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 30
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75
" Elisha Coggswell first settled on Tuscarora Creek, two and a half miles below New Laceyville, in 1815. was married in 1816, remained there until the spring of 1833, when he removed to Auburn, where he and his wife still reside.
" He caught in one season seven bears and five wolves. Another time, while on a hill near by, two cubs were discovered; one was shot. With the first cry of pain, the dam sprang from some bushes to its side. Hastily smelling the wound and divining the cause, she rushed with headlong fury on the aggressor, who, meanwhile, was hastily reloading his gun, and when she had nearly reached him, a bullet stopped her. Mr. C. completed his eightieth year, April 18, 1872. He has been class-leader in the M. E. church nearly half a century, and still walks to church nearly a mile, almost always attend- ing evening meetings."
In 1832, it was proposed to take out Auburn and Springville to form part of a new county.
Forty years ago chopping and clearing was the order of the day. The inhabitants were largely in debt for their lands, and it was no easy matter to do the clearing, put up their buildings, and support their families, and lift the debt to Cope and Drinker (the principal landholders in Auburn), while rye and corn sold at less than fifty cents, and wheat scarcely a dollar a bushel, and good two-year old cattle at $8 or $10 per head.
Thirty years ago the 'Spectator,' June 20th, stated, "In the southwest part of Auburn may be seen a beautiful sight, to wit, seventy acres of fine winter wheat in one field."
254
HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.
The Auburn people claim that theirs is the best producing township in the county, and instances are given which give some color to their claim.
John Tewksbury raised a stalk of buckwheat in 1869 which measured six feet and three-fourths of an inch in height; and of several specimen of oats raised by him, the heads were two feet and a half long. In South Auburn, Samuel Tewksbury has on his farm a heifer which when one year, one month, and eleven days old, weighed 650 pounds, and her calf, then two days old, weighed 42 pounds. The young farmers are not a whit behind the old in vigor, if we may judge by the fact that F. S-, of the same township, raked 1370 sheaves of rye in ten hours one August day of 1869.
When Eli Billings came to West Auburn, neighbors were re- mote, no roads, no church, no schools, no mills. Black's mill, now Lewis's, below Merryall's, on the Wyalusing, was the nearest. A few marked trees guided the traveler to it, and a few logs and bushes were cleared away so that a horse could carry a grist on his back.
Hosea Billings, another son of the pioneer, relates the fol- lowing :-
" Well do I remember when a lad my father sent me to mill, and, as it was late when I got my grist and started for home, night overtook me on my way. When about one mile from home my horse stopped, and then I saw before me what looked like balls of fire-probably the eyes of a wolf. It would not give the path, so I had to turn out and go around through the woods. I lost my hat getting through the brush, and went home bare- headed.". He adds : "If I could see you I would give you some idea how much the first settlers had to undergo.".
Lawrence Meacham came from New Hampshire and settled in the southeastern part of Auburn in 1815. His daughter says :-
"The first night he stayed on his place was in January, and the snow was two or three feet deep. He slept on hemlock boughs beside a fire which kept himself and a colored man from freezing. In the morning they began chopping, but the timber was so frozen it broke their axes. They left, and father did not return till the next spring. In two or three years he moved his family to the little clearing remote from roads and neighbors, and into a log-cabin with a blanket for the door. Thick woods, howling wolves, deer, wildcats, and wild-turkeys were at that time in abundance. I have heard my mother say, 'I was so lonesome I was glad to see even a hunter's dog come along.'
"My father had often to be out late at night, when on his journeys for provisions, and mother was alone in the cabin with only a little boy ; while from an hour before sunset until sunrise the next morning, the wolves kept up a constant howling up and down the creek, which passes within half a mile of the door, and many a time was this so distinct as to seem within the clearing. Twice father had his little flock of sheep killed by them."
The construction of a log-cabin has well been styled " one of the pioneer arts ;" and lest it should become also one of the lost ones, the following directions are given :-
255
HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.
"Cut your logs to suit the length and width you wish to make your room. Notch them near the ends, that they may lie close when crossed, and that you may not have too large cracks to ' mud and chink up.' When you roll them up, put the largest logs on one side, with an extra one on top, that one side of the roof may be higher than the other ; then if you have a few boards to cover it, with some slabs to lay over the cracks, your roof will be com- plete-only when it rains too hard. The inside can be soon finished with little planing or working, except the chimney. If you have boards for the lower floor, hemlock bark will do for the upper one. One window-sash, con- taining half a dozen of the smaller-sized window-panes, will let in a peep of daylight and sunshine. Bore some holes in the logs inside, drive in some sticks, lay boards on, and you have both pantry and cupboard in one, two, or three shelves, as the case may be. If you've nothing better, a blanket may serve for a door."
But a still more primitive style of architecture must have prevailed prior to the erection of the first saw-mills in the county, when boards and window-sash were not to be had, and when chimneys were as wide as the cabin except at the roof.
Oiled paper for window-panes was very common. Not less primitive than the buildings were some of their furnishings. Bedsteads or tables needed each but one leg, a corner of the cabin giving support to two sides of either. A slab supported by four short, round sticks formed a bench which took the place of chairs. Small branches of hemlock or birch were made to serve as brooms long years after the first cabins were erected, and large clean chips answered for plates, but one large central dish oftener served for a whole family, If, as sometimes happened, one child was inclined to secure more than his share of its contents, his hands were soon tied to give others a due chance. " A good-sized log hollowed out and covered with a slab constituted the pioneer's beef-barrel, and venison was his beef."
Rougher than the cabins were the roads of early times, cut through dense forests, the large trees and saplings felled as near to the ground as possible, the former removed and the latter permitted to lie, and stumps and roots must be left to decay where they grew. Still, to the children of the pioneer, an ox-sled ride over such a road was not without its fascina- tions.
The first path or road in West Auburn, instead of following the creek, crossed the hills to the Benscoter place, and thence to Lyman Kinney's.
The timber was not so heavy on the hills as nearer the val- leys, and the ground was dryer for unworked roads; and this may account for the choice of location of many of the early settlers.
Auburn is decidedly an agricultural township. A large quantity of grain is raised which mostly finds its way to the Lackawanna valley ; and considerable attention is paid to the raising of stock, and the dairy business. If not exactly " a land
256
HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.
flowing with milk and honey," it yet can boast of an amount of the same equal to other townships of the county ; one farmer milked twenty-nine cows the last summer, and in the winter of 1870-71 had 182 swarms of bees in his cellar.
The game which once abounded has disappeared, but as late as 1830, an old hunter was able to take up a note as per agree- ment in deer skins, one of which showed that the deer had been attacked by a wild-cat.
Machinery and horse-power are now introduced into much of farm work, as well as into other departments of business. Grain, formerly threshed by hand at the rate of fifteen bushels a day, is now rushed through the machine, in some instances, at the rate of a bushel a minute.
The summer of 1865 was a very productive season in Au- burn, grain-fields were measured by the hundred acres.
The present wealth of Auburn is largely due to men who, though they came to the township within the last thirty-five years, might well be termed pioneers, since they cleared the farms they occupy, and reared log cabins too remote from others for neighborly comfort. Some of the late settlers are from New Jersey ; but a larger number are of foreign birth. The names of Logan and Rooney are mentioned among the first Irish settlers here, in 1838. There are 500 taxables in Auburn, about 200 of whom are Irish. From being one of the poorest townships in the county, and one of the least in inhabit- ants, Auburn has become one of the richest and most populous.
But riches must be taxed, and in this particular the people have felt burdened, and have neglected to make provision for the public education commensurate with their wealth.
The Lehigh Valley R. R. recently extended up the Susque- hanna River, passes near the southern border of the town, and cannot fail to produce a rapid advance in its industrial interest.
Near the western line of the township at New Laceyville a temporary interest in petroleum sprang up in 1865, which gave the place some prominence. [See Mineral Resources.] It will be recollected that this was the location of Eli Billings, sixty years previous. After the farm came into the hands of David Lacey it was divided; a portion being still owned by his son, E. J. Lacey. 60 acres passed into the possession of T. E. Brown, who in 1854 sold to J. C. Lacey, a son of Isaac ; 13 acres passed to S. W. Eddy, who afterwards sold to the Rev. Asa Brooks; and it is now owned by A. F. and L. B. Lacey. Auburn has one chop and two grist-mills, four blacksmith shops, one chair factory and cabinet shop, six saw-mills, six stores, six churches and three hotels.
The Tuscarora Creek crosses a corner of Bradford Co. on its way into Wyoming Co., entering the Susquehanna River near
257
HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.
Skinner's Eddy, about ten miles from its head, furnishing with its tributaries motive power for fifteen saw-mills, three grist- mills, two shingle-mills, one planing-mill, one cabinet manu- factory, one carding-machine, one tannery, one blacksmith shop, besides two or three lathe-machines. Four of the mills are in Susquehanna Co. One of these, at New Laceyville, manufactures 500,000 shingles annually. Other factories once in the vicinity are not now in operation. The place has (1872) two stores, a cabinet shop, a carpenter shop, and a blacksmith shop. Daniel Seeley's steam saw-mill is near New Laceyville.
The Methodist church is a building 33 by 48 feet, with a spire 80 feet high. It has a fine lecture-room which serves also for a select school.
There are also a Methodist and a Baptist church at Auburn Four Corners, and another Methodist church on Jersey Hill, a mile from the Center.
The Roman Catholic chapel is about half way between the Center and the Corners.
The first postmaster was Treadway Kellogg, at Auburn Four Corners. Chester Adams succeeded him in 1839.
Town elections are held at the Center, formerly at the house of George Haverly, but, after 1860, at James Lott's, now W. N. Bennett's. There are now three licensed hotels in Auburn -two at the Center, and the other at the Corners. Near the latter, many years ago, there was a blacksmith shop, the eccen- tric owner of which advertised himself as a "son of Vulcan," who was " like to fail and blow out for want of stock."
The first temperance movement at Shannon Hill was at- tended with some opposition. Wm. Overfield gave notice to those whom he had invited to a barn-raising (in 1837), that he should have no liquor ; whereupon several professedly tempe- rance men refused to assist him. One man, in particular, had declined, after hearing Mr. O. say he could not have liquor, "even if the timbers had to remain on the ground till they rotted." "Very well," said Mr. O., "I should like your help very much, but I can't have liquor." Then Mr. - , with a strong expletive, declared he would come anyhow; and he did, bringing his two sons with him. Fifteen persons raised the barn-which was as large as any in Auburn at that time.
The war-record of Auburn compares favorably with other townships, as given in a later chapter. A heavy draft for sol- diers was made in the fall of 1862, when a young man in the neighborhood of the "Four Corners" was summoned to the field of strife. His father, true to the impulses of paternal affection, determined to go instead of the son. The latter ob- jected, friends remonstrated, believing the son could better be spared. But the father persisted, went to the examining sur- 17
258
HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.
geon, was pronounced sound, and made ready to start. While in Montrose, previous to the final departure of the company, it was found that the quota of Auburn was overdrawn, and, the name of the person for whom our hero was substituted being last on the list, he was excused, and was soon welcomed home.
One young man, eighteen years of age, served during the war, and is said to have received ten perforations by bullets ; but returned home, and has since married.
Sisters worked the farm while brothers went to the war. In one instance, two girls, aged respectively sixteen and four- teen, with their little brother, aged twelve, dug eighty bushels of potatoes; and, in company with their father, threshed two hundred bushels of buckwheat, and gathered three hundred and fifty bushels of apples.
At Shannon Hill, early in the war, all the young men en- listed but one; the patriotic girls decided that they stood in need of no home guard, and he, too, volunteered, became a brave soldier, received a wound, and eventually came home respected by all.
In 1868, about forty persons were living in the township over seventy years of age, ten of whom were over eighty years, and one, Thomas Devin, a native of Ireland, was ninety- six. [Since deceased, when ninety-eight, lacking one month.]
There is considerable rough, heavily timbered land in the township, but nearly all is seated.
CHAPTER XIX.
FRANKLIN.
ABOUT the year 1788, Timothy Pickering, of Philadelphia, patented a large tract of land lying along the valley of Snake Creek, and west of a line since forming the east line of the township of Silver Lake. Tench Coxe also patented a tract, afterwards included in the southwest part of old Lawsville, and extending into Bridgewater; and, October, 1796, Henry Drinker, also of Philadelphia, patented a large tract east of that of Pickering, and running south into New Milford, and east to Great Bend. Drinker's tracts, containing 20,750 acres, were conveyed, in 1796, to Ephraim Kirby and Samuel A. Law, David Welch, Rufus Lines (five hundred acres in 1797),
259
HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.
Jacob Tallman, Robert Bound (or Bowne), and others; and were then re-surveyed into lots of one hundred acres each.
In August of that year, Eph. Kirby and others (not then residents), presented a petition, praying the court, then in ses- sion at Wilkes-Barre, to set off a new township, six miles square; having Willingborough, now Great Bend, for its east- ern boundary, and extending from the twenty-first to the twenty-seventh mile-stone on the State line. The petition was " under advisement" until January, 1797, and the ordering of the court in its favor was not "finally" confirmed until Janu- ary, 1798. The township received the name of Lawsville, in honor of Samuel A. Law,1 a landholder, to whose influence, doubtless, it was owing that most of those who settled in Lawsville prior to 1805, were from his native town, Cheshire, New Haven Co., Conn.
In 1802, a petition for annexing one and a half miles to the south of Lawsville was brought before the court, but it was not granted until three years later.
For thirty years, Lawsville remained undivided; when, in December, 1835, Franklin was erected from the southern por- tion, in connection with a strip, about a mile wide, from the northern part of Bridgewater.
Though the township of Liberty, rather than Franklin, is the remnant of old Lawsville, the former had not a settler when Lawsville was erected; and for many years the south part of the township maintained its precedence both in population and influence.
From the first town meeting, in 1805, for more than twenty years, the south part, now Franklin, contained more voters than the north part, now Liberty, and the town meet- ings were held in the former; but about the year 1827 or '28, the north part proved its superiority in numbers by carrying the vote to change the place of town elections to its own neigh- borhood. The men of the south part chafed some at this, but they had no alternative but to submit, which they did peaceably for a number of years, though feeling jealous of a numerical power that might force them into other measures, equally against their wishes.
When the subject of accepting the provisions of the school law was agitated, they wished to suspend their decision for a time; while they of the north readily voted for it. This pre- cipitated a separation.
Between the two parties the time-honored name of Lawsville was dropped from the list of Susquehanna townships.
1 Of Hon. S. A. Law, a daughter of Roswell Smith writes : "He was ever a welcome visitor at my father's house, when business called him to this region. He was gentlemanly, affable, and noticed children kindly."
260
HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.
From the manuscript of Mrs. N. Park we glean the follow- ing :-
Three-quarters of a century ago, the forest that covered the land of both townships was unbroken, except where the beavers had destroyed the timber to build a dam across a branch of Wylie Creek. One or two small lakes, fringed with pond-lilies, reflected from their still depths the varied aspects of the sky. These and the busy brooklets were breathing-places within the great mass of vegetable life. The principal timber consisted of hemlock, beech, sugar and soft maple, birch, ash, chestnut, pine, poplar, basswood, ironwood, elm, and cherry; these were found proportionally much as in the order here given. Interspersed through the forest, in many places, was an underwood of smaller growth, such as the blue beach, whistlewood or black maple, shad or June-berry, several varieties of alder and elder, witch-hazel, sassafras, spice or fever bush, sumach, thorns, willows by water-courses, and occasionally on high lands, box, and leather-wood. Among the many plants and roots now abounding in the forests of Franklin, and reputed to possess healing virtues, are spikenard, sarsaparilla, several kinds of cohosh, wild turnip, ginseng, Solomon's seal, valerian, prince's pine, gold thread, snake root, brook-liverwort, low centaury, golden rod, and balmony.
The surface of Franklin is made up of hills and gentler slopes with little table-land, and in the vicinity of its streams, small flats and narrow valleys. None of the hills are of suffi- cient height to claim the name of mountains, though from several summits fine views of the surrounding country can be obtained. Some are rough, and so thickly covered with rocks and stones as to render their cultivation difficult, if not impossi- ble; but many are comparatively smooth and tillable. The soil is considered quite equal to that of other townships in this section.
Only two streams worthy of note have any considerable part of their course in Franklin : these are Snake and Wylie Creeks. Snake Creek and its tributaries furnish the western part of the township many good mill-seats with an abundance of water- power. Its principal sources are Jones' Lake and Williams' Pond, one or two miles apart, in the northern part of Bridge- water. Both branches afford mill privileges before their junction. One fails to perceive in the course of Snake Creek anything to give rise to its distinctive name; on the contrary, it manifests fewer "serpentine " proclivities than creeks in general.
Wylie Creek is a smaller stream offering few facilities for busi- ness within the township limits. It is formed by the union of many rills from living springs in different sections of the town- ship. Their confluence in the eastern section gives a water- power sufficient for saw-mills; from that point the creek runs northeasterly to the eastern boundary of the township, when its course is due north for two or three miles. It enters Great Bend township near the middle of its western line, and again flowing northeast it reaches the Susquehanna River a short dis-
261
HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.
tance below the village, and near the former residence of Simeon Wylie, in honor of whom it was named.
On the arrival of the first settlers in the vicinity of these streams, they found them, and Franklin's lone lake, well stocked with a variety of fish, of which the trout was the most highly prized.
One of the largest tributaries of the Snake is Silver Creek, which is formed by the outlets of Silver and Cranberry Lakes in the adjoining township on the west. Another stream, vari- ously named as Stony, Cold Brook, and Falls Creek, has its rise also in that township, and flows into Silver Creek near the Salt Spring, just above which it exhibits a cascade, leaping over ragged rocks in a darkly shadowed defile. [Around this and the Mineral Spring lingers the legend given on a preceding page. Modern enterprise has reared a woolen factory here.] The locality has been for many years a resort for parties of pleasure from near and even distant townships; and, formerly, they could have found no wilder spot than this, enhanced by the picturesque, in all our county. But the efforts to utilize the spring have shorn it of much that was attractive in its sur- roundings. Other qualities than the saline are perceptible in the water of this spring; and both recent and early attempts have been made to turn to profit its supposed ingredients; but as yet only salt has been obtained, and this, though excellent in kind, has not proved remunerative in quantity.
The following advertisement appeared in the Montrose 'Cen- tinel' in the fall of 1818 :-
" The sportsmen of Susquehanna County are invited to attend a wolf-hunt on the waters of Snake Creek near the Salt Spring, on Friday, 27th of Nov. A large tract of wilderness will be surrounded and drove to the center in close order, until the party arrives at a certain circle marked out by lopping of bushes, when a halt will be made for further orders. Danger need not be apprehended, as the circle will be drawn around a hill."
From the diary of I. Richardson it appears that the hunt took place on the day appointed; and this is probably the one referred to by a recent contribution to the Montrose 'Repub- lican :'-
"Wolves were plenty and brought high bounties for scalps. In December, 1818, a great hunt was started, of five hundred men, including a circle of forty-seven miles. The hunters were divided into squads of tens and twenties and properly officered, and moved towards the center. Droves of deer were thus hedged in, but no wolves, and but one bear and one fox were captured."
As late as May 25th, 1830, Mr. Joseph Fish pursued a gang of wolves from the scene of their depredations in Lawsville, and captured seven whelps, the old one escaping at that time; but soon after he caught her in a trap, and since that time little trouble has been had from wolves in the township.
262
HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.
[So uniform are the floral productions of the county, that those of Lenox may serve as a sample of the whole. Mrs. Park, without attempting a technical classification, mentions the birds and animals found here; and adds a tribute to Franklin pioneers.]
Only one or two eagles are known to have been seen here. The Virginia horned and the little screech owl; hen, night, and, sparrow-hawks ; ravens, blackbirds, crows, catbirds, kingbirds, bob o-links, pigeons, partridges, quails, meadow larks, bluebirds, song sparrows, robins, yellowbirds, chip- ping-birds, thrushes, Phœbe birds, snowbirds, humming-birds, wrens, swal- lows, cuckoos, blue-jays, the " whip-poor-will," and several varieties of wood- peckers are well known in the vicinity. A red bird about the size of a robin, with black wings, is sometimes seen, and also another variety of the red bird, which is smaller.
Wolves, bears, panthers, and wild cats were formidable foes to the early settlers. Foxes, skunks, minks, weasels, and muskrats, found or made them " holes" in Franklin, and all are not yet ousted. The animals subsisting on the bark of trees, on browse, seeds, plants, roots, nuts, and fruit, were deer, woodchucks, raccoons, rabbits, squirrels, rats, mice, and moles. It is not now known that any beavers were seen by the first settlers; certainly not by their descendants.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.