Norwich Township Biographical Sketches

C. A. ANDERSON, merchant, Colegrove, was born in Warberg, Sweden, March 5, 1860, a son of Andrew and Iuga Anderson. He attended school in his native country, when, his father having moved to the United States, he was anxious to come and find him, but having no money he borrowed enough of a friend to pay his passage to New York City. From New York he went to New Jersey, where he was employed two months in carrying water to a company of men working on a railroad. Having earned a little money, he determined to come to McKean county. He landed at Ridgway, a small boy without friends or money, and unable to speak the English language. Here a gentleman gave him money enough to take him to Wilcox, thirteen miles away, and from there he walked to Clermont, where he found some of his own country people, to whom he told his story. They furnished him with food and money enough to take him to his father in Smethport. He found his father, who was not able, however, to support him, and a Mrs. Rifle furnished him with a room and a bed, and he worked at anything he could find to do to obtain his food. After spending a week in Smethport he accompanied his father to Colegrove, where the latter was employed by W.J. Colegrove, and he worked for his board. His father left Mr. Colegrove in about two months, but he continued in his employ, remaining on his farm until 1881, when he was employed as clerk in the general store of W.J. Colegrove & Son at Colegrove. This partnership was dissolved and C.M. Colegrove carried on the business, and they continued together until April 1, 1886, when Mr. Anderson bought Mr. Gallup's interest and has since continued the business alone. Mr. Anderson has been a successful business man, and is highly esteemed in the town of Colegrove. He has held various township offices and August 1, 1883, was appointed postmaster. He was married April 25, 1887, to Miss Annie, daughter of Conrad and Lena Bayer, of Norwich township. Mr. Anderson is a member of Norwich Lodge, No. 538, E.A.U., and McKean Lodge, No. 388, F.& A.M. He and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

A. P. BREWER, farmer, P.O. Norwich, is a son of William and Polly (Curtis) Brewer, natives of Connecticut, who came to McKean county, Penn., in 1815, and settled upon the farm where A.P. Brewer now resides. They reared a family of seven children, the subject of this sketch being the second son, and the only one now living. He was born October 24, 1821, and received his education in the public schools of the township where he now resides and has always lived upon the farm which his father settled. In September, 1841, he married Miss Helen, a daughter of Luther and Jemima (Colegrove) Haven, of Norwich township. The Havens were among the first settlers of that township, and reared a family of eight children, all of whom are living. Mr. and Mrs. Brewer are the parents of four children, viz: W.W. (proprietor of a hotel at Mount Jewett, Penn.), Milton A., Melvin F., and Nellie Alcena (deceased). Mr. Brewer served six years in the capacity of county commissioner, also six years as county auditor, and has been identified with various township offices. Mr. and Mrs. Brewer are members of the Baptist Church. In politics he is a Republican.

G. W. BURDICK, farmer, P.O. Norwich, a son of Rowland and Alvira (Webb) Burdick, natives of New York State, was born in Norwich township, McKean Co., Penn., April 17,1820. He spent his boyhood days on the farm with his parents, and August 3, 1842, he married Miss Sarah H., a daughter of G.W. and Elizabeth (Rose) Griswold, natives of Vermont, who were among the early settlers of Smethport, Penn. Mr. Burdick has been identified among the many lumberman of McKean county, is also an enterprising farmer, and was postmaster under President Tyler. His son, W.P. Burdick, was born November 27, 1859, and is now a practicing physician in DuBois, Clearfield Co., Penn. G.W. Burdick's grandfather was a Baptist minister. His father and mother and six brothers and one sister belonged to the Baptist Church, and one sister joined the Methodist Church. Six brothers and one sister are still living.

G. A. BURDICK, farmer, P.O. Norwich, was born in Norwich township, McKean Co., Penn., November 1, 1830, the youngest of eight children born to Rowland and Alvira (Webb) Burdick, natives of New York, who came to Norwich township in 1815. Mr. Burdick has always resided on the old homestead, and been engaging in farming. He married, August 12, 1855, Miss Viletta, a daughter of Orin and Nancy (Corwin) Gallup, and they are the proud parents of six children, viz: Clarence A., Elbert C., Orlo J., Wellington L., Alice E. and Ina V. Mr. Burdick has been actively identified with the interests of the township, and has held various township offices.

JONATHAN COLEGROVE, farmer, P.O. Colegrove, was born in Norwich township, McKean Co., Penn., November 22, 1844, a son of Horace and Emily (Burlingame) Colegrove, both also natives of Norwich township. He was in the Civil war, enlisting in 1861 in Company F, Fifty-seventh Pennsylvania Volunteers, and served three years. He was in the siege of Yorktown, and was taken prisoner on the peninsula near Savage Station, in 1862, was prisoner two and a half months on Belle Isle, afterward joined his regiment near Falmouth, Va., was in the Gettysburg fight, and on the second day was wounded through the neck and windpipe, and also through the left shoulder. He was taken to Baltimore, Md., to Patterson Park hospital, which hospital was under the charge of Dr. S.D. Freeman. He was not expected to live, for several days; for twenty-two months he never spoke a loud word. He served the rest of the time in the medical purveyor's department, Baltimore, Md. He was married January 1, 1867, to Miss Hattie P., daughter of Sheffield and Mary E. (Baldwin) Purple, of Troy, Penn., and they are the parents of two children, viz: Samuel (deceased) and Albert L. (living at home). He also has an adopted daughter, Mary P. Mr. Colegrove is a member of McKean Lodge, No. 128, F. & A.M.; Bradford Chapter, No. 160, and Sir Knights, No. 58.

C. D. COMES, lumberman, P.O. Digel, a son of D.D. and Polly V. (Smith) Comes, natives of Pennsylvania, was born in Keating township, McKean Co., Penn., June 13, 1855. He has always lived with his parents, and at the present time has control of a mill in company with this father. They are sawing 4,00,000 feet of lumber per year, and peeling 2,500 cords of hemlock bark.

C. W. DICKINSON, farmer, P.O. Norwich, is a son of Edward H. and Roxie (Comes) Dickinson, the former a native of New Jersey, and the latter of Norwich township, McKean Co., Penn. The father came to McKean county in 1833, and engaged in hunting and trapping, at one time killing fifty-seven deer in twenty-five days; he also killed three elks and twenty bears in McKean county. C.W. Dickinson is the second son of eight children. He was born in Norwich township, November 10, 1842, and received his education in the common schools of Norwich. July 9, 1861, he entered the United States service, enlisting in Company I, Forty-second Regiment Pennsylvania "Bucktails," and was discharged on account of disability, returning to Norwich September 28 of the same year. He married, November 18, 1873, Miss Estella P. Denison, a daughter of William and Otteline (Carter) Denison, natives of the State of New York, who came to Norwich township in 1841. Mr. and Mrs. Dickinson are the parents of four children, viz.: Charlie B., Lena E., Carrie A. and Louis H. Mr. Dickinson is one of the wide-awake men of the township, and has been identified with various local offices. He has taken a great interest in the public schools of the township, and, like his father, has a disposition to hunt and trap, having killed about three hundred deer, nine bears, eighteen wolves, and about twenty wildcats, and caught too much small game to mention here.

J. C. DOYLE, lumberman, Crosby, P.O. Newerf, is a native of McKean county, Penn., born in Sartwell, May 10, 1860. He was reared and educated in his native county, and when but a boy began to work in his father's mill, and finally was appointed its superintendent, and on reaching his majority was admitted as a partner, the firm name then being M. Doyle & Son. Mr. Doyle was married October 16, 1884, to Miss Katie C. Butler, of Sartwell, and they have two children: Helen B. and Clayton P. Michael Doyle, father of J. C., came to this country with his parents from County Cork, Ireland, when but nine years of age. At twenty-three he married Ellen Keefe, a native of Canandaigua, N.Y. Michael Doyle died September 17, 1889, at Sartwell, Penn., surrounded by his family and a few intimate friends; the firm name was then changed to that of J.C. Doyle & Bro., who will in future carry on the business on the same system s before. Mrs. Katie C. (Butler) Doyle is a daughter of James Butler, the eldest of seven children, and who came to this country from County Kilkenny, Ireland, about the year 1850, and was married one year later at Cuba, N.Y., to Bridget Phelan, a native of Ireland.

MICHAEL ERHART, postmaster and merchant, Newerf, was born in St. Mary's, Elk Co., Penn., March 25, 1854, a son of John and Margaret Erhart, natives of Germany, who came to St. Mary's in 1853. Mr. Erhart received his education in the common schools of Keating township, and in April, 1884, he purchased a farm of 211 acres in Norwich township. He was married, in August, 1886, to Miss Laura, a daughter of Samuel and Matilda (Cochran) Layton, natives of New York State, who came to McKean county in 1880. Mr. and Mrs. Erhart have one child, Essie, born October 9, 1888. In May Mr. Erhart engaged in mercantile business in Newerf, since which time he has also acted in the capacity of postmaster.

W. O. GALLUP, farmer, P.O. Norwich, was born in Norwich township, McKean Co., Penn., June 28, 1851, the elder of two sons born to Nathaniel C. and Alcena (Derby) Gallup, natives of Pennsylvania, born in 1814, and who settled upon the farm now owned by their son, H.H. Gallup. W.O. Gallup received his education in the common schools of his native township, and has always been engaged in farming. He was married, in February, 1875, to Miss Ella Grigsby, born in December, 1851, a daughter of Samuel and Mary (Evendon) Grigsby, natives of England. Mr. and Mrs. Gallup are the parents of four children, viz.: Cora A., Bertha M., Milford H. and Susan R. Mr. Gallup takes an active interest in the affairs of the township, and has held various local offices.

N. W. HEINEMANN, lumberman, Colegrove, was born in Duderstadt, Germany, November 25, 1848, a son of Christopher Heinemann. When he was three years old his parents came to the United States and settled in Norwich township, McKean Co., Penn., where, in 1865, his father built what is called an up-and-down saw-mill. He was reared in McKean county, working on the farm and in the mill until manhood, and finally bought the homestead and mill of his father. He has rebuilt the mill, and has furnished it with the latest approved machinery, and is now cutting 30,000 feet of lumber a day. Mr. Heinemann was married, October 1, 1874, to Miss Annie Bell Waffle, of Elm Valley, Allegany Co., N.Y. She is the daughter of George and Bessie (Knight) Waffle, the former of whom was born in Cortland, N.Y., July 8, 1808, and the latter in Vermont, April 20, 1820. Mr. and Ms. Heinemann are the parents of two children: Bessie W. and Theressa.

J. B. OVIATT, Jr., farmer, P.O. Norwich, was born in Smethport, McKean Co., Penn., December 22, 1850, the third son of eleven children born to J.B. and Catherine M. (Stickles) Oviatt, natives of New York State, who came to McKean county in 1837, and settled in Keating township. Mr. Oviatt remained upon the home farm with his parents until he was twenty-one years of age, when he went to Roulette, Penn., where he was employed by the late Leroy Lyman in hunting, and working upon the farm. From Roulette he went to Alfred Centre, N.Y., where he finished his education, after which he came to Norwich township and engaged as a laborer. He married, in October, 1875, Miss Hattie R., daughter of J.B. and Mary B. (Gallup) Kimball, who came to Norwich township in 1855. Mr. and Mrs. Oviatt are the parents of three children, named as follows: Jessie F., Milo and Frank, all of whom reside at home. Mr. Oviatt, after his marriage, purchased the farm which he now owns, and upon which he has erected a handsome residence. Mr. Oviatt has been a very successful hunter, and has caught or killed, since 1875, the following wild animals: 170 deer and 10 bears, which netted $1,146.91; and 111 foxes, 112 raccoons, 8 otters, 35 minks, 8 wildcats, 30 martins, 56 skunks, and 120 muskrats, netting $403.86. He has held various township offices, and is highly respected by all who know him. The family are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, of Colegrove.

N. H. PARKER, lumberman, P.O. Gardeau, is a son of George and Polly Parker. George Parker was born in the city of Albany, N.Y., in 1784, but when eight years of age was taken by his father to the Cownaisque valley, where the family settled. In this same valley Polly Parker was born in 1792, and at the age of fifteen years was married to George Parker. Here also, N.H. Parker was born in 1812. In 1828 the family moved into the Genesee Valley, and bought the farm formerly owned by Shongo, the head chief of the Seneca Indians, Six Nations, and who then lived on the farm and continued to do so for over a year, George Parker afterward giving him the privilege of spending the remainder of his days there if he chose. But a majority of the other Indians had gone to the Buffalo, Cattaraugus and other tribes, and after about a year and a half he said he must go to console and advise those who looked to him for counsel. He was a man of much intelligence, was a great warrior in the Revolutionary war, and had participated in the massacre in the valley of the Wyoming. He was also very skillful in the medical profession, and practiced much among the whites in the early history of the county with marked success. Among the Indians at that time was one named Johny Hacks, who was a great hunter. George Parker asked him where there were some good "licks." He answered by saying, "Way off yonder great much lick, much deer, much elk, much salt and much medicine water." He could not tell where or how far, but could point directly toward the present site of Norwich, Penn. In his annual hunting trips Mr. Parker, with his son, commenced going in this direction, and in June, 1838, reached what is now McKean county, to hunt elk, and found the place spoken of by Johny Hacks. At that time no place ever seen on the American continent would reward the hunger's pursuit as well as this. There were plenty of elk, immense quantities of deer, black bears and wolves very plenty, also panthers and all kinds of small game. George and N.H. Parker continued to hunt here each year, and in the winter of 1844 the father and son bought a tract at this point for the purpose of hunting, and N.H. Parker owns it still, although the game, like the red man, has all gone toward the setting sun. About the year 1800 one Capt. Thomas, said to have been a sea pirate, abandoned his ship on the coast of Florida to avoid being captured by a Spanish man-of-war, and followed the coast all the way to the Susquehanna river, thence up to this place, and eventually put a well down here on the site of the great Elk lick of the world, and made salt here until the Parkers bought of him in 1844. In 1865 N.H. Parker put down a well here near the old one, 640 feet down, from which flows incessantly the strongest mineral water in the world, which has no equal in curing all chronic cases of disease. For all time to come thousands will receive benefit from its wonderful healing properties. This well is now famous, and is known as "Parker's Mineral Spring." George Parker commenced hunting when very young, and soon became very skillful in the capture of game. Having hunted the Alleghany mountain range all over, in 1850, George and N.H. went to Lake Superior, caught 125 beaver, killed several bears and wolves, and before returning hunted around the Lake of the Woods and a great part of the northwest territory. In March, 1851, George Parker surveyed a road from the mouth of the Ontonagan River, at Lake Superior, through an entire wilderness to Wisconsin river, where no human foot had ever trod before. In 1852 the two went to California, across the plains, for the sole purpose of hunting, killing large numbers of deer, elk, antelope and buffalo. In California they killed several grizzly bears, on one occasion bringing down a fairly large one at the first shot, with a repeating rifle made for Mr. Parker by William Billinghurst, of Rochester, N.Y. at a cost of $150. Returning from California by steamer the same year, George Parker also hunted in the Adirondacks, in northern New York, killing many moose. He continued to hunt up to the time of his death, which occurred in 1868, having killed in his lifetime over 3,000 deer, about 200 black bears, and nearly twenty elks, besides a large number of wolves and all other kinds of wild animals on this continent. N.H. Parker was married, January 6, 1846, to Hannah, daughter of Jesse Bullock, at that time sheriff of Allegany county, N.Y., and to this union have been born two children, George B. and Polly.

WILLIAM H. RIFLE, farmer, P.O. Norwich, was born in Norwich township, McKean Co., Penn., July 31, 1842, a son of Daniel and Eliza M. (Colegrove) Rifle, who were among the early settlers of McKean county. They were the parents of six children, William H. being the third son. He spent his boyhood days with his parents on the farm, and in August, 1861, enlisted in the service of his country, and was assigned to Company I, Forty-second Regiment, Pennsylvania "Bucktails," and served until November, 1862, when he returned home and bought the farm he now owns. He married, November 18, 1869, Miss Emma A., a daughter of Timothy and Esther (Hill) Sawyer, natives of New Hampshire, and they have four children, viz.: Ada E., Julia F., Candace S. and William V. Mrs. Rifle is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

H. SNOW, engineer, Colegrove, a son of Robert and Rebecca (Bangs) Snow, natives of Massachusetts, was born in that State February 13, 1817. When seventeen years old, he entered a blacksmith shop as an apprentice, and served four years. He married, December 24, 1841, Miss Eliza Crosby, of Orleans, Mass., where she died January 7, 1842, only living fourteen days after their marriage. June 1, 1844, he married Mrs. Caroline Cole, daughter of Jonathan and Betsy (Rogers) Kendrick, of Orleans, Mass. He worked at this trade until 1872, when he went to Brooklyn, N.Y., looking after other business. In 1881 he came to Titusville, Penn., where he was foreman in a machine shop for Dillingham, Cole & Co. He was an oil operator in Bradford for some time, and in 1881 he went to Smethport, Penn., and in company with his son, James H. Snow, bought some gas wells and supplied the borough of Smethport with gas. In 1884 he came to Colegrove as engineer for the National Transit Oil Company. Mr. and Mrs. Snow are the parents of three children, viz.: Nathan, a dry goods merchant in Boston; William B. (deceased) and James H., general superintendent for the National Transit Oil Company, New York City. James H. Snow was married, in 1874, to Delia Newell, of Titusville, Penn. July 9, 1886, Herman Snow, the subject of these lines, married Mrs. Betsey Nickerson, of Massachusetts, a daughter of Albert and Mary Esterbrooks.

D. M. WRIGHT, sawyer, Digel, Penn., was born in Eldred township, McKean county, Penn., August 13, 1845, a son of M. and Ruth (Brainard) Wright, natives of New York State, who came to Eldred township, McKean county, in 1815. They were the parents of nine children, D.M. being the third son. When D.M. Wright was five years of age his mother died, and he was thrown upon his own resources. He was in the Civil war, enlisting in June, 1862, and was assigned to Company C, One Hundred and Fifty-fourth Regiment, New York Volunteers; he served until June 26, 1865, when he was honorably discharged, and returned to Portville, N.Y., where he followed lumbering. He married, January 28, 1872, Miss A.E., a daughter of D.D. and Polly V. (Smith) Comes, of Norwich township, and they are the parents of two children, Ethel and Nellie. Since his marriage Mr. Wright has been engaged in lumbering in McKean county. He is a member of Eldred Lodge, No. 560, F. & A.M.; Arnold Chapter, No. 254; St. John's Commandery, No. 24, Olean, N.Y.; Clermont Lodge, No. 949, I.O.O.F., and of the G.A.R., J.R. Jones Post, No. 258, of Eldred, Penn.