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Mr. John L. Sexton, Jr., is engaged in writing up the local history of the several townships and boroughs in this county [Tioga], and will be obliged to any of the old settlers or others who will communicate any facts in relation to the same within their knowledge - Mr. Sexton’s address is Fall Brook.
The Wellsboro Agitator, November 8, 1881
It is reported that Mr. John L. Sexton Jr. is engaged in writing a history of this county [Tioga]. The new work soon to be issued by a New York publishing house.
The Wellsboro Agitator, June 27, 1882
A rattlesnake 4 ½ feet long was captured on the barrens in Gaines one day last week. Mr. John L. Sexton who was one of those present, informs us that two live skunks were also secured and placed in a box with his snakeship and that it is proposed to start a happy family on a small scale.
The Wellsboro Agitator, August 15, 1882
Mr. John L. Sexton, Jr. of Blossburg, has in his possession a petition addressed by the inhabitants of Tioga, Potter and McKean counties to the Governor of Pennsylvania, asking for protection against the Indians on the frontier. The document is dated in the year 1812.
The Wellsboro Agitator, August 5, 1884
Mr. John L. Sexton, Jr., of Blossburg, has published a book entitled "The White Slaves of Monopoly."
The Wellsboro Agitator, June 30, 1885
It is stated that a Sullivan man with an excellent reputation for truth and veracity says he saw a snake a few days ago near Fall Brook, which was about twenty feet long and of a yellowish brown color. The man stopped his horses and with his wife sat and watched the reptile slowly cross the road ahead of them. There was a harsh, grating sound as it crawled over the roadway. Since some of John Sexton’s snake stories have got into print we are not surprised that the natives in that part of the county "see snakes." If he don’t let up on his flights of imagination, somebody will see a dragon vomiting fire and the country will be full of sea serpents the first thing you know.
The Wellsboro Agitator, December 15, 1885
It is stated that Mr. John L. Sexton, of Blossburg, has sued the Elmira Gazette for damages laid in the sum of $3,000 for alleged breach of contract and the consequent injury to his reputation as a writer, compiler and historian. It seems that the trouble grew out of a verbal contract by which Mr. Sexton was to furnish 160,000 words of a local history at $1 a thousand. Sexton complains because the matter and his pay were cut down.
The Wellsboro Agitator, July 6, 1886
SEXTON - Judge John L. Sexton [Sr.], father of Mr. John L. Sexton, Jr., of Blossburg, died at Big Flats, NY, last Wednesday, in his eighty-ninth year.
The Wellsboro Agitator, September 21, 1886
John L. Sexton again leads the Democratic Forlorn hope as a candidate for the Legislature in this county. John has run before if we remember correctly. The other place was left blank in the hope of trading with the Knights of Labor. But laboring men who are not professional politicians - few of them are - are not likely to be gulled by Mr. Sexton.
The Wellsboro Agitator, October 12, 1886
Facts and Opinions from Chatham
I do hope that the bundle of "Democratic simplicity" hung into the clothes of John L. Sexton will keep right on lying about H.M. Foote and H.B. Packer, as it is one of the best electioneering tricks yet heard of. Keep right on, friend John, until November 2nd, and then look back and see what an ass you have made of yourself.
The Wellsboro Agitator, November 23, 1886
Notes from Chatham
Some one from Blossburg, who failed to give his name, has become curious to know what I mean by spurious tickets; and he then goes in to tell us that every voter has a right to write his ticket, and that if the ticket offered had the proper offices designated according to law they would not be spurious, etc. Now, just what I mean by spurious tickets is this: A few day prior to election I was standing in the Post Office at this place when one of out good Democratic neighbors came into the office with quite an armful of printed matter, which he proceeded to roll up into rolls about the size of a man’s arm, seal them up and put on the desired address. He made up several such rolls, asked the amount of postage and paid it out if his own pocket and went his way in a very happy mood, leaving a few hundred of the same tickets lying upon the show case in the office, to be used here. Picking one up, I found it to be a piece of paper about eight inches square and headed at the top, VOTERS! It then went on to tell the merits of Mr. R.B. Freeman, independent candidate for Representative, and warned the voters to look out and not vote for any lawyer candidate, but be sure to vote for the friend of the laboring man, R.B. Freeman. Below this were three sets of tickets. Two sets were headed Republican Ticket, and were genuine until the names for Representatives were reached. Then one ticket read H.B. Packer, R.B. Freeman; and the other Republican ticket was just like it only it read Henry M. Foote, R.B. Freeman. The other was a genuine Democratic ticket, and read John L. Sexton, R.B. Freeman. So it the two Republican tickets and the Democratic ticket were voted, Horace B. Packer would have one vote, H.M. Foote one, John L. Sexton one and R.B. Freeman would have three. It was a nice trick, but it couldn’t be made to work to suit those who invented it. Blossburg used to have all the say about it, but Chatham has to be asked now.
Your Blossburg correspondent may not call such tickets spurious, but what moral right any man has to print a lot of tickets mixing up the names in such a way with intent to mislead voters, perhaps he can figure out in the same way he did the date of the election of a Prohibition Governor. There were a few wise heads in all the parties who resolved themselves into a committee of destruction, and when election day came the remnants were not votable.
The Wellsboro Agitator, August 26, 1890
Paraphrased - Mr. John L. Sexton, a leading Democrat of the county is manager of The Advertiser [Blossburg].
The Wellsboro Agitator, October 14, 1896
John L. Sexton, of Blossburg, seems to be about the only free silver orator at large in this county.
The Wellsboro Agitator, February 8, 1899
Married - Thompson & Sexton - At Elmira, NY, February 1, 1899, by Rev. George H. McKnight, Mr. James W. Thompson of Erwin, NY and Miss Susannah Thompson Sexton, youngest daughter of Mr. John L. Sexton, of Blossburg, PA.
The Wellsboro Agitator, February 14, 1900
While engaged in a wrestling bout, scuffle or horse-play, with a lot of hilarious young fellows, as a late hour last Saturday evening at the Seymour House in Blossburg, Mr. John L. Sexton, Jr., [actually, son of John Sexton Jr.] of the Blossburg Advertiser, was thrown off the veranda and has his leg broken below the knee.
The Wellsboro Agitator, June 27, 1900
Editor John L. Sexton, editor of the Blossburg Advertiser, who on the 17th had one of his shoulders dislocated as the result of a backward fall from a chair on the porch of the hotel at Grover, Bradford County, is now able to be about his house in Blossburg.
The Wellsboro Agitator, May 29, 1901
Mr. & Mrs. John L. Sexton, of Blossburg, yesterday celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of their marriage. The very best wish we can express is to hope that they may see many more anniversaries together, both in good health.
The Wellsboro Agitator, July 3, 1901
Mr. John L. Sexton, of Blossburg, is to be the orator at Slate Run’s celebration tomorrow.
The Wellsboro Gazette, August 28, 1902
The United Mine Workers of Morris Run and Arnot will celebrate Labor day in royal style. Three bans will be present. John L. Sexton Jr. will be the officer of the day. A grand procession will be formed at 10 o’clock and the speeches will be held in a mammoth tent. Ball games and other sports will follow.
The Wellsboro Agitator, June 17, 1903
Mr. John L. Sexton published in the last issue of his Blossburg Advertiser the interesting first installment of a record of his memories of "Past Scenes and Events in Blossburg and the Tioga Valley."
The Wellsboro Agitator, May 18, 1904
Mr. John L. Sexton, editor and business manager of the Blossburg Advertiser, was appointed one of the delegates from this State to the National Editorial Convention which convened at St. Louis on Monday.
The Wellsboro Agitator, May 31, 1905
Mr. Samuel M. Sexton, editor of the United Mine Workers Journal, of Indianapolis, Indiana, and Miss Alice Burrell, also of that city, were married at Covington, Kentucky, on December 29, 1904, announcement of which has just been made. Mr. Sexton is a son of editor John L. Sexton, of the Blossburg Advertiser.
The Wellsboro Agitator, September 30, 1908
Mansfield Fair
Last paragraph - A number of newspapers had tents on the grounds as usual. Among them was the veteran, Mr. John L. Sexton, of the Blossburg Advertiser, who said this was his thirtieth consecutive year in attendance at the Mansfield Fair.
The Wellsboro Agitator, July 21, 1909
John L. Sexton, Sr., editor and business manager of the Blossburg Advertiser, celebrated his eightieth birthday on Tuesday, July 13. He was in fairly good health and excellent spirits, and spent a portion of the day at his desk in the business office. The Agitator extends congratulations to Mr. Sexton and hopes that he will continue in good health and enjoy many more years of happiness and prosperity.
The Wellsboro Agitator, March 16, 1910
Blossburg
Mr. John L. Sexton, Sr., is confined to his home by illness. His daughter, Miss Grace, is also ill. Universal sympathy is felt for the aged editor and his gifted daughter, and all hope for their rapid and complete restoration to health.
http://www.joycetice.com/1897/ch65a.htm
John Lawrence Sexton was born in Veteran township, Chemung county, New
York, July 13,1830, a son of John Lawrence and Hannah (Kenyon) Sexton.
He is a descendant of one of the oldest Scotch-Irish families of the United
States , his paternal ancestor having located in the valley of the Connecticut
in 1637. His grandfather, Elijah Sexton, was a soldier in the French and
Indian War and an officer on the Continental army. When John L. was quite
young his parents removed to Big Flats township, Chemung county, New York,
where his father purchased 700 acres of white pine timber land, erected
saw-mills and engaged in lumbering. Young Sexton was reared on the farm,
was principally educated at the fireside and in the common schools, but
received special training in elocution, logic and rhetoric. Before he was
twenty years of age he had read Blackstone, Kent, Storey and Marshall and
the standard English poets, and had mastered " Town’s Analysis of the English
Language." On May 28,1851, he married Grace Adelaide Patterson, a grand-daughter
of Robert Patterson, a Revolutionary soldier and a daughter of Benjamin
and Jane (Jones) Patterson of Lindley, Steuben, county, New York. For ten
years thereafter he pursued farming and lumbering, in the meantime serving
six years as superintendent of township schools of Big Flats, and several
years as deputy United States marshal. Meeting with reverses, through the
failure of the Bank of Corning, he came to Fall Brook, Tioga county, and
was employed by Hon. John Magee, first as a laborer in the forest and subsequently
as store clerk, weigh master and shipper of coal. He also filled the offices
of assessor, school director, justice of the peace, burgess and principal
of the public schools, receiving provisional, professional and a permanent
certificate from the school department of Pennsylvania as a teacher. In
1875 Mr. Sexton was selected by Gen. William McCandless as clerk to assist
in organizing the bureau of labor and industrial statistics of Pennsylvania,
at Harrisburg, and almost the entire labor of formulating, classifying
and arranging the details of the bureau devolved upon him. At the close
of his four years’ term he returned to Tioga county, located at Blossburg,
and established the Blossburg Industrial Register, which he continued to
publish for two years. The next five years he devoted to literary pursuits,
during which time he wrote the histories of Tioga and Bradford counties,
Pennsylvania, and Steuben, Chemung, Tioga and Schuyler counties, New York;
" The White Slaves of Monopolies," " Uncle Jonas Lawrence’s Letters," and
numerous articles for the Sunday Telegram of Elmira, the New York Sun,
the Harrisburg Patriot and other newspapers.
In December,1885, his son, Benjamin P. Sexton, established the Blossburg
Advertiser, of which the subject of this sketch is business manager and
a general contributor to its columns. Under Mr. Sexton’s management the
Advertiser has attained a large circulation, and it wields a strong influence
throughout the Blossburg coal region. Mr. Sexton is a fearless and able
writer , and has delivered many public addresses, among them the Centennial
address in the House of Representatives, at Harrisburg, July 4,1876, on
the progress and development of Pennsylvania for 100years; two Centennial
addresses at Painted Post, New York; an address at the unveiling of the
monument erected to the memory William Mapes, a Revolutionary soldier ,
by the counties of Steuben and Chemung, at Big Flats, in August, 1873;
the Centennial address on the establishment of the Grand Lodge of Free
Masons, and the Centennial address at the Polish celebration in Blossburg,
May 3,1891. Mr. Sexton, is a member of the Dauphin County Historical Society
of Harrisburg; an honorary member of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania,
at Philadelphia, and is well versed in the history of the State, and well
acquainted with its geological formations and its varied mining, manufacturing,
agricultural, railroad and industrial interest generally. Mr. Sexton’s
family consists of his wife, Grace Adelaide, three sons and four daughters,
viz: Samuel M., Benjamin Patterson, John Lawrence, Grace Adelaide, Mary
B., wife of Levi Plummer, of Findlay, Ohio; Jane P. and Susie T.
The Wellsboro Agitator, July 27, 1910
SEXTON - Editor of the Blossburg Advertiser Died Sunday - John Lawrence Sexton was born in Veteran township, Chemung county, NY, July 13, 1830, a son of John Lawrence and Hannah [Kenyon] Sexton, and died on Sunday at his home in Blossburg. He was a descendant of one of the oldest Scotch-Irish families of the United States, his paternal ancestor having located in the valley of the Connecticut in 1687. His grandfather, Elijah Sexton, was a soldier in the French and Indian War and an officer in the Continental army. When John L. was quite young his parents removed to Big Flats township, Chemung county, NY, where his father purchased 700 acres of white pine timber land, erected sawmills and engaged in lumbering. Young Sexton was reared on the farm, was principally educated at the fireside and in the common schools, but received special training in elocution, logic and rhetoric. Before he was twenty years of age he has read Blackstone, Kent, Storey and Marshall and the standard English poets, and had mastered "Town’s Analysis of the English Language." On May 28, 1851, he married Grace Adelaide Patterson, a granddaughter of Robert Patterson, a Revolutionary soldier, and a daughter of Benjamin and Jane [Jones] Patterson, of Lindley, Steuben county, NY. For ten years thereafter he pursued farming and limbering, in the meantime serving six years as superintendent of township schools at Big Flats, and several years as deputy United States marshal. Meeting with reverses, through the failure of the Bank of Corning, he came to Fall Brook, Tioga county, and was employed by Hon. John Magee, first as a laborer in the forest and subsequently as store clerk, weigh master and shipper of coal. He also filled the offices of assessor, school director, justice of the peace, burgess and principal of the public schools, receiving provisional, professional and permanent certificates from the school department of Pennsylvania. In 1875 Mr. Sexton was selected by Gen. William McCandless as clerk to assist in organizing the bureau of labor and industrial statistics of Pennsylvania, at Harrisburg, and almost the entire labor of formulating, classifying and arranging the details of the bureau devolved upon him. At the close of his four years’ term he returned to Tioga county, located at Blossburg, and established the Blossburg Industrial Register, which he continued to publish for two years. The next five years he devoted to literary pursuits, during which time he wrote the histories of Tioga and Bradford counties, Pennsylvania, and Steuben, Chemung, Tioga and Schulyer counties, New York; "The White Slave of Monopolies." "Uncle Jonas Lawrence’s Letters," and numerous articles for the Sunday Telegram of Elmira, the New York Sun, the Harrisburg Patriot and other newspapers. In December, 1885, his son, Benjamin P. Sexton, established the Blossburg Advertiser, of which the subject of this sketch became business manager. Mr. Sexton was a fearless and able writer, and delivered many public addresses, among them the Centennial address in the House of Representatives, at Harrisburg, July 4, 1876, on the progress and development of Pennsylvania for 100 years; two Centennial addresses at Painted Post, NY; an address at the unveiling of the monument erected to the memory of William Mapes, a Revolutionary soldier, by the counties of Steuben and Chemung, at Big Flats, in August, 1873; the Centennial address on the establishment of the Grand Lodge of Free Masons, and the Centennial address at the Polish celebration in Blossburg, May 3, 1891. Mr. Sexton was a member of the Dauphin County Historical Society, of Harrisburg; an honorary member of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, and was well versed in the history of the state, and well acquainted with its geological formations and its varied mining, manufacturing, agricultural, railroad and industrial interests generally. He was a member of the Masonic fraternity.
[Second obit]
The Wellsboro Agitator, July 27, 1910
SEXTON - Mr. John L. Sexton, Sr., died at his home on Granger street on Sunday, July 24 [1910], of general debility, following a protracted illness. Mr. Sexton, who was about 80 years of age, had published the Blossburg Advertiser for many years, and was widely known as a man of broad culture and a writer of marked ability. He is survived by two sons, Samuel and John, of Blossburg, and four daughters - Misses Jane and Grace, at home, and Mrs. Levi Plummer, of Findlay, O., and Mrs. Susie Tompkins, of Erwin, NY. He estimable wife and one son, Ben. P. Sexton, preceded him in death several years ago. Arrangements for the funeral will be made later.
The Wellsboro Gazette, January 22, 1925
Mrs. Susannah S. Thompson, of Erwin, author of "A Romance of the Susquehanna" published as a souvenir book of the Susquehanna Trail, has won such favor with the publication that a request has come from the Fox Film Corporation to produce a film version of it. The corporation has also asked Mrs. Thompson to submit other stories which she may write for their consideration. Mrs. Thompson is the daughter of the historian, the late John L. Sexton Jr., of Blossburg and is also a descendent of the late Robert Patterson, who laid out the famous Williamson road.
Funeral of Ben P. Sexton
The funeral services of the late Ben. P. Sexton, who died April 13,
were held at the residence of his parents on Granger Street at 1 o’clock
p.m., Friday, April15, and at 2 o’clock the remains were taken to St Luke’s
Episcopal Church, where Rev. J. M. Miller, rector of the Arnot and Blossburg
churches, officiated. A large concourse of people from this and neighboring
towns assembled- despite the inclement weather- to pay their last respects
to the dead.
Burial Blossburg
The Wellsboro Agitator, November 18, 1936
Son of John L. Sexton, Jr.
SEXTON - John Lawrence Sexton [III], aged 77 years, of Erwin, NY, died
at the Bath hospital Friday, following a heart attack. He fell and broke
his right hip on January 1, 1935, and in March of that year was admitted
to the Bath hospital, where he had since been a patient. He was born in
Blossburg, August 16, 1859, son of John Lawrence Sexton Jr. and Grace Adelaide
Patterson. He never married. During his youth he was employed as a printer
on the Corning Journal. Later, he returned to Blossburg and with his father
and two brothers, Benjamin and Samuel, bought the Blossburg Register, which
they named the Blossburg Advertiser. The family published this paper for
about 40 years. At the death of the father, a sister, Grace, became associated
with the brothers and John Sexton [III] took charge of the paper for four
years. At the opening of the world war he was sent to Norfolk, Va., where
he was with the Immigration Department. Mr. Sexton was a member of Christ
Episcopal church, in Corning. Mr. Sexton went to Erwin in 1918 to make
his home with his sisters, the late Mrs. S.S. Thompson and Miss Jane Patterson
Sexton. The latter is now the only survivor of the Sexton family. She is
79 years of age. The funeral was held Monday; burial at Blossburg.
The Wellsboro Gazette, September 9, 1915
SEXTON - Mrs. Mary B. Sexton Plummer, daughter of the late John L.
Sexton, of Blossburg, died last Friday morning at her home in Indianapolis,
Ind., following a paralytic stroke.
The Wellsboro Gazette, December 16, 1915
SEXTON - Samuel M. Sexton, of Indianapolis, Ind., son of the late John
L. Sexton Jr., of Blossburg, died last Saturday night. He was 61 years
of age. Mr. Sexton was formerly editor and writer of much experience. At
the time of his death he was engaged in writing a book on “The Labor Question.”
For a time he was editor of “The United Mine Workers’ Journal”, the official
publication of the United Mine Workers of America. He is survived by two
sister, Miss Jane Sexton, of Blossburg and Mrs. James Ward Thompson, of
Erwin, and a brother, John L. Sexton [III] of Blossburg.
The Wellsboro Agitator, May 25, 1927
SEXTON - Mrs. Susannah Sexton Thompson, prominent in social, literary,
political and educational circles throughout New York state, died Thursday
morning, May 19, at 2 o’clock, at the home of her cousin, Miss Carolyn
Fritts, at Addison. She had been ill of pneumonia for several days but
the real cause of death was organic heart trouble, from which she had been
a sufferer for some time. She was born July 10, 1864, at Fall Brook, Pa.,
the daughter of John L. Sexton and Grace A. Patterson Sexton. Her father
was for many years an editor, author and historian of prominence. After
attending schools at Blossburg and Harrisburg, and the State Normal School
at Mansfield, she completed her education when she was graduated from Findlay
College, of Ohio.
[second obit for Susannah Sexton Thompson]
The Wellsboro Gazette, May 26, 1927
SEXTON - Death of Mrs. Susannah S. Thompson of Erwin - Mrs. Susannah
Sexton
Thompson of Erwin, died at the home of her sister in Addison, last Thursday
of heart trouble. She was known by many in this county where she was born
in Fall Brook, July 10, 1864, the daughter of Grace A. Patterson and John
L. Sexton, who was editor of the Blossburg Advertiser at one time and a
historian of note. She attended school at Blossburg and the Mansfield Normal.
In 1899 she was married to James Ward Thompson, who besides being a successful
lumberman, was agent for the Erie railroad company for 33 years. After
her husband’s death in 1914 Mrs. Thompson acted as ticket agent for the
Erie at Erwin for 11 years. She was a progressive and energetic worker
in political circles for many years. She was delegate to the Democratic
National Convention at San Francisco in 1920, and was a member of “Al”
Smith’s nominating committee and a member of the State reception committee
at the national convention in New York City in 1924. For many years she
was chairman of the Old Trails committee and wrote about the old trails
of Steuben county for the State history. Probably her best known work is
“The Susquehanna Trail,” an authentic history of this famous Indian highway.
Mrs. Thompson had for many years shared her home at Erwin with a brother,
John Sexton [III], and a sister, Miss Jane Sexton, who survive her. Funeral
services were held Saturday at Addison; burial in the Erwin cemetery.
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