History of Tioga County, Pennsylvania, Part 32

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

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THE WORLD WOULD BE THE BETTER FOR IT.

If men cared less for wealth and fame, And less for battlefields and glory; If, writ in human hearts, a name Seemed better than in song and story; If men, instead of nursing pride, Would learn to hate and to abhor it; If more relied On love to guide, The world would be the better for it.

If men dealt less in stocks and lands, And more in bonds and deeds fraternal; If love's work had more willing hands To link this world with the supernal; If men stored up love's oil and wine, And on bruised human hearts would pour it; If "yours" and "mine" Would once combine, The world would be the better for it.

If more would act the play of Life, And fewer spoil it in rehearsal; If bigotry would sheathe its knife Till good became more universal; If custom, gray with ages grown, Had fewer blind men to adore it; If talent shone In truth alone, The world would be the better for it.

If men were wise in little things- Affecting less in all their dealings; If hearts had fewer rusted strings To isolate their kindly feelings; If men, when wrong beats down the right, Would strike together to restore it; If right made might In every fight, The world would be the better for it.

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LITERATURE OF TIOGA.

NESSMUK.

George W. Sears, poet, editor, traveler and woodsman, was born in Massachu- setts, December 2, 1821, and died at his home in Wellsboro, May 1, 1890. He early developed a liking for outdoor life, and in his youth spent much of his time with the remnant of a tribe of Nepmug Indians living near his home. He took a fancy to their chief, Nessmuk, and in after life signed that name to his poetic effusions.

When he grew to manhood his love for the woods did not forsake him and he spent much of his time in the solitude of the forest, and there many of his finest poems were written on birch bark. Mr. Sears came to Wellsboro in 1848, preceding his father's family several years. He learned the trade of a shoemaker, which he pursued when not enjoying the solitude of the forest. When a young man he shipped aboard a whaler for a three years' cruise, but the vessel put in at Fayal Islands, and, as he was sick with the fever, he was taken ashore and left in the hospital. When convalescent he was sent home by the United States government.

Some time in the fifties he contributed to the Spirit of the Times a serial romance under the nom de plume of Nessmuk, which was widely read and commented on. From that time on he became a valued correspondent of Forest and Stream, Outing, American Angler, etc.

When the call for 75,000 volunteers was made by President Lincoln, he was one of the first to respond and became a member of the original Bucktails; but meeting with an accident while in camp at Harrisburg, by which his right instep was broken, he was discharged and reluctantly returned home.

In 1867 his love of travel led him to South America, and he spent most of his time at Para, Brazil, carefully watching the workings of the rubber industry and corresponding for the Philadelphia Press. He remained in Brazil nearly a year.

Mr. Sears was a true lover of nature. Unaccompanied he would go to the wildest nooks with rod, dog and gun, and pass weeks in solitude. In this way he explored the Adirondack region, and the log of his canoe, Nessmuk, a boat which only weighed seventeen pounds, shows a cruise for 1880 of over 550 miles. In 1884 he cruised in the same region a distance of 250 miles, but the voyage was cut short by failing health.

In order to escape the rigors of the winter in this northern latitude he went to Florida in 1886. The climate agreed with him and he was greatly benefitted. He returned in 1887 and remained during the summer. This was a fatal mistake. He contracted malaria, and this coupled with his lung trouble wore his life away. Hc faded like the maple leaves he loved so well and died as stated in 1890. It was his request to be buried in his own dooryard under the lilacs that he planted, and the six hemlocks which he had carefully nurtured were to be sentinels over his grave. But his wish was not carried out. In the cemetery his remains rest and a granite tablet marks the spot, reared to his memory by the Forest and Stream publishing company. And sunken in the stone is a bronze likeness of the poet in relief, which is said to be excellent.

A contemporary says that he was somewhat of a recluse. Early in life he made up his mind that the vanities of the world were not worth the struggle. That marts were but places where "man cheats his fellow man, or robs the workman of his wage." The trumpet of Fame sounded not in his ear, urging him to higher aspira-

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tions. Prosperity, fortune and position lured him not with their seductive smiles, and for the pomp and vain glory of the world he had no wish or desire. Leaving all the vexations of life, he sought solitude in the peaceful woods. In mountain path, by sylvan brook, alone, he loved to stray. The appended gem, written while buried in one of the wildest nooks of Tioga county, shows the thought which moved his mind:

CRAGS AND PINES. Who treads the dirty lanes of trade Shall never know the wondrous things Told by the rugged forest kings To him who sleeps beneath their shade.

Only to him whose coat of rags Has pressed at night their royal feet Shall come the secrets, strange and sweet, Of regal pines and beetling crags.

For him the Wood-nymph shall unlock The mystic treasures which have lain A thousand years in frost and rain, Deep in the bosom of the rock.

For this and these he must lay down The things that wordlings most do prize, Holding his being in her eyes, His fealty to her laurel crown.

No greed of gold shall come to him, Nor strong desire of earthly praise; But he shall love the silent ways Of forest aisles and arches dim.

And dearer hold the open page Of nature's book than shrewdest plan By which man cheats his fellow man, Or robs the workman of his wage.

As a writer of prose and poetry Mr. Sears ranked far above mediocrity. In 1884 he published a modest little volume under the nom de plume of Nessmuk, entitled "Woodcraft," giving his experiences of fifty years in the woods, with instructions to hunters and fishermen how to camp out and enjoy the sport. The book proved very popular with sportsmen and ran through several editions. It forms one of the "Forest and Stream" series, and is still much sought after by lovers of the chase.

But the crowning poem of his life, which gave him reputation and fame in spite of his seclusiveness, was "John O' the Smithy," first published in the Atlantic Monthly. It is given herewith:

JOHN O' THE SMITHY.

Down in the vale where the mavis sings And the brook is turning an old-time wheel, From morning till night the anvil rings Where John O' the Smithy is forging steel.

٠٠٠٠٠

F. A Allen

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LITERATURE OF TIOGA.

My lord rides out at the castle gate, My lady is grand in hower and hall, With men and maidens to cringe and wait, And John O' the Smithy must pay for all.

The bishop rides in his coach and four, His grooms and horses are fat and sleek; He has lackeys behind and lackeys before, He rides at a hundred guineas a week. The anvil is singing its "ten pound ten," The mavis pipes from its birken spray, And this is the song that fills the glen, John O' the Smithy has all to pay.

The smith has a daughter, rosy and sweet, My lord has a son with a wicked eye; When she hears the sound of his horses' feet Her heart beats quicker-she knows not why. She will know very well before the end; She will learn to detest their rank and pride, When she has the young lord's babe to tend, While the bishop's daughter becomes his bride.

There will be the old, old story to tell Of wrong and sorrow in places high, A bishop glazing the deeds of hell, The Priest and the Levite passing by. And the father may bow his frosted head When he sees the young bride up at the hall, And say 'twere better his child were dead, But John O' the Smithy must pay for all.

The smith and his daughter will pass away, And another shall make the anvil ring For his daily bread and the hodden gray; But the profits shall go to the priest and king. And over the wide world, day by day, The smiths shall waken at early morn Each to his task in the old dull way, To tread a measure of priestly corn.

And the smith shall live on the coarsest fare With little that he may call his own, While the idler is free from work or care; For the best of all must go to the drone. And the smith complains of the anvil's song, Complains of the years he has wrought and pined, For priests and rulers are swift to wrong And the mills of God are slow to grind.

But a clear, strong voice from over the sea Is piercing the murk of the moral night! Time is, time was; and time shall be That John O' the Smithy will have his right.

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HISTORY OF TIOGA COUNTY.

And they who have worn the mitre and crown, Who have pressed him sore in body and soul, Shall perish from earth when the grist is ground And the mighty miller has claimed his toll.

His best poems have been collected and published in a handsome volume by Forest and Stream, so that they will not perish, but form a part of the permanent literature of Tioga county-a literature that will last as long as the beetling crags and dashing rivulets of his adopted county.

While this chapter is termed the "Literature of Tioga," much in the line of his- tory, both civil and military, has been written at later dates, which is not regarded as belonging to this department.

CHAPTER XVII.

WELLSBORO.

DESCRIPTIVE-THE ORIGINAL TOWN PLOT-ADDITIONAL LOTS SURVEYED-PROMI- NENT PIONEERS-JOSIAH EMERY'S REMINISCENCES-POSTOFFICE AND POST- MASTERS-JOHN SCHEFFER, THE YOUNG MAIL CARRIER-HIS ROUTE THROUGH THE WILDERNESS-POSTOFFICE STATISTICS-OLD-TIME TAVERNS AND LAND- LORDS-MODERN HOTELS.

W ELLSBORO, the county seat of Tioga county, is situated about two miles south and west of the geographical center of the county. Within its limits Charleston creek, Morris run and Kelsey run-all flowing toward the north-unite to form Marsh creek. The converging of these hill-inclosed creek valleys affords an excellent site of great natural beauty for a good-sized city. The rapid fall of the streams and the undulating character of the ground, insuring free drainage, combined with the altitude, which is 1,319 feet above tide water, make it a healthful as well as beautiful place of residence. Its location near the geographical center of the county-at the crossing of the east and west and the north and south State roads-and its proximity to the main line of the Fall Brook railroad, a branch of which passes through it, render it accessible to the people of the various townships, and give those who live within its limits every reason to believe it will more than keep pace with the country about it, in all that goes to make up a permanent and enduring prosperity. It is the business and trading center of a number of the most prosperous agricultural town- ships of the county, and its mercantile and manufacturing enterprises are in the hands of energetic, wide-awake and intelligent business men, who, aside from the conduct of their own personal affairs, are neglecting no opportunity to keep it well

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up in the procession of progress, and make it worthy of good repute as a well-gov- erned, orderly and forward-marching borough.

THE ORIGINAL TOWN PLOT.

The land originally set apart as a site for a "county town" by Benjamin Wistar Morris embraced 150 acres, a full description of which may be found on pages 1, 2, 3 and 4 of Deed Book No. 1, in the office of the register and recorder. By a deed dated July 14, 1806, and recorded September 6, 1806, Benjamin Wistar Morris and his wife, Mary Wells Morris, conveyed to John Fleming, William Hill Wells and William Ellis, the trustees appointed by law to locate the county seat of Tioga county, "one full and equal moiety," or seventy-five acres of this tract. This conveyance included all of the tract lying northwest of Walnut street and southwest of a line drawn through the center of Central avenue, and took in the squares occupied by the county buildings and the park. The remainder of the tract, lying northwest of Walnut street and southeast of a line drawn through the center of Central avenue, was re- tained by Mr. Morris.

Before this conveyance was made a town plot had been surveyed, embracing forty-five and three-fourths acres with usual allowances, etc. This plot, which was six blocks long by three wide, extended from northeast to southwest, the line being north, forty-five degrees east, and was bounded on its northeastern side by Queen street; on its southeastern side by Walnut street; on its southwestern side by King street, and on its northwestern side by Water street. Main street, the principal street running from northeast to southwest, is 100 feet wide, as is also Central avenue, the principal cross street. All the other streets are fifty feet wide. The plot shows eighty lots, the full-sized ones being 60x250 feet. A map of this survey was filed for record May 5, 1808.

Morris, it will be remembered, said in the advertisement, quoted in a preceding chapter, that the town was "laid out upon the same plan as the City of Philadel- phia." The two acres which he set aside for the public buildings and like amounts for the square, or "green," are in the center of the plot, and around the latter he expected the business houses and churches would cluster. But his dream was never fully realized. The county buildings face the western side of the "green," law offices are on the north, and churches and dwellings on the east and south. His idea was based on the English plan for founding rural towns.

ADDITIONAL LOTS SURVEYED.

It will be observed that of the seventy-five acres conveyed by Benjamin Wistar Morris and wife to the trustees named in the deed, but a little more than twenty acres were included in the original town plot. The remaining portion, embracing some fifty odd acres, lay, for the most part, southwest of King street, and it is pre- sumed was soon afterward sub-divided into out lots and offered for sale.

Upon the election of the first board of county commissioners and their entrance upon their official duties in October, 1808, the trustees selected to locate the county seat turned over to them the charge of the sale of these lots. After the opening of the first court in Wellsboro, in 1813, and the completion of the organization of the county in all its departments, there appears to have been an advance in price of lots,

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since we find in the proceedings of the commissioners, under date of July 9, 1814, the following:

Resolved, That town lots ninety-five feet in front by 250 feet deep be sold at eighteen dollars per lot. The acre lots, which contain one and two acres, to be sold at ten dollars per acre. Said lots to be cleared in one year from date of deed. Purchase money to be paid on delivery of deed.

PROMINENT PIONEERS.

Benjamin Wistar Morris, the founder of Wellsboro, and the first settler upon its site, came into Tioga county from Philadelphia, about 1799, as the representative and trustee of the Pine Creek Land Company, and also as the contractor for opening the north and south State road, from Newberry, Lycoming county, by way of Little Pine creek, through Tioga county to the New York State line. He soon afterward re- moved his family hither and took up his residence in a log cabin erected on the site of the present home of W. D. Van Horn in 1800. Soon after this William Hill Wells and Gideon Wells, brothers of Mrs. Morris, located two and one-half miles southwest of the village site, and, so far as known, were the first settlers within the boundaries of what is now Delmar township.

Before Mr. Morris laid out the town of Wellsboro, in 1806, and offered its lots for sale, a saw-mill and a grist-mill had been erected on Marsh creek, just below the present borough limits, by Samuel W. Fisher, a resident of Philadelphia. It is pre- sumed that these enterprises were, at the outset, owned by the land company, and that they were in the charge of Mr. Morris, the company's representative here, who al- luded to them in his advertisement in the Lycoming Gazette, November 13, 1806, setting forth the advantages of the new "county town."

It is difficult, at this late day, to give the names of the early settlers upon the site of Wellsboro in the order of their coming. The assessment list of 1812, the best authority at hand, shows that the following-named persons were taxed either as resi- dents or owners of lots in that year: Abisha Baker, Alpheus Cheney, then sheriff of the county; Joseph Fish, who soon after established a tan-yard, which developed into a paying and important enterprise, and who was also an early tavern keeper; William Hill, who planned the first office building for the commissioners and pro- thonotary; Titus Ives, a county commissioner; David Lindsey, at whose home the meetings of the commissioners were held as early as June 23, 1809; Aaron Niles, who settled near the Charleston township line, in 1810, east of the old, but within the present borough limits; Benjamin Wistar Morris, Samuel W. Morris, the first postmaster, and a county commissioner; John Norris, prothonotary and register and recorder, and Henry Sligh, or Sly, the first "village blacksmith."

Mordecai M. Jackson came with his parents to this part of the county in 1804, being then about twenty years of age. His parents becoming discouraged returned to Philadelphia. He, however, remained, and some years later became the owner of the old Samuel W. Fisher mills, in which he had been employed. William Bache, Sr., who had visited the village in 1811, removed here from Philadelphia in 1812, with his young wife. His son, William, was born here October 26, 1812, and is now one of the oldest living persons born in the county, and the oldest born within the borough limits. It is said that Harvey, a son of Henry Sly, the blacksmith, was the

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first child born in the village. He first opened his eyes in a rude log house which stood on the site of the Wellsboro Hotel. Daniel Kelsey, who settled in 1807, was then living within the present borough limits. The resident "single freemen" were David Henry and David Greenleaf.

At this time, so far as either record or tradition informs us, the only things in- dicating a purpose to build a town were a few scattered cabins, the old Quaker Meet- ing House, the postoffice, kept at Mr. Morris' home, and Henry Sly's blacksmith shop, if he then had one.

The opening of the courts in January, 1813, infused new life into the struggling village. Alpheus Cheney and Israel Greenleaf were granted tavern licenses and work was begun on the court house and jail and an office building for the com- missioners and the prothonotary. A store, the first one in the place, was started soon afterward by William Bache, Sr., in a log building on the site of the present Presbyterian church. About the same time Mr. Morris, so it is said, kept a small stock of goods in his home. These were the pioneer mercantile enterprises.

Among those who settled in the village between 1812 and 1816, whose names appear on the assessment list of the latter year, were Charles Daniels and Ezekiel L. Jones, blacksmiths. Daniels died a few years later and his widow removed to Tioga. Jones remained and worked at his trade until about 1843, after which he appears to have lived retired. Peter Faulkner, a physician, was here in 1816. In that year Alanson Thompson was granted a tavern license, which was renewed annually up to 1822. A license was also granted to Joseph Fish and renewed to 1818. About 1816, also, Dr. Jeremiah Brown settled in the village and became the first physician to locate permanently. He remained until 1830, when he removed to Shippen township. Ebenezer and Lorentes Jackson were also here in 1816. The latter was afterwards a surveyor and land agent. William Patton, the first lawyer to locate in the village, came soon after the opening of the first courts.

Upon the assessment list of 1818 appears the name of Solomon Daniels, "laborer and fiddler." In this year Samuel W. Morris appears as "shopkeeper." He was also operating a saw-mill and a grist-mill near the site of Stokesdale Junction, then known as "The Marsh." John Beecher, who was licensed September 15, 1817, was keeping the old "Cheney Tavern," his license being renewed annually until 1821. He was also an early merchant, and transacted business in a store building on the east corner of Morris and Main streets. In 1818, also, Roswell B. Alford was operating a saw-mill on Charleston creek, near the present railroad station.

Among the newcomers appearing on the list for 1819 were Royal Cole, a veteran of the Revolution and War of 1812, afterward a well-known and prominent citizen, who died July 4, 1849, in his ninetieth year; Daniel Parker; Joseph Reynolds, shoe- maker; Elijah Stiles, shoemaker, and two years later sheriff; James Kimball, car- penter, and for nearly forty years an "innkeeper;" Chauncey Alford, an early distiller and grist-mill owner; Uriah Spencer, who was elected prothonotary in 1818, and Benjamin Tome.

William Covenhoven, "tanner;" Ebenezer Hill, John Isenhouer, "taylor;" Frederick Leete, physician, and Benjamin B. Smith, who founded the Phoenix in 1827, were all here in 1820, as was Amos Coolidge, who afterwards settled in "Coolidge Hollow," Delmar township. John B. Murphey, physician, located in the

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village about this time. He practiced his profession and kept tavern for a number of years.

In 1822 William Bache, Sr., and Chauncey Alford were both operating distil- leries. Mr. Bache's distillery was located on Kelsey run, back of the court house. He carried it on about ten years. Alford continued about five years. Luther R. Hildreth, shoemaker, was also here in 1822, as was Capt. Lyman Adams, who kept tavern until 1827, and Ellis Lewis and Lloyd Wells, attorneys.

The name of Richard Hughes, "shopkeeper," appears in 1823. William Bache says he was a peddler. The names of John Lawson, "wheelwright;" James Lock, "watchmaker," and Cooley Newcomb also appear. The name of Richard Gates, blacksmith, appears in 1825. In December of this year Ellis Lewis and his nephew, Rankin Lewis, a printer, started the Tioga Pioneer, the first newspaper published in the county. It was removed to Tioga in 1827. In 1825 the name of Francis Wetherbee, "house joiner," also appears; as does that of Jonathan Webster, who established a fulling mill on Charleston creek, near the railroad station. In 1838 he added a carding machine, and carried on the enterprise until his death about 1844. Wetherbee succeeded Seth Daggett as sheriff in 1831, and finally removed to Min- nesota when that state began to attract settlers.

William Garretson, attorney; James Lowrey and M. T. Leavenworth, students- at-law; O. T. Bundy, physician; Benjamin Shipman and Charles Nash, early teachers in the Academy, and Israel Merrick, Jr., whose father settled in Delmar township in 1805, were all here in 1826. Stephen Bliss, blacksmith, was here in 1828, and also John F. Donaldson, "printer," and afterwards prothonotary for upwards of thirty years. In this year Josiah Emery became a teacher in the Academy. The names of Edward Price and James Ellsworth, carpenters, and Justus Goodwin, attorney at law, appear on the assessment list for 1828, and that of Henry H. Wells, attorney, in 1829, in which year Archibald Nichols came from Chenango county, New York, and with his son, Levi I. Nichols, who had preceded him the year before, opened a general store on the east corner of Main and Crafton streets.

The foregoing is a comparatively complete list of the names of the settlers within the limits of Wellsboro previous to its incorporation as a borough. A fuller mention is made of many of them, as well as of others not heretofore referred to, in "Josiah Emery's Reminiscences," which follow. Of those early settlers a number af- terward became distinguished in their several callings and were active in directing the affairs of the State and Nation.

JOSIAH EMERY'S REMINISCENCES.

In 1879 a series of articles, entitled "Early Impressions of Wellsboro," appeared in the Agitator. They were written by the late Josiah Emery, and give a vivid picture of Wellsboro as it appeared to him in 1828, when he came here, fresh from college, to teach in the Academy. These reminiscent articles, from the pen of one for many years a resident of Wellsboro, possess a high historical value and are worthy of permanent preservation in these pages. Mr. Emery says:

"It was a dreary, cloudy day, with a heavy fog hanging over the marsh, in April -I think the 23d-when, just at dark, I called at the tavern standing where the Coles House now stands, and kept by Dr. John B. Murphey, the father of Mrs. L. P.

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History of Tioga County, Pennsylvania, Part 32

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