History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania, Part 141

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 141
USA > Pennsylvania > Pike County > History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania > Part 141
USA > Pennsylvania > Wayne County > History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania > Part 141

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).

"Mr. Dimmick was in the bar. The fire-place,

1 For full account of Bowhanan's family, see Dingman township.

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I remember, was an open stove, called in those days a Franklin stove, and behind it was a long covered wood box, with lids. Grecley set his valise and himself on the wood box until those at the bar had got through, when he told Mr. Dimmick that he would like to have the mud washed off his boots. Dimmick answered that he could accommodate himself at the pump- trough, which then stood at the centre of the intersection between Broad and Harford Streets. Greeley had hardly begun when he was recog- mized by Cornelius W. De Witt from his store across the way. De Witt knew him, for he was then the head and front of the Whig party, which consisted of about one hundred and forty voters. De Witt went over, shook hands with Greeley and, when told by him of the situation, at once ordered a halt, and taking Greelcy by the arm, led him back to the bar-room, and bringing him face to face with Dimmick, he said, ' Mr. Dimmick, I will make you acquainted with Horace Greeley.' Dimmick was dumfounded for a moment, but after recovering from his confusion said, 'Is it possible-and it was Horace Greeley I sent to wash his own boots.' It is needless to add that Greeley's boots were taken off, washed and a pair of slippers were furnished and a place in the sitting-room given to him."

The Dimmick house burned down about 1856, when it was rebuilt with brick. After the death of Samuel Dimmick, in 1866, the business was continned by the family until 1879. It still belongs to the estate, but has been rented for a number of years. Abram Bronson now has it. The house will accommo- date about fifty guests comfortably. Chief Jus- tice Sharswood, of Philadelphia, and Horace Greeley have made this a stopping-place in years gone by. Samuel Dimmick's son, C. W. Dim- mick, is postmaster, and Fannie Dimmick, his sister, assistant postmaster at Milford.

The Sawkill House, which is named after the beautiful falls of that name near Milford, was built by Lewis Cornelius, about 1823. Mr. Cornelius first commenced hotel-keeping in the old Harford House, and during that time built what is now the parlor and sitting-room and a portion of the dining-room. He was an cher-

getic business man, soon added a store-room to the hotel, got in a stock of goods and engaged in merchandising along with hotel-keeping, but later abandoned store-keeping and used a portion of that room for a bar-room. Since then a three-story building, containing a Masonic Hall, public hall and sleeping-rooms, has been added. The Sawkill House has al- ways enjoyed a well-deserved reputation for good accommodations and skillful cooks. It was formerly patronized by wealthy Philadel- phians, such as Anthony and Frank Drexel (bankers) James Smith, Dr. Neidhard and many others. Allen Cuthbert came to the house for forty years. - George H. Boker, the poet, also made it his headquarters. Judges Waller and Secly always stop here, and George G. Waller, Esq., has made it a stopping-place for twenty-five years. The rooms were let in advance. Of late years, New Yorkers have been patrons of the Sawkill. After Lewis Cornelius' death, in 1841, luis sons-James, William and John-and his daughters-Catha- rine, Maria, Emily and Martha-continued the business. James Cornelius had principal charge, while John Cornelius was more of a politician- and sheriff of Pike County for three terms. After James' death, John gave up politics and attended to the hotel, where he became a popu- lar landlord.

The sons are all dead and the three living sisters-Maria, Martha and Emily-have since 1882 continued the business. The Cornelius sisters are noted cooks and the Sawkill House is second to none in Milford, for genteel enter- tainment and home-like quietness. The Sawkill House will accommodate about sixty boarders.

The Bluff House was built about 1876, by H. B. Wells, on the banks of the Delaware. It is beautifully located and commands a fine view of the Delaware and surrounding hills. It will accommodate about one hundred and fifty persons.

Walter Mitchell is building a house that will accommodate one hundred persons.

The Fanchere House is on the site of the. old Van Gordon and La Bar stand. It accom- modates about forty guests.

The Vandemark House has a capacity for

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about twenty-five persons and is kept by Ernest Beck. Many jurymen stop there.

There were fifteen licensed hotels in the place a few years ago, but there are not as many at present.

Milford is a desirable summer resort, a fact which is appreciated by city people.

BUSINESS MEN OF MILFORD .- Albert Sherman had a tannery on the site now occupied by A. D. Brown, which the latter has converted into a saw-mill. Jesse Belknap had a tannery on the Vandemark above Van Auken's, as early as 1800. He was succeeded in the tanning business by Josiah Foster and Franklin Brodhead. Among the early grist-mill owners may be mentioned John Biddis & Sons and James Barton. Among the early merchants were James Wallace & Sons, Pinchot & Mauclere, who were succeeded by C. C. D. Pinchot & Sons, John Lafarge, John B. Rockwell, Ed- mund Power, Lewis Cornelius, Thomas New- man, Sr., and others elsewhere noticed. The present business men of Milford are William & George Mitchell, John F. Pinchot, Jolın B. Newman, Ryman & Wells, John McCarty, C. P. Mott, Geo. Danman, A. D. Brown, Lewis Rushitt, Clinton O. Armstrong, druggist ; T. R. Julius Kline, tinsmith ; L. F. Hafner, harness-maker ; James Hutchinson, tailor ; Jervis Jordan and Jacob Klaer, grist-mills ; A. D. Brown, saw-mill ; Van Camp & Newman, carriage-painters ; Herman Kholer and Jolin Dagon, barbers.

SILVER WATCH-CASE FACTORY .- Desire Bournique established a silver watch case factory in Milford in June, 1864. He com- menced in a kitchen, with two or three hands, and developed the business until it required fifty- five men and boys, and made four hundred cases per week. These cases ranged from two or three ounces in weight to sixteen-ounce cases. The cases were made and engraved ready for use. He made two thousand one hundred cases one year. In the fall of 1884 Mr. Bournique died and the factory closed shortly after.

Mr. Bournique was born at Abushville, Loraine, France, December 26, 1833, and came to America when young. October 10, 1855, he married Emily, daughter of Remy Loreaux, of

Milford, and reared a large family. He was respected by all classes as a quiet, industrious, progressive, generous-hearted man, devotedly attached to his family, and a consistent mem- ber of the Roman Catholic Church. He would never consent to move his factory from Milford, though flattering offers were made by other towns.

GOLD WATCH-CASE FACTORY .- Ferdinand Berthoud and J. F. Courvoisier were in part- nership for five years, from 1878 to 1883, and established the Milford Gold Watch-Case Fac- tory.

Since 1883 Ferdinand Berthoud has carried on the business alone. He employs about twenty-eight men and uses thirty-six thousand dollars' worth of gold per year. He makes only gold cases to order, from fourteen carats to eighteen carats fine, using silver and copper alloy. It requires complicated and delicate machinery and careful manipulation to do the work required. The turning and engrav- ing is all neatly and handsomely done at this factory. They make no filled cases, all their work being solid gold from fourteen to eighteen carats fine.

THE PRESS.

The Eagle of the North was published in 1827, and its first issue must have been about the 1st June. In a copy of the paper, Vol. I., No. 27, issued December 21, 1827, it is stated that the paper is " printed for the proprietor by T. A. Wells, for two dollars per annum, payable in advance." Who the proprietor was is not stated ; possibly B. A. Bidlack or Francis Al. Smith. It was a four-column folio, eleven by seventeen inches, with a motto from Shakspeare, " O, that estates and degrees and offices were not derived corruptly, and that clear honor were purchased by the merit of the wearer !" The first printing- office was in Francis Al. Smith's house, when he lived at the old Harford place, on a corner of the lot now owned by Colonel Lewis. This issue of December 21, 1827, is severe on John Quincy Adams, and publishes documents to show that he was educated a monarchist, etc. One dollar reward is offered by C. B. Seaman, sheriff, for the return of two debtors, who had escaped from the Milford jail, fifty cents for either of them, but will pay no charges. He also issues

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his court proclamation for the Eleventh Judicial District,-Judge David Scott, presiding judge, and John Coolbaugh, and Daniel W. Dingman, associates. Samuel De Puy appears as clerk of the court, and Joseph Miller, sheriff of Wayne County, advertises land in Sterling township. Jacob Hornbeck, treasurer, gives the list of retail merchants in Pike County, as follows :

Delaware township .- John Hall and John Lodec.

Lackawaren .- James R. Kcen, Frederick Billinger, Charles Cook, Philips & Tiguc, Morris & Henderson, John Lc Forge and John Armstrong.

Middle Smithfield .-- John Malvin.

Upper Smithfield .- Lewis Cornelius, Joseph A. Bonnel and Horace E. Denton, J. Brink and John B. . Rockwell, John Leforge and John B. Leforge, John Leforge, Jeffrey Wells, Pinchot & Manalure.

Palmyra .- James Philips, Leonard Lebar.

James Barton offers firewood for sale. John B. Rockwell offers a farm of two hundred and sixty-eight acres, two miles from Milford, with eighty acres cleared and a log house and frame barn. James Broas advertises tailoring and Moses Bross shoemaking.

Samuel J. Brodhead appears as commission- er's clerk, and B. A. Bidlack as agent for eight hundred acres of land in Middle Smithfield. The editorial comes out strongly in favor of General Jackson and a celebration on the 8th of January, the anniversary of the battle of New Orleans.

At a large and respectable meeting held at the house of Daniel W. Dingman, Esq., in Delaware township, John Nyce was called to. the chair, and William Mapes and Jacob West- brook appointed secretaries, when the follow- ing resolution was passed :

" Resolved, That the friends of General Jackson in the county of Pike, or elsewhere, are invited to meet at the house of Daniel W. Dingman on the 8th of Jan. next, to celebrate the glorious victory of Gen. Andrew Jackson over the British at New Orleans."

William Hooker, Nathan Emery, Jacob Westbrook, William C. Jagger, Benjamin Fra- zer, Garrett Brodhead, Jr., and James Nyce were appointed a committee to carry out the proposition. Administration meeting. The friends of John Q. Adams met at the house of John Clark, in Milford. John Leforge was

appointed chairman and Edward Mott secre- tary. James M. Porter, delegate from North- ampton, was chosen to represent Pike in the convention to be held at Harrisburg, January 4, and instructed to support Adams for the Pres- idency. Richard Brodhead, Esq., Moses Kil- lam, Jr., Esq., Samuel L. Roberts, John Leforge, Mason Dimmick, Lewis Rockwell, Samuel Darling, Esq., and Samuel S. Thrall were ap- pointed a committee of correspondence, and it was resolved that the proceedings of the meet- ing be published in the Eagle of the North, Belvidere Apollo and Democratic Press.

The following editorial appears, headed, " Characteristic coincidence":

"On the 4th of January, 1815, the enemies of our country assembled below New Orleans, under the direction of Packenham. On the 8th of January following they were overwhelmingly defcated and confounded. On the 4th of January, 1828, the ene- mies of Jackson in Pennsylvania met at Harrisburg under the direction of John Binns. On the 8th of January following they will be overwhelmed, defeated and confounded. Packenham had his Jackson and Adams may profit by his example. If this be treason, make the most of it."

After continuing for a year or more as the Eagle of the North, the name of the paper be- comes The Northern Eagle and Milford Moni- tor, under the editorship of Benjamin A. Bid- lack, in 1828.

The Northern Eagle and Milford Monitor of December 11, 1829, is a five-column folio published by Francis Al. Smith. It contains an account of a public meeting of citizens of Pike residing in the northwest part of Upper Smithfield, held at the house of Nich- olas Wheeler, for the purpose of protesting against the methods by which appointments are procured, showing there were " rings " in Pike County at an early day. The meeting organ- ized by choosing Roger Allen chairman, Wil- liam Bowhannan secretary and David Kerby clerk. After an interchange of sentiment as to the manner in which appointments from the Governor are procured and candidates elected to office, a committee was appointed, consisting of Isaiah Hazen, Samuel Thomas, Nicholas Wheeler, Nathan N. Carey and Edmund Power, to draft resolutions expressive of the

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sense of the meeting. In these resolutions they say " that the few in this county have adopted means to control the many. That appointments are procured and the appointed in the actual execution of their offices before it is known to the people generally that an appointment was to be made." They complain of " a well-organ- ized Intrigue."

The Northern Eagle and Milford Monitor of July 23, 1830, Vol. III., new series, No. 47, with Francis Al. Smith still ed- itor, says : " A gentleman who recently passed through Honesdale, a small village at the ter- mination of the Delaware and Hudson Canal, informs us that it is in a thriving condition, and bids fair to be a place of considerable busi- ness and importance. He likewise stated that he saw forty cars in one connected chain loaded with one hundred and thirty tons of coal and carrying quite a number of passengers. We do indeed wish our sister prosperity and hope she will reciprocate the feeling towards us with re- gard to our contemplated railroad."

The Eagle and Monitor appears in 1831 with J. HI. Westfall printer and publisher. The eagle is taken down and the motto is "The union of the States and the sovereignty of the States." The issue before ns is Vol. V., No. 2, Milford, Pa., October 14, 1831 (whole No. 210). The paper is a five-column folio, printed on good paper and much improved in appear- ance. It contains the October elections, which show that Upper Smithfield had 184 voters, Laekawaxen 44, Palmyra 39, Delaware 95, Lehman 80, Middle Smithfield 151, Price 36,- total, 629. The paper elaims that two-thirds of this vote is Democratic and that the Demo- eratic majority would have been larger had there not been siekness in Palmyra and Laeka- waxen to prevent one hundred voters from going to the polls. (This was the year of the great epidemie or fever that prevailed in the Paupack settlement.)

The Eagle and Monitor was strongly in favor of General Jackson for a second term, and approved the course of Governor Wolf. It was opposed to the Anti-Masons, who had just nominated William Wirt, an unrenouneing Mason, for the Presidency, and Amos Ellmaker,

an Anti-Mason of Pennsylvania, for the Viee- Presideney. This paper was continued for a time and possibly changed hands. At any rate its publication was discontinued. The next newspaper venture in Pike was made by C. W. De Witt, who was at that time the leader of the Whig party in Pike County. The Northern Eagle and Milford Monitor was no longer pub- lished, and there was no paper in Pike County to publish sheriff sales or to do any other ad- vertising. At this juneture several Whigs of Pike and Monroe Counties organized a joint- stock company, and Richard Nugent eame down to Stroudsburg, from Honesdale, to issue the first number of the Jeffersonian, January 15, 1840. A number of copies were dated Milford, with C. W. De Witt's name added as one of the editors, and circulated as a Pike County paper, which, by permission of Judge Jessup and the Pike County bar, became the medium of the legal advertising of Pike County. This condition of things continued for about four years. Richard Nugent removed to Nova Sco- tia, published a paper and got into difficulty for reflecting too severely upon some of Queen Victoria's subjects. Theodore Schoch com- menced to publish the Jeffersonian February 24, 1841, and is still its veteran editor.

In 1846-47 there was no paper in Pike County, and James J. MeNally, a young printer working in Newton, N. J., believing the field a good one, purchased the material of the Goshen Sentinel office and moved it to Milford, where he started the Pike County Democrat July 14, 1849. It was a seven-column folio, of the same size as the present Milford Dispatch, and MeNally elaimed in his introductory editorial that it was the largest paper published in the State outside the city of Philadelphia. Ed. Mott says : "It was a very superior journal, few loeal papers equaling it in ability." He also announced in his salutatory that "this paper will support the principles of the Demo- eratie Republican party." He changed the name of the paper, in 1852, to the Milford Herald. Shortly after the office was purchased by John M. Heller. He placed the paper in charge of John B. Adams and Harvey Heller, his son. This paper was remarkable under the

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management of Adams & Heller for the amount of labor bestowed upon it, both mental and material. Its editorial columns were character- ized by a sprightliness, dash and clearness that gave the paper a wide reputation. Harvey Heller soon withdrew from the management, and Mr. Adams continued to edit and publish it alone. The late Lucien F. Barnes, of Mil- ford, was then editing the Tri-States Union at Port Jervis, and the personal newspaper war that was waged between him and Adams for several weeks in 1853 is still remembered by the oldest residents of the county. Adams ran the Herald until 1855, when he removed to the coal regions, and the paper passed into the hands of John A. Daniels, a son-in-law of the late David Van Gordon, one of Milford's proni- nent old-time residents. Daniels, although a man of good education, was not fitted for jom- nalism, and, in 1856, the printing-office having passed into the possession of the late Henry S. Mott, his brother, Oscar H. Mott, became the editor. The Herald, under his administration, was one of the neatest and ablest local papers in the State. He continued as editor until May, 1861. Oscar H. Mott held views as to the con- duet of the paper on questions growing out of the late war different from his brother, Colonel Mott, the owner of the paper, who was then representing the Wayne, Pike, Carbon and Monroe District in the State Senate. These differences resulted in the resignation of the editorial chair by O. H. Mott and the employ- ment, by Colonel Mott, of Charles B. Colton, a veteran Pennsylvania journalist, to edit the Herald. Mr. Colton conducted the paper with ability until April, 1865, when E. H. Mott, a nephew of Colonel Mott, assumed charge and edited it until January 1, 1866, when the office was purchased by F. A. & J. H. Doncy, of Wayne County, and J. H. Doney soon after- ward became sole proprietor. He ran the Her- ald with unvarying success until January 1, 1878, when M. D. Mott, the present proprietor, who is a son of O. H. Mott, its former editor, took charge and changed the name to the Mil- ford Dispatch. The following is his salutatory :

"As announced, this office has changed proprietors, and the undersigned will hereafter assume control.

Although from boyhood we have been connected with the typographical art, this is our first venture as journalist, and it is with diffidence we undertake the editing of the Dispatch. We shall do our utmost, however, to give a readable paper, and, by attending strictly to business, look for a support that will enable us to enlarge and improve this journal.

"Instead of the familiar faces of the Herald coming to its subseribers in the future, its successor, the Dis- patch, will take its place, and we trust will prove as welcome a visitor. For various reasons, which are immaterial to here mention, the name of the paper has been changed. While this change has taken place, it will not affect the patrons of the Herald in the least ; the volume and number will remain the same, and all who have paid up subscriptions will re- ceive the Dispatch in place of the Herald; all adver- tising contracts will be carried out the same; and likewise all accounts owing to the Herald will be by us collected.

" In politics, it is hardly ne cessary to say, the Dis- patch will be Democratic. The use of its columns will be open to that party, and it will work, at all times, for the principles and nominees of the Demoe- raey.

"Our chief aim will be to give a first-rate local family paper, so that it will be needless for any to take outside papers to get home news. With the help of good correspondents there is no reason why the local page of the Dispatch should not be made to suit the most critical, and it will be gotten up with that object.

"In conclusion, we return sincere thanks to many friends, in and out of the county, who have wished us success, assuring them that we shall always en- deavor to merit their fullest approbation.

" M. D. MOTT."

M. D. Mott still continues proprietor, and Colonel Charles N. Pine, a veteran editor of Philadelphia, is editing the paper and acting as Milford correspondent of the Port Jervis Ga- sette.

The first number of the Northern Eagle, a paper in the interest of Lincoln's administra- tion and the Republican party, was issued February 6, 1864, by Dr. Edward Haliday and Pettit, editors and proprietors. Dr. Haliday at that time was a wealthy man of Milford, and spared no pains or expense to make a success of the paper. His object was to convert this stronghold of Democracy to Republicanismn. To that end he sent a paper to every voter in the county, and the veteran soldiers were all to have it free. He thus worked up a circulation of

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one thousand copies. It was printed on the first quality of sized and calendered paper, costing at that time nine dollars a ream. Some of the best metropolitan writers were employed to contribute to its columns, George Arnold, Charles Dickson (now editor of the Binghamton Republican) and others of note writing its stories and poems. Colonel Thomas Picton, at that time the best general editorial writer on the New York press, wrote its leading editorials. Dr. Haliday was that year Presidential elector for Mr. Lincoln for this Congressional district. He was a large, fine-looking man of considerable ability, and waged a lively warfare against the Pike County Democracy while his paper lasted. He inaugurated a Republican mass-meeting in Milford ; had Horace Greeley present to make a speech ; hired every livery equipment in Port Jervis, and brought men from a distance to swell the numbers, and paid the whole bill himself. He had fully adopted the views of the late Horace Greeley about Pike County, " That it was a land of Democrats and the liome of the rattlesnake, and that it contained ten gallons of whiskey to every Webster's Spelling-Book," but in his warfare against Pike County Democ- racy he was overcome by Pike County whiskey. The paper, after an interval of rest, in May, 1865, was secured by Britton A. Barnes. The paper, having no county patronage, languished and was discontinued about January 1, 1866. It was printed in the building which had formerly been used as a law-office by William Smith, where William McCarty has his store.

In 1872 E. H. Mott, who was then interested in the Port Jervis Gazette, but lived in Mata- moras, printed a paper called the Pike County Democrat. It was popular, but with the sale of the Gazette to other parties it was discon- tinued. The editors of the Milford papers were T. A. Wells, Benjamin Alden Bidlack, a son of Rev. Benjamin Bidlack, of Wyoming, a lawyer, twice a member of Congress and afterwards ap- pointed minister resident at Bogota, to the re- public of New Granada, now United States of Columbia, by President Polk, in 1845, and there he died. His son, Dr. Bidlack, lives in Milford.

One of the best known men ever connected

with the Milford press is Edward Herold Mott. He was born in Milford, Pike County, Pa., in 1845, son of Charles F. and Eliza Smith Mott. Went to Piqua, Ohio, when nine years old, and in 1856, after the Presidential election, sold on the streets there the first New York papers ever sold by a newsboy west of Cincinnati-the Tribune and the Herald. He got his eopies from a subscriber who had finished reading them. He attended the common sehools of Piqua for two years. After his mother's death, in 1857, returned to Milford and learned the printer's trade in the Milford Herald office. In 1862 entered St. John & Malvin's foundry in Port Jervis to learn the moulder's trade. He worked five weeks, then ran away, went to Easton on a raft down the Delaware; in Mauch Chunk got a place in the Carbon Democrat office, worked six months, went to Philadelphia and learned the job printing business ; after staying there three years he returned to Milford and edited the Milford Herald until January, 1866, then went to Scranton and became city editor of the Scranton Register ; he next joined the staff of the Ionesdale Herald, bought an interest in the Port Jervis Gazette and conducted the Pike County Democrat until after the Presi- dential election of 1872. Left the Gazette in that year. Meantime he had been sending articles to various New York papers. His first humorous sketch of special merit was "Taylor's Shot at a Ground Hog," published in the New York Sun in 1874 ; it made a hit.

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History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania, Part 141

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