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 47
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' A young man who came from Connecticut with Mr. Miner.
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made knapsacks of coarse shirts, filled them with provisions, and each tak- ing an ax on his shoulder, we took the bridle path by Mr. Parke's, and thence fifteen miles more or less-arrived at Rindaw or Hyde's, at the forks of the Wyalusing. I do not think a line drawn due south from Binghamton to the Tunkhannock-near forty miles-would have cut out a laid-out road, or come in sight of a house or cabin of an earlier date than the preceding summer."
During the last illness of "the hermit," in Wilkes-Barre, several years later, he willed his land to Mr. Blanchard-the gen- tleman who took care of him. Afterwards there was trouble between Mr. Blanchard and those who held themselves to be the rightful heirs to the property, on the plea that the testator was incapable of making a will uninfluenced, or that he was not in a proper state of mind. The place was for a long time occu- pied by one of these heirs, but was finally sold at auction (300 acres constituting the estate), when it was bought by an associa- tion of gentlemen, who sold to John Chapman. It is now owned and occupied by Dr. Samuel Wright, and the location is called the "Five Corners ;" it is on the west side of Martin's Creek, just above the Hopbottom Depot. It is said that Sprague was the son of a surveyor to whom the land was promised by a Philadel- phia landholder, in case of its occupancy by himself or family.
In the fall of 1799, Captain Charles Gere came from Vermont with others who joined the Hopbottom settlement. This ex- tended over the present area of Brooklyn, the southeast corner of Dimock, and the northern part of Lathrop. He began his clearing on the place now owned by John Lord, on the Abing- ton and Waterford turnpike; but did not bring in his family until 1801. After a year or two all removed north of the pre- sent line of Lathrop, one mile west of Mack's corners.
In 1801, John S. Tarbell (an uncle of J. S. Tarbell, of Mont- rose) was on the farm afterwards known as Mitchell's Meadows. Tarbell's Pond received its name from him. He removed in 1816 or 1817.
Josiah Lord came from Lyme, Connecticut, in 1801, to look for land, and in 1802, having purchased the improvement of Captain Gere, brought his family, including four sons-Josiah, Elisha, John, and Enoch. Mr. Lord and Mr. Tarbell were then the only settlers between the north line of the present township and Horton's mill, below Susquehanna County. Mr. Sprague lived two and a half miles due east of Mr. Lord. The latter remained on his first location (now occupied by his grandson, John Lord, Jr.) until his death, in 1845, at the age of 78.
His sons settled on what is now the Abington and Waterford turnpike; Enoch made the first improvement at Tarbell's Pond, and built a saw-mill there in 1820. The place is now known as Lakeside.
(The improvement of J. Silvius was not made until 1835.)
26
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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.
The following, with some additional details, was written by John Lord, Sr., in the summer of 1856 :-
"My father, Josiah Lord, located with his family1 in what is now called Lath- rop township, in 1801. There was but one family then in Lathrop, and only six in what is now called Brooklyn. There is but one man of my acquaint- ance now living, who was here and had a family when I came here, and he is Captain Amos Bailey.
"About the 1st of April, 1803, my father was absent from home, leaving me and my brother Elisha to attend to the cattle, which had gone up a small creek into the woods. A little before sunset they came into the clearing on the run, and turned around and looked back, with heads up, as if they were much frightened. As one of the cows did not come, we went in search of her, hunted until dark, but in vain. In the morning we renewed our search, and found her between two logs. She was thrown upon her back, her horns stuck in the ground ; the jugular veins were gnawed in two, and her flanks ripped open. Nothing of her calf was to be found but one of the hoofs and a part of the skull.
"My father procured a large double-springed, spike-joined bear-trap, set it by the cow and covered it with dirt. It had been undisturbed for a week, when father took up the trap and brought it to the house. The next day my brother and I found that the cow had been torn to pieces by the wolves. My brother then said, a German hunter had told him father did not set the trap right. He added a proposal to me to help him set it according to the hunter's directions, and, said he, ' we will have one of the wolves before father comes home.' We collected all the fragments of the old cow in a pile against a log, and then went home for the trap. We knew mother would not let us set it, if she suspected our plan, so my brother left me outside the house while he went in, agreeing to whistle ' Yankee Doodle' when mother's attention should be so engaged she would not be likely to see me bear off the trap. I waited some time for the signal, but on hearing it I shouldered the trap and ran for the woods. When I got there I was very much exhausted, as the trap was very heavy. My brother soon came with an ax, and we set the trap with two large hand-spikes, and deposited it in the water in front of the bait. The trap was two inches under water, and the pan we covered with moss. The bait we covered with logs in such a way that the wolves could not get access to it without going into the trap.
About 2 o'clock the next morning we were waked up by a sudden yell of the wolves, and they yelled without intermission until daylight. We got up an hour before daylight to run some balls. My brother then told mother we had set the trap and had got a wolf in it, and were going to kill it. She was much frightened, and used every means, except force, to prevent us from going into the woods until father's return; but the prospect of revenge upon the wolves for killing the cow-decidedly the best old mully of our three - carried our minds above every other consideration, and we started off so early that my brother said he could not see the sights of his rifle, and we sat down on a log to wait until it should be lighter. I was ten years old the February preceding, and my brother was not quite twelve. My brother had killed several deer, and was a good shot with a rifle. I had never shot one.
" The wolves continued howling, the fine yelp of the pups increasing the roar which seemed to shake the earth like thunder. I was seized with a sudden impulse of fear. I remembered reading that some children who had disobeyed their parents went into the woods to play, and God gave them up to bears which devoured them. I had disobeyed my kind mother for the first time, and my conscience smote me. We had left her in sobs and tears, and were in a dark wilderness with a gang of wolves. Suddenly they were
1 The family, it is believed, were not here until 1802, at the earliest.
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still, and I expected they were surrounding us. Every sin that ever I com- mitted rushed into my mind, and I felt a true sense of my meanness. Just then my brother rose and said, 'Come, it is light enough now to commence the battle.' With much difficulty I succeeded in rising, but my legs utterly refused to carry me toward the scene of danger. Concealing my cowardice as much as possible, I said the wolf had got out of the trap, and we had better go back and relieve mother of her fright. But he said, 'No, we have got one fast, I want you to go very still, for I want to get a shot at one that is not in the trap, first, and if I do, you may shoot the one in the trap.' This was a grand idea ; I thought no more about the bear story, or about mother, or any of my rascally capers, and my fear all left me. Moving on, we were soon in plain view of where we set the trap. We lay in ambush some time, but as no wolves were to be seen we went to the bait, and the trap was gone ! There were tufts of hair and plenty of blood, and the ground was torn up. The track of the wolf was plain and we followed it up the creek about ten rods, when, as we turned around a short curve in the creek, a gang of wolves started and ran up the bank, too swift for my brother to shoot with success. The wolf with the trap started at the same time and ran up the creek, and we followed after, about thirty rods, when we could not find the track further ; but as a log there reached from one bank to another, my brother told me to go on the whole length of the log, and find where the wolf got over. Near the further bank a beech tree with the leaves on had fallen the summer before, and made a thick brush heap on and below the log. In get- ting through this brush I slipped from the log. My bare feet-shoes were not fashionable for boys in those days-felt the soft fur of the wolf and the flinch under them, at the same instant I heard the trap rattle; one bound brought me out of the brush, and I exclaimed, ' Here is the wolf hid under the brush !' My brother was looking at me with a grin, and replied, 'I thought you had found something by the way you jumped ?' He told me to stand back, and, as he fired the wolf gave a growl and commenced a violent struggle. He then told me to go above the log and keep the wolf from get- ting through under the log, until he could load his rifle. She had got her head through, but could get no further. The ball had passed through the wolf's mouth, and some of the teeth were hanging out. My brother came over the log, and told me to get behind a tree, for in his hurry he had put his powder horn to the muzzle of his rifle and poured in the powder by guess, and he did not know what it might do, for he would let it all go together. told him to smash away. He let fly, and I saw the wolf's ear lop down. It was the most deafening report of a rifle I ever heard. I went towards the wolf's head and found the ball had gone through it; some of the brain was protruding from the ball-hole. We then went below the log and drew out the wolf-the largest one I ever saw.
" At this juncture we heard mother scream. She seemed to be coming in the woods towards us. We answered her, but she made so much noise herself -screaming every breath, as on she came, like a raving maniac-she could not hear, and did not see us, though we ran to meet her, until we were close to her. She then sat down on a log, and oh, what a picture of fright! In running through a laurel thicket she had scratched her face so that it bled in several places, and she was as pale as a corpse. Her combs had been pulled out and lost, and her long hair was streaming in every direction; she tried to arrange it, but her hands trembled so she could not do it, and it was some time before she could speak."
John Lord, Jr., in transmitting the above, adds :-
"Father was very feeble when he wrote it, and died without finishing it, August, 1856. I have often heard him tell this story. He and his brother dragged home the wolf, and their mother carried home the gun. Father and
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uncle afterwards captured a young bear. took him home alive, and kept him for some time; but he made his escape by gnawing off the rope with which he was tied."
In the fall of 1803, Barnard Worthing came from Vermont and purchased an improvement-the Abel Green farm-and returned. Two of his sons came in soon after to make prepara- tions for the family's arrival in the fall of 1804; but they spent the following winter with Sargent Tewksbury, in Brooklyn. In the spring of 1805 they moved into their own house on the farm just mentioned, and which is now occupied by C. R. Bailey and G. C. Bronson. (It belonged to the Drinker estate, and at the time of the erection of Lathrop, was occupied by Francis Perkins, the first constable of the new township.) Barnard Wor- thing and son Jacob were interested in Paine's cotton factory in Brooklyn. Mr. W. was an Episcopalian in sentiment, but his family were active Methodists.
Anthony Wright came from Somers, Connecticut, in 1809, to the first farm above Sprague's place, which was then occupied by Ira Sweatland, one of the claimants previously mentioned. A granddaughter of Anthony Wright (Mrs. William Squiers1) now lives on the farm he occupied for forty-eight years. He died December, 1857, in his 74th year. He was a prominent Methodist. His brothers, Wise and Samuel, settled in Brooklyn. Their father, Captain Samuel Wright, a Presbyterian, came to Lathrop some time later, and went into the woods a mile west of Hopbottom, where he cleared a farm. He died in 1835.
The sons of Anthony Wright were Loren and Samuel; the latter has been a botanic physician for more than twenty-five years.
In 1811, Elisha Smith and Noah Pratt (with families) settled on Horton's Creek, below Josiah Lord.
In 1812, Levi Phelps cleared the farm now occupied by Reu- ben Squiers, near the junction of the outlet of Tarbell's Pond with Horton's Creek.
Bela Case had come to what is now Brooklyn, as early as 1810, but afterwards removed to the present location of Hop- bottom Depot. It is said a man by the name of Jason Webster had been there before him. He was from New York. but he soon returned and died. Orson, son of Bela Case, remained at H.
William Squiers (father of Mrs. Dr. Wright) came from West- field, Vermont, in the fall of 1816, to the farm now occupied by A. Sterling, near the north line of Lathrop (then Waterford), on the first road east of Horton's Creek. About 1826, he went to the farm cleared by Phelps, where he died May, 1865, in his
1 William Squiers is a son of Arey Squiers-a Springville family not related to William Squiers the early settler of Lathrop.
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78th year. He had nine children. He was an active Presby- terian, and was a constant attendant upon the meetings held at Brooklyn Center, though he resided in the south part of Lathrop nearly forty years.
Joshua Jackson and Joseph Fisk came from Vermont with their families about the same time as Mr. Squiers. Mr. Fisk settled near the first location of Mr. S. He moved some years later to Springville, at what is now called Niven P. O., but pre- viously "Fisk's Corners." He became a Mormon, and left the county to join the "Latter Day Saints" in the West.
Mr. Jackson (commonly styled deacon) settled above the town- ship line; but his sons, Joshua, Joseph, and Caleb, settled in Lathrop. They are said to have been great choppers. Their father died September, 1842, aged 80.
Henry Mitchell came, in 1816, to the place previously occu- pied by J. S. Tarbell-a flat where two creeks empty into Hor- ton's Creek within a short distance of each other-since called. " Mitchell's Meadows," and recently "the Searle farm."
Ephraim Tewksbury and sons, Asa and Isaac, came to this section the same year. He died many years ago in Lathrop; Asa died at Hopbottom January, 1871, aged seventy-four and a half years.
Isaac Brown was here early.
The first justices of the peace in Lathrop were Geo. L. Tewks- bury and Ezra S. Brown ; Isaac S. Tewksbury, first town-clerk. There were about fifty taxables in the township in 1847. The present population is very nearly 1000.
There are at Hopbottom four stores, one hotel, two blacksmith- shops, one flouring-mill, one saw-mill, one tin-shop, and the sta- tion offices of the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad. The village is mostly on the east side of Martin's Creek, and its residents are principally descendants of the early settlers of Brooklyn and Lenox; the Bells, Merrills, etc., in addition to the families already mentioned.
The Good Templars have a hall, and an effective organization.
The early religious interests of Lathrop were identified with those of Brooklyn, the church-going people of the former either attending the churches of the latter, or worshipping in private houses and school-houses until late in 1870, when the first M. E. church at Hopbottom was dedicated-the first house of worship of any denomination within the limits of Lathrop. "On the day of dedication, December 15th, $1800 were to be provided for after the infant society had done all it felt able to do ;" but under the benign influences of the occasion, the entire sum was pledged, and the new church has auspiciously begun its history. The house, 35 by 50 feet, with bell and belfry, was built at a cost of $3200.
1
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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.
" The elder brethren of the Conference, who traveled the Brooklyn Circuit in its earlier history, will remember the ap- pointment at ' Anthony Wright's' on the Martin Creek. Well, this is the Wright appointment, and the faith which dwelt in ' Father Wright' is descending to the generations that bear his name."
One week later, December 28th, 1870, the conference of Sus- quehanna Association of Universalists met at Hopbottom, and dedicated another church edifice, rivaling the other in beauty. "It is 36 by 56 feet, with 22 feet posts, surmounted with a belfry and steeple nearly 100 feet high. The cost of the building was about $5600. The windows are oval on the top, and of colored glass. The building is of wood, but the roof is covered with the best quality of slate. The front is ornamented with a large oval window, which lights the orchestra, and this is also of colored glass. The society of Universalists has been organized here but a short time, and already has the largest Sunday-school in the association." [Newspaper item.]
The second Methodist Episcopal Church of Lathrop was in the course of erection the same year, at Lake Side, near the center of the township ; and was completed at a cost of $2600, and ded- icated February 16th, 1871. On that day the people were in- formed that $1000 was needed to free the church from debt; and $1100 was raised with help from friends in Nicholson.
The previous conference year had witnessed a large increase of membership to the Methodists of " the old Brooklyn circuit ;" and the marked advance in church enterprise was doubtless in part due to this, as well as to the fact that the directors of school-districts were unwilling to have the school-houses opened for public worship any longer.
CHAPTER XXVII.
SPRINGVILLE.
AT the second term of court after the organization of the county, a petition was presented for a new township to be set off from the southern part of Bridgewater, but it was not until April, 1814, that Springville was "finally" confirmed by the court. Its northern limit was the five-mile-tree on the Wilkes- Barre turnpike south of Montrose, extending eastward to one- half a mile east of the Meshoppen. Waterford (including Lath- rop and Brooklyn) was taken from Bridgewater at the same time,
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and formed the eastern boundary of Springville, while Brain- trim (changed to Auburn, same court) was the western, with the exception of a mile where Rush adjoined it. Eighteen years later, on the erection of Dimock township, the line of the latter was extended nearly a mile further north, and Springville was reduced to its present limits-about six miles on the county line by five miles north and south.
The township is well watered by two large branches of the Meshoppen and their tributaries, also by excellent springs. Its lakes are scarcely more than mill-ponds, the largest being Field's Pond in the southeast corner, crossed by the line of Lathrop. Its hills sloping to the waters of the Meshoppen are high, but pre- sent no peaks of special note. The soil is fertile, and the farms are in a high state of cultivation-perhaps there are none finer than those along the turnpike, which passes through the town- ship from north to south. Rye, oats, and corn grow better than wheat. Great attention is given to the dairy.
The principal timber is beech, maple, hickory, bass-wood, and hemlock. There are a few elms, but no oaks.
At different periods since the erection of Susquehanna County, there has been more or less disquiet among the residents remote from the seat of justice, and those of Springville have been of the number. As early as 1839, the matter of annexing Springville and Auburn to portions of Luzerne and Bradford, to form a new county, with Skinner's Eddy for a county-seat, was openly agi- tated. Again, in 1842, it was only vigilance on the part of some, that prevented their loss to Susquehanna when Wyoming County was organized. To this day, there are those who contend that the township for half a mile within its southern border belongs, of right, to Wyoming, since the line dividing them, is the unrec- tified one of 1810-12. This should have been due east from Wyalusing Falls, and was so run by the surveyors going east ; but the party from the east line of the county, on account of some variation understood by surveyors, failed to meet those from the west, being considerably south of them. The matter was finally compromised by making the line not " due east and west" as directed. This had so long been acquiesced in, and farms and town-arrangements were so well established in 1842, it was concluded best to make no changes.
The first clearing in the township of Springville was made near the site of the Presbyterian church, by Captain Jeremiah Spencer, either in 1800 or the previous fall, when he and his sons put in six acres of wheat. He had come in with his brother Samuel, and they had surveyed a township six miles square, which Oliver Ashley, of Connecticut, had bought of the Connec- ticut company, or of the State, for a half-bushel of silver dollars, and to which he gave the name of VICTORY. An irregular
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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.
township by this name appears on the map of Westmoreland. The southern line of Victory ran near Lynn P. O., and its whole area embraced much of what is now Springville, with a part of Auburn. The Spencers were originally from Claremont, New Hampshire, but had removed to Renssellaer County, New York, some years previous to 1800. The family came in 1801.
The wife of Captain S. was a sister of Judge Ashley. They had five daughters and two sons, Daniel and Francis. The latter was well educated for the times, and was the first postmaster in Springville (1815.) Daniel was commonly called "the hunter." Captain Spencer died in 1825, aged 75.
Samuel Spencer bought 500 acres of land lying south and adjoining or near Victory ; and embracing what is now called Lymanville, with lands east and north of it. The whole tract he obtained from Colonel Jenkins, of Wyoming, for a horse and saddle ; but Spencer sold it, on his return to New Hampshire, to his brother-in-law, Gideon Lyman, of Wethersfield, Vermont, for $500. Of this, a part was paid down, and the rest, by agree- ment, was to be paid after Mr. L.'s occupation of the land.
In 1801, Ezra Tuttle, of the same town, came in with a family of six children, of whom Abiathar, now living, was the oldest, then 13 years old. The following is a recent published note of him :-
Abiathar Tuttle, who came in with his father, is now living in this town- ship. Last year (1868) he scored and hewed all the large timber for a grain barn, 26 by 18 feet, for Mr. H. K. Sherman ; laid out all the framework, Mr. Sherman assisting some in the framing and also in the covering ; Mr. Tuttle laying the lower floor in good common style. He is now about 81 years old. His health and faculties are good. He has been an acceptable member of the M. E. Church over 50 years ; his life and general deportment an honor to himself and the church.
Myron, son of Ezra Tuttle, was the first child born in the township.
Mr. T. had bought his land under the Connecticut title, and paid to Ezekiel Hyde $300 for three hundred acres ; but he had afterwards to pay $500 for the same to secure a legal title from the Pennsylvania claimant, Henry Drinker.
He drove in from Vermont two cows, one team of two horses, and another of one horse; and settled near Captain Spencer. He built the first framed house in Springville; and with his sons cleared about two hundred and fifty acres. He also con- structed a large part of the Wilkes-Barre turnpike.
He had three sons and four daughters. His death occurred in 1826.
Salmon Thomas came first in 1800, sowed wheat, and returned to New Hampshire; but came back in 1801. Samuel Thomas, his father, and family then accompanied him. Both took up one
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hundred acres of land just below A. Wakelee's present location, and lived together; Salmon then being single. In 1805 he married Rosalinda, daughter of Ezekiel Lathrop. Their sons were Reuben, Benjamin, Denison, Salmon Davis, and Edwin.
Samuel Thomas, Jr., came in later, and lived on "the Dr. Denison farm," near the north line of the township; but after- wards removed to Connecticut.
In 1802, Myron Kasson, a native of Litchfield County, Con- necticut, came from Auburn (then Braintrim), and settled in the western part of what is now Springville, on the farm at present occupied by his son James. He had come alone, in 1799, to Auburn, and began clearing near the "Four Corners ;" but in 1802 his improvements there were purchased by Chester Adams, or the two effected an exchange of farms, the latter never having brought his family to Springville. Mr. Kasson became one of the most prominent men of Springville, and "took an active part in giving coloring and tone to the organization of our county. He filled successively every post of honor in his town- ship, as long as age would permit, with credit to himself and with marked approval by his fellow townsmen." His death, late in 1859, was preceded three months by that of his wife.
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