BKADFORD. 



■<• > ■ ♦ 



GEOGRAPHICAL SITUATION. 



The town of Bradford is situated near the centre of the 

 east border of the county, and is bounded north by Wayne, 

 east by the county-line, south by Campbell, and west by 

 Urbana and Bath. 



PHYSICAL FEATURES. 



The southern part of this town is made up of high hills, 

 from which the waters run northeast into Mud Creek and 

 southwest into Mead's Creek, both streams being tributaries 

 of the Conhocton. The soil of the valleys is rich alluvium, 

 gravelly clay, and sand, productive of excellent crops of 

 corn and wheat. The hills yield abundance of pasturage 

 and grass, and of late years are being subjected to a more 

 systematic cultivation. 



EARLY SETTLEMENT. 



In 1793, Frederick Bartles and John Harvey, from New 

 Jersey, located on the outlet of Mud Lake, at a place known 

 in the early days as " Bartles' Hollow." Under the pa- 

 tronage of Col. Williamson, he erected a flouring- and saw- 

 mill in 1795. While the men were employed in erecting 

 this mill, Benjamin Patterson, the hunter, was hired to 

 supply them with wild meat, and was paid $2 a day and 

 the skins of the animals. In three months he killed nearly 

 100 deer and several bears, and his companion, named 

 Brocher, nearly as many more. 



Bartles was an intelligent, generous, and hospitable man. 

 His mill-pond covered about a thousand acres, and was 

 filled with fish of various kinds, aff*ording rare sport during 

 the fishing season. Parties of pleasure were entertained 

 by Mr. Bartles in the best style and free of charge. He 

 possessed an inexhaustible fund of pleasant anecdote, and 

 his dialect, being a mixture of Dutch and English, was 

 very amusing. 



Mud Creek at this time was a navigable stream, and it 

 was thought that the commerce of Mud Lake would re- 

 quire considerable of a town at this point, but the early 

 expectations were not realized. 



In 1798, Mr. Bartles rafted 100,000 feet of boards from 

 his mills to Baltimore. In 1800 he ran two arks from the 

 same place, of which the following record was made by 

 the county clerk : 



"Steuben County: — This fourth day of April, one thousand eight 

 hundred, started from the mills of Frederick Bartles, on the outlet of 

 Mud Lake, two arks of the following dimensions: one built by Col. 

 Chaides Williamson, of Bath, 72 feet long and 15 wide; the other 

 built by Nathan Harvey, 71 feet long and 15 wide, were conducted 

 down the Conhocton (after coming through Mud Creek without acci- 

 dent) to Painted Post, for Baltimore. Those arks are the first built 

 in this county, except one built on the Conhocton, at White's saw- 

 mill, five miles below Bath, by a Mr. Patterson, Sweeny, and others. 



from Pennsylvania, 70 feet long and 16 feet wide, which was finished 

 and started about the 20th of March the same year. 



" This minute is entered to show, at a future day, the first com- 

 mencement of embarkation in this (as is hoped) useful invention. 



" By Henry A. Townsend, 



'' Clerk of Stenhen County." 



Mud Creek has ceased to be navigable since the clearing 

 of the forests, and the produce of this region seeks the 

 Eastern markets by canals and railroads. 



Among the early settlers of Bradford were Henry Swit- 

 zer, Samuel S. Camp, Abram Rosenberg, Thomas Bowles, 

 Michael Scott, Daniel Bartholomew, and Capt. John N. 

 Hight. Henry Axtelle, John Hemiup, John Schriner, 

 Ezekiel Sackett, and a Mr. Smith also settled here at an 

 early day. The first birth was that of a daughter of John 

 Harvey, in 1799, and the first death that of Mrs. Thomas 

 Bowles, in August, 1803. Frederick and Charles Bartles 

 opened the first store in 1800, and the first tavern or inn 

 in 1806. Mr. Smith taught the first school, in 1810. 

 Bev. E. Sanford was the first preacher in town, and Rev. 

 Mr. Lazelle (Baptist) was the first settled minister, settling 

 in town in 1816. 



The flouring-mill built by Frederick Bartles stood on 

 the site of the present mill in the village of Bradford. Its 

 dimensions were 30 by 40 feet. It was destroyed by the 

 flood and another built on the same site, which was burned, 

 and a third was built ; that also burned and was replaced 

 by the present building. Frederick Bartles conveyed the 

 property to Frank Whitney ; the latter conveyed it to 

 Munson & Merriman, and it finally passed from their 

 hands to the present owners, Jesse and Cyrus Munson. 



Thomas Bowles came from the State of Maryland in the 

 year 1805, and settled in the town of Bradford, on the farm 

 on the corner about one mile southeast of the village of 

 Bradford. By hard work he soon erected a house and 

 made an opening in the heavy timber, and finally saw his 

 farm cleared up. His children were Thomas Bowles, who 

 died in the town of Bradford, David, Sally, Mercy, Amy, 

 and Mary. 



Michael Scott came from Maryland in 1805, and settled 

 the first farm southwest of that settled by Thomas Bowles, 

 with his wife and two children, Thomas and Mary. He 

 was one of the first blacksmiths in town. He experienced 

 the life common to the pioneer in an unsettled country, sur- 

 rounded by wild beasts and Indians. Bears were often 

 seen, and on one occasion chased his hogs to his house. 



At one time Mr. Scott having gone from home, and his 

 wife being then dead, his little children were left alone, and 

 the Indians came and took possession of his house. They 

 turned three horses into a lot near the barn, and scattered hay 

 taken from the barn over the lot for their horses. During the 



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