Notes for: John W. Bodine
The 1880 Census of Lewis, Lycoming Co., PA for Samuel Bodine lists the birth place of his father as New York and of his mother as Pennsylvania. This may show a problem in relating this John to Samuel, husband of Elizabeth Oaks.
John W. Bodine was baptized as John Badein. There were no witnesses. IGI has a Johannes, born or baptized on July 6, 1790, the son of Jacob and Mary. Is this the same John or did the first one die and they named their second son, Johannes as well? - This note came from the Svaronka web site.
A Pickel web site says that John was born on March 29, 1785. No source was given.
There is a transcription of the Bodines Cemetery at the www.usgennet.org site. It says John died on August 27, 1858 at age 71 y 4 m 28 d. As long as this is accurate, then this would mean he was born about March 30, 1787. Unless I get better information, I will go with that. I did have a birthdate of March 29, 1788 and a death date of March 28, 1858 which came from an article in the Jerseyman, but this cemetery info looks better.
John and Barbara Smithgall came to Lewis on Lycoming Creek in April of 1838. John was a contractor for laying down track for a "strap railroad" between the town that is now called Bodines and the town of Ralston. When the work on the railroad finished, John settled there and his place became known as the town of Bodines. It is still on the map today. It was also called Bodinesville at one time. This comes from the "History of Lycoming County, Pennsylvania," page 635. The article says John was born in 1785 in Hunterdon County, New Jersey and died at his home in Lewis Township in 1857.
In information in the Best-Bodine data from LDS, the wife of a descendant, Mrs. Theodore Alan Bodine of Akron, Ohio, said that when John Bodine came to Bodines (PA), his oldest son Jacob was with him. Samuel, a younger son, was working on the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal somewhere else. When he finished that job, he had been paid off in script. Samuel then stopped off to visit his father and brother on his way to Kankakee, Illinois. His money was no good; so he stayed in Bodines. His brother Jacob was injured and died in 1849; so Samuel stayed at home. Samuel paid his father for the property and so he inherited everything. Since Robert's mother, Lucy (Bodine) Clendennin, took care of him Clendennin got "the clock."
Note: This clock seems to be some kind of Bodine heirloom. Lucy was Samuel T. Bodine's daughter. She married a Clendennin (sp?). This data goes on to say that Theodore was "the son of Truman Bodine, son of John W. Bodine. This John is a son of Jacob, a nephew of Samuel, a grandson of John." This is somewhat confusing, but it seems to say that Jacob was the nephew of a Samuel Bodine. That might help figure this line out some, but it seems strange that one would know that Jacob was the nephew of a Samuel Bodine. How did that happen? This may just refer to one of the Samuels in this immediate family.
Moving on, they became members of the Presbyterian Church in 1847. This began from their son's, Samuel Bodine, Sunday School. Some of those who attended the church were John Bodine, Barbara Bodine (this couple), Jacob Bodine, Margaret Bodine (probably their son, Jacob, and his wife, Margaret Keller), Catharine Lusk, Mary Bodine (maybe this John's widowed mother), John S. Apker and Jane Apker. Others were Manoch Alder, Thomas Keys, Elizabeth Gray, Robert Clendenin, John Field, Margaret Field, and Mary Jane Roberts.
A John Ream was living with them at the time of the 1860 Census of Lycoming, Pennsylvania. He was born June 2, 1776 in Calico Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
Sources: History of Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, edited by John F. Meginness. Chicago, IL: Brown, Runk & Co., Publishers. 1892 (p. 635). And History of Lycoming County, edited by D. J. Stewart. Philadelphia, PA: J. B. Lippincott & Co. 1876 (pp. 76 - 77).
I believe the Bodine House B & B was once owned by Barbara (Smithgall) Bodine. It is now a bed and breakfast. The owner, David Smith, wrote me the house got its name because there were, reportedly, six or seven generations of Bodine relatives that lived in the house they purchased in 1978. Most weren't named Bodine, however, because the house was passed down through daughters, not sons. The first Bodine to live here was Barbara Bodine who came circa 1863 from somewhere in northern Pennsylvania. David said that there is a town named "Bodines" north of the Bodine House along State Route 14. The Bodine House has a web site, but I don't have the url right now. The address is 307 S. Main Street, Muncy, PA 17756. The phone is (570) 546-8949. The email address is "bodine at pcspower.net".
Here is a picture and a promo from the web site:
The Bodine House Bed and Breakfast is located on a tree-lined street in historic Muncy, Pennsylvania in the Susquehanna River Valley, about 10 minutes drive from Interstate 80 via Interstate 180.
Built in 1805, The Bodine House has been authentically restored and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Many of the furnishings throughout the house are antiques.
Guests may relax and enjoy the atmosphere of an age when life moved at a slower pace. Take a short walk to the center of Muncy with its shops, movie theater, restaurant, library and churches, or borrow one of our bicycles and ride the quiet tree-lined streets flanked by architecture from the last three centuries.
Update: From what I can see online, this Bed & Breakfast seems to be for sale or has been sold.
From Ronny Bodine:
From: History of Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, ed. by John F. Meginness, Chicago, 1892, p. 635
Another early settler on Lycoming creek was John Bodine. He came there in April, 1838, and was employed as a contractor in laying the track of the "strap railroad" between Bodines and Ralston. When the work was finished he settled there and his place came to be known as Bodines, a name which it bears to this day. His son, Samuel Bodine, born June 12, 1814, near Allentown, Pennsylvania, followed his father in 1839, and remained. He now ranks as an old settler. John Bodine was born in Hunterdon county, New Jersey, in 1785, and died at his home in 1857.
From Pennsylvania Federal Census Records:
1840 Hepburn Twp., Lycoming Co.: John BODINE males 1(15-19), 3(20-29), 1(50-59); females 1(15-19), 1(20-29), 1(50-59). [Living next door to Jacob Bodine]
1850 (7 Nov) Lewis Twp., Lycoming County: John BODINE 62 PA lumberman; Barbara 62 PA; John REAM 75 PA.
1860 (16 July) Lewis Twp., Lycoming Co. (Family 607/709): Babra BODINE 73 PA; John REAM 84 PA.
Burials in Pennsdale Cemetery, Bodines, Lycoming County.
John Bodine died Aug. 27, 1858 aged 71 y 4m 28 d [= born 30 March 1787]
Barbara Bodine died Oct. 19, 1863