History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania, Part 140

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 140
USA > Pennsylvania > Pike County > History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania > Part 140
USA > Pennsylvania > Wayne County > History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania > Part 140

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).

" We, the subscribers, being well acquainted with the Situation of the Premises of the foregoing Publi-

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PIKE COUNTY.

cation, do hereby certify that the description therein given is founded on truth,-

" Isaac Sidman. Garret Brodhead.

George Markley.

Francis J. Smith.

Jacob Binder.

James Chapman.

Samuel Wigton. B. W. Ball.

Daniel Buckley.

Joseph Scull.

Edward Evans.

Lawrence Erb.

Solomon Bush.

" We, the Subscribers, Shipwrights, having ex- amined the specimen of Paper manufactured by Mr. John Biddis, of Northampton County, for the purpose of Sheathing vessel's bottoms, find the same strong, good and superior to any Paper imported for that use.

" Witness our hands at Philadelphia, June 13, 1793,-

Samuel Crawford.

Manuel Eyre.

Peter Aston.

George Baker.

George Eyre.

Joseph Bower.

"Having examined a specimen of Paste Board manufactured by John Biddis, we are of opinion it will be suitable for Book binding and other pur- poses,-

"Robert Patton, -

"Wm. Woodhouse, "Thomas Dobson, "William Wilson,

Printers and

" Philip Luneburner,

"James T. Peters,

"Frederick Newman,

"Subscriptions will be received by Peter L. Bar- bier Duplesis, No. 86 Chestnut Street; Edward Bon- sall & Co., at their office, in Fourth, near Walnut Street; B. Johnson, No. 147. Market Street; John Jarvis, No. 126 North Third Street, and by the Pro- prietor." 1

The following is a copy of one of the lottery tickets or certificates :

" This certificate shall obligate the Subscriber, his Heirs, Executors, or Administrators, to convey to the Holder such Lot, with its Improvements, in the Town of Milford, laid out in the county of Northamp- ton and State of Pennsylvania, as shall be drawn against its number agreeably to his Proposals. Set forth to the Public the 12th day of January, 1796. " JOHN BIDDIS. " No. 402."

This particular certificate or ticket drew lot 51, near the mouth of the Vandermark Creek, on which was a saw-mill.

A large portion of the town plat passed into the possession of John Crosby, and, in 1797,

was sold by the sheriff in accordance with the following announcement :

" By virtue of two certain writs of Venditioni Ex- ponas to me directed, issued from the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, will be exposed for sale at the house of John Shock, Inn-keeper, in Easton, on Fri- day, the 26th day of May instant, at 12 o'clock of the day, 137 lots in the town of Milford, situate on the river Delaware, in Upper Smithfield township, with two acres of land attached or pertaining to each of said town lots ; on lot No. 51, agreeably to the plan of the town, is erected a dwelling-house and saw-mill, and on No. 375 a water grist-mill, seized and taken in execution as the property of John Crosby.

" HENRY SPERING, Sheriff. " May the 9th, 1797."

The first house on the site of Milford borough was built by Robert Harford, on the east cor- ner of the lot now owned by Mrs. E. A. Lewis. It is the house in which Dr. Francis Al. Smith died, and in which Lewis Cornelius formerly kept tavern. The second was built by John- son, a New Englander, is a part of the house in which George Bowhanan died, and in which a part of his family now live. The third was commenced by -- Lee, and was a hemlock frame, raised and abandoned, near where the barn of Jacob Klaer, Jr., now stands. A part of the house in which D. M. Van Auken now lives was an old dwelling many years ago. Frederick Vandemark occupied it. He, his wife and one son died there.2

The Vandemark house referred to in Mc- Carty's recollections is now within the borough limits, the old house being used as a kitchen by Van Auken. The boards of the ceiling are fastened with wooden pins instead of nails. But little is known of Vandemark. The creek near this house is named in his honor. John H. Brodhead, father-in-law of D. M. Van Auken, thought the house existed before the Revolution, and it is claimed that bullet-marks have been found on the door. William Mc- Carty, who made the statements preserved by Jenny Bross, said that "time began to count with him in 1791." He was a son of old Philip McCarty, one of the first settlers in Dingman township.

1 Recorded in Letter of Attorney, Book No. 4, pages 310 | et seq. in Surveyor-General's Office of Pennsylvania.

2 Recollections of William McCarty, father of John McCarty, consiable, July 11, 1878, in presence of Jenny A. Bross, of Morris, Grundy County, Ill.

Stationers.

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WAYNE, PIKE AND MONROE COUNTIES, PENNSYLVANIA.

It has generally been claimed that a man by the name of Vandemark was the first settler on the present site of Milford. The Vandemarks are found early in the Smithfield settlement. At an Orphans' Court, held at Easton, July 19, 1766, Benjamin Vandemark, of Upper Smith- field, petitioned for an inquest on the estate of Garret Brink, who had died about eleven years before intestate, leaving sundry lands in Upper Smithfield and five children,-Sarah, wife of pe- titioner ; Charity Van Gorden, widow of Peter Van Gorden; Mary, Lydia and Jannicha. Ben- jamin Vandemark sold land in Lower Smith- field to John Vandemark, August 1, 1771, ad- joining John McMichael and John Drake, which was near Stroudsburg. Joseph Rider, of Up- per Smithfield, sold one hundred and three acres and one hundred and fifteen perches of land to Frederick Vandemark, of the same place, bounded on one side by the Delaware River, May 10, 1784. Rider claims to have patented the land that year. This land was evidently the site of Milford. Frederick Van- demark and his wife and child died, according to McCarty's recollections, and probably whatever title he had was lost.

LATER SETTLERS .- John Brodhead, son of Garret Brodhead and brother of Sheriff Rich- ard Brodhead, was born March 3, 1766, at East Stroudsburg. He married Catharine Heiner, and moved to Milford at an early day. He was the first clerk of the courts on the or- ganization of Wayne County, September 10, 1798. This court was held at first in George Bowhanan's house, in Milford. At that time the offices of prothonotary, register, recorder and clerk of the courts were held by one per- .sou. He studied surveying under Colonel William Wills, March 27, 1792, and was a member of the Legislature in 1812. He died September 15, 1821. His children were Dan M. Brodhead,1 who is the father of Edgar Brodhead, of Port Jervis, and John Heiner Brodhead, who was born at Milford, January 5, 1802. On the 3d of April, 1833, he was appointed prothonotary, recorder, etc., of Pike County, and served three years. In 1839

Governor Porter made him one of his aides, with the rank of lieutenant-colonel. In 1841 he was elected a member of the Legislature. In 1843 Governor Porter appointed him associate judge for five years. In 1843 he was elected county treasurer ; in 1856 elected associate judge, and appointed collector on the State im- provements at Harrisburg in 1858-59. From 1860 to 1867 he was clerk in the Interior and War Departments at Washington. President Johnson appointed him one of the commission- ers to locate the county-seats of Carbon and Wyoming Counties. In 1878 he was a clerk in the Treasury Department at Washington. His wife was Louisa Ross, their children being Louisa, wife of Dr. Carpenter, of Brooklyn ; Rev. Dr. Augustus Brodhead, who has been a missionary to India twenty years, and is now preaching the gospel at Bridgeton, N. J. ; Mary G. Brodhead, of Milford ; John F. Brodhead, who married a daughter of Dr. Avery, of Honesdale ; Ross Brodhead, who went to China, or it was so supposed, and was never heard of afterward ; Maria, wife of Hon. D. M. Van Auken ; Mark Brodhead, a merchant in Washington ; and Catharine, wife of Senator Van Wyck, of Nebraska.

Constantine Pinchot was a merchant in Bre- tielle, an inland village about sixty miles from Paris, where Cyville Constantine Desiré Pin- chot, the subject of this sketch, was born in the eighth year of the republic. When a mere lad, he espoused the cause of Napoleon Bona- parte, and wished to enlist in the army of the " Man of Destiny," but was too young. After Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo, his adherents were hunted down by the Bourbons, who had assumed control. Party spirit ran high and ties of kindred found no protection. Cyville's cousin, a Bourbon, reported the zealous young Bonapartist to the authorities, when Cyville and his father thought it politic to leave France, which they accordingly did in 1816, bringing their stock of goods with them to New York, from whence they came to Mil- ford, and built a house and store where Oscar Mott's widow now resides. Mr. Pinchot cleared the ground where he built his house, his store being a long building, part of which

1 See chapter upon the Bench and Bar.

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PIKE COUNTY.

is still standing. Constantine Pinchot had pur- chased four hundred aeres of land in Dingman township, still known as the French lot, while he was in New York, which first led him to Milford, although he never occupied the farm, but lived in Milford. He had one daughter, Hortense, born in Milford, who married George Stoll, son of Judge James Stoll, of New Jersey, who died, when she became the wife of John I. Westbrook, of the firm of Westbrook & Stoll, of Port Jervis. Constantine Pinchot did not long survive his settlement in Milford, and, upon his death, young Cyville took charge of his business, which he conducted with energy and untiring industry until he had acquired a competence, when he gradually retired from aetive life and gave his four sons an interest in the store. Cyville D. Pinchot was active in all matters that interested the public. He be- lieved that farming could be made to pay, and spent some thirty thousand dollars on the prop- erty known as the " Stone House Farm," in Dingman township. He was passionately fond of a good horse, and his stable contained some of the finest specimens of that noble animal to be found in the county. The only pastime he allowed himself was to occasionally hold the reins on one of his fine horses. He was a Huguenot, and, consequently, a Calvinist. He, accordingly, identified himself with the Presbyterian Church of Milford, while in its infancy, in August, 1832. From that time forward, for forty years, he was an earnest working member of the church and one of its most liberal supporters. He is remembered as an honest, enterprising man, whose success was the just reward of his untiring industry and fair dealing. His first wife, a daughter of Dan Dimmick, Esq., of Milford, died young, with- out issue. His second wife, a cousin of the first, was a daughter of John T. Cross, Esq., also a member of the Milford bar. Both were grandchildren of De Aerts, whose father was Lord of Opdorf and Immerseele, in Belgium. Their children were Edgar, Jamies W., John F., Mary A. (wife of George W. Warner, a lawyer at Bridgeport, Conn.) and Cyville (now dead.)

Edgar Pinchot and, in faet, all the sons were

engaged in business with their father for a time, and Jolin F. Pinchot still continues the mer- cantile business at Milford, there being a continuous succession in the family since the business was first started, in 1816, till the pres- ent time. Edgar Pinchot was a merchant from the age of nineteen until 1875, being twenty- five years in New York City, in the wholesale drug firm of Pinehot & Bruen. He retired from active business in 1875, returned to his native place and built an elegant brick residence on the corner of Fifth and Ann Strects, which he now occupies. He was appointed associate judge of Pike County by Governor Hoyt, and resigned to act as Presidental elector for James A. Garfield. He has been a member of the State Central Committee, and chairman of the Republican County Committee a number of times since he came to Milford. His wife is a daughter of Darius Maples, of Delaware County, N. Y.

James W. Pinchot was a wholesale manu- facturer and dealer in wall paper, in the firm of Pinchot, Warren & Co., until he became wealthy, and retired from the firm a few years ago. He married a daughter of Amos R. Eno, and is one of the wealthy men of New York City. He is erecting an elegant stone castle on a commanding eminence overlooking the beau- tiful town of Milford and the noble Delaware River, as it winds through the historic Mini- sink Valley, with its rocky encarpment of abrupt bluffs that support the highlands of Pike County on one side and the receding and cultivated hills of New Jersey on the other. Ascending the hill-side a short distance above the building by a forest path through pine and oak, the ear eatches the sound of the falling waters of the beautiful Sawkill Falls as they tumble over rocks a distance of ninety feet into the deep gorge below.

The castle is built after a Norman-Breton model found in the Seottish highlands. The main building is eighty-one by fifty-two feet, and the wing twenty-seven by fifty-seven. There are three turrets or towers on three corners of the main building, each twenty feet in diameter and sixty-three feet high. The building is of native stone and is two stories

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WAYNE, PIKE AND MONROE COUNTIES, PENNSYLVANIA.

high, with an attic. It contains twenty-three fire-places, a large dining hall and easy stairway to numerous cosy rooms finished in imitation of the old baronial style. The Delaware and the distant mountains rising in the background form a magnificent landscape as seen from the castle.

James Wallace came to Maryland from Scot- land and thence to Milford at an early day and built a house where De Behrle's hotel now is. He was evidently poor, commenced mercantile life as a pack peddler and soon opened a store in Milford. He was an enterprising man and by strict integrity and fair dealing gained a good trade and became a wealthy man for his day. He was modest and unassuming in his de- meanor, and, although not a church member at the time, was elected the first superintendent of the Presbyterian Sunday-school, organized in Milford in 1823, and was one of the organizers and a ruling elder in the Presbyterian Church, organized in 1825. During his life he was one of its main pillars and supporters. He was very strict in his Sabbath observance and had rather entertain a traveler over Sunday, free of charge, than have him travel on that day. He frequently stopped strangers Saturday nights and either kept them at his own house or sent them to the Sawkill and paid their bills. The wayfaring man ever found a lodging-place with him when he needed shelter and food. Some- times his family would remonstrate with him for keeping so many wandering travelers, or tramps, as they are now called, when he replied : " Entertain strangers, for thereby you may enter- tain angels unawares." "But," said his family, " you may sometimes entertain devils." Once he sheltered a boy for a number of days. Meantime a man came whom Mr. Wallace sent to the hotel for lodging, which he often did, and paid his bills. During the night the boy whom he had befriended stole the man's satchel and his benefactor's overcoat and fled. Next day the man tried to secure a warrant for the arrest of Mr. Wallace for stealing, but could not find an officer who would grant it. They replied that Mr. Wallace would pay him if he owed him anything, and he did give the man ten dol- lars for what there was in his valise, which was

probably more than it was worth. Another boy set the mountain on fire and the whole vil- lage turned out to fight the fire and save their homes. Notwithstanding all this abuse of his generosity, Mr. Wallace never ceased to be kind to the poor and wayfaring man, and doubtless entertained many who were worthy of his kind- iess. His house was the home of the preach- ers. He was one of the most substantial Christian business men in Milford. He left his children a good business start in life and an honest name. His wife was Elizabeth, a daugh- ter of Dr. De Aerts Smith, of Smithfield. His children were John H., Amanda, James S., Matil- da, William, Francis B. and Helen M. John H. Wallace was a merchant in Milford and a very substantial man. His son, John C. Wallace, is a merchant and one of the leading men of the village, and his daughter, Helen M., was the wife of Judge Geo. P. Heller. James S. Wal- lace died in 1884, aged seventy-four. His life was one of strict integrity and unblemished honor. His charities were so manifold that, though unostentatious, they could not fail to be known. His moral character was a shining example. His first business venture after a long clerkship with the old firm of Pinchot & Man- clere was mercantile partnership with James Bassett at Paupack Eddy (now Hawley). In 1836-37 he entered into partnership with John H. Wallace, his brother, in the store (now moved away) nearly opposite the Sawkill House in Milford. Both were successful. He afterward built and for a number of years kept store in the building on Harford street, lately occupied by N. Revoyre as a hotel, during a portion of which time he was postmaster of Milford. Afterward, for a long period, he continued the mercantile business in a quaint old store on the corner opposite the Crissman House, where now stands the handsome stone building of James W. Pinchot. After that he occupied a build- ing on Centre Square, opposite the court-house. In 1881 he removed to his handsome brick residence nearly opposite the Sawkill House, and almost on the site of his first store in Mil- ford, where his estimable wife, who was a daughter of Jeffrey Wells, now lives. Matilda Wallace was the wife of Benjamin Alden Bid-

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PIKE COUNTY.

laek, attorney-at-law in Wilkes-Barre. He

came to Milford for a short time with his wife and finally died while United States minister, resident at Bogota. His widow subsequently married Charles S. Miner, the careful historial of Wyoming Valley, who died October 26, 1865, aged eighty-six. His widow still sur- vives at au advaneed age in Philadelphia. Francis B. Wallace was a broker in New York City. Helen M. Wallace was the wife of Jolin T. Cross.

Jabez Roekwell, a Revolutionary soldier and shoemaker by trade, came to Milford about 1797. He was sheriff of Wayne County one tern. His son, Lewis Rockwell, was sheriff of Pike County one term, lived to a great age and died in Palmyra township. Polly Roekwell, one of Jabez Rockwell's daughters, was wife of James Watson, one of Pike County's most popular sheriffs. William Watson, a ear- penter, is the only descendant now living in Milford. Anna was the wife of Nathan Wells, and John B. Rockwell was a mereliant in Milford.

Andrew Armstrong eane to Milford shortly after 1816. He was followed by his brothers James, Thomas and John, lastly by William, who came in 1833. The Armstrong brothers were masons and contractors, and in that capae- ity, as first-elass mechanics, have worked on or built most of the important buildings in Mil- ford, Port Jervis and vieinity, besides doing work in New York City. The brothers all died in Milford, with the exeeption of William who survives. Among the descendants living in Milford are Andrew and John Armstrong, masons, and Hamilton Armstrong, a sehool- teacher and member of the bar. Laneelot W. Armstrong and Thomas Armstrong are build- ers in New York and were contractors on the Produee Exchange, the art gallery in Central Park and Orlando B. Potter's eleven-story building in Park Row. The family originally came from the north of Ireland.

Thomas O. Hazen, who was an early settler of the vicinity of Milford, died in July, 1885, and was then the oldest resident of the place. He was born in Orange County, New York, December 4, 1793, and died July 6, 1885.

He enlisted in the War of 1812, at the age of nineteen, for whieli service he drew a pension at the time of his deatlı. Mr. Hazen moved to Pike County in 1824, on a farm near the Sawkill Pond, and followed the pursuit of farming all his life until declining health pre- vented him from performing work. He had five children, of whom two survive,-Mrs. Julia A. Crawford and Daniel Hazen, of Sparrow- buslı, New York.

Who the male residents of the village were in 1806 is shown in the following fall list taken at the general election of that year, held at the house of Samuel Grandin on October 14th :

Thomas Newman.

Jacob Dewitt.

John Brodhead, Esq. Henry Van Campen.

James McKean, Sr. Mathew Clark.

John F. Randolph.

Jacob Von Sekle.

Haramones Brink.

Samuel Brink.

John Hill.

John Biddis, Jr.

Francis A. Smith.

Joshua Johnson.

Cornelius Meddaugh, Jr. Absalom Von Auker.

Jabez Rockwell.

Lewis Rockwell.

Matthew Ridgeway.

John Von Leakle (3d).

Dan Dimmick, Esq.

William Watson.

George Bowhannan.

John Brink, Esq.

Jacob Robinson.

Mrs. Sol. Newman.

Moses Brink.

Samuel Grandin.

Jacob Quick.

Benjamin Ransom.

John Johnson.

Samuel Edsall.

Jesse McCane.

James Hornbeek, Jr.

Isaac Blackmore.

Thomas Vanseakle.

Levi Von Auker.

John B. Quick.

Johile Fuller,

Garret Von Auker.

Caleb Hill.

Charles D. Wallace.

William Donelly.

Joshua Dewitt.

Josiah McCane.

Eli Fuller.

Abraham Wells.

Isaac Newman.

Wilhelames Courtright.

Josephus McCarty.

Tobias Hornbeck.

Ira Newman.

David Westfall. George Biddis.

Cornelius Meddaugh.

James Wallace.

Samuel Johnson. James Rosengrant.

John F. Waggoner.

Robert L. Traues.

Edward Cohean.

James McCarty.

HOTELS .- Thomas Newman, Sen., kept tavern near where Le Clerc now is in 1800, and Sanı- uel Thrall presided there in 1821. Thomas Clark had a tavern on the same site in 1825, and James Barton built the house now oeeu- pied by Le Clere. Tobias Hornbeek had a tavern where Mrs. Page's house is located as early as 1790. The George Bowhanan house

Abraham Mulford, Esq.

George Westfall.

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WAYNE, PIKE AND MONROE COUNTIES, PENNSYLVANIA.

was used as a hotel for a number of years and is claimed by his descendants as the first tavern in Milford. The first courts in Milford for the county of Wayne, in 1798, by Judge Samuel Preston and associates were held in this house which is still standing and occupied by Louisa Bowhanan, one of 1 George Bowhanan's daugh- ters. Manual Brink built the house where Dr. Emerson now lives, which was once used as a hotel, and John Randolph had a hotel called " Flat Roof House," where Mrs. Eldred now resides.

The frame to the Crissman House was raised about 1820 by Timothy Candy and the build- ing completed by John Clark. The Crissman House was originally called the Pike County House. It is well located for business, being on the corner where the road from Port Jervis and the main road leading into the country intersect each other. Clark ran the hotel for a while and sold it to Col. H. S. Mott, a noted politician in his day. In 1853 Col. Mott sold the property to Cyrus Crissman who enlarged and otherwise improved the house. After the latter died his widow continued the business through Ira Crissman, her brother-in law, who is still living at the hotel, aged seventy-eight. John Jones, Henry Bull, herson-in-law, and Par- mer had the honse until Frank Crissman, a son of Crissman's, took charge in 1876. The Crissman House, in common with other hotels in Milford, is largely patronized in summer by boarders from the cities of Philadelphia and New York. The house will accommodate sixty guests com- fortably, and one hundred have been fed at their tables. The Crissman House is now the Democratic headquartersand is much frequented by local politicians. During the long winter evenings the Crissman House is the resort of the villagers. Ira Crissman sits there, as com- placently as ever, although his dog Cæsar no longer bears him company. Uncle Ira was elected justice of the peace until he refused the honor longer. He is now a retired veteran, living on the honors and emoluments of the past. Frank Crissman is a popular landlord.

His table contains all that one desires and the comfort of the guests is well considered.

Mason Dimmick came to Milford first and taught school. Samuel Dimmick arrived next and built the Dimmick House. He first com- inenced hotel-keeping in the house now occu- pied by Mrs. Pinchot, and while there, in 1828-29, built the house on the corner opposite the Crissman House, now known as the Dimmick House. Mr. Dimmick was an cn- terprising man and bought an interest in the stage line on the Milford and Owego turnpike. These stage lines were important in their day, and took the place of the railroad. The old Milford and Owego line made connections with Newburgh by stage and from thence to New York by boat, persons traveling West taking this line ; but the Erie Railroad superseded the stage lines and the turnpike. When Dimmick abandoned staging he had forty or fifty horses and a number of coaclics which were sent far- ther West. During these staging days, about 1840, while Greeley was visiting Pike County in connection with the Sylvania Phalanx So- ciety, which he and others had established in Lackawaxen township to test Fourierism, an occurrence happened which has often been alluded to in the newspapers and which we give in the language of Charles F. Rockwell who was an eye-witness to the whole transac- tion. He says : "The exact year I do not re- member; it was somewhere in the forties. Horace Greeley had money invested in the Syl- vania Society and was on his way to that point. The Erie Railroad then ended at some point east of Port Jervis-either Middletown or Otisville ; from that point travel was continued by stage. I think the time was. in the spring ; at all events it was very wet and the roads were muddy. The stage broke down out of town between the William Brodhead and James Wallace farms and the passengers walked into town, Greeley among them, with his pants tucked in his boots and valise in his hand. The Dimmick Hotel, then called the 'Centre Ho- tel,' was kept by Samuel Dimmick, father of Milford's present postmaster, C. W. Dimmick, and was the stage-house.

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History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania, Part 140

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