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 16
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Joseph Chapman, Jr., was a shoemaker, and one " who was never known to fail in keeping his promise."
George purchased a farm adjoining his father's, but the latter is occupied by C. M. Chapman, a son of George; and thus it has been held by four generations of the same family.
Samuel Howard's first clearing is now the farm of Nehemiah Mack; he afterwards cleared the farm of James Adams, Sr., and finally settled near B. Milbourne, until late in life, when he removed to South Auburn, where he died in 1843, aged seventy. Mrs. H. died in 1872.
In 1800, Jacob Tewksbury, from Vermont, bought out Mr. Page, who, with his large family-eleven children-was located just where Brooklyn Center now is. What was then known as Dutch Meadow is partly covered by the village cemetery. The Page place was purchased, in 1808, by Deacon Joshua Miles, and Jacob Tewksbury removed to a farm about half a mile west of it (where Rev. L. H. Porter now lives), and after- wards went to Gibson, where he died November, 1842, aged seventy-four.
Ebenezer Whitney came first to the clearing made by Mark Hartley, but soon removed to the place now owned by C. S. Perkins.
Capt. Amos Bailey was born in Groton, Ct., January, 1777. He was married, February, 1801, to Miss Prudence Gere, a
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sister of Charles and Ebenezer Gere, and came with the latter to "Bidwell" the following month. (The locality was then in Nicholson, Luzerne County.) Capt. Charles Gere settled in what is now Lathrop, but Ebenezer G. and Capt. Bailey spent the summer with the family of Capt. Tracy. They were obliged to go to the mouth of the Tunkhannock for some pro- visions, which they brought on horseback, with marked trees to guide them ; and seven miles to mill, leading the horse that carried the grist. Capt. B. killed the first deer he ever saw the morning after he arrived here. He and Mr. Gere split lumber from a cherry log, and made them a table and a bed- stead. The table is still in perfect preservation in the room of one of his daughters, on the place where it was made ; and from its neatness of finish no one would suspect it was constructed outside of a cabinet shop. Possibly it is the only piece of furniture now in the county which was furnished by its forests and foresters in 1801. In the fall of that year they returned to Connecticut, where Mr. G. remained nearly twenty- one years before he came to settle in Brooklyn. It was the intention of Capt. Bailey to bring his wife that winter, but as there was no sleighing he came alone, and worked through the summer of 1802. He purchased of Mr. Tracy his improve- ments, and the log house, built in 1790, by Messrs. Jones and Milbourne; and in the fall, with his wife, began housekeeping on the farm, where both lived until death. They came from Connecticut in a wagon, and were seventeen days on the road, three of which were spent in traveling from Great Bend, twenty miles. But they were more fortunate than many of the early settlers; they had a home to come to, and provisions in store for them, and something to spare to the hungry who came to their house; still they necessarily suffered many hard- ships and privations. Mrs. B. lived here three months without seeing a woman ; but, though she had left a good home and society, she endured her privations cheerfully. As the country was cleared up, all the privileges of social life sprang up around them. Their united industry and economy soon secured to them a comfortable home. Capt. B. cleared his farm, and raised stock and produce to pay for it. He planted his first orchard from seeds which he brought from Connecticut; some of the trees are now standing and bearing.
In 1856, John Lord, Sr., just before his death, wrote the following :-
" Capt. Amos Bailey was here about two years before I came. He was always foremost in opening roads to accommodate new settlers. As soon as there were children enough for a school, then he was the foremost one in providing good schools. Through his influence the necessary amount of subscription was raised for a public meeting-house, which was built
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without serious embarrassment to any one. He has always been a man of peace, and, by his friendly interpositions, he has prevented many serious litigations. Prominent men were willing to take counsel of him, because they knew he would act for the good of all."
Capt. Bailey died November 9, 1865, in the eighty-ninth year of his age.
Mrs. Bailey was greatly respected and beloved. She died July 15th, 1854, aged 85 years and 9 months. Amos Bailey and wife were among the earliest and most active Universalists of the township. Their children were: Prudy, who married Robert Kent, and died in Bridgewater, in 1863; Amos G., who lived in Brooklyn, and died in 1855; Eunice G., and Obadiah, at the old homestead-the farm which W. P. Bailey, a son of the last named, now owns and occupies with him.
Silas Lewis was a settler of 1801. Also, Edward Goodwin ; Amos, Daniel, and William Lawrence. Amos Lawrence occu- pied the Hartley place after E. Whitney, but removed, with his brother Allen, after a few years, to Dimock.
Joshua Saunders and family settled at Mack's Corners. While his son Nathan was helping Capt, Bailey to clear his land, about 1804, he was knocked down by the limb of a tree, and died from his injuries. Mr. S. sold to Elisha Mack in 1811, and in 1817 moved to Ohio with Orlando Bagley and sons, and returned, after a time, to Brooklyn.
1802 .- Jeremiah Gere-cousin of Charles and Ebenezer Gere, and son of Rezin Gere who fell at Wyoming-lived the first three years after his arrival with Joseph Chapman, Jr., and tanned leather in vats dug out of pine logs. In 1806, on the day of the great eclipse, he moved into the frame house he had built on the farm where S. W. Breed now lives. He died Sep- tember, 1842, aged 72.
Charles V., his eldest son, died recently in Minnesota, aged 74 years; George M. died there, also; Henry resides in Mis- souri, and Edward L. in Brooklyn. Two others of his sons and two daughters are dead. Miss Otis, afterwards the wife of Free- man Peck, of Harford, came in with the family.
Mott Wilkinson and family came in 1802; also, Sergeant Tewksbury (a brother of Jacob), from Vermont. He settled just below Joshua Saunders, where John Bolles now lives ; he died in 1842, aged 68.
1803 .- Isaac Tewksbury (father of Jacob and Sergeant T.) and Barnard Worthing came from Vermont on a visit ; the lat- ter purchased an improvement-the Abel Green farm (in La- throp). Both returned the same fall. Alfred Tiffany and family came from Harford.
1804 .- Early in this year, Isaac Tewksbury and family located on the clearing of one of the original forty settlers of Brook-
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lyn-" McIntyre" hill. For nearly fifty years this hill has been crowned with the Universalist church, a landmark for miles around.
Isaac and Jacob T. built the first saw-mill in the town, about 1805, nearly opposite the house now owned by P. G. Birch. Isaac and Judith T. are buried in the Methodist Episcopal churchyard.
The ancestors of the family came from Tewksbury, Eng- land, where one of them, John, was burned at the stake, about 1620.
Orlando Bagley, wife, four sons, and three daughters came on ox and horse sleds from Hartland, Windsor County, Vermont, at the same time with Isaac Tewksbury. Jesse B., the oldest son, now (1871) 85 years old, says :-
" We started on Tuesday, and were two Sundays on the road. It was in March, and the snow in some places was nearly five feet in depth. We set- tled on the hill east of what is now Mack's Corners. We went to Tunk- hannock and Wilkes-Barre for store goods, to Horton's and Tunkhannock to mill, and to Hyde's, at the forks of the Wyalusing, to our post-office. Esquire Hinds, only, lived where Montrose is."
Orlando Bagley's sons were : Jesse, Stephen, Thomas, George, and Washington. The family moved to Ohio in 1817, but four of the brothers returned to Brooklyn. Jesse recently removed to Lanesboro'.
The present Mrs. Otto, née Miriam Worthing, and two of her brothers, came to the town with the families of Orlando Bagley and Isaac Tewksbury, a few months before Barnard Worthing, her father, located permanently in the vicinity. She spent some years in the family of Deacon Joshua Miles, and prepared for teaching. She taught school twenty seasons in Susquehanna and Luzerne counties. She united with the Methodist class in 1821, at the age of 17, and was acquainted with all the early ministers of that denomination. She has contributed some valuable items to its history.
Capt. Charles Gere (brother of Ebenezer), remained in La- throp until 1803 or 1804, when he came to the place now owned by Joseph Tiffany, and remained there until his death, early in 1842. His wife was a sister of Drs. B. A. and Mason Denison, and, from her own knowledge of medicine, she was accustomed to practice at an early day, going to her patients on horseback, guided by marked trees.
Of their children, Charles D. and Mrs. Dr. Merrill are de- ceased; Robert W. and one daughter, Mrs. J. W. Adams, live in Brooklyn, and another, Mrs. Sarah D. Kintner, in Wyoming County.
1804-1807 .- Samuel Yeomans and sons Joseph and Samuel, Isaiah Fuller, Noah Fuller, and Stephen Gere (brother of Jere-
Engraved by John Sartain, Phil?
Fresh Barley
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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.
miah, and father of Albert R. Gere now of Brooklyn), John Seeley and sons Alden, Reuben, and Justus, settled in the town.
COL. FREDERICK BAILEY.
Col. Frederick Bailey, a younger brother of Capt. Amos Bailey, bought of Amos Lawrence his title to the improvement first begun by Mark Hart- ley, Sr. (father of Esquire Hartley, of Lenox), one of the original Nicholson settlers. He afterwards added to his possessions by purchase from the State of some vacant land adjacent, making with this the large and valuable farm now owned by his youngest son, Henry L. Bailey. Here Col. Bailey settled, in 1807, and resided till his death, in September, 1851, at the age of 71 years. Having acquired a thorough common-school education in his native State (Connecticut), he was several times employed in winter in teaching the youth of his neighborhood. One who attended his school at the age of five years, and again at the age of 11, contributes the following notice of Col. B. :--
" The writer of this, among several others, most of threescore years or more. can bear testimony to his strict discipline, thorough training, and his happy faculty of inspiring the ambition of his pupils, and laying the foundation for all their attainments in after life. He was not only a successful teacher and a thrifty farmer at home, but a man whose qualifications fitted him to be fore- most in any public enterprise. The old Milford and Owego Turnpike Road, which sixty years ago was considered almost as momentous an undertaking as the Pacific Railroad was half a century later, furnishing as it did a tho- roughfare for travel by daily stages from Western New York to the city, through this corner of Pennsylvania, owed much to his wide-awake, perse- vering energy for its construction and maintenance as a public benefit, till superseded by the railroads of the country. But it was in the domestic cir- cle-in his own family and immediate neighborhood-that he was most espe- cially appreciated. His surviving children piously regard the fifth com- mandment, while many other relatives and friends revere and cherish his memory." The following extract from the obituary, published at the time, is expressive of the sentiment entertained : "He was intimately identified with every enterprise calculated to promote the growth and improvement of the country. He was extensively known in it, and was eminently respected by the past generation and the present as a man of sound judgment, superior business attainments, and active, prompt, and energetic habits. He was alike liberal in his sentiments and his actions ; and having obtained a compe- tency by his industry and prudent management, his heart and his hand were always open to the wants of his friends and neighbors."
He had six sons and four daughters. He had buried one wife, three sons, and one daughter (among whom was his eldest son, Frederick W. Bailey, an enterprising merchant near Boston). Two daughters and his second wife have since deceased-the latter in 1869, in her 90th year. Robert M. Bai- ley, of Boston, James W. Bailey, of Lawrence, Mass., Mrs. Wm. Stevens, of Pike, Bradford County, and Henry L. Bailey, now on the old homestead, constitute the remainder of his family.
1808 .- Joshua Miles-commonly called Captain or Deacon Miles-came to Brooklyn Center, purchased the saw-mill of the Tewksburys, and built a grist-mill. He is remembered as a public-spirited man, a good mathematician, and a devoted Christian. He had quite a library, for those days, of excellent books, including a number of volumes of sermons, which were read in public worship nearly every Sabbath for years after
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his death, which occurred July 6, 1815. His house occupied the site of D. A. and A. Tittsworth's store.
Erastus Caswell, a brother of Mrs. Miles, came with her and remained some time; afterwards went to Wilkes-Barre, mar- ried, and did not return to Brooklyn until 1825. He had nine children, of whom six live in the vicinity.
1809 .- Noah Tiffany, from Massachusetts, came with his family, including his sons Olney, Noah, and John, and their sister (now the widow of Eliab Farrer, of Harford), to the Harkins place, near a fine spring, the coveted location of early settlers. After Deacon Miles's death, he purchased his house and farm, and resided there until his death, July 19, 1818. He had been postmaster some years, and his son Arunah occupied this post during the two years he resided in the place, immedi- ately subsequent to the death of his father.
Charles Perigo and Edward Payne were settlers of 1809.
1810 .- Joshua Miles, Jr., came in the fall, with his wife and one child (subsequently Mrs. Dr. B. Richardson). After two or three years he came in possession of the mill property of his father. He was a man of enterprise and sterling integrity. Being a carpenter, he erected two saw-mills in Brooklyn and two in Lathrop, and two grist-mills in Brooklyn, several dwelling-houses, a Presbyterian and a Methodist church, and, for himself, an oil and a paper-mill. The last-named enterprise was burned in 1842, soon after it was started, and embarrassed him so much he decided to repair his fortune at the West. He removed to Sterling, Ill., in 1843, and died there in 1863, aged eighty·five.
Elisha Safford, a native of Massachusetts, came from Con- necticut to the west part of Brooklyn in 1810, and selected the farm which he afterwards cleared, cutting the first tree felled on the place, and which is now occupied by Albert Allen ; a pretty ridge, abounding with hemlock, beech, birch, and maple. He brought in his family-wife and two children- in 1811, and built a log house, which he occupied nineteen years. His wife, Olive, is said to have been " always abound- ing in works of kindness and love to her neighbors." She reared six sons and four daughters to adult age, and all settled not far from home. When she was in her seventieth year she wrote a sketch of her early life in Brooklyn, from which the following is copied :-
"There were at that time meetings held on the Sabbath at a dwelling- house two miles from us. We attended as often as we could conveniently, but we had to walk and carry our children. When we did not go we did not wholly forget the Sabbath ; we did not visit or receive visitors on that day. Like others, we had to suffer many privations. The necessaries of life were hard to be got. My husband went, one time, ten miles for a half
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bushel of salt, and brought it home on his back. The roads were very bad ; but, prompted by ambition, I did forbear to murmur or complain, though at times, when the friends and associates we had left behind came fresh to my mind, I would think within myself, Oh, why was my lot cast in the wilds of Susquehanna !" The pen of one of her daughters writes: "Father had sheep, and mother spun and wove, and, with her girls' help, made warm clothing for winter, and bedding too. He raised flax every year, and we spun and wove it every springtime. I remember well, when I was seven years old, of spinning; having the quill wheel fitted up with 'standard,' and old-fashioned ' head,' as I was too small to spin on the great wheel."
After describing a terrific night-storm, she says :-
" In the morning we looked out upon what seemed a new world. So much of the woods was laid prostrate, we could look through the opening and see cleared fields and buildings three miles distant-a great treat to us, although the damage done in the forest was great. Southwest of us, about six acres were swept nearly smooth."
Some years after that, a raging fever went through the place, three or four in a family being sick at one time.
Elisha Safford died in 1862, aged eighty-one. His wife, after years of suffering, died in 1859, aged seventy-three. One son, J. Dwight Safford, now deceased, became a minister, a member of the Wyoming Conference.
Silas P. Ely " contributed his full share to every public improvement." He came in the first of the Ely family, his father Gabriel and uncle Zelophehad Ely, arriving three or four years later. He had a large family, of whom only three survive ; his son George occupies the homestead. He lived to be eighty-one years old; had been a Presbyterian for fifty years.
The Macks of Brooklyn belong to three families, descend- ants of three brothers : Elisha Mack's sons were Elisha, Marvin, and Enoch 2d; Elijah's were Josiah, Elijah B., Nehemiah, and Edward; Enoch has but one, Flavel. Enoch settled where Amos Hollister lives.
David Morgan, Gideon Beebe, Bela Case, Isaac Sterling and sons, Bradley and Isaac H., carpenters, were settlers of 1810. Isaac H. Sterling is now a resident of Sterling, Ill.
Dr. Mason Denison began the practice of his profession in Brooklyn about 1810.
Putnam Catlin, Esq., came to the township as agent for the Wallace estate of "14,000 acres of beech and maple lands," receiving land in payment, of which a part was Mr. Sabin's old sugar-camp. He built a fine residence here. The Hop- bottom post-office was established in 1813, P. Catlin, post- master. The returns for letter-postage, the first quarter, were $1.00. In the small frame building erected for the office, his son George, "since eminent on three continents as an artist,
9
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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.
and particularly as a delineator of Indian life and features," once taught school.
When George was born, his parents resided in or near Wilkes-Barre. His mother's maiden name was Sutton, and she belonged to a prominent family in Wyoming Valley. Putnam Catlin was admitted as an attorney during the first court in Wilkes-Barre, May 29, 1787. He removed to Windsor, N. Y., and from there to Brooklyn, then (1810) included in Bridge- water. His aged father resided with him, and died here. Julius, a brother of George, who also had artistic tastes, was drowned, in 1828, at Rochester, N. Y., while sketching the Falls.
Though Putnam Catlin is said to have had an " aristocratic bearing," he was yet truly affable and easily approached. The poor were never turned away from his door. He would say, " I shall always have enough," and would take the clothing, which Mrs. C. thought still serviceable, and give it to the child- ren of others more needy. He encouraged young men to clear land for him; and though it was then the custom to give cattle, or " truck," as payment for work, he would pay to each from two to three dollars in cash, that they might be able to expend something on holidays. Even as late as 1825, for a whole sum- mer's work, a farm-hand received but $10 in cash, the rest being in produce, etc.
While he was cashier of the Silver Lake Bank, he and his family lived for a time where J. S. Tarbell lives in Montrose; and afterwards in the bank building, now owned and occupied by F. B. Chandler. Afterwards he removed to Great Bend, where he died in 1842, aged 77. Mrs. C. died two years later, at Delta, N. Y., in her 74th year.
He had been a drummer-boy of the Revolution. He was born in Litchfield, Ct., and was there admitted to the bar. In 1814 he was a Representative in the Legislature of Penn'a.
A story is told of one of his early trips from Wilkes-Barre to " Nine Partners." The only house of entertainment was half- way between the places; it was built of logs, and consisted ap- parently of but one room, containing two or three beds. There was no floor. A short-cake was baking before the fire, and a white cloth was spread on a stump, the only table. At bedtime he was invited to sleep " in the other room," a pleasant fiction, as the only partition consisted in the projecting chimney and another stump.
Justice Kent, originally from Massachusetts, came in 1810 from Windsor, N. Y., to the farm now occupied by David, his oldest son, and which then adjoined that of P. Catlin on the north. When Mr. K. brought his family in 1811 to the log- cabin he had engaged the previous season, it was occupied by
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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.
Joseph Guernsey and family, and for six weeks the two fami- lies lived in one room; four adults, and twelve children ; six of the latter in each family. A ladder led to a small loft where some of the children slept. Fifteen sheep were yarded near the house. Dogs could not be depended upon for guard, as they were afraid of the bears.
Mr. K. built a grist-mill (where Jewett's saw-mill is) near the present line of Bridgewater. Robert, his second son, tended the mill, though at times he did not have more than one cus- tomer a week. He with other boys was accustomed to practice stratagem to secure venison. They made temporary salt licks between the roots of trees, then constructed a bower, and " set" a gun for an unwary animal. He was a playmate with George Catlin at Windsor, and confirms the statements of the latter re- specting his prowess in hunting, saying : "He would hit if with- in fifteen rods of anything." He had eleven children, all of whom are living in the county, except one daughter. His sons are Robert, Elijah, H. Wallace, Ezra S., Charles, and George J.
About 1825, farmers began to realize cash for cattle sold to drovers. A two-year old would sell for from seven to nine dollars. In 1826, one farmer sold 100 bushels of wheat at 75 cents per bushel, and only one bushel could command cash.
This money was the first he had received in fifteen months ; the fifteen shillings he had previous to that time, had held out ! Money for taxes was raised by working on the turnpike.
1811 .- Nathan Jewett came in the spring from East Haddam, Conn., built a log-house on the place now occupied by his grand- son, Nathan R. Jewett, and then returned for his family. They arrived Nov. 3, 1811. He had then two children, Francis, who died when a young man, and Rodney, fifteen months old. Two daughters and one son, Allen, were born here. The last named was killed in the war for the Union.
On his arrival, he paid for his farm, 100 acres or more, in gold ; and always enjoyed a competence from the fruits of his labor. He died in 1861, aged 78. Mrs. J. died in 1865, aged 77.
Cyril Giddings ; David Sutliff, and sons Zerah, Joel and Har- ris; Latham Williams and family, from Groton, Conn .; and
Jedediah Lathrop, were among the settlers of 1811.
Also,
Jacob Wilson, who taught the first school in his neighborhood.
Wise Wright, from Connecticut, settled in Brooklyn (where his son Orlando now resides) ; at the same time (1811) his brother Anthony settled in Lathrop. A lady of Brooklyn writes :-
" I remember when Wise Wright and family lived in a log-house covered with bark. Perhaps none here endured more of the hardships and priva- tions of a new country than Mrs. W. Many times after the children were in bed, she had spun a day's work ; sometimes working all night to procure food and clothing for their needy family. They had nine children, and lived
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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.
to enjoy a comfortable home on the farm where they first settled ; and where they both died. Mr. W. died in 1854, aged 71; and Mrs. W. a few years later."
Esek H. Palmer and Amy his wife were natives of New Lon- don Co., Ct., where they lived until after the birth of four of their twelve children. In March, 1811, he came from Conn. on foot and alone, to the house of Amos Bailey, in Susquehanna County. After prospecting a little, he selected the farm now occupied by his son, C. R. Palmer (Prince Perkins' first " chop- ping"), cleared, put in crops, and made them ready to leave until harvest; and then returned, as he came, to Connecticut. In August following he brought his family and goods in a two- horse wagon, and commenced housekeeping in a log-house be- longing to his neighbor A. Bailey. The lumber for his own house had to be drawn from Titus' mill (now Oakley's) up a steep hill; and by the road, they had to travel more than three miles with oxen and sled in the heat of summer ; but he perse- vered, and had his house inclosed so that the family moved into it in Nov. 1812. The old house was removed in 1840, and a new one built near its site. Here he died Oct. 31, 1861, in his 84th year.
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