There is much to write about him. There are two files in my materials. One contains correspondence to Zalmon Storrs in Nebraska. The other is a several page obituary for him when he died. As a rich man of the times he had enemies who said that he cheated to gain his wealth but he did a lot for others. He has been credited to probably contributing the most toward his church which was built in about 1850 and is still standing. He put his niece, Henriatta Storrs, through Art school and another niece, Henrietta Storrs, through school at Fremont,Nebraska to be a music teacher. His daughters, Lillian and Marion also did a lot of charity work. They donated a lovely ceramic piece which is behind the pulpit in the church It fills the entire wall behind the pulpit as I remember. The Unitarian Church at Standing Stone cost about $1200 to build and William R. probably financed most of it. There was a street in Harrisburg, Penna.,named Storrs Street. He had woods in southern N.Y.State and floated the logs down the Susquehanna River through Penna. to Harrisburg where he had a saw mill and built the houses. From letters to Zalmon there was about twenty houses. He did a lot of this lumber work and had 40 men working on this project. He also had several farms near his home near Towanda in Asylum Township. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Buckwheat Scandals- Three families loaned the poorer settlers money to plant their crops and when the money was not repaid on schedule, their lands would be foreclosed. One of these three was William R. ( I have not checked this story but told by Nelson Stevens who lived in the area all his life.) We stopped by to visit with him again in 1996 and he had just died. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Wedding information in Bradford County Reporter, Wed. Dec.5. 1849. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FROM HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY OF BRADFORD CO. PENN. by Heverly.. 1615-1924. In 1845 Andrew J Layton (R) was elected sheriff over Wm.R. Storrs(D) by only 534 votes.--- Wm R.Storrs, beginning as a poor boy, by industry and skillful management, amassed a fine fortune, and was the towns most popular and esteemed citizen. ( my note, from reading, I believed that he got his start by floating logs for someone and advanced from that). ----------------------------------------------------------------- In 1860 census he had two house servants. ----------------------------------------------------------------- From HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY OF BRADFORD CO. PENN by Heverly -Wm R Storrs, beginning as a poor boy, by industry and skillful management, amassed a fine fortune and was the towns most popular and esteemed citizen. The same article says that he had been a Jury Commissioner. He had a great interest in the settling of Nebraska and he had a nephew, Zalmon Storrs, who he wrote many letters regarding moving for Bellevue to Oakdale. Zalmon did not seem to live up to his expectations and he came out. He was in partnership with a Mr. Reno in a feed yard that was just west of Oakdale that contained roughly two sections, one owned by Storrs and one by Reno. His obituary said that he owned approximately 3000 acres in Nebraska. I was able to find deeds for several farms around Oakdale to the south, east and west. A lot of the land was still owned by his widow in 1920 according to records. His son Bigler drowned in the river in front of his home in Pennsylvania at the age of 30. After this W.R. sold his feed lot interest and returned to Pennsylvania. Zalmon Storrs returned to Bellevue where he died many years later. _________________________________________________________ I have some of his letters to Zalmon Storrs, my great grandfather, and my typed copies behind each to make it easier to read. ----------------------------------------------------------------- I received a news letter from the Oakdale Cemetery Assoc. In it was a notation that W.R.Storrs sold 160 acres of farm land for 10 to 1 dollars an acre. ----------------------------------------------------------------- From THE STORRS FAMILY by Charles Storrs-William R. Storrs lives at Standing Stone, Penn. on the Susquehanna River, seven miles from Towanda. He is a successful business man, having been a farmer and lumberman for the past twenty-five years with mills and timberlands on the waters of the West Bank near Williamsport, Penn. ----------------------------------------------------------------- From HISTORY OF TOWANDA by Heverly W.R. Storrs was a jury commissioner in 1867. In 1807 Pg 16 At the April session of the Luzerne Co. Court" upon the request of other citizens of Wysock, setting forth that owing to the inconvenience and at times the impossibility of crossing the river and praying for a new township to be set of on the west side of the river. Jonathan Stevens, M. Minor and John Taylor were appointed viewers at the November Court of 1807. They report in favor of a township to be called Towanda. ----------------------------------------------------------------- From BRADFORD CO. HISTORY printed in 1995 A ferry connected Standing Stone and Macedonia and was owned and operated by the Storrs family. They employed a man who ran the ferry and also resided in a house that years later became The Bradford Co. Outboard Motor Club. The ferryman was summoned by two bells situated on each side of the river. When a traveler wished to cross he would ring the bell and the ferryman would give service. For a price, the toll was 5 cents for passengers to be carried across in a row boat. If the ferry boat had to be used for the trip the toll was 15 cents for a horse and buggy and 25 cents for a team and load. The ferry was used extensively in the summer for transportation of hay and produce from the farms on the other side of the river to Standing Stone. The ferry was also an important link for the Asylum Township residents to receive needed goods from the railway station on the opposite side of the river. It is said that the preacher at Standing Stone Universalist church had a deal for many years with the ferryman to bring members of his congregation across the river free of charge. --------------------------------------------------------------- From BRADFORD COUNTY HISTORY -1995 A ferry connected Standing Stone and Macedonia and was owned by the Storrs family. They employed a man who ran the ferry and also resided in a house that years later became the Bradford County Outboard Motor Club. The ferryman was summoned by two bells situated on each side of the rover. When a traveler wished to cross he would ring the bell and the ferryman would render service for a price. The price was cents a passenger to be carried across in a row boat.If the ferry boat had to be employed for the trip, the toll was 15 cents for a horse and buggy ( round trip ) and 25 cents for a team and load. The ferry was used extensively in the summer for the transportation of hay and produce from the farms from the south side of the river over to Standing Stone. The ferry also was an important link for Asylum Township residents to receive needed good from the railway station on the opposite side of the river. It is said that the preacher of the Standing Stone Universalist Church had a deal for many years with the ferryman to bring members of his congregation across the river free of charge. ----------------------------------------------------------------A note of interest from Herb Holland- Wm Rogers Storrs and his wife, Ellen Stevens Storrs paid for my grandmother, May Lane's, passage from Ireland and she paid them back by working as their hired girl for a year or two. She brought her baby brother, Bartholomew Lane, with her and he was raised by the Storrs after Mary left their service and married my great grandfather, Benjamin Bride, abt 1854. The 1860 census shows Bartholomew. age 13, still living with the Storrs family. The same census shows Hattie 9, Marion age 1 and Wm.B. age 3. Harriet died at the age of 45 and Wm at age of 30 but Marion and Lillian lived much longer. After their home burned down, the two Storrs girls, as they were always known, lived on a hill right at the end of the Standing Stone bridge across the Susquehanna River. I remember, as a child, hearing the adults talking about them as we passed the house in an old model T Ford car. The house is still there but Marian died in 1941 and Lillian in 1950. The bridge is gone now,lost in the 1972 flood.I have always thought it interesting that Mary Lane Bride's youngest daughter,Mary, married William and Ellen's first grand nephew, Joseph Minor Stevens.
The William R. Storrs family were the most wealthy in Macedonia. Asylum Twp. and one of the wealthiest in Bradford Co.Pa.
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There is a plat map of Antelope Co. Nebr. and the land owned by William R Storrs in my files.