History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania, Part 170

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 170
USA > Pennsylvania > Pike County > History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania > Part 170
USA > Pennsylvania > Wayne County > History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania > Part 170

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).

Corn

Potatoes "

100

Tons of hay

" Different kinds of soil : Red Shale and Clay loam. We find the red shale is best for rye, wheat and corn. Fertilizers used the last season : Manure, 180 tons ; lime, 150 bushels.

"Apples raised, 330 bushels ; buckwheat raised, 40 bushels per acre."

A BONE CAVE .- In closing this chapter, it is proper to advert, as a matter of archaeological interest, to a cave which exists in Walpack, or Godfrey's Ridge, in Stroud township, about two miles west of Stroudsburg. A cave was long known to exist at this point, on land of Mr. Hartman, near the summit of the ridge, consisting of little more than a hole in the face of the limestone cliff; but in the year 1879 or 1880, Mr. T. D. Paret, an enterprising manu- facturer, fond of scientific pursuits, took the place in hand, and by his excavations in the clay deposit that had nearly filled the cave, and in the débris outside of the entrance, developed the true nature of the cave and unearthed many curious relics of bygone ages.

An account of these discoveries cannot be better given than by the following extracts which we quote from the proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, of the date of September 21, 1880, at which Professor Leidy made a report upon the sub- ject.

"Bone Caves of Pennsylvania .- Professor Leidy re- marked that in the early part of August, in company with Dr. T. C. Porter, of Easton, he had visited Hartman's Cave, in the vicinity of Stroudsburg, Pa. They had been invited by Mr. T. Dunkin Paret, of that place, who had recently undertaken the explora- tion of the cave, and had obtained from it an inter- esting and important collection of animal remains, which had been submitted to Professor Leidy's exam- ination.

"The cave is situated about five miles from Delaware Water Gap, in a ridge which separates Cherry Valley , from the valleys of the Pocono and McMichael's Creeks. The ridge is an anti-clinal fold of the Hel- derberg or Upper Silurian limestone, and the cave occupies the axis of the fold, and opens in the face of a cliff formed by a cross section of the ridge. An accumulation of débris forms a slope at the base of

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WAYNE, PIKE AND MONROE COUNTIES, PENNSYLVANIA.

the cliff, and above the débris, and just below the arching roof of the cave, a low passage-way has long been known, into which adventurous' boys would creep.

" Mr. Paret commenced the exploration by having a passage dug through the debris to the entrance of the cave, and then extended the trench within the latter for upwards of a hundred feet and to a depth sufficient to walk erect. At one place within the cave, the digging was carried to the rock floor. It would thus appear that the cave is occupied by a bed of clay about ten feet in depth. On this is a thin layer of stalagmite, and on this again, about a foot of black, friable earth, mingled with animal and vegetable remains.

" Professor Leidy supposed that during the glacial period, a stream of water from melting snow and ice at a higher level had made a passage-way through the fissured limestone of the anti-clinal axis, and had left in it the abandant clay deposit. When the cave ceased to be a water-course, the layer of stalagmite was formed, and subsequently the more friable earth accumulated from materials, such as dust and leaves blown in and mingled with the remains of animals, occupants of the cave, and of their food.

The remains thus far discovered are of such inter- est as to encourage Mr. Paret to continue further exploration. Most of those collected to the present time were exhibited by Professor Leidy, and consist of the following :

" Numerous fragments and splinters of limb bones of smaller and larger animals, many or most of which exhibit the marks of being gnawed, whether by rodents or smaller carnivores is somewhat uncertain. A few also show the marks of canine tceth of medium- sized carnivores. Some of the splinters pertain to such large and strong bones as to render it question- able whether they were produced by even our largest carnivores, and probably are the remnants of human feasts, in which the bones were crushed to obtain the marrow. Numerous bones and fragments of others of the smaller and smallest animals. These include especially limb boucs and lower jaws, and less frequently, skulls, fragments of others and vertebræ. Many of these are also gnawed, while many are not.

" The fragments of larger bones may be supposed to have been conveyed into the cave by small carni- vores. A few pieces of bone arc somewhat charred, and a small fragment of a lower jaw, containing a molar tooth of the bison, also apparently exhibits the marks of fire. This probably is a remnant from a human feast, which may have been carried into the cave by some small gleaner.

" All the bones and fragments together amount to about half a {bushel. Most of them pertain to ani- mals of a kind still living, though some of them no longer belong to the fauna of our State, and a few of the remains are those of extinct animals. How far the remains of different species are cotemporary is

uncertain, though it is most probable that they were introduced through a long succession of years from the time following the glacial period.

" The remains of extinct animals consist of an in- cisor tooth and half a dozen molars of the great rodent Castoroides Ohioensis, and portions of the upper and lower jaw with teeth of a young Peccary, the Dicotyles nasutus, previously known only from a sin- gle fragment of an upper jaw discovered in Indiana (Extinct Mammalia of North America, 385, pl. xxviii., figs. 1, 2, Jour. Acad. Nat. Sc. vii. 1869).

" The remains of animals no longer living in Penn- sylvania are as follows: Bones and teeth of the Caribou, or Woodland Reindeer, Rangifer caribou.

" A fragment of the lower jaw containing the last molar tooth of the Bison, B. Americanus.

"Many lower jaw halves and other bones and teetli of the Wood-rat, Neotoma floridana. Most of these are of comparatively large size, and of the character of similar remains referred by Professor Baird to a supposed extinct species, with the name of Neotoma magister. (U. S. P. R. R. Exp. and Surveys -- Zool- ogy, viii. 1857, 498).

" Remains of other mammals are as follows: Lynx, Felis Canadensis ; Wolf, Canis lupus ; Gray Fox, Vulpes Virginianus; Skunk, Mephitis mephitica ; Wea- sel, Putorius ermineus ; Raccoon, Procyon lotor ; Mole, Scalops aquaticus ; Dusky Bat, Vespertilio fuscus; Little Brown Bat, V. subulatus; Woodchuck, Arcto- mys monax ; Porcupine, Erethizon dorsatus ; Beaver, Castor fiber ; Muskrat, Fiber zibethicus ; Gray Squir- rel, Sciurus Carolinensis ; Ground Squirrel, Tamias striatus ; Gray Rabbit, Lepus sylvaticus ; Mcadow Mouse, Arvicola riparius; White-footed Mouse, Hes- peromys leucopus; Deer, Cervus Virginianus; Elk, Corvus Canadensis.

"The collection further contains numerous bird bones, chiefly of the wild turkey, some of turtles, and others of several species of snakes. In the same stratum were also found a number of shells of mol- lusks, chiefly Helix albolabris, H. alternata and H. tridentata. Also a valve of Unio complanatus.

" The human remains are of an interesting charac- ter. One is a large stone celt of hard, brown slate, obtained from the bone earth some distance within the cave. There are five bone awls, several of which exhibit marks of gnawing. Some of these were found in the cave and others in the outside debris. An im- plement consists of the prong of an antler, worked so as to be barbed on one side, and was probably used as a needle for making nets.

" A small implement of bone resembles in its pres- ent condition a crochet needle, such as is now em- ployed by ladies in making worsted work. It is much gnawed away on one side and looks as if it may have been like an ordinary needle with a perfo- ration, and this now rendered incomplete from the gnawing.

--------- ---

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MONROE COUNTY.

" Another implement is a fish-hook worked out of bone.

"Such bone implements are among the rarest of human relics in our portion of the country.

" Another remarkable relic is a cone shell bored through the axis as a bead. The shell is a marine species, Conus tornatus, found on the western coast of Central America. Its presence among the cave re- mains would indicate an extended intercourse among the inhabitants of early times."

CHAPTER VIII.

SMITHFIELD TOWNSHIP.1

ORGANIZATION AND DESCRIPTION OF THE TOWNSHIP .- As is well known to most readers of the local history of this region, Smithfield was the northernmost township of Bucks County. Its southern border was, as now, the Blue Mountain ; its eastern, the Delaware River ; while on the north and west its jurisdiction extended as far as the temerity of the white man would permit him to penetrate into the wilderness.

The whole of the Pennsylvania portion of the Minisink was at one time comprised in the territory of Smithfield.

Its topographical features are diversified and beautiful, even in its present circumscribed limits.

The valley lands are the result of alluvial de- posits, possibly lacustrine in origin, and are arable to great depths, with a productive capacity resembling the prairies of the West. The larger portion is, however, broken, irregu- lar and hilly. The characteristic natural fea- tures are the Blue Mountain, the Delaware River and the Delaware Water Gap (described elsewhere). The larger streams, besides the Delaware, arc Brodhead Creek, which conveys the water from the Pocono Mountain to the Delaware, and passes through a wild, picturesque country before reaching Smithfield; with its tributaries it drains a large part of the area of the county. Marshall Creek enters Brodhead Creek a short distance before the latter reaches the Delaware. It is noted for

its two pretty water-falls and for its apparently inexhaustible supply of brook trout. Cherry Creek is the other important stream in Smith- field. All of these are noted trout streams. Cherry Creek was named after Edward Cherry, or " Ned " Cherry, by which name the creek was known for some years. Cherry was one of the very early settlers of this portion of Smith- field before 1738. Marshall Creek is said to be named after Edward Marshall, the success- ful walker, or runner, in the " walking pur- chase." Brodhead Creek was named after Daniel Brodhead, who settled on the stream at East Stroudsburg in 1738. The Indian name was Analoming (now written Analo- mink). That portion of Brodhead Creek, from the junction of Marshall to the Dela- ware, is sometimes called Smithfield Creek. The Dutch in the Minisink do not seem to have adopted very readily the Indian names of the local streams, but chose rather to apply to each their own word " kill," or kil, for creek, leav- ing, as we may suppose, the descriptive part of the name to follow, as some characteristic of the stream suggested itself. But in a country where both land and streams are made to order, the greatest possible peculiarity a creek could present to the mind of a Hollander, would be to see it overgrown with trees and shrubs ; hence, in going forth in the Minisink to take a survey of his newly-acquired " claim," and ob- tain a description, the phenomenon of the sparkling waters issuing from beneath the over- hanging bushes, meets his eye, and readily the happy epithet rushes to his mind and finds expression " Bosch Kil !" (Bush Kill), and he eagerly makes the following note : " Bosch Kil empties into the Zuydt" (Delaware), and ex- claims, " That is very good !" But he is destined to a more serious tax upon his imaginative powers. In the further exploration he comes upon another stream, with bushes to the right of it, bushes to the left of it and bushes all over it, and to find different names for two things possessing one and the same characteristic was puzzling indeed, and it is not to be wondered that he concluded it was about the time to sit down and take a smoke, with the hope, too, of soothing his per-

1 By Luke W. Brodhead.

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WAYNE, PIKE AND MONROE COUNTIES, PENNSYLVANIA.

plexed brain. Hc rises after a rest and finds himself equal to the occasion, and proceeds at once to enter in his notc-book, in good strong Dutch, the following memorandum : " A Bosch Kil empties into the Bosch Kil and the Bosch Kil empties into the Zuydt." And he hur- ricdly retraces his steps, not caring to encounter another bushy creek in the exhausted condition of his vocabulary.

A recent examination of some early title papers became quite puzzling in finding that what was subsequently called Brodhead Crcek was then entitled " a Bush Kill," and its tribu- tary, Marshall Creek, called in the same paper " another Bush Kill."

Following is a copy of the first petition of the inhabitants of Smithfield for the location of a township in 1746 :

"To the Judges and Justices of the peace of the Co Court of Quarter Sessions for the Co of Bucks to be held at Newton 13 June, 1746. The petition of the most part of the inhabitants and Freeholders of Smithfield Humbly Sheweth,

" That we, your petitioners, having suffered in many respects for the want of a Township layed out & is likely to suffer more and more with all due submis- sion desire your Honours would be pleased seriously and specdily have a Township layed out in the Manner following, viz-to begin at the Gap in the mountain where the River Delaware runs throughi & from thence five or six miles north & to west corner & from thence to the N. corner of Christoff Den- mark's plantation & from thence north a straight line to the River Delaware & thence to several corners thereof to the place of Beginning.

" Patt Ker. C. Denmark, Jr. his James Hyndshaw.

Nicholas Dpui. Daniel Depui.

Wm. Mc x Nab.

Aaron Dupui.

mark.

Isaac Tak.

Bernard x Stroud.

mark.

Joseph Savin.

Abram Clark.

Richd. Howell.

John Pierce.

his

Robert Hannah.

Lambert x Bush.

his Samuel x Vanaroun.

mark

his John x Decker.

his mark

Valentine x Snyder. mark

John Boss.

Jonathan Gerenly.

his

Pieter J. x Westbrook.

mark

John Honog. John Courtright Thomas Herson."

" In this petition for the organization of Smithfield, the subscribers ask that the line of the proposed township may go to the north corner of Christoff Denmark's plantation and from thence north a straight line to the River Delaware. The name of Christoff Denmark, Jr., appears as one of the signers. There is a creek in Lehman township, Pike County, called Denmark, on which it is supposed he lived. The petitioners ask that a north line may be drawn from this point to the Delaware. As the river makes a detour towards the west, this north line would have struck the Delaware somewhere near the mouth of the Lackawaxen, including all the Minisink on the Pennsylvania side of the river. But little is known of Christofell, or Christopher Denmark, Sr. It appears from the court records that he died about 1767, and that his children were Christopher and Barnabas. Their names do not appear after that date."

The following is a copy of the second petition (1748), which appears to have brought about the desired result :

" To the Hon the Judges of the Court of Q. S. held at (and) for the Co of Bucks the 13th day of Sept 1748. The petition of Sundry inhabitants of Smithfield and Dansbury beyond the Blue Mts ---- Humbly Sheweth That in May in the year 1744 there was a road laid out from a considerable bend of the river Delaware to one John McMichle's plantation & about 2 years ago the same was continued to Nasareth from whence there continued a road to Philada. have your petit (however your petitioners) not- notwithstanding are as far from receiving the advan- tages proposed by having the road afd. (aforesaid) laid as before owing entirely as your pets (petitioners) conceive to the want of a twp. (township) which your pet. (petitioncrs) pray may extend from the river Delaware along the mountain, to a Gap on the same, through which the road from McMichle's to Nass (Nazareth) goes, from thence northerly to a large creek commonly called the Bushkill down the same to Delaware afsd. (aforesaid) & down Delaware to the place of beginning -- And as the quantity of land in- cluded in the above description may be - as two large for a township your pets (petitioners) humbly pray your Honors to consider that more than 3 there- of is Barrens, that your Pets in general are new settlers & and that the road to be opened being very stony &c requires considerable strength to make it answer the convenience of yours petitioners

" Aaron Dupui. Samuel Barber.

John teed. Jonathan Barber.

- - Jones.

James Carle.

John Baker.

Benjamin Barber,

Adam H. Snell. Aia Clark

John Baker. David Teed.

Bernard Stroud. Daniel Roberts.

Samuel Drake.

Danl. Brodhead.

his

Beama Sconmaker.

mark

John Riley.

his R. x Schoonover. mark

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MONROE COUNTY.

Moses Dupui.

his John x McMichle.

Charles -

Jolın Garlinghouse.

mark.

Hendrike Cuatoneyman.

John Hilliman.

Edward Hally.

John Pierce.

John McDowell.

- Seitz

Samuel Holmes.

-Jennings.

Joshua Parker.

Edwd. Snell.

Benjamin teed.

his

William Macknot.

Geo. x Harron.

James Powell.

mark.

Andrew Robinson.

Thos. Hill.

James Philips. his

Elisha Johnson.

John x Brink." mark.

" Ordered, That the Surveyor Gen. or his Dept. lay out the Twpt. according to the within petition & make return thereof to the next court."

The population in 1742 is stated to have been five hundred. In 1780 its taxables num_ bered two hundred and fifty, which shows a population of about twelve hundred and fifty. Of course the "poor Indian" was left out in this estimate.

It would be interesting to know just how the native population was regarded by the isolated settlers above the Blue Mountain at this period in its history. Without higher motives, policy would dictate that they should be treated gene- rously and kindly for the security of the settlers, as for some years they must have been at the mercy of the Indians, who, for the time, greatly outnumbered the whites.

It would seem that many of the natives were either employed, or the younger members adopted, by the wealthier families. Nicholas De Pui seems to have liad in his employ, or had care over, Indians and Indian boys named " Joseph," "James " and " Pammer " ; Samuel De Pui provided for " Cobus," " Howpeek," " Arry," "Anthony the Great," "Poxino," etc .; James Hyndshaw, on the Bushkill, his In- dian boy "Joo" ; Benjamin Shoemaker, "James," etc. These all were names given as by adoption, and is evidence of almost paternal regard for the younger members of the tribe on the part of these early settlers, and it proves, too, that the Indians in the Minisink at that day were not of the character of those we hear of in the West at the present. The foriner were as we found them; the latter are as we have made tliem.

The Shawnees were a Southern tribe, invited here, it is said, by the Lenni Lenapes about 1680. They proved to be troublesome and an- noying to their .benefactors. They are spoken of by the Minsis as "the worst of Indians." We are led to wonder why the Indian town on the Delaware, and the large island opposite, in Smithfield, should have been named "Shawnee," -having evidently been so named by the In- dians themselves-as the Shawnees were not at any time the dominant party in any portion of the. Minisink.

For some years after the white settlers first came to this valley the degradation and suffer- ing of its native people had not been realized to the extent felt in other portions of the country, though the transfer of their homes of the " stranger " had commenced even before the " Walking Purchase." They had escaped for a time, in this secluded valley, the devastating storm that was raging without, and found here a refuge and a home of comparative quiet, among those who had treated them humanely and in whom they confided. The continued peace and security which the early settlers also enjoyed in this valley, and particularly at this juncture, when the Indians were suffering so much on every hand by the intrigues of the whites and the cruelty of their enemies, is proof of the peaceable character of the Minsi Indians, and that they were inclined to deal justly and live fraternally with those who manifested a like disposition.

There is a small remnant of the Delawares still living in Western Kansas. The government recognizes them in their tribal relation, and con- tinues to appropriate to them a small sum an- nually.

EARLY SETTLEMENTS .- It is generally ad- mitted that Nicholas De Pui was the first per- manent resident of Smithfield and of the Penn- sylvania portion of the Minisink ; that he loca- ted here in 1725, purchased a large body of land from the natives the second year after, and repurchased a portion of the same land of Wil- liam Allen in 1733.

But the ubiquitous John Smith had a name here, if not "a local habitation," when these events were transpiring ; whether he was here

103

Johnson Decker.

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WAYNE, PIKE AND MONROE COUNTIES, PENNSYLVANIA.

before anybody else, or only intended to be rep- resented here before anybody else, is not ascer- tained.

It is at least certain that he had claim to land in the territory that has ever since born his fam- iliar cognomen, and that the claim was recognized by William Allen in his first deed to Nicholas De Pui. The first tide of immigration into this valley flowed from the direction of the Hudson, entering the Delaware Valley at the mouth of the Mamakating and spreading throughout its borders. Previous to 1780 there were very few settlers here from any other direction. They made selection of the level lands along the river and in many instances their descendants occupy the original possessions.

The second wave, as it may be termed, set in from the South after 1780, bringing mainly de- scendants from the early settlers in Montgomery, Bucks and Northampton Counties. This class located in Cherry Valley and in the Valleys of Brodhead and Pocono Creeks. This immigra- tion continued up to and after the year 1800.

(For further account of Smithfield, see Local Reminiscences).

All the early settlements made in the valley of the Minisink were by persons residing on the Hudson, in and about Esopes and New Paltz, and they were almost exclusively of low Dutch or Holland origin, and found their way into this valley by the old Mine road.

We have no certain account of any perma- nent settlement made in the Pennsylvania por- tion of the Minisink earlier than that of Nicho- las De Pui, in 1725. His two brothers, Abram and Ephraim, came at the same time and locat- ed in the New Jersey portion of the Minisink. Abram afterwards removed down the Delaware and purchased a property on the Pennsylvania side opposite Foul Reef, of whom Judge Depuy, of honorable eminence in New Jersey, is a de- scendant. What became of the enterprising Hollanders who penetrated this valley many years before, for mining purposes, at Paha- quarra, is not known ; it-is thought that a few of these, with their families, remained, as there are well authenticated accounts of earlier settle- ments in the New Jersey Minisink than 1725. The Van Campens came about this date and

were friends of the De Puis. The De Puis, how- ever, were not of Holland, but of French origin.1

The intercourse of the people of this portion of the Delaware Valley was exclusively with their countrymen residing in towns along the Hudson, from which they had themselves emi- grated. Their outlet was by the " old Mine " road, which commenced about three miles above the De Pui settlement, in New Jersey, where the mining operations were carried on, to the Hudson, a distance of one hundred miles. And they found this road very serviceable in enab- ling them to transport the surplus products of their farms to market by sleds in winter, and to bring from thence their needed supplics.

The mines appear to have been worked to a considerable extent. Two horizontal drifts of several hundred feet in length penetrate the side of the mountain, a few hundred feet above the river Delaware, with several smaller open- ings adjacent.

The mines are distant about eight miles from the Delaware Water Gap in Pahaquarra. This name is corrupted from the original Indian name of the Delaware Water Gap, " Pohoqua- line," called also at different periods Pahqua- line and Pahaqualia, meaning a river passing between two mountains.

Colonel Jacob Stroud is familiarly associated with the delightful town bearing his name. He was well known as an active, enterprising business man and figured prominently in the history of the times in which he lived.

He was born at Amwell, N. J., in 1735.2

In 1738 Daniel Brodhead purchased fifteen hundred acres of land extending from what was formerly known as the " Flower Garden," above Stroudsburg, to and including the " falls " and water-power now owned by William Wallace, and at this place Ephraim Culver built a grist- mill in 1753, which was the second mill north of the mountain-the first being Depui's at Shawnee.

From the annals of the " Red Rose Inn " we learn that Ephraim Culver,3 the sixth landlord

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History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania, Part 170

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