History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania, Part 75

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 75
USA > Pennsylvania > Pike County > History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania > Part 75
USA > Pennsylvania > Wayne County > History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania > Part 75

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).

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County friends bolted this nomination and re- convened their County Convention, and put him in nomination as an Independent candidate. The result was that Mr. Jadwin received 9101 votes, Colonel Overton 5675 and George A. Post, of Susquehanna County, the Democratic candidate, 11,555 votes and was elected. Jad- win received more votes than Overton in Brad- ford and four times as many as he did in Wyoming, and Overton only had one hundred and twenty votes in Wayne County, where Mr. Jadwin ran one thousand one hundred and two votes ahead of his ticket. This was considered by all his friends a sufficient vindication of his record and a well-deserved rebuke to the unfair methods by which he had been deprived of the nomination.

In 1867 Mr. Jadwin originated the scheme and raised the subscription for the publication of the Honesdale Citizen and was chosen as one of the five managers of the paper, and remained in charge until it passed under the full control of the present editors. He married Lottie E., eldest daughter of Ezekiel G. Wood, of Seely- ville, April 7, 1864. He has one son, Edgar Jadwin, who, having received his appointment and passed examination in June, 1886, is now a cadet at West Point, and three daughters,- Louise, Grace and Sophie Jadwin.

CHARLES PETERSEN, son of Iven and Johanna D. (Kloker) Petersen, was born at Copenhagen, Denmark, November 15, 1826. Having received a good common-school educa- tion, at the age of fourteen he was entered as an apprentice to learn the trade of a watch- maker, with his father. After the death of the latter, November 10, 1843, he completed his apprenticeship with a man named Steinmetz, in Copenhagen, and in 1848 left that place and worked at his trade in Berlin, Prague (in Bo- hemia) and Vienna. He participated in the Revolution of 1849, at Vienna, and when the government troops took possession of the city, left for Switzerland, where, for two years, he was a pupil of the celebrated Jules Jurgen- son. While there, through the instrumentality of his former preceptor, Mr. Steinmetz, he was granted a stipendium by the Danish government to enable him more closely to study

the principles of watch-making, in the general interests of the trade.

In 1851 he resolved to seek the shores of the New World, and arrived in New York the same year, bearing letters of introduction to several of the large wholesale houses of that city. He at once received offers of employment from several establishments, but fearing that he would not learn to speak the English lan- guage as quickly in the city as in the country, he accepted an offer from Moses Cummings, of Honesdale, Pa., extended through Nichols, Goodwin & Co., and arrived in that place in the fall of 1851. Six months later, in 1852, he proposed either to buy Mr. Cummings out or to start business for himself. His proposition was accepted, and he became the owner of the stock, good-will and fixtures of the establish- ment, by the payment of seven hundred and fifty dollars. For a few months his brother Herman was in partnership with him, the firm being known as Petersen & Brother, but he subsequently became the sole owner, and has since carried on the watch-making and jewelry business on an extensive scale, on his own ac- count. He erected his present commodious store in 1856.

In 1858 Mr. Petersen became identified with a movement for re-building the old Cornell telegraph line, which sixteen years before had been operated between Carbondale, ric Hones- dale, to Narrowsburg and New York, and in 1862, by permission of Chief Engineer R. F. Lord, of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Com- pany, he built the first line that company owned along the canal between Honesdale and Ron- dout. He afterwards extended the lines along their railroads, and has ever since held the po- sition of superintendent of the Telegraph De- partment of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company, in the Canal Department, and on the Pennsylvania Railroad Division of their rail- way system.

The Honesdale Bell Telephone Company was organized in August, 1882, under license of the American Bell Telephone Company, of Boston, Mass., the stockholders being J. Merrihew, of Philadelphia, H. L. Storke, of New York, Richard O'Brien, of Scranton, and Mr. Peter-

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sen. As superintendent of the company, the latter at once began the erection of the lines. In March, 1883, the plant was transferred to the Hudson River Telephone Company, and is now in successful operation, with fifty-four subscribers, under the management of Mr. Petersen as superintendent.

In addition to his close connection with the business interests of Northeastern Pennsylvania,

many years of Grace Episcopal Church, and is held in general respect for his integrity and up- rightness of character. He married, at Chaux de Fonde, Switzerland, June 11, 1851, Char- lottie A. C. Roth, the offspring of the marriage being Carrie L. A. Petersen, Lottie E. A. Pe- tersen and Ida Maria Petersen, deceased. Of the four brothers of Mr. Petersen, two, Herman A. and Alexis, came to this country, and car-

That Peterson

Mr. Petersen has also oceupied a prominent place in official and social life in Honesdale, where he has so long resided. He served one term as chief burgess of the town, and has fre- quently been a member of the Board of Council- men. He has been connected with the Masonic order since 1854, as a member of Honesdale Lodge, No. 218, and from December, 1866, acted as treasurer for eleven years of Anthony Wayne Chapter, No. 204, Royal Arch Masons, of Honesdale. He has been a vestryman for

ried on a successful jewelry business at Scranton, Pa., until their respective deaths.

JAIRUS H. DUNNING was born at Danbury, Fairfield Co., Conn., April 28, 1809. His grand- father, Gideon Dunning, was one of the early settlers at Brookfield, in that State. Two other branches of the family settled, one in New York State, the other in New Jersey. His parents were Levi and Hannah (Hoyt) Dunning, the former of whom was by occupation a farmer, and died May 24, 1856, in the eighty-sixth year of his age.

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The subject of this sketch enjoyed the bene- fit of a simple English education, and when about sixteen years of age became apprenticed to White & Keeler, of Danbury Centre, Conn., to learn the trade of a hat finisher. This firm was soon after succeeded by Star Nichols, with whom Mr. Dunning remained until about his twentieth year, when he became a journeyman, and subsequently worked at his trade in various places, chiefly in Danbury and Watertown,

present site of the skating-rink. This business connection continued until 1847, when an equitable division of property was made, and Rhesa Dunning withdraw from the firm. Jairus H. Dunning succeeded to the affairs of the firm, and engaged in hat-finishing and store-keeping until about 1870, when he retired from active business. In 1864 he began a series of journeys to the Far West, purchasing furs and robes on the Mississippi and Missouri

& # Drunings

Conn. In October, 1832, he engaged in the finishing and sale of hats on his own account at Monticello, Sullivan County, New York, and in April, 1834, removed to Honesdale, Pa., where, in connection with his brother, Rhesa, he organized on May 15, 1834, the firm of J. & R. H. Dunning. The concern ereeted a small shop on the river for the manufacture of hats, at Honesdale, and in connection therewith established a store for the sale of their goods, in what was known as "Slab Castle," on the

Rivers, and after having them finished, selling then at his Honesdalc store. His principal business at the close of his commercial transac- tions was the sale and manufacture of hats, eaps, furs and robes.

At the time of the writing of this sketch (1885) Mr. Dunning is one of the oldest residents of Honesdalc. For more than half a century he has steadily followed his pursuits, not aspiring to public place or position, but so regulating his life and conduct as to command

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the respect and esteem of a large circle of friends. Soon after his settlement in Honesdale he united with Grace Episcopal Church, and afterwards filled the offices of vestryman and warden, and for nearly thirty years was super- intendent of the Sabbath-school. He has always felt a deep interest in all movements calculated to develop and improve the commun- ity with which he so early identified himself, and has been one of the most useful and valua-

family with him, and resided for the remainder of his life in the town of Homer, in that county. He was an industrious and hard-working man, and reared a large family of children, of whom three only are now living, viz .: Jacob (who lives at Homer, N. Y.), Elizabeth (widow of Abraham Neff, of Springfield, Wis.) and David (to whom this sketch is chiefly dedicated).

The latter was raised upon his father's farm, and received only the meagre education generally

David Resmen

ble citizens. His first wife was Sarah Bronson, whom he married in 1832. He was united to his present wife, Mrs. Jenett P. Judd, on Nov. 22, 1865.

DAVID KENNER, one of the oldest and best- known residents of Wayne County, was born at Albany, N. Y., January 24, 1812. His par- ents were Joseph and Rachel (Hollenbeck) Kenner, the former of whom was a native of Kinderhook, N. Y., and by occupation a farmer. In 1816 Joseph Kenner removed from Albany to Cortland County, N. Y., taking his

attainable by a farmer's son at that early period. At the age of seventeen he purchased his time from his father, as was the wont in those days, and entered the employ of William Walter, a farmer in his neighborhood, for whom he had worked more or less for several years previously. He subsequently worked on the farm of Dr. Jones, in the same locality, and upon attaining his majority went to Syracuse, N. Y., where he clerked for Elihu Walter, then doing business as a tallow-chandler. At the expiration of a year he entered the hardware store of Elam

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Lyons & Sons, of the same city, where he remained about a year. Soon after he removed to Wilkes-Barre, Pa., where he drove the stage between that place and Tunkhannock, for Miller Horton. In August, 1834, he married Emma, daughter of Daniel Weddeman, of Providence Luzerne County, and again resumed stage- driving, this time between Providence and Milford, a distance of some sixty-three miles. In the summer of 1835 he bought grain for Daniel Searles, of Montrose, and in the win- ter the same year engaged in lumbering, at Lennox, Susquehanna County, for William Hartley. In the spring of 1836 he removed to Carbondale, Pa., where he entered the employ of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company, and where he remained for four years. In the spring of 1840 he settled at Honesdale, Pa., where he was furnished two canal-boats by the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company, which he ran himself for one year between Honesdale and Rondout, N. Y. He afterwards kept the boats running, but himself worked the borough road of Honesdale. For a number of years prior to the building and corporation of the Erie Rail- way Mr. Kenner operated a freight line be- tween Honesdale and New York, having a number of teams on the road, and, after the completion of the road to Goshen, N. Y., he operated the same line between that point and Honesdale. In this connection he often pur- chased goods for others, acting as agent, and collecting money frequently. In 1843 he pur- chased a farm of one hundred acres in Cherry Ridge township, of Asher Woodward, John Harvey and the widow Pern, and located thereon. There he continued to reside for thirty-three years, during which period he not only engaged in farming, but, with a certain restless activity which has characterized his entire life, occupied himself with other affairs.

When the Erie Railroad was being built, in 1847, he furnished beef to the company for their employés from a point below Narrowsburg to Calicorn. He also furnished food supplies to the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, at Haw- ley, in 1848 and 1849. He dealt largely in pork, as the partner and agent of farmers in his old home in Cortland County, and bought and

sold stock and horses in large numbers, as well as buying wool for Birdsall Brothers, woolen manufacturers, of Seelyville, during the late Civil War.

In the spring of 1876 Mr. Kenner took up- his residence in Honesdale, where he now lives. He sold his farm in 1878 to John and William Blake, the later of whom now occupies it. His chief occupation in 1885 is investing money and looking after his other varied interests .. He has never aspired to public office, but has filled various township offices, and for three years served as collector of Cherry Ridge township. He has been a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Honesdale since about 1860, and associated in its erection, but is liber- ally inclined toward other denominations, and is a contributor to the support of the Methodist Episcopal Society of that place. He contributes: freely, yet not ostentatiously, to the poor and distressed, and is a supporter of all worthy agencies for the development of the community. His life has been an active, energetic and suc- cessful one, and illustrates in a forcible degree the possibilities of advancement in our Ameri- can society to those who, though of humble origin, are endowed by nature with the energy and capabilities necessary for success.

Mr. Kenner's first wife died December 26, 1883. He was united to his present wife, Miss Ellen, daughter of William and Henrietta (Kizer) Spangenberg, of Lake township, on January 1, 1885.

CHAPTER XI.

DAMASCUS TOWNSHIP.

THE peaceful hills of Damascus township slope gently to the southeast, furrowed by many a shining brooklet that empties its clear waters into the Delaware, which river forms the eastern boundary of the township. Manchester lies to- the north, Berlin south, and westward are Leb- anon, Oregon and Berlin, all of them born of its ample arca. At the village of Damascus, Cash's Creek, one of the principal streams, empties into the Delaware, while three miles

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below, at Milanville, Calkins' Crcek makes its débouché. Hollister's Creek drains the north- eastern portion of the township, and the lesser streams are tributaries to one of these three affluents.

The natural ponds are Duck Harbor, which is partly in Lebanon, Laurel Lake, Cline, Swago, Gorham and a number of smaller ponds. Most of the land is rolling, arable and with soil of good quality, and as there are few very higli hills, it is easily cultivated. The least productive portions are a portion of a hill in the northeastern end, called Conklin Hill, and a strip commencing below Milanville, and stretching southward to Big Eddy, on the Delaware.

At the time of its establishment, when Wayne County was set off from Northampton, in 1798, Damascus included all the territory now em- braced in the townships of Lebanon, Oregon and parts of both Dyberry and Berlin. It was then the largest township erected, and, in spite of subsequent excisions, remains so to-day.

As it is territorially the most important, so its history is more interesting than that of sister townships, since along its castern limits were made the first settlements in the county, and its pioneers were the vanguard of the Connecticut civilization, which, while acting as a menace to the tranquil rule of the proprietary government, and entailing animosities that were not unat- tended with bitterness, cruelty and hardship, was an important factor in opening up the rich and fertile fields of Northeastern Pennsylvania. A broad and comprehensive view of the early events and their synchronological relation to the settlement of adjacent regions has been given in the preceding chapters, where also some of the detailed history prior to the erection of Wayne County has been necessarily referred to. In the present chapter, which is designed to be more specific, a grave obstacle to connected narration is mct in the obscurity of many early dates, of which there remains no record. The actors in the early scenes have been dead many years, and left behind them only foggy tradition and fragmentary family records that are limited and contradictory. So far as possible, personal recollection has been supplemented by corrob-

orative evidence from public records, but in spite of much labor, few of the family histories are as complete as the writer desired to have them.

Although there is no authentic account of any settlement at Cushutunk before that of the Del- aware Company, in 1757, a tradition among the descendants of Moses Thomas has it that he lo- cated on the Thomas farm as early as 1750, and was engaged as an Indian trader. Thomas was an Englishman of pluck and enterprise, and afterwards became one of the leading spir- its of the settlement. From what little is shown of his character by his after-history, he seems to have been possessed of those qualities of hardi- hood and adventure that might have prompted him to seek this remote outpost of colonial civ- ilization independently ; it is quite probable he was in Cushutunk as early, if not earlier, than the settlers of whom there is more definite rec- ord. A manuscript written by Nathan Skin- ner, giving a history of the Skinner family, con- tains the most that is known concerning the de- tailed history of the settlement. From this it appears that Daniel Skinner, the father of the author, was born at Preston, Windham County, Conn., and was one of eight brothers and sisters, children of Joseph Skinner. These were Benj- amin, Timothy, John, Abner, Haggai, Calvin, Joseph, Martha and Hulda. The manuscript then goes on to say : " At exactly what time Daniel Skinner came to Damascus we are at present unable to say, but we find from a cer- tain writing that he was at the place where George Bush afterward resided, then called the ' Ackhake place,' on the 4th of September, 1755. His father was one of the twelve hundred Yan- kces that made the great Indian purchase of July 11th, 1754, and under this purchase and another under a section of the colony of East New Jersey, the Skinner family came into the country to seek their fortuncs and make settle- ments.

"Daniel bought of his father twenty-five acres of the Ackhake placc, for which he paid five pounds, current money of the Province of New York, September 11th, 1755. He also assisted in laying out a town, the centre of which was about six miles from the river, near

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where John Barnes now lives on the Cochecton and Great Bend turnpike, and in selecting a lo- cation for a meeting-house, and a lot for the minister, William Rice was, I presume, the sur- veyor. After this Daniel Skinner made his home principally at the Ackhake place until after his father was killed. 1

" Buckskin shirts and checked flannel shirts were altogether the fashion in these days, and, as the skins could be had very cheap from the Indians where he resided, and the flannel of the Yankees where he came from, he became a ped- dler of these articles throughont the settled parts of Pennsylvania and New York, and formed an acquaintance with most of the inhabitants of both States.

" After his father was killed, and his step-moth- er had returned to her residence in Connecticut, which was, I presume, about the year 1759, he took up his residence in Newton, Sussex County, New Jersey. This appears from an old deed of Timothy Wints, of Canterbury, to Daniel Skin- ner, of Newton, Sussex County, New Jersey, for half a right in the Delaware Purchase, for which he paid four pounds sterling. This is dated January 2, 1760. On the 20th of February, in the same year, he paid Alpheus Gustin, one of the proprietors, five pounds for one-fourth of a right in the Delaware purchase, lying on both sides of the river, 'one hundred acres thereof being in the middle township.' On the 26th of the following July lie paid forty pounds to Ben- jamin Skinner, of Newton, Sussex County, New Jersey, for a half-right in the Susquehanna pur- chase, which right Benjamin bought of Joseph Skinner, one of the proprietors.

1 The reasons for the murder of Joseph Skinner are not apparent. The Connecticut title came from the Iroquois, while the New York proprietors had bought of the natives of the region. Shortly after Mr. Skinner brought his fam- ily to Cushutunk, accompanied by others of the settlers, he went to the confederated tribes to make some amicable adjustment of the differences, and on his way back was killed by some unknown person. As he did not return to the settlement his wife, concluding that he had been mur- dered, went back to her old home in Preston. Subsequent- ly his body was found, where he had been shot on the banks of a small stream, just above the residence of Hon. James C. Curtis, and was identified by a prayer-book, on the fly-leaf of which his name was written.

" This year (1760) he became a sailor, and made a voyage to several of the West India is- lands; on his return, March 1st, 1761, he mar- ried a widow by the name of Richardson, who had one daughter, Phobe, by her first husband, and at this time about seven years old. He then moved to a place called Munbrocken Stude, and after remaining there about eight months, went to New Windsor. Early in the spring of 1763 we find him on the same Ackhake place where his father had settled. It was this year that he made his first experiments in rafting. While he had been a sailor he learned the value of pine for masts and spars, and about this time con- ceived the plan of running some spars down the Delaware to Philadelphia. He had a quantity of excellent timber on his place, and he got out and put into the river a number of sticks suit- able for ship-masts. These he put adrift, follow- ing them with a canoe, but they soon ran aground on some roeky islands in the channel, and he had to abandon this method and return home. Notwithstanding his failure he persevered, and with much labor got into the river six large masts of equal length, through the ends of which he cut a mortise about four inches square, into which was fitted what was termed a spindle of white oak. In the ends of these, pins were driven, to keep them from slipping, and the timber thus fastened together he called a raft. To each end of it he pinned a small log, cross- wise, and into the middle of this drove a per- pendicular pin about ten inches long, on which the oars were hung, and being thus rigged, he hired a very tall Dutchman to go with him as fore-hand. He arrived safely at Philadelphia with this raft, and sold it to the mast-makers with good profit. This was the first raft ever navigated on the waters of the Delaware River, and was about the year 1764. Shortly after- ward he made a larger raft, on which Josiah Parks went as fore-hand, and in consequence of the success that attended both ventures, others soon embarked in the same business, and, after a time, rafting became general from the Cook House (Deposit) to Philadelphia. Daniel Skin- ner, having constructed the first raft, was styled ' Lord High Admiral' of all of the raftsmien on the Delaware, and Josiah Parks was named

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" boatswain.' These honorary titles they re- tained during their lives."

Even in this sparse settlement, numbering scarce a score of souls, we find that jealousy and greed played their parts, and came near driving the pioneer raftsman and his family from the river. The manuscript relates that in the spring of 1767, Nathaniel Evans, Abraham Ross and Phineas Clark lived in a house on the site of that which Judge Tyler afterward built for his son, and Skinner lived on the flat about eighty rods from where George Bush now lives. Evans, Ross and Clark conspired to unite and drive Skinner ont of the country, so they could have the whole flat to themselves, and the right of cutting and rafting the timber that grew upon it. Skinner had his brother Haggai living with him, and as both were resolute men who would not give up their rights without a struggle, anx- ious as they were for a monopoly of the flat, the conspirators feared to put their plans into exe- cution. The feeling against Skinner and his family was shared by the wives of his rivals, and, from subsequent events, it seems that the women were the strongest advocates of summa- ry ejection vis et arma. They dared attempt what their spouses lacked courage to venture, and, taking advantage of a time when the men had all gone rafting, indulged in a purely feni- inine struggle, of which the family chronicler has given an account not only quaint and amus- ing, but virile with a touch of human nature that is internal evidence of its fidelity to the eventful life of the early days.

" It was one pleasant afternoon in May," he records, "when all nature was bright and smiling, that an attempt at disposession was made by these ladies, whom I shall designate by the titles by which they were known in after -. years. Aunt Sarah was Nat Evans' wife; Aunt Hulda that of Abraham Ross; and Mrs. Clark the wife of Phineas Clark. These notable and economical wives, lamenting the want of cour- age in their husbands, held a consultation to consider how they might drive Skinner from the country, and have the whole flat and the privilege of rafting the lofty pines thereon to themselves, and thus it came about that Aunt Hulda said to her companions, ' If the Skin-

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History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania, Part 75

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