USA > Pennsylvania > Tioga County > History of Tioga County, Pennsylvania, with Illustrations, portraits and sketches of prominent families and individuals > Part 54
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95
Yarnall Brook was named for James Yarnall, who set- tled near its mouth about 1807. James Mix, a full blooded negro, was the first settler at the mouth of this stream. Yarnall bought him out and the brook took his name.
INDIANS.
There is abundant evidence of the occupancy of Deer- field by the Indians for several centuries previous to the appearance of the white man. Many Indian implements of flint and stone have been found, such as arrowheads, spearheads, knives and axes. Stone tools for grinding corn and for dressing the skins of animals were often picked up by the first settlers while working in their fields. An occasional Indian pipe of stone has been found.
The most remarkable evidence of ancient Indian oc- cupancy of Deerfield was the mound discovered in the forest at Academy Corners. Joshua Colvin purchased the ground where that hamlet now stands of William Knox sen., in 1808; took possession of it in 1809, and in 1810 cleared the land of its timber. Where the stores of Martin V. Purple and Daniel H. Buckbee now stand he found a mound about seventy feet in diameter, raised about four feet above the level of the valley. The sum- mit of the mound was level. In the fall of 1810 Mr. Colvin dug a hole in the center of this mound in which to bury his potatoes. When he had dug a little over three feet deep he was surprised to find human bones and Indian implements. He found arrowheads of flint, and axes made of a very hard blue stone, with a neck, probably intended for a withe handle. The bones taken out were skulls and thigh bones and were very much de- composed. Two or three pine trees grew upon the top of this mound, which were over two feet in diameter, and the rings of annual growth, as they were counted at the time, indicated that the trees were at least two hun- dred years old. It does not seem from any account that we have that an attempt was made to determine the num- ber of skeletons buried in this mound. The fact that the smaller bones had become entirely decomposed showed that the mound was one of high antiquity. Of the object of its erection we can only conjecture. "If these mounds were sometimes used as cemeteries of distinguished per- sons, they were also used as monuments with a view of
perpetuating the recollection of some great battle, event or transaction." (Trans. Amer. Antiq. Soc., 1820, Vol. I, page 164.
Many Indians were found in Deerfield by the first white settlers. They belonged to the tribes of the Seneca nation of the league of the Iroquois or Six Nations. They came from the Genesee Valley, entering Deerfield by way of Troup's Creek, down which they had a path or trail. They mainly used the Cowanesque Valley as a hunting and fishing park. They came here in the spring and summer to hunt and fish, and returned in the fall to their villages upon the Genesee to spend the winter. They had some girdlings and sandy bars along the river where the squaws raised corn, beans and squashes. One of these was on the bank of the river near the residence of William D. Knox-the site of Union Academy. This was a favorite camping place with them. It is a tradition that Mary Jemison, "the white woman of the Genesee," whose seventy years of strange vicissitudes among the Indians fill a page of history and volumes of romance, camped here for several seasons with her band of dusky companions. Leaving tradition for fact, we find that several well known Seneca chiefs with their hunting par- ties came here from 1790 to 1820. The name of one chief was Sundown. He led a band of twenty braves. Another chief who frequented these hunting grounds with his band rejoiced in the name of Billy Shanks. The leader of another band was John Little Beard, who no doubt was a son of the famous Seneca chief Little Beard, who died in 1806. The Indians were friendly in their intercourse with the whites, and often went to the cabins of the early settlers to trade venison for meal or bread. They were very fond of ack-kwa-nun-gwa, which it is remembered stood for "bread and milk " in the Senaca dialect. The Indians built their wigwams in their camps facing each other, with the fire between. If a pole was set up against a wigwam it was a notice to all comers not to enter, as the owner was absent.
An incident is told of the relations of the early settlers and their Indian neighbors: William Knox and his son camped just below Academy Corners during the sum- mer of 1798. A band of Indians had their camp on the river bank near by. Young Knox spent his leisure time in sport with the young Indians. The Indians and the Knoxes got their supply of water from the same spring. For some time it was observed that after the Indians got water the spring was very roily. Young Knox determined to learn the cause. He secreted himself behind a thorn- bush near the spring. Soon a young Indian stealthily approached and, after dipping up water, went into the spring and stirred up the mud with his feet. At that instant young Knox threw a stone, hitting the Indian on the head. He fell to the ground and for a few moments lay unconscious, but, recovering, sprang to his feet and ran. After that the Knoxes and the Indians had no intercourse and the spring remained clear.
Year by year the visits of the Indians to this valley became less frequent, and their parties smaller in num- ber, and about 1825 they disappeared altogether,
231
EARLY LAND PURCHASES IN DEERFIELD.
LANDS AND SETTLEMENTS.
At what time the first white man made a settlement in Deerfield cannot now be definitely determined. The people who came and permanently located on the lands, in 1798 found, near where the hamlet of Academy Cor- ners now stands, a log house much decayed. and a field on the river bank chopped and partly cleared, and en- closed with a log fence, in the corners of which thorn trees six inches in diameter had grown up; and on the south side of the river they found a mill-race dug out and almost finished near the mouth of Yarnall Brook. James Strawbridge made this settlement. It is inferred from the evident age of the improvements that it was made during the Revolutionary war, and tradition asserts that Strawbridge was obliged to abandon his home on account of the hostility of the Indians at the time of Sul- livan's expedition up the Susquehanna and Chemung in 1779.
Another tradition makes Strawbridge's settlement at least six years later. May 17th 1785 James Strawbridge obtained land warrant No. 451, which was located June 25th of the same year along the Cowanesque River, from Joseph S. Ingham's woolen factory to Wallace Gilbert's farm. After this purchase, says our other tradition, Strawbridge made his settlement, and was driven away by white squatters, who killed his oxen, purloined his plow and destroyed his crops on the belief that his claim to title in the lands was antagonistic to their interests. As to who these squatters were the tradition is silent, nor do we have any authentic account of them. Were the Strawbridge warrants located in the Cowanesque Valley because of the information obtained of its fertility during a previous settlement ? Or were the warrants lo- cated first and the lands occupied afterward ? We are unable to answer. From these theories and traditions we assort the facts that not long before or after the pur- chase of the lands of the commonwealth in 1785-6 Strawbridge made a settlement, and then was disturbed and driven out of the country.
In 1785 and 1786 all the land in the Cowanesque Val- ley in Deerfield was surveyed, upon warrants issued to James Strawbridge and Thomas Proctor, and in June 1790 the valley of Troup's ('reek was surveyed, upon two warrants issued to James Stewart. Warrants issued to James Strawbridge under date of February 25th 1794 were located upon the remaining territory of Deerfield north of the Cowanesque River in May and June of that year.
James Strawbridge, following the English fashion, gave a distinguishing name to each tract surveyed under his warrants. He called the stretch of flat lands where he made his settlement " James's Choice." It extended from Academy Corners to the woolen factory. The war- rant located from the woolen factory easterly to the Osceola town line he named "Pleasant Garden," and the territory reaching westerly from Academy Corners to the Westfield line he named " Delight." He gave names to all the tracts lying north of the valley. The wooded knob north of the woolen factory he named " Mount
Pleasant," and to the other tracts he gave such names as "Blooming Grove," "Fertility," "Richland " and "Spring Field." He acquired the warrantee rights of Thomas Proctor and James Stewart, and to him the patents were issued by the commonwealth, and these lands became a part of the "Strawbridge tract."
The subsequent history of the lands of the "Straw- bridge tract" before they came into the hands of actual settlers is briefly told: James Strawbridge, the patentee, in his life time executed a mortgage to Jona- than Smith, of Philadelphia, and others, as trustees for the widow and heirs of John Strawbridge, deceased. This mortgage was foreclosed and the lands were sold at sheriff's sale at Williamsport, Pa., November 30th 1807. George Strawbridge, a nephew of James Strawbridge, was the purchaser at this sale.
The next month, December 1807, he came upon the lands in person, offering to sell and convey to settlers. His terms were $8 per acre if the purchaser took all flat land, and $4 per acre if he took one-half flat and one- half hill land. His sales were all upon time. His manner of doing the business was to execute a deed and take back a mortgage. In many cases the mortgage was for the full amount of the purchase money. In this way Mr. Strawbridge sold all of the flat lands in the valley, attending to the business personally. Subsequently he constituted Michael R. Tharp his attorney in fact to manage his real estate. Finally, January 24th 1822, he conveyed to Jonathan D. Ledyard who married Jane, daughter of George Strawbridge) "all lands lying between the farms on the Cowanesque River and the New York State line," for $100 and other considerations.
March 6th of the same year Jonathan D. Ledyard and Jane his wife sold to Silas Billings the same lands, de- scribed in the conveyance as "about 7,000 acres," for the consideration of $2,000. Mr. Billings moved into the county, took personal supervision of his estate, and by his enterprise and outlay of capital did much to develop it. From him and his heirs the lands have passed into the hands of actual settlers upon the soil.
The lands on the south side of the Cowanesque River in Deerfield were surveyed upon warrants issued to Thomas M. Willing, Robert Blackwell, and William Lloyd, in 1792-3. The interest of the warrantees was subsequently acquired by William Bingham the elder, and to him, or the trustees named in his will, the patents were issued. From the Bingham estate the lands have been purchased by actual occupants, and by them have been cleared of the timber and improved into farms.
The first settlers who came to stay were William Knox sen. and Ebenezer Seelye. Both had large families. Knox was from Massachusetts and Seelye from Connecti- cut. They had temporarily resided some years near Painted Post, N. Y. As has been seen James Straw- bridge had made some improvements in Deerfield. In 1797 or about that time he approached Seelye and urged him to settle upon his lands upon the Cowanesque, of- fering as an inducement to sell at $2.50 per acre, making no charge for the improvements. This offer was accept-
232
HISTORY OF TIOGA COUNTY.
ed. Seelye, however, did not wish to go into the wil- derness alone. He offered Knox the improvements if he would join him. Knox accepted the offer, and in 1798, with his son William Knox jr., camped upon their new farm and enlarged their clearing. In the fall they re- turned to Painted Post, and spent the winter with the family. The next spring (March 1799) both families moved into the wilderness, traveling from Beecher's Isl- and (now Nelson) to their new home upon the ice in the river, as there was no road cut through the forest. They found the valley of the Cowanesque covered with a growth of magnificent timber. Black walnut was abun- dant, growing very straight and tall, some specimens of it being six feet in diameter. White oak and burr oak and stately white pine predominated. Here and there were tracts of elegant maple. Along the sandy flats and coves of the island stream and Cowanesque were majes- tic elm, butternut and buttonwood trees. In low and swampy places grew dense forests of hemlock and black ash. Into this howling wilderness they had come to build their homes.
Ebenezer Seelye settled half a mile to the eastward of the Strawbridge clearing occupied by Knox. Ebenezer Seelye a son of Eleazer in 1867 contributed to the courage and womanly endurance.
Wellsboro Agitator a brief chapter of pioneer experiences, from which we quote. After detailing the arrival of the family he says:
" My father erected a cabin of bark set against a large pine log, and lived in it for a year and a half. He then built a log house. In this he lived the first winter with- out a floor, there being no saw-mill nearer than Painted Post. For a grist-mill we used a stump hollowed out by fire for a mortar, and a spring pestle. In this we pounded our samp for bread and pudding timber for two years. After a while several of the settlers clubbed to- gether and purchased a pair of millstones about two feet in diameter, which we turned by hand. At first we could only raise corn. Wheat blasted, rusted, and would not mature. This state of things lasted seven or eight years, when wheat, rye and oats began to be raised. The family dressed chiefly in deer skins, and I was ten years old before I had a pair of shoes."
The Knox family had their share of pioneer hardships. Willam Knox jr. was sent by his father in the first years of their residence in Deerfield to Williamsport to mill, in mid-winter, with a sled hauled by a yoke of steers, and an old gray-tailed mare for a leader. Thinly clad and poorly fed he made his way across the wilderness by way of what is now Wellsboro and Liberty, and was so long performing the trip that the grist was mostly fed to the team. The family at home became very anxious at the delay in his return. But one night about midnight
From this time forward settlers came into the township freely. Bethlehem Thompson was among the first. He settled where Emmer Bowen now resides, but soon sold his possession to Reuben Cook. In 1803 John Howland and his son Eddy came and settled where Eddy Howland the younger now resides. In 1807 Emmer Bowen sen. bought a possession of Jesse Rowley, and subsequently the right of soil, where Benjamin Salsbury Bowen now resides. During the year 1807 Emmer Bowen, Newbury Cloos, James, John and William Falkner, John Short, Reu- ben Short, Jonathan M. Rogers and Curtis Cady bought farms. So also about the same time did Zadoc Bowen, David Short, James Yarnall and Joshua Colvin, Besides these there were several families who occupied and im- proved lands as squatters, without acquiring title.
With the year 1809 we close the pioneer period. Yar- nall came from Philadelphia, and the Bowens, Howlands, Clarks and Colvins from Rhode Island. Nearly all of the early settlers came from the eastern States, whose sterile soil they were glad to exchange for the more fer- tile fields and milder climate of the Cowanesque Valley. To acquire these they had to undergo the privations of pioneer life, and they met their hardships with manly
HUNTING STORIES.
Bears, deer, elk, panthers, otters, wolves, minks, wild cats, beavers and other wild animals abounded in Deer- field. The early settlers used no dogs in pursuing deer. A hunter was sure to find one within easy range, either standing in the river, browsing on the hill sides, or at one of the numerous "licks." The most noted of these was the "Grand Deer Lick," near the residence of Isaac Sutton. A school house is also located near the place. It consisted of a salty spring on low ground, and a wooded knoll near by, upon which a "blind " was erected, be- hind which the hunter concealed himself. Hundreds of deer have been killed here when they came to lick the brackish water. Mud licks were more numerous and not so much frequented by deer.
On the north hill below Academy Corners there is a cave popularly known by the name of " Bear Wallow." The tradition that it was a residence and safe retreat for Bruin it is impossible to trace to an authentic source, although the name that still attaches to the place would seem to indicate that such was the case. There are, however, a few stories of encounters with wild animals that are perfectly authentic.
In the winter of 1806 Ebenezer Seelye had his hogs taken by bears one after another, to the number of eight. they were awakened by a noise in front of the house, and He determined to save the old sow, and built a log pen found that the steers and old gray-tail had returned with William asleep in the bottom of the sled, nearly frozen. and put her in it. One night, about 10 or 11 o'clock, he heard a loud squealing at the hog pen. His two sons, The next year after the arrival of these pioneer fami- lies (1800) a child was born to each-Sally Seelye (tenth and youngest child of Ebenezer, and afterward wife of Prince King), and James, son of William Knox. These Julius and Elanson, aged respectively 17 and 13, went hurriedly out and found a bear in the pen. The bear had the hog in his embrace and was trying to lift her out of the pen. Julius seized an axe and dealt the bear were the first white children born in the Cowanesque ( a blow upon the back, embedding the bit of the axe in Valley.
the meat. The bear at once let go of the hog and fled,
233
HUNTING EXPLOITS IN DEERFIELD -- CONSTRUCTION OF MILLS.
taking the axe with him. The axe was found the next morning about ten rods from the house. The remains of the bear were found in the woods near the north hill.
Rev. David Short settled in 1806 upon the farm now owned by the heirs of Ard Hoyt Bacon, and lived there until 1813. His home was upon the bank of the river and his pig pen near the door. One morning just at break of day he heard his pig making a furious outcry. He went out and found a bear trying to carry it away. He seized his rifle and shot the bear from his door.
In 1812 Reuben Howland, then a young man, heard a dog barking in the woods about one hundred rods north of the main Cowanesque road. Upon going where the dog was Reuben found a large panther on a lateral limb of a large oak tree, about forty feet from the ground. He left the dog barking up the tree, went to the house of John Sweet (who lived where Loren Carpenter does now), and got him to go and shoot the panther. Sweet had a short gun he called his "Hessian rifle." He fired two or three times with this gun before he brought the animal down. The State paid at that time a bounty of $8 for killing a panther. In this case the bountywas divided by consent of the parties-Sweet getting $4, Reuben How. land 82, and Elanson Seelye $2, because he owned the dog that discovered the game ..
Eddy Howland sen. was an adept in trapping. At the spring on the farm where Joseph Howland now lives (from which the family at present gets its supply of water he caught eight wolves in one winter. In March 1815 he caught a she wolf in one of his traps. Mr. Howland and his son Reuben tied her firmly about the neck with moosewood bark. They tied crotched sticks to the moosewood and by the use of these they conveyed the wolf home between them. They put her in a small log barn, and in about a week she was delivered of four whelps. After these were a few days old they killed the whole party, and obtained the bounty, which at that time was $8 per head. Mr. Howland bought 150 acres of land at $4 per acre, and paid a large share of the purchase money with the bounty he had received for killing wolves. The State never paid a bounty upon bears.
BUSINESS ENTERPRISES.
The avocation in which most of the people of Deer- field are employed is the cultivation of the soil. The climate and the soil conspire to produce excellent results in agriculture. Grain and grasses grow in great luxuri- ance. The cultivation of flax and hemp, which in the first forty years of the century furnished a considerable portion of the husbandry of each farm, has been entirely abandoned. So has that part of the household industry by which the raw materials of these articles were manu- factured into cloth. The same remark is measurably true of the production of maple sugar.
Saw Mills .- The first saw-mill was built by Emmer Bowen and Ebenezer Seelye, on the Cowanesque, south of the present residence of Benjamin S. Bowen. It had a flutter wheel (undershot) and a single upright saw. By diligence and good management one thousand feet of
panel white pine could be cut in twelve hours. This mill was operated until between 1835 and 1840.
Luke Scott built the first saw-mill on Troup's Creek, in 1820. It had an undershot wheel and a single up- right saw. It was undermined and destroyed by high water in about ten years.
Eddy Howland built a saw-mill in 1804 above Knox- ville on the Cowanesque. It was driven by a flutter wheel and had a single upright saw. He sold it in 1818 to Caleb Smith. This mill was afterward owned by Moses Inscho, who came into Deerfield in 1826 and operated the mill until 1847.
In 1830 Reuben Cloos built the first saw-mill on Yar- nall Brook, near the present residence of Isaac Sutton. It was rigged with a flutter wheel and a single upright saw.
In 1831 James Yarnall built a saw-mill near the mouth of Yarnall Brook. This was built after the fashion of the day with flutter wheel and single upright saw, cap- able of cutting 1,oco feet of lumber in 12 hours.
In 1832 Luman Stevens built a saw-mill 40 by 14 feet on Yarnall Brook, flutter wheel, up-and-down saw. This did good work until 1866.
Levi Stevens in 1868 built a saw-mill on the site of the last mentioned, 32 by 68 feet. It was driven by water, with a center-vent wheel. A circular saw was used. In 1873 steam power was put into this mill, and it was cap- able of cutting t,ooo feet of lumber per hour. In 1879 it was burned down and rebuilt. The amount of lumber annually sawed at this mill varies from 600,000 to 1,400,- ooo feet.
Joseph Yarnall built a saw-mill near the mouth of Yar- nall Brook in 1848. It was run by water from the Cow- anesque, taken out in a race a third of a mile above the mill. This race and the river surrounded a large island on the south side of the river. This mill had improved machinery and drove three saws. Yarnall sold it in 1853 to J. W. & H. E. Potter, who conducted the busi- ness until their river dam was taken out by the great flood of 1861 and the property otherwise injured.
Messrs. Walker & Lathrop, of Corning, N. Y., in 1881 built a large saw mill at the mouth of Inscho Run. Two circular saws are driven by steam power; A. J. Miller is the manager.
Joshua Dake built a mill on the south side of the Cow- anesque, opposite Knoxville, in 1848. Two upright saws were rigged in the same gate, and driven by a center vent wheel. B. and B. Hows bought this mill in 1855; they sold it to Mattison & Billings in 1860, and they to John Goodspeed in 1865. This mill has done no business since 1880.
Grist- Mill .- Bethlehem Thompson built a log grist- mill in 1811 about a mile above Knoxville. It was pro- pelled by water power, by an overshot wheel. He took the water from Inscho Run in long continuous troughs hewed out of pine trees, and thereby conducted it upon his wheel. The main Cowanesque road ran under this
aqueduct. Thompson sold this mill to Abram Smith. It did business about ten years.
29
234
HISTORY OF TIOGA COUNTY.
Distilleries .- Joshua Colvin built a log distillery by a or two kilns per year were quarried, burned and sold to large spring north of Academy Corners in 1815. He the public. Julius and Elanson Seelye conducted the business. The State geologist describes the quality of the lime stone as " poor and fossiliferous."
brought a copper still and other apparatus from Her- kimer county, N. Y., and manufactured whiskey about three years. It was made from rye and corn, exclusively for home consumption. The rate of exchange at this distillery was six quarts of whiskey for one bushel of rye or corn.
about five years. At this establishment whiskey was dis- tilled from corn, rye and potatoes to a limited extent. It was all sold at home.
Merchants .- Eddy Howland brought in a stock of goods as early as 1814 and began a mercantile business. There was not much money in the county, and his sales were mostly for barter. Grain, maple sugar, lumber and the skins of wild beasts were received in exchange for goods at this store.
Soon after 1840 William J. Knox built the first store at Academy Corners. About it as a nucleus the hamlet has grown up. In this store, which is still standing (1882), there has been a succession of merchants, about as follows: 1840, William J. Knox; 1842, Andrew Beers; 1847, William A. Falkner; 1856, Jeremiah Stoddard; 1858, J. B. Payne; 1861, G. B. Gridley; 1863, Brown; 1864, Charles R. Howland; 1865, Purple & Buckbee; 1869, Matthias Marlat; 1870, Joseph B. Payne; 1872; Asa D. Taft; 1874, Burnette Close; 1881, W. A. Falkner.
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.