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 48
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In March, 1803, Gideon Lyman, with his wife and eleven children, and accompanied by Captain Spencer (who had been East on a visit,) came to the farm since owned and long occupied by Justus Knapp, Esq. It was but a temporary halt while Mr. Lyman prepared a home on the land he had purchased of Samuel Spencer.
Owing to his generosity while on the way hither, in relieving a friend pressed by a creditor, Mr. Lyman had only fifty cents in his pocket when he reached his destination: The house he occupied was built by felling basswood trees, splitting them open, and laying them up with the flat side inward. It was probably 18 by 14 feet, and had to accommodate thirteen per- sons through the summer. The roof was made of white ash bark, but the floor was of the same material as the sides of the building.
Two barrels of pork constituted the stock of provisions, and Mr. Lyman was obliged to go to Exeter, near Wilkes-Barre, and sell a horse to get grain for bread. This left him only one horse. He sold a bed to buy a cow. To crown his discourage- ment, he found he held a worthless title, and had eventually to buy of Mr. Drinker, recovering nothing of what he had paid in good faith to the claimant under the Connecticut title. But he had been a soldier in the Revolutionary army, and was not easily daunted.
In the fall he went to the farm since known as the Lyman homestead, where he lived until his death in May, 1824. His
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first house was built about ten or twelve rods from one of the most bountiful springs in our county ; but this was so concealed by laurels that he had lived upon the place several years before it was discovered. Subsequently he built nearer it, and the house is now occupied by his grandson, James H. Lyman. The spring supplies him, and many of the neighbors, with an unfailing stream of pure cold water during protracted drouths.
Gideon Lyman's children all lived to old age, and all but one were present at his funeral. His sons were, Elijah, Gideon, Joseph Arvin, Samuel, John, and Prentiss. Elijah is still living (September, 1869), in Alleghany County, New York, aged 87. His sister, Dolly Oakley,1 is 85. Gideon, a twin with the latter, died when 55 years old. Naomi Spencer died when 69; Samuel when 71; Joseph Arvin in his 62d year. The five others are living, the youngest being 71.
Benjamin, Zophar, and Aaron Blakeslee came also in 1801. The last-named was but seventeen years old, and worked for his brothers who had families, until he was twenty one, when he located next below where A. Tuttle now lives; and occupied the same farm until his death in 1859. " He was a consistent mem- ber of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and a generous con- tributor towards the erection or purchase of a good house in the village of Springville, where that society met for public worship. His house was ever an asylum for itinerant clergymen."
Zophar Blakeslee's farm occupied " the Hollow"-now covered by the village of Springville; but, in 1829, he removed to the farm now occupied by his widow, near the line of Auburn.
Benjamin Blakeslee's place has been occupied many years by Arad Wakelee (after F. Eaton and S. Pierpont).
Reuben, brother of J. and S. Spencer, Daniel Brewster, and Aaron Avery came in soon after the elder Spencers ; but Reuben died in 1804, and Messrs. Avery and Brewster, thinking all must starve here, returned after two or three years to New York. But subsequently Mr. Avery came back, and died in Tunkhannock several years since.
Frazier Eaton and family came in 1803, to the farm where Benjamin Blakeslee died; but afterwards removed to the first location of the latter, an exchange of farms being effected.
The next year, Thomas Cassedy, wife and two children, came from the State of New York, and settled below the Presbyterian church.
The first marriage in the township was that of Abel Marcy of Tunkhannock, to Eunice Spencer, in 1804.
Three families came in from Saratoga County, N. Y., March 1st, 1806, numbering in all twelve persons. The names of the
1 Died August 25, 1870.
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heads of the families were Pardon Fish, Ebenezer Fish, and John Bullock. Justus Knapp, then a boy, was of the company. All occupied the same house, which had accommodated Gideon Ly- man's family in the summer of 1803. During the following summer a house was built, affording some relief.
Aaron Taylor, a native of Connecticut, who had settled on the river above Tunkhannock in 1796, came to this vicinity about 1806. His farm was on the turnpike, near that of Stephen Lott (another old settler) though they were just below the line, after Susquehanna County was set off. A son of Mr. Taylor now oc- cupies his place. Aaron Taylor, Jr., and his sister, Mrs. Zophar Blakeslee, live in the township near Auburn.
In 1806, Augustine Wells Carrier came to the farm lately oc- cupied by Thos. Nicholson.
About 1807, Jeremiah Rosencrants, and the same year or the next, Jonathan Strickland, from near the Delaware River, were added to the number of settlers. Mr. S. died in 1853, aged 80; his widow, in 1866, aged 94.
One summer, among the earlier years of the Lynn settlement, there was a scarcity of bread. A crop of rye was growing, and as soon as it was full in the head it was cut in small quantities, and when dry, was taken out of the straw, cleaned, and set before what was called a Dutch fireplace, and kiln-dried; it was then ground in a coffee-mill, the hopper of which would not hold more than a pint, then sifted and made into something called bread.
Gideon Lyman one Sabbath morning, searching for his cow, found some raspberries; anything so gratifying and exciting he did not think it right to tell his wife during holy time, and so waited until evening, when custom closed its observance. His wife was then unable to sleep for joy. In the morning, pails of berries were secured.
A few years later Mrs. L. and a young woman set out with a lantern one evening, to go about a mile and a half to watch with a sick neighbor. Starting from a house where they had been visiting in the afternoon, they lost their way, and spent the night in the woods. A brisk snow storm added to the unpleasantness of the situation, but they made a fire, and as they had a hymn- book, they passed the time in singing hymns. In the morning they proceeded on their way and crossed a wolf's track in the snow, before they reached the small stream which they followed to their destination.
The road from Col. Parke's to Springville Hollow was opened in 1803 or 1804 by the Spencers. Previous to that, only marked trees and a bridle path had guided the traveler to the Susque- hanna River at the mouth of the Meshoppen. In 1808 it was traveled by sleds, etc.
To cross narrow streams, trees were often felled to serve as
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bridges. Many were the homely substitutes for former comforts in other things. Venison tallow served for candles, branches of hemlock for brooms, three-pegged stools for chairs, etc.
Of the first adult settlers, or of those who came to Springville and near vicinity prior to 1810, Reuben Spencer, Ebenezer Carrier, and Clarinda, first wife of Zophar Blakeslee, were dead at that date. The deaths of the others occurred thus :-
From 1810-20, Alfred and Thomas Brownson, John Taylor, the first Mrs. Elijah Avery, James Rosencrants, Mrs. Timothy Mix, Mr. and Mrs. Jonathan Strickland, Sr., and Ebenezer Fish. Joel Hickcox came in 1814 and died 1817. His widow survived him nearly thirty years, and saw a descendant of the fifth gene- ration.
From 1820-30, Gideon Lyman, Sr., J. Bullock's wife, Capt. J. Spencer, Ezra Tuttle, Samuel Thomas, Sr., and wife, and Aaron Taylor aged seventy-five.
From 1830-40, Rhoda Fish, Keziah Lyman, Daniel Spencer, and Zophar Blakeslee.
From 1840-50, Widow Ezra Tuttle, Mrs. Aaron Blakeslee, Jeremiah Rosencrants, Widow Aaron Taylor aged eighty, and Benjamin Blakeslee.
From 1850-60, Pardon Fish, Sr., in his ninety-ninth year ; Thomas Cassedy, Sr., aged seventy-five; Widow Ebenezer Fish, Rosalinda L. Thomas, Aaron Blakeslee, Myron Kasson, and Widow Benjamin Blakeslee.
From 1860-70, Widow Thomas Cassedy, Sr., aged eighty ; Sal- mon Thomas aged eighty-seven; John Bullock, and Francis Spencer.
The last-named died in Factoryville, Pa., January 1st, 1869. He had always resided in Springville until a short time before his death.
To this list must now (1872) be added that of Justus Knapp, whose interest gained for the compiler most of the previous items. His death occurred December, 1870, just previous to which he had written the following :-
" Justus Knapp was in his 7th year when he came to this place (Spring- ville) ; has lived here sixty-four years last March ; raised a family of nine children-five sons and four daughters-all of whom lived to grow up to adult years. The mother, three sons, and two daughters, died in the space of six years and two months; the last son was killed at Gettysburg, July 2d, 1863.
Justus Knapp never voted at any other election polls but Springville, having been a voter almost fifty years ; was elected justice of the peace in 1846. He succeeded Myron Tuttle, who removed to the West."
He furnished in 1870 the following list of early settlers, who are dead, additional to those given elsewhere :-
Edward Goodwin, Benjamin Lull, Samuel Quick, James W. Hickcox, Charles Thomas, Joseph Cooper, Asahel B. Prichard,
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Martin Park, Joseph A. Lyman, Samuel Lyman, Samuel Sutton, William B. Welsh, Robert Smales, Archibald Sheldon, David Rogers, William Taylor, Thomas Lane, Isaac W. Palmer.
When J. Knapp came in with the Lymans, there were but two log houses where Montrose now stands. He said :-
" There was a log house near where the Widow Isbell now lives, occupied by Dr. James Cook ; the next house south was Roberts'; the next what is called the Raynsford house ; the next Deacons Wells' and Deans'; the next was where Friend Hollister now lives, near the north line of Dimock town- ship, that being the last place where we stayed over night till we arrived at our place of destination.
"Near Dimock Corners Captain Joseph Chapman lived ; the next house was occupied by Martin Myers ; the next by Benjamin Blakeslee ; the next by Frazier Eaton ; the next by Samuel Thomas ; the next by Ezra Tuttle ; the next by Captain Jeremiah Spencer."
John Lyman, Abiathar Tuttle, of Springville, and Caleb and Pardon Fish, of Lynn, of the juvenile first settlers, still survive.
In 1815, Titus Scott came from Waterbury, Connecticut, and made a small clearing on the top of the hill east of Springville Hollow. He brought his family May, 1816; and October, 1817, his brother Jesse came. At the time Titus Scott came in, Arad Wakelee was on the Barnum farm in Lawsville; but in the fall of 1817 his name was among the signers to the charter of St. Jude's Church; as were also the names of other settlers, the date of whose in-coming has not been ascertained. Mark Scott came to Springville about 1822.
The first regular church services were held at Titus Scott's log house.
The three brothers, Titus, Jesse, and Mark Scott, belonged to a remarkably long-lived family. . Those not now living died at an average age of 72 years. Mark Scott died January, 1860, aged 77. Titus is 87, and Jesse in his 85th year.
The first town officers for Springville were elected in 1814. They include residents of what was afterwards set off to Dimock.
The first constable, Joseph Arvin Lyman ; supervisors, My- ron Kasson and Daniel Spencer; poormasters, Asa Lathrop and Frazier Eaton.
In 1815, Thomas Parke, Ezra Tuttle, Francis Spencer, and Spencer Lathrop, are mentioned as "freeholders." In 1816, Francis Spencer was the first town clerk.
Samuel Pierpont was here as early as 1817, and had a small store where Arad Wakelee lives. It is said that Francis Morris and brother had the first stock of goods in the Hollow.
About 1818 or 1819, Leonard Baldwin opened a house of entertainment or tavern in Springville. It was but a small building. This was enlarged and improved by his successor,
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Spencer Hickcox who continued to keep a public house until his death. The same house, further enlarged and improved, is the present hotel of Dr. P. E. Brush.
Elections, which had been held at Thomas Parke's, were held in 1818, at Salmon Thomas'.
One who came to Springville from Renssellaer County, New York, in 1819, fifty years later (after mentioning that the family were twelve days on their journey hither), makes the following remarks respecting the wonderful improvements in locomotion and other matters since that time :-
In 1819, the steamboat was only in embryo, or helpless infancy. The locomotive engine and iron track were not known. Six-horse teams, carry- ing from four to six tons, were passing over the roads almost daily-goods coming up country being brought in the other way-an occasional Durham boat passing up the river, only excepted. This was the Northern Pennsyl- vania style. Other States could boast nothing better, unless we except the eight-horse wagons, with tire six inches wide, which were used on the " Great Western Turnpike" in the State of New York. At the date mentioned there was nothing in the shape of a canal boat; and no place for it if there had been. There were no cast-iron plows at that time; all were made with the mould board of wood. Wagon tires made in just as many pieces as there were pieces of felloes in the wheels, were then going or gone out of use. " Wooden springs" were mostly used in the best style of carriages. The mowing, reaping, and threshing machines were unknown. Yes, and one of the great wonders of the age we live in, the sewing machine, also. In those days we knew nothing of the friction match, nor the most wonderful, although not the most useful, of all improvements named, the electric telegraph.
Augustine Meacham and wife came from Claremont, New Hampshire, in 1818 or 1819, and resided here until both died in old age.
William Drinker, agent of the Drinker Estate, and an older brother of Henry Drinker, of Montrose, located in Springville some time between the years 1817 and 1820. He built the house where Thomas Nicholson lived many years, Hon. Asa Packer being one of the workmen. He had previously been married to Eliza G. Rodman, of Philadelphia. Upon leaving Springville he came to reside in Montrose, and occupied the house built by Charles Catlin, the present residence of H. J. Webb, Esq. He lived for a time in Union, New York, and afterwards in the "Bowes Mansion" at Great Bend. He died at the West, about the year 1836.
William Drinker, a bachelor uncle of William, the agent, came and resided with the latter in Springville. He had a fond- ness for literature, a good knowledge of conveyancing, and was a skilful draughtsman; many of the maps of the Drinker Estate were prepared and drawn by him. He died while on a visit to Philadelphia in 1822.
A friend of Judge Packer contributes the following :-
Engraved vy John Sartain, Phil"
Asablack,
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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.
HON. ASA PACKER.
Asa Packer, son of Elisha Packer, of Groton, New London County, Con- necticut, was born in that town on the twenty-ninth day of December, 1805. As soon as he was old enough to do for himself, a situation was procured for him in the tannery of Mr. Elias Smith, of North Stonington. He soon won the confidence and affection of his employer, but for whose death he would, no doubt, have become a partner in the establishment. He spent the following year in Groton.
Although his opportunities for attending school were limited, he early learned the value of an education, and applied himself with diligence to the acquisition of the rudiments, and afterwards attained considerable proficiency in those branches which promised to be of the greatest practical advantage to him.
In the year 1822, when but seventeen years of age, he set out on foot, with a few dollars in his pocket and his worldly goods comprised in a knapsack, for Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania. Here he apprenticed himself to the trade of carpenter and joiner in Hopbottom, now Brooklyn. He wrought assiduously, and in due time became master of his business. While so en- gaged, he went with his employer to Springville, to build the mansion of the late William Drinker, Esq., on the place recently occupied by Thomas Nich- olson, Esq., and since purchased by Mr. Packer himself. It was during the erection of this dwelling, that he became acquainted with that highly esteemed gentleman, Henry Drinker, Esq. An intimacy grew up between them which continued amidst mutual affection of great warmth until the death of Mr. Drinker in the year 1868.
It was here also that he first met the daughter of Mr. Zophar Blakeslee, Sarah Minerva, who afterwards became his wife, and as such has always proved herself to be all that a wife and mother should be, acquiring and re- taining the respect and love of all who have had the happiness of being numbered amongst her friends.
Through these early years he remained poor, but fortune was soon to smile upon him. He heard of the Lehigh Valley as affording greater remunera- tion for labor, and superior opportunities for advancement. He was induced therefore to remove thither, and in the spring of 1833 located at Mauch Chunk. He brought to his new home but a few hundred dollars, his capital consisting rather of his active mind, strong arms, and industrious habits. His first and second summers were spent in boating coal from Mauch Chunk to Philadelphia, himself acting as master of his own boat. The energy and capacity which he displayed while thus employed, commended him to the favorable notice of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company, with whom he afterwards formed a profitable connection which lasted a number of years.
During a visit which he made at this period, to Mystic, Conn., he gave to his brother Robert (then living with their uncle Daniel at Packersville, Windham County) such a favorable description of the coal region, that he also concluded to take up his abode there and join Asa in the business of boating at Mauch Chunk. Subsequently, they formed a co-partnership under the style of A. & R. W. Packer, whose operations before long became quite extensive, embracing as they did, a large mercantile business at Mauch Chunk and elsewhere ; contracts with the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Com- pany, which involved the building of dams and locks on the upper naviga- tion ; working coal mines leased from the company, and afterwards Mr. Packer's own mines near Hazelton, and shipping coal to Philadelphia and New York .. A similar shipping business was done by them on the Schuyl- kill. They were the first through transporters of coal to the New York market, and it is a fitting return for all his original enterprise in this direc- tion, that Judge Packer's large income now is chiefly derived from this source. Through his coal-mining operations, he was brought into close relations with
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the late Commodore Stockton, and between them there sprung up a warm personal friendship, which proved of considerable value in assisting Judge Packer to complete the great enterprise of his life, the Lehigh Valley Rail- road. Up to October, 1851, this undertaking was looked upon with but little public favor, and accordingly was prosecuted with but little vigor. At this date Judge Packer purchased nearly all the stock already subscribed, and commenced to obtain additional subscriptions. Late in 1852, he submitted a proposition, which was duly accepted, for the construction of the road from Mauch Chunk to Easton, and immediately took steps for the early perform- ance of the contract. The road was opened for business in September, 1855, having connection with both New York and Philadelphia. (The expendi- tures for the first three months of its business were $23,763.33, the receipts being $26,517.95.) By the merger of the Beaver Meadow, Mahonoy, and Hazelton Railroad Companies, and by valuable connections elsewhere, the business facilities of the company had been already largely increased. Judge Packer now proposed that the road should be extended through the valleys of the Lehigh and Susquehanna to the New York State line, there to connect with the Erie and other projected railways, thus affording a direct route from the lakes to the seaboard. This has been accomplished by the construction of the Pennsylvania and New York Canal and Railroad, having its terminus at Waverly. It has already been the means of developing to a wonderful ex- tent a country of prolific resources, and conferring untold benefits upon the immense population with which it is teeming, and who have been largely in- duced to take up their residence on its route by the conveniences it has afforded for utilizing the great wealth, mineral and agricultural, abounding in the regions which it traverses and connects. In this respect, Judge Packer deserves a high place among the benefactors of the commonwealth, and in the grand results of his undertakings he furnishes a noble example of what may be accomplished by well-directed energy and business integrity.
It may be interesting to append a statement of the operations of the rail- road from Easton to Waverly for the year ending November 3d, 1871, in- cluding those of its several branches :-
Total coal tonnage 3,606,530 tons, besides a very large and increasing gen- eral freight and passenger business. The total receipts from all sources were $6,571,159.36. For a number of years it has regularly paid an annual dividend of ten per cent. upon its stock, which now amounts to nearly twenty millions of dollars.
The attention of Judge Packer has not been directed solely in the channels of business. He has always taken a deep interest in all questions affecting the public welfare. Conscious of this, and of his ability to contribute to the ' general good, he was elected for several years a member of the State Legis- lature. Retiring from that, he was appointed one of the judges of the county court, a position which he held with honor five years. He was afterwards chosen for two consecutive terms a member of the lower house of Congress, in which capacity he rendered valuable service to his constituents.
In 1868 he was a prominent candidate for the Presidency, and in the Na- tional Democratic Convention at New York received the unanimous support of Pennsylvania, and several votes from other States. In 1869 he was the Democratic nominee for Governor in Pennsylvania, his opponent being elected by a small majority.
On his return from a trip to Europe in 1865, he announced his intention of founding an educational institution where young men should be supplied with the means of obtaining that knowledge which should be of the most practical advantage to them. The branches to which he designed particular attention should be given, were civil, mechanical, and mining engineering ; general and analytical chemistry; mineralogy and metallurgy ; analysis of soils and agriculture; architecture and construction. Having reference to the peculiar advantages for such an education in the neighborhood, he presented
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as a site for the buildings a beautiful woodland park of sixty acres on the borders of South Bethlehem. To this he added a donation of $500,000 in money, beside which he has annually made other large gifts in cash for the current expenses of the Lehigh University, the name by which the institu- tion is called. The main building, Packer Hall, has no superior of its kind in the country. The means of instruction are ample, and are offered gratui- tously to all who may desire to avail themselves of them.
In addition to his munificent donations to this cause, Judge Packer has con- tributed very largely to the building and maintenance of churches in Mauch Chunk and in many other places, and has been a liberal friend to numerous benevolent and charitable enterprises all over the country. At the present time he is advancing the material interests of Susquehanna County in the indispensable aid he has given in the building of the Montrose Railroad. In the welfare of this section he has always taken special pride, and his relations with his old friends of the neighborhood remain of the most pleasant and affec- tionate character. By frequent visits there, and by receiving visits from them in his most hospitable and beautiful home at Mauch Chunk, and above all by his unaffected modesty and simplicity of habits and manners, he has given them ample evidence of the value he sets upon old associations, and of that true manliness of character which is neither unduly depressed by ad- versity nor puffed up by prosperity.
In 1822, Wm. Frink, of Springville, aged 83, walked 200 miles within eight days, not on a wager, but simply because no other opportunity offered to enable him to pay a visit to his daughter. In 1824, John J. Whitcomb was a tanner and currier in Spring- ville.
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