History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania, Part 146

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 146
USA > Pennsylvania > Pike County > History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania > Part 146
USA > Pennsylvania > Wayne County > History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania > Part 146

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).

John Coolbaugh Westbrook, Prothonotary of Pike county, Penna., was born in Dela- ware township in the same county, where the homestead of the family has been for nearly a century on May 24, 1820. He is fifth in reg- ular line from Anthony Westbrook, who came from Ulster County, N. Y., about 1737, and settled in Montague township, N. J., and was a large real estate owner along the Dela- ware and on Minisink Island. He was a jus- tice of the peace and left a record of the earliest marriages in the Minisink valley. He had one son Jacob, who married Lydia Westfall, March 24, 1746, by whom he had a son Solomon, (1762-1824) who married Margaret DeWitt, and crossed to the Pennsylvania side of the river, settling in Delaware township, where he owned some seven hundred acres of land. On this property he built a stone house, which was his residence and that of the family for nearly a century. He is assessed with one hundred and fifty acres of improved land in 1801, and was also a justice of the peace. The family was well-to-do, and owned slaves in the early days. Solomon and Margaret West- brook's children were :- Jacob, (1786-1847), who resided on a part of the homestead and was the father of John I. Westbrook of Port Jarvis ; Colonel John born in 1789, resided on a part of the homestead and was a member of Congress in 1841-43; Solomon (1794-1852; Soferyne, and Margaret who was the wife of William H. Nyce ; of these children, Solomon was the father of John C. our subject. He married Hannah Coolbaugh (1790-1874) a daughter of Judge John Coolbaugh of Middle Smithfield township, then Pike County. He was a man of large business capacity and well known in the Delaware Valley. He served as sheriff of Pike County in 1822-25 for one term.

In 1819 he sold his farm to his brother Jacob, and purchased a farm in Middle Smith-

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field where he removed, and remained until about the year 1829, when he sold his farm to John V. Coolbaugh and removed to Philadel- phia. He returned the following year, and for five years thereafter conducted the hotel owned by Judge Dingman at Dingman's Ferry. He also opened a store there in 1832, and besides carried on mercantile business at Bushkill in 1830-31, at Tafton in 1835-36, besides the lum-

widow of the late John B. Stoll of Branchville, resides in Newark, N. J .; John Coolbaugh Westbrook, subject of this sketch ; Hiram, a dealer in real estate of Ridgewood, N. J .; La- fayette, for many years a member of the Penn- sylvania Legislature, carried on the lumber business at Blooming Grove until 1882, and removed to Stroudsburg ; Moses C. a farmer on the homestead in Blooming Grove; Susan

In. Co Mestbroke

ber business at Blooming Grove. In 1835 he removed to the old stone-house in Delaware township. In 1837 he had a paralytic stroke, while yet in vigorous manhood, which largely incapacitated him for business, being deprived of his speech. In 1842 the family removed to Blooming Grove where his sons carried on the lumber business for many years, and where both himself and wife spent the remainder of their lives. Their children are :- Margaret,

widow of the late Theodore Grandon of New Jersey, resides also in Newark.

John C. Westbrook obtained his early educa- tion in the district school of his native place, and completed it at Milford, under Rev. Mr. Allen. At the age of fifteen he became a clerk in his father's store and upon the sudden illness of his father, he took charge of the store at Ding- mans, assisted by Colonel H. S. Mott, and of the lumber business at Blooming Grove, which

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he continued to conduct until 1845, when he was elected on the Democratic ticket Protlion- otary of Pike county. After serving in this capacity for six years-two terms-he returned to Blooming Grove and engaged in the lumber business and in clearing up a farm. He re- mained there for twelve years and during this time built a saw-mill and a grist-mill. He was again elected prothonotary in the fall of 1863, and leaving his business in the hands of his brother Lafayette, he removed to Milford, and served six years more. In 1870 he removed to Branchville, N. J., and during the first year of his residence there, procured the land of various individuals for the Blooming Grove Park Com- pany in Pike county.

In 1872 he went to Berks county, and for three years acted as foreman in the construction of the Boston & South Mountain Railroad, which was laid out to run from Harrisburg to Poughkeepsie. In the fall of 1875 Mr. West- brook returned to Milford, was elected prothono- tary, and by re-election continues to hold the same office in 1886, and is now filling the twenty-third year in the same office, his present term expiring January 1, 1888. He has been county auditor for several ycars and has served in several other minor offices.

On December 29, 1850, he married Jane Wells of Milford, by whom he has the following children :- Alice, widow of the late Dr. Gouv- erneur Emerson, who died February 4, 1886 ; Hannah, widow of the late John Williamson of Branchville, N. J .; Frank, Brodhead (1856- 1877) and Lafayette Westbrook.

THOMAS ARMSTRONG.

A careful research made by Leonard A. Morrison, and published in The Massachusetts Magazine, shows that the Armstrongs of Pike County are descended from the Armstrong clan, once one of the most numerous and powerful in the Lowlands of Scotland. As early as 1376, says M. Morrison, their names are identi- fied as belonging to Liddesdale, in the " De- batable Country." In 1377 Robert Armstrong and Margaret Temple, his wife, were in pos- session of part of a manor, being the town and land of Whithaugh, in Thorpe, England.

The original deed to the family having been lost or destroyed, the town and lands were re-granted to Lancelot Armstrong on the 9th of October, 1586, and remained in possession of his descendants till about 1730. Among the Armstrongs of that early period was Johnnie Armstrong, sometimes called " Gilnockie," a celebrated border chieftain, who, with thirty- five of his men, were treacherously captured by King James V., of Scotland, and hanged at Carlenrig. His name is still a familiar one on the border and in border poetry. Of the imme- diate ancestors of the Pike County Armstrongs of whom anything definite is known, we find the name of Lancelot Armstrong, who was born in Gortin, County Tyrone, Ireland. His children were Andrew, Thomas, William, Mary and Sarah. Andrew, the eldest, emigrated to America about the year 1787, and soon after set- tled in Milford, Pike County, Pa., where he erec- ted some of the first buildings. William married Miss Elizabeth Graham in 1834, and the day he was married started for America. He also settled in Milford, and worked at his trade (a mason) until 1876. He had the reputation of being one of the best workmen in the county and, in fact, in that part of the State. He was a Democrat in political belief, but was never a politician. He was not a member of any church, though a believer in the doctrine of the Presbyterian Church. He died at Milford, May 21, 1886. His wife still survives him and resides in Milford. Their children were Catherine, Lancelot, Thomas, Eliza, Catherine, Sarah, May, Annie, William and Wilhelmina.

Thomas, the subject of our sketch, was born in Milford, above-named, April 11, 1844. His education was obtained at the schools of his native borough, which he attended until he was sixteen years old, when he became a " printer's devil" with the intention of becoming a printer. He changed his mind, however, and in 1861 went to work with his father, with whom he remained until he had mastered every branch of the mason's trade. March 1, 1865, he enlisted as a private in Company I, One Hun- dred and Forty-third New York Regiment of Infantry, and was sent to his regiment, which was stationed at Raleigh, N. C., and with his

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command marched with Sherman through the Carolinas and to Washington, D. C., where he participated in the grand review of the armics in May, 1865. The next month he was mus- tered out, when he returned to Milford and at once commenced business as a mason and builder. For a number of years he did most of the building in Milford, meeting with un- varying success. In 1876 he joined the firm of Moran & Armstrong, of New York (Armstrong

finest business blocks in the city. It is cleven stories in height and has a frontage of one hundred and forty-four feet eight inches on Beekman Street, ninety feet on Nassau Street and ninety-six feet ten inches on Park Row, and is built in the most substantial and com- plete manner known in modern building. Its successful completion speaks volumes for Mr. Armstrong's skill and ability as a builder, and proves that a man of talent and ability, when

Thes Anneling

being his brother, Lancelot W.) and as work- man and foreman became thoroughly conver- sant with the business of building as carried on in the metropolis of the country. As foreman and superintendent of Mr. O. B. Potter's fine building at Broadway and Astor Place, he won the esteem and confidence of that gentleman, who, in 1883, gave him the entire supervision of the erection of the Potter building on Park Row, corner of Beekman Street, one of the

possessed with energy and perseverance, will come to the front whether his birth-place be among the mountains of Pennsylvania or in a great city. He is a Democrat, but not an active politician, and in the fullest sense of the term he is a teniperance man, as he has yet to taste beer or liquor. Mr. Armstrong is a member of Milford Lodge, No. 344, Ancient York Masons, and was one of the charter members of Vande- mark Lodge, No. 828, I. O. O. F., and is a

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WAYNE, PIKE AND MONROE COUNTIES, PENNSYLVANIA.

Past Grand Master. On the 22d day of Novem- ber, 1870, he was joined in marriage to Miss Olivia, daughter of Henry and Ellen (Cart- right) Bean. She was born in Milford, No- vember 27, 1850. There have been born to them children as follows : Lanty, Harry, Kittie and Harry, all deceased but the youngest, wlio was born December 1, 1883.

CHAPTER VI.

WESTFALL TOWNSHIP.

WESTFALL TOWNSHIP was set off from Mil- ford January 31, 1839. It is named in honor of the Westfall family, who were among the pio- neer settlers within its limits. Westfall is the eastern township of Pike County, and is in- closed on the northeast and southeast by the Delaware River, which makes a decided bend at Carpenter's Point, changing its general course from southeast to southwest. New York State lies northeast across the Delaware, and New Jersey bounds it on the southeast, Milford township borders it on the southwest and Sho- hola on the northwest. Across the Delaware, below Port Jervis, stands the Tri-States Rock, at the point of a rocky peninsula, lying between the Delaware and the Neversink. This rock is the corner of the three States, New York, Penn- sylvania and New Jersey. The distance from Matamoras, situated on the Delaware just across from Port Jervis, to Milford, is seven miles, which is traveled by stage-coaches. The valley from Matamoras varies from a mile to one-fourth of a mile in width, having a high bluff on the right, over which the little Butter- milk Falls descends during a part of the year. The valley up the Delaware from Matamoras is narrow, and traversed by the Erie Railway from Saw-Mill Rift to Pond Eddy. The in- terior of the township is a rocky pine barren and generally uncultivated.

The pioneer history of Westfall township dates from the Revolution, and like most of the old settlements along the Delaware, is largely lost or preserved only as a tradition. The

Quicks, De Witts, Westfalls, Van Akens and Rosecrances were the pioneers of Westfall town- ship and the Middaghs and Carpenters were there at an early day. According to ex-Lieu- tenant-Governor Bross, who is a descendant of the Quicks, on his mother's side, Thomas Quick came from Holland and settled near Mil- ford, Pa., in 1730-35. He was the father of Tom Quick, the Indian killer, and James Quick. Thomas Quick had a grist-mill on the Vande- mark before the Revolution, in Milford town- ship. Peter Quick, probably a brother of his, located in Westfall township and built a grist- mill and saw-mill either just before or after the Revolution.1 He took up a large tract of land in the vicinity of Quicktown. His children were Jacob ; John; Margaret, wife of Dr. Fran- cis Al. Smith, who lived for some time on part of the old Quick property ; Elias Quick, who emigrated to the West ; Cornelius, who lived in Milford ; and Roger, who resided in New Jer- sey ; Jane married Cyrus Jackson and Maria became Mrs. Cornelius Cox.

Of these sons, Jacob Quick, Esq., an enter- prising man, had a grist-mill and saw-mill on Quick Creek, at Quicktown, a blacksmith shop and lived in a large house. Of his children, Jolın married Maria Middagh and resided on part of his father's property. His widow, aged eighty-eight years, still lives on the property · with her son, Charles Quick. She is a lifetime resident in this vicinity and remembers many anecdotes of the pioneers. She says her step- father related that on one occasion eighteen persons were in a flat-boat and the Indians shot every one that handled the oars. Finally a negress took the oars and was likewise shot in the mouth and killed. All were slain with the exception of one child, who was taken prisoner and did not escape until he was nineteen years of age. (This same story has come to the writer in a little different form from other sources.) This happened down on the Dela- ware, opposite Lehman.

" Sally Decker was taken prisoner by the In-

1 Peter A. L. Quick says that Peter Quick settled about one-half mile from the Delaware in 1770, and that his wife was Margaret Westbrook.

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dians on the place now occupied by Soferyne Vannoy, where the old orchard was located. She came over with her brother to milk a cow, bearing with her a gun, for she could shoot. The Indians sccured her, however, and en- camped near by for the night. Her Indian captor was very unkind, but soon sold her to an old Indian, who was good to her. He one day asked her if she would like to return home. She said she would, but she did not expect to find any of her family alive. He took her to Philadelphia and sold her to a person who pur- chased her ransom. He dispatched a man on horseback to her father to inform him of his daughter's liberation. He sent a span of horses to bring her back, and, on her arrival, all the neighbors gathered to see her. They call the locality Saunches Clofee or Sally's Hollow, to this day. It is just below Quicktown." Mrs. Quick says "it was a very common thing to see people dressed in buckskin clothes. They used wooden trenchers, and later pewter plates." Gen. Samuel Seely had a store many years ago near the present Klaer mill. Mrs. Quick remarks, " I have heard my grandmother tell about buying coarse earthenware dislies there. His store and the one Benjamin Carpenter started at Carpenter's Point were the first stores in all this region of country, as I have heard from my grandmother. I never saw but one light wagon in my life when I was young, and that was owned by Dick Westbrook. He was lame, aud, being wealthy, he had a two- wheeled light wagon and a negro to wait on him. About sixty years ago Courtright Mid- dagh bought a light wagon with wooden springs. His lines were ropes."

Joliu B. Quick, the second son of Peter Quick, married one of Jacobus Rosecrans' daughters, and remained on the homestead. He was a farmer, lumberman, and first started the " Half-Way House," and lived to beeighty- five years of age. He was an enterprising man. In 1824 he purchased twelve hundred acres of anthracite coal lands at Hyde Park, in Luzerne County, Pa. He and others got a charter for a railroad from Milford to the Lackawanna Valley, but the representative from Pike wished the road to go lower down, and, by inserting

words to that effect in the charter, killed the road.1 " He burned the first anthracite coal used in New York, at the Orange County Hotel, on Cortlandt Street." He took Gilbert L. Thompson into partnership with him in the coal business, afterward sold a three-fourths in- terest to other parties, and a company was formed which undertook to mine coal, but they did not, however, succeed. The company agreed to give Quick fifteen thousand dollars for the three-fourths interest, but only paid him six thousand dollars. Quick held possession until 1841, when an ejectment suit was brought against Jacob R. Quick, one of John B. Quick's sons. Peter A. L. Quick, another son, who also had an interest, was not notified, and the project failed. Peter A. L. Quick took up the matter, which had been pending in the courts for thirty years. On carrying it to the Supreme Court, Judge Alfred Hand, attorney for the Susquehanna and Wyoming Valley Railroad Company, settled with him for forty thousand dollars. This arrangement left Quick's law- yers unpaid, as they were to have a certain amount providing they were successful with the suit. Quick claimed that he took ten thousand dollars less than he otherwise should have done, with the understanding that Hand should pay them. His attorneys brought suit aginst him, and after three years' litigation, Quick com- promised the matter. John B. Quick's sons are Martin C. Quick, James R. Quick and Peter A. L. Quick, who now owns the Newman property in Delaware township.

Jacob De Witt before the Revolution owned the land along the Delaware River from below Milford to the Half-Way House. He had a log fort on the Simeon Cuddeback farm, and remained there during the conflict, until taken prisoner by the Indians and carried to Canada. He was kept there for three years. Cornelius, his son, settled near the Half-Way House, where he cultivated a large farm. He dressed in buckskin throughout, and was dubbed " Buckeyhout," which means " buckskin " in Dutch. The De Witts were friendly with the Indians and great hunters. His son, Lodowick

! Peter A. L. Quick's recollections.

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De Witt, owned about one thousand acres of land. Cornelius, one of his sons, lives on the hills in Westfall, and Jacob P. De Witt resides near the " Half-Way House."

Jacobus Van Aken and Herman Rosen Krantz,1 father of Jacobus Rosencrans, settled before the Revolution where Rosetown now is, then known as Upper Smithfield. Jacobus Van Aken owned a good farm on the Delaware flats. His son, Garret Van Aken, was born there in 1770. He was a militia captain and generally called Captain Van Aken. John Van Aken, another son, moved to Ontario, N. Y. Of Garret's children, Margaret was the wife of Levi Middagh, and Sally married John W. Middagh. Benjamin Cole Van Aken lived on part of the homestead and Frederick A. Rose purchased a portion of it. Benja- min C. had a family of nine children, of whom William B. Van Aken was track supervisor on the Erie Railroad for twelve years, when he removed to Wisconsin and died there. John M. Van Aken lives at Matamoras. He has been treasurer of Pike County, and is now col- lector of internal revenue for Wayne, Pike and Monroe Counties.

Herman Rosen Kranz's name appears on a petition for a township in what afterwards became Upper Smithfield in 1750. His son, Jacobus Rosencrans, was probably born in what is now Westfall township, and lived neighbor to old Jacobus Van Aken, Esq., and his son Garret. He owned a large farm near the Delaware, now the property of the Roses. His farm was divided among his five daughters, reserving a piece in the centre for himself. His daughters were Betsey, who married Manual Brink and lived at Chocopee; Lena, married Matyne Cole, who resided in the Clove, N. J. ,(Judge Martin V. Cole, of Montague, is a grandson) ; Catharine, married to Daniel Decker, her first husband, who reared a family of children. Crissie Bull, her second husband, lived on part of the Rosencrans farm. They had two sons and two daughters. The first son was named James, in honor of his grandfather,

and in accordance with the plan of all the sisters to name one child James. As a result, they were each presented with a yoke of oxen. James Bull died in youth, and the next son, who was named Rosencrans Bull, married Jennie Westfall. They resided on a farm in Milford township until recently, when, on leaving it in charge of his son, he moved to Milford, his present residence. Hannah Bull was the wife of Colonel Henry S. Mott, of Milford, and Maria Bull, another daughter of Crissie Bull's, married Eli Van Inwegen, of Port Jervis. Annchy Rosencrans was the wife of Saunders Ennis, of New Jersey, and Polly was the wife of John B. Quick.

Simon Westfall located at Carpenter's Point in 1755, and was among the first settlers. He built a stone house or fort, and had also a grist- mill on the Clove Brook. It was an import- ant position and the Indians tried many times to surprise the place. This family were first attacked by Brandt in 1779. Simon Westfall moved his household back farther in New Jersey and laid up on the hills with three loaded guns to watch his buildings. He saw the Indians firing his barn. Firing his guns at them, he fled, but they succeeded in burning all his buildings. His marriage is kept in the records of the old Dutch Reformed Church, among those whose banns had been published, as follows :

"1743, March 13. Simon Westfael,2 young man, born in Dutchess County, dwelling in Smithfield in Bucks County, to Jannetje West- broeck, young woman, born at Mormel, dwell- ing at Menissinck, married the 17th day of April, by Peter Kuyckendal, justice of the peace."

This shows that he was a resident of Penn- sylvania in 1743, but he appears to have built across the river at Carpenter's Point in 1755. He died 1805, aged eighty-seven. He had five children, of whom Simeon was the only one who settled in Pike County. He built a stone house after the Revolution on the Delaware River at a point called Sims Clip, where there was formerly a reef of rocks in the river at

1 Herman Rosen Krantz is the old form of spelling the name.

2 Old spelling of Westfall.

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tliat place, about opposite the Tri-States Rock. He was a farmer and also kept a public-house. His wife, Sally Cole, was a daughter of Benja- min Cole, of Deckertown, She buried her work-basket in the corn-field when the West- fall family left their homes on account of the Indians. After they returned she dug up the basket, which contained, among other things, a pair of shears that were in great demand in the neighborhood, as they were the only pair in the vicinity. She lived to be ninety- five years old, and often talked with her descendants about the Indian depredations. Their children were Simon, who settled in Deerpark (now Port Jervis), and kept a tavern, and David Westfall, who owned a farm of about two hundred acres where Matamoras now stands. His house stood on a knoll in "Old Matamoras," back from the Delaware about three hundred and fifty yards. He was a farmer and lumberman. He married Jemima, a daughter of Captain Cuddeback, of Deerpark. His children were Abram, Simeon, Cornelius, Wilhelmus and Jacob, sons, and the daughters Esther, who moved West, and Sally, wife of James Bennet, of Carpenter's Point. She is now eighty-four years of age, a clear-headed, well-preserved old lady, who is familiar with the Westfall pedigree from old Simon West- fall to the present generation. Simon Westfall (2d) was a farmer and blacksmith. He lived and died at Matamoras, August 22, 1878, aged eighty-six. His wife was Saralı, daughter of Jacob Cuddeback. Their children were Abram, Sarah J. (wife of James W. Quick), Peter G. (who was killed in Canada while serv- ing as fireman). Simeon C. Westfall inherited the property where the village of Matamoras now stands, and where he at present resides.

Cornelius Westfall married Huldah Cudde- back, and lived on the Delaware River in Westfall township. He was justice of the peace, and died at the age of eighty-three. His children were Jemima (wife of R. C. Bull, of Milford), Elizabeth (wife of P. G. Canfield, who lives in Sullivan County), Sarah (unmarried). Jacob C. Westfall, the only son, lived on the homestead and took his father's place as justice of the peace. George Westfall,

a son of old Simeon, Sr., lived on the home- stead for many years, and later sold to Jacob Cuddeback, when he removed to the West.

TRI-STATES ROCK AND CARPENTER'S POINT. -No history of Pike County would be com- plete that did not include some account of Tri- States Rock and Carpenter's Point. Tri-States Rock is located at the point of a rocky prom- ontory formed by the junction of the Never- sink with the Delaware River. At this point a granite rock has been established by commis- sioners appointed for that purpose, where the States of New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey converge. A little south of the Tri- States Rock is Carpenter's Point, so named in honor of the Carpenter family. The oldest Carpenter of whom any definite knowledge can be obtained was Benjamin, who lived on the New Jersey side of the river and kept a store, as also the ferry which bears his name. The village of Carpenter's Point, half a mile above the mouth of the Neversink, now linked to Port Jervis by a suspension bridge, held, until the opening of the Delaware and Hudson Ca- nal, in 1828, the position at present occupied by Port Jervis, as the most important place in the district, and was the centre of business for the surrounding country. Here was the post- office, the store, the mill, the blacksmith shop and the comfortable inn, where the traveler, after his tedious journey over the old turnpike, found good entertainment for man and beast. We have been thus particular to describe Car- penter's Point, although it is on the Jersey side of the river, because this ferry was the crossing- place of the old pioneers who settled in Pike and Wayne. The Connecticut Yankees, in particular, came to Newburgh, where they crossed the Hudson and bore west until they reached the old " Mine Road," which they followed to. Carpenter's Point. Here they were ferried over by the Carpenters or Courtright Middagh. and his sons, who liad the ferry for many years, to the Pennsylvania side. They were then driven to Milford. John Biddis had a mill and store near the present Klaer's mill. Here they took the old " Wilderness road,"1 then

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History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania, Part 146

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