History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania, Part 174

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 174
USA > Pennsylvania > Pike County > History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania > Part 174
USA > Pennsylvania > Wayne County > History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania > Part 174

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).

The most extensive and well-known of In- dian trails in this part of the country is that commencing at the Hudson River, passing in a westerly direction to and through the Mini- sink country, thence along the base of the Blue Mountain to Mahanoy Valley, and to the Sus- quehanna River at Sunbury. At the Hudson 1 the trail extended eastward to the New England States. Along this national highway, as in

1 " A CURIOSITY AND ANCIENT LANDMARK .-- In a field on the Gardiner Smith farm, near the road between Ellen- ville and Kingston, says the Utiea (N. Y.) Herald, is a chestnut tree, which is both a natural euriosity and an aneient landmark. The trunk is eight feet in diameter. Four feet from the ground a white elm tree a foot in diam- eter projeets from the trunk. It is supposed that there was onee a eavity or depression in the side of the chestnut tree, which became filled with decayed vegetable matter, into which a seed from an elm had lodged and from which sprung the present elm. The latter has spreading branches, which mingle their foliage with that of the chestnut every year. Both trees are sound. The chestnut was an important landmark in the ancient Indian trail leading from Esopus to the Delaware Water Gap, down the Neversink and Dela- ware Valleys. It is mentioned in many old legal docu- ments of Ulster County. The tree is about 600 years old."

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modern times we would speak of it, radiated trails north and south of the great artery, for its whole length ; in this section those diverging southward passed through the several depres- sions in the mountain leading to Indian settle- ments, notably those through the Delaware Water Gap, Tatemy's Gap, Wind Gap and Lehigh Gap; those to the northward, up the numerous valleys and streams that intersect the main thoroughfare at varying angles. The well-known Indian trail to Wyoming Valley was one of these diverging lines of travel, and furnished the bearings for the road cut for the passage of General Sullivan's army on its march to the rescue of the Wyoming sufferers, in 1779.

Surely the poor Indians have been better to us than we to them, for they have shown us "the way we should go," and it is literally true that we follow in their footsteps.

" The lines along which, with roar and rumble, the engine now rushes with its mighty load, making an old-time day's journey in sixty minutes, are almost exactly coincident with the first rude wagon-roads of the pioneers of a century and more ago, and also with the paths or trails along the water-courses and through the easiest mountain passes trodden from time im- memorial by the moccasined foot of the red man. The skilled surveyor and engineer has followed with scientific instruments where the Indian first went, guided only by the instincts of woodcraft. The difference between the new and the old is far less in the lines of communication than in the method of travel, and the moderns, with all of their wisdom and knowledge, have done little besides making grand improvements on old routes-building with stone and iron and stecl, it is true, but, nevertheless, along the course of the old, narrow, leaf-strewn path that the Indian first found out was the most dircct and prac- ticable line of communication between two given points."

PIONEER ROADS .- The desire to facilitate intercourse with each other, evinced by the early settlers of a neighborhood, in the im- mediatc construction of foot-paths, bridle-paths and roadways from dwelling to dwelling, as each new settler appeared, probably gave rise to the old Roman maxim that " the first step in civilization is to make roads." In most cases the first roads were constructed upon foot- paths by the new dwellers, and so continued, as other families appearcd, for the convenience of friendly intercourse and mutual protection,

without thought that these foot-paths were destined in time to become the established high- ways of the country. Hence the adverse criti- cism on country roads in general is more frequent than just. It is very easy now to dis- cover where hills might have been avoided and distances shortened and to reproach these pio- neers for the lack of engineering skill displayed in road-making.

Roads laid out by order of court in these early times were frequently located upon Indian trails, and not unfrequently upon the trails of wild animals. Senator Benton advised Colonel Fremont, in his first expedition, to notice the trail of animals across the country westward, observing that "the buffalo is the best of engineers."

The correctness of this observation is con- firmed in the experience of old hunters, who ascertain that deer and other wild animals, when unpursued, follow the best chosen route of travel from their hiding-places in the swamps to the plains and across the mountains ; and that class of hunters who avail themselves of this knowl- edge dispense with the use of the dog and the excitement of the chase for the more successful, though solitary, " still hunt," lying in wait upon the trail until such time as the well-known habits of the animal lead him to quit his hiding- place in quest of food and water, when he falls an easy prey to the deliberate aim of the hunter.

Roads through the several " Gaps " or depres- sions in the Blue Ridge, between the Delaware and Lehigh Rivers, were laid out on Indian trails. These trails were severally used as found most convenient, from time immemorial, by the different tribes of Indians living between the Delaware and Susquehanna, in their inter- course with other tribes and nations south of the mountain, and subsequently in their attendance upon the numerous conferences held at Easton and Philadelphia ; as also in convey- ing their furs and pelts to a place of barter. But it was in the way of these people to Bethlehem, to seek a city of safety during the troublesome times that followed the advent of the white man, that tliese mountain paths became most frequented after the settlement of the Moravians, in 1742.

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For many years after settlements were made in the Minisink there was little or no intercourse with the inhabitants south of the Blue Ridge, and no wagon roads in that direction or any other, except "the Old Mine road," extending from the copper-mines at Pahaquarry to Esopus on the Hudson, a distance of one hundred miles. This was the first road north of the mountain and is claimed to be the first of that extent in the province of Pennsyvania.

The Old Mine road greatly facilitated im- migration to the Minisink. and brought to this section a well-to-do class of men. In the succeeding fifty years there was little immigra- tion from any other direction.

The country south of the Blue Ridge was inaccessible except by Indian paths through the several " gaps " in the mountains.

The Mine road was also one of the main avenues of communication between New Eng- land and Wyoming. Over it passed the enter- prising people of Connecticut on their way to settle in this valley, which was claimed by their State, to the great disturbance of the Pennsyl- vania portion of the Minisink, and which was the occasion of frequent communications with the authorities at Philadelphia. Over this road also passed the suffering fugitives after the massacre at Wyoming in 1778, after fifty miles of weary wandering through a desolate wilderness between the Susquehanna and Dela- ware Rivers.

The old Mine road is the principal highway for modern travel for the country through which it passes.

In 1734 a petition, signed by Jacob Swart- wood, William Proovost, William Cole and others, inhabitants of Minisink, Orange County, was presented to the Assembly of New York, asking for assistance in repairing about forty miles of the Mine road, to the house of Elbert Dewitt, in the town of Rochester, as they (the citizens) liad no other way of trans- porting their produce than through the Mini- sink road.

There is scarcely a doubt that the original purpose, in the construction of this road, was the transportation of minerals from mines in the Lower Minisink to the Hudson River.

The apparent inconsistency of its construction for that purpose, as it now seems to us, is the result of its having evidently been built before the value and' extent of the mineral deposits were ascertained. There is still enough, how- ever, in the appearance of the copper-mines at Pahaquarry, in the Lower Minisink, to allure the sanguine and unscientific adventurer.

As to the time the road was built, we know, to a certainty, very little. That it was in ex- istence when Nicholas Depui settled in the Lower Minisink, in 1725, is unquestioned. It is fair to conclude,therefore, that the road was built and the mining commenced before the English obtained possession of New York, in 1664, and, if so, it was the oldest road of the same extent in the county. Whether constructed by government or by individual enterprise, it was a work of great magnitude at that early day. The country through which it passed being, of course, an cil- tire wilderness, the difficulties to be overcome we can well imagine to be such as would be considered formidable at this day, with the benefit of modern skill and modern appliances. To remove the gigantic trces of the primitive forest was impossible in the narrow compass of a wagon-road, and the only method was the slow process of burning, after they had been felled to the ground by the axemen.

They could have had little knowledge either of the geography or topography of the section through which they were passing, and must have encountered difficulties in determining even the general direction, without scarcely at- tempting to make choice of favorable grade or suitable location, and yet we are told that the road is very judiciously laid out ; and this all seems to be explained when we learn that it was laid on the old Indian trail leading from the Hudson to the Delaware Water Gap.

In giving an account of the early roads of the neighborhood, interest attaches to the per- sons originating their construction, and who, at the time, resided in the locality. Such personal history is very meagre, but, as far as can be ob- tained, is given in these papers.

The first public road constructed, of which we have any record, after the Mine road, was from Nicholas Depui's, in the Minisink, to William

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Cole's, in 1737. The extent and direction of this road is not now known. In the year 1744 a road was laid out by the court at Doylestown, Bucks County, from Walpack Bend, on the Delaware, to Isaac Ysselstein's, on the Lehigh, via Solo- mon Jennings', and thence to the old Bethlehem road, which was twenty-seven miles and one hundred and eighteen perches.

The distance liere named is the same as that from Walpack Bend to the Wind Gap, and that was doubtless the portion embraced in the grant.

In another petition to the court for the same road, the route is described as " starting from a considerable bend in the River Delaware to John McMichael's plantation (Mount Paul), and continued two years afterward to Nazareth, from which place there is a road to Philadel- phia." This road followed the course of the river from the " Bend," one mile south of Bush- kill, where there was formerly a ford and now a ferry, to Shawnee ; thence by Stroudsburg, passing over Mount Paul to what is now Kunkletown; and from thence over the hills coming into Cherry Valley, at Shaw's Mead- ows, now the home of Abram Featherman.

The petition of Aaron Depui, Thomas Mc- Cracken, Robert McCracken, William McFeren and Daniel Craig, for a road from Depui's mill (Shawnee), by way of Tatemy's Gap to Easton, was granted in 1753, to be a bridle- road from Samuel Depui's to the east end of Brushy Meadows, and from thence a wagon- road to Easton. This was the year after the organization of Northampton County. The length of this road was twenty-three and a half miles and fifty-one perches.

As stated, it started at Depui's mill, at Shaw- nee ; thence by the residence of Aaron Depui, who lived at that time at what is now known as the " River Farm " (Mr. Croasdale's) ; thence by the property now owned by Mr. Newhart ; thence by Mr. Labar's farm, formerly owned by another Aaron Depui, son of the Aaron mentioned in this petition ; thence direct to La- bar's mill, in Cherry Valley, where it connected with what is the present Tatemy's Gap road over the mountain.

PIONEER ROADS-LOCAL REMINISCENCES

-EARLY SETTLERS. - Solomon Jennings mentioned above, with Edward Marshall and James Yates, were the persons cnrployed by the Governor in the " Walking-Purchase " of 1737. Jennings owned a tract of land, which is now a part of the Colonel Norton place, a short dis- tance west of Stroudsburg.

Aaron Depui and Samuel Depui were sons of Nicholas, the first settler at Shawnee. Samuel Depui resided at this time at the old Depui homestcad, near the river. The present large stone mansion was built in 1785.

Aaron Depui was the father of Aaron, who was born in 1760, and died in 1845. The last- named was, for many years, a justice of the peace, and resided all his life in Smithfield. He lived on the property then called the " Depui Farm," now owned by Amos La Bar, one mile from the Delaware Water Gap, on the road to Stroudsburg. Mr. Depui is remembered as a very good mathematician, and was also fond of astronomical studies.

The old log school-house that stood at the edge of the woods, which in our youthful imagination was full of bears and other ferocious animals, was near the home of Squire Depui.

Many of the youth living in the lower por- tions of Smithfield, forty years ago, and those of two or three generations preceding, received here their elementary education, or perhaps the entire amount of education they possessed. Those of the number living will remember with what revcrential awe the venerable form of Mr. Depui was looked upon, as the man that could make almanacs, foretell the coming of the dreaded eclipse, and could besides solve all the abstruse problems in Pike's Arithmetic! Yet those of the boys who had the courage to ap- proach him found him not only quite human, but kind and considerate, often permitting us to pick the fallen apples and gather the wild plums in the thorny hedges, and such apples and such plums, only a boy can do full justice to the memory of. Apples do not taste so now, and the plums, too, that were so deliciously sweet then, are quite sour now, and beguile us no longer to their covert, amid the hawthorn and the wild brambles.

There is nothing of the old school-house now

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remaining but the immaterial, to which the memory clings with fond tenacity. It would not be called a big school-house now, and we suppose there was not a great amount of architec- tural skill displayed in its construction, but it presented, a square, honest, friendly front, and, contrary to the present method, a rear equally comely in aspect ; the logs comprising the struc- ture were carefully hewn, the ends well dove- tailed and the interstices filled with mud, made from clay as good as "Cæsar's body might yield," so that there was scarcely a chink to be found between the logs, large enough for a boy to run his hand through. In all its fair pro- portions we can now, in memory, behold it,-its solid oaken floor, a shelf in the southwest corner for the water bucket, another above it for hats and shawls, and still another for the dinner pails, and above all these a place for the master's score of reserve switches, and we can- not forget the well-battened window shutter that was ours to close after school, nor the long stout pole to lean against it to make sure the fastening. And then dear Johnny Groot, too, quite our first recollection, and most pleasant, of our schoolmasters are centred in him. How we wish we could tell him now how sincerely we forgive him for trying to make us learn our lessons, and to listen to his favorite method of teaching the rule of three by " inverse propor- tions !" How we thought him then to be hasty and exacting, and how we know him now, to liave been more patient and lenient and kind than we deserved, and altogether so much better to us than we to him, that we would now love to humble ourselves before him.1

Abram Depui, now living near the Water Gap, is a son of Aaron, last named. He is now

in the ninety-fifth year of his age, having been born 14th of September, 1791. For over twenty years he has been entirely blind, and bears the affliction patiently and uncomplain- ingly, and with a resignation and submission that is beautiful to witness. He retains his mental faculties to a remarkable degree, and his rccollection of events occurring years ago is clear and accurate. Mr. Depui is the last sur- viving soldier of the War of 1812, north of the mountain.

Aaron Depui, first-named, son of Nicholas, purchased the " River Farm," then known as the " John Smith farm," of his father in 1745. He kept a store at Shawnee in the years 1743 to 1747. The writer is in-possession of a por- tion of his ledger, commencing with 1743. His customers were scattered throughout the Minisink, from Dingman's, at Dingman's Ferry, to McDowell's, in Cherry Valley. The names of Brink and Wheeler on the ledger would indicate that some of his patrons lived at still greater distance up the Delaware. Some of the purchases were quite large for the times. The New Jersey portion of the Minisink is also represented in this ledger. Following is a list of the principal purchasers at Aaron De- pui's store in 1743-44 :

Anthon Derick Westbrook, Thomas, Nicholas, Hendrick, Redolphus and Garret Schoonhoven (now Schoonover), Daniel and Benjamin Schoonmaker (Shoemaker), Nicholas Depui, James Hyndshaw, Moses Depui, Abel Westfall, Jonathan Potts, Daniel Brodhead, Nicholas Westfall, Jacobus Quick, Sandec Rosagrance, Herman Rosagrance, John McDowell, Samuel Depui, Thomas Quick, Christopher Denmark, Johannes Bush, Manuel Gunsals, Jr., Henry Bush, John Cortright, Johannes Cortright, Jacob Seabring, Barney Stroud, Garret Decker, Luard Kuykendall, Jacoby Kuykendall, Henry Mulhollen, Rudolph Brinke, Thomas Brink, Isaac Van Campen, Abraham Van Campen, Adam Dingman, John McMikle, Bar- nabas Swarthout, John Casper Freymouth,2 Joseph

1 John H. Groot, a school-teacher in Smithfield for many years, some time a private tutor at the writer's father's. He was an excellent scholar and was especially noted for his beautiful penmanship. Mr. Groot married a daughter of Aaron Depui.

The first school-teacher of whom we have auy account in Smithfield was James Middlecut, who lived here in 1780 and later, and had a small log house at " Middlecut Spring," a half-mile west of the Water Gap House.

William Dawson taught vocal music to Elizabeth De Pui, daughter of Samuel De Pui, in 1750. She married Daniel Brodhead in 1758.

2 John Casparus Fryenmuth was pastor of the four Re- formed Dutch Churches in the Minisink from June 1, 1741, until August 12, 1756, at which time he was obliged to discontinue his labors on account of the Indian depre- dations along the Delaware. "Smithfield " was one of the four churches organized in 1741. The church was a log building situated on the eastern border of a farm now owned by Michael Walter.

In the old church record appears the marriage of M.

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Wheeler, Abraham Van Campen, Sr., Hugh Pugh, John Van Campen, Jacobus Depui, Daniel Depui, Joseph Seely, Edward Cherry, Robert Hanna, Wil- liam Potts, etc.

Nicholas Depui, Samuel Depui and Daniel Brodhead seem to have been tlie largest pur- chasers. Nicholas Depui is charged for one hat and cap for " Joseph," the Indian, 10s .; one quart of rum for Indian " James," 2s ; amount answered for " Joseph Pammer," the Indian, £1 15s. 9d. ; Cr. By meals to the Indians 78. 6d .; do. 4s. Samuel Depui is charged for Indian Poxinose's wife 10s. (there is an island in the Delaware, above Depui's called " Poxino "). To cash paid "Cobus," the Indian ; To articles for the Indians, 4s. 6d. ; To articles for " Howpeck," the Indian, £1 3s. 6d. ; one quart of rum for " Howpeek," Indian, for a canoe, 15s. ; to six pounds shot for " An- thony the Great," Indian, 4s. 6d. ; 1 qt. rum for " Anthony the Great," Sd. ; cash for Edward Cherry,1 5s. 3d. ; one yard and a halfthicks for Indian boy ; Cash answered for Indian " Arry," 1s. 4d .; To rent for ye plantation named Smithfield (1746), £45 ; rent for ye plantation named Smithfield (1747), £30; To a Negro Boy, £33 ; To 36 barrels flour 61b. 3qt. 23lbs., amounting to £30 7s. 8d.

Abel Westfall is charged with two hunting saddles and bridles £4 4s. 6d. James Hynd- shall, one hogshead rum, one hundred and seven gallons, £12 9s. 8d., and to cash paid the

Fryenmuth, as follows : " 1742, Joh. Casparus Fryen- muth, young man, born in Switzerland, to Lena Von Etten, young woman, born at Nytsfield; married with a license from Governeur Morris, in Jersey, by Justice Abram Van Campen, the 23d of July, 1742."

The first marriage appearing on record in the Minisink in New Jersey is under date of March 5, 1738 : " Johannes Westbroeck, Jr., young man, born at Nytsfield, to Magda- lena Westbroeck, young woman, born at Horly, and both dwelling at Manissinck. Married by Anthony West- broeck, Justice of the Peace.

1 Cherry Creek is a stream emptying into the Delaware near the Delaware Water Gap. The earliest account we have of the name of this stream is in a warrant from Thomas Penn to Samuel Depui, for one hundred acres of land, dated August 28, 1738, wherein it is named "Solo- mon's Creek." In 1768 and for several years after, it was called " Ned Cherry's Creek " and sometimes "Cherry's Creek."

Indian "Joo ; " Benjamin Schoonmaker, one cap for the Indian " James," etc.

In September, 1762, there was an application to the court for a road in Lower Smithfield from Shoemaker's mill to Brodhead Creek. This was from the old Zimmerman place, then owned and occupied by Benjamin Shoemaker, to Dansbury (East Stroudsburg), and at the same time for a road from Brodhead Creek to Mount Paul (John McMichael's), there to connect with the Wind Gap and Nazareth road.

To this petition are appended the names of John McDowell, Philip Bossard, Lawrence Romig, John Hillman, Abram Miller and Wil- liam Smith, who are appointed viewers.

John McDowell lived at Shaw's Meadows, Cherry Valley. He was born in Ireland, May 20, 1714, died September 25, 1779. He mar- ried Hannah, daughter of Nicholas Depui ; and Mr. McDowell's daughter, Hannah, married John Shaw. At the time of this wedding, McDowell was entertaining some Connecticut fugitives at his barn, not deeming it prudent to let their presence be known to the guests of his house.

Philip Bossard, another of the petitioners, was . also a resident of Cherry Valley and one of its earliest settlers. He resided near the present town of Bossardsville. His house afforded a refuge for the residents of the neighborhood in the Indian raids of 1757. A squad of men was afterwards sent for their protection.

There was a road constructed about 1750 from Fort Hyndshaw (Bushkill) to Andrew Dingman's (Dingman's Choice), and from thence to Milford.

In 1793 a road was laid out from Abel Par- tridge's,2 in Hamilton township, at the inter- section of the "Sullivan Road" to Mount Paul or John Huston's, "at which place it intersected with the road leading to the grist- mill of Colonel Jacob Stroud, and thence to the landings of Danicl Shoemaker on the Dela- ware(now Zimmerman's Landing) and to Nich- olas Depui's."

? Abel Partridge is said to have been engaged in " Shay's Insurrection " in Massachusetts, 1785-86, and was a fugi- tive. He lived near Snydersville, in Hamilton township.

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Henry Hauser, Philip Shrawder, Daniel Shoemaker, David Dills, Ulrick Hanser and John Brown were appointed commissioners.

Benjamin Schoonmaker and Daniel Schoon- maker, brothers, were among the early Holland settlers in the Minisink. They were living in Smithfield before 1741. The name was changed to Shoemaker before the close of the last cen- tnry. Benjamin married Elizabeth, danghter of Nicholas De Pui ; Daniel married Anna Prys (Price). Both were married before 1742. Another family of the same name resided here about the same time, viz., Garret, who married Catharine De Pui; Catharine, who married Abram De Voor; and Helena, or Lena, who married Joseph Haynes. These also were mar- ried before 1742.

In 1744 Benjamin Shoemaker purchased eighty-nine acres of land of Nicholas De Pui, situated at the junction of Brodhead's Creek and the Delaware, being a part of De Pui's purchase of William Allen. His dwelling was on the upper portion of the tract, near Marshall Creek, where Annis Zimmerman now resides. Benjamin and Daniel were sons of Jochin Schoonmaker, whose will, dated at Kingston, N. Y., was proven Nov. 7, 1730, showing that he had fourteen children. His wife's name was Antye Hulsey. One of the daughters, Tryntie, married Jacobus Bruyn, from New York State, who once owned the "John Smith " farm, in Smithfield ; Ettie married Joseph Hassbrook ; Jacomita married Johannes Miller ; Gretchen married Moses Dupuis, Jr. (De Pni); Elizabeth married Benjamin Dupuis; Antye married Cornelius Wyncoop; Sarah married Jacobus Dupuis.

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History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania, Part 174

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