USA > Pennsylvania > Tioga County > History of Tioga County, Pennsylvania, with Illustrations, portraits and sketches of prominent families and individuals > Part 34
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and wounded, holding its place in the most gallant man- ner and winning by its good conduct the special com- mendation of General Chamberlain, who himself received a dangerous wound. Major Merrick and Lieutenant Jonathan J. Jessup each lost a leg while leading their men in the charge.
" Major Merrick having been disabled by his wounds from further field service, the line officers joined in a petition to the governor of the commonwealth for the appointment of Captain John E. Parsons, who was then serving as assistant general of the brigade, to the com- mand. He was accordingly commissioned. Upon its arrival in the city [Washington] it was placed in Camp Cadwallader, and was employed in garrison and escort duty. Opportunity was given for thorough drill, which was studiously practiced. At the funeral obsequies of President Lincoln it was assigned to the head of the pro- cession on its way from the Baltimore depot to Inde- pendence Hall, and was left as a guard of honor while the remains lay in state. On the rith of May it was de- tached by companies for guard and provost duty in various parts of the State. Early in August, the war be- ing over, the companies rendezvoused at Harrisburg, where
WELLSBORO.
BY JOHN L. SEXTON JR.
W ELLSBORO is about midway on the eastern line of the township of Delmar, and the borough contains several thousand acres- sufficient area for a city of 100,000 inhab- itants. Its name was given in honor of Mrs. Mary Wells Morris, wife of Benjamin W. Morris and sister of William and Gideon Wells.
THE FOUNDERS OF THE BOROUGH.
the tract of land of about 800 acres where Wellsboro is now situated, and to bury himself and his sorrows in those wild regions. Accordingly, although then already past middle age, he brought his delicately nurtured wife and one unmarried daughter (Rebecca, who afterward became the wife of William Cox Ellis, of Muncy, Lycom- ing county) to undergo the hardships and privations of pioneer life in that unbroken wilderness. Most unwise in a financial point of view was this course, as it was the judgment of well informed contemporaries that his ware- house and vaults contained ample stock, if properly managed, to have discharged all his liabilities without trenching upon his real estate; but a real panic seems to have fallen upon him. He made the great sacrifice, and, although the family were withdrawn from a life of wealth and luxury, they carried with them to the wild woods their character of integrity and enterprise, and the edu- cation and culture which made them a power for good from the very founding of the new settlement.
Benjamin W. Morris was the eldest son of Samuel Morris, an eminent citizen of Philadelphia a hundred years ago, one of the leading merchants in that city, then the metropolis of the country, the seat of the provincial Legislature, the home of Washington, and of the repub- lican court, so-called. Dwellings and warehouses which he built are still pointed out in the older parts of the city, then the center of business and population. He was a member of the Pine Creek Company, composed of men of capital, who proposed to improve the interior of the State and open it up to population. He had invested One of the first acts of Mr. Morris was the erection of a small log " meeting-house " upon a lot in the newly-laid- out town. This was for many years the only church- as well as school-house-in all that region. Mr. Morris was by birth and education a member of the Society of Friends. commonly called Quakers, and always adhered to their customs, including silent worship and lay preach- ing when moved by the Divine Spirit. Some of the older citizens of Wellsboro can remember the homely in wild lands, and the subsequent development of the mineral and lumber wealth of these lands has proved that he and his associates were not mistaken in their esti- mate of their value. He had become security for a friend in Philadelphia, which involved him. In those days of hightoned mercantile honor and integrity a man who failed in business felt himself irretrievably disgraced, and the seemingly rash resolution was taken by him to turn over all his business and his property to meet the |little log meeting-house, though none can recall the ven- obligations incurred by his endorsements, excepting only lerable presence of the " old squire," as he was familiarly
THE MORRISES OF WELLSBORO-OTHER PIONEERS.
145
called by his neighbors, with his broad-brimmed hat and suit of sober brown-the regulation Quaker style. He was a tall and portly man, as were all the six sons of his father. That father, Quaker as he was, commanded the First City Troop of Cavalry at the battle of Princeton, and acted as a body guard to Washington during the campaign in New Jersey.
Benjamin Wistar Morris died in Wellsboro, November 6th 1819, aged 58 years. He was the first commissioned justice of the peace in Tioga county.
Samuel W. Morris was born in Philadelphia, in 1786, of Hon. Henry Boothe, of Chicago, Ill .; Charles Ellis Morris, a farmer near Norristown, Pa .; and Samuel Wells Morris, a farmer of Newark, N. J.
and accompanied his father, Benjamin Wistar Morris, to Wellsboro in 1799. He was educated at Princeton Col- lege, and subsequently became one of the most distin- guished citizens of Tioga county. He was one of the first associate judges of the county, and with J. Bannister Gibson and Ira Kilbourn presided at the first court held at Wellsboro. He was a gentleman of untiring energy and enterprise. On the property where Stokesdale is now situated, then known as " the Marsh," Judge Morris at a very early date erected a large grist-mill and saw- mill, and what is now miscalled a beaverdam was in reality built by him for supplying these mills with water. Morderica Moore was for many years in charge of the flouring-mill, and George March was the lumberman. Unfortunately much malaria was caused by the mill- pond, and, after many years' endurance of chills and fevers, upon one memorable day a party of "Crooked Creekers," disguised and styling themselves Creek In- dians, with heads decorated with green boughs, made a raid and tore the dam away. He was an ardent ad- vocate of the project of making the Tioga River naviga- ble; he succeeded in organizing the Tioga Navigation Company, and was its first president.
The last enterprise of a public nature in which he was engaged was the construction of the Tioga Railroad, to which he devoted ten of the best years of his life, labor- ing incessantly, from the incorporation of the Tioga Nav- igation Company in 1826 until he resigned the presidency of the company, when he was elected to Congress. For the accomplishment of this undertaking, and the develop- ment of the coal lands at Blossburg, he obtained the services of Richard C. Taylor, an eminent English en- gineer and geologist, who not only made a survey of the river for the navigation company and afterward the rail- road company, but also made a geological survey and examination of the minerals of the Blossburg coal region. Taylor's geological report was published chiefly at the expense of Judge Morris; it was a work much sought after, and is out of print and copies can rarely be found.
Judge Morris represented Tioga county in the popular branch of the State Legislature from 1831 to 1835, and was then elected to Congress. There was scarcely a pro- ject which had for its object the advancement of the public welfare that did not have his earnest and sub- stantial support. Besides those already mentioned the academy enterprise, the erection of suitable county build- ings, and the establishment of a press, received his en- couragement and aid.
Samuel W. Morris was married in 1807 to Anna Ellis, daughter of William Ellis, of Muncy. Their children were: William E. Morris, a civil engineer, who died in Philadelphia in September 1875; Louisa, who died in Philadelphia in August 1864: Mary, widow of the late James Lowrey; Sarah Ellis, wife of Doctor Joseph P. Morris, of Mansfield, l'a .; Susan Marriott, wife of Hon. John W. Guernsey, of Tioga; Benjamin Wistar Morris, missionary (Episcopal: bishop of Oregon; Rachael Wells, a resident of Portland, Oregon; Ellen, wife
Judge Morris died May 25th 1847, aged 62 years, and was buried in the cemetery on Academy Hill, Wellsboro; his remains have since been removed to the new ceme- tery which was located by James Bryden in 1856. Near the northeast corner of that cemetery is the plot belong- ing to the Morris family, which was selected when the new cemetery was laid out. There lie the remains of Mary Wells Morris, wife of Benjamin W. Morris, who was born in Philadelphia, September 16th 1761, and died in Wellsboro November 6th 1819. The grave of her husband is beside hers. There also are buried Anna, wife of Judge Samuel W. Morris, who was born in Muncy, Pa., May 7th 1791, and who died at German- town, January 26th 1858; and Louisa A., daughter of Samuel W. and Anna Morris, who was born in Wells- boro, November 18th 1829, and died August 4th 1864.
Henry Sly was one of the early settlers, and his son Harry was the first child born in the borough. He was born in a house which stood on the site of the old Wells- boro Hotel.
Daniel Kelsey, a pioneer in the settlement of Delmar and Wellsboro, was born in 1777; came to Tioga county in 1807, and purchased 100 acres of land in what is now Wellsboro. He was twice married-to a Miss Mather of Wellsboro, and to Rebecca Merrick, of Delaware; by the last named he had six children, three of whom are still living. Mr. Kelsey was prominent in the affairs of the township, and was for more than thirty years a magis- trate. He died at his residence in Wellsboro, in 1863, aged 86.
Through the influence of Hon. Samuel W. Morris, B. B. Smith, John F. Donaldson, William Bache sen., James Lowrey and others Wellsboro was incorporated as a bor- ough in 1830. John Norris was the first burgess, The territory embraced in the borough was large. Five years later, or in 1835, the heads of families residing within its limits were, according to a list prepared and kindly fur- nished by William Bache jr., as follows:
E. Fellows, William Taylor, R. Cole, R Christianot, B. B. Smith, Samuel Mack, M. Burnside, J. Borst, A. Corey, J. Beecher, S. Bliss, John F. Donaldson, F. Wetherbee, C. Seeley, James Lock, L. I. Nichols, D. Lindsey, L. Meek, J. Brewster, J. Hance, E. Jones, J. Gere, - Horsley, Israel Greenleaf, Elias Spencer colored), Eben Murray colored), Ebenezer Jackson, J. L. Robinson, Chester Robinson, John Norris, Samuel Dickinson,
18
146
HISTORY OF TIOGA COUNTY.
Bowen, William Bache sen., J. Kimball,
Barnes, Doctor Barnes, - Weeden, D. Sturrock, E. M. Bodine, F. Doxtetter, D. Caldwell, J. E. Martin, Jo- siah Emery, Barney, Samuel W. Morris, J. Low- rey, Israel Merrick, O. L. Gibson, U. Cushman, Gates Wilcox, L. Cleveland, G. Cook, - Maase, Dr. Wells,
Whitman, Archibald Nichols, William Norris, Harris, P. Murray (colored)-in all 59.
At an estimate of five to a family, including transient persons, the borough then must have contained about three hundred persons. There are a few omissions in the Christian names; but Mr. Bache is certain that the above list is complete in all other respects.
E. Fellows, the gentleman first named on the list, was then a farmer, and subsequently kept for many years the Farmers' Hotel, situated in the northeastern portion of the borough. When the Wellsboro and Lawrenceville Railroad was constructed, in 1872, he sold quite a quan- tity of land to the railroad company, on which the com- pany have since erected a freight and passenger depot, round-house, weigh office, civil engineer's office, black- smith shop, carpenter shop, and a number of dwellings for employes. He also sold to other parties, who erected dwellings and other buildings. He has now retired from active business life.
Benjamin B. Smith was a printer, and had published the Pohnix for seven years previous to 1835, with the motto at the head-" The liberty of the press is the pal- ladium of our rights." Mr. Smith was a gentleman of culture and a clear and concise writer. Samuel Mack was a blacksmith, and J. Borst a butcher. C. Seeley was a hotel keeper.
John F. Donaldson was a native of Danville, Montour county, Pennsylvania, and was born in 1805. He learned the printer's trade at Danville with George Sweeney, editor of the Watchman; came to Tioga county in Au- gust 1827, and worked in the office of the Phoenix, also serving in the prothonotary's office as clerk, until 1833. He then purchased the printing office of B. B. Smith, and published the Phoenix until near the close of the year 1835. In January 1836 he was appointed prothonotary of Tioga county by Governor Joseph Ritner, and con- tinued in that capacity until 1838, when A. S. Brewster was appointed by Governor David R. Porter. In 1839 the office became elective, and Mr. Donaldson was elected, and subsequently re-elected at the close of each term up to the year 1872, when General Robert C. Cox became his successor. Such confidence had the people of the county in Mr. Donaldson that, whichever political party had the majority, he was sure of an election. No public officer has retired from so responsible a trust, after so many years of service, with greater honor than he. A few years after his retirement from the prothonotary's office he was elected associate judge, and this office he retained to his death, which occurred very unexpectedly February 12th 1880, when he had reached the advanced age of 75 years. His funeral was largely attended by members of the legal fraternity, and other old friends and acquaintances. There was scarcely a business man
in all northern Pennsylvania but had made his acquaint- ance. He was distinguished for his urbanity and gener- osity, and his death was mourned by thousands scattered widely over the country.
James Lock was born in Keene, N. H., on the 18th of May 1790, and came to Wellsboro in 1815. At that time there were but five framed buildings in the place. He was a silversmith, but did not long pursue his trade after arriving in Wellsboro, for there was not sufficient demand for his skill in that line. He was a natural me- chanic, possessing the true Yankee aptness for mechanical pursuits. During the building of the court-house in 1834-5 he made the doors, and kept the tools of the stone cutters in order. He subsequently established a gun shop and manufactured a superior rifle. He was a most successful hunter and angler. On his 83d birthday, and the sixtieth anniversary of his marriage, the citizens of Wellsboro made him a formal call, and presented him and his amiable wife a beautiful quarto Bible as a token of respect. He died on the 14th of March 1874, in the 84th year of his age.
L. I. Nichols was a farmer and lumberman, and sub- sequently a merchant. L. Meek was a merchant. J. Brewster was a farmer, and associate judge,-one of the most highly respected citizens of the county. Chester and J. L. Robinson were lumbermen and merchants, and are now engaged in banking, and among the wealthiest men in the county. Samuel Dickinson was a lumberman and farmer, J. Kimball a hotel keeper, and D. Sturrock a carpenter and joiner.
John Norris, a distinguished pioneer settler, came from English Town (where he had located in 1799, on the line between Tioga and Lycoming counties, and built mills) to the Big Marsh, and subsequently settled in Wellsboro. He was appointed prothonotary and re- corder in 1813, and afterward became one of the leading men of Wellsboro.
William Bache sen. was born in England, came to America in 1790, and located in Wellsboro in 1812.
Ellis M. Bodine was born in Jersey Shore, Lycoming county, in 1799. He learned the trade of a tanner and currier with Abram Lawshe. He was married in 1827 to Miss Margaret Shearer, of Jersey Shore. Their chil- dren were: Sarah, wife of Dr. H. S. Greeno, of Kansas City, Mo .; Isaac M., of Wellsboro; Abram Lawshe, of Morris, Pa .; Ellis B .; Ellen A., wife of Rev. M. F. De Witt, of Elmira, N. Y .; Lewis T., of Kansas City; Catharine, wife of John W. Wright, of Rochester, N. Y., and Mar- garet, wife of Charles M. Moore, of Liberty, Pa. Mr. Bodine came to Wellsboro in 1828; purchased of Joseph Fish, who was the first tanner of the place, a small tan- nery and bark-mill, and for a number of years continued the business at that place. In 1846 he built a large tan- nery, 40 by 87, two full stories high, and did custom work in sole and upper leather. In 1848 the tannery was burned, and Mr. Bodine suffered a great loss. He was a public spirited gentleman. In 1835 he was chairman of the board of school directors for Wellsboro; he was instrumental in the erection of a school-house in the
1.47
THE WELLSBORO POST-OFFICE-PROFESSIONAL AND BUSINESS MEN.
borough, and did much toward the acceptance of the and thence is sent south over the Northern Central Railroad.
common school law of 1834. He now resides in the northwestern portion of the borough, at the advanced age of 83.
Josiah Emery, teacher, editor and lawyer, is now re- siding at Williamsport at an advanced age, and is a prac- titioner at the Lycoming county bar; a careful and meth- odical business man, a gentleman of rare literary acquire- ments, and a historical writer of note, who has done much toward creating an interest in historical matters in that county during his residence there.
James Lowrey, a son-in-law of Samuel W. Morris, was the first teacher in the academy; he subsequently studied law and became a distinguished practitioner. In 1854 he assisted in organizing a company at Mansfield for the manufacture of iron, and was the first president of the association; he represented the county in the Legislature in the year 1852-3.
Israel Merrick came from Delaware in 1809. His son, Israel Merrick jr., was for a number of years clerk for the county commissioners, and was county commissioner in 1847, Hle was a farmer. He died in Delmar in 1854, aged 64 years. His son, Major George W. Merrick, is now a prominent member of the Tioga county bar, and postmaster at Wellsboro.
O. L. Gibson, M. D., for many years was the leading physician and one of the most esteemed citizens of Wellsboro. Gates Wilcox was a farmer and lumberman, L. Cleveland a saddler, Gibson Cook constable, Archi- bald Nichols a merchant, and William Morris a tailor.
POSTAL ACCOMMODATIONS.
The first post-office in Wellsboro was kept in a log store, with a framed wing, which stood a few feet south of the Morris mansion, now the property of Dr. M. L. Bacon. Judge Samuel W. Morris was the first post- master, and William Bache sen. was the second. There was a weekly mail carried on horseback between Wil- liamsport and Wellsboro, by the way of Pine Creek, which was then the chief route of travel, though greatly obstructed by many unbridged streams. It was called the Newberry turnpike, and the authority for its con- struction was given by an act of the Legislature in 1799. This road came over the hill south of the Morris orchard, and a corduroy bridge spanned the stream at the foot of the hill. Later a saw-mill was erected on this stream by Judge Morris, from which it would appear that the stream was much larger than now.
From time to time as the county developed other mail routes were established, one leading east to Covington, and through Sullivan to Troy, and another northward to Tioga. Stage coaches were not run on either of the routes until about the year 1837. There are now mail routes running southward to Stony Fork, westward into Gaines township and Potter county, and eastward to Mansfield, connecting with one from Troy, Bradford county. The railroad furnishes good mail facilities northward, while mail intended for Harrisburg, Phila- delphia, or even Williamsport goes northeast to Elmira
The post-office is in a substantial brick building on Main street; Major George W. Merrick is postmaster. A few hours' visit to the post-office now would give the old settler a good idea of the advancement in mail facili- ties, and show the development of the country. Hun- dreds of pounds of mail matter are daily received and sent, where in the recollection of many of the older in- habitants of the borough only now and then a mail bag, half filled, was handled by the early postmasters.
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT.
The first merchandise was sold in Wellsboro by Wil- liam Bache sen. and Benjamin W. Morris, at their dwell- ings. This was about 1812 or 1813. John Beecher soon afterward opened a store on the east corner of Norris and Main streets. John Hill, and B. B. Smith had each a small store, and prior to 1830 there were several gro- ceries. Samuel Dickinson about that time built and opened a store. He was succeeded by Chester and J. L. Robinson.
Ezekiel Jones, the first blacksmith in Wellsboro, came from the east by invitation of Benjamin W. Morris. Henry Sly was an early blacksmith; also a Mr. Daniels. Joseph Fish was the first tanner. The first saw-mill in the township was built for the Fisher Land Company, by John Norris, about the year 1806. The company also erected a grist-mill.
The early physicians were Jeremiah Brown, Dr. Hoover and Dr. Oliver Bundy (who married a sister of B. B. Smith . Dr. J. B. Murphy was a hotel keeper and merchant, and carried on a blacksmith shop. He was the father of Mrs. Judge L. P. Williston, and his widow now resides in Elmira. The first lawyer resident in Wellsboro was William Patton, from Philadelphia. He owned the place where Judge Williams now resides. There are now 24, besides Judges Williams and Wilson.
The elegant and substantial court-house was erected in 1835, on a site donated by B. W. Morris, and this added much to the appearance of the village; a public square or park was also laid out. Wellsboro increased slowly, while the surrounding country was rapidly settled by an intelligent, hardy and industrious class of people. We have already alluded to the building of the plank road in the general history of the county, and the advan- tages which Wellsboro acquired by that enterprise. Be- sides this plank road the highways in the surrounding towns were much improved, especially those leading into the pineries on the south and west. Wellsboro soon be- came the base of supplies for the lumbermen on Pine Creek and its tributaries, and finally developed a large and profitable trade with them. From 1835 to 1850 many new buildings were erected in the borough, and some of the most stirring business men of to-day made Wellsboro their home during that period.
The general land office of the Bingham estate was lo- cated here by William Bingham Clymer in 1845. This estate embraced several hundred thousand acres in
148
HISTORY OF TIOGA COUNTY.
northern Pennsylvania, and much of it was located in Tioga county; and the judicious management of Mr. Clymer and the easy terms which he made with the set- tlers added many new and valuable residents. For more than a quarter of a century he lived in Wellsboro, and won the universal confidence and respect of the people. He was a gentleman of scholastic attainments, having graduated with honor at Princeton College and pursued a course of studies with a view of entering the legal pro- fession. He had been agent for the estate for many years, and in 1867 was appointed trustee. Having in 1869 determined to visit Europe with his family he re- signed his agency, but continued to be trustee until the time of his death, which occurred in Florence, Italy, in 1873. He was a grandson of George Clymer, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.
Robert C. Simpson, for many years connected with the Bingham estate, has been the agent since the resignation of Mr. Clymer, and manages this great interest in Tioga, Potter and Mckean counties with care, prudence and fidelity. He is a gentleman of rare business qualifica- tions, methodical and accurate, and a man of high social characteristics.
Wellsboro contained in 1850 598 white persons and 22 colored, a total of 620 inhabitants. In 1860 there were 788 whites and 21 negroes, a total of 809. In 1870 the population was 1,465 (29 colored), and in 1880 2,228.
The manufacturing interests of Delmar and Wellsboro are not what they should be, with the facihties at hand. Being situated among forests of the best timber, and in close proximity to the coal mines, with glass sandrock in abundance, and a great amount of idle capital, it is sur- prising that the citizens have not made greater progress in manufacturing.
In Wellsboro there are two tanneries, several black- smith shops, a foundry and machine shop, two planing- mills, a saw-mill, a feed-mill, several wagon shops, etc., but none carried on as extensively as the business of the town and surrounding country would seem to demand. been sold to the Catholic church.
boots and shoes, etc., from abroad, which should be manufactured here, the people of the locality receiving the benefits accruing from the existence of such manu- factories in their midst.
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