History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania, Part 179

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 179
USA > Pennsylvania > Pike County > History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania > Part 179
USA > Pennsylvania > Wayne County > History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania > Part 179

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).

DELAWARE WATER GAP METHODIST CHURCH .- " Delaware Water Gap, or Dutots- burg, as it was then called, was one of the first Methodist vineyards planted north of the Blue Mountains," about 1800. The circuit reached from Easton to Stroudsburg, and at one time was equal, if not ahead, of any of the others. Among the earliest Methodists at this place were John Staples and his wife, Margaret, who

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made their house a home for the preachers. Staples was an Englishman, who came to this country on board the ship that brought the tea for that Boston tea party in 1773. He had an interest in the cargo until it was thrown over- board, when he became interested in America and fought for independence during the Revolu- tion. His son, Luke Staples, and his wife also made their place a home for the preachers. Philip, Elizabeth, Millix and Eliza Dutot and John Dutot were Methodists. John Delong and wifeand Hugh Pugh were good old Method- ists ; Samuel Pugh, son of Hugh Pugh, was a class-leader ; Rev. Messrs. Bagely and Miller preached there at an early day. This place was connected with Stoddartsville and Cherry Valley. William Sayre and Elizabeth Sayre were old members, also William and Mary Long. Rev. James Neal preached lere in Luke Staples' house when he was a young man. He came as a stranger, and after he was through preaching sat down and sang,-

" A stranger lonely here I roam, From place to place I'm driven ; My friends are gone and I'm in gloom, This world is all a dreary tomb, I have no home but Heaven."

He was but a mere boy and a stranger, and his pathetic song brought tears to many of his hearers' eyes. Thus did these early itinerant preachers go from place to place and preach in houses, barns or the open forests, wherever they could gain a hearing. The early history of this ehureh only exists in tradition and in the memory of its oldest members. Its records are very poorly kept. Rev. David Best, William Colbert, James Bissey (who was preaching when lightning struck the church and he was killed), Rev. George Banghard, James MeFarland and James Smith also preached at the Gap. Adrian Dutot was class-leader at one time. After awhile this field was abandoned, and after re- maining in that condition for a number of years, in 1867 L. D. Brown, who was stationed at Portland, came to' Water Gap and preached every two weeks in the school-house. In 1869 he held a series of meetings, and there was a great revival and about seventy were converted. A class was organized, and Samuel Witter and

A. B. Burrell were the first class-leaders. Then Robert Demund became a class-leader. This reorganization led to the building of the present church in 1870. It is a neat brick edifice, and will seat about three hundred persons. There are now forty-two members. There is also a Sunday-school connected with the church. Among the more active members since the re- organization were A. B. Burrell, Hiram Staples and Jacob Kennedy. A. B. Burrell wrote the life of George La Bar, the centenarian. He also at one time kept the Lenape House. At the time of the dedication of the Methodist Church, August 4, 1870, he composed the " Corner-stone Hymn," __

" More firm than thesc eternal hills Which round us rise to-day, Thy words, oh, Lord shall stand unchanged When mountains pass away ; And thou hast said Thou wouldst defend, Go with thy people to the end, * * * *

While Nature speaks Thy greatness here With voice that charms and awes ; Let man the noblest of thy works, Praise more the Great First cause ; Redeeming Love attune our Lyre, In unison with Heaven's ehoir." * * *

After the reorganization by Rev. Lucien B. Brown, Rev. Messrs. W. J. Mill, R. C. Wood, H. F. Isett, R. C. Turner, T. T. Mutchler, H. B. Maugher, R. A. Miller, R. C. Patterson, John L. Staples, W. Vanderherchen and H. W. Millison have occupied the pulpit.

Rev. John L. Staples is descended from the Water Gap family of that name. He was born there in 1814, and was licensed to preach in 1838 by Rev. James Harmer, and ordained by Bishop Janes in 1851. During the war lie was chaplain of the One Hundred and Sixty- eighth Pennsylvania Volunteers at first, and afterwards he was chaplain of a regiment that was stationed in Washington, D. C. It was while here that his son, J. S. Staples, went into the army as a substitute for Abraham Lincoln, for which he received six hundred and fifty dollars, and a New York Herald re- porter, handed the father fifty dollars for his consent to have his son go into the army.

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THE WATER GAP HOUSE .- The Water Gap House was built in 1872 by L. W. Brodhead, the present proprietor. It is located about three hundred feet above the Delaware, on " Sunset Hill," and will accommodate two hundred and seventy-five guests. The halls are spacious and the verandas are broad and everything about the building has a neat, as well as substantial, appearance. Mr. Brod- lead does not sell intoxieants, and attracts the very best elass of boarders to his house, among whom are found men of distinction, wealth and influenee.

The Water Gap has ever been a favorite resort for people of quiet tastes and cultivated habits from the prinepal Eastern cities. The hotel is beautifully located on Sunset Hill, which rises above the bold rocky bluff upon which the Kittatinny House is built, and " is a confused, disjointed, irregular mass of roek from base to apex. From this spot, so interesting in its geological structure, is a view composed of all varieties nature makes use of in forming a landscape pleasing to the eye. To the south the proportions of the Gap are well defined, and from this point Mr. Darley, the artist, de- lighted most to behold it. Looking to the north and east, you traee the waving outlines of the Shawnee Hills, the long streteh of the Kittatinny, and the lake-like repose of the Dela- ware, with the lower portion of Cherry Valley and the village in the nearer view. You will be disappointed in going to see the sun set from this hill, and will conclude there is a misappli- eation of the name, as the last rays of the sun are obstructed by the grove of trees to the west. But the pleasure to be enjoyed at this hour of the day, and in which the name has its signifi- cance, is to witness the shadows made from the waving outline of hills to the west as they slowly climb to the side of the mountain, rising higher and higher as the dying orb sinks to the horizon." The view altogether is one of the finest to be witnessed from any hotel in the country.

ing eommeneed by Mr. Dutot. The house then accommodated twenty-five persons and was filled the first season, even before it was fairly finished. Among the first guests were Mrs. Swift and Miss Coffman (of Easton), Caleb Cope and family and General Cad wallader and family (of Philadelphia). William A. Brod- head rented the Kittatinny House and moved there in 1841. In 1851 he purchased the house and inereased its capacity to accommodate sixty persons. In 1853 its eapaeity was in- creased to seventy-five persons, and in 1862 to one hundred and sixty; and again, in 1866, to two hundred. The house was rebuilt by Ed- ward L. and John D. Brodhead, the present owners, in 1884, and has now a eapaeity of about two hundred and seventy-five persons.

The Kittatinny House is finely located on a bold bluff on the Pennsylvania side, one hun- dred and eighty feet above the Delaware. The spot commands a fine view of the windings of the river, and the surrounding mountains and hills, but the view of the Gap itself is incom- plete, being obstructed at this point by " Bloek- head " Mountain, which, however, is over- looked by the views from other points higher up the mountain-side. The situation is well ehosen and has the benefit of every breeze. Among the many distinguished guests of this house the following might be mentioned : George W. Childs and family, Morton Mc- Michael and family, Louis A. Godey and family, ex-Governor Joel Parker and family, (of Trenton), the Cadwalladers, Rawles, General Patterson, General McClellan, General Heintz- elman, the Stevenson family and Judges James M. Porter and Andrew H. Reeder, (afterwards Governor of Kansas), and of people now living, some of the most prominent finan- ciers and politicians in the country. The Water Gap has been a place of resort for old Quaker families even in the time when they came from Philadelphia in the old-fashioned stage-eoaeh.

THE GLENWOOD HOUSE was built by Rev. Horatio S. Howell, for a boys' boarding-sehool, in 1854-55. William McMichael and Clayton MeMichael, sons of the late Hon. Morton Me-

THE KITTATINNY HOUSE was commeneed by Anthony Dutot in 1829 and purchased by Samuel Snyder in 1832, who took possession in 1833 and enlarged and completed the build- | Michael, of Philadelphia, received their aea-

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demic course at this school. The former is a prominent lawyer in New York. The latter was United States marshal during the Presideney of Mr. Arthur, and is now editor of the North American, the oldest daily paper in Philadel- phia. Judge John N. Stewart, of Trenton, N. J., was also one of his pupils. The Hon. John B. Storm, the present Representative in Congress from this district, was, for a time, a pupil of the Rev. Mr. Howell. In March, 1862, the Rev. Mr. Howell was chosen chaplain of the Ninetieth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers by Colonel Lyle, and was killed by a rebel soldier whilst attending to the sick and wounded at the hospital in Gettysburg, July 1, 1863. Samuel Alsop took possession of the Glenwood House soon after Mr. Howell left, in 1862. He continued it a few years as a boys' boarding- school, and afterwards as a summer boarding- housc. Mr. Alsop purchased the property and enlarged the building. It was afterwards sold to Mr. Amnos La Bar, the present owner. Mr. Alsop gave up the place in 1881 and removed to Philadelphia. He was a fine scholar and a noble-hearted man, and greatly esteemed in this community.

RIVER VIEW HOUSE .- John I. Blair, of Blairstown, N. J., built the Lenape House (now ealled River View House) for A. B. Burrell, who ran it for a few years, then Frank Hauser had the house for about four years. Lizzie T. Le Barre bought the property of Mr. Blair in 1879, and has since made improvements so that the house will accommodate about fifty guests. River View House is beautifully located on a commanding rise of ground above the depot. The grounds are adorned with juniper trees and the view of the Delaware River from the house is very pleasing. Mr. A. B. Burrell, above-mentioned, was the author of " Remi- niscenecs of George La Bar, the Centenarian of Monroe County." He was a worthy man and an active Christian.

THE DELAWARE HOUSE is near the depot and will accommodate about forty persons. It was started in 1869 by B. F. Skiurm, the pres- ent proprictor.

THE CENTRAL, HOUSE is located near the Methodist Church. It is new and neat and

was opened in 1885 by Samuel D. Overfield. It will accommodate about fifty persons.

Theodore Hauser started the Mountain House in 1870. It has since been enlarged and will accommodate about eighty persons. It is now run by Mrs. Hauser & Son.

Besides these regular boarding-houses, there are a number of ncat cottages in the village where boarders are taken during the summer season. Among these are B. F. Brodhead's cottage, capacity thirty-five; Mrs. William Snyder's cottage, eapacity twenty ; Simon Hau- ser's cottage, eapacity twenty ; Mrs. James Fen- ner, capacity twenty.

THE RIVER FARM HOUSE is one-half mile or more out of town, and is a quiet, pleasant place. It will accommodate about forty per- sons. Ewen T. Crosdale is the proprietor.

David Dills bought two hundred and nine- teen acres of land in Smithfield township, where the Wesley Water Cure is located, in 1790. In the year 1794 he sold it to Colonel François Vannier for seven hundred pounds current money of Pennsylvania. The tract is ealled Plainfield in the old parchment deed, and it adjoins lands of Daniel Brodhead, Wm. Smith and Stephen Huffe, with the Analoming Creck on the south. Colonel Vannier and wife lived in San Domingo, about 1790, when the island was under French dominion, but when the negroes rose in rebellion and drove the French out of the island, gathered up what valuables they could and fled on board a ship, which brought them to Philadelphia, when the colonel shortly after purchased the place above men- tioned and came to Smithfield to live. His twin brother, who was a major in the French serviee, eame with him. They kept slaves and were aristocratic in their feelings, standing aloof from their neighbors, and having but very little association with the people by whom they were surrounded.

Joseph Hauser, a constable, who became well acquainted with Colonel Vannier, married his daughter Susette, and inherited all of the colo- nel's property.

When Vannier died he gave the property to his wife with the understanding that she should transmit it to Susette, their common heir, a

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provision which she faithfully carried out. Joseph Hauser built the stone house on the corner, on the south side of the road. He and his wife lived there some twenty-five years, during which time they had one child, which died. His wife dying, Hauser married a widow, Marga- ret Eagles, with whom he lived until his demise. She had two daughters when she married him, and after his death she deeded the property to them, reserving an annuity for herself. This second wife, though in no way related to the Vanniers, exeepting through this chain of mar- riages, received money from San Domingo, through the French government, for a number of years. Her daughters were Sarah, the wife of Theodore P. Taylor, and Emily C., the wife of Jacob L. Wyckoff.

THE WESLEY WATER CURE .- In the year 1871 Dr. F. Wilson Hurd, who had been search- ing through the Eastern, Middle and Southern States for a good location for a Health Institution selected the site of the Wesley Water Cure as the most desirable that he had seen east of the Mississippi, on account of its combining the advantage of a high altitude, and therefore of pure, dry, bracing air, entirely free from mias- ma, with excellent water, healthful climatic in- fluences in general, easy accessibility from the great centres of population, and last, but not least, beautiful scenery.

Here he established, within a few minutes' drive from Stroudsburg and the famous Dela- ware Water Gap, the sanitarium, which we pro- pose briefly to describe. The building, which fronts towards the south, is located on a gentle slope, a forest-covered hill rising north of it, and protecting it from the cold northwesterly winds, while the sun shines full upon it from its rising to its setting, its rays, however, tempered agreeably in summer by the foliage of the sur- rounding trees.

Knowing the great power there is in the direct and indirect rays of the sun in overcom- ing unhealthy conditions, Dr. Hurd sought to locate the Wesley Water Cure where the clearest and strongest sunlight could be had, in con- junction with as many other natural advantages as could be found combined in one place. The eure building is a three-story wooden structure,

planned and built by Dr. Hurd in 1873. It is arranged with special reference to the particular work for which it is designed.

Every room and hall is scientifically venti- lated through flues from the base, communieat- ing with a hot-air shaft. The windows extend nearly to the ceiling, for the purpose of securing in abundance that most valuable of curative in- fluence-solar light.

The grounds are tastefully laid out and adorned with sufficient shade trees. There is also a grove of chestnut, oak, hickory, maple, elm, ash, butter-nut, black walnut, cherry and other forest-trees, covering the grove that lies adjacent to the Cure. There is a fine spring of water that rises in the hill and flows down through the grounds in a little rivulet thiat unites with the Analomink. The Water Cure is supplied with abundance of cool, soft, pure water from this never-failing source.

The Wesley Water Cure is named in honor of John Wesley, because he was a consistent and vigorous advocate of a pure, simple, disci- plinary life and governed by the same princi- ples which regulate the treatment of this cure.

The plan of treatment is in strict aeeordance with the laws of nature, recognizing vitality or the life principle as the power that performs the healing, and that disease is remedial effort- not an enemy, but a friend. Among the influ- ences that are necessary to health are pure air, sunlight, proper food, judieious exercise, appro- priate rest, water, social and religious influences, faith and a positive will. This Cure is arranged to combine all these health conditions, as nearly as possible, having the end in view,-simply the equalization of the circulation of blood and nerve force, the purification of the blood and tissues, and nutrition -resting assured that as we attain these, disease will disappear.

Medicines are not used. The bath is used and applied in various ways to meet the needs of different cases, as full bath, spray, foot-bath, flowing, douche, sitz-bath, dripping sheet, fo- mentation, pack, vapor or Russian bath, spinal- bath, sponge-bath, oil-bath, hand-bath, ete., to suit the special condition, Swedish movement, massage and rubbing, and from cool to hot to snit the needs of the patient. The Cure is con-

WESLEY WATER CURE.

EXPERIMENT MILLS; MONROE CO., PA.

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nected with a farm, from which supplies for the table are drawn.

In the use of water is found the only natural freighting medium by which the particles of refuse and waste are conveyed to and from the various tissues of the body to replace that which is worn ont, and convey away the im- purities that are found therein. The solvent power of water is all sufficient, and far superior to any medicines, in dissolving the impurities and morbid humors of the body, and, if prop- erly used, will accomplish what medicines can never do in cleansing a body and restoring it to health. Medicines do not cure; they simply divert the action of disease, which is remedial effort, and force nature into an accommodation to the presence of unhealthy particles of matter in the system, not cleansing them out and ex- pelling them from the system, but leaving them in the tissues throughout the body, and thus is established a chronic condition or disease in place of an acute disease or one of a higher or more vital type. The greater proportion of the cases treated here are of the chronic type, and the effect of the natural life and treatment is to produce a change in the type of vitality and to develop the former or acute manifestation of disease, which, after running the natural course, disappears, leaving the body free and in a healthy state. The institution thus is a school as well as a remedial institute, inasmuch as each patient, while being treated and getting well, is inducted into the principles upon which health is based, and becomes thereby practically his own doctor ever after in all ordinary derange ments of the organism. The system here prac- ticed is largely prophylactic, and therefore the chief part of the prevailing diseases are avoided by persons so living, they not being susceptible to take on disease. A particular system of food and preparation is practiced, which excludes all high seasoning and the use of lard and grease shortenings. A very moderate use of salt, butter and sugar, and also meats and little or no white or bolted flour, tea and coffee. Un- leavened bread is used in preference to leav- encd. Exact regularity in meals is enjoined and no eating between meals.

It may be said that the laws of growth and

of the maintenance of health are the laws reg- ulating cure from disease, and that all changes, whether in health or discase, should be made gradually or closely simulating the process of growth.

The institution will accommodate fifty pa- tients. The whole Cure is under the medical care of Dr. F. Wilson Hurd, a man of large experience in the care of the sick in similar in- stitutions. The domestic arrangements are under the care of his wife. Health lectures are occasionally given, in which are set forth the theory and practice of natural cure and how to live so as to avoid sickness and preserve health.

The outlook southward from the piazza is . very fine, Analomink River Gap being in full view with the Delaware Water Gap and Kit- tatiny Mountains in the distance, making it a desirable place for recreation or rest.

DR. F. WILSON HURD, the founder of the Wesley Water Cure, and one of the leading exponents in this country of the system of health-making which is practiced there, was born in the town of Trumbull, Fairfield County, Conn., March 23, 1830, and was a son of Elliot and Fanny (Burton) Hurd. His pater- nal grandfather was Frederick, and his great- grandfather John Hurd, of a family very long" settled and well-known in Connecticut. His mother was a daughter of Captain Nathan- iel Burton, a West India trader, and on the female side was a descendant of the Booth family, which was among those transplanted from Old to New England in very early colonial times. Dr. Hurd is a cousin of Rev. Dr. Nathaniel J. Burton, of Hartford.

In 1833, when the subject of our sketeh was a mere babe, his parents removed to Nieshewaka, St. Joseph County, Indiana, and there they both died within three weeks and a day of each other, six years later, when F. Wilson, the third of four children, was only in his ninth year. After a short period his grandfather, Frederick Hurd, sent for the children and gave them a home with him upon his farm, known as " Shagenawamps," in Trumbull, Conn., near Burr's Mill, on the Housatonic Railroad. There the early boyhood of our subject was

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spent in the hard work of New England farming, health, the old Glen Haven Water Cure at the head of Skaneateles Lake, New York, and there was opened to him the avenue of life and use- fulness which he has since followed. He be- came interested in this system of cure there in vogue, studied it and resolved to devote his life to the practice of its principles. In 1858 he formed a partnership with two others, and with James C. Jackson as physician-in-chief, they varied by attending the common district schools in winter, and there he grew physically and mentally, and picked up a little of education in things practical and things theoretical, princi- pally the former. When sixteen years of age he went to Newark, N. J., and learned the hatter trade, but he broke down in health and had to return to Connecticut. There he followed his trade for a time and then went into a [ opened what is now known as the Dansville

7. Wilson Hard

machine-shop and learned to make surgical instruments. All of the time he was support- ing himself, but making little headway beyond that, for he had poor health, and finally, to im- prove that, he went to sea. He was principally engaged in coasting, but made a voyage around Cape Horn to San Francisco, and returned by way of Callao and the Chinchi Islands. He followed sea-faring for nine years, during the latter part of the period serving as an engineer on a steamer.

In 1857 he visited, for the benefit of his

Water Cure, in Livingston County, N. Y. For ten years Dr. Hurd (who had in the mean time acquired his title by proper process) had a daily average of one hundred patients in his care, and had charge of all the mechanical appliances in this large institution. At the ex- piration of that ten years, in 1868, he sold out, and in 1871 came to Monroe County, having, as already related, made choice of his present location as containing all of the best advantages for a cure.

Dr. Hurd, in 1860, graduated from the

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hydropathie school known as the Hygieo-Thera- peutie College of New York City, a school of medicine then working under a charter from the Legislature of that State, and he also attended leetures at the College of Physicians and Surgeons and the Bellevue Medical College, also of New York.

The doctor was married on the 13th of August, 1866, to Hannah A., daughter of the Hon. Emerson Johnson, of Sturbridge, Mass. They have two children, - Fanny Burton and Anna Johnson.

DELAWARE WATER GAP PULP AND PAPER- MILLS .- James Bell settled where the wood- pulp mill now is in 1810. He built a saw- mill and grist-mill on the Analomink, or Brod- head Creek. In 1880 his grandsons-Thomas, Edward and Frank-built a wood-pulp mill, which they ran a short time, when a stock com- pany was organized under the name of Delaware Water Gap Pulp and Paper Company's Mills, with a capital stock of two hundred thousand dollars-J. E. Roberts, president ; E. N. Cohn, secretary and treasurer ; Frank J. Roberts, gene- ral manager. The mills employ about forty men and boys and five girls. The capacity of the mill is about five tons of paper per day. A solid eord of wood will produce nine hundred pounds of paper. Pine, poplar, basswood and other soft woods are used in making the pulp. The process of making wood-pulp paper is as fol- lows : 1st. The wood is cut and cleaned of bark. 2d. A revolving-wheel, with knives attached, ealled a clipper, is used for eutting it into chips about one-fourth of an inch to one inch long. 3d. It then goes into a digester, which in this case is a steel boiler, six feet in diameter by twenty feet long, walled in with brick. A liquor is run into this digester along with the chips, the principal properties of which are lime, soda ash, vitriol, ete., when it is heated by direct heat under the digester to ninety degrees, and from that to one hundred and fifteen de- grecs. This cooks the wood. Some digesters are heated by steam pressure alone. 4th. It is then blown out of the digester by steam pres- sure into tanks, having been reduced to pulp by the digester. It is here thoroughly washed by weak liquor, which is run into the strong

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History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania, Part 179

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