USA > Pennsylvania > Wayne County > History of Wayne County [Pa.] > Part 13
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forty and two irreverent, prophet-insulting children of old, came and put his fore paws upon the log, and dis- puted our passage. Mother and my older brother, as- sisted by the old dog, made such a display of hostility that bruin abandoned his position and went his way. Sometimes, in those days, children were lost in the woods. Mrs. Jirah Mumford once sent her two daugh- ters, Deborah, aged six years, and Sally, aged four years, on an errand to a neighbor's. In returning homeward they mistook the path and wandered off into the woods. It was soon found out that they were lost. The few settlers were notified and went in search of the children, but night came on and they were not found. The search was continued all night with torches and lanterns, and all the next day, but the search was unavailing. The poor mother was frantic with grief and anguish. On the third day the search was resumed with the utmost determination. At last, a hunter, who had been much at Mr. Mumford's, heard a little dog bark which went with the children. He fired off his gun to let the other searchers know that he had found the children. The little dog, when call- ed, ran to the hunter, but the girls hid in a clump of bushes. The company all came together and took the children to their home. Their mother, delirious with joy, clasped them in her arms and wept. The strong, hardy men of the forest could not restrain their tear- ful transports of joy. The children said the first night they made themselves a bed of leaves by the side of a log, and that little Trip lay down by them, and that,
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two big dogs (probably wolves) came and looked at them; but little Trip growled and barked at them and they went away. The next day they looked for their home and found a few berries which they were very glad to find, as they were very hungry. They had heard their names called but were afraid to answer, having heard about Indians killing children. Had it not been for faithful little Trip-had he, in his hunger, left them and gone home-they might never have been found."
In 1795, Seymour Allen, from Connectient, bought of Amasa Geer the farm that he first took up; then Allen sold it to Ichabod Starks, who lived on it the rest of his life. Jacob Van Meter moved that year from New Jersey to the place lately occupied by his son, Charles Van Meter. Abram Cramer moved the same year from the Acres place, so afterwards called. situated on the old north and south State road, which is twelve miles below where Captain Phineas Howe kept his celebrated tavern in Sterling township, and settled near the Thomas Slayton farm. He built his house of hewn logs, and some of it is standing to this day. He was the grandfather of Abram Cramer, Jr .. and of David Cramer. The latter, in middle-life, left his home of comfort and competence and went in pur- suit of fortune's slippery ball to California's golden shore, and from thence to Australia and back again to California, and then home. He afterwards made five or six voyages to California, and finally came home exhausted and enervated by his labors and sufferings,
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finding that bread is not always to the wise, nor riches to men of understanding, and feeling as if he could address a lump of gold in the following strain :
"For thee, for thee, vile yellow slave, I left kind hearts that loved me true ;
I crossed the tedious ocean wave,
To roam in climes unknown and new ;
And now come home to find a grave,
And all for thee, vile yellow slave."
Abram Cramer, Jr., is still living in Salem township, and has a very large family of twenty-one children.
About 1795, Benjamin King moved from Cherry Ridge and settled below the Benjamin Wheeler farm. He was a commissioner and for many years a justice of the peace. Robert and Benjamin King, of Star- rucca, were his sons. Charles King, a brother of Benjamin King, Sen., at the same time settled east of the Wheeler farm. The Kings were from Rhode Is- land.
Elijah Peck moved in about 1795, from Connecti- cut. He became a Baptist clergyman and was exten- sively known and honored as an ornament to his pro- fession. His oldest son, Elijah Peek, is living. Wil- liam Peck and Reuben Peck are deceased. Lewis Peck, Myra Peck, who married Jesse Dix, Joan- na W., widow of Giles Gaylord, late of Clinton, de- ceased, are all living. Elijah Peck, 2d, had nineteen children.
From an assessment made by Joseph Tanner, in 1801, there were thirty houses or huts and fifty-four taxables in the township. Among these taxables, not
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including the above named, were Daniel McMullen, Caleb Carr, Eliphalet Kellogg, commissioners' clerk, Jacob Crater, who built a saw-mill and grist-mill on the west branch, David Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, Thomas Mumford, James Miller, Nathan Rude, Elihu Tallman, Samuel Torrey, and Jason Torrey, surveyor.
Daniel MeMullen was a farmer assessed as having one hundred acres of land. He and George McMullen were both Scotchmen and great hunters.
Eliphalet Kellogg is mentioned as having been the clerk of the county commissioners from the erection of the county until he was appointed prothonotary by Governor Snyder. He took up land in Mount Pleasant, built a house and improved some land, and removed to Bethany in 1810. He was a brother of Silas Kel- logg.
David Kennedy. It is evident that David Kennedy, Sen., and Robert Kennedy were in the township at an carly date. In 1801 they had built comfortable houses. and David Kennedy had cleared up twenty acres of land and Robert Kennedy had cleared eighteen acres. David Kennedy, Sen., had a son named David Ken- nedy, Jr., and David L. Kennedy, of Honesdale, is a son of the latter. Mrs. Wilbur, now living in White's Hollow with William Partridge, Esq., was a daughter of David Kennedy, Sen. She is about ninety-three vears of age, and to a remarkable degree retains her physical and mental powers. Her husband, Jonathan Wilbur, was a blacksmith who located near Atwater's Corners on Johnson's creek. The Kennedy family
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have well kept up their name and numbers, but to de- scribe all its numerous branches would require too much time and space.
James Miller was from the State of New York and took up seventy acres of land. Moses Miller took up two hundred acres of land. He was the father of Ephraim Miller, Marlin Miller, George W. Miller, J. W. Miller, and Wesley Miller. Moses Miller was many years a justice of the peace.
Jonathan Miller, of Pleasant Mount, also a justice of the peace, was from Luzerne county. His wife was a daughter of James Bigelow. He appears to have been the first noted blacksmith in the town. His son, Jonathan, now residing in the village, follows the same trade. This family was not related to those of James and Moses Miller.
Elihu Tallman will be mentioned under the head of Preston township, and Jason Torrey and Samuel Tor- rey under the head of Bethany.
Nathan Rude lived on the north side of the road beyond Benjamin Wheeler's. He had three sons, Nathan, Simeon, and Reuben, and was a man of orig- inal wit. Many anecdotes are told of his shrewdness and repartees. He was at first a Baptist preacher; afterward, he became a Restorationist. Being asked his profession in court, he replied, " I am a pulpit- drummer and a cushion-thumper." Sometimes he made poetry which was cute, pertinent, and laugha- ble. Riding by Joseph Tanner's tavern, he was urg- ed by some loungers to stop. "No, no," said he.
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" Well, then," said they, "make us a verse." Said he, " There is a verse already made." " Then, let us have it." "Well, listen, 1st Psahn, Ist verse, 'Blest is the man who shuns the place where sinners love to meet.'" A clergyman called on him and asked if he could do any good by preaching the gospel to his people. "You could do more good at something else," said Rude. "In what way ?" said the preacher. " By coming and practicing it. I can preach some gospel myself, but I make stumbling work in practic- ing it."
Samuel Meredith. We have received a full and interesting history of the Meredith family, from 1547. showing their extraction from the nobility of England and Ireland, which the want of space compels us to abridge. Reese Meredith, the father of Samuel Mer- edith, was born in Herefordshire, England. He grad- uated at Baliol College, Oxford, in 1728, and emi- grated to Philadelphia in 1730, and entered the count- ing-house of John Carpenter, a prominent merchant, married Martha, the youngest daughter of his employ- er, and was taken in as a partner, and succeeded his father-in-law in business. In 1766, Reese Meredith took in partnerhip his son, Samuel, and his son-in-law, George Clymer. He was one of the three hundred and fifty merchants and citizens of Philadelphia, who, in October, 1765, signed the celebrated Non-Importa- tion Resolutions. His son and son-in-law were also signers. During the darkest hours of the Revolution, his faith never wavered in the righteous cause of the
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colonies. When the patriots were starving at Valley Forge, Reese Meredith gave $25,000, in silver, to buy food and clothing for the sufferers. He devoted his time to business, and it is not known that he ever held any public office. He died November 17, 1778, aged seventy-one years, leaving three children, as fol- lows: Anne, wife of Henry Hill; Samuel, (the subject of this sketch); and Elizabeth, wife of George Cly- mer, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Samuel Meredith was born in Philadelphia, in 1741, and was educated at the academy, at Chester. His fellow-student was Philemon Dickinson, afterwards his brother-in-law, as they married sisters. He mar- ried, in 1771, Margaret, youngest daughter of Dr. Thomas Cadwalder, of Philadelphia. Samuel Mere- dith several times represented Philadelphia county in the Colonial Assembly. In June, 1775, he was com- missioned mayor of the 3rd battalion of Pennsylvania militia, and was in the battles of Trenton and Prince- ton. Upon the occupation of Philadelphia, by the British, in 1777, he, with his family, was exiled. In October of that year, he received the commission of brigadier-general of Pennsylvania militia. In June, 1780, Gen. Meredith and George Clymer each pledg- ed his property and credit that each would pay to procure provisions for the army of the United States the sum of $25,000. From 1783 to 1786 Gen. Mere- dith was in the State Legislature, and from 1786 to 1788 in the Continental Congress, upon the organ- ization of the government under the Constitution of
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the United States, adopted the 17th day of Septem- ber, 1787. President George Washington, on the 11th of September, 1789, nominated Samuel Mere- dith as treasurer of the United States, which nomina- tion was readily confirmed by the Senate. He held the office through the administration of George Wash- ington and John Adams, for twelve years, when he resigned. Upon his accession to the office he was warmly congratulated by Alexander Hamilton, sec- retary of the Treasury, and, upon his retirement. Thomas Jefferson complimented him for his integrity and ability. In or about 1774, Meredith and Clymer purchased a large amount of wild lands in Western Virginia, Eastern Kentucky, in Delaware and Sulli- van counties, N. Y., and in all the north-eastern coun- ties of Pennsylvania, aggregating about 1,868,000 acres, worth about ten cents per acre. The payment of the taxes on said lands drew heavily on their re- sources. Owning a large amount of land in Wayne and Susquehanna counties, Mr. Meredith, about 1796. commenced making improvements at a place in the township of Mount Pleasant, which place he after- wards named Belmont. In 1802, he was assessed as having sixty acres of improved land and a dwelling house valued at twenty dollars, but as a non-resident. Soon after this he removed to Belmont and built a dwelling-house which cost six thousand dollars. To this place he retired from the turmoil of public life, and spent the evening of his days in quietude and se- clusion, and there died, February 10, 1817, in the
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seventy-sixth year of his age. He had seven children. Noted among them were: first, Martha, mother of the late John M. Read, chief-justice of Pennsylvania ; second, Anna, mother of Philemon Dickinson, Esq., (who was for forty-five years president of the Trenton Banking Co.), and also of the late Col. Samuel Dickinson ; third, Thomas; fourth, Maria, who died in 1854. Thomas Meredith was born in Philadelphia, in 1779, and educated in the University of Pennsylva- nia, upon leaving which, he made a voyage to India and China. He was admitted to the Philadelphia bar in 1805, to the Wayne county bar in 1810, and to the Luzerne county bar in 1816. He was prothono- tary and register and recorder of Wayne county, from 1818 to 1821, and held other important positions. In 1824, he opened the first coal mines below Carbon- dale, to which place he removed his family, about 1830. He died at Trenton, N. J., in March, 1855, leaving one son, Samuel Reese. Meredith, who was born in Wayne county in 1823. In or about the year 1855, the latter was active in the formation of a com- pany called the Lackawanna Coal & Iron Co. The enterprise failed and he lost all his property, and bro- ken down and disheartened, he died in the Pennsylva- nia Hospital, at Philadelphia, in the year 1865.
Samuel Meredith, the first treasurer of the United States, was buried at Belmont, in Mount Pleasant, and it has been, if it is not yet, a matter of doubt as to the exact place of his interment.
"So peaceful rests, without a stone, a name That once had honor, titles, wealth, and fame."
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It is strange that his wealthy children neglected to erect a monument to the memory of their patriotic father. Would it not become the United States to appropriate a few thousand dollars to perpetuate the memory of a man who, in our early days, gave $25,000 to feed and clothe our suffering soldiers, and whose father gave a like sum for a like purpose ? Republics are accused of being ungrateful, and the neglect or refusal of Congress to make such an appro- priation is strong confirmation of the justice of the accusation.
It would be unpardonable to neglect mentioning Mrs. Sarah Benjamin, who was born in Goshen, Orange county, N. Y., Nov. 17, 1745, and who died at Pleasant Mount, in 1859, aged over one hundred and thirteen years. Her maiden name was Sarah Matthews, and she was married three times. Her first husband was a soldier in the early struggles of the Revolutionary war and died of a wound received in that war. Her second husband, Aaron Osborne, of Goshen, N. Y., was in the same war and came out alive. She went with him to the war, and once when he was failing with fatigue, she took an overcoat and gun and in the night stood sentinel for him. Washington, seeing something peculiar about her, asked, "Who put you here!" She answered, "They, sir, that had a right to." He understood the situation and passed on. She was at the battle of Yorktown, passing to and fro like an angel of mercy, attending to and relieving the wounded soldiers. Washington, seeing and ad-
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miring her courage and exposure, asked, "Young woman, are you not afraid of the bullets?" She jo- cosely replied, "The bullets will never cheat the gal- lows." At what time her second husband died I fail- ed to note down. She had five children, and outlived them all. Her third husband, John Benjamin, moved with her into Mount Pleasant, in 1822, and died in 1826. She was well pensioned by the government, but for all that she was very industrious, carding, spinning, and making the finest of triple-threaded yarn, and knitting it into hose. A specimen of her work, done when she was one hundred years old, was on exhibition at the Crystal Palace in London. I saw her at the house of Jonathan Miller, Esq., at Pleasant Mount, when she was one hundred and ten years of age. I was surprised at her cheerfulness and vivacity. She said she had heard that Esquire Bushnell had some very fine merino wool and that she wished she could get some of it, for she wanted to make herself up some clothing before she should be too old to work. Beside what I have written above she related many other interesting events of her life. Noble woman ! It is a pleasure to remember her.
If we step forward twenty-one years to 1822, we find that the taxables have increased to two hundred and seventeen, and see the names of many men who settled between 1801 and 1822. Time and space will permit us to name briefly only a few of them. Eldad Atwater, a merchant, and father of E. M. Atwater, of Mount Pleasant, and Heaton Atwater, innkeeper, lo-
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cated where Godfrey Stevenson, Esq., now lives, and carried on business there several years.
James Bigelow was the father of John and Howe Bigelow. His daughters were noted women. Esquire Yale married one, Jonathan Miller, Esq., one, Deacon Tiffany one, and Clayton Rogers, who removed to the West, another.
Buckley Beardslee's name appears in the assessment for Mount Pleasant for the year 1818, and is therein assessed as owning a house and farm. He afterward removed to Indian Orchard and bought the farm of Walter Kimble.
Jedekiah Bonham, the father of John Bonham, located in the township, in 1810, below White's Hol- low. His son, John Bonham, married Sarah, a daugh- ter of Harris Hamlin, of Salem. He has been dead many years, but she is yet living, aged ninety years, with her son, Hamlin Bonham. She has several children living. Mrs. Sarah Bonham taught a school in Salem in 1804, when she was only fourteen years of age. That was seventy-six years ago. Although she is very deaf, her memory and intellectual powers are unim- paired.
William Stark and Luther, called Major Stark, were brothers from Vermont. David and Hiram were sons of Luther. He had a number of daughters; Munson Sherwood married Carissa; Colin Hayden, Terrissa; Horace White, Lorinda; Charles Stearns, Julia Ann; and William Adams also married one of the daughters.
Silas Freeman. The following are the names of
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his children: Col. Calvely Freeman was a noted sur- veyor. In 1850 he represented the county in the State Legislature. He was the father of E. B. Freeman, of Honesdale. Sally, wife of Alvah W. Norton, Esq .; Silas, Jr., and Sidney, both deceased; Polina, wife of Warren W. Norton; Pamelia, wife of Franklin Wheeler; Fanny, wife of Earl Wheeler, Esq .; Rodney Freeman, who moved to Connecticut, and Margaret, wife of John B. Taylor.
Ezra Bartholomew and Wooster Bartholomew came into the county together. Ralzamon Bartholo- mew was the only son of Ezra. His oldest daughter was the wife of Baxter Bicknell; after the death of Bicknell she married James Bolkcom, of Lebanon township. After the death of Ezra Bartholomew his widow was married to Elder Chase, a Baptist preacher. The above mentioned three families came into the township in or about 1810 from Connecticut.
Dr. Urial Wright settled in the town in 1814. He came from Berkshire county, Massachusetts. His an- cestors were people of note. Asa Wright, his grand- father, was an architect and planned and superintended the building of Dartmouth College, where his father, Dr. Asahel Wright, (the father of Urial Wright,) was afterwards educated, and who was appointed physician and surgeon in the Navy during the Revolutionary war. He had seven sons, all but one of whom became professional men. The oldest, Asahel, was a lawyer; Worthington, a Presbyterian minister, who also studied medicine and practiced for a time. Dr. Erastus Wright
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settled in Salem and practiced there during his life. So that at one time there were the father and six sons all in the practice of medicine. There was not a fail- ure among them. Dr. Urial Wright practiced through a wide extent of territory for fifty-two years, and died in September, 1866, aged seventy-six years.
Dr. Rodney Harmes, as a physician and surgeon, located in the village of Pleasant Mount, in 1837. He was from Sullivan county, N. Y. He is the oldest practicing physician in the county, and is yet at his post. His reading has been extensive upon all sub- jects and his practice successful. He is not in danger of being outrivaled, except by his own sons.
The first resident physician was Dr. Asa Parks, who, after practicing four years, removed to Montrose. The next was Dr. John P. Kennedy, who came in 1811 and removed in 1815. Dr. Jonathan French came in with Dr. Urial Wright. He stepped outside of his profession and engaged in lumbering, which he found unprofitable. After three years he returned to Mas- sachusetts. After 1834 Dr. Edwin Eldridge practiced a little for two years, and Dr. Frederick Tracy, after 1851, about the same time. All the above physicians, excepting Wright and Harmes, lacked the gift of con- tinuance in well doing.
The White family. Ezekiel White, from Massa- chusetts, a lineal descendant of Peregrine White, who was the first white child born at Plymouth Rock Col- lony, came to Mount Pleasant by the way of Cochec- ton, in 1819, with his son, Ephraim V. White, who at
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that time was sixteen years old. Ezekiel White had six sons, Molby White, Ephraim V. White, Leonard White, Gerrison White, Philip White, E. Bates White, and six daughters. Ezekiel White made the first axes in Pleasant Mount. Then he worked in White's Hol- low. Ephraim V. White married Elizabeth Mason, of Mount Pleasant. He moved to Dundaff and manu- factured axes and edge-tools there. Then he went to Seelyville where Burke & Story were then running a shovel factory, and there for awhile he made axes and edge-tools. After this he erected a good house and built a substantial shop above No. 2, on the Dela- ware and Hudson railroad. The machinery was run by water, but the Delaware and Hudson canal needing the water, he removed to or near Tracyville and there built a large factory which was run by wa- ter-power, and there a large amount of business was done in the manufacture of axes, scythes, and edge- tools. The whole family of Whites were noted for their skill in the working of iron and steel. Their axes and scythes were generally used in the county and were sought for abroad. Since the death of E. V. White, in 1866, the factory at Tracyville has been under the direction of his son, Gilbert White, who sends to market fifty dozen of axes per week. There is a branch of the White family in the Lackawanna Valley, who manufacture axes of a very superior quality.
David Horton began at the place now occupied by J. W. Howell, and there kept public house during his
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life-time, and his widow, Cornelia Horton, continued the business many years.
John and David Howell were both rated as farm- ers. Thomas Lillibridge married a daughter of Sam- uel Stanton. She was the first white child born in Mount Pleasant. He was an active lumberman and farmer, but finally removed to the West. Dr. Lilli- bridge was his son.
Andrew Lester, of Revolutionary . stock, and his wife were both from Conn. He settled in the town in his youth. He died in September, 1869, aged ninety-two years, and his wife died soon after, aged ninety years. They were the parents of Orrin Lester. Esq.
David M. Mapes was assessed as a merchant; his occupation was valued at five hundred dollars. He was the progenitor of the whole Mapes family in the town.
Ebenezer and Thomas Slayton were assessed as own- ing the farm of O. Kelly, on the west branch, where Thomas used to keep a licensed tavern.
Alpheus W. Stephens and Sylvanns Gates lived near Ezra Spencer's, and were the progenitors of the Gates family in that region.
John Fletcher lived west of B. M. Wilcox and was killed by the kick of a horse. His son, Philander Fletcher, has one of the most profitable orchards in the town. William and Benjamin Fletcher, farmers. were twins, and brothers of John Fletcher.
We find David Saunders assessed with a good prop-
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erty, and also Shepard Saunders, but from whence they came and the exact time of their settlement we cannot ascertain. We find there are many in the county by the name.
John Sherwood was assessed with two hundred acres of land with improvements in 1818. He was the father of John B. Sherwood.
Solomon Sherwood was assessed in 1822 with one hundred and twenty-five acres and improvements. Years afterwards we meet with the names of John F. Sherwood, Nathan J. Sherwood, Munson Sherwood, and Amos O. Sherwood as prominent men in business and property.
Benjamin Wheeler settled on that pleasant farm now owned by W. P. Kennedy. He was the father of Hiram J. Wheeler, of Clinton, and of Ambrose Wheeler, of Honesdale. He was a soldier of the Revolution.
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