EC Johnson – Pittston History – Part 3

201
Mary Gray.
Ellen Carrol.
Henry's Bearer.
Henry Obookiah.
and many others similar.
with.
The three last named, I was personally familiar
The others, I tried in vain to read.
The two "Henrys" introduced
me to India and the Sandwich Islands, which offered novelty and entertainment .
"Ellen Carrol" was a saintly little girl, misunderstood and ridiculed.
I took her part warmly;
and read and re-read, until she became
a fast friend of mine, such as one can find only in a book, which never
"talks back',' or does things unexpected and disappointing.
that book, nobody saying me nay.
and could never get it back.
I appropriated
I finally loaned it to a school mate
As Jereboam's name is never mentioned in
Scripture without the addition of "who made Israel to sin", so that
girl's name and the site of her house never recur to my mind except with
the mental anathema: "who last Ellen Carrol".
Before our new Church was built, I spent a season in the Sunday School
of the Episcopal Church.
This was through my Aunt Elizabeth's influence,
who was a member of that church.
They had not yet built St. James Church,
which stood were the Post Office Building now stands, but held services in
a hall.
Here I was trained in the Prayer Book and the Chatechism.
mastered it, even to the answer of "Who is my neighbour?"
I
This training
helped me later, when I was hired as organist in St. James Church; and
had also made me feel at home and in sympathy with a ritualistic service.
It is pleasant to be able to look back and see how all of the various
steps of life have each been a preparation for the one next higher.
I played the Cabinet Organ in our Presbyterian Church and then the
pipe organ until I went to Norristown, to be absent nearly two years.
Mr.
Waddeli, a thorough Scotsman with native prejudices, called the pipe organ
"a kist o' whustles";
installed.
I hope the playing of the "kist" had nothing to do with his
dissatisfation.
Church.
and he would no longer sit in the "kirk" when it was
That "kist o' whustles" now serves the Avoca Presbyterian
Mrs. C. C. Bowman presented it to that church when she replaced it
in the Pittston Church with the large one from the First Prysbyterian Church
of Scranton.
The "Kist" used to stand in the square gallery where hung
the cracked bell that rang in the belfry of the Wilkesbarre First Church,
"Old Ship Zion."
Dr. Parke gave this historic bell to the Wyoming Histor-
ical and Geological Society for preservation in their rooms;
and purchased
202
for the Pittston church the bell that the Scranton First Chruch discarded when
it rebuilt.
Thus the First Presbyterian Church of Pittston has now both
the bell and the organ of the Scranton Church.
2a
B.
THE WELCH PEOPLE AND CHURCHES.
They came here experienced miners.
They brought with them not only
the practical knowledge of mining coal, but also their deeply emotional
religious characteristics and their enthusiasm for choral music.
built the first church in town (Dr. P).
now converted into a dwelling house.
They
It was on Pine Street and is
It was built up against a sand
hill, with basement, front steps, leading up from each side, to porch
and entrance doors.
It was formed of wood and painted white gable end to street and
three or four windows on each side, with panes of 9 x 7 common window
glass.
They were accommodating to the community and allowed the Method-
ists and Episcopalians to have service there by turns in the intervals
of their own.
St. James church was organized in 1852.
Not long after
this was built the church at the corner of LaGrange and Railroad Streets
was built.
This too was against a hill with a basement front and entrance
to the church at the rear.
If it served no other purpose it was well
worth building for the meeting place of Welch choirs and musical societies.
Almost nightly the swelling sound of the grand wild music of Welch filled
the neighborhood with its impressive volume. (Ferore)
This was a Baptist church.
The zeal of the Welchmen for his own
peculiar tenenets of doctrine (?) soon led to the erection of the Congregational Welch church, later a new Baptist edifice was built close beside
the Congregationalist on LaGrange Street and the old sanctuary abandoned
to Band Rehearsals and the like.
Its basement, as that of the Pine Street
church served as school room, for private or borough schools at various
times.
But there were not a sufficient number of Baptists to maintain
regular services and it was used for other meetings.
The Welch women were trained at home to carry burdens on their heads.
Most wonderful feats they sometimes did.
A pail of water balanced on a
coil pad placed on top of the head would be carried any distance without
touching hands to it.
A woman has been known to walk from the Welch settlement just above
Wilkes Barre to the settlement at Hyde Park, Scranton, with a large bundle
on her head, a distance of near twenty miles with the greatest cheerfulness.
Another walk up a slight grade from the Basin to Main Street with a wash
tub filled with water on her head.
"Just lift it on for me" said she
and they lifted it on and she walked off with a firm, steady tread.
It
gave grace of carriage etc.
They decorated a baby's coffin with all bright colored ribbons and
carried it through the street on a bier, the procession following, all on
foot.
2a B.
The Welch were great church folk.
town (Note:
this seems a repetition).
stands the Public School.
up to the two doors.
the street.
They built the first church in
It stood on Pine Street where now
The church had a basement front, steps led
It was of wood, painted white, with gable end facing
It was built against a sand hill, and its bare sandy graveyard
was at the back and side.
This has been removed, the hill graded down
and the barren fields on each side are now covered with homes and gardens.
The church was sometimes occupied by the Methodists until they built
their old brick church on Broad Street and in the issue of the Gazette
August 6, 1850, is a notice that "Rev. J. D. Miles of Wilkes Barre will
preach next Sabbath at 3 P.M. in the Welch Chruch in this village".
Mr.
Miles was rector of the St. Stephens Episcopal church in Wilkes Barre and
came up to preach once a fortnight to those of that denomination.
He
laid the foundation of what grew into St. James Episcopal Church.
After the Cash Store block now the stores of Burke and Antrim and Co.
was built a hall on second floor served as a meeting place for the congregation and for its Sabbath School of Episcopal congregation.
A hall in "Marble store" served before this as we find in Gazette
of
(See Christian in Pittston-1880) (?)
2a B.
BAPTIST CHURCH IN PITTSTON
Rev. James Finn was the first pastor of the Baptist church in
Pittston.
He was ordained before coming from near Goshen, N.Y.,
had a son, William, of Dundoff.
He
In 1820 James Gordon knew Mrs. Finn,
the widow of Daniel Gore of Joseph's Plains, a woman of fine presence
and attractive manners, then about seventy years old.
She died between
1832 and 38 at Clifford, Susquehanna County aged eighty-five.
Dr. William H. Smith had several daughters, no sons.
a widow named Smith.
He married
One daughter married James Sutton of Exeter, one
married James Bedford of Abington, one married Naphtali Hurlbut, one
married Isaac Osterhout of Putnam (Tunkhannock).
Another married
Snowden and became grandmother to Rev. Charles Snowden of Wilkes Barre
Episcopal Church in 1891.
Another married
Gaylord of Plymouth.
Dr. Smith died at LaGrange in 1814, his wife Margery died in 1816.
In 1802 he lived at Old Forge — was in business there with James
Sutton.
In politics he was a Radical Federalist.
similar to that of the French school.
classical scholar.
osopher's Stone"
His Philosophy was
He was a highly educated man, a
He published a humorous book entitled:
"The Phil-
"A drop of Honey for a poor despairing Alchemist".
Unless Dr. Bedford has a copy there is none probably existent.
Dr. S was eccentric.
spiritualist.
In the latter part of his life he was a
One day he came on horseback to his son-in-law Nephtali
Hurlbut's tavern (the old Seville House).
full of drugs.
trousers.
His trousers pockets were stuffed
In dismounting be broke a vial and greatly damaged his
His daughter at once set about repairing them but he remained
over night.
James Gordon, a mere boy, carried the candle to light him
to bed and saw him fall into an abstracted mood.
"Come here and meet me as you promised".
Recalled Jem Scoville
He repeated the name and kept
calling until Mrs. Hurlbut came and persuaded him to get into bed.
During the later years of his life he bought and sold much land.
In all deeds he gave he always reserved the iron ore and stone coal.
Baptists residing in Plainsville were the Gores, Samuel Carey,
Ephriam White, the Westbrooks, John Worden.
In Pittston were such men as the Hardings, Browns, John Phillips
Benedict, David Dimmock and his two sons, the Marcys, St. Johns, and
Careys.
These were men of the Roger Williams stripe.
They firmly be-
lieved they were swords in the hands of the Lord to redeed this wilderness
for Him.
The Indians had only a small right to the soil which they could
buy for a little money.
2a
B.
The bounds of the Baptist church of Pittston extended as far as
Westmoreland extended, and it planted Baptist churches all over the
territory.
Its records were lost in 1796.
Dr. Giddings thought it
had 200 members, but at any one 20 members might be average representation.
Rev. James Finn had sons, Solomon and Exeter, John a preacher at
Clifford, James and William.
Other preachers were Gray, West, Bishop and
Elders Parker and Besemer.
Elder West was zealous as a pastor visiting the cabins in the
wilderness.
He gave himself no rest.
His sojourn in Pittston was
brief but he left a memory of unselfish devotion to his charge.
No one could contend with him in argument on the proper mode of
Baptism.
These various communities of Baptists differ in various points
of doctrine.
The one sole bond of union was immersion.
These people were not formally religious — did not have regular
church services, but they were a religious people in their deepest nature.
James Sutton was an unwavering believer in Special Providence.
He
testified strongly, near the end of his life, to God's guiding hand in
all the vissitudes of his life.
In the darkest hours, God had never
entirely hid himself and had over-ruled all things for good.
Some of the early Baptists changed their views or practices and
went to Wilkes Barre Congregationalist Church, whence came the Presbyterians .
*************
2a B.
CHURCH TEMPERANCE.
Dedication — new Methodist church near Marcy, schoolhouse in
upper Pittston will be dedicated August 13, 1833 — Rev. George D.
Peck of Wilkes Barre will preach the sermon.
D . A. Shepherd
George D. Peck.
August 17, a mass meeting for a Prohibition Law at Wilkes Barre.
August 2, A County Temperence meeting held in the old church in
Pittston Square. (Ship Zion)
Mr. William Sweetland, Chairman, 0. Collins stated object.
Among the vice-presidents on platform were Peter Polen and Mr.
Tompkins.
Rev. T. P. Hunt, E. T. Ferris, Mr. Parke, some believed temperance
could be advocated through old parties.
The majority believed a new
party and a new ticket should be placed in the field.
prevailed.
This sentiment
Dr. Peck and Mr. Strong were among the conservatives.
temperance convention at Wyoming House in Scranton.
A
Much space seems
given to this subject of Prohibition.
A report of a County convention in Wilkes Barre old church again.
Theo. Strong of Pittston and C. E. Lathrop of Scranton, Secretaries,
delegates reported from all over the county.
Theo. Strong and R. D.
Lacoe from Pittston township.
From Pittston borough B. D . Beyea and Ezekiel Thompson.
A reso-
lution was adopted following a long series in the interest of prohibition.
Prohibition Convention.
Resolved:
that we recommend to the patronage of friends of temperance
such local newspapers as are unequivocal in their support of prohibatory
law
Signed:
Samuel Hodgdon, William Sweetland, George R. Wells, Dr. C.
Urquart, Ebenezer Leach.
These were appointed a Standing committee.
The enthusiasm was aroused by spirited discussion in which Rev. T. P.
Hunt, Theo. Strong, Rev. E. W. Jackson, George H. Wells, Samuel McCarragher, and others.
Ticket:
Lord Butler and
The Whig (County) Standing Committee elect delegates to convention
to be held at Frank Helm's tavern in Kingston, September 16.
From
Pittston, William S. Reddy, Jesse Williams.
Wyoming Conference appointed George M. Peck to Pittston.
Union & pub the malfeasance in office (?) of Plains.
Luzerne
The Gazette does
ZO 8.
not shield offenders — See the P. m. of Plains.
Anson G. Contice Pro
this year
Flour - 5.50 — 6.00 pr bbl — Com. 63 — Potatoes 31, eggs 12.
Butter 20.
2a B.
MINISTERS AND CHURCHES
I.
The Susq. Co.'s provision for early ministers, Johnson,
Gildersleeve, Dorrance, Parke, Chas. Evans at Westmoreland 1720
Elder Mott preached 1832 — 1855, Oren Brown.
2nd Methodist.
Anning Owen, Roger Searle's house.
1st Baptist — Elder Mott, John Phillips, Dr. Gildersleeve's
house.
Episcopal — Mr. George D . Miles and Mr. Long, Mr. H. M. Daman's
house, Mr. Robinson, 1st pastor.
Catholic — land given by M. Reap
Welsh
In the early days of Wyoming.
Church organizations like the direction of civil affairs emanated
from Wilkes Barre.
As the town meetings were legally and held there
and the citizens of all towns repaired thither to cast their votes, so
they travelled to Wilkes Barre on horseback or by wagon to attend church
services.
In the interim they welcomed the itinerant missionary and
gathered at his appointed place for the service.
All services were held
at first in houses, later in the log courthouse over the jail.
The first ministers regularly called by the people was Rev. Jacob
Johnson of Lebanon, Connecticut.
He had been conspicuous for some years
in connection with the Wheelock school for teaching the Indians.
This school eventually grew to be Dartmouth College.
At this school
Joseph Brant (Thaynaenega ?) was taught to read and write and the principles of the christian religion.
He had endeavored to acquire a large tract of land in Westmoreland
on which to transplant the Indian school but had not been successful.
Thus favorably known he received an invitation from the United Church
at Wilkes Barre to become its pastor.
Provision was made for his support
according to the rules of the Susquehanna Company.
The tract of land
now covered by the Memorial church on North Street and its neighborhood,
was assigned to him, and his dwelling stood at the corner of North and
River streets.*
He was a Congregationalist as were the larger part of the Connecticut
people.
Therefore the form of government of the church was that of his
preference.
But Methodist, Baptists, Quakers, all united to have a Union
2a B.
church.
They worshipped in the houses in barns, or in the open air or
in the Fort, as seemed most desirable or prudent.
He went about through
all the settlement preaching from house to house and receiving
*Note;
His tract embraced Bowman's hill called the Redoubt, on the
top of which he dug his grave and was buried there later on the day he
had predicted.
His remains and his wife's have been removed to Holl-
enback Cemetery.
For his services such gifts of grain or other stores as the poor
people could offer.
The log courthouse was built on public Square in 1791.
lower floor was the jail, the upper was the court room.
The
Here the
United Church of Wilkes Barre assembled to worship from Sabbath to
Sabbath.
But it offended the good pastors sense of propriety to hold
Divine service in an unconsecrated court house.
subsciption to build a sanctuary.
He set on f o o t a
It was not finished until 1812.
It was the united effort of all denominations, and of all the towns.
But the earnest pastor did not live to see its completion.
He died
in 1875.
It was named the "Old Ship Zion"
*Note:
The name may be explained in some such way as this.
Wilkes Barre had a shipyard on the river bank opposite Northampton
St. and was trying to navigate the Susquehanna.
The was of 1812 with
Great Britain placed an embargo on our shipping and all building
stopped.
They turned over to the church the timber and named the church.
It was to this church Pittston, Lackawanna and Providence and
Plains people travelled on horseback or in wagons, to Sabbath day
worship.
On Communion season, they went down on Saturday afternoon and
hospitable houses were always open to them.
Foot Notes.
He with his flock took refuge in New England in 1778 and he did
not return until 1781.
During his absence, Deacon Hurlout preached
sometimes two sermons a day and officiated at funerals.
The Hurlout home was in Exeter next above.— Wm. Slocum's residence.
It burned (after 1800).
For a few years owing to Indian depredations
preaching was almost entirely omitted.
Anning Owen was preaching from
2.71.
1778 - 1813 or as soon as he returned from the flight.
Circuit riders from 1791 to 1850?
About 1804 Presbyterian and Methodists together built the Forty
Fort Church.
It was the only finished church in Luzerne County.
The
builder was Gideon Underwood.
The Hanover Pres. church was begun earlier by was not completed.
Rev. Cyrus Gildersleeve came to preach in that church in 1821.*
*Note:
Grandfather of Mrs. N. G. Parke.
He too, looked after the Lackawanna flock and came to preach to
them occasionally.
Rev. Nicholas Murray, writer of the celebrated
"Kirwan's letters" was the next pastor.
After him came Rev. John
Dorrance who took special interest in the Lackawanna members and was
the instrument in getting Rev. N. G. Parke to serve them as a missionary.
He already had other assistants, Rev. Orin Brown, and Rev.
Chas. Evans.
Thus by the watchful faithfulness of these servants
of God the light of the Gospel was not put out, but was kept burning,
though sometimes it was feeble.
Dr. Parke's long and fruitful ministry of fifty years cannot be
told in brief.
His parish extended over Wilkes Barre to Providence and
Scranton and branched out to the mountains west and north.
It has been told
admirably in his Reminiscences and his historical sermon preached in 1873.
When he came to the valley in 1844 there was not a church. (?) between
Wilkes Barre and Scranton.
He began to fill this gap by collecting
funds to build one in North Pittston, that part of the field seeming
central.
This church was dedicated in 1846
members?
New church were (?) members Branches (?)
Mr. John Frothingham, organist, choir, N. T. R., Mr. Strong,
Mr. Hoyt, Mrs. Barnum, Miss Myra Giddings etc.
That melodion came down to
N. church until pipe organ put in.
Dr. Drake in 1844 found no church building in Lackawanna valley.
At Northmoreland was a Pres. church organized in 1821 with a church
building erected in 1820.
This was the earliest regularly organized church
in Luzerne County.*
*Pearce's Annals.
Of this church the Rev. Chas. Evans had been ordained pastor in
2a B.
1843.
The Baptists and the Methodists were earliest in the field, but
the Presbyterians were earliest in building churches.
When Dr. Parke's ministry ended he saw the spires of many churches
pointing to heaven, (the bell)
(Give names of elders and prominent workers — activities —
small lecture room in rear — then large one — S. M . P. as Supt.
Branches — P. Valley;
— Plains (?)
W. P.;
Taylor:
Duryea;
Old Forge (?) Inkerman
Scranton — Mr. Strong in prayer meeting.)
Bricks.
A. T. helped haul the bricks for the Pres. church in 1845 - 6.
Mr. Parke and Mr. Strong piled them.
They came by canal to the small
basin where the Rice Spring Factory was in later years.
Copy of old bill.
Presbyterian church
To G. M . Richart, Dr.
1856
Feb. 13
For bill for printing in regard to new church
1.25
May 1
Printing and posting 30 proposals on new church
1.50
Advertising proposals
June 28
To bill of posting 1st installment
1.50
Either the church was slow in paying or Mr. R. slow on bill.
This is in connection with the panic of '57 and Mr. Apple and Elisha
Atherton assuming debt.
The Methodist Church.
The Methodist Church in Luzerne County originated in the conversion
and preaching of Anning Owen, a blacksmith whose log house and shop
stood on the Kingston road, a few rods above the Dorrance mansion.
He
was an unlearned, plain man, but the spirit of God so enlarged his
nature with love for men's souls and so quickened his understanding
and endowed him with fiery eloquence, that in 1791, the new presiding
Elder found 100 professed church members as the result chiefly of
Owen's labors since his conversion July 3, 1778.
The circumstance of his conversion were most remarkable and interesting.
He could never doubt the day and hour of his regeneration.
It was after the battle of July 3d and during the hours of the massacre.
He was in flight from the lost field, a savage in pursuit, tomahawk in
hand, — Owen began to call mightily to the Lord for deliverence.
He
received fresh courage and strength.
He eluded his pursuer and found
concealment in the thick branches of a tree on the river bank.
Esquire
Carpenter was also here in hiding and both witnessed the perfidious
cruelty of the tory Windecker who persuaded his former neighbor and
benefactor Elisha Shoemaker, to come out from the river and trust to
his protection.
They say the hesitating man return:
saw Windecker
stretch out his left hand to assist him up the bank, and with his right
hand bury the hatchet in his brain.
Horrified and despairing of any
mercy from such friends Owen hastened toward the fort.
He fell in with
Roger Searle, a youth of 19, whose father Constant, lay dead upon the
field behind them.
The pursuit continued and they were obliged to seek
a hiding place under a grape vine near the mouth of Abraham's Creek bank
of the old church at Forty Fort.
Here Anning continued his supplications
for pardon and deliverence while the pursuit of the foe and the moan of
his victim continued on all sides.
Here Anning Owen was converted.
This was his altar and his Bethel.
In the gray twilight they emerged
from their hiding place, with hearts filled with a sense of pardoned
sin and deliverance for God's service.
They made their way to the Fort,
shared the flight of the survivors, and when Anning Owen returned to
the Valley he had a lisence to preach as an exhorter.
He resumed his
work in his shop, but never lost the sense of responsibility for the
souls of his fellow men.
He established Sunday prayer and experience
meetings in the various townships and appointed to the leadershop of the
community.
At Lackawanna, Old Forge, the meeting was held at Captain Vaughn's
and James Sutton was appointed leader.
Owen was later licensed as a
travelling preacher and continued to persuade men to forsake sin and
seek holiness, until 1813, when he became superanuated.
Rev. Benjamin
Bidlack who returned from service in the Continental Army in 1781 fell
under the influence of Owen's appels and gave himself to the Gospel
ministry.
Roger Searle could never free himself from the influence of
that hour under the grape vine and in after years his house near the site
of the Ravine Shaft in Pittston became the center of Methodism and the
headquarters of its activities.
The Methodist Church grew rapidly by the labors of Anning Owen and
its circuit riders.
As early as 1791 Wyoming Valley was taken into the
New York Dsitrict Conference under the charge of a Presiding Elder and
two circuit riders who penetrated to the sequestered settlements and
carried the gospel to the most isolated places.
They were men of both
2a B.
worldly and heavenly wisdom.
Their calling brought them in contact with
every variety of human nature and human experience.
They were welcomed
at all firesides, not only because of their unselfish and holy ministry,
but also because of the knowledge and experience they brought of the
outside world.
As it was the practice of the Methodist church to change their
preachers yearly, from one circuit to another, their acquaintence grew
very wide and the people came to know and confide in the whole body of
these ministers.
From 1791 to 1829 (or to 1852)?
Among the names of these circuit preachers in 1827 and 28 are George
Peck and 5. Stocking.
Both of these were afterwards pastors in the Broad
Street Methodist church in Pittston.
The circuit preaching gave Rev.
George Peck his opportunity for collecting the narratives he embodied
in his History of Wyoming, published about 1850.
The details he gives
were learned directly from the survivors of the scenes and events in the
valley or from the immediate descendants, and are therefore, entirely
credible though they may seem to differ in some points from former historians.
(Find out the church on Broad St.
Its charter members;
its pastors;
its mission churches; its present membership.
Penna. C. Co. gave lot ch dedicated 1850.
lived on R. R. St. in rented house.
Rev. C. W. Giddings pastor,
Parsonage built.
Waylan Ferris led
singing and taught singing schools — Mrs. Ferris leading soprano — the
gallery — the pulpit.
THE BAPTIST CHURCH IN PITTSTON.
The Baptist seem to have been very numerous at an early date.
From a
biography of John Phillips, son of Francis, who settled on the plain at
the mouth of the Lackawanna so early as 1770, we learn that he was influential in organizing a Baptist church here in 1777.
wrong.
This date is probably
In 1776 there were about 36 settlers in Lackawanna Township in
Pittston.
Price's Annals is probably correct.
1786 instead of 1777.
It was organized by Rev. James Benedict with 36 members.
The first
immersion in the Susquehanna was that of Mrs. David Mitchell, in that
same year.
After the close of the was on 1787, Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell
returned from Warwick, N. Y., and settled on a portion of John Phillip's
land near the present Coxton.
As early as 1773 there were Baptists in Kingston whose pastor was
Rev. Mr. Gray.
In 1786 he made special efforts in Pittston.
According
to Pearce's Annals, Rev. James Benedict organized a church here at that
2a B.
time, Mr. Benedict was suceeded by Rev. James Finn, and he by the
Rev. Wm. Bishop. (1794) was date of his coming.
Note:
There was a James finn in Pittston Fort, Luzerne County
when it surrendered.
Rev. James Finn married Lieut. Jenkins and
Bertha Harris, June 1778, in Jenkins Fort.)
He (Rev. Bishop) built his log cabin in Hyde Park.
He preached
the Baptist doctrine with unction throughout Wyoming until his death
in 1876 (24 years)
Other zealous preachers were Goff, and Drake.
They preached at
houses — at Daniel Gore's and at Dr. Nathanial Giddings' in Pittston.
An influential convert was Jonah Rogers of Plymouth.
He was the
same who with Abraham Pike and Moses VanCampen had risen upon their
Indian captors in the Meshoppen woods in the spring of 1779 and had slain
their guards and escaped as by a miracle.
Rogers, like Anning Owen, and
Benjamin Bidlack spent the remaining years of his life in telling the
wonderful story of the "saved by Grace".'
These three had stood shoulder
to shoulder with the men they exhorted in defence of their homes and
their lives.
All had had marvelous escapes from Indian foes and their
pleas fell with convincing force on their hearers.
experience)
formed.
(Benj. Bidlack's
In 1807, Dec. 20, the Abington Baptist association was
The delagate from Pittston was Mr. Nathaniel Giddings, who was
made clerk.
Dr. Gidding's home on Delaware Road (Parsonage Street)
was the meeting place for the church and the abiding place for the travelling minister.
His son James occupied the house in 1880 with his sons,
James Jr., and Myron (?) and his daughters Margaret and Nancy.
family adhered to the Baptist faith.
This
Nathaniel Jr. had a home where now
is Glenmore's brewery.
Dr. Gidding's daughters Myra and Frances and Nathaniel's family
were drawn to the Presbyterian church.
Miss Myra gave a lot for the manse
on Parsonage Street and was most efficient help in all church enterprises.
Elder William K. Mott was the Baptist preacher best known to
Pittston and Lackawanna people.
Mr. Parke came here in 1844, Elder Mott
had fortnightly preaching in the Red School house.
Mr. Parke made use
of the alternate Sunday and the two ministers always worked harmoniously
together and held each other in the highest esteem.
(From the Historical
and Geological Society Library the following sketch is compiled.)
2a B .
(It seems fitting that a servant of God who ministered to so
wide a field for fifty three years from 1832 to 1885 should receive more
than a passing notice.
Up the River Baptists.
E. a. Corey, Hardings.
When was Pittston Baptist Church built?
Mr. Firman was pastor in 1885
1864 or 5?
Get statistics.
2a B.
CHURCHES AND MINISTERS.
The Susquehanna Company made arrangements for sending a minister of
the Gospel with its colonies to Wyoming.
sent the Rev. Wm. Marsh.
With the first, in 1763, it
He was among those killed by Indians on the
fateful October day, following 1763.
In 1769 the Company was about to send out another colony.
They
secured the services of the Rev. George Beckwith, Jr., of Lyme, Mass.
He arrived in Wyoming Feb. 8, 1769, with the Fifst Forty.
For the
support of schools and an orthodox Gospel ministry, the Company reserved
three shares of land in each township;
one for schools, one for the
erection of a church and one for the support of a pastor.
Each tract, or
share, contained about 300 acres.
Owing to the unsettled condition of the times, these provisions
were not generally carried out and after the formation of Luzerne County,
both church and school lots were sold and the proceeds put into the town
treasury.
Mr. Beckwith remained only one year.
The Rev. Jacob Johnson
was called to the Congregational church in Wilkes Barre in 1773 and served
the whole settlement from Lackawanna to Plymouth, preaching' in the plain
cabins, in barns, and in the open air as was most convenient, he receiving
in return such gifts as the poor people could make.
Other early ministers
were Rev. Ard Hoyt, Rev. Silas Gildersleeve, Rev. Nicholas Murray, Rev.
John Dorrance.
Rev. N. G. Parke came to Pittston as a Home Missionary in 1844, through
the influence of Mr. Dorrance, and preached the whole length of the Lackawanna Valley, including Scranton, (Harrison) Providence, Abington, Hyde
Park and Newton.
The greatest number of his parishoners lived in the
Atherton neighborhood, midway between Pittston and Providence.
Mr. Theodore
Strong had established a Sunday School in Pittsotn the only one in the
town.
The church was organized by the Susquehanna Presbytery February 24th,
1842 at the Harrison School House.
It was named "The Presbyterian Church"
of Lackawanna" and received 25 members by letter from the church at Wilkes
Barre, five of whom resided in Pittston proper.
The Pittston church is
the mother of all the Presbyterian churches in the Lackawanna Valley.
A Missionary, Oren Brown, was associated with Dr. John Dorrance and Rev.
Thos. P. Hunt in effecting this organization.
In T844, as before stated,
Rev. Nathan Grier Park came under the auspices of the Board of Home Missions,
and a subscription of $110.00 was raised for the year's salary.
This
was subscribed by all the church members between Pittston and Providence
2a B.
and Scranton (Harrison)
Mr. P. to Pittston and "vicinity in 1844
Mr. P. dedicated church 1848
Mr. P. Built Taylorville church 1848
Pittston church incorporated 1848
Mr. P. married 1847
Moved to Parsonage 1851
Down town church built 1856
Rev. J. D. Mitchell began to preach at Harrison (Scranton) in
1849 and was installed in 1850.
Both churches became self supporting
in 1850.
The Penna. Coal Company gave a lot on which stands the Broad
Street Presbyterian church.
Miss Myra Giddings gave the lot for the
Manse on Parsonage Street.
The financial panic of 1857 threatened to
stop the building but Elisha Atherton and William Apple loaned the
necessary money to complete it.
Dr. Parke was the honored pastor for
50 years, when he resigned to become Pastor Emeritus until his death
which occurred in
St.' James Episcopal Church organized in 1852.
Barre and Rev.
years.
Rev.
Miles of Wilkes
Long of Montrose had preached here for two or three
Elder Mott
A Missionary, Rev. Chas. Evans had charge of churches at Northumberland, Newton and Pittston.
Rev. Dorrance.
Mr. Parke was given the Pittston District by
Mr. Elisha Atherton had a Prophet's Chamber in his'home,
to which he invited the new young preacher and kept a vacant stall"in
his barn for the minister's horse.
This horse was intimately associated
with the establishment of the church;
and had as much to do with the
carrying of the gospel as the boy who worked the pump handle of the organ
and exclaimed "We make the music".
Mr. Parke's field was like the
Methodist Circuit Rider's — all on horseback.
In 1847 Mr. Parke married Annie, daughter of William Gildersleeve of'
Wilkes Barre and commenced housekeeping in a cottage in the Atherton
neighborhood.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
l
I
2a B.
SUNDAY SCHOOL BOOKS
The following list is copied at random from the Sunday School Books
in the Valley in 1851.
The highest-numbered book is No. 234—"The
Lives of British Reformers."
Those immediately preceeding this one are:
The Communicant's Companion.
Religious Experience
Bible atlas
Dr. Alexander
Memoir of McCheyne
Romanism at Home
Life and Death of Dr. Judson
Memoirs of Hewiston
Mrs. Hamlin
Chalmers Correspondence
D's (D'Aubigne's) Reformation, 5 vols.
Tales of the Covenanters
Living or Dead
Lighted Valley
Startling Questions etc., back to No. 180.
All of this serious, didactic style, intended especially for the grownups.
On looking back, to find the literature of the child-mind, I find
such as the following:
Evening Recreations
Lives of the Apostles
Useful Lads
Don It ': and Do
Life of Jeremiah
Catherine Brown
Fruits of Early Piety
Peep of Day
Learning to Think
Learning to Feel
Learning to Act
Alleine's Alarm
Mary Gary
Simple Stories
Friendly Advice
2a B.
Discontented Boy
Little Ann
Scudder Letters
Murdered Mother
Life of Absalom
etc etc.
There seems little variation in the nature of the subjects.
whole list includes two "Ten Dollar Libraries";
The
and probably neither
teachers nor officers had any choice in the selection of the books.
In the Pittston Presbyterian Sunday School Library of an early
date were three books that made an indelible impression on the mind of
one child who grew up and thrived on such literature.
"Henry and His
Bearer" left an interesting impression of India customs (the customs of
India) "Henry Abookiah", a converted Indian boy; and "Eileen Carrol",
the latter a sweet story of an amiable little girl at a boarding school,
where by her patient, Christian character, she set a salutary example
to all the rest.
The one picture in the book was of Eileen, a little
girl in full, short skirts with white pantalettes and long, black curly
hair.
The teacher was inspecting minutely a piece of sewing Eileen had
done under great disadvantage of poor needles, the eyes of which would
break;
and the text explained that the teacher had blamed Eileen and
the other girls laughed.
Needless to say, the child sympathy went out
fully to the unjustly-blamed Eileen.
The book was read and re-read;
who let it get lost or destroyed;
and then loaned to a girl friend
and as Rheoboam's name in Scripture
is always coupled with the naming of his sin, so this girl offender's name
has always in memory the added description:
"who lost Eileen Carrol:,
and the site of her home is remembered as if a tablet recorded it:
"Here lived S. K., who lost 'Eileen Carrol1"..'
If any of these books in the 1851 library could charm and influence
as did "Eileen Carrol", they were not written in vain.
2a B.
DFL PARKE AT THE DEDICATION OF THE STEWART
MEMORIAL CHURCH, LACKAWANNA.
He began his ministry here forty eight years ago (1844-1892)
(1892 must have been the date of the dedication.)
on housekeeping;
Here I entered
here I built a house of worship;
here I preached
for 20 years.
Pleasant sunny memories of his young christian life, cluster
around Lackawanna.
But not one family is left between Pittston and Scranton who
welcomed me in 1844;
not one!
Looking from the church window he saw the house to which he brought
his bride.
Then follows a humorous tale of her first attempt to make
tea biscuits.
We quote as follows:
for the pith of the story is in
the telling, with dr. Parke's quitet humor.
"Mrs. Parke in our early home was obliged not infrequently to
preside in the parlor, the kitchen and the pasture lot.
I tried my best
to help her milk the cow, but she would not stand still, and she would
kick.
We took the cow into the barn to keep our nearest neighbor, Mr.
and Mrs. John Stewart from seeing the circus.
On one occasion some of
the kind hearted ladies came to help us with our rag carpets.
dinner time came we had no bread to set before them.
wife that she make some biscuits.
When
I suggested to my
It was easier to make the suggestion
than it was to make the biscuits, but she would try.
The effort was
not a success and I was cruel enough to suggest that they would answer
for pound cake.
little heavy.
Not that they would weigh a pound, but they were a
A social reformer, in the course of a lecture, asked
every man in the audience who had never spoken an unkind word to his
wife to rise.
Only one man rose, and he said he "never had a wife."
I could not have risen in that meeting for I have repeatedly referred to that "pound cake".
Denominational lines were not sharply drawn in those days.
Elder
Mott and Dr. Parke did all the preaching that was done on the main road
between Pittston and Hyde Park except what was done in the Smith school
house.
Elder Mott oxxasionally preached on baptism.
he knew little about it then and kept quiet.
harmoniously.
Mr. Parke felt that
They worked together
(Dr. Parke's humor was "Twain-like" sometimes).
Becoming
serious, he pays a fine strong to the blessings of church buildings in
a community as follows:
2a B.
''People who have money to invest do not make any great mistake when
they invest it in building churches.
Investments of this kind may not
pay largely in dollars and cents, but they will pay in the power they
extend for good in the world.
Churches are a breakwater against vice.
They build asylums for the poor and friendless.
tion of the best types of education.
They are the inspira-
As the sun and showers beautify
the earth with flowers and fruit, so christian churches beautify and
glorify humanity.
The daughters of our esteemed friend and neighbor,
John Stewart, have done a good work in erecting this monument to the
memory of 'father and mother".'
************
2a B.
NOTE
WITH THE EXCEPTION OP A VERY FEW ITEMS ALL OF THE DATA IN THIS
ARTICLE HAS ALREADY BEEN INCORPORATED IN ARTICLES WRITTEN BY E.R.J.
WOULD SUGGEST THAT THIS BE FILED AWAY ENTIRE FOR REFERENCE ONLY.
N.C.J.
JULY 14, 1912.
DR. PARKE — THE CENTENARY OF THE
BAPTIST CHURCH IN PITTSTON.
Dec. 21, 1876.
*****************************
Mr. Parke came to Pittston in 1844, the year the Whigs mourned the
defeat of Henry Clay in his race with James K. Polk.
Mr. Parke's first acquaintance in the Wyoming Valley was Mr. Kutz,
gate keeper at the Wilkes Barre bridge, who collected 10 cents toll
Saturday afternoon and gave it back to him after hearing him preach
Sunday morning, saying:
"You should look more like a preacher".
His first meal in Pittston was at the Port Mallory Hotel, kept
by George Lazarus.
The population of the town was then not more than
200, counting all living between Wm. Tompkins at the forks of the
Road in South Pittston and Zenas Barnum's in Upper Pittston.
was crooked and rough.
The road
There were two stores, one kept by Judge
Reddin and one by the Butler Coal Co., there was no church nor resident
minister.
Elder Mott, of Hyde Park, preached once every two weeks in the Red
School house;
and Theodore Strong had a Sunday School there.
Dr. Parke
preached there when Elder Mott did not.
If the Baptists were the first to organiza a church in Pittston,
the Presbyterians were the first to build a church building.
There were no lawyers, bankers, book agents, life insurance men
or lightning-rod men.
There was only one bank in the county—the
Wyoming bank of Wilkes Barre.
plenty to eat.
There was little money in Pittston, but
Letters were not prepaid, but Uncle Sam would not take
trade nor a store order in exchange for postage.
Dr. Parke's salary the first year was $39.00.
This salary he
took out in trade at the Butler Co.'s store.
Father Hunt's compensation for two year's service between Pittston
and Providence was two pairs of woolen mittens, one pair of socks,
three pumpkins and the skin of a muskrat.
"I never complained about the salary and I never lived better in
my life.
If the salary was not very good, it was probably as good as the
preaching, which, as Boyd, the Scotch Parson would say, was real, owing
2a B.
• to the age of the parson.
"The singing was not very good;
large.
the collection was not very
Still, we had both in conenction with the preaching.
"Our faith was like that of the man in the sinking boat.
to his companion:
"Will you sing?"
"We must perish.
"I cannot sing."
Will you pray?'
He said
"I cannot pray".
"Well let us take up a collection.
We must do something religious."
We had two doctors, Dr. Giddings, feeble from age; and Dr. Curtis,
feeble from ague and quinine.
Dr. Giddings and aunt Katy Searle were
the backbone of the Baptist Church in Pittston.
Zenas Barnum, a bright, intelligent, hospitable man, lived in
the house above the Barnum Breaker, afterwards occupied by Thomas
Waddell.
He was fond of arguing on Baptism and against close communion.
His family were members of the Presbyterian Church.
only.
He was a supporter
He moved to Wilkes Barre after the sale of his farm.
James Helme, a recent justice of the peace in West Pittston, was
then the Shoemaker of the town.
John McCaughney was the tailor.
Elisha
Blackman, who will speak to you today, was the undertaker and cabinet
maker.
Harris Jenkins, a man of few words and decided opinions, was
Justice of the Peace.
Thos. Benedict, Richard Brown and Peter Winter were the blacksmiths.
Peter Wagner and Peter Petty on the "Big Farm" were the farmers.
John £. Butler and Lord Butler assisted by Chas. and Edmund Mallory
were the coal operators;
and if they made any money here their heirs
have never been able to find it.
When the Presbyterians were ready to build a parsonage, our chief
burgess and chief banker were on hand to dig the foundation and to lay
up a wall.
Major Smith was the stone mason and brick layer.
The present president of the Tst. National Bank (Mr. Strong) was then
selling molasses and cheese and cod-fish for the Butler Coal Co.
Stephen
Jenkins, son of Harris, was his assistant, John Sax kept the tavern at
the foot of Parsonage Street and reared a family of children who are an
honor to their parents.
Jacob Lance was farming up near Hughestown.
Richard Brown, Ebenezer
Marcy, Adam Tedrick, Newman Brown, John D. Stark, Wm. Ford, James
MacFarland, Wm. Tompkins if not natives of Pittston, were representative
men and old settlers.
Jas. W . Johnson, Samuel Benedict, Davis Alten,
Joel and Benjamin Bowkley and Abram and Benj. Price were among the coal
operators.
There was but one railroad in Pittston;
and that extended about
a mile and a half, from the canal to Bowkley's coal mine.
There was a tri-weekly line of stages between Wilkes Barre and Carbondale
that carried mail and passengers when there were any to carry.
The post-
master, the only U.S. Officer to look after elections and such affairs,
was Judge Reddin, a very fair specimen of the "fine old Irish Gentleman."
When he died, his estate went to the Emerald Isle.
For several years, M r . Parke lived in the Atherton neighbourhood,
midway between Pittston and Scranton.
Atherton.
For three years he lived with Elisha
*******************
In 1844 George Lazarus kept the Port Mallory Hotel
In (?) Abram Bird the Pittston House.
In (?) John Love kept the Love Hotel in 1850.
2a B.
WHISKEY.
In 1791 Whiskey was a very popular and proper beverage for all
occasions, social, religious or secular.
It was used as currency in
the absence of money for barter and exchange.
silver circulates in the colonies.
ment was worthless.
Very little gold and
The paper currency of the Govern-
The settlers must exchange their products for the
goods they bought and roads were mostly rough and often deep in mud.
Some had lumber either logs or sawed boards which they floated down
the river in rafts or arks and sold for money or goods.
Some carried
grain in wagons over the Wilkes Barre-Easton road and brought back
iron kettles to boil maple sugar in.
These kettles were rented, the
owners to receive 1 lb of sugar for every gallon of syrup.
Maple sugar sold for five cents a pound.
extensively with the Indians and trappers.
Mr. Hollenback traded
He carried his goods to
Easton or Philadelphia and brought back supplies for his general merchandise store at Wilkes Barre which was the Fashion Emporium and General
Depot for all the settlers of the Lackawanna and Wyoming valleys.
To Easton and return required a week.
Carrying his surplus grain
to market under these difficulties and knowing that whiskey would always
find a market he easily perceived the advantage of converting his grain
into whiskey before he sold it.
A horse could carry only four bushels
of grain but could carry twenty four bushels converted into the beverage,
and the trip would net him twice as much.
Four bushels of grain at Easton would bring 4 x 80 = 3.20
Twenty four gal whiskey at 20
4.80
There was no moral sentiment in those days against whiskey drinking.
These men were accustomed to the use of it in their New England puritan
homes.
It was on every sideboard and ministers of the gospel as well
as laymen, used it as a necessary act of hospitality.
If a man or a
woman took a glass of liquor, no bar of church or society was raised.
There was no Temperance Society, nor any temperance agitation.
And
so it came to pass that private stills became numerous and whiskey very
cheap and very commonly used on all occasions.
(Here might come in from Hollister)
USE OF WHISKEY.
Early trouble with drinking Indians — Westmoreland records
forbade selling to Indians.
(See Harvey)
When General Sullivan returned to Wilkes Barre from his expedition against the Iroquois, three days were spent in congratulations
and preparation for going home.
Major Burroughs wrote "We spend this day in wishing each other
joy for our safe return and convert the evening, as usual, to
celebrate our wives and sweethearts which we do in plenty of grog
— have been obliged to keep in plenty of cold water."
FROM W. PITTSTON CEMETERY.
ELISHA ATHERTON
Born Mar. 24, 1798
Died
Nov. 16, 1880
CATHERINE ATHERTON
B. Aug. 9, 1804
D . Apl. 27, 1888
E. L. BOYD ATHERTON
B. July 25, 1824
D. Mch. 3, 1876
ELIZABETH McKNIGHT
wife of
RUFUS MILLER
daughter
B.C. & S. McKNIGHT
Died June 11, 1825
Aged 19 years 9 mos 21 days
2a B.
PITTSTON SCHOOLS
THE WEST PITTSTON SEMINARY.
Pittston Gazette, April 1873:
A meeting in the Town Hall to discuss what to do with the
property.
It has been built by stock subsciption for an academy.
The principal hired had been a Mr. Beatty, whose theory and practice were favorable to the Public School system;
and the Academy had
not prospered financially.
************************************
"That Shop" of Wm. Tompkins had been built between 1829 and 1835,
while the canal was building.
It was a storehouse for supplies.
When
no longer needed thus, it was used successively as a meeting house (Mrs.
Samuel Price, sister of Amon Armstrong was "converted' here) and later
as a school house.
Mr. Wash Dennis taught school there.
Among his"
pupils was Adelaide, only daughter of Col Johnson; and Jemima Sax.
pupils used to ride down hill near the school house.
These
Mr. Dennis pitted
Alva Tompkins against Adelaide Johnson by warning him she would beat him
in scholarship unless he kept a sharp lookout;
so Alva piled pine knots
into the fire place and studied long and hard by their light.
The wily
teacher probably spurred Adelaide by a like warning in regard to Alva;
so that the boy and the girl became rivals in the race for knowledge.
At one time "That Shop" became a temporary dwelling for Benjamin
Bowkley's family.
They had come up from Plains to be near their new
Pittston mines and houses were not to be had.
Mr. Bowkley proceeded
immediately to build his fine two-story from house up Pine Street, and
they lived in "That Shop" but a short time.
It later became an undertaker's establishment when Mr. Saml. Landon
and Capt. Ira Ash, father of our townsmen, James and George ash, made
coffins there
***********************
The schools in the township were not general until 1773.
teachers may have been hired by a group of settlers;
Temporary
and these were so
poor in circumstances that the schoolmaster could with difficulty be
accommodated.
In 1773, by a vote of the town, a tax of three pence on
a pound was levied for the support of a free school in each township.
The
Next year, 1774, a school committee consisting of Capt. Lazarus Stewart and
fifteen others was appointed with power to erect school houses and to
employ teachers.
These teachers boarded around;
and sometimes found
comfortable quarters, where they were welcome and honored guests;
but
2a B.
sometimes the effort to entertain was so scanty and laborious that
the week was one of depression and the hour of departure most welcome.
The free school system was introduced between 1824 and 1833.
In
these years, as Luzerne County exended only $3500 on schools, Pittston
could not have received much help.
By the law of 1833, the people were
to express their approval of the law providing for a public school tax
by electing six school directors in each township.
those which approved.
Pittston was among
In November of that year, these directors met
at Wilkes Barre Court House and resolved to levy a school tox of double
the sum allotted Luzerne County by the State, which was $1331.20.
With
Luzerne County providing twice this sum, or $2662.40 the sum total for
schools was $3993.60.
The levy next year was $3000.00 and the excellent system of free
education was thus established permanently among us.
Yet in 1880,
Luzerne County had 2228 citizens who could not read or write.
In 1865, we find from statistics that Pittston Borough had 13
schools;
1110 pupils and school taxes of $2865.52.
had 7 schools; 484 pupils;
3 schools;
204 pupils;
and taxes of $1250.00.
Pittston Township
West Pittston had
and taxes of $771.16.
Nicholas Genshina(?) in 1806 kept village school in the old jail
at Wilkes Barre.
He was a classical scholar. (Hollister)
In Pittston Gazette of 1850-51:
Mr. V. Dodson.
A new school has been opened by
The Editor has visited the interesting school of David
Schooley and Miss L. Sampson in the basement of the Welsh church.
He
also visited the school of Mr. J. B. Hoyt in Upper Pittston (March 19, 1851)
This was in Old Red School house.
See Reminiscences of Mrs. Griffith.
A Miss Swallow had taught school in a log house near Charles
Street.
Perhaps that was where Mother taught in 1848.
Mr. Alva Tompkins
says Mr. Dennis taught a school in a building near the forks of the road
(See That Shop above).
Except for the school in Upper Pittston in the
Red School House, I have not heard of any permanent school or teacher in
1849.
1873 Mr. A. J. Loomis and Miss Stuart.
2a
B.
Early Teachers and Schools in Pittston.
888888888888888
Among the teachers between 1840 and 50 were Miss Chamberlain an
\
accomplished young lady, whom D r . Parke credits with aspirations to
head a Young Ladies' Seminary.
She was persuaded, however, by M r . Wilder
to relinquish her ambitious scheme to preside over a home he would
build her in Clearfield County.
lumber business of that day.
them.
M r . Wilder was engaged in the vast
He sent his rafts to Baltimore and followed
Being a skillful buyer, he was employed by Samuel Benedict and
son Cassidy (?) to buy goods for their Pittston store.
to Pittston on his return trips.
This brought him
The acquaintence with Miss Chamberlain
formed then, led her to marriage and removal to Clearfield County
her husband died.
where
She returned with her daughter to her old Pittston
home on North Main Street next door to Elisha Blackman's residence.
The
house is still in possession of the daughters.
Mrs. Wilder's parents were from England.
She was very accomplished
in painting and pencil sketching.
Mrs. Flanagan and her daughter Constance had a home in North Pittston
where in the early days they had a school for children.
Mrs. Flanagan
was a tall, gaunt woman with a keen intellect and ready wit and both she
and her daughters took active interest in the study of literature and
of the affairs of Pittston.
Both were women who continue to live in the
memories of those who knew them, and both lie in the Pittston Cemetery
beside M r . Flanagan who preceeded them many years.
The levy of 1834 was $30000.00 and an excellent system of free education was established permanently among us.
Yet in 1850, out of the
total population of about 56,000, Luzerne County had 2228 citizens who
could not read or write.
In 1865, we find from statistics that Pittston Borough had 13
schools;
1110 pupils and school taxes of $2865.52.
had 7 schools;
schools;
484 pupils;
204 pupils;
and taxes of $1250.
Pittston Township
West Pittston had three
and taxes of $771.16.
"That Shop" of William Tompkins, a school house contemporary with
the old Red School House, was erected between 1829 and 1833 while the
canal was building.
It was then a storehouse for supplies and stood on
S. Main St. near the Forks of the road.
When no longer needed for this
purpose it was successively used as a meeting house for Divine worship
(Mrs. Samuel Price, sister of Amon Armstrong, was "converted" here) and
as a school house.
M r . Washington Dennis taught a select school there.
Among his pupils was Adelaide, only daughter of Col. Johnson;
and
Jemima Sax, later Mrs. A. J. Griffith).
The pupils used to ride down
hill near the school house, probably where now is Nefus Street.
Mr.
Dennis, taking special interest in the advancement of some of his pupils,
pitted Alva Tompkins against Adelaide Johnson by warning him she would
beat him in scholarship unless he kept a sharp lookout.
Therefore Alva
piles pine knots into the fire place and studied long and hard by their
light,
the wily teacher probably spurred Adelaide by a like warning
in regard to Alva;
so that the boy and girl became rivals in the race
for knowledge.
Mrs. Alva Tompkins was a pupil in Kingston Seminary the first year
of its opening its doors, and was ever foremost in promoting the cause
of education.
He was school director in Pittston and himself built a
school house on his land in South Pittston and employed a teacher.
The Kingston Seminary included in its first faculty two Pittston
people, Miss Sarah Tompkins, Mr. E. F . Ferris.
At one time "that shop" became a temporary dwelling for a pioneer
coal operator's family while their new house was building.
They lived in "that shop" but a short time.
It later became an
undertaker's establishment, Mr. Samuel Landon and Capt. Ira Ash, father
of our townsmen, James and George Ash, made coffins there.
2a
B.
Schools in Pittston
Township schools were not general until 1773.
Temporary teachers
were sometimes hired by a group of settlers but these settlers were in
so poor circumstances that the schoolmaster could with difficulty be
supported.
In 1773, by a vote of the town, a tax of three pence on a pound
was levied for the support of a free school in each township.
The next
year, 1774, a school committee consisting of Capt. Lazarus Stewart and
fifteen others were appointed with power to erect school houses and to
employ teachers.
These teachers boarded around;
and sometimes found
comfortable quarters where they were welcome and honored guests;
but
at others the effort to entertain was so scanty and laborious that the
week was one of depression and the hour of departure most welcome.
The free school system was introduced between 1824 and 1833.
In
these years, as Luzerne County expanded a total of only $3500 on schools,
Pittston could not have received much help.
By the Act of 1833 the
people were to express their approval of the law providing for a public
school tax by electing six school directors in each township;
ton was among those towns which approved.
and Pitts-
In November of that year,
1833, these directors met a Wilkes Barre Court Hosue and resolved to levy
a school tax of double the sum alloted Luzerne County by the State, which
was $1331.20.
With Luzerne County providing twice this sum, or $2662.40,
the sum total for schools was $3993.60.
The Black school house may have been built at this time;
it was
replaced by the Red School House which was here as early as when Mr. Strong
came, previous to 1844.
When Mr. Parke came in 1844, Mr. Strong had established a Sunday
School in this school house which became the nucleus of the Presbyterian
1st church.
Mrs. Jemima Griffith visited it when a grandchild.
black then.
This Red School House must have been a later one.
It was
Among the long list of teachers in that old building was Charles R.
Gorman.
He gave up teaching to study medicine (with Dr. Thorpe) (?)
2a B.
Teachers.
In 1848 Nancy Robertson came from Saratoga County, New York and
her mother, Mrs. Wing, two little daughters.
Both were widows.
Mrs.
Robertson had been a teacher for some years and came to open a school by
urgent invitation of her sister, Mrs. Harlow Daman.
She taught for a
short time in a log house situated between Charles and Spring streets,
the block now bounded by Main Street and Kennedy Streets was a grassy
meadow with a small stream running across which trickled from the hill
back of Kennedy Street.
On this meadow a few years later were the homes
of the Pittston merchants Andrew Law and James McMillan and of Abram Luce
and William Leach (?) and others.
There was need of a new school house.
In 1851 the Gazette states that only the dark basement of the Welch
church is available.
Mrs. Robertson built a house on Railroad street and Miss Wing built
one on the next lot below for her son Truman Day.
Mrs. Robertson
opened her house for her school until 1853 when she built a school house
in the rear of her house.
The following appeared in the Gazette:
"We have been authorized to give notice that a select school will
be opened on the 6th of December by Mrs. N. T. Robertson of this place
in the school house in the rear of her reisdence.
Mrs. R is universally
known as an excellent lady, as well as an experienced instructress."
Mrs. Robertson was eminently successful in winning the love of her
pupils as well as in advancing them in the paths of learning.
She made
the way easy and pleasant by her loving sympathy with her pupils and was
in the widest sense the beloved teacher.
with her as they grew up.
She associated her daughters
They later taught in the public schools and
in private schools of their own.
For many years the names of "Miss Ella"
and "Miss Georgia Robertson" were familiar to Pittston as instructors
of the young.
Mr. H. P. Messenger and Miss Sarah Tompkins were also teachers in
the '50's.
They married and their home was the yellow cottage on the
West bank of the Susquehanna which was moved away years later to make
room for Mr. Thomas Ford's mansion.
)
2a
B.
Schools.
From files of Gazette — we learn that Mr. Fuller taught classes
in Penmanship.
In Pittston Gazette of 1850-51,—
"A new school has been opened by Mr. V. Dodson.
The Editor has
visited the interesting school of David Schooley and Miss L. Sampson in
the basement of the Welch church.
He also visited the school of Mr.
J. B. Hoyt in Upper Pittston (March 19, 1851)"
School house.
(This was in Old Red
See Reminiscences of Mrs. Griffith.)
An itinerant teacher of Geography had evening school in the school
house on the Green.
This enterprise was very popular and attracted
grown-ups as well as school children.
He had a set of large wall maps
and with pointer in hand he named the principle divisions and states
and their capitals, and taught them in a simple chant, the class singing in concert.
And so he led his class through all the lands of the
earth, down the rivers over its mountain chains, across its lakes and bays,
singing all the way.
There were no listless pupils during all the course
of lessons and when he rolled up his maps and took his departure for the
next town he left a large part of the community well and happily instructed in the
geography of the world.
In the early 60's came Mr. V. Dodson.
He was an expert teacher of
mathmatics and inspired his pupils within ardent zeal for Stoddart's
mental arithmetic.
He also inspired all schools to aim for a higher
standard in mental effort.
Stoddart's mental arithmetic became the block
over which pupils stumbled or climbed as ability and mental agility enabled.
2a
B.
Schools and Teachers.
Mr. Lewis Ketchum was an early teacher of excellent attainments.
He rented the basement of the Pine St. Church and did much to stimulate
a desire for knowledge.
He followed the Caravan of gold seekers to
California, where he became a resident and a member of the Legislature.
In
Mrs. Blakely Hall built "The Schoolroom on the Green"
It is now converted into the L. V. Freight House.
The plot of ground
now covered by Water Street to the Eagle Hotel and from Main St. to the
Canal was a common covered with grass.
It was the "village green".
Mrs. Hall had opened a select school for young ladies in a rented room in
the Phoenix Building.
Its success encouraged her to build a commodious
room which was used, not only for her school, but proves a convenient
and popular meeting place for debating societies and concerts and such
entertainments.
(Here was held the Geography School)
Mrs. Hall in
went to Brooklyn and conducted the largest private
school in that city, associating her daughter Florence with her until
her untimely death.
Among teachers of a later date who served the community long and
faithfully were Miss Jane Shannon, Mrs. Maria Taggart, Miss Molkey, Mr.
Benjamin Evans.
John Jenkins one of the founders of Kingston, was its first school
teacher.
He was born and educated in East Greenwitch R. I..
Taught
school in Colchester Conn., as early as 1750 and for many years engaged
in that employment in Colchester, Lebanon and other places during winter
and in surveying and convenancing in summer.
In April 1772 he sold out in Kingston and run to Exeter of which
town he in connection with Isaac Tripp, Johnathan Dean and others had
obtained a grant from the Susquehanna Company and settled in that part
of it now known as West Pittston and established a ferry across the river
at that point.
He taught school in his own house and for some winters
in Pittston at the Ravone on the Pittston Fort lot.
So far as known he
was the first school teacher in Luzerne County.
From the report of the Supt. of Public Instruction of the Com. of
Pennsylvania for the year ending June 1, 1877.
J. P. Wickershaw, Supt. of Pub. Ins. Com. of Pennsylvania.
Schools were kept usually in the houses of the teachers and religious services were held from house to house as people might express a
wish to accomodate them, or as might be arranged.
They were frequently
held in public houses and barns generally so in summer.
Tradition says
preaching was done and school kept in summer under the shade of some
2a B.
large tree, elm, oak, or pine for want of a proper edifice.
John Jenkins, our first school teacher was Judge of the Freeholders
courts, by which the settlement was governed for the first five years.
The courts exercised exclusive legislation and judicial powers all in
the same body.
The settlement was in 1774 taken under the protecting care of
Connecticut and in 1774-5-6- he was appointed by that state a Justice of
the Peace at Wyoming and at the May session of the Connecticut Assembly
1777 was appointed Judge of the County Court of Westmoreland for the year
ensuing.
For five years he represented Wyoming in the Conn. Assembly.
He was a leading man among the settlers during the Revolutionary War and
the Pennanite controversy in the latter of which he and John Franklin
were as Miner says;
the chief scribes of the people.
almost the only ones while he lived.
In fact they were
He died in Orange County N.Y.,
whither he had been driven by the Pennanites Nov. 1785. (page 375)
Of those who were known as school teachers after the war of the
Revolution, Stephen Gardner from Colchester Conn., was the most renowned.
He was a brother-in-law of John Jenkins.
He resided on the Plains near
Wilkes Barre.
Others who early taught were Sarah Terry of Kingston, a teacher of note,
also a poet.
Thomas Mill, William Jones and Stephen Whiton were teachers in the
Wyoming settlement.
(probably at Wilkes Barre or Kingston) previous to
and at the time of the massacre.
PITTSTON BUILDINGS
The Old Love Hotel, which burned January 6th, 1912, was one of
the oldest buildings in Pittston, having been erected in 18— by John
Love, who conducted a hotel there for many years; and he was followed
by Peter Wagner, who also conducted the hostelry for a long period.
It was a very popular stopping place for the farmers.
In the
60's a man named Helper was murdered outside the building.
One of
the parties implicated was tried and convicted.
He received a life
sentence; but broke away from prison and escaped with a ball and chain
attached to his leg.
He was never captured.
The structure was two stories high, had a frontage of 60 feet
and a depth of 40 feet.
The late Father J. J. Greve purchased it
as a rectory site and St. Mary's congregation will doubtless use it
soon for that purpose.
(Wilkes Barre Record. Jan. 8, 1912.)
A short distance below the Benedict residence stood the Old Red
School House, which served all the purposes of education in general.
Not only were the children taught the ordinary elements of education,
but the building also served as a place of preaching on Sunday; and
as a Sabbath School in the afternoon and as a Town Hall on week day
evenings.
The stone house of Dr. Curtis still stands on the East side of
the street.
Above that, near the Central Hotel, was the house of
Mr. Thos. Benedict.
Further down the road, in the Ravine, stood the
farm house of Roger Searle and some other small buildings.
was the home of Methodism in Pittston.
many meetings subsequent were held.
This house
Here the first meeting and
"Aunt Katy" was the familiar
name given to Mrs. Searle, who before her marriage was Catherine Scott.
Opposite the Searle house stood a small one-story-and-attic house
occupied by a family named Hart; and next below was Mr. John Sax's
Tavern, painted white, with upper and lower piazzas and long wing
at the south end.
This wing was one story high and served as a ball
room for the dances of the neighbourhood, as a dining room for banquets
and as a hall for political meetings, the complexion of these latter
giving it the name of "Whig Hall."
The canal came close to the back
of this house, which was built before the canal was begun; and Mr.
Sax had much trouble with the canal commissioners because they blasted
out the rock so near his house.
They finally reconciled matters by
building a bridge from his house across the canal, so that his customers,
the lumbermen on the river, could have access to the house.
2a B.
Across the road, on the old parade ground, stood a large, old,
white tavern, with its swinging sign, but not so well-kept as John
Sax's house.
It was known as the "Sheepskin Tavern" and the road
curved up to its front door.
The Delaware Road (Parsonage Street) branched off below this
tavern and extended up the hill.
About half-a-mile up might be found
the house of Dr. N. Giddings, the first physician in the town; and
of William Searle, the son of old Constant Searle who fell in the
battle of July 3rd, 1778.
William Searle was a carpenter by trade.
He built the Sax Tavern in 1825 or 1830.
********************************
MILLS ON THE LACKAWANNA
In the summer of 1774, a small saw and grist mill was built just
below the rapids, by public contributions.
This was purchased by
Solmon Strong, and afterward, sold to Garret Brinkerhoff.
The building
was destroyed (by flood?) and rebuilt by Tyson & Murphy in 1783.
It
was sold to John Babb and known as Babb's mill for many years, and
the neighborhood was called "Babbylon".
for many years.
John Sax operated the mill
He afterward operated the mill at Slocum Hollow and
D. D. Oakes had charge of the Babb Mill for several years.
finally sold to Morris & Walsh of Pittston.
It was
The Connelton Breaker
stands on the site of the old mill.
Another mill was erected by a man named Delano, on opposite side
of the River from Babb's, Sorber's Hotel occupied the site in 1899.
William Miller built a saw mill about the same time in little
Mill Creek, that empties into the Lackawanna just above Old Forge.
Rufus Miller built a foundry at the mouth of
.
John Brook on
the west side, near the Connell Breaker where for many years, he and
his sons manufactured the only plows used in the valley.
2a B.
MILLS IN PITTSTON
In the summer of 1774, a saw mill and a grist mill were built on the Lackawanna
below the falls.
This was then in Pittston Township;
first mills on the Lackawanna.
and these were the
They were built by the town:
and must have
caused the pioneer housewives great joy, for their furniture had previously
been of the rudest construction, for want of sawed lumber.
One woman had
begged her husband, when he was building their cabin, to leave a large
stump standing inside, that she might have it for a table.
For flour, also, they had been obliged to go to Wilkes Barre, to
Hollenback's Mill.
One instance is recorded of a man going all the way to
the Delaware on horseback—a journey of a week—to get a sack of flour.
We may therefore imagine the calls upon these mills;
and no wonder that
the opportunity for investments should be quickly recognized;
so that
they were purchased during their first year, by Solomon Strong;
they passed to Garret Brinkerhoff.
From him,
These mills were both swept away by
freshets a few years later.
But the need for mills was so urgent that in 1780, Saml. Finn (Elder
Finn, he was called) and Eliphalet Stephens built a saw mill further down,
near the mouth of the Lackawanna.
the old Barnum Still House.
This mill was down the bank, opposite
It, too, was probably washed away by the
floods, for on its foundations stood later a grist mill, some remains of which
were visible fifty years ago.
In 1782, James Sutton, who had previously built mills in Exeter and
Kingston Township, put up a grist mill on Mill Creek, near the River.
was the first mill within the present limits of Wilkes Barre.
This
It was built
of hewn logs with one run of stone and had a sentry-box on the roof from
which the valley could be overlooked as a guard against enemies.
This
mill was swept away by the Pumpkin Flood in 1786.
In 1848, William Tompkins had a saw mill on his farm, just at the
Forks of the road in S. Pittston.
His mill pond covered all that space
between the main road and the Sebastopol road.
brook that comes from Yatesville;
the road.
Basin.
The pond was fed by the
and was carried under a bridge across
The stream then flowed on past his farm house down to the Canal
2a B.
MANUFACTURES IN PITTSTON
In 1789, D r . William Hooker Smith and James Sutton erected a forge
with two fires and I hammer at the Falls of the Lackawanna River_ t h e n
in Pittston Township, but now in the borough of Old Forge in Lackawanna
Township.
The ore worked at this forge was procured in the surrounding
hills.
In 1800, Benjamin and Ebenezer Slocum erected a forge on Roaring
Brook near the present city of Scranton.
This and the Lackawanna
forges were discontinued after some years, for reasons we do not now
know.
George Daman & Co. have etc.
(Pierces Annals, Page 360)
In 18— a foundry was established in West Pittston by Theodore
Strong and Rensealer Wisner, which employed about 40 men (See picture)
Another foundry was established by Mr. Conyngham, that employed
30 men.
Later, Mr. Jesse Williams had a foundry opposite Dr. Curtis's
Stone house, where the latter lived at the time.
Later, Mr. Touhill established a Foundry and Machine Works in
the old Sax hotel, adding to its size as business increased.
This
foundry has since grown to such proportions that it has been moved to
Scranton, where it occupies modern quarters and is in thriving condition.
It is still in the posession of the Touhill family.
The Vulcan Machine Works succeeded Wisner and Strong in the West
Pittston foundry.
This works has also grown wonderfully;
and in 1910,
completed a fine new machine shop.
The Exeter Machine Works covers a large polt of ground between
Luzerne and Montgomery Streets.
This present large industry was started
in 18— by the Thomas Brothers, in the small brick building in the rear
of the Presbyterian Church in West Pittston.
The Luzerne Knitting Mills were established by E. L. Eilithorp, after
the first knitting mill, organized under his supervision and with a
large local stock company as owners, had gone into the hands of a receiver.
This industry is now owned and managed by Mr. Ellithorp's sons, Frank
and Earle.
In 1860, Harlow Daman & Co. had extensive powder mills at Spring
Brook.
They, in connection with the DuPonts and two or three smaller
mills, supplied the demands of the miners.
town.
They had a magazine near the
Their advertisment, in the first issue of the Pittston Gazette in
1850 reads:
"Will Saltpeter explode? etc."
241
Rope made in West Pittston owned by Fuller.
towing of canal boats.
Made ropes for the
(Wm. Slocum can tell)
Harlow Daman tried tc introduce petroleum oil for lamps when that
oil was first put on the market.
But it was dark in color, offensive
to smell and smoked in burning.
They had not then learned the process
of refining it and separating out the by-products, which had since
proved so valuable as articles of commerce.
Therefore, although we had
to burn whale oil, which was scarce and expensive, or "Fluid" or Camphene, both of which were so highly explosive that our lamps had estinguishers, attached by a chain to place over the wick when not burning,
to prevent vaporization, we returned to our old habits of using candles
for ordinary occasions and the dangerous lamps for special occasions.
Pittston Stove Works
Stocking factory
S m y t h e ^ Patent Grate
Candy Factory
Silk Mills
Cut glass Factory
2a B.
COAL IN PITTSTON.
MISCELLANEOUS DATA AND MEMORANDA OMITTED FROM ARTICLE FOLLOWING.
Total area of Anthracite Field of Penna. is 400 sq. Miles.
187
Sq. Miles lie within Luzerne County.
In 1835, 175,000 tons were mined.
In 1850, 4,800,000 tons.
In 1859, from Luzerne County, were shipped 3,500,000 tons.
Pittston was later in getting its coal to market than Wilkes
Barre.
In 1808-1825, John and Abijah Smith of Plymouth shipped coal
to Port Deposit and to Baltimore. (See article following)
In 1813, Col. G. M. Hollenback sent two ark loads of coal down
the river from the bed at Mill Creek.
This sold for 750 per ton.
In 1813, Joseph Wright loaded two boats from an opening near
the depot of the Penna. Coal Co. in Pittston.
It was from this opening
that Ishmael Bennett dug coal as early as 1775 for use in his blacksmith
shop.
In 1813, Lord Butler sent 100 tons from the old Baltimore bed.
In 1814, Crandal Wilcox sent several loads from the Wilcox mine
in Plains Township.
In 1820, Col. Washington Lee sent 1000 tons to Baltimore.
This
Sold for $8.00 per ton.
The Indians may have known the properties of coal.
from the Wyoming Valley visited England in 1710.
Two chiefs
They must have seen
coal in general use there, instead of wood; and they may have associated
it with the "black stones" of their own home.
Further, the creeks
had cut through and exposed the seven and nine foot veins in Nanticoke
and Plymouth; and the Susquehanna and the Lackawanna had both exposed
the seams at several places along their banks.
The following story
would tend to support the supposition that the Indians had knowledge
of the uses of coal:
In 1766, six Indians from Wyoming visited the Governor at Philadelphia to complain that when they had visited their mines at Wyoming,
they found tools of white men left where they had dug out the ore
from a pit 40 ft. long,
feet wide and five or six feet deep.
They
suspected a trader named John Anderson of the deed.
In 1838, Messrs Butler & Mallory came with capital and opened
a coal mine
miles back from Main st. and built a plane down where
is now Butler st. to their coal chutes near P. M. Hotel.
crossed Main St. on a trestling about 15 ft. high.
This plane
This was the first
2a B.
company to ship coal by canal from Pittston.
stood beyond the trestle.
Their red brick store
The Sinclair House occupies the site.
Benj. and Abram Price, brothers from England.
lived up in the woods at the head of R.R. St.
and abraham.
Benjamin Price
Had sons, Benjamin
Abraham Price lived on S. Main St., had sons Benjamin
and Abraham.
Benj. & Joel Bowkley, brothers from England in 1844.
married a sister of the Price brothers.
St. not far below Tedrick Road.
Benj. had
Benj. Bowkley lived on Pine
He had sons, Benj., Joel, Harry,
Edward and daughter Elizabeth - unmarried.
Joel Bowkley lived on R. Road St. in 1850.
He built the brick
block just above the Erie trestling and lived in one end of the block.
His sons were Joel & Isaac, daughters Ellen & Sarah.
These four men formed two coal co.'s - as follows, Joel B. &
Benj. Price; Benj. Bowkley and Abram Price.
They used one track to
the basin, but had separate chutes.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
COAL IN PITTSTON.
The familiar history of experiments with coal by the Gores and other
early settlers; the sending it down the Susquehanna on Durham boats;
its rejection as fuel and its use in place of gravel for sidewalks
in Philadelphia are familiar stories.
After Jesse Fell's discovery of how to use coal for domestic
purposes, a ready market was found; and the manufacture of grates
became a new and thriving business.
Of course, Judge Fell's experiment
was repeated in Pittston; and by 1820, there were several mines opened
in the Valley; and the annual coal export was 200 tons.
Before this,
the coal companies had great trouble in getting their coal to market,
but that was small compared to the trouble they had to get the people
to use it.
Now all was changed; and people flocked from far and near
to see it burned in Judge Fell's grate and then hastened to adopt
the fuel in their own homes.
In 1807-1808, JOhn and Abijah Smith shipped coal down the Susquehanna.
These young Connecticut men purchased a tract of coal land in Plymouth
for $5.00 and acre.
In 1847-48, William R. Griffith purchased for
the Wyoming Coal Association large tracts of coal land in Pittston
and vicinity for $100.00 an acre.
This land was later transferred
to the Pennsylvania Coal Company.
In 1849, the Washington Coal Company,
2a B.
another concern, was merged with the Penna. Coal Co., with W. R. Griffith
as President.
In 1850, the Pennsylvania Rail Road began building the Gravity
Road to Hawley.
In 1852, the L.L.&W. Rail Road Co. began breaking coal into market
sizes, building special "breakers" for this purpose.
The D.&.H. followed
suit.
In 1853, The Lackawanna and Bloomsburgh Railroad opened for traffic.
This road was leased to the D.L.&.W. in 1873.
In 1867, the Lehigh Valley Rail Road was opened to Pittston Junction;
and in 1869, it was open as far as Waverly.
In 1867, also, pea coal first appears.
At that time, the Penna.
Coal Company were throwing it away, carting it off and dumping it
on the roads.
Chestnut size was also considered too small to burn.
In that year, Mr. George Johnson persuaded Mr. John B. Smith to let
him sell it at 30 cents a ton.
He put posters around the town reading;
"Do you know we are selling pea coal at 600 per ton at the Penna.
Coal Co.'s Chutes".
In a little while the people had learned not
to smother their fires with it and the sales rapidly became large.
In 1813, Col. G. M. Hollenback sold coal at the mine for 750
per ton.
In that year, Joseph Wright Esq., loaded two arks with coal
from an opening near the present (1860) depot of the Penna. Coal Co.
at Pittston.
From this opening, Ishmael Bennet had dug coal as far
back as 1775 to use in his blacksmith shop.
In 1820, grates and coal stoves were in general use throughout
the Wyoming and Lackawanna Valleys.
Butler $3.00 per ton for coal.
Wilkes Barre people paid Lord
But the farmers generally, each for
his own family, dug their coal from outcroppings in the neighbourhood.
Ever since 1708 the settlers in the Valleys had dug coal from
these outcrops and burned it in more or less unsatisfactory ways.
They early realized its value; and were fairly feverish in their anxiety
to get it from the mines to tidewater.
They made many attempts to
do this, carting it over the trails and taking it by boat down the
Susquehanna, but they met with many discouragements and only limited
success.
During all these years, the people had looked to the State Government to come to their aid.
In 1826, the Legislature appointed three
commissioners to examine and report on a route for a canal along the
Susquehanna.
In 1827, the first ground was broken in the construction
of this canal, in the presence of a multitude of people from up and
down the Valley.
The people of Luzerne Co. were deeply interested
in this work; and elected to the General assembly, Garrick Mallory
and George Dennison as their representatives in that body, with especial
instructions to work for the promotion of this North Branch Canal.
Their faithful efforts were successful; and at once the Commissioners
were ordered to place the work under contract.
This was in 1828.
A great celebration marked the beginning of the work.
The canal
was to extend from Northumberland to the New York State Line; and
even in these later days, it would be no mean undertaking.
In 1830,
the canal was completed to the Nanticoke dam; and a new boat, the
"Wyoming", was the first to pass down, laden with ten tons of coal
and some flour.
At Northumberland, the "Wyoming" entered the Susquehanna
division of the canal; and from there, followed the Union and Schuylkill
Canals to Philadelphia.
After discharging her cargo, the "Wyoming"
was laden with dry goods for the shops of the Valley; but she was
caught in the freezing ice and was three months in making the round
trip.
The second canal boat for the North Branch Canal was built
in 1831 by Captain Derrick Bird.
By 1834, the Canal was completed to the Lackawanna.
This was
later extended 94 miles to the New York State line; but not until
November, 1856, did the first boats filled with coal leave Pittston
for New York State.
The boat "Tonawanda", Capt. A. Dennis, laden
with 40 tons of coal from the mines of Mallory and Butler was one
of these.
The other was "The Ravine Co. No. 4", Capt. T. Knapp.
These reached Elmira with difficulty.
From Wilkes Barre to the New York State line, there were 30 locks
in the canal.
In 1858, S. T. Lippincott
coal to Elmira.
Buffalo.
tpok five boats filled with
Two of these he piloted via the Chemung Canal to
From there, the coal went via the lake steamers on Lake
Erie to Cleveland, Ohio.
This was the first Wyoming Valley Coal to
go so far West.
In 1856, the North Branch Canal carried 1150 tons of coal to
Western New York.
In 1859, the tonnage was 51,914 tons.
And in 1860,
the total amount mined in the Wyoming Valley was 10,293,376 tons.
Dearest Mother:I enclose some more Mss.
but very scrappy.
and go after them.
These are in the main very interesting,
You will have to get out scissors and paste pot
Cut up the duplicates letting the others stay
2a B.
as they are, as they are better copies.
Everything going well.
in it on the tin boat.
Will send you "Rudder" with my article
It is very readable and is gotten up in attrac-
tive style.
Love to you all
Will write more later.
Am tired of writing now.
Nat.
COAL OPERATORS.
Among the early individual coal operators was Alva Tompkins.
Having inherited a large tract of coal land, in 1851 he opened a shaft
alongside the canal, about 100 rods north of the Eagle Shaft in the
limits of the suburb of Oregon.
With Mr. Tompkins were associated
James MacFarlane; his son, James MacFarlane, Jr.; and later, George
Price, who built himself a brick dwelling below Sebastopol, near the
Isgar Thompson neighbourhood.
Mr. Tompkins shipped all his coal by canal south, until the extension up into New York State was completed, when he shipped both
ways.
This was in 1858 and 1859.
Each company owned its own boats
and the names they bore were often very peculiar.
of Mr. Tompkins boats were
Among the names
.
Mr. Tompkins at one time leased the Eagle Shaft.
This mine had
been opened by Abraham Price, but Mr. Tompkins leased from its later
owners, J. B. Schooley and Abel Bennett.
During the life of Mr. Tompkins
lease occurred the celebrated Eagle Shaft Disaster, by which seventeen
men and boys lost their lives.
The explosion was of mysterious origin.
Before the men went in to work at seven o'clock, the fire boss had
made his rounds and no evidence of gas had been discovered.
o'clock occurred the explosion.
known cause.
At nine
It was unexplainable by any then-
M r . Tompkins believed in later years that the dust in
the air may have caused it.
The vein was on an anti-clinal; and there
was much fine dust in the air of the mine, but no danger was then
apprehended from this source.
Mr. Tompkins raised a relief fund for
the bereaved families, most of which he contributed himself.
In the
Eastern part of Pittston Cemetery may be seen a group of grave stones,
one of them a monument, which mark the burial place of the victims
of the Eagle Shaft Disaster.
On the side of this monument is a panel
bearing in relief the figure of a father, clasping his son to his
breast.
2a B.
This cemetery, greatly enlarged, is now called "Pittston Cemetery",
but at this time it was called "Odd Fellows Cemetery," and was much
overgrown with weeds and briers.
The markers were sometimes of wood:
and picket fences were built around the graves and narrow paths only
led to them.
It speaks well for the children and relatives of these
long-dead citizens that as propriety has blessed them, they have replaced
the poor, faded markers with substantial and oftentimes beautiful
stones.
Note: Mr. George Johnson visited Eagle Shaft later (after the
disaster?) and saw a long gas pipe extending through the anticlinal
and bored with holes through which the gas could enter as it was liberated in cutting through the upper veins. At the end beyond the
mine, this gas was burned. This shows that there was much gas in
the mine and this may have been the cause of the explosion.
When the Lehigh Valley Rail Road was extended down to Pittston,
Mr. Tompkins stopped shipping by the canal and sent his coal by rail.
Like all the operators, he had his own cars built and his name on
them.
These cars were built at Berwick in the then-small American
Car and Foundry Company's shops.
The cut below shows a' telegram"sent at this time to Mr. Tompkins
at Bloomsburg.
This is dated October 11, 1851; and it is quite amusing
to us in this day of wonders to look back to those early days of the
art as shown in this message,
(this information missing from notes.)
The price of coal has greatly advanced since 1851, or even since
1860.
In the latter year, it was 90 cents a ton.
After the Pennsyl-
vania Coal Company began operating their Gravity Road, they had not
mines enough to supply the coal they could transport and they bargained
with the Bowkleys for an extra supply at 63 cents per ton.
For domestic
use, coal was retailed, in the lump, for about a dolalr a ton.
1863, prices rose rapidly.
After
The price of cars built for carrying coal
soared in that year from $60.00 to$485.00.
During Civil War times, M r . Tompkins shipped coal to the Ashland
Furnaces, between York, Penna., and Baltimore.
When the Confederate
Army made its raid into Southern Pennsylvania, a detail of soldiers
was sent to raze these furnaces and to burn the large quantity of
coal there.
But in the manager of the furnaces, the Confederate officer
in charge of the detail recognized an old-time friend and schoolmate;
and on receiving his assurances that the furnaces were not making
iron for the Federal Government and that the coal belonged to "a man
away up in the country" both furnaces and coal were left unmolested
and the two men had dinner together.
2a B.
At one time, Mr. Tompkins leased the Twin Shaft.
At another,
he was engaged in mining in Plymouth; and from 1851 to 1885 was a
large and influential factor in the coal business in Pittston.
In the early years of the coal developement, a miner's wages
were not large.
He was paid by the ton and was at liberty to mine
as many tons as he pleased.
But if the miner's wages were small,
so also were those of other trades.
Five shillings per ton was paid
for hauling iron ore and limestone from Pittston Junction to Slocum
Hollow (now Scranton) where the Slocums manufactured some of the rails
that went into the tracks of the Erie Railroad.
hauled from Slocum Hollow to Lanesboro(?).
These rails were
The difficulties of carrying
on business under such difficulties can hardly be estimated by those
living under present conditions, who did not labor under them.
David Morgan began his mining early in the 50's near the head
of the canal in Pittston.
of the Central Hotel.
He later mined coal from the tunnel back
This mine had been opened by Thomas Price,
who was associated in business with Mr. William Ford, and he also
opened many other mines in the vicinity of Pittston.
up mining, he bought a mountain farm near
of his days on it.
After he gave
and spent the remainder
(From Mr. Geo. Johnson)
David Morgan first came into the coal fields as Superintendent
for a Danville Furnace Company, who leased a coal mine from John
Blanchard.
Mr. Holland was the representative of the company on the
ground; and he built the house on the hill back of the Blanchard home,
which was occupied for many years by C.I.A. Chapman, Esq.
George Johnson and John Hosie surveyed in this mine to make sure
that the Furnace Company was not encroaching on the Pennsylvania Coal
Company's CoaL.
MAIN STREET DIRECTORY,
(from Alva Tompkins)
Mrs. John Green lived in a house between Mr. Tompkins's and
Dr. Underwood's.
Her son was Robert Augustus; her daughters, Mary
Ellen (married
Rosencrantz); Sarah Elizabeth (married Harry Packer)
and Mattie.
Nearly opposite Frothingham Street on Main Street stood an old
barn.
On Oak Street, the Gravity Road crossed Main Street at an elevation.
Between this and Railroad Streets was Abram Price's house, next a
small unpainted house where lived a family named Hughes.
In front
of Mr. Price's house was a rough stone wall, built up from the sidewalk
2a B.
as a retaining wall for his yard, as his house was high above the
street.
Next came a brick house, built and occupied by David Morgan,
the coal operator.
In this house was held the meeting for organizing
the First National Bank of Pittston.
This house was in after years the home of Joseph P. Schooley
and was the scene of a tragedy when Mr. schooley's son, Warren, was
brought home dead from a gunshot wound.
The shock of the boy's death
killed his mother, also.
Separated by a narrow areaway from the Schooley house was a wooden
building, built probably by Edward, the son of John Clark.
first floor were successive business enterprises.
On the
Edward Schooley
had a store; David Anthony a tailor shop; Smith Sutherland a store;
and D r . Dorr an office in this building.
The next building stood at the corner of Main and Railroad Streets
and was the office of the Maryland Coal Company.
On Main Street, opposite the Morgan house, was a brick building
owned by a Scotchman named Robertson.
He kept a saloon in the lower
part, and painted on each of the two windows was the invitation:
"Dinna gang by, but gie us a cal".
During the smallpox epidemic in
1878, the wife of M r . Robertson was one of the victims.
Next to David Davis's (H. M. D a m a n n s ) came the Maryland Coal
Office.
This was also H. M. Daman's store while he lived there.
When he moved away, Peter Purcell moved into the Daman home.
He was
employed by the Maryland Coal Co. and made the store his office.
This company gave title to the building; but it was not commonly called
that until about 1858 or 1860.
********************************************
COAL IN PITSTON.
The knowledge and use of anthracite coal in United States does
not extend back much or any farther than Jesse Fell's experiment in
Wilkes Barre in 1808, when he burned it in a grate.
Coal had been known in England since A.D. 853; and had been mined
since 1239 and been in common household use.
The English settlers
from Connecticut to this Valley (1762) knew of the English coal which
is bituminous and which lights and burns easily having a large percentage of gas or volatile matter.
They knew, too, of the coal discovered
in R. Island two years previous (1760) which was of the graphite variety.
It was pure carbon but so highly distilled in its bed, that it was
2a
B.
not inflammable by any possibility.
It is
.
Few experienced miners had yet come from the old countries in
1823.
Scientific mining was not understood.
Instead of tunneling
and blasting they removed the heavy covering of earth and slate from
the top and broke through the rocks to get at coal.
A coal bed was opened in a hillside near the Fast end of the
Ferry Bridge by Calvin Stockbridge in 1828.
This opening visible
in 1911(7).
In three years he sent about 2000 tons down the Susquehanna in
arks.
He was the first resident coal operator in Pittston.
He also
built the Stockbridge Hotel and had a Ferry both near his mine.
In 1834 the canal was completed to the Lackawanna.
By this means
the Pittston coal could be sent to market.
In 1838, 10 years later, Garrick Mallory, John and Lord Butler
opened their mines at Pittston and built a railroad 1 mile, 800 ft.
long to connect the
.
In 1820 the pen and advertising were made to hear even in England.
These ads, may have brought over the first practical miners.
George Cary had first handling of anthracite coal in Wyoming
Valley.
He helped open a stripping in Pittston, now known as Plains
Township.
$10.
In 1815 he and several others raft to H-burg 40 tons for
1820 another raft load, no sale, dumped into River.
David Morgan mined coal back of Central Hotels; was one of the
founders of 1st National Bank.
The Leyshin's — coal men mined for Bowkly and Price Co.
THINGS DONE IN 1850
Linking of Shaft.
Gravity Road.
Telegraph.
Bridge.
Bank.
Jenny Lind $12,000 to charity.
Feb. 25.
Copied from 1st issue of Gazette part of communication
to North American, by Wm. F. Roberts, practical Geologist and engineer
of mines.
He was called to Pittston to examine a piece of coal land and
speaks of Pittston's prospects for growth.
great.
Its local advantages were
Situated on the banks of the Susquehanna, in the heart of
a farming country in a high state of cultivation, dotted over with
3.0.4.
beautiful villas surrounded by coal mines which produce coal of the
best quality at low prices, ($1.50), upon the line of the Penna. Canal
which when the North Branch is completed will open the market to the
Lake region and western part of New York.
The construction of Penna.
Co.'s Road from Pittston to connect with D. And H. Canal, thus opening
a market to Hudson River and New York City.
The railroad building
in New Jersey to connect with Legget's Gap R.R. now building from
the Lackawanna to connect with Erie and N. York road; the outlet via
Penna. Canal south to the markets of Baltimore, Washington and other
cities, as well as to supply fuel for the great furnaces that are
near the canal.
All these improvements center at Pittston and should build up
a large manufacturing and mercantile business.
The main factor in the prosperity of Pittston was the sagacity,
perseverance of Col. Johnson, who about 1841 bought tracts of coal
land and in 1850(?) decided to sink a perpendicular shaft to reach
the underlying coal.
He was considered of unsound judgement if of
sane mind and if he had heeded advice he would never have found the
rich 14 ft. vein which he did find.
r. George Johnson says this was No. 3 shaft.
No. 1 was at Railroad
and Main streets, No. 3 was this.
No. 2 was over beyond the Tedrick Road, near Newman Brown's.
No. 4,* was back of Miner's Bank where new Telephone exchange
building is.
This building facing Charles St. is over the old filled
in Shaft, which was sunk when the Ravine was there and no building
between Pa. Co;s Office and "The Dog's Nest".
*
At sebastopol was a second No. 4.
No. 5 was up in the hill towards Inkerman near the Rosencrantz
homes.
No. 6, 5, and 11 are near together straight up the hill at Inkerman.
No. 7 is in lower part of Sebastopol.
No. 8 at Hughestown.
No. 9 and 10 near Lance place at Hughes.
No. 14 at Blanchard town.
The Law Shaft is at Avoca; Barnum Shaft, Hoyt Shaft at Port
Griffeth.
At Old Forge were Nos. 12, 13.
3.0.4.
The Pennsylvania Company named their Shafts by number until they
numbered 14.
They named the one on Zenas Barnum's farm, "Barnum"
Shaft and Breaker, one at Port Griffeth "The Hoyt" named for
"Law Shaft" was in Avoca, named for Wm. Law.
No. 1 on the Johnson Shaft was at north east corner of Main
and R. Road Streets.
No. 2 beyond the Zedrick (sic?) Road near Newman Brown's residence.
No. 3 was on Broad St. near foot of No. 2 Plane "Land Tunnel
Mine" was above No. 3.
There were three openings (tunnels) up the
hill in line with No. 2 Plane to strike the 14 foot-seam which lay
at a slant with the surface of the hill.
The "Pittston Vein" was
80 ft. below surface at No. 3 Shaft.
No. 4 was in the Ravine back of Miner's Savings Bank.
It was
filled in and the New Telephone Exchange building which fronts on
Charles Street covers the site.
A new No. 4 was sunk at Sebastopol
which is yet (1912) in operation.
Nos. 5 and 6 are on the hill towards Inkerman.
No. 7 in lower part of Sebastopol.
No. 8 in Hughestown.
Nos. 9 and 10 in Hughestown, on Lance property.
No. 11 at Inkerman, in line with 5 and 6.
Nos. 12 and 13 were at Old Forge.
No. 14 at Port Blanchard.
Superintendent John B. Smith stopped numbers here and gave names.
Law Shaft was at Avoca, named for Wm. Law.
named for
.
Hoyt Shaft at Port Griffeth,
Barnum Shaft was sunk on the Zenas Barnum farm.
PENNA COMPANY'S PLANES.
No. 1 was at Port Griffeth (on loaded track).
"
2 at Broad Street Pittston.
3 at Avoca.
4 at "Rocky Glen".
5 between Rocky Glen and Dunmore.
6 at Dunmore.
8 climbing over
9 the Moosic Mountain
10
11 Top of the Mountain
12 near Ariel.
3.0.4.
T h e r e were- -1-0 o n t h e Light- track-.
Beginning at Hawley — on the return to Port Griffeth.
No. 22 the last, was at Pleasant Valley; from here the descent
to Port Griffeth was continuous.
No. 19 was at Ariel — in front of Judge Green's.
and Fuller.
Cornelius Stark and Jas. Fuller.
David Morgan coal mine rear of Central Hotel lived in brick house
and below H. Daman's.
Built it, 1st meeting of Bank was held there
1864, only five present.
(1st National)
"Pittston Bank" was first Bank.
C.I.
A.C. surveyed on plank Road, 1850.
TRANSPORTATION.
ROADS, RAILROADS, BRIDGES & FERRIES
STOURBRIDGE LION.
Among the few enterprising men who repaired to Europe to witness
the experiment of the different locomotives for the prize were Mr.
E. I. Miler of Charleston, S.C. who was interested in railroad matters
in his own quarter and Horatio Allen Esq., late assistant engineer
upon the Delaware and Hudson Canal and Railroad who was also on a
mission of interest for this part of the state.
While in Europe,
Mr. Allen received instruction from Mr. John B. Jervis, Esq., the
chief engineer of the Delaware and Hudson Canal and Railroad Company
to contract for the iron for the road, which had just been graded
and also for three locomotives.
These instructions were carried out by Mr. Allen while in England
and after purchasing the first of the three locomotives, which was
the "Stourbridge Lion", he ordered it shipped to New York where it
was landed from the ship John Jay at the wharf of the West Point
Foundry Works, foot of Beach Street, about the middle of May, 1820.
Here it was set up in the yard and steam put to it from the works,
where it was visited by thousands who flocked to see the wonder go
through its motions.
The Morning Courier and New York Enquirer of June 12, 1829, contains
the following notice:
"Locomotive Engines:
We yesterday attended the first exhibition
of a locomotive engine, called the "Lion", imported by the Delaware
and Hudson Canal Company, to be used upon their railway.
On Wednesday
3.0.4.
the engine just imported was tried and gave such general satisfaction
that that present exhibition was unanimously attended by gentlemen
of Science and particular intelligence.
The engine was put up in
Mr. Kimball's factory by Horatio Allen, Esq., who went to England
to purchase it for the company and it gives us great satisfaction
to say that the most important improvements which have lately been
made in the construction of these engines, originated with him.
It
is nine horse power, having a boiler sixteen and a half feet long,
with two cylinders, each of three feet stroke.
It is calculated to
proper(?) from sixty to eighty tons at five miles per hour.
The power
is applied to each wheel at about twelve inches from the center and
the adhesive power of the wheel arising from the weight of the engine,
will give locomotion to the whole structure.
The steam was raised by the Lacawaxen coal and sustained, (although
there was no friction) at between forty and fifty pounds to the inch.
We were much delighted with the performance of the engine and
have no doubt that the enterprising company to whom it belongs will
reap a rich reward for their enterprise and perseverance.
Pleased as we were however, with the engine, we were much more
pleased with the practical demonstration offered of the importance
and usefulness of the coal which the company propose to bring to market".
&c &c &c.
The engine was abandoned by the company because of a defect of
the track and for some time was housed under a rough shed, whence
it was finally taken to be distributed in parts where it could serve
some purpose.
The boiler was put to use in Carbondale and different
parts were appropriated by individuals as relics.
Steuben Jenkins, Esq., of Wyoming, the indefatigable antiquarian,
student, has in his vast collection of memorials, one of the steam
chests, while Mr. John B. Smith, of the Pennsylvania Coal Company,
has the other at his home in Dunmore.
The above extracts are taken from a publication "The Wyoming
Valley" published (probably) by Schurch & Co., of Scranton, Penna.,
date not known.
Kindly loanded by Miss Matilda Drake.
RAILROADS ENTERING PITTSTON
The first railroad in Luzerne County, although it did not reach
Pittston until 18— was the Delaware and Hudson.
This was the second
railroad begun in the United States; and it was completed in 1828,
insofar as the original plans went.
The first locomotive engine in
the United States ran on this road.
This locomotive, The Stourbridge
Lion, was brought here from England by the Delaware and Hudson company,
but it proved too heavy for the bridges and frail trestles and its
use was abandoned.
For many years thereafter, it lay rusting by the side of the
road (Pierce's Annals).
This statement is refuted by Mr. George Johnson
He says that the engine was put under a shed.
The boiler of this
historic machine and one cylinder, together with portions of the
wheels and other parts, is now in the Smithsonian Institution at
Washington, but the whereabouts of the other parts is at present unknown
Mr. Johnson states that at one time Mr. Patey Reeves, Supt. of Machinery
for the Penna. Coal Co., had a small repair shop at the foot of No. 2
Plane; and that in this shop was a cylinder and piston rod from the
old Lion.
This small locomotive was also on exhibition in Machinery Hall
at the Chicago World's Fair, standing beside the largest and most
powerful locomotive then in existence; and the contrast was most
impressive as illustrating
the progress made in the last three quarters
of a century in locomotive building.
Railroads were also built in the Lehigh and Schuylkill regions;
but it was in 1850 that the Penna. Coal Co. brought prosperity to
Pittston by building its gravity road from Pittston to Hawley.
In 1858, the Lackawanna and Bloomsburgh road opened, thus giving
rail transportation to New York by connection with the Erie.
In 1867, the Lehigh
Valley Road extended as far as Pittston
Junction, thus giving another outlet to New York and Philadelphia.
In 1869, this road was extended to Waverly and on to New York State.
In 1883, the Jersey Central Road entered the field.
In 1884, the Erie and Wyoming Valley Road was built by Pennsylvania
Coal Company capital, although each had a separate corporate existence.
3.0.4.
GRAVITY ROAD.
Then came a time, because of increasing business, when the Gravity
Road from Port Griffith to Hawley must be supplanted by a broad-gage
steam locomotive road.
From Hawley the coal had been shipped to tide-
water by way of the Delaware and Hudson Canal.
The demand for anthra-
cite had increased to an extent that surpassed the capacity of a
canal, which was closed every Winter; and moreover, friction had developed between the two companies regarding the canal tolls exacted by
the Pennsylvania Company, which, in the face of a depreciated currency
and rising wages, were prohibitive.
The Erie Rail Road and the Pennsylvania Railroad made
surveys
looking to branch roads to tap these rich coal fields and the Erie
actually did build a branch to Hawley.
The Pennsylvania Coal Co.,
forsook the canal and transferred its coal from its small, gravity
cars to the broad-gage cars of this new road.
The delay and expense
of this reshipment led to a consideration of widening the Gravity
Road and cars so that they could be run on the Erie tracks.
This
idea was, however, abandoned; and instead the Erie Road was extended
down to Port Griffith and the Gravity Road abandoned.
There was pre-
sumptive evidence that the Pennsylvania Coal Company, through its
officers and board of directors, financed this extension, though the
Wyoming and Erie Railroad Company and the Pennsylvania Coal C o . had
each its separate officers and offices.
Gradually new men with new
capital invaded the field of influence and took command; and eventually
the Erie and Wyoming Company absorbed the Pennsylvania Coal Company,
purchasing its stock and holdings.
The New York office of the Penna. Coal C o . decided that a steam
locomotive railroad was needed to carry the Wyoming Valley coal to
tidewater; and the Gravity Road, which had served so well in primitive
days, must be supplanted.
This was depressing news to supt. John
B. Smith and his faithful assistants who had worked together so faithfully for its construction and operation.
Dr. Parke used to pay the
highest respect to that group of men whose headquarters were at the
Office, at the corner of Main and Broad Streets in Pittston.
William
Law and andrew Bryden were at the head of the Mining Department; Alex.
Craig was Supt. of Machinery; Charles McMillan was Paymaster for the
district; George D . Johnson was head of the Land Department; William
Simpson, Chief of Building Department; Henry Beyea, paymaster at Dunmore.
3.0.4.
Then there were F.F. Merriman, of the Civil Engineer Corps and James
Rosencrantz and a host of subordinates, all of whom "worked for the
Company" as for a personal benefactor, whose service was a joy and
not an irksome task.
day.
No Union was then known; nor any eight-hour
There was perfect union between the employers and the employees,
from the President, in his New York Office, to Supt. Smith in the
Dunmore office through the Pittston office and down through the rank
and file, in all the various lines of the company's service.
"The Big Company" treated its employees well.
It paid a good
living wage, which, though small in comparison with present demands,
was sufficient for the needs of the times and to lay by the foundations
of a competence for old age.
and land for cemeteries.
The Company donated lots for churches
It was building up this mining village,
which had only a dozen houses in 1838, into a prosperous, thriving
business center.
The people were glad and grateful; and no arraying
of Labor against Capital, but rather a tacit combination of all the
people to favor and aid the Company that was building the town.
money flowed freely.
Its
Its employees could pay in cash, instead of
barter; and work under the "Big Company" meant comfortable and steady
wages.
At this time, also, the Company sold only the surface for
building lots; but in the deed was no clause exempting itself from
liability in case of the surface caving.
sufficient support for the surface.
It fully intended to leave
"All the mining that was done
in those days was honest mining", said an old employ, years afterward
when he saw pillars robbed and surface property ruined as the result.
It was long years from these times to the proposed change to
a steam locomotive road.
Distasteful as the proposal must have been
to Supt. Smith, he sent out his engineer corps, under Mr. George Johnson,
to survey a line over the Moosic and Pocono Mountains for the proposed
road.
The Erie Railroad Co. also surveyed the route; and eventually
the screaming, shrieking locomotive broke the stillness of those sylvan
solitudes, where for years had glided quietly, as if by magic, with
no apparent motive power to pull or to push, the Gravity cars of 1850.
When the Erie and Wyoming Valley Railroad took its place, the
Gravity Road was dismantled.
Its planes were useless; its engines
were removed; its equipment became scrap iron.
Somewhat trying to
the men who had been identified with the road was this change.
But
greater innovations were to follow; until eventually the Erie and
Wyoming Company absorbed the Pennsylvania Coal Company, purchasing
its stock and all its holdings.
Thus not only the Gravity Road, but
the Pennsylvania Coal Company itself passed out of existence and its
name is written on a page of past history.
The first train on the Gravity—the "Pioneer"—was put on late
in the Fall of 1850.
Hosea Carpenter was the Conductor.
Only one
car was run, with attachements for safety in case the hoisting rope
broke on the plane.
The last train was run by Eber Bramming.
It was run for the
pleasure of some prominent Scranton people, who wished once more to
go over the road before the tracks were torn up.
No. 6 to Ariel.
The train ran from
The workmen were removing the rope at Plane II, but
relaid it for this party.
BRIDGES.
Where the iron R.R. Bridge crosses the Lackawanna, was once a
wooden bridge which was carried away by a freshet in 1811.
This was
the first bridge built across the stream.
In 1812 Ebenezer Marcy and Darins Finch built another bridge,
which stood until 1828.
In that year, John P. Babb built the famous
covered bridge which was a model of skill and workmanship and stood
until 1876 and would have stood for many years longer or more if it
had been properly cared for.
3.0.4.
ROADS BRIDGES AND FERRIES IN PITTSTON
In 1770, roads were laid out on both sides of the River and were
connected by ferries at Pittston and Wilkes Barre.
From Pittston, the
road extended East to Stroudsburg and the Delaware.
In 1772, a road
40 miles long was made from Pittston to the Delaware at the expense of
the Proprietors.
The first settlers in the Valley came from Connecticut, crossing
the Hudson at Newburg and meeting the Delaware at Shohola Creek.
From
there, they followed the Indian trail to Roaring Brook and the Lackawanna;
and from there by another Indian trail into the Valley.
This
was in 1762 and 1763.
The next immigrants in 1769, came with household goods in carts.
They widened the path to permit their wagons and ox carts to pass.
This was the first wagon road from the Delaware to the Susquehanna.
Years later at a meeting of the settlers of the Valley, Messrs.
Jenkins, Gore, Carey, Goss and Stewart were appointed a committe to
collect money to improve the road.
These improvements were completed in
1774.
On the West side, the road from Kingston to Pittston followed the
high bank of the River.
Communication with Pittston was established by
Jenkin's Ferry, and later, by Stockbridge's Ferry, both of which were
close together.
This Kingston road dates back to 1770.
(Stockbridge
came after 1800)
Another road across Kingston Flats connected the East and West
sides by the ferry opposite Northampton St.
In 1779, Sullivan's Army, in its march from Easton to Wyoming on its
way to New York State to punish the Six Nations, made a new road, from
Easton.
This new road was improved by the settlers and became the great
thoroughfare between Philadelphia and North-eastern Pennsylvania.
In 1788, two years after Luzerne County was organized, a highway
was surveyed across it by order of the Legislature.
Sullivan Road?)
(Was this the
In 1790, John Phillips, John Davidson, Jeremiah Blanch-
ard, Caleb Bates, David Brown and J. Rosin were appointed viewers from
Pittston Township.
The surveyors who accompanied them and laid out
the work were John Jenkins, Christopher Hurlbut and Luke Swetland.
This corps of surveyors laid out all the principal roads in the county
up to 1798.
3.0.4.
All rosds were rough;
and bridges were of round, or split logs.
Over marshy ground, they made cordueroy roads,—small logs laid parallel transversely across the road.
Instead of making easy grades by
going around the base or side of a hill, roads went directly over the
top.
This was to avoid wet marshy ground.
Except when there were
logs to be transported, men rode on horseback.
My Grandmother who
made a visit to her father's home at Windsor Conn., in 1805, made the
trip there and returned on horseback.
About 1785, a wheeled vehicle, called a "chair" or "gig" was
introduced.
It had only one seat, set between the two wheels.
the Dearborn, a four-wheeled carriage made its appearance:
In 1808,
and was
much of a curiosity then as was the first automobile a few years ago.
The turnpike from Easton to wilkes Barre, forty-one miles long,
was begun about 1803 and cost $75,000.00.
5% dividends;
The stockholders received
and the embargo of 1812, by increasing traffic over the
turnpike, made it still more profitable.
This was the route for wagon loads of grain and farm products and
for lumber until the Canal was made - over this road the teams brought back
manufactured and other goods needed by the settlers here.
Hollenback's
was the great wholesale and retail depot of supplies for a radius of
forty or fifty miles.
3.0.4.
HEALTH AND PHYSICIANS.
The climate of Pittston is, in general, healthful.
Acording to
the census of 1850, the number of deaths in the whole county was only
383, out of a population of 56,072.
skill of the physicians.
This argues well, also, for the
It is to be feared they amassed no fortunes
and built no fine houses with their earnings.
The earliest Physicians in the Valley were Dr. William Hooker Smith,
Dr. Joseph Sprague and Dr. Gustin, all of whom were in the battle of
July 3rd., 1778, Dr. Gustin receiving a bullet hole through his hat.
Dr. William Hooker Smith emigrated to the Valley in 1772 from
(see Mrs. Bedford's story in Peck.)
His valuable services were continued
throughout the Revolutionary War (and Sullivan's Campaign) until he
reached a very advanced age.
In 1773 there came from New London a very noted surgeon, Dr. John
Calkins.
A paper (very neatly drawn up by Henry Carey) tried to get
subscriptions enough to induce him to settle in the Westmoreland.
Among
the names of these subscribers were Anderson Dana and James Stark.
No
record of the success of this movement is to be found.
At Pittston in 1850, Dr. G. Underwood and Dr. C. R. Gorman.
Dr. U.
had been the first resident physician at Harrison, afterwards called
Scranton, in 1845.
In early days, the women did most of the doctoring;
store was the forest, field, or garden.
and the drug
Pittston, however, had its own
resident physician as early as 1783.
Dr. Nathaniel Giddings practiced his profession here for more than
fifty years, or later than 1833.
with his saddlebags.
He rode on horseback to visit his patients,
He carried his remedies with him;
a prescription, but compounded it himself.
and rarely wrote
His patients were scattered
over a wide extent of country and he had to ride through lonely roads and
ford unbridged streams, sometimes in the darkness and the storm.
A
country doctor's wife, as well as a circuit rider's wife, had to be heroic
in those days.
She kept vigil alone, with no near neighbours, her fears
aggarved by her imagination and every sound of wind or broken bough.
Doubtless Dr. Giddings was in consultation at times with the resident
physicians of other towns.
Among their names from 1810 to 1820, we find
Drs. Cooell, Baldwin, W. B. Giddings, Gaylord, Parker, Asa C. Whitney, and
Dr. John Smith.
As in all newly-settled, undrained sections, fever and ague prevailed
for many years at Pittston.
An Indian Chief of the Six Nations, Shikellimus
3.0.4.
by name, residing at Shamokin, died from the disease in 1749.
In 1850 a so-
called Indian remedy for chills and fever, a patented preparation called
Indian Cholagogue was sold in all general stores.
It contained quinine and
whiskey though quinine was not generally known at that time as a specific
for the ill.
(Note:
Cinchona, or quinine must have been known as a
specific for malaria, as it was introduced in England in 1671, and to
France in 1682.
It was named Cinchona for the Countess deCinchona, wife
of the ambassador from Peru, where she had been cured of malarial fever
by the Peruvian, or Cinchona bark.
Rome:
Jesuit missionaries also carried it to
and it was sometimes called "Jesuit Bark").
In 1778, the year of the Wyoming Massacre, a malignant, contagious
disease called "putrud fever" prevailed.
Many died.
In 1777, one year earlier, small pox was brought from Philadelphia
and spread among the various settlements.
way to treat it.
Inoculation was the only known
Great alarm prevailed.
Pest houses were established in
every township, half a mile from any road.
Here those who had not been
inoculated were sent for treatment.
The Indians had a horror of it;
and it is related that when they
entered Forty Fort after the battle, the women cried out "Small pox! Small
pox!" but the reuse did not deter them from their work of plunder.
But
it might well be that the women spoke the truth, for it probably lingered
in some families even then.
In 1794 the physicians were baffled by a form of Typhus fever which
prevailed along the Susquehanna.
fever.
It was thought by some to be yellow
Whole families died of it.
1781, like the preceeding year, typhus as well as intermittent fever
prevailed.
In this year, the Rev. Jacob Johnson came back to the Valley
for the first time since the massacre;
and his daughter Lydia, wife of
Col. Zebulon Butler, died three weeks after their return.
The earliest educated physician to practice in Wyoming Valley was
Dr. John Matthew Otto.
He spent a week here in 1755.
An Indian runner
had summoned him from Bethlehem to attend upon the missionary Christian
Frederick Post whose leg was badly injured.
Dr. Joseph Sprague was the earliest resident physician in the Wyoming
Valley.
He came to the Valley in 1770.
He became a proprietor in Lack-
awanna Township Dec. 17, 1771 at the same time with Barnabas and Eleazer
Carey, Stephen
Harding, Caleb Bates and others.
He with all the other
settlers was soon obliged to take refuge in the stockade at Mill Creek,
where (according to Mrs. Young - Miner Appendix) he and his wife kept the
3.0.4.
boarding house.
He settled just below Spring Brook and for 12 years was
both farmer and doctor.
by the Pennamites.
In 1783, he with other Yankees, was driven away
He died in Connecticut the following year.
His widow returned and settled in Wilkes Barre, where for many years
she was the only accoucher in this section.
"Granny Sprague" as she was
familiarly known, was present at the birth of hundreds of the children of
the pioneers.
She was in practice as late as 1810.
fessional services was only $1.00.
Her charge for
pro-
She must have gained her livlihood
chiefly from her compounds of roots and herbs, which she sold at her log
hut, at the corner of Union and Main Streets in Wilkes Barre.
She has,
therefore the added distinction of being the first dispenser of proprietary
medicines. (Dr. Throop.)
Dr. Sweet of Carbondale furnished drugs to the doctors of the Valley
in those early days.
They had to make most of their own remedies;
and
to ride a circuit of 50 miles with their saddlebags stuffed with these
herbs and sometimes surgical instruments.
It was often a race with Death,
for the patient would not send for the doctor until every remedy known to
the neighbourhood had been tried in vain.
Small as his fee was, he could not get money and consequently, could
not pay his drug bill.
Barter was the general method of paying debts.
Sometimes surgical operations were necessary and no instruments were
in the saddle-bags.
uttermost;
The ingenuity of the doctor was often taxed to the
but thanks to the general good-health of the patients, with
their simple living and out-of-door labor, they survived these ordeals
in most cases very nicely.
In 1842-43 a terrible epidemic of diphtheria.
Saratoga Co., N.Y. at same time.)
of scarletsfeversss.
(One similar in
In 1852, came a more fatal epidemic
In Pittston, Truman Day's daughter, J. B. Smith's
two children, Dr. Parke's son and many others were swept away.
Dr. Avery Knapp (see Dr. Throop's Health and Physicians)'was
of Revolutionary stock.
His Grandfather, Joseph Knapp, served in
the Continental Army; and his father, Zepheniah Knapp, in the War
of 1812.
Avery Knapp was born in Minooka, May 25, 1819 and died in
his 82nd year.
He was graduated from Geneva Medical school and practiced
for 9 years in N . Haven.
Moved to Pittston in 1855; and conducted
there a drug store, until he retired for his health in 1892.
he married Frances, daughter of Elisha Blackman.
In 1848
She died in 1888.
His children were Charles, a professor of Electrical Engineering in
Girard College at Philadelphia; and Lillie, who married Charles Babcock,
of Canton, 111.
Dr. Knapp was interred in the West Pittston cemetery.
EARLY SETTLERS.
26$.
The Marceys.
The Marceys are mentioned among the early settlers in Pittston.
In 1770 rZebulon Marcey made a clearing and built a rude cabin a short
distance from Old Forge.
26 years of age.
He came from Connecticut that year, being
Zebulon's pitch soon passed into the hands of his
older brother Ebenezer who was a Proprietor in the Susquehanna Company
and the first of his family to come to the valley.
He had married
Suzannah Adams of Dutchess County, New York in 1780.
At the time of the Massacre he and his family took refuge in
Pittston Fort.
Dutchess County.
After its surrender they fled to the old home in
His fifth child was born on the mountain and was
named Thankful in recognition of their deliverance from death and from
the savage foe.
Three sons born in Pittston after their return were
Ebenezer, Jared, and Joseph, all of whom were prominent in the development of the township.
Ebenezer was prominent in religious affairs.
His house was always
open to the itinerant minister and the Presiding Elder held quarterly
meetings at his house.
Ebenezer's son John ("Sqjire") Marcy was appointed Postmaster in
1860.
The railroad company named the station Marcy.
When the Civil War
broke out his patriotism impelled him to leave his farm the post office,
and his family, in response to the call for volunteers.
He returned
in 1864 and took an active interest in business and political affairs of
the township, holding all offices.
In politics he was a Democrat.
gave the site of the brick M.E. church and cemetery.
Both lie in Marcy cemetery, Duryea.
Winfield, born 1848 at Duryea.
He
He died in 1887.
One of Squire Marcy's sons was
In 1862 he enlisted as drummer boy in
the 52d Regt. Penn. Volunteers, the same regiment in which his father
was a soldier.
He returned in 1864 after a varied experience from Virginia to
South Carolina and entered upon an active business career in which he
was not only self supporting but helped his father to pay off a debt he
had incurred as the result of leaving his farm and business to fight
his country's battles.
Jared, another son of Ebenezer, born in Pittston, 1782, was a
carpenter.
He married Sarah, daughter of Rufus Bennet who escaped the
tomahawk of the pursuing Indian by holding on to the tail of Col. Zebulon
Butler's horse in the flight from the Wyoming battle field.
Joseph marcy was the youngest son of the pioneer Ebenezer.
He was
the narrator of the tales his mother used to tell about the early days
3.0.4.
and the massacre.
He gave to Dr. Peck the substance of "Mrs. Marcy's
Story" in Peck's history of Wyoming.
The experiences of the family would fill a volume could they be
recounted.
Jared had a son, Ira, born in Pittston 1807.
He was well
known as a builder of locks and bridges in the canal. He became one of
the early employees of the Pennsylvania Coal Co. as a carpenter.
He
married the daughter of Conrad Teeter who carried the mails on horseback
between Pittston and New York State, before stages were run, or roads
built for them.
The descendants of his family fill numerous positions in the two
valleys.
The vein of coal next below the Pittston vein outcropped on
the Marcy farm and was named the "Marcy vein".
George Oister lived on Quarry Hill, a blacksmith by trade.
His daughters
distinguished themselves by their horseback riding according to the
advanced style of 1900—astride and with no saddle.
sttract attention in these unconventional days.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
They would hardly
3.0.4.
Francis Phillips.
Francis Phillips was with Isaac Hewitt at the surrender of Pittston
Fort.
His daughter was the wife of Isaac Hewitt and the mother of
Dethie Hewitt, the young and gallant captain who had died at the head
of his company on the afternoon of July 3d, the day before the surrender
of Pittston Fort.
Francis Phillips came to the valley in 1771 from Vermont.
He made
his "pitch" in the "Gore" between Pittston and Providence and the land
lay next to Barnabas Carey's who in 1770 built the first log cabin in
Pittston.
In April 1777 Francis Phillips sold his "right" to his son
John, then 20 years old, for thirty pounds, current money.
John Phillips became the owners of large tracts of land, including
the "Big Farm" at the base of Campbell's Ledge, extending over it into
Ransom which he named.
His acres included also the ground on which
Pittston City now stands.
His holdings were in Abington also and to
all his children and grandchildren, he gave farms covered with timber.
In the 2nd Pennanite war, 1784 he, with his family were driven
from their homes by Pennsylvania soldiers.
But they returned and two
years later John Phillips was one of five commissioners chosen to buy
land on which to erect the public buildings for Luzerne County.
See Miner and Hollister pp 67-69.
His character as a man of large views and sincere and earnest piety
was highly respected and the Baptist church to which he attached himself
was generously helped by him.
He died in Abington where he spent the declining years of his life.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
3.0.4.
ELDER WILLIAM MOTT.
1832 - 1885.
A leader of the Baptists in Pittston and vicinity was Elder Mott.
He was licensed to preach at Middletown, Luzerne County in March 1832
by Rev. J. B. Parker, who had been sent into northeastern Pennsylvania
as a general missionary by the New York convention.
Horseback was the only
mode of travel and the route was from Middletown to Lacyville, then down
the Susquehanna to Mehoopany, Tunkhannock, Exeter, Northumberland, Wilkes
Barre on the west side of the river, holding meetings everywhere.
Thence
they travelled to Plymouth, Nanticoke, Hunbeck(sic) Creek and held
meetings.
Two other missionaries entered the field, Rev. Chas. Martin and
Philip P. Brown.
The latter located at Pittston.
In 1833 Elder Mott was ordained to the gospel ministry in the church
at Lacyville.
He soon began preaching in the Lackawanna valley.
After
three years' labor many of his people moved west of Chicago and desired
him to go along (1836).
But he made a home in Hyde Park and took up his
residence there in 1837.
The settlement contained just twenty families
and only three members of the Baptist church.
His preaching stations were Hyde Park, Pittston, Providence, Blakeley
and Greenfield.
For a time he was the only minister in all the valley.
From Pittston to Blakely he visited in two years, every family on the
route and the population was less than 200.
Where Scranton now is was
a grist mill and a saw mill and the Slocum house.
There was a plank foot bridge across the river at Dodgetown
(Providence?)
When he wanted to cross where the bridge is at the end of Lackawanna Ave.
he took off his shoes and stockings and waded across.
saw mill and got lumber for a barn.
He went up to the
He hired a man to haul it and as
they sat on the load and forded the river, Mr. Mott said to Mr. Atherton
who was driving, "these hills and valleys will some day be covered by a
large city".
He lived to see his prophesy fulfilled.
In 1847 the First
Baptist Church was dedicated.
His experience as a pioneer missionary in the large wilderness parish
with houses scattered and settlements far apart, are thrilling.
He often
sustained his faith and courage by praying aloud as he went through the dark
roads of the forest, where wild beasts were plenty and wolves and panthers
were fierce.
On one occasion he lost his horse and had to go to his
appointment "on his feet".
His toils and sacrifices were truly inexpress-
ibly great. '
Mr. Mott's records show that he attended 1000 families, all the way
3.0.4.
from Wilkes Barre to Carbondale of persons who were buried in 75 different grave yards.
converts.
He married 300 couples and baptised several hundred
All through the different valleys are homes where the name
of Elder Mott is a household word.
He has preached in all the school houses and all the churches and
has been the regular pastor in several.
The Old Red School house in North Pittston was one of his stated
preaching places.
When Dr. P. came in 1844, he and Elder Mott took
turns in using it.
Among the names of the "over 300 couples" are some whose names
belong to Pittston.
The earlier ones have no date.
Adam Zedrick to Mary Armstrong;
this was the name of Miss Sally
Ann Zedricks father who lived on a large farm, corner of Zedrick and
Browntown Roads.
George McAlpine to Frances Giddings.
Giddings and sister of Myra who married
This was daughter of Dr.
Reynolds.
James Giddings to Mary Ann Pratt.
James was son of Dr. Giffings.
Samuel Price to Zella Armstrong.
These were parents of the brill-
iant young business man, Amon Price and of Mrs. John Howard of Scranton.
Zella Armstrong was sister of our recently deceased townsman Amon
Armstrong of West Pittston.
John Armstrong'to Mary Wood
Palmer Jenkins to Jane Brown"
Thomas Slocum to Sarah Jenkins
James Knapp to
Wilbur
Joseph Atherton to Harriet Marchant
Benjamin Bower to Lucinda Callendar
Newton to Parmelia Benedict
William Carbin to Lucretia Atherton
Samuel Taylor to Julia Ferris
William C. Phillips to Phoebe Vanderburg
C. A. Atherton to Phoebe Lewis
Samuel Wheeler to Frances Miller
David Perkins to Mrs? Pettibone (was he of Wyoming?)
George McAlpine to L. M. Giddings
/
William Knapp to Ruth Knapp
Abel Bennett to Adelaide Johnson
Abel Bennett was business partner of Col. Johnson, head of Penna.
Coal Company in Pittston previous to 1850.
Adelaide was his only daughter.
3.0.4.
The home was the Johnson cottage, corner of Broad and Main.
Col.
Johnson sold out to the Penna. Coal Company and moved to New York City.
Later the Bennetts lived at Binghamton.
They had one son.
Milton Britton to Margaret Zedrick
Joseph Knapp to Almira Brown, June 7, 1849
LaGrange Damon to Mary J. Brown, June 7, 1849.
Only the three immediately preceeding this double wedding are dated
From now on all are dated.
The Misses Brown were the handsome daughters of Newman Brown whose
farm was near the Pittston suburb, Browntown.
Mrs. Knapp lived for
some years in West Pittston, a widow, afterward married Mr. Amon Armstrong.
Both passed away in recent years.
daughter Josephine.
Mrs. Armstrong (1910) survived by ber
Mrs. LaGrange Damon died at Dunmore, where she
passed her last years with her daughter Mrs. Arch Bryden.
in West Pittston.
Note:
Her sons live
Maxwell and Robert are the two sons.
Mrs. Damon died in winter of 1911-12 buried at Wilkes Barre.
Zenas Barnum to Maria Clark, Oct. 26, 1852
James Montague to Carrie Baldwin, Sept. 11, 1860
"Squire Montague" was well known in Pittston.
William H. Giddings to Samantha Newman, Oct. 24, 1861
Henry Knapp to Ann M . Smith, Jan. 23, 1862
David Price to Nancy E. Giddings, Dec. 11, 1862
Pierce and Smiley were singers and friends together.
Giddings were also fine singers.
frequently.
Smiley married Mary.
Nancy and Mary
These four sang as a quartette very
The Giddings home was up Parsonage
Street next above the Myra Giddings Reynolds (Dr. Nathaniel's) place.
This Giddings family were all Baptists.
Mary was immersed in the Susquehanna
in mid-winter.
John R. Davis to Anna Davis, Oct. 3, 1863
Wm. McClure to Mary Rowland, Apr. 1864
J. C . Atori to Ef T. Fuller (?) June 9, 1866
George D. Leisenring to Mary H. Stevens, May 31, 1874
3.0.4.
WILLIAM 5MALLEY
Mr. William Smalley was well-known here as one of the mine superintendents for the Penna. Coal Co..
In 1856, he brought to his house
on Railroad Street, a bride, just from across the water.
Their house
was that first above Mrs. Robertson's, where in 1850 the family of Rev.
C. W. Giddings, the pastor of the Methodist Episcopal Church lived,
until the parsonage was built.
Mr. Smalley was a stout, stolid Englishman.
Mrs. Smalley was a
tall, large-framed woman, with a florid, English complexion a very
superior bearing and a haughty expression of countenance.
She used to
love to talk of her early life in England and of her marriage to Mr.
Smalley in New York.
a girl of 16.
She certainly enjoyed the romance of it as fully as
Her father had been a physician, which gave her place
among the "gentry" the professional men, above the trades-people and
below the nobles.
by entail.
When her father died, his estate all went to her brother
She had quarrelled with her cousin-lover, Wm. Smalley and
he sailed for America.
She was thus practically a pensioner upon the
bounty and hospitality of friends.
that of Steward:
"I cannot die:
Her rank made her situation like
to beg, I am ashamed".
Her brother, who had married, discipated his fortune;
death, left a young son penniless.
and on his
Then, in the face of this emergency,
the Aunt, Elziabeth cast off the shackles of custom and entered a London
millinery establishment to earn money to educate her nephew and she was
successful.
"Many's the time" said she with a lifting of the proud
face, "that I have received a pound note for pinning on a feather!"
After the boy was married, a commission was given him in the British
Colonial Office;
and he married his cousin, Loota, and sailed for India.
But Mrs. Smalley did not approve of cousins marrying each other.
She
kept on with pinning on feathers etc., until at last, as she was getting
elderly and the fashions changed too fast for her, she yielded to her
nephew's solicitations and went to spend the remainder of her days with
him in India.
Here she lived a few years—long enough to accumulate chests
of India tailored clothes etc. when William Smalley wrote asking if she
would not meet him in New York and marry him.
She accepted his offer, left
the old grudge in India, came to New York, where Mr. Smalley met her;
they were married and came to Pittston.
and
Some years later, Mr. Smalley was
burned in the mines and died from the effects.
The nephew in India sent
her funds for support until she died in Pittston in 18— and was interred
in the
Cemetery.
JUDGE REDDIN
Judge Reddin came from Ireland to Pittston in 1842.
He opened a
store, a little above the Reddin Building, next to the Eagle Hotel on
the upper side.
This must have been John Almont's old site.
After
Mallory and Butler opened their store, Almont went over to Pleasant Valley,
where he died and was buried under a tree — the place of his choice.
His sister, Constance put a fence around the tree;
and when the Penna.
Coal Co. built the Gravity Road, she had his body removed to the West
Pittston Cemetery.
Judge Reddin must have conducted the Almont store;
built his large store, he moved to that.
Post Office there.
and after he
He also for a time kept the
He was a highly-educated, very pompous man, with so
prominent and abdomen that as he walked, his back curved inward to balance
the weight above his short legs and small feet.
He was called "Judge"
out of compliment by his fellow citizens, with whom he was very popular
and much respected.
During his lifetime he was an active and influential
member of St. James Episcopal Church.
the
Cemetery.
5, 1912.)
He died in 18— and was interred in
(Probably in Hollenback Cemetery, says G. D . J.
Nov.
3.0.4.
Col. Johnson
The house: Col. Johnson built was of the bungalow style painted
white with green shutters and a broad veranda the length of the front.
It
looked very attractive set in the midst of a large plot of ground which
extended from what is now Broad street to the new store of William Fay.
This house was one of the largest of the few large houses of the place
(period).
Here Miss Adelaide the only daughter of Col. Johnson was
married to Abel Bennett, his associate in the Coal Company about 1847-8.
In list of marriages performed by Elder Mott I find "Abel Bennett to
Adelaide Johnson".
are dated.
No date is given but it closely preceeds some that
Among the double wedding of Mary and Almira Brown to LaGrange
Damon and Joseph Knapp, June 1849.
His. and Geol. Soc. Wilkes Barre
Vol. 11.
The family moved from Pittston after they sold lands and charter
of Pennsylvania Coal Company to William R. Griffith and Benjamin Beyea.
The house was later owned by John Howarth who was a land agent for Mr.
Griffith.
Later it was leased to families and as business on Main Street
had developed what was the large lawn surrounding the pleasant cottage,
is now covered by the large brick business houses between Broad Street
and the Star Drug Store and the Cottage, scarcely a resemblance to its
former attractive self, is in the rear of these brick buildings and
served Mr. James Compton as a cleaning and dyeing establishment.
Pittston was for many years so largely dependent for its prosperity
in the "Big Company" as the Pennsylvania Coal Company was called, that
its origin deserves notice.
Col. Johnson came to Pittston from Carbondale where he had been
engaged in the teaming business, afterward conducted by George M
.
Major Smith was authority for asserting that he had also been in mercan-•
tile business in Wilkes Barre before coming here.
In 1847 he sold his
coal lands in this neighborhood to William R. Griffith and with them the
charter for the Pennsylvania Coal Company, granted by the Legislature in
1838.
Mr. Griffith bought three large tracts for $100 per acre, for the
Wyoming Coal Association taking title in his own name and conveying subsequently to the Association.
The Association, through its trustees,
conveyed to the Pennsylvania Coal Company which became a stock company.
In 1849-50 the Company built its gravity road from Dunmore to Hawley and
later extended it down to Pittston.
This road was built under the
charter of the Washington Coal Company which charter had been granted in
1838 also.
In 1850 this company merged with the Pennsylvania and William R.
Griffith became the third President.
3.0.4.
(This is about the same as No. 1 in notes)
Next to this Damon House was the general merchandise store of Damon
and Day.
It was in size and shape just as it is to-day.
It is known now
as the West End Drug store and was kept by Harlow Damon and his brotherin-law, Truman B. Day, who had come from Day about 1846-7, a very young
man with the healthy glow of the farm life on his face, and the quick red
blood of the mountain in his veins.
He came in winter in a cutter and
drove all the way a spirited team of black colts.
He built a home up
Railroad street next to his sisters, Mrs. Nancy T. R. both built by
R. D. LaCoe.
Truman Day died in 1867 leaving one son, Daniel Fell Day.
Crossing Railroad Street where the small office of the Pennsylvania
Coal Company stood in 1850, on same plot of ground as old No. 1 shaft
now (1911) are the shape of John Howell and D? Davis meat market and a
bakery and P. R. Brown Ice Cream parlors.
Across the road from Harlow Daman's house is the building erected by
the Bowkleys for general merchandise in which some of our best known and
successful young men were clerks in the 50's, (Day, Beyea)
Opposite the old shaft where in 1850 stood the blacksmith shop of
Crandall Thompson, now stands the four story brick of Perrin Brothers
manufacturers of macaroni, almost or quite unknown to Pittstonians of
1850.
(Next to Perrone's) is the large storage power plant of the
Traction Company.
JOHNSON
DAY — WING
I came to Pittston from town of Day, Saratoga County, N.Y. with my
mother, my six year old sister and my grandmother, Mrs. Sophia Daw
Wing.
We came from Carbondale to Pittston by stage coach.
Our journey
from Saratoga was made partly by rail and partly by stage coach.
On arriving we stopped at Harlow Damon's house, N.E. side, South Main
Street, the first house below Railroad Street.
On the corner of Rail-
road Street and next to the house of Harlow Damon, under the firm
name of Damon and Day, was a store for general merchandise.
It stands
there yet without any enlargement or extensive change, but now, (1910)
and for many years has been the West End drug store.
The house is
now converted into a double dwelling, was then the largest house in
that part of the town and was noted for its hospitality and attractive
appearance and furnishings.
Mrs. Damon was a fine housekeeper and had many qualifications
for a brilliant leader in society.
The house had been built for a
few years by Ralph LaCoe, the leading contractor and builder of the
vicinity.
He had previously built the Abraham Price house and a short
distance below on same side of street.
He was very glad to get Mr.
Damon's house finished without accident or conflagration and to give
it into Mr. Damon's hands.
In that early time there was the rough
element that usually gathers as a new mining town.
As it neared com-
pletion he remained on guard day and night,
and no police was organized,
The two Brookley (?) brothers and the two Price brothers, Ben
and Joel, had come from England to Pittston and had opened coal mines
up at the head of Railroad Street, back of Zedrik Road.
experienced miners in England.
They were
They built a gravity road from the
mines down to the coal basin covered all the lower part of Oregon
from R.R. Street to Dock Street.
The small coal cars came down with
runners standing on their bumpers who carried strong sticks (sprags)
in their hands to thrust into the car wheels to act as brakes.
cars ran away and off the track.
But
At the basin end of the railway
was a chute which the coal was dumped from the car and sent down into
the hold of the canal boat waiting under it.
Then the empty cars
were drawn by mules or horses back up the grade to the mine to be
refilled.
These horses had been ridden down by hilarious boys following
the cars from the mine to the basin and as soon as the cars were unloaded two horses were hitched tandem to two cars and drew them back
the two miles to the mine.
runners.
The boys returned in the cars with the
There were no laws nor agitation as to the legitimate age
limit or ability to read and write and some of the boys were certainly
undersized.
Most of our miners were Welch, English and Scotch and
in 1848 we hear of whole families living in the mine in the old country.
Riding horses in the sunshine did not seem hardship at all compared
with that.
Pittston was a big open place where the conventions of town life
were not observed at all times and the restrictions for children were
only of the laws made and enforced by their parents.
There were two parallel gravity tracks on the east of Railroad
street.
One led from the Benedcit and Alton mine.
Both terminated
at Basin.
A beautiful little brook ran swiftly down beside the tracks and
empties into the canal basin near by back of the present west end
Hotel.
Railroad Street was a noisy, lively thoroughfare at times
3.0.4.
not many wagons, nor pedestrians made the panarama, but the railroad
business was noisy and steady.
Trips of loaded cars went down these
two gravity roads with shouting runners standing on the bumpers, stout
sticks in hand to "sprag" the wheels should the speed become too great,
and sometimes a trip would get beyond control and run away getting
started at the mines, gaining momentum swiftly until a sharp curve
was reached, when they would leave the track.
Every loaded trip was followed by a string of mules, ridden by
noisy shouting boys, who whipped the steeds and goaded themselves
to excitement to reach the basin as soon as the cars had unloaded
and to hitch the mules to the cars and draw them up the grade back
to the mine to be refilled.
runners.
The boys rode back in the cars with the
They did outside in the light and sunshine what boys now
do in the mines.
Just beyond the tracks ran a swift noisy brook where the children
of the neighborhood sailed boats of shingle, running along the bank
to help the boat with a long stick, to clear itself when stranded
or pushing it out of an eddy.
As in rivalries of modern Dunard's
and White Star Lines, so in our shingle boats we saw great possibilities and satisfactions, if we might but finish the course ahead of
a competitor.
"Leave her have her run her race" was the familiar shout of our
little German playmates, as he excitedly warned us against interference.
Surely had he lived he would have sailed away in boats for his life's
voyage—but he was taken from all evil that might be, and gathered
home with the large company of little ones in 1852 when scarlet fever
was epidemic and preventive science was almost unknown.
This creek supplied the boiler house of No. 1 shaft with water.
It was made to fill a large tank and from that led to the boiler,
this tank served one day to save the life of a little girl whose clothes
caught fire from a street bonfire.
A carpenter named VanBuskirk picked
her up, ran and soused her into this large tank severely burning his
own hands, but saving her.
There were two canal basins where the boats lay in large numbers
waiting to load up with coal.
On the big Basin, extended over the
lower part of Oregon where Dershimer and Griffin's planing mills and
the other manufacturing plants now stand.
The LLoyd, or smaller basin,
was above Dock street extending up to the "Ravine" or near where the
L.V. Freight Station now is.
The LLoyd basin received coal from the
3.0.4.
LLoyd property mine, situated back of Pittston near the light track
of the Pennsylvania Coal Company, near the old Hapeman home.
company was composed of Messers. LLoyd, Ford, and
This
later Pearce,
Clarkson and Love and by them sold to the Pennsylvania Company.
It
sent its coal to the Basin over the gravity road extending down through
the hollow following west side of Broad street, thence down ChJarles
Street across Main to the Basin.
From Railroad street up town were not as many buildings but we
knew the names of their owners and their business.
Just across the railroad tracks of the Benedict and Alton, (Maryland)
and Brookley and Price Companies was a small building of wood painted
white, about as large as the tall house at upper Bridge and standing
on stilts.
Its door was reached by walking two planks.
This was
the office of the Washington Coal C o . in the days of small beginnings.
Just back of this was the large breaker over No. 1 shaft.
For many
years the finest of anthracite coal was raised here and lifted to
the top from which a trestling led to the coal to the main loaded
track which crossed Railroad street above grade, just as it does now.
A man and mule received the car.
I once had a terrible shock as a
child: I saw the man who pushed the emptied cars onto the platform
at the head of this shaft go down the shaft after his falling car.
There was no breaker over the shaft.
Each householder was his own breaker.
Breakers were built later.
The coal was sold as mined,
in lumps size of half a bushel and peck measure.
It was of finest
bright quality and a few light blows with a coal hammer on the line
of cleavage sent the lump into fragments of all sizes.
easily sorted for stove or grate.
These were
A car of this lump coal was hoisted
on a platform to the top of the shaft.
A man stood ready to go behind
it, push it off onto a short narrow railroad to the loaded track which
crossed Railroad street.
Here he dumped the coal into the large cars
and pushed his car back bending all his strength to the task.
the empty car was sent down to be refilled.
Then
The tragedy I witnessed
was the result of no platform at the head of the shaft.
He fell after
his car down past the open windows and I knew he went down the shaft
to the bottom of the mine.
The platform was not in place to receive
his car and the trying to pull it back to safety pulled him over to
death.
This was one of the early tragedies of the coal mines and
its like and others have been frequent ever since.
3.0.4.
Where the shaft stood are now the shops of
.
After the
coal, was mined in the vicinity of the old timber shaft, was taken
down, the shaft filled.
This shaft pumped its water out through a
small wooden pipe into the little creek which ran all the way down
from the woods back of Zedrik road, beside the two railroads.
Then
by a conduit it passed under Main street and flowed into a brook which
came from Tompkins Mill Pond.
The two creeks flowed together back
of present West End Hotel into the big canal Basin opposite Pine Street.
Passing up the east side of Main toward Pine was a frame house
back from the street, with a basement front where lived Diam Morgan(?)
or some newcomers who drank and sold beer.
then.
Saloons were not prevalent
Whiskey or rum were drunk and police surveilance would not
trouble a man if he lay alongside the road to sleep off his intoxication.
But in this house was over fat beer fed lad of fourteen whose eyes
were dull and his manner listless and it was reported among school
children that he was a beer drinker and that was what made him so
fat and gross.
He died early and thus pointed a moral, an object
lesson, more forceful than a temperance lecture.
I believe, still stands back of
This old beer house
.
At the corner of Pine was a narrow white wooden building built
up against the hill, three or four stories in front.
ungainly looking structure.
It was a most
As the long legged Shanghi fowls were
newly introduced into this part of the world this tall building was
named "Shanghi Hall".
Its site is now covered by Keystone Hall.
Mr. Lewis Crawford ouilt it and at the same time built for his residence
the house back of it on top of the hill.
It was painted white, had
a gable end to Pine St. without window shutters or porch and no houses
near it, but the Pennsylvania Coal Company's loaded track close beside
it.
When the wind blew hard it looked frail enough to topple over.
Mrs. Crawford was Jeanette Benedict, daughter of Samuel Benedict of
North Pittston who built and occupied the then very charming house
in W. Pittston now owned and occupied by Michael Bolin.
On the opposite side of Main Street and lower down near Main
was the low roofed white cottage of Joseph Knapp (blacksmith) who
had married Myra, daughter of Newman Brown and sister of Mrs. LaGrange
Daman.
This Knapp house is back of J. Craig's store corner Main and
Pine and was for many years after Mr. Knapp left it, the home of David
Blanchard and family.
where Mr. C. now is.
Mr. Blanchard had a general store in the building
3.0.4.
The third building from Pine was a story and a half cottage lifted
above a basement store.
form.
It stands today, essentially the same in
A flight of steps at the left led by narrow lane to an upper
porch from which the door opened, Jesse Williams lived here and in
1848 conducted a tin and hardware shop in the basement.
In 1850 he
was in basement of Mr. W. came to Pittston from Connecticut.
He had
married Eliza Johnson of Dundafff, an aunt of George and Frank Johnson,
both for many years in business here.
Mr. Williams later conducted
a foundry on the ground now covered by
and he lived in a stone
house across the street and had a small office building next to the
hoQse.
Continuing up Main street next to the Williams house was the
drug store of Blakeley Hall, Foster and Hall.
The small building
he began with was torn down and replaced by the substantial brick
now owned by Barnes.
The drug store filled the upper side and Mrs.
Hall had a fancy and book store in the southern side and the family
used the two flats above for their living rooms.
This family came
to Pittston from near New Brunswick, N.J., and after selling out here
returned there.
Mr. Hall was a polished, highly educated gentleman
who spent his later years in leisure, cultivating his artistic tastes.
Mrs. Hall had conducted a young ladies' school here for some years.
She built the schoolhouse on Green, built up a boarding and day school
in Brooklyn.
Her assistant, her daughter, who died early and Mrs.
Hall was for many years before her death very successful in introducing
Appleton's Encyclopedia in these mining regions.
Blakely, Hall,
Journalist of New York City was a son of this house.
At the corner of Main and Market streets still stands a :building
three story front in good preservation.
lived there.
In 1850 a family named Topliff
The large store below was after occupied by James 0.
Donnell whose children are still with us highly respected citizens.
Across Market street was the house which still is there.
It stood
originally up on a sand bank, but excavation was made and the storeroom
on a level with the sidewalk was made.
It is now a taxicab station.
Back of the Topliff house, up the hill half a block, and just below
the railroad tracks of the Erie and Laurel Line is the story and a
half house in which William Law lived in the early days.
his large family were then born.
None of
Farther up the hill and where Laurel
Line Station now is, was a two story frame house in which Patrick
Reaves lived.
He had married Miss Mary Love of Carbondale.
Mr. Reaves
3.0.4.
was a supt. of mine machinery of the Pennsylvania Coal Company for many
years.
He lived in Scranton, retired at an advanced age, with his
daughter Louise.
George and John Love, brothers of Mrs. Reaves were
merchants, and influential business men in early Pittston.
Above Market street were some small wooden shops and then opposite
where Langan's(?) Shoe store now is stood Col. Bird's Hotel.
Bird had kept the Port Mallory when he first came here.
Col.
He had married
Elzia Fell, a widow and whose brother Charles Johnson had a cabinet
shop in one of the small buildings above mentioned.
Mrs. Bird's first
husband was of the family of Jesse Fell of Wilkes Barre who had discovered
Anthracite coal's burning qualities.
Col. Bird's hotel must have been almost new when it burned.
There
was no fire company and the merchants kept on hand always a large
stock of water pails for such an emergency.
Then in case of fire,
two bucket lines were formed to nearest water supply.
The men handed
up their line the filled buckets and the women passed back the empty
ones to be refilled.
On the night etc.
In this case the supply of water was abundant and near by directly
in front of the house in the Basin at the rear of Langham's store.
They could not save the hotel, but saved nearby buildings.
On the west side of Main street all the way up from the Price
and Bowkley store now site of West End Hotel, there were no houses
until the "Long Store',' now Langham's store.
There was no sidewalk,
only a path along the side of the road and then a sandy slope down
to the creek which flowed from Tompkins Mill pond into the Basin.
The building opposite Market Street occupied by J. 0. D . Mangan was
put up in
, by Mr. Theodore Strong for a steam grist mill.
Mr. S's brother-in-law, Hanford Benedict came to Pittston and was
employed here as also was Oscar F . Gaines.
Young Mr. benedict was
full of public spirit and was the promoter of our first Fire Company,
the Eagle Hose.
very best men.
This company enlisted the ardor and interest of our
Their personality as well as the highly approved organ-
ization they had formed carried the sympathy of the town, and no effort
was too good nor cost too heavy to do honor to "The Eagles".
February
22d was reserved for the benefit celebration and old Phoenix Hall
has been the scene of many a banquet and brilliant oration from our
best speakers.
It was the great social funtion of the season.
High as the organization has always stood in the community it
was most highly appreciated in those early days.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
3.0.4.
MY OFFERS.
I always had men friends who were kind and polite to me.
I never
was left out of the general sociabilities of the town and I never
was without an escort home after an evening, though the young men
doubtless compared the thickness of their soles to learn which was
the best equipped for the long walk to Railroad Street.
I had enough
attention from young men to satisfy me, for I was always busy in mind,
if not in person; and as for lovers, I had no desire for them, so
they had no glowing fancy for an ambitious school-mistress.
I went on the even, busy tenor of my way for several years.
One evening, I was surprised by a declaration of more than friendship,
but there was no apparent disappointment when I explained that friendship was all I could give or take.
The second time was even more prosaic.
in a sense.
It was "Pickwickian",
My admirer told me across the table, in the parlor, that
he had been very successful in agricultural pursuits the past summer,
especially in training tomatoes to climb high.
I tried to show my
interest in his story; and he abruptly changed the subject and asked
me if I would consider a proposal of marriage!
I did consider it
for half a minute — long enough to recover from the surprise — and
assured him that I would consider him only in the light of friendship.
"0, no matter; no consequence; no matter at all!"
said he; and
resumed the subject of his raising tomatoes.
My third offer came from the one whom I married, after long years
of acquaintance and friendship had made us quite indispensible to
each other — at least, he, by many thoughtful acts of kindness, had
endeared himself to all except my grandmother.
She had a scheme for
mating me to a son of one of her Methodist sisters.
But he nor I
never knew it until one day when she and I were passing the house
he had just built for the bride of his own choice.
admiringly at it and exclaimed:
Grandmother looked
"Just see what you missed, Ellen!"
I never had the vanity to perceive that Cupid ever regarded me
with any favor.
My husband says the only time he ever asked me to
sing a love song for him, I sang:
"I tell them they need'nt come wooing to me
"For my heart, my heart is over the sea."
The lines repeat with accentuated tones and arpeggios.
I dense!
Was'nt
Most girls would have seen the opportunity; but not I.
I deserved to miss my chance for a good husband; but this blunder
3.0.4.
of ignorance was over-ruled and after a long time, when I was a thirtyfour year old spinster, he — as he says — "snatched me as a brand
from the burning" and set me on the throne I still grace as wife and
mother.
As for my qualifications as a home-maker, there were differences
of opinion.
One good man, whose son and daughter had been in my school,
said it was "a case of a good teacher spoiled for a poor house-keeper."
I never believed selfish motives prompted the remark, but he was a
friend of my husband's, who was the object of many commiserating glances
and condolences, for a school-mistress was by habit and tendency and
autocrat and a visionary theorist.
But we succeeded very well.
Grandmother had gone to her Heavenly
home: and Mother and Georgia were happy to have my husband come into
this house.
I kept house and cooked by books.
George made garden
and raised excellent vegetables by Dreer's books; and Mother was happy
and independent, teaching her little primary school in our present
library, until the sweet, little tyrant, Baby Emily, came and afforded
the doting Grandmother plenty of occupation and eventually, cleared
the house of all those other little lords and ladies, and claimed
for herself all the smiles and obedience of the entire family and
its connections.
I cannot go into the memories of her wonderful growth
and her Aunt Georgia's jealous love and care.
It would fill a small
volume and yet leave much untold.
And so would the tale of my big-eyed, round-faced, strong and
comfortable Bert, concerning whom I never worried, except when he
had croup.
And last of all, my baby, Nat, with frail body and strong
will and affection, who would have died but for the watchful care
of a devoted Grandmother and the inherent bright and strong spirit
and elastic constitution, which would not stay bound for long.
The story of each of these would be of boundless interest to
me, if it had been noted down from year to year.
It is all written
in the Book of Life; and will be unfolded when the Last Day of Earth
is ended and the New Life begun.
*******************
3.0.4.
PERSONAL NOTES BY MOTHER
Jan. 26th 1911, walked down Main Street to R. R. Bridge.
The
old Oliver house, corner Main and Oak, is well kept state. The Abram
Price house unchanged and weather worn, but occupied.
The whole front
yard cut away and the cellar extended to sidewalk of Main street —
this basement divided into four small station shops.
Retracing my
steps further, the gray brick house built by Morgan and later property
and residence of Joseph Schooley stands unchanged.
The wooden build-
ing next is an Italian Cafe, and next above is the large two story frame
house built for Harlow Damon, by R. D. LaCoe, in 1846-7.
It is now a
double tenement but still has the look of a cheerful, well lighted and
hospitable home.
Mr. Daman came to Pittston at the call of his uncle
Volney Maxwell, a practicing lawyer and influential citizen of Wilkes
Barre.
Mr. and Mrs. Daman came to Pittston with their two young sons and
boarded at the Port Mallory Hotel until their new house should be finished.
Mrs. daman was well known for her excellent hospitality and housekeeping.
Soon after coming into her home she added to her family a young lady niece
Miss Ellithup(?) from Day, New York, and a cousin Miss Wetherby, a piano
music teacher.
With so much cheerful atmosphere the house became the center
of a social festivities.
In the West Parlor, in 1855 Miss Ellithrup was
united in marriage to Oscar F.Gaines of Boontown, N. J., whose uncle
Marquis Gaines was paymaster for the Pennsylvania Coal Co. and brother in
law of General Ewen, 1st President of the Coal Company.
Oscar was clerk.
3.0.4.
STEPHEN MILLER and MARY GOODRICH
Rev. John Miller.
A glance at the home and business life of Stephen Miller will
illustrate the varied trials of the early settler in this valley.
Where there was little machinery in use, and facilities for travel
or communication with the outside world were meagre, Stephen Miller
was the third child of Samuel and Susanna (Phillips) Miller, who sold
their 200 acre tract of land now covered by Pittston City and bought
instead a farm at Hughestown (all called "Pittstown" then).
farm, Stephen Miller was born and reared.
On this
When eighteen years old
he married Mary Goodrich of Providence, Pa., March 3, 1811.
Her name
was suggestive, in both syllables of what she proved to be to him.
She had an unusual training to fit her for a pioneer's wife.
Her
father was killed while clearing his farm in Providence, by a tree
he was felling, crushing him to the earth.
daughters on an uncleared forest farm!
He left a wife and five
Two of the daughters, Mary
and Anna, took the axe and felled the trees in two acres, logged and
burnt it, then hired a man to plow it.
food for this family.
Thus they were able to raise
After this, Mary worked a whole year for a
family, and brought home her wages which was nineteen bushels of grain.
For a year after his marriage, Stephen's home was with his parents.
Meantime he was clearing a small part of a farm in Scott Township,
100 acres of uncleared land, presented to him by his generous grandfather,
John Phillips in 1812.
He put up a crude log cabin on his clearing
and loaded a wagon drawn by oxen, with household goods to furnish
the new home, they set out May 5, 1812 to begin housekeeping by themselves.
The nearest road was the main road and led from Pittston to Clarks
Green.
When they reached this point they were two and a half miles
from their home in the deep forest.
From here, Mary, with her babe
William in her arms, set out to walk in , as easier than to ride over
the woods road.
Stephen drove the team.
they met at their own doorway.
way, but no door as yet.
Both had mishaps before
I speak advisedly — there was a door-
Mary had only marked trees for a guide.
She lost her way, and was on the point of giving up in bewilderment,
when she saw smoke curling up in the distance.
She found it and found
also Mrs. Weatherly who directed her to her own house about a mile
away.
For this kind neighbor, Mary had always the warmest affection.
3.0.4.
Stephen meantime had his troubles getting the wagon over the
rough road.
It jolted over the rocks, and several times got fast
in the mire; he had each time to unload it, get the wheels out and
on solid ground, then re-load and jolt on till another quagmire made
him repeat the labor.
But they arrived at the cabin without any serious mishap.
They
unloaded the goods, hung a quilt at the doorway and committed themselves
to the watchful care of the all seeing ey® which penetrates the dark
recesses of the forest and looks after its own.
The first necessity
was to enlarge the little clearing and plant a garden and some grain.
They tried to fell the trees across each other, then pile brush and
burn them.
Thus did all the pioneers, sacrificing the grandest oaks,
maples and beeches, to make room for themselves to grow.
The nearest grist mill was Babb's, twenty miles away.
There
Stephen must go with his grist on his back and bring it back the same
way - and all the way afoot - he had no horses, and he could not go
and come in one day.
He must be away overnight and thus leave Mary
and her child alone with only a quilt hung for a door and the wolves
howling outside.
In these days of multiplied facilities for travel,
of abundant money in circulation, of near neighbors, it is impossible
to realize the heroism of the women of that wilderness.
But Mary
Goodrich was a woman of character and strong nerve, able and willing
to go out and help her young husband when he came in so discouraged
and exhausted that he wept and said he believed he could not clear
the farm.
Is it any wonder he was discouraged?
After the trees were
off in some parts, there were so many stones that an ox team had to
pick its way among them.
Mary was seven years older than Stephen,
and with the experience she had had in clearing her father's farm,
could encourage him with loving words and actual labor.
She would
go out with him and help in clearing and building fences.
Within
a few years their farm was filled with grain and their home with happy
children.
In the Fall and Winter, Stephen would trap and hunt deer, pheasants,
wild turkeys, some of which weighed thirty pounds.
he made maple sugar.
In the Spring
There was little money in the country but these
articles of food were saleable and he used to carry them on his back
to Wilkes Barre, the nearest market and exchange them for cloth, leather
and the many necessities needed for a growing family.
walk of thirty miles each way, carrying a load.
This was a
Later, he had horses
and made these journeys on horseback.
In the lona winter eveninas he made uo the leather into boots
3.0.4.
and shoes; one pair for each of the family, every year.
the children went bare foot.
In the Spring
If their shoes were not worn out, they
answered for Sunday wear.
In those days the shoemaker's bench and outfit, was a necessity
in the pioneer home, as well as the spinning wheels for wool and flax.
Every farmer was supposed to raise sheep and flax and the boys and
girls had to learn how to turn them into cloth for the family use.
The farmer was an agriculturist, and his family were manufacturers.
Stephen Miller and his wife were of sunny hopeful dispositions
and knew the secrets of making a home happy for their children.
They
spent their winter evenings quite as happily as their descendants
who lived in the age of theaters and other public places of amusement.
They sat around the big fire place, the father doing the shoe making,
or mending or other work, the wife and children, spinning, knitting
sewing, reading or singing.
When bedtime came like Longfellow's Village
Blacksmith, they could feel, "Something attempted, something done,
Had earned a night's repose".
During the winter, large piles of wood must be cut for the year's
use.
The muscles of the boys were hard and without a Gymnasium.
The Summer was spent in clearing more land and putting in and
gathering the crops.
Wolves, Bear, Deer and other wild animals were
plentiful and sometimes attacked the cattle and fowls, and Stephen
Miller used often to drive them out of his cornfields.
heard a disturbance among his geese.
fox in defense of the flock.
One day he
He found a gander fighting a
The geese scampered away and left their
protector to battle with the intruder.
He pitched at the fox, beating
him repeatedly with his wings, until the robber was forced to flee
and seek his meal elsewhere.
One evening, Mary Miller was going for her cow;
with her began barking furiously.
a black bear lying across the path.
a little dog
She saw the occasion of it was
Unable to call the dog away,
she tied her apron string around his neck and led him around the bear,
and went on after the cow.
She had better nerves than her descendants
probably have.
Another trial to a large family was the loss of the last remaining cow,
and this occured three times.
One was drowned, the next was killed
by a colt, the third by a darning needle lost from Mary's shawl when
she went to the stack to feed the cow.
An autopsy revealed the needle
sticking in the cow's heart.
In those days, the men were obliged to have a military training.
Stephen would naturally belong to Capt. Ebenezer Slocum's comoany
3.0.4.
from Providence.
These came to Pittston for "Training Days".
(see
the War of the Cockades — Jas. Gordon)
One time when Stephen went to the Training, he took his wife
and three oldest children with him, leaving three daughters, Elmina,
Melissa and Arlemissa, with their cousin Dorcas Aton to keep house.
While they were away, the house took fire and some of them ran a mile
for Paulus Leonard, who put it out.
Fortunately, it was of logs,
and not so inflammable as board would have been, and the house was
built, as was common in those days near a large spring.
The four
girls may be imagined as forming a bucket brigade from the spring
to the house, while Paulas poured it on the flames.
Rev. John Miller, was the only minister in all that region.
He was not an impecurious dependant on the votes of a fickle congregation.
He had taken opportunities to buy land and was considered
"well-to-do".
He lived on his farm in Abington.
several pieces of cloth to sell.
At one time he bought
Mary Miller bought five yards of
calico of him at forty cents a yard for her eldest daughter, Elmina.
The bill was $2.00, and Elmina paid it by spinning wool for him at
fifty cents a week!
Those were times when the people worked hard for all they had.
Melissa, the next-eldest daughter to Elmina, worked for her Uncle
Rufus, for several years, at seventy five cents a week.
Besides clothing
herself, she managed, by strict economy to save one hundred dollars
and with it purchased a comfortable outfit when she married.
This Uncle Rufus Miller had a foundry at Old Forge, (Pittston)
in which they used charcoal for fuel.
Mary Miller was a prudent thrifty manager of her home.
She would
never permit herself to use the last of any supply lest an emergency
should arise and it be needed.
else, of which she had more.
When it got low, she used something
In this way her pantry always afforded
a variety and the poor and the sick always shared its stores.
She
rode on horseback sometimes with two children. About twenty five years
before her death, she fell dislocating her hip and ever after used
one, sometimes two crutches.
Yet her energy and will power impelled
her to walk at eighty-two years of age, a distance of over three miles
to visit her son Luther.
From early life, Stephen and Mary Miller were exemplary members
of the Abington Baptist Church.
of apoplexy.
Stephen died in 1862 from a stroke
He fell from his wagon dead, leaving the farm and the
home which had replaced the log cabin long since, to Stephen, his
son. who should Drovide and care for his mother, so lona as she lived.
3.0.4.
She survived him seven years.
Both were laid to rest in the
family burial plot Stephen had set off from his farm, where many of
his descendants also lie.
"Stephen and Mary Miller, of noble ancestry, made strong in faith
and in body by the many hardships and trials they met, rearing their
children in the fear of God, by precept and example, teaching them
industry and frugality, saw them all settled in farms, thrifty and
prosperous, blessed with all the necessities and comforts of life;
and now their descendants rise up and call them blessed".
John Phillips
- married in 1843
Francis Phillips — John
b. Jan. 4, 1752
married
Mary Chamberlain
Jan. 20, 1771.
They had six children.
Martha - b. Oct. 1771 — married John Tripp
Dec. 9, 1789
children: Wm. R., James, Sally,
Polly, Zacheus, David and Pamela.
Susannah - b . Aug. 7, 1773—married Samuel Miller
Sept. 7, 1778?
children: Amos, Caleb, Stephen, Lois,
Ruth, Amanda, Rufus, Louisa,
Lewis, twins(Tryphma-died and
Tryphosa, called melissa
Martin, Azubah.
John Phillips.
3.0.4.
ELI5HA DELANO.
(.written by James a. Gordon and first
published in the Pittston Gazette in 1874)
Elisha Delano, who settled first in Hanover and afterward in
Pittston was of French Hugenot descent.
His ancestors made their
escape from the city of Mentz at the time of the massacre of St.
Bartholamew, going from thence to England and in 1664 came to Boston
with General Humphrey Atherton.
Elisha Delano was born in Sharon, Connecticut.
His Father was
Thos. Delano and his Nephew was Columbus Delano, Secretary of the
Interior.
In 1779 or 1780 Mr. Delano came to Hanover with the Hurlbut
family.
Elisha was then nineteen years old, and had just completed
his apprenticeship as a cabinet maker and house carpenter, to which
he added that of mill wright.
He was not urged to come to Wyoming
by the representations of the Proprietors alone.
There was a certain
attraction in the shape of a certain pretty girl, a native of the
same town of Sharon, who had preceeded him.
Under this influence
he shouldered his knapsack and overtook John Hurlbut and his family
at Stroudsburg in the Fall of 1779 or the Spring of 1780.
Reaching Hanover, he looked about for a water power, with the
intention of erecting a grist mill, of which there was great need.
At that time there was only a single grist mill on the East side of
the river, all the way from Lackawanna Falls to Nanticoke and there
was none there.
This was John Hollenbacks at Mill creek, one mile
above Wilkes Barre.
Securing his water power and a few acres attached,
he made his home at Frederick Crismans.
He commenced operations by
going to the mountains, three miles distant, and working out his mill
stones from the conglomerate rock, or "Pudding Stone"; finished them,
all with his own hands, built his dam of stone, made his gears and
built his mill of logs, surmounted by a frame dwelling above for the
accommodation of his partner-to-be, Mary Atherton, of Capouse.
The Mill was ready to grind in the Fall of 1782.
It was located
about a mile up a creek that emptied into the River at the head of
Nanticoke Pool and was later known as the Behee Mill.
It was about
half a mile from the old red tavern kept for many years by Frederick
Crisman.
In 1783 the little log mill was crowded with bags of grist, corn,
wheat and rye and the water kept it whirling from early morn till
late at night.
But he had no Bolter.
Bolting cloth was not to be
3.0.4.
had in the valley.
The customers of the mill had to seive their flour
through hair seives, as no wire seives were then made.
This did not
come up to Mr. Delano's idea of a mill, so he collected 10 or 15 dollars
and procuring a letter of introduction from Col. Zebulon Butler to
the Wagners of Easton, the great millers of the day, he shouldered
his knapsack and rifle and walked the forty miles to Easton.
He returned
the fifth day after with his bolting cloth and a saddle of venison
that he had shot on the way back.
The cost of this cloth was $40.00,
for which he gave his note for six months with interest.
The bolt
was soon in operation, though turned by a crank, the patrons of the
mill doing their own turning.
Corn was the great staple in those
days, made into mush or Johnny Cake with a pudding sauce of maple
sugar or wild honey from the "Honey Pot".
In 1782 Mr. Delano brought his bride to live in the house over
the mill.
In those days, weddings were rare and always celebrated
by the neighbourhood as the "home bringing".
Especially was this
the custom with the Paxton people from Southern Pennsylvania.
The
young mistress of the mill had a hearty reception from these warmhearted Scotch-Irish people, to which she often referred in her old
age.
(Copy)
The ensuing ten years was a season of prosperity to the
young miller: but an unseen calamity came suddenly upon him and prostrated all his hopes.
On the morning of the 6th of October, 1786,
occurred one of the most disastrous floods that ever occurred in the
Wyoming and Lackawanna valleys.
It is known in our local histories
as the "pumpkin flood."
Mr. Delano had been busy all the previous day running the mill
to its full capacity up to 12 o'clock midnight, when he shut down
and retired to rest, without any apprehension of the coming danger.
Falling into a profound slumber from which he was awakened at early
dawn by the rushing of wild waters and the screams of his wife and
children.
The swollen waters had undermined the structure during
the night and he awoke to the fact that the mill was upon the point
of tottering into the abyss of waters below the dam.
His first care
was to piace his wife and two children on terra firma, the next was
to save his bolter and the grists of his customers which was ready
for delivery.
At this critical juncture, Stephen Burri'tt, the brother
of Mrs. Judge Hollenback, made his appearance.
the mill and his wife screaming for aid.
Mr. Delano was in
Stephen shouted to him to
3.0.4.
come out.
In another minute the mill went over on its side and Mrs.
Delano fell down in utter despair.
Stephen Burritt, however, kept
cool and when Mr. D. arose to the surface from the uncovered space
left by the capsizing of the mill, holding on to the bolting chest,
Burritt seized a long pole that happened to be lying there and reached
the end to the struggling man and drew him safely ashore, bolter and
all.
The next was the awakening of Mrs. Delano to consciousness;
and the next was a kneeling group of the two men and the mother clasping
her two children, giving thanks to their Father in Heaven for their
preservation.
What a scene for a painter!
Could not some imaginative
artist put it on canvas for the Republican?
Do any of my readers ask how I came by this?
Well, to save myself
from the imputation of being put down as a writer of fiction, I will
only say that I have heard Mrs. Delano tell the story to her children
when she was an old woman, and I remember very well that her eyes
would be suffused with tears and her enthusiastic expression of gratitude to Stephen Bejrritt for saving the life of her husband.
Notwithstanding these discouraging items of his young manhood,
in three months he had his mill in running order again and continued
to do the grinding for the people of Hanover up to the time of the
erection of the Alden mill on Nanticoke Creek, of which mill he was
the mill-wright and put it in successful operation.
Of course the
Alden mill was in competition with his own mill, but he thought he
was fully compensated by his three dollars a day received from the
Aldens.
He continued in Hanover up to 1799 running his mill and
practicing his trade as a house builder and a cabinet maker.
He was
the architect and builder of the old Red Tavern for Fredk. Chrisman.
In 1799 he purchased the Connecticut claim for 50 acres with the water
power of the Lackawanna river ajacent and here his connection with
Hanover ends and his subsequent career belongs to the history of Pittston
and I close this article by saying that he left the valley in 1814
or 1815.
He had five daughters and three sons, Elisha, who now resides
at Penn Yan, N.Y.; Cornelius, who fell with David Crockett at the
Alamo, in texas and Albert, who went to Texas in 1831, where he amassed
a large landed estate, but died early, unmarried and without issue.
His eldest daughter Pamela married Hugh Anderson, of Philadelphia
and she is the only one of his children who left issue.
One of her
daughters now resides on River street, Wilkesbarre, Mrs. Shearer.
Her
mother was one of the children I have described in that praying qroup."
V V
V V V
V V
V
291
1 1 |
,mr.
iUy
i•
Cornelius and Eleazer Atherton.
Historical Papers Read Before Dial RocK Chapter,
Daughters ol the American Revolution,
West Pittston, Pa.
•V
i
j,
f
( F r o m t h e T a y l o r v i l l e J o u r n a l , of A u g u s t 24, 1889.)
T h e f o l l o w i n g a r t i c l e a p p e a r e d in
t h e S c r a n t o n W e e k l y R e p u b l i c a n of
A p r i l 1st, 1874; a s it c o n t a i n s m a n y
facts intimately connected with
the
e a r l y h i s t o r y of t h e L a c k a w a n n a a n d
W y o m i n g Valleys, we h e r e w i t h r e p u b lish it. F o r a s m a n y h a v e u n d e r t a k e n t o g a t h e r u p a n d w r i t e o u t all t h e
historical facts for publication conn e c t e d w i t h t h e e a r l y s e t t l e m e n t of t h e
Wyoming and
Lackawanna
Valleys
a n d h a v i n g in o u r p o s s e s s i o n m a n y
facts and incidents that have never
b e e n c o m m i t t e d t o a n y of t h e a u t h o r s
w h o h a v e w r i t t e n on t h e s u b j e c t a n d
b e l i e v i n g t h a t t h e y will p r o v e I n t e r e s t i n g to t h e p u b l i c , I g i v e t h e m t o
your readers for w h a t they are worth.
P e r h a p s it is s u f f i c i e n t t o s a y a t t h e
o u t s e t t h a t t h e l a p s e of t i m e , a s so f a r
f r o m l e s s e n i n g t h e i n t e r e s t In e v e r y t h i n g connected with the early history
of t h e v a l l e y s r e f e r r e d to, h a s s e e m e d
o n l y t o i n c r e a s e a n d i n t e n s i f y it.
T h e s u b j e c t of t h i s s k e t c h is C o r n e l i u s A t h e r t o n , t h e g r a n d s o n of Col.
H u m p h r e y Atherton, who served
In
w h a t is k n o w n a s K i n g P h i l i p ' s W a r
a n d f r o m w h o m all t h e A t h e r t o n f a m ily in A m e r i c a a r e d e s c e n d a n t s .
Corn e l i u s w a s b o r n in 173 6 a n d died D e c e m b e r 4 t h , 1809, a g e d s e v e n t y - t h r e e
y6ars.
P r e v i o u s t o h i s s e t t l e m e n t In
P l y m o u t h , he resided
in
Dutchess
c o u n t y , N e w Y o r k , in w h a t w a s k n o w n
' <as O b l o n g . H e , b e i n g a b l a c k s m i t h by
• t r a d e , h a d d i s c o v e r e d h o w to c o n v e r t
iron into A m e r i c a n steel and here he
entered into a c o n t r a c t with the Reeds,
m e r c h a n t s of t h a t p l a c e , l i v i n g In t h e
t o w n of A m e n l a , D u t c h e s s c o u n t y , t h e y
to e r e c t - t h e w o r k s u n d e r his s u p e r i n t e n d e n c e and h e to i n s t r u c t t h e i r w o r k m e n in t h e a r t . T h e w o r k s w e r e a b a n doned.
T h e s e w o r k s w e r e e r e c t e d in
1772. A c o p y of t h e c o n t r a c t is in t h e
p o s s e s s i o n of t h e w r i t e r .
He
next
moved
to
Cambridge, near Boston,
where he superintended an armory
b e l o n g i n g to S a m u e l A d a m s , a b r o t h e r
to J o h ^ i A d a m s , a t o n e t i m e P r e s i d e n t
of t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s .
H e r e It w a s
t h a t he Invented Clothier's Shears, to
w h i c h D r . H o l l i s t e r r e f e r s In h i s h i s t o r y of t h e L a c k a w a n n a V a l l e y , a n d h e
m a d e guns for the Revolution.
The
B r i t i s h c o m m a n d e r a t t h e P o r t of B o s ton, learning t h a t t h e y were t u r n i n g
out g u n s and t h a t citizens were being
supplied, judged f r o m the growing discord between the colonists and
the
m o t h e r country, that they would ere
l o n g be t u r n e d a g a i n s t h i m , s e n t d o w n
a d e t a c h m e n t of s o l d i e r s a n d b u r n e d
t h e w o r k s to t h e g r o u n d .
H e soon a f t e r m o v e d to P l y m o u t h
In a b o u t t h e y e a r 1775 o r '76, w h e r e
h e w o r k e d at his trade m a k i n g hoes
a n d f i l l s a s well a s g e n e r a l w o r k p e r t a i n i n g to h i s c a l l i n g . H e k e p t a l a r g e
trading canoe t h a t he loaded with art i c l e s of h i s o w n m a n u f a c t u r e , h i s b o y s
r u n n i n g it to N o r t h u m b e r l a n d a n d p o l i n g It b a c k all t h e w a y to P l y m o u t h .
This was the first primitive engine
t h a t p l o w e d t h e w a t e r s of t h e S u s q u e hanna.
I n c o n n e c t i o n w i t h t h e n a r r a t i v e of
t h e W y o m i n g Massacre, I wish, b e f o r e
p r o c e e d i n g f u r t h e r , to correct a statem e n t m a d e by Col. W r i g h l
in
his
" S k e t c h e s of P l y m o u t h . "
He speaks
of J a b e z A t h e r t o n , w h o fell in t h e b a t tle of W y o m i n g , a s if h e w e r e t h e b r o t h e r of C a l e b A t h e r t o n a n d h e s a y s h e
c a m e to t h e v a l l e y a s e a r l y a s 1763.
T h i s is u n t r u e in b o t h c a s e s .
Jabez
w a s t h e s o n of C o r n e l i u s A t h e r t o n . H e
w a s b o r n in 1761 a n d w a s In h i s 1 7 t h
y e a r a t t h e b a t t l e of W y o m i n g .
If
a n y of t h e A t h e r t o n s f u r n i s h e d t h e
Colonel with his information, I h a v e
o n l y to s a y t h a t t h e y m a d e a big b l u n der.
If h e g u e s s e d a t it, h e s h o u l d
h a v e s a i d so.
B u t to t h e n a r r a t i v e :
W h e n It w a s d e c i d e d t o give b a t t l e to
\
S3'-- •
• i/ ':-I
"'••''•
• • , .,. - v 1 <;•
'
t h e e n e m y , C o r n e l i u s w a s d r a f t e d to
s e r v e In t h a t e n g a g e m e n t , J a b e z a b o v e
r e f e r r e d to, w h o w a s t h e o l d e s t s o n
ot Cornelius, I m m e d i a t e l y o b j e c t e d a n d
w i t h love unexcelled f o r his p a r e n t s
a n d y o u n g b r o t h e r s and sisters, c h e e r f u l l y v o l u n t e e r e d to b e c o m e h i s s u b stitute. His words were these:
"Fat h e r , if y o u f a l l , w h a t -will b e c o m e of
m o t h e r a n d , t h e c h i l d r e n ? If I f a l l ,
y o u w i l l be h e r e to t a k e c a r e of t h e m . "
H e w a s a c c e p t e d a n d m u s t e r e d In. I n
m o v i n g u p t o t h e s c e n e of c o n f l i c t , h e
h a d to p a s s t h e h u m b l e d w e l l i n g of
h i s p a r e n t s . T h e f a m i l y all c a m e o u t
to s e e t h e t r o o p s p a s s . T h e y w e r e all
deeply moved. Sighs and g r o a n s were
h e a r d and tears flowed freely. It was
t h e l a s t l o o k o n b o t h sides. My f a t h e r
c o u l d n e v e r s p e a k of t h i s a f f e c t i n g
s c e n e w i t h o u t c r y i n g like a c h i l d .
He
fell, a n d h i s n a m e h e a d s t h e list on t h e
Wyoming Monument.
His body was,
n o d o u b t , a m o n g t h e n u m b e r of t h o s e
b o y s w h o w e r e f o u n d so h o r r i b l y m u tilated n e a r Queen E s t h e r ' s liock.
W h e n t h e n e w s of t h e d i s a s t r o u s e n g a g e m e n t reached Cornelius, he began
a t o n c e to p r e p a r e f o r f l i g h t .
His
wife, a sickly w o m a n , w a s t h e n conf i n e d to h e r b e d , b u t f e a r of d a n g e r
s o m e t i m e s p r o v e s a p o w e r f u l tonic, a s
It did in t h i s case. Soon all w e r e o n
t h e m a r c h t o t h e r i v e r , w i t h a f e w of
t h e i r m o s t v a l u a b l e goods, d e s i g n i n g to
e m b a r k in t h e i r t r a d i n g c a n o e .
When
ihey arrived at the river b a n k their
c a n o e w a s g o n e . S o m e r e f u g e e in h i s
flight had preceded them. The father
a n d h i s b o y s r e t u r n e d ac o n c e to t h e i r
d w e l l i n g a n d t o o k u p all t h e
floor
h o a r d s , t a k i n g t h e m to t h e r i v e r , w i t h
w h i c h t h e y c o n s t r u c t e d a r a f t a n d all
g o t on b o a r d .
After running a few
miles, they overtook the m a n w h o had
t a k e n their canoe, which h e at once
g a v e u p a n d all w e r e t r a n s f e r r e d to it.
T h e y r a n as f a r as Nantlcoke, the a p p o i n t e d p l a c e of r e n d e z v o u s . C o r n e l i u s
h a d a horse with which J o h n , t h e seco n d s o n , In c o m p a n y w i t h o t h e r s w h o
h a d h o r s e s , p r o c e e d e d by l a n d on t h e
w e s t s i d e of t h e r i v e r . I n c r o s s i n g o v e r w i t h t h e h o r s e s , h e h a d to s w i m
t h e m , t h e m e n b e i n g in t h e c a n o e , h o l d i n g on to t h e h a l t e r s a n d w h e n n e a r l y
a c r o s s t h e h o r s e by p u l l i n g b a c k h a d
so r e t a r d e d t h e p r o g r e s s of t h e c a n o e
t h a t t h e y l e t go t h e h a l t e r s a n d t h e
horses turned around and s w a m back.
A f t e r all t h i n g s w e r e m a d e r e a d y
t h e m a r c h b e g a n . Mrs. A t h e r t o n , b e i n g u n a b l e to w a l k , w a s p u t u p o n a n
••••
•'(
ii •
>
1 .N
old m a r e , w i t h t h e i r b e d s a n d b e d d i n g
f o r a saddle. They h a d not gone f a r
b e f o r e a w o m a n h a d given out.
A
halt was ordered a n d a council called
w h i c h d e c i d e d t h a t s h e s h o u l d be p u t
u p o n t h e old m a r e b e h i n d M r s . A t h e r ton.
No s o o n e r d o n e t h a n t h e old m a r e
s a n k to t h e g r o u n d f r o m s h e e r e x h a u s t i o n , u n a b l e to s u s t a i n t h e m i g h t y
load. A litter w a s t h e n made, upon
w h i c h s h e wag p u t a n d c a r r i e d u p o n
men's shoulders. W h e n they camped
for the night, the cows were milked,
t h e milk b e i n g m e a s u r e d a n d d i v i d e d
by t h e n u m b e r of m o u t h s , all s h a r i n g
a l i k e . A p o t of r y e m u s h w a s m a d e
a n d so m a n y s p o o n s f u l g i v e n t o e a c h
one.
T h i s , by t h e w a y , n o i n f e r i o r
s u p p e r , a l t h o u g h it w a s , n o d o u b t , t o o
l i m i t e d in q u a n t i t y .
The
cows
fed
a b o u t In t h e w o o d s ( w h i c h t h e n a f f o r d e d f i n e p a s t u r a g e ) d u r i n g t h e evening and, when full, c a m e up a n d lay
down just outside
the
ring.
The
h o r s e s w e r e tied u p to t r e e s w i t h o u t
a m o u t h f u l to e a t , t h e r e b e i n g n o s o c i e t y to p r e v e n t c r u e l t y t o a n i m a l s n o r
e v e n c r u e l t y to m a n , b u t t h e n e c e s s i t i e s of t h e ca.se c o u l d n o t h a v e b e e n
c o n t r o l l e d by e i t h e r k i n d n e s s o r l a w .
I leave t h e r e a d e r n o w to t h e s e historians who have followed up these
u n f o r t u n a t e s by s i m p l y s a y i n g
that
t h e y w a n d e r e d a b o u t in N e w J e r s e y ,
being afflicted and destitute, having
s u f f e r e d t h e loss of all t h i n g s , s o r r o w i n g m o s t of all f o r t h e i r d e a d t h e y h a d
left behind t h a t could not h a v e even
a decent burial.
Verily these w e r e
d a y s t h a t tried m e n ' s souls.
Mr. A t h e r t o n r e m a i n e d in N e w J e r sey b u t a y e a r o r t w o , w h e n h e r e t u r n e d to L a c k a w a n n a a n d t o o k u p
six h u n d r e d a c r e s , f o u r h u n d r e d of
which his sons J o h n and Eleaser paid
for, half a c e n t u r y ago. J o h n b r o u g h t
u p a l a r g e f a m i l y on t h e v e r y s p o t n o w
o c c u p i e d by t h e T a y l o r v i l l e d e p o t a n d
E l e a s e r k e p t h o u s e on t h e s i t e o c c u pied by I r a C. A t h e r t o n , w h e r e h e a n d
t h e w i f e of h i s y o u t h lived m o r e t h a n
s i x t y y e a r s b e f o r e d e a t h did t h e m p a r t ,
b u t T digress.
t
C o r n e l i u s lost h i s f i r s t w i f e s o o n a f t e r t h e f l i g h t , w h i l e in N e w J e r s e y . H e
married
a s e c o n d w i f e in 1786, by
w h o m he had seven c h i l d r e n ; he also
h a d s e v e n by h i s f i r s t w i f e . H e e r e c t ed a h o u s e a b o u t t h i r t y r o d s e a s t of
T a y l o r v i l l e d e p o t , on t h e b r o w of t h e
hill o v e r l o o k i n g t h e r i v e r .
H e r e tHe
c h i l d r e n of t h e s e c o n d w i f e w e r e all
b o r n , b u t one. I t Is b e l i e v e d t h a t h e
remained h e r e some twenty years, aft e r w h i c h h e r e m o v e d to t h e v i c i n i t y o£
South Bainbrldge, Chenango County,
N. Y., w h e r e h e d i e d in 1809, a s s t a t e d
before.
I c a n n o t close this s k e t c h without
r e f e r r i n g to h i s r e l i g i o u s c h a r a c t e r . I t
is n o t k n o w n a t w h a t p e r i o d h e e x p e r i e n c e d t h a t c h a n g e of h e a r t w h i c h
the Saviour termed the new birth, the
o n l y r e a l c o m m e n c e m e n t of t h e C h r i s t i a n l i f e . I t is k n o w n , h o w e v e r , t h a t
a f t e r h i s s e t t l e m e n t In L a c k a w a n n a ,
h i s C h r i s t i a n life a s s u m e d a v e r y e a r nest a n d decided character.' He was
greatly moved at the religious destitution t h a t prevailed at t h a t time. Mini s t e r s of t h e G o s p e l w e r e f e w ; o n c e In
three months, perhaps, some traveling
p r e a c h e r would come along a n d hold
f o r t h in s o m e p r i v a t e h o u s e o r b a r n . In
obedience to the Saviour's c o m m a n d ,
" a s y e go, p r e a c h , " a n d t h i s too w i t h
a n u n c t i o n a n d p o w e r t h a t s o m e of
t h e p r e s e n t m i n i s t r y , a t least, w o u l d
do Well to i m i t a t e . M r . ' A t h e r t o n , u n d e r t h i s s t a t e of t h i n g s , f r o m a s t e r n
s e n s e of d u t y , b e g a n c a l l i n g t h e p e o ple t o g e t h e r o n S a b b a t h , r e a d i n g to
t h e m s e r m o n s f r o m books, and even
w e n t so f a r a s to f o l l o w t h e m by s t i r ring exhortations; he likewise kept up
w e e k l y p r a y e r m e e t i n g s in t h e n e i g h borhood.
H i s piety, h o w e v e r , s h o n e
f o r t h b r i g h t e s t of all in t h e f a m i l y c i r cle.
A n a g e d f r i e n d of m i n e , w h o
o f t e n s h a r e d t h e h o s p i t a l i t y of h i s
dwelling, says h e n e v e r k n e w h i m to
o m i t f a m i l y p r a y e r , e i t h e r m o r n i n g or
evening. H e h a d one place w h e r e h e
s t o o d In t h e old p u r i t a n i c s t y l e , w i t h
arms outstretched, and hands and face
u p t u r n e d to H e a v e n , a n d t h e r e h e i n voked blessings upon himself and f a m ily.
H e w a s e v a n g e l i c a l in all h i s
v i e w s of C h r i s t i a n d o c t r i n e , e x c e p t a s
to t h e e t e r n i t y of f u t u r e p u n i s h m e n t .
He Indulged the hope that somehow
God
would
b r i n g all H i s c r e a t u r e s
h o m e t<> H e a v e n a t last, b u t t h i s n e v e r
l e s s e n e d h i s e f f o r t s to b r i n g m e n t o
C h r i s t ; f o r it w a s h i s h o p e , n o t h i s b e lief, a s l e t t e r s in m y p o s s e s s i o n c l e a r l y
show. We can judge that with most
of t h o s e w h o c a l l t h e m s e l v e s I J n l v e r s a l i s t s , It is l i k e w i s e t r u e , t h a t ft Is
with t h e m m o r e t h e h o p e t h a n t h e belief. H i s e n d w a s p e a c e .
He was
loved by all w h o k n e w h i m .
T h u s h a v e I i m p e r f e c t l y s o u g h t to
do j u s t i c e to t h e m e m o r y of o n e m u c h
n e g l e c t e d by h i s t o r i a n s , t h e c a u s e n o
d o u b t b e i n g o u r own n e g l i g e n c e to
furnish the foregoing facts. The writ-
e r is n o t p o s i t i v e a s t o t h e c o r r e c t n e s s
of h i s d a t e s , b u t t h e f a c t s s t a t e d a r e
t r u e a n d c a n b e s u b s t a n t i a t e d b y living witnesses.
E . A. A T H E R T O N .
Cornelius Atherton
is n a m e d
a
"blacksmith"
by
trade.
He
was
much
more than that term
usually means.
He was an inventor, a
w o r k e r in s t e e l a n d Iron a n d a m a n u f a c t u r e r of m a n y I m p l e m e n t s u s e f u l
t o t h e f a r m e r s a n d m e c h a n i c s of t h o s e
days.
The trade
of
"blacksmith"
m e a n t , in t h o s e d a y s , a t r a i n i n g in
u s e f u l m e c h a n i c a r t s of a w i d e r a n g e .
T h e s o - c a l l e d " b l a c k s m i t h " of t h e e a r ly d a y s w a s i n d i s p e n s a b l e to t h e c o m munity. It could dispense with h a n k ers and dry-goods m e r c h a n t s and prof e s s i o n a l m e n , g e n e r a l l y , b u t It n e e d e d
most imperatively the m a n who could
m a k e f a r m i n g tools and mill m a c h i n ery and stoves and household f u r n i s h ings, w h o w a s n o t b o u n d b y a n a r r o w
l i n e of t h o u g h t a n d of w o r k , b u t w h o .
w a s v e r s a t i l e a n d i n g e n i o u s in i n v e n ' "
t i o n s a n d in a d a p t i n g m e a n s t o e n d s .
Such a man was Cornelius Athert o n , " b l a c k s m i t h , " t h e i n v e n t o r of t h e
f i r s t p a i r of c l o t h i e r s ' s h e a r s u s e d in
America, besides discovering a proc e s s f o r m a n u f a c t u r i n g s t e e l — o n e of
t h e m e n w h o s e n a m e s h o u l d be w r i t ten as one who helped his f e l l o w m e n .
• (Pittston
Gazette, by P e n n ,
Jr.)
ELKAZJEK A T H E R T O N
M a r c h 9, 1852, died a t hi.? h o m e in
L a c k a w a n n a , Ele-azer A t h e r t o n , a g e d
8 7 years.
Such a m a n deserves more t h a n a
p.-i-sslng n o t i c e . H i s l i f e bad b e e n o-ne
of h e r o i s m ar>d s e l f - s a c r i f i c e . - H e w a s
a s o n of C o r n e l i u s
Atherton,
frotio
Dutchess county, New York, who came
to P l y m o u t h , W y o m i n g
Valley,
In
M a r c h , 1778. T h a t w a s a t i m e f u l l of
o m i n o u s f o r e b o d i n g s . R u m o r s o-f t h e
p r e p a r a t i o n s making- a t t h e . h e a d w a t e r s of t h e S u s q u e h a n n a to
destroy
t h e s e t t l e m e n t w e r e w a f t e d on t h e
b r e e z e a n ^ urg-ent c a l l s u p o n W a s h i n g t o n foir a i d haid g o n e f o r t h .
In
t h e a b s e n c e of t h e n a t u r a l p r o t e c t o r s ,
t h e v o u n g . s t r o n g m e n <if t h e v a l l e y ,
rwho w e r e w i t h t h e C o n t i n e n t a l A r m y ,
t h e old m e n a n d b o y s w e r e f o r m i n g
into militia c o m p a n i e s and
training
for defence. Cornelius A t h e r t o n and
h i s s o n J a b e z , a m e r e l a d of 16, J o i n e d
Caipt, A s a p h W h i t t l e s e y ' s c o m p a n y .
E l e a z e r w a s o n l y 14 a t t h e t i m e .
W h e n the f a t e f u l J u l y 3rd arrived
J a b e z h a d e hit? f a m i l y f a r e w e l l , s a y i n g
h e c o u l d b e t t e r :be s p a r e d t h a n h i s
father.
H e w e n t a s a f i f e r to t h e
company and never returned, being
• a m o n g t h o s e c a p t u r e d in b a t t l e by
the Indians a n a killed
at
Queen
Esther's Rode the same night.
'His
n a m e a p p e a r s on t h e W y o m i n g M o n u ment.
T h e n e w s of t h e d i s a s t e r r e a c h e d
P l y m o u t h In t h e e v e n i n g a n d t h e f a m ily p r e p a r e d f o r flight. T h e m o t h e r
h a d b e e n ill f o r s e m e t i m e a n d s h e
-was p l a c e d on a h o r s e , w i t h a s m a l l
child behind her, t o g e t h e r with some
necesajry blankets,
cooking
utensils
a n d provisions. Two cows were drive n a h e a d a n d t h e l a r g e h o u s e dog,
w h o musit, of c o u r s e , b e o n e of t h e
family, was m a d e to c a r r y a large skin
oif sole l e a t h e r s t r a p p e d to h i s b a c k —
t o b e used l a t e r , p e r h a p s , to m a k e
a a n d a l s afteir t h e i r s h o e s w o r e o u t ,
-V..T1 t h e j o u r n e y .
They locked back f r o m the m o u n t ainside and everywhere saw the flames
a n d 'femoke of t h e d e s e r t e d d w e l l i n g s .
T h e w o o d s w e r e f u l l of l i n k i n g t e r r o r s .
E v e n t h e cows lay d o w n close t o g e t h e r
a n d close t o t h e i r
human
friends.
T h e y succeeded in .reaching
Sussex
county, New Jersey, w h e r e they rem a i n e d Uiiitil 178 6. E l e a z e r w a s t h e n
22 y e a r s old. T h e y s e t t l e d in L,ack. a w a n n ' a u p o n a 'lairge f a r m w h i c h t h e y
p u r c h a s e d u n r l e r t h e C o n n e c t i c u t Title,
b u t a s t h i s w a s ' d i s a l l o w e d by P e n n s y l v a n i a , t h e y w e r e c o m p e l l e d to a g a i n
•pay f o r It, t h i s t i m e t o P e n n s y l v a n i a ,
In o r d e r to h a v e l e g a l t i t l e . T h i s I m p o v e r i s h e d t h e m , of c o u r s e .
Three
years later, Eleazer m a r r i e d . Shortly
a f t e r h i s m a r r i a g e , h e w a g o b l i g e d to
sell his..ox t e a m itio m i l t t a p a y m e n t
o n 'MS" i a n d . T h i s l e f t h i m w i t h o u t
m e a n s t o c a r r y on h i s f a r m a n d ma.ke
improvements.
He na^ wheat
and
oroips dn t h e g r o u n d , b u t h e c o u l d n o t
s e l l t h e m , f o r t h e r e w a s n o m o n e y in
j t h e c o u n t r y to b u y w i t h .
H e wnp in
great trouble, when a m a n
named
C h a m b e r l a i n rnrno to h i m a n d o f f e r e d
h i m a h o r s e if h e w o u l d go a f t e r it,
a n d t h e n build a h o u s e f o r h i m a f t e r ward.
T h i s w a s a p r o v i d e n t i a l p r o s p e c t of
relief a n d he t h a n k f u l l y a c c e p t e d t h e
t e r m s . T h e h o r s e w a s 2 5 o r 30 m i l e s
away, b u t he set c u t to w a l k t h e distance. His w a y lay t h r o u g h the deep,
darlt forest w h i c h covered the land
e x c e p t wihere s m a l l c l e a r i n g s h a d b e e n
m a d e by settlers. H e h a d no shoes a n d
t h e path wag rough.
Stones and'
roots cut a n d bruised his bare
feet.
A f t e r a d a y ' s -travel h e w a s a b o u t t o
lie d o w n e x h a u s t e d u n d e r s o m e p i n e
t r e e s , w h e n t h e b a r k of a d o g a t tracted his attention. He followed the
sound and c a m e to a small cabin with
a fire, w h e r e h e rested f o r t h e night.
Ait b r e a k of d a y h e r o s e a n d a t t e m p t e d
t o go on, b u t h i s c u t a n d s w o l l e n f e e t
w e r e so s o r e t h e y r e f u s e d t o b e a r h i s
weij.-ht. H e musit go oin, y e t h o w c o u l d
h e ? H e c r a w l e d t o a. c l e a r i n g , g e t t w o
walking sticks and with these he hobbled on u n t i l h i s f e e t b e c a m e l i m b e r
e n o u g h to w a l k on t h e m . A f t e r g r e a t
s u f f e r i n g , h e f i n a l l y goit t h e h o r s e ,
s n d r o d e h o m e a n d l a t e r built* t h e
house which lasted f o r m a n y year.s
W h e n v e r y old h e w e p t like a c h i l d
a? he recounted t h e s u f f e r i n g s w h i c h
he hiad b o r n e in h i s y o u n g m a n h o o d .
"Oh m y son!" he exclaimed,
"You
dor-'t k n o w , a n d I c a n n o t t e l l y o u t h e
•hardship-- wo e n d u r e d . "
To e x t r e m e age h e retained m u c h
of his e a r l y v i g o r .
H e w a s no ordin a r y man.
H e h a d a logical m i n d ,
s t r o n g , eviod s e n s e a n d C h r i s t i a n p r i n ciple.
He was a temp3rar,ce advocate, b e f o r e t e m p e r a n c e societies w e r e
f o r m e d . H e l e f t a f a m i l y of s o n a to
emulate his example a n d honor his
memory.
F r o m t h e " H i s t o r y of T a y l o r "
we
c.uote c o n c e r n i n g h i s f a t h e r : " C o r n e l i u s A t h e r t o n w a s a; m a n of m a r k e d ,
piety.
H e w a s i n s t r u m e n t a l in o r e-anhdng t h e r e g u l a r w e e k l y p r a y e r
m e e t i n g In t h e v i c i n i t y .
B e f o r e the'
regular c h u r c h service w a s established in o u r v a l l e y h e w o u l d o f t e n call,
t h e p e o p l e t o g e t h e r on t h e S a b b a t h
for prayers and read to them extracts
from printed sermons.
" H e hullt his c a b i n
(1786)
on the
b r o w of t h e h i l l o v e r l o o k i n g t h e r i v e r ,
n e a r t h e B i o o m s b u r g Railx'cad s t a t i o n
<tt T a y l o r , t a k i n g u p a l a r g e t r a c t of
land.
H e l a t e r m o v e d b a c k to D u t " h o s s Oounity. w h e r e h e died. H e w a s
t h e f a t h e r of f o u r t e e n c h i l d r e n . "
3.0.4.
JESSE AND THE EEL WEIR.
Jesse was a distinguished character at that day in Pittston, was
at that time about 17 years old and a notorious practical joker, and
possession of a vigorous and vivid imagination.
By the laws of the Eel Weir Co. each shareholder was to take
his turn at watching or "lend a hand" - on one occasion - Mr. Carey
engaged Jesse to take his place, and Daniel Searle was to be his
companion.
When Jesse was ready, Mr. Carey gave him a small flask
of "Old Jamaica".
It so happened however that Dan'1 Searle failed
to appear, and Jesse was obliged to put off in his dugout alone.
I remark here, that the law of the company was, that the watchers
were required to bring the eels to the ferry landing, or a short distance
above it.
At which point the shareholders met to receive their re-
spective allotments of the product of the eel weir.
When the watchers
came from the weir in the morning they were always cordially greeted
at the landing by the shareholders.
It was Saturday evening when Jesse set out.
All the stockholders
anticipated a luxurious breakfast and were at the landing at or before
sunrise.
Laton Slocum was especially anxious to see Jesse and the
silver snakes, but no Jesse, no dug-out appeared.
Bill Tompkins said Jess was missing and there was no use in
waiting for him.
So all went home to chew the cud of disappointment
and get their breakfasts as best they could.
After breakfast Wm.
Cary said, "Laton, you and Gordon go out and see what has become of
Jess.
It was a fine night for a good run.
Jess must have those eels
somewhere."
He found Jesse at his home in bed.
"Jesse, what have you done
with the eels?"
Rubbing his drowsy eyes he said, "Now Laton, don't you flare
up, but give me a chance to explain".
"Well, go ahead and explain; but remember we shall hold you
responsible".
"Exactly so.
You know that Dan Searle didn't come and I went
to that weir alone in that crazy dugout.
After reaching the weir
I arranged my machinery, put my rake in position and began to feel
down the basket for eels.
It was dark,too.
About eleven o'clock,
I was startled by the appearance of an imposing female figure landing
abruptly upon the platform of the basket.
As soon as I could suffi-
3.0.4.
ciently from my fright, I demanded, 'Who are you and what do you want
here?'
The response was in a solemn tone; 'I am the Ghost of the
Rose of the Sun Mountain. I used to live up there many moons ago.
I have permission from the Sachem of the Happy Hunting Grounds to
re-visit my native haunts here at the Lackawanna and Wyoming'"
Laton interrupted, "Now Jess, none of your yarns!
know where the eels are!
I want to
You needn't tell me you've seen an Indian
Ghost."
"Fact, Laton, true as preaching!"
"Well now," argued Laton, "did she speak Indian or English?"
"She spoke Indian, but I heard her in English just as in the
days of Pentecost when they all heard the apostles in their own language.
I have actually seen the Ghost of the Rose of the Sun Mountain of
whom David Brown and Ishmael Bennett have so often told me and, unless
you can be attentive you will never know what became of those eels."
Laton settled down and Jess began the story of The Legend of
the Rose of Sun Mountain.
William Sax — son of John Sax, to Pittston in 1831.
Firm of Clark
& Sax—then Sax and Chas. Foster, until 1875, retired from business,
died 1904.
Meth Ch. 50 years.
John Huntley — and Hannah Sheperd Huntley — came in 1849.
Swallow,
Joseph and Inkerman - married Mary Cooper (child Miner)
Danl. born 1813 - married Mary Knapp, lived 40 years in Inkerman
William H . - born in Pittston township 1843.
In a list of muster roll of Capt. Ransom's 2d Independent Co.
of Wyoming appears the name of Lieut, John Jenkins with the added
information "joined the company July 6, 1778.
He had been in captivi
the winter preceeding.
John Jenkins, Jr.
Was made lieutenant in place of Asahel Buck resigned, in the
1st Independent company of Captain Durkee.
This company left the
valley in December but in November, Lieut. Jenkins was captured by
the Indians near Wyalusing and kept a prisoner at Fort Niagara, the
entire winter.
With Lieut. Jenkins were taken Amos York and Lemuel Fitch and
an old man named Fitzgerald whom they told he must either join the
king or die.
He replied he would rather die than desert his country.
They let him go.
Jenkins and the others were taken to Fort Niagara
where they suffered severe hardships.
CHILDREN OF JOHN AND MARY CHAMBERLAIN PHILLIPS.
Mary - born May 4, 1778 - married Isaac Hewitt.
No record is
found of her children, no date of her marriage.
Dethie (Capt.) was son of Isaac - This must be Dethie (2) or
else the child of a former marriage.
Hosea - born May 5, 1781 - married Lavenna Davis 1799 - Children
Sarah, Mary, Francis, Mary(?), Betsy, Hosea, Lavinna, Fanna, Susannah
Louisa.
Comer - Nov. 1783 - married Hannah Mott, Feb. 5, 1807 - Children
Polly, John, Comer, Washington, Edward Lee, Isaac Hewett, Martha,
John, Caroline, Milton Gordon, Hannah E.
3.0.4.
Eleazer A. Atherton - married Martha Kanaan.
She was the teacher
of the first Sabbath School in Lackawanna County.
always opened with prayer.
The sessions being
Their nine children were:
Martha, Mary,
Thomas, Margaret, Elisha-born 1798 died 1880, Sarah, Joseph, John,
Eleazer A.
Eleazer Atherton died Mar. 3, 1832, aged 87 yrs. 3
mos. - His wife died May 31, 1859 aged 87 yrs.
Both interred at Taylor.
John (a farmer) - born 1790 at Taylor - married Catharine
Ward.
Their children:
Phebe, Boyd, Caroline, Sarah, James, Ira C.
Ira C. (a carpenter)
Their children:
born 1819 - married Mary J. Pulver.
George - born 1840; Mary E. 1848; Kate L. married
C. H. Van Horn; Helen - married T. R. Bowen; Georgiana - married Rev.
E. L. Santee; Willard - married Margaret Whiteford.
Ira C. - died June 25, 1897.
John D. (son of Ira) is a merchant of Taylor
John A. (brother of Elisha - married
married Catharine Ward.
John & wife Catharine, Eleazer (their father) united (1821) with
Cyrus Gildersleeve's Church.
Josiah Lewis - died at Lackawanna at age 79.
He was a surveyor
in his youth, and a wag—A passerby said, "Stop, Lewis, and tell us
a lie"—Can't do it, my wife there's a canoe load of shad just in
and my wife wants some".
The passerby followed on to get some also
and found the "sell" (told by George Johnson)
Josiah Lewis came to Wilkes Barre 1806, to Lackawanna 1835.
Died
in 1851.
Francis Phillips was a Rev. soldier from Pownal(?). — John
Phillips, his son was born in 1752 - married Mary Chamberlain in 1771
probably in Tennant.
Had six children:
John Tripp 1789, six children;
Miller 1788, Children:
Martha born 1771 - married
Susannah born 1773 - married Sam1
Amos, Caleb, Stephen, Lois, Ruth, Amanda,
Rufus, Louisa, Lewis, Tryphena and triphosa (twins, (Tryphosa diedTryphena was named Melissa), John Phillips, Martin and Agubah.
Sarah born 1775 - married Capt. Isaac Tadson(?) 1794, children:
Arnzi(?),
Betty, Polly, John, Eleeta, Merritt, Isaac Phillips, Sally Aurora,
Tommy, Melvina Miller^
Mary born 1778, married Isaac Hewett - no record
of marriage nor of children exists, he was a widower father of Capt.
Dethie Hewett;
Hosea born 1781, married Lavinna Davis 1799 - children
were Sarah, Francis, Mary, Betsey, Hosea, Lavinette, Fanna, Susanna,
Louisa:
Comer born 1783, married Hannah Mott 1807 - children John
Phillips, a Rev. soldier from Pownal, Vt.
died 1815.
His wife Mary Chamberlain
He married 1816 Mrs. Lydia Tripp Harding.
married Mrs. Bathsheba Green.
In 1842 he
He died 1846.
Burried in Marcy Cemetery - Saml. Miller, a leading church member,
advice sought, died 1859.
She died 1849.
Saml. Miller married Susann Phillips 1788.
Among their children were Stephen who married Mary
Goodrich - and Rufus, who married first, Betsey Mac(?) Knight 1802.
Firstchild, Susan ;
Second, Cynthia Howard - children Garrick, Mallory
and Stephen (mrs. C.'s father of Wilkes Barre, Elinor, Mary P., Miranda
Betsey, Moses and Aaron (twins), Aznbah, George, Sarah Jann, all born
at Lackawanna.
Samuel and Susannah P. - childrenStephen &
Goodrich: Rufus &
Cynthia Howard.
Rufus was born 1802.
born 1806, her father came to Lackawanna 1825.
established a foundry.
Mary
Cynthia
Rufus & Wm Howard
Wm H. left the business to Rufus.
Erastus Smith 1829 had a foundry for plows, stoves & household
utensils, used coal and made grates & stoves to burn it.
up Judge Fell's discovery.
He followed
Had a grist mill & other manufacture plants
was a justice of the Peace, school director & member of M.E. Church,
his wife died in 1865.
died in 1877.
He married again and moved to Scranton, and
Erastus Smith had eight children: Thomas,settled in
Abington; Hulda Alsworth, married Lyman Drake; Emily Louise, married
Charles Dorr.
From Jubilee Gazette:
Richard (Dick) Brown was a blacksmith at Duryea.
John Hoffman on Butler Street, up hill.
Jos. Helm's shoe shop was opposite the turn-table.
Hyde Jenkins.
Thos. Benedict near the Ravine Shaft.
A small opening of coal at Yatesville, where John stout(?) sold
coal for domestic purposes.
George Lazarus kept a HOTEL.
Strong and Mott and a wooden steam flouring mill, built by the
Butlers, where ruins of stone mill are at east end of the Ferry Bridge.
Wm. Tompkins had a saw mill at the forks of the road, on South
Main Street.
West Pittston Lots were surveyed June 11, 1851.
In 1848, Dr. Throop opened the first drug store in Harrison.
Previous to this, Wilkes Barre had been the source of supply for the
3.0.4.
County.
Now Pittston, lying half-way between, could draw upon either
as might be most convenient.
Extracts from Pittston Gazette, 1850-51:
Ensign and Williams removed their hardware and stoves to the Everitt
Building.
A CARD.
Mr. and Mrs. H. M. Daman's thanks to the citizens of Pittston
(not forgetting the ladies) who assisted in arresting the fire and
preventing the destruction of their property.
We used in Pittston to have a Bible stand with a Bible cushion
on it, to furnish our parlors.
The Bible was as handsome and large
as the family could afford and consequently often too heavy to be
used.
(The Bible Cushion).
We also had on a "What Not", top shelf often, av glass globe
over some wax work; sometimes a cross, sometimes a basket of white
wax flowers.
No matter what might be the color of the flower in nature,
it was waxy white in our parlor.
with the flowers.
Small fruit was sometimes mingled
A traveling artist in waxwork would stop off for
a month and educate several classes in this accomplishment and until
very recently, some of these beautiful decorations might be seen in
unfashionable parlors or bedrooms.
De calcomaine, too, was another craze.
A clear glass vase was
lined with a colored picture of flowers and birds and summer beauties,
generally, glued on; then a heavy coat of paint made a background
for these and was of the cream tint of choice Dresden or other ware.
The imitation was Frenchy and showy.
Painting on Glass was another.
Worsted tidies or Anti-Macassars.
The Centennial Exposition of 1876 exhibited to the country towns
so much of real art and true beauty that all who visited it came away
with ideals of higher sort and the
lost splendor in their eyes.
The men wore dickeys tied with tapes around the neck and waist.
An old story of a man in church, a fly on his neck, he brushed,
it remained, again, finally made violent grab and pulled off his dickey,
the string of which was the offending fly.
Little girls wore pantalettes tied on above the knee.
pair was easily put on.
A fresh