History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania, Part 99

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 99
USA > Pennsylvania > Pike County > History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania > Part 99
USA > Pennsylvania > Wayne County > History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania > Part 99

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).

"I killed in Bethany one elk, two wolves, four bears and thirty-seven deer, and I killed all but the deer before 1800. My oldest daughter, Betsy, was born on the Nelson place in 1799, and is the wife of John Raymond, Esq., of Scranton, Pa. In 1800 I moved upon and bought the land which is now the farm of widow Mary Stephens. My daughter, Cath- arine, was born in 1803 ; my son, John S., in August, 1812; and Esther, in December, 1820. My second daughter, Phœbe, was burncd to death by the acci- dental and sudden destruction of my house by fire ; she was thirteen years old at the time. I moved to Bethany in 1817, and kept a boarding house for many years."

Esquire Spaugenburg was born in Sussex County, N. J., June 17, 1775. His father was a near relative of the Moravian minister Span- genburg, who came from Germany with his flock on the same ship which brought John and Charles Wesley, on the first visit. He had been educated for the law, aud gave his son the best education he could afford. It was this that made the latter a prominent figure in the early history of the county. In 1806 he was elected a supervisor of the township, and served with John Woodward. He was also a constable for four years. In 1811 Governor Snyder ap- pointed him a justice of the peace, and he held this office for, with the exception of one year, up to the day of his death-fifty-two years; during this time he married one hundred and sixty couples. He was also county auditor, couuty commissioner aud county treasurer. He died April 8, 1863, having had thirteen children, nineteen grandchildren and twenty great-grandchildren.

Conrad Pulis, who is mentioned in the above narrative, was a thrifty German, who had come from the sunny Rhineland but a short time be- fore. He had married a sister of Richard Nel- son, and the two settled on adjacent tracts aud cleared up fine farms. Mr. Pulis' sons were Abraham, Peter, Henry, William, Ephraim,

Aaron and John, and his farm was below Day's bridge, ou the Dy berry.

Just below liim, aud on the Big Eddy, Rich- ard Nelson settled. He had five sons,-Peter, John a bachelor and an expert lumberman, who inherited the honicstead ; Charles, for many years a well-known steersman on the Delaware River ; Stephen, who located in Lebanon town- ship and died there in 1872, aud James, an early settler at Girdlaud, who afterwards moved to Nebraska. The daughters of Nelsou were Eliz- abetli, who married Henry Brown; Eleanor, the wife of William Balkcom; Emily, wife of Osborn Mitchell ; Catharine, wife of Robbins Douglass ; Rhoda, wife of James Harvey. The latter-named moved to Warsaw, Indiana.

One of the early settlements on the west side of the Dyberry was that of Jonathan Jennings, who commenced near the mouth of Thomas Creek, about 1799. Here he resided for some years, and then removed to the farm now occu- pied by Hiram G. Chase. Mr. Jennings was for many years crier of the courts, aud held a number of township offices. His son, Henry Jennings, was a justice of the peace, and it was he who exchanged the homestead with Mr. Chase. The place is now owned by the daugh- ters who survived hin.

Among the pioneers who came into this por- tion of Wayne County when it was an unbroken wilderness, and wrested from the head of the forest a living and a home, was William Schoon- over. Hs emigrated from New Jersey about 1791-92, and settled on Dyberry flats, about a mile above the junction of the West Branch and the Dyberry Creek. Here he built a log house and in course of time cleared a small farm. It was a work of much labor, and in 1804 he had ploughed but eight acres. At this time he had two horses and two cows, and the valuation of his property was but four hundred and eleven dollars. His occupancy of the place was uudis- turbed for about ten years, when other parties obtained warrants from the commonwealth and began to make their surveys. Finally an at- tempt was made to eject Mr. Schoonover, on the ground that he was a trespasser on the property of other patentees. Jasou Torrey, who was the surveyor of all this section at the time,

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WAYNE COUNTY.

has avowed that such was not the case, and that Mr. Schoonover's settlement far antedated the titles of the rival claimants. For this reason he urged Mr. Schoonover to take out a patent and have his property secured and the boundary lines definitely settled. It was finally agreed that Mr. Torrey should do this for him, in con- sideration of one-half of the tract so secured. The survey was made May 24, 1803, and a pat- ent was issued on the 27th of January following. In April next a division of the tract came up, and Mr. Schoonover decided to retain the por- tion on which his dwelling was located. As the lower portion was rocky, and a portion of it low and marshy, the line was run so as to allow Mr. Torrey forty acres more than the warrantee. Mr. Torrey had charged five hundred dollars for his services in obtaining the patent, and this became the consideration for the lower portion of the tract, which was conveyed to him by a deed dated April 23, 1804, executed by William Schoonover, and Susannah his wife

The resident taxables of Dyberry at the time it was set off were, ---

William Adams.

Conrad Pulis.

John Bunting.

William Robinson.

Abram Brink.

Thomas Schoonover.

Isaac Brink. William Schoonover.

John Bishop.

Thos. Spangenburg.

Lewis Collins.

Andrew Showers.

Jacob Crankwright.

Samuel Smith.

John Caywood.

Isaac Seamans.

Samuel Chestnut.

Sylvanus Seely.

Joseph Cathcart.

George Seely.

Daniel Davis.

Moses Sampson.

Samuel Davis.

Jacob Schoonover.

Peleg Edwards.

Jonas Sayers.

Benjamin Haincs.

Jason Torrey.

Jonathan Jennings.

Ephraim Torrey. Thomas Phillips.

Benjamin Kimble.

Daniel Vincent. John Woodward.

Charles Kimble.

Ebenczer Woodward.

Abram Longhair.

James Woodney.

Leonard Labor.

William Williams.

John Malaria.

David Wilder.

Abram Walford.

Jesse Yarnell.

William Nortrip.

Amos Yarnell.

Richard Nelson.

Mathias Corless.

Isaac Oakley.

Cornelius Schoonover.

Jacob Hole, or, according to the modern or- thography, Hoel, was born in New Jersey, and moved to Dyberry township in 1813, settling

on the place now occupied by Henry Borcher. He was a man of ingenuity, and, from the com- mon blue stone of a ledge near his cabin, fa- shioned the first grindstone in that portion of the township. It is still preserved on the farm of Henry Borcher. Mr. Hoel married Phobe Leonard, and had seven children. The eldest, Lewis, now lives with Miss Bates, and is referred to in the history of Oregon township. Charles, the second son, was also a resident of that township until 1846. Seely died in youth. Daniel, located in Mount Pleasant. Betsy M. married William Adams, and Phoebe A. is the wife of Peter Pulis. The Hocls built a number of mills, and were closely iden- tified with the early history of the town.

Philip Thomas was one of the early settlers, who commenced on the road leading from Bethany to Seelyville, prior to 1804, on the farm afterward occupied by Albert Butler. He was a carpenter, and had a fifty-acre tract, of which only ten acres were ploughed in 1804. He had several children, but none of his fa- mily are now living.

Gideon Langdon moved into Dyberry about 1815, settling on the farm where Thomas Hocker afterward lived. He was soon fol- lowed by his son Solomon, and later, Jonathan T., another son, located in Bethany. He had a number of children, and one of his daughters was the first wife of Lewis Day. The family removed to Montrose, Susquehanna County, many years ago.

Philemon Ross was one of the Connecticut settlers, who arrived in 1815, and made a clear- ing on the farm where his son David now lives. He married a daughter of Pliny Muzzey, of Clinton, and had a number of children, most of whom have removed to other States. In 1817 he was one of the freeholders of the town, and as such presented a bill of twelve dollars for warning twelve indigent persons to remove, with their families, lest they become a charge on the town. " Although there was no law to jus- tify such inhuman ostracism," says a chroni- cler,"1 "it had become a custom in some places, and it was claimed that custom mnade law."

1 P. G. Goodrich, in " History of Wayne County."

Walter Kimble.

Stephen Kimble.

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WAYNE, PIKE AND MONROE COUNTIES, PENNSYLVANIA.

The bill and the usage were alike denounced in very vigorous language by Pope Bushnell, who at that time had just come into the town- ship, and the bill was not paid, while thereafter the custom fell into desuetude.

Eliphalet Wood came from Duchess County, N. Y., in 1816, and located on the farm after- ward owned by Michael Moran, on the West Branch. He bought out Oliver White, who had settled there some years before. The place is in Clinton, though it is said to have been reckoned Dyberry in the early days. Mr. Wood had a number of children, among whom were Jesse, Enos, Luman, Charles, Eli- phalet, John N., Ezekiel G., William F., Jane, wife of Hon. Phineas Arnold ; Abigail, wife of Elias B. Stanton ; and Mary, who died young.

About 1816 Captain Homer Brooks moved from Vermont and settled near Hon. Pope Bushnell. He was there married and had a large family. The eldest son, Ezra Brooks, lives west of the homestead, and carries on a large farm. Virgil Brooks, of Lebanon ; Major E. Brooks, deceased ; Horace D. Brooks, of Susquehanna County ; and William Brooks are all his sons. Lephe, the wife of Lyman Gleason, Esq., is the only daughter, now a resident of the county. Lucy, another daugh- ter, married Barney Bunnell, and survived him. She lives in Newark, N. J.

Hiram K. Mumford, a son of Thomas Mum- ford, of Mount Pleasant, bought the old glass works property in January, 1856. He had married Maria, a daughter of Royal Wheeler, of Hancock, Delaware County, and his chil- dren were Duane H. (who died during the war at Chattanooga), James R. (who died in youth), Lucinda M., Lucian O. and Mary S. (who re- sides at the homestead). Hiram K. Mumford died in January, 1884, aged seventy-four years.

Christian Faatz came from Frankfort-on-the- Main in 1802, and after residing at Philadelphia a few years, located near Bethany in 1816. His children were Christian, Stephen, Jacob, Charles, Christopher, Nicholas, Christine (wife of Nicholas Greiner), Caroline (wife of Joseph Bodie) and some others who died in their youthi. Christian settled in Bethany, and died there. Jacob had eight children, most of whom are

scattered. H. G. Faatz, the eldest, is now a resident of Honesdale ; Charles moved to Weeds- port, Cayuga County, N. Y., where he now re- sides ; Christopher is a resident of Bethany ; Stephen lives in Honesdale ; Nicholas died in Michigan in 1814, and the daughters live near the glass works.

The exact date at which Eli and his brother Increase Henshaw came to this township is un- certain ; but they both appear on record in 1816, and it is probable that they came from Connecticut about that time. Both were men of much ingenuity, and Increase was a painter who was employed on some of the early build- ings of Bethany, of which village he was at times a resident. His brother lived on the farm afterwards occupied by Joseph Arthur, and had son, Dwight Henshaw, now living in Bethany.

Judge Isaac Dimmick moved to Bethany from Orange County, N. Y., about 1816, and bought the farm afterwards owned by Edwin Webb. He was a man of much ability, and was for four years an associate judge of the county. He married a daughter of Hon. Abisha Woodward.

Phineas Coleman and Daniel Bunting were early settlers on the West Branch, and were probably the first. They located in the town- ship during the second decade of the present century and left numerous descendants, most of whom have scattered. Moses and Seth Haydn came soon afterwards ; both were men of mature years and brought their families with them. Seth Haydn died in 1845, aged sixty-four years.

Stephen Day came from Chatham, Norris County, New Jersey, and in 1816 settled on a farm that had been started by Isaac Brink. Day arrived during the " cold summer" that was so memorable to the early settlers. He bonght three hundred acres from Colonel Sylvanus Seely, on the east side of the Dy berry, where his son, Lewis, now lives. Stephen Day married Polly, a daughter of Benjamin Bunnell, and their children were Jane, who married Moses Ward, the father of Rev Elias O. Ward, of Bethany ; Elias, who moved to Ohio, and from thence to California, where he

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WAYNE COUNTY.

died ; Barney, who married Emeline, daughter of Sheriff Solomon Jones, and settled on the Dyberry ; Mary, wife of Levi Ketchem, of Bethany ; Benjamin, who moved to Ohio; Damaris, the widow of Hon. E. W. Hamlin, of Bethany ; Edwin who died near the homestead, and Lewis who at an advanced age still keeps up the place. The latter is an expert taxider- mist and has a fine collection of birds and animals which he shot himself. His specimens include a number of rare, and some species that are now nearly extinct in Wayne County. Hehas been twice married ; the first time to Nancy Langdon, of Mt. Pleasant, and afterwards to Maria Dabron. No children were born of either union. Captain John Bunnell, a soldier in the Revolution, and for many years a pen- sioner, because of wounds received during his gallant conduct at the battle of Princeton, was led to emigrate from New Jersey in 1816, and joined his relative, Steplien Day, in Wayne County. He had married Nancy, a sister of Stephen Day, while the latter had wedded Polly Bunnell, a sister of the Captain. Bunnell's Pond, now in Texas township, was named for him, and at its outlet lie erected a saw-mill at an early date. His children were Julia, wife of Rev. Mr. Babbett, a Presbyterian minister at Binghamton, N. Y .; Barny, who settled in Dyberry township and afterward died at Orange, N. J .; Polly, who married a Wood, and died in Dyberry ; Joan, the second wife of Captain Brooks, and Elijah, who never married.

Pope Bushnell, son of Gideon Buslinell, was born in Salisbury, Litchfield County, Conn., February 11, 1789. In June 1812 he married Miss Sally Hurlbert, one of the noted triplet daughters of Gideon Hurlbert of Goshen, Conn., and on the 12th day of the same month was drafted to serve against Great Britain, and mustered into the ranks upon the following day. He came to Wayne County in 1817 and purchased a contract which had been made the year previous by Joseph Daw, (father of Mrs. Tallman, wife of C. P. Tallman, of Preston Township) for the sale of an hundred acre tract, lying one mile north of Bethany.

For more than sixty years Mr. Bushmell was

one of the most prominent and influential citi- zens of the county. He was elected Captain of a company of militia in 1820, commissioned by Governor Hiester as Major of the First Bat- talion of the Seventieth Regiment of Pennsyl- vania militia in 1821, and appointed Justice of the Peace by Governor Finley in 1824. Be- sides holding various town and municipal offices he was once elected treasurer of the county, once county-commissioner, and twice chosen to represent the legislative district com- posed of the counties of Wayne and Pike in the State Legislature.

In boyhood he attended the common schools of his native town, and studied for a short time at an academy at Granville, N. Y., con- ducted by the celebrated Professor Salen Town. A student by nature, he supplimented the meager education of youth by a long and labo- rious course of reading and study. He had a strong and rugged intellect; was unyielding in his position, and a ready and forcible speaker and writer. His contributions to the local and metropolitan press upon agricultural, political and historical subjects were characterized by a clearness of thought and felicity of diction seldom found in the writings of men engaged in the marts of trade.

Mr. Buslinell was ever, during the period of his activity, a conspicuous character in every movement, and an advocate of every measure, which promised to aid the inhabitants, or de- velop the resources of his adopted county. It was largely due to his efforts that the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company secured a right of way through a portion of the county, and he was no Jess zealous in the attempt to obtain a like privilege for the New York and Erie (New York, Lake Erie and Western) Railroad Com- pany. For the efforts which he made in behalf of the latter company, he was publicly mobbed. But he lived to see the hostility and prejudice which he engendered among the people he sought to serve, turned to regret and enlarged confidence and respect.

He died on the 19th day of January, 1881, in the ninety-second year of his age. His wife Sally Bushnell survived him nearly two years, and died on the 11th day of January, 1883,

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WAYNE, PIKE AND MONROE COUNTIES, PENNSYLVANIA.

at the advanced age of ninety-four years and nine months.

His family consisted of three sons and three daughters, the only survivor of whom is Sidney Norton Bushnell.

William Miller, a native of Pittston, Lu- zerne County, came into Wayne in 1821, and settled upon the Esquire Thomas Spangenburg farm, where he lived for three years. He then bought of Cabel Hoel, the farm adjoining that of Jacob Hoel, and Homer Brooks, where lie still resides, in his eighty-sixth year. He mar- ried Evelyn, a daughter of Daniel Schoonover, and had a number of children, among whom were Elizabeth, wife of Henry Palmer ; Jacob Miller of Honesdale ; the late Simon S. Miller ; Benj. F. Miller of Prompton ; Jane, wife of Wm. Kint ; John W. Miller; and Evelyn, wife of Wm. Williams.

William Bryant was the first Englishman who came from Cornwall County, England, and settled in Wayne County, Pa. He left England when a young man, in the spring of 1819, and landed in the City of Philadelphia the latter part of May. By accident he got ac- quainted within a few days after his arrival in Philadelphia with a Mr. Salter, who lived in that city and owned large tracts of wild land in Wayne County. After listening to Mr. Salter's description of the fertility of the soil, the health- fulness of the climate and the easy acquirement of sufficient land for a farm and home, Mr. Bryant left Philadelphia and arrived in Bethany in June of the same year ..

A few days after his arrival here he was em- ployed by Major Torrey, who lived in Bethany, as a common laborer on a farm. He was well pleased with the country, and wrote home to his brother in England to come and join him as soon as possible. Thomas, his oldest brother, left England the next spring, paid his passage to New York, but by some miscalculation of the officers of the ship and the adversity of the wind they were compelled to land at Baltimore. He walked most of the way from that city to Bethany, arriving at the latter place early in the summer of 1820. Thomas was immediately employed by Faatz & Grcely, who were manu- facturing window-glass near the First Pond, in

Dyberry township. Thus they labored for a few years until they had acquired sufficient to buy each a good farm. Thomas's situated one and a half miles and William's half a mile from the borough of Bethany, in the township of Dyberry. Then followed Walter Bryant in 1827, Joseph in 1828, and Jonathan and wife in 1831, all of whom bought land in Dyberry township for future homes. In 1829 Mr. Wil- liam Olver, who married Ann Hill Bryant, in England, a sister of the Bryant brothers, came to this country and settled in Berlin township, near Beach Pond. Thus was the road opened for the emigration of other Cornwall English- men, until Wayne County hills are dotted with the best English farms in the State.

Joseph A. Hubbard, of Salisbury, Conn., settled in Dyberry in 1826, and was a prosper- ous farmer for many years, bringing up a large family. In 1859 he moved to Seelyville, and died there in 1878.

Hon. A. B. Gammell came from Caledonia County, Vt., in 1839, and settled on the Captain Prescott farm, on the Bethany and Mount Pleasant turnpike. In 1865 he bought the old Torrey property, a portion of Charles Torrey's estate, where he now resides. Mr. Gammell was elected a representative in 1878. He married Catherine Bryant and has three chil- dren.

Hiram K. Mumford, a son of Thomas Mum- ford, of Mount Pleasant, bought the old glass- works property, in 1856. He had married Maria, a daughter of Royal Wheeler, of Han- cock, Delaware County, and had five children,- Duane H., the oldest of whom, died at Chattanoo- ga while serving in the Federal army. The others were James R., who died in youth ; Lucinda M., Lucian O., and Mary S. The latter lives at the homestead. H. K. Mumford died in 1884, aged seventy-four.

The Gleason family was commenced by Joseph, who located near where his son, Lyman, now lives about 1830. His other children were Alnis, killed in the Civil War ; Willard, Henry and several daughters. His widow is now a resident of Honesdale.

SCHOOLS .- The earliest school in Dyberry township was in the village of Bethany, and is

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WAYNE COUNTY.

mentioned in the chapter devoted to that place. After 1804, several schools were maintained at private expense in different parts of the town- ship, but little or no record of them remains. At first there were no school-houses, and the sessions were held at private residences ; later, better provision for education was made. Eli- jah Bunnell taught a school in Captain Bun- nell's old log house in 1820. It was attended by the Pulis, Nelson, Caleb Hoel, and Day families. Others of a similar character were maintained in adjacent neighborhoods, the teachers being hired by several families, who shared the expense pro rata. After the passage of the school law of 1834, which was immedi- ately ratified by Wayne County, the ereetion of public school buildings took place rapidly. Most of them were built by generous contribu- tions of labor and material from the people living near, and the township now boasts of eight buildings that will compare favorably with those of adjacent portions of the county. The school tax for the current year is about twelve hundred and fifty-eight dollars, which includes the pay of seven teachers and inciden- tals. The present Board of Directors consists of D. M. Kimble, president ; William T. But- ler, secretary ; C. P. Bunnell, treasurer ; W. E. Pethick, John P. Hacker, and J. I. Bates.

THE FIRST GLASS WORKS .- In 1816 Chris- toplier Faatz, Sr., Adam Greiner, Jacob Hines, Christopher Hines, Nicholas Greiner, and Chris- tian Faatz, all Germans, who had been em- ployed in the glass works of Frankfort-on-the- Main, decided to start a window-glass manufac- tory near the residence of Charles Faatz, about a mile and a half west of Bethany. Christian Faatz had emigrated from Germany in 1802, and located a small factory at Philadelphia, but his capital was too limited to make it a success. He was then joined by the others, most of whom were connected by marriage and otherwise, and decided to carry the enterprise into the wilder- ness. The spot selected was entirely surrounded by woods. The building of the works occupied some time, and was only accomplished by hard labor, most of whichi was performed by the members of the firm. The stones with which the arches of the furnace were fashioned were 58

obtained in the Moosic Mountain, and the clay for the melting pots was brought from Phila- delphia by wagons and sleighs. The plant was a small affair, with a capacity for but a few of "metal " per day, and the material was drawn chiefly from localities near at hand. The pro- duct was good, however, and compared favora- bly with that produced elsewhere in those days. It was marketed in Wilkesbarre, Newburg and Philadelphia, from which points the goods ex- changed by the firm for labor performed at their works were obtained. . Lack of sufficient capital and the heavy cost of transportation at last brought about failure, and the place passed into the hands of James Manning and Jacob Faatz. This firm was also unsuccessful, and after a short time gave up business. The works then stood idle for some time, during which the em- ployees, which had numbered between twenty and thirty, devoted their energies to clearing up farms adjacent. In this way the enterprise proved very beneficial to the township. In 1829 Jacob Faatz and William Greeley again put the plant in operation, the capital being fur- nished by Augustus, a brother of William Grecley. This firm ran for thirteen years, and was then succeeded by Stebbins, Smith & Sloan. This firm lasted a few years, and was succeeded by J. Sloan, Jr., who in 1845 announced that he was making glass that "did not rust nor de- compose," and was equal to the product of any American factory. Three years later, in another advertisement in the same paper-the Demo- crat - he states that he has not sufficient capital to make glass unless there is a demand for it, and offers to "supply merchants and others by barter, in order to keep the works running."

On December 18th of the same year one of the ovens in the drying house took fire between four and five o'clock in the morning, and ten ovens filled with dry wood added to the blaze, which consumed the entire building, and was with difficulty prevented from spreading to the rest of the plant. The loss was small, but it necessitated the stoppage of the works for the season. The proprietor never recovered from this suspension, and as the works at Traceyville had been completed, the enterprise near Bethany was abandoned. The property remained in the

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History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania, Part 99

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