History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania, Part 86

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 86
USA > Pennsylvania > Pike County > History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania > Part 86
USA > Pennsylvania > Wayne County > History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania > Part 86

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).

Lester Adams.

Robert Lovelace.

Stephen Bunnell. Jesse D. Lillie.

Samuel Camfield. James Myers.

John Cressman. Charles M. Lillie.

William Carr. Hugh MeCrandle.

Andrew Davidson. Thomas MeWilliams.

Charles McStraid.

Hiram Divine. John Garrett. Jeremiah Garrett.

Thomas Melony. Augustus H. Rogers.

Peter Pullis .;

John Garrett, Jr. Benjamin Garrett. William Howe.

Abraham I. Stryker.

Henry Pullis. Samuel Smith.

Abraham Kimble. Thomas Lindsey. James Lovelace.

Charles W. Smith.

Frederick Smith.

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WAYNE, PIKE AND MONROE COUNTIES, PENNSYLVANIA.

Peter Smith,

Amos Y. Thomas.

Henry Smith.

Amory Thomas.

John Smith. Ephraim Torrey.

Joseph Spangenburg.

John Youngs.

Elijah Schoonover.

Samuel Smith was probably the first settler in what is now Berlin township, and located on the ridge that has sinee borne his name, about the close of the last century. He was of Ger- man extraction, though born in Canada, and emigrated to Pennsylvania accompanied by his three oldest sons. In 1801 he was assessed in Palmyra township as the owner of two build- ings valued at ten dollars, and five aeres of improved land. He also owned two horses and two neat eattle. Four years later he had in- creased his improved land to thirteen acres, and subsequently cleared up a fine property. His children were Peter, John, William, Frederick, Henry, Sarah (who became the wife of Samuel Camfield and settled at Berlin Centre), Clarissa (the wife of Daniel Wickham, and afterwards of Washington Brown), Betsy (who married James Myers), Susan (the wife of James Young) and Eleanor (who married Asa Maloney).

Humphrey Bellamy came from Cornwall, England, in 1832, and settled in this township. He married Grace Hicks, and was the father of nine children-Margaret (who married Edward Marshall, of Beech Pond), Grace (the wife of William Tamblyn, of the same place), Robert, Elizabeth (the wife of Thomas Ham, of Texas), Thomas, Charles, Mary (the wife of George Sandercock, of Cherry Ridge), Arabella (who married first William Male and afterward Shepherd Warfield). The progenitor of the family was killed by a falling tree in 1845.

The same tide of English immigration that populated the eastern portion of Oregon township also bore some of the earlier settlers to Berlin, and the fertile farms about Becch Pond were, many of them, taken np by the better classes of ten- antry from Cornwall and Devonshire. Among those who commenced on the west side of the pond, in 1830, were William Olver and the Tamblyns, all from the same neighborhood in Cornwall. Mr. Olver took up a good tract of land and raised a sturdy family. His wife

was Ann Bryant and their children were Mary, the wife of Jonathan Tamblyn ; Ann, the wife of Aaron Pullis ; Sarah, who married Edward Babcock ; Thomas and Richard. Most of them moved West, where they left numerous deseendants.

Jonathan Tamblyn, whose farm was one of the earlier ones, moved West after a few years' residence. William, his brother, lived near the Methodist Church. He maried Grace Bellamy, but had no children.

Jolin Olver came also from Cornwall, in 1831, and, after working a short time at the old glass-factory, near Bethany, settled near Long Pond, where he died some years ago. Before his emigration from England he had married Sarah Ainger, and their children were Thomas, John, William (who lives near Bethany), Richard (who resides on the home- stead), Edmund, Elizabeth (the wife of Wil- liam Deekover, of Wilkes-Barre), Sarah (who married C. P. Treverton, of Beech Pond), George, Francis (who died near Bethany), James A., Daniel, Amos, Moses (who left a widow at Long Pond), and Joseph, who resides with his brother at the homestead.

William Spry, who settled about the same time, near the pond, and about a quarter of a mile from the village, still lives on his original location. He married Ann Tamblyn and their children were Tamizen, the wife of Dr. J. A. Baldwin ; Ann, who married J. C. Male ; Elizabeth, the wife of Danicl Olver; James and Jonathan. The two last-named married and went west.

Edward Marshall, another Englishman, set- tled where his son Edward now lives, in 1831. Edward, Sr., married a Ballemy and had five children,-Jolin, Edward, Robert, Thomas and Grace, who married Charles Barnes.

Oren Park came from Delaware County, N. Y., about the time Honesdale was settled, but, after a brief residenee, returned to his na- tive State. In 1835 he came onee more to Pennsylvania, and settled where he now lives at Berlin Centre. He married Achsah M. Bid- well and had a number of children. Those who survive are Josephine, the wife of Frank Mills, and Irwin D. Park.

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WAYNE COUNTY.

The Garretts were early settlers in Berlin and were also of English birth. Benjamin married Virtue Tripp, of Lackawanna Valley, and had Aliee, Sarah (the wife of Daniel Bul- lock), Minerva (the wife of William Dunnell), Smith, Jeremiah and Isaac. John Garrett was born in England in 1795, and came with his parents to this eountry when he was six years old. The family settled in Philadelphia, from which place he moved to Bethany fifteen years later. Subsequently he settled on Sinith Hill, where he died in 1877, aged seventy-nine. Mr. Garrett married Patience Albro in 1829, and left five children,-John S., Shepard, Curtis, Elizabeth (the wife of Mark Compton) and Uniee (the wife of Nobles Lyman). Jeremialı Garrett married Betsy Tripp, and his children were Millicent, Myron, Benjamin and Lydia, who married a Parmenter.

John S. Cressman eame from New Jersey early in the history of Berlin Centre. His ehildren were John S., Jr., Ann E. (who married Elijah Adams), Daniel, Catharine (the wife of Edwin Smithi), Oliver (a resident of Pike County), and Miranda, the wife of Jaeob Smith.

C. B Seaman, who lived to be the oldest citizen of Wayne born within the county, spent the closing years of his life in Berlin Centre and died there in 1882, aged ninety-three years. Mr. Seaman was born in Milanville, in July, 1789, and afterwards moved with his parents to Dyberry township, where his father cleared up the northern portion of the Deming & Eno farm. Charles lived at the farm until 1867, when Jason Torrey, who was then keeping a tavern in Bethany, engaged him during the month of December when the court was in ses- sion. Young Seaman soon found that he lacked sufficient education, and returned to Bethany during the following winter to go to school, paying his board by the service he was able to give Mr. Torrey out of school hours, and read- ing and studying by the bright fire-light at night. He went regularly behind the counter at the tavern the next spring, and continued to work for Mr. Torrey until 1809, when he erected a little shoe-shop, where he spent a por- tion of his time at the trade which he had learned a year before. In 1811 he went to the 50

Narrows of the Lackawaxen, then ealled " Mount Moriah," where Jason Torrey and Solomon Moor had opened a store, and two years later was appointed the first postmaster there. Meanwhile he had married Esther, a daughter of Ephraim Kimble. In 1826 he was elected sheriff of Pike County for three years(?), and in April, 1830, he was appointed prothonotary, register and reeorder of the same county by Governor Wolfe, those offices not then being eleetive. After residing for several years in Sullivan County, he settled in Berlin township in 1840. In 1822 Mr. Seaman mar- ried, for his second wife, Roxy, a daughter of Jacob Kimble, of Paupack. They lived to- getlier for nearly sixty years, her death occur- ring but a few weeks before his. Mr. Seaman enjoyed the confidence of his fellow-eitizens in a marked degree. In 1849 he was elected county auditor for three years, and in 1858 was made county treasurer. These offices he filled with the same effieieney that marked his administration of affairs in Pike County. He left two sons and five daughters.

Henry Bishop, the fourth son of John Bishop, one of the first settlers in Bethany, is a resident of this township, having settled on a farm in the southeastern portion soon after he reached maturity. He married Amelia Kimble for his first wife, and of this union fonr children were born : Fanny, Zoubie, Amelia and Henry S. . Mr. Bishop's second wife was Amelia Ainsley, who was the mother of Ira K., ? Amelia, Mif- flin, Esther and Theodosia. Though now in his-eighty-seventh year, Mr. Bishop is hale and hearty, and has a lively recollection of the early days. His father, who had been a Revo- lutionary soldier, was a man of much hardihood and thought little of enduring the hardships of a trip on foot to Minisink with his grist. The journey usually occupied several days in good weather and often, in the winter, he would be gone for as many weeks. During his absence, the family subsisted on game and fish, but plenty as this was, it was not unusual for them to know the pangs of keen hunger. Twenty years later, when Henry Bishop settled in what is now Berlin township, the country all about was a dense wilderness, in which hardly a tree

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WAYNE, PIKE AND MONROE COUNTIES, PENNSYLVANIA.

had been felled. Lumbermen were busy on the river flats, and here and there a pioneer and his family were living in little clearings of an acre or two. The Milford and Owego turnpike was the only road through to the tract he had taken up, and his nearest neighbors were the Kimbles, at Indian Orchard, and one or two families at White Mills. Mr. Bishop remem- bers distinctly when he attended the first reli- gious meeting held at Walter Kimble's, and also gatherings at Daniel Kimble's and Corne- lius Corryelle's. The first regular preacher he ever listened to, except at Bethany, was Elder Peck, of Mt. Pleasant. The first school his children attended was held in the old plank school-house at Indian Orchard, and a Mr. Normand was their teacher. This was main- tained by subscription. Mr. Bishop lives with one of his sons, on the farm lie cleared so many years ago.

INDUSTRIAL GROWTH .- Ephraim Torrey, who, as has already been stated, was the first settler at Becch Pond, built a saw-mill at the outlet in about 1820. This was the first mill in the township, and ran for many years after his death. Fine timber covered all the hills, and as the number of settlers increased lumbering became very profitable. In 1840 Asa Corwin came from the Delaware lumber regions and took several contracts. In a year or two he erected a saw- mill. About 1845 George Wells put up the lower mill, as it has been since known ; and, in course of time, sold it to R. S. Olver, who converted it into a circular mill about 1868. The steam mill, which stands on the upper side of the road, was built by S. Swift in 1850. Bark was then plenty, and during this same year Friend and Otho Burr built a tannery. They did not run it very long, however, and the property passed into the hands of one Smith, who sold it to Henry W. Stone and Horace Drake. This firm increased the capacity of the business considerably, and also built a large store, now occupied by George Olver. After- wards Mr. Stone sold out his interest to Drake & Sons, who continued operations until the firm became financially embarrassed in 1878-79, when the tannery was finally closed. It was a two-hundred vat plant, and paid very hand-

somely during the war. Its abandonment has been of great disadvantage to the prosperity of Beech Pond.

The saw-mill at Berlin Centre was built by John and Frederick Smith about 1831, and three or four years later the same firm put up another mill just below the first. Still another mill was erected by John Garrett in 1835, and for fifteen or twenty years all did a thriving business. In 1850 all three were rebuilt and enlarged, Oren Park being the millwright. At present they are doing very little, business being limited by the scarcity of lumber.

The saw-mill at the outlet of Adams' Pond was built by Stephen W. Genung about the time that Beech Pond began to do such a flour- ishing lumber business, and was for some years one of the busiest mills in the township, the lumber being hauled from the mill through Cateliall settlement to the Delaware River. The collection of dwellings that sprang up about the mill was called Genungtown. Later the place was sold to William Holbert, now of Equinunk, who made substantial improvements and pursued the Inmber business on a large scale, so that the place became a thriving settle- ment. As lumber grew more scarce and busi- ness declined, the mill was sold to James Wil- liams, who operates it on a small scale at pres- ent. It is about two miles south of Beech Pond.

As the opening of the Delaware and Hudson Canal, which gave an impetus to the settlement of the country all about Honesdale, was of especial benefit to Berlin township, so the com- pletion of the Erie Branch from Lackawaxen was in some respects a disadvantage. As Honesdale sprang rapidly into existence, the Big Eddy turnpike was built, and subsequently converted into a plank-road-an admirable highway over which all the travel between Honesdale and New York, via Narrowsburg, passed. The tide of travel thoroughly opened up the country, supplied it with good taverns and threaded it with much better roads than those of the adjacent townships. A plank-road was built from near the residence of the late Bulkley Beardslee to Mast Hope, now called Pine Grove, and other similar projects made it

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WAYNE COUNTY.

a most active township two decades ago. But railroad connections directed the travel in other directions, the busy taverns were abandoned, the tannery closed, the lumber was exhausted and saws stopped, and the Berlin of to-day is only a fairly rich agricultural district with memories of former activity.

The first post-office in Berlin township was Ashland, and was established in 1844, with Isaae Doughty as postmaster. He was followed by George Drake, who gave place in turn to Jesse Wood, E. W. Warfield, R. S. Olver, Dr. Edwin Croeker, George A. Drake, R. G. Cor- win, William S. Robbins and George Olver. The name of the office was changed to Beeelı Pond many years ago.

In 1855 a post-offiee was established at Ber- lin Centre and John W. Scamans was the post- master. He was sueeeeded by Charles B. Sea- man, who in turn gave place to Frederick Smith, during whose term the office was abolished. Soon after the post-office at Carley Brook, Ore- gon township, was established, and there most of the residents of this region receive their mail.

The First Baptist Church, of Smith Hill, was organized on Saturday, February 10, 1849, when a meeting of the inhabitants of that part of Berlin, known as Smith Hill, assembled in the school-house to consider the propriety of proenr- ing a suitable site for a meeting-house. Charles A. Seaman was chairman, and A. Silsby, seere- tary. The meeting adjourned after appointing the following committee to fix upon a suitable location : John Smith, Jonathan S. Bidwell, Jacob Smith, Nathaniel Reed, Jonas Mills and Benjamin Garrett. On March 17th, this eom- mittee reported in favor of a site on the lands of John Smith, and the recommendation was adopted. John Smith, Benjamin Garrett and Elder Andrew Hopper were appointed a build- ing committee to colleet subscriptions and material. This meeting also passed resolutions, naming the ehureh and authorizing it to be used " for all religious denominations having their tenets based upon the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and the doetrines of repent- ance, baptism, regeneration and a future state of rewards and punishments." The building was completed during the following summer, and

was dedicated September 14, 1849, Elder Gray preaching the dedicatory sermon.

On September 30th, of the same year, at a meeting held after morning service, resolutions in favor of the organization of a congregation to be known as the First Baptist Church of Berlin were adopted, and Jonathan S. Bidwell and Jonas Mills were appointed a committee to call on Bethany Church for the proper dismis- sals. The members for whom the committee secured letters were as follows: Jonas Mills, Clarissa Brown, Mary- Brown, Olive Brown, Betsy Myers, Jonathan S. Bidwell, Elizabeth Bid well, Dorcas Garrett, Eleanor Malony, John Smith, Eleanor Smith, Jacob Smith, Almerson Beard, Julia Thomas, Catharine Young, Charles B. Seaman, Roxy Seaman, Betsy Garrett, Milli- cent Garrett and Virtue Garrett.

The eouneil of recognition was held on Thursday, October 25, 1849, delegates from Bethany, Honesdale, Damascus, Paupaek Eddy and Ten Mile River being present. Rev. J. T. Mitchell was appointed moderator, and Deacon C. M. Hayden, elerk, and Reverends D. F. Leaeh, Andrew Hopper, Henry Curtis, M. M. Everts and J. T. Mitchell took part in the serviees. Rev. Andrew Hopper became the first pastor, dividing his time between it and the churches at Bethany and Lebanon. He remained until 1850. In May, 1851, Rev. J. P. Stalbird, having settled at Smith Hill, accepted pastoral charge of the church. He resigned in April, 1853, and was succeeded by Rev. Sanford Leach, who remained a year and also resigned. Rev. Newell Callender followed, and remained until a call was extended to Rev. Edward Hall, in May, 1864. In August, 1866, a braneh was established at Pigeon Roost, with preaching every fortnight, alterna- ting with the Methodist mission at that point. Rev. A. J. Adams was the next pastor and remained until 1875, when Rev. Samuel Metz was ealled to give one third of his time at Pigeon Roost. Rev. David W. Halstead next occupied the pulpit, and after him, Joseph F. Bennett was stated supply. Jonas Mills was ealled in November, 1878, and served until 1880, when Rev. L. H. Goodunff, the present incumbent, assumed pastoral charge.

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WAYNE, PIKE AND MONROE COUNTIES, PENNSYLVANIA.

BIOGRAPHICAL.

JOHN CONKLIN.

The earliest mention we ean find of the family from whence the subject of this sketch has sprung oeenrs prior to the Revolution, when two brothers left the old home, on Long Island, and started upon the sea of life. One of these brothers settled near the Hudson River, below Albany, N. Y., while the second located in Orange

married Samuel Dolan ; George S., born 1825; Matilda, born 1827, married Schaeffer Hender- shott ; Clarissa, born 1829, married Nicholas Simonson ; Jacob, born 1832; David B., born 1835.

Nathaniel Seudder learned the trade of a tan- ner and currier, and in early manhood removed to Newton, Sussex County, N. J., where he ear- ried on that business over thirty years and en- | joyed the confidence and respect of a widely-ex-

JOHN CONKLIN.

County, N. Y., and from these progenitors the large families bearing this name in the localities mentioned have come. The third brother, Na- thaniel, remained on Long Island and engaged in the fishing business. His children were Elizabeth, Hannah, Nathaniel, Abraham and John. The son, Nathaniel, born August 1, 1788, married Elsie Van Auken, born January 22, 1794, and had children as follows: Abra- ham, born 1815; John Franklin, born 1816; Hannah, born 1818, married George Conklin ; Nathaniel, born 1819; Elizabeth, born 1821, married Simon Marshall; Susan, born 1823,

tended circle as an upright, honorable man and neighbor. He died August 28, 1846, and was survived by his widow until October 11, 1873.

John F. Conklin was born at Newton, N. J., on November 23, 1816, and attended the dis- triet sehool until of sufficient age to help his father in the tannery. When about seventeen years old, finding the business was not to his desires, he left home and eame into Wayne County, at once finding an opening with the late Mr. Z. H. Russell, who engaged his services during the following seven years in rafting and running lumber down the Delaware River. In

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WAYNE COUNTY.

this employ he developed considerable ability, and in 1840 made arrangements with Messrs. Hornbeck & Cator, also with Mr. Elias Stan- ton, to superintend their heavy operations in the same line,-i. e., taking the lumber, timber, etc., down the river to a market and there dis- posing of it to the best advantage. The repn- tation established by Mr. Conklin while so en- gaged was that of a man of sound judgment and strictest integrity, and during the connection of eleven years with these gentlemen he was favored with their entire confidence and countenance, which ended only with their decease. In 1851 he purchased certain timber lands in the county and became interested on his own acconnt in entting, rafting and selling the products, in which he continued until the spring of 1862, meeting with good success. He then accepted the appointment as steward of the county alms- honse, and acted in such capacity eight years, at the end of which period he declined to remain longer, having desire to attend to a farm pur- chased in 1866.

Some time after this, however, his old friend, Z. H. Russell, pressed upon him the superin- tendence of the turnpikes, which, after being entered upon, took the next nine years' time, when, being strongly urged by warm friends, he again accepted the stewardship of the county almshouse, and in 1882 cutered upon his third four years' term. In this position he has been an unqualified success and receives the good words of all without regard to party, the in- mates particularly having a high regard for the man charged with their care. From his youth np Mr. Conklin has been a close student of men and things, and in his connection with county affairs has succeeded in making two blades of grass grow where one grew before. On first assuming the duties he found twenty tons of hay was the regular product of the farm ; when he resigned in 1870 the crop was sixty-five tons of hay, be- sides heavy crops of grain. After an absence of twelve years he returned to find the crop re- dnced to forty-five tons, and has again raised the production to sixty-five and seventy tons of hay, the acreage being the same throughont. A Republican by conviction, he has never asked office from his party, though a regular and con-

sistent worker. He was made a Mason in 1838, holding membership in the Damascus Lodge, which went down after the Morgan excitement. This honorable fraternity he again joined, under the new constitution, in 1846, and has retained connection since in Howard Lodge.

Mr. Conklin married, on May 12, 1842, Miss Anzebia, daughter of Henry and Amelia (Kimble) Bishop, who was born March 7, 1823. Henry Bishop was born in Bethany in 1796, the son of John Bishop, the earliest settler, and is now, in his ninetieth year, living in this (Ber- lin) township. From this union was born one child, a girl, which died before naming. In 1845 they adopted Martha Yonngs, then three months old, and in 1852 adopted Frances Kel- lam, then three years of age. These children they raised as loving parents, educating and finally marrying them to worthy helpmates : Martha to Isaac D. Riemer, of Berlin township. Four children have come from this union,-Au- zebia, Frederick, Harry and Florence. Francis married William Hankins, of Sullivan County, N. Y., and has borne him five children,-Na- thaniel, Nellie, Margaret, Reeves and Samuel.

Though never identified with any particular church organization, Mr. Conklin has been a generous friend to all and his aid and support have been given to religions and educational matters qnite freely and ever without regard to denomination or sect.

CHAPTER XIV.

BUCKINGHAM. 1

THIS was one of the original townships, its boundaries when first established being the State of New York on the north and east, Damasens on the sonth, and Damascus and Mount Pleasant on the west, thus having an extensive length on the Delaware River of abont thirty miles, and average width of about nine. Scott was created from the northern portion in 1821, Manchester from the southern portion in 1826. A portion of it was taken for the for-

1 By Georgo W. Wood.

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WAYNE, PIKE AND MONROE COUNTIES, PENNSYLVANIA.

mation of Preston in 1828. Thus contracted, it has an extent of about fourteen miles on the Delaware, with an average width of about six. Its present boundaries are Scott on the north, Shrawders or Balls Creek separating the two; New York on the east, the Delaware River separating ; Manchester on the south, Big Equinunk Creek dividing ; Lebanon, Mount Pleasant and Preston on the west. The highest point in it is some fourteen hundred feet above tide water. Its surface is very uneven. For its whole extent on the river rises the river hill, rugged and often precipitous, but with occa- sional indentations of bottom land. Much of the river hills have been stripped of timber. Fire has often followed the axe ; as a consequence there are stretches of unsightly " fire-scald," through which the rocks grin hideously as if to mock man's cupidity. Back from the river is alternate hill and vale, with perhaps three- fourths of the land susceptible to cultivation. Of the small lakes which are so liberally scattered through northeastern Pennsylvania, the town- ship has six, viz. : Lizard Lake, High Lake, Adams Lake, Preston and Nabby's, and Fork Mountain. Its streams are the Big Equinunk, Shrawders, Shchawken, Toppolock and Fall Creeks, and their tributaries. Originally its hills and valleys were covered with timber, large tracts being covered mostly with hemlock. Along the river and on the Equinunk Creek was considerable pine. Little of either remain. Tanneries and lumbermen have done their work effectually. Of the deciduous trees every variety found in Northern Pennsylvania exists. These, too, are disappearing with a rapidity, which can but create grave apprehensions when the future needs of the people are considered, as well as the almost assured climatic effects of denuding a region of its timber. The soil on the uplands is a loam with a stiff clay subsoil, the last too often quite too near the surface-better adapted to grazing than the growing of cereals. On the river bottoms the soil is a sandy loam, underlain by gravel. The traveler through the township will notice that while nature has with- held in richness of soil and has heaped up rocks, and scattered stone quite too plentifully, she has compensated by giving lavishly of her

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History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania, Part 86

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