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 64
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Lemuel Webb Bingham was born at Windham, Connecticut, January 7, 1794; studied medicine with Dr. Avery of the same place, and attended medical lectures at Yale College. He com- menced practice in New Milford, and adjoining townships in Sus- quehanna County, in 1817, where he remained until his death, fifty years later, at the age of seventy-three.
The Second Medical Society of Susquehanna County was formed upon the suggestion of Dr. John L. Kite, at the office of Dr. Asa Park, November 19, 1838, long prior to the organization of the State and National Medical Associations. The original members were: Drs. Asa Park, Ezra S. Park, and Josiah Black- man, of Montrose; L. W. Bingham, New Milford ; B. Richard- son, Brooklyn; Calvin Leet, Friendsville; W. W. Pride, Spring- ville ; and John L. Kite, Silver Lake (but now of Philadelphia). B. Richardson was chosen president; J. Blackman, secretary ; and L. W. Bingham, chairman of committee to draft a constitu- tion. On the 4th of February, 1839, a constitution was adopted.
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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.
Thomas Jackson, of Montrose, afterwards of Binghamton, and now deceased, may have been among those who joined the society at the semi-annual meetings, held regularly previous to November 10, 1854; but, at this date, the records of the society, then in the office of the secretary, Dr. Park, were burned with it in the fire that destroyed nearly all the west side of the public avenue, and the names of all the former members are not recollected.
The society met January 3, 1855, and from the list of those present, and the officers then elected, we have these additional names : Drs. Ezra Patrick, Jr., and Gordon Z. Dimock, Montrose ; Latham A. Smith, New Milford ; C. E. Edwards, and A. M. Tif- fany, of Harford-then associate members only, but received in full in 1863-4.
Braton Richardson was chosen president for that year ; L. W. Bingham, vice-president; G. Z. Dimock, secretary, and L. A. Smith, treasurer. Delegates were appointed to the State Med- ical Society, and to the American Medical Association ; the secre- tary was requested to rewrite the constitution of the society, and a special meeting was appointed to be held at New Milford, the following May to consider its adoption. At the regular meeting, June 6, 1855, at Lodersville (now Great Bend borough), it re- ceived the signatures of most of the then members of the society, to which have since been added the following :-
Prior to 1865, Drs. Wm. Bissel, of Jessup; Israel B. Lathrop, . and P. Edwards Brush, Springville ; James Griffin (died January, 1858), - Lyman (dead), E. F. Wilmot, Great Bend; D. C. Warner, W. L. Richardson, Calvin C. Halsey, J. W. Cobb, D. A. Lathrop, and E. L. Gardner, Montrose ; A. C. Blakeslee, Dimock; P. H. Gardner, Clifford ; H. A. Tingley, and E. N. Smith, Sus- quehanna Depot ; C. L. Stiles, Gibson ; David C. Ainey, New Milford; J. B. Streeter, and G. M. Gamble, Harford; A. B. Sher- man, Fairdale ; E. L. Handrick, Friendsville.
Later members-Drs. A. D. Tewksbury, Auburn; Samuel Bird- sall, H. P. Moody (died in 1869), James D. Leslie, Susquehanna Depot ; A. T. Brundage, Factoryville (?); A. J. Ainey, A. Cham- berlain, Brooklyn; W. J. Alexander, Dundaff; F. D. Gulick, Dimock (?); S. W. Dayton, and C. P. Bigelow, Great Bend ; W. N. Green, Hopbottom ; E. G. Marsh, South Gibson. Upon the present records appear notices of election to membership of the following, whose names are not on the list:
Drs. Addison Newton, Liberty ; N. Y. Leet, Friendsville ; Orchard, Jackson; G. W. Beach, Brooklyn ; E. L. Blakeslee, Dimock.
The society is generally represented in the State society and in the American Medical Association. Reports of the proceed- ings of these bodies are given at the meetings of the society ; the sanitary condition of the respective localities of members is stated;
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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.
clinics are held, at which patients with chronic diseases are pre- scribed for free of charge; essays upon medical topics are read, and free discussion is maintained. A fee bill has been adopted, all the members now making uniform charges.
The present members number 25, with three additional honor- ary members. Dr. C. C. Halsey, the president of the society, is one of the censors for the 2d district State society ; and Dr. W. L. Richardson, the treasurer, is one of the vice-presidents of the State society. Five members of the county society are perma- nent members of the State society, and the names of most of the members are also on the roll of the latter. Only 35 out of the 66 counties of the State are now represented in it.
Among other physicians who have practiced, or are now prac- ticing in the county, though not known to have been connected with the Medical Society, the following are remembered :
Drs. Chas. W. Bankson, - Plant, Isaac, James A., and Alex- ander Lewis, and Charles Bliss (dead), of Silver Lake; R. S. East- man, A. H. Bolles, and D. C. Porter, Montrose ; - Munger (1822), E. Mack, Samuel Bissell (died 1829), P. M. Way, and Meacham, Brooklyn; Albright Dunham, Elijah Snell, - Ruttan, Rush ; Clark Dickerman, Harford ; Wm. Terbell, Joseph Falkner and - - Gritman, Dundaff; Rufus Fish, Liberty ; N. P. Cornwell, Jessup; E. L. Brundage, Charles Drinker, Gibson; E. S. Hines, and -- Vailes, Friendsville; -- Field, an English- man, in Bridgewater ; - - Daniels, Great Bend ; -- Shutts, Susquehanna Depot ; --- Lambert, Springville; H. A. Riley and J. D. Vail, homoeopathic physicians, of Montrose; Samuel Wright, botanic, at Hopbottom; J. W. and D. F. Brundage, water-cure establishment in Gibson.
Miss Ellen E. Mitchell, of Montrose, was one of five ladies who were admitted to the practice of medicine by receiving a degree from the Women's Medical College of New York in 1871.
The Susquehanna and Bradford Dental Society held its third semi-annual session at the office of W. W. Smith, in Montrose, Sept. 14th, 1871.
At a meeting of physicians, held at West Harford, Susque- hanna County, Aug. 15th, 1872, an organization called the Sus- quehanna Eclectic Medical Society was formed, as an auxiliary to the State and National societies. President, E. N. Loomis, of Oakley.
Y
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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.
CHAPTER XLIII.
TEMPERANCE SOCIETIES.
IN the second issue of the 'Centinel,' February, 1816, Daniel Curtis offers "350 gallons of good, rectified whiskey at $1.00 per gallon ;" and the whole air of the advertisement presupposes the community ready to hail it as a benefaction.
F. Fordham announces "a hogshead of rum, to be sold cheaper than ever it was sold in the village." But he was a respecter of money, if not of persons, since he asked " 9 shillings only if N. Y. bills are offered, but 10 shillings if those of Philadelphia, and 11 shillings if bills from the interior."
Nathan Raynor " will sell rum if requested."
In 1817, Isaac Post "sells brandy, rum, gin, and whiskey;" but this was not probably a new business with him, since he be- came a "taverner" ten years previous to this.
Sayre & Mulford advertised, about the same time with Mr. Post, rum and brandy " of the first quality ;" and doubtless the endorsement would be considered good, could their liquors be tasted after the adulterated ones of the present day.
In 1819, "Nathan H. Lyons sells whiskey by the hogshead, tierce, barrel, gallon, or quart," in a small red house on the corner now occupied by J. R. Dewitt & Co.
In 1820, probably from the increased number of distilleries, whiskey is sold, for cash, at 44 cents per gallon, by I. & D. Post. The Britannia Distillery is announced in 1821.
In 1822, " Butterfield's best rectified whiskey" was by no means the result of his enterprise alone; I. P. Foster, Daniel Lathrop, and S. S. Mulford were silent partners.
In 1823, the 'Montrose Gazette' complains of the scarcity of wheat, which is felt the more since " too much rye goes to the distilleries." One bushel of rye purchased five quarts of whiskey.
At Montrose, 1824, " Herrick, Fordham & Clark continue the stilling business on a pretty extensive scale." This establishment was closed in June, 1825, and soon after "Clark and Tyler (Har- vey) take pleasure in informing the public, that the distillery they have been erecting near Jones's mill is now completed and in perfect readiness for business."
But time would fail to write of all the places where the worm of the still lay coiled quiescent-its treacherous power not yet recognized.
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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.
The venerable Rev. Burr Baldwin, on being asked, " Where were the ministers all this time of darkness ?" replied, " Treating their parishioners, as they felt in duty bound, whenever favored with a visit, and accepting from them reciprocal attentions." (Elder Dimock was an exception to this rule, though he, too, be- fore being a church-member, was a distiller.) It was not until after he had attended a meeting of the synod, where the temper- ance question was discussed, as late as 1828, that he felt some- thing must be done to arrest the tide of intemperance which threatened the spiritual death of so many. He first cast out the beam from his own eye, by destroying the few " cordials" he had in his house, and then he saw clearly to cast out the mote that was in the eye of his brother ; and one of the first efforts he made was upon Esquire T -- , of Harford, whose distillery was sending to Gibson, and even to Honesdale, constant supplies, while he was active as a member of Bible and tract societies, and contributed to home and foreign missions, which just then began to engage the attention of Christian men. Mr. B. set the matter before him by comparing the results likely to flow from the two sorts of in- fluence he was exerting ; and the balance appeared so largely in favor of profanity, and Sabbath-desecration, and wife-heart-break- ing which so often accompanied the use of ardent spirits, that after this interview his distillery was turned into a "conference room."
But it was a harder task for Deacon H -- , of New Milford, to bring his business to tally with an awakened conscience. Rev. Mr. B-, meeting him one day, spoke to him of the alarming increase of drunkenness in the county, and of the responsibility of the church in regard to it, and asked him to give up his dis- tillery. " Can't do it, Brother B --; it's the support of my family." Months passed on, and the parties again met. " How about the distillery, Brother H -- ? " " Brother B-, I can't give it up-it's the support of my family." What could be said to this ? If a man provide not for his own household, is he not worse than an infidel ? More months went by, and the deacon again met his reprover. "How about that distillery ?"
" It's given up," was the ready reply.
" Ah, indeed ! but how about the family ?"
" Oh, they're living yet !"
But we anticipate a year or two. In the mean time, nearer home, the inconsistency of selling Bibles with one hand, and intoxicating drinks with the other, was not apparently felt. We may be allowed, without injury to the dear, silver-crowned head of the senior deacon of the Montrose Presbyterian Church, to quote from one of his numerous advertisements of the years 1824 and 1825. After giving a long list of dry-goods, hardware, etc., he
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mentions books, among which were " Daboll's arithmetics, testa- ments," etc. (in small type), and just below in staring letters-
WHISKEY
cheap by the
Ah, well! it is to be hoped "the times of this ignorance God winked at," and that the " 100 pages of tracts for 10 cents" were blessed in spite of the wretched company they were obliged to keep.
To form some idea of the demand for the product of distil- leries one must take into consideration, aside from the merchants (all of whom sold liquors), the number of " licensed taverners," and the fact that too often there were those who stooped to evade the law, and kept what were styled " tippling houses." As inti- mated before, some of it found its way to Honesdale, to supply laborers along the Delaware and Hudson Canal.
Horatio Strong, of Willingboro (Great Bend), was licensed to keep a tavern in 1796; A. H. Kent, H. Tiffany, and W. Cham- berlin, in 1798; Sylvanus Hatch, in 1799, and the same year, Abel Kent, Wright Chamberlin, and Hosea Tiffany (Nicholson, afterwards Harford), either renewed their licenses or procured them for the first time. Oliver Trowbridge and Stephen Wilson, in 1801; D. Summers, Jas. Parmeter, and Robt. Corbet, as early as 1801; McCarty and Isaac Post, in 1807; B. Hayden, A. Du Bois, Wm. Tanner (Clifford), John Kent, and William Ward, in 1812; Calvin Summers, Thomas (?) Mott, Rufus Bowman, and Zebulon Deans, in 1814; Benjamin Sayre and Seth Mitchell, in 1819.
The Luzerne County Court, the last year of its connection with Susquehanna County, issued 72 licenses ; and at the follow- ing April session in Montrose, 15 were granted.
, Some of the earlier prominent men who kept houses of en- tertainment are omitted, as dates cannot be supplied. It may be of interest to know some of the former innkeepers of our borough. The Montrose hotel, as is generally known, originally consisted of one sharp-gabled building, which has since been re- moved a little to the west of the one recently occupied by Mr. Koon. A part of the latter once formed the addition to the old one, though standing at a right angle with it. After Mr. Post moved to the corner now occupied by Boyd & Co., Chapman Carr kept the hotel-in 1818, or earlier ; in 1819, a Mr. Green was there; then, J. Buckingham, D. Searle, and Mr. Hepburn- the latter in 1831-when the post-office had its first removal from that house to the opposite corner, afterwards occupied by Wil- liam L. Post. It was once a temperance house; but of that, another time.
Daniel Curtis's stand forms the nucleus around which J. S.
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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.
Tarbell's more imposing structure has been built. Doubtless Mr. C.'s noted " assembly room," in which so many have
" Tripped the light fantastic toe,"
has quite sunk into insignificance. A. D. Olmstead and D. D. Warner have been proprietors of the house since his day.
A building, destroyed by fire within the last dozen years, stood just below what was long known as "Keeler's Hotel ;" it was erected by Austin Howell in 1812-the year after the village was laid out-and was used as a hotel many years, first by him- self, then by Eli Gregory ; but as early as 1817, Edward Fuller had taken the stand, and he was there as late as 1828. There are those still living who recall with relish the dinners prepared by Mrs. F., a person of whom might be written a far higher commendation than that she excelled as a cook. Stephen Hinds afterward owned the house, and furnished accommodations for. boarders.
The Washington Hotel, on the site of the recent "Keystone," was kept by B. Sayre, with the usual intoxicating accompani- ments, from 1819 till 1828, at least, but at last he dispensed with them altogether. For a few months in 1822 Henry Catlin run the establishment. The basement of " Keeler's Hotel" once served as a jail for the county, and there, also, Deacon N. Scott was master of the first school taught in the village.
But to return. In 1827, the year previous to the one marked by the first temperance society in the county, a kind of despera- tion seems to have been felt by all classes in view of the deplor- able results of intemperate drinking. Some of those who felt themselves under the control of their appetites for liquor, treated their case as one needing medicine-and they were wise. The prescription used was " ipecacuanha, tartar emetic, and assafœtida;" and we are told that individuals of Susquehanna County, of very intemperate habits, were cured by taking it. The Rev. Lyman Beecher's famous Six Sermons on Intemperance were widely cir- culated and read about this time, and were having a silent but powerful influence. The following occurrence, in June of the same year, doubtless started many into thought, if not into action. A man purchased a gallon of whiskey at one of the stores in Montrose one Monday, and was found dead on the Thursday following, in an unoccupied house a mile west of the village. He was seen Monday afternoon walking on the turnpike leading to this building, had not been seen after that, and must have been dead for two or three days. A jug contain- ing a quart of whiskey was found a few feet from him. No wonder that sober men sought to find some means of averting a repetition of such an occurrence, and that a few agreed to meet and " get up a pledge." The following is the result :-
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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.
" At a meeting of a number of gentlemen1 from different parts of the county, at the Presbyterian meeting-house, in Montrose, on the 1st day of October, 1828, the expediency of forming a society in this county for the sup- pression of intemperance was considered, and it was resolved that a meeting be held at the court-house in Montrose, on Monday evening of next December court, for the purpose of forming said society. WM. JESSUP, Sec."
Agreeably to this notice, a large number of the citizens as- sembled at the time, December 1st, and place designated; and the object of the meeting having been stated, the Hon. Davis Dimock was called to the chair, and Wm. Jessup appointed sec- retary. Addresses were made by several gentlemen, and a con- stitution was unanimously adopted.
Gentlemen from nearly every township in the county were present, and a free discussion of the subject took place. The evils of intemperance were so apparent, that every member seemed desirous of doing everything in his power to prevent its progress. Forty-one gentlemen became members of the society.
The annual meeting was appointed for Tuesday evening of the next court, and the choice of officers was deferred until that time, but it was resolved that Elder Davis Dimock, Rev. Burr Baldwin, Asa Dimock, Jr., and Wm. Jessup, should be an executive com- mittee, and be directed to procure printed copies of the constitu- tion for circulation, and to do what might be necessary to promote the objects of the society. A liberal contribution was then made to the funds of the society, and placed in the hands of the treas- urer pro tem., Asa Dimock, Jr.
During court, December 1, 1828, the Grand Jury of this county, sensible of the great and growing evils of intemperance, and wishing to discourage it by example, resolved "to abolish the custom heretofore practiced, of using ardent spirits while in session."
Work in different parts of the county now began in earnest.
At the close of 1828 there were about four hundred and fifty temperance societies in the United States ; Susquehanna County now began to swell the number, even before the society at Mon- trose had elected its officers, which election was postponed to February court, 1829, but in reality it was not effected till fourth of May following. Harford was thoroughly organized for work with twenty-five members, "hardly one of whom could have
1 After a church meeting, thinly attended, a few days previous, Thursday, September 11, 1828, the following gentlemen signed the piedge : Wm. Jessup, Benjamin Sayre, Benajah Mckenzie, Isaac P. Foster, and Deacon Moses Tyler.
In Elder D. Dimock's diary, more than ten years before this pledge was adopted, the following record appears : "Feb. 1818. Wrote an agreement, for the inhabitants of the village, to suppress drunkenness." Thus, though it is not positively known that this " agreement" was ever circulated and signed, the fact of its having been written at such an early period, gives to it a peculiar value and entitles the author of it to the honor of being the first in Susquehanna County to advocate the temperance reform.
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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.
been persuaded to take such a step one year before." The first officers elected April 21, 1829,1 were John Carpenter, president ; Lee Richardson, vice-president; Samuel E. Kingsbury, secretary ; Joab Tyler, Austin Jones, and James Greenwood, executive com- mittee. The Harford ladies' society was organized in June fol- lowing. On the 11th of August, 1829, the Gibson Society, auxiliary to the Susquehanna County society, was organized with more than thirty members. Wm. Abel, president; Arunah Tif- fany, vice-president ; S. S. Chamberlin, secretary ; Moses Cham- berlin, treasurer ; and Alamanzer Griswold, auditor.
Though the Brooklyn young people's organization must have been completed about this time, by the encouragement of Rev. B. B., and though Choconut had certainly held temperance meetings previously, there is no mention of their officers until a year or two later. I. P. Foster, who left Montrose in 1829, was influential the same year in the organization of a society in Honesdale.
The principle upon which all these societies agreed was this : " We will not allow the use of distilled spirits in our families, nor provide them for persons in our employment; and in all suitable ways we will discountenance the use of them in the community."
Acting upon this, Benajah Mckenzie, whose name appears among the first seven in the county pledged to its observance, determined, in the spring of 1829, to raise his dwelling without " the ardent." The builders, James Deans and Hezekiah Bullard, had enrolled their names with his, and so the raising was accom- plished, though the help of a still unenlightened deacon had to be dispensed with, as he, finding out the new order of things, mounted his horse and left for home. But his conduct is less astonishing than that of Mr. McK.'s wife. It was long before she could be reconciled to his course relative to the banishment of liquors from the entertainments offered to their friends and visitors-it savored so of meanness ! Time and again he labored to convince her of its propriety, but she could only weep for his disgrace, and shared her grief with Mrs. S. Bard; for her hus- band, too, alas ! had joined the temperance society.
Somewhat later, Walter Foster wished to have a saw-mill raised; and his convictions would not permit him to ask any one's help without the understanding that nothing stronger than cider would be on the ground; consequently the work was but half finished the first day. "Stingy !" was thought and whispered, and Mr. F. had to come to Montrose for help. While stating his case he was overheard by A. H. Read, who, learning the cause of
1 It is stated that the society was organized with fourteen members on the 22d of January previous.
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his difficulty, volunteered to go down, and was afterwards present. It must be acknowledged the cider used with the whiskey that some obtained further down the Wyalusing wrought worse con- sequences than the latter would have done alone.
About this time merchants' clerks were uneasy; and one, Chester B., refused to sell goods for Mr. Mulford, if he must have anything to do in dealing out liquors.
When S. S. Mulford was ready, in 1830, to raise the large building, now the residence of his family, his brother-in-law- the late Judge Jessup-resolved the work should go on without distilled spirits, but in this he did not have the sympathy of the joiner ; consequently a whiskey barrel was rolled into the barn, for, " Brother William wouldn't have it any nearer!" Mrs. M. had done her best to get rid of it altogether by substituting home-made beer and light gingerbread, of which all were invited to partake; but some of those engaged-afterwards noble tem- perance men-declined, and " sneaked off to the barn !"
The reports of the societies now began to come in.
The first annual meeting of the Susquehanna County Temper- ance Society was held at the court-house the 2d of February, 1830. The secretary reported five hundred members of the society and its auxiliaries-an encouraging account of one year's operations. John L. Kite and others addressed the large and respectable audience. Elder Davis Dimock was again elected president; Wm. Jessup, secretary ; and Asa Dimock, Jr., treasurer. It does not appear that any change was made in the constitution, which still left open a wide door to those who wished to withdraw from the society, but provided no means for turning out any law- less member. One gentleman, at least, refused to have any con- nection with the society until this matter was remedied.
February court, 1830, made a move in the right direction by the following rules adopted for the regulation of its decisions in the granting of licenses for keeping public-houses :-
"No person shall be licensed to keep a public-house where the same is not necessary for the accommodation of the inhabitants and travelers.
"No person shall be licensed to keep a public-house whose principal object in obtaining such license is for the mere purpose of selling intoxicating liquors, without providing other accommodations suitable and necessary for travelers.
" No person shall be licensed to keep a public-house who is known to be habitually or occasionally intemperate.
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