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 28
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HON. DAVID WILMOT.
David Wilmot, of "Proviso" fame, was born in Bethany, Wayne County, Pennsylvania, and was about eighteen years old when his father, Randall Wilmot, moved into Dimock from Wayne County, about 1832, and located on the top of the hill west of the Corners. The place has since been known as Benjamin McKeeby's, and is now occupied by the widow of John Sawyer. Here Mr. R. Wilmot kept a store for a time, but afterwards removed to the shore of Elk Lake, where H. Spafford now resides, and eventually left the county.
Young Wilmot evinced a love for reading which craved greater facilities for indulgence than his own limited store of books or that of his neighbors could gratify. Fortunately the library at Woodbourne was open to him, with its many volumes ; among others those written by the peace-loving, slavery- hating, followers of William Penn. Years afterwards, he referred to the
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privilege enjoyed here, as one that influenced his own principles in regard to " human rights," and that indirectly, at least, eventuated in the " Wilmot Proviso."
He spent only his vacations in Dimock, having engaged in the study of law at Wilkes-Barre. He afterwards settled in Towanda, Pennsylvania. Once, while enjoying a vacation sail on Elk Lake, with another youth, he was by some carelessness, 'dumped' into the lake, and was barely rescued from drowning.
The 'Bradford Reporter' gave an extended sketch of Mr. Wilmot soon after his decease, from which the following is taken :-
" In 1844, Mr. Wilmot received the unanimous nomination of the De- mocracy of the Twelfth Congressional District, composed of the counties of Bradford, Tioga, and Susquehanna, and thereafter known as the " Wilmot district." He was chosen by a large majority, and took his seat at the open- ing of the twenty-ninth Congress, in December, 1845. The annexation of Texas, which Mr. Wilmot, in unison with the Democratic party of the North, had supported, was consummated in 1845, and was speedily followed by war with Mexico. The ' Wilmot Proviso' provided, that in any territory acquired from Mexico, 'neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall ever exist in any part of the territory, except for crime, etc.'
" The slavery question did not enter prominently into the canvass in this Congressional district, in 1846, at the time of Mr. Wilmot's second election. He received, as usual, the unanimous nomination of his party.
" Having received the nomination at the hands of the Democratic party of the district, in 1850, the pro-slavery branch of the organization set about defeating his return to Congress. Mr. Wilmot at once offered to give way for any person who would represent the principle for which he was contend- ing. Hon. Galusha A. Grow was named by Mr. Wilmot as an acceptable person ; and he was accepted and elected.
" Under the provisions of the amendment to the Constitution making the judiciary of the State elective, Mr. Wilmot was chosen President Judge of the Judicial district composed of the counties of Bradford, Sullivan, and Susquehanna, in 1851. He presided until 1857, when he resigned and became the candidate of the Republican party for Governor, and was beaten by Wil- liam F. Packer, through the treachery of the Conservative and Know-nothing leaders. He was restored to his place upon the bench by appointment- Judge Bullock having occupied the position-and was again chosen to fill the place at the next election. * * * * * *
" The selection of General Cameron as Secretary of War, by President Lincoln, created a vacancy in the United States Senate, to fill which, Mr. Wilmot was elected and took his seat in that body March 18, 1861. He served two years in the Senate, on the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Claims and Pensions, and was succeeded in 1863 by Mr. Buckalew.
" At the conclusion of his senatorial term he was appointed by President Lincoln a Judge of the Court of Claims, which office he held up to the time of his death."
He died at Towanda, March 16, 1868, aged fifty-four.
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CHAPTER XVII.
LENOX.
ON petition of Peter Rynearson and others, at the first term of court in Susquehanna County, January, 1813, a view was ordered of that portion of Nicholson separated from Luzerne by the county line, with the intention of erecting it into a town- ship to be called Hillsborough. At April sessions, the same year, Isaac Rynearson and H. Tiffany, Jr., presented the fol- lowing :-
"We do report that we have layed off that part of Nicholson belonging to Susquehanna County, and a part of Harford township as follows : Beginning where the county line crosses Martin's Creek, it being the southeast corner of that part of Bridgewater belonging to Susquehanna County, then running east on the county line seven miles to the township of Clifford, thence north five miles and three-quarters, thence west six miles and one-quarter to Mar- tin's Creek, thence down said creek to place of beginning."
The court decreed this a township under the name of Lenox. Slight changes have since been made, one of which gives to the present town of Lathrop the territory on which the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad is located, except in the extreme northwest corner; and others have taken from Har- ford small portions, making the north line of Lenox more irreg- ular than that of any other township.
Lenox is drained by the Tunkhannock Creek, the main stream of which passes entirely through the township, entering it in the northeast corner from Gibson after having also passed entirely through the latter. The East Branch comes in from Clifford at Lenoxville, near the southeast corner. It runs a little south of west, and empties into the Tunkhannock at Glen- wood. Millard's Brook and Upper and Lower Bell Brooks, with Van Winkle's Branch, are the principal tributaries to the main stream, and those of the East Branch are both numerous and considerable, making Lenox one of the best watered town- ships in the county. They run among hills beautifully wooded, but not reaching the height of some in Gibson and townships adjoining on the east.
Ponds are numerous but small. The largest is Loomis Lake.
The earliest road was a path up the Tunkhannock, which, taking a straight line, crossed the stream time and again. It was not until January, 1814, that a road was finally granted which, from a point in the north line of Lenox, followed the
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Tunkhannock on the west to the south line, and was continued by Luzerne to the Susquehanna.
In 1821, the Milford and Owego turnpike, passing diagonally across the northeastern portion of Lenox, was completed, and the Philadelphia and Great Bend turnpike commenced. The route of the latter lay through Lenox from north to south, in the eastern part.
In 1797, there were at least four settlers in Lenox. Isaac Rynearson was located on the Tunkhannock, where the turn- pikes just mentioned afterwards crossed each other, and where he resided until his death, in 1840, at the age of 82. Solomon Millard was on Millard's Brook, at its junction with the Tunk- hannock; Isaac Doud was on the East Branch, now Lenox- ville; Jesse Collar, and perhaps two or three of those who set- tled about 1790 on the Hopbottom (now Brooklyn Township), were within the present limits of Lenox.
Mark Hartley, Sr., who had been induced by John Nichol- son to join the Hopbottom settlement, May, 1792, removed in 1797 to the farm now occupied by his son, William Hartley, Esq., the latter being then five years of age, and Mark Hartley, Jr., but two years younger. The latter died October 12, 1869. The township of Nicholson at that time covered one-quarter of the area afterwards allotted to Susquehanna County, besides twenty square miles (1x 20) below. In 1798, its office-holders resided in widely-separated sections of it, including a Thatcher and Tiffany (from present town of Harford); Potter (from Gib- son); Sweet (Herrick); Bartlett and Stevens (now Wyoming County), and Solomon Millard. A year or two later, in addi- tion to some of these, Abel Kent, Asahel Gregory, and Walter Lyon (from what is now Herrick).
In 1798, immense numbers of pigeons encamped along the hills of the Tunkhannock in this section. The circumstance was so remarkable it was remembered and mentioned by Mr. John Doud, sixty years after, at the Pioneer Festival at Mont- rose, in 1858, though he was but a boy when it occurred.
In 1799, a road was ordered from Robert Corbett's (now Phinney's, New Milford) to Solomon Millard's, Nicholson.
In 1800, Thomas Tiffany and John Marcy were justices of the peace for the township, and in 1801 Ebenezer Stevens was added. He and J. Marcy lived below the line of Susquehanna County as afterwards run.
In the latter year, the number assessed was 132; Asahel Gregory, assessor; John Tyler, assistant.
People then carried their grain to Wilkes-Barre in canoes, and made most of their purchases there. "On their way they were accustomed to blow a horn when nearing each habitation,
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that persons desiring groceries, etc., might come to the bank and deliver their orders, which would be attended to, and pur- chases made by the obliging neighbor and voyager, who an- nounced his return from Wilkes-Barre with the purchases by another blast of his horn. In returning, the canoe was pro- pelled almost the entire length of the Tunkhannock Creek by pushing."
Corn was chiefly pounded in mortars, some of which were hollowed stumps; others were found in rocks, and supposed to have been excavated by the Indians. Pestles of their manu- facture, as also arrow-heads and hatchets, were found in the vicinity of Glenwood.
The elections for the district of which this section was then a part were held at a point on the Susquehanna River five miles below Tunkhannock, where Isaac Osterhout (father of our late State Senator), kept a hotel or store.
One pound of maple sugar, then worth twelve cents, could be exchanged at Tunkhannock for four shad, so abundant were they then in the river, though never found at T. now. Per- sons often suffered from hunger, and children were sometimes seen crying for food. The principal articles of diet were corn mush, and bread made of corn meal, milk, butter, and potatoes ; fried doughnuts as a Christmas luxury ; pork rarely obtain- able, but venison, bear-meat, and wild turkeys in their season abundant, as also many varieties of fishes; speckled trout in all the streams, and some of them very large. In spring, there was little to eat except porridge made of maple-sap and corn meal, and sometimes Johnny-cake, though the latter, sweetened and shortened, was a dish for guests.
One woman, the mother of numerous children who some- times begged her to give them something different from their usual fare (plain Johnny-cake), used to promise them " Jimmy- cake." It differed from their customary bread in name alone, but imagination rendered it a satisfactory dish.
John Robinson, an Irishman, came to the neighborhood from the Hopbottom. His children of the third and fourth genera- tion now reside in the township.
Before 1808, Nicholson had been so reduced by the erection of Bridgewater, Clifford, and Harford townships, that only twenty-three families were left in it, and of these only a few were in the section since named Lenox. They were princi- pally the Rynearsons, Millards, Douds, Bells, Halsteads, and Hartleys.
In 1813, the elections of the township were held with those of Harford, at the house of H. Tiffany. There were then twenty- eight taxables resident in Lenox. The houses were only twenty, the horses thirteen, cows thirty eight, and the oxen twenty- three. There were in all but three hundred and forty acres of
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improved land. The largest tax-payers (actual settlers), were: Solomon Millard, who had a saw-mill; the widow of Mark Hartley, Sr .; Ebenezer Bartlett (not taxed in Susquehanna County the following year); I. Rynearson, Benj. Rider (re- moved five years later); Michael Halstead, Rollin and Calvin Bell. The highest valuation of property in any of these in- stances was little over $1000, and ranged down to $300. Isaac Doud had a grist-mill. The holders of the unseated land of the township were: John Field, Samuel Meredith, Abraham Hutch- ins, Ebenezer Parish, James Barnes, Samuel W. Fisher, Zaccheus Collins, Thomas Stewardson,1 Donald and C. Bell. Within two years the purchasers of land had increased, and, among actual settlers, were: Amos Payne, Richard McNamara, William Buchannon, John Conrad, Nathan Tiffany (died 1828), and Asaph Fuller. A number of the sons of the first settlers came of age about this time, and appear on the tax-list. Among these were: William Hartley, Okey Rynearson, Henry Mil- lard, James Robinson, Isaiah Halstead; and, a little later, Mark Hartley, Jr., John Doud, Aaron Rynearson, and Jacob Quick, Jr.
In 1817, Sol. Millard erected his grist-mill on the Tunkhan- nock. His saw mill, distillery, and blacksmith shop were on what has long been called Millard's Brook.
Before December, 1818, the number of houses had doubled, lacking one. The " unseated land"-owners included the names of several residents of Montrose, viz .: I. Post, A. Howell, H. Drinker, A. H. Read, and N. Raynor, who became owners, pro- bably, by payment of taxes. Among settlers were: Nathaniel Truesdell, Orange Whitney (removed in 1827), Oliver Weth- erby, and Charles Webster.
In 1818, elections for Lenox and Harford were held at the house of Jacob Blake, in Harford.
In 1820, William Hartley was town clerk.
During the next five years about twenty taxables appear to have been added to the settlement.
In 1825, Benajah Millard had possession of his father's mills, but removed within a few years, selling out to James Coil, who in 1830 paid the highest tax levied on a resident. A third grist-mill (Truesdell's) accommodated the people in 1825, and Wm. Hartley had a saw-mill.
Luther Loomis settled about this time near the lake that bears his name, and of which the outlet is Millard's Brook. Soon after, John Bailey, a wagon-maker, and Nathaniel and Rial Tower, Rhodes Berry, and Nathan Foot were here. Allen M'Donald had a grist-mill prior to 1827. Nathaniel Tower was
1 One of the executors of Henry Drinker, the elder.
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a Revolutionary soldier and pensioner; he died in 1836, aged eighty-eight.
In 1827 Asa Dimock came to Lenox, from Dundaff, to which place he had removed from what is now Herrick, on the Great Bend and Coshecton turnpike, in 1818; having settled in that vicinity in 1807.
He had been one of the original trustees or commissioners of Susquehanna County, appointed by the Assembly of Pennsyl- vania, and had ever been an active man in affairs connected with township or county. His son Shubael, now a resident of Avoca, Wis., accompanied him to Lenox.
At this time the township was strongly democratic in politics. During one of the campaigns in which Andrew Jackson was a candidate for the presidency, the Lenox election was held at his house, when he gave notice that he had a keg of whiskey which he would open for those in attendance after the election, pro- vided no vote was cast against Jackson. Either all the voters were democrats, or the temptation was too strong for their prin- ciples ; for Jackson received every vote, and the whiskey was opened.
His sons were: Asa, Jr., Shubael, and Warren. A daughter (Mrs. Rhodes Berry) died in 1871, aged nearly seventy-two. He died in Lenox late in 1833,aged sixty-two.
Prior to December, 1828, Wm. Jackson had a store and tavern at Lenox Corners, or the Junction, as it is sometimes termed. Chas. Chandler, Jr., came from Gibson. Benajah Mil- lard also kept tavern a short time. Chas. H. Miller had "a stand" in 1831. William Hartley's tax was the largest of any in 1832.
In 1833 there were just four times as many houses in Lenox as there were twenty years earlier, and there were over one thousand acres of improved land.
About this time Okey Rynearson kept a tavern ; Woodbury S. Wilbur purchased from James Coil, Jr., the old mills of Solomon Millard; the old farm of the latter was purchased in 1834 by Mrs. Elizabeth Grow and sons.
Charles Chandler, Jr., and William Hartley were appointed justices of the peace about this time. The former was after- wards elected State representative for this county, and died at Harrisburg, of smallpox, during the session of legislature in the spring of 1840.
In 1842 C. W. Conrad began blacksmithing in the building that was formerly Charles Miller's old barn. At first people furnished their own iron for horse-shoes, or whatever they wished made at his shop, and paid him in produce. Oats he received at eighteen cents per bushel, but to find a market for them he had to hire a team and go to Carbondale, where he sold
16
1
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them at an advance of two cents on the bushel, and was glad enough to convert them into cash at that price. From this small beginning his establishment came to be the most exten- sive of its kind in the county, through the business furnished him by George H. Giddings,1 who required mule-shoes for the mail-route across Texas to El Paso, of which he was the con- tractor; and by the well-known Ben Holliday, on the great overland route to California.
Hand-power gave place to steam; and to wooden turning- lathes were added engine lathes for finishing machinery. The capital invested was not less than $6000 before the fire which consumed the shop and contents, together with barn and wagon- shop adjoining, on the night of June 28, 1869. In the autumn of the same year they were rebuilt on a larger scale than before the fire.
The Glenwood hotel was built in 1850 by the Grow brothers, who sold it to A. F. Snover, its proprietor for a long time, who was succeeded by V. Cafferty. This building was burned March 18, 1870. It was an inviting retreat for summer wan- derers in search of comfort and rest. A pleasant glen, indeed, they found it-shut in by the high green hills that cast their shadows on the Tunkhannock, which at this point is spanned by a bridge. A little above is "Croquet" Island. Fine trout are, or were, found in this vicinity.
The former pleasant residence of Wm. Hartley, Esq., about a quarter of a mile above, was just within sight, on the point of land formed by the junction of the east branch with the main stream, but fire laid this low some years ago.
In the other direction in the seeming northern limit of the glen is the " old homestead" of the Grows, a part of which, in the early settlement of the town, was the home of Solomon Mil- lard. Opposite is the post-office now in charge of E. R. Grow. It was established in 1835, under the name of Millardsville, Woodbury S. Wilbur, postmaster.
A little lower the "Glenwood mills" are seen, a rebuild by F. P. Grow, of Millard's grist-mill, and the new residence of F. P. Grow, having in its rear the remains of the old tavern of Charles Miller, which had the unique sign of "LIVE AND LET LIVE."
In 1834 Charles Chandler's was the only painted house in all Lenox. A year or two later, Mr. Hartley erected the house mentioned above, and painted it.
The tannery of Schultz, Eaton & Co. was erected at Glen- wood the same year as the hotel, at a cost of $60,000. This was destroyed by fire and rebuilt in 1857. It turns out 40,000 sides
! A native of Susquehanna County, and a son of the late James Giddings of Herrick.
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of leather per year. Its present proprietors are Black, Burhaus & Clearwater.
Asa Eaton, one of the original firm, united seemingly diverse tastes, the one inducing him in 1856 to erect a church, and the other in 1858 to provide a race-course for his own and others' enjoyment. Fast horses were his recreation, and before the " course" was laid out he had cleared the highway for the dis- tance of a mile (between the tannery and the hotel), of every stone or unevenness that could retard a horse's speed or lessen the comfort of a rider. In the fall of 1861 he conceived the idea of assembling the fast horses and fine riders of the county to try the race-course on his beautiful flat by the margin of the Tunkhannock. The occasion was also dignified by the inaugu- ration of the Glenwood Fair, which was under the management of an agricultural society of which F. P. Grow was president and Asa Eaton treasurer. The fair was held in October three years in succession, when it was superseded by the one at Nicholson, five miles below.
Lenox has had two public libraries (miscellaneous), one of which is still in existence in West Lenox; the other, at Glen- wood, has been for several years among the things that were. During the war the township and Soldiers' Aid Society con- tributed nobly of men and means to preserve the Union.
The township continued strongly democratic until the excite- ment occasioned by the "Kansas-Nebraska Bill." In the fall of 1856 a majority of votes against the democratic ticket was cast for the first time. A banner was presented to Lenox by the ladies of Montrose, as a prize to the township which gave the greatest increase of republican votes at the November election over the election of the previous month.
SCHOOLS AND CHURCHES.
The first school in the vicinity of Glenwood, and probably in all Lenox, was taught about 1804 by Miss Molly Post, in a barn belonging to John Marcy,1 whose farm was partly in Susquehanna County, though his residence was just below the line, in Luzerne, now Wyoming County .- The barn was soon needed to store the hay of that season, and then a large tree was selected as a shelter for the scholars and teacher till the close of the term.
. It was in one of her schools that a boy showed his intelligent comprehension of the word " bed." On being told to spell it, he began : " B-ah, e-ah, d-ah," and, being unable to pronounce it,
1 His farm was the first below the Glenwood hotel property. Mr. Marcy was from Tunkhannock, and originally from Dutchess County, N. Y. He was father-in-law of William Hartley, Esq.
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his teacher, thinking to aid him, asked what he slept on ; when he replied, "Now I know ! sheepskin."
The first winter school which can be recalled by one of Lenox's oldest residents, was taught by a man who was unable to prove a sum in addition; he was discharged, and another employed who finished the term, but was then obliged to engage the services of one of his pupils to write his bill for teaching, being incompetent to do it himself.
Barns were also used as places for public worship. School- houses were afterwards, and for a long time, considered fitting temples for praise as well as learning. But these, until within a very few years, were poor at best. At present some ambition to improve in this direction is apparent.
But churches have supplanted their use as houses of wor- ship. At Lenoxville there is a Methodist church. There is a Baptist church at " Tower's settlement," another at Loomis' Lake, and still another, built by Mr. Asa Eaton, near the tannery. In all but the latter, religious societies are regu- larly organized. Mr. Eaton, himself a Baptist, built the church when there were none in the vicinity to join him, making it free to all denominations. It is private property, and the use of it is granted to the Good Templars, and for lectures, etc. The first Baptist Society was recognized by the Abington Bap- tist Association, December, 1830. Levi M. Mack was the pastor in 1831, and possibly the year previous. Rev. Charles Miller, of Clifford, occasionally preached for them. Mr. George W. Schofield was " supply" for a time, or until Deacon Rial Tower was licensed, and in 1844 ordained pastor.
There are three Good Templars' lodges in the township-one at Glenwood, one at Lenoxville, and the other at West Lenox ; and together they have had about 250 members. The number is now somewhat diminished.
The Sons of Temperance had formerly a division in Lenox.
Sabbath-schools have been held at different times in Glen- wood under various superintendents. One was conducted by Obadiah Mills and family in his own house with success. The present school was begun in 1860 by Mrs. Fred. P. Grow with five pupils, in her own room, while a boarder at the hotel in Glenwood.
The highest number in attendance since then has been 125, and there are now several assistant teachers, the school being held in a neat chapel which Mr. Grow has prepared expressly for this purpose. He took for a nucleus the old district school- house in which his brother, the Hon. G. A. Grow, first exer- cised his talent for debate. An addition of 20 feet to the length of the building has been made, but the original floor-boards, scoured to a becoming whiteness, retain their places ; while the
Engraved by Emily Sartain Phila
Galushad Grow
SPEAKER 37TH CONGRESS
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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.
boards with which it was ceiled are converted into comfortable seats. Plaster and paint inside, and paint and shutters outside, may partly disguise the old structure, but they give it a fitting dress for its new and sacred use.
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