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years of age, and is a woman of remarkable strength of mind, although for many years she has been infirm in body. A devoted wife and mother, her Christian life has left its impress on the lives of her children. She furnished largely the facts for this sketch. Her father, John Carpenter, Sr, (1766-1838), was one of the Nine Partners, and married, in 1793, Polly Tyler (1772-1811), who bore him children, John, 1793, lost on Lake Erie; Asahel (1796-1842); Polly T., 1798, wife of Austin Jones, Harford; Jesse, 1801, died in California; Betsey (1803-1886), wife of Sterry Tanner, of Harford; and Nancy Carpenter, the youngest, and widow of Millbourn Oakley. John Carpenter married his second wife, Lydia Pattee (1785-1861), in 1813, who died without issue. His parents were Daniel and Elizabeth (Tyler) Carpenter, who had eleven children, and resided in Attleborough, Massachusetts. The children of Millbourn and Nancy Oakley are Lydia J. (1827-1861), wife of Erastus Finn, of Benton, PA; Williston K. (1830-1861), died at home; Eliza, 1831, first the wife of John C. Webster, and second, of David Salisbury, of Franklins; Daniel C. 1835, a farmer of Lenox; Betsey M., 1836, wife of Watson Jeffers, a farmer of Harford; Samuel H. 1840, a farmer in Harford; and Elvira H. Oakley, married, first James Hartley, of Lenox and after his death became the wife of W. A. Browning, a farmer of Fleetville, PA. These children, with the grandchildren and friends, celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of the marriage of their parents, when they were made happy, and welcomed all with that hospitality and good cheer characteristic of the old home.
D. K. OAKLEY was born in Harford Township, June 18 1824, son of Daniel (1798-1874) and Sally H. Carpenter (1802-1870) Oakley, and grandson of Jotham Oakley, of the previous sketch. . Daniel Oakley became one of the leading business men of Susquehanna County. His indefatigable energy and honorable, straightforward character were strongly impressed upon his surroundings and he enjoyed, in a marked degree, the confidence and esteem of his fellows.
He successfully operated the sawmill on Martin's Creek, at Oakley, over fifty years, and was postmaster at that place twenty-four years. As a young man, he was warmly interested in religion, and at an early age became a member of the Congregational Church at Harford, which connection he retained throughout his life. The cause of education had his unswerving friendship, and the needy were never sent empty away. He gained much pleasure in the knowledge of having been one of those members who called the late beloved Rev. Adam Miller to the Harford Church pastorate, and his trusteeship was always a happiness. His children were Loretta C., died in early womanhood; Denison K.; Maria, the wife of N. T. Hull, a farmer of Candor, Tioga County, NY; Daniel Chauncey, drowned in Oakley Pond 1833; Mary, the wife of J. S. Peckham, a leading farmer of Brooklyn township; and Julia A., the wife of R. I. Gere, also a Brooklyn farmer.
After a liberal education at the district schools and at the Harford University, Denison K. Oakley taught in the schools of his native county for three years, prior to going to Wisconsin, where he also taught school and organized and superintended a Sunday School at Kaukanna for about three years. Returning to Susquehanna County in 1852, he found the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad had been in operation for some few months through his home property, from Scranton north, and appreciating the opportunity of markets thus opened for the immense forests of the vicinity, he purchased the mill property (which had been the hands of the railroad company during the building of the road), and began manufacturing and shipping lumber. Scranton was just then beginning to erect its head as a center of population, and lumber was, of course, in strong demand; hence the product of the Oakley mill was made a part of many of the buildings now forming a section of that city, and Mr. Oakley reaped his legitimate reward. This business he has continued until the present time, in addition to large farming interests in the same locality. Foreseeing that Scranton must, of necessity, become a prosperous an large city, Mr. Oakley, in 1860, invested in land there, and has been engaged in the erection of business blocks and residences not only for himself, but for others by contract; and in 1885 he there took up his residence, still continuing, however, to maintain his milling and farm interests at Oakley Station. He has served as postmaster at Oakley since 1875, and superintended the Sunday school there for fifteen years. He united with the Congregational Church at Harford in 1839, by election in 1855 served the church as chorister for twenty-eight successive years. Superintended the Sunday school for six years, and served as deacon of the church from 1866 to 1883, when he was granted dis-mission and recommended to admission to the Presbyterian Church at Brooklyn.
As a boy, Mr. Oakley evinced strong business aptitude, and was recognized as reliable and energetic, and his career affords a valuable lesson to others in carving out a fortune for themselves. In 1861 he married Emeline, daughter of John and Esther Dimmick Williams, of Herrick township, a direct descendant of the historic Roger Williams. She died in 1864, leaving no living issue. In September, 1878, Belle L. Trippe became his wife. She was born at Freetown, Cortland County, NY, the daughter of Septimus (born in Oneida County, NY, in 1817) and Minerva Slocum Trippe, and granddaughter of Isaac Trippe (1793-1867), a native of Saratoga County, NY, son of William Trippe, a soldier of the Revolution. Her maternal grandfather was Henry Slocum, related to General Slocum, of Union army fame; also to the first settlers at Scranton, which was formerly known as "Slocum's Hollow."
The result of the union of D. K. and Belle L. Oakley is one child, Clarence D. born December 2 1884. They both hold membership in the Brooklyn Presbyterian Church, though, on account of their residence at Scranton, they are attendants at the First Presbyterian Church of that city.
WATSON JEFFERS. Nathaniel Jeffers (1762-1833) married Eunice Fowler, and resided in Coventry, Tolland County, Conn., where he was a farmer and tanner. He served as a soldier in the Revolutionary War, towards its close, being then twenty years old. In the fall of 1822, with his son, Sebra Jeffers (1798-1870), and three daughters, Fanny (1790-1882), Betsey (died 1835) and Adeline (died 1865), he came to Harford, this county, an bought one hundred acres of land of Austin Jones, the homestead of the family since, and in 1887, the property of his grandson Watson Jeffers. The daughters remained here. Fanny had married Eldad Loomis in 1807, whose family settled in Harford in 1824. Betsey was the wife of Ezekiel Titus, one of the nine partners who settled in Harford in the spring of 1790, and Adeline became the wife of Col. Asa Spicer, also of Harford. Nathaniel and Sebra returned to Coventry the same fall, and the next spring (1823) removed with the remainder of their families to their new home. The other children were Eunice (1803-1872), the wife of Ira Carpenter, of Harford, and William, who died on the homestead in 1829. Mrs. Nathaniel Jeffers was a member of the Congregational Church at Harford, and both herself and husband were buried in the cemetery there. Sebra Jeffers, the only surviving son, succeeded to the home property. He had learned to be a tanner with his father, and to do farm work. During the War of 1812, and before and after that period, he had engaged in driving the old stagecoaches, and during that war carried many loads of soldiers and sailors, who were crossing the country from New England to the lakes to man the vessels of war on Lake Erie and the border waters, and coast defenses. . He was a man of pure motives and honest purposes in life, a substantial citizen, and, with his family, attendants of the same church in Harford. He survived his father thirty-seven years, honored and respected by all who knew him. His wife, whom he married in 1817, was Eveline Lyman (1796-1865), a daughter of William Lyman, a ship carpenter at East Windsor, on the Connecticut River, where she was born. Their children are Henry B. (1818-1864), a farmer, died in Iowa; Alfred L., 1819, a farmer, in Lenox, has six children; Laura (1821-1840), died unmarried; Mary (1823-1857), was the wife of Otis B. Titus, of Harford, and died leaving one son, Alonzo, adopted as Alonzo E. Tiffany, of Harford; George F. (1826-1868), died in Harford, leaving three children; Emily W., 1830, first the wife of Alonzo E. Carpenter, and after his death married D. P. Tiffany, Esq., of Harford; Watson, born where he now resides, October 31 1831; Charlotte A., 1835, for some time a teacher is the wife of Henry Squires, a merchant of Pittsburgh; Louisa A., 1839, widow of John Galbraith, a taxidermist of New York, resides in West Hoboken, has one child, William Galbraith; Alpha M. (1841-1879), was the wife of Hosea Tiffany, and died at Owatonna, Minn., leaving two children, Watson and Bert. Watson Jeffers succeeded to the homestead, and in 1877 supplanted the old home residence with his present fine farm house. He obtained his early education at the home district school and at the Harford Academy, and for four terms was a teacher in the same district. All the appointments of his place show the work of a thrifty and intelligent farmer. He has been interested in school matters at home and throughout the township, and during his service of ten years as a member of the Board of School Directors nearly all the districts in the township were supplied with new school houses. He has filled successfully various other offices of trust in his township. He was an early member of the Harford Agricultural Society, and has contributed annually to the support of farm interests in connection with its yearly fairs. In boyhood he was converted, and united with the Methodist Church at Harford, where he served for many years as a teacher in the Sunday school and remained a member of the church until 1881, when he became a member of the Congregational Church, where his wife is also a member. He was one of the charter members of the Good Templar Lodge at Harford, and is an advocate of temperance reform and prohibition principles both by his words and acts. He was drafted during the late Rebellion with his two brothers, George F. and Alfred L. The brothers were both exempted, but Watson put in a substitute to serve in his place, and was afterwards a supporter of the Union arms both with his means and money. He married in 1865, Betsey M. Oakley, who was born on the Oakley homestead in the same neighborhood, May 31, 1836. . She was educated at the Harford Academy, and was for several terms a teacher. Her parents were Millbourn (1803-1883) and Nancy Carpenter (1804) Oakley, and her grandparents, Jotham (1770-1841) and Sarah Millbourn (1768-1839) Oakley, whose sketch is in this volume. The children of Watson and Betsey M. Jeffers are Henry and Addie Jeffers.
William Abel, David Aldrich, Joshua Adams, Noah Aldrich, Ebenezer Bailey, Joseph Blandin, Jacob Blake, William Bascom, Laban Capron, Orlen Capron, David Carpenter, John Carpenter, Jonathan Carpenter, Cyril Carpenter, Obadiah Carpenter, Elias Carpenter, Cyrus Cheever, Nathaniel Claflin, Nathaniel ClaflinJr., Linsley Claflin, James Chandler, Robert Chandler, Charles Chandler, John Coonrod, William Coonrod, Wheaton Capron, Moses Dutcher, Jacob P. Dunn, Charles Ellsworth, Eliphalet Ellsworth, Eliab Farrar, Warner Follet, Ezra Follet, Noah Fuller, John Green Aaron Greenwood, Whiting Griswold, Nathan Guyle, Oliver Gratracks (North Harford), Stephen Harding, Perry Harding, Thomas Harding, Benjamin Harding, Jesse Harding, Ebenezer Kingsbury, Rufus Kingsley, Richard McNamara, Nathan Munson, Jotham Oakley, W. Powers, Oliver Paine, F. Peck, Abel Read, Caleb Richardson, Lyman Richardson, Ichabod Seavor, Abijah Sturdevant, Ezra Sturdevant, Silas Sturdevant, Wells Stanley, Abijah Sweet, Asahel Sweet, Onley Sweet, John S. Sweet, Thomas Sweet,
Stephen Thacher, Moses Thacher, John Thacher, Nathan Thacher, Elkanah Tingley, Darius Tingley, Thomas Tingley, Thomas V. Tiffany, Dalton Tiffany, Hosea Tiffany, Amos Tiffany, Arunah Tiffany, Tingley Tiffany, Ezekiel Titus, Reuben Terrill, John Tyler, Joab Tyler, Samuel Thacher, Jabez Tyler, William Tripp, Elias Van Winkle, Edward Wamand (Gibson), Thomas Wilmarth, Walter Wilmarth, Ebenezer Barnes, Amos Barnes, John Skyrian
A military organization was required in 1798-99. Obadiah Carpenter was the first officer. Thomas Tiffany was commissioned justice of the peace in 1799, and Hosea Tiffany a few years afterwards, the former having resigned. On the erection of Susquehanna County this commission became void. Joab Tyler and Laban Capron were commissioned in 1813. this commission became void. Joab Tyler and Laban Capron were commissioned in 1813. Mr. Capron resigned soon after, and Hosea Tiffany, Jr., was commissioned. He resigned in 1826, and Samuel E. Kingsbury was commissioned. Mr. Kingsbury died in 1831, and Hosea Tiffany was decommissioned. He died in 1836, and Payson Kingsbury was commissioned. He resigned in 1839, and John Blanding was commissioned. Since 1840, under that Constitution, John Blanding and Amherst Carpenter; Wm. C. Tiffany, who was admitted to the bar in 1834, was elected twice; Alvin J. Seymour, L. F. Farrar, 1849, Amass Chase, 1850; Dexter Sibley, 1853; E. N. Loomis, 1855; Dalton P. Tiffany has served since 1860; W. C. Tiffany, 1863; Henry M. Jones, 1869; E. AM. Osborn, 1873-1878; C. S. Johnston, 1884. Harford has furnished for the legal profession Ebenezer Kingsbury, Jr., Wm. C. Tiffany, N. S. S. Fuller, Judge Farris B. Streeter, Judge H. W. Williams, Rienzi Streeter, Jno. K. Gamble, died while a student. Jas. Adams is a student now.
Harford Lodge, No. 445, A. Y. M. was chartered June 3 1869, and instituted December 29, 1869. The charter members were C. C. Edwards, W. B. Guile, L. R. Peck, G. J. Babcock, G. L. Payne, C. H. Miller, A. A. Eaton and F. H. Tiffany. It came on hard times, and the dues were so high that the lodge could not sustain itself, and it was suspended in consequence thereof.
David L. Hine was born in New Haven, Conn., in 1815, and came here in 1822. He cultivated a farm of one hundred and forty-five acres in South Harford for a number of years and sold it about fifteen years ago to George Resseguie. Mr. Hine was one of the founders of the Agricultural Society, and has been one of the executive committee nearly every year from its organization until last year he resigned. The executive committee fix the time and place of holding the fairs and constitute the positive working force in its management. No man has done more for the success of the society, both as an organizer and director than Mr. Hine. Among those who have served with him are Watson Jeffers, Nathaniel Tompkins, I. H. Parrish, Penuel Carpenter and John Leslie. He also acted as school director eighteen years, and was elected as a high-tax man. The school houses were originally built by the different neighborhoods in which they were located. They did service for their day and generation, but the time came when new and better ones were needed. Some districts that had comfortable houses did not want to be taxed to help build houses in other districts. The matter stood in this way until the school houses needed rebuilding. In order to build properly, it became necessary to get a special act of Legislature permitting the directors to levy a larger amount for building purposes. Enough high-tax men were finally elected to form a majority of the board. Seven new school houses were built, including the graded school building a the village, and two were bought that had been recently built by the district during the time Mr. Hine was director. Two new school houses have been built since, which makes eleven in the township. Henry M. Jones and Watson Jeffers also served on the board during that struggle. Mr. Hine holds that "whenever a man accepts an office he should either attend to its duties or resign." Porter Hine, his son, taught here a number of years, is the present teacher at Nicholson, and resides in Brooklyn.
LEVI R.PECK The New England home of this branch of the Peck family was at Litchfield, Conn., and their progenitor of the family from England was Deacon Paul Peck, an early settler of the seventeenth century. One Deacon William Peck, another branch, born in London, England, in 1601, was one of the charter members of the New Haven Colony, in 1638. The grandparents of Levi were Elijah and Hannah (Harrison) Peck, of Litchfield, whose children were Almon, died at Albany, on his way here; Rhoda, the wife of Truman Clinton, died in Ararat; Clarissa, wife of a Mr. Woodruff, died in Livingston County, NY; Mahala was a Mrs. Harrison, of the same county; Lucy, wife of Norman Kilbourn, of Connecticut, died in1872, whose grandson is Dwight C. Kilbourn, an eminent lawyer; Freeman (1788-1864), died at Harford, where he spent most of his life; and Dr. Elijah Peck, who came to Harford in 1830, where he practiced medicine for eighteen years, when he returned to Connecticut, where he died in 1872. After the death of Elijah Peck, his widow married Ebenezer Marsh, and after his death, she became the wife of Timothy Skinner, whose son was a Governor of Vermont.
This Freeman Peck (formerly spelled Freemond) settled in Harford, from Litchfield in 1806, and bought, in 1809, of John Sweet, sixty-nine acres, near the Orphans' School. He was a blacksmith by trade, but a man of considerable enterprise, and one of the first members of the Universalist Church of Brooklyn, in 1826, and a Royal Arch Mason. His house was the first one painted in the township. He built on this place a blacksmith shop, where he did business until 1844, when he sold the property. He also bought, in 1811, of Reuben Tyrrell, a farm about one mile southeast of the village, and erected the present two story residence in 1822. This he managed himself after 1836, and here the family resided after
1838. In 1842, he built the present three story gristmill in Harford village, owned it until 1854, and sold it to S. B. Guile and Charles H. Miller. His wife, whom he married in 1813, was Eunice Otis (1791-1870), a native of Norwich, Conn., an orphan girl, who came to Brooklyn with the Gere family, and was a teacher there in the early history of the township. Her sister Clarissa married Thomas Oakley, of Brooklyn. Their children are Elijah (1814-1835), educated for the ministry, died upon reaching his majority; Simeon H. (1815-1849) served in the Commissary Department in the Mexican War, and died in Natchitoches, LA; Freeman H. (1817-1876), a teacher and farmer, died at St. Croix Falls, Wis.; Clarissa (1819-1841); Harriet (1821-1855), was the first wife of Truman Bell, of Hopbottom, formerly of Lenox; Levi R., born in Harford December 1, 1822; Nancy, 1825, married, in 1845, John S. Adams, and resides adjoining the Peck homestead, and has children--John F., Simeon H., Herman G., Charles M., Marion E., James S., and Nina M. Adams; Charles M. (1827-1863), died in California, was a master-mason; George W., 1829, a mechanic, resides in Harford. Levi R., son of Freeman Peck, obtained a good education from books at the district school, at Harford Academy, and by study at home. He remained at home doing farm work until the age of twenty-three, and in 1846 rented his father's grist mill, which he ran for five years. He was the successor of G. G. Pride, in mercantile business at Harford (Eaton & Peck) for fifteen months, a farmer on the Tucker place from 1854 to 1860, which he owned, and after a residence for three years near Harford village he purchased the homestead of his father, where he has since resided. Here he erected a barn, in 1870, at a cost of three thousand two hundred dollars, which was built in sixty days, one of the most spacious and finest structures in the township. Upon leaving the mill, Mr. Peck, in connection with his farm work, engaged extensively in the sale of agricultural implements throughout the county. He was a pioneer salesman in implements and Champion saws, and since 1851 he has sold four hundred and forty horse powers, one thousand mowing machines, and as many horse-rakes, one thousand five hundred cross-cut saws, besides other farm implements. In 1869, his sales, mostly in the county, amounted to thirty-five thousand dollars. He was one of the founders of the Harford Agricultural Society, in 1857, and contributed the lumber for Agricultural Hall. He has
served on the executive committee of the society for several years and frequently been an exhibitor in its fairs. He became a member of Warren Lodge, Montrose, F. A. M., in 1851, and remained there until the organization of the Live Oak Lodge at Harford, where he has been a member since. In politics he voted for James K. Polk, for Fremont and Lincoln, and was a staunch supporter of the Union in the late war. He enlisted upon the first call for troops by President Lincoln, went to Harrisburg, but upon examination was rejected for disability. He was away from home three weeks, during which time he served as quartermaster and purser of the company raised at Montrose, Capt. Charles Warner, and for the Dimock company. He subsequently volunteered a second time, but was again rejected, and remaining at home, supported the war with his time and means. Mr. Peck has enjoyed a robust constitution and a powerful physique, and his life work has been full of activity and labor. He is an intelligent farmer and a thorough agriculturist. He is independent in thought, and firmly in-trenched in his own views of the doctrines of the Bible. He married, in 1849, Deborah A. Smith, (1824-1882), a woman of fortitude and excellence, a daughter of Latham A. and Sally Newton Smith, of Brooklyn, and a sister of Dr. L. A. Smith, of New Milford. Their children are Evelyn A. (1854-1880), was the wife of Lewis F. Peck, of Harford; Dr. Dever J. Peck, born in 1856, educated in the Harford High School, a teacher for eight years, read medicine with Dr. Blakslee, of Harford, and was graduated from the University Medical College of New York in the class of '86, is a physician at Susquehanna (he married Carrie Rogers, of Bradford County, a teacher for several years in the Orphans' School, in Harford); Ernest L., born in 1860, married Julia E., a daughter of Ira D. Barnes (and Susan Benjamin), son of Ezekiel Barnes and grandson of Nehemiah Barnes, who died in Gibson, in 1839, aged seventy-eight.
In the month of December, 1800, Stephen Harding came into South Harford, and purchased an improvement of a man by the name of Hallstead, which consisted of a log sawmill, located on the Nine Partners Creek and a log house. In 1806, he purchased the land of William Poyntell. He sold the place to his father, Thomas Harding, about this time, and went to Gibson and built a saw mill. His father died in a few years, and he returned, and resumed work in the saw mill, which he continued to run until he died, in 1842, aged seventy. He had two wives, and reared a large family of children, among them Amasa (who lived and died here), Arabella, Harry, Lucy, Esther, Lavina, Stephen R., John, Olive, Lydia, and James C. and Elijah C. who now own the homestead. Benjamin Harding, half-brother of Stephen, lived on the place adjoining, and raised a large family, none of whom reside in the township. Perry Harding, another son of Thomas Harding, lived in the neighborhood. He was killed by the cars, at Peckville, when eighty-four years of age. One of his sons, Alva Harding, resides in Salem, Wayne County. Israel Harding lived where George Resseguie now lives, and raised a large family, all of whom are dead.
William Coonrod or Conrad, a Hessian who was brought over to this country by the British, to fight the colonies, lived on the Van Winkle Creeks. His son-in-law, Nathan Forsyth, had the place after he died. Forsyth died in 1862, aged seventy-three, and Polly, his wife, died in 1878, aged eighty-three. They are both buried in the Harding Burying ground. John Brundage was an old settler on the east side of Van Winkle Creek. His sons were John, Daniel, George, William, and Joseph. Sally Ann, Phoebe, Ann, Abby, Jane, Mary Ann and Nancy were the girls. Jacob Dunn and family were here early. Peter V. Dunn is the only one of his children that remained in the place. Joshua K. Adams first located near the Pulk; he afterwards lived and died on the "Muscle Crag," where George Stevens now lives. Joab Fuller first settled where Andrew Gow now lives. His sons were Harlan, Henry, and Nelson. Henry retained the homestead, and Harlan lived where Ludwig Conrad lives. Hezekiah Pellet, Oliver Weatherby and Jared Woodward lived in the vicinity.
Joseph Peck came from Connecticut in 1822, and started on "Muscle Crag," and subsequently bought the Isaac Blake place, and died there, aged eighty-six. His son, Collins Peck, resides there now. Philena, wife of James Powers, of Gibson; Hannah M., wife of Joseph Powers, who resides on the Perry Harding place; Darius and Mary M. were the children.
Jacob Blake was an old settler, and resided where James Rogers now lives. Aaron Thayer was also here early. Several of his children taught school. Miss Molly Post taught the first school here, in a log house on the hill back of the mill. It had a stone chimney, and was called Molly's Castle. The schools were mostly in private hoses in the pioneer days here. Mrs. Powers remembers attending school in nearly every private house in that neighborhood. Mrs. Clark taught her own children and her neighbors' in her own house. Sally Read, Ruth Engle, Maria Lines, Davis Thayer and Louisa Thayer, children of Aaron Thayer, were teachers. There is a Baptist Church here, and one of the first churches in the county was organized here; but it stands empty now; the members have moved away, until Joseph Powers and wife and Miss Mary Peck are all there are remaining. Jonathan Smith and Stephen Harding were among the constituent members. Elder Mack was one of the early preachers among them.
Aaron Thayer came to Harford in 1820, from Medway, Mass., and located in the Harding neighborhood, near the mill, and in about one hear he removed
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