USA > Pennsylvania > Tioga County > History of Tioga County, Pennsylvania, with Illustrations, portraits and sketches of prominent families and individuals > Part 80
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The first white settler in the township was William Holden. He was a bachelor, and built his cabin on the
* He was administrator cum testamento annero. By the terms of the will he was anthorized to sell land.
1,0923, 31 Jan. 1793. . 30th 5 mo. 1794 Along New York State line and
Holden Brook, from G. S. Bon- hamn's to James Work's.
25 Feb. 1794 .. 31st 5 mo. 1794 At mouth and up valley of Bulk-
30th 5 mo. 1794 Upon headwaters of Bulkley
Brook and along New York
State line.
Along New York State line and Camp Brook.
540125 Apr. 1992. Sept. 19th 1792 Owned in part by Jonas B. Seely,
Morris Souly and Harry Tyler.
27 Apr. 1792 .. Sept. #Ist 1792 Norris Butler owns a small part
of this warrant in this town.
Tubbs in part. 46 9 Nov. 1792 .. Nov. 14th 1793 Owned by L. L. Kimball. Charles ..
Owned by Henry Tubbs, C. Kim-
ball und Charles Tubbs.
:
12 Dec. 1792.
56119
William Lloyd ......
Robert Black well. . |1,099
1,100
1,097
WARRANTEE.
..
T. M. Willing .....
..
Thomas Willing ....
OF WARRANT. .ON
Nov. 8th 1793 Brier Hill; owned by George
Tubbs, Muncier Gleason and others.
ley's Brook.
:
6.
1,099
340
HISTORY OF TIOGA COUNTY.
eastern bank of the stream that bears his name, near in their ignorance of the truth these questions gave much where the barn of Albert S. Crandall is now situated. trouble and disquietude to the people seeking homes in the forest, In every cabin the title was the theme of general conversation, and at every gathering it was the topic uppermost in the discussions. His settlement was made about 1795. He had made a previous settlement at Lawrenceville as early as 1783. While residing here his main employment was building post and rail fence for the new settlers.
Cooper Cady was the first settler upon the farm now owned by Samuel G. Barker. Next above him came Caleb Griggs. He built his cabin on the bank of the Cowanesque River, just below the Tubbs grist-mill. A man by the name of Smith was the first settler where John Tubbs now resides. His log cabin stood a short distance west of the brick house. The second settler upon the site of the village of Osceola was Nathaniel White. His cabin stood near where Hiram Stevens now resides.
Daniel Phillips was the first settler near the mouth of the Island Stream. The site where Charles L. Hoyt now lives was first occupied by James Whitney. James Whit- ney sold his land to Henry Mott. John Parker first owned and occupied the farms of Alvers Bosard, U. A. Bosworth and Chester B. Hoyt.
A Mr. Randall was the first settler upon the farm now owned by George Newton Bulkley. His log cabin was located on the Island Stream. The next cabin further up the stream was built by one Sesher, north of the res- idence of Charles Bulkley. One night Sesher's cabin burned up, and he was never seen or heard of afterward. Reports of foul play were rife at the time, but the guilt of his murder if such there was was never fixed upon anyone. This took place in the year 1800. Nathan Lewis made a clearing on the hillside north of Osceola. It has since been known as the "Lewis lot."
These names complete the list of first settlers. Not very much is known about them-especially as to the places from which they came. They seem to have been adventurers, ready upon the slightest pretext to move on. Caleb Griggs and Smith died and were buried here. Cooper Cady removed to Troupsburg, N. Y., and died there. Henry Mott, Daniel Phillips and Nathaniel White went to Olean Point, and thence down the Allegheny and Ohio rivers to Marietta, O. John Parker removed to the Genesee Valley in the State of New York.
Several of these settlers came previous to 1800, and not long after 18to the last of them had disappeared gree; the said land to extend westwards five degrees in from our territory. Some of them, as has already been seen, purchased land; others were mere squatters. This is about all that is known of their subsequent history. They were succeeded from time to time by new families, who have become permanent residents of the township.
First among these-in 1800-came Israel Bulkley, from Colchester, Mass. He lived near the line dividing Mass- achusetts from Connecticut. He had married Lucy Chapin, of Salisbury, Conn., and had several children. Bulkley purchased the possession of Randall, and when Sesher's cabin burned and Sesher disappeared Bulkley at once occupied the territory thus made vacant.
The chain of land titles heretofore set forth was not at that time ISoo established by decisions of the courts. If it was asserted by some, it was doubted by others, and
Cooper Cady and Israel Bulkley brought with them Connecticut titles to the land they occupied in this town- ship. Cyprian Wright, of Nelson, claimed his land under the same title. Thus in the valley of the Cowan- esque the rival claims of Connecticut and Pennsylvania to the jurisdiction and right of soil, which had caused so much suffering and bloodshed at Wyoming, were set up, and they call for a brief statement of the grounds on which they rest. The grants of land in America, by the sovereigns of Great Britain, were made with a lavishness which can only exist where acquisitions are without cost and their value unknown, and with a want of precision in boundaries which can only result from entire ignor- ance of the country. In this way the same territory was granted to different parties by the same king, as witness the words of the royal charters: Under date of 20 April 1662 Charles II. granted letters patent to John Winthrop et al., incorporating them as a body politic by the name of " The Governor and Company of the English Colony of Connecticut in New England in America," and grant- ing and confirming to them "all that part of our domin- ions in New England, in America, bounded on the east by Narragansett River where the said river falleth into the sea; and on the north by the line of the Massachu- setts Colony running from east to west; that is to say from the said Narragansett Bay in the east to the South Sea on the west part." Nineteen years later-under date of 4 March 1681-King Charles II. granted to William Penn " all that tracte or parte of land in America as the same is bounded on the east by the Delaware River from twelve miles distance northwarde from New Castle Towne unto the three and fortieth degree of northern latitude, if the said river doth extend soe farre northwarde. But if the said river shall not extend soe farre northward then by the same river soe farre as it doth extend, and from the head of the said river the easterne bounds are to bee determined by a meridian line, to bee drawn from the head of the said river unto the three and fortieth de- longitude, to be computed from the eastern bounds, and the said lands to bee bounded on the north by the beginning of the three and fortieth degree of northern latitude."
By consulting a map it will be found that " the line of the Massachusetts colony " mentioned in the first char- ter is almost identical with "the beginning of the three and fortieth degree of northern latitude " mentioned in the second, which is the northern boundary of Pennsyl- vania. When it is further explained that the "South Sea " meant the Pacific Ocean it is clear that both char- ters covered the territory of the northern part of Penn- sylvania.
Here is ample ground for a controversy. It was fought out on the battle-field, in the courts, in the Leg-
341
PIONEERS OF OSCEOLA.
islature and before a commission appointed by Con- owned by John Tubbs, which he sold to kubert Tubbs gress. It lasted from 1757 to 1802. Under the first of the two charters cited above Connecticut had a right to the territory. She issued grants of land, and it was with these in their pockets that Israel Bulkley and Coo-
February Ist ISHI; and, third, the farm of Henry Mott, now owned by C. L. Hoyt. On this farm he made his home and resided during his life, and his descend- ants after him. Permelia Taylor, the mother, and Philip per Cady entered upon their possessions in Osceola. and Mitchell died soon after their arrival, and were The controversy was decided in favor of Pennsylvania buried at Barney Hill. Ebenezer Taylor married Polly, only daughter of Reuben Cook. She eloped with him at the age of fifteen years, while they resided at Pipe Creek. on grounds of policy, and she enforced her advantage by many legislative enactments. April 6th 1802 a law was passed "to maintain the territorial rights of this State," wherein it was provided " that nothing shall be so construed as to make valid any conveyance heretofore made by the colony or State of Connecticut." Heavy penalties were attached to its violation.
Cooper Cady sought the first opportunity to sell his improvements, and Israel Bulkley, yielding to the inevita- ble, purchased the right of soil from the owner of the Pennsylvania title, and afterward became his attorney in fact for the sale of other lands. Israel Bulkley was a man of considerable pecuniary means. He brought with him from the east into the wilderness a jack and a jenny ass, horses, and several head of an improved breed of cattle. Among his other possessions was a female negro slave. She lived and served in his family several years in that capacity. Her freedom was subsequently purchased of Mr. Bulkley by a negro, who paid for her in labor and took her away. The terms of this sale were probably light, as the State of Pennsylvania in 1780 had enacted a law providing for the gradual abolition of slavery, by the provisions of which all slaves were to become absolutely free in 1808. During the first year of Mr. Bulkley's res- idence upon the Cowanesque he went to Williamsport to mill. He loaded his grist upon a pack saddle, and with his horse or ass pursued his way by Indian trails through the wilderness, taking five days to make the journey.
The Taylor family was the next that came to stay. It consisted of the widowed mother, Permelia, and three sons, Ebenezer, Philip and Mitchell. They came from the Delaware Water Gap in New Jersey, emigrating first to the Wyoming Valley, where they were engaged in the Pennamite war ;* from thence to Pipe Creek below Owego, and in 1806 to the Cowanesque Valley. Their first settlement here was at Barney Hill, below Elkland. Ebenezer made several purchases of land in Osceola- first, the Samuel G. Barker farm of Caleb Griggs, which he soon sold to his brother Philip; second, the farm now
* As West Jersey (from whence the Taylor family came) was under the proprietary government of the Penns for many years, it was natural they should sympathize with the Pennsylvania party in the struggle to hold the lands in the Wyoming Valley. They were Penna- mites. Ebenezer Taylor was one of the party on Locust Hill when they were attacked by the Connecticut people. A bullet passed through the lobe of his right ear. Helmes Van Gordon and another man were killed at his side. This took place in August 1784. He was indicted for dispossessing Yankees in May 1784. Permelia Taylor, his mother, made an affidavit at Wyoming in 1784 " concerning the attack on the garrison." -Penn. Archives.
"The few Pennsylvania improvers (among whom were the Taylors) had a sufficiently hard time of it. They were subjected to great hard- ships, and, if you please, outrages. I do not forget the unfortunate en- counter in Plymouth in July, the lamentable affair at Locust Hill with Major Moore's command in August, nor the final attaek upon the ' gar- rison,' in which Henderson and Reed were shot."-Brief of Title, by Gov. H. M. Hoyt, page 64.
In 1809 Paul Gleason, who had a few years before married Juda Warren, came into the township from Dud- ley, Worcester county, Mass. After residing a few years here and there he purchased a part of the Daniel Phillips farm at the mouth of the Island Stream, and lived upon it about thirty years. He was the first shoemaker who located in the township. The first year he followed his trade, to use the phrase of that day, he "whipped the cat." He afterward established a shop, which was lo- cated in front and a little to the east of the residence of Charles Tubbs. This shop, which was built of logs and heated from a huge fireplace, was for many years the most important neighborhood resort. Here were to be found for several years the only newspaper taken in the vicinity and a copy of the " Farmers' Almanac " for the current year. Here politics, religion and the news of the day were most discussed. In front of this shop was established the only grindstone in the neighborhood. It had been purchased by contribution, and any one was free to use it.
The Tubbs family came originally from Litchfield county, Connecticut, in 1760; occupied land in the Wy- oming Valley under title from that State, and took part on the Yankee side in the struggle which followed. After the "decree at Trenton " had virtually dispos- sessed them of their lands they emigrated to Newtown, N. Y., and from thence to the Cowanesque Valley in 18II. Samuel Tubbs sen. located near Elkland, and with his sons, Samuel, James and Benjamin, and his sons- in-law, David Hammond, Martin Stevens and John Ryon, owned and occupied all the land from Barney Hill to the Stull farm, including the. Davenport Island and farm on the south side of the river. Robert Tubbs, another son of Samuel, purchased, in what is now Osceola, the farm of Ebenezer Taylor and the possession of Mr. Smith, and at once moved upon his land. The first year he lived in a small log house situated near the site of the grist-mill. To this house he built an addition, roof- ing it in with bark. In 1817 Samuel Tubbs jr. removed from Elkland, and purchased a part of the Daniel Phillips farm, now owned by Morgan Seely, and he continued to reside in the township until his death.
Robert Tubbs married Clara Hoyt, and Samuel Tubbs married Permelia, daughter of Ebenezer Taylor.
Lebbeus Tubbs, the ancestor who emigrated from Con- necticut, was one of the old men who inarched out of Forty Fort to defend the Wyoming settlement July 3d 1778, and escaped death at the massacre that followed. (Life of Moses Van Campen, p. 127.) Samuel Tubbs sen. enlisted August 26th 1776 in the Revolutionary
342
HISTORY OF TIOGA COUNTY.
army, in Captain Robert Durked's company, and served during the war. Durkee was killed July 3d 1778, and Captain Simon Spalding succeeded to the command of his company. Tubbs was engaged in the battles of Millstone, Bound Brook, Mad Creek, Brandywine and Germantown. He also participated in Sullivan's ex- pedition against the Indians in 1779. (Penn. Archives.) Samuel Tubbs sen. married Susannah Dorrance, daugh- ter of Lieutenant-Colonel George Dorrance, who was killed in the battle at Wyoming July 3d 1778. Leb- beus Tubbs married Basha Hamilton before he left Con- necticut, and Samuel sen. was born in that State.
In 1812 Nathaniel Seely came into the township from Southport, N. Y. He had married Lucy Kelsey, of Newtown, in 1809, and they had one child. Upon his ar- rival he purchased the farm of Nathaniel White, and sub- sequently the "lot " of Nathan Lewis. Upon the former of these two farms the main part of the village of Osceola is built. He was a justice of the peace from 1820 to 1840, and took a prominent part in the business of the township.
In January 1813 Andrew Bozzard immigrated hither. He was born at Stroudsburg, Northampton county, Pa. His father, Malachi Bozzard, was a native of Germany. Andrew Bozzard married Nancy Hammond, who was a daughter of Dudley Hammond of Goshen, Conn. Mr. Bozzard was the first carpenter and joiner that settled in the township. He manufactured household furniture, spinning wheels and coffins. He purchased part of the farm originally occupied by John Parker.
In 1823 Stennett Crandall settled upon the farm orig- inally occupied by David Jay, upon Holden Brook, and now owned by B. F. Colvin. He was born in Rhode Island, but had lived many years in Madison county, N. Y. He was a shoemaker and had his shop at his dwell- ing house.
In 1835 Abel Hoyt, of Kingston, Pa., bought a portion of the Parker farm and became a resident of Osceola. His ancestors were from Connecticut and prominent in the land troubles at Wyoming. He married Esther Hurlbut.
A glimpse of life in this new settlement is given by Judge Gaylord Griswold Colvin in his "Reminiscences of Cowanesque Valley," from which the following quotation is taken:
"In the summer of 1809 my father removed his family and effects from Herkimer county, N. Y., to the Cowan- esque Valley with two teams. Nothing occurred on the journey worthy of note until we arrived at Tuscarora. We staid over night there at William Wambaugh's. Early the next morning we started to cross the mountain between that place and the Cowanesque Valley. We toiled steadily on during most of the day, getting near the summit, when the kingbolt of the forward wagon broke. Finding there was no possibility of passing with the hind wagon it was decided to abandon both, and make our way with the women and children on horse- back and the others on foot. Between 10 and 12 o'clock at night we arrived at the first house on the bank of the Cowanesque River, occupied by Nathaniel White (the appearances were rather forbidding), and asked for en-
tertainment. We were cordially received (as was the custom those days), but were informed they were desti- tute of eatables except potatoes. Some of these were soon boiling over the fire built on the hearth with stone back, the smoke escaping through a hole in the roof. After devouring the potatoes we retired, weary, to rest, our beds being the soft side of a split pine floor. The next morning at early dawn my father went up to Mr. Bulkley's and returned with a small roll of butter, and for breakfast we had potatoes and butter. Although our fare was humble and lodging hard we respected Mr. White and wife for their kind and generous treatment, and were never allowed thereafter by our parents to speak disrespectfully of them."
Reuben Cook relates that the following expedients were resorted to to furnish the luxuries of pioneer life at Osceola. Saleratus was made by boiling corn cobs in lye and then burning the cobs. The ashes were used for saleratus.
Crab apples grew plentifully. After boiling the cores were punched ont and the apple mashed with boiled pumpkin. This made a good sauce.
Choke cherries grew in abundance. When ripe they were mixed with fine Indian meal, put in a bag and boiled in water until done. This made choke cherry pudding.
Salt was very scarce in this new settlement. Israel Bulkley sent Calvin Chamberlain in 1807 to Onondaga (Syracuse) with a herd of mules, and brought in all the salt they could carry on their backs. A few years later Robert Tubbs hauled salt from Onondaga in wagons and sold it for $to per barrel. Asahel Nobles, of Brookfield, chopped an acre of heavy pine timber for Tubbs for a barrel of salt. The salt cost $5 per barrel at the works.
WILD ANIMALS
were very plentiful in the woods at Osceola when it was first settled by white people. The encounters of the pioneers with these denizens of the forest will never lose their interest to those who inhabit the territory where they took place. Bears, deer, elk, panthers, otter, wild cats, mink, martin, beaver, wolves and other animals abounded. Deer and elk were hunted for many years without the use of dogs, and were mainly killed at " licks." The most famous lick in this town was at the sulphur spring in the " Lewis lot." A thicket of wild plum trees surrounded it, in which the hunter concealed himself, and when the deer or elk emerged from the swamp to taste its peculiar waters he made it an easy prey. It was first visited in 1787 by Mr. Kelsey, father of Mrs. Nathaniel Seely, who accompanied Ellicott and Porter, surveyors of the State line, as a hunter, to fur- nish provisions to the party. It was long known as "Tom lick," from a hunter by the name of Tom Wilson, who frequented it. The waters of this spring are strongly impregnated with sulphur and other minerals, and in re- cent years it has become noted for its medicinal qualities. The next most famous deer lick was located just across the New York State line, and was known by the name of " Mik-re-que." Many deer were killed at this lick.
343
HUNTING EXPLOITS IN OSCEOLA.
The beaver once held their court in a low marsh north In November 1817 Captain Ebenezer Taylor while hunting near "Tom Lick " shot at and wounded a deer. He followed it toward Camp Brook. After a while he noticed a fresh wolf track ahead of him. He sat down and waited for the wolf to overtake the deer. He crept along carefully up the brook, and when near the State deer and then step upon a knoll and eat it. This he re- peated several times, when Taylor drew a bead on him and killed him. The next night he set a trap by the deer carcass and caught another wolf. Taylor drew a bounty of $60 each upon the wolf scalps at Bath, N. Y. of the residence of John G. Hammond, Across the waters of Camp Brook, overflowing a large tract of this level land, they built their " beaver dam " upon the most scientific principles of the engineering art, living upon ash, birch, poplar and the softer woods, of which they were particularly fond. In the deepest part of the pond line saw the wolf snatch a mouthful of meat from the they built their houses, somewhat resembling the wigwam of the Indian, with a floor of saplings, sloping toward the water like an inclined plane. Here, secure in their moated castle, they slept with their tails under water, as- cending the floor with the rise of the stream. They were exceedingly sagacious and difficult to entrap. To build their dam they cut down trees a foot in diameter.
In the spring of the year a multitude of venomous rattlesnakes emerged from a den on the hillside north of the residence of Charles Bulkley. About this den, with the returning warmth of each season, huge heaps of these hissing reptiles, twisting themselves into contorted knots, could be seen, covered with slime and dirt. For many years this hillside was burned over to rout out and destroy the snakes. As late as 1870 as many as twenty rattlesnakes were killed near this den in one day. They have now almost entirely disappeared.
Israel Bulkley built his sheep pen against the end of his house in 1800, and confined his sheep in it every night. One night the wolves actually broke into this in- closure when Bulkley was absent from home. His negro slave clubbed off the wolves and saved the sheep. Bulk- ley kept two bull dogs to guard his premises, but packs of wolves often drove them in against the house door.
In October 1813 David Jay, an old Revolutionary sol- dier, lived upon Holden Brook, near the site of the cheese factory. One day when he was absent from home his wife and children saw a bear lift his hog out of the pen and carry it away. The next day search was made in the woods and the carcass of the hog was found partly devoured. Captain Ebenezer Taylor was notified of the situation, and when the bear returned for another meal he killed him, by the large spring that supplied the cheese factory with water.
In 1815 Samuel Tubbs jr. saw a bear in the woods on the Davenport Island, digging in a rotten log for pis- mires, and very much intent upon his business. Tubbs was curious to know how near he could approach before the bear would discover him and run away. He pro- ceeded stealthily, the bear not hearing him at all. When he got as near as he cared to go he yelled out sharply. Instead of taking to his legs as was anticipated, the bear arose on his hind feet and faced him. They stood face to face for some time, when the bear finally got down on all fours and ran. Tubbs shouted for help. David Hammond came out with an army musket and wounded the bear. Men and dogs joined in the chase. The bear, suffering from loss of blood, was brought to bay in a balsam swamp upon the North Hill. When shot he was endeavoring to climb a tree, while the dogs were gnaw- ing at his hind legs. William Garner procured a yoke of oxen and a sled and hauled him home.
Samuel Tubbs jr. in the fall of 1820 with his' dogs started a large buck out of the swamp near the present residence of George Tubbs, upon Brier Hill. The buck was fat and ran with difficulty. When overtaken by the dogs he stopped and fought them. He then ran a short distance, and again renewed the fight. They thus pro- ceeded along the ridge, alternately fighting and running, until they reached the side of the "Windfall " next the river. Here the dogs got the buck down, when Tubbs stepped astride him to cut his throat. At the first touch of the knife the buck arose with him on his back, and carried him down the side of the hill through the brush toward the river. As Tubbs weighed about 200 pounds the deer sank under his weight while crossing some logs on the river bank, and he thereupon dispatched him.
Nathaniel Seely had his sheep hovel where the resi- dence of Hoyt Tubbs now stands. In it his sheep were gathered every night. As late as 1835 the wolves made a descent upon it and gained an entrance before 9 o'clock in the evening. They were frightened away without doing any material damage.
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