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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, published by L. H. Everts & Co., printed by J. B. Lippincott & Co., Philadelphia, 1878 submitted by Deborah Smith This page is part of the Tri-County Genealogy Sites by Joyce M. Tice No Unauthorized Commercial Use may Be Made of This Material |
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Subj: submission
Date: 12/18/98 9:02:26 PM Eastern Standard Time
From: Rover42256
To: JoyceTice
HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, published by L. H. Everts & Co., printed by J. B. Lippincott & Co., Philadelphia, 1878
submitted by Deborah Smith
[p 352]
In 1805, the settlement of Rome township gained another valuable acquisition in the family of William Elliott, in which there were a number of boys.
James Elliott, a resident of Towanda, Nov. 14, 1874, aged then eighty-seven years, gives the following facts concerning his father's family. The family came from the north of Ireland to America,--at least six sons of the family did,--during the early colonial period. They were all athletic men. One of them, named James, settled at Albany, N. Y., being married at the time. Another, John, was a seafaring man, and the others were lost sight of. James was in the colonial military service, and his sword and cocked hat were long time-treasured relics in the family halls. William Elliott and his brother John, father and uncle of our informant, living near the Connecticut line, heard much of the Susquehannah country in its praise, more especially the part of it claimed by that State, and, therefore, John, and the oldest son of William (Joseph), packed their knapsacks and started on foot in the spring of 1803, to view the land for themselves, with a view to bring the families for settlement. They arrived in due time in Wysox, where John rented a farm of the widow Moger, now a part of the Piollet farm. This lady was the daughter of Moses Coolbaugh, and afterwards became the wife of Burr Ridgway. Upon this farm John raised some corn and sowed some rye, and in company the two cleared eight acres of new land and sowed it to wheat. This was also on rented land. The sowing produced good crops of both cereals.
They returned to their home late in the fall, and preparations for the removal of the families to the new country at once were commenced. Three span of horses, and as many sleighs, were loaded with the household goods and supplies and the two families, numbering in all twenty persons, young and old, among them an aged grandmother. She endured th journey very well, but died the next summer of fever and ague, and was buried near the mouth of Wysox creek, but no stone tells where she sleeps. It was a cold winter, with snow and ice plentiful. They crossed the Hudson at Catskill, on the ice, as well as every other stream in their way, and drove on the ice from Lower Ulster--then Old Sheshequin--to the cabin of William Means, at what is now Towanda borough. They arrived at Mr. Means after dark, and being so numerous, he could not accomodate the entire party in his log house, but offered to keep the grandmother in that,--and the new house then enclosed and the chimney built, the balance of the party were welcome to. The offer was accepted, and soon roaring fires were built in the capacious fire-places, and the beds spread on the floor.
The families had just got fairly and comfortably housed when Mr. Means came in, and seeing the family of boys were assembled, at once struck a bargain with William Elliott for the rent of the farm on the east side of teh river. This farm then contained more than 100 acres of good corn land, but which has since been nearly all washed away by the river, scarcely seven acres being left. At the expiration of his lease, Mr. Elliott moved up Bullard creek, a branch of the Wysox, where he obtained title of the land from LeRay in part, and partly by possession. Here he spent his last days in quietness, departing this life at the age of ninety-five years, and was buried on his own farm. John Elliott never owned any land, but reared a large family, was several years a widower, and died at his son-in-law's, Isaac Horton, at the age of eighty years. His only son is now living in Kansas, and several daughters are living in different States of the Union.
William Elliott's family of fourteen, children by two wives, have at this date--1874--dwindled to three sons and two daughters. His son Thomas engaged in merchandising about 1813, and continued in that line of business until the close of his life. He died in 1866, leaving a competency for his widow and only son. Samuel is yet living on the old homestead, where his brothers, John Hiram and Daniel, lived and died. Larmen lived in Mansfield, Tioga Co., Pa., where he died, leaving a widow and two sons, well known and highly respected in that region. He was a ready writer, and by profession a teacher. William Elliott had one son in the War of 1812, and one of his daughters lost two sons in the Rebellion.
Joseph Elliott of Wyalusing, was a relative, doubtless, though distantly connected. He was, with William, a pensioner of the Revolution. William was a member of the Methodist church, and his son James was the only Baptist in the family.
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