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pastor at Carbondale, PA, and with her husband, died within a year of their marriage.
Ezra A. Pratt was born at Jewett, Green County, NY, September 20 1819. Upon reaching his majority he engaged in mercantile business at North Blenheim, NY, which he continued until 1848, when the firm of E. A. & O. Pratt built a large tannery at New Milford, PA, which, however, was burned a year and a half afterward, nearly absorbing their whole capital. They started anew, and rebuilt their tannery of thirty thousand sides per year capacity, which they operated in tanning hemlock sole leather. They erected an extensive tannery at Nicholson in 1855, which was operated by Pratt Brothers until 1859, when, upon the death of his brother, Ogden Pratt, the Nicholson works were made over to George and Francis D. Pratt, while he retained the business successfully until 1870, and disposed of his tannery to A. Corbin & Co. He has been interested in building up New Milford, an has contributed to its various enterprises and charities. In 1857 he purchased of a corporation the land and building theron, used as a town hall, and presented it to the borough of New Milford. For thirty years he has been treasurer of the Presbyterian Church, and a very liberal supporter of the same, where himself and family worship. In 1846 he married Mary, daughter of William and Hannah Morehouse Fink, of North Blenheim, who died in 1856. His second wife, Harriet Fink, whom he married in 1859, died in 1885, without issue. His children are Sarah Isabella; Hattie, died in early womanhood; and Charles Clarence, who married Lillie Goff, of Binghamton, was for a time merchant in that city, but now is a resident of New Milford.
Pratt's tannery was conveniently located within a few feet of the railway, and a short siding or switch was built for the accommodation of the establishment, and car loads of hides were often left at the doors. The Pratt brothers soon occupied the finest residence in the place. Ogden Pratt died in the winter of 1859, and E. A. Pratt conducted the business alone until the fall of 1869, when it was sold to Corbin & Todd. In the spring of 1872 they took as a partner, A. B. Smith, who had previously owned the planning works at the Johnston mill, just below the depot. On the afternoon of the 17th of September, 1880, the tannery caught fire again, and the entire works, together with two or three hundred cords of bark, were consumed. It has never been rebuilt. The ground was afterwards sold to the railroad company, and was graded for sidings and a place to load and unload cars. A cattle yard has since been added.
Early in 1849 a movement was instituted to improve the village and secure a public park. The Pratt brothers, as well as many more public spirited citizens of the place, took an especial interest in the proposed plan, and on the evening of the 27th of July a meeting was held at the school house to further these objects. Dr. L. W. Bingham presided as chairman, and S. H. Morse was chosen secretary. By-laws were drafted, and a permanent organization effected, known as the "New Milford Improvement Club." The following officers were elected: President, Ezra A. Pratt; Vice President, S. H. Morse; Secretary, Josiah Moss; Treasurer, Dr. Latham A. Smith; Directors, Dr. L. W. Bingham, Ogden Pratt, and Dr. L. A. Smith. A subscription paper was then circulated to raise funds for the purchase of a suitable plot of land. F. F. Badger, having offered the desired land for the purpose above stated, at a price far below the actual value, was made an honorary member. It was purchased for two hundred dollars, which amount was duly paid by Josiah Moss, trustee of the "Improvement Club." The surface, which is neat and dry, is almost a complete level, and is studded with rows of stately maple trees. In the center a very beautiful pagoda has been erected, where an excellent band often plays during pleasant summer evenings.
Nelson Hager came from Schoharie County, NY in 1850. He was a shoemaker by trade, and a very enterprising and influential citizen. He opened a boot and shoe shop, and soon became the leading representative of that trade in this locality. He had four sons,--D. W. Hager, station agent for the same company at Gouldsboro', Willis D. Hager, purchasing agent for the same company in New York; and Melvin E. Hager, engineer on the elevated railroad in New York.
In 1850, Silas Hamilton, a blacksmith, came and built the shop near the creek, where Aaron Aldrich has conducted the blacksmithing business so many years. Aaron Aldrich is a first class tradesman, and has successfully carried on the business in the same shop nearly thirty years. Arthur Hamilton, son of Silas Hamilton, worked with him five years, from 1874 to 1879. H. V. Hamilton, another son, located in the central part of the borough in 1879, where he soon gained an extensive patronage. He formed a partnership with Aaron Aldrich in 1885.
The Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railway, which was built through here about 1851, established a depot at this place, making the town an important shipping point and changing its business prospects. New and larger stores were opened, new industries created, the price of land and building lots advanced, and the place rapidly changed from a quiet little village to a lively and enterprising town. S. H. Mores was the first station agent here and a man by the name of Bartholomew the second. Mr. Bartholomew was succeeded by C. G. Merrill, a man of excellent ability, who filled the position for about ten years. He was followed by E. K. Richardson, who stayed about a year and a half. In November, 1869, Mr. Richardson was succeeded by D. W. Hager, who still retains the position.
More business is done at this station than any other between Binghamton and Scranton. The freight business alone for the single month of September, 1886, aggregated two million, three thousand, nine hundred and sixty-one pounds. For the quarter ending October 31, 1886, the aggregate was five million, one hundred and four thousand, three hundred and thirty-four pounds, or over two thousand five hundred and fifty-two tons. The amount received for passenger tickets averages about eight hundred dollars per month. A large part of this business comes from Montrose.
A foundry was established here by J. S. Tingley, and another by P. H. Corwin. Plows and other castings were made. Harness shops were opened by J. J. Smith and Josiah Moss, and a cooper shop was conducted for some time by John Hawley, at the lower end of the village. H. Lyons worked at wagon making near the upper extremity of the place, and N. L. Sprague opened a wagon shop on Main Street, near the creek.
In 1859 a petition for a borough charter was circulated. It briefly described the extent and business interests of the village, and was signed as follows:
George W. Weed, William C. Ward, J. Dickerman Jr. F. F. Badger, Elijah Barnum, R. T. Manning, Joseph Williams, John Hayden, J. Moss, Levi Moss, Tracy Hayden, Henry DeWitt, William Hayden, Abram B. Beadle, John S. Dennes, J. Badger, Horatio Garrett, Ezra Pratt, Solomon R. Williams, J. S. Bunnell, Joel Lamb, E. A. Pratt, C. G. Merrill, H. Burritt, A. D. Wellman, A. Moss Jr., R. A. Johnston, George Hayden, Benjamin L. Hayden, John Hawley, M. Hayden, E. Cornwall, B. B. Little, S. L. Hancock, L. W. Bingham.
The court granted the petition and decreed that the village of New Milford be incorporated and erected into a borough December 2 1859, and ordered the first election for borough officers to be held Tuesday, January 10 1860, and the third Friday of February annually thereafter. Jason Dickerman Jr., was made judge and Tracy Hayden and George Weed inspectors of the first election. Prominent on the list of burgesses since that time are the names of E. A. Pratt, N. W. Prince, H. Garratt, Charles Tucker, George Stone, Charles Jay and several others.
Dr. D. C. Ainey came from Brooklyn and located here in 1861. He was postmaster here about twenty years, and has practiced medicine since his arrival.
New Milford post office was established July 6 1811, with Nicholas McCarty as postmaster. His successors have been: Hezekiah Leach Jr., 1815; William Ward, 1817; John Badger, 1829; Wm. C. Ward, 1845; Squire H. Morse, 1849; Francis W. Boyle, 1853; Ezra A. Pratt, 1861; Daniel W. Hager, 1864; D. C. Ainey, 1865; Chas J. Mitchell, 1885.
In 1866 O. M. Hawley, brother of Hon. E. B. Hawley, purchased William C. Ward's store property, and an extensive mercantile business was conducted for a short time under the firm name of Hawley & Follett. After two or three years Mr. Hawley purchased a corner lot opposite the "Eagle Hotel," on the north, and erected a fine building, which he fitted with a general line of goods, and carried on trade until 1872, when the business was purchased by H. W. Decker, of Orange County, NY. Mr. Hawley now resides in Binghamton. Mr. Decker became popular as a liberal merchant and citizen, and has always taken an active interest in all affairs of a public nature. His wife dying, he sold the goods to F. G. Inderlied, who continued the business here until the spring of 1886, when he removed to the new and commodious "Advertiser Block," opposite the "Jay House."
The Hayden Brothers carried a line of notions and fancy articles on the road, and finally opened several stores at different times in the north part of the town, which were conducted for several years with varying success. Later they removed to the central part of the borough, and established more extensive stores there. William Hayden erected a neat brick store, where he carries a large stock of dry goods and clothing. The Postal Telegraph Company have an office in his storeroom. Marshall Hayden opened a general grocery and drug store adjoining, now conducted as a grocery store by the Dean Brothers. John Hayden erected a general hardware store on the corner of Main and Depot streets, near by, where he is at present doing business.
Jason Dickerman, originally from New Haven, Conn., came from Otsego County, NY, in 1854, and opened a general store in the building now occupied by William Smith as a grocery and provision store. He handled nearly all the railroad wood and ties delivered at this station for fifteen years, and his trade increased until his sales reached from forty-five to forty-eight thousand dollars per year. He built the first brick store in the place, about 1868. It was a large double structure, one part of which was used as a dry goods department, and the other for the sale of groceries. Afterwards two of his sons, Hobart and William, conducted the dry goods business, while he and his youngest son, George, carried on the grocery department. O. M. Hawley at one time kept a dry goods and clothing store in this building, and later the same part has been used by Samuel Moss for the same line of business. Mr. Dickerman continued the mercantile business until 1866.
In 1855 Horatio Garratt came from Lyons, Wayne County, NY, and entered the store with Mr. Dickerman. He was in partnership with him two years, when he built a general grocery and provision store on the site of his present one, which was destroyed by fire at the time Jay's Hotel burned. The business is now mainly conducted by his son, E. S. Garratt.
Some years later J. C. McConnell established a general drug store near Mr. Garratt's, where he still conducts a thriving business. The telephone line from Montrose to Susquehanna passes through here, and an office is kept in this building. The second floor is occupied by the Masonic Fraternity.
George B. McCollum erected a provision store on the corner of Main and Washington Streets where he carried on business for some time. It was eventually purchased by L. L. Leroy. The building was burned some years afterwards, but was rebuilt on a far more extensive scale. The business is now carried on by Leroy & Braman. Mr. Braman is a first class artist, and a photograph gallery has been added on the upper floor.
In 1885 a general hardware store was opened by Risley & Co., in the building partly occupied by the post office. A provision store was also opened by W. G. Smith in February of the same year. In the spring of 1886 the New Milford Trading Company established an extensive store in the Advertiser Block, near the depot. They purchase produce, and deal largely in provisions, groceries and crockery. A general news office has been opened near the depot by William Smith; watches, clocks and jewelry are repaired and kept for sale by L. B. Isbell, who has given his whole lifetime to the business. Several small stores of more or less prominence have been kept here from time to time by Harvey Griffing, A. A. Hall, D. W. Hager and others.
The principal stores in active operation in 1887, commencing at the southern extremity of the borough, are Leroy & Braman, groceries and provisions; Samuel Moss, dry goods; A. C. Risley & Co., hardware; W. G. Smith, groceries and provisions; New Milford Trading Company, groceries and provisions; F. G. Inderlied, dry goods, groceries and provisions; E. S. Garratt, groceries and provisions; William Smith, confectionery and news depot; John Hayden, hardware and furniture; J. C. McConnell, drugs and medicines; Dean Brothers, groceries and provisions; and William Hayden, dry goods.
J. S. Tingley was succeeded in the foundry business by William S. Mead, who continued to manufacture plows, etc., until 1886, when the property was purchased by Mr. Chapman, who carries on the work at present. The Corwin foundry, which was not a permanent institution, was at one time occupied as a file factory, and later as a blacksmith shop. Alvah Quick opened a blacksmith shop in an adjoining building in time of the war, where he did an extensive business for some time. Since then blacksmith shops have been opened at different times by Mr. Tabor, Mr. Doolittle, J. S. Tingley and several others. The last two are still engaged in the business.
The Union Mill was erected by Reuben Vail. It is a large and convenient building, well adapted for a factory. It was used for a time as a steam saw and grist mill. Later it was used for a skating rink. A steam grist mill was lately built near the depot by Carpenter & Montgomery. It is now owned by William T. Moxley. Near the depot, also, is Moxley & Everett's large livery barn. A general undertaking business is carried on by N. F. Kimber a few doors from the Eagle Hotel. A Planning mill was conducted for some time by A. B. Smith, near the Johnston Sawmill. It was at one time carried on by a Mr. Fischer; but lately it was purchased by Jacob Fritsch, who continued the business a short time there, and then removed to the railroad crossing on the Montrose road, where he now conducts a general wood work and furniture establishment.
William L. Weston came here from Brooklyn in 1864, and in the following year commenced business as a dentist. In June 1865, Dr. E. Snyder, homoeopathic physician and surgeon, arrived here from Candor, Tioga County, NY. He removed to Binghamton in February, 1880. Dr. S. A. Brooks came from the same place in October, 1879. He is also a homoeopathic physician. The latest arrival is this profession is Dr. Kimball from Gibson, who is now located in a part of William T. Moxley's house. He married a daughter of Dr. Bingham.
In 1871 a savings bank was established here by S. B. Chase & Co., and a considerable business was done for some time, but it was not a permanent institution. In October, 1878, the banking house of Summers & Hayden was established.
In 1874, J. H. Safford purchased the Moss tannery and erected a currying shop thirty-four by ninety-five feet, five stories high, and a tannery with two hundred vats. The tannery consumes about two thousand, five hundred tons of bark annually, and about one hundred thousand sides of leather are tanned. About seventy men are employed to carry on the business. N. W. Prince and Charles Tucker have been foremen, and Jas. F. Nelson is clerk of the concern.
The Advertiser's Block was built in 1885. In 1886 a creamery was built near the Johnston mills by A. F. Kinney. It is conducted on the cream gathering plan, and is generally well patronized by the surrounding farmers. All the fixtures are new and of the most approved kind, and the churning is done by steam power. The first newspaper enterprise in New Milford was the "Northern Pennsylvanian", edited and published by J. R. Gailor, in 1870. It had previously been published at Great Bend, and originally at Susquehanna. Mr. Gailor was soon obliged to relinquish its publication on account of failing health, when it was published for a time by H. F. Beardsley, and finally removed to Susquehanna, to continue under the name of the "Susquehanna Gazette." The "New Milford Advertiser" was started in 1880 by Chester S. Vail. The enterprising spirit and ability of its managers, C. S. Vail and G. C, Howell, have been faithfully given to making a good local newspaper.
O. N. Worden, a ready writer and prominent newspaper man, whose articles, over the nom de plume of "Gleaner," were read with interest in the early numbers of the Advertiser, died in New Milford township, April 21 1881. He was not only a literary man, but he was a practical printer also, and often came into
the Advertiser office and put his articles in type himself. During his life time he edited several different publications, including the Montrose Spectator, in 1837, and the Wyoming County Record at Tunkhannock, in 1844. He was the first to commence the publication of the Lewisburg Chronicle, and in 1841 he started the Athens Scribe, of Bradford County. At the time of his death he was at work on the Pittston Gazette. He was born in Cazenovia, Madison County, NY, in 1817. During the year 1872 a company was chartered and funds raised for the erection of a Town Hall. A site was purchased and the building put up at a cost of about five thousand dollars. In 1873 the building was sold under a mechanic's lien. H. Garratt bid it in with the understanding that a certain number of shares were to be taken by other parties, and the institution was controlled by the new company until the fall of 1886. E. A. Pratt finally bought out all the stock holders and presented the building to the borough. It is a liberal gift from a worthy man for a worthy purpose.
RECENT NOTABLE EVENTS AND INCIDENTS.--One night in June, 1855, the inhabitants were suddenly aroused from their beds by the startling news that Page's Pond had bust loose, and was coming down upon them in an angry, turbulent flood that nothing could withstand. Hurrying to places of safety, the excited people awaited the oncoming torrent with anxiety and consternation. Soon an ominous roaring was heard approaching, and then the creek, already swollen by a heavy rain, began to rise, spread out and overflow its diminutive banks. In a few minutes the creek assumed the appearance of a great river, bearing along snags, logs and trees upon its foaming bosom. The streets became swift rolling rivers, covered with floating sticks, barrels, boxes, rails an debris, and the picture presented was that of a town half submerged in an agitated lake. The railroad track was badly damaged, and near the depot, where the broad current was strongest, an old floating tree burst in the door of a building and passed completely through by means of another door on the opposite side. Cellars were filled and much damage was done on the lower floors of dwellings, as well as in gardens, yards, streets and sidewalks. For a time it seemed as though the entire town would be swept away. No lives were lost, but had it not been for timely warning by a man who had preceded the flood from its starting point, there is no telling what might have been the result. It left its mark on the surface in the shape of deep gullies and unsightly heaps of stones and gravel--seams and scars along its course that required months of labor and years of time to obliterate.
A number of fires have occurred here, some of which have been quite extensive and disastrous. The burning of the tanneries have already been mentioned. In May, 1867, a fire occurred on Main Street, near the bridge, in whichever buildings including a wagon shop and foundry, were consumed. They were rebuilt however, but met with the same fate again on the night of March 30 1887. The New Milford Coronet Band used an upper room of one of these buildings for a practicing room, and much of their property was destroyed. At another time a fire destroyed Leroy's store and George Weed's house. But by far the largest fire that ever occurred in this place was on th4e 2nd of May 1883, when Jay's Hotel was burned. It was very dry at the time, and the fire soon spread to Garrett's store, McConnell's store, the hotel barn and Butterfield's building, and the very heart of the town was wrapped in a grand mass of flame. Explosions of oil and liquors in the drug store sent great sheets of dazzling flame hundreds of feet into the air seeming to threaten the entire town with destruction. A dispatch had been telegraphed to Binghamton for help, and in a little over twenty minutes they arrived upon the ground, and shortly thereafter a stream of water was playing upon the fire. The conflagration was soon under control, and the place was saved from further destruction. The whole space along the park from Main to Back Streets was burned over. Twenty thousand dollars' worth of property had changed to smoke and ashes; but, luckily for the town the loss was about covered with insurance, and an army of busy workmen were soon upon the spot, engaged in the work of rebuilding on a far more extensive scale than before. It is now the finest part of the borough.
JAMES VAN COTT, one of the successful farmers of New Milford township, was born near Bloomburg, Sullivan County, NY, November 9 1811. His parents were Nicholas and Mary (Jackson) Van Cott, who emigrated from Poughkeepsie, NY, to Sullivan County late in the eighteenth century, and followed agricultural pursuits. Their children were John, a retired business man, living at Unadilla, NY; James; Harrison, a farmer and business man, residing at Bainbridge, NY; Maria died in her youth; Esther married Henry Bradley, of Oxford, NY and died about twenty years ago; and Margaret Ann, who was the wife of Dorwin Davis, living near Norwich, NY, died also some twenty years since.
James Van Cott obtained an academic education at Bloomburg, and learned the trade of wagon making, serving four years as an apprentice. Owing to the delicate state of his health, he left that work after two years and became a farmer. In 1837 he came to Susquehanna County, and bought a farm just south of New Milford borough, which he carried on until 1872, when he bought property just south of the borough limits and moved there, retiring from active farm life. He served the people as an official of the township for some years, but the state of his health would not permit him giving much time to such duties. He was an industrious and pains taking man, best pleased when doing something, and always worked his way up, single handed, to a position of maintained character for honesty. The fact that he
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for New Milford Borough township extracted from
Stocker Centennial History of Susquehanna County
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