|
1885 Seven Counties History - Bradford
County PA
|
|
 |
1907 Postcard of East Smithfield
contributed by Creig Crippen
|
|
|
|
“HISTORY OF SEVEN COUNTIES presented by the Elmira Weekly
Gazette". It is an “Outline History of Tioga and Bradford Counties in
Pennsylvania, Chemung, Steuben, Tioga, Tompkins and Schuyler in New York by
TOWNSHIPS, VILLAGES, BORO’S AND CITIES.” Written expressly for the Gazette
Company, Elmira, N. Y. Copyright 1885.From AN OUTLINE
HISTORY of Tioga and
Bradford
Counties in Pennsylvania, Chemung, Steuben,
Tioga, Tompkins and Schuyler in New York by TOWNSHIPS, VILLAGES, BORO'S AND
CITIES"
|
SMITHFIELD
TOWNSHIP
Smithfield township was one of the original
townships in the county. It is situated west of the Susquehanna river, and
west of the township of Ulster, upon rolling lands, which have been brought to a
high state of cultivation. Beautiful farms and farm buildings are seen in
every portion of the town, with herds of cattle grazing in sweet and luxuriant
pastures. It is bounded on the north by Athens and Ridgeberry; on the east
by Ulster; on the south by Burlington and West Burlington; on the west by
Springfield. The streams of the township are Tom Jack, Brown and Buck
creeks.
The early settlers were Isaac Grover, Reuben
Mitchell, Abiel Foster, William Baldwin, Ezra Waterman, Zacariah Wheeler, James
Satterlee, William Satterlee, Samuel Satterlee, Oliver Hayes, Michael Bird,
Timothy Stratton, Samuel Dartt, Jabez Gerould, Phineas Pierce, Joshua Ames, John
Pierce, Constant Williams, Solomon Kellogg, Solomon Morse, Nehemiah Tracy, John
Bassett, Noah Ford, Elias Needham, Alvin Stocking, S. Stocking, Alpheus Holcomb,
Samuel Wood, Ashel Scott, John Scott, Major Jared Phelps, Isaac Ames, Sloan
Kingsley, John Phelps, David Titus, Abner O. Ormsbee, Zephania Ames, Isaiah
Kingsley, Austin Kellogg, Chancey Kellogg, Luman Kellogg, David Forest, Stephen
Wilcox, Rufus Halsey, Abner Thomas, Asa Hackett, Asa Farnsworth, William
Farnsworth, Stephen Califf, Seth Gates, Daniel Forest, Tarsus Rose, Benjamin
Hale, Joseph Ames, David Durfee, Cyril Fairman, Abraham Jones, Asa Allen, Joel
Allen, Cromwell Child, Edward A. Child, Ezra Allen, Daniel Allen, George
Tompkinson, Conrad Hartman, Nehemiah Beach.
--Isaiah Grover was the first settler in Smithfield,
in 1792.
--The first school was taught by Ephriam Gerould,
in 1806.
--Phineas Pierce erected the first saw mill in
Smithfield, in 1803.
--The first white child born in the township, was
in 1795, Reuben Mitchell’s.
--The first store in the township was opened in
1833, by Lyman Durfee.
--Reuben Mitchell erected the first framed building
in 1803, in Smithfield.
--Reuben Mitchell’s child, who died in 1796, was
the first death in the township.
--Smithfield was named in honor of David Smith, who
owned the township under the Connecticut title.
--The Gerould family held a re-union in Smithfield,
September 15, 1874, and over two hundred relatives were present.
--Solomon Kellogg, an old settler, invented a
machine for shearing cloth, which had great influence upon woolen manufactories.
--A Literary Society was organized in 1821, in
Smithfield, by Ansel Scott, Buckley Tracey, David Farnsworth, Harry Bird, Darius
Bullock.
--A soldier’s monument, commemorative of those who
lost their lives in the late rebellion, from Smithfield, has been erected at
Smithfield Center.
--Smithfield Lodge, No. 928, I. O. O. F., was
instituted January 15, 1876. First officers, E. G. Durfee, N. G.; J. L.
Vincent, V. G.; O. Gerould, Sec.
--Jared Phelps, Nehemiah Tracey, Samuel Kellogg,
Samuel Wood, David Forest, were early settlers of Smithfield, and soldiers in
the revolutionary war.
--George Tompkinson, an early settler of
Smithfield, was a marine in the U. S. Service, in the war of 1812, on the
frigate President, under Commodore Rogers.
--Conrad Hartman, an early settler, was a Hessian
soldier, under the British, and taken prisoner at Trenton, December 25, 1776.
He became a citizen of the United States.
--Samuel Wood, an early settler of Smithfield, was
one of the guards who conveyed Major Andre from North Castle to West Point, when
he was under arrest, during the revolutionary war.
--Smithfield Lodge, No. 428, F. A. M., was
chartered September 10, 1868. First officers were . W. Seward, W. M.; J.
O. Gerould, S. W.; H. M. Moody, J. W.; W. E. Voorhis, Treasurer.
--The first church edifice in the township, was
erected in 1811, by the Congregational society; Rev. John Bascom was the first
minister. Samuel Kellogg, Solomon Morse, Nathan Fellows, Were organized in
Rutland Vermont, and came as a church to Smithfield in 1801.
You are the visitor
to the Tri-County Online Library since the counter was installed on June 25,
1999