History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania, Part 130

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 130
USA > Pennsylvania > Pike County > History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania > Part 130
USA > Pennsylvania > Wayne County > History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania > Part 130

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).

child, they embarked for America, and after a voyage of over two months landed in Philadelphia August 6, 1815. They remained there until the following summer, when they removed to Sterling township, Wayne County, Pa. It was here that Mr. Cliff pitched his tent, about one-half mile east of the present Presbyterian Church, in the woods, with a fixed determination to make the then almost unbroken wilderness give way to his ambi-

John Wallace

Pa. To say that he was a young man of fine | parts but feebly expresses the honor due him. He was noble, generous and brave, and the space given him in the history of his native place is very creditably filled.

GEORGE E. CLIFF.

His parents, Charles and Seline Inkpen Cliff, were born in England,-himself in Nottingham- shire, October 22, 1786, and herself in the city of London about the year 1792. Their marriage oc- curred in 1814, and the year following, with one

tion. His first purchase consisted of about sixty- four acres. He subsequently bought lands contig- uous to this and when he died had acquired a competency. His chief occupation was farming. He was also a carpenter and joiner, but only worked at the latter at such times as seemed nec- essary to assist in the construction of buildings for himself and neighbors. He was a member of the Methodist Church. In politics he was a Republi- can and was several times elected to fill township offices, etc. He died in April, 1863. His wife died July 28, 1828. Their children were Selina,

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Stephen, Charles F. (located in Jericho on the -- -

North and South road), George E., John Wesley, Isaac F., A. J. and Jesse O. Cliff.

George E. Cliff, subject of this sketch, was born at the old homestead in Sterling township July 10, 1820. He remained at home until he reached his majority. For a couple of years thereafter he en- gaged in odd jobs, and in 1843, in company with his brother, Charles F., purchased a portion of the old homestead farm and continued with him in

1861, to Elizabeth A., daughter of George and Rachel Stevens. Her grandfather, Henry Stevens, was the first settler in this neighborhood. To George E. and Elizabeth Cliff have been born Theresa, who died in infancy, Effie S. and Ella M. Cliff.

Geo & Cliff

CHAPTER XXXIV.

farming and lumbering pursuits until about 1858. He then sold his interest to his brother Charles and bought a portion of what was known as the LEHIGH TOWNSHIP. Howe estate, in the same township, under Cliff LEHIGH TOWNSHIP was taken from Dreher, December 15, 1883. It is the southwestern town- ship of Wayne County, and bounded on the north by Sterling, on the east by Dreher. The township is triangular-shaped, terminating at a point west of Sand Cut. There were no settlements in Lehigh Mountain. This he still owns and occupies, being successfully engaged in farming and lumbering. He is a member of the Methodist Church, a Re- publican in politics, and has held minor positions of trust. He is at present poormaster and school director. His marriage occurred November 27, | until the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western

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Railroad ran through the southwestern part of the township, and Gouldsborough Station was estab- lished at Sand Cut. In 1856 Jay Gould contracted for one acre of land of Selden Scranton, sold that contract to Jacob Coon, who was constructing a plank road from Gould's tannery to Gouldsborough Station. J. Coon sold this contract to Solomon Edwards, who with Jay Gould, William D. Brown and Peter Winnie, met to locate that acre. Pratt and Gould did not wish those parties to build at the station ; consequently Gould wrote J. L. Si- mons, of Tobyhanna, to meet him at the Sand Cut. Edwards was undecided where to build, and the matter was referred to Simons, who suggested a good location for a hotel. Edwards chose his acre, and it was surveyed to him. Gould, after he had Edwards located, said to Simons, "Now the coast is clear, go ahead and build a hotel ; Colonel Pratt will be up next week and see you." Colonel Pratt came and instructed him "to see the house built, and when he lacked funds to call on him." On the strength of this, Simons erected a large hotel at Sand Cut, which was the first house, except some workingmen's shanties, erected in the township of Lehigh. He ran the hotel twenty years, then leased it to E. L. Harvey. He also ran the stage lines and was the first postmaster and station agent. He subsequently married the woman who figured conspicuously in the building of the hotel, for there was a woman in the case, and has re- tired from active business with a big lawsuit in connection with that acre.

George G. Smith came to Sand Cut in 1862 to load lumber for W. D. Brown, of Gouldsborough. William Wallace and Abram Coon built a store opposite the Simons House about 1862. G. G. Smith is now conducting the business at this store. He is also justice of the peace.

In the spring of 1863 S. H. Rhodes came to Sand Cut to superintend William Wallace's busi- ness. Afterward he became associated with E. Rosenburg, in the lumbering business. They es- tablished a store near their mills, and conducted business until 1876, when S. H. Rhodes, who had purchased Rosenburg's interest, built a store in the Sand Cut, where he is at present engaged in the mercantile business, in connection with his lum- bering. He was postmaster for a number of years. .

Simons built a storehouse which has been occu- pied by many persons. It is now used as a dwell- ing-house.

G. B. Herbine also had a store in the place and was succeeded by S. S. Hager.

S. A. Adams built a house which was used as a hotel for awhile, but has since been converted into a store. Mr. Adams is the present postmaster. S. S. Hager is station agent at Gouldsborough. L. L. Heller was among the the first settlers. His son, O. S. Heller, is a lumberman and butcher, and another son, Dr. J. A. Heller, is the physician of the place. Dr. Jackson was the first physician. Sarah A. Croft was the first school-teacher, about 1865, and taught in a dwelling-house. The school- house was built in 1870. Toe Lutheran Church was erected in 1876. It was organized by Rev. George Rhodes, its first members being O. S. Hel- ler and wife, R. E. Willard and wife, A. D. Dutol and wife, Mrs. Croft, S. H. Rhodes, Joseph Rhodes, Anna Rhodes and Mrs. Decker. The first Sunday-school was organized about 1868 by S H. Rhodes, E. M. Price, L. R. Smith and G. G. Smith, on the property now occupied by Adam Gallomer.

The Gilpin brothers bought a large tract of tim- ber land at the Marsh, four miles from Sand Cnt. In 1875, or about that time, they sold the timber to Wagenhorst, who built a saw-mill. The bark was sold to Stephen Kistler. Wagenhorst became involved and the property was turned over to Kistler, who sold to Andrew Sebring for $22.500, and who had it two years and sold to John Calla- han for $34,000. Callahan employs about twenty men, likewise S. H. Rhodes about the same num- ber. Wallace employs about twelve men.

Enoch Adams owns the farm formerly occupied by A. J. Pace. R. B. Decker, a shoemaker, was also one of the first residents.

There are two Sunday-schools, the Lutheran and the Union, and two schools, one at Sand Cut and one at the Marsh. The township is seven miles long to the extreme point and has Lehigh River and Clifton township of Lackawanna County on the northwest and Coolbaugh of Monroe on the south. There are about seventy voters and three hundred and fifty inhabitants. Henry Hefferly lives in the woods at the Half-Way House. The township is mostly a slashing, having been lum-

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bered off of and allowed to grow up. It is quite stony, but the soil is of good quality when culti- vated. Three bears have been killed this winter of 1885 within two or three miles of Gouldsbor- ough Station. G. G. Smith, Esq., took the writer to a trap where he had caught a bear five days before. Although the land is stony, its nearness to the railroad will cause it to be improved, espe- cially in the vicinity of Sand Cut, and the future historian will doubtless see good farms in place of bear swamps and slashings.

CHAPTER XXXV.

DREHER.

DREHER was named in honor of Judge Samuel S. Dreher, at one time presiding judge of the Twenty-second Judicial District. It was separated from Sterling, September 7, 1877, and Lehigh was taken from it December 15, 1883. Dreher is a southern township of Wayne County and is bounded on the northwest by Sterling, on the east by Green and the south branch of the Wallenpau- pack, which also forms the boundary line between Wayne and Pike at this point. On the south is Coolbaugh of Monroe County, and Lehigh town- ship is on the southwest. The early history of Dreher and Greene is closely blended, as the South Branch of the Wallenpaupack flows north between the two townships through a fine fertile valley about five miles in length and from eighty to three hundred and twenty rods in width, hemmed in by the receding hills of Dreher on the west and the hills of Greene on the east. This flat land has been known as Newfoundland, so named by Daniel Stroud, who was informed by some hunters that they had found a tract where there were no marked trees for a long distance.

He investigated the matter and found one thousand nine hundred acres unsurveyed, which he called Newfoundland. After the Germans came it was called the "Dutch Flats." The southern part of Dreher was called South Ster- ling, and the northern part, where Robert Bor- tree settled, East Sterling. Mill Creek, Bortree Creek and some other runs flow into the Paupack through Dreher, and there are several tributaries

from Greene, all of which have been noted trout streams. This sheltered valley once abounded in wild game and fur-bearing animals.

The first white man who visited this beautiful sequestered vale was a shrewd Yankee school- teacher by the name of Denman Coe. He evi- dently came to Paupack settlement about 1794, and followed the stream to this point, and erected a cabin on a little rise of ground back of F. A. Oppelt's residence. Here he brought his family, hunted, trapped and lived a Robinson Crusoe life. He was a stern and powerful man, and for a radius of about ten miles around was " lord of the fowl and the brute." He conveyed two or three hundred dollars' worth of furs to Connecticut on his back every year. He cleared up part of the flats, and was soon joined by William Akers, his son-in-law, Gabriel Davis, Phineas Howe and Andrew Corey. Tradition has woven a romance around William Akers' marriage with Polly Coe. William Akers, a hunter from Stroudsburg, in his rambles in the wilderness, was startled one day to find himself near a human habitation. He ap- proached to investigate. Denman Coe lived a long distance from any mill, and his daughters in turn broke the grain with a pestle and mortar. It happened that this day it was Polly's turn to pound the grain. She was but a young girl and was crying over her task. As Akers drew near he asked the cause of her grief, which she ex- plained. His heart was touched by the girl's story, and shortly after he took her to Strouds- burg and was married. But Rebecca Kayser, now nearly eighty years of age is a daughter of Wil- liam Akers, and says " that her grandfather was a stern man, and would have kicked Akers out of the cabin had he proposed the thing to him; that her mother never used the pestle and mortar, but that her aunt was made a cripple for life as the result of that work when young." She says "her mother Mary Coe, or Polly, as she was generally called, lived in Connecticut for five years after her father came here. About 1799, when fourteen years old, she came from Connecticut on foot with her father, and carried a bundle besides. One year later her father placed her in a weaver's es- tablishment in Stroudsburg-probably at William Akers, Sr. Here William Akers married her when sixteen years old, whereat her father was

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very angry." About 1800 William Akers came to the flats and built a cabin south of his father- in-law, on the place afterward owned by Francis Rohrbacher. He built the cabin with a door so low that it was necessary to stoop to enter it. He had no chairs, no floor, no fire-place. The fire was built on the ground ; his table, some say, was a stump, but his daughter declares it was a large ash log split in the middle. He bored holes on the bark side and stuck poles in for legs, with the flat surface up. Here was born the first white child in Dreher-John Clements Akers, about 1805, named in honor of John Clements, who had recently come into the township. William Akers and his wife were known as "Uncle Bill " and "Aunt Poll." Gabriel Davis was doubtless the third settler. He came in 1802 or 1803 and erected his cabin near an excellent spring of water, where the old Bennett house stood. The wife of Gabriel Davis was. William Akers' sister.

Andrew Corey came with his family from Connecticut about the same time. He broke the stillness of the forest near the Tremper spring, on what was afterward the Tremper farm, at the northern and lower end of the valley, he erecting a comfortable log cabin for his family.

In or about the year 1806 Rev. Gideon Draper traveled through this valley, and dined with one of the families then residing here. His repast consisted of mush and milk, and served in a squash shell, which he ate with a wooden spoon. He heartily relished his meal, and in 1807 came back accompanied by Rev. William Butler, a de- voted young man who preached only to save souls, and was much beloved. Mr. Draper was of a more excitable mind. They traveled on foot, there being few roads other than foot paths. In 1810 Bartle Bartleson, who had married Elsie, another sister of William Akers, came from Mon- roe County. He was the father of Thomas, Gabriel and Bartle Bartleson, all of whom are now living, the youngest, Bartle Bartleson, Jr., being eighty-three, Gabriel eighty-five, and Thomas, ninety or ninety-five. At the time the Bartlesons came there were but five families in the place The woods abounded in deer, bear, turkey and wild ducks, and the streams were alive with trout. John Bennett and Herman Newton came from Connecticut in or about 1814,

Benjamin Beach in 1816, William Lancaster, Jos. Williams, Wm. and Isaac Long before 1820.

Denman Coe followed the old Indian trail up the Paupack, and found what was formerly called the " Big Island " cleared when he came. This clearing may have been made by the Indians or caused by overflowing water. Mr. Coe and others added to the clearing till he kept seventeen head of cattle. His hay was stacked on the flats when a freshet came and carried away his fodder, so that the cattle were obliged to browse. This reverse disheartened him and caused his removal to Ohio. His children were Dudley, Ransom and Harvey, who removed to the West, and Polly, wife of Wil- liam Akers, and Ada, wife of Moses Chapman, of Paupack. Years afterwards Denman Coe wandered back to Dreher.

William Akers, Sr., was an Englishman, and a weaver by trade. He came to Dreher and lived with his son-in-law, Bartle Bartleson, Sr., being ninety- nine years old when he died. His wife was Re- becca Fish, and his children were John, William, Polly, wife of Gabriel Davis, and Elsie, wife of Bartle Bartleson. Of John Akers' children, Eliz- abeth married John Sheerer, and lives in Jefferson township, aged eighty-six, and John M. is a black- smith in Dreher.

William Akers, Jr., was a great hunter, and killed panthers, bears and every kind of game. His children were Clements, who has one son in Dreher, and Rebecca, who married Frederick Kayser, who, after living in Honesdale and New York, finally settled in Greene, about one half- mile east of the Paupack. She is nearly eighty years of age and able to walk ten miles a day. She and her sister spun and wove one hundred and fifty pounds of wool in one year. Her son-in-law, Tunis Smith, killed the bear that was stuffed for the New Orleans Exposition. She has fifty grand- children and twenty-five great-grandchildren liv- ing, making, with her children, about eighty living descendants. There was not a death in the family for fifty years. Her husband died recently, their children being William F. Kayser, who lives in Delaware, Charles F., in Iowa, Mary, wife of A. B. Drake, of Stroudsburg, Julia A., wife of Tunis Smith, of Dreher, Miranda, wife of Wien Forney, an editor in Harrisburg, and Sarah E., married to Theodore Correll, who lives on the homestead.

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WAYNE, PIKE AND MONROE COUNTIES, PENNSYLVANIA.

Sybil, another daughter of William Akers, mar- ried John Decker, who formerly kept tavern be- yond Tafton, in Palmyra township.

Gabriel Davis sold his place to John Bennett in 1814 and moved to Salem, where his family are mentioned.

Of Bartle Bartleson's children, Rebecca mar- ried John Burns, one of the first settlers in Greene township. Thomas Bartleson, who is living in Greene, worked for Abel Kimble when he built his grist mill in Paupack settlement. Abel Kimble, Uriah Kimble and Thomas Bartleson got the mill- stones out of Cobb mountain, two spans of horses being required to draw them. They cut their own road part of the way. Bartle Bartleson, Sr., and William Akers, Jr., cut the road from the north and south state road to the south branch of the Wallenpaupack. Bartle Bartleson, Sr., settled on the place now occupied by Bartle Bartleson, Jr. Gabriel Bartleson has killed more than one hun- dred deer, and the first when a barefooted boy.

Andrew Corey was a fleshy man and not very energetic. His children were Job, who was drowned in the Paupack while rafting ; Peter, who fell from the piazza of Howe's tavern and was killed ; John, who settled Coreyville, in Greene ; Polly, married to Asa Brundage ; Olive and Patty who removed from the township. John and Thomas Dickinson are assessed as early as 1809.

Jacob Long settled one mile west of the Paupack. His children were George and Henry who lived in Greene ; Mary Ann, wife of Harris Hamlin, Jr. ; Elizabeth, wife of John Mitchell ; Sophia, wife of Abner Eighmey.

Joseph Williams, in 1818, settled one fourth mile from the Paupack, where his son Jeremiah now lives. He was ninety-seven and his wife eighty-four when they died. His children were Martha, wife of Benjamin Sheerer; Jeremiah married Susan Bartleson who has a large family, among them John Williams, attorney-at-law, in Stroudsburg. Herman Newton came to Dreher from Connecticut, likewise, John Bennett who bought the Gabriel Davis place in 1814. His sons were Jeremiah and Nathaniel. Nancy Ben- nett, his daughter, taught the first school in 1812, in a school-house erected by Capt. Howe, near the residence of Denman Coe, at the rear of the Moravian parsonage. It was a square edifice,

with a roof from each side running up to a point. Betsey Clements was one of the first teachers. She became the wife of Jeremiah Bennett. Nancy Bennett married Joshua Price and finally went West. Betsy, another daughter, was the wife of Ambrose Kellam. Jeremiah Bennett was the first hotel-keeper in South Sterling. He built the Lancaster saw-mill in 1819. His son Perry lived on Sugar Hill, in Greene township. Thomas C. Madden, who was a lieutenant in the late war, and is now justice of the peace, owns the property.

Benjamin Beach came to Sterling from Bucks County in 1816. He lived with John Clements two years and then took up fifty acres of land on the Paupack, which he increased to one hundred and fifty acres. He built a saw-mill near his house in 1835. He was a great hunter. His son Isaac thinks he has killed four hundred deer. Benjamin Beach was seventy-five when he died. His wife was Elizabeth Rush, and his children,- Christina who married John Dunning, a son of John Dunning, Sr., one of the first settlers in Greene; Jonas, who died a bachelor in Greene ; Isaac, who lives on the homestead and is now seventy-seven, married Eliza Connery and raised a large family ; Eliza, wife of Johnson Dickerson, who lived in Greene; Susan, wife of Nathaniel Oney, a great hunter ; George, of Scranton ; Ben- jamin, of Salem ; and Philena, wife of Job Bartle- son.

William Lancaster, an Englishman and a car- penter by trade, first came to Sterling to assist Robert Bortree build his grist-mill in 1816. He and his son Richard came to Dreher in 1819 and bought the interest of a squatter, took up two hundred acres of land one-half mile west of the Wallenpaupack, and cleared up the place now owned by C. W. Gilpin. Richard Lancaster was a jeweler by trade. He was appointed justice of the peace in 1823, and held that position until 1840, when he was elected sheriff, and was the last sheriff during the sessions of the court in Bethany. He was also a member of the Assembly, county treasurer and county commissioner. He was at a late date again elected justice of the peace. After holding all these offices, his vote being challenged, he was unable to find his father's naturalization papers, and the Legislature passed an act legalizing his official acts. He mar-

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WAYNE COUNTY.

ried Frances McIlwaine, his children being Richard, William, George, John (who married Amanda Barnes and lives in Greene), Franklin (in Moscow) and Hugh (who has a stick-factory and saw-mill on the Paupack). He had a shovel- handle factory in 1851 and a stick-factory in 1857, which was burned in 1885, and is being rebuilt. He started a store in 1844. The South Sterling post-office was established in 1848, with Richard Gilpin as postmaster. In 1851 Hugh Lancaster was appointed and held the office till 1885, when Josiah Whittaker was the incumbent. Robert and Christopher, two other sons of Richard Lan- caster, live in Sullivan County. Margaret Ann is the wife of Charles W. Gilpin.

Richard Gilpin married Mary Bortree, sister of Robert Bortree, Sr. He came to New York from Ireland, crossed New Jersey to Easton, and in 1810 arrived in Dreher, where he took up four hundred acres of land on the Wallenpaupack, one mile east of his brother-in-law, Robert Bortree. His oldest child, Sally, married Abraham Heazelton in Ire- land, and came to Dreher in 1820. Her children were Abraham, Richard, William, John, Thomas and Edward, sons. The daughters were Eliza (wife of William Skelton), Mary Jane (wife of William Cross) and Ann (wife of Dilworth Cross). The remaining children were Eliza (wife of Ed- ward Bortree) and Ann (wife of John Bortree).

William married Sarah Bortree, among whose children were John B. Gilpin, who lives on the Ransberry place ; Mary Jane, wife of Jesse Rans- berry, who was for many years blacksmith for the settlement.

Richard, Jr., who married Eliza Bennett, had the following children : Charles W. Gilpin, who has been school director for twenty-six years, lives on the old Lancaster homestead and is an influen- tial farmer; John, who was once county auditor ; Jeremiah ; William R., of Greene; Emory, of Houcktown; Lydia, wife of Isaac Barnes ; Fletcher, M.D .; and James, who lives on the homestead.

John Robert Gilpin lived near the Paupack and had a saw-mill on the East Branch. His son, Thomas H. Gilpin, operates a saw-mill in Greene township.

Thomas Gilpin cleared a place and built a stone house now occupied by Simon Gilpin's widow. Another son, James D. Gilpin, lives in Nobletown. . stone house on a hill one-half mile west of the

John Nevins came to Dreher about 1820, and settled two miles west of the Paupack. He and his wife were hard-working people and cleared a good farm. Their children were Bernard, a bachelor, who lives on the homestead, in the log house built by his father ; Thomas, who located west of the homestead ; Mary, who is the wife of John M. Akers; and Jeremiah, who has been an invalid for forty years, living with his bachelor brother and maiden sister, Hannah.

Simon Todd cleared a place near Lancaster. His son Charles Todd became a Methodist minister.

Robert Bortree, Sr., came to Dreher in 1806, and settled what was formerly called East Sterling. It is now the northern part of Dreher. He built a grist-mill on Bortree Creek, near his place, in 1812, and had a native stone for grinding. In 1816 he secured a stone from Philadelphia.

Robert Bortree, Sr., " was an open-handed, free- hearted Irishman." He and Richard Gilpin, Sr., occasionally preached to the early settlers. There are persons still living who remember the rich Irish brogue with which Robert Bortree announced the old-time Methodist hymns :

"The Lord's into his garden come, The spices yield a rich perfume."

" Brother John Bortree, will you start that tune ?"

Mrs. Bortree was not a member of the church, and would give no heed to the old man's admoni- tions. One day a fearful wind storm arose; the old lady was terrified, and thought the world was about coming to an end. In this extremity she besought the old gentleman to pray for her. His sense of infinite justice was insulted by the propo- sition, and he replied, " Indade and I won't; this is what I have been telling you for this forty years, and now that the devil has come, it is too late."

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History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania, Part 130

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