History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania, Part 89

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 89
USA > Pennsylvania > Pike County > History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania > Part 89
USA > Pennsylvania > Wayne County > History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania > Part 89

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).

WARNER PRESTON KNIGHT.

Born in Delaware County, N. Y., opposite Stockport, Wayne County, Pa., on January 8, 1846.

When the late Judge Samuel Preston remov- ed from Philadelphia to the then wilds of Wayne County, he brought with him a young lad named John Knight, the son of old family friends in the Quaker City. This lad, being adopted into the family, grew up in such con- nection and married twice,-first, Rebecca Jen- kins, by whom he had two children, William and Daniel; and second, Hester Sands, who bore him Richard, John, George and a number of others who died young.

The family homestead was on the New York side of the Delaware River, opposite Stockport,

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and here Richard Knight married Cassandra Lakin, whose son, Warner Preston, was the only child attaining youth.

After the death of this lady Mr. Knight was united to Mrs. Deborah Gardiner, the mother of Hon. Charles L. Gardiner, (member of the Pennsylvania State Legislature 1883-84,) and partner for many years with the subject of this sketch. Mr. Richard Knight was one of the most prominent lumber operators along the river, known everywhere as a man of worth and integrity. About 1853 the family moved to Equinunk, where Warner P. Knight ob- tained the education afforded by the common schools and was then sent to the Delhi (N. Y.) Academy one year, during the war. While in attendance there, party feeling was running high, and the scholars generally voiced the sen- timents of their parents. One, a Southern lad, exhibited a secession flag, which, being shortly observed by our subject, was torn to pieces and stamped upon as an emblem of treason. He was afterwards placed at the Delaware Literary Institute, Franklin, N. Y., where he completed a liberal education.

On returning to Equinunk he commenced his mercantile career as a clerk in the store of Mr. C. F. Rockwell, and followed that by en- tering business in partnership with his step- brother, under name of Knight & Gardiner, which firm continued until 1873, wlien upon the death of Judge Paul S. Preston, the grand- father of his wife, he removed to Stockport, to superintend the extensive business interests of Miss Ann Preston. In this connection he re- maincd until his early demise on March 3, 1885, consequent upon a too close application to the large and complicated business interests he had in charge, lumbering, mill, store, etc., in which he established a high reputation for business capacity, great energy and earnest in- tegrity. It is said of him as of but few men, that so implicitly was his reputation relicd upon by purchasers of rafts, of timber and lum- ber shipped by him, that purchase was made without so much as an inspection on their part.

A large employer of labor, he was generous and kind, always recognizing right endeavor and

aiding with both money and counsel whenever called upon by worthy subjects.

Mr. Knight early affiliated with the Masonic fraternity and was a member in good and regu- lar standing of Hancock Lodge and Shehawken Chapter, No. 258, R. A. M. He was also a charter member of Equinunk Lodge, Knights of Honor, and belonged to the Independent Or- der of Good Templars.

On February 14, 1872, he was married to Miss Henrietta M., daughter of Allen K. and Gulielma (daughter of Hon. Paul S: Preston) Hoxie, born at Summer Hill, Cayuga County, N. Y. The children of Allen K. and Gulielma Hoxie are as follows : Paul Preston, married Nora Washburn, and, with two children, resides at Raymond, Iowa ; Elma Ann, married Den- nison Crary, now residing, with eight children, at Stockport, Pa .; and Henrietta M., married as above stated.

From this union were born seven children, viz .: Henrietta M., born November 14, 1872; Richard, born March 4, 1875; Samuel Pres- ton, born December 5, 1876; Anne, born November 4, 1878; Elma, born April 20, 1880; Harold, born October 28, 1881; Rutlı, born August 2, 1884.

Recognizing the immense value of a liberal education and desiring to afford her young fam- ily advantages hardly obtainable in the vicinity of their birth-place, Mrs. Knight purchased a home in the beautiful city of Middletown, N. Y., and removed there during December, 1885, proposing to remain at least during their early youth.

CHAPTER XV.

EQUINUNK. 1

THE place derives its name from the Equi- nunk Creek, which here unites with the Dela- ware. The Indian name, " Equinunk," is said, traditionally, to signify "The Trout Stream." Certainly a name it well deserved.2 The little

1 By George W. Wood.

2 In documents written as early as 1778, the place is called " Safe Harbor."

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village which has grown up here, almost en- tirely from the lumber and tanning industries, has been built without much regard to reg- ularity or appearance, and the traveler viewing it from the cars on the Erie Railroad, which runs at the base of the hills on the opposite side of the Delaware, views it as a straggling, ill- conditioned hamlet ; but the traveler first seeing it as he comes over the mountains from the di- rection of Honesdale, especially in the summer, considers it very attractive both as to location and general appearance. It is built up on both sides of the creek, hence has the distinction of being in two townships, Buckingham and Man- chester, probably the larger portion being in the last named.

It is entirely on the "Equinunk Manor," especial mention of which was made in the his- tory of Buckingham. The Delaware (which the writer thinks the most beautiful river in America) makes here an abrupt turn, thus forming at the base of the Equinunk Rocks, a deep quiet eddy, where the clear pellucid waters seem to rest from their course of life and beau- ty, to the sca. Looking up the stream from many points on the Manchester side a vista of qnict landscape beauty presents itself, which can scarcely be surpassed. A stretch of some two miles of the river with the island known as Equinunk Island, is before one. Viewed in the summer, when the hills are clad in verdure down to the water's edge, the island clothed with green, with occasional trees flinging their branches out over the water, cattle standing in the river and seeming to enjoy not the comfort only, but the quiet beauty, and all in repose and quiet, unbroken except by the roar and rush of occasional trains passing on the rail- way, the scene is one of rare loveliness and beauty.

The first white man of whom there is an au- thentic account as living at Equinunk, was Josiah Parks, a native of New London, Conn. The life of this man, if properly written, would read like a romance, giving, as it would, ac- count of thrilling adventures, with examples of heroic purpose, patient endurance and unwav- ering devotion to his country.

The limits of this article will allow but a

brief sketch. He was born in 1745. When quite young he served on board an English man-of-war. Here he distinguished himself for bravery, and was made boatswain, hence the appellation, which went with him through life, of " Boatswain," or in the common render- ing, " Bosen Parks." Leaving the navy, he first settled in Ulster County, N. Y., where he lived when the American Revolution began. With true patriotic ardor he entered his coun- try's service, choosing a most dangerous branch of service, that of a scout, his field for prac- tice lying between the Hudson and the Dela- ware, a region infested by loyalists, and their less savage allies, the Indians. . An account of his adventures here would give his name a place with that of Murphy, Quick and others, to whom the country owes so much, but of whom it knows so little. At some period during the Revolution, and prior to the massa- cre of Wyoming, he came with his family to Equinunk, reaching it by way of the Dela- ware, against the strong current of which lie pushed a canoe containing his family and worldly goods. Reaching Equinunk, he lived for some time in a sort of cave in the Equinunk Rocks. People are living here yet, who well remeniber the place, but vandal hands have long since obliterated cvery trace of it. Still following his occupation of scout, he became the especial object for the vengeance of the Tories and Indians. He was once taken prisoner by them, but while they were enjoying the pros- pect of roasting liim, he escaped. Finally, being warned by a friendly Indian of a plan to destroy him and his family, he again took to his canoe and the Delaware, and in the night with the river high and filled with floating ice, he went down the stream to the fort at Cochec- ton.

While he was here he learned of the intended attack on Wyoming. With only a pocket com- pass to guide him, he went over the mountains to Wyoming, to warn the inhabitants. Arriving there, he was arrested as a spy, but fortunately, people were there who knew him, and who vouched for his integrity, and he was released. But his warning was unheeded, except by two or three families. These he piloted through to

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the Delaware.1 After this he returned to Equi- nunk, but was again obliged to leave. Again he returned and soon after peace came, and the occupation of Parks was gone. After the war, he built a house on Equinunk Island, which it was then reasonable to suppose, belonged to Pennsylvania. He cleared a portion of the island and alternately cultivated the land, hunted and followed the river as a pilot, at which he becanie celebrated. He seems to have been improvident or unfortunate, and remained poor. Notice is made in the sketch of Buck- ingham of his having owned the Stockport Flats. He died in 1829. He has numerous descendants in the valley of the Delaware.

One of his daughters, Mrs. Prudence Lakin, lived to the extreme age of one hundred and nine years; retaining her memory and mental powers until past one hundred. A great niece visited her when one hundred and six years old, and hearing Equinunk spoken of, remarked that she supposed " Equinunk had changed some since she saw it last." On the niece asking how long since she saw it, she re- plied, " ninety years."

Of his descendants, one, a highly esteemed and cultured lady, Mrs. A. W. Cole, resides at Equinunk, in sight of the place where her great- grandsire braved the privation and dangers of the picket line of civilization. It appears from the correspondence between Anthony Butler and Samuel Preston in 1790, that there were whites here prior to that, and subsequent to the location of Parks. But no names are given, and the inference is, that they were lawless char- acters, intent only on getting the timber.

Prior to 1806, one Sylvester Roylston lived here, but nothing is known of his antecedents, or what became of him. Judge Preston had built a saw-mill here prior to 1806, and it is presumed that Roylston was in his employ.

In 1822 Christopher Teeple came here from near the Delaware Water Gap. He built a house on what was known as "The Point,"

about fifty rods north of the mouth of Equinunk Creek. In 1832 he removed to the Union set- tlement in Manchester.

In 1831 Alexander Calder and Israel Chap- man bought the whole of the Equinunk Manor. Mention is made in the sketch of Buckingham of their commencing a tannery and of the divi- sion of the lands, etc. Mr. Calder was a na- tive of Greene County, N. Y., his parents having come there from Scotland a short time before his birth. He always possessed a warm regard for the land of his fathers, and was in- tensely Scotch in thought and feeling. At an early age he was ordained as preacher in the Methodist Episcopal Church and gained re- nown as a revivalist, and was noted for his earnest, fiery eloquence, masterly logic and rapid flow of language. He belonged at one time to the New York Conference, afterward the Oneida. After commencing business at Equinunk, he still remained in the ministry, being last stationed at Sydney Plains, N. Y. After the division of the lands between him and Chapman, noticed in the chapter on Buck- ingham, he engaged in business at Equinunk, and was noted for his restless energy and un- flagging industry. For many years he kept a store, and, at the same time, was largely inter- ested in lumbering and farming. His wife was a Miss Affie Waldron, also of Greene County, N. Y., a most estimable woman, and one whose " children rise up to call her blessed." Eight children-four sons and four daughters -were born to them, all of whom reached man and womanhood. But a sad fatality seemed to follow the sons. James H., the eldest son, a young man of great promise and probity, was stricken down by death soon after entering upon what promised to be a successful and use- ful business career. Alexander, the third son, left his honie in the summer of 1856, and over his ultimate fate hangs a mournful uncertainty. The presumption is that he perished with Walker in his ill-starred Nicaraguan expedi- tion. Levi B., while returning from Califor- nia in 1865, died at sea. Joseph W., while en- gaged in railroad enterprises in Texas, was shot down by desperadoes in the streets of Dallas in September of 1878. Amelia, the eldest daugli-

1 ()ne of the families thus rescued was the Fullertons, of which Judge Fullerton, of New York, is a representative. Another was the Whitakers, of whom there are numerous representatives in this county, and at and near Deposit, N. Y.

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ter, is the wife of the Hon. W. M. Nelson. Myriam, the third daughter, is the wife of H. N. Farley, Esq., both residing at Equinunk. Carrie, the second daughter, is the wife of Mr. Charles Knight, of Hancock, N. Y. Alma, the youngest, is the wife of Mr. H. J. John- ston, of New York City. She is an authoress of considerable note. All are ladies of culture and refinement and real excellence of character.

The writer, feeling that Mr. Calder and his family were the pioneers of actual improvement at Equinunk, has given to them what he would otherwise feel unwarranted space. To conclude, it may be added that Mr. Calder died in 1879, aged eighty-one years, and the writer feels that it does no injustice to his memory to add that then ended an earthly existence of unrest. His was a life of ceaseless activity. By nature very irascible, he was easily irritated and annoyed. He was very tenacious in his views and un- yielding in his convictions, and terribly in earnest in his denunciations of the liquor traffic and kindred evils, equally so in his advocacy of all that tended to elevate and purify society.

Herman Matthew and his son Aldrich W. came to Equinunk from Greene County, N. Y., in 1834. In 1835 they commenced building a mill near Dillons, on the Delaware. They had the dam completed on a portion of the stream which ran west of an island. An ice freshet came, and their dam, contrary to all philosophy and experience, was moved up stream some dis- tance, and they abandoned the enterprise. A. W. next bought the mill which Calder & Chapman had built at Equinunk and yet re- sides at Equinunk. In 1847 Isaiah and D. C. Scudder, of Prattsville, N. Y., came to Equi- nunk and commenced building a tannery, con- pleting it in 1848. They were men of energy and perseverance. Quite a number of people came at about the time they did from Pratts- ville and vicinity ; others were attracted by the labor and business the place afforded. About the time tlie tannery was completed the New York and Erie Railroad was completed through the Delaware Valley. This gave a fresh im- petus to business, and Equinunk soon grew to about all that it is now or is ever likely to be, un- less new resources are developed. Subsequently

Isaiah Scudder sold his interest in the tannery and removed to Missouri. Returning from there he took the tannery again, sold it in 1865 and removed to Bethany in this county. At this writing we learn that he has removed to Orange County, N. Y., a good citizen for any community. D. C. Scudder is living at Elmira, N. Y.

The first hotel built in the place was by John Lord, known, to distinguish him from half-a-dozen other John Lords, as "Long John." Among those who early located here were Colby and A. C. Teed, Runsom Cole, Levi Felter, Morris Eldred, James Calder, Richard Knight and others. Some of these re- side here yet, while others have gone to the shadowy land.

William M. Nelson, of whom an extensive sketch appears at the close of this chapter, located here in 1854, his wife, as already men- tioned, being Amelia, daughter of Mr. Alexan- der Calder.

Equinunk has no municipal regulations sepa- rate from the township in which it is situated. It has about three hundred inhabitants, has four stores, two hotels, grist-mill, blacksmith-shop, wagon-maker and undertakers'-shop, planing- mill and various other industries.

The first laid-out road to the place was that between it and Stockport. There is much un- certainty as to the date of its survey, and no one knows who was the surveyor. The road up the Equinunk Creek was extended by de- grees, as the needs of the people settling upon, or lumbering upon it, made it necessary, but was not laid out and worked through until 1845. The road from Equinunk to Long Eddy and Little Equinunk was not laid out until 1840. After the Scudders established themselves here, they were mainly instrumen- tal in getting a fairly good road laid out and worked through to the " Union," and another on the Manchester side of the creek to inter- sect, a half-mile from the river, with the road up the Equinunk Creek.

As to the first religious meeting or preaching at what is now Equinunk, the same uncertainty exists. From all the writer can learn, he in- fers that Mr. Calder preached the first sermon

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WAYNE COUNTY.

ever preached in the place. As mentioned in the chapters on Manchester and Buckingham, this region, as far down as Long Eddy, was for many years attached to the Hancock, N. Y., charge of the Methodist Episcopal Church New York Conference, and itinerants from there labored through this uninviting field. In 1854 the Equinunk Methodist Episcopal Church was established, with something like one hundred members. This included the So- ciety at the " Union," and also at Stockport. The first minister settled here was William J. Ives. His successors, as far as can be learned, have been Revs. Blakey, Ferow, Birch, Powell, Krogan, Roe, Gamble, Van Keuren, Heroy and Carpenter, the present incumbent. Present membership of the church about one hundred and eighty. The society has a comfortable church edifice and parsonage, which, together, cost about three thousand five hundred dollars. No other church organization exists here. Some twelve years since a small Episcopal So- ciety was organized, but the number and means of the members would not admit of regular ser- vices here.

The people depended for many years upon Hancock, Honesdale and Mt. Pleasant for phy- sicians. A Doctor Tingley settled here about 1847 or 1848 ; he left in 1857. Resides now at Newark, N. J. The next was Dr. George S. Redfield, a native of Delhi, N. Y., a graduate of Geneva Medical Institute. Located here in 1852. Was fairly successful as a physician until 1857, when he engaged in the lumber business. After a short time, in the mercantile business, in 1861 he entered the army as first- lieutenant in Company G, Forty-fifth Pennsyl- vania Volunteers. He resigned in 1862. In 1863 he again entered the service as a captain, and was with Sherman in his famous " March to the Sea." After the war he located at Conklin, N. Y. He returned to Equinunk in 1875, remained here until 1884, and now resides at Conklin, N. Y. The next to locate here was Dr. William H. DeLong, a native of Herkimer County, N. Y. A graduate of University of Albany. He entered the army in 1862 as a private, and at the end of the war was dis- charged as assistant surgeon. He located at

Equinunk in 1868, was very successful as a practitioner, and remained here until 1874. He resides now at Emporium, Cameron County, Pa. Dr. Frank P. Hough, a native of Wyom- ing County, Pa., a graduate of Jefferson Medi- cal College, Philadelphia, located here in 1884.

A mill for grinding grain on a small scale was erected here about 1850. The first saw- mill was built by Samuel Preston, of Stockport, in 1804. It was built on the Manchester side of the Equinunk Creek but a few rods from the river. No trace of it excepting a portion of the raceway by which the water was brought to it, remains. The next saw-mill was built by Messrs. Calder & Chapman in 1833. This was a few rods above where Preston built. It passed into the possession of A. W. Matthews, and was torn down a year or two since. The Scudder Brothers tannery was built in 1847 and 1848. Business was done under the firm name of I. & D. C. Scudder. In 1856 Isaiah Scudder parted with his interest to D. C. Scud- der and Joseph Bates; firm known as Scudder & Bates. In 1859 Isaiah Scudder again became owner, and continued so until 1865, then sold to H. & L. B. Richimyer. This firm after a few years sold to Munson Sherwood and D. Crary, who soon closed out their interest to William Holbert. It was burned down in 1875. Its capacity was two thousand five hundred sides per year. A factory, for the making of ex- celsior, also a feed-mill were erected in 1881, on the site of the tannery. It was burned in October, of 1885.

In 1866 J. D. Dillon and C. H. Cole built an axe factory on Factory Brook. It became the property of M. M. Hedges, and was burned in 1867. Another was built in 1875 on the site of the other, by Cole Brothers, of Equinunk. It was burned in 1877.

In 1880 L. W. Lord erected a planing-mill and machine-shop on the site of the burned axe factories. He continues to own and run it. In 1883 a hub factory was built on the site of the Matthews saw-mill, by J. G. Halbert. The business did not pay and was discontinued.

A Lodge of Good Templars was organized in 1868. After a precarious and stormy existence, it died in 1874. It was reorganized in 1879.

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In June, of 1881, a Lodge of Knights of Honor was established with a membership of twenty. Present membership, forty-five. Con- dition, healthy.

In 1882 Lieutenant George P. Scudder, Post No. 340, Grand Army of the Republic was es- tablished. It now has a membership of seventy, and is in a flourishing condition.

A post-office was established in 1833. Alexander Calder was appointed postmaster. Mails until 1848 came from Honesdale semi- weekly ; after 1848 via the Erie Railroad daily. Mr. Calder was postmaster until 1853, when D. C. Scudder was appointed and the office was taken to the Manchester side. In 1857 W. M. Nelson was appointed and it was returned to Buckingham. In 1861 C. F. Rockwell was ap- pointed and again it went to Manchester. Mr. Rockwell continued postmaster until he closed out his business in 1865, when Mr. Richard Knight was appointed. He held the office until his death, in 1882, when C. L. Gardiner was appointed. He being elected as representative in the fall of 1882, H. N. Farley was appointed. He is the present incumbent. It became a money order office in July, 1884.

The public schools of the place are included with those of the two townships.

For many years the place was noted for the amount of lumber run down the Delaware from it. Year after year the banks for half a mile were covered with piles of sawed lumber, while every available foot of ground for many rods from the river was covered with logs. Then with the early spring time there came from the " Beech Woods " and other places hard-handed and stalwart yeomen, eager to " raft and go down the river." Then for weeks there would be a general racket of shouting, swearing and whipping and slashing of unfortunate teams as they hauled logs through the mud to the river. Though there was mud everywhere out of doors, frequent storms incident to the season, the river rushing on swollen water, in short a general dampness prevailing, yet the average raftsmen had a dryness which could scarcely be satisfied. " Steersmen " or pilots were in great demand, and made about their own terms. "Going down the river," had for those who became

accustomed to it a strange fascination, though there was some danger with much discomfort through exposure to storms, and often se- verc labor through the day. Then the land- ing at night to find such accommodation as could be had. Not more than one raft is run now to fifty ten years since. Very soon there will be none. Then old " steersmen " and raftsmen will wander along the river when there is a " fresh," as disconsolate as lost souls along the " Styx."

Railroad facilities are afforded the place by the New York, Lake Erie and Western Rail- road Station, Lordville, one mile distant. A substantial suspension bridge across the Dela- ware at Lordville facilitates intercourse.

BIOGRAPHICAL.

ISAIAH SCUDDER.

Isaiah Scudder's paternal grandfather, Captain William Scudder, of Welsh extraction, served in the Revolutionary War, in defense of the Colo- nies. While out on a scouting excursion he was taken prisoner by the Britishı. He assisted in burning a British frigate on Long Island Sound, and is said to have replied, when asked if he was not sorry for having done so much damage, "No, I am sorry I did not do as much more."

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History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania, Part 89

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