USA > Pennsylvania > Wayne County > Mount Pleasant in Wayne County > History of the township of Mount Pleasant, Wayne County, Pennsylvania : a discourse delivered on Thanksgiving Day, November 22, 1855 > Part 2
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He also had a sociable nature. . In conversation he was free, affable, entertaining, and serious, rather than jovial. He was extremely inquisitive, and had a happy faculty of becoming acquainted with stran- gers who put up with him. He had also an easy way of entertaining them with a great variety of anecdotes. He was not easily forgotten by those who had once stopped at his tavern. It was his nat- ural turn to be engaged in matters of public interest and improvement. He took a prominent part in se- curing the "act" for the "Cochecton and Great Bend Turnpike.". This was then considered a greater achievement than the construction of a canal or a rail- road would now be. He possessed a good judgment, and was considered a safe adviser in matters of a legal and public nature. He was appointed Justice of the Peace in 1796, while this region belonged to Northampton County. When this county was organ- ized in 1798, he was appointed one of the commission- ers to locate the Seat of Justice, and erect the court- house and jail. In a vote taken on this question, he found himself alone in favor of a more northern loca- tion. After much argument, he, for the sake of una- nimity, voted with the others. 'This gave offence to this part of the county, which he represented. He
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soon published a pamphlet, in which he advocated his opinion, and attempted to justify the course he had taken. Whatever may be thought of his course in casting his vote against his better judgment, it is worthy of note, as an honor to his good judgment, that within three years the seat of Justice was re- moved northward to Bethany. In October, 1814, he was appointed associate-judge in this county. He held this office until he left this part of the State.
We have never discovered but a single instance in which his good judgment failed him. This was in conceiving himself to be a poet. But, if he erred here, he has but followed the track of many a great and good man before him. We find recorded upon the town book some rhymes in his own handwriting. They so intimately relate to the early history of this township, that they cannot well be omitted in this discourse. They are entitled, "The Golden Age of Mount Pleasant, from 1791 to 1796, while eighty- two miles from Easton, the seat of justice. There was no law put in force but the law of forbearance. Having no law, the people were a law unto them- selves." So runs the title.
But it may be well here to state the history of the origin of these verses, that you may be better able to appreciate their sentiments. Mr. Stanton conceived the idea that the people of this new and isolated country ought to have an Almanac suited to their times and circumstances. He, therefore, made a proposition to Judge Samuel Preston, of Stockport, who was quite a mathematician, to do the figuring,
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and he would write the poetry usually placed at the head of the page. He, therefore, went to work, and the following verses are the result :
1. "Secluded here from noise and strife, We lead a quiet, peaceful life. No loungers here with poisonous breath, Nor doctors here to deal out death.
2. No trainings here, nor such like trash, To waste our time and spend our cash ; Nor town meetings to choose our masters, To make us slaves and breed disasters.
3. No priest sends round his man for pay, Because that he did preach and pray ; For we believe that grace is free To all who wish to taste and see.
4. No jockey merchants here prevail, To trust their goods, then send to jail ; Nor fiddling strolling players dare Infest the place, our youth to snare.
5. Some slaves to forms may now inquire, Have you no court-house, jail, or Squire ? While all are honest and sincere, What need of court or prison here ?
6. Have we a cause to settle ? then We leave it to judicious men To search the matter well, and we To their just judgments do agree.
7. The noise of war, or the excisc, Does neither vex our ears nor eyes ; For we are free from every tax, And stay at home and swing the ax.
8. Our corn we pound, our wheat we boil, Thus eat the product of our soil. Sweet Independence bere does reign, And we've no reason to complain.
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9. Yet we, like others, still look on Till we shall get our mill to run ; Then we'll not pound and boil again, But live in style like other men.
10. From sheep we make our clothing warm, In which we face the wintry storm ; They likewise give us meat and light, To feast by day and see by night.
11. Do we want wild meat ? then we kill Elk, deer, or bear, and eat our fill. Sometimes we've fowl and sometimes fish, But rarely meet an empty dish.
12. Here healing herbs and roots do grow, And sugar-juice from maples flow. Molasses, vinegar, and beer, Are made from sugar orchards here.
13. Sometimes we live on pork and peas, Then milk and honey, butter, cheese- Plain food and exercise agree To make us happy while we're free."
We will add, that Judge Preston never completed the mathematics : so that this New World was never benefited by the almanac. But it is just to say that such poetry was not without its benefit. It was pub- lished in some periodical, and read by one John Bunt- ing, a Quaker in New Jersey, and a man highly respected, who was so pleased with the description of things, that he soon moved into this region. His descendants are now in this county.
As a Christian man, Mr. Stanton is uniformly spoken of in commendable terms. In this respect, his memory is blessed. He has left the savor of godliness behind him. His religious poetry is of a more elevated character. I have been able to find but one piece: this is entitled, " The Complainer
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Reformed," and is written as though it was his own experience. This hymn consists of twelve verses, and was considered worthy a place in a collection of religious hymns used by the Free Communion Bap- tist Church .* It may be found on the 185th page of that book, which has been furnished me by Mr. Luther Starks. His religious views, while they were strictly evangelical on all the doctrines of grace, were of a liberal character. He fellowshipped Christians of all evangelical denominations. As early as 1797, he cordially welcomed the Rev. Daniel Thatcher, a mis- sionary of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, to preach in his house. At this service he invited Christians of all denominations to meet, and there, for the first time in this place, the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper was administered to nine pro- fessed disciples scattered in this wilderness. It was a memorable event. He was always ready to open his house for religious meetings. His shed and barn were, for several years, the usual place for holding the yearly meetings of the Free Communion Baptist Church. He had painted upon his sign the following, as he thought, appropriate passage of Scripture : " Be not forgetful to entertain strangers." This, surmount- ed as it was by the horns of an elk, would naturally remind a hungry, weary traveller through this wilder- ness, of a scriptural tavern keeper, with a good liberal steak of venison. Few taverns at the present day awaken similar associations.
Since writing the above, the author has been furnished with a manuscript, containing about fifty hymns, which breathe the spirit of true devotion.
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Mr. Stanton, near the close of his life, removed from this town to reside in the western part of this State. He had been appointed a commissioner of a State road in that section. Having business, grow- ing out of this office, to transact in Harrisburg, he took his family down to the west branch of the Sus- quehanna, where he left them to proceed on their way, while he went to Harrisburg. Having com- pleted the object of his visit there, he directed his course to meet his family. He came to Bellefonte, in Centre County, and stopped with his friend Judge Burnside, where he was taken sick. Every effort was made to restore health, but he rapidly declined, and, after a few days' illness, ended his mortal life, April 15th, 1816.
+ IV. ORDER OF SETTLEMENTS.
The order of time in which the first settlers came into this town is as follows : Mr. Stanton made his first purchase as a settler in this township, on the 29th of June, 1789. We may, therefore, fix the first settlement of this town at this date, which will be sixty-seven years ago next June. In the spring of 1790, having brought his family down the river, he left them at Mr. Lane's near Windsor, and came into this town, and worked upon the lot he had just purchased. He built his cabin and cleared a few acres.
On the next spring he moved his family, consisting of his wife and two children, the oldest of whom was nearly four years of age. He occupied the cabin he
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had built the year before. Mr. Silas Kellogg also came in with him to begin a settlement. He brought with him two hired men. This company came from Har- mony with ox-teams and sleds, upon which they brought their goods and farming implements, besides the family. They were four days on their way-a distance of 28 miles. The road, though having been once cut through, had become much obstructed. They arrived here on the 10th day of April, 1791. Mr. Kellogg had emigrated from Ballstown, Saratoga County, New York. It had been his intention to settle in Western New York ; but from representations made to him of the anticipated growth of this region, he directed his course hither ... His brother, Mr. Eli- phalet. Kellogg, who had not yet visited this region, had purchased a lot of land in this township on the 9th of August, 1790. This lot was transferred to Mr. Silas Kellogg on the 2d of Feb., 1791. He settled on this lot, and made his first clearing on the bank of the Lackawaxen. In that beautiful opening of this valley which lies immediately below Mr. Heman J. Wheeler's residence, he, with his two hired men, began their summer's work. During the season they cleared and sowed to wheat fourteen acres of land. Mr. Kellogg has been heard to say that, in order to procure the seed, he was obliged to go with his ox- team to Harmony-then a distance of twenty-eight miles-and thence down the river to Great Bend. It was a journey of nearly two weeks. Having accomplished his work, he returned to Ballstown to spend the winter. During this season, also, Mr.
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Elijah Dix and his son, a boy of eleven years old, came, and began to work a lot of land he had pur- chased. He was from Williamstown, Massachusetts. He built a log house a few rods east of Mr. E. Rich- ardson's late residence, where, also, he began his first improvement. There were in all nine residents of this town during the summer of 1791. Concerning this year, Mr. Stanton has written in the town book as follows : " This summer, at any heavy work, such as raising log-houses, we were able to raise six hands. And, considering ourselves so strong, we undertook opening a road toward the Great Bend, some south of where the turnpike road was made afterward."
At the close of the summer, all but Mr. Stanton and his family left for the winter. The sufferings he endured here while shut out from human society, have already been related.
1792. As the next spring opened, Mr. Kellogg re- turned. He was at this time but twenty-four years of age. He was still unmarried, and had drank deeply of the spirit of western emigration. He possessed a good constitution, and had an intelligent, active mind. He was ambitious and ardent in his expectation of securing great results in this his first enterprise. He laid out extensive plans, and entered upon them with a firm expectation of success. He purchased a tract of about three thousand acres of land in this town- ship, and made it his residence for life. He died at . the residence of his son, Mr. Jerry Kellogg, on the 15th of August, 1853, at the advanced age of 86 years.
About the last of February, Mr. John Tiffany, fromr
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Attlebury, Massachusetts, stopped at this place on his way to the Nine Partners. He had his wife and three children with him. While tarrying, he concluded to re- main here and make it his home. He purchased the farm now owned by Mr. Chistopher, built first a log- house, and then the house now occupied on that place. On the 5th day of March, Mr. Joseph Stearns and Mr. Jirah Mumford arrived, who also were on their way to the Nine Partners. They were from Tolland County, Connecticut. They had put their teams to- gether, making two yoke of oxen attached to a sled. They were three weeks on their way. Mr. Stearns had his two sons, James and Otis, with him, and also a hired man. He found on his arrival that the provis- ions of the settlers were far too limited for such an increased company. He, therefore, left immediately for Great Bend, and procured two,bushels of corn- meal .. He then went to the Nine Partners, where he had spent the previous summer. Mr. Mumford, how- ever, concluded to remain. He had brought with him his son Thomas, then a boy of twelve years old, and still living in this town, and also two hired men. He purchased two hundred acres of land, and built a log-house near where his son Minor now lives. In the fall, he returned with his son to Connecticut, and spent the winter. Mr. Stearns, near the close of the season, went to Connecticut, and brought in his family, which then included eight children. Having arrived at this place, the people of the Nine Partners. came to aid him through to that place. But he con- cluded to relinquish his improvements there, and
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make a home in this settlement. He lived during the winter in the house Mr. Mumford had built.
Mr. Dix also returned in the spring of this year, and occupied the log-house which he had built the previous summer. He brought with him a family of eight children. He had formerly been a man of some wealth, but had lost most of it by the deprecia- tion of Continental money. He came into this new county to retrieve his loss, and provide a future home for his family. The second winter, therefore, found four families here, besides Mr. Kellogg, to share each other's wants and trials, and form a society for social and religious enjoyment.
1793. As the spring opened, Mr. Jirah Mum- ford returned with his family, consisting of four chil- dren. He occupied the house he had built the pre- vious summer. Mr. Stearns, who had lived in it during the winter, removed to Mr. Elijah Dix's house. He (Mr. Stearns) had purchased the farm now owned by Mr. Noah Chittenden. During the summer he built his house nearly opposite Mr. Asa Smith's res- idence.
Mr. Joseph Tanner also moved into the settlement this spring, from Preston, Connecticut. He had but one child. His purchase included a greater part of this village, but lying mostly north of it. He built his house nearly half a mile north of this village, by the side of a large spring, where the main road east and west, now running through this village, was originally constructed.
We also notice a Mr. Amasa Geer, as a settler this
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year. He built a house by a noted spring, as you de- scend the hill westward, on land now owned by Mr. T. H. Brown. Mr. Jacobus Barrager also moved into the settlement this year. These two individuals, however, remained but a few years.
During the last week in May of this year, a young man not twenty years old entered this settlement, from the West. He had a small bundle which he car- ried in one hand, and with the other he used a staff. He was weary, penniless and alone. He had left his home in New England, on the sixth of the same month, with $11 75 in his pocket, to become acquaint- ed with the resources of the vast territories of our coun- try then unoccupied. He had started out on life's errand with a determination to construct his own fortune, and establish his own character. Nature had endowed him with an active, well-balanced mind, and a vigorous constitution. He had early been taught, and heartily received the great moral and religious principles which constitute the best foundation for success. He had a fixed and unalterable purpose in carrying them out in the duties and conflicts of life. His name was Jason Torrey. He had come from Wil- liamstown, Massachusetts, his native place, on foot. He had crossed the Hudson near Kinderhook, passed through Harpersfield, in Delaware County, and reach- ed the Susquehanna, near Unadilla. He followed this river down to Great Bend, and from thence to this place. Arriving here, he stopped at the house of Mr. Elijah Dix, with whom he had previously been ac- quainted. In June 27, we find him at work with his
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ax, when Mr. Baird, of Pottstown, near Philadelphia, came and engaged him to survey some land on the Lackawaxen, for him. Again in July, while in the employment of Mr. Jirah Mumford, who released him from an engagement to work for him, he left on a surveying tour for the same man, through different parts of this region of the State. On his return he re- sumed his engagement with Mr. Mumford, and work- ed till the 18th of October, when he started on his return to Williamstown. To secure the great object for which he had left home, he took a circuitous route. He followed the Susquehanna from Great Bend to Owego, from thence he went to the Cayuga Lake, then taking the Genessee road he passed through Oneida and Whitesboro, and then down the Mohawk through Albany to Williamstown, making a distance travelled since he left home, of 900 miles, most of which he had performed on foot.
In the next spring, 1794, he left with the same object in view. He went to Philadelphia, and from thence came to this place, and then proceeded west- ward as far as Lake Ontario. Again, in December, 1795, he went to Philadelphia, in which city and vi- cinity he remained until July, when after some hesi- tation whether to settle in Pennsylvania or Western New York, he decided upon the former.
He then proceeded up through Pottstown and Naz- areth, slept in the woods one night near Blooming Grove, then followed up the Lackawaxen through where Honesdale now stands, to this place. He en- gaged to Mr. Mumford again, in mowing, that he
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might, as he says, " harden his hands for chopping." He had deliberately made up his mind, after explor- ing the best portions of New York and Pennsylvania, here to settle and spend his life. He had seen more promising fields for wealth, but he regarded the char- acter of the society in which he was to live and edu- cate his family as of more importance than the rapid increase of riches. With such principles he could pass over the most fertile soil and locate upon these hills.
The result has confirmed his wisdom. The diffi- culties he here met in the early settlement of this county, developed those sterling qualities of mind and heart which have made him a distinguished and useful man. In his first effort he encountered diffi- culties which would have disheartened many persons. But when once his mind was fixed upon any object to be accomplished, nothing but absolute impossibili- ties deterred him. He had designed to encamp upon the land which he had purchased in the eastern part of this town, and commence clearing the land, but no pork could be obtained in the settlement. This being a necessary article in this work, he went to Blooming Grove, bought nineteen pounds, at one shilling per pound, and some salt, at the rate of $3 per bushel, and returned with them upon his back. But now, when ready to enter upon his enterprise, he was afflicted with a severe sickness. He was con- fined for five weeks at the residence of Mr. Elijah Dix, part of the time helpless, and apparently nigh unto death. When he had sufficiently recovered he
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returned home. Still fixed upon his purpose, we find him (March 16th, 1797) again starting for Stanton- ville, as this settlement was then called. At this time he came with a horse, by the way of Esopus and Cochecton. During this summer his brother Samuel was with him. He built a log-house, and made im- provements on his farm. He was also, during the season, interested in the construction of a new road from this village to Minisink. It is the present turnpike road connecting this place with Bethany, and proceeding from thence to its intersection with the Milford and Owego turnpike. He selected the route, and assisted in cutting out the trees, more or less, with his own ax.
In the December following he went to Williams- town, and returned with his wife, whom he had mar- ried in January preceding. They came, bringing all their goods and furniture in the same sleigh in which they rode. They arrived at the log-house, and entered it on the 11th day of February, 1798. Here he resided until he removed to the county seat. He had two sons born in this house-William and Ephraim. The latter died at the age of twenty- four.
In 1801 Mr. Torrey surveyed and set the stakes for the public square and Court-house, in the present village of Bethany. It had been selected as the place where the County-seat should be located. But at that time not a foot of land had been cleared, nor a tree cut within two miles of it. He immediately commenced building a dwelling-house. " The old
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family mansion was the first house erected ; and while building this house, he travelled daily from Mount Pleasant and back, twelve miles, through a wilderness, to carry his workmen their provisions. The first court held there was organized in the old homestead. . The upper rooms were unfinished, and chairs were set on a joiner's bench for the judges, while the jury occupied seats below. Then, and for years afterwards, Mr. Torrey was personally acquaint- ed with every family in the county, and was well informed of all their circumstances. The purchases of real estate by new settlers were, to a very large extent, made through his agency. In the year 1818, the church at Bethany was organized, and then Mr. Torrey made a profession of religion, and was soon after elected a ruling Elder. At the time of his death, he was the oldest-ordained Elder in any Church in the northern part of this State."*
He entered heartily into all the efforts made to plant the institutions of the Gospel in this new county. He was a liberal supporter of the Gospel in the church of which he was a member. Though a change of the County-seat Jed to the removal of his residence to Honesdale, three miles distant, he never removed his church relation. He still contributed as before to the church which he had aided in its infancy, and which now had been weakened by removals. In his will, he made provision for a like sum to be paid an- nually from his estate, during a term of years, for the
" Funeral Discourse of Jason Torrey, by Henry A. Rowland, D. D.
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support of the Gospel in that Church. All evangel- ical clergymen traversing the dense forests, to reach the scattered population of this county, and break unto them the bread of life, were sure to meet at his door a cordial welcome. Here they and their horses have been often refreshed on their way. In him they found a generous and sympathizing friend.
Through a train of providential events " Mr. Torrey had become owner of a large tract of land, about three miles south of Bethany, where the canal of the Dela- ware and Hudson Canal Company terminates ; and on this spot the borough of Honesdale is now located. The first settlement was begun in 1826. The first house was erected by Mr. Torrey, at the forks of the Dyberry and West branch of the Lackawaxen, and was afterwards converted into a Church, and desig- nated as the Old Tabernacle."*
Here he resided to the close of his life. He had the pleasure of seeing a beautiful village of some 3,000 inhabitants spring into existence, while over the extensive fields of his early surveys, where the wild beasts had roamed unmolested, he witnessed with equal satisfaction beautiful farms, church edifices, mills of various kinds, and villages, with the various · blessings of a thriving and virtuous society. Ad- monished by the approaching infirmities of age that the day of life was drawing to a close, he made liberal bequests to the cause of Christ, and retired from ac- tive business-then leaning upon his Almighty Sav-
º Funeral discourse, &c.
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iour, quietly and peacefully descended to the grave.
We proceed to notice but one more settler in this town during this year. Mr. Jacob Van Meter came to this place, on his way from Salem County, New Jersey, to Western New York. He was here over- taken by the autumnal storms, and concluded to set- tle in this township. He had a family of five chil- dren. Soon after he purchased and built the place where his son Charles now lives. He spent the rem- nant of his life in this town.
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