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 41
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The outlet of Wyalusing Lake, after passing through Jack- son Valley, runs for a mile or two in Bradford County, re-enters Middletown at Prattville, and falls into the North Branch two miles above the fort.
At Prattville, on the road passing from the creek into Brad-
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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.
ford County, and precisely on the line is the Methodist church edifice, half of which is in Middletown, and this half is all the house of worship there is in the township. The village takes its name from Isaac Pratt, who came in 1801, to the farm now occupied by Jeremiah Canfield, Jr. He was in old Wyalusing as early as 1795. Russel Pratt was his son.
Henry Ellsworth came in prior to 1807, and settled on the creek near the north line of the township. His son Joseph began on what is called the McGrath place, afterwards occupied by N. Billings.
Jonathan Ellsworth was a great hunter. One day when in the woods he found a long hollow tree on the ground, which, from the appearance of one end, he judged to be the home of some wild animal. He prepared to make a discovery, by a Putnam-like feat, and entered the hollow with his knife before him, drawing after him his loaded gun, muzzle hindmost, to serve in case he should be attacked in the rear. He emerged unharmed, however, with three young panthers, which he bore home without being disturbed.
Between 1807 and 1811, Darius Bixby, Seymour Galutia, and John Holeman were added to the number of settlers of the township.
" Bixby Pond," a very pretty sheet of water, takes its name from the second location of Darius Bixby. The town line passes through it, but he was on the Middletown side. His son Asa afterwards resided on the place. Another son, Richard, settled within the limits of Rush, but has since removed. Mr. B.'s remains rest in Birchardville Cemetry.
Samuel Wilson, a native of Massachusetts, and a soldier of 1812, came from St. Lawrence County, New York, in 1813, with his wife and seven children. Three children were added to the family here. He had six sons, the oldest two being now dead. The four living, in their best days, weighed not less than seven hundred and eighty pounds altogether; all, like their father, light in flesh and heavy in bone and muscle. As a pioneer, he acted well his part, having chopped and cleared more than two hundred acres of heavily timbered land in this county, and had chopped three hundred acres before he came here. He was a man of powerful frame and iron will, and generally succeeded in everything he undertook. He was as skilful with the rifle as powerful with the ax. He was for fifty- one years a taxable citizen of Middletown, and died on the farm on which he first settled, in 1864, in the eighty-fifth year of his age. All his sons and daughters were strong and healthy, the youngest being thirty-seven before death made an inroad among their number. Of grandchildren he had seventy-five born during his lifetime, of whom fifty still live (January, 1872).
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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.
Eleven of his grandsons, together with one son-in-law, and four other young men married to his granddaughters, buckled on the implements of war and sped to their country's rescue, during the late rebellion. Six, alas, returned no more! Their remains are buried under a Southern sky.
The first grist-mill within the township as it is, was put up by Stulph (?) Shoemaker, on one of the tributaries of the N. Br. of the Wyalusing, where now is a chair factory, a mile west of the Brister farm. Linas, son of Riel Brister, had a grist-mill on the North Branch, in 1815.
Joseph Ross built the first saw-mill at what is now called Middletown Center, about 1809. A few years later he built a grist-mill on the other end of the same dam. This he sold in 1843, to Otis Frost ; who built a new one on the site of the old saw mill, which had long before "gone down." Charles Tripp is the present owner of the property.
In 1816, the Canfields had a saw-mill on the North Branch.
Nathaniel Billings came in and bought a part of the Ross farm; afterwards he bought of J. Ellsworth the one adjoining. He and Silas Beardslee had framed houses.
Andrew Canfield was then the largest resident tax-payer.
Thomas Mitchell, Brown and Ives, Samuel Meredith, Samuel Wilcox, and R. H. Rose, were owners of unseated lands, but were non-residents.
Beginning at the north line of Middletown, the settlers on the North Branch were in the following order :-
Samuel Wilson, Henry Ellsworth, Jeremiah Canfield, Silas Beardslee, Amos Canfield, Joseph Ross, Albert Camp, Joseph Ellsworth, Andrew Canfield, Riel Brister, and Darius Coleman.
Samuel Spafford was in the vicinity of what has since been known as Spafford Creek. Twenty years later, he was justice of the peace for Middletown, Rush, and Auburn.
Samuel Wilson was on the North Branch where it crosses the line of the Apolacon.
In 1817, Samuel and Abner Taggart were in the section since called Jackson Valley. Samuel, in 1847-8, served the county in the State Legislature. He had five children, of whom two (?), with a son-in-law, occupy the old homestead.
Charles S. Campbell came also in 1817.
His son Charles, afterwards the first postmaster at Jackson Valley, removed to Friendsville, thence to Wisconsin, and is now in Elmira, N. Y.
Charles S. died in 1852, at the house of his son, in Friends- ville.
In 1818, Peter Saunderson, who, three years previous, had come from New Hampshire to Choconut, settled near those just mentioned, on the place now occupied by his son James. Of
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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.
his other sons, Geo. T. is dead, and Peter has removed to the West.
Isaac Benjamin and Selah Dart came to the township about 1818. Isaac Deuel was then on the Blair place, but five years later removed to Rush.(?)
In 1819, the township included at least a third of what is now the borough of Friendsville; and to this section, within the next year or two, were added a number of new-comers. Among these were Thomas Christian, William Salter, Samuel Savage, John Buxton, and Henry M. Pierce. The majority of them belonged to the Society of Friends. A son of the last named, Henry M. Pierce, LL.D., held for many years the Presidency of Rutgers College, N. Y. Another son is reported, in Brace's California (1869), as returning the largest income in that State.
Dr. Levi Roberts located on the turnpike, about 1822. He died about three years later, and was buried in Friends' burying- ground.
In 1823, Eliab and John Buxton, Jr., were in Jackson Val- ley. They came from New Hampshire.
Caleb C. True settled in the same vicinity, near the county line, but afterwards removed to Bradford County. His sons are Lauren, now in Iowa ; William W., in Michigan ; and Hiram R., who resides on the North Branch, about a mile below Mid- dletown Center. A rare relic-a Bible bearing date 1613-is in Mr. H. R. True's possession.
About 1829, two brothers, Jacob and Michael Andree, Dutch- men, who had previously come from Pittsburg to Franklin, where they were engaged with one Michael Dowell in boring the salt well, were employed by Dr. Rose and S. Milligan, Esq., on the salt well at Middletown Center. [See Mineral Re- sources.] Michael married and settled in the township, re- siding about two miles west of the Center until his death.
The same year Caleb Carmalt was taxed for 1000 acres in Middletown. Possibly these were not within the present limits of the township; but he afterwards purchased lands here, in- cluding the Pierce farm near Friendsville, where his eldest daughter, Mrs. John C. Morris and her family resided ten years, previous to their removal to Scranton.
While here, in 1862, Mr. Morris recruited from this and neighboring townships, nearly the whole of his company of volunteers for the national army, of which he was captain. He has contributed largely to advance the agricultural interests of this section, and for the last two years has been President of the State Agricultural Society.
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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.
THE WELSH SETTLEMENT.
June, 1825, marks the arrival of David Thomas, the first Welshman and family in Middletown, as also the first in the county. He was smitten down by a sunstroke six weeks after he arrived, and before he had completed his house. His was the third family in "the Welsh settlement," which has always been mostly over the line in Bradford County ; so the widow and her six children had sympathy and care from those of their own tongue. David Thomas, Jr., now on the old place, was then but seventeen; and his brother, the present Rev. Thomas Thomas, was but twelve years of age.
Joseph (or David) Jenkins, the first Welshman of the settle- ment, came May, 1824, to the Bradford side; but, several years later, he came into Middletown, and remained some years ; then returned to Leraysville, where he died.
Edward Jones, Sen., the second person in the order of settle- ment, came in the fall of 1824, and located just over the line. He had a brother, Thomas Jones, 1st. Thomas Jones, 2d, is a son of Edward, and is on the Susquehanna County side, as is also his brother James.
Messrs. Jenkins and Jones were induced to look at land in this vicinity, by a Welshman in Philadelphia (Simmons), who was a friend of Thomas Mitchell, the landholder. The tract was then a wilderness, lying principally upon the hills. David Thomas landed at New York, went to Philadelphia, where he also fell in with Simmons, who recommended this locality. It is but three miles from Leraysville. At that time, Esquire Seymour had a small store at the latter point, and accommo- dated the incomers by selling them axes, and a few common articles of daily use. To examine a more extended assortment, though sufficiently limited, the daughter of the pioneer would walk seven miles by a path through the woods to Friendsville, after the morning's work; would do her shopping and visit, then walk back, and finish the evening's work.
Samuel Davis joined the settlement in 1831, and is now liv- ing with his son, John S., on a high hill this side of the county line. This year, the first Welsh church and school-house were erected on the opposite side of the line, on the hill facing the creek. Daniel D. Jones was the founder of the church, and its pastor nineteen years. He died in 1849, the year after the pres- ent edifice was built.
Rev. Thomas Thomas, pastor of the Rushville and Stevens- ville churches, formerly preached in the Welsh settlement. His brother, Griffith, after making an improvement on the farm now occupied by J. D. Thomas, removed into Bradford County.
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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.
The Welsh families were mostly from Cardiganshire and Glanmorganshire-the latter in the southern part, and the former about the center of Wales. They had little sympathy with monarchical institutions, and one motive which induced them to leave the mother country, was to rid themselves of the obnoxious tax for the support of the established church of England. This amounted to one-tenth of their income; and, in addition, as all are Presbyterian or Congregational in senti- ment, they had to support their own churches. There was never a Roman Catholic among them. A majority of all the community are members of the Protestant church. A oneness of interest and feeling pervades the entire settlement. In all, it contains from forty-five to fifty families ; only fifteen of which are in Susquehanna County ; these are Evan Evans, and David Jones (son of John), in Apolacon; Thomas Williams, Thomas Owens, John D., and David Thomas, and Samuel Davis, with his son John S., on farms adjoining Bradford County ; next east of these are Thomas J. Jones, Samuel F. Williams, James Jones (son of Edwin), Thomas Thomas, Henry, and David E. Davis, brothers and sons of Evan Davis (brother of Samuel), who died on the passage from Wales; and near the north branch of Wyalusing, are Thomas Jones, 2d, Jenkin Jones (with his son John), John M. Davis (son of David, now dead), and Roger Philips.
They are principally farmers, though a few are mechanics, and all are readers. A large number are school-teachers-sev- eral being college graduates. First among the latter is Evan W. Evans, at present Professor of Mathematics in Cornell University. He is a son of Wm. Evans, whose residence is across the line of Bradford County; while his daughter, the wife of Rev. Thomas Thomas, is near him on this side.
We are told, that when Professor Evans was a lad, his thirst for knowledge was so great that his father determined to send him to Yale College. Whilst there, he was said to be the most retiring, diffident, and industrious young man in the college.
He was chief of the editors of the 'Yale Literary Magazine,' and graduated with special distinction in literature. His knowledge of geology was such, that in a sojourn in Western Virginia a few years ago, he was induced to enter into some speculations in petroleum, and acquired a large fortune.
He is the highest authority among the scholars of our country on the Celtic language and literature; and has contributed arti- cles to the journal of the American Philological Society on this subject. He was Professor of Mathematics in Marietta Col- lege, Ohio, but when the Faculty of Cornell University was organized, he was offered the distinguished position he now fills.
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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.
A characteristic of Welsh names is that the omission of the final s changes a surname into a given name; thus, Evan Evans, Jenkin Jenkins, Griffith Griffiths, etc., are common in- stances of alliteration among them.
Politically, the Welsh are Republican.
On this side of the church and creek, which here crosses the county line, the settlement has recently been accommodated by the establishment of Neath Post-office, Bradford County.
Many are the evidences of thrift and prosperity. Wheat on the hills; good houses on well-cleared farms, having still enough forest to make the landscape picturesque; the little church and the white monuments gleaming near it; the bridge over the winding creek below-all combine to make the locality inviting.
The musical taste of the people, as well as the character and profession of the one it commemorates (a musician), has found expression in an inscription upon one of the monuments. Upon the marble lines of the G clef are engraved the notes of a tune; to which, just below, are set the words :-
" How blest the righteous when he dies !"
The first interment in the burying-ground was that of a child of David Thomas; its grandfather, John Howell, was the first adult buried here in 1834. The grave of one union soldier is found even in this small inclosure-that of Theron H. Jones, who died in the service. Alas, that the graves of others of Middletown, whose lives were thus sacrificed, should be remote and unknown.
THE IRISH SETTLEMENT.
It was probably through the influence of Edward White, an Irish gentleman, who acted as agent for Dr. Rose, that the lands of the latter attracted the notice of Irishmen, as early as 1829. They were, for the most part, laborers drawn to this country by the demands of the public works; from which it was not difficult to withdraw them when they perceived their opportunity to become landowners-a privilege which the regulations of their own country made impossible.
James Ferris and Philip Finnelly were the first Irish settlers in Middletown. The following year, 1830, Patrick Magee (since gone West), Walter O'Flanlin, and John Murphy came. The latter settled on a farm partly cleared by an American. Thomas Colford and Bernard Keenan were here about the same time.
Dennis McMahan, - Dougherty, William Fennel, Edward Grimes, Michael Cunningham, Jos. Tierney, Michael Whalen
23
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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.
(now in Friendsville), James Melhuish, and Michael Madden were among those who were here before 1840; the last named settled where Esq. Keeler is now. Edward Grimes' last location is near the Bradford County line, where he has cleared and cultivated a fine farm. He cleared two farms previously.
Mr. Cunningham and Joseph Tierney bought adjoining farms (formerly Holeman's), on the Wolf road, of Spafford (American). Both occupy a ridge commanding a fine prospect. Mr. C. is still living, over eighty years old. A Mr. Carroll cleared a large farm, and then left for the West.
The Wolf road, which is on the ridge of land between the present west line of Forest Lake and the North Branch, was so named from the fact, that after it had been marked out, at an early day, and before it was available for teams, it was a path frequented by packs of wolves.
In 1840, there was a very large accession to the Irish settle- ment. James Cooney cleared a large farm, and still remains upon it. Michael Connaughton (now dead) was on the farm at present occupied by his son John.
Hugh McDonald has cleared good farms; each of the follow- ing has cleared one, at least; Daniel Farrell (on a cross-road), and John Fitzgerald on Wolf road; Dennis Lane and Holland on the road connecting the Middle Branch with the former, where they have good farms and buildings. Indeed, many of the farms cleared by the settlers, both before and after 1840, have neat white houses, with flower gardens in front and barns in the rear-a striking contrast to their primitive rude cabins, from the doors of which pigs and poultry were not excluded; for once the question of obtaining food and drink was so difficult of solution as to leave no thought or time for the cultivation of taste in their surroundings.
The roads, in general, are better than those of Silver Lake township, and aid materially in giving one a pleasant impres- sion of adjoining farms. Charles Heary cleared, on the Wolf road, what is called "the best farm in the township." It was recently sold to Patrick Hickey.
William Monnihan (now dead) was located on the North Branch. Edward Reilly, James Quigley, and others came about the same time as those just mentioned.
We are indebted to our foreign population for the rescue from the wilderness of a large portion of the lands of Middle- town. Even where the immigration was subsequent to 1840, many of the hardships of pioneer life had to be endured ; though mills, roads, and a ready market had been supplied by the early American settlers. The latter were principally lo- cated in the vicinity of the North Branch of the Wyalusing.
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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.
[It will be understood that those sections not now a part of Middletown, are excluded from this statement.]
Of the Irish families which have settled in the township for the last thirty years, and added to its thrift and controlled its interests, a few more are mentioned as data for a proper estimate of this section by those who, from birth and denominational prejudice, have not been able to judge fairly of its worth.
All have paid for their farms. The people are generally temperate, as there is not a licensed hotel in the township.
James Curley (now dead) had five sons, whose five farms ad- join along the road leading from the Wolf road to the North Branch. This region was a dense forest when he came in 1841. Lawrence, one of his sons, whose education had received atten- tion in Ireland, kept the first school, near the present residence of Edward Gillan.
John Conboy came to the farm begun by J. Quigley ; John Flynn to that begun by Mr. Dougherty, and now occupied by his son James; John Horrigan and Patrick Smith, to the North Branch; Patrick McDonough settled opposite Hugh McDonald ; and Thomas Luby began on the farm now occupied by the widow of Farrell Millmore. F. M. was one of several who came from Sligo and Roscommon Counties, Ireland, in 1833, to assist in the construction of the Chenango canal, and after- wards, of the North Branch canal (in Luzerne County) ; and who, when the work was suspended, were scattered throughout the country. Dr. Rose offered them inducements to settle here, boarding them while they examined his land. In more than one instance he furnished them a cow, upon their settlement. He also supplied them with teams, sheep, beef, and clothing ; and, according to their own statement, "never pushed any man for pay."
Unlike many of the early English settlers on his lands, the Irish appeared to have been abundantly satisfied. The reason is doubtless due, in part, to a difference of national tempera- ment; but, in a greater measure, to an absence of the high expectations which the English entertained, and to the contrast in their transatlantic life.
Politically, with few exceptions, the Irish are democratic, in the party sense of that term; and denominationally, Roman Catholic. Their chapel, just over the line in Rush, accommo- dates both townships. Wm. Golden's farm is near it.
Thomas Moran, - - Degnan, - Brennan, - Leary, Mark and Michael Keogh, - McCormick, and Edw. Gillan, were all here before 1850. A son of the last named was edu- cated at St. Joseph's College, Choconut, and is a teacher of some note in the county. There is some ambition among the
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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.
people to give their children educational advantages, still their schools have had but few good teachers.
Francis Keenan is the present justice of the peace in Middle- town.
CHAPTER XXIII.
JESSUP.
THIS township, named in honor of Judge Jessup, was erected from parts of Bridgewater and Rush, with a small portion of Middletown, in April, 1846. It is nearly four and a half miles square. A slight variation in the line between Jessup and Bridgewater has since been made to accommodate families in the northeast corner of the former, and has resulted in the erection of the Chapman Independent School District, com- prising portions of three townships. An addition to Jessup on the west has been made by taking about eighty rods from Rush, from the Wyalusing road to the north line of the township.
Jessup is traversed by the Wyalusing Creek, its course being nearly due west two miles, from the east line of the township, then southwest about two miles, whence it runs west with little variation beyond the line of Rush.
The Wyalusing in Jessup has three or four tributaries on the north; on the south, one, South Creek, the source of which is near Milton Hunter's residence in Bridgewater. The outlet of Forest Lake has its junction with the main stream at Fair- dale; Birchard Creek, at "Bolles' Flat ;" and the mouth of a third Creek running between Porter Ridge and Stuart Street (set off to Jessup in January, 1854), is nearly at the west line of the township.
Fire Hill-so named because of a succession of destructive fires along its summit-is the long, high ridge south of the Wyalusing and west of the ridge bordering South Creek, on the southwest. It nearly covers the Roberts District.
Dutch Hill-settled by persons of Dutch descent, but born in New York-comprises the section north of the Wyalu- sing and east of Forest Lake Creek. Between these hills is another, which, with equal propriety, might be called "Jersey " Hill.
Jessup, at the time of its first settlement, was in the remain- ing portion of old Tioga, Luzerne County ; but, soon after, was included in Rush, as originally bounded. To the settlers from Connecticut it was known as MANOR in the eastern, and USHER
CONNECTICUT SURVEY.
NORTH
M.
Nº18
N.º 6
NO.5
Nº8
walusing Creek
Nº17
R
Nº 9
Nº16
South
Creek
S
Nº3
NO.15
Nº10
C
Nº14.
Nº 2
ing Waters.
vou ve map of Manor is the place he sold to Joseph Butterfield, about 1812. There is a discrepancy in the statement respecting his location, as, in 1801, the court record places his name where Meacham M.'s appears on the map. Another authority confirms the record, stating that the latter was on "the water-shed " between two creeks running north into the Wyalusing.
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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.
people to give their children educational advantages, still their schools have had but few good teachers.
Francis Keenan is the present justice of the peace in Middle- town.
CHAPTER XXIII.
JESSUP.
THIS township, named in honor of Judge Jessup, was erected from parts of Bridgewater and Rush, with a small portion of Middletown, in April, 1846. It is nearly four and a half miles square. A slight variation in the line between Jessup and Bridgewater has since been made to accommodate families in the northeast corner of the former, and has resulted in the erection of the Chapman Independent School District, com- prising portions of three townships. An addition to Jessup on the west has been made by taking about eighty rods from Rush, from the Wyalusing road to the north line of the township.
Jessup is traversed by the Wyalusing Creek, its course being nearly due west two miles, from the east line of the township, then southwest about two miles, whence it runs west with little variation beyond the line of Rush.
The Wyalusing in Jessup has three or four tributaries on the north ; on the south, one, South Creek, the source of which is near Milton Hunter's residence in Bridgewater. The outlet of Forest Lake has its junction with the main stream at Fair- dale; Birchard Creek, at "Bolles' Flat ;" and the mouth of a third Creek running between Porter Ridge and Stuart Street (set off to Jessup in January, 1854), is nearly at the west line of the township.
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