USA > Pennsylvania > The Historical journal : a quarterly record of local history and genealogy devoted principally to Northwestern Pennsylvania > Part 7
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In 1855 he was one of the commissioners appointed by the Governor to organ- ize the Muney Bridge Company, and has ever been identified in the growing in- terests of that, company. He was the principal mover in the cemetery enterprise,
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and was one of two persons that laid it out in plots in 1858 and remained one of its managers until a few years ago. He was interested in the formation of the canal and telegraph companies, and was treasurer of the Muncy Canal Company for many years. He was wholly instrumental in having the road to the cemetery and Muncy Mills opened in 1859, in opposition to the Plank Road, which was then a monopoly, and he obtained in a petition to the Legislature 36 names out of 52 stockholders of the Plank Road Company.
Although coming from a short lived race, his father dying at 57 and his mother at 62, he was permitted to overreach the time allotted to man by two score years. He had a strong constitution and possessed a fine physique, which he retained to the last, walking as erect as a man of 40. His social qualities were of the highest order, and having a good memory, he was wont to entertain his friends by the hour with his reminiscences of early days when turnpikes, railroads and canals were unknown.
In 1528 he was married to Phobe Houghton, and they lived happily together for fifty-three years, Mrs. Cooke dying in 1882. Their "Golden Wedding" was celebrated in 1878 with a family reunion that was the most remarkable party ever given in Muncy. Mr. Cooke has been failing rapidly for some time. On the first day of last November he took his bed and was never able to leave it again. He was attended solely by his daughter, Mrs. M. J. Levan, and grandson, - Mr. H. C. Levan, who spared no pains to make him comfortable in his prolonged illness. Several weeks since his second danghter, Mrs. Elizabeth Willits, came to assist Mrs. Levan in taking care of her father.
Jacob Cooke, after the death of Jolin MeCarty, in June, 1884, was the oldest male citizen of this borough. He was also the last survivor of the early genera- tion of our merchants. He came to Muney in 1832, and opened a store in the frame house now belonging to Mrs. Funk, just above Thomas Lloyd's residence. Thence he moved in 1836 down to the frame building in which Mrs. W. H. H. Walton now lives. In 1840 he built the brick store and house where he after- wards lived and where he died.
. The lot where he lived so long is one of the historic spots of Muncy. Those who have studied the early annals of our town know that here stood a plain log house where the widow Merrill ( grandmother of our townsman, B. S. Merrill ) . kept a public house for many years. She seems to have been a popular landlady. Military reviews were frequently held at her house, and eighty years ago it was also the polling place for "the second election district of Lycoming County," which then included all this neighborhood for miles around. Few know that this old house is still standing. It is weatherboarded, and forms the kitchen of Mr. Cooke's residence.
The Cooke family has been for more than a century a prominent one in the West Branch Valley. His grandfather, William Cooke, was an early settler of Northumberland County. He raised the Twelfth Pennsylvania Regiment of the Continental Line and was commissioned as its colonel, October 2, 1776. Four companies of this regiment, Miller's, Boone's, Brady's and Harris', were from Northumberland County. Being composed mainly of good riflemen, large drafts were made on the Twelfth Pennsylvania for picket and skirmish duty, and it lost heavily in the war: ( For the history and roster of Colonel Cooke's Regiment see
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Linn's Annals, pp. 123, 124.) The old patriot lived until April, 1804, when he died at Northumberland. His children were John ( father of Jacob ), Rebecca Stedman, Jane, married to William P. Brady, son of Captain John; Mary, mar- ried to Robert Brady, brother of the former; Sarah MeClelland, and William.
John Cooke was the illustrious son of a noble sire. From early manhood he was a leader among men. Among the many old family heirlooms owned by Jacob Cooke none were prized more highly than the different commissions received by his father. The first, dated 1793 and signed by "G. Washington," commissioned him to serve as "Captain in the Fourth Sub Legion of the United States Service." The second, dated 1798, and signed by Governor Thomas Mifflin, commissioned him as "Captain of the Troop of Horse of Northumberland County." The third, dated 1820 and signed by Governor Joseph Hiester, was a commission appointing him as justice of the peace in and for Point Township, Northumberland County, which office he held until his death.
Captain John Cooke, like his father, was a born soldier. "It may be said of him (writes John Blair Linn ) that he was cradled amid the din of arms, as while a small boy the family occupied one of the houses in Fort Augusta, during the early part of the Revolutionary struggle." Entering the United States ser- vice in 1792. he took part in General Wayne's campaign in 1794. He kept a journal of this, which was published in the American Historical Record for Jnly and August, 1873. The editor, Mr. Linn, adds the following note to his journal :
"On Captain Cooke's return from this campaign on furlough, he, with a num- ber of other officers, accompanied General Wayne to Philadelphia. They called, in a body, on President Washington, and were introduced by General Wayne. They then proceeded to a fashionable boarding school, where the captain, in the presence of General Wayne and his comrade officers, clothed in his battle-worn uniform, was united in marriage to his cousin Jennie, daughter of Jacob Cooke, Esq., of Lancaster, who was there at school."
Captain John Cooke returned to his home at Northumberland and lived there the rest of his life. He died in 1824, in the 5Sth year of his age. His wife sur- vived him several years, dying in 1841. His children were Jacob, who has just died; William W. died 1859; Sarah, married to J. Brobst, died 1839; Charles, now living in Chillisquaque Township, Northumberland County; Robert, now living at Howard, Centre County ; Elizabeth, married to John Jones, died 1849; John died in the United States Hospital at Washington, 1862.
THERE died in Muncy on the 6th of May, 1887. a colored man named Henry Harris, who was born in slavery April 11. 1800, in the State of Delaware. He belonged to the elder Senator Bayard, father of the present Secretary of State. At an early age he con- ceived the idea of buying his freedom, which he finally accom- plished by hard work and rigid savings. He then went to work and raised money by the same means to purchase the freedom of his wife. Thirty-eight years ago they made their way to Muncy Township, and finally to Muncy. "Uncle Henry," as he was
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familiarly called, was a remarkable man and possessed of prodig- ious strength. He served as a cook in the army during the war and could not be excelled in his knowledge of the culinary art. He was a full blooded African, of massive proportions, and stood six feet two inches in height. Courtly and elegant in his manners, he was a true type of the Southerner of the old school. When Secretary Bayard was a small boy he was often carried to school on the back of this faithful servant, and he always entertained the most profound respect for him. Since his death a letter of con- dolence was received by a sister from Secretary Bayard, express- ing his sorrow over the death of the good old man. "Uncle Henry " was in the 88th year of his age, and bore with him to the grave the profound respect of scores of friends.
ETYMOLOGY OF "SUSQUEHANNA."
Heckewelder, in his Indian Names of Rivers, Creeks and other Noted Places in Pennsylvania, together with their meaning, etc., (original MS., Hist. Soc. Pa.), states: " The Indians (Lenape) dis- tinguish the river which we call Susquehanna thus: The North Branch they call M'chwewamisipu, or to shorten it M'chwewor- mink, from which we have called it Wyoming. The word implies : the River on which are extensive clear Flats. The Six Nations, according to Pyriaus (Moravian missionary) call it Gahonta, which had the same meaning.
" The West Branch they call Quenischachachgekhanne, but to shorten it they say Quenischachachki. The word implies: the River which has the long reaches or straight courses in it.
"From the forks, where now the town Northumberland stands, downwards, they have a name ( this word I have lost ) which im- plies : the Great Bay River. The word Susquehanna, properly Sisquehanne, from Sisku for mud and hanne a stream, was prob- ably at an early time of the settling of this country overheard by some white person while the Indians were at the time of a flood or freshet remarking : Jnh ! Achsis quehanne or Sisquehanne, which is : how muddy the stream is, and therefore taken as the proper name of the river. Any stream that has become muddy will, at the time it is so, he called Sisquehanne."
1
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THE HISTORICAL JOURNAL.
READERS of THE HISTORICAL JOURNAL are requested to send in the names of any old persons, above 80, with whom they may be acquainted, taking care to give exact date and place of birth. A few incidents in their lives are also desired. This department, in connection with the deaths of old persons, will become one of the most interesting as well as valuable features of the monthly. Comparatively few are aware of the large number of persons in a county or community whose ages range from 80 to 90 and 95 years, and the object in calling for this information is to bring this fact more clearly before the reader, as well as for a matter of record.
MOSES VAN CAMPEN, the celebrated scout, soldier and Indian slayer, was born in Hunderdon County, New Jersey, January 21, 1757, and he died at Dansville, N. Y., October 15, 1849, in the 93d year of his age. In 1773 his father removed with his family to Northumberland County and purchased a farm on Fishing Creek, (now in Columbia County,) eight miles above its mouth,
THE highest point in Mckean County is Prospect Hill. 2} miles east of Smethport, the elevation being 2,500 feet above Ocean level. Kane is 2,220 feet, and Mt. Jewett is said to be 2,250. All the above elevations but the latter, are the figures of Professor Ashburner, as given in his report on the geology of Mckean County.
THOMAS CALVERT, EsQ., and Captain John E. Potter, served as postmasters of the borough of Jersey Shore longer than any of their predecessors. Mr. Calvert was appointed January 1, 1856, and retired October 22, 1864. Captain Potter was appointed October 1, 1876, and resigned April 1, 1887.
SCOTT, in his Geographical Description of Pennsylvania, published in 1806, says: Huntingdon County in 1790 had 7,522 free inhabitants and 43 slaves; in 1800 it had 12,976 free inhabi- tants and 32 slaves. In the same year the town of Huntingdon contained 635 free inhabitants and 3 slaves.
ACCORDING to the survey of Mr. Welch, made in 1879, Lock Haven is 564 feet above mean Ocean level, Renovo is 672, and Westport 691.
FRANK THOMSON, Esq.
THE HISTORICAL JOURNAL.
A MONTHLY RECORD.
"Out of monuments, names, wordes, proverbs, traditions, private records, and evi- dences, fragments of stories, passages of bookes, and the like, we doe save and recover somewhat from the deluge of time."-BACON.
Vol. 1. JULY, 1887. No. 3.
FRANK THOMSON, Esq.
TT has long been the aim of the directors of the Pennsylvania Railroad to place young men in the highest executive positions in that great corporation ; and that they have been wise in this re- sults have clearly shown. This policy has not led to any mistakes in governing the greatest railroad in the world, but has, instead. been for its best interests, year after year. It has given it that unequalled progressiveness which distinguishes it above all other American railroads. It has resulted in the Pennsylvania's obtain- ing the most thorough system of freight and passenger transporta- tion in the world ; the newest and most valuable appliances to aid in the swift and safe handling of many hundreds of trains each day ; road-beds and tracks that are as nearly faultless as tracks and road-heds can be, and an army of thousands of employes as thoroughly disciplined, yes, and as handsomely uniformed as the finest army on earth. And of the young men who have success- fully worked to make the Pennsylvania Company what it is, none has a higher reputation as a great railroad manager than Mr. Frank Thomson," Second Vice President of the road.
He was born on the 5th of July, 1841, in Chambersburg. Frank-
* For this interesting biographical sketch and portrait of one of the truly representative men of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, THE HISTORICAL JOURNAL takes pleasure in acknowledging its indebtedness to .S. N. Winslow, Esq., editor and publisher of the Commercial List and Price Current, of Philadelphia, in whose paper it first appeared May 7, 1887.
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lin County, Pa. He is the youngest son of Judge Alexander Thomson, of the Sixteenth Judicial District of Pennsylvania. His education was obtained at the Chambersburg Academy, and when seventeen years old he left school and entered the Altoona shops of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company to learn the trade of a machinist.
There he soon showed his great aptitude for railway affairs, and the late Thomas A. Scott. then General Superintendent of the road, was interested in the bright youth from Franklin County. Colonel Scott directed Mr. Thomson's studies, and, in April, 1861, when called to organize the United States Military Railroad Ser- vice, the Colonel detailed his young friend for service at Alex- andria. Until July 1, 1862, Mr. Thomson remained with the Army of the Potomac, restoring destroyed bridges, shops, ma- chinery, and building new railroad and telegraph lines, supplying the Union troops with provisions and war munitions, and trans- porting Northern forces. In the summer of 1862 Mr. Thomson was sent to the military railroads south of Nashville, where Gen- eral Buell's army was operating. After Buell's famous march through Kentucky Mr. Thomson returned to the Army of the Potomac and engaged in the great railway movements of the Antietam campaign.
In the summer of 1863 he returned to Pennsylvania, accepting a position on the Philadelphia Division of the Pennsylvania Rail- road. In thirty days he was recalled to the army, and was ordered by Colonel Scott to carry out the greatest transportation movement of the war. This was the transferring of two entire corps, the Eleventh and Twelfth, with all equipments, from Wash- ington to Chattanooga, where the Army of the Cumberland was in danger of destruction. The movement was carried out in fourteen days, and the Union forces were saved. Near the close of his con- nection with the Railway Military Service, Mr. Thomson's voice decided, at a conference where Secretary Stanton, President Lin- coln and Colonel Scott were present, the critical movement of a great body of troops.
On June 1, 1864, Mr. Thomson accepted the position of Superin- tendent of the Eastern Division of the Philadelphia and Erie Rail- road, with headquarters at Williamsport. During the oil excite-
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ment of 1865 he took temporary charge of the Oil Creek Railroad. In March, .1873, he was made Superintendent of the motive power of the Pennsylvania Railroad, and in 1874 was promoted to the position of General Manager of all the company's lines east of Pittsburg and Eric.
On the Ist of October, 1882, Mr. Thomson was appointed See- ond Vice President of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, suc- ceeding Mr. A. J. Cassatt. Here he has general supervision. through the General Manager, of all the passenger and freight transportation departments.
A record of the improvements introduced in the Pennsylvania Railroad by Mr. Thomson would be a long one, but we can men- tion a few of the most important which he was largely instrumental in having adopted. Among them were the rules governing the movement of trains on a single track ; the system of track inspec- tion ; the adoption of standard engines, box, stock, coal and pas- senger cars; standard track, rails and ballast ; the Block Signal System ; the improvement of stations and grounds : and the great reduction in the cost of transportation.
Mr. Thomson is personally one of the most agreeable men in the world. He is logical, with a sunny temper and a remarkable quickness at repartee. He is of medium height, light complexion. and owns and resides in a beautiful country seat at Merion. on the Pennsylvania Railroad.
All the young men who fill the highest official positions in the Pennsylvania Company have won reputations for integrity of character, as well as names as great railroad managers. None of them have grown rich at the expense of the stockholders. They have kept just one thing in view. year after year, and that is, the advancement of the immense interests committed to their care. They have built up the credit of the Pennsylvania Company until it is so strong as to be unassailable even by organized efforts of reckless London speculators and professional American railway wreckers. They have bettered the Pennsylvania's rolling stock. bridges, stations, tracks and telegraph lines, and have most wisely assisted the Board of Directors in providing necessary reserve funds for emergencies. They have won the implicit confidence of the Pennsylvania stockholders and of the public, and they have won it because they deserve it.
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THE OLD PORTAGE RAILROAD.
[The following interesting report of the engineer in charge of the construc- tion of the Portage Railroad over the Allegheny Mountains fifty-four years ago, is reprinted for the purpose of showing the difference between Then and Now. The railroad was built and successfully operated for several years, and was re- garded at that time as a masterpiece of civil engineering. But it had its day and was followed by greater improvements. Now only traces of the planes, embank- ments and engine honses remain. The report will revive pleasant memories of the past in the minds of older readers. The editor of THE HISTORICAL JOURNAL crossed the mountains several times when the cars were hauled up the planes and let down by ropes, and like others of that time he regarded the improvement as something wonderful. But when the Pennsylvania Railroad Company purchased the public works of the State, constructed the famous Horse Shoe Bend and crossed the Alleghenies by means of locomotives, the old Portage Railroad was abandoned. Truly it had its day, but it may be pleasant at this time to read something of its history .- ED.]
To Samuel Jones. Esq .. Superintendent of the Western Division of the Pennsylvania Canal and Allegheny Portage Rail- road.
SIR :- In obedience to instructions from the Secretary of the Board of Canal Commissioners,* dated September 21, 1833, direct- ing the engineer to communicate such information from his depart- inent as might be required, relative to the Western Division of the Pennsylvania Canal and Allegheny Portage Railroad. I have the honor to submit for the information of the board the following report :
The first track including the second one, upon the inclined planes. and for the requisite number of turnouts, is now nearly finished. The work yet remaining to be done, is the laying of a part of the rails on seven of the sections, making, in the aggregate, a distance of about two miles. The stone blocks and timber are principally laid upon this distance, and ready to receive the iron. The engines and machinery are finished, or very nearly so, and principally delivered at the inclined planes ; the contractors are now engaged in putting them up. The ropes are all delivered at Hollidaysburg and ready for use. A statement, in detail of each part of the work, is given below.
The following tables show the grades, the horizontal curvature
* The board at that time was composed as follows: James Clarke, president, Robert McCoy and John Mitchell. Francis R. Shunk, who became Governor of the State in 1845, was secretary.
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of the railroad, and the length, height, and inclination of the in- clined planes :
of 100 feet.
line at distances
Deflections in the
Radius of curva-
of line in miles.
Aggregate length
of 100 feet.
Deflections in the
Radius of curva-
of line in miles.
Aggregate length
0°
Infinite
19.29
6º
955.40
2.22
11459
0.05
882.00
0.27
1
5730
0.83
7
819.00
1.30
13
3820
0.19
سرات
764.50
0.09
2
2865
1.14
8
716.80
1.24
23
2292
0.29
83
674.70
0.49
3
1910
1.78
9
637.30
1.43
33
1637
0.38
93
600.30
0.09
4
1433
2.81
10
.573.70
0.49
43
1274
0.17
10}
546.40
0 02
5
1146
1.28
12
478.30
0.23
53
1042
0.25
13
441.70
0.32
Miles, 36.65
*
*
*
*
*
*
1
The stone blocks are all delivered upon the railroad, and nearly all down. The timber used in the foundation of the railway upon the embankments, and upon other parts of the road where stone blocks could not be obtained without great expense, in conse- quence of the want of roads, is nearly all delivered and laid down. The cast iron chairs, the greatest part of which have been made at the foundries at Blairsville and at Frankstown, are de- livered, with the exception of a few tons, upon the railroad. The plate rails for the inclined planes and the railway along the basins and the road crossings, are all delivered. About two thousand and sixty tons of edge rails have been delivered on the road. They are all laid, except a part of those which have recently come to hand. There remains, to make up the quantity required to com- plete the single track and the turnouts, one hundred and thirty- six tons ; between forty-three and forty-four tons of these have been delivered in Philadelphia. They will be nearly or quite sufficient to make out the single track without the turnouts. If these rails are · delivered without delay, the single track may be completed, so far that cars can pass over it, in two weeks; but the ballasting. &c., cannot be finished before the first of December.
line at distances
ture.
ture.
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THE HISTORICAL JOURNAL.
The cost of the stone blocks provided for the single track, turnouts, &c., amounts to. $ 27,195 021 The estimated cost of the timber for rails, &e., upon the inclined
planes, and for that used for a foundation for the railway upon em- bankments, &c., including turnouts, amounts to. 16,872 06
The estimated cost of chairs, castings for turnouts, &c., made at the foundries at Blairsville and Frankstown, amounts to. 58,134 26
The estimated cost of edge rails, plate rails, pius and wedges for edge rails, nails and splicing plates for plate rails, and chairs manu- factured in England 192,644 00
The estimated cost of laying railway superstructure, including all the labor required to complete the same, amounts to. 132,297 463
Total $457,142 803
Add for contingencies. 3,000 00
Estimated cost of railway superstructure. $460,142 80%
Estimate reported November 1st, 1832. 461,581 97
Making the present estimate less than the estimate of last year .... $ 1,439 163
The cause of the difference between the original estimated cost of the railway superstructure, and the estimate of November 1. 1832, was explained in my report to the board, of which it formed a part.
The walls upon which the stationary engines and machinery are placed are completed. The sheds and houses for the protection of the engines and machinery at the head and foot of each inclined plane are all nearly finished. The dwelling houses for the engine tender and hands are in progress. some of them are finished or very nearly so, and the others will probably be completed before the setting in of winter.
The present estimated cost of walls, houses and sheds, for engines and machinery. Dwelling houses for engine tender, &c., hanging small sheaves upon the plans, &c .. is. 61,016 41
Estimated cost of stationary engines and machinery connected with them at the inclined planes. 66,912 31
Estimated cost of ropes for inclined planes, including two extra ropes, and worming for all the ropes. 20,314 81
Add for contingencies and incidental work. 3,500 00
Total $ 151,743 53 Estimated cost of engines and machinery, including houses and inci-
dental work. 107,650 00
Excess of cost over estimate of last year. $ 44,093 53
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When the estimates for steam engines and machinery were made, last fall, no definite plan had been adopted.
The common price of engines in Pittsburg, of the power required, with an allowance for the expense of transporting them to the in- clined planes, was assumed as the cost of the engines.
The machinery then proposed was such as would be adapted to an engine, with a single cylinder and fly-wheel. When plans were presented for the consideration and adoption of the Canal Com- missioners, they decided in favor of an engine with two cylinders and no fly-wheel, and of machinery adapted to such an engine. Their decision coincided with my opinion, as I regarded the fly- wheel as the principal cause of accident upon inclined planes, worked by stationary engines. The expense of these engines, and the machinery connected with them, exceeds that of single cylinder engines and the machinery adapted to them about twenty-five per cent.
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