The-Mills-and-elisha-a-coray

The Mills And Elisah A. Coray

   The picturesque glen situated near the mouth of Sutton's Creek, now owned by the Simko family, played an important role in early history of Exeter Township, and its influence reached even to financial circles in New York's Wall Street.

    On this site, in 1776, James Sutton and James Hadsall erected the first saw and grist mills, very necessary to the life of early settlers.

    Two years later, when Indians and Tories raided the settlements along the Susquehanna, the mill was destroyed and Hadsall killed.

    Not until several years afterward was a second mill constructed on the same location by Samuel Sutton, son of the original partner.

    No one could possibly discount the importance of both mills to the sturdy pioneers who settled on farms in the hills of Exeter Township. In 1776 when the township included Ransom and Franklin Township, it boasted 70 taxable inhabitants, 41 horses and 165 head of horned cattle.

    It was the third mill, however, constructed in the 1840's, which launched a remarkable financial career, the influence of which was felt in international circles.

    Elisha Atherton Coray, who built the third mill, was born in 1822 of humble beginnings on a farm three miles from Scranton in what was at that time Luzerne County, now Lackawanna County.

    After the death of his mother when he was five, Coray lived most of the formative years of his life with an aunt in Kingston and later Wilkes-Barre.
    His father, David Coray, became active in lumbering operations along the Lehigh River but was killed in an accident at his logway when the boy was 11.

    It was in 1846, when Elisha Coray was 24, that he purchased what was known as the Sutton property at the mouth of Sutton's Creek, approximately 140 acres including timber land and the lovely glen through which the creek winds down to the Susquehanna. Here he built a home and store, and later the third mill in the glen.

    This mercantile business was the beginning of a financial empire which included banking, coal operations, real estate and railroading. Just before the Civil War, when Coray had already amassed a fortune, he decided to play the stock market. Selling his coal lands, Coray moved to New York and became a member of the New York    Stock Exchange and a financial power in Wall Street circles. During his career in New York City, Coray was associated with leading financiers, Daniel Drew, Jim Fisk and Jay Gould. These men frequently consulted Coray in regard to finanical policies.

    His financial career was nothing short of spectacular. As with anyone who plays the stock market, he had his up's and down's, but through it all, his remarkable optimism never deserted him.

    At the peak of his career, he is reported to have been a millionaire many times over. Then came "Black Friday" in September 1869, and the fortune which Coray amassed in so short a time was wiped out even more rapidly. Within a 24-hour period, Coray was penniless.

    Coray eventually returned to Exeter Township to live his remaining days with a nephew in the home he himself had built. A legendary figure, he maintained his optimism to the end of his life which came when he was 88 years of age.

    The old mill which stood for 30 years after Coray's death, was torn down in 1938, but the beautiful old house, once a show place, still stands across the road from the glen.