History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania, Part 121

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 121
USA > Pennsylvania > Pike County > History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania > Part 121
USA > Pennsylvania > Wayne County > History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania > Part 121

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).

During his residence in Deposit he was nomi- nated for member of Legislature, but, happily for himself, was short a few votes when the count was made. In Pennsylvania he has in- variably declined to allow the use of his name for political preferment, although always an ardent Democrat.

Thoroughly progressive aud never so well pleased as when doing something towards the building up of material interests and to insure the employment of labor, Captain Allen was quite earnest and influential in locating the tannery, chemical works aud other interests at Sherman, and has ever evinced stroug interest in the welfare of similar enterprises. To-day he stands, in his eighty-secoud year, compara- tively hale and hearty, an honorable example of a stirring and valuable life, loved by the many, respected and esteemed by all.

HALLOCK EARLY.

On April 12, 1832, Captain Allen married Electa, the daughter of Abram Lamareaux, of During the first quarter of the eighteenth century mauy Euglish families were added to the population of the colonies, and York re- ceived the addition of one of particular interest to this sketeli, bearing the name of Gilbert Ear- ly, who made a liome iu Dutchess County. His marriage produced four sons,-Gilbert, Absalom, Elijah and Robert,-who aided largely in the clearing up of the acreage which he had taken np on making a settlement. Deposit, N. Y., who was born October 19, 1808, and the following children have blessed their uuiou : Catharine Sophia, boru March 1, 1833, married Willis Watkins, and has borne him one child, Charles O., who married Kate Squires, and has two children,-Sarah and Catharine. Darius Marviu, born October 12, 1834, married, 1st, Christine Howard, who bore him two sons,-Durward Mortimer and Fred. Lamareaux ; 2d, Elizabeth Gardinier, who has : The eldest sou, Gilbert, was born there in 1755, born him one child, David. Horace, born May | and on reaching manhood espoused a young

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lady uamed Pauline Egert, and eight children were born to the union,-William, Egert, Elijah, Robert, Gilbert, Nancy, Pauline and Almira. When Robert was an infant (in 1788) the fam- ily moved farther West and made a new home on the east branch of the Delaware. A large traet of timber was rapidly cleared away, and the entire family became interested in that im- portant and growing industry, in addition to attending to the large farm. On arrival at a proper age to assume such important duties,

ily returned East, and made a home at Sherman, Wayne County, Pa., following which Mr. Early again entered married life, Elizabeth Alexander becoming his wife and the mother of Abigail, Mary, Louisa, Nelson N. and William N. (twins).

Hallock, the second child by the first mar- riage, was born June 3, 1818. The educational facilities in Pennsylvania in those early days were indeed limited, and in most cases the par- I ents esteemed the physical abilities of their off-

Hallock Early

Robert was united to Abigail, daughter of | spring of greater importance than the mental ; Michael Wolfe, of Wolfe's Hill, Bradford County, Pa., about 1813, to which county he had removed during the previous year. Ell- gaging in farming, he cleared considerable land, and here Electa, Hallock, Deborah, Elizabeth, Eliza Ann and an infant were born, the birth of the latter of whom cost the life of the mother in 1831. Shortly after this sad event the fam-

hence the youth of our subject was passed with- out a great deal of schooling in book-learning, but with much practical use in the department of life he was destined to follow. His defieien- cies in that regard were, however, partially overcome by a disposition to acquire knowledge, with a general aptitude towards a business ca- reer. On reaching his eighteenth year his father

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WAYNE, PIKE AND MONROE COUNTIES, PENNSYLVANIA.

placed him in charge of the entire business, and cutting timber, making and shipping and sell- ing its product were under his control from that time,-a strong tribute to his excellent judgment and value,-and when, at twenty-one years of age, he was sent to Philadelphia to sell the product of their mill, he was fully posted on qualities and measurements,-in fact, a thorough lumber inspector,-and made a successful trip. These points have, until the past six years, occupied his attention, and success has been achieved by thoroughness, up- rightness and his excellent knowledge of men.

In 1854 Mr. Early embarked in the initial commercial venture at this place, which pre- viously had been without a name; and, in order to give directions for shipment of goods, he gave it the name of New Baltimore, which continued to be used until a post-office was established un- der the present name of Sherman. (Mr. Early was the second man to make a home in this vil- lage, and is somewhat proud of the distinction.)

Through the chicanery of his partners this venture was not a success, and he retired from it in favor of lumbering in 1857. In no sense considering himself a politician has he served the people of his township as school director, supervisor, etc., and invariably to ad- vantage and their satisfaction.

He was married, May 7, 1854, to Abigail Whitmore, daughter of George Reynolds, who bore him two children, which died in infancy, and were followed by the mother on July 12, 1861. On March 30, 1862, he was united to Rosalie G., daughter of Strong Seeley, of Wells Centre, Bradford County, Pa., at one time owner of a large portion of the land upon which the city of Elmira, N. Y., is now located. The union has resulted in the birth of Willis, born March 27, 1863; and Furman M., born April 27, 1870. To add the pleasure of female child- hood to this happy family, in July, 1870, Lottie Buchanan, a babe born March 26, 1874, was, by the free consent of the mother, a resident of New York City, adopted into the home and has remained, giving and receiving joy to its occupants. Mr. Early has, from his early youth, been much interested in religious and kindred matters, and has given liberally in aid

of the different associations here, when they de- sired to erect houses of worship, and in their support without regard to sect. Mrs. Early is an earnest member of the Presbyterian Church, and a generous giver to its charities, etc.

The eldest son of this estimable family has received the advantage of a good education, which he aids by judicious study, and has en- gaged in teaching and in the industry of bee culture to a considerable extent. In this he is rapidly acquiring a valuable experience and reaping a gratifying reward for the outlay and patience.

Mr. Early retired from active business some years ago, and now gives attention to home matters and the affairs of an extensive farm. He receives the high respect and regard of the citizens without reference to party, and is recog- nized as an honorable and progressive man, alive to the needs of the times, and at all times open to the calls for aid and counsel preferred by his neighbors and acquaintances.

C. S. HACKETT.

Among those sterling old New England fanı- ilies which went to the then West during the early part of the present century, that of John Hackett must be mentioned.

He was born in Litchfield County, Conn., about 1789, and, desirous of striking his own swath, he, in 1812, settled in Blenheim, Scho- harie County, N. Y., where he carried on a farm and hotel for many years.

He first married Lovisa Choate, who bore him one child, William, and died in 1821. He subsequently married Ann D., the daughter of Cornelius Simonson, whose wife was a daughter of Tunis Rappalye, of New Brunswick, N. J. By her he had Cornelius S., John and Lovisa. John married Angeline, daughter of Hontice H. Couse, of Oneonta, N. Y., and has had three boys and one girl, and now resides at the latter place. Lovisa married Ellery Moredock (who was killed on the railroad at Oneonta some four years ago), and bore him one son and one daughter. The family now resides at Milford, Otsego County, N. Y.

John Hackett, the elder, removed from Scho-

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WAYNE COUNTY.

harie County to Otsego County in 1831, and made a home at Oneonta, where he resided un- til his death, which occurred in 1854.

The eldest son, C. S., spent his youthful days at the family home; was sent to the dis- triet schools, and afterwards attended Elder Harrington's seleet school at Oneonta, in 1834.

During the next few years, in summers he gave his attention to farming and lumbering, and in the winter seasons imparted to the dis-

farm properties in the northern seetion of the county. He was first to recognize the moun- tainous county as a valuable dairyland, and put over twenty cows aside for such an important purpose, and his aim has ever been to improve the breed of stoek throughout his eirele. Mueh attention has been given to this laudable un- dertaking and great success reaped in the dairy business as a natural sequence, and his advice is considered very valuable by those interested.

trict, as a teacher, such instruction as he had been gathering during his own course. In 1848 he was joined in matrimony to Caroline, daughter of Henry J. Conse, of Oneonta, N. Y., and the first two years of a long wedded life were spent upon the homestead. In 1851 he purchased property in Scott township, and at once began making a home which, from time to time, has since been improved, until now it stands one of the tastiest and most homelike

The timber from his extensive tracts has been elcared off, and the products disposed of at the different marts along the Delaware, and the entire farm is now devoted to that which has become so great an industry in this county,- that of dairying. The pleasant home has been brightened by the following children, viz. : William H., born December 25, 1858, married Hattie 4. Smith, March 1877, who bore him Ethel L., and Ida S. (the father of this inter-

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WAYNE, PIKE AND MONROE COUNTIES, PENNSYLVANIA.

esting family was unfortunately killed, April 19, 1881) ; John E., born October 12, 1864, died March 2, 1865 ; Ervin E., born January 23, 1868, and now attending the Waymart Academy.

Some twenty-five or thirty years ago Colonel Hackett became a Mason, since which time he has taken the chapter degree, and retains mem- bership in the ancient and honorable order at Deposit, N. Y. A Republican in politics, his aid has largely been given in township offices, and, as in everything else in which he has been interested, his services have been strengthful and appreciated. A man of great force of character, lic is an ardent friend and a clear-headed, far- sighted counselor, and consequently the people of his county largely rely upon his judgment.

CHAPTER XXXI.

SALEM.1

SALEM ("land of peace") was set off from Canaan and Delaware in 1808. Sterling was taken therefrom in 1815, making the Wallen- panpack River the southern boundary. In 1876 a line was run east and west through the centre of the township, and the northern half, together with a small slice from South Canaan, were erected into a new township, called Lake; consequently Salem is bounded on the north by Lake, on the east by Panpack, on the southeast by Greene, in Pike County, on the south by Sterling, on the west by Madison and Jefferson, in Lackawanna County. It is broken in irreg- ular hills and valleys with ridges. The crecks all flow south into the Paupack River. James' Creek is the outlet of Cobb's Pond in Lake, and forks with Potter Creek at Hollisterville, thereby forming the Paupack. Moss Creek rises in the hills of Lake, west of Jones' Pond, and flows south, through Moss Hollow, into the Paupack ; Spring Brook has its source among the hills above William Glossenger's home, south of Jones' Lake, flows south through the historic Little Meadows, and empties into Bid-

well Lake; Laurel Run, the outlet of Bidwell Lake, flows southeast through a deep gorge and empties into the Paupack above Ledgedale. The Five Mile Creek is the outlet of Jones', Allen, Dayton and Peet or Marsh Ponds, and flows southeast, entering the Paupack below Ledgedale. The Wallenpaupack, which forms the southern boundary, is composed of two branches. The West Branch, which is formed at Hollisterville, flows east between Salem and Sterling to the point where it forks with the South Branch, which rises in Monroe County and flows north between Sterling and Dreher on the west, and Greene township, of Pike County, on the east. After uniting, the stream has a smooth and slow current through the beautiful Paupack flats, where the Indians en- camped on its banks in their journeyings from Capouse and the Susquehanna Indian settle- ments, as they came through Cobb's Gap in the Moosic Mountains eastward through Little Meadows to Paupack Flats, and onward still to the Delaware River. The fact that the Indians more frequently saw the river at this point, where the current is sluggish and deep, doubt- less led them to call it Wallenpaupack, mean- ing " dead waters;" though towards its outlet it belies its name and dashes into rapids and waterfalls, descending three hundred and twenty- five feet from Wilsonville to the place where it unites with the Lackawaxen.2 The Ledge- dale Tannery Company ran a horse-boat for a time from Ledgedale to a point above Wilson- ville. An old Indian trail ran through Salen1; because Cobb's Gap, the only natural pass in Moosic Mountains castward, lies directly west of Salem. This pass, used by the Indians traveling eastward, has been utilized by the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Company, the Pennsylvania Coal Company and the Erie and Wyoming Valley Railroad Company for the same purpose, it being the natural thoroughfare eastward for the Lacka- wanna anthracite coal-fields. Salem was origin- ally covered with a dense growth of timber, consisting of becch, birch, maple, cherry, pine, basswood, ash, and down towards the Panpack,

1 By Rhamanthus M. Stocker, Esq.

1 Lackawaxen, meaning swift waters.

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where Joseph W. Woodbridge settled, there was a traet of country covered with chestnut ; but the tree that predominated was the hemlock, whieli, considering its lumber and bark, is the most valuable tree produced in Wayne County forests. Underneath these trees, skirting the streams in most places, and generally wherever the hemlock was thickest, grew an almost im- penetrable undergrowth of rhododendron and laurel, giving this region the name of "The Great Swamp," which was nothing more than the northern continuation of the swamp known as " The Shades of Death." Where the beeehes and maples grew it was more open, which gave it also the name of " The Beech Woods." This " Great Swamp" extended from the Moosic Mountains on the west to the Wallenpaupaek River flats on the east, unbroken exeept by " The Little Meadows " or Beaver Meadows, so called because years before the whites settled here beavers had built two dams across Spring Brook, one near the road and another near its mouth, thereby flowing the land, killing the timber and making the Little Meadows, which were covered with wild grass. These meadows, being on the line of the Indian trail, naturally became one of their eamping-plaees, as Paupaek flats was another. Aside from this, we have no evidence that the Indians ever had any settle ments in " The Great Swamp." They probably hunted here for deer and bear, or fished for the speckled trout, all of which were plentiful, but it was too dark and dismal even to make it a seat of their power. Here the timid deer drank from the mountain brook unmolested by man ; the sereaming panther, the howling wolves, the doleful owl and the sullen bear slept seeurely, undisturbed by any save savages as wild as they. Towering o'er all, the sombre, solemn hemloek, lifting its head towards the midnight stars, kept eternal vigil over the dismal solitude. There was another little meadow on the Five Mile Creek, now ealled Dobell's Meadow, but former- ly Wright's Meadow, because Nathan Wright settled there about 1802. Here he was shut in on every side by the hemlock and rhododendron, no one living within miles of him. His wife, often utterly desolate and diseonsolate, was rightly named Lamenta, and well has the poet sung,-

" O solitude, where are the charms That sages have seen in thy face ? Better dwell in the midst of alarms Than reign in this horrible place."

Such was " The Great Swamp " or the " Beech Woods," where our ancestors first pene- trated this wilderness and felled the giant monarchs of the forest, ereeted log cabins, cleared a piece of land on which they grew eorn, potatoes, beans, rye and oats, and hunted, fished and trapped. They managed to clear enough land to have a yoke of oxen and a cow or two, possibly a horse. They kept sheep for the wool, and also raised flax, out of which the good housewife spun and wove fabries for wear. Some of the settlers made as much as one hundred yards of linen eloth a year. The maple yielded its saceharine juice and the wild bees made honey. Joseph Woodbridge erected a distillery near a spring on the North and South road in 1804, contemporaneously with the earliest settlement of the township, but he discontinued it eight years after and the build- ing was used for a school-house. Thus did our Puritanie aneestors bring the Bible, the church, the school-house and the means of manufactur- ing rye whiskey all together. Ashbel Miller who resided where Thomas Bortree afterwards lived, had a log hut, arranged his cabin so that he eould drive a yoke of cattle through with a heavy baek log. It contained one room, ten children and some whiskey, and this was a log tavern. Old settlers say people were glad to stop even at such a place after traveling all day through the wilderness. All the early settlers were in a eertain sense tavern-keepers, for when houses were five or ten miles apart they could do no less than keep a belated traveler, and what they laeked in accommodations they made good in hospitality, for our New England an- eestors were a hospitable people, a trait which has not departed from their descendants.

The first settlement in Salem was naturally at " Little Meadows," and we cannot do better than copy from Goodriel, who was born on this place and knows its traditions, "According to accounts given by the old settler in Paupack, a man by the name of Strong first built here in 1770. Soon after the battle at Wyoming, he,

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WAYNE, PIKE AND MONROE COUNTIES, PENNSYLVANIA.

with some others, had a desperate fight with the Indians at this place. Strong and his family were all massacred, and Jacob Stanton was the only man who escaped. He fled and notified the settlers upon the Paupack of their danger. Late in the fall of 1779, Stanton came back to the place and found the Indians had burned down the house. He dug a grave, and gather- ing up the bones of the whites and Indians and placing them together, raised a monument over them. Seth Goodrich, who afterwards owned the place, would never allow the mound to be disturbed. There was a very old orchard there which must have been planted by the Indians, as Little Meadows had been a favorite rendez- vous for their hunting-parties." There is now (1885) but one tree standing of the old Indian orchard, and it alone casts its morning shadow o'er the hallowed ground which contains the sacred dust of the first settler of Salem and his savage foes. Jacob Stanton built a house and moved his wife and family to Little Meadows in 1780 or 1781, where, during his life, he kept a public-house. He and his wife were buried in the northwest corner of the orchard, near the, wall. His son William Stanton, succeeded to the business, remaining until 1795, when he sold his interest to Moses Dolph, who must have been a brother-in-law, according to Goodrich. John Torrey says Samuel Preston speaks in his diary

of having stopped here in 1787: Moses Dolph's deed is dated December 10, 1795. In it William Stanton sells "All his rite and possessions in the place called Stanton's place, in the Great Swamp, at Little Meadows, on the (road to the) Delaware River, containing and comprehending which both my father, Jacob Stanton, and myself at the time of his decease, or that I since have made or occupied." This deed locates a point, but attempts no boundaries, which is excusable when we remember that his nearest neighbors were eight or ten miles away, in Purdytown and Paupack settlement, east- ward. Asa Cobb certainly lived under Cobb Mountain at that time, ten or twelve miles west of him. He could claim from the centre as far as he could see, until Robert Freeland came and built a log cabin and made an improve- ment on the opposite side of the road, about

thirty rods northwest of Dolph's, on the place afterward owned by George Foote. He planted apple-trees, some of which are standing.

A tragedy happened between the Dolph and Freeland families. Two of their boys were playing with guns and fell to snapping them at each other when the one in the hands of young Dolph was discharged, killing young Freeland. He was buried beside Stanton in the orchard. In 1799 John Bunting assessed Canaan township, of which Salem was a part. Moses Dolph was assessed as a farmer with two houses or huts valued at $20; one barn, $12; two horses, $70; seven oxen and cows, $85; forty acres improved land, $400; three hundred and sixty acres unimproved land, $340,-total valua- tion, $947. His neighbor, Robert Freeland, is assessed with one hut, one horse, one cow, twelve acres improved land and three hundred and eighty-eight acres unimproved land,-total valuation, $424. Edward London, farmer, one house, one barn, four oxen or cows, fifteen acres improved land. Elisha Potter, weaver, one house, one horse, three oxen or cows, three acres improved land. Samuel Wheatcraft, farmer, one house, one cow and three acres of improved land. The total number of acres of improved land in Salem in 1799 was seventy, with six huts, two barns, four horses and thirteen oxen or cows. These old settlers all had themselves assessed with four hundred acres of land with allowances for roads, which they called their possessory right. We have seen what an illimitable title Moses Dolph received, and he gave titles to about one thousand acres of land in the vicinity of his hut as good as his own. September 25, 1799, he deeded to Theodore Woodbridge and Charles Goodrich, Jr., " the south part of the lot on which I now live, and was taken up as vacant by Wm. Goodrich and deeded to Jacob Stanton and was sold to me by Wm. Stanton, the only son and heir of said Jacob, and con- tains 400 aeres, with such allowance as is given by the laws of their State for one possession right." September 4th he sells three hundred and fifty acres more to Theodore Woodbridge. October 20, 1709, Robert Freeland deeded four hundred and forty acres, " bounded east by lands of Moses Dolph, together with buildings and

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improvements," to Theodore Woodbridge, "be- ing my right by possession." In 1801 Moses Dolph sold the Little Meadows farm to Dr. Lewis Collins, who, in 1803, sold the same to Seth Goodrich. Jas. McClure surveyed, re- turned and patented this land, but Goodrich held it under his possessory title, and Justice Gibson told him " not to be troubled about his land." P. G. Goodrich says, " If a man erect- cd a cabin and raised grain on land he was en- titled to four linndred aeres." They certainly should have been allowed to patent the land upon which they had squatted ; but the land- grabbers were early on the ground ; hence in September Sessions, 1801, we find Republica versus David Hale, Theodore Woodbridge, Jeremiah Osgood, Solomon Jones and Michael Mitchell indicted for intrusion, John Bunting, Silas Purdy and Edward London becoming sureties in the sum of one hundred dollars each ; subsequently Francis Nicholson, Josiah Curtis and Richard Tuek were brought before the grand jury for the same thing. In December Session presentments were made against Robert Freeland, Theodore Woodbridge, Timothy Hol- lister, William Dayton and Ephraim Bidwell. The sqnatter jurymen began to understand the thing by this time and ignored these bills ; how- cver, these Yankee settlers were annoyed by suits until they generally obtained titles from Edward Tilghman, the Cadwalladers and other Philadelphians who had either patented the land themselves or bid it off for taxes of others who had done so. Moses Dolph, with his large family, consisting of seven sons and four daughters, returned to the Lackawanna Valley, where many of his descendants now live. His sons' names were Alexander, John, Aaron, Charles, Reuben, Stephen, Richard and Derriek, the daughters being Polly, Ruth, Susie and Zilpha. Two of the sons of Richard Dolph live in this vicinity, Stephen resides in Lake and Orator A. P. Dolph lives off of the Chapmantown road, near Moses Masters. Ed- ward London, blacksmith, built a log cabin near the Salem Hotel some time prior to 1799. In 1801 he bought four hundred and twenty-four acres of land of Edward Tilghman at the Salem Cross-Roads (now Hamlinton), paying

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History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania, Part 121

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