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The Reverend Mr. David Craft Columbia Township |
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HISTORY OF THE TOWNSHIPS
COLUMBIA TOWNSHIP HISTORY
(CRAFT)
The geographical position of the
township of Columbia is between the townships of Wells and South Creek on the
north, Springfield on the east, Troy and Armenia on the south, and Tioga County
on the west.
The township is watered by the
various branches and confluents of the Sugar Creek, as well as by the main
creek, for a short distance; the principal streams besides the latter being
Mill, Wolf, South, and Spring creeks. The surface along the Northern Central
railroad, which passes north through the extreme eastern portion of the
township, is mountainous, and is somewhat so in the southwestern corner of the
township. Its general surface corresponds to that of the towns in its
immediate vicinity, being high and broken, but the town possesses a fruitful
soil, and is well adapted for grazing and dairying.
SETTLEMENT
Judge Darius Bullock, in the
Athens Gleaner of June 29, 1871, gives the following facts
concerning the early settlement of
Columbia.
John and Nathaniel Ballard,
twin brothers and sons of Joseph Ballard, from Framingham, Massachusetts, made
the first clearing in the township in 1795, by chopping four acres on the farm
in Sylvania borough now owned by James Nash, but soon after sold their interest
in the improvement so made for "five dollars and a hog". In 1798, * Nathaniel
Morgan emigrated from Connecticut, and located at what is known now as
Austinville, and began a clearing on the farm now owned by his grandson, John
Morgan. He had previously bought the Connecticut title to 17,000 acres of
land extending eastward through "Cabot Hollow," to and into the present township
of Springfield, the title to which, like other Connecticut titles, proved
worthless. He raised a few potatoes, which he buried, sowed a piece of
wheat, and went back for his family, with whom he returned in the following
spring, and also accompanied by David Watkins, Oliver Canfield, Joseph
Batterson, Jeremiah Chapman, Aaron Bennett, and Samuel Lamphere, whom he induced
to come with him by giving them each a deed of fifty acres. It is believed
that these were the first permanent settlers. Phineas C. Morgan, the only
surviving child of Nathaniel Morgan, is the last survivor of the immigrants who
came with his father. The latter died in 1804 or 1805.
About the year 1800, Solomon
Soper came in from Vermont permanently to reside, and also William Rose.
Dr. Tracy is authority for the statement that a man named Doty, the same year
that the Ballards made their clearing (1795), built a cabin on the Scouton farm.
James Morgan was a boy of ten
years of age when be came in 1800, with his father, Nathaniel Morgan, from
Reading, Conn., where he (James) was born. He died Aug. 20, 1867, aged
seventy-eight years, in Austinville. In 1809 be married Margaret
McClelland, with whom he lived fifty-four years, she dying Sept. 8, 1863.
They reared eleven children, seven of whom survived the father. Mrs.
Morgan's father, John McClelland,* was a native of Ireland. He wished to
marry a lady who his father deemed beneath his son's social position, and to
accomplish their union both came to America. She landed in Philadelphia,
and he in New York, and never met again, or saw each other after leaving their
native land.
Phineas Chapman Morgan and a
daughter, Nancy, who afterwards married Amos Satterlee, were, with James Morgan,
the only children of Nathaniel Morgan. The daughter went to Ohio after her
marriage, and died there.
The Bingham heirs received the
Pennsylvania title over Mr. Morgan's Connecticut claim, and after some years'
litigation the Pennsylvania title was confirmed, and a compromise effected
whereby 500 acres were surveyed to Morgan, for which be paid one bushel of wheat
per acre, which amount of land was eventually divided between Mr. Morgan's two
sons, James and Phineas C. On this farm the Austinville iron ore was taken.
David Watkins located the farm owned
afterwards by his son Mial. His daughter Laura is the widow of Miles P.
Slade. Mr. Watkins died in 1862, aged eighty-four years, in Austinville.
Aaron Bennett lived a short distance below Mr. Morgan's claim, afterwards
occupied by James Morgan, and Oliver Canfield just below Mr. Bennett. Mr.
Lamphere settled on the place afterwards sold by him to John Besley, and on
which the latter resided.
In 1801, Elnathan Goodrich
came with his family into the township, from Delaware county, N. Y. His youngest
child, then a babe, born in August of the same year, was Elisha S. Goodrich, who
afterwards became prominently known throughout the State, both as an editor and
public official of the county and State. His son, E. O'Meara Goodrich,
also prominently known in the same line as his father, was born in Columbia,
about 1824, and is now surveyor of the port of Philadelphia.
Charles Keyes was an early settler,
and is said by Judge Bullock to have first come to the town soon after the
Ballards' first clearing.
About 1802-3 the Buckley family came
into the town.
In 1804, David Palmer came from
Burlington, and settled on the Scouton farm, purchasing the same of Ebenezer
Baldwin, who had bought it of Doty. When Palmer moved into the house it
had been for some time unoccupied, and the brambles had grown up through the
cracks in the basswood floor as high as the beams overhead, and were obliged to
be cut out before the goods could be stored. About this time or within a
year or two afterwards, Abraham Weast made a possession on Willard Mosher's
farm, but before 1807 he sold out to a Mr. Sprague.
In 1807, Calvin Tinkham came from
Hampshire Co., Mass, and Charles Keyes from Burlington. Mr. Keyes was a
hatter, and followed the business here some years. He died in the winter
of 1856.
In 1808 the Havens family settled on
a hill half a mile north of Austinville. They were a numerous family, and
Carter Havens was the father of twenty-two children.
John Bixby, also, came in 1808.
He cleared up the farm on which he ever afterwards resided. After he had
built a house and moved into it, he commenced chopping a fallow; one tree,
standing near the house, fell contrary to his intentions, and, striking the
roof, broke in the gable and a portion of the rafters. He died in October,
1866, lacking but about four months of ninety years of age.
Nathaniel Merritt came from Vermont
in September, 1807, and settled on James McKean's farm. He had five sons,
one of whom, Curtis Merritt, resides in Sylvania. At this date (1807)
there was not a house between Springfield Centre and Bentley's Creek, and
nothing but a bridle path to travel in. When Mr. Merritt came in, Samuel
Baldwin lived on the Smead farm, and Ephraim Cleveland on John Calkins' farm.
In 1808, Deacon Asa Howe took up a
farm near Helen Budd's, and gave the locality the name of Howe Hollow thereby.
Comfort Peters settled on the Pettibone farm the same year, and Sheldon Gibbs
came in 1809 to the same neighborhood. Both of these men were
basket-makers, and peddled their wares through the country round a bout, even as
far away as Oswego. For this reason the road on which they lived was
called Basket street, and still rettains its early cognomen, and is the road
leading from C. H. Ballard's to Austinville.
Phineas Jones came in about the year
1808. He was a brother of Mrs. Comfort Peters, and came from the same locality.
He removed in 1818 into central New York.
Rev. Joseph Beeman, a Baptist
clergyman, and Deacon David R. Haswell came together from Vermont in 1807-8, and
settled near each other on the northern border of the town, and died on their
farms.
John Peter Gernert, William Furman,
Reuben Nash and Jacob Miller, the latter a Revolutionary soldier, were among the
earlier settlers of the township; but the dates given by different authorities
of the time they settled are so conflicting it is impossible to venture an exact
statement.
The dates range from 1808 to 1817.
Mr. Furman was from Delaware Co., N. Y., and was the first of his family to
settle in Columbia. He lived at the crossroads, and was a justice of the
peace. Peter and John were his children, and John, the elder, lived near
Austinville. Mr. Furman's brother, Paul Furman, lived on the creek.
John Peter Gernert was a German, and died in the early days of the settlement.
He lived near Mr. Besley's place.
John Lilly was of English parentage,
but born in Hillsborough, Ireland, in 1781. He was impressed into the
military service and sent to Canada, where he deserted and came to Ogdensburg,
N. Y., thence to Vermont, where he married Nancy Smith. From Vermont he
came to Troy, Bradford County, and stopped for a time at Long's Mills, and then
moved up towards Sylvania, to which place he came in or about 1808-9. He
bought the Sheldon Gibbs farm.
Michael Wolf camo from Delaware Co.,
N. Y., via Athens, in 1811. He married Betsey Furman.
Oliver Bosley, a French Huguenot, in
1812, with ,labors abundant and trials oft," brought a lumber-wagon tbrough from
South Creek to Columbia Cross-Roads.
George Moore was born at Columbia
Cross-Roads in 1810, and married Sallie Gernert. About this time, or
earlier a year or two, a blacksmith named Sherman lived where Jacob Fries now
lives, and a man named Robbins lived where Mrs. Bosley resides.
John McClelland, commonly called
Esquire McClelland, must have come to the county at least before 1809, as his
daughter Margaret was married that year to James Moran. He probably came in
1807-8. He was an Irishman.
Asa Bullock came to the town in
1817, and died Jan. 1, 1831, on his farm. He was a native of Bristol Co.,
Mass. He was a brother of Judge Darius Bullock.
Joseph Gladding came the same year,
from Barrington, R. I., in December, being thirty days on the road. He
came with his wife's brother, Vial Allen Bullock, a son of Asa Bullock, before
named, in the spring before. Dr. Darius Bullock came before this time to
the county, locating, in Smitlifield.
Thomas Monroe, Harry Harris, and
Levi Cornell came soon after 1817.
Peleg Peckham came from Rehoboth,
Mass., and settled in Columbia in 1818. His first location was on a part
of that part of the farm now owned by Mr. Gladding. He was a carpenter, and
built some of the best houses of his time. He was brother to Kingsley
Peckham, and married a sister of Mrs. Joseph Gladding.
Kingsley Peckham bought the Merritt
location.
John Calkins came to Columbia in
1817, from Burlington, exchanging his possession there with Samuel Lamphere for
his in Columbia. Mr. Calkins was born in 1790, and came with his father,
Moses Calkins, from Duanesburg, Schoharie Co., N. Y., to Sugar Creek in 1794,
his father having preceded the family the year before, and prepared a home for
them.
FIRSTLINGS
The first house built in the
township was the log cabin of Doty, erected in 1795. The next ones were
the cabins of the six families who came in the year 1799, or 1800, as it is
variously given, viz., Nathaniel Morgan, Aaron Bennett, David Watkins, Joseph
Batterson, Oliver Canfield, and Samuel Lamphere. These men were rich in
energy and perseverance, though poor in worldly goods. David Watkins said
when be arrived he had of worldly possessions nothing save his wife, and
ox-team, and seven dollars and a half in cash. The pioneers soon, however,
had each a cabin with a bark roof, the more luxurious ones had a floor of
basswood Puncheons (rifted logs hewed smooth) for others, mother earth furnished
their floor, uncarpeted. The windows were for a time unglazed, and when
they could afford such a luxury, they paid twenty-five cents per pane, seven by
nine inches, for it at Tioga Point. The doors were made of split basswood,
set on end, and held in place by a cross-bar, secured by wooden hooks driven
into the logs. Nails there were none, save such as the blacksmith forged
for them out of wrought iron, and wooden pins served the purpose. Huge
wooden fireplaces were built into one end of the cabins, outside of the wall
usually, and whatever else was lacking, fuel was plenty. The back-log,
from three to six feet long and from one to two feet in diameter, formed a
substantial foundation to receive another log of about half its size. Two
other logs of smaller dimensions, properly placed, served as fire-dogs, upon
which the forestick rested; then the split wood was artistically worked in and
about the foundation thus laid, and a crackling, roaring flame was soon
ascending the broad-throated chimney, built, sometimes, of round sticks
plastered with mud, and the bright glare of the burning wood diffused light and
warmth throughout the small apartment, provided the same was well chinked up
with mud between joints. A cord of good wood would not last long in cold
weather in such a fire.
At Tioga Point, twenty-one
miles distant, were the nearest neighbors, with one exception, to these
pioneers. There, too, they did their trading, paying Seventy-five cents,
or a bushel of wheat, for a yard of factory cloth or calico.
The nearest neighbor, the exception
noted above, was Reuben Mitchell, who had moved up a little east of Smithfield
Centre. He had a grindstone, and the new-comers had none; therefore they
went to neighbor Mitchell's, twelve miles away, to grind their axes, which saved
a journey " clean down to the P'int."
Their milling was done at
Wilkes-Barre, involving a journey of two men a week or more. The grist was
carried to the river by horseback, a load being made up by the neighbors for a
canoe, which would float down, but must be poled back. Pounded corn samp
was the diet till the grist got home, the women doing the pounding with a
pioneer mill, mortar and pestle.
For hay, the cattle browsed the
twigs and buds of the trees, which were felled for the purpose. The snow
was frequently so deep that tracks would need to be shoveled out for them to
reach the tops.
The first framed house built in the
town was erected in 1808 by Charles Keyes, near Harry Smith's.
The first white child born in the
town was Laura, a daughter of David Watkins, who was ushered into this busy
world, according to her own statement, in August, 1800. She was cradled in
a sap trough on the farm owned subsequently by her brother Mial. She
subsequently married Miles P. Slade, and is still living.
The first male child born in the
town was Herman Soper, a son of Solomon Soper, who was but a little way behind
his pioneer sister, Mrs. Slade, he putting in an appearance in September
following.
The first death that occurred in the
township is agreed to have been that of a young child, who was, as one authority
says, "scalded to death," July 4, 1810. Dr. Tracy says it was before 1810,
and Mrs. Slade says it, was the first death, but gives no date.
However, she places the death of Nathaniel Morgan in 1804 or 1805. There
is a discrepancy also as to the name of the child, one authority assigning it to
Capt. Calkins and another to Esquire ______. A Mr. Wright is also said to
have been the first adult who died in the town. With the Morgan family
came also the grandmother of the children, "a very old woman," who died in
1810-12.
The first distillery in the town was
built by Sheldon Gibbs, where Dummer Lilley now resides.
The first road cut into the town was
that one " blazed" through to Sheshequin by the first pioneer settlers, after
they had built their cabins, as they returned to their families at the place
named, where they had been left.
The first post-office was called
Sylvania, and subsequently gave its name to the borough. It was
established in 1818, previous to which time Athens was the nearest point of
postal communication with the outside world. Reuben Nash was the first
postmaster. There are now five post offices in the township.
The first store was kept by David
Watson. It was a mere grocery, its principal stock in trade being tobacco
and whisky.
The first school-house built in the
settlement was erected by Moses Taylor, on the farm now occupied by Alanson
Taylor, in the town of Smithfield, to which Columbia belonged until 1814.
The first religious society in the
settlement was one formed about 1800, by Rev. Daniel Thatcher, in Wells
township (now), as a branch of the Presbyterian church at Elmira, organized by
him in 1795. Later, Mrs. Haswell, Mrs. Wright, and Mrs. Hyde, the former a
Congregationalist and the other Presbyterians, formed a praying band; others
soon joined, and prayer-meetings were instituted. The Baptist clergymen
Bacon and Beebe visited the settlements, and in 1819 the Rev. Benjamin Oviatt
came, and preached three years in the neighborhood, holding meetings in the
schoolhouse near Mr. Corey's, which was soon called Baptist Hill," and in Samuel
Edsall's barn.
Samuel Ingalls was the first
Methodist in this part of the country, and fitted up a shed for meeting, where
David Fries now resides. Mr. Bird was one of the first preachers of that
denomination here.
Dr. Tracy says Elder Rich was the
first preacher in the township, and was succeeded by Elder Simeon Powers.
Subsequently, Elder Rich, a son of the first Elder Rich, was an itinerant in
several of the towns west of the Susquehanna, and, being minus one limb, always
sat down when he delivered his sermons. The detailed history of the various
church organizations of the township will be found elsewhere, in the general
history of the county.
The first sawmill built in the town
was put up, in 1806, by Samuel Hurlburt and Murray Ballard, where Waldo's mill
now stands.
The first grist-mill built in the
settlement was a little log affair, put up by a Mr. Rowley, near the site of
Long's mills, which was formerly included within the township lines.
INCIDENTS
In the year 1795, when the Ballard
boys, then eighteen years old, came into Columbia to make their clearing, they
carried nothing with them but their knapsacks, filled with pork and johnie-cake,
and their axes. They followed the creek to avoid losing their way, as no
white man had ever gone that way before, and no track was visible, or blazed
tree to mark the way. When they arrived at the present site of Long's
mills, two panthers sprang from their coverts across their way, and seemed
disposed to dispute the farther progress of the young pioneers. The beasts
were not easily scared, and the "grass policy" only made them show their fangs
the more fiercely. At last, armed each with a heavy club, the boys made a
dash upon the long tailed cats, and a few blows well delivered soon put them to
flight. Before arriving at their point of destination, a pack of bears attempted
to oppose the advance, and being treated to like onslaughts retreated and left
the field to the victors. After a week's labor, the provisions gave out,
and they returned to Burlington for fresh supplies; and on their return to their
clearing, the next week, they brought their rifles along.
These boys, after selling out their
improvement, located in Burlington, and found one day they were trespassing on a
former possession, whose occupants stoutly resisted the encroachment on their
claim. A den of rattlesnakes occupied a portion of their claim, and it is
said the boys killed seventy two of the reptiles in one day, while " logging" an
acre of land,-and it probably was not much of a day for snakes, either.
When the first permanent settlers
came into the township in 1799-1800, they found the door of Morgan's
cabin, built the year before, standing ajar, and the skeleton of a deer hanging
from one of the beams. Some hunter had killed the animal and hung it up
there, and the wild beasts seeing it, had pushed open the door, and picked the
flesh clean from the bones.
David Watkins frequently carried a
bag of wheat on his back to the mill in the Sheshequin, bringing the flour home
in the same way, in default of having a horse to do the portage. Mrs.
Slade says her mother's only fare on the day of her (Mrs. Slade's) birth,
was boiled wheat, the father going to mill with a bushel of wheat, as above
described, soon after his little daughter made her debut on the stale of action.
Boiled wheat nowadays is somewhat prized as a delicacy.
Abraham Weast, one of the pioneers
before 1807, was a celebrated hunter and woodchopper, but, notwithstanding his
skill in woodcraft, he once lost his way in attempting to go to Mill creek, and
wandered in the woods for three days. Being, without his gun he could kill no
game, and became nearly famished. Towards daylight of the third day be
came to a turnip-patch, and began an attack on those esculents to appease his
hunger, when be was discovered by the owner of the vegetables, who took him to
his cabin, and by a judicious feeding on venison soup, etc., restored his
strength.
CIVIL HISTORY
The first township organized, which included the present township of Columbia, was called Cabot, by Nathaniel Morgan, who bought the territory included in its limits of the Connecticut company. He surveyed the township to include the 16,000 acres he bought, beginning at the southeast corner of the township, on the top of the hill south of Mial Watkins' house. From this point two parties of surveyors ran the lines, one going north and the other west. The two parties met on Pickle hill, the northwest corner of the township. From the name then given comes "Cabot Hollow," since called Morgan's Hollow, and still later as now known, Austinville. Subsequently the town was included in one called Ulster, from which Smithfield was taken before the organization of Bradford County; Columbia being given a separate organization from Smithfield in 1814. The name of Cabot was changed to Columbia before it was separated from Smithfield.
SYLVANIA BOROUGH
is situated in the southern part of the township, and is the old village of "Columbia Flats." It was incorporated as a borough May 4, 1853, and has an area of about 500 acres. The confluent bead-waters from the north and south and west unite in the borough and form Sugar creek, which thence passes out of the borough eastward. The village contains two churches, one Union and one Presbyterian, one schoolhouse, one hotel, a post-office, steam saw mill, a store, grocery, and about forty dwellings. It is at the head of a beautiful valley hemmed in on three sides by high hills.
AUSTINVILLE
is a village of about the same extent as Sylvania, and is situated in the western-central part of the township, in a narrow valley, on the north branch of the Sugar creek. It was named in honer of a young man named Augustus Austin, who, about 1857, moved into the place, at that time called Morgan Hollow, and who displayed great energy and enterprise in building up the place. Iron mines formerly worked here are not at present in operation. The village contains a Baptist church, a schoolhouse, hotel, post-office, two general stores, a hardware and a drug-store, and a steam sawmill.
COLUMBIA CROSS-ROADS
is a station on the Pennsylvania Northern Central railroad, and is situated in the southeastern part of the town. It contains a church, schoolhouse, store, and post-office, and a few dwellings. It is beautifully located in a valley of the north branch of the Sugar creek.
SNEDEKERVILLE
is also a station on the Pennsylvania Northern Central railroad, and is situated in the extreme northeastern part of the town. It was named in honor of Mr. W. H. Snedeker, and has a saw-mill, post-office, schoolhouse, and a few dwellings and a general store.
POPULATION
The town of Columbia possessed in
1850 a population of 1383 souls. In 1860 the number increased to 1468, Sylvania
having 215. In 1870 the town had 1521, including Sylvania, which had 212.
42 were foreign born and 16 were colored.
SCHOOLS
The township is divided into 14 school districts, wholly lying within the town, and two joint districts with Wells and Troy. During the school year ending June 1, 1877, schools were taught in all of the districts an average of six months each, Sylvania having seven months' school. 4 male and 11 female teachers were employed, and received salaries therefor averaging $24 per month for the gentlemen, and $20.60 for the ladies. 179 boys and 157 girls attended the school, the average attendance for the whole period of the schools being 216. Seven mills on the dollar of valuation were raised for school purposes on the property in the town, producing $1621.50. $385.35 was received from the State; the total receipts from all sources bein$2517.18. Teachers' wages were $1448 - the total expenditures being $2071.56.
PELEG PECK
(See biography, wine the portrait and
biography of Peleg Peck, Jr.)
The subject of this sketch was born
in Warren, R. I., December, 1798. He is a son of Hezekiah and Abigail
Peck. His ancestry belonged to the old English gentry. Joseph Peck,
the founder of the Peck family in America, emigrated from Ipswich, England, in
the ship "Diligent" in the year 1638, and settled in Hingham, Norfolk Co., R. I.
The papers in the town clerk's office at Hingham record his arrival in the
following manner; "Joseph Peck, with three sons, one daughter, two men-servants,
and two maid-servants, came from Old Hingham and settled in New Hingham."
Mr. Peck's early educational
advantages were quite limited, owing to the newness of the country and the
absence of those institutions which are the outgrowth of a more settled and
civilized condition of life. He, however, made excellent improvement of
the limited advantages which a common district school afforded. Under the
fostering hand of puritanical influences, he developed into an industrious young
man. At the age of twenty one he turned his gaze to the far west, which in
those days meant Pennsylvania, just as much as Colorado does to-day. After
much hardship he reached Smithfield, Bradford Co., Pa., where he at once, with
youthful ardor and industry, engaged in the farming and lumbering interests.
(See portrait of Peleg Peck on
preceding page.)
He was united in marriage, Nov. 3,
1821, to Miss Lydia C., a daughter of Daniel and Lydia Hunter, of Bristol, R. 1.
The fruits of this happy union were the birth of eleven children, most of whom
are now living. Peleg Jr., and Hezekiah Peck were born in Smithfield,
respectively, July 2, 1831, and Nov. 26, 1826. In 1856 they purchased
their father's interest in the lumberman business. The are at present extensive
dealers and manufacturers of lumber.
Their mills have a capacity of one
and a half million feet per year. They are both enterprising business men,
and have largely identified themselves with the political and educational
interests of their town and county. Mr. Peck in the year 1840 removed to
Sylvania borough. He held the office of justice of the peace ten years,
discharging the duties of his office with great fidelity, and giving excellent
satisfaction to his fellow townsmen. He was an earnest and zealous member
of the Disciple church. He was always favorable to the advancement of
school and church interests, believing them to be vital factors in the progress
of civilization.
Mr. Peck died in the month of
February, 1875, at the advanced age of seventy-seven years, having closely
identified himself with the growth and development of Bradford County for
upwards of fifty-four years. His death was regretted by all with whom he
had come in contact during his long and busy life.