History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania, Part 177

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 177
USA > Pennsylvania > Pike County > History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania > Part 177
USA > Pennsylvania > Wayne County > History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania > Part 177

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).

From a letter received from an old friend, Hon. Paul S. Preston, of Stock port, Wayne County, Pa., since deceased, the following reminiscences are obtained : " In thinking of the Water Gap, I recall many pleasant memories of early days. In the month of August, 1803, I passed through

the Gap in a canoe or dug-out on my way from the Upper Delaware. We stopped for the night at Nicholas Depui's. The canoe was loaded with hides consigned to Peter Snyder, a tanner, residing at Easton. The canoe-men were Na- than and John Thomas, whose descendants still reside on the Upper Delaware. I was consigned to my grandfather, in Bucks County, in charge of Peggy Krouskop. The next night, after leaving Depui's, we stayed at Mrs. Sherlock's, some five miles above Easton. The canoe re- turned from Easton loaded with groceries, etc., procured from Michael Hart and Absalom Reeder (father of Governor Reeder), and Mrs. K., with her hopeful charge, took passage in a Durham boat for Tuckahoe, since known by the raftsman as 'Lower Black's Eddy,' where we left the river for my grandfather's, some four miles west of that place. Four years afterwards I made another trip to Easton in a canoe, in company with my father ; Nathan and Brom Cole as canoe-men. At this last trip I was left several days in charge of Jane Depui (daughter of Nicholas Depui), at her father's. I still retain a vivid recollection of her queenly presence, and how she read and understood me. She furnished me with interesting books during my father's absence, and consequently I did not wander far from her apron-strings, and she reported me a good boy on my father's return from Stroudsburg; I never met her afterwards." Jane, Rachel and Ann were daughters of Nicholas Depui. Rachel married the Rev. Jacob Field, and Ann married Dr. Erb, both known and remembered as zealous, consistent Christians. Jane died a few years after the circumstance narrated above. They were all three distin- guished for their intelligence and fine personal appearance.

The roads constructed in the Minisink prior to the year 1800 were little more than bridle- paths, and the streams were without bridges, so that wagons were not in use, excepting very rudely-built carts, made entirely of wood, for service on the farm only. The wheels were solid, made from cross-sections cut from a large log, with holes through the centre to admit the axle. The products of the land, the hides and furs of wild animals, etc., were conveyed to mar-

1086

WAYNE, PIKE AND MONROE COUNTIES, PENNSYLVANIA.

ket in winter on sleds, while the lighter articles for sale or barter were conveyed on horse- back.

As in all newly-settled countries, this was, from necessity, the favorite mode of travel. All classes became fearless riders, and it was not unusual to see two and sometimes three of a family on one horse riding to church, to visit friends or perhaps to join a neighborhood gath- ering for a " corn-husking " or evening's enter- tainment.

It was no uncommon occurrence for the young women of the times-three or four in a party-to make a visit to a neighbor, a day's journey distant, on horseback. Neighbors in those days were not the less neighborly by being widely separated from each other.

On the 1st of March, 1815, there was an act passed by the Legislature of Pennsylvania, authorizing the incorporation of "The Smith- field Turnpike Road Company." The commis- sioners named in the act were Thomas Armat, Daniel Stroud, Jacob Brown, James Burson, John Houser, Evan Thomas, Samuel Stokes, John Baker, Peter Kocher, John P. Arndt and Stephen Tuttle. " The said road shall com- mence near Pimple Hill, in Northampton County, thence to the borough of Stroudsburg, and from thence through Dutotsburg to the house of Henry Dills, in Upper Mount Bethel township " (now Portland). It is not known what defeated the purpose of this corporation, or whether the company was ever organized.

Thomas Armat, one of the commissioners, resided in Philadelphia. He owned the land that still lies to the common, between the road that passes through the "Gap " and the river, commencing near the Methodist Church. " Ar- mat's Landing " is on the property. A large part of it has been unoccupied since Mr. Armat purchased, about ninety years ago. Mrs. Logan, a daughter of James J. Skerrett and grand- daughter of Thomas Armat, is the present owner.

TAXABLES IN 1761 .- Following is a partial assessment list of Smithfield for 1761 :

" A Tax of three pence per pound and - shillings per head Laid on the Estate and Inhabitants of Northampton in pursance of an Act of general As-

sembly of this Province Entitled an Act for raising of County Rates & Levies to Defray Publick charges of each respective counties to pay for Representatives service in the General Assembly & to Defray the charges of Building & for Destroying wolves, Foxes heads & crows with such other uses as may be redo- cent (relevant) to the publick service and Benefit of each county Respectively.

" Assessed the 1st Day of September 1761.

"By Antony Lerch, Arthor Lattimor Seb: Trunken Miller, Paul An- tony.

" Lower Smithfield Township

"Garek Vanfleet, Collector."

" Aaron Van Camp (en) ... 12 Laurence Connely.

William Clark.

Cornelius Quick 4 Direk Kerna

20 James Russel

Johannes Pensal.

Samuel Dupui ..

4 Henry Countryman .. James Lossen.

4 4 4 5 4

Benjamin Shoemaker Aaron Du Pue, Esq ... Leonard Wesser

John Hillman

40 Jas. House Garlings .. John Williamson . 4

Hugh Pue.

6 John Mack Michael .. 4

Samuel Drake. 4. Dirck Vanfleet.

Adam Shnell 4 John Dreack

Abraham Shnell

4 David Hodges

John McDowell. 18

Thomas Hessom 0

Abraham Miller

4 Frasis Delon.

5 5

William Laller 4 William Clark

John Mixel.

4 Joseph Whealler.

4 Isaac Van Omen

George Messinger ..... John Messinger(poor) 0 John Bush

Philip Bussert.

8 James Bush.

George Peter Bussert

4 Benjamin Jolly

George Brotze

0 William Masnuit.

Jacob Mixel.

4 Lewis Morgan (lab'r)

Michael Raup

Andrew Frederick 4

Michael Cains. 4 John Royls

George Shafer

Nicholas Ganer ..

Lawrence Runy.

Christ'n Sentzenbach 4 Jacob Vanaken 7

Thomas Sent

0 William J. Smith 10

George Hutlieb. 6

Jacob Sewitz

Daniel Shoemaker. 32 John Van Camp ...... 20

Edward William 4 Benjamin Van Camp 40

John Comely. 0

5 4 4 0

0 Abraham Dilleburg .. 6 Solomon Penall

Baithol Sheibly.

Robert Hunah. 6 Robert O'Neil 5

5 0 4 4 0 7 8 4

Jessay West Burn

4 Henry Bush

10- 4

George Frederick 4 William Smith

16 Mathias Shafer

Paul Overfield 4 Jacob Smith 4 6 6

Cornelius Van Camp Joseph Agus.

5 Lewis Morgan (farm) John Clark.

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MONROE COUNTY.

Single Men.

Charles Holmes. Dirck Vanfleet.

John Camding. Isaac Punal.

Peter Pugh.

Christopher Cordright.

Benjamin Shoemaker. Joseph Haynes.

Mathias Otter.

Aaron Hillman.

John Hillman.

Nicholas Dupue."

TAXABLES IN 1786 .- Further information as to who were the early or eighteenth century settlers in Smithfield is afforded by the follow- ing list of taxables for 1786, made by James Schoonover, assessor. This return shows the names of the taxable inhabitants at that time, their occupations or professions, the number of acres of land held by each taxable, also number of horses, horned cattle, grist-mills, saw-mills, negro servants and rented land. Where no remark is made in relation to occupation farm- ing may be understood :

Acres.

Jonathan Adamıns. .. 300

Samuel Drake.

280

Henry Biles.

140

Charles Biles.

.300

Samuel Bowman.

250

Josma Bowman ....

.150

Ephraim Bloom ....

(rented land.) (Dills.)

Bartle Bartleson

John Bush

120

James Brink.

Benjamin Bunnel.

120

Peter Frederick.

.... 100

Isaac Bunnel.

100

John Fish

225

Thomas Berry

Garret Brodhead .400

Luke Brodhead

James Bush

200

John Brink

John Chambers. 250

Jacob Contryman.

Henry Contryman

...

Jacob Culp ..

150

Tilman Culp.

101

(rented land.)

William Clark.

130

Moscs Coolbock

(Coolbaugh.)

Thomas H. Hysham .. 100

Thomas Hysham, Jr ..

John Huff.

John Hilman

150

Benjamin Hannalı.

Bonde Howe.

Samuel Handy

100

Peter Hains

John Holden, tailor ...

Stephen Huff.

Joseph Hilbourn.

Felix Hover.

Benjamin Imson

.150

Abraham Kennerd .... (tailor.)

Joseph Kennerd

John Louterman.

John Learn ..

Jacob Lain ..

Daniel Labar.

Richard Lewis.

117

Jacob Lebar.

James Logan

150

Noah Lee.

Joseph Montague.

Jacob Minor.

Bennaja Munday.

Ralph Martin.

Mordecai Morgan.

Benjamin Overfield.

. 90

Paul Overfield.

160

Martin Overfield

Gabriel Ogden

David Ogden

John Price.

Peter Pugl

125

Philip Place

100

Philip Rigs.

120

John Ransbury

100

Ichabod Snal.

William Stage.

Benjamin Schoonover. 112

Henry Shoemaker

.. 200

Samuel Shoemaker .... 200

Jacob Strowd.

1430

James Schoonover

188

John Sack

John Sanders.

John Seely

200

Abraham Smith

100

Adam Bansala.

150

Dolves Sınith

Edward Borly

William Smith.

.236

Dubois Schoonover ... 220

Micle Sly

.. 370

Daniel Schoemaker ... 300 John Smith 250 John Star. John Starbend.

Peter Schoonover.

Francis Smith, doctor. Manuel Sollida 100

Jones Sely

Thomas Taylor

John Tock ..

Philip Taylor

John Turner.

1793

Nicodemus Travis.

Skewrman Travis.

.100

Silvenes Travis ..

Mary Vanaten ..

.150

Henry Utt.

100

Daniel Van Campen ..

Jacob Vanauker ....... 300 Cosper Vanauken. Henry Vanwia ... .... .. 150

Aaron Van Gorden ... 110 James Vandimark ..... 50 Aaron Vanwia .... ....

Ephraim Vanorman ...

John Vandimark ...... 55 Benjamin Vandimark 96 Benj. Van Campen .... 270 John Van Campen .... 220 Richard Vantilburn ... 200 Isaac Vanorman. Charrick Vanfleet. 80

Clark Winings

Patrick White.

125

John Yater.

250

Isaac Jane (Jayne). .250

Timothy Jane

250

David Jane.

John Jane.

Ebenezer Jane.

220

Benagay Guston

Joseph Heaton.

(blacksmith.)

Ananias Herrenton ... 50

Elisha Horton ..

John Hains.

James Cortright ..

William Cortright ..

...

John W. Cillian

John Coil Williams David.

Widow Drake ..

....

.100

Nicholas Depui. ...... 800 Widow Mary Depui ... 250 John Daily

Aaron Depui.

360

John Delong

John Dewit

Charley Daily

David Diltz.

200

Williams Davis.

Edward Earl.

Alexander Flimming. 130

William Fish.

Godfrey Filker

Manuel Gunsauly

100

John Gusten

James Grimes

Ichabod Grimes

William Gooden.

100

Edward Pecker

100

Benjamin Potts.

James Place

100

The total number of taxables is one hundred and fifty-seven, and they are assessed witlı fifteen thousand eight hundred and twenty-six acres of land in actual occupancy, and six hundred and thirty-five acres of rented lands. They are also assessed with two hundred and ninety-two horses and three hundred and seventy horned cattle. Benjamin Van Campeu is assessed with three negro servants and John Van Campen with two. Garret Brodhead, Jolin Gusten, William Gooden, Morgan Mor-

David Young

1088

WAYNE, PIKE AND MONROE COUNTIES, PENNSYLVANIA.

decai and Jacob Stroud are assessed each with one saw-mill, and John Van Campen, Jacob Stroud and Daniel Shoemaker are each assessed with a grist-mill.

FIRST FERRY ON THE UPPER DELAWARE. -On an old map, preserved in the surveyor- general's office at Burlington, is laid down " Nanatumam Ferry," across the Delaware, which was possibly in use as early as 1736. It was owned by James Gould, and is supposed to have had the same location as the present " Walker's Ferry," in Pahaquarry township, Warren County, then in Hunterdon County, and later in Sussex. The ferry touches the Pennsylvania shore a short distance below the old Depui mansion, near Shawnee. James Gould's plantation of one hundred and fifty acres was located a short distance above the ferry, and is now owned by the heirs of the late John C. La Bar. The land was located and the survey made to Mr. Gould by Samuel Green, deputy surveyor, in 1730. Subsequently another tract was surveyed to James Gould, as appears from the following record found in Hunterdon County, N. J .: "In pursuance of thy order to me directed, bearing date ye six- teenth day of December, Anno. 1735, requiring me to survey unto James Gould the full quan- tity of two hundred acres of land anywhere within the western division of the Province of New Jersey, therefore I have surveyed part of the same to the sª James Gould, it being a Peninsula above the falls of the Delaware, lying a little below the sd James Gould ferry, which is called or known by the name of Nana- tumam, and begins at the uppermost end thereof, and so runs round the whole Peninsula by ye several courses of the same, containing in the whole twenty-three acres, one rood and thirty perches, besides allowance for highways.

" Surveyed by Joseph De Cou, deputy sur- veyor, March ye 26th, 1736."

This second survey shows that Mr.Gould had a ferry in 1736. The first tract surveyed to Mr. Gould in 1730 was the second tract of land that was located in what is now Pahaquarry township, N. J., the first being that located by John Budd for the children of Elizabeth Mowry, and comprises what for nearly one hundred and

fifty years past has been known as the Old Van Campen tract. " Nanatumam " is an In- dian name, the significance of which seems to have been known only to the natives, and has passed away with the people who once gave it utterance, and had the name not been preserved in the surveyor-general's office, it would doubt- less never again have been brought to recollec- tion.

The Indiau village of Pohoqualin was situa- ted a few miles above Nanatumam Ferry, on the farm of the late Judge Ribble, where traces of the old burying-ground, now a cultivated field, may yet be seen, and where a few scattered stone implements, the enduring relics of a by- gone race, may still be found.

INDIAN GRAVES AT PAHAQUARRY .- In the summer of 1843 I visited the Indian burial- ground of this place. It is situated about seven miles north of the Delaware Water Gap, on the river Delaware, and upon an elevation of two or three hundred feet, beneath which is a beau- tiful strip of table land extending along the river. This burial-place was known to most of the inhabitants of the region for many years, but remained undisturbed until recently. There is quite a number of bodies deposited here, but, only three had been up to this time disinterred. From accounts they must have yielded some in- teresting relics. But the persons obtaining them, not appreciating their value, have suffered them to be squandered and lost.

These graves were opened by Andrew Ribble or some of his family. The articles which I saw are as follows : A large string of beads variously colored, principally green and red, of glass, and others of stone and clay ; several clay ornaments similar in shape to the beads, though much larger ; the image of an owl, made also of clay; and several round pieces made of clay about the size of an American half-dollar, dotted round the edge and twice through the centre, and appear as though they may have been attached to their blanket or other part of the dress. A great number of pieces of pipe and stems were also found, with other fragments of clay, which was hard to tell of what they were composed.

There was also found in one of these graves

1089

MONROE COUNTY.

several articles, evidently obtained from the white race, among which were several small round bells, eaten through with the rust, frag- ments of blankets, several brass plates, etc. In one of the graves opened, which I did not see, were found two guns, several brass plates con- taining the crucifix, brass tobacco-boxes, etc.

INDIAN SEPULCHRE AT THE LAKE OF THE MOUN- TAIN.

An Old-time Letter from John Arndt to the Rev. John Heckewelder.

"EASTON, Nov. 15, 1801.

"MR. JOHN HECKEWELDER .- My Dear Sir ; - In many things, but particularly in that respecting In- dian customs and antiquities, you are my oracle, to which your goodness has give me permission to ap- proach and hear the sublime responses. I have again a question to propose for your solution or conjecture. To obtain this I deem it necessary to give you a kind of historical introduction to the questions I am about to propose. A few weeks ago a man went to the top of the Blue Mountain, about four or five miles north- east of the Delaware Water Gap, to hunt bees. In his excursions he came to a known lake or pond of water nearly on the very summit of the mountain, near the edge of which he beheld, on a. precipice, a parcel of stones, apparently collected and pilcd up by the hands of man. The bee-hunter's curiosity was excited, and he began to separate the loose stones when he bcheld the skeleton of a man (or woman), which frightened him so that he fled from the place, and gave a relation of his adventure to his neighbors' many of whom agreed to bear him company. Thus reinforced, the discoverer, on the Sunday following, ascended the mountain and reached his formerly dis- covered sepulcher, for such it turned out to be. The men then went to work and removed all the smaller loose stones. They then observed a layer of long, flat stones, part of which they also removed. They then began to make their observations of the object before them. The stones they had removed they found to have been placed on a large rock, which had been rent apart for a considerable length, and wide enough con- veniently to place the body of a man. In this open- ing between the perpendicular sides they found the bones or skeleton of a human body. At the head and fect were placed flat stones, perpendicularly, just wide enough to close the space between the two sides of the rock. On the top were also placed flat stones, reaching from side to side of the space where the skeleton lay, thereby leaving a vacant space between the covering stones and the bones; on the top, over these covering flat stones, and at the ends of the head and foot-stones, were placed the piles of the smaller ones.

" With the bones were found a small brass kettle, 108

some beads, some circular bones or ivory of the size of a dollar in thickness, through which are pierced two holes, through the diameter. Also a parcel of the same kind of bones or ivory, shaped likc pipe- stems, about four and a half inches long, with a tubu- lar opening lengthwise through them, but do not appear to have been used for smoking, from the color of the bone. The brass kettle was claimed by the bee-hunter and discoverer of the grave. The other trinkets fell into the hands of a friend, who has since forwarded them to me, and I have them ready to show you whenever I shall have the pleasure of seeing you here. Nearly right down the mountain from the grave, on the flats or lowlands, there was a large In- dian burying-ground. Now after these historical facts, as related to me, I come to the propositions of those, to me, mysterious questions, hoping you will have the goodness to impart your opinion thereon to me. Could the place have been a special choice of the Indian ?

"Here was a lake with plenty of fish, abundance of good, large huckleberries, excellent hunting-grounds, etc. Can it be presumed that he was a noted chief or warrior to whom such a distinguished respect was paid to deposit so much nearer to Heaven and the Great Spirit? Was it common to deposit great men in vaults, as this has been? Where could the brass kettle have been got, that was found with him, unless we presume he was buried in modern times, at least after the settlement of Menahachtanienk by the Hol- landers. The other trinkets which I have got do not look like European manufacture. What was their use? Why were they put in the grave with the corpse? If they were Indian manufacture, where did they procure the implements with which they bored the holes through the bones or ivory ?

" Any other remarks that may occur to you, that may enlighten my ignorant mind, shall be thankfully re- ceived.

"I am, my dear sir, your very affectionate friend, " JOHN ARNDT."

NOTE .- The lake referred to in the foregoing letter is now known as the "Lake of the Mountain." It is a sheet of pure, transparent water surrounded by an irregular curved outline of foliage, and elear, bare fragments and masses of gray sandstone, strangely and unaccountably situated upon the very summit of the mountain on the New Jersey side of the river. A mirror of beauty in the solitary wilder- ness-covering an area of some fifty acres-refleeting the image of the clouds, the only object above its fair surfacc, beneath which, in its transparent depth, the perch roaul in solitary and peaceful iudependenee.

John Arndt, the author of the letter, was an offiecr in the army of the Revolution during the entire war, and after its close rendered distinguished civil service. lle died a few years after this letter was written, at Easton, where some of his descendants still reside.

Rev. John Heckewelder was for many years the beloved missionary from the Moravian Church at Bethlehem amoug

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1090

WAYNE, PIKE AND MONROE COUNTIES, PENNSYLVANIA.

the Lenni Lenapi or Delaware Indians, and was the well- known author of "Indian Nations" and other kindred works. He was of German origin, though born at Bedford, England, in 1743, and died at Bethlehem, January 3, 1823.

The " Bee-hunters," as ascertained by the writer of this note, were John Place, Barnet Walter, Henry Shoemaker and Joseph Michaels, the well-known and jovial fiddler at country dances. Michaels was fourteen years of age at the time of the "Bee-hunt" and remembered well the circumstance of finding the Indian grave. He died a few years ago. B.

POST-OFFICE .- The first post-office in Smitli- field was established at Dutotsburg (now Dela- ware Water Gap), on September 18, 1806. Anthony Dutot was appointed postmaster and held the office for eiglitcen years. The mail was carried from Easton on horseback, and from Dutotsburg to Stroudsburg by a man on foot. A post route was established, soon after, to Milford via Shawnee and Bushkill.

Mr. Dutot predicted at the time that the mail would be brought from Easton on four- horse coaches, which prediction he lived to see fulfilled; and then again foretold its delivery in a railway coach, which became an established fact in the year 1857, sixteen years after his death.

At the time of the establishment of the post- office the road through the "Gap " had been six years built, but the pass had been traversed by men on horseback many years before, over the Indian trail that Mr. Heckewelder states to have extended "from the mouth of their (tlic Indian) national river as far west as the Alleghenies." In 1730 a party in the employ- ment of the province passed through the Gap on horseback on their way to Nicholas De Pui's. There seems, however, to have been very little intercourse between the dwellers in the Mini- sink and the outside world ; and all communiea- tion was by messengers who could perform the laborious journeys only on foot or on horseback, as wagons were then hardly thought of. The most convenient point for supplics for the earliest settlers was Esopus, on the Hudson, onc · hundred miles distant. Philadelphia was nearer, but that " village," as New Yorkers still delight to call it, was unheard of by this isolated people. Bethlehem then had no exist- ence, but quite soon after its commencement, in 1742, a very friendly intercourse seems to have

been established between the two settlements, and Bethlehem became after a time the place of barter for the dwellers in the Minisink.

With the present mail facilities we are led to wonder how our ancestors could, for three- quarters of a century, manage to do without the receipt of letters or papers ; in fact, without any knowledge of the outside world except such as was (rarely) received through messengers sent for a special purpose. But to those who reside in the two great citics, who may now read the morning papers at breakfast that were printed one hundred miles away, it must appear quite as surprising that "in the year 1739 the mail was carried between New York and Philadel- phia once a weck on horseback during the sum- mer, and Governor Morris submitted the pro- position to Postmaster-General Spotswood as to whether it be not fit to direct that the rider stay one night in such towns where the Governor happens to be resident."

"In the year 1737 Benjamin Franklin, as postmaster at Philadelphia, advertises that Henry Pratt is appointed riding postmaster for all the stages between Philadelphia and Newport, in Virginia, who sets out about the beginning of every month, and returns in twenty-four days."

SMITHFIELD CHURCH .- The first church in the Pennsylvania portion of the Minisink was without doubt one of the four churches built conjointly by the settlers on both sides of the river and was of the Reformed Duteh organiza- tion. The probable date of the erection of the building was 1741-42. Like most houses in a newly-settled country, it was a log structure and stood on the northeastern border of the Walter farm, nearly two miles above Shawnee, on the bank of the stream that crosses the road near the Wcaver farin-house, and about half-way between the road and the river.

The first minister visiting the Minisink came from Kingston, on the Hudson. Rev. Petrus Vas baptized three persons August 19, 1716, and four January 5, 1717, and five in January, 1718. These baptisms were in the Machacke- mech (Port Jervis) and Minisink (Montague) congregations. Georg Wilhelm Mancius, of the Kingston Church, visited the Minisink August

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History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania, Part 177

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