|
|
 |
|
History of Bradford County, Pennsylvania with Biographical SketchesBy H. C. Bradsby, 1891If You Have Photos of People Mentioned on the Page, Send Them In For Inclusion |
|
HIRAM L. ROCKWELL, farmer, of Troy township, P. O. Troy, was born in Troy township, this county, December 13, 1831, and is a son of Luther M. and Johanna (Marvin) Rockwell. His paternal grandparents, Samuel and Hanna (Lassell) Rockwell, of Berkshire county, Mass., settled in Canton township in 1804. Luther M., a native of Burlington, Vt., and a farmer, came to Bradford county with his parents in 1804, and spent most of his life in Troy township, clearing and improving the farm now owned by his son Azor S., and died there; his wife was a daughter of Jesse Marvin, a pioneer of Troy township, and later of Rochester, N.Y. [See sketch of Hon. Delos Rockwell.] Luther M. Rockwell reared a family of nine sons and one daughter, of whom our subject is the eighth child and seventh son. Hiram L. Rockwell was reared on the old homestead, a part of which he now owns; this he cleared of stones and stumps, making all the improvements in buildings, etc.; it comprises about 135 acres. Mr. Rockwell married twice: his first wife was Juliet, daughter of Jehel and Maryette (Norman) McKean, of Burlington township, and by her he had one daughter, Metta (Mrs. Samuel Bennett), who has one son, Hira; his second wife was Mary McKean, sister of his first wife. Mr. Rockwell is a prominent farmer; has held various township offices; is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church; and in politics is a Republican.
HORACE W. ROCKWELL, proprietor of foundry, Monroeton, was born April 30, 1834, in what is now Troy borough, this county, and is a son of Myron and Mary Ann (Lillybridge) Rockwell. He was reared in Sullivan township, Tioga Co., Pa., from six years of age, and was educated at Troy Academy. In 1851 he went to Monroeton, for three years serving an apprenticeship at the molder’s trade, after which he worked as a journeyman in Towanda, Athens and Troy, and in 1864 purchased the foundry at Monroeton, where he had learned his trade, which he has since successfully conducted. In 1877 he was burned out, but immediately rebuilt on a larger scale, and is now giving employment to fifteen hands in the manufacture of agricultural implements and repairing. He married, in 1865, Hattie Emily, daughter of J. B. M. and Frances M. (Dudley) Hinman, of Monroeton, and by her had the following children:; Frances L. (Mrs. Coly J. Beach), Mary E., Harry H., Verne L. and Inez M. Mr. Rockwell was a member of the Thirteenth Pennsylvania Militia, known as the "emergency men," during the Civil War, served one month, and was discharged. He is a member of Presbyterian Church, the F. & A. M. and G. A. R. In politics he is a Republican.
JOHN ROCKWELL, farmer, P. O. LeRoy, was born in Franklindalle, Pa., a son of Hiram and Dolly (Green) Rockwell, the former a native of Massachusetts, born in 1814, the latter of Delaware county, N. Y., born in 1816. They removed to this county early in life, where Mr. Rockwell followed lumbering, after which he turned his attention to farming; his family consisted of eleven children, nine of whom grew to maturity, as follows: Orator, John, G. K., A. C., Hiram, Cirena, Polly, Louisa and Amelia, and eight of these are now living. Our subject is the second in the family, and was reared and educated in LeRoy; in early life he helped his father in the lumber mill, and at the age of eighteen he enlisted in Company C, One Hundred and Forty-first P. V. I., and served his country all through the war. He was twice wounded, at Chancellorsville and at Spottsylvania. September 9, 1865, he married Myrtie, daughter of Harry and Mary Kellogg, of LeRoy, the former of whom was a native Connecticut and a noted river man, generally known by the name of "Capt. Kellogg." To them were born eight children, seven of whom are living, viz.: C. L. (married to Minnie Sanford), Flora, Della, Robert R., Pearl, Marion, Daisy and Harry. During seven years of Mr. Rockwell’s life, he devoted his time to mercantile business at LeRoy Centre, in which he was quite successful; afterward he became engaged in general farming. He has held various offices of public trust; he is a member of the G. A. R., I.O.O.F., and Patriotic Order Sons of America; politically he is a Repulican.
JOSEPH L. ROCKWELL, miller and farmer, P. O. West Burlington, was born April 9, 1843, in Troy township, this county, a son of Bingham and Abby (Pierce) Rockwell, natives of Vermont, who removed to Bradford county with their parents when children; both families are of English origin. The grandfather, Luther Rockwell, was won of the pioneers of Troy, and was a miller, farmer and lumberman; he built the mill at West Burlington, which Joseph L. now owns. Bingham Rockwell is a farmer living in West Burlington, at the age of seventy-three years, and is a brother of Hon. Delos Rockwell, of Troy. Joseph L. was twice married: his first wife was Emma Ross (deceased); his second wife was Julia Strange, of Tioga county, Pa., and they were married May 27, 1885. Mr. Rockwell’s milling business is one of the largest in the county; he has recently added to the property in repairs and improvements the sum of $4,000; the mill has both steam and water power. He also owns a fine farm of about 300 acres on which dairying is carried on quite extensively; he also raises some fine-bred trotting horses, and cattle. Politically he is a Democrat, but gives his attention entirely to his business affairs; he is a member of the Freemasons, and he and his wife are active members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and he is superintendent of the Sunday-school; he is one of the thorough-going and substantial business men of the county.
OSCAR H. ROCKWELL, M. D., Monroeton, is a native of Sullivan township, Tioga Co., Pa., born November 23, 1844, and is a son of Myron and Mary A. (Lillybridge) Rockwell. His grandparents, Samuel and Hannah (La Selle) Rockwell, came in 1802, from Vermont to this county, where they settled. Myron Rockwell, father of the subject of this memoir, was a native of Canton, this county, having been born there September 20, 1804. He was reared and educated in his native town, and about the year 1840 he located in Sullivan township, Tioga county. In 1839 he had been licensed to preach the Gospel in the East Sullivan Baptist Church, of which he had been member since fifteen years of age; served as pastor for the Baptist Churches in Tioga and Lycoming counties. Throughout his active life he was preeminent in piety and Christian zeal, and he practiced what he preached. He passed from earth at Roseville, Tioga county, at the patriarchal age of eighty years nine months and two days. His wife was a daughter of Warren Lillybridge, of Providence, R. I., and by her he became the father of eight children, viz: Nancy J. (Mrs. Joel Webster), Myron A., Warren A. (deceased), Horace W., Mary E. (Mrs Ira Bement), Emma P., (Mrs. Frank L. Miller), Oscar H. and Ella E. (Mrs Marchael Llefler).
Oscar H. Rockwell, whose name opens this sketch, was reared in Tioga county, educated in the common schools, Mansfield Seminary and Troy Academy. In 1868 he came to Monroeton, this county, and in 1870 began the study of medicine under the preceptorship of Dr. D. N. Newton. In the fall of 1871 he entered the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania, at Philadelphia, and graduated therefrom in the spring of 1873, since which time he has been in the active practice of his chosen profession at Monroeton. The Doctor was married, December 19, 1870, to Catharine M., daughter of John and Celestia R. (Hinman) Hanson, of Monroeton, and to them has been born one daughter, Mary C. The family are members of the Presbyterian Church, and in politics the Doctor is a Republican. He is a member of Bradford County Medical Society, of which he was president one year. He is a member of the F. & A. M., is past master and secretary of the Lodge at Monroeton; is also a member of the I. O. O. F., and is past grand in the same.
SAMUEL A. ROCKWELL (8), farmer, P. O. Gransville Centre, Pa., was born in Troy borough, this county, August 22, 1825, and is a son of John C. and Harriett (Andrus) Rockwell (7). His paternal grandparents were Samuel and Hannah (Laselle) Rockwell (9996), formerly of Lamsboro, Mass., who located in Canton township, this county, in 1804, but later removed to Troy, and afterward returned to Canton, and resided there until their death. Samuel was a son of John (5), son of John (4), sonnn of Jonathan (3), son of John (92), a son of John Rockwell (1), and the first ancestor in America, who sailed from Dorchester, England, in 1641, settling in Stamford, Conn. John C. Rockwell, father of subject, was born in Cornwall, Vt., came to Canton with his parents in 1804. He was a shoemaker by trade, and his life was spent in Canton, Troy, LeRoy, and Granville townships; he cleared and improved the farm occupied by subject, and died there. His children were Sylvia (Mrs. Orator Holcomb), Emily (Mrs. John P. Bush), Samuel A., James B., Eliza B., (Mrs. Hiram Stone). Samuel A. Rockwell was reared in Troy and LeRoy townships and, in 1846, came to Granville with his father, where he has since resided: he lives now on the old homestead, where his father and mother both died. He married, October 11, 1849, Hannah, daughter of Eli and Harriet (Bailey) Holcomb, of LeRoy township, and has five children, as follows: Lavinia (Mrs. T. H. Bailey, Ella E. (Mrs. Franklin Saxton), E. Adelle (Mrs. Isaac Blish); J. C. (his only son, married to Josie Morse, of LeRoy) and Phoebe (Mrs. Frank Wilcox). Mr. Rockwell is among the representative farmers of Granville township, and aside from farming, summers, he taught school, eighteen winters, when between the age of eighteen and forty. He is a member of the Church of Christ at Granville Centre. In politics he is a Republican, and served one term as mercantile appraiser for Bradford county.
WILLIAM A. ROCKWELL, farmer, Tuscarora township, P. O. Springfield, was born in Pike, May 22, 1826, and is the eldest of four children of William and Sally (Andrus) Rockwell, the former a native of Connecticut, the latter of Vermont, both being of New England parentage. Our subject was reared on a farm, educated in the common school, and at the age of twenty-one began life for himself, working at the carpenter’s and joiner’s trade, with Wright & Greenough, in Granville township. On April 5, 1853, he moved to Tuscarora, where he worked at his trace, until he purchased his present home of 100 acres, and has since been chiefly engaged in farming, occasionally, working at his trade. Mr. Rockwell was married, February 11, 1851, to Miss Mary E., daughter of Thomas and Hannah (Montgomery) Taylor, of Rocksbury, Delaware Co., N. Y.; they have seven children, viz.: Ella C., born February 26, 1853, married to Aden Lyon, farmer, Tuscarora; Eliza I., born April 11, 1856, died June 6, 1875; Herbert V., born October 12, 1860; Angie H., born June 11, 1863, and died March 11, 1864; Fred A., born September 12, 1865; Bertha M., born November 11, 1867, married to Gilbert Summer, Tuscarora, and Blennie O., born July 26, 1872. Mr. Rockwell is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Spring Hill, and in poliiiitics he has always been honorably identified with the Republican party.
W. H. ROCKWELL, farmer and stock-raiser, Ulster, son of Chauncy and Wealthy (Gordon) Rockwell, was born in Cortland county, N. Y., March 4, 1840. His father was a native of New York, and his mother was born and reared at Standing Stone, this county. His grandfather was one of the early pioneers of Cortlannd county, moving to that county from Massachusetts in the year 1778; all that is known of the early history of the Rockwells is that two brothers by the name of Rockwell came to Massachusetts from England in the early Colonial times, and to these brothers the present generation of Rockwells trace their descent. His father’s family consisted of eight children, viz.: Charles (deceased), Henry, George, Emmet, Edward, Albert, Emma and Ella, of whom seven are living, six of them being residents of this county; his father removed from Cortland county, N. Y., to Ulster in the year 1850, and lived there until his death, in the spring of 1862; his mother survives, is in her seventy-sixty year, and makes her home with her son Edward. He received his early education at the public schools of Ulster, as a farmer’s boy of tobacco growers of the county, having supplied his farm with all the improved apparatus and machinery for raising that crop. On December 12, 1872, he has united in marriage with Lavilla W., daughter of Lorenza and Matilda Watkins; they have no children. In religious views the family are independent, and have never been associated with any religious organization; in politics Mr. Rockwell is a Republican; he has held numerous township offices; owns a fine farm, well improved, consisting mostly of river land, well watered by springs; besides cultivating a large tobacco crop, he devotes considerable attention to sheep-raising, and keeps a small dairy; he has always been successful in his business, and owes his present prosperous condition largely to his own exertions.
WILLIS N. ROCKWELL, farmer, P. O. West Burlington, was born April 13, 1853, in West Burlington, this county, a son of Alvord P. and Aachsa (Harrison) Rockwell, the former of whom was born in Troy township, this county, of English extraction, is a farmer in Burlington township, is now aged seventy years, and is a brother of the Hon. Delos Rockwell, of Troy. The mother of Willis N., whose family were from New England, and of English origin, died at the age of thirty years. There were only two sons, Willis N., and another who is a farmer in West Burlington township. The grandfather, Luther Rockwell, was one of the pioneers of the township. The subject of these lines was reared on the farm, and educated in the schools of the town and at Troy. He engaged in farming, which occupation he has followed, and is now the owner of a fine farm of 130 acres, one of the finest locations in the township, who was born February 27, 1878, to Emma J. Phillips, of Burlington township, who was born February 27, 1852, in Charleston, S. C., a daughter of John M. and Sarah (Petsch) Phillips. Mr. Phillips was a planter in Charleston, S. C., after the Civil War, during which period he was in the employ of the United States Government, in Buffalo, in the transportation of arms from the North. At one time he was owner of a fine farm in West Burlington township, this county; he was born in New York State, of English parents, and died at the age of sixty-four years. Mrs. Phillips was a native of South Carolina, and her mother was also a native of South Carolina, of English origin. Mr. and Mrs. Rockwell have two children: Achsa, born February 28, 1883, and Jennie, born November 19, 1887. He is Republican in politics, and has held the offices of assessor, constable and collector, also other positions of public trust in the township. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Wilmot Centre, and in politics is a Republican.
HENRY C. ROLISON, proprietor of Farmers’ Mills, Troy, was born in Alba, this county, March 13, 1853, and is a son of Nathan and Arminda (Riggs) Rolison, natives of Sussex county, N. J., who settled in Canton township, this county, about 1835, and cleared and improved a farm, on which they lived until the death of Mrs. Rolison, in 1864, when Mr. Rolison returned to New Jersey, he came back to this county and died here in 1888; he had eleven children who grew to maturity: Martha (Mrs. G. H. Nelson), John, Lewis, Ruth (Mrs. J. S. Wilcox, Squire and Uriah (twins), Cornelius, Jane (Mrs. A. J. Hume), Alanson, Henry C. and Perry. Henry C. Roliison, the subject of the sketch, was reared in Canton, educated in the common schools, and, at the age of fourteen, was apprenticed to the miller’s trade, which occupation he has followed to the present time, and, since 1883, has been the proprietor of the Farmers’ Mills, at Troy. He was twice married: first time to Emma J., daughter of Asa and Mary (Harding) Pratt, of Canton, by whom he had two children: Florence A. and Herbert H.; she died January 1, 1888, and Mr. Rolison afterward married Nell E., daughter of Rev. A. M. and Julia (Pardee) Weston, of Indiana and by her has one daughter, Grace I. Mr. Rolison is a member of the Disciple Church; in politics he is a Republican.
JOSEPH L. ROOF, farmer, Franklin township, P. O. Franklindale, was born in Franklin, this county, February 11, 1847, a son of James and Emeline (Lantz) Roof, natives of Germany, who came to this country about 1785, locating in Sussex county, N. J., near the banks of the "Paulius Kill," where he (Jacob) died about 1860; his family consisted of nine children, of whom James, the fifth in order of birth, removed to this county in 1830, and in 1843 married Miss Emeline Lantz, which union resulted in the birth of three daughters and one son, the subject of this sketch. Mrs. Roof, the mother of Joseph L., died February 15, 1889. James Roof and his wife lived on their present place nearly fifty years, where she died. Our subject was reared and educated at Franklin, excepting one term at the State Normal School, Mansfielld, Tioga Co., Pa., and one term at the Susquehanna Collegiate Institute, Towanda. On March 24, 1874, he married at Franklindale, Miss Ella, daughter of Stern and Wilmina McKee, and to this union were born two children: J. Raymond, born October 3, 1875, and Mina Emeline, born December 23, 1878. Mrs. Roof is a great-granddaughter of Leonard McKee, one of the first settlers. Mr. Roof is a thrifty farmer and is successful in his enterprises; he has owned some very fine-blooded horses; he lives on a farm of 106 acres, and has a peach orchard of 500 trees; he is a Democrat in politics.
THOMAS JEFFERSON ROOF, farmer, Standing Stone township, P. O. Rummerfield, was born in Wysox township, this county, July 11, 1835, son of Charles Roof, who was born in Sussex county, N. J., February 12, 1809, and was a son of Jacob Roof, also a native of New Jersey, who married Hannah Struble. Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Roof had a large family: the eldest son, Charles, married Maria, daughter of Peter Lantz, another native of New Jersey, and they had three children: Sophie Elizabeth, who was twice married, her first husband being Joel Huff, and the second, Jonathan Stevens; Thomas Jefferson and Henderson. When Charles Roof first came to this county he lived in Wysox three years, then removed to Frenchtown, where he lived until 1842, and then purchased a farm in this township from H. W. Tracy, of about one hundred and fifty-four acres, and in 1857 added thereto 186 acres; he was a very successful farmer, and a member of the Baptist Church. Thomas J., the subject of this sketch, attended the district school until his twenty-first year, then worked at home until 1860, when he began for himself, on a portion of his father’s farm, 186 acres, which was willed to him at his father’s death. He purchased, in 1869, of William Hagerdorn, sixty-four acres, and in 1881, of Miles Ried, sixty-two acres, and in 1883, of Joseph Powell, fifty-four acres. He has been very successful in all his undertakings, has been school director twelve years, also road commissioner twelve years, and, as his name indicated, is a Democrat. He married, March 18, 1860, Elizabeth Roe, daughter of David and Saphire Dennis Roe (she is the eldest of seven children, natives of New Jersey), and of this marriage there are nine children, as follows: Emma, Ella, Chauncey, Mary, Samuel, Frederick, Sarah, Denton and Susie.
ALBERT S. ROSS, merchant, Wyalusing, was born at Rockey Forest, Wyoming county, January 25, 1848, and is a son of George G. and Melissa (Myers) Ross, the former a native of Connecticut, and the latter of Pennsylvania. His mother was of German origin, and her grandfather was a soldier in the Hessian Army, during the War of the Revolution; he deserted, and to avoid capture concealed himself in the woods, where provisions were carried to him by the maiden who afterward became his wife. After their marriage they settled in Wyoming county, about eighteen miles back from Laceyville. Albert’s ancestors, on his father’s side, were Scotch, and his great-grandmother was a Duball, sister of the author Duball’s Arithmetic. George G. Ross was a blacksmith, and worked at various points in Bradford and Wyoming counties, and in Wyalusing, over thirty-five years ago; he died in Wyoming county, February 7, 1890, aged seventy-three, his wife having died about two years previously. They had three children, of whom the eldest died in infancy. Anise was married to a Mr. Lee, and died in the West. Albert S. is the youngest and only living member of the family; he passed his boyhood in different localities in Bradford and Wyoming counties, and was educated in the common schools. When only sixteen years old, March 8, 1864, he enlisted in Company G, Fiftieth P. V. V. I. He was discharged, with his regiment, July 5, 1965, having participated in the following engagements: Weldon Railroad, Hatcher’s Run, Peebles Farm, Petersburg and the Siege of Petersburg; then was sent to Broad’s Crossing, on the South Side Railroad, where he remained until after the surrender of Lee, when he started for the front. Upon enlisting, through some mistake, he was sent to join the Army of the West, at Nashville; was stricken
|
