NORTHRUP FAMILY
Along Millstone Creek near Weston in Pennsylvania’s
Bradford County lies an old cemetery where rest the remains of the early Northrup
clan that settled Northrup Hollow in 1816.
Nathan Northrup, patriarch of this family branch,
was born in Connecticut in 1727. His wife, the former Sarah Crawford,
was also born there in 1732. Nathan was a Revolutionary War veteran who
served with the New Jersey troops from Sussex County, New Jersey. He
and his family were early to settle in the Wyoming Valley of Pennsylvania and,
on July 3, 1778, they were among these settlers to flee from an Indian attack
for the safety of Forty Fort.
Sarah, also called “Mother Northrup”,
was a remarkable lady known to all. When past 90 years of age, she would spin
80 knots of yarn daily. When she was 100 years of age, she could still dance
as if she was a teenager. When past the venerable age of 100, she walked
alone from Athens, Pa to Monroeton, Pa which was a distance of 22 miles. Her
reason for such a walk was “to visit her children”.
Nathan died in 1804 and Sarah died in 1837. Both are
buried in the Northrup Cemetery along Millstone Creek Road.
John Northrup , son of Nathan and Sarah, was a stonecutter,
a lumberman, a waterman, and a hotel keeper who joined his parents in settling
in Northrup Hollow in 1816. The beauty of the area had made a deep impression
on him. He married Polly Taladay, a daughter of Henry Taladay of Wysox,
Pa. Henry was the son of Solomon Taladay who was a Revolutionary War
veteran. So many descendants of Nathan, Sarah, John and Polly made their
homes in this hollow that it was often described as a “place full of
Northrups”.
Millstone Creek Road now has the lonely cemetery as
its one reminder of its Northrup past. There lie the remains of Nathan,
Sarah and three sons, Steven, Nathan Jr., and John the stonecutter whose grave
was marked with a millstone. Several grandchildren who died in early
childhood are also buried here.
The Flood of 1972 caused by Hurricane Agnes wreaked
havoc in bucolic Northrup Hollow and the cemetery suffered great damage. Stones
that weren’t washed away are now laying flat on the ground or are propped
against trees with no person certain as to where they originally belonged. Several
remaining fieldstone grave markers give no clues as to their owners’ identities. It
is a sad legacy to a family whose history includes Nathan, a Revolutionary
War veteran; John, the prominent businessman; Abijah, whose log cabin once
stood where the First National Bank of Towanda, Pa now stands; and “Betsey
Bijah”, daughter of Abijah, one of Northern Pennsylvania’s most
powerful women who drove her own ox team, rived and shaved 1000 shingles a
day and swung an axe with great skill.
Many Bradford County residents can trace their roots
to this family. Families that have married into the Northrup clan are: Bailey,
Crawford, Parks, Ross, Sadler, and Taladay.
References:
Pioneers and Patriots of Bradford County, Pa. by Heverly
Myrtle Northrup Bailey
Walter Northrup’s Civil War Pension Records
Walter Northrup’s Death Record
Pa Census Records
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