History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania, Part 117

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 117
USA > Pennsylvania > Pike County > History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania > Part 117
USA > Pennsylvania > Wayne County > History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania > Part 117

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).

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WAYNE COUNTY.

portant event in the early history of the organi- zation. This added many members, and as the congregation increased in strength and influence it was transferred to the Herrick charge. The members were chartered as a corporate body in July, 1876, with the following trustees : D. M. Benedict, D. G. Hine, N. F. Hine, Royal Hine, J. E. Fletcher, William Lee (3d), and H. W. Woodmansee. Under the pastorate of Rev. G. W. Robinson the present church edi- fice was erected, and was dedicated in the fall of 1878. It cost about sixteen hundred dol- lars.

The Stanton Hill Methodist Episcopal Church was organized about 1855, with H. P. Stanton as the first class-leader. The constitu- ent members were Henry Stanton, Emeline Stanton, Mary A. Stanton, David Stanton and wife, Mrs. Richard McLaury and Eunice Rob- erts. Edgar Sandford and Alpheus Dix have also been class leaders. The church has been on the Lake Como Circuit, and has been served by the pastors there. The church edifice was built during the summer of 1883, and was dedi- cated on the 27th of the October following: It cost about sixteen hundred and fifty dollars. The present trustees of the church are H. P. Stanton, Frank E. Kilpatrick, S. E. Stanton, E. J. Sanford and A. R. Dix.

The Preston Centre Baptist Church was an offshoot from the church in Scott township. A few of the members of the latter organization, living, as they did, away from the central place of meeting, had for some years prior to formal organization acted as a branch of the mother church, and enjoyed the ordinances of the Sup- per and baptism at their place and pleasure. In 1858, however, they finally decided to form a " district church," and a council from the neigh- boring churches of the Abington and Bridge- water Associations was convened at Preston Centre, on the 14th of April of that year, to give them fellowship as a gospel church. E. K. Norton, of Clinton, was chosen moderator and B. B. Bunting, of Aldenville, secretary. Dele- gates were present from Aldenville, Clinton, Bethany, Gibson, Jackson, Lenox, Scott and Union Churches, and Revs. William Miller, R. G. Lamb, D. H. Halstead, A. O. Stearns and

Rial Tower participated in the exercises. The constituent members who were then recognized were Charles Lloyd, William Knapp, Mary Hulett, Francis Pierce, Julian A. Andrews, Esther Carr, Walter Lloyd, Archibald Lamont, William J. Lloyd, Julia Knapp, Nancy Lamont, Clarissa Benedict, Benjamin E. Saxbury, Mary J. Carpenter, Luther Carpenter, Nathan Car- penter, F. A. Lobez, Caroline Lobez, Josiah Townsend and wife, Mary Ann Townsend. When the church was admitted to the associa- tion, the following autumn, four additions to the membership were reported, making twenty- four communicants. Rev. Rial Tower was the first pastor, and was secured about a year after the church was organized to labor a fourth of his time for the congregation. He remained for a portion of the time during the next two years, during which Samuel W. Lloyd was licensed to preach. He supplied the pulpit after Mr. Tow- er's departure, and was succeeded by Rev. Wil- liam Tower, a son of the first pastor. A por- tion of the church records have been lost, and the only other pastors who can be learned of are S. W. Cole, Jacob Gessner, A. O. Stearns, S. E. Carr and James Pope, in the order of their succession down to the present incumbent. The church edifice was commenced in 1884, and cost about fifteen hundred dollars. It was dedi- cated by Rev. Charles Fitzwilliams, of Damas- cus, on January 22, 1885.

The Lake Como Methodist Episcopal Church was built about 1863. The society had pre- viously formed a part of the circuit known as " Thompson Mission," with a preaching-place at "Jerusalem School-House." The first board of trustees consisted of John Davidge, Lyman Woodmansee and Moses Thomas. Rev. I. N. Pardee was at that time preacher in charge. Its successive pastors have been Revs. N. S. Reyn- olds, 1864-65; S. G. Stevens, 1866 ; H. H. Dresser, 1867-69 ; J. D. Woodruff, 1870; W. B. Kinney, 1871 ; David Larish, 1872-73; M. D. Fuller, 1874-76 ; J. H. Taylor, 1877-79 ; F. A. Dony, 1880-81; G. A. Cure, 1882-84 ; D. A. Sandford, 1885. The parsonage was built in 1866, and was first occupied during the latter part of the Conference ycar by the pastor and family. The name of the circuit, or charge,

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WAYNE, PIKE AND MONROE COUNTIES, PENNSYLVANIA.

was afterwards changed to Tallmansville, and in 1880 to Lake Como. The society now has ninety members, and its Sunday-school numbers twelve officers and teachers and one hundred and forty-six scholars.

LAKE COMO .- The history of the village of Lake Como commences in 1859. In that year Messrs. Leonard H. Allison, John Davidge, Horace H. Crary and Lucien Horton, of Han- cock, Delaware County, N. Y., bought of Dan- iel Underwood about eight hundred acres of land, comprising most of the William Cramer and Peter Henry tracts. Upon this land and upon the site of the present establishment they at once began to build a tannery. The price paid for the land purchased was forty-five hun- dred dollars. The building was finished and ready for business before the close of the season, and as soon as the necessary tenements for work- men could be made ready the work of manu- facturing sole-leather was begun. The senior member of the firm, Mr. L. H. Allison, had not long before returned from a tour in Europe, and retaining a pleasing remembrance of Lake Co- mo, in Italy, he gave to the new hamlet and the lake near it the name which it still bears. Under the firm-name of Allison, Davidge & Co., the tannery business and, in connection with it, a store, was carried on by the above-named partners until 1864, when their entire interest was sold to Albert E. Babcock, who had lately closed up a tannery at Hortonville, Sullivan County, N. Y., where the supply of bark had become exhausted. Mr. John Davidge moved with his family to Lake Como as soon as their purchase was made, and remained there until the property was sold, as did also Lucien Horton, who afterward married Hattie Burr, a sister of Mrs. Davidge and Mrs. H. H. Crary. The tan- nery and three thousand cords of bark were burned in 1868, and the building was again re- built by the original owners. Afterward, in 1876, it was again partially burned, and the burned portion built anew by Thrall & Babcock. On the death of Mr. Babcock, which occurred in 1872, the property went into the hands of his wife and his daughter, Mrs. John W. Thrall, and was carried on for four years under the name of Thrall & Babcock, Mr. Thrall still

managing the business as he had previously done for Mr. Babcock. In 1880 his health became so impaired that he could no longer give the establishment his attention, and the entire property passed into the hands of Hoyt Brothers, of New York. This tannery is now nearing its close, and the men who have been its owners and managers have been most im- portant factors in the history of the whole region round about it. It has consumed at least one hundred thousand cords of hemlock bark, for which fully five hundred thousand dollars lias been paid in cash, and this sum has done much toward clearing up and paying for the surrounding farms, as well as promoting the various public and private enterprises in the vicinity and furnishing employment to num- bers of men engaged in various kinds of labor. On the 26th day of October, 1885, Hoyt Broth- ers sold their remaining interest in the real es- tate to Hon. N. F. Underwood, reserving only the use of such buildings as might be necessary for their employés while finishing up the tan- ning business, which they expect to do in one or two years.

LAKE COMO LODGE, No. 965, I. O. O. F. was instituted April 10, 1879. Its charter mem- bers were Jerome Underwood, Andrew McKee, W. C. Rutledge, W. P. Lakin, D. C. Kings- bury, Z. C. Cole, H. C. Christian, Azor E. Kel- logg, Rufus London, W. O. Ferris and N. L. Woodmansee. Its Noble Grands have been, successively, Jerome Underwood, W. P. Lakin, D. C. Kingsbury, J. E. Woodmansee, Samuel S. Van Etten, Dr. T. A. Haugh, J. H. Taylor, N. F. Underwood, A. T. Poole, Horace Wood- mansee, G. E. Littell and E. G. Greenwood. Its membership now numbers eighty-one, and it has about fifteen hundred dollars of invested funds.

BIOGRAPHICAL.

IRVIN STARBIRD.

The first record of the Starbird family we can find is the birth of John Starbird on March 25, 1754, at Brunswick, Maine. He left home when the call " To arms!" was uttered on behalf

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WAYNE COUNTY.

of the Continental troops, and, having enlisted, served throughout the Revolutionary War, was wounded and afterwards mustered out when the necessity for patriotic services in the field had ended. He proceeded to Trenton, N. J., and taught. school a time; from that place reached Easton, where he again gave instruc- tion, and then located at Stroudsburg, Monroe County. Here he married Hannah Stroud (born October 10, 1763), and she bore him

burg, Pa. When nineteen years of age he left honie and came to Wayne County, made a home at Stockport, and bought timber from the Prestons, which he rafted down the Delaware to Philadelphia. Thus commencing a career as a lumberman, he continued to follow such busi- ness until 1854 very successfully. On Septem- ber 26, 1824, he married Elizabeth Barrager, near Stockport, and purchased farm and timber lands in what is now Preston township, then

Irvin Starbird

Jacob, John, Elizabeth, William, Daniel, Peter and Franklin.

He was a man of considerable education, and in possession of his grandson Irvin is a MS. arithmetic book of good size, evidently prepared for the use of his children, full of valnable rules, examples, etc. He was engaged in farm- ing until his death, December 14, 1839, liis wife surviving him until May 4, 1845. Wil- liam Starbird, the fourth child of John and Hannah, was born May 27, 1798, at Strouds-

Buckingham. At one time he owned seven- teen hundred acres of land, in a solid piece, in the township, when no roads had been cut through the vast pine wilderness, and the track was traceable only by blazed trees. Here he formed a home and raised a large family of thirteen children, as follows : Ransom, Horace, Emeline V., George, Alfred C., Benjamin F., Edwin, Ann, John Q., William P., Irvin, Henry C., Caroline A. Of these, Alfred C. entered the army of the North in the Rebellion,

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WAYNE, PIKE AND MONROE COUNTIES, PENNSYLVANIA.

enlisting in Company C, Sixth Regiment Penn- sylvania Reserves, on May 31, 1861, and was discharged from the service for physical disabil- ity on July 10, 1862. He afterwards re-enlisted in a cavalry regiment. He lost his life near Washington, D. C.

In 1851 Mr. Starbird put up a new mill in the extreme northeastern corner of the town- ship, which requires special mention. His boys and himself were unusually large and powerful men, and on the occasion referred to, instead of waiting the old-time "raising bee " gathering, he relied upon his family, and with two sons erected the entire structure. The mudsills were timbers sixty feet long and fourteen inches thick (still in the same position); the plates sixty feet long and twelve inches square, and all the frame timbers were twelve inches square. No ma- chinery was used in this undertaking, and the building was, until quite recently, a monument showing what brain and brawn and pluck, as personified in the Starbird family, accomplished. William Starbird was a thorough mechanic and each part of this mill, excepting the iron work, but including the wheel, was the work of his hands. He was also an athlete of renown, and many are the tales of his proofs of strength and the quickness of his eye in shooting game. In 1863 he sold some thirteen hundred acres for eighteen thousand dollars, and removed to Buckingham township, upon a large farm at the mouth of the Chehocton Creek, where he passed the remainder of his days, dying there January 20, 1881. Mrs. Starbird died March 24, 1875.

Irvin Starbird, born July 13, 1842, in this township, was educated in the district schools until his twentieth year, when he commenced clearing his present farm of one hundred and eighty acres, part of the large tract of his father's, given for extra time services. The woods gave way to sturdy work, and ere long a house was built and a partner sought to make a home. This was consummated when, on Jan- uary 1, 1866, Miss Ann Z., daughter of Robert K. and Minerva H. (Tallman) King (whose family sketch is to be found in the history of Starrncca borough), became his wife. This marriage has been blessed with the following

children : Ali King, born March 12, 1867; Alfred Clair, born July 11, 1868; William Robert, born February 16, 1878. In addition to which, a little girl, Bessie Mabel, born April 18, 1882, was adopted into the family October 20, of the same year.

Mr. Starbird is a Republican in political mat- ters, and has been called upon several times by his party to fill offices in the township, among such being collector, assessor and school director, in which positions his services have been satis- factory. Both himself and wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Lake Como, aud were members of the Starrucca Grange, Patrons of Husbandry, until its disso- lution, a few years since, Mr. Starbird being the Master and Mrs. Starbird acting as Ceres.

CHAPTER XXIX.

STARRUCCA.1

ON the extreme northern boundary of Wayne, separated to some extent from the rest of the county by a rauge of high hills, lies the thrifty borough of Starrucca. The location is one of natural beauty, being at the head of the fertile Starrucca Valley and at the confluence of the Coxtown with the Starrucca Creek. Starrucca existed as a village or settlement nearly three- quarters of a century before the formation of the present borough, which was erected in 1853 from a portion of Scott and Preston townships, and is bounded by the above-named townships, and the township of Thompson, in Susquehanna County.

Of the first settlement at Starrucca no written record remains, aud tradition alone rescues from oblivion the early history of the place, and even tradition gives nothing definite as to the first settler. However, it is quite certain that the first settlement at Starrucca was estab- lished prior to 1800, and that among the early settlers-if, indeed, not the earliest-were Eze- kich Sampson, Henry Sampson, Jesse Whit- taker, Jones West, Conrad Edick, David

1 By J. E. Farrell.

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WAYNE COUNTY.

Spoon, James Hanford, Ogden Weed, David Benedict, James Gleason and Jirah Mumford. Nearly all the immediate descendants of the above-named pioneers have passed away. Until 1820 the nearest grist-mills were at Wilkes-Barre and Great Bend. To these places without roads, and guided only by marked trees, the people were obliged to travel for bread-stuffs. For very many of the articles absolutely needed, long and laborious journeys had to be made, and not until 1815 or 1818 were any places estab- lished within the settlement for supplying the wants of the people.

Between the years 1815 and 1818 the first blacksmith-shop was established by Jones West, who came hither from Albany County, N. Y.

In 1826 the first boot and shoe shop was opened by David Benedict, whose son, N. M. Benedict, one of Starrucca's most highly es- teemed citizens, still continues the business.

In 1850 Egbert Englet established a shop for building and repairing wagons. The time of beginning other industries will be mentioned under their respective headings.

The first hotel or public-house was situ- ated where now is the dwelling-house of James J. Dalton, and was kept first by David Spoor and afterwards by Thomas Carr. The second hotel was built near the present residence of M. M. Benedict, and was kept at different times by - Sampson, Jesse Corwin, W. Sampson, John M. Sampson and H. Mc- Murray.

In 1862 H. Johnson opened a hotel in the building afterwards purchased by W. W. Mumford, and now occupied by him as a dwelling-house.

Starrucca, at present, has two well-conducted hotels,-the Starrucca Valley House, in the centre of the village, is owned and kept by Thomas Caden. This hotel is second to none in the vicinity. The Mountain House, large and commodious, is well-kept by Mrs. John Redington.

Dr. Thomas J. Mumford was the first resident physician at Starrucca. He commenced prac- tice here in 1845. The resident physicians at Starrucca since Dr. Mumford's time have been Dr. J. P. Shaw, who came from Franklin, N. Y .;

Dr. Utter, Dr. Green, Dr. A. J. Harris, from Candor, N. Y. ; and Dr. J. C. Bateson, who at present has a very successful and extensive practice. Dr. Shaw is still a resident of Star- rucca.

GROWTH-INCIDENTS, ETC .- The growth of the village was very slow until 1845, the year in which the building of the tannery was begun. At this time there were but eleven dwelling- houses where the village now is.

Outside the village, but within the present borough limits, some of the afterwards most prosperous and energetic citizens of Starrucca had located. Among these were Benjamin and Robert King, of King Hill. The Messrs. King came here from Mount Pleasant township.

Both are still living and are among the most honored and trusted citizens of the borough.

Little of interest occurred from the erection of the tannery, in 1844, until the formation of the borough, in 1853.

The first assessment was made in 1854. The valuation at that time was $14,235.75, and the number assessed was fifty persons, as follows :

Brau, George. $50.00

Benedict, N. W 117.00

. Chandler, Frederick B. 162.00

Case, Horace 50.00

Carr, Erastus. 584.75

Calender, Nelson 50.00

Englet, Peter. 20.00

Finch, Ira 7.00

Grule, Charles.

67.50

Harrison, Josiah

10,00

Howell, William 42.00

Henderson, Lafayette. 101.50

Jayne, Eliza 118.75

Jordan, William 50.00

King, Robert K 324.50

King, Benjamin 290.50

Lloyd, Noel

Lloyd, Frederick. 217.00

83,25

Lloyd, Charles 42.00

Lahley, George 293.25

Mumford, Stephen D. 60.00

Madden, John. 529.50

Mumford, James. 1366.25

Mumford, Josialı 661.25

Mumford, Oliver. 50.00

Oles, Marlin 20.00

Osborn, Gernsey & Co. 3137.00

Osborn, Lewis & Co 100.00

Peck, Thaddeus. 50.00

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WAYNE, PIKE AND MONROE COUNTIES, PENNSYLVANIA.

Prindle, Samuel A $262.00

Prindle, Mary

50.00

Root, Alva D. 20.00

Sampson, Hiram K. 124.25

Sampson, Henry 384.00

Sampson, James M

40.00

Sampson, David.

27.00

Sampson, Hassadiah

721.50

Shaw, John P 146.00

Sampson, John A 87.00

Sampson, Benjamin 728.25

Sampson, Thomas S.

32.00

Sampson, R. H

35.00

Smith, John H.

57.00

Twanley, Wmn.

14.00

Tenant, Robert 102.00

Wilcox, Benjamin, 27 acres 147.25

Wainright, Timothy 148.75

Williams, H. D.

125.00

Campbell, Theodore.

7.00

Waller, C. P.

435.00 ,

Total valuation.

$14,235.75

7 mill tax.

HASSADIAH SAMPSON, I. D. MUMFORD, Collectors.

In the fall of 1864 great damage was done the village by the bursting of the damn at the reservoir, now known as the Moore Pond. The reservoir, which is about three miles above the town, was filled suddenly by heavy rains, and when the dam gave out, the immense body of water swept down on the village, destroying much property and for a time endangering the lives of many persons. All bridges were swept away and some houses carried down the stream. The main street of the village was entirely torn up. One man, M. Dervin, narrowly escaped being drowned. Dervin and Thomas Caden, now proprietor of the Starrucca Valley House, escaped from the tannery in a boat, and when ont in the current the boat capsized. Mr. Caden, being able to swim, reached the shore in safety, but Mr. Dervin not being a swimmer, would have been drowned had it not been that the current carried him into or against a tree-top, to which he clung until the following morning, when he was rescued by Henry Johnston, now of Carbondale, who at that time kept the hotel at Starrneca. It was a long time before Star- rucca recovered from the effects of this disas- trous flood.

The completion of the Jefferson Branch of the Erie Railroad in 1870 gave new life to

the industry and trade of the town. Previous to this the nearest railroad station was at Sus- quehanna, eleven miles distant. The Jefferson Branch passes through within the borough lim- its, but the depot is over the line in Susque- hanna County, and a little more than half a mile from the centre of the village. It was after the construction of this road that some of the most attractive dwelling-houses and places of business were built. Noticeable among these are the fine residences of Angus Smith, Ho- mer E. Spencer and many others, the stores of Osborn & Co., W. W. Mumford, Stone & Mumford and Mrs. Fred. Erk, the Methodist and Catholic Churches and the two hotels.

August 18, 1873, occurred the death of Hon. James Mumford, one of the most successful, public-spirited and enterprising citizens of the borough.

In the year 1877, Starrucca suffered another great loss-the death of Benjamin Sampson, Sr. Mr. Sampson, like Judge Mumford, was energetic, thrifty and public-spirited, always leading in anything that promised to advance the welfare of the community at large. At the time of his death he had a family of twenty- seven children, nearly all of whom still live at or near Starrucca.

February 26, 1878, Mr. A. M. Lancaster, who for years had been an honored citizen of the borough, was accidentally killed while on his way from Honesdale to Starrucca. The circumstances attending Mr. Lancaster's death were distressing in the extreme. In the fall of 1876 he labored for the election of P. A. Clark to the office of sheriff.

Mr. Clark was elected and Mr. Lancaster was appointed deputy sheriff, and he removed at once to Honesdale. On the morning of the fatal February 26th he was out on official busi- ness at Starrucca. The road taken by him crossed the premises of James T. Hyatt. Mr. Hyatt at the time was chopping down a tree which stood by the side of the highway. The day was wild and stormy. Mr. Lancaster being wrapped up did not see the chopper, and Hyatt, in turn, did not observe the approaching traveler. The wind rose suddenly, and the tree went down across the road at the very moment the

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sheriff was passing. Mr. Lancaster was struck by the body of the tree and instantly killed. He was buried with Masonic honors by the Great Bend Commandery, Knights Templar, of which, at the time of his death, he was a mem- ber.

In the summer of 1878 a second tragedy, the famous Van Alstine case, occurred. The details of the affair are still fresh in the minds of the people of Starrucca. We have here only to record the principal points. In 1876 Van Alstine was senteneed to the State Penitentiary for an aggravated assault on a neighbor. In the summer of 1878 he was released and re- turned to his home at Starrucca, where he found his wife about to become a mother. A few weeks after his return Van Alstine died in ter- rible agony. All the symptoms and circum- stances indicated that he died from the effects of poison. His wife was arrested on charge of murder, and committed to the county jail to await trial. While in the jail she gave birth to a child. The commonwealth failed to estab- lish the gnilt of the woman and she was re- leased. Van Alstine, at the time of his death resided on the premises afterwards purchased by William M. Kerr, who has improved and beautified the place, making it one of the most productive farms in the vicinity.

After this there followed a whole chapter, as it were, of tragic deaths. In 1879 Charles Mayo was instantly killed in Case's mill. June 21, 1884, Dr. Daniel Utter fell down the stairs of his residence and was killed outright. October 15th of the same year Mrs. B. C. King, wife of Benjamin King, and one of the most es- timable ladies of the borough, was thrown from a wagon while on her way to Starrucca, and killed. In the winter of the same year, Peter Heufflin was killed by a falling tree. And in the following spring, W. H. Stanton, a much- esteemed resident of the place, was killed by being caught by a revolving shaft in a mill in which he was at work. All of these fatal ac- cidents happened within a radius of half a mile.

At the time of taking the census in 1880 the population of the borough was six hundred. The number of taxables at present is two liun- dred and four, and the total valuation is seventy-

three thousand five hundred and ten dollars. In thrift, public spirit and enterprise, Star- rucca is second to no village in the county. Many improvements have been made in the ap- pearance of the place since 1883, church edifice newly roofed and repainted, streets and roads improved, and private residences enlarged and beautified.

In addition to the branches of trade and indus- try mentioned elsewhere, there are three black- smith shops, one harness shop, one boot and shoe shop, one furniture store, one barber shop, one wagon shop, two meat markets, one job printing office and one manufactory of exten- sion ladders. Of the organizations not referred to elsewhere is the Starrucca Cornet Band, of eighteen members, organized in 1882, and now under the leadership of Professor S. V. Stock- man.

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History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania, Part 117

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