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 27
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He added :-
"Edward and Isaac Abel Chapman opened upon the world first-rate men. The fine poem1 by Edward, commencing-
. ' Columbia's shores are wild and wide, Columbia's hills are high, And rudely planted side by side, Her forests meet the eye'-
justly challenges the critic's praise.
" Isaac became an editor; proved an excellent writer, but was too inde- pendent to be a party printer in ancient times. For many years he was engi- neer in the employ of the Mauch Chunk Company, whose confidence and favor attest his scientific accuracy and social merit."
In 1826, Isaac A. Chapman invented the Syphon Canal-lock. Ilis death occurred December, 1827, at Manch Chunk. Two years later proposals were issued for the publication of his 20 History of Wyoming,' which eventually appeared. The pre- face, by himself, bears date July 11, 1818. He took the census of Susquehanna County in 1810.
Martin Myers was a Hessian soldier in the British army during the Revolution. He came to Pennsylvania from one of the New England States, having left the service before the close of the war, and settled down as a peaceable citizen of the country against which he had been sent to fight.
By the contract between the Government of Great Britain and the Prince of Hesse-Cassel, a sum of money was to be paid to the latter for all the Hessians not returned, and they were, at the end of the war, carefully sought for to be taken back.
! This is said to have been written during the war of 1812. Edward Chap- man taught school in Brooklyn in 1810, at which time Hon. B. Parke was one of his pupils.
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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.
Myers, not wishing to return, sought concealment, and was aided by a young woman with whom he had become acquainted. He was not found, and after the troops had left the country this woman became his wife. In the fall of 1799, he is said to have carried the following load upon his back from Black's mill, on the Wyalusing, up to the forks of the creek-a distance of ten miles-the flour of one bushel of wheat, one bushel of rye, fourteen shad, and a gun. At the Forks he added to his load, one gallon and a pint of whiskey, a large bake-kettle weighing twenty-five pounds, and a common-sized cross-cut saw, all of which he carried without assistance thirteen miles further to his own residence. These thirteen miles were en- tirely in the woods, and he was guided only by a line of marked trees. This Samson-like feat was performed by no " Samson in size," as we are told by his daughter, Mrs. Button, who also informs us that his grave is one-half mile east of Dimock Cor- ners. He has a son, Alvin, now living in Rush. Another son, Surzardis, formerly resided in Dimock.
In 1799, Thomas Giles, from Conn., moved in between Col. Parke's place and Brooklyn. Soon after, his daughter Fanny, aged four years, while gathering chestnuts in the woods near the house, was lost. Many people joined in the search for her. " On the third day there were persons there who lived thirty miles away. No trace of her was ever found."
Asa Lathrop came from Conn., in 1800, but did not bring in his family until 1801; when they located near the present farm of Denison Thomas. He removed, not long after, to the outlet of the lakes so long known by his name, where he built one of the first grist-mills, possibly the first in operation in all this section ; though Harris' mill on the Wyalusing was projected pre- viously. The mill is now owned by F. Fargo, a son of Alice, the youngest daughter of Asa Lathrop.
Asa L -- died in 1827, aged 72. His sons were James, Walter, and Asa. A story told by the eldest is repeated by one of his sons :-
James Lathrop, hearing the squealing of pigs, one bright moonlight night (about 1810), rose, went out, and found a bear had scaled the log fence-five feet high-with a porker weighing 200 lbs .; and had walked off hugging it, and was then in the act of getting over another fence, when, seeing Mr. L. coming and brandishing a bush-hook, he dropped the porker and took to the woods on all fours.
The sons of James were Israel B., Wm. F., Austin B., and Charles J.
Ezekiel Lathrop's family are said to have been here before that of Asa, or in 1800. This is according to the statement of one of his sons, Nehemiah, who was eleven years old when his father came, and is now-Sept. 1870-eighty-two; while
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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.
another son feels confident that it could not have been earlier than 1802. All outside testimony seems to favor the earlier date. (This instance of discrepancy may serve to show how extremely difficult it has been for the compiler, in many other cases, to reconcile two or more conflicting statements, each apparently reliable.)
The earliest religious services of the vicinity were held at the house of Ezekiel L-, very near the present line of Au- burn, southwest of the Lakes. His son Dyer occupies a part of the old farm.
The sons of Ezekiel were: Spencer, Dyer, Nehemiah, Eze- kiel, and John.
1801. Asahel Avery, wife, and six children came from New London Co., Conn., to the farm since known as that of Wm. D. Cope, but then mapped under the Connecticut title as the south- east corner of Manor. They entered their log-house when it was but two-thirds roofed. There was a flooring through the centre only, of split bass-wood logs; the horse and calf were on one side of this, and the fireplace-no jambs-was against the wall on the other side.
Bears were in the neighborhood of "Pine Hill" (the ridge on which C. Hollister lives), and one of the children, now a respected justice of the peace at Montrose, was once so effectu- ally frightened by them as never to forget it.
Mr. A- was a carpenter, and his services were in requisi- tion in remote portions of the county, then Luzerne. His cabin, on the sight of the present "tenant house," was about to be given up for a frame house across the road, the timber of which he had prepared, when he sold the place with his improvements, in 1808 or 9, to John Williams, and moved to Great Bend, where he died Feb. 1813. His widow removed to Montrose with her son Charles and died here.
John Williams sold, in a few years, to John W. Robinson, who purchased what was known as the Wallace estate-8000 acres -- and all the contracts previously made. Mr. Avery had purchased under the Connecticut title.
On petition of Stephen Wilson and others in 1801, for a road to run past Thomas and Henry Parke's, the court appointed viewers, and the road was ultimately opened down to the Chap- man farm (Montcalm), and thence to Col. Parke's, where it intersected a road leading eastward to " Nine Partners."
At an early day, Nehemiah Maine made a clearing where I. P. Baker now lives.
Ralph Loomis, from Ct., was east of the corners.
The following item was furnished by Mr. Jesse Bagley, July, 1871 :--
-
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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.
"In 1806 I worked for Col. Parke when the first militia training was held there; Thomas Parke, Captain, Myron Kasson, Lieut., Joseph Chapman, Ensign, and myself Sergeant or Corporal. Abiathar Tuttle is the only man now living who trained with me. Capt. (afterwards Col.) Parke proposed, that to every one who would the next time appear in uniform-blue coat and white pantaloons-he would give a dinner. About twenty so appeared and were treated to an excellent dinner."
In 1808, George W. Lane came from Windham Co., Vt., to the farm afterwards occupied many years by Philander Ste- phens. He removed to a place a little southwest of that, in Dimock.
Samuel Davis and family came from the same place the same year, and located not far from Pine Hill.
About 1810 or 1811, Henry Parke taught a winter school at his house; and the families of Avery, West, and Fuller were represented in that school. The last named resided just below Capt. Bard, in Bridgewater, and his brother in-law, Elias West, was where Friend Hollister now lives ; the line between Bridge- water and Dimock running through the farm.
Joshua Smith, from Groton, Conn., reached Dimock (then Bridgewater) in 1812; the fourteenth day of his journey, and located on the east and west road leading past Lathrop's Lakes, where his son Urbane, the youngest of eleven children, now lives. A few years later, Silas, another son, when about ten years old, was followed by a pack of wolves just west of this place, and barely reached his father's yard in safety.
Mr. Smith died December 30, 1840, aged 76; his widow, Sabra, died April 3, 1842, aged 70. Both were highly esteemed members of the Baptist church.
Erastus and William Rathbun (the latter a clothier) were near the southern shore of the lakes prior to 1813, but re- mained only a few years.
Oliver Scott took up the place afterwards occupied by Samuel A. Brown (J. P. in 1821), between Woodbourne and the Cor- ners, where a clump of pines is still to be seen, though the house they shaded was burned to the ground years ago.
Wm. Harkins, an early settler on the Hopbottom, came to Dimock a few years later, and died here in 1825.
Amos and Allen Lawrence, from the same neighborhood, settled a mile or two east of the Corners.
About 1813, John Bolles and family removed from Wilkes- Barre to the Chapman farm (Montcalm), and remained there for several years. He then settled on the farm adjoining Di- mock Corners, afterwards owned by Lewis Brush, Esq. He died in Bridgewater, at the residence of his son-in-law, ex- sheriff Thomas Johnson, at the age of 90.
Avery Bolles, his son, began on " Pine Hill," put up a small
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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.
frame house, which he removed about forty-five years ago to his present farm, and Elhanan Smith took the place he left.
In 1814, Israel Hewitt began a clearing east of Dimock Cor- ners. His farm is now owned by F. Newton and Wm. Bun- nell.
Frazier Eaton began where Benjamin Blakeslee afterwards lived and died.
Jacob Perkins made an improvement on the place now owned by Samuel Sherer. He first occupied a log house of Elias West's, then Edward Fuller's place, until his own house was built. From this he moved to the present Baxter place, on the Wilkes-Barre turnpike, where he died.
In 1814, Henry Parke and others petitioned for a road " from near Joshua Smith's to pass by or near to Phineas Arms', and come into the post-road near the house lately occupied by E. Fuller." Stephen Wilson, Isaac Post, Zebulon Deans, Jacob Roberts, Samuel Kellum, and John Bard were appointed viewers, August, 1814; their report was accepted, and in April, 1815, a certificate was issued to Z. Deans to open the road. The following month another certificate authorized the opening of a road from Joshua Smith's to a point near the house of Salmon Thomas, in Springville. The viewers were, Isaac A. Chapman, Ezra Tuttle, Frazier Eaton, and Joshua Smith.
About the same time, or a little previous, a road " from the tenth mile-tree past Thomas Parke's clearing" is mentioned- James Spencer, Ezra Tuttle, Salmon Tuttle, Zophar and Aaron Blakeslee, viewers. The road was finally ordered.
In 1814, George Young settled on the farm previously located by Denison Gere, and now owned by his son; John Young, ex-sheriff. He died in 1831, aged seventy-two. David Young, Sen., a brother of George, came in 1815, buying out Joseph and James Camp (of whom, as of Mr. Gere, nothing further is known). Mr. Young died before 1831, aged seventy- five. His farm of four hundred acres is divided, the home- stead-lot being occupied by his grandson, Chas. M., son of John Newton Young. David Young, Jr., died within a few years.
In 1815, Samuel Kellum, formerly on the old Eldridge farm in Bridgewater, bought the Chapman farm, including three of the four corners where the State road crosses the Wilkes-Barre turnpike. Four years later he advertised the same for sale, stating that there were then four hundred and fifty thrifty apple trees on the place. The farm appears to have been pur- chased by Englishinen.
In 1816, Elisha Gates and his son-in-law, John Lewis, from Groton, Conn., settled on the farm immediately north of Col. Parke's. Mr. Gates was known as the best arithmetician in
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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.
his neighborhood. He was frequently called upon to solve many knotty and puzzling mathematical questions, not only by his neighbors, but by persons from other counties. He had four daughters, and two sons, John and George. In our late civil war, John had three, and George six sons (all he had), in the Union army.
About 1817, Simon Stevens, from Braintrim, located on the place formerly owned by Erastus and William Rathbun. He had fourteen children ; three sons and three daughters still reside in the vicinity.
Mr. Stevens had filled the offices of commissioner and of register and recorder; and was well known and respected in the county. He was a prominent anti-Mason. He died in Dimock, May, 1841, aged about sixty-five.
In 1818, a new post-office was established, called Springville Four Corners, though the office itself was kept nearly a mile from the Corners, on the next hill north, by John W. Robin- son, who afterwards sold to Wm. D. Cope. The house was the one for which Asahel Avery had made preparation; it was burned in 1830, when Mr. Cope lost with it the most of his furniture.
" Woodbourne" post-office was a continuance of this, Enoch Walker, postmaster, until 1830, when it was removed to the Corners, receiving the old name, and Perrin Ross was appointed postmaster.
About 1819, a number of emigrants, mostly from England, settled at what is now Dimock Corners, which they called New Birmingham. Among them was Thomas Bedford, said to have been wealthy, and to have furnished his reputed brother-in-law, Thomas Emerson, the funds to erect the hotel now standing on the corner. A Mr. Hicks opened a store, and a Frenchman by the name of Major, a cabinet-maker and local preacher, also erected a house, and carried on business. After a few years, most of them sold out and left. Mr. Ross, mentioned above, purchased the northeast corner, afterwards owned by Dr. Denison.
Alexander Smith, born near Edinburgh, Scotland, left that country March, 1818, and landed in Philadelphia in May fol- lowing. He came to Susquehanna County September, 1819, with James Young, Sr., and James Service. The last-named settled near Lathrop's Lakes.
Mr. Smith contracted with J. W. Robinson for eighty acres, a mile east of the Corners. He lived there for some time, then went to Forest Lake, came back to "the Cope place," afterwards was in Bridgewater, and is now spending the evening of his days near his son, Wm. W. Smith, of Montrose. This son and his sister, Christiana, were " the first twins of Dimock."
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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.
In his first purchase, Mr. Smith was more fortunate than some of his neighbors who were able to pay for their lands ; as those who had paid Robinson were afterwards obliged, with one exception, to pay Wallace or his widow, since the tract, extending nearly to Montrose, was mortgaged to him, and Robin- son failed to raise the mortgage. This was due, doubtless, to the long time he allowed the settlers to make their payments. In the mean time, as he could give no valid deed, there was dis. trust among the settlers, some of whom were threatened with ejectment by Robinson ; but, "one morning," it is said, "he found a pail of tar and feathers, and a bag of powder and shot sus- pended from his door latch, giving too strong a hint to be dis- regarded, and within twenty-four hours, he left the township."
Charles Miner says of Mr. Robinson, " we were early and through life, attached friends. He had been on the Wyalusing with Col. Hyde, as surveyor, in 1798. He removed to Wilkes- Barre, where he entered into mercantile business, and married a daughter of the revolutionary veteran, Col. Zeb. Butler. His daughter intermarried with the Hon. H. B. Wright."
Samuel Robinson, father of John W., came from Connecti- cut quite early, and settled in Auburn, on the farm next west of Ezekiel Lathrop.
Adam Waldie, printer and publisher, came from Hyde, on the Tweed, Scotland, in 1820. His two sisters, contributors to the 'Messenger,' which he afterwards published in Montrose, lived in his family, one mile northwest of Dimock Corners, on the farm now occupied by John Murray. He moved from there to Forest Lake.
In the fall of 1821, Joseph Baker, of Chester Co., father of Judge Baker, visited Susquehanna County, and in a letter to Charles Miner, then an editor in the southern part of the State, he wrote : " We visited John W. Robinson's and Dr. Rose's lands, more than any other, and I think there are twelve or fourteen miles square in Susquehanna Co., of as handsome and good land as I ever saw in the State." He bought between two and three hundred acres of improved land, adjoining the " Four Corners," six miles from Montrose ; and moved to the place in the spring of 1822.
The same season, Enoch Walker and son George came from Choconut to the farm now known as Woodbourne. Early in the century, Charles Miner1 employed men to clear five acres here; and on this clearing, Henry Parke built a house, in which he and his sister resided. It now forms a part of the
1 He must himself have superintended operations here, as, from a tree of his own planting, a basket of fruit, fifty years later, was presented to him by E. Walker. C. Avery, Esq., remembers that his father, Asahel Avery, cleared "up to the Miner fence," in 1806.
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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.
hospitable home of George and Sarah M. Walker. There are one or two small lakes in the vicinity.
Lewis Walker, the great-grandfather of Enoch, emigrated in 1700, from Yorkshire, England, to Chester Co., Pa., and here the latter was born, as were also his father and grandfather. His parents were Joseph and Sarah Walker, members of the Society of Friends. Enoch came from Chester Co., with his children, in April, 1820, to the farm, late the residence of Caleb Carmalt, Lakeside, Choconut; where he remained two years, before removing to Woodbourne. One who spent many months, at different times, under his roof, says :-
"His earliest training was under the judicious care of an excellent Chris- tian mother, whose precepts and example were the abiding rule of his life, and enabled him to endure with great fortitude, many and various trials. When young, he appeared as a minister among Friends ; and in 1796, spent some time as a missionary to the Oneida Indians, under the auspices of the Yearly Meeting of Friends ; and traveled much in the service of the Gospel, and on business, until the close of a long and active life.
"He was ever a pattern of true hospitality, in word and deed ; careful in training his children in strict morality and religion, and ever kind and con- siderate for the happiness of all under his care and influence. He was active in promoting the settlement of the county with worthy and industrious per- sons, and always evinced a liberal and forbearing spirit towards every sect and denomination, in the fullest sense of a true ' Universal Christian Benevolence.'
" He was returning, 11th mo. 8th, 1853, in his 83d year, from one of his accustomed visits of love and duty, to relatives and friends in and near Philadelphia, and had reached the house of Noah Rogers, Waymart, Wayne Co., in expectation of being at Woodbourne the following day. He spent a cheerful evening, and retired to rest-and to sleep the sleep that knows no waking here." He was buried at Friendsville. "The memory of the just is blessed !'
'Rest from thine earnest labors, Rest from thy loved employ, And with His seal and signet, Enter thy Master's joy ! Through Heaven's uncounted ages, With love and transport see, Thy angel-cause advancing Afar, o'er land and sea.'"
In a short description of Susquehanna Co., given by Enoch Walker in the 'Register,' published at Montrose, July, 1833, the following large landholders are mentioned : Heirs of Henry Drinker, Dr. R. H. Rose, Caleb Carmalt, S. Milligan, R. Vaux, J. Lee, J. B. Wallace, T. W. Morris, and others, of Philadel- phia; S. Meredith, and - Brownes, of New York. Their lands were then in the care of Judge Wm. Thompson, and Putman Catlin, Great Bend ; Wm. Jessup, James C. Biddle, Joshua W. Raynsford, Montrose ; Wm. Ward, New Milford ; Wm. D. Cope and Geo. Walker, Woodbourne.
Dr. Rose then had 7000 sheep in the county. Montrose had about 500 inhabitants. The houses were about seventy, includ- ing two printing-offices, four taverns, and seven stores.
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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.
Thomas P. Cope, father of Wm. D., late of Woodbourne, be- came a landholder in Susquehanna County at an early period of its settlement, purchasing from Henry Drinker (grandfather of the late H. Drinker, of Montrose), 25,000 acres located in Dimock, Springville, Rush, Auburn, and Jessup townships.
He aided in the construction of the Bridgewater and Wilkes- Barre Turnpike, and was a liberal contributor to the First-day (Sunday) schools of the county.
George Walker, upon coming to Woodbourne, opened a small stock of merchandise in the room now his library; and for several years this was the only accommodation of the kind for the people of this vicinity. The post-office then was in the same room. He began his business as surveyor in 1824.
The first merchant at the Corners was Mr. Hicks (previously mentioned), and the next, Richard Stone, 1830-36. His place was purchased by L. H. Woodruff, to whose enterprise the town- ship is indebted for the erection of an academy several years. later. He was appointed justice of the peace in 1838, for Spring- ville and Dimock.
After the erection of Dimock township, the post-office, which had been known as "Springville Four Corners," was changed to "Dimock Four Corners," and in January, 1834, John Baker was appointed postmaster in place of Perrin Ross.
Philander Stephens, an early settler of Bridgewater, was identified with the interests of Dimock in his later years, being located on the farm which George W. Lane began to clear in 1808. He was a commissioner and sheriff of the county, and was subsequently chosen representative for Susquehanna and Luzerne Counties in the State Legislature several successive years, where he acquired the reputation of an active and influ- ential member, and was finally twice elected a representative in Congress from this district. His death occurred in July, 1842, in the fifty-fourth year of his age. A. P. Stephens, lately our State representative, is one of his sons.
In 1835, Samuel Barkley was justice of the peace for Dimock. In 1836, the 'Register' mentions Julius Beach, as "an enter- prising farmer who has done much for the introduction of the mulberry into the county. He presented to the cabinet of the Montrose Lyceum, a skein of beautiful silk (white); the first silk manufactured in the county."
(The morus multicaulis fever was at its height in the county three years later.)
From a newspaper of the period we take the following :-
" Mr. Avery Bolles, of Dimock, in the fall of 1835, procured a kernel of a superior kind of seed wheat, sowed it separately, and in August, 1836, gath- ered the product and laid it aside. A few days ago he shelled it, counted the kernels, and found them to number 1198."
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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.
The same year (1835), William Smith, an Englishman, who lived a little north of Dimock Corners, died, aged seventy-six, and was buried in a grove of trees near the turnpike, which have been sacredly preserved to the stranger's memory. It is on the Oliver Scott place which is now owned by L. H. Wood- ruff.
In 1840, Dimock sustained the school law.
In 1842, the Elk Lake post-office was established seven miles southwest of Montrose; C. J. Lathrop, postmaster ; since which time the two lakes have been more commonly mentioned as one-Elk Lake. The township has several lakes, not half the size of the former, (which covers about 150 acres,) but they add much to the attractiveness of their respective localities. Elk Lake itself has never been sold from the Drinker estate. Young's Pond supplies water for the steam, grist, and saw-mills of Silvanus Tyler.
The mills at Parkevale were built by Hon. B. Parke, at a cost of nearly $30,000. They have all the latest improvements, and it is said they are not surpassed by any flouring mills in this part of the country. The water-power is unfailing. The pond near is supplied with black bass, to the introduction of which into the county, Mr. Parke is giving attention. In the early times there was a beaver-meadow and a deer-lick on the Meshoppen, in the vicinity of the mills.
Dimock Corners is now a village of about eighty inhabitants. It has a Baptist church, two academies, two dry goods stores, a millinery shop, wagon and blacksmith shops, shoemakers' shops, etc.
The Presbyterian church now building (1871), is on land donated by L. H. Woodruff, Esq. The society was organized about fifteen years ago; that of the Baptists, twenty-five years earlier.
The township has furnished thirteen physicians; about half the number located in the county.
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