History of Tioga County, Pennsylvania, Part 66

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

USA > Pennsylvania > Tioga County > History of Tioga County, Pennsylvania > Part 66

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Adelphic Lodge, I. O. O. F., was instituted October 8, 1847, and retained its charter until April 2, 1857, when it was removed to Roseville. The first officers of the lodge, elected December 23, 1847, were as follows: John W. Guernsey, N. G .; Alpha D. Cole, V. G .; F. E. Smith, S .; Edgar D. Seeley, A. S., and John Mathews, T.

Tioga River Lodge, No. 797, I. O. O. F., was chartered May 1, 1872, with the following officers: S. M. Geer, N. G .; A. E. Niles, V. G .; O. P. Barden, S .; C. B. Farr, A. S., and C. F. Miller, T.

Etz Post, No. 401, G. A. R., named in honor of Lieut. Charles O. Etz, who was killed at the battle of Malvern Hill, July 14, 1862, was organized December 14, 1883. The commanders have been A. S. Reynolds, H. Pickering Schuyler Beers, Charles Ryon, N. R. Shappee, A. H. Rawson and William Kimball. About eighty soldiers of the Union army have been mustered into this post since its organization.

The beneficiary orders are represented as follows: Phoenix Lodge, No. 933, K. of H., organized March 7, 1878. It has thirteen members. Keystone Lodge, No. 105, O. O. W., was organized February 9, 1892, and now has fourteen mem- bers. Tioga Tent, No. 176, K. O. T. M., was instituted June 10, 1893. It has now about thirty members and is growing.

LATER BUSINESS AND MANUFACTURING ENTERPRISES.

The Tabor, Mathews & Company foundry was established in 1849, on the site now occupied by the store of M. S. Field and the Smith & Peck meat market. About 1860 this foundry burned down and was not rebuilt.

The Union Tanning Company, a member of the corporation known as the United States Leather Company, operates a tannery on Wellsboro street, devoted to the tanning of sole leather. Its output is 400 sides of leather a day; its con- sumption of hemlock bark 6,000 cords a year, and it gives employment to fifty men. L. R. Johnson is the superintendent, and C. A. Nearing the foreman. The original tannery, of which this is the successor, was started in the winter of 1853-54, by Joseph Fish and Charles Somers. Among those who afterward ac- quired either a partial or controlling interest in it, were Ira Wells, H. F. Wells, Col. H. S. Johnston, O. B. Lowell, C. B. Farr and others. In 1882, while being operated by Lowell & Company, it suspended, and almost immediately passed into the hands of the Wellsboro Leather Company, who were succeeded by Garrett, Davidge & Company, who in February, 1892, sold out to the Union Tanning Company. During the time Garrett, Davidge & Company were in control, a

517

TIOGA BOROUGH.

currier shop was erected by the Tioga Improvement Company, and was run in connection with the tannery-which was then an upper leather tannery-by Dew- son, Williams & Company, of Boston. Since passing into the control of the Union Tanning Company, the plant has been devoted to the production of sole leather exclusively.

The Tioga County Bank was incorporated May 11, 1857, and organized with T. L. Baldwin, president, and John W. Guernsey, cashier. The authorized capital was $100,000, with permission to increase to $200,000. It began business with a paid up capital of $56,610. The control soon fell into the hands of outside parties, who came near wrecking it. B. C. Wickham and A. S. Turner took charge, and by advancing their private funds restored its credit. Henry H. Good- rich was made teller and book-keeper. On the night of May 24, 1864, the bank, then located in a private dwelling, was entered, the safe blown open and robbed of $21,000 in cash and bonds. The safe, at the time, contained $102,000 in cur- rency and United States bonds. Fright on the part of the robbers is given as the reason why a larger amount was not secured. The robbery is still an unsolved mystery. None of the money or bonds was ever recovered. July 1, 1866, the in- stitution was changed to a private bank, with B. C. Wickham, president, and David L. Aiken, cashier. It continued business under the name of B. C. Wick- ham & Company's Banking House, until December 13, 1883, when it suspended. The suspension was a severe blow to the prosperity of the borough, and one from which it did not recover for years.

The Robert Bishop Factory, at the foot of Park street, is the successor of the old Van Name factory, established about 1860 by Charles Van Name. He died in 1867, and was succeeded by his brother, John Van Name. Mr. Bishop first entered the factory as an employe; then became a partner, and, in 1872, the sole proprietor. The factory is devoted to the manufacture of butter tubs and firkins, tobacco cases, boxes and finished lumber.

The Lucky Oil Well Company, with a nominal capital of $150,000, was chartered April 18, 1865. The officers were Edward Bayer, president; T. L. Bald- win, vice-president; A. M. Bennett, secretary, and Henry H Goodrich, treasurer. A tract of land on Bear creek, two miles from Tioga, was leased from Abiel Sly, known by the sobriquet of "Old Lucky." A well was sunk to the depth of 923 feet, at a cost of over $7,000. The well was tubed and pumped, and a small quantity of oil obtained from it.

Voorhees, Aiken & Company, cigar manufacturers, began business in Tioga, in 1880. They had a capital of $25,000, and their factory was conducted on a large scale, employment being given to 100 hands. The failure, December 13, 1883, of B. C. Wickham & Company's Banking House, crippled the enterprise. In March, 1884, the factory was sold to Mansfield parties, and there continued under the name of G. S. Voorhees & Company.

T. G. Hetfield's Cigar Factory was started in 1888, one and a quarter miles west of Tioga, on the Wellsboro road. September 15, 1893, it was destroyed by fire. He resumed business in the borough, remaining until April, 1895, when he removed back to the old site west of town, having, in the meantime, rebuilt his residence and factory.

518

HISTORY OF TIOGA COUNTY.

TIOGA WATER WORKS.

As early as 1828, Hobart Graves brought water in wooden pipes to his dis- tillery, on Wellsboro street. The pipes were pine logs with holes bored through them lengthwise. A few private residences were also supplied by Mr. Graves. The great pressure, however, made it difficult to keep the pipes in repair, and they were finally abandoned to disuse and decay.

The Tioga Water Works Company was organized in 1874, with T. A. Wick- ham as superintendent, and Charles A. Wickham as engineer. Work was com- menced August 22, of that year, and the water let into the pipes December 16. The water is brought from Bentley's creek, over nearly the same course as that followed by Hobart Graves in 1828. The storage reservoir is a basin of the creek, 320 feet above the level of the borough, and has a capacity of 1,200,000 gallons. The distributing reservoir stands on the brow of East hill, 220 feet above the borough, and has a capacity of 750,000 gallons. The specific gravity system is used, and the consumption averages about 500,000 gallons. The company was incorporated January 20, 1888, with a capital of $15,000, divided into 600 shares, 476 shares being owned by Rufus S. Frost, of Chelsea, Massachusetts; eight shares by T. A. Wick- ham, and four each by Edward G. Schieffelin, Henry L. Baldwin, C. B. Farr and J. E. Sweetland, of Tioga. T. A. Wickham has been the superintendent of the company since its organization.

HOSE COMPANIES.

The Park Hose Company was organized in 1874. Its membership was made up of the leading citizens and the most active young men of the borough. It did good service whenever called upon, and won many honors in the tournaments of the county's firemen.

Smead Hose Company, No. 1, the successor of the Park Hose Company, was organized June 2, 1893, and was named in honor of E. A. Smead, who was then burgess. The names of the charter members and the first officers of this organi- zation, are as follows: W. C. Adams, president; I. L. Rich, vice-president; Daniel Berry, treasurer; W. C. Wells, secretary; H. Pickering, chief engineer; George Abrams, foreman; E. D. Brigham, first assistant; George M. Rice, second assistant; J. F. Decker, Alfred J. Dewey, A. A. Porter, F. D. Reynolds, E. B. Smith, W. Marsh, W. J. Hughes, Royal Wheeler, F. L. Aiken, John Day, John J. Davis, Jr., Daniel Holleran, B. B. Rundall, F. W. Shappee, John Kreiger, W. Jack and Herman Kemp.

FIRE AND FLOOD.

On the evening of February 9, 1871, a fire, originating in the restaurant of the basement of A. C. Bush's store, resulted in the destruction of the business portion of the borough. It swept away thirteen stores, the Protestant Episcopal church and rectory, the Methodist Episcopal church building, one law office, one wagon shop, the bank building, the old Goodrich Hotel and the newer Smith Hotel buildings, a marble shop, two dwellings and a number of outbuildings. The loss of these, with their contents, though severely felt by their owners, proved, in the end, of benefit to the borough. Aside from calling into activity a

519

TIOGA BOROUGH.

latent spirit of enterprise, and giving to the borough a new impetus in the direction of progress and prosperity, it led to the establishment of fire limits, and the passage of an ordinance prohibiting the erection of wooden buildings within the burnt district. The work of rebuilding was promptly begun, and it was not long before the old wooden structures were replaced by substantial and sightly buildings of brick and stone. These not only add much to the appearance of the business portion of the borough, but afford a reasonable security against a repetition of the calamity.

Early on the morning of Saturday, June 1, 1889, the people of the borough were aroused from their slumbers by an invasion of the waters of Crooked creek and the Tioga river into the lower stories of their houses. These streams, swollen by the incessant rains of the previous day and night, had overflowed their banks, and had risen with unprecedented rapidity. In a few hours the water stood from one to six feet deep in the residences, and was over the counter tops of most of the stores in the borough. So sudden and rapid was the rise, coming as it did in the last hours of the night when the people of the borough were wrapped in slumber, that there was no time to prepare for it. Millions of feet of logs, lumber and timber, borne on the rushing and rapidly rising current, added terror to the situation, threatening, as they did, the entire destruction of the town. The people fled to the upper stories of their buildings or sought safety on the hillsides, and many stories of remarkable escapes from death are related by those who were taken unawares by the sudden rising of the waters, which attained a height of four or five feet beyond any other flood in the history of the borough. The lodgement of logs, lumber, outbuildings, etc., in the ten-acre orchard at the back of the A. C. Bush residence, proved providential, and prevented many build- ings from being torn from their foundations and carried down stream. The breaking of Crooked creek through the embankment southeast of the borough, added volume to the flood and peril to the situation, and for a time the entire destruction of the place seemed imminent. The flood attained its greatest height in about four hours, and receded as rapidly as it rose, leaving the streets, yards, gardens, and vacant lots filled with logs and a miscellaneous accumulation of trash and debris. The carpets, floors and submerged contents of residences and business houses were covered with a deposit of several inches of mud, and furniture, books, goods, etc., were either greatly damaged or utterly ruined. The loss of property, within the borough limits alone, exceeded $50,000, the heaviest individual losers being Robert Bishop and T. A. Wickham. The box factory of the former, on Park street, was badly wrecked, and nearly his entire stock of lumber, including 200,000 feet of box pine, was carried away. His loss was $7,000. Mr. Wickham lost logs and lumber to the value of $5,000. Growing crops in fields and gardens were destroyed, and it was months before the streets, alleys and individual grounds were cleared of the logs, lumber and debris of the flood, and the borough resumed its former neat and attractive appearance. As in the case of the fire of 1871, measures were immediately taken to prevent a recurrence of the disaster.

The following entry relative to this inundation appears in the record book of the borough clerk, under date of June 1, 1889:

520

HISTORY OF TIOGA COUNTY.

GREAT FLOOD

Water higher, by four and a half to five feet, than ever known here before. This book was under water six to eight hours. The streets were filled with logs, flood trash and outbuildings, after the water went down.

This flood, and the damage to property resulting from it, led the council to provide for the construction of a dyke along the west bank of the Tioga river, from the southern limit of the borough to the foot of Broad street. This dyke, which cost between $2,000 and $3,000, is above high water mark, and will, it is believed, protect the borough from further inundation.

CHAPTER XLIV.

LAWRENCE TOWNSHIP AND LAWRENCEVILLE *.

TOWNSHIP ORGANIZATION-SELECTION OF NAME-BOUNDARIES AND AREA-PHYSICAL FEATURES-EARLY LAND TROUBLES-CONFLICTING CLAIMS OF PENNSYLVANIA AND CONNECTICUT-FINAL SETTLEMENT OF THE DISPUTE-THE STATE LINE SURVEY-HON. SAMUEL BAKER, THE FIRST WHITE SETTLER-OTHER EARLY SET- TLERS-THE BOROUGH OF LAWRENCEVILLE-MANUFACTURING AND BUSINESS ENTERPRISES-PHYSICIANS AND LAWYERS-NEWSPAPERS-SCHOOLS-CHURCHES, SABBATH-SCHOOLS AND CEMETERIES-JUSTICES AND BURGESSES-SOCIETIES- HORACETOWN.

DRIOR to 1816 the township of Tioga, which originally included all of Tioga county, had been reduced by the formation of other townships, to a terri- tory six and one-half miles wide from east to west, extending from its present southern boundary north, nine and three-fourths miles to the State line. At the February term of court, 1816, a petition was presented, signed by Joseph M. McCormick, John Ryon, Jr., James Baldwin, Nathaniel Seely, Emmer Bowen, Andrew Bosard, Joseph Bennet, John Hazlett, Ebenezer Baldwin, John Alling- ton and James Daily, praying for a certain described territory, comprising the northern part of Tioga and the eastern part of Elkland, to be erected into a separate township. Whereupon, February 22, 1816, the court appointed Charles Blanchard, John Cady and Daniel Walker, viewers, who at the following term reported in favor of setting off the new township, and the report was confirmed nisi. At the September term following (September 16), "upon the petition of divers inhabitants of the townships of Tioga and Elkland, setting forth that a

* By Rev. David Craft, of Lawrenceville.

Yours with Respect James Fordo

521

LAWRENCE TOWNSHIP AND LAWRENCEVILLE.

township hath lately been formed out of part of each of the townships of Elkland and Tioga, which township, if confirmed by order of the court, will be injurious and burdensome" to the inhabitants of said townships, and therefore "pray the court to appoint suitable persons to review the same. The court upon due con- sideration do order and appoint Ebenezer Seelye, Elihu Hill and Lorentes Jack- son, to review the township thus laid off as aforesaid and enquire into the pro- priety of forming the same." At the following December term (December 6), the reviewers reported as follows: "That we consider the convenience of a more compact township to overbalance the expense that will eventually arise from such division, therefore, think proper that the new township begin at the ninety-fifth mile- stone of the York State line; thence south four miles to a hemlock corner; thence east eight miles and a half to a stake; thence north four miles to the State line; thence along said State line [west] to the place of beginning. The report having been read the first time on the 17th of this month, December, and a second time on the 18th instant, the court (consisting of Hon. James Burnside, president; Ira Kilburn and Samuel W. Morris, associate judges) do approve and confirm the same, and order and direct that it be entered of record, according to the courses and distances aforesaid, and in grateful remembrance of the gallant James Law- rence, of the United States navy, who fell in the action between the Chesapeake and the Shannon, call this township Lawrence."

The township as thus described is bounded on the north by the New York state line, on the east by Jackson, on the south by Tioga and Farmington, on the west by Farmington and Nelson, and contains thirty-four square miles, 20,760 acres, nearly all of which is arable land. The Tioga river enters the south line of the township about three miles from its southeast corner, takes a course a little west of north, leaving the township a few rods east of the ninetieth milestone. The Cowanesque, its principal affluent, enters the township from the west, about a mile and a half south from its northwest corner, flows in a mean northeasterly direction, leaves the township between the ninetieth and ninety-first milestones, and empties itself into the Tioga a short distance north of the State line. These streams flow through broad valleys, whose rich soil, of deep alluvium, is very pro- ductive and adapted to great variety of culture. While all crops are remu- nerative, of late years tobacco has been the leading product. The valleys are bounded by low ranges of hills from 500 to 600 feet in height, when they spread out in broken plateaus, which, until recently, were heavily timbered, but now contain some of the best farms in the county. The principal streams that fall into the Tioga from the east are, Smith's, Hart's and Westbrook creeks, which, having their heads in the plateau above the river flats, have cut deep ravines through the soft shales, not wide enough for farming purposes, but affording magnificent scenery and beautiful drives on roads of easy grades. The Tioga branch of the Erie railway is built in the ravine of Westbrook creek. On the west there are no affluents of any size within the limits of the township. A creek of considerable size, having its sources in the Farmington hills, flows into the Cowanesque at Tompkins, the only affluent of much volume it receives after enter- ing the township.

522

HISTORY OF TIOGA COUNTY.

EARLY LAND TROUBLES.

Those familiar with Pennsylvania history will remember that the charter of the Connecticut Colony gave her a territory extending through its entire breadth of latitude from Charles river to the Pacific ocean, except where occupied by some other Christian prince or State. The territory subsequently granted to William Penn lapped upon this grant more than the width of one degree of latitude, across the entire northern part of Pennsylvania. Connecticut claimed this on the ground that her charter was nineteen years older than Penn's. Ac- cordingly, in 1754, she assigned to certain freemen and their associates, known as the Susquehanna Company, that portion of her territory from ten miles east of the northeast branch of the Susquehanna river, westward through the whole breadth of latitude, two degrees of longitude, or one hundred twenty miles, or measured on the State boundary line from the forty-sixth to the one hundred sixty-sixth milestone-from the eastern part of Bradford county to the Tuna valley in Mckean. The strifes, conflicts, captures, reprisals, destruction of property, special legislation, compromises and law suits, growing out of this claim, which disturbed the Susquehanna valley for half a century, cannot here be discussed. The New England settlers believing the Pennsylvania government had taken an unfair advantage of the "Decree of Trenton," made December 30, 1782, which conceded to Pennsylvania the jurisdiction and pre-emption of the disputed strip, by the oppressive, unreasonable and tyrannical legislation, which had been harshly enforced against them, a meeting was held at Hartford, July 13, 1785, at which it was resolved that the company would support its claim to the purchase, protect the settlers and give as a gratuity a large number of rights to such as would come upon the ground and maintain by force and arms, if need be, their possessions. This resolution was scattered broadcast over New England and hundreds, mostly young men, or relatives of the old settlers, rushed upon the disputed territory.

In disposing of their lands, the company surveyed them into townships as nearly five miles square as the conformity of the land would allow, each con- taining twenty-five square miles, or 16,000 acres, which were divided into fifty- three shares or rights of 300 acres each, fifty of which were for settlers and three for public use. Hamilton, which embraced the present borough of Lawrence- ville, was granted as early as 1790. May 30, 1796, Major Zephon Flower, the surveyor of the Susquehanna Company, ran the projection of the east line of it for fifteen miles. His field notes read: "A survey of part of Hemlenton and other towns." Beginning at the eighty-ninth milestone he indicates the streams crossed and their courses, with observations as to the timber, quality of land, etc.

The earliest emigrants into this county were mostly young men from New England and eastern New York, either single or recently married, who, availing themselves of the liberal offers of the Susquehanna Company, thought to secure for themselves, at small price, farms and homes on the rich bottom lands of the Tioga and the Cowanesque. Their route was by the way of the Susquehanna and Tioga rivers through Athens, Newtown, now Elmira, and Painted Post to their destination.

Immediately after the purchase of the Indian claim by Pennsylvania to the

523

LAWRENCE TOWNSHIP AND LAWRENCEVILLE.

northwestern portion of her territory, the land office was opened and the land sur- veyed and offered for sale at a price which was soon reduced to six and one-fourth cents per acre. Speculation ran wild. Philadelphia merchants, bankers, men hold- ing public office and others invested to the utmost limit of their money and credit. As early as May, 1785, warrants of survey were laid on both sides of the rivers, and patents were granted on some of them as early as 1792. Great efforts were made to sell these warrants to settlers, but the uncertainty about title led them to hesitate in making investments. Men who had embarked in these speculations soon found themselves greatly embarrassed and unable to make their payments. Their lands were sold by sheriffs and United States marshals for taxes and warrant fees, and many were hopelessly ruined.

In the meanwhile, after pursuing a vacillating course toward the Connecticut people for more than sixteen year, in 1799, the Pennsylvania legislature reached a settled policy in its dealings with them. The confirming law passed that year, with its various supplements, made a distinction between the Susquehanna Com- pany's settlers prior to the Decree of Trenton and those who came later-"half- share men"-confirming the titles of the former to the lands they occupied, and, using the language of an eminent judge, "cutting up the pretended titles of the half-share men by the roots."

The question of title being settled the landholders, in 1806, appointed as their agent Thomas Overton, of Ulster, Bradford county, who came here in the summer of that year, and with great tact and persuasion prevailed upon most of the settlers to abandon their worthless Connecticut titles and buy of the Pennsylvania owners. The people had no money. The little they once had, had been expended in the purchase of their Connecticut rights and the improvement of their farms. Mr. Overton, however, arranged easy terms of payment, which was secured by bond and mortgage upon the holding. He was succeeded by Michael R. Tharp, who adjusted the great majority of titles and is still remembered by the older people. The first volume of records in the recorder's office in this county is mostly filled with mort- gages upon farms along the river given to secure the payment of the purchase money, and many of the deeds contain a warranty which can only be understood by remem- bering that to a part or the whole of the land conveyed there was an adverse title from another State.

In 1786 commissioners and surveyors began to run the boundary line between the States of New York and Pennsylvania, beginning at the Delaware river and going westward. When reaching the ninetieth milestone, which stands near the northeast corner of William Kuhl's barn, in the borough of Lawrenceville, they suspended work until the following spring, when it was resumed. At the re-survey of this line, in 1879, astronomical observations were taken at this point, which was found to be exactly 42° 00' .01'10".14 north latitude, the exact parallel cutting the houses on the north side of State street. At the time of running this line there was not a white settler farther up the Tioga than Painted Post. The open plains at the junc- tion of the Cowanesque, where generations before the red man had cultivated his corn and squashes, had now grown up in hazel bushes, or were covered with wild grass higher than a man's head, but as yet no white man had sought it for a habitation or located upon its fertile meadows his future home.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Tioga County, Pennsylvania, Part 66

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