USA > Pennsylvania > Tioga County > History of Tioga County, Pennsylvania, with Illustrations, portraits and sketches of prominent families and individuals > Part 47
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The township officers for the official year 1881-2 were: Supervisors, John Linck, James Blackwell; justices, John Haggerty, Job Doane; school directors, William | he discovered "blazes " or hacks upon pine trees, which
birch. There is considerabe coal yet undeveloped in the township, besides veins of iron ore. Along the principal streams the soil is alluvial and produces corn, wheat, oats, ster, 53; Robert Wilson, 56.
buckwheat, grass, tobacco, and orchard fruits, while in the eastern portion of the township, adjoining Liberty, there are fine farms and prosperous farmers, with good dwellings, barns, agricultural implements, and fine or- chards.
Blackwell, J. E. Webster, Alfred Emick, William Emick;
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HISTORY OF TIOGA COUNTY.
were made 150 years ago with a hatchet of steel about two and a half inches in the blade. The presence of the bronze or brass axe, which is undoubtedly of French manufacture, shows how at that early day the French people were mingling with the Indians of the Six Nations, and seeking to gain territory in northern and western Pennsylvania. Shikellimy at this time (1732) was chief of the Monseys, and had his seat near Sunbury, on the west branch of the Susquehanna; and a complete chain of Indian settlements extended from the mouth of the Juniata to the head waters of the west branch, and north to Canada. The abundance of fish in the waters of Babb's Creek, Cedar Run and other tributaries of Pine Creek, and of deer, elk, bear and other game, was inviting to the Indians. At an elevation of only about 860 feet above tide, with high mountains around, a suit- able and desirable place was Blackwell's for an Indian town. The old Indian trail north went up Stony Fork Creek from Babb's Creek, through to Wellsboro and thence to Tioga; and another path led up Babb's Creek to Arnot, and so to the Tioga at Blossburg, intersecting the great Indian trail from the mouth of the Lycoming to Blossburg, Painted Post and the Genesee country. It was along these trails that the Indians traveled, either on hunting excursions or when they were harassing the set. tlers on the west branch of the Susquehanna. In case of defeat, or when for other reasons they left the valley of the west branch, they would retire to their numberless camps along the routes we have named, and be secure from invasion or attack. The camp on the farm of Mr. Blackwell was one of those retreats, and when the settlers on the west branch thought that their wily foes had re- treated to the country on the Genesee River they had only retired a few miles into the present limits of Tioga county, and were stealthily watching the operations of the west branch settlers. It will be recollected that the treaty with the Indians in 1768, which gave the white settler the privilege of settling as far up the Susquehanna as the mouth of Tiadaghton Creek, was not interpreted to mean Pine Creek until the subsequent treaty of 1784, at Fort Stanwix, N. Y. Tioga county was just north of that line, and settlements and camps of the Indians like that on Mr. Blackwell's place were the Indian outposts, where they kept their hunters and warriors posted as sentinels.
THE FIRST SETTLERS.
Samson Babb, a native of Wilmington, Delaware, came from West Chester, Chester county, Pa., to the wilds of what is now Morris township, and was the first set- tler. He came in the year 1800; settled at a point where the hotel of A. L. Bodine is now located, and gave the name to Babb's Creek, which flows past the place. He purchased 450 acres from the Pine Creek Land Com- pany. He built the first saw mill in the township, which was in operation as early as 1806. The first year he manufactured lumber he floated it down to near the month of the creek, intending there to raft it over and run it down Pine Creek to the west branch of the Sus-
quehanna River. A sudden freshet came and carried his lumber away, and he lost it all. His wife remained a few years in the wilderness and returned to West Chester, where she died. Mr. Babb's son William remained with him, assisting the old gentleman in clearing up the farm and in his lumbering operations. Samson Babb was largely instrumental in getting a State road built from Newberry (now within the corporate limits of Williams- port) up to Pine Creek and so through to Wellsboro. He was commissioned a justice of the peace in 1813. His grandson William Babb, a surveyor, who now resides in Morris near where his grandfather settled, informs us that his pioneer ancestor spent from eight to ten thou- sand dollars in erecting a dwelling, barns and mills, and improving the farm. There are no records in relation to the time of his birth. He died in October 1815, and was buried near his dwelling in Morris, and the highway passes over or near his grave.
William Babb remained in Morris after the death of his father, and married Mary Campbell, by whom he had three children-George, William and Samson. Samson enlisted in the army and died during the Rebellion, at Nashville, Tennessee.
William Babb jr. was born on the homestead of his grandfather, in 1820, and was educated partly in Morris and partly in Chester county, Pa. He learned the arts of type-setting and surveying, which latter occupation he has pursued for many years. He was married in 1849 to Miss Mary Ann Snyder, of Union county, Pa., by whom he had three children-Mary, wife of -- Sher- man; Beulah, wife of John Webster; and George. He has been during his whole life a resident of Morris.
Enoch Blackwell sen. was born in Haven parish, Glou- cestershire, England, and came to Philadelphia in 1805. He was one of a company known as the English Com- pany, which purchased 12,000 acres on both sides of the line between Lycoming and Tioga counties, extending into the present township of Morris. The others of the company were Rev. John Hay, of Philadelphia, William Wells, and Mr. Shearburne. Mr. Blackwell had seven children -- John, William, Enoch, Sarah (wife of John Gamble), Nancy (wife of Henry Tomb), Phebe (wife of -- Shearer of Illinois) and Mary (wife of James Camp- bell). He first settled in Pine township, Lycoming county, in 1805, and in 1810 came to Morris township.
Enoch Blackwell, son of William Blackwell, and grand- son of Enoch Blackwell just mentioned, was born in Morris township, January 29th 1824, on the tract pur- chased by his grandfather. He was educated at home and in the common schools of the township, and became a farmer and lumberman. He was married in 1848 to Miss Mary Webster, by whom he has eight children- Horace W., Clara (wife of William Walters), Thomas, Mary Adelaide (wife of Henry Tidd), Eugene, Harriet (wife of William Plank), Sylvester and Miles. Mr. Black- well is an active, enterprising business man, engaged in lumbering, farming and mercantile pursuits ; owning large tracts of timbered lands, and a farm of about ninety acres under a good state of cultivation, with a good
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SCHOOLS AND CHURCHES IN MORRIS-MANUFACTORIES.
dwelling and two barns. He has lived 58 years on the farm where he now resides-about six miles from Sam- son Babb's old place, on Babb's Creek near its conflu- ence with Pine Creek. He is the postmaster at Lloyds.
Among the old settlers were Abram Harris, George Bonell, John Darling, Samuel M. Harrison, William Dig- gin, Jacob Valentine, Charles Duffy, William Blackwell, and Robert Campbell, a Revolutionary soldier, who en- tered the continental army under Washington when only 16 years of age, and who is buried at Campbelltown, on Pine Creek.
SCHOOL AND CHURCH ADVANTAGES.
The first school-house was about a mile above the mouth of Babb's Creek. It was a small log house with a slab roof. Another early school-house, 16 feet square, framed, stood near the present residence of William Babb. It had slabs for desks and seats. There are now six good framed school-houses in the township.
Among the early teachers were Nancy Clark, who taught about the year 1832; an Englishman named Sam- uel M. Harrison, and Dr. Rogers.
The only church edifice in the township is a union church at Nauvoo. Worshipers who cannot be accommo- dated in that church use the several school-houses of the township. Among the ministers who early preached in Morris was Rev. George Higgins, a Baptist minister from Philadelphia, who had service about the year 1835. The present officiating minister is Rev. James Patton, a Methodist.
THE BRUNSWICK TANNERY-SAW-MILLS.
Morris township can boast of having within its limits the largest tannery in the world.
Late in the fall of 1880 Hoyt Bros., of No. 72 Gold street, New York, purchased several thousand acres of hemlock-timbered land east and west of Babb's Creek, and determined to erect a mammoth tannery. They commenced operations in February 1881, locating the tannery about three-fourths of a mile below where Wilson Creek empties into Babb's Creek. They gathered a force of carpenters, stone masons, brick-layers, blacksmiths and lumbermen, and by the first day of January 1882 had their works in operation, and even three months be- fore that date they commenced grinding bark and tan- ning leather. All the heavy machinery, engines, boilers and much of their other materials were received at An- trim, and hauled down the steep mountain road or " dug- way " to the desired spot. The capacity of the tannery is 1,000 sides per day, and it consumes 100 cords of bark per day or over 30,000 cords annually. The combined motive power to drive the machinery aggregates over 400 horse power. The bark sheds hold 20,000 cords, and the dry-house and loft is 900 feet long and made in the most substantial manner. There are 512 double vats, equal to 1,024 single ones; a hide-house, made of brick, capable of holding over 100,000 hides; 12 rolling ma- chines in the rolling lofts; 6 bark mills; 40 square leaches, capable of holding 400 cords of bark; sweat pits made of stone, capable of holding 5,000 sides, and all the other appliances and fixtures in proportion. In addition to the construction of the tannery and its necessary build-
ings there have been erected So dwellings, a store, a boarding house, two blacksmith shops, a steam saw-mill, a planing-mill, a feed-mill and three carpenter shops. One hundred and twenty-five men are employed in the tannery alone, besides clerks, mechanics, the large force of workmen connected with the handling of bark and hides, etc. Probably not less than $1,000,000 was re- quired to purchase the land and set this huge manufac- tory in motion. The engines and machinery are of the very best kind, and all the mason work is of the most substantial and durable material, and put together to stay. The establishment is called the Brunswick Tan- nery. Hoyt Bros. are the proprietors, with George E. Brown as general manager, Edmond Kennedy tanner, Stewart Miller outside foreman, Isaiah Bunn assistant outside foreman, O. F. Taylor store keeper, A. R. Spicer accountant, George S. Peters assistant accountant, Thomas Blackwell and Gustar Sharping clerks, Eugene Clark weighmaster, and Dr. S. W. Sine resident physician. The erection of this mammoth industrial establishment and the completion of the Arnot and Pine Creek Rail- road will stimulate the farmers of Morris and Liberty to increased efforts to produce the beef, pork, grain and vegetables needed at the tannery; and the sturdy lumber- man will find employment on the annual forty thousand cords of bark and the sixty million feet of hemlock lum- ber that the trees will make from which the bark is taken; saw-mills will be erected, and every branch of industry in the township will be quickened by the pres- ence of this tannery. Farmers, who have hitherto when they wished to clear any land been compelled to burn their bark for want of a market, will now find a ready sale for this commodity, and the forests of the township, which have been regarded in the light of an impediment to its development, will now prove as valuable and re- munerative as the cleared land.
The first saw-mill in the township was erected by Samson Babb prior to 1806, the next by Charles Duffy, the next by Jacob Emick, the next by Alexander For- sythe, in the year 1839, and he was followed by Robert H. Archer, Enoch Blackwell, Job Doane, and Hoyt Brothers. There are now four saw-mills and a grist-mill in the township. Previous to 1820 the first settlers in Morris had to go to mill to Jersey Shore, a distance of about thirty miles.
ROADS AND MAILS.
The first road in the township ran from Newberry and was finished up to Blackwell's in 1810. Before that there were private roads, cut by the settlers.
Post routes were established an an early day, carriers on horseback making weekly trips. There is now a daily route through Morrisfrom Antrim to Nauvoo, Barfelden, Liberty, East Point, Ogdensburg, Gleason, and Canton, on the Northern Central Railroad. There is also a tri- weekly mail route to Jersey Shore.
There are two post-offices in the township, both locat- ed on Babb's Creek, the eastern portion of the township being accommodated at the Nauvoo post-office, which is on the line between Liberty and Morris townships. These offices are Lloyds, Enoch Blackwell postmaster, and Morris, A. L. Bodine postmaster.
25
NELSON TOWNSHIP.
BY ALBERT M. LOOP.
HIS is the smallest township embraced within 104; M. B. Secly, 103; E. Blackwell, 1. Assessor-
the limits of Tioga county. It was originally J. Bottom, 114. Assistant assessors-S. G. Crandall, II0; E. Blackwell, 109. Town clerk and treasurer- F. J. Seely, 107. ' Judge of election-Perry Strait, 96; Henry Mourey, 16; A. J. Howell, 1. Inspectors of election-Arthur Stevens, 56; J. S. Goodrich, 55. Auditor-M. F. Cass, 66; H. Mourey, 11; C. F. Mar- graff, 1; J. H. Campbell, 2.
Among the pioneers who first settled in this township were John and Hopestill Beecher, who settled on a piece the borough of Elkland, and has about 600 inhabitants. of land which took their name, so that for many years Its citizens are chiefly engaged in agricultural pursuits. after-in fact, up to the time of the division of the old There are two churches (Methodist and Presbyterian), four dry goods stores, three groceries, a saw-mill, a grist- mill, a tannery, a carding machine, three blacksmith shops, a boot and shoe shop, and a large hotel, situated on the north side of the river, of which W. A. Newcomb is the proprietor.
Mrs. Abigail Beecher, wife of Hopestill Beecher, A fine site was purchased a few years ago of Charles Bottom, on which has been erected a large and commo- lacked only one month and two days of witnessing her one hundredth birthday. She was born in Richmond dious school building, with a capacity for seating com- township, Berkshire county, Mass., and died in Charles- fortably two hundred scholars. It has three departments, ton, this county, October 14th 1879. A correspondent under separate teachers, and here children can be in- of the Wellsboro Agitator gives the particulars of her eventful life, a few of which we copy:
structed not only in the rudiments of a common English education, but in all the various departments of modern literature. The school is open from six to nine months per year.
In 1861, when the first call for volunteers was made, Nelson responded by sending her quota promptly to the front, and filling every subsequent call, until, out of a bride out of such a purpose by telling her she was going voting population of 100 in the aggregate, there were 30
among the "Pennamites," and that they were nearly all men in the field, of whom one-third were lost by disasters thieves and robbers and most of them had lost one or both incident to the contest.
The branch of the Corning, Cowanesque and Antrim marriage they started for the wilds of Pennsylvania, and Railroad having its terminus at Elkland, twelve miles after many days' journey took up their abode in the from its junction with the main track at Lawrenceville, vicinity of what is now Tioga village, at that time con- affords an easy and convenient outlet for the products of sisting of a log tavern and two or three houses. After the Cowanesque Valley. which before its completion residing five years in Tioga Mr. Beecher purchased were hauled over rough roads and heavy hills to the Erie Beecher's Island. Here they were a long way from neigh- at Addison, N. Y.
The vote for township officers at the last election was thus reported in one of the county newspapers:
Supervisors-Luther Rice jr., 89; D. Bowen, 17; I. J. Mack, 59; William Meritt, 57; D. Taft, 1; B. Parks, 1; C. F. Margraff, 1. Justice of the peace-C. B. Goodrich, 87; E. B. Campbell, 54; O. F. Richards, 39. Constable -J. W. Loop, 117. School directors-J. D. Campbell,
THE PIONEERS.
a part of the old town of Elkland, which was divided in three parts, the eastern portion as- suming the name of Nelson and the western Osceola, while the central portion organized itself into a borough, retaining the old name of Elkland. Nelson is situated on the Cowanesque River, six and a half miles from its confluence with the Tioga, and embraces an area of about ten square miles. It is bounded on the north by New York, on the east by the township of Law- rence, on the south by Farmington, and on the west by
town of Elkland-it continued to be known as Beecher's Island. What is known as the island is formed by the Cowanesque River and a branch of the same thrown off perhaps half a mile west of the village, which after run- ning about a mile unites again with the parent stream.
At the age of 21 Miss Rathbone was married to Hope- still Beecher, and for their marriage tour they proposed a journey to and settlement in the far-off land of Tioga county, Pa. The neighbors remonstrated against such a hazardous undertaking, and tried to frighten the young
eyes in their many brawls. But in two weeks from their
bors, and had very few privileges, social or religious. Mrs. Beecher went to Tioga on horseback and joined the Baptist church there, then just organized. She was one of the first persons baptized in Tioga county.
When she was a babe in the cradle of her Massachu- setts home there was not a cleared field nor a house in Tioga county. She was three years old when Lord Corn- wallis gave up his sword to General Washington. She
EBlackwell
Mre E Blackwell
RESIDENCE, FARM BUILDINGS, OLD HOMESTEAD, MILLERS HOUSE, STORE AND FLOURING MILL OF E. BLACKWELL, NELSON, TIOGA CO., PA.
203
PIONEERS OF NELSON.
was old enough to be interested in politics and remem- ber distinctly to the day of her death the election of General George Washington as the first president of the United States. Since her birth States have been organ- ized and cities built, and railroads, steamboats, tele- graphs, stoves, and the great mass of labor-saving ma- chinery have come into being. Great denominations have arisen from small beginnings. John Wesley did not die until she was twelve years of age. Within her day foreign missions have been organized and the world filled with mission stations.
In the year 1806 Daniel Strait came up the river from Lindleytown and located upon a piece of land now known as the Hazlett farm. Here he began an improve- ment and resided two years, when he sold his claim to John and Samuel Hazlett and removed to Steuben county, N. Y. The property has remained in the pos- session of the Hazlett family ever since.
At the time referred to the woods abounded in game, ben Cook, who erected a cabin somewhere on the farm
and the little tributaries of the Cowanesque were full of trout. The hills were covered with an immense growth of pine and hemlock timber, white ash, basswood and hard and soft maple, and the chief employment during to the river's bank the huge giants of the forest, which were then rafted in the stream, and when the spring flood came were floated down the river to Harrisburg, Middletown, Columbia or l'ort Deposit, where a ready market usually awaited them; and with the money pro- cured from the sale of their lumber the pioneers were enabled to struggle on another year. Their meat was principally procured from the forest, and a dozen or two of speckled trout could at any time be hooked in a few minutes by an expert fisherman from any of the numer- ous little streams which tumble down the mountain side and unite their waters with the Cowanesque.
Artemus Losey came into the township in 1830, and immediately thereafter purchased the old mills and the water power and commenced the manufacture of lumber, which he carried on successfully for many years. He was a first-class mechanic, and during his life-time at Nelson he built several carding machines, and at differ- ent times was engaged, in addition to his lumbering operations, in the manufacture and sale of organs, melo- deons, and all kinds of household furniture. He was a man of energetic and active temperament, and contributed largely toward the future success and prosperity of the village. He retained his habits of industry and enter- prise up to his death, which occurred in 1873. The saw- mill and other establishments originated by him are now owned and operated by his son J. T. Losey. Mr. Losey originally purchased the property of John Campbell, a gentleman of Irish descent, who bought out the Beechers when they left.
John Campbell, John and Samuel Hazlett, James and Joseph Campbell, George W. Phelps, Walter Bottom, Samuel Rathbun, John Vroman, Amariah Hammond, Richard Ellison and James Ryan were the first to make permanent settlements.
Enoch Blackwell still owns the property of his step- father, John Campbell. Mr. Blackwell is one of the leading business men of Nelson, being a merchant as well as engaged in farming and lumbering. He was born at Jersey Shore, Lycoming county, in 1814. His father died while Enoch was a mere child, and Mrs. Blackwell became the wife of John Campbell, of Beecher's Island Nelson ; thus Enoch Blackwell was brought to Nelson at a very early day in the history of the township. He was for many years a deacon in the Presbyterian church, and is now an elder. Mr. Blackwell's first wife was Miss Mary Knapp, of Wells, Pa. They were married in 1838, and she died in 1865. The next year he married Miss Caroline Lugg, by whom he had one child. She died in 1868, and in 1869 Mr. Blackwell married Mrs. Caroline P. Putnam, of Tioga, a daughter of Dr. Simeon Power.
The first man who settled above Lawrence township on the Cowanesque River is believed to have been Reu- of H. T. Ryan, about one and a half miles above Nelson, about the year 1800. Mr. Cook died in 1879, aged 100 years.
Dr. Albert Mortimer Loop is the oldest resident phy- the long and tedious winters was in cutting and getting sician, having practiced his profession in the township since 1840, excepting two years spent at Rock Island, Ill., where he was elected clerk of the city and county, but was compelled by ill health to resign and return to Tioga county in 1856 . He was born in Elmira, N. Y., September 12th 1816, and married Miss Sophia J. Tre- main, of Nelson. He is a staunch Democrat in politics, having voted that ticket for 42 years; and has been nom- inated for commissioner, representative, and associate judge. In 1880 and 1881 he was president of the county medical society. He has been a frequent contributor to the local press.
About 90 per cent. of the entire area of the township has been cleared up and is now under improvement. Within the limits of the township the river is spanned by two bridges, about a mile apart.
The first dry goods store was opened in 1830, by Hi- ram Beebe of Lawrenceville and Hunt Pomeroy. The first grist-mill and saw-mill was built by John Campbell.
CHURCHES AND LODGES.
Nelson Lodge I. O. O. F., No. 434, was organized February 20th 1874, with the following charter members: G. H. Baxter, William Merritt, William H. Baxter, Alvah Baxter, C. P. Wright, G. I .. Hurlbut, John Hazlett, Enoch Blackwell, William Campbell and Hiram Merritt.
The following are the names of the first officers, who were duly elected and installed at the first meeting of the lodge under its new organization: N. G., George H. Bax- ter; V. G., William Merritt; secretary, William H. Bax- ter; treasurer, William Campbell.
On the night of April 9th 1880 the large building used for a store and post-office, the upper part of which was the Odd Fellows' hall, which they had fitted up hand- somely, was totally burned, and the Odd Fellows lost heavily. The lodge, however, is now as prosperous as
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HISTORY OF TIOGA COUNTY.
ever, having a membership of 75, and receiving new ac- cessions at each meeting. Its stated meetings are on Friday night of each week.
A lodge of Good Templars was organized here some years ago, but, becoming disorganized, they surrendered their charter and ceased to exist as an organized body.
The first religious services were held under the auspices of the Presbyterian society, usually in private houses,
barns, and subsequently school-houses. The first regu- lar minister was Rev. Octavius Fitch. It was not until 1843 that the present Presbyterian church was erected and dedicated, Rev. Joel Jewell pastor.
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