LEHMAN TWP.-This township was taken from Dallas in 1629, and named in
honor of Dr. William Lehman. Its surface is undulating, and about one-third is good
arable land; even the hill farms are productive, and when the many sawmills had done
their work, the valleys and hill sides turned to green fields and beautiful lawns.Its
opening paragraph in history was one of the bloody episodes in the days of Indian
troubles. March 28, 1780, Asa UPMAN and John ROGERS were making sugar a short
distance above the mouth of Hunlock creek, when they were suddenly surrounded by
Indians and captured. Upson was killed and Rogers carried off. Then they went to where
Abram PIKE was making sugar, near where is now the hamlet now called Pike's Creek,
and capture Pike and his wife; camping here the first night and helping themselves to
Pike's sugar. The ten Indian marauders the next day proceeded to where is the hamlet of
Orange, where they captured Moses VAN CAMPEN and his aged father,. and Peter
PENCE, killing old man VanCampen. They had painted Mrs. Pike and allowed her to
return to her baby, which they had bundled and thrown on the roof of the cabin in the
morning when they broke camp. How they carried the other prisoners to the mouth of
Wysox creek, when by concert, Rogers, who was only a youth, and was the only one not
bound at night, stole the Indian's knife, cut the others loose and they attacked their
captors, killed some and the others fled. Some of the descendants of Rogers are now
living in Lehman Township. The store of Abram PIKE and Moses VAN CAMPEN are
told in the general history of the county. Pike has no descendants here; he spent the
remainder of his life in the neighborhood, and lies buried in the Ide cemetery.
Nehemiah IDE and Jeremiah BROWN in 1801 became the first settlers in Lehman
Township. The next man was named AVERY, but he remained but a short time. William
FULLER came in 1802, and two years after came his brother Isaac. Joseph
WORTHINGTON in 1806 settled at Harveys lake. That year came William NEWMAN;
John WHITEMAN in 1813; J. I. BOGARDUS and Ogden MOSELY in 1814. About 1819
came Minor FULLER and Fayette ALLEN; Thomas MAJOR in 1821, and Oliver
MEKEEL in 1823.The first frame house was built by William FULLER, in 1801 or 1802,
opposite the residence of his son, Chester FULLER. Isaac FULLER built a house in
1804; S.P. ID in 1807; J.I. BOGARDUS and Ogden MOSELY in 1814; Ezra IDE in 1819.
Fayette ALLEN was the first carpenter; Daniel WHITEMAN, Nehemiah IDE and Oliver
IDE were the others.Jonathan HEUSTED was the first blacksmith; his shop stood near
the line of Jackson township, at Huntsville. David GORDON began blacksmithing in
1839, near Z.G. GORDON's. He was in partnership with Ira LAIN, a cooper, and they
carried on both trades. William GORDON was the first shoemaker. He lived where is
William WOLFE's place. Dr. J.J. ROGERS was the first physician; followed by Dr.
MOODY about 1857. The first schoolhouse was as log building, in 1810, near the site of
W.H. IDE's house. J.I. BOGARDUS and Obed BALDWIN were the earliest teachers,
and were followed by Julius PRATT, Burr BALDWIN, Mr. PERRY and Elijah
WORTHINGTON. The first schoolhouse at Lehman Center was built in 1836 by Daniel
and Oliver IDE. Ellen PUGH and Maria FULLER were the first teachers here. Miss
FULLER became Mrs. A. KETCHAM. The next schoolhouse was the West Lehman
schoolhouse, erected in 1842 by Nathan and Oliver IDE. The first mill was erected in
1837 by Lewis HOYT, Frederick HARTMAN, builder, on Harvey's creek. George
SORBER built one this year, which was purchased by James HARVEY in 1840. This was
burned in 1876, and Mr. Harvey built the present mill on the site. Mills were built by J.
HARRIS in 1838; by Frederick HARTMAN, on the C.B. MAJOR farm, in 1838, for
Ephriam KING; by Robert MAJOR in 1836; by R.W. FOSTER and Ansel HOYT in 1840;
by RICE & MUMFORD in 1844; by George SHUPP in 1856, and by the RICE Bros. in
1873. Several of these mills have been burned, and some are entirely gone.