History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania, Part 112

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 112
USA > Pennsylvania > Pike County > History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania > Part 112
USA > Pennsylvania > Wayne County > History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania > Part 112

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).

The following names appear on the list, those who had moved in since 1800 being designated by an asterisk (*):

John Ansley.

John Killam.

Simeon Ansley.

Moses Killam.

John Ansley, Jr.

Abel Kimble.

Joseph Ansley.

Ephraim Kimble.6

Elisha Amcs,1

Jacob Kimble.

David Abbott.

Daniel Kimble.

Henry Ball. Jacob Kimble, Jr. Walter Kimble.5

Robert Bayham.

Hezekialı Bingham.

Benjamin Kimble.1

Moses Brink .*

Eusebies Kincaid.

Stephen Bennett.

Barzilla King.

Richard Beebe.2

James Logan.

John Brink .*

Phineas Lester.

Jonathan Brink .*

Andrew Lester.

Thomas Brown.3

Archibald Murray.

Benjamin B. Brink.

John Malonia.5

Dennison Coe.

Richard Nelson,5

David Cady.

Stephen Parrish.

Jesse Cady.4

George Parkinson.

Uriah Chapmanl.

George Parkinson, Jr.

Simeon Chapman.

John Pellet, Jr.

Wm. Chapman.

Conrad Pulis.5

Jacob Cronkwright.5

Silas Purdy.

Roswell Chapman.

William Purdy.

Phineas Coleman.

Amos Purdy.

William Dalton.

William Purdy, Jr.

Elias Depui .* Aaron Duffy. Charles Forseth.

Ephraim Purdy.

Jacob Purdy.

Jacob Gooding.

Nathaniel Purdy.

Robert Hartford.

Solomon Purdy.

Elias Hartford.

Samuel Porter.

Samuel Hartford.

Thomas Schoonover.5

William Hartford.

Wm. Schoonover.5

James Hartford.

Thos. Spangenberg.5

Henry Husted.

Samuel Smith.

Benjamin Hanes.

Christopher Snyder.

Jedediah Willys.

Reuben Jones.

Solomon Willys.

Alpheus Jones.

Enos Woodward. .

Alexander Jones.

Ebenezer Woodward.

John Jeans .*

Abisha Woodward.5

Ephraim Killam.

William Williams.

Silas Killam.

William Northup.5

The growth and prosperty of Palmyra has been chiefly confined to Hawley and its suburbs, and when these are excepted, the increase in population and improvement of farm lands does not compare favorably with that in ad-

1 Marked " Canaan " on the list.

2 Marked " Minisink " on the list.

3 "Sold to John Malonia and left the county."

4 " Left the county and sold to Roswell Chapman."

6 In Dyberry afterwards.

6 Assessed as a resident of Lackawaxen.

Daniel Stroud.

William Holbert.

Jouathan Jennings.5

Reuben Purdy.

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WAYNE, PIKE AND MONROE COUNTIES, PENNSYLVANIA.

jacent townships. The early settlers were chiefly lumbermen, and when the timber was cut off, few of them remained to improve the cleared lands. Portions of the hills are still sparsely settled, and the industries of the central town, the canal and the railroads drain the farms of the most energetic young men. Its facilities for manufacturing, its fine water- powers and the rail and water-ways that pass through it are so much superior to the adapta- bility of the land for agriculture that it must become a great industrial district in the near future.

ROADS .- Palmyra was benefited by roads at an early date. Soon after the Joneses located at the Eddy, a road was cut from the Wallen- paupack settlement by the way of Wilsonville, that crossed the Wallenpaupack Creek by a ford near Henry Harmon's mill, and passed across the flat. There were also a number of early trails leading from the settlement to various townships near by, which, though never laid out as regular public ways, were much used by the pioneers until, by the location of other set- tlers, they became private property. Most of these trails led into the Jones Eddy road and thus connected the scattered settlers with Bethany and Milford. In 1833 a road was laid out from Paupack Eddy, through what is now Hawley borough, to intersect the Jones Eddy road near Middle Creek. This touched the Little Manor, as the place where John Neldin settled was always called. The town- ship was thoroughly opened up by the building of the Milford and Owego and Bethany and Dingman's Choice turnpikes, and later by the construction of the Delaware and Hudson Canal. It is now threaded by good county roads and several turnpikes.

SCHOOLS AND CHURCHES .- The school at Wilsonville was probably one of the first opened in the township, and was held in an old build- ing that stood about two hundred feet from the saw-mill. Alexander Reed was one of its first teachers, and at that time he had about a dozen pupils. Here Esquire Ephraim Killam and others of the early settlers of the second gene- ration went to school. Another old school- house stands in Hawley, and is now occupied as

a paint-shop by J. S. Fowler. It was built in 1823, and opened the following year. Court- land Chapman was one of the first teachers, though not the first. The building was at first merely a plank structure with a slab roof ; but afterwards, when it had been abandoned as a school, it was occupied as a dwelling, and the clap-boarding and shingle roof were added. The school law of 1834 was promptly sustained by Wayne County, and in this, as in other town- ships, schools sprang up rapidly. The old buildings were all erected by private contribu- tions of labor and material, and prior to 1854 there does not seem to have been any building tax levied, at least there is no record of any. Since that date almost all the schools in Palmyra have been rebuilt, and they will compare favorably with those of the other townships. There are four common schools in the township at present, -two on Shanty Hill, a suburb of Hawley, one at White Mills and one at Long Ridge. The value of the buildings is about one thousand dollars each, and four teachers are employed at an average salary of two hundred and twenty- five dollars. The amount of the school tax collected in 1884 was $909.84. The present directors of the township are Samuel Avery, president ; Michael Corcoran, treasurer ; John Flynn, secretary ; William Case, John Manley and Alexander Barrett.

The only churches in the township are in the borough of Hawley, and their histories will be given in the chapter devoted to that locality. .

CHAPTER XXVI.

THE BOROUGH OF HAWLEY.

THE early history of Hawley is also the early history of Palmyra township, since the first settlements were made in or adjacent to the present borough limits of the town. Shortly after the battle of Wyoming, Reuben Jones, Jasper Parrish, Stephen Parrish and a son of Jacob Kimble, Sr., were taken prisoners by a band of Mohawk Indians, near the Panpack Eddy. Stephen Kimble died while a prisoner, and it was afterwards stated by Reuben Jones

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WAYNE COUNTY.

that the lad was unable to perform some tasks that his captors assigned, and was tomahawked for his failure. This was denied by Stephen Parrish, however, who said that young Kimble died a natural deatlı, and this version of the story is generally accepted by the Kimble family. Stephen Parrish married an Indian wife, and remained with the tribe until after peace was declared, when he settled in Paupack, and practiced as an Indian doctor. Reuben Jones remained a prisoner for nearly a year, and at last effected his escape by outrunning his captors, with whom he was having a friendly contest of speed. He was a large, powerfully built man, and was considered a fine trophy, and the boast- ful young braves were in the habit of challeng- ing him to race with them. He was shrewd enough to let them barely beat him many times, and they grew less suspicious of his escaping, after frequent experiences. One day he secretly filled his pockets with dried venison, and chal- lenged one of the swiftest runners to a decisive race. The latter readily agreed, and Jones, who had carefully husbanded his strength, distanced his captor in the first mile, and escaped. He made for the head-waters of the Delaware, and thien returned to Paupack Eddy, subsisting, meanwhile, on the venison he had secretcd. It was said that Jones and his companion werc captured by the treachery of an Indian named Canope, who had always pretended to be a friend of the settlers, and after peace was concluded, Canope was secretly murdered. His death was charged upon Benjamin Haines, the Indian fighter, but the latter always denied it, and Mr. Goodrich, who was personally acquainted with many of the early settlers, says that it was always thought at Paupack that Jones was the one who punished Canope for his duplicity.

So far as it is now known, Reuben Jones and his brothers, Alpheus and Alexander, and a sister, who was known as Widow Cook, were the first settlers at Hawley. They located at the Eddy, just below the mouth of Middle Creek, and were soon joined by Benjamin Haines, who settled not far from where Peter McHale now lives. This property, which has since passed into the hands of George S. Atkinsou, was always known as "the Haines' possession."

Soon after this, Robert Hanna built a mill on what was known as the " Little Manor," a tract of eight hundred and ten acres, which, a few years later, became the property of George Neldin, by whom the mill was rebuilt about the beginning of the present century. In 1810, Joseph Atkinson came from the Narrows, and was employed in Neldin's mill. He was a native of New Jersey, and, when quite a young man, had gone to the Narrows to work in a mill built there by Robert L. Hooper, and operated by Esquire Snyder, young Atkinson's grand- father. Joseplı Atkinson married Anna, a daughter of Ephraim Kimble, and his children were Eunice, Elizabeth, (wife of Daniel McFar- lau ;) Lucy, (wife of Charles Weiss,) John Ephraim, George, Asher and Ann (the wife of Joseph Soliday.) Mr. Atkinson was married a second time to Fannie, a daughter of Benjamin Kimble, and of this marriage Amelia, Margaret, Eunice, Marrilla, Elizabeth, Milesia, William, Joseph and Lot were born.

When Mr. Atkinson arrived at the Eddy, as it was then called, Hanna had gone away, and the only settlers were the Neldins, the Joneses and a colored man named Prince Rose, who lived in a hut across the Wallenpaupack. His wife had been a slave, belonging to Dr. Col- lins, of Cherry Ridge, and was enjoying the first years of her freedom. Rose afterwards went to Wisconsin, but his wife died in Pau- pack settlement.

In 1812 John Atkinson was born at Nel- din's house, and was probably the first white child born in the settlement. In 1820 Neldin erected a large frame house, which was com- pleted in the fall, and became the headquarters for travelers on their way to the Wallenpau- pack settlement. This was the first public- house, and, though hardly a tavern in the usual adaptation of the term, answered all the pur- poses of such until a much later period. It was burned during the progress of an election, in February, 1827, after it had passed into the hands of Mr. Atkinsou. Neldin moved to Sussex County, N. J., in 1821, leaving his property in the hands of some of his employees, and, thirce years later, Joseph Atkinson and David Bishot bought the mill and manor.

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WAYNE, PIKE AND MONROE COUNTIES, PENNSYLVANIA.

During the first two decades of the present century several families settled on the opposite side of the Lackawaxen, as noted in the preced- ing chapter, and, at the time Atkinson became a proprietor, most of the settlers were in what is now East Hawley, which is not included in the borough limits. Here were the early stores and schools, and Jonathan Brink's house was a general rendezvous for the lumbermen who rafted the output of the mills to Easton and Philadelphia. The first school was held in his log barn, and he supplied such few articles of foreign manufacture as the settlers needed from his cellar and store-house, without the formal- ity of passing thein over a counter.

The first matrimonial event was celebrated in the settlement in 1824, just after Atkinson bought the Neldin mill, and was the marriage of Elizabeth Atkinson to Daniel McFarland. It is not known who officiated, and whether it was a civil or religious ceremony, but it was a red-letter. day at the mill-house, and guests came from many miles around to help celebrate the event.

The foundation of Hawley's prosperity was laid in 1826, when the first corps of engineers located there to run the line for the Delaware and Hudson Canal. They put up a tent on the hill where the company's office now is, and camped for a week, merrily driving stakes along the river, each one making more certain the growth and activity of the town. The work of construction commenced the next year and brought large accessions to the population. Engineers, contractors and laborers spent money freely, stores sprang up and business flourished. This sudden activity gave the town an impetus that was felt for several years after the canal was finished, and had hardly died away before it was renewed and increased by the construction of the Pennsylvania Coal Company's Gravity road. Early in 1827 a large shanty for Irish laborers was built near where Mr. Barker's residence now stands, and its inhabitants were the terror of the settlers for several miles around. Whiskey was plenty, and on pay nights frequent, and sometimes very serious, rows occurred, which the local authorities were powerless to suppress. These are the first acts

of lawlessness of which there is any record, and it is to the credit of the town that the citizens finally succeeded in putting a stop to the de- bauchery, and since that time have had as quiet and orderly a town as can be found in this re- gion.

The first store in Hawley was opened by Jonathan Brink, at what is now the George Atkinson place, in the fall of 1827, and about the same time James Philips opened a store which he ran for two years, until he moved to Milford. With the building of the Milford and Owego pike a demand for hotel accommo- dations sprang up, and in 1838, Joseph Atkin- son opened a tavern near the present lower depot, which became the principal hostelry, and remained so until 1850, when the Eddy House was built, and he took charge of that. A year later he died and the hotel passed into other hands, but its palmiest days were over when he left it. He was one of the most popular land- lords in Wayne County, and no guest ever left his house without framing a wish that he might return at an early date.

From 1847, the year the Pennsylvania Coal Company's road was completed,1 business passed across the river to what is now the borough of Hawley, and the town soon surpassed in popula- tion and enterprise the hamlet that had grown up after the opening of the canal.2 The industries noted elsewhere brought fresh accessions of labor and capital, and labor assumed very re- spectable proportions. In 1865 the Hawley branch of the Erie was built, and the facilities for the trans-shipment of coal from the Penn- sylvania Coal Company's road were much in- creased. Several miles of siding, the necessary repair-shops, depots and offices, gave employ- ment to many hundred workmen, and many of them remained to become useful citizens. An increased passenger traffic made better hotel accommodations necessary, and the importance of the town was established.

The Keystone Hotel was built by William

I See Chapter IV., general history of Wayne County.

2 In 1850, Francis Oppelt, deputy marshal for the lower part of the county reported, one thousand four hundred and fifty persons. "One year and a half ago it contained less than twenty souls !"-Honesdale Democrat.

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WAYNE COUNTY.

Schardt in 1876, and run under his manage- ment until 1883, when he sold to Julius Scott, who soon transferred it to J. S. Perine, of Philadelphia, the present owner. Frey & Co. leased it in January, 1885, and in August sold out to C. W. Depew, the present manager. The hotel is a substantial brick building, located in the business portion of the town.

Hawley was incorporated as a borough on the 23d of January, 1884, and the first elec- tion was held on the 19th of the following month, the polls being located at the Keystone Hotel. Esquire Ephraim Kellam acted as judge and Gaston W. Ames and Isadore Kastner as inspectors. Hon. James Millham was elected burgess and George Schlager, A. Kimble, Fred. Meisenger, H. P. Woodward, Thomas Mangan and Morveldon Plum, Councilmen. The school directors were John Winess, S. R. Evans, Isa- dore Kastner, James H. Murphey, Joseph At- kinson and John E. Mandeville. These officers served for one year, and on February 17, 1885, the following was the result of the election : Burgess, Dr. A. C. Dingman ; Councilmen, Daniel Jacobs and R. T. Ames, for full term, and E. V. Murray for one year ; School Direc- tors, Joseph Atkinson and Manley Oram. At the time the borough was set off from Palmyra township the joint indebtedness was $1088.61, which was divided by Hon. Henry Wilson, master in Chancery, who assigned to the town- ship $319.19, and to the borough $769.42. The present secretary of the Councils is Esquire Ephraim Kellam, a descendant of the Kellams who located in the Wallenpaupack settlement in 1774, and are mentioned in the chapters de- voted to Pike County. Esquire Kellam moved to Hawley in 1869, and lias become closely identificd with the interests of the town. He is one of the justices and is a civil engineer and surveyor by profession. For many years his duties in the latter trend have brought him into intimate relations with the past, and many valuable suggestions in the history of this region have been made by him.

The population of Hawley and its overflow into the territory just without its borougli lincs is about two thousand four hundred, and it is increasing in size rapidly. Its population is

scattered over a considerable area, and the three streams that have their confluence there, divide it into a number of sections, each of which is a small business centre. These are connected by several fine bridges that add much to the pic- turcsqueness of the town, and within a few minutes walk of the depot is the romantic Wallenpaupack, with its beautiful falls. For three miles the stream is a succession of cas cades and rapids, and there is power enough un- developed, if properly applied, to move more machinery than can be found in any manufac- turing town in New England. Just below the bridge at Wilsonville, the first fall, which is some seventy feet, occurs, and it was below this that the old saw and grist-mill of the last cen- tury was erected by Judge Wilson. A short distance below this is the Sliding Fall, a series of wonderful rapids, broken by many smaller falls. Still farther down are two cascades of about thirty feet each, and below these again the main plunge of sixty-one feet, which is uti- lized to put in motion the machinery at the Belmont and Nelson mills. The falls of the Wallenpaupack have been a favorite objective point for tourists and excursionists for many years, and at the Belmont mill a lookout has been constructed above the bridge, from which a fine view of the stream is obtained.

MANUFACTURING INTERESTS .- As has been before stated, the mill built by Robert Hanna was the first industry located at what is now Hawley. The date of its erection is not known, but it was several years before Judge Wilson made liis venture with the hemp and flax-fac- tory, in about 1792. This mill was rebuilt by George Neldin, and afterwards passed into the hands of Joseph Atkinson. Neldin owned another saw-mill on Middle Creek, above what is known as the Cold Spring, just outside the borough line. This mill was built about 1818, and operated for several years. Several small smithies were started about this time, but there were no other industries, and the monunient of Judge Wilson's failure stood alone, crumbling among the hemlocks, for many years.

Alonzo H. Blish was the first person who at- tempted to utilize the water-power on the Wayne side of the Wallenpaupack. In 1847

688

WAYNE, PIKE AND MONROE COUNTIES, PENNSYLVANIA.

he erected a paper-mill on the property where Taft & Pierson's mill now stands. Several at- tempts were made to put it in successful operation, and some coarse box paper was made, but the results were unsatisfactory ; it was afterwards turned into a powder mill. This, too, proved a failure, and in 1849 the property passed into the hands of John F. Atkins, Joseph Ainsley and Charles T. Taft. Mr. Ainsley fitted it for a sash factory and planing-mill, and rented it for several years. In 1857, Atkinson, Ains- ley & Taft erected a grist-mill, which was oper- ated by Atkinson & Taft until 1862, when W. H. Crowley succeeded to the business. He continued for five years, and gave place to At- kinson, Taft & Co., who, in four years more, were succeeded by Pierson & Tuttle. This firm lasted a year, and then Taft & Pierson, the present owners, succeeded to the business. The mill is a substantial structure situated at the foot of Panpack Falls, and has dimensions of thirty-four by sixty-five feet, three and a half stories high, and is provided with all the im- proved machinery. It has three " run " of stone driven by an overshot wheel twenty feet in di- ameter. The mill does a general business in flour, feed and meal, and makes a specialty of patent process buckwheat flour, which has gained great popularity in this section.

After Judge Wilson's hemp factory had been burned, the property stood idle for a number of years, and was finally purchased by a Mr. White, who expected to erect a . tan- nery there, but died before carrying out his plans. In 1848, James J. T. Cromwell came to Hawley, and bought the site from Robert Ho- gan, the executor of the White estate. The tract included thirty-six acres and the water- power.

The tannery was erected the same year, and as it did a good business the plant soon grew to a one hundred and ten vat establishment. In 1857, James Cromwell sold out his interest, and the firm became J. S. & William Cromwell. Under this style it ran for twenty-six years, and employed from twenty-five to thirty men. In 1865 it was burned, and all the stock destroyed, entailing a loss of about fifteen thousand dol- lars. It was rebuilt the following year, how-

ever, and operated until 1882, when Dexter, Lambert & Co. bought out the establishment and enlarged the mill property.

After Joseph Ainsley gave up the planing- mill it was run by Cornelius Buckingham for a while and then was converted into a hub and spoke-factory by John G. Diamond & Son. This firm gave place in turn to that of Crom- well & Diamond, which is at present occupying the place as a planing-mill.

The first boats used on the Delaware and Hudson Canal were built chiefly at Leonards- ville and Honesdale, and it was not until 1849, when the increasing prosperity of Hawley made it an important hamlet on the line of the canal, that the boat-building industry developed here. During the summer of that year a contract for twenty boats, costing from fifteen to eighteen hundred dollars, was awarded to Levi Barker, then resident of Honesdale, and he believed that it would be more than profitable to fill it at Hawley. As soon as the water was drawn off the canal basin, in the latter place, he em- ployed twenty men, and by the time navigation opened in the spring the boats were ready for launching. The employment of so many skilled mechanics during a season when most other business was at a standstill proved of much advantage to Hawley, and subsequently the enterprise became a potent factor in the prosperity of the place.

Mr. Barker has always occupied a prominent position in the industry and was also one of the early merchants of the town. Soon after he re- ceived the contract above referred to he opened the store now kept by his son-in-law, M. M. Tread well, opposite the Canal Company's office, and the establishment proved to be a convenient depot of supplies for the boatmen, with whom he built up a large and profitable trade. Mr. Barker is a native of Morris County, N. J., from which place he went to Honesdale in 1848. He married Eliza Jacobus and had three daughters, one of whom died in infancy, the others were Mary, late wife of Gilbert Lud- ington, of New York City, and Josephine, wife of M. M. Treadwell. At the advanced age of seventy-five he is still hale and an authority on matters pertaining to the industry he established.

689

WAYNE COUNTY.

Boat-building steadily increased in importance until the construction of the Erie Branch road to Lackawaxen, at which time the Penn- sylvania Coal Company ceased to use the canal, and the demand for boats fell off. Since that time the business has steadily declined.

The Hawley Glass-Works is an industry that has grown up within the last few years and be- come an important factor in the industrial pros- perity of the town, employing about one hun- dred and sixty hands and paying out from sixty to seventy thousand dollars a year in wages. It was started in 1882 as a limited partnership, composed of Wm. F. Dorflinger, Samuel W. Weiss, Henry Z. Russell, F. C. White and Joseph Atkinson. These gentlemen bought a twenty-acre tract of land on Middle Creek and erected works at a cost of one hundred thousand dollars. From the first the business, which is the mannfacture of green and amber glass now, proved successful, and subsequent improvements were made. The establishment has now two furnaces. one of five and one of six pots capacity, and melts about eleven tons of " metal " per day. Its store, packing and other buildings are of stone and very completely fitted np, and twenty cottages have been recent- ly erected for the employees of the works. In 1885 the partnership was dissolved and the same members were incorporated . under the State laws as the Hawley Glass-Works.

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History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania, Part 112

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