History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania, Part 184

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 184
USA > Pennsylvania > Pike County > History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania > Part 184
USA > Pennsylvania > Wayne County > History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania > Part 184

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).

During the Rebellion he was three times ap- 113

pointed one of a committee to clear his town- ship from the drafts. To this arduous and dif- ficult task Mr. Rhodes applied all his skill and energy and in each and every case was success- ful-at one time accepting the position on the committee only after others had tried and failed. On the 14th day of January, 1836, he was joined in marriage to Miss Mary Ann Heller, daughter of Solomon and Mary (Beninger) Heller; she was born March 5, 1818. Their children are Sydenham H., born April 18, 1837; Charles L., May 23, 1839 ; Merion W., April 1, 1841 ; Ellen A., January 6, 1843 (she died April 4, 1845) ; Edward H., January 23, 1845 ; George H., January 13, 1847 (died April 4, 1881) ; Martha S., July 9, 1849 ; and Johnson G., October 7, 1851. Mrs. Rhodes died Jan- uary 4, 1853. For his second wife Mr. Rhodes married, July 5, 1853, Catherine Keller, daugh- ter of Peter and Elizabeth (Heller) Keller. She was born December 24, 1822. Their chil- dren were Steward T., born June 3, 1854; Er- win J., born August 29, 1856 ; Mary M. and Jennie L., born April 9, 1860; Emma C., born January 10, 1863 ; and Millard F., born May 5, 1866. Joseph Keller, Mrs. Rhodes' second grandfather, married Mary Andrews, who bore him children as follows: Adam, Leonard, Jacob, John, Joseph, George, Henry, Peter, Elizabeth, Sarah and Mary. Peter mar- ried Miss Ellen Heller and became ultimately a farmer in Stroud township, and owned and improved the farm which is still owned by his estate. He died September 20, 1878. His wifeis still living and is in her eighty-eighth year. Mr. Keller and wife were members of the Ger- man Reformed Church. In politics he was a Republican and held different township offices. Their children were John, Susan (deceased), Catherine, Daniel, Charles, Mary Ann, Joseph (deceased), Lewis, Louisa, Sarah, William and Theodore.

SIMON BARRY .- Walter Barry, a native of England, came to Philadelphia about the beginning of the eighteenth century, and sub- sequently became one of the pioneer settlers in Hamilton township, Monroe County, Pa., where he reared two sons-Walter and Robert. He settled on the tract of land now owned by

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WAYNE, PIKE AND MONROE COUNTIES, PENNSYLVANIA.

his grandson, Joseph Barry, who is a son of Walter, and the farm has been in the family since.

Walter Barry was a man of correct habits, a Lutheran in religious persuasion, and lived to the great age of one hundred and eleven years, dying in the latter part of the last century.

His second son, Robert Barry (1778-1834), married Elizabeth Myers (1786-1858), and

in Stroud township; Catherine, married Moses Swink, of Monroe County, where both died ; Ann, married and removed to Indiana ; Eliza- beth, is the wife of Gabriel Davis, of White Haven, Pa .; Christina (deceased), was the wife of Jacob Lace, of Scranton ; Rachel (deceased), was the wife of Isaac Slutter, of Hamilton town- ship ; Caroline, married a Mr. Whitehead, and resides in Kansas ; and Julia (deceased), married William Fish, of Luzerne County, Pa.

Simon Bump

spent his life in Hamilton township, a farmer, where he reared a large family of children, viz., Joseph (deceased), was a farmer in Pocono township ; Lewis, died in Stroudsburg ; Abram, read law and was admitted to the bar of Monroe County, where he practiced for some time (he subsequently removed to Kansas, where he died); Francis, resides in Hamilton township; Melchior, is a farmer in Kansas ; Simon, subject of this sketch ; Robert, a farmer

Simon Barry, son of Robert, was born in Hamilton township October 6, 1824, and was, therefore, only ten years of age at the death of his father. He resided with his brother Abram after his father's decease until several years after reaching his majority, and was engaged on his farm in Stroud township. He engaged for some three years in the lumber business on Brodhead Creek, and subsequently for five years, in partnership with Abram, kept the

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MONROE COUNTY.

Washington Hotel in Stroudsburg, which business relations closed in 1855. In 1852 Mr. Barry married Frances, a daughter of Dr. John W. and Elizabeth (Bidleman) Hogan, the former a native of Dublin, who came here while a young man, was a teacher, and was lost at sea in 1840; the latter, a native of Bucks County, died in 1872, aged sixty-three years. Mrs. Barry was born September 20, 1833, and has no children. Both herself and husband are members of the Methodist Church at Strouds- burg, and contributors to the worthy and charitable interests of the community.

To the time of his marriage Mr. Barry had had little opportunity for laying aside anything for himself, or of making any preparations for a home, and this epoch of his life may be said to be the real starting-place where the race began to carve out a home and fortune for him- self. He has been engaged with Richard Staples, for a period of nearly thirty years, in the lum- ber business, in Monroe, Luzerne and Pike Counties, shipping large quantities to Phila- delphia and other markets, and making large sales to railroad corporations, in the construc- tion by contract of sections of the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railroad, in the building of a large number of bridges for the Lehigh Coal Navigation Company and in the building of bridges in Monroe County.

He alone, at the time of the building of the Delaware, Lackawanna and West- ern Railroad, contracted and completed sec- tions of the road-bed. In 1872, in connec- tion with Richard Staples, Mr. Stiles, Judge Dreher and Charles Palmer, he built the Luzerne Ochre Works, on the Lehigh Valley Railroad, in Luzerne County, which were burned a few years afterwards, and rebuilt by the same company and sold. In 1886, with Richard Staples & Sons, he repurchased the paint works, and is about rebuilding and pre- paring to engage in the manufacture of ochre on a large scale.

Mr. Barry has been a large dealer in real estate, and is said to have planted a larger number of shade-trees and apple orchards on his various properties than any other man in this section of the State. He built his present

residence in 1876, and the brick residence adjoining in 1858, both of which are on the south side of McMichael Creek, just outside the borough of Stroudsburg.

While he has been among the most active business men of Monroe County, he has found time to bear his share of public burdens. He was an active member of every committee for the township of Stroud, appointed during the late Civil War, for the purpose of raising volunteers, serving as treasurer of the bounty fund until its final disposition after the close of the war. He has served as supervisor of the township some eight years since 1861, as school director for twenty-one years, and as treasurer of the school board for eighteen years. He was one of the incorporators of the Excelsior Build- ing and Loan Association, in 1878, of which he has since acted as treasurer. Mr. Barry is a man of sterling characteristics, judicious and industrious in the management of his affairs, and labors to fulfill the honest duties of the citizen.

RICHARD F. SCHWARZ .- Prominent among those who made small fruit-growing and mar- ket gardening a science and a success we find the name of Richard F. Schwarz, whose father, Frederick Schwarz, was born in Goslon, Ger- many, October 20, 1819. His education was obtained at the public schools, after which he started out in life as a commercial traveler. In this calling he saved some means, with which he commenced the manufacture of wall-paper, and made the enterprise a success, becoming one of the foremost men in Germany in his line of business. His death occurred in 1879. He married Miss Ida Schmidt, who was born in Amhalt, Germany, and who bore him the fol- lowing children,-Oscar F., Helen, Melaine and Richard F., the subject of this sketch, who was born in Amhalt, Germany, October 31, 1852. He attended the public schools until thirteen years of age, and then entered the Ducal Gymnasium in Amhalt, from which he graduated in 1868. He subsequently spent two years at the Mercantile College, and gradu- atcd therefrom. One year was then spent by him as a clerk in the office of L. Moosbach, wholesale dry-goods merchant. In May, 1871,

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WAYNE, PIKE AND MONROE COUNTIES, PENNSYLVANIA.

he took passage in the steamer "Rhien," for New York, where he landed after a passage of thirteen days. He at once entered the employ of K. Kuhn, a wholesale tobacconist of New York, as a traveling agent, although unable to speak a word of English. In three weeks, however, he mastered the language. He re- mained with Mr. Kuhn two years, and then engaged in other enterprises until his marriage, when he visited his native country in company

intending it only as a summer residence. As a diversion, while recovering from his illness, he

ness, encouraged in so doing by Luke W. in truck-farming, determined to make it a busi- worked in his garden, and becoming interested

Brodhead, to whom he is much indebted for the success which has attended his efforts. In 1878 he added thirteen acres of land to his first pur- chase, all of which is now under a high state of | cultivation, and used for growing small fruits

ST. Johway

with his wife. On his return from Europe he | traveled through the West, finally settling in Chicago, where he entered the employ of Mr. Kronberg, wholesale jeweler, as book-keeper and traveling agent, remaining two years, when, his health failing, he came East on a visit to his brother-in-law, Mr. Savage, of Stroud township. In the spring of 1875 Mr. Schwarz bought five acres of land, which included his present home,

and vegetables. He has brought water from the hills half a mile away, and, by means of a complete system of pipes, hose and ditches, irri- gates his land, which he has found to be the only way to make his business a success. He finds a ready market for his produce in Bing- hamton, Stroudsburg, Water Gap and the surrounding country. In 1881 he again went abroad and visited the principal capitals of

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MONROE COUNTY.

Europe, from whence he wrote a series of letters to the Monroe Journal. In politics Mr. Schwarz is a Democrat, and takes an active interest in his party and its workings. He has been a member of the County Committee eight years, of the State Democratic Committee two years, and has held various township offices. On the 4th day of August, 1873, he was joined in mar- riage to Rosine C., daughter of John and Eliza- beth Savage. They have one child, Frederick J. O., born January 17, 1884.

EARLY SCHOOLS .- The earliest schools of the township were subscription schools, the ex- pense of instructing those children whose parents are too poor to pay having been borne by the county. Most of the children of the township who were sufficiently near attended the schools of Stroudsburg. In 1827 a school- house was built of logs on the Cherry Valley road, near the present residence of George Miller. The earliest teacher remembered was a man named Hasbrouck, whose services were secured for two winters, and some years later for a longer period, when he was advanced in years. He was thoroughly educated, by profession a lawyer, and frequently entertained his patrons with lectures on a variety of sub- jects.

Another teacher was Joseph Keller, after which the services of Charles La Bar, of North- ampton County, were secured. Two school buildings have since superseded this primitive structure,-one in the Keller District and another in the Harmony District. Squire De Pue gave land nearly a century ago for the erection of a school building in Smithfield township, which was the resort of many of the children of Stroud township.

The school territory of the township is now divided into twelve districts, which are in charge of thirteen teachers. There is an average at- tendance of two hundred and fifty-five scholars, although a much larger number of children are enrolled. The total amount of tax levied for school and building . purposes is $2148.21, and the State appropriation is $312.57. There is paid salary to teachers $1320. The schools of the township are in a flourishing condition.

EARLY BURIAL-PLACES .-- The earliest burial-place in the township is the Keller burial- ground, located on the Keller farm, now owned by Chas. Keller, the grandson of Joseph Kel- ler, who first inclosed it. It was used chiefly by the family and immediate friends, but has been for some years abandoned. The fami- lies who have used it as a place of interment are the Schlechts and Brewers, one Peter De la Grue, a Frenchman, the Felker family and others. It is believed that this cemetery was in use fully one hundred years ago.

The German Reformed Church, which was erected in 1828, has an incorporated burial- ground attached to it, which came into general use on the abandonment of the Keller plot. The first interment was that of Wm. Azer, which was followed by that of Morris Heller. The Kel- lers, Fredericks, Hohmshields, Felkers, Hellers, Rhodeses, Myerses and other families are buried here. It is doubtless the most popular and generally used cemetery in the county. In the southwest part of the township, along the Cherry Valley road, is a grave-yard more than one hundred years old, now in disuse. It is located on the old Frederick farm, now owned by Ezra Hunsicker, but was discontinued as a place of interment fifty years ago. The old Hollinshead grave-yard, located on the road from Stroudsburg to Stormsville, is still men- tioned. One Van Fleet found here a last rest- ing-place as early as 1744, and a stone in fair state of preservation still marks the grave.

The Stroudsburg Cemetery, used by the residents of the borough and elsewhere men- tioned, lies within the township limits. There is also a cemetery at Spragueville and one con- nected with the Wesley Chapel.

The Shafer burial-ground, on the road be- tween Stroudsburg and Snydersville, is among the oldest in the township.

VILLAGES AND HAMLETS .- The only ham- let in the township is Spragueville, situated in its northern corner, a settlement containing a tannery owned by George L. Adams & Co., a store kept by Charles Dedrick, a blacksmith- shop by Charles Transue and a grist-mill owned in conjunction with the tannery and managed by John Wyckoff. The postmaster of

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the place is Charles Dedrick. A saw-mill was built at an early date at this point and con- ducted by Shroder Brown. William Steeples, having found his services in demand in connec- tion with the saw-mill, built a house, which he occupied until he was succeeded by John Lee. William White soon after purchased land and built the tannery, to which was later added a general store, both now managed as before mentioned.

The tannery, which is now owned by George L. Adams & Co., was built more than forty years ago by William White, who operated it successfully for some years, when it became, by purchase, the property of Loring Andrews, of New York City, who, in turn, sold it to Day, Wilcox & Co. Since 1881 it has been the property of the present owners, George L. Adams & Co. Twenty-five men are employed in its different departments. It consumes sixty tons of bark per week, and during that period produces five hundred and forty sides, and finds its chief market in Boston. Its manager is G. L. Adams and its foreman G. B. Decker.

EARLY TAVERN NORTH OF THE MOUN- TAIN .- During the early government of the province houses of entertainment were regularly licensed, but no revenue seems to have been derived therefrom until the year 1704, as indi- cated by the following quaint record of the pro- ceedings of the Provincial Council of that year :

" At a council held at Philadelphia, the 7th, 7th, 1704.

PRESENT :

" JOHN EVANS, Esqr., Lieutenant-Governor

WILLIAM PENN, Junr.

THO. STORY.

EDWARD SHIPPEN. GEO. ROCHE.

JOHN GUEST.

JAMES LOGAN.

" The Governr proposed to ye Board, That whereas, ye assembly had not made any manner of Provision for ye Support of ye Govmt, and there is a necessity that money be raised for Defraying its incident charges, by all such just & reasonable wayes as ye Law will allow of, & ye Licensing of Public Houses in all Govmts in Am'ca., being a perquisite belonging wholly to ye Govrnrs of wch some Profit is usually made.

" It was, therefore, Proposed to ye Board to consider what might be reasonable to take for every such License.

" Upon wch It was Resolved, That for every wine License alone, should be paid to ye Govrnr five Pounds ; for every ale License fifty shills; and for

every well customed Ordinary, that keeps not Sta -. bles & sells no wine, four pounds; wch several Rates ye Secretary or Govrnrs Receiver, is ordered to demand & take for every such License respec- tively, that shall be issued this present year."

The first inn north of the mountain and situated in the present Stroud township was kept by Mrs. John McMichael in 1762. It was located at the foot of Mount Paul, two miles from Stroudsburg, on the main highway be- tween Nazareth and the Delaware River at Shawnee, and then connecting with the main road.

Mount Paul is situated about two miles west of Stroudsburg, near the residence of Colonel Norton. At the foot of the "Mount " resided John McMickle-or McMichael, as the name is more frequently written-a man conspicuous in the early history of this portion of the country. He applied for the lands occupied by the late John W. Huston in 1741 (as Mr. William S. Rees informs the writer), and lived on a tract of land in the warrantee name of Solomon Jen- nings, which is also a part of the farm of Col. Norton. McMichael kept at this place the first inn or tavern north of the mountain. License was however applied for in the name of his wife.

The petition is interesting as it is signed by some of the early settlers and is given as a part of the history of the times,-

"Petition of Hannah McMichael for Licence allowed at Sept. term, Northampton county, 1762.

"To the Hon. the Justices of the Court of Genl. Quarter Sessions of the Peace held at Easton for the County of Northampton the 21st day of September 1762.

"The Petition of Hannah McMichel of Lower Smithfield in said county Humbly Sheweth :

That your Petitioner's Plantation is situated near the centre of the township of Lower Smithfield and By one of the Great Roads that leads from several points of the province of Pennsylvania toward Esop- pous (Esopus) New England &c. and the same road is now much used by Travellers, who often are Straightened for want of Entertainment, there Being now no Publick House nearer than Samuel Depui's on the one Side, and over the Blue Mountain on the other side of your Petitioners House, so that she has Been much Burdened with charge. Your Petitioner therefore Desires that the Honl. Court would be pleased to Recommend her to his honour the Gov- ernor, so as she may obtain a License to keep a House

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of Entertainment at the place aforesaid, and yours shall not only endeavor to Keep good Proder (pro- vender) but as in duty bound Ever pray &c

" John Drake

Edward Dowty

Nicholas Depui (Sen)

Benjamin Van Camp

William Jane

Caleb Washburn

Robert O'Neale

William Smith

Nicholas Depui (Jr?)

John Smith

Joseph Hains

John Picquit

Robert Hanna

James Lason

John Vancampen

Evan Morgan

Cornelius Vancamp

Benjamin Jolly"

In the foregoing petition mention is made of Samuel Depui's as a " Public-House." It was not such in the sense of a tavern, though the generous hospitality of the family was well known then as in later years. The original dwelling was near the present stone mansion at Shawnee, which was erected in 1783.

The following is given to show the respect entertained for the above petitioner, Hannah McMichael :

" Extracts from the Diary of the Nazareth Church, 1746, April 23d :

" The wife of John McMichael, with a neighbor friend from the Blue Mountains, passed through on a visit to Bethlehem, April 25th." "John McMichael's wife, who, with her neighbor Susan Ray, had been on a visit to Bethlehem, returned. They could not find language to tell how pleascd they were."

The Second Tavern .- On the petition of ninety of the citizens of Smithfield (now Stroud) a license to keep a tavern was granted to James Logan in the year 1778. The peti- tion reads as follows : " We the subscribers do certify that in our opinion James Logan, of Smithfield township, in the County of North- ampton, is a person qualified to keep a Tavern, having given to people that Travel that way Good Entertainment as reasonable as any other Tavern Keeper in these Parts, Likewise using his Customers Civilly & Genteelly, we think it will be advantageous for the parts that he lives in for him to be continued or Permitted to keep a House of Public Entertainment where he now lives. Given under hands the first day of Sept. 1778."

This petition was signed by the prominent citizens of the neighborhood. The place ap- pears to have been a rendezvous for the military men of the times, as some twenty or more of

the petitioners were officers in the army of the Revolution, ranking from colonel to ensign. How the signatures were obtained, however, in this critical period of the war, it is difficult to determine, for it is known that several of the number were at that time in active service in the field. This tavern was located not far from McMichael's Inn, licensed sixty years before, on the road from Stroudsburg to the Wind Gap, by way of Kunkletown. The place now known as " Logan's Hill" was probably not the site of the Logan's tavern.

This town is spoken of in the general history of the county as supplying the needs of the militia of 1784.

ASSESSMENT ROLL OF STROUD FOR 1820.

Philip Angle. John Evans, Jr.

John Allebach. Conrad Evens.

John Allebach, Sr. Wm. Evens.

Leonard Andrew.

Evan Foulk.

Peter Allebach.

Peter Frederick.

John Armitage. Joshua Ferrell.

Francis Adkins.

George Felkner, Sr.

John Acker. George Felkner, Jr.

James Bush.

Wm. Fouler.

John Brown.

John Flagler.

Jacob Brown.

Abner Fish.

Edward Burson.

John Griffin.

Samuel Brook.

Thomas Garden.

Michael Brown.

Wm. Garden.

James Boys.

Peter Gress.

Wm. Brodhead.

Chas. Gress.

James Burson.

Adam German.

Henry Bush.

Solomon Groner.

John Bush.

Matthias Gerhardt.

John Butz.

John Huston.

Matthew Beans.

John Huston, Jr.

Jacob Butz.

Wm. Huston.

Cotant & Co.

Jonathan Hallock.

Levi Courtright.

John Hohnshilt.

Wm Colbert.

Peter Hollingshead.

Daniel Chichester.

James Hollingshead.

Francis Delong.

Anthony Heller.

John Delong, Sr.

Solomon Heller.

Isaac Delong.

John Hall.

Henry Deitrich.

Joseph Hagerman.

Samuel Drake, Sr.

Philip Hains.

George Draer.

Joseph Hillburn.

Joseph Drake.

James Huston.

Levi Drake.

John Hammon.

Barnet Decline.

Michael Kecner. Ernst Kern.

Samuel Drake.

Benjamin Dock.

Joseph Keller.

Henry Edinger.

Peter Keller.

John Evans.

John Keller.

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WAYNE, PIKE AND MONROE COUNTIES, PENNSYLVANIA.

Nicholas Killion.

Henry Ransbury.

Aaron Kramer.

Samuel Reese.

James Killion.

Samuel Row.

Daniel Kind.

Stroud Reese.

Jacob Kohll.

Daniel Stroud.

Joseph Kerr.

Welding & Stroud.

George Levers.

Charles Stroud.

Joseph Lee.

George Starner.

David Stone.

George Labar.

Wm. Stone.

John Labar.

Daniel Schlect.

Daniel Labar.

Stogdell Stokes.

Gabriel Linneberger.

Jos. Schoonover. Samuel Stokes.

Peter Labar.

Michael Swenk. Elizabeth Setzer. Philip Shaffer.

John Leffner.

Daniel McNeil.

Adam Shaffer.

Charles Miller.

Abraham Schlect.

Enoch Morgan.

John Smiley.

James Morgan.

Thomas Smiley. Christian Starver. Wm. Slater.

Peter Newhard.

George Newhard.

John Starbird.

Peter Newhard, Jr.

Abraham Slater.

Elias Ott.

David Smiley.

WVm. Pickering.

Wm. Van Buskirk.

John Pritchard.

Derrick Van Vliet. Charrick Van Vliet.

Obediah Palmer.

Edward Palmer.

Samuel Van Onnan.

Hugh Pugh.

Joseph Vanfleet.

John Pugh.

Andrew Weitzel.

Moses Philip.

Wm. D. Walton.

Jacob Postens.

George White.

James Postens.

George Wolf.

Charles Postens.

Jacob Williams.

Samuel Philips.

George Waters

John Ransbury.

Simon Wetherill.

Charles Watson.

Single Freemen.

Abraham Evens.

Stogdell Stokes.

Zachariah Flegler.

John Van Vliet.

Benjamin Flegler. John Wharton.

George Houston. Wm. Starbird.

George Keller.

Aaron Crosdall.

Henry Le Bar.

Edward Hollinshead.

Jesse Lee.

Samuel Gordon.

James Miller.

Isaac C. Johnston.

Peter Newhard.

John Lee.

Wm. Stroud.

John Deitrich.

James Posten.

Daniel Stone.

Charles Posten.

Daniel Lee.

Michael Ransbury.

Amos Drake.

HOTELS AND SUMMER RESORTS .- In Stroud township are located some of the most attrac- tive and popular summer resorts in the county.

BLEAK HOUSE, sitnated on Godfrey's Ridge,

near Strondsburg, is kept by Samnel L. Foulke, M.D. It has a commanding view of the val- ley and surrounding country, and enjoys ex- ceptional advantages of location. It has ac- commodations for twenty-five guests, and is well patronized.

HIGHLAND COTTAGE, also located on God- frey's Ridge, a spur of the Blue Mountains, between Cherry and Beaver Valleys, is the property of F. & S. Foulke, and receives with- in its attractive walls fifty guests. It is open for a period of six months of the year, and during the busy season is always full to over- flowing.

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History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania, Part 184

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