USA > Pennsylvania > Warren County > History of Warren County, Pennsylvania, with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of some of its Prominent Men and Pioneers > Part 62
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The mercantile history of the village of Sheffield also properly begins at the year 1864. W. & W. Horton then started a store in connection with their other business, and in the following year put up the block that now faces the railroad. At that time Chase Osgood was keeping a store at Lower Shef- field. In 1867 Horton, Crary & Co. succeeded WV. & W. Horton. They now carry stock valued by one of their firm at $175,000 in all the departments. They have stores in three separate blocks, and deal in all kinds of goods, gro- ceries, dry goods and furnishing goods, furniture, hardware, boots and shoes, drugs, etc. E. L. Branch also began to deal in groceries about ten years ago, and in the spring of 1886 took into partnership Orris Hall. Morris Einstein deals in general merchandise, and has been in buiness here about eight years. F. D. Austin has dealt in groceries about six years. The clothing store of Levi Epstein is about two years of age. Hull & Siegfried have traded in drugs since the spring of 1885; Frank Johnson & Brother in groceries since the spring of 1886.
The planing and saw-mill of George R. Wood has been under the pro- prietorship of Mr. Wood about ten years. It was formerly operated by Wood & Culbertson.
In June, 1885, an opera-house was opened by a stock company, who had built it, and promised to be a thing of profit and pleasure to the citizens. The cost of building it has been stated to the writer to have been about $12,000. In May, 1886, this building burned.
Post-offices .- The first post-office in town was at Lower Sheffield, though it was established by the appointment of Orrin Stanton, about 1834 or 1835, under the name of Sheffield. About 1841 John Gilson was appointed, and had the office several years at his house. George Messenger succeeded him. James T. Osgood then held the office until 1853, when he was elected justice of the peace, and was succeeded in the post-office by Asa H. Barnes. After several years he had Mr. Osgood appointed his deputy, and requested him to keep the office. In 1873 Erastus Barnes was appointed postmaster, though since his appointment Mr. Osgood has continued to act in his stead. For some years previous to 1864 an office had been opened at Dunham's, called West Sheffield, and presided over by Richard Dunham. The Philadelphia and
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Erie Railroad was opened in the winter of 1865, and in the following year the office of West Sheffield was discontinued and re-established as Sheffield (while the old Sheffield office was changed to Barnes), with Webb Horton as post- master. In 1868 Jerry Crary was appointed postmaster at this point, and has ever since continued in this office.
Schools and Churches .- The present school-house at Barnes Station was built in 1883. On this site, about 1840, Erastus Barnes and John Gilson built a school-house. The first school in town was taught in this part of the town in 1833, by Miss Milford. The next was taught by Leverett Barnes. In the spring of 1835 Richard Dunham, Melchi Snapp, and Adam L. Pratt built a school-house in the woods near the spot where Mr. Armstrong's barn now stands. There Miss Hannah Snapp taught the ensuing year, and the winter terms of 1834 and 1835 were taught by Adam L. Pratt. About 1852 or 1853 the township built a larger school-house on the site of the one formerly erected by Barnes and Gilson, and which is now used as a union church in Lower Sheffield, though it has been removed from its old site. In this school are now in attendance about one hundred pupils. There are now in the entire township about six separate schools, two in the Farnsworth neighborhood, one in the western part of the town, one at Barnes, one near Frank Henry's mill, and the graded school at Sheffield village, which was built in 1876, burned in 1877, and immediately rebuilt, having been fully insured. It has five depart- ments. Its average attendance is stated to be about 250. The principal is M. A. Rigg.
The first organized church in town was of the Methodist Episcopal denomi- nation, and was formed in the Barnes neighborhood about fifty years ago. Erastus Barnes, though not a member of any denomination, recognized the desirability of having a church in the town, and obtained a good subscription list, which he headed himself. Silas Lacy, Jeremiah Lane, Melchi Snapp, and Richard Dunham were also very prominent and active in its organization and support. Rev. Halleck preached the first year, while residing in Warren. Services were held once in four weeks in the school-house. About three years ago a Free Methodist Church was organized here, and a house of worship was erected in the summer of 1886. The pastor is Rev. Mr. Gaines.
The first church to be built in Sheffield village was the Methodist Episco- pal, which was erected in 1867, and burned in the winter of 1876-77. It was originally built through the efforts of Richard Dunham and Horton, Crary & Co. After the fire, the firm just named rebuilt it at once at a cost of about $7,000, and presented it to the Methodist denomination. The present pastor is Rev. Mr. Darling. About 1877 the Roman Catholics built a church here, which is attended by Father de la Roque, of Warren. There is a Free Metho- dist Church also at Farnsworth's.
The Evangelical Lutheran Bethania Church (Swedish), located at Sheffield
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village, was permanently organized in 1882. The first meeting was held on the 30th of June, 1882, in the private house of John Monson. Rev. T. Fran- yen, of Kane, presided, and Rev. N. G. Johnson, of Warren, acted as secre- tary. The original members were J. A. Anundson, John Monson, J. P. Gus- tafson, Eric Peterson, Olof Peterson, C. G. Bergman, Otto Lagerquist, James Christianson, T. A. Rydeberg, Andrew Wermblad, and Carl Otto Lang. The church edifice was erected in 1883 at a cost of about $2,500-framed. The first pastor was Rev. J. A. Rinell, for 1883 and 1884. At present the congre- gation is under the care of R. A. Thompson, a student of Aug. College and Theological Seminary, of Rock Island, Ill. The present membership of this church numbers sixty, while the church property is valued at about $3,000.
CHAPTER XLIV.
HISTORY OF FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP.
T HE township of Freehold was formed from Columbus and Sugar Grove on the 3d of September, 1833. It contains about thirty-five square miles, or something more than twenty-two thousand acres. It is in the northern tier of Warren county townships, and is bounded north by Chautauqua county N. Y., east by Sugar Grove township in this county, south by Pittsfield and a corner of Spring Creek, and west by Columbus. The surface of the town is uneven and, along the streams and water courses, broken and occasionally even precipitous. It was originally covered with a heavy growth of valuable timber such as pine, oak, hemlock, chestnut, ash, and whitewood. The pine was floated in rafts down the Allegheny and Ohio Rivers, while the oak was formerly manufactured into oil barrels, but more recently into butter-tubs and firkins, and the whitewood into household furniture of different kinds. The soil is generally a gravelly loam of good quality and very productive. The fruits, especially apples, are raised here in good quantities.
The Little Brokenstraw Creek flows in a southeasterly direction through the township, furnishing an abundant and continuous water supply. Along its banks five saw-mills and one grist-mill have been built; the first in 1815 and the last in 1886.
The road leading from Pittsfield through Wrightsville and Lottsville to the New York State line was opened in 1814, while the old country road, as it was known for a number of years, from Owen's Ferry on the Conewango Creek, near the State line between New York and Pennsylvania, to Lottsville by way of Sugar Grove, was partly opened from Sugar Grove to Lottsville in
34
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HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
1816, trees and underbrush being cut out so that an ox team and sled could pass over it.
The territory of Freehold remained practically unbroken by the ax of the pioneer until about 1802, when James Irvine and others came in, though Mr. Irvine was the only one who remained permanently. The fearful and discour- aging privations of that early day, the perils and hardships that encompassed him who would make his home in the wilderness were so certain and severe that few could resist them long, but either died early from the exposures and fatigues, or removed to more congenial climes. James Irvine was born in North- umberland county, Pa., about 1773 or 1774, and died at Wrightsville in 1849. He was half brother to Guy C. Irvine, of Pine Grove, and Andrew Irvine, of Glade. He settled on the west side of the creek at Wrightsville, in September, 1802, where he built the first house this side of Pittsfield. During the rest of his life, which he passed here, he was a prominent lumberman and farmer of this region, and held a number of the township offices. He was a justice of the peace almost from the beginning until that office was made elective. Sam- uel Irvine, who came to his present farm near Wrightsville from Pine Grove about forty years ago, married a daughter of James Irvine, by whom he has had six children-all living. At the present writing Mrs. Samuel Irvine is liv- ing, though she is very ill.
The next permanent settler was probably Harmones Lott, who came from his home in Long Island, N. Y., in 1814, and in the following ycar removed to the present site of Lottsville, which derived its name from his family, and on the place now occupied by Mrs. A. M. Smith. Harmones Lott died some time previous to 1840 at an advanced age. Hewlett Lott, one of his sons, built the house (1847 or 1848) now occupied by Mrs. Smith (his daughter), and came to the place with his father. He was born on the 25th of September, 1793, on Long Island, and died February 16, 1868, in this township. His wife, Maria, daughter of A. D. Ditmars, of Sugar Grove, died December 18, 1880, aged eighty-seven years. The Lott family have always been prominent in both I.ottsville village and Frechold township. Hewlett Lott was the first mer- chant in the township, though he relinquished that pursuit before the year 1830. His store building was converted into a school-house, which stood on the corner just opposite the present residence of Mrs. Smith. His brother, Daniel Lott, was also one of the leading men of the township for many years. He came with the rest of the family in 1815, when he was about eleven years of age, and remained in town until his death on the 24th of July, 1886, at the ripe age of eighty-two years six months and twenty-four days. On the 12th of January, 1827, he married Sally, daughter of William Row, who survives him. They had five children, of whom two, Charles and Stephen, are still liv- ing. Daniel Lott was a farmer, and for fifty years previous to his death he was also a preacher of vigor and force in the Methodist Episcopal Church.
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He was ten years a justice of the peace in Freehold, and during two winters represented his district ably in the Legislature at Harrisburg. In all the ques- tions which affect the morality, peace, or prosperity of the Commonwealth or community, he was found on the side of right, his tendency being rather to carry those principles too far, than to be too lax in the interpretation and exe- cution of them. He was a believer in temperance, and during the long years of anti-slavery agitation he was an outspoken Abolitionist. For some time previous to his death he had accepted the doctrines of spiritualism, and under the inspiration of his feverish meditations, at night chiefly, he wrote several treatises on the subject, such as "The War in Heaven," "John Wesley and Modern Spiritualism," etc., believing himself to be under the direction of the unsubstantial inhabitants of the invisible world. A short time before he died, however, he renounced this faith, pronouncing it an injurious delusion.
William Row, the father of Mrs. Daniel Lott, was also an early settler in Freehold. He came from Broome county, N. Y., in 1823, with his family, and settled about three miles west of Lottsville in what is known as the Mon- roe neighborhood. Mr. Row was a farmer and a blacksmith, and had the ingenuity sufficient to make shoes for the members of his own family. He died about the year 1852 at a very advanced age. His wife had preceded him several years at the age of sixty-seven years. Five of his children are now living, although only three of them are in this county : Mrs. Lott, at Lotts- ville; John, at Bear Lake ; and Edmund, at Columbus.
In 1815 and 1816, owing to the efforts of Agent Sackett, of the Holland Land Company, about thirty families emigrated from Oneida county, N. Y., to this part of Pennsylvania, most of whom settled in Sugar Grove and Pine Grove, although several families made their homes in Freehold. Among them was John Tuttle, who settled on the site of the village of Wrightsville, and for many years had a wagon shop in the building in that village now used as a blacksmith's shop. Mr. Tuttle was born in the year 1771, and was therefore about forty-four years of age when he came to Wrightsville. He was a man of worth, well fitted to act the part of a pioneer in an undeveloped country. He died on the 30th of January, 1855.
Another early settler who lent force to the community by the worth of his character was Nathan Abbott. He was born in 1765, and as early as 1816 settled at the Four Corners between Lottsville and Wrightsville. He was a farmer and also engaged, as did nearly all the early farmers who cleared their own farms, in lumbering. He died on the 3d of September, 1841, aged sev- enty-six years and five days, and was followed, on the 29th of March, 1847, by his wife, Anna, who had reached the age of seventy-four years seven months and nine days. Mr. Abbott's location made it convenient for him to entertain travelers, and he opened a public house, which benefited the lumber- men more than any other class of travelers. Among other early settlers,
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whose arrival probably antedates 1820 by several years, may be named Isaac L. Fitch, who settled in the southern part of Lottsville, and engaged in farm- ing until his death some time previous to 1825 ; Joel Hill, a bachelor, who lived much of the time with Hewlett Lott; James Phillis who came early to Wrightsville from Columbus, married a daughter of James Irvine, and passed his time farming and hunting; and William Arthurs, or Arters, who occupied a plank house in Wrightsville previous to 1820, and later, also, and operated the mills in that place. Jared Boardman was an early settler in Wrightsville, and for years kept a tavern in the large block opposite the saw-mill. He was later than those who have been before mentioned, however, as his birth took place on the 8th of September, 1817, and his death on the 5th of June, 1882. He was a soldier in the last war, in Company D, Third Artillery, One Hun- dred and Fifty-second Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers.
Joshua Wright, from whom Wrightsville derives its name, came to the site of this village in 1821 from near Rochester, N. Y. His house stood near the site of the present saw-mill. There were then only two houses on the ground now covered by the village. A grist and saw-mill were operated by William Arthurs. They were built a number of years previously by Peter Burgett Joshua Wright died on the 19th of January, 1842, aged seventy years and four months. From the time of his arrival here until his death he operated the grist-mill, and also ran the saw-mill until it burned a year or two after he came, whereupon his sons, Lester and Jude, rebuilt and operated it for many years. Lester Wright was born in Massachusetts on the 20th of August, 1804, and went to Otisco, N. Y., when an infant. At the age of six years he was taken by his parents to Genesee, N. Y., and when he was sixteen accompanied them to Wrightsville, as it has since been called. They reached here on the 16th of July. At that time there was hardly an acre of tillable land in one spot in the entire township of Freehold, as now constituted. Trces had been extensively felled, but the farmers had been more industrious to reap the profits of lum- bering than of clearing the land. The timber was principally becch and maple, with considerable pine scattered through the forests. The flat south of Wrights- ville had been partly cleared and was occupied in 1821 by Stephen Burgett. The few roads were extremely primitive and rough, being cut out barely enough to permit the passage of teams. Lottsville had been laid out as a village by the members of the Lott family, and had been named. Its streets were 100 feet wide. Since that time Wrightsville has passed through all the events of a growing and declining village. Lester Wright started the first store in the place about 1832, on the site of the present meat- market. As he was engaged during the working hours of the day in his mill, he attended to the store only mornings and evenings. About 1837 he enlarged this branch of his business, and in 1840 built the large block now occupied by his son, Philander Wright. Lester Wright has been proprietor of this store from the beginning, almost
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without interruption, to the present. At the close of the war, in which his son took an active part, he took him into partnership with himself-a relation which has continued ever since. They keep on hand a good stock of goods.
Jude Wright, brother of Lester, died on the 12th of March, 1871, aged sixty-eight years seven months and twenty days. Quartus Wright, another brother of Lester, ten years his junior, was also in the mercantile business in Wrightsville for some time subsequent to 1840. He and Lester operated the saw-mill. Quartus now resides in Vineland, N. J., where he removed about 1864 or 1865, and since his departure his son, Newton Wright, has had sole charge and ownership of all the mills, both the grist and saw-mills. The first tavern in Wrightsville was kept by Chauncey Messenger, who built the pres- ent hotel many years ago. The site was occupied at an earlier date by Ed- ward Jones. After Messenger left the hotel, Calvin Wright, son of Jude, kept it for two years. A number of years later, in 1861, Philo Wright bought the property, and now owns and has charge of it.
Wrightsville has seen very lively times. There have been as many as seven stores open in this place at one time. Just previous to the last war was perhaps its most thrifty period. As long as lumber was abundant it was one of the leading villages of the county. As many as 2,000,000 boards have gone over the dam there in a season. Then in the height of the season forty or fifty hands would come daily from neighboring towns to " run boards." At present Chauncey Messenger has a store in the village, though he deals prin- cipally in wool. He has been in the mercantile business in town almost as long as Mr. Wright, and is one of the most worthy and prominent men in the county. His son, Alfred, keeps another store, and a good one. Albert Wright has also a store here, which he has presided over about two years.
The first postmaster in Wrightsville was Cornwell Gifford, appointed about thirty years ago. Lester Wright has been postmaster, as have also his sons, Philander and Philo. The present incumbent is John Smallman, who received his appointment from the present administration.
As in most other towns the first religious meetings held hereabouts were called from house to house as convenience dictated. The members and allies of the Methodist Episcopal Church built a house of worship here some forty years ago. Their pastor now is Rev. J. P. Burns, who attends from Bear Lake. There was also at one time a Free Will Baptist Church here, but it is deceased.
Darius Cooper was born in Shoreham, Addison county, Vt., in 1797. When he was but seven years of age his father died, and when he was thirteen his mother died also, and he was left with no money and but few friends. He chose Eli Smith for a guardian, and lived with him nine years. He then, at at the age of twenty-two years, resolved to take a journey into the West, and traveled successively to New York, Ohio, Michigan, and Upper Canada. He then returned to Vermont, but after a few days started on another journey to
X
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HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
Quebec and through Lower Canada, and back to Vermont, taking up in this way about a year. About this time he was married to Martha Tower, shortly after which he removed to Florence, N. Y., where he purchased 125 acres of land and lived upon it two years. The title to this property being defective through some oversight he was compelled to use his personal property to pay his debts. He was thus practically destitute, but his courage did not forsake him. He employed a man to remove him again to Vermont, where he soon earned enough money to pay the man for his removal. He remained in Ver- mont five years, renting a farm and performing different kinds of labor, until by close economy he had accumulated five hundred dollars in money and a good team of horses. He then removed to Slab City, a small place not far from Buffalo, N. Y., where he remained until 1833, when he sold his land at an advance and started for Pennsylvania. He settled in the township of Co- lumbus, now Freehold, and purchased of Mr. Barlow 200 acres of wild land and built upon it a log house and settled down. He lived in Freehold thirty- three years and then removed to Chautauqua county, N. Y., where he lived four years. After this he returned to Freehold and purchased the "Bordwell" place, where he lived three years until the death of his wife. Mr. Cooper, now in the evening of a long life, lives with his grandson. He has lived an honest and a useful life, a reflection which must indeed be pleasing to old age.
The village of Lottsville, as has been indicated, is of older date than Wrightsville, though it has never seen quite so stirring events. Between the arrival of Harmones Lott and family in 1815 and the year 1820, the village had been laid out into streets, as it is at present to be seen. It is difficult to ascertain much more concerning the early history of Lottsville than has already been written in this chapter, because the early settlers have all passed away. In 1857 Chauncey Messenger built the hotel which is still open here, and for the first two years William Seeley kept it. John Eastman then came into possession and kept it until 1869, when his son, John, jr., succeeded him and remained in possession for ten years. Since his departure it has been man- aged by Frank Eastman. The widow of the original John Eastman, Mrs. A. H. Eastman, has owned the property since the death of her husband.
The only store now in the village is that of Whitney & Kay, the members of the firm being W. D. Whitney, M. D. and F. W. Kay. The partnership was formed in the fall of 1885, before which Dr. Whitney was here alone about two years. He was preceded by Charles Lott, whose uncle, James Lott, had been a merchant of good standing in the village for many years. Dr. Whit- ney was born in Brokenstraw township on the 28th of April, 1852. He received his medical education at the Buffalo Medical College, from which he was graduated in February, 1884. He is a regular. His wife, Mrs. D. A. Whitney, is also a physician. She was born in Freehold township on the 14th of November, 1853, and was graduated from the Homeopathic Hospital Medi-
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cal College at Cleveland, Ohio, in February, 1886, and came to Lottsville at once. She is a daughter of Isaac Baker, who came to Lottsville in 1835 from Ithaca, N. Y., and engaged in farming here until his death, in 1870. He was born on the 25th of January, 1809. His widow is now residing with her daughter, Mrs. Dr. Whitney. Mrs. Baker has eight children, all but one of whom are residents of this part of the county. The other is in Colorado.
T. I. Baker owns and operates the saw-mill at this village. He built the mill in the summer of 1883. It was burned in July, 1886, and was immedi- ately rebuilt. Mr. Baker also owns and operates a mill at Abbott's Corners, which came into his hands some time before he obtained ownership of this mill. Mr. Baker was, during the last war, a member of Company F, Ninth New York Cavalry, and was wounded at Morton's Ford, Va., by a bullet which passed through his liver from the back of the right side to the front. This is a wound from which no one but with an iron constitution could have recovered.
The present postmaster at Lottsville is Dr. Whitney, who was appointed in November, 1881, as successor to William Allen, whose appointment is dated in the year 1875 or 1876. Previous to this term the office was held for many years by James L. Lott.
The only church in Lottsville is the Wesleyan Methodist Church, which organized on the 7th of October, 1852. Meetings were held for a number of years in the old school-house, during most of which period Rev. E. J. Carroll was the preacher. The house of worship was erected and finished during war times, and Mr. Carroll was present at the dedication. Services are now held once in two weeks, the pastor being Rev. John Case.
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