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 94

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 94
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 94
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 94
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 94

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).

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HISTORY OF ELK COUNTY.

ones at home must be supplied, and therefore the product must go for what it would bring. Many times during the first years upon the farm at Rasselas [this name was given to the place in honor of its owner by Gen. Thomas L. Kane, president of the N. Y .. L. E. & W. R. R. extension, when it was built through the farm and a station located thereon ], butter as good as house- wife ever made was taken on horseback to Ridgway, sixteen miles distant, and sold for 10 and 12 cents a pound, store pay, the whole proceeds amounting to less than would be the expense of such a trip in our time.

Isolated as was the home reared by this couple, it was in many respects a model one. The children, six in number, three boys and three girls, were taught not only obedience and respect for their parents, but kindness and love for each other. Self-sacrifice was the paramount law of the household. Nothing within the range of a possibility was ever left uudone in behalf of the children, whether it pertained to their present needs or education and proper development; and in return the parents received homage as abiding as life itself. All alone in the wilderness, the family altar was kept burning. conspicuous by contrast, and yet its influence all the more enduring, because it was unique. The entire number of children born to Rasselas W. and Mary P. Brown are still living. The daughters are Olive J. Moyer and Eunice A. Hewitt. of Elk county. and Mary A. Allen, of Cicero, N. Y. The sons are Jefferson L .. William Wallace and Isaac B. Sketches of the three sons will be found in this volume as follows: those of Jefferson L. and Isaac B., imme- diately after this of their father, and that of William Wallace, among the biographical sketches of Bradford, McKean county.

Mr. Brown, notwithstanding the loss of his eyesight, was a leading mind in the county. In politics he was a Whig, and all alone in his neighborhood he cherished, as only a Whig could cherish, the names of Washington. the Adamses, Clay and Webster, until the new era added to the immortals the names of Grant and Lincoln. There was but a single supporter of his polit- ical views in Jones township. and yet during the larger part of his active life at Rasselas, he held the office of magistrate, often by the almost unanimous voice of his neighbors. As a partisan he was never offensive, but he was as firm and unyielding in his political convictions as any man ever was with Scotch blood in his veins.

Of his affliction he seldom made mention, and he was never known to com- plain, save, when in the days of his country's peril, the loss of his sight pre- clnded the possibility of his enlisting in her defense. It was his inability to serve as a soldier that induced him to yield to the persuasions of his young- est son, and allow him to enter the army at the early age of sixteen years, although his two other sons and two of his sons-in-law had already entered the serivce. To him the Republic was "a thing of beauty and a joy for- ever." and there was nothing in the earth so good or so sacred that he would not have freely sacrificed for her glory and her defense. With the close of the war and with his declining years came more rest and contentment. Though from choice he labored constantly until the last year of his life, the railroad, long looked for, had come, and with it a market for the forest still preserved, and this brought the means for such comfortable support as dispensed with the necessity of further toil or anxiety. Idleness had no place in his life. Every hour not given to labor was devoted to the acquisition of knowledge. Un- able, from loss of his eyesight, to read, he invoked the aid of others to read for him, and in this way was able to keep abreast of current events, and to live in the history of the past. He had a very retentive memory, and possessed a fund of information, especially concerning the geography, political history and development of his country, truly wonderful.

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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES,

As the end of life approached, he gave most abundant assurance to those about him, that long ago complete preparations had been made for the voyage to the country beyond. There was a brief. but comprehensive direction for the care of his surviving widow, a " share and share alike" to his children, a request that he might be permitted to sleep with his fathers in the land of his boyhood, and then a calm, majestic waiting for the final summons. Just fifty years to a day from the time the subject of this sketch, weary and foot-sore, came into the wilderness of Pennsylvania, he was borne in solemn triumph back to the burial place of his fathers. It is the mighty power of steam that carries the train as on wings of the wind! During the fifty years of Mr. Brown's sojourn in Elk county, that power had revolutionized the world! Henceforth the pioneer shall not go forth into the wilderness alone. Steam shall go before, and shall prepare the way for him. And yet, with all the aids to success which modern thought can bring. none who triumph in coming time will leave more honored heritage, or fall asleep amid the incense of love more sincere or more adiding than did Rasselas Wilcox Brown.

JEFFERSON L. BROWN, eldest son of Rasselas W. and Mary P. (Brownell) Brown, was born at Fort Brewerton, Onondaga Co., N. Y., June 25. 1834, and came with his parents into McKean (now Elk) county in March. 1838. His early life was spent on his father's farm, in Jones township, npon which Rasselas, a station on the New York. Lake Erie & Western, and the Buf- falo, Rochester & Pittsburg Railroads, is located. Mr. Brown was educated at the public schools near his home. and at the Smethport academy. At eighteen years of age he commenced the work of his profession-surveying-which he has followed more or less up to the present time, and has been engaged in sev- eral engineering enterprises. In the summer of 1855 Mr. Brown purchased the Elk County Advocate establishment, and published the paper about one year. Not finding the business either suited to his nature or profitable, he disposed of the plant in July, 1856, and returned to the work of his profes- sion. In the autumn of 1860 he moved to Onondaga county, N. Y .. and en- gaged in the pursuit of farming. He taught school at Cicero in the winter of 1860-61, and at Centreville in the winter of 1861-62. After selling his in- terest in the farm. Mr. Brown enlisted in Company C, One Hundred and Eighty- fifth Regiment, New York Infantry. and served until the close of the Civil war. He took part in the movements of the Army of the Potomac, which be- gan March 31, 1865, and closed with the surrender at Appommattox Court- house. April 9, the same year; and had the pleasure of seeing Genls. Grant and Lee riding in a carriage (of old Virginia style) together, on their way to Burkeville, Va., after the surrender. At the close of the war Mr. Brown re- turned to Elk county. where he has resided ever since, having his home at Wilcox. In the autumn of 1868 he went into the employ of the Wilcox Tan- ning Company, and after April, 1870, had charge of, and an interest in, the large mercantile business of the tanning and lumber company, for ten years. In the political campaign of 1880 Mr. Brown was nominated a can- didate for member of the assembly by the Democratic convention of Elk county, and, after a hotly contested struggle, in which the disaffected Demo- crats united with the Republican and Greenback parties in a combination against him, he was elected by a good majority. He was re-elected in 1882, and served through the extra session of 1883. Since retiring from the polit- ical field, Mr. Brown has been engaged in the lumbering, and later in the banking business. He is a member of the Rasselas Lumber Company (whose plant is located on the old homestead), and at the head of the banking house in Wilcox, bearing his name. Mr. Brown was united in marriage with Miss

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HISTORY OF ELK COUNTY.

Amanda H. Merriam. the accomplished daughter of Noah and Mary Ann Mer- riam, of Cicero, Onondaga Co., N. Y. Mr. and Mrs. Brown are the parents of three children-two daughters and one son. The eldest is the wife of Emmet G. Latta, of Friendship, N. Y .. and has two sons, Jefferson B. and Raymond F. The second daughter. Miss Emma G., has been for some time cashier in her father's bank. The son, Frank Rasselas, graduated with honors at the Pennsylvania Military Academy, at Chester, in 1889, and is now instructor in mathematics, engineering and military science at his alma mater. Mr. Brown is master of Wilcox Lodge, No. 571, F. & A. M., of which he is a charter member. He is one of the elders of the Presbyterian Church at Wil- cox, a member of the Hiram Warner Post, G. A. R., and of the Wilcox Divis- ion of the Sons of Temperance.

ISAAC B. BROWN was born in Jones township, Elk Co., Penn., at the place now known as Rasselas, on the 20th of February, 1848. He lived at home with his parents, Rasselas W. and Mary (Brownell) Brown. working upon the farm until fifteen years of age, when he went to Syracuse, N. Y., to attend school. He remained at school, working for his board and maintenance, until the summer of 1864, when he returned home and enlisted in Company C. Two Hundred and Eleventh Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers. He served in the Army of the James during the fall of 1864, and subsequently in Hartranft's Division of the Ninth Army Corps, Army of the Potomac. He was present with his command in the engagements at Bermuda Hundred, Hatcher's Run, in the Weldon raid, the assanlt at Fort Steadman, and at the battle of Petersburg. Returning home at the close of the war, Mr. Brown attended school for four years, spending one year at the Smethport Academy and three years at Alfred University, from which he was graduated in 1869. During his school vacations he assisted his father on the farm. In the fall of 1869 he taught at the Ridgway (Penn. ) Academy, and in December of that year commenced the study of law at Corry, Penn., with Messrs. Crosby & Brown. During the years of 1870 and 1871 he was engaged in surveying the wild lands in Elk county for the Wilcox Tanning Company. In the winter of 1870-71 he taught school again, and in the fall of 1871 removed permanently to Corry, where he found it necessary to engage in some business in order to support himself while prosecuting his studies. He therefore formed a partnership with Mr. C. S. Tinker, and embarked in the insurance business.

He soon became active in the politics of Erie county, and was elected clerk of the city of Corry in 1873. He then renewed the study of law, which he had discontinued for some time, and in 1876 was admitted to the bar. In 1878 he was a candidate for the assembly, and received the Republican nomination, but was defeated at the polls by Hon. Alfred Short, through a combination of Democrats and Greenbackers. In 1880 he was again nominated, and was then elected by about 3,000 majority. In 1882 he was re-elected, and again in 1884, the last time by the largest majority ever given to a candidate for assembly in that district. Mr. Brown enjoys the distinction of being the only person from Erie county who has ever received the nomination and election for a third term. During his six years of service as a legislator, he secured the passage of a large number of measures of a public nature, among which may be mentioned that for the establishment of State White Fish Hatchery at Erie. He prepared, introduced and secured the passage of the bill to establish the Pennsylvania Soldiers' and Sailors' Home at Erie, and now is a member of the Board of Trustees of that institution. In 1886 he was a candidate for the Republican nomination for Congress in the Twenty-seventh District, but was defeated by Hon. C. W. Mackey, of Venango

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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

county. He continued the practice of law in Erie county until 1887, when he was tendered and accepted the position of deputy secretary of internal affairs of Pennsylvania, which office he now holds at the State Capital. He has been an active member of the Grand Army of the Republic ever since its organiza- tion, and has held many prominent positions in that order. He served in the National Guard of Pennsylvania from 1874 to 1887: eleven years as captain of Company A, Sixteenth Regiment, and two years as judge advocate with the rank of major, on the staff of Gen. James A. Beaver, commanding the Second Brigade. He commanded a company during its service in the riots of 1877. Mr. Brown was married. on the 25th of June. 1870, to Miss Hannah Partington, of Providence. R. I., and he has now a family of three children-two daughters and one son.

J. B. CLARK, of the firm of Clark & Blakeslee, lumbermen, P. O. Glen Hazel, was born in Hebron, Washington Co., N. Y., in September, 1845, and is a son of Eli and Mary (Warner) Clark. He was reared and educated in his native county. and afterward worked on the tow-path of the Champlain canal, which he followed four years. At the time of the oil excitement in Venango county. he located at Oil creek, and followed the occupation of driller and contractor for five years. Mr. Clark then engaged in lumbering at Spartans- burg. Crawford Co., Penn., for three years, and then at Columbus, Warren county, same State, for a period of seven years in the same business. Coming to Highland township, Elk county, he here followed lumbering until April 18, 1885, when he removed to Jones township, where he is now carrying on an extensive lumber business. In connection with the saw mill, he operates a large shingle and handle factory. Mr. Clark's brother-in-law, James A. Blakeslee, has been associated with him in business since 1871. in which year he located at Spartansburg. Mr. Clark was married to Emeline Blakeslee, daughter of R. P. and Lydia (Lamona) Blakeslee, of Spartansburg, Penn., and by her he has had four children: Bertha, Thomas, James and Lydia. Mr. Clark has held the offices of school director and auditor of Jones township, and also that of treasurer of Highland township. He was two years and eight months in the Civil war. enlisting in March, 1863, in Company E, Fifty - seventh P. V. I., and was honorably discharged at the close of the struggle. He is a member of the F. & A. M., and in politics is a Democrat.

ANTONY A. CLAY, Rasselas P. O .. Penn., was born in Vienna, Austria, February 17, 1839, when his father, the late Hon. John Randolph Clay, was United States secretary of legation to that country. He was educated in the city of Philadelphia, and in 1861 entered the three-months service of his country as quartermaster, with the rank of captain, on the staff of Gen. Pleas- anton, of Philadelphia. September 1, 1861. he entered in Company K. Fifty- eighth P. V. I., as first lieutenant under Col. J. Richter Jones, and was after- ward promoted to adjutant and captain. He served during the entire service with the regiment, and on staff duty, acting as assistant adjutant-general and provost-marshal for the subdistrict of Central Virginia until mustered out, in 1865. He has resided in Elk county since 1866, and has had charge of large tracts of land in this and adjoining counties, and has also been engaged in lumbering and farming. In 1886 he was the Democratic candidate for the State legislature, and was elected by 1.142 majority, the largest majority ever given to any candidate for assembly in the county. He was again elected in 1888, by 746 majority, is now filling his second term of office, and is one of a commission of three senators and four members of the house appointed to investigate the charitable and correctional institutions of the State. He mar- ried, in 1864, Miss Sybella S., daughter of John Seckel, of Philadelphia, Penn ..

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HISTORY OF ELK COUNTY.

and they have four daughters, viz. : Estella A., Sybella G., Ethel R. and Mar- garet. Capt. Clay is a member of Wilcox Lodge, No. 571, F. & A. M .. and of the Military Order of Loyal Legion of the United States, also of Lucore Post. G. A. R., of St. Mary's. His father, Hon. John Randolph Clay, was born in Philadelphia, Penn., and was educated at the University of Virginia, after which he studied law with Hon. John Randolph, of Roanoke, Va., for whom he was named, and was admitted to the bar of Virginia. He accompanied John Randolph to Russia, when he was appointed United States minister, and was secretary of legation, and was afterward appointed secretary of "Legation and Charge d'Affairs " at Vienna, Austria, and later minister to Peru, where he served eighteen years. He served altogether in the diplomatic service of the United States for thirty consecutive years. He married an English lady, Miss Frances Gibbs, daughter of Dr. John Gibbs, of Exeter, England. Mrs. Clay died in Vienna in 1840, and Hon. John Randolph Clay died in London, England, in 1885. The present home of Capt. A. A. Clay was first occupied by the father of Col. A. I. Wilcox, and later by Gen. Kane, until Capt. Clay pur- chased it, in 1866. His family are members of the Episcopal Church.

A. A. CLEARWATER, superintendent for the Wilcox Tanning Company. was born in Ulster county, N. Y., March 21, 1846. His parents, Richard and Rachel (Osterhout) Clearwater, were also natives of that county. His mother was a sister of W. H. Osterhout of Ridgway; his father was a millwright by trade and moved to Susquehanna county, Penn., in 1864, and for some years was a car builder in the Susquehanna shops. He was a member of the Repub- lican party, and filled various township offices. He was a deacon and superin- tendent of the Sunday-school in the Baptist Church for many years, and died in 1882. The mother is still living and resides in Ulster county, N. Y. Their family consisted of nine children, of whom six are living: D. J. (of Scranton. Penn.), A. A., W. W. (of Wilcox, Penn. ), Mary C. (wife of Lafayette Hines, of Wayne county, Penn. ), Ida E. (wife of B. E. Miles, of Susquehanna county, Penn.) and Leah F. (wife of Elder Campbell, of Ridgway, Penn.). A. A. Clearwater was reared in Ulster county, N. Y., and received an ordinary edu- cation. In 1861 he enlisted in Company D, One Hundred and Fifty-sixth New York Infantry, and was appointed sergeant of his company. He was wounded at Port Hudson, June 14, 1862, and was honorably discharged in 1863. He then attended the Harford University in Susquehanna county, Penn., for one year, and then began to learn the tanner's trade with his uncle, W. H. Oster. hout, at Glenwood. He served an apprenticeship of four years, and then took the superintendency of a tannery at Herrick Centre for four years, after which, in connection with two partners, he purchased the Glenwood Tannery. After conducting that two years he purchased the interest of one of his partners, and two years later became sole owner of the same, which he conducted for seven years. He then, in company with W. H. Osterhout, began operations at Penfield, Clearfield Co., Penn., which he continued for one year. In 1883 be came to Wilcox, and has since acted as superintendent of the Wilcox Tan- nery. In 1872 he married Miss Ella B., daughter of William D. Ketchum, of Herrick Centre. They have three children living, Bertha, Libbie and Will- iam. One son, Allen B., died in 1886. Mr. Clearwater is a member of Capt. Lyon Post, No. 85, G. A. R., of Susquehanna county, and the Nichol- son Lodge, I. O. O. F. He is a Republican in politics, and for six years has served as school director of Jones township. He and his family attend the Presbyterian Church.

DR. A. K. CORBIN, Wilcox, was born in Waverly, Tioga Co., N. Y., No- vember 25, 1851. His father, John A. Corbin, was born in Bradford county,

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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

Penn., and his mother, Emily A. (Kelley) Corbin, was born in Schoharie county, N. Y. They now reside in Bradford, Penn. Our subject was edu- cated at the academy in Owego, Tioga Co., N. Y. He read medicine with Dr. H. N. Eastman, of Owego, and graduated from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New York City. February 28, 1879, and first began the prac- tice of medicine at Hinsdale, Cattarangus Co., N. Y. He moved to Clermont. McKean county, August 8, 1881, and in October, 1885, came to Wilcox, where he has since enjoyed an extensive practice. October 9, 1880, he married Miss Tressie, daughter of A. C. Torrey, of Hinsdale, N. Y. They have one child, Arthur LeRoy. Dr. Corbin is a member of the county medical society, sup- ports the Republican party, and is a member of Clermont Lodge, No. 949. I. O. O. F.

JOHN ERNHOUT, lumber manufacturer, Wilcox, was born in the city of Albany, N. Y., March 18, 1822, a son of Christopher Ernhout, who was a na- tive of Albany, N. Y. His grandfather, John Ernhout, was a native of Ger- many, emigrated to America with Com. Van Rensselaer, and was the first set- tler in Albany, N. Y., taking up 400 acres of land on the present site of the city. He served as a private through the war of the Revolution, and was among the prominent men of his day. His wife was a native of Holland. They reared a family of thirteen sons and three daughters, of whom Chris- topher was next to the youngest. Christopher married Miss Lydia Powell, a native of Scotland, and they settled in Ulster county, N. Y. He was a soldier in the war of 1812; was a Jacksonian Democrat, and filled various township offices. He was twice married; his first wife died in 1842, and he afterward married Miss Polly Brannon. Eleven children were born to his first marriage: Hannah (widow of James McIntosh), Betsy, Harriet, John, Lydia (deceased), James, William (deceased), Henry, George (deceased), Stephen and David. Mr. Ernhout was a prominent member of the Presbyterian Church; he died in 1877. John Ernhout received a common-school education in UIster county, N. Y. He was married, May 28, 1843, to Miss Milla Stoddard, daughter of Simeon Stoddard, of Massachusetts, the ceremony being performed at the res- idence of Phineas Stoddard, in Greenfield, Ulster Co., N. Y. In March, 1844, he moved to Callicoon, Sullivan Co., N. Y., where he remained one year, and in 1845 moved to Greenfield, Ulster Co., N. Y., where he engaged largely in the lumbering business for a term of years. In the meantime he built a large hotel in Greenfield, on the Newburgh and Woodbourne plank road, and also bought the large farm formerly owned by Andrew Lefever. He next moved to Ellenville, Ulster county, and built another extensive hotel, with which he connected one of the largest halls outside the city of New York, and also built, as an appurtenance to the hotel, a mammoth barn. In the fall of 1857 he traded the Ellenville property for a tannery and saw-mill business, in Sand burg, Sullivan county, which business he carried on successfully for nine years. This business comprised three saw-mills, one tannery, two stores, two blacksmith-shops with turning lathes, and a large quantity of land. In 1861 he recruited in Sullivan, Ulster and Orange counties, N. Y., 445 men, and joined the Fifty-sixth New York Regiment, in which he served fourteen months, as captain of his company of 112 men, the balance of the recruits be- ing distributed among other companies of the Fifty-sixth. The captain was honorably discharged on account of sickness. For his meritorious act in re- cruiting so many men, he was offered the lieutenant colonelcy of his regiment, but declined, as he had promised to remain with the first company he had raised. In 1867 he came to Wilcox, Elk Co., Penn., where he built its pres- ent tannery, afterward associating with him the Messrs. Maurice and Jackson

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HISTORY OF ELK COUNTY.

Schultz. About twelve years afterward Mr. Ernhout was obliged to retire from the company on account of ill health; he spent two years in California, eventually returning to Wilcox, where he has since been engaged in the man- ufacture of lumber. His mill has a capacity of about one million feet of lum- ber per month. and he employs about seventy men to carry on his business: he has a private railroad, with which to transport his logs from the lumber dis- tricts. Capt. Ernhout owns 225 acres of valuable lands near Cuba, with fifteen oil wells and two excellent gas wells; also 800 acres of land near Kane, McKan Co., Penn., upon which there are three producing wells, which he intends developing. Mr. Ernhout is an active business man, with marked ability, and is one of the representative citizens of Wilcox. He has always been identified with the Republican party; he is a member of the Episcopal Church. Mrs. Milla Ernhont departed this life in 1877, having borne her husband four children: Perry S., the eldest son, entered the United States service with his father, and was promoted to the naval academy, at Annapolis, Md., and from which he was graduated with high honors, but died in the prime of manhood; Marilda S., married Dr. William Scrosburg, of Ulster county. N. Y., and is now deceased; Phineas S. is a lumber manufacturer of Wilcox, and E. L. is a practicing physician of Omaha, Neb.

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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