History of Tioga County, Pennsylvania, Part 130

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

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ALEXANDER EBERENZ was born in Baden, Germany, December 20, 1848, and is a son of Ferdinand Eberenz, now a resident of Delmar township, Tioga county,

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a sketch of whom will be found in this work. He came to Tioga county with his mother in early childhood, and was reared in Delmar township, where he also attended the common schools. When about fifteen years of age he began working in Hezekiah Stowell's saw-mill, on Pine creek, where he found employment two years. At the age of eighteen he purchased fifty acres of timber land in Delmar township, and began clearing off the forest. He sold this property a few years later to Loron Nobles, and bought fifty acres in the same township, with thirty acres cleared, on which he erected good buildings. He also owned a farm of forty acres near Wellsboro, which he paid for out of his own earnings. By the sale of these two farms he was able to pay for the last purchase, including the improvements, on which he lived about eleven years. He worked at the carpenter's trade occasionally, but devoted his principal attention to farming. In 1889, after a tour through Mary- land, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee and Delaware, he purchased a farm near the mouth of Asaph run, erected a house and other buildings and lived there up to the autumn of 1894, when he sold the property, but has since resided in the same neighborhood. For the past seven years he has been in the employ of Edwin Matson & Son, lumber manufacturers and dealers, as general utility man, looking after the camps, etc. On April 10, 1878, he married Alma Jane Campbell, a daugh- ter of King Jerome and Charlotte (Peterson) Campbell, of Delmar township, who has borne him two children, viz: Hattie Jane, who died on July 30, 1895, and Ethel May. Mr. Eberenz is a member of Tyadaghton Lodge, No. 981, I. O. O. F., and of Asaph Tent, No. 183, K. O. T. M., of Shippen township. Politically, he is a stanch Republican.

CHENEY C. MAYNARD, a son of Orville A. and Emily (Gardner) Maynard, was born in Covington township, Tioga county, Pennsylvania, August 7, 1860. When he was a child his parents removed to a farm near Canoe Camp, in Richmond town- ship, where they resided a few years and then located near Mainesburg, in Sullivan township. Cheney C. attended the public schools in Richmond and Sullivan, and assisted his parents on the farm. His mother died when he was about fifteen years old, and he was then thrown upon his own resources and began working out as a farm hand. On January 1, 1882, he married Anna B. Webster, a daughter of Philander and Mary (Rockwell) Webster, of Sullivan township. Six children have been born to them, as follows: Hobart, Howard, Joseph, Julia, Damie and Homer, all of whom are living at home. In 1884 Mr. Maynard located upon his wife's farm in Sullivan township, which they sold two years later and purchased a farm at Mainesburg, upon which they lived until 1889. In that year they sold this property and bought 105 acres in Shippen town- ship, on which they have since lived. Mr. Maynard has given his attention to farming and the handling of produce. In politics, he is a Republican, and with his wife belongs to the Methodist Episcopal church. He was also a member of the I. O. O. F. at Mainesburg.

CHAPTER LXIII.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

TIOGA TOWNSHIP AND BOROUGH - LAWRENCE TOWNSHIP AND LAWRENCEVILLE BOROUGH-JACKSON TOWNSHIP.

RICHARD MITCHELL, one of the first settlers of Tioga county, was born in Orange county, New Jersey, July 5, 1769, and grew to manhood in his native place. About 1791 he and his brothers, Thomas and Robert Mitchell, removed to South- port, Chemung county, New York. A year later he and Thomas came up the Tioga river in a canoe and settled at what has since been known as Mitchell's Creek, in Tioga township, Tioga county, Pennsylvania. On August 15, 1792, he married Ruby Keeney, who was born at Hartford, Connecticut, October 4, 1771. Their eldest child, Edsell, whom his descendants claim was the first white child born in this county, was born at Mitchell's Creek, August 27, 1793. They were also the parents of the following named children: Lovina, born August 26, 1795, who married John Inscho; Nancy, born October 2, 1797, who died in youth; Thomas K., born August 5, 1799; Richard, born July 7, 1801, and William K., born De- cember 4, 1810. Mr. Mitchell devoted his entire attention to farming, clearing and improving a place on the Tioga river, near the mouth of Mitchell's creek. Here he resided until his death, March 11, 1847. His wife died August 14, 1843. He was a man of strong, athletic build, a fine type of the sturdy pioneers who settled in the forests of Tioga county and by their energy and industry laid the foundations of its present prosperity. At the time of his settlement the country was a dense wilderness, with a few cabins near the junction of the Tioga and Cowanesque rivers, and perhaps one or two further up the latter stream; but he lived to see the county thickly settled and the forest gave way to well-improved farms and thriving towns.

THOMAS K. MITCHELL, second son of Richard and Ruby Mitchell, was born at Mitchell's Creek, Tioga county, August 5, 1799. He was reared upon the homestead farm and received such education as the pioneer subscription schools afforded. In 1826 he married Elizabeth Roe, a native of Delhi, Delaware county, New York, born August 15, 1809. To this union were born the following named children: Solon, who died unmarried December 2, 1848; Mary Ette, who married G. W. Shear- down; Almira, who married E. T. Bentley; Rowena, who married Micajah De Labar; Ruby, who died December 28, 1854; Thomas B. S., who was killed by the cars at Tioga, December 2, 1893; Jefferson B., of Plainfield, Wisconsin; John I., president judge of Tioga county; Elizabeth J., wife of Leroy Gleason, of Canton, Bradford county; Emily A., wife of David Cameron, of Wellsboro, and Jane D., wife of B. B. Borden, of Plainfield, Wisconsin. Mr. Mitchell passed his whole life at Mitchell's Creek, engaged in farming, lumbering and merchandising. There he

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HISTORY OF TIOGA COUNTY.

erected in 1826, the year of his marriage, the first brick house built in Tioga county, and kept an inn in it for a number of years. He died August 28, 1861. His widow died at the home of her son, Thomas, February 15, 1887. In religion, the family are adherents of the Baptist church, and in politics, supporters of the Republican party.

ROBERT MITCHELL, a native of Vermont, was one of the early settlers of the Tioga valley. He was born July 18, 1779, and came to Tioga county, Pennsylvania, about the year 1796, settling at Mitchell's Creek, where his brothers, Richard and Thomas Mitchell, who came into the county in 1792, were then living. He took up and cleared a farm and made farming the occupation of his life. He married Abigail Ives, who bore him the following children: John, Thaddeus, Parmenia, Cynthia, who married Amasa Mudge; Lucy, who married Alonzo Phelps; Lavina, who married Jonathan Roe; Nancy, who married Seth Albee; Rosina, who married George Mitchell; Abby, who married William Butler; Matilda, who married Samuel Hartsock, and Ruth, the only one now living, who married Dr. Seely, of Addison, New York. Mr. Mitchell was a strong, athletic, vigorous man, and was noted for his superior ability as a wrestler. He was also industrious and hard-work- ing, and did his share as a pioneer in clearing the wilderness in the midst of which he settled.

JOHN MITCHELL, eldest son of Robert Mitchell, was born at Mitchell's Creek, Tioga county, December 2, 1800, and there grew to maturity. He married Eliza- beth Hartsock, who was born November 19, 1810, and bore him the following children: Albert, a resident of Millerton; Margaret, wife of M. K. Retan, of the same village; John, deceased; Thaddeus, also a resident of Millerton; George W., who lives in Jackson township; Austin and Maryette, both of whom are dead. Mr. Mitchell settled on Alder run, in Jackson township, about 1836, where he passed the remaining years of his life. He cleared a farm and operated a saw-mill at that point, and died March 18, 1870. His wife died on April 6, 1885.

ALBERT MITCHELL, eldest son of John Mitchell, and grandson of Robert Mitchell, was born at Mitchell's Creek, Tioga county, August 20, 1829, and was about seven years old when his parents removed to Jackson township. He was reared upon the homestead farm, and received the usual education of a farmer's son. On April 29, 1852, he married Mary Deming, a daughter of Samuel and Electa (Dickinson) Deming, early settlers of Jackson township. Five children were born to this mar- riage, viz: Clark R., deceased; Ross A., the present treasurer of the county; Mary E., wife of John Snyder; John S. and Bertha, both deceased. Mr. Mitchell and wife are now living in Millerton.

Ross A. MITCHELL, treasurer of Tioga county, was born in Millerton, Jack- son township, February 12, 1856, and is the oldest living child of Albert Mitchell. He was reared on the farm and educated in the common schools. In early manhood he taught school four terms, later became a railroad employe, and was agent and operator for several years at Millerton and Covington. Mr. Mitchell was superinten- dent of the Covington Glass Works in 1894-95. In the fall of the latter year he was elected on the Republican ticket treasurer of Tioga county and is now filling that office. On March 17, 1880, he married Effie A. Hudson, a daughter of George W. and Eunice Hudson, of Jackson township, and has four children: Albert, Arthur,

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Bernice and Eva. Mr. Mitchell is an excellent business man, careful, methodical and reliable, and is an efficient and capable official. He is one of the popular mem- bers of his party, and is also connected with Covington Lodge, No. 274, I. O. O. F.

NATHAN NILES, SR., a descendant of Capt. John Niles, of Wales, who settled at Baintree, Massachusetts, in 1630, came to Pennsylvania from Hartford, Connecti- cut, and located in Tioga township, in September, 1796. This date is established by the fact that his fourth son, Augustus Niles, born February 6, 1792, was four years of age when the family settled. Mr. Niles' father was a physician, and also, at times, performed the duties of a local preacher of the Presbyterian church. For some years previous to and during the Revolutionary War, Mr. Niles was engaged in mercantile pursuits and owned several vessels in the coastwise trade. During the struggle for independence these were mostly captured by British cruisers, thus depriving him of the bulk of his fortune. In 1796 he invested the remnant in Connecticut titles to lands in Tioga county and removed hither with his family. The land settled upon by himself and family was the most southern of the "Bar- tholomew and Patton tracts, including the mouth of Mill creek." In 1797 he, with many others, claiming lands under Connecticut titles, were arrested on a charge of violating the Intrusion Law, taken to Williamsport, and there tried and acquitted. A full account of the trial will be found in a preceding chapter. He finally obtained a valid title to his land through the Pennsylvania Bank. Mr. Niles married Irene Russell in Connecticut, and their children were: Irene, who married Major William Rathbone; Nathan, Aaron, Erastus, Augustus, Rodney, Clarissa, who became the wife of John Beecher; Violetta, who married John Daily, and Temperance, who married Timothy Brace. Of the sons, Nathan, moved into Charleston township; Aaron and Erastus into Delmar, and Rodney into Rutland. Augustus remained on the homestead in Tioga township until his death. Mr. Niles was commissioned a justice of the peace for the township of Tioga, January 7, 1808, while it was yet under the jurisdiction of Lycoming county, and his name frequently occurs in the early records. He served as a county commissioner from September, 1808, to Oc- tober, 1811, when he was succeeded by Samuel W. Morris. He was also collector of taxes for the year 1804 under the Lycoming county control of Tioga township. When Wellsboro was founded Mr. Niles became identified with the interests of the town. The residence of his sons in Delmar also tended to bring him into closer communion with the people of the county seat. It is regretted that the Bible record of his birth and death, as also that of his wife, was lost in the destruction by fire of the house of his grandson, A. E. Niles, in October, 1878. He died about 1837, in the eighty-fourth year of his age, which shows that he was born about 1753. He left as a legacy to his descendants an honored name and an unsullied reputation. He was familiarly known as "Squire Niles." He was not the man to seek notoriety; was plain and unobtrusive, conscientious, and . well disposed towards his fellow- men. He left numerous descendants, all of whom were not only honored through life, but many of them attained to high distinction in professional, political and military station.

NATHAN NILES, JR., eldest son of Nathan Niles, Sr., was born in Hebron, Con- necticut, in 1782, and came to Tioga township with his parents in 1796. In 1809 he married Ruth Gitchell, a sister of Elder and Benjamin Gitchell, and his chil-

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HISTORY OF TIOGA COUNTY.

dren were Col. Alanson E. Niles and Mrs. John F. Donaldson. Mr. Niles lived on his farm in Charleston, just outside the borough limits, but, as was the custom in those days, all those who lived near the lines were claimed as practically belonging to the borough. In January, 1813, he was appointed a county commissioner and served until the following October. He always took a deep interest in Wellsboro affairs, and when the Academy was incorporated in 1817, he was named as one of the trustees, and held the office until 1828, serving in the meantime as treasurer. As a citizen he was held in high esteem by the public, and was fully entitled to that best of all appellations, "a good man." He did not seek notoriety, being very much like his father, and never put himself forward. Though a man of good general in- formation, of fair education, and capable of filling any office in the county with credit to himself and friends, he preferred the quiet of a farmer's life, rather than the per- plexities of public office. So high was he regarded, that, "as honest as Nathan Niles" was as good a recommendation as any man could desire. He died March 3, 1830, in his forty-ninth year.

AARON NILES, the second son of Nathan Niles, Sr., was born in Hebron, Connec- ticut, June 27, 1784, and came with his parents to Tioga when it was comparatively a wilderness. He endured all the trials and sufferings incident to the lives of pioneers, and gave his full share of labor toward reclaiming the country from its wilderness condition. In June, 1807, he married Deborah Ives, a daughter of Cornelius Ives, of Tioga. About 1810 he purchased wild land in Delmar and cleared a farm, which he occupied for ten years. In 1820 he sold out and removed to Middlebury township, settling at what is now known as Niles Valley, where he cleared a valuable farm. Mr. Niles and wife had issue: Clarinda, born June 12, 1808; Philander, March 13, 1811; Erastus, April 17, 1814; Lucinda, August 28, 1816; Sylpha, August 29, 1818; Irena, Au- gust 28, 1820; Betsey, March 13, 1822, and Russell, August 20, 1826. The majority are now deceased. Mrs. Deborah Niles died in 1830, and March 4, 1833, he married Mrs. Betsey Kilbourne, born May 5, 1798. She was a daughter of Rufus Butler, who came from Vermont about the beginning of this century, and the widow of John Kil- bourne. The issue of this marriage was one son, Jerome B., born September 25, 1834, who has attained distinction as a lawyer and politician, and a sketch of whose life will be found in the chapter on "The Bench and Bar." The last wife of Mr. Niles died at the homestead in Niles Valley, June 3, 1863, aged a little over sixty- five years. In 1865 Mr. Niles went to live with his youngest son, Hon. Jerome B. Niles, at whose home in Wellsboro he died, February 22, 1872, in the eighty-eighth year of his age. Like his honored father, he was a man of inflexible integrity and undaunted courage, and was widely known as an energetic, industrious and public- spirited citizen.

AUGUSTUS NILES, fourth son of Nathan Niles, Sr., was born in Hartford, Con- necticut, February 6, 1792, and was between four and five years old when his parents came to Tioga county. He was reared a farmer, and spent his life on the old home- stead in Tioga township, where he died October 27, 1841, in his fiftieth year. He married Anna Adams, a daughter of Capt. Lyman Adams, also an early settler of Tioga township. She died in December, 1886, in the eighty-ninth year of her age. Their children were as follows: Augustus E., a resident of Tioga township; Byron

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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

B .; a grain dealer of Topeka, Kansas, and Julia A., who married Whiting Miller, and died at the home of her brother, Augustus E., March 16, 1894.

AUGUSTUS E. NILES, eldest child of Augustus Niles, and grandson of Nathan Niles, Sr., was born on the homestead farm in Tioga township, March 26, 1819, and upon the death of his father took charge of the same. He has spent his entire life thereon, devoting his attention to agricultural pursuits. On January 18, 1853, he married Belinda Bridgeman, and has two sons, viz: Augustus, a physician of Wells- boro, and Henry C. The latter was born on the home farm January 23, 1857; was educated in the common schools of his district; was married on November 16, 1892, to Nellie Cochran, a daughter of John and Ellen (Beam) Cochran, and has charge of the old homestead. In politics, Mr. Niles was originally a Whig, but has been a Republican since the organization of that party. He has filled the offices of col- lector and supervisor of the township, the latter for twenty-nine years. Mr. Niles is a member of Tioga River Lodge, No. 797, I. O. O. F., and is one of the leading farmers of his native township.

URIAH SPENCER was a man of considerable note in early days. He first came into the Tioga valley in 1794, having purchased under the Connecticut title the township of Hamilton, now embraced within the boundaries of Lawrence and Tioga townships. He also bought the improvements of William Holden, and continued to sell his lands under the Connecticut title until the spring of 1797, when he and twenty-one other pioneers of the Tioga and Cowanesque valleys were arrested under the Intrusion Law and taken to Williamsport, where they were subsequently tried and acquitted. A few years later Mr. Spencer removed to the village of Tioga, where he opened the first blacksmith shop at that point, and afterwards operated a saw- mill. His first wife, who was Deborah Elliott, of Guilford, Connecticut, died in November, 1802, and was buried in the Lawrenceville cemetery. She left four chil- dren, two daughters and two sons. As early as 1804 he was married again, his second wife being Eleanor Boher. By her he had seven children, three sons and four daugh- ters. On the establishment of the postoffice at Tioga, January 1, 1805, he was ap- pointed postmaster, it being the first in the county. In 1810 he was elected a county commissioner; was prothonotary from 1818 to 1821, and again from 1824 to 1830. During his last two terms he also served as register and recorder. Through his influence his son-in-law, Levi Vail, was appointed county treasurer in 1827.

On account of his many years of public life he became one of the leading poli- ticians of the county. In 1826 he was a candidate for Congress, and John Ryon, Jr., and Asa Mann were his conferees. The nominating convention met at Muncy, Lycoming being one of the counties composing the IXth Congressional district, but he failed to secure the nomination.

Mr. Spencer was also one of the committee chosen in 1826 to draft an address to the governor of New York in furtherance of a canal from the head of Seneca lake to the Pennsylvania line, to be continued thence by. Pennsylvania authority to the coal mines at Blossburg. He and Judge Morris were chosen a committee to present the petition to the legislature of New York, and Mr. Spencer visited Albany for that purpose in the month of February, 1827. He was also one of the original incorporators of the Tioga Navigation Company. He was one of the most

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HISTORY OF TIOGA COUNTY.

influential citizens of the county up to about 1835, when he lost his property and his influence.

Notwithstanding his long residence in Wellsboro, Mr. Spencer had contracted a violent hatred of the town, and especially of some of its leading citizens. This dislike had its beginning in 1818, when, by reference to the history of the old Academy, it will be seen that he was refused the loan of $500 by the trustees of that institution, because the security he offered was not considered good. He was one of the original trustees, but was not re-elected in 1818. This seems to have so incensed him that ever after he was a bitter enemy of the school. Later, in the attempt to remove the county seat to Tioga, he was a prominent actor in the move- ment. Mr. Spencer was a man of strong convictions. One who knew him well has left this analysis of his character:

He was no hypocrite. He had never studied the art of blarney, nor did he duly appreciate the true value of soft soap in managing men. What he thought he said. He was not an adept in the use of those soft words that turn away wrath. He was a man of a good deal of natural talent, though deficient in early education ; was a Democrat of the strictest sect, and never strayed from the fold or went after other gods. He was a good hater and a warm friend ; was never accused of dishonesty, or of altering his opinion when he had once expressed it.

In the closing years of his life his mind began to waver, and he dwelt much on his early land troubles, caused by purchasing Connecticut titles. His son, George, held a clerkship in the postoffice department at Washington, D. C., and while on a visit to his son's home in Georgetown, about 1850, he died, aged eighty years, and was buried there. His widow, Eleanor, removed to Mainesburg, and died some two years later.

NICHOLAS PRUTSMAN, SR., a native of Hamburg, Germany, immigrated to Pennsylvania towards the close of the Eighteenth century and located near Easton. He had quite a large family, and in 1802 came to Tioga county, and settled a short distance below the site of Tioga village. His three sons, Jacob, Adam and Nicholas, Jr., came in 1804, but the two last soon removed to New York state, leaving Jacob and their father in Tioga county. The latter erected a grist-mill, which he operated until it burned down. He died about 1810.

JACOB PRUTSMAN came to this county with his two brothers in 1804. He had previously learned the cabinet maker's trade, which he followed many years, and also owned and cultivated a farm. He married Mary Miller, who became the mother of fourteen children, viz: Polly, John, Abram, Elizabeth, Jacob, Andrew M., Adam, Sarah, Catherine, Susan, Eunice, Rachel, Mary and George, only one of whom is living, Adam, a resident of Illinois. Mrs. Prutsman died in 1847, aged seventy-one years, and her husband, in 1862, aged eighty-nine. *

ANDREW M. PRUTSMAN was born in Tioga township, Tioga county, in 1807, fourth son of Jacob Prutsman. He was reared on the homestead, and in 1830 mar- ried Mary A. Bentley, a daughter of Benjamin Bentley. She was born in this county in 1809, and bore him six children, named as follows: Martha J., born December 17, 1831, and married Robert H. Brown, of Canisteo, New York, in 1859, who died in 1862; Christian M., who served as a lieutenant in the Union army in the Re- bellion, and now resides in Nebraska; Mary A., wife of Edwin Spaulding, of Corning,

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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

New York; Lindley H., who died while serving with the rank of lieutenant in the late war; Henrietta M., wife of John H. Pattison, of Williamsport, Pennsylvania, and Melville B., an engineer on the Fall Brook railroad, who resides at Newberry Junction, Lycoming county.' Mr. Prutsman died in 1890, and his wife, in 1891, each at the age of eighty-two years.

CAPT. LYMAN ADAMS was born in Lenox, Massachusetts, April 12, 1775, and married Sophia Mantor, born April 21, 1782. In the spring of 1804 they came from Tinmouth, Rutland county, Vermont, to Tioga, Tioga county, Pennsylvania, arriv- ing at their destination on July 4. They were accompanied by their three daughters, Anna, Susan and Sophia, and the following children were born to them in this county: Phoebe, Lucy, Maria, Lyman N., William, Julia, Jane, Hiram and Mary B. Anna became the wife of Augustus Niles; Susan married Lorain Lamb; Sophia re- mained unmarried; Phoebe married Amos Utley; Lucy married Sullivan Power; Maria married G. R. Lillibridge; Julia married Samuel Naglee; Jane married W. E. Crane, and Mary B., became the wife of Dr. A. J. Cole. The only survivors are Julia, Hiram and Mary B. After living a short time in Tioga, Mr. Adams removed to the mouth of Mill creek, where he kept a store and tavern during the War of 1812, and also followed farming. Subsequently removing to Wellsboro, he con- ducted a hotel there until 1827, when he returned to Tioga township and resumed agricultural pursuits. He was a stanch Democrat, served as collector of taxes in' Tioga township in 1809-10, and also as constable for many years. Captain Adams died June 27, 1847, and his wife, July 1, 1868.

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History of Tioga County, Pennsylvania, Part 130

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