YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY FROM THE COLLECTION MADE BY CHARLES SHELDON B.A. 1890 OF BOOKS ON NATURAL HISTORY EXPLORATION • HUNTING & FISHING GIFT OF FRANCIS P. GARVAN B.A. 1897 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY, BY PHINEAS G. GOODRICH, OF BETHANY, PENN. HONESDALE, PENN.: HAINES & BEARDSLEY. 1880. Entered according to Act ot Congress, in the year isso, hy PHINEAS G. GOODKICir, In the Ofllce of the Llhrarlan ot Congi-ess, Washington, D. C. CONTENTS. CHAPTBB I. Woodwakd's Commencement. Act of Legislature Establishing Wayne County — Original Boundaries — Population in 1800 — Milford and WilsonviUe, the First Seats of Justice — Permanent Location of the Courts at Bethany and Erection of the First County Build ings — Attempts to Change the Location Abortive — The People Refuse to Comply with Legislative Enactment — First County Commissioners — Beginning of Official Mis deeds and Delinquencies — Saoredness of Public Trusts — A Depleted Treasury — Investigating County Finances — An Era of Progress and Prosperity — Navigating the Dela ware — How Supplies were Procured — Division of the County 1. CHAPTEE IL The Indians. Wronged and Abused by Invaders — The Tribes that Inhabited Wayne County — The Charter Granted to William Penn — A Treaty that was Never Broken — No Quaker Blood Ever Shed by an Indian — How the Boundaries of Penn's Prov ince were Determined — Dissatisfaction of the Indians — Wars and Massacres — The Great Council at Easton — Peace Concluded — -Indian Plot to Annihilate the Whites — Mountains and Valleys Crimsoned with Blood and Car nage — Bounties Offered for Indian Scalps — The Eed Men Alarmed and Plead for Peace — Final Purchase of their iv CONTENTS. Lands — Charter Granted to Connecticut — Disputed Titles — Misguided Indian Bevenge — Final Settlement of Diffi culties—Description of the Indians and their Mode of Life —Their Belief in a Future State— The Tribes almost Ex tinct 12 CHAPTER in. Wayne Cottntt. After Whom it was Named — Its Geology, Climate, and For ests 32. CHAPTER IV. Qtjadbtxpeds. The Animals that Once Roamed the County's Forests — Anec dotes about the Bear — Description of the Bear, WoK, Panther, Deer, Elk, Beaver, Marten, Raccoon, Wood- chuck, Hedgehog, Skunk, Otter, Musk-Rat, Mink, Wea sel, Squirrel, Wild-Cat, Fox, Hare, and Rabbit 42. CHAPTER V. BiBDS. The Birds of the Past and Present — A Description of their Plumage and Peculiarities — Why they Rear their Young at the North — The Dyberry Taxidermist 62. CHAPTER VE. Fish. The Trout— Other Fish— Introduction of Black Bass by Mc- Kown 91. CHAPTER Vn. Reptiles. The Rattlesnake — The Whiskey Antidote for its Bite — Unven- omous Reptiles 94 CONTENTS. V CHAPTEE VIII. Insects. Those that Abound in the County — Honey-Bees — How they were Kept by the First Settlers — Their Wisdom 95. CHAPTEE IX. Land-Titles and Sxjbvevs. The Perm Family Accused of Being Adherents of the British Government — Confiscation of Estates — The Land- Office — Early Prices of Unimproved Land — Laws in Regard to State Lands — Unprofitable Investments — Jason Torrey, Agent for the Sale of Lands in Wayne and Pike Counties — Subsequent Agents — Inaccuracy of the Original Sur veys — Present Declination of the Needle — Land- Warrants — How they were Granted — County Surveyor — "Cham ber Surveys." 97. CHAPTER X. JtTDICIABY. The First Judges — President Judges — Associate Judges — Sher iffs — Prothonotaries — Registers and Recorders 108. CHAPTEE XI. Townships- Damascus. Damascus— Its Early Settlement— The Minisinks— First Set tlers — First Attempt to Eun Logs to Market on the Dela ware a Failure — Perseverance and Ingenuity Eewarded with Success — The First Raft that Successfully Descended the River — Settlers Attacked by the Indians —The Mur der of Kane and his Family — The Whites Flee from their Homes — Subsequent Attacks by Marauding Whites — Bit ter Dissensions about Titles of Lands — Effect of the Wyo ming Massacre — ^Battle of Minisink — Geii. Sullivan's Ex pedition into the Indian Country — Return of the Settlers to their Homes and the Reign of Peace — Brief Sketches of the Early Settlers — The Hamlets of Branningville, Darby- town, Damascus, MUanviUe, and Tyler Hill 117. vi CONTENTS. CHAPTER XIL Townships — Lebanon. Its Lands, Streams, and Ponds-— First Settlements — Shields- boro' — Incidents of Pioneer Life— Sketches of the Early Settlers — Agriculture their Chief Pursuit and Depend ence 140. CHAPTEE XIII. Townships — Palmtba. Taken Prisoner by the Indians — An Ingenious Escape — Jones, and not Haines, the Murderer of Oanope — First Improve ments—Sketches of the Pioneers— Strange Curiosities — Completion of the Delaware & Hudson Canal — The Penn sylvania Company's Gravity Eailroad — The Failure of a Great Project- Falls of the Wallenpaupack — A Water- power of Immense Mag-nitude — A Mammoth Pine — Schools and Churches 156. CHAPTEE XIV. Townships— Paupack. When Erected — Silas Purdy, Sen., the First Settler — ^Names and Sketches of the Early Eesidents — "The Shades of Death " — A Touching Incident 165. CHAPTEE XV. Townships — Canaan. One of the Original Townships — Its Soil and Productions — The Easton and Belmont, and Milford and Owego Turn pikes — Great Thoroughfares in their Day— The First Fam ilies that Settled in the Township — A Sketch by Asa Stan ton — Mrs. Frisbie — Her Interpretation of the Command, ' ' Thou Shalt not Kill "—Merciful to all of God's Creatures —The Borough of Waymart 170. CHAPTER XVI. Townships — Mount Pleasant. The Switzerland of Northern Pennsylvania — A Paradise in CONTENTS. vii Summer, and a Siberia in Winter — Streams and Ponds — Former Great Thoroughfares— The First Settler— First Public House — Sketches of the First Settlers— Their Hard ships and Struggles to Procure Food and Raiment- — Lost Children — The Meredith Family— The First Treasurer of the United States— His Place of Interment Unmarked — An Aged Lady — Standing Sentinel for Her Husband dur ing the Revolution — Poetry by Asa Stanton, Entitled " The Golden Age of Mount Pleasant. " 186. CHAPTER XVII. Townships — Buckingham. Streams and Lakes — The Township Assessment in 1806 — Sam uel Preston, Sen., the First Settler — Stockport — How Merchandise was Conveyed up the Delaware — Durham Boats — Wayne County's First Associate Judge — The Pres ton, Knight, and Dillon Families 215. CHAPTER XVHL Townships — Manohesteb. Its Original Name — A Box of Maple Sugar Sent to George Washington — His Letter of Acknowledgment— A Com pany Formed to Manufacture Maple Sugar and Pearl Ashes — Streams and Ponds — Early Residents — ^^Matthias Mogridge — His Eventful Life.— He Fights Gen. Jackson at New Orleans — Accompanies Napoleon to St. Helena — A Visit to His Native Country, and His Call on Horace Greeley— The Village of Equinunk. 224. CHAPTER XIX. Townships — Soott. Streams and Lakelets — The Soil and its Productions — Sher man — Names of the Early Settlers — The North-East Cor ner of Pennsylvania 236. CHAPTER XX. Townships — Peeston. Named in Honor of Judge Preston— Noted for its Numerous viii CONTENTS. Lakes and Ponds — Destined to be an Important Butter- Making District — Early Settlers — A Sketch of Pioneer Life, and Some Interesting Anecdotes, by C. P. Tallman — Starrucca Borough 239. CHAPTER XXI. Townships — Salem . When Erected — Division of the Township and Erection of Lake — Names and Sketches of the First Settlers — Battles with the Indians— The Author of Woodbridge's Geogra phy — The Township's Hamlets, Churches, and Schools — The First Postmaster and the First Store— The Time when only Two Newspapers were Taken in the Township — The News of the Battle of Waterloo Four Months in Reaching the Beech Woods 260 CHAPTER XXII. Townships^Stbbling and Debhee. The Lands — The First Settler — Resident Taxables at the Time of the Town's Formation — The First Grist-Mill and Saw- Mill — Sketches of the Original Settlers — Mingled Nation alities — Peaceful, Law-Abiding People — New Township — Named in Honor of Judge Drcher 279. CHAPTEE XXIII. Townships — Chbeey Eidgb. Settlement Commenced before the Organization of the County — The Assessment of 1799 — Sketches of the First Settlers — Origin of the Township's Name 286. CHAPTER XXIV. Townships — Dybbbet. Formed from Palmyra, Canaan, and Damascus — Sketches of the First Settlers — The First County Commissioner Elec ted by the People — The Hamlets of Dyberry and Tanners Falls — Establishment of a Glass-Factory 292. CONTENTS. ix CHAPTER XXV. BoBOUGH OF Bethany. The County Seat — Land Deeded to the County by Henry Drinker — Convening of the First Court — The First Court- House and Jail — Imprisonment for Debt — The First Dwelling and First Public House — Growth of the Bor ough — A Noted Surveyor — By Whom the First House was Built in Honesdale — Sketches of the Early Residents — An Impartial Judge — The First Newspaper Published in Wayne County — 'The Birth-place of "Ned Buntline" -—Removal of the County-Seat — The Old Court-House Converted into a University — Churches and Societies — Alonzo Collins' Poetic Description of the Place 303. CHAPTER XXVL Townships — Clinton. When Erected — Jefferson Railroad — Sketch by Alva W. Norton — Early Settlers — Aldenville— Churches and Schools. .322. CHAPTER XXVII. BOBOUGH of PbOMPTON. When Incorporated — First Settlers — Taxables— Schools . . 330. CHAPTER XXVin. Townships — Beblin. When Erected — The First Assessment and First Taxables — Transportation and Travel between Honesdale and the Erie Railroad— Sketches of Noted Settlers— Beech Pond— Tan ning and Lumbering — ^Honesdale and Texas Poor. ...332. CHAPTER XXIX. Townships — Obegon. When Erected — Streams and Ponds — The Adams Family — Probable Origin ot the Name — Early Events — Girdland — First Land Taken up by Jason Torrey 338. CHAPTER XXX. Townships — Texas. When Erected — White Mills — Dorflinger's Celebrated Glass- X CONTENTS. Works — IndianOrchard—Leonardsville— Tracy ville— First Grist-mill — Honesdale Glass Company — White's Ax Fac tory — Seelyville — Rev. Jonathan Seely — The First Settler —First House and First Eoad — Sketch of E. L. Seely — Other Settlers —Manufactures — Election Districts 342. CHAPTER XXXL BOEOUGH or HONBSDAIE. First Clearing — Attempts at Coal Transportation — Construc tion of the D. & H. Canal — Gravity Railroad — Opening of the Canal — Original and Present Shipments of Coal — ^fter whom Honesdale was Named — When Incorporated — When Made the County Seat — Honesdale Bank — Hawley and Honesdale Branch of the Erie Railway — First Beginners in Honesdale — The First Locomotive in America — First Settlers and First Merchants — A Noted Tavern Keeper — Surviving Old Settlers — Past and Present Physicians — Postmasters — Christian Denominations — The Hebrews — D. & H. Canal Company — The Soldiers' Monument — The County's Soldier-Dead — Foster's Tannery — Members of Wayne County Bar— Manufactures and Industries— Schools and their Principals — Court-Houses — Newspapers. . . .354. CHAPTER XXXIL Palmyba, Pikb County. First Settlers — Troubles with the Indians and Tories — Battle of Wyoming — ^Fleeing of the Settlers — Their Return . .381. CHAPTER XXXIIL Miscellaneous. Life in the Log-Cabins — School-Houses and Schools — The First Church Organized in the County — Religious Denom inations — Manufactures — Agriculture— Pennsylvania Coal Company — Population of the Coimty 387. CHAPTEE XXXIV. Pike County. The County Seat— Milford— Noted Men — The Route over which the Early Pioneers "Columbused" their Way to Wyoming Valley — Conclusion 4-06. PREFACE. In the year 1873, Hon. Geo. W. Woodward an- noimced his purpose to wi-ite a history of Wayne county, and came hither to gather up materials for his. work. Being a native of the county, reared and educated therein, and acquainted with many of the original settlers, also, having been a member of the conventions that framed the Constitutions of the State in 1838 and 1873, and a member of Congress, and judge of the Supreme Com-t of Pennsylvania, his position, legal attainments, and extensive knowledge peculiarly fitted him to write a popular history of his native county. In the summer of 1874 he told me that the task of compiling his history would take more time than he had at first anticipated ; that he had written only a few pages, but that he intended to have it published by the commencement of the Centennial year. I never saw him afterwards, although I contin ued, at his request, to collect materials for his proposed xii PREFACE. work. He sailed for Europe, from Philadelphia, October 22d, 1874, and died at Eome, May 10th, 1875, of pneumonia, complicated with Koman fever. Some months after the death of the Judge, his son, Hon. Stanley Woodward, of Wilkesbarre, generously returned to me all the manuscripts and material that I had collected for the construction of his father's his tory. He had written eleven pages. How large a book he designed to write, and in what manner he Mould have arranged its contents, I know not. He strongly assured me of his wish that in case he should be unable to finish his work, that I should undertake the task of completing it. But it may be asked, is such a history needed ? If it contained nothing but the truth, would it be valuable and interesting? Whatever the answers may be to these questions, it must be conceded that an important part of our knowl edge is derived from history. Therefrom we learn the rise and progress of our country through darkness and sunshine, war and peace, to its present eminence among the nations of the earth. We respect and ad mire the Hebrew people who, although scattered abroad among all civilized nations, have preserved a history which, throughout Christendom, is believed to be commensurate with the morning of the world. Almost every important county in Pennsylvania has PREFACE. xiii published a history of its early settlement, tlie nation ality of its people, their struggles, privations, and peculiar modes of living. Should the economy, indus try, honesty, and self-denial of the primitive settlers be practiced for ten years to come, by all our inhabi tants, the complaint of hard times would be heard no more in the land. There was little diversity in the hard experience of the pioneer settlers of Northern Pennsylvania. Many of them had been soldiers in the Revolutionary war, or were the children of those who had been impoverished thereby. Is there nothing in the history of such a people worthy of preservation ? " Let not Ambition mock their useful toil. Their homely joys, and destiny obscure ; Nor Grandeur hear with a disdainful smile. The short and simple annals of the poor." Judge Woodward regretted that he had not begun at an earlier day to collect materials for his history, which might have been obtained from the old settlers themselves. But those old settlers are now all gone, and but very few of their children survive. If their history is ever written it must be done soon. Already some of it is fi'agmentary and uncertain ; but such as it is, I have concluded, after much hesitation, to pre sent what I have collected ; not for fame, but as a tribute of respect to the people of my native county. My main object will be to preserve a history of the xiv PREFACE. primitive settlers, and of events which occurred in early times, not neglecting to give a cursory exhibit of the progress of the county from its erection to the present time. As Pike county was formerly a part of Wayne, some of its history is so intermingled with ours, that it cannot, with propriety, be separated from it. The history of Palmyra in Pike county is so full of inter est, and has been so well preserved, that I cannot fore go the pleasure of giving it in detail, much of which I learned from the settlers themselves. Those who have furnished sketches about the early settlers of their townships, will please accept the thanks of the writer. Want of space has forced me to condense their contributions, but the pith of them has been retained. P. G. GOODRICH. Bethany, Wayne County, Pa., June, 1880. EEEATA ET COEEIGENDA. Page 13, 26th line from the top of the page, "twenty-six mil lions," should read sixteen millions. " 33, 14th line from the top, "pots in which the glass is melted," should read arches of their furnaces. " 107, in running title, "Judiciary," should read Land- Titles and Surveys. " 155, in running title, "Palmyra," should read Ze&areoM. " 204, 7th line, after " another," read Stephen J. Par tridge, father of James and William Partridge, of Mount Pleasant, also, married a daughter of James Bigelow. " 267, 5th line, after "age,'' read TAey have four sons living, adding to those mentioned the name of Alva Mitchell. " 276, 17th line from top, "Asa Johnson," should read Asa Jones. " 292, 6th line from the bottom, "Sand pond," should read Zong pond. " 300, 13th line from top, after "Dwight Henshaw," read and the wife of W. B. Arnold. eOODSIOH'S HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. CHAPTER I. WOOD WARD'S COMMENCEMENT. rpHE territory which constitutes the counties of Wayne -*- and Pike, in the State of Pennsylvania, was set off from the county of Northampton, in pursuance of an act of Legislature, passed on the 21st of March, 1798. "All that part of Northampton county," said the act, " lying, and being to the northward of a line to be drawn, and beginning at the west end of George Michael's farm, on the river Delaware, in Middle Smithfield township, and from thence a straight line to the mouth of Trout Creek, on the Lehigh, adjoin ing Luzerne county, shall be and the same is hereby erected into a county henceforth to be called Wayne." This line of excision separated from Northampton not only the territory of the present counties of Wayne and Pike, but also two townships, subsequently taken from Pike and incorporated with other townships of Northampton, to form the present county of Monroe. The original boundaries of Wayne county were, there- 1 2 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. fore, the northern line of the state on the north, the Delaware river on the east, Northampton (now Mon roe) on the south, and Luzerne and Susquehanna coun ties on the west. The area of the county was 1,492 square miles, and the population in 1800 only 2,562, an average of less than two persons to the square mile. A handful of people, scarcely more than an ordi nary town-meeting in modem times, scattered over so large a space of rugged territory, destitute of roads, mills, and other conveniences of civilization, must have found it very diificult to maintain the necessary expen ses of a county organization, and excessively incon venient to attend the courts and places of election. The act of '98 established the courts in the house of George Buchanan, in the town of Milford, as a tempo rary arrangement. The 10th section of the act (3rd Smith's Laws, p. 318) appointed Daniel Stroud, Abm. Ham, John Mahallen, Samuel C. Seely, and Samuel Stanton, of Northampton and Wayne, a board of trus tees for the latter county, and empowered them to fix on the most eligible spot for the seat of justice in and for the said county, to purchase or take and receive any quantity of land within said county and to survey and lay out the same in town and outlets, and to sell as many of said lots at auction as they should think proper, and with the money arising from said sales and other moneys to be duly levied and collected as taxes, to pay for the lands they should purchase, and to build a court-house and jail on such of the town lots as they should require for that purpose. The 11th section empowered the county commission ers who should be elected at the next annual election, to take the title to such lot as the trustees should se lect for the court house and jail, and to assess the necessary taxes for erecting said buildings, "not to exceed two thousand dollars." WOODWARD'S COMMENCEMENT. 3 The location of the county seat must have greatly agitated this sparse population scattered along the yalleys of the principal streams, for the next year, ;1799, the Legislature removed the courts from Mil ford to WilsonviUe, until suitable buildings should be erected, " within four miles of the Dyberry forks of the. Lackawajcen river." This was the Legislative mode of describing the junction, at what is now Hones dale, of the North and West branches of the Laolia- waxen. , But WilsonviUe, a small manufacturing village at the falls of the Wallenpaupack, a few miles above the point . at which that stream empties into the Lacka- waxen, was found not to be satisfactory, even as a tempqrary location of the courts, for, on the 5th of AprU, 1802, the Legislature renianded them back to Milford for "three years and no longer." Meanwhile, the trustees, under the organizing act of '98, accepted from Henry Drinker, Esq., of Phila delphia, a large land proprietor in Wayne county, a conveyance, upon a nominal consideration, of a tract of 999 acres, of land in trust for the county of Wayne, to be laid out in town and outlots, and to convey to the county commissioners such of said lots as they shall fix on for the purpose of erecting a court-house, jail, and offices for the safe-keeping of the records. This deed, made the 30th of August, 1800, was a compliance with the act of 1799, for the land it con veyed was within four miles of the Dyberry forks. The trustees had the . land surveyed into lots, and on the 2d of January, 1802, conveyed to the county commissioners the lots necessary for a public square and county buildings, and sold at public auction 241 lots, at prices ranging from a few cents to twenty-seven dollars each, the proceeds amounting in the aggregate to $2,735.97. The remaining lots and outlots, 183 in 4 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. number, were then conveyed to the county commis sioners, who continued to sell from time to time, until they were all disposed of, at an aggregate of $1,524.66, making a total of the proceeds of the Drinker grant $4,260.63. Besides this sum there was the land that forms the beautiful square in Bethany and the site of the public buildings, and several lots given to the town for church and school purposes. It was in this manner Bethany became the county seat of Wayne. A frame court-house and a log jail were erected upon the public square and the court was removed there from Milford, in 1805. But no sooner was the seat of justice established at Bethany than the inhabitants of the lower end of the county began to complain of the hardship of going so far to attend courts and consult the records. The valleys of the Delaware and of the Wallenpaupack contained almost the entire population of the lower half of the county. The region lying between these rivers and called " The Barrens " to this day, was, at that time, an utter wilder ness. But along the Delaware and the Wallenpau pack were narrow but fertile valleys \vhi<;]i invited a hardy and industrious population of farmers and lum bermen. It was quite natural that these people should complain of the distance they had to travel over bad roads to the seat of justice, and, accordingly, they pre vailed upon the Legislature to pass an act of the 19 th of March, 1810, (5th S. L., p. 125) authorizing the Governor to appoint .commissioners to fix a place for the county seat at or within five miles of the territo rial center of the county. The preamble to this act is in these words: "Whereas, it appears to the Legisla ture that those inhabitants of Wayne county who live near the line of Northampton county, along the river Delaware, below Milford, are subjected to very great hardships in their attendance on courts and other pub- WOODWARD'S COMMENCEMENT. 5 lie business at Bethany, on account of the great dis tance and the uninhabitable region over which they are obliged to travel ; and, whereas, it also appears that Bethany is situated many miles to the north of the territorial center of Wayne county, and that by a re moval of the seat of justice to a place at or near the center, the inhabitants first above mentioned would gain some relief, whilst the inhabitants of the upper townships would not suffer any material disadvantage by such removal ; " therefore it was enacted that the Governor should appoint three disinterested commis sioners " to fix on a place for the seat of justice at or within five miles of the territorial center of said county," with power as to laying out and selling lots similar to those conferred upon the trustees by the act of '98. The commissioners appointed under this act reported on the 21st of August, 1810, that they had fixed- on a place known as Blooming Grove, now within the limits of Pike county and called Nyce's Farm. The county commissioners refused to levy the necessary taxes for the erection of public buildings at Blooming Grove and they set forth their reasons in a paper that was drawn with great ability. After co gent statements for believing that the Legislature meant that the public buildings should be principally paid for by grants of land rather than by taxation of a people already heavily oppressed, the county com missioners said in conclusion : " but while the county is annually subjected to a heavy tax without being able to discharge its just and necessary expenditures ; while after the most vigorous exertions in collecting taxes there remain many orders on the Treasury unpaid, while the poor juror and laborer is compelled from his necessities to sell his hard-earned county orders to some speculator at a discount of from twelve to twen- 6 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. ty-five per cent., while the traveler is put in jeopardy by the failure of bridges which the county wants the necessary funds to repair; and while with their best efforts and strictest economy, the commissioners are able but gradually to retrieve the credit of the county, they cannot consider that there are any existing cir cumstances or advantages to the county which would result from forcing^a fund for the purpose of erecting public buildings at Blooming Grove which would bear any comparative weight in counterbalancing the evils which would neciessarUy follow a pursuit of the meas ure." And then followed a formal resolution not to tax the people for this purpose. Regarded as resistance to an act of Assembly this was a bold step, but the poverty of the people pleaded so strongly in favor of the stand assumed by the com missioners that all parties acquiesced in it^ or at least no appear was made to the courts to compel obedi ence to the behests of the Legislature. The names of the first county commissioners were Eliphalet Kellogg, Johannes Yan Etten, and John Carson. John Brink was the first county treasurer. On the 26th of December, 1799, Jason Torrey and John H. Schenck presented to the court the first aud itors' report of the finances of the county, in which they noticed and excused some irregularities on the part of the accounting otficers, but, on the whole, com mended their measures as reflecting credit upon them selves and the county. On the 11th of December, 1800, Jason Torrey was reappointed auditor in connec tion with James Eldred and Martin Overfield,but their report submitted at the February term of court, 1801, was less complimentary to the county commissioners and their clerk than that of the previous year. The commissioners were charged with selling bridges with out prescribing the manner in which the work should WOODWARD'S COMMENCEMENT. 7 be done nor when they should be completed — ^with paying for them in full without examination and be fore there was any pretence of their completion — with paying their clerk upwards of $200 for a year's service while there were persons in the county who would perform the duties for half the money — with allowing one of their number (Mr. Carson) to go to Philadel phia and advertise in three daily papers for three months that he was there to receive taxes on unseated lands, and receiving a considerable amount without accounting for them to the auditors, and with various other irregularities. This report was not finally filed until the 14th of September, 1801, when Major Torrey appended to it a note partially exonerating Mr. Car son and clerk Kellogg from the charges preferred in the text of the report. The irregularities so justly censured by the auditors show that even in this infant county, of slender re sources and small finances, oflicial delinquencies and misdeeds had begun which in after times and in other counties, if not in Wayne, have grown into enormous abuses. Official infidelity to public trusts is a crying evil of our times. And it is not peculiar to any peri od or place. It has come down to us in regular suc cession from an antiquity much beyond the origin of our counties or even our State, and it grows apace, both in the State and nation. When and from whence is the corrective to come ? Only from a better moral education of the masses. When schools, the press, and the pulpit shall impress the rising generation with the sacredness of public trusts — and Avith the thought that ofiice exists for the convenience of the people and aot for the emolument of the possessor, and that wealth acquired from public ofiice is prima-facie evi dence of crime — we may hope to find men for public servants who will not steal. 8 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. During the following year the receipts from actual residents amounted to $605.87, and from unseated lands to $613.68, making a total of $1,219.55, while the expenditures of the year 1800 were $1,650.06. Each year the aggregate of taxes increased with the increas ing population, but expenditures increased also. The county treasury was unable to redeem the orders drawn upon it, and public accounts fell into confusion until 1807 and 1808, when an earnest efl^ort was made to straighten public affairs.. The records had been removed to the new ofiices in Bethany, and the first meeting of the county commissioners was held there early in 1807. A careful examination of the financial condition of the county disclosed the fact that there was no money in the treasury, while its liabilities in the shape of unpaid cliecks, refunded taxes, etc., amount ed to about $5,000. Upwards of $16,000 were due the county from owners of unseated lands, delinquent collectors, dilatory sheriffs, overpaid commissioners, and other ofiicers, which, if collected, would, it was claimed, put the county out of debt, and leave a con siderable balance in the treasury. As one of the re sults of this investigation, in 1808, the sheriff, Abisha Woodward, was directed to sell such unseated lands as were in arrears for taxes, which he proceeded to do, and in 1809 the receipts from these sales amounted to be tween $9,000 and $10,000. In 1811 the inconvenien ces and losses to the county and to individuals which had resulted from the neglect of treasurers to furnish information to the commissioners with respect to the state of the treasury, led to the adoption of a series of resolutions requiring the treasurer to report, on the first day of every term, the exact condition of the finances, and declaring a failure to do so as well as the buying up of county orders at a discount with the pub lic funds, to be a misdemeanor in office. The Com- WOODWARD'S COMMENCEMENT. 9 missioners might well treat such official misconduct as ground for removal, for they held then the appoint ment of county treasurer, and were, in a very special sense, the exclusive fiscal agents of the county. Under the sharp animadversions of the county audi tors, and with increasing experience in the conduct of public affairs, the financial condition of the county im proved with the increase of population. The frame court-house and the log jail at Bethany were complet ed; courts were held regularly there; farms were cleared, roads were built, and the winters were improv ed to get out logs and squared timber from the forests of pine, hemlock, and oak, to be rafted down the Lack- awaxen and Delaware to Easton, Trenton, and Phila delphia, when the spring freshets came. The supplies of store goods, of iron, salt, leather, cloths and grocer ies, purchased with the proceeds of the lumber, were transported to the scattered settlements with great dif ficulty. The "Durham Boat" on the Delaware was the prime, and for a long time, the only ascending nav igation. This craft which has disappeared from these waters within the last quarter of a century, was a long, trim boat, which, though laden with several tons, drew so little water that it could pass up the rifts and shoals of the streams, propelled by a poleman on each side, and guided by a steersman at the rudder. Another mode of getting goods into Wayne county was to car ry them up the Hudson river to Newburg, and thence cart them by way of Cochecton to Bethany and other points. After the north and south turnpike was built through Sterling, Salem, and Canaan townships, a con siderable trade was established with Easton. But although the industries of Wayne were in proc ess of gradual though healthful development, great discontent continued to be manifested by the people along the Delaware below Milford, on account of the 2 10 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. location of the county seat at Bethany, and, in 1814, the Legislature, vdth the general consent of the people, set off the lower end into a new county, to be called Pike, with the seat of justice at Milford where it has remained ever since. The division line was run by John K. Woodward, conformably to the act of Sep tember, 1814, beginning at the lower end of Big Eddy on the Delaware, thence to a point on the Lackawaxen opposite the Wallenpaupack, thence up the Wallenpau pack and the South branch thereof to the old north and south State road, and thence west seven miles and ninety two perches to the Lehigh creek. Thus was Pike county set off with an area of 772 square miles, and with a population, which, according to the census of 1820, amounted to 2,894. The area left to Wayne was 720 square miles, and the population in 1820 was 4,127. I have compiled, from various sources, the lead ing events that attended the formation of the two counties of Wayne and Pike. The people were gen erally poor. Most of the old men had been soldiers in the Revolutionary war, and others were descendants of families who had suffered in various ways in that struggle and from frequent incursions of Indians. The settlements were sparse and widely separated. The soil and climate were rigorous. The land which was worth clearing for agricultural purposes was heavily timbered vpith beech, maple, and hemlock, though much of the mountain range that runs through Pike county was and still is " The Barrens," and utterly insuscep tible of cultivation. Except along the river-bottoms the arable land was stony, requiring much labor to re move them and lay them into walls for fences of the fields. Much of the soil was wet and needed ditching to make it productive. Yet with all these disadvan tages, the hardy aiid industrious people who settled WOODWARD'S COMMENCEMENT. 11 the hills and valleys of these counties, persevered in lumbering and farming until they established large and prosperous communities, built towns and turnpikes, improved their farms, established schools and churches, so that these counties have become influential in the Commonwealth. The foregoing is all that Judge G. W. Woodward wrote of the History of Wayne County. - 12 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. CHAPTER II. THE INDIANS. PROBABLY a history of Wayne would be considered imperfect that did not embrace a description of the Indian tribes that once claimed and occupied the ter ritory as their favorite hunting grounds. Having be come extinct in consequence of their conflicts with the whites, who had the superior means of sharpening the scythe of death, and who, in encroaching and overpow ering numbers, dispossessed them of their lands and homes, none of them are left to rehearse, in truth and sadness, how they were wronged and abused by their invaders. From the scanty traditions preserved by the early explorers and settlers, it appears that a tribe called the Monseys, who held their head-quarters or council fire at a place on the Delaware, called "Mini- sink," (a part of which tribe settled at Wyoming) held jurisdiction over the lands now embraced in Wayne, Pike, and Susquehanna counties. This tribe claimed to hold their territory independent of the Delawares from whom WiUiam Penn purchased his lands. A tribe, or remnant of a tribe, lived on the Delaware, scattered between Shehawken and the mouth of the Lackawaxen, most of them about Cochecton, and were known as the Mohicans or Cushetunks. But there THE INDIANS. 18 was a powerful confederacy southward of the Great Lakes, known as the Six Nations, consisting of the Onondagas, Senecas, Cayugas, Mohawks, Oneidas, and Tuscaroras.* These claimed to hold the Monseys, Delawares, and Shawnees in subjection, and denied that they had any right to sell lands to the whites. These six nations, by an early alliance with the Dutch, who first settled on the Hudson, obtained fire-arms by the use of which they were able to check the encroach ments of the French and to reduce to submission many bordering tribes. From these they exacted an ac knowledgment of fealty, permitting them under such humiliation to occupy their former hunting grounds. To this dependent condition the Iroquois asserted that they had, by conquest, reduced the Lenni Lenape. Charles the IL, King of England, in 1681, granted a charter to William Penn of a large province of land in the New World, as it was then called, the extent of which was to be three degrees of latitude in breadth by five degrees of longitude in length; the Delaware river was to be the eastern boundary, and the northern boundary was to begin on the commencement of the three and fortieth degree of north latitude, which pro vince was by royal order called Pennsylvania. The amount of land embraced \r\ said charter comprised twenty-six millions of acres. In 1682, Win. Penn came over from England to found a colony upon the broad principles of Christian charity, free toleration, and con stitutional freedom. Although he had obtained a char- *Called by the French, Iroquois. 14 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. ter from the king of England empowering him to take possession of the lands therein embraced, yet he hon estly admitted that the Indians were the only true owners of the lands. Acting under that conviction he had not been long in the country before he took measures to bring together the Indians from various parts of his province, to form with them a treaty of peace and friendship. Such a treaty was made and, unlike most Indian treaties, was never broken. Not a drop of Quaker blood was ever shed by an Indian. The colony was peaceful and prosperous for seventy years. It is remarkable that no original written rec ord can be discovered of Penn's memorable treaty with the Indians, though traditional evidence is abun dant regarding its occurrence. The heirs of William Penn, who were called the Proprietaries, were the governing element in the province until near the days of the Revolution, but took no measures to fix and de termine the boundaries of the lands which their great progenitor or his agents, in his life-time, purchased of the- Indians, until 1733. The northern boundary of one important purchase was to be determined by a man's walk of a day and a-lialf . Beginning on the bank of the Delaware, near Wrightstown, in Bucks county, (the boundary of a former purchase), the walk was to be done by three white men and a like number of Indians. The men having been selected, the whites walked with all their might, and arrived at the north side of Blue mountain, the first day, which was as far as the whole walk would extend, according to the ex- THE INDIANS. 15 pectations of the Indians; and when they found the walk was to proceed half a day further, they were angry, said they were cheated, and would go no fur ther. The whites started again next morning; two of them gave out ; but one, Edward Marshall, went on alone and arrived at noon on a spur of Pocono moun tain, sixty-five miles from the starting point. Sher man Day, the historian, says : " If the walk had ter minated at the Kittatinny, the line from the end of the walk to intersect the Delaware, if drawn at right angles, would have intersected the Delaware at the Water Gap, and would not have included the Mini- sink lands, a prominent object of the speculators. The line as actually drawn by Mr. Eastburn, the surveyor- general, intersected the Delaware near Shohola creek, in Pike county. Overreaching, both in its literal and figurative sense, is the term most applicable to the whole transaction." The Indians remonstrated against the great wrong done them by the said walk, and de clared their intention to hold the disputed lands by force of arms. . The Proprietary Government, know ing that the Six Nations held the Delawares under a sort of fear and vassalage, prevaUed upon them by presents to interpose their authority, in the expulsion of the refractory Delawares. Accordingly, in 1742, a delegation of two hundred and thirty of the Six Na tions met in PhUadelphia, and being made to believe that the Delawares had actually sold the disputed lands, Canassatoga, on the part of the deputation, roundly berated the Delawares for selling the lands at all, call- 16 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. ing them vassals and women, thereby adding insult to injury, and ending by bidding them instantly to remove from the lands. They dared not disregard this peremptory command. Some of them, it is said, went to Wyoming and Shamokin, others to Ohio. Even at this council the deputies complained that the whites were settling on unbought lands and spoiling their hunting, and demanded the removal of the set tlers upon and along the Juniata, who, they said, were doing great damage to their cousins, the Delawares. In March, 1744, war was declared between France and Great Britain. The dark clouds of savage war fare gathered over the western frontiers, and many murders were committed by the Indians. The French, hovering around the Great Lakes, spared no pains to seduce the savages from their allegiance to the Eng lish. The Shavraees at once joined the French, the Delawares only waited for a chance to revenge their wrongs, and the Six Nations were wavering; massa cres ensued, and no age or sex was spared. A treaty was made between France and Great Britain, in 1748, but it tended very little to abate the violence of savage warfare. The Proprietors, anxious to secure all the lands of the Indians, in July, 1754, purchased of the Six Nations all the lands within the province not be fore obtained, lying south-west of a line, " Beginning one mile above the mouth of Penn's creek, thence run ning north-west by west to the western bomndary of the province." The line instead of striking the west ern line of the State, as the Indians supposed it would, THE INDIANS. VI, struck the northern boundary thereof, west of Cone- wango creek. The Shawnees, Delawares, Monseys, and other tribes soon found out that their lands on the Susquehanna, Juniata, Allegheny, and Oliio rivers, which the Six Nations had guaranteed to them, had been sold from under their feet. The Indians on the Allegheny at once went over to the French. After Braddock's defeat, in 1753, the whole frontier, from the Delaware to the Potomac, was desolated by the Indians, who, having been joined by other tribes, laid waste all the settlements beyond the Kittatinny moun tains, burning the hamlets and scalping the settlers. The Proprietors became alarmed and, in November, 1756, held another grand council, at Easton, between Teedyuscung, a noted Delaware chief, and some other chiefs, on the one part, and Governor Denny, on the part of the Proprietors. The conference lasted nine days. The discontents of the Indians with regard to the great walk and the purchase of lands made by the Proprietors, in 1754, M^ere heard and inquired into, and a treaty of peace was patched up with the Dela wares. But the complaints of the Indians that the whites were encroaching upon their lands continued and became boisterous. It was found that something must be done. Another great council was summoned to meet at Easton, in the fall of 1758. Easton was a noted place for holding councils between the whites and Indians. It was, as now, the county seat of North ampton county, which county was established and sep arated from Bucks county, in 1752, and, at the time 3 18 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. of its establishment, included Wayne, Pike, Monroe, Lehigh, and Carbon counties. The said council was the most important and imposing one ever held in the prov ince. It was attended by chiefs both of the Six Nations and Delawares, and by the agents of the governments of Pennsylvania and New Jersey. About five hundred Indians were present, representing all the Six Nations, most of the Delawares, the Shawnees, the Miamis, the Mohicans, Monseys, Nanticokes, and Conoys. Many Quakers, who were anxious that peace and justice might prevail, were present as the friends of the In dians. Teedyuscung spoke for several of the tribes. He was a noted Delaware chief. He rehearsed the wrongs of the Pennsylvania tribes, and accused the Proprietors of being very profuse of promises, and neglectful in keeping them ; and he accused the Six Nations of dealing and deciding unfairly with the Pennsylvania tribes, and that they had been, from time to time, perverted from doing their duty by the rich and abundant presents made to them by the agents of the Proprietary Government. The Six Nations were offended at the boldness of Teedyuscung, and sought to counteract his influence ; but he bore himself with dignity and firmness, and although he was weU-plied with liquor, he refused to yield to the Six Nations, and resisted all the wiles of the intriguing whites. The council lasted eighteen days, and all matters which had caused discontent among the Indians were freely discussed. All lands claimed as having been purchas ed of them, beyond the Allegheny mountains, were THE INDIANS. 19 given up. An additional compensation for lands al ready purchased was to be given. In short, another peace was concluded, and at the close of the treaty — to the shame of the whites be it said — stores of rum were given to the Indians, who soon exhibited its ef fect in frightful orgies or stupid insensibility. The English having taken Quebec from the French, in 1759, and captured all their forts and military depots on the north-west and western frontiers, peace was con cluded between Great Britain, France and Spain, in 1762, and Pennsylvania was, for a short time, relieved of the horrors of war. But the short calm was fol lowed by a terrific storm. The Indians about the Great Lakes and on the Ohio, without complaint, had permitted the French to erect and maintain a chain of forts from Presque Isle (Erie) to the Monongahela, so long as they proved a barrier to the encroachments of the English, but when they saw Canada and these forts in the hands of the English, and reflected that the lands upon which said forts stood were never purchas ed of the native owners, their hatred of the intrusive whites became intense and wide-spread. A great In dian chief, named Pontiac, of the Ottawas, (a western tribe), formed the plan of uniting all the Indian tribes and of precipitating them at once upon the whole fron tier. The utter extermination of the whites was his object. With the suddenness and violence of a tor nado, the attack was made. The EngUsh traders among the Indians were killed first. Out of one hun dred and twenty only three escaped. Scalping parties 20 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. overran the frontier settlements among the mountains, marking their way with blood and carnage. The forts of Presque Isle, Yenango, St. Joseph, and Mackinaw were taken, and their garrisons slaughtered. Other forts were saved with great difficulty. The dismayed settlers on the Juniata and Susquehanna, with their families and fiocks, sought refuge at Carlisle, Lancas ter, and Reading. The peaceful Moravian Indians fled to Philadelphia which was their only place of safety. This was the most destructive and fiercely-contested war ever waged between the whites and Indians in Pennsylvania. The cruelties and barbarities perpetra ted in this war on both sides are too shocking to relate. In October, 1763, John Penn, grandson of William Penn, came over from England as lieutenant-gover nor, and, having ignored the peaceful non-resistant pol icy of the Quakers, by proclamation offered bounties for the capture, death, or scalps of Indians, viz: "For every male above the age of ten years captured, $150; scalped, being killed, $134; for every male or female Indian enemy above the age of ten years captured, $130; for every female above the age of ten years be ing scalped or killed, $50." Effective measures were at once taken by the Proprietary Government to repel the assaults of the savages by carrying the war into l^eir own country. Yolunteers from Cumberland and Bedford counties, under Col. Armstrong, went up and defeated several parties of Indians on the West branch. General Amherst dispatched Col. Boquet, with a large quantity of provisions, under a strong THE INDIANS. 21 force, to the relief of Fort Pitt. From thence, in the autumn of 1764, he extended his expedition to the Muskingum in Ohio. The Indians were alarmed and sued for peace. The Delawares, Shawnees, Senecas, and other tribes agreed to cease hostilities, and they gave up a large number of prisoners that in former wars they had carried into captivity. Though peace was restored, yet the complaints of the Indians were continued and not causelessly; for lawless white men continued to settle upon the Indian lands and to incite hostilities by the unprovoked murder of the peaceable natives. Another savage war was threatened, which, happily, was prevented by the tact and wise intervention of Sir WiUiam Johnson, a British officer, at whose instance, a great council was held at Fort Stanwix, in New York, at which all grievances were adjusted, and a treaty made Novem ber 5th, 1768, -with the Six Nations, who then sold and conveyed to the Proprietors, "All the land within a boundary extending from the New York line on the Susquehanna, past Towanda and Pine creek, up the West branch over to Kittamiing and thence down the Ohio." This was called the "New Purchase," and in cluded the lands in Wayne and Susquehanna counties, most of Luzerne and part of Pike county. This was the last purchase made by the Proprietors. The State afterwards bought of the Indians all the lands which remained unsold within its chartered limits. (If the preceding narrative of Indian matters should be deemed irrelevant to the history of Wayne county, 22 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. the following continuance thereof may be a sufficient apology for its presentation.) In the month of August, 1762, about two hundred colonists from Connecticut commenced a settlement at Wyoming, on the Susquehanna river, claiming a right under the said named State, which founded her claim under the original charter granted in 1620 to the Ply mouth Company by James L, which charter was con firmed by Charles IL, to Connecticut in 1663, and set ting forth that the said charter should include : " All that part of our dominions in New England, in Ameri ca, bounded on the east by Narragansett bay where the said river f aUeth into the sea, and on the north by the line of the Massachusetts Plantation, on the south by the sea and in longitude as the Massachusetts Colony running from east to west — ^that is to say, from the Narragansett bay on the east, to the South sea on the west part." This charter, it was claimed, included all the lands of sixty miles in vddth extending to the Pa cific ocean, excepting the intervening part between Connecticut and Pennsylvania, which had been con ceded to the province of New York, in consequence of a charter granted by Charles II. to his brother, the Duke of York and Albany. The charter to the col ony of Connecticut was made eighteen years prior to that made to William Penn, by the same monarch. It has been presumed that said monarch knew little or nothing of the location or extent of the territories that he granted, and that his title to the same was little superior to his knowledge. THE INDIANS. 23 In the year 1753, a number of persons, mostly in habitants of Connecticut, formed a company with the intent of purchasing the lands of the Indians on the Susquehanna, and establishing settlements at Wyo ming. This association was called the "Susquehanna Company." The said two hundred settlers of 1762 were a part of them. The agents of said Company attended a council of the Six Nations held at Albany on the 11th of July, 1754, and made a purchase from the Indians of the Wyoming lands, the boundaries of which are thus given in their deeds : "Beginning from the one and fortieth degree of north latitude, ten miles east of the Susquehanna river, and from thence by a north line ten miles east of the river to the end of the forty-second degree of north latitude and so to extend west two degrees of longitude, one hundred and twenty miles, and from thence south to the beginning of the forty-second degree, and thence east to the beginning, which is ten miles east of the Susquehanna river." It has never been denied but that this purchase included the vaUey of the Wyoming and the country westward to the head waters of the Allegheny river. At the time the above-named purchase was made, the country east of the Susquehanna Company purchase wag bought of the Indians by another association, caUed the "Delaware Company," under whose encourage ment the first settlement of whites was made, at Co checton, on the Delaware, in 1755. This was the first attempt made to hold lands under said Connecticut and Indian titles. The progress made by the last-nam- 24 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. ed colony will be noticed under the head of Damas cus township. At the time the last-above-named pur chases were made of the Indians, commissioners were present to act for the Proprietors, but there is no evi dence that they then made any purchase of the Wyo ming and Delaware lands, though they obtained a deed on the 6th of July, 1754, of a tract of land between the ]31ue mountain and the forks of the Susquehanna river. Gov. Morris, of Pennsylvania, on the return of his commissioners from Albany, having learned that the Susquehanna and Delaware Companies had effected a purchase of the Wyoming and other lands, wrote to Sir William Johnson, (so Chapman alleges,) on the 15th of November, 1754, requesting him to induce the Indians, if possible, to deny the contracts they had made, and, as a means of effecting it, to win over Hen- drick, a noted chief, to his interests, and persuade the chief to visit Philadelphia. The Connecticut settlers reprobated the conduct of Governor Morris, as dis honorable and unworthy of a man occupying his po sition. The settlers knew that the villainy which the whites taught the Indians, they were ready to practice. It is probable that the Indians would have sold the lands as often as they could get pay for them. They kept no record of their sales, and knew but little about the boundaries and extent of what they had sold, and looked vrith contempt upon the titles which the kings in Europe pretended to have to lands in America. Indeed, as has been before stated, the Six Nations, at general council, held at Fort Stanwix, November 5th, THE INDIANS. 25 1768, conveyed to the Pennsylvania Proprietors, the same lands which they had sold to the Susquehanna and Delaware Companies in July, 1754. The reader will now readily understand that the contention which so long existed between the people of Connecticut and Pennsylvania, and which caused so much suffering, spoliation, and bloodshed, origina ted in an interference of the territorial claims of the contending parties. The charter of Connecticut ante dated that of WiUiam Penn eighteen years. The pur chases of the Susquehanna and Delaware Companies, it was claimed, antedated that of the Proprietors four teen years. The Susquehanna Company, honestly be lieving that their title was paramount, commenced their settlement at Wyoming in all good faith. They located themselves so as not to interfere with the In dians, and built a log-house and several huts at the mouth of a small stream, now called Mill creek. Not having sufficient provisions to keep them through the winter, they hid their few tools and went back to their native homes in Connecticut. Early in the spring of 1763, these settlers returned to Wyoming, attended by their families and. a number of new settlers. They brought with them cattle, and swine, and provisions for immediate use. Their build ings had not been disturbed. The chiefs of the Six Nations had never forgiven Teedyuscung for liis bold ness and independence displayed at the great council held at Easton in 1758 ; and their emissaries, in the autumn of 1763, murdered him or burned him in his 4 26 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. cabin, and then made the Delawares believe it was done by the Yankees. They had thus far been peace able, but at once sought revenge. They surprised the whites while at work in their fields, killed upwards of twenty of them, took some prisoners, and, after the remainder had fled, Set fire to the buildings, and drove away the cattle. Chapman says, " Those who escaped hastened to their dwellings, gave the alarm to the families of those who were killed, and the remainder of the colonists, men, women, and children, fled to the mountains. They took no provisions with them except what they had hastily seized in their flight, and must pass through a wilderness sixty miles in ex tent, before they could reach the Delaware river." They had no means of defense, had not sufficient raiment, and, with such cheerless prospects, com menced a journey of two hundred and fifty miles on foot. Some of the whites reached the settlement on the Delaware, at Cochecton. The Susquehanna Company, still persisting in their determination to es tablish a settlement in Wyoming, early in 1769, sent forty men thither to look after their former improve ments, and found that they had been taken possession of by agents of the Proprietary Government. Noth ing daunted, they seleridge, Esq., of Salem, bought eleven choice sheep. He kept them in a lot near his house, and built a high fence around a pen, in wliich to keep them dm-- ing the nights. He came to my father's one morning greatly excited, saying that some animal had been in his pen and killed the most of his sheep, and sucked the blood fi-om their throats. The finding was that the killing had been done by a panther, and the sentence, "immediate death." A large mastiff dog soon treed the murderer, and my father shot at him witli a mus ket. The monster feU doMTi the tree wounded and fought desperately and almost killed the dog, but he was finally overcome. Several hunters said it was the largest panther they had ever seen or heard of. Its claws were sent to Connecticut to show the Yankees what kind of monsters the settlers had to contend with in the beech woods. Not being a rov-, ing animal, the panther was much sooner destroyed than the wolf. If there is one left in the county, he must live in the most desolate places. It is almost safe to say that the panther has in these parts become extinct. The marvelous stories sometimes told about bears, wolves, and panthers, Avithout provocation aggressively attacking men, women, or children, should be received THE DEER. 47 with many grains of allowance. That fear of man, seemingly impressed on the brute creation by a Higher Power, restrains them from committing any such violence. THE DEER. These most useful of all the wild animals were once the most numerous. They were shy and retiring, del icate in form, fieet as the race-horse, with sight and hearing intensely acute. They were called red in the sumniei- and gray in the winter. Their skins were val uable only when in the red coat. Throughout tlie whole species the males have horns which are shed and renewed yearly, increasing in size and the number of their branches, at each renewal, until a certain period. Their first antlers appear in their second year and are straight, small, and simple, and are shed in the succeed ing winter. Though the Indians were dependent chiefi}' upon the flesh of the deer for food, and on their skins for raiment, they were careful not to kill them wantonly or when they were with young ; consequently when the whites came into the county, they found the deer bounding over every hill or grazing in every gra.ssy valley. They were as necessary to the subsist ence of the whites as they had been to the Indians. Their flesh was not eaten when killed in the -wdnter season, unless necessity compelled its use, for the ani mal in hard winters fed upon the laurel which im parted a poisonous principle to the meat. In view of this fact and to prevent a wanton destruction of the deer, an act was passed in 1760, making any person 48 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. liable to the payment of a fine of three pounds, who should kill or destroy any deer between the first day of January and the first day of August in each year, and the law was generally respected. Almost aU the early settlers kept guns, many of them muskets of the old "Queen Anne's Arms," as they were called, which be ing loaded vrith buck-shot when discharged were dan gerous at both ends. AU guns, muskets, and rifles had flint-locks until about fifty years ago, when they were superseded by percussion powder and caps. Hunting was followed, in order to procure necessary food. Some few men made it profitable, or pursued it from an ac quired passion for dangerous adventures. Some per sons are doubtful whether white deer were ever found among our common fallow deer, but it is a fact. About fifty-five years ago a hunter in Sterling township, sold the skin of a white deer to William T. Noble, a mer chant at Noble Hill. As the animal was a very large one, Mr. Noble regretted that he could not have had it as it was before it was skinned, so that it might have been stuffed and preserved, as it was a male and had huge antlers. The flesh of the deer, called venison, in the fall months was delicious. It was often dried or smoked without being salted, and called fresh junk. The skins were worth from fifty cents to one doUar. Deer often went in flocks of twent}^ or thirty in num ber. After rifles came into use, about 1810, the num ber of deer began to fail. For forty years they were hunted, trapped, and chased to ponds by dogs, where they were assaulted and killed by the hunters who THE ELK. 49 overtook them with canoes. From year to year de clining in numbers, they have become so scarce that a hunter might rove a month without finding one. If not now extinct in this county, they surely will be in a few years. THE ELK. This noble animal, considerably larger than the common deer, which otherwise they very much resem ble, never was very numerous ; still in early days they were found in some parts, especially in Canaan and Clinton, by reason of which a large tract of land in those townships containing 11,526 acres was named "Elk Forest." It is said that the elk sometimes at tained the height of five feet, and that they did not attain their full growth until they were twelve years old. AYhen full-grown their antlers are very large and spreading. Charles Stanton killed one in Canaan, the horns of which weighed twenty-five pounds and their length and spread was each four feet. Asa Stan ton now has the horns, which are distinguished for the broad palmation of the antlers. By nature the elk is shy and timorous and scuds away at the sight of man. When brought to bay or standing in defense, however, like all the deer kind, he is a dangerous antagonist. His weapons are his horns and hoofs, and he strikes so forcibly with his feet that he can kill a wolf or dog with a single blow. It is then that the hair on his neck bris tles up like the mane of a lion, which gives him a wild and formidable appearance. In winter he lives by lirowsing upon the laurel and small boughs of trees, and 7 50 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. in the summer upon the wild grass in the swamps. The usual pace of the elk is a high, shambling trot, but when frightened he makes wondrous leaps and goes with a tremendous gallop. In passing through thick woods he carries his horns horizontally or thro-wn back, to keep them from being entangled in the branch es. He is an exceUent swimmer, and in summer re sorts to the lakes and ponds and stands in the water, to escape fi'om the bites of the files and mosquitoes. Asa Stanton, of Waymart, says that his father had seen twenty or more at one time standing in the Elk pond. What became of all the elk is not known. Probably they retired to the westward at the advance of the whites. Hunters did not boast of killing many of them. The meat of the animal is delicious, and the skin very valuable. The elk is easily domesticated. It was the pride and glory of the hunter to kill them. The county of Elk was erected in 1843, at which time there were some found in the great forests, but they were soon all destroyed. Probably there are not ten men living in Wayne county who ever saw one in our for ests. The last one heard of was killed fifty years ago. THE BEAVER. This animal challenged the Indian's veneration and the white man's admiration. They were found along most of the main streams, and especially along the Wallenpaupack, the Lackawaxen, and the head-waters of the Lehigh. Like the elephant they were half-rea soning animals, lived together in societies, and tenanted THE BEAVER. 51 the ponds, rivers, and creeks. Where the creeks were not of sufficient depth, they built dams, to deepen the water beyond the power of frost. Asa Stanton, who understood them well, says : "They built houses of wil lows, birch, and poplars, their aim seeming to be to have a dry place to sleep, lie, and, perhaps, eat in. Sometimes the houses had several compartments which had no communication with each other except by wa ter, and when finished had a dome-like appearance." In building dams, or houses, they carry stones and mud under the throat, by the aid of their fore-paws. Their trowel-shaped tails are used as rudders and pro pellers and not, as has been supposed, for the carrying of mud and for use as a trowel. They generally work in the night. Though they are classified Avith the Ro- dentia, or squirrels, yet their teeth are different; for such is the strength and sharpness of their teeth that they can lop off a bush as thick as a cane at one bite, and do it as smoothly as if cut vrith a knife. I have seen trees that had been gnawed down by them, six inches or more in diameter. It attains its full growth at, or before, its third year. It produces from two to six at a birth. The length of its head and body is about forty inches, and its tail one foot. They live upon the bark of the willow, birch, shaking asp, and other trees which they gnaw down, drag into the wa ter, and, for winter use, cover up in the water below the reach of frosts The Indians attached great value to the skin of the beaver, and they had occasion to ex ercise all their sagacity to capture them; the whites. 52 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. also, duly appreciated the fur of the animal, from which hats of great value were manufactured. The guns and traps of the white men finally effected their extinction, and tradition has it that near the depot of the Erie railroad below Honesdale, was killed the last beaver ever seen in Wayne county. The last one that I ever saw, was caught in a trap by Edmund Nicholson, of Salem. THE MARTEN. This animal, generally called Pennant's marten, though never very abundant, was found in Wayne. They were carnivorous and belonged to the weasel tribe, living upon squirrels, mice, and birds. Their length was about thirty inches, and the tail about seven teen inches. The fur was short on the head, but in creased in length towards the tail. THE RACCOON. This animal is to be found about farms in the vi cinity of forests. The body is about flbfteen inches in length, the head about five inches, and the tail eight or ten inches, the latter being ornamented with several whitish rings. The color of the back is a dark gray. The blacker the fur, the more valuable is the skin. The late FrankUn Barnes in his time dressed and man ufactured the skins into beautiful and valuable gloves. They are hibernating animals, that is, they burrow in the winter and lie in a torpid state, sometimes coming out during a thaw. They go in very fat and come out very lean. They prey upon small animals, birds, in- THE WOODCHUCK AND HEDGEHOG. 53 sects, and eggs, adding fi-uits and succulent vegetables to their diet, and especially ravaging the farmer's corn fields. There is no difficulty in taming a raccoon, but they become too mischievous to be endured. The fur was once extensively used in the manufacture of hats. THE WOODCHUCK, Called also the Maryland marmot, is too well known to need much description. He is a hibernating animal and lives upon clover, grass, and vegetables. When tamed he is harmless and fond of caresses. In the month of November, he goes into winter quarters, blocks up his door, and lies torpid, without eating, un til spring. When he comes out, the severity of win ter is past. He is of a grayish-brown color. Occa sionally one may be found that is intensely black. The teeth of this animal show that he belongs to the Ro- dentia, or squirrel tribe. THE HEDGEHOG. It is known by naturalists as the Urson, or Canadian porcupine, but it is altogether different from the Eu ropean, or African porcupine. The hedgehog has but one kind of spines or quills, which are thickly set over aU the superior parts of its body and covered by a coarse, long hair that almost conceals the quills, which are of different lengths, the longest not being over two and a half inches. These, however, form a coat of armor which protects the animal against every enemy but man. When attacked they roll themselves 54 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. up into a ball, and woe be to the animal that seizes them then. The hedgehog lives upon mice and frogs and upon vegetables and the bark of trees, and hiber nates among rocks and in caves. It has been tamed and kept in a cage, but they cannot be honestly recom mended as suitable pets for children. The Indians highly prized the animal both for its fiesh and quills; with the latter they ornamented their pipes, moccasins, and dresses. THE SKUNK. This animal is almost black, with white stripes. It generally lives near a rocky forest, having its den in an excavation in the ground or under rocks, where it lies dormant most of the vrinter. It is a pest, as it makes nocturnal visits to the poultry-yard, eats the eggs of geese, ducks, and hens, and destroys their broods. From a sack it discharges a most fetid and disgusting fluid secretion, one drop of which is suffi cient to make a garment unbearable for years. Not withstanding all this it was the opinion of Dr. Budd, a noted physician of New Jersey, that the musk of the skunk will yet be recognized as the most effective remedy in materia mediea, for the cure of phthisis or any cognate disease of the respiratory organs. THE OTTER. This animal, in consequence of its amphibious na ture, is nearly allied to the beaver, mink, and musk-rat. It is about five feet in length, including the tail, which is eighteen inches. The chin and throat are dusky THE MUSK-RAT. 55 white ; the rest of the body is a lustrous brown. The fur is valuable, so much so that the keeping and breed ing of the otter, for the sake of their skins, has been made profitable. More than fifty years ago Miss Polly Wright, a daughter of Nathan Wright, had a tame otter. (The Wright family were noted for their skill in taming animals.) I saw the animal several times at the house of Egbert Woodbridge, where Miss Wright lived. This fellow went where he pleased, and caught his own food. He would go to the Paupack, a half mile distant, at all times of the year, and often bring home a fine trout, take it to a large spring near the house, play with it as a cat does with a mouse, and de vour it when he had finished his gambols. No one could coax a fish away from him, although he was as playful and harmless as a kitten. His smooth, glossy skin was very beautiful. He had a winding hole un der the house where he would lie, and where he seem ed to take a roguish delight in biting the nose of every dog that attempted to interview him. After living several years in a state of domestication, he went away one summer and never returned. THE MUSK-RAT. Old hunters used to call this animal a "musquash." The head and body measure about fifteen inches : the taU nine inches. The fur is dark umber bro-^Ti, chang ing into a brownish yellow on the under part of the body. In summer its food consists of roots, tender shoots, and leaves of aquatic plants, and, in the win- 56 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. ter, of fresh-water clams. It is nocturnal and not of ten seen in the day-time, swims and dives well, and can remain a long time under water without breathing. It yearly builds a winter habitation out of mud and long grass, and lives about small, grassy ponds, muddy, slow streams, or swamps. Many of the skins are year ly exported. THE MINK In its habits and appearance resembles the otter, being much smaller, however, as it is only about twen ty inches in length. It lives about bog meadows, ponds, or sluggish streams, and feeds on frogs, fish, and clams, and vrill kill poultry in the vrinter if it can get at them. Its depredations are all nocturnal. Six ty years ago the skin of a mink was worth only a York shilling. A few years ago it was worth several dollars, but since that time their value has greatly depreciated. THE WEASEL. This animal with all its varieties is classified with the marten. They are cunning, silent, and cautious, and no animal exceeds them in agility. They can climb trees and follow the rat through all his \\dnd- ings; having seized their victi.m, they never relax their hold, but, fixing upon the back of the head, drive their teeth through the skull. They hunt day and night and are accused of killing poultry and destroying their eggs. There are several varieties. The skin of the most common kind is brown on the back, and white THE SQ UIRRELS. 57 on the belly and throat. The white kind is caUed the ermine weasel. The movements of aU the varieties are singularly graceful. Sq UIRRELS. The black squirrel, never very abundant, is yet to be found in the vicinity of chestnut forests. In the winter its skin is of a fine, glossy black. In some years numbers of them are seen in the woods ; at other times they caninot be found. They are not as large as they appear to be; their skins are of little or no value, and they are killed to gratify a morbid propensity to shed blood. The gray squirrels are larger and more numerous than the black kind, and remarkable for their beauty and activity. Like other squirrels it feeds upon all the nuts found in the woods and lays up a store of them for winter. , It is easily tamed and is then cunning, playful, and mischievous. The common red squirrel is onq of the boldest, most nimble, and thievish of all the rodents. He often lives in a hollow tree, and when he has a litter of young squir rels on hand, he will run up and down his tree, and, with a rattling chatter, scold and, threaten any crea ture that approaches his home; for this cause hq has been called a. chickaree. He does not appear to dig up the planted corn, but steals and carries it away in the fall. The Indians called these squirrels tree-plant ers. A solitary ('hestnut, hickory, of butternut tree is found a mile away from any of its kind. The In dians believed that the seed of such isolated trees was 58 HISTORY OP WAYNE COUNTY. carried and planted by the red squirrel. It may be that the animal is impelled by the impulsive power of instinct to plant trees for the future support of its race. This squirrel overmasters all the others, driv ing them from their holes and consuming their hoard ed stores. When pursued it makes long leaps from tree to tree. Its tail is long and adds mucli to the beauty of this interesting, sylvan rover. When driven by hun ger, it will live on the bark of trees. Flying-squir rels are scarce. The skin of their sides is extended fi-om the fore to the hind legs, the expansion of which forms a sort of sail that enables them to descend from one tree to another. They build their nests in hol low trees, and are the smallest of all the squirrels. The upper parts are ash color and the under parts white. Their skins are soft and silken, eyes large, black, and prominent. The ground-squirrel, or chip munk, is the most abundant of all squirrels ; it lives in hollow trees or in holes in the ground, digs up com in the spring, and steals it from the ear in the fall. This is the laboring squirrel, ever busy and active; he hoards up abundance of nuts and grain which other squirrels steal from him, whenever they can get at his garnered treasures. It is the way of the world; the laboring class are subject to have their acquisitions taken from them by the crafty and improvident. THE WILD CAT. There are several varieties of this animal, one of which resembles the Canadian lynx, and among our THE FOX. 59 liunters is called a catamount. It is larger than the wild cat and hag longer ears and a shorter tail. The whole tribe are carnivorous, living upon squirrels and mice. They are cowardly in disposition, but, when forced into a fight, defend themselves with bloody desperation. THE FOX. This animal, noted in fable and in song and known in all the northern parts of Europe and Asia, as well as in all the northern portions of the American Con tinent, consists of many varieties, all of which are cel ebrated for cunning and rapacity. The variety most common in Northern Pennsylvania is the red fox. Its fur is long, fine, and brilliant. It is a great thief, troublesome to poultry keepers, and does not scruple to devour small lambs, if they are found in its way. They are caught in traps and hunted by hounds and men, yet there are some of them still left. There is another kind called the gray fox, whose fur is not of much value. The most rare and valuable variety is the black, or silver fox. This variety is sometimes found of a rich, deep, lustrous black, the end of the tail alone being wliite ; in general, however, the fur has a sUver hue, tlie end of each of the long hairs be ing white, and presenting a beautiful appearance. The hunters no sooner find out the haunts of one of this scarce variety than they use every art to catch linn, as the fur fetches six times the price of any oth er kind. 60 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. THE HARE. This is one of the most innocent and defenseless of all animals, and its only chance to escape from its ene mies is by concealment or fiight. It is reinarkably swift, and when pm'sued is capable of making most astonishing leaps. It lives on the bark and buds of trees, in the winter, and upon tender herbage, in the summer, seeking its food in the night. From Decem ber to May this animal is white, excepting the red dish-brown of the ears. During the rest of the year the upper parts of the body are of a lead color. This hare has one peculiarity that has escaped the notice of zoologists. In the night, after some mild day in early spring, a strange sound is often heard in the woods, resembling the filing of a saw, which sound, it is generally believed, is made by a bird, which, consequently, has been named " saw-filer." Now this strange sound is not made by a bird, but by the male and female hare. This I know to be a fact, hav ing stood, on a bright moonlight night, within two rods of the animal when the sound was made. Sam uel Quick, of Blooming Grove, assured me that he had tamed the hare, and knew that they made such sounds. THE RABBIT. This animal closely resembles the hare in all its principal characteristics, size only excepted. It may, however, be at once recognized by the comparative shortness of the head and ears, as well as of the hinder limbs, and the absence of a reddish-brown tip on the THE RABBIT. 61 ears, and by the brown color of the upper surface of the tail. In habits it is different from the hare. Its fiesh, instead of being dark and highly-flavored, is white, and, though delicate, is said to be insipid, es- peciaUy that of the tame breed. The animal is decid edly gregarious, and makes extensive burrows, in which it dwells and rears its young. When alarmed it takes to its burrow and disappears as by magic. They produce three or four litters annually. The young, when first produced, are blind, naked, and helpless. The female forms a separate burrow, at the bottom of which she makes a bed of dried grass, lin ing it with fur. There she deposits her young, care fully covering them over every time she leaves them. It is not until the tentli or twelfth day that the young are kble to see. The rabbit is of a fulvous gray, and does not turn white. 62 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. CHAPTER V. BIRDS. NO part of animated nature is enlivened with any thing more intei'esting than birds. Their great diversity of forms, habits, and instincts ; their plumage always attractive, often gorgeous and rich with varied colors; their singular endowments by which they are enabled to navigate the air ; their ingenuity displayed in the construction of their nests; their songs and chants, — all combine to throw a halo of enchantment around them, which will ever find place in our memories. Thomas Jefferson, in his "Notes on Virginia," upon many subjects is fuU and exhaustive; but M^hen lie comes to write about the birds, he merely gives us a catalogue of their Latin and English names, without any description of their plumage and peculiarities. This neglect his readers very much regret, when re- fiecting upon the descriptive abUity of the noted au thor. Although destitute of the descriptive powers of that eminent writer, we shall attempt to give a general description, imperfect though it may be, of some of the birds which have frequented, or, which do yet fre quent, the fields and forests of Wayne county. Birds are either carnivorous, insectivorous, o-raniv- orous, or omnivorous, and their digestive organs are THE EAGLE, HA WK, AND KINGFISHER. 63 modified accordingly. Of the first kind are the eagle, hawk, kingfisher, owl, heron, and loon. THE EAGLE. That the eagle has been seen and killed in Wayne county may be a fact; but that it has ever made its aerie in our hills and mountains is questionable, as it ever builds its nest upon precipitous cliffs, higher than any that exist in the county. THE HAWK. The great hen-hawk is well known to all farmers, as they are subject to have their domestic fowls de stroyed by him. When he can find no other food he catches the garter-snake and sails about with it at a great lieight, sometimes letting the reptile fall, as if disgusted with his prey. His sight is intensely acute; he spares no bird that he can catch, and is the terror of all the smaller tenants of the air, excepting the king bird and the purple martin, who drive him from the vicinity of their nests. The pigeon-hawk in habits is like the larger kind. THE BELTED KINGFISHER Is found along the Delaware and other large streams. He has a loud, rattling voice. His sight is remarkably acute. From a tree near his frequented stream he will descend like a dart, seize upon a fish, carry it to his tree, and devour it, or convey it to his young. This bird sometimes lives in an excavation in some sand bank 64 HISTORY OP WAYNE COUNTY. where its nest is made, to which it returns year after year. THE OWL. This bird, once very numerous, was found in all the dark solitudes of the deep woods, and in the night made such sounds as seemed scarcely to belong to tliis world. Attracted by the dazzling fire-light of the hunter, he would, from some near tree, utter a sudden and frightful "waugh-0, waugh-0," sufficiently loud to alarm an army of men. In the same manner he star tled the belated traveler of the night. The Indian must have learned his terrific war-whoop from the owl. By way of variety, the wretch had other nocturnal solos, which were like the screeches of a mortal in in tolerable agony. Dr. Richardson, an English traveler, tells of the winter night of agony endured by a party of Scotch Highlanders who had encamped in the dark recesses of an American forest, and fed their fire with a part of an Indian tomb which had been placed in a secluded spot. The startling notes of the great owl broke on their ears, and they at once concluded that a voice so unearthly, must be the moaning of the spirit of the departed, whose repose they supposed they had disturbed. The Indians dreaded the boding hoots of the owl and forbade the mockery of his ominous, dismal, and almost supernatural cries. He is the sym bol of gloom, solitude, and melancholy. He Uves on all lesser birds and animals that he can surprise, and wUl destroy all poultry that he can reach. All his depredations are nocturnal. He builds a great nest in THE HERON AND LOON. 65 some forked tree, lines it with grass and feathers, and raises three or four owlets at one brood. Occasionally one is heard in some large forest, but the most of them have been killed by hunters. There is a small kind called the screech-owl which is of habits like the one above described. THE HERON, . Frequently called the night-heron, is peculiarly aquatic, has legs, wings, and neck longer than his body, and sometimes attains the height of five feet. He is both migratory and gregarious.- He is a great fisher man and seems satisfied with any kind of fish he can catch. He makes his nest of sticks upon the tall est trees and when disturbed emits a loud, piercing cry. Sometimes he is improperly called a crane, which bii'd lives near the seashore. THE LOON. This bird, which is called the great diver, is scarcely noticed by any of our ornithologists. It is altogether aquatic and never seen upon land. Formerly it fre quented our large ponds and was in the habit of pass ing from one pond to another. Five or six of them would make their passage together, flying very high and emitting a distressing cry resembling that of a per son shivering with cold. It can swim fifty rods under water, and so intensely acute is its sight, that it can, by diving, dodge the ball of a flint-lock rifle. Its food is fish and frogs. Its nest is built of coarse grass on some bog about a pond. Its color is bluish on the 9 66 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. back and vdngs, while the breast is nearly white. It is smaller than a goose and has a swan-like neck. Its feet being webbed, its movements are very gracefril in the water. THE AMERICAN SHRIKE. This bird is occasionally found in the beech woods and in other parts of Pennsylvania. The beak is strong, decidedly toothed, and the upper mandible is curved and shuts over the under mandible, which is nearly straight. He feeds on grasshoppers, dragon- flies, and small birds. He takes his prey like the fly catchers, by darting suddenly upon it from some post of observation, and, after satisfying his hunger, impales his remaining victims on thorns. When his supply of game is abundant, he leaves his stores to dry up and decay. He is bold and fearless, daring even to attack the eagle or hawk in defense of his young. In size he exceeds the kingbird. His tail is long and black, edg ed with white. The wings are black, and there are stripes of black running backward from his eyes. The rest of his plumage is of a lead color, the breast being paler than the back. THE CROW. This bird, watchful and cunning, is too well known to need much description. He is found everywhere and he understands his enemies just about as weU as they do him. He incurs the curses of the farmer for pulling up his com in the spring, and for feasting upon the ripened ears in the fall. Great flocks of them meet THE WILD TURKEY. 67 together in the spring and autumn, and, at their conven tions, seem to deliberate over their concerns with true legislative solemnities, intermingled with a liberal amount of parliamentary jabber and jaw. The character and plumage of the crow are both black, and it is an un settled question among agriculturists whether he is a blessing or a curse, — whether he is more sinned against than sinning. It must be admitted that being omniv orous he destroys the larvae of many injurious insects and beetles. THE WILD TURKEY. These birds, never very numerous, were found in our original forests sixty or seventy years ago, and were shot by hunters or decoyed into pens made of poles and covered over on the top, a trail of wheat be ing strewn upon the ground into the pen. The turkey, with his head down followed the trail into the trap, and upon raising his head endeavored to escape through the spaces between the poles, not lowering his head to see the opening at which he entered. Many were caught in this way, and all in consequence of holding their heads too high. Finally upon the invasion of the forests by the ax of the white man, being of a shy and retiring nature, they left for the more undisturbed forests of western Pennsylvania. They are natives of America. Being easily domesticated they were introduced into Europe as early as 1625. The nature of the bird may be inferred from the domesticated kind, though it is claimed that the wild . bird is much larger than the tame one, and that the flesh is of a more delicious flavor. 68 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. RUFFLED GROUSE. This is the bird caUed a partridge, and is so hardy as to five in our woods through our long, dreary win ters, when, at times, it burrows in the snow. The food of the grouse consists of seeds, berries, vrild grapes, and the buds of various trees. Theii" nest is made upon the ground, and they often rear a brood of twelve or fifteen chicks fr-om one incubation. Up on what the young are fed is unknown. The male is a noble looking bird, and whUe his mate is sitting, (and at other times,) he seeks out some secluded log, and, by the flapping of his wings, produces a very peculiar sound called "drumming." They are de stroyed by hawks, owls, and foxes, but their most re lentless foe is the hunter. The present law imposes a penalty of ten dollars upon any person who shall kill any ruffled grouse, between the first day of January and the first day of October in any year. THE QUAIL, Also called the Virginia partridge, is found through out the Atlantic States. They live on grain and in sects. In former times, when the farmers stacked out their hay and grain, they were quite numerous. The scarcity of food, combined with the severity of our winters, has made them very scarce. In some respects they resemble the ruffled grouse, in others they vary materially. The grouse roosts in trees, and is shy and untamable. The quail roosts or sits on the ground, and, if unmolested, will feed with domes- THE WOODCOCK. 69 tic fowls, and it is believed that they might be domes ticated. Any person killing the quail between the first day of January and the fifteenth day of October, in any year, is by law subject to a penalty of ten dol lars. Why not interdict the killing of them at any time? When calling his mate the male has a peculiar whistle. By some he is imagined to articulate the words, "no more wet;" by others, the words; "ah! Bob White." What boy is there that has heard his whistle who did not try to imitate it ? " The school-boy wandering in the wood. To pull the flowers so gay. Starts, his curious voice to hear. And imitates his lay.'' THE WOODCOCK. This bird resembles the English snipe, or woodcock, though it is less in size, and differently marked. In the day-time they keep in the woods and bushes, but, towards evening, seek wet and marshy ground, where they find their food. They seldom stir about until after sunset. It is then that this bird ascends spirally to a considerable height in the air, often uttering a quack, till, having attained his utmost height, he files around in cu'cles, making a gurgling sound, and in a few moments descends rapidly to the ground. If started up in the day-time, his flight at first is wab bling, then in a direct line, when he is shot by the sportsman. 70 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. THE WILD DUCK. There are so many varieties of this bird that it is difficult to determine what is the name of the kind that is found in our rivers and ponds, and which sixty years ago were found in large flocks, in the Little Equinunk pond, fr-om which circumstance it was called " Duck Harbor." It is one of the largest ponds in the county, and old hunters used to say that the ducks often resorted there in immense numbers. Being shy and wary, as soon as they were annoyed by the hunters, the most of them left for safer quarters. Then- peculiarities are like those of the tame kind. The wood-duck, however, is, in some respects, unlike all others. It formerly Uved along the Middle creek, and perhaps in other parts of the county ; unlike other ducks, it builds its nest in hollow trees near the water, and if the young cannot reach the water with ease, the mother carries each one to it in her bill. Audu bon caUed this kind the most beautiful duck in the world. THE THRUSH. The brown thrush, or brown thrasher, as it is caUed in New England, is the largest of all the numerous kinds of thnishes. His morning song is loud, cheer ful, and full of variety. His notes are spontaneous, not imitative. His back and wings are brown and his breast whitish, mottled with dark spots. His tail is long and fan-shaped. He flies low from one thicket to another. This bird has become very scarce, and may have left the county altogether. THE ROBINS AND CAT-BIRD. 71 THE ROBIN Is classified among the thrushes, and is often called " robin-red-breast." But our robin is larger than the English robin-red-breast, and is unlike it in habits and plumage. Our robin builds a nest of mud and lines it warmly, locating it in an orchard or in some tree near the habitation of man, its four or five eggs being of a pale blue. During the incubation of the female, and, at other times, the male, sitting upon some chosen tree, pours forth his loud and long-continued notes of "cheer-up, cheer-up, cheer-up," producing an enliven ing effect upon the most dejected heart. It is one of our earliest birds, and is among the last that departs for warmer climes. THE WOOD-ROBIN Is a solitary bird of the thrush order, never leaving the woods, and but little is known of them. Their notes are short and mournful, but not often repeated. Their plumage is of a light snuff color. All the thrush es are chiefly insectivorous. THE CAT-BIRD Is also ranked among the thrushes. Their nests are built in low bushes, and, when holding their young, are ably defended against aU intruders. Both sexes are of a uniform slate color. Upon coining near their nest, they emit a cry which resembles the mewing of a cat. The song of the male is loud, varied, and imitative. 72 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. THE PIGEON. These, of all birds, are the most gregarious. They fly in flocks and build their nests near each other, many of them on the same tree, and thousands of them in the same forest. A tract of land called "The Pigeon Roost," in BerUn township, sixty years ago, was one of their favorite places of rendezvous. Then they overspread this region in immense flocks of thousands. They lived upon the beech-mast. Since that time they have steadily decreased in numbers, until they have almost ceased their annual visits. Perhaps the great wheat fields of the West have allured them thither. Their rapidity of flight and abUity to remain unflag- gingly upon the wing for many consecutive hours, is wonderful. Pigeons have been caught in Wayne coun ty with undigested rice in their crops, which they must have eaten on the rice-fields of the South. " 'Tis true, 'tis strange; but stranger 'tis, 'tis true." Once they were caught in nets by hundreds, but now they are not caught at all. THE WOODPECKER. There are many kinds of these birds, the largest of which is the " high-hole, " so called from his habit of seeking a high tree with a dead top, in which he makes a hole for his nest. His food consists of insects and grubs, which he digs out of decayed timber. Like his whole tribe, he flies by alternate risings and fallings. He may be called the drummer among birds. In a still morning he beats a reveille upon some dead tree, THE BLUEBIRD AND SWALLOW. 73 which can be heard far away for a mile or more ; then he claps his head close to the tree and listens for the movement of any grub or insect that he may have disturbed. The red-headed woodpecker is a gay, frol icsome bird, living upon grubs, cherries, and green corn. Their nests are built in some hole made in dead trees. They are a match for any bird in a fight. There is a small woodpecker called a sap-sucker, which bores holes in apple-trees. The whole race is diminishing in numbers. THE BLUEBIRD. This bird is a favorite every-where. He is known to almost every child. His reappearance after his South ern pilgrimage is hailed as the herald of returning spring. " So early as the first of March," says Wilson, "if the weather be open, he usually makes his appear ance about his old haunts, the barn, orchard, and fence posts. Storms and deep snows sometimes succeeding, he disappears for a time, but about the first of April is again seen, accompanied by his mate, visiting the box in the garden, or the hole in the old apple-tree, the cradle of some generations." The food of the bluebird is made up of insects, particularly large beetles, fruits, and seeds. Its song is short, but very cheerful, and is most frequently heard in the calm, pleasant days of spring. THE SWALLOW. As the bluebird is the harbinger of spring, the swal low is the harbinger of summer. The barn-swallow 10 74 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. comes in May and immediately commences the build ing of its nest in and about barns and sheds, which is made with mud and lined with fine grass, feathers, and hair. It is not unusual for twenty or thirty of them to build in and about the same barn ; and every opera tion is carried on with great order. No appearance of discord is exhibited in this affectionate community. They have often two broods in a season, the female laying four eggs for each brood. The male cheers his mate with his sprightly twitter during her period of incubation. The activity of the male is unremitting. Almost constantly on the wing, he catches his prey in his flight, which consists wholly of winged in sects. The flight of the barn-swallow is rapid, circuit ous, and varied by the most intricate and zigzag evolu tions. To show the kindly nature of the swaUow, per mit me to relate that I once knew two pair of swal lows to commence their nests late in the season, in a place not fifty feet from my door. At first the nests increased slowly. One morning, hearing an uncom mon amount of twittering, I found that they had got up a bee and that ten or a dozen were at work upon said nests which were quickly completed; a brood of young swallows was raised in each, in time to join the great convocation which took their departure in August for a Southern clime. Another variety of these birds is the chimney-swallow, which builds and breeds in chimneys. They fly very high in the air. Their wings being very narrow are kept in a constant flutter, and as they do not descend to the ground, they must THE PURPLE MARTIN AND^ KINGBIRD. 75 feed on flies and insects which are beyond the reach of our vision. THE PURPLE MARTIN. This bird is a particular favorite wherever he makes his home. He is more likely, than the common swal low, to make his nest in a box; indeed something like a box is what he seeks to build in. At any rate the summer residence of this agreeable bird is always chosen near the habitations of man, who, be he black or white, civilized or savage, is generally his friend and protector. In habits, this noble bird closely re sembles the swallow, excepting that the martin is val iant in fight. He is the terror and common enemy of crows, hawks, and eagles, uniting with the kingbird in attacking them. It is astonishing with what spiiit and audacity, this bird sweeps around his enemy and in- fiicts painful blows with his poniard bill. He gives the kingbird a beating when he finds him in the vicinity of his premises. He is migratory and insectivorous. THE KINGBIRD. This bird is also called the tyrant fly-catcher. These names have been given to him on account of his be havior in breeding time, and for the despotic authority he assumes over all other birds. His extreme attach ment to his mate, nest, and young, makes him suspi cious of every bird that comes near his chosen abode, so that he attacks every intruder without discrimina tion. Hawks, crows, and even the eagle dread an en counter with him. He generally comes off conqueror. 76 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. Upon his return from a successful combat, he mounts a tree near his nest and commences rejoicing with a shrill, rapid, and hilarious twittering, to assure his mate that she is safe under his protection. The purple mar tin is said to be, in a square fight, more than a match for him. The general color of the kingbird is a slaty ash, the throat and lower parts being white. He is migratory and insectivorous, and the orchard is his favorite resort. THE WREN. This noisy, chattering, restless, quarrelsome little bird chooses his summer abode near some farm-house or barn, and is not particular as to the place where his nest shall be made, but, when once made, the place is sacred to him. He is a bold, saucy, and aggressive bird, being jealous of every bird that builds near him, and is accused of tearing to pieces the nests of the bluebird and barn-swallow. If his nest is built in a crevice, he lays dovm a long trail of little sticks at each end of his nest. These telegraphic sticks convey intel ligence of the approach of an intruder. The song of this little chatterer is lively and agreeable. Childi'en always admire the little, sociable wren. He destroys an immense number of flies and insects. THE WHIP-POOR-WILL. This bird is seldom seen or heard in the beech or hemlock woods. They prefer high, dry lands, and frequent the Delaware and the open woods. They are noted for their staid and peculiar song, in which THE COW-BIRD. 77 they indulge during the calm and warm nights of June and July. This is the only bird that breaks the stillness of our summer nights, save the boding owl. They seem to articulate plainly the words by which they are called. Their color, in the upper part, is a dark brownish gray, streaked and slightly sprinkled with brownish black; cheeks of a brown red; quill feathers, dark brown, spotted in bars, with light brown; tail feathers, white at the tips, under parts, paler than the upper, and mottled. The female lays her eggs on the bare ground, and when they are hatch ed, she is extremely attentive to her young. The night-hawk, though resembling the whip-poor- will, is a different bird. The latter is altogether noc turnal, while the night-hawk in cloudy weather is often abroad, in the day-time, chasing its insect prey, sometimes skimming over meadow and marsh, and making shriU, squeaking sounds as it dashes along. It lays its eggs on the ground. It is migratory and in sectivorous. THE COW-BIRD. This bird, although larger than a cat-bird, some what resembles it. Many call it the cuckoo, although its notes are altogether unlike those of the English cuckoo, which distinctly pronounces its name. But the notes of the bird that we are describing may be represented by the words "cow, cow, cow," quickly repeated, consequently it is caUed cow-bird in every part of the country. Wilson calls this bird the yel low-billed cuckoo. Like the English cuckoo, this bird 78 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. deposits its eggs in the nests of other birds, which sometimes hatch and rear the alien impostors, to the great discomfort of their own brood. The naturalist, Le Vaillant, from evidence collected by him, became convinced that the female cow-bird carries the egg in her mouth from her own nest to that of another bird. Perhaps she has a surplus of them, for it is a fact that the cow-bird builds a simple, flat nest, composed of dry sticks and grass. They rear only one brood in a season. The young of the cow-bird have been found. in the nests of the robin, blue-bird, and fly-catchers.- The cooing of this bird is considered an indication of rain. The Pennsylvania Germans call it the rain- bird. BLUE JAY. This bird, clad in blue varied with purple and white, and barred on the wings and tail with black, when viewed without prejudice, is a beautiful tenant of the woods, and is distinguished as a kind of beau among the feathered tribes. He makes himself conspicuous by his loquacity, and the oddness of his tones and gestures. In early times, the jay gave notice by his screams and squalling to all the beasts that the hunter was approaching. We are glad to be excused from repeating the exact language that was sometimes used in imprecating vengeance upon this "blue devil," as the hunters caUed him. If the hunter turned upon him, away he went with a vehement outcry, flying off and screaming with all his might. " A stranger," says Wilson, " might readily mistake his notes for the re- THE ME ADO W-LARK AND CEDAR-BIRD. 79 peated creakings of an ungreased wheelbarrow." The jay builds a large nest, lining it with fibrous roots. The eggs, five in number, are of a dull olive color. He is omnivorous, living on nuts and Indian corn, then on caterpillars, and th^n, at other times, he plun ders the nests of small birds of their eggs and young. He is becoming scarce, and no one will mourn over his extinction. THE MEADOW-LARK, Larger than the robin, is a shy, agreeable bird, that comes up from its Southern home and stays from two to three months and returns. Its back and wings are marbled with brown and gray, and its breast is light olive, sprinkled vrith brown spots. The nest is made in tall grass and is so well concealed that it is seldom found. Its notes are pleasant, but without variety. Farmers consider it harmless and insectivorous. THE CEDAR-BIRD Is small and graceful with a soft, silken, dun-colored plumage. The feathers on the head are elevated into a beautiful crest of a bright, brownish gray. It is generally known as the cherry bird, and is sure to be on hand as soon as strawberries and cherries are ripe. It is a peculiarity of these birds to fly in close, compact fiocks of twenty or thirty in a fiock, and for all to light upon the same tree. Where the red cedar is found, these birds feed upon its berries. About the 10th of June they disperse over the country in pairs to breed. 80 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. and spread through the Middle and Western States. They utter nought but a lisping sound. THE BALTIMORE ORIOLE. Fifty years ago this bird was scarcely seen or known in the beech-woods. In consequence of the increasing heat of our summers it is multiplying in numbers. It derives its name from the brilliant orange and black colors of the coat of arms of Lord Baltimore, In f onner times it was called the hang-bird from the hang ing and pensile position of its nest. This beautiful creature arrives among us about the fii'st of June, and departs early in August. In plumage it somewhat re sembles the dark-winged tanager, and like it is very sensitive to cold. It exhibits wonderful ingenuity in constructing its long, pouch-Uke nest in the forked ex tremity of some high tree. To be justly admired, the nest must be seen. The position chosen by the oriole for its pensile nest is, no doubt, prompted by instinct as a means of security against squirrels, snakes, and other enemies. Besides insects it feeds on strawber ries, cherries, and other fruits. Its notes are a clear, mellow, flute-like whistle repeated at short intervals in a plaintive tone, and are extremely musical. The late Mrs. H. G. Otis, some years ago, took to Boston an oriole's nest, which was constructed with magical skill, and sold it at a fair for five dollars. The nest was built in a high elm upon her premises in Bethany. THE SNOW-BIRDS First appear about the twentieth of October in THE NUT- HATCH. 81 fiocks of twenty or thirty, flying about very leisurely and searching for food. When deep snows cover the ground, they collect about barns, stables, and even about the farm-houses, and become almost tame, gath ering up crumbs and appearing lively and grateful. They retire northwards in April. Dr. Kane speaks of them as being very abundant in high latitudes, where they make their nests upon the ground. Their length is five inches, and their general color slate-gray, the lower part of the breast being nearly white. There is another larger bird, caUed the snow-bunting, which only appears in small flocks, in the depth of winter, commonly before a snow-storm. They frxquent barn yards and hay -stacks in search of hay-seed. The color of these birds is of a yellowish gray. They probably come from and return to the Arctic regions. They are timorous, suspicious birds. THE NUT-HATCH Is found almost every-where in the Northern States, among the large trees, in thick forests, but is seldom known or called by its proper name. It is a small bird about flve or six inches in length, with a white breast, the back and wings being rufous-brown and gray. It breeds in holes which it finds or makes in old trees, and lives upon beech-nuts, chestnuts, and hazel-nuts, which it can open with its strong pointed bill. Any man who has been much in the woods must have observed a bird that can run swiftly, head foremost, down a tree. That bird was a nut-hatch. 11 82 HISTORY OP WAYNE COUNTY. He must have noticed that the same bird was in the habit of rimning in circles around a tree, searching in the seams of the bark for insects. Naturalists declare that this bird is of an untamable disposition and will not endure confinement. It has been known to batter up its bill in its attempts to es cape from a cage, and after days of painful struggles, to die with exhaustion and vexation. There is a variety of this bird called creeper. Among them is a very small one called the phebe-bird, which will some times come and repeat its name from some tree near a dwelling-house. There is another creeper, called "cocheek," which is seldom seen, but is sometimes heard in the woods, most frequently in June, repeating in a very high, loud key "cocheek, cocheek, cocheek," very rapidly for a dozen or more times, and the sounds can be heard eighty rods away. Some have supposed that the noise is made by a squirrel, but I know to the {jontrary from my own observation. THE RUBY-THROATED HUMMING-BIRD. This is the only species of the genus found in the original Thirteen States, though there are scores of dif ferent kinds in America. It is found only on this con tinent. It needs no lengthy description, as it cannot be mistaken for any other bird. It comes to the North only in the summer months. It is the smaUest and one of the most brilliant of the feathered race. No bird excels its powers of fiight. Its long and narrow THE SONG-SPARROW. 88 wings are admirably adapted for aerial progression. Its fiight from flower to flower resembles that of a bee, but is much more rapid. It can suspend itself in one place for several seconds so steadily that its wings can scarcely be seen, while it thrusts its long bill into the flowers, to inhale their nectared sweets. When it alights, it prefers some small twig. The ground is never its resting place. It feeds not only upon the nectar of flowers but also on insects. In describing this bird, naturalists have exhausted all their skill. Buff on, the French ornithologist, obtained these birds at great expense and domesticated them, and his description of them is inimitable. THE SONG-SPARROW. This bird is a representative of the song finches of the Northern States. It is the first singing bird in the spring, and is heard through the summer and autumn. It will sit upon the branches of a small tree and, per haps, for a whole hour, repeat its short and enlivening notes. It buUds its nest on the ground, in general, but, sometimes, strange to say, in trees five or six feet from the ground. Its eggs are of a cream-color, speckled with brown. The male and female are nearly alike in color. The upper part of the head is of an iron-rust hue, mixed with dark-brown; back gray, neck and breast spotted with brown, under parts white, tinged with gray. There are other familiar kinds of finches as the field, tree, white-throated, and chipping-sparrow. The latter is a very small bird, which keeps about the 84 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. kitchen yard and tamely comes near the door-steps for grain or scattered crumbs. It builds its nest by the side of a stone, year after year, if not molested. It picks out the down}' seed of the thistle, and destroys many worms, especially the cabbage-worm. Its notes are short but agreeable. The English sparrows which have been recently naturalized, were imported into New York and PhUadelphia to destroy the worms and cat erpillars that were destroying the foliage of the decor ative trees in their public parks. They effected what they were expected to do. These birds have increased wonderfully and spread into all our large cities and towns, and, though our climate is too cold for them, yet they contrive to live, for they are bold, active, and full of fight. They do not go into the farming dis tricts, nor invade the forests, but confine themselves to towns and cities, where they work as petty scavengers in the streets. These birds did not come here of their own free-will, but, like the negroes, were forced into the country. But a loud complaint is now made that these sparrows are saucy and aggressive and that they are dispossessing and driving out our native birds, and the inquiry is being made, How shall we get rid of them? The devilish proposition has been made to poison them all ! It must be admitted that these birds partake of the natm'e of the people of the island from which they came ; which people have, by their warlike craftiness and enterprise, by fair means and foul, con quered, colonized, and taken possession of, by force of arms, large portions of the globe. It little becomes THE BLACK-CAP TITMOUSE. 85 US, the descendants of men who drove out and destroy ed the Aborigines, to blame and persecute the little birds for doing, in their line, what we excuse our fore fathers for doing. THE BLACK-CAP TITMOUSE. This is the bird that every body knows by the name of chickadee. It ranges through the whole width of the American Continent from latitude sixty-five degrees to the Southern districts of the United States, being- stationary throughout the year. "Small families of chickadees," says Nuttall, "are seen chattering and roving the woods, busily engaged in gleaning their multifarious food with the nut-hatchers and creepers, altogether forming a busy, active, and noisy group, whose manners, food, and habits, bring them together in a common pursuit. Their diet varies with the sea son. In the month of September they leave the woods and assemble familiarly in our orchards and gardens, and even enter thronging cities in quest of that sup port which their native forests now deny them." But what more than any thing else endears these little birds to us is the fact that when "winter spreads its, latest gloom, and reigns tremendous o'er the conquered year," the chickadees prove themselves no summer friends ; they stay with us, cheering us by chanting their sweet notes, picking up crumbs near the houses, searching the weather-boards for spiders and the eggs of destruc tive moths, especially those of the canker-worm, which they greedily eat in all stages of its existence. The lar- 86 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. vae of no insect can escape their searching sight. When the woodman, in the winter or spring, fells the forest timber, the chickadees wiU be there to cheer him with their presence and their song. They can hear the fall of the tree a great distance, and are very soon upon the spot, searching among the broken and decayed wood for insects and the larvae of every kind of beetle. In describing the bird, suffice it to say, that the top of the head, the back of the neck, and the throat are vel vet black; the back is lead-colored with a little white on the front of the neck. They roost in the hollows of decayed trees, where they, also, hatch their young. After a brood is reared, the whole f amUy continues to associate together through the succeeding autumn and winter. Where is the man or woman reared in the country that does not remember how in childhood days he or she was captivated by the dress and song of the little chickadee ? THE TANAGER. There are several varieties of this bird, one of which is called the cardinal or summer red-bird. This kind is very shy and timorous, and he seems to realize that his dazzling, crimson plumage exposes him to scrutiny and observation. He, therefore, takes up his abode in the deep recesses of tangled forests, and very little is known about him. In Western Pennsylvania and Ohio this bird is quite common, often building its nest in large orchards, and visiting cherry-trees in search of fruit. The black-winged tanager is a bird THE YELLOW-BIRD. 87 of still greater beauty. The whole body is of a deep crimson. The wings are black and the tail is dark purple, excepting the ends of the feathers, which are tipped and dotted with white. The whole form of this bird is symmetrical and faultless. There are many persons who declare that they have seen this bird, but none, perhaps, that have seen him for many years. He is doubtless, so far as plumage and symme try are concerned, the most beautiful bird that ever Uved in our woods ; and no being less than an omnipo tent God could have made a bird of such transcendent beauty. THE YELLOW-BIRD, Also caUed goldfinch, very much resembles the domestic canary. In the spring they gather in fiocks and bask and dress themselves in the sunshine. If there is any such thing as pure sublunary happiness, they appear to enjoy it. Their song is weak, but, when many of them join in concert, the mingling of their notes produces an agreeable harmony. They seem to take great delight in washing themselves by fiying through any small column of falling water. Then- flight is not in a direct line, but in alternate ris ings and sinkings. In the early part of June they associate in large flocks to feed upon the seeds of the sweet-scented vernal grass which seems to be their favorite food. Their nests are built in small trees, being constructed vrith great neatness and skill and lined with some soft, downy substance. This hand some bird does not appear to be decreasing in mim- 88 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. bers. It is too small to invite the destructive cruelty of the huntsman. There is another bird which is called the summer- yellow-bird, which is about flve inches in length, with an upper plumage of greenish-yellow, the wings and taU deep brown, edged with yellow. Formerly this bird frequented gardens and orchards, built a cosy nest and lined it with down. Its plumage was showy, but its song was short and weak. This bird has dis appeared, being too sensitive to bear our cold, chilling winds. THE CROW BLACK BIRD. This bird appears in every part of the country at different times. F'ormerly they committed great havoc among the fields of maize. Less complaint has been made about them in late years. Transient flocks of them are seen every spring and fall. The walk of this bird is stately and dignified. The red-winged variety built its nest among alders, hatching out five or six at a brood. This latter kind was also very fond of Indian corn. They aU have but one simple note which they often repeat and which sounds like the word " check." THE BOBOLINK. The bobolink is classified among the blackbirds, being mostly black, relieved by a stripe of white. The song of the male, which is loud, varied, and re peated generally upon the wing, while he hovers over the field, where his mate is attending to the duties of THE DIPPER. 89 incubation, has a gushing joyousness which the most skillful mimic cannot imitate. The female is a little brown bird, with one simple note, and makes her nest in the grass. Their stay at the North is very short; on leaving they go to Chesapeake bay and are there caUed reed-birds ; thence to the rice fields of the South, where they are called rice-birds, and, on becoming fat, are killed in great numbers. THE DIPPER. This is a timorous, high-stilted, little water-bird that in summer runs along the shores of our ponds, making a piping sound, and belongs to the order of sandpipers. He swims and dives well and is very graceful in the water, but when on land is constantly rocking his body backwards and forwards, dipping his head downwards, from which motion he has been called the dipper. Although we have searched for the nest of this shy bird, we never found one. There are probably some other birds that are tran sient visitors among us, such as the fiicker, the scrap ing-thrush, and cross-bill. Even the mocking-bird has been seen in Lebanon township. The greater part of the birds that come among us in the summer months, stay just long enough to build their nests, hatch, and rear their young and then are away. They come, in all probability, to escape from the snakes, squirrels, and birds of prey which are so abundant in Southern cUmes. The vivid, bewitching greenness of our forests 12 90 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. has, no doubt, great attractions for them. Our En glish and Irish people assert, and, no doubt, truthfully, that in their native islands the birds of song exceed ours in numbers and melody, but that the American birds surpass theirs in the beauty of their plumage. How delightful is the scene, when we can say: "The winter is past, the fiowers appear upon the earth: the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land." Since writing the foregoing, we have had the pleas ure of seeing an interesting collection of the skins of divers quadrupeds and birds prepared and preserved by that ingenious taxidermist, Lems Day, Esq., of Dyberry. All the preparations have a Uf e-like appear ance. Among the quadrupeds are a black Maryland marmot, a large hedge-hog, and two martens; and among the birds are some rare and beautiful specimens, all killed in Wayne county, as follows : A large Amer ican shrike, by some called the butcher-bird ; a cardi nal gross-beak, a rare bird in this latitude; a strange, tall bird, with long legs and with a longer neck, of a mottled gray, in slang language called a " shitepoke,"- and not very distinctly described by any of our orni thologists, resembling in plumage and shape the bird known in England as the bittern ; a black-winged tana ger; a meadow-lark ; a bird of the sandpiper order, called a "tip-up" ; a small black auk, which must have wandered from its ocean home. But strangest among them aU is a white woodpecker, a lusus naturoe. The head of this bird is ornamented with a crest of long, FISH. 91 slendej- feathers of a rich carmine color, and, were it not for its plumage, it would be at once recognized as an ivory-billed woodpecker. In Mr. Day's collection are many other rare specimens. Such is his love of the beautiful in nature, that we feel assured he will make further additions to his stock of rare curiosities. What we have written about birds has been done in part to incite our young people to study the nature and habits of these light tenants of the air, which we con sider the most interesting creatm-es in animated nature. If there be any one that is indifferent to the songs of the birds, to that person, male or female, will apply the words of Shakespeare : "The man that hath no music in himself, Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds, Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils ; The motions of his spirit are dull as night. And his affections dark as Erebus ; Let no such man be trusted." CHAPTER VL FISH. THE fish for which the settlers had the most reason to be thankful was the trout, which enlivened all the streams from the Paupack to the Starrucca, and 92 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. which, in the spring and summer months, afforded an abundance of cheap and wholesome food. The man that went fishing fifty or sixty years ago, if he had any skill or industry, did not throw away his time, if he attached any value to twelve or twenty pounds of the most beautiful fish. As a rule this fish was more abundant in the smaller than in the bigger streams, where they were larger in size, often attain ing a weight of one or two pounds. The trout could ascend any water however swift and any falling col umn of water which was not defiected or broken by falling on rocks. Hence they ascended the several falls of the Paupack. This the eels could not do, and, consequently, there were none above those faUs. If there are any there now, they have been carried up within iif ty years. Ephraim Killam, formerly of Pal myra, Pike county, used to tell how he, standing in one place, had caught forty pounds of trout in one hoiu", from and above a large mass of drift-wood in the Paupack. But saw-dust from the saw-miUs, the liquor from the tanneries, the droughts of our sum mers, and the more destructive fish-hooks have almost effected the extinction of this beautiful and valuable fish. A few of them, small in size, and smaller in quantity, may yet be caught in small brooks and mill-ponds, early in the season. Before the introduction of pickerel into our ponds, thirty or forty years ago, perch were abundant, were easily caught, and the fiesh was hard and of an agreeable flavor. In some of the ponds they yet FISH. 93 abound; but, in general, their numbers have been greatly diminished by the voracity of the pickerel. Perch and sunfish are rarely found in running streams. Catfish are found in almost every pond, and, if the water is pure, are a good fish. Eels are found in all the large streams except the Paupack. Chubs, suck ers, and mullet abound in some streams and ponds. Seventy-five years ago shad ascended the Delaware to Deposit, and were caught below there, at the mouth of Shadpond brook. Joseph Atkinson, Sen., used to tell of seeing them caught at Paupack Eddy, and Esquire Spangenberg, of seeing them, in spawning places, between the mouth of the Dyberry and the Henwood bridge. It is to be hoped that the enterprise and experi ments of A. W. Mc Kown, Esq., who, at much trouble and expense, has introduced the northern black-bass into several of our large ponds, will succeed in and satisfy his expectations. Any fish that can hold their own against the voracity of the pickerel, will be a valuable addition. It is contended that the fecundity of the bass is wonderful, that its flesh is of an agreea ble flavor, and that it is not so easily caught as to in vite the unskillful to pursue it to extinction. These are, if true, very important recommendations. The pickerel in many of our ponds have eaten up all the other flsh and even devoured their own progeny, thus leaving the ponds destitute of all fish of any value. 94 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. CHAPTER VII. REPTILES. THE most dreaded and venomous of all the snakes in the Middle States is the rattlesnake. It is often found along the high, dry, open woods of the Dela ware and Lackawaxen rivers, and on the Moosic mountain ; but never in the beech, hemlock, and ash woods — at least we never found one in the interior of the beech woods. Popular beUef assigns to the leaves of the ash-tree properties most repugnant and fatal to this snake. If the leaves of the ash have such an effect upon this reptile, the matter should be inquired into by scientific and medical men. Rye whiskey, applied externaUy and internally, is pro nounced to be a sure antidote for the bite of this snake. The philosophy of the matter is, that the patient must take more poison than the snake had in him. The dose for an adult is one quart of pure whiskey, but, as this can seldom be found, one pint of adulterated whiskey will do. The black, water, green, and garter snakes, and spot ted adder or milk snake are not venomous, and it is thought by many that they ought not to be killed wantonly, as they destroy many hurtful vermin. INSECTS. 95' CHAPTER VIII. INSECTS. rilHE insects which abound in Wayne county are -I those usually found in the Middle States, in the same latitude, and consist of bees, wasps, hornets, but- terfUes, moths, ants, crickets, ffies, grasshoppers, beetles, etc. These are so well known that no particular de scription of them is necessary. The honey-bee is the only one of special interest, owing to the large amount of honey produced annually in the county and to its being an important contribution to the resources of the people. THE HONEY-BEE. Thomas Jefferson, in his "Notes on Virginia," in forms us that the early settlers at Jamestown brought over honey-bees from England ; and that previous to that time, they were unknown in America. The bees, he says, spread in advance of the English settlements with amazing rapidity. They were a great wonder to the Indians, who called them "the white man's fiy." There is a kind of stingless bee in Guatemala, in Cen tral America, which lays up its honey in long, thick, opaque cells closed at both ends. But the honey has 96 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. not the fiavor, nor the cells, the beauty of those pro duced by the European honey-bee. The pioneers in Northern Pennsylvania found the bees in advance of them. I have heard my father say that, in 1803, he found fourteen bee-trees which averaged eighty pounds of honey to each tree. The hollow trees which the bees cleared out and fitted for their abode, seem to be peculiarly fitted for them. Like the Indians they seem ed to delight in the gi'eat, glorious, primitive forests. In early times at least one quarter of the settlers kept bees. But as the country was cleared up, and the maple and basswood were cut down they became less profita ble and prolific, and were infested by a white miller, that laid its eggs in and under the bottoms of the hives, which, in their gnat or worm state surround themselves with a web and devour the young and the combs. The first settlers kept their bees in straw hives, which have been superseded by hives made of wood. The keeping of bees in Wayne county is made a speciality at the present time. Among the persons who are devoted to the business are Sydney Coons, of Lebanon, William Manaton, of Clinton, Mortimer E. Lavo, whose apiaiy is in Mount Pleas ant, George Leonard, of Salem, Jacob Schoonover, of Dyberry, George Wild, of Paupack, and others. Some keep them merely to have honey for their own use. And here we are prompted to inquire, from whence does the honey-bee, including all its orders, derive its ability and wisdom wherewith to govern a LAND TITLES AND SURVEYS. 97 community of thousands, directing some to gather bee-bread, others to build the cells, others to feed the young, and others to guard and ventilate the hive, all carried on without discord or confusion ? Is not the conviction forced upon us that they are under the impulsive teaching of a God-given instinct ? CHAPTER IX. LAND TITLES AND SURVEYS. THE Penn family, during the Revolution, were ac cused of being adherents of the British Govern ment, and of withholding from the cause of liberty that aid which they might have contributed thereto. Consequently the General Assembly of Pennsylvania, j the passage of streams, rise above the river alluvions. Westward of the hills are some good, arable lands, including Kingsbury Hill, Jericho, Brownsville, Wal- lersville, the southern part of the township, and the vicinity eastward and northward of the village of Como. Fork Mountain pond. Lizard lake. High lake, Preston lake, and Nabby's lake are the chief bodies of water. The main streams running into the Dela ware are the Shehawken,* Big Equinunk, and Toek Pollock. The river fiats were taken up and settled at an eariy day. It was many years before any clearings *This is the orthography used in old records. In one in stance it is spelled ' ' Shehocking. " But the word is now some times spelled "Chohocking," which is neither Indian nor Eng- lish. 316 HISTOR Y OF WA YNE CO UNTY. were made or any house built upon the uplands. From till assessment made by Blackall W. Ball, in 1806, it appears that there were in the township twenty-five houses, assessed to twenty-one persons, valued at $6,229 ; valuation of personal property and seated lands in 1806, $11,454; valuation of same in 1878, $230,273 ; number of neat cattle in 1806, sixty ; valu ation of same, $635.00; number in 1878, one hundred and twenty-seven ; valuation of the same, $3,360. Copy of part of said assessment of 1806, showing the names of persons owning houses, mills, neat cat tle, etc.: ¦a 1 1 i 1 0:1 1 d 0 1 1^ 0 1 s 11 Oooupatlon. Blackall W. Ball... John Barrlger Sllnon Peter Cole.. Nathan Cole Joseph Cole Peter Cole 86 2625 12 4 40 '20 5 30 130 "26 20 4 ... 4 840 '.'.'. 255249 328 560313 sis 'ii 4t6 256445 ^ $ 20 5 1010151540 252024 40 T545 15 1090 "26 2010 10 10 1 " 13 1' $ 20 "so "so 75 '366 ioo 111 21 111 2127 1 21 1 1 $'i6 'io 10 '26 1010 10 10201020TO 10 "26 10 'io 10 2 2 2 '2 4 2 2 4 4 22 $40 '46 '46 '46 804040 8080 '40 40 Farmer Abraham Dillon... Geo. W. HubbeU... Adam Kniver John Knight Nathan Mitchell.. Thaddeus Newton. Paul Newton Benjamin Owen. . . Samuel Preston... Sylvester Eoylston Benjamin Sands... Thomas Travis Benjamin Thomas OUver Tyler wmiam White.... Eleazer Ogden Ezra Newton Wheelwright Farmer t.11 utlit TOWNSHIPS— BUCKINGHAM. 217 The first man who commenced on the Delaware river in Buckingham, was Samuel Preston, Sen., a Quaker, born in Bucks county, Pennsylvania. He began to make an improvement as early as 1789. He had been all through Luzerne county and the northern part of Wayne county examining the country for the selection of a proper site for starting a village, under the patron age of Henry Drinker, a wealthy Quaker of Phila delphia, and a large land-holder. A place was selected upon the Susquehanna river, now in Susquehanna county. Pa., and called Harmony, which location suit ed Drinker, but Preston preferred Stockport. He, however, assisted in laying out and building up Har mony, from whence men. went to help Preston on with his improvements, and a road was cut out from Stock port to Harmony. Mr. Preston named his chosen location Stockport, and the township Buckingham — names well known in England from whence the Pres ton family came in the days of William Penn. His correspondence was very extensive, the most of which he preserved. He was a man of genius and a good mathematician. He built the first mills in Bucking ham, and in 1806 had cleared up one hundred and thirty acres of land. He greatly promoted the settle ment of the town, every one being welcome. He made frequent journeys to Bucks county. He brought his iron and merchandise up the Delaware river in Dur ham boats, which were pushed up the river by setting- poles, except in ascending Foul Rift and other swift waters, where the boats were drawn upward by long 28 218 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. ropes extending to the shore. In 1793, he w-as mar ried in Bucks county to Mercy Jenkins, a Quakeress. Within a year he moved his w-ife to Stockport. He had many peculiarities, but they were harmless.* For one .half of the men that he knew he had nicknames, and many of them were laughably appropriate. He was appointed the first associate judge of the county, and at December sessions, 1798, charged the first grand jury impaneled in the county. At a good old age he died peacefully at his residence at Stockport. Samuel Preston, Sen., left three sons and one daugh ter. Paul S. Preston, the oldest of the sons, married Maria, a daughter of Samuel R. Mogridge, who came from England and settled in Manchester township. She was a cousin of the celebrated Matthias Mogridge,- Esq., and, although older than her husband, outlived him several j'ears. She was a remarkable woman, in dustrious, frugal, hospitable, and never forgetful of the poor and needy. She brought up fifteen orphan children. Sm-ely her memory is blessed. Having his *Once the Judge asked a man to dine with him who said he was not at all hungry. Soon after the man said, "I guess I will take some dinner," and drew up to the table. The Judge reached over and took away the man's plate, knife, and fork. Supposing it to be a joke, the man asked Mrs. Preston for a new set. "Thee need not let him have any," said the Judge. Then addressing the man, he said, "Thee cannot now eat at my table. Thee said thee was not hungry. If thee is not hun gry, thee ought not to eat ; and if thee is hungry, then thee hast told a lie, and I do not wish to eat with a liar." The man left. TO WNSHIPS— B UCKINGHAM. 219 father's assistance, Paul early acquired a good educa tion, and in 1828 w-as elected sheriff of the county, and in 1835 was appointed, by Gov. Ritner, clerk of the several courts of Wayne county, and register and recorder. He had a good library, was well ac quainted with all the English classics, and fully undei-- stood the history and Constitution of his own country. Having Quaker proclivities, he was conscientiously opposed to slavery. He was honest in all things and he never attempted to make the worse appear the bet ter reason. His professions were his convictions. As he advanced in life he was often heard to say that he had received his three sufiicient w-arnings and that he hoped that his exit would be sudden. His prayer was \'ouchsafed him. He died suddenly at Stockport sta tion, in September, 1873, aged about seventy-seven years. " After life's fitful fever he sleeps w-ell." Samuel Preston, Jr., was an excellent farmer, and while he was able to work, superintended the w^hole business upon the farm. He was an unwavering- abolitionist. His hatred of slavery was intense. He was ever ready to contribute of his means to aid the fugitive slave. His opposition to slavery arose from his hatred of all wrong, and he could not bear to see pain unnecessarily inflicted upon any of God's crea tures. " Blessed are the merciful for they shall oitain mercy." Samuel died at Stockport about three years before Paul. Warner M. Preston w^as a lumberman and spent much of his time in Philadelphia in selling the lumber 220 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. that was yearly run from Stockport. He was a mathe matician and surveyor; quiet and unobtrusive, with a well-balanced' mind. His views were never extreme upon any subject. He died in Philadelphia in 1872. Hannah, the only daughter of Judge Preston, mar ried Benjamin Randall, an Englishman. She is yet living in the township and is the mother of Benjamin Randall, Jr., and Peter Randall, who are well-known lumbermen. J. A. Pitcher married a daughter of Mrs. Randall. Mrs. Pitcher was a great favorite with the Preston family. Mr. and Mrs. Preston bequeathed and devised their property to Ann, their only living daughter. They had one other daughter who married Allan Hoxie. She died many years ago. Stockport is almost a village of itself. Two dwell ing-houses, with numerous barns and sheds, one store, a blacksmith shop, a grist-mill, a steam circular saw mill, and a school-house which was built by the Pres- tons, with about two hundred acres of improved land, make up the place. Knowing as I do the moral, social, and intellectual exceUencies of the Preston family, and making all due allowance for the frailties of human nature, truth compels me to say, that I never shall look upon their like again. Before the building of the New York and Erie Railroad, long, capacious, and graceful canoes were numerous along the Delaware river, nearly all of which have disappeared. Warner P. Knight, of TO WNSHIPS— B UCKINGHAM. 221 Stockport, has one, which would have been admired in former times. Such is its capacity that he has con veyed the burthen of a ton in it from Equinunk to Stockport. The Knight family. In or about 1789, Capt. John Knight, then about eleven years old, came "with Sam uel Preston to the large flats on the east side of the river below Stockport, where Canope and another Indian lived. Being very hungry, they saw a cow- that was eating a pumpkin, and they took it away from her, built up a fire, roasted and ate it. Capt. John Knight afterwards married Rebecca Jenkins, a sister of Judge Preston's wife. The sons of Captain John Knight were William, Daniel, John, and Richard. William Knight, Sen., a brother of Captain John Knight, was bom in Philadelphia, in 1775. In 1802 he was appointed by Jefferson as sailing-master of the frigate Philadelphia, and was sent by Bainbridge to intercept a Tripolitan vessel. His vessel ran on a rock and he and the ship's crew of three hundred and eleven men were taken prisoners and kept about two years, when they were ransomed by the payment of $60,000 by the government. Pine lumber was cut at Stockport, ran dowm the river, and sold to the govern ment which shipped it to Tripoli and turned it in to pay a part of said ransom money. Abram Dillon, from Bucks county, began above Equinunk. John K. Dillon, deceased, William Dil lon, deceased, and Hamilton Dillon, living in Han cock township, Delaware county, N. Y., were his sons. 222 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. The old homestead is in the possession of the DiUon family. John Barrager was from near Albany, N. Y. One of his sons, Henry, lives near Great Bend ; another, George, lives in the town, near the river; and John K. Barrager was killed in the late war. George W. HubbeU, a wheelwright, was the father of Hon. Thomas J. HubbeU, who once represented the county in our Legislature. Jonathan Jones, once a commissioner of Wayne county, lived near the mouth of the Shehawken, where some of his family are now located. The names of Thaddeus Newton, Paul Newton, and Ezra Newton are found among the oldest records of the township. Ezra Newton, Jr., now lives near the suspension bridge which spans the Delaware, near Hancock. Benjamin Sands and Thomas Travis made import ant improvements at an early day. Blackall W. Ball lived below the mouth of Shraw der's creek, and Ball's Eddy w^as named after him. From what we can learn about him he was a Quaker, from near Philadelphia. The farm was owned many years by James More, Esq. Previous to his purchase at Ball's Eddy, Mr. More lived in Preston township. Gideon, James, and Thomas Woodmansee located on the road called the " Stockport road," eastward of the Upper Twin pond; they having come from Connec ticut. They were there in 1819, perhaps earlier. Gideon Woodmansee was the grandfather of J. Man- TO WNSHIPS— B UCKINGHAM. 223 ning, Jedediah, Samuel, Lyman, and Horace Wood mansee. Lyman Woodmansee was a carpenter.; the rest were farmers and lumbermen. Brownsville took its name from a man by the name of Brown, who built a tannery upon the outlet of High lake, which tannery is now^ owned by Mr. R. H. Wales. There is a post-oflice at the place, and a large store. The first settler above Ball's Eddy was Peter Cole who died there and left his possessions to his son, John Cole, who was known to every lumberman on the Delaware. Elias Kingsbury, from Connecticut, was the first settler at Kingsbury Hill. He married Rachel, a daughter of Thomas Travis. He has two children yet living at the place, namely, Thomas Kingsbury, and Rachel, wife of William Coddington. Abel Belknap, from Stillwater, N. Y., had a large family who settled in different parts of the county. George H. Belknap, and D. B. Belknap, Esq., are prominent citizens of the place. The latter was from Dnadilla, N. Y., and was of another family. Equinunk will be described under Manchester, be ing mostly in that township. Buckingham has ten common schools'. 224 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. CHAPTER XVIIL TO WNSHIPS— MANCHESTER. THIS township is bounded north-west by Bucking ham, north-east and east by the Delaware river, and south by Damascus and Lebanon, and was taken from Buckingham and erected into a township, Aug. 30th, 1826. For many years before its erection it w-as known as " The Union Settlement." It took that name from the following circumstances: Samuel Preston and John Hilborn, in the spring of 1790, made a quantity of maple-sugar and sent it to Henry Drinker. The kettle in which the sugar was made was taken from Trenton to Stockport in a Durham boat. Miss Ann Preston says that the kettle is yet at Stockport. Mr. Drinker, in a letter to Mr. Preston, dated Philadelphia, 1st, 7mo., 1790, wrote about the sugar as follows : " I sent a box of thy sugar to Rob ert Morris, desiring it might be presented to the President of the United States, who was pleased to signify his satisfaction at the receipt thereof, in a let ter directed to me, of which the following is a copy: 'New Yobk, June 18, 1790. Sir : — Mr. Morris has presented me, in your name, with a box of maple-sugat, which I am much pleased to find of so good a quality. I request you to accept my thanks for this TOWNSHIPS— MANCHESTER. 225 mark of attention ; and being persuaded that considerable ben efit may b6 derived to our country, from a due prosecution of this promising object of industry, I wish every success to its cultivation, which the persons concerned in it can themselves desire. I am, Sir, your most obedient servant, Geokgb Washington.' So thee sees how I am advanced to a correspond ence with the King of America. Upon the whole, it is my opinion the subject deserves the countenance and encouragement, not only of one, but of all the great men of the United States. A good deal of time has been spent with J. Hilborn in forming di rections for pursuing this business in the best way, and in describing the necessary utensils, &c. It has been concluded that to diffuse the same through the country where it may be useful, it would be best to print a small pamphlet, and in pursuance of this con clusion, Joseph Jones and partner have committed part to the press." In those days the land-owners, having lands covered with hard wood, imagined that upon burning the wood the ashes might be profitably made into potash. Stimulated by the ardor of Henry Drinker, who owned a large quantity of land in Manchester, a com pany was formed in Philadelphia, 18th of September, 1792, " To be called the Union Society, for promoting the manufacture of sugar from the maple-tree and fur thering the interests of agriculture in Pennsylvania. The Society's attention to be primarily and principally confined to that purpose and to the manufacturing of pot and pearl ashes." The trustees were Henry Drink- 29 226 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. er, Samuel Preston, Timothy Pickering, Samuel Hodgdon, Samuel Pleasants, and Samuel M. Fox. The society bought of Henry Drinker eight tracts of land in the warrantee names of Thomas Stewardson, Benjamin Wilson, Mary Sandwith, Samuel Simpson, T. P. Cope, John Thomas, George Drinker, and John Drinker, making three thousand one hundred and thirty-three acres, called for convenience three thou sand acres, divided into sixty shares at five pounds per share; total three hundred pounds, (probably Penn sylvania currency, $2.66f to the pound.) One half was to be paid down. Thirty persons, mostly Quakers, took the shares. Besides the trustees there were other noted men among the share-holders, viz: Samuel Meredith, Thomas Stewardson, Dr. Benjamin Rush, Judge James Wilson, Robert Smith, John Nicholson, Robert Morris, Jeremiah Warden, and others. The Society had a constitution and by-law-s, dated August 23d, 1792. In 1796 the property was inventoried. There were thirty-seven potash kettles. Some of them were brought up the Delaware in Durham boats, others of them were conveyed fifty miles overland from Esopns. They had two hundred pine and ash troughs, itnd one thousand made of bass-wood ; they had cleared up thirty-eight acres of land, built three houses and a saw-mill. The personal properiy was sold to Samuel Preston and Henry Drinker. From an exhibit made by Samuel Preston, the share-holders did not lose by the enterprise, but it probably did not prove as profi table as they expected it would. The business was TOWNSHIPS— MANCHESTER. 227 discontinued in 1796. Afterwards Samuel Meredith undertook the manufacture of potash near Belmont and could not make it pay. An undertaking like that of the Union Society under like circumstances in the present day, on account of a better understanding of the business, could probably be made profitable. It is not probable that the motives of the Society were mercenary, but the land-holders were benefited by having their lands brought into notice. The main streams in the town are the Big Equinunk and its south branch, and Little Equinunk with its divers tributaries. The main branch of this stream is the outlet of Duck Harbor lake. The chief ponds are Price's and Lord's. High steep hills crowd the Dela ware. The south-western and south-eastern parts are thinly settled, while the central portion and the lands along the Little Equinunk are the most thickly peo pled. There is yet much good land which lies in its primitive state, though it may have been stripped of its timber. According to the first triennial assessment made in 1827, there were twenty-nine taxables with twenty-one houses valued at $410. Nathan Mitchell was assessed as living in this town in 1804 and called a mill-wright. James Lord, American born, though his father was an Englishman and his mother a Welsh woman, was as sessed, in 1812, as owning four acres of ploAA--land, and 439 acres of unimproved land, and one house, though it is claimed that he began in 1810. He set tled on the farm now owned by the Taylors, one mile 228 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. below Equinunk bridge, and, in or about 1836, sold out said lands and farm to William Weston, Esq., and removed and bought land about the pond which was named after him. "There are Lords many." James Lord was the progenitor of the Lords in Manchester, except the one called " Equinunk John," who lived at Lordville depot. The following names are found upon said assessment of 1827: Jonathan Adams, farmer; William Adams, single ; James Carter, farmer ; Isaac Cole, farmer ; Emanuel Cole, farmer; Abraham Hoover, laborer; David Howell, mechanic ; John Kellam, farmer ; Jacob Kellam, farmer; George Kellam, single; Zepthah Kel lam, single ; John Jenkins, farmer ; James Lord, farm er; John Lord, Jr., farmer; Richard Lord, steersman; David Lay ton, farmer; Jacob Lord, single; Samuel R. Mogridge, farmer; Charles Mogridge, farmer; Mat thias Mogridge, farmer; Anna Mitchell, widow; Sam uel Price, blacksmith; Jonathan Peirce, single; Henry Pen-ce, single ; Sabina Smeed, laborer ; Thomas Todd, tailor; Nathaniel Tyler, farmer; Anson Tyler, single; Jacob W. Welsh, justice. John Kellam was taxed in 1818 as having eighteen acres of improved land and three hundred and fifty acres of unimproved, and in 1827 as having ninety acres of improved and three hundred and eighty acres of unimproved land and one mill. Jacob Kellam, who was a farmer and lumberman extensively known, Uved near the mouth of the Little Equinunk, and had sixty acres of improved and five hundred and sixty-nine TOWNSHIPS— MANCHESTER. 229 acres of unimproved land. George Kellam, a mer chant for many years at Pine Flats, had forty-six acres of improved and two hundred and ninety-four acres of unimproved land, and two houses assessed at one hundred, dollars each. Jacob Kellam had a large number of sons of vigorous, powerful physiques, some of whom are yet residing in the neighborhood of Lit tle Equinunk. Jacob W. Welsh was by trade in Lon don a cabinet-maker, and came to this country about 1813. He was taxed in 1827 as having seventy-five acres of improved and seventy-five acres of unimprov ed land. He was an intelligent man and was for many years a justice of the peace. He had two sons, George and Henry. The latter is a practicing attor ney in Hancock, N. Y. George is dead. William J., a son of Henry, is engaged in the practice of the law in partnership with his father, and in 1877 repre sented his district in the State Assembly. WilUam Adams made said assessment ; he was from Delaware Co., N. Y., and afterwards removed to Lebanon. Samuel R. Mogridge started for the United States in 1812, before the declaration of war by the United States against Great Britain, and the ship in which he and his family took passage was diverted from its intended destination and put into Quebec. It caused him much trouble, delay, and expense to make his way through the two armies to Manchester township, which was afterwards named by him. But the noble old Englishman, inspired by that resolution which characterized the early settlers of New England, never 230 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. faltered; biiit settled in the very heart of Manchester, midst the dark and tangled forests, encircled at night by ¦hooting owls and howling w^olves. He was the nucleus around which many of his countrymen gathered, until it was called the Union' English Settlement. The assess ment af or.esaid stated that he had thirty acres of improv ed and seventy acres of unimproved land. Afterwards he acquired, other lands; He was the father of Maria Mogridge, the wife of Paul S. Preston, that noble woman whose deeds of goodness and charity cannot be forgotten, and whose mantle, upon her departure, •fell most gracefully upon Ann, her only surviving daughter. Matthias Mogridge was a nephew of Sam uel R. Mogiidge and, of course, was a cousin of Mrs. Paul S. Preston. To use the language of Mr. Mog ridge, he says : " I was born in England, and saUed in a British frigate that fought Jackson at New Orleans under Packingham and Gibbs and took back to Eng land what few the Yankees left alive. Then I went in the Northumberland, that conveyed Napoleon Bo naparte to St. Helena. I was an officer's servant, or^ in other words, a " powder-monkey." I returned to Eng land, was paid off, took my money, and shortly sailed to New York, in 1817. In 1820, I came to Wayne county, and have lived here ever since. After the organization of the township, I sat at the first election board, voted the first ticket, and had the first chUd b'orn in the new township. I have now thirty-two grandchildren and nine great-grandchUdren, and fex- pect more soon. One of my grandsons served three years TOWNSHIPS— MANCHESTER. . 231 in the late civil war. I am seventy-eight years old. When I first came into these woods I left my trunk and box of tools at Benjamin Conklin's tavern, on the Newburg turnpike, eight miles from uncle Samuel's house. I wanted uncle to let me take the oxen and sled and go for them. He said it was impossible as the road was full of trees turned up by the roots ; but at last I went. Some of the trees I cut out, some I drove over, some I went under, and some I drove around. It took me longer to make that trip than it would now to go to New York city and back." Mr. Mogridge had some peculiar gifts. He had a strong, sonorous, far-reaching voice. "If I had his" voice," said the Hon. Geo. W. Woodward, " I could command or control any legislative body in the United States." Besides, he had an inexhaustible fund of wit, and in amplification was unrivaled. He could transform a minnow^ into a whale, enlarge an ant-hill into a mountain, and magnify a lightning-bug into a thunder-storm. Mogridge, having been naturalized^ was elected constable of the township, and afterwards elected justice of the peace, and, being in the central part of the township, was appointed postmaster. As the two offices cannot by law be held at once by the same person, some one, envious of his popularity, caused him to be indicted for holding two offices of profit and trust, one under the State and the other un der the general government. Upon being asked whether he w-as guilty or not guilty, he assured the court that he was wrongfully indicted for holding two 232 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. offices of profit and trust ; he admitted that he held the two offices, but declared that there was no profit in either of them, and that they were purely offices of trust, as he trusted all his fees and aU the postage. The judge was very much amused upon hearing Mat's plea, and in consequence of some flaw in the indictment, a nolle prosequi was entered. Mogridge went over to see the great exhibition at the Crystal Palace, at Lon don. " Having been adopted as an American citizen,'' says he, " I passed myself off for a Yankee. I knew that I should not attract much attention as an English man, as they can see one there every day, and having liecome well acquainted with Yankee slang, they gave me credit for being a live American. I could out-talk the best of them. I told them that their island was a very neat, pretty place, and had been weU looked af ter, but that it lacked size; that their rivers were mere brooks, and their mountains small hills ; that some of our rivers are so long that we never before strangers speak of their whole length at once ; that our moun tains are so high that presumptuous persons in ti-ying to reach their summits had either starved or frozen to death. That their cataracts compared with our Niagara were only like a stream from the nozzle of a coffee-pot ; that if some power could steal away from our territories an area of land as large as all the British Isles, it would not be suddenly missed, but there would be a muss when the theft was found out. That you have produced great men in everything, we admit; we are proud of you as our relations, but when we swarm- TOWNSHIPS— MANCHESTER. 238 ed and went to America, you claimed our honey, we would not give it up, and you stung and we stung back, until you concluded not to disturb our hives. If you could do such wonders on your little island, what could you expect that your sons could not do in the vast fields of America ; and they caved." The reader who is not acquainted with Mogridge, should understand that he can outtalk any Yankee living, and that he never gives up an argument, and, though vanquished, he can argue still. Being a great admirer of Horace Greeley, whom he resembles and whose paper he always took, and being in New York, he called on Greeley, introduced himself, told how he went to New Orleans, thence to St. Helena, Cape of Good Hope, and other places, told what he had seen in England, and what he had experienced in America. Then said he, " Now, Horace, you talk." " No," said Greeley, " Mr. Mogridge, I give up. I can write some, but, in rapidity of delivery, you exceed any man that I ever knew. I thank you for your visit, for I have been amused, surprised, and instructed." Shortly after, Greeley, in the Tribune, gave an amusing account of his interview with Mr. Mogridge. Samuel Price, an Englishman, who was a black smith, was an early settler. His wife w-as a very use ful and excellent woman, who went far and near in the exercise of her obstetrical knowledge, f' A descrip tion of her may be found in the 31st chapter of Pro verbs, from the 10th to the 21st verse, inclusive. There were afterwards many settlers who deserve 30 234 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. honorable mention, among whom were Gideon Chase, who was of New England origin, and Anthony Lloyd, who settled on the south branch of the Equinunk and built his house near the stream, which house was swept away in the night during a thunder-storm, him self and family barely escaping with their lives. He afterwards sold out his property and lands and remov ed to Equinunk village, where he kept a temperance tavern during his life. He was a self-taught, ingen ious mechanic. The Teeple family were English. Phineas Teeple climbed every hill and crossed every stream in Manchester and adjoining townships as a hunter. He had the honor of killing the last wolf that ever howled in the county. Christopher Teeple was for many years the constable of the township. The Denny and Gifford families are old residents, and Moses Billings is well remembered as an old farmer. In or about the year 1830, Paul S. Preston sold the Equinunk Manor to Israel Chapman and Alexander Calder, who then began improvements thereon. The mouth of the Big Equinunk has always been an im portant rafting place. The village of Equinunk was commenced soon after the building of a tannery in the place by Isaiah Scud der and brother. The large tannery now in the place; belongs to William Holbert, Esq. The viUage is di vided by tl^ creek. The western part is in Bucking ham, where are situated the residence of the Hon. William M. Nelson, State Senator, the residences and stores of Knight & Gardiner, and of H. N. Farley, TOWNSHIPS— MANCHESTER. 235 the M. E. Church, and other buildings. But the larg er part of the village is on the east side of the creek. One-half mile below the town is a bridge across the Delaware to the Lordville depot. Chapman and Cal der divided their lands. Chapman took the upper flats and built a house and saw-mill. He was a man of perseverance and industry. Both he and Calder were local Methodist preachers. Alexander Calder took the lower part of Equinunk. He was a lumber man of great business capacity, and a man of merit and talent. He died at Equinunk, May 26th, 1879, aged eighty-one years. Ec|uinunk is well situated for trade. The Delaware river road passes through the place. Here end the roads coming down the south branch, and from Preston and High Lake, and from Da mascus, through the middle of Manchester. The great tannery at Little Equinunk is now owned by Hoyt & Brothers, of N. Y. There is a turnpike leading up the Little Equinunk from its mouth to the road lead ing from the old "gate house" to Big Equinunk. The number of taxables in the township, in 1878, was 367. Number of common schools. 10. 236 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. CHAPTER XIX. TO WNSHIPS— SCOTT. AT its erection, this township, in 1821, included a part of Preston. It is now bounded north by the State of New York, east by the Delaware and Buckingham, south by Preston and Starrucca, and west by Starrucca and Susquehanna county. It is the fourth towmship in point of size. It is watered by the branches of the Shehawken, running south-east, Shrawder's creek, running north-east to the Delaware, and by Hemlock creek, in the north-west, and which runs northward into New York State. The chief nat ural reservoirs of water are Four Mile pond, in the south ern part, and Island pond above Stanton Hill. The south-western and north-eastern parts, and the region about the Four Mile pond are sparsely inhabited. The river hills arc precipitous and unfit for cultiva tion. The land is high in the center of the township, from which the streams descend in every direction. Though some of the lands are rough yet there are many good farms which produce as good crops as are raised in other parts of the county. The orchards are fiourishing and productive. There is yet much un cleared land of good quality, and it has been and is still a matter of surprise that the township is not TOWNSHIPS— SCOTT. 237 more thickly populated as it has great advantages for reaching market, having the Jefferson Railroad at Starrucca, and the Erie Railroad near its eastern bor ders. Within a few years an enterprising body of men have built up a village in the north part of the town, called Sherman, (alias New Baltimore,) estab lished or built a tannery, manufacturing shops, stores, &c., and erected a fine building for religious purposes, called the Union church. Soon after the erection of Scott, in 1821, when it embraced one-half of Preston, there were only thirty- seven houses all valued at $260; seven mills all valued at $1,300; fifty-seven cows valued at $760. The whole number of taxables was forty-seven, the tax on all seated property being $53.18J, according to a trienni al assessment, made by John Starbird, Jr., Esq., for the year 1823. Elihu Tallman, one of the first set tlers, and Jirah Mumford, Jr., were each taxed for a mill, and so were Gershom Williams, 'Squire Sampson, Jacob Edick, Silas Crandall, and David Babcock. Some of the other settlers, named as farmers, were Samuel Alexander, Abel Belknap, John and David Cole, George Cortright, Ezra Cargill, Beniah Jayne, of Maple Hill, Harvey Kingsbury, EUas Kingsbury, Uriah Smith, William Starbird, Jesse and 'Squire Whittaker, Michael and Townsend Weyant, Rev. Gershom Williams, father of Melancthon B., Calvin P., Philander K., and Hervey D. WUliams. The said John Starbird, Jr., was justice of the peace at the time that he made said assessment. The Rev. Gershom 238 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. Williams settled in the central part of the township at an early day. He was from the State of New Jersey. He bought at different times many tracts of land, and, being a man of means, contributed much to encourage the settlement of the township. In 1847 his second wife was murdered by a tramp, who called himself Harris Bell. (Upon his trial it came out that this was an assumed name.) The murderer was convicted and hung at Honesdale in 1848. Beniah Jayne, brother of the celebrated Dr. D. Jayne, of Philadel phia, was one of the early settlers. Jirah Mumford, Elihu Tallman, and others, are men tioned in the sketches of Mount Pleasant and Preston. Under the head of Preston will be found a detailed account of the hardships and privations of the old pi oneers in the northern townships. In December, 1774, David Rittenhouse, on the part of Pennsylvania, and Samuel Holland, on the part of New York, set a stone on a small island in the west ern branch of the Delaware river, for the north-east corner of Pennsylvania. They marked the stone with the letters and figures, " New York, 1774," cut on the north side, and the letters and figures "Lat. 42 de grees, var. 4 degrees 20 min.," cut on the top of the stone. The island is at Hale's Eddy, and the north-east cor ner of Pennsylvania is the north-east corner of Scott township. In 1878 there were eleven public or common schools, and three hundred and thirteen taxables in the town ship. TOWNSHIPS— PRESTON. 239 CHAPTER XX. TO WNSHIPS— PRESTON. THIS township was formed April 28th, 1828, from parts of Mount Pleasant and Scott. It is the third township in size, and is bounded north by Starrucca and Scott, . east by Bnckingham, south by Mount Pleasant, and west by Susquehanna county. With great propriety it might have been called Lake town ship, as it abounds with lakes or ponds of uncommon beauty, among which are the Shehawken, Como, Twin, Sly, Spruce, Seven Mile, Poyntell, Long, Big Hickory, Little Hickory, Five Mile, Bone, Long Spruce, Independence, Wrighter's and Coxtown ponds, and perhaps some others. These ponds are the head-waters of streams running in every direction. From Five Mile and Independence ponds starts the Lackawanna ; from the Wrighter, Coxtown, and Long Spruce ponds, the Starrucca; from the Shehawken, the creek of that name; and from Poyntell, Little Hickory and Big Hickory ponds, the Big Equinunk. Water-power is abundant and conveniently extended. Ararat and Sugar-loaf mountains are in this township. At the formation of the town it was proposed, as ap pears from- the records, to name it Ararat; but, as it was mostlv taken from Scott, w-hich was named after 240 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. Judge David Scott, the Judge deemed it proper to name it Preston, in honor of Judge Samuel Preston, who was the first settler in Buckingham, to which township Scott and the most of Preston originally be longed. By an assessment made by Peter C. Sher man, in 1829, the number of taxables was sixty-nine; number in 1878, four hundred and fifty-eight; num ber of houses in 1829, thirty-nine; valuation of same, $488. Valuation of neat cattle in 1829, $1,986, and of same in 1878, $13,160. Although some parts of the lands are hilly, yet they are not of such height as to interfere very ma terially with cultivation. Good crops of rye, oats, corn, and buckwheat, are raised, and abundance of po tatoes. But the lands are more particularly fitted for grass, and the township bids fair to be one of the most important butter-making districts in the county. A small section only of the township was benefited by the Oghquaga turnpike, and there were not roads to invite the taking up of lands at an early day. The lands lying near the road from Mount Pleasant to Stockport were first bought, as a public road was laid out from Stockport through this township to Mount Pleasant in 1799. Among the early settlers were Peter Spencer and Ezra Spencer, who came from the State of Connecticut, in or about the year 1812. The first named commenced on the farm now owned by Nathan A. Monroe. He bought about 340 acres of land, of one Poyntell, of Philadelphia, and gave his bond and mortgage for the purchase money. He TOWNSHIPS— PRESTON. 241 was ejected from the land by Peter Gaskell, and took title under Gaskell. The heirs of Poyntell, after the death of Spencer, made vigorous efforts to collect the moneys due on the mortgage, but failed. Deacon Spencer was an ingenious niechani(,', an industri ous farmer, and morally, without spot or blemish. Russell Spencer, late of Pleasant Mount, was his son. He had three daughters ; Dr. Urial Wright married the oldest one; Silas Freeman the second; and Wil liam Labar the youngest. Ezra Spencer settled about a mile southward of his brother, paid for his land, and lived there during the rest of his life. His son, Ezra Spencer, now owns the old homestead. Joseph Dow moved from Deerfield, Massachusetts, about 1817, and settled in Dyberry tow-nship, on the place where John Hacker lived before the death of his father, cleared up some land, built a house and barn, made some payments, and lost the whole. As property depreciated in value he could not keep up his payments, and he was left quite poor. After this he moved to Prestijn and ran the Shadigee mill for Manning, King, and Lillibridge. He and his wife were well educated and descended from very respecta ble families. He was a relative of Lorenzo Dow, the great preacher. He died near Tallmanville, in 1852. Daniel Underwood removed from Connecticut, in 1830, and settled upon the Stockport road, north-east of Amos O. Sherwood's. Lewis A. Underwood, Nel son F. Underwood, present Representative of Wayne county in the Legislature, W. G. Underwood, and 31 242 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. Prescott Underwood are sons of the said Daniel Un derwood. Prescott Underwood removed to Kansas; the other sons are living in the county. Said Daniel Underwood was a noted carpenter and built tlie Meth odist church near Nathan Kennedy's, in Mt. Pleasant. John Stephens, an Englishman, began in the early settlement of the town upon the farm now occupied by Stanley H. Hine. The exact date of his settle ment cannot be ascertained. In 1829, he was assess ed as having two hundred and twenty-five acres of land, much of which was of superior quality. In 1830, he was licensed to keep a public house, in whicjh business he continued during his life. The farm is now in the possession of Perry Hine. All the Spencers in Mount Pleasant and Preston are lineal descendants of either Peter or Ezra Spen cer. John and William Fletcher were from New England, and were early settlers and worthy and in dustrious farmers. The Starbird family. John Starbird, Sen., was born in the state of Maine, in 1764, and served in the Revolutionary war; then, after teaching school in Trenton and in Easton, he came to Stroudsburg and taught one term, and, in 1783, was there married to Hannah Stroud. Their son, John Starbird, Jr., was bom in 1786, and WilUam Starbird in 1798. Said sons moved from their old homestead, in East Strouds burg, into what is now Preston township, March 20, 1817. John Starbird, Jr., made his first clearing in 1818. He made an assessment of what then (1823) was TO WNSHIPS— PRESTON. 243 Scott township, and no school-teacher of the present day would be ashamed if the handwriting should be imputed to him. He was, at that time, the only jus tice of the peace in the township. In 1824, he built a saw-mill on Shehawken creek. William Starbird, now living, made his first clearing in 1822. He had thirteen children, all of whom grew up to manhood or womanhood. One of his sons, Alfred, was killed in the late civil war. In 1861, he rebuilt the saw mill, erected by his brother John, doing all the w^oi-k himself, excepting the ironwork, and raised it without tackles, with only two of his sons to help him. The timbers were very heavy; .the plates were sixty feet long and twelve inches square. This mill w^as rebuilt by S. T. Whittaker, last year. William Bortree, late of Sterling township, married a sister of William Starbird. Abner Stone began at an early day upon the beau tiful place now occupied by H. K. Stone, north of Samuel Brooking's, but business connected with the settlement of his father's estate, induced him to return to Connecticut. After the building of the Oghquaga turnpike road, Clark Gardner took up the farm now owned by W. H. Chamberlain, lived there several years, kept the toll-gate and then removed to Mount Pleas ant. The toll-gate was removed to Hine's Corners, and continued there as long as toll was taken. Royal Hine and his father started and buUt up the place which has been improved and enlarged by the f amUy. 244 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. After the building of said Oghquaga turnpike, Ira Cargill, from Connecticut, started a fiourishing settle ment on the public road leading from said tm-npike to Starrucca. Peter C. Sherman began at Preston Center. In 1829, he assessed to himself ten acres of improved land, and four hundred and thirty-six acres of unim proved, and one house of the value of eight dollars. The township and general elections were held at this place, until a few years ago, when the township was divided into two election districts. The Sherman place fell into the hands of J. Carr, who disposed of it to C. B. Dibble, its present occupant. Merrill Hine appears to have been a very early settler at Hines Corners, and Perry Hine settled in another part of the township. The following account is from manuscript furnished by C. P. Tallman, Esq., regarding the early settle ment of Mount Pleasant, Preston, and Scott. Want of space has obliged me reluctantly to abridge his contribution. What he herewith presents cannot fail to be interesting : "My father, Elihu Tallman, was bom in New Bed ford, Mass., in 1780. My grandfather, WiUiam Tail- man, was a real estate and ship owner ; and as he took a firm stand for the cause of Independence, much of his property was destroyed by the tories, w-hich left him much reduced. My grandfather, (on my mother's side) Christopher Perkins, married a Palmer, in Ston- ington, Conn. They moved to what they caUed the TOWNSHIPS— PRESTON. 245 far West, one horse carrying grandmother and all their movable goods, and grandfather going on foot. They went to and settled at Saratoga, about one mile from the Rock spring. There were several of the native Indians near them, and my mother has of ten told me that her mother had such an abhorrence and fear of the Indians and tories, that she had sev eral times taken her and her older brother, John, when her father was gone from home, and hid them away to lie and stay in the wilderness during the long, dismal nights. At an early age, my father was put on a coasting vessel as a cabin-boy and cook, and subsequently learned the shoe-making trade. He mov ed to Saratoga, and was married on the 17th of De cember, 1799, and soon after came to Mount Pleasant to look up a new home. Samuel Stanton, the first prominent settler of that place, was my mother's half- uncle, which was their probable motive for coming to that place. They commenced on a piece of new- land north of where Pleasant Mount now stands on the road then running east and west. Subsequently father bought on an adjoining lot about sixty rods east of where William Wright, Esq., now lives. I was born there in 1806. In that year father made one mile of the Cochecton and Great Bend turnpike road. Then he bought, about three-fourths of a mile northward, and cleared up a good-sized farm. In 1813 or 1814, he sold this place to a Mr. Hall, of Connecticut, for $1400, and bought the place where Godfrey Stevenson now 246 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. lives, and, also, a carding-machine of Jacob Plum, who had run'it one summer on the stream below where the Seth Kennedy mill now stands. This was the only place where wool was carded by machinery in the region. Wool was brought from all parts of the country. The business was excellent. He also built and ran a saw mill. In or about the winter of 1818, father sold said property to Heaton Atwater, and took in payment $1500 in patent-rights, and $1500 in an exhibition of wax-figures and paintings. These payments were a little better than $3000 lost. The next spring he bought a property in Susquehanna county, and, having paid $760 down, lost that. These losses of $3760 left him with only his farming utensils and a few uncol lected accounts." The following episode is designed to show what were the hardships of the first settlers. Mr. Tallman relates the following account which he had from his father : "About 1805 the neighborhood was entirely out of salt, and there was none nearer than Sheha-^'ken. Father had made a start so that he had a breeding mare, but had nothing wherewith to buy salt but some maple sugar, so he took enough of that to buy a half bushel of it, which would cost $2.00, put his sugar in a bag and started for Shehawken, (now Hancock, N. Y.,) twenty miles distant, on a road where only the under brush was cut out. He exchanged his sugar for salt, and, putting it in his bag, he started homeward on a cold, windy fall day, when there was nearly a freshet TOWNSHIPS— PRESTON. 247 in the Delaware, rendering the fording of the same dangerous. When about midway of the river, the old mare made a blunder and down she went, throwing the rider and the salt clear from her. After swimming about twenty rods quartering down stream, loaded down with winter clothing, overcoat and boots, he reached shore, (the mare did the same,) but his salt and hat were gone, and he had no funds with which to buj' more." How his father succeeded in getting along without the salt we are not told. But to resume the narrative : " Since my recollection our goods were teamed from Newburg, eighty-one miles distant, at a cost of $2.50 per hundred pounds. Rock-salt was worth $4 per bushel, rye fifty cents, and oats twenty-five cents. The worst feature in the case was we had only rock and packing salt. All we used for butter and for the table was pounded in a hand mortar. I can recollect when we had no carding-machines or cloth-dressing mills. All our clothes made of fiax, tow, cotton, or wool, were carded, spun, and woven at home, in which work our mothers and sisters were well skilled. Very scanty were the means afforded for the education of children. I have heard father speak of Truman Wheeler as one of our first teachers. Eber Dimmick was my first teacher, and a Miss Bigelow the first female one. " In 1819 real estate and personal property had be come so depreciated in value that father despau-ed of paying for his farm in Susquehanna county, and, hav- 248 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. ing more ambition than prudence, determined to re trieve his fortune and made a dash into the lumber- woods and bought the pine lot at Six Mile lake, (now Como.) Samuel P. Green, of the east branch, had contracted for the lot and commenced a dam and saw mill on the outlet of the lake. Father bought out Green, finished the mill, and saw-ed out and hauled to Stockport a raft of pine boards to run in the spring of 1820. This was the first raft ever manufactured and hauled to the Stockport banks. At that time there was no road running north or south for many miles exciept the Mount Pleasant and Stockport road. The first road was what was called the Harmony road in Susquehanna county. The first road east was the Union Woods road, which connected with the Cochec ton and Great Bend turnpike at Conklin's Gate, six miles west of Cochecton. The old Stockport road had nothing but the small trees and brush cut out, and the large trees marked so as to enable any one to follow the course in deep snows. On our new farm was about half an acre partly cleared, and two or three acres chopped. At this time there were very few settlers in Buckingham except on the river flats. Three of the Kingsbury family, and two men by the name of Whelpy, had commenced on Kingsbury HUl. Fred erick Stid and Thomas Holmes had commenced about a mile up the Shehawken. Holmes ran a little tannery and ground all his bark with a stone, and tanned in (!old liquor. He also did some shoe-making. There were a few settlers in the Union Woods. Jirah Mum- TOWNSHIPS— PRESTON. 249 ford and Ezekiel and Henry Sampson had commenced in Starrucca. There was a private road cut out by the way of Maple hill to Hale's Eddy. About this time Michael Weyant and Uriah Smith, from Long Island, settled on said road near the top of Maple hill. We had no communication with any of these families without go ing a great way round. Nobody lived at Equinunk until several years after our location at Six Mile lake. The families living on the Stockport road toward Mount Pleasant were John Tiffany, one of the pioneer settlers, John Stearns, Chandler Tiffany, (on the John Page place), Joseph Monroe, and Ashbel Stearns, near or on the Deacon Wilcox place. John Fletcher and William Fletcher lived near Peter Spencer, who located on the farm now owned by Nathan A. Monroe. Our nearest neighbor, south four miles, was Peter Spencer, and one mile north was Rufus Geer. A lit tle east of the Upper Twin pond, about three-fourths of a mile, were Gideon, James, and Thomas Wood mansee. There were no other settlers until we reach ed Stockport. Abner Stone commenced where H. K. Stone now lives. Esaias Wilcox had commenced on the lot adjoining said Stone. It was impossible to concentrate a sufficient number of chUdren to make up a school between Mount Pleasant to one mile above Stockport on the New York side. During the four years that we Uved at Six Mile lake, there was no school-house between Mount Pleasant and Stockport — sixteen miles — and no place where the preaching of the 32 250 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. gospel could be sustained. At the time of our sojourn at Six Mile lake,- the whole population of what is now Preston consisted of twenty-eight men, women, and children. Our family made up twelve of the number. In 1822, father purchased the large pine lot known as the Kryder tract. This was situated five miles northwestward of Six Mile lake, and four miles east- wardly from Starrucca. It was seven miles northward to the nearest inliabitants at Ball's and Hale's Eddy, and seven and one-half miles southward to Abner Stone's. There was no road in either of these direc tions. There had been a road laid out from Mount Pleasant to Hale's Eddy, nineteen and a half miles. This road crossed the pine lot, but it was merely run through and marked so it was impossible to make a road on the route where it was laid that could be trav eled, as the viewers paid no regard to hills, ledges, or swamps, only aiming, apparently, to get a line from one end to the other. Not the first blow had been made to open it, and when this was afterwards done, in many places it was made a mile from the survey. There had been a road laid out from Starrucca to Stockport, and in some places the underwood cut out, and, on other parts, the down timber had been cut up, but not cleared out. The marks for this road were about one mile from the said pine lot. In August, 1822, my brother-in-law, David Babcock, my older brother, William, and myself, took an outfit and went to commence an improvement on said land." Omitting the interesting, and, no doubt, truthful ac- TOWNSHIPS— PRESTON. 251 count of the manner in which the said youthful ad venturers contrived to live in the wilderness until necessity compelled them to build a cabin, we resume the narrative: "The cold nights of November reminded us that a further improvement of our cabin was necessary. We now cut out a road, such as it was, and hauled in some half-inch boards for a roof and cutting and splitting some pine for fioors, we built part of a chimney, and made up some bunks to sleep in; my brother-in-law moved his wife and child in and then we set up house keeping on a different scale. When winter set in we moved back to Six Mile lake to lumber through the winter. In the spring of 1823 we moved the whole family to the Kryder lot, cleared up the fallow that we had chopped the fall before, built a saw-mill, cut another fallow, and commenced on a larger scale. In 1824, my father hired a young woman for three months to teach four, and part of the time, five chil dren, in the log-house that we first built. Her name was Sarah Jane Stoddard. The next summer a Miss Sally Kennedy taught the same children three months, and the summer thereafter Miss Miranda Chittenden taught them, making in all one year's private school. Each teacher was paid seventy-five cents per week. There was no other school in what is now Preston township until the public schools in 1830. When about fifteen years old, while living at Six Mile lake, I became satisfied that if I ever obtained an education I should have to dig it out myself. I accordingly pre- 252 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. pared some fat pine, a single stick of which made a beautiful light by which to study. I read such books as I could get; our common school-books were Web ster's spelling-book, Dilworth's and DaboU's arithme tics. Second and Third Part, English reader, Hale's His tory of the United States, and the New Testament. We had no novels or newspapers. My father had an extra library, namely, two volumes of the life of Christ and his Apostles, a Bible, and Walker's dictionary. I occasionally borrowed such books as I could. In 1826 I worked doing chores to pay my board, and went to school six weeks; I did the same again in 1826, for about twelve weeks. That was all the school ing I had after I was twelve years old. From 1823 to 1827, we engaged in pine lumbering and cleared up a large quantity of land. At this time the settlement at Starrucca sustained a public school, and had occa sional preaching by Ezekiel Sampson, a Baptist. In the fall of 1823, we cut out the road from our place to Mount Pleasant. In the fall of that year, David Babcock settled on the place now owned by John Clark, and Luther Chafee on the lower part of my present farm ; John Stanton on the farm now occupied by D. W. Tallman; Peter C. Sherman on the present farm of C. B. Dibble, (at Preston Centre); and Wil liam Tallman on the A. D. Reynold's farm. About the same time Joseph Dow settled on the flat now owned by Alpheus Dix, Joseph Dow, Jr., on the lot where Arnold Lloyd now lives, and Jeremiah Flynn on the farm now owned by Robert K. King. We now TO WNSHIPS— PRESTON. 253 began to feel as if w^e had gained a great victory, for the forest was fairly broken up, and we had neighbors. Rev. Gershom WiUiams began about 1823 or 1824 at what is now called Scott Centre, built a saw-mill, and cut a road to the private road near Uriah Smith's. John Starbird commenced on the lot where Wm. P. Starbird now lives soon after w-e began on the pine lot. The order of our new settlement was as follows : In 1820, Willet Carr commenced on the place wiiere Amos O. Sherw^ood now lives. In 1822, Messrs. Henry and Vancott bought adjoining I. M. Kellogg's farm and hired a piece chopped, only to grow up again. About the same time James Moore, David Wooley, and Franklin Duval bought in what is now called Little York. The three last-named were from N. Y. city and paid for their land in advance. The next settler was a Joseph Marguerat, then Joseph Simpson, then James Simpson; began near the creek south of Sherwood's, and John Stanton, from Conn., settled on twenty-two acres of land north of the upper Sands pond, and George Hall on the south side there of. About 1822, Daniel Rose commenced on a wild lot now owned by George Wainwright. Charles Case, of Gibson, Susquehanna county, and his sou, Riley Case, began where Samuel Decker now lives. All of these new settlers, excepting those of Little York, and the Charles Case family, w-ere in indigent circum stances. The locality and position of their families were such as to preclude the possibility of sustaining a school or the preaching of the gospel among us. 254 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. Some attempts were made for those purposes, but were necessarily abandoned, and as a natural conse quence, our Sabbaths were very loosely spent, and the children left to grow up with but little education or culture. In 1826, I had become acquainted with a large scope of the wilderness, and had fixed on the piece of land on which to make a farm, and, though not of age, fearing that some one would get ahead of me, in October, carrying provision enough to last me to Philadelphia and part of the way back, I started on foot and bought nothing going but three nights' lodg ing, at six cents a night. I found the man who own ed the land and the timber about it. He wanted four doUars per acre for the land. I offered him two dol lars. He finally agreed to my proposals, binding me to put a family on the land, clear up three acres a year, build a house and bam on it, and to pay for it in three years. This contract was dated in October, 1826, and I obtained my deed on the 29th day of April, 1829. This was the first piece of land paid for in this region of country. The man that sold me the land was so well pleased with my promptitude that he gave off the interest and made me a parchment deed for one hundred and seventy-five acres of land. I bought, also, three lots of timber, enough to last three years' lumbering. On the 20th of May, 1827, I was mar ried to my first wife, Lucinda, daughter of Benjamin King, Esq., of Mount Pleasant. In the spring of 1829 or 1830, we agreed to start a school and fixed TOWNSHIPS— PRESTON. 255 on a site on the east side of my lot, where the ma ple grove is now growing up, on the road as it then ran. I found nails, glass, and sash, costing four dol lars and eighty-four cents, which the neighbors agi-eed should be my share. This Was the first money ever used, in what is now Preston township, for public im provements and the first school-house erected. The first school therein was taught by a Miss Watrous, at one dollar per week. She was an old, experienced teacher, and some of the scholars came two and a half mUes. Each parent paid in proportion to the num ber of days that he sent his children. If any were too poor to school their children, on application to the assessor, return of the fact was made to the county commissioners, and the tuition of such children was paid by the county. Our school-house was sixteen by twenty feet, built of logs, chimney in one end, and burned four-foot wood. The roof and fioor were made of rough hemlock, and the door of the same with wooden hinges and a latch of our own make. Our benches were made of slabs, our wo-iting-desks were a board fastened to a log across the back end of the house, which was chinked and mossed instead of being mudded. On the whole it had a very respecta ble appearance for the times. After our first school, I think we never paid more than seventy-five cents a week for a woman teacher, and ten dollars per month for a male teacher. This house was a very worthy enterprise for the time. The summer following, a Sunday-school was organized hy Sheldon Norton, who 256 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. then lived on the place now owned by his son, E. K. Norton. This school was made auxiliary to the Sun day-school of the Methodist Episcopal church. I pur chased of Mr. Norton a few Testaments, at ten cents a piece, and he left us a number of tracts and papers. We had a large school, and scholars came from near Como and Little York by marked trees and also from Shadigee and Flynn's. Quite a large number of thein came from two to four mUes and barefoot at that. Some began with the alphabet, others in spell ing lessons of one or two sylables, and some of the pupils w-ere tw-enty years old. The next spring I bought of the Methodist Book Room ten dollars' worth of books, including some Testaments, and made a present of them to said school. Our school succeed ed admirably and we ran it about six months in the year for several years with the most satisfactory success. At this time (1879) there are fourteen school-houses averaging in value $600 apiece, all well arranged and painted, wdiich is an increase in fifty years from nothing to $7,000 in value. Sixty years ago we had six voters, now there are about four hundred. The first and oldest religious society between Mt. Pleasant and the Delaware river, was a close-communion Church, started about 1820, at Stan-ucca, under Eze kiel Sampson. The next was a class of Methodists, consisting of nine persons, at Tallmanville, in 1830. This society inca-eased rapidly, till it nmnbered aboiit forty members, and it originally covered the ground where there are now four societies. In the town now TO WNSHIPS— PRESTON. 257 there are six societies with two hundred and fifty members; three churches, one at Como, one at Tall manville, and another at Hine's Corners, with a good parsonage at Como. The close-communion Baptists have a very good society at Preston Center, and a small society at East Preston. There are large and prosperous lodges of Good Templars at Como and Preston Center, with about two hundred and forty members. The Odd Fellows have a lodge at Como. There is no licensed tavern or beer saloon in the town. There are two stores, thirteen saw-mills, one small grist-mill, two turning-establishments, and three cabi net-shops. Very little timber remains to support lumbering, but the towm will very soon be one of the best dairy districts in the county. Tw-enty-one natur al ponds of clear water, well supplied with fish, are scattered over the town. A large number of fruit- trees has been obtained from the most approved nurser ies, and they are thrifty and promising. There is very little waste land. The Erie Railroad on the east, and the Jefferson Branch on the west afford convenient access to market." Mr. Tallman relates the following amusing hunting- story : "When father moved back from Susquehanna county to Mount Pleasant, he had an old queen's-arm musket, a charge for which was an ounce ball and nine buckshot, which made up nearly two ounces of lead. This load, if the game was near by, made dead ly work and injured the skin badly. There were no 33 258 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. rifies in those days. My father was not a great hunt er but killed a large part of his own meat. On a cer tain time he and his brother-in-law, Chandler Tiffany, concluded to hunt some larger game than deer, and, consequently, rigged out for a bear hunt. When they had advanced four or five mUes into the woods, they saw a large bear which had not discovered them ; by concert they both shot at the same time, and doing so, down went the bear. They were so elated that they forgot to load their guns, and both ran then- best, and, when in close proximity to their game, the bear discovered them and came to her feet and made battle, approaching them with her mouth -wide open. Father made a lucky thrust and jammed his gun into her mouth. She seized it, crushing the stock and denting the barrel with her tushes, as she reared up on her haunches; he threw her nearly on her back, in reach of Tiffany, telUng him to take his hatchet to her; he did so, but struck her wdth the head of it. She struck him on the breast with one paw and strip ped him of every vestige of clothing as well as his moccasins and stockings. Father cried, " Strike her ¦with the edge!" and the third blow was given edge first, square between her eyes, which checked her fury, and, the blows being promptly repeated, she was overcome. Father's musket was badly crushed and Tiffany half naked, and though they were lords of the forest by virtue of good luck, they estimated a bear hunt of less importance than before their adven ture." TO WNSHIPS— PRESTON. 259 Stajbeuoca. This borough was erected in 1853, and then called the borough of Wayne. It is three miles long on the Susquehanna line, and two miles wide. It was taken about equally from Scott and Preston town ships. Benjamin T. West, Esq., lived in the place in 1824. He was a son of Jones West, a blacksmith from Albany Co., N. Y. According to 'Squire West, Henry Sampson was one of the first settlers at Star rucca. His children were Esquire Sampson, John Sampson, Benjamin Sampson, Henry Sampson, Jr., Stephen Sampson, Hasadiah Sampson, and William Sampson. He had three daughters. Hasadiah Samp son married a sister of Benj. T. West. Jirah Mum ford, Jr., a son of Jirah Mumford, Sen., the progeni tor of all the Miimfords, was one of the first if not the first settler of the place, and the father of Hon. James Mumford, deceased, who lost two sons in the Rebellion. E. C. Mumford, the present district-attor ney of the county, is one of the Judge's sons, also, W. W., late Representative of Wayne, Clinton D., and Clarence G. Mumford. W. W., and Clinton D., have a manufactory of pyroligneous acid and naphtha, the only one in the county. David Spoor early lived at Starrucca, and 'Squire Whitaker, who removed to Lizard Lake. Henry Sampson, Sen., built the first grist-mill. All the men were more or less engaged in lumbering pine which was taken to Hale's Edd_y. El der Peck was the first minister, and Elder Smitzer formed the first Baptist church in the place. Nelson M. Benedict lived in the place almost fifty-three years 260 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. ago, and had eight children. One of his sons. Nelson M. Benedict, now living, is a justice of the peace. Dr. Thomas was the first physician, and Dr. J. P. Shaw has lived in the place twenty-two years. H. McMurray, a well-known and inteUigent man, lives in the place. Wm. Graham and John McMur ray began the first tannery and were succeeded by Mr. Cowan, then by Drake & Salisbury, and finally by Major E. P. Strong, who now owns one of the largest tanneries in the county. The Jefferson rail road passes near the place. The village is kept very neat and tasteful. There is a Roman Catholic and a M. E. Church, and three common schools. There is also a Baptist society in the place, of which Rev. S. W. Cole is the pastor. CHAPTER XXI. TO WNSHIPS— SALEM. THIS township was set off from Canaan, in 1808, that of Sterling was taken therefi-om in 1815, and the Wallenpaupack was made the dividing line, leav ing it bounded north by South Canaan and Cherry Ridge, east by Palmyra, south by Sterling, and west TO WNSHIPS— SALEM. 261 by Luzerne (now- Lackawanna) county. The north part of Salem has lately been erected into a new- township, called Lake, but it is more convenient to de scribe it as it was after the separation of Sterling. In 1799, there were but four settlers in Salem at the most, namely, Moses Dolph, Edw^ard London, Elisha Potter, and Joseph Wheatcraft. Soon after, how ever, we find the names of William Dayton, Samuel Hartford, and James Hartford among old papers. Moses Dolph lived at Little Meadow-s. According to the accounts given by the old settlers in Paupack, a man, by the name of Strong, first built here, in 1770. Soon after the battle at Wyoming, he, with some others, had a desperate fight with the Indians at this place. Strong and his family were all massacired, and Jacob Stanton w^as the only white man that escaped. He fled, and notified the settlers upon the Paupack of their danger. Late in the fall of 1779, Stanton came back to the place and found that the Indians had burned down the house. He dug a grave, and gathered up the bones of the whites and Indians, and, placing them together, raised a mound over them. My father, Seth Goodrich, who afterwards owned the place, would never allow the mound to be disturbed. There was a very old orchard there which must have been planted by the Indians, as Little Meadows had been a favorite rendezvous for their hunting parties. Jacob Stanton bnilt a house and moved his wife and family to Little Meadows, in 1780, or in 1781, where, during his life, he kept a public- 262 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. house, and was succeeded in the same business until 1801, by his son-in-law, Moses Dolph, who then sold the possession to Dr. Lewis Collins. He, in his turn, in 1803, sold the same to Seth Goodrich, who lived on the place during his life. He kept a house of en tertainment for many years, but he never took a license to sell intoxicating liquors. Edward London took up four hundred acres at Sa lem cross-roads, now Hamlinton, and built a log-house near where Clearwater's tavern now stands, and, in 1804, sold out his possessions to Charles Goodrich, Sen., who built a new log-house above a large spring, about twenty rods east of Salem Corners. The log- house, built by London, was some years afterwards used as a school-house, and a man, by the name of Benedict, was the teacher. Charles Goodrich, Sen., died at Salem Corners. Charles, Jabez, and Enos were his sons. His daughters were as follows : Anna, who married Gideon Curtis; Mary, who married Jas. Huttze; Lucy, who married EUery Crandall; and Laura, who married Henry Matthews, all of whom are dead. Elisha Potter, who was a- weaver by trade, settled on the old road from Paupack to Capouse, on a creek, which was named after him. He was really in Luzerne county, although for many years assessed in Salem. Joseph Wheatcraft settled near HolUster- viUe. He was from Maryland, and late in Ufe his family removed to Ohio. William Dayton located about a half a mile east of the Five Mile creek, on the right hand side of the road leading from Little TOWNSHIPS— SALEM. 263 Meadows to Purdy town. He married Arseneth Wright, and was the " Old Grimes," of his day. "His heart was open as the day, . And all his feelings true. His hair was some inclined to gray. He wore it in a cue.'' Samuel Hartford located about one mile east of Little Meadows. He had two daughters, Betsey, who married Aaron Gillet, Esq., and is yet living in the township, and Philena, who married a Methodist min ister named Kendall, and has been dead many years. In or about 1825, Mr. Hartford started the first card- ing-mill in Salem, in the hollow east of Salem Corners. James Hartford, a brother of Samuel Hartford, al though taxed in Palmyra, really lived in Salem on the north of the Purdytown road and half a mile from WilUam Dayton. He used to make his scantily-clad children go to school every day a distance of three miles, but they were among the brightest scholars in the town. Betwen 1799 and 1803, seventeen new settlers ar rived and took up lands and built huts or houses ac cording to their abUity. They came from Connecticut via Newburg and Carpenter's Point, below Port Jer vis, on to MUford, thence by the way of Shohola, Blooming Grove, and Palmyra, to Major Ansley's, and finally through the Seven Mile swamp to Little Mead- 'ows. ' In alphabetical order they were as follows : Ephraim Bidwell was a soldier during the Revolu tionary war, was present at the battle at Monmouth, 264 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. suffered at Camptown, N. J., and participated in the last battle at Yorktown. He was an enthusiastic ad mirer of Washington, and denied the charge that the General was cold and distant ; on the contrary, " The General," he said, "often came among his soldiers, cordially shook hands with them, and conversed freely with them about their sufferings and grievances." Some of his grandsons fell in the late war, and others of his grandchildren are living in the town. His sons were Luther, Jabez, William, Orrin, and Ast^bel. His daughters were Prudence, Lucy, and Rachel. Pru dence married a man by the name of Samuel Pease. Being a great trapper he skinned a wolf that he found dead in a trap and threw the skin around his neck, where were some sores which absorbed a deadly virus from the skin and he died with the horrors of hydro phobia. Josiah Curtis settled half a mile or more west of Salem Corners on the east and west road. His sons were Gideon, Fitch H., and Edward. Gideon Curtis, a farmer, was for many yeai-s a noted supervisor of the town. Fitch H. Curtis and Edward Curtis were excellent workmen as carpenters and joiners. He had three daughters, one the w-ife of Edmund Nicholson, one the wife of Amasa Jones, and one named Morilla, who died unmarried and bequeathed the most of her property to the Presbyterian church in Salem. Harris HamUn settled in 1802, two miles west of the Corners. He was a brickmaker by trade, and he built the first frame house in the town. His sons TOWNSHIPS— SALEM. 265 were as follows : 1st. Oliver Hamlin, who kept a store many years and a public house at Hamlinton. From thence he removed to Bethany and traded awhile, and then to Honesdale, and there continued as a merchant during his life; he was a county commis sioner three years and associate judge five years; 2d, Harris Hamlin, Jr., a farmer, who is yet living near HolUsterville ; 3d, Ephraim W. Hamlin, who, in early life removed to Bethany, where he is yet living. He was many years county treasurer, then a State Repre^ sentative and afterward State Senator. 4th, Butler Hamlin, who when a young man, commenced as a mer chant at Salem Corners, (since called Hamlinton in honor of the family,) and by strict attention to busi ness acquired a competence. In 1861 he was elected associate judge of the county and served out his time, since which he has rejected all proffered nominations for office. Harris Hamlin, Sen., had five daughters; of these, Sarah, now aged ninety years, married John Bonham, and Philena married Volney Cortright, and both are living. Catharine, the wife of Horace Lee, Ruey, wife of Daniel Baldwin, and Amanda, wife of John Andrews, are all dead. David Hale took up the place afterward owned by Abisha Peet. It was claimed that Hale's wife made fifty pounds of sugar one spring and boiled down all of the sap in a tea-kettle and a frying-pan. Timothy HolUster settled on the road from Little Meadows to Jonestown, cleared up a good farm, sold it, and in his old age moved to Michigan, being a loser 34 266 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. by leaving his first home. He had two sons and two daughters, all of whom are dead. Asa Jones, generally called Deacon Jones, had a large family, all of whom are dead, excepting his daughter, widow Polly HoUister, who is the oldest of the famUy, and is now ninety-two years of age. His sons w-ere Asa Jones, Jr., Amasa Jones, and Joel Jones. The family need no eulogy. Salmon Jones, a brother of the Deacon, was elected sheriff in 1816 and removed to Bethany. He had a respectable family, all of which are gone to the grave. Jesse Morgan and George Morgan, his son, first be gan on Morgan Hill, but having some difficulty about the land, they removed to Canaan township. George Morgan died in that township within the past year, aged ninety-seven years. Michael Mitchell began about 1802, and then re moved to Providence, Luzerne county, finally return ing to Salem. He was an ingenious mechanic, mason, carpenter, shoemaker, school-master, and music-teacher. In later years he taught all to sing that could learn the old minor-keyed fugue tunes. One of them was "Whitestown," which his choir used to sing with strong, natural voices to the appropriate words: "Where nothing dwelt but beasts of prey. Or men as fierce and wild as they; He bids the oppressed and poor repair. And build them towns and cities there. They sow their fields, their trees they plant. Whose yearly fruit supplies their want; Their race grows up from fruitful stocks, Their wealth increases with their flocks." TO WNSHIPS— SALEM. 267 Aside from his other qualifications, Mr. Mitchell was an expert mathematician ; indeed he w^as no botch at anything he undertook. He died in January, 1865, aged eighty years, and his wife died in February, 1867, in the ninety-second year of her age. They have three sons living, namely, Jairus MitcheU, living near Hol Usterville, well known as the manufacturer of Mitch ell's rakes, John P. Mitchell, w-ho lives on Potter's creek, above HolUsterville, and owns a valuable farm and saw-mill, and Shepherd Mitchell, who is unmar ried and lives near his brothers. Elizur Miller settled north of Timothy HoUister on the Jonestown road. He was the father of Joseph, Jesse, Ashbel, and Hervey Miller. Joseph Miller built the court-house in Bethany in 1816, and was twice elected sheriff of the county. Jesse MUler lived and died near the old homestead. Ashbel Miller clear ed up a farm near RoUisonviUe, then removed to Burnt Ridge, south of his first farm, lived there several years and cleared up a farm which he finally sold to Thomas Bortree and moved West. Hervey Miller settled in Canaan. Francis Nicholson, a Revolutionary soldier, who located immediately west of Josiah Curtis, died soon af ter he settled in the township. He left a widow and a large family of children, of whom w-ere Jonathan Nicholson, who had seven sons in the late war, and Edmund Nicholson, who married a daughter of Josiah Curtis, and lived one mile south-west of Salem Cor ners. One of his sons fell in the late war. 268 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. Zenas Nicholson was a carpenter and mill-wright. He lived on the old homestead until about 1830, when he removed to Hamlinton. He died of epUepsy. He had six sons and three daughters. His sons were H. W. Nicholson and G. Byron Nicholson, late attorneys at law, deceased ; Lyman Nicholson, Ueutenant in the late war and who was killed at Gettysburg; Seth G. Nicholson, farmer in Sterling ; Milton Nicholson, and Oscar Nicholson, of Luzerne county. Ambrose Nicholson, one of the original family, re moved a few years ago to Nebraska. Henry Heermans married Fanny Nicholson, and Solomon Purdy also married one of the daughters. Jeremiah Osgood, who was a Revolutionary soldier and was afterwards pen sioned by the government, took up land one mile north of Hamlinton. He died at the age of ninety-nine years. His sons were Jeremiah, Daniel, and Joseph. The latter is a physician yet practicing in the town, and is the only survivor of the family. Lydia, the only daughter, married Ebenezer Cobb. Theodore Woodbridge, about 1803, took up twelve hundred acres of land, moved his family into the town, and built a house of hewn logs one mile east of Ham linton. He was the wealthiest man in the place. He was a major in the Revolutionary war, belonged to the order of "The Cincinnati," and was often visited by officers of distinction. He built the first saw-mUl in the town at the outlet of the Bidwell pond, which mill was soon afterwards burnt down ; he then built a grist-mill and saw-mill on a branch of the Paupack, TO WNSHIPS— SALEM. 269 half a mile east of Salem Corners, as it was then call ed. He was active in every good work that would benefit the community. He established a small library for the benefit of the young people, furnishing most of the books himself. He held several offices in the county, but was indifferent to the emoluments of office. He had two sons and two daughters. They were well educated before they came into the county. Ashbel Woodbridge was a good and competent school-teacher and taught several years in the school- house near his home. After many years he removed to Falls township, Luzerne county, and taught in their schools to a very advanced age. William Woodbridge married Almira, the only daughter of John Weston, and remained many years on the old homestead. Anna, the oldest daughter, was a noble woman; she married Clement Paine, a wealthy merchant of Tioga. Laura married a Presbyterian clergyman named Bas- com. Rev. William Woodbridge, Sen., a Presbyte rian minister, a graduate of Yale College, the chief author of Woodbridge's geography, and who had passed most of his life as a teacher in high schools, came and lived three or four years with his nephew, WiUiam Woodbridge, after the death of his brother, Major Woodbridge, who died in or about 1815. Rev. William Woodbridge, while in Salem, passed his time in preaching 5ind giving instruction in geography and astronomy to classes of young people. He said that the Major came to the Beech woods because he had not the means of keeping up that style of living ex- 270 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. pected of him in Connecticut. The old Woodbridge farm is now owned by T. J. Watson. Joseph Wood- bridge was a relative of Major Woodbridge. He took up four hundred acres of land. He had a large family, all of whom, excepting one son living on the old farm, are in the grave. He was a very competent man, had a good library of books, and was the first justice of the peace in the town. He died in the very meridian of life. Nathan Wright settled one mile south of Salem Corners about 1803. He came by the encouragement of Major Woodbridge, who, knowing him to be a good blacksmith, said the settlers must have a blacksmith, and could not do without one, as, in those days, the plowshares were all made out of wrought iron and steel. Mr. Wright w^orked at his trade during his life-time. He had four sons, namely. Miles, a farmer who was never married; Abel, who was married, died recently, leaving a family ; Moses, who married, but left no family; and Sanford, who is unmarried and yet living. There were four of his daughters as follows: Anna, Lucina, and Ruth, were married in the town; Polly, the oldest of the girls, died un married. The 'settling of the sons of the pioneers above de scribed added materially to the advance of the wealth and population of the town, but there was only a small incoming of new settlers between 1805 and 1825. John Weston. Though we remember him well, we are unable to state the exact time of his settlement, TO WNSHIPS— SALEM. 271 but it was near 1809. He married the widow of Francis Nicholson, deceased. His oldest son, Luther Weston, cleared up a large farm west of Joseph Woodbridge, Esq. He married Leui-y, a daughter of Deacon Asa Jones, and after her death widow Sally Hewitt. Although a lame man, he acquired a com petency by farming. He removed to Hamlinton, where he lived many years, and there died, an honor ed and worthy man. Another son was Elijah Wes ton, who married a daughter of Major Torrey. Both are dead. Their son, Edward Weston, Esq., a noted civil engineer in the employ of the Delaware & Hud son Canal & Railroad Company, resides at Provi dence, Pa. William Woodbridge married Almira, the only daughter of John Weston. Amos Polly, who lived in Jonestow^n in 1815, was the second justi(,'e of the peace in the town, which of fice he held until 1839. His wife was a sister of the late Joseph Headley, of Prompton. For many years Esquire Polly resided at Hamlinton, and Dr. Hiram Blois married Sophia, his daughter. Henry Avery, who was from near New London, Connecticut, came to the county about 1812. He had doubled Cape Horn eight times, and to escape the perils of the sea, (having on his last voyage been shipwrecked,) he came to the Beech woods. He was a man of reading and deep refiection, and, at the re quest of his neighbors, held the office of justice of the peace for many years. A few years since he died, aged ninety-five years. One daughter, widow Almir;i 272 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. Wetherit, his oldest child, now living in Salem, alone remains of his family. Others say that there are two of the family living in the State of New York. Bethuel Jones, father of Ebenezer R. Jones, who was twice commissioner of the county, took up land at one time occupied by Eliphalet Flint. Before Mr. Jones died, he and his son, Ebenezer, had cleared up and improved an excellent farm. Many years ago one of the old gentleman's sons came from Connecti cut, his father's native home, on a visit. Supposing that there would be rare sport in hunting deer, he went "with his brother, Ebenezer, to the woods, shot at a deer, which fell; he eagerly jumped upon the deer to cut its throat, but the struggling animal struck the knife with his hind foot, changing its direction, and causing the knife to sever the femoral artery of the young man's left leg. He fell over and died in a few minutes. John Andrews, about 1813, took up a farm east of Harris Hamlin's first farm. He had four sons; Adriel, the oldest, is living, aged ninety-two years; John, Charles, and David are dead. Anson Goodrich mar ried Eunice, his only daughter, who was an excellent woman. She died, leaving a family of ten children, most of whom are living. The foUo-wing named persons settled before 1823 : John Glossenden settled north-east of Anson Good rich, took up one hundred and sixteen acres of land, cleared up a good farm, and lived there during his life. Robert Glossenden, a son of his, was born there. TOWNSHIPS— SALEM. 273 Aaron Gillett was from Connecticut, and first be gan by teaching school in the town. He married a daughter of Samuel Hartford, and he and his wife are both living. Edmund Hartford lived on the north side of the Paupack below Luther Weston's, and owned a grist-mill, which was built by Ephraim Bidwell, Ashbel Wood- bridge, and William HoUister on the Sterling side of the creek. Hartford probably bought the mill of HoUister. Mr. Hartford was always considered honest, an excellent quality in a miller. Amasa HoUister, a blacksmith, began about 1815. His sons were Alpheus, Alanson, Amasa, Wesley, and John F. Alpheus and Alanson built a saw-mill and grist-mill and made many other improvements. John F. HoUister lives at Piano, Illinois. Amasa and Wesley went South. There were two daughters ; Ursula, now a widow living in Illinois, married Mar cus Stewart, and Daphne married Hiram Brown, who went West. Henry Heermans began first upon the place last owned by Harris Hamlin, Sen., and then he removed to Salem Corners, which place was in part built up by him. He was elected constable in the spring of 1818, and, at November sessions, 1818, he was licensed to keep a public house, which, with a store, he managed for several years. He was a stirring business man. In 1829 he disposed of his property at Salem Corners and removed to Providence, Pa. Samuel Morgan bought the farm fii-st taken up by 35 274 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. his uncle, Jesse Morgan, and called Morgan hill. He was a shrewd man and a good farmer. He so much resembled Ben. Butler that had they been dressed alike it would have been hard to tell them apart. His daughter, Mary Morgan, now owns the old home stead. Halsey Morgan, one of his sons, remains in the town, but his other children have removed. Aaron Morgan, a brother of Samuel, bought and improved land north of his brother. Subsequently he bought of Charles Goodrich, Sen., the north-east sec tion of the old London lot, at Hamlinton, containing one hundred and twenty acres, and exchanged his northern farm with Hammond Fowler for the George Lee farm lying east of his purchase of Charles Good rich. Aaron Morgan's old farm is now owned by A. R. Jones, which farm adjoins the one of that ingen ious orchardist and gardener, T. W. Quintin. Mr. Morgan built the large stone dwelling-house at Ham linton and, upon his death, bequeathed all his property equally to his four daughters. Dr. Asa Hamlin, who originally was from Con necticut, came to Salem about 1814. He was the first settled physician ; before his time Dr. Collins, of Cherry Ridge, or Dr. Mahony, of Bethany, was called in cases of great extremity. Dr. Hamlin bought or rented a tavern-stand of Henry Heermans and kept tavern several years at Hamlinton, and was succeeded by Jeffrey Wells. Dr. Hamlin had three sons and one daughter. He took great pains to educate his children. His oldest son, WilUam E. Hamlin, mar- TOWNSHIPS— SALEM. 275 lied a daughter of Da-vid Noble and has been a promi nent merchant at Nobletown from his youth up. The other sons removed to western Pennsylvania and have been popular men in the Legislature. The only daugh ter, Eliza, married James Noble, of Nobletown, both of whom are living. John Roosa, Esq., bought the comer where Dr. HamUn kept tavern, and was licensed at April sessions, 1826. He had previously kept a popular tavern in Damascus. No reasonable man could fiiid any fault with the house kept by Mr. Roosa. After eight or ten years, he sold out to John Nash, and removed to Orange county. He was the father of Dr. Isaac Roosa, George D. Roosa, and, also, of Charles P. Roosa, who kept a store in Hamlinton several years. Catharine, the only daughter, married Anson Northum, a merchant. Jonathan B. Watrous came to Salem when young. He was knowm to be the best boot and shoe maker to be found. He married a daughter of Joseph Moore, Sen. He is one of the oldest men in the town. Joseph Moore, Sen., was originally from Connecti cut. He had three children by his first wife, namely, Joseph Moore, Jr., who married Rebecca, daughter of Seth Goodrich ; Abigail, wife of George Goodrich ; and Matilda, wife of J. B. Watrous. Edward Moore bought the farm first owned by Har ris Hamlin. Dr. Joseph S. Moore, a son of Edward Moore, died many years ago. Horace Moore, another son, lives in Jonestown and owns the best farm in the 276 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. neighborhood. Walter Moore lives adjoining the old farm of his father, and Lucy Moore lives on the home stead. John Raymond, who married a daughter of Thomas Spangenberg, Esq., and who was a -soldier in the war of 1812 and is now pensioned, lived and traded as a merchant several years in Hamlinton. He is now- living in Scranton. John Buckingham, about 1818, settled on the farm now owned by John Pelton, and then removed to South Canaan, where he lived the rest of his days. By trade he was a calker and worked much at Hones dale upon canal-boats. Ambrose Buckingham, a brother, bought land and cleared up a good farm near the line between Salem and Paupack (really in Pau pack). He was father of Emma May Buckingham, the authoress. Asa Johnson manied a sister of said Buckingham; Harvey Miller married one, and Jas. Carr another. The family, as we have elsewhere sta ted, were from Saybrook, Conn. The Peet family settled on the old Samuel Hartford farm. There were Charles, a shoemaker, and Daniel and Abisha, farmers. Moses Wright married one of the daugh ters, and Albert Stocker another. Stocker lived on and owned the Isaac Hewitt place, east of Little Meadows, which his family now own. Dr. Erastus Wright, from Massachusetts, com menced the practice of medicine, at Hamlinton, about 1823, and continued there during his life. He mar ried Lydia, a daughter of Pliny Muzzy, of Clinton, TOWNSHIPS— SALEM. 211 and had two daughters, Mary and Frances. Mary married Rev. A. R. Raymond, and Frances, Mr. Cook. Salem is less broken by hills than any other town ship. The soil produces good crops of corn, rye, oats, and buckwheat, but it is best adapted to the raising of grass. The Wallenpaupack and its tributaries af ford abundant water-pow-er. Jones pond is the larg est sheet of water in the county, and the Bidwell pond is ' also large. The Cobb pond is smaller, and the Marsh pond the most diminutive. The first settlers located on the old north and south and east and west roads. In 1821, there was not a house on the road from Little Meadows to the Paupack, a distance of seven miles. Fifty years ago the whole region east of the Five Mile creek, with little exception, was an un broken wilderness. RoUisonviUe takes its name fi-om John, Asa, and Nathaniel RoUison, who first began there. The Osborn family, also, contributed to enlarge the settlement. The post-office is Arlington. No. 19 is situated at the head of Jones pond, on the light track of the Pennnsylvania Coal Co's Railroad, to which position it owes its importance. The village has all the buildings necessary for the convenience of a thriv ing population. The post-office is Ariel. Number 12 is situated on the loaded track of said railroad, north of No. 19, and is fast increasing in all that is necessary to form a prosperous village. Hamlinton has two stores, one tavern, a Methodist Episcopal church, a Presbyterian, and an Episcopal church. 278 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. Hon. Butler Hamlin is postmaster. The situation of the place is very pleasant. HoUisterville, situated on Potter creek, has a post-office, two grist-mills, two saw-mills, two rake-factories, three stores, two black smith-shops, two wheelwright-shops, one carding-mill, one Baptist church, and one Protestant Methodist church. Ledgedale, situated on the Wallenpaupack, owes its origin to the establishment of a tannery at the place by G. B. Morss. It contains a saw-mill, grist-miU, and store, with all other conveniences appurtenant to a viUage. The population is Iiish and German. The Saint Mary's Roman Catholic church is located near by in Pike county. Services are held monthly. There is a Methodist Episcopal church in Bidwelltown, and a Baptist church in Jonesto-wn. The first store in Sa lem was kept by George Harberger, in a part of Major Woodbridge's new house. He kept salt at five dollars per bushel, leather, paper, bohea tea, and pepper, and took in pay fox and deer-skins. Oliver Hamlin kept the next store at Hamlinton. Major Woodbridge was the first post-master and he was succeeded by his son, William. There were but two newspapers taken in the town up to 1815. Theodore Woodbridge and Seth Goodrich took one copy of the Hartford Courant, and Joseph Woodbridge and John Weston another. At that time John Searle carried the mail from Milford through Salem to Wilkesbarre every fortnight. When the papers came the men gathered in to hear and discuss the news. It took four months TOWNSHIPS— STERLING AND DREHER. 279 for the news about the battle of Waterloo to reach the Beech Woods. Facts illustrative of the suffer ings of the first settlers are given elsewhere. There are ten public schools in Salem, and the same number in Lake. Number of taxables in Salem in 1878, 455. Number in Lake, 371. CHAPTER XXII. TOWNSHIPS— STERLING AND DREHER, STERLING, including what is now Dreher, was sep arated from Salem, April 25th, 1815. It is bounded north by the west branch of the Wallenpaupack, east by the south branch thereof, south by Monroe county, and west by Lackawanna. Other streams of less note are Butternut and Mill creek. There are no lakes. The south-western part of the township, about the head waters of the Lehigh, is sterile and unimproved. The lands about and westward of Nobletown and in the northern and eastern part, along the south branch, are of good quality and are weU cultivated. Below and eastward of Captain Howe's location and between there and the old Bortree settlement, is a high hill of broken ground, w-orthless except for pasturage. 280 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. Henry Stevens, a German, was the first settler on the old north and south State road, near Butternut creek. He had received a good education in his native country. In 1800 he was taxed as a laborer, and in 1803 paid taxes on two hundred acres of land. He was the father of Valentine, George, Nicholas, and Henry, who were all farmers, and of Jane and Martha Stevens. In 1805, Robert Bortree, Sen., Edward Cross, Jno. Clements, and James Simons, each paid taxes on four hundred acres of land, from which it appears that each one took up a warrantee tract. These men l)0ught their lands of Edward Evans, of PhUadelphia. the deed of John Clements being dated in March, 1804, that of Robert Bortree in May, 1805, and that of James Simons, in July, 1806. The lands of the above were described as located on the south branch of the Wallenpaupack. In the same year (1806) Jo seph Simons and Abraham Simons paid taxation on two hundred acres each. The above named came up from Philadelphia and from Pocono by the old north and south State road, from which they marked out a route to their possessions. What few goods they had were brought in on pack-horses. With axes and au gers they constructed their huts. Of so little value were they that the assessors neglected to assess them. Phineas Howe, Sen., or Captain Howe, a title which he acquired in Massachusetts, began on the old north and south road and, in 1806, paid taxes on thirty acres of land, and subsequently on 2744 acres; TOWNSHIPS— STERLING AND DREHER. 281 consequently he paid the highest tax that was levied in the township. During his life he was a noted inn keeper, and erected costly and convenient buildings which, in or about the year 1826, were consumed by fire. He lost all, as he had no insm-ance. He was the father of the late Hon. Phineas Howe, Jr., for merly an associate judge of the county, and grand fa- hter of Hon. A. R. Howe, once register and recorder and Representative of the county. He had one other son, named S. Howe, now deceased ; some of his chil dren are yet living in the township. Ezra Wall, Esq., a merchant of Nicholson, Luzerne county. Pa., married one of his daughters, and Capt. A. H. Avery, of Sa lem, who removed to Illinois, married another. The resident taxables in the township, at the time of its erection, were Wm. Akers, Bartle Bartleson, John Bennett, Jeremiah Bennett, Nathaniel Bennett, Robert Bortree, Sen., Wm. Bortree, John Bortree, Thomas Bortree, Jr., John Burns, John Clements, Edward Cross, Andrew Cory, Richard Gilpin, Wm. Gilpin, Wm. HoUister, Phineas Howe, Jonathan Rich ardson, and John Brown. We remember that in or about 1821, Edward Bortree, Thomas Bortree, Sen., Benjamin Beach, Robert Cross, George Dobell, Jas. Dobson, George Frazer, Daw-son Lee, Thomas Lee, William Lancaster, Richard Lancaster, Amasa Megar- gle, Joseph Megargle, William Mc Cabe, Edwin Mul- linsford, John Nevins, Heman Newton, David Reed, David Noble, John Simpson, Henry Trout, and Levi Webster, together with those aforementioned, and 36 282 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. their children, with some others, were then residents of SterUng township. Prominent among the above named was Rotert Bortree, Sen. He built the first grist-mill and saw mill in the township ; he did many other things for the benefit of the public, and was an open-handed and free-hearted Irishman. William Bortree, his oldest son, for several years a farmer and merchant, died a few years since, aged over ninety years. His other sons were John, Edward, Thomas, and Robert. Much to their credit, they settled near their old homestead. If rightly informed, Robert, who lives on the east side of the south branch of the Wallenpaupack, is the only survivor of the family. Thomas Bortree bnilt an ex cellent mill on the south branch of the Wallenpau pack, about one mile from the mill that his father constructed, and ran it many years with success. Then he bought a farm of Ashbel Miller, situated in the eastern part of Salem, on the old turnpike road, at which place he died. His wife was a daughter of Rev. Benjamin Killam, of Palmyra. There was an other Thomas Bortree, who was an older man and was either an uncle or a relative of the younger Thomas, who began at an early date on a farm on the eastern side of the road north of Nobletown. William Gilpin was the first constable, and Jere miah Bennett the first assessor. He was the son of John Bennett, and held the office of county commis sioner and other offices, and was captain of a militia company. He was a generous and public-spirited TOWNSHIPS— STERLING AND DREHER. 283 man and wielded great political influence. He, for many years, kept a public-house in that part of the town called Newfoundland. Nathaniel Bennett, a man much esteemed in his day, was Jeremiah's brother. David Noble was the first merchant in the town. He bought a large tract of land and he and his sons commenced and built up the village of Nobletown, and, judging from the social and moral character of the people, the name of the place is very appropriate. William T. Noble, a brother of David, was for many years a merchant in said village. William HoUister, from Connecticut, in early days, was interested in building the grist-mill always known as the Edmund Hartford mill. After clearing- up a farm, he returned to his native place and remained a few years, then came back, and died at Salem. Asa HoUister, his only son, is living at HolUsterville. Three of his daughters are living. James Waite married one, Leonard Clearwater one, and A. B. Walker an other. Mrs. Polly HoUister, his widow, is yet living, aged over ninety years. Mr. HoUister was an excel lent man. He was in no way related to the families of Timothy HoUister and Amasa HoUister. Jonathan Richardson w^as from Philadelphia, and was a man of capacity and education. Richard Lancaster was an Englishman and a silver smith by trade. He used to w-ork at his business of making silver spoons, and took them to Philadelphia for sale. He held the office of justice of the peace, and was elected treasurer and sheriff of the county, 284 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. and discharged all the duties pertaining to these offices with fidelity. Dawson Lee and Thomas Lee lived near Thomas Bortree, Sen., on the Newfoundland turnpike. Daw son Lee was a shrewd, witty man. They were both good farmers. Thomas Lee once had a number of fine shoats in a pen which one by one mysteriously dis appeared. At last he set a trap and caught a large black bear which thus fell a victim to his unjewish appetite for pork. Amasa Megargle was a miller, and, for many years, was employed in the Honesdale miU. All the Me- gargles were ingenious mechanics. Levi Webster, in 1815, moved into Salem, and after a few years took up a farm in West Sterling, where he remained the rest of his life. He was a man of quick wit and well read, particularly in natural histo ry. He has three sons in the county, who are very much like what their father was. Such were the original settlers of Sterling, the foundation of the present excellent superstructure of its society. After the erection of the township, constant accessions of the same moral excellence were made to the population. Excepting Capt. Howe, Jer emiah Bennet, and David Noble, the most of the first settlers were Irish. It is a surprising truth that notwithstanding the mingled nationalities of the people, no township in the county has had fewer criminal prosecutions and civil controversies in om- courts than Sterling. Betw-een TOWNSHIPS— STERLING AND DREHER. 285 thirty and forty years ago, a settlement was made in East Sterling, or Newfoundland, by a body of worthy and industrious Germans, who have greatly promoted the wealth and advancement of the township. When the Bortree, Simons, Gilpin, Cross, and Clements families, fresh from the Emerald Isle, first marked their way into the woods and built their huts midst gloom and solitude, how desperate was their condition, contrasted with the enchanting scenes which they had left forever behind them ! They suffered, struggled, and agonized to live and provide homes for themselves and their children; and let it not be forgotten that they succeeded. After the German settlement began to fiourish, a turnpike w-as constructed from the old turnpike through Newfoundland, etc. It has since been thrown up. Since the plan for this history was adopted the town has been divided and the southern part erected into a new tow-nship and named Dreher, in honor of Hon. Samuel S. Dreher, late president judge of Wayne and Pike counties. In the south-western part of Dreher, the Delaware, Lackawaxen and Western rail road crosses a narrow strip of the county at a place called Sand Cut, w-here there is a depot and a post- office. Though the village is small, the business is large. South Sterling is a small, thriving village *rith a post-office and a M. E. chm-ch. There is a post-office at Newfoundland and an Evangelical church. Nobletown has a post-office and 286 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. a M. E. church. In 1878 Sterling had ten common schools, including those in Dreher. The number of taxables in both w^as four hundred and ninety-one. CHAPTER XXIII. TO WNSHIPS— CHERR Y RID GE. THIS township was formed from parts of Texas and Canaan townships, at December sessions, 1843. It is bounded on the north and north-east by Tex as, on the south-west by Palmyra and Paupack, south by Lake, and west by South Canaan and Canaan. The chief natural ponds are Sand and Cajaw. The Middle creek, Collins brook, Stryker, and Pond brooks are the chief streams. There are no very high hills, and the greater part of the land is cultivatable. There is much land in the township of superior quality, but the lands south of Middle creek are mostly rough and uninviting, excepting about the Sand pond and in the neighborhood of John R. Hoadley's. This town ship was early benefited by the passage of the Milford and Owego turnpike road through it, and at a later period by the Honesdale and Cherry Ridge tm-npike, which was afterw^ards continued to East Sterline-. A TO WNSHIPS— CHERR Y RIDGE. 287 settlement was commenced in this township before the organization of the county, but at what exact time we cannot ascertain. By an assessment of Canaan town ship, made, in 1799, by John Bunting, Esq., it appears that Enos Woodward, John Woodward, Silas Wood ward, Asahel Woodward, and John H. Schenck had at that time made quite an opening in the woods. Enos Woodward had then more land cleared than any man in the township, excepting Moses Dolph; having fifty acres of improved and one hundred and seventy- five acres of unimproved land. John Woodward had seventeen acres of cleared and three hundred and eiglity- three acres of uncleared land; Silas Woodward and Asahel Woodward each had twenty acres of im proved, and each three hundred and eighty acres of unimproved land; and Col. John H. Schenck had forty acres of improved and four hundred acres of un improved land. About 1794, Benjamin King went from Paupack and began on the Schenck farm, and, in 1796, left it and went to Mount Pleasant. It is supposed that about this time Enos Woodward with his sons and Col. John H. Schenck commenced and made the first permanent improvements. They were soon after joined by Daniel Davis and Abraham J. Stryker. Enos Woodward was a native of Massachusetts. He was a soldier in the Revolutionary war, and, while at home upon a furlough, mixed in an Indian fight on the Paupack. He was tall in stature, noble in bear ing, and much resembled his grandson, Hon. George 288 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. W. Woodward, deceased. He had several sons, namely, John, that quiet and unobtrusive man who lived and died upon the great Woodward farm near the resi dence of J. Jordan; Silas, who bought the farm of Phineas Coleman in Dyberry; Ebenezer, who owned the farm west of Clark's Corners; and Abisha Wood ward, whose history will be found under the head of Bethany. Colonel John H. Schenck was from Orange county, N. Y. Owning a good property in his native place, he mortgaged it to raise money to equip a regiment to serve in the Revolutionary war. Such was the pov erty of the country in those days that he was poorly remunerated for his services, and, though made colonel of the regiment that he raised, he was not able to re deem the farm that he mortgaged. He removed to Cherry Ridge and took up the land known as the Darling farm. He was finally pensioned by the gov ernment and died at the house of Dr. Sweet in Canaan township. He was a patriot whose name deserves to be remembered. Some of his descendants are living in the township. Colonel Jacob Schenck was a son of Colonel John H. Schenck. Jacob had the following sons: John J., who lived and traded many years at Clark's Corners, a most estimable man ; ApoUos D., Henry, Caleb D., and Isaac, and, also, two daughters. Abraham J. Stryker bought a large quantity of land south of the Enos Woodward farm, and made improvements thereon. In his old age he removed to TOWNSHIPS— CHERRY RIDGE. 289 Honesdale. His only son, Abraham A. Stryker, is Uving in Damascus. Daniel Davis located upon the farm now owned by H. L. Phillips. When there was much travel upon the turnpike, Mr. Davis kept a good public house for many years. Stephen Kimble, married Catharine, a daughter of Daniel Davis. Thomas Lindsley, for many years, kept a tavern- in Cherry Ridge. Dr. Lewis Collins was born in Litchfield, Connecti cut, He married a daughter of Hon. Oliver Hun tington, of Lebanon, in that State. He removed his family to Salem, in 1801, and bought of Moses Dolph the old Jacob Stanton farm at Little Meadows. About this time the county seat was fixed at Bethany, and the doctor wishing to locate nearer the centre of the county, where he could have a larger field for his prac tice, sold out to Seth Goodrich, removed to Cherry Ridge in 1803, and bought the . possessions of Enos Woodward aforesaid. The farm that he purchased is now owned by his grandson, Lewis S. Collins, Esq. The practice of the doctor w^as very extensive and em braced the whole circuit of the county. He had a sar castic way of giving gratuitous advice to his patients, which, although salutary, was not always agreeable. He advised a w^oman wdio asked for medicine to re store her appetite, to go without eating for eight and forty hours, and if that failed, to go without, eight and forty hours longer, and then to eat old bread and ap ple-sauce. The following were the names of the chil- 37 290 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. dren of Dr. Lewis Collins, viz : Augustus, who owned and lived upon the farm now the property of Charles G. Reed in Dyberry ; Oristus, attorney-at-law, generally knowm as Judge Collins. He located at Wilkesbarre, and at times practiced at the Bar in Wayne county. He was ten years president judge of the several courts in Dauphin county, Pa. He is yet living with his son in Princeton, New Jersey; Abner, a farmer, died in Salem an aged man ; Lorenzo was a farmer and sawyer and died in Cherry Ridge, leaving no enemies. Decius, a farmer, removed to Salem and bought a farm there, at which place he died. Lucius was twice elected sheriff of the county; consequently he lived several years at Bethany and was known by almost every man in the county. He returned to the old farm of his father and has been dead but a few years. Alonzo, a farmer, bought a farm in Canaan and died there. He was a man of reading and culture. Huntington, who was a mill-wright, learned his trade of Zenas Nichol son and Henry Heermans, and built more mills than any other man living or that ever lived in Wayne and Pike counties. Theron, a farmer, has been dead many years. Philena, the only daughter, married Virgil DiboU, a physician, who removed to the Wyoming Valley. At the erection of the town there were many good farms, (which number has been largely increased since,) assessed to the following named persons : Samuel Bar- tron, E. H. Clark, Lucius Collins, Samuel S. DarUng, John P. Darling, John Kirby, Jacob S. Kimble, TOWNSHIPS— CHERRY RIDGE. 291 David Kenner, Lewis Leonard, Wm. R. McLaury, Edward Murray, John G. Schenck, A. A. Stryker, and Isaac V. Writer. The heavy track of the Penn sylvania Coal Co's railroad runs through the southern part of this township, and it crosses the Middle creek above the most splendid fall on that stream. Here, in coming times, will be found a manufacturing village. Middle Valley owes its importance and develop ment to the establishment there of the great tannery of L. A. Robertson & Co. Ten years ago, it did the largest tannery business in the county. The com pany, for the benefit of themselves and the region about them, cleared up a large quantity of land, and, by selUng a portion to their workmen, were the means of causing several farms to be made. The place is conveniently located near the loaded track of the Pennsylvania Coal Co's railroad ; it has a large store, a post-office, and a fiourishing school. The tannery is now run and controlled by William Gale, Esq. A daily mail passes through Middle Valley, running from Honesdale to Hamlinton. The post-office, call ed Cherry Ridge, is located at the intersection of the Honesdale and Cherry Ridge tm-npUce with the old Milford and Owego turnpike road. The office was kept in the dwelling-house of the late E. H. Clark, Esq., deceased, until the house was burned dow^n, a year or two ago. There is no licensed public house in the town. The people are made up of Irish, German, English, and American-born citizens, the Irish ele ment probablj- predominating. The township of 292 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. Cherry Ridge has one church, formerly called the Union church, but now the M. E. church, and five common schools. The abundance of cherry-trees on the old Enos Woodward, John H. Schenck, and John Woodward lands gave name to the place long before it was erected into a township. CHAPTER XXIV. TO WNSHIPS— D YBERR Y. THIS township was erected in 1805, and was the first one taken out of the original townships. It was taken from Damascus, Palmyra, and Canaan. The excision of Texas and Berlin greatly diminished its area. It is now bounded by Mount Pleasant and Lebanon on the north, on the east by Oregon, on the south by Texas, and west by Canaan and Clinton. The main streams are the Dyberry and its tributaries, and the Jennings creek. .Part of the Sand pond is in the north-west part, and there are also the Third, Sec ond, and First ponds ; from the last two most of the water is derived which supplies the borough of Hones dale. There are no high, uncultivatable hills, except ing in the upper north-eastern section. The soil is TOWNSHIPS— DYBERRY. 293 varied, but much of it is of superior quality. Accord ing to Thomas Spangenburg, Esq., he moved up from New Jersey, in February, 1798, with one ox, har nessed like a horse, and moved into a hut which one Kizer had built, the year before, on the place where John Nelson now lives. There was nobody then in Bethany. , Samuel Smith built on the other side of the George Van Deusen place. The very night that Esquire Spangenberg arrived, Richard Nelson, and Conrad Pulis, a German, came. The latter began and cleared up a farm. So numerous were his sons that we may fail to mention them all, but among them were Abraham, Peter, Henry, William, and Ephraim. The farm of Conrad Pulis was below Day's bridge, on the Dyberry. Richard Nelson bought against Big eddy, on the same stream. He had five sons, namely: Richard, Jr., deceased; John, who has been an honest, hard-work ing farmer and lumberman, yet living near the old homestead; Charles, who is an expert steersman on the Lackawaxen and Delaware rivers ; Stephen, who located in Lebanon and died there ; and James, who first settled in Girdland and then removed to Nebras ka. Henry Brown married one of the daughters of Richard Nelson, William Bolkcom one, and Osborn Mitchell another. About 1799, Jonathan Jennings began on the west ern side of the Dyberry, near the junction of Thomas creek therewith, from which place he removed to and Ijought the farm now occupied by Hiram G. Chase, 294 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. Esq. Jonathan Jennings was many years crier of the courts, and held important township offices. His son, Henry, exchanged farms with Mr. Chase, taking the one where he spent the remainder of his life. He was a justice of the peace, and two of his daughters now own his last residence. A man by the name of Dye first made some im provement on or near the residence of Martin Kimble. The property belonged to Sylvanus Seely, who sold it to Isaac Brink, from Brodhead's creek. After a while Brink sold it to Asa Kimble, who was a son of Eph raim Kimble, Sen., of the Narrows, Pike Co., and brother of the first wife of Joseph Atkinson, deceased. Kimble married Abigail, a daughter of John Pellet, of Palmyra, Pike Co., and Mr. Kimble and his wife lived and died where his son, Martin, now lives. Their children are Ephraim B., Isaac P., George W., John P., William, and Martin, and Mrs. Nancy Ge- nung, widow of the late Ezra M. Genung, of Hones dale, deceased. They are all living in the county and partake of the virtues of their parents, whose memory is blessed.Philip Thomas began before the year 1805, on the farm of Albert Butler, on the road from Bethany to Seelyville. None of his family are now living. Abraham Brinli, from Mom-oe county. Pa., built a grist-mill on the outlet of the First pond, upon the premises now owned by Thomas O'Neill. In the first as sessment made in the to^vnship by Jonathan Jennings, in 1805, the mill was assessed at $640.00. It was a TOWNSHIPS— DYBERRY. 295 popular mill and of great advantage to the settlers. Pope Bushnell, Esq., says that it used facetiously to be said that the mill could grind wheat so that it w-as almost as good as rye. But let it be remembered that the millstones were made from a hard quartz rock found on the Moosic mountains. Brink, or somebody else, afterwards built a saw-mill below the grist-mill. The whole premises afterwards fell into the hands of Colonel William Greeley, the father of Willard Greeley, of Honesdale, and of Robert Greeley, of Prompton, a brave soldier in the war of the Rebellion. In or about the year 1816, Stephen Day, from Chat ham, New Jersey, settled on the east side of the Dyberry, where his son Lewis now lives. It is one of the pleasantest places on that stream. He died there aged ninety-six years. His wife was a daughter of Benjamin Bunnell. Jane, his oldest daughter, married Moses Ward, and was the mother of Rev. E. 0. Ward, of Bethany. The rest of his children were as follows : Elias, moved to Ohio, thence to California, where he died recently, aged ninety-three years; Barney and Benjamin removed to Ohio; Mary, the wife of Levi Ketchum, has, with her husband, been dead many years; Damaris, now living, is the wife of Hon. E. W. HamUn, of Bethany, and as a fiorist has a most deli cate taste and an appreciation of the beautiful ; Edwin S., deceased, was the father of George and Theodore; Lewis lives upon the old homestead and is an expert taxidermist. Hon. Pope Bushnell, a son of Gideon Bushnell, w^as 296 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. l>orn in March, 1789, in Salisbury, Connecticut. He (!ame into Dyberry in 1817. Joseph Dow, who was a brother of the widow of David Cramer, deceased, and of Mrs. Tallman, the wife of C. P. Tallman, Esq., first began on his place ; then Joseph Corbitt bought out Dow and sold his contract to Mr. Bushnell, who, by industry and economy paid for and cleared up the farm where he now lives. His worth was not unappreciated. He was appointed major of the first battalion of the Seventieth Regiment, in 1821, by Gov. Hiester, and was also appointed justice of the peace in 1824. He was the first county commissioner elected by the peo ple. In 1847 he was chosen to represent the county in the Legislature. His pure life and abstemiousness have prolonged his life to a remarkable age, he being now in his ninety-second year. His wife, also living, was the daughter of Gideon Hurlburt, and was one of three of his triplet daughters who were bom in Goshen, Litchfield county, Connecticut, March 20th, 1788. The first daughter, Mrs. Susan GreneU, widow of Michael GreneU, of Brooklyn, Susquehanna county, was the mother of four children. She died, aged about eighty-eight years. Mrs. Sally Bushnell, now in her ninety-third year, brought up six of her own children and four of other people's. Sidney N. Bushnell, Esq., is her only surviving child. Mrs. Sibyl Ludington,' widow of Theron Ludington, had but one child. She was a widow about seventy years, and died aged eigh ty-eight years. Capt. Homer Brooks, came from Vermont in or TOWNSHIPS— DYBERRY. 297 about 1816, and settled on the place where widow- Eliza Brooks now lives. His sons were Ezra Brooks, a farmer, who lives westward of the old homestead ; Virgil Brooks, farmer in Lebanon; Major E. Brooks, deceased; Horace D. Brooks, of Susquehanna county, farmer ; and Wm. D. Brooks. He had several daugh ters. Lephe, the wife of Lyman Gleason, Esq., is the only one living in the county. Lucy, the widow of Barney Bunnell, lives in Newark, N. J. The others are dead or have removed elsewhere. Joseph Gleason began near where his son, Lyman Gleason, now lives. Alvin, one of his sons, was killed in the war of the Rebellion. Willard, another son, lives near the old homestead. Gideon Langdon began about 1815 on the Thomas Hacker farm. His son, Solomon, followed him, and Jonathan T., another son, lived in Bethany. They finally removed to Montrose, Susquehanna county. The first wife of Lewis Day was a daughter of Gideon Langdon. Philemon Ross, from Connecticut, in 1815, began where his son, David Ross, now lives. All the rest of the family have removed. Philemon married a daugh ter of Pliny Muzzy, of CUnton. In 1817, Mr. Ross, who was one of the freeholders of the town, brought in a bill of $12.00 for warning twelve indigent persons who might need public aid, to leave the town with their families. There was no law to justify such in human ostracism, but it had become a custom in some places, and it was claimed that custom made law. 38 298 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. Pope Bushnell, Esq., being highly incensed, denounced the custom as a disgrace, and it was thereafter discon tinued, and the said bill was never paid. Jonathan Arnold, from Connecticut, settled on the west branch in 1810. He was a pensioner, having been in some of the severest battles of the Revolution. He retained his faculties unimpaired to a very old age. He was assessor of the town when eighty-four years old. "His eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated." He had a large family who are mostly, if not all, dead. Hon. Phineas Arnold, late of Promp ton, and once associate judge of the county, and David Arnold, once county treasurer, were his sons. He had twelve children. Isaac Dimmick came to Bethany about 1816. He bought the farm now owned by Edwin Webb. He was an associate judge of the county four years. He sold out his farm to Robert Webb, Sen., and removed to the West. He was a man of merit and abiUty. Hon. Abisha Woodward, who was sheriff in 1807, took up the Henry Webb fai-m, and then the place fell into the hands of Edmund L. Reed. The history of Judge Woodward wiU be found under Bethany. Phineas Coleman and Daniel Bunting were the first settlers upon the west branch; after them were Seth Hayden and Moses Hayden. Eliphalet Wood came fi-om Dutchess Co., N. Y., and settled on the west branch of the Lackawaxen, in 1816, on the fai-m now owned by Michael Moran. Mr. Wood bought out a man by the name of White. TO WNSHIPS— D YBERR Y. 299 This was a very old place and is really in Clinton, al though it was once said to be in Dyberry. The fol lowing are the names of most if not all of the Wood family, namely: Enos, Jesse, Luman, Charles, Eliph alet, John N., Ezekiel G., William F., Abigail, wife of Elias B. Stanton, Esq., Jane, wife of Hon. Phin eas Arnold, both deceased, and Mary Wood, who died young. The farm, now owned by Oscar Bunnell, was once if not at first occupied by Stephen W. Genung, and then owned by John Leonard, who sold it to Z. M. Pike Bunnell, since deceased. O. H. Bunnell, of Honesdale, is a son of said decedent. One of his other sons, EUery, was killed in the battle at Gettys burg. Spencer Blandin was the first settler upon the pres ent farm of Patrick O'Neill, on which is the great spring above the road. Daniel Blandin, who, in his life-time, lived near Honesdale, was his son. The place has since had several owners. John C. Ham built new buildings upon the farm, and then sold it to O'Neill, and he, with his family, removed to Wauseon, Ohio. Eli Henshaw settled upon the farm now owned by Joseph Arthur. At what particular time he and his brother. Increase Henshaw, were first in the county is uncertain, but we know that they were here in 1816. Increase was a painter and an ingenious man. Some times he lived in Bethany and then in Dyberry. Dwight Henshaw is a son of Eli. 300 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. Nathan Kellogg at first lived in Bethany ; he mar ried Salinda, a daughter of Abisha Woodward. He was a relative of Silas Kellogg. He built a house on the farm of Francis Beere, Esq., and there for many years kept a licensed house. A man by the name of Freeman began on the Ethel Reed place, so called, and was succeeded by Ephraim Torrey, who sold to Ethel Reed, who was a son of Ethel Reed, Sen., of Salisbury, Conn. He came in with his brother William, about 1832, and was a wheelwright by trade. His only living children are the widow of Ezra Brown, deceased, and the wife of Dwight Henshaw. Wm. Reed, deceased, settled in Honesdale and was many years a noted merchant. Charles G. Reed and Edmund L. Reed were sons of Josiah Reed, of Salisbury, Conn. The former located in 1832, on the farm w-here he now lives. Dr. Dwight Reed, Dr. Wm. Reed, and Egbert Reed, druggist of Honesdale, are sons of the former. Edmund L. Reed was a graduate of Yale College, and kept for years the academy in Bethany, where he died. Jacob Hole, in 1817, settled on the Borchers place. He was the father of Lewis Hole. William MiUer, of German descent, came from Lu zerne county, about 1820, and settled on the place w-here he now lives. Barney Day began on the place near D. M. Kim ble, then removed to the West, and was succeeded by Thomas Andrews. Jacob Schoonover, a son of William Schoonover, TO WNSHIPS— D YBERR Y. 301 began on his farm when he w-as a young man. He was a native of the county and has three sons. Jason Torrey built a saw-mill at Dyberry falls, about 1830. In 1867, Barnet Richtmyer built a tan nery there, which now belongs to Coe F. Young, Esq. Wm. N. Alberty is the general superintendent, and the business is ably conducted. There is, also, a large steam saw-mill. The water is used in and about the tannery. The village is now called Tanners Falls. It has a large store, a blacksmith shop and the usual conveniences of a village. There is a large amount of business done in the place. Dyberry village. E. B. Kimble keeps a store, tav ern, and post-office at his residence. There is a wagon and blacksmith shop, while the grist-mill of Messrs. Bates adds much to the business of the place. There has been some dispute as to the origin of the name of Dyberry. It was said by Mrs. Isaac Brink, an early settler, that the earliest beginners told her that a man named Dyberry built a cabin on the east branch, and, being the first man that died in the town, the place was called after him. In 1816, Christopher Faatz, Sen,, Adam Greiner, Jacob nines, Christopher Hines, Nicholas Greiner, and Christian Faatz, all Germans, (commenced and built a factory for the making of window-glass, about one mile and a half west of Bethany and east of the First pond, north of the residence of Charles Faatz. The place selected was entirely surrounded by woods. The stones with which to build arches were obtained 302 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. from the Moosic mountain, and clay for pots wherein to melt the glass, was brought from Philadelphia by wagons and sleighs. They made good glass which they, by like means, had to convey to Wilkesbarre, New-burgh, and Philadelphia, from which places they obtained their goods. They finally failed. James Manning and Jacob Faatz ran the factory awhile and stopped. Then Jacob Faatz and William Greeley started it again in 1829. Augustus Greeley, a brother of William, furnished the capital. This firm ran ten years and failed and the works were sold. Then Sloan & Stebbins ran them for two years, when the works were finally discontinued. The sand which was used was taken from the ponds in the town. The several firms from time to time employed from thirty to fifty men. The enterprise was beneficial as it led to the sale and clearing up of the lands. Hiram K. Mumford, son of Thomas Mumford, of Mount Pleasant, owns the house and buildings which were erected by Col. William Greeley, now deceased. Joseph Bodie and Jacob Bodie were blowers in the glass-house, and have good farms in the " Bodie Settlement." There are seven common schools, two hundred and eighty taxables, one Baptist church, and a Granger's hall in the town. The population is made up of Americans, Irish, Germans, and English. Of the lat ter, within forty-five or fifty years past, the following persons have settled, viz : John Blake, John V. Blake, John Bate, Francis Bate, James Pethick, Nicholas Cruse, Richard CUft, Francis Beere, Joseph Dony, BOROUGH OF BETHANY. 303 Richard Bryant, Henry and Joseph Arthur, Matthew Clemo, who are now living; also, Thomas Bryant, William Bryant, John Dony, Samuel Dony, Robert and Richard Webb, Thomas Crago, Mr. Reynolds, John Pethick, and Thomas Hacker, all of whom are deceased. The living are and the departed were the best of farmers, and with their families made up the greatest part of the population in the town. CHAPTER XXV. BOROUGH OF BETHANY. IT having been settled that Bethany was to be the county seat of Wayne, as stated by Judge Wood ward, in |the introductory chapter to this work, in 1801, Jason Torrey, Esq., surveyed and set the stakes for the pubUc square and court-house, to be erected upon the 999 acres which Henry Drinker, of Phila delphia, donated to Wayne county, the proceeds of which were to be used in constructing a court-house, &c. He immediately began the construction of a dwelling-house, and, while building it, he journeyed twelve miles daily to Mt. Pleasant and back, through the woods, to supply his workmen with provisions. 304 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. Daniel Stevenson used to say that he cut out the road from Mt. Pleasant to Bethany, and that Jason Torrey paid him twelve dollars for doing the job. Dyberry township was not then erected, and Bethany was in Damascus township. Mr. Torrey laid out the 999 acres into town or building lots, or into out lots of about five acres each. The Drinker land donated as aforesaid was called the "Town of Bethany." Mr. Torrey had not wholly finished his house, which was the second one built in the place, when the first court ever held in the place was convened in liis unfinished house, on the 6th day of May, A. D. 1806, before the Hon. John Biddis, president judge, and Hon. John Brink, associate. The judges sat upon chairs placed upon a carpenter's bench and could have been very appropriately called the "Bench," while the jurors sat on board seats below. At that court a grand jury ap peared and was sworn, who ignored three bills of in dictment, and found one true bill for assault and bat tery. The first court-house was built upon the public square, and was thirty-six feet in front, and thirty-two feet deep. A large log-jail, disconnected from the other house, was built, in which were confined not only criminals but such persons as were unable to pay their debts, the law then allowing the plaintiff named in an execution, to sell aU of a debtor's property, in cluding his last knife and fork, and then to send him to jail, where the plaintiff, upon paying the sheriff fourteen cents per day, could keep the debtor until he BOROUGH OF BETHANY. 305 could be released by a tedious and expensive applica tion for the benefit of the insolvent laws. The law, allowing imprisonment for debt, was repealed July 12, 1842. After som« years the log-jail was burned down, and the back part of a building called the red house, north of Judge Manning's, was fitted up and used in its place, until the building of a new court house, in 1816, when a strong jail was built in the lower story. The old court-house was removed to the west side of Wayne street and is now used as a store by W. W. Weston & Brother. John Bunting, from Canaan, built the first house in Bethany, which was the front house now belonging to John Henderson. It was built for a tavern, and at December sessions, 1805, license was granted to John Bunting. That year the house was valued at $200. This was probably the first house begun in the place. The next was the dwelling-house of Major Torrey, in w-hich the court was held as aforesaid. Major Torrey obtained license at May sessions, 1805, two terms be fore Bunting, and his house was licensed until 1813. When there were houses enough to accommodate the public, he gave up keeping tavern. Jason Torrey next built a store on the south-west corner of the Otis place which he, in company with Solomon Moore, ran until Mr. Moore built upon the lot now owned by Hon. E. O. Hamlin, and started a store for himself. About the time the red store, aforesaid, was built, the court-house and jail were put up, and Sally Gay built a small house below Dr. Scudder's. Simultane- 39 306 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. ously, John Bishop erected a house on the Bunnell place, opposite the dwelling-house of Miss Jane Dil lon. Then David Bunnell built at or near the dwell ing-house of Wm. Stephens, Esq., and David Wilder buUt the red tavern in which he kept a public house, until he buUt the brick tavern. Jason Torrey built the Spangenburg house in 1816. The only written evidence as to the person who cleared up the first land is found in an old assessment made of Dyberry township, in 1806, whereby Jason Torrey was assessed as having five acres of improved land, one horse, one cow, and four oxen; David WU- der, as having one acre of improved land, and one cow; John Bishop, Wm. Williams, and John Bunt ing each one cow but no cleared land. Jason Torrey at that time had made the only important improve ment on the lands. Jason Torrey was bom in Williamstowm, Mass., and, when scarcely twenty years of age, in the spring of 1793, came on foot into the township of Mt. Pleasant, where he found Elijah Dix, whom he knew in his na tive place, and here he became acquainted with Sam'l Baird, of Pottstown, near Philadelphia. Mr. Baird was a noted surveyor and employed Mr. Torrey to as sist him in making some surveys ; after he had trav eled through different parts of New York and this State, he finally concluded to settle in Mt. Pleasant. Having selected his land, he began to make improve ments upon it and built a log-house, and moved into it in February, 1798. He continued to improve his BOROUGH OF BETHANY. 307 land in Mt. Pleasant until he removed to Bethany, in 1802. He was endued with a great capacity for busi ness and was consulted about all the intricacies per taining to county accounts. He removed to Hones dale in 1826, and built the first house that was erected in the place, and, as it was finally used as a church, it was called the Old Tabernacle. Jason Torrey w^as generally called Major Torrey, the office of major having been conferred on him by an election in his earlier days. He had eleven children, namely: Will iam, a Presbyterian clergyman, deceased; Ephraim, who was a very promising young man, but died at the age of twenty-four ; Nathaniel, who died young ; John, living in Honesdale ; Asa, living in Bethany ; Ste phen, Presbyterian clergyman, living; Charles, de ceased ; James, who died young ; David, a Presbyte rian clergyman, living ; Maria, who married Richard L. Seely, deceased; and Minerva, married EUjah Weston, deceased; both daughters are deceased. As to other matters relating to Jason Torrey, see under the chap- terabout land-titles. Solomon Moore was from the State of New York. In connection with Jason Torrey he kept the first store, and was the first postmaster in Bethany. He built a house and store on the E. O. Hamlin corner. He was elected sheriff in 1820, and afterwards was appointed clerk of the several courts of the county, in which office he died. He was a very competent man, and assorted and numbered the papers in the several courts and brought order out of chaos. Edward Wes- 308 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. ton, Esq., of Providence, married a daughter of Solo mon Moore. David Wilder was a native of New Hampshire, and came into Bethany and settled in 1803, and married Sophia, a daughter of Paul Tyler, of Damascus. They had one daughter. Charity B., who married the Hon. James Manning, deceased. Mrs. Manning and Asa Torrey are the only surviving persons in Bethany w-ho were born therein of parents that first settled there. Mr. Wilder commenced keeping a licensed house in 1811, and continued in the business the most of his Ufe. He was an honest innkeeper and a good farmer. William Williams was a Yankee, who built a hut below the church lot, but it was of such humble pre tensions that the assessors failed to value it. He was in the Revolutionary war, and always carried his dis charge with him upon the top of his head, where a ball had struck him and plowed a furrow through his scalp. He was pensioned. John Bishop is noticed under the head of Berlin, and John Bunting and Asa Stanton under that of Canaan. David Bunnell came from Stroudsburg, and settled upon and cleared up the farm and built the house that is now owned by William Stephens, Esq., and was a justice of the peace for many years. He devoted the most of his time to farming, although he was a black smith by trade. His wife was Parthenia Killam, of Palmyra, Pike Co. Their sons were Z. M. Pike, Henry, John P., and Charles; and daughters, Elea nor, deceased, wife of Isaac P. Olmstead ; Eunice, de- BOROUGH OF BETHANY. 309 ceased, married to Brooks Lavo ; Sarah, the wife of Rev. Mr. Bailey ; and one daughter, Jane, who mar ried and removed West. Eliphalet Kellogg. When the county business was first transacted at Bethany, Mr. Kellogg was appoint ed clerk to the commissioners of the county. He was a brother of Silas Kellogg, wdio moved into Mount Pleasant in 1791, and Eliphalet must have located there soon after, as in 1801 he was assessed there as owning a house and nine acres of improved land, and as then being a clerk. He kep't a tavern many years in Bethany, being first licensed at February sessions, 1813. He was appointed in 1809 register and recor- er, and clerk of the several courts of Wayne county, by Governor Snyder, and held said offices during Snyder's three terms, making nine years. He died in Bethany at a very advanced age. He had five children, name ly, Martin Kellogg, only son ; Mary, wife of Dr. Isaac Roosa; Sarah, wife of Reuben R. Purdy; Abigail, wife of Dr. Halsey; and Eunice, wife of Washington E. Cook. Thomas Spangenberg. Perhaps the history of this man could not be given in a more agreeable manner than as told to us, and taken down at his request, in the same year in which he died. "I was born in Sus sex county, in New Jersey. When I came into Wayne county, (or wdiat is now Wayne county,) in 1794, I crossed at Monroe ferry, two mUes below MUford. At the latter place there were but two or three houses. The first house west of Milford was an old stone tav- 310 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. ern, built by Andrew Bray; next, old Lot tavern; then seven miles to Shohola farms ; next to Blooming Grove where Uriah Chapman, Esq., lived ; there I stopped a week to hunt; then I came to the Narrows, where Ephraim Kimble, Sen., the father of Asa Kimble, lived. There I found William Schoonover, the father of Daniel, Levi, Jacob, and Simon Schoonover. Levi Schoonover, born that year, was the first white chUd born on the Dyberry. I then came on to WilsonviUe. Several men lived there who were at work on a factory at the mouth of Paupadik eddy. The next place was Paupack eddy; there lived Reuben Jones, an enormous ly large, tall man, and his brother Alpheus, and their sister. Widow Cook. Elisha Ames lived on the David Bishop farm. I next came to the Benjamin Haines place, since known as the Jonathan Brink place; then to the Walter Kimble farm, now owned by Buckley Beardslee; from there I came to Tracyville. There was a tub mill which had been built to grind corn in that had been deserted. Then I went over on the east side of Irving's cliff, and came down to where Daniel Schoonover lives. This was in 1794; I moved up in 1798. The sheriff took .for jurors whom he pleased and they received no pay. I first settled on the John Nelson place. That year the county was organized into eight miUtia companies, and an election held at WilsonviUe to choose officers. John H. Schenck was elected lieutenant-colonel, Ephraim Killam was elect ed major for the first battalion; Samuel Stanton for the second battalion; William Chapman, captain of BOROUGH OF BETHANY. 311 Palmyra; Ephraim Kimble, captain of Lackawaxen; Jesse Drake, captain of Damascus; Edward Doyle, captain of Buckingham; John Tiffany, captain of Mount Pleasant ; and Asa Stanton, captain of Canaan, etc. In 1799, I went to Elijah Dix's, in Mount Pleasant, to election. Two went from Cherry Ridge and three from Dyberry. There were but forty-five votes cast in the county. I killed in Bethany one elk, two wolves, four bears, and thirty-seven deer, and I kiUed all but the deer before 1800. My oldest daugh ter, Betsey, was born on the Nelson place in 1799, and is the wife of John Raymond, Esq., of Scranton, Pa. In 1800 I moved upon and bought the land which is now the farm of widow Mary Stephens. My daugh ter, Catharine, was born in 1803 ; my son, John S., in August, 1812; and Esther in December, 1820. I had other children, but the above named are all that are alive. My second daughter, Phebe, was burnt to death by the accidental and sudden destruction of my house in the night by fire. She was thirteen years old. I have neglected to say that I was married to Susan Headley, January 2d, 1798. I moved into Bethany in 1817, and kept a boarding-house for many years." It may be said truthfully that Esq. Spangenberg was a very temperate man and never used profane lan guage. Being of German descent he could talk that language. He was commissioner and county treasurer, and was for fifty-three years a justice of the peace. He died April 8th, 1864, aged about eighty-nine years. He was a member of the M. E. church. 312 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. Joseph Miller w-as a son of Elizur Miller, of Salem, and, when a young man, came to Bethany and took the the job, in 1816, of building the court-house, w-hich, it used to be said, cost the enormous sum of $15,000, a sum, in those days, considered almost uncountable. He built, in 1814, the house which has been overhaul ed and rebuilt by Dr. Isaiah Scudder. He was twice elected sheriff of the county, and died in Bethany re spected and regretted. He had one son, Joseph, who married a daughter of Judd Raymond, and they have gone to the mysterious realm; one daughter, Hannah, deceased ; and another daughter, Armenia, who is the widow of Enos Woodward, deceased, and is yet living. Nathaniel B. Eldred, son of Elisha and Mary Eldred, was born in Dolsontown, Orange county, N. Y., in 1795. He studied law in the office of Daniel Dimmick and Edward Mott, in Milford, where he was admitted to the practice of law in 1816, and in that year removed to Bethany where he practiced in his profession for nearly twenty years. During some of said time he was in the mercantile business. He wa^. elected to the State Legislature for four terms, and was county treasurer two years. In 1836 he was ap pointed, by Gov. Wolf, president judge of the eight eenth judicial district, and served four years, and in 1839, by Gov. Porter, president judge of the sixth judicial district, in which position he served four years, and then he was appointed president judge of the twelfth district, composed of the counties of Dauphin, Lebanon, Schuylkill, etc.; whereupon he removed t(» BOROUGH OF BETHANY. 313 Harrisburg and resided, until, in 1849, the twenty- second judicial district, composed of Wayne, Pike, Monroe, and Carbon, was erected, of which district he was appointed president judge by Gov. Johnston, and then returned to Bethany where he resided the re mainder of his Ufe. After the Constitution was amended making the judiciary elective, he was unani mously elected president judge of the twenty-second district aforesaid. In Polk's administration he served four years as naval officer at the port of Philadelphia. Judge Eldred was often appointed to act in other posi tions. He was a very straight-forward man. As a judge he was always desirous to reach the justice of a case and to put the law and facts in so clear and con spicuous a light as to leave little room for mistake or misapprehension by a jury. He seldom or never took a case away from a jury and decided it himself, conse quently he was highly esteemed for his impartiality. He died at his residence in Bethany in January, 1867. He had seven children, four of whom died young and unmarried. Mary, the first wife of Hon. E. O. Ham lin, and Lucinda, the wife of Ara Bartlett, are dead. Charles, who removed toWarsaw,Wisconsin, and Carrie, the wife of Mr. Watson, of Warren county, are living. Isaac Dimmick, always in his latter days called Judge Dimmick, was from Orange county, N. Y., and came into Bethany in 1805. He bought and cleared up the farm now owned by Edwin Webb. He was an associate judge of the county, and was often employed in the county offices. He married a daugh- 40 314 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. ter of Hon. Abisha Woodward. He sold his farm to Robert Webb, Sen., and removed West. James Manning was born in Coventry, in Tolland county, Connecticut, in the year 1792. He came to Bethany in 1815, and began as a merchant, which business he successfully pursued for twenty years. He was a shrewd, enterprising business man. He married Charity B., the only child of David Wilder, and she is yet living in the mansion house, which belonged to her husband at the time of his death. Mrs. Manning and Asa Torrey alone remain, and have continued to live in the place where their parents were original set tlers. Mr. Manning was register and recorder, and for many years an associate judge. He was an am bitious man, but his ambition benefited others. Born in a land where the school-house and spelling-book are considered indispensable, where every patriot deems it his duty to spread knowledge with a broad and boun tiful cast, he at once recognized the newspaper as the most effectual agent in the diffusion of knowledge. Alone and unaided he bought a printing press and type and started the first newspaper in Wayne county, entitled the Wayne County Mirror. Its first number was dated in March, 1818. It was well conducted, and was in those days considered a wonderful wonder. The Mirror gave way to the Sepuhlican Advocate, which was pubUshed by Davis and Sasman. Manning furnished the printing-press and capital. The concern gave notice that they would take tallow and maple sugar in payment. The first number was issued in BOROUGH OF BETHANY. 315 November, 1822. Jacob S. Davis, having become unpopular, the paper took the name of the Wayne Enquirer, and was pubUshed by William Sasman, Manning furnishing the press. It was twenty by twelve and one-half inches in size and gave the home and foreign news. The second number, dated January 6th, 1830, gives an account of the borough as it then was, as follows: "Bethany is the seat of justice for Wayne county. It is situated on a commanding emi nence which declines on every side except the north, and overlooks the adjacent country. It contains forty dwelling-houses, a court-house, a county ffi-e-proof building, a Presbyterian church, an academy, two tav erns, four stores, a post-office, and several artisan and mechanical establishments. It is thirty-six miles from Milford, one hundred and ten miles from New York, and one hundred and twenty-three miles from Phila delphia. The borough was incorporated March 31st, 1821." Such, in 1830, was w-hatisnow the beautiful viUage of Bethany. Abisha Woodward, son of Enos Woodward, of Cherry Ridge, was elected sheriff of Wayne in 1807, and was for a long time an associate judge. He lost his left arm, but for all that he bought and cleared up the farm now owned by Henry Webb, which lies westward one-half mile from the borough. He mar ried Lucretia, a daughter of Jacob Kimble, Sen., of Palmyra, Penn. Among the chUdren were, 1st, John K. Woodward, who married Mary, a daughter of Silas Kellogg, Esq.; their children were Warren J. Wood- 316 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. ward, late judge of the Supreme Court of Pennsyl vania; Jackson K. Woodward, attorney-at-law, late of Honesdale, deceased; and Densey, who married Dr. Johnson Olmstead, of Dundaff, Penn. 2d, Nathaniel Woodward, who once represented the county in the Legislature and removed to the West. 3d, George W. Woodward, who held various important offices, and was once a member of Congress, and a judge of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. Hon. Isaac Dim mick married the oldest daughter, and George Little, Esq., attorney-at-law, married the youngest. All the family above-named are dead. Capt. Charles Hole* was, according to old records, an early resident, as he or David Wilder was employed as supervisor of the roads, then considered the most important township office. He had a brick-yard where all the brick that were used in the town were made. He built the house where George Hauser now lives. He had two sons; John, deceased, and Washington. The latter is now living in Lake township, and for a second wife married a daughter of Amasa Jones, de ceased. He had four daughters, namely, Louisa, first wife of Dr. Otis Avery; Martha, wife of Rezzia Woodward; Joanna, wife of Ezekiel Bii-dsaU; and Mary, wife of John J. Schenck, deceased. Mrs. Schenck is the sole survivor of the daughters. Charles Hole and Jacob Hole were twins. Jacob Hole settled in Dyberry. Lewis Hole was his son, and *The orthography of this name has been changed and is now spelled "Hoel." BOROUGH OF BETHANY. 317 he had a daughter named Phebe. Caleb Hole lived on the William Hensey farm and was the father of Ira, Elijah, and Cornelia Hole. Cornelia is not living. Randall Wilmot married a daughter of J ames Carr, of Canaan, and David Wilmot, of Wilmot Proviso notoriety, was their son. John A. Gustin, a noted mechanic, also, married a daughter of James Carr. Gustin for many years was a merchant in Bethany, and removed to Honesdale and there was postmaster. His widow and some of his daughters are yet living. Randall built the house and store now occupied by Hon. A. B. Gammell. John A. Gustin was the main carpenter and workman in erecting it. Amzi Fuller, from Litchfield county. Conn., studied law in the office of Hon. Dan Dimmick, of Milford, and came to Bethany about 1816, from which time he practiced law, until the removal of the county seat to Honesdale, when he disposed of his property and re moved to Wilkesbarre, Pa. He was not an easy, fiu- ent speaker, but his opinion upon difficult and knotty questions in law was seldom controverted. He had but one son, Hon. Henry M. Fuller, who was a mem ber of Congress, from Luzerne county, of acknowedg- ed ability, but who died in the meridian of life. Thomas Fuller studied law with his brother Amzi, and was not admitted to the Bar untU many years afterward. He was argumentative and persuasive and a much better speaker than his brother. He never attempted to make the worse appear the better reason. He was too conscientious to take any unfair advantage 318 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. of his client's opponent. After the removal of the court to Honesdale, he took up his abode there, and soon after died in the meridian of life. Hon. John Torrey married one of his sisters. Mr. Fuller left one son, WilUam, w-ho is now living in the house which his father buUt. His only daughter, Mary, married Dr. Ralph L. Briggs, who died in Wisconsin, November 4, 1863. At the time of his death he was postmaster of Honesdale. Levi C. Judson lived some time in Bethany, and his son, who writes under the nom de plume of " Ned Buntline," was born in the village. .By the assessment of 1826, Hon. E. W. Hamlin was mentioned as a single man. A full notice is giv en of him in another part of this book. Besides the persons aforementioned, it appears by an assessment, made by Henry W. Stilley, 1826, that there were then other prominent men living in the borough, among whom were Daniel Bald-win, a hatter, .who married Ruey Hamlin, sister of E. W. Hamlin, and afterwards removed with his family to Minne sota; Levi Ketchum, who was a tanner and shoe maker, and, as a boot-maker, could not be excelled, his children being Lawrence, deceased, WiUiam, of Susquehanna, Pa., and Eliza, -wife of Spencer Keen, of Honesdale; Osborn Olmstead, who came in about 1819, from Connecticut. He was a shoe-maker and tanner. His children were as follows: Raymond, de ceased; Isaac P., of New York city; Johnson C, physician, in Dundaff, Pa. ; Hawley Olmstead, de- BOROUGH OF BETHANY. 319 ceased; Harriet, of Dundaff; and Arney, who married Wm. V. R. Sloan, deceased. Judd Raymond was a carpenter, and the father of John Raymond, Esq., and Wm. Raymond. Philan der K. WilUams, Esq., married one of his daughters, and Joseph MiUer, Jr., another. John Raymond is then noticed as being a carpenter and owning a good dwelling-house. Moses Ward, who was a joiner by trade, was assess ed in the borough, in 1825. He was from Chatham, N. J., and first settled or lived on the Dyberry. He was the father of Rev. E. O. Ward, and lived to be eighty-one years of age. The Rev. E. O. Ward, pastor of the Presbyterian Church, came from Dun daff to Bethany, in 1851. In his ways he reminds us of the village preacher described in Goldsmith's " De serted Village." The house, which is now the M. E. parsonage, was built by J. S. Davis, who was many years a commis sioners' clerk and deputy county treasurer, and who proved to be a defaulter to the county for several thousands of dollars, the most of which was lost. The county seat was removed to Honesdale by act of Assembly, passed 1841. After the removal of the feom-ts the court-house was used as an academy until the University of Northern Pennsylvania was char tered, in 1848, when the old court-house was changed and enlarged for the use of said University, and a school opened therein in the fall of 1850. The next year. Professor John F. Stoddard was elected princi- 320 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. pal of the institution. It was patronized by over two hundred students, and gave a most salutary impetus to the cause of education. Then for a time the insti tution was managed by the Methodist Episcopal Church. Professor Stoddard finally purchased the whole building and grounds, and while under him at the time of its greatest prosperity, the building was burned on the night of the 19th of April, 1857. Mr. Stoddard generously gave the fire-proof building and public square to the borough for the use of the com mon school. But the University was not the only institution of learning with which Bethany has been favored. In 1813, the Beech Woods Academy was chartered, and the State aided it by an appropriation of $1,000. A substantial brick building was erected, the best teachers that could be found were em ployed, and here many young men were educated, among whom were Benjamin Dimock, Esq., Isaac P. Olmstead, Warren J. Woodward, late Judge of the Supreme Court of the State, and David Wilmot. In 1863, the building, which is now the property of the Westons, was sold and the proceeds turned over to the University aforesaid. The Presbyterian church, which cost $5,000, was commenced in 1822, and was com pleted in 1835. There is a Methodist Episcopal, and a Baptist church, one school, two stores, no licensed tavern, a lodge of Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and a Good Templars' lodge. By request, we insert the following piece of poetry, written by Alonzo ColUns, fifty years ago. It will BOROUGH OF BETHANY. 321 probably apply to different latitudes and meridians : " Come, oh ! my muse, with heavenly fire. Assist my pen, and tune my lyre. That I may write with ease and grace While I describe a little place, A country town not far from here, Where people of all grades appear ; They are a wxangHng, jangling crew. And disagree like Turk and Jew. Religion is contested here In terms most rigid and severe ; Each sect affirms its doctrines stout. And twists the Scriptures wrong-side out ; The Baptists do affirm and say Immersion is the only way, And if we will not dive like trout, Prom heaven we'll be blotted out ; Others declare it is no matter, How small the quantity of water ; That it's a type, designed to show Who're the church militant below. See gamblers, sharpers, speculators, And hypocrites, and Sabbath-breakers, And doctors, too, of wondrous skill. Who sometimes cure and sometimes kill ; The friendly clods their errors screen. And hide their faults from being seen. The ladies here in Bethany, Of different shades of dignijiy. Bring in their hats from Yankeetown, Of different shades, pink, white, and brown. Tipped off with artificial flowers. Which look like squash-blows after showers, Or bean- vines running up a pole ; They make me laugh, they look so droll. The office-holders here increase, 41 322 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. Disturbers of the public peace ; They hunt for office as sincere, As hounds do hunt the weary deer ; With public money strut about. While honest people go without, Dandies are here of every grade, Gfallanting ladies is their trade ; They swell around with stuffed cravats^ And polished boots and tippy hats; They lug a lady on each side. As sacks upon a jackass ride. But I would have it understood. Many are virtuous, pure, and good ; And but for them the rest would sink. And go where sinners howl for drink.' CHAPTER XXVT. TO WNSHIPS— CLINTON. THIS township was erected November 17th, 1834. It is bounded north and north-east by Mt. Pleasant, east by Dyberry and Prompton, south by Prompton and Canaan, and west by Lackawanna and Susquehan na counties. More than one-quarter of the township is taken up by the acclivities and decUvities of the Moosic mountain, and is sterile and unfit for tiUage. In the western part, as the line extends over the Lack- TO WNSHIPS— CLINTON. 323 awanna river, there is anthracite coal, the only por tion of the county in which it has been found. The west branch of the Lackawaxen and its tributaries af ford ample water-power for mills. As said before, the Lackawanna river runs over into this township for several miles and a short section of the Jefferson Rail road, at a place called Forest City, where the D. & H, Company has a large saw-mill, crosses over into the township, The chief ponds are the Elk, Forest, and White Oak. The lands east of the mountain are good, are mostly susceptible of a high state of cultiva tion, and produce good crops of grass, corn, rye, oats, buckwheat, and potatoes equal to any part of the county. There are some large orchards stocked with rare varieties of fruit. The Nortons and David S. West led the way in the selection and cultivation of good fruit, and their success stimulated others to fol low their example. This may be caUed the Pomonia of the county. The old north and south state road, and the Easton and Belmont turnpike road, subse quently following nearly the same route, afforded an early access to the township, and invited an enterpris ing class of farmers. The following from Alva W. Norton is an accurate account as to who were the fii-st settlers in the town ship : " My father was born in Goshen, Litchfield county, Conn., May, 1759. In 1776, when in his sixteenth year, he went as a substitute for his older brother, Samuel, to defend New York. He enlisted under 324 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. ' Old Put' for flve years, in the Light-horse, and it was three years before he saw home again. When he was discharged, he received what were called pay certifi cates for what was due him and, in the spring of 1783, went into the township of Winchester, now called West Winsted, Conn,, and purchased three hun dred acres of land, paying for it at the reduced rate of sixpence on the pound. In 1784, he married Olive Wheeler and removed to his new purchase, where he continued to reside until 1812. His children were War ren W., Alva W., Sheldon, Clarissa, and Samuel. In Sept., 1810, Levi Norton, David Gaylord, Rufus , GrinneU, S. E. North, and some others came to Penn sylvania looking for a better country, where they could worship God according to the dictates of their own conscience. In pursuance of that pm-pose, they examined the wild land in Wayne and Susquehanna counties. After that examination, Levi Norton went to Philadelphia and pm-chased nine tracts of land, sit uated in the north part of old Canaan, now Clinton Center. In December, 1811, he fitted out his second son, Alva, and started him for the wilderness, and this son came into Wayne county, Christmas day. At Mount Pleasant he found a young man who had been sent out with some sheep, and the two came down the old north and south road to the base of the mountain, opposite what is now the Clinton Center Baptist meet ing-house, built a cabin ten by twelve, and split bass- wood poles for a puncheon floor. Here they tarried during the winter, but very little improvement coiUd TOWNSHIPS— CLINTON. 325 be made, as the snow was four feet deep. Some time in March, Warren W. Norton, with his wife and one child, and Benjamin Johnson, with his wife and five children, came. The first week in June, 1812, Levi Norton, his wife, and the balance of his family, Hor ace G. Squire, and Michael GrinneU came ; they were followed in September by David Gaylord and wife, and D. S. West and wife. At the same time Amasa Gaylord and son, Myron, arrived and made arrange ments to move the family the next year and, in No vember, Rufus Grinnell's wife and eight children came, which closed the colony for 1812. In May, 1813, Amasa Gaylord, wife, and family arrived. About the same time Capt. Wm. Bayley came and lived with my father until he paid for one hundred and seventeen acres of land. In the fall of 1813, John Griswold, Sen., and some of his family came from Torrey lake, and put up a log-cabin on land adjoining that of Rufus GrinneU, and, in Janu ary following, moved his family down on an ox-sled. In 1814, S. E. North and wife; and Fisher Case and family came." Mr. Norton gives also the following account of a great wolf hunt : " In the fall of 1837, a pair of black wolves from the Rocky mountains" (or Canada,) "made their appearance in Wayne and Susquehanna counties. During the faU and early winter, in Her- rick township, Susquehanna county, and Mount Pleas ant and Clinton townships, Wayne county, they de stroyed over five hundred sheep. In Mount Pleasant 326 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. and Clinton there were societies formed for the pur pose of raising money to exterminate them and pay the bounty. The amount of premium raised was ninety dollars. In addition to this sum, Alanson Til- den, of Herrick Center, Susquehanna county, and A. W. Norton, collected forty dollars, making a total of one hundred and thirty dollars. My brother, Sheldon, offered one dollar extra for the scalp of the he-wolf. On the first of March, 1838, Merritt Hines, keeping the toll-gate on the Belmont and Ohquagua turnpike, near Sugar-loaf mountain, received information from a traveler going north, that south of the Pete Stevens place he saw two large black animals cross the road towards the Moosic mountain. He supposed them to be bears until he saw their brushes. Hines imme diately equipped himself for the chase and followed on, sending a messenger to Col. Calvely Freeman at Belmont, to follow him. Col. Freeman equipped him self, took the track, and followed Hines. These two men pursued the wolves eleven days and w-ere in at the death. On the third day, having driven them south nearly opposite the Dimock settlement in Frost Hollow, about midday, Hines and Freeman called at a farm-house for refreshments and to replenish their knapsacks. The wolves, wanting their dinner, entered a farmer's yard and killed fifteen sheep. That was the only time that Hines and Freeman gave the wolves any time to satisfy their hunger, for they followed them so closely that when they lay down at night, the hunters could see by the place wherein the animals TOWNSHIPS— CLINTON. 327 had lain that they never left it to procure anything to eat." There are several persons named in Mr. Norton's sketch who deserve further notice. David S. West was spoken of under Canaan township. Alva W. Norton, Esq., now aged about eighty-eight years, taught school at Salem Corners, 1 816, and afterwards in Bethany. He was considered a competent teacher, and was for more than forty years a practical surveyor. He was county commissioner for three years, and it is probable he was in that office when those destructive wolves were killed, which made us state, in another place, that he was chiefly instrumental in their capture. He lives with his son, L. F. Norton, and to a remark able degree retains his physical and mental capacities. L'a B. Stone, Esq., once a county commissioner and now a resident of the town, married a daughter of Mr. Norton. Sheldon Norton was for three years prothon otary of the county. He was a very prominent man in the Baptist church. In 1815 he was assessed as owning forty-five acres of improved, and two hundred and fifteen acres of unimproved land. His son, E. K. Norton now owns the homestead which is considered one of the best farms in the town. Michael Grennell, Sen., who lived to be one hun dred and two years old, settled about one-half mile west of the Baptist church, where Horace G. Squire once lived, and which is now owned by A. R. Squire. He was the father of Michael Grennell, Jr., who mar ried a sister of Mrs. Pope Bushnell. He was also the •328 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. father of Deacon Rufus Grennell. The sons of the latter were Virgil, once associate judge. Homer, Ovid, Jasper, Michael 3d, and Rufus M., who was once pro thonotary. Amasa Gaylord settled on the north and south road. His sons were David, Carmi, and Giles, all of whom sleep with their fathers. Giles Gaylord married Joanna W., a daughter of Elder EUjah Peck, Sen., and she is still living. John Griswold, Sen., was the father of Francis Griswold, who for many years kept what was called the Cold Water tavern ; so called because it was near a stream of cold water that came rushing down from the mountain. Sumner was another son, and was a farmer. Horace was a son or grandson of John Gris wold, Sen, Sylvester E. North, a farmer, is yet living. He and his family were noted for making the best butter and cheese to be found in the county. Fisher Case was the father of Ralph, Jerome B., and Robert Case. There are none of them Uving. There were many families that have not been mentioned which from time to time added materially to the wealth and importance of the town, among whom were Daniel Arnold, a mason ; Chester, Lewis, and Horace Buckland ; David Banting, Daniel Bunt ing, Jr., and John Bunting, who lived on the west branch ; Bunting and Randall, who owned a saw-mill and tannery; John Belknap, who lived and kept tav ern on the Judson place; Seth Hayden, and George TOWNSHIPS— CLINTON. 329 Hopkins, on the west branch ; Joseph Kingsbury, a farmer; Luther Ledyard, a farmer, who Uved adjoin ing Francis Griswold ; Pliny Muzzy, a farmer ; James and George McMuUen, farmers, of Scotch descent, famed as hunters; and Reuben, Cyrus, and Rufus Peck. These latter were the descendants of Elder Elijah Peck, of Mt. Pleasant, whose children were Elijah, Jr., William, Reuben, Lewis, Myra, and Joanna W. Elijah Peck, Jr., had nineteen children. The Sanders family were numerous. There were Samuel, David, Jonathan, Nathaniel C, David 2nd, Selma, and Shep- pard, who were all farmers. The following persons were all farmers : Ashbel Stearns, Levi, Levi, Jr., Jason, Ja son D.j Alfred, and Elisha Stanton ; John Sears ; John Sherwood, and William, his son; Charles L. Tenant, Sen., Charles L., Jr., and John A. Tenant; Washington WiUiams ; Nathan Wheeler, son of Benjamin Wheel er; Jabez Welch, who was also a lumberman; and John K. Davison, who lived first in Dyberry and then removed to and died on the farm now occupied by his son, Warren W. Davison. The farms in Clinton are weU cultivated for the reason that very little attention was ever paid to lumbering. Almost the whole of the original settlers were of Puritanic origin. Aldenville was started by Pratt and Alden, who built a tannery at the place, and the village was nam ed in honor of Levi C. Alden, who took charge of and ran the tannery. The village is well-situated for business and has one store, a post-office, a Baptist and 42 330 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. a M. E. church. The tannery is kept running under the charge of Henry Alden. Clinton has six common schools and one school in the Independent District of " Mount Republic." There is a Baptist church in the Norton settlement. The number of taxables, in 1878, was two hundred and ninety-seven. CHAPTER XXVII. BOROUGH OF PROMPTON. THIS borough was at iirst incorporated in 1845, but, in consequence of some irregularity or dis satisfaction, it was reorganized and enlarged, at Sep tember sessions, 1850. It was taken from Texas, Ca naan, and Dyberry. The most of the village is situa ted near the junction of the Van Auken creek with the west branch, four miles west of Honesdale. WilUam Jenkins made an assessment of the borough, in 1845 ; upon examining the same, we find only two persons that we are sure resided there at that time. One is George Alvord, Esq., and the other is George W. Hall, then assessed as a bedstead-maker. At that time Phineas and David Arnold were there; Levi BOROUGH OF PROMPTON. 331 Bronson, who manufactured shovel-handles; Alexan der Conyne, who was strangely killed by the spring ing up of a pole upon which he had felled a tree ; George Dimock, now living in Carbondale; Foot and Tingley, merchants ; E. E. Guild, clergyman ; Simon Plum, removed ; Roswell Patterson, now of Herrick Centre, Pa.; E. K. Norton, merchant, now of Clin ton; Sylvanus Osborn, now living at No. 19, Lake township; Hiram Plum, deceased; Henry Dart, inn keeper, who removed to Honesdale and kept the Wayne County Hotel, and from thence went to Rock River, in Illinois; and Alonzo Tanner, deceased. Then all the Jenkins family were living, excepting Benjamin Jenkins, Sen. He was from Connecticut, and began there with his family before Honesdale was thought of. He bought, in 1813, a tract of land in the warrantee name of James Chapman. There was no road or settler near him, and there he lived and died, surrounded by his family. His sons were Ben jamin Jenkins, Jr. ; Samuel Jenkins, lately deceased ; Asa Jenkins, the father of Wm. Jenkins, assessor, as aforesaid; Edw^ard Jenkins, who was county treasurer when said assessment was taken ; and John Jenkins. Jacob S. Davis married one of his daughters, and Ralph Case another. His children clustered around him, and there they peacefully dwelt, " Far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife ; Their sober wishes never learned to stray ; Along the cool sequestered vale of life, They kept the noiseless tenor of their way." No nobler, purer family ever lived. We cannot 332 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. be justly accused of fiattery, for all of the family of Benjamin Jenkins, Sen., are in their graves. Joseph Headley in early life lived in Bethany. He married Mary, the oldest daughter of Robert Bortree, Sen., of Sterling. More than sixty-five years ago, he bought two hundred acres of land in the south-east section of the Elk Forest tract. He was an industri ous farmer. His sons, who are living, are John W., Robert, and William. Pie had, also, one daughter, named Eliza. Rockwell Bunnell, the oldest son of David Bunnell, Esq., lives within the bounds of the borough. Geo. Alvord, Esq., son of Zenas Alvord, an old settler in Dyberry, has been many years justice of the peace. George W. HaU & Son continue the manufacture of choice furniture. The Wayne County Normal School is located here. The village contains one store and two common schools. Number of taxables, in 1878, one hundred and twenty. CHAPTER XXVIII. TO WNSHIPS— BERLIN. THIS township was set off fi-om Dyberry, Novem ber 28th, 1826. It then included Oregon, and, by the first assessment made after its erection, by Andrew TOWNSHIPS— BERLIN. 333 Davison, it contained but fifteen houses, all valued at $470. The house of John Smith was valued at $200, that of John Garrett, Sen., at $125, and that of Frederick Smith at $80, leaving tw^elve houses alto gether valued at $66. Oregon has since been taken off from this to-wnship, and it is now bounded north by Oregon and Damascus, south-^east by Pike county, south by Palmyra, and south-west and west by Texas. The chief streams are the branches of the Mast Hope, Beardslee's creek and Holbert's brook. The Long, Beech, Adams, and Open Woods ponds are in the township, and a part of Catchall pond. There are no very high hills, but some of the lands southward, east ward, and westward of the Adams pond are sterile. At the erection of the township the principal taxa bles were Lester Adams, Stephen D. Bunnell, John Cressman, Samuel Camfield, Martin Kellogg, Andrew Davison, Jeremiah Garrett, John Garrett, Sen., John Garrett, Jr., Hugh McCrannels, Henry PuUs, Peter Pulis, Samuel Smith, John Smith, Peter Smith, Wm. Charles Smith, and Frederick Smith. Ephraim Tor rey and Moses Ward were taxed as non-residents. .Samuel Camfield, one of the above-named is still living in the town. Ephraim Torrey was one of the first beginners at Beech Pond, and died there about 1829. Near that time Wm. Olver and Jonathan Tamblyn commenced this side of the pond. Wm. Spry was the next settler and is yet living on his original location; then William Tamblyn bought west of him, and Ed ward Marshal bought where his son Edward now lives. 334 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. John Olver took up and bought land west of the Long pond where his widow and son now live. These set tlers were from England. The opening of the Delaware and Hudson Canal gave a great impetus to the settlement of the country about Honesdale, and Berlin township was particular ly benefited thereby. The Honesdale and Big Eddy turnpike was built, and subsequently a plank-road near the same, over which all the travel between Honesdale and New York via Narrowsburg passed until the building of the Honesdale branch of the Erie railroad. Before the building of this railroad so great were the transportation and travel between Honesdale and the New York & Erie railroad, that a plank road was made from near the former residence of Buckley Beardslee, deceased, to Mast Hope, now called Pine Grove. But it failed to meet the expectations of its projectors, and is now a useful township road. Sam uel Smith is reputed as having been the first settler in the township, on Smith Hill. Here is some of the best land for com and grain in the county. It is call ed red shale soil ; it covers a large area in the north western part of the town and extends northward into Oregon township. The numerous . descendants of Samuel and John Smith have mostly departed from Smith Hill, and their farms are owned and occupied by new-comers. Berlin Center, which owes its name to the intersec tion of two township roads, is in the Smith Hill vicin ity. Here, living with his son, John Seaman, is C. TO WNSHIPS— BERLIN. 335 B. Seaman, Esq., in his ninety-second year. His wife is aged about eighty-eight years. She was the daugh ter of Jacob Kimble, of Paupack, Pike county ; and in the same house with them lives the widow of John Smith, deceased, a sister of Charles B. Seaman, aged about ninety years. The ages of the three average about ninety years. Where can the like be found in any house in the county ? Having within six months past visited this family, we were delighted to see the kindness and respect with which these good people are treated by their children and grandchildren. It may be said unto them, " Verily, ye shall in nowise lose your reward." Isaac Seaman removed from Haverstraw, N. Y., and settled in Damascus, where Chas. B. Seaman was born. From thence he removed to Dyberry and bought the farm now owned by Daniel M. Eno. Isaac Seaman sold the farm to Peter Smith who sold it to Deming & Eno. Charles B. Seaman removed to Pike county where he held the offices of sheriff and prothonotary and after returning to this county was elected county commissioner. Henry Bishop lives in this township. His father, an old Revolutionary soldier, came from New Jersey, first settled at the Narrows in Pike county, from thence removed to Bethany and was accounted the first set tler therein. He was a carpenter and built the first frame house for William Schoonover that was built in Dyberry. He carried the mail on foot for several years between Bethany and Stroudsburg. His sons 336 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. were John, William, Hiram, Henry, David, Jacob, and Harvey. Henry Bishop, the subject of this paragraph, is aged eighty-two years, and was a half-brother on his mother's side to Joseph Atkinson, deceased. He says that he has eaten bread that was made from flour that his father brought up on his back from Minisink. Henry has one sister, widow Rachel Schoonover, now Uving at Forest Mills with her son. Beech Pond. This village is situated below the pond of the same name. Thomas Burke began a tan nery there, did but little, and sold out the same to Henry W. Stone and Horace Drake, who carried on tanning successfully for several years, and established as appurtenant thereto a large store. Mr. Stone sold out to Messrs. Drake & Sons, who continued in the bus iness as long as the same could be made remunerative. Being situated in the midst of a good agricultural re gion, the village is weU kept up by the business arising therefrom. When Beech Pond began to flourish, Ste phen W. Genung built a saw-mill upon the outlet of Adams pond, and for a time carried on lumbering; hence the place was called Genungtown, and it is about two miles south of Beech Pond. Wm. Hol bert, now of Equinunk, came into the possession of the place, and pursued the lumbering business upon a large scale, buUt good and substantial buildings, clear ed up and improved the lands, and made a good farm. He then sold out the same to J. Williams. The lum ber from this mill was drawn down through the Catch all settlement to the Delaware. TOWNSHIPS— BERLIN. 337 Soon after the making of the turnpike road from Indian Orchard to Narrowsburg, Wm. Rockwell, from Connecticut, took up a large tract of land about one mile and a half westward of Beech Pond, cleared up a large farm of red-shale soil, built a convenient tavern house, and kept a licensed inn for many years. He had three children, two of whom, with himself, are in the grave. The farm is now owned by P. Staff. About one mile east of Beech Pond there is a road that starts off from near Lucius Keyes' house and runs south through the Henshaw and Mclntire settlement to intersect the Catchall road. There is much excel lent land in this settlement. On the Catchall road is sufficient population to maintain a common school. Jacob W. Travis located and bought land about one mile east of Beech Pond, on the old turnpike road, about flfty years ago, and kept tavern for some years. He left two children who are yet living. In this township, six miles from Honesdale, is a poor-house, built on a large farm, which the overseers of the poor of Honesdale and Texas purchased of Henry Bishop. The paupers are employed upon the farm for the purpose of utilizing their labor, and en abling them to contribute in part to their own sup port. The system has been in operation for many years, and long enough to test its utility. It is under the care of Joseph Dewitt, Esq., of Honesdale. A majority of the people in Berlin are of English descent, and there are also many Germans. The American element was from different States, though 43 338 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. but few of them are of New England origin. In 1878 there were two hundred and fifty dwelling-houses in the town, valued at about $39,000. There is one Baptist church near Berlin (Center, one Methodist Episcopal, and also one Free Methodist church near Beech Pond. There are nine district schools, and the number of taxables is three hundred and sixty-three. CHAPTER XXIX. TO WNSHIPS— OREG ON. THIS township was erected at December sessions, 1846. It was taken from Berlin, which had been organized twenty years before. It is one of the smallest of the townships, ranking in size with Pal myra, Texas, and Chei-ry Ridge. It is bounded north by Lebanon, east by Damascus, south by Berlin, and west by Dyberry. The streams are Carley brook, which rises in the township, runs south-westward through it, and joins the Lackawaxen at Tracyville ; Big brook, a part of which runs throngh its western section ; and Holbert brook, in the south-eastern cor ner. The ponds are the Day pond. Spruce, Huck, Mud, Lovelass, Smith, Lower Wilcox, and Upper Wilcox, or Yamell pond, upon the northern side of TO WNSHIPS— OREGON. 339 which lives Capt. John Kellow, a distinguished sol dier of the late war. Oregon, in Spanish, means marjoram. Can a sprig of that aromatic herb be found in the township ? Lester Adams and William Adams appear to have been early settlers. Exactly when they began, and from whence they came, we cannot find out. There are many of the Adams family whose pedigree is untrace able. We find one named in a very old history, that first settled on the river Euphrates, and, being alone, he was called in the singular number "Adam." He had several children. There were Abel Adams, Cain Adams, Seth Adams, and some others not named. As the children increased, they were called the " Adams family." They spread over the whole world, and it is not strange that some of them found their way into Oregon, Manchester, and other parts of the county. We never heard of any who preserved the original family name that were not respectable. Among these were John Adams, John Quincy Adams, and Charles Francis Adams ; but we have not time to trace their genealogy back to the old gentleman, Henry Pulis, a son of Conrad PuUs, began, in 1 827, on the road leading from Dyberry to RUeyville, though the road was not then made. There was a' road, when Bethany was &-st started, laid out from the Dyberry through to the Cochecton and Great Bend tm-npike, and called the " Gate road." Hugh McCrunnels, a noble Irishman, settled on that road, about sixty years ago, distant about half a mile from 340 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. the Dyberry post-office. A part of that old farm is now owned by Thomas Dunn, and near by is the farm that Lewis Hole cleared up, now owned by H. W. Adams. Most of the roads and improvements in the town have been made within thirty years past. There was a road laid out in this township from Honesdale, after it began to prosper, through Smith HiU settlement, by the way of James Smith's, to Eldred, and thence to the mouth of Calkin's creek. The most of the people on that road are English, and they have some very good farms. Near the Berlin line, on the same road, is a Methodist Episcopal church, and near William Boucher's is another. The road which runs from Girdland, diagonally through the township, was laid out in 1850, about which time Hard, Palmer & Gilbert built the tannery, now owned by Wefferling, Brunig & Co., upon Carley brook. After that, Wm. Penwarden, who was born in England, built a saw-mill upon said brook, one mile above the tannery, and, by strict attention to business, has become wealthy. He maiTied a daughter of Thomas Depuy, of Madison, Pa. John Reifier, coun ty commissioner, owns a superior saw-mill, situated below Pen warden's; he is a German, and about one- quarter of the land-holders in the town are of the same nationality. Girdland is situated mostly on the old Gate road aforesaid, part of it being in this township and part in Lebanon. Soon after the settlement of Bethany, Jason Torrey bought a tract of land in the warrantee TOWNSHIPS— OREGON. 341 name of Abner Skinner and caused the large trees to be girdled in order to kill them, as he designed to have a brother of his clear up a farm there, which, however, he did not do. Charles Torrey began and made a small clearing. Then Jonathan Bryant, a son of Thomas Bryant, bought the place, and, after many years, it fell into the hands of George Croy, who now Uves upon the place. The settlement was called Girdland. The second settler was James Nelson, who took up a lot of excellent land; but, being remote from society, schools, and churches, he became dis couraged, sold out his improvement, and went to Nebraska. After that, several Germans were attract ed to the vicinity by the smoothness and fertility of the soil, and they have secured themselves with comfortable homes. There are many English families but the German element predominates. Jonathan Bryant, who did not lack the gift of continuance in well-doing, has acquired a competence which he most surely deserves. There is a post-office at Girdland, kept by J. Budd, Esq., who has a higher position, in that he is a good blacksmith. This township and Lebanon jointly support a school, so that there are four and a half common schools in the township. The number of taxables is one hun dred and eighty-two. 342 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. CHAPTER XXX. TO WNSHIPS— TEXAS. AT November sessions, 1837, this township was taken off from Dyberry, and, in 1843, Cherry Ridge was set off from Texas, leaving it in shape like an awkwardly-made square-toed boot. It is now bounded north by Dyberry and Prompton, east by Berlin, south by Palmyra and Cherry Ridge, and west by Cherry Ridge, Canaan, and Prompton. The Lack awaxen runs south-eastward nearly through the cen tre of the township, and the stream is joined at Hones dale by the Dyberry, which comes in from the north. The most easily cultivatable lands are the alluvions along^ the Lackawaxen and the Dyberry. White Mills. A saw-mill was built at this place by Daniel Parry & Co., w-hich mill afterwards fell into the hands of A. H. Farnham & Co. Some of its owners having whitewashed the buildings, it was called White Mills. At these mills an enormous amount of white pine was sawn, and from thence run to market. Christian Dorffinger, from Rochsteig, Alsace, in France, came to the United States in 1846. He learned his trade as a manufacturer of ornamental and enameled glass-ware, at St. Louis, in Loraine, France ; and after his arrival in this country, was first connect- TOWNSHIPS— TEXAS. 343 ed with the flint-glass works at Greenpoint, Long Is land, N. Y. In or about 1865, he selected a point on the eastern side of the Lackawaxen, near White Mills, upon which to build a glass factory. The works have been in operation eight or ten years, and, notwithstand ing the monetary difficulties which have crippled or suspended many manufacturing establishments, Mr. Dorflinger has successfully continued his business. Between his works and the depot on the Honesdale branch of the Erie raUroad is a substantial county bridge across the Lackawaxen and canal. There are from one hundred to one hundred and twenty men, women, and children employed in and about said fac tory. The glass produced there combines every de gree of excellence and ornamentation. Specimens of the perfection of the work were exhibited at the Cen tennial Exposition at Philadelphia in 1876, and were not excelled by the best work made at Pittsburg or elsewhere. There is one public house and a large store kept by E. A. Dorflinger. Here is the St. Joseph's CathoUc church, which is visited monthly from Hawley. Above the depot on the western side of the river is the residence of the Hon. Frederick W. Farnham, this being the place where Enos Woodward once lived. The latter was a popular county commis sioner in 1838. His wife, who survives him, was a daughter of Joseph Miller, Esq., and is Uving at White Haven on the Lehigh. The next place on the river is where Walter Kim ble located after the Indian wars on the Paupack. 344 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. He was the father of Charles and Stephen, and was one of the most enterprising lumbermen on the Lack awaxen. He sold out all his possessions to Buckley Beardslee and removed to the West. Mr. Beardslee held several offices, one being that of county commis sioner. He married a daughter of Walter Kimble and she is yet living, but he has been dead several years. Their sons are all living, namely, Walter, a farmer; Howkin B., attorney; and diaries, a farmer. Hon. H. B. Beardslee, in 1845, was elected register and recorder of the county ; afterwards he edited the Wayne County Herald, and was elected Representa tive, and then to the State Senate. Finally, he dis posed of his interest in the Herald, and removed to Wilkesbarre and became the editor of the Luzerne Union, a Democratic paper. He mai-ried a daughter of Wm. Clark, of Abington, Pa. According to his testimony there was a place on his father's farm where the Indians had paved a dancing-ground by laying down large, flat stones, where they gathered together like the ancient worshipers of Odin, in the Orkney islands, around the mossy stones of power. There the simple Indians performed their fantastic dances, and invoked the aid of the Great Spirit to as sist them in their contemplated enterprises. Mrs. Fan ny Atkinson, of Hawley, says that upon the flats at In dian Orchard were formerly found flint arrows, and pestles and hatchets, made of stone. She thinks that a man, by the name of Holbert, lived at the Beards lee place before Walter Kimble began on it. She TOWNSHIPS— TEXAS. 345 also says that David Ford, one of the original settlers on the upper Paupack, first lived at Indian Orchard, and that her father, Benjamin Kimble, bought Ford's possessions, and that Thomas Schoon over, also, once lived on a part of the flats. Simeon Kimble is a son of Benjamin Kimble. Wm. Holbert, Jr., bought the Schoonover farm. The Holbert family. The first of the Holberts that came into Pennsylvania was William Holbert, Sen., from Connecticut. In 1776 he first settled in New Jersey, opposite Milford, Pa. He bought Mast Hope and Holbert Bend. At the latter place the Indians prevented his making a settlement, and he temporarily returned to New Jersey. His sons were Benjamin and Joseph. Benjamin settled at the Bend, where Frederick R. Holbert now lives. His sons were, 1st, WiUiam Holbert, Jr., who settled at Indian Orchard as aforesaid. 2d, Joseph G. Holbert, who was father of WiUiam Holbert, of Equinunk, county commission er, and of Benjamin Franklin, Thomas J., and John Holbert. The latter owns a farm and mill on the Shehawken. Another of the sons, George Holbert, lives at the mouth of the "Lackawack," as it was al ways called in former times. Joseph Holbert, Sen., located at Mast Hope. WUliam Holbert, of Indian Orchard, married a daughter of Stephen Kimble. Leonardsville was named after John Leonard, who began there soon after the canal was finished. The place was selected for a boat-yard and many of the 44 346 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. best mechanics and boat-builders gathered there. The business of the place has declined. Jabez RockweU. In the Methodist cemetery at Honesdale is the grave of Jabez Rockwell. He was born in Connecticut in November, 1762. When in his sixteenth year he enlisted in a company raised in that place, was mustered into a regiment commanded by Benedict Arnold, was wounded at the battle of Saratoga, was afterwards transferred to the army fur ther south, and was in the battles which culminated in the surrender of Comwallis, at which event he was present. At the close of the war he settled in Mil ford, Pike county, which was then a wilderness. He was twice married. One of his sons by his first -wife was Lewis Rockwell, formerly sheriff of Pike county, and who is now living a few miles from Tafton, in that county, being over ninety years of age. In Sep tember, 1798, Jabez Rockwell was appointed crier of the courts of Wayne county, and in 1805 he was deputy sheriff under Abram Mulford, whose daughter he married, for his second wife. In 1 824 he was one of three Revolutionary soldiers that went from Pike county to New York to see General La Fayette, by whom they were warmly welcomed. Mr. Rockwell removed to Leonardsville in 1837, and there resided until the time of his death, in January, 1847. Being a Mason he was buried with the honors of that order, and with the honors of war, and the obsequies were solemn and imposing. He was a fifer, and one of his favorite airs, " The Masonic Adieu," was fifed in the TOWNSHIPS— TEXAS. 347 funeral procession from Leonardsville to Honesdale, by the author of this work. He had been for many years preceding his death in receipt of a pension from the government. Charles F. Rockwell, Esq., ex-treas urer of the county; Mrs. E. H. Mott, of Honesdale; and Mrs. Isaac Decker, of Leonardsville, are grand children, and John B. Rockwell, of Prompton, is a great-grandchild of Jabez Rockwell, aforesaid. William Rockwell, a Connecticut man, who first settled in Berlin, on the Honesdale and Big Eddy turnpike road, and who died some years ago in Leonardsville, was of a different family. Tracyville is situated on the east side of the Lacka waxen near the confluence of Carley brook therewith. Esquire Thomas Spangenberg tells us that when he first came into the county, in 1794, he found a tub- mill for grinding corn, at this place ; that it would not pay for tending, and every man went and ground for himself. Stephen Kimble built the first saw-miU that we ever knew at the place. In his later days Mr. Kimble moved to the west side of the river. The place was called Tracyville after Thomas H. R. Tracy who built a mill up the stream and encouraged some mechanics to found some shops in the village. About 1842, Jacob Faatz started a factory for the making of window-glass, but for want of capital he was obliged to abandon the business. James Brookfield succeeded him, but the dam of a reservoir belonging to the Del aware & Hudson Canal Company, far up the stream, having broken away, during a great storm, carried the 348 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. works of Mr. Brookfield into the river. In 1873, the. Honesdale Glass Company started a factory for the making of hollow glass-ware, and their yearly manu facture now amounts to about $100,000, and employs nearly one hundred men, women, and boys. An ax factory was started in the place by E. V. White, in 1842, and by him continued until his death in 1866, since which time his son, Gilbert White, has continued the business, and he now^ makes fifty dozen axes per week. B. F. Frailey, also, has been for some years engaged there in manufacturing hay-rakes. The steam grist-miU of John P. Kimble is between Tracyville and Honesdale. Benj. F. Kimble built the old mill near by. Seelyville. It is claimed that the first white man known to have set foot on the soil about Seelyville was the Rev. Jonathan Seely, a Methodist clergyman, who was led, in 1760, through the almost impenetra ble forests to the place by a friendly Indian, and by him was shown the falls at Seelyville, also those on the Middle creek, Dyberry, and Jennings brook. The warrant, by which this tract was held, was dated 6tli of August, 1769, was surveyed the 23d of October, 1790, and patented to Sylvanus Seely, November 7th, 1820. Col. Sylvanus Seely first commenced improving the mill-site in 1802 by building a small saw-miU at the falls, and in putting up a small house, to which he moved his family in 1806, cutting his road all the way through the woods from Cherry Ridge settlement. At that time the getting of hemlock would not pay. TO WNSHIPS— TEXAS. 349 nor would it a long time afterwards, so that lumbering was confined to getting a few scattered pines, with curled maple and cherry, which was rafted in small rafts of seven or eight thousand feet each, and was rafted on the ground where Birdsalls' factory now stands. In the year 1808, Col. Sylvanus Seely built a small grist-mill immediately down stream from the saw-miU, and used one pair of mill-stones obtained on the top of Moosic mountain, which stones were used about twenty-five years. During the life-time of Col. S. Seely, who died in the year 1819, he lived by lum bering and by his grist-mill, paying little attention to farming. In his latter days he became involved by endorsing for others, so that after his decease his whole real estate, including " Seely's mills," was sold. In 1824, Richard S. Seely came to this county on a visit, and, in 1825, returned with his father, John W. Seely, from Trumbull Co., Ohio, who then pur chased the property, consisting of three hundred and thirty-six acres, for $900. On the 16th of March, 1826, R. S. Seely arrived at Seelyville, on horseback, by the way of Cherry Ridge, with leather saddle-bags containing all his goods and money. A more forlorn, desolate, and uninviting place could not have been conceived. The only road was from Cherry Ridge to Bethany, and the only one to where Honesdale is was the bed of the creek. The woods hung aU around the place. Having no know-ledge of sawing or grinding, he took off his coat, put on a tow-frock, and went merrily to work, having for his aid and general ad- 350 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. viser Jonathan D. Simpson. A new saw-miU was ]>uilt and the house and grist-mill repaired. Col. See ly, by running from one mill to the other, kept them in operation, thus performing the work of two men under disadvantages that would have crushed the con stitution of almost any man of the present day. In 1827, the canal and railroad were located, infusing new life into business. In February, 1830, Baldwin & Co. began the making of axes and edge-tools ; their shop was afterwards torn down, rebuilt, and enlarged. In the same year a small foundry was started by Cas per HoUenback, and John H. Bowers commenced building a small turning-shop. This was subsequently occupied by Gilbert and Robert Knapp, then enlarged and used by John H. Gill as a machine-shop, and subsequently, by James Birdsall, as a woolen factory, until it was burned down, in 1849. In 1831, a facto ry for manufacturing scoop-shovels was built and car ried on business in the name of R. S. Seely & Co. It resulted in loss to the parties, three in number, of $1,000 each. This shop, after standing idle a year or two, was occupied by Burbank & Burk as an edge- tool shop, into which R. S. Seely was drawn and, up on its failure, he was obUged to foot bills amounting to $2,000, wliich left him not worth a cent. Still re taining a strong arm and a strong resolution, he per severed and finally retrieved his fortune. In 1832, Col. Seely was made superintendent for building the turnpike from Honesdale to Waymart. Seelyville never witnessed a sight so grand as the first f our-hoi-se TOWNSHIPS— TEXAS. 351 stage which was driven through the village. In 1834, D. C. & B. Payne commenced the manufacture of lead pipe, in the loft over the scoop-shovel shop, and closed in 1837. Ephraim V. White afterwards made axes and edge-tools in the place. In 1850, Col. Seely built the woolen factory, now conducted by the Bird sall Brothers. Their father rented it until his de cease, in 1857. He used three thousand pounds of wool per year. They, from time to time, have en larged and improved the premises. Last year they used one hundred thousand pounds of wool, one-half of which was raised in the county. They contem plate using one hundred and fifty thousand pounds the present year, (1880) as the business is remunerative. Birdsall Brothers manufacture cassimeres, fiannel of various descriptions, and stocking-yam. They will em ploy fifty hands this year. Christian Erk manufac tures umbrella and parasol sticks and makes some doors, &c. He employs about twenty-five hands. Seelyville has one licensed tavern, a store, and a grad ed school of a superior order. The village is one mile and a half west of Honesdale. In the spring of 1849, a large dwelling-house, built in the village by Col. Seely, and then occupied by Ezekiel G. Wood, was consumed by fire, of w-hich lightning was supposed to be the cause. Col. Seely removed to Honesdale in 1848, and erected that fine mansion, now the residence of Hon. Coe F. Young, where he died, Nov. 8, 1863. Upon the organization of the Honesdale Bank, in 1836, he was elected the 352 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. President thereof, which post he occupied while he lived. He was, in all respects, a good and useful man. He left three sons. Col. Franklin A. Seely, of the United States Army ; Henry M. Seely, Esq., attor ney-at-law, in Honesdale; and George D. Seely, of Washington, D. C. The lands now occupied by Daniel M. Eno, and the lands adjacent, of one hundred and twenty acres, were, in 1806, assessed to Isaac Seaman, the father of Chas. W. Seaman. Isaac Seaman sold out to Peter Smith, who sold the same to Deming & Eno. AU the lands which the late Daniel Schoonover owned were taken up and patented to his father, Wm. Schoonover. The tract included all the upper part of Honesdale. Wm. Schoonover was one of the earliest settlers on the Dyben-y. He was where Daniel Schoonover lived as early as 1794. He w-as the father of Daniel, Levi, (who was the first white child bom on the Dyberry) Jacob, and Simon Schoonover. Peter Cole, and his son, Josiah Cole, came into DybeiTy towmship (now Texas) in the spring of 1813, and settled in the woods, on Cole's hill, one mile north west of Honesdale, which was then, like the place at which they began, a dense mldemess. Josiah was then sixteen years of age. They built a log-cabin without Avindows, and hung up a bed-quilt for a door. Then Mr. Cole and his son went back to New Jersey, to assist in harvesting, and left Mrs. Cole alone in that cabin, around which the wolves prowled and howled. She had no company Or defense except a faithful dog. TO WNSHIPS— TEX A S. 353 Peter Cole bought his land of Charles Kimble, who married a daughter of his. Benjamin Kimble, Sen., married Betsey, a sister of Peter Cole. She was the mother of widow Fanny Atkinson, of Paupack Eddy. Josiah Cole succeeded to the estate of his father. He had two sons; one of them, Lewis R. Cole, was wound ed at Fort Fisher, and died in a hospital, in 1866. His other son, P. J. Cole, rents and conducts the Honesdale Mill. He had tw-o daughters; one was the wife of Reynolds Case, and is not living ; and the other, named Eleanor, now living, is the wife of Charles H. Peck, of Preston. Robert Beardslee began adjoining Peter (Jole, about 1812. He married a sister of Charles Kimble. Buck ley was his brother. Le-wis and David were Robert Beardslee's sons. The Beardslee familj^ were from Litchfield Co., Conn. Texas township is divided into three election dis tricts, and has fourteen common schools, besides the graded school, at Seelyville. The number of taxables, in 1878, was 1,083. 45 354 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. CHAPTER XXXL BOROUGH OF HONESDALE. FIFTY-FIVE years ago the borough of Honesdale, now so beautiful and prosperous, was covered with hemlocks and laurels. The wolf and the fox roamed there unmolested and unhunted. "The thistle shook there its lonely head and the wild moss whistled to the wind." A small opening at the lower end of the boat-yard was made at an early day by one Andrew Showers, and the improvement was transferred from one to another until it was purcihased by Samuel Kim ble, now deceased. The density of the forest, and other considerations, prevented the lands from being tilled for agricultural purposes. The town owes its consequence to other causes. In 1769, Obadiah Gore, a blacksmith of Wilkesbarre, discovered that stone- coal, as it was then called, was a good substitute for charcoal in the working of iron, and, in 1808, the greater discovery was made that it produced an excel lent fire when burned in • a grate. After long and varied experiments its value was generally conceded. Inexhaustible mines of this coal had been discover ed in the valleys of the Lackawanna and Wyoming ; but it was valueless unless it could be conveyed to market where it would be purchased and used. Many BOROUGH OF HONESDALE. 355 attempts were made to take coal to Philadelphia by drawing it across the mountain to the Lackawaxen and running it on rafts of lumber to the city, but the scheme was found to be impracticable and profitless. Maurice and William Wurtz, Quakers of Philadel phia, men with far-seeing and prophetic vision, devised the plan of constructing a canal from the Lackawaxen, the site of Honesdale, to the Hudson river at Kings ton, a distance of one hundred and eight mUes; and of making a railroad with inclined planes from the Lackawanna to the Lackawaxen, a distance of sixteen miles, which railroad would ascend the Moosic moun tain at an elevation of two thousand feet above tide water. With a determination and perseverance equaled only by that of Field in the laying down of the Atlan tic cables, Maurice and William Wurtz carried out their plans, being aided by many enterprising capital ists. The Delaw^are and Hudson Canal Company was or ganized and the proposed canal and railroad made and put in operation in the year 1829. By way of experi ment one or two boats were run up the canal in the autumn of 1828. Many difficulties, almost insur mountable, were encountered in building the canal. At a point between Paupack Eddy and the Narrows was a sharp bend in the Lackawaxen called " the pul pit," where it was found indispensable to use the river for the canal, consequently a new channel was dug around "the pulpit" for the river to run in. A great flood in the spring of 1829 broke away the embank- 356 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. ments between " the pulpit " and the new channel, and part of the river resumed its old course. The repairs were very costly and were not completed until mid summer, and heavy damages were paid to Imnbermen. This misfortune happening in the very commencement of the enterprise was very disheartening, and this w-as the most critical period in the existence of the Com pany. James Archibald, then its general superinten dent, counseled perseverance, and his salutary advice was heeded. When the canal was repaired there were but little coal to be found at Honesdale; none had been brought over by the railroad. Men had been employed the previous winter to haul coal from Car bondale to Honesdale, but there was but little snow that season, and consequently but little coal was drawn, so that the Company delivered only seven hundred tons at Rondout in 1829. Since that time its advance has been steadily progressive with constant rapidity of advancing step until, wonderful to tell, in 1879, by said Delaware & Hudson Canal Company, there was mined and sold of coal shipped from Honesdale via canal and railroad one million, mne hundred and thirty- three thousand, eight hundred and seventy-four tons. The upper part of Honesdale was owned by Jason Torrey, and the lower part was bought by the Dela ware and Hudson Canal Company of Samuel Kimble for a slight consideration. One of its chief patrons was PhUip Hone, a wealthy merchant of the city of New York, and, out of respect to him, the place at the head of canal navigation was named Honesdale. It BOROUGH OF HONESDALE. 357 was first laid out in 1826, and was incorporated as a borough January 26th, 1831. In the winter of 1841, through the active exertions of Ebenezer Kingsbury, Jr., of Honesdale, then State Senator, an act for the removal of the county seat from Bethany to Honesdale, was passed. A court house was commenced in 1841, the public papers were removed from Bethany, and the first court held in Honesdale at August sessions, 1843. The Delaware and Hudson Canal Company were invested with bank ing powers, and established a bank in the city of New- York, called "The Bank of the Delaware and Hud son Canal Company," which issued bills for a number of years. The money w-as always at par and furnished a most convenient and reliable currency. The Honesdale Bank was incorporated in 1836. Richard L. Seely was its president during his life, and John Neal was its first cashier. In 1864 it came un der the banking law of the United States as a national bank. Then Zenas W. Russell was president, Stephen D. Ward cashier, Horace C. Hand teller, and Warren K. Dimock clerk. Coe F. Young is now president of the National Bank, and Edwin F. Torrey cashier. The Wayne County Savings Bank was chartered in 1870 under the laws of Pennsylvania. W. W. Weston is now president, and H. C. Hand cashier. The nearest depot to Honesdale before 1866 was at Narrowsburg upon the New York and Lake Erie Railroad, sixteen miles distant. In that year a branch of said road w-as built from Lackawaxen to Hawley and in 1868 the 358 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. Branch was extended to Honesdale, thereby affording direct railroad communication with the city of New York, distant one hundred and thirty-five miles. John Torrey, Stephen Torrey, John F. Roe, Alan son Blood, Charles P. Clark, and Elkanah Patmor were among the first beginners in Honesdale, and are yet, as such, the only surviving residents. Jason Tor rey, owning the lands upon which the upper part of the town is situated, erected, upon the north side of the Lackawaxen, a short distance above its junction with the Dyberry, the first dwelling-house, and, as it was afterwards used as a place of public worship, it was caUed the "Tabernacle." Isaac P. Foster and Jason Torrey built the first store, and that was on the west bank of the Dyberry, near the Goodman bridge. Jason Torrey, having made the fijst improvements, it is to be presumed that his sons, John and Stephen, were among the primitive settlers. John F. Roe came from Long Island, N. Y., in 1827. He has been engaged, during his sojourn in the place, until a year or two ago, in the mercantile business. Mr. Roe's recollections of past events are very vivid and correct. According to him, Isaac P. Foster and him self kept the second store in a house built by Mr. Fos ter, on a corner opposite the Wayne County House, removing the goods from the first store thereto, which fii-st store is yet standing, it having been moved up to and adjoining the house of Dr. E. T. Losey. That store-house now belongs to B. B. Smith, Esq. The second store-house was, not long afterwards, rented by BOROUGH OF HONESDALE. 359 Foster to Humphrey & Coe, as a tavern, but they did not run it long. Foster & Roe, in 1831, built a store down town, where W. W. Weston is now located. The place has been burned over once or twice, and the street and the land since that time have been so much raised and filled up, that what was the top of the ground, in 1831, is now the bottom of the cellars. The " Stourbridge Lion," the fii-st locomotive ever run in America, was placed upon the D. & H. Canal Company's Railroad, near where the old M. E. church now stands, on the 9th of August, 1829. The engine was built in England. It was run two or three miles, when it was found to be too heavy for the slen- deir trestle-work upon which the rails of the road were laid. Its use was abandoned and stationary engines and inclined planes were substituted in its stead. Charles P. Clark, now a carpenter, was an early comer, and was one of the ffi-st school-teachers in Honesdale. Elkanah Patmor, Esq., came from Orange county, N. Y., in 1830. He has been, and is yet, a manufac turer of and a dealer in all kinds of carriages and wagons. He has held the office of coroner of the county time out of mind. He also held the office of justice of the peace for many years. David Tarbox was the first justice of the peace. Then succeeded Stephen D. Brush, Ebenezer Kings bury, Jr., Thomas J. HubbeU, John Scott, A. B. Bid- well, Simon G. Throop, and others. The present jus tices of the peace are John Mc Intosh, and James B. 360 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. Eldred. Mr. Mcintosh was once an efficient sheriff of the county, and for six years held the office of clerk of the several courts thereof; and Mr. Eldred was once a popular sheriff, which is proof positive that the Honesdale people have a due appreciation of the abiUties of those that they choose for magistrates. Charles Forbes built and kept the first public house, which was erected in 1827. Divers persons kept it af terwards, among whom w-as Henry Dart. The house, now the Wayne County Hotel, is owmed, and is neat ly and quietly kept by Henry Ball. The next public house in Honesdale was built near the present store of Charles Petersen. It was kept by divers persons until it fell into the hands of Elia- kim Field, the prince of hotel keepers, who obtained license at January sessions, 1839. By his delicate, gossamer net of fiattery, he entangled his customers. It was his to make the lean appear the fatter morsel: to make pork and beans superior to the delicious vi ands which Dyonisius sat before the infatuated Dam ocles, and to make his guests believe that his vile corn- whiskey exceeded the nectar which Jupiter sipped on Mount Olympus. When a passenger alighted from the stage, he was gaily greeted by the complaisant host, who, rubbing his hands as if he were washing them with invisible soap in imperceptible water, would exclaim, "I was afi-aid I should never see you again: walk right in. My wife was speaking about you last night; John, go and tell Mrs. Field that Mr. Brown has come. Oh ! how rejoiced she will be to see you." BOROUGH OF HONESDALE. 361 Public houses are now^ kept by Mrs. Betsey Allen, widow of Samuel Allen, deceased, R. W. Kiple, Mi chael Coyne, A. F. Voigt, and Henry Ball, already named. The first merchants or retailers of foreign merchan dise, in Honesdale, according to the court records, Nov. 1, 1828, were Foster & Roe, Zenas H. Russell, Northrup & Hayes. In April, 1830, there were Nor- thrup, Hayes & Co.; Russell & Wilcox; Isaac P. Fos ter ; and Edward Mills. In 1831, there were Foster & Roe; Thomas T. Hayes & Co.; Edward Mills; Russell Bronson ; Hastings Frisbie ; Russell & Wilcox ; P. S. Tyler ; Charles Kent ; and Humphrey & Co. In 1833, Edward Mills; Thomas T. Hayes & Co.; . Hastings Frisbie ; Russell, Wilcox & Co. ; Hand & Kirtland; Roe & Co.; Phineas S. Tyler. In 1834, Hayes & Williams; Edward Mills; Hand & Kirtland; John I\ Roe ; Hastings Frisbie ; Russell, Wilcox & Co.; N. M. Bartlett; Delezenne & Beach; Isaac P. Foster; St. John & Perkins; Murray & Madigan; E. T. Losey; Snyder & Stryker. Soon after this James Bassett and Cornelius Hombeck bought out the firm of Hayes & Williams. John D. Delezenne, the father of Joseph Delezenne, of Honesdale, afterwards traded independently of Beach. The most of the aforesaid merchants must be weU remembered throughout the county for their fair and honorable dealing. John F. ¦Roe, and Isaiah Snyder, of Honesdale, and A. J. Stryker, of Damascus, are the only survivors of the merchants above named. How true it is that " life is 46 362 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. but a vapor, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away." The Honesdale MUl was completed in 1840, and was built by John Torrey, Richard L. Seely, and Jer emiah C. Gunn. Mr. Gunn came from or near the city of Geneva, N. Y. He was an experienced miller when he came into the county, and the business of the miU was conducted under his direction for many years. Afterw-ards the mill was run for some years by Chas. T. Weston and Jas. R. Dickson. It now belongs wholly to Hon. John Torrey, and is rented by Peter J. Cole, an experienced miller. The first physician was Samuel G. Dimmick, of Sullivan Co., N. Y., a brother of the first wife of Hon. Nathaniel B. Eldred, deceased, and a cousin of Hon. Wm. H. Dimmick, Sen. Almost coeval with him, in 1830, was Ebenezer T. Losey. Dr. Dimmick removed; Dr. Losey remamed during his life-time. Dr. Adonijah Strong first located in Bethany, and, about 1838, removed to Honesdale. He was a clas sical scholar and a most learned physician. In his latter days he compounded a medicine for the cure of diphtheria, and another as a curative for many diseas es, which medicines are highly extolled by those who have tested their virtues. Dr. Edwin Graves came from Delaware Co., N. Y., to Bethany, then removed to Honesdale, where he died in 1849. Dr. W. F. Denton, from Orange Co., N. Y., of the botanical school, a very successful physician, practiced in the days of Dr. Graves, and survived him many years. BOROUGH OF HONESDALE. 363 Next came Dr. W. W. Sanger, from New York city, whose stay was transient. Dr. C. King, from Otsego Co., N. Y., succeeded him and remained all his life. About this time Dr. Dwight Reed, a son of Charles G. Reed, of Dyberry, and Dr. Wm. Reed, a son of the same, began their practice. Dr. Joseph Jones, homeopathist, who married a daughter of John A. Gustin, when he first came to Honesdale gave his at tention to his profession. The present physicians and surgeons are Dr. C. M. Dusinberre, Dr. Dwight Reed, Dr. Wm. Reed, Dr. Reed Burns, Dr. H. G. Keefer, Dr. W. H. Cummings, Dr. R. W. Brady, who has been as much a druggist as a physician, and has com pounded a medicine called "Dr. Brady's Mandrake Bitters," which is highly extolled for its medicinal vir tues, and Dr. Fr. A. Friedman, (graduate of Vienna). We have not forgotten, nor would we fail to men tion. Dr. Ralph L. Briggs, from Massachusetts, who practiced medicine some years in Honesdale. He was skillful in his profession, widely known, and highly esteemed throughout the county. He married Mary, the only daughter of Thomas Fuller. She is yet liv ing in the borough. Upon the incoming of the ad ministration of Abraham Lincoln, he was appointed postmaster. He died Dec. 4, 1863, aged thirty-seven years. Of the earlier postmasters were Thos. H. R. Tracy, John Scott, John A. Gustin, and John Y. Sherwood. Robert A. Smith succeeded Dr. Briggs, has since held the office, and will probably continue to hold it 364 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. until w^e have a change of administration in the gen eral government. Russell F. Lord w-as one of the original engineers and managers of the Canal Company. His brother, Solomon Z. Lord, at Hawley, now in the Company's employ, was coeval with him. Thomas H. R. Tracy came to Honesdale in 1829. He was born in Frank lin, Connecticut, in 1806, and was appointed superin tendent of the Pennsylvania section of the D. & H. Canal Company, which position ho held until his death. He was elected an associate judge of the county in 1861, and died in the office. Miles L. Tracy, his son, is pay-master in the service of the Company. Hon. H. M. Seely married a daughter of Judge Tracy. John Kelly was one of the earliest comers to Hones dale, where he arrived from Ireland, in 1828. He was in the service o:^ the Canal Company for thir ty-two years, and died March 28, 1880, aged eighty- tw-o years. There are six different Christian denominations in Honesdale, whose places of public worship are distin guished as follows : First Presbyterian chm-ch, Chas. S. Dunning, D. D., pastor; First Methodist Episcopal, church. Rev. Thos. Harroun, pastor, and Rev. H. Fox, assistant pastor; Grace Episcopal church, Rev. T. E. Caskey, rector; German Lutheran church. Rev. F. A. Hertzberger, pastor; St. John's Catholic church. Rev. J. J. Doherty, pastor ; St. Magdalena Catholic church, Rev. G. Dassel, pastor. The Baptist church has no pastor at present. A new, massive structure of BOROUGH OF HONESDALE. 365 stone, sixty-five feet in front, and one hundred and four feet in depth, is being buUt on the Cherry Ridge road, near the borough limits, by the St. John's Cath olic Church. There are about twenty-five families of Hebrews, or Jews, in Honesdale. Our readers probably know that they believe in the Old, or Hebrew Bible. They are thought to be a clannish, exclusive people. The truth of their history is stranger than fiction. They have been a proscribed, persecuted people in some coun tries, having been denied the right of holding lands or offices, and were placed under great civil disabilities. Germany relaxed her severities, and England, under the strong arguments of Lord Macaulay, was forced to suspend her rigors; but the United States, under the Constitution of Washington, Jefferson, and other founders of true liberties, had nothing to suspend. Here every man could worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience. To this tolerating country the Jews were then attracted. They never take the name of God in vain, avoid intemperance, do not violate the injunction of the seventh com mandment, have no cases of assault and battery, support their own poor, and never cite each other to the litigious bar. Their morality is worthy of gene ral imitation. They have a synagogue on Third street, of which the Rev. Mr. Fass is Rabbi. Prominent among them is WiUiam Weiss, grocer, who came to this country from Austria, in 1847, declared his inten tion to become a citizen in 1848, and was admitted as 366 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. such in 1853, since which time he has been a jury commissioner, and auditor of the county, and has been for eighteen successive years a member of the Hones dale Board of Education. The original stock of the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company was $1,500,000, which has been increased to $20,000,000. Over one million tons of coal can be shipped by the canal in an uninterrupted season. About one thousand boats constitute its carrying capac ity. The boats are towed down the Hudson river from Rondout to the docks of the Company at Weehawken. As said before, there were shipped by the way of Honesdale, in 1879, one million, nine hundred and thirty-three thousand, eight hundred and seventy-four tons of coal. Consequently a large amount of coal is transported by the Honesdale Branch of the Erie Rail road. The laboring force of the Company is about twelve thousand men, and they mined and delivered at different markets, in 1879, three milUon, fifty-four thousand, three hundred and ninety tons of coal. The progress and prosperity of Honesdale and the sur rounding villages and townships, with all their divers branches of industry, have been identified with and dependent upon the business and success of this Com pany. The canal is supplied with water by fiowing a number of ponds in different parts of the county, thereby forming reservoirs that can be drawn upon as needed. These are as follows: Belmont reservoir. Miller's pond, and Stevenson pond, in Mount Pleasant ; Long pond and reservoir below on its outlet, White BOROUGH OF HONESDALE. 367 Oak pond, and Elk pond in Clinton ; Keen's pond in Canaan; Lower Woods pond in Lebanon; Yamell pond in Oregon ; and Cajaw pond in Cherry Ridge. All the coal carried to market by the canal is brought over the Moosic mountain by the Gravity Railroad. This was the first railroad built for actual transportation in America. There are no locomotives used on the road. The road ascends an elevation of eight hundred and fifty feet to the summit of the mountain. At the head of each plane is a substantial stationary engine. An endless wire rope passes over a huge drum at the head and extends to the foot of the plane; there the cars are attached to the rope, and, upon a given signal, the cars start up the plane, often at the rate of twelve miles an hour. The track between the head of one plane and the foot of the next is built on a decline of fifty feet to the mile and is called a " Level." There are eight of these planes between Honesdale and Carbon dale, and from Carbondale to Honesdale there are eight planes up and four dowm the mountain. The cars, having been let down the mountain by four in clined planes to Waymart, from thence run by their own gravity to Honesdale. The track from Honesdale to Carbondale is called the " Light " track because the cars return to the mines empty. The other is called the "Loaded" track as loaded cars use it only. The scene ry along this mountain railroad is enchanting. This road has been several times relaid and has undergone important repairs, adding greatly to its strength and safety. 368 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. Passenger trains commenced running upon it in 1877 ; they are well conducted and safely run, and are a source of profit to the company. They are exten sively patronized by the votaries of pleasure and in valids seeking pure air. The docks of the company at Honesdale are nearly a mile in length, along the western side of the village, and sometimes there are 500,000 tons of coal stored there awaiting shipment ; at other times there is none. The present officers of the company are as follows : President, Thomas Dick son, of Scranton, Pa.; Vice President, Robert M. Olyphant, New York city ; General Manager, Coe F. Young, Honesdale, Pa.; Treasurer, Jas. C. Hartt, New York city; Secretary, George L. Haight, New York city; Sales Agent, Rodman G. Moulton, New York city; General Agent of Real Estate Department, E. W. Weston, Providence, Pa. ;^ Superintendent of Coal Department, A. H. Vandling, Providence, Pa.; Su perintendent of Railroad Department, R. Manville, Carbondale, Pa.; Assistant Canal Superintendent, W. F. Wilb-ar, of Honesdale; Sales Agent, Southern and Western Department, Joseph J. Albright, of Scran ton, Pa. The streets of Honesdale are broad, and finely shad ed by maples and other trees. The sidewalks are paved with flag-stones. Main street is the principal business part of the town ; Second and Third streets are mainly occupied by private residences. Second street might with propriety be called Church street, as the Baptist, Methodist Episcopal, Presbyterian, Episco- BOROUGH OF HONESDALE. 369 pal, German Lutheran, and German Catholic churches are situated upon it. There are three substantial iron bridges in the borough. In the central part of the town is a spacious park, in the center of which, through the enterprise of the ladies of the borough, a fountain, sparkling with beauty, was erected in 1879. Soon after the late civil strife the patriotic ladies of Honesdale, assisted by others in the county, erected in the park a costly monument to perpetuate the mem ory of the Wayne county volunteers who fell in that war. This monument, of Quincy granite, is pedestal in form, and surmounted by a bronze figure, Ufe size, of a U. S. soldier at parade rest. The monument, together with the statue, is about fourteen feet in height, and is surrounded by a neat iron fence. The inscription and names of the fallen soldiers are as follows : 1869. THIS MONUMENT WAS ERECTED BY THE lADIES MONUMENTAL ASSOCIATION OF WAYNE COUNTY, TO THE MBMOBY OF OUB DEAD WHO FEm, "That Government of the people, by the people, and for the people, should not perish from the earth. " Oapt. Jambs L. Mumfobd. J H. Bryant, J. Markle, D. Palmer, H 0. Pulis, W. Bix, G. Palmer, G Scambler, E. Jordan, A. F. Elmendorf, J J Thorp, D. Seibold, S. E. Elmendorf, E. Barhight, J. G. Griggs, O. K. Steai-s, O Thorp, .A. Graham, S. F. Davall, 47 370 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. J. E. Chubb, I Thomas, J. Wallace, 0. K Bagley, D. Howell, O. Wolf, S. Gilorist, 8. H. Cross, J. H. Simpson, T. Noddin, W. E. Martin, E. Martin, G. H. Hoover, J. Shiever, B. Pell, G. Pell, J. Simpson, O. Gillett, S. Bidwell, H. Bidwell, F. Bid-well, E. BidweU, 8. Peet, W. Brooks, O. Brooks, J. Mann, G. Hathrill, T. Bryant, W. Tamblyn, D. C. Lathrop, M. Stevens, G. H. Stevens, D. Maloney, E. W. De Reamer, E. M. Clark, F. Zahn, J. E. Bagley, E. W. Farnham, C. Henwood, J. Baker, J. B. Karslake, D. B. Torrey, T. Benney, S. Strong, T. Clark, T. J. Firth, A. Little, F. Marshall, N. G. Hnrd, H.Nye, W. Surplice, H. McKane, M. Eollison, A. Eollison, W. Holdrou, J. L. Eeed, G. Compton, N. Warder, D. Freer, W. KeUum, N. G. Hand, J. Johnson, T. Bourke, N. Foy, E. Kirtz, M. Devitt, L. Cole, E. Haven, J. D. Simpson, P. Ennis, J. Kraughan, J. McLaughlin, J. C. Anthony, D. Wall, H. Buchanan, I. Knapp, Z. N. Lee, Capt. James Ham. W. Brotzman, H. Case, H. Kinney, C. H. Munroe, G. H. Palmer, N. J. Simpson, G. W. Simpson, A. C. Starbird, J. W. Smith, J. H. Worth, W. Short, J. Ogden, J. Ogden, J. Northcott, S. Hines, J. Keifer, J. H. Belknap, O. Chamberlain, T. C. Brigham, V. D. Brigham, H. B. Wood, W. E. Dodge, J. Lukens, D. L. Brown, G. D. Parsons, C. T. Jackson, J. A. Dodge, J. W. Frampton, I. Frampton, G. Parsons, H. Conklin, J. Cole, J. M. Gavett, J. B. Garton. A. Broat, M. V. Tyler, B. Lord, J. Jones, E. Jones, J. Price, K Tyler, Jr., J. Hauser, S. D. Wardi, G. W. Haynes, G. D. Slocum, G. Seely, J. T. Whittaker, T. Sterling, E. Whitney, H. Keersey, C. H. Cole, J. Hardwi<^ BOROUGH OF HONESDALE. 371 A. K. Pruden, N. Thorp, W. Hunter, A. Benjamin, W. W. Valentine, E. Taeubner, C. Neihart, F. Wilcox, A. S. Ludwig, F. Metzger, E. E. Fisher, G. Metz, H. Nelmes, W. F. Hurlburt, D. Burton, D. S. Charles, W. Carney, G. Frace, G. M. Cole, H. Price, J. Brown, W. H. Gifford, L. Bailey, L. N. Purdy, C. Haines, H. West, H. Lynch, G. J. Price, J. Hathaway, A. B. Hathaway, J. E. Dart, W. T. Hall, G. Ortnung, J. Tobin, B. Dexter, E. J. Bunnell, H. J. Borchers, D. Avery, A. E. Gleason, A. Mies, W. J. Thomas, J. Best, J. D. Hamlin, E. Torpyn, I. Crago, E. Clift, W. Cory, J. Bronson, J. E. Taylor, G. A. Taylor, H. Whittaker, D. Eeynolds, E. Lake, O. S. Hoffman, T. Newman, W. Surrine, S. H. Thomas, W. C. Thomas, I. Hill, S. W. Jayne, E. 8. Hufteln, J. H. Wilds, D. Woodward, D. Darling, A. J. Darling, J. Hull, C. M. Griffls, P. P. Knight, W. RandaU, E. Humphrey, D. Martin, J. O'Niel, M. Kingsbury, A. B. Hall, T. Coddington, A. Martin, J. W. Waller, J. Elmer, H. C. Wright, F. O. E. Benjamin, I. J. Bradshaw, G. M. Grotevant, D. HoweU, E. G. Belknap, G. W. Warner, E. W. Freeman, . J. B. Hanser, A. L. Chittenden, J. B. Muzzy, O. Wilcox, J. J. Eude, A. D. Stark, J. McKeon. Capt. Omvbe Mumfoed. Lieut. H. F. Willis, D. Lake, D. McGowan, W. C. Bently, W. S. Hoffman, J. Jackson, G. W. Welton, M. Wood, J. Markle, B. Sherwood, W. Ehodes, J. Brigham, P. G. Griffin, H. Shaffer, S. H. Thomas, S. Dobson, H. T. Angel. E. O. Polly, H. Nicholson, D. Dickins, C. Dickins, G. W. Dickins, J. Dickins, Lieut. A. E. King. T. Kennedy, E. Harford, A. Colbath, E. S. Bayley. H. J. Wheeler, E. Bunnell, J. Emery, L. Slote, L. Burleigh, A. Mattison, D. Mattison, 372 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. G. W. Marks, A. J. Marks, D. SutUff, M. Hickney, W. Cole, J. G. Boss, D. Dibble, B. Boults, J. Bray, O. Tyler, W. H. Wilcox, 0. Lees, J. 8. Sutliff, J. F. Wright, E. O. Haines, A. Huffman, J. S. Marricle, J. G. Eoss, D. Brazee, N. P. Knapp, N. T. Andrews, G. G. Andrews, A. J. Swingle, J. J. Cummiskey, L. Spangenberg, J. J. Monk, C. P. Andreas, A. L. Eowley, D. Carpenter, H. A. Thurston, B. 8. Merwin, N. J. Van Orden, J. W. Cobb, J. M. Easby, J. N. Stevens, J. C. Rockwell, F. Baii-d, N. Wilbur, A. H, Stewart, L. Crone, A. Jordan, J. Elmor, M. L. Denslow, D. A. Denslow, J. F. Jackson, O. L. Bath, G. S. Brown, G. P. Ensbu, J. S. Kennedy, E. Lake, A. Clock, W. Upright, J. F. Barnes, D. Swingle, A. London, T. Woodward, J. Helmes, B. Curtis, H. Brigham, G. Foler, J. A. Adams, D. Catterson, P. Swartz, L. Appleman, J. Cauth, S. Shearer, E. Cramer, L. Jordan, J. Eollison, C. A. Weed, H. Harris, G. W. Brown, J. Tobee, J. Adams, J. H. Sohoonmaker. The enterprise of Isaac P. Foster, in connection with Jason Torrey and John F. Roe, in erecting the first buildings, and in starting the first stores in Hones dale has been mentioned. Mr. Foster was of New^ England descent, and, in 1827, came from Montrose, Pa., at the instance of Major Torrey. Mr. Foster had been for some years engaged in the tanning business, and soon resolved to establish a tannery near Hones dale. Having chosen a site, one mile up the west branch, in company with Ezra Hand, Daniel P. Kirt land, and John F. Roe, reliable business men, a tan nery was built and put in operation in 1830. At an early day, Mr. Foster bought out the interest of his BOROUGH OF HONESDALE. 373 partners, finally associated his sons with him, and the tannery was run as long as bark could be obtained for its support. In connection with his mercantile busi ness, his tanning establishment proved to be highly remunerative, and he acquired more than a compe tence. It is claimed that Deacon Foster brought the first imported hides into the county, and sent out of the county the first leather manufactured therein. He was called Deacon Foster, from the fact of his having been for many years a deacon in the Fu-st Presbyte- i-ian Church. He was an ardent abolitionist and was doubtless sincere in his professions. When the free dom of the slaves was fully assured, lifting up his hands, he exclaimed, " Lord, let now thy servant de part in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation." He was much more than an ordinary man, and died in Honesdale, Nov. 18, 1876. Henry W. Stone, now^ living in Honesdale, aged eighty-nine years, was born in New England, and, iii 1822, was assessed in Mount Pleasant as a single man and a merchant. Afterwards he traded awhUe in Honesdale, and then, in company with Horace Drake, established a tannery and store at Beech Pond, which were successfully continued for many years, when Mr. Stone sold out to Drake & Sons, and, with a compe tence, retired from business. Being a temperate and unexcitable man, his bodily and mental powers remain unimpaired by the ravages of time. Judge Charles P. Waller married his oldest, and E. F. Torrey anoth- 374 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. er daughter. His only son, Henry William, is living in Honesdale. Among the attorneys of note who practiced in our courts since they have been held in Honesdale were the following: Earl Wheeler, who was born in Hampden county, Mass., 1802. He was a son of Ransom Wheeler, and a cousin of the late Marvin Wheeler, a well known mer chant of Hancock, N. Y. Earl Wheeler commenced the practice of law in Dundaff, from thence he removed to Bethany, and, upon the removal of the county seat, took up his abode in Honesdale. He was a well-read lawyer and very fond of mathematics. In his sixty- fourth year he was smitten with paralysis, which un fitted him for practicing his profession. He died De cember 30, 1875, at the residence of his brother-in- law, Hiram K. Mumford, in Dyberry township. William H. Dimmick, Sen., was a son of Dan Dim- .mick, of Milford ; he studied law with N, B. Eldred, was admitted to the Bar in 1840, removed to Hones dale, was elected to Congress in 1856, and died Au gust 3, 1861. He was never manied. Samuel E. Dimmick was born in Bloomingburg, Sullivan county, N. Y. He was a son of Alpheus Dimmick, and cousin of William H. Dimmick, Sen., with whom he commenced the study of law, in 1844. He was admitted to the Bar in 1846. Such was his celebrity as a lawyer that, in 1873, he was appointed by Gov. Hartranft, attorney-general of Pennsylvania, in which office he died, Oct. 11, 1875. BORO UGH OF HONESDALE; 375 • Frederick M. Crane was bom in Salisbury, Conn., in 1815/ He came to Honesdale in 1844, and was then admitted to the Bar, and was twice elected as a member of the Legislature. His mental capacity was great, and his legal knowledge extensive. He died suddenly at Honesdale, January 8, 1877. Ebenezer Kingsbury, Jr., John I. Allen, Simon G. Throop, Jackson Woodward, and H. B. Beardslee were admitted to the Wayne County Bar, but busi ness outside of the legal profession diverted their at tention therefrom. Want of space compels us to contract our intended notice of the present members of the Bench and Bar. Hon. Chas. P. Waller, president judge, was born in Wyoming Valley, of which place his father was a native. His mother came from Connecticut, and his grandparents were from the' same State. He studied law with ' Judge Collins, of Wilkesbarre, came to Honesdale in 1843, and was then admitted to the Bar. The senior members bf' the Bar are as follows: Charles S. Minor, who was born in Washington, Con necticut, in 1817, graduated at Yale College in 1841, and at the law school in New Haven, in 1844, came to Honesdale, and was admitted to the Bar that year. G. G. Waller, who was born in Wyoming, studied law with Judge Collins, came to Wayne county, and was admitted to practice in 1849. E. O. Hamlin was born in Bethany, studied with Hon. Geo. W. Woodward, was admitted in 1852, and practiced two years in Wayne county. He then re- 376 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. moved to Minnesota, w-as there president judge for several years, but finally returned, and took up his permanent residence in Wayne county, in 1873. Henry M. Seely was born in Wayne county, studied law in the city of New York, and was admitted to the Bar in 1859. William H. Dimmick, son of Oliver S. Dimmick, of Pike county. Pa., studied law with Hon. S. E. Dim mick, and was admitted to the Bar, in 1863. George F. Bentley, son of Judge Bentley, of Mon trose, Pa., studied with C. P. & G. G. Waller, and was admitted to the Bar in 1866. The junior members of the Honesdale Bar are all natives of Wayne county, namely: P. P. Smith, Geo. S. Purdy, Wm. H. Lee, E. C. Mumford, D. H. Brown, Homer Green, and W. J. Tracy. They all studied law in Honesdale, and have been duly admitted to the Bar. Being studious and temperate men, they give promise of attaining eminence in their profession. E. Richardson, of Hawley, and L. G. Dimock, of Way- mart, are also members of the Honesdale Bar. The progress that Honesdale has made within the past twenty years may be seen in the superior value and permanency of the buildings erected, and in other important improvements made. The Keystone and Centennial blocks below the c-anal bridge and many other buildings in the town would not appear to dis advantage in any city. Many dwelling-houses have been erected on the north side of the Lackawaxen, above Park street, which although unlike in struc- BOROUGH OF HONESDALE. 377 ture, are ingenious specimens of architectural taste and beauty. Main street has been macadamized at great expense. The streets and the public and private buildings are lighted with gas. The town is abun dantly supplied with water which is principally drawn from the First and Second ponds in Dyberry. The business of the canal and railroad affords so large a field for labor that but little attention has been paid to manufacturing. Still that branch of industry has not been entirely neglected. The yearly manufacture of boots and shoes by Durland, Torrey & Co., amounts to $350,000. The Honesdale Iron & Agricultural Works, carried on by Gilbert Knapp, do a very large business. There is also a foundry on Front street, conducted by Thomas Charlesworth, which does con siderable business. P. Mc Kenna is largely engaged in the manufacture of butter firkins, churns, tubs, buckets, and many other articles all of superior qual ity, thus supplying the county and adjoining sections. M. B. Van Kirk & Co. have an umbrella-stick factory. John Brown manufactures cabinet-work. C. C. Jad- win manufactures a large amount of his " Subduing Liniment," for which there is an extensive demand. B. L. Wood & Co. manufacture lumber for building purposes. The cause of education has always been considered of the first importance by the people of Honesdale. The first school taught in the place was kept in a house located on River street, near John Brown's residence, and was taught by Lewis Pestana, in the winter of 48 378 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. 1828. The next winter he was succeeded by Charles P. Clark, whose school was patronized by about fifty pupils. An academy was founded in 1838, and its first principal w^as Henry Seymour, A. B., of Amherst College. He was succeeded by B. B. Smith, A. M., of Honesdale, and it continued to flourish under his control until the State appropriation was withheld and it gave place to the Honesdale Graded School, in 1861. A classical course in the latter school includes the usual studies preparatory to college. Prof. J. M. Dolph became its principal in 1878. He succeeded Prof. L. H. Barnuin, who was principal for the pre vious six years. By the school report of 1878 there were eleven schools in Honesdale. The tax levied for all school purposes in that year amounted to $5,029.21. The contract for building the first court-house in Honesdale, was awarded to Charles Jameson. It was built of wood and cost $16,000. The first court- was held therein at September Sessions, 1843. The fire proof brick building in which the public records are now kept, was built in 1856, by Beers & Heath, and cost the county $11,500. The present jail was built in 1859, but the original cost is now unknown. The order of our judges for the erection of a new court house was made after a report of the grand jury at February Sessions, 1876, and was as follows:, "In view of the crowded state of the court room for the past year, and the manifest necessity for enlarged accommodation for the people of the county who have business in the courts, as lawyers, jurors, parties, and -witnesses, and the very imper fect ventilation of the present court room, we cordially approve BOROUGH OF HONESDALE. 379 the report of the grand jury on this subject, and recommend the county commissioners to carry out the same by at once maturing plans and erecting the foundation of a new building the coming season; they can then distribute the expanse through the years necessarily required for the erection .and completion of a building which shall meet the wants of, and be a credit to, the county and not impose unnecessary burdens upon the taxpayers. Dated, Feb. 15th, 1876. ( Chas. P. Wallee, President Judge, Signed, \ Otis Aveey, Associate Judge, (H. Wilson, " " To make way for the building of the new structure the old court-house was taken down in the summer of 1877. The new court-house has been so far finished that the courts were held in it at May Sessions, 1880. What will be the final cost of the building is as yet unknown. There are so many questions about the matter that are in abeyance, that want of time and space prevents our giving its tangled and disputed his tory ; we leave that labor to the coming- historian. Who should be cannonaded and who should be canon ized in the premises, it is not our province to decide. The first newspaper printed in the county was start ed at Bethany, by James Manning, who bought a printing-press and type. It was entitled the Wayne County Mirror. Manning edited it himself, and it ¦was well conducted. Its first number was dated in March, 1818. The Mirror was followed by the Re publican Advocate, which was pubUshed by Davis and Sasman, Manning o-wsning the press. It com menced in November, 1822, but Davis became unpop ular, and, in 1830, it took the name of the Bethany 380 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. Liquirer, with Wm. Sasmaa as editor. In 1832 the first number of the Wayne County Herald was issued in Honesdale by Peter C. Ward. The Wayne County Free Press and Bethany and Honesdale Advertiser was established January 1, 1838, by Paul S. Preston, at Bethany. Richard Nugent was editor and compos itor. Ebenezer Kingsbury, Jr., was then editor of the Honesdale HeraM. In 1840, The Free Press w^as re moved to Honesdale, and, in 1842, took the name of The Beechwoodsman, which was succeeded, in 1844, by The Honesdale Democrat, and edited by F. B. Penniman, Esq., the veteran editor in Wayne county, now of Honesdale. The purity, propriety, and con ciseness of his style attracted the notice of the emi nent writers and politicians of that day, and he was pursuaded to accept the editorship of The Pittsburg Gazette, then one of the most influential political jour nals in the Commonwealth; but failing health forced him to retire from the position. He has not, how ever, lost his skill in the use of feUcitous language. His ancestors were of Puritan origin. Upon the retirement of F. B. Penniman from the Democrat, it took the name of The Pepublic, and was conducted by E. A. Penniman. In 1868 The Hotxesdale Citizen Avas established, which has ever since been published as the organ of the RepubUcan party in the county ; Hon. Henry Wilson and E. A. Penniman are its editors and publishers. The Wayne County Herald, the organ of the Democratic party, has been owmed and conducted, at different times, by John I. Allen, PALMYRA TOWNSHIP, PIKE COUNTY. 381 H. B. Beardslee, and Menner & Ham. In 1866, it passed into the hands of Thomas J. Ham, who is its present editor and owmer. Several other papers have been started from time to time, which were short lived. The Hawley Free Press was succeeded by 2%e Hawley Times, formerly edited by F. P. Wood ward, a son of Daniel D. Woodward, Esq., of Cherry Ridge, but now edited by his brother, H. P. Wood ward. The Wayne Independerd was established in 1878 by Benjamin F. Haines. The initial number was issued in February of that year. It being a suc cess, the paper was enlarged with the first number of the second volume, when Mr. Haines associated as copartner with him Miles Beardsley, of New York State, and it has since been conducted under the firm name of Haines & Beardsley. It is independent in politics. CHAPTER XXXIL PALMYRA TOWNSHIP, PIKE COUNTY. PAUPACK Settlement, as it was always known in former times, was situated on the eastern and south-eastern side of the Wallenpaupack. A man by the name of Cartel- and his family w^ere the first 382 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. whites that ever lived on the Paupack. He built a house on the Pellet Flats, in 1758. During the French and Indian war the family were all murdered and the house burned by the Indians. The names of the first emigrants were Uriah Chapman, Esq., Capt. Zebulon Parrish, Capt. EUab Varnum, Nathaniel Gates, Zadock Killam, Ephraim Killam, Jacob Kimble, Enos Wood ward, Isaac Parrish, John Killam, Hezekiah Bingham, John Ansley, Elijah Winters, John Pellet, Sr., John Pellet, Jr., Abel Kimble, and Walter Kimble, all of whom returned to the settlement after the Revolution. But there were others who never returned. Joshua Varnum was killed during the war. Silas Parks, Jr., was in Capt. Dethic Hewitt's company and was killed in the battle of Wyoming. There was a number of others, who, after the Wyoming massacre, never re turned to Paupack. These settlers laid off tw-o townships ; the one in which they were all included, was named Lackaway, and one further up the Paupack named Bozrah. When this people started from Connecticut they ex pected to go on to Wyoming, but finding good land and fine timber on the Paupack, they stopped there, as they expected to hold the lands under Connecticut. They had friends in Wyoming with whom they were in perfect accord. They built a palisaded fort enclos ing an acre of land on which was a good spring. Within the fort was built a block-house, on the top of Avhich was a bullet-proof sentry-box. When trouble was anticipated -\vith the Indians, the people with PALMYRA TOWNSHIP, PIKE COUNTY. 383 their families spent their nights in the fort. The men went in gangs to plant, hoe, and cultivate each other's fields, with their guns slung over their backs. Bands of vagabond scamps and outcasts of the Indian tribes, led on by Tories, often molested the settlers in 1777 and 1778, with whom they had frequent skirmishes. The main object of the marauders was to steal the cat tle of the settlers. Brandt, a half-blood chief with great authority, had given orders that the Paupack people, having been kind to the Indians, should not be disturbed. But Brandt could not control the Tories. A saw-miU was built about where Burnham Kimble afterwards lived, and was burnt down by the Indians in 1779. Capt. EUab Varnum had command of the troops of the colony ; Jonathan Haskell was lieutenant, and Elijah Winters, ensign. In 1777 a body of eight een men was discovered by a daughter of Nathaniel Gates, (afterwards Mrs. Stephen Bennett.) She in formed Lieut. Haskell of the fact who captured the whole body. They proved to be Tories and were con veyed to Hartford, Conn., where they were punished. Some Tories disturbed the settlers on the 3d of July, 1778, but were driven away, and in their retreat burn ed a grist-mill at WilsonviUe which was built by Joseph Washburn. Among these Tories was one Bryant McKean, who was afterwards arrested upon suspicion of conveying intelligence to the Indians, but he was not convicted. One of his neighbors who had been instrumental in his (McKean's) arrest, he never 384 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. forgave, and, as a means of satisfying his revengeful spirit, he agreed with the Indians to murder his neigh bor. But the Indians mistook McKean's description of the house and murdered McKean's own family and burnt the house. This story is well authenticated. On the third of July, 1778, was the massacre at Wy oming. The next day John Hammond or Jacob Stan ton carried the news to Paupack. Upon learning this, the inhabitants, taking their women, children, and sick, and driving their cattle before them, after hiding some of their goods in the woods, fled to Orange county, N. Y. Near the mouth of the Wallenpaupack, Zebulon and Jasper Parrish, Stephen Kimble, (who died a prisoner among the Indians,) Stephen Parrish and Reuben Jones were taken prisoners by the In dians. In August, 1778, and in the spring of 1779, parties of young men ventured to return, but they barely escaped with their lives. All the property which the settlers left behind them, with their houses, had been destroyed. In 1783, after the close of the Revolution, the most of the original settlers returned. They suffered much as the season was unfavorable and the crops were poor. As they had no mill with which to grind their corn, they were obliged to pound it in mortars, and in some cases went to Milford on snow- shoes and brought home flour on their backs. But they withstood all hardships and afterwards became prosperous and happy. The original inhabita,nts were principally Presbyterians. They were industrious, hospitable, and honest. They were remarkable for PALMYRA TOWNSHIP, PIKE COUNTY. 385 their longevity. Hence Jacob Kimble died in 1826, aged ninety-one; Hezekiah Bingham in 1811, aged seventy-four; Moses Killam, Sen., in 1831, aged seven ty-two; John Pellett, Jr., in 1838, aged ninety; and Ephraim Killam in 1836, aged eighty-seven. The following were some of the settlers that return ed after the close of the Revolutionary war, and others of their children and grandchildren : Hezekiah Bingham, Sen., had three sons : Hezekiah Bingham, Jr., a man of worth and intelligence; Ro- dolphus Bingham, a noted innkeeper and lumberman ; and Soloman Bingham. Moses Bingham, Esq., was a justice of the peace. The descendants and children of the Bingham family, although numerous and highly respected, have all removed from the place. Uriah Chapman settled at Blooming Grove and kept tavern. He had a numerous family, all of w-hom are gone. Ephraim Killam married a daughter of John Ans ley. His family were very intelligent. He had but one son, Ira, who married a daughter of Roswell Chapman. Ephraim Killam was a man of reading and observation, and was well acquainted with the Indian character. He scouted the idea of civilizing them. " Why," he used to say, " an Indian is just as much a wild man as a wolf is a wild dog ; you cannot tame him." His brother, Moses KiUam, Sen., was in the battle at the mouth of the Lackawaxen, and was slightly wounded. He had two sons, Moses KiUam, Esq., a very noted man as a farmer, lumberman, and 49 386 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. citizen, and Benjamin Killam, a local Methodist min ister, whose handwriting was a model of excellence. He married a daughter of EUjah Winters. She was the first child born in Paupack and died a few years ago, aged one hundred years. Marcus Killam, their son, lives upon the old homestead. Jacob Kimble, Sen., was a miller, farmer, and lum berman. His sons were Abel, Jacob, Walter, Daniel, and Benjamin. Judge Abisha Woodward married a daughter of Jacob Kimble, Sen. She was the mother of G. W. Woodward. They have all passed away. John Pellet, Jr., was in most of the conflicts with the Indians on the Paupack. He married a noble woman, Nan(;y Bingham, a daughter of Hezekiah Bingham, Sen. They had eight sons and two daughters. Asa Kimble married Abigail, the oldest daughter. John Ansley, Sen., who was bora in England, was a blacksmith, as was his son, John, Jr. Joseph Ans ley, innkeeper, was one of his sons, and Simeon Ans ley, another. David Lester and Orrin Lester, who were Revolutionary soldiers, lived some years in Pau pack. Upon the return of the settlers Stephen Bennett, then a young man from Massachusetts, a soldier under " Old Put," located and married a daughter of Nathan iel Gates. He first lived back of Walter Kimble's. His sons were Rufus, Stephen, and Lebbeus. Stephen Bennett died at a very advanced age. Some of the children of Rufus Bennett are yet living in Wayne county. MISCELLANEOUS. 387 In doing justice to the memory of those old settlers we could write scores of pages. They and their chil dren have passed over the river, and we, standing on its brink, aged seventy-six years, cannot but look back with admiration of that noble people. CHAPTER XXXIIL MISGELLANEO US. IT is no easy task, even for one who in early life was intimately acquainted with the hardships and struggles of the early settlers, to portray them fully and justly. Their necessities were aUke in all parts of the county, and aU were obliged to put up log- houses -with large stone chimneys, and roofed at first with bark, and having fioors and doors made of boards split from logs. The spaces between the logs were filled up with moss and clay, to repel the -winter's fiaw. Log-barns were made for cattle and horses, when the settler had any, and almost every settler had one cow- or more; in 1806, for instance, Canaan, including Salem, Sterling, and most of Cherry Ridge, then had ninety-one taxables, ninety-six cows, and thirty-five horses. Some of the settlers brought with them feather-beds, but the most slept well on straw-. 888 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. The lightest part of the forest was cut do-wn and cleared up and sown with rye and wheat, or planted with potatoes and corn. After the grain was raised, by some it was carried to WilsonviUe, to Damascus, or to Slocum Hollow, (now Scranton,) to be ground. Th« thoughtful Germans of Canaan, brought with them hand-mills and ground the grain themselves ; ( ithers pounded or boiled- it^-and, in cases of extremity, lived on milk and boiled potatoes, which is not an un savory dish to a hungry laboring man. The land yielded abundantly, and, after a few years, enough grain was raised to support the people. The woods were full of wild game, and the streams alive with fish. But there were many things which they had not and could not do without. They needed axes, scythes, plows, chains, harrow-s, hoes, salt, (which was five dol lars a bushel,) leather, and clothing for themselves and their children. How were these indisponsables to be obtained, and where was the money to come from wherewith to purchase them? Some of these things they went without. The skins of their domestic ani mals they exchanged for salt and leather, often dis pensing -with dressed leather by wearing moccasins made of deer-skin, and sometime^ they sold grain to the lumbermen for cash. The lumbermen along the Delaware and Lackawaxen did not have it quite so hard as the settlers who were remote from the rivers. But most of the latter sowed flax and dressed it, and the women (blessed be their memory,) carded, spun, and wove it into a variety of most excellent cloths. MISCELLANEOUS. 389 Then necessity required almost every farmer to keep sheep, the wool from which was carded, spun, and woven by the women into all needful fabrics. In a few years saw-mills were erected in all the new settlements, so that the log-cabins could be made more and more comfortable. Go to a log-cabin in those days, and outside would be found two, three, or four shoats that lived mostly upon the mast found in the w^oods, and that had come home to see how the folks w-ere. "Old Brindle" would be standing, reaching through the rails which enclosed a stack of wild hay. There was a wooden-shod sled made mostly for win ter use, but used, nevertheless, at all seasons, as carts and w-agons were scarce. It was not in the likeness of anything in the earth beneath, or in the w-ater un der the earth. There was a harrow made of a branch ing tree which made one letter of the alphabet in the shape of a V, with five iron teeth on a side and one in front. The plow was not at home, having been lent to a near neighbor only two miles distant. Two or three acres had been cleared and planted, and a quarter of an acre sown with flax. Near by the cabin was a covered enclosure in which four or flve sheep were nightly folded. The dog, "Tiger," glad to see any kind of a duplicate of his master, would laugh all over to see you. Dogs were not then taught to con sider men as thieves or tramps. Knocking, you were bid to come in, and, upon lifting the wooden latch, w-ere cheerily and sincerely greeted and offered the best bench for a seat. The furniture in said cabin 390 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. was rough and simple, and there were no carpets, table-cloths, or napkins. There was but one room in the cabin with but one bed and a trundle-bed. A bed room was then made by hanging up two blankets. A stranger who staid over night had to go up a ladder and sleep on a straw bed overhead. The most pleas ing of all was that there in that cabin w-ere three or four cherubs, called children, bounding and playing in circles around that unadorned room, and who were like those of whom Christ said, " Of such is the king dom of heaven." You would perhaps stay to dinner, where everything would be sweet and savory, and it would consist of good johnny-cake and delicious fried trout, one or two of which would make a meal, and your neighbor w-ould tell you that he had caught sixty of the like that day. You would have no tea, but good, unadul terated coffee, made of burnt peas or browmed rye fiour, and sw^eetened with maple sugar. In those days a fox met a man and wondered if he was a new kind of Indian or something worse, and the owl hooted at him as an unnaturalized intruder. In such log-cab ins lived, sixty, seventy, or eighty years ago, the first settlers of Wayne county, whether Yankees, Dutch, Lish, or English. In those log-huts might perhaps have been found some of the following books : The Bible, Watts' inimitable Psalms and Hymns, The Pil grim's Progress, an Episcopal Prayer-book, a Catho lic Catechism, or a New England Primer. There was an almanac found in every cabin. It told much of MISCELLANEOUS. 391 the past and foretold coming eclipses with certainty, and coming storms and calms with occasional uncer tainty. It often quieted the fears of such as were disturbed by strange and unaccountable phenomena. Some sons of Belial one night, out of pure wicked ness, pushed some squibs under the door of an old couple's cabin. The squibs of wild-fire went whizzing and circling around their room to their great dismay and affright. The old man, at the suggestion of his wife, got up and looking in the almanac, he found against that day the strange word " apogee," which he spelled out, a-po, a-po, gee, a-po-gee, sounding the g hard, and accenting the last syllable. " There," said he, " it's 'apogee' come, and if it ha d not been for the almanac I should never have found out what it meant, for it is not in the Bible. Probably it means a little devil just hatched out." * High up in the primitive chimneys, above the reach of fire, was a cross-pole from which descended trammels upon which were hung as needed, a pot, a dish-kettle, or tea-kettle ; these, with a frying-pan and griddle, made up all the culinary vessels used in preparing or cooking food, excepting that an oven was built in the stone chim ney or out of doors for the baking of bread. After wards came the tin oven which was open towards the fire ; the reflection of the heat from the shining tin assisted in baking the cakes, pies, or bread in the oven. * The word "apogee " has reference to the moon when it is at its greatest distance from the earth. 392 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. Stoves were not in use until after 1820, and were not in general use until 1840. The blacksmith in those early days was, as he always will be, the most useful artisan. He made hoes, upset axes, made plowshares, and all the nails then used, also all the chains and hooks, drew teeth with an iron hawk's bill, and in his leisure time made musical instruments for the boys, called jews-harps. One old blacksmith made fish hooks and the fish bit at them just to find out what they were; but they were not very dangerous to the fish. The roads were then merely cleared of the logs and bushes. Most of the transportation w^as made on horseback or manback. The latter mode of re moving a thing from one place to another was called " soul carting." Shoemakers w-ent from house to house and made up the shoes that would be worn in a fam ily for a year. Happy was the lad or the lass that could rely upon having one pair of shoes in a year. The most of the men, women, and children thought it no great hardship to go barefoot six months in the year. Most of the people were then poor, but pover ty was not then considered a crime or a disgrace, but merely a discomfort. Because a man had naught, he was not called " naughty." As an example of the poverty of many people, it is a fact that the house of a certain man in Salem with all its contents bumed up and he claimed that his loss was forty dollars; but it is probable that there was as much happiness to be found in those lodges in the wilderness as can be found anywhere in this world. MISCELLANEO US. 393 "Contented toil and hospitable care. And kind connubial tenderness were there ; And piety, with -wishes fixed above. And steady loyalty and faithful love." Few of the pioneers had the money to pay down for their lands, and it took them many years before they were able to make their payments. After providing shelter, food, and raiment for them selves and families, and making necessary roads and bridges, the next great anxiety of the settlers was to establish schools for the education of their children. The great mass of the original inhabitants of Wayne county were from New England, a people who were never forgetful of the cause of education, but whether they were Yankee or Dutch, English or Irish, native or foreign, in this anxiety they were unanimous. School-houses were built more comfortable than the common dwelling-houses, and the best teachers that could be found were employed. Some of them had made but little progress in ascending the hill of sci ence, while other young men, educated in the acade mies and high schools of the Eastern States, came hither in search of employment. The principal branch es taught were orthography, reading, writing, arith metic, English grammar, and geography. The first books were as follows: Dilworth's and Webster's spelling-books ; for reading books, Webster's Elements of Useful Knowledge, the Second and Third Part, The American Preceptor, and the Columbian Orator, by Caleb Bingha,m, the English Reader with its Intro duction and Sequel; arithmetic — DaboU's and Pike's 60 394 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. — Murray's English Grammar — Davies', Cummings'. Morse's or Woodbridge's Geography; Johnson's or Walker's Dictionary; and Robert Gibson's Treatise on Surveying. Hale's History of the United States had been introduced into some schools. These books, if not equal to those used at the present day, posses&- ed many excellencies and were abreast of the times. It is not pretended that those teachers in olden days were equal in qualifications to the teachers of the present day. The most of them never had access to academies and high schools, but they taught orthogra phy, reading, and writing, well. The first schools were started by a few persons who generally hired a teacher, fixed his salary, requiring him to board round and collect his own school-bills, each patron of the school to pay pro rata. Tradition declares that there were good schools in the county seventy or eighty years ago, but it has preserved very little concerning them. A law of 1809 required the county to pay for the schooling of the children of indigent persons. The law of 1834, authorizing the levy of taxes for the support of common schools, was amended in 1836, and by another amendment, in 1854, provided for the election of county superintendents trienniaUy, by the school directors. The office was held as follows: By John F\ Stoddard, one year; S. A. Terrel, five years ; E. O. Ward, seven years; J. E. Hawker, three years; D. G. Allen, nine years; H. B. Larrabee was elected in. May, 1878, for three years. The schools which were in their day chartered, and MISCELLANEO US. 395 the academies and high schools now sustained in dif ferent parts of the county have been mentioned, ex cepting the select school at HolUsterville, under the charge of Prof. M. H. Race. There is a graded school at Honesdale, one at See lyville, and another at Hawley. By the School Re port of 1878 there are two hundred and thirteen schools in the county ; the number of male teachers, eighty-two; females, one hundred and eighty-three; whole number of scholars, 8,939; total amount of tax levied for school and building purposes, $36,948.96. The Baptists, it appears, organized the first Church in the county in Paupack. Elder WiUiam Purdy was its pastor. One was organized in Mount Pleasant in 1796, and Epaphras Thompson w-as its first minis ter, and was succeeded by Elder Elijah Peck. The next Baptist Church was started in Damascus, then one in Salem, and afterwards one in Bethany and Clinton. There are ten churches or houses of public worship belonging to the Baptists in the county. The pioneer Presbyterian (Jhurch in the county was that of Salem and Palmyra, which was organized in August, 1805, by Rev. David ' Harrowar. Rev. Worth ington Wiight, from Massachusetts, w^as installed its pastor in 1813. A Congregational Church was also organized in Mount Pleasant, in January, 1814, Tby Rev. E. Kingsbury and Rev. W. Wright. A Pres byterian Church was organized by the Rev. Phineas Camp, in Bethany, in 1818 ; the house was begun in 1822, and finished in 1835. The Presbyterian Church 396 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. in Honesdale was organized in 1829 ; the cost of the present building was $44,000. The Church in Way- mart was organized in 1835, and- the house bnilt in 1846. Lebanon society or Church was organized in 1848, and the house erected the same year. The so ciety or Church of Prompton was organized in 1842, and the house built in 1849. The society or Church of Hawley was organized in 1849, and the house was built in 1851. There may be other societies which have no buildings erected for public worship. The Presbyterians were the descendants of the old Puri tans, were generally well educated, and were rigid in the enforcement of the strictest morality. They wish ed and meant to be right. The Episcopal Methodists were among the first in the missionary field. Their preachers went every where that a soul could be found. They had all the zeal of Ignatius Loyola. They generaUy held their meetings in the log school-houses, or in private dwell ings, and in summer in barns or in the woods. They insisted upon great simplicity of dress, and in that re spect were as rigid as the Quakers. No woman could then obtain admittance to their love-feasts whose dress abounded with flounces and furbelows, and even a rib bon gathered up into a bow upon her bonnet would not be overlooked. A few old people may be found who remember some of their original preachers, such as Isaac Grant, Joshua Bibbins, and George Peck, Sen. We heard the latter preach his first sermon in Salem in the West school-house. In or about the year 1825 MISCELLANEOUS. 397 the first Metliodist Episcopal church was commenced west of Salem Corners, and in 1832 one was built at Mount Pleasant. The progress of the Church in the county has been uniform, until at the present time there are twenty-six churches or houses of public wor ship, which may not include some societies that are without a church edifice. There are two camp-meet ing groves used annually by the church, one at Salem and one at Tallmanville. There are in the county ten Roman Catholic churches which are all noticed under the several local ities where they are situated, besides which there are several places which are visited that have no church edifices. The first of those churches was established in Honesdale in 1834, and the next in Mount Pleasant in 1836. There are four Episcopal, four Union, two Free Methodist, two Lutheran churches, and one German Reform church. It has been shown that the attempt of Judge James Wilson to commence the manufacture of fiax and hemp at the mouth of the Paupack, even before the organization of the county, proved abortive. Saw mills were early established along the Delaware and Lackawaxen for the manufacture of timber into boards, etc., thereby adding perhaps one-foui-th to its market value. This kind of manufacturing has been carried on more or less for the past ninety years, and, since the establishment of tanneries in the county, has been a very large and extensive business. 398 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. The first carding-machine was set up on Johnson's creek, below the Seth Kennedy mill, in Mount Pleas ant, by Jacob Plum, in 1813. These machines, al though they did not manufacture, prepared the wool for spinning, and saved the women much hard work. Capt. Keen started one below Keen's pond, in Canaan, in 1820. Samuel Hartford, assisted by H. G. Chase, put up one east of Hamlinton in 1825, and Alpheus HoUister one at HolUsterville in 1827. Hiram G. Chase aforesaid moved into Dyberry township in 1826. His father was from Taunton, Mass., but Hiram G. was from Delaware county, N. Y. He married a daughter of Ira Hurlburt, who was a brother of the remarkable twin sisters, of whom Pope Bushnell's wife was one. Mrs. Chase was a sister of Ezra Hurl burt, of Honesdale, and of Frederick Hurlburt, of Canaan. Mr. Chase began -with Wm. B. Ogden, in 1826, and started works for the fulling of cloth at the outlet of Jennings pond, in Dyberry, and the next year bought the carding-machine of Hartford. Ogden sold out to Wm. N. Fisher. Mr. Chase continued in the business ten years and then sold out to Henry Jen nings. Fisher continued in business most of his life. Mr. Chase and his wife are still living, and should have been noticed under Dyben-y township. The Dyberry glass-factory was started in 1816, and, with short intermissions, was kept in operation for twenty-five years. The manufacture of axes and edge-tools by Ezekiel White was commenced in 1820, and was continued by MISCELLANEO US. 399 Ephraim V. White at SeelyvUle and TracyviUe during his life-time. The business is now vigorously carried on by his son, Gilbert White, at Tracyville. James Hendiick, in the early days of Honesdale, carried on the making of scythes and axes, and the business was continued by others after him. Henry Kemmerer, in 1835, started a large powder- mill near Shaffer's Mills, in South Canaan. The bus iness was prosperous until the mill was blowm up in the summer of 1837 and three persons were killed. The mill was not rebuilt. James Birdsall commenced the maufacture of wool en cloths at Seelyville in 1846, and the business, hav ing been continued and being, constantly on the in crease, has assumed a most respectable importance un der Birdsall Brothers. This is one of the most useful of all branches of manufacture, and can be contin ued from time to time, and from ^.ge to age, without any prospects of a discontinuation of its usefulness. Seelyville has ever been an attractive point for manu facturing. Window-sashes, blinds, and doors were made here for some years by Messrs. Costins & Erk. Chris tian Erk is now doing a large business in the manu facture of umbrella and parasol sticks. John H. Gill has had a small foundry in operation a short distance above SeelyviUe for a number of years. It is now carried on hj Ms son. George W. Hall, of Prompton, has been, for forty years, engaged in the manufacture from wood of all needed household furniture, and has not intermitted 400 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. his labors. Having associated with him liis son, Ar thur, as copartner, the business is now conducted under the firm name of G. W. Hall & Son. The great glass-works of Christian Dorflinger, at White MUls, estabUshed within the last twelve years, are the most colossal manufacturing works in the county. In 1842 Jacob Faatz started glass-works at Tracyville, but for want of capital they were discon tinued, and they fell into the hands of James Brook field but were mostly destroyed by the breaking away of a dam at the mouth of a pond above. The Hones dale Glass Company, in 1873, commenced the making of hollow glass-ware in the same place, and are doing a large and profitable business. The manufacturing done in Honesdale is by Dur land, Torrey & Co., in the boot and shoe business; Gilbert Knapp in the foundry business; B. L. Wood & Co., prepared lumber; M. B. VaiiKirk, umbrella- stick factory ; C. C. Jadwin and Dr. Brady, medicines ; John Brown, furniture ; P. McKenna, cooper; and P. J. Cole, flour and feed. Probably there are others not mentioned. Under the patronal charge of Rev. J. J. Doherty, pastor of the St. John's Catholic church of Honesdale, an industrial school was established in 1879. The manufacture of shirts is the only branch of business carried on at present, and employment is given to about twenty-five girls. The intention, however, is to add other branches of industry to the institution, the object of Father Doherty being to give to the youth. MISCELLANEOUS. 401 male and female, a practical education, and, also, give employment and bring up to habits of industry and usefulness scores who are being reared in enforced idleness. The enterprise is in its infancy but is likely to grow into an important and beneficent industry. Erastus Baker, of Mount Pleasant, more than forty- five years ago, established a carding-machine on the Lackawaxen in Mount Pleasant and dressed and dyed cloths during his life, and the works are carried on to this day. The manufacturing of chairs and other kinds of wood-work is carried on at Forest Mills, Lake town ship, by Henry Silkman. One of the most important branches of industry in Wayne county has been the manufacture of leather, and has yielded a large amount of money. Its begin nings were small. . The first tannery that we remem ber was run by Samuel Rogers, in Canaan, and was afterwards called the Cortright tannery. Asa Smith, in Mount Pleasant, Thomas S. Holmes, of Bucking ham, and Levi Ketchum and Osborn Olmstead^ of Bethany, carried on the business for several years on a small scale. About 1830 Isaac P. Foster establish ed the first great tannery in the county, which, having been profitably run .for many years, has been discon tinued. The, tanneries that are now in successful operation and doing a barge business ai-e owned bj- H. Beach & Brothers, at Milanville; E. P. Strong, at Starrucca; Coe F. Young, at Tanners Falls; G. B. Morss, Ledgedale; Hoyt Bros., at Lake Como; R. H. 51 402 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. Wales, at High Lake ; Wm. Holbert, at Equinunk ; Hoyt Bros., at Manchester. Those doing a moderate business are Wm. Gale, at Middle Valley; L. H. Al den & Co., at Aldenville; Brunig & Co., at Oregon; Nichols & Co., at Mt. Pleasant; and Samuel Saun ders, at Texas. Several tanneries have been discontinued, and the business as to the amount of leather tanned is dimin ishing. Ten or fifteen years ago the leather tanned in the county amounted to $2,200,000, or was sold for that amount yearly. Men well acquainted with the whole tanning interests throughout the county are cautious about making an estimate of the proceeds which have been received therefrom, admitting, how ever, that they have been enormous. When we take into consideration the great amount of water-pow-er in the county unused, it is to be re gretted that we have no more manufacturing estab lishments -within its limits. It is, therefore, pleasant to be assured that a silk-factory is to be established on the Paupack at Hawley. If I am rightly inform ed, the building vrill be built of stone, to be three hun dred and sixty feet by forty-four feet, with an exten sion of eighty feet by twenty-three feet, and to be three stories high ^vith a basement. A hub and spoke factory is also carried on at Hawley by J. G. Diamond. The first settlers of Wayne county came hither for the purpose of taking up lands for cultivation. Along the rivers and streams they were to a great extent diverted from their original pui-pose by engaging in MISCELLANEOUS, 403 the cutting, preparing, and running of lumber to mar ket, which business as they considered it more immedi ately lucrative, was followed by the settlers on the Del aware and Lackawaxen rivers. But the townships of Canaan, Salem, Sterling, Clinton, and Mount Pleasant gave greater attention to the improvement of their lands. When the most valuable timber was removed from the river townships, they turned their attention to the cultivation of the soil, and they have made rapid progress. Such is the case in the townships of Damascus, Preston, Manchester, Scott, and Cherry Ridge. The timber in those townships is becoming scarce, and resort must be had to the cultivation of the soil, to the raising of cattle, and to the dairy business, for which our natural gi-asses are peculiarly adapted. What the county needs is a more ready market for the gross articles of production, such as fruit, potatoes, etc. Every branch of manufacturing interest should therefore be encouraged and promoted for the purpose of supplying a home market. Many farmers are also raising their own wheat, thereby saving much money. When the lands were first cleared up they were rich in humus, potash, and phosphates, which have been exhausted by cultivation. Fifty or sixty years ago three hundred bushels of potatoes, fifty bushels of oats, and thirty bushels of rye to the acre, were not unusual crops. By the use of clover and plaster, and the judicious application of lime, phosphates, and other fertilizers, our farmers are struggling to restore the former fertility of their lands. It must be conceded 404 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. that much greater crops of corn are now raised than were obtained in former times. Within a few years past the best stock has been brought into the county by the importation of the Alderney and Jersey cattle. Anxious to avail themselves of every aid, our farmers have at different times organized agricultural societies. The present one was organized in 1862, and it owns the present pleasant fair-grounds upon the Dyberry, one and one-half miles north of Honesdale. . By law the county pays from its treasury, yearly, $100 to the society. It is supposed that it exercises a salutary in- fiuence upon, the agricultural interest of the coimty. In describing Honesdale we were led to notice the Delaware & Hudson Canal and Railroad Company, as it was the prime agent in starting the town into ex istence and the main artery which supplies it and the country around with the sustaining force of life. With equal propriety, the Pennsylvania Coal Company might have been described in connection with Palmy ra township. It is of sufficient importance to be sep arately described. The company was organized in 1839, but the road was not completed until 1850. It is a gravity road worked by stationary engines for transportation of coal mined by the company. No locomotive power is used in operating it. The length of the main line from Hawley to Port Griffith is forty-seven miles. The gauge of the line is four feet three inches. In 1879, the average number of persons regularly em ployed by the company on its road and in its mines MISCELLANEOUS. 405 etc., including officials in Pennsylvania, amounted to 4,100. This road took to market, in 1860, 111,014 tons, and, in 1879, 1,372,759 tons of coal. Passen ger cars are run daily from Dunmore to Hawley and return. The coal is run from Hawiey by the Hawley Branch of the Erie Railway to Lackawaxen, distant fifteen and eighty-seven. . one-hundredth miles, and thence by the Erie Railroad to New York. This road is doing an immense amount of business. Its loaded and its light tracks widely diverge from each other. The building and operation of this road have been of great importance and value to Lake and Sa lem townships. The capital stock amounts to $6,000,- 000, and $600,000 dividends were paid the past year, or twelve per cent. The road is most admirably con ducted. Its officers are George A. Hoyt, President, Stamford, Connecticut; William E. Street, Secretary, Darien, Connecticut; Edwin H. Mead, Treasurer, South Orange, N. J. ; Charles F. Southmayd, General Solicitor, New York; John B. Smith, Chief Engineer, General Manager, General Superintendent, and Divis ion Superintendent, Dunmore, Pa. The population of Wayne and Pike counties in 1800 was 2,662 ; in 1810, 4,125. The population of Wayne county, alone, in 1820, was 4,127; in 1830, 7,663; in 1840, 11,848; in 1850, 21,890; in 1860, 32,239; 1870, 33,188. The greatest increase was be tween 1820 and 1830, being eighty-five and six-tenths per cent, gain, while the gain between 1860 and 1870 was scarcely three per cent. Although the late war w-as 406 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. between the latter periods, yet it is not reasonable to suppose that it caused such a hiatus in the advance of population. The census of 1880 will settle the ques tion. CHAPTER XXXIV. PIKE COUNTY. THE Hon. George W. Woodward designed in his contemplated history of Wayne county to include the county of Pike. We should be pleased to do what he proposed if we had space and the necessary data where-with to construct such a history. A long journey throngh the county would be necessary to gather up material for such a work, and a careful ex amination of the public records required. Milford, the county seat of Pike county, should not be forgot ten. It was the first place where the first courts were held, when Wayne and Pike were one. There Dan Dimmick, the father of Melancthon Dimmick, Oliver S. Dimmick, and WilUam H. Dimmick, Sen., was first admitted to the Bar, and he was entrustecj -with one- half of the legal practice in the county for a long course of years. His cotemporaries in practice were Daniel Stroud, Job S. Halstead, John Ross, Thomas PIKE COUNTY. 407 B. Dick, Hugh Ross, Daniel Grandin, and George Wolf, who was twice governor of the State. There afterwards lived Lewis, Cornelius, the corpulent tavern- keeper, who at one time weighed six hundred and six ty-seven pounds. There was Dr. Francis A. Smith, by birth an Austrian, and who was the first man that was naturalized in the county, he being admitted a citizen September 12, 1799. He was the father of the two noted women, Mrs. Thomas Clark, and Mrs. Jeffrey Wells. Milford is beautifully situated upon the Delaware, has pure air and good water, and is noted for its salubrity. The excellence of the roads up and down the river is widely known. We should be pleased to give sketches of the original inhabitants, some of whom were the Westbrooks, the VanAukens, the Ridgways, the Nyces, the Newmans, the Watsons, the Westfalls, the Motts, and many others. We should like to follow the route where the old pioneers " colum bused " their way through the forests to Paupack and then onward to Lackawanna and Wyoming valleys ; and to contrast the present state of the country with what it was then. Sixty years ago we traveled that supposed old route. Beginning at Milford we went to Blooming Grove, w-here Solomon Westbrook, Esq., now keeps a hotel ; thence to Paupack Settle ment, from which all the old settlers and their chil dren have departed; thence through the Seven Mile Woods, then a dense wilderness, now dotted with houses and improvements, to Little Meadows; thence to Salem Corners, where Oliver Hamlin kept a store. 408 HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY. then onward through Salem township, which has greatly improved since that time, to John Cobb's, at the foot of Moosic mountain ; thence, directly over the mountain to Philip Swarfs tavern, which had been kept by Wm. AUsworth, the place being now- in Dunmore ; thence, turning to the left and going down ward, we came to Slocum Hollow, where were a saw mill, grist-mill, foundry, and, we believe, a distillery, now in the -ricinity of the city of Scranton, which city seems to us to have been built by enchantment, like the palace of the Princess Badroul Boudour. There lived in or about Lackawanna valley, in those days, the Slocums, Trips, Athertons, Coons, Griffins, Phillipses, and the Benedicts. The old road, above described, was the route taken by the original settlers to reach the Lackawanna and Wyoming valleys. By it they fied after the battle of Wyoming. The road in former times was always a very bad one except when frozen up in the winter, yet the travel upon it was immense. All the travel between Wilkesbarre and Milford on to Newburg was by or near that road. But we return to Milford and find that it has been greatly improved and enlarged within sixty years past. In dra-wing this history to a close we would have it understood that we never entertained the idea of writ ing it until we were past the age of three-score years and ten. We ask the reader to make due allowance CONCL USION. 409 for our failing memory and inability to present facts in an attractive dress. It would be very strange if the work should be found without errors and contra dictions. Many worthy persons and families, we are well aware, have not been mentioned ; their history did not come in our way. " One Caasar lives, a thousand are forgot." No one has been purposely neglected; no one spoken of disparagingly. Now, at the age of seventy-six years, standing on the shore of that vast ocean, over which we must soon sail, we bid our read ers an affectionate farewell. THE END.