness. Having reached Great Bend, crossed the river, and stopped to feed at Du Bois's Hotel, while we were waiting for the team to feed, a com- pany from Bridgewater came out there for the purpose of trading with Mr. Bowes, the merchant-quite a common occurrence in those days, there being then only one small mercantile establishment where Montrose now stands, kept by Isaac Post, on the very spot where Koon now keeps. I believe he also kept public house, and I think that that and one other house were the only tenements where Montrose now stands. This company proved to be some of the very friends the captain was coming to visit, so you can imagine the pleasure of meeting; and they manifested it by postponing their return, crossed the river to Hatch's, took dinner, spent the afternoon right merrily, and were ready to start home about sundown; a bitter cold night, snow about three feet deep. Of course we had to occasionally warm, first at Bar- num's, then at Dr. Cornell's grandfather's, on the farm now owned by C. D. Lathrop, in Bridgewater; no inconvenience in those days, for every family kept large fires all night, and the latch-string always out.
"Asahel Avery, father of Squire Avery, of Montrose, Captain John Bard, Edward Fuller, afterwards sheriff of the county, and Benjamin Lathrop, then a young man, having lately entered the matrimonial state with the daughter of said A. Avery, and afterwards major in the militia and judge of the county court, constituted the company. About midnight we reached the house of Mr. Fuller, the terminus of our ride, on the farm where James : Knapp now lives, and I believe the southern limit of Bridgewater township, but then the central point, for town-meetings and elections were held there for some time after."
In 1810, Harmony was set off from Willingborough, and the latter was then reduced to six miles square, the present size of Great Bend.
Joseph Stewart's fulling mill was advertised for business as early as 1811.
Colonel Jeremiah Baker came to Great Bend in 1812. He
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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.
was a tanner, and tanned in the swamp on the land now owned by Isaac Van Nosdale. He afterwards kept a store in the house long occupied by Rev. J. B. McCreary, and in Samuel Dayton's farm-house. He died at Mckinney's Mills. A published remi- niscence of the early times says :-
"Mr. Bowes, father of Joseph (Bowes) and grandfather of Ira Corbett's wife, was the sole merchant at the Bend. Soon afterwards Colonel Jeremiah Baker owned a small tannery and store. Several houses had by this time been put up and families moved in. A young stranger (Harrison, a watch- maker) came into the place and put up a grocery where the National Hotel now stands; he boarded with Squire Lyman T. Trowbridge's father, then living at that place. An incident occurred connected with this young man which created considerable excitement. Some ducks were in the river, and he sent Augustus Trowbridge, then a boy, for his gun ; upon receiving it, he blowed in the barrel, and supposing it was not loaded pointed it at the boy, and was about to snap it, but the boy, being afraid, ran away. The young man then went to the house, and Trowbridge's two daughters, young ladies, wished to learn how to shoot a gun; he raised the hammer, placed the muzzle to his head, and told one of the young ladies to pull the trigger, which she did; the gun proved to be loaded and blew his brains out. He fell with his head between the andirons in the fireplace."
Asahel Avery was appointed justice of the peace of Wil- lingborough, in 1812, by Governor Synder.
Reckhow, father of the late Isaac Reckhow, came in 1814. The latter occupied a seat in the State Legislature, and was for fifteen years an efficient justice.
Taylortown was settled by William Taylor (father of the late Jonathan Taylor of Lanesborough). He died February, 1851, aged seventy-one; his widow, in 1864, aged seventy-five.
" ORGANIZATION OF THE FIRST GREAT BEND BRIDGE COMPANY .- In the year 1812, the citizens of Great Bend petitioned our Legislature for a charter to build a bridge. An act was passed in February, 1812, and approved by Simon Snyder, then governor of our State. Under this act, Samuel Hodgdon and John B. Wallace, of Philadelphia, and Wm. Thomson, Sylvanus Hatch, Robert H. Rose, Minna Du Bois, and Richard Barnum, of the county of Susquehanna, were appointed commissioners to open books of subscription for the stock of said company, in pursuance of the act to authorize the governor to incorporate a company for erecting a bridge over the Susque- hanna River at Great Bend, where the ferry was then kept, opposite the houses of Abraham Du Bois and Sylvanus Hatch, in the district of Willing- boro,' and county and district of Susquehanna.
" These commissioners did not get sufficient stock taken and paid in, to warrant building until the spring of 1814. The first meeting of stockholders was held February 10, 1814. William Thomson was chosen chairman, and James Newman, secretary, and Samuel Blair, Joseph Bowes, and David Summers, were chosen as judges of the election of managers. The follow- ing were elected : Samuel Blair, James Newman, Noble Trowbridge, John Maynard, Minna Du Bois, and Daniel Lyon. Joseph Bowes was chosen treasurer, James Newman, secretary. At this meeting proposals were re- ceived for building the first Great Bend bridge. The contract was awarded to Peter Burgot, of Oxford, N. Y.
"September 14, 1814, the following persons were appointed to inspect the new bridge, to see if it was completed according to contract : Joseph Bowes, David Buck, and Haynes Johnson-bridge accepted.
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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.
" At the same meeting, Christopher Longstreet was appointed to and accepted the office of toll gatherer and gate-keeper. On the third day of March, 1822, this first bridge was destroyed by an ice freshet, was rebuilt the same summer, by the brothers, Charles and Zedic Chamberlin. On the 19th of January, 1832, this second bridge was destroyed by an ice freshet, and was rebuilt the following summer by Abraham Du Bois. In the spring of 1846, this third bridge was destroyed by an ice freshet, and in the summer following, the present covered bridge was completed by Reuben C. Brock and Joseph Du Bois, to whom this contract was awarded."
The projectors and patrons of an enterprise of such lasting benefit to the people of Great Bend, and scarcely less to those living at great distances from it, should not be forgotten.
SUBSCRIBERS TO THE STOCK OF THE GREAT BEND BRIDGE, SEPTEMBER 7, 1812 .-
William Thomson, . Sophia Luce,
Almon Munson,
John J. Storm,
Minna Du Bois, Wm. Luce,
David Crocker, Storm Rosa,
Samuel Blair,
Thad. Mason,
Peter Burgot, Abraham Storm,
Abraham Du Bois,
Adam Burwell,
Isaac Rosa, James Newman,
Asahel Avery,
Daniel Sneden,
Sylvns. Hatch, Emery Carey,
John Maynard,
Dav. Summers,
N. Trowbridge,
John Hilborn,
Jeremiah Baker,
Rufus Fish,
Hezek. Leach, Joseph Bowes,
Isaac D. Luce,
John Fish,
Daniel Lyon, Frederick Henn.
Amount subscribed by the above, $6000. All of the above named have passed away.
Ebenezer Brown, a carpenter, came from Orange County, N. Y., and assisted in building the bridge three times.
He was an associate of the hunter, Joe Fish, on his success- ful excursions after the wild animals that were the vexation of the farmers. At one time they caught three young wolves, and carried them home in a bag, and, the following day, they killed the old wolf.
Rattlesnakes were another pest. Mrs. Brown (now living) was once picking berries on Strong Hill, and sat down to rest on a ledge, from which she was warned to flee, and it was well she heeded, as twenty-one rattlesnakes were found under the same rocks that day.
Ebenezer B. died in 1871.
Mrs. B. says : "In the spring of 1821, John McKinney's, where is now McIntosh's, was the only house on Main Street south of Minna Du Bois's hotel. He afterwards built what is now a part of the Mansion House. This store was separate, nearer the bridge.
" Colonel Baker owned the McCreary place, and immediately west of it, Putnam Catlin, Esq., lived. Mr. Bowes had then left the house next below.
" Sylvanus Hatch then kept the block (or log) tavern near the bridge, and Judge Thomson's house was the only house between that and Noble Trow- bridge's."
On the 4th of July, 1822, there was a grand dinner in the orchard by the log tavern. The oration was in the school- house, on the south side of the river, and the orator was so drunk, there was considerable excitement in the audience.
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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.
They went back to Hatch's, to dance. The ball-room was reached by stairs so narrow the company passed in single file, and dancing was confined to the centre of the room, as the roof sloped so on the sides that a person could not there stand upright. There was room only for "French fours." Blind Joe (white), the fiddler, was always along.
Isaac Stoddard and wife, from Litchfield County, Connecticut, in 1816, were among the very earliest settlers of Locust Hill. He died in 1853, aged eighty-two; she died in 1856, aged eighty. They had a large family.
CHURCHES AND SCHOOLS.
Sixteen members of the families who came to the vicinity of Great Bend in 1788 were church members. These were, Rev. Daniel Buck and wife, Ichabod Buck and wife, Stephen Murch and wife, Thomas Bates and wife, Deacon (before he came) Strong and wife, Deacon Merryman and wife, Deacon Jonathan Bennett and wife, Jonathan Bennett, Jr., and Bishop Merryman. There occurred a religious revival among them in 1789. Deacon Asa Adams was an early and a very exemplary member. All were very strict in the observance of the Sabbath. They would not carry a gun in hunting for the cows on the Sabbath, though wild animals were then frequently encountered.
Tradition speaks of " the famous Buck controversy" in 1790, as causing a division in the heretofore pleasant unity of the set- tlement, and a long-continued soreness of feeling between indi- viduals which is said to have manifested itself at "raisings," and those siding with the minister were called the church party, and the other the Murch party, the latter being the accusers.
It is true that at one time there was a controversy between Mr. Buck and another minister before a ministerial association, respecting a similar charge, that is, false statements; but Mr. B. is said in this instance to have exculpated himself.
Rev. Seth Williston, a missionary from Connecticut, preached occasionally at Great Bend early in the "nineties," and was probably one of the "two ministers from Connecticut" who formed, about 1792, a Congregational Church-the first church in the county. We are told that in 1798 it numbered forty members, including the "Lower Settlement," now Conklin, N. Y.
A reorganization took place in 1802. In common with other Congregational churches of the county, it afterwards became Presbyterian in government.
The following statement of John B. Buck was published in 1869 :-
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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.
" EARLY PUBLIC WORSHIP .- Seventy-five years ago, there was a log dwell- ing-house north of where the Erie Depot now stands, at Great Bend, used as a place of worship. The congregation was scattered up and down the river, in cabins. The only means of getting from here was by canoes. They went as far as the rift or rapids, where they left their canoes, and walked past the rapids, then took passage in a large canoe around by my father's. For dinner, they carried milk in bottles, and mush. They listened to one sermon in the forenoon, and then came back to canoe and ate dinner, then went back to second service; Daniel Buck was minister. In summer this was their means of travel.
" With increase of families the means of communication increased. In winter, there was no other way save by foot-paths. For many years there were no denominations save Presbyterians. About seventy years ago, the Methodists began an influence about two miles from here. Everybody espoused Methodism, men, women, and children. They frequently walked from five to six miles to be present at prayer meetings.
" My sisters were at one of the prayer meetings, and, as an evidence of the change in the spirit, understanding, and manners of the people, I give lan- guage used in two of the prayers on that occasion. The reader will bear in mind that this was seventy years ago, and that the people were poor, and had little of the means or knowledge of the present day. I do not conceive that either of the individuals mentioned cherished a wrong spirit toward their fel- lows, but their language gives an illustration of the strength of party spirit at that time.
" Elder Lewis said, 'Send the mind of the people up the river down to me, and the people down the river (the Presbyterians) may go to hell, and I care not.'
" Mrs. Stid, at the same meeting, said : ' O Lord, take Capt. Buck by the nape of the neck and shake him over hell until his teeth chatter like a raccoon.' "1
Mr. Buck elsewhere states :-
"The school-houses of those early days were exceedingly primitive. They were built of logs ; the seats made of slabs, with legs inserted in two-inch augur-holes for supports, and without backs. The desks for writing were along the wall, and when the lads and lasses practised at writing, they sat with their backs to the school. The rooms were warmed by a fireplace, and in these rude shelters the religious meetings were held and the early churches established. A school-house was afterwards built upon the ground now occu- pied by Mr. Mckinney's store. It was used for a long time for a meeting- house. Previously, we had used Mr. Strong's dwelling-house, which stood a few rods north of the water-tank."
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