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 33
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"Shot a deer just below the bridge :" " shot a fox ;" " shot a doe," and similar expressions occur occasionally in the memo- randa.
The following item is truly worthy of preservation : "I let the post have $2.00 to pay the printer for a year's paper."
An exchange of home productions accommodated the people;
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thus a bushel of apples was sometimes procured by a quantity of sage, etc.
Late in that year he laid out "a road from the old river road near Cooper Corbett's to State line, near Peleg Butts."
The first of January, 1820, Mr. R. began teaching a school near Alfred Ross', and which he continued six weeks at $10 per month ! Sixty-three weeks' board for a man, and sixty-one for a woman, could then be obtained for $25 (without liquors, candles, or medicine).
Dr. Rufus Fish was an early settler of Great Bend, but sub- sequently (about 1819) lived in Liberty, on the "Ranney Clear- ing," before mentioned. He moved back to Great Bend, then again to Liberty, on the farm where Philo C. Luce lives; and from there to the Salt Spring in Franklin, where he died.
It is said the "Blue Laws" of Conn. were once in force in Liberty, and Sunday traveling, for ordinary purposes, was pro- hibited. A fine was laid upon the trangressor and allotted to the informer. One person who had made himself liable to the fine, promptly delivered himself up on Monday morning, and thus evaded paying the prosecutor's fee.
In spite of all the pains-taking by the first settlers in watch- ing and guarding their sheep, on whose wool they so much depended for clothing, the wolves found ways to outwit them, sometimes destroying twenty of one flock in a single night, though they were yarded near the house. After a time the Legislature passed an act giving a bounty of ten dollars for the scalp of a full-sized wolf, and five dollars for a young one. This stimulated the trappers and hunters to renewed energy and perseverance. There were several brothers by the name of Brown living at Great Bend, who sometimes devoted several days to hunting in the vicinity of the Salt Spring, and with great success.
One who was familiar with the sight of wolves speaks of them as " coarse, gray-haired, ugly looking things," and adds :-
"I wish I could describe their howl; but the best comparison I can give would be to take a dozen railroad whistles, braid them together, and then let one strand after another drop off, the last peal so frightfully piercing as to go through your very heart and soul; you would feel as though your hair stood straight on end if it was ever so long.
" The bears would take young lambs, pigs, and sometimes large hogs ; and their embrace was fatal even to man. The flesh of the bear was considered good for food, something of the nature of pork, but more oily. The fat would never get hard like corn-fed pork, but was useful in many ways for cooking purposes, and also for light. For the latter purpose it was used by tying a penny in a white linen or cotton rag, and sinking it in a saucer of the oil, leaving the end a little above the surface to light. It would burn several hours and give a very good light. Pitch pine knots, split into small pieces, were used as a substitute for lamps and candles.
" Deer were very plenty and mischievous. They were very fond of garden
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vegetables, beans in particular. Still they were a blessing rather than other- wise, for their meat was superior to that of any other wild animal; and, at times, families have subsisted on venison alone for days together. Their skins when tanned were very valuable, and were used for gloves, mittens, moccasins, 'trowsers,' and whip lashes. From their horns knife and fork handles were manufactured."
My informant continues thus :-
" One day, more than forty years ago, an old doe and two fawns came into our clearing or house lot. There was no road past the house at that time. One of the fawns became separated from the others, and I ran after it, caught it, and held it fast. He was very easily tamed, and soon became the pet of all the children in the neighborhood. He would run, frolic, blow and snort like a young horse, but, like the rest of his species, he was 'a turncoat'-first red spotted with white, then red entirely, and lastly had a coat of blue for the winter.
" The red, black, and gray squirrels were another pest; they were almost as thick as the frogs in Egypt. They would go into a field of grain, perch themselves on the charred stumps left in the clearing, quite near together, watch the wind and waves, and dexterously catch the heads of rye or wheat with their paws. They must have taken every tenth bushel. Then, when the grain was harvested and put in the barn, the rats would come in for their share. By stratagem, the children secured thirty large rats in a barrel, at one time, and drowned them in hot water.
" But with all the drawbacks and discouragements of our position, we still went ahead, though many of us had little more than willing hearts and hands with which to battle. Work was the order of the day. It was work on, work ever ; hope on, and hope ever ; and the sound of the ax, and the crash of the falling trees might be heard on every side.
"Mother and daughter considered it no disparagement or hardship to spin and work up into cloth all the flax and wool we could get, and the buzzing of the spinning wheel and the rattle of the loom might be heard in almost every house. Our labors were crowned with success, in-doors and out; and, after a few years, framed houses and barns took the place of log ones, and everything had the appearance of thrift, comfort, and convenience."
The post-office at Lawsville Center was established in 1830, and another at Brookdale about fourteen years ago. At the latter place there is a tannery, owned by Munson and Knight, consuming 3000 cords of bark annually. There is an establish- ment near there, styled the "Scotch Works," which uses 4000 cords of wood annually, in the manufacture, principally, of an acid used in setting the colors of prints. The sales are in New York city. The object in locating the manufactory in this sec- tion was because wood is cheap ($3.00 per cord), as the best hard wood is required; soft maple, hemlock, and chestnut would be of no value. As, in making the acid, the wood is only charred, not burned, the sale of the charred wood nearly pays the expenses of the establishment. Perhaps $15,000 is invested in the buildings.
There is one store at Brookdale-Beman's; and another at Lawsville Center-late Roger Kenyon's.
At the latter place there is a grist-mill and saw-mill; the first erected in the township, by Newton Hawley; and both now
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owned by Lewis A. Tompkins. It is the only grist-mill, while there are six saw-mills in the township.
There are (1869) twelve school districts in Liberty, and the people pay a school-tax of $2000, on a valuation of $88,000 (one-eighth of actual amount). Within a few years there has been a rapid rise in real estate.
There has been no licensed tavern for ten years, consequently the town is orderly.
Elder John Webster, and branches of his family, were the original Baptists of the township of Lawsville, and were of the Free-will order. The "strict" Baptists seceded (have about sixty members), and have erected one of the finest churches in the county, at a cost of $5500. Four contributors-Joseph and Watson Bailey, Stephen Dawley, and Roger Kenyon, Jr. -gave very nearly half that sum. It was dedicated in August, 1868. Garry Law, Reuben and Caswell Ives constitute the Pres- byterian church committee (?).
The Union Sabbath-school at Lawsville Center has about seventy scholars and ten teachers.
A soldiers' aid society was sustained at the Center eighteen months during the war, or from its organization to the close of sanitary operations.
Among the very aged persons who closed their lives in Liberty-once its pioneers-may be mentioned Mrs. M. Nichols (forty-seven years the wife of Ashbel Upson, and the mother of ten of his children), who died October, 1860, in the ninety-third year of her age, at the residence of her daughter, Mrs. S. W. Truesdell. Retaining her mental faculties through life, she was able to relate many thrilling incidents of the Revo- lution, and other events of her childhood. Mrs. Hannah Web- ster died in 1870 in her eighty-seventh year.
Mrs. Ruth Stanford, at the time of her death (1871), was the oldest person in the township, eighty-six years of age.
Isaac Comstock, who came in 1828, died in Liberty, August, 1872.
CHAPTER XXI.
BRIDGEWATER AND MONTROSE.
AT January sessions, 1805, the court of Luzerne County was petitioned by Thomas Parke and others to erect a township from parts of Tunkhannock, Braintrim, Nicholson, and Rush, to be called Bridgewater. Its dimensions were described thus :-
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" Beginning at a point one mile above where Martin's Creek empties into the Tunkhannock, thence northerly to the forks of Martin's Creek, easterly from Bloomfield Milbourne's, thence north to intersect the south line of Lawsville, thence on that line to the southwest corner of Lawsville, thence northerly to the State line, thence west to the thirty-second mile-stone, thence south till it shall intersect a line to be drawn due west from place of beginning.
On hearing the petition, Judge Rush directed the commis- sioners to return a plot, which they did, November, 1806, and the court then confirmed it. The original dimensions of Bridgewater included a small portion of what is now Wyo- ming County. Springville, Dimock, Lathrop, Brooklyn, Sil- ver Lake, and portions of Forest Lake, Jessup, and Franklin have been taken from it.
It is more nearly the central township of the county than any other. Montrose, the county seat, is about four miles west of a central north and south line, and one mile north of an east and west line. The site of the court-house was located in 1811.
The township is a water-shed for three streams, the sources of which are in the vicinity of Montrose, and which in three different directions at length reach the Susquehanna River, viz., Snake Creek running north, the Meshoppen south, and the Wyalusing west and south. The Snake and Wyalusing Creeks, which rise within half a mile of each other, are prob- ably one hundred miles apart at their mouths; but the Mes- hoppen, though running for many miles at nearly a right angle with the latter, falls into the Susquehanna but a short distance below it.
Hopbottom Creek is the outlet of Heart Lake on the east line of Bridgewater; it runs southwardly into Martin's Creek, and eventually into the Tunkhannock.
Jones' Lake, within a mile of Montrose, is the principal source of Snake Creek; Williams' Pond, in the northern part of the township, is another, but inferior source of it. Cold Brook, near the line of Silver Lake, is a tributary of Silver Creek, which is itself a tributary of Snake Creek.
A small pond near the south line of Bridgewater has an outlet emptying into the Meshoppen.
Elevated as the township is, it is not more hilly than many another ; there are not such deep valleys here as along the principal creeks farther from their source. The Milford and Owego turnpike, which was laid out diagonally across the town- ship in 1809, sought the homes of settlers on the highest hills, plunging down one hill only to ascend another, and repeated the feat ad nauseam. As this was the great thoroughfare for years, it gave to Montrose and vicinity an unenviable reputa- tion, which the recent plank road but half redeemed. Still, the
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most objectionable portion of the latter is outside of the town- ship, in the vicinity of Martin's Creek.
In 1811-1813 the Bridgewater and Wilkes-Barre turnpike was laid out over the high hills southward. Each hill-top can easily serve as a mile-stone until Dimock Four Corners is reached. At one point on this road-the location of Reuben Wells, 100 feet higher than Searle's Corner-a wide prospect is obtained, including a portion of Wayne County, on the north- east; and Campbell's Ledge, at the head of Wyoming Valley, on the south.
But there is no elevation in Bridgewater that can be digni- fied by the name of mountain.
The soil is naturally good, capable of producing all the crops generally raised in this latitude ; such as wheat, rye, oats, corn, potatoes of excellent quality and large quantity. Grass is one of the staple products; the raising of stock and making of butter and cheese has been, of late years, very profitable for our farmers. The raising of sheep is not attended to as much as formerly.
When Susquehanna County was organized, Bridgewater con- tained five hundred taxables. About forty-five of these were set off with Silver Lake, sixty-six with Springville, and over eighty with Waterford; leaving about three-fifths of the list to Bridgewater.
The first settler within the present bounds of Bridgewater, was Stephen Wilson, a native of Vermont, who came from Burlington, Otsego County, New York, in March, 1799, and located about half a mile below the center of the present bor- ough of Montrose. He was accompanied by his wife and children (David and Mason S .- the latter being then but nine months old), Samuel Wilson, his brother, and Samuel Coggs- well, brother of his wife. The party entered the log-cabin which Mr. W. had erected the previous fall, in one week, when he and others came to look for land.
Mr. Wilson's location became a landmark for the settlers who came in early in this century. His was the first house below the source of the Wyalusing, and the path leading from Hop- bottom and Nine Partners struck the stream at this point and followed it to its mouth, crossing it no less than eighteen times ; in some places it was necessary for the rider to swim his horse.
His hospitality was extended to many a new-comer; whole families being sometimes entertained until their own cabins could be made habitable.
Until within a few years the debris of Mr. Wilson's house were to be seen on the upper corner of the Wyalusing Creek road, where it joins the Wilkes Barre turnpike; but at present only an old apple tree, standing near, serves to mark the site.
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His orchard was the first in Bridgewater, and he raised his apple trees from seed.
The first birth in the township was that of his daughter Al- meda (in 1800), who became the first wife of John Bard, Jr.
The first public library of the township had its nucleus be- neath the humble roof of his second log-cabin, which stood about fifty rods south of the first. A little later, it sheltered the most accomplished linguist that ever resided in the county. (See Authors.)
Stephen Wilson's name appears in a document among the Luzerne County records, which is labeled "Rindaw Assess- ment for 1801. Rush Seated Property;" thus affording addi- tional proof that Rindaw, as a Pennsylvania district, was far more extensive than the "Yankee" township of that name, in- cluding the Forks of the Wyalusing. The document weighs ten ounces, and the postage on it from the Forks to Wilkes- Barre was forty cents.
Mr. Wilson was one of the early commissioners of Susque- hanna County. In 1819 he sold his farm to - Price, and removed to Wysox, and in 1823 to Alleghany County, New York, where he died April 15, 1848, aged seventy-six. His son Stephen remains there. Of the rest of his family, David was of the firm of Wilson and Gregory, who kept a small store near the south line of Montrose in 1816. Samuel C. was editor of the 'Susquehanna County Herald' in 1822. Robert is a lawyer in Chicago, and has presided over its criminal courts. Three daughters are still living. Mason S. Wilson is the only repre- sentative of the family in the county. He is also Bridgewater's oldest resident, never having been but temporarily absent, and the merchant of the longest standing.
Samuel Wilson, brother of Stephen, Sr., took up what has long been known as the Roberts farm; it joined the farm of J. W. Raynsford. He sold his improvement here and built a log cabin on the site of the Gregory tenant-house, and from there removed to another location in Bridgewater, where he remained some years after his brother left. He died in Wyoming County, where the youngest of his six sons now resides. All have left Susquehanna County.
Samuel Coggswell built his house a little west of Stephen Wilson, and within the "Connecticut township" of Manor, the line being between them. The land (afterwards the Park farm) was the greater part of a gore which Mr. W. took out from the State Land Office and sold to Mr. C. at twenty - five cents per acre, while lands of the Clymer estate just across the turnpike were selling at $1.50 per acre.
Nehemiah Maine took up land under the Connecticut title in 1799, just east of the Reuben Wells homestead, but was not
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long after located in Dimock. Samuel Maine lived a few years on the farm, since Joseph Butterfield's. David Doud lived on the Kingsley farm, but was probably soon after on the Wyalu- sing. His son-in-law, Miles Bunnel, lived near N. Maine. Mr. M. sold his right to B. Bostwick, who sold to R. Wells, Sr.
Before the close of 1799, Ozem Cook had settled beyond Messrs. Wilson and Coggswell, on the farm now owned and occupied by Moses S. Tyler. His location was in Manor. ยท
In 1800, Captain Bartlet Hinds, an officer of the Revolution, originally from Boston, but then from South Hampton, Long Island, came into what is now Montrose, as an owner and agent of lands for ex-Governor Huntington, of Connecticut, under the title of that State.
He had in his company his step-son, Isaac Post, then sixteen years old ; Robert Day, Daniel and Eldad Brewster, who settled in Bridgewater; Daniel Foster, John Reynolds (second time), and Ichabod Halsey, who settled in Jessup; and Frederick Loper, who did not remain.
They came by the way of Cherry Ridge, Nine Partners, and Hopbottom (now Brooklyn), at which points they found a few settlers. After leaving Hopbottom Creek, they were guided by marked trees and a slight path-no road. They arrived at Stephen Wilson's cabin at four o'clock P. M., on the 11th of May. Here Captain Hinds and son stopped for the night; the others went on three miles to the cabin of Messrs. Foster and Reynolds. They shoveled out the snow, provided hemlock boughs for bedding, and here most of them camped. Two or three went a few miles further to the cabin of Samuel Lewis, which stood a little below Dr. Cornwell's present residence.
Captain Hinds decided to locate on the present site of Mont- rose, and he was assisted by Robert Day and Isaac Post in building a log cabin on the ground now occupied by the resi- dence of the late David Post, Esq., where they camped for the season, and commenced clearing away the dense forest. Directly north there was not a settler between Captain Hinds and the State line, but there were at least three or four families in Lawsville, nearly northeast from him. Captain Joseph Chap- man and Colonel Thomas Parke, Martin Myers, and the Spencers, in Dimock and Springville, were the only families between him and Tunkhannock.
In the fall of 1800, he returned to Long Island, but came back in 1801 with his family, consisting of his wife (formerly the widow Agnes Post), with her two sons, Isaac and David Post, a daughter, Susannah, and son, Conrad, children of his former wife, and Bartlet, the only living child of his last marriage.
B. Hinds' family celebrated the first Fourth of July here
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(1801) by cutting thirteen trees until they were just ready to fall, and so situated that a heavy stroke would precipitate one upon the other in one thundering crash, resembling the roar of cannon. Jason Torrey, now of Honesdale, then surveying in this wilderness, and knowing of no human being within miles of him, heard this astounding noise, and hurrying forward to ascertain the cause, found himself, with delighted surprise, in the midst of society and patriotism.
The trees were felled on land of the Post brothers, Isaac and David, the purchase being made for them by Captain Ilinds from the avails of their father's estate, and is now covered by the borough of Montrose. Cold water toasts were drank on this occasion, one of which was "The United States! may their fertile soil yield olive for peace, laurel for victory, and hemp for treason !"
Bartlet Hinds was born at Middleboro', Mass., April 4, 1855. He was baptized into the Middleboro' Baptist church, when about sixteen years old, by his father, Elder Ebenezer Hinds, then its pastor; and was the first Baptist church-member that came into the county.
He had served as a soldier, as private and first lieutenant; and was breveted captain in the Revolutionary army. He was shot through the left lung at the taking of Burgoyne; was one of the " forlorn hope," claiming to have had command of the detachment at the storming of Stony Point, and first proclaimed " the fort is our own ;" served to the end of the war, after being wounded, in castle duty.
He had a diploma entitling him to membership in the Society of Cincin- nati, formed by the officers of the army, at the close of the Revolution.
For at least a dozen years after Captain Hinds brought his family here the place was known as " The Hinds Settlement." He was the first justice of the peace.
The Rev. A. L. Post, grandson of Captain Hinds' wife, relates the following :-
In 1801, while on a road view between his log dwelling and Lawsville, near the place of Joseph Williams' subsequent settlement, he met, much to the surprise of both parties, his old friend and fellow-officer of the Revolution, Col. Timothy Pickering, afterwards one of the most prominent men in the Union, who was surveying lands which he had purchased under the Penn- sylvania title. It was about noon, and so, after the " How do you do ?" Col. P. said, "Captain Hinds, will you take dinner with me ?"
The latter replied, " I don't care if I do, colonel, if you can treat me to a fresh steak !"
" 'That will I do," the colonel replied, " if you will go with me to my cabin half a mile away ;" and he conducted him thither, and entertained him in true soldier style.
After recounting some of the scenes of the war in which they had taken part, the colonel explained to Captain H. the whole matter of jurisdiction and land title after the decree at Trenton ; told him of his own purchase, which he was then surveying, and satisfied him of the probability that the Pennsylvania title must hold good. He (Hinds) thereupon went to Phila- delphia ; subsequently fully satisfied himself that Col. Pickering was correct ; found the owners of the land upon which he had settled ; made his purchase, and returned. He was the first person in this section who became con- vinced of the validity of the Pennsylvania title, and yielded to its claims.
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He was to " Manor,"' as to its civil polity, what Col. Hyde was to " Usher," the prominent man; and this fact accounts for the indignation that was visited upon the former after the step just mentioned. This was natural, and is not here referred to by way of reproach to any of the parties.
(Though reference has been made, elsewhere, to the mob, the following details given by Rev. A. L. Post will be of interest.)
It was probably late in 1802 that, under pretence of some kind, he was summoned before a justice in Rush. His brother, Abinoam Hinds, and Isaac Peckins (who settled here that year) went with him, expecting foul play. Whilst there a mob gathered and surrounded the house; but the three barricaded the door as best they could, and prepared for defence. The de- fences were forced away, and the mob entered, a number of them to be piled in an uncomfortable and bruised heap upon the floor. Isaac Peckins was a large, bony, and powerful man. Failing to break out one of the posts of an old-fashioned chair, he wielded the whole of it with great success against the intruders.
But, overpowered by numbers, the trio had to yield. A sort of sham trial resulted in the decision that Hinds should leave the country ; but he refused to submit to the decision.
His age, his experience, his native shrewdness, and energy of character, and his piety withal, fitted him for a pioneer, and a prominent actor in all that pertained to the civil and religious interests of a new country. He was greatly valued as a counselor and faithful adviser.
He was a tall man, and, in early life, athletic, although slender. He had black hair, and a dark hazel eye set deep beneath a long black eyebrow.
My childhood-remembrance of him in the church meetings for worship in the old school-house (Wilson's school-house, as it was called in early times, from its nearness to Stephen Wilson's residence) is as he stood up behind a chair, making thoughtful, measured remarks; or, sitting with right elbow in his left hand, the right hand pulling his long eyebrows, appearing as if he could look into the soul of any upon whom his eye might light.
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