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 50
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Prior to this time a number of the sons of the first settlers had become of age. Among these was William House, a son of James and father of William A., at present a member of the New Jersey Assembly. The 'State Sentinel,' of Trenton, New Jersey, in a series of "Legislative Daguerreotypes," represents William A. House as one of the finest in the group.
James House had three sons, Ezekiel, William, and Royal E. The youngest, who was but six months' old when his father came from Vermont, is known as the inventor of the " Printing Telegraph." He was accustomed to experiment in childhood. Once having caught a toad, he skinned it, placed a set of springs in the skin, and made it hop.
His residence for many years was near Binghamton, high up the side of " House's Hill."
When the township of Apolacon was erected, more than forty years after its settlement, there remained upon the tax-list an unusually large proportion of the names of the early families : Barney, Beebe, Barton, Brainerd, Buffum, Beardslee, Collins, Clifford, Currier, Fessenden, Graves, Heald, Houghton, House, and others.
A large number of Irishmen were here.
Evan Evans and John Jones, Welshmen, connected with the settlement extending hither from Middletown, and the eastern border of Bradford County, had settled not far from the latter, west of Lake Wyalusing. This lake rests on the top of a high bill on land belonging to the heirs of Samuel F. Carmalt, whose residence was near it many years later. The early death of this gentleman, the eldest son of Caleb Carmalt, of Choconut, was felt as a serious loss to the township. He was President of the County Agricultural Society.
There are fine orchards in this neighborhood, and the land lies handsomely. There are also good dairy farms, and the vicinity produces excellent fruit.
O. B. Haight, having a dairy of eight cows, made and sold 1313 pounds of butter in the season of 1868, besides having on hand sufficient for the winter's use. The milk and butter for the use of the family, for the season, was also taken from the general product.
In November, 1869, Patrick Harding raised an apple of the
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variety known as ox-heart, which measured 143 inches in cir- cumference, and weighed one pound and seven ounces.
Upon the incorporation of the Borough of Friendsville, Apola- con parted with a small portion of territory on the southeast corner.
November, 1856, the court was petitioned to order the erection of the Borough of Little Meadows, 12 miles square. Its decision in favor of the petitioners was reversed by the Supreme Court the fol- lowing year ; but in August, 1859, the petition was again made, with an alteration in the dimensions, and was granted January, 1860. The Supreme Court twice reversed the decision. The final decree was made when the Governor signed an Act of the Legislature for that purpose, March 27th, 1862.
The northern line of the borough is the State line, 12 miles ; the east line is 400 rods, and the west, on the Bradford County line, is 430 rods.
The borough is pleasantly situated on the Apolacon, and is easy of access. Hopes are entertained of a railroad to connect it with the Lehigh Valley Road at Skinner's Eddy, and with the Erie Railroad. Campville station on the latter, seven miles dis- tant, is now the nearest station. A daily mail, two stores, a saw- mill, grist, lath, and planing-mills, two blacksmith shops, wagon, harness, shoemaker, and cooper shops, give life and animation to business. There are forty-one voters in the borough. Its physicians are A. H. Bolles and Jonathan Barney. The Metho- dist church is a neat structure. Maplewood Cemetery was chartered in 1865.
For the last few years, in addition to the district school, a select school has been sustained in the autumn mouths by J. W. Tinker, William F. Miles, and others.
During the war the patriotism of this section was well repre- sented in the field and at home.
With few exceptions, the aged people of Apolacon are not the longest residents. One John Ragan, is said to be 104 years of age, and walks to Friendsville, a distance of three miles from his home, to attend church, quite regularly.
Darius Barney, the first-born of the Borough of Little Mea- dows, lived in the place all his life-sixty-nine years.
Polly Fessenden came to the township in 1809, and moved to Tuscarora in 1869.
Jonathan and Harry Barney, some of the first settlers, have spent their lives in Little Meadows.
As early as 1809, this section was visited by ministers of the Methodist Episcopal church, among whom were Messrs. Loring Grant (circuit preacher), Ross, and Baker.
Asahel Graves, Sen., a layman of the Presbyterian church, who came in 1814, collected a few of the scattered inhabitants,
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read to them a discourse and conducted other religious services. This was three or four years prior to any regular church organ- ization here.
It could not have been earlier than 1816, that Elder Davis Dimock organized a Baptist church here. Two of the constituent members, Polly Fessenden and Lucinda Whitaker, are still liv- ing ; but the organization long since ceased to exist. It was the first religious society of the township, as the Free Will Baptists were not organized until a little later, by Elder John Gould, who afterwards became a follower of Joe Smith. Notwithstanding this unpropitious fact, the society continued, and having concen- trated about two miles north (in the State of New York), built a church edifice in 1845, and are now in a state of prosperity.
Not far from the time of the latter organization, the Metho- dists were formed into a society by John Griffin. The constituent members were John Brown and wife, Charles Nichols and wife, Benjamin Buffum and wife, and Winthrop Collins and wife. A little later John Clifford and wife joined the society, and the former was appointed class-leader, a position he held for many years. They have all passed away, as have most of those who labored for their spiritual benefit: Solon Stocking, Joseph Towner, Erastus Smith, Thomas Davy, John Griffin, Morgan Rugar, and others.
The first quarterly meeting was held in a building used as a carding-machine shop. Solon Stocking was then presiding elder. The society continues and is now in a strong and healthful con- dition, numbering about one hundred members. In 1845 they built the meeting-house they still occupy, but it has since been enlarged, and a bell is added.
An effort was made in 1823, by Elder Edward Dodge (Baptist), to establish a Sunday-school, but it proved a failure, possibly because the Sunday-school hymns were not then attractive. A verse of one is here given as a specimen (No. 102, Watts) :-
"No, I'll repine at death no more, But, with a cheerful gasp, resign To the cold dungeon of the grave These dying, withering limbs of mine."
In 1824, Miss Polly Graves collected the children together, and spent an hour each Sabbath morning and afternoon in ex- plaining to them the Word of God; but it was not until the following year that a regular organization was effected by Wil- liam Dobson. This Sunday-school has been continued to the present time. Its first officers were : Wm. Dobson, superin- tendent ; Benaiah Barney, president ; Lewis Barton, treasurer ; Wm. House, librarian ; and Jacob Barton, secretary.
In the summer of 1828, there was a great Sunday-school cele- bration at Owego, N. Y., when seventy-eight scholars from this
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vicinity, under the superintendence of Wm. Dobson, were present. Each scholar wore around the neck a blue ribbon, having a Testament suspended from it. There were fourteen wagons in the procession, while some persons went on horseback and others on foot. Many were barefoot, and all were dressed in homespun. A Bible had been offered by Charles B. Pixley, of Owego, to the school best represented at this celebration, and Supt. Dobson, in behalf of his scholars, had the honor of bearing off the prize, which, by a vote of the school, was afterwards presented to him as a token of kind regard.
CHAPTER XXIX.
CHOCONUT.
DURING the first term of court held in Susquehanna County, January, 1813, a petition was presented for the erection from the northern part of Rush (then extending to the State line), of a township eight miles square, to be called Choconut. A remon- strance, setting forth the propriety of dividing Rush into three nearly equal townships, was afterwards received, and the prayer granted "nisi," November, 1813, and finally, January, 1814, making Choconut six miles north and south, by eight miles east and west. Its area as thus determined remained unaltered until 1846, when it was reduced more than one-half by the erection of Apolacon, which now forms its western boundary. The State line is on the north, Silver Lake township on the east, Forest Lake and Friendsville on the south.
Choconut derives its name from the stream which traverses the entire length of the township near its eastern border, and so nearly due north, that from the hills on either side, near the State line, the whole valley southward is distinctly seen.
At the time the State line was run, it was reported to cross the Chucknut, among other streams falling into the Susquehanna within a short distance above the line. Its Indian signification is not positively ascertained. The head of the Choconut is in the narrow divide between it and the middle branch of the Wyalusing in the northern part of the township below; but it is also fed by a beautiful lake of the same name in the southwestern part of Choconut township. Small ponds form the sources of three or four tributaries on the west, which furnish fine mill- seats, as also do two or three coming from the east; and these have been improved from the first settlement of the township.
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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.
The surface of Choconut is hilly; the soil, gravel and clay. It is well adapted to the raising of corn, potatoes, oats, rye, grass, beans, carrots, turnips, etc., and spring wheat and barley, when managed properly. The land on the hills is the best for grain. Buckwheat grows well, but rye and oats better.
There are not as many sheep as formerly, but most of them are of superior breeds. "There are no finer sheep-pastures than the hills of Susquehanna County, and there is no reason why, with a little effort and enterprise on the part of farmers, and the introduction of the same breeds, it should not compete with, Vermont."
The wild animals of the earlier times were deer (very numer- ous), wolves, and a few bears. There were a few foxes, otter, the porcupine, sable, and marten. Panthers and wild-cats were quite frequently seen ; and in some years there were millions of wild pigeons. Wild geese and ducks are still found on the lakes every autumn, which contain trout (genus salmo); some being two feet long.
The settlement of the township was begun in 1806 along Cho- conut Creek, by James Rose, David Owen, James Thayer, John Lozier, and James Winchell. Mr. Rose was a man of education, a surveyor, and agent for lands in this section. His early life had been spent in Philadelphia and vicinity. He located on the flat now occupied by Michael Donnelly, 2nd. Mrs. Rose died here in 1816, leaving eleven children, only one of whom, the widow of Horace Bliss, is now living in the county. Mr. Rose died in Silver Lake, on the site of the former residence of his brother, Dr. Robert H. Rose, many years after the death of the latter.
David Owen was from Connecticut, and is spoken of as "a good farmer ;" James Thayer, from New York, an excellent millwright, whose sons, Hiram and Thomas, were deer-hunters as well as farmers. John Lozier remained a number of years, but James Winchell appears to have left after a short time.
Joseph Addison, Edward Cox, and the Chalker brothers- Daniel, Joseph, and Charles-were on the Choconut, below James Rose, prior to March, 1809, and Bela Moore was at the junction of the outlet of the lake with the creek.
Joseph Addison was a Scotch-Irishman-a Protestant ; his wife, a Dutch woman. Their son Isaac was the first child born in Choconut. The father died April, 1849, aged 72.
Edward Cox had settled in Lawsville as early as 1805. He died in Choconut in 1821. His sons were Edward and Thomas. His daughter Sabra taught the first school in the township, at her own home.
In 1810, Adam Carman, a hunter, purchased of Dr. Rose,
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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.
lands now owned by the widow of Caleb Carmalt near the lake, which was first called Carman's Lake.
William Price owned the farm next below J. Addison, and near the State line; Joshua Griswold, from Vermont, was in the western part of the township, and, a few years later, he and his sons, Clark and George, built the first saw mill in Choconut ; and he was appointed the first justice of the peace. Captain Ezra Doty, a blacksmith, and a soldier of the Revolution, was, with his sons, William, Nathan and Zura, at the place since known as “ Man- nington." and later "St. Joseph's." E. Doty was afterwards in Forest Lake.
Amos Webster, a native of Connecticut, came from near the Mohawk, September, 1810, and located on the creek north of E. Doty, where he remained until his death, in 1841, aged 77. He was a shoemaker. His sons were, Abel, Alexander, Asahel, Alvah, Sylvester, Elias, and Russell. None of the family are now residents of Choconut.
Adonijah Webster, brother of Amos, first took up land here- about two hundred acres, dividing with the latter-but did not settle until years afterwards, and somewhat later than his only son, Elias. The latter died in Choconut, May, 1832, and his father in July following.
Prior to 1813, Horace Bliss, who married Isabella, daughter of James Rose, was located near the latter; Levi Smith, a potter, from Vermont, settled where Cornelius Hickey lives; Jedediah Tallman, a Quaker, and son Stephen J., a carpenter, were here, and the latter taught the first public school ; also, Reuben Faxon, a hatter, and many years later a justice of the peace. Jesse Truesdell was a taxable, at least, as early as these.
Lewis Chamberlin, a native of Rhode Island, who removed to Vermont in 1800, and married there in 1811, came to Choconut September 1, 1813, with his wife and one child (Albert), and settled on the farm he occupied until his death, March 20, 1871, when he had reached nearly the age of 87 years.
A. Chamberlin, late justice of the peace in Montrose, and now United States assessor in Scranton, recalls the time when from his bed he could see the stars through the chinks in the roof. Eight or nine brothers and sisters grew up with him, and one-half of the number still remain with their mother on the old spot-the only persons of New England birth and descent now left in the valley of the Choconut, down to the State line.
During the Presidency of Andrew Jackson, Lewis Chamberlin received a commission as postmaster, which office he held with- out intermission or re-appointment until his death, a period of 42 years; and is supposed to have been, at the time, the only acting postmaster in the United States whose commission bears so remote a date.
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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.
Benjamin Chamberlin, father of Lewis, came a few months later than he. Both were scythe-makers. The father when a soldier in the Revolutionary war was a prisoner three months on board a prison-ship in the East River, near New York. He died in 1822, aged 60. His widow, Olive, died in 1843, aged 82.
All the common trades were represented by the early settlers, the most of whom also cultivated land.
Among the taxables of 1813 were : Jesse Taylor, a cabinet- maker ; Gordon Bliss, a house-joiner and carpenter, near the school-house, on the creek, below James Rose; and Jirah Bryan, a farmer near St. Joseph's, and also, a Baptist minister. He published a small treatise on the Atonement, entitled the ' Seven Links.' He died in 1844, aged 64. His widow, after- wards Mrs. Horace Birchard, recently deceased, mentioned the fact of a small clearing having been made on the hill near St. Joseph's, close to which a panther prowled all winter. "He would begin to yell near the clearing, and go off screaming till he was out of hearing. I have counted," she added, " seven deer, all large, going out of our wheat-field, where they had been feeding."
Paul Taber, Jonathan Green, Paul Jones, Ezra Congdon (since in Binghamton), and Andrew Gardner, were farmers-the last named also a mechanic. Lark Moore, "a first-class cooper and farmer," was in the southwest corner of the present town- ship, a part of his land being now included in the borough of Friendsville, and extending on the turnpike from Silver Lake Street to the west line of Mrs. Munda. Michael Dow, Bildad Hubbell, William L. Isham, and David Lindley appear to have been in as early as 1813; but in the year following their places were occupied by others, among whom were Jacob and Jesse B. Goodsell.
Jacob Goodsell, and his sons, Isaac, Daniel, Samuel, Harry, Ira, and Truman, settled near the lake, having purchased the lands of Adam Carman, and for some years after it was called "Goodsell's Pond."
In 1814, Matthew Stanley began a clearing at the place since named " Ellerslie," then in Choconut, but he soon after came to the farm now occupied by his son Jasper Stanley, about two miles north of Choconut Lake. He was afterwards a justice of the peace. . His sons who came with him were, Calvin, Luther, Jasper, Captain Stephen Heriman, Archy, Horace, Jason, and Matthew. Luther Stanley was in the war of 1812. Matthew Stanley, Sr., died in 1838, aged 72.
Jasper Stanley is the only man of the settlers prior to 1817 now (1872) living in the township. These pages are indebted to him.
Capt. John Locke, one of the Boston tea-party of 1773, and a soldier at Bunker Hill, White Plains, and Saratoga, came to 28
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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.
Choconut, May, 1814. His farm was on the south line of the township, adjoining Jirah Bryan's. His sons, John, Edmund, and Nathaniel R., were stone-cutters and masons. He died in the spring of 1834, aged eighty-three.
Nathaniel R. Locke came to Choconut a single man. He married Hetty Ross and lived on the place now occupied by John Gorman. Their son, David Ross Locke, is the author of the 'Petroleum V. Nasby' papers-a series of political letters which have had an influence on the politics of the country. They very early attracted, by their ability and humor, the at- tention of President Lincoln. "Nasby" was born on Choconut Creek, it is said, but a little beyond the State line, in Vestal, Broome County, N. Y. N. R. Locke, now nearly or quite eighty years old, writes from the West, that, on his arrival in Choconut, May, 1814, there was no military organization ; but that in Oc- tober of that year an election of officers was held and Isaac Goodsell was chosen Captain, Joseph Whipple (Silver Lake) First Lieutenant, - Jewett, Second Lieutenant, and N. R. Locke, First Sergeant. He says :-
" We had to go to Montrose for our battalion. We were given the right, and so became the first company in the regiment. I think Mr. Whipple must have resigned, as I was elected first lieutenant. Frederick Bailey was colonel, and Edward Packer, major. But by some means our company dwindled away. The military law was then very defective in Pennsylvania, and we were without an organization for some time; so Dr. Rose proposed to have a rifle company formed in Silver Lake. We met at his office and organized into a company called the 'Silver Lake Rifles.' Our uniform was a hunter's frock, and pants of green flannel, trimmed with yellow, a red sash, common hat with a buck-tail in front. We had a full company, according to law, N. R. Locke, Captain, Philip Griffith, First Lieutenant, and Bradley Chamberlin, Second Lieutenant. By some means we never got our commis- sions, so that company also went down, and I went out of the military business altogether."
A family of Lockes, not related to the above, consisting of Molly, widow of Ebenezer Locke, and her sons, Reuben T. and Charles, were located on the creek below Gordon Bliss, and on the place now occupied by Peter Clarke. Mrs. Locke died in 1844, in her seventy-sixth year. Reuben T. Locke was after- wards a tailor in Montrose, and built what was long known as the Locke Mansion, now Odd Fellows' hall. " He was of Lambert- ine proportions," says a newspaper correspondent, " whom I well knew as an original abolitionist and a wit of the first water, in the days when the fun of the controversy, as brought out in that tailor's shop, found precious few who had the capacity to enjoy it."
Capt. Westol Scoville, a Revolutionary soldier, was another settler of 1814. His sons, Buel and Orlen, were wagon-makers.
In 1815, Peter Brown moved in from Silver Lake, and kept the first store in Choconut. Bildad Hubbell afterwards sent goods to the place, which were sold by his agent, Mr. Stanley.
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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.
Chauncey Wright, a clothier, from Hartwick, Otsego County, N. Y., settled on a branch of the Choconut, near the present center of the township, and established a fulling-mill. In 1842, he removed to Forest Lake.
John Sherer, miller and farmer, came the same year. His sons were John, James, William, Barrett and David.
Robert Giffen and his sons Isaac and Robert, farmers, settled on the Choconut next below James Rose. He died about 1821.
The year 1816 brought in a large number of inhabitants, but it was a year of great destitution. The corn crop was a total failure. None was raised this side of Chester County, Pa. Jehu Lord, then residing there, but afterwards in Choconut, raised ten acres of corn, which was all sold for seed, at $5.00 per bushel. " Hogs were not fat enough to be called pork. Deer were poor, but with rye bread and a very few potatoes, furnished subsistence for the pioneer. Maple sugar had been plentifully made as late as the 12th of May. The snows of 1815-16-17 were not sufficient for sleighing."
Hiram Bates, a shoemaker, tanner, and currier, located just opposite and north of Chauncey Wright, on the present farm of Mrs. E. Mulford, where he remained until about thirty years ago, when he went West.
Of other settlers of 1816, there were : Ezra Conant, a cooper ; John Clark, a great hunter; John Eldred, a soldier of 1776, and Zephaniah, his son, of the war of 1812, and who died recently at Owego, aged eighty-six ;1 William Elliott, a blacksmith ; Jehiel Griswold, formerly a ship-carpenter, and sons, Judson, Levi (afterwards a Presbyterian minister), and Eben; John Fair- brother ; David Robbe, a farmer, and some years later a justice of the peace ; and Daniel Wheeler, a school teacher and farmer.
Calvin Leet, a physician from Vermont, located first at "Slab City"-as the vicinity of Wright's mill was called-but soon re- moved to Friendsville where he owned about 300 acres. His father, Capt. Luther Leet, came soon after. Dr. Leet was the first regular physician in the western half of the county, and for some years the only one. " He had a rough circuit to ride when the roads were root-y and full of stumps." He was once an Associate Judge of Susquehanna County Courts, and served in the State Legislature. He is still living, an octogenarian, at Friendsville. His son, Nathan Y. Leet, succeeded him in the practice of medicine in the same vicinity, several years, but is now located at Scranton. Calvin L., another son, resides in Friendsville, on the old farm of Henry Cox.
1 Mrs. Eldred, at an early day, lost her way while chestnutting, and wandered about until nearly midnight in a marshy part of the woods. The wolves howled around her, and she climbed a tree for safety. She was found there in the morning, and put on the path for home.
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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.
In 1817, Joab Chamberlin, a wheelwright and wagon-maker, and a brother of Lewis, located near the latter ; he removed some years ago to Michigan, where he died May 4th, 1869, in the seventy-fourth year of his age.
Jacob Heath and his son Amos purchased farms in the north- east corner of the township.
In 1818, elections for Silver Lake and Choconut were held at the house of Levi Smith. For many years these townships were united in many ways; all the settlers were on lands of Dr. R. H. Rose, his tract then extending over both townships and be- yond.
In 1819, Samuel Barnard, from Boston, England, Thomas Lay- cock, Samuel and Isaac Marshall came to this section, and soon after, Thomas Christian. The first named soon removed to Mont- rose. Thomas Laycock was near Choconut Lake.
In 1820, Thomas Peironnet, an Englishman, had scarcely reached Friendsville, when he died suddenly ; his lands along the turnpike, extending into both Choconut and Apolacon, were transferred to his brother James S. Peironnet. The latter was born in Dorchester, England. A friend said of him : " He exchanged for a home in a then uncultivated wild, the shaven lawn and rose-wreathed cottages that lend such charms to English scenery. He often reminded me of those virtues that grace the character of an English country squire as shadowed forth by the felicitous pen of Irving. He retained a love of letters to the last; and when in the mood, touched his violin as a master. He had a thorough knowledge of music as a science, and composed with readiness.". He died December 21, 1843, in his seventy-first year. Thomas Christian built the R. D. Peironnet house, now M. Dow's, and this was in Choconut; but the house of James S. Peironnet, now E. Moran's, was in Apolacon, upon the division of the former.
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