History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania, Part 81

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 81
USA > Pennsylvania > Pike County > History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania > Part 81
USA > Pennsylvania > Wayne County > History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania > Part 81

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WAYNE, PIKE AND MONROE COUNTIES, PENNSYLVANIA.

is one of the last connecting links between the pioneer development of Wayne County and the new era of manufacturing and agricultural prosperity upon which it is now entering. Al- though at the advanced age of eighty-six years, he has a wonderfully retentive memory, and is one of the best informed men in the county upon the early events that characterized its set- tlement, and upon the lives and habits of its first settlers. He has held the various town-

CHARLES IRVINE.

Charles Irvine was born in Cochecton, Sulli- van County, N. Y., April 8, 1814, and was the seventh of eleven children of Charles and Weighty Calkin Irvine, of that place.

In 1825 his parents moved to Selin's Grove, Snyder County, Pa. A few weeks later, July 23d, the whole family was seized with fever, of which the father died.

In September of the same year the inother,

CALVIN SKINNER.

ship offices of Damascus, and in the early train- ing-days took a prominent part in the martial displays that attended the turning-out of the militia, and was colonel of the Seventieth Regi- ment of the Second Brigade and Eighth Divi- sion of that body. He married, in 1820, Sarah, daughter of Jonathan Lillie, of Damascus town- ship, and has had a family of twelve children, of whom eight are now living, namely : Calista ; Leila, wife of Charles Drake ; Volney; Martha; Weston D. ; Octavia, widow of Edward Fen- wick, of Matamoras ; Abigail, wife of Walter Illman, M.D .; and Milton L. Skinner. .

with her family, returned to Cochecton, and al- though but nine years old, Charles drove an ox- team back, his only companion being a sick brother, dependent on him for care. The rest of the family, having horses, arrived three days earlier.

Ten years later he entered the store of Hiram Bennett & Co., at Damascus, Pa., as a clerk under Walter S. Vail, one of the junior part- ners. The next year he made a more perma- nent engagement with W. S. Vail and D. B. St. John, they having bought Mr. Bennett's in- terest. In November, 1844, he associated him-

Chas home

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WAYNE COUNTY.

self in business with the Hon. N. W. Vail, now of Middletown, N. Y., the new firm buy- ing out Vail & St. John, and continuing busi- ness until 1855, when W. W. Tyler succeeded Mr. Vail in the firm. The following year Mr. Irvine disposed of his interest to J. S. Vail.

Nearly five years later, in 1860, he formed a partnership with T. & P. O'Reilly, their store being on the same ground where he first entered the mercantile business nearly forty years before. The next year he finally retired from the busi- ness and engaged in the management of various important interests with which he was con- nected. In these, as in all his business affairs, he was eminently successful, adding to his al- ready acquired property by judicious invest- ments after he had retired from active life.

Mr. Irvine was a man of quick and clear perceptions, liberal and progressive views, strict integrity, admirable business methods and en- terprise, of warm impulses and sympathies and superior judgment. He was recognized as one of the most useful citizens of his locality, for, unlike many others, he remained where he had been successful and spent his life with those who patronized him when in business. His education was that given by the common school, which, with the general literature of the day and the long contact of an active, observant and receptive intellect with the world, resulted in a mental growth and an extent of information that won for him the respect and confidence of the community. Mr. Irvine was married, Octo- ber 9, 1844, to Allamanda, daughter of Charles and Weighty Bush Drake. Two sons and a daughter were born to them. Clarence, the oldest, died in infancy ; Frederick A., at the age of nineteen. The mother and daughter survive him. He was closely identified with the interests of the Presbyterian Church of Cochec- ton, of which he was for several years a member and one of its main supporters. He passed away after a brief and sudden illness, October 17, 1885.

J. HOWARD BEACH.

Mr. Beach was born at Pike Pond, Sullivan County, N. Y., June 17, 1836. His grandfather,

James Beach, was a native of Litchfield County, Conn., but at an early day removed to Cairo, Greene County, N. Y., where he engaged in farm- ing and lumbering. At this place was born Eli Beach, the father of our subject, who became an apprentice in the tanning business to Col. Edwards, of Cairo, and soon after his marriage erected a tannery at Pike Pond, where he cleared off a large tract of land and carried on the tanning business for a number of years. He subsequently removed to the State of Maine, where he followed the same occupation, on the Kennebec River, for six years. He then re- turned to Cairo, where he engaged in agri- cultural pursuits for some time, and then for five years operated a tannery at Callicoon, in Sullivan County, New York, in partnership with Charles Horton, the firm being known as Horton & Beach. In the year 1854 he pur- chased of David Clements a tannery property at what is now Milanville, in Damascus town- ship, Wayne County, Pa., including large tracts of wild land in that section. Here he carried on a large and successful business for many years, being one of the pioneers of that section, and associating himself with its general develop- ment. He died in 1876, at the age of seventy- two years. He was a man of superior business qualifications, strict integrity and excellent judgment. He exerted a commanding influ- ence among his neighbors and associates, fre- quently acted as their adviser and counsel, wrote contracts and deeds and often held a fiduciary relation to his friends. His wife was Mary A., daughter of Ephraim Gay, a former resident of New England, who also lo- cated in Greene County, New York. Six chil- dren resulting from the union attained mature years,-namely : Matilda Connor ; J. Howard ; Charles E., a merchant at Cochecton, New York; Mary, wife of Mark Appley, of Damas- cus ; Adelia, wife of Henry K. Nichols, of Col- orado ; and Watson E., engaged in the banking business at North Flat, Nebraska.

J. Howard Beach passed the earlier years of his life in Cairo and in the State of Maine, in both of which places he enjoyed the advantages of a common-school education. He subse- quently attended the academy at Monticello,

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WAYNE, PIKE AND MONROE COUNTIES, PENNSYLVANIA.

N.Y., and completed his higher education at the Union Academy, at Damascus. After finishing his educational course he learned the tanner's trade under the supervision of his father. In 1858 he purchased the interest of Loren An- drews, of New York City, who was then in partnership with his father at Milanville, and became a partner himself, the new firm being known as E. Beach & Son. This business con-

sumed his place in the firm, and the business is still carried on under the old firm-name by J. Howard Beach. The latter is also a partner in the firm of Charles E. Beach & Co., mer- chants, at Cochectou, and has been extensively engaged in the lumber business on his own account. He is also a member of the firm of Nichols, Beach & Co., who carry on a large cattle business in Nebraska. He is treasurer and

of Howard Beach

nection continued until the death of his father, in 1876, and near its close was carried on under the sole management of J. Howard Beach. It em- braced not only the extensive tanning opera- tions of the concern, but, in connection there- with, the store at Milanville, and the cultiva- tion of that portion of the land of the firm that had been cleared and devoted to the uses of ag- riculture.

Upon the death of Eli Beach his wife as-

manager of, and a large owner or stockholder in the Cochecton Bridge Company over the Dela- ware River, between Cochecton and Damascus; president of the Wayne County Agricultural Society, of which he has been a director since its organization ; a director in the Wayne County Savings Bank, at Honesdale, and holds the office of postmaster at Milanville. In politics he is a consistent and ardent Democrat, and is one of the most influential members of

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WAYNE COUNTY.

the party in Northeastern Pennsylvania. He has been a member of the State Central Com- mittee, and a member and chairman of the County Committee of Wayne County on many occasions. He has held various local offices, and in 1871 was chosen to represent Wayne and Pike Counties in the State Legislature. He was nominated and re-elected to the same office in 1872, the Republican party making no nomin- ation against him. He is a man of generous im-

mascus township, and has the reputation of having cleared as much land with his own hand as any of the old residents of the town- ship. He was a native of Haverhill, N. H., where he was born March 14, 1813. His edu- cational advantages were extremely meagre, and he was compelled at an early age to support himself. He removed to Connecticut, and for a number of years drove a truck between Hartford and New Haven. On April 8, 1838,

WILLIAM HARTWELL.

pulses, liberal and kind-hearted, and occupies a high place in the respeet and esteem of his neighbors and friends. He married, July 1, 1884, Mrs. D. MeCollough, a daughter of Elihu Page, and a representative of one of thic early and prominent families of Sullivan County, N. Y. She is a lady of many excellencies of character, and presides with dignity and grace over the hospitable home at Milanville.

WILLIAM HARTWELL.

Mr. Hartwell was for many years recognized as one of the most industrious farmers of Da-

he married Eliza J. Nettleton, a native of Mid- dlesex County, Conn., and in October, 1841, came to Damascus township, Pa., where he bought of George Wilcox a portion of the farm now occupied by his only child, Jane E. Hartwell, and her husband, John L. Burcher, where he engaged in farming and lumbering for mauy years. He was a man of frugal habits, great industry, firm in his convictions, and a regular attendaut and subsequent member of the Pres- byterian Church. For a great many years he rafted his lumber down the Delaware River to Philadelphia. His wife died January 12, 1879,

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WAYNE, PIKE AND MONROE COUNTIES, PENNSYLVANIA.

and he afterwards married again and took up his residence in Honesdale, where he died De- cember 28, 1881.

His daughter married John L. Burcher, of Damascus township, in 1865, and now occupies the homestead-residence of her father, erected by him in 1867, in the southiwestern section of Damascus township. Their only son, William E. Burcher, was born June 29, 1865, and is en- gaged in farming pursuits with his father.

pioneers of the township, and being a poor man, without capital, was compelled to labor ardu- ously for others in clearing up and subjecting to the uses of agriculture the wild section of country in which he located. In later years he worked some leased land on his own account, but his living was necessarily a precarious one. Thinking to improve his circumstances in life, he made a journey to Michigan, but returned in no better financial condition, but with his

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THOMAS Y. BOYD.

Mr. Boyd was born in Damascus township, Wayne County, Pa., January 9, 1823. His grandfather, John Boyd, was killed during the bombardment of Tripoli, in 1813, while serving under Commodore Decatur, of the American navy. His father, James Boyd, was born at Philadelphia, in 1795, and about 1808 accom- panied the Duffield family to Damascus town- ship, as an apprentice boy. He was one of the

health seriously impaired by hard work. In 1842 he died leaving a wife, née Nancy, daughter of David Canfield, of Litchfield County, Conn., and a family of children. Of the latter, but four are living at this writing (1885), viz : Thomas Y., David and Joseph, who reside in Warren County, Pa., and Caro- line, wife of William Eighney, of Damascus township.

At the death of his father, Thomas Y. Boyd,

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WAYNE COUNTY.

the eldest son, was but nineteen years of age, and at that early time the care and support of the family devolved upon him. All the school- ing advantages that he had enjoyed was an at- tendance of two quarters and a half at the district school of his neighborhood, which it- self was not of the highest character, in the wild country in which it was established. Up to the time that his father died he had sup- ported himself by working by the day at lumber- ing and farming, turning his hand to anything that promised a moderate compensation for a hard day's work. Before he attained his major- ity he had the old lease of his father revived through John Torrey, of Honesdale, and embarked in a small way in the lumbering busi- ness. Incidental to this work was the old cus- tom of rafting down the Delaware to Philadel- phia, and for more than forty years, and until two years ago, he made his rafting journeys to the Pennsylvania metropolis, being widely known by the residents along the river from his home in Damascus to the city. As his business increased, his opportunities widened, and, in partnership with Joseph Wood, he pur- chased the old saw-mill of Truman Tymmer- son, at what is now Boyd's Mills, and erected in its stead the large steam saw-mill which he now owns and operates alone. Besides that, he operates a grist-mill at the mills and runs a store and blacksmith-shop at the same point, and his landed possessions include about nine- teen hundred acres of land in Wayne County, the most of which is timber land.

Thus, from the smallest of beginnings, and amid obstacles only surmountable by the great- est labor, perseverance, patience and economy, Mr. Boyd has come to be one of the most rep- resentative and influential men of his section, and a living example of how much can be ac- complished by persistency of purpose, industry and integrity. He was originally a Douglas Democrat, but since the breaking out of the Re- bellion has acted with the Republican party, and has served as a member of the County Committee. For many years lie was postmaster at Boyd's Mills, and in March, 1874, was elected a mem- ber of the State Legislature at a special election, his district including both Wayne and Pike

Counties, and he being the first Republican chosen to represent it. He was re-elected in 1875 to represent Wayne County alone, the adoption of the new Constitution changing the basis of representation, and closed his legislative career in 1877, having, by the faithful and conscien- tious discharge of his public duties, merited the approval and commendation of his constituents. Mr. Boyd has occupied his present residence at Boyd's Mills since 1868. He married, in March, 1849, Betsey Jane, daughter of Isaac and Ursula Mitchell, of Damascus township (for- merly of Litchfield County, Conn.), and had a family of twelve children, of whom five survive, viz. : Joseph, Elizabeth, Rena, Charles E. and Thomas Y. Boyd, Jr., all living at home.

JOHN JACKSON.

Thomas Jackson, the grandfather of the sub- ject of this sketch, was an ingenious clock-maker, and emigrated to this country from England prior to the Revolutionary War, settling at Pres- ton (now Griswold) Connecticut. His fame as a clock-maker was far-reaching. He cast the wheels and other movements himself, made the case and set the time-piece going. One of these clocks made by him is in the possession of Moses Coit Tyler, president of the University of Michigan, and is highly prized by him; another stands in the house of his grandson, John Jackson, in Damascus township, and has been running over one hundred years. Its movements are in excellent condition, and seem good for another century of usefulness. The name of the maker is inscribed upon the neat, brass face, and the cabinet-work is unique and durable. It is a veritable " grandfather's clock," and is highly prized by its owner. Thomas Jackson died November 23, 1806, aged seventy- three years, and is buried in the cemetery at Patchaug Plain, Conn.

He was a member of the Second Congrega- tional Church in Preston, and married Mary Knight, by whom he had an only son, Thomas, born in 1774. An old discharge of Thomas Jackson from the Continental army, in the pos- session of his grandson, John Jackson, is dated Springfield, April 4, 1780, and shows that lic

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WAYNE, PIKE AND MONROE COUNTIES, PENNSYLVANIA.

was a soldier in the First Regiment, and was discharged with " reputation."

Thomas Jackson married Esther, daughter of Jeremiah Phillips, of Preston, November 5, 1807. The family continued to reside in Gris- wold until about 1834, when they removed to Norwich, Conn. Mr. Jackson died in 1853, and his wife in 1862. They had five sons and seven daughters,-Thomas, who engaged in teaching and was afterwards a surveyor in the

sides in Griswold, Conn .; Abbie, in Groton; and Julia, for the last three years, in Honolulu, Sandwich Islands.

John Jackson was born in the town of Preston (Griswold), Conn., September 10, 1812. The early years of his life were spent at Gris- wold, where he received the rudiments of an ordinary English education. When nine years of age his father removed to Jewett City, Conn., and during the summer of 1821 our subject

Palm Jackson

West; John ; Albert, who died at the age of sixteen; Horace W., who resides in Chelsea, Mass .; and Orrin Fowler, who edited a paper in Newport, R. I., and was afterwards murdered, near Jackson, Miss., by guerrillas, having leased a farm near that place. Of the five daughters now living, Esther is unmarried and resides with her brother John ; Louisa married a Mr. Gar- diner and resides with her daughter, the wife of D. H. Brown, Esq., of Honesdale; Mary re-

worked for a farmer in the neighborhood. The three following years he worked in a woolen- factory at Jewett City, and later in the cotton- factory of John Slater, of the same place. October 1, 1833, he married Abbie, daughter of Chester Appley, of Canterbury, Conn., and in the spring of 1834 removed to Norwich Falls, in the same county, where he acted as overseer of the weaving-room in a cotton-factory. In the spring of 1835 he removed to Hawkins'

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WAYNE COUNTY.

Depot, N. Y., and engaged in farming and lumbering at that point, until the fall of 1837, when he crossed the Delaware River to Man- chester, Pa. There he remained engaged in farming until the spring of 1845, when he bought one hundred acres of land of David Nathan, in Damascus township, where he now lives. At that time the country was wild and heavily wooded, and only a few acres of the tract bought by Mr. Jackson were cleared. With great energy and determination he set to work to carve a farm out of this wild tract, and succeeded so well that at the present writing (1886) his farm comprises two hundred and fourteen acres, one hundred and thirty acres of which he cleared himself. In 1872 he purchased of William Hartwell one hundred and three acres of land on the turnpike in Damascus, and gave it to his son, John O. Jackson. In 1884 he bought of Ransom Y. Mitchell one hundred and ten acres of land on the same turnpike, which he handed over to another son, Hannibal C. Jackson. He is one of the most successful and representative farmers of Damascus township, and has acquired all that he has by the closest industry and the most persistent effort. He is a Republican in politics, but votes independently on local elections. He has held various offices in his own and Manchester townships, but has never been a seeker after place. He has been a director of the Wayne County Agricultural Society for a number of years, and is held in general respect for his integrity and uprightness of character. As early as 1831 he united with the Congregational Church at Jewett City, Conn., and has always proven faithful to the professions he then made. He is a regular attendant of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Damascus, and a liberal contributor to all worthy objects. He has been a trustee of the church since 1847, and was one of the building committee upon the erection of the First Methodist Church edifice at Damascus. He has frequently acted as cxec- utor, administrator, trustee and guardian for his friends, and has discharged his duties in a faith- ful and able manner. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Jackson were Charles R., a doctor of med- icine, who died in Illinois in 1865 ; Chester T., a member of Company I, Eighty-fourth Regi-

ment Pennsylvania Volunteers, who died in July, 1864, from the effects of disease contracted while in the service of his country ; John O. and Hannibal C., already referred to ; William L., who resided on the old homestead with his parents ; and Sarah L., wife of E. B. Gager, of Dyberry township, Wayne County. His sons. are all members of the Methodist Church at Damascus, and feel a deep interest in its work .. Mr. J. O. Jackson has been a member of the board of trustees for about ten years, and is one of the supervisors of Damascus township at the- present writing.

GEORGE SHEARD.

George Sheard was born at Hotisfield, York- shire, England, November 19, 1828, and was the oldest son of John and Ann N. (Exley) Sheard The former was a shoemaker by trade, and emigrated to this country in 1841, locating at Poughkeepsie, where he followed his avoca- tion for a number of years. Subsequently he removed to Tylertown, Sullivan County, N. Y., where he purchased land and engaged in farm- ing until his death, in 1844. His wife died in 1871. Their children were George, our sub- ject ; Maria, widow of Anthony Wall, of Da- mascus township, Wayne County, Pa. ; Ann, wife of John Marks, of Damascus ; Elijah B., engaged in farming in the same township ; and Sarah, widow of Martin Groner, of Honesdale, Pa.

George Sheard enjoyed but limited educa- tional advantages, and at nine years of age worked in a woolen factory in England. At the time of the emigration of his father to this. country he was thirteen years of age, and then learned the trade of a shoemaker with his father in Poughkeepsie.

After his father's death, in 1844, the sup- port of the family devolved upon him, and he removed from Tylertown to Damascus village, Wayne County, Pa., with the intention of work- ing a farm at that place. But he abandoned that purpose at the solicitation of friends, and worked at his trade for Alvah Smith and Wil- liam E. Raymond. He remained there for three years and then worked for James Love- lass, at what was then known as the "south

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WAYNE, PIKE AND MONROE COUNTIES, PENNSYLVANIA.

settlement " of Damascus. In June, 1855, he married Mary, daughter of Isaac Lovelass, originally from Nova Scotia, who finally settled in Wayne County, Pa., and died there in 1847. Soon after, he bought a small tract of land at the point where he now resides in Damascus township, erected a small shop and began to work at his trade. Here he has remained ever since, having added to his original purchase of land and erected a substantial residence thereon.

of this sketch, was an early resident of Mont- gomery County, Pa., where many of his de- scendants still reside. The house occupied by his grandson, James, in Upper Merion township, near Norristown, was built in 1775 and enlarged in 1806. His son Joseph engaged in farming and lumbering at the old place and also operated a saw-mill on the site now occupied by the paper-mill of his son Thomas. He married Ann Davis, of Montgomery County, and had a

George Sheard

By great industry and perseverance he has suc- ceeded in accumulating a desirable estate, and is one of the many self-made men of his township. He has served as a school director for the past six years, and isa consistent member of the First Baptist Church of Damascus, and a deacon of that body. His children are Alfred Ellsworth, George W. and Mary Alice Sheard.

GEORGE ABRAHAM.

Isaac Abraham, grandfather of the subject

large family of children, among them being James, Benjamin, Thomas, George, Sarah (who married Jonathan Philip, of Montgomery County), Anna (wife of Owen Evans, of Phila- delphia), and Eliza (widow of Jonathan Sup- plee, residing in Norristown).

George Abraham was born at the old home- stead in Montgomery County, December 3, 1827. He received a good English education, which he completed at the Norristown Academy, and in the spring of 18,50 left his native county to es-

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WAYNE COUNTY.

tablish a home for himself in the then wild see- tion of Wayne County, Pa. He purchased seven hundred aeres of land of his father-in- law, Jacob Wager, in the northern part of Da- maseus township, where there was scarcely a tree eut or a clearing made, erected a small house, built a mill and entered upon the life of a lumberman, conveying the products of his industry on rafts to Philadelphia, which he has continued to do ever since.

tial men of his section, and is held in gen- eral respect. He is a Democrat in polities and has held the offices of school director and super- visor a number of years.

He married, in 1853, Mary C., daughter of Ja- cob Wager, of Damaseus township, and has had ten children, of whom seven are living, namely,- Lydia (wife of John J. Canfield, of Damascus), Hannah (wife of James Rowan, of Manchester), George C., Jane, Addison, Joseph and Gertrude.

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History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania, Part 81

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