Not Forgotten

By Roger Hawkins

A local history written after reading the microfilmed Canton newspapers ,from 1875 to 1899, that are at the Canton library.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Aug 12, 2020
• ISBN: 9781984585523

Roger Hawkins

Roger Hawkins has been a full-time restorer for over thirty-five years. He regularly taught and ran courses, and worked on the BBC's Restoration Roadshow. He was one of the first restorers to be accredited by the United Kingdom Institute of Conservation (UKIC), now called the Institute of Conservation (ICON).

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Copyright © 2020 by Roger Hawkins.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 08/12/2020

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CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGENTS AND A COMPLETELY VOLUNTARY REQUEST

Notes

A INFORMATION THE READER NEEDS

a   Sources of the information

b   Disclaimer

B LAYOUT OF CANTON

a   Streets

b   Sidewalks, Bridges, Locations and Street Lamps

c   Some Buildings

C SOME EARLY HISTORY OF CANTON

a   Some early histories that were in the newspaper

b    Some early families

D FOOD

a   Groceries

b   Meat Markets

c   Bakeries and Restaurants

d   Home Milk Delivers

e   The Little Store on the Corner

E APPEARANCES

a   Clothing

b    Tailors

c    Millineries and Dressmaking [Millineries sold female clothing and assories.]

d    Sewing and Laundries

e    Boots and Shoes

f   Barbers

g    Jewelry Stores

h    Novelty and Dry Goods Stores

F SERVICES

a   Post Office [I divided this Assembly into three entries.]

b   Fire Department [I divided this Assembly into two entries.]

c   Banks and Banking Offices

d   Railroads and Trolley Road

G UTILITIES

a   Telephones and Telegraphs [This Assembly contains only one entry]

b   Water

c   Electricity

H RELIGION

a   Churches    [The first paragraphs in each entry in this Assembly are from the Canton Independent-Sentinel’s 100th Anniversary edition.]

b   Cemeteries

c   Furniture Makers and sellers, and Undertakers

d   Marble Works

I EDUCATION

a   Public Schools [I divided this Assembly into five entries.]

b    Public Library

c   Private Sources of Education

J MEDICAL

a   Doctors

b   Dentists

c   Other Medical Providers

d   Drugstores

K LOCAL GOVERNMENT

a   Borough Building and Jail

b    Justice of the Peace

c   Lawyers and Insurance Agents [Some lawyers were both.]

L OTHER BUSINESS

a   Hardware Stores and their Tin Shops

b   Piano and Organ Sellers

c   Photograph Studios

d   Plant Sellers

e   Newspapers and Job Printers

f   Real Estate Sellers

g   Mills

h   Assemblies With Single Entries

M OTHER SERVICES

a   Builders and Sellers of Building Materials

b   House Painters and Wallpaper Hangers

c   Hay Press and Scales

d   Houses or Hotels

N OTHER MANUFACTURES

a   Foundries and their Machine Shops

b   Agricultural Implements

c   Tanneries

d   Coopers [The makers of casks, barrels, etc.]

e    Cigar Companies

O HORSE DEPENDANT OCCUPATIONS

a   Veterinarians

b   Blacksmiths and Liveries

c    Business Using Horses

d   Harness and Carriage Makers

P RECREATION

a   Bands and Parades

b   Agricultural and Horticultural Association or Fairs [I divided this assemble into two entries.]

c   Tent Shows and Circus

d   Mr. Charles Lee [This assembly is so long I divided it into eight entries.]

e   Lake Nepahwin

Q GROUPS

a   Lodges

b   Veteran Originations

c   Temperance Originations [Some of these groups may be the same group with different names being used for the same group] 

d   Social Clubs

R MISCELLANOUS

a   Military

b   Trivia

c   Gold

GLOSSARY

THE NAMES OF INDIVUALS, BUSUINESSES, GROUPS [THAT WERE IN CANTON] AND SOME LOCATIONS, AND WHERE THEY ARE WITHIN THIS HISTORY

ANONYMOUS CURSE ON BOOK THIEVES FROM THE MONASTARY OF SAN PEDRO, BARCELONA, SPAIN

ACKNOWLEDGENTS

AND A COMPLETELY

VOLUNTARY REQUEST

I researched and wrote this book because I believe that local history should be recorded. As it is said no Man is an island so I would like thank others for their assistance. Although I did not need it because the microfilmed newspapers were at the library, I wanted to be polite and asked John Shaffer for permission to research information from them. I would like to thank the present owners of the Canton newspaper for giving me permission to use information from ‘Years Ago’ articles that was not in the library’s newspapers. To Ken Robertson for defining some funeral terms. To my grandmother for always referring to the Grover Cemetery as the Turner Cemetery and telling me why she did so. Finaly to the many others that told me bits of historical trivia.

Now to the request. Many things were done or said in the past that people thought were to common to be recorded, but as I was writing this work I found dozens of things which I had no definition of or how they were done. Looking in old dictionaries and asking some questions answered some of them, but for many others, like potato dandies, are unknown. One day I was talking with a friend about a manual typewriter and his son, about 12, wanted to know what a manual typewriter was. So write down how things were done, no matter how everyday you think it was. Like washing cloths before modern washing machines, doing something before their were cars, electricity, plastics, etc. Or just name, describe and tell how things were used. Remember that the moment something is done, it became history. If you can not find anyone gathering whese records, just give them to family members, maybe someday somebody will need them.

NOTES

A CATEGORY is made up of Assemblies, they begin with a capital letter.

An Assembly is a grouping of the same type of business. They begin with a lower case letter and only the first letter of the heading is capitalized. An example Aa1.1: is category A, assemblie a, entrie 1 and sub-entrie .1.

An entry is a business and they begin with a number. When the entry was long I divided it into sub-entries, which begin with a decimal point, to make it easier to find a name from the Name List.

1. Businesses sometimes existed before and after they were mentioned in the newspaper so if I did not specify a beginning or ending the date is for the time period being discussed.

2. Details that were in the newspapers, such as some prices, are between (). When I believed something needed further explanation or I had more information on the person just mentioned, the information is between [].

A

INFORMATION THE READER NEEDS

a   Sources of the information

The basic information was taken from the microfilmed Canton Sentinel newspapers up to the year 1900 with some information from the newspaper’s 150th anniversary edition [Sept. 9, 1982], some information I was told and a few ‘Years Ago’ articles from newspapers not at the library.

b   Disclaimer

The newspapers occasionally gave conflicting information so I gave them. After typing the first rough draft I went back to the library to fix mistakes and found out that the microfilmed newspapers had been put on computer discs which are hard for me to read, so the mistakes had to stay. Putting the draft on a word processor found many spelling mistakes but, words like lidies, pasamentries, eirenlars and fascinators, which I did not find the definition of, may be misspelled. More mistakes were created by the newspaper not giving all items like: changes in ownership and location, and sometimes months would pass between mentions of a business. More information was lost by the fact that some issues and pages were missing. Such as the Dec. 17, 1875 issue was the only one microfilmed for that year; and the 1882 and 1897 issues were not microfilmed. Finally the busines’ were not given address numbers until 1884 and the changing of address numbers without the business moving told me some of the writers were guessing at address’s.

B

LAYOUT OF CANTON

a   Streets

In 1873 Carson Street was widened to 50’ and Tioga Street was widened to 60’. The extension connecting Division (now Center) Street to Minnequa Avenue opened to the public on Aug. 14, 1877. The Minnequa Cross-cut mentioned in a Nov. of 1881 newspaper is probably now North Street. Towanda Street was renamed Main Street by the borough council on April 18, 1884. On April 25th the borough council authorized the extension of Union Street to Sheldon’s Mill. Streets that do not exist today are: Cemetery [I think this street extended from East Union Street and up the hill to the Park Cemetery’s old entrance] and McIntosh [at that time what is now McIntosh Lane was a street from Troy to Center Streets].

Railroad Street ran alongside the railroad from the intersection of Troy and Carson Streets north to McIntosh Street. [Railroad Street was not on any maps that I have viewed, in pictures of the railroad station the street appeared to just be a space on the east side of the railroad for sidings to sheds and a path for wagons. The name was used in the newspaper only in connection with the Uptown Store so apparently it was a street only in the newspaper. The Uptown Store was on the east side of the railroad tracks by Carson Street and the passenger station was on the west side of the tracks a few feet to the north.]

Mr. A. L. Waterman of New York arranged on April 25, 1884 to start issuing street addresses. The numbers would start at Troy Street for streets running east to west, and at Main Street for streets running north to south. Each street would receive numbers from 1 to 100 no matter how many buildings or homes it held. When he was finished Mr. Waterman arranged the names of borough residents and put them in a directory of Canton, Troy and the surrounding area.

Division Street was renamed Minnequa Avenue on May 23, 1884 when it was thought that the street would be extended to Minnequa Springs. Work was started in July of 1884 to pave the gutters on both sides of Main Street with stone. Minnequa Avenue was extended south to Towanda Creek on Oct. 30, 1885 (this extension was not authorized by the borough council until April 11, 1889).

On July 27, 1887. In 1890 Towanda was the only town in Bradford County with paved streets and Canton was the only town in Bradford County with macadam pavement [a layer of broken stone and only at the junction of Lycoming, Sullivan, Towanda and Troy Streets]. A drinking fountain or watering trough for that intersection was ordered from New York on March 23, 1893. The fountain cost about $175.00 and was paid for with funds raised by ex-burgess Parson. The fountain was installed on April 27th and froze during its first four winters. The fountain was removed in the early 1900s and is now at the Manley-Bohlayer Heritage Farm east of town. In Oct. of 1893 Union Street was extended east to the borough line.

The borough’s east end was extended on March 16, 1894 to include some houses. What is now the north end of South Center Street was an alley between the Landon building and the store on its east side that led to Crawford’s Mill and may have been known as Broadway. A Street was graded from Main to Second Streets in April of 1895 [this may have been an upgrade of Broadway Alley].

The name of South Main Street was used on May 7, 1895 which I think is now South Avenue. Clinton Street was created on Jan. 7, 1895 and the name was legalized by ordinance No. 21. Five new streets were laid out and grading finished on Jan. 10, 1899 on land purchased from Samuel Owens between Towanda Creek and Main Street. [I do not know about the other streets, but Montague Street was not opened onto Main Street until the fall of 1915 or the spring of 1916.]

In March of 1896 the square was still the only street not of dirt. On May 12th in 1899 the borough bought land from Hugh Crawford to extend Second Street east from Minnequa Avenue. Ordinance No. 26, dated June 13th of 1899, extended Second Street from that part of Minnequa Avenue known as Walnut Street, east to Washington Street [this was the only time Walnut Street was mentioned]. Minnequa Avenue was extended to the borough line on July 11, 1899.

b   Sidewalks, Bridges, Locations and Street Lamps

1 Sidewalks of stone began to replace board ones in the fall of 1878. In Dec. of 1883 an ordinance was adopted stating that snow must be removed from sidewalks within six hours of it falling or the snow would be removed by the street commissioner at the owner’s expense plus a 20% fine. A May of 1884 ordinance stated that sidewalks must be at least 5’ wide, the boards must be at least 1 and ½" thick, and be laid crosswise. A sidewalk was built on the south side of Tioga Street in Dec. of 1893. On June 15, 1894 the borough council voted to build a sidewalk on the south side of Union Street from the center of the Main Street Cemetery east to the borough line.

The borough was installing a stone crossing at the corner of Center and Main Streets on June 29, 1898. An ordinance was passed on Nov. 4, 1898 to have a four foot wide sidewalk constructed and maintained on the south side of Lycoming Street to the creek. Ordinance No. 29 was published on Sept. 8th in 1899 directing the construction and maintenance of a sidewalk on the south side of Second Street from Minnequa Avenue to Washington Street. On Dec. 29, 1899 ordinance No. 8, section 2 was amended to change the amount the street department charged to remove snow to 25 cents.

2 Bridges

A Cemetery Street Bridge existed in Sept. of 1878. There was a footbridge near the grist mill on Troy Street in July of 1884 and one on Sullivan Street in Aug. of 1889. A new footbridge was built across Mill Creek at Center Street in Nov. of 1889. A narrow bridge spanned Tannery Brook on Lycoming Street on the 6th of Nov. in 1894. The South Minnequa Avenue Bridge collapsed on June 11th in 1895. The borough council decided on Feb. 7, 1896 to put railings on both sides of the foot walks across Tannery Brook on West Union Street.

3 Locations

On North Center Street, across from the former office of Drs. Kirkowske and Husband, is a large masonry building that was a milk station. It was built on a 90’x285’ plot of ground purchased by the railroad in 1855 to dump gravel during construction. The hundreds of tons of gravel created a level area where section men [men who maintained a section of railroad] were allowed to build their cottages. Newman Hill is a short distanceto the south on that street and Rockwell’s Hill is a short distance west of Troy Street.

Mrs. G. S. Seymour [her husband was a Dr.] of Louisville, Kentucky [in Jan. of 1899] christened her summer home to the east of Canton, Mourland Park, on Feb. 18, 1887. The Walter E. Newman Block [buildings were often called blocks] is at the corner of Lycoming and Sullivan Streets. [For more information on some buildings see CATERGORY B, Assembly c. [Sometimes the newspaper used only the Bullock Block Block" but there were two Mr. Bullocks and five buildings, so I had to do some guessing.]

4 Street Lamps

The first three street lamps were put up on Troy Street on the 9th of Jan. in 1880. One lamp was in front of the Disciples [Church of Christ] Church and the other two in front of hotels [these two were lit every night]. The borough council voted on Nov. 4, 1891 to buy fifteen more street lamps. An example of the new lamps was erected on the corner of Main Street and Minnequa Avenue on Dec. 3rd and the rest were installed by Jan. 14, 1892. In June of 1896 two kerosene lamps were installed: one in front of Widow Martin’s and the other by the new school [the one at the south-west corner of Minnequa Avenue and Union Streets]. The Methodist Church on Union Street had a street lamp placed in front of it on April 1, 1896 [a Years Ago article said this was done in Feb. of 1881. On July 3rd the borough council voted to move the street lamp on Minnequa Avenue between Second Street and the creek to the corner of Second Street and Minnequa Avenue. They also decided that night to purchase two more lamps for near the Minnequa Avenue and West Union Street bridges. It was announced on Jan. 7, 1898 that lamps would be placed on Troy Street near the mill and at the east end of Carson Street. [These lamps were lit by a man with matches.]

c   Some Buildings

1 Returning from the ’49 gold rush in 1852 Walter E. Newman had his building constructed at the corner of Lycoming and Sullivan Streets. He had made his fortune by selling supplies and loaning money to miners. A corner entrance faced the intersection of Troy, Main, Sullivan and Lycoming Streets. Mr. Newman’s brother Edwin moved to Canton in 1847 and when Walter opened a store on the first floor of his building Edwin went to work there and they were later joined by their brothers: Scott and Samuel H.

Edwin married Miss Lois Spalding in 1865 and their children are: George Ernest, Clyde Harding, Glen Jarde and May [she married a Sechrist]. Edwin was the postmaster twice. The building’s third floor was occupied by the Independent Order of Odd Fellows until when the rooms were used by the military during the Civil War. The I.O.O.F. returned to the building after the war and left when their new building on Towanda Street was finished. After the I.O.O.F. left the rooms became headquarters for Company I, 12th Regiment, Pennsylvania National Guard until it mustered out in 1881. Then the rooms were used by Ingham Post G.A.R., the W.R.C., the P.O.S. of A. and the Independent Order of the Moose. The Newman Block has been the oldest business block in Canton since Oct. 31, 1884. Mr. Davis and Mr. Harding bought the block on the 7th of Jan. in in 1895. They put a new front on the building in Oct. and Nov. of 1896.

2 Dee Manley built the first Manley Block next to the alley on Towanda Street that led to Crawford’s Mill. [The alley is now the northern end of South Center Street.] This block was last mentioned in the Canton Sentinel in 1888 and was one of the buildings torn down in 1898 to make room for the Lewis Building.

Mr. Manley built his second block at the corner of Towanda and Troy Streets in 1870. [The location now holds the former Ben Franklin Store building which is occupied by the American Rescue Workers Store and this block was torn down in the fall of 1945.] The frame building was three stories tall and held Trippe’s Hardware on the first floor. Griffin & Elliott’s grocery store was on the east side of the building in Feb. of 1878.

In Dec. of 1875 George E. Bullock, James D. Tayler and H. N. Williams incorporated to form the Citizens Hall Association, the association would rent a hall for public meetings and entertainment such as: lectures, fund raisers, school graduations, speeches, dances, plays, etc. They chose the second and third floors of the second Manley Block and the hall’s stage and dressing room were finished on May 25, 1876. Before performances the doors of Fred Trippe’s store had to be closed because the weight of the audience would spring the building, preventing the doors from closing. Part of Citizens’ Hall contained the telephone central in 1888 and a basketball game was held there on March 28, 1899 with the admission price being 5 cents. The last occupant had been Fred Hendelman’s dry goods store which had been started by his Uncle Harry at the corner of Towanda and Sullivan Streets.

3 Grangers’ Hall was a 22’x46’ building started in Fassett’s Park on Towanda Street. [The Park was on the eastern side of what is now the Main Street Cemetery.] The first floor of the building was to be a store and the second floor was meant to be a grange hall. The building was not yet finished when it was put up for sale on Nov. 15th in 1877.

4 The only reference to the old Green Front Building in the Canton Sentinel was that it was opposite of Stull’s Livery on Sullivan Street on Aug. 19, 1881.

5 The Skating Rink and Opera House

A stock company was formed on July 16, 1884 to construct a 40’x80’x30’ building to house an indoor skating rink. The building had a marble floor and painted scenery, and was on Troy Street north of the Canton Marble Works. John Brown, Mial E. Lilly and Gus F. Krise bought the rink from the stock company on Aug. 22, 1884. They changed the season rate from $5.00 a year to $3.00 a month (which included skate rental).

Joseph Panimo, of Elmira, bought the business on Aug. 29, 1884 but was soon called away and sold the building to John Vroman and Prof. Will Robinson on Oct. 17th. [Prof. Robinson was only mentioned at the time of purchase.] On June 26, 1885 Mr. Vroman was adding an 18’x24’ stage to the rink so it could also be used as an opera house.

The old skating rink was still known as a part-time opera house so Mr. Vroman decided to close it. To do this he bought the Estell lot next to Ingham & Jewell’s on the 28th of March in 1889 to move the opera house there and built a skating rink at 9 Lycoming Street, which was also the last time the skating rink was mentioned.

The prices at the opera house in Sept. of 1894 were: 50 cents for the first twelve rows, 35 cents for the other main seats, and 25 cents for the side seats and standing room. Electricity was installed in Sept. of 1898 for the performance of Mark Twain’s ‘Puddn’ Head Wilson’ performed by Frank Mayo and a New York company on the 17th. For that show the prices were: 75 cents for the main seats, and 50 cents for the side seats and standing room. The last reference to Vroman’s Opera house in the 1800s was on the 29th of Dec. in 1899. [According to the 150th anniversary edition of the Canton Sentinel, some the opera house’s foundation was visible in back of the Fred Johonnis property on Lycoming Streert in 1950.]

6 The Lewis Building

Mrs. Emaline Emma Lemon M. Lewis of Washington, D.C. had a modern opera house constructed in memory of her daughter, Mrs. Flora Marble in 1898. She purchased the two frame store buildings [the first Manley Block and 30 Main Street]on the south side of Main Street owned by Dr. W. T. Davidison for the location. [The Dr. had purchased the former Landon store in Jan. of 1898 and one of the buildings was occupied by W. H. Collins’ Furniture. [The site is now occupied by the northern end of South Center Street, and the First National Bank of Canton building.] The stores were torn down in May of 1898 and the opera house was built by the firm of Taylor & Northrup later that year.

The Lewis Block was three stories in height, of brick and steel, and had a sawed stone front. The building had four stores on the ground floor, and the second and third floors held five offices in front and a large opera house in back. Across the front of the third floor was an Assembly Hall or Banquet Hall or Ballroom (depending how it was being used), with bay windows in front and kitchens, etc. in the rear.

There was a large light-well that came down from a roof skylight. The opera house was about 45’x75’, seated 550 (with two boxes on each end of the lower floor), a balcony (with a lodge on each end) and the stage was 24’x45’. The lodges and boxes were for those willing to pay the extra price. There were many small dressing rooms under the stage and a ladies toilet. The light fixtures were both electric bulbs and gas jets.

By the 14th of Oct. the opera house was being roofed, piped for gas and wired for electricity. A barn like structure 14’ high was built on the roof over the stage’s southy-east corner for the stage’s curtain and backdrops which could be raised or lowered electrically was also done in Oct. The Oct. 28th newspaper told that the opera house was to be made so a level parquet floor could be laid over the seats and used for receptions. The pavement in front was of cement and the building was closed before 1930 by the changing state fire regulations.

The building was heated by steam and lighted with electricity. Mrs. Lewis’s son-in-law, Louis Mills Marble [No. Lh67], who was also from Washington, D.C.; had an office on the third floor. The newspaper announced on April 28, 1899 that the new opera house would open on May 10th with Mrs. Frances Hodgson Burnett’s drama entitled The Burglar. [In another issue it opened on April 16th with the Fanny Rice Rice musical comedy company.]

The Post Office moved into the Lewis Building on March 26th of 1899. Its rooms were on the west side of the main entrance with the bank on the east side. The Post Office boxes were protected by roll up iron curtains at night. The letter cases had 205 lock boxes and 500 call boxes resting on colored marble. The lobby was 10’x50’ with the money order and registry department at the north end of the room. Separated from that area by an oak counter with a bronze railing and etched glass work and an oak writing desk was the postmaster’s 9’x14’ office. This office contained a large roll top desk, a standing desk, counters and cabinets. The Post Office was carpeted with brussies.

Across the lobby from the Post Office was the First National Bank of Canton. The cashier’s office faces Main Street and contained a large oak roll top desk. An oak counter with a marble base separates that from the public part of the bank. This part contained upholstered oak settiees, a writing desk, a rack for deposit slips, etc. The clerk’s office was next to the cashier’s office and extends along the east side of the room to the vault and is enclosed with oak and bronze wickers, frosted glass, with marble slab at the two tellers and a marble base. The clerk’s office contains an automatic adding machine, there is a telephone in the cashier’s office and the front window is of plate glass.

The director’s room behind the vault is carpeted, has an oak table and easy chairs. The vault’s inside measurement was 7’x9’; with a height of seven feet; the weigh was 37,000LBs and has a two foot vestibule in front. The vault was made from five-ply chrome steel that has lapped joists, and set in brick and stone. The vault’s door was of chrome steel, five inches thick and locks with 28 inch bolts. The door to the vestibule was of chrome steel, about five inches thick, and weight 5,260LBs and was on ball-bearing hinges. The door’s lock was controlled by three time pieces to release the 22 inch bolts at a preset time. The vault contained 51 safe deposit boxes and a safe for the bank’s cash. When the vault’s main door was opened each morning an oxidized copper gate swung into place.

The bank’s officers for 1899 were: President—Daniel Innes, Vice President—George E. Bullock and Cashier—Louis T. McFadden. The hardware store of Lindey & Ronan was in the east end of the building with Shannon’s dry goods in the west end. [One of those stores would be replaced by Joe Anderson’s clothing store.]

C

SOME EARLY HISTORY OF CANTON

a   Some early histories that were in the newspaper

1 Excerpts from a paper written by Mrs. Emeline (Sellard) Leavitt in April of 1910 that was in the 150th anniversary edition of the Canton Independent-Sentinel.

The first house in Canton was built by Henry Prosser in 1796 and was just below Harding’s cooper shop on Sullivan Street. The Red Tavern was built by Johnathan Pratt and was operated by Mr. Cummings in the early 1820s. The frame building was located where now [2019] the former Burk’s Store was located. The building was moved to the location now [2019] occupied by the American Rescue Workers Store and was later moved to the corner of Main and Sullivan Streets. There a barn was attached to create the Red Hotel. At this time there were two or three houses on Troy Street, a wagon shop on Lycoming Street and a blacksmith shop owned by Mr. or Captain Calvin Spencer Sellard [Mrs. Leavitt’s father] about where South Center Street now meets Main Street.

Towanda Street held the home of the pioneer family of Captain and Mrs. Calvin Sellard, which later became the location of the Packard Hotel [which is now the McBratney building. Mr. Sellard’s property was bound by: Tioga Street, Minnequa Avenue, Towanda Creek, Sullivan Street and Troy Street. Their daughter Emiline was born there, she married the carriage maker Walter Leavitt in May of 1871 and died on July 13th in 1923. [Mr. Sellard died on Feb. 28, 1884 at the age of 81 and his wife died on May 21, 1881.] In another issue of the newspaper the Captain died in Sept. of 1886 at the age of 83.

He had been Canton’s oldest resident and his funeral was held at the home of Mrs. W. Leavitt. He was born in Lyme, Connecticut and moved with his parents to Luzern County when he was young. At the age of 25 he bought a farm in Canton and moved there. When his home was moved back from the street to build the Central House, he bought the August Loomis farm just east of the borough line.

2 Manning & Rose had a small store building in front of the Red Tavern in the early 1830s at the village then known as Canton Corners. The small frame house of John Rose was at the corner of West Union and Troy Streets in 1837. By 1838 Manning & Rose had been joined by the stores of Bernard Wood and John Cummings.

3 Excerpts from an early history of Canton that was written in 1878 by S. D. Kendall after talking with Horace Spalding

The first settler in the Canton area was Jonas Gear of Rhode Island in 1796. Ezra Spalding came to Canton in 1796 from Connecticut where he had been born in 1755. Mr. Spalding had enlisted in the army in 1776, served for three months and was discharged. A short time later he enlisted again, served for nine months and was discharged in the fall of 1777. In Feb. of 1793 he moved to Springfield, Otsego County, NY.

After transferring his family to Sheshequin Ezra and his son, Horace, came to Canton. They built a 16’x32’ log cabin and cleared about four acres of land. The next Feb. he moved his family by ox cart to their new home. The group consisted of parents, three daughters, two sons and two freed slaves. The trip went through Towanda, Lycoming County [Bradford County would be formed from parts of Lycoming and Luzerne Counties on Feb. 21, 1810] and took about four days.

With the boys being only nine and thirteen years old they had to make maple sugar to trade for provisions. At that time: calico sold for 50 to 75 cents per yard, coarse shirting was 40 to 50 cents per yard, nails were 20 to 25 cents per pound, glass was $48.00 for 50’, cheap pine boards were $45.00 for 1,000 board feet and salt was $10.00 to $12.00 a barrel. The nearest places to trade until 1799 (when a store opened in Towanda) were either Tioga Point or Williamsport. Until a grist mill was built in Franklin in 1797 they had to do their grinding at Chenango Point.

Mr. Spalding was arrested by the Penamites [those using the grant given to William Penn] for settling under the "Yankee title [the grant given to Connecticut]. He was convicted, fined $200.00 and put in prison. Mr. Spalding could not get a new title so the sheriff sold his personal property and burned down the house. A friend of Mr. Spalding’s bought the land and gave him a small log house near Spring Brook to live in. Mr. Spalding built an addition onto the log house and lived there while he built a new home.

The house was opened for entertainment in the fall of 1801. The business thrived and he enlarged the house and barn to create the well known Spalding House. In 1805 and 1806 the county’s boundaries were surveyed and Mr. Spalding found out he was living in Luzerne County, PA.

4 The first store in the area was a two story affair belonging to Stephen Sellard. Mr. Ross had a store on the corner of Towanda and Sullivan Streets. If a person wanted flour they had to grow or buy the wheat and take it to a grist mill to be ground and stores did not sell meat. Samuel Griffin was a Revolutionary War soldier and early settler in Canton. A Mr. Newberry made the area’s first hoes and axes in Troy. William H. Spalding purchased the first plow in the area to replace the common homemade bull plows that had an iron point. A Mr. Saxton made the area’s first wagon and John Watts purchased the first two-horse wagon.

Canton was originally known as Canton Four Corners after a town in Connecticut and was Canton Corners until the 1850s or 1860s. The borough was incorporated in 1864 and on July 24th in 1890 it was the third largest town in Bradford County after Towanda and Athens. The first county election was held in Canton in 1812 when the number of taxable inhabitants was 58. [Taxable inhabitants were males over the age of 21 and females over the age of 21 who owned property, but the females could not vote.]

b    Some early families

1 The theatre actor Edwin L. Davenport came to Canton in 1874 and bought the Elliott property on upper Troy Street [it is now No. 307 Troy Street]. He had a house of red brick built and christened it Lily Villa in honor of his daughter. The first gas light