History of Tioga County, Pennsylvania, Part 108

Author:
Publication date: 1897
Publisher: Harrisburg : R. C. Brown
Number of Pages: 1454

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LYMAN HALL was born in Farmington township, Tioga county, June 23, 1859, and is a son of Rhodes W. and a grandson of Reuben Hall, pioneers of the same township. He obtained a common school education, and learned the blacksmith's trade, subsequently spending several years in Colorado. He also followed farming on the old homestead for eight years, a part of which he now owns, but since 1892 he has conducted a blacksmith shop in Nelson. On December 4, 1883, Mr. Hall married Katie M., a daughter of Alanson and Esther (Young) Buckbee, pioneers of Farmington township, and has four children living: Alta, Floyd, Bennie and Philip. Mr. Hall is a Republican, in politics, a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and is connected with the I. O. O. F. and the K. O. T. M.

STEPHEN MARTIN, SR., was born in Richmond, Cheshire county, New Hamp- shire, in 1802, a son of Wilderness Martin, the first white child born in that town. His father was a farmer by occupation, and in religious belief, a Quaker. Stephen was reared in New Hampshire, and from 1826 to 1855 was a resident of Vermont. In the latter year he settled in Farmington township, Tioga county, Pennsylvania, where he followed farming until 1882. He then removed to Westfield, where he died in 1889. His wife, Esther, was a daughter of Reuben Bemis, of Springfield, Vermont, and bore him six children, viz: Amy, who married Zimri Allen; Ansel H., Almon P., Louisa, wife of John Felker; Reuben B. and Stephen. Mr. Martin was a supporter of the Republican party.

STEPHEN MARTIN, youngest child of Stephen Martin, Sr., was born in Barton, Orleans county, Vermont, July 21, 1835, there grew to manhood, and received an academical education. He came to Tioga county with his parents in 1855, and for twenty years taught school during the winter seasons and followed farming in the summer. He lived in Farmington township until 1882, when he removed to West- field, which has since been his home. On March 26, 1864, Mr. Martin enlisted in Company I, One Hundred and Eighty-seventh Pennsylvania Volunteers, and was in the engagements in front of Petersburg, and Weldon Railroad. In September, 1864, his regiment was ordered to Philadelphia, where it remained until May 11, 1865, when his company was sent to McConnellsburg, Pennsylvania, on detached duty, and was mustered out of service August 8, 1865. Mr. Martin married Ann Smith, a daughter of Philemon and Mahala (Beach) Smith, of Chatham township, June 10, 1857. Six children are the fruits of this marriage, viz: Armenia, de- ceased; Lawrence S., Clarence E., Philip Sheridan, Ernest and Fred. Politically, Mr. Martin is a Republican, and is a member of the K. of H., and the G. A. R. societies.

LAWRENCE S. MARTIN, eldest son of Stephen Martin, was born in Farmington township, on the farm where he now resides, November 16, 1859. With the excep- tion of twelve years, he has always lived on the old homestead. On November 1, 1882, he married Jane Owlett, a daughter of Gilbert and Sarah (Temple) Owlett, of Middlebury township. Mr. Martin is a stanch Republican, and is a member of the I. O. O. F.

LEWIS BEIVER was born in Berks county, Pennsylvania, May 10, 1827, and served an apprenticeship to the tanner's trade at Jonestown, Pennsylvania. About 1849

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he came to Nelson, Tioga county, where he was employed in the Blackwell tannery up to 1862. He then purchased a farm in Farmington township, now owned and occupied by his son, Charles L., which he partially cleared and improved, and there died in February, 1885. His wife, Eliza, was a daughter of Charles and Mary A. (Chandler) Lugg, of Farmington, and was the mother of three children, two of whom grew to maturity, viz: Mary D., wife of E. W. Close, and Charles L. Mr. Beiver served in the army during the Rebellion, as a member of Company H, Two Hundred and Seventh Pennsylvania Volunteers. Politically, he was a Republican, was connected with the I. O. O. F. and K. of H. societies, and was a member of the Presbyterian church.

CHARLES L. BEIVER, son of Lewis Beiver, was born in Nelson, Tioga county, March 5, 1859, and grew to manhood in Farmington township. He obtained a good education in the common schools and State Normal School, Mansfield. In 1881-82 he was book-keeper for a mining company at Hillsboro, New Mexico, and the balance of his life has been spent on the old homestead, where he has prosecuted farming quite successfully. Mr. Beiver was married October 31, 1883, to Emma Hall, a daughter of Rhodes W. and Jane A. (Knight) Hall, of Farmington, and has two sons, Claude H. and Clyde A. In politics, he is a Republican, has held the office of school director in his township, and has been secretary of the school board for nine years. He is one of the most intelligent and progressive citizens of his township.

NELSON BOROUGH.

JOSEPH CAMPBELL, SR., a native of Scotland, came from the north of Ireland to Pennsylvania, in 1810, locating in what is now Nelson borough, Tioga county, on the farm now owned by his grandson, Joseph D. Campbell, where he resided until his death. His wife was Mary Harper, and their children were as follows: John, Sally, who married Samuel Hazlett; Jane, who married John Hazlett; Wil- liam, who died young; Joseph, Elizabeth, who married Richard Ellison; James, and Mary, who married a Mr. Gibson. Mr. Campbell was a very strict Presbyterian, and it is said that in maple-sugar season he would turn over his sap-buckets on Saturday night, and would not permit any work to be performed on the Sabbath day, even forbidding the cooking of food for family use. In politics, he was a Democrat.

JOSEPH CAMPBELL, JR., son of Joseph Campbell, Sr., was born in Scotland in 1793, and came with his parents to Tioga county, Pennsylvania, in 1810. He soon after took up 250 acres of land in Nelson township, upon which he resided until his death, in 1864. In 1822 he married Anne Clinch, a daughter of Thomas Clinch. She was born in England, and became the mother of twelve children, eleven of whom grew to maturity, viz: William, Sally, who married Benjamin D. Congdon; Mary A., who married Allen Seely; Eleanor, who married M. D. Bosard; Elizabeth, who married Daniel H. Hughey; Phoebe, who married William Hoyt; Jane, who became the wife of George Tubbs; John H., Joseph D., Maria, wife of James Loop, and Julia, wife of Edward Selph. Mr. Campbell was a member of the Presbyterian church at Nelson, which he assisted in organizing, and was a deacon and elder in that body. Politically, he was a Republican.

JOHN H. CAMPBELL, son of Joseph Campbell, Jr., was born in Nelson town-

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ship, Tioga county, January 12, 1836. He was educated in the common schools of his district, in the Wellsboro High School, and at Union Academy, and com- menced his business life as a farmer in Farmington township. In August, 1864, he enlisted in Company H, Two Hundred and Seventh Pennsylvania Volunteers, and was in the battles of Fort Steadman, Dutch Gap and Petersburg. In June, 1865, he was honorably discharged at Alexandria, Virginia. On his return home he engaged as a traveling salesman for a firm in Corning, New York, but since 1867 he has followed the general insurance business at Nelson. On February 10, 1858, Mr. Campbell married Calfurnia L. Bottum, a daughter of Nathan and Betsey (Lockwood) Bottum, of Tyrone, New York, and has two children, Adelbert E., and Luella B., wife of Philip E. Young. Mr. Campbell and wife are members of the Presbyterian church of Nelson, and he is connected with the I. O. O. F. In politics, he is a Republican, and has held various local offices.

ADELBERT E. CAMPBELL was born in Farmington township, Tioga county, De- cember 19, 1859, and is the only son of John H. Campbell. He received a common school education, and engaged in the general insurance business with his father at Nelson, with whom he was in partnership five years. In 1886 he embarked in business for himself at Nelson, but removed to Elkland in the spring of 1891, where he conducted a successful insurance business until January 1, 1896, when he sold out and removed to Elmira, New York, where he is now engaged in the fire insurance business. On April 6, 1882, he married Carrie Sebring, a daughter of Siras and Almira (Fenno) Sebring, of Tyrone, New York, and has two children, J. Harvey and William S. In politics, Mr. Campbell is a Republican, and is recognized as an enterprising and progressive young business man.

JOSEPH D. CAMPBELL was born in Nelson, Tioga county, December 29, 1839, and is the youngest son of Joseph Campbell, Jr. He was educated in the public schools and Union Academy, and remained working on the old homestead farm until 1866. For the succeeding five years he was in the mercantile business at Nelson. From 1871 to 1876, he was in partnership with his brother, John H., in the general insurance business, but since the latter year he has been a member of the firm of J. Bottom & Company, of Nelson, wholesale and retail dealers in coal, grain, pressed hay, etc. From 1879 to 1881, this firm had a large commission house in New York City, and from 1880 to 1883 were the proprietors of a wholesale grain and feed store at Elkland, Tioga county. They were afterwards proprietors of a general flour and feed store at Harrison Valley, Potter county, where, in 1883, they erected a building suitable for carrying on that business. This firm took an active part in securing the right of way for, and in building the Cowanesque branch of the Fall Brook railroad, of which Mr. Campbell has been station agent at Nelson since 1879. He was married. December 2, 1862, to Dolly Bottom, a daughter of Charles and Phoebe (Pierce) Bottom, to which union have been born three children, viz: Grace, wife of G. W. Buck, of Elmira; Myra and Phoebe, the last two of whom are dead. Politically, Mr. Campbell is a Republican, and in religious faith, an adherent of the Presbyterian. church. He is a charter member of Nelson Lodge, I. O. O. F., has held most of the offices in Nelson borough, including justice of the peace for ten years, and has served two terms as burgess. He is a gentleman of commendable enterprise and

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public spirit, and has done his full share towards promoting the best interests of the Cowanesque valley.

WALTER BOTTOM, formerly spelled "Bottum," was a native of Connecticut, and settled in Nelson, Tioga county, Pennsylvania, in 1827. He built a mill and was engaged in lumbering for many years, dying there at the age of seventy-five. His wife was Dolly Clark, and their children were as follows: Eliza, who married Gilbert Phelps; Walter, Dolly, who married Leander Culver; Charles, Sally, who married William Clark; Nathan, and Sophronia, who became the wife of Jacob Brooks.

CHARLES BOTTOM, son of Walter Bottom, was a native of Connecticut, and came with his parents to Nelson township, Tioga county, in 1827. On attaining his majority he settled in Farmington township, where he cleared and improved one of the largest farms in the township, upon which he lived upwards of thirty-five years, and then removed to Nelson, which has since been his home. His wife, Phoebe, is a daughter of Cromwell Pierce, of Farmington township. They are the parents of five children, three of whom grew to maturity, as follows: Dolly, wife of Joseph D. Campbell; Jerome, and Rebecca, widow of Robert Lugg. Mr. Bottom has been a life-long member of the Presbyterian church, and has been a Republican since the organization of that party.

JEROME BOTTOM was born in Farmington township, Tioga county, January 21, 1842, and is the only son of Charles Bottom. He was reared on the old homestead, and attended the public schools of his district in boyhood, also assisting his parents in the duties of the farm. In 1861 he commenced buying and shipping stock, in which he continued for some years. Since 1876 he has been the senior member of the firm of J. Bottom & Company, wholesale and retail dealers in coal, grain, pressed hay, etc. Mr. Bottom has been in business at Nelson since 1870, and a resi- dent of the town since 1879. He was prominent and active in securing the right of way for, and in the construction of the Fall Brook railroad, and in 1875 shipped the first car load of pressed hay over that road to New York City. January 8, 1861, he married Mary Redfield, a daughter of Joseph B. and Ann (Lee) Redfield, of Farm- ington township. Mr. Bottom is a stanch Republican, and is recognized as one of the public-spirited and substantial business men of the Cowanesque valley.

SAMUEL RATHBUN, a native of Massachusetts, was an early settler of Nelson town- ship, Tioga county, Pennsylvania, locating on the farm now occupied by Mrs. Mariam Rathbun, widow of his oldest son, Henry. He cleared and improved this property, and continued to reside there until his death, in 1845, and was buried on the homestead, where all of the deceased members of the Rathbun family have been interred. His wife, Jane Vroman, who died March 18, 1876, was a native of the Mohawk valley, and bore him eleven children, named as follows: Henry, Mary, who married Henry Dinninny; Eliza, second wife of William Heysham; John, Susan, who married Philip Perkins; Betsey, first wife of William Heysham; Orsemus, who died December 7, 1896; Samuel, Thomas, Job and G. M. Dallas. Mr. Rathbun was one of the leading citizens of his day in the Cowanesque valley, and in addition to farming, he was associated with Joel Parkhurst, of Elkland, in the lumber busi- ness for some years. He assisted in clearing the land in Wellsboro whereon the present court house stands. In politics, he was a Democrat.

HENRY RATHBUN was born in Lawrenceville, Tioga county, March 6, 1816, and

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was a son of Samuel Rathbun, who soon afterwards located in Nelson township, where Henry spent nearly all his life, engaged in farming. He married Mariam Owen, a daughter of Ambrose and Betsey (Wright) Owen, of Addison, New York, January 16, 1844, to which union were born nine children, who grew to maturity, named as follows: Rosetta, wife of Emory Bland; Elizabeth J., wife of Theodore Smith; Diantha, wife of John R. Mack; Lydia, wife of Frank Congdon; Julia, wife of William Cady; Cora, wife of Frank Rice; Tressa, deceased wife of William Rice; Carrie, wife of Herbert Dunning, and George Dell. Mr. Rathbun died August 19, 1871. He was an ardent Democrat, and served one term as treasurer of Tioga county. He was a member of the I. O. O. F., and one of the most respected citizens of the community in which he lived.

JOB RATHBUN was born in Nelson township, Tioga county, March 18, 1841, and is a son of Samuel Rathbun. He grew to manhood upon the old homestead, and attended the common schools and Union Academy during his boyhood days. For many years he was engaged in farming in Nelson township, and spent nine years in the west, where he followed lumbering in Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa. He has been a resident of Elkland since 1889, where for three years he con- ducted a milk route, but since 1893 he has been in the lumber business. He still owns a farm in Nelson township. Mr. Rathbun was married March 7, 1869, to Susie Tubbs, a daughter of Benjamin and Susan (Bowman) Tubbs, of Westfield, and has one son, Benjamin S. Mr. Rathbun is a member of the E. A. U., and in politics, an ardent Democrat.

GEORGE HENRY BAXTER was born in Tuscarora, Steuben county, New York, November 9, 1824, and is a son of Ira and Betsey (Manley) Baxter, and grandson of Rev. Aaron Baxter. The latter was born in Connecticut, in 1766, a son of Aaron Baxter, both of whom served in the War of the Revolution. Ira and his father removed from Connecticut to Schoharie county, New York, and subsequently to Chenango county, early in the present century. Ira afterwards settled in Steuben county, where for a number of years before his death, which occurred in 1838, he was a justice of the peace. George Henry Baxter was reared in his native town, and there received a common school education. In 1849 he located in Nelson, Tioga county, Pennsylvania, where he engaged in merchandising, which he fol- lowed the greater part of his time up to 1880. Mr. Baxter was twice married. In 1845 he married Clarissa Campbell, of Nelson. His second marriage occurred in 1850, to Clara Manley, a daughter of Thomas and Betsey (Wright) Manley, of Canton, Bradford county, Pennsylvania. Her grandfather, Charles Wright, was a Revolutionary soldier, and her father a soldier in the War of 1812. She bore him five children, viz: Nora, Tella F., Eva, wife of J. E. Hazlett; Susan, wife of M. F. Cass, and Calvin S. Politically, he was a Republican, was postmaster at Nelson from 1860 to 1880, associate judge of Tioga county from 1880 to 1885, and from 1889 to 1892 he filled the office of jury commissioner. Mr. Baxter was a member of the Presbyterian church, and belonged to the I. O. O. F. After giving up merchandising he engaged in farming, which he followed the latter years of his life.

CALVIN S. BAXTER, physician and surgeon, is a son of Judge George Henry and Clara (Manley) Baxter, and was born in Tuscarora, New York, October 8, 1860.

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He was reared in Nelson, Tioga county, and was educated in the public schools and at the literary institute of Franklin, New York. In 1878 he commenced his medical studies with Dr. A. M. Loop, of Nelson, and graduated at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Baltimore, Maryland, in 1882. For five years he practiced his pro- fession in Carbon county, Pennsylvania, locating in Nelson in 1887, where he has since devoted his attention to its active duties and is recognized as an able physician. Dr. Baxter has been twice married. His first wife was Hattie Elderkin, a daughter of David and Hattie (Robinson) Elderkin, of Franklin, New York, who bore him two children, Clara and Florence. His second wife was Mary A. Renton, a daughter of James and Mary (Whitney) Renton, of Elmira, New York. The Doctor is a member of the Pennsylvania State Medical Society, also of the F. & A. M. and the I. O. O. F., and in politics, he is a Republican. Dr. Baxter lives on a part of the land settled and improved by his great grandfather, Rev. Aaron Baxter, whose wife, Abigail Webster, was a direct descendant of Gov. John Webster.

JEROME L. BOSARD was born in Osceola, Tioga county, May 29, 1849, and is the third son of Andrew Keller Bosard, and grandson of Andrew Bosard. He was reared upon the homestead farm and obtained his education in the Osceola High School. He learned the carpenter's trade with his father, which he has followed more or less since attaining his majority. With the exception of three years, from 1882 to 1885, that he spent in Dakota, he has been a resident of Nelson since 1871. Mr. Bosard was married May 9, 1871, to Alice M. Smith, a daughter of Henry and Phoebe M. (Cook) Smith, of Nelson, and has three children: Myra L., Andrew K. and Edith M. In politics, Mr. Bosard is a Republican, and in religion, a Pres- byterian. He is a member of the I. O. O. F. and the K. O. T. M. societies.

CHARLES M. PRESTON was born in Steuben county, New York, March 8, 1853. His father, Aaron O. Preston, a native of Massachusetts, married Ann Olcott, and in 1857 located in Elkland, Tioga county, Pennsylvania, where he carried on a hotel for several years. He was the father of three children, viz: Charles M., William O. and Emma L. He died in Elkland in 1884, aged sixty-five years. Charles M. was about four years old when his parents came to Tioga county, where he grew to manhood. In the spring of 1880 he went to Dakota, where he spent nine years, and then returned to Tioga county. He has since devoted his atten- tion to farming, and is one of the substantial farmers of Nelson township. Mr. Preston was married December 22, 1887, to Ellen Tubbs, a daughter of Philip and Betsey (Spencer) Tubbs, of Nelson, and has two children, Otis and Ernest Politi- cally, he is a Republican, and is at present serving as one of the school directors of Nelson.

WILLIAM B. STEVENS, physician and surgeon, was born at Campbell, Steuben county, New York, January 1, 1865, a son of Ralph and Margaret (Gilmore) Stevens, and is of English and Scotch extraction. He was reared in his native county, and there obtained a public school education. He entered a drug store at Campbell, New York, and served an apprenticeship of four years at that business. In 1884 he established a drug store at Elkland, Tioga county, which he carried on two years, and the following two years conducted a similar business at Harrison Valley, Potter county. In 1885 he began the study of medicine with Dr. M. R. Pritchard, of Harrison Valley, and in 1888 entered Jefferson Medical College, Phila-

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delphia, where he graduated in April, 1891. He immediately located at Nelson, Tioga county, where he has since been actively engaged in the practice of his pro- fession, and has built up a successful business. Dr. Stevens was married September 28, 1887, to Anna M. Gray, a daughter of Robert T. and Fannie (Brown) Gray, of Corning, New York, and has two daughters, Fannie L. and Margaret. He is an ardent Republican, and an earnest advocate of the principles and measures of that party. In religion, he is a Presbyterian, and is a member of the F. & A. M., the I. O. O. F., and the K. O. T. M. societies.

REV. HALLOCK ARMSTRONG, pastor of the Presbyterian church at Nelson, was born in Minisink, Orange county, New York, October 31, 1823. His parents, James T. and Ruth (Hallock) Armstrong, were natives of Orange county, his father's ancestors being Scotch-Irish, and those of his mother early settlers of Connecticut. During the Revolutionary War his paternal grandfather was con- fined for several months on a British prison ship in New York harbor. His father, a farmer by occupation, removed to Sussex county, New Jersey, in 1830, and thence to Susquehanna county, Pennsylvania, in 1838. In his old age he located in Bing- hamton, New York, where he died in March, 1884. His mother died in February, 1878, aged seventy-eight years. The subject of this sketch was the second in a family of five children, viz: Frances Maria, deceased wife of Simeon Hanchett; Hallock, of Nelson; Mary Elizabeth, who died in childhood; James Horace, a con- tractor and builder, of Binghamton; Albert D., an attorney at law, who died in Sioux City, Iowa, in 1886. Mr. Armstrong was educated in the public schools and at Lafayette College, graduating from the latter institution in 1848. He then took a course in Princeton Theological Seminary, where he graduated in 1851, and then entered the ministry. He began preaching at Wilkes-Barre, where he preached and taught three years, and then went to Bethany, Genesee county, New York, and taught in the Presbyterian Academy two years, preaching at Portage. He next preached and taught six years at Laporte and Dushore, Sullivan county, Pennsyl- vania, and served as county superintendent of schools in that county from 1858 to 1861. His next charge was at Monroetown, Bradford county, where he remained nineteen years, seventeen of which he spent in teaching, fourteen being passed in the same school room. In 1864 he was drafted into the army and mustered in as chaplain of the Fiftieth Pennsylvania Volunteers, in which capacity he served nearly a year. In 1881 he went to Aspinwall, Bradford county, where he had charge of a congregation for ten years. In July, 1891, he became pastor of the church at Nelson, which position he has since filled acceptably. Mr. Armstrong was married on September 2, 1851, to Mary Bronson, of Harford, New York, a daughter of Rev. Edwin and Mary H. Bronson. Her father died in November, 1893, aged ninety- three; her mother resides with our subject, at the ripe age of eighty-eight. The following children were born to this union: Mary Frances, wife of Charles Myer, of Athens, Bradford county; Charles E., of Troy, Bradford county; A. A., a phy- sician, of Fair Haven, New Jersey; Ruth Hallock; William C., a physician, of Redbank, New Jersey, and James Edwin, a resident of Brooklyn, New York. Mr. Armstrong is a Republican, in politics, and is connected with the I. O. O. F., K. of P. and G. A. R. societies. Since entering the ministry in 1851, he has lost but two

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Sundays by reason of illness, and during the last thirty-four years has moved but twice. He is able and scholarly, and, notwithstanding his advanced years, an eloquent preacher.

ELKLAND BOROUGH.

LINTSFORD COATES, a native of Otsego county, New York, a son of Timothy and Content (Stuart) Coates, was of English and Scotch extraction. He settled at an early day in Elkland, Tioga county, Pennsylvania, cleared and improved a farm, and was quite extensively engaged in lumbering. He resided there until his death. He married Mary A. Taylor, of Tioga county, and they were the parents of the following children: Betsey, who married Perry Daily; Timothy, David, Mahala, who married Daniel Parks; Harriet, Ruby, who married Charles Ouder- kirk; John, Diana, who married John Daily, and Morgan.

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History of Tioga County, Pennsylvania, Part 108

Author: Publication date: 1897 Publisher: Harrisburg : R. C. Brown Number of Pages: 1454

Author:
Publication date: 1897
Publisher: Harrisburg : R. C. Brown
Number of Pages: 1454