History of the counties of McKean, Elk, Cameron and Potter, Pennsylvania, with biographical selections; including their early settlement and development; a description of the historic and interesting localities; sketches of their cities, towns and villages biographies of representative citizens; outline history of Pennsylvania; statistics, Part 125

Author: Leeson, M. A. (Michael A.) comp. cn; J.H. Beers & Co., pub
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Chicago, J. H. Beers & Co.
Number of Pages: 1320

USA > Pennsylvania > McKean County > History of the counties of McKean, Elk, Cameron and Potter, Pennsylvania, with biographical selections; including their early settlement and development; a description of the historic and interesting localities; sketches of their cities, towns and villages biographies of representative citizens; outline history of Pennsylvania; statistics > Part 125
USA > Pennsylvania > Potter County > History of the counties of McKean, Elk, Cameron and Potter, Pennsylvania, with biographical selections; including their early settlement and development; a description of the historic and interesting localities; sketches of their cities, towns and villages biographies of representative citizens; outline history of Pennsylvania; statistics > Part 125
USA > Pennsylvania > Elk County > History of the counties of McKean, Elk, Cameron and Potter, Pennsylvania, with biographical selections; including their early settlement and development; a description of the historic and interesting localities; sketches of their cities, towns and villages biographies of representative citizens; outline history of Pennsylvania; statistics > Part 125
USA > Pennsylvania > Cameron County > History of the counties of McKean, Elk, Cameron and Potter, Pennsylvania, with biographical selections; including their early settlement and development; a description of the historic and interesting localities; sketches of their cities, towns and villages biographies of representative citizens; outline history of Pennsylvania; statistics > Part 125

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HISTORY OF POTTER COUNTY.

it, until the entire stream, perhaps, is choked with a seemingly inextricable tangle of logs. They are fixed in this jam in every conceivable position, from horizontal and criss-cross to perpendicular. To the uninitiated it would seem impossible to extricate the logs from their tangle with the fierce current of the raging stream locking them together as in a vice; but now comes as cool a piece of pluck and skill as ever was seen in the life of the soldier upon the battlefield-the professional "jam-breaker." there always being one or more of these experts accompanying the drive (frequently those who have learned their trade upon the turbulent Aroostook and other logging streams of Maine). One of these men, divested of all unnecessary clothing, but with his feet securely spiked, jumps upon the "jam." He carries his pike lever with him, and upon this instrument alone he is to win the victory over the maddened stream. He holds his life in his hand; a single false move often means his death, but he is cool and determined. It is known to veteran jam-breakers that there is usually one log in the mass which, if detached, will loosen the entire jam so that it will break with a rush: this is called the "key-log." The first duty of the jam-breaker is to find the "key-log;" this found he goes straight to work to loosen it. Other men may have to be called upon the jam to assist him; but when the last hitch of the cant hook is to be given which will free the key-log (if the business is not precipitated by some unforeseen event). all of the men, save the jam-breaker, run for the shore. With a final twist of his lever the log springs from the mass of writhing logs and shoots out upon the current, but not so quick but that it bears a living freight. The jam- breaker, with the agility of a cat, strikes the spikes of his boots into its slip- pery side, and is leading a crashing, tearing mass of logs and water which chase madly in his wake. By long practice he easily balances upon the rolling, pitching log, which he gradually works to the shallow water and springs ashore, after, perhaps, having ridden a mile or more upon his unstable craft. This is the modus operandi of breaking a jam where everything works to the wish; but often the jam breaks at an inopportune moment, and the men are hurled here and there into the seething flood animate with rushing logs. If all come out of the peril with their lives they are indeed fortunate, even if they have fractured limbs and contusions. Woe to the man who sinks beneath the logs --- they close above him, and he is crushed to death or drowned. There is deadly danger lurking at every step, from the falling of the tree in its native wilds until the logs are secured in the boom, where the Potter county boy leaves them. To be sure the danger goes on with the milling of the lumber, and in the mills of Potter county lives have been lost. It is but a few years since Isaac Baker was sawn asunder by a circular saw in a mill belonging to Dr. O. T. Ellison, in Coudersport. Aside from the danger attending logging, the life of the lumberman is an agreeable one to him.

On March 21. 1834, came a hurricane or cyclone which swept down much timber and destroyed Lymansville. Its track lay through Roulette, crossing the intervening country, and making huge windfalls on the mountain sides. It seemed to strike with redoubled force at Lymansville, and logs which were em- bedded in the roads were torn out. All of the water was blown out of the mill pond, and saw-logs scattered over the flats. Houses and fences were utterly demolished, boards were found in West Union, Steuben Co., N. Y., and in Har- rison township that had been carried by the tempest from Lymansville, a dis- tance of no less than thirty miles. At Roulette the blow did not do as much damage as at Lymansville. According to the statement of Joel Fessenden, hail- stones fell as large as hens' eggs, and marks of where they struck upon the side of Burrel Lyman's barn were visible for twenty years after. This barn, which

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HISTORY OF POTTER COUNTY.

was built in 1818 is still standing. After the storm passed the boys threw these monster hail-stones at a mark. No storm since has equaled this in sever- ity, until the cyclone came which annihilated Shongo a few years ago.

In September, 1856, a wind storm swept over the county from Couders- port to Wellsville. Fire destroyed twenty-three buildings, and the wind many more. In June, 1888, a wind storm destroyed an orchard and other property.

During the last thirty years several severe storms have been chronicled, but none of them took the form of the terrible cyclone of 1834, at least in this county, as the high hills present a barrier which breaks up the storm king.

James Bassett of Coudersport, who is looked upon as the veteran stage- driver of the section, tells some romantic tales of the days when he handled the ribbons over the route from Coudersport to Oleona. Upon one occasion while driving along, just at dusk at Indian run, not far from where Hub Starkweather had his " Whetstone Factory," about half way from New Bergen to Oleona, at a point on the mountain side where a thin vein of coal had been discovered, Bassett saw what he supposed was running fire in the woods. The flames appeared to be feeding upon the dry leaves, and was creeping along in a zigzag fashion with dancing flames which now and then would embrace the undergrowth, and leap several feet above the ground. Hastening on to Oleona, he alarmed the inhabitants, who turned out en masse to fight the fire, but when they arrived upon the ground no fire was to be found. Bassett went over the ground the next day, but could not find even a leaf scorched. He looks upon this as a mystery past any solution he can give. Similar phenomena were witnessed in the Indian Ocean some years ago, and near the Faro Islands in May, 1889.

Among the curiosities along Bassett's route, he tells of two beech trees that grew upon the Patterson place west of Cherry Springs that stood about ten feet apart, but were united by a branch which grew at right angles into the two trees. A hunter from Dansville, N. Y., robbed Potter of this freak of nature. To the east of Cherry Springs stood a tree known to many as the "Indian tree," having the profile of an Indian's face carved upon its trunk. This curiosity was destroyed by some vandal who built a fire against the tree. Two beeches which were united as the above, but not distant more than three feet from each other, used to stand about a mile from Sunderlinville, near the farm of Samuel Decker, and many natural curiosities of this kind have been noted by hunters and woodsmen from time to time.

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HISTORY OF POTTER COUNTY.

CHAPTER II.

INDIAN AND PIONEER HISTORY.

INDIAN SETTLEMENTS, GRAIN STOREHOUSE, RELICS, ETC .- FIRST WHITE SETTLERS, MARRIAGE, ETC .- EARLY LAND TRANSFERS-RELIGIOUS EXERCISES-PRICE OF COMMODITIES-TWO INTERESTING LETTERS-CUSTOMS AND DOINGS OF THIE EARLY TIMES-SOME PIONEER NAMES-INDIAN AND WHITE HUNTERS.

O F the Lenni Lenape, the third tribe or division, were the Wolves (Minsi), who occupied the region which embraced the land along the Allegwi Lipu (Allegheny river) to its head waters. So the aborigines, who held the land now embraced by Potter county. were the Minsi, or Monseys, as called by the whites. A portion of the Monseys joined their tribe on the head waters of the Allegheny after the sale of their lands, from which they were driven, on the Susquehanna, as late as 1768. As before noticed, the village of Muncy takes its name from this tribe of the Lenape, who once owned the lands upon which it stands. The largest settlement of the Minsi was at the mouth of the Tionesta, and above upon the Allegheny river to the swamp from which its waters rise, the Minsi held the land. There is evidence of various encampments along the stream where it passes through Potter. That there was a large granary of corn at Roulette is proven, and some of the carbonized grains are still in ex istence. It stood upon the ground now used as the burying-ground above the village of Roulette. This granary was burned, and according to the traditions of the early settlers it was both roofed and floored with hemlock bark, as the charred bark was found both above and below the burnt corn. This corn, it is evident, was not raised in this country, as the forest was dense and unbroken, but had been brought up from the corn fields of the Tionesta and the Brokenstraw, probably in canoes, and this depot of supplies established, either for the con- venience of hunting expeditions or to be kept for an emergency, in case the Indians were driven from the lower river by their enemies, the "pale faces." Upon the Mills farm at Colesburg, and the adjoining farm of Edwin Haskell, many arrow-heads and other implements have been found. Mr. Haskell in- forms me that in one place a large quantity of flint chips and imperfectly formed arrow-heads were found, showing that there was at one time a manu- factory of instruments of the chase, and that when taking out a stump of an elm, the stem of which was at least three and one-half feet in diameter, he found exactly beneath it, under a foot of black mold, a stone tool, used by the Indians in skinning their game. A year or so ago there was discovered in a piece of woods, about one and one-half miles from Andrews Settlement, in a north- westerly direction just over the line in Genesee township, a mound about fourteen feet in diameter, walled up by a stone cairn, about three or four feet high. Upon the top of the mound grew a beech about two feet in diameter. Some curious persons dug into the side of this mound and brought to light the skeleton of a man of gigantic size, also the bones of a dog, nearly all of the bones crumbling upon exposure to the air. The jaw-bone is in the possession of Mr. Alva Andrews, of Andrews Settlement. With the bones were found numerous flint arrow-heads, and some stone ornaments, and about a pint of

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HISTORY OF POTTER COUNTY.

small shells, which also soon disintegrated upon exposure. There has been no thorough exploration of the mound; the specimens above referred to are scattered about among the settlers of the neighborhood. In other parts of the county relics of the departed race are found, along the Pine creek (Indian name Tiadaghton) and the Sinnemahoning, which retains its Lenape name.

It is claimed that Thomas Butler, a deserter from the British army, was the first to settle in the wilds of Potter, but at what date he came or departed is unknown to the writer. The first settlement of which we have any date, and which probably was the first bona fide settlement, was that of a Frenchman by the name of Jaundrie, who, "in 1806, settled on the Oswayo at a point now called Shinglehouse. He built a house on the south bank of Oswayo creek, at the mouth of the run which still bears his name. The house was sided with shingles, put on like roofing, and the butts of the same were rounded to a half circle. From that house the place (Shinglehouse) took and retained its name." [L. H. Kinney, Sharon Township. ] All histories of the county have claimed that William Ayers was the first settler in 1808, but Mr. Kinney has shown that the first settlement of the county took place two years earlier. We find on Book A of the register and recorder's office the entry of a deed dated October 25, 1806, by which instrument Robert Waln and others conveyed to Isaac Wharton 400,000 acres of land in Potter county for the sum of $50,150. Maj. Isaac Lyman let a job of clearing ten acres of land on the Keating farm. in Sweden, to a man by the name of Carson. The Keating farm is situated about three miles above Lymansville on the road from Cou- dersport to Brookland, and is now owned by Nathan Adams, who lives upon the place. This is the first clearing we know of being made in the county. unless Jaundrie had made one on the Oswayo at Shinglehouse. In 1808 William Ayers moved his family into the county, and settled upon the Keating farm, where the body of a log house had been erected in 1807. His family consisted of his wife and three children: George, Nancy and James, and a negro boy whose name was Asylum Peters, who is referred to in the history of MeKean county. In 1809 Maj. Isaac Lyman moved into the country and settled on the Keating farm also. He came as the land agent of Keating. In 1810 Maj. Lyman built a saw-mill where Lymansville now stands. The lumber for this mill was cut on the Keating farm with a whip-saw. This was the first saw-mill in the county. In 1811 Maj. Lyman constructed the first grist-mill: this was also located at Lymansville.

In 1810 also occurred another notable event. It was the first marriage in the county. It was celebrated at Lymansville in the autumn of that year. Silas McCarty. of Muncy, Penn., wedded Miss Laura Lyman, daughter of Maj. Isaac Lyman. In 1811 the first white child born in the county first saw the light at Lymansville-Eulalia Lyman, named from the township of Eulalia, which at this date comprised the entire county. It is claimed that John Ives, Sr .. a Revolutionary veteran, settled in Pike township somewhere from 1808 to 1810. In 1811 Solomon Walker settled at the mouth of Fishing creek. Benjamin Burt also settled in what is now known as Roulette town- ship, where Burtville now stands, May 4, 1811, he being the third settler in the county. John Peet moved into Potter county on the 23d day of May, 1812, taking up a piece of land one mile below where Coudersport now stands. At this time court was still held at Williamsport, and was continued there until February, 1823, making a long journey through the forests, generally on foot, necessary to the settlers of the new land: The first person who died in the county was a Mr. Beckwith, who was passing through to his home in McKean county. He was buried upon the farm now occupied by Mortimer

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Benson. No one living can tell the exact spot of the grave. The birth of the first child was attended by a German midwife, Mrs. Platman, who resided in Bradford county. The first regular physician was Dr. Eastman, who divided his time between Lymansville and Smethport. When in Lymans- ville he boarded with Maj. Lyman, and to add to his earnings he taught school. The first nurse and midwife resident in the county was Eunice Nel- son, wife of Cephas Nelson, who attended families upon the Pine creek and Allegheny river. John K. Burt was the first male white child born in the county. The first mortgage put on record was given by Isaac Lyman to Keating and Roulette October 16, 1812. In this same year the Pine creek road was laid out by William W. Walters, Isaac Lyman, A. Parmateer, John Lyman, John Peet and Amos Mix, viewers. A Fourth of July cele- bration took place in 1812 at Maj. Isaac Lyman's, and was a grand affair, nearly every resident of the county attending. A flag was raised upon one tree, and a pair of deer's antlers upon another. Dinner and drinks followed.

of course. About this time, 1812-13, Samuel M. Losey moved into what is now known as Pike township. He was a prominent character in the early days of the county, particularly on Pine creek. Hon. J. M. Kilbourne writes me (1887): "I came here [Pike] fifty-six years ago, and Losey was an old settler then, and postmaster." He settled on the right-hand side of Phenix creek, the east line of his farm being also the dividing line between Potter and Tioga counties. Just over the line his father-in-law, John Phenix, settled. Losey was noted as a jovial man, and was always present at all the merry- makings for miles around.

In these early days it was the custom of the members of the bar and the judges of the various courts of the judicial district to ride the circuit on horseback. On one occasion, when the legal cavalcade was moving from Wellsboro to Smethport, Losey, in lieu of a horse, took a black bull from his team, and rode with the procession as far as Lymansville, where he stopped to take part at a dance. Samuel M. Losey lived to the age of one hundred and six years. He was blind for many years before his death. He attended the first courts of Potter and Mckean counties as juror. Obediah Sartwell was the first settler where Coudersport now stands. He built a house on the west side of the Allegheny river, on the lot now occupied by C. A. Stebbins. The house stood about where the wood-shed of Mr. Stebbins' residence stands now. Mr. Sartwell built and worked in the first blacksmith's shop in the county. This stood near where the Coudersport Hotel now stands. He became disgusted with his location, and removed to the mouth of Sartwell creek, in Roulette township, the stream bearing his name. October 16, 1813, Keating and Roulette deeded to Benj. Burt 50 acres of land for $1, and on January 12, 1813, Keating transferred to Jacob Vannatter 50 acres of land for $1. May 15, 1813, Keating and Roulette deeded to John Peet 52 acres and 116 perches, and usual allowance of 6 per cent for roads, for the sum of $5. 45. January 28, 1813, Keating & Roulette deeded to Wm. Ayers 200 acres of land for $100. November 19, 1813, William Wattles deeded to Burrel Lyman 50 acres of land for $130. These were the first deeds for farms recorded in the county. In 1813 the first tavern kept in the county was opened by Isaac Lyman, at Lymansville. The first medical student in the county was Harry Lyman, who went to study medicine with Dr. P. Powers, of Lawrence- ville, Penn., in 1816. Dr. Lyman practiced long in the county, dying in Oswayo in 1856 or 1857. John Taggart came into the county in IS16, from Vermont, and took up a farm upon the river about one mile below Coudersport, moving his family here the following year. About this year (1816) the first mail

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route was established, from Olean to Jersey shore. The first postmaster was Isaac Lyman, at Lymansville. The next post-office was at Ceres, where John King was the postmaster. The mail was carried on horseback by a man named Wallace, from Lycoming county; afterward by James Otis, of Jersey Shore. During this year the first religious meetings were held in the county, at Lymansville, by Elder Davenport from Massachusetts, a Baptist missionary. John King, was the first county treasurer, appointed in 1816. The Eulalia town- ship taxes for 1815 were $15; for 1816, $8; for 1817, $14.50. Taxes were first collected in Roulette in 1817. Wolves in those early days were plentiful, and did much damage to the flocks of the pioneers. A bounty of $8 was paid for wolf-scalps, and we find that Jacob Vannatter secured this sum for a scalp. in 1815. From February to May 31, 1816, he captured seventeen wolves, and on the last date named he brought in seven wolf puppies. George Ayers was also noted as a slayer of these creatures. Daniel Clark moved his family to Potter, from Windham county, Conn., in 1816, coming all of the distance by wagon, and the journey requiring seventeen days. The children who came with him were Nelson, Daniel, Jr., Speedy and Lucy. They at first moved into the log house, which Obediah Sartwell had built, where Coudersport now stands. On the 10th of June of the same year he moved into a log house two miles north of Coudersport on the farm still occupied by Nelson Clark. Daniel Clark was a surveyor, and made the first map of Potter county, for which he received $150 from the State. Mrs. N. B. Palmer colored the map. This first chart of Potter can still be seen at Harrisburg. While surveying the Cowanesque road, with Jacob Vannatter and John Lyman, with help of the dogs, he killed a bear with his jacob's-staff. John Dingman and wife, Nathan Turner and family and Abram Dingman came from Chenango county, N. Y., and settled below Coudersport in 1816, on the farm lately occupied by Justus Mehring. The mother of John Dingman died at the house of her son, aged one hundred and one years. Nathan Turner was accidentally shot by George Taggart, who mistook Turner for a deer, in the summer of 1834, on the old salt-works road.

In 1820 the first convert to Christianity was baptized, Burrel Lyman being the candidate. During the year following, John Lyman and wife were also baptized. John Taggart was appointed county treasurer, and during this year the first tax sale of lands took place. Joshua Jackson moved in below Cou- dersport, at the Mehring place, from Broome county, N. Y. Daniel Rooks, a man by the name of Doty and Levi Andrews came into that section, now em- braced in Bingham township. Cephas Nelson came also this year from Lake George, Washington Co., N. Y., town of Putnam. Alva.Clark, a blacksmith, came to Lymansville in 1821, and built a shop. He remained in Lymansville until his death in 1830. Thomas Bellew settled near Lymansville in 1821; he came from Washington county, N. Y. In 1821 the first election was held in the county. In 1821 John King was again appointed county treasurer, and in 1822 Joseph Otto of Mckean county, succeeded him. February 6, 1823, Har- rison was erected into a township, embracing parts of Hector, Ulysses and Bing- ham. Benjamin Burt, Reuben Card and Jacob Streeter were appointed by the court to divide Eulalia township. During the year 1821 Jesse Treat and family moved into what is now the town of Clara. Nelson Clark helped to move his household stuff. Nelson Woodcock and Silas Nelson came from Washington county, N. Y., and settled near Lymansville. In 1823 Reuben Clark and wife came from Washington county, N. Y., and located above Coudersport. Levi Kibbe came into Bingham with Truman Stevens and others. In 1823 or 1824 John Dingman built what was known as the "little red mill," on the right-

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hand bank of Dingman run, about one mile below Coudersport. Taxes were first collected in Harrison in 1824. Commissioners first met in Condersport. Evert Rose moved from Tompkins county, N. Y., to Hector. David Kil- bourne built a saw-mill in Pike township, about eighty rods west of the county line. In this year Sylvester Wright came from the lower Sinnemahoning, and settled above Coudersport. Chester Corsaw settled in Sweden, on the farm now known as the Corsaw place. In April, 1823, Theodore Carpenter came from Groton, N. Y., and cleared a piece of ground and built a log house in Bing- ham. In 1825 he moved his family, a man named Lancaster bringing in his things with an ox team. There was no lumber nearer than Westfield, Tioga county. Lancaster let Carpenter have his sled box to make a door for his cabin. Having been directed by E. O. Austin, of Austin, to his "Reminis- cences of Potter," published in the Potter County Journal, several years ago for early matters, we take the liberty of making some use of the following in- teresting items from those exceedingly fascinating and instructive papers: John Keating, who, in connection with John Roulette was an extensive land owner in Potter, treated the first settlers with great liberality. To the number of forty he gave each fifty acres of land. In a few instances he gave 100 acres, besides giving employment. The owner of the first saw mill or grist-mill in a town was entitled to fifty acres of land also. The nearest mill was at King's Settlement (Ceres), but frequently this was not running, and the settlers were compelled to go to Jersey Shore or elsewhere. It is stated that the groves of wild plum trees, which are found along the old roads down the Cowanesque and Pine creek, originated from teamsters while on their shopping and milling trips. In camping out on the way, they dropped the pits of the plums, which they brought from the west branch of the Susquehanna and the Chemung. From 1808 to 1812 tea was worth from 10 to 12 shillings per pound; chocolate, 25 cents per pound; whisky, 50 cents a gallon at Jersey Shore. It was used on all occasions, being kept in every family. At dances, logging-bees, raisings, weddings, births, funerals, and in justice courts it cut a prominent figure. It cost $1 a gallon in the settlement. Three-quarter shirting of medium quality cost 50 cents per yard; wider, 60 and 75 cents per yard. Calico was 50 to 55 cents per yard. The peddler was a welcome individual, a sort of connecting link with the outside world. Lead was scarce and worth 50 cents per pound. One man made a bullet from a lead button, with which he shot and killed five deer, extracting the bullet from the carcass of the slain game. The lack of mechanics was such that every man must be a jack-at-all trades. Mr. Austin tells us that the men often wore deer-skin roundabouts and breeches, with skin caps. cloth caps also were made conical in form, and with a tassel or button at the point. People often went to court with rifle and knapsack, and camped out upon the road.

The two following letters, written by John Peet and Benjamin Burt, re- spectively, will very appropriately come in place in this chapter at this point. The writers came into the county as early as 1811-12. These letters come down to us like a revelation, odorous with the perfume of the forests, and bring to our ears the sighing of the winds of spring time amid the branches of the pines. We force our way with the hardy pioneer through the tangled under- brush of the wilderness, and sink to sleep by the flickering light of the camp- fire, lulled into the first drowse by the babbling of the brook. But we have an- other vision: The north wind comes crashing through the branches; the trees clash and moan; the frost bites and stings; the snow falls and whirls, and through the dreary scene steals the moaning cry of a child begging for bread. The mother's heart beats in sympathy-she too, is hungry. She has given her

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Author: Leeson, M. A. (Michael A.) comp. cn; J.H. Beers & Co., pub Publication date: 1890 Publisher: Chicago, J. H. Beers & Co. Number of Pages: 1320

Author: Leeson, M. A. (Michael A.) comp. cn; J.H. Beers & Co., pub
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Chicago, J. H. Beers & Co.
Number of Pages: 1320