History of Tioga County, Pennsylvania, with Illustrations, portraits and sketches of prominent families and individuals, Part 67

Author: Sexton, John L., jr; Munsell, W.W., & co., New York, pub
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: New York, Munsell
Number of Pages: 486

USA > Pennsylvania > Tioga County > History of Tioga County, Pennsylvania, with Illustrations, portraits and sketches of prominent families and individuals > Part 67

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TOWNSHIP OFFICERS ETC.

The following is a list of justices of the peace having jurisdiction in Tioga township, with the years in which they were commissioned:

Nathan Niles, 1808; Eddy Howland, 1810; Daniel Lamb, 1813; William Rose, 1813; Ambrose Millard, 1816; Enos Sloman, 1818; Elijah De Pui, 1819; Samuel Mc- Dougal, 1819; Seth Daggett, 1820; Job Geer, 1825; L. Vail, 1825;

Benjamin Miller, 1826; William Willard, 1827; Rufus Daggett, 1829; H. Howland, 1829; William Garretson, 1831, 1835, 1860; Horace E. Spencer, 1833; Calvin Cowley, 1835; Joseph Clark, 1835; Erastus W. Derow, 1836; Charles S. Spencer, 1836; Lewis Mead, 1836; Curtis Parkhurst, 1838; Carpenter H. Place, 1838, 1840, 1855, 1860; Lyman Johnson, 1838; Joseph Aiken, 1841, 1846; Henry E. Smith, 1845; J. H. Putnam, 1851; C. J. Humphrey, 1861; Charles F. Swan, 1865; John W. Guernsey, 1867; C. H. Seymour, 1868; William J. Mann, 1870; W. T. Urell, 1873, 1878; Horace S. Johnson, 1875; John Stevens, 1881.

The number of taxable inhabitants in Tioga township

SUNDRY BUSINESS INSTITUTIONS.

The Lucky Oil Well Company was organized in the months of January and February 1865, under an act of the Legislature for mechanical and mining purposes, ap- proved July 18th 1863. The capital of the company was nominally $150,000, represented by 15,000 shares of $10 each. The officers were: Edward Bayer, president; T. L. Baldwin, vice-president; A. M. Bennett, secretary; and Henry H. Goodrich, treasurer. The company leased a tract of land of Abiel Sly, who generally went by the sobriquet of " Old Lucky;" hence the name of the company. y. The tract lay on Bear Creek, two miles distant from Tioga village, and a well was sunk 923 feet deep, at a cost of $7,086.25, paid out by the treasurer. Fourteen thousand four hundred and twenty-five shares were sold-12.000 at 50 cents per share, and 2,425 at 25 cents per share. The well was tubed and pumped, and some oil obtained from it; but it was not torpedoed, as this system was then but little known.

Mills .- In 1850 the old Charles Fish mill, built in 1831, afterward rebuilt by Hiram Fisk, passed into the hands of Mr. Chapman, who built in addition a large steam saw-mill. By obligations due the Steuben County Bank John Magee was obliged in 1852 to take an assign- ment of the property, and Mr. Blakely was for a time the agent in charge. During his charge of the mills oc- curred the famous "log war " between him and Mr. Bulmer, for possession of logs sold by the Stevens brothers to Mr. Chapman. Subsequnetly Duncan S. Magee returned from St. Louis and assumed charge of them, and Henry H. Goodrich was bookkeeper for both him and Blakely. In the fall of 1853 and winter of 1854 James G. Messereau became sole manager of them, and Mr. Magee and his son Duncan began to develop the coal mining interests of the county, which have since proved so profitable to the Magee family and to Tioga county.

In 1849 or 1850 was established the large foundry of Tabor, Mathews & Co., on the site now occupied by Fields & Smith. Subsequently Young and Hathaway became partners in it, and E. A. Smead, Barney Tabor and J. G. Putnam had employment in connection with it. In 1860 or 1861 it burned down, since when no foundry interest has been revived in Tioga. John A. Mathews, formerly associated with T. L. Baldwin in trade, and a member of the foundry firm, withdrew from it in 1854. He married the daughter of A. C. Bush, and settled him-

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self at Winona, Minnesota, about 1855, in the real estate and banking business. He has been closely identified with the business prosperity of that place, and has reaped his share of its bounties.

There are now in operation in the township the fol- lowing mills: The steam mill of A. S. Turner, on Painter Run, cutting large quantities of hemlock lumber; the McCoy steam-mill, formerly the Doughty mill, near Big Hill and just below the Gap, cutting hemlock and hard wood of all kinds; the William Kimball steam mill, at Mitchell's Creek; the Bayer water power mill, and the grist-mill adjoining, doing custom work only, and both occupying the site of William Willard's mill.

Flagging Stone and Iron Ore, both of excellent quality, are obtained from the Shutter Hill, distant about three- quarters of a mile from the center of the village, and in full view of it. The flagging stone is of the olive gray sand formation, belonging to the Chemung group, and immediately underlies the red shale of the Catskill, from which the iron ore is obtained. George W. Hathaway, a blacksmith and practical iron worker, who has been ex- perimenting with this ore since 1872, claims for it the superior virtue of giving to pot metal, common iron, and other iron ores a highly steel-like character, and being indestructible by ordinary acids, muriate of soda, or ex. posure to the weather. His idea is that the metal vana- dium is largely present in the ore, is retained in processes of manufacture, and will in time, when better under- stood and appreciated, give to the red shale ores in the vicinity of Tioga an incalculable value. Mr. McCreath, chemist for the State geological survey, has given the following analysis of the ore: Silica, 59.630; alumina. 18.560; sesquioxide of iron, 8.571; sesquioxide manga- nese, .290; lime, .672; magnesia, 2.252; potash soda, 5.109; sulphuric acid, .123; phosphoric acid, .279; titanic acid, trace; water, 4.560; total, 100.046. An analysis by Mr. Brittain, of Philadelphia, gave 15 per cent. iron.

The flagging stone varies in thickness from three to five inches, and several thousand feet of it have been laid for pavements in various parts of the village, varying in sizes from two by four feet all the way up to nine and a half by fourteen and a half feet. Very large flagging is now being laid on the north side of the Wickham block.

The Trotting Park of Tioga was established in 1874, on the farm of Thomas J. Berry jr. within the borough limits. It is well fenced, and has a judge's stand and covered seats for spectators.

Latest Enterprises .- As a new industrial era is about dawning on Tioga, in this sketch, which has dealt so much with old times, and events and individuals con- nected with its past history, the writer is glad to men- tion, before he parts altogether with his subject, that the Fall Brook Coal Company is now constructing two hun- dred coke ovens on land purchased of B. C. Wickham, Jabin S. Bush, Eleazer Seagers and H. E. Smith & Son, in all about thirty-five acres. The price paid for the land was $150 per acre for 10 acres, and $200 per acre | affair and the Graves' trial.

for 25 acres; $1,950 of which was paid by subscription of the citizens of Tioga and the balance by the coal com- pany. A grading of three tracks in a triangular shape has already been made to reach these ovens, and several shops put up, and a double wall three hundred yards long laid, using about two thousand yards of stone from a quarry opened on the old Thomas Berry estate, less than half a mile distant. It is said the company designs the construction of two hundred more ovens next year. The company has also surveyed a line of railroad con- necting the Corning, Cowanesque and Antrim Railroad at Tioga with the mines at Morris Run and Fall Brook, along the west side of the Tioga River, which they in- tend to build should not the Tioga Railroad Company concede the terms demanded by them. Simon B. Elliott is the civil engineer in charge of all these works.

As the writer was born on the farm where all this im- provement is now going forward, and contrasts the spirit of his boyhood, when he roamed over it cheerful and hopeful in everything pertaining to life, with that spirit of sadness in which he now looks on the wonderful changes being wrought upon it, that seem to him more the desecration of a once hallowed spot than its advance- ment, he cannot but feel in these sad and melancholy days of autumn that he, like the seasons themselves, is passing away; that the ripeness and fullness of the years have come and gone, and the leafless winter of age fast approaches.

Fair autumn now, in sweet and pensive mood, Enrobed in hues rich as the eventide, Lone sister of the seasons' sisterhood, Walks through the groves and by the forest side.

Enchantress she, she waves her magic wand, And lo ! transformed, the vale and mountain height Put on the semblance of enchanted land,- Entrancing scene that charms the glowing sight.

By her transmuting touch the stately oak, The maple, beech, the hickory and elm, Stand forth arrayed in masquerading cloak, Mute spirits of a weird and fairy realm.

Not long they'll wear their changeful, gay disguise, Fantastic glories of a transient hour, For soon they'll vanish from our wond'ring eyes, Sad spectral emblems of a lifeless power.

The writer cannot close this sketch without acknowl- edging his many obligations to Hon. John W. Guernsey for the use of rare and valuable books contained in his library, and much valuable oral information imparted to him in connection with his work. Thanks are also specially due from him to Frederick E. Smith, Captain Buel Baldwin, S. M. Geer and Mrs. Martha Brown.

NOTE .- It is due to the writer of the foregoing historical sketch to say that the following items, furnished by him, were omitted by the publishers: A topographical and geologieal description of the township; a review of the Connecticut title and several titles in the central and western portion of the State of New York having a bearing on the early settlement of northern Pennsylvania ; a personal notice of Rev. S. D. Merrick, designed to accompany Mr. Merrick's Baptist church history, but received after the latter was printed; explanatory detail in connection with the Timothy Pickering abduction, by which Mr. Kinney and others sought to hold him as hostage for the release of John Franklin, a Connecticut title agent ; and allusions to the Rev. Mr. O'F's confession, the Fardown and Corkonian conflict, the Freeland

RICHMOND TOWNSHIP AND MANSFIELD.

BY ANDREW SHERWOOD.

T HE history of Richmond and Mansfield large- ly resolves itself into biographical sketches of those who in one way or another have been identified with their early settlement and subsequent advancement. These the author has endeavored to present as fairly, fully, and impartially as the facts at his command and the space allotted him in this work would permit; and he will indeed be sorry if there are any who have not been given the prominence they deserved, or who in any way have received injustice at his hands. It has been said that the study of geography should begin at home. We think the same may be said of history. But woe to the man who writes a history of his own neighbors and neigh- borhood! He is sure to say too much or too little. He habitations.

to us. The last of their number had disappeared before the advent of the whites. They had ceded their land to the successors of William Penn as far back as 1768, in a treaty at Fort Stanwix, N. Y. They may have continued to reside here up to the year 1779, when Sullivan's vic- torious army came up the Chemung; but they seem to have had no permanent habitation here after that date, though small parties occasionally passed through, even after the coming of the white man. Clearings made and once occupied by them were found here by the first set- tlers; while numerous implements of stone and fragments of pottery remain after the lapse of more than a century. These are plowed up in several localities, where their abundance doubtles discloses the place of their makers'

will assuredly reap a harvest of curses. But, once hav- ing assumed the role of historian, let him be fearless of censure, striving above all to be impartial. If he is in- clined to favor some more than others, let it be those brave, heroic men who came into the wilderness and chopped down the woods. It is of them that posterity will inquire; they are the ones whose names will be sought out five hundred years hence, and it is fitting that their names should be rescued from oblivion. For, while

We not only know where they dwelt, in a few instances at least, but we know where some of them left their bones. When the first white man penetrated these wilds there was in existence an Indian burial ground, which remained visible until after the year 1830, or until the construction of the Tioga railroad, and the location of which can still be pointed out by several of the older inhabitants, who remember seeing it. It was situated in a most romantic spot, just where the river enters the gorge below Lamb's they may have lacked the intellectual refinement of their Creek. Its exact location is indicated by an elm tree about twenty rods east of the bridge across the river, and nearly half way between the bridge and the old Israel Mann house. Both the wagon road and the railroad now pass through it, so that it is entirely obliterated. It was originally marked by the Indians with a large stone slab

sons and daughters who live in the afternoon of this nineteenth century, they more than made up for quality of brain in quality of heart. Every one of them was warm-hearted, generous and kind; every one of them in his way was a true hero. Bravely they fought the battle of life; how bravely, let our waving fields and thriving set in the ground, some six feet in height, but containing village answer. Of all the hardships and privations en- no mark or inscription of any kind. . The dead were dured by them none but God ean know; they are part of buried in a sitting posture, and the mounds were round. the unwritten history. One thing we do know-they Many pieces of pottery, as of kettles, etc., were found here when the railroad was built. About forty rods above the cemetery was an oak tree which was covered with hieroglyphics, and it was noticed by the early set- tlers that bands of Indians in passing up and down the valley always halted under this tree. It so happened many years afterward, when John Magee was running a made the wilderness to blossom as the rose, so that where, as it were but yesterday, waved the giant trees of a giant forest, luxuriant orchards have yielded their ruddy flush, and rich harvests their golden gleam. Upon the labors of their hands we have reared our homes. But of that noble race who made us the possessors of this goodly heritage only a few linger above the horizon, in life's line of stages from Williamsport to Lawrenceville, that west. All the others have gone-let us hope to the bet- six Indians were aboard, who requested the driver to ter land, the summer land, the land of rest. Soon it can halt just as they were passing the graves of their ances- be said of each and all of them: "At last they sleep soundly and well-peace be to their ashes."

INDIAN HISTORY.

Concerning the strange race that formerly held undis- turbed possession of this valley but little has come down

tors, and, laying their guns across the mounds, set up a most mournful wail for the dead. Their largest clearing was here, which contained wild plum trees, bearing fruit in abundance after the place was known to the white man. At the lower end of this field, opposite the bridge, were two trees of remarkable size, one an oak and the other a

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pine. The latter was known as "the branching pine," and was remarkable for the ingrafting of limbs from one branch to another-the work of the Indians? All together it was an enchanting spot in which to lie down in the long, long sleep. Like the tomb of Moses, the great chieftain of Israel, it was amidst the solitude of the mountains. We never pass that way without thinking of the sleepers just under the surface. Ah! could those sleepers come forth, how much of history they might re- late, how many hair-breadth escapes, how many heart- aches, and all life's bitter cost.

About one hundred rods below this locality, at a place known as "pole-bridge," and not far from the water tank, an Indian was found buried in the river bank, in a sitting posture, by the venerable William C. Ripley, some fifty years ago. Three guns had been placed over the body crosswise, which were badly rusted. He thought the thigh bone was of unusual length.

The Indians once had quite a clearing on what was afterward the Lamb farm, now owned by Philip Williams, whose barn is not far from the spot. The Lambs have formerly found a good many stone axes and other relics there. The aged Lorain Lamb describes the . ground as grown up to choke-cherry and other bushes when he first saw it. Corn hills were still visible, while here and there were standing large elm trees.

On the opposite side of the river, a little above, the Indians had a sugar-bush, where they made maple sugar. Perhaps some of the trees are still standing, as there is yet a small sugar-bush occupying the same ground.

There was another field just a little northwest from the station at Lamb's Creek. This was known as the " wind- fall field," but it is doubtful if the . Indians ever occu- pied it.

A very high flood in the year 1870 removed about a foot of soil, for a distance of several rods, from the sur- face of the main road at Lamb's Creek, where it is inter- sected by the road from the depot. This revealed a number of ancient fireplaces, where were found charred wood, fragments of bones, pieces of pottery, arrow-heads, pestles, stone wedges, and various flint implements. The pottery was unique, having been baked from clay mixed with very small pebbles, and having the exterior rudely ornamented, all after one design, with rarely an excep- tion, in which case the ware seems to have been made of clay mixed with fine sand and made smooth inside and out. The place must have been a camping ground, and the sand removed by the flood was doubtless placed there long before by the same agency.

At some period in the past, probably representing a greater antiquity than any of the above, the Indians had a village on the point of land southwest from the ceme- tery at Mansfield, now owned by the writer. The place commands a fine view of the valley up and down for many miles, and was covered with a pine forest when first seen by the white man. It is rich in Indian relics, the soil, which is a gravelly loam, having been originally filled with them. They were manufactured here, from mate- rial obtained somewhere to the north, and one can readily

detect the location of their wigwams by the number of flint chips, etc., found in certain places. Implements, both finished and in a partially finished state, have been plowed up during many years, and although the writer has collected many hundreds of them the place is not yet exhausted, but continues to furnish specimens when- ever the ground is newly plowed. These were made in a number of places over an area of three or four acres, but more particularly in two places, at all of which there doubtless might once have been seen habitations. We have picked up over two hundred arrow points, a number of pestles, a number of polished implements used in the dressing of hides, some stone axes, a number of stones used as sinkers on fish-nets, several bushels of small flat- tened sandstone cobbles with holes cut in the sides one- fourth to one-half inch in depth, besides various other things. The arrow points are mostly of dark colored flint, and are as a rule very small, though not always so, and were perhaps used and lost by boys in practicing upon a mark. But one white one has been found, a beautiful specimen of fair size, which may have a history of its own, and a few of a yellowish color. There are three or four different styles represented; one made to fasten to the arrow in the ordinary manner, one made to give the arrow a revolving motion while passing through the air, and another-the poisoned point-made to insert into the end of the arrow without fastening, in such a manner that it could not be withdrawn from an enemy without leaving the point imbedded in the flesh. It was a most ingenious contrivance, and it is said the mode of using it was to have a piece of rotten liver bitten by rat- tlesnakes in confinement until it was filled with poison, when the arrows were thrust into it. The flattened cob- bles referred to, with a hole picked in each side, are a riddle hard to solve. It is difficult to determine what they were used for, or how they were made. It would test the best of steel to make them, as they are composed of hard quartzose sand. It is very singular that none of them have been found elsewhere in this vicinity, not even among all the specimens found at Lamb's Creek. It is a matter of equal interest to the antiquarian that not a single fragment, large or small, of the curious pottery found on the river flats, and mentioned as occurring at Lamb's Creek, has ever been found at this place. The flint chips, arrow points, etc., we have found in some in- stances under large pine stumps. Those who made them-when did they live? How long ago? The oldest settler does not know. No man living can tell. The hands that fashioned them are in the dust; they lived in the forgotten past.

EARLY AND PROMINENT RESIDENTS.

We have no certain knowledge that foot of white man ever trod these wilds previous to the year 1790. In 1791 the Williamson road was begun by German redemp- tioners under the direction of Colonel Williamson, in the interest of Sir William Pulteney of England, who owned large tracts of land in the State of New York, where now stands the village of Bath. The road was

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PIONEERS IN RICHMOND-BENJAMIN COREY-GAD LAMB.

completed as far as Canoe Camp in 1791. Here, at the wife May 9th 1838, aged 82. They are buried by the approach of winter, canoes were built and the whole road side half a mile below Lamb's Creek, and a few party floated down the river to Painted Post, and thence, rods north from the spot where they lived. up the Conhocton to Bath. Hence the name of Cance Fortunately, of this old and well known family there remains a living representative in the person of Lorain Lamb, besides numerous descendants. Unlike the settlers already named, who were transient, this family came to Camp. The road was completed in 1792. Above Mans- field it ran in nearly the same place it now does. In the village its place is now occupied by the railroad. It crossed Corey Creek just above the railroad bridge, i stay, remaining as prominent actors in the history of the going up on higher ground to the north, where it kept |township. Undoubtedly to Gad Lamb must be given the credit of being the first permanent settler, and it gives us pleasure to record him as such, with the suggestion that when, in a few years, we shall celebrate the first cen- tennial in the history of the settlement of our town, a stone be placed over his grave perpetuating his title to this honorable distinction.

until nearly opposite the old Asa Donaldson house, half a mile below, when it went down and crossed the river. keeping on the west side as far as the old Asa Mann house, where it returned to the east side. At the time of the building of this road, or soon thereafter, a man by the name of Carter first came and settled at what is now known as Lamb's Creek. He built two log houses in close proximity to each other, and cleared off some eight or ten aeres, which he had planted to corn and potatoes.

Mr. Lamb was a man five feet ten inches in height, and weighing 240 pounds. He was broad-shouldered and very strong. He had heavy eyebrows, dark hair and In the fall of 1796, or spring of 1797, he sold his place dark complexion. On the way here he made a stop at to a man by the name of White, who never occupied it however, but who sold it to Gad Lamb early in the sum- mer of 1797.

The first settler in Richmond township, then, was this man Carter. Of his history little is known. It does not even appear where he came from. He went from here to Canaseraga Creek, in western New York. Lorain Lamb, who saw him there in ISTI, describes him as being then a man sixty years of age, short and thick-set.

Towanda, where his son Ebenezer Ripley Lamb was born, May 21st 1797. Leaving his family there, he, in company with his oldest son, Daniel, came on to the Tioga River at Canoe Camp, where they looked at some land with the view of purchasing. They did not pur- chase however, but planted the old Williamson eneanip- ment to corn and potatoes. This was but a mere nook in the forest, cleared off by Williamson's men for a camp. They then went on down the river four or five miles and purchased the Carter place of a Mr. White, as already stated. Mr. Lamb then went back after his family, leav-

BENJAMIN COREY .- The second settler was Benjamin Corey. Of his antecedents nothing is known. He was

found living in a bark cabin on the east bank of the ing Daniel alone in one of the log houses built by Carter, Tioga River, above Albert Sherwood's. Lorain Lamb and his mother took supper with him in this cabin July 4th 1797, while on their way to the Carter place, two or three miles below. In the fall of 1797 he put up a log house on the site of his bark cabin. Daniel and Harry Lamb came up to the raising, and when just below the railroad bridge, at a point in the road then known as "the narrows," their dog treed a bear. Daniel and the dog stayed to watch the tree, while Harry went back after his gun and shot the animal. Corey lived in this house three or four years, when he removed to Angelica, Allegany county, N. Y. He was a large, strong man. upwards of thirty years of age, of dark complexion, and had a wife and one or two children. He was considered a good singer. While here his wife died with the small- pox, and he took her down to the mouth of the Cowan- esque in a canoe and buried her there. Corey has left his name in that of the creek which runs through Mans- field.

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History of Tioga County, Pennsylvania, with Illustrations, portraits and sketches of prominent families and individuals, Part 67

Author: Sexton, John L., jr; Munsell, W.W., & co., New York, pub Publication date: 1883 Publisher: New York, Munsell Number of Pages: 486

Author: Sexton, John L., jr; Munsell, W.W., & co., New York, pub
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: New York, Munsell
Number of Pages: 486