History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania, Part 105

Author: Mathews, Alfred, 1852-1904. 4n
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Philadelphia : R.T. Peck & Co.
Number of Pages: 1438

USA > Pennsylvania > Monroe County > History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania > Part 105
USA > Pennsylvania > Pike County > History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania > Part 105
USA > Pennsylvania > Wayne County > History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania > Part 105

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Mount. Near by was also found a light hatchet made of stone, which, from its delicate structure, could not have been used as a weapon, but rather must have been designed as the insignia of rank. The inference is, that here some na- tive chieftain, alone in the solitude of the dark- ening forest, paid the last debt of nature.

SETTLEMENT .- The land comprising this township was bought of the "Six Nations," in their " General Council " at Fort Stanwix, now Rome, N. Y., on the 5th of November, 1768, by the heirs of William Penn. In 1774 a lot of land, comprising three hundred and twenty-two acres, upon which a part of Pleas- ant Mount village now stands, was bought of the proprietaries by Christopher Hager. This lot passed through several hands, when in June, 1789, it was purchased by Mr. Samuel Stanton, who became the first actual settler. He was from Preston, New London County, Conn., and came here as a surveyor in the em- ploy of William Cooper, agent for Thomas, Franklin, William and Andrew Craig; land- holders. In addition to the above-mentioned lot, he bought of the agent on June 30, 1789, three thousand acres, and in 1790, according to a note in the township records in his own hand- writing, " built a house and cleared some land." The cabin was situated a few rods east of the old Belmont and Easton turnpike, near the present residence of Henry W. Mumford. It was made of small logs and poles, covered with bark, without windows. The door and floor were made of slabs split from logs. It was twelve by fourteen feet on the ground, and had but one room.1 The furniture consisted of a white-pine table, a chest of drawers with legs, two bedsteads, four splint-bottom chairs, a trammel for the fireplace, a looking-glass, a few dishes, some pewter plates and basins ; also some trenchers.

On the 10th of April, 1791, Mr. Stanton brought his family, a wife and two children, from Harmony, on the Susquehanna River, through the woods to this place. During the following summer he succeeded in raising a scanty supply of provisions, which he hoped

1 Whaley's History of Mount Pleasant.

639

WAYNE COUNTY.

with proper care would last through the winter. He cut a supply of hay for a yoke of oxen and two cows, on a beaver meadow, two miles away. This he intended to draw home during the win- ter. A daughter, Polly Stanton, was born on the 26th day of August, 1791. She was the first white child born in the township. The Stantons enjoyed the company of a few settlers, to be mentioned hereafter, who had come on without their families to make improvements, preparatory to moving in the following year. They all left in the autumn, however, and the Stanton family were alone in the wilderness. Their nearest neighbor was fourteen miles away, and the road liable to be blocked by snow. Much has been written regarding the sufferings and privations of this heroic family during the rigorous winter which followed, but want of space compels us to abridge the narrative. Ex- posure and a fractured ankle confined his wife to her bed; soon she was tossing in the delirium of fever. Her infant child, five months old, also sickened. The mother's fever had destroyed its natural food. The cows afforded no substi- tute. It rapidly declined under sickness and hun- ger. Thestock of provisions was nearly exhausted. The potatoes had been frozen by the unex- pected severity of the winter. Stanton de- nied himself in order to eke out the scanty sup- ply. His children were placed on short allow- ance. Finally they were reduced to the last mneal. He divided the last morsel of food be- tween the two little children, the mother did not realize their condition, and then kneeling before God, prayed for deliverance. He arose from his knees and, going to the door, heard a dog chasing an animal down the opposite hill, from where the village of Pleasant Mount now stands, to the Lackawaxen. Seizing an old musket, which had long been useless, he ran down to the stream, where he found an elk at bay. So intense were his emotions that he re- peatedly snapped the old musket, but of course without effcet. A hunter soon came down the hill and shot the clk. On learning the condi- tion of Mr. Stanton and his family the hunter, Mr. Frederick Coates, and his companion, a Mr. Church, emptied their knapsacks of palatable food for them. A part of the elk was roasted,

but before the flesh was fully cooked Mr. Stan- ton, as a starving man, devoured it. To the kindness and frequent visits of these hunters, and also of Mr. Asa Stanton, a cousin who had recently settled near Waymart, he was indebted for many comforts, and the restoration of his wife and infant child to health. Mr. Stanton preserved the horns of this elk as a memento of God's mercy to him and his family while in a sick and starving condition. Afterward, when he kept a public-house, he had them nailed upon the top of his sign-post, and frequently related to visitors and travellers the story of his suffer- ing and deliverance.

In a few years he began to prosper. He built a frame house and barn near where the residence of George Mumford now stands, where he kept a hotel until the Cochecton and Great Bend Turnpike was constructed. This drew the travel away from him. He then built on the turnpike opposite Thomas Mumford's, where he kept a public-house until he sold his prop- erty and removed from this section. He took a prominent part in public affairs, and was in- strumental in securing the act for the Cochec- ton and Great Bend Turnpike. The building of such a road was then considered a greater achievement than is now the construction of a railroad. He received the appointment of jus- tice of the peace in 1796, while this region was a part of Northampton County. When Wayne County was organized he was appointed one of the commissioners to locate the county-scat and erect the court-house and jail. In October, 1814, he was appointed associate judge, which office he held while he remained in this part of the State. Toward the close of his life he removed with his family, except one daughter who was married to Thomas Lillibridge, Esq., to the headwaters of the Allegheny River, in the western part of the State. He had been appointed a commissioner of a State road in that section. Business growing out of this office called him to Harrisburg. On his return le stopped at Bellefonte, Centre County, to visit his friend, Judge Burnside. Here he was taken sick, and though every effort was made to re- store him to health, he rapidly declined, and after a few days' illness dicd, April 15, 1816.

640

WAYNE, PIKE AND MONROE COUNTIES, PENNSYLVANIA.

None of his descendants are now found in this township.

Judge Samuel Stanton was tall, broad- shouldered, but rather sparely built. His com- plexion was light, eyes blue, hair and whiskers light brown. He was of the nervous tempera- ment, and very sanguine and earnest in what- ever enterprise he was engaged. He was for the times in which he lived a man of the high- est culture. His memory was remarkably good, and he grasped and retained whatever he rcad ; which is said to have been more than two thou- sand volumes. His address was easy, and his nature sociable. He was a devout Christian, and was a member of the Free Communion Baptist Church, but was in fellowship with Christians of all denominations. The members of his own church held their meetings in his barn. In 1797 the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper was administered for the first time in this township, at his house, by the Rev. Daniel Thatcher, a Presbyterian Missionary, to nine professed Christians of different denominations. He wrote poetry, both secular and religious, and some rhymes which are recorded upon the town-book are so intimately connected with the early history of the township that they are here given.

" The Golden Age of Mount Pleasant, from 1791 to 1796, while eighty-two miles from Easton, the seat of justice ; there was no law put in force but the law of forbearance, having no law, the people were a law unto themselves."

" Secluded here from noise and strife, We lead a quiet, peaceful life. No loungers here with poisonous breath, Nor doctors here to deal out death.

" No trainings here nor such like trash, To waste our time and spend our cash ; Nor town-meetings to choose our masters, To make us slaves and breed disasters.

" No priest sends round his man for pay, Because that he did preach and pray ; For we believe that grace is free To all who wish to taste and see.

" No jockey merchants here prevail, To trust their goods, then send to jail ; Nor fiddling strolling players dare Infest the place, our youth to snare.

" Some slaves to forms may now require, Have you no court-house, jail, or squire ? While all are honest and sincere, . What need of court or prison here !

" Have we a cause to settle ? then, We leave it to judicious men, To search the matter well, and we To their just judgments do agree.

"The noise of war, or the excise, Does neither vex our ears nor eyes ; For we are free from every tax, And stay at home and swing the ax.

"Our corn we pound, our wheat we boil, Thus eat the product of our soil. Sweet independence here does reign, And we've no reason to complain.

" Yet we, like others, still look on Till we shall get our mill to run ; Then we'll not pound nor boil again, But live in style like other men.

" From sheep we make our clothing warnı, In which we face the wintry storm ; They likewise give us meat and light, To feast by day and see by night,

" Do we want meat? then we kill Elk, deer, or bear, and eat our fill. Sometimes we've fowl, and sometimes fish, But rarely meet an empty dish.

" Here healing herbs and roots do grow, And sugar-juice from maple flow. Molasses, vinegar, and beer, Are made from sugar orchards here.

" Sometimes we live on pork and peas, Then milk and honey, butter, cheese- Plain food and exercise agree To make us happy while we're free."

His religious poetry was of a more elevated character. He wrote about fifty hymns which breathe the spirit of truc devotion. One entitled "The Complainer Reformed" is written as though it were his own experience, and was con- sidered worthy of place in a collection of relig- ious hymns used by the Free Communion Baptist Church. The hymn consists of twelve stanzas. The following are the second and ninth and are sufficient to give the character of the production ; and the sentiments of the author.

"Of ev'ry preacher I'd complain

One spoke through pride, and one for gain, Another's learning small.

WAYNE COUNTY.

641

This spoke too fast and that too slow One prayed too loud, and one too low, The others had no call.

" Now I can hear a child proelaim The joyful news, and praise the name Of Jesus Christ my King. I know no sect, Christians are one. With my complaints I now have done, And God's free grace I sing."

Mr. Stanton commenced actual work as a settler in June, 1790. When he moved in with his family the following spring as before related he was accompanied by Mr. Silas Kellogg, who, with two hired men, was to commence on a tract of three thousand acres, which he had bought in the south part of the township. He was from Ballston, Saratoga Connty, N. Y., and had intended to settle in Otsego County but was induced to come here by the flattering description of the country given by agent William Cooper. He made his first clearing in that pleasant valley on the Lackawaxen, east of the present residence of Mr. Richard Mills. During the season he and his men cleared and sowed to wheat fourteen acres of land. Mr. Kellogg was obliged to go with his ox-team to Harmony, then a distance of twenty-eight miles, and thence down the Susquehanna to Great Bend to procure the seed. He carried provisions for himself and two men from Great Bend upon his back, and says that in climbing the hills beneath his heavy burden his vision became double, so that he was obliged to sit down till his regular sight was restored. 1 This season Elijah Dix and his son Elijah, a boy of eleven years came from Wil- liamstown, Mass., into the township and made improvements which will be noticed hereafter. In an address to citizens of Mount Pleasant, March 5, 1849, Mr. Kellogg says,-

" All the inhabitants of Mount Pleasant in 1791 were Mr. Stanton, his wife, and two children, Mr. Dix and boy, myself and two hired men. The per- plexities we met with in making a beginning were more than I dare undertake to deseribe; for in these days of cultivated farms and good roads, the stories of the sufferings of those who remember the times when the farms were a forest, and the roads were unmarked may perhaps be regarded by some as mere- ly the offspring of the imagination."

Concerning this year, Mr. Stanton wrote in the town book as follows :

"This summer at any heavy work, such as raising log houses, we were able to raise six hands. And considering ourselves so strong, we undertook opening a road toward the Great Bend, some south of where the turnpike was made afterward."

At the close of the summer all but Mr. Stall- ton and his family left for the winter. Their sufferings have already been related.

The next spring, 1792, Mr. Kellogg returned. He was at this time but twenty-four years of age and unmarried. He was an enthusiast upon the subject of western emigration. He pos- sessed a strong constitution and an active, intel- ligent mind. He was ambitious of success and confident in this his first great enterprise. His plans were extensive, and he entered upon their execution with firm expectations of carrying them to a successful issue. On January 1, 1795, he was married to Mary, daughter of Mr. Jirah Mumford. This was the first wedding in this township. The ceremony was performed by the Rev. Ezekial Sampson, of Delaware County, N. Y. It is said that every man, woman and child in the town was present and all accommodated in one room. Mr. Kellogg was elected Sheriff in 1813, serving one term. He was not successful in his business enterprises at first. He was obliged to sell most of his land at a sacrifice, and in consequence about 1830 he removed with his family to Preston township. On the 5th of March, 1849, he was presented with an easy chair by the citizens of Mount Pleasant, as a token of remembrance of his sufferings and privations as one of the first settlers, and a mark of respect for his virtuous old age. The venerable Col. Rodney Harmnes, then a young man of thirty-six years, made the presentation speech, which was replied to by the " old pioneer." He grew very decrepid the last part of his life, and was confined to the house for a year or two before his death, which occur- red August 15, 1853, at the residence of his son, the late Mr. Jirah Kellogg, in Preston. He was eighty-six years of age when he died. He was the father of nine children, viz .: Azor, Mary, Sally, Deborah, Esther, Julia, Jirah, Caroline, Harriet. Their descendants are among

1 Whaley, History of Mt. Pleasant.

642

WAYNE, PIKE AND MONROE COUNTIES, PENNSYLVANIA.

the leading business men of the couuty. His eldest daughter, Mary, was the mother of the late Judge Warren J. Woodward and of the late Jackson J. Woodward, Esq., of Honesdale, and also of Dency, wife of Dr. Olmsted, of Dundaff. Azor is living in Valparaiso, Indiaua, at an advanced age. Deborah married a man named Bostwick, aud is now living in Walton, N. Y. His son Jirah died at the old place about a year ago. His grandsons, Azor and Edward, occupy the old Kellogg homestcad.

ELIJAH DIX, one of the early settlers of Mount Pleasant, came from Williamstown, Mass., in 1791. He bonghit a few hundred acres of land and built a log house a few rods south of the present residence of Henry Spencer, Esq. This house served as a residence, a school- house, a meeting-house and also for an election- house. It stood a few feet west of an old well, which is yet in use; but a few traces of the site remain.

In 1798, when Wayne County was set off from Northampton, the polls for the third elec- tion district of Wayne, which included all of the present Wayne and about one-half of Pike, werc opened in this township at this house. Voters came here from the Wallenpaupack and north of Shohola Creek. They came up the Lacka- waxen to where Honesdale now stands and which was then a dense wilderness, thence by marked trees through Bethany, and so found their way to Mount Pleasant. Citizens on the Delaware came by bridle paths. Here for the first time the scattered inhabitants of this exten- sive district met to choose the State and couuty officers. After building and clearing some land Mr. Dix and his son returned to Massachusetts to spend the winter. The following spring he moved in with his family, wife and eight chil- dren, and occupied the house. Here he lived until 1802, when he built the house which yet stands on the farm now owned by Miss Jennie Moase. He liad been a man of some wealth but lost most of it through the depreciation of Continental money. He came here to provide a future home for his family. He was an hon- est, industrious and worthy man. He died at his home, April 27, 1826. His wife died June 18, 1819. He had nine children, viz. : Benja-

min, Elijah, David, Hannah, Margaret, Joseph, John, Jesse, Ursula.

Benjamin married Lucy Stearns, and cleared land aud built upon the farm now owned by William Wright, Esq. He had five children, most of whom died young. He died suddenly March 22, 1805. Elijah began upon the farm and built the house now owned and occupied by Mr. Austin Crater. David moved to Ohio where he married, grew rich and died. Mar- garet married Major Luther Stark. Joseph lived and died upon the farm now owned by Mr. Dewitt Denio. John cleared and lived upon the farm now owned by his grandson, F. M. Dix, one mile north of Pleasant Mount Village. B. F. Dix, of Mount Pleasant, is also a graud- son of John Dix.

About the last of February, 1792, Captain John Tiffany, of Attlebury, Mass., a soldier of the Revolution, with his wife and three children stopped here on his way to the Nine Partners, now Harford. (The Nine Partners was so named because nine of the Tiffany family were iu partnership there.) Pleased with the locality he concluded to settle here. He purchased the farm now owned by Mr. Milton Spencer, and built first, a log house, aud then the house now in use on the farm, which is the oldest building now in use in the township. His wife was a descendant of the Douglas family, of Seotland. He died in 1825. He had six children, viz. : Chandler, John, Fanny, Gardner, Leonard and Ruth. The last three were born in Mount Pleasant. All married and removed from the township except Johu, who married Sally, daughter of James Bigelow, and cleared the farm now owned by his grandson, Winfield Tiffany. He died in 1854. He was deacon of the Baptist Church, of Mount Pleasant. He had eight children, viz. : Mary, Sally, Hiram, Sally, Minerva, John S., Thirza and Oliver. The many descendants of Captain John Tiffany are among the most wealthy and enterprising citizens of the township.

On the 5th day of March, 1792, Mr. Jirah Mumford and son, Thomas, in company with Mr. Josepli Stearns and two sons, James and Otis, all from Tolland County, Conn., arrived at Stantonville, as this settlement was then

643

WAYNE COUNTY.

called, on their way to the Nine Partners. Pleased with the locality, they concluded to set- tle here. Mr. Mumford built a log house about three rods south west of the present residence of his grandson, Henry Mumford. Near the close of the season he returned to Connecticut, while Mr. Stearns moved in his family, wife and eight children, and occupied the cabin built by Mr. Mumford. The next spring he moved his fam- ily into Mr. Dix's house, and during the sum- mer following cleared some land and built a log house on the farm now owned by Mr. Noah Chittenden. This cabin was situated a few rods west of the present residence of Mr. J. N. Mon- roe .. On this farm he spent the remainder of his life. John Stearns, a son of Joseph Stearns, settled on the farm now known as the James Partridge farm on the Stockport road. Here Jabez Stearns, the first male child born in the township, was born June 18, 1793. He lived to be over eighty years of age and died in Damascus township. The late Ashbel Stearns, of Clinton, and the late E. I. Stearns, of Hones- dale, were sons of Joseph Stearns. Few, if any, of his descendants now live in this township.

As the spring of 1793 opened Jirah Mum- ford returned from Connecticut with his family, wife and four children, and occupied the house which he had built the previous summer. He was a tanner by trade and erected a small tan- nery near his house. In 1795 he completed the first saw-mill and grist-mill in the township. They were located where Mr. J. W. Fowler's saw-mill now stands. The grist-mill was about twenty fect square, and contained one run of stones about three feet in diameter, and one bolt about seven feet long

The meal was taken by hand and poured into the bolt, which the miller turned with a crank. The saw-mill would, under favorable conditions saw about seven hundred feet per day. Mr. Jirah Mumford built the Mumford hotel at Belmont. Mr. Mumford, who was one of the most enterprising of the early settlers died January 22, 1826.

He reared a family of twelve children, viz: Mary, Jirah Jr., Thomas, John, Deborah, Sally, Harry, Lillibridge, Roxy, Thankful, Minor and Amelia. Mary, as before stated

married Silas Kellogg; Jirah, Jr., married Polly Baker ; Jndge James Mumford, the pro- genitor of the Mumford family of Starrucca, was a son of Jirah Mumford, Jr .; Thomas married Theodosia Carr, he was president of the Ochquaga Turnpike Company and kept the Mumford hotel at Belmont. The late Thos. L. Mumford was his son. John married Thomo- sia Rogers and settled upon the farm now owned by Mr. Francis James; Deborah married John Clough of Boston; Sally married Samuel Rogers; Harry married Sarah Tanner and set- tled on the farm now owned and occupied by his son Alonzo; Lillibridge married Deborah Sherwood and moved to Susquehanna County ; Roxy married Eber Dimock of Susquehanna County ; Thankful married Amos Rogers and went West; Minor married Ada Lyon and lived on the old homestead. He died in 1867. George Mumford and Henry Mumford are sous of Minor Mumford. Amelia married Elias Lillibridge (her cousin).

Joseph Tanner, from Preston, Conn., broth- er-in-law of Samuel Stanton moved into the settlement this spring. He had but one child. His purchase included most of the present vil- lage of Pleasant Mount, but lying mostly north of it. He built about one half a mile north of the village on land now owned by Dr. Rod- ney Harmes and where the main road, east and west, now running through this village was originally constructed. An old well marks the site. In 1795 he built the first frame house, one half mile north of the village by a cluster of apple trees, on land now owned by Mrs. David Lake. The apple trees and an old well mark the site. Here the first store was opened under the firm of "Tanner and Granger" in 1806. In 1808 he built the first house in the Village of Pleasant Mount. This he used as a dwelling, a store, and an office. He also built a two story hotel near it. These buildings stood where the Episcopal parsonage now stands. They were burned in 1811. He then built the honse now owned and occupied by Hosmer T. Wright. Joseph Tanner was the first Just- ice of the Peace after Wayne County was or- ganized. Before his death he lost most of his property.

644

WAYNE, PIKE AND MONROE COUNTIES, PENNSYLVANIA.

This year Amasa Geer built a log-house by the large spring on the side-hill west of the village on land now owned by Ira Nichols. Jacobus Barrager also moved in. These re- mained but a few years.

During the last weck in May of this year the late Major Jason Torrey, then a young man of twenty years, came here from Williams- town, Mass. He commenced clearing some land four miles east of this village on the farm of the late James O'Ncill. Soon after he was employed by Mr. Baird of Philadelphia to survey some land on the Lackawaxen. H continued in this employment during the sum- mer seasons, spending his winters in Philadel- phia or Williamstown, until 1797. In June of this year he built a log-house on land cleared four years before. During this summer his brother Samuel was with him. In December he went to Williamstown after his wife, whom he had married the preceding January. They arrived and occupied the log house February 11, 1780. Here he resided until 1801, when he removed to Bethany. Jason Torrey was closely identified with all the public enterprises of the township during his residence in it.

In 1794, David Kennedy, Sen.,1 from Tol- land County, Conn., moved into the settlement. He built a log house where the house of Rupert Tiffany now stands On this farm he lived until his death, July 28, 1827. His wife, Eunice Lester, died August 26, 1826. They had seven children each of whom lived to an advanced age, cleared and owned a large farm and died in the township, viz :

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania, Part 105

Author: Mathews, Alfred, 1852-1904. 4n Publication date: 1886 Publisher: Philadelphia : R.T. Peck & Co. Number of Pages: 1438

Author: Mathews, Alfred, 1852-1904. 4n
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Philadelphia : R.T. Peck & Co.
Number of Pages: 1438