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 25
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"From 1828 to 1830, the Rev. Jas. Russell was half the time in Gibson, and the other half in Mt. Pleasant. Rev. Isaac Todd, sent out by the O. S. Educational Society of Philadelphia, labored through the years 1830 and 1831. His salary was $250 per year, and he was boarded. A. Tiffany, M. Chamberlin, Esq., and Deacon William Holmes were responsible for four months each. The Educational Society gave $100 each year.
"The weekly prayer-meeting was kept up, and ' the church was never more blessed with a spirit of fervent prayer before nor since. There was not a communion season in the two years but that more or less were added to the church.'
"Mr. Todd was instrumental in getting the church finished inside and out, and he obtained $60 in New Jersey to secure a charter of incorporation, which was finally had in 1834. Early in January, 1833, the slips were sold for $108. In October, 1833, the form of government was changed to Pres- byterian, and J. Chamberlin, Arunah 'Tiffany, J. B. Buck, and P. K. Williams were chosen elders. The Rev. Samuel T. Babbit preached through this year. [The first two were chosen deacons, May, 1854.] January 1, 1834, Alonzo Abel and E. Whitney, Jr., were ordained deacons. The latter died, May, 1852. The first case of discipline was reported in 1835. In the following year the Rev. John Sherer was employed, and, by vote, the slips were to be free.
"During the next ten years Revs. M. Thatcher, Lyman Richardson, and Eli Hyde occupied the pulpit. July, 1846, Rev. Geo. N. Todd came as stated supply for this church, in connection with the one at Ararat ; and November, 1847, he became the first installed pastor. About this time there was a dis- cussion as to the propriety of moving the church edifice over to the turn- pike, near the Methodist church then standing on Gibson's Hill. It was decided in the negative. A Sabbath-school was organized with ten or fifteen scholars ; Deacon Abel, Superintendent. In June, 1849, one person joined the church on profession of faith-' the first in ten or twelve years.'" '" [This would indicate in spiritual matters a somnolence equal to that exhibited in person by the church members of that day, when 'perhaps not a member but got lost in sleep during the exercises of the Supper!' But, possibly, this tendency to 'sleep in meeting' was not stronger in Gibson than else- where in farming communities, when those who were actively employed in the open air during most of the waking hours of six days, found it difficult to
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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.
do otherwise than observe the command to rest on the seventh. At this time the church numbered but 33. Three years later there were three more members, making 109 from the organization of the church to March, 1852.
But as little life as the church, by its own record, had evinced, there were yet in it a few things worthy of imitation. The members prayed for each other by daily rotation. When one of the female members, who had been bed-ridden for years, appeared in church for the first time after her re- covery, the fact was noted on the books of the church-showing that each member was of value to all the others.]
Rev. Mr. Todd's pastoral relation to the people of Gibson and Ararat was dissolved December, 1853. Early in 1855, Rev. O. W. Norton took his place, and occupied it three years.
In November and December, 1856, some unusual religious interest in the community is noted. The Rev. Mr. Allen came in August, 1858, and still continues as pastor of the Union Hill Church.
Silas Chamberlin was chosen deacon in 1858.
The subject of a new church edifice was agitated in the spring of 1863, but one was not begun until 1868; it was finished and dedicated July 7th, 1869.
The first Methodist church was erected in 1837, on Kenn edy Hill. In 1868, it was sold to be taken down and removed to South Gibson, where it was re-erected; the same frame, out- side covering of the walls, wainscoting, slips, doors, etc .- all used, with the addition of a lecture-room, built new; and the whole neatly finished.
The Methodist church at Gibson Hollow was begun in 1868, and completed and dedicated June 3d, 1869. Just prior to this, a newspaper correspondent described it correctly thus :-
"The taste, personal supervision, and pains-taking liberality of Judge Burrows, have been strikingly manifest in the projection and completion of this edifice. Messrs. Perry, Scott, and Shepardson have won for themselves an enviable reputation by the mechanical skill they have evinced in the exe- cution of their work. It will bear the closest scrutiny, and speaks for itself. The walls and ceiling of the building are appropriately frescoed. The win- dows are of stained glass. The pulpit is well proportioned, and constructed of black walnut, with tastefully turned columns and well proportioned panels and mouldings. The slip ends are made of red oak with black walnut trim- mings. The wainscoting and breastwork are also of the same materials. The building has been carpeted throughout, and is heated by a furnace in the basement, on new and improved principles. The steeple, or tower, is unique, and is furnished with a silvery-toned bell from the foundry of Jones & Co., Troy, N. Y. One of Mason & Hamlin's organs is ordered, and it is expected will be on hand prior to dedication. There is a lecture-room in the rear of the church, which is used for Sabbath-school and other meet- ings. The folding doors in the recess behind the pulpit, can be thrown back, and thus increased accommodation can be secured on extraordinary occasions. Take it all in all, as to workmanship chaste execution, and general convenience, we hesitate not to pronounce it a model country church."
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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.
The cost, including the bell and furnishing, was about $11,- 500. There is probably no better finished church edifice in the county.
The Baptists of Gibson united with those of Jackson, and were organized as a church by Elder D. Dimock in 1825. They then belonged to the Abington Association, but were dis- missed to that of Bridgewater in 1828. (See History of Abing- ton Association, by E. L. Bailey.)
Their meetings were formerly held in a school-house (now burned), above Pope's mills; when they built a church it was at Jackson Corners. Among their regular pastors were Elder G. W. Leonard in 1831 ; J. B. Worden, 1844-51 ; N. Callender, 1852; R. G. Lamb, 1853.
The Universalist church was built about 1839 at Gibson Hol- low, but there was no regular church organization until thirty years later.
There are now five churches-Methodist and Universalist at Burrows' Hollow ; Presbyterian on Union Hill; Methodist at South Gibson, and Old School Baptist on the creek above Gelatt Hollow.
In 1829, a violent opposition was made to secret organiza- tions by many in the township, and at the same time earnest effort was begun in the temperance cause.
PHYSICIANS.
For several years after the settlement, Gibson was dependent upon other towns for medical assistance, or at least upon such as were outside of its present limits. Dr. Chandler, in 1804, and Dr. Denny, ten years later, were confined to specialties, and it does not appear that a regular "M. D." came to the town- ship until 1824, when Dr. Wm. W. Tyler advertised his arri- val. Apparently his stay was short; but, in 1825, Dr. Chester Tyler (not related to the former) established himself on Ken- nedy Hill, where he remained in practice until his death in 1846. He was an elder in the Presbyterian church. He had six children ; his only son, James, resides in Montrose.
In January, 1830, Dr. Wm. W. Pride, a returned missionary from the Choctaws, was established at Burrows' Hollow. He remained there about four years, and then removed to Spring- ville. Luther Price took his house and lot, which are now owned and occupied by Wm. T. Case, Esq.
About the same time (1834) Drs. J. W. and G. N. Brundage (brothers) came from Orange County, N. Y. Both are now dead, as is also Dr. D. F. Brundage, son of the former. Dr. G. N. Brundage died in 1838. The house occupied by his brother for many years is now owned by D. Pritchard.
The water cure buildings, erected by Dr. D. F. Brundage, were recently burned.
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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.
Dr. E. L. Brundage,1 a brother of the first two Drs. Brundage, located in Franklin about the same time they came to Gibson ; and now he and his son, Dr. Norman B., are at South Gibson. At the latter place Dr. Charles Drinker was established in suc- cessful practice until within a week or two of his decease, October, 1869, at the house of his father, in Montrose, Pa.
CHAPTER XV.
RUSH.
RUSH is the fifth of those townships of old Luzerne of which the area was comprised wholly, or in part, of territory after- wards set off to Susquehanna County.
1801 .- At January sessions of the court of Luzerne County, a petition was presented for the erection of a new township to be called Rush, its boundaries to extend
" From the fortieth to the twenty-seventh milestone on the State line-the northwest corner of old Lawsville-thence south eighteen miles, thence west eighteen miles to a corner in the line north of old Wyalusing Township, south of Wysox, to a point due east from Standing Stone, thence north five miles to a corner, thence east five miles, thence to the place of beginning."
The report of viewers appointed at that time was made in the following November. Though it was accepted, it is evident, from the bounds of the township as always afterwards recog- nized, that an error occurred in their statement of the limits of the northern line-"To begin at the forty-first milestone and extend thirteen miles to the twenty-eighth milestone"-thus failing to reach Lawsville by one mile. [The milestones were numbered from the Delaware River westward.] Also, upon the erection of Susquehanna County, its west line extended south from the fortieth milestone, and from all that can now be ascertained, the west line of Rush was the county line for thir- teen miles; five miles square remained in Bradford (then Ontario) County. Practically, the township extended east to the line of old Nicholson; and south, at least, to the line of Susquehanna County, as afterwards run. A portion of Brain- trim (now Auburn) may be excepted ; but the taxables of Rush,2 for the year 1801, included residents of Springville and Brook-
1 Since deceased.
2 Rush, or Rindaw -both names being given to the election district - although " Rindaw," by the Yankees, was confined to a very small town, as marked on a map of Connecticut surveys, 1799.
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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.
lyn, or those who, without change of locality, were afterwards included in the latter townships. Rush was then the ninth of ten districts for justices in Luzerne; and, apparently, also for elections; the tenth included Nicholson, Lawsville, and Wil- lingborough. Isaac Hancock was justice for the former dis- trict, and Asa Eddy, Thomas Tiffany, and John Marcy were justices for the latter. Nicholson, as well as Rush, extended beyond the line of our county, and Justices Hancock and Marcy were never its residents.
Upon the erection of Bridgewater, November, 1806, Rush received definite limits; being left eight miles on the State line, by eighteen miles north and south.
The township was named in honor of Judge Jacob Rush, president of the courts of Common Pleas in the circuit con- sisting of the counties of Berks, Northampton, Luzerne, and Northumberland. For seven years previous he had been chief justice of the Supreme Court, but, on the re-appointment of Judge Mckean to that office, he accepted the position of circuit judge August, 1791.
In 1812, twenty-four of the residents of Rush signed a peti- tion to have a new township formed from it, eight miles square, adjoining the State line, to be called Bennington. January, 1813, the first court of Susquehanna County was petitioned to divide Rush into three parts, viz., Choconut, Middletown, and Rush-the latter to be left eight miles east and west, by six miles north and south. The petition was granted "nisi," November, 1813, and "finally," January, 1814.
The area of Rush was again reduced, in 1846, by the erec- tion of Jessup; and more recently by the addition to the latter township of about eighty rods on the Wyalusing, north to the line of Forest Lake. Thus the present north line of Rush extends but five and one-half miles; the south line eight miles ; and the whole area about thirty-five square miles. It once included, in addition, two hundred and thirty-five square miles; but this, now absorbed by nine other townships, will require no further attention here.
Rush, as well as Jessup, is traversed through the centre from east to west, by the Wyalusing-one of the few streams of the county retaining its sweet-sounding Indian name. But this is only in part retained. The Iroquois word as given by Zeis- berger, is Machwihilusing, meaning the "beautiful hunting grounds," a definition not unlike that given on a previous page -" Plenty of meat." The Lenape or Delaware word-having only an additional l-Machwihillusing is said to mean "at the dwelling place of the hoary veteran." The former definition best agrees with what is known of the vicinity when first occu- pied by a civilized race.
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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.
Prior to 1759, there was an Indian village at the mouth of the Wyalusing (about fourteen miles southwest from Rush), which was called by Papoonhank, the chief, Machhachloosing, a name subsequently variously written Michallousen, Munmuch- looscon, Mockocklooking, Quihaloosing, Wighalooscon, Wighalusui, and by the Moravian missionaries during the time of the mis- sion, Machwihilusing, M'chwilusing, and Wialusing.
In 1766, they laid out a town which was named Frienden- shuetten, or Huts of Peace. In 1767-68, they erected here a large church, with a cupola and a bell-the first bell that ever sounded in this section.
In 1772, the mission was removed to Ohio.
We learn from Col. Hubley's and Thomas Grant's journals of. Sullivan's expedition into the country of the Six Nations, that in August of 1779, when a division of his army encamped at Wyalusing, there " was not the appearance of a house to be seen, the old Moravian town having been destroyed partly by the savages, and partly by the whites, in the present war." Hubley furthermore states, that the plantation here was for- merly called the " Oll Man's Farm," a name which would appear to corroborate Heckewelder's interpretation of Wyalu- sing.
The north and middle branches of the Wyalusing join the main stream, or east branch, in Rush; Deer Lick Creek, and the outlet of Elk Lake, with some smaller streams, flow into it from the south. Bixby's Pond, on the line between Middle- town and Rush, is the only sheet of water larger than a mill- pond.
Mineral Springs (see Mineral Resources), of some prospec- tive value, exist on the Deer Lick, but, singularly enough, salt is not one of their ingredients, though from the earliest times deer sought the locality, a salt spring being near.
Except when the roads follow the streams, they are very hilly, but the traveler who gains the hilltops is amply repaid by the views he obtains. This is particularly true of the emi- nence just west of the Mineral Spring, from which one looks up the valley of Wyalusing to Cemetery Hill at Montrose; but the stream itself is hidden by the overlapping hills that border its winding course. Devine Ridge, in the eastern part of the township, was so named from a family who first occupied it more than fifty years ago.
Soon after the close of the Revolutionary struggle, some of the Wyoming settlers pushed northward on the Susquehanna and along its tributaries, Wyalusing being one of them; other settlers came from the New England States, via the Susque- hanna, to Great Bend, and over the hills; while still others kept
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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.
to the river in canoes, and so reached the Wyalusing, and gath- ered along its shores.
SETTLEMENT.
As early as 1794, Isaac Brownson and family (eight in all) were at the forks or junction of the North Branch (the place long occupied by the late H. J. Champion).
Of his sons, Elisha, settled in Windham, Bradford County, and John one mile west of his father on the road coming in from the north, a few rods east of Sherwood's hotel.
Daniel Ross came in soon after I. Brownson, and located just below him. He was the first postmaster.
In 1795, Dan Metcalf was on the farm next below, which has since been known as the old Hancock place. At this time (we are told by Mrs. Ichabod Terry, one of Mr. Metcalf's daughters), the settlers below her father's place were in the fol- lowing order : Thomas Tillotson (Andrew Canfield with him), Salmon Bosworth, Preston, Benajah Bostwick, Ephraim Fairchild, Ezekiel Brown, Samuel and Aden Stevens, Rockwell, Elisha Keeler, John Bradshaw, Abraham Taylor, Jonas Ingham, and Job Camp. These, though below the pre- sent county line, were then considered neighbors of settlers above the forks.
The graves of some of these early settlers may be seen in the cemetery, near the Stevensville church ; four miles below the Susquehanna County line. Benajah Bostwick died in 1864 -he was born in 1776; Isaac Hancock in 1820, in his eightieth year; his wife died two years later; Deacon Aden Stevens in 1858, aged 88; John Bradshaw in 1814; Daniel Ross in 1837, aged 68. Mr. Metcalf removed, in 1798, to a location about one and a half miles above the forks, on the East Branch.
Andrew Canfield moved from Litchfield County, Connecticut, about the 20th of January, 1797, with his wife and six chil- dren, and reached the forks, or rather a point a little below, on the 5th of February, 1797. There was then no road from Great Bend to the Wyalusing. They crossed the Delaware River near Port Jervis, and struck the Susquehanna at Skinner's Eddy; thence came up the river and creek to the place men- tioned above (outside of Susquehanna County), to the house of Thomas Tillison (or Tillotson), where they lived two years before moving to Middletown. They drove what was then called a spike team-a yoke of cattle with a horse as leader- hitched to a wood-shod sled. His son, Amos, then 15 years old, now (1870) in his eighty-fifth year, says :-
" We drove one cow, which we milked night and morning for the children ;" and adds, respecting the settlement: " A family of the name of Rossell, two brothers and a sister, lived three-fourths of a mile up the East Branch, on
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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.
what has since been called the Captain Howell place ; and all were deaf and dumb. They afterwards removed to the 'Lake Country.' There was no clearing between them and Great Bend. This was just prior to the settle- ment of Lawsville.
"The next summer after we came, Joab Picket, from Connecticut, cut a fallow on the place now owned by N. D. Snyder, which was not burned till the summer of 1799. [Mr. Miner mentions him and family at the latter date. ] Trees were marked from the Forks to Great Bend, but the route was west of Montrose some three miles.
"I recollect two brothers named Bennett, who came in the next winter after we did. They drove an ox-team, and crossed the Susquehanna at the Bend, and made their way to the Forks. The snow was nigh three feet deep. They drove their oxen until their team was tired out, when they left their load, and drove them as far as Picket's fallow; where they left them to browse in the yoke, while they made their way to the Forks, with their feet badly frozen. The next day they got my father to go after the cattle and sled. He took me with him. We took a knapsack of corn for the oxen, and victuals for ourselves. The oxen had taken their track and gone back. We followed some three or four miles and found them feeding on top of a hill west of Montrose. We then drove on until we found the sled. As it was night, we fed the oxen some corn, and cut down a bass-wood tree, to which we chained them. We prepared for the night by building a fire and getting some hemlock boughs to make a bed of. It snowed all night. The next day we returned.
"One of the oxen with which my father moved in died the next spring ; and he made a short yoke, in which he worked the remaining ox by the side of his horse. He drove them the same as he did the oxen, without reins. For two years it was the fancy team in that region.
"There was plenty of game in the woods, and trout in the creeks. We could kill a deer or catch a mess of fish any day. Bears, wolves, and pan- thers were often killed."
Silas Beardsley, afterwards on the North Branch, was then at the Forks.
A beautiful row of large maples now skirts the road on the flat where Joab Picket's first cabin stood, on the opposite side of the creek from Snyder's hotel, and where an old apple tree still stands. No name occurs more frequently in the early annals of the town than Captain Picket's. (He rose to the rank of major.) From his opposition to the claims of the Pennsyl- vania landholders, arose what is sometimes styled the "Picket war," in which it must be owned he was the aggressor. This was a second assault upon Captain Bartlet Hinds (who was the first to give up the validity of a Connecticut title), five years after the famous riot mentioned in the chapter on the Intrusion Law. An indiscreet use of fire-arms, in carrying out his oppo- sition to having the land surveyed under the Pennsylvania claim, brought him before the court. He was indicted April, 1808, tried the following November, found guilty, and was sentenced to pay thirty dollars and the costs of prosecution. The decision in this case, and the opportune influence of Dr. Rose about this time, finally quieted the people, if it did not convince them.
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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.
Captain Picket held several town offices. He removed from the flat and resided, at the time of his death, in that part of Rush now included in Jessup. He and his wife died on the same morning, May, 1832, both aged sixty-one, and were buried in the same grave, in the cemetery near the Bolles school-house. He had seven sons: Samuel, born in Connecticut, 1791, now lives in Auburn, Susquehanna County ; Shelden, who never resided here; Daniel, Charles Miner P., the first male child born in Rush; Orrin, Anson, and Almon; Polly, his only daughter, married Alanson Lung.
Hon. Charles Miner styled Captain Picket "the famous painter killer." He had the first saw-mill on the Wyalusing in the town.
In 1798, Colonel Ezekiel Hyde, the Yankee leader, was at the Forks, in "Rindaw ;" the west line of "Usher" being in Rush, between Metcalf and Hyde. He was engaged in survey - ing, and selling lots under the Connecticut title. In what manner he became so much of a Pennsylvanian as to be ap- pointed postmaster at Wilkes-Barre, so early as 1804, does not appear. He died in 1805.
Captain Jabez Hyde, a near relative of Colonel Hyde, was at the Forks, next east of Isaac Brownson, in 1799, with his family.
Jabez Hyde, Jr., is said to have been there even two years earlier.
The year 1799 witnessed a rapid increase in the number of settlers on the East Branch, or main stream of the Wyalusing.
Nathan Tupper and William Lathrop came in together, from Unadilla, N. Y., locating at what is now Grangerville. They cut their road a part of the distance. Stephen Wilson's house was then the only one in Bridgewater. Deacon Lathrop's cabin had only a blanket for a door, and he was obliged to pile up wood against it at night to keep out the wolves. His loca- tion was at the mouth of Lake Creek. He lived here until his death, in 1865, in his ninetieth year. Of the ten children of Wm. Lathrop, only two, Nelson and Catharine (widow of Eben Picket, of Jessup), are living in Susquehanna County.
Hiel Tupper, son of Nathan, settled on the Middle Branch, in Rush, two miles from any inhabitant, in one direction, and three miles in another. He married Phalla Downer, Feb. 5, 1807, had eight children (the sons were Levi and Harvey), and lived on the same place till he died, Jan. 19, 1865.
While preparing his log house in the woods, his home was two miles off; and he was accustomed, on Monday morning, to take a load of provisions, and stay until Saturday night, often not seeing a human being during the week.
He was once hired to go to Great Bend for some cattle that
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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.
had strayed away. He found them at Snake Creek, where night overtook him; and, as it was cold, he was obliged to pass the hours in running around a tree to keep warm. He did not see a person while gone from home.
Harry and Loren Tupper, younger sons of Nathan, with his five daughters-Mrs. Spencer Lathrop, Mrs. Nehemiah Lathrop, Mrs. Merritt Mott, Mrs. Willard Mott, and Mrs. Abel Chatfield -settled within the county.
Enoch Reynolds, of Norwich, Connecticut, established a store at Rindaw (Hyde's place), as an experiment. Charles Miner says of him :-
"A few years after, I found him at Washington, one of the comptrollers of the treasury, with a salary of $1700 a year. He was a learned and ac- complished gentleman, and would relieve the tedium of a journey through an uninhabited tract of road, by a story from Shakspeare (Macbeth, or Lear with his heartless daughters), as perhaps no other settler could equal."
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