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History of the Presbyterian Church of
1844-1942 By Victor Charles Detty, Pastor Author of
Published by the Author 1942, Wysox, PA
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EARLY PASTORS, 1846-1860
The Rev. S. H. Hazard of Wysox was minister in the year 1845, and continued for 1846. On Saturday, Jan. 31, 1846, Mrs. Betsy Spalding presented her certificate of dismission from the church of Orwell. Mr. John Frost and Jane O. Frost, his wife, and his mother, Mrs. Polly Frost, wife of Aaron, were received by the session as members by confession of faith.
The next day Mr. Aaron frost appeared before the session of elders and applied for admission to the church, whereupon examination as to his acquaintance with experimental religion being sustained, he was received into the communion of the church. Mr. Erastus Lovet, Lucius Eastman and Sally his wife were received by certificate from other churches. Lucius was the younger brother of George Willys Eastman. He was born April 30, 1805 and died June 22, 1870; he was one of the 10 children of Justus Eastman, the last tow of whom were by a second wife.
Mr. John Frost was the son of Aaron and Polly frost and was born June 6, 1810, at Ludlow, Mass., and married Jane Wilsey, Feb. 12, 1834. He died in Lawrenceville, Tioga County, Pa., Jan. 11, 1858. Jane Wilsey, his wife, was born at Broome, N.Y., in June, 1805, and died in Rome Pa., Oct. 17, 1859. John, a trustee of the church, was a brother of James O. Frost of Towanda. The six children of John and Jane Frost were all baptized by pastors of the Rome Church.
Aaron Frost, was born in Windsor, Conn., Nov. 5, 1778 and married Feb. 27, 1800, Polly Craw of Ellington, at East Windsor. She was born May 5, 1782. Aaron and Polly Frost had twelve children: Nancy, Candace, Maryan (who died at the age of seven months), Candace Maryan, Aaron Frost, 3rd, Mary Craw, John, Henry Franklin, Cynthia, William Hammond, James Otis, Eliot Newton Frost.
In February Mr. G. W. Eastman was appointed delegate to attend the presbytery which met Feb. 3, 1846 at Rome. On May 3, Joseph Eastman, son of Lucius and Sally Eastman was baptized. He died July 1, 1857 at the age of 16. Burial was at Bumpville. Mr. Henry W. Hine(s) and his wife, Mary Craw (Frost) Hines, daughter of Aaron, Jr., were received by letter from the Orwell Presbyterian Church. At this time Oscar F. young succeeded Mr. Solomon Spalding as clerk of the session. He served until 1896.
On June 21, John I. Eastman, born Oct. 23, 1845, son of George W. and Lydia T. Eastman, was baptized. His middle name, Iveson, indicates he was named for the Rev. John Iveson who conducted the first communion service of this church three weeks after its organization.
Mrs. Sarah H. Chubbuck was accepted as a member upon profession of faith at a session meeting Dec. 27, 1846. Mr. C. R. Basset was given a letter to the church at Troy, Pa.
Mr. Silas Cook and his wife Sophronia were received as members April 24, 1847 by letter from Union, N.Y. The Rev. William Huntling presided at the meeting.
On Aug. 8, 1847 Rev. John Iveson Baptized Erasmus P., James E., and Harlow A. Hines, children of Henry W. and Mary C. Hines.
On Sunday, Oct. 17, 1847, "Mrs. Betsy Cannan, being apparently near her end, and having hope in Christ desired baptism and admission to the membership of the church." Her views being known to the session they were duly convened at her house, and the Rev. John Iveson administered the rite. She was the mother of Mervil Vought, who was the wife of John.
Mrs. Betsy Cannan was the wife of Matthew Cannan, who was a native of Ireland, came to Cherry Valley, N.Y., worked in Whitman’s store and married the daughter of the proprietor. One record cited by George U. Eastman, gives her birthplace as Providence, Rhode Island.
At this place in the records appears the following minutes (Mr. Bronson was also serving the Wysox Church):
"Baptism by the Rev. E. Bronson in the School House near Mr. N. Chubbuck’s—
Mary Louisa Frost, thirteen years old
Emiline Malthace Frost, nine years old
John Oscar Frost, seven years old
Martin Electus Frost, six years old
Clayton Wilsey Frost, three years old."
All were children of John and Jane (Wilsey) Frost. Mary Louisa Frost, born Nov., 1834, in Broome County, N.Y., the daughter of John and Jane Wilsey Frost, married Oct., 1855, in Owego, N.Y., Edgar Guernsey Nichols (brother of George of Rome). Edgar painted a picture of Rome about 1865. She died in Beauford, S.C., Oct. 31, 1905. Their children were Mary, Edgar, George, and Jennie.
John Oscar Frost, born April, 1840 at Orwell, married at Hornbrook, Pa., Aug. 1862, Emma Ferguson, who died in 1885, aged 42. he married, second, Lucia Booth at Candor, N.Y., in 1886. He died July 3, 1898 at Candor.
Martin Electus Frost, born in Orwell, June 22, 1841, married April 22, 1864 at Forkville, Pa., Mary Warren who was born April 1, 1843 and died Dec. 29, 1910. she was the youngest daughter of Joseph and Eliza Warren, and a descendant of John and Margaret Warren of Watertown, Mass., 1630. Mr. Frost died March 5, 1914. Their six children were:
On Jan. 1, 1848, Mrs. Nancy Rolls, and on Feb. 13, Mrs. Henrietta Chase offered themselves the church. Their examination was sustained and they became members by profession of faith, and baptism. Mrs. Chase died in February 1894.
Mrs. Nancy Rolls died in Rome Township when the new church (1886) was nearly completed and her funeral was held in the church, being the first funeral to be held there, entrance being made over planks to the door. The bell of the church was tolled as her funeral procession drove from "Young’s Corners" to the church. She was of advanced age and the number of years was enumerated in the tolling of the bell.
Mr. Willys Eastman became a member April 19, 1848. He was born Dec. 28, 1829, the son of George W. and Lydia T. Eastman, and married Ellen Augusta Hine, June 23, 1853, and died Aug. 16, 1865. Miss Mary M. Bronson became a member also on April 19. Ten days later Mrs. Mary Bronson was received by letter from Elkland, Pa. On Sunday, April 30, Miss Augusta Hine was admitted a member. The same day the following were baptized: Sarah Jane, born Sept. 26, 1847, daughter of G. w. and Lydia T. Eastman; Sarah Elizabeth, daughter of Lucius and Sally Eastman; and Oscar Warren, son of O. F. and Rachel e. Young.
On Sunday, July 2, 1848, William Sexton by letter from the Orwell church, together with Edwin K. Collins and George W. Spencer, by profession of faith, were received into full communion. Mr. Sexton died Aug. 5, 1849. Burial was at Ransom Corners Cemetery.
On Sunday, Sept. 30th, Mrs. Rachel E. Young, wife of O. J. Young, was baptized and admitted to church membership.
Mrs. Sarah H. Chubbuck was voted a church letter Dec. 8th. Mrs. Sophia Gates brought her church letter from the Congregational Church at Gilbertsville, N.Y., Jan. 6, 1849. In 1849, each member of this church was enjoined by presbytery to pay to the session five cents annually for the support of minister’s widows and orphans and to assist disabled ministers. This applied to the whole denomination.
The next year (Oct. 7, 1849),
shows that Henry Wilkeson, infant son of John and Jane frost was baptized,
Mrs. Elizabeth Spencer was accepted as a member, coming from a Congregational
Church in Rupert, Vermont, and letters of dismissal were granted to Mr.
and Mrs. Aaron frost to Orwell, where Aaron died Jan. 17, 1855, and his
wife, April 13, 1860.
CHAPTER IV
PASTORATE OF REV. DARWIN COOK
The Rev. Darwin Cook succeeded the Rev. Edwin Bronson in 1850, when Mrs. Mary H. Bronson was dismissed to Homer, N.Y. Mr. Cook was the son of Joel and Polly (Russell) Cook, and he remained in Rome till 1858 when he accepted a call from the First Presbyterian Church of Wyalusing at Merryal near Camptown. During his eight years at Rome 18 persons joined by profession of faith and 8 by certificate, while 10 left and joined other churches. Those joining by profession were, in 1851: Miss Harriet C. Gates (married Rev. Clark Salmon); Mrs. Amelia Morey (married June 23, 1852, David Stevens of Towanda); Miss Mervil A. Woodburn (married Aden Robeson Bolles of Herrick, July 22, 1857); Miss Maria Cook (dismissed to Iowa, May 9, 1856); Mr. Silas E. Seely, son of Joseph; Miss Betsey F. Woodburn (married Oct. 19, 1853, George Sickler, was mother of Mrs. Bessie Lou Irving of Binghamton); Miss Abagail ("Abby") M. Passmore (married Silas E. Seely); Miss Adaline Seely (married George Harmon of Rupert, Vermont); Mrs. Alexander McCaslin and his wife Eliza, who lived near Gillet’s bridge; in 1852, Mr. E. N. frost and his wife, Sarah parks, who lived on property across from that now owned by Mr. Fred Powers; in 1854, Henry B. Osborne; in 1855, Miss Mary R. Seely, who married Charles Brown of Sheshequin, and Miss Frances R. Spencer; in 1856, Mrs. Betsey Allen, who lived to the age of 90 years and 10 months, mother of Mrs. O. F. Young; in 1857, Mr. Joseph Sylvester Seely, son of Joseph; in 1858, Mr. Asher Holmes, and in 1859 Candace Holmes, his wife. (A. J. Holmes lived in the northern part of the township).
Those becoming members by letter in Mr. Cook’s time of service were: Mr. Joseph Seely and Julia (Jackson) Seely, his wife, from Orwell in 1851 (Mrs. Cora Marsh said Mr. Seely was one of the nicest men ever born, and that his wife always wore little curls); also Mrs. Matilda Osborne; in 1856, Mr. Stewart M. Lines and his wife Catherine, from Manuch Chunk to which they returned three months later; in 1857 Mrs. Louisa Avery, from the Orwell church, deceased March 14, 1871, leaving $525 for a parsonage; and Miss Eliza Champlin from Orwell. The latter was the daughter and fifth of ten children of Jabez and Sarah A. (Cole) Champlin, and was born Sept. 20, 1836, married April 6, 1859 Mr. Reed Barnes of Orwell, and took her letter to Orwell in 1865. She died Sept. 15, 1900; burial was at Owego. Her daughter, Mrs. Ruth B. Shays, lives at 8 Lincoln Ave., Cortland, N.Y. Mrs. A. L. Cook joined by letter from Donaldson.
In 1856 Silas P. Cook, his wife Sophronia and daughter, Maria were given a certificate of dismissal to take to Iowa. ; G. W. Spencer and his wife and Frances Rosina were dismissed to Owego, and Mrs. Jane O. Frost to Lawrenceville, Pa., whence she brought one back to Rome in 1858 where she died Oct. 14, 1864. Mrs. Mary M. Armstrong, (formerly Bronson) was dismissed to Wilkes-Barre, Pa. in 1852, and in 1855 Mrs. Jane Adaline Harmon was given a letter to Rupert, Vermont, and Erastus Lovet one to Orwell.
When in 1858 Mr. Cook, who was the father of the Rev. Milton L. Cook, terminated his work at Rome, the church had 32 members, a net gain of seven. In October 1852 he had led the elders into a proposal to spend a half hour each day in "private prayer for the wisdom and faithfulness in the discharge of our duties as office bearers in the Church of God." On New Year’s Day, 1853, Saturday, "the Pastor being incapacitated by a cold that stopped his voice, Rev. Brother Richard Van Valkenburg, of the M. E. Church, preached the Preparatory Lecture." On the next day, Sunday, "according to custom, the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper was observed with much comfort by such a company as could assembly notwithstanding the badness of the going." During this typical year $25.36 was raised by communion offerings for Missions and benevolences.
It is related that Mr. Cook while gesticulating in the course of preaching in the pulpit of the old church backed down to one of the lower steps, just catching himself from falling backward.
Baptisms in Ministry of Rev. Darwin Cook
April 6, 1851, Mervil A. Woodburn, adult daughter of Hiram and Jane Woodburn; Maria Cook, adult daughter of Silas and Sophronia Cook. (One Miss Mariah Cook was teaching school No. 3 in Vought Hollow June 5, 1851).
June 11, 1851, Hannah Rosina, Esther Minerva, Ann Eliza, Harriet Augusta, children of Edwin and Harriet Collins.
June 25, 1851, Frances Rosina, Julia Maria, Rufus Sheldon, George Wilson, children of G. W. and Elizabeth Spencer.
July 6, 1851, Betsey F., adult daughter of Hiram and Jane Woodburn; Abagail Maria, adult daughter of Joseph and Abagail Passmore.
July 13, 1851, Milton Lewis (born June 2, 1851) infant child of Rev. D. and Adelia Lewis Cook.
July 20, 1851, Matilda, child of Northrup and Amelia Morey.
Oct. 5, 1851, Ella Ione, child of O. F. and R. E. Young, John Huff, and William Alexander, children of Alexander and Eliza McCaslin.
May 16, 1852, Amelia, Mercur, and Maria, children of Eliot Newton and Sarah Ellen (parks) Frost, married at Orwell June 1, 1845. (Eliot Newton was the youngest of the children of Aaron frost. He was born Feb. 16, 1825 at Southwick, Mass. He died at Athens, Pa., Nov. 15, 1885. Amelia died Nov. 25, 1861.)
March 6, 1853, Mary Amelia, infant of Rev. Darwin and Adelia L. Cook, by Rev. Charles Huntington.
Jan. 7, 1855, Miles B., child of Henry B. and Matilda Osborne; Enridge Passmore, child of S. E. and A. M. Seeley.
April 8, 1857, Sarah Eliza, infant of Rev. Darwin and A. L. Cook, by Rev. Julius Foster of Towanda Presbyterian Church.
July, 1857, Julia Maria, child of S. E. and A. M. Seely.
March 26, 1858, Joshua M., child of H. B. and Matilda Osborne.
March 27, 1858, Asher Holmes, adult; Richard A., son of A. H. and Candace Holmes.
First mention of a parsonage was made in 1851, so far as records known at the present show. The pastor, rev. Mr. Cook, had the use of a house fully furnished. Of the $250 paid in subscriptions on the salary of the minister by the church members and supporters, about half was "paid at the store in grain at barter price, and the balance in cash and grain at cash price." The problem of church support led the officers to say they "ought to unite with some other church."
A subscription paper for the minister’s salary for the year beginning Dec. 1, 1851 shows how the various contributors subscribed.
We the undersigned promise to
pay the Sums Set opposite our respective names, to the Rev’d D. Cook for
Ministerial labor in Rome for one year from the first day of December,
1851.
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| Geo. W. Eastman |
$20.00
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E. N. Frost |
10.00
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| S. Spalding |
15.00
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Hugh Hicks |
2.00
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| John Vought |
3.00
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Cyrus Thatcher |
2.00
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| Peter Allen |
7.00
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Lucius Eastman |
5.00
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| Bezaleel Gates |
10.00
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| O. F. young |
15.00
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O. F. Young |
3.00
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| Joseph Seely |
10.00
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John Passmore |
3.00
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| G. W. Spencer |
5.00
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Dan’l Stevens |
2.00
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| Edwin K. Collins |
2.50
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Geo. W. Eastman |
2.00
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| S. E. Seely |
5.00
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S. Spalding |
3.00
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| Willis Eastman |
5.00
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A. McCaslin |
1.00
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| Alexander McCaslin |
10.00
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S. E. Seely |
2.00
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| John Frost |
5.00
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J. W. Spencer |
1.00
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| Dr. H. Rice |
5.00
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B. Gates |
1.00
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| H. W. Browning (shoe horse) |
5.00
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Lucius Eastman |
1.00
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| John Passmore |
15.00
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J. Seely |
3.00
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| J. Holcombe |
5.00
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Total
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$183.50
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Another paper for 1851 includes these other names: Mrs. Daniel Stevens, Henry B. Osborn ($5.00), Samuel Mann ($2.00), Mrs. Betsy Allen ($3.00), C. M. Van Winkle ($2.00), Julius Van Winkle (will shoe horse once .50), Joshua Vought (2 Bushel Oats $1.00).
Another subscription paper for 1853 includes these other names: M. W. Warner, E. S. benedict, Preceptor Forbes, J. H. Carey, George Sickler.
H. W. Browning (Herman), a blacksmith who married Mary Clotilda Woodburn, was the father of Montague, and grandfather of Phil Browning of Rome, the last named for P.O. Bliss, and living on the road leading from Gillet Bridge to Allis Hollow. H. W. Browning lived where the Taylor and Jenkins families have their Rome summer home.
Cyrus Thatcher was appointed in 1854 administrator of the estate of Thomas Thatcher who died at the age of 83, and whose gravestone is in the Ransom Corners Cemetery at the junction of the Wysox Creek valley road and the road leading up to Orwell Hill. Cyrus is said to have married a woman by the name of Mann.
C. M. van Winkle was Cyrus M. van winkle (grandfather of Mrs. R. R. Cook) who owned a farm on the hill east of Rome borough improved with a large house. He was a self-taught local veterinarian with considerable practice. Julius Van Winkle lived across the street from the blacksmith shop of H. W. Browning.
Dr. H. Rice was Dr. Hiram Rice, grandfather of the present church treasurer, Miss Mary Woodburn Rice, and of William and D. S. Rice of Rome. He was the son of Dutee and Susanna (Gerould) Rice of East Smithfield, Bradford County, Pa. Dutee Rice came from Connecticut about 1802 to East Smithfield, a shoemaker by trade, at which he worked in the community. He was born Sept. 22, 1179, and married on Feb. 12, 1804 Susanna Gerould. He died at the age of 68 in 1848, with burial at East Smithfield. She died April 27, 1870, aged 84. To them were born ten children, of whom Hiram was third.
Susanna Gerould was the granddaughter of Gamaliel Gerould (1719-1795) and his wife Rebecca Lawrence who he married Dec. 25, 171, and who died Jan. 12, 1751. Jabez Gerould, father of Susanna, was the fourth child of Gamaliel and Rebecca Gerould, was born Nov. 1, 1748 in Wrentham, mass., served as a private in the Lexington alarm of 1175 in Col. Sparhawk’s Regiment, and later as a drummer in Col. Ephrian Doolittle’s Regiment. After the war he settled in Newton, Conn., thence he emigrated to Franklin, N.Y. in 1798, and in 1801 he established his home in a log house in east Smithfield. His wife was Demaris Bennett of Newton, Conn. They had nine children, of whom Susanna was third, born Jan. 1, 1786. Her father died a year after coming to East Smithfield, but the mother with her children, the oldest of whom was 16, preserved, and brought them to maturity, with the exception of the first born who had died as a child.
Hiram Rice, son of Dutee and Susanna (Gerould) Rice, was born March 13, 1810, married April 9, 1839 Mrs. Amanda Guernsey Nichols, and died in Rome, Feb. 23, 1876. He learned the printer’s trade, and for a time edited and published "the Northern Banner" at Towanda, Pa. Two years (1833-1835) of the issues of this are in the possession of Miss Mary W. Rice. Later he studied medicine at Albany, N.Y. After his marriage in 1839 he resided in Rome and practiced medicine for over 35 years. He lived in the house now occupied by Frederick Rice Powers.
The children of Dr. Hiram and Amanda Guernsey Nichols Rice were: William born April 16, 840, died Jan. 18, 1919 (married Emily Victorine Whitney May 1, 1862); Charles, born March 14, 1842, died April 24, 1915 (married Mary Overpeck, had 6 children: Ned, Sarah, Harry, William, Bert, Marian); Amanda, born Feb. 29, 1844, died Nov. 10, 1906 unmarried; Lizzie, born July 19, 1847, died Aug. 12, 1932, married Delos Powers, and had two sons: George D. (born June 4, 1875) and Frederick Rice (born Feb. 3, 1877) Powers. After the death of Dr. Hiram Rice in 1876 his widow lived in Rome till her death Jan. 28, 1888. She had been born in 1808, the daughter of Samuel and Sarah (Bukley) Guernsey of Oxford, N.Y., and married first Pliny Nichols of Green, N.Y., who died leaving her with three children: George (1829-1909), Mary (married William Rockwell of Towanda, was grandmother of Mrs. Helen Godcharles), and Edgar who married Mary Louisa Frost (1834-1905).
William Rice studied medicine at the Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, graduating in 1862, and began his practice at Herrickville, Pa. He was commissioned, Feb. 16, 1865, assistant surgeon of the Ninth Pennsylvania Cavalry and served with General W. T. Sherman’s Army in Georgia. After the war he lived for a while at Beaufort, South Carolina, and then came to reside and practice medicine in Rome, Pa. He established a drug store in 1880, operated it till his death Jan. 18, 1919, after which time his daughter Mary took charge.
The children of Dr. William and Emily V. (Whitney) Rice were:
Keep coming back to your wonderful web site for more information and ran across a correction which I had to make since it is me! (See corrections below highlighted in red) I have found this in other genealogies and don't know where it originated, but would like to correct it for future reference since I know so many people use your information. Thank you for all you and your volunteers do for all of us who are researching our ancestors.
Lynn L'Amoureux Walter Scott
History of the Presbyterian
Church of
Rome, Pennsylvnia
1844-1942
By
Victor Charles Detty, Pastor
Author of
History of the Presbyterian
Church of Wysox, Pennsylvania (1791-1938)
CHAPTER IV
PASTORATE OF REV. DARWIN COOK
Children of Dr. Robert Guernsey
and Laura (l"Amereux) Rice: (L'Amoureux)
Henry, born Feb. 4, 1900, died
Oct. 25, 1932 unmarried, just before he was about to graduate from the
University of Wisconsin.
Laura, born March 7, 1902,
graduated from Carlton College in music at Northfield, Minn.
Emilie Victorine, born in Towanda,
Pa., march 20, 1904, graduated from University of Minnesota in 1928, married
Dec. 30, 1933, Henry Earnest Walter who was born of English
(American mother English born father) parents of Tees, Alberta.
They have two children: Richard Kenmir, born March 9, 1935; and Lillie
L’Amereaux, born Nov. 9, 1938. (Lynn L'Amoureux,
born November 5, 1938) They live at Cloquet, Minn., where he
is a chemist.
William, born Aug. 19, 1906,
married June 13, 1932 Lyla Sarf, who was born Dec. 16, 1909. They have
two children: Darlene, born June 12, 1935; and Charles, born Sept. 16,
1938.
Guy, born June 18,, 1912, married
July 20, 1936 Irene Vogel who was born March 3, 1914. They have one child,
Gay, born Dec. 10, 1939.
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