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 30

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 30
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 30
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 30
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 30

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).

Stafford, the watchman, climbs over and inspects three of the towers every day. As there are twenty towers altogether he gets over the entire system of piers and braces in a week. Once, in the winter of 1883-84, while making his usual inspection, he fell a distance of sixty-five feet. The cold winter air numbed his hands so that he could cling no longer to the iron braces. Fortu- nately he fell into about ten feet of snow, which broke his fall, else the com- pany might have been compelled to look for a new man. He said he only missed striking a stump by a few inches. He relates another narrow escape. He said he was climbing over the top girts one day when some one hailed him from above. It startled him, and he sort of forgot where he was. He let go his hold and was going. By a great effort he caught hold of one of the iron braces just in time to save himself. The accident of July, 1889, tested the strength of the structure. Conductor Keily's train, bound south, separated on the viaduct, the locomotive and attached cars reaching Mount Jewett before fourteen cars were missed. The engineer at once backed down and when near the bridge Brakeman Ryan discovered the conductor's signals. The en- gineer reversed his lever, and at once a coupling snapped and three cars went

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HISTORY OF MCKEAN COUNTY.

thundering down grade. At the bridge there was a terrible crash and three cars were converted into kindling wood, 301 feet above the creek. Had the cars gone over the sides of the viaduct there is little doubt regarding the dam- age which would have been caused to the structure.

The Anchor Oil Company's lease on the Kane oil reservation or the Swe- dish farms was developed in July, 1889. Up to the 21st the well was guarded, but it is now declared to be a gusher as well as gasser. The location is one and a half miles south of the tannery on Frank Nelson's farm. The Anchor and Forest Oil Company and Taylor & Torrey secured a piece of the Kane estate, consisting of 2,500 acres. P. W. Roth came to Mount Jewett in July, 1889, and located his first well July 29 on the John Mellander farm. Mr. Roth drilled the first producer in the Washington field, and has been con- nected with oil interests in the Bradford field since 1875. The Timbuctoo well at Lafayette was completed July 25, 1889.

Oil memories cluster round the big bridge. An old weather-beaten der- rick is still visible from the viaduct a short distance up the stream, where Mar- cus Halings anchored some cash in the autumn of 1879 in searching for a con- tinnation of the Cole creek streak. In the winter of 1883-84 Mumford, a former bookkeeper for Butts, together with Cheeney & Phillips, of Alton, obtained a 200-acre lease from Bowen, of Boston, on Warrant 2,241. The company drilled a well on the piece. The Barnsdall venture of August, 1884. is located in the southeast corner of Warrant 2,248-2,500 feet north and a trifle east of the Mumford & Cheeney well. In 1879 the Parker Brothers, and, in 1884, Higgins also, drilled on Ormsby lands.

CHAPTER XV.

KEATING TOWNSHIP-BOROUGH OF SMETHPORT.

KEATING TOWNSHIP-TOPOGRAPHY-GEOLOGY -OIL WELLS - POPULATION TOWNSHIP OFFICERS IN 1890-PORT OF ENTRY-EARLY SETTLERS-THE FOR- ESTER-SOLOMON SARTWELL AND OTHERS-RESIDENT TAX-PAYERS, 1836-37 -EARLY MERCHANTS IN THE TOWNSHIP-VILLAGES.

BOROUGH OF SMETHIPORT- POPULATION, ETC .- OFFICERS ELECTED IN 1890- FIRST CABIN AND HOUSE-REMINISCENCES OF ASA SARTWELL-EARLY SET- TLERS-SOME FIRST THINGS-POST-OFFICE-RESIDENT PROPERTY OWNERS, 1856-57-MUNICIPAL AFFAIRS-ACADEMIES-CHURCHES-SOCIETIES-HOTELS -BANKS-WATER AND GAS SYSTEMS-FLOODS AND FIRES-MISCELLANEOUS.

K EATING TOWNSHIP holds a semi-central position in the county. Nunundah creek enters the township near the southeast corner, flows north by west via Smethport to Farmers Valley, where it turns northeast to join the Allegheny beyond the north town line. Cole creek's south branch flows northeast from the plateau, receives the north branch in the center of the north half of the township, and enters Nunundah creek opposite Farmers Valley. Marvin creek enters the township a point west of the south center, and flowing northeast to Smethport forms a confluence with the main creek. In the southwestern corner the head-waters of the West Clarion unite with Three Mile run to flow southwest; and within a short distance of this conflu- ence one of the heads of Kinzua creek is found. South of the road from

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HISTORY OF MCKEAN COUNTY,

Smethport to Ormsby's summit a feeder of Marvin creek rises, which enters that creek south of the borough limits. A little over two miles east of Smeth- port occurs the greatest elevation in the State west of the fifth bituminous basin-Prospect hill, 2,495 feet above tide level. The lowest point, of course, is where Nunundah creek exits at Frisbee, which is 1.460 feet above tide. At Smethport depot the elevation is 1,488 feet, so that the grade from the track for two and a quarter miles east to Prospect peak is 1,007 feet, The altitude of the plateaus may be placed at 2, 100 feet. In the southeast corner the Smethport antielinal separates the Clermont coal basins. At Smethport the anticlinal is broken by the elevation of strata, so that the dome center lies one and a half miles east. Small tracts of Clermont exist along the western line, and on Ormsby's summit, 2,140 feet above tide. The Pocono formation at Smethport is 260 feet thick, and at Barnett's, southwest of Haskell's well, 285 -sixty feet covered, forty feet coarse-grained ferruginous sandstone, partly covered, ten feet fossiliferous flags, fifty feet covered rock, forty feet gray shale with bands of fossiliferous, ferruginous lime-rock; twenty feet of green and brown flags and shale, five feet of hard, fossiliferous, gray lime-rock, and sixty feet of olive and gray shales and shaly sandstone.

The well drilled by Lytle & Vezie in 1875 for the Smethport Oil Company reached a depth of 2,004 feet, its opening being 102 feet higher than the rail- road track. Forty-three records of strata were obtained and the crust on the Taylor farm, where the drilling was done, thoroughly explored, From 330 to 378 feet slate and shale, and very hard shells, were taken; from 570 feet sand shells, and so on until oil was struck at 1, 127 feet, the Bradford oil sand at 1,360 feet, and the Smethport oil sand at 1.720 feet. This well proved a dry . one; the 237 feet of casing were taken up, the hole plugged with five feet of pine below the water courses, and rock filled in above, but within six hours the gas removed such obstructions. The Haskell well, drilled in December, 1876, and April, 1877, for William Haskell, to a depth of 1,861 feet, is located on the east side of Marvin creek, one and one-half miles southwest of Smethport. Gas was struck at 719 feet and also at 1,620 feet, where oil made a fair show for a short period. Brant & Co.'s well yielded one barrel per day; Lucius Rogers' well on Warrant, 2,058, near the borough; Sherman, Hatch & Co.'s well, and other ventures, mark the oil fever period of this township. The Miner said so much about the Haskell well that a skeptical contemporary, named Brandon, of the St. Marys Gazette, perpetrated a pun, which was war- ranted by the circumstances: "If the Miner continues much longer to sound the praises of the Haskell well in its peculiar way we will not be surprised to learn that it has-killed somebody."

Keating township claimed a population of 2,974 in 1880. This included 364 residents of Bordell settlement and 986 of Coleville village, but not the borough of Smethport, which then had only 872 inhabitants. The vote of Keating in 1888, outside Smethport, shows 266 Republicans, 239 Democrats, 16 Prohibitionists and 21 Labor Unionists, or a total of 542, which, multiplied by five, gives 2,710 as the present number of inhabitants.

The officers chosen in February, 1890, are: Supervisors, J. H. Sowers, Richard Griffin; collector, Thomas Hussey; school directors, William H. Huff, D. B. Zillafro; constable. J. E. Stull; auditor, Allen Oviatt; town clerk, C. M. Capehart; judge of election, First District, C. D. Calkins; inspectors of election, First District, W. A. McIntosh, M. N. Allen; judge of election, Sec- ond District, R. S. Porterfield; inspectors of election, Second District, C. P. Smith, P. S. Kepler; judge of election, Third District, W. H. Barr; inspect- ors of election, Third District, M. J. Lynch, R. L. Stephens.

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HISTORY OF MCKEAN COUNTY.

In 1809-10 Benjamin B. Cooper petitioned Congress to establish a port of entry at Smethport. He purchased twenty-one acres of land on the west side of Nunundah creek, near the bridge at East Smethport on which to build a town, and made propositions to men to get out timber for the proposed wharves. This was to be the harbor wherein the ships of the citizens of Instanter might be moored while receiving and discharging cargoes. His plans for hauling freight from the port to his town on the hill are not given.

Shortly after the disestablishment of Instanter, or in 1811, Arnold Hunter moved to the site of Smethport, and other settlers flocked into Farmers val- ley, as related in the chapter on pioneers. Among the pioneers was Jonathan Colegrove, who died April 11, 1872. He settled in Keating township in 1815, traveling from Portville to Smethport by canoe, with his wife and two children. From 1817 to 1852 he was one of the Ridgway land agents, I. E. Scull be- ing also agent for another portion of the lands. Uncle Daunty, or Jonathan Dunbar, another pioneer, was certainly a stage Dutchman in general make-up and manners. His wife made what she was pleased to call " clothes" for her spouse. He built the first saw mill in the county at Farmers Valley, but had so much trouble with it he finally exclaimed: "If the Lord had given Job a saw-mill instead of boils the devil would then have got him sure." Dunbar became leader of the first singing school, and. though a strange character in many ways, was a most useful citizen.

The Forester and Smethport Register, Volume I. No. 12, was issued by Hiram Payne June 30, 1832. The motto was: " The uncultivated forest shall become a fruitful field." W. E. Wolcott, of Sergeant, advertised cattle for sale; Tobias L. Warner his shoe factory at Smethport, and Isaac Burlin- game advertised for stone masons; Isaac Harvey placed his books in the hands of John E. Niles for collection; Orvil Ketchum, of Farmers Valley, asked his debtors to pay up; the Erie Canal Company advertised their lines, giving as reference J. M. Hughes, of New York, an uncle of the present editor of the Reporter; P. E. Scull wished his neighbors to have their goods imported to Bushnell's basin: Sartwell & Rice offered ten barrels of pork for sale; the death of Harriet Young, aged twelve years, at Farmers Valley, was noticed, and the marriage of Harman Sprague and Adaline Vredenburgh, of the west branch of Tunuanguant creek was announced. B. B. Cooper advertised 60,000 acres of land for sale, and E. A. Smith his stock of goods.

Solomon Sartwell, one of the leading pioneers, who died August 4, 1876, was born at Littleton, N. H., January 16, 1796; settled in McKean county in 1816 (whither the lady to whom he was married in 1822 came in 1818). He served as postmaster twenty years and as associate judge five years, having previously filled the office of high sheriff for two terms and treasurer for one term. The Stulls and Ottos, to whom references are made in other chapters, must also be counted among the pioneers, while the Williamses, Youngs, Crows (of Sinnemahoning), the Hamnlins, and fifty other families of whom mention is made in this volume, are connected with the beginnings of the pro- gressive period. Of the Crow family several humorous stories are related. One is entitled "Called to Preach." It appears that along in the " thirties" Moses Crow and his father were engaged in the bottom lands back of the pres- ent Wright House in chopping trees. Work went on fairly well until a dry elm tree was encountered, and to it both men directed their strength. The day was sultry and the workers perspired freely. The younger one, looking round on the sea of trees, grew tired suddenly, and, addressing his father, said: "I think I am called to preach." Soon after he became an exhorter, passed a lit- tle while at the Meadville College, and received a regular appointment. David,

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HISTORY OF MCKEAN COUNTY.

Jr., followed his brother into the Methodist ministry in 1842, and a few years later the old squire was asked for a donation for church purposes, but as a re- sponse made the suggestion that he had given two sons to the Methodist church, contribution enough for one man.

The resident tax-payers of Keating township in 1836-37 were Daniel Acre, Samuel Armstrong, William J. Anderson, Aaron Arnold, Dudley Birge (a sad- dler at Smethport), J. L. Birge (moved west), N. G. Barrus, Joseph Brush (moved to Lafayette corners), Levi Bennett (who sold the site for the poor- farm to Col. Wilcox), T. Barrett, Willis Barrett, Gardner Barrett (died in 1888), Nath. Barrett, Daniel Burbank, Enoch Briggs (who still resides in the township), Aurilas Beman, Dr. Joshua Bascom, Elisha and Uri Bush, Daniel Brown (who cleared the Vincent farm), Harvey Brewer (a shoemaker), D. R. and O. R. Bennett, William Bell (of Ceres), John Brockham, Nicholas Baker, Curtis Bump, Amos Briggs (a mason), H. N. Burgett, P. W. Beach, B. C. Corwin, C. D. Calkins (now at Smethport). Ghordis Corwin (who owned the grist- and saw mill), Daniel and David Cornelius, Amasa Cowles, Erastus Cowles (saw-mill owner), Henry Chapin, Thomas Curtis, Richard Chad- wick (who died in 1866), E. J. Cook, David Crow, Elihu Chadwick, J. F. Clark (merchant), C. S. Comes (living in Eldred), Daniel Crossmire, Silas Crandall, John and J. D. Dunbar, D. Othneal, Eliza De Golier, L. H. De Aubigny (non-resident), R. R. Fowler, Dr. George Darling, James O'Daily, Levi Davis, Jr .. Brewster Freeman, Daniel Foster, Nathan Folsom, D. C. and J. A. O. Gunning, G. W. Griswold, Truman Garlick, Jesse, Hiram and Almon Garey. Wheeler Gallup, James Green, J. W. Howe (a lawyer), Simon Hammon, James Hoop (now of Lafayette), Barnabas Hill, George Hetchelder, Minard Hall, John Holmes & Co. (tan-yard owners, near F. Andrews' house), Holmes & Richmond (merchants), L. R. Hawkins (of Cha- copee, Minn.), O. J. Hamlin (lawyer), Dwight Holcomb (moved to Florida), A. Housler. L. Havens, Gideon Irons, John King, Horace B. and Isaac King, Jared and Jonathan Ketchum, Rev. Abner Lull, Warren Lucore (mer- chant), John and T. Moore, J. McDowell, Dr. William Y. McCoy, T. Mattison. Chester Medbery (now in Dakota), John Nolan (lawyer), John E. Niles, John Needham (merchant), Alvin Owen, Dr. William Otto, James, John, Jemima and Charity Otto, W. D. Owen (merchant), Joseph Otto (saw-mill owner), W. S. Oviatt, Silas D. and Lewis Otto, Eben Parker (who owned a part of the A. H. Cory farın), Hiram Payne (editor), Elisha Randall (dealer), Dr. Salmon M. Rose (who owned the Freeman property), S. R. Robbins, William Rice, Allan Rice, Nelson Richmond, Jonas Riddle, William Ripley (died in 188S), P. E. Scull (died in 1867), Jonas, Sam. and Arnold Southwick, Cephas Scott, Asa Sartwell (fulling and saw-mill owner), Joel Sartwell (now of Cedar Rapids. Iowa), John Smith, Jesse Spencer, Sol. Stoddard, Charles Smith, and Samuel Smith (tailor, now in Iowa). Sol. Sartwell, Jr., Sartwell & Arnold (traders), Sol. Sartwell, R. H. Stillson, John Taylor (merchant). Nathan Tinney, James Taylor, Enoch Tyler, D. Voorhes, D. S., William C., George W. and Nathan White, William Williams (trader), L. C. Willard (col.), Clinton and Stephen Young, Hiram Spencer and Henry Bunyan (trader). Abner Lull, the assessor, recommended Jared Ketchum and Ghordis Corwin for collectors. In 1837 A. H. Cory and Lawyer L. F. Maynard settled here.

In Keating township in 1846 were the general stores of C. Steele & Co., Ford & Holmes, O. J. & B. D. Hamlin, W. Y. McCoy and O. R. Bennett; the taverns of O. R. Bennett and Richmond & Bennett, and the grocery of James Miller. Elijah Bennett had a store in December. The merchants of Keating township in 1852 were B. D. & H. Hamlin, James Taylor & Son, C. K. Sart-

HJ.CORELL PHOTO.ELDRED.PA

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HISTORY OF MCKEAN COUNTY.

well & Co., S. & E. G. Eaton, C. Steele and O. R. Bennett. The latter and Sartwell & Co. were also liquor dealers.

No. 1, Volume VI, of the Citizen, was issued September 3, 1859, with L. Rogers editor. At this time E. B. Eldred, W. A. Williams, William A. Nichols, Warren Cowles and John C. Backus were resident attorneys; W. Y. McCoy, J. Darling and S. D. Freeman, physicians; W. K. King, surveyor, and J. K. Haffey; geologist. The hotels advertised were the Bennett House, by D. R. Bennett, and the Eldred Half-way House, on the Olean road.

Villages .- Farmers Valley, Coryville and Frisbee may be called synony- mous terms. They all form a part of the old settlement of Farmers Valley, of which so much is written in the general history as well as in this chapter. In 1812 Francis King surveyed the fifty-acre tracts donated by John Keating for the following named settlers in Farmers Valley: George, Joseph and Matthias Otto, Robert Gilbert, Jonathan Moore, Zachariah, Thomas and Will- iam Ashley.

The old post-office of Farmers Valley dates back to early in the "thirties," when Timothy R. Robbins was master. Thomas Goodwin. Jackson Otto and F. C. Olds have filled the office. The post-office of Coryville was established in 1872 with Asa H. Cory, master, who has been continued in office since.

The Union Church of Farmers Valley was built early in the "fifties" through the exertions of A. J. Otto and Arnold Southwick. Dan Lennox was the carpenter and builder. It has been open to all denominations, but the United Brethren may be said to be the principal worshipers.

The United Brethren Church at Coryville, or Frisbee, was built in 1878-79 on land donated by A. H. Cory. The building cost over $2,000.

The United Brethren Society of Farmers Valley was founded October 19, 1867, with William S. Moore, T. R. Robbins, the Southwicks and John Holmes the elder, as organizers.

The E. A. U. lodge of Farmers Valley was organized in February, 1886, with A. R. Tubbs, Mrs. Otto, J. H. McQuade, Mrs. Tubbs, Mrs. Ellen Otto. J. L. Bean, A. Tyler, F. C. Olds and Dr. R. J. Sharp, officials.

The tide water pump station was established near A. H. Cory's house, but owing to the absence of gas the pumping works were moved to Rixford. On June 19, 1887, a 25,000-barrel tank was burned, 1,000 teams bringing people to witness the fire. The remaining tanks were moved to Ohio in 1888.

Lucius Rogers built the first steam saw, shingle and planing mill in Nun- undah Creek valley in 1885. Prior to that time saw-mills run by steam and water-power were common along the banks of this stream, and a few are found to-day using up the remnant of pine and hemlock of the valley and hills.

In 1855-57 a coal oil factory was established up the creek from Smethport.

Bordell (Coleville post-office), known in 1879 as the "Banner Frontier Town," was partially burned February 9, 1880, when McCormack's hall and three other buildings were destroyed. In November, thirty-five buildings were reduced to ashes, the Bennett House, the leading hotel, conducted by T. P. Hill, being among the number .... The fire of February 16, 1881, resulted in the destruction of the Golden Rule block, and two adjoining buildings. . . . In February, 1880, the sum of $30,000 was subscribed to build a plank road from Bradford to Coleville. The stockholders elected J. J. Carter, president; P. T. Kennedy, vice-president; James Amm, secretary, and F. A. Wheeler, treas- urer. When the town was in its glory the Bordell Bazoo was published here, and altogether the place was considered of much importance.

Ormsby Junction is the name given to the junction of the narrow gauge 13

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HISTORY OF MCKEAN COUNTY.

roads connecting Smethport with Bradford, Mount Jewett and Kane. Sub- sequent to 1842 Mr. W. F. Ormsby settled in this then comparative wilderness, and he continues to reside here on his fine farm.

Aiken, Davis, Van Vleck and Simpson are small settlements on the Brad- ford, Bordell & Kinzua Railroad. Cyclone post-office is located in the west- ern part of the township.

In December, 1888, a well was drilled on the Ormsby farm to a depth of 2,408 feet, to the fifth sand. This well answered 120 quarts of glycerine with seventy-five barrels of oil within four weeks; but the production fell to one and one-half barrels, when it was abandoned in February, 1889. One and one- half miles west of the Ormsby farm is a well which gives gas and oil, but is undeveloped.

BOROUGH OF SMETHPORT.

Smethport is located in one of the most beautiful valleys in the mountain country. Its site was selected by John Keating, and this selection confirmed by the commissioners. The latitude and longitude ascertained by Surveyor Chadwick in 1839 are 41° 55' and 78° 33', respectively.

In 1880 the borough claimed 872 inhabitants. In 1888 there were 148 Republican, 116 Democratic, nine Prohibitionist and one Union Labor votes cast, or a total of 274, which number multiplied by six gives an idea of the present population as 1,644.

In 1811 Capt. Arnold Hunter built the first cabin at Smethport, where the Widow Rifle resided in 1871, now occupied by a Swede. A second house was built in 1812, but both were abandoned in 1814. Capt. Hunter died in Harrison township, Potter county, March 16, 1857, aged seventy-eight years and 364 days. In 1850 he was deputy census marshal for Potter county.

Asa Sartwell, of Iowa, who revisited his old hunting grounds in 1880, made the visit memorable by relating to the editor of the Miner his reminis- cences of Smethport and vicinity in early times. Over sixty years before, his father, Solomon Sartwell, located within a few miles of the county seat in Farmers Valley, while his brother, Solomon, Jr., settled soon after at Smeth- port, and built the second large log-house, Eastman having built before. Asa, the younger brother, came in 1820, when Smethport contained a few log- huts and a carding-mill. He bought this mill, but at the close of the season saw it destroyed by fire. Going to Utica, N. Y., he purchased machinery for carding wool and dressing cloth, brought it hither, and in conjunction with these industries entered the lumber trade, and became a real estate dealer. John Applebee's saw- and grist-mill and Conant's cloth-dressing house were among the first industries.

Joseph Otto came from Mifflin county, Penn., early in 1810, and settled two and one-half miles below Smethport with his young wife. The trip hither from Angelica was throngh sixty miles of wilderness withont one inhabitant, and from the effects of such a journey he fell sick soon after settlement, and he and his wife were almost on the point of starving when he became strong enough to hunt. Stephen Young located in Farmers Valley with others named in the chapter on first settlement. James Taylor moved to Mckean county in 1824, and a few years later engaged in mercantile business at Smethport with Hawkins & Ford. A. N. Taylor, who died May 15, 1876, from injuries inflicted by a fall September 25, 1875, came with his father, and in 1843 became a partner in the business, ultimately purchased his father's

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HISTORY OF MCKEAN COUNTY.

interest in the store and built a house, adjoining the Astor House, which was burned in the fire of March 28, 1868. He filled the office of associate judge for one term. In his journey to Smethport in November, 1826, Lawyer Orlo J. Hamlin met the Smethport and Jersey Shore mail carrier, Moses Hanna. at Canoe Place. Both traveled to the county seat over the mountains and across the terrible corduroy or pole bridges. Crossing Nunundah creek, they were soon at the Red Tavern, kept by Mrs. Willard. His stay he describes in his reminiscences, thus: " It being long after dark when we arrived, the bar-room was well filled with men. After supper we joined the men in this room. One of them. the leading man. after inquiring whence I came and what I came for, asked me . What spelling books are in use now ?' Replying. I said it was long since I was in the elementary schools, but I believed Dills- worth's were going out and Webster's coming in. Retiring for the night. I was shown to a room adjoining the bar-room. It so happened that a married couple occupied a room near by, and about ten o'clock that night the woman was in her accouchement, and I was kept awake by neighboring women passing to and fro every few minutes, while the men in the bar-room kept up a contin- ual cross fire of conversation and laughter. About midnight I heard the sound of men falling on the bar-room floor, and this intolerable nuisance was kept up until nearly morning, when I arose, irritable and feverish, determined to return to Towanda." In his reminiscences of the bar, given in connection with the courts, he refers to the manner in which he was received next morn- ing and the establishment of his law office at Smethport.

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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