History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania, Part 155

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 155
USA > Pennsylvania > Pike County > History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania > Part 155
USA > Pennsylvania > Wayne County > History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania > Part 155

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).

951

PIKE COUNTY.

September 3, 1773, lived to be ninety-eight years and ten months old and claimed to have been the first white child born in old Paupaek settlement. The Indians had a field of about seven acres which they eultivated, by the old Ephraim Killam place. They also had another field of about four aeres on the Gabriel Davis place.

Stephen Bennett married Mary, the daughter of Nathaniel Gates and settled about one mile east of the fort. He was a soldier of the Revo- lution. (Nathaniel Gates was seereted and es- caped from the massaere at Wyoming by way of Paupack. He saw the Indians thrust burn- ing pine-knots into the prisoners.) Stephen Bennett's sons were Franeis, Frederick, Rufus, Jared, Stephen and Lebbeus. The daughters were Elizabeth, wife of John Miller, who set- tled in " the Becch," and Samantha, who was unmarried. Franeis Bennett married Esther Daniels and lived in South Canaan township. Frederick Bennett married Jane Killam and moved to New York. Rufus settled in Purdy- town, west of the homestead. Jared married Esther Killam and remained on a portion of the homestead. Stephen Bennett married De- sire, a daughter of Joseph Ainsley, and was a lumberman. Lebbeus married Laura Ainsley and lived on a part of the old place. Of Jared Bennett's children, Isaac, who retains a portion of the homestead, and Naney Jane, wife of M. N. B. Killam, alone remain in the place. The Bennetts were esteemed as honest and industri- ous eitizens.

Uriah Chapman settled adjoining the Ben- netts, and Hezekiah Bingliam, Sr., next to Chap- man. The latter was a good man and one of the first members of the Congregational Church organized in Salem in 1808. His sons were Hezekialı Bingham, Jr., Rodolphus and Solo- mon. His daughters were Naney, wife of John Pellet, Jr .; Leura, wife of Simeon Chapman ;

Hannah, wife of Roswell Chapman ; and Fanny, wife of Urialı Kimble. Hezekiah Bingham, Jr., married Eunice Killam, daughter of John Killam, and lived about one mile east of his father. His son Moses resided on the old place and was a justice of the peace. He died with- out children. John Bingham removed to the

West. Rodolphus Bingham kept hotel on his father's property, whichi was the place of hold- ing elections when Greene and Blooming Grove were part of Palmyra. His wife was Sally, a daughter of Abel Kimble's. Florenee MeCarty Bingham, one of the sons, went to Philadelphia and bought lumber as it was run down the river, becoming one of the largest Inmber deal- ers in the eity. He died without children about 1875, leaving a large property to his widow, who is devoting her fortune and lier life to charity and nursing the sick.

Jacob Kimble, Sr., was a tall, bony man who lived to the advanced age of ninety-one. "He was a miller, farmer and.lumberman. His sons were Abel, Walter, Benjamin, Daniel, Ephraim and Jaeob. One of his daughters, Lueretia, was the wife of Judge Abisha Woodward, of Bethany, Wayne County, Pa., and the mother of Hon. George W. Woodward, who became chief justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsyl- vania. Abel Kimble built a grist-mill on Kimble Creek at an early day. He was sue- eeeded by his son, Burnham Kimble, whose sons were Philip and Arthur, now living in Hawley, and Jackson, who is on the Peter Warner place. The daughters were Caroline, wife of Henry Edwards; Sybil, wife of Guer- don Pellet ; Ada, who removed to the West; and Sarah Ann, wife of Jackson Nyce, who lives in the settlement. Jacob Kimble, 2d, resided on the farm afterward owned by his son, Heman Newton Kimble. He was the father of eighteen children. In the days when shoemakers went from house to house, boarded with the family and did their shoemaking for the year (which was called whipping the eat), it took one of these traveling cobblers three months each year to make boots and shoes enough for this family. His wife was Ann Ainsley, and Moses, Henry, Timothy M., Della (wife of Joseph Slocum), Walter, James, Newton, Harrison, Milton, George, Hannah (wife of Aaron Brown), Lucy Ann (wife of Judge Ridgway), and Jacob (who was at one time sheriff of Pike County) are all the children that Warren Kimble could remem- ber. Walter Kimble, of the original family, moved to Indian Orchard. He raised a large family, who all went to Michigan with the ex-

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WAYNE, PIKE AND MONROE COUNTIES, PENNSYLVANIA.

eeption of Stephen, who has a son Stephen liv- ing in Cherry Ridge. Benjamin and Daniel also settled in Cherry Ridge. Fannie Atkin- son, the second wife of Joseph Atkinson, Sr., and mother of Joseph and Lot Atkinson, of Hawley, was a daughter of Benjamin Kimble's. She lived to an advanced age and was highly respected by all who knew her. Daniel's ehil- dren located in the vicinity. Ephraim Kimble, Sr., settled at Mount Moriah (now Kimble's Station,) in Laekawaxen township, in the history of which an aeeount of his family will be found.

The Kimbles are a raee of strong, good-sized men, possessing vigorous constitutions and ruddy countenances. They have been active working people and contributed their share toward developing Pike and Wayne Counties, besides sending a large number of their sons and daughters to the West, partieularly to the State of Michigan, where, as lumbermen, mill- ers and farmers, they are an undoubted snecess. The Kimbles are long-lived and have families of from eight to ten children on an average. Like the La Bars in Monroe County, the de- scendants of Jacob Kimble, Sr., ean now be counted by the thousands.

Jesper Edwards lived where Moses Bingham afterwards settled. His sons, Peleg and James, stayed in the settlement, and Sabra beeame the wife of Jonathan Brink. Peleg remained on the homestead. Of his children, Charles mar- ried Susan Roberts and lived in Laekawaxen till a short time before his death, when he re- moved to Beemersville ; Henry Edwards lived in the settlement as a shoemaker ; and Sabra beeame the wife of Jonas Ainsley.

John Ainsley, Sr., who was born in England, was a blacksmith, as was his son, John Ainsley, Jr. Simeon and Joseph were the other sons. Jolin and Joseph married sisters, daughters of Levi Kimble, and Simeon married a daughter of Jacob Kimble, Sr. Joseph Ainsley was the inn-keeper for the settlement. His sons were Hudson, Brenson, Jonas and Joseph. Hudson and Joseph moved to Buffalo. Brenson's chil- dren were Leonard, who lives in St. Louis, and Joseph Ainsley, who has a large sash factory in Scranton. His factory and lumber pile

were destroyed by fire a short time ago, without insurance ; but like a hero, in his old age he is building up again. William, of Purdytown, is a brother. Jonas Ainsley remained on the homestead, kept tavern and farmed. His widow and son George live there still.

John Pellet, Jr., was in most of the conflicts with the Indians on the Paupack. He married Naney Bingham, daughter of Hezekiah Bing- ham, Sr. Their children were Richard, John, George, William Calvin, Guerdon, Ira, Abi- gail (wife of Asa Kimble) and Naney (wife of Meacham Kimble). A. D. Pellet, earpenter, of Salem, is a son of Richard Pellet. The Pellets are nearly all gone from the settlement. They were a prominent family.

David and Orrin Lester, who were Revolu- tionary soldiers, lived for some years in Pau- paek.

Nathan Sutton had a small tannery with four vats up at the Beemer plaee, where he tanned good upper and sole leather. He ground his bark with a horse and stone. His son Jonas lived on the homestead, which is now owned by John Burns, who has found clay adapted to the purpose, and makes a coarse earthenware at the place. Jonas Sutton married Ann, a daughter of Solomon Purdy. Their children were Colbern and William.

Peter Warner came to Paupaek from Monroe County, and bought on the corner, aeross from the fort, in 1827. He was the village black- smith and a good man.

Stephen Dimon eame to Wilsonville from New Jersey in 1830, and in 1833 bought John Connet's improvements. His son, Cornelius C. Dimon, built an addition to the house, and started a hotel in 1856, which is still managed by him. Jane Dimon was the wife of Henry Gager, of Mt. Pleasant, and Lydia Dimon, the wife of Newton Kimble. The settlement of Palmyra township has latterly ineluded many Germans.

Frazier Smith, Jacob Seaman, Conrad Gum- ble, Herman Gumble, Franeis Singer and Casper Wesling settled on the road from Henry D. Clark's to Blooming Grove. Nelson B. Kirkendall lives one-half mile southwest of Dimon's. Thomas Robinson is one mile south

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PIKE COUNTY.

of Dimon, on the Simpson place. Henry Val- entine lives on the N. Kimble property. John Decker formerly kept a hotel at what was known as the Decker stand, on the Milford and Owego turnpike, and had a farm, it being a stopping-place of some importance in the day of stage-coaches. The Erie Railroad has, how- ever, wrought many changes, and the place is growing.

Charles W. Down came from Easton to Sterling in 1830, and lived where Whittaker now is, on the Heman Newton place. He moved to Palmyra in 1858, and has held the office of justice of the peace. He has charge of the Ledgedale Tannery shipments at Hawley.

James Cromwell built the Cromwell Tannery about 1849, and his brothers, William and Joshua, bought his interest and run it until 1883. William Cromwell now has a planing- mill opposite Hawley, near the old tannery. He was associate judge of Pike County one term.

TAFTON .- Amasa Daniels was a squatter and made an improvement where Tafton now is at an early day. Elizabeth Valentine bought the property for her son-in-law, Royal Taft, about 1821. The tract consisted of four hundred and forty acres of land. Mr. Taft built an addition to the old house, a barn and a hotel, known as the Tafton House. As he was on the Milford and Owego stage line, he soon after had a post- office established at Tafton, of which he was postmaster. He continued business in the hotel until 1841, and was succeeded by his son, Thomas V. Taft, who did not take out a license, but kept travelers simply as an accommodation for a number of years. He built a store, and as ad- ministrator conducted the business until the heirs were of age. Then the three brothers, Thomas, Charles and Theodore, were in part- nership until Thomas and Theodore purchased Charles'interest and continued the business until 1868. Since that time the property has been in the hands of various Germans. Christopher Newberger has resided there a number of years and Joseph Atkinson manages a steam saw-mill. Thomas V. Taft now lives in Hawley. Charles V. Taft was for many years a merchant in that place and has been succeeded in business by his

son, Royal Tart. The Tafts are an honest, en- terprising family.

WILSONVILLE .- About 1768 Rev. Richard Peters, Henry Drinker and Abel James, of Philadelphia, cut a road, sometimes called the Wilderness road, from Stroudsburg to Wilson- ville, or in that vicinity, to a point on the Wal- lenpaupack, which they then called Factoryville, and sent a colony, who commenced to build a woolen-factory on the Wallenpaupack rapids, between Wilsonville and Hawley. These Phil- adelphia gentlemen had a Utopian scheme where- by they expected to become rich. Before the days of steam, water was more highly esteemed than now, and the water-power furnished by the Wallenpaupack near its mouth was considered to be of great value even at that early day. They intended raising sheep on the hills about Wil- sonville and having everything at hand for a woolen-factory. But this was a howling wil- derness, the home of the wolf, the bear and the panther rather than a place for sheep-raising. The result of this project is soon told. In 1769 Rev. Richard Peters came to Stroudsburg and asked Colonel Jacob Stroud to take a load of provisions to his colony, as they were starving, which he immediately did, and the enterprise was soon after abandoned. Tlie Wallenpaupack Falls, where Wilsonville is located, is an excel- lent water-power, and as it is impossible to run rafts over it in safety, the owners of this privilege have had a monopoly of the lumbering that comes from the forests of the region drained by the Wallenpaupack and its branches. The first mill where Wilsonville now is was a grist- mill built by Joseph Washburn and burned the 3d of July, 1778, according to Minor's " History of Wyoming." Subsequently there were other mills erected, and from 1799 until April 5, 1802, it was the county-seat of Wayne County. Leonard La Bar was in Wilsonville about 1818. He had two saw-mills on Pike County side and a grist-mill in Wayne County. After La Bar, Roberts & Fuller got the property ; Roberts died and it was sold at sheriff's sale to Dan Brod- head for seven thousand dollars by the sheriffs of Wayne and Pike Counties, at the same time, one selling on Pike side of the river and the other on Wayne side. James M. Porter appears

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WAYNE, PIKE AND MONROE COUNTIES, PENNSYLVANIA.

to have been interested. In 1843 William Shouse came to Wilsonville with his sons Jacob, John and Henry, and took charge of the mills. Jacob died and John and Henry assumed full charge of the business. They divided the prop- erty between them and Henry built a large saw- mill on the Wayne County side. They did an immense lumber business and ran a store and grist-mill. In 1869 John Shouse sold his inter- est to Farnham, Collingwood & Co. for fifty- five thousand dollars and returned to Easton. The next year Henry Shouse sold his interest to the same parties for fifty thousand dollars and also returned to Easton. Shortly afterwards the new company purchased the Marcus Killam tract for sixty thousand dollars. The mills have a capacity of about ten million feet of lum- ber per year. Collingwood & Millard are now the principal owners. The large tracts of tim- ber which have supplied these mills in years past are nearly all gone, and this, like other large lumbering establishments, will soon only be known historically.

William Shouse died at Easton in 1877, in the ninetieth year of his age. He began life as a cabinet and chair-maker. From 1819 to 1836 was proprietor of the Franklin House, at Eas- ton. From 1836 to 1843 was engaged in car- riage-making for the Southern market, and in 1843, as above mentioned, engaged in milling, lumbering and merchandising at Wilsonville. He left the latter place in 1870 and returned to Easton. He was the originator of the famous opposition line of stages to Philadelphia, and when Pardee Hall was opened, he was the oldest living trustee of Lafayette College. He was a life-long member of the Lutheran Church and a highly respected business man. His son, John Shouse, was a member of the Milford bar and associate judge of Pike County one term.1

CHAPTER XI.

LACKAWAXEN TOWNSHIP.

LACKAWAXEN TOWNSHIP was erected in 1798, after Wayne County was set off from Northampton. It is the northern township of Pike County, and is bounded on the north west by Wayne County, on the northeast by Dela- ware River and New York, on the southeast by Shohola and on the south and southwest by Blooming Grove and Palmyra. It is named for the Lackawaxen River, which passes through the township from west to east and enters the Delaware at the village of Lackawaxen. Lacka- wack, Lackawaxon or Lackawaxen, as it is variously spelled, is an Indian name, meaning "swift waters," and it is very appropriately ap- plied to this stream, which is a very rapid-flow- ing river. It rises among the hills of Mount Pleasant, in Wayne County, and flows south- wardly through Honesdale, where it is joined by the Dyberry at the foot of Irving Cliff, whence it continues its onward course through a narrow valley scarcely more than one-quarter of a mile wide to Hawley, when it flows between Lackawaxen and Palmyra for a few miles through the famous Narrows, where was once a waterfall, blasted out by State appro- priation, for the accommodation of the raftsmen, who formerly floated a large amount of lumber down this stream to the Delaware and thus down to Philadelphia. The valley is very narrow through Lackawaxen township and in many places the steep hills lay so close to the river as to become a mountain gorge rather than a valley, and the Delaware and Hudson Canal and Erie Railway Companies, which occupy the right and left banks of the stream respectively, have been compelled to blast out great rocks to pass through. The scenery along the Lacka- waxen is rugged and grand, and often visited by city visitors in summer. The Lackawaxen receives the waters of Blooming Grove Creek . and Tink Creek, outlet of Tink Pond. Wolf Pond and Westcalong Pond are the other prin- cipal lakes. The scenery along the Delaware is also fine. Masthope Creek flows through the northern part of the township and enters the Delaware at Masthope.

1 In writing the history of Wallenpaupack settlement, acknowledgment should be made for the assistance ren- dered by Ephraim Killam, Esq., of Hawley, M. N. B. Kil- lam and wife, Thomas V. Taft and to P. G. Goodrich's " History of Wayne County" and Charles Miner's "History of Wyoming."

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PIKE COUNTY.

LACKAWAXEN VILLAGE .- Jonathan Conk- ling and John Barnes were the first settlers in Lackawaxen. They located at the mouth of the Lackawaxen River, Conkling on the south side of the stream and Barnes on the north side. They came before the Revolution. Absalom Conkling related that his father took his family and a few things in a canoe and paddled down the Lackawaxen and Delaware to the stone fort of the Westfalls. One day, after he thought the Indian trouble was over, he and two of his boys rowed up to their home at nightfall. They saw a light in the cabin, and creeping up carefully, looked through a crack of the house, when they discovered two Indians who had taken peaceable possession. They had a fire in the fire-place and one lay asleep while the other was busy picking the flint of his gun. Conkling and his boys slipped back to their canoe and floated down to the fort again, whence they and the Barneses came back after the war and again occupied their old homes.

Jonathan Conkling's children were John, Lewis,1 Benjamin and Absalom, sons, who lived to great ages and died in the township, so far as ascertained. The name has become ex- tinct in the township. Absalom died at Row- land's, aged eighty-four, more than forty years ago. Thyre, Tamar, Lydia and Freelove were the daughters. Tamar married a Brown and lived in Milford ; Martha, a daughter by a second wife, married Samuel Barnard and lives below Hawley.

John Barnes inarried Betsey Haley. Their sons were Thomas, Abram, Cornelius, William, Nathan, John and Jeremiah. These children and their descendants are scattered through the West and elsewhere. Elizabeth, a daughter of John's, was the wife of Charles B. Ridgeway, who lived at Lackawaxen, and Judge Thomas J. Ridgeway, their son, still resides there. Henry Barnes, a brother of Mrs. Ridgeway, located in Milford. Lucian Barnes, attorney-at-

law, and Britton Barnes were his sons. Vir- ginia was the wife of Dr. Edward Haliday. Hortense is the wife of Rev. D. A. Sandford, and Martha married Samuel Thrall, of Milford. Jeremiah T. Barnes, a descendant of one of these Barnes, was once sheriff of Wayne County and an extensive lumberman. Peter S. Barnes, another descendant, is at present register and recorder of Wayne County.

Jacob Bonnel came to Lackawaxen shortly after the Conklings, and located on the south side of the Lackawaxen, near the canal bridge. William, Benjamin and Joseph Holbert were here early, likewise Elias Brown. Nathan Lord located one-half mile above the mouth of the Lackawaxen. Charles B. Ridgway came to Lackawaxen about 1807 and located on the Lackawaxen one mile above its mouth. John Armstrong was the first merchant, in 1827. William F. Dutcher and T. J. Ridgway have been merchants since. Benjamin Holbert had a store-room in his house about three miles above Lackawaxen at an early date. They formerly brought goods from Newburgh to Mil- ford, thence up the Milford and Owego turnpike to Darlingville, and thus on to Lackawaxen.

After the canal was built they used it for shipping purposes, and now employ the Erie Railroad. Darlingville was on the turnpike, and was so named in honor of Samuel Darling, father of Deacon John P. Darling, who was its first postmaster, but since the advent of rail- roads, this, like many another turnpike village, has degenerated. John Williamson was the first postmaster at Lackawaxen. Rev. Dr. Thomas House Taylor built the first hotel, where the Williamson House afterward stood, in 1852. John Williamson purchased this prop- erty and made additions to it, when it burned down. He then built the present Williamson House, or New York Hotel. He also erected the Asher House; Calvin Van Benschoten built the National Hotel, and William Holbert the Lackawaxen House at the forks of the Dela- ware and Lackawaxen Rivers. The hotels will accommodate two hundred guests, and are de- signed for summer boarders who visit this de- lightful and healthful region annually, in search of health and rest.

1 Lackawaxen is just opposite and about one and one- half miles from where the battle of Minisink was fought. Lewis Conkling went up with the reinforcements to the point of the hill after the whites gave back. They saw the Indians that were burning Terwilliger, but knew nothing of their force and did not dare attack them.

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WAYNE, PIKE AND MONROE COUNTIES, PENNSYLVANIA.

There is good fishing in the Delaware and lakes near by. The York Pond covers about one hundred acres, and is an immense mountain spring situated about four hundred feet above the Lackawaxen. There are a series of falls of about two hundred feet descent on the ontlet of this pond, where is located a club-house. Dr. Debron was the first physician in Lacka- waxen ; Elder Kyte, a Baptist, was the first preacher in the township. They first organized about 1827, when the canal was built, and the Barryville preacher occasionally preached. Isaac Mills was the first deacon in the Baptist Church and John Johnson and family were among the earliest members. Jeremiah Barnes and family and John Barnes and family were the leaders among the Methodists who held their first meetings in Jeremiah Barnes' house. The Baptists and Methodists built a Union Church in 1848, in which they have a Union Sunday- School and which they occupy harmoniously for religious purposes. The Lutherans organ- ized about 1856. Henry Banker and family, Anthony Arntz and family, George Bisel and family and John Hocker and family were the leading members. They use the school-house, which was built in 1856. The Catholics have a church which was built about 1865. The first school was taught by Mr. Layton at the Nathan Lord place.

Mordecai Roberts, a Quaker of some means from Philadelphia, settled one mile north of Rowland's Station, on the Lacka waxen, in 1791. Although he was a Quaker, General Washing- ton so far conquered his prejudices as to make him a messenger to carry dispatches to different posts. In the performance of this duty he sometimes rode forty-eight hours without leav- ing his saddle. He had a horse shot from under him at one time and was severely wounded by a bayonet thrust at another time. His services were so valuable to the Americans that the British offered a reward for his head, but he lived to be one of the first settlers in Lackawaxen township after the war. His father, Hugh Roberts, was a wealthy man, and built a Quaker Church in Philadelphia. He had an immense fortune left him in England, said to amount to thirty-six million dollars,

but lacked a marriage certificate and never obtained it. Mordecai Roberts purchased a large tract of land in Lackawaxen, built mills and otherwise improved the place. He married a New England woman. The children were Samuel, wife of John Monington, of Philadelphia ; Anna, wife of Jacob Walters, of Philadelphia, one of whose daughters was the wife of Andrew Simons, of Hawley, and is now living, aged eighty-four. Willian, Julia, Ann, Mordecai and Thomas are children by the second wife.

Samuel Roberts, the eldest son above men- tioned, cleared a farm about two miles south- west of his father. Now standing among the apple-trees there are pines eighteen inchies through, the farm having all grown to a wilder- ness again. Pike County scrub oak and pine lands have to be kept under constant cultiva- tion or they will soon be covered with native forest-trees ; consequently, farming on the hills of Pike is a constant battle with scrub oaks and scrub pine. Here nature wages a constant war- fare, and the primeval forests unceasingly claim the soil as their own. Whether Pike County humanity, animated by Pike County whiskey, will conquer the den of the rattlesnake and the lair of the bear is an undetermined question. Certain it is that several well cultivated farms, such as the Roberts place and the Sylvanian Societies' land, have been reclaimed by the forests.

Samuel Roberts' children were Betsey, Aun, Abbey, Lucy, Urban, John, Samuel, Mordecai, Susan and William, who all grew to mature years, married in the township and most of whom moved West. Ann was the wife of Moses Brink, son of Jonathan Brink, of White Mills, and is now living in the township, aged eighty- two. John Westfall afterward owned the old Mordecai Roberts place in 1834. He raised a large family of children, among them Solomon and James, of Rowland's, and Gabriel, of Col- umbia, D. T. Judge William Westfall, who died at the Westfall home in 1882, contributed many articles of a historical character to the press, and was for years a correspondent of the Milford Herald and Dispatch, a stanch Democrat. He was elected county commissioner

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History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania, Part 155

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