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  Athens Township, Bradford County ~ Biographies

John F. Satterlee

John F. Satterlee, a son of Col. Elisha, was long a prominent citizen of Athens, and died February 11, 1855, aged sixty-eight; he married first Julia, daughter of Dr. Amos Prentice, who died December 12, 1823, aged thirty-seven, and his second wife, Elizabeth, died December 5, 1871, aged seventy-seven years.

Benedict Satterlee was long a school-teacher at Athens, teaching as early as 1791 on the school lot originally laid out for school purposes; he married Welthia, daughter of Capt. Joseph Spalding, removed to Mount Morris, New York, and died there, January 8, 1813. Elias, at the time of the first assessment in 1796, was rated as a shoemaker; he studied medicine with Dr. Hopkins, and practiced his profession with great success in Elmira, until his death, by an accidental discharge of a gun, November 11, 1815. Samuel and Nathaniel settled in Smithfield; and Nathaniel was the father of Col. Samuel, an officer in the war of 1812, and member of the Pennsylvania legislature. Elisha Mathewson was a son of Winchester Mathewson, a native of Rhode Island, who, in 1774, exchanged valuable property in that State for Connecticut rights, and emigrated to the Wyoming valley, where he died in 1778, before the battle, leaving three sons, Elisha, Constant, and Nero, all then in the service of their country. Nero perished in the massacre at Wyoming, Constant was killed in the battle of Mud fort, near Philadelphia, and Elisha served through the war in Captain Spalding's company, receiving in 1783 an honorable discharge for seven years' service over the hand of Washington.

In 1786 he was one of the original proprietors of Athens, drew several lots, and in 1788 made this his permanent home. Soon after his arrival here he was elected a major of militia, and one of the overseers of the poor of old Tioga Township. When he first came he moved into a house belonging to Col. Franklin, on lot No. 40, just south of the public square. In June, 1795, he purchased this lot, and soon after erected the old red house, long one of the landmarks of the village. In November, 1795, he was licensed to keep a hotel in this house, and kept it until his death. In 1798, and afterwards, he was elected one of the supervisors of Athens.

He married Elizabeth Satterlee, daughter of Benedict Satterlee, one of the early settlers at Wyoming, and had children. Constant, born in 1792; Elias S., born June 16, 1796; Cynthia, who married a Hammond; Fanny, who married a White; Clarissa, who married John M. Duffie; Lydia, who married a Moans, and Elizabeth. Major Mathewson died April 11, 1805, aged forty-eight years, and his widow, one of the last survivors of the Wyoming massacre, died December 14, 1851, aged ninety-one years.

Athens Township

Bradford County Biographies

© Pennsylvania American History and Genealogy Project
Created May 2014 by Judy White