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 55
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75
The boundary line between the township and Wayne County is the base of the Moosic (or perhaps more properly, Ararat) Mountain on the west side, along which flows the Lackawanna. One of its sources-Long Pond (Dunn's)-empties into Mud Pond near the county line, and affords at the outlet of the latter a water power among the best in Northern Pennsylvania. The other beautiful lakes of the township-Fiddle Lake (so called from its fancied resemblance to a violin), and Ball's Pond-fur- nishing tributaries to the main stream, and need, too, only capital and enterprise to make them of great value to the surrounding country.
.
474
HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.
Although there is still a large amount of untilled land in Ararat, yet there are probably not 100 acres untillable, or that cannot be made remunerative to the possessor. The Jefferson Railroad1 (for which ground was broken May, 1869), passes through the township near its center, and opens up its wildest parts to the admiring criticism of those who have heard it be- rated as the region of perpetual snows on towering hills, and where furious blasts make winter hideous. True, spring usually opens late; but summer lingers ; the frosts not appearing until at least a fortnight after they have settled in the valley below ; and "the towering hills"-where are they, but as united to form the eastern bound of the same? From their battlements one beholds a prospect that amply repays the toilsome ascent. Parts of no less than twelve townships are readily recognized. By the aid of a glass, two churches in Gibson, the orphans' school build- ings in Harford, and even " Woodbourne" appear in distinct outline. From " the Summit," about a mile east of the brow of this table-land, the eye sweeps a circuit of nearly one hundred and fifty miles on the horizon, beginning at a patch of blue hills beyond the Susquehanna River at Lanesboro, and reaching to Bald Mountain on this side the river at Pittston. A glance takes in nearly the whole extent of the most northern township of Luzerne County, as it was in 1790, from Sugar Loaf on the right to Mt. Pisgah in Bradford County on the left. The smoke of a locomotive on the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad remains in sight an hour, under certain conditions of the atmosphere. In 1830, Mrs. Tyler saw distinctly forty fallows burning; the air then being clear, the smoke from each one rose up straight, though soon after all blended together in one haze. This occurred twenty years after the smoke of the first lone clearing issued from these forests.
John Tyler, of Harford, had used the peak in Wayne County as a guide when he left that town to take up his abode in the forest " towards Ararat." This expression, by a not unusual process, became in the minds of others "to Ararat;" and cer- tainly, the locality he selected did not belie in natural features its namesake of Noah's time.
A grandson of his describes it as "a lofty table-land, which from its commanding elevation was called by him and has ever since borne the name of ' Ararat.'"
Mr. Tyler (more commonly called Deacon T.), as agent for Henry Drinker, had received from him a farm here of his own choosing; with the understanding that he should settle on it and
1 Extensive slides have occurred on this road near the Summit, where there is a deep and extensive "cut." A bog or marsh, over which the rails were first laid, has also given much trouble to the company, and occasioned the con- struction of a long tressle-bridge at this point, not far from Summit Station.
475
HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.
induce others to purchase Mr. D.'s lands in the vicinity. These were advertised by handbills1 and otherwise, as being "an ex- tensive tract situate in Luzerne County, near the line of Wayne County, on the headwaters of Tunkhannock and Lackawannock Creeks, Pennsylvania ;" it had been " carefully re-surveyed, and divided into lots of 100 acres each, and with little exception, found to be of superior quality ; producing a growth of beech, sugar tree, hemlock, birch, white and black ash, cherry, chestnut, and white pine; abounding with nettles, ginseng, and other herbage, sure indications of a luxuriant soil, well watered with springs and numerous lively streams."
In the spring of 1810, John T. with his son Jabez and a hired man, had arrived at his place and were erecting a framed-house ; but before it was occupied by his family, Truman Clinton and Hezekiah Bushnell came with their families, and the cabin of the former, on the farm now owned by D. Avery, was erected and occupied.
A granddaughter of Deacon Tyler, Miss Lucinda Carpenter (afterwards Mrs. David Avery), was the first female who passed a night in the township-she came to cook for her grandfather while he raised his house. Later, when he brought in his family, she came with them and remained. She was the first school- teacher in Ararat, and taught in a log school-house nearly oppo- site the Congregational church.
The previous fall, Mr. Bushnell and Joshua Clark, of Lebanon, New London County, Connecticut, came to Ararat-then Har- mony, Luzerne County, and each having purchased a lot of land, returned to Connecticut. Early in 1810, Mr. Bushnell, with his wife, two children, and a hired man, left his native town, with all its comforts and endearments, for the trials of pioneer life. The privations and hardships endured by the men and women of that time cannot be fully realized by those who reap the bene- fits of their sacrifices and toils. The party, after a tedious journey in a heavy double wagon, arrived at Asahel Gregory's (in what is now Herrick-then Clifford), the 10th day of March. From that point a road had been surveyed to the Susquehanna River at Lanesboro, but as it was not opened, Mr. B. secured an upper room for his family, and then proceeded with his assistant to the place selected, and rolled up a log house. He had ex- pected the road would be open by the time he returned, but, disappointed in that, he took his family to Gibson, and thence by a road cut by Deacon T., and they reached his house the last of
1 One of these, yellowed by sixty years, lies before the writer. Though printed in Philadelphia, the quality of paper as well as type compare but poorly with the issues of the present country press. The " tract" must have reached to Harford, as " a house of worship and several grist and saw-mills" were even then on the lands.
476
HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.
April. It was only just boarded, and there was no fireplace- the cooking for the deacon and his hired man being done by a log-heap outside. Here the emigrants were sheltered until the remaining mile of their road could be improved, as well as Mr. Bushnell's cabin. Within ten days of their arrival, their oldest child, a daughter of four years, died ; and her funeral, attended only by laymen, was the first religious service in the new settle- ment. Several weeks elapsed before the bereaved parents took up their abode in their own house, and then it had but one board on it-a part of their wagon-box-the bark roof was incomplete, and a blanket served the place of a door, while the floor was of split logs, and the fireplace was only large stones set against the log wall. Thus they lived until October, when a few boards were procured from a saw-mill in Harford, the gable-ends of the house were boarded up, and a door was made. About this time their second daughter was born-the first birth in the settlement. There were then but three women in the township, viz., Mrs. Tyler, Mrs. Clinton, and Mrs. Bushnell. Directly east to the Delaware River it was fifteen miles, and to the Susquehanna at Lanesboro ten miles; and in either direction there was not a single cabin between. Five miles south of the settlement was the house of Esq. Gregory.
Mrs. Bushnell and Mrs. Tyler had frequently to go to Lanes- boro on horseback with babes in their arms for the grists, while their husbands were busy in the field.
Mr. B. died Nov. 4, 1851, in his 70th year; his wife died eighteen months later. They had four sons and one daughter.
As Deacon John Tyler and wife have had previous mention as being among the first settlers of Harford, we will only add here the following :-
Mrs. Mercy Tyler was "a remarkable woman in many respects. Combining mental as well as physical force, she was the right kind of woman to be a pioneer; ready for any emergency, she could, if necessary, roll logs, drive team, spin, weave, cook, or do anything which would promote the interests of her own family or of others. As a Christian she was equally efficient, and those mothers in Israel who adopt St. Paul's views on the woman question, admit that she was an exception-one that could talk in meeting to the edification and profit of both sexes. So often did she ride to and from Harford with heavy luggage, such as a dye-tub, a big brass kettle, etc., that it was said of her, "she brought her loom on horseback, in her lap, with her grand- daughter in it weaving!"
No inclemency of the weather ever prevented her prompt attention to the calls of the sick. Often, after the labors of the day, would she spend hours of the night on horseback and alone, tracing the rough and winding paths which led through the
477
HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.
forests, to render the medical assistance so extensively sought. At the time of her death, in 1835, when she was 83 years old, she had six children, forty grandchildren, and seventy-four great-grandchildren. Her youngest son, Jabez, found his home in, and was identified with the interests of Ararat from 1810 to his death in 1864. He was born in Mass., and was but seven years old when his parents came, in 1794, to Harford. He had eight children, of whom four lived to manhood, and two reside on the farm he formerly occupied. His widow, a daughter of Rev. Ebenezer Kingsbury, survives him.
Nathaniel West came from Dutchess Co., N. Y., early in April, 1810, with his ax upon his shoulder his only stock and capital in trade, and located fifty acres of land, a part of the farm on which he resides, which consisted, before parcelling out to his sons and otherwise, of 220 acres of valuable land brought under cultiva- tion by his own diligence and hard labor.
His homestead has been located in two different counties and four different towns since he has lived on it. [The act of legis- lature separating Susquehanna from Luzerne was in reality passed before Mr. West came here; but, to all practical purposes he was in Luzerne until the fall of 1812.] "He is the only one now living of the first adult settlers of Ararat. At the age of 82, he is able to jump up and ' crack' his feet twice before touching the floor. He has the health and vivacity of youth, enhanced by a long life of regular and temperate habits and untiring industry."
He was justice of the peace for Thomson for five years, and county commissioner for three years.
Whipple Tarbox came in with Mr. West and commenced chopping, but neither brought his wife until 1812.
Joshua Clark, with his son Jacob, and John Snow, a hired man, came in the same year, and made some improvement-a require- ment of the contract with the Drinkers. The elder Clark did not settle, but the son came not long after, and remained on their purchase. John Snow brought his wife in 1814.
Shubael Williams, with his wife and one child, came from Lebanon, Connecticut, Sept. 1812, and settled on a part of Joshua Clark's purchase. He and his wife were of the number who first united to sustain the Gospel here, and for over fifty years nearly every Sabbath found him in his seat at church. He lived for fifty-five years on the same place where he died May 14, 1867, in the 85th year of his age. He gave his first presidential vote for Thomas Jefferson, his last for Abraham Lincoln. His widow died in Ararat Oct. 10, 1871.
James Cook, a native of Rhode Island, came in 1812, and attended the first court held in Montrose.
David Avery, born in Laurens, Otsego Co., N. Y., came in 1814. He soon after married, and settled on the place where he
478
HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.
died Jan. 6, 1872, in the 77th year of his age. For upwards of fifty years he was connected with the Congregational church at Ararat. He left a widow and eight children.
Wareham B. Walker, a soldier of 1812, came from Ashford, Windham County, Connecticut, Dec. 1814, in company with Elias Scarborough, and purchased the land he now lives on. Mr. S. took up the lot south of it, which is now occupied by Chauncey Barnes. They returned to Connecticut in the fall of 1815, and came back accompanied by Ezra, brother of W. B. Walker. The latter taught in Burrows Hollow that winter. He remained and cleared three acres of land, which he sowed with rye.
In the spring of 1816, Chester Scarborough came from Con- necticut, and bought of Truman Clinton the farm lately occu- pied by David Avery, and remained until July, when he and Mr. Walker returned to Connecticut. Mr. Walker then mar- ried Miss Hannah Scarborough of Ashford. Chester S. had a wife (Anna) and two daughters. In Sept. following, the party came back to Pennsylvania with an ox team, occupying eleven days on the journey.
Mr. Walker has always lived on the same farm, and, like Mr. West, in several townships. Of the time when he brought his wife here, his daughter says :-
" When mother was alone, and there was no noise in the house, the deer would come and feed under the window. A white deer was seen about here the first winter. One night the wolves came within a few rods of the house, and killed fifteen or twenty sheep. Bears and panthers were here."
Shubael A. Baldwin and Martha his wife came in 1816, from Mansfield, Windham County, Connecticut. The former died here Feb. 1871, aged 79 years and 4 months; the latter Oct. 1871, aged 79 years.
Philip T. and Silas S. Baldwin came from Lebanon, Windham County, Connecticut, in 1816.
Freeman Peck commenced on a lot south of John Tyler's; but the exact date of his coming in is not given ; so also of the fol- lowing who came early : Daniel and David Burgess, John Doyle, Merrit, David, and Eneas Hine.
In 1817, Timothy J. Simonds and Zaccheus Toby moved from Mt. Pleasant, Wayne County, into the southeast part of the township, and commenced what has since been called "Simonds settlement."
James Dunn, a Scotchman, came from Delaware County, N. Y., in the fall of 1821, with two sons, Robert and John. They wintered in a rude cabin. The following spring his wife and nine more children came, and they moved into a log house at the head of Dunn's Pond, three miles from the " Ararat settle-
479
HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.
ment." Here, remote from neighbors, without either friends or money, they applied to the forest for support, some times being for thirty days without bread. They bore upon their shoulders to the nearest settlements venison, fish, furs, window-sash made from rived pine bolts, and exchanged them for family necessaries. Two of the sons, James and Andrew, killed seven deer in one day, and Andrew killed fifty-three in one season. Their per- severance and frugality secured to them a competency.
RELIGIOUS.
The first Sabbath after the three families of New Englanders occupied their cabins, they met at Deacon John Tyler's and had a religious service, consisting of prayer, reading of the Scrip- tures, singing, etc., and this was continued uninterruptedly until a house of worship was erected. Many Sabbaths every man, woman, and child within a distance of three miles was pre- sent. This was the case when Rev. E. Kingsbury preached the first sermon in the place. Those who attended meeting then, either walked, or rode on horseback ; for such was the state of the roads that no vehicles but ox-sleds in winter were available. A dense forest, with here and there a small clearing, was not a place for pleasure-riding, and those who resorted to the place of prayer had in view a higher object.
In 1813, the Congregational Church of Ararat was organized by the Revs. Ebenezer Kingsbury and Samuel Sergeant, mis- sionaries of the Connecticut Missionary Society ; and the former continued to act as moderator of the church until near the close of his useful life. Many were the visits he made to this little band of pilgrims, who greeted his coming with a hearty welcome, one phase of which, in these days, would be omitted- the decanter and tiny wine-glass, which were never seen at other times, were always set on the table for "Father Kingsbury," who followed, then, Paul's advice to Timothy, but he was afterwards one of the first to engage in the temperance reform. The follow- ing twelve were the original members of the church : John and Mercy Tyler, Hezekiah and Lucy Bushnell, Truman and Rhoda Clinton, Shubael and Ruth Williams, Jabez and Harriet Tyler, Lucinda Carpenter, and William West. Of these, not one is now living.
The church had no settled pastor until November, 1847, when the Rev. George N. Todd came, and remained about six years. A neat parsonage was completed in the fall of 1848. The five acres of land attached to it were the gift of Deacon Jabez Tyler. The church was dedicated February 6, 1850. The Revs. O. W. Norton, Lyman Richardson, J. B. Wilson, and Edw. Allen have officiated successively in its pulpit, either as pastors or stated sup- plies. There are now but about thirty communicants, though a
480
HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.
few more than one hundred have been connected with the church since its organization. A Sabbath-school has been long sus- tained, the first having been formed by Hezekiah Bushnell and Jabez Tyler ; and its library is the only public one in the town.
A Methodist society was formed some years since, but they have no church edifice, though one is in contemplation (1872).
MISCELLANEOUS.
A temperance society was formed in 1830, by Rev. Mr. Adams. A barn of H. Bushnell's was the first building raised without liquor.
Ararat post-office, with the exception of one in Virginia, is the only one of the name in the United States.
On the slope towards the Tunkhannock Creek, grain can be raised to better advantage than on the summit and east of it, which is better adapted to grass, especially "timothy."
The sheep and cows are mostly of the native breeds. There is still a considerable number of sheep, but the high prices of butter, until recently, have turned the attention of farmers to the keeping of dairies as a principal source of profit.
Good crops of buckwheat, oats, and potatoes are raised, but wheat does not do very well, though exceptional cases are men- tioned. On land of Nathaniel West wheat has been "sixty-fold ;" oats raised there produced one head of 22 inches, and several of 18 inches. In 1869, John Beaumont raised from one seed of oats 36 stalks, from another 32, and from another 26. In early times when wolves; panthers, wild cats, and deer were near neighbors, the only safety for sheep was close proximity to the house at night, and even then, unless very carefully fenced in, they would be missing in the morning. Now and then an elk, or a bear, was seen. One Sabbath morning as Mr. and Mrs. B. were lead- ing their only child (Leonard Augustus),1 along the path towards the place where their religious service was held, they saw, a few yards distant, a large white-faced bear watching their progress with apparent indifference. The white face being an uncommon feature of bruin's, they did not readily detect him, but supposed him to be a neighbor's cow. But when he threw himself upon his haunches and extended his monstrous paws, Mr. B. swung his hat, and hurrahed at the top of his voice, in mass-meeting style, which had the effect which similar demonstrations are always supposed to have-the old fellow "run well;" and they passed on to the house of prayer.
The cry of "stop thief !" or "arrest the murderer !" was occa- sionally heard in the Beechwoods fifty years ago, and as a belief
1 L. A. Bushnell and Almond Clinton, the only living representatives of the juvenile "first settlers," have left the township.
0
481
HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.
in retributive justice was inherent with the New Englanders, they promptly responded. On one occasion a stranger appeared to the people who had gathered for worship, and stated that he had been robbed in the woods by a ruffian who had fled by the Harmony road towards the State line. As a man answering to the description had passed that way early in the morning, it was thought possible he might be overtaken before reaching it. Mr. B. mounted his horse and gave chase, overtaking him just this . side of the New York line; and without aid or assistant, arrested and pinioned him, marched him back through a ten mile forest, and delivered him to the authorities.
Upon that same road, at a later period, the murder of Oliver Harper was perpetrated, for which Jason Treadwell suffered the severest penalty of the law. The last house the victim entered was Hezekiah Bushnell's ; he asked of Mrs. B. and received a piece of mutton-tallow with which to rub his chafed and weary limbs.
When Harper's body was found, the news spread like wild- fire. " A man murdered and the murderer at large !" Every muscle was strained to procure his arrest. Roads and bridges were guarded, men on horseback and on foot scoured the woods for several days, and great was the relief when the supposed criminal was lodged in Montrose jail.
A similar excitement was occasioned a few years afterwards by the cry, "a man murdered this side of Belmont, and the mur- derer in the woods coming towards this settlement !" Again nearly every man was engaged in the search; and while the husbands and fathers were thus absent, the mothers pressed closer their little ones in fearful suspense, lest the villain should pounce upon them in their helplessness. Finally he emerged from the woods, and under false pretences found shelter with James Dunn, a hospitable Scotchman, who lived in a secluded part of what is now Ararat township. His wants being supplied he went to bed ; but soon after a posse of men effected a sudden entrance, and surrounding the bed captured the wretched crea- ture without resistance. He was taken to Bethany, tried, sen- tenced, and hung. This was Matthews, murderer of Col. Brooks.
Among the inventions by the residents of this township, has been a felloe-dowel-pin (of metal and tubular), by E. Denison Tyler, and for which a patent has been issued.
[Most of the material for this chapter was kindly furnished by J. C. Bushnell, Esq.] 31
482
HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
THOMSON.
AT the date of its settlement, this township formed a part of Jackson; but, in the spring of 1833, the latter was divided into two equal parts, and the eastern half received the name of Thomson, in honor of the Hon. Wm. Thomson, who was one of the Associate Judges of the Court of Susquehanna County at the time of its organization, and for many years afterwards.
The area of the township has since been diminished by the erection of Ararat from parts of Thomson and Herrick; the present eastern line being one mile, and the western about two miles, less than their original extent, which was six miles; the north and south lines being four and a half miles.
The surface of the township is more hilly than that of Jack- son, except in the valleys of its principal streams, the Starucca and Canawacta. The former rises in Ararat and crosses Thom- son diagonally from the southern to the eastern border; then, after meandering a little in Wayne County, it re-enters the town- ship in the northeast corner, and crosses into Harmony, which it traverses until it falls into the Susquehanna River at Lanesboro. The Canawacta rises near the center of Thomson, not far from the source of one of the tributaries of the Starrucca, and, run- ning northwardly, reaches the Susquehanna between Lanesboro and Susquehanna Depot, nearly a mile below the former stream. A tributary to the Tunkhannock rises in the southwest corner of the township. One of the hills of the township, called Dutch Hill, is reported as subject to tremblings and explosions, occa- sioned, it is thought, by internal gaseous combinations.
Thomson shares its two finest sheets of water with other townships; the Wayne County line passing through Wrighter's Pond' in the extreme southeast, and the line of Harmony through Comfort's Pond in the north. Church Pond, near the latter, is wholly in Thomson. Messenger's Pond is about one mile from Thomson Center.
The forests comprise a variety of timber, such as beech, birch, maple, ash, pine, hemlock (there are a few instances of grafted hemlock), cherry, chestnut, and bass-wood. Formerly the beech-
1 Early known as " Breeches" Pond, from its fancied resemblance to the short nether garment of the olden time. Even fancy cannot trace it on the Susquehanna County side.
483
HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.
woods stretched from this vicinity fifty or sixty miles eastward to "the Barrens" of New York; but the dense wilderness is now relieved by sunlight on many a clearing and thrifty hamlet.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.