USA > Pennsylvania > Wayne County > History of Wayne County [Pa.] > Part 9
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had killed a very tall man, (Kane) and his wife and children. The Cushetunks hurried to the river to make report and arrived at Land's about the same time that Mrs. Land and her son John came out of the woods. John and these Indians, together with what whites and other Indians they could muster, went in immediate pursuit and overtook the Mohawks at Ogh- quaga, where they found them drawn up in order of battle. At last the belligerents came to a parley, and the Mohawks agreed that after Abel, who had been very boisterous, had been punished by running the gauntlet, he might go back. Abel having submitted to that barbarity, he and his party returned to the Delaware.
The unprovoked murder of Brant Kane and his family, he being a quiet and worthy man who had come from Ireland to find a peaceful home, so shocked and alarmed many of the settlers, that they immediately crossed the river with their families, took to the woods, and wandered in cold and hunger to the settled parts of Orange county, N. Y. Among these were Nathan Skinner and his eldest son, Garrett Smith and wife, the wife and child of Nathaniel Evans, and others. Tradition says that Mrs. Evans, being belated, swam the Delaware river with her in- fant and joined the fugitives. In substance Skinner further says: "Joseph Ross, having been commission- ed by Col. Whooper to take charge of the Indians, whose chief was called 'Manoto,' some of the whites, having the good will of the Mohicans, concluded to
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stay and go on with their farming. But in the autumn of the same year, another scouting party, mostly com- posed of marauding whites, made a descent upon the people, took their crops, burnt down the new house built by Daniel Skinner, shot a man by the name of Handa, and took Nathan Mitchell prisoner." Skinner further says: "This party came up the Delaware on the east side, and from Ten Mile River upward, plun- dered all that came in their way without opposition until they came in sight of Big Island, where they dis- covered a party retreating before them, who continued their retreat to the upper end of Ross's where the set- tlers made a stand and sent word to their pursuers that they, the whites and friendly Indians, should retreat no further. The marauders came to a stand at Nathan Skinner's new house, which they plundered and burnt, and then retreated down the river, on their way treach- erously capturing John Land and a man named Davis. Land was shamefully maltreated by his captors, and he and Davis were shackled and handcuffed and thrown into prison to answer to the charge of disloyalty, of which charge they were afterwards acquitted. Nathan Mitchell escaped, but when or how, tradition saith not. This raid was made and participated in, it was said, by persons who professed to be ardently attached to the cause of liberty. This charge is made by Skinner in his narrative, but he is cautious in mentioning names. That there were bitter dissensions about the titles to lands in and about Damascus, like those that harrassed the settlers in Wyoming, scarcely admits of a doubt.
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To determine who were the unworthy and wicked parties that originated and perpetrated said enormities cannot now be done, but the raid gave rise to mutual charges and recriminations and to political antipathies which have descended down to the present day.
After the massacre at Wyoming, in 1778, the dis- astrous result of which was speedily made known to those living about Cochecton, many of the settlers, sup- posing that their lives would be taken by the northern Indians, who were emboldened by their recent successes, sought safety in concealment or flight. Some, how- ever, determined that they would not leave the country; among whom were the Tylers, Thomases, John Land, and Nathan Mitchell. The latter old veteran could never be frightened away, and many of the settlers came back in the spring of 1779. In this year the Indians became unusually aggressive, and a body of them from the north made a descent upon the settle- ments along the Delaware river about Minisink. A company of Pennsylvania militia marched to the Dela- ware for the protection of the settlements, and, on the 22d day of July, 1779, was attacked by a body of one hundred and forty Indians on a hill nearly opposite the mouth of the Lackawaxen, and between forty and fifty of the militia were killed or taken prisoners, among whom were Captain Bezaleel Tyler and Moses Thomas, the father of the late Judge Thomas. About every man capable of bearing arms about Cochecton and upon the Lackawaxen and Paupack, participated in that battle.
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The battle and massacre at Wyoming having pro- duced a great sensation among the American people, General Sullivan, with an army of two thousand and five hundred men, was sent, in the summer of. 1779, to drive the British and Indians from that Valley, and to lay waste the Indian country along the north-western frontier. He arrived in Wyoming on the 22d day of July, and from thence ascended the Susquehanna river, having his provisions and army baggage conveyed by one hundred and twenty boats and two thousand horses. General Sullivan found the enemy, of about one thousand men, collected near Newton, on the Tioga river, strongly entrenched behind a breastwork. On the 29th of August, he attacked and drove them from their defences across the river, whence they precipitate- ly fled. He then marched into the Indian country and destroyed thirteen of their villages and all their crops and orchards as far as to the Genesee, and then return- ed by the way of Tioga Point to Wyoming, and thence to Easton. After the defeat of the militia at Lackawax- en, the few settlers remaining at Damascus expected that the Indians would visit them and destroy all their buildings and cattle, but they were happily disappoint- ed. A few were seen skulking about, but they did but little damage. They had learned of the impending expedition of Sullivan into their country, and they re- treated in fear and dismay. The danger of Indian raids being now, in a great measure, removed, the in- habitants returned to their possessions at Cocheeton and Damascus, where the settlements again flourished.
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With unbounded delight this long-suffering people hailed the prospect of security and peace. For twenty- five years they had dwelt in the midst of alarms, sub- ject at all times to the torch, the hatchet, and the scalping knife of the Indians.
The following named persons were actors in the foregoing history, or were subsequently distinguished in the annals of the township:
Captain Bezaleel Tyler, who fell at the battle at Lack- awaxen, and was from New England. His sons were, 1st, Bezaleel Tyler, father of Amos Tyler; 2nd, Sam- nel Tyler, father of Win. Tyler, of Rock Run; 3rd, John Tyler, father of Judge Moses Tyler. This John Tyler married a Calkin, by whom he had twenty-one children. If I am rightly informed all the said sons of Captain Tyler were soldiers in the American Revolu- tion. So numerous are the Tylers in and about Da- mascus that we have not time and space to enumerate them. They have ever been prominent in the enter- prises and politics of the township.
Simeon Calkin was one of the first settlers, who, with Timothy Skinner, built a saw-mill and grist-mill near the mouth of Calkin's creek, in 1755, one hun dred and twenty-five years ago. Oliver Calkin was, as I suppose, his son. Daniel Skinner, called the "Admiral," married Sarah Calkin, a daughter of Oliver Calkin. It is a name much respected in Damasens and Cochecton.
Nathan Mitchell lived at first on the east side of the Delaware. He, or a son of his, lived many years
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afterwards in Buckingham. He was the father of Abraham Mitchell, who owned and cleared up the farm now owned by Samuel K. Vail, Esq., of Leba- non. In Damascus and elsewhere his descendants are too numerous to mention with the particularity they deserve.
Moses Thomas, Sen., was killed, as aforesaid, at the mouth of Calkin's creek, in 1763. He had a son who was killed at the battle at Lackawaxen, whose name was Moses; and the late Judge Thomas was a grand- son of the said Moses Thomas, Sen. We have tried to obtain more information concerning this family. but have not succeeded.
Robert Land was an Englishman and a justice of the peace under the colonial government, and a man of pluck and enterprise, while his wife was a woman of uncommon endurance and ability. His son, John Land, married, lived, and died in the township. One of the daughters of the latter, by the name of Maxa- milia, was the wife of John Burcher.
Jesse Drake married the widow of Moses Thomas, who was killed at Lackawaxen. He had two sons, Jesse and Charles, and two daughters; one daughter, named Christiana, intermarried with Jonathan Lillie, and the other, Martha, intermarried with James Mitchell.
Nicholas Conklin, of Dutch descent, from the North river, was one of the first settlers who located on the York State side. He had three sons, John, Elias, and William. The latter lived and died at Big Island,
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but. the others sold out to Stephen Mitchell and re- moved to Susquehanna county.
Benjamin Conklyn located on the Cochecton and Great Bend turnpike road, six miles west of Damas- cus bridge, and kept a tavern and the turnpike gate, so that the place was known far and near as the "Gate House." He had fifteen children, of whom only two now live in the county, Benjamin Conklyn, at Four-story hill, and Sally, the wife of Amos T. Mitchell.
Jonathan Lillie located on the Daniel Dexter place. Jesse and Calvin, his sons, are now living. Col. Cal- vin Skinner married a daughter of said Jonathan Lillie.
Simeon Bush was an original settler, and had three sons. He made an assessment of Damascus, in 1801, when there were but thirty-seven taxables. George Bush, one of the sons, was a man of mark and was once a Member of Assembly. He married a daugh- ter of Reuben Skinner. The other sons were John and Eli, and all have gone to a better land, leaving families behind them.
John Ross, better known as Captain John Ross, an old veteran soldier, had a son named John, who had a son named Bezaleel, he being the father of John R. Ross, deceased, who was elected sheriff in 1870.
Daniel Skinner, known as "Admiral" Skinner, of whom much has been said, lived and died on the Judge Taylor place. The names of his children were Reuben, Daniel, Joseph, William, and Nathan. Dan-
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iel Skinner, Jr., had one son, Ira, who died leaving one son. Said Joseph Skinner died at Skinner's Hats, leaving a family, and William Skinner died at the same place, leaving six sons.
Reuben Skinner located upon or near his father's place. He married a widow from Long Island, whose maiden name was Mary Polly Chase. He organized the first Masonic Lodge in the county, at Ackhake, and named it St. Tammany's Lodge. In 1801 he was assessed as owning two houses, twenty acres of im- proved land, and a slave, valued at fifty dollars, and as being a merchant, inn-keeper, and justice of the peace, all of which, including a span of horses and two cows, was valued at $552. He had one son, Daniel O. Skin- ner, late of Honesdale, deceased, and three daughters -Anna, wife of George Bush, Huldah, wife of Jacob B. Yerkes, and Naney, wife of George Kinney.
William Monnington, from Philadelphia, of Swedish descent, settled at an early day upon the north branch of Calkin's creek. His sons were Israel, James, and Na- than, all worthy and industrious farmers. Judge Thom- as married the only daughter, Rebecca Monnington.
Derrick Lukens emigrated from Germantown, near Philadelphia. His sons were John N., Daniel, Titus, and Derrick. He had several daughters, one of whom was the wife of the Rev. Isaac Brown. Her name was Mary, and another named Margaret was the wife of Col. Brush, who was the facetious and able sheriff of Wayne county; after his death she married Stephen Mitchell. John N. Lukens for many years kept
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a tavern on the turnpike between Damascus bridge and Tyler Hill.
David Young first settled opposite Big Island in New York State. He was assessed in Damascus in 1801 and in 1810, and afterwards kept a public house therein. He subsequently bought the Yerkes saw-mill, situated on Calkin's creek, at Milanville, where he was killed by the caving in of a bank. He was a man whose loss was widely regretted. He had four sons, George, Charles, Thomas, and Moses T. The latter-named, who lives in Damascus, is the only survivor.
Nathan Skinner, as aforesaid, was a son of "Admiral" Skinner, and was a man of good natural and acquired abilities. He was a surveyor and for many years a justice of the peace. His wife was a daughter of Oliver Calkin. He wrote the account of Damascus from which we have quoted. His sons were Col. Calvin Skinner, Albro Skinner, (the surveyor), Oliver Skinner, Irvin Skinner, Charles C. Skinner, and Heli Skinner. Irvin Skinner lives in Indiana, and his daughter Zillah is the wife of Wmn. Stephens, of Illinois.
Thomas Shields. At what time he removed from the city of Philadelphia to Damascus, it is difficult to ascertain; but, by the old records, it appears that at December sessions, 1799, Thomas Shields was indicted for assault and battery upon the body of William Skin- ner, of which charge he was acquitted. Let it be re- membered that the man who in those days was not in- dicted for selling liquor without a license or of assault and battery, was destitute of popularity. In 1801 he
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was assessed as owner of two houses, three mills, thirty- four acres of improved land, and 4,356 acres of unim- proved land, all valued at $938.00, his county tax be- ing only $9.38, and in 1803 as owner of 21,457 acres unimproved lands. He built two saw-mills and a grist- mill on Cash's creek, and as the Cocheeton and Great Bend turnpike road was not then made, all the irons required for said mills were brought up the Delaware river in Durham boats. In 1810 he built the first Baptist church in Damascus and left it to that denomi- nation. Being a man of wealth and enterprise, he largely contributed to the prosperity of the place. He went back to Philadelphia, but, at what date, we are unable to ascertain. He came into the county to dis- pose of his wild lands.
Dr. Freeman Allen was the first physician and sur- geon in Damascus, and Dr. Calkin the first in Cochee- ton.
Dr. Luther Appley, who was from Philadelphia, studied medicine and surgery under Dr. Allen, and practiced many years with success. For his first wife he married Phebe Land, daughter of John Land. His second wife was Mary E. Effinger, a lady from Phila- delphia, who, as his widow, now resides in Honesdale. He left four sons, William S., Theron, Luther, and Mark Appley. Dr. William S. Appley became noted in his profession. He practiced far and near along the Erie railroad. In consequence of his temerity he lost a leg on said road. He is dead and Dr. Theron Appley is still practicing. Luther and Mark are farmers and lumbermen.
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Alexander Rutledge, a native of Ireland, settled, in 1803, on the road leading from the Union settlement to the old gate house or Conklin place. His sons, who settled near him, were Alexander, Christopher, Ed- ward, and John.
Charles Irvine, a patriot who fled from Ireland, at an early day settled in Damascus and married a daugh- ter of Oliver Calkin, of Cochecton. His son, Charles Irvine, was a long time a merchant at Damascus vil- lage, and is well known through the county as having been a. jury commissioner.
George Brown was assessed in 1806 as a farmer. If I am rightly informed he was the father of Isaac Brown, a Baptist clergyman, whose wife was a daugh- ter of Derrick Lukens.
John Boyd was born in Philadelphia in 1794, and came to Wayne county in 1808, and finally settled on Damascus manor. He had seven children, two of whom are living in Warren county, and two in Wayne. Thomas Y. Boyd, one of them, bought "The Tymer- son Mills" many years ago. He is a large manufac- turer and dealer in lumber. He twice represented the county in the Legislature.
The settlement of the northern part of the town took place later than the middle and southern part and was made by the Conklins, Tylers, Keeslers, Brighams, Sutliffs, Kellams, Rutledges, and others. At Galilee is a Methodist Episcopal church, a post- office, and several fine buildings, sufficient to form the nucleus of a village. Southward of Galilee, many
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years ago, Neal MeCollum bought lands and cleared up a valuable farm. His family produced some of the most valuable articles of domestic manufacture over exhibited at the fairs of the Wayne County Ag- ricultural Society. Mr. Mc Collum and his wife, who were most worthy people, died some years ago, since which their ingenious and industrious daughters, Cath- erine and Mary, have prematurely followed them.
Jonathan Dexter was assessed, in 1802, as owning two hundred acres of wild land. The Dexters, it is said, were from New England.
BRANNINGVILLE took its name from JJ. D. Branning, who built up the place. W. D. Guinnip now resides there. It has a good school, with a thickly settled neighborhood about it. It is a very pleasant place.
DARBYTOWN takes its name from N. S. Darby, who built a tannery there.
In 1801, Solomon Decker, Reuben Decker, and Jo- seph Decker were assessed as farmers that had made respectable improvements. There were other early settlers whose history we have failed to obtain, the family names being Dexter, Guinnip, Branning, Bur- chers, Roberts, Noble, Perry, Yerkes, etc.
Jabez Stearns, a son of Joseph Stearns, one of the first settlers in Mount Pleasant, about 18- took up land and made a farm on the north side of the north branch of Calkin's creek, at the Great Falls, where John Leonard erected a noted saw-mill. subsequently occupied by Wood, Boyd & Lovelass. Under great disadvantages he obtained a good education and
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took all the means in his power to educate his chil- dren. He had six children, namely, David W., Polly, Harriet E., Laurette, Irene, and Frances. The primi- tive settlers being mostly lumbermen located upon the alluvial lands along the river which they deemed the only kind of soil fit for cultivation; hence, the progress of the town was for many years retarded. At length it was ascertained that the lands distant from the river, though difficult to clear, were, after a few years of cultivation, capable of producing larger crops than the river flats. This led to the taking up of the lands remote from the river, where were found some of the best lands in the county, in confirmation of which, attention is directed to the farms of Asil Dann, William Hartwell, T. J. Crocker, and a score of others
in the township. Several attempts have been made to divide the township, but the division, whenever un- dertaken, has been voted down. The old Cochecton and Great Bend turnpike road divides the township into about equal parts, but it does not suit the people as a division line. Having a descending navigation for lumber by the river, and access to the depots on the Erie railroad at Narrowsburgh and Cochecton, this township has facilities to market not exceeded by any of the river townships. The principal trading places are Damascus village, situated where the old turnpike road crosses the Delaware river over a splen- did toll-bridge, and Cochecton, a village located on the New York side, just opposite, and clustered along the Erie railroad, which road skirts the base of the
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hills, leaving a broad flat between it and the river. Cochecton is one of the pleasantest villages on the Del- aware, and its early history is inseparably connected with that of Damascus.
DAMASCUS VILLAGE. Before the division of the township into two election districts, the elections were held at Damascus village, where the physicians were located, the chief merchants traded, the most noted hotel afforded entertainment, and where the first academy in the county was started, and the first Bap- tist church built. Here Walter S. Vail and Charles Irvine, the most popular merchants in their day, lived and traded, and were succeeded by Philip O'Reilly, (once the urbane and favorite clerk of Capt. Murray. of Honesdale,) who, as one of the firm of T. & P. ()'Reilly continues in the same pursuit at the present time. There are several other merchants in the vil- lage. Here now is the old Baptist church and cemetery kept in excellent order, and a Methodist Episcopal church and parsonage. From the beautiful residences of Charles Irvine and Mark Appley, situated on the road leading to Milanville, is one of the most enchant- ing views of the New York, Lake Erie and Western Railroad, and of the trains of cars passing up and down upon the road on the opposite side of the river, that can be seen in Wayne county.
MILANVILLE. This village was the chosen residence of Nathan Skinner, Esq., and his family, and is situated near the mouth of Calkin's creek. Its locality is memorable in the early annals of the town as the place
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where the most desperate battle was fought with the Indians. Many years ago Eli Beach, Esq., built a large tannery there which greatly increased the population and importance of the place. Mr. Beach died some years since. At the time of his death he was one of the oldest and most noted tanners in the county, a man whose merits would have been appreciated and whose loss would have been deeply deplored in any com- munity. The tannery is now successfully carried on by Hon. J. Howard Beach, late Member of the As- sembly, and other sons of the late Eli Beach, deceased. About one hundred rods below the village are the Cochecton falls, which are the most dangerous obstruc- tion in the Delaware between Hancock and Lacka- waxen.
TYLER HILL. This village owed its first importance to the enterprise of the late Israel Tyler. It has been much improved within a few years. Its shops and stores afford most of the conveniences needed in a vil- lage. The buildings display taste and neatness, and the private residences of David Fortnam and William A. Smith are very beautiful.
Most of the timber having been removed from the forests of Damascus, the people have wisely turned their attention to agriculture. In 1878 there were 801 taxables in the township; the valuation of property for county purposes was $672,582, and the amount of coun- ty tax was $3,362.91. There are twenty-one common schools, one Baptist church, three M. E. churches, one Roman Catholic church, and one Union church,
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HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.
Precedence is given to Damascus because it has a larger area than any other township, and from the fact that there the first settlement was made, the first In- dian battle fought, the first mills built, the first raft constructed, the first justices of the peace appointed, the first schools established, the first Masonic Lodge instituted, the first turnpike road made, the first store started, the first church and academy erected, and the first bridge built across the Delaware river in Wayne county.
CHAPTER XII.
TOWNSHIPS-LEBANON.
INTHIS township was taken off from Damascus in 1819.
It is bounded north by Buckingham and Manches- ter, east by Damascus, south by Oregon and Dyberry, and west by Mount Pleasant. The principal streams are the Dyberry, and its east and west branches, and Big brook. These streams are lined on both sides by steep hills, which are rough and rocky, and, excepting some flats, the land near the streams is unenltivatable. In the eastern part is a high, conical elevation, called "Hickory Hill," about which there is some good land. The north-eastern part of the town is composed of
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hilly and rocky land, and is unfit for cultivation. The chief ponds are the Upper and Lower Woods ponds, so called because John Wood owned the land about them; the Latourette pond; the Niles pond; the Rose pond, which was named after a man by the name of Rose, who built a cabin near the pond, upon the now excellent and valuable farm of Sidney Coons; and Duck Harbor pond, about one-half of which is in this township. The greater part of the population is to be found along the old Cochecton and Great Bend turn- pike road, and on the roads leading from Rileyville to Dyberry, and along the road passing through Middle Lebanon.
Beginning on said turnpike where the line on the east side of the township crosses the road and going west, the first old settled place is the farm of Samuel K. Vail. Adam Kniver commenced on the place where Walter S. Vail now lives, and Joseph Thomas on the farm of Samuel K. Vail. Kniver and Thomas left and John C. Riley kept tavern there awhile; then Abram Mitchell bought the whole land of Thomas Meredith and lived there many years, when the farm was bought by Walter S. Vail, Sen., who sold it to his brother, Sam- uel K. Vail. Walter S. Vail, Sen., was a noted mer- chant at Damascus for many years, and a man much es- teemed for his probity and fair dealing. Nathaniel Vail, a brother of his, many years ago, represented us in the Legislature. Passing along, we come to the road which on the right leads to Equinunk. Here we find the store of Samuel K. Vail, the only one in the
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