History of Tioga County, Pennsylvania, Part 68

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

USA > Pennsylvania > Tioga County > History of Tioga County, Pennsylvania > Part 68

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).

Lyman and Calvin Pritchard, two brothers, came about the time or a little after Mr. Cady* and settled the farm next above him, Calvin on the farm afterwards owned by his son, the late William Pritchard, and Lyman the next above. The family is of Welsh origin, but were at Wyoming, where their father was taken captive by the Indians and never heard of after. The sons, with their aged mother,

came to Athens, then went to Owego, and later to Lawrenceville. Lyman mar- ried a daughter of William Allington, a blacksmith, who came about the same time as the Pritchards, and lived in a little house east of Abram Walker's. He was physically a powerful man, and held a prominent place in the little com- munity. He went west where he died. Calvin married a daughter of Hosea Kennedy, who was also an early settler on the Cowanesque. Mr. Pritchard for many years carried the mail on horseback from Painted Post to Williamsport over the Williamson road. One night while riding along rather slowly, a panther dropped from a tree upon his horse, but got off without doing injury to either horse or postman, except a big scare. The brothers were joint owners of a saw- mill, where much of the superb pine, which once covered their farms, was manu- factured into lumber. They were both men of good education for the times, raised large families, and died upon the farms they first settled.

It has been asserted that in 1800 Tioga county contained only ten families, sixty white persons and seven negroes. There were, however, that many families within the bounds of Lawrence township. The population of the township at the time of its organization, 1816, has not been ascertained. In 1818 the as- sessment enumerated forty-six taxables, with 5,520 acres of improved land, 692 unimproved, one grist-mill, six saw-mills, one tannery, and a valuation of $13,621. Among the persons here at that time the following deserve mention:

Ira Kilburn, son of Elijah Kilburn, was born in Colchester, Connecticut, Oc- tober 29, 1772; at twenty was prepared for college; pursued his collegiate studies at Williams and Yale, and graduated in 1796. After teaching a year in Westerly, Rhode Island, in company with Drs. Lee and Collings, he engaged in mercantile business for a couple of years, when he began the study of law with Hon. Cod- dington Billings, of his native town, whence after three years he entered the office of Judge Gilbert, of Hebron, intending to present himself for admission to the bar at the next term of court, when unforseen circumstances called him to Tioga county in the latter part of 1802. Here he purchased an extensive tract of land,

* In an interview with the late Hiram Pritchard of Corning, New York, he with great positiveness put the date of the coming in 1792, yet hoth he and others say the Cadys came first, hut Cady was here not earlier than 1795.

532

HISTORY OF TIOGA COUNTY.

embracing a large portion of Lawrenceville, and 1,100 acres on the east side of the Tioga, devised by Josiah Lockhart to the First Presbyterian church of Lan- caster, and by it sold to Mr. Kilburn. Here, on almost the exact site of the rail- road station, he erected a saw and grist-mill, which he operated for many years. In 1808 he was elected a commissioner of Tioga county, and September 18th, of the same year, commissioned justice of the peace. August 3, 1811, he was com- missioned a colonel by Governor Snyder, and commanded a regiment of militia. February 6, 1812, he was made postmaster of Lawrenceville, and at the same time was United States mail contractor. July 13, 1812, he was commissioned an as- sociate judge of Tioga county and held this important office nearly twenty-eight years. On retiring from the bench in 1840, he was again elected justice of the peace, "and in the next four years disposed of over 800 cases brought before him." He also held nearly every office in the town and borough. He died in Lawrence- ville in 1854, aged eighty-one years. He married Sally Ross, June 20, 1803, and their children were Wells, Harriett, Ralph Lee, Eliza Ann, Adaline and Charles Lawrence. Judge Kilburn was an honest, upright man, a large contributor to every benevolent enterprise, and is still remembered as one of the foremost men of his day in this community.

John Gordon settled on the farm now owned by Mr. Patchin, near Tioga Junction, prior to 1803. He was born in Scotland, in March, 1761. While at school he was impressed into the British military service, was put into the Fifty- third regiment, sent to this country during the Revolutionary War, and dis- charged in December, 1779. He chose to remain in the United States, attended school for a time, married Sarah Rathbone, and settled in Berkshire county, Mas- sachusetts. He was second cousin to Lord Byron, (whose untitled name was George Noel Gordon), and his wife was first cousin to Commodore Perry, of Lake Erie fame. He secured the Pennsylvania title to 240 acres of land, which he sub- sequently sold, and moved within the present limits of Tioga township. His family are dead or left the county. John Maine, connected by marriage with the Gordons, settled about the same time on a farm of 286 acres between Gordon and Benjamin Westbrook. Here he built a saw-mill, and sold his property to Jesse Smith and William Babcock, of Ontario county, New York, September 2, 1816, and later moved to Sullivan township.

Capt. Eleazer Baldwin settled near the village of Lawrenceville in March, 1806. His grandfather, John Baldwin, a prosperous farmer and merchant, lived in Nor- wich, Connecticut, and had two sons, one, Jabez, served through the entire Revo- lutionary War, and Rufus, the father of Eleazer, who assisted in the erection of Dartmouth College, Eleazer as a lad assisting to haul the logs of which the first buildings were constructed. Leaving Dartmouth school, Eleazer came to Geneva, New York, where he was for some time in the employ of Colonel Williamson. About 1800 he came up Sugar creek to Troy, Pennsylvania, where he married Betsy Stevens, and in March, 1806, came to Lawrence township, where he died in 1831. In 1813 he was collector of taxes, and an active man of affairs until the day of his death. His sons Buel, Moses and Thomas L., were farmers and lumbermen. Buel and Thomas subsequently moved to Tioga, while Moses re- mained in Lawrence, and died on the farm where his widow now lives.

533

LAWRENCE TOWNSHIP AND LAWRENCEVILLE.

Dr. Simeon Powers came to Lawrenceville in 1805, but remained here only a brief period. Removing to Knoxville, he lived at that place until 1808, and then located in Tioga. In 1821 he returned to Lawrenceville, which remained his home until his death. His practice extended over a vast territory; westward up the Cowanesque into Potter county, south as far as Williamsport and north to Addison, Painted Post and Bath. In 1815 he was elected the second sheriff of Tioga county, holding the office for three years. The doctor built the "red house," on Cowanesque street, Lawrenceville, where he died in December, 1863, in the eightieth year of his age. He came to Tioga county a single man, but mar- ried Polly, a daughter of Obadiah Inscho.

Daniel Walker was born at Nescopeck, Pennsylvania, in 1778. At ten years of age came with his father, George Walker, to Nichols, New York, and thence to Lawrenceville in 1810, and settled upon the farm now owned by his son, Abram Walker. The deed bears date December 2, 1815. Some one, whose name is unknown, had made a settlement here before Walker came. In 1811 he mar- ried Margaret, daughter of Thomas Wilson. She died in 1836 and he in 1854. His son, Abram, an octogenarian, whose wife was Amy Reep, is still living on the old homestead, while his daughter, Amy, married Austin Lathrop, and died in 1850.

Hon. James Ford was born in Morristown, New Jersey, March 4, 1783. At the early age of thirteen he went to New York to learn the mercantile business, where he remained six years. In 1814 he had a store at Watson's, a mile north of the Pennsylvania state line; in 1816 he is spoken of as a merchant in Painted Post, and in that year he removed to Lawrenceville and built the mansion now occupied by his grandson, George Shumway. When the frame of the building was erected, the people for twenty miles around had been invited to the raising. At its christen- ing, as was then the custom, the various names by which the place had been known, such as "Bachelorsville," "Shaver's Point," "Rogue's Harbor," etc., were discarded, and that of Lawrence adopted, in honor of Captain Lawrence, of "Don't give up the ship" fame. Mr. Ford became the most extensive business man in Tioga county, especially as merchant, lumberman and dealer in real estate. To him and Judge Kilburn Lawrenceville is largely indebted for its broad streets, deeds for lots specify- ing that Main street, a part of the Williamson road, should be eighty feet wide. As a business man Mr. Ford was intelligent and energetic. At his mills large quantities of lumber were cut and floated down the river, and grain was purchased which was manufactured into flour for southern markets. He served acceptably two terms in the state legislature, 1824 and 1825, and two in Congress, elected in 1828 and 1830. He died in 1859 and was laid to rest in the Lindsley family burying ground, where sleep many of the pioneers of this valley.

Dr. Curtis Parkhurst, a native of Marlborough, where he was born in 1794, came to Lawrenceville in 1818 and built up a large professional practice. He was elected to the legislature in 1827, sheriff in 1840, and appointed an associate judge in 1847, and was a man of prominence and influence.

Hiram Beebe, who came in 1815, was the first merchant. In 1840 he removed his business to Nelson, but retained his home in Lawrenceville until his death. He was a prominent business man and a leading politician. His brother, Anson Beebe,

534

HISTORY OF TIOGA COUNTY.

with his brother-in-law, Asa Lincoln, both of whom came in 1817, were engaged with Hiram in the manufacture of gloves and mittens for years.

Among the other early settlers of prominence were Joseph McCormick, Samuel McDougall, who came from Washington county, New York, was county surveyor from 1827 to 1836, and died in 1859, aged seventy-six; Job Geer, a leading con- tractor and builder, who erected the court house at Wellsboro; Daniel Cook and others who became identified with the development and upbuilding of the township.

Such were the leading men among the settlers up to 1831, in which year the settlements were practically confined to the river flats, the hillsides remaining, for the most part, a wilderness. Year by year, however, the timber was stripped from these and the adjacent uplands, and the land placed under cultivation, until, in time, the entire township was transformed into well-tilled and productive fields. In 1890 the population of the township was 1,017, and of Lawrenceville borough 441, making a total for both of 1,458.

THE BOROUGH OF LAWRENCEVILLE.

From the first, the natural advantages of its situation made the junction of the two rivers the business center for a large outlying territory, which, with the rapid development of the lumber manufacturing, so enhanced its importance as to render a municipal organization desirable. Accordingly, by an act of legis- lature, approved March 21, 1831, that part of the township of Lawrence, bounded on the north by the State line; on the east by the Tioga river; on the south by Ira Kilburn's south line, and on the west by James Ford's west line, was erected into the "Borough of Lawrenceville," and in a few weeks the borough government went into operation.

The completion of the Chemung canal to Corning, in 1834, and of the Tioga railroad a few years later gave a great impulse to business. From 1840 to 1855 the lumber trade was at its zenith. A perfect lumber fever prevailed. In the spring season and on every freshet, the Tioga and Cowanesque rivers were literally crowded with rafts of logs, lumber and timber, and ark loads of shingles. Two hundred million feet annually passed through Lawrenceville, exclusive of the large amount manufactured at or near the town. Merchants did a heavy business. Stores, shops, hotels, churches and private residences were erected during this fever, which began to subside in 1856. The forests, which had yielded such large revenue and given employment to so much capital and labor, had been swept away, and the soil, though good, was covered with stumps, brush and undergrowth, or had been swept by devastating fires. In a few years the borough, which had been the commercial metropolis of the county, was prostrate and has never recovered its former prosperity.

It is said "misfortunes never come single." Lawrenceville was visited by two very destructive fires just when every line of business was paralyzed. The first occurred in 1867, and the other in 1868. These fires burned out the center and business portion of the village, and destroyed property to the amount of $160,000. The town has never recovered from this blow, the burnt district being still mostly covered by cheap board structures. Although advantageously situated at the junction of the Tioga and Cowanesque Valley railroads with the main line of the

535

LAWRENCE TOWNSHIP AND LAWRENCEVILLE.

Fall Brook, yet its population does not exceed 800 souls. One general store, two groceries, a feed. and a notion store, two furniture stores, two blacksmith, and two wagon and one carpenter shop, two markets, a drug store, three physicians, one lawyer, two clergymen, two jewelers, two barbers, an undertaker and a shoemaker, a newspaper, two justices and a hotel represent the principal business places of the borough.

MANUFACTURING AND BUSINESS ENTERPRISES. 1

Adam Hart, who settled at Somer's Lane, and who was a man of enterprise, erected a distillery and a saw-mill on the little stream that still bears his name. They were among the earliest in the county. In 1812 Hart was assessed as an innkeeper. He removed to Mansfield in 1823. His brother, George Hart, appears to have had an interest with him in these enterprises.

Joseph Middaugh, who married a daughter of George Hart, and lived near him, was an early saw-mill owner and operator.

Lyman and Calvin Pritchard, who settled on the Cowanesque, on the farm owned by the late William Pritchard, were joint owners in a saw-mill erected during the earlier years of the present century.

Ira Kilburn, who settled in Lawrenceville in 1802, erected a few years later, a saw-mill and a grist-mill, on almost the exact site of the present railroad station. These he carried on for many years. He also erected a distillery a short distance south of the station, which was operated by himself and Hiram Beebe.

John Maine, who settled between the farms of John Gordon and Benjamin Westbrook, about 1803, built a saw-mill which he operated until September 2, 1816, when he sold it to Jesse Smith and William Babcock, of Ontario county, New York.

James Ford, who located in Lawrenceville in 1816, and immediately engaged in mercantile business, soon afterward erected a saw-mill and grist-mill on the north side of the Cowanesque river, above the mill now owned and operated by Nathaniel Eaton. The Ford grist-mill was burned and rebuilt several times and was owned successively by James Ford, his son, C. H. L. Ford, Augustus Wolz and Nathaniel Eaton, who has run the present mill about twelve years. It stands some dis- tance below the site of the early mills, and is operated by water power.

The foregoing are the principal early enterprises. In 1823 there were in Lawrenceville and in the township three grist-mills, five saw-mills, two distilleries, one tannery, two blacksmith shops, one chairmaker and one cooper. During the lumbering activity, which came later, the number of enterprises was largely in- creased, and every branch of industry prospered.

The first store in Lawrenceville was started in 1815 by Hiram Beebe and a man named Hollabert. Mr. Beebe, who attained prominence as a merchant and poli- tician, continued in business until 1840, when he opened a store in Nelson in con- nection with Hunt Pomeroy, father of the late Mark M. Pomeroy, otherwise known as "Brick" Pomeroy, editor of the LaCrosse Democrat. The second store was opened in 1816 by James Ford, who soon became the principal merchant of the place. Others followed as the population of the village and township increased.

Adam Hart's wayside inn, at Somer's Lane, was the first public house in the township. The first hotel in Lawrenceville was built about 1817 by Enos

536

HISTORY OF TIOGA COUNTY.

Slosson. After his death it was kept by Samuel Besler. Mrs. Slosson married Eben McDougall, who kept the house for a number of years. Then came James Baldwin, of Addison, and H. H. Potter. The latter removed to Tioga in 1833, and was succeeded by Clark Slosson. This old hotel was burned in the fire of 1867. In 1826 John Barnes built a hotel on the site of the present Hotel Kirkland, which he conducted until about 1835. Among his successors were S. B. Denton, Job Geer, Barney McDougall, George Jordan and Lewis Daggett. It burned about twenty years ago, and was rebuilt by Mr. Daggett. He and his sons, Seth and Wells Dag- gett, were the landlords to February, 1890, when the property was leased to F. G. Kirkland, who purchased it January 1, 1894. He has proven a popular and suc- cessful landlord.

PHYSICIANS AND LAWYERS.

Dr. Ralph Kilburn, a brother of Judge Ira Kilburn, came to Lawrenceville in 1804, and practiced until 1840, when he went to live with a sister near Rochester, New York, where he died. He was never married. Dr. Simeon Power first came to Lawrenceville in 1805. He soon removed to Knoxville and later to Tioga, re- turning to Lawrenceville in 1821, where he died in December, 1863. His brother, Dr. Pliny Power, came a few years later. He practiced in Lawrenceville, Canoe Camp and Tioga until 1835, when he removed to Michigan, where he died. Dr. Curtis Parkhurst came to Lawrenceville in 1818, and practiced his profession until his death. He was elected to the legislature in 1827 and sheriff in 1840. Dr. Lewis Darling came from Wellsboro to Lawrenceville in 1831, and practiced in Lawrence- ville until his death. His son, Dr. Lewis Darling, Jr., and grandson, Dr. A. L. Darling, both physicians of skill and reputation, are in practice in Lawrenceville. A fuller reference to each of them will be found in their biographical sketches. Dr. Milton Pardee Orton located in Lawrenceville in 1834, and practiced until 1862, when he became a surgeon in the United States service. He died at Hatteras Inlet, February 2, 1864. Locke Granger, a graduate of Geneva Medical College, came to Lawrenceville in 1841, and for a time was a partner with Dr. Lewis Darling, Sr., but later practiced alone. He died in 1883. Dr. Van Horn, a homeopathist, came to Lawrenceville in the early seventies, but removed, a few years later, to Elmira, New York. Dr. J. B. Smith came to Lawrenceville in 1890, and has built up a good practice. He and Drs. Lewis and A. L. Darling comprise the present resident physicians.

The legal profession has been well represented in Lawrenceville. Hon. Ira Kilburn, though not in regular practice, served for many years as an associate judge and as justice of the peace, and was prominently identified with the legal history of the county. Clarendon Rathbone came to Lawrenceville in 1820, and practiced about twenty years, when he removed to Blossburg. John W. Maynard, who came to Lawrenceville with his parents in 1828, practiced here until the spring of 1833, when he removed to Tioga. Newell F. Higgins, who located in Lawrenceville about 1829, remained two years and removed to Williamsport. Norman H. Purple studied under Higgins, and practiced in Lawrenceville until 1837, when he removed to Peoria, Illinois. Pardon Damon came to Lawrenceville about 1826, studied law with Purple and Judge Knox, and practiced in Lawrenceville until his death. John C.

537

LAWRENCE TOWNSHIP AND LAWRENCEVILLE.

Knox, afterwards eminent as a judge of the State Supreme Court, practiced in Law- reuceville in the later thirties and early forties. John W. Ryon, a native of Elk- land, came to Lawrenceville in 1847, and practiced until 1863, when he removed to Pottsville. Wallace P. Ryon, a brother of Hon. John W. Ryon, has been in practice in Lawrenceville since 1882. D. C. Harrower, a son of Hon. G. T. Harrower, was adınitted to the bar of Tioga county and practiced in Lawrenceville until 1894, when he removed to Wilkes-Barre.

NEWSPAPERS.

In August, 1840, the late William Adams, of Mansfield, then the editor and proprietor of the Tioga Democrat, published at Tioga, sold a half interest in the paper to John C. Knox, Hiram Beebe, James Ford and Dr. Curtis Parkhurst, of Lawrenceville, who removed the plant and paper to that place, and changed the name of the paper to the Lawrence Sentinel. Mr. Adams subsequently sold his re- maining interest to Mr. Knox. Two years later the latter sold it to Asa H. Carey, who removed it, so it is said, to Troy, Pennsylvania. The Sentinel was Democratic in politics. Lawrenceville was without a paper then until 1871, when Henry C. Mills established the Valley Enterprise. A year or two later he removed the plant to Mansfield. In 1879 the Lawrenceville Herald was established by A. Redfield & Son, who conducted it until 1889, when it passed into the hands of Dr. Lewis Darling, Jr. . Early in 1890 he sold it to Wallace P. Ryon. On February 1, 1892, Leon A. Church became associated with Mr. Ryon in the publication of the Herald, which relation- ship still continues. The paper is well conducted, has a good circulation, and is de- voted principally to matters of local interest.

SCHOOLS.

From the first, as might have been expected from their New England origin, the people of Lawrence were careful to provide for the education of their children. As early and probably before 1800, there was a school at Hart's and one at Pritchard's. At the latter place Lyman Pritchard taught for several winters. Later another school house was built near the farm now owned by Norman H. Ryan, and in 1824 one was erected at Tompkins. On the Tioga the first school house was built near Reep's, which was abandoned and another put up at Somer's Lane (Hart's). These were log structures, built by the people who lived in the vicinity, and rudely finished and furnished. The Hart school house was burned one night during a term of school. The next day the inhabitants came together and before night the logs for another house were put up. There was not a box of glass to be had nearer than Painted Post, but Mr. Baldwin went up on horse back and brought a box, and another neighbor gathered grain sufficient to purchase books, which was also taken to Painted Post, and every school book in the place was secured. In a week from the time the old house was burned the new one was completed, and the school continued. In 1834 school directors were elected under the com- mon school law of the State, as follows: William Updegraff, Clarendon Rath- bone, Horace Frizelle, Abisha Baker, Job Geer and Rufus Baldwin. Job Geer was elected president; C. Rathbone, secretary, and Wells Kilburn, appointed treasurer. The township was divided into five sub-districts, two on the Cowanesque,

538

HISTORY OF TIOGA COUNTY.

two on the Tioga, and one at Lawrenceville. There are now seven districts in the township, outside of Lawrenceville, which forms a separate district. The school houses are well built and well furnished, and good schools are maintained, the average in the borough being eight, and in the township seven months each year.

The Lawrenceville Academy was incorporated September 21, 1848. The first board of trustees was constituted as follows: James Ford, Curtis Parkhurst, E. D. Wells, Milton P. Orton and Micajah Seelye. A building was erected and was opened for the reception of students-both sexes being admitted-about 1852. George Barker, the first principal, remained about two years. His suc- cessor, Thomas Benton, had charge two years. Rev. Roswell Brooks, who fol- lowed him, died within a year, and his wife succeeded him. Then came William Merris, who died within two years after taking charge. His successors were Dr. Milton Pardee Orton and Rev. Sidney Mills. The Academy was maintained until about 1860, when the property was transferred to the borough for public school purposes, and the building has since been used and occupied by the borough graded schools. Dr. Lewis Darling, Jr., who was a student at the Academy, says it was an excellent school, and that it was largely attended, students coming from the "Southern Tier," of New York, and from various parts of Pennsylvania. The course of study was intended to prepare the student for college, and the in- struction was thorough.

CHURCHES, SABBATH-SCHOOLS AND CEMETERIES.

The Baptists were probably the earliest to hold religious worship in Law- rence. Elder John Drew, whose wife was a sister of Eleazer Baldwin, came from Norwich, Connecticut, about the same time as Baldwin, raised a family and remained here until his death. Elder David Rathbone-a graduate of Yale Col- lege, where he had taken a master's degree, and a man of great ability-came about 1813. He ministered to the little companies gathered at various points, until August 23, 1823, when he was instantly killed by the overturning of his carriage. He was at the time about sixty years of age. Both he and Mr. Drew are buried in the old cemetery west of the village. He was followed by Elder Thomas S. Sheardown, Elisha Booth and others. A church was organized in 1813, across the line in Tioga township, at the home of Benjamin Bentley, of which many of the Baptists, resident in Lawrence township, became members. No church appears to have been organized in Lawrence township, or if organized, to have had anything but a brief existence.

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 68

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