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 54

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 54
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 54
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 54
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 54

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REV. J. J. GALLIGAN, pastor of the Church of St. Elizabeth, Smeth- port, is a son of James and Catherine Galligan, and was born in Ireland in 1848. He received his early education in the parish schools of his native county (Cavan), and his training in classics at St. Patrick's College in County Cavan, Ireland, from which he graduated June 21, 1871, coming to America August 19. 1872. September 1, 1872, he entered Allegany Seminary, on the Erie Railroad, west of Olean, N. Y., and was ordained a priest July 6, 1877. Father Galligan was first sent to Erie, Penn., thence to Titusville, same State, where he remained three years; then, on November 11, 1880, he came to Smethport, and has here since most worthily filled his present incumbency.

MRS. LAURA ANN GALLUP, Smethport, is a danghter of Jonathan and Eliza Colegrove, and was born January 28, 1823, in Norwich township, Mc- Kean Co., Penn. Her father was a native of Sterling, Windham Co., Conn., but was chiefly reared in Griswold, Conn., and educated at Penfield Academy. On completing his studies he married Eliza Gallup, of same place, and removed to Norwich, Chenango Co., N. Y., where he followed agricultural pursuits and school-teaching until his removal, in 1875, to Sergeant (now Norwich) town- ship, McKean Co., Penn., and to what is now known as Colegrove, where he was engaged in farming throughout his active life. He, however, was specially employed for a considerable time in the Bingham land office. Mr. and Mrs. Jonathan Colegrove reared a family of five children: Florilla (the late Mrs.

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HISTORY OF MCKEAN COUNTY.

Daniel Rifle, of Norwich township, McKean county), Horace (who died in Nor- wich township January 16, 1888). W. J. (the present agent for the Ridgway estate in Smethport) and Laura Ette and Laura Ann (twins). The mother of this family died February 27, 1859, and the father April 11, 1872. Laura Ann Gallup, the subject proper of this biographical record, married, December 29, 1844. in Norwich township, Philetus Gallup, who was born October 12, 1822. a son of Cagswell and Dinah (Edwards) Gallup. Philetus located in Keating township, Mckean Co., Penn., where he became engaged in farming and lumber- ing, and was also owner and proprietor of a saw mill. Mr. and Mrs. Philetus Gal- lup had a family of six children: Eliza, Dollie, Ella, J. C., Albert and Lincoln. Mr. Gallup died September 30, 1878. He was one of the prominent and represent- ative men of this portion of the county. Politically he was a Republican. Mrs. Gallup is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

EBEN GALLUP, farmer, P. O. Smethport, son of Nathaniel C. and Dinah (Edmunds) Gallup, was born in Norwich township, McKean Co., Penn .. in 1821. Nathaniel C. Gallup was among the first settlers of the county. He was a native of Connecticut, where he married, and where three of his children were born, viz .: Jabez, Andrew (deceased) and Orrin (deceased). He located in Norwich township, bought a tract of land and built the first saw- and grist-mill on Potato creek. When he came to this county it was in the green woods, and the country was infested with wild animals. At one time. when on his way to this part of the country with a load of mill-iron and a quantity of pork, he was fiercely attacked by a pack of ravenous wolves. Being far from any assistance he was compelled, in self-preservation, to build fires around his team to keep the wolves from devouring the whole outfit. The children born to Nathaniel C. Gallup in Mckean county were Nathaniel C., Jr. (deceased), California, Daniel, Eben, Philetus (deceased), Orlando (deceased), and Alfred. The mother died, and the father married, for his sec- ond wife, Indiana Arnold, by whom he had one child, Arnold. The father died in 1833. Eben Gallup was twelve years old when his father died, and he made his home with his brother, Jabez, until 1849, when he married Phebe Windsor, and located in Keating township, on the farm he now owns. He has been engaged all his life in farming, and is one of the successful men of the township. Mr. and Mrs. Gallup have two children: Emma (now Mrs. Warley Gifford) and Carrie (now Mrs. Fred Smith), and two grandchildren: Roy and Ethel Gifford. Mr. Gallup, in politics, is a Democrat. He received the nomination for county commissioner, though defeated at the polls, but has occupied various official positions in his township. Mrs. Gallup is a Seventh- Day Baptist, while her daughters are Episcopalians.

W. D. GALLUP. merchant, Smethport, is a son of Daniel and Lucina Gallup, and was born in Norwich, Mckean Co., Penn., in 1846. His grand. father. Nathaniel C. Gallup, was a native of Connecticut, and removed to Norwich at a very early day, where he lived and died. He reared a family of ten children, five of whom still survive: Gabez F., of Hamlin township, McKean county; Daniel, of Norwich; Eben and Alfred D., of Keating; and Mrs. Philetus Corwin, of Foster township. Daniel, father of W. D., was born in Norwich. He has devoted his attention to agriculture, and still lives in his native place. His wife died in 1848. They had two children: Nathaniel C., of Norwich. and W. D. W. D. Gallup began his business life as an employe of the Hon. Henry Hamlin, with whom he remained four years, when he ac- cepted a position at Emporium, where he also remained four years; he then returned to Smethport, and was with A. N. Taylor until his decease, and con- tinned about a year after with Frank N. Taylor. In 1877 he engaged in busi-

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ness at the old Sartwell store, on Main street, as dealer in general merchan- dise, and in 1881 removed to the one he now occupies. He is a member of McKean Lodge, No. 388, F. & A. M .: Bradford Chapter, No. 260, R. A. M .. and Trinity Commandery, No. 58, K. T. He is a Republican in politics, and in the fall of 1877 was elected treasurer of Mckean county; in 1885 he was elected county commissioner. He married, in 1871, Miss Elizabeth Shepard, daughter of David V. Shepard, and their union has been blessed with two children -one son and one daughter-Fred D. and Rena May.

SETH J. GIFFORD, lumber manufacturer, Smethport, son of William and Fanney L. (Hackett) Gifford, was born in Keating township, two miles east of Smethport, in 1847. His grandfather, Job Gifford, was a native of New Jersey, where he married Nancy Woodruff, and then removed to Nor- wich township, Mckean Co., Penn. Here they reared a family of twelve children, namely: Jonathan, David, Sarah, William, Henry, Eliza, Job, Alex. ander, Rejoice, Leander, Jane and Alonzo. The parents of these children died a few years ago, having lived to a ripe old age. They were among the early settlers of the county, and endured all the privations and hardships of pioneer life. William, father of Seth J., was born in Norwich township. McKean county, in 1820. and eventually married and located in Keating township, and became a farmer. He has been a member of the Baptist Church for many years. He was the father of six children: Zavalia D., Seth J., Wasley, Leander D., Jennie E. and Will S. The father has sold the old homestead, and is now a resident of Smethport. He has served his township in various official capacities. Seth J., his second son, received his educa- tion in the public schools of Smethport. He began his business career in 1866, when he removed to Corry and became engaged in the construction of a rail- road. He next became a contractor and builder at Smethport, and among other buildings erected Wright's hotel and the first extract works here. He also purchased a saw-mill, and for a couple of years manufactured hemlock lumber. He built a new mill, and entered into a contract with H. F. Good- year, and in three years sawed 16,000,000 feet of lumber for him; he has since made an agreement with the Allegheny Lumber Company, sawing from twelve to fifteen million feet annually for them, and has now purchased a property of the Allegheny Lumber Company, which gives him the controlling interest in the plant at this point. He received the appointment of inspector-general of the Pennsylvania Storage Company, but owing to his large interest was compelled to resign. He was also urged by his friends to accept the nomina- tion of State senator, but business cares prevented his acceptance. He is identified with the Democratic party, has been burgess of the borough. school director, etc., and also a member of the fire department. Mr. Gifford is one of the live business men of Smethport, and is one of the heavy operators in hemlock lumber in Northern Pennsylvania.

I. S. GLEASON, harness maker, Smethport, is a son of Amos and Polly (Sias) Gleason, and was born in Livingston county, N. Y., in 1828. His parents removed to Warsaw, Wyoming county, same State, where his mother died in 1843, after which his father made his home with a daughter in Livingston county until his death. I S. Gleason received but a limited education, labor- ing under difficulties common to many, and in 1844, when but sixteen years of age, he became an apprentice in a harness shop in Warsaw, N. Y., where he remained until January, 1851. He removed to Smethport January 11. 1851. where he was an employe of Steele & Johnson for three years; then went into the harness business for himself, and has occupied his present store since 1855. He married Emily A. Corwin in 1854, and they have had two children: Dora

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HISTORY OF MCKEAN COUNTY.

M. (deceased) and Ralph C. Mr. Gleason is a Republican in politics. He appreciates the desirability of affording proper educational advantages to chil- dren, and was a member of the school board in the borough during the erection of its very elegant school building, in which he justly takes great pride. The family attend the Methodist Episcopal Church.

IRA M. GODFREY, Farmers Valley, son of David P. and Amanda M. Godfrey, was born at Olean, N. Y., in 1857, where he was reared and educated. He began his business life at Farmers Valley, McKean Co., Penn., as clerk in the employ of F. C. Olds, a dealer in general merchandise at that place, a position he still holds. He married in 1885 Miss Maud, daughter of Daniel E. Williams, of Black Creek, Allegany Co., N. Y., after which they located in Farmers Valley, their present residence. They have two children: Mabel and Elmer Lee. Mr. Godfrey is a member of the Sons of Temperance, and a Re- publican in politics. Mr. D. P. Godfrey, with his wife, was among the early settlers of Olean. N. Y., where he is a prosperous farmer. Mrs. Ira M. God- frey's father was a soldier in the Civil war, but returned broken down in health, and died while his daughter, Maud, was yet a child. Mrs. L. S. Williams, mother of Mrs. Ira M. Godfrey, still lives at Black Creek, and is highly respected by all who know her.

SHERIDAN GORTON, attorney at law, Smethport, was born at Phillips- burg (now known as Belmont), Allegany Co., N. Y., in October, 1848 After finishing his studies he taught school in his native county and in Oakland county, Mich. He began the study of law with the Hon. Wilkes Angel, of Belmont, but about 1870 accepted a position which necessitated his traveling for about four years; he afterward completed the study of law with S. M. Norton, of Friendship, N. Y., and June 5, 1877, was admitted to the bar of the State of New York. He became associated in the practice of law with J. C. Backus, B. A., which continued until the death of Mr. Backus, October 26, 1888, since which time Mr. Gorton has retained the old office, and is engaged in business as before. In June, 1878, he married Lucy C., daughter of Judson G. Eaton, of Smethport, and they have three children-boys-now ten, eight and one years of age, respectively. Mr. Gorton is a prominent member of the A. O. U. W., and an officer in the grand lodge. Politically he is a Republican. His father, Sheridan Gorton, died in May, 1848, and his mother afterward married W. D. Renwick, of Allegany county, N. Y., a prominent teacher, who was school commissioner of that county for a period of six years, and they now have their home at Friendship. The mother of Sheridan Gorton bore the maiden name of Abigail Norton, and was the eldest daughter of Joseph B. Norton, one of the pioneers of Allegany county, N. Y., who died in 1882, at the age of eighty-two years.

ORLO J. HAMLIN, whose name is identified with the old bar of this dis- trict as the pioneer and leading lawyer of that bar in this county, came to Smethport in December, 1826. He was born at Sharon, Conn., December 2, 1803, but at the age of eleven years moved to Pennsylvania with his parents, where, in Wayne and Bradford counties, he resided until the date of his settle- ment in Mckean county. Sometime during the year 1824 he was appointed teacher of the pioneer school at Towanda, Bradford county. While holding that position, he read law in the office of Simon Kinney, and there was ad- mitted to the bar two years later. In the fall of 1826, determining to seek his fortune in a newer country, he set out for Warren, Penn. From his pencil notes of this trip, the description of the country from Galeton to Coudersport, given in the local chapters of Potter county, is taken; while his reminiscences of his first twenty-four hours at Smethport are given in the chapters on the courts

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and bar, and in the one on Smethport. Shortly after his arrival at Smethport. he was called upon by John King (the agent of the Keatings), Jonathan Cole- grove (the agent of the Ridgways) and Solomon Sartwell (the lumberman and merchant), who received him cordially, and prevailed upon him to make his home among them. He came a little too late to participate in the proceedings of the first court (September, 1826), but was in time for the December term, when he and John W. Howe were admitted ex gratia members of the bar of Mckean county. In the summer of 1828 Miss Orra L. Cogswell arrived from Con- nectient on a visit to her uncle, Jonathan Colegrove. By this time the young lawyer had won the esteem of the pioneers, and it is not a matter for wonder to learn that his snit for Miss Cogswell's heart and hand was favorably received by the grim old soldier of 1812, who was de facto guardian of the young lady's interests during her absence from Connecticut. The marriage of the pioneer lawyer and Miss Cogswell was solemnized that year, and for over half a century they resided here together, the center of a large circle of friends and of a happy family. In 1831 and 1832 Mr. Hamlin wrote the historical sketch published in Hazzard's Gazetteer of that year. the first history ever written of any section of the district. His political life may be said to have begun in 1828, when he took a leading part in the campaign. Four years later he represented his district in the legislature, and in the winter of 1832-33 he urged the bill appropriating $20,000 for the improvement of the east and west State road through Mckean county. His speech on this occasion continued for two hours, and won the attention of all readers throughout the commonwealth, owing to the excellence of the language, style and logical conclusion employed by the speaker. The bill, however, failed to receive a majority vote, as did also one for the extension of the canal up the north branch of the Susquehanna, which he earnestly espoused. Undeterred by the defeat of two such measures, he introduced a bill to organize the Eighteenth judicial district-Potter, Mckean, Warren and Jefferson counties. He placed this measure before the house in such a strong light, that a legislature, which opposed everything necessitating further State or county taxes, was compelled to coincide with his views, so that, though the opposition was strong in numbers and influence, this bill was carried, and the perseverance of the young legislator rewarded. In the fall of 1833 he was nominated for re-election, but his name not being placed on the legislative ticket in Lycoming county, he withdrew, and in 1835 refused a third nomina- tion unconditionally.

In July, 1836, he was admitted to the bar of the supreme court at Sunbury, and in 1837 practiced before the United States District Court at Williamsport, Penn., representing the defendant in the ejectment suit for possession of all the Trimble lands in Mckean county. The constitutional convention of 1836 and 1838, which framed the constitution of Pennsylvania, claimed him as a representative of this northern district, with Hiram Payne, alternate. The poor state of Mr. Hamlin's health compelled him to retire from the convention. leaving his views of the subjects he had presented and discussed to Mr. Payne, who voted in accordance with them. At this convention his proposition to give each county a separate representative was negatived. In 1874 a similar proposition was adopted. In 1839 Judge Eldred resigned, and a meeting was held to consider the choice of his successor as president judge. Solomon Sartwell presided, with J. E. Niles, secretary. This meeting resolved that Mr. Hamlin should be appointed, and the resolutions were forwarded to the governor, to be presented by Senators S. Hays and A. V. Parsons and Rep- resentatives W. P. Wilcox and L. B. Cole. Other influences, supported by a more persistent candidate, militated against the wish of the people in this

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instance. In 1841 and. 1842 his name was prominent among the candidates for congressional honors. The Democrat Analyzer, of Troy, in February, 1842, speaking on the subject of his nomination, quotes John Sergeant, pres- ident of the constitutional convention, as follows: "I am very much impressed with the force of Mr. Hamlin's arguments, and would take this opportunity of saying that MeKean county is ably represented." Writing in 1852, he states that he filled the offices of township collector; deputy postmaster; deputy prothonotary; recorder and register; treasurer of the township road funds for two years; postmaster, three years; deputy United States marshal, to take the census of 1830; deputy attorney-general for McKean and Potter counties: and, in 1832, member of the legislature. He makes the further statement: "Complaint has never reached my ear of mismanagement in any of the offices, and I could have held them longer had I chosen to do so. I have learned to consider office rather as a matter of accident and peculiar fortune than the result of talent and management, and I have observed that those who seem most desirous of office are least fortunate in obtaining it. Consistency in politics should never be lost sight of." After resigning his seat in the convention in 1837, Mr. Hamlin partially recovered from the effects of the fatigue and study to which he was subjected during his service in that body, and at intervals gave some attention to political affairs and to his legal busi- ness. Though physically weak, he was fortunate in the possession of rare mental power. An analyst by nature, he was logical in all things, and each proposition submitted for his opinion or action was subjected to this process of logical dissection, so that when the conclusion was reached it was an eminently just and proper one. His successful law practice, up to 1851, is a testimonial to his high reasoning powers. In 1849 he engaged in his last criminal case, when he aided the district attorney in the trial of Uzza Robbins, who was convicted of murder. He also made the dedicatory address at the opening of the old court-house, or second public building, which gave place to the present temple of justice. For over twenty years prior to his death, he had surrendered all hope of ever again appearing in court. To fill out the blank which this involuntary retirement from the courts created, he en- tered on new studies, taking up successfully the French and German lan- guages, astronomy, geology and zoology, in which studies he was accus- tomed to consult and procure the physical assistance of members of his family. About 1870, Dr. Keating of Philadelphia, a grandson of John Keat- ing, and a life-long friend of the lawyer, was called to his bedside. The doctor naturally expected to be interrogated in the matter of the patient's condition, but professional surprise may be imagined when Mr. Hamlin said: "Well, doctor, I have been reading the Marseillaise Hymn; I know you are a French scholar; I have it in the original as well as the trans- lation; now I want you to take it in the French and translate it slowly: while I compare the translation, to see whether the translator is right or whether I am." The doctor assented, and when he came to the verse which gave the patient special anxiety, the latter said: " Now please be accurate." At the conclusion of the reading, a smile gladdened the invalid's face and he said: "I thought I was right, now I've proved it; you can tell me now what you can do to make a sick man well."

In his early years, Mr. Hamlin was somewhat skeptical with regard to the immortality of the soul, but in the year 1845 he became a member of the Presbyterian Church of Smethport, having received baptism at the hands of Rev. B. T. Babbitt of that communion. From that time to the close his faith grew stronger and more firm, as will be seen in the following lines written by himself, called:

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THOUGHTS AND REFLECTIONS.

For a sick map whose sands of life are nearly run, when all experiments to regain health have failed, when even all possible hope is extinguished and Fate has put on him the seal of despair, and there is naught to look to as the future of Earth, of all consola- tions the ever busy imagination can unfold, the thought that he knows that God exists, that there is a God, and believes in Christ as his Mediator and Savior, and hopes for im- mortality, and believes that when life has once begun, we live forever ; that death, in- stead of being a cessation of life, is but a change. It may be a fanciful one, from mortal to immortal. that when we die we shall sleep, not so, but sleep with our fathers; and when we awaken from that sleep, be it long or short, we shall awaken to everlasting life, with our bodily infirmities, our diseases, our cares, our sorrows, our weaknesses, both of body and mind, gone, all gone forever, being born again into a new. holy and perfect state of being. This is the most glorious, joyful, happy and, to find the fullest expression, most grand and sublime thought that can he conceived hy mortals, and the one of all others that gives me most happiness.

October 2, 1870.

O. J. H.

Mr. Hamlin's death took place, February, 13, 1880, the result of total exhaustion of the physical system. It was the end of an invalid condition of almost thirty years' duration, and consequently was painless and peace- ful. His widow died April 17, 1881, in her seventy-sixth year, within that home in which she dwelt for fifty-three years. The fact of Mr. Hamlin's death was presented to the court in February, 1880, by Hon. C. B. Curtis, then residing in Erie, but practicing in this court, when the official action, re- ported as follows, resulted. Mr. Curtis said: " If the court please, I wish to announce to the court and bar that Orlo J. Hamlin breathed his last in this town on the 13th day of the present month. The oldest practitioner which I know, and one of the oldest members of the bar which I know in Western Pennsylvania; I know of but one person now occupying that position. And I can not pass over the announcement of this fact, without some reference to the character of the deceased. Having been admitted here as early as 1826- almost fifty-four years ago, he must necessarily have formed some character for good or for evil in this community, as well as in the surrounding counties, where he was well known. And it is but just to his memory to say of the de- ceased, that no man ever practiced before this bar, who had a more unimpeach- able record than the deceased. There are but few men whose whole life for integrity was so unquestioned, so white and pure as Orlo J. Hamlin's. While he bore that high character fully among his professional associates, he was held in the same high estimation by all classes who had intercourse with him. He also had this commendable merit besides: he was a lawyer in the true ac- ceptance of the term, high-minded, conciliatory and honorable, not only in all of his relations with his professional brethren and the bench, but also in his intercourse with all classes of our citizens, who will long remember him with the highest respect for his high character as a good lawyer and citizen. Orlo J. Hamlin was a thorough student, devoted to his books. As a practitioner, there was no member of this bar who came into court more thoroughly pre- pared, and master of the subject involved in the controversy than the deceased. He was, therefore, always prepared to make an able and learned presentation of his cause. Although Mr. Hamlin for many years had retired from the act- ive labors of his profession, he nevertheless pursued his studies to the last, which seemed to relieve him somewhat from his pain and suffering, during so many years of sickness. Bright and promising as were his prospects in early life, yet they were somewhat clouded by delicate health, which finally settled down for a period of nearly thirty years into a sickness, making him a con- firmed invalid during all these dreary years, and confined to his house, seeing but a few persons and conversing with but a few. But still, with all his afflic- tions, he bore them with Christian fortitude and grace, never forgetting the

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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