White Deer Hole Valley
By J. F. Wolfinger, Esq.
Written for the
Lycoming Gazette and West Branch Bulletin
Friday, September 2, 1870, Page 4
[with modern photos added for illustration]
Map above is dated 1792
Every citizen ought to have a correct knowledge of his own country. And if he knows any part of it better than another, so far as its history and physical properties are concerned, that part ought to be the region of country where he was born and resides. We naturally desire to know what happened among both the red and the white men, who once roamed over or dwelt in the region around us when its mountains and valleys were densely covered with timber trees and under brush and wild grasses and formed the resting and hiding places of the Indians and of wild beasts and birds. And we listened with delight to him who can, in anyway, enlarge and perfect our knowledge of those early scenes and of the men of note, both Indians and whites, who figured conspicuously in those scenes long before we were born.
The pleasures derivable from such knowledge has led me to gather all the information I can from books, reliable tradition, family reminiscences and the inscriptions of grave stones in grave yards, concerning White Deer Hole Valley, where I now reside, and to desire you to print it in your newspaper for the common benefit of all persons who live in or take an interest in the affairs of the valley. And if any person discovers any errors or any omission of important facts in my statements, I shall be glad to have him correct said errors and supply said omitted facts either by communications sent to your paper or by letters addressed to me personally at Alvira Post Office, Union County, Pennsylvania, so that our sketches of this valley and of its early history may be as correct and as satisfactory as possible.
This map of the Great Island Indian Path clearly shows the locations of White Deer Hole Creek and White Deer Creek
WHITE DEER HOLE VALLEY DESCRIBED.
White Deer Hole Valley is bounded on the east by the river Susquehanna, on the north by Penny Hill and the Bald Eagle Mountain, on the west by the Bald Eagle Mountain and on the south by the White Deer Mountain. Its eastern boundary line runs in a straight line north and south along the river and its southern also runs in a straight line west, a little southwest from the river, while its northern and western boundary lines form a long and very regular and beautiful curve to the southwest -- this curve being produced by the Bald Eagle Mountain that curves very neatly around the north and west sides of the valley. White Deer Hole Valley thus embraces all that region of country that lies on the west side of the Susquehanna River and between Penny Hill and the Bald Eagle and White Deer mountains and now composes the township of "Gregg"
in Union County and the townships of "Brady" and "Washington" in Lycoming County.
This whole valley was for a long time included in one township called "Washington." But in 1855, it was divided into two townships named "Washington" and "Brady," in honor of Gen. Washington and of Capt. Samuel Brady, so noted for his warlike exploits against the Indians who disturbed our frontier white settlements. And in 1861 about three-fourths of Brady Township was struck off from "Brady" Township and Lycoming County, and annexed to Union County by the name of "Gregg" Township, in honor of Andrew Gregg, one of the first settlers of old Northumberland County and also one of our United States Senators from Pennsylvania.
And from this description you now see that this mountain-encircled valley has its broadest or widest part along the banks of the Susquehanna River and that it gets narrower as it extends out westward from the river to where the Bald Eagle and White Deer mountains seem to meet in a semi-circular form but do not, as the valley extends itself out in that direction between them. And our valley, as a whole, is about 17 miles long and on an average about 8 miles wide.
And hence White Deer Hole Valley forms a very important point of that far larger valley now and long since known as "The West Branch Valley of the Susquehanna River," which said West Branch Valley extends from the town of Northumberland in Northumberland County to the town of Lock Haven in Clinton County, thus making our West Branch Valley about 66 miles long and of variable width at different places accordingly as our mountains approach towards or recede from the clear waters of our beautiful Susquehanna.
VALLEY'S NAME.
The Indian name of this valley, if it ever had any, is unknown. The English words "White Deer" are very pretty as well as significant of the probable origin of its name. But it sounds ugly and repulsive when coupled with the word "Hole." For when we turn to Webster's Dictionary, we find the word "Hole" defined thus:
"Hole -- a hollow place or cavity in any old body, of any shape or dimensions natural or artificial. It may differ from a rent or fissure in being under.
A cell, a den, a cave or cavern in the earth, a pit."
I have often wondered, and so have other persons, why this valley was called "White Deer Hole Valley," as I could not see what the word "Hole" had to do with it or why it was annexed to its name of "White Deer." And no book or person ever gave or could give me any satisfactory explanation of the origin of this whimsical and ludicrous name, for such it seems at first sight to every person.
But the statements made to me by Mr. John Farley, of our valley, have very fortunately thrown sufficient light upon the subject to remove its mystery and show us how the name of "White Deer Hole Valley"
originated. For Mr. Farley, who came to this valley when he was four years old and is now in the 88th year of his age, informed me that his father, John Farley, built the first grist mill erected in White Deer Hole Valley, and that his mill stood near where the present stone grist mill of the late Charles Gudykunst now stands. And then in answer to my inquire of whether any White Deer ever existed in this valley and whether there was here at an early day any deep and dark hole in the valley Mr. Farley said:
"We had plenty of Red Deer here when I was a boy. They could be seen every day when we stepped out of our cabins and went along through the valley or over its surrounding mountains.
I never saw any White Deer here, but a White Deer is said to have been killed at an early day in a low hollow pond of water that once existed where my father built his grist mill, and that was the only White Deer ever known in this valley so far as I know."
And then in describing this hole or hollow ground he said:
"There was a large circular basin of low ground of some ten acres in extent, more or less, that originally existed where my father built his grist mill.
This basin of land was pretty high at its sides and lowered neatly and gradually towards its centre where there was about an acre of ground that was always dry and covered with bushes, but more or less surrounded at all seasons of the year with standing water -- a sort of pond. But after my father's mill and mill dam were built, the waters of his dam overflowed and covered most of the above hollow basin of ground. My father was not a miller. He had a mulatto man to do the grinding for the neighbors, and after the mulatto man left my older brother, Jacob, and I, who had learned how to do it, did the grain grinding ourselves."
Now here we have a White Deer and a Hole or hollow place of very curious formation strangely brought together in our valley, and this curious combination of circumstances has given rise to and perpetuated itself in the name of our "White Deer Hole Valley" -- meaning a hole where a white-haired deer was found or killed.
VALLEY'S CREEKS.
White Deer Hole Valley has but one creek, called White Deer Hole Creek. It flows along the north side of the White Deer Mountain and has two branches, one called "South Creek," which has its origin in the springs along the north side of the White Deer Mountain, and the other called "Spring Creek," which flows from the northwest and has its origin in the springs of the Bald Eagle Mountain. These two streams flow together and unite their waters at a point about three miles west of the Susquehanna River and empty themselves into the river just above the public road called "The Narrows," from the narrowness of the road leading from the valley down along the river bank to Hightown, Milton and Lewisburg.
There seems to be a considerable difference of temperature between the waters of South Creek and those of Spring Creek. For South Creek freezes over sooner and stays frozen over, at time for some days in very cold weather, while Spring Creek will not, for if it freezes over one night, its icy covering is pretty sure to melt into water again the next day. These streams have not so large a volume of water as they had at an early day, but they still have an ample supply of water at all seasons of the year for grist and saw mill purposes. Some brooks and runs of water are also found in other parts of the valley and are very valuable to those through whose lands they run. Snapping turtles, eels, catfish, pike, trout, white-chub, sunfish, suckers and other fish are found in our waters.
VALLEY'S MOUNTAINS.
1. Bald Eagle Mountain.
This mountain on the north and west sides of our valley is called Bald Eagle after "Bald Eagle," a celebrated Indian chief of the Seneca tribe who had his nest or wigwam at or near the town of Milesburg in Centre County. And this Indian himself was called so after the Bald-headed Eagle, a large and powerful wild bird still found and once quite abundant on our mountain ranges bordering on the Susquehanna River.
The Bald Eagle Mountain is supposed to be 1,200 feet high above the level of our valley and its top and sides are covered with yellow and pitch pine, chestnut, chestnut oak, white and black oak and some other kinds of trees more or less mixed. The best timber trees on it for building uses were culled out and removed long ago, but they are now being replaced with young timber of a superior quality. Valuable springs of excellent water gush out from its sides from near its base up to pretty near it top, especially on its north and northwest side. Its top and sides are very stony and in many places contain such masses of stones piled upon each other that no ground can be seen where they lie. These stones are sandstones of various colors, but mostly of a gray color, some fine and others coarse-grained but hard, strong, easily worked into shape with a hammer and good for all kinds of stonework.
2.White Deer Mountain.
The White Deer Mountain is of about the same height as the Bald Eagle Mountain and contains the same kinds of timber trees and stones and as many of them as the Bald Eagle does. But its best timber trees have also been cut down many years ago and are now undergoing the same process of renewal that those of the Bald Eagle Mountain are. Numerous springs of excellent water also gush out of its base and sides.
Charles B. Trego in his "Geography of Pennsylvania" describes the Geology of the Bald Eagle and White Deer mountains as being "composed of massive strata of hard white and gray or sometimes reddish or greenish siliceous sandstones of various degrees of coarseness, frequently containing pebbles of considerable size" -- which, on examination, I found to be correct. Some deer, bears, panthers, wolves and wild turkeys are still found upon these mountains, but they are far less numerous now than they used to be. Blue and black huckleberries abound on these mountains in most places that have escaped our annual mountain fires -- fires started every spring or fall to burn up the bushes and underbrush and secure a growth of grass pasturage there for cattle and hogs. This annual firing of the woods was derived from the Indians who practiced it on their hunting grounds to remove obstructions to their sight when hunting deer and other animals with their bows and arrows or guns when they had guns and powder and shot. Nearly all the roads we have to get up on these mountains are mere footpaths. A horse and wagon or a sled can only be taken up a short distance here and there on account of the steepness and ruggedness of their mountain sides. And it will take a man a half a day's time, it is said, to scramble or scrabble up the side to the top of these mountains. The Bald Eagle Mountain opposite Williamsport is about 600 feet high as I, when a student at Williamsport, was informed by that fine old gentleman, William Wilson, a surveyor, but commonly called "Congress Billy Wilson," who surveyed the height of the mountain at that point. This will give your Williamsport readers some idea of the height of our mountains here in this valley.
GENERAL VIEW OF OUR VALLEY'S MOUNTAINS.
And now to give your readers a clear idea of our valley's lofty and magnificent mountain ranges, let me give you a brief description of their general outline view.
The Bald Eagle Mountain presents to the eye of the beholder a long mountainous range of very regular formation and of nearly one continuous evenness of height from the western end or slope of Penny Hill all the way round southwest as far as the eye can see traces of the mountain towards the western end of the valley.
And the White Deer mountains present to the eye of the beholder on the south side of the valley a straight mountainous range of the same regular formation and evenness of height from the river all the way westward to the western end of the valley with the exception of some four or five notches or depressions in the mountain called "Gaps" a few miles west of the village of Elimsport. And during the months of May, June, July and August, when these lofty mountains have their tops and sides covered and beautified with their evergreen and other coats of verdure, and during the months of September and October when their foliage changes its color and assumes every color and tint of the rainbow in the sky, the mountain scenery of the White Deer Hole Valley is exceedingly grand and beautiful, and I have never seen anything equal to it elsewhere.
The mountain range and scenery of the Kittatinny or Blue Mountain around the village of Danielsville, in Northampton County, Pa., makes a near approach to it but does not equal that of our White Deer Hole Valley.
I speak understandingly and feelingly upon this point for I cannot go out of any part of my house where I live in this Valley without seeing the White Deer or the Bald Eagle mountain, or both of them at one view, and their massiveness, height and beauty impress my mind deeply every day as I look at them with a strong and inescapable sense, (if I may coin a new word,) of the wisdom, power, goodness and glory of the great God, who made them -- those huge masses of commingled stone and earth. It is an old and a true saying that -- "Man made the town, but God made the country."
And the man who resides in a city or town and only gets a hurried ride now and then into the country, has and can have no correct idea either of a country life or of nature's beauties as they are there unfolded to the eye during all seasons of the year. And he can only realize this knowledge, if he is a lover of nature, by moving to and residing in the country where he can see the works of nature on a large scale and leisurely study and admire the handiwork of God around him on every side as well as over his head. I speak from experience as I have lived nearly the whole of my life in the towns of Milton, Northumberland, Sunbury and Williamsport, but am now living a retired life here in the country.
Ye Philadelphians and other city men, who love to rusticate in the country during the hot and sultry summer months of July and August, visit White Deer Hole Valley at this season next year if you wish to hunt game upon the mountains and catch fish in cool waters and enjoy a cool and healthful stirring air and return with renewed health to your various city pursuits.
It will cost you far less to do this than it will to go to the Saratoga Springs, or the surf boats of Atlantic City or the Falls of Niagara and rusticate there. And you can while here have a little taste of city life, if you wish, by taking an occasional drive over or around the Bald Eagle Mountain to the city of Williamsport.
Part Two - Friday, September 9, 1870, Page 4
In my first number, I gave you a brief description of this valley, its size, shape, name, creeks, mountains, physical properties and general appearance.
Now, let me call your attention to the Indians who once roamed over or dwelt in this valley, as well as to the first white men who made settlements in it.
INDIANS IN WHITE DEER HOLE VALLEY.
The Indians who used to roam through this valley, and other parts of our "West Branch Valley" in the pursuit of game, consisted of the Minsi; by the English called "Monsey or Munsey Indians," an active and very warlike tribe of red men -- and of some Unamis and Unalachigos Indians, by the English called "Delaware Indians," from their having their wigwams chiefly along the waters of the Delaware River. These three tribes constituted one great Indian nation called "Lenni Lenape," signifying the original people. The five great confederated Indian nations of the State of New York -- The Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga and Seneca Indians -- made our valleys, at times, their hunting and fishing grounds. And when our white forefathers began to encroach upon their hunting and fishing grounds in these parts, the wrath of these Indians was very naturally aroused, and they, in revenge for these intrusions, killed and scalped many a white man and woman, and burnt down many a log hut or cabin erected by the adventurous and daring white settler.
J. F. Meginness, in his "History of the West Branch Valley of the
Susquehanna," published at Philadelphia in 1857, says: "An Indian named Cochnehaw had a wigwam for a long time near the mouth of White Deer Hole Creek for hunting purposes." (p. 158.) Where Mr. Meginness obtained this information we are not told, but we suppose it to be true. And a number of other Indians, doubtless, had their wigwams also in this valley. And now, who can tell us the names of these Indians, and what tribes they belonged to, and where they had their wigwams, and what graveyards they had here, if any; and also what deeds of kindness or of cruelty they did to the first white settlers of our valley? And what, in the end, became of these Indians and their squaws and papooses? If any of your readers can give us any information on these points, whether drawn from printed records, or from mere traditional or oral history, I shall be glad to hear from him, either through communications to your paper, or through letters to myself. Let us gather up, while we yet may, whatever may be gleaned on these subjects from the memories of those aged persons in our midst, who will soon "go the way of all flesh" -- down to the cold and dark narrow house of the dead.
FIRST WHITE SETTLERS IN THE VALLEY.
Meginness, in his "History of the West Branch Valley," says: "Richard Steel made an improvement in White Deer Hole Valley before 1769" (History, 158.) But as I can find no person there who knows any thing about Steel, or his settlement, I am inclined to think that Steel either made no settlement here at all, or if he did, that he must have left it voluntarily, or been driven away from it by the Indians and never returned. The first settlers of our West Branch valley were often driven away from it by the Indians. But when all danger from the Indians seemed to be over, they returned and soon built themselves log forts in different parts of the valley, so that they might flee thither for safety when threatened with danger.
Log Forts on the West Branch.
The names and localities of these Forts, twelve in number, from Lock Haven down to Sunbury, were as follows:
1. "Fort Reed" -- which stood where the town of Lock Haven now stands.
2. "Fort Horn" -- which stood on Crispen's Run, a little below Chatham's Run, on the south side of the river.
3. "Fort Antes" -- which stood where the grist mill now stands at the mouth of Nippenose Creek, opposite the town of Jersey Shore.
4. "Fort Huff" -- which stood where the village of Jaysburg now stands, near the mouth of Lycoming Creek.
5. "Fort Muncy" -- which stood a few miles above the town of Muncy, on Carpenter's run, on the splendid "Hall Farms," belonging to the late Charles Hall, Esq., of Sunbury. This fort was sometimes called "Fort Wallis," after Samuel Wallis, the original owner of said farms.
6. "Fort Brady" -- which stood on the south side of Muncy Creek, near where Port Penn now stands, on the west side of the town of Muncy. It was built by Capt. John Brady, the father of the celebrated Capt. Samuel Brady.
7. "Fort Freeland" -- which stood on the Warrior Run Creek, about half a mile north east of the Warrior Run Church, in Northumberland County. It was a place of great note in our West Branch history, and was called "Fort Freeland," after Jacob Freeland, who came there from the State of New Jersey in 1772, and built a small grist mill there in 1773. The fort was built in 1775. In 1811, Henry Wolfinger, the writer's father, tended John Houer's grist mill, which occupied the site of the old Freeland grist mill.
8. "Fort Meminger" -- which stood at the mouth of the Warrior Run, below Watsontown.
9. "Fort Boon" -- which stood at the mouth of "Muddy Run," a short distance below Warrior Run. It was called "Fort Boon," after Capt. Hawkins Boon, its brave commander.
10. "Fort Schwartz" -- which stood near the river bank, about a mile above the town of Milton.
11. "Fort Rice" -- which stood on Chillisquaque Creek, near where Washingtonville, in Montour County, now stands, being our frontier fort in that direction.
12. "Fort Augusta" -- which stood on the south side of the North Branch of the Susquehanna River, about a mile above the town of Sunbury.
These forts, Fort Augusta alone excepted, scarcely deserved the name of forts, as they were poorly constructed, and destitute of cannon. Still, they afforded protection to many a white family who must, otherwise, have been tomahawked and scalped by the Indians, who by the way, often had good cause for complaint and for doing what they did to our rude frontier settlers; who too often treated the poor Indians with great unkindness and injustice in various ways.
"Fort Augusta" at Sunbury was the largest, strongest and most important of all our "forts," as it had, as early as 1758, 12 cannon, 2 swivels, and 4 blunderbusses, all in good order, with an ample supply of powder, grape shot, cut shot and cannon balls and other warlike materials, and it was manned with 189 soldiers, including the officers in the garrison.
The years 1778 and 1779 have very properly been called the "Big Runaway times," as the infuriated Indians then came down upon our infant settlers so suddenly and furiously, and in such numbers that our white settlers had to leave all behind them and flee for their lives down the river to "Fort Augusta" at Sunbury. And the Indians, then left masters of the field, burnt down all of our settlements and forts, with the exception of Forts Rice and Augusta. And a good many of our terrified runaway whites never returned to their places of settlement, and for aught I know, Richard Steel may have been among this number. At all events, I cannot put him down as being the first permanent white settler of our valley, until I have better evidence of it than I now have.
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In 1787, White Deer Hole Valley had fourteen families of white settlers, whose names and places of residence were as follows.
1. Rachel Weeks. An old English widow woman, occupied a small log hut or cabin near the mouth of White Deer Hole Creek, between the bank of the river and where the fine mansion of John S. Smith now stands. Rachel had six children, named Jeth, Job, Hanna, Jemima, Naomi and Annie.
2. Thomas Wiesner. Occupied a cabin on the river bank near where the bridge at Uniontown now crosses the river Susquehanna, about half a mile north of Rachel Weeks. Thomas, who had a wife and six or seven children, afterwards moved away to parts unknown.
3. John Rumsey. Occupied a cabin on the river bank north of Wiesner's, and had a wife and children and a small farm here. He is supposed to have come here from the State of New York, and soon after returned to that State. He talked English.
4. George Gray. Occupied a cabin on the river bank about three quarters of a mile north of Rumsey's, and had a wife and three children. He talked English and worked at little jobs around among his neighbors, but moved away about two years afterward to parts unknown.
5. Marcus Huling. Occupied a cabin on the river bank about three hundred yards north of Gray's, and had a wife and five children. He talked English and worked at his trade, being a blacksmith. He afterwards moved higher up, or west, into the valley, and from thence to Newberry, and from thence again to Youngmanstown (Mifflinburg,) and finally into York State. He is supposed to have been a cousin of the Marcus Huling, also a blacksmith, who lived at the town of Milton at that day.
6. Cornelius Vanfleet. A New Jersey man, occupied a cabin that stood on the White Deer Hole Creek, a little west of the widow Weeks. He acted as a Justice of the Peace for many years, and died here on the 7th of December, 1841, in the 85th year of his age. His remains lie buried in the
Presbyterian graveyard.
7. Peter Dougherty. An Irishman, occupied a cabin on the White Deer Hole Creek, about a mile and a quarter above the mouth of the creek. He had a wife and children, and afterwards moved farther west into the valley, and finally out to the State of Ohio.
8. Eleanor Brown -- commonly called Nellie Brown. She was the widow of Matthew Brown, already noticed, and occupied a cabin on the White Deer Hole Creek, about two and a half miles west of its mouth. She died at her son, William Brown's, cabin, that stood about half a mile west of her own cabin, on the 9th of August, 1814, and her descendants are still found in this valley and it adjacent parts.
9. Samuel Swan. Occupied a cabin that stood about two hundred and thirteen yards due west of Eleanor Brown's. Swan talked English, had a wife and children, and afterwards moved away to parts unknown.
10. Seth McCormick. An Irishman, occupied a cabin on South Creek, a branch of White Deer Hole Creek, about a mile west of Swan's cabin. Seth died here on the 17th of January, 1835, in the 79th year of his age. His remains lie buried in the old Presbyterian, (now Lutheran,) graveyard at the "stone church," on the south west side of Penny Hill. He left a wife and nine children, and his descendants are still living here, and occupy a part of their great ancestor's estate.
11. Thomas McCormick. An Irishman and a brother of Seth's; occupied a cabin on South Creek about half a mile from Seth's. He seems to have acted as a Justice of the Peace for some years. He died on the 6th of October, 1826, aged 72 years, and his remains also lie buried in the old graveyard near the above "stone church."
12. Jesse Weeks. A son of the Widow Weeks, already noticed, occupied a cabin that stood on the north side of "Spring Creek," the northern branch of White Deer Hole Creek, about four miles west of it junction with "South Creek." Jesse Weeks died here, but his age and place of burial are unknown.
13. Daniel Sunderland. An Englishman, occupied a cabin that stood about a mile further up Spring Creek; and he died there.
14. John Farley. A New Jerseyman; came here in 1787, from the State of New Jersey, with a wife and seven children, named Jacob, Barbara, Minard, John, David, Naomi and Fanny. He immediately built himself a log cabin, and occupied it, on White Deer Hole Creek, about two hundred feet from where the dwelling house of the late Charles Gudykunst now stands. And being an active and enterprising man, he soon afterwards built himself a log grist mill here, the first one in the valley, as already stated.
We thus see that the whole of White Deer Hole Valley only contained fourteen white families in the year 1787. We also see that five of these settlers, to wit: Rachel Weeks, Thomas Wiesner, John Rumsey, George Gray and Marcus Huling, dwelt in cabins on the bank of the Susquehanna River, along the eastern boundary line of our valley; that five of these settlers, to wit: Cornelius Vanfleet, Peter Dougherty, Eleanor Brown, Samuel Swan and John Farley, dwelt in cabins on the banks of the White Deer Hole Creek; while two of these settlers, to wit: Seth McCormick and Thomas McCormick, dwelt in cabins on South Creek; and Jesse Weeks and Daniel Sunderland, the remaining two, dwelt in cabins on Spring Creek. We also see that six of these fourteen, to wit: Messrs, Doughterty, Gray, Huling, Rumsey, Swan and Weisner, soon afterwards moved away out of our valley.
I have obtained all of the above facts relative to these fourteen families, (excepting what relates to their times of death and places of burial,) from Mr. John Farley, a son of the above John Farley, and who is still living in our valley, a venerable white-haired old gentleman in the 88th year of his age, whose house I visited for that purpose on Tuesday, the 17th of July, 1870. I found Mr. Farley's power of hearing somewhat impaired, but his memory of those early days was very clear and decided. He rarely hesitated in his statements, or made any error that he had to go back and correct. But he narrated the above, and many other facts, easily, and yet with a very commendable cautiousness lest he might make some mistake or mistakes in his narrations. This gives me the greater confidence in his statements. And now to show you that we have good reasons for relying upon his statements, let me lay before you what he says of himself in his own words.
He says: "I was born in Tewksbury Township, Hunterdon County, State of New Jersey, on the 9th of July, 1783, and came here into this valley with my father, John Farley, in 1787, when I was four years old. And I have resided here ever since for the long space of 83 years, and knew and remembered the names of all the white settlers that lived in this valley in the spring of 1787, when I came here -- and where their log huts or cabins stood, and how their cabins were made.
My father built one of the same kind of cabins here in 1787, and four or five years afterwards, he also built a small log grist mill here with but one pair of grinding stones in it, the first grist mill erected in this valley. In the year 1809, my father, after living here thirteen years, moved back to the State of New Jersey. But he died here in this valley, in June, 1822, while he was up here on a visit to me and my family. He was upwards of 70 years of age when he died, and my brother and sister are all dead, and I am now the only one left of all my father's family.
Very great changes have taken place in the appearance of this valley, its farms, houses, barns, and the like, since I came here -- changes far greater than any I ever expected to see here, and all for the better."
No other living man of our valley, or elsewhere, could, it is believed, have given us so much reliable and valuable information concerning this valley, as Mr. Farley has. And it has afforded me much pleasure to be able to gather this information from his own lips before he "goes the way of all flesh" -an event to be daily expected now at his advanced age of life. May his last days be his best days, and his life close with joyful anticipations of heavenly rest.
Part III - Friday, September 16, 1870, Page 4
In this number, I will describe the log huts or cabins of our first settlers, the face of the country at that day, their roads, grist and saw mills, school houses and school masters, Indian war paths and Sam Brady's exploits and the general character of our valley's first white settlers.
LOG CABINS OF FIRST SETTLERS.
Mr. Farley gave me the following description of the log huts, or cabins, occupied by the first white settlers of White Deer Hole Valley. I use his own words:
"The first houses of our White Deer Hole Valley settlers were made of round logs notched together at the corners and roofed or covered with clapboards, made out of any kind of suitable timber with an iron implement called a Frow. These clapboards were of various widths and from one half an inch to an inch in thickness. These cabins were only one story high, just high enough to let a person of common height pass in and out without striking his head against the roof overhead. The windows consisted of holes cut through the logs to let in light and air -- holes without any window glass in them.
Each cabin had but one door, and that was made of clapboards, and its floor was the bare ground leveled off. The roof clapboards were kept in their places by logs fastened across them. The chimneys were made of stones or of sticks or poles of wood covered with mud or mortar."
Such a rude, rough log cabin, with its correspondingly scanty and rude household furniture, would be quite a curiosity in our day, but many a good man and woman has lived and died happily in such a house or home. "For a man's life," as our Saviour saith, "consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth" -- Luke, 12:15. But if we, in our day, had to live in such a cramped and humble way, we would consider it a very great hardship. But the hope of better days and a more comfortable life in after life, made our first settlers cheerfully submit to all of the early privations.
FACE OF THE COUNTRY IN EARLY TIMES.
On this point, Mr. Farley says:
"From the mouth of the White Deer Hole Creek, all the way up to Penny Hill, there was a large amount of yellow and pitch pine, with some white pine timber trees standing and growing on the ground. And this range of timber extended itself westward into the valley for a distance of about two miles from the river Susquehanna. And from that point again westward, we had patches of oak, chestnut, and other timber trees, mixed together; and here and there also some patches of yellow and pitch pine mixed. And these kinds of timber extended all the way through the valley to the foot of the Bald Eagle Mountain."
"Wild plum trees that bore excellent red and yellow plums abounded along the waters of the White Deer Hole Creek and its branches. Shell-bark hickory-nut trees were also pretty plentiful along the banks of these waters, and in the adjoining lowlands, called "bottoms," or bottom land. And these grounds likewise contained chestnut, butternut, walnut, and acorn-bearing oak trees, here and there intermixed. Wild grapes and huckleberries of various colors were also far plentiful here then than they are now. There were a good many marshes or swamps here then, but they are now mostly drained and cleared into dry land.
The north side of the valley was very stony at an early day, and is quite stony yet. The south side of the valley was much less stony, as a whole, but it had, and still has, patches of stony land here and there."
"The Bald Eagle and White Deer mountains look now as they did in 1787, when I was a boy. I can see no alteration in them, for although most of their old and best timber trees have been cut down and removed, their places are now supplied with a nice growth of young oak, chestnut-oak, and other timber trees. Every spring, and sometimes in the fall also, these mountains were set on fire by some persons in order to burn away all the dry leaves, and all worthless bushes and brush, and make the ground there produce grass and make early pasturage for their cattle, horses and hogs. And these mountain fires often spread down into and burnt the whole valley all over, all the way down to the river, and then made us turnout and work hard to keep our fences and cabins from taking fire and burning down.
All our cattle, horses and hogs ran at large through the woods and grew fattened there. Our cattle and horses had bells put around their necks that we might find them the more easily by the sound of their tinkling bells."
Now, from this we see that the face of our whole valley was then covered with wood, excepting only what small patches of ground had here and there been cleared of its timber and stone, and used in a rough way for the growth of a little crop of wheat, rye, corn, oats, potatoes, and garden truck. And when you add to this picture the fact that our first settlers had no roads, bridges, school houses, churches, grist mills, saw mills, towns, villages, stores, and the like, of any kind, you will have a pretty fair idea of what our valley then was.
ROADS.
All new settlers in a thickly wooded and stony country suffer very serious inconveniences for the want of smooth and solid dry public roads for the passage of horses and wagons to and from mills and the market, and the like. The first wagon road constructed in the valley is still in
existence. It runs along the north side of the White Deer Mountain from the river to the western end of the valley.
The next road constructed, now called the "Lower Road," from its running through the lowest grounds of the valley, also extends from the river at Uniontown, westward, to and beyond the village of Elimsport, where it crosses the Bald Eagle Mountain and passes on through Nippenose valley to its outlet on the river Susquehanna opposite the town of Jersey Shore.
The next road constructed, called the "Culbertson Road," was surveyed and laid out by Andrew Culbertson, a surveyor, in 1792.
It begins at a point on the lower road, and runs up north westward through the valley, through and beyond the village of Wisetown, and is sometimes called the "Upper Road," to distinguish it from the Lower Road just described.
In 1829, this Culbertson Road was extended across the Bald Eagle Mountain by what is called the "Mountain Road," one of our public roads to
Williamsport. It is a very steep and rough stony road, and ought to be improved and made smooth for the benefit of our valley people who do their marketing and other business at Williamsport, and it is manifestly the interest of Williamsport, and of the whole of Lycoming County, to have this desirable improvement speedily made.
And then we have another public road, called the "River Road," from its running along the river at and above Uniontown. But it is more commonly called the "Turnpike Road to
Williamsport," from its being turnpiked, where necessary, in its course through a gap in the Bald Eagle Mountain, and along the north side of that mountain to Williamsport. This is a very old road, but I have no time to examine my books for the year of its construction.
We also have, by means of our large wooden bridge across the Susquehanna River, at Uniontown, another public road to the village of Dewart, in Northumberland County, and the Philadelphia and Erie Railroad at that point. And those public roads, with their inter-linkage of numerous other interior cross roads that I need not describe, are our main outlets for transporting grain, hay, timber, and the like, from this valley.
Rumor says that we shall soon have a railroad along the river through the eastern portion of our valley. Let it come, for it will benefit the valley, and the valley will benefit the road.
GRIST MILLS AND SAW MILLS.
A grist mill, for the grinding of grain into flour, is also very necessary for the comfort of all new settlers in every country, as hominy (that is cake or soup made out of pounded or cracked Indian corn and the like,) would not be relished by any of us very long. It might do well enough in a pinch, just as the hard-tack, or hard crackers, did among our late Union soldiers.
In 1791, or 1792, John Farley built a small, two-story log grist mill near where the present stone grist mill of the late Charles Gudykunst now stands on the White Deer Hole Creek, about half a mile south west of Uniontown.
This was the first grist mill erected in this valley, and it had but one pair of grinding stones, but was, nevertheless, of very great service to our first settlers.
In 1797, or 1798, Frederick Follmer erected the second grist mill on the same creek, and on the site now occupied by what was for many years called "Hunter's Mill," but is now called "Spring Garden Mill," or Syphar's mill, after A. S. Syphar, its present owner. This mill is about two and a half miles west of Uniontown.
In 1815, Samuel Foresman built the third grist mill on South Creek, on the west side of Elimsport. But this mill is gone, and the ruins of its race and dam are all that can now be seen of it.
In 1817, John Brown built the fourth grist mill, near the present residence of Daniel Follmer, Esq., on White Deer Hole Creek, but this mill is also gone leaving its ruins visible.
In 1842, Isaac Hain built the fifth grist mill on Spring Creek about five miles west of Uniontown. It is a large, substantial and beautiful brick structure now owned by John and William Dentler. And as the Foresman and Brown mills have gone to decay, it now leaves a large amount of grinding to be done by our remaining three mills here described
Saw mills, for the sawing of boards, plank, lath, and all other building stuff, were also erected about the same time that grist mills were, or soon after. And after that, our settlers began to build themselves frame houses and barns instead of the old-fashioned log ones. The present saw mills of our valley, about ten in number, are kept pretty busy in supplying our people with sawed lumber of all kinds, as they are mills of small capacity, and so saw but little, when compared with the mammoth saw mills of Williamsport and other places.
SCHOOL HOUSES AND SCHOOL MASTERS.
As children grew up around our first settlers, they soon found it necessary to have school houses and school masters for the education of the youth, that they might in after life, at least, be able to read and write and cipher and keep their own book accounts, if nothing more. The first school house in White Deer Hole Valley was a rude log structure that stood near the present residence of Thompson Bower, a little north of Uniontown. And the first school master that taught school in this school house was an Englishman named Richard Fossit.
A little after this, John Crawford taught school in a log school house farther up in the valley. And at a still later period, Jack Dundas, an Irishman from Ireland, taught school in a log school house that stood on the west side of Uniontown, on the public road that leads to Follmer's, afterwards Hunter's, and now Syphar's grist mill.
Other log school houses were afterwards built and used in different parts of the valley, but it is not necessary for us to point out their localities, or to name, if we could, all of the school masters who taught here in olden times.
The present number and condition of our school houses in White Deer Hole Valley are as follows:
This valley, as I have already showed, includes within it limits the townships of Gregg, in Union County, and the townships of Brady and Washington, in Lycoming County. And these three townships now, (1870), contain 14 school houses. Of these, Washington Township, the western portion of our valley, contains 7 school houses, 4 of which are brick and 2 frame, and 1 stone structures.
Brady Township, the north eastern part of our valley, has 2 school houses, one a brick and the other a stone structure, while Gregg Township, the south eastern part of our valley, has 5 school houses, all of which are built of the same model, and are neat, spacious, very substantial and convenient and comfortable brick structures, that reflect much honor upon the School Directors and inhabitants of Gregg Township. And all that our valley now needs in an educational line is steady and well-educated teachers who love their calling and know how to manage and impart sound knowledge to children.
INDIAN WAR PATH, AND SAM BRADY'S EXPLOITS.
The Indians had various paths, called Indian War Paths, leading through our West Branch Valley. One of these paths led through White Deer Hole Valley.
It commenced at the Indian town of Shaumoking, where the town of Sunbury now stands, and crossing the river Susquehanna, led through a ravine of the Blue Hill a little below the West Branch River bridge, at the town of
Northumberland, and thence over the Blue Hill along the river through Buffalo Valley, on up north to and around the rocks, now called The Narrows, a little below Uniontown, where it entered the White Deer Hole Valley and ran along the White Deer Mountain westward to and beyond the present village of Elimsport, where it crossed the Bald Eagle Mountain into and through Nippenose Valley and over the mountains by the way of Bald Eagle's wigwam, near Milesburg, out to Kittanning, an old Indian town, now the county seat of Armstrong County.
And as this Indian path afforded much the shortest road to and from the Indian town of Shaumoking, now Sunbury, it must have been frequently traveled by those great Indian chiefs named Shikellamy, Bald Eagle, Black Snake, Corn Planter and Panther, and those brave Indian warriors named Greatshot, Hawk, Muncy, Sook and Wamp and others of equal note, whose names have not come down to us.
Shikellamy was a distinguished Cayuga chief who was stationed here at the Indian town of Shaumoking by the five Indian nations of New York to watch and rule over all of the Indians in these parts. He was a good man and an unwavering friend of the white man. And he died there in 1749 leaving several sons, one of whom he called Logan in honor of James Logan, who was for a long time Secretary of our Colonial Government, and manager of our colony's Indian affairs.
Bald Eagle, Black Snake, Corn Planter and Panther were chiefs of the Seneca tribe, and the three last named were all very large and finely proportioned and powerful Indians, and terrible in their appearance. Black Snake and Panther were also brothers. And of these Indians, Capt. Samuel Brady killed Bald Eagle, Black Snake, Hawk, Panther and many other Indians around here and in western Pennsylvania in revenge for their having killed and scalped his brother, James Brady, while reaping oats in a field on Turkey Run on the south side of the river below Williamsport in August 1778, and also for having killed and scalped his father, Capt. John Brady, in April, near where Wolf Run crosses the public road leading from Muncy to Williamsport, and while on his way back to Fort Brady from an excursion for provisions for his fort. Capt. Samuel Brady was at Pittsburgh when he heard of his brother's and his father's deaths, and he immediately vowed eternal vengeance against all Indians of every tribe, and he everywhere sought for them and terribly carried out this threat in the midst of many hair-breadth escapes for his own life.
James Brady, before dying, said that he saw Bald Eagle among the Indians who shot and scalped him. And Sam Brady himself saw and heard Black Snake and Panther at one of their campfires in western Pennsylvania sing and dance and "go through the tragic scenes of his father's and brother's death," and end it with a threat to kill him also and his whole family. This satisfied him that they must have had a hand in his father's and his brother's death, and made him resolve to kill Black Snake and Panther with his own hand. And so when he afterward found them here on the east side of the Allegheny mountains, he swore that "Panther and the Black Snake should never taste the waters of the Allegheny River again!" And they didn't. For he pursued them and their several bands, containing in all about 150 of the most wily, courageous and warlike sharp shooting Indians ever collected together in these parts, and hovered in close ambush around them, both night and day, until the desired opportunity for vengeance arrived, when crack went his trusty rifle and Black Snake, Panther and Hawk fell to rise no more, just as Bald Eagle himself had done before, at Brady's Bend, near the mouth of Redbank Creek, on the Allegheny River in Armstrong County, PA.
This killing of the Black Snake, Panther and Hawk is supposed to have taken place in 1781 or 1782 and within a few miles of what were called the Clear Fountains or Clear Springs somewhere along Spruce Creek in Centre County. And Sam Brady then had but one fighting companion with him, to wit, Peter Grove of Buffalo Valley, Union County, who at the same time shot and killed the Indians Greatshot and Wamp, besides a number of other Indians.
To some of us, this slaughtering of the Indians may appear to have been unnecessarily savage. Kiskimenetas, who published a history of Sam Brady's Indian deeds in the Blairsville Record, newspaper of Indiana County, PA, in 1832, truly says: "it is painful to think of such things being done by American soldiers, but we cannot now know all the excusing circumstances that may have existed at the time."
I have just given you the principal excusing circumstances that made Sam feel himself justified in doing to the Indians what he did, and perhaps most, if not all, of my readers will say that he served them right.
Sam Brady was 5 feet and 11 inches in height and rather slender, but neat of form. He was born at Shippensburg, in Cumberland County, PA, in 1757, and died at West Liberty, Ohio County, Virginia, on Christmas Day, 1795, in the 39th year of his age, and while in command of a company of soldiers called The Rangers, on our frontier lines, under Gen. Anthony Wayne.
It is only necessary to say here, in closing this part of our subject, that Shikellamy's son, Logan, was also a warm friend of the whites, and that he afterwards became the celebrated Logan, the Mingo Chief, whose whole family was so mercilessly destroyed by Col. Cresap on the Kanawah River in western Virginia in 1774 -- which gave rise to the touching and famous speech of Logan sent to Gov. Dunmore of Virginia and handed down to us by Jefferson in his Notes on Virginia -- a speech beginning, "I appeal to any white man if he ever entered Logan's cabin . . .," you know the rest.
CHARACTER OF VALLEY'S FIRST SETTLERS.
The first white settlers of our valley were a mixture of Irishmen and Englishmen. As a general thing, they were a rude enough set of men, and fond both of a drunk and a fight. Their drink was chiefly rye whisky, and hence still houses were very popular in those days. And if any one had a house or a barn to raise or frame together, or any stones to pick and haul, as most of them had, a frolic for this purpose was proclaimed and all who could were earnestly invited to attend it.
Upon all of these occasions, as well as other frolics, it was usual for the person who made the frolic to get a barrel or half a barrel of whisky and knock the bung out of it and let all who would, drink freely of its contents. And their whisky drinkings, whenever they met at one of their frolics, mostly ended in a drunken spree, and a general fight among all who boasted of their strength and gloried in the name of being a bully. The result was sore bellies, pounded heads, bloody noses and skinned shins, but after going home and getting sober, they were mostly in a good humor with each other when they met again, as all of their fighting was merely a pleasant trial of their mutual strength, skill and endurance in battering each other "to see which," as they expressed it, "was the best man!"
Similar drinking and fighting customs also prevailed in other parts of our West Branch Valley. But from what I have heard from reliable sources, I am inclined to think that our White Deer Hole Valley settlers were a little ahead of all others either in frolics, whisky drinking and fisticuffing. But these unchristian and disgraceful customs have, most happily for us as a people, long since passed away. May they stay away for ever for our own individual, as well as the common, good.
Part IV - Saturday, September 24, 1870, Page 4
WHITE DEER TOWNSHIP'S FIRST SETTLERS.
The first settlements of White Deer Hole Valley originally formed a part of those made in White Deer Township as our valley lay within the boundaries of that township. This will be evident from the following statement of facts: In 1772, William Plunkett and his associates, who were the first judges of the courts of old Northumberland County, divided the then inhabited parts of said county into seven townships, named Augusts, Bald Eagle, Buffalo, Muncy, Penn's, Turbert and Wyoming. Buffalo Township is described in the records of said court as "Beginning at the mouth of Penn's Creek," near Selinsgrove, Snyder County, at the "head of the isle of Que, thence up the same to the forks of the said creek, thence by a north line to the West Branch of the Susquehanna River," (somewhere near or opposite to Williamsport, in Lycoming County,) "thence down the West Branch of the Susquehanna River to the forks of the said river," (at Northumberland,) "thence down the Susquehanna to the place of beginning." In 1776, the northern part of Buffalo Township was, by order of the court, detached from Buffalo and erected into a separate township by the name of White Deer Township. And in 1785, the northern part of White Deer was in its turn detached from White Deer and erected into a separate township by the name of Washington Township. And hence we see that White Deer Township in 1776 included not only the whole of the present township of White Deer in Union County, but also the whole of White Deer Hole Valley in Union and Lycoming County, together with Black Hole Valley, Mosquito Valley, and the like, in Lycoming County.
WHITE DEER'S FIRST TOWNSHIP OFFICERS.
The first township officers of White Deer Township in 1776 were as follows: Constable -- Peter Swartz.
Supervisors of the Roads -- Hugh Caldwell and Robert Fruit.
Overseers of the Poor -- Walter Clark and Matthew Brown.
WHITE DEER'S FIRST SETTLERS.
In 1778, White Deer Township contained the following taxable inhabitants and land owners as I have ascertained from the Assessor's Tax Book of this township for that year. Now reader see if you can find your ancestors or relatives in this alphabetical list of names copied from said book.
NAMES OF 1778
Allen, Samuel Graham, Ed McClure, Thomas
Ammon, George Graham, John McCord, Samuel
Armstrong, William Graham, Thomas McCormick, James
Baker, James Gray, William Mccormick, Thomas
Bartram, Alexander Green, Ebenezar McGinnes, Samuel
Blue, Frederick Haines, Reuben McLaughlin, James
Blue, William Hammond, David McJannet, Charles
Blythe, William Hammond, James Moodie, Robert
Boon, Hawkins Hartley, Thomas Moore, Henry
Brown, Eleanor Hays, James Moore, John
Brundage, Joseph Hazlett, John Moore, Thomas
Buchanan, James Heckle, Andrew Musser, John
Caldwell, James Heckman, Andrew Nicholson, William
Carmachan, William Hood, Elizabeth Noraconk, Daniel
Campbell, Houston, Dr. Norcross, John
Charter, William Huling, Marcus Orr, William
Clark, Robert Hunter, James Pearson, (Widow)
Clark, William Hutchinson, Thomas Poke, James
Cook, Henry Iddings, Henry Poke, Joseph
Cooper, Robert Irwin, George Plunkett, William
Correy, Robert Irwin, James Reed, William
Couple, Kable D. Irwin, Richard Reese, George
Cox, John James, Thomas Robb, William
Croninger, Leonard Johnson, John Rodman, William
Crasher, William Johnson, William Row, Jonas
Dale, Samuel Jordan, William Row, Joseph
Deal, Christian Kelley, John Ridehower, Peter
Dean, Ben Kilday, George Semple, John
Derr, Henry Kirkwood, John Semple, Robert
Derr, Joseph Lafferty, Isaac Shaw, Hamilton
Dieffenderfer, Michael Laird, Nicholas Shearer, Samuel
_______, David Linn, John Shields, Archibald
Ditzell (Ditzler), H Lobden, Thomas Shippen, Joseph
Earb, Michael Low, Cornelius Smith, John Sr.
Elder, Thomas Low, William Smith, John Jr.
_______, Jacob Lykens, Thomas Stephen, Alex
Ewing, Alex Mackey, William Stephen, Philip
Fisher, Christian Maffitt, Joseph Story, John
Fisher, John Martin, Robert Sunderland, Daniel
Fisher, Samuel Mason, William Swartz, Peter
Fleming, Mitcheltree, John Tate, John
Fookier, George McCandish, William Tate, Joseph
Foutz, Conrad McCarl, James Toner, Thomas
Fruit, Robert McClenahan, James Townsend, Codder
Fulton, John McCollum, John Weeks, Jesse
Gibson, Robert McComb, Daniel Weeks, Joseph
Weitzell, John
Werts, Deidrich
Wheeland, George
White, Joseph
Wilson, Peter
Wilson, Peter Jr.
Wilson, William
Yarnall, Jesse
Now we are not to suppose that all of the persons here named actually resided in White Deer Township in 1778, for many of them only owned lands here and resided elsewhere. This was the case with Judge Plunkett, who resided at Sunbury, and with Robert Martin, who resided at Northumberland, and with William McCandless, who resided near Milton, in Turbet Township, and with many others, no doubt, who resided at other points of our county or altogether outside of it.
And hence we cannot say how many of these persons actually lived here. Most of those who did live here had a horse or two and a cow or two and a few sheep and hogs and more or less of cleared and improved land. They were all driven away from their settlements by the Indians in 1778 and 1779, and some of them never returned here, but sold out and moved away to other parts, more secure from Indian troubles and wars.
Still, this list of names will be read with great interest by all persons who dwell in and around this section of country.
NOTED CHARACTERS IN WHITE DEER TOWNSHIP
Among the noted characters of White Deer Township at this early day we have the names of Matthew Brown, Samuel Dale, Walter Clark, Robert Fruit, and Dr.
Houston.
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Matthew Brown, whose remains are buried here in White Deer Hole Valley, was quite a prominent man in our history. He was one of the first Overseers of the Poor for White Deer Township. In February 1776, he was one of the Committee of Safety for Northumberland County. In June 1776, he was a member of the Provincial Council that met in Philadelphia to dissolve our political connection with Great Britain, and in July 1776, he was a member of the State Convention that formed our first State Constitution of 1776 which he signed on the 28th of September in that year. In the autumn of 1776, he entered our Provincial or United States army as a soldier, and while serving thus contracted what was called the camp fever, which compelled him to return home and finally carried him to his grave. He lies buried here in a field about half a mile south of my residence. His grave is surrounded with a rude unmortered stone wall put there by his wife, Eleanor Brown, the widow named in our above list of names. After surviving him for a period of thirty-seven years, she also died and now lies buried at his side. The enclosure is about ten or twelve feet square in the clear inside, and contains two upright, plain white marble tombstones, now much discolored and blackened by time, leaving the following inscriptions and nothing more, to wit:
Matthew Brown
Died April 22d, 1777
Eleanor Brown
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Farley Cemetery
Off Old Mill Rd South of Allenwood Pa. On lane of a single home.
History :
1787. ANNALS OF BUFFALO VALLEY. by John Blair Linn Pg 245-247
John Farley, a New Jerseyman, came here in 1787, from the
State of New Jersey, with a wife and seven children, named Jacob,
Barbara, Minard, John, David, Naomi, and Fanny. He immedi-
ately Iniilt himself a log cabin, and occupied it, on White Deer Hole
creek, about two hundred feet from where the dwelling house of the
late Charles Gudykunst now stands, and being an active and enter-
prising man, he soon afterward built himself a log grist-mill here,
the first one in the Valley, as already stated.
I have obtained all of the above facts relative to these fourteen
families, (excepting what relates to their times of death and places
of burial,) from Mr. John Farley, a son of the above John Farley,
and who is still living in our Valley, a venerable white-haired old
gentleman, in the eighty-eighth year of his age, whose house I visited
for that purpose on Tuesday, the 17th of July, 1870.
He says: "I was born in Tewksbury Township, Hunterdon
county. State of New Jersey, on the 9th of July, 1783, and came
here into this Valley with my father, John Farley, in 1787, when I
was four years old. And I have resided here ever since, for the
long space of eighty-three years, and knew and remember the names
of all the white settlers that lived in this Valley in the spring of i 7S7,
when I came here, and where their log huts or cabins stood, and
how their cabins were made. My father built one of the same kind
of cabins here in 1 787, and four or five years afterward he also built
a small log grist-mill here, with but one pair of grinding stones in
it; the first grist-mill erected in this Valley. In the year 1800, my
father, after living here for thirteen years, moved back to the State of
New Jersey. But he died here in this Valley in June 1822, while he
was up here on a visit to me and my family. He was upwards of
seventy years of age when he died, and my brothers and sisters are all
dead, and I am now the only one left of all my father's family.
Very great changes have taken place in the appearance of this Val-
ley, its farms, houses, barns, &c., since I came here; changes far
greater than any I ever expected to see here, and all for the better."
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