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FAMILIES

\A/yoming Valley

Biographical, Genealogical, and Historical.

Sketches of the Bench and Bar

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OF LUZERNE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

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GEO. B. KULP,

Hl.STOKIOGR.\l'HRK OF THE WYOMINC HISTORICAL AND GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

" Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us. "

" Which he commanded our fathers that they should make them known to their children. "

" That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born, who
should arise and declare them to their children. " — Psalms Ixxviii : 3, j, 0.

' Those who do not treasure up the memory of their ancestors, do not deserve to be remembered
ky posterity. " — Edmund Burke.

IN THREE VOI^UMES.

VOL. II.

WILKES-BARRE, PENNSYLVANIA.
1889.

J J J J J J J ,

E. B. YoRDY. Printer,
Wilkes-Barre, Pa.

• » T • » • •
• • •»• ••• •
• •• ••^ •*

• * • • •

• • • • « •

■ • •• •• •

»•• .•• • •

To MY FEIEND

Hon. LAZARUS DENISON SHOEMAKER.

WHO.SE PATEENAL GKAXDFATHEE, LIEUTENANT ELIJAH
8H0EMAKEE, WAS SLAIN, AND WHOSE MATEENAL GEAND-

FATHEB, Colonel Nathan Denison, gallantly led the

LEFT WING OF THE AMEEICAN AEMY' AT THE EVEE JIEM-
OEABLE BATTLE AND MASSACEE OF WYOMING; AN HON-
OEED MEMBEE OF THE LlZEENE BAE, WHOSE PUBLIC AND
PEIYATE LIFE HAS SO CEEDITABLY FULFILLED THE PEOM-
ISES OF SO DISTINGUISHED AN ANCESTEY", THIS VOLXtmE
IS EESPECTFT'LLY DEDICATED BY

The Author.

PREFACE.

In continuation of the design of the author of " Families of
the Wyoming Valley," as set out in the preface to the first vol-
ume, this second volume is presented. That design, it will be re-
membered, covered the biographies, and as far as possible, the
genealogical records of the families from whom the members of
the Luzerne bar, past and present, descended.

Even though there had not been intention and promise of a
second volume, the flattering reception accorded the first, and the
many important and interesting facts developed in a mere cursory
inquiry regarding the lives of those not contained in it, would
have prompted, not to say compelled, the present one.

And right here is, perhaps, the best place to announce that a
third volume has been found necessary, and been decided upon.
It will be devoted mainly to the lives of the departed members
of the bench and bar, those who had ceased to be when this work
was commenced ; and when it is remembered that it will include
such illustrious names as those of Cooper, Griffin, Mallery,
Denison, Catlm. Conyngham, Woodward, Kidder, Jones, Wright,
Ketcham, and other eminent men, the need of such a volume
becomes clearly manifest.

In this book will be found the biographies of the non-resi-
dent members of the Luzerne bar, as well as of those hving and
resident, whose admission to practice came subsequently to Jan-
uary 20th, 1876 (with a few exceptions.) The work herein has
been as complete as the most painstaking and conscientious re-
search could make it.

It is not pretended that absolute completeness or absolute ac-
curacy has been attained, but every available source of reliable

vi Preface.

information has been exhausted in each case before the author
was willing to rest content with his work and commit it to the
perpetuating record of the types. There may be occasional er-
rors as to facts and dates, and where judgment has been ventured
in measuring the qualities and capacities of the subjects of the
biographies, it is highly probable that in some cases it will be
found faulty in one direction or the other ; but that criticism may
be safely proffered, no matter how well trained or otherwise
strongly fortified the judgment considered may have been, and
the author of these books makes no pretence of infallibility or
even of exceptional capacity for wise estimate of men. He feels,
nevertheless, that his work has been done very patiently, and as
thoroughly as the circumstances would allow, and offers it to the
reader in calm confidence of its worthiness of a place on the
shelves of the library of every man or woman who for any rea-
son has an interest in the history or the people of the Wyoming-
valley.

The prime purpose in the production of many books is the ex-
altation of the author as a man of genius and consequence.
Such, however, is not the aim of these volumes. Without any
pretence to the qualities of authorship, he has, nevertheless,
sought diligently, with much labor and no little expense, to com-
pile certain personal records in honor of a noble profession, and
of a locality rich, not only in the bounties of nature, but in the
fruits of the genius of its men and women — records without having
perused which, it is safe to say, no acquaintance with all that is
most important and most interesting in the history of Wyoming
and its families, can fairly be called complete.

Acknowledgment has come from many sources that the
sketches in the first volume contain many hitherto unrecorded
facts of much more than ordinary moment in connection with
that history, and this volume, it is believed, will be found equally
fertile in a similar yielding. To the descendants of those the

Preface.

VI 1

principal incidents in whose lives are here set down, these books
must prove well nigh invaluable. Those who do not feel an
eagerness to know and a just pride in recalling the records of the
honorable achievements of the families from which they have
sprung is callous to one of the noblest promptings of the human
heart. Feeling that these books will be an aid to the indulgence
of those promptings, throughout all this vicinity, in the years to
come, and that they will be prized for that reason, if for no other,
the author sends this volume forth, asking only that tolerant
judgment to which laborers in such difficult fields as those of
biographical and genealogical research are fairly entitled.

Wilkes-Barre, Pa., March, 1889.

FAMILIES

WYOMING VALLEY.

OSCAR JEWELL HARVEY.

Oscar Jewell Harvey was born in VVilkes-Barre, Pa., September
2, 1851. He is a descendant of Turner Harvey, an Englishman
who lived in the reign of Henry VIH., and was a noted archer and
warrior and a great favorite of King Henry. It is said of Turner
Harvey that he was in his time the mightiest man with his bow
in all England, or of any age ; and it is added that at his death
there was no man in England who could spring his bow. This
bow was a family relic in the time of William Harvey, the
emigrant, and remained with the English branch of the family.
The great-grandson of Turner Harvey was William Harvey, of
Taunton, England. He emigrated to America among the first
colonists of Plymouth, and with sixteen others from that colony
purchased from the Indians, for a peck of beans, certain lands,
and founded the present town of Taunton, Mass. He was a rep-
resentative in 1664 and for thirteen years afterwards. He had
children, Thomas and Elizabeth. Elizabeth married a Harvey,
an emigrant from England, and from this union and that of her
brother Thomas sprang nearly all of the name in New England.
John Harvey, a descendant of Thomas Harvey, died at Lyme,
New London county, Conn., in 1705. He had settled in Lyme
as early as 1682, having come from Essex county, Mass. He
had served as a soldier in the great Narragansett fight, Decem-
ber 19, 1675, in which he was wounded. His son, John, received
certain lands on account of his father's service in the battle.

5o6 Oscar Jewell Harvey,

\^-^ ^

Benjamin Harvey, youngest son of John Harvey, jun., was a
native of Lyme, where he was born July 28, 1722. His wife,
Ehzabeth, died in Lyme December 3, 1771, and in the fall of
1772 Benjamin Harvey emigrated to the Wyoming Valley with
his children, Lois, Lucy, Benjamin, Silas, and Elisha, and settled
in the lower end of Plymouth township. His second wife was
Catharine Draper, widow of Major Simeon Draper, of Kings-
ton. They had no children. Major Draper was one of the early
members of the Susquehanna Land Company, and one of the
first Forty of Kingston. Mr. Harvey was a man of intelligence
and possessed of considerable means (at the time of his death he
was one of the richest men in the valley), and became prominent
among the Wyoming settlers. Charles Miner, the historian,
said of him : " He was esteemed one of the most considerate,
prudent men among those who first established themselves in
the valley. He was the intimate friend, and frequently the con-
fidential adviser, of Colonel Zebulon Butler, they having for-
merly been neighbors (at Lyme, Conn.) He was often em-
ployed in situations of trust and delicacy, and his opinions were
regarded with marked respect." He died in Plymouth Novem-
ber 27, 1795. One hundred years ago, and even seventy-five
years ago, there were a great many Harveys in Lyme. They
were all well-to-do, and owned a great deal of land. The family
were connected by marriage with many of the prominent families
of New London county — the Seldons, Colts, Waites (of which
Chief Justice Waite, United States Supreme Court, is a descend-
ant), Beckwiths (Rev. George Beckwith, one of the earliest minis-
ters in Wyoming, was a descendant), Brockways, and Rathbones.
There is now not one of the name of Harvey in Lyme. Benja-
min Harvey, jun., son of Benjamin Harvey, was the first merchant
in Plymouth. In 1774 he started a small retail store in the log
house of his father, and located very near the site of the Chris-
tian church building. He was a soldier in Captain Robert Dur-
kee's company of Wyoming Volunteers, attached to Colonel
John Durkee's regiment of infantry in the American army. He
died in service in March, 1777, an unmarried man. Silas, another
son of Benjamin Harvey, sen., was killed in the battle and mas-
sacre of Wyoming. He was also unmarried. Elisha Harvey

Oscar Jewell Harvey. 507

was the youngest son of Benjamin Harvey, sen. He married,
in 1786, Rosanna Jameson, daughter of Robert and Agnes Jame-
son, who came to Wyoming from Voluntown, Windham county^
Conn., in 1776. In December, 1780, he was made a prisoner by
the Indians in one of their incursions into the valley, and con-
veyed to Canada. He was detained there until August, 1782,
when he was enabled to return to his home. Exposure to the
severe climate of Canada and harsh treatment by his captors,
broke down his constitution, and eventually caused his death,
which occurred in Plymouth township March 14, j8oo, at the
age of forty-two. The Wilkes-Barre Gazette of March 18, 1800,
in referring to his death said, inter alia : " For his uprightness,
he lived much esteemed by all who knew him ; and died not less
lamented. Notwithstanding" his agricultural pursuits forbid him
to mix so much with men as some, yet his virtues were many
and his exemplary conduct not less distinguishable * * and
when called to bid adieu to sublunary enjoyments, he was re-
signed to the sleep of death, with the comfortable hope of awak-
ening among the blest of God." His second son, Jameson Har-
vey, was born January i, 1796, and died July 4, 1885. He was
the father of our townsmen William Jameson Harvey and Henry
Harrison Harvey. Benjamin Harvey, eldest son of Elisha Har-
vey, was born May 9, 1792, and married, July 9, 18 15, Sally,
daughter of Abram Nesbitt, of Plymouth township. He was
the son of James Nesbitt, who emigrated from Connecticut in
1769, and was one of the Forty. His name appears on the list
of settlers of the valley made out by Colonel Zebulon Butler on
July 24, 1769, and also upon a list prepared by Colonel Butler of
the persons in the fort at Wilkes-Barre on April 12, 1770. He
made his " pitch " at the foot of Ant Hill, Plymouth, where he
resided with his family during the remainder of his life, and
which was also the residence of his two sons, Abram and James,
during their respective lives, after him. He returned to Con-
necticut in 1774, on account of the Pennamite and Yankee
troubles, but came back to Plymouth in 1777. From this period
he remained on his farm to the time of his death, July 2, 1792.
He was, therefore a resident of the town at the time of the
Wyoming battle and massacre. He was in the Wyoming battle

5o8 Oscar Jewell Harvey.

and one of the survivors of Captain Whittlesey's company. The
name of James Nesbitt appears in the proceedings of several of
the early town meetings of Plymouth. He was an officer of a
meeting held December 6, 1779, and was also one of the justices
of the county court on the organization of Luzerne county May
27, ^7^7- James Nesbitt, jun., a son of Abram and brother of
Mrs, Harvey, was a member of the first board of directors of the
Wyoming (National) Bank, and remained a member several
years. In 1832 he was elected sheriff of Luzerne county, and in
1835 was a member of the legislature of Pennsylvania. Abram
Nesbitt, of Kingston, is the son of James Nesbitt, jun. On the
organization of the Second National Bank of Wilkes-Barre in
1863, he was elected a member of the board of directors, and
has remained in that position since. In 1871 he was elected vice
president of the bank, which office he held until 1877, when he
was elected president, which office he now fills. He has been a di-
rector of the Central Poor District for about fifteen years, and treas-
urer most of the time. He has been a member of the borough
council of Kingston about three-quarters of the time, and school
director for about one-half of the time since the organization of
the borough. He is one of the trustees of Wyoming Seminary,
a director of the Wyoming Valley Coal Company, and trustee
and treasurer of the Forty Fort Cemetery Association.

Of other children of Elisha Harvey, Sarah married the late
Rev. George Lane, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and
Elizabeth married Thomas Pringle, of Kingston, father of the
late Alexander J. Pringle, of Kingston. Benjamin Harvey, in
the spring of 18 16, moved from Plymouth to Huntington town-
ship, in this county, where he owned a large tract of land and
a grist mill. Here he lived the balance of his life a prosperous
and wealthy farmer and man of business. He died in 1873 at
the age of eighty-one years, respected and beloved by all who
knew him.

Elisha B. Harvey, son of Benjamin Harvey, and father of Oscar
J. Harvey, was born in Huntington township, at what is now
Harvey ville, October i, 1819. He remained at home until the
fall of 1837, when he entered the grammar school connected
with Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pa. He remained there nearly

Oscar Jewell Harvey. 509

a year, and then became a student in the Franklin Academy, near
Harford, Susquehanna county, Pa. Among his fellow-students
at this academy were several who in later life became men of
prominence — Galusha A. Grow, Charles R. Buckalew, Thomas
Bowman, D. D., LL. D., and others. Subsequently he entered
the academy of" Deacon" Dana in Wilkes-Barre, and early in
August, 1841, at the age of twenty-two, he entered the freshman
class of VVesleyan University, Middletown, Conn., in which in-
stitution his cousin, Harvey B. Lane, was at that time professor
of Latin and Greek. Among his fellow-students and most inti-
mate friends in college were several young men who afterwards
attained eminence in the world: E. O. Haven, bishop of the
Methodist Episcopal Church, and his cousin. Rev. Gilbert
Haven, author and editor; James Strong, D. D., professor in
Drew Theological Seminary and' author of" Harmony of the
Gospels," etc. ; Hon. Dexter R. Wright, of Connecticut ; Hon.
Cornelius Cole, United States senator from California, 1867 to
1873; Orange Judd, of New York; and Professor Alexander
Winchell. the scientist. Mr. Harvey was a faithful and energetic
student and graduated from the university with honor in the
summer of 1845. In September, 1845, ^^^ became professor of
Greek and Latin in the Wyoming Seminary, Kingston, Pa., then
in the second year of its existence. At that time Rev. Reuben
Nelson was principal, W. W. Ketcham, subsequently a promi-
nent member of the Luzerne county bar, and later a United
States district judge, was professor of mathematics, and among
the students who recited to Professor Harvey were several young
men who afterwards became well-known citizens of Luzerne
county and of the state of Pennsylvania; Henry M. Hoyt, ex-
governor of Pennsylvania, being among the number. During
the period of his connection with the Seminary Mr. Harvey was
registered as a student at law in the office of Charles Denison,
and when not engaged with the duties of his professorship he
devoted his time to the study of Blackstone. In June, 1846, he
resigned his position in the seminary, and soon thereafter enter-
ing in earnest on the study of the law, was admitted to the bar
of Luzerne county November 4, 1847. While Mr. Harvey's
profession was the law, and in it he worked for nearly twenty-five

5IO Oscar Jewell Harvey.

years, achieving much success, yet, from the start, he was ahnost
continually interested and engaged in certain other duties and
pursuits which occupied much of his time. From early youth
up he had a great fondness for military affairs. When only
twenty years of age he was elected captain of the Huntington
Rifle Company, and at the age of twenty-nine he was elected
and commissioned, for the term of five years, lieutenant-colonel
in the Pennsylvania Militia, and at the age of thirty-four years
he was elected and commissioned brigade inspector of the Sec-
ond Brigade, Ninth Division, Pennsylvania Militia, for the term
of five years. In May, 1855, a military company was organized
in Wilkes-Barre on the basis of the old " Wyoming Artillerists,"
and bore the same name. Elisha B. Harvey was elected cap-
tain and commissioned for a term of five years. He held the
offices and performed the duties of brigade inspector and captain
of the " Wyoming Artillerists" until July, 1859, when he was
elected major general of the Ninth Division Pennsylvania Militia.
The following October the election was contested, and because
of certain irregularities it was decided that Mr. Harvey had not
received a sufficient number of legal votes to elect him. The
election was therefore declared void. On April 22, 1861, Mr.
Harvey began the formation of a company of infantry to be
called the " Wilkes-Barre Guard." Eighty-seven men were soon
enlisted, and they offered their services to the state government,
but were not accepted, as the quota had been filled prior to the
time their services had been offered. In May, 1861, Captain
Harvey recruited another company under the name of the
"Wyoming Bank Infantry," and on June 13 they left Wilkes-
Barre for West Chester, Pa., where, on June 26, the Seventh
Regiment of the Reserve Corps was organized with three com-
panies from Philadelphia, two each from Cumberland and Leba-
non counties, one each from Perry and Clinton counties, and
Captain Harvey's company from Luzerne county. Mr. Harvey
was elected colonel of the regiment, his competitor for the office
being Captain R. M. Henderson, of Carlisle, who was a promi-
nent member of the bar of Cumberland county, and is now pres-
ident judge of the Twelfth judicial district of Pennsylvania. The
regiment remained at Camp Wayne until the battle of Bull Run

Oscar Jewell Harvey. 5 1 1

was fought, at which time a requisition was made by the national
government onthe state of Pennsylvania for the immediate ser-
vice of its " Reserve Corps." The regiment left West Chester
July 22, 1 86 1, for Washington via Harrisburg and Baltimore,
and five days afterwards the officers and men were mustered into
the service of the United States and became a part of the Army
of the Potomac. Their first experience of active service was at
Great Falls, on the Potomac above Washington, where they did
picket duty for two weeks, the skirmishers of the regiment being
face to face with, and in close proximit}' to, those of the enemy.
On September 9, 1861, the regiment removed to Tenallytown,
near Washington, and on October 9, following, advanced from
Tenallytown into Virginia, where it was made the right of the
Army of the Potomac, which position it held until the close of
the Peninsular campaign. Soon after this they went into winter
quarters at Camp Pierpont, Va. Colonel Harvey remained in
camp with his regiment during the winter of 1861-62, and the
succeeding spring worked diligently and persistently to bring
his command up to the highest standard in drill and discipline.
The first great conflict (Mechanicsville) in the Seven Days' Bat-
tle before Richmond, fell upon the Reserves, who, almost single
handed breasted the torrent of the attack. General McCall, in his
official report of the battle, said," I dispatched the Seventh Regi-
ment, Colonel Harvey, to the extreme left, apprehending that the
enemy might attempt to turn that flank. Here they maintained
their position, and sustained their character for steadiness in fine
style, never retiring one foot during a severe struggle with
some of the very best troops of the enemy fighting under the
direction of their most distinguished general [R. E. Lee]. In
the battles at Gaine's Mill, Charles City Cross Roads, and Mal-
vern Hill, Colonel Harvey's command fought with a determina-
tion and bravery unsurpassed, the flower of the regiment being
cut down in these sanguinary struggles." The regiment num-
bered eight hundred and sixty-three men when it went into the
Seven Days' conflict, and three hundred and fifty-three when it
came out of the last battle. The hardships during this week of
battles have rarely been exceeded, and at the close Colonel Har-
vey found himself completely prostrated. He had been bruised

512 Oscar Jewell Harvey.

on the shoulder by a piece of an exploding shell, struck on the
neck by a spent minie-ball, and severely bruised and injured by
being thrown to the ground by the runaway horses of an artillery
caisson. In addition to these injuries he had an attack of rheu-
matism of such a type as to preclude further service in the field.
Consequently, July 4, 1862, he tendered his resignation, which
was accepted, and he was " honorably discharged from the mili-
tary service of the United States." Colonel Harvey's interest in
military matters was only exceeded by the interest he took in
educational affairs. His connection with the Wyoming Semi-
nary has already been referred to. In 1849 ^^ ^'^^ elected sec-
retary of the school board of Wilkes-Barre borough, and from
that time until he entered the army he was, as secretary and
director, closely identified with, and deeply interested in, the
public schools of the town. He was one of the incorporators ot
the Wilkes-Barre Female Institute, established in 1854, and a
member of its first board of trustees. In 1863 he opened a
" Classical and Mathematical Institute," for both sexes, which
was kept open until 1869. He was also more or less in public
life. In 1849 and 1850 he was chairman of the Luzerne county
committee of the democratic-whig party, and in August, 1850,
he presided over the county convention of that party, and was
nominated for the state legislature. At the same time L. D.
Shoemaker was nominated for the office of district attorney, G.
W. Palmer for sheriff, and Henry M. Fuller for congress ; but at
the election in October Messrs. Palmer and Fuller were the only
successful ones of the four candidates. The same year he was
deputy attorney general for Luzerne county. In 1854 he was
elected as the candidate of the whig party, register of wills of
Luzerne county for the term of three years. From 1850 to 1861
he was clerk of the Wilkes-Barre borough council; from 1852
to i860 collector of taxes of Wilkes-Barre borough; from 1857
to i860 clerk of the markets and sealer of weights and measures
for the same borough ; and from 1856 to 1861 chief of police of
the borough of Wilkes-Barre. In May, 1865, Colonel Harvey
was elected burgess of Wilkes-Barre. In 1866 he was elected a
justice of the peace for the First ward of Wilkes-Barre for the
term of five years, and in 1871 he was elected to serve a second

Oscar Jewell Harvey. 513

term. When Wilkes-Barre was incorporated into a city he be-
came, by virtue of his office, alderman of the Fourth ward of the
city. At the charter election for city officers in June, 1871, he
was a candidate for the mayoralty. His opponent was Ira M.
Kirkendall (a democrat), who was elected. Mr. Harvey was one
of the corporators, for a long time secretary and treasurer, and
ultimately sequestrator, of the Wilkes-Barre and Providence
Plank Road Company. From 1859 to 1861 he was one of the
directors of the Wyoming Bank, at Wilkes-Barre. He was an
active member of the Pennsylvania State Agricultural Society,
the Luzerne county Agricultural Society, the Wyoming Histor-
ical and Geological Society, the Wilkes-Barre Law and Library
Association, and before the days of a paid fire department, was
president and an active member of one of the Wilkes-Barre fire
companies. He was also for many years a local preacher of the
Methodist Episcopal Church. Colonel Harvey died at his home
in Wilkes-Barre, August 20, 1872, after a long and tedious
illness — the result of over work and nervous prostration — and
was buried in Hollenback Cemetery with military and Masonic
honors.

Mr. Harvey was twice married. The first time, October 8,
1845, to Phebe Maria Frisbie, a daughter of Chauncey Frisbie,
of Orwell, Bradford county, Pa. She died at Wilkes-Barre, June
7, 1849, leaving only one child, Olin Frisbie Harvey, M. D.
Mr. Frisbie was born November 16, 1787, at Burlington, Hart-
ford county, Conn., and was a son of Levi and Phebe [Gaylord)
Frisbie. Phebe Gaylord was a daughter of Lieutenant Asher
Gaylord, slain in the battle and massacre of Wyoming. Chaun-
cey Frisbie was at one time treasurer of Bradford county, also
postmaster at Orwell, and held various positions of trust. His
eldest son, Hanson Z. Frisbie, studied law with Colonel Harvey,
and was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county August 5, 1850.
He now resides at Grantville, Kan. Colonel Harvey's second
wife, whom he married July 8, 1850, was Sarah Maria Garretson,
a native of Readington, Hunterdon county, N. J. She was the
eldest child of Stephen and Mary Ann {Urguhart) Garretson.
Mrs. Garretson is still living. She was born October 31, 1797,
at Readington, and was the eldest child of George and Sarah

514 Oscar Jewell Harvey.

{Pittciigc}^ Urquhart. George Urquhart was born in Scotland
January 17, 1767, and came to America in 1786. He was for
nearly his whole lifetime a school teacher. Captain John Urqu-
hart, father of George Urquhart, M. D., of this city, and Samuel
A. Urquhart of Pittston, was the second child of George Urqu-
hart. Mrs. Harvey died in this city Aug'ust 21, 1875. [For the
material facts connected with the Harvey family we are indebted
to advance shpets of " History of Lodge No. 61, F. and A. M.,"
by Oscar J. Harvey, now in press.]

Oscar J. Harvey was prepared for college by his father in his
Classical and Mathematical Institute, and for the year preceding
his entering college was an assistant teacher in the school. He
entered the freshman class of La Fayette College in September,
1867, a few days after his sixteenth birthday, and graduated B.
A. in 1 87 1, and was at that time elected historian of his class for
life. In 1874 he received the degree of A. M. After graduation
Mr. Harvey returned to Wilkes-Barre and spent the ensuing
year in his father's office as clerk. In July, 1872, he was elected
professor of mathematics and higher English in the Wyoming
Seminary, at Kingston, and in September following entered upon
his duties. He remained in the institution until July, 1873, when
he resigned the position. He then entered the law office of
Wright (C. E.) and Hand (I. P.), and in October, 1875, passed
his examination for admission to the bar. C. E. Rice, W. S.
McLean, and J. Vaughan Darling being the examining commit-
tee. The court not being in session he could not be admitted
at the time, and on November 6, he started on a trip through
Europe for travel and study. He returned home in May, 1876,
and was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county May 16, 1876.
Mr. Harvey founded, in 1872, at La Fayette College, " The Har-
vey Prize for English," an annual prize of twenty dollars in gold
to the student of the junior class excelling in the English studies
of the year. He also contributed a collection of valuable books
to the college library, and was recording secretary of the Alumni
Association from 1874 to 1882. Upon the organization of the
Wilkes-Barre Fencibles, November 28, 1878, Mr. Harvey was
elected captain, and the Fencibles became Company B of the
Ninth Regiment of the National Guard of Pennsylvania. C

Oscar Jewell Harvey. 515

tain Harvey remained in command of the company till October
17, 1879, when he became commissary of the regiment. He
continued in this position until July 11, 1881, when he was dis-
charged under an act of the legislature of the state, cutting off
all commissaries and paymasters in the National Guard of Penn-
sylvania. Mr. Harvey has contributed articles to the Keynote, a
leading journal of New York City, devoted to dramatic and
musical matters, to the Magazine of American History, and other
publications. He has been secretary of the Mechanics' Loan and
Savings Association of Luzerne county since 1872 ; a director
of the Masonic Benefit Association since 1879; also a mem-
ber of the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society, and a
counsellor of the American Institute of Civics, of which Chief
Justice Waite, of the United States Supreme Court, is president.
Mr. Harvey married, June 23, 1880, Fannie Virginia Holding, of
West Chester, Pa., daughter of Eben B. and Martha P. {Smith)
Holding. Mr. Holding was born near Smyrna, Del., and was
the son of Richard and Elizabeth {Tillen) Holding, of Queen
Anne county, Md. Mrs. Harvey has two brothers, Samuel H.
Holding, the elder of whom, is assistant solicitor of the Cincin-
nati, Cleveland, Columbus, and Indianapolis Railroad Company
at Cleveland, O. ; and the other, G. A. McC. Holding, is the law
partner of R. E. Monaghan, of West Chester. Mr. and Mrs.
Harvey have three children: Thorndyke Harvey, Ethel Harvey,
and Helen Harvey, the latter two being twins. Circumstances
have lured Mr. Harvey from the practice of his profession to
other pursuits, probably more congenial to his nature, and possi-
bly more profitable. He now occupies the post of chief of a
division in the office of the third auditor of the United States
treasury department. The office has a fair salary attached
and the duties are important, and of a character Mr. Harvey's
legal training and general business acquirements give him special
fitness for. He has been a republican, though of late years not
very positively of that faith, and his appointment under these
circumstances was made in accordance with the pledge of Presi-
dent Cleveland, given at the time of his inauguration, to preserve,
as far as possible, the so-called non-political offices from partisan-
ism. Mr. Harvey has a decided leaning to literary endeavor,

5i6 Thomas Henry Atherton.

and in several magazine articles on various topics, principally of
a historical order, has evinced considerable literary ability. His
diction is clear and pleasing, his reasoning forcible, and his facts
are carefully collated and substantiated. He is at present engaged
in the preparation of a history of Lodge No. 6i, F. and A. M., of
this city, one of the oldest Masonic organizations in this part of
Pennsylvania, and whose membership has, from time to time, in-
cluded a large majority of the distinguished men of the Wyo-
ming Valley, not a few of whom have reached to enviable state
and national reputations. The publication will contain about
400 pages, 8vo., eleven portraits (engravings and photographs),
and ten wood-cuts. There is not much doubt but, had he cho-
sen to apply himself assiduously to the practice of the law, he
might have achieved both a good income and a fair distinction
thereat.

THOMAS HENRY ATHERTON.

Thomas Henry Atherton was born in Kingston township, Luz-
erne county. Pa., July 14, 1853. He is a descendant of Robert
Henry, who emigrated with his sons, John, Robert, and James
from Coleraine, Ireland, and settled on Doe Run, Chester county.
Pa., in 1722. Their ancestors were natives of Scotland. James
died young, leaving one child, who died in infancy, and Robert
removed to Virginia after his marriage to Mary A. Davis, of
Chester county. John Henry, son of Robert Henry, married
Elizabeth de Vinney, a daughter of Hugh de Vinney, who came
to Pennsylvania in 1723, and settled in Chester county. John
Henry died in 1744, and his wife Elizabeth in 1778, at Lancaster,
Pa. William Henry, eldest son of John Henry, was born in
Chester county. May 29, 1729, and after the death of his father
was apprenticed to Matthew Roeser a gunmaker in Lancaster.
Of his early youth but little is known. He possessed a mind
strong in its powers by nature, and while prevented by circum-
stances from obtaining a thorough scholastic education, he was
still ardently bent on the acquisition of knowledge. Soon after

Thomas Henry Atherton. 517

the expiration of his apprenticeship, in 1750, he commenced
business on his own account in Lancaster. Upon the breaking
out of the Indian War in the summer of 1754, he was appointed
armorer to the troops collected for Braddock's expedition, and
was ordered to Virginia. (Pittsburgh was then claimed to be in
Virginia.) After the defeat of the expedition he returned to
Lancaster, where he, as appears in a letter from Colonel Clap-
ham to Governor Morris, delivered two hundred stand of arms
for the use of the province. In 1756 he was married to Ann
Wood, a native of Burlington, N. J. She proved to him a
worthy helpmate during life, combining within herself every
qualification to render him happy in his marriage relations.
During the revolution she conceived the idea of making rag
carpets. This she carried out by making the first one in the
provinces or elsewhere. The war had rendered the luxury of a
carpet almost out of the question, and this invention tended to
supply the place of the imported article. In the year 1757 Mr.
Henry, as contracting armorer, was again called to Virginia, to
the army concentrating there upon the second outbreak of the
Indian War in that part of the colonies. After the campaign he
returned to Lancaster, where, in addition to the manufacture of
arms, he, in 1759, entered into partnership with Joseph Simon in
the iron and hardware business. In 1760, Mr. Henry, who sailed
for England on business for his firm, was shipwrecked in the Bay
of Biscay, and nine months elapsed from the time of his leaving
home before his arrival in England. Soon after his marriage the
introduction of Benjamin West .to him took place under the fol-
lowing circumstances, and we advert to this pleasing incident in
the life of William Henry with peculiar pleasure, as its relation
will disclose the character in a considerable degree of his appre-
ciation of the fine arts and his desire to encourage talent : West,
who was born October 10, 1738, was at the time this acquain-
tance took place (1756) about eighteen years of age and was
apprentice to a tinsmith of Lancaster named Metzger. Mr.
Henry observed him chalking figures on a board fence as he
was passing, and was led to enter into conversation with him.
West confessed that he desired to have paints and brushes to
exercise his favorite art. Thereupon Mr. Henry visited him at

5i8 Thomas Henry Atherton.

his bouse and soon provided him with these requisites, and dur-
ing his leisure hours he, in a short time, had made such progress
that he was induced to paint the portraits of both Mr. and Mrs.
Henry. These are now in possession of a great-grandson Hving
in Philadelphia. After having painted a few other portraits, Mr.
Henry suggested to him the propriety of devoting his talent to
historical subjects, and in a conversation mentioned the death of
Socrates as affording one of the best topics for illustrating the
moral effect of the art of painting. The young artist knew
nothing of the history of the great philosopher, and upon con-
fessing his ignorance Mr. Henry went to his library and took
down from one of its shelves a volume of Rollin's Ancient His-
tory (not Plutarch's Lives, as stated by Gait in his Life of West).
The frontispiece of one of the volumes contains an engraving
representing a slave in the act of handing the cup of poison to
Socrates. (This identical volume is now in the possession of
James Henry, of Nazareth). West commenced the painting
on a canvass thirty by forty-five inches, but having never yet
painted nude or semi-nude figures, he represented the difficulty
to his patron, whereupon one of Mr. Henry's workmen was sent
to him for a model (now in possession of James Harvey). West's
second picture was a landscape, which was also presented to Mr.
Henry. That West always cherished the most grateful remem-
brance towards Mr. Henry is known, and that this friendship was
reciprocated is evident from the fact that Mr. Henry named his
youngest son, who in riper years also became a painter of con-
siderable merit, after Benjamin West. In the year 1758 William
Henry was commissioned a justice of the peace in and for Lan-
caster county, and was in that capacity indefatigably engaged
when the murder of the Indians by the " Paxton Boys" took
place, in December of 1763. Mr. Henry was elected a member
of the American Philosophical Society March 20, 1767, on which
day David Rittenhouse was likewise elected. His certificate of
membership is signed by Benjamin Franklin as president, and
Samuel Vaughan, William White, and John Ewing. It is pleas-
ant to note the progress of such a man as William Henry from
the humble gunmaker's apprentice to membership in the Philo-
sophical Society, and to the wise and sanguine plans of the

Thomas Henry Atherton. 519

statesman, to which he was called subsequent to this period.
He rose by force of his native genius. Obstacles served only to
rouse his latent strength. Considerable facility to improve his
mind was afforded him by having access to the books of one
of the first libraries established in the provinces (the Juliana Li-
brary, of Lancaster). For many years the library was kept in
Mr. Henry's house. In the year 1768 Mr. Henry invented a
machine, an account of which will be found in the Philosophi-
cal Society's transactions, Vol. I., p. 350, and also in the Penn-
sylvania Gazette, July 7, 1768: "A description of a self-moving
or sentinel register, invented by William Henr3% of Lancaster,
and by him communicated to the American Society, held at
Philadelphia, for promoting useful knowledge."

If not the first, Pennsylvania was one of the first of the colonies
to enf^age in the great system of public improvements. She
merits unquestionably the credit of having attempted the first
canal. Already in 1762 it was proposed to connect the waters
of the Ohio with those of the Delaware, and as a part of the
plan, in 1771, the assembly took into consideration that great
advantages must accrue to the trade of the province in case an
inland navigation could be effected between the branches of the
rivers Susquehanna, Schuylkill, and Lehigh. The assembly ap-
pointed John Sellers, Benjamin Lightfoot, and Joseph Elliot a
commission " to examine the different branches of said rivers
lying nearest to each other, to measure by the most direct course
and distances between them, to observe the soil and other cir-
cumstances in the intermediate country and report how far the
said waters are or may be navigable up the branches thereof, and
whether the opening, or communication between them, for the
purposes of navigation or land carriage be practicable, etc., etc."
On September 24, 1771, the commission reported to assembly.
Benjamin Lightfoot resigned and William Henry was appointed
in his place. On January 13, 1772, Samuel Rhoads and John
Lukens were added to the commission, and two weeks later
David Rittenhouse. They reported to assembly January 30,
1773. Mr. Henry's name is appended to the non-importation
paper passed by merchants of Philadelphia in October of 1765,
At this early stage of the controversy between Great Britain and

520 Thomas Henry Athekton.

her American colonics, Mr. Henry warmly espoused the cause
of his country. His inventive genius developed itself more and
more. The sentinel register was followed in 177 1 by the in-
vention of the screw auger. A description of this was prepared
by his second son, John Joseph Henry, for a number of years
president judge of Lancaster, York and Dauphin counties, for
Rees' Encyclopedia, to be found under head of Auger. On Octo-
ber 12, 1776, he was elected a member of assembly from Lancas-
ter county. Among the committees on which he served were,
one to draught instructions to delegates in congress, and one
for a militia law. Mr. Henry's election to the assembly may be
considered his entry into public life. In March, 1776, he was or-
dered to manufacture two hundred rifles for Pennsylvania. His
workmen were exempted from draft so long as they continued in
his employ. On September 3, 1776, he was appointed a justice
of the peace by the legislature of Pennsylvania, and in October
following appointed to hear and determine and discharge the
prisoners in the county jail who were suspected of being inim-
ical to the revolution. In 1777 he was elected treasurer of
Lancaster county, and held the office until his death in 1786.
When the news reached Lancaster of the treaty between France
and the United States (1778) William Henry personally paid for
the illumination of the town in honor of the event. During the
revolution he also held the office of deputy commissary of Lan-
caster county, and, under Washington's order, in 1777, collected
blankets, shoes, stockings, clothing, and other supplies for the
use of the army. There are still in existence several letters of
Washington to William Henry, as well as one from the secre-
tary of war, desiring him to purchase a pair of horses for the
family coach of Washington. A few days previous to the
occupation of Philadelphia by General Howe, September 26,
1777, congress, as well as the assembly, removed to Lancaster,
and David Rittenhouse, state treasurer, removed his office to the
house of Mr. Henry, where it remained until the evacuation of
the city. Thomas Paine, the political and deistical writer, roomed
in Mr. Henry's house in 1778. Of him William Henry, jun., of
Nazareth, has left record that " he occupied the second story
room ; that he had often seen him sitting in an arm chair before

Thomas Henry Atherton. 521

a table covered with writing materials (he was then writing the
'Crisis ') ; there used to stand on the table a bottle of gin, and
pitcher and tumbler; his habits were disgusting to every member
of the family, but my father said that his writings had a great
effect on the war by urging the inhabitants of the colonies to
oppose Great Britain ; he was very slovenly and dirty in his
dress ; some days he did not write more than a line or two ; as
soon as my father found out his opinions on religion, he did not
encourage him to remain in his house ; a coldness sprung up and
he finally left."

Among those antecedent to Fitch or Fulton in the application
of steam as the motive power to propel boats, was William
Henry. See Life of John Fitch, p. 138, published in Philadelphia,
1857, for Fitch's visit to William Henry, who told him that "he
himself had thought of steam as early as 1776, and had held
some conversation with Andrew Ellicott on the subject, and that
Thomas Paine, in 1778, had suggested it to him, but he never
did anything in the matter further than drawing some plans and
inventing a steam wheel, which he showed Mr. Fitch, and said
that as he (Fitch) had first published the plan to the world, he
would lay no claim to the invention, etc." On page 170 it is
also stated " that it was declared that Thomas Paine, in 1778, and
William Henry afterwards, had suggested the plan of applying
steam to the verge of a wheel as the method of producing a
motive power." The original drawings made in 1779 by William
Henry were found among his papers after his death.

The German traveler, Schoepff. who traveled through fhe United
States in 1784 and 1785, visited Lancaster and called on William
Henry. See Vol. H., page 21 : "Another talented and worthy
gentleman, named William Henry, I became acquainted with.
Among other notable and ingenious things shown me by Mr.
Henry was a small machine of which he was the inventor. An
agreeable conversation between us as to the practicability of con-
structing a machine that would move forward against wind and
tide, gave occasion to its production to me. The machine is
very simple and, apparently, will answer the purpose very well.
A tin verge such as are made use of in windows for the purpose
of ventilation, has attached to its axis a spindle of about six

522 Thomas Henry Atherton.

inches in length, etc. Mr. Henry said that he could make an-
otlicr machine which, if applied to a boat, must move it forward
against the current. This machine he is, however, not willing
to describe at present. He is confident that its use will, in a
great degree, assist the propelling of boats up the Mississippi
and Ohio rivers, etc." And again : " I omit to mention other
magnetic and electrical experiments which occupy Mr. Henry's
leisure hours in an agreeable and useful manner, all of which
indicate him to be a gentleman of refined mind and deep study."

In the transactions of the American Philosophical Society,
March 20, 1785, we find: "The society received from William
Henry, of Lancaster, the following piece of mechanism and
other curiosities, communicated by David Rittenhouse : The
model of a wheel carriage, which rolls close in against the wind by
wind force; two pieces of crystal of unusual magnitude, found in
Lancaster county ; an exceeding large tusk and one of the
grinders of some unknown animal from Ohio." The model and
papers of Mr. Henry, deposited in the Philosophical Society, have
long since disappeared from their archives.

John Fitch, in order of time, ranks after William Henry. Page
215, in Life of Fitch, says: "April, 1785, John Fitch conceived
the idea of a steam boat." The plan of William Henry was
made in 1779. Roth Fitch and Fulton visited him. By vote of
assembly, October 16, 1784, he was elected a delegate to the
Continental congress from Pennsylvania, and on the 29th of that
month took his seat in that body. In the following year he was
again elected. Congress convened in Trenton, N. J. The busi-
ness before congress mainly related to the examination and ad-
justment of claims upon the United States. One of the commit-
tees on which he served was that of coinage. They reported :
" First, that the money unit of the United States be one dollar ;
second, that the smallest coin be of copper, of which two hun-
dred shall be one dollar; third, that the several pieces shall in-
crease in a decimal value." A few weeks prior to his election to
congress, August 19, 1784, he was appointed president judge of
the Courts of Common Pleas and Quarter Sessions of Lancaster
county. This appointment evinces that, notwithstanding that he
had not made law a particular study, yet, having acquired an

Thomas Henry Atherton. 523

early fondness for reading and mental investigation, became well
acquainted with the various branches of science and literature —
thereby becoming possessed of an extensive fund of information.
His knowledge of law was less scientific, but more practical and
useful. During the session of congress of 1784, a deputation of
Indians arrived at the seat of government (Trenton), among
them a chief called "White Eyes." This chief formed the acquaint-
ance of William Henry, and entertaining for him a peculiar af-
fection, he proposed to cement the regard for him (customary
among Indians) by an exchange of names. To this proposal
Mr. Henry acceded, and the name of Henry is borne by his
descendants to the present day (1885). A descendant. Rev. John
Henry Killbuck, late a graduate of the Moravian Theological
Seminary, and at present laboring among the Moravian Indians
in Canada, is about to proceed on a mission among the Indians of
Alaska. The family were early converts of the Moravian Mis-
sion prior to the revolution, and have continued members of the
church. For man)' years Mr. Henry was one of the most active
and influential assistant burgesses of the borough of Lancaster.
He was also commissary of the regiment of troops raised in
Lancaster county in 1775, and which was destined to re-enforce
Arnold at Boston. Mr. Henry, after a short illness, died in Lan-
caster, December 15, 1786, and is buried there in the Moravian
grave-yard. He caught cold whilst attending a session of con-
gress in Trenton.

William Henry, son of William Henry, was born March 12,
1757, and when )'oung was placed with Henry Albright, gun-
maker, of Lititz, to learn the business, and remained with him
until 1778, when he became of age. The same year he removed
to the Moravian settlement. Christian's Spring, near Nazareth,
Pa., where he carried on the business of gunmaker until 17S0,
when he removed to Nazareth, and married Sabina Schropp.
He resided in Nazareth until 18 18, when he removed to Phila-
delphia, where he died April 21, 1821. His remains now repose
in Woodland Cemetery. His wife died in Bethlehem May 8,
1848. On January 14, 1788, he was commissioned justice of the
peace of Bethlehem district, Northampton county, as also on the
same day a lay or associate judge of the Courts of Common

524 Thomas Henry Athekton.

Pleas and Quarter Sessions. These offices he held until 18 14,
and then resigned. In 1792 he was chosen one of the electors
for president and vice president of the United States, and had
the honor of giving his vote to Washington, who was re-elected
president of the United States. His duties as a justice of the
peace and judge of Common Pleas he discharged with great
fidelity during the insurrection in Northampton county in 1798,
when the house or window taxes were about being collected.
In 1798 he contracted with the state of Pennsylvania for two
thousand muskets, and in 1809, in company with his son, John
Joseph, with the United States, for ten thousand. He thereupon
erected gun works at Bolton, near Nazareth, and in 1808 erected
a forge to manufacture refined bar iron, and on March 9, 1809,
had the first bar of iron drawn out in Northampton county. The
Marquis of Chastellux, who visited Nazareth in 1783, describes
an elegant pair of pistols made by Mr. Henry.

William Henry, son of William Henry, and the father of
Thomas Henry Atherton, was born at Nazareth, August 15,
1796, and died at his home in Wyoming May 22, 1878. He
was educated at Nazareth Hall and in his early manhood he fol-
lowed the occupation of his father — that of a gunsmith. During
the early struggles encountered in the development of the Lack-
awanna valley Mr. Henry manifested indomitable pluck, perse-
verance and energy, backed by an unwavering faith in the rich
mineral treasures that lined the hills and valleys, waiting for the
magic touch of some strong arm to reveal them to the world.
His first public appearance in the Lackawanna valley was in
1832 in connection with the " Susquehanna and Delaware Canal
and Railroad Company," the design of which was the construc-
tion of a railroad from the Delaware to the Susquehanna, and of
which Mr. Henry was elected treasurer. His frequent journeys
through that section gave him an opportunity of ascertaining its
mineral wealth, and he was the first to advocate the building of
a town at what is now Scranton, even when the place presented
a most uninviting aspect, and when the wolf and fox roamed
unmolested through the forests where the city of Scranton now
stands — and history must ahvays regard him as the real foitmier of
Scranton. The railroad enterprise met with no encouragement

t0Otr

Thomas Henry Atherton. 525

and was strongly opposed by the residents of the Susquehanna
and Delaware valleys, who claimed it was an impossible task and
a project not calculated to improve their social condition. Mr.
Henry, undismayed by this unfriendly feeling, called a meeting
of the friends of the road together at Easton in 1836 to devise a
plan of action. His mind was full of the riches of his famed
locality, and in his enthusiasm he related to the gentlemen
present the boundless resources of the country described, and
asserted that if an iron interest was awakened and once developed
in the Lackawanna valley a large town would be built as well as
the road. He assured those present that if the old furnace at
Slocum Hollow could be reanimated and sustained for a few
years, it would call for more ample means of communication with
the sea board, than that afforded by the lumbering stage coach.
Notwithstanding the zeal with which he advocated this under-
taking, it seemed so impractical at the time that the most
experienced at the meeting (which lasted three days) shrank
from it, and only one gentleman present, Edward Armstrong,
fell in with Mr. Henry's views. Mr. Armstrong possessed con-
siderable wealth and was a gentleman of great benevolence and
courtesy, living on the Hudson. In the acquisition of land in the
Lackawanna valley, or the erection of furnaces and forges upon
it, he avowed himself ready to share with Mr. Henry any respon-
sibility, profit or risk. During the spring and summer of 1839,
Mr. Henry examined every rod of ground along the river from
Pittston to Cobb's Gap to ascertain the most judicious location
for the works. Under the wall of a rock cut in twain by the
dash of the Nay-aug, a quarter of a mile above its mouth, favor-
ing by its alitude the erection and feeding of a stack, a place
was well chosen. It was -but a few rods above the debris of
Slocum's forge, and, like that earlier affair, enjoyed, within a
stone's throw, every essential material for its construction and
working. In March, 1840, Messrs. Henry and Armstrong pur-
chased five hundred and three acres for eight thousand dollars,
or about sixteen dollars per acre. The fairest farm in the valley,
underveined with coal, had no opportunity of refusing the same
surprising equivalent. Mr. Henry gave a draft at thirty days on
Mr. Armstrong, in whom the title was to vest ; before its ma-

526 Thomas Henry Atherton.

turity death came to Mr. Armstrong, almost unawares. He had
imbued the enterprise, by his manly co-operation, with no vague
friendship or faith, and his death at this time was regarded as
especially disastrous to the interests of Slocum Hollow. His
administrators, looking to nothing but a quick settlement of the
estate, requested him to forfeit the contract without question or
hesitancy. Thus baffled in a quarter little anticipated, Mr.
Henry asked and obtained thirty days grace upon the non-
accepted draft, hoping in the interim to find another shrewd
capitalist able to advance the purchase money and willing to
share in the afifiiirs of the contemplated furnace. Colonel George
W. Scranton and Selden T. Scranton, both of them of New
Jersey, the latter being the son-in-law of Mr. Henry, interested
by the earnest and enthusiastic representations of Mr. Henry
reeardinsT the vast and varied resources of the Lackawanna
valley, of which no knowledge had reached them before, pro-
posed to add Sanford Grant, of Belvidere, to a party and visit
Slocum Hollow. The journey from Belvidere to the present site
of Scranton took one day and a half hard driving, and was well
calculated to test the self reliance and vigor of the inexperienced
mountaineer. The Drinker turnpike, stretching its weary
length over Pocono mountain and morass, enlivened here and
there by the arrowy trout brook or the start of the fawn, brought
the party on August 19, 1840, to the half-opened thicket grow-
ing over the tract where now Judge Archbald's residence is seen.
Securing their horses under the shade of a tree, the party, amazed
at the simple wildness of a country where green acres were
looked for in vain, moved down the bank of Roaring Brook to a
body of coal, whose black edge showed the fury of the stream
when sudden rains or thaws raised its waters along the narrow
channel. None of the party except Mr. Henry had ever seen a
coal bed before. Assisted by a pick, used and concealed by him
weeks before, pieces of coal and iron ore were exhumed for the
inspection of the party about to turn the minerals, sparkling amid
the shrubs and wild flowers, to some more practical account.
The obvious advantages of location, uniting water power with
prospective wealth, were examined for half a day without seeing
or being seen by a single person. At that time Slocum Hollow

Thomas Henry Atherton. 527

contained five dwelling houses, one school house, a grist nnill and
a ricketty saw mill. The exterior features of the Slocum
property were anything but attractive, yet, after some question
and hesitancy, it was purchased at the price already stipulated.
Lackawanna valley achieved its thrift and fame from this com-
paratively trifling purchase of but yesterday, and Scranton dates
its incipient inspirations toward acquiring for itself a place and a
name from August, 1840. The company consisting of George
W- Scranton, Selden T. Scranton, Sanford Grant, William Henry,
and Philip H. Mattes, organizing under the firm name of Scran-
ton, Grant and Company, began forthwith the construction of a
furnace under the superintendency of Mr. Henry, whose family
immediately removed from Stroudsburg to Hyde Park, now a
portion of the city of Scranton. On September 1 1 of the same
year, the first day's work was done towards the erection of a blast
furnace, and the place was called Harrison, in honor of General
William Henry Harrison, then the candidate of the whig party
for president of the United States. This name was afterwards
dropped for that of Scrantonia, which was finally changed to
Scranton. The various changes which have occurred since then
are matters of almost contemporary history and it is unnecessary
to reproduce them here. Scranton, from the fevv struggling huts
of Slocum Hollow, has grown to be the third city of Pennsyl-
vania, with a population of sixty thousand inhabitants, and is
now the county seat of Lackawanna county, erected on a site
that seemed little better than a wilderness to th,e pioneers. Mr.
Henry retired from business several years before his death and
removed to Wyoming, where his last days were spent. He was
twice married, his first wife being Mary B. Albright, a sister of
Joseph J. Albright, of ScraViton. In this marriage he violated
the Moravian custom of choosing wives by lot, one of the first
breaches of that custom which has now become extinct. His
children by that marriage were Reuben A. Henry, general audi-
tor of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company; William
Henry, lieutenant colonel of the First New Jersey Volunteers
during the late civil war ; Joseph J. Henry, captain of the Ninth
New Jersey Volunteers, the first commissioned officer killed in
the assault upon Roanoke Island ; Eugene T. Henry, for many

528 Thomas Hknkv Atherton.

years superintendent of the Oxford Iron Works, at Oxford, N.
J.; Ellen Henry and Jane Henry, who married Selden T. Scran-
ton and Charles Scranton, respectively. His second wife was
Sarah Atherton, daughter of Elisha Atherton. The children by
that marriage are Lydia Henry, wife of Rev. W. S. Stites, of the
Wyoming Presbyterian church, and Thomas Atherton Henry,
now, by an act of assembly passed by the legislature of Pennsyl-
vania, March 15, 1871, Thomas Henry Atherton, the subject of
this sketch. Elisha Atherton was a descendant of the Atherton
family which originated in the town of Atherton, a short distance
northwest of Manchester, England. Robert de Atherton lived
there in the time of King John (i 199-1216). He was the high
sheriff of the county of Lancashire, and held the manor of Ather-
ton of the barons of Warrington. The descendants of this Robert
still reside at the place named. The first of the family to come to
this country was Humphrey Atherton, who was born at Atherton,
in Lancashire, in 1609, and emigrated to Boston about 1635. He
died September 17, 1661. He had twelve children. Humphrey
Atherton was elected one of the deputies of the council of Boston
in 1643, and re-elected several times subsequently; was a cap-
tain of the militia of Dorchester, major, and finally, in 1661, a
major-general, of the colonial forces. On September 17, 166 1,
when returning from a muster and while crossing the Boston
common, his horse became unmanageable, and he was thrown off
and killed. In one of Longfellow's early dramatic productions,
the scene of which is laid in Boston, and his characters the
colonial governors and deputies of the time, this tragic end of
General Atherton is described.

James Atherton, a great-grandson of Humphrey Atherton,
was one of the original settlers at Wyoming, in 1763. The Del-
aware Indians, on October 14, of that year, rose upon the settle-
ment at noonday, while engaged in the labors of the field, and
massacred about thirty of the people in cold blood. Those who
escaped ran to the adjacent plantations to apprise them of what
had happened, and were the swift messengers of the painful
intelligence to the houses of the settlement and the families of
the slain. It was an hour of sad consternation. Having no arms
even for self defense, the people were compelled to seize upon

Thomas Henry Atherton. 529

such few of their effects as they could carry upon their shoulders
and flee to the mountains. As they turned back during their
ascent to steal an occasional glance at the beautiful valley below,
they beheld the savages driving their cattle away to their own
towns, and plundering their houses of the goods that had been
left. At nightfall the torch was applied, and the darkness that
hung over the vale was illuminated by the lurid flames of their own
dwellings — the abodes of happiness and peace in the morning.
Hapless, indeed, was the condition of the fugitives. Their num-
ber amounted to several hundred — men, women, and children :
the infant at the breast; the happy wife a few brief hours before,
now a widow, in the midst of a group of orphans. The supplies,
both of provisions and clothing, which they had secured in the
moment of their flight, were altogether inadequate to their wants.
The chilly winds of autumn were howling with melancholy wail
among the mountain pines, through which, over rivers and glens
and fearful morasses, they were to thread their way sixty miles,
to the nearest settlements on the Delaware, and thence back to
their friends in Connecticut, a distance of two hundred and fifty
miles. Notwithstanding the hardships they were compelled to
encounter, and the deprivations under which they labored, many
of them accomplished the journey in safety, while others, lost in
the mazes of the swamps, were never heard of more. Undaunted,
though his companions fell all around him by the merciless
tomahawk, James Atherton returned to the valley in 1769. It is
not now certainly known who was the first settler at the village
of Kingston, but one of the first settlers of the township in the
last named year settled within the limits of the borough, namely,
James Atherton, who, with his sons, James Atherton, jun., Asa-
hel Atherton, and Elisha Atherton, built the first log house,
nearly opposite the site of the old academy on Main street.
There the father resided to the time of his death in 1790. James
Atherton, jun., was the son of James Atherton, sen., and his son,
Elisha Atherton, was the father of Sarah Atherton, the wife of
William Henry. Of the killed at Wyoming are Lieutenant
Asahel Atherton and Jabez Atherton, who were probably sons
or grandsons of James Atherton, sen. Caleb Atherton heads
the list in Captain Ransom's company. His time of service was

530 Thomas Henry Atherton.

three years, from January I, 1777, to 1 780. The first wife of
Elisha Atherton, and the mother of Mrs. Henry, was Zibia
Perkins. vShe was the daughter of the late David Perkins, of
Wyoming. He was the son of John Perkins, who came to
Wyoming prior to 1773, and was one of the original purchasers
from the Indians of lands in Wyoming. John Perkins was killed
by the Indians while in his field on the flats opposite this city.
Miner, in the Hazleton Travelers, printed in 1845, speaks thus
of the Perkins family : "Among the instances of Indian barbarity
the murder of John Perkins has been narrated. He was from
Plainfield, Windham county, Conn. On the enlistment of the
two independent companies, his eldest son, Aaron, then an active
young man of about twenty, enrolled his name in the list, and
marched to camp under Durkee. Hence the family were objects
of especial hatred to the enemy. Aaron Perkins continued in
the army to the close of the war, having given his best days to
the service of his country. David Perkins, the next brother,
took charge of the family, and by great prudence and industry
kept them together, and not only preserved the plantation, but
enlarged it. * * * * * * p^^. ^ great number of
years Mr. Perkins executed the duties of a magistrate to the
general acceptance. A son of his held the commission of major
in the United States army, and is still in the service. Numbers
of his children are well married and settled around him, or not
far distant. * * * David Perkins still lives, in the enjoy-
ment of fine health and an easy fortune. Aaron, the old soldier,
one of the extreme remnants of Ransom's and Durkee's men,
broken with age and toil, you may yet see slowly pacing his
brother's porch, or on a summer day taking his walk along those
beautiful plains. If not enjoying much positive pleasure, he yet
seems to suffer no pain. Linger yet, aged veteran ! Ye winds
blow kindly on him ! Beam mildly on his path, thou radiant
sun, that saw his father slaughtered, and must have witnessed
the gallant soldier in many a noble conflict! Plenty surrounds
him. Peace to his declining years ! As a most interesting
memorial of the past we love to look upon you. Justice prompts
me to say that the family of Perkins stands among the foremost
on the file of patriotic services and deep sufferings, and is

Thomas Henry Atherton. 531

entitled to gratitude and respect." At the time of the massacre
Mr. Perkins' home at Wyoming was burned, and his wife and
son David -fled to Connecticut, but returned in the fall. The
second wife of Elisha Atherton was Carolina Ann Ross Maffett,
widow of Samuel Maffet. Eliza Ross Atherton, wife of Charles
A. Miner, of this city, is their only child. Her mother died in
August, 1885. Thomas H. Atherton was prepared for college
at the academy in VVilkes-Barre, taught by VV. S. Parsons,
and at the Luzerne Presbyterial Institute, Wyoming, Pa., and
entered the College of New Jersey at Princeton, from which he
graduated in the class of 1874. He was the secretary of his class
and obtained the prize on political science and constitutional
law. He studied law with Charles E. Rice, and was admitted to
the bar of Luzerne county September 29, 1876. He is a director
of the Vulcan Iron Works and also in the Second National Bank
and People's Bank of Wilkes-Barre. He is a republican in politics,
a presbyterian in religious belief, and is actively connected with
Sabbath school work. He married October 7, 1880, Melanie
Parke, daughter of Rev. N. G. Parke, D. D., of Pittston. S. Max
Parke, of the Luzerne bar, is her brother. Mr. and Mrs. Ather-
ton have two children : Louise Parke Atherton and Thomas
Henry Atherton.

Mr. Atherton, as will be seen from the foregoing, comes from a
good family, inheriting from both progenitors the blood of some
of the best men and women who have figured in the annals of
our state and country. His disposition and practices, too, have
done honor to this inheritance. No young man at the bar, or in
any other business in Wilkes-Barre, stands higher as a citizen.
Professionally, he is all that a man thus fortified and equipped
may be expected to be. He has an honest love for the profession
and an honest anxiety to win in it all those material rewards
which do not involve a sacrifice of reputation and self respect.
He chooses to follow the law in the view that the law was made,
not to shield the wicked, but to subserve good ends only, and being
thus careful in the choice of his clients, as well as intelligent and
pertinacious in the prosecution of their causes, he has achieved a
standing of which many an older practitioner could afford to be
proud. His sympathies have always been with the republican

532 Henry Coffin Magee.

party, and though he has never been in any sense a poHtician,
his name has been frequently canvassed when the question of a
fit repubhcan nominee for district attorney has come 'up for con-
sideration. He is fairly well to do in the world and spends the
most of the time spared from his business duties in his beauti-
ful new home and with his interesting family and numerous
family connections. He is well educated and a diligent reader,
always well posted on the current news of the day as well as in
general literature, and therefore a pleasing companion and friend.

HENRY COFFIN MAGEE.

Henry Coffin Magee, of Plymouth, was born in Carroll town-
ship (near New Bloomfield), Perry county, Pa., February 6, 1848.
His father, Richard Lowrie Magee, was born at York Springs,
York county, Pa., which his father had purchased while he was
a resident of Philadelphia. Subsequently the family removed to
Perry county. The mother of the subject of our sketch was
Margaret Black, who was born near Carlisle, Pa., and was the
daughter of William Black. H. C. Magee was educated in the
common schools and afterwards attended the State Normal
School, at Bloomsburg, Pa., from which he graduated in the class
of 1871. He taught school from 1870 to 1876, and from 1871
to 1875 was principal of the graded public schools of Plymouth.
He read law with B. Mclntire, of New Bloomfield, and was
admitted to the Perry county bar August 7, 1875, and to the
Luzerne county bar October 21, 1875. Mr. Magee is of Scotch-
Irish extraction, has always been a republican in politics, and
active in his party's behalf He has interested himself in the
preliminary and primary work at Plymouth, and in reward 01
that adhesion and activity has been burgess of the borough
named, and was a member of the lower house of the state legis-
lature, session of 1885 and 1886. In the last named body he
has served upon several important committees, besides identify-
ing himself conspicuously with numerous measures of a local

Charles Wesley McAlarney. 533

and semi-local application, chief of which was the bill making
an appropriation for the relief of the sufferers by the Plymouth
typhoid epidemic, and taking an active interest in most general
legislative measures pending. Mr. Magee is a good lawyer, in-
dustrious, and of good standing as a citizen in the community
with which he makes his home.

PUBLIC
CHARLES WESLEY McALARNEY^*^"^-^

Charles Wesley McAlarney was born December 20, 1847, at
Mifflinburg, Union county. Pa. He is the son of the late John
McAlarney, who was born December 8, 1805, in the parish of
Streat, in the county of Longford, Ireland, and who emigrated
to this country in 18 19, settling in Harrisburg, Pa., where he
was educated. In his early manhood he was a school teacher,
and subsequently he was a manufacturer and largely engaged in
the lumber business. He resided for a while in the neighbor-
hood of Milton, Pa., then at Selin's Grove, Pa., and finally re-
moved to Mifflinburg, where he died May 17, 1876. The wife
of John McAlarney, who is still living, is Catharine Wilson, the
daughter of the late Thomas Wilson, who was a native of Ha-
gerstown, Md., as was also Thomas Wilson, his father. Thomas
Wilson the younger removed from Hagerstown to Middletown,
Pa., then to Donegal township, Lancaster county. Pa., where
Mrs. McAlarney was born. He subsequently removed to EHza-
bethtown, in the same county, where he died.

C. W. McAlarney was educated in the common schools and
at the Mifflinburg Academy. At the age of eighteen years he
commenced to teach school in his native county, and followed
that profession for six years. He then removed to Harrisburg
and commenced the reading of law in the office of his brother,
Joseph Curtin McAlarney, and was admitted to the bar of Dau-
phin county, Pa., May 13, 1873. He practiced in the courts of
that county until his removal to Luzerne county. He was ad-
mitted to the Luzerne bar February 7, 1876, and has been in con-

534 Charles Wesley McAlarney.

tinuous practice since. In addition to his brother above named,
Mr. McAlarney has two other brothers, one of whom is Matthias
Wilson McAlarney, also a lavyyer. He has been the postmas-
ter of Harrisburg for the last twelve years. He is also the man-
ager and editor of the Harrisburg Telegraph. William Max-
well McAlarney, the other brother, is a practicing physician
Philadelphia. (i't;i^|

The legal profession has recruited many of its brightest lumi-
naries from among those whose earlier years were spent in teach-
ing school. In this calling there is much to be acquired that in
after life proves valuable to a lawyer. The stock of general intel-
ligence necessarily receives material additions, and it never hurts
a lawyer to know something outside of the law. A knowledge
of child nature is obtained that cannot, for manifest reasons, be
so well garnered elsewhere, and as men and women, the poet
tells us, are but children of larger growth, the knowledge is
certain to be of service to the lawyer, whose success not infre-
quently depends almost as much upon his understanding of hu-
man nature as of what is contained in the recorded decisions
and the statutes. The somewhat rigid discipline to which the
teacher must subject himself as well as those he teaches, will
stand him in good stead when he comes to practice or to judg-
ment, as it would, in fact, in any walk of life he might subse-
quently choose to follow. Whether, however, these particular
speculations be strictly logical or not, or verified or antagonized
in the facts, it certainly is true, as we have already said, that
many of our best lawyers have graduated to the practice of the
profession from the duties of the school-room. Mr. McAlarney
is one of the number. He has been at this writing but twelve
years in practice, but in that time has conveyed to a large circle
of people the conviction that he is a safe counselor and zealous
advocate, with the result of securing to himself the advantage of
a large and constantly increasing clientage. He is one of the
comparatively few members of the fraternity who view its obli-
gations and possibilities always from the serious side. His tem-
perament is of the conservative order, modified by only so much
of the sanguine as is necessary to the vigorous prosecution of all
work deliberately undertaken. To the client who trusts him he

John McGahren. 535

is the soul of faithfulness, a fact which accounts in great part for
the lucrative practice he has been enabled to build up in Ply-
mouth and vicinity, and the gratifying success that attends his
efforts in the courts. There are lawyers whose natural capacities
are rendered less useful by indifference in their application, and
others who multiply their profitableness to those who employ
their services by the telling and doing of all they know how to
do or tell. To the latter category Mr. McAlarney belongs, and
when we add that his knowledge of the law is the result of a
similar devotion to the study of its intricacies, we have only said
what is the just due of one of the most thorough and painstak-
ing practitioners in Luzerne county. His politics are democratic,
and he has frequently been talked of as a probable candidate
some day for the position of district attorney, an office he would
unquestionably grace and make serviceable to the cause of justice
and the people. Mr. McAlarney is an unmarried man, resides
in Plymouth, and has a very promising professional future before
him.

JOHN McGAHREN.

John McGahren was born near Ellicottville, Cattaraugus county,
N. Y., March 8, 1852. He is a son of Patrick McGahren, a native
of Cavan, Ireland, who emigrated to this country in 1846, and
is now a prosperous farmer in Wysox, Bradford county, Pa.
His mother is Catherine Masterson, daughter of the late Cor-
nelius Masterson, a native of Trim, county of Meath, Ireland,
who resided in Newark, N. J., at the time of his death, at which
place the elder Mr. McGahren was married. John McGahren
was educated in the public schools of Wysox and at St. Bonaven-
tures College, Alleghany, N. Y., graduating in the class of 1872.
After Mr. McGahren left college he taught two terms in the
public schools of Wilkes-Barre. He then entered the law office
of Foster (C. D.) and Lewis (T. H. B.) as a student at law, and
was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county February 14, 1876.
He was associated with Mr. Foster until 188 1, and with Garrick

536 John McGahren.

M. Harding until the early part of the present year. In 1882
he was the democratic candidate for district attorney, and was
elected for a term of three years by a vote of 10,358, as against F.
M. Nichols, republican, who had a vote of 9,394. Mr. McGahren
is an unmarried man, and a typical self-made young man. His
start in life was unaccompanied by any auspicious influences
apart from the mother wit and disposition to industry with
which nature had endowed him. His studies were prosecuted
without meretricious aids, and at times amid discouragements
that would have overcome less ambitious and determined young
men, and his admission to the bar and entry upon active practice
had only the promise which good abilities and honest use of
them will always fulfil. He became associated in business with
Mr. Foster, and afterwards with Judge Harding, and thereby ac-
quired advantages of which he plucked the most that they af-
forded. He is a democrat in politics and did good service on
the stump and otherwise for his party whenever called upon. In
due time friends proposed to repay him with a nomination for
the district attorneyship. He consented, and after a sharp strug-
gle secured a place upon the ticket and was elected. His ser-
vices in the office have been profitable to the county and have
brought him a reputation as a practitioner that is certain to stand
him in good stead for so long as he shall need such assistance.
He prosecutes the pleas of the commonwealth with all necessary
vigor, and yet not vindictively towards those whose misfortune
it is to fall into the clutches of the violated law. He has man-
aged in the pursuit of these methods to secure conviction in al-
most every case in which justice required it, and yet avoid that
persecution which So often follows the unfairly accused. Mr.
McGahren's measure of success equals that of any other member
of the bar of no greater age, and his prospects are full of the
brightest possibilities.

Nathaniel Taylor. 537

NATHANIEL TAYLOR.

Nathaniel Taylor was born in Danville, Montour county, Pa.,
January 28, 1848. He is the son of William Taylor, a farmer
who resides near Mooresburg, Pa., and who is a native of Here-
ford, England. The mother of Nathaniel Tayler was Maria
Michael, the daughter of John Michael, of London, England.
Mr. Taylor, the subject of this sketch, was educated at La Fay-
ette College, Easton, Pa., from which he graduated in 1873.
During portions of the years 1875 and 1876 he attended the Law
School connected with Columbia College, New York. He also
read law with Isaac X. Grier; of Danville, and was admitted to
the bar of Montour county in February, 1876. On April 5, 1876,
he was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county, and has been in
continuous practice since. He married, February 21, 1878,
Annie Vincent, of Danville, Pa. Mr. and Mrs. Taylor have no
children living. Nathaniel Taylor is a man of quiet demeanor
and kindred temperament, who owes all that he is or has at-
tained to hard work and perseverance in study and practice. He
takes but little interest in politics, or in anything outside of his
profession, of which he is, as a consequence, one of the most
useful of the junior members. In the writing of these biogra-
phies we have been many times impelled to what may seem to
the reader to be dull homilies upon the superiority of even mod-
erate talents when accompanied by industry, to greater natural
qualities without that aid, as a means of evoking success in the
legal or any other profession. It is as true, nevertheless, as any-
thing can be in this world. When it can truthfully be said of a
lawyer that he works, no stronger evidence can be given of the
fact that he is worth employing. And when, on the other hand,
necessity compels the admission that he makes his practice wait
upon his personal convenience or pleasure, there is certain to be
risk in calling his services into requisition, no matter how bril-
liant may be his endowments at Nature's hands. Mr. Taylor has
improved his opportunities, and, with the aid of a fine education,
has succeeded in securing a profitable clientage.

538 Ernest Jackson.

ERNEST JACKSON.

Ernest Jackson was born in Wilkes-Barre August 6, 1848.
His father, Angelo Jackson, was born at Erie, N. Y., and was of
New England extraction, and being left an orphan at an early
acre his mother married for her second husband Reuben Mon-
tross. M. D., of Northmorcland township, Luzerne (now Wyo-
ming) county. Pa. Here Mr. Jackson spent his boyhood days,
and in the year 1847 graduated from Yale College. He then en-
tered upon the study of the law, and was admitted to the bar of
Luzerne county April i, 1850. He was for some years a law
partner of the late Charles Denison. In 1858 he was a candi-
date for prothonotary on the republican ticket against David L.
Patrick, and in 1861 against William H. Pier, M. D., but was
defeated in both instances. On October 20, 1861, he entered
the army as first lieutenant of Company I, Fifty- Eighth Regiment
Infantry, Pennsylvania Volunteers, and on June 5, 1863, was pro-
moted to the captaincy of the company. He was mustered out
with his regiment September 25, 1865. He then took a position
in the treasury department at Washington, D. C, as chief of a
division. He died in that city in 1874. The first wife of Angelo
Jackson, and the mother of the subject of our sketch, was Eliza-
beth Whitney. She was the daughter of Asa C. Whitney. M.
D. Doctor Whitney was the son of Elisha Whitney, who moved
to the Wyoming Valley in 1810, and went to Wysox, Luzerne
(now Bradford) county, Pa., with his family in 1816. He was
born in Spencer, Mass., in 1747. He married Esther Clark, of
the same place, in 1782. She was born in 1763. Her father's
name was Asa Clark, a school teacher by profession. She was
present with General Warren's wife when she learned the sad
fate of that gallant officer and patriotic gentleman. Soon after
their marriage they removed to Stockbridge, Mass., and were
among the first settlers of that place. They had ten children
born to them between the years 1783 and 1801. Mr. Whitney
was a revolutionary soldier. He died in 1832, and his wife in

Ernest Jackson. 539

185 1, and both are buried in Wysox. Doctor Whitney was
their second child, and married for his first wife a daughter of
George Dorrance, of Kingston. He was a physician of great
abihty, and was the first resident physician of Kingston, and
Hved in a house from which the late Samuel Hoyt removed when
he erected his residence. He removed there before 1817. He
was commissioned in 1810 a justice of the peace for the townships
of Wysox and Burlington, including Towanda, Luzerne (now
Bradford) county. In 1820 he was elected register and recorder
of Luzerne county. He married for his second wife Susan In-
man, a daughter of Colonel Edward Inman. She was the grand-
mother of the subject of our sketch. Doctor Whitney's sister,
Elizabeth, married J. W. Piollet, who came to America from his
native France about the beginning of the present century. He
was captain of a troop of horse at the battle of Marengo, and
by his bravery won the favor of Napoleon, who promoted him to
the position of postmaster in the Army of the Alps. He was a
well educated gentleman, and settled in Wysox. Victor E Piol-
let, a prominent citizen of Bradford county, is his son.

Ernest Jackson was educated in the academies of" Deacon"
Dana and W. S. Parsons, in this city, and at Union College,
Schenectady, N. Y., from which latter institution he graduated
in 1869. He read law with William S. McLean, and was ad-
mitted to the bar of Luzerne county September 9, 1872. Imme-
diately upon his admission he entered into partnership with his
preceptor under the firm name of McLean and Jackson, which
^ntinued until January i, 1883. Mr. Jackson removed to West
Virginia during the last named year and engaged in other pur-
suits, and but recently removed again to this city. He is the
now junior member of the firm of McCartney (W. H.) and Jack-
son. He married, October 2, 1878, Mary Emma, daughter of the
late G. Byron Nicholson, who in his lifetime was a member of the
bar of this county. The mother of Mrs. Jackson was Mary A.,
daughter of Riley Stone, a son of John Stone, one of the early
settlers of Abington township, Luzerne (now Lackawanna)
county. Pa. Mr. and Mrs. Jackson have but one child living:
Byron Nicholson Jackson. No man of his years is better known
or better liked in Luzerne county than Ernest Jackson. As an

540 Ernest Jackson.

office lawyer he has few equals and scarcely any superiors. In
looking up the law in support of his client's cause he is patient,
painstaking, and always sagacious. Few men know better, or
even as well, how to " prepare a case," which, as all attorneys
know, means the outlining of what is to be done in court as to
witnesses, the questions to be asked of them, etc., and the pro-
vision of references to authorities that will provide defense for a
case against attack from any quarter. Fortified with a case pre-
pared by Mr. Jackson it is a poor lawyer who cannot go out of
court triumphant, if the case be one deserving of triumph. Mr.
Jackson is not much given to oratory in or out of court, though
he can make a neat plea or speech when the occasion demands
it. It is as a politician, however, that Mr. Jackson is best known.
He is a democrat, and for years was a conspicuous figure in every
campaign. He worked aggressively yet quietly, and in the doing
of his work his genial face and sturdy form became familiar in
all parts of the county. He was a strategist as well as a worker,
and but few points of vantage were overlooked in matters of
which he was given charge. He was never a candidate for office
himself, but labored unselfishly and assiduously for all who were
nominated regularly in a democratic convention. A few years
ago he went to West Virginia to engage in the coal business, but
the venture not proving satisfactory he recently returned to
Wilkes-Barre and entered into a partnership with General Wil-
liam H. McCartney, since when he has eschewed politics and
given his time wholly to his professional duties. It is difficult
to believe that Mr. Jackson can have an enemy. He is the soul
of good nature, never has an ill word to say of any body, but,
on the other hand, has a smile and a kindly word for all, whereby
he has achieved a personal popularity that few other men in his
profession can be truthfully said to enjoy.

George Washington Shonk. 541

GEORGE WASHINGTON SHONK.

George Washington Shonk was born April 26, 1850, in the
township (now borough) of Plymouth, Pa. He is a grandson of
Michael Shonk, who was born on the ocean in September, 1790,
while his father was emigrating to this country from Germany.
His great-grandfather, John Shonk, father of Michael Shonk,
was a nailer by trade and settled in Hope, one of the interior
townships of Warren county, N. J., which derived its name from
the Moravian pioneers who located there in 1769, and gave that
name to the locality in which they settled. The house that he
built is still standing, and his body is interred in the Moravian
graveyard in that village. The place was visited the present
year by John Jenks Shonk, father of George W. Shonk, and this
after a lapse of sixty-one years since he left Hope. Michael
Shonk removed from Hope to Plymouth in 1821, where he died
in 1844. His wife was Beulah, daughter of John Jenks. In
General Davis's History of Bucks County we find the following
regarding the family : " The Jenkses are Welsh, and the gene-
alogy of the family can be traced from the year 900 to 1669,
when it becomes somewhat obscure. The arms which have long
been in the possession of the family at Wolverton, England, de-
scendants of Sir George, to whom they were confirmed by Queen
Elizabeth in 1582, are supposed to have been granted soon after
the time of William the Conqueror for bravery on the field of bat-
tle. The first progenitor of the family in America was Thomas,
son of Thomas Jenks, born in Wales in December or January,
1699. When a child he came to America with his mother, Susan
Jenks, who settled in Wrightstown and married Benjamin Wig-
gins, of Buckingham, by whom she had a son born in 1709.
She died while he was young, and was buried at Wrightstown
meeting. Thomas Jenks was brought up a farmer, joined the
Friends in 1723, married Mercy Wildman, of Middletown, in
173 1, and afterwards removed to that township, where he spent
his life. He bought six hundred acres southeast ofNewtown^

542 George Washington Shonk.

on which he erected his homestead, which he called Jenks Hall,
and built a fulling mill on Core creek, that runs through the
premises, several years before 1742. He led an active business
life, lived respected, and died May 4, 1797, at the good old age
of ninety-seven. * * * At the age of ninety he walked fifty
miles in a week, and at ninety-two his eyesight and hearing were
both remarkably good. He had lived to see the wilderness and
haunts of wild beasts become the seats of polished life. Thomas
Jenks left three sons and three daughters : Mary, Elizabeth,
Ann, John, Thomas, and Joseph, who married into the families
of Wier, Richardson, Pierson, Twining, and Watson. * * *
The descendants of Thomas Jenks, the elder, are very numerous,
and found in various parts, in and out of the state, although few
of the name are now in Bucks county. * * * Among the
families of the past and present generations with which they
have allied themselves by marriage, in addition to those already
named, can be mentioned Kennedy of New York, Story, Car-
lisle, Fell, Dixson, Watson, Trimble, Murray, Snyder (governor
of Pennsylvania), Gillingham, Hutchinson, Justice, Collins of
New York, Kirkbride, Stockton of New Jersey, Canby, Brown,
Elsegood, Davis, Yardley, Newbold, Morris, Earl, Handy. Rob-
bins, Ramsey (governor of Minnesota), Martin, Randolph, etc.
Doctor Phineas Jenks, and Hon. Michael H. Jenks, of Newtown,
deceased, were descendants of Thomas, the elder."

As already stated, Beulah Shonk was the daughter of John
Jenks, son of Thomas Jenks, jun. Her brother, John W. Jenks,
M. D., in company with his father-in-law, Rev. David Barclay, set-
tled in Jefferson county. Pa., in 18 19. The latter laid out the
town of Punxsutawney the same year. It is the oldest town in
the county, and had a store long before there was one in Brook-
ville, the county-seat. Jefferson county was organized from a
part of Lycoming county by an act of the legislature approved
March 26, 1804. By the thirteenth section of the same act it
was placed under the jurisdiction of the courts of Westmoreland
county. An act passed in 1806 authorized the commissioners of
Westmoreland county to act for Jefferson county. For many
years after its establishment the county was little better than a
hunting ground for whites and Indians. The first commission-

George Washington Shonk. 543

ers were not appointed until 1824, John W. Jenks, M. D., being
one of the number. Doctor Tenks was the father of Georse
A. Jenks, of Brookville, who occupies at present a very impor-
tant position in the interior department at Washington, D. C.,
and also of William P. Jenks, who was for many years president
judge of the courts of Jefferson and Clarion counties. In 1880
George A. Jenks was the democratic candidate for judge of the
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, but was defeated by Henry
Green, the candidate of the republican party. Isaac G. Gordon,
at present one of the judges of the Supreme Court of Pennsylva-
nia, is a son-in-law of Doctor Jenks.

John Jenks Shonk was born at Hope, N. J., March 21, 18 15,
and is one of the most prominent business men of Plymouth.
He was one of the earliest coal operators in the valley, as well
as a merchant. As early as 1832 he commenced to mine coal
for market, and has been engaged almost continuously in the
business since. He is also largely interested in the mining of
bituminous coal in West Virginia. He is the president and one
of the directors of the Cabin Creek Kanawha Coal Company,
and also of the Williams Coal Company, of Kanawha. He is
also a director and the president of the Kanawha Railroad Com-
pany. He is the president and one of the directors of the re-
cently incorporated Wilkes-Barre and Harvey's Lake Railroad
Company. In 1875 he was the candidate of the prohibition
party in the Third legislative district for the legislature of the
state, and was elected by a majority of five votes over M. A. Mc-
Carty, the democratic candidate, and four hundred and nine over
J. N. Gettle, the republican candidate. In 1876 he was re-elected
as a republican and defeated Bryce S. Blair, his democratic com-
petitor, by a majority of five hundred and forty-six votes. Mr.
Shonk has been married three times. His first wife was Eliza-
beth, daughter of the late Ebenezer Chamberlain, M. D., a native
of Swanzey, Cheshire county, N. H., where he was born Decem-
ber I, 1790, and was the practicing physician of Plymouth from
the time of his immigration in 1816 until his death, April 12,
1866. He was one of the commissioners of Luzerne county
from 1843 to 1846, and also held for a long time the commission
of justice of the peace. The second wife of J. J. Shonk was

544 George Washington Shonk.

Frances Rinas, daughter of Carpenter C. Rinas, of Plymouth.
Neither of the above named wives left any children surviving.
The third wife of John Jenks Shonk, whom he married in 1847,
and the mother of the subject of our sketch, is Amanda, daughter
of the late Thomas Davenport. Colonel Wright, in his " Histor-
ical Sketches of Plymouth," speaks thus of the Davenports :
" They were among the early settlers of the town, and one of
them was of the original P"orty. I am not able to ascertain the
length of time he remained in Plymouth after his immigration.
The name of Davenport is on the original list. The Christian
name is so obliterated that I cannot decipher a letter of it. It
was undoubtedly Robert, however, father of Thomas, who came
a few years afterwards. * * * [The family is of New England
origin.] The name of Conrad Davenport is upon the dead list of
the Wyoming battle. The Davenport whose name appears upon
the roll of the Susquehanna Immigrant Company, and to whom
was allotted some of the lands still in possession of the family,
came out, most likely, as an explorer; and on his return giving
a favorable account of the new country, his son, Thomas, suc-
ceeded his father in the Plymouth possessions. Robert does
not seem to have returned to the valley. It is also pretty well
settled that he was a member of Captain Whittlesey's company
in the battle, and a survivor of that terrible disaster. Such is
the tradition of the family at the present time, and most likely a
correct one. [Thomas Davenport, the ancestor of the now resi-
dent family, came from Orange count}^ N. Y., in the year 1794.]
His name is registered on the assessor's list of 1796, and he was
then the owner of a large landed estate. He purchased from Joseph
Reynolds, of Plymouth, December 6, 1799, 105 acres of land for '65
pounds current, lawful money.' He died in the year 1812, leav-
ing a large family — six sons and four daughters. His wife was
a member of the Methodist Episcopal church of Plymouth be-
fore 1795. His sons were Thomas (father of Mrs. Shonk), John,
Robert, Samuel, Daniel, and Stephen. A considerable part of
the old homestead farm is still owned by the descendants. * *
The Davenports were among the substantial business men of the
town for a great many years. They were of that class which, above
all others, are entitled to public consideration, because they

George Washington Shonk. 545

devoted to their own affairs, and were not in the habit of med-
dUng with those of others. They faithfully maintained their
credit, and their lives were marked with strict economy, indus-
try, and fair dealing. The six sons were all farmers." Stephen
Davenport, the youngest son, was one of the commissioners of
Luzerne county from 1862 to 1865. He died but a few weeks
since. The wife of Thomas Davenport, sen., was Charity Lam-
eroux, a native of Litchfield county, Conn. She was a descend-
ant of one of the Huguenot families of France. Her ancestor
came to this country after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes,
October 20, 1685. It was then "ordered that all Protestant
churches be immediately demolished ; that Protestants should
not assemble in any house or other place for their religious wor-
ship; that ministers were to leave the kingdom within fifteen
days if they did not become Catholics. If they attempted to
exercise their functions they would suffer as the vilest criminals.
Parents were to send their children at once to the Catholic
churches for baptism or suffer heavy penalties. But if Protest-
ants attempted to leave the kingdom they would be sent to the
galleys." It is vain to attempt to specify the numerous methods
by which the Revocation made life intolerable and death wel-
come to the purest and noblest of the French population. " It
was," says the Duke of St. Simon, a Roman Catholic courtier of
Louis XIV., " a plot that presented to the nations the spectacle
of so vast a multitude of people, who had committed no crime,
proscribed, denuded, fleeing, wandering, seeking an asylum afar
from their country. A plot that consigned the noble, the wealthy,
the aged ; those highly esteemed, in many cases, for their piety,
their learning, their virtue; those accustomed to a life of ease,
frail, delicate, to hard labor in the galleys, under the driver's
lash, and for no reason save that of their religion." All this pro-
longed barbarity proceeded from a court equally remarkable for
its aesthetic culture, its undisguised licentiousness and its piety (?).
Under the same influence, in the same century, the Austrian
court was no less merciless. Bohemian Protestants were ban-
ished or caged like wild beasts, their children were declared ille-
gitimate, their goods were spoiled. " Mothers were bound to
posts with their babies at their feet, to see them die of hunger

546 George Washington Shonk.

unless they should renounce their faith." All this occurred
within two hundred years in the most civilized nations, and
under the most religious governments (?). Doctor Lord, in his
" Beacon Lights of History," says, in his lecture on Louis XIV.,
that " it is a hackneyed saying that ' the blood of martyrs is the
seed of the church.' But it would seem that the persecution
of the Protestants was an exception to this truth ; and a perse-
cution all the more needless and revolting since the Protestants
were not in rebellion against the government, as in the time of
Charles IX. This diabolical persecution, justified, however, by
some of the greatest men in France, had its intended results.
The bigots who incited that crime had studied well the princi-
ples of successful warfare. As early as 1666 the king was urged
to suppress the Protestant religion, and long before the t>Jict of
Nantes was revoked the Protestants had been subjected to humil-
iation and annoyance. If they held places at court they were
required to sell them ; if they were advocates they were forbid-
den to plead ; if they were physicians they were prevented from
visiting patients. They were gradually excluded from appoint-
ments in the army and navy ; little remained to them except com-
merce and manufactures. Protestants could not hold Catholics
as servants ; soldiers were unjustly quartered upon them; their
taxes were multiplied ; their petitions were unread. But in 1685
dragonnades subjected them to still greater cruelties ; who tore
up their linen for camp beds, and emptied their mattresses for
litters. The poor, unoffending Protestants filled the prisons and
dyed the scaffolds with their blood. They were prohibited, under
the severest penalties, from the exercise of their religion ; their
ministers were exiled, their children were baptised in the Catho-
lic faith, their property was confiscated, and all attempts to flee
the country was punished by the galleys. Two millions of peo-
ple were disfranchised ; two hundred thousand perished by the
executioners, or in prisons, or in the galleys. All who could fly
escaped to other countries, and those who escaped were among
the most useful citizens, carrying their arts with them to enrich
countries at war with France. Some two hundred thousand con-
trived to fly, thus weakening the kingdom, and filling Europe
with their execrations. Never did a crime have so little justifica-

George Washington Shonk. 547

tion ; and never was a crime followed with severer retribution.
Yet Le Tellier, the chancellor, at the age of eighty, thanked God
that he was permitted the exalted privilege of affixing the seal
of his office to the act before he died. Madam de Maintenon
declared that it would cover Louis with glory. Madam de Se-
vigne said that no royal ordinance had ever been more magnifi-
cent. Hardly a protest came from any person of influence in the
land, not even from Fenelon. The great Bosseut, at the funeral
of Le Tellier, thus broke out : ' Let us publish this miracle of
our day, and pour out our hearts in praise of the piety of Louis —
this new Constantine; this new Theodosius ; this new Charle-
magne; through whose hands heresy is no more.' The Pope,
though at this time hostile to Louis, celebrated a Te Deum."

"The tradition in the family," says Ira Davenport, of Plymouth,
now seventy-three years of age, " is that our ancestor returned
to France and was put to death." The wife of Thomas Daven-
port, jun., was Mary Reynolds Bronson. She was the daughter
of Levi Bronson, a native of Kent, Litchfield county. Conn.
He was the father of Ira Bronson, who was one of the commis-
sioners of Luzerne county from 1846 to 1849, ^^^ ^^^^ ^^^ of
the justices of the peace of the county for many years.

George W. Shonk was prepared for college at Wyoming Sem-
inary, Kingston, Pa. He then entered Wesleyan University, at
Middletown, Conn., from which he graduated in the class of 1873.
He then entered the law office of Hubbard B. Payne, and was
admitted to the bar of Luzerne county September 29, 1876. He
married, August 15, 1880, Ida E. Klotz, daughter of Joseph
Klotz, of West Pittston, Pa., who is a descendant of Jacob Klotz,
who came to this country with his wife, ftce Uteloch, from Wur-
tenburg, Germany, September 2, 1749. in the ship Chesterfield.
He took out a warrant for a tract of land in Lowhill township, Le-
high (then Northampton) county, March 16, 1767, and another in
November of the same year, lying between the site of the" Mor-
genlender church and the Jordan creek." He had two sons :
John and Casper. John Klotz, the grandfather of Joseph Klotz,
married Franconia Krouse, and by her had five sons. Christian
Klotz was the fourth son of John, and was the father of Joseph
Klotz. He was born May 14, 1789, and about the year 18 14

548 George Washington Shonk.

left his native township, and soon after settled in Mahoning town-
ship, Carbon county, where he died March 12, 1848. In 18 16
he married Elizabeth, daughter of Robert McDaniel, and by her
had five children ; Joseph Klotz, the father of Mrs. Shonk, being
the youngest. In 1848 Joseph Klotz removed to Pittston, where
he has since resided. He married, November 6, 1850, Mary
A. Grube, daughter of John Grube. Robert Klotz, of Mauch
Chunk, Pa., who represented the counties of Carbon, Columbia,
Montour, Pike, Monroe, and parts of Luzerne and Lackawanna
in congress from 1878 to 1883, is a brother of Joseph Klotz.
Robert McDaniel, the maternal grandfather of Joseph Klotz, was
born August 24, 1756, in a small lumbering village near Penob-
scot, Me. He was apprenticed to Captain Joseph Longstreth,
of Philadelphia, who, in 1783, purchased the Gilbert farm in
Mahoning Valley, being the same place where the Indians cap-
tured the Gilbert family in 1780. The wife of Robert McDaniel
was Elizabeth Hicks, a Quakeress. Mr. and Mrs. George W.
Shonk have two children : Herbert Bronson Shonk and Emily
Weaver Shonk. Mr. Shonk is one of the best and brightest of
the younger members of the Luzerne bar. He comes of a good
family, some of the members of which have been prominently
identified with the political and business interests of the county.
His father, as already stated, served two terms in the house of
representatives at Harrisburg, where he took a live interest, and
was an active participant, in the proceedings. George W.'s ca-
pacities, both as a lawyer and man of business, are of no narrow
order. He never permits himself to underestimate the impor-
tance of a cause placed in his keeping, and is always prepared to
defend it from every point of attack. Hence he is a close stu-
dent, as well as a member of the bar, as every good lawyer who
expects to remain a good lawyer, must be. He is a republican
in politics, and quite prominently identified with the interests of
that party. He is quiet, courteous, and affable, and these quali-
ties, added to his professional and business powers, give promise
of his becoming a citizen of rare usefulness.

Clarence Winfield Kline. 549

CLARENCE WINFIELD KLINE.

Clarence Winfield Kline was born October 25, 1851, near Jer-
seytown, Columbia county, Pa. He is a descendant of Jacob
Klein, who emigrated to this country from Germany October 2,
1741, in the ship St. Andrew. Daniel Klein, son of Jacob Klein,
was born in 1742, and served in the revolutionary war. Daniel
Klein, son of Daniel Klein, was a soldier in the war of 1812, and
served under General Jackson. He removed from Philadelphia
to East Hempfield township, Lancaster county, in 1820. George
Schenck Kline, father of C. W. Kline, was born in East Hemp-
field in 1826, and removed to Danville, Pa., in 1845. I" 1846 he
married Maranda Kisner, daughter of Jacob Kisner. He was
the son of Leonard Kisner, who was the son of John Kisner, a
native of Germany. Jacob Kisner was the cousin of William
Kisner, of Hazleton. On the night of his marriage he left with
the Columbia Guards for the Mexican war, where they partici-
pated in every battle. The Columbia Guards organized in 1817,
belonged especially to Danville, and was famous all over Colum-
bia county (in honor of which it took its name), by its connec-
tion with the Mexican war. It was mustered into the service
of the United States December 28, 1846, and was attached to
the Second Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers, commanded
by Colonel Wynkoop, and afterwards by Colonel Geary, who
subsequently became governor of Pennsylvania. Their first en-
eacfeent w as at the storming of Vera Cruz, and the second at
Cerro Gordo. At the battle of Chepultepec they lost two men.
On approaching the City of Mexico, the defense of San Angelos,
with all the military stores, was committed to the Guards, and
on September 13, 1847, they were among the first to march in
triumphal entry into the city. Mr. Kline participated in every
engagement. He went out as first sergeant and was promoted by
gallantry to first lieutenant and brevet captain. He left a magnif-
icent sword as an heirloom to his children, which is now in the
possession of the subjecf of this sketch, and which bears the fol-

550 Clarence Winfield Kline.

lowing inscription engraved upon its scabbard : " Presented to
Lieutenant George S. Kline by General Winfield Scott for bravery
and meritorious service on the battlefields of Vera Cruz, Cerro
Gordo, Chepultepec, and Mexico." Lieutenant Kline had the
honor to be the man who planted the American colors on the
walls of Chepultepec after three brave soldiers had been shot in
attempting to do so. Captain Kline returned to Danville after
the war, and first acted as clerk and then as superintendent of
the old" Rough and Ready " rolling mill at that place. In 1852
he went West with a party of surveyors to lay out a railroad,
and at St. Josephs, Mo., was attacked by cholera and died within
a few hours. His widow is still living.

C. W. Kline, after his father's death, was taken and raised by
his grandmother Kline, in Lancaster county, and in the common
schools of that county he received the groundwork of his edu-
cation. When thirteen years of age he left school and Lancaster
county and came back to his birthplace. The next year he suc-
cessfully passed an examination and received a teacher's certifi-
cate. His first school was at the old Derry Presbyterian church,
in Anthony township, Montour county. He continued teaching
in the winter and working on the farm in the summer until 1869,
when he removed to Jeansville, Pa., and for two years was in the
employ of J. C. Hayden and Company. He was then appointed
principal of the Jeansville schools. In 1874 he registered as
a student at law in the office of Thomas J. Foley, then practic-
ing in Hazleton, and was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county
January 10, 1877. Mr. Kline married, November 26, 1874, Jen-
nie Lindner, daughter of Samuel Lindner, of Hazleton. Mr.
and Mrs. Kline have no children living. Mr. Kline has been a
school director of Hazleton, and for the last six years has been
solicitor of the borough. He has been chairman and is now sec-
retary of the republican committee of the Fourth legislative
district. C. W. Kline, whose office is at Hazleton, is one of the
rapidly rising young attorneys of the Luzerne bar. He controls
a large proportion of the legal business of what is called " the
lower end," meaning the southern portion of the county, or
Hazleton region, and by assiduous exertion earns his fee and
satisfies his client every time. Lawyers doing business in the

Edward Warren Sturdevant. 551

smaller towns of the county do not come so conspicuously before
the whole people of the county as those residing at the county-
seat, but many of them are, nevertheless, equally bright and de-
serving, and do an equally important and lucrative business. In
such towns cases of considerable importance are finally decided
in the courts of the justices of the peace, and practice in these
courts is oftener a serious matter than practice in the alder-
manic courts of cities like Wilkes-Barre. It is a long distance
by rail from Hazleton to Wilkes-Barre, and the journey is expen-
sive to poor litigants, who, on these accounts, prefer to have
their causes decided at home by the justices, if they come within
their jurisdiction, and where they are ably argued pro and con by
the attorneys. A good part of Mr. Kline's practice is of this
character, though he is an attendant at almost every session of
the county courts representing numerous clients. He is a gen-
tleman well read out of as well as in the law, and makes an ex-
cellent plea.

EDWARD WARREN STURDEVANT.

Edward Warren Sturdevant was born in W'llkes-Barre, Pa.,
November 12, 1854. He is the youngest son of the late Ebene-
zer Warren Sturdevant, also of the Luzerne bar. The mother
of Edward W. Sturdevant was Lucy, daughter of Charles Hus-
ton, at one time one of the judges of the Supreme Court of
Pennsylvania. Judge Huston was the son of Thomas Huston,
of Scotch-Irish descent, who, in September, 1775, was appointed
"lieutenant of one of the armed boats;" March, 1776, captain
of the Warren; August, 1778, captain of the armed brig Con-
vention ; and in October of the same year he reported to the
supreme executive council of this state that he had "taken sev-
eral prizes which are not condemned." Family tradition states
that he came home on furlough to his home in Newtown, Bucks
county. Pa., late on a certain afternoon; his anxious, fearful wife
persuaded him to retire for the night to a neighboring hill for
security. He soon saw British soldiers enter his house. Pre-

552 Edward Warren Sturdevant.

senting their bayonets to Mrs. Huston, they demanded her hus-
band, promising protection if he would give himself up. She
assured them there were none there excepting herself, her little
children, and a hired boy, who stood trembling by. They ran-
sacked the house, thrusting their bayonets into beds, closets, or
wherever a man might havebeen. They found some fire-arms,
and looking at the children proposed to " kill the cursed rebels
in the bud," but their leader prevented any further trouble.
Other officers who came home with Huston were taken, and were
not released until the war closed. About that time the family
settled near Carlisle, Pa. Judge Huston, the eldest child of Cap-
tain Thomas Huston, first entered the army, afterwards studied
law, then removed to Williamsport, and finally to Bellefonte,
where he died. The parents followed him to Williamsport and
kept a public house on a corner northeast of the court house for
many years. Captain Huston died in Williamsport in 1824, aged
eighty-five years. He was blind for some years, but could dis-
tinguish any of his many grandchildren by the voice as he wel-
comed them while sitting in his arm chair. His wife — Jeanette
Walker before marriage — was a notable housewife, robust and
sprightly, making up boxes of clothing for home missionaries
when seventy years old, eyes to her husband when blind, never
tired of reading, and he never tired of hearing, out of the blessed
Book. She survived him but two months, dying the same year,
aged seventy-five years. Their youngest son, Thomas T. Hus-
ton, M. D., settled in Athens, Bradford county. Pa., where he
died in 1865.

Edward W. Sturdevant was prepared for college at the acad-
emy of W. S. Parsons, in Wilkes-Barre, and then entered Lehigh
University, at Bethlehem, Pa., from which he graduated in the
class of 1875. He read law with E. P. and J. V. Darling, of this
city, and was admitted to the Luzerne county bar June 11, 1877.
He married, October 18, 1882, Mary Nicholson Stark, only
daughter of the late Jasper B. Stark, of this city. Mr. and Mrs.
Sturdevant have two children : Edward VVarren Sturdevant and
Amy Sturdevant. J. Byron Stark, of the Luzerne bar, is a
brother of Mrs. Sturdevant. Mr. Sturdevant, whose ancestry
are treated at some length in the sketch of his father, General

Bernard McManus. ' • 553

Sturdevant, published in the previous volume of this work, pos-
sesses talents as a scholar and a lawyer from which liberal profit,
both in money and repuation, might have been realized had not
the circumstances in which he was left by his father's death
removed all necessity for his continuing to practice. His share
of the General's estate amounts to a snug competence, and his
time is now principally occupied in the management of it. He
is a gentleman of unusual urbanity of manner, pleasant of speech,
and popular in the best social circles.

BERNARD McMANUS.

Bernard McManus was born in Beaver Meadow, Carbon
county, Pa., July 23, 1846. He is the son of the late Felix Mc-
Manus, a native of Cavan, Ireland. His mother, Bridget Mc-
Manus {lice Dolan), is still living. Mr. McManus was educated
at the Millersville, Pa., Normal School, and at St. John's College,
Fordham, N. Y. He read law' with John Lynch, and was admit-
ted to the Luzerne county bar November 19, 1877. Rev. Patrick
McManus, who is the parish priest at Great Bend, Pa., is a brother
of the subject of our sketch. Mr. McManus married. May 20,
1884, Mary McCormick, daughter of Michael McCormick, a
native of Roscommon, Ireland. They have no children. Mr.
McManus practiced law at Hazleton for five years after his ad-
mission, and then removed to this city where he has been in
continuous practice since. Mr. McManus, coming from hum-
blest beginnings, having few early advantages, and required from
boyhood to depend upon his own labor for his livelihood, has,
considering the short time he has been practicing, pushed him-
self forward to a very proud position at the bar. He is a man
of -magnificent physique (which is a matter of no small conse-
quence when one is compelled to the drudgeries of the law), of
good mind and habits of industry. He joined the profession
with the understanding that it would be of no manner of use to
him without work, and hard work, and in that particular pos-

554 RoMKRT Hunter Wright.

sesscd an equipment, the want of wliich will account for at least
half the failures of the legal world. He is a very genial, cour-
teous man in and out of court, and enjoys a most excellent repu-
tation as a citizen with all who know him.

ROBERT HUNTER WRIGHT.

Robert Hunter Wright, of Hazleton, was born in Greenwood
township. Perry county, Pa., December 4, 1841. He is a de-
scendant of Isaac Francis Wright, a native of England, who emi-
grated to this country when quite a lad. He was a carpenter by
trade and resided in Philadelphia until his death, which was
caused by a fall from a building. He married in this country
Hannah Taylor, a daughter of William Tajdor and granddaugh-
ter of Isaac Taylor, of Lower Merion township, Montgomery
county. Pa. The wife of Isaac Taylor was a daughter of Mau-
rice Llewellyn, to whom William Penn gave a deed for six hun-
dred and forty acres of land in Lower Merion township, fronting
on the Schuylkill river. Charles Wright, the only son of Isaac
Francis Wright, was but three months old when his father died.
His mother married for a second husband, George Mitchell, with
whom she and her son Charles moved to the Eagle Hotel, in
Chester county, near Morgan's Corner, where she remained as
proprietress, while her husband went back to Ireland to secure
the "fortune coming," with which he purchased a tract of nearly
two thousand acres of land in Greenwood township, Perry county.
Pa., extending from the summit of the Buffalo Hills north, and
from one-half mile of the Juniata river east. Charles Wright
removed to Perry county when he was ten years of age, or
about 1790, and lived with his mother and step-father until he
married Deborah Van Camp, which occurred in his twenty-sixth
and her twenty-second year. They moved into the woods to
begin life for themselves, but they did not stay long, for, pos-
sessed of a vigorous mind and a strong, healthy body, he
"cleared" his way out. He was a democrat in politics, and as

Robert Hunter Wright. 555

such was elected to the county offices of director of the poor and
county commissioner for one term each. He changed his poH-
tics during the late civil war, and was ever afterwards as ardent
a republican as he had hitherto been a democrat. He was a
prominent member of the Presbyterian church. The Van Camp
(or Van Campen) family were descendants ofthe Holland Patroons,
and settled in the Dutch village of Esopus (now Kingston), thirty-
six miles northeast of New York City. William Van Camp, the
ancestor of the line, was married to Elizabeth Decker, by whom
he had three children — John, Jane, and Lydia — before 1763.

They were informed in the evening that Indians lurked near, med-
itating a midnight attack, and before 10 p. m., with whatever
could be hurriedly packed on two horses, leaving behind them
four cows, ten sheep, and six hogs to arrest the pursuit of the
plundering savages, who sacked and burned the village before
the dawn of the next day, the Van Camps were on their way
through the forest toward Pennsylvania. Where they settled
after this flight is not certainly known (the family stories differ),
but from the most reliable sources were said to have lived in
Columbia county, along the North Branch of the Susquehanna
river. How long these fugitives were unmolested is not known,
but it is certain that another surprise by the savages was more
successful, for Lydia was made a captive and not ransomed for a
period of nine months. The children of William and Elizabeth
Van Camp, after their flight from New York, were James, Alex-
ander, Andrew, and Deborah. The latter was the wife of Charles
Wright. The removal ofthe Van Camps from the Susquehanna
took place between 1767 and 1790. They purchased the lands
they owned on the Juniata river from John Anderson, jun., who
obtained the warrant and had the survey made in June, 1767.

Charles Wright, jun., son of Charles Wright, is still living at
Newport, Perry county. Pa. He is a farmer and is a native of
Greenwood township. His wife is Eliza Jane Hunter, a daughter
of John Hunter, a native ofthe North of Ireland. Mrs. Wright
was born near Liverpool, Pa. R. H. Wright, son of Charles

556 Thomas Rebaugh Martin.

Wri'^ht. inn., worked on his father's farm in the summer and
attended school in the winter until he was fifteen years old. He
was subsequently a clerk, and when twenty years of age he at-
tended the Bloomfield Academy. After completing his education
he taught school, engaged in the mercantile business, and vari-
ous other business pursuits until 1877. (Bloomfield, in connec-
tion with this sketch, means a borough of that name in Perry
county, the postoffice being New Bloomfield). He read law with
Charles Barnett, of Bloomfield, and with Jabez Alsover, of Hazle-
ton, and was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county March 22,
1878. He married, December 22, 1863, Kate E. Smith, daughter
of the late Samuel Smith, of Bloomfield, Pa. Mr. and Mrs.
Wright have children as follows : Minnie Winona Wright, now
the wife of George E. Harris, of Bethlehem ; Lulu Itaska Wright,
Florence Adelaide Wright, and Edgar Samuel Wright. Mr.
Wright is a man of good mental parts, and, having been an ear-
nest student, is very well qualified for practice as an attorney at
law. He does a fair share of the legal business of Hazleton, and
his face is a familiar one in the county courts. He has never
been especially active in politics, or other than his profession,
but possesses qualities that would make him popular as a public
character if he but chose to employ them with that ambition.
He is as yet but upon the threshold of his professional career,
which in the future, if he goes on as he has begun, will bring him
enviable laurels.

THOMAS REBAUGH MARTIN.

Thomas Rebaugh Martin was born near Hagerstown, Wash-
ington county, Md., May 26, 1849. He was educated at Mer-
cersburg College, and Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster,
.Pa., graduating from the latter institution in the class of 1874.
Mr. Martin comes from an old Maryland family. His grand-
father, William Martin, was a justice of the peace in Washington
county for over thirty years, and was a leading man in the com-
munity in which he resided. The father of Thomas R. Martia

Thomas Rebaugh Martin. 557

was David L. Martin. He was a farmer and resided in the same
county. His brother, and the uncle of the subject of our sketch,
Samuel Martin, was a lawyer of considerable note. Thomas R.
Martin read law with D. G. Eshelman, of Lancaster, and com-
pleted his legal reading with Andrew K. Seyster, of Hagerstown.
He was admitted to the bar of Washington county, Md., in the
latter part of the year 1875 ; to the Lancaster county. Pa., bar,
in January, 1876 ; and to the Luzerne county bar, April 10, 1876.
He married, June 28, 1877, Anna A. Stirk, daughter of Isaac
Stirk, of Lancaster, Pa. They have one child : Florence Vir-
ginia Martin. Mr. Martin came from Maryland to Wilkes-Barre
" a stranger in a strange land," and to a bar very much over-
crowded. He brought with him, however, a remarkable affabil-
ity and a generally pleasing deportment and bearing that soon
forged for him a way into a position of credit and prominence in
his profession and in the party — the democratic — with which his
sympathies lay. Professionally, nothing was too arduous to be
undertaken for a client ; politically, no task assigned him con-
sumed too much of his time, or put him to too much trouble;
personally, he was ready for any thing to serve a friend ; and as
a consequence he soon had an enviable standing at the bar, as a
democrat and socially, that many less persevering and judicious,
though more pretentious and ambitious, had long essayed in
vain. During the time that he has been in the community he
has probably made more political speeches than any other law-
yer, either democratic or republican, and having a prolific vocab-
ulary, a good enunciation, and captivating address, and being
otherwise qualified for success in stump speech delivery, he at
once made himself a good reputation with all who take delight
in, or profit from, such instruction. The reputation thus achieved
brought him into prominence for the nomination for district at-
torney in 1882, and in the convention of that year he polled a
good vote. He was again a candidate in 1885, and reached
within an ace of the nomination, his opponent, James L. Lena-
han, being especially popular, both personally and by reason of
the peculiar circumstances attending the contest. Mr. Martin is
a man who outlives discouragements, and if he chooses to be a.
candidate again, he may do so with bright promise of success.

558 James L. Lenahan.

JAMES L. LENAHAN.

James L. Lenahan was born in Plymouth township, Luzerne
county, Pa., November 5, 1856. He attended the public schools
of this city until he was fourteen years of age. He then acted
as clerk in his father's store for three years, then entered the
academy kept by W. R. Kingman, and completed his education
at Holy Cross College, Worcester, Mass. James L. Lenahan
read law with his brother, John Thomas Lenahan, and was ad-
mitted to the bar of Luzerne county January 28, 1879. In 1880
he was census enumerator for the Fourth ward of the city of
Wilkes-Barre. The father of James L. Lenahan is Patrick Lena-
han, a retired merchant of this city. His mother is Elizabeth
Lenahan {nee Duffy), a native of Wilkes-Barre township. Her
father, Bernard Duffy, was a native of County Louth, Ireland,
and emigrated to this country in 183 1. In November, 1885,
Mr. Lenahan was the democratic candidate for district attorney
of Luzerne county, and was elected, the vote standing : Lena-
han, 9,191 ; William Henry McCartney, republican, 8,604; and
Frank Caleb Sturges, prohibitionist, 470. Although the element
of chance enters more or less largely into all contests for political
nominations, and frequently has more to do than anything else
in determining them, it must be admitted that, in the case of Mr.
Lenahan's selection as the candidate of his party for district attor-
ney in 1885, there was an irresistible tendency towards him from
the moment of the announcement of his name, that was due to the
esteem in which he was held by his fellow-professionals and the
people generally. His was one of that class of nominations that
are sometimes spoken of as natural nominations. All the circum-
stances surrounding him and his name seemed from the outset
to point to the wisdom of his being placed upon the ticket, and
the fact that, though his party was at the time split up into sev-
eral warring factions, all united upon and elected him, is of itself
one of the best evidences of his fitness for the position. Mr.
Lenahan is a man of strong convictions and the courage to ex-

Emmett De Vine Nichols. 559

press and contend for them with all proper vigor, of good ad-
dress, and of industrious disposition, and that he will acquit
himself creditably as district attorney everybody feels assured'

EMMETT De VINE NICHOLS.

Emmett De Vine Nichols was born in the village of Ulster,
Bradford county, Pa., July 8, 1855. He is the son of George
W. Nichols, of New Albany, Pa., and a descendant of Stephen
Nichols, who came from England at an early day and settled in
Connecticut. The mother of Emmett De V. Nichols was Eliza-
beth B. Nichols [nee Hemingway), of Rome, Pa. Mr. Nichols at-
tended the common schools of his native township up to the age
of fifteen. He then attended the select school of Professor J. B.
Crawford, at Sheshequin, Pa., and at the age of twenty received
a certificate to teach. He taught in Laddsburg, Pa., during the
winter of 1875-1876. Pie attended Wyoming Seminary during
a portion of the latter year, after which he went to Marathon, N.
Y., for the purpose of recruiting his health. He then went to a
place called Willett, near Marathon, for the purpose of teaching
a select school. On the Sunday night before opening his school
he delivered his first public address to a packed house in the
Baptist church. After teaching several months he went to Cort-
land, N. Y., and studied law a day and a half in Judge Smith's
office. In the spring of 1877 he came to Wilkes-Barre and en-
tered upon the study of the law in the office of Kidder (C. P.)
and Nichols (F. M.), and was admitted to the bar of Luzerne
county September 16, 1879, and has been in continuous practice
since. Mr. Nichols is an ardent temperance advocate, and at the
age of fifteen was worthy chief templar of a Good Templar's
lodge. While a student Mr. Nichols held many Murphy meet-
ings and took an active part in good templary. He has been
deputy grand worthy chief templar of the state of Pennsylvania,
and is at present a district deputy. He was secretary of the first
county constitutional temperance amendment association, or-

560 Emmett De Vine Nichols.

ganized in Luzerne county, and organized the prohibition party
in this county in 1880, and has been chairman of the party ever
since. The same year he was one of the Pennsylvania presiden-
tial electors on the prohibition ticket. In 1883 he was tempo-
rary chairman of the state prohibition convention held at Pitts-
burgh. In 1884 he was the candidate of the prohibition party
for congress for the Twelfth congressional district, and received
1,001 votes. In 1885 he published a work of one hundred and
two pages, entitled, " The License System repugnant to sound
Constitutional Law. Prohibition in perfect harmony with the
spirit of American Institutions." Mr. Nichols married, June 25,
1879, Emma J. Koons, of Ashley, Pa. She is the daughter of
John G. Koons, a native of the township of Sugarloaf, in this
county, but who has resided in Ashley for the past twenty years.
His father, Michael Koons, was a well-to-do farmer in the Con-
yngham Valley, and died at the age of eighty-two years. His
father was a native of Schuylkill county, and removed to Sugar-
loaf township, and his father was born in Germany. The mother
of Mrs. Nichols, and the wife of John G. Koons, is Emeline M.,
daughter of Captain Thomas W. Knauss. He was a native of
Easton, Pa., but removed to Centreville, Pa. While residing
there he was superintendent of the Reformed church Sunday
school, postmaster, and justice of the peace for many years. ' He
was captain of a military company in the Mexican war, and while
in Mexico was taken with a fever and died. Captain Knauss'
father, John Michael Knauss, was a native of Kreidlersville, Pa.,
and was a soldier in the war of 1812. His father was a native
of Germany, and afterwards came to this country and here mar-
ried. Mr. and Mrs. Nichols have three children : Carrie Al-
berta Nichols, Pearl Elizabeth Nichols, and Maud Edna Nichols.
Mr. Nichols is one of that class of men of whom examples
turn up in every age and in almost every community — men
whose ambition it is to figure conspicuously in movements con-
templating great reformations, and who frequently make great
sacrifices, professionally and in a business way, in their ardent
and unselfish efforts to achieve their object. Such men have
sown the seed of every important political or social revolution
the world has ever seen. They were the hard workers in the

Nathan Bennett. 561

earlier days of the agitation against feudalism, for the substitu-
tion of democracies for monarchies, and for the abolition of
slavery. While comparatively, few of the number have lived to
participate in the fruition of their hopes, their memories are al-
ways revered by their descendants, and frequently they have
reached to high niches in the gallery of public fame. Whether
we believe in or antagonize prohibition, we must needs concede
to Mr. Nichols that he is devoted to the interests of the prohibi-
tion cause, that he is sincere in his beliefs and professions, and
that he has given, and still gives, very largely in proportion to
his means, to its advancement. The measure of his success, as
above outlined, has been, under all the circumstances, quite re-
markable. We can better appreciate such characters when we
reflect upon how few there are who are content, in this world,
with doing only that and all which their consciences approve.
Mr. Nichols is a lawyer of good abilities, a gentleman of pleasant
manners, and a reputable citizen.

NATHAN BENNETT.

Nathan Bennett was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., July 7, 1852.
He is a descendant of Ishmael Bennett, who was born in Rhode
Island about 1730. From there he removed to Connecticut,
where he married, and from there came to Wilkes-Barre, where
he settled about 1770. After the battle and massacre of Wyo-
ming he returned to Connecticut with the expelled inhabitants,
and subsequently returned to Wilkes-Barre, where he married
for the second time (his first wife having died), Abigail Beers,
widow of Philip Weeks, who was killed in the massacre. He
removed to Ohio in 18 16, and died there when a very old man.
Nathan Bennett, son of Ishmael Bennett by his second wife, was
born in Hanover township in 1788. He married Ann Hoover,
daughter of Henry Hoover, a native of New Jersey, who came
to Hanover in 1790 in company with his father, Felix Hoover.
They were of Dutch descent. Nathan Bennett lived in this city,

562 Nathan Bennett.

where he died in 1872. Stewart Bennett, son of Nathan Bennett
and father of Nathan Bennett the subject of this sketch, was born
in Hanover township in 1830. IJis wife was Mary Ann Lynn,
a daughter of Joseph Lynn, of Bridgeville, Warren county, N.
J., where she was born. Mr. Bennett was a prominent citizen of
this city, and served in the city council for several years. He
died in 1885. Nathan Bennett, the subject of our sketch, was
educated in the public schools of this city and at the Normal
School at Millersville, Pa. He taught one year in our schools,
and for two years was a clerk in the prothonotary's office of
Luzerne county. He read law with W. L. Paine and Alexander
Farnham, and was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county Sep-
tember 22, 1879. He married, May 19, 1881, Alice, daughter
of Charles Sturdevant, of this city. Mr. and Mrs. Bennett have
one child : Fanny Sturdevant Bennett. Charles Sturdevant is
the youngest son of the late Samuel Sturdevant, a native of
Danbury, Conn., where he was born September 16, 1773. The
late Ebenezer Warren Sturdevant was a brother of Charles Stur-
devant, as also John Sturdevant (father of W. H. Sturdevant,
Edward J. Sturdevant, and Samuel B. Sturdevant, M. D., of this
city), who held the office of county commissioner of Wyoming
county for several years, and who, in the year 1854, in connec-
tion with Charles J. Lathrop, represented the counties of Sus-
quehanna, Wyoming and Sullivan in the legislature of the state.
In 1838 he, in company with Chester Butler, represented Luzerne
county in the same body. This was before Wyoming county
was organized. It was during the latter year that the " Buck-
shot War," as it is called in Pennsylvania politics, occurred.
The whig or anti-Masonic party, under the leadership of Thad-
deus Stephens, although in a minority, undertook to organize
the house of representatives by excluding the democratic mem-
bers from Philadelphia, and " to treat the election as if it had not
been held." Each party organized a legislature of their own.
For several days all business was suspended, and the governor,
alarmed for his own personal safety, ordered out the militia,
and fearing this might prove insufficient, called on the United
States authorities for help. The latter refused, but the militia,
under Major-Generals Patterson and Alexander, came promptly

Nathan Bennett. 563

in response. For two or three days during the contest the dan-
p-er of a coHision was imminent, but wiser councils prevailed.
The whig or anti-Masonic party, seeing the danger of longer
continuing the struggle, weakened, and enough deserted to the
democratic body to give that organization a decided majority,
and by December 25, all had gone over to the democratic legis-
lature save only one — Thaddeus Stevens. Against the protest of
some of the democratic members, who held that Mr. Stevens was
duly and regularly elected from Adams county and could not be
expelled, the legislative body concluded to expel him, and did so
by a vote of fifty-eight for, and thirty-four against. John Sturde-
vant, although a whig at that time, did not approve of the action
of Thaddeus Stevens, and was one of the first to go over to the
democratic body, and when the excitement was greatest and
Stevens, to save his life, jumped out of one of the windows of
the capitol, Mr. Sturdevant was pleased to get rid of the incubus
in that manner. John Sturdevant removed from Skinner's Eddy,
Wyoming county, to this city in 1857. He died here in 1879.
After his removal to this county he was for many years county
surveyor of Luzerne county, and also engineer of the borough
of Wilkes-Barre. The mother of Mrs. Nathan Bennett is Fanny
Sturdevant, a daughter of the late Isaac Hancock Ross. He
was a native of Pike township, Bradford county, and was the son
of Jesse Ross, who was the .son of Lieutenant Perrin Ross, who
lost his life in the battle and massacre of Wyoming, July 3, 1778.
Jesse Ross was only five years old at the time of the battle. He
married Betsey, a daughter of Isaac Hancock, January 22, 1795.
He was born near West Chester, Pa. Before the revolutionary
war he was at Wyalusing for a time, and returned there about
1785. He is mentioned on the records of Luzerne county as a
" taverner/' for Springfield township in 1788. At this time he
was also one of the overseers of the poor for the district com-
posed of the whole extent of Luzerne county, from the mouth
of the Meshoppen, north to the state line. In 1790 that portion
of Luzerne since constituting the area of Susquehanna county,
was included within two townships — Tioga and Wyalusing. By
order of the justices of Luzerne county " Tioga was bounded on
the north by the northern line of the state; and east and west by

564 Edwin Shortz.

the lines of that county; and on the south by an east and west
line which should strike the standing stone " now in Bradford
county. On September i, 1791, Isaac Hancock was commis-
sioned a justice of the peace for the district of Tioga by Governor
Thomas Mifflin. He " was a portly, jovial, light complexioned
man, the very opposite of his grave, dignified Quaker wife, whose
dark face and black tresses contrasted strikingly with the light,
blonde locks of her husband." The wife of Isaac Hancock Ross,
and the mother of Mrs. Charles Sturdevant, was Maria Williams,
daughter of the late Latham Williams, a native of Groton, Conn.,
who removed with his family to Brooklyn, Susquehanna county.
Pa., in 181 1. Isaac Edgar Ross, M. D., of this city, is a brother
of Mrs. Charles Sturdevant, and Latham Williams was the grand-
father of Edward Denison Williams, D. D. S., also of this city.
Mr. Bennett is another of the many who have graduated from
the school room to the practice of the law. The bar has never
been recruited so largely from any other source. He is a repub-
lican in politics, and has done much diligent and active service
in his party's behalf, frequently acting as member and secretary
of committees and performing much of that detail work of which
the general public, and frequently even the candidates, know so
little, but which is perfectly legitimate work, and as necessary to
success as similar work is. to the success of any private business
enterprise. He has never been a candidate for office, but has
frequently been spoken of in connection with nominations.

EDWIN SHORTZ.

Edwin Shortz was born in Mauch Chunk, Pa., July 10, 1841.
His grandfather, Abraham Shortz, was a native of Nazareth town-
ship, Northampton county, from which place he removed in the
year 1800 to Nescopeck township, this county, having purchased
from Thomas Craig on August 11, in that year, three hundred
and fifteen acres of land in Nescopeck township, known as " Pine
Grove Farm," for the consideration of "seven hundred pounds
specie gold and silver money." He was commissioned by Wil-

Edwin Shortz. 56:

Ham Findlay, governor of this commonwealth, March 17, 181 8,
a justice of the peace for the townships of Sugarloaf and Nesco-
peck in this county, and held the office for over twenty-five years.
Abraham Shortz, son of Abraham Shortz, was born in Nazareth
township in 1793, and removed with his father to Nescopeck
township. In 1820 he removed to Mauch Chunk, and was for
many years a contractor with the Lehigh Coal and Navigation
Company, and also engaged in the manufacture of lumber. He
was also a member of the house of representatives and senate
from Northampton county, prior to the erection of Carbon county,
By an act of assembly approved March 13, 1843, he was ap-
pointed one of the trustees " to receive written offers of dona-
tions in real estate and money towards defraying the expenses of
the lands and public buildings for the use of the county of Car-
bon, erected out of the counties of Northampton and Monroe."
After the erection of Carbon county he was for several years one
of the county commissioners, and also treasurer of that county.
He died in Mauch Chunk in 1876. His wife, who is still living,
is Sarah, daughter of the late John Rothermel, of Nescopeck
township, where Mrs. Shortz was born. Her brother, Peter P.
Rothermel, is the celebrated painter, and whose handiwork is
seen in the celebrated "Battle of Gettysburg," which he painted
for the state of Pennsylvania for the sum of twenty-five thousand
dollars. Edwin Shortz, son of Abraham Shortz, was educated
in the public schools and Mauch Chunk Academy. In his
youthful days he was a member of an engineer corps, and subse-
quently was extensively engaged in the manufacture of lumber
at White Haven, on his own account and as the senior member
of the firm of Shortz, Lewis, and Company. While a resident
of White Haven he was elected burgess, and also a member of
the school board, of that borough. In 1876 he was the demo-
cratic candidate for state senator in the Twenty-First senatorial
district, but was defeated by E. C. Wadhams, republican, the vote
standing: Shortz, 9,849 ; Wadhams, 9,936. In this connection
we may state that this district, as at present constituted, has never
elected a democrat but once, and Mr. Shortz reduced the major-
ity in the district by nearly one thousand votes. Mr. Shortz read
law with Stanley Woodward and was admitted to the bar of

566 Jasper Byron Stark.

Luzerne county March 29, 1880. Durinc^ the years 1882, 1883,
and 1884 ho was a member of the board of examiners for the
admission of applicants to practice in the courts of Luzerne
county. He married, November 5, 1867, Cehnda Belford, a
daughter of the late George Belford, of Mauch Chunk. He was
a coal operator and contractor in his lifetime. Mr. and Mrs.
Shortz have a family of two children : Robert Packer Shortz
and Edwin Shortz. It will be observed that Mr. Shortz came to
the study of the law under circumstances differing in many par-
ticulars from those which usually surround the student. He
had achieved a competence, he was nearing middle life, and his
preceptor was his warm personal friend. He sought to be a law-
yer, not to earn a livelihood, but from respect for, and love of, the
profession, and he brought to the effort to master its intricacies
and mysteries an experience in practical business life and a ma-
turity of judgment that made success, and speedy success, a pos-
itive certainty. It was within a year or two from the date of his
admission that he became a member of the examining com.mittee,
and already he had been employed as counsel in a number of
important causes. At this writing his practice is an extensive
and lucrative one. Although Mr. Shortz is a very excellent
talker, was so before he began to study law, and employed his
gift on many occasions on the stump, to the gratification of his
party friends and the advancement of his party's prospects, he
does not allow himself to depend in any degree thereupon in his
practice. He prepares his cases with the most zealous care, and
leaves little to be abetted by favorable, and less that can be suc-
cessfully antagonized by, opposition oratory. He is a gentleman
of refined manners, extensively read, a citizen who has the respect
and esteem of all.

JASPER BYRON STARK.

Jasper Byron Stark was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pa,, February
17, 1858. He is a descendant of Aaron Stark, of Hartford,
Conn., in 1639. He had a son William, who had a son Christo-
pher (who removed to the Wyoming Valley in 1769), who had a

Jasper Byron Stark. 567

son William, who settled on the Tunkhannock creek, Luzerne
(now Wyoming) county, in 1795. David Stark and Aaron Stark,
two of the sons of Christopher Stark, were killed in the battle
and massacre of Wyoming, July 3, 1778. Nathan Stark, son of
William, had a son Nathaniel Stark who was the grandfather of
the subject of our sketch. Jasper Billings Stark, son of Nathan-
iel Stark, was born in Tunkhannock, Luzerne (now Wyoming)
county, in 1823. For many years he was a prominent citizen of
the Wyoming and Lackawanna Valleys. In his early manhood
he was a merchant in the city of Carbondale, and subsequently
was deputy marshal of the recorder's court of that city. In
1856 he was elected sheriff of Luzerne county, and from 1862 to
1865 he represented Luzerne county in the state senate. He
was collector of internal revenue for Luzerne and Susquehanna
counties under President Johnson. He was also burgess of the
boroueh of Wilkes-Barre, and at one time chief of police. Mr.
Stark was the democratic nominee for the state senate in 1859,
but was defeated by Winthrop W. Ketcham, republican nominee;
and again in 1874, and was defeated by Hubbard B. Payne, his re-
publican competitor. He at different times was engaged in keep-
ing hotels ; the Eagle at Pittston, the Wyoming at Scranton, and
was at the time of his death, February 16, 1882, the proprietor
of the Wyoming Valley Hotel in this city. The wife of J. B.
Stark is Frances, daughter of the late Captain Charles Smith.
She is a native of Wurtsborough, Sullivan county, N. Y. The
Smiths are of English descent, and were among the early set-
tlers of Connecticut. Ephraim Smith, Mrs. Stark's grandfather,
was born in Windham, Conn., in 1743, and died in Sullivan
county, N. Y., in 1827. Charles Smith, her father, was born in
Windham in 1778. He held at various periods important public
offices, and served as captain during the war of 18 12. He died
at Carbondale, Pa., in 1865. The maternal grandfather of Mrs.
Stark was Captain David Godfrey, who received his commission
direct from General Washington. He was born at Cornwall on
the Hudson, and was of French descent. Mrs. Stark is a sister
of John B. Smith, superintendent of the Pennsylvania Coal Com-
pany, at Dunmore, Pa. Jasper Byron Stark was educated at the
academy of W. S. Parsons in this city, and at the Hopkins Gram.-

568 Martin Francis Burke.

mar School, New Haven, Conn. He read law with Henry M.
Hoyt and the late Hendrick B. Wright, and was admitted to the
bar of Luzerne county April 26, [880. He is an unmarried man.
Mr. Stark has given but little attention to the practice of the
law, being without necessity for so doing. His qualifications
are, however, of an order to convince all who understand and
appreciate them that, if impelled by ambition to excel at the bar,
or by a scantily filled purse, they would have brought him desir-
able reward. While it is true that poverty and the wants of the
physical man have served to develop and amplify the talents of
some of the brightest geniuses this or any other country has ever
produced, it is equally a fact that the inheritance of a fortune has
ultimated in losing to the world the benefits of talents equally
great.

MARTIN FRANCIS BURKE.

Martin Francis Burke was born in Pittston Pa., February 8,
1855. He is the son of Michael Burke, a valued and respectable
citizen of this city, a native of Annadown, in the County of Gal-
way, Ireland. He came to this country in 1840, first settling in
Manayunk, Pa. In 1844 and 1845 he was employed in the roll-
ing mill in this city. He was one of the earliest employes of
the Lackawanna Iron and Coal Company, at Scranton, Pa., and
was collector of tolls on the Wyoming canal at Plainsville and
this city for many years. He has resided in Wilkes-Barre since
1867. His wife, whom he married in this country, is Catharine
Burke {jice McGee), a native of Arratoma, and daughter of Mar-
tin McGee. M. F. Burke was educated in the public schools of
this city and at the Wyoming Seminary, Kingston, Pa. He read
law with General Edwin S. Osborne and was admitted to the
Luzerne county bar May 10, 1880. He married December 23,
1879, Margaret McGinty, daughter of Manus McGinty, of this
city. Mr. and Mrs. Burke have two children living; James
Burke and Catharine Burke. For the past few years Mr. Burke
hns been engaged in other pursuits.

William Jay Hughes. 569

WILLIAM JAY HUGHES.

William Jay Hughes was born in Pittston, Pa., December 30,
1857. He is the son of the late Morris Hughes, who was born
January 2, 1826, at Hollyhead, a seaport town in North Wales.
Morris Hughes emigrated to America in the spring of 1845, ^^^
engaged in the tailoring trade in Pottsville, Pa. In 1850 he went
to California, and while there was interested in gold mining, but
subsequently branched out as a contractor and builder in Yreka,
Siskiyou county, in the vicinity of the Modoc lava beds, where
General Canby was killed. He had many adventures with the
Pitt River Indians, but his good sense and practical knowledge
of men stood him in good stead, and he escaped all the danger
that threatened him in the lava beds. Later on he engaged in
farming and stock raising, and in 1856 he returned and settled
in Pittston, where his brother, H. R. Hughes, had preceded him
He accepted a position as book-keeper with the firm of E. Bevan
and Company, in which firm H. R. Hughes was interested. A
few years later H. R. and Morris Hughes bought the brewery
built by Howarth Brothers, and conducted the business under
the name of H. R. and M. Hughes until the death of Morris
Hughes. In 1868 the brewery was burned out, but was imme-
diately rebuilt. Subsequently the Forest Castle Brewery was
acquired by the two brothers. After he returned from California
he married Jannett Shennan, daughter of William Shennan, a
farmer in Clifford township, Susquehanna county. Mr. Shennan
was a native of Scotland. The father of Morris Hughes was in
the British navy, and was in the battle of Trafalgar under Nelson.
In 1865, he re-visited his old home and attended his father's
funeral, who died at the age of eighty-three years. Mr. Hughes
was one of the republican candidates for the legislature when
Luzerne and Lackawanna were united under the old system, but
was defeated, the democratic party having a large majority in the
county. He was president of the Pittston Trust Company and
Savings Bank from 1870 until it passed out of existence, and was

5-70 William Jay Hughes.

for many years a director of the First National Bank. He was
also a trustee of the West Pittston Presbyterian church. Morris
Hughes died July 7, 1883, at his home in West Pittston. He
had many intelligent friends who valued him at his worth, and
the appreciation was just. He took an active interest in all that
ameliorated the condition of the indigent, and was foremost in
every enterprise that promised an advantage to the general pub-
lic. Mr. Hughes was pre-eminently a public man. He was con-
stantly on the alert to serve a public need, and no one with a just
cause left him empty handed. In his death a host of friends lost
an intelligent friend and neighbor. Just, generous, and faithful, he
was regarded as one of the foremost men of the town. During the
war for the Union he was among the first to recognize the call for
aid, and he responded generously. Regarded as a public man
Morris Hughes occupied an enviable position among the mon-
eyed men of Pittston. Whatever public improvement was sug-
gested tha:t promised an advantage to Pittston, Mr. Hughes was
free to contribute, and that generously. His main object in life
seemed to be the furtherance of the public interest, while at the
same time he did not neglect his duty to his household, which
was among the happiest in West Pittston. As a husband and
father Mr. Hughes was a model man, as a citizen he was among
the first. William Jay Hughes was educated at Wyoming Sem-
inary, Kingston, and at the Pennsylvania Military Academy,
Chester, Pa. He studied law with John Richards, of Pittston,
and with Alexander Farnham, of Wilkes-Barre, and was ad-
mitted to the bar of Luzerne county June 7, 1880. In 1882 he
organized Company C, of the Ninth Regiment of the National
Guard of Pennsylvania, and was captain of the company until
June, 1885, when he was promoted to the office of major of the
regiment. He is an unmarried man and a republican in politics.
William Jay Hughes inherits from his father much of the acute-
ness, diligence, and energy as a business man by which, as we
have seen, the latter was characterized. He made the best use
of the years he gave to mastering the mysteries of the principles
of the law, which was a necessary preliminary to his admission
to practice, but with his attainment of that honor did not by any
means cease to be a student. Wisely realizing that no lawyer

Robert Davenport Evans. 571

can possibly know too much law, he still devotes all the time
which his rapidly growing practice allows him, to increasing his
stock of knowledge on the subject. In this connection we recall
the case of a noted Pennsylvanian who recently died full of years
and honors, and who in his day was without a peer at the bar at
which he practiced. To assign him a case was to win it, if it
had a peg of any kind to hang a favorable verdict or decision
upon. His years multiplied without in the least impairing his
faculties, and a remarkable memory retained all he had ever
learned. But, though he continued to practice almost up to the
day of his death, he was finally compelled to forego his studies,
and, while never in error as to long established principles of the
law, his unfamiliarity with the more recent statutory enactments
and judicial decisions became painfully apparent towards the last,
and where these could be brought to bear against him he was
no match for even the babes of the bar, so to speak, who, with a
much more limited understanding of the law in its essence, were
read up in the latest legal literature. This only goes to prove
that the wisest men and greatest lawyers can never safely cease
to be students. Mr. Hughes is already one of the best known
and most highly respected citizens of Pittston, and is honored
with much more than an average share of the legal business of
its people.

ROBERT DAVENPORT EVANS.

Robert Davenport Evans was born in Levvisburg, Union
county. Pa., August 17, 1856. He is the great-great-grandson
of Joseph Evans, who, in 1785, when Lewisburg was laid out,
was a resident thereof Beyond this fact but little is known of
the paternal ancestor of Mr. Evans. The probability is, that he
came from Montgomery county. Pa., and was a descendant of
one of the early Welsh settlers of Pennsylvania. William Evans,
son of Joseph Evans, and Joseph Evans, son of William Evans,
as also Thompson Graham Evans, son of Joseph Evans, were all
aatives of Lewisburg. The latter is the father of Robert D.

572 Robert Davenport Evans.

Evans, and is a prominent business man in that place. The
mother of the subject of our sketch, and the wife of Thompson
G. Evans, is Rhoda, daughter of the late Robert Davenport, of
Plymouth. He was the son of Thomas Davenport, the ancestor
of the now resident family in that place, who came from Orange
county, N. Y., in 1794. Hon. Hendrick B. Wright, in his " His-
torical Sketches of Plymouth," says the Davenports are " of Low
Dutch origin." He is in error in regard to this, as the family is
of English descent, and removed from New England to Orange
county, N. Y., and from thence to Wyoming. The wife of Robert
Davenport was Phoebe Nesbitt, daughter of James Nesbitt, jun.
He was the son of James Nesbitt, sen., who emigrated from Con-
necticut in 1769, and was one of the Forty. He was in the
Wyoming battle and massacre, and was one of the survivors of
Captain Whittlesey's company. Robert D Evans was educated
at the University at Lewisburg, and graduated in the class of
1875. He read law in Lewisburg with the firm of Linn (J. M.)
and Dill (A. H.), and was admitted to the bar of Union county
in September, 1880. He then removed to this city and was ad-
mitted to the bar of Luzerne county November 15, 1880, and
has been in continuous practice here since his admission. In
1884 he was assistant secretary of the republican county com-
mittee. He is at present the attorney of the county commis-
sioners of Luzerne county. He is an unmarried man Mr.
Evans is a man of studious habits, devoted to his profession and
in a fair way of some day taking a leading position at the bar.
His preceptors were men of high standing in the profession, Mr.
Dill being especially well known throughout the state by reason
of his long service in the house and senate at Harrisburg, and
his having been a democratic candidate for governor of Pennsyl-
vania. From these he imbibed a thorough understanding of the
law and excellent business precepts, which he has since put to
profitable utilization. His present position of counsel for the
county commissioners is one in which careful scanning of the
statutes is necessary, and knowledge of great practical value to
an attorney is necessarily acquired. He has performed its duties
well, to the satisfaction of the commissioners and the profit of
the county.

William Robert Gibbons. ■ 573

WILLIAM ROBERT GIBBONS.

William Robert Gibbons was born in Baltimore, Md., Septem-
ber 18, 1857. His father, Robert Gibbons, was a native of W^est-
port, County of Mayo, Ireland, and emigrated to the United
States in 1852 in company with his wife, Margaret, daughter of
Richard Mangan, also of Westport. When but eight years of
age W. R. Gibbons, with his father's family, removed to Wilkes-
Barre, and has resided here ever since. He was educated in the
public schools of Wilkes-Barre, and read law with John Lynch
and W. S. McLean, of this city, and was admitted to the bar of
Luzerne county April 4, 1881. At the age of seventeen he com-
menced to teach school, and taught four years in succession;
three years in the public schools of this city, and one year in
Hanover township, in this county. In 1882 he was elected to
the council of this city for three years, of which body he was an
active and influential member. He is an unmarried man. Some
of the best men in the profession have had no higher preliminary
education than that which the public schools afford. A collegi-
ate training is unquestionably advantageous, but there are scores
of cases of men who have gone to the topmost rung of the lad-
der without it, to prove that it is not always essential. Mr. Gib-
bons, like many others, probably learned more as a teacher than
as a scholar, for it is an undeniable fact that the charge of a pub-
lic school offers an experience with, and an understanding of,
human character — that of the man being, to close observers, but
slightly different from that of the boy — that in an active business
life is of great utility. Mr. Gibbons had a capable tutor in the
law in Mr. McLean, and like him has become an expert office
lawyer, who handles his cases carefully and with much deftness.
In the council, as stated, he was an active and influential mem-
ber, always alert in behalf of the interests of his ward in partic-
ular and of the citizens generally. He has done some valuable
committee service in behalf of the democratic party, in whose
tenets he is a believer. He stands well with his brother profes-
sionals and with the community at large.

574 John David Hayes.

(^^^^r\ JOHN DAVn3 HAYES.

John David Hayes was born in the city of Limerick, Ireland,
April 4, 1853. He is the son of Thomas and Bridget Hayes,
{jiic Fahy), daughter of James Fahy. They are both deceased,
and never resided in this country. When sixteen years of age
Mr. Hayes came to Hazleton, where he resided until 1876, and
was employed in various capacities around the mines, principally
as engineer and ticket boss. He was educated at St. Michael's
Academy, at Limerick, and at the De La Salle College, at To-
ronto, Ontario, graduating from the latter institution in 1878,
receiving a prize for " general excellence." After graduation he
returned to Hazleton and was employed as a teacher in the pub-
lic schools of Hazle township during the years 1878, 1879, and
1880. In 1 88 1 he taught in the public schools of Freeland bor-
ough, where he now resides. He read law with Clarence W.
Kline, of Hazleton, and was admitted to the bar of Luzerne
county June 11, 1881. Shortly after his admission he removed
to Freeland and is the only practicing attorney in that borough.
He is a notary public, and is at present one of the school di-
rectors of that place. He has been one of the auditors of the
borough. Mr. Hayes married, June 27, 1882, Sally Edith
Reilly, daughter of the late Peter Reilly, a native of Cavan, Ire-
land. The mother of Mrs. Hayes is Phoebe Smith, daughter of
the late Benjamin Smith, who was a soldier in the war of 18 12,
and who for many years received a pension from the government.
He was a native of Knowlton, Sussex county, N. J., and was the
son of Josiah Smith and his wife, Sarah Kirkoff. Mr. Smith's
wife was Mary Hicks, daughter of Robert Hicks, who emigrated
from Ireland about 1750, and settled in New Jersey. Mr. and
Mrs. Hayes have but one child living: Mary Marcella Hayes.
Mr. Hayes is wholly a self-made man. Thrown upon his own
resources at an early age, and compelled to earn his livelihood
in positions affording him but little better compensation than
-that allotted a common laborer, he managed to fit himself for

Henry Amzi Fuller. 575

teaching school, and while engaged at thai avocation to complete
the preparations for his admission to the bar. The man who can
achieve such victories over his circumstances and surroundings
is necessarily made of good material, which is reasonably certain
in the long run to bring him a fitting reward. He has chosen to
hang out his shingle in the modest little burgh among whose
people he has during the greater part of his life resided, and with
whose interests he has so closely identified himself In thus re-
sisting the attractions of the larger towns, so potent with most
newly admitted attorneys, he but gives additional evidence of the
tact that has carried him successfully forward this far in his ca-
reer, and that offers him a far brighter prospect of a good har-
vest in the end. There is generally much greater wisdom in
patiently waiting to grow up with a little town than in starting
in to contend against the hot and vigorous competitors of the
larger ones. Mr. Hayes is a frequent pleader in the county
courts. He prepares a case well and argues it with much force
and ability. He is a clever gentleman, an active democrat, and
a citizen of unquestionably good parts.

At*. ^L

HENRY AMZI FULLER.

Henry Amzi Fuller was born in Wilkes-Barre, January 15,
1855. From all the information in the possession of the family
he is supposed to be a descendant of Samuel Fuller, who came
to this country in 1620 in the Mayflower. The compact which
was made by the pilgrims before landing was signed by forty in-
dividuals, among whom were Samuel Fuller, who had two in his
family, and Edward Fuller, with three in his family. There is
now in the possession of the family a large iron kettle which has
passed through successive generations and is supposed to have
been brought over on the vessel above named. It is also known
that some of Samuel Fuller's descendants settled in Kent, Conn.
The first of the name of whom we have positive information is
Dr. Oliver Fuller, who was a surgeon in the army during the

57(3 Henry Amzi Fuller.

revolution. His son, Captain Revilo (which is Oliver spelled
backwards) Fuller was born in Sherman, Conn., July 26, 1768,
and died October 31, 1846, at Salisbury, Conn. He married,
July 10, 1791, Rebecca Giddings, daughter of Jonathan and Mary
{Baldivin) Giddings.

From what particular branch of the Giddings family in Eng-
land, or who were the immediate ancestors of George Giddings^
the first of the name here, we are unable to say ; but the fact is
well authenticated that George Giddings, at the age of twenty-
five, and his wife, Jane Tuttle, aged twenty, came from England,
in 1635, and settled in the town of Ipswich, about twenty-five
miles from Boston, Mass. Hotten's list of emigrants gives the
names of George and Jane Giddings and three servants. The
following is a copy taken from " Our Early Emigrant Ancestors,"

edited by John C. Hotten :

" 2 April, 1635.

" Theis underwritten are to be transported to New England
imbarqued in the Planter, Nicholas Frarice, M!^, bound thither,
the parties have brought certificates from the Minister of St.
Albans, Hertfordshire, and attestacon from the Justices of peace
according to the Lord's order :

" George Giddins, husbandman, 25 years.

"Jane Giddins.

" Thomas Carter, 25, '^

*' Michael Willinson, 30, > Servants of George Giddins."

"Elizabeth Morrison, 12, |

They are said to have had as companions on their voyage Sir
Henry Vane, fourth governor of Massachusetts, who, in 1662^
suffered martyrdom for his zeal in the cause of liberty and relig-
ion. " John Tuttle, of Ipswich," says Savage, " came in Ship
Planter from London in 1635, ae. 39, with wife Jane, ae. 42, and
ch. — Abigail, ae. 6 ; Simon, ae. 4 ; Sarah, ae. 2 ; and John, ae. i ;
besides Jane Giddings, ae. 20. and her husband George, ae. 25,
who are known to be called children of Tuttle. They had pre-
viously lived at St. Albans, Hertfordshire, England, and had em-
barked April 2, to be joined four days afterwards by several
others of the two families. He (Tuttle) died December 3, 1656,
at Carrie Fergus, where his widow wrote George Giddings as
her son, and so called, also, John Simon and John Lawrence.

Henry Amzi Fuller. 577

John Tuttle was made freeman March 13, 1639, and representive
1644. After a few years he went home and was established in
Ireland in 1654. His wife followed." The history of Litchfield
county, Conn., has the following in regard to the Tuttles : " The
Tuttle family came from Devonshire, England, and were probably
of Welsh descent. In 1528, and again in 1548, Wm. Totyl was
recorder of the ancient city of Exter, the capital of Devonshire,
and the second city in England. Wm. Totyl was high sheriff of
Devonshire in 1549, and lord mayor of Exter in 1552. He had
a son Jeffrey, who was recorder in 1563. Jeffrey bought a fine
estate, called ' Pearmore,' in the neighborhood of Exter. The
estate had belonged to Gray, Duke of Sussex, who was executed
by the crown. Jeffrey had a son Henry, who was high sheriff
in 1624, and from him Wm. Tuttle and three brothers descended,
who came to America in the ship Planter and landed in Boston
in 1635. The brothers were Richard, who settled in Boston,
John in Dover, N. H., and Simon in Ipswich, Mass." That
George Giddings was a man of property and position is inferred
from the fact that he brought over with him three servants, as in
those days only people of means could afford the luxury of ser-
vants. He brought with him a letter of recommendation from
the rector, or minister, of St. Albans, Hertfordshire. St. Albans
is an ancient borough, situate on the top and northern side of a
picturesque hill, twenty-one miles northwest from London. The
Ver, a small tributary of the Colne, separates it from the site of
the ancient Verula, an important station in the time of the Ro-
mans, and the scene of a terrible slaughter in the insurrection
under Boadicea. In honor of St. Alban, said to have suffered
martyrdom here in the year 297, a Benedictine monastery was
founded by Offa, king of Mercia, in 796. The foundation of the
town is supposed to be due to Ulsig (or Ulsin) who was abbot
about one hundred and fifty years later. Two battles were fought
near St. Albans during the War of the Roses, in 1455 and 1461.
In the first Henry VI. became a captive ; in the other he was set at
liberty by his brave queen, Margaret of Anjou. The old Abbey
church, restored in 1875 by Sir Gilbert Scott, is a cruciform
building of irregular architecture, five hundred and forty-seven
feet in length by two hundred and six in breadth, with an erabat-

578 Henky Amzi Fuller.

tied tower one hundred and forty-six feet high. Mr. Giddings
was one of the twenty sworn freeholders who paid the highest
rates out of two hundred and thirty in 1644, deputy to the General
Court in 1641, 1654, 1655, 1659, 1661, 1663. 1664, 1668, 1672,
and 1675. He was a selectman from 1 661 to 1675, and for a long
time a ruling elder of the first church. He was born in 1608,
and died June i, 1676, and his widow, Jane, died in March, 1680.
Ipswich is said to have been the first place in Essex county
known to have been visited by Europeans. In 161 1 Captain
Edward Hardee and Nicholas Hobson sailed for North Virginia
and touched at the place. In 1614 Captain John Smith mentions
Agawam. It was first settled in 1633 and incorporated Ipswich in
1634. John Giddings, son of George Giddings, was born in 1639.
He had a commonage granted him in 1667; was a commoner
in 1678, and a lieutenant of militia, and was a deputy to the Gen-
eral Court in 1653, 1654, and 1655. He died March 3, 1691.
Thomas Giddings, son of John Giddings, was born in Ipswich,
Mass., in 1683. He moved to Gloucester, Mass., in 1710, and to
Lyme, Conn., about 1722, where he purchased land nearly every
year for several years, and settled near Beaver Brook. He mar-
ried, in 1708, Sarah Butler. Joseph Giddings, son of Thomas Gid-
dings, was born in 17 14, in Gloucester, and removed with his father
to Lyme. He married, October 24, 1737, Eunice Andruss, or
Andrews, of Ipswich, and about 1752 removed with his family to
the North Society of New Fairfield, Conn., now Sherman. His
name first appears on the church records of New Fairfield North
Society October 6, 1752, in connection with the baptism of a
daughter " Sarah." On July 15, 1754, he was admitted to the
church by letter from the Third church in Lyme. He took an
active part in the French war. In the colonial records, 1760, is
the following : " This assembly do establish Mr. Joseph Gid-
dings to be Captain of the north company or trainband in the
North Society in New Fairfield." In 1775 he was at the head of
a committee to build a " new House of Worship." His name is
found on the records of the church and society on various other
committees, and he seems to have been a leading man in those
matters. Jonathan Giddings, son of Joseph Giddings, was born
in Lyme, Conn., April 18, 1741, removed with his father to New

Henry Amzi Fuller. 579

Fairfield North Society, where he became a thrifty, enterprising
farmer. He served in the revolutionary war, enduring many
hardships. He was at one time sent by his superior officer at
the head of a scouting party as captain, and they were nine days
without food, having become lost in the woods, where they were
obliged to subsist on roots and herbs. Having received a severe
wound he obtained his discharge and returned to his family. He
was one of the original proprietors of the Connecticut Western
Reserve, in Ohio. In 1786 the state of Connecticut reserved
three million five hundred thousand acres of land in northwestern
Ohio, which became known as the " Connecticut Western Re-
serve." Its claim on all other government lands was then ceded
to the United States. This land was devoted to the use of the
state of Connecticut for the free education of her children. In
1795 Elijah Boardman, of New Milford, and others, among whom
was Jonathan Giddings, purchased, for sixty thousand dollars, a
large tract of land on the reserve, the share of Mr. Giddings being
one thousand, three hundred and eighty-three acres. He married,
January 2, 1766, Mary Baldwin, adopted daughter of Benoni
Stebbins, of New Milford, Conn., and daughter of Gamaliel Bald-
win, she being then eighteen years of age. He afterwards came
into possession of the farm of Mr. Baldwin on the west side of
the Housatonic river. This property remained in possession of
the Giddings family for about one hundred years. Mr. Giddings
died April 8, 18 17. Mr. Baldwin was a descendant of Joseph
Baldwin, of Milford, one of the first settlers in 1639, born in
Milford September 11, 17 16, settled in New Milford, where he
joined the church August 30, 1741. The widow of Jonathan
Giddings married Captain John Ransom, of Kent, Conn., who
■came from Colchester, Conn., about 1738. Rebecca Giddings,
daughter of Jonathan, was born January 2, 1769, and married,
July 10, 1791, Captain Revilo Fuller.

Charles Dorrance Foster, of the Luzerne bar, is a descendant
of George Giddings through his great-grandfather, Rev. Jacob
Johnson, who married Mary, a daughter of Captain Nathaniel
Giddings, of Norwich, Conn., a great-grandson of George Giddings
and the next youngest brother of John Giddings, son of George
Giddings, the ancestor of Henry A. Fuller. George Giddings

580 Henry Amzi Fuller.

was also the ancestor of the late Joshua Reed Giddings, the
great anti-slavery congressman from Ohio.

Amzi Fuller, son of Captain Revilo Fuller, was born in Kent,
October 19, 1793. He obtained as his only fortune the ordinary
academic education given to almost every young man in New
England, and which has fitted multitudes of them for the discharge
of honorable duties in every part of our country. At about the
age of eighteen he left home to seek his fortune among strangers.
Without friends or money he went to-Milford, Pa., a little village
on the banks of the Delaware, the county town of Pike county.
There he taught a school and entered himself as a student at law
in the office of the late Daniel Dimmick, for many years a dis-
tinguished practitioner in the courts of Pike and Wayne counties.
Having completed his preparatory studies and obtained admis-
sion to the bar, Mr. Fuller removed to Bethany, Wayne county,
where, on August 25, 18 16, he was admitted to the bar of that
county. He immediately opened an office for legal practice, and
thus became the first resident lawyer in Wayne county. The
county at that time was wild, rugged, and sparsely populated.
There were no great thoroughfares of business through it, and
lumber was the main staple of commerce. The streams being
small and difficult of navigation, the lumbering business was a
precarious source of wealth, yet it so withdrew attention from
agricultural pursuits as to leave the general face of the country
unimproved. The legal business was very small. The courts
sat but twice a year with juries, and were seldom occupied a
week dispatching all the issues, criminal and civil, which arose.
Nathaniel B. Eldred, subsequently president judge of the Eigh-
teenth judicial district, had located himself in Bethany, a gay
young lawyer of fine manners and commanding talents ; and the
very able gentlemen then at the bar of Luzerne county attended
the courts in Pike and Wayne to share with Messrs. Eldred and
Fuller the legal business which seemed scarcely enough for them.
And there were Messrs. Mott and Dimmick, of Pike county, in
practice also in the same courts. Into Wayne county such as it
then was, and attended by this formidable competition, came Mr.
Fuller to seek his livelihood. And his dependence was to be
wholly on his profession. He had no adventitious aids, and he

Henry Amzi Fuller. 581

engaged in no other business. He sat himself down to the care-
ful study of the few law books he possessed, and to the correct
transaction of the business entrusted to his care. Cultivatino-
the strictest habits of integrity, industry, temperance, and frugal-
ity, he rose rapidly in public confidence, his business increased,
and in a few years he was able to marry, to build him a fine
house, and to establish himself in circumstances of great com-
fort. There in the little highland village of Bethany he resided
until 1841, accumulating a fortune by faithful attention to a con-
stantly increasing business, and by rigid adherance to habits of
economy, which had been forced upon him in the beginning, but
which he never sought to change. He made himself a sound
and well read lawyer. No man's integrity was ever more un-
doubted, and business never suffered in his hands from procrasti-
nation, rashness, or unskillfulness. Strictly honest and eminently
punctual in all his dealings, his credit with the community be-
came unbounded. Indeed, it is doubted whether his name ever
stood a month as debtor on any man's books. He never held
but one civil office, and that he sought not, though he was re-
appointed to it several times. It was the office of deputy attor-
ney general, which was conferred upon him by successive admin-
istrations of various politics for many years, and the duties of
which he discharged with the same zeal, punctuality, and skill
that characterized all his business transactions. During his res-
idence in Bethany his house was ever open with a ready and an
elegant hospitality. He was an efficient supporter of the public
schools, and of the interests of religion, as well as of every pro-
ject for the internal improvement of the county. He loved
Wayne county with a pure affection. There had been the scene
of his early professional struggles and of his final triumph. He
had mixed with the hardy and enterprising people on terms of
the utmost familiarity, had assisted them and been assisted by
them, and mutual confidence and affection were the growth of
such intercourse. Long before he had removed from Wayne
county he had the satisfaction of witnessing a great improvement
in the face of the country and in the social condition of the peo-
ple. As the more valuable kinds of lumber disappeared, in-
creased attention was given to farming and its associate com--

5^2 Henry Amzi Fuller.

forts; the population, originally from New England, was swelled
by a continually incoming tide ; turnpikes were projected and
built, and finally the works of the Delaware and Hudson Canal
Company were introduced which built up towns, created markets,
and stimulated enterprise and industry in every department of
life. These causes wrought magic effects among the rude hills
of Wayne, and have made it a wealthy and interesting county,
whilst its population in intelligence and enterprise is equal to
that of any county in the state. Very deep and hearty was the
pleasure with which Mr. Fuller witnessed the advancement and
prosperity of a community with whose interests his own had been
so long and thoroughly identified, and, although he removed his
residence to this city, the amor patricc that glowed incessant in
his bosom belonged to Wayne. In 1840 an act of assembly was
passed providing for the removal of the county-seat ofW^ayne
from Bethany, where he had so long resided, to Honesdale, three
miles distant. Having acquired an ample fortune Mr. Fuller de-
termined to retire from the toils of his profession, and the better
to do this he waited until after the removal of the county-seat,
when he removed to Wilkes-Barre, where his son Henry Mills
Fuller, was then already established. While here he did not en-
gage in the active practice of the law, though he continued to
act as advisory counsel for many of his former clients. While
resident in Wilkes-Barre Mr. Fuller attached all hearts to him.
He had cultivated the social virtues with great success, and taken
a deep interest in the prosperity of the Protestant Episcopal
church, to whose venerable forms he was strongly attached.
Though not a communicant in the church, he was a constant at-
tendant upon its services, a liberal supporter of it, an active ves-
tryman, and at the time Bishop Potter was elected Mr. Fuller
was an efficient member of the diocesan convention. He was
admitted to the bar of Luzerne county January ii, 1822. He
died in Kent, while on his annual visit to that place with his wife,
September 26, 1847, in the same room and house in which he
was born.

John Ransom Fuller, of Kent, the eldest son of Captain Revilo
Fuller, was a man of sound judgment and was highly esteemed ;
was several times elected justice of the peace and to other town

Henry Amzi Fuller. 583

offices, and was captain of a militia company. Robert Nelson
Fuller, another son of Captain Fuller, was a highly esteemed
resident of Salisbury, Conn. He held various town offices,
among others justice of the peace and judge of probate. Thomas
Fuller, another son of Captain Fuller, when young obtained a
very thorough common school education, at the same time get-
ting a practical knowledge of the manner in which the labor on
a New England farm should be performed. But farming was
not congenial to his tastes, and he had a strong desire to fit him-
self for some profession, and his preference was that of the law.
Therefore, in 1823, when nineteen years of age, he arranged to
go to Bethany and put himself under the instruction of his
brother Amzi, who was a thorough Latin scholar, where he pur-
sued his studies until well fitted for practice, and in 1826 was
admitted to the courts of Wayne county. He was admitted to
the bar of Luzerne county January 7, 1834. He became a very
prominent lawyer, and, although in politics was a whig and the
majority in his legislative district was two thousand democratic,
he was twice in succession elected to the state legislature. His
business and popularity continued to increase as long as he lived,
so that before his death he was recognized as standing at the
head of his profession in Wayne county. He died at Honesdale
December 16, 1843. Revilo Fuller, of Sherman, Conn., another
son of Captain Fuller, was a man of stalwart frame, fine appear-
ance, pleasing in his intercourse with others, and exerted great
influence in the community where he resided. He was justice
of the peace, town clerk, and treasurer many times, a member
of the legislature in 1850, judge of probate in 1858, and post-
master. Rebecca Fuller, a daughter of Captain Fuller, married
John Torrey, of Honesdale, Pa. He is a son of Major Jason
Torrey, who was one of the earliest settlers in northeastern
Pennsylvania. Amzi Fuller married, February 10, 1818, Maria
Mills, daughter of Philo Mills.

In the seventeenth century three families by the name of Mills
resided in Connecticut. First, John Mills, coming from England
with Governor Winthrop ; second, Lincoln Mills, coming with
Captain Newbury to Salem prior to 1635 ; third, Peter Mills, of
Dutch origin, and from whom descended families in Windsor,

584 Henry Amzi Fuller.

Kent, and Torringford. Pieter Wouters Van de Meylyn of Am-
sterdam, came from Holland and settled in Windsor. Mrs.
VVynkoop, daughter of Isaac Mills, while on a tour around the
world with her son, the Rev. Mr. Wynkoop, of Washington, D.
C, thus writes from Washington, under date of November 27,
1881 : " Pieter Wouters Van de Meylyn was born in Holland in
1622, and the first record of his name in America was in 1666.
His father was a Dutch nobleman, knighted in consequence of
improvements which he made in the construction of dikes or
canals. While a student in the University of Leydon he fell
under his father's displeasure on account of his religious views,
was disinherited and, for conscience sake, fled to America, landing
in Boston. He was twice married. First, to Dorcas Messinger,
born September 23, 1650, died Windsor May 18, 1688; second,
to Jane Thamsin, of Hartford, to whom he was married Decem-
ber 10, 1691. He had four children, Peter being the eldest. For
reasons now unknown he petitioned the colonial legislature to
have his name changed to Peter Mills, as appears from the
records now preserved at Hartford, but the date is not men-
tioned. The family settled in Windsor, where he died ; date un-
known. The Van de Meylyns in Holland are now, and ever have
been, a highly respectable family. Several of its clergymen have
been distinguished for piety and good judgment. They thmk
much of their American relatives. The old father in Amster-
dam was wealthy, and upon hearing of his death one grandson
took out papers to prove his right to a portion of his estate, but
the ship and all on board were lost, January 22, 173,0. Peter
Mills, son of Pieter Wouters Van de Meylyn, or Mills, appears to
have been a man of uncommon force of character and emi-
nent piety. He married, July 21, 1692, Joanna Porter, daughter
of John Porter, a Wealthy landowner of Windsor. The ' Mills
farm ' was in Bloomfield, the northerly part of Windsor, a beau-
tiful spot commanding an extensive view of valley,, hill and river.
Until recently the dwelling remained, but a grove of trees still
marks the place beside the old homestead once occupied by the
pious old Dutchman, our forefather." Peter Mills had nine chil-
dren, among whom were Peletiah A. Mills, born 1693, graduated
from Yale College and became a lawyer ; Rev. Jedediah Milli,

Henry Amzi Fuller. 585

born 1697, graduated from Yale 1/22, became pastor of the
church in Ripton, and with him studied the eminent missionary
David Brainard; John Mills, born 1707, farmer, one of the first
settlers in Kent, Conn., born in Windsor, married Jane Lewis,
of Stratford, Conn. She was born in Stratford 17 12. He was
drowned in the Housatonic river June 7, 1760, aged fifty-three,
was selectman at the time of his death, and was superintendent
of a bridge. He had carried a woman over and was drowned
coming back. Rev. Ebenezer Mills, born 17 12, graduated at
Yale 1738. Rev. Gideon Mills, born 1715, graduated at Yale
1737. Mr. Mills was once asked " How did you educate four
sons at Yale College and give each a profession ? " He replied,
"Almighty God did it with the help of my wife." Ruth Mills,
granddaughter of Rev. Gideon Mills, married Owen Brown,
father of John Brown, " Whose soul is marching on." A sister
of Ruth married Mr. Humphrey, father of the president of Am-
herst College. John Mills had eight children. His fifth child
was Rev. Samuel Mills, who was born May 17, 1743. He was
the noted " Uncle Sam " Mills, of Torringford, and father of the
missionary, Samuel J. Mills. His sixth child, Jane Mills, mar-
ried Rev. Joel Bordwell, minister in Kent, Conn., for over fifty
years. His seventh child, Sarah Mills, married Rev. Jeremiah
Day, of New Preston, father of President Day, of Yale College.
His eighth child was Rev. Edmund Mills, of Sutton, Mass.
Lewis Mills, his third child, was born October 18, 1738, in Kent.
He was a lieutenant in the army of the revolution. Married
Hannah Hall July 26, 1759. She came from the southern part
of Connecticut. Her mother's name supposed to be Bradley.
Lieutenant Mills died April 4, 1782, in the fourty-fourth year of
his age. Mrs. Hannah Mills died April 4, 1804, aged sixty-four,
the old Mills homestead, where she lived with her son Philo.
Colonel Philo Mills, sixth child of Lieutenant Lewis Mills, was
born September 5, 1774, married Rhoda Goodwin, of Torring-
ford, Thanksgiving Day evening, November 17, 1797, by Rev.
"'Uncle Sam" Mills, of Torringford. Rhoda Goodwin was born
in Torringford June 4, 1774. The Goodwins came from England.
Philo Mills was captain, major, and colonel successively of the
the Thirteenth Regiment in the Connecticut Militia, He died

-to'

586 Henry Amzi Fuller.

July 31, 1863, aged eighty-eight. His wife died September 26,
1 86 1, aged eighty-seven. They were married sixty-three years
and no death occurred in the family. Maria Mills, the wife of
Amzi Fuller, was born April 7, 1799, and died August 24, 1885.
She was the eldest child of Philo Mills. Colonel Mills was the
great-grand-father of Henry Amzi Fuller, and also of John Slos-
son Harding, of the Luzerne bar.

Henry Mills Fuller, son of Amzi Fuller, was born at Bethany
June 3, 1820. At the age of fifteen he was sent to the College
of New Jersey, at Princeton, to attain and perfect his education,
which was pursued with a view of his entrance upon the more
trying and intricate study of the law. An early fondness for
argument and a peculiar forte as a declaimer induced his parents
to train him for the bar. Mr. Fuller remained in Princeton until
the year 1838, when he graduated with the highest honors. As
a member of the Cliosophic Society of the college, he was se-
lected to deliver the Fourth of July and commencement orations,
and his brilliant future was then foreshadowed in these collegiate
exhibitions. After graduation he commenced reading law under
his father's instruction, but soon removed to Wilkes-Barre and
pursued his studies in the office of the late George W. Wood-
ward, ex-chief justice of the supreme court of Pennsylvania, and
was admitted to the practice of the law by the courts of Luzerne
county January 3, 1842. Mr. Fuller assiduously improved him-
self in the practice of the law after his admission and secured a
large and remunerative clientage. He took an active part, though
never a mere partisan, in support of Taylor and F'illmore in the
Rough and Ready canvass of 1848, and at the October election
of that year was supported by the whigs of Luzerne county for
representative, more as a compliment to his unusual merit than
with a hope of securing his election. Mr. Fuller stumped his
legislative district and carried it triumphantly by one thousand
five hundred majority, against a popular democratic nominee,
though Morris Longstreth, the democratic candidate for gov-
ernor, had at the same time about eight hundred majority in the
county and General Cass near five hundred at the presidential
election. It was during this session of the legislature that stren-
uous efforts were made and required for appropriations towards

Henry Amzi Fuller. 587

the completion of the North Branch CanaK and Mr. Fuller, al-
though a young member, was selected by those interested in this
important project as the champion of their cause in the house of
representatives. His speech on this subject was a powerful
effort, a master-piece of oratorical rhetoric, replete with statistics
and convincing arguments, and to its electrical effect may be at-
tributed the successful issue of the effort and the " moving of the
waters" which opened to trade and commerce those regions of
mineral and agricultural wealth which, without this important
improvement, would have long lain unproductive and dormant.
In 1849 the whig state convention conferred on Mr. Fuller the
honor of a nomination for canal commissioner, well knowing
that his personal popularity would add strength to their ticket.
In this they were not disappointed. In all the counties on the
" North Branch " he ran ahead of the Taylor electoral ticket of
the year before upwards of two thousand votes, and, not to be
deterred in their efforts to overthrow the democracy in one of
their strongholds, they again in 1850 presented the name of Mr.
Fuller as the whig candidate for congress in the district com-
posed of Luzerne, Wyoming, Columbia, and Montour counties,
against Hendrick B. Wright, and in the face of three thousand
majority in the district, he gallantly carried it and was elected to
congress by fifty-nine majority. His election in this instance
was contested before the United States house of representatives,
where there was a democratic majority of fifty- four. The com-
mittee to whom was referred the contested election case reported
against him, and, according to custom, the contestants were re-
spectively heard in their own behalf before the bar of the house.
On this occasion Mr. Fuller's oratorical powers overpowered his
opponent's, and his brilliant effort sustained him in his seat, which
was accorded to him by thirteen majority. This was, indeed, a
triumph such as few have ever attained surrounded by so many
adverse interests and influences. In 1852 he was nominated by
the whigs for re-election, and again canvassed the district with
Colonel Wright as the candidate of the democrats, but was de-
feated by a meagre majority of about one hundred, though the dis-
trict at the presidential election a month afterwards gave General
Franklin Pearce three thousand, nine hundred and sixty-eight

588 Henry Amzi Fuller.

majority. Having thus each been once successful by a close
vote in a district largely democratic, both were again marshaled
for the contest by their respective parties in 1854, when Mr.
Fuller cleared the course by some two or three thousand majority,
although William F. Bigler, the democratic candidate for gov-
ernor, carried the district at the same election by two thousand,
two hundred majority. In 1855, notwithstanding his own wishes
and repeated declinations, his ardent admirers and many friends
in congress insisted on supporting him for speaker of the house
of representatives, and it is to be regretted, with his well earned
experience, business talents, and eloquence, that he was not sus-
tained irrespective of party predilection and elected to that ele-
vated position. The house of representatives at that time was
constituted as no other has ever yet been. No party had a ma-
jority of its members, while two separate organizations seemed to
have. The "Americans" had chosen a majority; so had the
" Republicans," or opponents of the policy embodied in the Ne-
braska Bill ; but the lines of these two organizations ran into and
crossed each other. The republicans who were anti " Know
Nothing" were perfectly willing to support an anti-Nebraska
"American" for speaker; but nearly all the southern "Americans"
would support no candidate who was in principle a republican.
Thus, there was, in fact, no majority of any party, and a long,
bitter, exciting struggle for the organization was inevitable. The
contest for the speakership continued for nine weeks. For the
first week Mr. Fuller was supported by the Pennsylvania dele-
gation with unwavering fidelity with one exception — that of
Mr. Allison. Had the delegation continued for another week
unitedly and inflexibly in his support, there remains little doubt
that he would have become the rallying point of the moderate
and national minded men from all sections. His conduct
during the protracted and wearisome struggle commanded the
admiration of all who witnessed it. He turned neither to the
right nor left, but moved straightforward, boldly and fearlessly
avowing his sentiments whenever called upon to do so, caring
not a jot whether his so doing would benefit or injure his pros-
pects of an election ; but saying every time that he wished not
to be in the way of an election, and desiring those who voted for

Henky Amzi Fuller. 589

'him to drop his name whenever they pleased. Honest, fearless,
and independent as he was ever known to be by all who knew
him, and so universally conceded by those who differed with
him, he would not falsify his own convictions and proclaim views
inconsistent with them, though by so doing he might have driven
Mr. Banks, who was elected, out of the contest and attained the
speakership for himself During the contest, in answer to certain
interrogatories, Mr. Fuller explained his position as follows :

Mr. Clerk, I voted for the resolution offered by the gentle-
man from Tennessee [Mr. Zollicoffer] yesterday, because I cordi-
ally approve of the principle embodied in that resolution. Early
in the session I felt it a duty, in justice to myself and to those
with whom I had been acting, to declare the opinions I enter-
tained and the course of action I should pursue upon certain
■questions of public policy. I desire to say now, sir, what I be-
lieve is known to the majority — if not to all — of those who have
honored me with their confidence, that I have been ready at any
and all times to withdraw my name from this protracted canvass.
I have felt unwilling to stand, or to appear to stand, in the way
of any fair organization of this body.

In answer to the specific interrogatories here presented, I say
that I do not regard the Kansas and Nebraska bill as promotive
of the formation of free states; and I will further say, sir, that I
do not believe that it is promotive of the formation of slave states.
The second interrogatory relates to the constitutionality of the
Wilmot proviso. I was not a member of the congress of 1850,
and have never been called upon to affirm or deny the constitu-
tionality of the Wilmot proviso.

I have never assumed the position, that " if territorial bills
(silent upon the subject of slavery, and leaving the Mexican laws
to operate) were defeated, he [I] would vote for a bill with the
Wilmot proviso in it." That question relates to the legislative
action of the distinguished gentleman from Illinois [Mr. Richard-
son.] My political existence commenced since that flood. I
was not a member of that congress, and having never taken any
public position upon that subject heretofore, I am willing, in all
frankness and candor, to do so now ; and I do so with great de-
ference and respect for those distinguished men who, in times
past, have entertained and expressed different opinions. Public
history informs us that slavery existed before the constitution,
and, in my judgment, now exists independent of the constitution.
When the people of the confederated states met by their repre-
sentatives in convention, to form that constitution, slavery existed

590 Henry Amzi Fuller.

in all but one of the states of the confederacy. The people,
through their representatives, having an existing and acknowl-
edged right to hold slaves, conceded this — the right to prohibit
importation — after the year 1808. They made no cession, so far
as regarded the existence of domestic slavery. They claimed —
and it was granted — the right of reclamation in case of escape.
They claimed — and it was granted — the right of representation
as an element of political power. And I hold, in the absence of
express authority, that congress has no constitutional right to
legislate upon the subject of slavery. I hold that the territories
are the common property of all the states, and that the people of
all the states have a common right to enter upon and occupy
those territories, and they are protected in that occupation by the
flag of our common country; that congress has no constitutional
power either to legislate slavery into, or exclude it from, a terri-
tory. Neither has the territorial legislature, in my judgment, any
right to legislate upon that subject, except so far as it may be
necessary to protect the citizens of the territory in the enjoyment
of their property, and that in pursuance of its organic law, as es-
tablished by congressional legislation. When the citizens of the
territory shall apply for admission into the Union, they may de-
termine for themselves the character of their institutions (by their
state constitution) ; and it is their right then to declare whether
they will tolerate slavery or not, and thus, fairly deciding for
themselves, should be admitted into the Union as states without
reference to the subject of slavery. The constitution was formed
by the people of the states for purposes of mutual advantage
and protection. The states are sovereignties, limited only so far
as they have surrendered their powers to the general government.
The general government, thus created and limited, acts with cer-
tain positive, defined, and clearly ascertained powers. Its legis-
lation and administration should be controlled by the constitution ;
and it cannot justly employ its powers thus delegated to impair
or destroy any existing or vested rights belonging to the people
of any of the states.

In addition the above he made the following answer to Mr.
Barksdale's interrogatories :

Mr. Clerk, I shall answer the questions specifically and directly,
reserving to myself the privilege of more full explanation hereafter.

"Are you in favor of restoring the Missouri restriction, or do you go for
the entire prohibition of slavery in all the territories of the United States ?"

I am opposed to any legislation upon those subjects, for rea-
sons already given.

"Are you in favor of abolishing slavery in the District of Columbia and
the United States forts, dock-yards, etc. ?"

I am not, sir.

Henry Amzi Fuller. 591

" Do you believe in the equality of the white and black races in the United
States, and do you wish to promote that equality by legislation?"

I do not, sir. I acknowledge a decided preference for white
people.

"Are you in favor of the entire exclusion of adopted citizens and Roman
Catholics from office ? "

Mr. Clerk, I think with General Washington— and he is a very
high authority— that it does not comport with the policy of this
country to appoint foreigners to office to the exclusion of native-
born citizens. But I wish to say that I proscribe no man because
of his religion; I denounce no man because of his politics. I
accord to all the largest liberty of opinion and of expression, of
conscience and of worship. I care not, sir, what creed a man
may profess; I care not to what denomination he may belong;
be he Mohammedan, Jew, or Gentile, I concede to him the right to
worship according to the dictates of his own judgment. I invade
no man's altar, and would not disturb any man's vested rights.
Whatever we have been, whatever we are, and whatever we may
be, rests between us and heaven. I allow no mortal to be my
mediator ; and, judging no man, will by no man be judged. With
regard to those of foreign birth, I do not desire to exclude them.
I say to them : " Come, enter upon the public lands ; occupy
the public territory; build up for yourselves homes, acquire pro-
perty, and teach your children to love the constitution and laws
which protect them ; " but I do say that in all matters of legisla-
tion, and in all matters of administration, Americans should govern

America.

" Do you favor the same modification of the tariff now that you did at the.
last session of congress ?"

I was not a member of the last congress; and all that I would
now ask upon the subject of the tariff is, " to be let alone."

In 1856, for the convenience of giving more attention to some
matters of business with which he was entrusted, he removed to
Philadelphia, and continued to reside there until his death. He
was one of the foremost in developing the coal and iron interests
of this region. Probably no person had done more for that in-
terest in the Wyoming and Lackawanna Valleys than he, and he
also had large investments in the great Montour Iron Works, at
Danville, which continued until the time of his death. In i860
it was generally conceded that Mr. Fuller would be the nominee
for vice president of the constitutional union party, but he would
not permit his name to be used for that position, as he conceded
that Edward Everett, who had done so much for the ladies of the

5^92 Henry Amzi Fuller. ,
— -»

Union towards purchasing the home of Washington, had greater
claims than he, and Mr. Everett was accordingly nominated.
Mr. Fuller was a member of the union national central execu-
tive committee, in the same year chairman of the constitutional
union state executive committee of Pennsylvania and candidate
for congress in the Second district of Pennsylvania. He was, of
course, defeated with the rest of his ticket. He died December
26, i860. The Liiserne Union, of Wilkes-Barre, a newspaper
always politically opposed to him, in speaking editorially of his
death, said :

" Probably no one could have been removed from us whose
loss would have been more deeply felt. His kindness of heart,
his noble nature — generous to a fault, and never known to do a
mean act — his fine talents, his large business relations, all con-
spired to endear him to our people, and a large circle of friends
from one end of the Union to the other. We can hardly be rec-
onciled that one so loved, so full of hope and promise and use-
fulness, in the noontide of life and of success, should be stricken
down when so many are left to whom death would be a relief
from the troubles and sufferings of old age and decrepitude.
But we must bow to 'the will of Him who doeth all things well.'"

He left seven children to survive him. His eldest daughter
married Charles E. Rice, president judge of Luzerne county, and
the next oldest, George Reynolds Bedford, of the Luzerne bar.
John Torrey Fuller, his youngest son, who was educated at La'
Fayette College, Easton, Pa., had a remarkable talent for drawing.
His topographical map of the college grounds was sent by the col-
lege for exhibition at the centennial exhibition in 1876. He grad-
uated the same year with the highest honors of his class. Taking,
a post graduate course he received the degree of civil and mining,
engineer, and was connected with the state geological survey of
Pennsylvania, with a residence and office in Philadelphia, where
he diedijknuary 22, 1880, of pneumonia. He was also for a time
principal of the Dallas Academy, in this county.

The wife of Henry Mills Fuller and mother of Henry A. Ful-
ler is Harriet Irwin Fuller [nic Tharp). Her father was Michael
Rose Tharp, of Philadelphia, who came with his father's family
from Ireland prior to 1800. Ih the early years of this century
he was an agent for the Pennsylvania land-holders in Bradford'

Henry Amzi Fuller. 593

county, and built himself a beautiful residence on the bank of
the Susquehanna river at Athens. He afterwards sold the same
to Judge Herrick. Mr.Tharp's mother was a sister of R. H. Rose,
M. D., from whom Montrose, in Susquehanna county, received
its name. Her father, a Scotch gentleman, and his mother, a
lady of Dublin, came to the United States a little before the rev-
olutionary war and settled in Chester county, Pa. The wife of
Doctor Rose was Jane, daughter of Andrew Hodge, jun., of
Philadelphia, a cousin of Charles Hodge, D. D., LL. D., father of
F. B. Hodge, D. D., of this city. The mother of Harriet Irwin
Fuller was Jerusha Lindsley, a daughter of Judge Eleazer Linds-
ley, of Lindsley, Steuben county, N. Y., where she was born
January 19, 1793. Judge Lindsley was a native of Morristown,
N. J., where he was born July 3, 1769. He married, April 23,
1787, Eunice Halsey, daughter of Jeremiah and Elizabeth Hal-
sey, of Bridghampton, N Y. Jeremiah Halsey was the ancestor
of Gains L. Halsey, of the Luzerne county bar. Emila Lindsley,
another daughter of Judge Lindsley, was the wife of the late
George M. Hollenback, of this city. Polly Lindsley, another
daughter, married James Ford, of Perth Amboy, N. J., and be-
came the ancestor of Benjamin Ford Dorrance, of the Luzerne
bar. Judge Lindsley was a son of Colonel Eleazer Lindsley, a
hero in the war of the revolution. He was born December 7,
1737, O. S., and married Mary Miller November ii, 1756. The
Lindsleys are of Scotch descent, and trace their family back to
Sir Williain Wallace.

Henry Amzi Fuller was educated in the public schools of this
city, from which he graduated, and was prepared for college by
Fred. Corss, M. D., of Kingston, entered the sophomore class of
the College of New Jersey, at Princeton, from which he graduated
in the class of 1874. He read law with Henry W. Palmer, and
was admitted to the Luzerne county bar January 9, 1877. Mr.
Fuller married, November 20, 1879, Ruth Hunt Parrish, a daugh-
ter of the late Gould Phinney Parrish, of this city. They have
four children : John Torrey Fuller, Esther Fuller, Henry Mills
Fuller, and Charles Parrish Fuller. Gould P. Parrish was born
in VVilkes-Barre in a building where the Exchange Hotel is now
located, Ma^^ i, 1822. He served an apprenticeship in the nier-

594

Henry Amzi Fuller.

cantile business with the late Isaac S. Osterhout, and then en-
gaged in the manufacture of powder with the late George Knapp,
under the firm name of Knapp and Parrish. They first con-
structed a mill on Solomon's creek, near the city line, and sub-
sequently built the Wapwallopen mills, in HoUenback town-
ship, now owned by the Duponts. He relinquished the manu-
facture of powder and went into the coal business in partnership
with the late Thomas Brodrick, and operated the works of the
Philadelphia Coal Company, now the Empire mines. He after-
wards became a contractor and laid the first pipes for the Wilkes-
Barre Water Company. He continued the business of contractor
during the remainder of his life. He died in this city November
8, 1875. Gould P. Parrish was the son of Archippus Parrish,
a native of Windham, Conn., where he was born January 27,
1773. In his early manhood he removed to Morristown, N. J.,
and there married Phebe, daughter of John Miller, August 12,
1806. He engaged as a contractor and built the turnpike from
Morristown to Paulus Hook (now Jersey City). He removed to
the Wyoming Valley in 1812, and for a short time resided in
Kingston. He then removed to Wilkes-Barre and kept a hotel
where the Exchange Hotel now stands. Here George H. Par-
rish, of this city, was born. In March, 1824, Colonel Gould
Phinney, with fourteen others, removed from the Wyoming Val-
ley to Dundaff, Susquehanna county. Pa. Among them was Ar-
chippus Parrish, who took charge of the Dundaff Hotel, and
while a resident there Charles Parrish, of this city, was born.
Mr. Parrish remained in Dundaff about four years, and then re-
moved to Wilkes-Barre. He again took charge of a hotel lo-
cated on the site of the present Wyoming Valley House. He
then removed to the hotel he had first occupied in this city, and
which shortly afterwards burned down. The family for a few
weeks were obliged to live in the old court house. He then
removed to the Drake house, on Main street, next to the present
Union Leader office, and there kept a hotel. He subsequently
built and kept a hotel on East Market street, near the old jail.
About 1839 he retired from business and removed to a farm
house at the corner of Canal and South streets, in this city, and
resided there until his death, October, 1847. The wife of

Henry Amzi Fuller.

595

P. Parrish was Esther, daughter of John Smith, M. D., who was
a descendant of Captain Timothy Smith, or, as he was more fre-
quently designated, Timothy Smith, Esq. He seems to have been
a leading man in the Susquehanna Company at their meetings in
Hartford, before settlements were made in Wyoming. Choosing
Kingston for his residence, his name is recorded as one of the
Forty, or earliest settlers. The old Westmoreland records fre-
quently contain his name, and it is evident that he was an active,
thorough business man, commanding confidence and respect.
The sobriquet given him by the ancient people shows the esti-
mation in which he was held. Of course all were anxious to
induce the legislature of Connecticut to recognize the settlement
on the Susquehanna and extend her jurisdiction and laws therein.
Among the agents sent out was Mr. Smith, and to his superior
management they ascribed the success of his mission in inducing
Connecticut to establish the town of Westmoreland. " Hence,"
said Mr. John Carey, "the settlers gave him the name of 'Old
Head.' " He always conducted whatever affairs were entrusted
to him with spirit and prudence, showing that he was a wise and
safe counsellor and an active citizen. On May 6, 1773, he was
appointed one of "a committee to attend the meeting of the
Company at Hartford, on June 2nd, to lay the circumstances of
the settlers before said meeting." On June 28, 1773, Mr. Smith,
with John Jenkins and others, were appointed " to draw up a plan
of regulations and submit the same, together with the former
plan, at the next meeting." At a proprietors' meeting held July
8, 1773, Timothy Smith was chosen by this company to be their
sheriff. On September 21, 1773, Captain Z. Butler and Mr. T.
Smith were appointed agents to attend the General Assembly at
New Haven in October next. On December 8, 1773, Mr. Joseph
Sluman, Mr. Timothy Smith, and Mr. John Jenkins were ap-
pointed agents to General Assembly at Hartford in January next,
second Wednesday. It would seem that in April, 1874, four
representatives were chosen or appointed. Among the votes
recorded is this : " That Zebulon Butler, Esq., Captain Timothy
Smith, Christopher Avery, and John Jenkins be appointed agents
from the town of Westmoreland to lay our circumstances before
the General Assembly in May next. Sept. 30, 1774." His son

596 Henry Amzi Fuller.

Benjamin Smith, was a physician. He married Wealthy Ann
York, daughter of Amos York, of Wyalusing.

Amos York, from Voluntown, Conn., is believed to have been
the pioneer settler of Mehoopany township, now in Wyoming
county. He came in 1772, built a log house and enclosed a con-
siderable tract of land opposite and above the mouth of the Me-
shoppen creek. In 1778 he, with others, petitioned the Assembly
of Connecticut for an abatement of their taxes, since they had
suffered much from being robbed and plundered by the Indians.
Subsequently he removed to Wyalusing. Manasseh Miner, the
father of Mrs. York, was one of the original proprietors in the
Susquehanna company, and conveyed a right to his daughter,
and Mr. York made the pitch on which the right was to be lo-
cated at Wyalusing on some of the Indian clearings. Here he
had carried on his improvements with considerable success. He
had erected a good log house, a log barn, and had a considerable
stock of horses, cattle, sheep, and hogs, and raised sufficient
quantities of grain for their support. At the breaking out of the
revolutionary war he was known as an active and ardent whig,
which arrayed against him the enmity of his tory neighbors.
Apprehending trouble from the Indians in the fall of 1777, he
went down to Wyoming to seek the advice of friends and make
arrangements for the removal of his family. It was then thought
there would be no danger from the savages in the winter, and, if
in the spring they continued to favor the interests of the British,
there would be ample time to seek the protection of the lower
settlements. The capture of some of his neighbors occasioned
new alarm, but there seemed to be no alternative but run the
risk of being undisturbed until spring. To move his family sixty
miles through a pathless wilderness in the depth of winter could
not be thought of On February 12 and 13, 1778, there occurred
a severe snow storm. Each evening a negro from the old Indian
town came to Mr. York's on a trifling excuse and remained until
late in the evening. On the 14th the storm ceased and Mr. York
determined to find out the reason for the negro's strange conduct.
Immediately after breakfast he set out on horseback on an errand
to Mr. Pauling's. As to what followed will be nearly in the
words of his daughter, Sarah, who was at the time fourteen years

Hexry Amzi Fuller. 597

of age. She says : " The snow was two feet deep. In the af-
ternoon Miner, his Httle son, ran in and said the Indians were
coming. The family looked out and saw Indians and white
men — quite a company — and the children said they were not
afraid, for father was with them. Parshall Terry came in first,
Tom Green next, and father next. Father took his seat on the
bed and drew his hat over his eyes. I went to him and said,
' Father, what is the matter? ' He made no answer, but the tears
were running down his cheeks. Terry used to boat on the river,
and often stopped at our house. When he came in mother said,
' How do you do, Terry? ' He replied, ' Mrs York, I am sorry
to see you.' Mother said, ' Why? have you taken my husband
prisoner ? ' He answered, 'Ask Tom Green.' Mother said, 'Tom,
have you taken my husband prisoner ? ' He said, ' Yes,' but
added that he should not be hurt, only that he must take an
oath that he will be true to King George. My mother appealed
to him and Terry by the many acts of kindness they had done,
represented to them the peaceable, generous, and obliging dis-
position of her husband, and deplored the wretched condition
of the family. After a while Terry lit his pipe, and said to Green,
' It is late, and we must be going.' They then drove the cattle
into the road, stripped the house of every thing of value they
could carry away, broke open the chests, tied up the plunder in
sheets and blankets and put the bundles on the backs of the men.
Father had to take a pack of his own goods. When they had
got prepared to start, my father asked permission to speak to his
wife — he took her by the hand, but did not speak. When the
company started my father was compelled to walk, carry a bun-
dle, and assist in driving his cattle, while his favorite riding mare
carried Terry." The journey was a tedious, toilsome one for the
captive. He was held a prisoner for about nine months, during
which time he was subject to exposure and want, and endured
all manner of hardship and suffering, not the least of which was
the constant anxiety for the welfare of his family, who were left
destitute in the midst of winter and far from friends on whom
they could call for aid in their distress. The narrative continues :
"After the company had gone and no more was to be seen of
father, my mother and sister, Wealthy, started down to the town

598 Henry Amzi Fuller.

of Wyalusing to see what had been done there. When they
came to the village they found only two women, the wives of
Page and Berry, and some children, whose I do not recollect.
My mother stayed there awhile and then came back. * * *
That night we expected every moment that the Indians would
come and kill us, or take us prisoners. We sat up and waited
for the Indians all night. Next morning my mother and the
older children concluded to move the family down to Wyalusing.
We had eight fat hogs in the pen and a crib of corn. The bot-
tom of the crib was opened and the hogs let out so they could
get what corn they wanted, and we all started for the village,
takine what we could of necessaries. Mv eldest sisters went

every day and brought some things out of our house. We lived
in this village in one of the cabins about three weeks. One night
a man came to our cabin and handed my mother a letter from
my father. His name was Secoy [John Secord], a tory. While
he was in the house my brother, Miner, came in and said there
were three men coming. Secoy said, ' Mrs. York, for God's sake,
hide me.' She threw some bedding over him on the floor, and
then went and stood in the door. The men came up. They
were Captain Aholiab Buck, her son-in-law. Miner Robins, my
mother's sister's son, and a Mr. Phelps. My mother told them
not to come in, but to cross the river and stay at Eaton's that
night; that Eaton was the only man left in the settlement; that
early in the morning she and the children would be ready to go
with them. They crossed over as my mother advised. She then
told Secoy he might get up. He said he was hungry and mother
gave him something to eat. He said she had saved him, and he
would save her ; that his son was at the head of a body of Indians
close by, and he was sent as a spy to see if there was any armed
men there. Next morning Captain Buck came over and we all
started on foot and travelled ten miles towards Wyoming, with
no track except what the three men made coming and going.
The first house we came to was Mr. Van der Lipp's. My mother
and two of the older sisters went on next day with Captain
Buck, the rest of the children staying at Van der Lipp's until
spring, when Mr. Phelps took us away in a canoe to his house.
Afterwards Miner Robbins took us in a canoe to Wyoming fort,

Henry Amzi Fuller. 599

where mother was." As affording some idea of the value of Mr.
York's improvements at Wyalusing, Mrs. Carr (Sarah York)
says the Indians took off one yoke of oxen, one yoke of four-
year-old steers, one horse, eleven good cows, and a number of
young cattle. There were besides, eight fat hogs, store hogs,
sheep, fowls, etc. ; that he had sufficient hay for his stock, three
hundred bushels of corn in the crib, besides other grain. When
it is remembered that this was on hand the latter part of Febru-
ary we may infer that his crops were quite abundant. Including
clothing and bedding taken off by the enemy, she estimates the
loss to the family at one thousand three hundred and ninety-five
dollars. Mrs. York and her family took refuge in Forty Fort,
where she maintained herself by cooking for the garrison sta-
tioned there. Here she remained until after the battle, in which
Captain Buck fell, in the twenty-seventh year of his age, leaving
an infant daughter born March 25, 1778, and who afterwards be-
came the wife of Major Taylor, of Wyalusing. Speaking of the
evening of the battle, Mrs. Carr, whose narrative I have quoted,
says : " Some crawled in on their hands and knees, covered
with blood, during the night. The scenes of that night cannot
be described — women and children screaming and calling, ' Oh,
my husband!' 'my brother!' 'my father!' etc. Next morning after
the battle Parshall Terry came with a flag and written terms from
Tory Butler to Colonel Denison. He told Denison if he surren-
dered peaceably not a soul should be hurt, but if he refused the
whole fort should be put to the tomahawk. My mother went to
Colonel Denison and told him that this was the man who had
deprived her of a husband and her children of a father, and she
could not bear to see him come into the fort; that she had no
confidence in his promises, and if he was allowed to come in
she would go out. Colonel Denison said she must not go out.
She declared she would ; called her children to her, went to the
gate and demanded a passage out. The sentry presented his
bayonet to her breast, and asked Colonel Denison if he should
let her pass. The Colonel said no. He then pushed the bayo-
net through her clothes so that it drew blood. She said to
Colonel Denison, ' I will go out with my children, or I will
die here at the door.' The Colonel said, ' Let her pass.' We

5oo Henry Amzi Fullek.

went down along the bank of the river. We could see burning
houses on both sides of the river, which the Indians had set fire
to. We went on until we got opposite Wilkes-Barre. We saw
a woman on the other side of the river and mother called to her
to brinp- a boat over. The woman was a Mrs. Lock, a Dutch-
woman. We all got into it, and Mrs. Lock pushed it down the
river with all her might. We run all day, and at night we
stopped at a house near the bank. Not long after we had been
in the house a boy informed us that Lieutenant Forsman was on
the bank with a boat load of wounded men. We all got into
our canoe again, and Forsman took a man [Richard Fitzgerald]
from his boat to manage the canoe for us, and we run all night.
We went down to Paxton, where we stayed until October. At
Paxton my mother buried her youngest child, a son of 13
months. He died at the house of Colonel Elder. After a time
mother received letters from Wyoming stating that she might
return with safety. In October we went up to Wyoming in com-
pany with a Dutch family. Captain Buck's widow was with us.
We stayed about two weeks at Wilkes-Barre ; but, as there was
frequent murdering in the neighborhood, mother would not stay.
There were three men going through the Big Swampy mother
and her family accompanied them on foot, resolved to make her
way to her father's, in Voluntown, Conn. One of the men was
Asahel, brother of Captain Buck. We lay one night in the
swamp. When we got through it the men left us. We travelled
on foot to New Mliford, Conn., where mother was taken sick,
and it was a fortnight before she was able to travel. When we
were at the North river where General Washington lay, an officer
informed him that there was a woman in distress. General
Washington ordered her to be brought to his tent. She told
him her story, and Washington gave her ^50. But we did not
need money to bear travelling expenses, for the people on the
road treated us with great sympathy and kindness. At New
Milford my sister. Buck, was among her husband's relatives.
She and sister Esther remained there all winter. From New
Milford we were carried in a wagon 100 miles to Windham,
from there we travelled on foot a day and a half to Voluntown.
When within a mile of her father's a man met her and said, 'How

Henry Amzi Fuller. 6oi

do you do, Mrs. York ? ' Mother said she did not recollect him.
He told us who he was, and said, ' Have you heard about your
husband?' She said she had not. Said he, ' I will tell you.
He is dead and buried.' Mother looked around on her children,
but did not speak. Not another word was spoken by her until
she had got to her father's. This was the first intelligence we
had of father from the time he was taken, except the letter Secoy
brought. He was detained a prisoner at different places 9 months
and was exchanged at New York. After his release he went to
Mr. Miner's to make inquiries after his family, but could get no
intellieence from them. He declared that he would start in two
days, and would find his family if living ; but was taken sick, and
died 1 1 days before his family arrived. We all visited his grave
that night." The following is a copy of Colonel Butler's pass to
Mrs. York, the original of which is still in existence :

" Permit the Bairor, Mrs. York & family, consisting of Nine,
to pass from this to Stonington in Connecticut. And I do also
Recommend to all Authority, both Sivil and military, to Assist
the above family as they are of the Distressed [inhabitants] which
were drove from this Town by Indians and tories, and her hus-
band has been a prisoner with the enemy for eight months.

^ " Zebu. Butler, Lt. Col. Comd'g.

"Westmoreland, Oct. 13, 1778."

I have given the narrative thus full because it presents a vivid
picture of the fortitude and heroism of the women of this period of
our country's history. Mrs. York was only one of thousands, es-
pecially on the border, who endured similar sufferings, and were
compelled to exhibit like firmness and self-reliance in the hour
of danger or of necessity. Miner Robbins, who was a nephew of
Mrs. York, was fatally wounded about the middle of June, 1778,
while on a scout up the river. About 1786 the York family re-
turned to their old home. Their house, though standing, was
considerably dilapidated, their fences were decayed, and their
clearings covered with bushes. During their eight years' absence
things had remained very nearly as they left them, except what
had resulted from the want of care and labor; even the stick of
wood which Mrs. York's son was chopping when he saw the
Indians coming with his father, lay upon the ground just as he
left it. A less spirited and earnest woman, under such circum-

6o2 Henry Amzi Fuller.

stances and surrounded by such painful associations, would have
given up all hope and sat down in despair. But her son, who
had now become a young man, meeting his responsibilities with
manly courage, and aided by his mother's counsel, with great
energy set about repairing the injury their farm had sustained
during their absence, and his labors were attended with so much
success that he was able in a short time to place the family be-
yond the reach of want. Mrs. York was a prominent woman in
the little community where she lived. She died in Wysox Octo-
ber 30, 1818, and was buried in Wyalusing. She was the mother
of twelve children. Her house was the home of the first Pres-
byterian minister. Her only son who lived to manhood's days
was Manasseh Miner York, who became a Presbyterian minister.
He was well known and greatly respected and beloved. Abund-
ant in labor, fervent in his zeal for the truth, a consistent Chris-
tian, he died in Wysox and is buried in the old burying ground
in the rear of the brick church.

John Smith, M. D., son of Benjamin Smith, M. D., and father
of Mrs. Esther Parrish, was born in Kingston November 4, 1789.
The paternal homestead was on the main road leading from
Kingston to Pittston at or near the old Maltby store house. He
commenced the practice of medicine at Wyoming in 18 12, and
there remained until 1835. On August 2, 1819, he was commis-
sioned by William Findlay, governor of Pennsylvania, a justice
of the peace for the townships of Dallas, Kingston, and Plymouth.
This office he held for a number of years. In 1835 he removed
to Wilkes-Barre, and on January 15, 1836, was appointed, by Gov-
ernor Ritner, prothonotary, clerk of the Courts of Quarter Ses-
sions, Oyer and Terminer, and Orphans' Court of Luzerne county.
On January 3, 1839, he was re-appointed by Mr. Ritner to the
same offices for another term of three years. Upon the expira-
tion of his term of office he continued to practice his profession
in Wilkes-Barre until the time of his death, which occurred on
August 24, 1869. The wife of Dr. John Smith was Mehitable
Jenkins, daughter of Thomas Jenkins, of Exeter township. She
was the granddaughter of Judge John Jenkins, of Wyoming.

The successful lawyer of two hundred years ago, and even
less, counseled and pleaded with a ponderousness that was awe-

George Henry Ruggles Plumb. 603

inspiring to the unlettered. Every other sentence was a legal
maxim in the original Latin, and if the parties to the suit and the
jurors were not edified and instructed they were, at least, deeply
impressed with the wonderful learning of the counselor and ad-
vocate. The successful lawyer of to-day is he whose briefs have
the merit of brevity in addition to sufficiency, and whose ad-
dresses to court and jury are least pedantic and most perspicuous
to the common understanding. Mr. Fuller is as yet compara-
tively young in years and young at the bar, but he has already
given conclusive evidence of his liability to pluck the flower suc-
cess from the seed of a plain common sense cultivated and brought
to fruition by patient and unassuming industry. He may be said
to have inherited inclination and talent for the law, and he has
certainly, by a judicious utilization thereof, gained an enviable
reputation for one so young. His service as assistant to District
Attorney (now judge) Rice was a valuable schooling, of which
he made the best possible use. He makes no pretensions to
oratory, but pleads, nevertheless, with remarkable ingenuity and
force. His practice is one of the largest enjoyed by the junior
members of the bar, is a paying practice, and may be depended
upon to increase as the years go by. He is one of the few of the
younger lawyers, in fact, who will fall heir, by reason of their
recognized professional merit, to the business the older ones
must surrender as they are called in their turn to appear at the
bar of the highest of all courts. Mr. Fuller is a republican in
politics, much respected in his party, and if his ambition should
so incline him, may reasonably hope for official preferment at its
hands. He is in every particular a good citizen and a worthy
gentleman.

GEORGE HENRY RUGGLES PLUMB. "^^

George Henry Ruggles Plumb was born in Honesdale, Pa.,
June 12, 1854. He is the son of Henry Blackman Plumb, and
a descendant of Wait Plumb, who emigrated to America from
England about 1630, and settled in Connecticut. Waitstill Plumb,

6o4 George Henry Ruggles Plumb.

son of Wait Plumb, was bom in Connecticut and died there. He
had, among other children, Waitstill John Plumb, who was
born in Connecticut, resided in Middletown, married and died
there. Jacob Plumb, son of Waitstill John Plumb, was born in
Middletown, Conn., about 1746, married Prudence Powers, re-
moved to Chester, Mass., in 1788, thence to Springfield, Otsego
Co., N. Y., about 1806, thence to Mount Pleasant, Pa., about
18 1 2, thence to Wyoming, about 18 14. He died in Kingston in
1822, and lies buried in Forty Fort cemetery. During the revo-
lutionary war he commanded a privateer. Jacob Plumb, son of
Jacob Plumb, was born in Middletown, Conn., in 1776. He
manufactured wooden chairs, a ship load of which, before he came
of age, he took to Bermuda and sold. With the proceeds he pur-
chased a farm at Springfield, N. Y. He married his cousin,
Rhoda Plumb. It is believed that he built the first carding
machine ever made in the United States, at Chester, Mass., in 1801.
He removed with his family to Springfield in 1806, thence to
Mount Pleasant, Pa., about. 1812, and built carding machines
there, thence to Pittston, in 181 3 or 18 14, and, it is believed, built
the first carding machine in the Wyoming Valley, built the first
carding machine in Hanover, at Behee's mill, in 1826-7. He
died in Prompton, Pa., in 1853. Charles Plumb, son of Jacob
Plumb, was born in Chester, Mass., in 1802. He removed with
his father's family to Springfield, N. Y., to Mount Pleasant, to
Pittston, and to Hanover in 1826, where, with his father, he built
carding machines in Behee's mill. He also built and operated a
grist mill at Behee's place. He married Julia Anna Blackman,
daughter of Elisha Blackman, a survivor of the Wyoming mas-
sacre. The wife of Mr. Blackman was Anna Hurlbut, daughter
of Deacon John Hurlbut, of Hanover. Charles Plumb died at Har-
ford, Susquehanna Co., Pa., in 1 83 1. Henry Blackman Plumb, son
of Charles. Plumb, was born in Hanover, November 13, 1829. He
removed to Honesdale, Pa., in 1848, returned to Hanover in 1855,
read law with Volney L. Maxwell, in Wilkes-Barre, and was
admitted to the bar of Luzerne county November 21, 1859. He
married, September 28, 185 i, Emma Ruggles, daughter of Ashbel
Ruggles, a native of Hanover township, where he was born in
1797, The Ruggles family is supposed to be from Connecticut

George Henry Ruggles Plumb. 605

The wife of Ashbel Ruggles was Angelina Bennett, daughter of
Josiah Bennett, who was a son of Ishmael Bennett, a native of
Rhode Island, where he was born in 1730.

George Henry Ruggles Plumb is the only child of Henry
Blackman Plumb. He prepared for college at Prompton Normal
school, and Wyoming Seminary, and entered La Fayette college
in 1873, graduating in the class of 1877, with the degree of
PH. B. In 1880 he took the degree of M. S. In his freshman
year he stood at the head of his class in analytical chemistry, and
in his sophomore year he stood in the same manner in analytical
botany. At graduation he delivered the presentation speech to
his class. During the years 1877, 1878, and 1879 he taught in
the public schools of Sugar Notch borough. He read law with
E. P. & J. V. Darling, and was admitted to the bar of Luzerne
county January 18, 1881. He is a republican in politics, and
represented the third legislative district in the republican county
committee in the years 1881, 1882, and 1883. He was a candi-
date before the republican county convention for the office of
district attorney in 1882 but was defeated. The same year he
represented the third legislative district in the state convention
of his party at Harrisburg. In 1884 he was a candidate in the
republican convention of his district for the legislature but failed
to receive a nomination. He is preparing a " History, Biography,
and Genealogy of the Plumb family in America from the earliest
time to the present." Mr. Plumb is an unmarried man.

The active, brainy stock from which Mr. Plumb springs gives
exhibition of its influence in the ardor with which he approaches,
and the systematic energy with which he carries into execution,
his allotted and self-sought tasks. As a student of history, parti-
cularly of local history, he is especially earnest, persevering, and
careful. He has given not a little of value in this line to publi-
cation in the local journals, and his history, already mentioned,
although relating to but one family primarily, is expected to be
very important in its incidental relationship to the history of the
county and valley. As a school teacher, in his work in behalf of
his party, and as an attorney he has sought with utmost patience
and industry to do well all that he has had to do. He cannot be
called a brilliant man, but he is well read, quick witted, ambitious,

6o6 George Hollenback Butler.

and determined — qualifications and traits that almost invariably
pay better than brilliancy in the long run — not only their pos-
sessor but those in whose service they are invoked.

GEORGE HOLLENBACK BUTLER.

George Hollenback Butler was born in Kingston township
September 2, 1857. He is the son of the late James Montgom-
ery Butler, also a native of Kingston, and the grandson of Pierce
Butler, eldest son of General Lord Butler, whose genealogy we
have already given in our sketch of Edmund Griffin Butler. The
wife of General Butler was Mary, a daughter of Abel Pierce. He
was a descendant of Thomas Pierce, who came to this country
from England in 1633-4 with his wufe, Elizabeth Pierce, and
settled in Charlestown, Mass. He was born in 1583 and died
October 7, 1666. He was chosen a freeman May 6, 1635, and
on September 27, 1642, he was one of the twenty-one commis-
sioners appointed by the Great and General Court "to see that
Saltpetre heaps were made by all the farmers of the colony." In his
will he makes a bequest of twenty shillings to Harvard College.
Thomas Pierce, son of Thomas Pierce, was born in 1608, and
married, May 6, 1635, Elizabeth Cole. They resided in Charles-
town village, now Woburn. He was often styled Sergeant
Thomas. Sergeant Thomas Pierce was admitted into the church
at Charlestown February 21, 1634; was in Woburn as early as
1643 ; was taxed there, 1645 ; was selectman of Woburn, 1660,
and repeatedly afterwards of the committee for dividing the com-
mon lands in Woburn ; he was one of " the right proprietors "
chosen March 28, 1667; and also one of the General Courts
committee appointed for the same purpose in 1668. He died
November 6, 1683. Thomas Pierce, son of Thomas Pierce, Jr.,
was born June 21, 1645, and died December 8, 17 17. Timothy
Pierce, son of Thomas Pierce, was born January 25, 1673. He
resided in Plainfiield, Conn., and died May 25, 1748. Major
Ezekiel Pierce, son of Timothy Pierce, was born January 8, 171 2,

George Hollenback Butler. 607

and married, February ii, 1736, Lois Stevens. He was town-
clerk of Plainfield from 1749 to 1754, and of Wyoming or West-
moreland, Penn'a, at the first town meeting of that town. Major
Ezekiel Pierce, as town clerk of Westmoreland, makes the follow-
ing entries: April 25, 1772, Major Ezekiel Pierce appointed one
of a committee to admit settlers in 6-mile townships. October 2,
1772, Major Ezekiel Pierce appointed one of a committee to pro-
vide a habitation for Rev. Jacob Johnson for the winter. Abel
Pierce chosen constable for Kingston township for 1772. March
30, 1773, Major Ezekiel Pierce one of a committee to receive
bonds given for settling rights. June 21, 1773, Major Ezekiel
Pierce appointed one of a committee to assist in regulating the
settlement of the towns and to redress grievances. Abel Pierce,
father of the wife of General Lord Butler, son of Major Ezekiel
Pierce, was born December 15, 1736. His only son, Chester
Pierce, was the first man killed in the " Pennamite and Yankee
War, 1784." His eldest daughter, Sylvania, married (as his sec-
ond wife) Captain Daniel Hoyt, great-grandfather of Edward
Everett Hoyt, of the Luzerne bar, and was the grandfather of ex-
Governor Henry Martyn Hoyt. Abel Pierce died May 23, 18 14.
Franklin Pierce, President of the United States, was seventh in
descent from Thomas Pierce, the ancestor of George Hollenback
Butler. Abel Pierce was one of the justices of the peace ap-
pointed by the Governor of Connecticut for the county of West-
moreland, i. e. Wyoming. After fuller and further investigation
we still adhere to the opinion that Colonel Zebulon Butler, father
of General Lord Butler, who commanded the patriot forces at the
battle and massacre of Wyoming, and Colonel John Butler, who
commanded the Tory and Indian forces in the same battle, were
second cousins. In this connection we might state that during
the summer of 1885 Thomas H. Atherton, of the Luzerne bar,
while at Niagara, on the Lake, Ontario, visited St. Mark's church at
that place and observed a memorial tablet, of which the following

is a copy:

"FEAR GOD. HONOUR THE KING.

" In memory of Colonel John Butler, His Majesty's commis-
sioner for Indian affairs. Born in New London, Province of
Connecticut, 1728. His life was spent honourably in the service
of the Crown. In the war with France for the conquest of Can-

6o8 George Hollenback Butler,

ada he was distinguished at the battle of Lake George 8th Sep-
tember, 1755, and at the siege of Fort Niagara and its capitula-
tion, 25th July, 1759.

" In the war of 1776 he took up arms in defence of the Unity of
the Empire, and raised and commanded the Loyal American
Regiment of Butler's Rangers. A sincere Christian as well as a
brave soldier. He was one of the founders and the first patron
of this parish. He died at Niagara May, 1796, and is interred in
the family burial ground near this town."

We have also the following in relation to Colonel John Butler
in a letter from W. Kirby, of Niagara :

" Sir William Buell Richards, ex-Chief Justice, Ottawa, mar-
ried Miss Muirhead, a grand-daughter of Colonel Butler. He
possesses a painting of the Colonel and some memorials besides.
There are very few papers to be found, by reason that Colonel
Butler's house and its contents were destroyed by General Mc-
Clure when Niagara was burnt by his orders on the retreat of the
American army from that place in December, 1813.

" Some descendants of Colonel Butler still remain in Niagara
township — farmers — but they have no family documents in their
possession. In Judge Jones' Colonial History of New York will
be found references to Colonel Butler.

" Colonel Butler commanded some companies of the Rangers at
the battle of Wyoming, but the Indians acted independently under
the command of Kayingwaurto, the great Seneca chief. Brandt
was not present at that engagement.

" The popular stories of " The Massacre of Wyoming " are with-
out any basis of fact. Wild rumors and exaggerations of the
moment of panic which got into history, and have stuck there
with the help of Campbell's poem, for which he apologized after-
wards to John Brandt, and with the help of a good deal of preju-
dice which will not have the story told otherwise.

" Colonel Butler was a man of correct life and pious disposition,
taking much interest in the Church of England, of which he
might be called the lay founder in Upper Canada. The first
missionary of that church in Niagara was the late Rev. Dr. Rob-
ert Addison, and in the burial register of St. Mark's, recording
the interment of Colonel Butler in the handwriting of Dr. Addi-
son, is added the words " My Patron." Colonel Butler lived at
Niagara during the American revolutionary war as superintend-
ent of Indian affairs and until his death in 1796. His son, John-
son Butler, commanded the First Lincoln regiment of militia
during part of the war of 1812, but died before its conclusion.
His nearest descendants are the children of Sir William B. Rich-
ards, before mentioned."

George Hollenback Butler. 609

The wife of Pierce Butler, grandfather of George Hollenback
Butler, was Temperance Colt, a daughter of Arnold Colt. The
mother of George Hollenback Butler, and the wife of James
Montgomery Butler, was Martha Lazarus, a daughter of the
late John Lazarus, of Hanover township. He was born in North-
ampton county in the year 1796 and removed to Hanover with his
father's family in 18 18. His wife was Polly Drake. He died in
Wilkes-Barre in 1879. George Lazarus, father of John Lazarus,
was of German descent, and was born in Northampton county in
1 76 1. His wife was Mary Hartzell. He lived on the river road
at Buttonwood bridge, where he died in 1844. He was evidently
a man of wealth, for when he purchased his farm in 1818 of
Matthias Hollenback the consideration was $16,000, a considera-
ble sum of money in that day. George Hollenback Butler was
educated at the select schools of W. S. Parsons and W. R. King-
man in this city, and at the Wyoming Seminary, Kingston, Pa.
He read law with E. P. & J. V. Darling in this city and was ad-
mitted to the Luzerne county bar June 6, 1881. He is an un-
married man and a republican in politics.

Of one who has been but a few years in practice it is impossible
to say much except in the way of prediction, which must be
based upon observance, less of what he has done in the way of
big things than of what he has tried to do in the minor walks of
the profession. Often the " youngsters of the bar," as they are
occasionally called, work harder and achieve comparatively
greater victories in the trivial cases with which they are com-
pelled to make a beginning than their seniors do in important
litigations, involving big fees, and that carry their names, accom-
panied by ardent praises, from lip to lip, through the whole com-
munity. Age and established reputation are of themselves aids
to the securement of favorable verdicts which beginners must
necessarily fight without. For a young man Mr. Butler has
done well, earning the commendation of his preceptors and of his
fellow professionals, generally, by much study, unflagging energy,
and patient perseverance. He has a bright future before him.

6io William Henry Hines.

WILLIAM HENRY HINES.

William Henry Hines was born in Brooklyn, N. Y., March 15,
1854. He is a son of Timothy Hines, a native of the parish of
Tuam, in the county of Galvvay, Ireland, who emigrated to this
country in 1845, "W'th his wife Mary Clark, a daughter of James
Clark, of the same place. He first settled in Brooklyn, N. Y., and
finally removed to Hanover township, in this county, where he now
resides. W. H. Hines was educated in the public schools of
Brooklyn and at Wyoming Seminary, Kingston, Pa. He read
law with John Lynch and Garrick M. Harding, and was admitted
to the bar of Luzerne county, June 6, 1881. In 1878 Mr. Hines
was the labor reform candidate for the state legislature, in the
third legislative district, and was elected, the vote standing,
Hines 2048, J. J. Shonk, republican, 1498, and John Dunn, demo-
crat 6"/?!. In 1880 Mr. Hines was again a candidate for the leg-
islature, in the same district, but was defeated by James George,
republican, the vote standing, George 2085, J. V. Perse, democrat,
1848, and Hines, labor reform, 1383. In 1882 Mr. Hines was
again a candidate for the same position, but this time as a
democrat, and was elected, the vote standing, Hines 2686, James
George, republican, 1293, and R. A. Santee, M. D., independent-
democrat, 470. In 1884 Mr. Hines was the democratic nominee
for state senator in the twenty-first senatorial district, but was
defeated by Morgan B. Williams, republican, the vote standing,
Williams 12,327, Hines 10,977, and Cool, prohibitionist, 413. Mr.
Hines, when living in Hanover, served as township clerk and
assessor, by election. He married November 27, 1884, Ida M.
Wortman, daughter of Jacob Rowe Wortman, of Ithaca, N. Y.
They have one child, Henry Gordon Hines. William Wortman,
the grandfather of Jacob Wortman, was a resident of the Wyo-
ming Valley at the time of the battle and massacre. His wife
was Polly, daughter of Samuel Gordon, who was a surveyor, and
probably removed from Connecticut to Wyoming. " After the
massacre they fled east with their nine children, Mrs. Wortman

William Henry Hines. 6ii

carrying the two youngest in her arms, till she could carry them
no longer. She then put one down by a brush-pile and went on
with the other till she found a place of safety, then put that one
down and went back for the other. She traveled in this manner
two days and nights before reaching a place of safety." In 1801
they removed to Ulysses, Tompkins county, N. Y., where Mrs.
Wortman died, at the age of ninety-eight. Mr. Wortman was
of German descent, and his wife Scotch, her ancestors having
come from the highlands of Scotland.

Jacob R. Wortman, son of John Wortman, was born at Enfield,
N. Y., February 2, 1823. He married December 12, 1846, Nancy
Ann Starr, a daughter of Philo Starr, a descendant of Doctor Com-
fort Starr, the founder of the Starr family in New England. Doctor
Starr was a native of Ashford, county of Kent, England. It was
on the coast of Kent the Romans first landed, and the county
was the scene of many important battles and events in the
early history of England. How long the Starr family lived there
or where they came from is unknown. The earliest date found
on the records in connection with the name is the baptism of
Margaret Starr January 5, 1584. Ashford, once called the
" Manor of Esshetesford," is a small town forty-five miles south-
east of London. The most conspicuous object to the traveler
as he passes through, on his way to or from the continent, is the
gray, old parish church of " St. Mary," a large building with
three aisles, transept, three chancels, and a beautiful tower of
stone. Its age is unknown ; it had stood for centuries when
early in the seventeenth Doctor Starr worshipped within its walls
and brought his children to its altar for baptism. In this old town
Doctor Comfort Starr lived in the practice of his profession as
chirurgeon or surgeon, as it is now called, and was evidently a
man of wealth, for he owned an estate there which he retained
until his death, and when he came to this country brought three
servants, which a man of small property could hardly have affor-
ded in those days. That he was a man of position and some
importance is certain, for in 163 1 he was warden of St. Mary's
church, and at a vestry meeting held in 1632 it was voted " That
Comfort Starr should lend to Jno. Langford the sum of ^12, on
the security of his house, it being copyhold, etc. " ; and in 1634,

6i2 William Henry Hines.

only a short time before he left Ashford, was one of a committee
to make repairs on the church of St. Mary. He embarked for
this country March 21, 1635. After his arrival in New England
Doctor Starr made his residence at New Towne (Cambridge) and
engaged in the practice of his profession, and his name frequently
appears on the records there. He subsequently removed to
Duxbury and finally to Boston, where he died January 2, 1660.

Doctor Thomas Starr, son of Doctor Comfort Starr, was born in
England, but when he came to this country is uncertain, but
probably with his father. On May 17, 1637, he was appointed
" chirurgeon " to the forces sent against the Pequots. He lived
in Duxbury, Scituate, Yarmouth, and in Charlestovvn, Mass.,
where, in 1654, he was clerk of the writs. He died October 26,
1658. Captain Josiah Starr, youngest son of Doctor Thomas
Starr, was born September i, 1657, in Charlestown, Mass. The
first record of him after his birth is at the age of twenty-one, on
Long Island, where he petitions for a grant of one hundred acres,
of land in Hempstead. But for some reason it appears that he
was not contented to remain in Hempstead, for in 1693, in com-
pany with several of his neighbors, they cross Long Island sound,
travel back some twenty-five miles into the country, and locate
at Danbury, Conn., soon after the first settlement of that town.

Josiah Starr was one of the seven patentees named in the grant
made in 1702, giving town privileges to Danbury, and was elected
the first town clerk, the second justice of the peace, afterwards
surveyor, in 1710 commissioned lieutenant, and in 1713 captain
of the first company or " train band," for three years was justice
of Fairfield county, in 1702 elected Deputy to the " General Court,"
a position of great honor and distinction, to which he was annually
chosen as long as he lived. He died January 4, 17 16. Captain
John Starr, son of Captain Josiah Starr, was born in 1684, prob-
ably on Long Island, and was young when his parents settled
in Danbury. He was a man of wealth and prominence in Dan-
bury, for in 1 73 1, '33, '34, and '35 he was sent as Deputy to the
General Court. He was chosen. May 10, 1723, lieutenant, and
May 14, 1733, captain of the North company or train band. He
died July 27, 1739. Lieutenant Jonathan Starr, son of Captain
John Starr, was born in Danbury. Little can be known of him.

William Henry Hines. 613

The fires lighted by British soldiers burned his history in the
ashes of the town and church records. In May, 1747, he was
elected lieutenant. He was a large land holder. He died in
175 1. Micajah Starr, son of Lieutenant Jonathan Starr, was born
April 2, 1746, in Danbury, Conn. He removed to Reading,
Conn., and was teamster in the Revolutionary army. About
1793-4 he emigrated to Tompkins county, N. Y., spent about a
year in Ithaca, thence to Milton, and bought a tract of land on
the east side of Cayuga lake, now in the town of Lansing. He
left the Congregational church and became a Baptist, probably
before he left Reading ; was licensed to preach, and faithfully
ministered to the Baptist church at Lansing, and carried on his
farm at the same time, until his death March 2, 1820, leaving
quite a large property.

Philo Starr, the father-in-law of Jacob R. Wortman, was a son
of Micajah Starr, was brought up and settled in Lansing. He
was a farmer and a deacon in the Baptist church. He died April
21, 1844. Moses Waller Wadhams, of the Luzerne county bar,
is a descendant of Doctor Comfort Starr, through his grandfather,
Samuel Wadhams, who married Clorinda Starr Catlin, the grand-
daughter of Captain Samuel Starr, of Middletown, Conn.

Mr. Hines first came prominently before the public in 1877
when that peculiar political convulsion which carried the labor
reform party into power in this country swept over the land. By
it the old parties were both submerged. The officials who came,
it was feared, would be a dishonor to the community ; the admi-
nistration of public affairs would be cast into confusion. By this
election W. H. Stanton assumed the judicial ermine only to resign
it a few years later to escape threatened impeachment. But that
election, too, contrary to all expectation, produced such admi-
nistrations as P. J. Kinney's in the Sheriffs office and Thomas R.
Peters' in the Recorder's. The former distinguished for courtesy,
dispatch, and honest performance of duties ; the latter so well
qualified for the position to which he had been advanced that the
records made by him and under him present the most beautiful
penmanship in our deed and mortgage books to be found since
the county's institution, while in precision and reliability they are
equal to any ; and as a proof of his popularity, when his term ex-

6i4 William Henry Hines.

pircd he was continued in the ofifice as chief deputy for four years.
At that election Mr. Hines is said to have been one of the orga-
nizers of the new party. The following year he became its can-
didate for the legislature. It was a period of great suffering
among the wage-workers of the anthracite region. Mr. Hines
had been one of them. He saw at close quarters their trials and
sympathized with them. He had been supplied with a good
common school preparation, had read assiduously the views of
the many who, at the time and before, championed the so-called
labor cause, had become imbued with granger-paper money-
panacea doctrines then current — was gifted with language, voice,
and courage that enabled him to enroll himself as one of the
active leaders of the party on the stump. It was therefore natural
and just that he, a type of the men who supported him, should be
chosen to represent their demands, their interests, and their aspi-
rations on the floor of the legislature. It was also natural that
the chief legislative problems- which received his attention were
proposed laws for the particular body of voters to whom he, by
association, by employment, by parentage, by many other ties,
belonged. Legislation of this kind has become very common,
and while some may still doubt its wisdom, there are few who
will deny its expediency, within reasonable limits. Such legis-
lation is the complement of charters which grant exclusive fran-
chises to combined capital, charters which have frequently placed
corporate rights within a protecting sanctuary not attainable by
private persons, charters which had become the bane of this state,
when the constitution of 1874 made a measured attempt to extract
the mischievous sting whereby future injury of similar character
might be accomplished by future legislatures. To such charters
many of the sufferings of Mr. Hines's constituents were by him
attributed, and consequently he deemed counter-legislation
against them not only feasible but duty.

One of the bills by him introduced was a measure to prevent
company stores, which passed both houses only to be vetoed.
Another introduced by him, during his second term of office,
was of a character similar to the Employers' Liability Bill in
England, and to legislation in actual force for years past in more
that twenty states of our Union, designed to repudiate many

Dennis O'Brien Coughlin. 615

absurd decisions whereby men who can have no knowledge of one
another, or of one another's acts, and who from the very nature of
their employment can have no control over each other, have,
nevertheless, by the courts, in suits against employers for neg-
ligence, been declared co-employes. Mr. Hines's bill was, per-
haps, drawn in language too broad to be advisable legislation,
and the subject, then first brought before our law makers, was
not generally understood and had not been sufficiently agitated
in the press of this state to enable wise solution of the problem
at that time. This much, however, justice demands to be said:
that Mr. Hines's effort in the direction of a more extended liabi-
lity of employers to their employes than is now recognized by
the courts was a step forward and, doubtless, will some day result
beneficially to the great mass whom it was intended to help.

Mr. Hines is a man of positive likes and dislikes, a quality
which alone would bring him some friends and many enemies.
His extreme youthfulness when he made his entrance in public
life, being barely twenty-four years of age when he was first elected
to office, together with an impulsive disposition and a frequently
uncontroled use of invective, have increased his hostilities. There
are, consequently, many democrats, now his party associates, who
have long forgiven the party backslidings of others, committed
during the exciting events of 1877, 1878, and 1879, who can not
easily forgive him ; nor was it for these surprising reasons that he
should be defeated in his candidacy for state senator from this dis-
trict. Mr. Hines has, since his first legislative experience, read law
and has secured recognition as a member of our bar, who pleads his
Ghent's cause earnestly and effectively, and who devotes himself
to his practice industriously. With advancing years deliberation
will probably subdue impulse, while the qualities of mind, perse-
verance, and sympathy, will increase the success and respect
which he already enjoys.

DENNIS O'BRIEN COUGHLIN.

Dennis O'Brien Coughlin was born in Fairmount township,
Luzerne county, Pa., July 9, 1852. He was educated in the pub-

6i6 Dennis O'Brien Coughlin.

lie schools and at the National School of Oratory, in Philadelphia,
and was for many years a teacher in the public schools of this
county, seven years of which he was principal of the New Colum-
bus Academy. He taught, also, three years in Foster township,
and two years in Fairmount township. His father, John Cough-
lin, who is still living, was born in i8io in Kilrish, county of
Clare, Ireland. He was the son of Dennis Coughlin, and was
about ten years of age when he came to this country. The
mother of the subject of our sketch, and the wife of John
Coughlin, was Dianna Seward, daughter of Titus Seward, of
Huntington township, in this county. He was a descendant
of Enos Seward, Sr., who was born July 7, 1735, and removed to
Huntington in 1 793. His son, Enos, married Sarah Goss, and lived
in Granville, Mass., until he moved to Huntington, in 1793, and
occupied the farm formerly owned by his wife's father. Titus
Seward was the son of Enos Seward, Jr. Philip Goss, Sr., was
the father of Mrs. Seward and one of the first claimants of land in
Huntington. His sons, Philip, Solomon, David, Comfort, and
Nathaniel, were with their father in the place before the Indian
and tory invasion of 1 778. Solomon was a prisoner in Forty Fort
with Captain John Franklin, and others, for a short time. The
names of Philip Goss and Comfort Goss are enrolled among the
first two hundred settlers who braved the hardships and dangers
of the advance force who came to " man their rights." The name
of Goss has been permanent in Huntington since the first advent
of the Connecticut settler. Before the massacre and battle of
Wyoming the family of Philip Goss, Sr., lived on the farm now
occupied by Levi Seward.

Mr. Coughlin studied law with Agib Ricketts, of this city, and
graduated in the law department of the Northern Indiana Normal
School, at Valparaiso. He was admitted to the bar of Luzerne
county November 20, 1882. In 1880 he was the democratic
candidate for the state legislature in the second legislative district
of Luzerne county, and was defeated by Philip H. Seeley, repub-
lican, the vote standing Seeley 2299, Coughlin 1865. Mr.
Coughlin married February 20, 1883, Emma Hughes, daughter
of Edward Hughes, of Kingston township. He was the son of
James Hughes whose wife was Elizabeth Swetland, daughter of

Joseph Moore. 617

Joseph Swetland, a descendant of Luke Swetland, of Kent, Conn.,
one of the Connecticut settlers of Wyoming. Mr. and Mrs.
Coughhn have but one child living, Annetta Coughlin. James M.
Coughlin, county superintendent of the public schools of Luzerne
county, is an only brother of Dennis O. Coughlin.

Mr. Coughlin is not now practicing his profession, but is occu-
pying an important position in the office of the collector of inter-
nal revenue of this district. It goes without saying, however,
that one who has been so carefully trained and has had such length-
ened experience in the training of others, is a safe counselor and
capable pleader in a court of law. As an educator Mr. Coughlin
achieved a most enviable reputation, and as a rule those who
have succeeded " with the birch " and afterwards went to the bar,
have succeeded there.

JOSEPH MOORE.

Joseph Moore was born in Castle Eden, county of Durham,
England, July 3, 1851. He is the son of John Thomas Moore,
of Miners Mills, who is a prominent and worthy citizen of that
borough. From 1 871 to 1883 John T. Moore was inside foreman
forsomeof the mines of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company.
He is at present superintendent of the Enterprise colliery, and
Grassy Island Coal Company, and has charge of lands owned by
Payne Pettebone, W. W. Amsbry, and other persons. He came
to this country in 1854, locating first in Schuylkill county, where
he was elected school director of Frailey township, but came to
Luzerne county in 1867, before his three years, for which he was
elected, had expired. Since residing in this county he has served
a three years' term as school director in Plains township. The
wife of J. T. Moore, and the mother of Joseph Moore, is Isabella,
daughter of Joseph Smiles, of Scotch descent. She is a native
of Shield's Row, county of Durham, England. Joseph Moore
worked in the mines from 1862 to 1878. He attended school at
intervals, and by close application to study, when not engaged in

6i8 John Slosson Harding.

the mines, fitted himself for a teacher, and has taught in the
schools of Falls township, Wyoming county. Ransom township,
Lackawanna county, and Plains township, Luzerne county.
He read law with F. M. Nichols, and was admitted to the bar of
Luzerne county November 20, 1882. He has served as town-
ship clerk of Plains township, and when the newly created borough
of Miners Mills was incorporated he was chosen its first burgess,
without opposition. In 1884 he was elected one of the county
auditors of Luzerne county. He had the highest vote for that
office in the county; and in the borough of Miners Mills, where he
resides, he had a majority of 139 votes over his highest, demo-
cratic competitor, and 82 more votes than James G. Blaine, who
carried the borough. He is an active republican, and is now
secretary of the republican county committee. Lie is an unmar-
ried man.

Mr. Moore is but at the beginning of his career, though, as we
have shown, he has already given the best possible evidence of
his being a useful man in the community in which he belongs.
He is noted for doing whatever he undertakes to do, thoroughly,
a trait of character not so common as it should be, and that, even
in so crowded a bar as this is, will certainly ultimate in bringing
him a paying clientage and a leading position. He has decided
literary tastes and contributes not a little to the local newspapers,
which are always grateful for his contributions.

4^B£ii>^ JOHN SLOSSON HARDING.

Among the early planters of New England were the ancestors
of the New England Hardings. Of the dates of their embarkation
or arrival no record can be found, but circumstances indicate that
it was in 1623. Captain Robert Gorges, " late from the Venitian
wars," and son of Sir Fernando Gorges, of Redlinch, Somerset-
shire, having received from the Council of New England the ap-
pointment of General Governor of the whole country, and the
grant of a tract four miles wide on Massachusetts Bay, and extend-

John Slosson Harding. 619

ing thirty miles into the interior, arrived August, 1623, with a
clergyman of the Church of England and "sundrie passengers and
families intending there to begin a plantation," that being the
" place he had resolved to make his residence." Sir Robert
Gorges, his near kinsman, if not himself, had married Mary
Harding, daughter and heir of William Harding ; and which ever
was her husband we may reasonably suppose that some of Lady
Harding's relatives would have accompanied him. If she was
his wife and attended him, the Hardings were probably her
brothers. He pitched upon Wessagussett, already abandoned by
Weston's people, and now Weymouth Landing, partly in Brain-
tree. Here were seated the most ancient Hardings of New Eng-
land, and here for half a century was the geographical centre of
the race. Stephen Harding, the ancestor of John Slosson Hard-
ing, by trade a blacksmith, is first mentioned on existing records
in 1669, when he was of Providence. A tradition among his
descendants, confirmed by circumstances, makes him to have
come from Massachusetts and probably from Weymouth Landing
in Braintree or Weymouth. He is supposed to have been the
son of John and the junior brother of Abraham, and to have fol-
lowed the colony from Weymouth to Rehoboth and to have first
settled in the Baptist part of the town which became Swanzey and
Barrington, now in Rhode Island. Here he is presumed to have
come into possession of the town-right of an original grantee, in
whose right and name he and his heirs drew many lots which
led to the permanent settlement of several of his descendants in the
latter towns. His name does not occur among the grantees and
early proprietors of Rehoboth, because he must have been in his
minority at the date of their incorporation, nor aniong the inhabi-
tants of Swanzey when erected into a town, because he had pre-
viously removed to Providence. But if a list of the early members
of the Baptist church in Swanzey should be discovered, it is prob-
able his name will be found included. Captain Stephen Hard-
ing, son of Stephen Harding, sold his brother John seventy-three
acres of land in Providence on December 31, 171 2. At the same
date he bought three acres of meadow land. He had laid out to
him April 15, 1714, six acres of the common lands of Providence,
and June 22, 171 5, he purchased one hundred and forty acres in

620 John Slosson Harding.

several parcels, the largest containing eighty acres. Nothing
more is found of him on the Providence records. He removed
to Warwick, or more probably resided there, when these convey-
ances were made ; and was in early life a tanner and currier, but
before leaving Rhode Island had probably built and sailed his
own vessel. He -was in middle life a man of w^ealth, and his ac-
quaintances and transactions seem to have been with the first
persons in the colonies. He subsequently settled in New Lon-
don, now Waterford, and engaged in commerce. He sailed from
New London, until, sustaining heavy losses at sea, he resumed
his early occupation and ended his days upon his farm. The
name of his wife has not been ascertained. His eldest son, John,
removed to Red Stone, Pa., and subsequently to Kentucky, and
from him some of the distinguished Hardins of that state are
presumed to have descended. Stephen Harding, son of Stephen
Harding, was born in 1723. He married Amy Gardner about
1747 and settled in Colchester, Conn., where his children were
born. In 1774 he removed to Wyoming and settled on the west
bank of the Susquehanna river in what is now Exeter township.
Captain Stephen Harding was in Jenkins fort at the time of the
Wyoming massacre and was taken prisoner. He died October
II, 1789, aged 66 years. Benjamin Harding and Stukely Hard-
ing, sons of Captain Stephen Harding, were the first victims of
the savage invasion of Wyoming in the summer of 1778. On
June 30, as they were returning from their corn field, some miles
up the river from Fort Jenkins, where the family had taken refuge,
they were assaulted by an advanced party of Indians, whom they,
being armed, " fought as long as they could raise a hand, but
were overpowered, shot, speared, tomahawked, scalped and had
their throats cut." Their bodies were found, taken to the fort,
now West Pittston, and buried. In after years their brother,
Elisha Harding, erected to their memory a monument with this
inscription : " Sweet be the sleep of those who prefer Death to
Slavery." The late Benjamin F. Harding was a son of Elisha
Harding. He was born in Wyoming county, Pa., January 4,
1823; studied law in his native county and came to the bar in
1847; emigrated to Illinois in 1848 and during the following year
settled in Oregon; in 1850 he was chosen a member of the legis-

John Slosson Harding. 621

lative assembly; in 1851 was chief elerk of the legislative assem-
bly; in 1852 was chosen a member of the legislature and made
speaker. In 1853 he was appointed by President Pierce United
States District Attorney for the territory of Oregon ; in 1854 he
was appointed secretary of the territory, which office he held
until Oregon was admitted as a state. From 1859 to 1862 he
was a member of the state legislature, serving the two last years
as speaker, and in 1862 he was elected a senator in congress from
Oregon, taking his seat during the third session of the thirty-
seventh congress. The famous engraving, " Wyoming, June 30,
1778," well known to the residents of this county, was the first
of a series of national engravings designed by F. O. C. Darley,
and published in New York and London. The design is the
same detailed in the following passage in Miner's History of
Wyoming :

"At Fort Jenkins, the uppermost in the valley, and only a mile
above Wintermoot's, there were gathered the families of the old
patriot, John Jenkins, Esq., the Hardings and Gardiners, dis-
tinguished for zeal, with others. Not apprised of the contiguity
of the savages, on the morning of the 30th of June, Benjamin
Harding, Stukely Harding, John Harding, a boy, James Hadsell,
James Hadsell, Jr., Daniel Weller, John Gardiner and Daniel
Carr, eight in all, took their arms and went up about three miles
into Exeter, to their labor. Towards evening, at an hour when
aid could not be expected, they were attacked. That they fought
bravely was admitted by the enemy. Weller, Gardiner and Carr
were taken prisoners. James Hadsell and his son James, Benja-
min and Stukely Harding were killed. John Harding, the boy,
threw himself into the river and lay under the willows, his mouth
just above the surface. He heard with anguish the dying groans
of his friends. Knowing he was near, the Indians searched care-
fully for him. At one time they were so close that he could
have touched them."

John Harding, the boy mentioned above, was the eighth son
of Captain Stephen Harding, and was born about 1765. He
married Affa Baldwin, resided in Exeter, and died in 1826. Isaac
Harding, son of John Harding, was born in Exeter in 1797.
On December 15, 1818, he was appointed by Governor William
Findlay a justice of the peace for the townships of Blakely, Exe-
ter, Northmoreland, Pittston and Providence. This office was

622 John Slosson Harding.

practically for life, as the commission always read, " as long as
you behave yourself well," and only the best men in the com-
munity received the appointment. From 1825 to 1828 he was
one of the commissioners of Luzerne county. In 1 846 he re-
moved to Pawpaw Grove, Lee county, 111. He was a farmer and
was elected a judge of the county court of Lee county. He died
in 1854. Garrick M. Harding was a son of Isaac Harding. His
biography has already appeared in this series of sketches. The
wife of Garrick M. Harding, and the mother of John Slosson
Harding, was Maria Mills Slosson, a daughter of John William
Slosson, and a descendant of George Slawson, who was in Lynn,
Mass., as early as 1637, and in that year was one of the proprie-
tors of the new town of Sandwich. He sold land in Duxbury,
Mass., in 1638, and is claimed as an inhabitant there; he moved
from Sandwich to Stamford, Conn., as early as 1642, and was a
leading member in the first church, " and evidently a man of note
in civil life." In 1657, as a deputy to the colonial assembly from
Sandwich with Richard Law and John Waterbury, he presented
to the court at New Haven the submission of the contumacious
people of Greenwich. He was a deputy from Stamford to the
last session of the New Haven colonial assembly. He died in
Stamford February 17, 1694-5. Eleazer Slosson, of Stamford,
was one of his sons. His will is dated April 29, 1693. Nathaniel
Slosson, son of Eleazer Slosson, was born about 1696 ; bought
nine acres of land at Captain's Plains, in Norwalk, Conn., Febru-
ary 24, 1720-21, and" five acres at Kent, in Norwalk, March i,
1720-21; and in each deed was described as "of Deerfield,
Mass." He married Margaret Belden, daughter of William Bel-
den, of Norwalk ; and probably began his residence in Norwalk
directly after buying the land above named, for he was called of
Norwalk November 16, 1721, when Samuel Belden gave him a
deed of all of said Belden's right in the undivided lands in Nor-
walk, " in consideration of the love and good will which I have
and do bear towards my loving cousin, Nathaniel Slawson, of said
Norwalk." He and his wife Margaret were among the members
of the church at Wilton at the ordination of Rev. William Gay-
lord, February 13, 1732-33; yet no record of their admission
appears nor of the baptism of any of their children until the

John Slosson Harding. 623

tenth (Nathan), March 18, 1739. In the first division of lands in
Kent in May, 1738, he drew lot No. 21, and tradition says that
he settled thereon about the first of November, 1739, about three
miles northeasterly from Kent village, in the district called Flan-
ders. He was chosen constable of Kent December 4, 1739 ; the
town meeting was held in his house September i, 1740; and in
1744 he was a lister. They joined the church in Kent July 12,
1741. His wife Margaret died April 14, 1780, in the 80th year
of her age. He died March 8, 1787, aged 91 years. His grand
daughter, Abagail, daughter of Jonathan and Abagail (Slosson)
Skeel, married Captain Asaph Whitdesey, a native of Washing-
ton, Conn., where he was born May 12, 1753. He was a son of
Eliphalet and Dorothy (Kellogg) Whittlesey, and was killed in
the battle and massacre of Wyoming July 3, 1778. Nathaniel
Slosson was the ancestor of Hon. James Guthrie, secretary of the
treasury under President Pierce, through his daughter, Sarah
Slosson, whose grandson he was. Nathan Slosson, son of Na-
thaniel Slosson, was born in Norwalk, recorded in Kent January
30, 1738-9. He married, October 13, 1768, Elizabeth Hubbell,
daughter of Jehiel and Elizabeth (Sackett) Hubbell and grand
daughter of Rev. Richard Sackett, pastor of the second church
of Greenwich, Conn. He served in the war of the revolution ;
was " a sergeant major in the cavalry," and was detailed to the
commissary department. He was at the capture of Burgoyne.
He died October 5, 1821. His wife died January 16, 1829.
Barzillai Slosson, son of Nathan Slosson, was born in Kent De-
cember 27, 1769. He graduated from Yale College in 1791 ; and
as he entered college in the senior year, he availed himself of
the right to become a candidate for the honors of Dean Scholar,
and obtained the first premium for excellence in Greek and Latin.
He taught for a short time in the Sharon academy, then studied
law with Governor John Cotton Smith, of Sharon, and was ad-
mitted to the bar of Fairfield county, Conn., April 17, 1794.
Between 1797 and 1812 he represented Kent in the Connecticut
legislature. He was elected clerk of the Connecticut house of
representatives in 1812. He married, October 25, 1772, Mary,
daughter of Nathaniel and Mary (Cass) Hatch. He died in
Kent January 20, 181 3. His wife died February 13, 1831.

624 John Slosson Harding.

Nathan, a brother of Barzillai, represented Kent in the legislature ;
John, another brother, was a lawyer of Ridgefield, afterwards of
New Miiford, Conn. William, another brother, received in 1803
from Union college the honorary degree of A. M., and was a dis-
tinguished lawyer in New York. Ezbon, another brother, was
also a lawyer in New York. John William Slosson, son of Bar-
zillai, was born in Kent December 20, 1795, and married, Sep-
tember 26, 1824, Hannah Patty Mills, a daughter of Philo and
Rhoda (Goodwin) Mills. She was the sister of Maria Mills Ful-
ler, wife of Amzi Fuller and mother of Henry M. Fuller, of the
Luzerne bar. Mr. Slosson was a merchant and settled in Kent,
where he died Nov. 14, 1862. John Slosson Harding, eldest son of
Garrick M. Harding, was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., August 29,
1859. He was prepared for college at the public schools in
Wilkes-Barre, at the academy of W. R. Kingman in this city,
and at St. Paul's school, Concord, N. H,, which school he at-
tended during the years 1 874-1 875-1 876. He then entered Yale
college and graduated in the class of 1880. He read law with
his father and was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county No-
vember 21, 1882. Since 1883 he has been assistant to the dis-
trict attorney of Luzerne county. He is an unmarried man.
Mr. Harding- has griven to the work he has had to do since com-
ing to the bar such a color of wise discretion and intelligent effort
as to quite fully prove that he has made the best possible use of
the exceptional advantages he has had. The influence of con-
stant association with his father, who is one of the foremost of
our lawyers and was one of the most brilliant of our judges, and
the training at Yale operating upon a naturally gifted mind, have
made John Harding already one of the best of our young prac-
titioners. He showed this during his term as deputy or assistant
to District Attorney McGahren, a service which was so well per-
formed as to earn for him the commendation of his chief and the
applause of the bar generally and the court. It was a service
valuable to himself also, since it must have given him exceptional
familiarity with all our criminal laws and the methods of proced-
ure under them. Mr. Harding is a democrat and quite an active
member of that party, being secretary of the committee of the
first legislative district, and a diligent and effective worker in

CoRMAC Francis Bohan. 625

every campaign as it arises. He is an affable gentleman, well
read in general literature, a good conversationalist, and popular
in social circles.

CORMAC FRANCIS BOHAN.

Cormac Francis Bohan, was born in Pittston, Pa., December
14, 1862. He is a son of Paul Bohan, a native of the parish of
Cloone, in the county of Leitrim, Ireland. The father of the
last named was Cormac Bohan. Paul Bohan emigrated to
America in 1850 and located in Hawley, Pa., where he remained
until 1854, when he removed to Pittston, where he has resided
up to the present. He is a leading and prominent citizen of the
borough of Pittston, and was a member of the town council of
that borough from 1859 to 1862. From 1862 to 1867 he was
one of the justices of the peace of the borough. From 1872 to
1875 he was a member of the school board. From the last
named year to the present he has been a member of the " poor
board of Jenkins township, Pittston borough, and Pittston town-
ship," which includes also the townships of Lackawanna and
Old Forge, and the borough of Hughestown. He was twice
appointed to this position by ex-Judge Harding and twice by
Judge Rice. He has also been in the mercantile business in
Pittston since 1857. The wife of Paul Bohan, whom he married
in Easton, Pa., August i, 1858, is Bridget Ellen McCanna, daugh-
ter of Francis and Ann Bradley McCanna. She was born in
the parish of Killasnot, county of Leitrim, Ireland. She came
to this country in 1850, and settled in Easton where she remained
until her marriage. C. F. Bohan was educated in the public
schools of Pittston and at Wyoming Seminary, Kingston Pa.,
from which he graduated in the class of 1880. He then entered
the law school of Yale college, from which he graduated in 1883.
He was admitted to the bar of New Haven county, Connecticut,
June 27, 1883. After his graduation he entered the law office of
ex-Judge Harding, in this city, and was admitted to the bar of

626 ZiBA Mathers.

Luzerne county March 15, 1884. Mr. Bohan is an unmarried
man and a democrat in politics.

He comes to the profession equipped with a first class educational
training, and the advantage of having read under a tutor who has
been successful both in pleading and administering the law, and,
being a young man of good habits, industry, and sound discre-
tion, there is every prospect that he will reap the full measure
of benefit from such auspicious coaching.

ZIBA MATHERS

Ziba Mathers was born in that part of the township of Kingston
which is now the borough of Luzerne, October 25, 1858. His
grandfather, James Mathers, was a native of Ireland, and when
about twelve years of age came to this country with his parents and
settled in Wellsboro, Pa. He afterwards removed to near Philadel-
phia, and there married Mary Walton, and subsequently removed to
this county. -From 1835 to 1840 he was engaged in the manu-
facture of paper at Mill Hollow. His son, John Mathers, was
born in 18 13, in Kingston township. He is a millwright and far-
mer. The wife of John Mathers was Ann, daughter of Henry
Stroh. He was born at Chestnut Hill, near Stroudsburg, Pa., in
1792. His father came from Germany and settled in Monroe
county and there married Christina Stroud. Henry Stroh served
in the war of 18 12 as a sergeant. He removed to Hanover town-
ship and there married. His first wife was Ann Petty. She was
the grandmother of the subject of this sketch. The family is of
German descent, and came to this country prior to the revolu-
tionary war. Ziba Mathers was educated in the public schools
of his native county, and during a portion of the years 1881, 1882,
1883, and 1884 was engaged in teaching. He read law with
Geo. B. Kulp, and was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county
June 2, 1884. In 1882 he was elected the first burgess of the
newly organized borough of Luzerne. He is now the clerk of
the town council, and in 1885 was appointed postmaster of the
borough. He is a democrat in politics and an unmarried man.

Edward Everett Hoyt. 627

For a young man Mr. Mathers, as will be seen, has had many
and quite important trusts, and it is only fair to say that he has
discharged them all with entire acceptability to all concerned.
Diligent in the prosecution of his profession he will lose no cases for
want of the application necessary to familiarize himself with all
the details, and the relation thereto of the law in all its phases.
In other words he prepares his cases with great thoroughness.
What has been aptly termed " the business feature of a lawyer's
capacities," as distinguished from his professional knowledge, and
which depends more largely upon his character as a man than
anything else, is of far greater importance than some lawyers and
many people seem to consider it. Good, general business qua-
lifications, with a little less knowledge of the law, are more likely
to bring success than a more familiar acquaintance with legal
maxims and statutes, and no such general qualifications. These
latter Mr. Mathers possesses in a remarkable degree, and the road
is open for the attainment by him of a prominent place at the bar.

EDWARD EVERETT HOYT.

Edward Everett Hoyt was born in Kingston, Pa., January 22,
1859. He is a descendant of Simon Hoyt, who was the first
member of the Hoyt family who emigrated to New England, and
whose arrival there was on or before 1629. Daniel Hoyt, the
great-grandfather of E. E. Hoyt, removed from Danbury, Conn.,
to Wyoming about 1795, and was the first Wyoming emigrant
of that name. His first wife was Anne Gunn. His second wife
was Sylvina Pierce, daughter of Abel Pierce, of Kingston. He
had no children by her. Rev. Ard Hoyt, who was born in Dan-
bury October 23, 1770, was a brother of Daniel Hoyt. He
became pastor of the Presbyterian church in Wilkes-Barre in
1806, and remained in that position until 18 17. He then retired
from this position and became a missionary among the Cherokee
Indians. His first position was at Brainard, Cherokee Nation.
He remained there for six years, then removed to Willistown, now

628 Edward Everett Hoyt.

in Alabama, where he died February i8, 1828. Lieutenant Ziba
Hoyt, son of Daniel Hoyt, was the grandfather of the subject of
this sketch. He was a native of Danbury, Conn., and removed
with his father to Wyoming. He married January 23, 181 5,
Nancy Hurlbut, a daughter of Christopher Hurlbut, of Arkport,
N. Y. He was a descendant of Lieutenant Thomas Hurlbut, a
native of England, where he was born about 161 5, and immigrated
to New England in his early manhood. He was a soldier in the
fort at Saybrook, Conn., in 1636, under Lyon Gardner, was
wounded in the Pequot war, was one of the first settlers in
Weathersfield, Conn., was voted a tract of land in 167 1 for his
services in the Pequot war, was a member of the Assembly in
1640, married and died in Weathersfield. He had, among other
children, Samuel, who had a son Stephen, who had a son John,
who had a son John, known as Deacon John Hurlbut, who was
born in Groton, Conn., March 12, 1730. His wife was Abigail
Avery, a native of the town of Preston, Conn. Deacon Hurlbut
was a farmer and lived many years in Groton, probably always
lived there until he left for the Wyoming Valley. He was an
active man and a useful citizen, and was of much aid to his fellow
townsmen in the early years of the Revolution. He visited the
valley of the Susquehanna as early as the spring of 1773, having
purchased an interest in the " Susquehanna Company." In the
autumn of the years 1775 and 1777 he was also there temporarily.
Selling his farm in Groton in 1777 he, with his family, stock,
farming implements, etc., set out in the spring of 1778 for the
valley of promise. Deacon Hurlbut was taken sick on the way,
a young daughter also was attacked with a prevailing sickness,
and she died in Lackawaxen. These misfortunes delayed the
progress of the family in their journey, but it was spared the massa-
cre of that year in the valley. They arrived in the following year,
however, and experienced the hardships incident to the settlers
of that period. Deacon Hurlbut was a member of the Connec-
ticut Assembly in 1779, 1780, and 1781. He was also one of the
justices of the peace at Wyoming, under the state of Connecti-
cut. He was the great-grandfather of Henry Blackman Plumb
of the Luzerne bar. As a religious man Deacon Hurlbut was
prominent, and in the absence of a regular preacher he often

Edward Everett Hoyt. 629

officiated by reading or preaching a sermon. He died in Hano-
ver, at the Stewart place, in Buttonwood, March 10, 1782, and
was buried on his own farm, west of the house, near an orchard
he had set out with his own hands. His widow died at the home of
her son, Naphtah Hurlbut, in Pittston, Pa., November 29. 1805.
Christopher Hurlbut, son of Deacon John Hurlbut, and father
of Mrs. Ziba Hoyt, was born in Groton, Conn., in 1757, came to
Wyoming in 1770, was a soldier in the Revolution from 1776 to
the end, was at Harlem, N. Y., White Plains, N. Y., through New
Jersey to Pennsylvania, thence in New Jersey again in the battle
of Princeton, was discharged at Chatham, N. J., resided in Hano-
ver till 1797, married Elizabeth Mann, died in Arkport, N. Y.,
April 21, 1 83 1. After the close of the Revolution he officiated
as surveyor in the Wyoming Valley. The Christopher Hurlbut
named in Miner's history as a surveyor, being there in the year
1770, is an error. It should, without doubt, have been written,
Stephen Hurlbut, an uncle of Christopher, who was in the valley
in 1773, and very likely earlier. Naphtali Hurlbut, brother of
Christopher, was sheriff of Luzerne county from 1825 to 1828,
and was also for three years one of the commissioners of the
county. He was a soldier in the Revolution, as was his elder
brother John, who was a sergeant in Captain Franklin's company,
in the Fifth Regiment of Connecticut militia.

The father of E. E. Hoyt is John Dorrance Hoyt, of Kings-
ton. He is a retired farmer and has always resided in that
place. Henry M. Hoyt, an ex-governor of Pennsylvania, is an
uncle of E. E. Hoyt, being a brother of John D. Hoyt. The wife
of John D. Hoyt is Elizabeth Goodwin, daughter of the late
Abraham Goodwin, of Kingston. The Goodwin family is of
New England extraction. Abraham Goodwin was an associate
judge of Bradford county from 1841 to 1844. The wife of Abra-
ham Goodwin was Sally Myers, daughter of Philip Myers. The
father of Philip Myers removed with his family from Germany in
the year 1760, and settled in Frederick, Maryland. He had four
sons — Lawrence, Philip, Henry, and Michael. The two former
served the country in the revolutionary war, in the Maryland
line, and were in the battle of Germantown. Lawrence had come
to Wyoming and married Sarah Gore, daughter of Obadiah Gore,

630 Edward Everett Hoyt.

and became identified with the New England settlers. She was
of the patriotic family that sent five brothers and two brothers-in-
law into the battle. Lieutenant Lawrence Myers was ever a
favorite. His large, round face seemed radiant with benevolence
and cheerfulness. Besides several offices in the militia, he was
for thirty years a magistrate, and from 1800 to 1803 a commis-
sioner of the county. The plan of the old court house that was
located on the public square, a cross, was introduced by him, taken
from that at Fredericktown, which doubtless owed its origin to
the Roman Catholic settlers of Maryland under their liberal and
tolerant founder. The delight of his life was to talk of Frederick,
and anything that existed or came from there was an object of
his special regard. Owning one of the noblest plantations on the
Kingston flats, adjoining the Plymouth line, though he did not
personally labor, he caused it to be highly cultivated, the produce
of which yielded a liberal support. In winter the large and
elegant cloth cloak, in those early days an article of dress too
fine and costly not to be rare, gave to his noble person an
imposing appearance. He died at the age of fifty years, leaving,
as he had no children, his fine estate to Mrs. Myers and his
brothers. Philip Myers came to Wyoming in 1785, and was
married to Martha, daughter of Thomas Bennett, July 15, 1787,
he being aged twenty-seven and she twenty-four years. Thomas
Bennett gave his son-in-law a town lot on the north line of old
Forty Fort. On this he erected a comfortable house, constructed
of yellow pine logs, hewed, and pointed with lime mortar, and
limed on the inside. Mr. Myers purchased a lot of one hundred
and forty acres, extending from Forty Fort to the top of the
mountain. He cleared up his farm, and also raised a large family
of children. For many years he kept a public house. His
house being situated on an eddy in the Susquehanna, it was a
great place of resort for the lumbermen, bringing their pine
lumber from the upper part of the Susquehanna and its tributaries
and taking it to the Baltimore and Philadelphia markets. The
consequence was that Mr. Myers' house was thronged for weeks
by the hardy " raftsmen " every spring. He died April 2, 1835.
His widow subsequently married Rev. Benjamin A. Bidlack, as
his second wife.

Edward Everett Hoyt. 631

Mrs. Myers was born in Scituate, Rhode Island, January 15,
1763. The same year in which Martha Bennett or Mrs. Myers
was born a settlement of Connecticut people was commenced in
Wyoming, and Mr. Bennett rented a valuable property in Rhode
Island, and removed to the Delaware, near Stroudsburg. He
took quarters there with a company of people in a store house
which was fortified and called a fort. Mr. Bennett's object was
to settle in Wyoming, and accordingly he visited that famous
locality, but finding the Indians surly, he for the time abandoned
the project. The next year Mr. Bennett removed to Goshen,
N. Y., and rented a farm for six years. He set his sons at work
upon the farm, and took his gun, his axe, and hoe and visited the
much coveted valley. Two attempts to effect a settlement in
Wyoming were unsuccessful because of the hostility of the
Indians, Mr. Bennett, losing all his labor, but more fortunate
than some of the early settlers, escaping with his life. In Feb-
ruary, 1769, Mr. Bennett joined a company of New England
people, forty in all, who built a fort on the west bank of the
Susquehanna, which, in honor of the forty hardy adventurers,
was called Forty Fort. This fort was designed as a place of secu-
rity against the Indians, but withal was to be a Yankee fortifi-
cation, where, if need should require, the New England settlers
would be able to take refuge from the Pennamites. Mr. Bennett
selected a situation on the flats about a mile above the fort, and,
clearing off a portion of it, put in some seeds. The following
year, 1770, Mr. Bennett united with a new recruit of settlers and
paused at the mouth of the Lackawanna, where they built a block
house. Here they were all taken into custody by John Jennings,
sheriff of Northampton county, Pennsylvania. As Sheriff Jen-
nings was proceeding with his prisoners to Easton, at Wyoming,
probably Wilkes-Barre, Mr. Bennett managed to escape, and
returned to the east, as he was there in the month of September.
His escape was made in the summer, and in September Mr.
Bennett made arrangements to remove his family to Wyoming.
He had examined the ground ; he understood all the hazard of
the enterprise; his courage was equal to the danger, and the
question was settled. As to property he had now but little to
lose, for he had sold his farm in Rhode Island on personal secu-

632 Edward Everett Hoyt.

rity, and both the purchaser and security had failed, and the
whole was lost. What by industry and economy had been
saved in Goshen was now put into as compact a condition as
possible and loaded upon pack horses, and the family commenced
their march towards " the land of promise." The country now
presented a striking contrast with the picture of Wyoming which
was formed in the imaginations of Mr. Bennett's family. The
grasshoppers had destroyed all the vegetation, and the aspect
was one of utter desolation. They wound their way over the
mountains and through the vales until they came to Shehola, on
the west side of the Delaware, and here they were hospitably
entertained by a Quaker by the name of Wires. The next
morning " friend Wires " accompanied the miniature caravan as
far as the " little meadows," where they took refreshments. Mrs.
Bennett was boiling some chocolate over a fire made by the side
of a log. She seemed unusually sad. " I don't know," said she,
•' what I am about to meet. I think something pretty heavy."
It was not long before several men came up from Wyoming —
one bleeding from a wound made on his head by a club— and
reported that the Pennamites had taken possession of the fort,
and were resolved upon driving off all the New England settlers.
A consultation was now held upon the proper course to be
pursued. Mr. Bennett was a man of cool courage, and he had
made up his mind to try his fortunes upon the fertile soil of Wyo-
ming, and he was not to be turned aside from that purpose by
anything but stern, invincible necessity. He was bent upon
p-oing on. But what would he do with his family? Mrs. Ben-
nett, who was not easily intimidated, said : " If it were not for the
children I would go along." " Friend Wires" said: " Leave the
children with me ; I will take care of them." Stimulated by the
courage of Mr. Bennett and his wife, two men who had fled
from the country resolved to return and try their luck again.

Mr. Bennett was a great hunter, and the wild woods had more
attractions for him than the old settled country at the east; for
himself, he could live anywhere in the Susquehanna mountains
by the aid of his rifle and hunting knife. Mrs. Bennett was not
so cool as her husband, but was equally firm in her purposes and
unterrified by danger. The company thought to find shelter for

Edward Everett Hoyt. 633

the time being with a Mr. Chapman, who had built a mill at
Mill Creek, and who had been a neighbor and a friend of the
family in Goshen. When Mr. and Mrs. Bennett reached Wyo-
ming they found that the dispute between the New England and
Pennsylvania settlers had already ripened into open war. Captain
Ogden, the Pennamite leader, had built a block-house, which was
called a fort, at the mouth of Mill Creek, and had in his company
Sheriff Jennings. Mr. Bennett was a peaceable man, and did
not enter at once into the war, but took possession of a small log
house he had previously built on the flats just above Forty Fort.
The grain he had put in, before his return to Goshen in the
spring, presented a most delightful prospect of an abundance of
provisions for the following winter. The Yankees — that is the
fighters — invested the block-house, when Ogden proposed a par-
ley. But no sooner had the besiegers entered the block-house
to hold a conversation with the besieged, than Jennings served a
writ on them in the name of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
They were thirty-seven in all, and they were all taken to Easton,
a distance of sixty miles, to jail. They obtained bail and imme-
diately returned. Again they were captured and sent off to jailj
and again they were released on bail and returned. A re-enforce-
ment of two hundred and seventy or two hundred and eighty
Yankees, under the command of Captain Durkee, came on and
built a fort where Wilkes-Barre now stands, which they named, in
honor of their leader, Fort Durkee. The Yankees now held the
ground and proceeded to the work of clearing farms and building.
" The children " were brought on from Shehola, and Mr. Ben-
nett was comfortably ensconced in his log cabin with his family.

But a few months of quiet had passed before the Pennsylvanians
came on with an augmented force, under the command of Ogden
and Patterson, the latter bringing up the river, in a boat, a four-
pounder. Ogden captured Captain Durkee and put him in irons,
and took possession of the fort. The Yankees were now pillaged,
and, as far as possible, driven from the country. The house and
premises generally belonging to Mr. Bennett were robbed ; grain,
cattle, and everything movable which could be found were taken
from him, but he did not leave the valley. The Pennsylvanians
now considered their victory complete. Ogden went to Phila-

634 Edward Everett Hoyt.

dclphia, leaving a few men in the fort. In the mean time Captain
Lazarus Stewart came on with forty brave fellows and drove out
the small guard from the fort, took possession of the cannon, and
turned the tide once more in favor of the Yankees. Mr. Bennett
now took up quarters in Fort Durkee, both as a measure of
safety and of comfort. In the winter of 177 1 Ogden again made
his appearance and invested Fort Durkee. His brother Nathan
was killed by a shot from the fort, Mrs. Bennett witnessing the
event. Stewart, finding himself unable to hold out against the
superior numbers of the Pennsylvanians, managed to steal away
when the Pennamites took possession. Captain Ogden was
terribly enraged by the death of his brother, and, seizing several
prominent Yankees who happened to be in the fort, sent them to
Philadelphia in irons, charged with being concerned in the mur-
der. Mr. Bennett did not belong to Stewart's party of fighting
men, but had taken shelter in the fort with his family when he
considered their lives in imminent peril. Stewart, with his men,
left the fort, and Mr. Bennett fell into Ogden's hands ; and he,
without the slightest reason, excepting that he was in the fort at
the time, was. one of the suspected parties, and was obliged to
endure the sufferings and disgrace of a suspected felon for five
months in jail in Philadelphia. The explanation of this affair is
to be found in the fact that an " inquisition " was held over the
body of Nathan Ogden by Charles Stuart, January 21, 1 771, by
which it was found that said Ogden was shot by " a certain
Lazarus Stewart." But on the back of the report of the inquest
is found "a list of the rioters in the fort at Wyoming when
Nathan Ogden was killed." There were forty-seven of these
" rioters," embracing nearly all the respectable Yankee settlers
then in the country. Thomas Bennett was among these so-called
" rioters," and was taken up as a party to the murder. The same
evil befell several other individuals, and might have befallen any
of the number upon the list. Fort Durkee was now in the hands
of the Pennamites, and every few weeks they were running over
the valley and giving the Yankees who had the courage to remain
at their homes infinite trouble and vexation, not being particularly
courteous even to the women, who had the assurance to stick to
the " stuff" when their husbands were driven off or sent to prison^

Edward Everett Hoyt. 635

Under these circumstances Mrs. Bennett gladly accepted an offer
made her by the wife of Captain Manning to reside with her on
what is now known as Scofield's Island, near the head of the
valley. The two families pushed up the stream in company and
arranged their scanty catalogue of furniture and fixtures in a
rude cabin. The Bennett boys had managed to save some grain,
which they concealed at the head of the island.

In the mean time Mr. Bennett had been discharged, and had
returned \vorn out with his tedious imprisonment, and badly dis-
couraged. Captain Zebulon Butler had come on with a new
recruit of Yankees, and had shut up Ogden in the fort at Mill
Creek and cut off his supplies. This was in the spring of 1771.
Ogden found it necessary to communicate with the Pennsylvania
officials at Philadelphia, and, not willing to run the risk of send-
ing a messenger, who would probably fall into the hands of the
Yankees, resolved upon an ingenious and daring enterprise. He
made his clothes into a bundle, and fastened his hat on the top
of it, then tied to it a small cord some twenty feet long. Taking
up his bundle he walked out into the current, and floated down
on his back ahead of his hat and clothes. Of course this enter-
prise was undertaken in the night. The Yankee sentinels saw
the suspicious looking object and riddled the hat with bullets,
but Ogden escaped unhurt and soon reached Philadelphia. He
dashed about, and soon raised a quantity of provisions and a new-
company of recruits, commanded by Captain John Dick. They
stealthily entered the valley, and eagerly awaited a favorable
opportunity of throwing themselves, with their pack horses
loaded with provisions, into the fort David Ogden, a brother
of the captain, was one of the company, and, learning that Thomas
Bennett had returned from Philadelphia and was with his family
on Lackawanna (now Scofield's) island, set off with a small posse
in pursuit of him. The capture or murder of Bennett would be
a clever little adventure while they were waiting for a few hours
for a favorable opportunity to elude the besiegers and get into
the fort. Ogden knew the ground perfectly, and easily eluded
observation until he found his way to the bank of the river over
against the island. The Mannings had received the intelligence
of the arrival of Captains Ogden and Dick in the neighborhood

636 Edward Everett Hoyt.

of the fort, and of David O^alen's intended visit to the island.
When Ogden and his friends showed themselves upon the beach
Mrs. Manning said: "David Ogden is coming over the river.
Bennett, thee must clear out or be killed." Mr. Bennett replied :
" I may as well die one way as another. I have been in jail until
I am worn out ; they have robbed me of all I have in the world,
and now let them kill me if they will." The women, however,
roused him from his deep despondency by seizing him by the
arms and shoving him out of the door just in time to make his
escape. He hid himself in the thick undergrowth while Ogden
entered the cabin with the words, "Is Bennett here?" The
answer was, " No." Mrs. Bennett asked, " What do you want of
him ?," adding, " If you should find him you would do no harm
to him." " Where is he ? " demanded Ogden in an angry tone.
Mrs. Manning replied, " He is not here." Ogden repeatedly
swore that if he could find him he would shoot him. He went
out and scoured the w^oods but with no success. After informing
Mrs. Manning that they intended to enter the fort the next
morning before daybreak, and after satisfying their hunger with
the good things of the cabin, they departed, but did not imme-
diately leave the island. Judging rightly that Mr. Bennett would
soon come forth from his concealment, they hid themselves within
gunshot of the cabin. When it was supposed that Ogden and
his men had crossed the main branch of the river, Mr. Bennett's
sons went out and called him, and he came in. He sat down in
a sad state of mind, and Martha (afterwards Mrs. Myers) seated
herself in his lap, and flung her arms about his neck, and com-
menced carressing him and condoling with him in view of his
troubles and dangers ; and the sympathy of the child in this
instance was a substantial good for it actually saved the life of the
father. Ogden afterward said he intended to have shot Bennett
and should have done it but for the fear of killing the child. The
judgment of charity is, that it was not merely as a Yankee that
Ogden had formed the deliberate purpose to take Mr. Bennett's
life, but as an accessory to the death of his brother. But Mr.
Bennett was in no way connected with that deed; its perpetrators
afterwards fell in the Indian battle, as several affidavits to be
found in the archives of the state abundantly prove.

Edward Everett Hovt. 637

On being informed of Captain Ogden's intended entrance into
the fort early the next morning, Mr. Bennett, upon the pretense
of going out to catch some eels, in the evening crossed the river,
and went down to the Yankee lines, and communicated the infor-
mation. When the Pennsylvanians made a rush upon the besiegers,
just before day, they found them fully prepared for them. They
lost their pack horses and provisions. Several horses were shot
down under their riders, and a number of the party were severely
wounded. Captains Ogden and Dick succeeded in entering the
fort with about twenty of their men, but they entered to find
famine and despondency staring them in the face on every side,
and to feel the mortification of having contributed a considerable
stock of provisions to the Yankee stock. The besieged Pennsyl-
vanians, finding it impossible longer to hold out, capitulated and
left Wyoming. Captain Fuller, one of the Yankee officers, said
to Mr. Bennett : " You have suffered enough ; come down to
Fort Lukins, (?) and you shall have as good a lot as there is there."
Mr. Bennett took his family down to the fort but refused to take
up his residence there. He fitted up an old horse shed in Forty
Fort, and made it a comfortable residence for those times and for
that country, in which his family lived for more than two years.
During this period Mrs. Bennett presented her husband with
another daughter — the late Mrs. John Tuttle, of Kingston ; and
Martha began to develop extraordinary skill at house work,
and great power of endurance.

John Tuttle was the third child of Henry Tuttle, a native of
Baskingridge, N. J., where he was born November 24, 1733.
He removed to Wyoming in 1785 and settled near Forty Fort.
John Tuttle was born in Baskingridge April 3, 1767, and married
Mary Bennett January 11, 1789. His eldest. daughter, Martha,
became the wife of Holden Tripp, whose daughter, Lucilla S.
Tripp, married the late Charles FI. Silkman, who was admitted to
the Luzerne bar January i, 1838. His second daughter, Mary
Tripp, became the wife of Joseph Orr, grandfather of Nathaniel
Marion Orr, who was admitted to the Luzerne county bar Sep-
tember 23, 1875. The late Chester Tuttle, youngest child of
John Tuttle, was born December 22, 1806. He was deputy
sheriff, clerk to the county commissioners, editor of the Luzerne

638 Edward Everett Hoyt.

Democrat, the first captain of the Wyoming troop, and for fifteen
years a clerk in the navy department at Washington, D. C.

The tide had now turned in favor of the New England settlers,
and large accessions were made to their numbers. Colonel
Denison came in from Hartford, Conn., and took board with Mr.
Bennett. He was married to Betsy Sill, this being the first
match consummated among the settlers. Their daughter was
the mother of Lazarus D. Shoemaker. He has a rocking
chair in his possession that was owned by them, which he con-
siders a valuable heirloom. Rev. George Peck, D. D., in his
" Early Methodism " says : " Colonel Denison and his lady and
three daughters became members of the Methodist church.
Colonel Denison and Betsy Sill were the first couple married in
Wyoming ; and the colonel commanded the left wing of the
patriot forces on the occasion of 'the Indian battle.' He was a
man of great influence in the county, of which sufficient proof
was given by the responsible positions which he was called by
his fellow citizens to fill. [He was a representative from West-
moreland to the Connecticut Assembly during the years 1776,
1778, 1779, and 1780. He represented Luzerne county in the
Pennsylvania Assembly during the years 1787, 1788, and 1789.
He was one of the judges appointed and commissioned for
Westmoreland by the governor of Connecticut. He held the
same position subsequently under the jurisdiction of Pennsyl-
vania.] He was a kind hearted and ardently pious man. His
house was open to the weary itinerants, and too much could
scarcely be done by the family for their comfort. All the
preachers made it a place of rest and refreshment, while several, '
at different times, were quartered there as a regular boarding
place. * * * 'Phe venerable Bishop Asbury was there
several times entertained, as we learn both from his journal and
the testimony of members of the family."

All this time the Indians were numerous but very quiet.
When Mr. Bennett was taken a prisoner to Philadelphia some of
them earnestly urged Mrs. Bennett to come with her children
and live among them. Evidently considering her life in danger
from the Pennamites, they wished to afford her shelter and pro-
tection. Three years of quiet in the settlement had resulted in a

Edward Everett Hoyt. 639

high degree of prosperity. Plenty had crowned the labor of the
settlers, and there had been a large accession to their numbers
from the New England states, not merely consisting of young,
hardy adventurers, but the old and infirm came on, with their
children and grandchildren, to spend the remnant of their days
in " the beautiful valley," and to lay their bones beneath its green
sod. Mr. Bennett built a "double log house" on his land,
which Mrs. Myers said " was then called a good house." " We
removed," says she, " to our new house, raised good crops of
grain, and had a fine stock of horses and cattle. We sold grain
and bousfht articles of convenience from the Middletown boats.
Father and brothers hunted beaver, bears, deer, raccoons, wild
turkeys, etc., and we were in comfortable circumstances. Game
was abundant at this period ; we often saw wolves, bears, and
deer swimming the river."

In December of this year (1775) the famous expedition of Colo-
nel Plunkett took place. The New England people prepared to
give the colonel a warm reception at the head of the narrows
(Nanticoke) on both sides of the river. Mr. Bennett and his son
Solomon were at the breast works below Shawnee (Plymouth)
for two weeks, and Mrs. Bennett took down to them a horse
load of provisions at two different times. Men, old and young,
boys, and women were all on hand to act their part in the defense
of their homes. After an unsuccessful attempt to storm the
Yankee works, the gallant colonel undertook to take his forces
in a bateau across the river. The first boat load, which, it is said.
Colonel Plunkett commanded in person, was saluted by a brisk
fire from the bushes by Lieutenant Stewart and his men, and one
of the Pennamites was killed and several wounded. The gallant
colonel lay down in the bottom of the boat, and ordered the men
to push out into the river and go over the falls. The party in
the boat and those left on the west side of the river met at the
foot of the rapids, and, upon consultation, concluded that it was
so late in the season, and the ice was accumulating so fast, that
"prudence would be the better part of valor," and the Pennamite
army returned home with diminished numbers, no spoils, and no
addition to their reputation for either tact or courage. The expe-
dition of Colonel Plunkett terminates the first period of this

640 Edward Everett Hoyt.

unnatural war — a war which was not only a public calamity, but
inflicted untold griefs upon persons and parties who pined and
writhed under its consequences in private, who never troubled
the public with their heart-crushing griefs. It was the last effort
of the proprietary government of the colony of Pennsylvania to
remove the New England people from Wyoming.

In the fall of 1777 Queen Esther came up the river with about
a dozen Indians. She encamped at the mouth of Shoemaker's
creek, but a short distance from Mr. Bennett's residence. Mrs.
Bennett, accompanied by Martha, visited the queen's camp and
had considerable conversation with her. She asked her if it was
true that the Indians were coming to kill us all. She shook her
head and shed tears. Her head was gray, and she seemed to be
old. She remained there about a fortnight. Mrs. Myers said:
" Not long after Queen Esther left the valley we heard rumors of
violence committed at the north by parties of Indians, who
strolled over the country. These reports created great alarm
among the people of Wyoming. In June, 1778, about two weeks
before the battle, we had seven head of horses stray away. The
boys going in pursuit of them asked me to go with them and
pick cherries. We had not gone far into the woods before the
boys saw some young hickories broken and twisted in a peculiar
manner. One of them exclaimed, ' Oh, the Indians ! The In-
dians have taken away the horses.' This turned out to be the
fact. Upon our return we learned that the Indians had been at
Peter Harris's, above Scofield's. Soon after the two Hardings
were killed ; and now we, with the settlers generally, moved into
the fort. It was crowded full." On July 3 an Indian on horse-
back was seen at the mouth of Shoemaker's creek, within sight
of the fort. Upon finding that he was noticed he galloped off.
Colonel John Butler now sent orders to the people in the fort to
surrender, which were promptly refused. The question was now
mooted whether they should go out and fight the enemy on the
plains- above, or keep within the fort until re-enforcements should
arrive. Captain Spaulding was coming on with an efficient,
well-trained company, and Captain Franklin was on his way
from Huntington with a company of volunteers, and it was the
opinion of Colonels Butler and Denison that it was best to delay

Edward Everett Hoyt. 641

until the recruits should arrive. Captains Lazarus Stewart and
William McKarrachan headed the party which were for marching
out of the fort at once and meeting the foe. A warm debate
upon the question followed, which closed with high words. The
belligerent captains, perceiving that the majority was on their
side, intimated that it was cowardice which influenced the views
of the colonels, and that if they should decline the command,
they, the captains, would lead on the brave men who would
volunteer to go out and flog Butler and his Indians. These
insulting insinuations roused the spirit of Colonels Butler and
Denison, and they resolved to hazard all upon the chances of a
battle. Colonel Butler said : " We go into imminent danger, but,
my boys, I can go as far as any of you." Those who were fierce
for fight seemed to be under the impression that the enemy was
about to retreat, or that they would run as soon as they saw
danger. They were anxious to meet and punish the Indians
while they were within reach, and to chase them out of the coun-
try. This, as they might have known, and as the event proved,
was all erroneous. In this case, as in many others, hot-headed
and reckless men prevailed against sober counsels. The little
army formed and set out in the line of march in high spirits, with
fifes and drums playing and colors flying. Mr. Bennett was one
of the " old men " who volunteered to defend the country. He,
however, was so certain that the little army were about to be
drawn into a snare and cut off, that he declared he would go with
them no further than " Tuttle's Creek," the distance of one mile
or a little more, and he carried out his purpose. He left them at
the creek, but his son Solomon went on. Soon after the little,
patriot army had left the fort. Major Durkee, Captain Ransom,
and Lieutenant Pierce came up on a gallop. They had left
Captain Spaulding at Merwines', about thirty miles from Wyo-
ming, and hastened to the point of danger. Dashing into Mrs.
Bennett's cabin one sang out, " Can you give us a mouthful to
eat? " They were furnished with a cold cut. Swallowing a few
mouthfuls they took a piece in their hands and pushed on. They
left the fort never to look upon it again ; they were all slain in
the battle.

When Thomas Bennett returned to the fort he paced the bank

642 Edward Everett Hoyt.

of the river back and forth in the greatest excitement. When
the firing began he Hstened until he noticed the reports scatter-
ing down the plain. He then hastened to his cabin, exclaiming,
" Our boys are beat ; they will all be cut to pieces." He was a
man of strong nerves, but no stoic. He walked back- and forth,
and seemed all but distracted. At two o'clock the next day
Solomon Bennett made his appearance and gave an account of
his escape, and then, in company with his father, Thomas Ben-
nett, and Andrew, his brother, a lad of about eleven years of age,
left for Stroudsburg. There were many sad partings on that ter-
rible day. The depth of sorrow which filled the hearts of hus-
bands and wives, parents and children, brothers and sisters, on
that day, and the day before, will only be brought to light by
the revelations of the last judgment. Something more than a
week after the battle the houses throughout the settlement were
fired. The smoke arose from all quarters at the same time.
Soon after this the widows of Timothy Pierce and John Murphy
(their maiden name was Gore) with Ellis and Hannah Pierce —
maiden ladies — requested Mrs. Bennett to visit the battle-ground
with them to see if they could identify the bodies of Pierce and
Murphy. They found the bodies of the slain broiling in the hot
sun, but so changed that they could not distinguish one from
another. The husbands of the two young widows, and three
brothers— Silas, Asa, and George Gore— lay upon the ensan-
guined field, but the heart-broken visitors had not even the poor
satisfaction of identifying their remains. Martha Bennett had
lost all her best clothes, and found that it was necessary for her
soon to make a move of some sort to replenish her exhausted
wardrobe. She finally ventured to sob out, " If I could leave
mother and sister I would go with Colonel Denison down to
Sunbury, to Captain Martin's, and work and get me some clothes."
Esquire Pierce, coming up, inquired into the cause of Martha's
grief Upon learning the facts he addressed her in his quaint
style : " Go along, gal, go along and Pll take care of mother and
child." She accordingly took passage in Colonel Denison's
canoe, and arrived in Sunbury the next day. She found a com-
pany of between thirty and forty persons from the valley quar-
tered in a house. Miss Bennett was received with great cordiality.

Edward Everett Hoyt. 643

and invited to remain with them and be one of the household.
One of the company was Desdemona Marshall, a daughter of
Gad Marshall, one of the earliest inhabitants of Huntington. Mr.
Marshall brought his family at the same time that John Franklin
moved his into the almost unbroken forest, in 1776. His son,
Job Marshall, belonged to Captain Franklin's company, and as
he was at Plymouth on business on the day of the battle, he
hastened on without his compan)^ and fell. Desdemona Marshall
subsequently married Epaphras Wadsworth, Sr., of Huntington,
and was the careful, industrious mother of a large family. Her
christian principles and moral excellence were influential in her
large circle of friends, and in the Methodist Episcopal church of
which she was a member. She was the great-grandmother of
Rosamond L. (Dodson) Rhone, the wife of Judge Rhone, of this
city. The family of fugitives, united by common sufferings and
common danger, was not to remain long together. There was a
rumor of hostile Indians on the west branch of the Susquehanna,
and a woman and boy were tomahawked and scalped in the ir
mediate neighborhood. Miss Bennett and others went to. see
them while they were yet alive.

It. was soon rumored that the Indians and tories had agat
visited Wyoming, and all the settlers had left. A company com-
menced making preparations to go across the mountains to Strouds-
burg, and Miss Bennett accepted an invitation to go with them.
All the means of conveyance they had was a small cart drawn by a
yoke of steers. There were some small children in the company,
who were allowed to ride when they were tired, but as for the
rest they all walked. Their journey was of the distance of about
one hundred miles through the wilderness, and crossing the
high ridges which lie between the Susquehanna and the Dela-
ware. The Misses Bennett and Marshall with three other girls
outstripped the rest of the company, and saw nothing of them
during the day. They became hungry and turned aside and
picked berries to satisfy the demands of nature. The path was
exceedingly rough, and Miss Bennett's shoes gave out in conse-
quence of the constant contact with stubs and sharp stones, and
her feet were so injured as to leave blood behind them. " But,"
says she, " we made ourselves as happy as possible, amusing

644 Edward Everett Hoyt.

ourselves with singing songs and telling stories." They were
constantly annoyed with fears of " the Indians," knowing that
those dreadful scourges of the country might chance to cross
their path at any moment. As the darkness of night began to
approach they met two men whom they first supposed to be
Indians, but, perceiving them to be white men, they sang out,
" How far is it to a house ? " The answer was as cheering as
it was cordial. " Two miles ; be of good courage ; we are hunt-
ing for some cows, and will soon be in." The young pedestrians
soon arrived, and found the house guarded by several men. The
family had gone and most of the goods were removed. They
made a supper of bread and milk, and lay down upon sacking
bottoms from which the beds had been removed. They waited
for the arrival of the company with great anxiety until about two
o'clock in the morning, when, to their great joy, they arrived in
safety. The morning's light came, and our travelers were early
on their way. They passed through Easton, where they bought
provisions. That day " the girls " kept within sight of their com-
panions in travel. The third day, at night, they arrived at
Stroudsburg. Miss Bennett there met her mother and sister,
who had come over the mountains with Major Pierce and his
family, but was greatly disappointed in not finding her father and
brothers. Her brother Solomon had been to Middletown in
pursuit of her, had returned that day, and set out immediately
with Colonel Butler and Captain Spaulding for Wyoming. Mrs.
Myers said, in relation to the events of that day : " One disappoint-
ment followed another in quick succession, and I seemed almost
left without hope." Mrs. Bennett and her daughters did not
remain long in Stroudsburg, but went to Goshen, and early in
the spring to Bethlehem, where Mrs. Bennett's brother, Samuel
Jackson, resided, then to Litchfield, Nobletown, and Caanan,
where they remained among their friends. In the fall Solomon
Bennett came on with a horse to bring his mother and two sisters
back to their loved and much desired Wyoming ; and finally Mr.
Bennett's family, after two years' separation, were together again.
Mr. Bennett had fitted up " one of Sullivan's old barracks, just
opposite to Wilkes-Barre, for a house." They had an abundance
of corn and garden vegetables, but no flour, as there was no grist

■ ^

Edward Everett Hoyt. 645

mill in the valley. The only resort of the settlers, for the time,
was to a hominy block. This was a block cut from the trunk of
a large tree, hollowed, and set on end. The corn was put in the
hollow and bruised with a pestle hung upon a spring-pole. Such
was the demand for hominy that this rude mill was kept going
day and night. The girls often worked the mill, and not unfre-
quently were obliged to Vvait long for their turn.

There were now about thirty families in the settlement. Mr.
Bennett could procure no land to work under cover of the fort,
and finally resolved to make an attempt to work his own land
above Forty Fort. On March 27, 1780, he commenced plowing
within the " Ox-bow," a bend in the creek on the flats. His
team consisted of a yoke of oxen and a horse. The boy Andrew
rode upon the horse. When they came to the bend in the creek
the horse seemed shy. Mr. Bennett said: "I fear all is not
right. I think we will go around once more." When they
came again to the same point four Indians sprang from the
bushes, and one seized Mr. Bennett and another took Andrew
from the horse. The Indians hurried off their prisoners, and
soon came up with two more Indians, having Lebbeus Hammond
as a prisoner. Mr. Bennett exclaimed, " Hammond, are you
here? " With downcast look Hammond answered, " Yes."
When Mr. Bennett left home he told his wife that if he did not
return by sundown she might conclude some harm had befallen
him. Soon after sundown Mrs. Bennett gave the information at
the fort that her husband and son had not returned, and desired
that a party might be sent out in search of them. Mr. Ham-
mond's wife was also alarmed on account of his failing to return
as expected. Mrs. Bennett and her remaining children were
now left in a state of most cruel suspense for the space of six or
seven days. Mr. Bennett was somewhat advanced in years, and
was afflicted with rheumatism, and it was most probable that he
would break down under the hardships of his captivity, and fall
a victim to savage cruelty. The barbarous tortures inflicted by
the savages upon the helpless victims of their fiendish orgies
were all like household words with Mrs. Bennett and her child-
ren. In the midst of the gloom and despondency of the families
of Mr. Bennett and Mr. Hammond, and the general impression

646 Edward Everett Hoyt.

that the prisoners would never return, three emaciated, limping,
reeling figures were seen directing their course toward the fort
at Wilkcs-Barre. Who could they be ? As they came near it
was discovered that they were " the Bennetts and Hammond."
Their appearance almost seemed like a resurrection from the
dead. The mystery was soon explained; they had arisen upon
their captors at Meshoppen and cut them to pieces, and had
found their way back to the embraces of their families and friends.
Their feet had been badly frozen, and the consequences were
most painful. When the excitement of their flight was over they
scarcely had a spark of life left. Good nursing soon restored
their physical strength, and Mr. Hammond and Andrew Bennett
were able to get about in a few weeks ; but Mr. Bennett's feet
were so dreadfully injured by the frost that several of his toes
came off at the first joint, and he was obliged to walk with
crutches for more than a year, during most of which time he suf-
fered indescribably, and required much attention.

The escape of the Bennetts and Mr. Hammond was on the
fourth night of their captivity, and was as follows : When the
Indians were ready to lie down, they pappoosed the prisoners,
that is, fastened down with poles laid across them, with an Indian
on each end of the poles ; then they drew their blankets over
their heads and fell into a sound sleep. One only seemed to be
on the watch. About midnight Bennett manifested great uneasi-
ness and asked to get up. He received for answer : " Most day ;
lie down, dog." He insisted that he was sick, and must get up.
About one o'clock the Indians all got up and relieved the priso-
ners, allowing them to get up and walk about. Bennett brought
wood and flung it on the fire. In about two hours all the Indians
were snoring again except the old watchman, and he commenced
roasting a deer's head, first sticking it in the fire, and then scrap-
ing off the meat with his knife and eating it. Finally the old
fetlow began to nod over his early breakfast. Hammond placed
himself by an Indian axe, and Andrew Bennett, the boy, stood
by the guns, which were stacked. Both watched the movements
of Mr. Bennett, who was poking up the brands. He had on a
long great- coat, and, as he came round near the Indian, he
cautiously took hold of a spontoon or war spear, which lay by

Edward Everett Hoyt. 647

his side, and stepped back with the instrument, covered by his
coat, holding it in a perpendicular position behind him. When
he had reached the right point behind the Indian he plunged
it through him. He gave a tremendous jump and a hideous
yell, and fell upon the fire. The spontoon was so firmly fixed
in the body of the Indian that Bennett was obliged to abandon it,
and to use a gun and a tomahawk during the rest of the fight.
Hammond used the axe, dashing it into the head which was
first lifted. An old Indian, who had given an account of Lieu-
tenant Boyd's massacre, was the first to take the alarm. He
yelled out, " Chee-w^oo, chee-woo," when Hammond buried the
head of the axe in his brains, and he fell headlong into the fire.
The next blow took an Indian on the side of the neck just below
the ear, and he fell upon the fire. The boy snapped three guns,
not one of which happened to be loaded, but his operations
made the Indians dodge and jump straight under Hammond's
axe, or the breech of a gun, which old Mr. Bennett had clubbed,
and with which he did terrible execution. A stout Indian under-
took to secure a weapon by a rush upon the boy. He sprang
upon him with the fury of a demon, his eyes seeming to blaze,
when the brave little fellow swung the breech of a gun, and
buried the cock in the top of his head. Just at that moment the
only two Indians remaining alive took to their heels, when Mr.
Bennett, Avho could throw a tomahawk with the precision and
force of afly red-skin on the frontier, picked up a tomahawk and
let it slip, and it stuck in the back of one of them. The Indian
turned round, being at about the distance of forty feet, and hol-
lowed out, " Whoo," and his blanket fell from ,his shoulder, and
the hatchet was left with it on the ground, he running off naked.
It was an awful struggle, but it was not long. A minute and a
half or two minutes and the work was done. Five of the savages
were piled up on and around the fire, and two had fled, badly
wounded. There was a great contrast between the present ap-
pearance of the Indian camp under the rock and that same camp
the evening before, when the blood-thirsty savage gloried in the
barbarous deed of cutting off Boyd's fingers and toes, and pulling
out his eyes ; and looked forward, perhaps, to the next night,
when he would glut his savage vengeance in a similar manner

648 Edward Everett Hovt.

upon these prisoners, who were obliged to Hsten to the recital
without the slightest expression of sympathy for their brave com-
panion and friend.

The prisoners were now free, and no time was lost. They
supplied themselves with good moccasins from the feet of the
dead and dying Indians, and took guns and ammunition for
defense and blankets for their protection from the cold, and fif-
teen minutes from the moment the last blow was struck they
were on the line of march for their homes and friends. Lieuten-
ant Boyd's sword was brought away by Hammond, and was
afterwards presented to his brother — Colonel John Boyd. Mrs.
Myers said : " We remained under cover of the fort for another
year. Solomon married the widow Upson ; her maiden name
was Stevens. Her husband was killed by the Indians. Upson
with another man and boy were in the woods making sugar.
When the boy was out gathering sap he saw the Indians come
up slyly to the camp and pour boiling sap into Upson's mouth,
while he lay fast asleep on his back. The other man they toma-
hawked, and made a prisoner of the boy." In the spring of 1781
Mr. Bennett,. his son Solomon, and old Mr. Stevens each built
a small log house on the flats, near where Mr. Bennett's home
stood before the massacre. They raised fine crops, and had
abundance until another calamity overtook them, which was the
ice flood in the spring of 1784. Mr. Bennett's house was taken
down the stream some distance and lodged against some trees near
the creek, and they lost seven head of young cattle. Mr. Ben-
nett now hastily put up a temporary cabin, constructed of boards
and blankets. Mrs. Myers said : " For seven weeks we lived all
but out of doors, doing our cooking b}^ a log before our miser-
able cabin. After this we occupied our new, double log house,
and by slow degrees was improved so as to be comfortable." Mr.
Bennett had just removed his family into his new house, while
it was without chimney or chinking, when the old troubles
between the two classes of settlers were revived. Armstrong
and Van Horn, under the authority of the legislative council of
Pennsylvania, had come on with a company of armed men, took
possession of the fort at Wilkes-Barre, and proceeded to drive
the New England people from the country by force and arms.

Edward Everett Hoyt. 649

Many families were driven from their houses ; among them the
widows Shoemaker and Lee, near neighbors of Mr. Bennett.
The first named was the grandmother of Lazarus D. Shoemaker,
and Mrs. Lee was her sister. They were daughters of John
McDowell, of Cherry Valley, Northampton (now Monroe) county,
Pa. Mrs. Lee was the great-grandmother of Kate S. (Pettebone)
Dickson, wife of Allan H. Dickson, of the Luzerne bar. In vain
did they plead that their husbands had been slain by the tories and
Indians, and they were helpless and defenseless widows, and they
could not leave their homes and take a long journey through the
wilderness. Go they must, and they made the best of the necessity.
They left a portion of their goods with Mrs. Bennett, and were
taken to Wilkes-Barre, and thence with Lawrence Myers, Giles
Slocum, and many others, were hurried on towards "the swamp."
At Capouse (Scranton) Myers and Slocum escaped ; but the great
mass of the persecuted people had no remedy but to submit to
their fate. Mr. Miner says : "About five hundred men, women,
and children, with scarce provisions to sustain life, plodded their
weary way, mostly on foot, the roads being impassable for
wagons ; mothers, carrying their infants, literally waded streams,
the water reaching to their arm-pits, and at night slept on the
naked earth, the heavens their canopy, with scarce clothes to
cover them." Mr. Bennett and Colonel Denison escaped and
went up the river to Wyalusing.

Mrs. Bennett stuck by the " stuff." She had never yet left the
valley for the Pennamites, and she had made up her mind that
she never would. She was not left, however, in the possession
of her home without an effort to drive her away. Mrs. Myers
says : "Van Horn and his posse came up, having pressed a Mr.
Roberts with his team to carry off our goods. Van Horn ordered
mother to clear out, but she finally replied that she was in her own
house, and she would not leave it for him or anybody else. He
ordered Andrew and me to put things upon the wagon, a service
which we refused to render. Some of the men went out to the
corn house, where there was a quantity of corn; but mother
seized a hoe, and, presenting herself before the door, declared that
she wouJd knock the first man down who touched an ear of corn.
They looked astonished and left her." The Pennamiteand Yan-

650 Edward Everett Hoyt.

kee war was finally terminated on the principle of mutual conces-
sion, but not without great difficulty. At the close of the revo-
lutionary war the " Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania "
petitioned congress for a hearing in relation to the Connecticut
claim, " agreeable to the ninth article of the Confederation." Con-
necticut promptly met the overture. A court was constituted by
mutual consent which held its session in Trenton, N. J. The
decree was awarded December 30, 1782, in favor of the jurisdic-
tion of Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvanians, of course, were
pleased, and the greater portion of the New England people
made up their minds to submit to the decision.

Solomon Bennett, son of Thomas Bennett, is supposed to have
removed to Canada after the perilous times were over in Wyo-
ming. Andrew Bennett, the other son, married Abbie Kelly,
and lived and died in Kingston. The late John Bennett, of Forty
Fort, was a son. For a number of years he was deputy surveyor
of the county of Luzerne, receiving his first appointment in 1814.
The late Charles Bennett, who was admitted to the bar of Luz-
erne county April 7, 1845, was a son of John Bennett. The
late Daniel Stiebeigh Bennett, of the Luzerne bar, was a great-
srandson of Thomas Bennett. We are indebted to the late
George Peck, D. D., author -of " Wyoming ; its history, stirring
incidents, and romantic adventures," a son-in-law of Philip Myers,
for many of the facts relating to the Bennett and Myers families,
here inserted. The late Philip T. Myers, who was admitted to
the bar of Luzerne county January 6, 1865, and William V-
Myers, who was admitted to the Luzerne county bar February
13, 1872, were grandsons of Philip Myers. Philip Myers, of
Chicago, III, who was admitted to our bar August 8, 1855, and
his brother, George P. Myers, of Williamsport, Pa., who was
admitted to the bar of Luzerne county April 25, 1870, are also
grandsons of Philip Myers. Thomas Myers, now of Chicago,
their father, is still living at the age of eighty-four. He was
sheriff of Luzerne county from 1835 to 1838. This was while
Wyoming county was yet a part of Luzerne county. He is a life
director of the Wyoming Seminary, at Kingston, Pa., and contri-
buted towards its erection, in 1844, one-fourth of its cost..

Edward Everett Hoyt was educated at the Wyoming Semi-

William Carroll Price. 651

nary, Kingston, and at Lafayette College, graduating from the latter
institution in the class of 1878. He read law with Dickson
(A. H.) & Atherton (T. H.), and was admitted to the bar of
Luzerne county September 17, 1880. He was on the board of
the last seven years auditors, and has been a director of the pub-
lic schools of Kingston for the past three years. Henry Mart^'^n
Hoyt, of Spokane Falls, Washington Territory, who was admit-
ted to the bar of Luzerne county September 7, 1885, is a brother
of E. E. Hoyt. Mr. Hoyt is an unmarried man and a republican
in politics. As will be seen, he springs from a family whose
several branches have afforded this state and county many wise
and useful men and women. To be born of such stock is a great
advantage to a young man possessing the receptive faculty, since
it gives him the benefit of associations from which he must needs
draw both understanding and inspiration. Mr. Hoyt appears to
have the faculty named, and to be withal a lover of his profession,
and an assiduous student and worker in its ranks. He is but in
the beginning of his career, of course, but has already developed
a force of character and instinctive appreciation of the funda-
mental principles of the law that bespeak a flattering ultimate
success.

WILLIAM CARROLL PRICE.

William Carroll Price was born in St. Clair, Schuylkill county,
Pennsylvania, March 2, 1858. He is the son of the late William
Price, who was a native of Stalverah, Glamorganshire, Wales,
where he was born April 15, 1815. His parents were Rees and
Anna Price. William Price emigrated to this country in 1833,
and settled in Pottsville. He afterwards removed to St. Clair,
near which place he began business as a coal operator, and in
which occupation he was engaged at the time of his death, April
9, 1864. The mother of William Carroll Price is Rachel Price
(riee Webb). She is the daughter of the late Henry Webb and
Abagail Pike Webb, and was born in Northmoreland, Luzerne,
(now 'Wyoming) county, Pa., April 24, 1825. She now resides

652 William Carroll Price.

at Eddington, on the Delaware river. The ancestors of Henry-
Webb came to this country in the seventeenth century, and
settled in Braintree, Mass., and afterwards removed to Windham,
Conn. Henry Webb, son of Joel Webb and Caroline Webb
[nee Wales), was a native of Windham, and in his young man-
hood removed to Northmoreland, and subsequently to Blooms-
burg, Pa., where he became the editor and proprietor of the Colum-
bia Democrat, which had been in existence about a year at the
time of his purchase. The mother of Abagail Pike Webb was
Rachel Dorrance, a daughter of James Dorrance, son of Rev.
Samuel Dorrance, who emigrated to this country from Ireland
about 1723, and settled in Voluntown, Conn. James Dorrance
was a brother of John Dorrance and Lieutenant-Colonel George
Dorrance, who was one of the participants in the battle and mas-
sacre of Wyoming, and who was slain in that engagement. The
latter was the great-grandfather of Benjamin Ford Dorrance, of the
Luzerne bar. Rachel Dorrance married Peter Pike in October,
1 794. He was the father of Hon. Gordon Pike, of Wyoming county,
and grandfather of the late Charles Pike, of the Luzerne county bar.
William C. Price was prepared for college at Exeter (N. H.)
Academy, and in 1875 entered Harvard University. He remained
there two years. In 1879 he entered the law office of George M.
Dallas, in Philadelphia, and was admitted a member of the Phila-
delphia county bar in June, 1881. He made a visit to Europe
the same year, traveling generally on the continent and Great
Britain, returning home in August, 1882. He then came to
Wilkes-Barre, and was admitted a member of the Luzerne county
bar October 14, 1882. Mr. Price is an unmarried man, and a
republican in politics. He is prominent in military circles, and
is now first lieutenant of company D, Ninth regiment, of the Na-
tional Guard of Pennsylvania. With the advantages of a collegiate
education, travel in foreign lands, and a tutor in the law of the emi-
nence of George M. Dallas, Mr. Price should be able to achieve
success in his chosen calling. He is an unusually hard worker
in his profession, and industry together with an earnest devotion
to study — essential in the cases of even those best equipped —
should give him a paying practice.

Anthony Lawrence Williams. 653

ANTHONY LAWRENCE WILLIAMS.

Anthony Lawrence Williams was born October 10, 1862, at
Ebervale, Luzerne county, Pa. He is the son of the late Richard
Williams, a native of the parish of Llandybie, Carmarthanshire,
Wales, where he was born February 22, 181 5. He came to
this country in 1855, first locating in St. Clair, Schuylkill county.
Pa. He subsequently removed to Hazleton and its vicinity.
During the years 1871, 1872, and 1873 he represented Luz-
erne county in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. He
introduced the bill incorporating the city of Wilkes-Barre. In
1874 he removed to Audenried, Carbon county, where for five
years he was a justice of the peace. He died January 30, 1883,
at Audenried. The mother of A. L. Williams is Mary, daughter
of the late Walter Thomas, of Pembrokeshire, Wales. Mr. and
Mrs. Williams were married in their native country. Anthony
Lawrence Williams was educated at the Millersville (Pennsyl-
vania) State Normal School, graduating in the class of 1881.
During portions of the years 1881, 1882, and 1883 he taught
school, and was principal of the Jeansville school and also of the
Beaver Brook school. He studied law with Alexander Farnham,
and was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county October 12,
1885. He is an unmarried man, and a republican in politics.

Mr. Williams shares many of the characteristics of his deceased
father, who, though born in humble life, and pursuing an humble
avocation, was large-minded and keen-witted, and successful in
many things in which men who had had far greater advantages,
and who were of apparently far greater attainments, proved
lamentable failures. He had a ready, native intelligence that
stood him in good stead upon all occasions, an inexhaustable
stock of good common sense, and a capacity of reading men and
understanding them that gave him great influence with them
whenever he chose to exert it. As a leader in the early days of
the old miners' union, he had the thorough confidence of his
fellow workmen at all times, as well as the respect and esteem of
the employers. He could endorse without playing the lickspittle,

654 Frank Woodruff Wheaton.

could condemn without offending. There was that about him
that convinced all with whom he came in contact of his entire
sincerity and honesty. He was conservative in temperament,
and made that important element of his character count quite
frequently to the mutual advantage of employer and employed.
He enjoyed the confidence of both to the day of his death. His
son is very similar in temperament and capacity to the father,
and, being both industrious and devoted to his books, has, if he
shall have reasonably good luck, a bright future before him.

FRANK WOODRUFF WHEATON.

Frank Woodruff Wheaton was born in Binghamton, Broome
county, N. Y., August 27, 1855. He is a descendant of Robert
Wheaton, who came from England to Salem, Mass., in 1636, being
at that time about thirty years of age, and there married Alice,
daughter of Richard Bowen. In 1645 he removed to Rehoboth,
where he died in 1696. From him was descended Moses Whea-
ton, of Richmond, New Hampshire, who married Sarah, daughter
of Rev. Maturin Ballou and sister of Rev. Hosea Ballou. In
Burke's " Life of President Garfield," whose mother was a Ballou,
reference is made to some of the early members of the Ballou
family, as follows : " Early in life this man [Abram Garfield]
married Eliza Ballou, a near relative of Hosea Ballou, the great
apostle of American Universalism. She became the mother of
General Garfield, and thus he is allied to that distinguished family,
which has given so many eloquent preachers and eminent divines
to liberal theology, and for two centuries has left such deep and
abiding traces on the scholarship, religion, and jurisprudence
of this country." The Ballous are of Huguenot origin, and
directly descended from Maturin Ballou, who fled from France
on the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, and, joining the infant
colony of Roger Williams, settled in Cumberland, Rhode Island.
There Maturin Ballou built a church, which is still standing, and
still known as the "Elder Ballou Meeting-house," and there,

Frank Woodruff Wheaton. 655

during a long life, he taught the purest tenets of the French
Reformation with a fervent eloquence that was not unworthy of
the great French reformers. They were a race of preachers.
One of them (the father of Sarah (Ballou) Wheaton), himself a
clergyman, had four sons who were ministers of the gospel.
One of these sons had three sons who were ministers, and one of
these had a son and a grandson who were also clergymen. But
it is not only as preachers that the members of this remarkable
family have been celebrated. As lawyers, politicians, and soldiers
some of them have been equally distinguished. One of them
was the eminent head of Tuft's college, and a score or more were
officers or privates in the Revolution, and, nearer our day,
another — Sullivan Ballou — the distinguished speaker of the Rhode
Island House of Representatives — fought and fell at Bull Run.
As a race they have been remarkable for an energy and force of
character that are equal to the highest enterprises, and altogether
undaunted in the face of what would be to others insurmountable
obstacles. For this trait of character they are especially known.
Rev. Maturin Ballou, the father of Sarah (Ballou) Wheaton,
was born in Providence, R. I., October 30, 1722, and was the
son of Peter Ballou 2d, who was the son of John Ballou, who
was the son of Maturin Ballou ist. One of the most distinguished
members of this family was Hosea, youngest son of Rev. Maturin
Ballou. He was born at Richmond, N. H., April 30, 1771, and
died at Boston July 7, 1852. At the age of nineteen he joined
the Baptist church under his father's care, but, having declared
his belief in the final salvation of all men, he was excommunicated.
He began to preach at the age of twenty-one, and in 1794 was
settled at Dana, Mass. In 1801 he removed to Barnard, Vermont,
and in 1804 he wrote his " Notes on the Parables " and " Treati.se
on the Atonement." In 1807 he became pastor of the Univer-
salist church in Portsmouth, N. H. In 181 5 he removed to
Salem, Mass., and in [817 to Boston, where he became pastor of
the Second Universalist church, in which location he continued
for thirty-five years. In 1819 he commenced the "Universalist
Magazine," and in 183 1, in conjunction with his grand-nephew,
also named Hosea Ballou, he began the publication of the " Uni-
versalist Expositor," to which he continued to contribute until

656 Frank Woodruff Wheaton.

his death. Among his published works, besides those mentioned,
are twenty-six "Lecture Sermons," twenty "Select Sermons,"
an " Examination of the Doctrine of Future Retribution " (1846),
and a volume of poems, mostly hymns, many of which are cm-
bodied in the " Universalist Collection," edited by Adams and
Chapin. He preached more than ten thousand sermons, none
of which were written till after their delivery. Two of his
brothers — Benjamin and David — also became Universalist preach-
ers. Two memoirs of him have been published, one by his son,
M. M. Ballou, and the other by Thomas Whitemore (1854).
From Benjamin Ballou wer» descended Hosea Ballou 2d, D. D.,
President of Tuft's college (1853); Judge Martin Ballou, of
Princeton, 111; and Maturin and George William Ballou, the
eminent bankers.

Moses Ballou Wheaton, son of Moses Wheaton and Sarah, his
wife, was born at Richmond, N. H., September 9, 1790, and died
in Jackson, Pa., December, i860. His wife's name was Mary
Aldrich. In 1815 he came to Susquehanna county, Pennsylvania,
bringing with him his wife and two children and his aged mother.
They were among the first settlers in the town of Jackson.
Thomas J. Wheaton, son of Moses Ballou Wheaton and Mary,
his wife, was born in Jackson March 29, 1826. He attended the
district and select schools of his neighborhood, and Harford
Academy, an institution of considerable reputation in its day,
then under the charge of Rev. Lyman Richardson, a distinguished
educator. He studied medicine with his brother, W. W. Wheaton,
M. D., of Binghamton, N. Y., attended lectures at the Eclectic
Medical College, of Rochester, and was a practicing physician
from 1849 to 1858 in the counties of Bradford and Susquehanna
and at Binghamton, N. Y. During the war of the Rebellion he
was an engineer on the iron-clad " Dictator," the flag ship of
Commodore Rodgers. Since 1858 he has been a dentist, and
for the past twelve years a resident of Wilkes-Barre. He married,
April 10, 1 85 1, Maria T., daughter of Lewis H. Woodruff, of
Dimock, Pa.

Lewis H. Woodruff was born February 25, 1798, at Litchfield,
Conn., and died June 25, 1875, at Wilkes-Barre, Pa. At the age
of seven years he removed, with his father's family, from Litch-

Frank Woodruff Wheaton. 657

field to Lisle, N. Y. He was educated at Hamilton College, and
was married, March 21, 1830, to Almeda Hutchinson, of Lerays-
ville, Bradford county. Soon after his marriage he located at
Dimock, Pa., where for more than forty years he was an enter-
prising and influential citizen. He built the first academy in the
town, was largely instrumental in securing a fehurch building for
the Presbyterian congregation, donating the land for that purpose,
and in many ways contributed to the prosperity of the place and
the welfare and happiness of his fellow citizens. He was the son
of Andrew Woodruff, who was born in 1759, married to Miranda
Orton, and died at Livonia, N. Y., March 27, 1847. He was the
son of Deacon Samuel Woodruff, of Litchfield, who was born
June 13, 1723, married to Anna Nettleton, and died in 1772. He
was the son of Samuel Woodruff, " cordwainer," who was born
at Milford in 1677, married Mary Judd, and died November 27,
1732. He was the son, by his second wife, of Matthew Wood-
ruff, who was born in Farmington in 1646, married (i) Mary Plum,
of Milford. and after her death (2) Sarah, daughter of John North,
and died November, 1691. He was the son of Matthew Wood-
ruff, of Hartford, and Hannah, his wife, who was the first settler.
He removed from Hartford to Farmington about 1640, and was
one of the original proprietors of the town. He was freeman in
1657, and died in 1682, his will bearing date September 6 of that
year, and was probated in December following.

Frank Woodruff Wheaton, son of Thomas J. Wheaton and
Maria T., his wife, was educated in the public schools at Bing-
hamton, N. Y., and graduated at Yale college in 1877. He read
law with E. P. & J. V. Darling, and was admitted to the bar of
Luzerne county September 2, 1879. He married. May 16, 1878,
L. Maria Covell, of Binghamton, N. Y. She is a native of Tol-
land, Conn. Mr. and Mrs. Wheaton have no children. In 1884
Mr. Wheaton was elected a member of the city council of Wilkes-
Barre. During the year 1885 and the present year he has served
as chairman of the law and ordinance committee of the city
council.

Mr. Wheaton, it will be seen, carries in his veins some of the
best blood of that new England which was the pioneer of western
civilization and progress. He is a not unworthy scion of a

658 Chakles Boone Staples.

paternity marked for its learning, its ener^jy, and particularly for
its labors in the spread of advanced and liberal ideas. At the
bar he is noted tor a quiet and unobtrusive demeanor, for care in
the preparation of his cases, and for a plain, matter-of-fact method
of statement that often succeeds where mere eloquence and elabo-
ration would fail. In the city council he takes a foremost part
in the debates, particularly in such as arise from reports of the
important committee of which he is the chairman. He is a most
useful and universally respected member of that body. He is a
republican in politics, active in forwarding the interests of his
party. He has every prospect of a bright future before him.

CHARLES BOONE STAPLES.

Charles Boone Staples was born in Stroudsburg, Pa., November
24, 1853. He is a descendant of John Staples, a native of the
county of Kent, England, who came to this country, when a lad
of eighteen years of age, on one of the vessels that brought tea
into Boston harbor in 1774. During the Revolutionary war he
served as a soldier in the patriotic army and fought for the inde-
pendence of the colonies. He subsequently settled in Monroe
county. Pa., where his son, William Staples, was born. Richard
S. Staples, son of William Staples, was born near the Delaware
Water Gap, in Monroe county, January 29, 181 8. He is still
living, and is a prominent citizen of that county. During the years
1872 and 1873 he served as a member of the .state legislature for
the counties of Carbon and Monroe. The wife of Richard S.
Staples, and the mother of Charles B. Staples, was Mary Ann,
daughter of John D. Thompson, M. D., of Mauch Chunk, Pa. Her
mother was a granddaughter of Colonel Jacob Weiss, the founder
of Weissport, Carbon county, Pa. Charles B. Staples was edu-
cated in the common schools of his native county and at Dick-
inson college, Carlisle, Pa., graduating from the latter institution
in the class of 1874. He read law with William Davis at
Stroudsburg and was admitted to the bar of Monroe county May

Peter Alovsius O'Boyle. 659

26, 1876, and to the Luzerne county bar June 11, 1884. In
1880 he was a delegate to the democratic national convention
which was held at Cincinnati, Ohio. On May 16, 1885, he was
appointed United States collector of internal revenue. He took
charge of the office June 8, 1885. His district embraces the
counties of Bradford, Carbon, Centre, Clinton, Columbia, Lacka-
wanna, Lycoming, Luzerne, Montour, Monroe, Northampton,
Northumberland, Pike, Potter, Sullivan, Susquehanna, Tioga,
Union, Wayne and Wyoming. Mr. Staples married, March 7,
1878, Althea Williams, a native of Stroudsburg. She is the
daughter of Jerome S. Williams, of the same place. They have
two children, Richard Somerville Staples and Jennie Williams
Staples.

Mr. Staples quickly rose to a leading position at the Monroe
county bar after his admission thereto, and was in the enjoyment
of a first class practice there when his appointment to the revenue
service came to him. He was also well known in politics, as
that appointment testifies. His administration or collection has
thus far been marked by a skill and thoroughness that are very
creditable to a new official. He has simplified the methods of
collection in a number of particulars wherein the collectors are
given an option, and has maintained a sharp look-out for infrac-
tions of the law, not a few of which have already (September,
1886) been detected and the offenders punished. His district, as
is indicated in the names and the number of counties covered by
it, is one of the largest and most important in the state. Mr.
Staples in private life is a very companionable gentleman, a
pleasant and ready conversationalist, and on these accounts a
favorite in the social circle.

PETER ALOYSIUS O'BOYLE.

Peter Aloysius O'Boyle was born in the parish of Killfine, in
the county of Mayo, Ireland, November i o, 1 86 1 . He is the son of
Patrick O'Boyle, who emigrated to this country in 1865, in com-
pany with his wife and family, settling in Pittston, Pa., where he

66o Henry Hunter Welles.

has since resided. The wife of Patrick O'Royle, and the mother
of P. A. O'Boyle, is Bridget Hagerty, daughter of Michael Hag-
erty. P. A. O'Boyle was educated in the pubHc schools of the
borough of Pittston, and read law with Alexander Farnham, of
this city. He was admitted to the Luzerne county bar July 27,
1 885. During the past summer he was a delegate to the Chicago
convention of the Irish National League of America.

Mr. O'Boyle is yet but a beginner, though he has already gath-
ered a number of clients about him, and achieved a reputation of
throwing that energy into the prosecution of their business that
is certain to win both their confidence and, if the law is with them,
their causes, too. He is fortunate in being the possessor of the rare
gift of natural eloquence, and on that account is already much
sought after as a public speaker, particularly by the Irish and
Irish-American and other benevolent and patriotic organizations
of his vicinity. A young man thus qualified is practically certain
to develop excptional opportunity for acquiring a practice. Mr.
O'Boyle has all the fitness for successful and profitable work at
the bar, and " there is always room at the top."

HENRY HUNTER WELLES.

Henry Hunter Welles was born in Kingston, Pa., January 21,
1861. He is a descendant of Governor Thomas Welles, of Con-
necticut, who was born in Essex county, England, in 1598.
Early in 1636 Lord Saye and Sele, with his private secretary,
Thomas Welles, ancestor of Henry Hunter Welles, came out to
Saybrook, but his lordship, discouraged by the gloomy aspect
of everything about him, and not finding his golden dreams
realized, returned to England, and left his secretary behind to
encounter the dangers and difficulties of the then wilderness.
Mr. Welles, with his company, proceeded up the Connecticut
river to Hartford. He appears for the first time of record in
Hartford, in 1637, in which year he was chosen one of the magis-
trates of the colony. This office he held every successive year

Henry Hunter Welles. 66 i

from this date till his decease in 1 659-1 660, a period of twenty-
two years. In 1639 he was chosen the first treasurer of the
colony, under the new constitution, and this office he held at
various times till the year 165 1, at which time, being in the place
of magistrate, and finding the execution of the duties of both
burdensome, he himself moved the General Court "to be eased
of the Treasurer's place ; " and the court granted his motion, and
" did think of somebody else to be Treasurer in his room." In
1641 he was chosen secretary of the colony, and this officehe held at
various times. In 1649 he was one of the commissioners of the
United Colonies. In 1654, Governor Hopkins being in England
and Deputy Governor Haynes being dead, he was elected by the
whole body of freemen, convened at Hartford, moderator of the
General Court. This year he was also appointed one of the com-
missioners of the United Colonies, but his duties at home pre-
vented him from serving. This year, also, he was chosen Deputy
Governor; in 1655 Governor; and in 1656 and 1657 Deputy
Governor; in 1658 again Governor; and in 1659 again Deputy
Governor. Thus, then, stretching over a period of tweoty-three
years, from his first appearance in the colony to his decease, we
find Thomas Welles perpetually enjoying the confidence of his
fellow citizens, and occupying the highest post in the colony.
As Secretary of State it was his duty to record the proceedings
of the General Court and the agreements of the colony. We may
presume that he ably discharged this duty, particularly as we
find him charged at times with reducing to form the contracts of
the colony, as in 1648 when he is appointed with Mr. Cullick
" to draw up in writing for record " the important agreement of
Connecticut with Mr. Fenwick, about Saybrook. It was this
Saybrook affair that the next year, when Mr. Welles was one of
the commissioners, formed a principal subject of deliberation in
the first Federal Congress of the New World. She put a small
duty on all grain and biscuit and beaver exported from the mouth
of the river from the towns situated upon it, for the support of the
fort at Saybrook. Springfield rebelled, and Massachusetts rebelled,
and there was warm agitation at the meeting of the commissioners,
and both Mr. Welles and Governor Hopkins nobly sustained the
rights of Connecticut in the case and were triumphant, having

662 Henuy Hunter Welles.

procured the decision of every colony in their favor except that
of " the Bay." Besides this subject there came before the com-
missioners the very serious quarrel between the English and the
Dutch about the settlement of Delaware Bay ; the seizure by the
Dutch of the vessel of Mr. Westerhouse, in the harbor of New
Haven ; the murder by the Indians of Mr. Whitmore, at Stam-
ford ; other murders at Southampton ; and a dark plot against
Uncas and the English on the part of the Narragansetts and
Nehantics. The meeting was an extraordinary one, called in
view of serious and alarming dangers. By a course of prudent
action, in which the counsels of Mr. Welles had much influence,
war with the Dutch was postponed, the Indians compelled "to
keep the peace," and Uncas, in spite of the fact that he appeared
before the commissioners with a deep stab from an Indian assassin
in his body, was fined one hundred fathoms of wampum for
too tender dalliance with the Pequot squaws. The entire proceed-
ings of this congress of 1649 reflect high credit on the commis-
sioners who composed it, and on Mr. Welles as one of them. In
his part as moderator of the General Court, and as Deputy Gover-
nor in 1654, Mr. Welles had to discharge all the duties of Gov-
ernor, the Governor himself, Mr. Hopkins, being absent in Eng-
land. This was a year of stirring events — of the arrival of Crom-
well's fleet of ships for the reduction of the Dutch, and the quar-
rel between Ninigrate and the Long Island Indians. Governor
Welles twice convoked special sessions of the General Court ;
effected the appointment of commissioners to meet Cromwell's
officers at Boston ; quieted a violent dispute between Uncas and
the inhabitants of New London, about lands ; and by correspond-
ence with Governor Eaton and the colony at New Haven des-
patched Lieutenant Seely and Captain Mason, with men and
ammunition, to assist the Long Island Indians and check the
assaults of Ninigrate. It was during his administration this year
that the Acts passed sequestering the Dutch house lands and
property of all kinds in Hartford, and thus forever cutting off a
fruitful source of Dutch intrusion and Dutch impudence. To
those familiar with the eternal annoyance which the settlers of
Hartford received from Dutch Point, this act will appear a tall
feather in the cap of Governor Welles. Governor Thomas

Henry Hunter Welles. 663

Welles was married in England about 1618. His wife's maiden
name was Hunt — a very highly respectable family. She died
in 1640, and he on Sunday, January 14, 1660.

Samuel Welles, the fifth child of Governor Thomas Welles,
was born in Essex, England, in 1630, whence he was brought
with his parents in 1636 to Saybrook, and in the autumn of the
same year to Hartford, where he lived until 1649, when he
removed to Wethersfield, where he lived the remainder of his
lifetime, and died July 15, 1675. He took the freeman's oath at
Hartford May 21, 1657. He was elected deputy magistrate from
1657 to 1661, inclusive.

Captain Samuel Welles, the first child of Samuel Welles, was
born in Wethersfield, Conn., April 13, 1660, whence he removed,
about 1685, to Glastenbury, Conn., where he died August 28,
1731. He was one of the selectmen of Glastenbury, and for
many years was a member of the legislature of Connecticut.
Hon. Thomas Welles, son of Captain Samuel Welles, was born
in Glastenbury February 14, 1693, and died there May 14, 1767.
John Welles, son of Hon. Thomas Welles, was born in Glasten-
bury August II, 1729, and died there April 16, 1764. George
Welles, son of John Welles, was born in Glastenbury February
13, 1756, and in 1798 he removed to Athens, Luzerne (now
Bradford) county. Pa. His name is prominently connected with
the early history of Athens. He was connected by descent and
marriage with the prominent families of Connecticut, and was a
man of superior ability, and said to be a graduate of Yale college.
Soon after settling in Athens he was appointed a justice of the
peace, and became land agent for Charles Carroll, of CarroUton.
He was licensed a " taverner " in 1798, and was annually licensed
until 1 809. He was the father of General Henry Welles, of Athens.
He died in Athens in 18 13. Charles F. Welles, son of George
Welles, of Athens, was born in Glastenbury November 5 , 1 789. At
the organization of Bradford county, in 18 12, Mr. Welles received
from Governor Snyder authority to administer the oaths of office to
the newly chosen officers, and himself was appointed prothonotary,
clerk of the courts, register, and recorder. These offices he held
until 18 18. Mr. Welles was a man of varied and extensive read-
ing, and probably knew more of the history of the county, of its

664 Henry Hunter Welles.

resources and men, than any other man of his day. Though
never a pohtician in the sense of aspirin<j for office, lie took a
deep interest in pohtical questions. In early life he espoused
the principles advocated by Jefferson ; later he became an admirer
of Henry Clay, and a defender of his policy. During his ten
years' residence in Towanda he exerted a well-nigh controlling
influence in the politics of the county. His articles on political
questions written at this time were marked by a breadth of view
and urged by a cogency of reasoning that carried conviction to
the mind of the reader, while the corrupt politician received
scathing rebukes from his trenchant pen. As a man of business
he was punctual, ready, accurate, of unquestioned integrity, pos-
sessing a generous heart and a kindly feeling for the distressed.
The tenants upon his farm or the people in his employ ever found
him liberal in his demands and unexacting in his requirements.
Though engaged in ejctended and frequently harrassing business,
his interest in public matters continued unabated ; and it is
believed that until within the last year of his life he never missed
attendance upon a single term of court held at Towanda. He
was admitted to the bar of Bradford county at its first term, but
it is believed" that he never practiced his profession. He died at
Wyalusing, Pa., September 23, 1866. He married August 15,
1816, Ellen Jones Hollenback, daughter of Matthias HoUenback,
of Wilkes-Barre. He was a native of Jonestown, Lancaster (now
Lebanon) county, where he was born February 17, 1752, and
was the second son of John Hollenback and Eleanor Hollenback
i^nee Jones) ; his paternal grandfather came from Germany. The
mother of Mrs. Welles, and the wife of Matthias Hollenback, was
Mrs. Cyprian Hibbard, whose maiden name was Sarah Burritt,
whom he married April 20, 1788. She was the daughter of Cap-
tain Peleg Burritt, a native of Stratford, Conn., and who removed
to Hanover, in this county, as early as 1773. Cyprian Hibbard,
the first husband of Mrs. Hollenback, was in the battle and
massacre of Wyoming, July 3, 1778, with his two brothers,
Ebenezer and William, and was slain, the two brothers es-
caping.

Rev. Henry Hunter Welles, son of Charles F. Welles, was born at
Wyalusing September 15. 1824. He graduated at the collegerfrj;QAjs

Hexry Hunter Welles. 66

New Jersey, at Princeton, in the class of 1844. He also studied
two years in the Princeton Theological Seminary. He was
licensed to preach by the presbytery of Susquehanna August 29,
1850. He began supplying the Kingston Presbyterian church
December i, 1850, and was ordained and installed pastor of the
same church, by the presbytery of Luzerne, June 12,1851. He
resigned from the pastorate of this church in April, 1871, since
which time he has resided in Kingston, and is supplying pulpits of
churches in Lackawanna presbytery. He married, October 12,
1849, Ellen Susanna Ladd, daughter of General Samuel Green-
leaf Ladd, of Hallowell, Maine.

He is a descendant of Daniel Ladd, who came to this country from
England in the ship Mary and John, which arrived in Boston, Mas-
sachusetts Bay Colony, in 1634. He was the founder of the towns
of Salisbury and Haverhill, Mass. He had a son named Nathaniel,
born in 165 i, who resided in Exeter, N. H., who had a son also
named Nathaniel, of Exeter, who had a son Dudley, who lived
at Haverhill, who had a son also named Dudley, who lived in
Concord, N. H. He was the father of General Samuel Greenleaf
Ladd, the grandfather of H. H. Welles, jr. General Ladd was
the eldest of thirteen children. He was in business for a time in
Concord in the hatter's trade, which was his father's business
also. While yet a young man he removed to Hallowell, Maine.
He established himself there as an hardware merchant and kept a
large (the first) stove establishment on the Kennebec. During
the war of 1812-14 he was captain of a militia company, and
marched with his company to the defense of Wiscasset, Maine,
against the British. For several years he was adjutant general
of the state of Maine. In 1840 he left Hallowell and removed
to Farmington, Maine, where he was engaged as an hardware
merchant. In 185 1 he left Farmington and removed to Auburn,
Maine, and from there to Kingston, Pa., where he died May 3, 1 863.
While a resident of Hallowell he married Caroline Vinal. Her
father was a son of Judge Vinal, a French jurist, who lived in
Boston, having emigrated from France before the Revolutionary
war. He was exiled on account of his political sentiments. His
wife was of the nobility of France, either the daughter of a
countess or one herself by a prior marriage. Their residence in

666 John Montgomery Garman.

Boston was on Beacon street, Boston Common, next door to
the residence of Governor John Hancock. Caroline Vinal on her
mother's side was a descendant of Deacon John Adams and his
wife, Susanna Boylston, through Elihu Adams (a brother of
John Adams, second president of the United States) and wife,
Thankful White, whose daughter Susanna married Judge Vinal.
Henry Hunter Welles, son of Rev. Henry Hunter Welles,
was educated at the college of New Jersey, at Princeton, and
graduated in the class of 1882. He read law with E. P. & J. V.
Darling, of this city, and attended the law school of Columbia
college during portions of the years 1883 and 1884, and was
admitted to the bar of Luzerne county October 10, 1885. He is
assistant treasurer of the Hollenback cemetery association.
Having been at this writing less than a year at the bar, Mr.
Welles could not be expected to have yet acquired a large prac-
tice, but he has already shown himself the possessor of qualities
that have won for him the esteem of his preceptors and other
leading members of the bar, and gives evidence of the fact that
with ordinary energy he can go to the front rank if he tries.
He comes, as shown, from stock that faced greater difficulties
than beset any of us in the race of life nowadays and won, and
with the incentive of such a lineage there should be little
question as to his professional future.

JOHN MONTGOMERY GARMAN.

John Montgomery Garman was born in Thompsontown, Juni-
atta county. Pa., September i, 185 1. He is a great-grandson of
John Garman, a native of Germany, who came to this country,
with his father, when a boy, and settled in Lancaster county, in
this state. His son, Jacob Garman, was a native of Lancaster
county. John Levi Garman, son of Jacob Garman, is the father
of John Montgomery Garman, and was born at Dauphin, Pa.,
subsequently settling in Juniatta county. The mother of the
subject of our sketch, and wife of John Levi Garman, is Margaret

John Montgomery Garman. 667

Graham. She is a native of Thompsontown. Her father, James
Graham, was a native of county Antrim, Ireland. He was con-
nected with the Irish RebelHon in 1798. His name originally
was James Graham McVannon, and when he escaped to this
country he dropped the latter name. William McVannon, a
brother of James Graham, was also connected with the Irish Re-
bellion, and was executed by the British government for com-
plicity in the same. John M. Garman married, October 25,
1882, Nellie Carver, a native of Lemon towns'hip, Wyoming;,

county, Pa. They have but one child living — Jessie Car?!^ 04^

« :f ■ U B I. ;
Garman. W ^

The father of Mrs. Garman is Benjamin Carver. He is
descendant of Jonathan Carver, who is among the list of taxables
in Kingston township in 1796. Samuel Carver, his son, is also
on the same list. The Carver family settled in the back part of
Kingston township, near where the Carverton post-office is loca-
ted. Samuel Carver was a local preacher in the Methodist
Episcopal church. Doctor Peck, in his history of Early Metho-
dism, relates the following in regard to Mr. Carver : " Our next
appointment was in the neighborhood of Rev. Samuel Carver's,
a most excellent man and a good local preacher. He was a
bright and shining light wherever he was known. Brother Car-
ver was one of the mighty hunters of those days. Hence he
often brought in savory meat, such as bears and coons. Now,
my colleague had an implacable aversion to coon's flesh. It so
happened that on one occasion, about the time that Sister Carver
had prepared a dinner of coon's flesh. Brother Kimberlin came
in, and of course seated himself at the table with the family, ask-
ing no questions (whether for conscience's sake or not deponent
saith not). He ate most heartily, when about the close of the
repast Sister Carver inquired how he liked the meat. He replied,
' Very much.' She then informed him that he had been eating
coon's flesh, and, with the muscles of his face distorted, he
exclaimed, ' Sister Carver, why did you do so?,' and it was with
some difficulty she could pacify him for the deception she had
practiced upon him."

Rev. Samuel Carver had a son, Isaac Carver, who had a son,
Benjamin Carver, the father of Mrs. Garman. The wife of Benj-

668 John Montgomery Garman.

amin Carver was ICmilia Mitchell Carver. She was the daughter of
Thomas Mitchell, a native of Warwick, Orange county, N. Y.,
where he was born in 1780. He was the son of Daniel Mitchell,
an early settler of Pittston, where he died in 1787. Thomas
Mitchell removed to Eaton township in 18 18. He was one
of the first deacons in the Baptist church in Eaton, which was
founded November 20, 1823. The wife of Thomas Mitchell was
Mary, daughter of Elisha Harding, who was born in Colchester,
Conn., April 8', 1760. He lived with his father. Captain Stephen
Harding, in Exeter, from 1774 till the Wyoming massacre. In
connection with that tragedy his brothers Benjamin and Stukely
were massacred, but Elisha escaped, with other members of the
family, to Orange county, N. Y. He spent the rest of the revo-
lutionary period in Connecticut, and was one of the volunteers
who went to the defense of New London when that town was
sacked b> Arnold. He returned to Wyoming in 1784, just in
time to be driven out by the Pennamites, but soon returned to
fight it out. He was captured and put in jail at Easton, Pa., but
escaped and returned. He married, in 1781, Martha Rider, of
Pittston, and settled near the mouth of the Lackawanna. He
moved, in 1789, to Eaton, Luzerne (now Wyoming) county. He
was a justice of the peace from 1799 to 1812. In 1809 he was
elected one of the commissioners of Luzerne county for three
years. He died August i, 1839, at Eaton. Hon. Charles Miner,
in his Hazleton Travellers, speaks thus of Elisha Harding:
" ' He slept with his fathers ' is the simple and beautiful expres-
sion of .scripture when an aged man has closed his earthly pil-
grimage. Elisha Harding, of Eaton, has paid the debt of nature
and gone down to the grave in a good old age, with the universal
respect of all who knew him. One of the very few who were
left among us who shared in the scenes and sufferings of Wyoming
in the Revolutionary war, his departure creates a painful chasm,
and compels the remark — a few, very few, years more and not
one will remain who can say ' I was there. I saw the British
Butler, his Green Rangers, and his savage myrmidons. I saw
the scalps of our butchered people, and witnessed the conflagra-
tion.' * * * Mr. Harding described the savages, after the
massacre, as smoking, sitting about, and, with the most stoical

John Montgomery Garscan. ^9

indifiference, scraping the blood and brains from the scalps of
our people and stringing them over little hoops to dry — a most
soul-sickening sight. In a day or two Colonel Butler, his Ran-
gers, and a party of the Indians, left the valley, abandoning the
settlement to the tender mercies of the butchers, who chose to
remain. Among the expelled, Mr. Harding sought his way to Nor-
wich, Conn., bound himself to the blacksmith's trade, and, des-
pising idleness and dependence, nobly resolved to live above the
world and want by honest industry. After the war he returned
to the beloved waters of the Susquehanna. Whoever dwelt on
its banks that did not say, ' If I forget thee, thou clear and beautiful
stream, may my right hand forget its cunning?' Whoever left
Wyoming whose soul did not long to return to its romantic hills
and lovely plains ? Married, settled, having an admirable farm,
and he a first rate farmer, comfort and independence flowed in
upon him, crowned his board with plenty, and gave him the
means of charitable usefulness, in reward for early toils and
present labor. A man of strong mind and retentive memory, he
read much and retained everything worth remembering. Shrewd,
sensible, thoroughly understanding human nature, few in his
neighborhood had more influence. * * * Of a ready turn of
wit, an apt story — an applicable scripture quotation — a couplet
of popular verse, always ready at command, rendered him
a prominent and successful advocate in the thousand inter-
esting conflicts of opinion that arise in life. A keen sarcasm, a
severe retort, an unexpected answer, that would turn the laugh
on his opponent, characterized him, but never in bitterness, for
he was too benevolent to give unmerited pain. Of old times he
loved to converse, and his remarkable memory enabled him to
trace with surprising accuracy every event which he witnessed
or heard during the troubles here. A very worthy, a very clever,
a very upright man, he leaves the w^orld respected and regretted.
Thick-set, not tall, but well knit together, he seemed formed for
strength and endurance. Of an excellent constitution, well pre-
served by exercise, cheerfulness, and temperance, he had known,
but little sickness."

John M. Garman was educated in the common schools of his
native county, and at the Bloomsburg Normal School, graduating

670 John Montgomery Garman.

from the latter institution in the class of 1871. He was a teacher
from the time of his graduation until 1884. From 1875 to 1878
he was superintendent of the common schools of his native county.
For six years he was principal of the schools of Tunkhannock,
Wyoming county, Pa. He read law with Louis E. Atkinson, of
Mifflintown, Pa., and with William M. and James W. Piatt, of
Tunkhannock, and was admitted to the Wyoming county bar
in June, 1884, and to the Luzerne county bar January 29, 1886.
Theorus D. Garman, who was a member of the Pennsylvania
legislature during the sessions of 1879 ^^^^ 1880 is a brother of
John M. Garman.

On his removal to Luzerne Mr. Garman located at Nanticoke,
where he has already made himself master of a lucrative practice.
He is a man of the aggressive sort in the prosecution of his pro-
fession, without timidity, who believes in forcing the fight against
his antagonist — qualities that compel admiration, especially in
new, bright, go-ahead towns like Nanticoke, where even the
oldest inhabitants are still, in a sense, new beginners, and have
not yet had time to become conservative. He is a ready and
fluent talker, a very useful capacity in the profession, and one
that has already brought him into some political prominence in
the county. He was not a delegate to the democratic state con-
vention of this year (1886), but happened to be in Harrisburg at
the time the gathering was in session, and, being solicited, gladly
agreed to accept a substitution for the purpose of presenting to
the convention the name of Colonel R. Bruce Ricketts, Luzerne's
candidate for the nomination for Lieutenant Governor. He had
had no time whatever for preparation, but his speech, though
brief, was pronounced by all one of the most eloquent and, in
all respects, appropriate delivered during the session. Mr. Gar-
man has a ready wit and a good memory, and with the gift of
native eloquence, already referred to, he should have little
difficulty in securing to himself an enduring reputation in our
county.

Henry White Dunning. 671

HENRY WHITE DUNNING.

Henry White Dunning was born in Franklin, Delaware county,
New York, September 11, 1858. He is probably a descendant
of Jonathan Dunning, who came to this country from England
early in the eighteenth century. His son or grandson, Michael
Dunning, removed from Boston to Long Island, where he married.
He then removed to Goshen, Orange county. New York.
Michael had a son Jacob, who had a son John, who married Polly
Seely. John had a son John, who married Mehitable Bailey, who
had a son Henry, who married Catharine Arnot. Charles Seely
Dunning, D. D., eldest son of Henry Dunning, was born in Wall-
kill, Orange county. New York, January 31, 1828. In 1846 he
joined the junior class in Williams College, and was graduated in
1848. He then entered the Union Theological Seminary, New
York, from which he graduated in 1852. His theological training
was obtained in this institution, and after serving the First Presbyte-
rian church in Binghamton, N. Y., as stated supply for one year
(1852-3), he returned to the Seminary to occupy the position of
instructor in Hebrew. This office he filled with great acceptance
during four years (1853-7). It is said that Dr. Edward Robinson
pronounced him to be " the finest critical Hebre\^ scholar ever
graduated at Union Seminary." In April, 1858, he took charge of
the First Presbyterian church of Franklin, and was ordained and
installed pastor November 8. In April, 1861, he was called to
the pastorate of the First Presbyterian church of Honesdale,
Pa. His relation to that church continued for nineteen years.
In April, 1880, in consequence of the failure of his health, he
resigned the pastorate, and soon after removed to Kingston, Pa.
There having regained his health in a measure, he resumed the
functions of the ministry, being a less laborious field of labor.
But even this was too great a tax upon his strength, and after
three years he was obliged, by reason of still failing health, to
relinquish this charge also. In March, 1885, he removed to
Metuchen, N. J., where he had purchased a pleasant home, in
which he thought to wait, serenely, till the final call of the Mas-

6/2 Henry White Dunning.

ter. He had not long to wait. He died on the first day of the
following June. His body was brought to Honesdale, where the
best years of his life were spent, and laid beside the children of
his household who had gone before. On the afternoon of the
funeral all the business places in the town were closed, and the
mourninef was creneral and sincere. All denominational lines
were effaced. ' Jews and Gentiles closed their shops and stores.
The Catholic priest of the village sat with the brethren of the
Lackawanna Presbytery in the pulpit during the funeral services
in the church, and stood with them at the grave. At a later date
a memorial sermon was delivered by the Rev. William H. Swift,
who, after a short interval, had succeeded Dr. Dunning in the
pastorate at Honesdale. This sermon is now incorporated in a
handsome memorial volume. Lafayette College in 1871 con-
ferred upon Mr. Dunning the degree of D. D. Dr. Dunning was
held in high esteem by all who knew him well, for his extensive
and accurate scholarship, the wide range and strong grasp of his
thought, and the simplicity, rectitude and moral elevation of his
character. His influence was far reaching in the community. It
was the influence of a true man among men, a man whose splen-
did equipments of intellect and learning were recognized by all,
a man whose greatness was accompanied by unassuming mod-
esty ; and one whose life was the constant and everywhere man-
ifest expression of the religion he professed. He was a preacher
of no ordinary ability and power. His sermons were masterly
presentations of truth. Eminently qualified by his deep insight
into truth, as a whole and in its relations, by his exact and pro-
found knowledge, and his habits of patient study, to be a defender
of the faith, he spared himself no pains in the preparation of his
sermons, many of which grappled with those profound and fun-
damental doctrines which in these days are most vigorously
assailed by infidelity. He published three discourses: (i) A
Sermon occasioned by the Death of Henry Porter McCoy,
Franklin, Delaware County, N. Y., August 26, i860; (2) A Me-
morial Sermon delivered Sabbath evening, April 15, 1866, upon
the Abandonment of the former House of Worship, Honesdale,
Pa.; (3) A Discourse delivered on the Occasion of the Installa-
tion of Rev. Henry C. Westwood, D. D., as Pastor of the First

Henry White Dunning. 673

Presbyterian church of Honesdale, Pa. He married. November
4. 1857, Maria H., only daughter of Rev. Henry White, D. D.
He was a descendant of John White, who was a citizen of Lynn,
Mass., in 1630. Tradition says he came from England, but when
is not known. The Howells, the maternal ancestors of Dr.
White, were at Lynn at the same time. The Howells were origin-
ally from Wales. In 1654 a colony, of which John White and
John Howell were prominent members, purchased the tract of
country on Long Island comprising a part, if not all, of the towns
now called Easthampton, Southampton and Bridgehampton, and
settled on it in a body at Southampton, bringing their own min-
ister, school teacher, and artisans. John White had a son James
White, who had a son Captain Ephraim White, who had a son
William White, who had a son William White, jr., who had a
son Jeremiah White, who had a son Henry White, the grand-
father of Henry White Dunning. Jeremiah White emigrated to
Green county, N. Y., and is there buried at Acra.

Rev. Henry White, D. D., was born at Durham, Green county,
N. Y., June 19, iSoo. He studied for the ministry at Greenville
(N. Y.) Academy. Union College, and Princeton Seminary. In
1826 he was licensed to preach, and was soon thereafter ordained.
On account of health impaired by study, he first traveled in the
south as an agent of the American Bible Society. In 1828 he
became pastor of the Allen street PresDyterian church, New-
York city. His ministry there was remarkably successful, and
he had but few equals among the men of his time. He was one
of the chief movers in founding the Union Theological Seminary,
in the city of New York, and in 1836 was called to the professor-
ship of Systematic Theology in that institution. The choice was a
good one. Dr. White was an independent, acute, vigorous
thinker, and an admirable teacher. He lived to serve the insti-
tution for fourteen years, and is still spoken of by his pupils with
ereat enthusiasm. Prior to the erection of the old edifice on
University Place he had the students meet in his parlor for in-
struction. He died August 25, 1850. Dr. White, as a Pharos,
stood above the shoals of theological speculation. Whoever
sailed by him avoided wreck. He was a steady warning to keep
the open sea or to anchor in the roadstead. He had little sym-

6/4 Henry White Dunning.

pathy with that class of minds which love most the dan<^erous
places of theological study. Not that he would leave such places
unsounded, unsurveyed, but that he distrusted the fascinations
which they have for the venturesome and the curious. His
system was pre-eminently clear and simple. His aim was to teach
what he himself had learned from the bible as a revelation. That
which the scriptures did not reveal he was not anxious to ex-
plain. He peculiarly disliked the mists of German philosophy,
by which the students of his day were often befogged. His
preaching was remarkably lucid and strong. He at once alarmed
and attracted his hearers. If Sinai thundered from his pulpit,
the light of the cross also beamed there, like that of the seven
lamps which burned with steady radiance amid the flashes of the
Apocalyptic vision of the throne. Circling about all the symbols
of terror was the sign of mercy, the "rainbow, in sight like unto
an emerald." He was still in the vigor of manhood when he died,
but ready to be unclothed and clothed upon. During the last
years of his earthly life he supplied the pulpit of the Sixteenth
Street Presbyterian church in New York, and there preached
not only with the power but also with the success of his earlier
days, using old weapons, repeating old victories. The wife of
Dr. White was Esther Brocket, daughter of Ebenezer Brocket,
whose wife was Charlotte Loomis, sister of Rev. Hubbel Loomis,
father of Prof. Loomis of Yale College. The mother of Ebenezer
Brocket was Esther Hoadley, the daughter of Russell Hoadley,
of Wallingford, Conn. The wife of Jeremiah White, grandfather
of Henry White Dunning, was Matilda Howell, daughter of
John Howell and Mehitable Jessup. The latter was the sister of
the father of the late Judge William Jessup, at one time
president judge of the courts of Luzerne county. Henry White
Dunning was educated at the Williston Seminary, East Hamp-
ton, Mass., graduating from that institution in 1878. In 1879
he entered the freshman class of Princeton (N. J.) College and
remained there for a year, but on account of his father's sickness
did not return to the college. He commenced the reading of
the law in the office of William H. Lee (son-in-law of Hiram
Wentz, of this city), of Honesdale, and completed his legal studies
in the office of Hubbard B. Payne, in this city. He was admi ^^ ^ _

George Hollenback Fisher. 675

to the bar of Luzerne county June 5, 1882. Mr. Dunning is
quite prominent in Presbyterian church circles, and was, while
residing at Kingston, superintendent of the Presbyterian Sabbath
school. He is at present the assistant superintendent of the First
Presbyterian Sabbath school of this city. He is the recording
secretary of the board of managers of the Young Men's Christian
Association of Wilkes-Barre, and one of the vice presidents of
the Luzerne County Sabbath School Association. He is also the
lecturer in the commercial college attached to Wyoming Seminary
on the law of decedents' estates.

Mr. Dunning's ancestry, as the foregoing brief record will make
apparent, were of the kind from whom strong professional men
might naturally spring, and it is not too much to say that,
although as yet but a few years at the bar, he has already given
evidence that, with ordinary good fortune, he may rise to a prom-
inent position thereat. He is of the sort who face the serious
side of life with a determination to meet it seriously, and to over-
come obstacles by careful study and energetic effort. We have
been impelled on more than one occasion to refer to the fact that
too many young men go to the law in the belief that the rewards
of its practice will come like the flowers and fruits of the tropics,
without effort and for the mere taking. The delusion is a serious
one, and has led to ignominious failure many a young man who
might, beginning professional life with a different view of its duties
and responsibilities, and capable of a little better application, have
taken rank with the best of them. It is no unmeaning compli-
ment, therefore, that we pay Mr. Dunning, in mentioning that he
has begun his professional career in a manner to indicate that it
will involve continued research and labor. His equipment is of
the best, and the realization is likely to be satisfactory to his friends.

GEORGE HOLLENBACK FISHER.

George Hollenback Fisher was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pa.,
October 13, i860. He is the son of the late William K. Fisher,
for many years a resident of this city, but who was a native of

6/6 Benjamin Franklin McAtee.

Rush township, Northumberland county, Pa. Joseph Fisher,
the father of WilUam K. Fisher, was a native of the state of New
Jersey. The wife of William K. Fisher and the mother of
George H. Fisher was Ann Ulp, a daughter of Barnet Ulp, a
native of New Hope, Bucks county. Pa. The wife of Barnet Ulp
was Sarah Treadway, a daughter of John Treadway, a native of
Colchester, Conn. He was an early resident of Hanover town-
ship, in this county. His name appears in the assessment list in
1796. His wife was Hester Camp, also of Colchester. John
Treadway was drowned in the Susquehanna river, about the year
1800, while fishing for shad. George H. Fisher was educated in
the public schools of Wilkes-Barre and at Selleck's Academy,
Norwalk, Conn., graduating from that institution in the class of
1877. He read law with E. P. & J. V. Darling, and was admitted
to the bar of Luzerne county June 5, 1882.

Of the younger men of the bar we cannot say much other than
in the way of forecasting their probable future from such naturally
few opportunities as they have had for exhibiting the material of
which they are made. Mr. Fisher's mentors are among the best
in the state. From their offices a large number of the brightest
young practitioners at our and other bars have been graduated.
Mr. Fisher has had the same training, and it is the testimony of
those who have had a chance to know that he has turned it to
o-ood account. He has natural abilities of a high order and ought
to succeed.

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN McATEE.

Benjamin Franklin McAtee was born in Clear Spring, Wash-
ington county, Maryland, December 28, 1843. He is a son of
Thomas Walker McAtee, also a native of the same county. In
the early settlement of Maryland two families of the name of
McAtee emigrated to that colony. One was of the Roman
Catholic faith, and they settled in Prince George county, and the
other of the Protestant faith, of which the subject of our sketch

Benjamin Franklin McAtee. 677-

is a descendant, settled in Washington county. William A.
McAtee, at one time a professor of mathematics and belles lettres
in Princeton college, subsequently pastor of the Presbyterian
church in Danville, Pa., and now pastor of a Presbyterian church
in Detroit, Michigan ; Walter B. McAtee, president of the Corn
Exchange, Baltimore, Maryland; and John McAtee, a lawyer
at Hagerstown, and who is a partner of A. K. Syester,
who has been attorney general of Maryland, are sons of William
B. McAtee, a brother of Thomas Walker McAtee, the father of
the subject of our sketch. John Quincy Adams McAtee, pastor
of a Lutheran church in Philadelphia, is a brother of B. F. McAtee.
The mother of the subject of our sketch is Mary McAtee {iiee
Brinham) She is the daughter of John Brinham, a native of
Beaver Creek, Washington county. Mr. Brinham is of an old
Maryland family. He was a slaveholder, and in his will he pro-
vided that all his slaves should be free at the age of twenty-eight
years, and that none of them should be sold out of Washington
county. He died in 1858. B. F. McAtee was educated at the Clear
Spring Academy, and when eighteen years of age commenced to
teach school in Hagerstown. During the late civil war he was
second lieutenant in the First Maryland Cavalry. After his term
of service was over he removed to Washington, Ohio, and studied
law with John B. Priddy, and was admitted to the Fayette county
(Ohio) bar May 15, 1871. After a short time he removed to
Hereford township, Berks county. Pa., and in the fall of 1872 he
was admitted to the bar of the counties of Montgomery and Ches-
ter. About the same time he removed to Pottstown, Mont-
gomery county. After residing there for several years he
removed to Phoenixville, Chester county, keeping up his practice
in both counties. In 1884 he concluded to remove to Pittston,
where he now resides. He was admitted to the Luzerne county
bar September 3, 1884. Mr. McAtee married Adelia Young
Shelly, a daughter of Joel Yeakel Shelly, M. D., of Hereford-
ville, Berks county. Pa. Mr. and Mrs. McAtee have no children
Hving. Abraham Shelly, M. D., father of J. Y. Shelly, M. D:,,
lived for many years in Milford township, Bucks county. Pa.,
near what is known as the Swamp church. The Doctors Shelly
are evidently descendants of an old family by that name, for we find.

6/8 Benjamin Franklin McAtee,

that as early as May 25, 1725, Jacob Shelly was a land owner in Mil-
ford, and in 1 749 one Abraham Shelly was a petitioner for a road.
Dr. Abraham Shelly was the father of twelve children — Captain
Edward Shelly, of St. Paul, Minn., Edmund Shelly, who is
now deceased, was a book publisher in Philadelphia, Bcnneville
Shelly, M. D., who now resides in Florida, and Joel Y. Shelly, M.
D., father of Mrs. McAtee, were sons of Abraham Shelly, M. D.
Joel Y. Shelly, M. D., resided in Herefordville from his gradu-
ation until his death. He was a public spirited citizen, and at
the head of every movement for the educational and social
advancement of his neighborhood. He had eleven children, five
of whom are now deceased. Two of his sons are engaged in the
hardware business in AUentown, one son in the wholesale spice
business in Philadelphia, and another son is a Reformed minister
in Florida. Of his two daughters, one is married to Rev. O. F.
Waage, a Lutheran minister at Pennsburg, Pa., and the other is
the wife of B. ¥. McAtee. Dr. J. Y. Shelly was a cousin of
Mary Clemmer, a prominent writer at Washington, D. C, and
whose second husband was Edmund Hud.son, a very able jour-
nalist. Christian Young, father of Mrs. J. Y. Shelly, was a
native of Bucks county. Pa., probably of Milford township, as a
certain Felty Young was a landholder there as early as 1734.
He removed to Hanover township, Lehigh county, Pa., and
opened a store near Coopersburg in 1800. In 181 2 he opened
the Black Horse Tavern, which he kept till his removal to
Bucks county in 18 18. Samuel Young, M. D., was the eldest
of his sons. He was a very successful physician, and practiced
in Colebrookdale, Berks county. Pa., for over twenty-five years,
but after the death of his son, Oliver Young, also a physician,
removed -to Milford Square, Bucks county, and thence for an
easier field of practice in old age to AUentown, Pa. He died in
1882. Joseph Young, M. S. Young, and William Young were
also sons of Christian Young. The first two named founded the
extensive hardware establishment of M. S. Young & Co , the
largest in the Lehigh valley. M. S. Young died in 1881. The
business, however, continues as before. The wife of Samuel
Youne, M. D., was Anna Maria Dickensheid, daughter of
John H. Dickensheid, M. D., of AUentown. Dr. Dickensheid

Benjamin Franklin McAtee. 679

was a great grandson of Valentine Dickensheid, who emi-
grated from Germany previous to 1765 and settled in Goshen-
hoppen, and moved in 1768 to Upper Milford, Northampton
(now Lehigh) county. Charles Frederick Dickensheid, M. D.,
father of John H. Dickensheid, M. D., was a surgeon in the
war of 18 1 2. Of the other children of Christian Young, James
Young, one of his sons, is president of a bank in Germantown,
Pa. ; another son, Andrew Young, was a minister in the Reformed
church, and professor of languages in Franklin and Marshall
college, Lancaster, Pa. His widow married Professor Coffin, of
Lafayette college, Easton, Pa. Ebenezer Young was a mer-
chant in Belvidere, N. J. One of his daughters married a Mr.
Sieger, whose only child is the wife of Hon. Edwin Albright,
president judge of the courts of Lehigh county. The other
daughter of Christian Young became the wife of Joel Y.
Shelly, M. D.

Though but a short time a resident and practitioner in this
county, Mr. McAtee has already built up a large and profitable
practice. He is a hard working attorney, and impresses clients
by the evident earnestness with which he takes up the advocacy
of their causes. Very carefully read in the principles of the law,
and devoting every spare hour to the study of new statutes and
decisions, he carries to every proceeding in which he is employed
what the brightest of men cannot without such application possess,
for no possible natural ability, no degree of inborn eloquence
can compensate for an inedequate understanding of what " the
books " contain. He evidently likes the profession, which is far
from being a drawback, and seeks to win as much if not more
for the sake of winning than for the fees involved. His army
experience and his practice in the other counties in which, as
above recited, he has been located, adding so much to his knowl-
edge of men and things generally, are necessarily an aid to him in
his present situation. He stands well with the people of Pittston,
and has already an enviable reputation with his fellow-professionals-
at the county seat.

68o Pekcival Coover Kauffman.

PERCIVAL COOVER KAUFFMAN.

Percival Coover Kauffman, of Hazleton, is a native of Mechan-
icsburg, Cumberland county, Pa., where he was born August 13,
1857. His great-great-grandfather. Christian Kauffman, emi-
grated to America from Germany about 1750, and settled in
Manor township, Lancaster county. Pa., where he died March i,
1799. He was married to Barbara Bear, whose death occurred
January 12, 1801. They had six children, of whom Isaac, the
second son, and great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch,
was born in Manor township in 1762, and died January 4, 1826.
In the year 1786 he married Catharine Baughman, who died July
9, 1833. Their youngest son, Andrew I. Kauffman, father of
Levi Kauffman, was born August 24, 1802, at the old homestead
in Manor township, and spent the greater part of his life in that
township. He represented Lancaster county in the House of
Representatives in the state legislature, and was closely asso-
ciated with George Wolf, Thaddeus Stevens and Thomas H.
Burrows in the establishment of our justly prized common school
system. In 1850 he became a resident of Cumberland county,
and in 1853 removed to Mechanicsburg, where he engaged
in mercantile pursuits, and continued therein until his death,
which occurred December 14, 1861. Andrew I. Kauffman
was married March 24, 1825, to Catharine Shuman, who was
born July 16, 1806, and was the only daughter of Christian
Shuman, of Manor township. She died at Mechanicsburg May
18, 1875.

Levi Kauffman, their fourth son, was born at Little Washing-
ton, Lancaster county. Pa., September 13, 1833. At the early
age of thirteen he left home and entered the drug store of Dr.
George Ross, at Elizabethtown, as an apprentice. At the end of
four years he received from Dr. Ross a strong testimonial of his
ability as a druggist, aptness, intelligence, and integrity of char-
acter. Mr. Kauffman remained in the drug business in Eliza-
bethtown until April, 1854, when he removed to Mechanicsburg,
and opened a new drug store in that place. A year or two later,

Percival Coover Kauffman. 68 1

in connection with his father, Andrew I. Kauffman, and Henry
C. Rupp, he entered the hardware business, connecting his drug
store therewith, and continued therein until 1859, when he
accepted the position of cashier in the banking house of Merkel,
Mumma & Q)., subsequently chartered as the First National
Bank of Mechanicsburg, Pa. This position he resigned in
1862, when he was appointed, by President Lincoln, collector
of internal revenue for the Fifteenth district of Pennsylvania,
comprising the counties of Cumberland, York and Perry.
He held that position until September, 1866, when he resigned.
His letter of resignation, published in the Philadelphia Press,
we here reproduce. It shows his character and sterling patriot-
ism :

Collector's Office, U. S. Internal Revenue,
15TH District, Pa.

Mechanicsburg, Pa., July 30. 1866.
Hon. a. W. Randall, President National Union Club, Wash-
ington, D. C. — Sir : — Your call for a National Union Convention
at Philadelphia for August 14th next has just been received. You
say if the call meets my approbation to signify it by a brief letter
with authority to publish the same. I assisted in placing in
nomination President Johnson at Baltimore, and I believe in the
doctrine that "Treason is a crime and must be punished," but I
dot not like the manner of punishing traitors adopted by him ;
and as I am an ardent admirer of the wisdom and statesmanship
of Hon. Thaddeus Stevens and his co-laborers, who have ren-
dered themselves immortal in the Congress just closed, I cannot
endorse the doctrines contained in the "call." Again, I am doing
all I can to aid the election of Gen. Geary as Governor of Penn-
sylvania; and believing, as I do, that one of the objects of the
Philadelphia convention is to aid in his defeat, I am decidedly
opposed to it.

I write this, of course, with the understanding that it involves
my removal from office. I trust, however, that you will have a
good soldier appointed in my place. All other things being
■equal, the faithful soldiers should have the preference ; and
more than a year ago I wrote to the President proposing to
resign in favor of any faithful soldier who would apply for my
position.

I would therefore most respectfully name for your considera-
tion, as my successor, Lieut. J. T. Zug, who lost his arm at Fred-
ericksburg, or Capt. J. Adair, or Capt. Beatty, all of Carlisle, Pa.,

682 Percival Coover Kauffman.

who served faithfully, and deserve well of their country. Either
one would make a good collector. Hoping you will see to it
that a good soldier is appointed as my successor, and that it will
only be asked of him "have you been faithful to your country?"
I am yours, very respectfully, L. Kauffman,

Collector 15th District, Pa.

Early in 1864 Mr. Kauffman assisted in organizing and became
the cashier of the Second National Bank of Mechanicsburg, and
held that position until he resigned in the latter part of 1869.
The State Guard, a daily newspaper started at the state capital
during 1 867, was a project of Mr. Kauffman's, and one in which
he invested a large sum of money. Not proving a financial suc-
cess, he abandoned its publication in 1869. From 1870 until the
time of his death, which occurred February 10, 1882, Mr. Kauff-
man was engaged in the fire insurance business, having the state
central agency of several large companies, his principal office
being at Harrisburg, Pa. Mr. Kauffman never hesitated to per-
form any duty imposed upon him by his fellow citizens, his
church, or society. As burgess, town councilman, school
director, and member of the board of trustees of " Irving Female
College," he was always on hand to take his full share of work
and responsibility. He was noted for his public spirit and local
pride in the town of his adoption, and many of the public and
private improvements erected in Mechanicsburg were due to his
foresight and energy. He was liberal to a fault. For more than
thirty years he was a member of the "Church of God," and faith-
fuMy filled the offices of superintendent of the Sabbath school,
deacon and elder. He frequently represented his church in the
Annual Eldership of East Pennsylvania, and on several occasions
was a lay delegate to the triennial sessions of the General Elder-
ship of the church.

Mr. Kauffman was a man of strong will, great energy, daunt-
less courage ; inflexible in the right, and afraid of nothing but of
being wrong; fond of the sports of his children as they were of
playing and being with him. While abounding in anecdote,
jovial at table, with pleasant voice, it was in harmony with the
nature and power of Mr. Kauffman, who was a hero in action in
every condition of life, and possessed of a will and energy that
fitted him to be a leader in every party to which he belonged.

Percival Coover Kauffman. 683

Politically Mr. Kauffman, like the other members of his family,
was a republican, and assisted in the organization of that party
in Pennsylvania. He took a keen interest and active part in the
primary and general elections, frequently participating as a dele-
gate in the party conventions. In 1 864 he was a delegate to the Na-
tional Republican Convention at Baltimore, and assisted in the
nomination of Lincoln and Johnson. He was, as a republican,
closely associated with John W. Forney, Thaddeus Stevens,
Thomas E. Cochran and D. J. Morrill, and took a very active
part in securing the nomination and election of John W. Geary
as governor.

His eldest brother, C. S. Kauffman, of Columbia, Pa., repre-
sented Lancaster county in the state Senate from 1878 to 1882.
Lieut. Isaac D. Kauffman, his second brother, served faithfully
in the war of the Rebellion in the 9th Regiment of Pennsylvania
Volunteer Cavalry, and died June 7, 1862, from disease contracted
in the service. His brother Andrew J. Kauffman, a member of the
bar of Lancaster county, was appointed by President Arthur, in
1882, collector of internal revenue for the Ninth district of Penn-
sylvania.

Mr. Kauffman was married February 5, 1856, to Ann Eliza-
beth Coover, daughter of the late John Coover. of Mechanicsburg.
Mr. Coover was one of the earliest settlers of Cumberland county.
Pa. Prominent in church, society and business, he and his descend-
ants have always been people of note. He was one of the
founders of Mechanicsburg, and was descended from the German
family named " Kobar," afterward changed to Coover, who emi-
grated to this country as early as 1760. Soon after this date his
grandfather, Gideon Coover, bought a large tract of land, being
of the "Manor on Conodoguinet," situated by the Cedar Spring,
south of Shiremanstown, Cumberland county, Pa. One of his
sons, George Coover, was married on October 22, 1764, to Eliz-
abeth Mohler, by Rev. Nicholas Hornell. of York, minister of
the German Lutheran church, of which both were members.
They lived on the plantation at Cedar Spring, and had five sons
and four daughters — George, Jr., Henry, Elizabeth, Susannah,
Catharine, Anne, Michael, Jacpb, and John, the father of Mrs.
Kauffman, who was born February 22, 1787. Mr. Coover's early

684 Percival Coover Kauffman.

life was spent on his father's farm, where he attended such schools
as his day afforded. About l8i6 or 1817 he removed to Me-
chanicsburg. and opened the first important store in that place,
becoming thereafter a successful merchant. He was therein
engaged until 1849, when he disposed of his stock and retired
from active business life, always, however, taking a keen and
decided interest in the public affairs of the borough, state and
nation. Some years previous to this time he purchased a large
tract of land, lying immediately south of the borough of Mechan-
icsburg — bounded by the middle of Simpson street — which since
his decease has been incorporated into the borough, and laid
out by his heirs into town lots, with fine wide streets, and
being slightly elevated, is being rapidly built up, and bids fair to
become the most beautiful part of the town. On February 4,
1 8 19, he was married to Salome Keller, daughter of Martin Keller,
who landed in Baltimore, Md., in 1786, emigrating from the can-
ton of Basle, Switzerland. About 1800 he removed to Cumber-
land county and purchased a large tract of land in Silver Spring
township, known as "Barbace," situated one-half mile north of
Mechanicsburg, which is still owned by his descendants. The
children of John Coover were six in number, one son — who died
in infancy — and five daughters : Susan K., widow of Philip H.
Long, M. D. ; Sarah, married to Ephraim Zug (who died May,
1862), afterward married to William H. Oswald (who died Janu-
ary, 1884); Mariamna, wife of Richard T. Hummel, Hummels-
town, Dauphin county, Pa. ; Ann Elizabeth, married to Levi
Kauffman ; and J. Emmeline, widow of Daniel Coover. John
Coover died May 13, 1862, and his widow January 3, J 883,
and they were both buried in the old family grave-yard at
" Barbace," by the side of Martin Keller and Martin Keller's wife
and mother.

The old homestead built by John Coover, situated on the
northeast corner of Main and Frederick streets, Mechanicsburg,
and in which he and his wife lived to the day of their death, is
still occupied by one of his daughters. Mr. Coover was a quiet,
unassuming man, one who made many friends, and of wide influ-
ence in his church and society. .He was a great reader, and had
a fine mind and tenacious memory. His name was a synonyni

Percival Coover Kauffman. 685

honesty and integrity, and from time to time he filled the various
municipal offices, was for many years justice of the peace, and
so great was the confidence reposed in him that he was con-
stantly sought after to act as executor and administrator in set-
tling the estates of decedents, and was guardian for nearly one
hundred minors. A consistent and leading member of the
German Baptist, or " Dunkard" church, he was kind to the
poor, a kind husband and an indulgent father. Generous to a
fault, kind hearted and true, he was beloved by all who knew
him, and his memory is deeply cherished for his sterling worth
and christian character, of which his descendants may well be
proud.

Percival C. Kauffman, eldest son of Levi Kauffman, was edu-
cated at Lauderbach's Academy, Philadelphia, the University of
Pennsylvania, and the law department of the same institution,
graduating from the latter in the class of 1879. He read law
with Hon. Wayne MacVeagh and George Tucker Bispham, and
was admitted to the bar of Philadelphia county in June, 1879.
In the fall of that year he located at Harrisburg, Pa., where he
practiced his profession until 1882, when he was appointed legal
assistant to the president of the Guarantee Trust and Safe Deposit
Company of Philadelphia, which position he resigned later that
year, owing to a long and dangerous illness. In January, 1885,
he removed to Hazleton, in this county, and was admitted to the
Luzerne county bar February 26, 1885. In April of that year he
became associated with George H. Troutman, also of Hazleton,.
under the firm name of Troutman & Kauffman.

To no other people is Pennsylvania more indebted for the
thrift and energy that have made her in many respects the great-
est in our sisterhood of states than to the early German emi-
grants who. locating in the southern and southeastern counties,
have, with their descendants, furnished many of the brightest and
bravest men in the state's history. Coming from this stock, and
immediately from a father who, as shown, had always the courage
of his convictions to an heroic degree, and of a mother in whose
veins flowed equally good blood, Percival Coover Kauffman may
safely be set down as " made of good material." Though much
afflicted physically for some years, he has nevertheless latterly

686 Joshua Lewis Welter.

shown himself capable of much work and good work, and, in
conjunction with his brainy partner, Mr. George H. Troutman,
has succeeded in establishing in Hazleton an extensive and lucra-
tive practice. Mr. Kauffman is an industrious man, of good
moral character, popular politically and socially, and in all respects
a credit to the town in which he resides.

JOSHUA LEWIS WELTER.

Joshua Lewis Welter, of Kingston, is a descendant of Henry
Welter, who emigrated to this country from Germany either
before or during the Revolutionary war. His name is found
among the military veterans of that period. After the war he
located at Fox Hill, Morris county. New Jersey. He had a son
Jacob Welter, who was born at Fox Hill. His wife was Ann
Shankle, a daughter of Henry Shankle, also of German descent,
and who lived at German Valley, Morris county, N. J. Conrad
Welter, son of Jacob and Ann Welter, was born in 1799 at Fox
Hill. His wife was Mary, a daughter of Samuel Fulkerson, of
Hackettstown, N. J. Joseph Fulkerson Welter, son of Conrad
and Mary Welter, was born in 1828, at Hackettstown, N. J.
Thirty years or more ago he removed to Luzerne county, and
has resided in this county since, his present residence being in
Kingston. His wife is Barbara Lawrence, a daughter of John D.
Lawrence, who was a son of Samuel Lawrence, one of the early
settlers of Pike county, Pa., having emigrated there from
Germany. The wife of John D. Lawrence was Mary La Barre,
of French extraction, a daughter of Samuel La Barre, of Strouds-
burg, Pa. James M. Coughlin, superintendent of the schools of
Luzerne county, is a son-in-law of J. F. Welter. Joshua Lewis
Welter, son of J. F. Welter, was born at Pleasant Valley, Luzerne
(now Lackawanna) county, February 23, 1858. He was edu-
cated at Wyoming Seminary, Kingston, and Syracuse (N. Y.)
University, graduating from the latter institution in the class of
1882. After leaving college he removed to Colorado, and was

Daniel Ackley Fell. 687

for a year an instructor in mathematics in the Colorado State
School of Mines, at Golden. He then- returned east, and com-
menced the study of the law in the office of E. P. & J. Vaughan
Darling, and was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county June 6,
1885.

Mr. Welter is another of the many who have left educational
pursuits for the practice of the law. Among those who have
made that change are so many of the brightest lights of the legal
profession, both of the past and the present, that one is almost
compelled to the conclusion that there is something in the dis-
cipline of the school room specially adapted to the development
of the material of w^hich good lawyers are made. Mr. Welter is
quiet in demeanor and unassuming in manner, but apparently
studious and earnest, and has first rate prospects of success.

DANIEL ACKLEY FELL.

"-^N

Daniel Ackley Fell was born at Wilkes-Barre, Pa., November
23, 1858. He is a descendant of Joseph Fell, who left the fol-
lowing account of his birth and life:

A NARRATIVE OR AN ACCOUNT OF THE BIRTH AND TRANSACTIONS OF
THE LIFE OF JOSEPH FELL FROM A CHILD TO OLD AGE.

I was born at Longlands, in the parish of Aldrail, in the county
of Cumberland, in old England. I was the youngest son of
seven children (three sons and four daughters). My father's
name was John Fell, my mother's name Margaret Fell. I was
born in the year 1668, the 19th day of October. My father died
when I was about two years old ; my mother lived about twenty
years a widow, and I was apprenticed to one John Bond, a house
carpenter and joiner, living at Wheelbarrow Hill, near Carlisle,
in Cumberland, where I served four years, and after that followed
my trade while I stayed in England. When I was in the 30th
year of my age I married Bridget Wilson, daughter of John and

Elizabeth Wilson, living at , in the parish of Callbeck, in

Cumberland, and we had two sons born in Cumberland, Joseph
and Benjamin. After that we moved to this country; took ship-
ping at Whitehaven, in Cumberland — Mattheas Gale, captain of

688 Daniel Ackley Fell.

the ship. He anchored the ship at Belfast, in Ireland, and we
stayed about a week there, and set sail again ; and after we left
sight of Ireland, in twenty- nine days we came in sight of land
near the capes of Virginia, and our ship was called Cumberland,
and then cast anchor in the mouth of Potomac river, and we went
ashore in Virginia, and then we got a shallop to Choptank, in
Maryland, and from there up the river to French Town, and so
to New Castle by land; and then we took boat to Bristol, in this
county, in the year 1705, and we lived one year in the township
of Makefield, where we had a daughter, named Tamer. When
she was about seven weeks old we came to Buckingham, where
I now dwell, and about two years afterward had another daugh-
ter, named Mary. When she was eleven days old her mother
died, and I lived a widower near three years, and then married
[March 10, 171 1] a young woman named Elizabeth Doyle, born
in this country. Her father was an Irishman, and her mother
was born in Rhode Island, near New England, and we have lived
together about thirty-four years, and she is about twenty years
younger than I am. I am now myself in the seventy-seventh
year of my age, and have eleven children — four by my first wife
and seven by my second — and they are yet all living.

I have had it in my mind some years to leave a brief relation
•of my birth and transactions of life, being they are like to be left
by me in a strange land ; and as to my living through the world,
it has been through some difficulty at times, by losses of crops,
but nothing has happened to me but what is common to man-
kind, for I have lived in what I call the middle station of life,
neither rich nor poor, but by the blessings of God and my indus-
try I have not been burdensome to anybody, yet hoping to have
enough to carry me to my grave, and then I desire my children
may follow my example in the way of living in the world ; and I
Ihope they may have a good report among men, and enjoy peace
at last, which I daily desire for them all as for myself; and so I
shall conclude, and earnestly pray that my wife and children all
may fare well when I am gone.

(Signed) Joseph Fell.

Buckingham, Pa., 6th day of the 12th month, 1745.

Elizabeth Fell, widow of the said Joseph Fell within mentioned,
died on the 17th day of April, between eight and nine in the
morning, A. D. 1784, in or about the 97th year of her age.

Thomas Fell, sixth child of Joseph Fell, was born in Bucking-
ham township, Bucks county. Pa., and married Jane Kirk, daugh-
ter of Godfrey Kirk, of Wrightstown, in the same county. Amos
Fell, son of Thomas Fell, was born in Buckingham, and there

Daniel Ackley Fell. 689

married Elizabeth Jackson, daughter of William Jackson, of
Shrewsberry township. East Jersey. Their marriage certificate is
before me, and is dated on the tenth day of the eleventh month,
in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-
four, and is in the well known words of a Quaker marriage cer-
tificate. He was a civil engineer and surveyor, and located in
Luzerne county about the same time that his brother, Jesse Fell,
removed here. Amos Fell was a farmer also. Although several
of the earliest settlements of Pittston township were within the
present limits of the borough of Pittston, yet in 1828 there were
but fourteen heads of families there, Amos Fell being among the
number. John Stewart, sr., father of John Stewart, of Scranton,
Pa., was also located there at the same time.

Jacob Fell, son of Amos Fell, was born in Buckingham, and
removed with his father to Luzerne county. He settled in Pitts-
ton township, and followed the occupation of a farmer; located
upon what was a part of the farm of Jacob Fell. The wife of
Jacob Fell, whom he married October 8, 1814, was Mary Ackley,
daughter of Joshua Ackley, who resided in what is now West
Pittston. He subsequently removed to West Finley, Washing-
ton county. Pa., where he died. Daniel Ackley Fell, sr., son of
Jacob Fell, was born at Pittston, Pa , May 29, 1817. He is by pro-
fession an architect, contractor and builder. In his younger days he
built or superintended the erection of the old Methodist church
(since rebuilt), the Episcopal church (since remodelled), the
present Presbyterian church, the McClintock house on River
street, and the brick block on east corner of Market and Franklin
streets. He also superintended the erection of the present court
house and the Wyoming Valley hotel. He is at present the
master builder of the Lehigh and Susquehanna division of the
Philadelphia and Reading Railroad, having succeeded to that
position from first, the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company ;
second, the Lehigh and Susquehanna Railroad Company ; third,
the Lehigh and Susquehanna division of the Central Railroad of
New Jersey.

The wife of Daniel Ackley Fell, sr., who was born in Wilkes-
Barre, is Elizabeth, daughter of the late Alexander Gray, who
was a native of Aberdeen, Scotland, where he was born in [804.

690 John Butler Woodward.

The wife of Alexander Gray was Jane Russell, a native of Hunt-
ley, Scotland. After their marriage they removed to the island
of St. Thomas, and subsequently to Baltimore, Md. In 1832 he
came to Wilkes-Barre and superintended the works of the Balti-
timore Coal Company. He continued in this position until 1862,
when he operated the Hollenback mines. He then, in connec-
tion with his son, Alexander Gray, jr., John Hosie and S. P.
Lono-street, commenced mining operations in Schuylkill county.
Pa. He subsequently sold out his interest in these mines to S.
P. Longstreet, and then removed to Princeton, New Jersey, where

he died.

Daniel Ackley Fell, jr., was educated in the public schools of
Wilkes-Barre, the Wyoming Seminary of Kingston, the Law-
renceville, N. J., High School, from which he graduated in 1878,
the Wilkes-Barre Academy, and College of New Jersey at Prince-
ton, from which he graduated in the class of 1883. He read law
with E. G. Butler, and was admitted to the bar of Luzerne
county July 27, 1885. He is an unmarried man and a republican
in politics.

The Wyoming Seminary has had share in the training of per-
haps a majority of the members of the Luzerne bar, and as that
bar is confessedly one of the best in the state, the faculty of the
Seminary have no reason to be ashamed of their handiwork. Mr.
Fell has, as will be seen, had the advantages, in addition, of far
higher and more ambitious educational institutions, but if he
.shall do as well as some who call the Seminary their only alma
mater, he will have given his friends good reason to be proud of
him. He has an apparently correct conception of what successful
labor in the law involves, and will undoubtedly go ahead.

JOHN BUTLER WOODWARD.

John Butler Woodward was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., April
3, 1 86 1. He is the eldest son of Stanley Woodward, whose
biography has already been given in these pages. J. B.
Woodward was educated at St. Paul's Academy, Concord, N. H.,

John Butler Woodward. 691

the Wilkes-Barre Academy, and Yale College, graduating from
the latter institution in the class of 1883. He commenced the
reading; of the law in the office of Andrew T. McClintock, in this
city. He then entered the law department of the University of
Pennsylvania, and while there was a student in the office of E.
Coppee Mitchell, of Philadelphia. He completed his legal edu-
cation prior to being admitted to practice in the office of William
.S. McLean, of this city. He was admitted to the bar of Luzerne
county September 7, 1885. He is an unmarried man, and a
democrat in politics.

No Pennsylvania family has done more for the bar and the
bench of the state than the Woodward family. Two Supreme
judges, both of them men of the highest ability, and one county
judge, many of whose opinions on previously unadjudicated ques-
tions have already gone into the text books and been widely
quoted, constitute a record that is almost if not absolutely with-
out a parallel. It is from this stock that John Butler Woodward
comes, and it is not too much to say that although but just
entered at the bar, he has already given demonstration that he
will do nothing to dim its lustre. His preparation, as will be
seen, both in general studies and in the study of the law, has been
under tutelage than which there is no better. He has undoubted
natural talents, which, with the development they have already
had, and which increased practice will give them, will carry him
to a prominent place in the profession if it shall be his ambition
to occupy such a place. The two Judges Woodward who
are now deceased had and the one who remains has rare
oratorical powers — always more a natural gift than an acquire-
ment— and John Butler Woodward has shown that he is similarly
endowed. He has a taste for politics — another family character-
istic— and during recent campaigns his party has utilized him
upon the local stump to the satisfaction of his hearers and the
evident benefit of his party's principles and prospects. He is of
a genial temperament, and starts professional Hfe, in short, under
the brightest of auspices and with every chance of achieving in
it both power and profit.

692 LiDDON Flick.

LIDDON FLICK.

Liddon Flick is a descendant of Gerlach Paul Flick, who was
the first of this family who came to America, arriving September
23, 175 1, by the ship Neptune. He was a German by birth.
(See Rupp's Coll. names of German Immigrants, 1 726-1 776.)
Others of his family came with him. He settled in Northampton
county. Pa., and followed his occupation of miller. He li,ved to
be ninety-nine years of age. The longevity of this family is a
matter of record, and referred to with pride by their descendants,
particularly w^hen it is remembered that they had to undergo the
severe trials and hardships incident to the struggle for American
independence.

Gerlach Paul Flick had three sons — Paul, Martin and Casper,
who were born in Moore township, Northampton county. Cas-
per Flick followed his father's business of milling, served through
the whole period of the Revolutionary war, and died at the age
of eighty -two. He had twelve children, nearly all of whom lived
to be more than eighty. John Flick, eldest son of Casper, was
born January i, 1783, and died January i, 1869, being eighty-
six to a day. His early occupation was that of miller. He
enlisted and served for a short period during the war of 1812,
being mustered out when peace was declared. He was one of
the leading citizens of Northampton county, in politics a strong
democrat, and was several times elected to prominent offices
while that party was in power. He was county commissioner
for a number of years when Northampton, Monroe, Carbon and
Lehish constituted one county, and was twice elected to the
legislature. In 181 3 he married Eve B., daughter of Philip Cas-
ter, who also .served in the American army during the Revolu-
tion, and who at one time lived in the Wyoming Valley, and
afterwards settled in Lower Mt. Bethel, Northampton county.
Eve B. Flick died in 1858, at the age of seventy-seven years.

The oldest son of John Flick is Reuben Jay Flick, who was born
at Flicksville, Northampton county. Pa., July 10, 18 16. Born
and reared on a farm, his early opportunities were necessarily

LiDDON Flick. 693

limited. In 1838, at the age of twenty-two, he came to the Wy-
oming Valley. Here he engaged in mercantile trade, and later
in banking. By industry and integrity he has become one of the
respected and influential citizens of Wilkes-Barre. He has always
been closely identified with the various business and charitable
interests of the city. His position as trustee of Lincoln Univer-
sity, Oxford, Pa., of the Harry Hillman Academy, Female Institute,
City Hospital and Home for Friendless Children evidences his
benevolence and the esteem in which he is held by his fellow
citizens. Though frequently solicited, he has always declined to
be a candidate for political office. In 1882, however, yielding to
the pressure of friends, he accepted a unanimous nomination as
candidate for congress on the prohibition ticket. Though making
no personal effort, he polled a large vote, running far ahead of
any other name on the ticket. He married, in January, 1858,
Margaret Jane, daughter of Adam and Margaret Arnold, of Ham-
ilton, Monroe county. Pa.

Liddon Flick, eldest son of Reuben Jay Flick,wasborn in Wilkes-
Barre October 28, 1859. His early education was at the public
schools of this city. After two years spent at private school in
preparation for college, he entered the freshman class at Prince-
ton in September, 1878, graduating therefrom in June, 1882,
receiving the degree of B. A. Having determined upon the
study of law% he took the prescribed course at the law school of
Columbia college. New York city. From here he graduated in
June, 1884, receiving the degree of LL. B., cum laude. After a
year spent in the office of ex-Judge Lucien Birdseye he was
admitted to the New York city bar in January, 1885. Later he
returned to Wilkes-Barre to look somewhat after his father's
interests and to practice his profession. After spending the
required six months in the office of Alexander Farnham, Esq.,
he was, on June 2, 1886, admitted to practice in the courts of
Luzerne county.

Mr. Flick is bright, painstaking, and conscientious — three
qualities or attributes that generally win for their possessor the
best fruits of any undertaking. His collegiate successes, as will
be observed, have been of an unusual order. They are them-
selves something to be proud of, but their greatest significance

694 John Quincv Creveling.

arises from the fact that they indicate his superior fitness for the
profession he has chosen. He is a great reader of books of all
good kinds, and a student of the fine arts, and while these things
have no necessary relation to the practice of the law, they are no
small aid to lawyers, of whom this can be said : of two men
each equally well read in the law and equally able in expounding
it, the one whose general knowledge is the most extensive and
varied has decidedly the advantage.

JOHN QUINCY CREVELING.

John Quincy Creveling, of Plymouth, was born in Fishing
Creek township, Columbia county, Pa., June 6, 1861. He is a
son of Alfred Tubbs Creveling. also a native of Fishing Creek,
but at present a resident of Plymouth, Pa. John Creveling,
father of Alfred Tubbs Creveling, was born near the town of
Espy, Columbia county, in 1808, and in 18 10, in company with
the family of his father, Samuel Creveling, a native of the state
of New Jersey, removed to Fishing Creek township. Isaiah
Creveling, of Fairmount township, Luzerne county, so long and
favorably known in this county, was a brother of John Creveling.
The wife of John Creveling was Lowley Tubbs, a daughter of
Nathan Tubbs, jr., a son of Nathan Tubbs, sr., who became a
resident of Huntington in 1789. The wife of Nathan Tubbs, jr..
was Sarah, daughter of Timothy Hopkins, who took the one
hundred and fifty acres surveyed as a mill lot whereon he and
Stephen Harrison built the first flouring mill in Huntington town-
ship in 1795, or the year following, on Mill creek, near the head
of Hopkins' Glen.

The mother of John Quincy Creveling, and wife of Alfred T.
Creveling, is Susan B. Rhone, a daughter of the late George
Rhone, who died in this city in 1881. Mrs. Creveling is a sister'
of Judge Rhone, of this city. We have given a sketch of
the ancestors of Mrs. Creveling in these pages under the head
of Daniel La Porte Rhone, but we will herewith give some addi-

John Quincy Creveling. 695

tional facts relating to the Bowman family. Mary Bowman
Stevens, the mother of Mrs. Crevehng, is the great-grand-daugh-
ter of George Christopher Bauman, who came to this country
"November 22, 1752, in the ship Phoenix — Reuben Honor, cap-
tain— from Rotterdam, last from Cowes." Alter his arrival in
this country he used the name of Christopher Bowman. He
made his home in Bucks county, Pa., and was sufficiently success-
ful in his business within a few years to make a return to his father-
land on a visit. After a few years they removed to Mount
Bethel, in Northampton county, on the west side of the Delaware
river, about four miles from the point w^here the Delaware, Lack-
awanna and Western railroad crosses the river, about fiv^e miles
below, or east, of the Delaware Water Gap. Here they remained
and wrought apparently for thirty years, improving their prop-
erty, planting and sowing, cultivating the land and reaping the
harvests.

In 1793 Christopher Bowman, with his son Thomas Bowman
with his wife and five children, moved from Mount Bethel to Briar
Creek township, Columbia county, locating about five or six miles
from Berwick. They were soon after followed by other members
of the family. After having lived for some years at Briar Creek,
Christopher Bowman went upon a visit to some friends at
Queenshockeny Valley, about seven miles north of Williamsport,
Pa., where in 1806 he became sick and died. He was buried in
the cemetery of Newberry, and a tombstone without inscription
marks his resting place. The identity of his grave is lost.

In Bishop Asbury's journal, Vol. 3, p. 228, may be found the
following memorandum: "Pennsylvania, Sunday. 19 July, 1807.
I went to the woods and preached and ordained Thomas and
Christian Bowman deacons. Before I got through with my dis-
course the rain came on, and I made a brief finish ; the people
were attentive. In the afternoon the preachers and many of the
people went to a barn ; there were showers of rain and thunder
whilst the services were first performing. My first visit to Wyo-
ming was in great toil." This was on the site of the old Forty
Fort church, which was completed the same year. The two
Bowmans above mentioned were sons of Christopher Bowman.
Rev. Thomas Bowman, senior bishop of the Methodist Episcopal

696 James Buchanan Shaver.

church, is a grandson of Rev. Thomas Bowman, son of Christo-
pher Bowman. John Bowman, sr., was born at Mount Bethel
April 2, 1772, and died February 8, 1848. His daughter, Perme-
lia Bowman, was born in Huntington in 1798, and married
Zebulon Stevens. Mary Bowman Stevens, mother of Mrs. A. T.
Creveling, was the daughter of Zebulon Stevens.

John Quincey Creveling was educated in the public schools
and at the New Columbus academy. He taught school in Ply-
mouth in 1879, 1880, 1881, 1882 and 1883, and was one of the
school directors of that borough during the years 1884 and 1885.
He studied law with C. W. McAlarney, and was admitted to the
bar of Luzerne county June 19, 1886. He is an unmarried man
and a democrat in politics. He is prominent in Methodist Epis-
copal church circles, and is superintendent of the Methodist
Episcopal Sabbath school of Plymouth.

Mr. Crevehng is a young man of good mental parts, and has
• an energetic way of doing things that gives the on-looker faith to
believe that he has a decided fitness for the profession he has
chosen. He is a relative of Judge D. L. Rhone, of the Orphans'
Court of Luzerne county, and not wholly unlike that gentleman
in his leading characteristics. He has read and is still reading
to good purpose and will succeed.

JAMES BUCHANAN SHAVER.

James Buchanan Shaver, of Plymouth, was born in Dallas, Pa.,
January 24, 1859. He is a descendant of Philip Shaver. We
are indebted to William P. Ryman, of the Luzerne bar, for the
following in relation to the Shaver family of Dallas :

"The Shaver family appears (in Dallas township) as an early
and, like the Honeywells, a numerous setder. The name was at
first spelled indifferently S-h-a-v-e-r, S-h-a-f-e-r and S-h-a-f-f-e-r.
Adam Shaffer, Peter Shafer and Frederick Shaver were residents
of Kingston township as early as 1796. Adam was a shoemaker
by trade, but in 1806 he started and for several years ran an oil
mill in Mill Hollow (now Luzerne borough), at the place now

James Buchanan Shaver. 697

occupied by Schooley's chop and plaster mill. Adam Shaffer
was also certified grantee of the northwestern half of lot five in
certified Bedford township, now principally owned and occupied
by John Ferguson, Esq. The exact date when they first settled
in Dallas cannot now be determined with certainty. They were
of German descent, and most of them came immediately from
New Jersey.

"About the year 18 12-13 Phil'P Shaver and his sons John and
William became the owners of large bodies of land in the south-
easterly portion of what is now Dallas township and in adjacent
portions of present Kingston township. For a long time, and
even to this day, the settlement is locally known as and called
'Shavertown.' Philip Shaver was a progressive man. He was
born and spent his early boyhood in the valley of the Danube
river, near Vienna, Austria. It was a cardinal principle with him
that a man was not reall)' running in debt when he bought and
owed ftn- good real estate at a reasonable price. One of his
earliest purchases was in 1 813, of the whole of lot three (over
three hundred acres) of certified Bedford, from William Trucks.
The same year he sold a portion from the northwest half to Jonah
McLellan, also a Jerseyman (from Knowlton township, Warren
county). On that portion bought by McLellan the present vil-
lage of Dallas (or McLellansville, as it was originally named)
was built.

"Philip Shaver settled and built his house, a log house, on the
hill about a quarter mile south of the cross roads, near late resi-
dence of James Shaver, dec'd, and on the ground afterwards occu-
pied and owned by Asa Shaver, now deceased. Philip Shaver was
generous and public spirited to a marked degree for the time and
place. He gave the land for the public burying ground on the
hill just south of Dallas village. He also gave the land for what
is known as the Shaver burying ground, which lies about half a
mile southeast of the former. The land upon which the first
school-house in Dallas township was built was likewise a gift
from him. This land lies partly in the cross road just south of
and adjacent to the present school lot in Dallas borough."

Philip Shaver had a son Philip, who had a son WilUam, who
was born in Newton, Sussex county, N. J. Andrew Jackson
Shaver, son of William Shaver, was born in Dallas. During the
administration of Samuel Van Loon as sheriff A. J. Shaver acted
as a deputy sheriff. He died in Dallas. The wife of Andrew J.
Shaver was Clarissa Davenport, a daughter of Oliver Davenport,
of Plymouth, a son of Thomas Davenport, jr., and a grandson of

698 Anthony Charles Campbell.

Thomas Davenport, sr. A history of the Davenports was given
in the sketch of George VV. Shonk, that has appeared in these
pages. The wife of Ohver Davenport was Lyvia Ransom,
daughter of Col. George Palmer Ransom. A sketch of Col.
Ransom has already been given in these pages in the biogra-
phy of George Steele Ferris.

James Buchanan Shaver, son of Andrew Jackson Shaver, was
educated at Wyoming Seminary and at the Wesleyan University,
Middletown, Conn., graduating from the latter institution in the
class of 1 88 1. He read law with John A. Opp, in Plymouth, and
was admitted to the Luzerne county bar June 21, 1886. He is
an unmarried man, and a democrat in politics.

Mr. Shaver has already tried several cases, and exhibited in
the conduct of them an understanding of the law and a wisdom
of judgment that augur well for his future. Plymouth has come
of recent years to be a very important town. It has extensive
coal interests and is the centre of general supplies for a popula-
tion greater than that of many quite ambitious cities. Up to very
recently one or two lawyers found it easy to do all its legal busi-
ness, but their number is multiplying, and the fact that all of
them are succeeding in a financial way is sufficient proof that
the multiplication has as yet not been in excess of the need. Mr.
Shaver will get his share of it, however, whether in the hereafter
it be much or little, for what he undertakes to do he does well
and thoroughly, and that kind of a man succeeds in the law and
in everything else.

ANTHONY CHARLES CAMPBELL.

Anthony Charles Campbell was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pa.,
June 7, 1862. He is the eldest son of James Campbell, a native
of Enver, Donegal county, Ireland, and who came to this coun-
try in 1847, when he was a lad about eighteen years of age. His
father's name was Anthony Campbell, and the family is of Scot-
tish descent. James Campbell landed in Boston, Massachusetts,

Anthony Charles Campbell. 699

and remained there for about a year, when he removed to Buck
Mountain, Pa., and from there to White Haven. About 185 i he
removed to Pittston, in this county. From 1855 to 1858 he ran
a staee route from Pittston to Wilkes-Barre. He then removed
to Wilkes-Barre, where he has since resided, and from 1861 to
1876 hekept an hotel in the latter place. In 1869 he was the dem-
ocratic candidate for county treasurer, but was defeated by Gar-
rick M. Miller, republican, the vote standing — Miller, 9537;
Campbell, 8045. In 1875 he was again a candidate for the same
office, but was defeated by John McNeish,jr., the vote standing
— Campbell, 9231 ; McNeish. 9491. In 1871 Mr. Campbell, in
company with his son Anthony C, paid a visit to the land of his
nativity. He took a practical view of the affair, as he purchased
a buggy and harness in this country, and when he arrived in
Ireland he bought a horse, and in this manner he made a tour of
Ireland. For the past six years he has been the court deputy
of the sheriff of Luzerne county. Mr. Campbell married, in 1858,
Ann McGourty, a daughter of Thomas McGourty, a native and
resident of Manorhamilton, in the county of Leitrim, Ireland.

Anthony C. Campbell was educated in the public schools of
Wilkes-Barre and at Lafayette college, graduating from the latter
institution in the class of 1884. After graduating from the pub-
lic schools he taught school for one year in the Morgantown
school building, in the recently erected borough of Edwards-
ville. Mr. Campbell is president of the alumni association of
the Third school district of this city. He read law with Henry
W. Palmer, and was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county
October 18, 1886. During the latter year he was secretary of
the democratic county committee.

Mr Campbell is one of the most promising young men at the
Luzerne bar. His educational advantages have been the best to
be had in the state, and he not only studied but learned, winning
high position in his classes in all the institutions he attended.
He was prepared for the profession under one who was deemed
a. good enough lawyer to .serve the commonwealth as its attorney
general, and he has secured both the esteem and the confidence
of his mentor. In addition to these advantages he has a natural
aptitude for the practice of the law, being a careful and acute

700 Charles Edmund Keck.

reasoner, a modest but attractive talker, and having industry,
which always makes other good qualities yield to the full, while
without it they become dormant and rusty. Many of the most
conspicuous members of the Luzerne bar are reaching that age
when, if they are not meanwhile called to the other world, ina-
bility longer to withstand the strains of arduous practice will
compel them to retire for needful rest. Mr. Campbell is one of
the few of the younger men who are expected, from indications
of their talent already given, to step into the places thus made
vacant.

CHARLES EDMUND KECK.

Charles Edmund Keck was born in White Haven. Luzerne
county, Pa., September 2, i86[. He is a descendant of Henry
Geek, a native of Upper Pfalls, Bavaria, who left his native coun-
try with his ^vife (Peterson), of Holland, on board the English
ship Pink John and William, of Sunderland — Constable Tym-
perton, master — from Rotterdam, last from Dover, and arrived
in Philadelphia October 17, 1732. When he reached there he
and his wife were sold as redemptioners for their passage money
to a man in Chester county, and served the time agreed upon —
about three or four years. As very little is known at this time
about the redemptioners, we insert the following :

From the early settlement of Pennsylvania a considerable
business was carried on, chiefly by ship owners and captains of
vessels, in importing from Europe persons who were desirous of
emigrating to this country, and were too poor to pay for their
passage, or have a competency for an outfit for so long a journey.
With this class, who generally came from England, Ireland and
Germany, arrangements would be made, through agents, to con-
tract and bring them over, furnish them with food during the
voyage, and perhaps some other necessaries, on condition that
on their arrival in an American port they have the right to sell
their time for a certain number of years, to repay the cost thus

Charles Edmund Keck. 701

necessarily incurred, and be of some profit to those engaged in
such ventures. With the growth and settlement of the country
this business greatly increased, through the demand for laborers,
and, perhaps, just before the Revolution attained its greatest
height. However, on the return of peace it did not slacken
much, even to the commencement of this century. Such a mat-
ter, of course, would also receive some attention from the gov-
ernment, and we give the special legislation thereon, upon which
as yet but little has been written.

In the Charter of Laws agreed upon in England, and confirmed
April 25, 1682, by Penn, we find this mention in the twenty-third
article : "That there shall be a register for all servants, where their
name, time, wages and days of payment shall be registered." In
the laws prepared on the fifth of the following month, the propri-
etary wisely remarks: "That all children within this Province
of the age of twelve years shall be taught some useful trade or
skill, to the end that none may be idle, but the Poor may work
to live, and the Rich, if they have become poor, may not want.
That servants be not kept longer than their time, and such as are
careful be both justly and kindly used in their service, and put
in fitting equipage at the expiration thereof, according to custom."
Penn, for the justice here di.splayed, certainly deserves credit.
"The Great La\y," passed at Chester December 7, contains this
clause : "That no master or mistress or freeman of this Province,
or territories thereunto belonging, shall presume to sell or dis-
pose of any servant or servants into any other province, that is or
are bound to serve his or her time in the Province of Pennsyl-
vania, or territories thereof, under the penalty that every person
so offending shall for every such servant so sold forfeit ten
pounds, to be levied by way of distress and sale of their goods."
Strange to say, the aforesaid excellent enactments, on William
and Mary reaching the throne, were abrogated in 1693. In the
beginning of 1683 "A bill to hinder the selling of servants into
other Provinces, and to prevent runaways," was passed by the
Council. On August 29 the Governor, William Penn, "put ye
question whether a proclamation were not convenient to be put
forth to empower masters to chastise their servants, and to pun-
ish any that shall inveigle any servant to goe from his master."

702 Charles Edmund Keck.

They unanimously agreed and ordered it accordingly. The
Assembly passed an "Act for the better Regulation of Servants
in this Province and Territories," in 1700, which provided

"That no servant shall be sold or disposed of to any Person
residing in any other Province or Government without the con-
sent of the said Servant and two Justices of the Peace of the
county wherein he lives or is sold, under the penalty of Ten
Pounds, to be forfeited by the seller. That no servant shall be
assigned over to another person by any in this Province or Ter-
ritories but in Presence of one Justice of the Peace under penalty
of Ten Pounds. And whoever shall apprehend or take up any
runaway servant and shall bring him or her to the Sheriff of the
County, such person shall, for every such servant, if taken up
within ten miles of the Servant's abode, receive Ten Shillings,
and if ten miles or upwards, Twenty Shillings reward of the said
Sheriff, who is hereby required to pay the same, and forthwith to
send notice to the Master or owner, of whom he shall receive Five
Shillings, Prison fees, upon delivery of the said Servant, together
with all disbursements and reasonable charges for and upon the
same. Whoever shall conceal any Servant of this Province or
Territories, or entertain him or her twenty-four hours without
his or her Master's or owmer's knowledge and consent, and shall
not within the said time give an account to some Justice of the
Peace of the County, every such person shall forfeit Tw^enty
Shillings for every Day's concealment. That every servant who
shall faithfully serve four years or more shall, at the expiration
of their servitude, have a discharge, and shall %)e duly clothed
with two complete suits of apparel, whereof one shall be new,
and shall also be furnished with one new axe, one grubbing hoe
and one weeding hoe, at the charge of their Master or Mis-
tress."

This latter clause was abolished in 1791. The object of this
undoubtedly was to encourage the removal of timber that the
land mieht sooner come into cultivation. An Act was passed
May 10, 1729, "laying a duty on foreigners and Irish servants
inported into this province." Masters of servants were regarded
■for the time being as holding property subject to taxation. The
rate in 1776 was fixed at one and a half pounds each, which was
increased in 1786 to ten pounds. The state passed an Act March
12, 1778, making compensation to those masters whose servants
or apprentices had enlisted in the army. "The labor of the plan-
tations," says the Historical Rcviczv (attributed to Franklin, 1759),

Charles Edmund Keck. 703

" is performed chiefly by indented servants, brought from Great
Britain, Ireland and Germany; because of the high price it bears,
can it be performed any other way? These servants are pur-
chased of the captains who bring them; the purchaser, by a
positive law, has a legal property in them, and, like other chat-
tels, they are liable to be seized for debts." Servants from the
Palatinate were disposed of in 1722 at ten pounds each for five
years' servitude. Prior to [727 most of the Germans who emi-
grated were persons of means. In the years 1728, 1729, 1737,
1741, 1750 and 1751 great numbers were brought hither. A
shipper advertises in 1729: "Lately imported, and to be sold
cheap, a parcel of likely men and women servants." They
brought but little property with them, says Dr. Rush, in his
account of the "Manners of the German Inhabitants in Pennsyl-
vania," written in 1789. A few pieces of silver coin, a chest with
clothes, a bible, a prayer or hymn book, constituted the chief
property of most of them. Many bound themselves, or one or
more of their children, to masters after their arrival for four, five
or seven years to pay for their passage across the ocean. The
usual terms of sale depended somewhat on the age, strength,
health and ability of the persons sold. Boys and girls had to
serve from five to ten years, or until they attained the age of
twenty-one. Many parents were necessitated, as they had been
wont to do at home with their cattle, to sell their own children.
Children under five years of age could not be sold. They were
disposed of gratuitously to such persons as agreed to raise them,
to be free on attaining the age of twenty-one. It was an humble
position that redemptioners occupied. "Yet from this class,"
says Gordon in his "History of Pennsylvania," "have sprung
some of the most respectable and wealthy inhabitants of the
state." A law was passed February 8, 18 19, "that no female
shall be arrested or imprisoned for or by reason of any debt con-
tracted after the passage of this act." With the final abolition of
imprisonment for debts, the institution had necessarily to die out
without any special enactment or repeal, so slow has ever been the
advancement and regard for popular rights, even in this great
commonwealth and enlightened age.

The late Joseph J. Lewis, of West Chester, in 1828 wrote an

704 Charles Edmund Keck.

amusing account of the "soul-drivers," the name given to those
men that drove redemptioners through the country with a view of
disposing of them to farmers. They generally purchased them
in lots of fifty or more from captains of ships, to whom the redemp-
tioners were bound for three or more years of service in payment
of their passage. For a while the trade was brisk, but at last was
relinquished by reason of the numbers that ran away from those
dealers or drivers. These ignominious gangs disappeared about
the year 1785. A story is told how one of them was tricked by
one of his men. This fellow, by a little management, contrived
to be the last of the flock that remained unsold, and traveled
about with his master. One night they lodged at a tavern, and
in the morning the young fellow, who was an Irishman, rose
early, sold his master to the landlord, pocketed the money and
hastened off. Previously, however, to his going, he took the
precaution to tell the purchaser that, though tolerably clever in
other respects, he was rather saucy and a little given to lying;
that he had even been presumptuous enough at times to en-
deavor to pass for master, and that he might possibly represent
himself as such to him.

Though this system of servitude possessed its advantages, espe-
cially to a people residing in a new and unsettled country, it had
its attending drawbacks. It was a relic that originated in the
long past of Europe, and, like slavery, was continued and en-
forced in the colonies. For the main facts concerning the
redemptioners we are indebted to William J. Buck, Esq., in the
history of Montgomery county. Pa.

These redemptioners were in the main honest men and feared
God. They were not socialists, anarchists, or others of that ilk.
They were satisfied with their condition, and had an idea that
property that belonged to others did not belong to them. They
came to this country to make a home for themselves, and took
great pride in the fact that they became American citizens, and
for this reason they were always honored and respected. Re-
demptioners were not confined to Pennsylvania alone. They
were to be found in all of the colonies, and represented nearly all
the nationalities of Europe.

After this time Henry Geek, now spelled Keck, came to whi

Charles Edmund Keck. 705

is now Lehigh county, and settled on the tract of land in Salis-
bury township which he subsequently purchased, and is still
owned by one of his descendants. There was on the place a
clearing, a log barn, apple orchard, and a log house. About ten
or fifteen years after his purchase he built a two-story stone
house, which stood until 18 18, when it was torn down by his
grandson, Solomon Keck, who built another stone house on the
site, and which is still standing. When Henry Keck first came
to Lehigh county, and for several years after, all his grist was
taken to White Marsh, Sandy Run, now Montgomery county,
to be ground. In 1828 he purchased four hundred acres of land
adjoining his farm.

John Keck, one of the sons of Henry Keck,' was on the first
grand jury that was held in Lehigh county. Andrew Keck, son
of Henry Keck, purchased the old homestead, married Barbara,
daughter of George Blank, and settled there. The Blank family
were from Saucon township. Andrew lived on his farm until
his death in 1828, being at that time seventy-six years of age.
His youngest son, Charles Keck, was elected treasurer, and sub-
sequently one of the associate judges of Lehigh county. George
Keck was the eldest son of Andrew Keck. In 1823 he was
commissioned one of the justices of the peace for Lehigh county.
This was at a time when the governor of the state always selected
the leading citizens, and they were commissioned for life. He
married Elizabeth Levan, of Maxatawny, Berks county, Pa. Her
great-grandfather was Jacob Levan, the founder of the Maxa-
tawny branch of the family. He was the owner of two large
tracts of land in Maxatawny. Parts of Kutztown and Eagle
Point are now on these tracts. He was also the builder and
owner of the first grist mill west of the Skippack, and was one of
the judges of the Berks county court from the erection of that
county, in 1752, until 1762. The Levans were a French Reformed
family, commonly known as Huguenots. They left France after
the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, and came to Pennsylvania
in the early part of the eighteenth century. Col. Sebastian Levan
was the son of Jacob Levan. He was an officer in the Revolution-
ary war, and also a member of the colonial assembly. Mrs. George
Keck was the second daughter of Jacob Levan, son of Col. Se-

7o6 Charles Edmund Keck.

bastian Levan and his wife, Magdalcna, who was a daughter of
Daniel Levan.

Charles Levan Keck is the youngest son of George Keck, and
was born in Allentown March i8, 1827. For many years he has
been a resident of White Haven. He was for twenty years a mer-
chant, but is now exclusively engaged in the manufacture of lum-
ber in the latter place. He is one of the directors and secretary and
treasurer of the Lehigh Boom Company, and also one of the
directors and vice president of the White Haven Savings Bank.
He is the president of the White Haven Water Company, and
president and one of the directors of the Laurel Cemetery Asso-
ciation. He was for twenty years president of the school board,
and for the same length of time one of the school directors of
White Haven borough. He is also one of the trustees of the
Presbyterian church. His wife is Eleanor, daughter of the late
John King, of Freemansburg, a native of Haycock township,
Bucks county, Pa., where he was born February 16, 1790. His
father was Frederick King, also a native of the same county.
Soon after the birth of John King, Frederick King moved to
Hellerstown, Northampton county, and after residing there some
time was elected sheriff of Northampton county, then consisting
of Carbon, Lehigh, Monroe, Northampton, Pike and Wayne
counties. John King acted as a deputy sheriff under his father.

The wife of John King was Hannah Jones, who was born August
16, 1789. She was a descendant of John Jones, who was born in
Skippack, in what is now Montgomery county. Pa., June 21, 1714.
His father, says Mr. Reichel, " had emigrated from Wales with
other persons of excellent and worthy character, descendants of
the ancient Britons, principally from Radnor, Bryn Mawr, and
Haverford m Merionethshire." This company founded a settle-
ment in Montgomery county, and in 1690 purchased a tract ot
forty thousand acres from William Penn. Of the early history of
Griffith Jones, the father of John Jones, we know little or nothing.
He died in 1720. Where John Jones spent his childhood and
early youth cannot now be ascertained, but subsequent events
render it probable that he found a home with relatives in the
Welsh settlement at Upper Merion, which was familiarly known
as " over Schuylkill." His opportunities of acquiring an educa-

Charles Edmund Keck. 707

tion must have been limited, but he learned to write a beautiful
hand and to express himself in good English. He also learned
the trade of a blacksmith, and is said to have been an excellent
workman, though in his late years he devoted himself almost
exclusively to agricultural pursuits. At an early age John Jones
was married to Eleanor Godfrey, a daughter of Thomas Godfrey,
of Tredyfryn township, Chester county. Pa. Mr. Godfrey was
descended from a highly respectable family in the county of
Kent, England. He married in England, and his first child was
born at sea while they were voyaging to this country. In Amer-
ica the Godfreys grew prosperous and wealthy. Besides the
daughter born on the sea they had eight children, of whom
Eleanor was the third. Thomas Godfrey died in 1756. His
wife, Jane, lived to a great age and died in 177 1. In her will
she bequeaths " five pounds to the vestry of the church at Rad-
nor, two pounds to St. Peter's church at Great Valley, and two
pounds to the minister who shall officiate at my funeral."

John Jones and his wife, Eleanor, began housekeeping in New
Providence, Montgomery county, probably on the land he inher-
ited from his father. In 1749 they removed to Bethlehem, Pa.
Here they built a massive stone house which stood until 1835,
w^hen it was taken down by one of their descendants and a mod-
ern mansion erected on its substantial foundations. The black-
smith shop erected by John Jones is still standing. Here he did
a great deal of work for the Indians, especially during the time
when the Moravian Indian converts occupied the village of Nain,
in the vicinity of Bethlehem. The Jones house was a place of
considerable importance during the Indian wars. Again and
again it was crowded with refugees fleeing from the frontier. On
July 7, 1757, an Indian boy, the son of the old chief Tattamy,
was recklessly shot by a white boy at Craig's Settlement while
on his way to Easton with a party of friendly Indians. Danger-
ously wounded, the Indian boy was brought to the Jones house
to be nursed, while his companions encamped around the house,
breathing threats of the direst vengeance in case of the death of
their young chieftain. It was a matter of the greatest importance
that his life should, if possible, be saved, and Dr. Bodo Otto was
engaged, at the expense of the government, to give him his un-

7o8 Charles Edmund Keck.

divided attention. For more than a month younfr Tattamy
lingered between life and death. The Indians could wait no
longer, .so they hurried away to their hunting ground.s, greatly
to the relief of the family which had entertained them. Three
days afterwards the young chief died and waS buried in the
grave-yard on the opposite side of the river.

John Jones soon became a man of wealth and consideration.
In 1752 he was appointed by an Act of Assembly one of the
commissioners to secure a piece of land upon which to build a
court house and prison for Northampton county, at Easton, " to
accommodate the public service, andfor the ease and convenience
of the inhabitants." He died June 2, 1781, and is buried in the
grave-yard at Bethlehem.

Joseph Jones, the youngest son of John Jones, was born April
22, 1755, in Bethlehem township. He married, in 1775, Hannah
Horn, of Upper Merion. We need not say that the first years
of their married life fell in troubled times. In 1777, when their
eldest child was an infant, Joseph Jones was required by the
authorities to take a wagon load of flour to camp for the relief of
the army. He left home in good spirits, expecting to return in
a few days, but when the flour was out they loaded him with can-
dles, and he was compelled to follow the army for many months.
One day during his absence a company of French soldiers came
to his house, and by signs demanded food and lodging. They
were a part of the suite of General Lafayette, who had been
wounded at the battle of Brandywine, and was at this time under
surg-ical treatment at Bethlehem. These French soldiers were
polite and respectful, but it is not surprising that Mrs. Jones was
afraid of them. At night she crept into a closet hidden by the
wainscoting, in deadly fear lest her hiding place should be dis-
covered by the crying of her child. One night she heard a noise
in the garden, and, looking out of the window, saw that a party
of tories were engaged in stealing a row of hives full of honey.
Without a moment's hesitation she called " Messieurs " at the
top of her voice, and in a few moments the soldiers came running
down stairs. Unable to make herself understood she pointed to
the window, when they raised their muskets and fired a volley
through the panes. Next morning the hives were found scattered

Alfred Eugene Chapin. ' 709

along the garden walk stained with blood, but whether any one of
the thieves was seriously wounded was never discovered. Though
never in public life Mr. Jones was a man of great influence. He
had read much, and was widely known as an excellent surveyor.
His flow of spirit was remarkable, and many stories are still related
which illustrate his keen sense of humor. In short, he was an
excellent example of a good humored, intelligent country gentle-
man. He was made sole heir of his father's landed estate, includ-
ing farms in Saucon and Williams townships, and comprising
nearly eight hundred acres of excellent land. He had, however,
to pay out a considerable number of legacies, and in those days
"land was cheap but money dear." He died December 17,
1824. His youngest daughter, Hannah, was the wife of John
King.

Charles Edmund Keck was educated in the public schools of
his native borough and at Muhlenburg college (Allentown, Pa.),
graduating from the latter institution in the class of 1883. He
studied law with Gaius L. Halsey, and was admitted to the bar
of Luzerne county October 18, 1886. He is an unmarried man,
and a republican in politics.

The courage and perseverance that enabled the ancestry of
Mr. Keck, as here related, to overcome the difficulties by which
their lives were surrounded, and found a numerous and pros-
perous family, are said, by those who know him best, to be
reflected in the character of their young descendant. He has
been a faithful student, and his examination was creditably met.
He begins professional life surrounded by friends and circum-
stances that give promise of success therein.

ALFRED EUGENE CHAPIN.

Alfred Eugene Chapin was born in Ne\^ Columbus, Luzerne
county. Pa., August 7, 1853. He is a descendant of John Chapin,
a native of Springfield, Mass., where he married Hannah Rock-
wood, and resided in that state and in Connecticut until several

-lo Alfred Eugene Chapjn.

of his family of twelve children grew large enough to assist in
the labors needed in successfully building up a home in the then
nearly unbroken forest of Huntington township, in this county.
They obtained a pleasant, healthful location on the western hill,
where some of his descendants still hold possession of the
paternal acres. John Chapin is in the list of taxable inhabitants
of Huntington township in 1796, and it is probable that he re-
moved there prior to that time. Samuel Chapin, son of John
Chapin, was a native of Litchfield county, Conn., and removed
with his father to Huntington township. He married Hannah,
the only daughter of Solon Trescott, in 1795. Solon Tres-
cott was the son of Samuel Trescott and his wife Hannah
Whipple, both of Sheffield, Berkshire county, Mass. They re-
moved to Huntington in June, 1778, and the Trescott family was
one of the representative families there. Solon Trescott, with
his brother Samuel Trescott, served in Washington's army dur-
ing the campaigns of 1776 and 1777. They were in the many
engagements during those two disastrous years. After their
term of enlistment expired the brothers returned to Huntington,
and both enrolled in the company of Captain John Franklin, and
with him marched to Forty Fort to participate in the efforts to
save the Susquehanna settlements from destruction by the tories
and their Indian allies. After their escape from Forty Fort,
where they were held as prisoners a short time after John
Butler was in possession of the fort, they returned to Hunting-
ton, and assisted others to escape who were still remaining there.
They had been preceded by bands of roving Indians, who were
busy in robbing, burning, and devastating the homes that had
been deserted. Several of the people the Trescott brothers ex-
pected to find were gone, and of some of them no tidings were
ever obtained. The brothers went down the river some distance,
then taking an easterly course, eventually reached Connecticut.
Samuel Trescott soon after married and never returned to Hun-
tington. Solon also married soon after, returning to his native
place, and remained "there until 1794. His wife was Margaret
Lewis, of Ashford, C'onn. When they returned to Huntington
they brought with them their six children, Hannah being among
the number.

Alfred Eugene Chapin. 711

Dyer Lewis Chapin, father of A. E. Chapin, was the youngest
child of Samuel Chapin and his wife, Hannah Trescott. He is a
prominent citizen and merchant of the borough of New Colum-
bus, and represented Luzerne county in the legislature of the
state in i860. He was also a candidate for the same office in
1 86 1, but was defeated by his republican competitor. He is one
of the trustees of the New Columbus Academy, and has been a
justice of the peace for twenty years and over. He has also held
the position of town councilman and other offices. His wife is
Amanda M. Fellows, a granddaughter of Abiel Fellows, one of
the active men of the Susquehanna company, and also a trusted
business man for the early settlers. He came to Huntington as
a proprietor to improve his claim as early as 1784. In his evi-
dence before the Pennsylvania commissioners in 1802 he says
eighteen years previous to that date. However, during several
years after that period he was not a constant resident. About
181 5 he was one of the commissioners of Luzerne county. His
family record says he was born October i, 1764. He married
his second wife February 17, 1791. His first wife, whom he
married November 12, 1786, was Anna Downing Andrews. She
left no children. Andrus Fellows was the eldest son of Abiel Fel-
lows by his second wife, Caty Mann. He married Sally Smith
and cleared up a home a short distance north of New Columbus,
where he raised his family and spent an industrious, useful life.
He was the father of Amanda M. Chapin, who is the mother of
the subject of our sketch.

A. E. Chapin was educated at the New Columbus Academy.
He entered the law office of Stanley Woodward, of this city, and
subsequently that of Charles R. Buckalew, of Bloomsburg. He
was admitted to the bar of Columbia county, and shortly after
removed to the borough of Nanticoke, in this county, where, in
addition to his law practice, he fills the position of justice of the
peace. He was admitted to the Luzerne county bar October 19,
1 88 1. He married, October 15, 1874, Lydia Augusta Sutliff,
daughter of John D. Sutliff, of Huntington. He is a grandson of
Miles Sutliff, an early Connecticut settler, who is on the list of tax-
ables of Huntington township in 1796. Stiles Sutliff, son of Miles
Sutliff, was the father of John D. Suthff. The mother of Mrs. A.

712 James Noteman Anderson.

E. Chapin, and wife of John D. Sutliff, is Catharine Larrish, a
daughter of George Larrish, of Columbia county, Pa. Mr. and
Mrs. Chapin have no children.

Mr. Chapin comes, as will be seen, from an old family in the
county, many of whose members have been prominently identified
with its growth and prosperity. He is a justice of the peace,
as we have already said, in Nanticoke, a position that in a place
so important and away from the county seat is of much conse-
quence both to its incumbent and to the people whose causes
are preliminarily adjudicated before him. He fills it with dignity
and with satisfaction to those by whose votes it was conferred
upon him. Where men read in the law and regularly admitted
to practice can be secured to accept these offices a necessar}' and
distinct advantage to the community accrues. The original juris-
diction of a justice of the peace under existing statutes in Penn-
sylvania is sufficiently broad to make it a matter of great import-
ance that he should have more than an ordinary knowledge of
the law and its gravity, and it is a fact notorious to every judge
in a court of record and every lawyer in active practice that a
very large percentage of the expensive and worse than useless
litigation with which the higher courts are constantly burdened
comes from gross ignorance and almost criminal carelessness on
the part of the justices by whom the cases are " sent up." Every
well-posted and well-intentioned lawyer would be glad of such
change in the law as would enlarge the jurisdiction of the justices
and aldermen, provided it were accompanied by the requirement
that those who fill such offices be qualified in an understanding
of the law they are to administer. Mr. Chapin's success as a
justice is an illustration of the wisdom of these suggestions.

JAMES NOTEMAN ANDERSON.

James Noteman Anderson was born in Pittston, Pa., January
7, 1856. He is the son of John Anderson, a native of Dum-
frieshire, Scotland, who emigrated to America in 1851, and has
resided in Pittston ever since. He was for many years in the

Cecil Reynolds Banks. 7^2)

employ of the Pennsylvania Coal Company as one of its super-
intendents, and has also been superintendent of the Pittston Water
Company since its incorporation. The mother of J. N. Ander-
son, and wife of John Anderson, is Mary, daughter of James N.
Bryden, also of Pittston. She is a native of Ayrshire, Scotland.
James N. Anderson was educated at Newton, N. J., Collegiate
Institute, and in the college of New Jersey, at Princeton, grad-
uating from the latter institution in the class of 1880. He read
law with E. P. & J. V. Darling, and was admitted to the bar of
Luzerne county June 5, 1882. He married April 27, 1886,
Carrie A. Westcott, of Oneida, N. Y. She is the daughter of
John H. Westcott, a native of Connecticut. The wife of John H.
Westcott is Helen Williams, a daughter of James Williams, also
of Connecticut. After the admission of Mr. Anderson to the bar
of this county his health failed him and he resided in the terri-
tories of Wyoming and Montana for nearly three years. He
then returned to this county and resumed the practice of law.
having- his office in Pittston.

Mr. Anderson exhibits in his practice all the sturdy traits of
the race from which he has sprung. His residence in the terri-
tories did much to restore him his lost physical vigor, and, being a
man of sound and active mind, and impressed with the seriousness
of professional life, industrious, and of affable demeanor, he has
already gathered about him a clientage of respectable proportions.
Members of the bar are multiplying quite rapidly in Pittston, but
Mr. Anderson is among the best and brightest of them and can
be depended upon to hold his own in a fair field against any of
his competitors.

CECIL REYNOLDS BANKS.

Cecil Reynolds Banks was born in HoUidaysburg, Blair county.
Pa., November 3, 1849. He is a descendant of Hugh Banks,
who was born in the early part of the seventeenth century in
Ayrshire, Scotland. He had one son, James — if more, we are
not informed. General James Banks was born in Ayrshire

714 Cecil Reynolds Banks.

about 1732. " He was a man (so the record runs) of great learninjT,
high toned and honorable, exceedingly handsome, and a devout
Presbyterian. In early manliood he was a great traveler, passing
much of his time in England, where, in 1754, he married Ann
Small, and sailed for America." His first home in this country
was in Chester county, Pa. After living there a year he joined
the army and went with Washington's forces for the protection
of the frontier (now Pittsburgh) against the P'rench and Indians.
He spent three years in the service. Upon leaving it he bought
a farm in York county, Pa., and in 1772 he bought the Cedar
Spring farm, in Mifflin (now Juniata) county. Pa., and moved
his family there. He died in 1793. He had six children.

Andrew Banks, son of James Banks, was the father of the late
John Banks, of Reading, who was a representative in congress
from 1 83 1 to 1836, president judge of the Berks district from
1836 to 1847, the latter year becoming state treasurer. In 1841
he was the candidate of the whig party for governor, but was
defeated. He died in Reading April 3, 1864. James Banks,
another son of General James Banks, was the father of Ephraim
Banks. In 1 8 1 7 James Banks was a presidential elector, and voted
for James Monroe for president. Susan Banks, daughter of James
Banks, became the wife of Christopher Bowman, the ancestor of
Thomas Bowman, one of the bishops of the Methodist P^piscopal
church, and of D. L. Rhone, judge of the Orphans' Court of this
county, and John Quincy Creveling, of the Luzerne county bar.
In the " Bowman Family " it is incorrectly stated that Susan
Banks was the sister of Judge Banks, of Reading. He had no
sisters, but Susan Bowman was the aunt of Judge Banks. We
have no knowledge of the other children of James Banks. The
late Hon. Linn Banks, of Virginia, said he belonged to the same
family, so it is supposed that one of the sons of James Banks
went to Virginia ; and General N. P. Banks, of Massachusetts,
also said the same, and his physique so indicates. In the law
reports, during Queen Elizabeth's reign, we find that Sir John
Banks was queen's counsel, and down to the present day we
find in Scotland and England among the Bankses many lawyers
and jurists, thus proving that the heredity of taste in learning
and in the professions is as imperative as the physique of a familjfy^-QT>

Cecil Reynolds Banks. 715

Ephraim Banks was the eldest son of General James Banks
and Catharine Nelson, daughter of Robert Nelson, who came to
America about the time of Braddock's war and defeat, and shortly
after married Martha Patterson, sister of John Patterson, grand-
father of Madam Bonaparte (Betsey Patterson). Madam Bona-
parte, before her marriage, who was well known as a most beau-
tiful girl, used to visit her cousin, Catharine Nelson Banks, at
Cedar Spring. The elder ladies of Harrisburg used to tell some
pleasing reminiscences of those days. Ephraim Banks was born
in Lost Creek Valley, then a part of Mifflin (now Juniata) county,
January 17, 1791. He removed to Lewistown in 18 17, and was
appointed prothonotary by Governor Findley in 1818, serving
three years, and commenced the practice of law at Lewistown in
182.3. He was elected to the legislature in 1826, 1827, and 1828.
He was a member, by election, of the convention which assembled
at Harrisburg May 2, 1837, to reform the state constitution. He
was elected auditor general of the state in 1850, and re-elected
in 1853, serving six years, and finally was elected associate judge
of Mifflin county in 1866, which office he held at the time of his
death, which occurred January 6, 1871. Judge Banks was a
sincere and devoted christian. He was an elder in the Presby-
terian church at Lewistown for many years. He often repre-
sented the church in the meetings of presbytery, and as often,
perhaps, as any other elder represented the presbytery in the
meetings of the general assembly. As a member of church
judicatories his opinions were always looked for and respected,
and he was always appointed on the most important committees.
In the church at home he was always as the pastor's right hand.
According to his Scoth-Irish Presbyterian training he was firmly
settled in the well known doctrines of the Confession of Faith
and catechisms of the Presbyterian church. Not only was he
faithful in his position as an elder of the church, but he refused
not the humblest service by which he could promote the cause
of the Master. He was a diligent and faithful teacher in the
Sabbath school till the infirmities of age compelled him to desist.
Immediately upon his death the members of the county court
held a meeting and passed resolutions expressive of their high
appreciation of his character, and the business places of the town

7i6 Cecil Reynolds Banks.

were all closed while his funeral ceremonies were being performed.
Judge Banks was loved by the democracy of the state, but was
honored alike by men of all parties. His natural gifts were
marked; he was a gentleman of the highest style of manners — dig-
nified, yet genial. The first wife of Judge Banks was Mary Keiser.
She was the daughter of Andrew Keiser and Jane Phillips, who
were married in Philadelphia May 28. 1792, by Rev. Joseph Pil-
more, ofSt. Paul's church. Jane Phillips was the daughter of
John and Hester Phillips {nee Reese), and was born in this
country. Andrew Keiser was the son of Jacob Keiser, a native
of Germany, who probably emigrated to this country September
16, 175 I, in the ship Edinhurg. The wife of Jacob Keiser was
Mary Matter, and on the ship just named was Jacob Matter and
Hans Adam Matter, probably relatives of Mrs. Keiser. Judge
Banks had five sons, all now in the " land of the hereafter "
except E. Nelson Banks, M. D., of this city, who is the
" hero of two wars." As a comparative boy he served through
the Mexican war. The doctor was in the forlorn hope or storm-
ing party at Chapultepec and helped storm the heights and
castle. This was done without any priming in their guns. After
the fall of Chapultepec the storming party was ordered to take
the gate of San Cosme, one of the main entrances to the city of
Mexico. Doctor Banks was wounded while helping to take a
battery at the English burying ground, near the San Cosme gate.
He soon rallied and caught up with the storming party, and was
one of the very few who stormed and took the batteries and gate
at sundown on September [3, 1847, and had the honor of sleep-
ing with the little band in the city of Mexico that night — the
first in the city. The next morning the whole army entered the
city. For this service Doctor Banks was appointed by President
Polk a second lieutenant in the regular army, but before confir-
mation by the United States Senate the war was ended. He
then read medicine and was graduated at the medical depart-
ment of the University of Pennsylvania, and then removed
to Peru, Indiana, and practiced his profession. When the
late civil war was upon us he was appointed regimental surgeon
and served with much zeal in his profession during the w^ar.
Colonel James A. Banks, the second son of Judge Banks, was a

Cecil Reynolds Banks. 717

brilliant young lawyer. He read law with his father, and shortly
after his admission he sailed for California around Cape Horn.
The voyage was long and tiresome. When he landed at San
Francisco he was selected by the late Governor Geary, who was
then Alcalde of San Francisco, to become his counsel in a trial
between him and the vigilance committee. The trial lasted a
week and resulted in Governor Geary's favor. At its close young
Mr. Banks, who had become weak by his long journey, went to
bed and in a few days died. Governor Geary placed a monu-
ment over his grave. Enoch A. Banks, the youngest son of
Judge Banks, read law with his brother, Thaddeus Banks, was
admitted to the Blair county bar, and soon thereafter removed to
Norristown, where he made character particularly as a criminal
lawyer. He was district attorney of Montgomery county for a
term of three years. He married Miss Ray Bean, and died in a
few years, leaving one son — B. Stanley Banks — an attorney at
law residing in Philadelphia. Alexander A. Banks, another son
of Judge Banks, was a druggist at Lewistown. Judge Banks had
two daughters — Mary, who married Mr. Stinsen, of Evansville,
Indiana, and Mrs. G. W. Bates, of Washington, D. C. Thaddeus
Banks was the eldest son of Judge Banks. He was born in
Lewistown in 181 5. He read law with his father, was admitted
to the bar of Mifflin county in 1839, ^^^ shortly after removed
to Hollidaysburg, and in 1841 married Miss Delia Cromwell
Reynolds, of Maryland. He was one of the leading lawyers of
the state, was a safe counselor, an able advocate, and had the
highest conception of ethics and conscience. His mind was
stored from almost every department of literature. He was a
member of the state agricultural society, and took great interest
in all that pertained to agriculture. He owned a beautiful farm
near Hollidaysburg, and took much pride in keeping it well
stocked with choice live stock and fruit, which before were
unknown in Blair county. In 1861 he was elected, by the demo-
cratic party, a member of the state legislature. In 1871 he was
the democratic candidate for president judge of his county, but
was defeated. He was frequently a candidate for presidential
elector and other offices in the gift of his party, but it was his
eminent integrity that shed its greatest luster on his character.

71 8 Cecil Reynolds Banks.

He was a zealous christian and a member of the Presbyterian
church. Mr. Banks died in 1880. He left one son, the subject
of this sketch, and four daughters — Kathleen, who married C. H.
Porter, of Hollidaysburg ; Juniata, who married Ambrose Ewing,
of Maryland ; Mary, who married Colonel M. H. Stacey, United
States army, who died in 1885 while in command of Fort Ontario.
Colonel Stacey made a brilliant record as a soldier and officer,
brave and magnanimous, and by his example and pen labored
for the highest interests of all branches of the service. The
Loyal Legion of the United States closes their memoriam of
Colonel Stacey with this sentiment : " We have tears for the
bereaved ones, but we remember with pride the luster he shed
on our escutcheon." Mrs. Stacey now resides in Washington,
D. C. Delia Cromwell Banks, the youngest daughter, is the wife
of G. W. Saddler, a prominent merchant of Baltimore.

Mrs. Delia C. Banks, mother of C. R. Banks, and wife of
Thaddeus Banks, is the daughter of Reuben Reynolds and Hen-
rietta Maria Cromwell. Henry Reynolds, the progenitor of the
Reynolds family in America, was a distinguished minister of the
society of Friends in England. He was a man of great wealth,
and with his wife emigrated from Nottingham, England, and
settled in Nottingham, Cecil county, Maryland. His brother
William afterwards came to America and settled in New York ;
another brother, John, came later and settled in Carolina. Reu-
ben Reynolds was the son of Jacob, who was a son of said Henry.
He married Henrietta Maria Cromwell, daughter of John Ham-
mond Cromwell, of England, and Mary Hammond Dorsey, of
Joppa, Maryland. J. H. Cromwell was born about 1750, came
to America previous to the revolution, married his cousin. Miss
Dorsey, and settled first on the Gunpowder river, Baltimore
county, Maryland. Subsequently he bought an extensive tract
of land in Cecil county, where he afterwards resided, and where
he and his family are interred. He was a lineal descendant of
Oliver Cromwell, who, Lamertine says, was more than king. He
was descended through Oliver's son, Sir Henry, and Lady Eliz-
abeth Russell. They had four sons, one of whom, Richard, was
the more immediate progenitor of J. H. Cromwell. The grand-
father of Mrs. Thaddeus Banks, John H. Cromwell, was a man of

Samuel Maxwell Parke. 719

profound learning, a great aristocrat, and lived pretty much iso-
lated except in his immediate family. He died a monarchist,
thus losing the sympathy of his granddaughter, Mrs. Banks, who
was one of the most zealous friends of the soldiers in the late
war. She gave her time, her money, her pen, all her energies
to the interests of soldiers in the field, in hospitals, to their fam-
ilies at home, and to their orphans. The Dorseys were origi-
nally French, and went over to England with William the Con-
queror. The name was D'Arcy, and the first of the American
D'Arcys came to Baltimore with Lord Baltimore and were
intermarried in his family.

Cecil R. Banks read law with his father, and was admitted to
the bar of Blair county in 1873. He was educated at the Tus-
carora Academy, Pennsylvania State College, and at Dickinson
Seminary, Williamsport, Pa. He practiced law with his father
during his lifetime, and after his father's death removed to this
county, and was admitted to the Luzerne county bar January
10, 1883. He comes, as the foregoing narrative attests, from a
long line of lawyers, many of whom were eminently successful
and achieved distinction both in their profession and otherwise
in public life. He has good natural abilities, and has had the
advantage of excellent training, both before and since his admis-
sion to practice. In his younger days he wrote much for the
local press, and in this line of endeavor displayed unusual talent.
He is a careful investigator, argues his causes well, and may rea-
sonably look forward to good success.

SAMUEL MAXWELL PARKE.

Samuel Maxwell Parke was born in Pittston, Pa., May 4, 1859.
He is a descendant of Arthur Park, a native of Ballylagby, in the
county of Donegal, Ireland, who came to this country prior to
1724, and settled in Upper Octoraro, Chester county. Pa. Hon.
J. Smith Futhey, in a historical discourse delivered on the occa-
sion of the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the Upper

720 Samuel Maxwell Pakke.

Octoraro Presbyterian church, says: "The entire Parke family
in this section of the country, toi^ether with many famiHes bear-
ing other honored surnames, are their descendants. It has fur-
nished this church with five ruhng elders, in five successive gen-
erations, * * * and has also furnished four ministers — the
late Rev. Samuel Parke and his son, Rev. Nathan Grier Parke,
the Rev. Samuel T. Lowrie, and the Rev. John L. Withrow.
The name was originally spelled Park, but the later generation
spell it Parke. Members of the family of the seventh generation,
from the original Arthur Park, are present within these walls
to-day." His grandson, Joseph Park, was a member of the Penn-
sylvania legislature from Chester county in the years 1779, 1780,
1783, 1784, 1802, and 1807.

Rev. Samuel Parke, son of Joseph Park, was born November
25, 1788, near Parkesburg, Pa. He graduated at Dickinson col-
lege in i8og, studied divinity under the direction and instruction
of Rev. Nathan Grier, of Forks of Brandywine — there being then
no theological seminaries in the church — and was licensed by the
presbytery of New Castle in 18 13. He was ordained and 'installed
pastor of the Slate Ridge church, in York county, in August,
1 8 14, and sustained that relation for forty-three years. He dis-
charged the duties of the ministry with great fidelity and to the
acceptance of his congregation until 1857, when, on account of
the infirmities of age, he resigned. He died on the 20th of De-
cember, 1869, in the eighty-second year of his age. His wife
was a daughter of his preceptor — Rev. Nathan Grier — a native of
Bucks county, where he was born in September, 1760. His
parents were John and Agnes (Caldwell) Grier, who, after their
marriage, came to this countr}' from Ireland. Devoted to God
in his youth by humble faith, he chose the ministry of the gospel
as the best means of promoting the glory of God and the benefit
of his fellow men. His classical and theological education was
conducted by his elder brother, the Rev. James Grier, of Deep
Run. He entered the University of Pennsylvania about r78i,
and was graduated in 1783. He was licensed to preach by the
presbytery of Philadelphia in 1786. In the same year he received
and accepted a call from the congregation of the Forks of Brandy-
wine, and was installed as their pastor in 1787 — a union for life.

Samuel Maxwell Parke. 721

He died March 31, 18 14, in the fifty-fourth year of his age, having
served his congregation for twenty-seven years. He married
Susanna Smith, a daughter of Robert and Margaret Smith,
whose biography may be found under the head of Edward P.
Darhng, in these pages. He left five children — three daughters
and two sons. Two of his daughters became the estimable wives
of Presbyterian ministers. His sons were Rev. Robert S. Grier
and the Rev. John N. C. Grier, D. D. Rev. John Ferguson
Grier, D. D., was his nephew.

Rev. Nathan Grier Parke, D. D., is a native of Slate Ridge, York
county, where he was born December i6th, 1820. He graduated
from Jefferson College before he had completed his twentieth
year, and four years later, in the spring of 1844, he received his
diploma in theology from Princeton College. He was licensed
to preach the gospel on the 30th of April, 1843, by the presby-
tery of Donegal. He was ordained in Pittston as an evangelist
by the presbytery of Luzerne July 7, 1846, and was installed
pastor of the church at Pittston June 6, 1847. He preached his
first sermon in Pittston in June, 1844, and has been pastor of the
Presbyterian church in that place since, a period of over forty
years. In 1 884 Washington and Jefferson College conferred upon
Mr. Parke the degree of D. D. In the early days of his ministry
his field covered Pittston, Lackawanna, Scranton, Hyde Park,
Providence, Newton, and Abington, a section of the country now
thickly dotted with Presbyterian churches. Mr. Parke married,
June 8, 1847, Ann E. Gildersleeve, daughter of the late William C.
Gildersleeve, of Wilkes-Barre, and granddaughter of Rev. Cyrus
Gildersleeve. Mr. Gildersleeve was of an old New Jersey family, his
ancestors having settled in Orange about 1660. Rev Cyrus Gilder-
sleeve, a son of Ezra Gildersleeve, was born Apri 1 1 4, 1 768, and grad-
uated from Rutgers College. After studying theology he removed
south, and for twenty-one years was pastor of the Midway Pres-
byterian church, at Mcintosh, Liberty county, Ga. While there
he married Mrs. Renchie Elliott, who had been previously mar-
ried to Thomas Quarterman. Her maiden name was Norman,
and she belonged to one of the old slave-holding families of
Georgia. She was the daughter of William Norman, who removed
Jfrom Dorcliester, South Carolina, to Midway March 22, 172 1.

722 Samuel Maxwell Parke.

The family belon<red to the New England colony that first settled
in South Carolina and afterwards removed to Georgia. The wife
of William Norman was a Miss Boyd, of Charle.ston, S. C. Mrs.
Renchie Elliott was but twenty-three years of age when she
married Mr. Gildersleeve. Five children were born to Mrs. Gil-
dersleeve. She died in 1807. By this marriage Mr. Gildersleeve
became a slaveholder and a grower of cotton. One of these
slaves Mr. Gildersleeve brought with him to Wilkes-Barre. She
was known as " Mam Helen," and lived to an advanced age —
something over a hundred years — and spoke with confidence of
being " assisher " to entertain General Washington in the home
of her old master in Georgia. In 18 10 Rev. Cyrus Gildersleeve
settled in Bloomfield, N. J., and was pastor of the church in that
place for about ten years. In 1820 Mr. Gildersleeve settled in
Wilkes-Barre and became the pastor of the Congregational (now
Presbyterian) church in this city. Desiring to extend the borders
of the church he occasionally preached to the people in Hanover,
Newport, Plains, Pittston. and Plymouth. The earliest regular
Presbyterian preaching in the Lackawanna valley was by Mr. Gil-
dersleeve, who was there as early as 1827, and the few Presby-
terians in the lower half of the valley were connected with the
church in Wilkes-Barre. Once in four or six weeks Mr. Gilder-
sleeve traversed the valley and preached on week days in school
houses, barns, and private dwellings, and the open air at Lacka-
wanna, Hyde Park, and Providence. For more than ten years
following Mr. Gildersleeve's ministry there were not more than
six families residing east of the Lackawanna river, in what is now
the main part of the city of Scranton. In 1829 Mr. Gildersleeve
was succeeded in the pastorate of the church in Wilkes-Barre by
Rev. -Nicholas Murray, D. D., author of the " Kirwan letters."
Mr. Gildersleeve subsequently removed to Bloomfield, where he
preached until the time of his death, January 15, 1837. He mar-
ried his second wife, Frances C. Wilkinson, May 12, 1808. This
wife was a widow whose maiden name was Kennady. Eight
children were the fruits of this marriage.

William C. Gildersleeve, son of Rev. Cyrus Gildersleeve, and
grandfather of Samuel Maxwell Parke, was born in Mcintosh,
Liberty county, Ga., December 6, 1795, and there lived until he

Samuel Maxwell Parke. 723

was fourteen years of age. His father then removed to Bloom-
field, N. J., with a view to educating his children. After com-
pleting his education Mr. Gildersleeve entered the store of Israel
Crane, in Newark, N. J., where he spent several years. He mar-
ried Nancy Riggs, of Mendham, N. J., a daughter of Preserve
Riggs, a sister of Rev. Elias Riggs, a graduate of Princeton College
in 1795, who received his license to preach from the presbytery of
New York in March, 1802, and for some time supplied the Presby-
terian church at Perth Amboy, N. J. In 1806 he removed to New
Providence, N. J., and continued this pastoral charge to the end of
his life. He died February 25, 1825. Mr. Riggs was eminently
a Godly man and a faithful pastor, and commanded, by his
exemplary life and conversation, the affection of his people
and the respect of the community. He entailed upon the world
a well-trained family that does honor to his name and has done
good to the church and the world. His two sons became Pres-
byterian ministers, the younger one being the distinguished
missionary at Constantinople since 1832 — the Rev. Elias Riggs,
D. D., L. L. D. The Riggs are descended from Edward Riggs,
who emigrated from England and settled at Roxbury, Mass.,
early in the summer of 1663. Some of his descendants removed
to Newark and Orange, N. J., as early as 1667. The Riggs are
and were a very highly respectable family. As one has written:
" The Riggs family is one of which no member of it need be
ashamed. It is distinguished for its great array of men and
women of solid worth, with few ' black sheep ' among them. As
a general attribute they may be said to have lived up to a high
moral standard, and to have had .strong religious convictions.
It has been liberally represented in the three leading professions —
physic, law, and theology, especially the latter. It has spread
and, literally, has its branches in all the states. Although the
early generations were neither wealthy nor polished, they were
honest, brave, and strong in their convictions, just such blood
as a true man is proud of possessing."

W. C. Gildersleeve, whose daughter Rev. Mr. Parke married,
was a decided anti-slavery man. He knew something of it from
personal observation on his father's plantation and other planta-
tions in Georgia, and did not hesitate to denounce it as unright-

724 Samuel Maxwell Parke.

eons and an abomination, although by so doing he became
ahenated from all his kindred in Georgia. He was a pronounced
abolitionist, as much so as Garrison or Wendell Phillips, at a
time when it cost something to take such a position, and as such
he stood almost alone in this city. P'or forty years he was ostra-
cized politically and religiously. He associated himself with the
abolitionists of the country, invited them to his house, and did
what he could to aid fugitive slaves who were fleeing to the
north. His residence on Main street was the depot of what was
known as the Underground Railroad, and he did not attempt to
conceal the fact. He frequently met slaveholders from the south
in this city, and did not hesitate to tell them that they would
never carry their slaves back if he could prevent it. It was while
he was entertaining C. C. Burleigh, an aboHtion lecturer, that his
house was mobbed and he was ridden on a rail through the
streets of this city. A full acpount of this disgraceful matter was
given at the time in The Spectator and Freeman s Journal, an anti-
slavery paper published in Montrose, Pa. An attempt was made
to bring the leaders of this mob to justice, but the pro-slavery
sentiment was too strong. Many of the very men who offered
such indignities to Mr. Gildersleeve subsequently became aboli-
tionists themselves. The fugitive slave law was passed subse-
quently to the mobbing of Mr. Gildersleeve, and it was thought
that this pro- slavery law was so framed that it would certainly
quiet abolitionists. It made no change in Mr. Gildersleeve. He
continued to harbor the fugitives and help them in their flight from
slavery. The result was that he was brought before the Supreme
Court and attempts made to punish him, but ha escaped both fine
and imprisonment and hved to see slavery abolished. Mr. Gil-
dersleeve was eminently a charitable man, and gave largely of
his means to assist the poor and unfortunate. He was the main
agitator and founder of the Home for Friendless Children in this
city, and contributed ^iO,ooo towards the same. For many
years he was prominently connected with the Presbyterian church
in this city and served as the superintendent of its Sabbath school.
The church here in its early day was considered by him to be
too conservative on the slavery question, and he, therefore, with-
drew from it and associated himself with the church at Montrose, ^
Pa. He died in Wilkes-Barre October 7, 1871. /^^^%,

George Drum Hedian. 725

Samuel Maxwell Parke was educated at the Newton, N. J.,.
Collegiate Institute, the Hill School, Pottstown, Pa., and Yale
College, graduating from the latter institution in the class of
1882, having maintained a position in the first division of his
class during his entire college course. He read law with George-
R. Bedford, and was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county
June 9, 1885. Mr. Parke is an unmarried man and a republican
in politics. He is a brother-in-law of Thomas H. Atherton, of the
Luzerne bar.

The energy and activity that marked the careers of the gener-
ations of men whose blood has descended to the subject of this-
brief sketch find reflection in him, manifest to his friends and as-
sociates, though he can scarcely be said as yet to have fairly
started on his career. His tutor gives him credit for having
been a very close and intelligent and even ardent student, and
in the cases in which he has been employed he has shown the
fruits of that application. He is a well-informed young man-
generally, moves in an influential social circle, and may safely
be said to be on the high road to success in his chosen profession..

GEORGE DRUM HEDIAN.

George Drum Hedian was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Decem--
ber 8, 1856. He is the son of Robert Emmet Hedian, who was
the son of James Hedian and his wife Bridget, who was a daugh-
ter of Patrick Hedian and his wife Annie Taft. Patrick Hedian
lived in county Roscommon, Ireland, where he owned consider-
able property, the homestead being known as Ballenaheglish, which
means " The priest's hom.e." He had three sons and three daugh-
ters. His daughter Bridget was sought in marriage by a relative —
James Hedian — to whom her father strongly objected, partly on
political grounds, for he was in favor of the governing power,
while James and his family were against it, his brother Peter
having been wounded and captured when captain of a company
of Red Ribbon men, and was publicly flogged for refusing to

726 George Drum Hedian.

reveal his comrades. Finding her father inflexible, Bridget eloped
with James, and they were married. The family afterwards re-
moved to Baltimore, Md., and the children (who were all born
in Ireland), Patrick, Martin, Robert E., Thomas, Annie, and
Mollie, were brought up, and the sons entered business in that
city. Patrick became senior member of the firm of Hedian &
Piatt, editors and publishers of TJic Catliolic Mirror. Martin
became a gold beater, Robert E. a potter, and Thomas a mem-
ber of the firm of Myers & Hedian, art importers. The daughter
Annie married Thomas Faherty, and Mollie married F. G. Cum-
mins. Robert E. Hedian came to VVilkes-Barre, where he estab-
ished a pottery. He was afterwards appointed deputy sheriff
by Abraham Drum, who was sheriff of Luzerne county from
1853 to 1856. In the early days of the late civil war he took an
active part in recruiting Company I of the Fifty-eighth Regiment
Pennsylvania Volunteers. He was appointed second lieutenant
of the same company June 5, 1863. Not being mustered in he
re-enlisted in the Fifth New York Heavy Artillery, in which he
remained until the end of the war. His brothers were active
sympathizers with the confederacy, and made frequent appeals
to Robert E. to join them, and at one time when receiving one
of their letters upon which was printed a confederate flag, which
was observed by bystanders, the feeling ran so high that he nar-
rowly escaped being mobbed. He has been employed at Wash-
ington, D. C, in the pension department. He now resides in
the same city.

The mother of George Drum Hedian was Eleanor Drum,
who died in this city on the 31st day of last March, ^a daugh-
ter of Abraham Drum, who was a son of George Drum, who
was born June 15, 1762, in Williams township, Northampton
county, Pa. The family of the father of George Drum consisted
of father, mother, two daughters, and the one son, George. The
father entered the Continental army, and shortly afterwards, at a
time when the son was visiting with a neighbor, his home was
burned and mother and sisters disappeared. It was supposed
they were carried off by Indians. The son was adopted by the
neighbor he was visiting, a man by the name of Steinbach, with
whom he remained till of age. His father was never heard of

George Drum Hedian. 727

after entering the army. The son became a farmer, and in time
the owner of a valuable farm in Williams township. George
Drum, early in the present century, removed from Williams
township to Sugarloaf (now Butler) township, in this county,
and bought the farm now owned and occupied by his grandson,
George Drum. He was appointed by Governor Simon Snyder,
February 17, 18 10, a justice of the peace. This office he held
for life. He died February 27, 1831. The wife of George Drum
was Polly Woodring. Abraham Drum was the third son of
George Drum. In addition to his being the sheriff of Luzerne
county he was the first postmaster of the village of Drums, in
Butler township, after whom the post office was named. The
wife of Abraham Drum was Magdalena Winters, who was the
daughter of John Adams Winters, who was born in Berks county
in 1760. He made his home in Quakeake Valley for a time, and
afterwards removed with his family to Beaver Meadows, where
he purchased a farm, upon which he first discovered the coal in
that locality. Hon. George W. Drum, of Conyngham, who
represented Luzerne county in the legislature of the state from
1879 to 1882, is a nephew of Abraham Drum.

George Drum Hedian was educated in the public schools and
at the Pennsylvania State Normal School, at Millersville, Pa.,
from which he graduated in 1879. For six years he was a
teacher in the public schools of this county, having taught at
Milnesville, Butler township, and in the schools of this city. Of
his ability as a teacher, Cyrus Straw, now one of the com-
missioners of Luzerne county, and at the time he wrote secretary
of the Butler school district, speaks as follows : " His qualifica-
tions as a teacher, combining discipline, thoroughness, earnestness,,
and good christian habits, place him among the first men of the pro-
fession." Edward Brooks, principal of the State Normal School
at Millersville, says : " He has shown himself to be an excellent
teacher and a thorough disciplinarian ; he is a young man of
excellent moral character, and is in every way worthy of public
confidence, and as such I give him my cordial and hearty indorse-
ment." He attained an honorable standing in his class. Mr.
Hedian's taste for literature led him to the stud}^ of phonography,
which he pursued by piece-meal while attending the normal

728 George Drum Hedian.

school, going to New York on several occasions for instruction
in Browne's college of phonography. After finishing his course
he secured an engagement with George Bancroft, the historian.
Mr. Hedian worked in the Senate reporting room for D. F.
Murphy during the winter of 1 88 1-2, in hours when not employed
by duties with Mr. Bancroft or with law studies. After conclud-
ing his law course Mr. Bancroft voluntarily gave him the follow-
ing recommendation : " Mr. George D. Hedian has been in my
employ for four years as private secretary. In this capacity he
has shown fidelity and assiduity, and has won my entire confi-
dence in his integrity, uprightness, and pure moral character. He
leaves me of his own accord, being disposed to enter the legal
profession, for which he has prepared himself at our well known
Columbian Universit>^ under the charge of President Welling, and
having for its teachers in the profession lawyers of the highest
standine on the bench and at the bar. Washington, D. C.
George Bancroft. June 3, 1S85." Mr. Hedian graduated as
LL. B. from the law department of the Columbian University
June 12, 1883, and as LL. M. June 3, 1884, and was admitted to
the bar of the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia June
23, 18S4. In 1885 he came to Wilkes-Barre and entered the law
office of Hubbard B. Payne, and was admitted to the bar of Luz-
erne county June 4, 1886. Mr. Hedian is an unmarried man,
a democrat in politics, and a Methodist in religious belief He
is also a member of the United States Senate Reporters' Asso-
ciation.

Mr. Hedian is a man of active mind and business experience,
which, in addition to his having been an apt and careful reader
in the law, equips him admirably for its practice. His ex-
perience and success as a school teacher, his association with
the eminent historian, as above related, and his practice as a
stenographic reporter, have given him a knowledge of men and
measures that must needs add largely to his qualifications for
advancement as a lawyer. As has been more than once remarked
in these sketches, such knowledge, other things being equal,
almost invariably decides which of two men is the better lawyer,
for, though familiarity with the statutes and with the decisions is
indispensable, the successful application of the fruits of such

Peter Augustus Meixell. 729

familiarity to the settlement of the disputes of men in the courts
depends largely upon the practitioner's understanding of men
and of general business procedures. Socially Mr. Hedian is all
that makes a gentleman.

PETER AUGUSTUS MEIXELL.

Peter Augustus Meixell was born in the township of Salem,
Luzerne county, Pa., August 16, 1857. He is a descendant of
Philip Meixell, a native of Bushkill, Northampton county, Pa.,
and who removed from that place to Salem township in 1810 and
purchased a farm, which the father of P. A. Meixell now owns.
His wi6»^vvas Elizabeth Varner. Philip Meixell, jr., son of Philip
Meixell, was born in Bushkillin in 1796, and removed with his
father to Salem township. In 1845 he was elected one of the
commissioners of Luzerne county. His wife was Catharine
Lanehart, a daughter of Peter Lanehart, who came to America
in 1774 from Germany. His brother, George Lanehart, was a
soldier in the revolutionary army. The wife of Peter Lanehart
was Susannah Boyer, a daughter of John Boyer. He was at one
time captured by the Indians near Drylands, Northampton county,
Pa., and conveyed to Canada. He subsequently returned to his
home, after enduring innumerable hardships while a captive.
Peter Meixell, father of the subject of our sketch, is a native of
Salem township, where he was born September 15, 1820. He is a
prominent citizen of his township and has filled the various town-
ship offices, such as school director and supervisor. The wife of
Peter Meixell is Elizabeth Fenstermacher, a daughter of the late
John Fenstermacher, a native of Montgomery county, Pa. His
grandfather, George Fenstermacher, was born in Germany on or
about the first quarter of the eighteenth century. He came to
America with his parents when about nine years of age as a refugee
after the revocation of the edict of Nantes. Philip Fenstermacher,
son of George Fenstermacher and father of John Fenstermacher,
was born in Montgomery county about 1770, and removed to

730

Henry Dudley Patton.

what is now Conyngham township, in this county. His wife was
Gertrude Harter. John Fenstermacher was commissioned a
justice of the peace for Nescopeck township April 25, 1840, and
held the office for nearly forty years. He died July 29, 1885,
aged about eighty-three years.

P. A. Meixell was educated in the public schools of his native
township, at Wyoming Seminary, Kingston, Pa., and at Blooms-
burg State Normal School, graduating from the latter in.stitution
in 1878. At the age of eighteen he taught his first school, and
was engaged in that occupation for about eight years. He was
principal of the public schools at Nanticoke, Pa., for one year, and
of Blakely, Pa., for two years. He also taught a select school
in Beach Haven. He read law with Hon. G. M. Harding and
John McGahren, and was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county
September 20, 1886.

Mr. Meixell evinces a happy understanding of the require-
ments of the profession, being a close and patient student, and
conscientious and energetic in the elucidation of all the material
facts in such causes as are given into his keeping. He is already
a first rate office lawyer, and with reasonably good fortune is
assured of a large and lucrative practice. He has a taste for pol-
itics, and has given much time and attention to the direction of
the last two or three campaigns under Democratic auspices in
Luzerne county, taking upon himself much of the detail office
work that is so arduous, that few know so little about, and that
is so essential to success, even where a party is supposed to be
strongly fortified in the confidence of the people, and with an un-
exceptionable ticket. He is personally very popular with all
who know him, being of a genial and obliging temperament,
honest and earnest in his friendships, and faithful in his every

undertaking.

HENRY DUDLEY PATTON.

Henry Dudley Patton is a native of Fayette county, Pa. On the
paternal side he is of Scotch-Irish descent. At an early day his
grandfather, John Patton, who married Nancy Woodrovv, of

Henry Dudley Patton. 731

Lancaster county, with three brothers, inherited a tract of land
in Washington township, Fayette county, Pa. The youngest son
of John and Nancy Patton is Hirim Patton, who now occupies
the old homestead. Hirim Patton married Harriet Wris^ht of
Westmoreland county, a descendant of that family of Wrights so
largely instrumental in establishing Presbyterianism west of the
mountains. To Hirim and Harriet Patton were born ten chil-
dren (eight now living), the fourth of whom is H. D. Patton, who
was born July 28, 1845.

Desiring an education, and his parents not being in circum-
stances to afford help, H. D. Patton got their consent to attend a
high school at Fayette city, Pa., three miles distant. In the
summer of 1863, earning book-money by working in a neighbor's
hay-field, he entered school the following Monday, attendino-
during four quarters. In the summer of 1864 he was a student
at the Millsboro Local Normal School. The winters of 1864-65
Mr. Patton was principal of the Allenport public schools. During
the summers of 1865 and 1866 he attended the South Western
Normal College, at California, Pa. — since having become the
South Western State Normal School — where he not only better
fitted himself for teaching, but also laid the foundation for a more
liberal education. In the autumn of 1866 Mr. Patton accepted
the principalship of the West Middletown (Pa.) public schools,
holding the same also during the winters of 1867-68-69. Dur-
ing the.se winters he took an active part in county institutes.
During the spring and summer of 1867 he taught a select and
normal school at West Middletown. The summer of 1868 Mr.
Patton was employed as a teacher in the South Western Normal
College, in which he had been a student. The spring and sum-
mer of 1869, desiring to gain practical knowledge of the advan-
tages offered by the eastern schools, Mr. Patton attended the Mas-
sachusetts State Normal School, at Westfield, where, applying
himself assiduously, he acquired the Prussian system of teaching
as taught there. While in the east he visited a number of
schools in Springfield, Boston, etc.

During the school term, at the invitation of Prof J. C. Grcen-
ough, vice-principal of the W^estfield school, Mr. Patton attended
a teachers' association at Holyoke, where, among other addresses.

732 Henrv Dudley Patton.

Dr. Seelye, of Amherst college, spoke on the advantages of clas-
sical studies. The address modified Mr. Patton's views on this
question, and he began to plan to seek a more liberal education
than the normal schools could afford. Accordingly, after return-
ing and filling his engagement at West Middletown, in the spring
of 1 870 he entered Waynesburg college in the middle of the sopho-
more year, remaining to complete the course, graduating in the
class of 1872. On entering college his reputation as a teacher
had preceded him, and death having caused a vacancy in the
faculty, he was employed to teach two hours a day during the
entire course, which he did in addition to pushing his own
studies. During the summers he taught normal classes. On his
graduation , in 1872, the Pennsylvania synod of the Cumberland
Presbyterian church, of which he is a member, nominated Prof
Patton to the vice-presidency of the college faculty and to the chair
of English. The board of trustees of the college confirmed the
nomination, and at the opening of the next college year he entered
on his larger sphere of labor and responsibility. He held these
positions until the spring of 1876, when, the institution getting
into financial straits, he resigned. During a portion of this time,
the president of the college being abroad, and also taking part in
institute work in other states, his duties and responsibilities fell
upon Prof Patton as vice-president. He also took active part
in county institute work, and became widely known in south-
western Pennsylvania as an educator.

On September 14, 1875, Prof. Patton was married to Miss Lucy
V. Inghram, M. M., a graduate of Music Vale Seminary, Connec-
ticut. Mrs. Patton is the youngest daughter of Dr. Arthur and
Elizabeth Inghram, of Waynesburg, Pa. (both deceased), and the
youngest sister of Hon. James Inghram, president judge of the
Fourteenth judicial district of Pennsylvania. Mr. and Mrs. Pat-
ton have no children.

In the autumn of 1876 Prof Patton accepted the principalship
of the public and normal schools of Youngsville, Pa., which po-
sition he resigned in the spring of 1877 to accept the principalship
of the Eclectic Institute, Jersey Shore, Pa., a position more con-
genial to his tastes. While holding this position he gave many?
educational lectures and contributed largely to the press.

Henry Dudley Patton. 733

In the summer of 1881 he abandoned teaching and entered the
larger field of law and politics. Coming to manhood- in stirring
war times, Prof. Patton became a student of history and politics.
Though reared in the democratic faith, he cast his first ballot for
the republican party. Governor Geary receiving his first guberna-
torial, and General Grant his first presidential, vote. Supporting
that party until 1879, he became a prohibitionist, believing the
liquor traffic to be the greatest moral and political evil afflicting
society, and endangering the stability of our free institutions.

Having abandoned teaching in June, 1881, in December of the
same year he registered as a student of law with his brother-in-
law, James Inghram (now Judge Inghram), and on January 7,
1884, was admitted to the bar of Greene county.

Prof Patton, believing a reorganization of the body politic a
necessity in bringing the liquor question squarely before the peo-
ple, and in effecting an adequate extirpation of the evil, volunta-
rily threw himself into the work of party organization. So
during the period of his legal studies, as opportunity afforded,
and since to a greater degree, he has devoted himself largely to
that work. To give an adequate account of this work in these
limits is impossible. From August 25, 1 881, at Wilmington, Law-
rence county, till August 23, 1886, at Gettysburg, five full years,
he had addressed near six hundred audiences in Pennsylvania,
besides filling engagements in other states.

Discussing the principles of the prohibition party throughout
the state, in school house, church, hall, court house, in groves,
and on the street, and organizing clubs, effecting township, ward,
and county organizations, assisting in holding county conventions,
and setting local forces at work — Prof Patton is personally better
known in Pennsylvania than any other member of the prohibi-
tion party.

On September 13, 1882, in an unfinished store room of the
Wood estate, 34 South Main street, Prof Patton made the first
public prohibition speech eve-r made in Wilkes- Barre. He speaks
wholly off-hand, has the reputation of treating his opponents
with courtesy and fairness, illustrates his points with clearness, and
builds his arguments with logical solidity. He has also taken
part largely in moral suasion and non-partisan temperance work.

734 Henkv Dudley Patton.

Prof. Patton was an elector on the Neal Dow ticket of i88o.
He was also a delegate to the national prohibition conference
which met at Chicago, August 23, 1882, and on the call of states,
was chosen by the Pennsylvania delegation to represent the state
from the platform on the progress of the work therein. He was
a delegate to the national prohibition convention which met at
Pittsburgh, July 21, 1884. To the Pennsylvania state conventions
of his party he has been repeatedly sent, always being placed on

its working committees.

Being well acquainted throughout the state, and knowing the
wants of the party, he was unanimously chosen chairman of the
state executive committee, at Harrisburg, at the late state conven-
tion, August 25-26, 1886.

On the evening of August 31, at headquarters, in Philadelphia,
where he had gone to open up the campaign, he was met and op-
posed by the leading candidate, Hon. Charles S. Wolfe, and ten
or more others — Mr. Wolfe's friends. The opposition was osten-
sibly on the ground of Mr. Patton's want of legal standing as
chairman and his lack of fitness for the position. The conditions
of his remaining chairman were such as Chairman Patton believed
to be a compromise of his manhood and a betrayal of the integrity
of the party whose honor he should preserve.. He resigned,
when at a hastily called meeting of the state committee, at Har-
risburg, September 10, he was denied the right and privilege of
stating his reasons for resigning before his resignation should be
acted on. A vote was promptly taken accepting his resignation,
in the face of the most strenuous protest on the part of his friends,
a large part of the delegates not understanding the situation of
affairs. This created division in the party ranks, by which can-
didate Wolfe lost, as estimated by many of his friends, from
twenty to thirty thousand votes in the state.

Prof. Patton is assiduously studious, is a lover of metaphysics,
mathematics, the classics, and political economy.

On January 5th, 1887, on certificate from Greene county, Mr.
Patton was admitted to the Luzerne county bar, and is a partner
in the firm of Patton & Nichols, of this city.

Comparatively few men pass through such varied experiences
before coming to the practice of the law as Mr. Patton. Many

James Robinson Scouton. 735

young men adopt teaching as a temporary makeshift or most
available means of earning a livelihood while preparing them-
selves for admission to the bar ; but Prof Patton continued in
that line of useful endeavor until he had reached an age at which
most men similarly situated regard their vocation as fixed for
life. The means by which he got his start, however, showed of
what superior material he was made. Young men whose parents
are without the means of assisting them to an education, and
who are on that account willing to undergo the toils of the hay-
field to make up that deficiency are not numerous in the modern
world, and when circumstances have developed one such it is
safe enough to assume that he will not rest content with what
he has, so long as he believes there are any greater heights
attainable. Prof Patton has come to the practice of what he
finally concluded should be his profession with the convictions of
matured middle life and all the experiences that precede it to
guide him in making of that profession a thing of profit and
honor to himself and advantage to those who employ his services.
He is a man of pronounced views, with a disposition to be useful
as a citizen, and many companionable qualities, and he will make
in all respects a good lawyer.

JAMES ROBINSON SCOUTON.

James Robinson Scouton is a native of Elwell, Bradford county,
Pa., where he was born September 26, 1858. His father, W. W.
Scouton, is a native of Forkston, Wyoming county. Pa., where
he was born in 1821. William Scouton, father of W. W. Scouton,
was a native of Connecticut, as also Jacob Scouton. father of
William Scouton. The mother of the subject of our sketch, and
wife of W. W. Scouton, is Luray Ann Robinson, a daughter of
Ira Robinson, who was also a native of Forkston. He was the
son of Rewell Robinson, who was the son of Chandler Robinson.
The Robinson family originally came from Connecticut to
Pennsylvania. James R. Scouton was educated in the public

736 Andrew Fein Derr.

schools, at Susquehanna Collcfriate Institute, at Towanda, Pa.,
and at the Wyoming Seminary, Kingston, Pa. He has taught
school more or less for twelve years in Wyoming, Bradford and
Luzerne counties, and was only about seventeen years of age
when he taught his first school. He read law and was graduated
from the law department of the Michigan University, Ann Arbor,
Michigan, in 1886. He then came east and was admitted to the
Sullivan county bar in September, 1886. He was admitted to
the Luzerne county bar January 6, 1887. He is a young man
of good mental parts and will, undoubtedly, succeed in his chosen
profession.

ANDREW FEIN DERR.

Andrew Fein Derr was born May 29, 1853, in Upper Augusta
township, Northumberland county. Pa , near the village of Kline's
Grove, about six miles from Sunbury, Pa. He is a descendant
of Johann Heinrich Dorr, who emigrated to America September
3, 1742, arriving " in the ship Loyal Judith, James Cowie, Master,
from Rotterdam, last from Cowes." He was an elder in the old
Swamp church, in Upper Milford township, Bucks county. Pa.,
and his two sons, Jacob and Michael, are entered on the church
records as having been confirmed on the same day. The origin
of this church antedates all existing records. The first log build-
ing was probably erected prior to 1736, soon after the German
and Swiss immigrants settled in that wilderness region, for the
church register opens April 24 of that year. A patent was
obtained for one hundred and thirteen acres September 27, 1738,
consideration ^17, 3s., 7d., and the tract is still owned by the
church. From that date the congregation has been Reformed.
In 1772 the log building gave way to a substantial stone struc-
ture; the flooring was flagstone and brick, the pews rough and
inconvenient for napping during the sermon, and a stove never
obstructed its aisles. A third building was erected in 1837 and
a fourth in 1872. The latter is a handsome stone edifice seventy
by fifty feet, costing $30,000, and is adorned with a tall spire.

Andrew Fein Derr. 737

The basement is divided into Sunday school rooms, pastor's
room, and broad vestibule, and the audience room is handsomely
finished with frescoed walls. In the loft is an organ which cost
$2,300. The Sunday school was inaugurated in 1841, amid the
cry of " innovation " and fierce outside opposition, but they
availed naught, and it now numbers three hundred scholars.
The church has now about five hundred members, and since
1869 service has been held every Sunday, which is the case with
but one other country German church in eastern Pennsylvania.
Since 1872 it has been known as Trinity Reformed church, but
down to that period it was called the Swamp church. Opposite
the church stands the little old house of the organist and the
music teacher, in which is still taught the music lessons of the
young people of the congregation, as was the custom one hundred
years ago, and was the custom many years before in the Father-
land on the Rhine, from which these quiet, peaceful Germans came.

It is more than probable that Johann Heinrich Dorr was the
son or descendant of Sebastian Dorr, who came to Pennsylvania
September 1 1, 1728, in the ship Jau/ts Goodwill, and who took the
oath of allegiance to Pennsylvania in 1743, but there are no cer-
tain records of their relationship. The Dorr family were all of
the Reformed faith, being a portion of that large body of German
Protestants who were driven out of the Palatinate in the early
part of the eighteenth century, and who came to the free com-
monwealth of Pennsylvania in such enormous numbers that it is
estimated that more than thirty thousand emigrants from that
portion of Germany landed at Philadelphia between 1720 and
1750. Though all communication has long since been severed
with the fatherland, within recent years inquiries have developed
the information that some of the family still remain in the neigh-
borhood of Heidelberg, and there was, some ten years ago, a
professor of that name in the university there.

Jacob Dorr, son of Johann Heinrich Dorr, was born in Penn-
sylvania in 1752. He enlisted in Captain Thomas Church's
company of General Anthony Wayne's regiment, fourth Pennsyl-
vania battalion, and served through the Revolutionary war,
having been wounded in the battle of Brandywine. After the
war he returned to Bucks county, settled on his farm in Uppei

738 Andrew Fein Dekr.

Milford township, where he built the house in which he li\ed
for many years until his death in i<S29, and it is still standing in
good condition at the present day. His remains are interred in
the grave-yard at the Swamp church. Michael Derr, eldest son
of Jacob Dorr, was born in Upper Milford township in 1776.
He served as a soldier in the war of 1812 with Great Britain,
having gone into the service from his native county, and after
leaving it lived and died, in 1862, in Springtown, Bucks county,
Pa., having reared a family of ten children — twc sons and eight
daughters.

John Derr, eldest son of Michael Derr, was born near Spring-
town, Bucks county, Pa., September 4, 1802. He left his home
at an early age and engaged in the business of milling and later
in life in that of constructing bridges, having built Milford and
Frenchtown bridges across the Delaware river, and at other times
was eneaeed in the lumber business on the Delaware river. In
1834 he married Hannah Fein, youngest daughter of John Fein,
Esq., and Catharine Melick, his wife, of Finesville, N. J. In 1849
he removed with his family to Northumberland county, having
purchased a farm there, and resided in that county until his
death in 1 864. Rupp, in his history of the Pennsylvania Germans,
says that a ship was driven into the capes of the Delaware by
stress of weather in 1704 which had intended to go to New
York with its ship-load of emigrants, who proposed to settle in
that state. Among those people was supposed to be Philip Fein,
the ancestor of the Fein family, who, in common with many of
the other people of the ship, started overland from Philadelphia
to cross the then unknown wilds of northern New Jersey to reach
New York. Having reached the banks of the Musconetcong
river, in what is now Hunterdon county, N. J., Mr. Fein, with
his brother John, appreciating the advantages of the stream as a
water power and the fertility of the soil, determined to settle
there instead of pursuing his course any further through the
forest, which then covered the whole country. Mr. George
Brakeley White, of Cumberland, Md., in his chronicles of the
Brakeley family says that when his ancestor arrived in 1705 on
the Musconetcong he found the Fein family already established
there. The following is taken from his narrative : " The first

Andrew Fein Derr. 739

Philip Fein settled upon the tract of land where the village of
Finesville has since been built about the year 1700. Like all the
early German land holders in this locality he held his estate by
virtue of an Indian title, which was subsequently confirmed to
his sons Philip and John by the Lords Proprietors. This son
Philip, who married for the second time, in 1805, Mrs. Brakeley,
and who gave his daughter Catharine in marriage to y oung Mr.
Brakeley, was born July 15, 1744. He was a man of wealth and
influence in those early days. His name, as well as that of his
brother John, appears amongst the signers of the constitution of
the St. James' Lutheran church, of Greenwich, N. J. (commonly
known as the Straw church, on account of the first edifice havinsf
been thatched with straw), in 1770, and he ever took a deep
interest in its welfare. His business ventures were fortunate.
He erected a dam on the Musconetcong river and built an oil
mill, a grist mill, and a saw mill. They were the largest mills in
Lopatcong (the general name for the district) and the earliest
of which there exists authentic accounts. Mr. Fein died Sep-
tember 4, 1 8 10, and was buried in the Straw church grave-yard.
His sons inherited this valuable property and for many years
conducted an extensive business in grain." His son John, born
in 1767, died in 1826, married Ann Catharine Melick, the daugh-
ter of Captain Andrew Melick, and became the father of a large
family, of which the youngest child was Hannah Fein, mother
of Andrew F. Derr.

Johannes Molich was a native of Bendorp, Germany, an ancient
town of four thousand people, four miles below Coblentz, where
he was born October 28, 1702. He emigrated to America in
the ship Mercury, William Wilson, master, arriving in Philadel-
phia May 29, 1735. He brought with him ready money and
considerable furniture, some large pieces of which are now in the
possession of Andrew D. Melick, jr., of Plainfield, N. J. He was
a man of some education, as is shown by preserved correspond-
ence and legal documents. Tradition asserts that he remained
ten years in Pennsylvania. In 1747 he appears as owning land
in Sussex, now Warren county, N. J., and in 1750 was living
on Rockaway creek, in Readington township, Hunterdon county,
N. J., where he had established one of the earliest tanneries

740 Andrew Fein Derr.

in North America. He was, up to his death, trustee and church
warden of Zion Lutheran church, at New Germantown, Hun-
terdon county, N. J. In 175 1 he bought three hundred and
sixty-seven acres of land frontin^^ on the north branch of the
Raritan river, in Bedminster township, Somerset county, N. J.
Here he estabHshed another tannery and erected a substantial
stone house, which is occupied by one of his descendants. Cap-
tain Andrew Melick, son of Johannes Molich, emigrated to this
country with his father, and was but six years of age at the time
of his arrival in this country. He became a well-known citizen
of his adopted state, and was mustered in as captain in the first
regiment of the continental line of the New Jersey troops on the
4th day of July, 1776, and served through the war, and finally
died at the ripe old age of ninety-one years, honored and res-
pected by all who knew him.

Both the Feins and Melicks were leading members of the St.
James' Lutheran or "Straw" church, and the communion list
from the foundation of the church until their deaths shows them
to have been in regular and constant conmiunication with its
sacraments and holy work. In common with many of the early
settlers of New Jersey the Feins and Melicks were slave-holders.
Though the negroes were held as slaves, yet they appear to have
been accorded a very much larger measure of freedom than was
given such persons in the south, and even after they were freed,
by either the operation of the law or voluntarily by their masters,
they continued to live on the lands of their former masters and
worked for wages for them. Mrs. Hannah Derr had many
childish reminiscences to narrate of the old black men Cfesar and
Pompey, who were freedmen in her father's household in her
childhood days.

John and Hannah Derr were the parents of Thompson Derr,
Mary Catharine, married to John P. Richter, Henry H. Derr,
John F. Derr, and Andrew Fein Derr. Both John and Hannah
Derr died in April, 1864, the mother on the 2d of April, followed
by the father on the 26th, leaving Andrew not quite eleven years
of age. In the following autumn he was sent by his guardian to
Selinsgrove, Pa., where he lived with his sister, who resided
there with her husband — John P. Richter, of that place — and

Andrew Fein Derr. 741

there attended school at the institute and prepared for college.
In the fall of 1871 he entered the freshman class at Lafayette
college, Easton, Pa., and graduated with his class in June, 1875,
taking the degree of A. B. The following year was spent at his
alma mater in pursuing extra studies, to which there was not
time to give attention during the regular course, in modern lan-
guages, history, and general literature. In the summer of 1876
he registered as a law student in the office of George R. Bedford,
but in October of the same year he left his office and entered as
a student in the office of Hon. George W. Biddle, in Philadelphia,
at the same time taking lectures in the law school of the Uni-
versity of Pennsylvania, which was then adorned by the scholar-
ship and learning of the late E. Coppee Mitchell. Finding, how-
ever, that the ready and thorough course of instruction which
Mr. Biddle afforded his students was amply sufficient to cover
all the ground gone over in the law school, he concluded to come
up regularly before the board of examiners of the Philadelphia
bar for admission to that body in the fall of 1878. He passed
his examination and was admitted to the bar October 28, 1878,
being admitted to practice in the four Courts of Common Pleas
and the Orphans' Court of Philadelphia county at that time. A
month later, having decided to locate his permanent residence at
Wilkes-Barre, he came to this county and was admitted to the
bar of Luzerne county December 2, 1878, and engaged in the
practice of law in this county, which he pursued until the fall of
1882, when, owing to the failing health of the senior partner of
the firm of Thompson Derr & Bro., he entered that firm, since
which time he has given his attention exclusively to fire insur-
ance, together with several private enterprises in which he is
engaged. Mr. Derr is a director of the Miners' Savings Bank
and also of the Anthracite Bank in this city. He is a trustee of
the Memorial Presbyterian church, is one of the directors of
the Osterhout Free Library, of Wilkes-Barre, and is also an active
member of the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society and
has served as its treasurer.

Mr. Derr is a man of excellent natural abilities, and the educa-
tional advantages above detailed being grafted thereupon, fitted
him for a high place at the bar had he chosen to adhere to the

742 William Alonzo Wilcox.

practice of his profession. Tlie insurance business established
by his brothers is, however, one of the lari^est in this section of
the state. It had small beginnings, but Thomp.son Derr & Bro.
was one of the earliest firms in that line in Wilkes-Barre. By
close attention and patient perseverance the confidence of the
best companies in all parts of the. country was secured, and a vast
aggregate of insurance was placed by them on properties in all
parts of the state. Large profits were yielded, and it was natural
that, being offered an opportunity to take a leading place in such
a business, Mr. Derr preferred doing so to undergoing the labor
and submitting to the trials that must be borne before even the
best equipped attorneys can hope to control a paying clientage.
Those who know him best feel, however, that his decision has
lost to the bar one who might have taken place among its lead-
ing ornaments. His knowledge of the law and his practice
thereof are necessarily an advantage to him in the insurance
business, as well as to those who have dealings with him in that
line. Mr. Derr is a democrat in politics, and, while never har-
boring the thought of seeking or accepting office, has done effii-
cient committee and other gratuitous work for his party on many
occasions. He is a gentleman of many attractive qualities, always
affable, generous, and, by reason of these and other attractive
social endowments, is a great favorite in the best society wherever
inclination or business takes him.

WILLIAM ALONZO WILCOX.

William Alonzo Wilcox was born in the village of Olean,
Cattaraugus county, N. Y., July 25, 1857. He is a descendant,
in the ninth generation, of Edward Wilcox, of Portsmouth and
Kingstown, R. I.

Edward Wilcox, in 1638, was one of the free inhabitants of
the island, then called Aquidneck, now Rhode Island, and
joined in forming the civil combination or compact of govern-
ment May 28 of that year. He had a trading house at Narra-

William Alonzo Wilcox. 743

gansett, in partnership with Roger WiUiams, about this time.
At some time thereafter Richard Smith, sr., of Gloucester-
shire, England, more recently of Taunton, Mass., joined with
them. Wilcox probably died at Narragansett before 1648, and
in 165 1 Roger Williams, to raise funds to defray his expenses to
England for the second charter, sold to Smith the trading house,
his two big guns, and the small island near Smith's house which
had been granted him by Canonicus a little before his death. In
1653 Smith seems to have acted as guardian for eight children,
probably those of Wilcox, among whose sons were Stephen and
Daniel. From Daniel have come a host of the name in south-
eastern Massachusetts.

Stephen Wilcox, a son of Edward Wilcox, was born about
1633, and was of Portsmouth, R. I., in 1655. Early in 1658 he
married Hannah, daughter of Thomas Hazard, of Portsmouth.
Mr. Hazard was a ship carpenter, who came from Wales to Bos-
ton about 1635. He espoused the weaker side in the famous
Hutchinson controversy, and with Nicholas Easton and Henry
Bull, both afterwards governors of Rhode Island, and fifteen
others, all prominent citizens of the Massachusetts Bay Colony,
was first disarmed, then driven, by their triumphant opponents,
from Massachusetts. They determined to make their new home
on the Delaware, and sent their household goods by ship around
Cape Cod, going overland themselves to Providence, where
they expected to embark for the Delaware country. But at
Providence they were induced by Roger Williams to take up
their abode upon Aquidneck. Westerly was settled in 1661.
In May, 1669, when the town was incorporated, Stephen Wilcox
was among the free inhabitants. He was one of the first delegates
from Westerly to" the general assembly, and was again elected
in 1672. In 1670 John Richards, treasurer of Harvard college,
charged him with having " seazed, possessed, planted and now
living upon with his adherents, land in Stonington [Westerly
intended], on the east side of Pawcatuck river, bounded with a
parcel of land laya out to Thomas Prentis on the West, with the
sound on the South, on the East with Wecapauge, and on the
North with Common land," which Richards claimed as the
property of the college. This interstate controversy, for it was

744 William Alonzo Wilcox.

a question of jurisdiction and boundary between Massachusetts
and Rhode Island, lasted a number of years, and was finally
determined in favor of the Rhode Islanders. The old Wilcox
form, near Watch Hill, part of the tract described, is still owned
and occupied by descendants of Stephen. In a paper dated Feb-
ruary 6, 1689-90 he is mentioned as deceased. His children
were Edward, Thomas, Daniel, William, Stephen, Hannah, and
Jeremiah.

Edward Wilcox, son of Stephen Wilcox, was born about 1662,
married, first, a daughter of Robert and Mary (Brownell) Hazard,
by whom he had four children — Mary, Hannah, Stephen, and
Edward. In 1698 he married Tamzin, daughter of Richard Ste-
phens, of Taunton, Massachusetts, by whom he had six children —
Sarah, Thomas, Hezekiah, Elisha, Amy, and Susannah. January
6, 1686, he (of Misquamicut, alias Westerly) sold to Isaac Law-
ton sixty acres in Portsmouth for £il^, which was described as
bounded partly by land of his grandfather, Thomas Hazard. In
1688 he was appointed to look after horses not belonging to in-
habitants. In 1693 he was delegate to the General Assembly.
December 29, 17 14, he was one of the grand jury. On the 15th
of November, 171 5, administration on his personal estate was
granted to his widow, Tamzin. The town council authorized
the widow, after paying debts, to draw forth ^^50 for her trouble
in bringing up children that are under age. She was to have
her choice of the best room in the house and a third of the
income of real estate; the eldest son, Stephen, to enter forth-
with into possession of rest of house, and the orphans to have
the rest of the moveables, according to law. In the inventory
are thirty-one head of cattle, nine horses, and twenty-two of
swine, which, with books, pewter, and gun, amounted to ^^283, 3s.

Stephen Wilcox, son of Edward Wilcox, who was left in
possession of the homestead, married, July 12, 17 16, Mercie,
daughter of Matthew and Eleanor Randall, of Westerly. His
will, now lying before us, contains matters of creed and religion
not often inserted in wills nowadays, but common then. It is
dated January I, 1753, in the twenty-sixth year of his majesty's
reign, George the Second, king of Great Britain, etc. " Principally,
and first of all," he recommends his soul to God that gave it ;

William Alonzo Wilcox. 745

his body to the earth in christian burial, nothing doubting the
general resurrection, at which he is to receive the same again by
the mighty power of God. Bequests are made to his two older
sons, David and Stephen, and to his daughters, Mercie and
Unice. The homestead is divided between Valentine and Isaiah,
and the widow given the residue. The widow and Isaiah are
made executors. The children of Stephen were David, Mercie,
Unice, Stephen, Valentine, and Isaiah.

Rev. Isaiah Wilcox, youngest son of Stephen and Mercie
(Randall) Wilcox, was born about 1738, and married, October 15,
1761, Sarah, daughter of John Lewis, of Westerly. The " Third
Church of Christ in Westerly " was organized in 1765. It was
always popularly known as the " Wilcox church, " from the name
of its principal pastors. The constituent members w^ere Isaiah
Wilcox, Elisha Sisson, David Wilcox, Valentine Wilcox, James
Babcock, Mercy Lewis, and Austris Dunbar. The following
sketch of Rev. Isaiah Wilcox is from a chapter on this church in
Denison's Westerly, page 126 : " The first pastor of the church
was Rev. Isaiah Wilcox, who was baptized in February, 1766,
and ordained February 14, 1771. He was a man of full habit,
broad features but fair face, and weighed three hundred pounds.
Possessing a sonorous voice and excellent powers of song, he
made a strong and happy impression. He was a good man, an
able preacher, and devoted to his work. Deservedly he enjoyed
a wide and precious reputation. Under his ministry, in 1785,
occurred a great reformation, which continued for nearly three
years, and during which more than two hundred persons were
added to the church. The work was remarkably powerful in 1786.
The honored pastor died of small-pox, incurred by a compassionate
visit to a suffering townsman, March 3, 1793, at the age of fifty-
five years." He had twelve children, of whom Isaiah was the
eldest. He was succeeded in the pastorate by his son. Rev. Asa
Wilcox, of \vhom Mr. Denison says : " Besides ministering to
this he often preached in the ' Hill church ' and in the regions
round about, for his ability was in much demand. He was a
man of ordinary stature, handsome presence, excellent voice,
pleasing address, and readiness of powers. In his day he held
an enviable rank as a preacher, hence his good name and influ-

746 William Alonzo Wilcox.

ence still freshly survive in all the churches to which he minis-
tered. He finally removed and labored in Connecticut. He died
in Colchester, Conn., in 1832. His remains, about twenty years
afterwards, were removed to Essex, Conn., a field of his labor, and
laid by the side of the Baptist church, and honored by a chaste
monument." His manner of preaching was calm ; his sermons
logical, clear, and strong. His personal popularity was great,
and several large revivals attest the success of his ministry.
Another pastor of the church was Rev. Josiah Wilcox. The
first deacon was Stephen Wilcox, a brother of Isaiah. Oliver
Wilcox and Lieutenant Governor Edward Wilcox were among
the members.

Deacon Isaiah Wilcox, eldest son of Rev. Isaiah Wilcox, was
born in Westerly January 31, 1762-3. When the Revolutionary
war broke out he was too young for service, being but about
fourteen years old. He enlisted, however, in a home guard,
made up, possibly, like the patriot band at Wyoming, of" chiefly
the undisciplined, the youthful, and the aged, spared by
inefficiency from the distant ranks of the republic." The force
was commanded by Colonel William Pendleton, and marched to
New London, Stonington Point, Newport, and other towns on
the coast, engaged in frequent skirmishes, preventing the landing
of British vessels, capturing small vessels, and doing efficient
service in the defence of the coast. He had been stimulated by
his father to a love of that liberty Americans prize so highly, and
all he could do to secure it he did. He married, January 22,1 788,
Polly, daughter of C-«4wrcl William Pendleton,M' young lady
whose lovely character and useful life did credit to the excellent
family of which she came. They were married by Rev. Isaiah
Wilcox. In 1792, in company with his brother Nathan and his
family, he removed to Danube, Herkimer county, N. Y., and
undertook a settlement in the dense forest. He had been there
but a year or so when his log cabin took fire and burned to the
ground with very nearly its whole contents. He rebuilt it and
prospered. He enjoyed the comforts of religion for more than
sixty years, and was emphatically a shining light in the commu-
nity. In politics he was earnestly democratic. He died at New-
ville, Herkimer county, July 13, 1844, at the advanced age of

William Alonzo Wilcox. 747

eighty-two years, six months. His children were Polly, Isaiah,
William Pendleton, Asa, Lydia, Nancy, and Nathan Pendleton.

Colonel William Pendleton, father of Mrs. Isaiah Wilcox, was
a descendant of Major Bryan Pendleton through the following
line: Major Bryan Pendleton was of Watertown, Sudbury, and
Portsmouth. He was many years selectman and representative ;
made his w\\\ August 9, 1677, which was probated April .5,
1681. He left a widow, Eleanor, a son, James, and a daughter,
Mary. Captain James Pendleton was one of the founders of the
first church at Portsmouth, 1661, was a justice of the peace, and
served in the war against Philip, 1676. He married for his
second wife Hannah, daughter of Edmund Goodenow, by whom
he had a son Joseph and other children. Edmund Goodenow
was a resident of Sudbury. He came in the ship Confidence
from Southampton, England, in 1638. He was made freeman
May 13, 1640, was representative in 1645 and again in 1650, and
was a leader of the militia. He died in 1676. Joseph Pendleton,
born December 29, 1664, at Sudbury, was married, by Rev.
James Noyes, July 8, 1696, to Deborah, daughter of Ephraim
Miner, of Stonington, Conn. Colonel William Pendleton, sr., of
Westerly, was born March 23, 1704, and was married, by Rev.
Ebenezer Rossiter, March 10, 1725-6, at Stonington, to Lydia
Burrough, of Groton. Colonel William Pendleton, eldest son of
Colonel William last mentioned, was baptized August 13, 1727.-
He was married, by Rev. Nathan Ellis, April 2 5V'i7T?rto Mary
Chesebrough. Their second daughter, Polly, born November
14, 1766, at Stonington, it was who married Deacon Isaiah Wil-
cox.

Mary Chesebrough, wife of Colonel William Pendleton, jr.,
was a descendant of William Chesebrough as follow.? : William
Chesebrough came from Boston, county Lincoln, England. He
was born about 1594, married Anna Stevenson December 15,
1620, and arrived in Boston, Mass., in 1630, with Governor Win-
throp. He was among the earliest members of the first church
of Boston, and was admitted a freeman May 18, 163 i. Here-
moved to Pawcatuck, where he was the earliest permanent
white settler. He was a representative in 1653, 1657, and 1664.
He died June 9, 1669. His son Samuel Chesebrough, born

748 William Alonzo Wilcox.

April I, 1627, in England, by his wife Abigail, had (sixth child)
a son, Elisha Chesebrough, born April (or August) 4, 1667, who
had a son Jabez Chesebrough, father of Mary, who became the
wife of Colonel Pendleton. The wife of Jabez Chesebrough was
his second cousin PriscillaChesebrough. Nathaniel Chesebrough,
son of William, was born in England January 25. 1630. He mar-
ried Hannah, daughter of Captain George and Bridget (Thomp-
son) Denison. Their son, Samuel Chesebrough, married Pris-
cilla, granddaughter of John and Priscilla (Mullins) Alden.
Samuel and Priscilla Chesebrough had a daughter Priscilla, who
married Jabez Chesebrough, as above stated.

Pollv Wilcox, eldest daughter of Deacon Isaiah Wilcox, was
born in Colchester, Conn., January 4, 1789, married Isaac Brown,
November 22, 1806, and had sons, Rasselas and Isaac. The
three sons of Rasselas are, Hon. Jefferson L. Brown, of Wilcox,
Elk county. Pa., banker, surveyor, and lumber merchant ; Colonel
William Wallace Brown, LL. D., M. C, of Bradford, lawyer; and
Major Isaac B. Brown, of Corry, law}-er.

Colonel William Pendleton Wilcox, second son of Deacon
Isaiah Wilcox, was born in Danube May 31, 1794. He married,
in 1 8 14, Betsey" Payne, by whom he had three children — two
daughters and one son. He afterwards married Esther Swift, by
whom he had no children. He was a farmer and merchant,
served in the war of 1812, was sheriff of Allegany county, N. Y.,
associate judge of Elk county. Pa., speaker of the Pennsylvania
senate, and member of the Pennsylvania hou-^^e of representatives.
He died at Port Allegheny April 13, 1868. His only son, Hon.
Alonzo Isaiah Wilcox, was born in Herkimer county, N. Y.,
March 22, 18 19. About 1842 he engaged in the lumbering
business at Portland Mills, and at what is now Wilcox, Elk
county. Pa., and became one of the largest manufacturers and
dealers in the state. The flood of 1861 swept away the profits
of years, and he turned his attention to railroad contracting and
later to oil. It is within the bounds of truth to say that there
can scarcely be mentioned an important project or enterprise
in his section of the state inaugurated for the benefit of the
public in which he has not been one of the originators or most
active promoters. The Philadelphia & Erie Railroad, the Jersey

William Alonzo Wilcox. 749

Shore & Pine Creek road, the Rochester, Nunda & Pennsyl-
vania Railroad, the Bradford, Bordell & Kinzua Railroad, the
Equitable Pipe Line Company, and the Tide Water Company
may be mentioned among them. With some of them he is still
connected. He held the rank of colonel on the staff of Governor
Geary, and has been twice a member of the Pennsylvania legis-
lature, more recently having been sheriff of McKean county.
He has one child living, a daughter, the wife of Ernest H.
Koester, of the McKean county bar.

The third son of Deacon Isaiah Wilcox was Asa. He was a
merchant and manufacturer, and was a member of the New York
legislature from Herkimer county in the session of 1849. He
has two sons living — Hon. Isaiah Alonzo Wilcox, of Santa Clara,
California, horticulturist, and George Pendleton Wilcox, of Little
Falls, N. Y. Mrs. George P. Wilcox is a sister of General F. E-
Spinner, whose curious signature ornamented the greenbacks of
a few years ago. In 1872 George P. Wilcox was one of those
democrats who could not support Greely, and was on the O'Connor
ticket for presidential elector. He has written considerable,
principally on agricultural and metaphysical subjects.

Nathan Pendleton Wilcox, sr., youngest son of Deacon Isaiah
Wilco.x, was born in Danube, N. Y., May 3, 1804. He married,
October 9, 1828, Lurancia Richardson, daughter of Lieutenant
William and Sarah (Norton) Richardson. Lieutenant William
Richardson was born in Cheshire, Mass., and settled in Madison,
N. Y., with his father in early life. Ebenezer Richardson, the
father, was the youngest of a family of eight brothers, four of
whom married sisters, daughters of Hall, of Boston. Ebe-
nezer died about 1825, aged about eighty years. Sarah Norton
was an orphan. She came from Vermont with the family of a Rev.
Mr, Butler. Nathan P. Wilcox died April 24, 1 833, leaving a widow
and one child. He died young, but not before he had given evi-
dence of the possession of high qualifications for a successful busi-
ness life. He was a farmer and contractor. The old Baptist church
at Nunda was built by him, then an undertaking of considerable
importance, and several trusts committed to him were executed
in a manner that reflected credit on his ability and integrity. He
was interested in military affairs, and held commissions as ensign

750 William' Alonzo Wilcox.

and lieutenant of infantry in the New York militia. Lurancia
Richard.son, daughter of Lieutenant William, was born in Madi-
son, N. Y., February 23, 1808. In i836shemarried William Will-
iams, of Smethport, McKean county, Pa. When Mr. Williams
died, about 1867, she came to Nicholson and has since remained
there with her only son. Her age is seventy- nine years. .She is
a zealous, consistent member of the regular Baptist church. Mr.
Wilcox was of that faith but had never connected himself with the
church.

Nathan Pendleton Wilcox, jr., son of Nathan Pendleton Wil-
cox, sr., was born at Nunda, N. Y., May 16, 1832. He attended
the public schools and academy at Smethport, Pa., the Nunda
Literary Institute, at Nunda, N. Y., and the public schools at
Rochester, N. Y. In 1847-8 and again in 1852-3 he taught
school in McKean county, Pa. He entered the store of his
uncle, Jeremiah W. Richardson, at Nunda, in the spring of 1848,
and remained four years. He then went to Olean, N. Y., and
was employed with Smith Brothers and with N. S. Butler, mer-
chants. During 1856 and 1857 he was engaged in mercantile
business with J. K. Comstock as N. P. Wilcox & Co., and from
1858 to 1862 with Fred. Eaton as Wilcox & Eaton. He removed,
in April, 1862, to Nicholson, Wyoming county. Pa., and has
been engaged in mercantile business there continuously to 1886.
He was married, October 6, 1856, at Coventry, by Rev. J. B.
Hoyt, to Celestine, youngest daughter of John and Nancy (Litde)
Birge, of Coventry, Chenango county, N. Y. They have four
children — William A., the subject of this sketch, being the eldest ;
Henry Pendleton, merchant at Nicholson, and Misses Clara B.,
and Anna J. John Birge, of Hebron, Conn., the ancestor of John

Birge, married Knox. They had a son, John Knox Birge,

born in Hebron, Conn., about 1754. He married, September 15,
1777, Ruhamah Foote. He died May 17, 1838. Ruhamah
was born October 15, 1760. John Birge, their son, was born
June 18, 1789, and married Nancy, daughter of Captain Ephraim
Little, of Great Barrington, Mass. He died at Nicholson, Pa.,
October 23, 1866. Captain Ephraim Little, of Great Barrington,
was the grandfather of Ralph B. Little, of Montrose, Hon. Robert R.
Little, of Tunkhannock, E. H. Little, of Bloomsburg, and George

William Alonzo Wilcox. 75 i

H. Little, of Bradford county, of whom the first three are lawyers.
Of the next generation there are now at the bar George P. Little,
of Montrose, son of Ralph B., W. E. & C. A. Little, of Tunk-
hannock, sons of Robert R., Robert R. Little, of Bloomsburg,
son of E. H., and S. W. & William Little, of Towanda, sons of
George Hobert Little. Ruhama Foote was descended from Na-
thaniel Foote, who was born about 1 593, married, in England, Eliz-
abeth Deming, about 1615, and died in 1644. Their son, Nathan-
iel Foote, born about 1620, married, in 1646, Elizabeth, daughter
of Lieutenant Samuel Smith, of Weathersfield, Conn., and Had-
ley, Mass. Nathaniel Foote, jr., son of Nathaniel Foote, was
born January 10, 1647, and married, May 2, 1672, Margaret,
daughter of Nathaniel and granddaughter of Thomas Bliss, of
Hartford, Conn. Their son, Joseph Foote, was born December
28, 1690. He married Ann Clothier December 12, 17 19. He
died April 21, 1756. Ann Clothier Foote died April 15, 1740.
Their son, Jeremiah Foote, father of Ruhama, was born October
1 1, 1725, and died May 15, 1784. His wife was Ruhama, daugh-
ter of John North am.

Nathaniel Pendleton Wilcox is of large figure, fine presence,
and pleasing address; his judgment deliberate and conservative;
his temperament equable rather than emotional, seldom rising to
great enthusiasm, and as seldom unduly depressed. A good
academic education, added to favorable natural endowments, have
fitted him for a life of usefulness, and such his is. A residence
of a quarter century at Nicholson as merchant, magistrate, sur-
veyor, and man of affairs has given him a wide circle of acquaint-
ances, and it may safely be asserted that he enjoys fully the
respect and confidence of them all. If he has enemies they
are such as by their enmity do him honor. Perhaps nowhere
is he more useful than in the church. At Olean he was a mem-
ber of the Presbyterian church, and when the Presbyterian
church at Nicholson was organized (April, 1865) he w^as chosen
one of its ruling elders. He has frequently been a member of
the higher church courts — presbytery, synod, and general
assembly. He was a member of the notable general assembly
of 1869, which succeeded in consummating the union of the two
branches of the church, known as the old school and the new

752 William Alonzo Wilcox.

school. He has been active in the Sabbath school also, as teacher
and superintendent. For many years he has tau.i.;ht an adult
bible class with marked success. He is never sensational, but,
thoroughly satisfied of the truthfulness and authority of the
Word, he prepares the lessons conscientiously and presents them
with plain earnestness. Many have testified to the helpfulness
of his instruction. Politically he has always been a democrat, as
have been his ancestors back to the time when parties had their
beginning in the United States. His democracy is a deep rever-
ence for the constitution and a desire to transmit to succeeding
g-enerations the " best government the world ever saw," unim-
paired by the centralizing and extravagant tendencies of the age.
He has never held office except such local ones as justice of the
peace, burgess, school director, etc.

William Alonzo Wilcox, son of Nathan Pendleton Wilcox,
came with the rest of his father's family from Olean, N. Y., to
Nicholson, Wyoming county, Pa., in 1862. He attended the
public and private schools of the village of Nicholson, and four
terms (1874-5) at Keystone Academy, Factoryville, Pa. Perhaps
the most valuable part of his education was that acquired from
his father — in the store. He taught a district school in Benton,
Luzerne (now Lackawanna) county, during the winter of 1875-9.
The years 1878 and 1879 he spent in the law office of W. E. &
C. A. Litde, of Tunkhannock, Pa., and was admitted to the bar
of Wyoming county January 12, 1880. On January 17, 1880, he
was admitted to the bar of Lackawanna county. He at once
opened an office in Scranton, where he still continues. On March
12, 1883, he was admitted to the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania,
and on June 18, 1883, he was admitted to the bar of Luzerne
county. Mr. Wilcox became a member of the Presbyterian
church at Nicholson in 1876, and during the years 1883 and 1884
was superintendent of the Sabbath school. When he removed
to Wyoming, in this county, he connected himself with the Pres-
byterian church at that place. In 1882 he was chairman of
the democratic county committee of Wyoming county. He is
the corresponding secretary of the Lackawanna Institute of His-
tory and Science, a corresponding member of the Wyoming
Historical and Geological Society, of Wilkes-Barre ; also a trus-

Harry Halsev. 753

tee of the Presbyterian congregation at Wyoming, and a ruling
elder in the Wyoming Presbyterian church. He is first lieu-
tenant of Company D, of the Thirteenth regiment of the Na-
tional Guard of Pennsylvania, having been promoted from a
private through all the grades to his present position. Mr. Wil-
cox married, April 22, 1885, Catherine M. Jenkins, youngest
daughter of Steuben Jenkins, of Wyoming, whose biography has
already been published on page 52 of this series of papers. Mr.
and Mrs. Wilcox have one child, William Jenkins Wilcox, born
March 17, 1886.

At bars so crowded with legal talent as those of Luzerne and
Lackawanna there is necessarily a warm competition for business
— not such competition as characterizes the manufacturing
industries or mercantile callings, marked by principles of under-
selling, but competition having its manifestation in vigorous
effort on the part of the most industrious and ambitious to do
well all that they are given to do ; that success may be a sign
unto the next seeker after legal assistance as to where the best
can be had. In this sort of competition a young man of the
training Mr. Wilcox has enjoyed, and of the sturdy traits he dis-
plays, is likely to secure his full share of patronage. Without
pretence or aspiration to exceptional brilliancy in pleading, he
nevertheless argues a case neatly as well as thoroughly, and in
those branches of practice in which well-fortified and safe opinion
of the law is the thing sought, his advice is discreet and, there-
fore, sound. He has made a most excellent beginning in the
profession, and is in a fair way of securing a large and paying

clientage.

HARRY HALSEY.

Harry Halsey was born in Philadelphia, Pa., October 16, i860.
He is a descendant of Thomas Halsey, who settled at Lynn,
Mass., as early as 1637, and who came from Hertfordshire, Eng-
land. He had a son Isaac, born in 1660, who had a son Ephraim,

54 Harry Halsey.

born in 1693, who had a son Cornehus, born in 1721, who had a
son Solon, born in 1769, who had a son Henry C. Halsey, who
was the grandfather of Harry Halsey. He was a native of Orange
county, N. Y., and when a young man removed to the city of
New York, A\hcre he engaged in the mercantile business. He
died in 1882, aged eighty-two years. W. S. Halsey, son of
Henry C. Halsey, was born in West Town, Orange county, N. Y.,
October 9, i8_>6. He graduated from Yale college in the class
of 1846. He was a student of medicine in the college of physi-
cians and surgeons, in New York city, from 1 848-50 ; received the
degree of M. D. in the spring of 1850; studied medicine in Lon-
don and Paris from 1 850-5 1; practiced medicine in Newburg,
Orange county, N. Y., from July, 1851-54; practiced medicine in
Philadelphia, February 1854-59; was elected professor of surgery
in the Philadelphia College of Medicine in September, 1856; con-
tinued in this office until May, 1859; was one of the consulting
surgeons of the Philadelphia hospital from 1856-59, and was
elected professor of surgery in the Pennsylvania Medical College
in May, 1859. At the time of his election to this office he was
the youngest professor of surgery ever elected to that office at
any college in this country. He subsequently retired from this
office and from the practice of medicine and engaged in the min-
ing of coal, in company with William Taggart, as W. S. Halsey &
Co. The wife of W. S. Halsey was Hannah Taggart, the daughter
of James Taggart, at that time the largest coal operator in Schuyl-
kill county, Pa., and the great-granddaughter of Colonel Charles
Taggart, a native of Northampton county, Pa., who, during the
Revolutionary war, was killed at the battle of Germantown. The
wife of James Taggart was Elizabeth Dodson, a daughter of
Joseph Dodson, of Huntington township, in this county. He
was a descendant of Samuel Dodson, who in 1780 was a resident
of Penn township, Northampton county (now Mahoning town-
ship. Carbon county). Pa. Joseph Dodson was a brother of
Abagail Dodson, who was carried into captivity by the Indians
during the last named year.

Harry Halsey, son of W. S. Halsey, was educated at the
Episcopal Academy, in Philadelphia, and entered the University
of Pennsylvania. He did not remain there but continued his

Moses Waller Wadhams. 755

studies with a private tutor. He studied law with George W.
Biddle, of Philadelphia, and was admitted to the bar of Philadel-
phia county in 1881. He then removed to New York and for
two years was managing clerk in the office of ex-Judge William
Fullerton. Family interests in this section induced him to come
to this county, and he located in Hazleton. He was admitted
to the Luzerne county bar November 28, 1884. He is an un-
married man and a democrat in politics.

Mr. Halsey, it will be noted, has had far greater experience in
the law than usually falls to one of his years. Mr. Biddle, with
whom he studied, is one of the most eminent members of the
Philadelphia bar, and ex-Judge Fullerton, of New York, whose
managing clerk he was, has a national reputation, both as a judge
and an advocate. Mr. Halsey came to Luzerne, equipped by his
experiences under these gentlemen, with exceptional advantages.
He is a young man of quick, natural intelligence, with influential
friends, is industrious, and will do well, both for himself and his
clients.

MOSES WALLER WADHAMS.

Moses Waller W'adhams was born in Plymouth, Pa., August
2, 1858. In our sketch of Calvin Wadhams, the uncle of M. W.
Wadhams, page 109, we gave quite a full account of the Wad-
hams family. Rev. George Peck, D. D., in his " Early Metho-
dism," states that Rev. Noah Wadhams, the first emigrant of that
name at Wyoming. " was baptized with the spirit of Methodism
and commenced preaching here and there, wherever he found an
opening. He joined the Methodist church and became a local
preacher. He spent his latter years in preaching and laboring
with great zeal and acceptability for the promotion of the interests
of the societies." At what particular time Mr. Wadhams' theo-
logical views underwent a cliange is unknown. We quote fur-
ther from Dr. Peck : " Calvin Wadhams, of Plymouth, was the
son of the minister just noticed, and was converted under the

756 Moses Waller Wadhams.

labors of Rev. Valentine Cook. He contributed largely to the
erection of a building called the ' Academy,' adapted both to the
purposes of a school and of religious worship. The upper story
was seated and fitted up with a pulpit and an altar, and was the
only church in Plymouth for perhaps fifty years. Mr. Wadhams'
house was ever open to the preachers, and was often filled full
on quarterly meeting occasions." Nor was his ho.spitality con-
fined to the people of his own religious sect — it was broad and
general, and his house wa"s open to all. Living in a frugal way
and with his mind constantly upon his business, he accumulated
a large estate. Labor, temperance, and economy, in his judg-
ment, proved the true standards of manhood, and that made up
the rule of his long and prosperous life. On February 10, 1791,
he married Esther Waller, a daughter of Elijah and Susanna
(Henderson) Waller — the name of the father of Elijah Waller
was Samuel Waller — natives of Connecticut. Esther Waller
died February 19, 1818. On April 28, 1820, he married Lucy,
widow of Samuel, son of William and Tryphena (Jones) Lucas,
born in 1754, lived in Greenfield, Mass., and Berkshire, N. Y.,
and died in March, 18 19. She had no children. She was the
daughter of Captain Samuel Starr, of Middletown, Conn.

Samuel Wadhams, son of Calvin Wadhams, was born in Ply-
mouth, Pa. He married, April 7, 1824, Clorinda Starr Catlin, of
New Marlboro, Mass. She was a descendant, on the paternal
side, of Thomas Catlin, who is first found at Hartford about
1645-6 by the name of Catling. The time he came from Eng-
land, or the ship he came in, is not known. He was one of the
viewers of chimneys in 1646-7, and owned two lots of land on
Elm street, Nos. 23 and 24, in 1646. Soon after he removed to
Hartford he was appointed a constable of the town, which office
he held many years. The office of constable at that time was
one of the most honorable and trustworthy in the colony. He
held other places of trust in the colony and town. He had a
portion in a division of lands in 1673, and was living in 1687,
when he testified in court and was seventy-five years old. He
was probably married before he came to Hartford, and brought
with him his only son, John, and his wife, as his son is not found
born at Hartford by the records. He had a daughter, Mary, born

Moses Waller Wadhams. 757

at Hartford, and baptized November 29, 1746. A second
daughter, Mary, baptized May 6, 1749. (Hinman's Puritan
Settlers.) John Catlin, only son of Thomas and Mary Catlin,
married Mary Marshall July 27, 1665, and settled in Hartford,
Conn., where their children were born. He died in Hartford.
His wife, Mary, died October 20, 17 16. Benjamin Catlin, son of
John and Mary (Marshall) Catlin, was born in February, 1680.
He married Margaret Kellogg, and died in Harvvinton, Conn., in
1767. His wdfe died in Harwinton in 1786. Jacob Catlin, son
of Benjamin and Margaret (Kellogg) Catlin, was born in Hart-
ford, Conn., June 3, 1727. He married Hannah Phelps, of Wind-
sor, Conn., was a farmer, and lived in Harwinton, Conn. He
died in 1802 in Harwinton. Elijah Catlin. son of Jacob and
Hannah (Phelps) Catlin, was born in Harwinton, Conn., October
13, 1762. He married Hannah Starr, daughter of Samuel and
Chloe (Cruttenden) Starr. He was a physician, settled in New
Marlboro, Mass., and died in June, 1823, in New Marlboro. His
w^ife died in August, 1847. His brother, Jacob Catlin, jr., was for
thirty years Congregational minister in New Marlboro. Clorinda
Starr Catlin was the daughter of Elijah and Hannah (Starr) Cat-
lin. The mother of Clorinda Starr Catlin was Hannah Starr, a
daughter of Captain Samuel Starr. He was a descendant of
Doctor Comfort Starr and his son, Doctor Thomas Starr, whose
history has been given in these pages under the head of William
Henry Hines (page 610), whose wnfe is a descendant of Doctor
Comfort Starr. Comfort Starr, son of Doctor Thomas Starr, was
born in 1644 in Scituate, Mass., married, in Boston, Marah,
daughter of Joseph and Barbara Weld. The Indian apostle^
Eliot, says : " The cause of the bitter name Marah is, that the
father, Joseph Weld, is now in great affliction by a sore on his
tongue." He died October 18, 1693, shortly after her birth, of a
cancer. Comfort Starr, soon after his marriage, went to New
London, Conn., where his brother Samuel was living, but did not
long remain, for March, 1674-5, "one percell of land was recorded
to him and to his heires forever in Middletown, County of Hart-
ford, in the Colony of Conictecutt." This original homestead of
the family in Middletown w^as at the south corner of what is now
High and Cross streets. His name frequently appears on the

758 Moses Waller Wadhams.

records of the town. Tie was elected to several local offices, and
in 1679 was one of the sixty-four subscribers to purchase " a
belle to be hanged up in the meeting house." Joseph Starr, son
of Comfort Starr, was born September 23, 1676. He was a tailor
and lived in Middletown, He was chosen tax collector in 1705,
constable in 171 1 and 17 12, and died July 13, 1758. He married,
June 24, 1697, Abagail, daughter of Samuel and Abagail (Bald-
win) Baldwin, of Guilford. Samuel Starr, son of Joseph Starr,
was born January 6, 1704, in Middletown; in 1734 was collector,
in 1746 was grand juror, and in 1750 was selectman of the town.
He died July 27, 1778. He married. August 20, 1724, Elizabeth
De Jersey. She died August 26, 1768, aged sixty-five. Tradi-
tion says that she and her sister were the only children of a
French nobleman, proprietor of a large estate in Jersey, near the
shore of France. They were left orphans at an early age and
placed under the care of an uncle, to whom the estate would
revert in case of their decease. He, under the pretense of sending
them to England to be educated, put them on board of a ship
bound for America. On arriving at New York the captain sold
them for their passage money. They were brought to Middle-
town, and were given as their surname the name of their native
island. The elder was about ten years old at this time. The
sister married a Mr. Redfield. After many years the uncle, on
his death-bed, confessed his great wrong, caused letters to be
written to his nieces, begging them to return and claim their
rightful estate. They were too old themselves to respond, and
their children did nothing about it. This romantic tradition is
preserved among all the descendants of said Elizabeth De Jersey,
now scattered over the country. Captain Samuel Starr, son of
Samuel Starr, was born in Middletown April 25, 1725. He fol-
lowed the sea from his youth and became a captain ; was on shore
in 1755 and 1760, for he was elected to office in Middletown.
He afterward had a new ship in which he determined to make
one more voyage and then to give up the sea altogether, and
accordingly sailed, November 30, 1765, from New London for
the We.st Indies, in company with his brother. Captain Timothy
Starr, in another vessel. They kept together for three days,
when, a severe winter storm breaking over them, they became

Moses Waller Wadhams. 759

separated, and Captain Samuel Starr with his new ship was never
after heard from. He married, May 31, 1748, Chloe, daughter
of Doctor Daniel Cruttenden. Hannah Starr, daughter of Samuel
Starr, was born August 13, 1764, in Middletown, and died in
New Harmony, N. Y., August 8, 1847. She married, December
16, 1790, Elijah, son of Jacob and Hannah (Phelps) Catlin. Clo-
rinda Starr Catlin was their daughter.

Elijah Catlin Wadhams, son of Samuel Wadhams, was born
in Plymouth July 17, 1825, in the same house in which his father
was born. The house was built by his grandfather, Calvin Wad-
hams, and is still standing. E. C. Wadhams was educated at
Dana's Academy, WilkesTBarre, Dickinson college, Carlisle, Pa.,
and the University of New York, graduating from the latter
institution in the class of 1847. He remained in his native place
and established himself in the mercantile business, which he car-
ried on successfully for twenty-five years. He was a justice of
the peace for Plymouth for over twenty years, and with the ex-
ception of one year was burgess of the borough of Plymouth
from its incorporation until his removal to this city, a period of
seven years. During his residence in Plymouth he established
an academical school, which he carried on for twelve years, em-
ploying the teachers and looking to its interests generally. In
1869 occurred what is now known as the Avondale disaster, in
Plymouth township, resulting in the loss of one hundred and
eight lives. It widowed seventy -two women and made orphan
children to the number of one hundred and fifty-three. Early on
the morning of September 6, one hundred and eight miners
entered the Avondale mine, as usual, for their daily labor, and
while they were there engaged in work the shaft, constructed
chiefly of -combustible materials, became ignited, and soon the
only entrance to the mine was filled with burning timbers, fire,
and smoke. The immense wooden structure known as the
breaker, above and over the shaft, also took fire and was soon
reduced to ashes. Surrounding the fire on every side were
hundreds of men, women, and children, the female portion of
whom were making the air resound with their frantic cries of
distress. Wives were wringing their hands and wailing, — "Oh
my God ! God, have mercy ! Who'll take care of my child-

760 Moses Waller Wadhams. .

rcn ! " and using every expression of endearment and of woe.
Mothers were crying out for their sons as only mothers can cry,
and feeling only as mothers can feel. Fathers were bewailing
the loss of their first-born or the sons of their later years. Broth-
ers and sisters were mourning the loss of brothers, and sweet-
hearts were frantic over the immolation of fond lovers, who only
the evening previous, perhaps, had strained them to their bosoms,
and whose kisses were yet burning on their lips. No persuasion,
entreaty, advice, or consolation served to quiet them. This state
of things continued for hours, when most of the bereaved relatives
became more calm as they saw every possible effort being made
to extinguish the fire. During the balance of the day their out-
breaks were much less frequent, although individual exhibitions
of overmastering grief might have been frequently seen in the
neighborhood of the fire or heard issuing from the homes of the
miners. No assistance could be rendered to the sufferers from
without, and, there being no means of escape, all of the unfortu-
nate miners perished. Their bodies were subsequently recovered.
As nearly all of those who perished had families dependent upon
thern for support, the suffering caused in the neighboring com-
munity was extreme. The condition of these suffering families
enlisted the sympathy of the general public, and generous sub-
criptions were sent for their relief from various parts of the
country. The fund thus raised was ^155,825.10, which, by
judicious investment, was largely increased. Each widow was
paid $200 per year. Each male orphan under fourteen years of
age and each female orphan under sixteen years received ;^ioo for
the same period. Orphans over these ages were paid $300 in full.
This, in the main, was the order in which the payments were
made until the fund was exhausted. At the marriage of a widow
one-half of her share in the fund abated, so that she received only
;$ioo per year. E. C. Wadhams was one of the acting coroners
at the inquest over the Avondale victims, and was the president
of the Avondale Relief Fund Committee. In 1876 Mr. Wadhams
was elected to the state senate for a period of four years as a
republican, defeating Edwin Shortz, democrat. In 1873 he re-
moved to this city and has been a resident of Wilkes-Barre ever
since. He has been a director of the Wyoming bank, and after-

Moses Waller Wadhams. 761

wards of the Wyoming National bank, for over thirty years, and
is the president of the First National bank of Wilkes-Barre. He
was for many years superintendent of the Methodist Episcopal
Sabbath school of Plymouth, and now occupies the same position
in the Central Methodist Episcopal Sabbath school, of this city. A
marked characteristic of Mr. Wadhams, and one which has been
developed in many generations of the family, is industry, which
he recognizes as the key to success in life under any and all cir-
cumstances.

The wife of Elijah Catlin Wadhams, whom he married October
7, 1 85 1, and mother of Moses Waller Wadhams, is Esther Taylor
(French) Wadhams. She is the daughter of the late Samuel
French. He was born July 6, 1803. in Bridgeport (then called
Newfield), Conn., and came with his mother and stepfather, John
Smith, to Plymouth in 1808, who, in connection with his brother,
Abijah Smith, were the pioneers in the coal business in this val-
ley. In 1807 Abijah Smith commenced mining, and in 1S08
John Smith purchased the coal designated in the deed from William
Curry, jr., on a tract of one hundred and twenty acres, known as
" Potts of Coal," adjoining his brother's land. This mine was
soon after opened, and workings have been uninterruptedly con-
tinued ever since. Abijah and John Smith were partners in the
coal business for many years. The mother of Mrs. E. C. Wadhams
was Lydia Wadhams, a daughter of Moses and Ellen (Hendrick)
Wadhams, son of Rev. Noah Wadhams. After the death of
Moses Wadhams she married Joseph Wright, and became the
mother of the late C. E. Wright, and H. B. Wright and Harrison
Wright, all of wdiom became members of the Luzerne county bar.
The grandfather of Samuel French, of Plymouth, was Samuel
French, who was of Weston, Conn., in 1766. He served during the
Revolutionary war in that division of the American army engaged
about Lake Champlain. Hemarried, April 16, 1 766, Sarah, daugh-
ter of Nathaniel Hall, who died February 17, 1774. The father of
Samuel French, of Plymouth, was Samuel French, who was born
in Weston, Conn., February 17, 1774. He married, April 15,
1798, Frances Holberton, daughter of William and Eunice (Burr)
Holberton, of Stratfield, Conn. She was a descendant of William
Holberton, who came from Devonshire, England, probably in

762 Moses Waller Wadhams.

1700 or 1 70 1, and settled in Boston, Mass. He married, April
4, 1 701, Mar\', tlaughter of John Fayerweather, of Boston, and
his second wife, Elizabeth Dicksey. He died probably in 17 16.
John Fayerweather was the son of Thomas Fayerweather, who
came to America, perhaps in the fleet with Winthrop, and settled
in Boston, Mass. His name stands No. loi in the First church
list of one hundred and fifty-one members, who had joined in full
communion with the church previous to October 10, 1632. He

married Mar}- . He died in 1638. John Fayerweather,

only surviving child of Thomas and Mary Fayerweather, was
born August 8, 1634. He married, November 15, 1660, Sarah,
daughter of Robert and Penelope Turner, of Boston. He mar-
ried, in 1674, as his second wife, Elizabeth Dicksey, and his third
wife November 17, 1692, Mary Hewes, who survived him. Cap-
tain John Fayerweather was a prominent man in Boston. He
served in the Indian war of 1675-76 and commanded one of the
Boston train-bands. He was one of the selectmen of Boston from
1678 to 1688; was one of the Boston representatives to the gen-
eral court during 1680-1700. At the revolution of 1689 he was
appointed comjnander of the castle (Castle William, on Castle
Island, now Fort Independence). He died April 13, 17 12. Ben-
jamin Fayerweather, son of John and Sarah (Turner) Fayer-
weather, was born in Boston, removed to Stratfield, Conn., pre-
vious to 1695. He married Sarah Sherwood. Their daughter,
Mary, married John Holberton. Mary Fayerweather, daughter
of John and Elizabeth (Dicksey) Fayerweather, married, April 4,
1 701, William Holberton. John Holberton, son of William and
Mary (Fayerweather) Holberton, was born in Boston September
10, 1712. He removed from Boston to Stratfield, Conn., about
1738. He married, September 13, 1738, Mary, daughter of Ben-
jamin and Sarah (Sherwood) Fayerweather, of Stratfield. He
died June 21, 1750. William Holberton, son of John and Mary
(Fayerweather) Holberton. was born in Stratfield, Conn., August
15, 1740. He married Eunice Burr, daughter of Captain John
Burr and his wife Eunice Booth. Eunice Booth was a daugh-
ter of Joseph Booth, who was a son of Richard Booth and his
wife, Elizabeth Hawley. Eunice Burr was a descendant of Jehue
Burr. He came with Winthrop's famous fleet in 1630, and on

Moses Waller Wadhams. 763

his arrival settled in Roxbury, Mass. He was the first of his
name in America, so far as we have any record. He was admitted
a freeman in 1632. In 1635 both himself and wife appear as
members of the church in Roxbury. About the same time he
received his first appointment in the colony, as overseer of roads
and bridges between Boston and Roxbury. At a general court
of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, held at Boston August 6, 1635,
" Mr. Tresur [treasurer, an official title], Jehue Burre, and John
Johnson were appointed a committee for Rocksbury," and a like
number of men for Boston, " in the making of a cart-bridge over
Muddy River and over Stony River, at the charge of Boston and
Rocksbury." His name also appears in the records of a general
court held at Newtown March 1, 1635, as follows : " The differ-
ence betwixt Mr. Dumer and Jehue Burre aboute Mr. Burner's
swine spoyling his corne is by their consent referred to the final
determination of William Parke, Goodman Potter, and Goodman
Porter." No further mention is made of him in the Massachu-
setts records. He did not, however, long remain a resident of
Roxbury. Opportunities there for rising in the world were far
too limited to suit one of his enterprising turn, and in company
with several other aspiring spirits he early determined on a fur-
ther emigration. The settlers had often heard from the friendly
Indians of the rich valley land of the Connecticut, several days
journey west, and early in the spring of 1636 William Pynchon,
Jehue Burre, and six other young men " of good spirits and
sound bodies," with their families and effects, set out on a journey
through the wilderness to this land of promise. The women and
children performed the journey on horseback and the men on
foot. They followed a blazed path through the forest that led
them over wooded heights, through romantic glades, and across
foaming torrents, now skirting the shores of an ancient lake,
where the beaver reigned undisturbed by man, and again follow-
ing the we:^t\vard current of a placid river, until at last they
issued from the forest upon the banks of the Connecticut Here
they built their village, which they called Agawam, and which
in our day has expanded into the flourishing city of Springfield-
William Pynchon, Jehue Burr, and Henry Smith, by deed bear-
ing date June 15, 1636, purchased the land of the Indians, being

764 Moses Wai.lkr Wadhams.

" all that ground on the east side of Quinnecticut River, called
Usquanok and Mayassct, reaching about four or five miles in
length from the North end of Massacksicke up to Chicopee
River." These new settlers seemed to have considered them-
selves beyond the bounds of the Massachusetts colony and to
have joined tluir fortunes with Connecticut at once, as at the
general court of the latter for that year William Pynchon appears
as deputy for the plantation of Agawam. and indeed for several
sessions afterward. Also the next year, 1637, Jehue Burre, who
is described as a leading spirit in the settlement, was appointed
collector of rates therein. He was probably the first ta.x gath-
erer in the Connecticut valley, and was appeased with lesser
rates than are some of* his successors. From the act of the legis-
lature appointing him we learn that there were then but four settle-
ments or " plant.^tions " in the Connecticut colony — Hartford,
Windsor, VVethersfield, and Agawam. Of this levy Agawam's
apportionment was ;^86, i6s., payment optional "in money, or in
wampum, at fower a penny, or in good and merchantable beaver at
9s. per pound." Jehue Burr remained an active and useful member
of the society at Springfield for about eight years, and then removed
for the third and last time to Fairfield, Conn., which had been dis-
covered a few years before, during the famous pursuit of the Pe-
quots, and which, with its level lands and warm, productive soil,
was very attractive to the early settlers. He seems to have taken a
high rank at Fairfield from the first. The next j-ear after his
removal, in 1645, he represented Fairfield at the general court,
again in 1646, and for several succeeding sessions prior to the
union of the Hartford and New Haven colonies. As early as
1643 commissioners had been appointed by the New England
colonies for the founding and maintenance of good schools and
other places of learning in their midst, and in 1666 a plan was
presented for " a generall contribution for the mayntenance of
poore scollers at Cambridge college." The commissioners re-
ferred it to the several general courts as " a matter worthy of due
consideration and entertainment," and it was so considered at the
October session of the general court of Connecticut, which ordered
" that the propositions concerning the scollers at Cambridge made
by the sd Commissioners, is confirmed, and it is ordered that two

Moses Waller Wadhams. 765

men shall be appoynted in every Town within this jurisdiction,
who shall demand what every family will give, and the same to
be gathered and brought into some room, in March, and this to
continue yearely as yt shall be considered by ye Commissioners."
The men appointed to this praiseworthy work for " Uncowau "
(Fairfield) were Jehu Bur and Ephraim Wheeler. In 1660 he
was appointed grand juror, with twelve other important men of
the colony, and as such was ordered by the general court " to
inquire into and consider of ye misdemeanors and breaches of ye
orders of this Colony, and present all offences to ye next Partic-
ular Court." The succeeding May he was appointed commis-
sioner for Fairfield, and ordered to repair to a magistrate and
take the oath. He was re-appointed May 12, 1664, and again in
1668. This was his last public service. He died in 1672. We
have no record of his marriage or of the maiden name of his wife.
Nathaniel Burr, son of Jehue Burr, was born, probably in Spring-
field, about 1640. He was made freeman in 1664, in Fairfield.
He was constable in 1669, and was a representative in 1692-93-
94-95. He had several grants of land from the town. He died
in 1712. Colonel John Burr, son of Nathaniel Burr, was born in
Fairfield in 1673, and held his first public office in the colony in
1704, during Queen Anne's war, as commissary of the county.
The commissary, it is proper to note, was an officer to whom
varied and arduous duties were entrusted. He was to take and
keep fair accounts of all public charges which should arise in his
county by reason of the war, and to provide for the soldiers en-
gaged in the public service. He was also to send orders to the
several towns to provide two pounds of "biskett" for every listed
soldier of such town, which was to be made of the country's
wheat received for rates, but if there was none of this in the
county, then wheat was to be impressed on a warrant from an
assistant or justice. He was further expected to have such a
stock of supplies on hand that in case of a sudden call to arms
the public safety should not be endangered thereby. At the
next court, in May, 1704, he appears as deputy from Fairfield,
and was continued in this office almost continuously until 1724.
In 1723 and 1724 he was elected speaker of the house. He was
appointed auditor in 1717, 1720, and 1725. He was appointed

-j^)^ Moses Waller Wadhams.

justice of the peace and Quorum in 171 1 and nearly every year
thereafter until 1725. He was assistant continuously from 1729
to 1742. He was judge of the county court from 1726 to 1743,
and also judge of the probate court during the same years. He
was several times commissioned in the military service of the
colony. In 1710 he was appointed major of the forces engaged
in the brilliant expedition to Port Royal, Nova Scotia. This ex-
pedition proved highly succes.sful. With the aid of the British
fleet Port Royal was taken and named Annapolis, in honor of
Queen Anne. In his character as a military man, as well as in
his civil capacity, he was several times entrusted with difficult
and dangerous commissions for the state. In 1733 he was ap-
pointed one of the judges of a court of chancery. He was ap-
pointed colonel, and was probably one of the largest land-owners
in the state. Colonel Burr was one of the principal founders of
the old North church, of Stratfield (now the First Congregational
of Bridgeport). He was also a principal subscriber at the organi-
zation of the St. John's Episcopal church, in 1748. He died in
1750, and his estate was valued at i;i 5,288, an immense sum in
those days. John Burr was the son of Colonel John Burr.
Captain John Burr, of Bridgeport, son of John Burr, was born June
13, 1728, and married, April i, 1750, Eunice, daughter of Joseph
Booth, and Eunice Booth, daughter of Joseph Booth and Eunice
Burr, daughter of Captain John Burr, married William Holberton,
and lived to be eighty-eight years of age. She died in 1838.
Colonel Aaron Burr, vice president of the United States, was a
descendant of Jehue Burr in the fifth generation, and J. E. Burr,
of the Luzerne (now Lackawanna) county bar, is also a descend-
ant of Jehue Burr in the eighth generation.

Moses W. Wadhams was prepared for college at the classical
school of W. R. Kingman, in this city, and then entered Dart-
mouth college, at Hanover, New Hampshire, from which he
graduated in the class of 1880. He read law with E. P. and J. V.
Darling, of this city, and was admitted to the bar of Luzerne
county October 10, 1885. He is an unmarried man and a repub-
lican in politics. Samuel French Wadhams, of the Duluth,
(Minn.) bar, is a brother of M. W. Wadhams. Mr. Wadhams
has had every advantage that good birth and the abundant means

Thomas Chalmers Umsted. ydj

of fond parents could supply. His general education, as will be
noted, has been of the best, and his legal preceptors are of the
safest guides to the careful and ambitious student. Mr. Wad-
hams makes no pretence to oratory, and does not seek to figure
in the courts, but as an office lawyer and adviser gives promise
of taking a front position. In the race for distinction, as ^ rule,
the highest places are reserved for those whose perceptive and
retentive faculties have been trained by long and arduous study,
and Mr. Wadhams, as has been said, having put to the best use
his unusually good educational advantages, will win an enviable
position in his vocation.

THOMAS CHALMERS UMSTEAD.

X/.

Thomas Chalmers Umsted was born at Faggs' Manor, Chester
county. Pa., October lo, 1862. He is a descendant of Nicholas
Umstat, who died at Crefeld, Germany, October 4, 1682. Au-
gust 16, 1685, Hans Peter Umstat, son of Nicholas Umstat, bought
of Dirck Sipman, of Crefeld, two hundred acres of land in Penn-
sylvania, and soon after set sail in the Francis and Dorothy with
his family, consisting of his wife Barbara, his son John, and his
daughters Anna, Margaretta, and Eve, for Philadelphia, where
he arrived October 12, 1685. He afterwards bought other lands
in Pennsylvania, and died subsequent to October 14, 17 10.
His wife Barbara died August 12, 1702. His daughter Eve mar-
ried Henry Pannebacker, the ancestor of Samuel W. Pennypacker,
of Philadelphia, who has in his possession the family bible of
Nicholas Umstat. Peter Schumacher, the ancestor of George B.
Kulp, also came over at the same time and on the same vessel —
the Francis and Dorothy. John Umstat, son of Hans Peter
Umstat, lived at Skippack, now in Montgomery county, Pa., and
had several children. From which of John Umstat's children
Thomas Chalmers Umsted is descended it is impossible at this
time to state. His great-grandfather, John Umstet, was a native
of Skippack, and was a tanner by trade. He married, while a

76S Thomas Chalmers Umsted.

resident of Montgomery county, Catharine Boyer, a .sister of Gen-
eral Philip Boyer (father of Benjamin Markley Boyer, president
judge of the thirty-eighth judicial district of Pennsylvania), who
was an officer in the war of 181 2 and sheriff of Montgomery
county. Pa., from 1822 to 1828. John Umstet subsequently
removed to Brandywine township, Chester county. Pa., where
his son John was born. His wife was Catharine Harner, daugh-
ter of Abraham Harner. The name of Abraham Harner's
mother was Catharine Airgood. John Umsted was a builder, and
removed to Philadelphia when quite a young, married man, and
resided there during his lifetime. He was a prominent member
of the Eleventh Presbyterian church of Philadelphia, and died at
an early age.. He was one of twelve men who constituted the
organization of the Eleventh Presbyterian church, now the West
Arch Street Presbyterian church.

Rev. Justus Thomas Umsted, D. D., son of John Umstat, was
born in Brandywine township, Chester county, Pa., January 22,
1820. He received his collegiate education at the University of
Pennsylvania and his theological education at Princeton Seminary.
His fields of labor have been: stated supply at South Bend,
Indiana, 1848-9; pastor at Muscatine, Iowa. 1850-3; pastor at
Keokuk, Iowa, 1855-8; pastor at Selma, Alabama, pastor at
Faggs' Manor, 1860-72; pastor at Saint George's, Delaware,
1872-6; and pastor at Smyrna, Delaware, from 1877 to the
present time. He is a forcible and faithful preacher, and as a
presbyter diligent in the discharge of his duty. The divine
blessing has accompanied his ministry.

The wife of Rev. Dr. Umsted is Isabella McMinn Umsted. The
father of Mrs. Umsted was the late John Wilson, a resident of
Philadelphia, and principal book-keeper in the Presbyterian board
of publication from its organization until his death. He was an
eminent christian and a deacon in the Seventh Presbyterian
church of Philadelphia. During the war of 18 12 he was a lieu-
tenant of a company, which was stationed at Fort Mifflin for its
defense. His father was John Wilson, of Paisley, Scotland, an
exile on account of his non-conformity to the Anglican or es-
tablished church. After emigrating to this country he settled in
Freehold, N. J., and afterwards moved to Philadelphia, where he

Marlin Bingham Stephens. 769

followed his occupation as a ship builder. The wife of John
Wilson, sr., was Helen Napier, of Edinburgh, Scotland, a daugh-
ter of Dr. Napier, an eminent physician in his day. The wife of
John Wilson, jr., was Isabella McMinn, daughter of John McMinn,
of Belfast, Ireland, who removed to this country about 1773, and
was among the Presbyterians of Ulster who in such large numbers
emigrated to this country on account of political and ecclesiastical
proscription and persecution.

Thomas Chalmers Umsted was educated at West Nottingham
Academy, Cecil county, Md.,and Princeton college. He studied
law with E. Coppee Mitchell, and at the same time attended the
law department of the University of Pennsylvania, graduating in
the class of 1886. He was admitted to the bar of Philadelphia
November 6, 1886, and to the bar of Luzerne county December
4, 1886.

A veteran member of the bar, who should be a good judge of
character, in going over a list of the younger members with a
view to calculation as to which of them were most likely to take
the places of the leaders when they shall have gone, hit upon
Mr. Umsted as, in his opinion, one of the most promising. He
has excellent natural abilities, is an ardent student, and possesses
" the genius of industry," than which, as an eminent statesman
once said, " there really is no other genius." Mr. Umsted is a
democrat in politics, but has as yet taken no conspicuous part in
party matters. He attends strictly to business, a course by far
the best calculated to make the profession attractive and profit-
able.

MARLIN BINGHAM STEPHENS.

Marlin Bingham Stephens was born near the village of Dilltown,
Indiana county. Pa., May 10, i860. His great-grandfather, Benja-
min Stephens, was a native of England, and emigated to the United
States before the revolutionary war. He located in Maryland,
where his son Samuel Stephens was born, and who removed to
Brush Valley township, near the site of Mechanicsburg, Indiana

j-o Marlin Bingham Stephens.

county, Pa., and was one of the earliest settlers of that county.
William S. Stephens, son of Samuel Stephens, was born in Brush
Valley township, near the town of Mechanicsburg, in 1808, and
is the father of the subject of our sketch. The mother of Marlin
B. Stephens is Sarah A. Stephens {nee Skiles). She is the great-
granddaughter of James Skiles, who emigated from the north of
Ireland to Cumberland county, Pa., in 1780, and from there, in
company with Ephraim Wallace, also a native of Ireland, in 1800,
to the Conemaugh, in Indiana county. There John Skiles, son
of James Skiles, married a daughter of Ephraim Wallace, and
had a son Ephraim Skiles, whose daughter became the wife of
William S. Stephens, and is the mother of the subject of our
sketch. Ephraim Skiles' wife was a daughter of Isaac Rogers,
whose father, Robert Rogers, came from Ireland and settled on
the banks of the Conemaugh at a very early date. Ephraim
Skiles, shortly after his marriage, settled on a farm near Black
Lick Furnace, in East Wheatland township, where he lived and
raised a large family of children. Marlin B. Stephens spent his
youthful days on his father's farm. When of proper age he at-
tended normal institutes in Indiana and Cambra counties, and
soon commenced teaching, which occupation he followed for
three years. He then attended the Mount Pleasant (Westmore-
land county. Pa.,) Classical and Scientific Institute, where he pre-
pared himself for the study of the law, and soon after the com-
pletion of his studies there entered the law department of the
University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, graduating from there in
the class of 1886, with the degree of LL. B. On passing a satis-
factory examination in open court, for the twenty-second judicial
district of the state of Michigan, he was duly admitted to practice
in the circuit and supreme courts of that state. He then returned
to his native state and was admitted to the bar of Wyoming
county April 12, 1887, and to the Luzerne county bar May 16,
1887. Mr. Stephens is an unmarried man and a republican in
politics. He has opened his office in Ashley. He is another of
the numerous class who have used the profession of school teach-
ing as a stepping-stone in climbing to the bar. Judging by the
success of the average man thus fortified in experience and labor
it is very evident that Mr. Stephens will, with reasonably good

George Peck Loomis, 771

fortune attending his efforts, forge his way to profitable useful-
ness as a lawyer. He is by nature eminently endowed with the
requisite qualifications for the successful practice of the law, and,
being inclined to develop them, will, undoubtedly, succeed.

GEORGE PECK LOOMIS.

George Peck Loomis is a native of Wilkes- Barre, Pa., where
he was born May i, 1859. He is a descendant of Joseph Loomis,
who was probably born about 1590, and was a woolen draper in
Braintree, Essex county, England ; sailed from London April 1 1,
1638, in the ship Susan and Ellen, and arrived at Boston Jul) 17,
1638. It is mentioned in the records at Windsor, Conn., that he
bought a piece of land in that town February 24, 1640. He, there-
fore, probably came to Windsor in the summer or autumn of 1639,
and is generally supposed to have come in company with Rev.
Ephraim Huet, who arrived at Windsor August 17, 1639. He
brought with him five sons and three daughters.

Deacon John Loomis," second son of Joseph Loomis, was born
in England in 1622, admitted to the Windsor church October 11,
1640, married Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Scott, of Hartford,
February 3, 1649, was representative 1666, 1667, 1675, 1676, and
1677, resided at Farmington from 1652 to about 1660, returned to
Windsor, was deacon of the church, and died September i, 1688.
His monument is still preserved in the Windsor burying-ground.
Thomas Loomis, third son of Deacon John Loomis, was born
December 3, 1653. He married Sarah, a sister of Captain Daniel
White, March 31, 1680. He died August 12, 1688. Thomas
Loomis, of Hatfield, Mass., second son of Thomas Loomis, of
Windsor, was born April 20, 1684. He married Elizabeth
Fowler January 8, 171 3, and died April 30, 1765. Lieutenant
Thomas Loomis, of Lebanon, Conn., the only child of Thomas
Loomis, of Hatfield, Mass., was born in 1714. He married No-
vember 7, 1734, Susanna Clark. He died February 27, 1792.

-J-Jl

George Peck Loomis.

Captain Isaiah Loomis, of Lebanon, Conn., was the fifth son of
Lieutenant Thomas Loomis. He was born September ii, 1749,
and married Abagail Williams Decembers, 1774. Reserved
in the army of the revokition, and died November 20, 1834.
Sherman Loomis, second son of Captain Isaiah Loomis. was
born May 17, 1787. He married Elizabeth Champlin November
15, 1810, and died March 18, 1867, at Centremoreland, Wyoming
county, Pa., to which place he removed in 1816. William Wal-
lace Loomis, of Wilkes-Barre, Pa., third son of Sherman Loomis,
was born at Lebanon, Conn., July 14, 18 15. He removed with his
parents from Connecticut to Pennsylvania when but a babe, and
has resided in this city since the autumn of 1827, with the excep-
tion of three years. The only persons that Mr. Loomis recollects
as being residents of Wilkes-Barre when he came to this city are
Josiah Lewis, James P. Dennis, and Nathaniel Rutter. He has
been a member of the Methodist Episcopal church since 1834, and
is the oldest member of the Franklin street church. He has been a
class leader since 1838. In 1865 he was ordained a deacon by
Bishop Baker, and in 1870 he was ordained an elder by Bishop
Janes. He has also been superintendent of the Sabbath school of
the Franklin street Methodist Episcopal church. In 1857 he was
the republican candidate for county treasurer, but was defeated
by Edmund Taylor, democrat. From 1854 to 1861, inclusive, he
was burgess of the borough of Wilkes-Barre, and from 1877 to
1880 he was mayor of the city of Wilkes-Barre. He is a charter
member of the Home for Friendless Children of this city, a trus-
tee since its incorporation in 1862, and for two years was its
treasurer. He has also been treasurer of Lodge 61, F. & A. M.,
of this city. W. W. Loomis married, February 23, 1841, Ellen
E. Drake, a daughter of Benjamin Drake, of this city. She died
June 25, 1845. The only surviving issue of this marriage is
William Drake Loomis, a resident of Wilkes-Barre. Mr. Loomis
married for his second wife Elizabeth R. Blanchard, who was
the mother of George P. Loomis. She was the daughter of Jere-
miah Blanchard, jr., who was the son of Jeremiah Blanchard, jr.,
who was the son of Captain Jeremiah Blanchard. He was in
Pittston in 1772, when he received a deed for " a settling right
in Lackawanna " from Samuel Stubbs, of Walkill, N. Y. He

Edward Frank McGovern. 773

was constable in 1775 and 1776 for Pittston. In 1778 he was
captain of militia, and was in Pittston Fort with most of his
company at the time of the battle and massacre, July 3, 1778.
He was the first settler in Port Blanchard, in Jenkins township,
Luzerne county, and a portion of his farm is still in the possession
of his descendants.

George Peck Loomis, son of Rev. W. W. Loomis, was edu-
cated at Wyoming Seminary, Kingston, Pa., from which he grad-
uated in 1878, and the Syracuse University, graduating from the
latter institution in the class of 1882. While in college he won
an enviable reputation for his influence and activity in college
fraternities. He first studied law with A. Ricketts, but left that
office and filled the responsible position, with great credit to him-
self, as cashier in his uncle's wooden moulding mill, Brooklyn,
which he held a little over a year, when he returned to this city
and completed his law studies under H. A. Fuller, and was ad-
mitted to the bar of Luzerne county January 31, 1887. Mr.
Loomis is a young man of unusual natural intelligence, and
gives evidence of having made the best possible use of the
time he has devoted to general study and special preparation for
the bar. He is a fluent writer and a very attractive talker. His
qualifications are such as should assure him, in due time, a fore-
most place in the profession he has chosen. Mr. Loomis is an
unmarried man, and in politics a democrat.

EDWARD FRANK McGOVERN.

Edward Frank McGovern is a native of Darlington, county
Durham, England, where he was born September 10, i860. His
father, Frank McGovern, of this city, was born May 7, 1822, in
Curryglass, county Longford, Ireland, and emigrated to the United
States in 1842. After remaining in this country about ten years
he returned to his native country, but came again to the United
States in 1862. Edward McGovern, father of Frank McGovern,
was also born in Curryglass. The mother of E. F. McGovern

774 EnwARD Frank McGovern.

who was the wife of Frank McGovern, was P'annie Ray, a daugh-
ter of Robert Ray, a native of Mine Abbey, county Mayo, Ire-
land. She married Mr. McGovern September lO, 1856, at Darl-
ington. ■ The wife of Robert Ray was Mary Arke.son, of Mine
Abbey. When Frank McGovern came to this country, in 1862,
he settled in Olyphant. Luzerne (now Lackawanna) county, and
remained there until 1869, when he removed to this city and has
remained here ever since.

E. F. McGovern was educated in the public schools of this
city, and the law department of the University of Pennsylvania,
graduating as bachelor of laws in the class of 1886. He then
entered the law office of John T. Lenahan, in this city, and was
admitted to the bar of Luzerne county June 6, 1887. In 1881
he was elected an alderman in the second ward of this city for a
term of five years. He is an unmarried man and a democrat
in politics.

Mr. McGovern belongs to a class of young men who, without
the assistance of wealthy parents or a general college training, but
by dint simply of natural wit and energy, and with the aid only of
such educational advantages as are common to all boys and girls in
this fair land, has furnished many of the brightest ornaments of
the several learned professions and not a few of our ablest states-
men. It is one of the proudest achievements of the republic,
this sending of poor boys to the highest rung of the ladder of
distinction as men. Nothing we have done or can do so aston-
ishes the old world, where the idea still largely prevails that only
those of "high ancestral name and lineage long and great" can
be really bright and useful men and women in the higher call-
ings. Mr. McGovern is himself a young man of unusually keen
intelligence, with a disposition for hard work, that proves very
useful in every walk of life and particularly in the legal profess-
ion. His record at the law university was a good one, and it is safe
enough to say, even thus early in his career as a lawyer, that
he will not be, in the race for patronage, with the hindmost.

Wesley Johnson. 775

WESLEY JOHNSON.

Wesley Johnson, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne
county in April, 1846, is a native of old Laurel Run, in Plains town-
ship, where he was born December 20, 18 19. He is a descendant
of Robert Johnson. (See page 187 for a history of the Johnson
family.) His father was Jehoida P. Johnson, the youngest son
of Rev. Jacob Johnson. He was an active business man in his
day and resided at Laurel Run, where he built a mill which he
operated successfully for many years. The mother of Wesley
Johnson was Hannah Frazer. She was a daughter of Robert
Frazer, a native of Lovat Dale, Scotland, and the family were said
to be relatives of the unfortunate Simon Frazer, Lord Lovat.
Robert Frazer was being educated for the Kirk, but, being a
young man at the time of General Wolfe's expedition against the
French, in Canada, he left his school and enlisted in the British
army and fought as a sergeant under that brave but unfortunate
general at Quebec, and received a musket shot wound in the
elbov*- on the plains of Abraham and lost an arm in consequence.
He finally came to Wyoming with the Connecticut settlers, where
he was engaged in teaching the youth of the infant colony
for many years.

Wesley Johnson was educated at the Laurel Run school house,
at the Wilkes- Barre Academy, and the Wilkes-Barre High School,
under Professor J. W. Sterling. He read law under his brother,
Ovid Frazer Johnson, and was admitted to the bar of Philadelphia
county January 7, 1846. He has practiced in the United States
district courts at Galveston, Texas, and Marquette, Wisconsin.
From 1842 to 1845 he was United States Inspector of Customs,
at Philadelphia, and from 1851 to 1853 he was clerk of the circuit
and county courts of Marquette county, Wisconsin. He is at
present an alderman of the city of Wilkes-Barre, one of the city
auditors, and one of the assessors elect of the city. Wesley
Johnson married. May 12, 1852, Cynthia H. Green, a daughter
of David S. and Mary Green, of Bristol, Vermont. One son,
Frederick C. Johnson, M. D., of this city, one of the proprietors of

776 Wesley Johnson.

the Record of the Times, is the sole surviving issue of this marriage.
The wife of F. C.Johnson is Georgia Johnson (;z^v Post), a daughter
of Joseph H. Post, of Knoxville, Tenn. Wesley Johnson married
a second time, in 1856, Frances H. Wilson, widow of Frederick
McAlpine, of this city. Her grandfather, James Wilson, emigrated
from near Edinburgh, Scotland, with his wife and settled at Mount
Holly, N. J., where her father, Scth Wilson, was born. Seth after-
wards removed to Wilkes-Barre, where he married Rebecca Yar-
ington, a daughter of Abel Yarington, who was a native of Norwich
or Stonington, Conn , and removed to Wilkes-Barre in 1770, where
Mrs. Wilson was born, in a house on the river bank nearly oppo-
site the residence of Andrew T. McClintock. He lived in this
house until the Wyoming massacre and battle took place, July 3,
1778. It was then burned, with everytiiing in it, by the Indians,
Mr. Yarington and his family barely escaping with their lives in
a ferry flat down the river to Sunbury. They stayed there till
late in the fall, after the Indians had left and gone back to the
north, when he returned and rebuilt the house and continued his
business of ferrying until the great ice flood of 1784. At one
time, while Mr Yarington was absent from home, the Indians
made a raid on the settlement. There was a cellar under the
house, where Mrs. Wilson and a sister, Mrs. Colt, were secreted
with their mother until the Indians left. The Indians came to
the residence and ate all the provisions tiiat were to be found in
the house. (See page 496.) Mr. and Mrs. Johnson had but one
child, Margaret, which died when about five years of age. Mrs.
Johnson died April 21, 1888.

Few would imagine that in the quiet old gentleman who dis-
penses justice in the Fourth ward of Wilkes-Barre is a lawyer of
more than forty years' experience, whose professional duties have
been performed at points so widely distant from each other, and
whose career has covered such a variety of callings, all, however,
bearing a more or less close relationship to the profession of the
law. Mr. Johnson has not been an active practitioner for some
years back. He is best known to Wilkes-Barreans, apart from
his aldermanic position, as an historian and antiquarian, one
interested in preserving the records of the past for the entertain-
ment and guidance of the present generation and those who are

Sheldon Reynolds. y'j'j

to come. He has compiled a very useful volume on the Wyom-
ing centennial and done much other literary work in the same
line. He has been a frequent contributor to our local journals
on all manner of topics, and is regarded as an authority on the
subject of old Wilkes-Barre and old Wilkes-Barreans. He is a
democrat of the old school, and has done much service for his
party for many years on the stump and otherwise. He is one
of the best known and most respected of our older citizens.

SHELDON REYNOLDS.

The Reynolds family is of English extraction, and is descended
from James Reynolds, of Plymouth, Mass., 1643. James removed
to Kingstown, R. I., before the year 1665, where the family remained
for three generations. About the }'ear 1750 the branch of the
family now resident in this neighborhood settled in Litchfield
county. Conn., and came thence to Wyoming with the first settlers
in 1769. Benjamin Reynolds' name is recorded among the
" men on the ground at Wilkesbarry, on the Susquehanna, be-
longing to New England," April 12, 1770; and the name of
David Reynolds appears as a witness to the articles of capitula-
tion of Fort Durkee, November 14, 1769, also in the list of taxa-
bles in 1777 in Wilkes-Barre and Plymouth, and in 1778 in the
Plymouth list. It is not known whether he took part in the
battle of Wyoming, but from the fact that his brother William
was slain in that engagement and that David was one of the gar-
rison of the block-house in Plymouth during the winter and
spring succeeding the battle, it would seem probable that he was
in the battle. The family was located as early as 1771 in Ply-
mouth, at which time the name of William appears on the list of
settlers, and where a tract of land was allotted him known as
" Reynolds' Pitch." Their residence in Plymouth was continuous
from the year 1771, with the exception of the time of the flight
after the battle, and the expulsion in 1784 by the Pennamite
troops, on both of which occasions the dwelling house and barns

7/8 Sheldon Reynolds.

were destroyed by fire. David Reynolds died in Plymouth July
8, 1816, aged eighty-two years.

Benjamin Reynolds, the son of David, was born in Plymouth,
Pa., F^ebruary 4, 1780. He was sixth in descent in line of
James, of Plymouth, Mass. (David 5, William 4, James 3, James 2,
James i, 1643). In the female line he was descended from James
Greene, of Rhode Island,theancestor of General Nathaniel Greene.
Benjamin Reynolds was one of the prominent men of Plymouth.
For many years he held the office of justice of the peace, and was
elected.sheriff of the county in 1831. Asa friend to the cause
of education and religion he did much during a long and useful
life toward the promotion of its interest in his native village. In
1800 he married Lydia Fuller, a descendant of the Mayflower
family of that name, three of her ancestors having been members
of the company of Puritans who landed on Plymouth Rock in
1620. She was seventh in the line of Edward (Joshua 6, Joseph
5, Joseph 4, John 3, Samuel 2, Edward i). The last two were of
the Mayflower. In another line she was descended from Rev. John
Lothropp, who, fleeing from the oppression of Archbishop Laud,
came to America in Winthrop's company. Benjamin Reynolds
died in Plymouth February 22, 1854. The children of Benjamin
Reynolds and Lydia Fuller Reynolds, his wife, were William C.
Reynolds, the father of the subject of this sketch ; Hannah, wife
of Andrew Bedford, M. D., of Waverly, Pa., the mother of George
R. Bedford, of the Luzerne bar; Chauncey A. Reynolds, the
father of the late Lazarus Denison Reynolds, of the Luzerne bar ;
Elijah W. Reynolds, father of John B. Reynolds, of the Luzerne
bar ; J. Fuller Reynolds, father of H. B. Reynolds, of the Luzerne
bar; Clara Reynolds; Emily, wife of R. H. Tubbs, M. D., of
Kingston ; and Abram H. Reynolds. Emily and Abram H. are
still living.

William Champion Reynolds, the father of Sheldon Reynolds,
was the eldest son of Benjamin and Lydia Fuller Reynolds, and
was born in Plymouth, Pa., in December, 1801. He received his
education at the schools near his home and the old Wilkes-Barre
Academy, where he was prepared to enter the sophomore class of
Princeton College. His purpose of securing a collegiate educa-
tion, which he had long cherished, had to be given up owing to lack

Sheldon Reynolds.

779

of means ; and after leaving the academy, at the age of eighteen, he
secured the position of school teacher in his native village and
continued in the work of teaching until, by means of his savings
and some aid received from his father, he was able to embark in
the coal business. In 1820 he began shipping coal to Harrisburg
and Columbia ; and after four years spent in this pursuit, his ex-
perience and the measure of success which had attended his
efforts enabled him to extend the range of his business so as to
comprehend in addition to coal the shipping to market of other
products of the region. About this time he associated himself
in business with his kinsman, Henderson Gaylord, under the firm
name of Gaylord & Reynolds, and they entered actively upon the
business of mining and shipping of coal and the shipping of grain
and lumber. The changes that have been wrought in the indus-
trial interests of this community within the last thirty years by
means of railroads, canals, and modern machinery have been so
great that in order to understand the condition of affairs at the
time of which we are speaking, a few words in explanation may
be necessary. Before the building of the North Branch Canal
the only means of outlet for the products of this region, mainly
grain, lumber, and coal, were those afforded by the Susquehanna
river and the Easton and Wilkes-Barre turnpike. Duringthe spring
and fall freshets in the river many small fleets of rafts and arks
bore to the markets of Harrisburg, Columbia, Baltimore, and
other less important places, the products of the farms and mines
that during the intervening seasons had been made ready for
shipment and awaited this method of transportation. The mar-
ket at Easton was not so much resorted to except in winter,
when the snow made communication less difficult ; and then the
trade was confined to grain in comparatively small quantities.
The main markets were the river towns, as they were called, and
the river was the highway upon which the great bulk of the
commodities was carried. The region being in such a measure
cut off from the markets, another cause operated to retard in a
further degree its development. Money was so scarce that little
business could be transacted by means of it, and recourse was
had to barter, by which method nearly all business was carried
on. Wheat being taken in exchange more readily than any other

780 Sheldon Reynolds.

product of the farm, it became the staple product, and was grown
in large quantities wherever the land was adapted for this purpose •
it served as a medium of exchange, and answered many of the pur-
poses of money in local traffic. The isolation of the place arising
from the causes mentioned rendered of little avail its vast natural
resources, and restricted its products to the home trade. Under
these conditions the establishment of a market that should enable
a producer to realize upon the product of his labor became a
question of general concern. The river, as said before, was the
main highway ; but the vicissitudes of river traffic, involving
losses that frequently ate up the margin of profits, deterred many
from engaging in the business. Some who had made the attempt
suffered great losses ; others had abandoned the enterprise after
a short trial of its uncertainties; a few, however, through energy
and foresight, were enabled to succeed, and by the establishment
of a permanent shipping business on the river, created the home
market for the products of the region. The firm of Gaylord & Rey-
nolds engaged with great energy in the shipping business. In
connection with this business they established a general store in
Plymouth and another in Kingston, where they bought and
stored for shipment large quantities of grain, the supplies being
drawn from a section of country many miles 'in extent. Grain
was bought also in the vicinity for future delivery at the place of
shipment. From their mines in Plymouth they mined and stored
coal in sufficient quantity to supply, in part, during the time
navigation was practicable, an increasing demand for that fuel, a
market for which depended largely upon the certainty of supply.
After the completion of the canal to Nanticoke, connecting this
section with the canal system of the state, much of the river
traffic was transferred to that avenue, and the trade increased
largely. In 1835 the firm of which Mr. Reynolds was a member
was dissolved by mutual consent, and he continued the business
until 1854, when, the trade having reached such proportions that
the canals afforded insufficient facilities for transportation, he
retired from active participation in the business and entered upon
the project of providing better means of reaching the markets.
Believing that communication by rail would answer in the
highest degree the demands of the increasing trade, and in addi-

Sheldon Reynolds. 781

tion to enhancing the value of coal lands, would also promote all
other industrial interests of this region, he, together with Hen-
derson Gaylord, the late Chief Justice Woodward, William Swet-
iand, Samuel Hoyt, and others, whose interests lay mainly in
the development of the mineral resources of the locality, secured
the charter for and proceeded to build the Lackawanna and
Bloomsburg Railroad, extending from Scranton to Sunbury,
forming connection at the former place with the Delaware, Lack-
awanna and Western Railroad, and to the southward with the
Catawissa, Williamsport and Erie, and other roads, thereby open-
ing a market for the coal of the Wyoming region reaching from
the seaboard to the great lakes and the west. He served
several years in succession as president of this corporation, his
first term beginning in 1854, the year active operations were begun
in the building and equipment of the road, and continued in the
office until the completion of the enterprise, when, at his own
request, he was relieved from the duties of the chief executive
office, but continued as a director until the year 1865.

In his political belief Mr. Reynolds was a democrat of the
Jefferson school, and when a young man took an active part in
the management of the affairs of his party. He was elected to
the legislature, and, together with his colleague, Henry Stark,
represented this district for the term 1836-38, which included
the territory now embraced within the limits of Luzerne, Lack-
awanna and Wyoming counties. At that time the question of
internal improvements was one of the chief subjects that engrossed
the attention of the people. The dev^elopment of the natural
resources and the commercial interests of the state by means of
avenues of intercommunication — the system of canals, slack-
water navigation, and turnpikes — had been undertaken by the
state government nearly a score of years before, and the benefits
which were expected to accrue to this section by the extension
and completion of this work made it a question of the highest
importance to the people here. Mr. Reynolds' business experi-
ence had made him well acquainted with the need of the pro-
posed improvements and the great purposes they might subserve,
and he assumed the duties of the office to which he had been
chosen well fitted to represent the interests of this district. He

782 Sheldon Reynolds.

advocated all measures relating to the plan of internal improve-
ments, and labored to bring about its extension throughout this
section of the state.

Among the important bills he introduced having relation to
this subject was one granting authority to the Lehigh Coal and
Navigation Company to build a railroad to connect the head of
navigation on the Lehigh river with the North Branch Canal at
Wilkes-Barre. The bill was a compromise measure, releasing
the company from the operation of certain clauses of its charter
bearing upon the extension of its system of slack-water naviga-
tion, but making obligatory the building of the railroad to Wilkes-
Barre. Work was begun on the road in 1838, and completed
five years later. It was one of the first railroads built in this part
of the state, and its completion was looked upon with great satis-
faction by the people as a principal factor in the progress and
improvement of the place ; and that their expectations were not
disappointed is shown in the present usefulness of this highway,
which, after nearly fifty years of continuous operation, still serves
to carry to market a large part of the products of the mines of
the vicinity.

The course Mr. Reynolds pursued as representative, and his
efforts in furthering the system of internal improvements, were
favorably recognized by his constituents in a number of public
meetings by resolutions expressing the high regard in which
they held his services. The discharge of the duties of repre-
sentative and the cares incident to the office required more time
and attention than he could spare from the demands of an active
business life, and at the expiration of his term he declined a re-
nomination to the office.

In 1840 and for several years thereafter he served by the ap-
pointment of the auditor general as manager of the Wilkes-Barre
Bridge Company, representing the interests of the state in that
corporation. He was appointed in 1841 associate judge of the
Court of Common Pleas of Luzerne county for the term of five
years, succeeding in that position William S. Ross, and having
for his colleague Charles D. Shoemaker. He was chosen a
trustee of the Wyoming Seminary in 1845, the second year
after the establishment of the school by the Wyoming Conference

Sheldon Reynolds. 783

of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and, although a member of a
different reHgious denomination, was continued in the board of
management by successive elections for thirteen years. At the
time of his death he was a director of the Wyoming National Bank.

Judge Reynolds was a man of correct business habits, far-
seeing judgment, industry, and economy. His taste for literature
led him to devote to its study much of the time he spared from
business cares, and his kindly temperament and cultured mind,
united with a fine conversational gift, rendered him a most agree-
able companion and friend. He married, June 19, 1832, Jane
Holberton Smith. Their children were G. Murray Reynolds,
Charles Denison Reynolds. Elizabeth, wife of Col. R. Bruce
Ricketts, Sheldon Reynolds, and Benjamin Reynolds. Judge
Reynolds died in Wilkes-Barre, January 25, 1869, aged 68 years.
Mrs. Reynolds died March 6, 1874.

The father of Mrs. Reynolds, the wife of William C. Reynolds,
was John Smith, a resident of Derby, Conn., where he was born
April 22, 1 78 1. In 1806 he removed with his family to Ply-
mouth, Pa., having prior to his setting out formed a partner-
ship with his brother Abijah for the purpose of mining and ship-
ping coal. They were the first in point of time who engaged in
the continuing industry of the mining of anthracite coal. There
were others who had made the attempt on the Lehigh, but the
obstacles and discouragements which stood in the way proved
too great, and the work had to be given up. It was not resumed
until about the year 1820. The Smith brothers shipped their
first ark of coal in the fall of 1807 to Columbia, and followed it
the next year with several others. Prior to 1807 the use of an-
thracite coal as a fuel was confined almost exclusively to furnaces
and forges using an air blast, notwithstanding the fact that Oliver
Evans had in 1802, and even before that time, demonstrated on
several occasions that the blast was unnecessary for the domestic
use of coal, and had successfully burned the fuel in an open
grate, and also in a stove, without an artificial draft. In order to
create a market for this fuel, it became necessary to show that it
could be used for domestic purposes as well as in furnaces and
forges ; that it was a better and more convenient fuel than wood,
and that its use was attended with no difficulties. To accomplish

784 Sheldon Reynolds.

this the Smiths went with their coal arks sent to market in 1808,
and took with them a stone mason and several grates, with the
purpose of setting the grates in the public houses, where they
might make known the utility of their fuel. In several houses in
Columbia and in other towns the fire-places for burning wood
were changed by them and fitted for the uses of coal, and coal
fires were lighted, careful instructions being given meanwhile in
the mysteries of a stone coal fire. After much perseverance and
expense in providing coal and grates to demonstrate the valuable
qualities of the new fuel, they disposed of a small part of their
careo and left the rest to be sold on commission. Notwithstand-
ing the thorough manner in which they had set about the intro-
duction of coal as a fuel for domestic uses, it was several years
before all obstacles to its use were overcome and they were able
to gain a profit from the enterprise. It seems to be the common
belief that the anthracite coal trade had its rise on the Lehigh in
the year 1820, when three hundred and sixty-five tons of coal were
carried to market; yet. as a matter of fact, the industry was
begun at Plymouth thirteen years before; and as early as 181 2
the Smiths had sent coal to New York city, where in that year
thev delivered and sold two hundred tons, and for eight years
prior to the beginning of the coal business on the Lehigh their
annual shipments were considerably in excess of the first year's
product of the Lehigh region.

The old and tedious method of mining coal by means of the
wedge and pick was in the year 18 18 done away with by the
Messrs. Smith, who first made use of the powder blast, which
greatly facilitated the work of mining and moreover added to the
productiveness of the mines. Before this time it was believed
that the powder blast was impracticable, for the reason that the
cohesion of the mineral was thought not to be great enough to
make this means effective. However, the success of the experi-
ment was unquestioned and the general use of powder in the
mining of coal soon followed. Abijah Smith retired in 1825.
John continued the business until 1845, when he also withdrew,
having been actively and continuously engaged in the industry
since 1807. In connection with the mining operations he had
established a grist mill, and in the year 1834 he placed in this

Sheldon Reynolds, 785

mill a steam engine to supply the power, which until then had
been furnished by water. This engine was the first one in use in
the county. He died May 7, 1852, aged seventy-one years.
Hon. John B. Smith, of Kingston, is the son of Abijah Smith.

Sheldon Reynolds, the third son of Hon. William C. Reynolds,
was born in Kingston, Pa., February 22, 1845. His early edu-
cation was acquired at the Luzerne Presbyterian Institute, at
Wyoming, Pa., and the Wyoming Seminary, Kingston, Pa. He
was prepared for college at the Hopkins Grammar School, at
New Haven, Conn., and entered Yale College in 1863, was grad-
uated B. A. from that institution in 1867, and in due course
received the degree of M. A. In 1868-69 he studied at the
Columbia College Law School, and afterwards read law in the
office of Andrew T. McClintock, LL. D., and was admitted to
the bar of Luzerne county October 16, 1871, having passed a
creditable examination before the committee, consisting of Henry
M. Hoyt, H. W. Palmer, and E. S. Osborne. Mr. Reynolds
married, November 23, 1876, Annie Buckingham Dorrance, only
daughter of Colonel Charles Dorrance, a descendant of Rev.
Samuel Dorrance. (See page 360.) Mr. and Mrs. Reynolds
have one son, Dorrance Reynolds, born September 9, 1877.

Something more than a mere passing acquaintance is necessary
to an understanding and appreciation of the legal, professional,
and general capacity of Mr. Reynolds. His unobtrusiveness is not
only unusual to the calling, but is misleading as to his qualifications.
He has been an earnest and conscientious student, has possessed
himself of a thorough understanding of the principles of the law,
is well read up in the decisions and the statutes, and adds to these
qualifications for practice an intuitive understanding of men and
affairs equal to the best. Despite, however, this admirable equip-
ment for distinguished success in the practice of the law, Mr.
Reynolds has discouraged rather than invited clients, being for-
tunately well enough off in this world's goods to afford that
course, and devotes a good portion of his time and attention to
general business and scientific pursuits. He is a director of the
Wyoming National Bank, the Wilkes-Barre Electric Light Com-
pany, the Wilkes-Barre District Telegraph and Messenger Com-
pany, and other corporations. He has business interests in other

786 Sheldon Reynolds.

directions in Wilkes-l^arre and at Plymouth. In all these under-
takings he is looked up to by his fellow investors as an unusually
intelligent and safe counselor and guide. Like nearly all of the
family and name in this vicinity, he is a democrat in politics, and
for years he has taken a deep and at times a very active interest
in his party's behalf. He was chairman of the county committee
in 1881, and no man who ever held the position labored more
earnestly or with better appreciation of its requirements. He in-
troduced a number of reforms into the management of the party,
reducing it to regular business methods, and in that way secured
and maintained during his incumbency an admirable organization.
He tried the efficacy of honest methods in the management of
the campaign — the use of the funds placed in his hands by the
candidates and others for the expenses of the canvass, for such
purposes only as were strictly within the statutes and the rule of
fair dealing as between man and man. The venture was success-
ful, for, notwithstanding there was a third ticket in the field, the
Labor- Greenback, deriving its main strength from the democratic
party, the democratic ticket was elected, and the chairman of the
committee submitted an account in detail, together with the
vouchers of all expenditures connected with the campaign, by
whom they were audited and approved. This is believed to have
been the first instance of accounting and auditing under like cir-
cumstances. Mr. Reynolds was chairman of the city committee
in 1880, and his administration was equally clean and effective.
At the expiration of his term he was solicited to continue in these
positions, but his other engagements prevented his doing so. The
thoughts of many in the party naturally turned to Mr. Reynolds,
in 1884, as a proper candidate for state senator for the 21st dis-
trict, to succeed Hon. Eckley B. Coxe. It was universally con-
ceded that he would fill the position admirably — that he possessed
just the qualifications needed in the representative of one of the
most important industrial districts in the state, in the higher
branch of the state legislature. He was repeatedly urged to
permit the use of his name as a candidate, but the conditions of
the contest were such as, much to the regret of a very large and
influential section of the party, to impel him to decline. Those
who know Mr. Reynolds well universally admit that he would

Sheldon Reynolds. 787

grace any public position to which he might consent to be called.
Much of his time and energies are, and for years have been, given
gratuitously to the maintenance and advancement of the Wyom-
ing Historical and Geological Society. For years the most
intimate friend and associate of the late Harrison Wright, who
was admittedly the most useful and indispensable member of
the society named, Mr. Reynolds shared all the other's love for
and enthusiasm in the prosecution of the researches incident to
its purposes. They were close partners in almost every under-
taking ventured in its behalf, and two men never worked together
more harmoniously or, combining their opportunities, more suc-
cessfully, for a given end. He is one of the trustees of the society,
has long served in other official capacities and on its most impor-
tant committees, and has for a number of years been its correspond-
ing secretary. A paper from his pen on the shell beds of the Wy-
oming Valley, contained in a recent publication of the society, ex-
hibits at once the skill and industry of the enthusiastic geologist
and antiquarian and his creditable literary ability. He has also
contributed a number of other papers, published in the collections
of the society and also in pamphlet form, among others, an article
on " City of Wilkes-Barre," in Tenth Census United States, " His-
tory of the First Presbyterian Church of Wilkes-Barre," in His-
tory of the Lackawanna Presbytery. Mr. Reynolds is one of a
small coterie of men the Historical Society could ill afford to
lose. He is a trustee, also, of the Osterhout Free Library, and is
one of the most energetic and useful of its guardians. He is also
a life member of the Pennsylvania Historical Society, Franklin
Institute, and the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society;
member of the Virginia Historical Society, Bangor Historical
Society, American Association for the Advancement of Science,
and is at present president of the Yale Alumni Association of
North-Eastern Pennsylvania. In 1875-76 he was a school
director in the Third school district of this city. With all the
duties we have mentioned, and others, to tax his time and capacity,
Mr. Reynolds' life is one of active, hard work, performed not from
necessity but in response to the promptings of a natural ambition
to be active and useful. He is withal a genial gentleman, whom
it is a genuine pleasure to know socially.

788 Philip Velasco Weaver.

PHILIP VELASCO WEAVER.

Philip Velasco Weaver, who was admitted to the bar of Lu-
zerne county, Pa., September 23, 1878, is a son of Peter Weaver,
of Butler Valley, in this county. His mother, the wife of Peter
Weaver, is Loretto O., daughter of Jacob Kline, of Orangeville,
Pa. P. V. Weaver was born in Black Creek township, Luzerne
county, March 11, 1855. and was educated at the Bloomsburg
Normal School, graduating in the class of 1 874. He subsequently
entered the law office of James Parsons, in Philadelphia, and
graduated from the law school of the University of Pennsylvania in
1878. In 1886 he was the democratic candidate for the legisla-
ture from the fourth legislative district of this county. He was
defeated. The vote stood — D. M. Evans, republican, 2966 :
Weaver, 2226. He married, July 29, 1884, Louisa E., daughter
of the Rev. E. A. Bauer, a Lutheran minister at Hazleton. Mr.
and Mrs. Weaver have no children.

It should be explained, in connection with Mr. Weaver's defeat
for the legislature, that it was compassed under peculiar circum-
stances. His own nomination was preceded by more or less
acrimonious contention among several aspirants, and his opponent
had the advantage of being a prominent official in the Knights of
Labor, a fact which loosened the political allegiance of many of
its theretofore democratic members. Mr. Weaver, as chairman
and committeeman has done good service for his party in every
campaign for a number of years past. He is not a demonstrative
man, but makes friends rapidly and holds them firmly. As an
attorney he is patient, persistent, and energetic. As a citizen he
is respected by all who know him.

WILLIAM LA FAYETTE RAEDER.

William LaFayette Raeder, who was admitted to the bar of
Luzerne county. Pa., June 6, 1 881, is the grandson of John Raeder,

William LaFayette Raeder. 789

who was born in Heppenheim, Hesse Darmstadt, Germany.
February 2, 1794, and died in Wilkes-Barre January 14, 1866.
He married, in 1817, Anna Katrina Seilheimer, of Fromesheimer
Greiss Alzey, Hesse Darmstadt. They had nine children. Of
these John Raeder, the father of W. L. Raeder, was the second
son. He left Havre in July, 1841, on the sailing vessel Oneida,
landing in New York after an exceedingly short voyage of twenty-
eight days, at a time when crossing the ocean usually occupied
from sixty to one hundred days. He made his way at once to
Luzerne county, working at White Haven, Wilkes-Barre, and
Ransom, at whatever his hands found to do. In the fall of 1841
he was employed on the Lehigh Canal at White Haven, under
Charles Gilbert, contractor. In 1842 he returned to Ransom,
where he remained until 1846, when he removed to Wilkes-Barre
and took charge of the old Wyoming House for Jacob Bertels.
This house was located where the Christel block now stands, on
Main street. In 1849" he again returned to Ransom, and was
employed on the farm of Amos Barnum. In 1850 he began work
as a mason on the North Branch Canal, under John and William
Hall, who had the contract to build the lock at the head of the
Narrows, and the lock and aqueduct at Gardner's Ferry, He
was subsequently under W. R. Maffit, who had charge of the
canal from Pittston to the New York state line. He remained at
Gardner's Ferry until 1857, when he removed to Pittston and
took charge of the vaults erected by the late Judge Reichard.
In 1862 he purchased the old Union hotel property, where he
remained until i^y^,, when he bought the Washington Hotel, in
this city, since which time he has resided there. Mr. Raeder
was commissioned second lieutenant of the Pittston Yaegers,
in the Second Brigade of the Ninth Division of the uniformed
militia of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, from the counties
of Columbia, Luzerne, and Wyoming. He was, at the time of
its organization, a director of the Pittston Street Railway. He
was for several years a director of the People's Bank of Pittston.
In 1868 he was elected a member of the Pittston borough council,
and, like all the old citizens of Pittston, served as a member of
the Eagle Ho5e Company. He has three children living — W. L.
Raeder, Mrs. Colonel F. M. Rust, and Mrs. F. M. Heitzman.

790 William LaFayette Raedek.

Mr. Raeder. since his residence in this city, has not been active
in public affairs. He married, November i, 1847, Melinda Wen-
dell, a descendant of Evert Jansen Wendell, one of the early
settlers of Albany, N. Y., who was the ancestor of many distin-
iTuished citizens of that state, in the history of which the name of
Wendell has always maintained its prominence.

Evert Jansen Wendell, who was born at Emden, a town of
twelve thousand inhabitants, located at the mouth of the Ems, in
Hanover (now Prussia), came to New Amsterdam (now New
York City) about 1642. He married. July 31, 1644, Susanna Du
Trieux (now changed to Truax), daughter of M. Du Trieux, and
doubtless the sister of Philip Du Trieux, court messenger in New
Amsterdam at an early day. He had, by his two marriages,
twelve children. His second son, and the first to leave issue, was
Captain Johannes Wendell, born February 2, 1649, baptized, N.
A., February 2, 1649, and died November 20, 1691. His will
was probated February 20, 1692. He married (i) Maritie Meyer,
daughter of Jellis Pieterse Myer, of N. A., and his wife, Elsie
Hendricks, of Amsterdam, Holland. She was baptized January
21, 1652. He married (2) Elizabeth Staats, daughter of Major
Abraham Staats, surgeon (who came to Rensaelearwyck with
Dominie Megapolensis, in 1642), and his wife, Catrina Jochemse,
daughter of Jacob Wessels. Elsie Wendell, the older sister of
Johannes, married Abraham Staats, the brother of her father's
second wife. Elizabeth Staats married (2) Johannes Schuyler,
and had, among others, Margarita, " The American Lady," who
married her cousin. Colonel Philip Van Rensselaer, of " The
Flats," at Port Schuyler, near W. Troy, N. Y.

Captain Johannes Wendell was agent, in 1682, for Maryland, to
receive the indemnity from the Five Nations of Indians for depreda-
tions they had committed in that province. He was justice of the
peace 1684-5; ruling elder of the Dutch Reformed church 1686;
commissioner of Indian affairs 1684 to 1690. In 1685 he was
commissioned captain of the Albany Company, and in 1690 was
mayor of Albany. He left one hundred and forty beavers (the
currency of the country at that time) to each of his daughters,
Elsie and Maritie, with movables from their mother's estate; to
Abraham, part of his land, called " Saratoga ; " to Johannes^ his

William LaFayette Raeder. 791

land of" Lansengburg," and " Whale Island ; " to Ephraim, his
land of " Klinkenberg ; " to his wife, his dwelling in Albany ; his
other lands to his other children. His children were married
into the families of DeKay, Wyngaart, TenBroeck, Oliver, and
others. He had thirteen children, of whom (I) Abraham Wen-
dell, born December 27, 1678, married Katrina DsKay, of N. Y.,
May 15, 1702, and had (i) Johannes, who married, 1724, Elizabeth
Quincy, daughter of Judge Edmund and Dorothy (Flynt) Quin-
cy, of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts, a family long dis-
tinguished in the history of that commonwealth ; (2) Elizabeth, who
married, April 15, 1725, Edmund Quincy, and had, among others,
Esther, who married Jonathan Sewell, chief justice of Lower
Canada ; and Dorothy, who married, as her first husband, John
Hancock, the governor of Massachusetts and the president of the
Continental Congress. (H) Hon. Jacobus Wendell, born August
II, 1691, married, August 12, 1714, Sarah Oliver, daughter
of Dr. James Oliver, of Boston, Mass., and his wife, Mercy
Bradstreet. He was a son of Peter Oliver, an eminent merchant
of Boston, and grandson of Thomas Oliver, of Boston, 1632. Two
of Dr. Oliver's nephews were Andrew Oliver, lieutenant governor
of Massachusetts, and Peter Oliver, chief justice of Massachusetts.
Colonel Jacob Wendell was a merchant of Boston, Mass., where
he located early in life. In 1733 he was director of the First Bank
of Massachu.setts ; 1742 colonel of the Boston Regiment ; 1737-
1750 a member of the Governor's Council ; and 1744-1745 and
1750 one of the commissioners of Indian affairs from Massachu-
setts at Albany.

Sir Jonah Barrington says : " Dress has a moral effect on man-
kind. Let any gentleman find himself with dirty boots, old sur-
tout, soiled neck-cloth, and a general negligence of dress, he will
in all probability find a corresponding disposition by negligence
of address. We should feel the force of this could we but see
one of the ' solid men of Boston ' of olden times as he came down
State street at the hour of high change, then twelve o'clock. His
appearance would cause as much or more excitement than that
of the Turkish ambassador who recently made us a visit. Colo-
nel Jacob Wendell, who died in 1761, is thus described: ' His
dress was rich, being a scarlet-embroidered coat, gold-laced

792 William LaFayette Raeder.

cocked hat, embroidered long waistcoat, small clothes with gold
knee buckles, silk stockings with gold clocks, shoes and large
gold or silver buckles, as the importance of the business or occa-
sion demanded, full ruffles at the bosom and mists, and walking
with a gold-headed cane.' Now we have a portrait of one of the
old school gentlemen of a century ago." (Talcott's Gen. Notes.)

Among the descendants of Colonel Jacob Wendell were Sarah,
wife of Rev. Abiel Holmes, D. D., the historian, author of "The
Annals of America ; " Mary Jackson Holmes, the wife of Dr.
Usher Parsons, of Rhode Island, also an historian ; and Ann S.
Holmes, the wife of Rev. Charles W. Upham, of Salem, also an
historical writer of repute. Margaret Wendell, the daughter of
Colonel Jacob, married William Phillips, of Boston, and had Mrs.
Judge Samuel Cooper, and John Phillips, the father of that eminent
philanthropist, Wendell Phillips.

(HI) Isaac Wendell, born November 5, 1688, the 6th son of
Captain Johannes Wendell, and the immediate ancestor of Mrs.
Raeder, married, November 28, 171 7, Catalyna VanDyck, daugh-
ter of Dr. Hendrick and Maria (Schuyler) VanDyck. This Dr.
VanDyck was a physician of Albany and son of Hendrick Van
Dyck, Schout-Fiscaal of Governor Stuyvesant, and a member of
the Governor's Council. He came to New Amsterdam 1639-40.
He was a prominent figure in the early history of New Amster-
dam. Dr. VanDyke married, February, 3, 1689, Maria Schuyler,
daughter of Arent Schuyler, freeman of New York City, 1695,
and son of Colonel Philip Pieterse Schuyler, the ancestor of all the
Schuylers of Albany and vicinity, and the grandfather of General
Philip Schuyler, of the revolutionary army, whose daughter Eliz-
abeth married General Alexander Hamilton, secretary of the treas-
ury under Washington. (See sketch of General S. in Lossing's
Field Book of the Revolution, i, 38.) Maria (Schuyler) VanDyck
was the grand-aunt of General Schuyler. Colonel Philip Pieterse
Schuyler also married a Wendell. Isaac Wendell had nine chil-
dren, of whom three married, viz.: Elizabeth, born June 29,
1723, married Peter (5) Lansing, son of Johannes (4) and Geertruy
(Schuyler) Lansing, of Johannes (3), Gerrit F. (2), Frederick
(i), of Hassell, province of Overyssell, Prussia, who came to
New Amsterdam in 1650. This Geertruy Schuyler, born Feb-

William LaFayette Raeder. 793

ruary 11, 1694, was the niece of Arent Schuyler and the
daughter of Colonel Peter Schuyler, first mayor of Albany,
1686-1694. Sarah, born November 27, 1726, married, July 15,
1758, Dirck Matthys Vanderheyder, of Matthys Dirk, of Jacob
Tyssen Vanderheyder, New Amsterdam, 1654. The sixth son
was (IV) Hendrick Wendell, baptized March 16, 1729, who
died at Watervliet, N. Y., 1809, will dated October 10, 1796, pro-
bated May I, 1809. He married, June 17, 1750, Catalina Van
Schaick, daughter of Sybrant and Jannetie (Bogaart) VanSchaick,
son of Anthony VanSchaick, who was son of Captain Gosen
Gerritse VanSchaick, brewer, of New Amsterdam, 1649, and his
second wife, Annatie Lievens, of Lievense. In 1657 Captain
Gosen VanSchaick owned a large property in Albany. When he
married his second wife he settled six thousand guilders on the
child of his first marriage. His descendants have been among
the most eminent citizens of New York state. Rev. R. W. Van
Schoick, D. D., of Kingston, is one. Hendrick Wendell had four
children, of whom Susanna, the eldest, married Joost Boskirk, of
Albany, and left issue, recorded in " Pearson's Genealogy of the
First Settlers of Albany." Sarah, the second daughter, married
John Bratt, of Jan, of Albany, a descendant of Albert Andriese
Bratt, of that city, 1662, whose issue is also recorded in Pearson.
(V) Gerrit Wendell, the eldest son and the second child of Hen-
drick, married, 1780, Machtelt Heemstreet, born October 15,
1758, daughter of Hannes Heemstraat, or Hemstreet, of Niskay-
una, and his wife, Elizabeth Bovie, of Dirk Takelse VanHeem-
straat and his wife, Catharina Quackenbos. They had (i)
Cathalyntie, baptized November 2, 1780; (2) Elizabeth, baptized
July 13, 1783 ; (3) Abraham, baptized February 2, 1786 ; (4) Jo-
hannes, baptized November 16, 1788.

Others of the Wendell family who have been prominent men
were Harmanus Wendell, commissioner of Indian affairs 1728-
1732 ; Evert Wendell, lawyer, and commissioner of Indian affairs
1724-1732; Johannes Wendell, also commissioner 1720-1726-
Harmanus Wendell, judge of the Court of Common Pleas 1752-
1758, whose daughter married Colonel Philip Pieterse Schuyler,
of the revolutionary army ; General John H. Wendell, lawyer,
who served in the continental army 1776-1781, held many

794 William LaFavette Raeder.

offices, and was a member of the New York Cincinnati (he
wore the costume of the revolutionary era until his death, in 1S32);
Judge Gerrit Wendell and Jud'^e John L. Wendell, of Washing-
ton county, N. Y. (a daughter of the latter was the wife of Robert
B. Minturn, of Grinnell, Minturn & Co., the philanthropic mer-
chants of New York City) ; and Doctor Peter Wendell, chancel-
lor of the University of New York.

(VI) Johannes, son of Gerritt and Machtelt Wendell, born No-
vember 16, 1788, married Vina Morey or Mowry, born 1792, died
November 29, 1879, aged eighty-seven years, daughter of Isaac
and Hopie (Harrington) Mowry, who came from Rhode Island
to Lake George, and had seventeen children, of whom Melinda,
the ninth child, born October 26, 1828, married, November i,
1847, Joh^ Raeder. Isaac Mowry was descended from Roger
and Mary Mowry, who came to Massachusetts with the Plymouth
colony, was made freeman May 18, 1631, and located at Provi-
dence, R. I., 1643. Austin states that family tradition makes
him a cousin of Roger Williams. This appears to be corrobo-
rated by the similarity of their first names, and the fact that the
two were associates in their residence successively at Plymouth,
Salem, and Providence. Hopie Harrington was descended from
the family of that name that located in Gloucester, R. I., in the
eighteenth century and moved thence to Danby, Vermont, 1777.
Among them were Thomas Harrington, John Harrington, Oliver
Harrington, Mowry Harrington, etc., etc.

W. L. Raeder, son of John and Melinda (Wendell) Raeder,
was born at Ransom, near Gardner's Ferry, then Luzerne, now
Lackawanna, county, November 27, 1854. He removed with
his parents, in April, 1857, to Pittston, and attended the public
and select schools of that borough and the West Pittston Semi-
nary. He was " devil " in the old Gazette office when Hon. B.
F. Hughes, of Philadelphia, was editor, and Hon. Theo. Hart,
now its editor and proprietor, was job printer. He was prepared
for college under the tutorship of Prof. W. J. Bruce, subsequently
editor of the Record of the Times, and entered the freshman class
of Lehigh University in September, 1872, where he took the
course of civil engineering. While a student at college his
parents removed from Pittston to Wilkes-Barre. He, therefore.

William LaFayette Raeder. 795

came to Wilkes-Barre in July, 1876, after graduation as a civil
engineer, and was employed as a member of an engineer corps
under W. B. Hick, chief engineer for the Wyoming Valley Coal
Company, formerly the Riverside. After a narrow escape from
a fall of rock in the old Enterprise colliery he relinquished min-
ing engineering and accepted a position with Virtue & Yorsten,
publishers, whose headquarters were at Pittsburgh. He returned
to Wilkes-Barre, however, in the spring of 1877 and entered, as
a student at law, the office of E. P. & J. V. Darling. While yet
a student he was employed as a solicitor to secure subscribers
for the establishment of the Wilkes-Barre Telephone Exchange.
After successfully establishing the exchange, with the aid of L.
C. Kinsey, Esq., a member of the Luzerne bar, Mr. Raeder was
continued as solicitor and collector until his admission to the
bar, about which time the Scranton Exchange and the Wilkes-
Barre Exchange were consolidated, forming the North Pennsyl-
vania Telephone and Supply Company. Mr. Raeder was con-
nected for a time with the old Wilkes-Barre Fencibles, and after-
wards with Company F., Ninth Regiment, N. G. P., wherein, in
a short time, he reached the position of a sergeant. Though not
yet thirty-four years of age, he has attained an enviable position
in his profession, principally as a practitioner of what is called
real estate law, though his familiarity with its practice generally
is a credit to his preceptors and an attestation of the industry and
zeal with which he pursues its problems. He is the publisher of
the Real Estate Intelligencer and an authority on the subjects to
which it is devoted. He is a democrat in politics, and, though
active in the local councils of the party, has never been a candi-
date for any office. He is popular socially, being a cultivated
vocalist and having achieved a flattering celebrity in amateur
opera. His professional future is likely to be a bright one if
strong common sense, well-digested methods, and unflagging
persistency, added to a very thorough understanding of the law,
can make it so.

W. L. Raeder married, February 17, 1885, EHzabeth, a daughter
of George Worrell, of Elmira, N. Y. They have one child—
Milicent Wendell Raeder, born September 27, 1888. Dr. Smith,
in his History of Delaware County, Pa., states that it is sup-

796 William LaFavette Raeder.

posed that the name of VVorrall or Worrell was originally Warel,
and that those bearing it are descended from a Sir Hubert de Warel,
who lost three sons at the battle of Hastings, the town at which
William the Conqueror first landed. In 1682 Richard Worrell or
Worrall and John Worrell, both Friends, or Quakers, came from
Oare, Berkshire, England, to Philadelphia, at the same time.
They both presented their certificates at the same time, to the
same meeting in Philadelphia, and are supposed to have been
relatives.

John Worrell, born in Oare, Berkshire, England, in 1658, died
at Edgmont, Delaware county. Pa., February 4, 1742, aged eighty-
four years. He located first in Chester, Delaware county, in 1682.
Two years later, in 1684, he moved to Middletown township,
Delaware county, whence, in 1695, he moved to Edgmont town-
ship, where he lived until his death. John Worrell was a mem-
ber of the Pennsylvania Assembly from Chester county in 17 16
(Delaware county being formed in 1789). In 1684 he married (i)
Frances Taylor, died at Edgmont, October 13, 171 2, widow of
Thomas Taylor, of Northenby, Flintshire, England, who pur-
chased lands in Pennsylvania, and died in 1682, leaving two sons,
Thomas, and Philip, who married, in 1705, Ann, daughter of
Thomas and Mary Conway, and died in 1732, leaving issue. He
married (2), April 9, 17 14, Sarah Goodwin, daughter of Thomas
Goodwin, of Edgmont. She was a prominent preacher among
the Friends. By his first marriage Mr. Worrell had, it is said,
but one son, John, born July 26, 1685, who died young, but the
records of P^dgmont meeting show that " Joshua, son of John
Worrell," married, January 23, 1727, Margaret Spoonly, daughter
of Lewis Spoonly. This was probably a second son by the first
marriage. By the second marriage Mr. Worrell had (2) Eliza-
beth, born January 29, 171 5 ; (3) Mary, born April 27, 1717, died
young; (4) John, born August 26, 17 19; (5) Peter, born August
26, 1719 (these two were twins); (6) Sarah, born July 19, 1722 ;
(7) Thomas, born September 21, 1724, died young; (8) Thomas,
born June 29, 1728 ; (9) Mary, born February 24, 1730.

(II) John Worrell, the fourth child of John and Sarah (Goodwin)
Worrell, born August 26,' 17 19, married, April 18, 1741-
Priscilla Lewis, of Edgmont township, Delaware county, and had,

William LaFayettk Raeder. 797

among others, (III) Samuel Worrell, born at Edgmont June 21,
1754, died February 14, 1827, aged seventy-three years. He
was disowned by the Society of Friends for having served in the
revolutionary army. One hundred and ten young men of this
society entered the continental service from Delaware county and
were disowned. Only two, however, joined the British army.
Samuel Worrell married, about 1786, Martha Gamble, of Edg-
mont, born in 1759, died December 26, 1826, aged sixty-seven
years. They had four children — (IV) Lewis; John, of Pequa
Valley ; Priscilla, and Rachel.

Lewis Worrell, the eldest of these children, was born in Edg-
mont October 13, 1787, died at Cape May, N. J., March 24,
i860. He married, in 18 10, Milicent Taylor, of Cape May,
N. J., born in 1790 and died in 1865. Mr. Worrell was bound
out at six years of age to learn the potter's trade, in Westown,
Chester county. When his time had expired he worked for
some time at his trade in Edgmont. In 18 17 he removed to
Luzerne county and settled at Wilkes-Barre. He lived, until
1840, on River street, where he carried on the pottery business
in connection with a lumberyard until 1848, when he retired from
business. In 1854 he removed to Elmira, where he established
his son George in the coal business. In May, 1858, he moved
to Cape May, N. J., and died there. Mr. Lewis Worrell, during
his long residence in Wilkes-Barre, earned the high esteem of all
its people. One who remembers him well, having had intimate
business and social association with him, says : " He was a man
of fine physique, with sparkling blue eyes, intelligent, and in
every respect companionable. He was full of energy and busi-
ness tact and the very soul of honor and integrity." He lived in
the Emley house and his pottery stood on the present site of the
Urquhart property, where Arnold Bertels now resides. It was
an industrial establishment of no small consequence in a borous-h
of the size of Wilkes-Barre, and flourished under his careful
management. Mr. Worrell was a devoted churchman, and an
ardent participant in all efforts to help his less fortunate fellows,
and to add to the good name and prosperity of the city. He was a
good man and a good citizen in all that the term implies.

(V) George Worrell, son of Lewis Worrell, was born in Wilkes-

798 TuTHiLL Reynolds Hillard.

Barre in 1824, and died in Elmira, N. Y., July 21, 1887, aged
sixty-three years. Moving to l^lmira in 1855, he spent thirty-two
years of his life in that city. The lUniira Advertiser, speaking of
Mr. Worrell at the time of his death, says : " He was always an
active and intelligent business man. At different times in his
busy career he had been associated with the Nobles Manufactur-
ing Company and with the company that operated the woolen
mills, but he was chiefly known as a successful coal dealer. He
brought the first cargo of Pittston coal to Elmira in a canal boat
on the once prosperous Chemung canal, and was the first to in-
troduce the product of the Pittston mines into Rochester and
other cities. In political life Mr. Worrell was not unknown,
serving several terms as member of the common council and
board of supervisors. These trusts were discharged to the credit
of himself and the satisfaction of his constituents in the Third
ward. He was a member of St. Omer's Commandery and
was connected with Grace E^piscopal Church." The Gaseite says
in addition to the above : " Personally Mr. Worrell was one of
the pleasantest men. He was one of those generous, whole-
souled men, quiet and unostentatious in his way, but never with-
holding aid from any deserving one. Few, perhaps, knew him
intimately, but they can testify to his worth as a man, a citizen
and a neighbor." Mr. Worrell married, October 18, 1853, Eu-
nice Callahan, daughter of John and _Mary (Cole) Callahan, and
had four children — James L., of Elmira, George H , of Roche.ster,
N. Y., Mrs. W. L. Raeder, and Mrs. Lewis B. Landmesser, of
Wilkes-Barre.

TUTHILL REYNOLDS HILLARD.

Tuthill Reynolds Hillard, who was admitted to the bar of Lu-
zerne county, Pa., June 6, 1885, is a descendant of Joseph Hillard,
of Killingsworth, Conn., who had a son Joseph Hillard, who had a
son Oliver Hillard, also of Killingsworth. His wife was Nancy
Crawford. Oliver Burr Hillard, son of J-©sepii Hillard, was born in

TuTHiLL Reynolds Hillard. 799

KilHngsworth, Conn., June 7, 1803. He subsequently removed to
Charleston, S. C, where he carried on a large mercantile and ship-
ping business. While a resident of that city he married Catharine
Roberts, a daughter of Captain Roberts, of Charleston. He after-
wards removed to this city, where he is still remembered by our
older citizens as the most enterprising merchant of his day. Thad-
deus S. Hillard, son of Oliver Burr Hillard, is a native of Charleston,
where he was born in 1829. He came to this city with his
father's family, and was for many years engaged in the mercantile
business with his brother, William S. Hillard. His wife is Esther
Jane Reynolds, a native of Elmira, N. Y. She is the daughter of
the late Charles Reynolds and his wife, Lydia Tuthill, a daughter
of Samuel Tuthill.

Tuthill Reynolds Hillard, third son of Thaddeus S. Hillard,
was born in this city December 12, i860. He was educated in
the public schools of his native city, WilHston Seminary, East-
hampton, Mass., and Yale College, graduating from the latter
institution in the class of 1883. He read law in this city with E.
P. Darling and W. C. Price. The same month that he was ad-
mitted to the bar he left for an extended cruise in the schooner
yacht Brunhilde, John Jay Phelps, owner and captain, sailing
around the world, and arriving home a year ago. The yacht
left New York June 20, 1885, and spent the next ten days at
New Haven and New London, Conn. On the 29th she sailed
for Cowes, Isle of Wight ; thence to Boulogne and Cherbourg,
France ; Cadiz, Spain ; Tangiers, Morocco ; Gibraltar ; Mers-el-
Kebir, Oran, Algiers, Bougie and Bona, Algeria ; Alexandria,
Port Said, Ismaila and Suez, in Egypt ; Jebel Zukir, an island
in the Red Sea; Perim Island in the Straits of Bab-el-Mandeb ;
Aden; Sokotra, in the Indian Ocean, since seized by England;
Aucutta, one of the Laccadives ; Bombay ; Columbo ; Penang
and Singapore in the Strait Settlements ; Pulo Condore in the
China Seas; Hong Kong; Nagasaki, Shiminiseki, Marayama,
Mirawa, Te Sima, Kobe, Okoshka, and Yokohama, in Japan;
San Francisco and Monterey, Cahfornia ; Honolulu and Hilo,
Sandwich Islands; Papiete and Papara in Tahiti; Rapanni or
Easter Island; Juan Fernandez; Valparaiso; Stanley Harbor,
Falkland Islands; Montevideo, Urugauy; Ilha Grande, Rio

8oo Lord Buti.ek Iliu.AKn.

Janeiro and Hahia, in Brazil; Barbadoes, St. I. ucia, Martinique,
Dominica, Montserrat, St. Kitt.s, Santa Cruz, and St. Thomas, in
the West Indies; the Bermudas, and New York; arriving at the
latter place July 31, 1887, and after remaining there a week,
running up the New England coast and back by the first of Sep-
tember. At many of these places journeys inland were taken,
and frequently stays of a month made in a single port. Mr. Hil-
lard, since his return, has been actively engaged in the practice
of the law.

Very few men of any age can be said to have .seen as much of
the world as it has been Mr. Hillard's privilege to familiarize
him.self with, under most advantageous circumstances. The voy-
age of the Brunhilde was exclusively for sight seeing purposes.
Abundant means were at the command of the captain, who is a
son of the millionaire congressman, William Walter Phelps, and
time in which to " do " each place visited as thoroughly as pos-
sible was not wanting. The amount of information any young
man of even the most ordinary powers must needs have acquired
in such a tour is not only vast in extent, but largely such as could
not in a lifetime have been gathered from mere book study.
Supplementing a graduation from Yale, it should fit a man for
success in almost any undertaking he could choose. Mr. Hillard
already gives evidence that he will win a good position in his
chosen profession.

LORD BUTLER HILLARD.

Lord Butler Hillard, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne
county, Pa., September 7, 1885, is the only son of the late William
S. Hillard, of this city, a native of Charleston, S. C, and grand-
son of Oliver Burr Hillard. (See preceding sketch.) The
wife of W. S. Hillard is Ruth Ross Butler, a daughter of the
late Lord Butler, of Wilkes-Barre. (See page 358.) Lord
Butler Hillard was born in Wilkes-Barre December 5, 1861, and
was prepared for college at St. Paul's School, Concord, N. H.,

George Eugene Cohen. 8oi

and, entering Yale College, graduated therefrom in the class of
1883. He read law with his uncle, E. G. Butler, in this city.
Mr. Hillard is first lieutenant of Company F, Ninth Regiment,
National Guard of Pennsylvania. He entered as a private, and
was promoted through all the grades to his present position.
Failing health compelled him to give up the practice of the law,
at least temporarily, and he is now engaged in the sale and man-
ufacture of lumber at Pittston. He is the vice president of the
Wyoming Valley Lumber Company, located at that point. Mr.
Hillard is an unmarried man, and a democrat in politics. Though
he was but a short time at the bar, it was long enough to dem-
onstrate that if health had permitted and inclination prompted he
could and would have fought his way to success there. He is a
young man of fine mind, ambitious, and possessed of excellent
general business qualifications.

GEORGE EUGENE COHEN.

Georgfe Eugene Cohen, who was admitted to the bar of Lu-
zerne county December 11, 1886, is a native of Pittston, Pa.,
where he was born July 24, 1862. He is the son of the late
Henry Cohen, a native of Schubein, in the province of Posen,
Prussia, where he was born in 1820. His father was Eugene
Cohen, of the same place. Henry Cohen was educated as a
teacher, and at the age of fifteen years passed the government
examination. He subsequently taught five years. In 1848 he
emigrated to this country, and did business in Susquehanna De-
pot and Scranton, Pa. In 1850 he removed to Pittston, where
he resided until the time of his death, May 25, 1886. During
that time he achieved success in business and amassed a consid-
erable fortune. He was an active, enterprising citizen, and won
universal respect for his honorable dealing as a man of affairs,
and as a friend and neighbor. He took an active interest in the
public schools of Pittston, and served for a number of years as
one of the directors, and was treasurer of the board for several
years. He also held other offices of trust and responsibility to

8o2 James Madison Fritz.

the satisfaction of the public. He was a director of the People's
Savings Bank of Pittston, and also of the Miners' Savings Bank,
at the time of his death. Mr. Cohen married, in 1857, AmeHa
Aurbach, a native of Schroda, Pru.ssia, daughter of the late George
R. Aurbach.

George E. Cohen, son of Henry Cohen, was educated in the
schools of his native place, at Wilkes-Barre Academy, Mielzeiner
Boarding School, New York, and Yale College, graduating from
the latter in the class of 1884. He took at the latter institution
the Cobden prize in political economy. Mr. Cohen read law with
H. B. Payne and George K. Powell, in this city. He also attended
the Columbia College Law School in the city of New York. Mr.
Cohen made an extensive tour of Europe in 1887 for the benefit
of his health. He has an office in this city, but his residence is
in Pittston. He married, August 30, 1888, Lillie Stein, of Mont-
gomery, Alabama, daughter of George A. Stein, of New Orleans.

Mr. Cohen, at the time of the writing of these lines, although
nearly two years after his admission, can scarcely be said to have
as yet attempted practice. As already noted, his health has not
been of the best, and, having the means at command, he has uti-
lized them to find renewed strength in foreign climates. He is
now prepared to win a place in the profession by deserving it,
and he comes to the performance of his task well equipped to
succeed in it. The honors he won at Yale show him to have ex-
ceptional ability not only for acquiring knowledge but for making
stong presentment of what he has learned. He has a keen, ana-
lytical mind, is an ingenious and effective disputant, and an
intelligent conversationalist. He has every qualification, in fact,
as well as admirable opportunity, for making his mark both at
the bar and, if he chooses, in public life.

JAMES MADISON FRITZ.

James Madison Fritz was born in Orangeville, Columbia
county. Pa., March 10, 1857. He is a descendant of Philip Fritz,
a native of Philadelphia, who removed from that city to what is

James Madison Fritz. 803

now Sugarloaf township, Columbia county, in 1790. He was a
descendant of one of the early German emigrants who settled in
Philadelphia at a very early day. Philip Fritz was the owner
of a large tract of land, and in addition to his duties as a farmer
filled the office of justice of the peace and was also a school
teacher. John G. Freeze, in his History of Columbia County,
says that Philip Fritz was the first school master and justice of
the peace in the north-eastern part of Columbia county. He also
says that " he was a scholarly gentleman from Philadelphia. He
taught the first school of the township in a log hut which stood
where St. Gabriel's church now stands." His wife was Charlotte
Deborgur, also a native of Philadelphia. She was the daughter
of Henry Deborgur.

Henry H. Fritz, son of Philip Fritz, was about four years of
age when his father removed from Philadelphia to Sugarloaf
township. He was a farmer and was one of the founders of St.
Gabriel's Episcopal Church, in Sugarloaf township. He died in
1866. He married, in 18 14, Margaret Roberts.

William Fritz, son of Henry Fritz and father of James M. Fritz,
was a native of Sugarloaf township. He was a school teacher for
several years and finally became a merchant at Orangeville. He
was an elder in the Presbyterian church and a justice of the peace
at the time of his death, in 1864. The wife of William Fritz was
Margaret Jones, of New Brunswick, N. J. She was the daughter
of Benjamin Jones, who removed from that place to Orangeville.
James M. Fritz, after the death of his father, removed to New
Brunswick with his mother and for a few years filled the position
of clerk in some of the manufactories and dry goods stores of New
Brunswick. Upon the death of his mother, in 1875, he returned
to Columbia county and attended the Orangeville Academy in
the summer time and taught school in the counties of Columbia
and Luzerne during the winter season until 1879, when he entered
Lafayette College and graduated in the classical course in the
class of 1883. He then registered as a law student in the office
of C. G. Barkley, of Bloomsburg, Pa. While pursuing his law
studies he taught school and was principal of the Shickshinny
schools and also of the New Columbus Academy. He was ad-
mitted to the bar of Columbia county December 13, 1886, and to

8o4 John Franklin Evekhart.

the bar of T.uzernc county January 29, 1887. He immediately
thereafter removed to Nanticoke, where he has opened an office.
He has attached himself to the principles of the democratic party.
James M. Fritz was married to Annie Elizabeth Stackhouse, a
daughter of the late John M. Stackhouse, of Shickshinny, Septem-
ber 9, 1886. Mr. and Mrs. Fritz have one child, Margaret Fritz.

John M. Stackhouse was a descendant of Thomas Stackhouse
and his wife, Grace Heaton, daughter of Robert and Alice Heaton.
They were born in England and came to America in 1682. They
were married, 7th mo., 27, 1688, at Middletown meeting, Bucks
county. Pa. Thomas Stackhouse represented Bucks county in
the Colonial Assembly in the years 1711, 1713, and 1715. He
was re-elected in 17 16, but refused to serve. He was the owner
of five hundred and seven acres of land in Middletown. Robert
Stackhouse, son of Thomas Stackhouse, removed to what is now
Berwick, Columbia county. Pa. He was one of the earliest settlers
there, and died in 1788, aged about ninety-seven years. He had
a son Benjamin, who had a son James, who had a son Joseph,
who was the father of John M. Stackhouse.

Mr. Fritz brought experience in the trials of this world to the
study of his profession, and from this incentive naturally comes
a degree of quiet but serious energy, fruitful of the best possible
results. The knowledge gained by him in his connection with
general mercantile and manufacturing business, together with the
understanding of human nature that comes from wielding author-
ity in the school room, are an equipment that cannot but tell
profitably to him in the pursuit of his chosen calling. He is a
painstaking and intelligent servitor of his clients, and will doubt-
less prosper in pace with the rapidly growing community in which
he abides.

JOHN FRANKLIN EVERHART.

John Franklin Everhart, who was admitted to the bar of Lu-
zerne county November 15, 1887, is a native of Pittston, Pa.,
where he was born June 18, 1859. Two and a half centuries is

John Franklin Everhart. 805

a long time for one to glance back through the vista of a family
history, yet it is about that length of time since there landed
in this country, from Germany — most probably from the ancient
kingdom of Wirtemburg — afamily by the name of Eberhard, which
has since that time become anglicized into Everhart. The name
Eberhard is closely linked with Wirtemburg, and as far back as
1370 there was a famous Count Eberhard, who figured promi-
nently in the history of Germany, and gave the Emperor Karl
IV no little amount of trouble, which was continued for several
years with the emperor's son and successor, Wenceslas. About
the commencement of the last century the great-great-grandfather
of the subject of this sketch moved from his New York home to
Pennsylvania, and settled in East Vincent township, Chester
county. The great-grandfather, James Everhart, was a stripling
of seventeen years when the revolution of the English colonies
occurred. Like a brave and patriotic youth, he shouldered his
musket and was soon in the field fighting for the cause of liberty
and independence. He served the infant republic until his musket
was worn out, and lived to see his grand-children prosper, and died
a nonagenarian in 1852. He had three sons, James, John, and
William, all of whom became men of wealth and prominence.
The latter was a member of congress from 1853 to 1855. It is
related of William that it was his misfortune to be wrecked on the
coast of Ireland, where he and five survivors of the ill-fated vessel
were treated with great kindness, and that during the famine in
Ireland, a few years since, he loaded a ship with provisions at his
own expense and sent her to Ireland, by way of expressing his
p-ratitude. He was the father of the late ex-congressman James
Bowen Everhart, of Chester county. Pa. James Everhart was the
grandfather of the subject of this sketch, and the youngest .son of
James Everhart. He was born in 1789 and died in 1863. He
was an officer in the war of 1812, and after the war engaged in
the mercantile business in Chester county. Pa. In 1820 he
removed to Berks county, where he engaged extensively in agri-
culture, tanning, and the iron trade, during which time he took a
ship load of bark to England and exchanged it for merchandise.
He was a man of sound judgment and correct principles, whose
■influence was more than local, and whose opinion was sought as

8o6 John Franklin Everiiart.

a matter of worth by those who knew him best. In all the lead-
in[^ topics of the day he was a close observer, and in those calcu-
lated for the general good he was deepK^ interested. He was ar>
ardent supporter of the free school system, and before its day
established schools at his own expense, in order that the rising
generation of his neighbors might have the rudiments of a com-
mon education. He was in no sense of the word a politician,
though twice he represented his county in the legislature, the
second time receiving the unanimous support of both the political
parties. He was urged to accept a nomination to congress^
which was equivalent to an election, and declined. In 1817 he
married Mary M., the only child of Isaac and Catharine Templen.
The union was blessed with eight children, of whom five survive.
James M. Everhart, of Scranton, Pa., is the third son, and Isaiah
F. Everhart, M. D., also of Scranton, is the youngest child.

John Templen Everhart, the father of the subject of our sketch,
is the oldest of the children of James Everhart, and was born
September 14, 1818. After receiving a common school educa-
tion, he entered his father's tannery and learned the trade of a
tanner. In 1851 he removed to Pittston, and purchased large
coal interests and real estate. P^verhart's Island, in the Lacka-
wanna river, is one of his pieces of real estate. In private life he
is generous and charitable, and devoted to his family. In 1841
he married Theresa A., the daughter of John Maguire, of Phila-
delphia. One son was born to them, James, who died at the age
of twenty-four in 1867, and his mother died at the same age in
1843. O" May 12, 1853, he married Mary Leidy, the daughter
of Jacob Leidy.

George Leidy, the father of Jacob Leidy, the grandfather of the
subject of this sketch, was a native of Hilltown township, Bucks
county, Pa., and was a wealthy farmer. Jacob Leidy carried on
a mercantile business in Philadelphia for twenty years. He
removed to Berwick, Pa., in the early part of the century. He
erected iron works, known as the Forge, in Nescopeck, carrying
on a mercantile business at the same time. Subsequently he re-
moved to this city. He died in Quincy, Illinois, October 12,
1857. He was a cousin of the father of Dr. Joseph Leidy and
Dr. Philip Leidy, of Philadelphia. His wife was Elizabeth Rou-

Henry Clay Adams. 807

•derbush, a daughter of George Rouderbush, who was born in
1776, in Berks county, Pa. He subsequently removed to Sellers-
ville, Pa., where be became a wealthy farmer.

John Franklin Everhart, son of John T. Everhart, was educated
in private schools, in the Princeton college preparatory school,
and at Princeton college. He read law with George S. Ferris, at
Pittston, and with Alexander Farnham, in this city. He is an
unmarried man, and a republican in politics. His office is in
Pittston. The above named place presents a broad field for the
efforts of young attorneys. It is a large, prosperous, and grow-
ing town, and, as the foregoing facts show, Mr. Everhart begins
in it with an outlook that promises most satisfactorily. His
ancestry, his collegiate training, and the well-known ability of
his preceptors all combine to foreshadow victory in his battle
with the complications and vicissitudes of the law.

HENRY CLAY ADAMS.

Henry Clay Adams was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county
May 19, 1888. He is the son of Jacob Adams, of this city, who
■was born October 26, 1827, at Kertzenheim, Bavaria, Prussia.
Mr. Adams emigrated to America and landed in New York Jan-
uary 5, 1853. For the past thirty-five years he has been a resi-
dent of VVilkes-Barre. The mother of H. C. Adams was Josephine
Jacoby, daughter of Jacob Jacoby, who was born May 1 1, 1801,
at Rhine Falls, Bavaria. He emigrated to America in June, 1840,
and settled in this city in 1842, where he resided until his death,
September 11, 1887. H. C. Adams was educated in the public
schools of this city, and read law with Charles Dorrance Foster,
of Wilkes-Barre. He is an unmarried man, and a democrat in
politics.

Mr. Adams has had no " royal road to learning." His advan-
tages have been only such as are open to every boy in these days
of public schools and multiplied newspapers.. He is not a " born
genius," and has not startled anybody by precocious development,

go8 Frank Warren Larned.

but all who know him know that he has hiinc^ closely to his
books, applied himself diligently to all the tedious routine of a
beginner's life, and emerges from the ordeal well grounded in the
principles of the law, and likely to become one of the most indus-
trious and, therefore, most useful members of the profession.

FRANK WARREN LARNED.

Frank Warren Larned, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne
county May 21, 1888, is a descendant of William Learned and
Goodith, his wife, who were admitted to the present First church
of Charlestown, Mass.. on October 6, 1632. It has been said, but
whether upon good authority is not known, that William Learned
came over in February, 1624 ; but this is improbable, since his son
Isaac was born that month and his daughter Mary was buried in
England in July, 1625. In the Charlestown records is a list of
such as were admitted inhabitants of the town in 1630, and among
them his name appears. His name also appears in a list of inhab-
itants in 1633 and again in 1635 and in 1637. Shares of hay
ground were assigned to him, and again a portion of marsh
land February ii, 1637. In Wyman's Charlestown Gene-
alogies seven different parcels of land are described which be-
longed to him. In 1634 he was admitted a freeman. His name
appears as one of the signatures to the town order for the appoint-
ment of eleven selectmen February 13, 1635. On February 13,

1636, he was appointed a selectman. About this time he is men-
tioned with twenty-eight others as having " willingly surrendered,
for the good of the town, part of their land on Mystic side." In
March, 1637, he was chosen one of four instead of goodman
Brakenbury to divide for stinting the common land. In April,

1637, he and goodman Thomas Ewer were desired to lay out
widow Wilkins two acres. About the same time he and several
others were desired " to goe with Mr. Winthrop to lay out bounds
between us and him." At the time of the controversy, which
originated with Mrs. Anne Hutchinson when the general court

Frank Warren Larned. 809

condemned and banished Rev. John Wheelwright, Wilham
Learned was one of the signers of the remonstrance against that
proceeding. In the minutes of the court it is recorded : " WiUi.
Larnet acknowledged his fault in subscribing the seditious writ-
ing, and, desiring his name to be crossed out, it was yelded to
him and crossed." February 12, 1638, it was referred to Mr.
Greene and William Learned to settle Mr. Witherell's wages for the
year past. William Witherell was the school master. February
26, 1638, Mr. Learned with five others " were desired to consider
of some things tending toward a body of laws." In 1640 a move-
ment was on foot to settle Woburn. The first meeting for the
purpose was held at the house of Mr. Thomas Greene on Decem-
ber 18, and town orders were there signed by thirty-two persons,
and among them by William Learned (spelled by the clerk Ler-
nedt). He was one of the seven who, on August 14, 1642,
founded the first church of Woburn. In April, 1643, he was
chosen constable and one of the selectmen, and again in 1644-45.
He died March i, 1646. He was about fifty-six years of age at
the time of his death. His wife survived him. The name (Lear-
ned) has been varied much by the bad orthography of early
times, as Lerned, Larned, Lernot, Larnit, etc., and many of his
descendants now write it Larned, as does the subject of our
sketch. It may rersonably be conjectured that the true spelling
was " Learned" and that the true pronunciation was " Larned."
Isaac Learned, son of William Learned, was born February
25, 1623, in Bermondsey parish, county Surrey, England, and
probably came with his father to this country when about seven
or eight years of age. He probably went with his father, when
about seventeen or eighteen years old, from Charlestown to
Woburn. He married at Woburn, July 9, 1646, Mary, daughter
of Isaac Sternes, of Watertown. She was born in England and
came to America with her father in 1630 in the same ship with
Governor Winthrop and Sir Richard Saltonstall, and settled in
Watertown, near Mount Auburn. She was baptized January 6,
1626, in the parish of Nayland, county Suffolk, England, from
which place her father emigrated. Isaac Stearns was admitted a
freeman May 18, 1631, the earliest date of any such admission.
He was selectman in 1659, 1670, and 1671. In 1647, with Mr.

8 10 Frank VVakren Lakned.

William Biscoe, he had charge of the first bridge of which any
mention is made over the Charles river at Watertown. In 1652
Isaac Learned sold his house and lands in Woburn and removed
to Chelmsford, where he died November 27, 1657. His wife
survived him and subsequently married John Burg, of Weymouth.
Lands were repeatedly laid out for him in Woburn both before
and after his father's death. He was chosen one of the select-
men of Chelmsford in 1654, sergeant of the (train) band in 1656,
a committee to lay out certain meadow lands January ii, 1656.
He was also appointed a commissioner to decide small cases at
Chelmsford. In the office of the secretary of state, Boston, is a
petition signed by him for a grant of additional land to Chelms-
ford, dated May 7, 1656. A petition from Woburn, signed by
him, " Isaac Larnitt," and by others, is printed in Massachusetts
Historical Collections in which the petitioners remonstrate against
an order forbidding any person to undertake a constant course
of preaching or prophesying without the approbation of the elders
of the four next churches or of the county court. The Chelms-
ford records contain several grants of land to him.

Isaac Learned, son of Isaac Learned, was born at Chelmsford
September 29, 1659. He settled in Framingham, near the beau-
tiful pond of thirty-six acres still called from him Learned's
Pond. He was a soldier in Captain Davenport's company at the
Narragansett fight and was wounded. He was received as an
inhabitant of Sherborn in April, 1679 (Framingham not then being
a town). He was on the committee to procure the act of incor-
poration in 1699, and signed in that character the answer to the
remonstrance from Sherborn. After the incorporation it was
voted in town meeting August 21, 1700, that he and two others
shall be the men to go and discourse with a lawyer about " our
aggrieved neighbors." He was selectman in 1692, 1698, 1706.
and 1711 and fence viewer in 1681-82. He died September 15,
1737. He married. July it,, 1769, Sarah Bigelow, a daughter of
John and Sarah (Warren) Bigelow. Mr. Bigelow was a black-
smith in Watertown, took the oath of fidelity in 1652, and was
selectman in 1665, 1670, and 1671. He married October 30,
1642, Mary Warren. This is the earliest marriage found in the
town records. John Warren came to America in 1630, aged

Frank Warren Larned. 8ii

forty-five years. He settled in Watertown, and was admitted
freeman May i8, 163 1, and was selectman from 1636 to 1640.
In 1635 he and Abraham Browne were appointed to lay out all
highways and to see that they were repaired. In October, 165 1,
he and Thomas Arnold were each fined 20s for an offense against
the laws concerning baptism. March 14, 1659, he was to be
warned for not attending public worship, but " old Warren is not
to be found in town." April 4, 1664, he was fined for neglect of
public worship fourteen Sabbaths, each 5s=:;^3 los. May 27,
i66[, the houses of" old Warren and goodman Hammond" were
ordered to be searched for Quakers.

William Larned, son of Isaac Learned, was born February 12,
1688. He had moved from Framingham and had bought land
in the north part of Killingly, Conn., in 17 12. His name appears
on the tax list of 17 16. Sometime afterward he moved to Sutton.
He was one of the original members of the church at Sutton,
and in 1720 was on a committee to acquaint Rev. Mr. McKinstry
that the town had given him a call. He was admitted to the
church in Thompson July 12, 173 1, on a certificate from the
church in Sutton. The parish of Thompson had formerly been
the north society of Killingly, and had recently been organized
as a parish. William Larned lived in this town, was chosen
deacon June 7, 1742, surveyor of highways in 1729, selectman
from 1740 to 1744, and town treasurer from 1742 to 1746. He
died June 11, 1747. He married, November 24, 1715, Hannah
Bryant, a daughter of Simon and Hannah Bryant, of Killingly,
formerly of Braintree, Mass.

Ebenezer Larned, son of William Larrifed, was born March 11,
1723. He was admitted to full communion in the church at
Killingly July 12, 1747, and was for many years deacon in North
Killingly; was selectman in 1760. In a conveyance made to
him in 1750 he is described as an innkeeper, and in a deed to him
from his father in 1745 as a husbandman. He was one of the
original proprietors of the Connecticut Susquehanna Company,
and took part in organizing it. His name is found on the deed
from the Six Nations to lands in Wyoming. He died December
6, 1779. He married, December 28, 1749, Kesick Leavens, one
of the eight daughters of Justice Joseph Leavens, of Killingly,

8i2 Frank Warren Larned.

who was one of the first settlers of the town. Ruth Larned, a
daughter of William Larned, brother of Ebenezer Larned, mar-
ried Jedediah Marcy, of Southbridge, who became the mother of
William Larned Marcy, who graduated at Brown University in
1808, was recorder of Troy, N. Y., 1816, adjutant general of New
York, 1821, comptroller, 1823, justice of supreme court, 1829,
U. S. senator, 1831, governor, 1833- 1839, secretary of war,
1845-49, secretary of state, 1853-57.

Theophilus Larned, son of Ebenezer Larned, was born July i,
1758, in Killingly. He set out for Ohio in 1795, but stayed in
Pennsylvania, where he remained until 1806. He then removed
to Ontario county, N. Y., where he died in 1815. A deed dated
September 21, 1795, describes him as of Colchester, Ulster
county, N. Y., and conveys to Ephraim Lock wood, of Luzerne
county. Pa., a right in the Connecticut and Susquehanna Com-
pany purchase, which he had received by inheritance from his
father. He married, June 4, 1780, Patience Whipple, of Killingly.
She died at Phelps, N. Y., February 27, 1849.

Amasa Larned, the eldest brother of Theophilus Larned, was
a graduate of Yale College, a member of congress from 1791-957
and member of the constitutional convention to ratify the consti-
tution of the United States, 1788. He was of a dark and swarthy
complexion, which he used to say he inherited from the Leavens
blood. While he was in college he wrote a Latin letter to his
brother Theophilus, with postscript, " If you can't read this show
it to Mr. Brown " (the clergyman at Killingly). In reply Theo-
philus wrote him a letter in Indian, from the dictation of an
Indian servant girl, Molly Piggins, with the postscript, " If you
can't read this show it to some other Indian." His son, Ebene-
zer Learned, was a graduate of Yale College, 1798. His grand-
son, William Law Learned, of Albany, N. Y., is a graduate of
Yale College, 1851 (LL. D., 1878), justice supreme court, pro-
fessor in the Albany Law School, &c.

Theophilus Larned, son of Theophilus Larned, was born in
Killingly in 1791, and removed to Wyoming when a young lad.
He purchased a farm near the village of Wyoming, and married
Elizabeth Smith, a daughter of David Smith. She was born at
Wyoming. The wife of David Smith was Mrs. Lucy Murphy.

Frank Warren Larned. 813

Her maiden name was Gore, and she was a daughter of Obadiah
Gore. (See page 435 for a sketch of the Gore family.) Her
husband, John Murphy, was killed in the massacre and battle of
Wyoming. A son, George Murphy, was born in Esquire De-
pew's barn, on the Delaware, near Stroudsburg, while she was
a fugitive after the battle. She subsequently returned to Wyo-
ming, and became the wife of David Smith. James Bidlack was
born at the same place. His father was also killed in the battle.
Theophilus Larned removed to Huntington township some years
before his death.

Rev. George Marvin Larned, son of Theophilus Larned, was
born at Wyoming March 8, 1834. He is a minister of the
Methodist Episcopal Church, a member of the Central Pennsyl-
sylvania Conference, and is now stationed at White Haven, in
this county. The wife of Rev. G. M. Larned is Samantha Ben-
scoter, a daughter of the late Warren Benscoter, of Union town-
ship, in this county. The Benscoter family came from the
valley of the Delaware. James, the grandfather of Warren,
brought to Huntington five sons — Anthony, John, Abraham, Isaac
and Jacob. James, Anthony and Isaac Benscoter are in the list
of taxables of Huntington township in 1796. Abraham Benscoter
was the father of Warren Benscoter, the father of Mrs. Larned.
The name is known in some localities as Van Scoten, but by the
mixed dialects and nationalities of our country has lost the pe-
culiarity which ever points to the original home of the family —
Holland. The ancestors of the Benscoters were of the early low
Dutch colonists, who contributed largely towards the European
settlements in the valleys of the Hudson and Delaware rivers.

Frank Warren Larned, son of Rev. G. M. Larned, was born in
Huntington township May 30, 1859. He was educated in the
public schools of his native township, at Dickinson Seminary,
Williamspoit, and at Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pa., from which
he graduated in the class of 1880. He taught school for several
years before his admission to the bar. He had charge of the
Jeddo private school managed by the Jeddo Coal Company, and
was principal of the Drifton schools in Hazle township. He was
also principal of the Franklin street school in Plymouth. In
1883, 1884 and 1885 he had charge of the normal department

8 14 Darryl LaPorte Creveling.

and was assistant professor in mathematics in Dickinson Semi-
nary. He read law in the office of Hubbard B. Payne in this
city. Mr. Larned married, February 19, 1881, Helen Frances
Kantner, of Ashland, Pa., daughter of Lewis Kantner. She died
on the anniversary of her marriage one year later, leaving her
husband and a son, Lewis Marvin Larned, born February 17, 1882,
to survive her.

Mr. Larned has entered the profession of the law with evident
intention to boldly attack and, if possible, overcome every obstacle
that besets the path between ambition and attainment in the
noblest of the professions. He has great energy and is indefati-
gable in his efforts to invoke for his clients every advantage the
law will allow. He gave some attention to newspaper work while
a student and exhibited a capacity in that connection that by
persistence would have brought profitable results. He enters
the profession with every prospect of winning in it both a good
name and a good livelihood.

DARRYL LA PORTE CREVELING.

Darryl LaPorte Creveling, who was admitted to the bar of
Luzerne county. Pa., June 18, 1888. was born in Fishing Creek
township. Columbia county, Pa., October 7, 1859. He is a de-
scendant of Andrew Creveling,who emigrated to this country from
Germany with his wife and settled near Asbury, Warren county,
N. J., where he engaged in farming. At the outbreak of the
revolutionary war he entered the continental army and served all
through the war. He was in the battle of Monmouth, June 28,
1778, and on that day his son, Samuel Creveling, the great-grand-
father of the subject of this sketch, was born. At the close of the
war Andrew Creveling removed to Columbia county, and located
near what is now P^spytown, in Scott township, where he bought
land and made improvements after the fashion of that day. At
that time and for years there were no milling facilities closer
than Sunbury, and he used to send his boys there with wheat to

Darryl LaPorte Ckeveling. 8i

be ground. They generally loaded about fifteen bushels in a
canoe, "poling" to Sunbury and return. Andrew Creveling and
his wife are buried in the Afton graveyard, near Bloomsburg,
Pa. Samuel Creveling, son of Andrew Creveling, became a
farmer, and purchased a place of three hundred and fifty acres.
During the war of 1812 he was drafted, but several young men
wanted to go in his stead, and he selected one as a substitute,
who served in his place. His wife, whom he married in 1803,
was Catharine Willets. John Creveling, son of Samuel Creveling,
was the grandfather of the subject of our sketch. (See page 694.)
D. L. Creveling is a son of Alfred Tubbs Creveling, and a brother
of John Q. Creveling, of the Luzerne bar. Darryl LaPorte Crev-
eling was educated in the public schools of his native township,
at the New Columbus Academy, and at Wyoming Seminary at
Kingston, Pa. He read law with his brother, J. Q. Creveling.
He was a teacher for several years in Conyngham township, at
New Columbus, in Salem township, in Huntington township, in
Fishing Creek township, and in Plymouth borough, where he
acted as principal of the Franklin street school. He married,
February 9, 1887, Kate J. Hice, daughter of Jacob S. Hice and
Esther A. Hice, of Harveyville, Pa. The father of Esther A.
Hice is Daniel Jones, of West Pittston, Pa.

Mr. Creveling was in his twenty-ninth year when admitted,
and in that fact has what has often proved an advantage to a be-
ginner at the bar. Again, in line with many of his predecessors,
he will profit by his experience as a teacher. Once before, in
the preparation of these sketches, we have taken occasion to
refer to the large number of men who go up from the school
room to the court room. The transition is a natural one in
many respects. The school term affords a livelihood and the
vacation the time for the new study, and the information on gen-
eral topics acquired in preparing to impart knowledge to pupils
is beyond question a material aid in imbibing the principles and
taking in the details of the law and its practice. Many school
teachers have gone to the very front rank in the legal fraternity,
and those who know Mr. Creveling believe him fitted for and
wish him equal luck.

8i6 Alexander Ricketts.

ALEXANDER RICKETTS.

Alexander Ricketts was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county
September 28, 1888. He was born in this city October 29, 1866,
and is the eldest son of Agib Ricketts, who was admitted to the
bar of Luzerne county January 6, 1857. (See page 105.) Alex-
ander Ricketts was educated in the public schools of his native
city, and read law with his father. His mother, Annie Elder
Ricketts [nee Piper), was a daughter of Alexander M. Piper,
born in 1786 in Bedford, Pa., and married in 18 16 to Ann
Espy Elder, a daughter of Samuel Elder, who was born Feb-
ruary 27, 1772, and died at Harrisburg September 26, 18 15.
He was a soldier in the expedition westward in 1794, and held a
position in the military establishment of 1798. He filled the
office of sheriff of Dauphin county from October 23, 1800, to
October 21, 1803. He married, March 7, 1793, Margaret Espy,
daughter of Josiah Espy and Annie Kirkpatrick, daughter of
William Kirkpatrick. George Espy, who married Mary Stewart,
was a brother of Josiah Espy. The former was the ancestor of
John Espy and Barnett M. P^spy, of the Luzerne bar. Samuel
Elder was the son of Rev. John Elder and his second wife, Mary
Simpson, daughter ^of Thomas Simpson. Rev. John Elder was
born in the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, January 26, 1706. He
died July 17, 1792, in Paxtang township, Dauphin county. Pa. In
1732 he was licensed to preach the gospel, and four or five years
later he emigrated to America. He subsequently became the leader
of the Paxtang Boys. He afterwards was appointed colonel by the
provincial authorities, the date of his commission being July ii,
1763. He had command of the block-houses and stockades
from Ea.ston to the Susquehanna. His father was Robert Elder,
born about 1679 in Scotland; emigrated from Lough Neagh,
county Antrim, Ireland, where he had previously settled, to
America, about 1730, locating in Paxtang township. He died
July 28, 1746.

Mr. Ricketts joins the army of the law at a very early age. It
is rather unusual for one to have completed his studies and se-

William Lewis. 817

cured admission when not yet twenty-two years old, but in this
instance a son, doubtless intended from the beginning to inherit
the father's practice, has probably had, under the guidance of the
father, more than the usual amount of training. Mr. Ricketts
has already exhibited qualities that give good promise of his
attaining success in his profession.

The foregoing pages contain the biographies of one hundred
and seventy-eight lawyers who hav^e always, or the greater part
of their lives, resided in Luzerne county and practiced at its bar.
Of these Hovvkin Bulkeley Beardslee (page 452), James Augustus
Gordon (page i), Henry Coffin Magee (page 532), Ziba Mathers
(page 626), James Buchanan Shaver (page 696), Ebenezer Warren
Sturdevant (page 14), and Hendrick Bradley Wright (page 2)
have died since their biographies were written. We follow with
biographies of those who were at one time practitioners here but
who have removed and are now located at other points, and of
those who have been separated from us by the division of Luzerne
county from time to time.

October 24, 1S88.

WILLIAM LEWIS.

William Lewis, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county
January 5. 1825, is a descendant of Ralph Lewis (according to
Smith's History of Delaware county, Pa.), who, with his wife
Mary and family, emigrated from the parish of Ulan, in Glamor-
ganshire, Wales, and came over in 1683 or 1684 and settled in
Haverford, Delaware county, Pa. Ralph Lewis was a member
of the Society of Friends by convincement, and the certificate
brought with him attests the excellence of his character and the
innocency of his life. He died in 17 10 and his wife in 1704.
His son, Thomas Lewis, married Jane, daughter of Rees Mere-

Si 8 William Lewis.

ditli, of Radnor, and his son Abraham married Mary, daughter
of Anthony Morgan, and Samuel married Phoebe, daughter of
Josiah Taylor, of Marple. From one of these sons William
Lewis, the subject of our sketch, descended. One of these sons
had a son "Josiah Lewis, and his mother is believed to be Martha
Allen." This according to Smith's History of Chester county.
William Lewis, son of Josiah Lewis, was born in Edgemont,
Chester county, Pennsylvania, February 2, 1751. When of the
proper age he was put to a common country school in the neigh-
borhood of his residence, from which he was afterwards removed
to a Seminary of a higher order established by the Society of
PViends at Willistown. There his progress was so rapid as
quickly to require tuition beyond the usual course, and the ex-
traordinary trouble was rewarded by a double compensation.
At a very early age he expressed a strong inclination for the
profession of the law, which, though it received his father's sanc-
tion, was disapproved of by his mother, both of whom were
members of the Society of Friends, and he continued on the
farm, assisting in the usual labors of agriculture, till his 17th year.
It was probably about this time that the following incident oc-
curred : Having driven his father's wagon to the county town, he
found the court in session. Curiosity led him to enter the court
room for the first time, when he was so much captivated by the
conduct of a trial and the oratory of the lawyers that the person
who accompanied him was unable to persuade him away. The
latter was compelled to return with the wagon to the farm, leaving
young Lewis on the spot, who remained until the court rose, late
in the evening, and early next morning appeared at his father's
house, to which he had returned on foot, with a stronger resolu-
tion than ever to study the law if the consent of his parents could
be obtained. His mother having at length agreed, he was
removed to Philadelphia and placed under the tuition of Robert
Proud, who then had the care of the Friends' public school, for
the purpose of receiving instruction in the Latin language. He
continued about eighteen months with his venerable preceptor.
After leaving Mr. Proud he went for a few months to a German
school, in which language it is not recollected that he made much
proficiency. At that time the proportion of persons in Pennsyl-

William Lewis. 819

vania who made use of that language alone was much greater
than at present, and an acquaintance with it was found very useful
to those who practiced in the country courts, which the most
eminent members of the Philadelphia bar were then in the habit
of regularly attending. Their quarterly journeys generally ex-
tended as far as Easton to the northward and York to the west-
ward. In the year 1770 Mr. Lewis had the gratification of
commencing the study of the law under Nicholas Wain, who,
although still a young man. had acquired a high degree of emi-
nence at the bar. Here Mr. Lewis's application was intense and
unremitted, and, assisted by a quick perception and tenacious
memory, his qualifications for admission at the expiration of his
time were seldom surpassed. Before his admission he had more
than a usual share of the student's duties to perform. He had
been in this office about a year when Mr. Wain, who had been
one of the most gay and animated, as well as the most industri-
ous, members of the bar, was suddenly struck with serious reli-
gious impressions, which he publicly evmced by unexpectedly
kneeling down in meeting and uttering a fervid and eloquent
prayer. After recovering from a fit of illness that ensued, he
determined to relinquish the practice of the law. Mr. Lewis
remained in the office. His attachment and fidelity to his friend
and preceptor, the abilities he had already manifested, and his
knowledge of the business under the care of Mr. Wain, secured
his confidence, and the clients, to whose option it was left to
employ other counsel and receive back their fees, or at least in
those cases where trials in court were not to take place, to leave
their causes under Mr. Lewis's care, in many instances preferred
the latter. He was admitted in the Court of Common Pleas, on
motion of Miers Fisher, at December term, 1773, being then
nearly twenty- three years of age. The period was not unfavorable
to a young beginner. Of the elder class only Mr. Chew and John
Ross continued in practice. In the ensuing year Mr. Chew was
appointed chief justice, and the declining health of Mr. Ross,
with some other causes, rendered him no formidable opponent.
Among his younger brethren, of whom the court dockets at that
day exhibit many truly respectable names, Mr. Lewis had to work
his way, and he worked it with success. The entries of the last term

820 William Lewis.

of the Common IMeas under the royal frovernnient evince that in
the number of actions he then led the bar. Thi'^ was June term,
1776. On July 4 the declaration of independence suspended, till
a new organization, all the business of the courts. The first ses-
sion of the Common Pleas at Philadelphia, when the style of
process was from the king to the commonwealth, was held in
September, 1777. Only six attorneys were entered as admitted
to practice, whose names are recorded in the following order :
John Morris, John Haley, William Lewis, Andrew Robeson,
Jacob Rush, and Jonathan D. Sergeant. The British army was
at that time on its march from the head of Elk to Philadelphia,
and before the end of the month the occupation of the city
removed from it every vestige of the new-formed government,
and drove away every individual attached to it who had the
means of escape. Mr. Lewis's political opinions were always in
favor of his country's rights. In some of the subsequent agita-
tions of party he was not unfrequently charged with contrary
sentiments, but his views were liberal, his spirit was independent,
and he never gave way to popular delusion or popular violence.
When the British standard was hoisted in Philadelphia he retired
to his friends in Chester county, with whom he continued, pur-
suing, however, his practice at those courts which were beyond
the reach of the enemy's power till the departure of their army
returned to the city its new republican character. Mr. Lewis
then resumed his station at the bar, which, as well its compo-
nent members as its forensic character, soon exhibited material
changes. Subjects of higher importance than those which com-
monly fell to the lot of provincial judicatures were brought
forward. Motives competent to rouse all the latent energies of
the mind were constantly presenting themselves. The bar was
chiefly composed of young men possessing aspiring minds and
industrious habits — George Ross from Lancaster, Edward Bid-
die from Reading, Governuer Morris occasionally, Joseph Reed,
C. W. Wilem, of Carlisle, in conjunction with others eminent in
their profession — and Mr. Lewis found an assemblage of powerful
and splendid talents which might have coped with an equal
number of any other forum in America. The whole faculties oi
the bar were soon put in requisition by the prosecutions which

William Lewis. ' 821

were commenced against some of the adherents of the British
cause. The popular excitement against them was high, and the
defense appeared to many a service of danger, but the intrepidity
of the bar did not allow them to shrink from the conflict.
Among the defenders Wilson and Ross took the lead. Mr.
Lewis was, however, frequently employed, and always distin-
guished himself In the defense of Chapman he used with force
and success the right of an individual on the commencement of
a civil war to choose his party. McKean, the chief justice, was
a zealous and heady republican, but, independent in his princi-
ples and conduct, he discharged the duties of his office impartially
and inflexibly. His decision in favor of Chapman evinced the
soundness of his judgment and the disdain he felt for the popular
clamor excited by the occasion. From the performance of these
duties, often as painful as they were honorable, we trace the
progress of Mr. Lewis to one not less delightful to humanity.
In 1779 ^^^ Pennsylvania legislature took the lead in a public
declaration of the illegality of that odious and disgraceful subju-
gation of fellow creatures which had so long stained the character
of America — a provision, perhaps necessarily imperfect, but car-
ried as far as then appeared practicable, was made in favor of the
descendants of Africa, by which a chance of emancipation to those
then living, and a certainty of it to their issue, was secured. In
support of this legislation. Act of March i, 1780, which came
from his pen, an association of private individuals was speedily
formed for the purpose of securing its benefits to those who were
unable, from ignorance, poverty and depression, to defend them-
selves. Mr. Lewis became the champion of this order. With a
voluntary dereliction of all professional emolument, he strenuously
and boldly pursued oppression into its artful recesses, and suc-
ceeded in securing to the injured African all the protection to
be found in the text of the law, and thousands of the present
generation of colored people are unconsciously indebted to him
for his exertions, anxiety and exposure before they were born.
This benevolent association was subsequently incorporated by an
Act of the General Assembly. Benjamin Franklin was its first
president, and Mr. Lewis retained till his death the rank of first,
and for a long time the most-efficient, of its counsellors. In the

822 William Lewis.

regular business of his profession Mr. Lewis soon acquired that
ascendancy to which his talents and his industry entitled him.
In him it was verified that genius never shines more brightly
than when it is enforced by the closest industry. By the great
number of causes in which he was concerned, the judgment which
directed and the energies which accompanied both the prepara-
tion and the management of the trials, evinced the justice of the
general confidence that was reposed in him. In the doctrine
of pleading, in questions on devises and the nature of estates, he
was particularly felicitous. In mercantile law he was, perhaps,
equally eminent. Whatever points he made in a cause he was
generally able to support as well by authority as by argument.
The closeness of his reasoning was seldom weakened by unneces-
sary digressions nor impeded by ebulitions of wit or the illusions
of fancy. Although pleasant and facetious in social conversation,
his public speaking was rather of a grave and serious cast and
often of the highest syllogistic order, the premises he laid being
finely carried on to conclusions which the hearer did not antici-
pate, but was ultimately obliged to acknowledge. In 1787 he
was elected a member of the legislature of Pennsylvania, in
which he soon attained a great ascendancy and rendered most
important services to his fellow citizens. Many measures of the
highest general interest adopted by that body originated with
him. One of these was the restitution of the charter of the col-
lege of Philadelphia, which, in a paroxysm of political jealousy,
had been taken from them ; but a much more important pro-
cedure was the alteration of the constitution of the state. He was
re-elected to the legislature in 1788 and 1789, and in the latter
year was a member of the convention that framed the constitution
of 1790. To the latter body he dedicated the chief portion of
his time. With these services terminated the labors of Mr. Lewis
as a legislator. In 1789, the present constitution of the United
States having come into operation, he had the honor to receive
from the father of his country the appointment of attorney for
the United States for the district of Pennsylvania. This commis-
sion bears date September 26, 1789. On the death of Mr. Hop-
kinson, Mr. Lewis accepted the appointment of judge of the
District Court of the United States. This commission bears date

William Lewis. 823

July 14, 1791. These commissions are in parchment, and are
signed by George Washington, president, attested by Thomas
Jefferson, secretary, and are in possession of Josiah Lewis, of this
city, his grandson. He soon resigned his position as judge ;
pecuniary consideration induced him to return to the bar. He
did not find the eminence of his rank affected by his temporary
absence from the bar. His business as counsel in matters of
difficulty and value continued to be great, and for a long time
his industry was undiminished. The supreme court of the
United States and the higher tribunals of Pennsylvania were the
chief theatres of his employment, and his emoluments were as
considerable as his reputation was exalted. He was not a selfish,
sordid man ; his friendships were warm and his charities were
unrestrained. Horace Binney, in his volume on The Leaders of
the Old Bar of Philadelphia, says: "From Maryland to Massa-
chusetts there was in several of the states some one name at the
bar which, in the view of persons removed a few hundred miles,
loomed very large and overshadowed all other lawyers in the
same state. Theophilus Parsons at Boston, Luther Martin at
Baltimore, and William Lewis at Philadelphia, were respectively
such overshadowing names." The last case he tried was Willing
V. Tilghman, in the spring of 1819. He died August 15, 1819,
at his residence, now in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia. Mr.
Lewis was married twice. His children were by his first wife.

Josiah Lewis, son of William Lewis, was born in Philadelphia in
1772, and removed to Luzerne county in 1805. He resided in this
city, Kingston, and finally removed to Pittston (now Old Forge)
township, Luzerne (now Lackawanna) county, where he died
May 2, 1 85 1. In 1 821 he was appointed deputy surveyor for
Luzerne county. He owned several thousand acres of land
in the Lackawanna coal field, and sold some of it as low as four
dollars an acre, and even as late as 1837 he realized but seven
dollars an acre. One of the farms which he sold at four dollars
an acre has since been sold for twelve hundred dollars an acre.
He married, March 28, 1799, Margaret Delaney, a daughter of
Sharp Delaney, of Philadelphia. Mr. Delaney was born in
county Monaghan, Ireland, and established himself in the drug
business in Philadelphia in 1764. He was a deputy to the pro-

824 Caleb Earl Wright.

vlncial convention in January, 1775, and to the'provincial confer-
ence which met in June of the same year. In 1776 he raised a
company of militia and was chosen captain, and in 1779 was
colonel of the second battalion of Pennsylvania militia. He was
a signer of the Bills of Credit in 1775, a commissioner "to seize
the personal effects of traitors" in 1777, and an "agent for forfeited
estates" in 1778. In March, 1784, he was appointed by the
assembly collector of the port of Philadelphia, and when the
office passed to the control of the federal government, was re-
appointed by General Washington in 1789. The executive coun-
cil of the state passed a resolution of thanks for the efficient
manner in which he filled the position. He was one of the
original members of the Hibernia Society, and an honorary
member of the Society of the Cincinnati. He was also a mem-
ber of the American Philosophical Society, and his grandson,
Josiah Lewis, of this city, has the original certificate, dated July
20, 1786, and signed by Benjamin Franklin, president. Mr. De-
laney died in Philadelphia May 13, 1799, aged sixty years.

William Lewis, son of Josiah and Margaret Lewis, was born
in Philadelphia March 6, 1801, and removed with his parents to
Luzerne county in 1805. He read law with Garrick Mallery
and practiced in this city for a number of years. He subse-
quently removed to Brooklyn, Schuyler county, Illinois, where
he now' resides. Josiah Lewis, of this city, is a brother of William
Lewis.

^- L CALEB EARL WRIGHT.

Caleb Earl Wright was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county,
Pa., August 9, 1833. His grandfather was Caleb Wright, and
his father Joseph Wright, of Plymouth. (For a sketch of the
Wright family see Historical Sketches of Plymouth, and the
article "Harrison Wright" in this series of sketches.) Mr. Wright
was born in Plymouth, Pa., February 4, 1810, and was educated
at the Plymouth and VVilkes-Barre academies, and read law with
Chester Butler, in this city, and John G. Montgomery, of Dan-

Caleb Earl Wright. 825

ville, Montour county, Pa. He immediately removed to Doyles-
town, Pa., and commenced practice. He remained at the Bucks
county bar about nineteen years, where he held the ofifice of dis-
trict attorney under the administration of Governor Porter. He
was also president of the first borough council of Doylestown.
In the summer of 1853 he returned to Luzerne county and prac-
ticed here for a period of twenty-three years. During this time
he held the office of internal revenue collector under President
Johnson. He was also a member of the constitutional conven-
tion of 1874. In 1876 Mr. Wright returned to Doylestown,
where he now resides, having given up his practice as an attorney.
Mr. Wright married, April 30, 1838, at Doylestown, Phebe Ann
Fell, daughter of William Fell, who was the son of Amos Fell,
of Pittston. (For sketch of the Fells see page 687.) Mr. and
Mrs. Wright have two children living. Wilson Wright, the
eldest, is a farmer in Monmouth county, N. J., and Warren
Wright, the youngest, is an invalid. Mr. Wright was appointed
a local preacher of the Methodist Episcopal church at Wilkes-
Barre in 1863. He was ordained a deacon by Bishop Ames
in April, 1869, and an elder by Bishop Haven in April, 1874.
Mr. Wright is the author of "Wyoming," from the press
of Harper Brothers, 1845. New York; "Marcus Blair," 1873,
from the press of J. B. Lippincott & Co., Philadelphia; "On the
Lackawanna," 1886, and "Legend of Bucks County," from the
press of B. McGinty, Doylestown, 1887; and "Rachel Craig,"
1888, from the press of Robert Baur, Wilkes- Barre.

Joseph Wright gave three sons to his country of whom any
father might well be proud — Hendrick Bradley and Harrison,
both of whom figure in this series of sketches, and Caleb Earl,
the subject of this one, a man of many virtues and conspicuous
capacities as a lawyer and citizen. He was a painstaking and
successful practitioner during his nearly half century at the bar,
figuring in many notable cases and earning liberal fees and excel-
lent reputation. He is a man of strong convictions, and his
career is shown, even as above briefly noticed, to have been one
of unremitting industry. His democracy is of the uncompro-
mising type, and the appointments he held were fully earned by
continuous and energetic work in his party's behalf His literary

826 Lewis Jones.

efforts have attracted wide attention and the friendly notice even
of the most exacting critics. Though they have of necessity
involved the expenditure of much time and more or less labor
and research, his books were not undertaken for gain, but mainly
to indulge a rich and ambitious fancy and give congenial employ-
ment to leisure hours. He has always been an ardent lover of
the sports of forest and stream, and experiences in that line in
which he has been a participant are among the pleasantest recol-
lections of many of our older and best known citizens. To the
church of his selection his services have been of a useful and
painstaking character. Few combine so many of the character-
istics that make at once the genial companion, the consistent
christian, the successful business man, and the prudent, useful,
patriotic citizen.

LEWIS JONES.

Lewis Jones was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county, Pa.,
August 5, 1834. The early settlers along the Susquehanna river
in Luzerne county were from Connecticut. Among the number
who came in 1785 were three brothers, Jesse, Nathan and Benjamin
Jones. Jesse Jones settled on Buttermilk Falls creek (now in
Wyoming county), and built a grist mill near its confluence with the
Susquehanna river. This mill was built of logs, twelve feet square,
its mill stones were of the size of a half bushel measure, made
from conglomerate rocks found along the Lackawanna river, for
the purpose of grinding corn, which came from the settlements
above, near Wyalusing, in canoes, for as yet very little corn, if
any, had been raised in the vicinity of the falls. In 1790, as the
population increased, the business of farming began to assume
more system, and as it increased step by step wheat and rye
began to be raised in small quantities, and to meet the exigencies
of the times Mr. Jones placed a bolting apparatus in his little grist
mill. This bolt was turned by a crank by hand, and persons
going to mill had to do the operation of the bolting them.-

Lewis Jones. ' 827

selves. Nathan Jones, a brother, lived with Jesse Jones, and
attended to the milling business. In 1791 a settlement was com-
menced on the river flats two miles below Buttermilk Falls,
where Benjamin Jones, the other brother, erected the first tavern.
Mr. Jones had near his inn a still house, which did a business of
fair proportions, and constituted a valuable auxiliary to his tavern.
Another of Mr. Jones's enterprises was the building of a store,
which he kept during 1806 and 1807. Salt, which at that time
cost four dollars per bushel, was the principal article of commerce.
The salt was necessary for preserving the shad which the settlers
took from the "river, they being their only article of meat diet.
The bears claimed and enforced the first right to all the hogs.
This was the most thickly inhabited part of what now constitutes
Falls township, in Wyoming county. This place was known for
many years as Jonestown. Cloth was made from nettles that
grew on this place. The first clothing was made from the skin
of the deer, tanned by a composition made from the brains of the
deer and buffed with a ball made of yellow clay rubbed over the
surface of the leather, which added a beautiful luster to its ap-
pearance. A buckskin coat, breeches and leather apron consti-
tuted the winter apparel, and during summer a nettle shirt and
leather breeches formed the only raiment.

Lewis Jones, son of Benjamin Jones, was born October 25,
1 77 1, and was married to Sarah Benedict, of Pittston, Pa., De-
cember, 15, 1794. She died in P>xeter, Luzerne county, February
22, 1 848. Mrs. Jones was a descendant of Thomas Benedict, of Not-
tinghamshire. (See page 490.) John Benedict, son of Thomas Ben-
edict was born at Southhold, L. I., and removed with the family to
Norwalk, Conn., and married Phoebe, daughter of John and Sarah
Gregory, of that place, November ii, 1670. He was a freeman
of Norwalk in 1680, and succeeded his father as selectman in
1689. He was a selectman in 1692-94 and 1699, and also held
some minor civil appointments in the town. He was occupied,
however, with church affairs, having become deacon probably
upon the death of his father. Thenceforth the records show him
to have been constantly on committees having charge of the
religious and educational interests of the communiy, now " ob-
taining a minister," then "hyeringa schoolmaster." In 1705 the

828 Lewis Jones.

church honored him by voting him a sitting "in ye seat before ye
pulpit." He served as representative in the General Assembly
in the sessions of 1722 and 1725. The date of his death is not
ascertained, nor that of his wife. James Benedict, son of Deacon
John Benedict, was born January 5, 1685, and married, in 1709,
Sarah, daughter of Thomas and Mary Hyatt, of Norwalk, who
was born December, 1686, and died February 9, 1767. In 1708
he and other inhabitants of Norwalk purchased a large tract of
land between that town and Danbury. The purchase was made
of Catoonah, the chief sachem, and other Indians, who were the
proprietors of that part of the country. The deed bears date Sep-
tember 30, 1708. At the Norwalk town .session in 1709 it was
ordained that it should be a distinct township by the name of
Ridgefield. James Benedict was also one of the original settlers
of this township. He was fence viewer in 171 5 ; called Ensign,
1 7 19, afterwards Captain, and 1737 Esquire. He was appointed
justice of the peace for Fairfield county, Connecticut, in May,
1732, and was reappointed annually until 1743. He was repre-
sentative for Ridgefield from 1740-45 and 1748-52. James Ben-
edict was the second deacon of the church in Ridgefield until old
age and its attendants rendered him unable to serve. He died
November 25, 1762. James Benedict, son of James Benedict,
was born February 19, 1720, at Ridgefield, Conn. He became
a member of the Baptist church at Stamford, Conn., and was
licensed by that church to preach the gospel. Having received
a call to become pastor of the church at the new settlement of
Warwick, Orange county, N. Y., he removed to that place and
was ordained November 17, 1766. Some time during the troubles
of the war of the Revolution he removed to Wyoming, and was
with his family among the sufferers by the battle and massacre
of Wyoming. His influence and character as a preacher with
the Indians protected himself and family from personal injury at
their hands, but his property was mostly lost or destroyed. After
suffering great hardships he returned to the town of Warwick,
where he resided until his death, September 9, 1792. John Ben-
edict, son of Rev. James Benedict, was born in Ridgefield, April
24, 1747, married Hannah Wisner in 1771, and moved to Pittstoa
in 1 79 1. He served in the war of the Revolution, and was ap-

Lewjs E. Parsons. ' 829

pointed ensign February 19, 1778. Mr. Benedict died in 18 10
and his wife in 1827. Sarah Benedict, his oldest child, became
the wife of Lewis Jones.

Lewis Jones, son of Lewis Jones and Sarah, his wife, was born
in Exeter, Pa., August 28, 1807. He was educated at the Wilkes-
Barre Academy, and studied law with Chester Butler. He has
practiced and resided in this city, in Carbondale and Scranton,
Pa. He has also practiced in most of the counties of northeastern
Pennsylvania. While residing in Carbondale in i85ihe drew
the charter and had the town incorporated as a city. In 1855 he
removed to Scranton, and in 1870 he was appointed by Governor
Geary recorder of the mayor's court of the city of Scranton.
This office he filled acceptably for a short time, and, declining a
nomination, retired as well from general practice as from official
position. Taking an early advantage of the opportunity offered
in the city of Scranton, as well as the Lackawanna valley, for
speculation, he acquired a large property. Since 1872 he has
resided in the city of New York. Mr. Jones married, June
15, 1836, Anna Maria Gibson, a native of Springfield, Otsego
county, N. Y., and daughter of William Gibson, of the same
place, formerly a merchant of the city of New York. Her
mother was Sarah Wharton Collins, daughter of Thomas Whar-
ton, of the city of Philadelphia. The father of William Gibson
was also William Gibson, a native of Paisley, Scotland. Mr.
and Mrs. Lewis Jones have two children — W. Gibson Jones and
Meredith L. Jones, both lawyers, residing in the city of New
York. The late Rev. Isaac D. Jones and Benjamin Jones, of
Pittston, are brothers of Lewis Jones.

LEWIS E. PARSONS.

Lewis E. Parsons was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county,
Pa., August 6, 1839. His father was Erastus Parsons and his
mother was Jeanette 'Hepburn, daughter of Lewis and Huldah
Hepburn, natives of New Haven, Conn. L E. Parsons is a na-
tive of Lisle, Broome county, N. Y., where he was born in April,

830 Lewis E. Parsons.

1 8 17. He was a teacher in this city, and subsequently read law
with George W. Woodward. After remaining here a year or
two after his admission, he removed to Talladega, Alabama, in
1 841, where he established himself in the practice of the law. He
rose rapidly and was successful in his profession. He was a firm
and decided whig in politics, without any compromise or con-
cession. He was defeated for the legislature on the American
ticket in' 1855. In 1859 '^*^ ^^^^ elected to the house of repre-
sentatives, and in i860 he allied himself with the democratic
party, as the best means, in his judgment, to save the country
from a threatened danger. In i860 he was a delegate to the
Baltimore convention, which supported Mr. Douglas for the
presidency. As a representative to the legislature in 1863 he
took a high position among men of talent and exhibited strong
debating powers. From that time his character as a public man
has been favorably known to the people of Alabama. During the
late civil war he was a Union man without disguise, although offer-
ing no factious opposition to the majority. All parties believed
him honest and only conservative in his views. When in the sum-
mer of 1 865 President Johnson announced his policy of reorganiz-
ing the seceding states, Mr. Parsons was appointed provisional
governor of Alabama, with every token of public approbation.
He resigned his position as governor on December 20, 1865-
The state convention of September, 1865, over which Benjamin
Fitzpatrick presided, unanimously

" Resolved That, this convention express confidence in the integ-
rity, patriotism and capacity of Hon. L. E. Parsons, provisional
governor of this state, and the members hereof acknowledge the
courtesy and kindness which have uniformly distinguished his
conduct in his intercourse with them."

As evidence of a still higher degree of public favor, the general
assembly, at its session in December, 1865, unanimously
elected ex-governor Parsons a senator in the congress of the
United States for a term of six years. That he was not permitted
by the powers at Washington to take his seat does not impair
the force of the compliment. His wife was a Miss Wake, of
Kentucky. In 1865 Mr. Parsons delivered a lecture in New
York, in which he said : " While public attention in the north was

Lewis E. Parsons. 831

turned mainly to the operations around Riclimond and to those
which attended the movements of the vast armies of General
Sherman, it also happened that General James H. Wilson, of
Illinois, with a large force of cavalry, some seventeen thousand,
commenced a movement from the Tennessee river and a point
in the northwest of the state of Alabama diagonally across the
state. His troops penetrated to the center and then radiated from
Selma in every direction through one of the most productive
regions of the south. That little city of Selma had about ten
thousand inhabitants. Its defenses were carried by assault on
one of the finest Sunday evenings in April, the sun being about
an hour high. Before another sun rose every house in the city
was sacked except two ; every woman was robbed of her watch,
her ear-rings, her finger-rings, her jewelry of all descriptions ;
and the whole city was given up for the time to the possession
of the soldiers. It was a severe discipline to the people. It was
thought necessary by the commanding general to subdue the
spirit of rebellion. For one week the forces under General Wil-
son occupied the little town. Night after night and day after
day one public building after another, the arsenal, and then the
foundry, each of which covered eight or nine acres of ground,
and was conducted upon a scale commensurate with the demand
for military supplies that the war created, the railroad depots and
machine shops connected with them, and everything of that de-
scription which had been in any degree subservient to the cause of
the rebellion, were laid in ashes. Of the brick stores in the city,
more than sixty in number, forty-nine were consumed. After
three weeks had elapsed it was with difficulty you could travel
the road from Plantersville to that city, so offensive was the
atmosphere in consequence of decaying horses and mules that
lay along the roadside. Every description of ruin except the
interred dead of the human family met the eye. I witnessed it
myself. The fact is that no description can equal the reality.
When the Federal forces left the little town, which is built on a
bluff on the Alabama river, they crossed at night on a pontoon
bridge, and their way was lighted with burning warehouses
standing on the shore." He has one son, L. E. Parsons, jr., who
is a lawyer. He also has other children.

832 Orsemus Hurd Wheeler.

ORSEMUS HURD WHEELER.

Orsemus Hurd Wheeler, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne
county August 3, 1841, is a native of Galway, Saratoga county,
New York, where he was born August 20, 18 18. He is the

son of Ephraim Wheeler, born in 1779, and his wife, Elizabeth
Wakeman, a daughter of Gideon Wakeman, who was the son
of an English nobletnan. His grandfather was Calvin Wheeler,
whose wife was Hannah Thorp. All of the above were born in
Weston, Fairfield county. Conn. O. H. Wheeler was educated
in the public and select schools in Galway, Saratoga county, N. Y.,
and the academy at Elmira, N. Y. He read law in this city with
Volney L. Maxwell, and has practiced in Carbon, Luzerne, Nor-
thampton, and other counties in this state. In 1848 and 1849
he was deputy attorney general for Carbon county. Pa. In the
latter year he was a candidate for the state senate, but was
defeated. From 1850 to 1856 he was district attorney of Carbon
county. In 1884 he was elected an alderinan in Bradford,
McKean county, Pa. He resigned in 1888 and now resides in
Williamsport, Pa. He married, February i, 1844, Malvina F.
Barnes, a native of Kingston, Pa , where she was born October
26, 1820. She was the daughter of James Barnes, a native of
Milton, Saratoga county, N. Y, where he was born in 1779. He
was the eldest son of Dr. Barnes (who after the battle of .Saratoga
was a prisoner and permitted to djsert by General Gates), who
married and lived at Milton. Eliza Woodbridge, wife of James *
Barnes, was born at Pittsfield, Mass., in 1786. Mr. and Mrs.
Wheeler have one son living — Harry Clay Wheeler, who is
married and resides at Williamsport, Pa.

THOMAS SHARP MURRAY.

Thomas Sharp Murray, who was admitted to the bar of Lu-
zerne county November 7, 1842, is a native of New Hope, Pa^

Thomas Sharp Murray. 83;

where he was born February 2, 18 19. His grandfather, William
Murray, and Rosamond Dawson, his wife, as also his father, Jo-
seph Dawson Murray, were natives of Edenton, N. C, whose
ancestors, of Scotch descent, settled there early in the last cen-
tury. His mother, Margaret Sharp Murray, daughter of Thomas
Sharp and Rebecca Foster, his wife, was born in Salem county,
N. J., October 16, 1793. Her ancestors, who were from England,
settled in the same county in 1685. Thomas S Murray was
prepared for college at the preparatory school of Rev. Samuel
Aaron, Burlington, N. J., and then entered Brown University, R.
I., from which he graduated in the class of 1840. He read law
with Volney L. Maxwell in this city. He never engaged in gen-
eral practice, and only practiced in connection with his father's
business in this and Bucks county, Pa. From 1848 to 1852 he
was postmaster of New Hope. He married, December 8, 1846,
Gertrude R. Butler, a daughter of Steuben Butler, of this city.
The latter was the son of Colonel Zebulon Butler. (See page 326.)
He died when Steuben was but seven years of age. Mr. Butler
learned the trade of a printer with Asher Miner, in Doylestown,
Pa. In 18 1 8 he established the Wyoming Herald in this city.
Its motto was, " He comes the herald of a busy world. News
from all nations." In 1828 he enlarged the paper, and an interest
was purchased by Eliphalet Worthington. The paper was pub-
lished by Butler and Worthington from 1828 to 1831. The latter
subsequently removed to Sterling, 111., where he published a paper
until his decease. Charles Miner bought Mr. Worthington's
interest. This co-partnership existed until 1833, when the paper
passed into the hands of Eleazer Carey and Robert Miner. About
1842 Mr. Butler engaged in the book business and established a
store on Franklin street, below Market. He continued in this
business until 1867, when his store was destroyed by fire. From
1 824 to 1 827 he was one of the commissioners of Luzerne county.
From 1849 to 1853 he was" postmaster of this city. He was
secretary and treasurer of the Wilkes-Barre and Hazleton turn-
pike for forty-five years, and was one of the projectors of the
Wilkes-Barre branch of the Bank of the United States in this
city. He married, July 3, 18 10, Julia Bulkeley, a sister of Jona-
than Bulkeley. (See page 288.) In the prime of his life Mr.

834 Edmund Burke Baab.

Butler took great interest in the affairs of Wilkes- Barre, and was
honored by all As an editor he manifested much ability, and
the history contained in his paper is one of great interest. Mrs.
Butler died May 16, 1833, and Mr. Butler August 12, 188 1. Mr,
and Mrs. Murray have a family of three children. Their only son,
Steuben Butler Murray, married June 14, 1887, Adelaide Butler,
granddaughter of Steuben Butler, and daughter of George G.
Butler. They have one child — Steuben l^utler Murray.

EDMUND BURKE BABB.

Edmund Burke Babb, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne
county, Pa., April 5, 1843, is a native of Pittston, Pa., where he
was born in December, 18 19. His father was John P. Babb. son
of Peter Babb — both natives of Northampton county. Pa. His
mother was Mary Shriner, a daughter of John Shriner, of North-
umberland, Pa. John P. Babb was treasurer of Luzerne county
from January 2, 1824, to April 12, 1826. He was an architect
and builder, a man of energy and ability, a sample of whose sub-
stantial work still remains in the Columbia bridge across the
Schuylkill near Philadelphia. He built and resided in the house
now owned and occupied by John G. Wood, on North Franklin
street, in this city. E. B. Babb was educated at Dickinson Col-
lege, Carlisle, Pa., and graduated in the class of 1840. He read
law in the office of Charles Denison. He spent several years in
foreign travel, and then became one of the editors of the Daily
Gazette, in Cincinnati, Ohio. His present residence is at North
Vernon, Jennings county, Indiana. He is an unmarried man.

Rev. Clement E. Babb, D. D., who resides near San Jose, Cal ,
is a brother of E. B. Babb. Dr. Babb is also a native of Pittston,
and is one of the most voluminous, graphic, original and widely
known newspaper writers in the United States. He edited for
seventeen years the Christian Herald of Cincinnati, which was
one of the principal Presbyterian papers in this country. For
five years he was the editor of the Occident in San Francisco.

Joseph Clubine Rhodes. 835

He is also a regular weekly contributor to the Interior, of Chi-
•cag-o and the Herald and Presbyter, of Cincinnati. When Henry
Ward Beecher left the First Presbyterian Church at Indianapolis
and removed to Brooklyn, Mr. Babb became his successor, and
filled that pulpit for five years.

JOSEPH CLUBINE RHODES.

Joseph Clubine Rhodes, who was admitted to the bar of Lu-
zerne county, Pa., April 8, 1844, is of English descent, and pre-
vious to his father's day the family were members of the society
of Friends. His great-great-grandfather, John Rhoads, came to
America in 1682 from England when he was quite a young
man. He came to this country in the ship Welcome, with Will-
iam Penn. John Rhodes, son of John Rhoads, was born July 8,
1709, in Philadelphia. Joseph Rhodes, son of John Rhodes, was
born May ii, 1756, in Bucks county, Pa. John Rhodes, son of
Joseph Rhodes, was born September 17, 1783, near Lehighton, Pa.
He removed to Youngmanstown, now Mifflinburg, in Union
county. Pa., in 18 17. The wife of John Rhodes was Kate Clubine
who was born December 26, 1792, in Sussex county, N. J. She
was a daughter of Andrew Clubine. He emigratedin 1 801 to Upper
Canada, now Ontario, and settled on lands near New Market, thirty
miles north of Toronto, where he died October 4, 1839. Joseph
C. Rhodes, son of John Rhodes, was born at Mifflmburg, Union
county. Pa., October 2, 18 18. He was educated at Dickinson
College, Carlisle, Pa., and graduated in the class of 1838. He
read law with Alexander Jordan at Sunbury, Pa., and was ad-
mitted to the Northumberland county bar in 1843. He has
resided in this city and Milton, Pa., the greater part of his life.
In 1858 he represented Northumberland county in the legislature
of the state. Mr. Rhodes married. May 19, 1846, Martha Stewart
Thomas, a daughter of Abraham Thomas, of this city. Mr.
Thomas was born in Bethany, Conn., January 9, 1794. and was
the son of Noah Thomas and his wife, Mary Tolles, of New Ha-
ven. She was the daughter of Daniel Tolles and his wife,

836 James Lee Maxwell.

Thankful Smith, of New Haven. Abraham Thomas was one of
the early merchants of Wilkes-Barre, and had a large nuW on the
canal near the redoubt. The wife of Abraham Thomas, whom
he married March 20, 1822, was Abigail Alden Stewart, a daugh-
ter of James Stewart and liis wife, Hannah Jameson. James
Stewart was a son of Captain Lazarus Stewart, who was killed
at the head of his company in tlie battle and massacre of Wyo-
ming, July 3, 1778. (See page 844.) Hannah Jameson was the
daughter of John Jameson. (Seepage 301.) Mr. and Mrs. Rhodes
had a family of three children. The only surviving child is Nellie,
wife of Walter E. Meek. J. C. Rhodes resides in Houtzdale, Pa.

JAMES LEE MAXWELL.

James Lee Maxwell, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne
county November 4, 1844, was born in Northampton, Fulton
county, N. Y. He spent his early life in Johnstown, in the same
county. He subsequently entered Union College, Schnectaday^
N. Y., from which he graduated in 1842. He was a student of
law in the office of V. L. Maxwell, and after admission practiced
until 1852. He then studied theology and entered the Protestant
P^piscopal Church. He now resides at Danville, Pa., and is
rector of Christ (Memorial) Church. His father was Samuel
Maxwell, M. D., a native of New England, whose grandfather
was in the English navy and left it at Halifax, N. S., before the
revolution. James L. Maxwell's mother's maiden name was
Helen VanArnam, who descended from the old Dutch settlers of
New York. Mr. Maxwell married, in 1847, Elizabeth Meredith,
a daughter of Thomas Meredith, who was the son of Samuel
Meredith, the first treasurer of the United States, to which office
he was appointed by his intimate friend, George Washington.
The father of Samuel Meredith was Reese Meredith, an emigrant
from Wales, and a merchant in Philadelphia. Mrs. Elizabeth
Maxwell died November i, 1875. Mr. Maxwell married for his
second wife Henrietta Miller, a daughter of George Miller, of the
city of New York.

Thomas Lansford Foster. 837

THOMAS LANSFORD FOSTER.

Thomas Lansford Foster, who was admitted to the bar of Lu-
zerne county, Pa., November 4, 1844, is a son of the late Asa Lans-
ford Foster, a native of Rowe, Franklin county, Mass., where he was
born in 1798. He came when quite a young man to Pennsyl-
vania, then the "far west," and engaged in the mercantile business
with an older brother, who had preceded him, at Berwick, Pa.
A few years later— about 1821 or 1822 — he engaged in the same
business on his own account at Bloomsburg, Pa., and married
Louisa Chapman, daughter of Charles Chapman, a granddaughter
ofCaptain Joseph Chapman, of Brooklyn, Susquehanna county, Pa.
The mercantile business of that time and locality was chiefly that
of trade and barter of the merchandise usually kept in country
stores for the products of the farm and forest. Part of these
products were taken on wagons and sleds to Philadelphia and
part were sent to market down the Susquehanna on the spring
and fall freshets in rafts or arks. Goods for the store were brought
in wagons or sleds from the city. About 1826 he disposed of
his business at Bloomsburg and removed to Philadelphia, intend-
ine to encase in the wholesale trade in such merchandise as his
experience had taught him was needed in the country. In Phil-
adelphia he accepted temporarily a position in a wholesale house,
and while there, through his connection with his relative, Isaac
A. Chapman, then civil engineer for the Lehigh Company, and
residing at Mauch Chunk, Pa., Mr. Foster made the acquaintance
of Josiah White and Erskine Hazard, and was by them engaged
to take charge of the company's large supply store at the latter
place. He removed with his family to Mauch Chunk about
1 827. Here he found a very large and substantial stone store build-
ing; filled from rarret to cellar with goods which had from time
to time been sent by the managers of the company, many of
which, owing to their ignorance of the needs of their employees,
were useless and unsalable. These he had packed and returned
to the city and replenished the stock with such goods as were
wanted. His management of the store made it very popular, and

838 Thomas Lanstord Foster.

it soon became the centre of supply, not only for those employed
by the company, but also for the country from the Susquehanna
to the Delaware, which found here a ready market for its pro-
ducts. To manage such a business, keeping the stock of goods
and supplies full, with the facilities for transportation then available
— by wagons from a city nearly a hundred miles distant — required
ability, foresight, and energy, which Mr. Foster had and exer-
cised to the entire satisfaction of the company, while the attention
which he gave personally, and required of his assistants behind
the counters, to all customers made them all his friends and
patrons. After acting as manager for a few years, the company
having concluded to relinquish the mercantile business to private
enterprise, Mr. Foster, in connection with P. R. McConnell and
James Brodrick (father of the late Thomas Brodrick, of this city),
erected a store. In 1829 he commenced the publication of the
Lehigh Pioneer and Mauch Chunk Courier, with Amos Sisty as
editor. This was the first newspaper in what is now Carbon
county. In 1842 he sold the materials of the office to Joseph H.
Siewers, who changed the name to the Carbon County Transit,
A year or two later Mr. Siewers sold it to 'William Reed, when
the paper came again under the control of Mr. Foster for a short
time, during which the old name was revived. The store which
was erected in 1833 was supplied with goods and business com-
menced about the time that the Beaver Meadow Railroad, from
Beaver Meadow to Parryville, and the "Upper Grand Section" of
the Lehigh Navigation, from White Haven to Mauch Chunk,
were in course of construction. Mr. Foster's abilities as a mer-
chant were again called into action, this store becoming the
principal point from which supplies for the army of men employed
on these great works were drawn. The store was, while under
the management of Mr. Foster, at first owned by McConnell,
Foster and Brodrick, then Foster and Brodrick, and finally owned
by Mr. Foster alone. Mr. Foster removed from Mauch Chunk
in 1837 to engage in another enterprise, leaving his mercantile
business in charge of his salesman. He unlocked what is now
the great Black Creek coal basin, and obtained knowledge which
many men more ambitious and less scrupulous could have turned
greatly to their advantage. The immediate results of Mr. Fos-

Thomas Lansford Foster. 839

ter's discovery was the organization of the Buck Mountain Coal
Company, of which he was appointed superintendent, and in the
last named year, having had a log house built on the top of Buck
Mountain, he removed his family there. The work was com-
pleted and one boat load of coal was shipped in the fall of 1849.
In the fall of 1844 he returned to Mauch Chunk. In 1855
he became a partner with Sharpe, Leisenring & Co., afterwards
Sharpe, Weiss & Co., in the lease and opening of the Coun-
cil Ridge colliery, at the eastern end of the great Black
Creek basin, and within two miles of the place where
twenty years before he had developed the existence of coal in
that locality. This is now in Foster township, in this county,
and the township was named in honor of Mr. Foster. It was
his knowledge of the resources of this great coal field, and their
confidence in Mr. Foster's judgment, that induced these gentle-
men to invest all their means in the venture. It was financially
succesfsul, and although, like many pioneers in great projects,
Mr. Foster was at first unfortunate, unlike many of them, he lived
to participate largely in the fruits of his early labors and enter-
prise. He died in this city, after a short illness, when on a visit
to friends here, January 9. 1868. He was one of the vestry of
St. Mark's Protestant Episcopal Church when it was incorporated,
and was one of a committee "to solicit subscriptions for building
a Presbyterian meeting house." The borough of Lansford, in
Carbon county, was also named after Mr. Foster by applying his
middle name.

Thomas L. Foster, son of Asa L. Foster, was born in Blooms-
burg, Pa., August 30, 1823. He read law in this city with V. L.
Maxwell. He soon after located at Mauch Chunk; was super-
intendent of the public schools of Carbon county for six years,
meantime keeping up the practice of the law. On the organiza-
tion of the Second National Bank of Mauch Chunk he was
elected cashier, and is now president of the bank. F"or many
years he was secretary and attorney of the Middle Coal Field Poor
District. He was one of the incorporators in 1861 of the Nes-
quehoning Railroad. He was also one of the engineers in laying
out the Lehigh Valley Railroad, and w'as for some years con-
nected with the Mauch Chunk Courier, and was a member of the

840 Horace Blois Burnham.

first borou<^h council of Kast Mauch Chunk. Mr. Fo.stcr married,
November lo, 1847, Henrietta Pratt, daughter of Asaph Pratt and
his wife. EUza Pratt {nee Worthington), of Beaver Meadow, Pa.
He has four children living— Charles W. F'oster, Emily P., wife
of Thomas W. Brown, of this city, Asa L. Foster, Louisa C.
Foster, and Harry W. Foster.

HORACE BLOIS BURNHAM.

Horace Blois Burnham, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne
county August 12, 1844, is a descendant of Thomas Burnham,
born in England in 1617, and died in Connecticut in 1688. He
sailed from Gravesend, England, for the Barbadoes in 1635, and
soon after removed to Hartford, Conn., where he was admitted a
freeman in 1656. He was a shrewd criminal lawyer, and for his
defense of Abagail Betts, accused of blasphemy (saving her neck),
was prohibited from practicing. He then settled on his lands at
Podunk. His house was fortified and garrisoned during the
Indian war, 1675. William Burnham, son of Thomas Burnham,
was of Wethersfield, Conn. Rev. William Burnham, son of
William Burnham, was born in 1684. He graduated at Harvard
College in 1702. He was pastor of a church at Farmingham in
1712, and moderator of the general association of Connecticut in
1738. Appleton Burnham, of Cornwall, Conn., son of Rev.
William Burnham, was born in 1 724. Abner Burnham, of Sharon,
Conn., son of Appleton Burnham, was born in 1771 and died in
18 18. His first wife, the mother of Judson Williams Burnham,
was Sarah Williams. Judson Williams Burnham, father of Horace
Blois Burnham, was born in 1793 and died in Carbondale, Pa., in
1857. His wife was Mary Blois. He was a jeweler and began
business in 1832 in Carbondale. In 1837 he was one of the
school directors of the same place. He was foreman of the first
grand jury impaneled for the recorder's court of the city of Car-
bondale September 8, 185 i.

H. B. Burnham, son of Judson Williams Burnham, was born
■in Spencertown, Columbia county, N. Y., September 10, 1824.

Horace Blois Burnham. 841

He removed with his parents to Carbondale in 1832, and when
of proper age entered the law office of Dwight N. Lathrop.
After his admission to the bar he practiced in Carbondale until
1849, when he removed to Mauch Chunk, Pa., where he practiced
until 1 86 1. He then entered the army as lieutenant-colonel of
Sixty-Seventh regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers. He was
judge of the Hustings court of the city of Richmond, Va., from
September 11, 1867, to June 9, 1869; president judge of the Su-
preme Court of Appeals of Virginia from June 9, 1869, to April
29, 1870; major and judge advocate United States army from
October 31, 1864, to July 5, 1884; and since a lieutenant-colonel
and deputy judge advocate general United States army. Mr.
Burnham's judicial duties in Virginia were imposed by the laws
of the United States known as the " Reconstruction Laws."
During their performance he was an officer of the army and also
legal adviser of major generals Schofield, Canby, Webb, and
Stoneman, who were officers commanding that military district.
Since that time he has continued to be the judicial adviser of
major generals Terry, Augur, Ord, Crook, and Howard, in Georgia,
Kentucky, Texas, and Nebraska. His present duty is deputy
judge advocate general of the military division (of the Pacific),
with headquarters in San Francisco, the division including Cali-
fornia, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington
Territory, and Alaska. Mr. Burnham has practiced in most of
the courts of north-eastern and eastern Pennsylvania, and in the
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, and Circuit Court of the United
States. As judge advocate and deputy judge advocate general
United States army he has represented the rights of the United
States and tried cases in the various courts of the District
of Columbia and the states of Virginia, Nebraska, and California
and in the territory of Utah, and in the Circuit and Supreme
court of the United States. Since the above was written he has
retired on account of age from the position of deputy judge advo-
cate general. Mr. Burnham married, February 22, 1846, Ruth
Ann Jackson, whose grandfather was Nathan Jackson, of New
York City. Her father was Doctor Nathan Jackson, of Carbon-
dale. Mr. and Mrs. Burnham have a'family of three children —
Nathan Jackson Burnham, a lawyer, of Omaha, Nebraska ; Mary,

842 George Grant Waller.

wife of Professor John S. Collins, of St. Louis, Mo. ; and Anna,
wife of Lieutenant Lewis Merriam, Fourth United States Infantry.
Mr. Burnham resides near Richmond, Henrico county, Va.

J-^Bl GEORGE GRANT WALLER.

George Grant Waller, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne
county April 7, 1846, is a native of Wilkes-Barre, Pa., where he
was born May 3, 1821. He is the son of Captain Phineas Wal-
ler, a native of Wilkes-Barre (now Plains) township, where he
was born in 1774. In 1776 he went to Connecticut in company
with his father. Captain Nathan Waller, and returned to Wyo-
ming in 1782. At the time of his death he was the oldest person
living that was born in this valley. The father of Captain Phineas
Waller was Captain Nathan Waller. He was a native of Con-
necticut, and emigrated to the Wyoming Valley at an early day.
His wife was Elizabeth Weeks, a daughter of Thomas Weeks, a
native of Fairfield, Conn., who came to Wyoming with the first
two hundred settlers in 1769. His brothers — Jonathan Weeks,
Philip Weeks and Bartholmew Weeks — were slain in the battle
and massacre of Wyoming. Jonathan Weeks, the father of
Thomas Weeks, came from Fairfield, Conn., to Wyoming with
his wife, Abagail, and two sons, Jonathan and Philip, in 1762-63.
They escaped the massacre of 1 763. Philip and Thomas, his sons,
came to Wyoming in 1769 ; the father, with Jonathan and Barthol-
omew and two daughters, came soon afterwards. Captain Nathan
Waller died July 11,1831, aged 79 years. The wife of Phineas Wal-
ler, and mother of George G. Waller, was Elizabeth Jewett, born
October 9, 1780, in New London, Conn., and married in Wilkes-
Barre March 31, 18 14. She was the daughter of Jacob Hibbard
Jewett, born August ii, 1745. He was educated at Cambridge,
studied medicine with Dr. E. A. Holyoke, and settled in New
London (now Montville),'Conn. Doctor Jewett served as a sur-
geon in the American army during most of the revolutionary

George Grant Waller. 843

war. He died in his native town April 26, 18 14. His wife, Pa-
tience Bulkeley, was born April 23, 1749, married in August,
1769, was the daughter of Major Charles and Ann (Latimer)
Bulkeley, and granddaughter of Rev. John and Patience Prentice
Bulkeley, first minister of Colchester, Conn. (See page 285.)
In 181 5 Dr. Jewett's family moved to Wilkes-Barre, where his
widow. Patience, died in February, 1830. Doctor Jewett's great-
great-grandfather, Maximillian Jewett, was of Rowley, Mass.
He was admitted freeman in May, 1640, representative in 1641
and for sixteen years afterward. Ezekiel Jewett, son of Maxi-
millian Jewett, was admitted freeman in May, 1669, a deacon,
representative of Rowley in 1690. Stephen Jewett was a son of
Ezekiel Jewett. Rev. David Jewett, of Rowley, son of Stephen
Jewett, was born June 10, 17 14, graduated from Harvard College
in 1736, ordained pastor of the Second Church in New London
(now Montville), Conn., Oct 3, 1739, died June 6, 1783. Before
going to New London he was employed as a missionary to the
Mohegans, and acquired the favor of the sachem and his tribe.
No minister in the country stood higher among his own flock
or in the esteem of his brethren than Mr. Jewett. He was a
chaplain in the army in 1756, afterwards in the French war and
in the revolution. He was the father of Dr. David Hibbard
Jewett, the father of Elizabeth Waller, wife of Phineas Waller.

George Grant Waller was educated in the schools of this city,
at Lancaster, Pa., and at Williams College, where he graduated
in 1844. He read law with Judge Collins in this city. He has
practiced in this city, at Bloomsburg, but principally at Hones-
dale, Pa., where he now resides. He married, October 1 1, 1854,
Lizzie J. Bentley, a daughter of Benjamin S. Bentley and Hannah
Bentley, his wife. Mrs. Waller was a native of Montrose, Pa.
Mr. Bentley was appointed president judge of Lackawanna
county at its organization, on August 21, 1878, but the Supreme
Court held that there was no vacancy in the office at the time of
his appointment, and that, under the provisions of the new county
act, Lackawanna was not a separate judicial /district, and, there-
fore, the only court authorized by law was that to be established
by the judges of Luzerne county, who organized the courts of
Lackawanna county October 24, 1878. He was also appointed

844 Franklin Stewart.

by Governor Hartranft president judge of the 29th judicial district
when Lycoming county was made a separate district. Mr. and
Mrs. Waller have but one child living, Bessie B. Waller. George
G. Waller is a brother of the late Judge Charles P. Waller, of
Wayne county, Pa.

FRANKLIN STEWART.

Franklin Stewart, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne
county, Pa., August 3, 1847, is a native of Wilkes-Barre township
where he was born November 14, 1822. His great-grandfather,
Lazarus Stewart, came with his family from the north of Ireland
to America in 1729. The same year he settled on a tract of land
"situate on Svvahatawro creek," in afterwards Hanover township,
Lancaster county, Pa. With the aid of two redemptioners, whose
passages were paid by him, he built within that and the two
years following a house and barn, cleared twenty-odd acres of
arable land, and planted an orchard. He died about 1744. Mar-
garet Stewart, eldest daughter of Lazarus Stewart, married James
Stewart, of Hanover, a cousin or second cousin. James Stewart,
son of James Stewart, was born in Lancaster county about 1737,
and came to Hanover, Luzerne county, with his brother. Captain
Lazarus Stewart, the " Paxtang Ranger," in 1769 or 1770,
returned to Lancaster county before the battle and massacre of
Wyoming in 1778, married Priscilla Espy, lived in Lancaster
county, died there in 1783. His widow married Captain Andrew
Lee. Lazarus Stewart, son of James Stewart, was born in Lan-
caster county in 1783, and came to Hanover with his step-father,
Captain Andrew Lee, in 1804. He married Elizabeth Crisman,
daughter of Frederick Crisman, of German descent, who came to
Hanover as early as 1788. Mr. Crisman built and kept the " Red
Tavern," in Hanover. Lazarus Stewart resided in Wilkes-Barre
and died here in 18-39.

Franklin Stewart, son of Lazarus Stewart, was educated in the
schools of his native place and at Dana's academy, and read law
with Jonathan J. Slocum. He married, in 1854, Mary C. Wilson,

Franklin Stewart. 845

a daughter of A. B. Wilson, M. D., who was born June 1 1, 1797,
in Madison county, Va. In 1800 his father's family moved to
Montgomery county, Pa. He received his education at the Hat-
borough Academy and University of Pennsylvania. He moved
temporarily to Wilkes-Barre for the benefit of his health, and
commenced reading medicine under Doctor Crary, and continued
his studies under Doctor William Batchelor, of Hatborough. In
1 818 he commenced practicing medicine, and in 1822 he moved
to Berwick, Pa. He died in 1856. The wife of Dr. A. B. Wilson
was Minerva Jameson, a daughter of Alexander Jameson, son of
Robert Jameson, son of John Jameson. (See page 301.) The
wife of Alexander Jameson was Elizabeth Stewart, a daughter of
Captain Lazarus Stewart, who was born in Lancaster (now Dau-
phin) county, Pa., in 1734. He served in the old French and
Indian war of 1755 to 1763 ; was in Braddock's defeat; married
Martha P^spy, daughter of Josiah Espy, son of George Espy, son
of Josiah Espy ; was captain of the Paxtang Rangers ; came to
Hanover in Wyoming as a settler with forty Lancaster county
men late in 1769, or in February, 1770. Within the year
1770 his forty were reduced to thirty Lancaster county men, to
whom were added ten New England men. By 1772 these were
reduced to eighteen men, who hired another eighteen men, thus
keeping up, according to an understanding with the Susquehanna
Company, their number to not less than thirty-six. Lazarus
Stewart was the fiery and daring Yankee leader of those stirring
times. He resided in a block house of his own on his land in
Hanover, about ninety rods below the Wilkes-Barre line. He
was killed at the head of his company in the battle and massacre
of Wyoming. Lazarus Stewart was undoubtedly responsible for
the battle and massacre of Wyoming, on July 3, 1778. It was a
mistaken judgment on his part, which he afterwards sealed with
his blood. Hon. Steuben Jenkins, in his Historical Address at
the Wyoming Monument, July 3, 1878, says: "The cool and
more judicious of the officers on whom the responsibilities rested
thought prudence the better part of valor, and decided that their
present position being tenable against a superior force, and serv-
ing to protect the lower and main part of the valley from the
encroachments of the enemy, would answer the purpose of pro-

846 Franklin Stewart.

tcction to that part of it until the expected reinforcements should
arrive. At this point in the debate Lieutenant Timothy Pierce
arrived with information that the company of Spalding was on
its way, and would probably arrive on Sunday for their assis-
tance." The battle was fought on Friday. " This news did not,
however, calm the troubled waters. It was contended that Sun-
day would be too late ; that the enemy by that time could prowl
through the valley, rob and burn their homes, or kill and take
captive the women and children, drive off their horses and cattle,
and destroy their harvests while they, like base and cowardly pol-
troons, were standing by with arms in their hands, and seeing
him do it without making an attempt to prevent it. * * * The
discussion became heated and personal. Charges of cowardice
were made by Captain Lazarus Stewart, then a private in Cap-
tain McCarrachen's Hanover company, against all who opposed
advancing, particularly against Colonel Butler, the principal
commander, who was against an advance, and he threatened to
report him as such to headquarters. Stewart was ordered under
arrest by Colonel Denison. The Hanover company became
mutinous. Captain McCarrachen resigned, and the company
immediately elected Stewart in his place. They now threatened
a revolt unless a march should be immediately made against
the enemy. Colonel Denison, a cool and quiet man, who had
taken little or no part in the discussion, as yet, urged the pro-
priety of careful and considerate action, and the impropriety and
danger of hasty and inconsiderate action ; that it would be far
better to wait until more was known of the number and move-
ments of the enemy; that it was hardly possible that they
would attempt to overrun the valley as matters then stood; that
a little delay would give them more information upon these
points, when they could act intelligently, and in the meantime
Spalding's and Franklin's companies would arrive — the latter cer-
tainly. These suggestions did not meet the feelings and views of
the men generally. They had become warmed up by the fiery
words of Captain Stewart, and declared that it would be a dis-
grace never to be forgotten or forgiven should they remain there
or lie cooped up in a fort while the enemy should devastate the
valley, plunder and burn their homes, and then draw off with

Franklin Stewart. 847

their booty, and they too cowardly to offer the least resistance.
It was therefore determined to march and meet or attack the
enemy. When it was decided to advance or attack the enemy,
Colonel Butler discharged Captain Stewart from arrest, saying :
' We will march and meet the enemy, if he is to be found, and I
will show the men that I dare lead where they dare follow.' "
Jonathan Terry, who was in Forty Fort on the day of the
battle, said (see appendix to History of Bradford county) "that
the leading officers in the fort were for delaying the attack until
the expected reinforcements arrived, or perhaps keep the fort
and defend themselves therein. Stewart was of a contrary opin-
ion. A very warm altercation now in a special manner took
place between Stewart arid Colonel Denison as to the expediency
of attacking the enemy under present circumstances. He would
fight that very day or else march his men back and never attempt
to aid them any more, and finally charged Der'ison and those of
his opinion with cowardice. Denison, well known to be a candid
man, now became provoked, anger took place, and he said he would
not hear that. If Stewart would go out and die (oaths passed) he
would venture himself in it." Stewart Pearce, in his "Annals of
Luzerne County," says: "On the morning of the battle they
were assembled in Forty Fort, when a council of officers was
convened to decide on the propriety of marching out to meet the
foe. Colonel Butler and others deemed it advisable to remain in
the fort. Captain Stewart was prominent among those in oppo-
sition who contended for a prompt and speedy conflict with the
invaders in the open field. The debate became animated and
was marked with warm words."

Mr. and Mrs. Franklin Stewart have a family of three children —
Alexander W. Stewart, Minnie W. Stewart and Martha J. Stewart,
wife of Charles Graham, jr., of Kingston. Mr. Stewart resides in
Berwick, Pa.

848 Francis Lord Butler.

PHILO CALLENDER GRITMAN.

Philo Callender Gritman, who was admitted to the bar of Lu-
zerne county, Pa., November 10, 1848, is a native of Sherburne,
Chenango county, N. Y., where he was born October 29, 1828.
His grandfather, John Gritman, whose wife was Letitia Carman
Syphers, was a native of Jamaica, Long Island, and his father,
WilHam Sypher Gritman, M. D., was born in Poughkeepsie, N.
Y. His wife was Joanna Callender, a native of Hartford, Conn.
P. C. Gritman was educated at Franklin Academy, Harford, Pa.,
and Dewey Collegiate Institute, and read law with T. P. Phinney,
at Dundafif, Pa., and D. N. Lathrop, of Carbondale. He was the
first principal of the Lackawanna Institute, at Carbondale, which
was kept several years. He was district attorney of the mayor's
court of Carbondale in 1857, 1858, 1859, 1862, 1863, 1864, 1865,
1869, i870and 1871, and represented Luzerne county in thelegisla-
ture of the state in 1857 and 1858. Mr. Gritman married, August
25, 1852, Jane Ball, a daughter of William Ball, of Carbondale. He
was the first secretary of the common council of the city of Car-
bondale. (See page 168). Mrs. Gritman was educated at the
Youne Ladies' Institute at Pittsfield, Mass. Mr. and Mrs. Grit-
man have one son, William Ball Gritman, of the Lackawanna
county bar. S. L. Brown, of this city, is a brother-in-law of P. C.
Gritman, his first wife, Almira C. Gritman, being a sister of P. C.
Gritman.

FRANCIS LORD BUTLER.

Francis Lord Butler, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne
county, April 6, 1849, is a native of Wilkes-Barre, Pa., where he
was born September 15, 1827. He is the son of the late John
L. Butler, of this city. (See pages 102 and 326.) F". L. Butler was
educated at Farmington, Conn., and New Haven, Conn. He read
law with Harrison Wright, in this city. Mr. Butler is an unmar-
ried man and now resides near Centreville, Fairfax county, Virginia.

George Perkins. 849

GEORGE PERKINS.

George Perkins, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne
county April i, 1850, is a native of Bridgewater township, Sus-
quehanna county, Pa., where he was born May 8, 1820. His
father, PVancis Perkins, and grandfather, Jacob Perkins, were
from the banks of the Thames, in Connecticut. His mother,
Rebecca C. Perkins, was a daughter of Christopher and Patience
Childs Sherman, from Rhode Island. Mr. Perkins was educated
in the Susquehanna Academy and the North Star printing office,
Montrose, Pa. He read law with Benjamin T. Case, of Montrose,
and was admitted to the Susquehanna county bar August 19,
1844. He has practiced in Carbondale, Dundaff Montrose, and
Pittston, in Pennsylvania, in Ripon and Fond du Lac, in Wis-
consin, and Negaunee, Michigan. He has been prosecuting
attorney of the mayor's court of Carbondale, city clerk of Ripon,
district attorney of Fond du Lac county for three terms, comp-
troller of the city of Fond du Lac, and county judge of Fond du
Lac county. This court has probate and common law jurisdic-
tion. Mr. Perkins is now serving his third term in the latter
office. He was twice married — first, November 15, 1854, to
Abby Perkins, daughter of Stephen Perkins and Elizabeth Smith,
of Gale's Ferry, Conn.; second, June 15, 1870, to Emiline L.
Perkins, daughter of Adam Larrabee and Emiline Hurlbutt, of
Windham, Conn, Mr. Perkins has four children, his eldest
daughter being married to Henry J. Gerpheide, of Fond du Lac.

HANSON ZEBULON FRISBIE.

Hanson Zebulon Frisbie, who was admitted to the bar of Lu-
zerne county August 5, 1850, is a native of Orwell, Bradford
county, Pa., where he was born June 8, 18 19. He is a descend-
ant of Levi P'risbie, who removed to Orwell from Bristol, Conn.,

850 Hanson Zebulon Frisihe,

in 1800. He was a native of Bristol, where he was born January
31, 1758. His wife, Phebe Gaylord, was the daughter of Lieu-
tenant Aaron Gaylord, who was slain in the battle and massacre
of Wyoming. After the battle the widowed mother, with her
three children, went back to Connecticut, where Mr. Frisbie was
married to her eldest daughter. Mrs. Phebe Gaylord Frisbie
was born in Bristol November 19, 1769. Levi Frisbie did service
in the revolutionary war while in Connecticut, and at the age of
forty- two came with his wife and four children to Orwell. His
wife was one of the survivors of the Wyoming massacre, being
nine years old at the time. The family were among the earliest
pioneers of the township of Orwell. They met the obstacles of a
settlement in the wilderness, and the many incidents connected
with their history while clearing off the forests are matters of great
interest to the rising generation. Mr. Frisbie died October 5,
1842, and his wife October 5, 1852. Chauncey Frisbie, son of
Levi Frisbie, was born in Burlington, Hartford county, Conn.,
November 16, 1787. He removed with his father to Orwell in
1800. He married, March 17, 1812, Chloe Howard, a native of
Connecticut, who came to Bradford county with her sister, her
father being dead. Mr. Frisbie was somewhat active in political
matters, and by the suffrages of his fellow townsmen held several
important offices of trust and responsibility. From 1822 to 1824
he was coroner of Bradford county. In 1833 and 1834 he was
county treasurer of the same county. His first wife died at the
age of thirty-five years, and his second wife was the widow of
Doctor Dudley Humphrey, of Connecticut. Mr. Frisbie died
May 4, 1864. His second wife died September 9, 1865.

Hanson Z. Frisbie, son of Chauncey Frisbie and his wife, Chloe
Howard, was educated at Franklin Academy, at Harford, Pa.,
and Caszenovia Seminary, from which he graduated in 1840.
He read law with his brother-in-law. Colonel E. B. Harvey, in
this city. In 1854 he removed to Battle Creek, Michigan. He
then abandoned the profession and became extensively engaged
in trade as a dealer in general merchandise. In 1872 he removed
to Lawrence, Kansas, and in 1874 to Grantville, Kansas, where
he now resides. He married, March 14, 1844, Mary Elizabeth
Russell, of Hartford, Conn. Her father was William Russell.

Ephraim Henry Little. 85 1

He married in 1859 his second wife, Julia S. Merakal. Mr.
Frisbie has a family of four children — Clarence Leigh, Selwin
Chauncey, Charles Harvey, and George Arthur Frisbie. The
two former are married.

EPHRAIM HENRY LITTLE.

Ephraim Henry Little was admitted to the bar of Luzerne
county April 7, 185 1. The same year he removed to Columbia
county, Pa. He was born March 23, 1823, in the state of New
York. His grandfather was Captain Ephraim Little, of Great
Barington, Mass., and his father was George Little, who removed
from the state of New York to Bethany, Wayne county, Pa., when
E. H. Little was quite young, and resided there a few years, when he
removed to Montrose, Pa., and engaged in mercantile business.
The subject of this sketch obtained his education in the schools of
Montrose, and in his eighteenth year entered the law office of
Lusk & Little as a law student, but completed his legal studies at
Morris, 111. He was admitted to the bar there May 12, 1844, and
practiced law at Joliet, 111., for two years. He then practiced two
years more at Morris ; and while a resident of that place, in hunt-
ing prairie chickens, his gun accidentally discharged, lacerating
his arm in such a manner as to render its amputation necessary.
In 1847 he returned to Montrose, and in 1848 he opened a law
office in Tunkhannock, Pa. In 1849 he was appointed weigh-
master on the North Branch Canal at Beach Haven, in this
county, and acted as such for two years. In 1850 he married
Eliza Seybert. He practiced his profession in Berwick until i860,
when he removed to Bloomsburg, Pa., where he has been in
continual practice since. From 1856 to 1865 he was district
attorney of Columbia county. His son, Roberta. Little, was
district attorney of Columbia county from 1878 to 1884.

852 Walsingham Griffin Ward.

DANFORTII L. PKCKIIAM.

Danforth L. Peckham, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne
county, Pa., August 4, 1851, is a resident of Mill City, Wyoming
county. Pa. He had many years ago an office in Hyde Park,
(now a portion of the city of Scranton), Luzerne (now Lacka-
wanna) county, Pa. He is a brother of the late Aaron K, Peck-
ham. His wife was Ellen Ross, a daughter of Perrin Ross. Mr.
Peckham has no children living.

WALSINGHAM GRIFFIN WARD.

Walsingham Griffin Ward, who was admitted to the bar of
Luzerne county November 10, 1 851, is a native of Dover Plains,
Dutchess county, N. Y., where he was born October 7, 1823.
He had but limited educational advantages during his youth, his
ability and acquirements having been attained during man's estate.
His early life was one of toil upon the farm and in the lumbering
branch of business. He removed to Scranton in March, 1843,
where he has remained until the present time. In the latter part
of the year 1846 he volunteered as a private in Company I, P'irst
Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, for service in the Mexican
war, and was honorably discharged at Vera Cruz, April 3, 1 847,
in consequence of illness that incapacitated him for service. He
read law with J. M. Alexander, and upon his admission to the
bar opened an office in Scranton, where he practiced until his
election as recorder of the mayor's court of the city of Scranton,
in 1870. In 1875 he resigned his position and again entered the
practice of his profession. He is the senior member of the firm
of Ward & Horn. Judge Ward has always been held in high
estimation as a lawyer, and his efforts before juries have been
wonderfully successful. As a citizen, he is upright and just. He
is a strong advocate of temperance and morality, and is often

Edward Merrifield. 853

called upon to address public assemblies in the interest of such
reforms. Judge Ward, during the greater part of his practice, has
always had some younger person as a partner. We can recall
the firm names of Ward & Bangs, Ward & Harrington, Ward &
Kulp, Ward & Mahon, Ward & Gunster, Ward & Edwards, and
Ward & Horn. Judge Ward was twice married. His first wife
was Maria White, of Columbia county, N. Y. She died Decem-
ber 2, 1872. His second wife was Louisa Z. Hurlburt, of North
Adams, Mass. She is also deceased. He has one son by his
last wife, Douglass Hurlburt Ward.

EDWARD MERRIFIELD.

Edward Merrifield, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne
county August 6, 1855, is a descendant of Robert Merrifield, who
was born in England in 1703, and emigrated with a brother or
brothers to America, and settled in Rhode Isjand. William
Merrifield, an only son of Robert Merrifield, was born in the latter
state in 1752, and removed with his father to Dutchess county,
N. Y. He was a school teacher, and continued to live in Dutchess
and Columbia counties, N. Y.. until his death in 1836. Robert
Merrifield, son of William Merrifield, was born in Columbia
county, N. Y., in 1778, emigrated to Pennsylvania in 18 19,
and settled in the then township of Providence, subsequently
Hyde Park, now a portion of the city of Scranton. Here he
engaged in the business of clearing away the forest, and farming.
He died at the advanced age of eighty- seven years. His wife
was Catharine Wolscy, born in Columbia county, N. Y., January
12, 1786. William Merrifield, son of Robert Merrifield, was born
at Pine Plains, Dutchess county, N. Y., April 22, 1806, and
removed with his father to Pennsylvania. His education was
limited to district schools, but his mind was sufficiently stored to
enable him to teach, and for five winters he engaged in this occu-
pation. He soon after engaged in the mercantile business at Cen-
tremoreland, Luzerne (now Wyoming) county. Pa. Before going

854 Edward Merrifield.

there he had been interested in getting a postofficc established at
Hyde Park, and was appointed the first postmaster in 1831. He re-
mained at Centremoreland about a year, returned to Hyde Park,
was reappointed p'ostmastcr, and held the office about ten years. At
the same time he erected a store building, and followed the business
of a merchant almost uninterruptedly until 1 864. He early foresaw
the advantages of this section as a mining and manufacturing
centre, and in 1837 became a joint owner of the main portion of
the lands where is now built the central part of Scranton. He at
once commenced operations through correspondence and other-
wise towards calling the attention of capitalists to this point,
and in 1838 the tract was disposed of to Colonel George W. Scran-
ton and others, by whose energy and perseverance it received the
impetus that has made it a flourishing city. In 1843 he was
elected to the legislature of Pennsylvania, to which he was
returned for three successive terms. As a legislator he was
regarded as a safe adviser, his opinion being frequently sought
for and highly respected. His struggles for the welfare of the
Lackawanna valley exhibit him on the legislative records as the
ablest champion ever sent from that locality. His greatest effort
was in behalf of the proposed new county of Lackawanna — the bill
for which he succeeded in passing through the lower house, and
was defeated only in the senate by a tie vote. He was also an
earnest worker in favor of the extension of the North Branch
Canal, also for the project of slack water navigation on the Sus-
quehanna and Lackawanna rivers, with a view of opening up the
Lackawanna coal fields. He was an enthusiastic friend and sup-
porter of the public schools of his neighborhood. He officiated
as school director at the time of the building of the first frame
school house in Hyde Park, and again during the construction
of the more recent graded school building. He was among the
first to give an impetus to the growth of the town by plotting his
tract of land in the central portion thereof into village lots, subse-
quently laying out another tract known as Merrifield'splot of lots
in Keyser's Valley. In 1856 he was elected an associate judge
of Luzerne county. In 1870 he was chosen president of the
Hyde Park Bank. Judge Merrifield was the first burgess of the
borough of Hyde Park. As a politician, he belonged to the

Edward Merrifield. 855

democratic school, and was ever known as a conscientious advo-
cate of purity in public affairs, his wishes being always for the
v.-elfare and prosperity of the country. The public offices that
were conferred upon him were given in every instance without
solicitation upon his part, and were invariably administered to
the entire satisfaction of his constituents. Mr. Merrifield married
in early manhood Almira Swetland, daughter of Belding Swet-
land. (See page 464). William Merrifield died June 4, 1877. Ed-
ward Merrifield, the only child living of William Merrifield
was born at Wyoming, Pa., July 30, 1832. His education was
received in the public schools of Hyde Park, and in an attend-
ance of about two years at Wyoming Seminary, Kingston, Pa.,
and between two and three years at Oxford (N. Y.) Academy,
where he prepared for college. On account of impaired health
the idea of a college course was abandoned. Upon his return
from Oxford he engaged, in company with his father at Hyde Park
in mercantile business, in which he continued but one year. In
the spring of 1852 he entered the law academy at Easton, Pa.,
Judge McCartney, principal, where he remained one term. In
1853 he entered the law office of Harrison Wright, in this city,
where he remained two years. He opened an office in Hyde Park,
in 1855, the same year that he was admitted to the bar. In 1861
he removed from Hyde Park to Scranton. In 1867, for the pur-
pose of recruiting his health, he purchased a farm on the Raritan
river, Somerset county, N. J., which he carried on for two years.
Having fully recovered his health, he returned and again opened
a law* office in Scranton, where he has since practiced. In poli-
tics Mr. Merrifield has always acted with the democratic party.
For a number of years he was president of the Scranton Law and
Library Association. He was very active in securing the for-
mation of the county of Lackawanna, and to no man was due
more credit for the final success of that project. In 1884 he was
the democratic candidate for assistant law judge of Lackawanna
county, but was defeated by Robert W. Archbald— republican.
Mr. Merrifield m.arried, November 25, 1855, Jennie Eldridge, of
Owego, N. Y. Her grandfather, Robert Eldridge, was born in
New London, Conn., and her father, James N. Eldridge, was born
at Denmark, N. Y. Her mother, the wife of James N. Eldridge,

856 PiiiLii' Myers.

was Elvira C. Patrick, of New Preston, Conn., and her grandfather
was Henry Patrick, of Norwich, Conn. His wife was Dotha
demons, of Litchfield, Conn. The wife of Robert I'Lldridge was
Sally Sylvester, of Copenhagen, N. Y. Mr. and Mrs. Merrifield
have one child, Jessie Merrifield.

PHH.IP MYERS.

Philip Myers was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county
August 8, 1855. He is the grandson of Philip Myers, who was
born in Germany in 1756, came to this country with his parents in
1760, settling in Frederick, Maryland. Philip Myers' grandfather
came to Wyoming in 1785 and married Martha Bennet, daugh-
ter of Thomas Bennet, July 15, 1787. Lawrence Myers, brother
of Philip Myers' grandfather, was one of the trustees of the
Wilkes-Barre Academy. He was elected in 1808 and served
until his death. He was an officer of the Maryland line during
the revolution, and was stationed at the fort here in 1779.
Thomas Myers, son of Philip and Martha (Bennet) Myers, was
born in Kingston February 15, 1802, and died at Williamsport,
Pa., December 3, 1887. (See page 629.) The first wife of Thomas
Myers, and the mother of Philip Myers, was Sarah Borbidge,
born in Dublin, Ireland, April 23, 1808. She was the daughter
of James Borbidge, born in Dublin in 1757. His wife was
Maria Borbidge {riee Bowers), a native of county Wicklow, Ire-
land. Philip Myers, son of Thomas and Sarah Myers, was born
in Kingston, Pa., November 28, 1830. He was educated at
Wyoming Seminary, Kingston, and at Dickinson College, Carlisle,
Pa., graduating from the latter institution in the class of 185 i.
From 185 I to 1854 he was one of the professors in the Wyoming
Seminary. He read law with George W. Woodward, in this city.
The second year after his admission here he removed to Oska-
loosa, Iowa, where he practiced his profession until 1866. In
1868 he removed to Chicago, 111., where he now resides. From
1873 to 1875 he was one of the professors in the Union College
of Law, in Chicago. Mr. Myers married, November 20, i866>

Charles Edward Lathrop. 857

at Ottawa, 111., Mary Isabella Cowen, of Ottawa. Her grandfather
was Robert Cowen, born in Maryland and died in Ohio. His
wife was Mary Cowen [nee Davis), born near Hagerstown, Mary-
land. The father of Mrs. Myers was Walter Cowen, who was
born at or near Hagerstown in 181 3. He died at Ottawa August
18, 1867. Her mother was Matilda Cowen {nee Strawn). She
was born near Zanesville, Ohio, November 6, 1823, and died at
Magnolia, Putnam county, 111., in 1848. Her grandfather was
Jeremiah Strawn, who was a soldier in the Black Hawk war, was
born in Somerset, Pa., in 1795, and died at Ottawa in 1883. His
brother, John Strawn, was colonel of a regiment during the
Black Hawk war. The wife of Jeremiah Strawn was Hannah
Strawn {nee Bouscher.) She was born in Somerset in 1799 ^"<^
died at Ottawa in 1874. Mr. and Mrs. Myers have but one child
living — Elizabeth Vanderbelt Myers.

CHARLES EDWARD LATHROR

Charles Edward Lathrop, who was admitted to the bar of
Luzerne county January 12, 1857, 's the descendant of Rev. John
Lothropp, a native of Etton, Harthill wapentake. East Riding,
Yorkshire, England, who was baptized at Etton December 20,
1584, and became the pioneer and founder of the Lothrop-
Lathrop family in America. He was educated in Queen's Col-
lege, Cambridge, where he was matriculated in 1601, graduated
B. A. in 1605, and M. A. in 1609. Authentic records next locate
him in Egerton, forty-eight miles southeast from London, in the
Lower Half hundred of Calehill, Lathe of Scray, county of Kent,
as curate of the parish church there. To this living he was ad-
mitted about 161 1 by the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul. He was
there from 1614 to 1619. It was probably his first and only parish
charge as a minister of the English Church. Here Mr. Lothropp
labored faithfully as long as his judgment could approve the
ritual and government of the church. But when he could no
longer do this, we find him conscientiously renouncing his orders

858 Charles Edward Lathrop.

and asserting the right of still fulfilling a ministry to which his
heart and his conscience had called him. Accordingly, in 1623,
his decision is made. He bids adieu to the church of his youth,
and with no misgivings, now in the fullness of his early man-
hood, subscribes with a firm hand to the doctrines and espouses
with a courageous heart the cause of the Independents. Hence-
forth his lot is with conventicle men in his mother land and with
the exiled founders of a great nation in a new world. The date
of his leaving Egerton is 1623, and the next year he is called
to succeed the Rev. Henry Jacob, an independent minister,
who, having been for eight years the pastor of the First Inde-
pendent Church in London, resigned his place to remove to
Virginia. At that date the congregation of dissenters to which
he ministered had no place of public worship, their worship
itself being illegal. Only such as could meet the obloquy and
ri.sk the danger of worshipping God in violation of human statute
were likely to be found in that secret gathering. Yet in goodly
numbers, in such places in Southwark as they could stealthily
occupy, they held together, and were comforted and instructed
by the minister of their choice. For not less than eight years
they so worshipped. No threats of vengeance deterred, and no
vigilance of officious ministers of the violated law detected, them.
More watchful grew the minions of Laud. Keen-scented church
hounds traversed all the narrow ways of the city whose most
secret nooks could by any possibility admit even a small com-
pany of the outlaws. One of the wiliest of these pursuivants of
the bishop, Tomlinson by name, tracked Mr. Lothropp and his
followers to their retreat. They had met for worship, as had been
their wont, little thinking that it would be their last gathering
with their beloved minister. How far they had gone in their
service we shall probably never know. What words of cheer
they had spoken or heard we may not repeat. Their private
sanctuary, a room in the house of Mr. Humphrey Barnet, a
brewer's clerk, in Black Friars, is suddenly invaded. Tomlinson
and his ruffian band, with a show of power above their resistance,
seize forty-two of their number, allowing only eighteen of them to
escape, and made that 22d day of April, 1632, forever memorable
to those suffering christians by handing them over in fetters to

Charles Edward Lathrop. 859

the executioners of a law which was made for godly men to
break. In the old Clink prison, in Newgate, and in the Gate-
house, all made for felons, these men, "of whom the world was
not worthy," lingered for months. In the spring of 1634 all but
Mr. Lothropp were released on bail. He, their leader, the chief
offender, was deemed too dangerous to be set at liberty. Like
the gifted Hooker, it was felt that his words and his example
had "already more impeached the peace of our church" than the
church could bear. "His genius will still haunte all the pulpits
in ye country, when any of his scolers may be admitted to
preach." And so his prison doors swung to again, and seemed to
leave him no hope of release or escape. During these months a
fatal sickness was preying upon his wife and bringing her fast
toward her end. The " New England Memorial," by Nathaniel
Morton, published in 1669, and then near enough the date of the
incidents given to be a credible witness, gives us these touch-
ing incidents of that imprisonment: "His wife fell sick, of which
sickness she died. He procured liberty of the bishop to visit his
wife before her death, and commended her to God by prayer, who
soon gave up the ghost. At his return to prison his poor children,
being many, repaired to the bishop at Lamberth and made known
unto him their miserable condition, by reason of their good
father's being continued in close durance, who commiserated
their condition so far as to grant him liberty, who soon after came
over into New England." In 1634 he arrived in Boston with
that portion of his London flock who had accompanied him. He
found already the preparations begun to welcome him to a new
home in Scituate. At least nine pioneers had built their houses
in that new settlement, and to it, with such of his people as were
ready to accompany him, he repaired September 27, 1634. He
remained in Scituate as the pastor of the church there until 1639,
when he removed to Barnstable. During the fourteen years that
he was pastor of the Barnstable church, such was his influence
over the people that the power of the civil magistrate was not
needed to restrain crime. No pastor was ever more beloved by
his people ; none ever had a greater influence for good. To be-
come a member of his church no applicant was compelled to sign
a creed or confession of faith. He retained his freedom. He

86o Charles Edward Lathrop.

professed his faith in God and promised that it should be his
constant endeavor to keep His commandments, to Hve a pure
hfe, and to walk in love with the brethren. He died in Barn-
stable November 8, 1653.

Joseph Lothropp, son of Rev. John Lothropp, was born in Eng-
land, probably in Lamberth, London, in 1624. He probably also
came over to America with his father in 1634. He married,
December 11, 1650, Mary Ansell. He settled and lived in Barn-
stable, where his name on the local records shows him to have
been an enterprising and honored man. He was a deputy for the
town in the general court of the state for fifteen years, and for twen-
ty-one years served as one of the selectmen of the town. On the
organization of the county he was appointed the register of the pro-
bate court, and recorded in 1666 the first deed put on record in the
county. The court appointed him in 1653 to keep the ordinary
of the town. He was admitted freeman June 8, 1655. In 1664
we find him as acting constable, and in 1667 as receiver of excise.
That he was also in the military line is shown in the titles of lieu-
tenant and captain. He died in 1702.

Hope Lothrop, son of Joseph Lothropp, was born July 15,
1671 ; married, November 15, 1696, Elizabeth Lathrop, who was
born in Barnstable November 15, 1677, a daughter of
Melatiah Lothrop. They settled first in Barnstable, where he is
enrolled among the townsmen in 1695, and where the eldest of
their children were born. He subsequently removed to Fal-
mouth, Mass., and still later to Connecticut. He died October
29, 1736, and his wife died February 21, 1763. Melatiah La-
throp, son of Hope Lothrop, was born February 20, 1714; mar-
ried, probably in Tolland, where the record was made, Novem-
ber 15, 1738, Mercy Hatch, daughter of Joseph Hatch, one of the
pioneers of Tolland, where she was born Angust 23, 17 17. A
record made by her son Josiah states that "this family, [that of
his father Melatiah] commenced in Connecticut, whence they
removed in 1755 into Dutchess county, N. Y., then town of
Dover, where they were chiefly brought up." He died Septem-
ber 5, 1787. Ezra Lathrop, son of Melatiah Lathrop, was born
August 19, 175 1, in Kent, Conn.; married, 1779 (?), Miriam,
daughter of "old Dea. Thurston," whose fame for piety was in

Charles Edward Lathrop. 86 i

all the churches; died February 12, 1825, in Ontario county, N.
Y. Salmon Lathrop, son of Ezra Lathrop, was born in New
Concord, Columbia county, N. Y., January 5, 178 1, and married,
August 28, 1805, Aurelia Noble, eldest daughter of John and
Lydia Noble, who were born in Benson, Vermont, July 18, 1790,
and died in Carbondale, Pa., April 13, 1872. Salmon Lathrop,
at an early period in his life, removed with his father's family to the
town of Sherburne, Chenango county, N. Y., then a comparatively
wild and unknown region of country. Here his youth was
spent on his father's farm, clearing away the wilderness and
developing the resources of that now most beautiful and pro-
ductive region of the Empire state. He removed to Carbon-
dale in 1827, and erected the first frame building in that place,
being an addition to the log structure known for many years as
the "log tavern." He died in Carbondale November 4, 1868.
For the facts herein enumerated we are indebted to the Lo-La-
throp Family Memoir, by Mrs. Julia M. Huntington, Ridgefield,
Conn., 1884.

Charles E. Lathrop, son of Salmon Lathrop, was born in
Bloomingburg, Sullivan county, N. Y., March 5, 1827. He was
educated in the schools of Carbondale and Wilkes-Barre, and
read law with his brother, Dwight Noble Lathrop. He has
practiced in this city, Carbondale, Scranton, Independence, Iowa,
and Washington, D. C. He was educated as a printer, and was
editor and publisher of different newspapers for about ten years.
During these years he was prosecuting the study of law. He was
a school director in Scranton in 1855, 1856 and 1857, clerk in navy
department in Washington, D. C, 1861, 1862 and 1863, naval
storekeeper, navy yard, Washington, D. C, 1863, 1864, 1865 and

1866, superintendent of government printing, Washington, D. C,

1867, 1868 and 1869, and superintendent of schools, Buchanan
county, Iowa, 1859 and 1 860. He now resides in Carbondale. Mr.
Lathrop married, February 18, 1849, Charlotte Dilley, the great-
granddaughter of Richard Dilley, a native of Cape May county,
New Jersey, who removed to Hanover, in this county, in 1784.
His son, Richard Dilley, removed with his father to Hanover
and lived at Buttonwood. His wife's name was Polly Voke.
Jesse Dilley, son of Richard Dilley, was born in Hanover in

862 Edward Newell Willard.

1794. His wife was Hannah K. Luedcr, a daughter of Christian
F. Lucder, who was born in Germany in 1769. He settled first
in Northampton county, where he married Mary M. Ryswick,
and from there removed to Hanover. The father of Mrs. La-
throp was Jesse Dilley. Mr. and Mrs. Lathrop have a family
of four children living — Helen Augusta Lathrop, wife of Ur-
bane C. Rogers, Edward Dilley Lathrop, William Monroe La-
throp, and Mary Jennette Lathrop.

EDWARD NEWELL WH.LARD.

Edward Newell Willard, who was admitted to the bar of Lu-
zerne county, Pa., November 17, 1857, is a descendant of Major
Simon Willard, a native of the parish of Horsmonden, in the
southwesterly part of Kent, England, where he was baptized
April 5, 1605. He embarked from England in April, 1634, and
arrived in Boston, Massachusetts Bay Colony, about the middle
of the month of May. He was a merchant, and one of the most
prominent of the early Puritans. The grandfather of E. N. Wil-
lard was Jehiel Willard, of Madison, Conn., whose wife was Eunice
Blatchley. The father of E. N. Willard was James Willard, also
a native of Madison. The wife of James Willard, and mother of
of E. N. Willard, was Susan Clanning, a daughter of Edward
Clanning, of Newport, R. I. E. N. Willard was born in Mad-
ison, April 2, 1835. He was educated in the common schools of
his native town, and also at Lee's Academy, in Madison. He
studied law with Ralph D. Smith, of Guilford, Conn., and subse-
quently entered the New Haven (Conn.) Law School, from which
he graduated. He was admitted to the New Haven county bar
in September, 1857. He was sworn in as an attorney by Major
General Alfred H. Terry, who was then clerk of the courts. Mr.
Willard has been a resident of Scranton since his admission to
the bar here, and is one of its most prominent attorneys and busi-
ness men. Jn 1867 he was appointed register in bankruptcy for
the twelfth congressional district, and has held the office since.
He is president of the Scranton Savings Bank and Trust Com-

Edward Newell Willard. 863

pany, president of the Stowers Pork Packing and Provision Com-
pany, president of the Bridge Coal Company, and a director and
one-fifth owner of the Lackawanna Coal Company, Limited. He
has served as notary public for nine years, attorney and secretary
or the borough of Scranton four years, and for four years he was
"attorney for the city of Scranton and secretary of select council
from date of organization of the city. He is counsel and attorney
for the Delav/are, Lackawanna & Western Railroad Company, the
Pennsylvania Coal Company, the Hillside Coal & Iron Com-
pany, the Pennsylvania Anthracite Coal Company, the Lacka-
wanna Iron & Coal Company, the Scranton Steel Company, the
Scranton Gas and Water Company, the New York, Susquehanna,
& Western R. R. Co., and other corporations. On September i.
1864, he entered the United States army as captain in the One
Hundred and Twenty-Seventh Regiment of United States Colored
Troops, and served in the army until December, 1865. After
the surrender of General Lee, he was judge advocate in the
Second Division, Twenty-Fifth Army Corps. Mr. Willard mar-
ried, June 4, i860, Ellen Hower, a native of Lock Haven, Pa., a
daughter of Cain Hower, a native of Roaring Creek, Columbia
county, Pa. Mr. and Mrs. Willard have but one child — Nellie,
wife of Everett Warren, of the Lackawanna county bar.

Mr. Willard 's professional career, during all the years he has
lived in Scranton, has been marked by great ability as an advo-
cate, untiring zeal for his clients, and the most sterling integrity
of character. These qualifications, together with his great indus-
try, have enabled him easily to acquire a large and lucrative
practice, which he has frequently refused to relinquish for judicial
and other official positions. Among the many excellent traits of
his character may be specially mentioned his kindness and con-
sideration for younger members of the bar, many of whom have,
in the most trying period of their professional career, been helped
by his generosity. His nature is open, frank, and social. He
carries about with him a hearty, good humor, which makes him
a prime favorite with all classes ; aud he is especially and deser-
vedly popular with the members of the bar, who, young and old,
find in him a companion, a friend in need, a brother in the law,
and hold for him the esteem which his manly qualities ever inspire.

864 Paul Ross Weitzel.

PAUL ROSS WEITZKL.

Paul Ross Weitzel, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne
county, August 17, 1858, is a descendant ofjohan Paul Weytzel,
who emigrated, September 3, 1742, in the ship " Loyal Judith,"
James Cowie, captain, from Rotterdam, Holland. Some time
between 1742 and 1750 Paul Weitzel and Charlotte, his wife,
settled in the town of Lancaster, Pa. Here all their seven children
were born. Paul was doubtless born before 17 17, as his name
does not appear on the list of males between the ages of sixteen
and fifty in Lancaster in 1776. He died about September, 1797.
John Weitzel, second child of Paul and Charlotte Weitzel, was
born in Lancaster, December 30, 1752. He received the rudi-
ments of a good education with his brother, in his native town,
and at an early age was sent to Philadelphia to learn the mer-
cantile business. About 1771, when but nineteen years of age,
he removed to Fort Augusta (near where the town of Sunbury,
Pa., now stands), opening one of the earliest mercantile stores
established at that point. When the war of the revolution began
he became a very prominent actor in county affairs. In those
days the county offices were held by the best men Before he
was of age he was appointed, in 1772, one of the first county
commissioners of Northumberland county. To this office he
was reappointed January 22, 1776, and also under the constitution
of 1790, in 1790, 1 79 1 and 1792. He was appointed justice of
the peace for the same county, respectively March 9, 1774, July
29, 1775, June 19, 1777, and June 20, 1789. The General Assem-
bly appointed him, July 25, 1775, a" justice of the Court of Quar-
ter Sessions, and of the county Court of Common Pleas for the
county of Northumberland. He was also a member of the com-
mittee of safety of the same county from February 8, 1776, to
August 13, 1776. Judge Weitzel was a member of the provin-
cial conference of June 18, 1776, as a deputy from the county of
Northumberland. This conference was held in Philadelphia to
take into consideration the resolutions of the continental con-
gress recommending the total suppression of all authority under

Paul Ross Weitzel. 865

the king of Great Britain, and the adoption of such government
as would best conduce to the happiness and safety of America.
The conference immediately issued a call for a provincial con-
vention for this purpose, to meet the following month. John
Weitzel was appointed one of a committee at this conference to
ascertain the number of members, and the proportion of representa-
tion which should constitute the proposed convention. On July
8 he was duly elected a representative to this convention from
Northumberland county. On July 15, the youngest of the nine-
ty-six delegates, being then not yet twenty-four years of age, he
took his seat in that body, which gave to Pennsylvania the con-
stitution of 1776. Judge Weitzel was also appointed a member
of the Pennsylvania council of safety for Northumberland county
from July 24, 1776, to March 13, 1777. He was appointed issu-
ing commissary for the county, July 7, 1780, and contractor for
furnishing provisions to the state troops from 1782 to 1784.
Under the new constitution of 1776 Judge Weitzel was again
appointed, June 19, 1789, one of the judges of the Court of Com-
mon Pleas for Northumberland county, which office he held for
seven years. He was a candidate for the state Assembly in
1783, 1785 and 1793, but each time unsuccessfully. He died in
1800. His first wife, whom he married June 15, 1781, was
Tabitha Morris, daughter of John and Rose Morris, of Philadelphia.
John Weitzel, first child of Hon. John and Tabitha (Morris)
Weitzel, was born at Sunbury March 24, 1792. He was a millerand
merchant at Sunbury, and a justice of the peace from 1806 to 1830.
He married, in 1805, Elizabeth Lehr, of Germantown, Pa. She
died in 1853 and he died October 9, 1835. Joseph Weitzel, first
child of John and Elizabeth (Lehr) Weitzel, was born in Sun-
bury, October 8, 1808. He continued the business in which his
father was so long engaged, that of milling. He married, Octo-
ber 10, 1 83 1, Sarah Woodrow, daughter of John and Sarah Wood-
row, of Northumberland county. Paul Ross Weitzel, first child
of Joseph and Sarah (Woodrow) Weitzel, was born September
13, 1832, at Sunbury. He was educated at the select schools
at Sunbury, and in Dickinson Seminary, at Williamsport, Pa.
He studied law at Union Law School, at Easton, Pa., where he
graduated L. L. B., in 1856. He practiced for a time at Sun-

866 A. W. IUngs.

bury and Maiich Chunk, locating in Scranton in 1871, where he
has since resided. He married, January 18, 1859, at Wilkes-
liarre, Fannie Edwards Boyd, daughter of Dr. Eben Little and
Ruth Ann (Ellsworth) Boyd, of this city. Dr. Boyd was the son
of Hon. James Boyd, of Boston, and grandson of Hon. Robert
Boyd, of Kilmarnock, Scotland, who was the youngest son of
William, ninth Lord Boyd, and first Earl of Kilmarnock, and his
wife, Lady Jean Cunninghame, eldest daughter of William, ninth
Earl of Glencarin. The English family is now represented by
the Earl of Erroll. Mr. and Mrs. Weitzel have six children
living — Paul Elmer, Cornelia Shepherd, Eben Boyd, Herbert
Edwards, Fannie Eleanor, and Carrie Leonard Weitzel.

A. W. BANGS.

A. W. Bangs, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county
August 31, 1858, is a native of Bethany, Wayne county, Pa.,
where he was born July 26, 1834. He was educated at the pub-
lic schools in Honesdale, Pa., and studied law with D. N. Lathrop
and Lewis Jones at Scranton. While in this county he practiced
law at Pittston and Scranton. About i860 he removed to Le
Sueur, Minn., where he resided for a number of years. He was
county attorney for Le Sueur county for twelve years. He now
resides in Grand Forks, Dakota Territory, where he has been
county attorney, one of the school trustees for a number of years,
is now a councilman of the city of Grand Forks, and is at present
chairman of the democratic territorial committee of Dakota. He is
also president of the Grand Forks Bar Association. He is the son
of E'ijah K. Bangs, a native of Kortright, N. Y., where he was
born in 1803, and who died in South Bend, Minn., in 1876. His
wife was a native of Connecticut. The great-grandfather of A.
W. Bangs was Lemuel Bangs. He resided in Stratfield, Conn.,
where his children were born. Mr. Bangs was an able man and
a zealous whig during the revolution. He met with other whigs
at Nichol's taven, parson Ross, also a strong whig, being of the
number. During the discussions Lemuel Bangs said he would

Henry Wilson. S67

be willing to die and suffer eternal punishment if he could be the
means of making America free. Mr. Ross replied, "It is a good
thing to be zealous, but not to be too zealous. Where is my hat,
I must be going?" Rev. Nathan Bangs, D. D., Heman Bangs
and Rev. John Bangs were children of Lemuel Bangs, the latter
being the grandfather of A. W. Bangs. A. W. Bangs married,
in i860, Fally M. Baker, a daughter of Elnathan Baker, of Hyde
Park, now city of Scranton. She died at Le Sueur in 1864. The
following year he married Sara D. Plowman, a daughter of
William Plowman, of Le Sueur, where he now resides, at the age
of seventy-four years. He is a native of Ireland. Mr. Bangs
has a family of seven children. His oldest son, Tracy R., is an
attorney and a partner of his father, under the firm name of
Bangs & Bangs.

THOMAS M. ATHERTON.

Thomas M. Atherton was admitted to the bar of Luzerne
county, Pennsylvania, February 28, 1859. He is a native of
Kingston township, and is the son of Anson Atherton .In 1857
he was elected register of wills of Luzerne county, but re-
signed his office in i860, before the expiration of his term. He
then went w^est and has resided for many years at Osage,
Mitchell county, Iowa. He has been for many years connected
with the Mitchell Coimty Pi-ess, which was published first by
Mr. Atherton, then by Atherton & Son, and now by Atherton
& Company. He married, previous to his removal from here,
Elizabeth Gilmore, daughter of Stephen Gilmore. He is a
brother-in-law of the late M. E. Jackson, of the Luzerne bar.

HENRY WILSON.

Henry Wilson, who was admitted to the bar of Luzsrne county
August 19, 1859, is a descendant of Joseph Wilson, a native of
Rhode Island. His son, Isaac Wilson, was the father of Phillips
Wilson, who was born in Pittston township, in this county, Feb-

868 George Abisha Woodward.

ruary 8, 1809. He was the brother of John Wilson, M. D.,
father of Milo J. Wilson, who was admitted to the Luzerne county
bar April 9, 1868. (See sketch of Milo J. Wilson.) Phillips
Wilson was the father of Henry Wilson. The wife of Phillips
Wilson was Frances M. Lines, a native of Franklin township,
Susquehanna county, where she was born November 13, 1809.
She was the daughter of Bellisle Lines, and Laura Lines, his
wife. Henry Wilson was born October 7, 1834, in Franklin
township. He was educated in the public schools of Carbon-
dale, Pa., and at the Lackawanna Institute in that city. He
read law with D. N, Lathrop, in Carbondale, and practiced his
profession for a few years in that city, and then removed to Hones-
dale, Pa., where he now resides. He was at one time one of the
associate judges of Wayne county. Pa. Mr. Wilson married,
September 6, 1863, Sarah A. Belcher, a daughter of William
Belcher, who was a native of the state of New York. His wife
was Mary Ann Carr, a native of Wyoming county. Pa. Mr. and
Mrs. Wilson have a family of two children — Robert Bruce Wilson
and Lena Kesler Wilson. The latter is an adopted child.

GEORGE ABISHA WOODWARD.

George Abisha Woodward, who was admitted to the bar of Lu-
zerne county August 26, 1859, 's a native of Wilkes-Barre, Pa.,
where he was born February 14, 1835. He is a son of the late
George W. Woodward, of the Luzerne bar. (See page 97).
George A. Woodward was educated at the Wilkes-Barre Acad-
emy, Bolmar's school, at West Chester, Pa., Wyoming Seminary,
Kingston, Pa., and Trinity College, Hartford, Conn., graduating
from the latter institution in the class of 1855. He read law
with Emmons and Van Dyke, and Hon. Nelson Cross, at Mil-
waukee, Wis., and was admitted to the Supreme Court at
Madison, Wis., in December, 1856. He has practiced at Mil-
waukee, Wilkes-Barre and Philadelphia, Pa. He was city attorney
of Milwaukee from May, 1858, to May, 1859. During the

Andrew Jackson Smith. 869

late civil war he entered the service as captain, and was promoted
successively to major, lieutenant colonel and colonel in the volun-
teer service. He entered the regular army as lieutenant colonel,
and is now colonel in the same service. He is on the retired list
from wounds received. He married, February 14, 1867, Char-
lotte Treat Chittenden. Her father was Asahel Chittenden, who
was born in May, 1797, in Waterbury, Conn., removed to Colum-
bus, Ohio, in 1829, and died there in 1880. Her paternal grand-
father, also named Asahel, was born in 1764, probably at
Guilford, Conn. Her father was of the sixth generation in
descent from William Chittenden, who in 1639 emigrated from
the parish of Cranbrook, in Kent, England, landed in New Haven,
Conn., and settled in Guilford, of which he was one of the orig-
inal proprietors. He "was the principal military man of the plan-
tation, bearing the title of lieutenant." Savage states (I, 381) that
"he had been a soldier in the English army in the Netherlands, in
the Thirty Years' War, and that hs reached the rank of major.
He was a magistrate of the plantation, and deputy to the General
Court until his death." The mother of Mrs. Woodward was Har-
riet Harpin Treat. She was the daughter of Major Stephen A,
Treat, of Milford, Conn., who was a descendant of Governor Treat,
one of the early colonial governors of Connecticut, during whose
administration occured the incident of the hiding of the charter in
the oak. She married Mr. Chittenden in 1829, and died at Colum-
bus, Ohio, in 1 872. Colonel and Mrs. Woodward have two children
— Henry Sterne Woodward, born in Nashville, Tenn., September
2, 1868, now in Yale University, and Sarah Elizabeth Woodward,
born at Fort Fetterman, Wyoming Territory, November 2, 1871.
Colonel Woodward resides at Washington, D. C.

ANDREW JACKSON SMITH.

Andrew Jackson Smith, who was admitted to the bar of Lu-
zerne county, Pa., January 2, i860, is a descendant of Thomas
Smith, a native of East Haddam, Conn., who removed to Wyo-

870 Andrew Jackson Smith.

ming in 1783, and located on the east side of the Susquehanna
river, near Nanticoke. The great ice freshet of 1784, which bore
down h'om the upper waters of the Susquehanna such vast masses
of ice, overflowing the plains and destroying the property along
the river, swept his farm of all its harvest product, leaving it with
little else than its gullied soil. Hardly had his recuperative
energies again made cheerful his fireside when the "pumpkin
freshet," as it was called, from the countless number of pumpkins
it brought down the swollen river, again inundated its banks,
sweeping away houses, barns, mills, fences, stacks of hay and
grain, cattle, flocks of sheep and droves of swine in the general
destruction, and spreading desolation where but yesterday, autumn
promised abundance. Mr. Smith, not stoic enough to receive the
visits of such floods with indifference, moved up in the "gore"
(now Old Forge township, Lackawanna county), in 1786, "for,"
said the old gentleman, " I want to get above high water mark."
His daughter Hannah married Abraham Bradley, who was ad-
mitted to the bar of Luzerne county September 2, 1788.

Deodat Smith, son of Thomas Smith, was born in Con-
necticut, and came with his father to Wyoming in 1783. He
was one of the commissioners of Luzerne county during the years
1825, 1826 and 1827. On April 6, 1820, he was appointed by
Governor William Findley a justice of the peace for the townships
of Pittstown, Providence, Exeter, Blakely and Northmoreland.
His wife was Rachel Allsworth, a daughter of William AUsworth,
a Yankee, who, living on the extreme border of the state of New
York, was induced to leave and emigrate to "Nine Partners," N.
Y., in 1782. He was a shoemaker by trade, and, learning how
scarce they were in Westmoreland, determined to migrate thither.
Taking the old Connecticut road, which passed from Orange
county. New York, to the Yankee possessions at Wyoming, he
reached what is now Dunmore, Lackawanna county, just at the
edge of evening, in May, 1783. Surroundedby the shades of night,
he lit his bright fires around his covered wagon containing his fam-
ily, to intimidate the horde of wild cats and wolves swarming in the
chaparral toward ths Roaring Brook, while the surrounding trees,
fallen and rolled in a cabin shape, and covered with the hmbs
and poles, became tolerably comfortable. At one time a bear

Andrew Jackson Smith, 871

came to the cabin of Allsworth, just at the edge of evening, and,
jumping into the pen, seized the old sow in its bushy, brawny
arms, and, in spite of every effort of those daring to pursue, car-
ried the noisy porker off to the woods towards httle Roaring
Brook. The httle pigs, frightened but safe, were left in the pen.
For greater safety the barn yard, or the strong inclosure into
which cattle and sheep were driven at night, was built contigu-
ously to the rear of the cabin. At another time, during the
absence of Mr. Allsworth, a large panther came to this yard in
the afternoon in search of food. This animal is as partial to veal
as a bear is to pork. A calf was in the pen at the time. On this
the panther sprang, when Mrs. Allsworth, hearing an unusual
bleat, seized the huge tongs standing in the corner of the fire-
place and actually drove the yellow intruder away without its
intended meal. The same night, however, the calf was killed by
the panther, which, in return, was the same week secured in a
bear-trap and slain. For sixteen years there was no near settler
to Mr. Allsworth. He married, in early life, Esther Peltebone,
a daughter of Noah Pettebone, who came to Wyoming in 1769.
(See page 460.)

Thomas Smith, son of Deodat Smith, was born May i, 1803,
and was a native of Old Forge. He resided in Waverly, Luzerne
(now Lackawanna) county, Pa., nearly all his lifetime. He was
an active and successful business man, and followed the occupa-
tion of a surveyor. In 1856 he was a member of the legislature of
Pennsylvania. He was killed in a railroad accident at Shickshinny
in 1865. He was commissioned by Governor George Wolf, on Jan-
uary 14, 1834, a justice of the peace for the townships of Abington,
Greenfield, Nicholson, and a part of Falls. The two latter town-
ships now lie in Wyoming county. In 1850 and 1855 he was elect-
ed a justice of the peace for Abington township, and in 1859 ^"d
1864 a justice of the peace for the borough of Waverly. He was
one of the original incorporators of Madison Academy at Wa-
verly, and was also one of the original commissioners of the
Leggett's Gap Railroad, now a part of the Delaware, Lacka-
wanna and Western Railroad system. The wife of Thomas
Smith was Mary Dean, a granddaughter of Jonathan Dean, a
native of East Greenwich, R. I. He was an agent for the holders

8/2 Benjamin Franklin Pursel.

of the land under the Connecticut claimants, and surveyed the
township of Abington for its owners, and is said to have ridden
one horse nineteen times on his trips from Connecticut and Rhode
Island to Wyoming. He died in Abington early in the century.
Jeffrey Dean, son of Jonathan Dean, was the father of Mrs.
Smith. Mr. and Mrs. Smith left four children — Jane S. Smith;
Emily A. Smith, now the wife of Rev. W. N. Clarke, D. D., a
Baptist clergyman, of Hamilton, N. Y.; George T. Smith, a mem-
ber of the Luzerne county bar, now deceased ; and Andrew J.
Smith, the subject of this sketch, who was born at Waverly, Lu-
zerne (now Lackawanna) county, Pa., December 15, 1837. He
was educated at Madison Academy and the State and National
Law School at Poughkeepsie, N. Y., graduating from the latter
institution at the age of twenty with the degree of LL. B. He
then entered the law office of G. B. and L. R. Nicholson, in this
city, and studied with them until his admission to our bar. He
then opened an office in Wilkes-Barre, and in the spring of 186 1
entered the army. On October 23, 1863, he was promoted to
second lieutenant of Company K, One Hundred and Eighth
Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers (Eleventh Cavalry), and on
April 8, 1864, to first lieutenant of same company. His father
died soon after, and he came home to take charge of his business
interests. Mr. Smith has been a justice of the peace of his na-
tive borough for nineteen years, and, at various times, has filled
every borough office therein. He married, January 31, 1859,
Josephine A. Green, a daughter of William C. Green, whose wife
was Aurelia Stone, and granddaughter of Henry Green, M. D.
Mrs. Smith died February ii, 1874. He has a family of three
children — Mary Nicholson Smith, Grace Josephine Smith and
Thomas Bradley Smith. Mr. Smith resides in Waverly, and is
still a widower.

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN PURSEL.

Benjamin Franklin Pursel was admitted to the bar of Luzerne
county. Pa., Februaiy 20, i860, on a certificate of admission from
Clinton county. Pa. He remained in this city but a few months.
His present residence' is Kansas City, Mo,

Charles Wesley Todd. 873

CHARLES WESLEY TODD.

Charles Wesley Todd was admitted to the bar of Luzerne
county, Pa., April 14, i860. His grandfather was John Todd, of
Philadelphia. He was a soldier in the war of 181 2. Simon
Todd, son of John Todd, was born in Philadelphia in 1802. In
1824 he married Margaret Forester, daughter of William For-
ester, a native of Scotland, who for a number of years com-
manded a ship sailing between the East Indies and New York
He became the husband of Leah Thomas, who was born in Vir-
ginia in 1 77 1. Her father was educated at Oxford, and was a
distinguished linguist. His wife was a Knapp, whose parents
were among the first settlers in Long Island. Mr. Thomas was
on intimate terms with Washington during the revolutionary war.
Leah said that the general was often a guest at her father's
house, and that she had been led by the hand as her father
walked and talked with him. When she became the wife of
William Forester, in 1794, she removed to New York, where she
became the mother of two daughters, Mary and Margaret. The
husband, in 1801, while on a honieward bound voyage, in a
perilous storm, was lost with his ship and all on board. The
widow with her two children subsequently removed to Philadel-
phia, where, after the lapse of years, the younger daughter became
the wife of Simon Todd. In 1829 Simon Todd and his wife
removed to Sterling, Wayne county. Pa. Charles Wesley Todd,
son of Simon Todd, was born July 22, 1832, in Sterling, Pa.
He was educated at the public schools of his native place, and at
Wyoming Seminary, Kingston, Pa. He was a teacher in the
public schools of this city for about a year and a half He read
law with Hendrick B. Wright and Samuel P. Longstreet in this
city. On April 19, i860, he entered the ministry of the Meth-
odist Episcopal church, uniting with the Wyoming Annual Con-
ference. After serving several charges through a period of eight
years, he was transferred from Hawley, Pa., to Oregon City,
Oregon, in which region he continued preaching until 1877, when,
on account of the ill health of his wife, he returned to Penn-

8/4 David Chase Harrington.

sylvania, and subsequently reunited with the Wyoming Con-
ference. Mr. Todd married, December 25, 1861, Anna M. Pur-
sel, daughter of WilHam Purse), formerly of this city, but at the
time of the marriage a resident of Buckingham, Bucks county,
Pa. Mr. and Mrs. Todd have a family of four children — Fannie
Forester, wife of A. C. Giddings, of Christ Church, New Zeal-
and, William Pursel Todd, married to Dila Dunn, of Uniondale,
Pa., Mary Bensley, wife of S. H. Norton, of Uniondale, and
Charles Forester Todd, who was born June 29, 1884. Rev. C.
W. Todd now resides at Carley Brook, Wayne county, Pa.

DAVID CHASE HARRINGTON.

David Chase Harrington, who was admitted to the bar of
Luzerne county, Pa., May 7, i860, is a son of James Harrington,
who was born in Herkimer county, N. Y., October 17, 18 10.
His mother, Emeline H. Harrington, was born February 20,
181 1, in Lexington, now Jewett, Greene county, N. Y. She was
a daughter of David Chase, a native of Martha's Vineyard, Mass.,
where he was born March i, 1786. D. C. Harrington was born
at Jewett, N. Y., December 8, 1834. He was educated in the
common schools, and read law with George D. Haughawout, in
Scranton. He commenced the practice of the law at Scranton,
and in 1862 removed to Wilkes-Barre, and in 1870 to Philadel-
phia, where he now resides. He married, September 11, 1856,
Ann Jeanette Kemmerer, a daughter of David Kemmerer, who
was born near Stroudsburg, Pa. Mr. and Mrs. Harrington have
a family of nine children — Harriett E. Harrington, Carrie E., wife
of Charles W. Reichard, Lillie J., wife of William L. Connell,
Blandine I. Harrington, Walter E. Harrington, married to Maude
Hastings, Curtis J. Harrington, Frederick A. Harrington, Dora
Harrington and P^thel Harrington.

Alfred Hand. 875

ALFRED HAND.

Alfred Hand, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne coun-
ty, Pennsylvania, May 8, i860, is a descendant of John Hand,
who was on the whaling list of 1644, in Southampton. At the
time of the settlement of East Hampton, in 1648, he was one
of the company from Southampton to found a new plantation.
He was, according to the East Hampton records, originally
from Stanstede, and according to other accounts from Maid-
stone, in the county of Kent, England. (See page 313.) He
died in 1663. He had a son Stephen, who died in 1693,
who had a son Stephen, born in 1661, of Wainscot in 1684, and
died in 1740, who had a son John, who had a son John, born in
1701, and died in 1755, who had a son John, born September
31, 1754, (whose brother, Aaron Hand, was the father of Rev.
Aaron Hicks Hand, the father of Isaac P. Hand, of the Lu-
zerne bar), who had a son John, who died May 30, 1809. He
was a native of Athens, Greene county, New York. His wife,
whom he married March 6, 1778, was Mary Jones. Ezra Hand,
son of John Hand, was born in Rensselaerville, Albany county,
New York, August 9, 1799. He married, June 2, 1829, Cath-
arine Chapman, who was born February ii, 1808, at Durham,
Greene county, New York. She was a descendant of Robert
Chapman, who came from Hull, in England, to Boston, in 1635,
from which place he sailed, in company with Lyon Gardiner,
for Say-Brook, Connecticut, November 3, as one of the com-
pany of twenty men who were sent over by Sir Richard Sal-
tonstall to take possession of a large tract of land and make
settlements near the mouth of the Connecticut river, under the
patent of Lord Say and Seal. He is supposed to have been
about eighteen years of age. After the Indians were subdued,
deeming it safe to form plantations at a distance from the fort,
they proceeded to clear up the forests and form a permanent
settlement. For about ten years after leaving England he
kept a journal, which was burned about twelve years after
the establishment of the fort. This is to be regretted. He
was one of the particular friends of Colonel George Fenwick.

Zy6 Alfred Hand.

That he was a man of influence in the town of Say-Brook, is
evident from the fact that for many years he held the office of
town clerk and clerk of the Oyster River quarter, and filled
many other important stations. He was for many years com-
missioner for Say-Brook, and was elected as their deputy to
the General Court forty-three times, and assistant nine times.
He was therefore a member of t'he legislature of the state at
more sessions than any other man from the settlement of Say-
Brook to the present time. The colony records also show that
each of his three sons were representatives to the legislature;
the eldest, twenty-two sessions, the second one, eighteen ses-
sions, the third, twenty-four sessions. Robert Chapman seems
to have been a soldier. Lieutenant Colonel Gardiner, in his His-
tory of the Pequot War, speaks of him as a sentinel in a skirmish
on the neck, February 22, 1637, with the Indians, and once as
engaged in beating samp. It appears from the records of
Say-Brook, that Robert Chapman was a very large landholder
in the towns of Say-Brook and East Haddam. He also owned
a very large tract of land in Hebron, leaving at his decease to
each of his three sons, fifteen hundred acres in that town,
which he received as one of the legatees of Uncas and his
sons. He was a man of exemplary piety, and but a short
time previous to his decease he wrote an address to his children,
who were all members of the church, in which, it is said, he
exhorted them to a devoted life and to abide by the covenant
into which they had entered with God and his church. He
died October 13. 1687. His wife, Ann Blith or Bliss, whom he
married April 29, 1642, died November 20, 1685. Robert
Chapman, the second son of Robert Chapman, was born in
September, 1646, at Say-Brook, and was extensively engaged
in agriculture. He owned, at the time of his decease, not less
than two thousand acres of land in Say-Brook, East Haddam
and Hebron, as appears from the probate records at New
London. The town records, as well as the records of the sec-
retary of state, abundantly show that he was a man of ex-
tensive influence in civil affairs. He was for many years clerk
of Oyster River quarter, and commissioner and surveyor for
the town of Say-Brook. But a short time after his father's de-
cease, he was elected a representative to the state legislature,

Alfred Hand. 877

which office he filled at eighteen sessions. The estimation in
which he was held by the church is evinced by the fact that
they appointed him as their delegate to the assembly which
formed the Say- Brook platform in 1708, a work which for
over a century and a half has served to preserve the purity
and order of the Congregational churches of Connecticut. To
have been a member of that body is a higher honor than could
have been conferred by any merely civil trust. Mr. Chapman
was twice married, first to Sarah Griswold, a daughter of
Lieutenant Francis Griswold, of Norwich, by whom he had nine
children. He married second, Mary Sheather, relict of Samuel
Sheather, of Killingworth. By her he had four children. He
died suddenly in the court room, at Hartford, Connecticut,
soon after the opening of the November sessions in 171 1. His
tombstone stands in the old burial gi-ound in Hartford, in the
rear of the Center church, about a rod north of the monument,
on which are inscribed the names of the first settlers of Hart-
ford, with this inscription: "Here lyeth the body of Robert
Chapman, who departed this life November ye loth, 1711.
Aged 65 years." Benjamin Chapman, son of Robert Chapman
by his second wife, was born March i, 1695, and married a lady
whose baptismal name was Lydia. They had seven children.
The record of their marriage and decease has not been found.
Benjamin Chapman, son of Benjamin Chapman, was born at
Say-Brook November 8, 1725. He was twice married, first
to Priscilla Jones, second to Hannah Kirtland. The date of
neither marriage has been found, nor the respective time of
their decease. He had eight children. Benjamin Chapman,
son of Benjamin Chapman, was born at Say-Brook Febru-
ary 22, 1769. He married widow Lydia Cochrane March 29,
1792, who died at the age of ninety-nine years. By her he
had six daughters. He removed to Durham in June, 1793.
He was an exemplary christian and for many years an elder of
the Presbyterian church of Durham, where he died February
2, 1842. His daughter Catharine was the wife of Ezra Hand.
Alfred Hand, son of Ezra Hand, was born at Honesdale, Penn-
sylvania, March 26, 1835, ^"<^ graduated from. Yale College in
the class of 1857. He read law with William Jessup and Wil-
liam H. Jessup, at Montrose, Pennsylvania, and was admitted

878 Alfred Hand.

to the Susquehanna county bar November 21, 1859. He has
practiced in the courts of Susquehanna, Luzerne and Lacka-
wanna counties and in the Supreme Court of the state. Shortly-
after his admission to the bar of Susquehanna county he re-
moved to Scranton, where he has been one of its most active
and useful citizens. He has been a director of the People's
Street Railway of Luzerne county, a director in the Jefferson
Railroad Company, a director in the Dickson Manufacturing
Company, a director, and president for eight years, of the Third
National Bank of Scranton, a director in the First National
Bank of Scranton, a director in the Lackawanna Mills, presi-
dent and director of the Lackawanna Hospital, president of
the Pennsylvania Oral School for Deaf Mutes, a trustee of La-
fayette College, Easton, Pa., president and director of the
Young Mens' Christian Association of Scranton, a director in
the Oxford, New Jersey, Iron and Nail Company, a director in
the Davis Oil Company of New York, a director in the Lack-
awanna Valley Coal Company, and other corporations. He is
also a member of the coal firm of William Connell and Com-
pany. Mr. Hand was appointed by Governor Hoyt, March 4,
1879, an additional law judge for the eleventh judicial district
of Pennsylvania (Luzerne and Lackawanna counties), and in
the election of that year he was elected and commissioned
additional law judge for the forty-fifth district (Lackawanna
county), from January, 1880, to January, 1890. On July 31,
1888, he was appointed by Governor Beaver a judge of the Su-
preme Court of Pennsylvania, to fill the vacancy caused by the
death of Justice Trunkey, and on the same day he resigned
his position as judge of Lackawanna county. Mr. Hand has
been for a number of years an elder in the First Presbyterian
church of Scranton. He has been frequently a member of
the Presbytery and at four sessions a member of the General
Assemibly of the Presbyterian church. He is also president
of the Lackawanna County Bible Society. Mr. Hand married,
September 11, 1861, Phebe A. Jessup, a daughter of Hon. Wil-
liam Jessup, of Montrose. She died April 25, 1872. Mr. Hand
married a second time, November 26, 1873, Helen E. Sander-
son, a native of Williamstown, Massachusetts. She is the
daughter of Frederick Sanderson, of Beloit, Wisconsin. Mr.

Frederick Lyman Hitchcock. 879

Hand has eight children living — Horace E. Hand, a graduate
of Yale College in the class of 1884, a member of the law firm
of Jessups & Hand, of Scranton; William J. Hand, a graduate
of Yale College in the class of 1887, a law student; Alfred
Hand, a graduate of Yale College in the class of 1888, who is
now taking a medical course; Harriet J. Hand, Charlotte
Hand, Miles T. Hand, Helen S. Hand and Ruth B. Hand

FREDERICK LYMAN HITCHCOCK.

Frederick Lyman Hitchcock, who was admitted to the bar of
Luzerne county. Pa., May 16, i860, is a descendant of one of the
old Puritan families, who founded the New Haven colony.
The Hitchcocks wereinWallingford, Conn., as early as 1675, and
in New Haven much earlier. Peter Hitchcock, the grandfather
of the subject of our sketch, was a native of Claremont, N. H.,
and his son, Daniel Hitchcock, was born in Wallingford. The
mother of F. L. Hitchcock, and the wife of Daniel Hitchcock, was
Mary Peck, a daughter of Ward Peck, a soldier in the revolu-
tionary army, who served throughout the war. He was a nephew,
and named after Major General Artemus Ward, the predecessor
of General Washington in command of the continental armies.
Ward Peck was but sixteen years of age when the war broke out.
His brothers had all entered the army, and he had tried to enlist,
but had been rejected because he was too small. He went away
and procured a large pair of boots and stuffed them with cloths
until he could raise himself enough to reach the stick which was
held over the heads of recruits, and was accepted, notwithstand-
ing his extreme youth. He was in nearly all the battles of the
revolution, including Trenton, where he marched barefooted, his
boots beine worn out. The route of the American army, he
said, could be followed by the blood from the feet of such as he.
He was at Valley Forge, and at Brandy wine, and was one of the four
who bore LaFayette, wounded, from the field. He was remem-
bered by the latter, who, on his visit to the United States, showed

88o Frederick Lyman Hitchcock.

him marked gratitude and attention. F. L. Hitchcock was born
in Waterbury, Conn., April i8, 1837, and was educated in the
public schools of his native state. When quite a young man he
removed to Scranton and studied law with Samuel Sherrerd, of
Scranton, and E. L. Dana, of this city. He practiced his profes-
sion until August 22, 1862, when he entered the army as adju-
tant of the One Hundred and Thirty-Second Regiment of Penn-
sylvania Volunteers. He was in the battles of South Mountain,
Antietam and Fredericksburg in 1862, and Chancellorsville in
1863. He was twice wounded, and left for dead at Fredericks-
burg. He was mentioned by Lieutenant Colonel Charles Al-
bright, in his report of the battle, as follows : " The command was
meager in officers ; neither the colonel nor major was present, and
just as the regiment was moving off to the bloody struggle.
Adjutant F. L. Hitchcock, who had been absent on sick leave
came to my aid, and assisted me greatly. He conducted himself
with great gallantry and bravery, was wounded in two places, but
is on duty now. His example on and off the battle field is wor-
thy of imitation." The following mention of him is made by
Lieutenant Colonel V. M. Wilcox, commanding One Hundred and
Thirty-Second Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, in his report of
the battle of Antietam, September 17, 1862: "I cannot here
too highly express my thanks and admiration for the assis-
tance rendered me by Major Charles Albright and Adjutant
F. L. Hitchcock. They never left the field for a moment, but
by their coolness and bravery assisted me greatly in inspir-
ing the men with that courage which it was necessary for men
to possess under so severe a fire as that to which they were sub-
jected." On January 24, 1863, he was promoted to major, and
as such commanded his regiment at Chancellorsville. He was
mustered out with his regiment May 24, 1863. In December
following, he was examined by Major General Casey's examining
board, and was awarded a commission as lieutenant colonel of
colored troops, and entered on duty at once, and organized
the Twenty-Fifth Regiment U. S. colored troops, at Philadel-
phia. He was commissioned colonel early in 1864, and served
in the defenses at Fort Pickens and Pensacola, Florida, until
December, 1865. During most of this time he held the posi-

Frederick Lyman Hitchcock. 88 i

tion of inspector general of the district of West Florida, in
addition to his duties as colonel. His only brother, Edwin
Sherman Hitchcock, enlisted in the Second Connecticut Volun-
teers, in the three months' service, under Colonel Alfred H.
Terry, in May, 1861, was commissioned captain in Seventh
Connecticut Volunteers in the fall of same year, under same col-
onel, and was killed under circumstances of great gallantry at the
battle of James Island, in June, 1862. F. L. Hitchcock was
elected the first clerk of the Mayor's Court of the city of Scran-
ton, in 1866, and in 1878 was appointed the first prothonotary of
Lackawanna county, and was secretary of the Scranton board of
trade in 1869, 1871, 1872 and 1873. He was one of the three
ruling elders who were elected and ordained at the organi-
zation of the Second Presbyterian church of Scranton in 1874.
During his eldership in the Second church he represented the
Presbytery of Lackawanna as one of the la>^ delegates in the
General Assembly of the Presbyterian church of the United
States, which met in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1875. He was super-
intendent of the Sunday school of the Second church for two
years, continuing in that office until his removal to Green Ridge,
a suburb of the city of Scranton, in 1881, when he severed
his membership with that church and united with the Green
Ridge Presbyterian church. He was superintendent of a flour-
ishing mission Sunday school for four years prior to his connec-
tion with the Second church. In 1883 he was elected superin-
tendent of the Green Ridge Presbyterian Sunday school, which
position he still occupies. He was elected an elder in the Green
Ridge church in 1888, and is still serving in that office. He was
president of the Young Men's Christian Association during the
years 1875, 1876 and 1877. and has also been treasurer of the same
institution. Mr. Hitchcock married, January 24, 1864, Caroline
Neal Kingsbury. Her great-grandfather was Deacon Ebenezer
Kingsbury, of Coventry, Conn. He was a member of the Con-
necticut legislature for thirty-eight years, a military officer of rank,
and man of note in the community in which he lived. Her grand-
father. Rev. Ebenezer Kingsbury, was a native of Coventry, Conn.
He graduated from Yale College in 1783, and studied theology
with Dr. Backus, of Somers, Conn. He was pastor of the Con-

882 Frederick Lvman Hitchcock.

gregational church at Jericho Centre, Vermont, when he visited
Harford, Susquehanna county. Pa., and received a call to settle
February 21, 1810. He was installed in August following, and
continued his pastoral labors there for seventeen years. He trav-
eled over a large part of the counties of Susquehanna, Bradford
and Wayne, on horseback, by marked trees and bridle paths,
preaching in log cabins, barns and school houses, of which there
were a very few at the time, and assisted at the formation of
nearly all the churches in that region. He died at Harford in 1 842.
The wife of Rev. Ebenezer Kingsbury was Hannah Williston, a
daughter of Rev. Noah Williston, who was born in 1733, gradu-
ated from Yale College in 1757, ordained in West Haven, Conn., in
1760, and was for fifty-two years pastor of the West Haven Congre-
gational church, and died there, aged eighty years. His wife was
Hannah Payson, of Pomfret, Conn. The eldest son of Rev.
Noah Williston Was Rev. Payson Williston, who was for forty
years pastor of the Congregational church at Easthampton, Mass.
Hon. Samuel Williston was founder of Williston Seminary, at
Easthampton, to which he gave ;$2 50,000. He was also a son of Rev.
Noah Williston. The father of Mrs. Frederick L. Hitchcock was
also named Ebenezer Kingsbury. He was born in Vermont,
June 13, 1804. At six years of age he came with his parents to
Harford, Pa. He studied law with William Jessup, at Montrose,
and was admitted to the bar September 2, 1828. In 1830 he was
appointed deputy attorney general for Susquehanna county. He
removed to Honesdale, Pa., in 1833, where he resided until his
death, in 1844. From 1833 to 1840 he was editor and proprietor
of the Wayne county Herald. From 1837 ^^ 1840 he repre-
sented Luzerne, Monroe, Pike and Wayne counties in the state
senate, and in the latter year he was speaker of the senate. He
married, in 1829, Elizabeth Harlow Fuller, a daughter of Edward
Fuller, born in Plymouth (formerly Plymouth Rock), Mass. He
was a descendant of one of the Fullers who came over in the
Mayflower. His wife was Hannah West, a native of Norwich,
Conn. They had six children, of which Mrs. Hitchcock, the
youngest, Henry A. Kingsbury, general superintendent of stores of
the Lackawanna Iron & Coal Company, Scranton, and Edward
Payson Kingsbury, late controller of the city of Scranton, and

Aretus Heermans Winton. 883

present secretary and treasurer of the Scranton Steel Company,
only survive. Mr. and Mrs. Hitchcock have had a family of
seven children — Edwin Sherman Hitchcock, Frederick Kings-
bury Hitchcock, Henry Payson Hitchcock. Lizzie Fuller Hitch-
cock, John Partridge Hitchcock, Mary Peck Hitchcock, and
Carrie Guilford Hitchcock. All are living except Frederick
Kingsbury Hitchcock, who died, aged 3 years, in 1872.

JOHN HANDLEY.

John Handley was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county, Pa.,
Augrust 21. i860. He commenced the study of the law at the Co-
lumbia College Law School, and finished his reading at Washing-
ton, D. C, and Avas admitted to the Supreme Court ofthe District of
Columbia on motion of ex-Mayor Barrett, of that city. Soon
after his admission he removed to Scranton, and immediately
commenced the practice of his profession. In 1874, when Mr.
Handley was less than forty years of age, he received the democratic
nomination for additional law judge of Luzerne county, and was
elected over his republican competitor, Edwin S. Osborne. Upon
the expiration of his term, in 1884, he was a candidate in Lacka-
wanna county for the same position, but, owing to dissensions in
his party, was defeated, the vote standing — Robert W. Archbald,
republican, 7929; John Handley, democrat, 5942, and Edward
Merrifield, democrat, 2564. After the expiration of his term on
the bench Mr. Handley retired from practice.

ARETUS HEERMANS WLNTON.

Aretus Heermans Winton was admitted to the bar of Luzerne
county. Pa., August 22, i860. His father is William W. Winton,
of Scranton, Pa., who is a native of Butternuts, Otsego county, N.
Y., where he was born January 29, 1815. His parents were

884 Aretus IIeermans Winton.

Andrew Winton and Fannie (Glover) Winton, of Connecticut.
When W. W. Winton was eighteen years of age his family re-
moved to that portion of the city of Scranton known as Providence.
Here, during three years, he was engaged in teaching school,
and subsequently was employed in the same capacity in Danville,
Pa. While there he read law with Joshua W. Comly, but was
never admitted to the bar. In 1842 he opened a store in Walls-
ville, Pa. In December of the following year he bought out the
stock of goods of Harry Heermans, and C. T. Atwater acted as
clerk in that store. In 1844 the Wallsville store was transferred
to Abington Centre. He subsequently carried on business in
Providence, in connection with Charles T. Atwater as his partner,
and later with Hon. A. B. Dunning as his partner. In 1850 he
removed with his family to New York, where he was engaged in
merchandizing until about 1858, when he returned to Providence.
He carried on a private banking business in Scranton, which he
continued successfully until it was merged in the Second National
Bank of Scranton. In 1865 he organized the First National
Bank in Scranton, and ultimately consolidated it with the Second
National Bank of Scranton, thereby increasing the capital of the
latter to meet the business wants of the people, but, desiring to
furnish the people of Providence some privileges, he continued a
private bank at that place, under the name of W^inton, Clark &
Company, which in time was merged into the Citizens' and
Miners' Savings Bank, of Scranton, with 'Mr. Winton as its pres-
ident. He is now or has been a director of the Scranton Trust
Company and Savings Bank, and late its treasurer, a director of
the People's Street Railway Company, treasurer of the directors
of the poor of Scranton, a director of the Pittston Bank, treas-
urer of the Roaring Brook Turnpike Company, besides holding
many other offices of high trust. He was the founder of the
Presbyterian church of Providence, gave the lot for the church
building, and has always been a large contributor to it, and all its
laudable enterprises. W^ere there nothing else to keep his name
in the minds of the people of Scranton, they will read and remem-
ber it many years in their title papers, as they peruse convey-
ances of lots laid out upon various large tracts of land, known as
Winton's addition to Scranton, Winton's addition to Providence,

Aretus Heermans Winton. 885

Winton's addition to Hyde Park, and Winton and Dolph's addi-
tion to Peckville. and Winton and Livey's addition to Scranton
He erected in the square at Providence an elegant drinking
fountain for man and beast, at an expense of $1,000, which
he cheerfully gave from his own purse. The thrifty village of
Winton, in Luzerne (now Lackawanna) county, derived its name
from him. He married, while teaching in Danville, Catharine
Heermans, the eldest daughter of Henry Heermans, once a
prominent merchant in Providence. He was originally from
Salem, Wayne county. Pa., where he was elected constable
in 18 18, and at the November sessions, in the same year he was
licensed to keep a public house, which, with a store, he managed
for many years. In 1829 he disposed of his property at Salem
Corners and removed to Providence. His wife was Fandina
Nicholson, of Salem. She was a sister of Zenas Nicholson, father
of G. Byron, H. W. and O. F. Nicholson of the Luzerne bar.

A. H. Winton, son of W. W. Winton, was born November 17,
1838, in Hyde Park (now Scranton), Pa. He received his prep-
aration for college at Wyoming Seminary, Kingston, Phillips
Academy, Andover, Mass., and Williston Seminary, East Hamp-
ton, Mass. He graduated at Mount Washington College, the
valedictorian of his class. After graduation he read law with
David R. Randall. Immediately after his admission to the bar
he entered the office of Hon. Garrick Mallery Harding, late
president judge of Luzerne county, and in the first three months
of his law practice he was engaged in the famous Corwin mur-
der trial, and in his maiden speech, in this case, at once gained
renown as a Lalented, gifted and powerful debater and orator.
Since then he has been engaged in very many of the most
prominent criminal and civil cases, where he was associated
with or opposed to many of the crir^iinal lawyers, judges and
statesmen of Pennsylvania. In 1866 he removed from Wilkes-
Barre to Scranton, and at once took rank among the fore-
most pleaders at that bar. In 187/ he was the candidate of the
prohibition party for judge of the Supreme Court. The Phil-
adelphia Times, in noticing his nomination, says •: " A. H. Winton,
the candidate for supreme judge, is a prominent, accomplished and
highly respected lawyer of Scranton, in the prime of life. He is

cS86 Aretus Heermans Winton.

not a politician in the generally accepted sense of the term, but
posseses all the necessary qualifications for his office. A more
worthy and suitable person could not be found in our state, and the
convention may be considered fortunate in this selection." In the
temperance work Mr. Winton has manifested ability, earnestness
and talent. When on his summer vacation in Massachusetts the
papers of that state spoke of him as " an eloquent, powerful and
very brilliant temperance speaker." In July, 1877, he was the
orator on the occasion of a large temperance meeting at Ply-
mouth, Pa., and the Scranton Evening Stay, in reporting the meet-
ing, said : " Mr. Winton was the principal speaker of the evening,
and in his eloquent style spoke for an hour, holding his audience
spell-bound by his remarkable oratorical powers, apt quotations
and wonderful brilliancy in describing the evils of intemperance."
Other city papers of Scranton and Wilkes-Barre have noticed his
temperance addresses in the most glowing terms. At the organi-
zation of the L-aw and Library Association of Scranton he was
made treasurer, and has ever since retained that position and
for many years has also been treasurer of the Cour de Lion
Commandery of Scranton. He married. May 9, 1865, Alice
Collings, daughter of the late Samuel P. CoUings, of Wilkes-Barre,
and granddaughter of Hon. Andrew Beaumont, also of Wilkes-
Barre. Her mother, in the "thirties," was the reigning belle of
Washington society. She had an autograph album, which is to
be presented to the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society
of this city. We copy therefrom the following gems :

"The best wishes of the undersigned is presented to Miss Eliza-
beth Beaumont, that she may have a long, useful life and a happy
immortality.

1836. Andrew Jackson."

"With the tender of my best wishes for the future happiness
and prosperity of Miss Beaumont, I shall be happy to be esteemed
as one of her sincere friends.

Washington, Jan. 28, 1837. James K. Polk."

The following poem is written in the. best vein of the author,
and should have been published before. It is as follows :

TO MISS ELIZABETH BEAUMONT:

Fair maiden, when the sacred page
The words of kindness would impart,

Frederick Fuller. 887

The friend, the Lover, Father, Sage
Speaks joys in volumes to the heart;

But how shall one in life's decline,

Laden with three score years and ten.
Speak to the tender heart of thine

Or greet thee with an iron pen ?

Let thine own heart, fair maiden, frame
The words thyself would most desire,

Fraught with a lover's fervent flame,
Chaste with a father's holiest fire.

Then to thyself the words apply.

Believe them from my heart to flow.
Yet shall they not one-half supply

The bliss my wishes would bestow.
Washington, Jan. 25, 1837. John Quincy Adams.

Mr. and Mrs. Winton have two children, Katharine M. Win-
ton and Elsie Beaumont Collings Winton. John B. Collings, of the
Lackawanna county bar, is a brother-in-law of Mr. Winton.

FREDERICK FULLER.

Frederick Fuller, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne
county, Pa., November 13, i860, is a descendant of Edward Fuller,
a native of New Haven, Conn., who in 1806, with his wife and fam-
ily of fiv^e children, removed to Bridgewater, Susquehanna county,
Pa. He understood making "wrought" nails, and this of itself
was sufficient to make his advent a blessing to the community.
He built a large frame house, two stories in front, with a porch
and a door opening on it from the second story, while the rear
was only one story. It became a central point, being the place
for holding elections, and, from the christian character of Mrs.
Fuller, the place where the early religious meetings were held.
As yet not a man of the neighborhood was a professed christian.
Determined to impress upon her children her estimate of the
Sabbath, she always dressed them in their best that day, even if
that were no more than a clean apron to each one. They learned
to be less boisterous than on week days, so praying mothers
could meet and sing "the songs of Zion," and occasionally listen

888 Frederick Fuller.

to a sermon read by Mr. Fuller or some neighbor. Here the
family lived until 1812, when they removed to Montrose, Pa.
In that year Mr, Fuller was elected sheriff of the county, which
office he held until 18 15. His wife was Hannah West, a native
of Guilford, Conn. She was the sister of Klias West, who re-
moved from Connecticut to Bridgewater in 1801. Mr. Fuller
died in Montrose in 1854, in his eighty-sixth year. Mrs. Fuller,
the last survivor of the original ten members of the Presbyterian
church in Montrose, died in Scranton, also in her eighty-sixth
year. Her funeral was the first service in the new Presbyterian
church in Montrose.

George Fuller, son of Edward Fuller, was born in Bozra, Conn.,
November 7, 1802. His wife, Mary Barnard, daughter of Samuel
Barnard, was born in Boston, England. Mr. Fuller was clerk of
the commissioners of Susquehanna county for three years and two
months, from January, 1826. From 1835 to 1837 he was county
treasurer, and from 1839 to 1842 he was prothonotary of the
county. From 1843 to 1845 he represented Susquehanna, Brad-
ford and Tioga counties in the congress of the United States.
He died in Scranton November 24, 1888. Mr. Fuller while a
resident of Susquehanna county was active as an editor and pro-
prietor of several newspapers, amongst others The Montrose Ga-
zette, The Snsqiiehanna County Republican, The Susquehanna
Register, The Independent Volunteer and The Northern Democrat.
Mr. Fuller removed to Scranton in 1855 and continued to reside
there until his death. He was an earnest and valued member of
ihe Presbyterian church, and was one of the charter members
of the Second church of Scranton, where he was always in his
pew, accompanied by Mrs. Fuller, even in the worst of weather,
when people of their age did not think of venturing out of doors.
He was a man of keen business judgment, and was frequently
consulted by younger men, even during the last years of his
life. He could not stop doing business, and for several years
previous to his death had been engaged in settling up the aff^airs
of the suspended Trust Company and Savings Bank. Previous
to that time he was in the mercantile business in company with
his sons G. A. and I. F. Fuller.

Frederick P^uller, son of George Fuller, was born in Montrose

Silas H. Durand. 889

March 13, 1837. He was educated at the academy in Montrose
and read law with Hon. F. B. Streeter, at Montrose, E. N. Wil-
lard, Scranton, and with Earl Wheeler, at Honesdale, Pa., where
he was first admitted to the bar. During the late civil war he was
lieutenant of Company I, Fifty-second Regiment of Pennsyl-
vania Volunteers, and acting signal officer in the Army of the
Potomac. Since 1871 he has been one of the aldermen of the
city of Scranton. Mr. Fuller married, June 6, 1866, Laura P.
Gay, a daughter of John S. Gay, a native of Sharon, Conn, Her
mother was Laura S. Hoskins, a native of Auburn, N. Y., whose
father was Ebenezer Hoskins, a native of Groton, Conn. Mr.
and Mrs. Fuller have a family of two children — Fred. Pardee
Fuller and Theodore Sedgwick Fuller.

SILAS H. DURAND.

Silas H. Durand, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne
county. Pa., November 20, i860, is a native of Herrick, Bradford
county, Pa., where he was born January 5, 1833. His father was
Daniel Durand, who was born in Middletown, Orange county,
N. Y., in 1793, and died in Herrick in 1870. The maiden name
of his mother was Asenath Newbury, born in Warwick, Orange
county, N. Y., in 1794; died in Herrick in 1877. Mr. Durand
practiced law in this city until 1864, when he relinquished it and
became a Baptist minister. He is now stationed at Southampton,
Bucks county, Pa. He married, July 5, 1882, in Baltimore, Md.,
Clarice E. Pusey, a daughter of P^dwin M. Pusey, a native of
Lancaster county. Pa., where he was born March 11, 1822, and
whose wife's maiden name was Mary Jane Patterson, also of Lan-
caster county, where she was born November 6, 1824. Mr. and
Mrs. Durand have two children — Edith Durand and Mildred
P. Durand.

890 Charles du Pont Bkeck.

WILLIAM GIBSON JONES.

William Gibson Jones, who was admitted to the bar of Lu-
zerne county, Pennsylvania, April 10, 1861, is a son of Lewis
Jones. (See page 826.) W. G. Jones was born in Carbondale,
Pennsylvania, in October, 1837. He was educated at the Lu-
zerne Institute, Wyoming, Pennsylvania, and read law with
his father, at Scranton. and with Peter McCall, in Philadel-
phia. He practiced for a while in Scranton and subsequently
removed to New York, where he now practices his profession.
Mr. Jones married, in 1875, Lula V. Wakefield, a daughter of
Ward H. Wakefield. Mr. and Mrs. Jones have one son.

CHARLES DU PONT BRECK.

Charles du Pont Breck, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne
county, Pa., August 1 8, 1 86 1 , is a native of Wilmington, Del, where
he was born May 18, 1840. The Brecks trace their ancestry from
William de Breck, whose castle and estate was near Selborne, in
Hampshire, England, and who was one of the barons before
whom Adam Gurdon, the rebellious baron, was tried in 1274.
Edward Breck of Rainford, or Ashton, Lancaster, England,
was a descendant of William de Breck, and came to Dorchester,
near Boston, about the year 1630. His son', John Breck, became
eminent in Dorchester. He died February 16, 17 13. , The son
of that gentleman was named after him, and became the parent
of three sons and many daughters. The second son was named
Samuel. He was born April 11, 1747, and died May 7, 1809.
He sat for seven years in the house of representatives, from Bos-
ton. The revolutionary war brought many French ships of the
line into Boston — sometimes to refit and sometimes to escape the
enemy. It became necessary, therefore, to have a permanent
agent to collect supplies. The French honored Samuel Breck
with that appointment, which he held until the peace, greatly to

Charles du Pont Breck. 891

the satisfaction of the several commanders with whom he held
intercourse. He sold their prize goods, negotiated their bills
of exchange, and furnished their ships of war with all they
wanted. He entered upon this business about the year 1779.
Before the revolution it was lawful to hold slaves in Massachu-
setts, and Mr. Breck had three in his house — Waterford,a coach-
man; Cato, a house servant, and Rose, the coachman's wife.
Three greater plagues, as Mrs. Breck used to say, could not easily
be found. He had a son, George Breck, who was the grand-
father of Charles du Pont Breck. Samuel Breck, with his family,
removed to Philadelphia, in 1792. Samuel Breck, a brother of
George Breck, represented Philadelphia in congress from 1823
to 1825. His "Recollections," with passages from his note books,
1 771-1862, were edited by H. E. Scudder, and published in Phila-
delphia by Porter & Coates, in 1877. It contains this passage
among others :

"December 9, 1807. — This morning I rode to Philadelphia,
and purchased a newly-invented iron grate, calculated for coal, in
which I mean to use that fuel, if it answers my expectations.
December 26, 1807. — By my experiment on coal fuel I find that
one fire place will burn from three to three and a half bushels per
week in hard weather, and about two and a half in moderate
weather. This averages three bushels for twenty-five weeks (the
period of burning fires in parlors.) Three times twenty-five give
seventy-five bushels for a single hearth, which, at forty-five cents, is
thirty-three dollars and seventy-five cents, more than equal to six
cords of oak wood at five dollars and fifty cents, and is, by con-
sequence, no economy; but at thirty-three cents per bushel, which
is the usual summer price, it will do very well."

The wife of George Breck was Catharine Israeli. Her father
was a resident of Philadelphia, his family having come to this coun-
try from the West Indies, where they were large planters, and
came here on account of political troubles. William Breck,
son of George Breck, was born at Bustleton (now in the city of
Philadelphia), and was a manufacturer on the Brandywine, near
Wilmington, Del., where he married Gabriella Josephine du Pont,
the daughter of Victor du Pont, who was the son of Pierre Sam-
uel du Pont de Nemours, member of the institute of France,

892 Charles du Pont Breck.

councillor of state, and knight of the Order of Vasa, of the Legion
of Honor, and of the Order du Lys. Endowed with rare vigor
and acuteness of mind, devoted to truth, an elevated constancy,
and an indefatigable spirit of benevolence, worthy of the best
days of ancient times, he devoted himself to the service of his
country and his species. So pure was his patriotism, and so dis-
interested his motives, that his time, his means and his talents
were continually engaged in the prosecution of those great ends,
regardless of the opportunities of improving his fortune and of
personal aggrandizement, which his eminent political employ-
ments presented to him. In the course of a long life spent in
public stations his incorruptible integrity shone conspicuously.
Conversant with courts, and daily mixing in the affairs of the
world, his character retained to the last its original warmth of
feeling and simplicity — a trait as rare as it is extraordinary, which
always led him to regard events in the most favorable light, and
to repose in mankind a faith which is seldom to be found but in
the unsuspicious, confiding temper of youth. To this primitive
and benevolent cast of mind is to be attributed that kindness of
heart and constantly playful cheerfulness which accompanied him
to the last moments of his life, and gave an endearing charm to
the affection with which he was regarded by his friends. He was
an early and most distinguished writer on political economy,
before it had yet attained the rank of a science. In the year 1772,
the principles of philosophy and political economy displayed in
one of his publications, Les Ephemerides du Citoyen, being obnox-
ious to the French minister, the Duke de Choiseuil, he was
obliged, like other great men in that epoch, to go into exile.
Several foreign princes, then distinguished by the liberality of
their sentiments, offered him an asylum. The Margrave of Baden
appointed him conseUler hitiine aulique de legation ; Leopold of
Tuscany (afterwards Emperor), and Joseph II corresponded with
him; Gustavus III of Sweden decorated him with the Order of
Vasa; and the king of Poland, Stanislaus Augustus, appointed
him his director of national education. This last situation, which
presented the most advantageous prospects to himself and family,
he relinquished to accept an inferior station in the service in his
native country, at the invitation of his intimate friend, the great

Charles du Pont Breck. 893

and good Turgot, at that time minister of finance to Louis XVI.
In 1782 he was commissioned by M.de Vergennesto correspond
with Dr. James Hutton, the confidential and secret agent of the
king of Great Britain, and arrange with that gentleman the secret
basis of the peace of 1783, by which the independence of the
United States was acknowledged. He was for many years inspec-
tor and commissary general of commerce and manufactures, and
councillor of state. In these different capacities he greatly con-
tributed to extricate France from the shackles by which a false
policy had restrained her. In 1787 and 1788 he was appointed
by the king secretary of the Assembly of Notables, and in 1789
was elected a member of the first national assembly, where he
distinguished himself by his talents, his sound principles, and his
firmness. He devoted himself to counteract the factions of the
day, whose intrigues and plots disgraced the French revolution,
and prostrated the hopes of those who wished to see France
regenerated, free and happy. He was twice elected president of
that celebrated body, which combined in itself a greater portion of
preeminent talents than has ever been exhibited in any other legis-
lative assembly. His political opinions were those of modera-
tion; his object the improvement of government without violence.
He opposed the abettors of anarchy with a courage and active
energy bordering on temerity. When a horrible tyranny stalked
through France, and levelled in its progress the great and the
good, M. du Pont could not expect to escape. He was perse-
cuted and imprisoned, and after several imminent dangers, his life
was only preserved by the downfall of Robespierre. Subsequent
to that event, and when the reign of terror had ceased, he was
elected, under the Directory, a member and later president of the
Council of Ancients. The Jacobins havingsucceeded in overturning
the Directory in Fructidor, 1798, he left France and for the first
time visited America. In 1802 he returned to France, and when
Napoleon lost sight of the cause of freedom by which he was
elevated, and considered only his personal ambition in causing him-
self to be nominated consul for life, and then emperor, du Pont
de Nemours pursued steadily the principles which had guided
him through life by abstaining from any participation in the gov-
ernment. But the confidence of his fellow citizens followed him

894 Charles du Pont Breck,

into the recesses of private life, and his appointments to the presi-
dencies of the Banquc Territorialc and the chamber of commerce,
and his election to numerous charitable institutions, of which he
was an active and conspicuous member, mark the extent of that
confidence and the sincerity of their rec^ard. At the first abdica-
tion of Napoleon, du Pont de Nemours was appointed secretary
of the provisional government, which accepted the house of Bour-
bon in the hope of thereby securing to F" ranee a more free con-
stitutional government. Upon the return of Napoleon from
Elba, he emigrated a second time to the United States, where
his two sons had been naturalized many years. He left in Prance
a wife, highly distinguished by her eminent virtues, and in this
country a numerous posterity, to lament his loss. To those wJho
looked up to him, not only as the best and kindest of parents
but as a bright example for their imitation, it is a consolation to
reflect that his last moments were spent in the midst of his chil-
dren, and that his venerable relics repose among them, in the land
of freedom, which, next to his native country, was the object of
his warmest affection. Rear Admiral Samuel Francis du Pont
was a brother of Mrs. Breck.

William Breck removed to Scranton in 1859, and became the
representative of E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., for the Lacka-
wanna and Wyoming regions, in the powder business. He died
in 1870. Charles du Pont Breck, son of William Breck, was
educated at Union College, Schenectady, N. Y., from which he
graduated in 1859. He read law with Victor du Pont, in Wil-
mington, and Sanderson & Willard.at Scranton, and has practiced
in Scranton since his admission. He was the first controller of
the city of Scranton. He is a director of the Lackawanna Trust
Company, president of the Ridge Turnpike Company, director in
the Carbondale and Providence Turnpike and Plank Road Com-
pany, and a director in the Scranton Suburban Railway Com-
pany. Mr. Breck married, April 29, 1869, Mary Duer, a daughter
of John King Duer, of New York.

Mrs. Breck is the great-grand-daughter of William Duer, who
was born in Devonshire, England, March 18, 1747. He was the
third son of John Duer, a planter of Antigua, who had a villa
in Devonshire. His mother was Frances Frye, daughter of Sir

Charles du Pont Breck. 895

Frederick Frye, who had a command in the West Indies, where
she married John Duer. After being sent to Eton, and while still
under age, he went into the army as an ensign and accompanied
Lord Clive as aid-de-camp on his return to India as governor
o-eneral in 1762. He remained in India a short time, when he
returned to England and left the army. He then went to Antigua
and thence to New York in 1768. While in America he was in-
duced to buy a large tract of land at Fort Miller, on the upper
Hudson. He was appointed colonel of the militia, judge of the
county courts, member of the New York Provincial Congress
and member of the committee of safety. He was one of a com-
mittee that drafted the first constitution of New York in the con-
vention of 1777. In 1777-78 he was a delegate to the continental
congress and in 1789 secretary of the treasury board. He was
a member of the state legislature and assistant secretary of the
treasury under Governor Hamilton. His wife was Catharine
Alexander, daughter of General William Alexander, claimant of
the Scottish earldom, of Stirling. Mr. Duer died in the city of New
York May 7, 1799. The grandfather of Mrs Breck was Will-
iam Alexander Duer, son of William Duer, who was born in
Rhinebeck, N. Y., September 8, 1780. He studied law in
Philadelphia and for a few years was a midshipman in the navy
under Decatur. He afterwards resumed his law studies and was
admitted to the bar in 1802. In 18 14 he was elected to the state
assembly. From 1822 to 1829 he was a judge of the Supreme
Court of the state of New York. In the latter year he was elect-
ed president of Columbia College, where he remained until 1842.
He was the author of the life of his grandfather, William Alex-
ander, Earl of Stirling (New York, 1847). Mr. Duer died in
New York May 30, 1858. His wife was a daughter of William
Denning, of New York. The father of Mrs Breck was John
King Duer, son of William Alexander Duer, a captain in the
United States navy. Mr. and Mrs. Breck have one son, Duer du
Pont Breck.

Scranton had scarcely emerged from the wilderness when
Charles du Pont Breck entered upon his career there as an attor-
ney at law, so that he has been a Scrantonian, practically, since
its beginning. He has been intimately identified with many of

896 Albert Marion Bailey.

its most important institutions and contributed a full share
toward its remarkable growth and prosperity. Though inherit-
ing the best blood from both father and mother, he had no "royal
road to success" prepared for him. His education had been fair;
his surroundings were those in which both energy and industry
are essential to profitable achievement. But he had industry and
tact and a thorough knowledge of his profession. He was con-
tent to make haste slowly and, as a result, finds himself in middle
life in comfortable circumstances and with an enviable reputation
as a lawyer and citizen.

His election as controller came immediately after the creation
of that office. He was the first to fill it and put its machinery
in operation and ran it so successfully that at the close of his term
he was the recipient of deserved and unstinted praise from the
press and people of all parties. This was the first and only office
to which he ever aspired. His general business connections, as
will be noted from the mention already made of a portion of
them, are extensive, and no little of the success that has attend-
ed the several enterprises is due to the careful thought he has
given to their management and the shrewd counsel evolved there-
from.

His reputation has always been that of a man of high honor,
whether in official, general business, or professional life. His
trusts, public or private, have always been administered with
scrupulous regard for every interest involved. In private life he
is an enjoyable companion, with a flow of genial humor and a
capacity as a conversationalist that are a joy to his many friends.

ALBERT MARION BAILEY.

Albert Marion Bailey, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne
county. Pa., February 25, 1862, is a grandson of Benjamin Bailey,
a native of Connecticut, who removed to Luzerne county on or
about 1800. His wife was Lydia Gore. He was treasurer of
Luzerne county in 1821. Benjamin Franklin Bailey, son of Ben-

Ira Canfield Mitchell, 897

jamin Bailey, was born in Norwich, Conn., October 14, 1797. He
came here with his father's family early in 1 800. After arriving at
manhood, he settled in Plains township and married Catharine
Stark, daughter of Henry Stark. The second grate for burning
anthracite coal in Luzerne county was put up by Mr. Stark in
1 808. B. F. Bailey was a j ustice of the peace in this county for over
twenty years. In 1843 he was appointed one of the " seven
years auditors." He died in this city in 1883. Albert M. Bailey,
son of B. F. Bailey, was born in West Abington, Luzerne (now
Lackawanna) county, September 16, 1837. He was educated at
Madison Academy, Harford University, New York Central Col-
lege, and State and National Law School, at Poughkeepsie, N. Y.
He read law with E. L. Dana, of this city, and has practiced law
in this city and in Florida. In 1867 he was the republican can-
didate for district attorney of Luzerne county, but was defeated by
Hon. D. L. Rhone, democrat. He married, December 19, 1867,
Lucinda Colt Lewis, a daughter of the late Sharp Delaney Lewis,
of this city. She is now deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Bailey had no
children. A few years since Mr. Bailey removed to Orange City,
Florida, where he now resides. In 1884 and 1885 he was mayor
of that city.

IRA CANFIELD MITCHELL.

Ira Canfield Mitchell, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne
county. Pa., August 7, 1 862, is a native of Howard, Centre county.
Pa., where he was born April 16, 1833. He was educated in the
public schools of his native township, and at Dickinson Seminary,
Williamsport, Pa. He studied law with N. L. Atwood, at Lock
Haven, Pa., and was admitted originally at Bellefonte, Pa., April 28,
1854, on motion of A. G. Curtin. He has practiced at Bellefonte,
in this city, in Iowa, Texas, Kansas, and now at Wellsburg, W.
Va. He has held the offices of notary public. United States
commissioner, deputy district attorney of Luzerne county. Pa.,
under Ezra B. Chase, and assistant attorney general of Kansas.
He was aid to Governor William F. Packer, of Pennsylvania,

898 Albert Beecher Hotchkiss.

with the rank of colonel. He was the democratic nominee for
congress in 1864, in the Fourth Iowa district, and received 10,502
votes, but was defeated. In the same year he was presidential
elector at large for the state of Iowa on the democratic ticket.
He was a candidate at the recent election (1888), for the legis-
lature of West Virginia, and had a majority in Brooke county, but
was defeated by a small majority in Hancock county. Ira C.
Mitchell is a grandson of William Mitchell, a native of Franklin
county, Pa., whose wife was Ann Johns, born in Harford county,
Md., and son of Nathan Johns Mitchell, a native of Washington
county, Pa. He was a minister of the gospel in the Christian
church for fifty-nine years and died December 10, 1886. His wife
was Sarah Bye Packer, sister of Ex-Governor William F. Packer,
born at Howard, Pa., a daughter of James Packer, a native of Ches-
ter county. Pa., whose wife was Charity Bye, a native of the same
county. Ira C. Mitchell married, March 22, 1855, Melissa Edgar,
a native of Allegheny county. Pa., daughter of James W. Edgar.
He married (second) March 19, 1868, Sophia P. Elliott, a native of
Bradford county. Pa., a daughter of C. S. Elliott. He married
(third) January i o, 1 880, his present wife, Mary A. Darrah, a native
of Clinton county, Pa., and daughter of Charles T. Darrah. Mr.
Mitchell has five children — Edgar Challen Mitchell, Nathan Johns
Mitchell (married to Rebecca Vandersloot, and have one son, Ira
Canfield Mitchell), Charity Ann Mitchell, John Packer Mitchell
and Jane Atwood Mitchell. Ira C. Mitchell became a Christian
in Iowa, in 1864, and since that time has been engaged in preach-
ing the gospel, depending chiefly on the profession of the law
for a livelihood. He is the senior member of the law firm of
Mitchell & Braddock, of Wellsburg, W. Va.

ALBERT BEPXHER HOTCHKISS.

Albert Beecher Hotchkiss was admitted to the bar of Luzerne
county. Pa., August 18, 1862. He is the grandson of Joel
Hotchkiss and his wife, Esther Beecher, natives of Cheshire,

Aaron Augustus Chase. 899

Conn., who emigrated to Harford, Susquehanna county, where
they remained until their decease. Richard Hotchkiss, son of
Joel Hotchkiss, was the father of A. B. Hotchkiss. The wife of
Richard Hotchkiss was Hannah Briggs. A. B. Hotchkiss was
born in Harford, June 20, 1839. He was educated in the common
schools of his native township, and at Harford University. He
was a teacher in this county for a few years, and subsequently
read law with Hendrick B. Wright, in this city. After practicing
in Wilkes-Barre for a few years, he removed to Cleveland, O., and
from there to San Diego, Cal. While residing in the latter place
he was district attorney of San Diego county, and attorney for
the city of San Diego. He subsequently removed to Colton,
Cal., where he was president of the Colton Land and Water Com-
pany, and a trustee of the city of Colton. He was also a candi-
date for congressman-at-large on the prohibition ticket, in 1882.
Mr. Hotchkiss now resides in the city of Los Angeles, Cal.

AARON AUGUSTUS CHASE.

Aaron Augustus Chase, who was admitted to the bar of Lu-
zerne county, Pa., August 20, 1862, is a native of Benton township
Luzerne (now Lackawanna) county, where he was born March
28, 1839. His grandfather, Gorton Chase, emigrated to Penn-
sylvania from Rhode Island in 18 17, and settled in Abington
township, Luzerne (now Lackawanna) county. Joseph Chase,
son of Gorton Chase, was born in Providence, R. I., and came to
Pennsylvania with his father's family. He is the father of A. A.
Chase. The mother of A. A. Chase was Mahala Phillips, a
daughter of Aaron Phillips, who settled in Abington township at
an early day. Mr. Chase was educated in the public schools of
his native township, and at Madison Academy, at Waverly, Pa.,
and read law with David R. Randall. He married, October 12,
1862, Laura E. Stiles, a daughter of George M. Stiles, of Har-
ford, Susquehanna county, Pa. She died May 2, 1884. Mr. and
Mrs. Chase had no children. A. A. Chase was the editor and
proprietor of the Scranton Daily Times from 1872 to 1885, and

900

William C. Robinson.

the WtrNj and Law Times {rom. 1873 to i8cS5. Mr. Chase has his
office in Scranton. He is still a widower. In 1 866 he was elected
one of the auditors of the city of Scranton. In 1888 he was an
independent candidate for additional law judge of Lackawanna
county and received 6639 votes. His successful competitor was
Frederick W. Gunster.

ZEBULON MARCY WARD.

Zebulon Marcy Ward, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne
county, Pa., August 17, 1863, is a brother of Walsingham G.
Ward, of Scranton, Pa. Z. M. Ward was born in Tunkhannock,
Luzerne (now Wyoming) county, February 17, 1837. He resides
in Patterson, N. J.

WILLIAM C. ROBINSON.

William C. Robinson was admitted to the bar of Luzerne
county. Pa., November 9, 1863. His father was John A. Robin-
son, of Norwich, Conn., son of Elias Robinson, son of Timothy
Robinson, great-grandson (supposed) of Rev. John Robinson, of
Leyden. His mother was Mary Callyhan, daughter of William
Callyhan, son of Andrew Callaghan, son of William O'Callaghan.
His paternal grandmother was Anna Allyn, of Ledyard, Conn.,
a descendant of Robert Allyn, of Hartford. His maternal grand-
mother was a descendant of James Rogers, of New London, 1660.
Mr. Robinson married, July 2, 1857, Anna Elizabeth Haviland, of
New York city. Her father, Henry Haviland, was of Boston, son
of Henry Haviland, of London, England. Her mother was Mary
Magdalen Jutau, daughter of John Jutau, of Bordeaux, France,
later of the French consulate at Boston. Mr. and Mrs. Robinson
have three children living — Philip Neri Robinson and George W.
Robinson, of the New Haven county bar, and Paul Skiff Robin-
son. William C. Robinson was born at Norwich, Connecticut, July
26, 1834. He was educated at the Norwich Academy, Williston

William Wurts Lathrope. 901

Seminary, class of 1 849, and Wesleyan University. He graduated
from Dartmouth College in the class of 1854, and at the General
Seminary of the Protestant Episcopal Church in New York in
1857. He received the degree of LL. D. from Dartmouth College
in 1879. From September i, 1857, to August i, 1859, he was
resident missionary at Pittston, and from February i, 1859, to
December i, 1862, rector of St. Luke's Protestant Episcopal
church, Scranton, Pa. In 1863 he joined the Roman Catholic
church, in whose communion he remains. He read law with
Hendrick B. Wright, and after his admission to the bar remained
in this city, practicing his profession, until 1864. From here he
went to New London, Conn., and from there, in 1865, to New
Haven, Conn., where he now resides. He was clerk of the New
Haven city court from 1866 to 1868, judge city court, New Haven,
1869 to 1 87 1, a member of the Connecticut house of representa-
tives in 1874, judge of the Court of Common Pleas of New
Haven county from 1874 to 1876. He has been professor of law
in Yale University since 1869. Mr. Robinson published "Elemen-
tary Law," 1882, "Clavis Rerum," 1883, and has in press a
"Treatise on Patent Law,"

BURRELL BRACE.

Burrell Brace was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county
August 20, 1863. He is a native of Wyoming, Pennsylvania,
and is the only son of the late Alfred Brace, M. D., who set-
tled in Wyoming in 1838, coming from Franklin township
in this county. He read law in this city with G. Byron
Nicholson and Ezra B. Chase, and married, November 30,
1865, Mary Celestia Sherman, daughter of Rev. J. C. Sherman,
of Abington, Pennsylvania. He has three children, and resides
in Keelersburg, Pennsylvania.

WILLIAM WURTS LATHROPE.

William Wurts Lathrope, who was admitted to the bar of Lu-
zerne county. Pa., August 8, 1864, is a native of Carbondale, Pa.,

902 Howard Ellis.

where he was born October 9, 1840. He was educated at Kenyon
College, Gambler, Ohio, and Harvard Law School, and read law
with his father, D. N. Lathrope. He is a descendant of Rev.
John Lothropp, who emigrated to America September 18, 1634.
(See page 857.) His father was Dwight Noble Lathrope, who
was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county November 5, 1833.
Mr. Lathrope married, September i, 1870, Mary Overton Max-
well, a daughter of the late Volney Lee Maxwell, who was ad-
mitted to the bar of Luzerne county November 11, 1831. Mr.
and Mrs. Lathrope have a family of four children — Maxwell D.
Lathrope, Henry R. Lathrope, George H. Lathrope, and Eunice
Lathrope. Mr. Lathrope practiced in this city for some time,
but now resides in Scranton. He is one of the managers of the
Lackawanna Bible Society, a director of the Young Men's Chris-
tian Association of Scranton, a director of the Lackawanna Law
Library Association, and has been president of the association.
He is the minister's warden of Grace Reformed Episcopal church.
In 1888 he was the prohibition candidate for congress and receiv-
ed 1218 votes. While a resident of Wilkes-Barre Mr. Lathrope
was one of the managers of the Young Men's Christian Asso-
ciation of Wilkes-Barre and for one year was president of the
same.

HOWARD ELLIS.

Howard Ellis, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county,
Pa., August 15, 1864, is a native of Elkton, Cecil county, Md.,
where he was born July 6, 1 834. His parents were Francis A. Ellis,
a native of Philadelphia, Pa., and Eliza Ann Howard, a native of
Elkton, the ancestors of whom emigrated to America about
1705. He read law with his father, Francis A. Ellis, of the
Maryland bar, and with George W. Biddle, of the Philadelphia
bar, and was admitted to the Cecil county bar January 4, 1864.
Mr. Ellis has practiced at Elkton, Wilkes-Barre and New York.
In 1875 he planned and started the New York Weekly Digest,
which has been successfully conducted according to his plans.

De Witt C. Cooley. 903

and in the following year he planned the Law and Equity Reporter,
which was consolidated in 1878 with the American Law Times
Reports and has since been published under his editorial control
as The Reporter. His sound judgment in the selection of impor-
tant cases, and his careful work thereon, have sustained the cir-
culation of that periodical and made it a general favorite, not-
withstanding the rivalry and pressure in recent years of a rapidly
increasing growth of local law journals and reporters. He is also
the general editor of English Cases, a compendium of all the
reports of Great Britain, her colonies, and the United States. Mr.
Ellis married, October 21, 1872, Aurora Bassford, a great-grand-
daughter of John Pell, of Schuyler Place, West Chester county,
N. Y. He resides at Ridgewood, Bergen county, N. J. Mr. and
Mrs. Ellis have a family of three children — Rosina, Elizabet
Howard, and Rudulph Pell Ellis. Since writing the above Mr.
Ellis has been appointed, by President Cleveland, consel of the
United States at Rotterdam.

JOHN B. RHODES.

John B. Rhodes was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county,
Pa., August 31, 1864. He removed to Kansas in 1869, where he
now resides.

dewitt c. cooley.

DeWitt C. Cooley, who was born in New York, and admit-
ted to the bar of Luzerne county, Pa., October 24, 1864, is a
resident of St. Paul, Minn. He was twice married, his last wife
being Louise J. Dunlap, a daughter of the late Rev. Robert
Dunlap, D. D., of Allegheny City, Pa. One child survives this
union — Frank D. Cooley, of St. Paul.

904 M. J. Bykne.

JOSEPH E. ULMAN.

Joseph E. Ulman, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne
county August 29, 1865, is a son of Lazarus Ulman. He was
born at Rehrersburg, Pa., January 25, 1828. He was educated
at the Ithaca (N. Y.) Academy, and studied law at Lock Haven,
Pa., with T. T. Abrams. During the years 1872, 1873 and 1874
he was burgess of the borough of Hazleton, Pa. Mr. Ulman
married, February 17, 1857, Frances A. McCloskey, daughter of
David McCloskey. Mr. and Mrs. Ulman have a family of four
children — Ida Nancy Ulman, P2mory Washburn Ulman, Edgar
James Ulman, and Nellie Frances Ulman.

MICHAEL REGAN.

Michael Regan, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne
county, Pa.,' November 12, 1866, is a native of Canaan, Wayne
county, Pennsylvania, where he was born in 1836. His parents,
Michael Regan and Catharine Regan nee Tobin, were born
in Ireland. Mr. Regan was educated at the Normal School,
at Prompton, Wayne county, Pennsylvania, and studied law
with F. M. Crane, at Honesdale, Pennsylvania. He was ad-
mitted to the Wayne county bar in 1865. P'rom 1863 to 1866
he was register and recorder of Wayne county. He married
in 1863, Margaret, a daughter of Patrick Rutledge, a native of
Ireland. They have four children: Kate, married to John
Shreve; John, Andrew and Frank. Mr. Regan practiced
many years in this city but now resides in New York.

M. J. BYRNE.

M. J. Byrne was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county, Pa.,
December 5, 1866. He is the son of the late Peter Byrne, LL. D.,
of the Luzerne bar.

Francis D. Collins. 905

JOHN B. MILLS.

John B. Mills, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county,
Pa., April 13. 1839, is a son of Jacob Mills and his wife Prudence,
daughter of Rev. Caleb Hopkins, a lieutenant in the revolutionary
war, and the first Protestant Episcopal minister in what is now
Columbia county, Pa. John B. Mills was born February 23,
18 1 2, in Madison township, Columbia county. Pa. He was edu-
cated under Dr. S. S. Lowry and Rev. George C. Drake, of
Bloomsburg, Pa., and read law with George W. Woodward, in
this city, where he practiced until 1857, when he removed to a
farm in Columbia county. He now resides at Riverside, North-
umberland county. Pa. Mr. Mills married, in 1833, Nancy
Rafferty, a daughter of Peter Rafferty, of Armagh, Ireland. Mr.
and Mrs. Mills have a family of six children — Amanda T., married
to Rufus C. Belding; Henry Clay Mills; Adelaide J., married to
N. B. Welliver; James Rafferty Mills; Charles Denison Mills;
and Sarah M., married to Eugene Lenhart.

FRANCIS D. COLLINS.

Francis D. Collins, who was "admitted to the bar of Luzerne
county. Pa., December 24, 1866, is a son of the late Thomas Col-
lins, w^ho was at one time an associate judge of Luzerne county,
Pa. In 1854 the latter was a candidate for register of wills of Lu-
zerne county, but was defeated by Elisha B. Harvey. Francis D.
Collins was born in Saugerties, N.Y., March 5, 1844. When quite
young his parents removed to Dunmore, Luzerne (now Lacka-
wanna) county. He was educated at St. Joseph's College, Susque-
hanna county. Pa., and at Wyoming Seminary, Kingston, Pa.
After his admission to the bar, he was, in 1869, elected district
attorney of the mayor's court of Scranton. From 1872 to 1874 he
represented Luzerne, Monroe and Pike counties as state senator.
In 1874 he was elected a representative in the congress of the
United States for the eleventh district, composed of the counties

Qo6 Francis Edgar Loomis.

of Carbon, Columbia, Montour, Monroe, Pike, and a part of
Luzerne county. He was re-elected in 1876. In 1879 he was
a candidate for president judge of Lackawanna county on the
democratic ticket, but was defeated by Alfred Hand, republican.
In 1888 he was the democratic candidate for congress in the
twelfth congressional district, but was defeated by Joseph A.
Scranton, republican. Mr. Collins resides in Dunmore, but has
an office in Scranton.

FRANCIS EDGAR LOOMIS.

Francis Edgar Loomis, who was admitted to the Luzerne
county bar February 20, 1867, is a descendant of Joseph Loomis,
who emigrated to]this country from Braintree, Essex county, Eng-
land, arriving in this country July 17, 1638. Deacon John
Loomis, son of Joseph Loomis, was born in England in 1622
came to this country with his father, and died in Windsor, Conn.
September i, 1668. Thomas Loomis, son of Deacon John
Loomis, was born December 3, 1653. He died August 12, 1688
John Loomis, of Lebanon, son of Thomas Loomis, of Hatfield
Mass., was born July i, 168 1. His first wife was Martha Osborn
whom he married October 30, 1706. His second wife was Ann
Lyman, whom he married September ^o, 1725. Timothy Loomis
of Lebanon, son of John Loomis, was born August 24, 17 18
He died June 20, 1785. F^lisha Loomis, son of Timothy Loomis
was born in 1748, and died February 7, 1820. Eldad Loomis
of Coventry, Conn., son of Elisha Loomis, was born in 1785
He married Fanny Jeffers, and died October 23, 1833. Elisha
Nelson Loomis, M. D., son of Eldad Loomis, was born in
Coventry, Conn., June 21, 1809. His wife was Rowena Loomis,
a native of Harford, Susquehanna county. Pa. She was a
daughter of Major Laban Capron, the first postmaster of Harford.
(For further particulars concerning the Loomis family see page

77I-)

F. E. Loomis is the son of Elisha Nelson Loomis M. D. He

was born at Harford, Susquehanna county, Pa., February 7,

Francis Edgar Loomis. 907

1834. F. E. Loomis was educated at the Harford University
( formerly Franklin Academy), and read law with William Jessup
and William H. Jessup, Montrose, Pa., and was admitted to the
Susquehanna county bar April 17, 1863. He has practiced and
resided at Montrose, Scranton and Rockford, 111. He was a
journalist until he was twenty-nine years of age, and was one of
the editors of the Montrose Republican in 1858-9. He was also
a newspaper correspondent and reporter at Chicago, when Presi-
dent Lincoln was nominated, and was connected with the Rock-
ford (111.) Republican and Janesville (Wis.) Gazette. He was also
a writer of serials, stories, sketches, &c,, under the name of "Ned
Lopez." Mr. Loomis has been twice married — first, July 4, 1857,
to Fannie May Lord, a daughter of John Lord, a native of Wood-
stock, Vt., and his wife, Maria Lord, a native of Limestone, New
London, Conn. He was the son of Josiah Lord and Polly Lord,
{nee Mack), of Limestone. He was married a second time, March
14, 1873, to Rebecca VanFleet, a daughter of Alva VanFleet, a
native of Pittston, where he was born, February i, 1810. He was
the son of James VanFleet, a native of Orange county, N. Y,,
where he was born February 9, 1786. Mr. Loomis has had seven
children, six of whom are now living. His eldest son, Arthur
Benton Loomis, is married to Ella Bentley, of Binghamton, N. Y.,
and his eldest daughter, Hattie M. Loomis, is married to Edward
D. Lathrop, of Carbondale, Pa, Mr. Loomis has resided for many
years in Scranton, Pa. He is a member of the Universahst
church, and is now a deacon and trustee in the same. He is
president of the Susquehanna association of churches, compris-
ing Lackawanna, Susquehanna and Wyoming counties. He has
been general superintendent of Sabbath schools in said associa-
tion, and frequently a delegate to the state conventions of the said
church. He was three times a delegate from Pennsylvania to
the general convention of the Universalist churches of the United
States and Canada.

Mr. Loomis is in politics a zealous republican and was one of
the first democratic young men in Susquehanna county to enter the
organization, casting his first presidential vote in 1856 for Fre-
mont. After building up an extensive practice his health failed
him in 1874, the result of a serious railroad accident and over

QOS Charles Hopkins Welles.

work. Since then he has had to give up active practice at the
bar and now gives his principal attention to the loaning of money,
collections, and sales of real estate. He has been an alderman of
the city of Scranton, and in 1882 was a candidate for the state
legislature in Lackawanna county, but was defeated by his demo-
cratic competitor.

DANIEL HANNAH.

Daniel Hannah, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne
county, Pa., February 21,1 867, is a native of Harford, Susquehanna
county. Pa., where he was born January 21, 1838. He is the son
of Archibald Hannah, born in 1793, and Mary Leslie, born in
1803, both of whom were from county Antrim, Ireland. He
married, February 2, 1879, Lizzie A. Little, daughter of Levi P.
Little, of Scranton. She died December 3, 1874. They had no
children. Mr. Hannah married a second time, September 25,
1876, Rosalia Watson, a daughter of Walter Watson, born near
• Cold Spring, N. Y. Her mother was Candace Hammond, a
descendant of Samuel Hammond, who removed to New Milford,
Susquehanna county. Pa., in 18 19, from Cheshire county. New
Hampshire. His son. Lieutenant Colonel Asa Hammond, the
grandfather of Mrs. Hannah, is in his ninety-fifth year, and is the
oldest inhabitant in Susquehanna county. Mr. and Mrs. Hannah
have no children. Mr. Hannah was educated at the Montrose,
Pa., normal school and at the Millersville, Pa., normal school.
He followed teaching in his young manhood, and then read law
with Daniel S. Dickinson, at Binghamton, N. Y., where he was
admitted May 10, 1865. He removed to Scranton in the follow-
ing year, where he practiced until 1883. He now resides at
New Milford, Pa.

CHARLES HOPKINS W^ELLES.

Charles Hopkins Welles, who was admitted to the bar of Lu-
zerne county, Pa., March 2, 1867, is a descendant of Governor

Charles Hopkins Welles. 909

Thomas Welles, who was born in Essex county, England (see
page 660), in 1598. The descent of C. H. Welles is through
Samuel Welles, born in Essex county, England, about 1630, fifth
child of Governor Welles ; Samuel Welles, born in Wethersfield
Conn., and removed to Glastonbury, Conn., first child of Samuel
Welles ; Hon. Thomas Welles, born in Glastonbury, fourth child
of Samuel Welles ; John Welles, born in Glastonbury, Conn.,
son of Hon. Thomas Welles, and Hon. Ashbel Welles, son of
John Welles. Ashbel Welles was born in Glastonbury, Conn.,
April 27, 1763, and died at Binghamton, N. Y., April 4, 1809.
Charles H. Welles, son of Ashbel Welles, was born in Hartford,
Conn., July 6, 1795, and died at Dundaff, Pa., March 26, 1852.
He married, at Wyoming, Pa., February 12, 1824, Sarah, daughter
of Fisher Gay, a native of Sharon, Conn, where he was born May
6, 1778. He was the son of Colonel Ebenezer Gay, a native of
Litchfield, Conn., where he was born December 26, 1725. His
second wife, the mother of Fisher Gay, whom he married Novem-
ber 21, 1765, was Elizabeth Fairbanks. He died July 16, 1787.
and his wife died December 8, T827. Fisher Gay married, Feb-
ruary 8, 1801, Elizabeth Mygett, of Amenia, Dutchess county,
N. Y. He moved to Wyoming valley May 10, 1807, and settled
on the farm where the Wyoming monument now stands, and
lived there until his death, July 3, 1857. He gave the land where
the monument stands, and was instrumental in its erection. His
second wife, by whom he had no children, was Susanna Oster-
hout, widow of Isaac Osterhout, mother of Isaac S. Osterhout,
founder of the Osterhout Free Library in this city. Her maiden
name was Susanna Smith, daughter of William Hooker Smith,
M. D.

Charles H. Welles, son of Charles H. Welles, was born at
Dundaff April 16, 1845. He was educated in his native village
and at the Luzerne Institute, Wyoming, Pa. He read law with
Samuel Sherrerd, Sherrerd & Hand, and Hand & Post. In
1869 he was elected clerk of the mayor's court of Scranton for
a term of three years. He was one of the organizers of the
Second Presbyterian church of Scranton, Pa., and is one of the
elders of the same. He has also been one of the board of trustees
in the same church. Mr. Welles married, October 20, 1869,

910

Samuel F. McDormott.

Hannah B. Sherrerd, a daughter of John B. Sherrerd, M. D., of
Scranton. (See sketch of Samuel Sherrerd.) Dr. Sherrerd was
a brother of the late Samuel Sherrerd, of the Luzerne county bar.
The wife of Dr. Sherrerd was Lucy M. Walters, of Nazareth, Pa.
Mr. and Mrs. Welles have a family of four children — Lucy Sher-
rerd Welles, Charles Hopkins Welles, Paul Bessel Welles, and
Kenneth Brakelv Welles. Mr. Welles resides in Scranton.

SAMUEL F. McDORMOTT.

Samuel F. McDormott, who was admitted to the bar of Lu-
zerne county April 4, 1867, is a native of Espy, Columbia county,
Pa., where he was born December 24, 1842. He is the son of
James McDormott, who was the son of Michael McDormott, a
native of Longford county, Ireland, who came to the United
States after the suppression of the Irish rebellion in 1798. His
mother is Ann, a daughter of Joseph and Catharine Shafer [nee
Mower), of Hanover township, Luzerne county, Pa. Their
parents were from Germany and settled in Northampton county,
Pa., at or before the revolutionary war. The wife of Michael Mc-
Dormott was Sarah Engle, daughter of Jacob and Catherine
Engle, whose parents came to the United States from Germany
and settled at Easton, Pa., about the close of the revolutionary
war. S. F. McDormott was educated in the public schools of
Wilkes-Barre and at Wyoming Seminary, Kingston, Pa. He
read law with D. L. Rhone. He practiced from the date of his
admission at Wilkes-Barre to the spring of 1873, from that time
to February, 1880, at Spottsylvania Court House, Virginia, and
since that date at Coffeyville, Kansas, where he now resides. He
married, July 2, 1877, Catharine Tobin, a native of Wayne
county, Pa. Her parents, John and Julia Tobin, were natives of
the county Cork, Ireland. Mr. and Mrs. McDormott have one
child — Richard Henry McDormott.

Orlando Wellington Spratt. 911

JEREMIAH D. REGAN.

Jeremiah D. Regan, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne
county August 19, 1867, is a native of Canaan, Wayne county,
Pa., where he was born May 4, 1835. He studied science in the
University of Northern Pennsylvania, Bethany, Pa., and after-
wards studied the languages, and was professor of mathematics in
St. Joseph's college, Susquehanna county, Pa. He studied law
with his brother, Michael Regan, in this city, and has practiced
here and at Scranton. His father, Michael Regan, and his mother,
Catharine Regan, {jice Tobin), were born in Ireland. Mr. Regan
married, January i, 1867, Mary North, whose parents, Thomas
North and Bridget North, {nee Mulligan), were also born in Ire-
land. Mr. and Mrs. Regan have a family of three children —
Frederick Regan, Ella Regan and Mary Regan.

ORLANDO WELLINGTON SPRATT.

Orlando Wellington Spratt, who was admitted to the Luzerne
county bar October 30, 1867, is a native of Towanda, Pa., where
he was born April 22, 1841. He is the son of Rev. George M.
Spratt, D. D, a native of Quebec, Canada, and grandson of Rev.
George Spratt, a native of England. The mother of O. W. Spratt
is Abigail Reed, a daughter of Matthias Reed, a native of North-
umberland county. Pa. O. W. Spratt was educated at the Buck-
nell University, Lewisburg, Pa., from which he graduated in 1861,
and the Harvard Law School, from which he graduated in 1866.
He read law with George F. Miller, at Lewisburg, and was admit-
ted to the Union county bar in 1863. Mr. Spratt was the busi-
ness manager of the New York house of the American Baptist
Publication Society from 1881-83. Since then he has been in
charge of the business of the main house in Philadelphia, where
he resides, and of the branch houses located in Boston, Chicago,
New York, St. Louis and Atlanta. He married, August 30,
1882, Dora E. Watrous, a daughter of Rev. G. P. Watrous, a

912 Ira Hale Burns.

native of Connecticut. Her mother, Prudence M. Knapp Wat-
rous, was a native of New York state. Her grandfather, Pomeroy
Watrous, and grandmother, Ethehnda Hurd Watrous, were born
in Connecticut. Her grandfather, Alfred Metcalf Knapp, was
born in Vermont, and her grandmother, SaUie Hart Knapp, was
born in the state of New York.

IRA HALE BURNS.

Ira Hale Burns, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne
county, Pa., January 21, 1868, is a native of Clifford, Susque-
hanna county, Pa., where he was born July 19, 1842. His grand-
father came from the north of Ireland, and was of Scotch descent.
Jonathan Burns, known as Captain Burns, came from Otsego
county, N. Y., about 1800, in company with his brother, David
Burns. He located at first near the site of Dundaff, Susquehanna
county. Pa., but in 1802 he removed to the east branch of the
Tunkhannock, near the mouth of the creek that bears his
name. Captain Burns was a strong, athletic man. He was fond
of all active sports, and hunted a great deal for profit as well as
pleasure. It was easier to lay in a store of bear meat or venison
than to procure and fatten hogs. At one time, late in the fall of
the year, he went out hunting on the Lackawanna mountains,
south of where Carbondale now stands. While busily engaged
in securing game to supply the family larder, the Lackawanna
had become so swollen with rain as to be impassable. The
weather had changed from the mildness of " Indian summer" to
piercing cold. His tow frock was almost frozen to his body.
His companion had become so discouraged that he sat down and
declared he could go no further. Burns cut a whip and applied
it with such vigor to his back that he was stimulated to renewed
exertions. They built a fire on the bank of the river, and the
next morning the water had so far subsided that they laid felled
trees across the stream and went over safely. Burns then carried
eighty pounds of bear meat and a rifle weighing twenty pounds a
distance of twelve miles without laying them off his shoulder. At

John McGinnes Ranck. 913

one time he carried two bushels of wheat to the mill at Belmont,
a distance of ten miles, and the flour in returning, and stopped
but once each way to rest. Captain Burns had seven sons, the
youngest, Ellery Burns, being the father of I. H. Burns. The
wife of Ellery Burns was Harriet Clawson, a native of Newburg,
N. Y., daughter of Benjamin Clawson.

I. H. Burns was educated in the schools of his native township
and at the academy at Great Bend, Pa. He read law with Bent-
ley & Fitch, at Montrose, and was admitted to the bar of Susque-
hanna county in August, 1864. In 1866 he removed to Scranton
and has resided there since. In 1876 he was one of the demo-
cratic candidates for the legislature from Luzerne county, but
was defeated, owing to dissensions in the party. For the past
twelve years he has been the city solicitor of Scranton. Mr.
Burns married, January 31, 1867, Eveline F. Barnes, a native of
Herrick township, Susquehanna county, and daughter of G. W.
Barnes, a native of Gibson township, Susquehanna county. Mr.
and Mrs. Burns have a family of seven children — Rose F. Burns,
Myrtle E. Burns, May E. Burns, Carlotta L. Burns, Grace
Burns, Iris Burns, and EUery Burns.

JOHN McGINNES RANCK.

John McGinnes Ranck, who was admitted to the bar of Lu-
zerne county, Pa., February 26, 1868, is the son of Adam Ranck,
and his wife, Jane Martin, of Union county, Pa. Mr. Ranck
was born April 19, 1831, in White Deer township, Union county.
He was educated at the Milton Academy and Lewisburg Univer-
sity, and read law with H. C. Hickok, at Lewisburg, Pa., and was
admitted to the bar of Union county, at New Berlin, then the
county seat. May 26, 1855. Mr. Ranck, when a young man,
taueht school for three vears, and worked on a farm until he was
twenty-one years of age. He practiced his profession for a few
years in Lewisburg, and then removed to Scranton, Pa. He
married, March 14, 1854, Mary Nancy Dreisbach, daughter of
Elias and Rebecca Dreisbach, of Buffalo Valley, Union county;

QI4 MiLO JoNKS Wilson.

and his second wife, whom he married January 30, 1867, was
Emma D. Melick, daughter of John and Martha Jane Melick,
of Light Street, Columbia county. Pa. Mr, Ranck has five child-
ren living, the eldest, Rebecca J., being married to H, W. Hales,
of Ridgewood, N. J. Mr. Ranck resides at Light Street, but
has an office in Scranton.

MILO JONES WILSON.

Milo Jones Wilson, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne
county. Pa., April 9, 1868, is a native of Factory ville, Luzerne (now
Wyoming) county. Pa., where he was born January 31, 1838. He
is a descendant of Joseph Wilson, a native of Rhode Island, who
was a sailor on board of a privateer during the colonial war, in
which service he lost a leg. He subsequently removed to Bask-
ing- Ridp-e. N. T., and from there to Warwick, Orange county, N.
Y., where he died. His wife was Elizabeth Rickey. Isaac Wil-
son, son of Joseph Wilson, was born at Basking Ridge August
2, 1 768. His wife was Sarah Phillips, a native of Pownal,Vermont,
where she was born July 29, 1775. She was a daughter of John
Phillips, who married Mary Chamberlain. John was a son of
Francis Phillips, a native of Rhode Island. At the time of the
battle of Wyoming, July 3, 1778, John Phillips was in Port
Blanchard with his family. Sarah Phillips was but three years
of age at the time. In the Act for erecting Luzerne county,
John Phillips was named one of the trustees to "take assurances
for a piece of land situated in some convenient place in or
near Wilkcsburg, within the said county of Luzerne, for the seat
of a court house and of a county jail or prison for the said
county, in the name of the commonwealth, in trust for the use
and benefit of the said county of Luzerne, and thereupon to
erect a court house and prison. " After the marriage of Isaac
Wilson and Sarah Phillips they removed from Warwick to Pitt-
ston, in this county, where they bought a farm on the east side
of the Lackawanna river, about a mile above its junction with the
Susquehanna. Their children were all born there, Amzi Wilson

MiLO Jones Wilson. • 915

(who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county November 7,
1840) being the eldest. He was born December 17, 1795. John
Wilson, son of Isaac Wilson, was born in Pittston, March 22,
1 80 1. He married, March 3, 1830, Elsa Capwell, of Abington, Pa.,
who was born November 16, 1809. She was a daughter of Jere-
miah Capwell, who was born in 1799 in Rhode Island. He was
the son of Stephen and Hannah Capwell. The wife of Jeremiah
Capwell was Isabella Whipple, a daughter of Joseph and Elsa
Whipple, of Rhode Island. John Wilson, the father of the sub-
ject of our sketch and the son of Isaac Wilson, was a graduate of
Harvard University. He studied medicine with Andrew Bedford,
M.' D., of Waverly, Pa., and after his marriage settled in Factory-
villa, Pa., where he practiced until his death, February 27, 1879.
M. J. Wilson, son of John Wilson, M. D., was educated at the
Madison Academy, at Waverly, and the New York Central
College, from which he graduated in 1858. He read law with
R, B. Little and William M. Post, and was admitted to the bar of
Susquehanna county August 20, i860. Soon after his admission
he went to St, Louis, Mo., and was admitted to the bar there in
the fall of i860. He practiced in St. Louis until the spring of
1862, when he enlisted in the Ninety-fourth Regiment Ohio Volun-
teers. He was in the rout and retreat from Lexington, Ky., to Louis-
ville, and was in the battles of Perryville, Murfreesboro, and
other engagements. In 1863 he was detached and did duty as
sergeant major in Fortress Rosecrans until the close of the war,
in 1865. He settled in Scranton in 1868, where he still resides.
He married, August 29, 1865, Ellen S. Warren, a native of
McDonough, Chenango county, N. Y., a descendant of Simon
Warren, of Littleton, Mass., where he was born November
21. 1750. He settled in Jaffrey, N. H., about 1773. He mar-
ried Martha Harper, of Harvard, Mass., who was born Sep-
tember II, 1749. Oliver Warren, son of Simon Warren, married,
September 17, 1801, Abiah Stanley, a descendant of Matthew
Stanley, who was of Lynn, Mass., in 1646. He had a son
Samuel, who had a son also named Samuel. David Stanley, son
of Samuel Stanley, jr., was born September 28, 171 7, and married
Sarah Burton March i, 1746. Jonathan Stanley, the father of
Abiah Stanley, the wife of Oliver Warren, and his wife Lois Ross

gi6 John Espv.

were of Acton, Mass. The latter's parents settled in Jaffrey,
where Abiah was born. Jonathan Stanley was a native of Wil-
mington, Mass. Andrew Oliver Warren, son of Oliver Warren,
married Sophia Underwood, who was born February 19, 181 1.
She is a descendant of Joseph Underwood, an early resident of
Massachusetts, wher? he was born in 168 1. His wife was Susan-
nah Parker. He had a son John, born September 15, 1727,
who married Hannah Wright. He had a son Jereme, who was
born July 21, 1750, and married Lucy Wheat at Lincoln, Mass.,
and removed to Jaffrey in 1777. His son Jereme, who was born
August 24, 1 78 1, married Nabby, daughter of Daniel and Sarah
Gage, of Marlborough, N. H., November 23, 1807. Sophia,
daughter of Jereme and Nabby Underwood, became the wife of
Andrew Oliver Warren, the father of Ella S. Wilson. Her
parents removed to Montrose, Pa., about 1849, and they still
reside there. Her father, A. O. Warren, is a member of the Sus-
quehanna county bar, as is also her brother, Charles A. Warren.
Mr. and Mrs. Wilson have no children surviving, two having
died in infancy.

JOHN ESPY.

John Espy, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county.
Pa.. April 20, 1868, is a descendant of George Espy, son of Jo-
siah Espy, who died March, 1761, in Derry township, Lancas-
ter county. Pa., where he was a settler as early as 1729. He was
an emigrant from the north of Ireland. He married, in Ireland,
Jean Taylor. Josiah Espy, son of George Espy, born in 17 18, in
the north of Ireland, died in 1762 in Hanover township, Lancaster
county. George Espy, son of Josiah Espy, was born in 1749 in
Hanover township, Lancaster (now Dauphin) county, and died
April, 1 8 14, in Luzerne county. Pa. His father, in March, 1775,
conveyed to him a tract of land granted him by the proprietaries
in what was then Northumberland county. Pa., to which he re-
moved the same year. This tract of land was situated not far from
the present borough of Nanticoke, upon which he built a log

Frederick William Gunster. 917

house. John Espy, son of George Espy, was born in 1779, in Han-
over township, then Lancaster (now Dauphin) county. He died
March 25, 1843, in Hanover township, Luzerne codnty. Pa.
James Espy, son of John Espy, was born in 181 1 in Nanticoke,
Pa. John Espy was the son of James Espy. (See page 431.) He
was born in Hanover township, Luzerne county, Pa., September
21, 1842, and read law in the office of E. B. Harvey in this city.
During the late civil war he was a private in Company E of the
First Iowa Regiment. He was the first captain of the Wyoming
Artillerists as reorganized after the close of the war, and was for
eight years aid-de-camp on Major General Osborne's staff, with
the rank of major in the National Guard of Pennsylvania.
He saw active service in the strike riots at Scranton, Sus-
quehanna Depot and Hazleton, Pa. He married, March 23,
1867, Martha M. Wood, a daughter of the late John B. Wood
and his wife, Sarah Gore Wood. (See page 435.) Mr. and
Mrs. Espy have a family of four children — John B. W. Espy,
Lila W. Espy, Maude M. Espy, and Olin Espy. Mr. Espy was
educated at the New Columbus Academy and at the Albany Law
School, from which he graduated in I866. In 1879 Mr. Espy
removed to St. Paul, Minn., where he now resides. In 1884 and
1885 he was one of the county commissioners of Ramsey
county, Minn., and the first named year was secretary of the re-
publican state central committee of Minnesota.

Mr. Espy is an active and enterprising citizen of St. Paul.

The organization of Mahtomedi Assembly and the Central Park

M. E. Church of St. Paul, are largely due to his efforts. He has

also erected quite a number of business blocks in the same city.

- He is a brother of B. M. Espy of the Luzerne bar.

FREDERICK WILLIAM GUNSTER.

Frederick William Gunster, of Scranton, Pa, who was admitted to
the bar of Luzerne county, Pa., November 10, 1868, is a native

918 Frederick William Gunster.

of Lockweiler, Prussia, where he was born September 15, 1845.
His father, Peter Gunster, a native of Wadern, Prussia, emi-
grated to America in 1853, and settled with his family at Scran-
ton. The wife of Peter Gunster is Mary Birtel, daughter of John
Birtel, natives of Lockweiler. F. W. Gunster was educated in
the public schools of Scranton and Williams College, Williams-
town, Mass., graduating with honors in 1867 in a class of fifty
students, and was selected by the faculty of the college to deliver
the philosophical oration. He read law with W. G. Ward at
Scranton. He was district attorney of Lackawanna county in
1878 and 1879, and in 1875 and 1876 was a member of the
house of representatives of Pennsylvania. He is a director of
the Third National Bank of Scranton, of the Meredith Run Coal
Company, and of the Pennsylvania Oral School for Deaf Mutes.
He has been attorney for the city of Scranton, and for the past
fourteen years has been attorney of the school board of the city
of Scranton. In 1872 he was one of the electors on the demo-
cratic ticket. On August 14, 1888, Mr. Gunster received the
unanimous nomination of the democratic party, of which he is an
honored member, for additional law judge of Lackawanna county,
and the republican county convention gave him an endorsement
by refusing to name a candidate against him. Of course he was
elected. His term will begin on January 7, 1889. On Novem-
ber 15, 1888, he was appointed by Governor Beaver an additional
law judge to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Alfred
Hand. He will fill this position until his regular term com-
mences. Mr. Gunster married, October 16, 1873, Maggie Brahl,
of this city. She is the daughter of Christopher Brahl, a native
of Fuldau, Prussia, who emigrated to America in 1840, locating
in Harrisburg, where he resided until 1843, when he settled in
this city, and has resided here since. He was a merchant here
for twenty-eight years. He was a director of the First National
Bank of Wilkes-Barre for eighteen years. He has been for fifteen
years a director of the Wilkes-Barre Savings Bank, and is now
vice president of the same. Mr. and Mrs. Gunster have a family
of four children living — John M. Gunster, Louisa M. Gunster,
Marguerite M. Gunster and Elizabeth Gunster.

Charles Graham Van Fleet. 919

WILLIAM H. STANTON.

William H. Stanton, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne
county, Pa., November 10, 1868, is a native of the city of New
York, where he was born in July, 1843. His father was William
Stanton. W. H. Stanton was educated in the public schools and
at St. Joseph's College, Susquehanna county. Pa., and read law
with W. G. Ward, in Scranton. In the years 1872, 1873 and
1874 he was district attorney of the mayor's court of Scranton.
In 1875-76 he was a state senator for Luzerne county, and in
1876 was elected to the congress of the United States to fill the
unexpired term of W. \\\ Ketcham, now deceased. In 1877 he
was elected by the labor reform party an additional law judge for
Luzerne county for a term of ten years. He served during the
year 1878 and then resigned office. He was for the years 1870
and 1 87 1 the editor and proprietor of the Scranton Bai/y Times.
Mr. Stanton married, August 16, 1S69, Anna Mary Allen,
daughter of James Henry Allen. Mr. and Mrs. Stanton have a
family of five children — William H. Stanton, Mary A. Stanton,
Victoria A. Stanton, Leroi E. Stanton, and Lenore G. Stanton.
Mr. Stanton resides in Scranton, Pa., where he practices law.

CHARLES GRAHAM VAN FLEET.

Charles Graham Van Fleet, who was admitted to the bar of Lu-
zerne county, Pa., November 10, 1868, is a native of Benton town-
ship, Luzerne (now Lackawanna) county. Pa., where he was born
June 3, 1847. He is a grandson of the late James Van Fleet, a
native of Minnesink, Orange county, N. Y., where he was born
February 9, 1786. He came to Pittston the same year, being
brought by his mother on horseback from his native place. The
wife of James Van Fleet was Christiana Gardner. She was a
daughter of Jesse Gardner, a native of Orange county, N. Y. He
was a revolutionary soldier under General Sullivan, and after the

g20 Clark Esek King Rovce.

war ended he emigrated to Pittston. He was the ancestor of 15.
G. Carpenter, of this city. James Van Fleet removed to Benton
at an early date, and was one of its first settlers. The village of
Fleetville, in Benton township, derived its name from him.
The father of Charles G. Van Fleet, and son of James Van Fleet,
was Alva Van Fleet, a farmer of Benton. His wife was Esther
Baker, of Clifford, Susquehanna county, Pa. C. G. Van Fleet
was educated at Wyoming Seminary, Kingston, Pa., and at the
Clinton, N. Y., Liberal Institute. He commenced his reading of
the law with Lamberton and Merriman, in this city, and com-
pleted his reading with E. N. Willard, in Scranton. Mr. Van
Fleet was twice married — first, July 29, 1869, to Isabella C. Wil-
son, daughter of John Wilson, M. D., of Factoryville, Pa. (See
page 914.) By her he had two children — Edwin Wilson Van
P'leet and Nora Belle Van Fleet. He married a second time,
September 29, 1887, Ellen Oliver, a native of Troy, Pa. She is
the daughter of Edwin C. Oliver, a native of Caldwell, N. J. Mr.
Van Fleet resides at Troy, Pa. He has practiced at Scranton,
Pa., Troy, Pa., and Boulder, Colorado. In 1879 and 1880 he was
mayor of Boulder.

CLARK ESEK KING ROYCE.

Clark Esek King Royce, who was admitted to the bar of Lu-
zerne county. Pa., January 23, 1869, is a descendant of Robert
Rose, who came to America in the ship Francis, from Ipswich,
England, in 1634, with a son named Robert, who settled in Strat-
ford, Conn., in 1644. He had a son Samuel Royce, of Walling-
ford. Conn., in 1644, who had a son Jacob Royce, born in 1697,
died in 1727, who had a son Amos Royce, of Wallingford, Conn.,
born in 1725, who had a son Jacob Royce, of Lebanon, N. Y.,
born in 1756, who had a son Ira Royce', of Lebanon, born in
1800 and died in 1874. The name is variously spelled Royce,
Rice, Rose and Roise. C. E. K. Royce, son of Ira Royce, was
born at Lebanon Springs, N. Y., January 13, 1837. The mother
of C. E. K. Royce and wife of Ira Royce was Lucy A. King,
daughter of Esek King. Mr. Royce married, February 3, 1864,

Emerich Harrison Painter. 921

Harriet B. Mitchell, daughter of Edward Mitchell, of Bridge
Hampton, L. I., whose wife was Mary Brainard, of New Haven,
Conn. Mr. and Mrs. Royce have a family of three children —
Frank H. Royce, Robert M. Royce, and Mary B. Royce. C. E.
K. Royce graduated from Williams College in the class of 1859.
He then attended the Columbia College Law School, and was
admitted to the bar of the state of New York, at Albany, in May,
1861. He entered the army in August, 186 1, with the Forty-
fourth Regiment, New York Infantry, and in November, 1865,
was mustered out as colonel of the Twenty-ninth Regiment U.
S. colored troops. He commenced the practice of the law at
Sag Harbor, N. Y., and in 1868 he removed to Scranton, and
was associated for a time with E. N. Willard, under the firm name
of Willard & Royce. He subsequently went to San Francisco,
Cal., where he now resides.

EMERICH HARRISON PAINTER.

Emerich Harrison Painter, who was admitted to the bar of
Luzerne county, Pa., February 24, 1869, is a descendant of Jacob
Painter, who came from Holland at an early day and settled in
Westmoreland county. Pa., then known as the "Wilds of the
West." William Painter, son of Jacob Painter, was a native
of Westmoreland county, where he was born in 1794. E. H.
Painter, son of William Painter, was born in Freeport, Armstrong
county. Pa., February 22, 1843. He was educated in the public
schools of his native i)lace and at Bucknell University, Lewisburg,
Pa., graduating from the latter in the class of 1867. He read law
with George F. Miller, at Lewi-sburg. Pa., and was admitted to
the Union county bar in October, 1868. In 1873, 1874 and
,1875 he was deputy register of wills of Luzerne county. Mr.
Painter married, April 15, 1869, Margaret Marr Derr, a daughter
of Jacob Derr, whose grandfather, Ludwig Dorr, was the founder
of the present borough of Lewisburg, Pa., which in his day was
called Derrstown. They have but one child living— Harry Leland
Painter. Mr. Painter now resides in Turbotyille, Pa,

y22 Weslev II. Geakiiart.

WESLEY H. GEARHART.

Wesley H. Gearhait, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne
county, Pa., April 7, 1869, is a native of Rush township, North-
umberland county. Pa., where he was born December 8, 1839.
He spent his early life on his father's farm, attending school a
few months each year. His father died when quite young. This
soon made self support and family aid a necessity. Soon there-
after he began a five years' clerkship in Danville, Pa., studying
in the meantime, and after that attending the Danville Academy
and Dickinson Seminary, at Williamsport, Pa., graduating from
the latter institution in 1862. He paid for his education from
his own earnings. He read law with Hon. Paul Leidy, at
Danville, and was admitted to the Montour county bar in De-
cember, 1865. He removed to Reading, Pa., and spent three
years practicing at the Berks county bar. Mr. Gearhart's reason
for leaving that bar is given in his own words: "The German I
had learned from the books and the Dutch as she is spoke in
Berks county would not mix." He then settled in Scranton,
Pa., and soon obtained a fine practice. Before leaving Reading,
Judge Warren J. Woodward, before whom he had there prac-
ticed, in a letter of introduction to Judge Conyngham, said of
him : "You will find Mr. Gearhart to have unusual acquirements
and qualifications for his profession, and to be a gentleman of the
highest personal character. Such countenances as you may
properly give him will be deservedly bestowed. " Mr. Gearhart
is a democrat in politics, and has been quite active since a voter,
"taking the stump" in about every important campaign. He
has repeatedly been asked and urged to run for almost every
political office, but he has preferred home and family and to re-
main by his large and lucrative practice, and to look after his coal
mining interests in which he is now and for the past six years
has been quite largely engaged. During the late civil war he was
about four and a half months in the state service as a private.
Mr. Gearhart is of Dutch descent, his ancestors having removed
from Holland and settled in what is now Warren county, N. J.
His great-grandparents removed to and settled near the banks

Harry T. Hull.

923

of the Susquehanna river in Northumberland county, Pa. His
grandfather, William Gearhart, was a native of the last named
county and was a member of the constitutional convention of
1838. His son, Charles Gearhart, was the father of W. H. Gear-
hart. The wife of Charles Gearhart was Sarah Mettler. a daufrh-
ter of William Mettler. She is still living at Danville at the ao-e
of seventy-eight. Mr. Gearhart married, May 3, 1866, Mary E.
Kipp, daughter of George D. Kipp and his wife Mary (fiee Rus-
sell). Mr. and Mrs. Gearhart have a fam.ily of four children living
— Edwin W^ay Gearhart, Lilian Gearhart, James Kipp Gearhart

and Mary Russell Gearhart. Their eldest child, George Kipp
Gearhart, is deceased.

HARRY T. HULL.

Harry T. Hull was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county. Pa.,
April 24, 1869. He is the grandson of Robert Hull, a native of
Hull, England. Francis Hull, son of Robert Hull, was born at
Tolland, Mass. His wife was Fannie Hull, a daughter of Reu-
ben Stearns. H. T. Hull, son of Francis Hull, was born May 24,
1847, at Clifford, Susquehanna county, Pa. He was educated at
Harvard, Mass., and at Wyoming Seminary, Kingston, Pa., and
read law with Wright & Harrington, in this city. He has prac-
ticed at Falls City, Nebraska, where he was police judge in 1885,
and at Humboldt, Nebraska, where he now resides. Mr. Hull
married, May 28, 1872, at Falls City, Lydia M. Power, a daugh-
ter of John Power, a native of New Bloomfield, Perry county,
Pa., and son of Captain William Power, who resided near that
place. The wife of John Power was Sarah, daughter of Joseph
Steele. Sarah Steele was a sister of the late George P. Steele, of
this city, and of Margaret Steele, who married Edwin F. Ferris.
(See page 385.) Mr. and Mrs. Hull have a family of two chil-
dren— Orma Lulu Hull and Mary Hull.

924

Michael Heery.

CORNELIUS SMITH.

Cornelius Smith, who was admitted to the bar of L-uzernc
county, Pa., August i6, 1869, is a native of the county Cavan,
Ireland, where he was born October 25, 1838. He is the son of
John Smith, whose father's name was Cornelius Smith. The
subject of this sketch was educated at the New Berlin Academy,
in Union county. Pa., and read law with George Hill, at Sunbury,
Pa. He was admitted to the Northumberland county bar in
November, 1863. After practicing a short time in Sunbury, he
removed to Pottsville in 1864, where he practiced until his
removal to this county. He served as city attorney of Scranton
for one year, and he has been retained in a large number of the
important trials in Lackawanna and adjoining counties. He
assisted in the defense in the homicide cases of Irving and
O'Mara at Montrose, and was attorney for the defense in the so-
called rioters' cases in this county which grew out of difficul-
ties in the strike of 1877. He married, January 31, 1864, Mar-
garet A. Mahon, a daughter of Patrick Mahon. Mr. and Mrs.
Smith have a family of three children— Mamie Frances Smith,
Regina Gabrielle Smith, and John Stanley Smith.

MICHAEL HEERY.

Michael Heery was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county,
Pa., August 16, 1869. He is a native of county Longford, Ire-
land, and is the son of Thomas Heery. Michael Heery came to
this country when quite young. He read law with Michael Re-
gan, and married Margaret McGavin. He now resides in To-
peka, Kansas.

Edward Baker Sturges. 925

EDWARD BAKER STURGES.

Edward Baker Sturges, who was admitted to the bar of Lu-
zerne county, Pd., August 19, 1869, is a native of Greenfield Hill,
Fairfield county, Conn., where he was born February 15, 1845.
He is the son of the late Rev. Thomas Benedict Sturges, and
grandson of Joseph Porter Sturges, who was a resident of
Bridgeport, Conn. (See page 490.) He was educated at the
College of New York, and read law with J. D. Alvord, of Bridge-
port, and was admitted to the Fairfield county bar in February,
1867. The first time that Mr. Sturges set his foot on Pennsyl-
vania soil was with Uncle Sam's rifle on his shoulder and knap-
sack on his back. This was in 1863, when he was but eighteen
years of age. In 1867 he came to this county to attend a funeral,
and was so attracted by the prospects of Scranton that he gave
up his intention of practicing law in the city of New York and
removed to Scranton. John B. Smith, superintendent of the
Pennsylvania Coal Company, was largely instrumental in helping
him to get started, and at the end of two years he had a large
practice, which soon after probably paid him as well as that of
almost any attorney in the county. He retained this large practice
until he became so deeply interested in other business matters
that he was obliged to surrender a large part of his legal business
or lose his health. Mr. Sturges has had as much to do with the
development of the city of Scranton as any other person in it at
the present time. This has been largely due to his faith and invest-
ments in real estate and in electric railways, which an examination
in Europe had made him a thorough believer in before they were
used practically in this country. Mr. Sturges is a thorough
"Puritan," "as his fathers were," and also a strong temperance
man, having been a candidate on the prohibition ticket for judge at
the time when General Osborne and Judge Handley ran. He has
since declined nominations by that party because assured that
eventually their candidates would be elected, which was not de-
sired in his case. In 1877 he was presented, by a large number of
citizens, with a silver service for his efforts and success in convict-

926 Jacob Byron Snyder.

ing dishonest municipal officers in Scranton. Mr. Sturges has
been a director of the Young Men's Christian Association of
Scranton for seventeen years, and is now a trustee of their new
building. He was president of the association in 1873 ^"^ 1874,
and was for a number of years corresponding secretary. He is a
director and trustee of the Pennsylvania Oral School for Deaf
Mutes, now erecting its building. He was one of the eight mem-
bers of the First Presbyterian church of Scranton who first
pledged themselves to organize the Second church of Scranton,
of which he was trustee for several years. He is now a trus-
tee and elder in the Green Ridge Presbyterian church in Scran-
ton. He built, and was president for two years, of the Scranton
Suburban Railway, the first considerable electric railway in the
United States, and is now one of the directors of the same. He
is president of the Nay Aug Cross Town Railway Company, also
running an electric railway. He is also the president of the Lack-
awanna Electric Power Company, which supplies electric power
for Scranton roads now running, and he is a director in the Sub-
urban Electric Light Company. He is a director in the Lacka-
wanna Trust and Safe Deposit Company, treasurer of the Lack-
awanna Coal Company, limited, and one of the managers of the
Dolph Coal Company, limited, also president of the Scranton and
Forest City Railroad Company. He is also interested in several
other enterprises which it is not necessary to name. Mr. Sturges
married, September 2, 1873, Marion Sanderson, daughter of the
late George Sanderson, of Scranton. (See sketch of George San-
derson.) Mr. and Mrs. Sturges have a family of three children —
Clarence B. Sturges, George Sanderson Sturges, and Anna Stur-.
ges. E. B. Sturges is a brother of Frank C. Sturges, of the Lu-
zerne bar.

JACOB BYRON SNYDER.

Jacob Byron Snyder was admitted to the bar of Luzerne
county, Pa., August 24, 1869. His father was Jacob Snyder,
whose wife was Rebecca Niver, a daughter of Jacob Niver. They
were of Dutch descent, and both Mr. Snyder and Mr. Niver were

Lewis Martin Bunnell. 927

soldiers in the revolutionary war. J. B. Snyder was born in
Greenfield township, Luzerne (now Lackawanna) county, Pa., July
7, 1824. He was educated in the public schools, and read law with
F. M. Crane and Earl Wheeler, at Honesdale, and with W. G.
Ward, at Scranton. While residing in Wayne county Mr.
Snyder was a justice of the peace for ten years, and coroner of
Wayne county for a term of three years. He married, June 20,
1850, Elizabeth, daughter of John Decker. Mr. and Mrs. Sny-
der have a family of three children living — Byron Jacob Snyder
(married to Matilda Cramer, daughter of Lewis Cramer), Sam-
uel Henry Snyder, and Fred Gunster Snyder, Mr. Snyder
resides in Scranton, and has been court crier of Lackawanna
county for nine years.

LEWIS MARTIN BUNNELL.

Lewis Martin Bunnell was admitted to the bar of Luzerne
county. Pa., August 24, 1869. He is a grandson of Miles B. Bun-
nell, a native of Norwich, Conn., and his father was Martin Bun-
nell,a native of Danbury, Conn., who removed to Herrick township,
Susquehanna county, Pa., prior to 1834. In that year he was
one of the organizers of the Baptist church in that township. The
mother of L, M. Bunnell was Aurena Decatur, a native of Rox-
bury, Delaware county, N. Y. She was the daughter of Cor-
nelius K. Decatur, a nativ^e of Baltimore, Maryland whose par-
ents came from Baden Baden, Germany. He enlisted in the
continental army and remained with it until the end of the war.
He was at Valley Forge in the winter of 1777-8, and was also
at the surrender at Yorktown. He died in 1852, aged ninety-
seven years. Lewis M. Bunnell was born in Herrick township,
December 8, 1835. ^^^ ^^'^^ educated at the public schools of
his native township, at Harford Academy and the Wyoming
Seminary, Kingston, Pa. He had attended but four terms of pub-
lic school up to the time he was sixteen years of age. He was
apprenticed to a blacksmith, which trade he learned, and after-
wards worked as a journeyman to enable him to obtain his
education as stated. He then taught school for three terms.

928 Meredith Lewis Jones.

He read law with R. 15. Little, at Montrose, Ta., and was admit-
ted to the bar of Susquehanna county, Fa., August 6, 1862. In
1 86 1 he entered the United States service as a private. This was
in the three months' service. He was afterwards captain of Com-
pany K, of the One Hundred and Seventy-seventh Regiment
Pennsylvania Volunteers. The term of service of this regiment
was nine months. Mr. Bunnell served nearly two years in the
recruiting service of the army subsequently. Mr. Bunnell mar-
ried, January i, 1866, Anna Davis, a native of Floyd, Oneida
county, N. Y. Her father, Richard R. Davis, was a native of
Wales. Mr. and Mrs. Bunnell have a family of five children
living — Mary R. Bunnell, Lewis M. Bunnell, Bessie A. Bunnell,
Anna M. Bunnell, and Ralph Decatur Bunnell. Mr. Bunnell
since his admission to the bar of our county has resided in Scran-
ton. From 1873 to 1876 he was a school director of Hyde Park,
now a portion of the city of Scranton.

GEORGE D. BUTLER.

George D. Butler was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county,
Pa., November 9, 1869. He v^^as originally from Montour county,
Pa., and practiced his profession in Scranton for a year or more.
He is said to be residing in New York.

MEREDITH LEWIS JONES.

Meredith Lewis Jones was admitted to the bar of Luzerne
county. Pa., November 15, 1869. He was born in Carbondale,
Luzerne (now Lackawanna) county, Pa , April 30, 1840, and is
the son of Lewis Jones and Anna Maria Jones, his wife. (See
page 826) He was educated at the Luzerne Presbyterian Insti-
tute, at Wyoming, and read law with his father. He has prac-
ticed in this city, also in .Scranton, and now in New York city.
While residing in Scranton he held the position of notary public,
and he is now commissioner of deeds for Pennsylvania, with his

James Emmett Stoutenburgh. 929

office in, the city of New York. During the late civil war he was
mustered in as second lieutenant and was afterwards promoted to
first lieutenant of Company E, One Hundred and Forty-ninth
Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers. He served as aide-de-camp on
the staff of Major General Abner Doubleday, commanding Third
Division, First Army Corps, during the Chancellorsville and
Gettysburg campaigns, and in that capacity ordered up the first
battery that opened fire at the battle of Gettysburg, about 10 a. m.
July I, 1863. On the third day he had his horse nearly shot to
pieces, while in the performance of his duty, though he himself
escaped unhurt. He received honorable and complimentary
mention in General Doubleday's report of the battle of Gettys-
burg, and in the General's book on that campaign. He was
afterwards placed in command of Company B, One Hundred
and Forty-ninth Regiment ; and by Governor Curtin was offered
promotion and command of one of the new regiments forming
at Harrisburg in 1863, which he declined on account of pledges
given to recruits who first enlisted with him not to leave them.
After a severe attack of typhoid pneumonia, from the effects of
which he has never fully recovered, he was honorably discharged
March 18, 1864. Mr. Jones married. May 10, 1864, Delia Silli-
man Mitchell, granddaughter of Minott Mitchell, a lawyer, of
White Plains, N. Y., and daughter of William Minott Mitchell, a
lawyer of New York, a partner of Hiram Barney, and at the time
of his death public administrator of New York city. Her mother
was Delia Silliman, daughter of William Silliman, counsellor at

law, New York city, whose wife was St. John, of New

Canaan, Conn. Mr. and Mrs. Jones have one child living — Annie
Meredith Jones. Mr. Jones resides in Brooklyn, N. Y.

JAMES EMMETI STOUTENBURGH,

James Emmett Stoutenburgh, who was admitted to the bar of
Luzerne county. Pa., November 24, 1869, is a descendant of Ja-
cobus Stoutenburgh, who came from the Hague, Holland, and
settled in Hyde Park, Dutchess county, N. Y., about 17 12. He

930 Lorenzo D. Vickekv.

married Margaret Teller in 17 17. Luke Stoutenburgh, his son,
married Rachel Teller. James L. Stoutenburgh, son of Luke
Stoutenburgh. married Sarah Morris, of Clinton, Dutchess county.
The first two generations of Stoutenburghs were large land owners
in Dutchess county, and the family has always occupied a promi-
nent place in that locality. Rev. Luke L Stoutenburgh, a son of
James L. Stoutenburgh, after a course of study for the ministry,
was licensed by the New York Congregational Association in
1 84 1. On the evening after receiving his license he commenced
preaching to the Congregational church ' at Chester, Morris
county, N. J., where he continued his labors for nearly twenty-
seven years. He was for eleven years superintendent of the public
schools of Chester township, and was the projector and one of
the main founders of the famous Chester Institute, of which he
was proprietor and principal. On account of ill health Mr.
Stoutenburgh was obliged to give up both church and school, and
he removed to Schooley's Mountain Springs for the improve-
ment of his health. There he purchased the Forest Grove House
and established the Schooley's Mountain Seminary, which, under
his charge, became one of the most successful and flourishing
schools in the state. His first wife was Harriet E., daughter of
David Reeve, of Middletown, N. Y. James E., son of Rev. Luke
I. and Harriet E. Stoutenburgh, was born in Chester, Decem-
ber 14, 1845. He was educated at Williams College, Williams-
town, Mass., and studied la\v with Hubbard B. Payne, in this
city. He practiced here until 1873, when he removed to Passaic,
N. J., where he now resides. He was city counsel for the city of
Passaic for ten years prior to 1887. Mr. Stoutenburgh was for
a while professor of mathematics at the Wyoming Seminary,
Kingston, Pa. He is an unmarried man.

LORENZO D. VICKERY.

Lorenzo D. Vickery was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county,
Pa., December 23, iS6g. He resides in Scranton.

John Beaumont Collings. 931

HUGH MOORE HANNAH.

Hugh Moore Hannah, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne
county, Pa, February 24, 1870, is a native of Harford, Susque-
hanna county, Pa., where he was born September 13, 1842. He
was educated in the public schools in New Milford, Pa., and at
the Millersville, Pa., State Normal School, and read law in Scran-
ton with his brother, Daniel Hannah, and F. E. Loomis. His
father was Archibald Hannah and his mother was Mary Hannah
[nee Leslie), a daughter of Alexander Leslie. Both his parents
were of Scotch descent, and were born in the north of Ireland.
Mr, Hannah was city solicitor of Scranton in the years 1874, 1875
and 1876, and a member of the common council of the city of
Scranton in the years 1877 and 1878. He married, December 2,
1875, Elizabeth Hindman, of Oxford, Pa. Mr. and Mrs. Hannah
have a family of three children — Fannie Hannah, Clarence Han-
nah, and Frederick Hannah.

JOHN BEAUMONT COLLINGS.

John Beaumont Collings was admitted to the bar of Luzerne
county. Pa., March 2, 1870. He is the grandson of Daniel Col-
lings, of English parentage, who was born at Easton, Pa., in 1787.
He learned the trade of a clockmaker, and early removed to
Wilkes-Barre, where he carried on his trade and engaged in other
business pursuits for many years. An old clock at present in
the rooms of the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society is
a specimen of his handiwork, and for many years did service as
the town clock of Wilkes-Barre. On October 7, 18 13, Mr. Col-
lings married Melinda, a daughter of Eleazer Blackman. He was
the son of Elisha Blackman, who died in Wilkes-Barre in Sep-
tember, 1804. The Blackman family emigrated from Lebanon,
Conn., to the Wyoming Valley in 1773. During the troubles
incident to the Indian excursion of 1778, Eleazer, being only
thirteen years of age, was too young to go forth with the fighting

932 Joiix Beaumont Collings.

men, so he was employed, with other boys and the old men, in
strengthening the fort at Wilkes-Barre for the protection of the
women and children. His brothers, Elisha and Ichabod — both
under eighteen years of age — were in the field, and were of the few
who escaped with their lives at the time of the massacre and battle.
After the capitulation Eleazer Blackman, with his mother and
two sisters, accompanied the women in their flight to the Dela-
ware river through the "Shades of Death." After the valley was
restored to quiet he returned and grew up to manhood among
the hardy frontiersmen. In the progress of the setttement and
opening up of the country he mingled actively in the business
of life, held public stations, both civil and military, and during
his entire life enjoyed the respectand esteem of all who knew him.
In I Sod he was commissioned captain of the First Troop of
Horse. This position he held for a number of years, and in 1812
he attained the rank of major in the militia. In 1801, 1802, 1803,
1805 and 1806 he was one of the commissioners of Luzerne
county, and from 1808 to 18 10 treasurer of the county. He died
at his residence in Wilkes-Bafre township, September 10, 1843.
aged seventy-eight years. From 1835 to 1841 Daniel Collings
was postmaster of Wilkes-Barre. He died in this city October
II, 1854.

Samuel Phinney Collings, son of Daniel Collings, was born in
Wilkes-Barre in May, 18 16. From 1835 to 1852 he was the
editor and proprietor of The Republican Farmer newspaper of
Wilkes-Barre. For purity of language, boldness of style, and
cogency of reasoning, few men could excel him. In the fall of
1854 he was appointed United States consul at Tangier, Morocco,
for which place he immediately sailed with his wife, two of his
children, and his wife's youngest sister, Eleanor Beaumont. He
died at Tangier June 15, 1855, of fever and congestion of the
lungs, after an illness of three days. The state department at
W^ashington received from the emperor of Morocco an autograph
eulogy on the character of the late consul, showing the high
esteem in which he had been held by the emperor. Mr. Collings
was a man of marked ability, of strong and refined intellect, and
firm and steadfast in his principles of honor and integrity. He
left to survive him his wife, four daughters, and one son, John B.

John Beaumont Collings. 933

Collings. His wife was Elizabeth Beaumont, eldest daughter of
Andrew Beaumont. (See page 886, and sketch of William Henry
Beaumont).

John B. ColUngs, son of Samuel P. Collings, was born in
Wilkes-Barre, Pa., December 17, 1846. He received his educa-
tion in the schools of this city, Wyoming Seminary and Dana's
Academy, and read law with George R. Bedford, in this city. In
1873 he was nominated by the democrats of Luzerne county for
district attorney, but was defeated by Alexander Farnham. Mr.
Collings removed to Scranton in 1874, and has since practiced
his profession in that city, winning distinction by his conduct
of several important cases. In the new county fight ^Ir. Col-
lings took a leading part, and wrote much for the local papers
favoring a division, and labored hard upon the stump to convince
the voters, to whom the matter was submitted, that a division
would be beneficial to them. On his mother's side Mr. Collings is
prominently connected. His grandfather, the late Andrew Beau-
mont, represented the old twelfth district in congress, and was also
a member of the state legislature. His uncle, the late Admiral John
C. Beaumont, for whom Mr. Collings is named, was selected by the
administration at that time to convey the congratulations of the
congress of the United States to Alexander, czar of Russia, upon
his escape from assassination at the hands of a Polander in 1863.
Another uncle. Colonel Eugene B. Beaumont, was for many years
instructor in cavalry tactics at West Point, and is now command-
ant at Fort Bowie, Arizona. Mr. Collings was made private
secretary to his uncle and accompanied him to Moscow on his
mission. He received at the hands of the emperor a bronze
medal, commemorative of the event. During his trip Mr. Collings
visited nearly all the principal ports in Europe, and wintered near
the Mediterranean. After an absence of two years he returned
to his home in Wilkes-Barre, and commenced the study of law.
While a student Mr. Collings acted as clerk in the prothonotary's
office, and later held a position in the office of the clerk of the
courts. Mr. Collings is an unmarried man. In 188S he was the
democratic nominee for district attorney of Lackawanna county,
but was defeated by Henry M. P^dwards, his republican com-
petitor.

934 Thomas Nesbitt.

Eleazer Blackman Collings, an uncle of John B. Collings, was
postmaster of Wilkes-Barre from 1845 to 1849, and also from
1858 to i86i.' During the war with Mexico he was first lieu-
tenant of Company I, First Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers.
His brother, George Collings, was in the same company. In
1852 E. B. Collings and Halsey Brower started the first daily
paper in Wilkes-Barre. It was called Tlie Daily Telegraph, and
survived but eight weeks. In 1861 E. B. Collings was elected
clerk of the courts of Quarter Sessions, Oyer and Termimer, and
the Orphans' Court of Luzerne county for a term of three years,
and in 1864 was reelected to the same offices for another term
of three years.

ABRAM GOODWIN HOYT.

Abram Goodwin Hoyt, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne
county, Pa., March 2, 1870, is a native of Kingston, Pa., where he
was born January 25, 1847. ^^ '^ the son of John D. Hoyt,
and a brother cf E. E. Hoyt, whose biography and family history
will be found on page 627. Mr. Hoyt was educated at the Wyo-
ming Seminary and at the College of New Jersey, Princeton,
graduating" from the latter institution in the class of 1868. He
read law with his uncle, ex-Governor Henry M. Hoyt, in this
city, and has practiced here, also in Colorado and New Mexico.
From 1872-74 he was register of the land office, Santa Fe, New
Mexico. From 1874-76 he was designated depository United
States receiver of public moneys and pension agent at Santa Fe,
and 1880 supervisor of the United States census, for New Mexico.
He now resides in Kingston. Mr. Hoyt is an unmarried man.

THOMAS NESBITT.

Thomas Nesbitt was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county.
Pa., April 4, 1870, and practiced in this city for a few years. He
is said to live in Chicago, III.

Daniel Ward Connolly. 935

GEORGE PECK MYERS.

George Peck Myers, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne
county, Pa., April 25, 1870, is a native of Kingston, Pa., where
he was born February 5, 1846. He is the son of the late Thomas
Myers. (See page 650.) His mother is Elizabeth C. Myers, {jiee
Vanderbelt). She is the daughter of Peter Vanderbelt, jr., who
married Elizabeth Ross, a daughter of Michael Ross, who in 1798
presented the commissioners of Lycoming county, Pa., with the
land where the court house and jail now stand in the city of
Williamsport. He was the original proprietor of the lands where
Williamsport is now located, and the town was named after his
son, William Ross. Governor Packer, of Pennsylvania, also mar-
ried a daughter of Peter Vanderbelt, jr. George P. Myers was
educated at Dickinson Seminary, Williamsport, and Saunders
Institute, at Philadelphia. He read law with Hendrick Bradley
Wright and Stanley Woodward. For some years he has resided
at Williamsport. He is an unmarried man.

DANIEL WARD CONNOLLY.

Daniel Ward Connolly, who was admitted to the bar of Lu-
zerne county, Pa., May 10, 1870, is a native of Cochecton, Sul-
livan county, N. Y., where he was born April 24, 1847. His
father was John Connolly, a native of Ireland, who removed to
this country with his parents when eight years of age. He lived
in the city of New York until he attained his majority, and sub-
sequently became a railroad contractor. He removed to Hyde
Park (now Scranton), Pa., in 1849, where he resided until his
death. The wife of John Connolly was Ann Adelia Allyn, a
daughter of Deacon David Allyn, of Montgomery, Mass. D. W .
Connolly was educated in the public schools of Hyde Park, and
read law with Aaron A. Chase, in Scranton. In 1880 he was the
democratic candidate for congress in the twelfth congressional
district of Pennsylvania, but was defeated by Joseph A. Scranton,

936 Francis E. Burrows.

republican, the vote standing — Scranton, 13,455; Connolly,
10,948. In 1882 he was again a candidate, and was elected, the
vote standing — Connolly, 11,811; Scranton, 10,822. In 1884 he
was again a candidate and was defeated, the vote standing —
Scranton, 17,016; Connolly, 15,179. In 1885 Mr. Connolly
was appointed postmaster of Scranton, which position he now
holds. Mr. Connolly is a married man.

GEORGE SANDERSON.

George Sanderson was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county,
Pa., November 19, 1870. He is the son of the late George San-
derson, of Scranton, Pa. (See sketch.) The subject of this sketch
was born in Towanda, Bradford county. Pa., August 22, 1847.
He graduated from the Harvard Law School, having previously
read law with Samuel Robb, of Philadelphia. He has practiced in
Boston, Philadelphia, Scranton, and this city. He was admitted to
practice in the superior court of Massachusetts, county of Middle-
sex, December 18, 1869, and the Common Pleas of Philadelphia
county, Pa., November 5, 1870. Mr. Sanderson married, Novem-
ber 28, 1871, Lucy Reed Jackson, granddaughter of Stephen
W. Jackson and Lucretia Jackson, his wife, daughter of Eph-
raim Thayer (both natives of Boston), and daughter of Charles
Jackson, a native of Boston, and M. L. Jackson, his wife, who
was a daughter of David Reed, natives of Surrey, N. H. Mr.
and Mrs. Sanderson have eight children, six of whom survive —
Edward Spaulding Sanderson, Charles Reed Sanderson, James
Gardner Sanderson, Helen Louise Sanderson, Marion Kingsbury
Sanderson, and George Sanderson, jr. Mr. Sanderson resides in
Scranton, Pa.

FRANCIS E. BURROWS.

Francis E. Burrows was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county,
Pa., September 5, 1871. He is the grandson of Daniel Burrows

William D. Lusk. 937

and son of Joshua Burrows, a native of Hebron, Conn., who in
1828 removed to Pike township, Bradford county, Pa., where he
now resides. The mother of F. E. Burrows and wife of Joshua
Burrows is Harriet E., daughter of Benajata Bostvvick, an early
settler of Pike township. Mr. Bostvvick was from New Milford,
Conn. F. E. Burrows resides in Stevensville, Bradford county.
Pa.

ALLEN S. HOTTENSTEIN.

Allen S. Hottenstein, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne
county, Pa., September 12, 1871, is a native of Liberty township,
Montour county. Pa., where he was born May 27, 1840. His
father, Charles Hottenstein, and grandfather, Henry Hottenstein,
were natives of Berks county, Pa. Mr. Hottenstein was educated
at the Milton Academy, Milton, Pa., and the law department of
the University of Pennsylvania. He read law with Hon. H. H.
Schwartz, at Kutztown, Pa., and was admitted to the bar of Leb-
anon county. Pa., January 27, 1871. He has practiced in this
city, Scranton, Sunbury, and Milton, where he now resides. He
is the postmaster of Milton, which is a presidential office, his
commission bearing date August i, 1886, for a term of four
years. He is also the proprietor of the Milton Economist. Mr.
Hottenstein married, September 7, 1870, Henrietta F. Graff, of
Lyons Station, Berks county, Pa. Her father, Frederick W. Graff,
and grandfather, Samuel H. Graff, were natives of Montgoinery
county. Pa. Mr. and Mrs. Hottenstein have a family of six
children, two sons and four daughters.

WILLIAM D. LUSK.

William D. Lusk, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne
county. Pa., September 28, 1871, is the son of Franklin Lusk, a
lawyer, who resided at Montrose, Susquehanna county. Pa., and

938 Henry M. Edwards.

who represented that county in the legislature of the state in
1840. W. D. Lusk was born at Great Bend, Pa, February i.
1833. He was educated at Bolmar's Military Academy, West
Chester, Pa., and at the Homer Academy, Homer, N. Y. He
read law with Messrs. Little & Post, at Montrose, and was admit-
ted to the Susquehanna county bar November 21, 1859. He
married, July — , 1866, Pauline PI Dayton, and has three children.
Mr. Lusk is president of the P^irst National Bank of Montrose,
where he now resides. He practiced for a time in Scranton.

HENRY M. EDWARDS.

Henry M. Edwards was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county,
Pa., October 18, 1871. His grandfather, John P^dwards, a native
of Monmouthshire, England, came to this country at an early
day, and taught school in Carbondale, Pa., in 1832. He subse-
quently returned to his native place, where he died. His son,
John M. Edwards, was born in Monmouthshire and emigrated to
this country in 1864, and located at Hyde Park (now in the city
of Scranton). The wife of John M. Edwards was Margaret,
daughter of Thomas Morgan. She was born in Monmouthshire
and died there while on a visit to her relatives. Henry M. Ed-
wards, son of John M. Edwards, was born in Monmouthshire,
February 12, 1844, and came to this country with his parents in
1864. He was educated at Swansea, South Wales, and at the
London University, from which he graduated. In the early days
of his residence in Scranton Mr. Edwards devoted his time to
newspaper work, and for several years was the regular corres-
pondent of the New York Tribune and the Philadelphia Press.
He was afterwards made managing editor of the Banner America,
an influential W^elsh journal that flourished in Scranton about
eighteen years ago. Mr. Edwards married, November 3, 1870,
Jennie Richards, a native of Carbondale. She is the daughter of
Thomas Richards, a native of South Wales, who emigrated to
Carbondale in 1831. He now resides in Scranton. Mr. and
Mrs. Edwards have a family of five children — John Edwards,

Daniel Webster Rank. 039

Maggie Edwards, May Edwards, Annie Edwards and Harry
M. Edwards. Mr. Edwards read law in Scranton with F. W.
Gunster, and since his admission has been prominent as a law-
yer, and also distinguished in politics. In the Garfield campaign
his services were greatly in demand and he stumped the states of
Ohio, Indiana and Maryland in the interest of the Republican
national ticket. Twice he has been called into the state of
Ohio in state campaigns. Mr. Edwards' aptness for political dis-
cussion and his effectiveness on the platform have often caused
him to be suggested as a candidate for various offices in the
county, and during the past two years he has been prominently
mentioned as a candidate forjudge and for congress. He never
was a candidate for office, however, until 1885, when he received
the nomination for district attorney. He was elected by a ma-
jority of nearly twelve hundred votes, and in 1888 was renom-
inated without opposition and elected. Mr. Edwards has earned
an excellent reputation in literature, particularly among the Welsh
people, in whose Eisteddfods he has taken great interest, winning,
up to the time when he entered into the business of the law,
over fifty prizes for poems and other literary work presented at
these Eistcddfodaii. He is a fluent, forcible writer, in prose and
verse, and there can be no question that if he had not taken up
the law for his profession he could have made his mark in literary
pursuits.

— r 'ix^

DAVID UNGER.

David Unger was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county. Pa.,
November 16, 187 1. He practiced for a while in Scranton, and
now resides at Danville, Pa.

DANIEL WEBSTER RANK.

Daniel Webster Rank, who was admitted to the bar of Luzferne
county, Pa., February 19, 1872, is a descendant of Philip Ranck,

940 Daniel Webster Rank.

who was a resident of Earl township, Lancaster county, Pa., early
in the last century, and whose parents came from Alsace in 1728.
The next in line of descent was Philip Adam Ranck. Philip
Adam Ranck had a son Adam Ranck, who in 1790 removed to
a farm which he bought in what is now White Deer township,
Union county. Pa., where he died. Daniel Rank, son of Adam
Ranck, lived and died in Union county. He was a farmer and
blacksmith. His wife was Catharine Heckel. Joseph S. Rank,
oldest son of Daniel Rank, was born in Union county, December
20, 1807. He married, December 30, 1830, Catharine McGin-
ness, of Union county. In 1836 he removed to Limestoneville,
Montour county. Pa. Daniel W. Rank, son of Joseph S. Rank,
was born February 16, 1835, in Union county, and until he
was twenty years of age worked on the farm of his father. In
1855 he began reading law in the office of Robert Hawley, of
Muncy, Pa. He was admitted to the Lycoming county. Pa., bar
April 24, 1859. He then opened an office at Millersburg, Dau-
phin county. Pa., where he practiced his profession until August
31, 1 86 1, when he enlisted in Company D, Seventh Regiment
Pennsylvania Cavalry. On October 9 he was made sergeant;
on November 18 was promoted to sergeant major, and on June
1 1, 1864, by order of the secretary of war, was mustered back to
May I, 1863, as first lieutenant of Company M, same regiment.
On August 31, 1864, he was made acting assistant adjutant gen-
eral for the detachment. First Brigade, Second Cavalry Division,
then at Columbia, Tenn., and was subsequently appointed to the
command of the detachment to guard Sherman's line of transpor-
tation. He remained in this duty until December 16, 1864, when
he was mustered out on account of ill health, not accepting a
commission as captain, dated September 15, 1864, which had
been sent him. On his retirement from the army he went to his
home, and was unable to engage in any occupation until the early
part of 1872, when he removed to Scranton. He practiced there
for ten years, during which time he was commissioned by Gov-
ernor Hartranft district attorney of the mayor's court of Scran-
ton. In 1882 he returned to his former home in Limestoneville,
and in the fall of 1884 he was elected district attorney of Mon-
tour county. Mr. Rank married. May 12, 1875, Mary Catharine

Daniel Webster Rank. 941

McKune, daughter of Robert H. McKune, of Scranton. Mr.
McKune is of Scotch and Irish descent, his great-grandfather,
Robert McKune, having emigrated from Scotland and settled in
Orange county, N. Y., in 1762, in which county the family, with
the exception of Robert H., has since resided. Robert H.
McKune was born in Newburg, N.Y., August 19, 1823. His father
dying when he was three years of age, he was taken in charge
by his grandfather, Robert McKune. He left his studies at the
age of thirteen and commenced active life by entering the boot
and shoe store of George Mecklam. After remaining one year
he united himself with a relative, Henry Schenck, of New Bruns-
wick, N. J., who carried on the same class of business, and with
whom he stayed two years. Having always had a desire for
personal independence, he concluded to learn a trade. His
widowed mother had been carrying on a baking business in New-
burg, and thither he repaired to join the comforts of home with
his business relations, which he adhered to for several years. In
1839 he went to New York, and after remaining two years he
returned to his home and took charge of his mother's business
until he was of age, when, having a small patrimony left him by
his grandfather, he entered the grocery business in Newburg.
While here he was married to Elmira Smith, of Mamakating,
Sullivan county, N. Y. She was the daughter of James D. Smith.
Mr. McKune continued his residence in Newburg for two years.
His health failing, he took up his abode at Cold Spring, N. Y.,
for another two years, and in 1849 emigrated to California, leav-
ing New York, February i, on the steamer "Falcon," which car-
ried the first mails to California. During this trip he worked as
baker, both on the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, and was the first
American that ever carried on that branch of industry in the city
of Panama. On reaching California he repaired to the mines and
stayed there for seven months, then went to San Francisco and
engaged at his business during his sojourn there. On his return
east he settled first at Susquehanna Depot, Pa., after which he
located at Binghamton, N. Y. He remained in Binghamton for
seventeen years, and in 1862 he removed to Scranton. The same
year he occupied the position of first lieutenant of the Keystone
Guards, a company raised at Scranton, and with them he joined

942 Daniel Webster Rank.

the army at the front, assisting the army of the Potomac at the
battle of Antietam. Upon his return from this emergency he
entered the service again by uniting with the secret bureau at
Vicksburg, Miss., under command of Colonel Hutchinson, and
remained in the secret service until the close of the war. He
remained one year south after the termination of hostilities, when
he again returned north, and entered upon a general insurance
business in Scranton. In 1868 he was appointed by Chief Justice
Chase U. S. commissioner, and held this position until his
election as mayor, when he resigned. He was elected mayor in
1875 by the democratic party, and held the office until 1878. It
was during his term as mayor that the great strike of 1877
occurred. The full particulars may be seen in a work entitled
"A City's Danger and Defense," by Samuel C. Logan, D. D.,
Scranton, Pa., 1887. Mayor McKune was severely beaten by
the rioters while trying to persuade them to go to their homes.
F'ifty-three persons, most of them members of the Scranton City
Guards, which had been called into existence by Mayor McKune,
were tried for manslaughter. It is needless to say that they were
all honorably acquitted. Hon. Stanley Woodward, who was one
of the counsel for the defense during the trial, paid the following
tribute to Mayor McKune : "And here let me say, that nowhere
in the history of any state or city can be found a nobler, braver
record than that made by Mayor KcKune and the handful of
men under his command. Their action was as unselfish as it was
honorable. No man could have shown greater pluck and per-
sonal courage than Mayor McKune when he quietly approached
that mob, hoping to prevail upon them to return to their duty as
good citizens. Yet they gave him no hearing. He was beaten
down by those who call themselves laboring men. Had they not
been met and checked in their mad career the city of Scranton
would have been in embers. There would have been sacked
houses and terrorized people everywhere. The excitement of
such an occasion prevents many things from being brought to
light, but this one fact we have proved, that the three men who
died were shot in the front." Judge Harding, who presided at
the trial, said : "The city of Scranton was fortunate in having for
her chief officer on that day Robert H. McKune, one of the few

Daniel Webster Rank. 943

mayors of the cities of Pennsylvania who, in the almost general
troubles of the times, manfully stood up for law and order."
Mayor McKune was presented with a testimonial address, which,
among other words, contained the following : " We recognize the
promptness and manly decision with which, with a handful of
our brave young men as special police, you stood at the risk of
your life, and v/hile bleeding with wounds, to use deadly force to
arrest the mob, and exorcise the murderous spirit abroad, when
everything else failed. We are proud to recall you with your
little band of vigilants as you stood on that memorable first day
of August as a forlorn hope to save the city from a wretched
desolation and violence, which the condition of other cities of
our land at that timed proved to be imminent. We not only be-
lieve that you and your special police, so wisely organized, did
God's service that day, but that our fathers' God was with you,
and that under and by his interposition of mercy this spirit of all
evil was arrested, if not subdued, for the whole valley. You
foueht and won the battle of law and order for all the cities of
the region, and lifted the office you fill into its true importance
and dignity." This testimonial was voluntarily signed, in an
illuminated book, by about two thousand citizens of Scranton and
of the immediate vicinity. It has the signatures of Governor Hart-
ranft and all the members of his staff, also of all the veterans of
1 8 12 known to be in the county. It contained the signatures of all
the Protestant pastors in the city, that of the directors of the Home
for the Friendless and of the City Hospital. To it also were
affixed the signatures of the officers and directors of all the cor-
porations and associations, both business and benevolent, repre-
sented in the city, and with them the seals of these corporations.
It was signed by the "Firing Squad" of August first, and by the
officers and men of the Scranton City Guard. After all these,
many citizens of Carbondale, Pittston, Wilkes-Barre, Bethlehem,
and Pittsburg, in Pennsylvania, joined those of Elmira, Buffalo
and New York city in attaching their names to this recognition
of the faithfulness of Mayor McKune.

Mrs. Mary Catharine Rank was born January 11, 1846. She
died July 18, 1881, in Scranton. Mr. and Mrs. Rank had two
children, both of whom died in infancy.

944 George Scranton Horn.

GEORGE SCRANTON HORN.

Georee Scranton Horn, who was admitted to the bar of Lu-
zerne county, Pa., April 3, 1872, is a grandson of John Horn
and his wife, EHzabeth Horn, {iice Leidig). The father of George
S. Horn was Adam Lewis Horn, who was born in Easton, Pa.,
December 21, 1815. The wife of A. L. Horn was Elizabeth
Widener Albright, a daughter of William and Anna Albright.
She was born at Belvidere, N. J., November 10, 1817. They
were married at Belvidere November 12, 1836. In 1846 they
removed to Harrison (now the city of Scranton). George S. Horn
was born at Scrantonia (now Scranton), April 27, 1849. He at-
tended the public schools in his early youth, and afterwards one of
the best business colleges in the country. In 1866 he went to
Washington, N. J., as an employee of the Delaware, Lackawanna
& Western Railroad, in the coal shipping department at that place,
and remained in their employ until the summer of 1869, when he
entered the law office of John W. Belts at that place, as a stu-
dent at law. Mr. Betts' health failed in the fall of that year and
he gave up practice. Mr. Horn thereupon returned to Scranton,
and on December 13, 1869. entered the law office of Ward &
Gunster. Mr. Horn has had a lucrative practice from his admis-
sion, and on June 15, 1877, entered into co-partnership with Hon.
W. G. Ward, and since then has been a member of the firm of
Ward & Horn. He is a democrat in politics, but has never sought
office at the hands of his party. Mr. Horn married, April 17,
1872, Caroline, a daughter of Adam S. and Julia Edinger,
formerly of Tannersville, Monroe county. Pa., and subsequently
of Scranton. Mr. and Mrs. Horn have one child living— Charles
E. Horn.

In 1883 one of the newspapers of Scranton published a series
of articles, containing sketches of members of the Lackawanna
county bar, from the pen of one of the prominent members of
that bar. In one of these articles appeared the following, with
reference to the subject of this sketch :

" I will select as the subject of to-day's sketch one of the most

Jacob Shindel Leisenring. 945

successful young lawyers at the bar — George S. Horn, Esq. Iden-
tified for some years with the firm of Ward & Horn, his individ-
uality as an attorney has been partially merged with the prom-
inent advocate with whom he has been associated. The laborious
and extensive office work of the firm has fallen to his lot, while
Judge Ward basked in the smiles of the court and took posses-
sion of the case after the preliminary work had been done, and
it was ready for trial. There are few more thorough lawyers
than Mr. Horn at the bar, and certainly none possessing in a more
eminent degree those qualities of head and heart which not only
insure his own success, but endear him to the legal fraternity.
There is all that strict discipline accompanying his character that
contributes to the successful issue of a case in hand, but when
business is given up for the time there is all of that mirthful
abandon of action and conversation which constitutes the true
harmony of fun. There is no more genial soul at the Lack-
awanna bar ; none more ready to give or take a joke; none more
ready to perform and none more capable of appreciating a kind-
ness. He is always anxious to please, and does not possess that
domineering attitude or conduct Which almost cancels the virtues
of some of our lawyers. Mr. Horn is now coming into more
active prominence before the court and jury. He is modest in his
pretensions and does not seek to parade his knowledge or abil-
ities to the gaze of every one. He is rather inclined to suffer his
merits to assert themselves. He is honest, capable and efficient,
the prerequisites of a good and successful lawyer."

JACOB SHINDEL LEISENRING.

Jacob Shindel Leisenring, who was admitted to the bar of Lu-
zerne county, Pa., April II, 1872, was born at Selinsgrove, Pa.,
April 2, 1847. He was educated at the Missionary Institute of
that place, and in the common schools of Baltimore, Maryland,

946 Jacob Shindel Leisenking.

to which place he removed at an early age with his father. While
yet a mere boy he enlisted, during the late civil war, in Company
G, First Independent Battery, Pennsylvania Volunteers. At the
close of the war he located at Charlestown, Jefferson county,
West Virginia, where he read law with Hon. William H. Travers,
and where he was admitted to the bar in 1870. In 1871 he
removed to Tamaqua, Schuylkill county. Pa., and was for a time
associated with C. ¥. Shindel, Esq., a prominent member of the
bar of that county. From there, early in 1872, he removed to
Hazleton, Luzerne county, where he engaged in the practice of
his profession until the fall of that year, when he removed to
Hays City, Ellis county, Kansas, having been appointed district
attorney of a newly formed judicial district in the western part of
that state. He returned to Pennsylvania in 1873 and located in
Altoona, Blair county, Pa., where he now resides. He married,
September i, 1875, Miss Anna M. Cherry, of that city, and has
one child living — Henrietta S. Leisenring, born July 31, 1876.
Mr. Leisenring is past commander of Post 62, department of
Pennsylvania, Grand Army of the Republic, and is a prominent
and influential member of that order. In it he has held several
important positions. He is the author of Leisenring's Book of
Forms.

His great-great-grandfather, John Conrad Leisenring, migrated
to Pennsylvania from Heidelberg, Germany, prior to 1750, locating,
first, in Philadelphia (now Montgomery) county, and from there
removing to White Hall, Lehigh county, Pa., where the original
tract of land purchased by him, and the mansion house erected
thereon soon after, are yet in the possession and occupancy of
certain of his descendants. From John Conrad Leisenring sprung
Conrad, who had, amongst other children, a son Peter, born at
White Hall, where he grew to manhood, and married about 1794,
and where Gideon, his second child and the father of the subject
of this sketch, was born in 1802. Peter, the father of Gideon,
removed to Northumberland county with his family early in
1800, near which place he resided until his death, which occurred
about 1830. His children — four in number — were all left well
provided for, and Gideon succeeded to the ownership of the home-
stead, a valuable piece of land near the town of Sunbury. Here

Jacob Shindel Leisexring. 947

he married Louisa Shindel, and here he resided until 1845, when
he removed to Selinsgrove, Pa., and from there to Baltimore, Md.,
in 1858. He was a resident of the latter city at the commence-
ment of the late civil war, and was among the most pronounced and
fearless advocates of the Union cause in that city. His house
was the resort and refuge, as he was the adviser and confident, of
many of the more timid Union-loving residents of that place, and
from his dwelling floated the first United States flag raised in
Baltimore after the memorable 19th of April, 1861. He removed
to. Charlestown, West Virginia, at the close of the war, where he
engaged in business, and where he died in 18S0. He was a man
of intense activity and energy, and wherever he resided his busi-
ness and social qualities were thoroughly recognized.

The wife of Gideon Leisenring, and mother of Jacob Shindel
Leisenring — Louisa Shindel — was a descendant of Michael Shin-
del, a native of Odenwald, Germany, from whence he migrated to
Pennsylvania and located in what is now Lebanon county, about
1758. His son, John Peter, born in Odenwald, accompanied
him, also locating in Lebanon county, where he died May 29,
1784. Here was born John Peter, his son, August 21, 1766. He
served in the legislature of the state, and was a justice of the
peace for many years. He died September 17, 1829. His son,
also named John Peter, was born in Lebanon, Pa., about 1790,
and there married Miss Susan McCuUough about 1809. He be-
came a minister of the gospel in the Lutheran church and a
preacher of note, and located in Sunbury, Pa., soon after his mar-
riage, where he died about 1855. The name of Father Shin-
del was a household word in the entire Susquehanna valley,
where he is yet held in the tenderest recollection by many of the
older citizens. His daughter Louisa was born about the year
18 12; was married to Gideon, the father of Jacob Shindel Lei-
senring, about 1830, and died at Selinsgrove, Pa., in 1853. She
was an earnest, pure, christian woman, and her loss was most
keenly felt in the community.

Many of the descendants of both John Conrad Leisenring and
John Peter Shindel are prominent in business and professional
circles throughout the United States.

948 George H. Squier.

Hy\RVEY J. JONES.

Harvey J. Jones, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne
county, Pa., June 8, 1 872, is a native of Wilkes-Barre, where he was
born October 15, 1847. He is the son of James Jones, who was
born in Albany county, N. Y. His grandfather, Lathan Jones,
was a native of Connecticut, whose wife was Nancy Terwilliger,
of Albany county, N. Y. The mother of Harvey J. Jones was
Anna M. Wood, a native of England, who was the daughter of
Moses Wood and Sarah Bielby Wood, his wife. (See page 434).
Mr. Jones read law in this city with E. P. Darling, and now
resides in Gunnison, Colorado. He is an unmarried man.

GEORGE H. SQUIER.

George H. Squier was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county,
Pa., September 16, 1872. He is the grandson of Stephen Squier,
a son of Joshua Horton Squier, whose wife was Sarah Greene, a
daughter of Obadiah Greene, a nephew of General Greene, of
revolutionary fame. G. H. Squier was born at Nicholson, Lu-
zerne (now Wyoming) county. Pa., October 8, 1836, and was
educated at Harford University, Susquehanna county, Pa., and the
Susquehanna Seminary, at Binghamton, N. Y. He read law with
A. K. Peckham at Tunkhannock, Pa. He has resided at Carbondale
for many years. Pie was clerk of the mayor's court of Carbon-
dale from 1867 to 1870, and district attorney of the same court
from 1873 to 1876. He was also at one time one of the auditors
of Luzerne county. Mr. Squier married, April 9, 1861, Flora
Wilson, a daughter of Amzi Wilson and his wife Esther {nee
Wetherby). He married a second time. May 13, 1876, Laura C.
Gates. Mr. Squier has two children — John W. Squier and B. F.
Squier.

Moses M. Thorp. 949

OLIVER CHARLES KAHLER.

Oliver Charles Kahler, who was admitted to the bar of Lu-
zerne county, Pa., November 11, 1872, is a descendant of Christo-
pher Kahler, who was born in Wirtemburg, Germany, Decem-
ber, 1766. He emigrated to the United States in the latter part of
the last century, and located at Easton, Pa., where he, in 1797,
married Catharine M. Kishbauch, of Easton. His son, Charles
Kahler, was born in P^aston December 27, 1801, and removed to
Bloomsburg, Pa., with his father's family, in 1808. He was a
justice of the peace at Bloomsburg for over forty years, and held
his first commission as such from Governor Wolf He married,
December 14, 1823, Nancy Teeple, who was born near Belvidere,
N. J., November 1 1, 1802. O. C. Kahler, son of Charles Kahler,
was born at Bloomsburg February 20, 1825. He was educated
in the schools of Bloomsburg, and read law with William G. Hur-
ley, at that place. He was admitted to the bar of Columbia
county, at Bloomsburg, in 1848, and was the first person admitted
after the removal of the county seat from Danville, Pa. He has
practiced most of his life at Bloomsburg, where he now resides,
but had, for a while, an office at Shickshinny, in this county. He
married, July 18, 1852, Caroline Dietterick, a daughter of Abra-
ham Dietterick, of Briar Creek, Columbia county. Pa. Mr. and
Mrs. Kahler have a family of eight children, seven sons and one
daughter.

MOSES M. THORR

Moses M. Thorp, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne
county. Pa., April 11, 1873, is a native of Canaan, Wayne county,
Pa., where he was born March 6, 1848, He is the son of Jesse
W. Thorp, a native of W^arren county, N. J. His mother was
Sarah M. Miller, a native of Morris county, N. J. His grand-
father, Ephraim Thorp, was born in Morris county, N. J., whose

950 George B. De Witt.

wife, Sarah Picket, was born in Warren county, N. J. Leonard
Miller, the father of Sarah M. Miller, was born in Germany. His
wife, Ellen Dalton, was born in Knf^land. Mr. Thorp was
educated in the common schools, where he remained until he
was eighteen years of age. He then attended the Waymart
High School and the Albany Law School, from which he grad-
uated. He read law with D. N. Lathrope and S. E. Dimmick,
and opened an office in Carbohdale, Luzerne (now Lackawanna)
county, Pa. He subsequently removed to Waymart, Wayne
county. Pa., where he now resides. He has been a justice of the
peace in the latter place for ten years.

THOMAS J. F0LF:Y

Thomas J. Foley was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county,
Pa., April 14, 1873. He practiced for some years at Hazleton,
in this county, and now resides at Slatington, Pa.

GEORGE B. DE WITT.

George B. De Witt was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county,
Pa., April 14, 1873. He is the son of Moses W. De Witt, a na-
tive of Sussex county, N. J., who from 1866 to 1869 was sheriff
of Wyoming county, Pa. George B. De Witt was born October
I, 1S45, '^ Exeter, Luzerne county, Pa. He was educated at
Dickinson Seminary, Williamsport, Pa., and at Wyoming Semi-
nary, Kingston, Pa., and read law with P. M. Osterhout, in Tunk-
hannock. Pa. He has practiced in this county, Cameron county,
Pa., Wyoming county. Pa., and Greene county, III. Mr, De Witt
married, in 1872, H. F. Brown, a daughter of Solomon Brown
and his wife, Mehitable Brown (;/^^ Searle), natives of this county.
Mr. and Mrs. De Witt have one child — Margaret E. De Witt.
Mr. De Witt resides at Tunkhannock, Pa.

Samuel Britton Price. 951

SAMUEL BRITTON PRICE.

Samuel Britton Price, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne
county, Pa., April 23, 1873, is a resident of Scranton, Pa. He
was born at Branchville, Frankford township, Sussex county,
New Jersey, April 29, 1847. The Price family is one of the most
prominent in the early settlement of Frankford, and trace their
origin in the township to the advent of three brothers— John,
Samuel and Robert — who were of English extraction, and first
settled in Connecticut. They were extensive shippers, owned
vessels, and were well supplied with worldly goods. The broth-
ers sailed in their own merchantmen, and continued their shipping
interest in New England until the loss of valuable cargoes by
shipwreck compelled its abandonment, when they came to New
Jersey and followed the Wallkill valley to the Papacating creek
in quest of farming lands. John returned to Connecticut, and
eventually to seafaring. Robert and Samuel remained, and both
died in the township. Robert when a lad was made a prisoner
by the Indians, as was also his mother. They were conveyed to
a place of security, and Mrs. Price, having previously acquired
a limited knowledge of the language of the savages, compre-
hended from their conversation and ominous gestures that she
was speedily to be made the victim of their brutality. She con-
veyed this intelligence to her son, and warned him not to cry lest
he also be murdered. The heroic woman was soon after toma-
hawked, and the boy found favor in the eyes of a kind hearted
squaw, who, having lost her child but a few days before, adopted
him as her own. He led the nomadic life of his captors until his
twenty-first year, when he was rescued by his friends. Civiliza-
tion for a time presented no charms to him, and he frequently
expressed a desire to return to the scenes of his early life. This
desire was at length overcome, and some years later he removed
to the township of Frankford. Samuel Price had two sons at the
time of his death — Zachariah and P>ancis. The latter had no
children ; the former, who was a landed proprietor, had five sons,
of which the fourth, Robert Price, was the great-great-grandfather

952 Samuel Britton Price.

of the subject of our sketch. Francis Price, a brother of Robert
Price, was appointed a lay judge of Sussex county November 20,
1789, and again November 26, 1794. Samuel Price, great-grand-
father of S. B. Price, son of Robert Price, was appointed a lay
judge November 3, 181 3. Samuel Price, grandfather of S. B.
Price, son of Samuel Price, was a member of the governor's
council, prior to the formation of the senate of New Jersey,
in 1833, 1834 and 1836. He was appointed a layjudge Novem-
ber 6, 1830, and again January 12, 1844. Zachariah H. Price, a
cousin of Samuel Price, was a member of the senate of New Jer-
sey in 1855, 1856 and 1857. Rodman M. Price, ex-governor of
New Jersey, is of the same family. William Price (father of S.
B. Price), son of Samuel Price, was a member of the house of
representatives of New Jersey in i860 and 1861. Guy Price, a
brother of William Price, was a county j udge in 1852 and a mem-
ber of the house of representatives in 1849 and 1850. The wife
of William Price was Phebe Armstrong. She was a descendant
of Hugh Armstrong, who emigrated with his family from Lon-
donderry, Ireland, about 1740, and settled at Short Hills, Mid-
dlesex county, N. J., where he died October 23, 1781. Thomas
Armstrong, one of his sons, married Martha Britton, who died in
1 8 1 7, at the age of fifty-eight years. He served through the whole
of the revolutionary war, was quartermaster, and ranked as major.
In April, 1782, he and his wife settled on the Papakating, in
Wantage township, Sussex county, where they resided for eight
years, and bought lands at Sugar Loaf, Orange county, N.Y., upon
which he settled, but sold it three years afterwards. In 1793 he
purchased about three hundred acres of land, mostly woodland,
on the Papakating, in Frankford township. Thomas Armstrong
added to his original purchase, and owned at his death, January
3. 1833, seven hundred acres of land in Frankford, which were
divided among his sons ; also one thousand acres, mostly in New-
ton township, which were divided among his daughters. He also
owned twenty-seven slaves, whom he retained in his possession
until the laws of the state liberated them. He first became ac-
quainted with Newton township by bringing Indian corn and
exchanging it for wheat. He followed this business as late as
1784, at which time Indian corn was not cultivated there. He

Samuel Brittox Price. 95;

was a member of the assembly of New Jersey in 1797, and on
February 19, 1813, he was appointed a lay judge. James Britton
Armstrong, son of Thomas Armstrong, was the father of Phebe
Price, wife of William Price. The wife of James B. Armstrong
was Mary Foster, a daughter of Julius Foster, who was originally
from Long Island, but settled in Montague township, Sussex
county, N. J., at an early period.

S. B. Price was educated in the common schools of Branchville,
and was prepared for college at Blairstown, N. J. He entered the
College of New Jersey, at Princeton, in 1866, but was compelled to
leave on account of ill health. He then entered the j unior class in
the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, and graduated in the
classical course in the class of 1870. He then entered the law
school of the same university and graduated from there in 1872.
He was admitted to practice in all the courts of Michigan, at De-
troit, October 9, 1872. Under the rules of our county he studied
under Colonel Royce for six months before being admitted to our
courts. Mr. Price married, February 9, 1881, Julia Hosie, a
daughter of John Hosie. who was born June 2, 181 2, in Stirling-
shire, Scotland. His parents were James and Jane (Bowie) Ho-
sie. Mr. Hosie's education was limited to an attendance at the
common schools of his neighborhood. As early as the age
of ten years he conceived the idea of marking out for himself a
career which should be independent of all help from his family.
To this end, and for the purpose of earning something for him-
self, having been made a present of a pony by an elder sister who
was landlady of a large hotel, he made good use of it in deliver-
ing packages which were given him for that purpose by guests of
the hotel. He was thus employed after school hours for two or
three years. At the end of that time he found himself the pos-
sessor of about i^6o, a fact known only to himself He had
already decided that when he got sufficient means he would go
to America. At the age of fourteen he went, unknown to any
member of his family, to Greenock, a shipping port of Scot-
land, where he purchased his passage, taking a receipt therefor.
He first told his mother what he had done, which took the
good woman utterly by surprise. "Boy, what could you do in
America ?" " I will do something;' was the boy's-reply. " Where

954 Samuel Brixton Price.

did you get the money?" was the next question. He satisfied
her that he came honestly by it. The father, upon his return
at evening, repeated about the same questions, with the same
answers. He told the boy, if he would give up going for the
present, he would give him three years of schooling, and if at the
end of the time he still desired to go, he would give him money
to go with ; but no persuasion could turn him from his purpose.
Accordingly the clothes for the journey were got in readiness, to
which were added by the thoughtful mother a bible, which had
been in the family over a hundred years, and some good Presby-
terian books. P'verything being in readiness, in the month of
March, 1829, at the hour of midnight, in order to avoid notice,
he left the old hearthstone for the seaport. He was overtaken
at Glasgow the next day by his father, an elder brother and sister,
who made another attempt to persuade him to return, but with-
out success. It was finally decided that if John was going his
brother Andrew should go too, and thus, by the persistence of a
boy of fourteen years, America gained two good citizens instead
of one. The day after landing in New York, in company with
his brother, he went over to Newark and applied for a job of
work at a stonecutter's. There was something in the appearance
and bearing of the lad that pleased the proprietor, and he set him
to work at stonecutting. His brother found work at Newark at
his trade as a carpenter and joiner. Mr. Hosie remained with
his first employer seven months, receiving very nearly the same
wages as the men. He next went to Philadelphia, where for six
years following he was in the employ of an elder brother, James
Hosie. His first work under him was on the masonry of the
Columbia railroad bridge over the Schuylkill river. In 1833 he
went to Canton, Mass., where he was employed for nearly three
years in superintending the construction of the viaduct at that
place. He superintended the masonry work for Dodd, Clark &
Co., contractors, for the construction of a portion of the Hartford
and New Haven railroad ; also for Dodd, Baldwin & Co, on the
Morris & Essex railroad. He next engaged with his brother in
building the railroad bridge across the Raritan river at New
Brunswick, N. J. He then went to Bridgeport, Conn., where he
constructed the masonry on the Housatonic railroad. For the

Samuel Britton Price. 955

next six years he was engaged in the construction of the New
York city water works, under Bishop & Campbell, contractors.
He superintended the heavy masonry on those works between
Tarrytown and Dobb's Ferry, also across Glendenning Valley.
At the solicitation of the chief and resident engineers he went to
Seal Harbor, Maine, and cut the stone for the Harlem bridge.
In 1843 he engaged under James Archbald in the management
of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company's railroad from Car-
bondale to Honesdale, and during the two years he was thus
employed he repaired the masonry on the company's canal. In
1845 he accepted the position of assistant superintendent, under
Mr. Archbald, of the Delaware and Hudson coal mines at Carbon-
dale. On November 12, 1845, he married Julia A., daughter of
Philander and Louisa Beattys, of Waymart, Wayne county. Pa.,
and in the following spring commenced housekeeping at Arch-
bald, Pa.

Mr. Beattys was the fourth son of Daniel S. and Hannah Beat-
tys, and was born in Danbury, Conn., October 31, 1798. Before
attaining his majority, accompanied by an elder brother, he sought
and obtained contracts for building portions of the Belmont and
Easton, and the Milford and Owego turnpikes, at or near Way-
mart, then in process of construction. While carrying out these
contracts he met Louisa, a daughter of Colonel Asa Stanton. The
acquaintance ripened into love, and before Miss Stanton reached
her fourteenth birthday she was married to Mr. Beattys. Asa
Stanton w^as a native of Preston, Conn. His wife was Zibah
Kimble. In 1789 he moved to Paupack, and in 1790 to Canaan,
now in Wayne county. He built a large log house and kept
travelers and drovers. Salt was brought from Newburg, N. Y.,
on pack horses. They went to mill frequently at Slocum Hol-
low, now Scranton. He owned six hundred and twenty acres of
land, and was deputy sheriff and afterwards treasurer of the
county. Mr. Beattys, after completing his contracts, accompa-
nied by his young wife, returned to his native state, residing at
Danbury several years. The western fever, coupled with his
wife's persuasions, brought him again to Wayne county, where
he settled upon what was a part of his father-in-law's farm, where
he resided until his death, March 19, 1888. His daughter Julia,

956 Samuel Britton Price,

wife of John Ilosic, died November 4, 1879. At the time of his
death Mr. Beattys was the oldest member of the Waymart Meth-
odist Episcopal Church.

On January 12, 1846, occurred a most thrilling and memorable
event in the life of Mr. Ilosie, which put to the full test the in-
domitable will and magnificent pluck of the man so strongly
shadowed forth in the boy, and which at the time was heralded
to the farthest limits of civilization. About eight o'clock of the
morning of that day he went into mine No. 2 level at Carbon-
dale. He had been in the mine less than an hour when about
forty acres of the overhanging rocks and earth caved in. He was
alone and very near the centre of this fall. Fifteen miners in
other parts of the mine were instantly killed by the concussion of
the air. Mr. Hosie was saved from instant death by the refuse
coal which is ordinarily left on the bottom of the mine. As it
was, he was pressed between the fallen rocks and the bottom of
the mine with barely space left for his prostrate body. In utter
darkness, with nothing but his bare hands to work with, for
twenty-four hours, every one of which seemed an age, he dug for
his life, throwing behind him the falling debris and refuse coal
upon which the falling mass rested. His fingers were worn to the
bone and bore the marks during his life of the terrible struggle.
At length he reached a place where he could stand up, only to
find, however, that he was still inside the fall. He attempted
to reach the air shaft, but did not succeed. It finally occurred
to him that by following the break in the overhanging rocks
made next to the line of solid coal he might work his way to the
main entrance. Following up this thought, he finally, after hav-
ing been literally buried in this living tomb for forty-eight hours,
effected his escape. He had been given up for dead, as it was
known he was in the very centre of the fall, having been seen
there by a mule driver as he was passing along just previous to
the fall. He met a party of miners before reaching the entrance
who had entered the mine for the purpose of digging for his body.
Instead they found a pretty lively corpse, in the person of Mr.
Hosie himself, approaching them. The news of his escape sent
a thrill of joy throughout the country. It would not be in the
power of pen to describe the feelings of the young wife, who had

Samuel Britton Price. 957

given her husband up for lost, when the glad tidings were borne
to her that he was yet alive. He continued in the employ of the
Delaware and Hudson Company until 1850. He then became
general superintendent for the Pennsylvania Coal Company,
taking charge of their mines at Pittston and Dunmore. This posi-
tion he resigned in the fall of 1854, having taken a contract for
mason work and grading on the Michigan Southern railroad, at
Toledo, Ohio. The next year was the cholera year, and the
deaths for three weeks among the men employed in the work
averaged twelve a day. Of four hundred and forty-eight men on
the pay roll Mr. Hosie was the only one who was not taken sick
during the time. Returning to the valley, he took charge of the works
of the North Pennsylvania and the North Branch Coal Companies,
making headquarters at Pittston. He also had an interest in the
Pittston Coal Company. In the fall of 1856 he went to Portland,
Maine, to build a portion of the Portland and Saco railroad. In
1858 he went to Virginia, where, in company with General
McAlister, of Allentown, Pa., he built a part of the Covington
and Ohio railroad. They remained there until the opening of
the late civil war. The contract was with the state, and the latter
still owes them $30,000, and in all probability always will. Re-
turning to Pittston, he remained out of active employment on
account of impaired health for about a year. In 1862 he took an
interest with Alexander Gray & Co. in the Hollenback colliery
at Wilkes-Barre. In 1864 he sold his interest and purchased the
Silver Brook coal works, near Hazleton, where he remained six
years. He then sold out and took charge of the Bear Pine col-
liery, near ]\Iahanoy, Schuylkill county, Pa. In 1872 he resigned
his position and leased the Fair Lawn coal property at Scranton,
which mine he opened that year. In 1877 he became a partner
in the Pierce Coal Company, at Winton, Pa., and he was its gen-
eral manaeer. As will be seen from this narrative, Mr. Hosie
led a most active and laborious life. He always threw his whole
energies into whatever enterprise he engaged in. As a manager
of men his equal was hardly found in the entire coal region. He
always commanded the respect of all men, high or low, rich or
poor. One had to travel a long way before finding a man who
would speak ill of John Hosie. Mr. and Mrs. Hosie had five

958 Frank Vaughan Barnes.

children. Mr. Hosie died May 7, 1881.

Mr. and Mrs. Price have two children — Cole B. Price and John
Hosie Price.

FRANK VAUGHAN BARNES.

P'rank Vaughan Barnes, who was admitted to the bar of Lu-
zerne county, Pa., January 21, 1874, is a descendant of Churchill
Barnes, a native of Vermont. His wife was Sarah Vaughan, a
native of Plattsburg, N. Y. Churchill Barnes, when quite a young
man, removed to what is now Troy, Bradford county, Pa. The
place was named to please Mr. Barnes, who had visited Troy, N.
Y., and was so impressed with it that he was anxious to have
the town called by that name, and it was accordingly done.
U. V, Barnes, son of Churchill Barnes, was born in Troy, Pa.,
October 7, 18 19. The wife of D. V. Barnes was Julia Franklin
Clapp, daughter of Nathaniel Clapp, who was born near Saratoga,
N. Y., and his wife, Cynthia Satterlee Stephens, who was born at
Athens, Pa. She was the daughter of Ira and Sybil Ransom Steph-
ens. Ira Stephens was a son of Jedediah and Mary Stephens, of
Canaan, Conn. In 1775 he enlisted in the Continental line and
rose to be captain of his company. He served for seven years and
his discharge was signed by General Washington. His com-
pany was under Sullivan, and it may have been that this cam-
paign made him acquainted with the beauty and fertility of the
Wyoming Valley. He married and settled there in 1784. After
three of his children were born he removed to Athens, Pa., where
the remainder of his children were born. He owned a great
deal of land in and about Palmyra, N. Y., and a large tract in
Angelica, N. Y. He is said to have been a great singer, which
made him much sought after in camp during the war, and at the
annual reunions of the war veterans after the cessation of hostil-
ities. He was killed at Angelica, N. Y., September 20, 1803, in
a personal difficulty concerning the Pennsylvania and Connecti-
cut titles. He left a large family and considerable property. His
wife was Sybil, daughter of Captain Samuel Ransom. (See page

John F. Connolly. 959

385). F. V. Barnes was born in Athens, Pa., June 14, 1848. He
graduated from Yale College and read law with Hon. W. G Ward,
at Scranton. He married, September i, 1869, Annie Price, a
daughter of William Price, of Scranton. Mr. and Mrs. Barnes
have a family of three children. Mr. Barnes has resided for a
number of years at Bismarck, Dakota Territory. He is at pres-
ent practicing his profession at Bismarck.

PETER A. MAHON.

Peter A. ^lahon was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county,
Pa., April 22, 1874. He practiced for a while in Scranton, and
now resides at Shamokin, Pa. He is a brother of James Mahon,
of the Luzerne county bar. (See page 250). Peter A. Mahon is
the district attorney of Northumberland county.

PHILIP J. O'HANLON.

Philip J. O'Hanlon was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county.
Pa., June 4, 1874. In 1876 he was a candidate for district at-
torney on the democratic ticket, but was defeated by Charles E.
Rice, republican, the vote standing Rice, 17.541 I O'Hanlon,
15,097. Tilden, for president, had a majority at the same elec-
tion of 3475. His wife is Julia, daughter of the late Michael J.
Philbin, of this city. Mr. O'Hanlon is said to be living in
Brooklyn. N. Y.

JOHN F. CONNOLLY.

John F. Connolly, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne
county June 4, 1874, is a native of Scranton, Pa, where he was

960 Charles Loren Lamb.

born April 27, 1853. He is the son of Owen Connolly, who is
a native of the county of Sligo, Ireland. Mr. Connolly was
educated in the Scranton High School and the Columbia College
Law School, New York, from which he graduated in 1873, with
the degree of LL. B. He was admitted to the bar of New
York city May 18, 1874. He was elected the district attorney
of Lackawanna county, and served in that capacity from 1883 to
1886. In 1887 he was elected one of the law judges of Lacka-
wanna county for a term of ten years, and he is now serving in
that position. He married September 12, 1877, Mary C. Carroll,
a daughter of John Carroll, a native of Honesdale, Pa. Mr. and
Mrs. Connolly have a family of five children — Catharine, Mary
Letitia, John Eugene, Helen and William Edmund Connolly.

CHARLES LOREN LAMB.

Charles Loren Lamb, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne
county, Pa., September 21, 1874, is a descendant of James Lamb,
whose father emigrated from Scotland. James Lamb married, in
Rutland, Vermont, where he resided, Sally Oakes. In 1809 he
removed to Troy, Bradford county, Pa. He subsequently re-
moved to Le Roy, in the same county, where he died in 1855,
aged sixty-eight years. Charles H. Lamb, son of James Lamb,
was born in Troy and married, May 7, 1846, Eliza Greeno, a
daughter of Moses Greeno, of Rutland, Vermont. His wife was
Anna Reynolds, whose ancestors came from Rhode Island. C.
H. Lamb was a farmer and merchant, and a leading and active
member of the Baptist church. He resided in Le Roy, where
he died June 28, 1866. C. L. Lamb, son of Charles H. Lamb,
was born in Le Roy May 18, 1850. He was educated at the
State Normal School, at Mansfield, Pa., and the Susquehanna
Collegiate Institute, at Towanda, Pa. He read law with Ulysses
Mercur, at Towanda, and was admitted to the Bradford county
bar in 1872. He commenced the practice of the law at Port
Townsend, Washington Territory, and remained there about a

Arthur Denorvan Dean. 961

year and a half. He then came to Wilkes-Barre, where he prac-
ticed his profession until 1884, when he removed to Minneapolis.
Minn., where he is now practicing. Mr. Lamb is an unmarried
man.

MILTON STILES.

Milton Stiles, who was admitted to "the bar of Luzerne county,
Pa., September 22, 1874, is a native of Hobbie, Luzerne county,^
Pa., where he was born February 3, 1849. He is a grandson of
Jeremiah Stiles, and son of Isaiah Stiles, a native of this county,
whose wife was Mary Etta Klinetob, daughter of Conrad Kline-
tob. Her mother's name was Hannah Kulp. Mr. Stiles was
educated at the Wyoming Seminary, Kingston, Pa., and read
law with M. E. Jackson, in Berwick, Pa. He had an office in
Nanticoke, in this county, and in 1875 and 1876 he was burgess
of the borough of Nanticoke. He removed to the west a few years
since, and now resides at Conway Springs, Kansas. He has also
practiced at Newton, Kansas. He married, in 1878, P2mma R.
Kenzie, a daughter of George Kenzie, and granddaughter of
Samuel Kenzie. whose wife was Esther Shortz. The wife of
George Kenzie was Mary L. Swab, daughter of John Swab.
Mr. and Mrs. Stiles have a family of two children — Belle K. Stiles
and Royal E. Stiles.

ARTHUR DENORVAN DEAN.

Arthur Denorvan Dean, who was admitted to the bar of Lu-
zerne county, Pa., January 4, 1875, is a descendant of Ezra Dean,
who lived about ten miles from East Greenwich, R.T., at Noose
Neck Hill, in the town of West Greenwich, R. I. He sold his
farm there and moved to Pawtuxet, R. I., where he followed the
blacksmith trade. He died in Pawtuxet. Jonathan Dean, son of
Ezra Dean, was a native of West Greenwich, R. I., where he was
born July 9, 1741. He was one of the original "forty" proprie-

q62 Arthur Denorvan Dean.

tors of Kingston, Pa. They arrived at the point which is now
Wilkes-Barre January 31, 1769, where they found a trader
named Ogden, and crossed over to King.ston the following day.
His wife was Mary Davis, who was the daughter of Jeffrey
Davis and his wife Abigail Davis {iiee Scranton). Jeffrey Davis
was the son of Joshua Davis. Jonathan Dean, about the year
1800, removed to Abington, Luzerne (now Lackawanna) county,
Pa., with his two sons, James Dean and Jeffrey Dean, and two
daughters, Sybil, who marrried Robert Stone, and Abagail,
who married George Gardner. Ezra Dean, an older son, settled
in Abington in 1797. Jonathan Dean was one of the Rhode
Island surveyors who surveyed Abington under the Connecti-
cut claim. He died in Abington August 2, 1822. His wife
died in 18 16, aged seventy-four years. James Dean, son of
Jonathan Dean, was born May 7, 1780. and was married De-
cember 28, 1803, by Elder John Miller, to Catharine Tripp, who
was born at Rhinebeck, N. Y., April 22, 1784. Among the
names of the original proprietors of the Susquehanna Com-
pany appears that of Isaac Tripp. Emigrating to Wyoming
in 1769, with the first pioneer company, and finding the block-
house, at Mill Creek, in possession of the Pennamites, under
Captain Ogden, Tripp and his companions made preparations to
recapture a prize of such vital importance to their colonial exis-
tence. Tripp himself had seen some service in the French and
Indian wars, while a few of his companions had been schooled in
the raw exercises of the militia of Connecticut. All, however,
were familiar with the use of the musket, for their flint guns,
powder horns and shot bags had often accompanied them in
former days in pursuit of game. But with their conception of
military discipline, or border life and warfare, they were here
completely outwitted by the superior tact of the party in the
blockhouse under Captain Ogden. Ogden having only ten men
able to bear arms — one-fourth only of his invading foe — determined
to have recourse to negotiation. A very polite and conciliatory
note was addressed to'the commander of the forty, an interview
respectfully solicited and a friendly conference asked on the sub-
ject of the respective titles. Ogden proved himself an accom-
plished angler. The bait was too tempting. Propose to a

Arthur Dexorvan Dean. 963

Yankee to talk over a matter, especially one which he has studied
and believes to be right, and you touch the most susceptible chord
that vibrates in his heart. That they could out-talk the Penna-
mites and convince them that the Susquehanna title was good,
not one of the forty doubted. Three of the chief men were
deputed to argue the matter — Isaac Tripp and Benjamin Follett,
two of the executive committee, accompanied by Vine Elderkin.
No sooner were they within the blockhouse than Sheriff Jenkins
clapped a writ on their shoulders, — "Gentlemen, in the name of
the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, you are my prisoners."
The Yankees were decidedly outwitted. By comm.on consent
the prisoners were transported to*Easton jail, guarded by Captain
Ogden, but accompanied in no hostile manner by the thirty-
seven remnants of the forty. Tripp was liberated from jail by
his friends at once, and returning again to the valley was a con-
tinual actor in the seven years' conflict, before it found a peaceful
solution. Upon the old records the name of Isaac Tryp, or Esquire
Tryp, as he was familiarly termed, often occurs. At a meeting
of the Susquehanna Company, held at Hartford, June 2, 1773,
for the purpose of electing officers for the Westmoreland colony,
Gideon Baldwin, Timothy Keys and Isaac Tripp were chosen
directors or proprietors of Providence. The first purchase of
land by Isaac Tripp, jr., son of Isaac Tripp, in Providence, was
in 1774. It comprised over lOOO acres of land in the heart of the
now city of Scranton. He had already located himself within the
old Indian clearing, as early as the summer of 1771. Provi-
dence at that time was designated as the "sixth town of ye Ca-
pouse Meadows." These once beautiful flats, now rooted into
mines and robbed of their natural beauty by tall coal works, with
their accompanying culm or waste coal spread over many a fair
acre, perpetuate the names of their first white occupants and
bring them down through generations into the hands of Ira
Tripp. The present Scranton court house is on the original farm
of Isaac Tripp, jr. Isaac Tripp, jr., the son of Isaac Tripp, sr.,
was born at East Greenwich, R. I., July 27, 1748. He came
into the valley in 1774, choosing the spot where his father lo-
cated. He and a grandson, Isaac Tripp, were taken prisoners in
1778, with two young men by the names of Keys and Hocksey.

964 Arthur Dexorvan Dean,

The old gentleman the Indians painted and dismissed, but hur-
ried the others into the forest (now Abington), above Liggitt's
gap, on the warriors' path to Oquago. Resting one night, they
rose the next morning, travelled about two miles, when they
stopped at a little stream of water. The two young Indians then
took Keys and Hocksey some distance from the path and were ab-
sent about half an hour, the old Indians looking anxiously the way
they had gone. Presently the death whoop was heard and the In-
dians returned brandishing bloody tomahawks and exhibiting the
scalps of their victims. Tripp's hat was taken from his head
and his scalp examined twice, the savages speaking earnestly,
when at length they told him to fear nothing, he should not be
hurt, and carried him off a prisoner. This Isaac Tripp was in
early life a resident of Capouse Meadows, nov/ a portion of the
city of Scranton. He was in the eighteenth year of his age
when taken a prisoner, as above related, and with others marched
to Canada. On the way he experienced the most excruciating
sufferings from the gnawing of hunger, and cruel treatment of
the savages, who bound his hands behind him and compelled
him to run the gauntlet. At Niagara he met his cousin, Frances
Slocum, who was also a captive from the Wyoming Valley.
They planned their escape, but their intentions being discovered
by their captors, they were separated and young Tripp was sold
to the English and compelled to enter their service, in which he
reluctantly continued until the close of the revolutionary war.
He then returned to his early home. He removed to Scott, and
finally settled in the Elkwoods, Susquehanna county. Pa., where
he died April 15, 1820. Isaac Tripp, sr., and his son-in-law,
Jonathan Slocum, were shot by the Indians in Wilkes-Barre
December 16, 1778. (See page 341). This was done under such
singular circumstances that we will relate the facts: At the time
of the revolutionary war the British often offered large rewards
for the scalps of Americans. This was done for the purpose of
inciting the savages to more murderous activity, and to annoy
and exterminate the frontier settlements as fast and frightfully as
possible. As Tripp was a man of some little prominence among
his associates, the Indians were often asked by the British "why
he was not killed." They replied, "Tripp was a good man." He

Charles R. Pitcher. 965

was a Quaker, and his intercourse with the Indians had been so uni-
versally kind and conciliatory that, when he fell into their hands
as a prisoner upon the flats of Capouse, they were not disposed to
harm him, but let him go after painting his face with war paint,
as it was their custom to do with those they did not wish to
harm. A short time after this Tripp was sent to Hartford,
Conn., to represent the wants and the grievances of the Wyom-
ing colony, and he very naturally removed this paint from his
face. After his return a double reward was offered for his scalp,
and having forfeited their protection by displacing the war paint,
was shot and scalped the first time he was discovered.

Catharine Dean {nee Tripp), was a daughter of Isaac Tripp, jr.
Isaac Dean, son of James Dean, was born in Abington June 9,
181 1. He is still living. His wife was Polly Searle Heermans
(born July 21, 1820, died July 8, 1868), daughter of Henry Heer-
mans and his wife, P'andina Nicholson. A. D. Dean, son of Isaac
Dean, was born January 29, 1849, i^^ Abington. He was educated
at the University at Lewisburg, i865-'6-'7 ; East Greenwich, R. I.,
Academy, 1868-69; entered Brown University, Providence, R.
I., in 1869, graduated A. B. in 1872. He read law with Agib
Ricketts, in this city, and now has an office in Scranton, where
he resides. He married, May 11, 1882, Nettie E. Sisson, daughter
of A. C. Sisson. Mr. and Mrs. Dean have three children — Carroll
Sisson Dean, Russell Dean, and James Davis Dean.

CHARLES R. PITCHER.

Charles R. Pitcher, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne
county, Pa., February 23, 1875, is a native of Waterloo, Orange
county, N. Y., w^here he was born April 21, 1850. Mr. Pitcher
was educated in the public schools in Clifford township, Susque-
hanna county. Pa., and the academy at New Milford, in the same
countv. He read law with F. W. Gunsterand Charles H. Welles,
in Scranton, where he now practices. In his young manhood he
was a teacher in the public schools in that part of Luzerne county

966 Charles R. Pitcher.

which is now embraced in Lackawanna county. The father of
the subject of our sketch was Elder Benjamin Pitcher, who was
extensively known throughout Susquehanna county and the
northwestern part of Luzerne (now Lackawanna) county, as well
as in many places in New York and New Jersey. Elder Pitcher
was born in Catton, near Norwich, England, January 9, 1801,
and belonged to the denomination of "old school Baptists." He
commenced the ministry at the early age of twenty years, and
his first efforts were in the pulpit once occupied by John Bun-
yan. He afterwards became the pastor of the Baptist church in
Norwich, which pulpit he occupied until he resigned to sail for
America, in 1831. He was then called to preach in the city of
New York, and remained there until 1839, when he came to this
state. In 1843 he again removed to Orange county, N. Y.,
where his son, C. R. Pitcher, was born, and supplied several
churches there until 1857, when he removed to Susquehanna
county, in this state, where he remained until a comparatively
short time previous to his death.

As was the custom in earlier years, and during his residence
in Susquehanna county, he supplied several churches through-
out northeastern Pennsylvania, including the old school Baptist
church of Abington, which pulpit he occupied during a period
of over forty years, and his pastoral relations with this church
were only dissolved by the hand of God, as he occupied his
place until within three months of his death, December 23,
1882.

He was the father of eleven children, viz: Benjamin B., Sam-
uel Z., also John and James, now deceased, Hephzibah, now Mrs,
James C. Stephens, Elizabeth, now Mrs. Herrick, Phoebe, now
Mrs. Roe, Sarah, now Mrs. N. H. Peck, Ruth, now Mrs. H. H.
Peck, Mary A. and Charles R., who all grew to be men and
women, and are now residing in various states of the union, ex-
cept the two above noted. He had thirty-eight grandchildren
and twelve great-grandchildren, and his name has been perpetu-
ated through four living generations. His library contains some
valuable and rare volumes. Among others it contains an origi-
nal copy of the bible, translated by Theodore Beza, and printed
in 1599, being two hundred and eighty-nine years old; also a

Henry Alonzo Knapp. ' 967

complete concordance of the bible, by Alexander Cruden, M.
A., printed in 1738, being one hundred and fifty-one years old.
During his life he traveled thousands of miles, throughout the
middle and southern states, in the latter of which his denomina-
tion is very numerous. He died at a ripe old age, being nearly
eighty-two years old, at the residence of his son-in-law, H. H.
Peck, in Hyde Park, and was buried near his home in Susque-
hanna county. He was a great thinker, and it was commonly
remarked of him that he was a "living concordance." He was
also considered a very able writer and contributed largely to
many religious papers and periodicals. He was a man of
pure and unspotted reputation and self-sacrificing character.
The mother of C. R. Pitcher is Mary Ann Pitcher {nee Mary
Ann Meek), a native of London, England. Mr. Pitcher mar-
ried, November 18, 1875, Charlotte Meredith, a daughter of
William Meredith, who was a native of Clifford township, Sus-
quehanna county. Pa., whose father, Richard Meredith, was a
native of the parish of Buboum, county of Kent, England, where
he was born in 1773. He sailed for this country (leaving Liver-
pool) in June, 1808, and arrived in New York the September fol-
lowing. After landing in that city he was employed as a me-
chanic, by Robert Eulton, and assisted in the construction of
some of his boats, and made one trip with him up the Hudson.
He was the first person who applied for naturalization in Susque-
hanna county. His application to the court was made January,
1 8 14, but it does not appear that he received his papers until
February, 1822. Mr. and Mrs. Pitcher have four children — Pau-
line M. Pitcher, Claude M. Pitcher, Charles Pitcher and Mildred
Pitcher.

HENRY ALONZO KNAPP.

Henry x\lonzo Knapp, who was admitted to the bar of Lu-
zerne county, Pa., February 23, 1875, is a native of the town of
Barker, Broome county, N. Y., where he was born July 24, 185 i.
He is the son of Peter Knapp, a native of Broome county, N. Y.,

968 Henry Alonzo Knapp.

and grandson of Henry Knapp, a native of Dutchess county, N.
Y. His mother is Cornelia E. Nash, a native of Broome county,
N. Y. H. A. Knapp was educated at the academy in Binghamton,
N. Y., and read law with John Handley, in Scranton, where he now
practices. He was additional law judge of Lackawanna county
from July i, 1887, to January 2, 1888, having received the appoint-
ment from Governor Beaver. In 1 887 he was the republican candi-
date for additional law judge, but was defeated by John F. Con-
nolly (democrat), the vote standing Knapp, 8303 ; Connolly, 9162.
Mr. Knapp married, March 27, 1883, Lillie Logan, a daughter of
Rev. Samuel Crothers Logan, D. D., of the First Presbyterian
church, in Scranton. Dr. Logan was born December 21, 1823, at
Hanover, Indiana, was graduated frona Hanover college (of which
his father, George Logan, was a founder) in the class of 1846, from
Princeton Theological Seminary in 1850, and was Hcensed by the
First Presbytery of New York the same year. He was a mis-
sionary in Indiana, Kentucky and Michigan in 1850, took charge
of the mission field centering around Constantine, Michigan, in
December, 1850, and organized the church of Constantine with
nine members, with a salary of $84 for the first year. He was
ordained by the Presbytery of Lake in 1851. In 1854, by
his efforts, the church at Constantine was completed, and he
was installed pastor of the congregation, with from eight to
twelve preaching places, at which churches were afterwards or-
ganized. In May, 1857, he was pastor of the P'ifth church of
Cincinnati, which in two years paid off its debt of 5 11,000. In 1859
and i860 he was called to Valparaiso, Ind., where he established
the Collegiate Institute, and cared for both church and school. Dr.
Logan wrote the first paper in favor of the education of the freed-
men that passed the assembly in 1864, and secured its passage at
Newark. By this action the eastern and western committees on
freedmen were appointed at Philadelphia and Indianapolis. He
was secretary of the western committee, and sent the first mis-
sionaries to Alabama, Kansas and Tennessee, in 1864. In 1865
he wrote the article consolidating the two committees into "The
Assembly Committee on Freedmen," at Pittsburgh. He held the
office of secretary for four years, and organized about forty
churches and eighty schools, established VVallingford Academy, at

John O'Flahertv. 969

Charleston, S. C, Biddle University, at Charlotte, N. C, and Scotia
Seminary, at Concord, and with the help of the government raised
and expended ^71,000 in 1868. After supplying the First Pres-
byterian church at Scranton for some months. Dr. Logan became
its pastor in July, 1869, and continues in this relation at the pres-
ent time. The wife of Dr. Logan is Lucy Loring, a native of
Boston, Mass. Mr. and Mrs. Knapp have but one child — Alice

Alden Knapp.

WILBUR F. LATHROP.

Wilbur F. Lathrop was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county,
Pa., March 18, 1875. He is the grandson of Spencer Lathrop,
who was born in Connecticut in 1789, whose wife w^as Clara
Tupper, who was born in New York in 1790. The father of W.
F. Lathrop was Oliver Lathrop, who was born January 5, 18 16,
in Springville, Susquehanna county, Pa. The wife of Oliver La-
throp was Amelia L. Ladd, a native of New Albany, Bradford
county, Pa., where she was born October 10, 18 19. She was the
daughter of Charles W. Ladd, a native of Tolland county. Conn.
He removed to Albany township, Bradford county, Pa., early in
the century, and was the first postmaster of Albany, receiving
his appointment in 1820. His wife was Philinda Alden, a native
of Massachusetts, where she was born in 1795. W. F. Lathrop
was born April 13, 1849, at Hillsdale, Michigan. He was edu-
cated in the public schools of Susquehanna county, Pa., and at
the state normal school at Mansfield, Pa. He read law with Lit-
tles & Blakeslee, at Montrose, Pa., and was admitted to the bar
of Susquehanna county November 11, 1872. Mr. Lathrop is an
unmarried man and now resides at Carbondale, Pa.

JOHN O'FLAHERTY.

John O'Flaherty was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county.
Pa., September 6, 1875. He practiced for a time in this city and

970 Edward C. Dimmick.

removed from here to Texas. He subsequently returned north
and located at Elmira, N. Y. He read law with E. L. Merri-
man, in this city.

EUGENE C. MAPLEDORAM.

Eugene C. Mapledoram, who was admitted to the bar of Lu-
zerne county, Pa., September ir, 1875, is a native of Monticello,
Sullivan county, N. Y. He studied law with James L. Stewart, in
his native place, and with Matthews & P^oley, New York city,
where he was admitted to the bar September 17, 1874. He
practiced law for a few years in Hazleton, in this county, but now
practices in Kansas City, Mo. He is the son of George Maple-
doram, and grandson of William Mapledoram. His maternal
grandfather is William Adams. Mr. Mapledoram is an unmar-
ried man.

EDWARD C. DIMMICK.

Edward C. Dimmick, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne
county, Pa., September 17, 1875, is a descendant of Elder Thomas
Dimmock (son of Edward Dimmock, of Barnstable, England),
who was the first settler in this country and the common ancestor
of all of the name in New England. In 1635 he was a resident of
Dorchester, Mass., where he was a selectman that year, was a
freeman May 25, 1636, removed to Hingham, Mass., in 1638, to
Scituate, Mass., the next year, and in 1640 to Barnstable, Mass.
Mr. Dimmock was the first representative from Barnstable, in
1640, and several times thereafter, and was ordained a ruling
elder in the church August 7, 1650. Mr. Otis says: "The his-
tory of Mr. Dimmock is identified with the early history of Barn-
stable, and cannot be separated. He was the leading man and
was in some way connected with all the acts of the first set-
tlers. He was one of the assistant justices of the county court.

Edward C. Dimmick. 971

one of the council of war, and lieutenant, the highest rank
then known in the local militia. It is evident that Mr. Dimmock
was held by the colony, the town and the church to be a man of
integrity and ability." Mr. Otis further writes that "few of the
first settlers lived a purer life than Elder Thomas Dimmock. He
came over, not to amass wealth or acquire honor, but that he might
worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience, and
that he and his posterity might here enjoy the blessings of civil and
religious liberty. The duties to his God, to his country, and to his
neighbors he never forgot, or never knowingly violated." There
is no record of the marriage of Elder Thomas Dimmock, but Mr.
Otis thinks he married Ann Hammond, daughter of William
Hammond, of Watertown, before he settled at Barnstable. He
died in 1658.

Deacon Shubael Dimmuck was called ensign in the Barnstable
records. Mr. Otis says of him that he "sustained the character
and reputation of his father. In 1669 he was a resident of Yar-
mouth, but did not remain long. In Barnstable he was much
employed in town business. He was one of the selectmen in
1685-86, a deputy to the colony courts in the same years, and
again in 1689 he was ensign of the militia company. About 1693
he removed to Mansfield, Conn., which was then a part of Wind-
ham. The first mention made of him in the Windham records
is December 22, 1697, when he was chosen first on the committee
to 'aid the selectmen in setting the town boundaries. He was
admitted an inhabitant of Windham the last named date and
chosen one of the selectnien the same day. He was a member
of the first Windham church, and afterwards a member of the
first church of Mansfield, organized October 18, 1710, of which
he was deacon. His name stands first in the list of inhabitants
to whom the patent of the town was granted, October 20, 1703,
and first after Rev. Mr. Williams in the list of the nine organized
male members of the Mansfield church. He married Joanna
Bursley, daughter of John Bursley, in 1663.

John Dimuck, son of Deacon Shubael Dimmuck, lived in
Barnstable till 1709, when he removed to Falmouth. He married
Elizabeth Lumbert in 16S9. Timothy Dimock, son of John
Dimuck, settled in Mansfield. He married Ann Bradford, daugh-

972

Edward C. Dimmick.

tor of Joseph Bradford, a descendant of Governor Bradford of the
Mayflower, August 15, 1723. Deacon Oliver Dimock, son of
Timothy Dimock, Hved in the parish of Mansfield. He was a
deacon in the North Mansfield church and a very good man.
He married Sarah Gurley, a daughter of Samuel Gurley, in April,
1764. Dan Dimmick, son of Deacon Oliver Dimock, was born
March i, 1775. Being not as successful in his first exertions for
himself as he wished and probably expected, he left his native
state and went first to reside in the state of New York, near the
line of Pennsylvania. He came to Pennsylvania in the year 1800,
and began the study of law at Milford, Pa., and after his admission
to the bar practiced his profession at that place until his death,
in February, 1825. During the whole course of his professional
life he maintained a high stand among the lawyers of his day.
Men like Mallery and Woodward, and others of their calibre,
admitted his power and ability. Judge Mallery said of him that
"he never knew a man so well calculated to impress a jury," and
Judge Woodward always spoke in the highest terms of his suc-
cess as an advocate. He was a leading politician, and repre-
sented his district many years in the legislature of the state. He
was devotedly attached to the principles of the democratic party
— a faith in which all his children and his children's children
have remained steadfast. He married Jane, daughter of J. J.
Aerts, better known as Dr. Francis Smith, of Stroudsburg, Pa.,
of whom we find the following account in an original manuscript
now in the possession of the Hollingshead family: "Having been
frequently asked of what profession I was, and having as often
declined answering to satisfy these persons, in a future day let
them peruse the following lines — they contain, in short, the
whole: I was born in Brussels, capital city of the Austrian Nether-
land; my true name is Josephos Jacobus Aerts, son of Z. B. Aerts,
Lord of Opdorp and Immerscele. I altered my name in the
year 1771, when I proceeded to join the American army. ' I could
not expect to travel through Europe (as I had to go through
France) by that name without being exposed to being arrested by
the despotism of either the Emperatrice, or that of the daughter,
the Queen of France. I took the name of Smith, and my pass-
ports both in England and France under it ; also my commission

Edward C. Dimmick. 973

from congress, &c. * * * Having been employed from my
youth to a military life, but at the same time to the study of all
nations and their histories, possessing the German, Low Dutch,
French, English, Italian, Latin, and part of the Greek languages,
the means of acquiring information were by their aid facilitated
I took from the age of eighteen an extreme aversion to despotic
and mechanical governments, which in part was the occasion of
my being made a state prisoner and confied in irons in a dungeon
for six months, when I made a lucky escape from the prison at
Tomfels. I went into Holland, where I took service in order to
be protected by the military. Colonel Maus, who commanded
the regiment of the Prince of Milburg, was my friend, and pro-
tected me until his death, when I traveled through the greater
part of Europe, until I was suffered to return to Brussels. * *
Ever since 1777 I have lived in America. My parents died in
the meanwhile, and, as a rebel, disinherited me. My brother,
James Henricus Aerts, Lord of Boom and Opdorp, invaded my
patrimony, which I think ought to amount to one hundred thou-
sand florins, if not more. The French republic, I hope, will keep
the Netherlands, and do justice to my children without distinc-
tion, on an equal basis. My reasons for acting as I have done
are best known to myself"

Milton Dimmick, son of Dan Dimmick, was born in Milford
June 26, 1816, and died at that place April 3, 1851. After re-
ceiving an excellent education, he read law and was admitted to
the bar of his native county at the age of twenty-one years, and
continued in full and active practice to the year of his death. He
married, in 1842, Sarah Elizabeth, daughter of Rev. Edward
Allen, a Presbyterian clergyman.

Edward C. Dimmick, son of Milton Dimmick, was born at
Milford February 2, 1844. He was educated at Honesdale, and
subsequently under the tutorship of his grandfather. Rev. Edward
Allen. In 1862 he entered the law office of his uncle, M. M.
Dimmick, at Mauch Chunk, and was admitted to the bar of Car-
bon county in 1865. In 1 868 he was elected district attorney of Car-
bon county, and reelected in 1871. In 1873 he was the demo-
cratic candidate for the legislature in the district composed of the
counties of Carbon and Monroe, but was defeated. In 1874 he

974 Edward C. Dimmick.

removed to Scranton, Pa., where he now resides. In 1883 he
was elected city controller of Scranton, and was reelected in
1885. serving until 1887. He married, December i, 1868, Irene
Sophie, daughter of Alexis I. and Joanna du Pont de Nemours.
She died April i, 1877. He married, March 8, 1880, Joanna M.,
a sister of his first wife. Mr. Dimmick has three children living
— Lavinia Elizabeth Dimmick, Dorothy Dimmick, and Milton
Dimmick.

Alexis I. du Pont de Nemours was the son of Eleuthere Irenee
Du Pont, and member of the firm of E. I. Du Pont de Nemours
& Co. He married Joanna, daughter of Francis Gurney Smith.
He was a man of distinguished virtues, and built and presented
to the congregation the large and beautiful church of St. John's,
in Wilmington, Delaware. He died August 22, 1857. Eleuthere
Irenee Du Pont, father of Alexis I. Du Pont de Nemours, and
founder of the immense "powder works" on the Brandy wine, was
born in Paris, France, June 24, 1771. Simple in his habits, gen-
erous and ardent in his impulses, he united great energy of pur-
pose and untiring industry with a warm and benovolent heart.
In his early youth he was the pupil of the eminent chemist, La-
voisier, an intimate friend of his father, Du Pont de Nemours.
Lavoisier, at that time, was superintendent of the royal manufac-
tories and depots of powder and saltpetre (Regie royale des pou-
dres et salpetres), and at the mills at Essonne Irenee Du Pont
acquired a thorough knowledge of the manufacture of gunpow-
der. The events of the French revolution having put an end to
his career under Lavoisier and involved him and his family in
political trouble, they emigrated to the United States at the close
of the eighteenth century, arriving in Newport, R. I., on the
first of January, 1800. Some months later an accidental circum-
stance called Irenee Du Font's attention to the bad quality of the
gunpowder made in the land of his adoption, and gave him the first
idea of establishing a set of works for its manufacture, a project
deemed by many as little short of madness, so great was the repu-
tation of the powder imported from England. Having decided upon
the enterprise he went back to France in 1 801, revisited Essonne to
acquaint himself with the various improvements in powder man-
ufacture which had been made since he left the place, returning

Edward C. Dimmick. 975

to this country in August, well supplied with plans and models
and bringing with him some of the machinery for his future mills.
In the following year (1802) these were established on the banks
of the Brandywine creek, four miles from Wilmington. After
many disappointments and losses his energy and courage sur-
mounted every obstacle, and at the time of his death by cholera,
October 31, 1834, while temporarily in Philadelphia, his powder
mills were the most extensive in the United States. Since then
the immense business has been ably managed by his sons and
grandsons, who retain the old firm name. The works are now
the largest of their kind in the -world. In addition to the build-
ings devoted to the manufacture and storage of gunpowder, they
embrace a saltpetre refinery and laboratory attached, charcoal
houses, machine shops, carpenter and blacksmith shops, planing
and saw mills. The firm owns over two thousand acres of land,
that stretch forth three miles along both sides of the Brandywine,
and on which are located three woolen mills, a cotton mill, flour
mill, etc., giving employment to upwards of five hundred opera-
tives. There are good roads, substantial bridges, mostly of stone,
and in fact no money has been spared to make the estate a model
one in every respect. The high reputation permanently main-
tained by Du Font's powder is due to the care bestowed upon
its manufacture, and to the constant personal supervision main-
tained over all the processes and character of materials. The
quantity of saltpetre and nitrate of soda annually consumed here
is enormous, amounting to over eight million pounds, imported
mostly from India and South America. The firm take especial
pains to have a thoroughly pure and reliable quality of saltpetre
used in their powder, and consequently have devised the most
rigid tests. All descriptions of powder for military and naval
purposes are made at the works, such as hexagonal, prismatic,
cannon, musket, rifle, mortar and pistol. In this connection it
may be noted that the firm supplied all the powder used in recent
experiments with heavy cannon, including those made with the
Haskell multicharge gun. 'It also manufactures diamond grain,
eagle, chokebore, and the various grades of canister and rifle pow-
der, as well as shipping, blasting, mining and fuse powders. The
firm own a large depot at San Francisco for the requirements of

^;6

Nathaniel Marion Orr.

the Pacific states, and have agencies through South and Central
America, and elsewhere. During the Crimean war the allied
forces, to enable them to prosecute the siege of Sebastopol, were
obliged to procure large supplies of gunpowder from the United
States, one-half of which was furnished by the Du Pont mills,
and the American powder compared very favorably with the best
that could be made in Europe. Eleuthere Irenee Du Pont de
Nemours Avas the youngest son of Pierre Samuel Du Pont de
Nemours, a French statesman and economist, and Nicole Char-
lotte Marie Louise Le Dee de Rencourt, his wife. (See page 891.)

NATHANIEL MARION ORR.

Nathaniel Marion Orr was admitted to the bar of Luzerne
county, Pa., September 23, 1875. His great-grandfather, Joseph
Orr, emigrated from the north of Ireland in the latter part of the
last century, and settled in the state of New Jersey. He subse-
quently removed to this city, and in 1809 he purchased of Gen-
eral Ross over two hundred and fifty acres of land in the then
Wilkes-Barre township, and which comprised the General Stur-
devant and Alexander McLean farms, in the fifteenth ward of this
city. His second wife was Elizabeth, a daughter of Abraham
Johnson, of Kingston towi&ship. John Johnson, who was treas-
urer of Luzerne county in 1846 and 1847, was a nephew of
Abraham Johnson. The Johnsons were from Johnsonburg,
novv- in Warren county, N. J. This village was once the county
seat of Sussex county, and the first court was held there in 1753.
Joseph Orr subsequently removed to Exeter township and bought
a farm upon which the town of West Pittston now stands. He
afterwards removed to Dallas, where he died. He w^as a soldier
in the revolutionary war. Joseph Orr, son of Joseph Orr by his
second wife, resided in Dallas and Kingston township nearly all
his lifetime. He married Mary Tuttle, daughter of John Tuttle,
who was a son of Henry Tuttle, of Baskingridge, New Jersey.
(See page 461). The mother of Mrs. Orr was Mary, daugh-
ter of Thomas Bennett, of Forty Fort. (See page 63 1). Albert

Nathaniel Marion Orr. 977

Skeer Orr, son of Joseph Orr, was born in Wyoming, and now
resides in this city. He was postmaster of this city under Pres-
ident Arthur. During the late civil war he was sutler of the
Fifty-third Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers, and was also
connected with the One Hundred and Forty-fifth Pennsylvania
Volunteers and Fifth New Hampshire Volunteers. He was also
a wholesale dealer to supply other sutlers, and was purveyor
at General Hancock's headquarters. His wife is Priscilla, daugh-
ter of John Worden, of Dallas. According to tradition, Sam-
uel Worden, Peter Worden and Joseph Worden, brothers from
England, settled near New York, about 1760. At the dawn
of the revolutionary war Peter Worden and Joseph Worden
went to Nova Scotia. Samuel Worden, a blacksmith, espoused
the whig cause, left his home near New York, enlisted and
served in the forces which, under Sullivan, chastised the In-
dians after the Wyoming battle and massacre. Retiring down
the river, he died at Sunbury, Pa. He had a son, Nathaniel
Worden, a mason, who married Lena, a daughter of Conrad
Line, who was of German descent. Mr. Line was born in New
Jersey in 1731, and came to Hanover (Nanticoke) before the rev-
olutionary war, and died there in 1815. Nathaniel Worden was
a taxable in Hanover in 1796. John Worden, son of Nathaniel
Worden, was the father of Mrs. Orr. John H. Worden and
Charles W. Worden, brothers of Mrs. Orr, gave their lives on the
federal side during the late civil war, and are buried in the same
grave in Dallas. N. M. Orr, son of A. S. Orr, was born December
12, 1 85 1 , at Dallas. He was educated at Wyoming Seminary and
Lafayette college, graduating from the latter institution in the
class of 1874, and read law in this city under Henry M. Hoyt.
He practiced in this city a short time, when he removed to Allen-
town, Pa. In 1876 he was the republican candidate for state
senator of Lehigh county, Pa., but was defeated by Evan Hol-
ben (democrat). He subsequently removed to this county, and
in 1878 he removed to McKean county. Pa. He is now prac-
ticing his profession at Kane, in the latter named county. Mr.
Orr is an unmarried man. George M. Orr, who was admitted to
the bar of Luzerne county June 6, 1887, isabrotherof N. M. Orr.

978 Thomas Fenimore Wells.

HERBERT H. COSTON.

Herbert H. Coston, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne
county, Pa., October 4, 1875, is a native of Honesdale, Pa., where
he was born June 9, 1 849. He is the son of S. B. Coston, of Scran-
ton, Pa., and grandson of Benton P. Coston. His mother is
Elizabeth Hull, the daughter of William Hull. The Hull family
are from Connecticut. H. H. Coston was educated at the Wyo-
ming Seminary and We.sleyan University, and read law with
Alfred Hand and Isaac J. Post, at Scranton. He is the official
stenographer of the courts of Lackawanna and Sullivan coun-
ties. Mr. Coston married, August 15, 1885, Addie Belle Pinney.
She is the daughter of S. B. Pinney, from Connecticut. Mr. and
Mrs. Coston have one child — Carl Herbert Coston.

THOMAS FENIMORE WELLS.

Thomas P'enimore Wells, who was admitted to the bar of Lu-
zerne county. Pa., October 4, 1875, is a descendant of John W.
Wells, a native of the state of New York, whose parents were born
in Philadelphia. The Wells family were originally from England,
and John W. W^ells, above named, was one of the earliest settlers
in Susquehanna county, Pa. Corydon H. W^ells was the son of
John W. Wells. The wife of C. H. Wells was Mary G. Bass, a
daughter of Thomas H. Bass, and granddaughter of Joseph Bass,
who emigrated from Windham county. Conn., to Lebanon town-
ship, Wayne county. Pa., where he settled in 18 14. His wife was
a sister of David Gager, from the same place in Connecticut, and
who settled in the township at the same time. Thomas F. Wells,
son of C. H. Wells, was born in Dundaff, Pa, September 17,
1853. He was educated in the public schools of Scranton and
at Lafayette college, Easton, Pa. He studied law with Hand &
Post, in Scranton, where he now resides. He is at present pres-

Lemuel Amerman. 979

ident of the board of the Scranton city assessors. This is the
only office that he ever held. He married, May 31, 1876, E.
Louise Jenkins. Her father is William Jenkins, from central New
York, where his ancestors were early settlers. Mr. and Mrs.
Wells have a family of two children — Anna Wells and Harold
J. Wells.

LEMUEL AMERMAN.

Lemuel Amerman was admitted to the bar of Luzerne
county, Pa., December 24, 1875. His great-great-great-grand-
fdther, who resided near Amsterdam, Holland, came over with
the Dutch colonists and settled in New York. His great-grand-
father, Albert Amerman, came from New Jersey, and settled in
Northumberland county. Pa., in 1800, where he bought a tract
of land and remained his lifetime, dying in 1821. He served in
the war of the revolution. He was a farmer previous to the war,
and when the war broke out he gave up his horses, cattle and
stock of all kind, a sacrifice upon the altar of his country's lib-
erty. He lost his knee cap at the battle of Monmouth. Henry
Amerman, son of Albert Amerman, was a native of New Jer-
sey, and was a small boy when his father removed to Northumber-
land county. PI is wife was Susanna Cook, a native of Mont-
gomery county, Pa. Jesse C. Amerman, son of Henry Am-
erman, is a resident of Cooper township, Montour county. Pa.,
where he is engaged in merchandizing and farming. In 1873 and
1874 he represented Montour county in the legislature of the
state. Mr. Amerman married, December 2, 1845, Caroline
Strohm, a daughter of Abraham Strohm. Mrs. Amerman died
April 19, 1869. Lemuel Amerman. son of Jesse C. Amerman,
was born near Danville, Pa., October 29, 1846. He was born
and brought up on a farm and for a time worked on the re-
pairs of the canal. He was educated in the public schools, in
the Danville academy, and at Bucknell university, Lewisburg,
Pa., graduating from the latter institution in the class of 1870.
He taught in the public schools three years. For three years

980 Leonidas Campbell Kinsey.

he was professor of languages and literature in the State Nor-
mal School at Mansfield, Pa. Mr. Amerman read law with
Lewis C. Cassidy, in Philadelphia, and soon after his admission
to the bar of Philadelphia county removed to Scranton, where
he has since resided. PVom 1878 to 1881 he was county solici-
tor of Lackawanna county, and from 1881 to 1883 he repre-
sented the city of Scranton in the legislature of the state. In
1886 he was appointed by Governor Pattison reporter of the Su-
preme Court, and volumes 1 1 1 to 1 1 5, both inclusive, of the Penn-
sylvania state reports, bear his name. In 1887 he was elected
controller of the city of Scranton, which office he held for two
years. Mr. Amerman married, September 24, 1879, in Philadel-
phia, Susan Wallaze, daughter of Laurens Wallaze. The Wal-
laze family were from Virginia. Mrs. Amerman died four months
after marriaee. Mr. Amerman married a second time, June 6,
1883, Mary C. Van Nort, a daughter of Charles F. Van Nort, of
Scranton, formerly of Abington. His second wife died Febru-
ary 14, 1886. Mr. Amerman is a democrat in politics and a
Baptist in his religious views. For seven years he was superin-
tendent of the Penn Avenue Baptist Sunday school in Scranton.
He has two children.

LEONIDAS CAMPBELL KINSEY.

Leonidas Campbell Kinsey was admitted to the bar of Luzerne
county, Pa., April 10, 1876. His father was John Kinsey and
his grandfather was Joshua Kinsey. The latter came from Bucks
county. Pa., at an early day, and settled near Berwick, in Luzerne
county. The maternal ancestor of L. C. Kinsey was Mary P.
Campbell, daughter of James Campbell, who was Scotch-Irish, and
belonged to that indomitable race of early American settlers
which played so prominent a part in the early history of the state.
L. C. Kinsey was born at Beach Haven, Luzerne county. Pa.,
June 30, 1844, and when about a year old removed with his
father's family to Montgomery Station, Lycoming county. Pa. He
remained there until he was eighteen years of age. He attended

Edward I. McCoy. 981

the common schools of his neighborhood in the winter time and
assisted in his father's store in the summer time. In 1862 he
learned telegraphy, and was in August of that year appointed
operator at Troy, Pa., on the Northern Central Railway. He
afterwards served that company in like capacity at Elmira, N. Y.,
and Ralston, Pa. In the spring of 1865 he entered the service of
the Pennsylvania Railroad Company on eastern division of Phila-
delphia & Erie Railway at VVilliamsport, Pa., where he was pro-
moted during the summer to telegraphic train dispatcher, and
soon after to superintendent of telegraphy of the eastern division of
the Philadelphia and Erie Railway; in the meantime engaging in
the lumber business, which after a year or two absorbed his entire
time. Disposing of this he engaged with the Oil Creek and Alle-
gheny River Railroad Company and removed to Corry, Pa., in 1869,
where he was employed in various capacities; among others, clerk
to the general superintendent of that road until 1873, when he
entered the civil service of the United States at Washington, in
the treasury department, remaining there a little over a year,
when he came to Wilkes-Barre and studied law under Hon. D.
L. Rhone, his brother-in-law. He practiced law in this city until
early in the year 1880, when he became absorbed in the introduc-
tion of Bell's Electric Telephone, and was for the next three
years busily engaged in founding the present system of telephone
exchanges in Luzerne county. In July, 1882, the Luzerne
county telephone interests were consolidated with the Scranton
company by sale, and he removed to Montgomery Station, the
scene of his childhood, where he still resides, employed in farm-
ing, merchandizing and in looking after the telephone interests
which he still retains. Mr. Kinsey was the first man to intro-
duce the telephone in Wilkes-Barre on a commercial basis. The
exchange was opened for business in this city February i, 1880.
Mr. Kinsey is an unmarried man.

EDWARD I. McCOY.

Edward I. McCoy, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne
county. Pa., April 10, 1876, is a grandson of Rev. Robert McCoy,

982 George F. Bentley.

of the Methodist Episcopal church, whose son, Joseph McCoy,
a native of Bucks county, Pa., was the father of E. I. McCoy. The
wife of Joseph McCoy, and the mother of the subject of our
sketch, was I'^h'za Svvope, a native of Hollidaysburg, Pa., the
daughter of John Swope. E. I. McCoy was born January 10,
1847, at Huntingdon, Pa, and was educated at FrankHn and
Marshal College, Lancaster, Pa., graduating in 1874. He read
law with Brown and Bailey in his native town. In August, 1877,
he removed from this city to Tipton, Cedar county, Iowa, where
he has since resided. He is now the prosecuting attorney of
Cedar county. Mr, McCoy married, October 23, 1879, Mary E.
Moreland, a native of Somerset county. Pa., and the daughter of
David Moreland, who removed to Tipton in 1853. His first wife
dying, Mr. McCoy married a second time, October 30, 1888,
Maria M. Cheeny, of Topeka, Kansas. She is the daughter of
Rev. Robert Cheeny, of the Methodist Episcopal church. Mrs.
McCoy was born in Mechanicsburg, Champaign county, Ohio.
In 1868 her father removed to Kansas, where she has resided
since. Mr. McCoy has one child — Susan McCoy.

GEORGE F. BENTLEY.

George F. Bentley, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne
county Pa., April 17, 1876, is a native of Montrose, Pa., where he
was born April 4, 1850. His grandfather, Stephen Bentley, was
a native of Newport, R. I. His father, George V. Bentley, was
a native of Cairo, Greene county, N. Y., where he was born April
13, 1 81 3, and removed with his parents to Susquehanna county,
Pa., when but an infant. The mother of George F. Bentley, and
.the wife of George V. Bentley, was Catharine Cochran Sayre, a
daughter of Benjamin Sayre, a native of Southampton, L. I.,
who removed to Montrose in 18 16, from Cairo, N. Y., where he
married Priscilla, a native of Say Brook, Conn., daughter of
Deacon Benjamin Chapman. She was a descendant of Robert
Chapman. Mrs. Sayre was the oldest child of Benjamin Chap-
man and his wife, widow Lydia Cochran. Her sister Catharine

Henry Harding. 983

was the wife of Ezra Hand. (See page 875). The same year
Mr. Sayre started a store in Montrose, and in 18 19 he erected a
dwelHng house, where for several years he kept the "Washington
Hotel." In 1832 he converted his hotel into a temperance hotel,
where " a variety of wholesome and refreshing drinks will be
kept as a substitute for ardent spirits." Afterwards it was his
private residence until it was destroyed by fire in the spring of
1 85 1. He was a member of the first board of trustees of the
Conerecrational church of Montrose, and when in 1823 it was
resolved to adopt the Presbyterian form of government, he was
elected one of the ruling elders. He was a descendant of
Thomas Sayre, a native of Bedfordshire, England, who emigrated
to Southampton in 1640. There he purchased a farm which has
been in the Sayre family ever since. George F. Bentley was
educated at Yale College, and graduated therefrom in the class
of 1873. He read law with W. H. Jessup, at Montrose. He has
practiced in Scranton, Philadelphia, and now has an office in New
York. He is an unmarried man.

HENRY HARDING.

Henry Harding, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne
county. Pa., June 12, 1876, is a descendant of Captain Stephen
Harding, whose son, Elisha Harding, was the grandfather of the
subject of this sketch. (See pages 618 and 668.) Elisha Harding,
jr., son of Elisha Harding, was born in Eaton, Luzerne (now Wyo-
ming) county. Pa., in 1790. He married (first) Amy Jenkins, and
his second wife was Nancy Jackson, daughter of Nathan Jackson,
M. D., who came from Vermont in 1797, and settled on the
mountain between Tunkhannock and Osterhouts. His wife was
Unity Willard. He died at the old homestead in Tunkhannock
township April 30, 1853. Hon. John Jackson, of Tunkhannock
township, Wyoming county, is his youngest son. P>om 1848
to 185 1 he was sheriff of Wyoming county, and in 1876 he
was a member of the Pennsylvania house of respresentatives.
Elisha Harding, jr., was a justice of the peace for thirty years.

984 Samuel Matthias Rhone.

and he may be said to have practically filled all of the offices and
managed all of the public business of the town. He acted
as general conveyancer and legal adviser for his townsmen.
Henry Harding, son of Elisha Harding, jr., was born in Eaton
November 4, 1848. He enlisted in the United States navy at the
age of sixteen years, and served in the North Atlantic squadron.
In June, 1865, he became one of the crew of the "Colorado,"
under Admiral Gouldsborough, served two years in Europe and
the Meditteranean and secured his discharge in 1868. Mr. Hard-
ing was educated in the public schools of his native township and
at Tunkhannock, and read law with John A. Sittser, now presi-
dent judge of Wyoming county, Pa., and was admitted to the
Wyoming county bar in 1874. He has practiced in this city
and in Tunkhannock, where he now resides. He has been a
justice of the peace, burgess of Tunkhannock, councilman,
overseer of the poor, and for six years a school director, the last
four years as president of the board, which office he now holds.
He was for some years the law partner of Judge Sittser. Mr.
Harding married, November 6, 1872, Mary Ace, a daughter of
Joseph Ace, and granddaughter of Peter Ace, who removed to
Wyoming county from Pike county, Pa., in 1864. Mr. and Mrs.
Harding have one child — Stanley Harding.

SAMUEL MATTHIAS RHONE.

Samuel Matthias Rhone was admitted to the bar of Luzerne
county, Pa., November 20, 1876. He is a son of the late George
Rhone, and a brother of Hon. D. L. Rhone, of this city. (See
page 170). S. M. Rhone was born in Huntington township, in
this county, September 25, 185 i. He was educated in the com-
mon schools of his native township, at the New Columbus (Pa.)
Academy, and Wyoming Seminary, Kingston, Pa., and read law
with E. S. Osborne in this city. He now resides at Montgomery Sta-
tion, Lycoming county, Pa., and is at present a township auditor.

James Humphrey Torrey. 985

He married, May 2, 1877, Amanda Waltman, a granddaughter
of William Waltman, who resided near Bethlehem, Pa., and
daughter of Henry Waltman. Mr. and Mrs. Rhone have a family
of two children — Cecilia Edna and Mary Alena Rhone.

JAMES HUMPHREY TORREY.

James Humphrey Torrey, who was admitted to the bar of Lu-
zerne county, Pa., November 20, 1876, was born June 16, 1851,
at Delhi, Delaware county, New York. His father. Rev. David
Torrey, D. D., was the youngest of the eleven children of Major
Jason Torrey, who removed with his family from Williamstown,
Mass., in 1794 and settled in the wilderness of northeastern Penn-
sylvania, becoming one of the founders of Bethany and Hones-
dale, and one of the prominent promoters and organizers of
Wayne county. Major Torrey was lineally descended in the
tenth generation from William Torrey, who emigrated from Combe,
St. Nicholas, England, about 1640 and settled in Weymouth,
Mass. Being by profession a surveyor and land agent, and rep-
resenting the Philadelphia owners of large tracts in Wayne, Sus-
quehanna, Wyoming and Luzerne counties, he was intimately as-
sociated with the settlement, growth and development of this
section of the state. The struggles and hardships of the early
settlers are graphically described in a memoir of Major Torrey,
written by his son, Dr. David Torrey, and published in 1885 by
J. S. Horton, Scranton. He erected in 1801 the second house in
Bethany, then the county seat of Wayne county. Pa. He re-
moved to Honesdale, Pa., in 1826, and built the first house that
was erected in that place. Among the children of Jason Torrey
who remained in this part of the state and who, with their de-
scendants, have exerted no little influence in molding its life and
contributing to its progress, are Hon. John Torrey, of Honesdale,
who married a sister of the late H. M. Fuller, of Wilkes-Barre;
Rev. Stephen Torrey, of Honesdale, for many years surveyor and
real estate agent of the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company;
Mrs. Colonel Richard L. Seeley, of Honesdale, mother of the

986 James Humthkey Tokrev,

present president judge of that district, Hon. H. M. Seeley ; and
Mrs. l^lija Weston, mother of E. W. Weston, Esq., of Scranton.
Rev. D. Torrey, D. D., the father of the subject of this sketch, is
a graduate of Amherst College and Union Theological Seminary,
and has been settled successively as pastor of Presbyterian
churches in the following places: Delhi, N. Y., Ithaca, N. Y.,
Ann Arbor, Mich., and Ca/.enovia, N. Y., where he now re-
sides, having retired from the active labors of the ministry. He
was married in 1848 to Mary E. Humphrey, of Amherst, Mass.,
a daughter of Rev. Heman Humphrey, D. D., LL. D., presi-
dent of Amherst College. Dr. Humphrey was lineally descended
in the sixth generation from Michael Humphrey, who before
1643 emigrated from England to Windsor, Conn. Mrs. Torrey's
mother was Sophia Porter, who w^as a sister of Dr. Noah Porter,
of Farmington, Conn., who was the father of the distinguished
metaphysician. Dr. Noah Porter, president of Yale University.
Mrs. Torrey died at Ann Arbor, Mich., April 8, 1867, having
borne to Dr. Torrey two children, both of whom still survive, name-
ly, Sarah M., who was married in 1873 to W. D. Wells, a mer-
chant of Cazenovia, N. Y., and James H. Torrey, the subject of
this sketch. James H. Torrey was educated in the high schools
of Ann Arbor and of Northampton, Mass., and entered the class
of 1873 in Amherst College. He left college during his junior
year and did not graduate with his class ; but he has since
received from the college the honorary degree of A. M. After
leaving college Mr. Torrey began the study of the law, January
10, 1872, in the office of Willard & Royce, in Scranton, Pa. After
six months study in this office he entered the employ of the
Delaware & Hudson Canal Company, at first as a member of an
engineer corps and later as weighmaster at the mines, the latter
position being preferred as furnishing the more leisure and better
facilities for his law studies, which were prosecuted with such de-
votion as the demands of business permitted. Mr. Torrey mar-
ried, December 10, 1872, Ella C. Jay, daughter of Douglas H.

Jay, of Scranton. Mr. Jay is a great-grandson of Jay,

who was a brother of John Jay, the first chief justice of the United
StatesSupremeCourt.andagrandsonof Joseph Jay, of New Bruns-
wick, N. J., who distinguished himself among the many disinter-

Samuel P. McDivrrr. 987

ested patriots of New Jersey during the revolution, by destroy-
ing the evidences of long service as an officer in the continental
army, and of the loan of large sums of money to the continental
congress, so that no successful claim could ever be made for re-
muneration or reimbursement. Mr. Torrey completed his law
studies in the office of E. B. Sturges, in Scranton. He imme-
diately opened an office in Scranton, where he has ever since de-
voted himself strictly and exclusively to the practice of the law,
principally upon the civil side of the court. By appointment of
the board of trade he represented Scranton in the inter-municipal
conventions of 1886-7, and was associated with Louis Richards,
Esq., of Reading, and T. A. Lamb, Esq., of Erie, in the work of
drafting and securing the passage of the act of May 24, 1887, for
the government of the smaller cities of the state. Mr. Torrey has
been the treasurer of the Lackawanna Bar Association since its
organization, for several years past secretary of the Lackawanna
Law Library Association, and is now (1889) the chairman of the
board of examiners of law students. Mr. Torrey has been for
> many years a manager and was for two terms (1878-80) the
president of the Young Men's Christian Association, of Scran-
ton. He was made superintendent of the Sunday school of the
Second Presbyterian church in 1882, and an elder in 1886, both
of which positions he still holds. Mr. Torrey has four children-
Mary Humphrey Torrey, William Jessup Torrey, Elizabeth Jay
Torrey and Douglas Jay Torrey.

SAMUEL P. McDIVITT.

Samuel P. McDivitt. who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne
county. Pa., November 21,1 876, is a son of Matthew McDivitt and
his wife, Jane Patterson. He is a native of Alexandria, Hunting-
don county, Pa, where he was bora August 5, 1848. He was
educated in the public scliools, Pennsylvania State Normal
School, and Michigan University, Ann Arbor. Michigan, and read
law with K. A. Lovell, Esq., at Huntingdon, Pa. He practiced law
for four years in Scranton, Pa., and while residing there was secre-

98S Wharton Dickinson.

tary and treasurer of the Second Presbyterian church. He was also
superintendent of the primary department of the Sabbath school
connected with the same church. He was also one of the board
of managers of the Young Men's Christian Association. Mr.
McDivitt married, May i, 1884, Emily M. Skinner, daughter of
Rev. Thomas Harvey Skinner, D. D., and his wife, Mary Day, of
Springfield, Mass. Dr. Skinner was born in Philadelphia Octo-
ber 6, 1820; graduated at the University of New York in 1840 ;
was licensed to preach the gospel in 1843, and was ordained and
installed pastor of the Second Presbyterian church of Paterson, N.
J., the same year. In 1846 he accepted a call to the West Pres-
byterian church in the city of New York, and in 1856 was trans-
ferred to the Presbyterian church at Honesdale, Pa. In 1859 he
took charge of the Reformed Dutch church in Stapleton, Long
Island, in which he continued until 1868, when he accepted the
pastoral care of the First Presbyterian church of Fort Wayne,
Indiana. In 1871 he was settled as pastor in Cincinnati, Ohio.
He is now connected with the McCormick Theological Seminary,
of Chicago, as Cyrus H. McCormick Professor of Didactic and
Polemic Theology. Among Dr. Skinner's published writings
are the following articles in \h.^ Pnnceton Reviezv : i860. The
Bible its own Witness and Interpreter; 1866, The Trinity in
Redemption; 1867, Sanctification. Mr. and Mrs. McDivitt now
reside in Chicago, 111.

WHARTON DICKINSON.

Wharton Dickinson was born September 9, 1849, and was ad-
mitted to the bar of Luzerne county. Pa., April 24, 1 877. He is a
descendant of Samuel Dickinson, of Maryland, by his second wife,
Mary Cadwalader, whose grandfather, John Cadwalader, emi-
grated to Pennsylvania from Pembrokeshire, North Wales, towards
the close of the seventeenth century, and married Martha Jones,
daughter of Edward Jones, M. D., one of the earliest practitioners
of medicine in the province. The mother of Martha Jones was

Wharton Dickinsom. 989

Mary, daughter of Thomas Wynne, "chirurgeon" from Gaerway-
FUntshire, Wales, who came over with Penn in the "Welcome,"
and was speaker of the first three general assemblies. The father
of Mary Cadvvalader was Dr. Thomas Cadwalader, a member of
the provincial council from 1755 to 1776. He filled many impor-
tant stations, the last of which was in 1778, when he was ap-
pointed surgeon of the Pennsylvania Hospital. Philemon Dick-
inson, son of Samuel Dickinson, graduated at the college of Phila-
delphia, and read law with his brother, and practiced for a few
years. In 1775 he was made colonel of the Hunterdon Bat-
talion, and in the same year he was commissioned a brigadier
general. In the following summer he was a delegate to the
provincial congress, at Burlington. In September, 1776, he joined
Washington at Perth Amboy. He accompanied the American
army on its retreat through the Jerseys, and was at Morrisville,
Pa., when Washington planned his attack on Trenton. In 1777
he was appointed major general and commander-in-chief of the
New Jersey troops. He participated in the battle of Monmouth,
and after the battle pursued the enemy as far as Amboy. In 1778
Washington made him chief signal officer from Newburg, N. Y.,
to Philadelphia. The state of Delaware chose him one of its
delegates to the continental congress in 178 1. In 1783 he was
elected one of the council of New Jersey, of which body he
became vice-president, serving two years. The continental con-
gress in 1784 appointed him, among others, to select a site for
the federal capital. They reported in favor of Trenton, but their
report was laid on the table. In 1790 he was chosen United
States senator from New Jersey, and served until 1793. He died
in 1809. The celebrated John Dickinson was his brother.
Samuel Dickinson, son of Philemon Dickinson, studied law with
Edward Tilghman, of Philadelphia, and was admitted to the bar
in 1792, but never practiced. He married, in 1796, his cousin
Anne, daughter of Samuel Meredith by his wife, Margaret Cad-
walader. Samuel Dickinson, son of Samuel Dickinson, was a
colonel in the New Jersey militia in 1844, and was captain of the
Tenth United States Infantry in the Mexican war. He was the
father of Wharton Dickinson, who married, October 4, 1877,
Emily H. Barron, daughter of Edward A. Barron.

990 James E. Burr.

SAMUKT. FRENCH WADHAMS.

Samuel I'^rench VVadhams was admitted to the bar of Luzerne
county, Pa., May 28, 1H77. He was educated at Dartmouth
College, from which he graduated in the class of 1875, and read
law with E. P. and J. V. Darling, in this city. He practiced in
this city until 1 884, when he removed to Duluth, Minnesota,
where he now resides. He is an unmarried man and a republi-
can in politics. He is the son of the late Elijah Catlin Wadhams,
and his wife, E^sther Taylor Wadhams. For a sketch of the
Wadhams family see pages 109 and 755.

JAMES E. BURR.

James E. Burr, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county,
Pa., May 20, 1877, is a descendant of Jehua Burr, who came to
America with Winthrop's famous fleet in 1630, and on his arrival
settled in Roxbury, Mass. (See page 762). Nathaniel Burr, son
of JehueBurr, was born in Springfield, Mass., about 1640. Dan-
iel Burr, son of Nathaniel Burr, had a son James Burr, of Fair-
field, Conn., who married Deborah Turney, who had a son Jehue
Burr, who was born March 15, 1752. He married Mary, daugh-
ter of Daniel Hawley. Jehue Burr settled first at Huntington,
Conn., where most of his children were born. In 1795 he re-
moved with his family to what is now Andes, Delaware county,
N. Y., then a new country. There he followed the profession of
a practical surveyor and land agent. He had a son Isaac Burr,
of Meredith, N. Y., who was born December 10, 1780, and mar-
ried, September 4, 1809, Deborah Raymond. She was born at
Norwalk, Conn. Isaac Burr was also a practical surveyor and
land asrent. He was a member of the New York constitutional
convention in 1846. He was also a member of the legislature of
the state of New York and at one time was a candidate for con-

James E. Burr. 991

gress. He had a son Washington Burr, of Carbondale, Pa.,
who was born August 7, 1824. He married, November 4,
1 85 I , Lucinda Bradley, of Carbondale. He is a watchmaker and
jeweler in Carbondale. James E. Burr, son of Washington Burr,
was born at Carbondale, Pa., July 8, 1 853. He graduated from the
college of New Jersey, at Princeton, in the class of 1875, and
read law in this city with E. P. and J. V. Darling, and has practiced
in this city and in Carbondale, where he now resides. He has
also an office in Scranton. He has been city solicitor of Carbon-
dale since 1879, and from 1881 to 1884 he was one of the school
directors of the city of Carbondale. He married, September 6,
18*82, Matilda Parsons Bryan, daughter of the late Rev. Edward
D.Bryan. Mr. Bryan was born in Harrisburg, Pa., June 15, 1812.
His grandfather, George Bryan, was born in 1731 in Dublin,
Ireland. He was the eldest son, and in early life emigrated to
America, settling in Philadelphia. He was at first engaged in
mercantile pursuits, in which he was unsuccessful. He was em-
ployed in the public service, having been a member of the colo-
nial congress which met in New York in 1765, and repeatedly a
member of the assembly under the proprietary government.
After that was at an end he served in the supreme executive
council for three years, (the maximum period in seven years per-
mitted by the organic law) as vice-president, and a part of that
time as acting president of the council. Soon after retiring from
this office he was elected a member of the assembly, where he at
once took a leading part. He was a sincere patriot, and by voice
and vote gave his powerful support to the popular cause. It was
at a time when the most vigilant and ceaseless care was requisite
to maintain the new government, both state and national, in their
struggle with one of the leading powers of the earth. But his was
a nature that could not be exclusively absorbed by the ordinary
duties of the hour. His heart was full of sympathy for the weak,
the lowly and the suffering of every class, and while he was act-
ive in resisting tyranny from abroad, he was equally interested
to remove every vestige of oppression at home. Frequent at-
tempts had been made to put an end to African slavery in the
colony, but none had hitherto been successful. In his message
to the assembly of November 9, 1778, as acting president of

992 James IC. Hukk.

the council, in calling attention to this subject, he said : "This,
or some better scheme, would tend to abrogate slavery, the oppro-
brium of America, from among us, and no period seems more
happy for the attempt than the present, as the number of such
unhappy characters, ever few in Pennsylvania, has been much
reduced by the practices and plunder of our late invaders. In
divesting the state of slaves you will equally serve the cause of
humanity and policy and offer to God one of the most proper
and best returns of gratitude for His great deliverance of us and
our posterity from thralldom ; you will also set your character
for justice and benevolence in the true point of view to all Europe,
who are astonished to see a people eager for liberty holding
negroes in bondage. " In 1779 he was elected to the legislature,
where he early matured and brought forward a bill, which, after
setting forth in touching terms the wrongfulness of slavery, pro-
vided that no child born thereafter in Pennsylvania of slave par-
ents should be a slave, but a servant until the age of twenty-eight
years, when all claims for further service should cease ; that all
slaves should be immediately registered, and unless so registered
shall be deemed free, and that slaves shall be tried as other per-
sons, and if capitally punished the master should be paid from the
public treasury. "It was passed," says Westcott, "on second
reading by a vote of forty yeas to eighteen nays, and upon third
reading on March i, 1780, by thirty-four yeas to eighteen nays. "
Thus, by a law simple in its operation, with little inconvenience
to any, was a great act of justice consummated, striking with
withering effect at the roots of a great social evil, and securing a
perpetual blessing in its far-reaching consequences. " There is
very little doubt, " says the authority above quoted, "but that
George Bryan deserves the credit of originating and finally of
urging this humane measure to a successful vote. He was aided
by others, but he seemed to make the passage of the law his
especial care. In 1780 he was appointed a judge of the Supreme
Court, which office he held for eleven years and until his death,
discharging its duties with ability and fidelity. In 1784 he was
chosen one of the council of censors, of which body he was a
leading member. He died January 27, 1791, and his remains
are interred in the burying ground of the Second Presbyterian

Charles L. Hawley. 993

church in Philadelphia. George Edward Bryan, son of George
Bryan, was clerk of the state senate for some years and auditor
general of Pennsylvania from 1809 to 1821. His wife was Anna
Maria Steinman, of Lancaster, Pa. Rev. Edward D. Bryan, father
of Mrs. Burr, was the son of George Edward Bryan. His early
life was passed in Harrisburgand Lancaster. During these years
he kept steadily before him the purpose of his life, to enter the
gospel ministry. His health was not good and in fact during his
entire life he was not robust. He entered Princeton College and
after graduation, Princeton Seminary. From that time his life was
devoted to the Christian ministry. His first charge was Rye, N.
Y., where he remained twenty-two years. A notable feature in
his ministry has been his long pastorates. Although an active
minister for nearly half a century he had only three charges.
After leaving Rye he went to Washington, N. J., where he spent
nine years. His next charge was in Carbondale, where his pas-
torate^ continued from 1868 to 1880. For six years prior to his
death Mr. Bryan had been living in Orange, N. J., without a
regular charge. One of his sons, R. W. D. Bryan, a lawyer at
Albuquerque, N. M., was astronomsr on the Polaris in its mem-
orable expedition to the North Pole. Another son, W. B. Bryan,
is on the editorial staff of the Washington Star. Rev. Edward
Bryan, another son, is pastor of a church at Bradford, Pa., and
Rev. Arthur Bryan, another son, is a missionary in Japan. The
youngest son, John C. Bryan, M. D., is practicing his profession
in New York. The wife of Rev. Edward D. Bryan was Sarah
Bogart Conger, daughter of John Conger, M. D., late of New
York. Mr. and Mrs. Burr have a family of three children — Sarah
Bryan Burr, Edward Bryan Burr and EUzabeth Paxton Burr.

CHARLES L. HAWLEY.

Charles L. Hawley, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne
county, Pa., June 13, 1877, is a son of Ira N. Hawley, M. D,, of
Scranton. C. L. Hawley was born in Montrose, Pa., December
8, 1855, and was educated in the Providence graded school of the

994

Harold Leach.

city of Scranton. Me read law with E. C. Dimmick, of Scranton.
and after his admission practiced in the city of New York, in 1877
and 1878. He then returned to Scranton, where he has prac-
ticed and resided since. He is an unmarried man.

HAROLD LEACH.

Harold Leach, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne
county, Pa., September 28, 1877, is a descendant of Ephraim
Leach, a native of Connecticut, who removed from that state to
what is now Abinc^rton township, Lackawanna county. Pa., in
1794, where he made a small clearing and erected a log cabin
near where Humphreysville now stands. He subsequently settled
in the southern part of the township on a large tract of land now
known as Leach Flats. (See page 453 in reference to the early
settlers of Abington.) His wife was Elizabeth Fellows, a sister
of the late Joseph Fellows. The first Methodist p:piscopal sermon
in Abington township was preached by Rev. George Peck at the
house of Ephraim Leach in 181 8. Ephraim Leach and wife were
of the nine members that made the first class at Leach Flats.
PLbenezer Leach, son of PLphraim Leach, was born at Leach Plats,
Abington township, in 1812. He early removed to Providence
township, which comprises now the city of Scranton, where he
was an alderman or justice of the peace for twenty-eight years.
In 1872 he was the republican candidate for mayor of the city of
Scranton, but was defeated by M. W. Loftus, democrat. Mr.
Leach married, in 1834, Lovina Walley, of Maryland, Otsego
county, N. Y. She was the granddaughter of Garrett Walley, of
Albany, N Y., where he was born March 18, 1764, and daughter
of John Walley, of Colliersville, N. Y., where he was born No-
vember 18, 1793. The mother of Mrs. Leach, and wife of Eb-
enezer Leach, was Olive Rose, a granddaughter of Nathaniel
Rose, of Spencertown, N. Y., where he was born April 6, 1770,
and daughter of Nathaniel Rose, of Maryland, N. Y., where he
was born November 17, 1792.

Thomas Roger Hughes. 995

Harold Leach, son of Ebenezer Leach, was born at Providence,
now Scranton, Pa., September i, 1856. He was educated at
Wyoming Seminary, Kingston, Pa., and read law with E. N,
Willard in Scranton. He now resides in San Francisco, Cal. He
is an unmarried man and a republican in politics. S. B. Sturde-
vant, M. D., of this city, is his brother-in-law, having married a
daughter of Ebenezer Leach.

THOMAS ROGER HUGHES. :>^ "^'^^

Thomas Roger Hughes, who was admitted to the bar of Lu-
zerne county, Pa., January 9, 1878, is a native of Bethesda, Car-
narvonshire, North Wales. In early life he was employed in the
Penrhyn slate quarries. Subsequently he came to this country
and was soon at work in the slate quarries of Northampton
county. Pa. In Wales he went through all the classes of the
national school of his native village, from the lowest to the high-
est, and attended night school during one winter, while working
in the quarry. After working nearly two years in the slate quar-
ries of Pennsylvania he spent all his savings on his education, and
attended Andalusia College, in Bucks county. Pa., during part of
1870, 1 87 1, and in 1872 graduated with the title of Bachelor of
Commercial Law. In October, 1 872, he moved to Scranton, a per-
fect stranger, and worked for a month on the Times. He after-
wards became bookkeeper of the Co-operative Association, No.
I, of Hyde Park, was elected assessor of the Fourth ward of
Scranton in 1876, studied law with Messrs. Gunster and Welles,
became deputy clerk of courts of Luzerne county, under Mr. R.
J. James, in 1877. After the death of Mr. James in 1879, and the
appointment of D. S. Williams, Esq., clerk of courts, Mr. Hughes
acted as deputy clerk under Mr. Williams until his term expired,
January, 1880. He practiced his profession in Wilkes-Barre until
April, 18S1, Wi.en he remov^ed to Scranton, Pa. Mr. Hughes
takes an active interest in the Welsh societies and Welsh institu-
tions of Scranton. He was the secretary of the Quinquennial
Eisteddfodau, held in Scranton in 1875 and 1885. He has acted

996 Horatio Nicholson Patrick.

at different times as secretary and president of the Welsh Philo-
sophical Society and Free Library Association of Scranton, and
has been the secretary of the Cymrodorion Society for three
years.

FRANK JOSEPH FITZSIMMONS.

Frank Joseph Fitzsinimons, who was admitted to the bar of
Luzerne county, Pa., March 19, 1878, is a native of Carbondale,
Pa., where he was born September 29, 1852. He is the son of
Hugh Fitzsimmons and his wife. Rose Fitzsimmons {nee Shannon),
both natives of county Cavan, Ireland, who emigrated to America
in 1 850, and located at Carbondale. Both are now living, and reside
on a farm in Wayne county. Pa., near Carbondale. Mr. Fitzsim-
mons was educated at Manhattan Academy, N. Y., and Villa
Nova College, in Delaware county, Pa. He studied law with
O'Neill (D. L.) and Campbell (P. H.) in this city, and resides in
Scranton. Mr. Fitzsimmons is a democrat in politics, and has
represented his party frequently in state and county conventions.
In 1880 he was a delegate to the national democratic convention,
which met at Cincinnati. He is an unmarried man. He is the
editor of The Lackaivanna Jurist and Law Magazine, at this
writing the legal publication for Lackawanna county.

HORATIO NICHOLSON PATRICK.

Horatio Nicholson Patrick was admitted to the bar of Luzerne
county. Pa., September 3, 1878. He was born in this city Sep-
tember 26, 1853, and is a son of David L. Patrick. (See page
68). He now resides in Scranton, and in 1885 was the demo-
cratic candidate for clerk of the courts of Lackawanna county,
but was defeated. He married, December 29, 1885, I^lla Lath-
rop, a native of Lawrenceville, Tioga county, Pa., and daughter
of Austin Lathrop, a native of Butternuts, Otsego county, N. Y.,

John Nevin Hill. 997

who was the son of Israel Lathrop, a native of Connecticut.
Mrs. Patrick is the sister of General x^ustin Lathrop, of Corning,
N. Y. The wife of Austin Lathrop, and mother of Mrs. Pat-
rick, was Caroline Knox, a native of Knoxville, Tioga county.
Pa. She was the daughter of William Knox, and sister of John
C. Knox, who was elected a judge of the Supreme Court of Penn-
sylvania, in 1853. He resigned his seat in 1858, and was ap-
pointed attorney general of Pennsylvania by Governor Packer.
Mr. and Mrs. Patrick have one child— Grace Kathleen Patrick.

JOHN NEVIN HILL.

John Nevin Hill, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne
county, Pa., December 13, 1878, is a native of Selinsgrove, Sny-
der county, Pa., where he was born September 3, 1855. He is a
descendant of Daniel Hill, who was a citizen of Berks county.
Pa., at the time of its erection in 1752. He or his father, it is
believed, emigrated from Ireland to America. He resided in
Windsor township, in Berks county, where he had a farm and
kept an inn called Windsor Castle. After the revolution he re-
moved to Westmoreland county, Pa., where he died. Jacob
Hill, son of Daniel Hill, was born at Windsor Castle, May 9,
1750, and was reared as a farmer. At the age of twenty-one he
was engaged to be married to a daughter of George Gartner, of
the same place, who afterwards removed to the Muncy Val-
ley, now in Lycoming county. Pa., where he was killed by
the Indians. Gartner moved there in 1773 and was killed five
years later. Jacob Hill's marriage was delayed by the revolu-
tionary war. He enlisted and served throughout the war in
the Fifth regiment of the continental line as a grenadier under
Wayne. After his discharge he and Christina Gartner were
married, and after living for a time in Berks county they re-
moved to the Muncy Valley, near the scene of the killing of
Christina's father. He took up his residence there in the year
1793, purchased land and continued the peaceful life of a farmer

QgS John Nevin Hill.

up to the time of his death, January 9, 1824, six days after the
death of his wife. He was an independent man, of thrifty and
good habits, a federal during Washington's administration. He
afterwards joined the party of Jefferson and called himself a
democrat. He spoke and read both German and English and
was a devout adherent of the Evangelical Eutheran denomina-
tion. Daniel Hill, son of Jacob Hill, was born and lived all his
life in Muncy Creek township, Lycoming county, and carried on
the business of farming and distilling. His wife's maiden name
was Susanna Truckenmiller, who was a native of Lehigh county,
Pa., but at the time of her marriage had removed with her family
to Turbot township, in Northumberland county. Pa. Mr. Hill was
a life-long democrat and took an active interest in politics. George
Hill was the son of Daniel Hill. At a tender age he went to
reside with a cousin near McEwensville, Northumberland county.
Pa. It was then a place of some importance, being on one of the
chief highways of the state, a stopping place for the stages, a
grain centre, and there was considerable manufacturing — coach
making, foundries, &c., many of which are now in ruin. He was
ambitious to obtain an education and succeeded against many
obstacles. At the age of eighteen he was apprenticed to William
Hood to learn the coach-making trade and served his time at
the bench. As his term of apprenticeship drew towards a close
he began the study of the law under the direction of Hon. James
Pollock, of Milton, Pa,, afterwards governor of the state. Then
he taught school in East Buffalo township and in New Berlin, in
Union county. Pa., continuing his law studies under A. Swine-
ford, Esq., and was admitted to the bar in 1848, at New Berlin, then
the county seat of Union county. On December 25, 1848, he
married Martha Clark Buehler, a daughter of Samuel Buehler,
of Catawissa, Columbia county. Pa. Samuel Buehler's wife's
name was Mary S. Welker, a sister of Hon. George C. Welker,
at one. time an associate judge of Northumberland county, Pa.
One of their maternal uncles was killed in an Indian foray near
the Susquehanna, and their mother, then a young woman, narrow-
ly escaped the same fate. George Hill, after his marriage, settled
at Selinsgrove, in Snyder county. Pa., and continued there in the
practice of the law until the completion of the railroad to Sun-

John Nevin Hill. 999

bury induced him to take up his permanent abode in that place.
As a lawyer and a citizen George Hill has always stood high in
the community and has been specially respected for his honesty
and good judgment. He is a democrat, and an active member
of the Reformed church. At his present age of sixty-six he
continues his practice, and his good health and clear mind indi-
cate good habits and care. His wife, Martha Clark Hill, was a
woman of an earnest and conscientious mind and of a sweet and
patient disposition. She died June 2, 1870, after a lingering ill-
ness, at the age of forty-two years.

John Nevin Hill, son of George Hill, studied law with his
father, having, after reaching the age of fourteen years, spent most
of his time during vacations in the office performing the duties
of a clerk and sometimes taking notes of testimony in court be-
fore they had a stenographer in Northumberland county. Pa.
He went to Hazleton in the fall of 1878 to gain some experience
in business matters away from home, and left there in the spring
of 1882 to enter his father's office as a partner. He has been
admitted to the courts of the following counties : Northumber-
land, Schuylkill, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Montour, Carbon and
Union. Since 1882 he has practiced in the Supreme Court. His
success has been in the preparation, trial and argument of cases.
He is a democrat in politics, conservative in opinion, but takes no
active part in politics. He married, July 15, 1878, Florence Isabel
McFarland,anativeof PineGrove, Pa.,a daughter of John McFar-
land, a Scotch-Irishman, who was born November 12,1 828, at Bal-
lyhalaghan, near Six Mile Cross, County Tyrone, Ireland. His fa-
ther's name was Andrew McFarland ; his mother's maiden name
was Isabelle Bell. Andrew was a farmer. He raised a large family
of children. John was one of the youngest. His ancestors came
from Scotland. John came to America to seek his fortune in
1847, leaving Liverpool March 7, and arriving in Philadelphia
April 9, in the ship Wyoming. Here he had a brother Andrew,
who had preceded him. Andrew was interested in coal mines
in the Schuylkill region and was afterwards killed in that sec-
tion by being thrown from his horse while riding down one of
the mountain roads. John at first engaged in mercantile busi-
ness in Philadelphia, but afterwards went to the Schuylkill min-

looo John Nevin Hill.

ing region in the employ of Brown & White, at Swatara. He
continued there until 1855, when he became interested in a col-
liery called "Monterey," a few miles distant, with D. P. Brown
and John S. Graham. Soon afterwards he sold out his interest
to Mr. Graham and began buying and selling coal at wholesale.
For that purpose he settled at Pine Grove, in Schuylkill county,
and traveled to the larger cities, establishing a considerable
trade. In 1858 he again undertook mining operations at Locust
Gap, in Northumberland county, where, after expending consid-
erable money in opening the veins, the project turned out disas-
trously. On April i, i860, he removed from Mt. Carmel, near
the Locust Gap operations, to Northumberland, where he again
began business as a wholesale dealer in coal and carried on that
business with great success until the time of his death, Septem-
ber 21, 1873. He had an office in Baltimore and sold coal from
the Schuylkill, Shamokin and Wyoming regions, and was well
known throughout the anthracite fields. He was a man of
strong characteristics, eminently social and fond of company.
He retained a strong attachment for his native land, and visited
his old home before his death. He was a republican in politics,
and amember of the Protestant Episcopal church. His father, An-
drew, died May 3, 1848, and his mother, February 8, 1869. In
1855 John McFarland married Harriet Kempthorn White, a
native of the county of Essex, England, who in June, 1851, sailed
from London for New York, in company with her brother, J.
Claude White, to visit her grandfather, Thomas Pyne, of the lat-
ter city. Her father was the Rev. John Calcutta White, of Raw-
reth Rectory in Essex, and he was a son of White, of Col-
chester, in the same county, who was the principal of the gram-
mar school there up to the time of his death. The son was a
graduate of Pembroke College, and was teacher of mathematics
in the Military College, Cambridge. He married Sarah Pyne, a
daughter of Thomas Pyne, afterwards of New York city. After
the death of Thomas Pyne, Harriet K. White resided for some
time with her grandmother and her uncle Percy R. Pyne in New
York city. On June 18, 1855, she and her brother Claude were
both married at the same time by the Rev. A. Prior, at Pottsville.
Harriet married John McP^arland and Claude married Mary Ann,

Anthony Baumann. looi

a sister of David P. Brown, of Pottsville. Harriet K. McFar-
land survived the death of her husband and in recent years has
devoted herself to agricultural pursuits, owning two farms
selected by herself and personally managing one of them in Mon-
tour county. Pa.

John Nevin Hill was educated in private schools in Sunbury,
Mercersburg and Reading, Pa., and in Wisconsin. A regular
course was interfered with by ill health. He has never held any
public office but spent the year 1873 as a clerk in the offices of
the recorder of deeds, register of wills and clerk of the Or-
phans' Court, at Sunbury. He is a member of the board of ex-
aminers, one of the committee on court rules and a director of
the law library of Northumberland county. Air. Hill was from
1882 to 1884 a vestryman and church warden of St. Mark's
Protestant Episcopal church of Northumberland. His present
residence is in Sunbury. Mr. and Mrs. Hill have a family of
three children, two born in Hazleton — Martha Olivia Hill and
John McFarland Hill — and George Morton Hill, born in Sun-
bury. Mr. Hill compiled in 1855 the laws and ordinances of
the borough of Northumberland, and has acted as the reporter
of Judge Rockefeller's decisions for the Pennsylvania County
Courts' Reports since that publication was began. He has in
preparation the Poor Laws of Pennsylvania, with decisions of
our own and the English courts.

ANTHONY BAUMANN.

Anthony Baumann, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne
county, Pa., May 12, 1880, is a native of Baden, Germany, where
he was born June 2, 1844. He was educated in the schools of
his native county, also in France. He emigrated to this country,
and commenced reading law with Joseph J. McClure, at Allen-
town, Pa. He subsequently removed to this county, and finished
his reading of the law with Alfred Darte, in this city. After prac-
ticing here for a short time he removed to Scranton, where he

I002 Charles Matthew Thoenix.

now resides. While here he had charge of the Volksfreiind , a
German newspaper published in this city. He is at present
president of the Society for the Protection of Personal Liberty
in Pennsylvania. Mr. Haumann married, April 27, 1882, Ida
Hooker, a native of Troy, Bradford county, Pa. Her father,
Charles C. Hooker, emigrated from Massachusetts to Bradford
county in 1824. Mr. and Mrs. Baumann have a family of two
children — Carl Baumann and Frieda Baumann.

CHARLES MATTHEW PHOENIX.

Charles Matthew Phoenix, who was admitted to the bar of Lu-
zerne county. Pa., November 27, 1880, is a descendant of Mat-
thew Phoenix, a native of Kingston, Ulster county, N. Y., where
he was born in 1769. In 181 5 he removed to Monroe township,
Luzerne (now Wyoming) county. Pa., and became the owner of a
tract of four hundred and nine acres of land. His part of the
township was a wilderness, and there were no roads but bridle
paths. In a few years Mr. Phoenix made for himself a well cul-
tivated farm. His wife's name was Mary May. Mr. Phoenix
died in 1876, at the remarkable age of one hundred and seven
years. James Phoenix, son of Matthew Phoenix, was born in
Kingston, N. Y., and emigrated to Monroe with his father in 18 1 5 .
He was a justice of the peace in Monroe township for fifteen
years, and from 1876 to 1881 was one of the associate judges of
Wyoming county. His wife was Mary Ann Rice, a daughter of
Rev. Jacob Rice, a native of Knowlton, N. J., who emigrated to
Trucksville, in this county, in 18 14. C. M. Phoenix, son of James
Phoenix, was born in Monroe township August 28, 1854. He
was- educated in the public schools of his native township and at
the Bowman's Creek Academy. He read law with W. E. and C.
E. Little, at Tunkhannock, Pa., and was admitted to the Wyo-
ming county bar in 1880. He practiced in this city a it^ years,
but now resides somewhere in the west.

William Lee Paine. 1003

WILLIAM LEE PAINE.

William Lee Paine, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne
county, Pa., April 6, 1874, is the descendant, in the ninth gen-
eration, of Thomas Paine, who formed one of the first companies
of pilgrims to Plymouth, Massachusetts Bay Colony, in 162 1,
accompanied by his son, Thomas Paine, who married Mary
Snow, the daughter of Nicholas and Constina Snow, the former
of whom came over in the ship Ann in 1623, and married Con-
stance, the daughter of Stephen Hopkins, one of the Mayflower's
band of pilgrims. The immediate predecessors of Captain Jede-
diah Paine, the grandfather of the subject of this sketch, located
in Truro township, on the eastern end of Cape Cod, adjoining the
Provincetown settlement. The family of Payen or Pagan (the
original style of spelling) or Paine were of Norman descent, and
were among those who accompanied or followed the Norman
invasion of England. In 1639 Thomas Paine, jr., was deputy
from Yarmouth or Cape Cod to the first general court, and vvas
in 1655 one of the original proprietors of the the town of East-
ham. They were, from the nature of their surroundings, a sea-
faring race, and the funeral records of their local churches and
township records show many names whose owners were never
laid to rest in mother earth, but found a grave in the ocean
depths. The family was quite prolific, and under the various
names of Paine, Payn and Payne, are well and favorably known.
Captain Jedediah Paine was for nearly half a century a ship
master and owner, sailing out of New York, and continued in
that business until taken with his last and fatal sickness. His
wife was Phebe Ann Compton, daughter of Lewis Compton, of
Perth Amboy, N. J.

Lewis Compton Paine, son of Captain Jedediah Paine, was
born in Perth Amboy, N. J., March 26, 1827. Naturally the sea
became a familiar object to Mr. Paine, and at an early age he was
the companion of his father and visited with him various parts of
the ocean to which his father's business called him, generally the
West Indies and the Caribbean Sea. At the early age of fourteen

1004 William Lee Paine.

years he acted as second officer on his father's vessel, and filled
this position with satisfaction, acquiring thus early a knowledge
of seamanship and the practical parts of navigation. Fate would
probably have made the ocean life his, but during a temporary
idleness in the shipping service he was induced to visit some
friends in Wilkes-Harre. He became interested in business mat-
ters here and gradually became weaned from the sea. Attract-
ing the favorable attention of Colonel H. B. Hillnfian, who was
then engaged in mining in Nanticoke, he was employed by him
at that place. This was in 1843. During his residence there he
became acquainted with and eventually engaged to Miss Mary
Campbell Lee, the youngest daughter of James Stewart Lee and
Martha Lee {iiee Campbell). James S. Lee was the brother of
Colonel Washington Lee. A long-continued attack of fever, re-
sulting in a very serious and extended convalescence, compelled
a removal from and resignation of Mr. Paine's position at Nanti-
coke and a return to the sea coast. During the period of this
convalescence Mr. Paine married Miss Lee, September 19, 1848,
and they began married life at Perth Amboy. About this time
Captain John Collins, a relative of Mr. Paine's, was organizing a
line of steamers to Savannah, Ga., and offered the position of
purser to Mr. Paine, who gladly accepted this opportunity to re-
turn to his early love, the sea. Within a year the rush of travel
to California became so great that Messrs. Rowland & Aspin-
wall formed a new line of steamers, via the Isthmus, and pur-
chased the steamers Tennessee and Cherokee, which formed the
Savannah line, and with them formed the new line on the Atlan-
tic to Chagres. Captain Cleveland Forbes, an old family friend,
was appointed captain of the latter named ship, and the position
of purser was tendered to Mr. Paine and was accepted by him
on this new line, where for three and a half years he was steadily
engaged, making nearly forty monthly voyages between New
York and Chagres. It was while engaged in this business and
as purser of the steamship Georgia, under the command of Lieu-
tenant D. D. Porter (now Admiral Porter), that he ran the first
passenger train on the Panama railroad, which was then in pro-
cess of construction. An unusual flood in the Chagres river pre-
vented'a landing of the passengers, some one thousand or more

William Lee Paine. 1005

who were on board the steamer lying in the open roadstead en
route to California from New York. Mr. Paine had undertaken
the landing in his boat for the purpose of examining personally
the situation, but nearly sacrificed his life in the attempt. The
extraordinary rise in the river had formed a current so strong that
the picked crew of sailors forming his boat's crew could hardly
contend against its power, and for a long time it was a question
whether the boat and her crew could withstand the force which
was drifting them on to the rocky ledge which formed the bar at
the river's mouth, and over which heavy breakers were running,
and with which contact meant, in the state of the river's current,
certain death to the whole crew. Lieutenant Porter, who under-
derstood and appreciated the situation, was standing at the wheel-
house with his glass, deeply interested in the struggle being
made, and knowing the inevitable result if the boat failed to clear
the reef, and said to himself (as he afterwards stated), as he looked
down on the deck where Mrs. Paine and her infant son, the sub-
ject of this sketch, were sitting, unconscious of the danger in
which husband and father was, "Poor little woman, she will be a
widow in five minutes." But brave hearts and strong arms, after
a long and anxious struggle, carried the boat away from the
rocky ledge, and a successful landing was made in the breakers
on the west side of the river's mouth. On the shore was found
another thousand of return passengers awaiting the ship's return
voyage to New York, but all access to the ship, as well as from
her, was cut off. There only remained one of two things- to do
— to await the falling of the river's current and flood, or to
seek an outlet to the new harbor of Aspinwall over the Panama
railroad, then being constructed, and but recently reaching the
river at Cruces, the first station at which the road touched
the Chagres river, at a point some few miles from its mouth.
After consultation with the railroad people, the latter course
was decided upon. Word was sent to the ship by a native
boatman advising her removal to Aspinwall, the ocean terminus
of the railroad, some eight or ten miles distant. The river
steamer Orus was chartered to transport passengers, mails and
specie to the railroad station at Cruces. All the dirt and con-
struction cars of the company were gathered there, and with these

ioo6 William Lee Paine.

the first trip of the Panama railroad was made under the control
and direction of Mr. Paine. This was in 1852. On the return of
the steamer to New York the physician's orders compelled a final
withdrawal from the influence of the Chagres climate, from the
fever attaching to which Mr. Paine had but just partially recov-
ered. Accepting an offer made by his brothers-in-law, Messrs.
Washington and Andrew Lee, he joined them in mining coal at
Nanticoke, under the firm name of Lee, Paine & Co., at the old Lee
mines, now operated by the Susquehanna Coal Company. This
situation seemed to promise the change necessary for recuperation
from broken health, the result of the attack of Chagres fever,
and, coupled with a desire of his wife to return to Pennsylvania,
induced a removal from Brooklyn to Nanticoke in 1853. Here,
in the latter part of the year, his wife died in child birth. In a
short time he removed to Wilkes-Barre, where he has since re-
sided. The panic and depression in business in 1857 made the
coal mining business a failure, and the firm of Lee, Paine &
Co. was dissolved. On October 15, 1857, Mr. Paine married a
second time, Annie E. Lee, of Sycamore Grove, Tredyffrin
township, Chester county, Pa., a daughter of David Lee, hav-
ing the same family name but not related to his former wife.
Mr. and Mrs. Paine have had a family of three children, two
of whom survive. Mr. Paine was president of the Ashley sav-
ings bank until it was closed for want of sufficient business
to make it profitable. He is an active member of St. Steph-
en's Protestant Episcopal church of this city. Since the death
of Judge Conyngham he has held the position of senior or
rector's warden, and member of the vestry of that church. As
chairman of the building committee, he supervised the rebuilding
and enlargement of that church in 1887. Mr. Paine was largely
instrumental in bringing to this city the Sheldon axle works, in
which concern he holds the position of director. These works
are said to be the largest of its kind in the world at the present
time. He was one of the executors of the will of Isaac S. Oster-
hout, of this city, and is one of the trustees of the Osterhout Free
Library.

William Lee Paine, son of L. C. Paine and Mary Campbell Lee
Paine, was born in Brooklyn, N. Y., March 23, 185 i. He was

F. H. Nichols. 1007

educated at Lehigh University, Yale College, and Harvard Law
School, graduating from the latter in 1872. He read law in this
city with W. W. Lathrope, H. B. Payne and H. W. Palmer, and
practiced his profession in this city until 1882, when he removed
to New York city, where he now resides. He married. May 18,
1882, Mrs. Maggie A. Lee, daughter of George W. Swetland
and granddaughter of William Swetland. (See page 464.) Mr.
and Mrs. Paine have a family of two children — Lewis Compton
Paine and William Swetland Paine.

WILLIAM BEATTY MINER.

William Beatty Miner, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne
county, Pa., January 11, 1881, is the only son of William Penn
Miner. (See page 42.) He was born in this city July 20, 1854,
and read law with Dickson (A. H.) & Atherton (T. H.) Soon
after his admission to the bar he learned the printer's trade
in the office of his father, and subsequently became a partner with
his father in the Daily and Weekly Record of the Times, of Wilkes-
Barre, under the firm name of W. P. Miner & Son. The firm
sold out their establishment, when W. B. Miner removed to the
west. He is now the editor and proprietor of the Grant County
Herald, at Lancaster, Wis. He is an unmarried man. His
mother was Elizabeth DeWitt Liggett, daughter of John Liggett,
who was a merchant in Philadelphia and a soldier in the war of
1812.

F. H. NICHOLS.

F. H. Nichols, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county.
Pa., December 12, 1 881, is a son of Thomas Nichols, of West
Pittston, Pa. He read law with John Richards and the late C,
S. Stark, at Pittston. He is said to reside in Brooklyn, N, Y,

ioo8 Henkv Richard Lindekman.

WILLIAM ALLISON PETERS.

William Allison Peters was admitted to the bar of Luzerne
county, Pa., November 20, 1882. He graduated from Yale Col-
lege in the class of 1880, and read law with E. P. and J. V. Dar-
ling, in this city. He now resides in Seattle, Washington Terri-
tory.

HENRY RICHARD LINDERMAN.

Henry Richard Linderman, who was admitted to the bar of Lu-
zerne county, Pa., December 5, 1884, is a descendant of Jacob von
Linderman (of the family of Margaretha Linderman, the mother
of the reformer, Martin Luther), who removed from Saxony
during the disturbed period of the Austrian v/ar of succession,
and came to the province of New York in the first part of the
last century. He purchased a large tract of land in Orange,
then Ulster county, was a slave-holder and large farmer, and a
man of means and prominence in the county. His son Henry
succeeded him in the possession of his property and was also an
honored and prominent resident and large land owner of Orange
county. Of Henry Linderman's sons, John Jordan Linder-
man, M. D., was a student of medicine under the famous Dr.
Valentine Mott, at the New York College of physicians and sur-
geons. After graduation he removed to Pike county. Pa., and
practiced medicine for fifty years, over a district forty miles in
extent, in Pike county, and Sus.sex county, N. J. He began
practice in 18 16 and was considered the most eminent physician
in that part of the state. Dr. John J. Linderman married Rachel,
the daughter of the Hon. Richard Brodhead, who was on the
Common Pleas bench in Pike county. Pa., many years, and the
si.ster of United States Senator Richard Brodhead. These were
the grand parents of H. R. Linderman, the subject of this sketch.
Of Henry Linderman's other sons, the brothers of Dr. John J.
Linderman, two were eminent at the bar. The Hon. James

Henry Richard Linderman. 1009

Oliver Linderman was admitted to practice in 1835. He was
president judge of Ulster county, N. Y., from 1843 to i855- Syl-
vester's history of Ulster county describes him as wonderfully
popular, enjoying the confidence of all classes and parties. Wil-
lett Linderman, Esq., was admitted to the bar in 1820. He wae
district attorney of Ulster county, N. Y., from 1837 to 1846, and
was eminent as a lawyer. Judge Linderman's son, Henry Wil-
lett Linderman, was a brave officer of volunteers throughout the
late civil war, is a member of the bar, although not practicing,
and resides at Buffalo, N. Y. Of Henry Linderman's remaining
sons, two died in youth, and the youngest brother of Dr. John
J. Linderman, Henry Shaw Linderman, resided on the old home-
stead property, and in the house built by his grandfather, Jacob
von Linderman, in Orange county, N. Y., until his death, at an
advanced age, a few years ago. Jacob von Linderman's family
had been distinguished in Saxony for two centuries before he
came to this country, his ancestors having achieved eminence in
the church, the law, and medicine. Several were counselors and
physicians to the elector of Saxony. Casper von Linderman,
M. D., first physician to the elector, Frederick Augustus, 1526,
and Laurentius von Linderman, LL. D., counselor to the elector
Augustus, were the most famous of these. Two others, Diede-
rich von Linderman, and John von Linderman, LL. D., were
mayors of Dresden and Leipsic, respectively, at the closa of
the fifteenth century, and the latter was professor of jurispru-
dence in the University of Leipsic. Another, Nicholas von Lin-
derman, was Senator at Gotha, 1570. Dr. John Jordan Linder-
man married Rachel Brodhead, as before stated. She was the
daughter of Judge Richard Brodhead, and the sister of the Hon.
Richard Brodhead, who, after serving three terms in the house
of representatives, was elected to the senate of the United States
and served the full term, from 1853 to 1859. Mrs. Linderman
was the granddaughter of Garrett Brodhead, lieutenant in a New
Jersey regiment (though a Pennsylvanian) during the revolu-
tionary war, and a great-niece of Daniel Brodhead, colonel of the
eighth (afterwards first) Pennsylvania regiment of the continen-
tal line ; commandant of the western military department from
1778 to 1 78 1, afterwards brigadier general, and a member of the

loio Henry Richard Linderman.

society of the Cincinnati, who received the thanks of congress
for his services; also a great- niece of Luke Brodhead, captain
in the sixth Pennsylvania of the continental line, and a friend of
Lafayette ; and a great-niece of John Brodhead, who was also a
captain in the revolutionary army. General Daniel Brodhead's
son, Daniel, jr., was senior first lieutenant in Colonel Shee's Penn-
sylvania battalion, was captured by the British the first year of
the war, exchanged 1778, and died soon after. A New York
nephew of these Pennsylvania officers, Charles Wessel Brodhead,
was captain of a grenadier company in the New York line,
which he equipped at his own expense, and with which he was
present at the surrender of Burgoyne. General Daniel Brod-
head was one of the most distinguished patriots and officers of
the Pennsylvania line throughout the entire struggle ; and cap-
tain Luke Brodhead, though promoted to a colonelcy, was obliged
to retire from active service because of the desperate character of
his wounds received at the battle of the Brandywine. The sword
which he took from Captain Grant, of the British army, at the
battle of Long Island, is now in the possession of his grandson,
Luke W. Brodhead, Esq., of the Water Gap, Monroe county.
Pa. These Pennsylvania officers, ancestors of Mrs. Linderman,
were the sons of Daniel Brodhead, of Brodhead manor, the an-
cestor of the Brodhead family in Pennsylvania. He was one of
the first magistrates in the Minisink valley, and justice of the
Quarter Sessions by the king's commission; a man of large prop-
erty and great prominence. He came to Pennsylvania from New
York in 1737. He was the grandson of Daniel Brodhead, the
founder of the family in America, w^ho was a Yorkshire gentle-
man and a captain of grenadiers in Charles H's army. This
Captain Brodhead was a great-nephew of John Brodhead, lord
of the manor of Monk Britton in Yorkshire, whose descendants
still hold the estate in England, granted their ancestors by King
James I. Captain Brodhead came to America with Colonel Rich-
ard Nichols, in the expedition which took New York from the
Dutch in 1664, and settled in the conquered province in com-
mand of the forces at Kingston. John Romeyn Brodhead, the
historian. General Thornton Brodhead, of the Mexican war,
killed at the second Bull Run, while commanding the Third

Henry Richard Linderman. ion

Michigan Cavalry, the late John M. Brodhead, M. D., second
comptroller of the treasury, Washington, D. C, were among the
numerous well known members of this family. The mother of
Asa R. Brundage, of the Luzerne bar, was Jane Brodhead,
daughter of Judge Richard Brodhead.

Dr. Henry Richard Linderman, son of Dr. John J. and Rachel
Brodhead Linderman, graduated from the New York College of
Physicians and Surgeons, began practice with his father, then
removed to Carbon county, and in 1855, being then thirty years
of age, was appointed chief clerk of the mint at Philadelphia. He
resigned in 1864. In 1867 he was appointed director of the
mints and assay offices, with personal supervision of the Phila-
delphia mint; resigned in 1869; was then commissioner of the
United States in several capacities, notably to examine the meth-
ods of coinage of the different great European powers (1870-71),
and then (1872) for the fitting up of the new mint at San Fran-
cisco. He was the author of the coinage act of 1873, which
abolished the silver dollar and placed this country upon a single
gold standard, and authorized the trade dollar for purposes of
commerce with China and Japan, and which codified the law
relative to the mints, assay offices, and coinage of the United
States, and provided that the office of director of the mint, with
full supervision of the mints and assay offices, should be a bureau
of the Treasury department. This legislation was passed by
congress through the efforts of Dr. Linderman. Upon the new
law going into operation he was appointed to the office of director
of the mint for the term of five years, as provided in the coinage
act. Under its provisions he organized and perfected the mint
service, and left it at his death, what it has been since, the admi-
ration of the civilized world. He was the confidential adviser of
the president and secretary of the treasury, and the author of
much of the legislation of the resumption period in our national
finances, and was regarded by the financial world, in Europe and
the Orient as well as in our own country, as one of the ablest
of American financiers. He was the author of " Money and
Legal Tender in the United States," and a writer of approved
authority upon financial and coinage topics. His official reports
were looked upon as of such value that they were used in some

I0I2 Henry Richard Linderman.

of the American colleges as text books. Dr. Linderman mar-
ried, in 1856, Miss Emily Davis, of Wilkes-Barre. She was the
daughter of George Hyer Davis, one of the early and well known
coal operators of the Carbon county district, and a granddaughter
of the late Samuel Philip Holland, of Wilkes-Barre, in whose
house on River street she was brought up by her grand parents,
her mother having died soon after the birth of this child.
Through her father, Mrs. Linderman is descended from the well
known Coleman family of Lancaster county, and is also of the
same stock as the late Rear Admiral John Lee Davis, of the
United States navy. Her grandfather, Samuel Philip Holland, is
remembered by all old residents of Wilkes-Barre as the head of
the coal operating firm of Holland, Lockhart, McLean & Co.,
and as a distinguished figure in Wilkes-Barre fifty years ago. He
was an Englishman of old county stock, and came to this coun-
try with a competence, which he invested in coal lands. His
father, Philip Holland, passed much time in Philadelphia, and
died, while on one of his visits there from England, during
the yellow fever epidemic in Washington's administration. He
is buried in old Christ church burying ground in that city.
Samuel Holland was the friend of Reverdy Johnson, of Baltimore,
in which city he passed much of his leisure, of Henry Clay, and
of Crittenden, of Kentucky, and of many more of the famous Amer-
icans who were gathered together each winter at the capital, forty
miles away. To the society of these distinguished Americans
he was welcomed as a friend and an acquisition. He was a large,
portly, and remarkably handsome man, of great polish of man-
ner, and with the breeding of the old school of English gentle-
men. Few men of his time, in eastern Pennsylvania, were more
widely known and honored. He died in 1856, when his house
passed into the hands of the late Anthony H. Emley, and his
widow left Wilkes-Barre to make her home with her children,
who were all living elsewhere. Mr. Holland's large coal interests
and his at one time enormous land ownership should have made
him one of the very wealthy men of his day, but he was fully
thirty years in advance of the times in his ideas, and he failed
some two years before his death. Governor David R. Porter, of
Pennsylvania, was for a long time Mr. Holland's partner in a
large portion of his coal interests.

Henry Martyn Hoyt. 1013

The late Dr. Garrett Brodhead Linderman, of Bethlehem, who
married Lucy, daughter of the late Judge Asa Packer, and who
was widely known as one of the leading coal operators of Penn-
sylvania, was a brother of Dr. Henry R. Linderman.

Henry R, Linderman was born in Philadelphia, in September,
1858, the only issue of the late Hon. Henry Richard Linderman,
M. D., director of the mints and assay offices of the United
States, and Emily Davis, his wife. After being under the charge
of a private tutor, he was prepared for college at the Episcopal
school of St. Clement's Hall, EUicott City, Maryland, and entered
the Lehigh University, at South Bethlehem, Pa., in 1875, where
he finished a course of study in the school of general literature
and law in the spring of 1878. He was then entered as a student
at law in the office of the late E. Coppee Mitchell, Esq., of Phila-
delphia, but the illness and death of his father, Dr. Linderman,
in January, 1879, prevented his beginning the study of his pro-
fession at that time. In 1 88 1 he entered the law office of the
Hon. John B. Storm, at Stroudsburg, Pa., as a student at law,
and was admitted to the bar of Monroe county in May, 1 883. He
entered at once upon the active practice of his profession with
Henry J. Kotz, then district attorney, at Stroudsburg. In the
fall of 1884 he removed to Wilkes-Barre and began practice with
the Hon. John Lynch, where he remained two years. Since then
Mr. Linderman, though chiefly occupied in looking after private
interests, has been engaged as counsel in litigation of importance
in Washington, in which he has met with gratifying success, and
in the February term of the 03^er and Terminer Court for Mon-
roe county, 1888, was engaged, with the district attorney, in
the trial of the Welsh murder case at Stroudsburg, the common-
wealth securing a conviction of murder in the second degree.
He expects soon to resume the active practice of the law.

HENRY MARTYN HOYT.

Henry Martyn Hoyt, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne
county. Pa, September 7, 1885, is a native of Kingston, Pa.,

1 014 Charles Van Loon Gabriel.

where he was born November 8, 1861. He was educated at
Wyoming Seminary and Yale College, graduating from the latter
institution in the class of 1883, and read law with Dickson (A.
H.) and Atherton (T. II.), in this city. He now resides at Spo-
kane Falls, Washington Territory. He is a son of J. D. Hoyt and
a brother of K. K. Hoyt, of the Luzerne bar, who.se biography
may be found on page 627.

CHARLES VAN LOON GABRIEL.

Charles Van Loon Gabriel, who was admitted to the bar of Lu-
zerne county, Pa., June 2, 1886, is a son of Albert Gabriel, and a
grand-son of Henry Gabriel, who removed from Connecticut to
Pennsylvania in 18 18. Colonel Wright, in his history of Ply-
mouth, says: "HenryGabriel was a blacksmith and made Plymouth
his home and residence. He married respectably, and spent a
long, laborious and useful life there. He was a man of integrity and
a most excellent and exemplary citizen. He accumulated some
property, and died but a few years since, beloved and regretted by
the whole of the community in which he spent the greater part of
his life." The wife of Henry Gabriel was Edith Van Loon. She
was the daughter of Abraham Van Loon, who removed from
Esopus, N. Y., to Plymouth in 1794. She is the sister of Ste-
phen Van Loon, who was elected sheriff of Luzerne county in
1816. The wife of Albert Gabriel and the mother of Charles V.
Gabriel is Mary, daughter of Christopher Garrahan, a native of
Ireland, whose wife was Abigail Hallock. Charles V. Gabriel is
a native of Plymouth, where he was born January i, 1859. He
was educated at the Wyoming Seminary, Kingston, Pa., Wes-
leyan University, Middletown, Conn., and at the College of New
Jersey, at Princeton, graduating from the latter institution in the
class of 1882. He subsequently entered the Columbia College
Law School, from which he graduated, after which he entered
the office of A. R. Brundage, in this city. He is now practicing
his profession in the city of New York. Mr. Gabriel is an unmar-
ried man.

George Urquhart 1015

GEORGE MERRITT ORR.

George Merritt Orr, who was admitted to the bar of Luzerne
county, Pa., June 6, 1887, is a son of Albert S. Orr, of this city,
and a brother of N. M. Orr, of the McKean county (Pa.) bar.
(See page 976.) He was born at Dallas, Pa., June 13, 1856, and
read law with H. W. Palmer, in this city. He was educated at
Wyoming Seminary, Kingston, Pa., and at the academies of
W. S.Parsons and E. B. Harvey, in this city, and at the law depart-
ment of the Michigan University, at Ann Arbor. His wife is
Helen Easterline, a daughter of the late Joseph Easterline, of
this city. He has two children. Mr. Orr is practicing his pro-
fession at Kane, Pa.

GEORGE URQUHART.

George Urquhart was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county.
Fa., June 27, 1887. He was born in this city December 31,
1 86 1, and during the years 1880 and 1881 attended Yale Col-
lege. His health failing him, he retired from his studies until
1884, when he entered the junior class of the College of New
Jersey, at Princeton, and graduated from that institution in the
class of 1885. He read law with Dickson (A. H.) & Atherton
(T. H ), and remained with them until admitted to the bar. He
is a descendant of George Urquhart, a native of Scotland, who
came to America in 1786. The grandfather of the subject of our
sketch was Captain John Urquhart. His father is George
Urquhart, M. D. Dr. Urquhart is a native of Lambertville, N. J.
He came to this city when a lad. He was educated in the schools
of Lambertville and at the Wyoming Seminary, at Kingston. He
graduated from the Jefferson Medical College, in Philadelphia, in
1850, and also attended lectures at the Medical School of the
University of Pennsylvania. The doctor has been in continual
practice in this city since his graduation. He married, October

ioi6 Robert Wodrow Archbald.

20, 1852, Mary Ann Hodgdon, daughter of Samuel Hodgdon,
who was admitted to the Luzerne county bar November 6, 1843.
George Urquhart is the only son of Dr. George Urquhart. He
is an unmarried man, and now resides in San Francisco, Califor-
nia, where he was admitted to the Supreme Court of that state
September 3, 1888.

ROBERT WODROW ARCHBALD.

Robert Wodrow, from whom the subject of this sketch de-
scends, was a Presbyterian minister of the Church of Scotland.
The Wodrow family were originally settled in England, but at
an early day came to Renfrewshire, Scotland, where, by oral tradi-
tion existing as early as 1700, they had possessed the hill of
Eglishame, in that county, or other lands there, without inter-
ruption for three hundred years. The family name appears in
several forms, such as Woodrow, Widderow, Witherow and
Vidderow, all pronounced pretty much alike ; but the uniform
spelling in that branch of the family under consideration has
been as given in this article.

The first authentic record is of Patrick Wodrow or Vidderow,
who was vicar of the parish of Eglishame in 1562. He married
Agnes Hamilton, daughter of a brother of the House of Aber-
corn. Both lie buried in the Eglishame church yard. Patrick
Wodrow had two sons — James or John Widderow and Robert.
The latter was born about 1600 in the Hill of Eglishame, and
was educated at Edinburg and Glasgow as a lawyer, and became
chamberlain to the earl of P^glinton. He married Agnes, daugh-
ter of John Dunlop, a grandson of Dunlop, of Dunlop. The fourth
son of this union was James, born January 2, 1637, and sub-
sequently professor of theology in Glasgow University from 1692
until his death in 1707. Prof Wodrow was a man of singular
piety and learning, and endured, with so many others, the reli-
gious persecutions of those times. A sketch of his life, written
by his son, was published by Blackwood in 1828.

Robert Wodrow, with whose name this sketch begins, and

Robert Wodrow Archbald. 1017

who is widely known as the faithful and laborious author of the
History of the Sufferings of the Church of Scotland, was the
second son of Prof James Wodrow, and was born at Glasgow
in 1679. His mother, Margaret Hair, was the daughter of
William Hair, the proprietor of a small estate in the parish of
Kilbarchan, Renfrewshire. In this parent he was equally for-
tunate as in the other. To all the piety of her husband she
added a degree of strength of mind not often associated with
her sex. In 1691 young Wodrow was entered a student in
the university of his native city and went through the usual
course of academical education then adopted there, and which
included several of the learned languages and various branches
of philosophy. Theology he studied under his father, and while
engaged in this pursuit was appointed librarian to the college,
a situation to which the peculiar talent which he had already
displayed for historical and bibliographical inquiry had recom-
mended him. This office he held for four years, and it was dur-
ing this time that he acquired the greater part of that knowl-
edge of the ecclesiastical and literary history of his country
which he applied during the course of his afterlife to such good
purpose as to have the effect of associating his name at once hon-
orably and individually with those interesting subjects. At this
period he imbibed also a taste for antiquarian research and the
study of natural history, which introduced him to the notice and
procured him the friendship of several of the most eminent men
of the day. But all these pursuits were carefully kept subordi-
nate to what he had determined to make the great and sole busi-
ness of his life, the study of theology, and the practical applica-
tion of its principles. To the former he devoted only his leisure
hours, to the latter, all the others that were not appropriated to
necessary repose. On completing his theological studies at the
university Mr. Wodrow went to reside with a distant relative
of the family. Sir John Maxwell, of Nether Pollock, and while
here offered himself for trial to the presbytery of Paisley, by
whom he was licensed to preach the gospel in March, 1703. On
October 28 following, he was ordained minister of the parish of
Eastwood, (which is now a suburb of the city of Glasgow), through
the influence of the family with which he resided, Eastwood

lOlS ROHERT WODROW ArCMBALD.

was at that period one of the smallest parishes in Scotland, but
it was just such a one as suited Mr. Wodrow ; for, its clerical
duties being comparatively light, he was enabled to devote a
portion of his time to his favorite studies of history and anti-
quities, without neglecting the obligations which his sacred
office imposed upon him ; and of this circumstance he appre-
ciated the value so highly that he could never be induced, though
frequently invited, to accept any other charge. Glasgow in 171 2
made the attempt in vain to withdraw him from his obscure but
beloved retreat, and to secure his pastoral services for the city,
and Stirling in 17 17 and again in 1726 made similar attempts,
but with similar results. Although the charge in which he
was placed was an obscure one, Mr. Wodrow's talents soon
made it sufficiently conspicuous. The eloquence of his ser-
mons, the energy and felicity of the language in which they
were composed, and the solemn and impressive manner in which
they were delivered, quickly spread his fame as a preacher, and
placed him at the head of his brethren in the west of Scotland.
The popularity and reputation of Mr. Wodrow naturally pro-
cured for him a prominent place in the ecclesiastical courts which
he attended, and in this attendance, whether on presbyteries,
synods, or the general assembly, he was remarkable for his
punctuality. Of the latter he was frequently chosen a member,
and on occasions of public interest was often still more inti-
mately associated with the proceedings of the church, by being
nominated to committees. In all these instances he took a
lively interest in the matters under discussion, and was in the
habit of keeping regular notes of all that passed, a practice which
enabled him to leave a mass of manuscript records behind him
containing, with other curious matter, the most authentic and
interesting details of the proceedings of the Scottish ecclesiasti-
cal courts of his time now in existence. In 1707 Mr. Wodrow
was appointed a member of a committee of presbytery to con-
sult with the brethren of the commission in Edinburg as to the
best means of averting the evils with which it was supposed the
union would visit the church and people of Scotland, and on
the accession of George I he was the principal adviser of the
five clergymen deputed by the assembly to proceed to London

Robert Wodrow Archbald. 1019

to plead the rights of the former, and to solicit the abolition of
the law of patronage, of which he was a decided enemy. In
this the deputation did not succeed. The law was continued
in force, and Mr. Wodrow, with that sense of propriety which
pervaded all his sentiments and actions, inculcated a submission
to its decisions. Mr. Wodrow's life presents us with little more
of particular interest than what is contained in the circumstances
just narrated until it became associated with that work which has
made his name so memorable, namely, "The History of the Suf-
ferings of the Church of Scotland from the Restoration to the
Revolution." This work, for which his integrity, candor, liber-
ality of sentiment and talents eminently qualified him, he con-
templated from an early period of his life ; but it was only in the
year 1707 that he began seriously to labor on it. From this
time, however, till its publication in 1721 and 1722, he devoted
ail his leisure hours to its composition. On the appearance of
Mr. Wodrow's history its author was attacked with the vilest
scurrility and abuse by those whom his fidelity as an historian
had offended. Anonymous and threatening letters were sent
to him, and every description of indignity was attempted to
be thrown on both his person and his work. The faithful, liberal
and impartial character of the history, nevertheless, procured
its author many and powerful friends. Its merits were, by a
large party, appreciated and acknowledged, and every man
whose love of truth v,as stronger than his prejudices, awarded
it the meed of his applause. Copies of the work were presented
by Dr. Frazer to their majesties, and the prince and princess
of Wales, and were received so graciously, and so much ap-
proved of, that the presentation was almost immediately followed
by a royal order on the Scottish exchequer for one hundred
guineas, to be paid to the author as a testimony of his majesty's
favorable opinion of its merits. Mr. Wodrow's literary labors
did not end with the publication of his history. He afterwards
planned and executed the scheme of a complete history of the
church of Scotland, in a series of lives of all the eminent men
who appeared from the beginning of the reformation down to
the period at which his preceding work commenced. Besides
these works. Mr. Wodrow has left behind him six small but

i020 Robert Wodrow ArchbalD.

closely written volumes of traditionary and other memoranda,
ree-arding- the lives and labors of remarkable ministers, and com-
prising all the occurrences of the period which he thought
worth recording. These volumes are designated by the general
name of Analecta, and the entries extend over a space of twenty-
seven years — from 1705 to 1732. The Analecta contains much
curious information regarding the times of its author, and is full
of anecdotes, and amusing and interesting notices of the remark-
able persons of the day. It is preserved in the original manu-
script in the Advocate's library at Edinburg, where it is often
consulted by the curious inquirer into the times to which it relates.
The Analecta in its present form probably never was intended
for publication. It was a mere collection of notes and comments
to be made the basis of subsequent labors. "These notes," says
Burton (Book Hunter, p. 311), "were written on small slips of
paper in a hand closely cramped and minute, and lest this should
not be a sufficient protection to their privacy a portion was com-
mitted to certain cyphers which their ingenious inventor deemed
no doubt to be utterly impregnable. * * Wodrow's trick
was the same as that of Samuel Pepys and productive of the
same consequences — the excitement of a rabid curiosity which
at last found its way into the recesses of his secret communings.
They are now published in the fine type of the Maitland Club
in four portly quartos, under the title Wodrow's Analecta."

Mr. Wodrow seems to have also been an omnivorous gatherer
of pamphlets and manuscripts, some of the latter rising high
enough in importance to be counted state papers. How the min-
ister of the quiet rural parish of Eastwood could have gotten his
hands on them is a marvel, but the appreciation of his labors is
to be found in the way this material has been ransacked and
made use of by book makers, and the whole collection has been at
last published in a number of large octavo volumes by the Wod-
row Society. A large portion of Mr. Wodrow's time, all of
which was laboriously and usefully employed in the discharge of
his various duties, was occupied in an extensive epistolary cor-
respondence with acquaintances and friends in different parts of
the world. But this was no idle correspondence. He made it in
all cases subservient to the purposes of improving his general

Robert Wodrow Archbald. io2i

knowledge, and of adding to his stores of information, and with
this view he was in the habit of transmitting to his correspondents
Hsts of queries on subjects of general and public interest, and par-
ticularly on matters connected with religion as they stood in
their several localities. With all this labor he regularly devoted
two days in every week to his preparation for the pulpit, and be-
stowed besides the most assiduous attention on all the other
duties of his parish. Some of the most curious relics of this
eminent man are a dozen bound volumes of manuscript sermons
written with a quill, and yet in such a minute hand as to be ab-
solutely illegible to the unaided eye. These were not of course in-
tended for use in the pulpit, the custom of the Scottish church at
that day requiring the delivery of sermons from memory and for-
bidding the use of notes. But they show the care with which his
sermons were prepared, and the painful diligence necessarily em-
ployed, in the midst of all his other literary labors, to commit them
to their present form. In the case of Professor Simpson, the suc-
cessor of Mr. Wodrow's father, who was suspended from his office
by the general assembly for his Arian sentiments, Mr. Wodrow felt
himself called upon as a minister of the gospel, and a friend to
evangelical truth, to take an active part with his brethren against
the professor. The latter, as already said, was suspended, but
through a feeling of compassion the emoluments of his office
were reserved to him, a kindness for which, it is not improbable,
he may have been indebted, at least in some measure, to the
benevolent and amiable disposition of Mr. Wodrow. In the
affair of the celebrated Marrow controversy, which opened the
way to the secession of 1743, Mr. Wodrow decided and acted
with his usual prudence, propriety and liberality. He thought
that those who approved of the sentiments and doctrines con-
tained in the work from which the controversy took its name —
the Marrow of Modern Divinity — went too far in their attempts
to vindicate them, and that the assembly, on the other hand, had
been too active and too forward in their condemnation. On the
great question about subscription to articles of faith he took a
more decided part, and ever looked upon the non-subscribers as
enemies to the cause of evangelical Christianity. The valuable
and laborious life of the author of the "History of the Sufferings

1022 Robert Wodrow Arch bald.

of the Church of Scotland," was now, however, drawing to a close.
His constitution had been naturally good, and during the earlier
part of his life he had enjoyed uninterrupted health, but the sever-
ity of his studious habits at length began to bear him down.
He was first seriously affected in 1726, and from this period con-
tinued gradually to decline till 1734, when he expired on March
21 ; dying, as he had lived, in the faith of the gospel, and love to
all mankind. Mr. Wodrow was married, in 1708, to Margaret
Warner, granddaughter of Wm. Guthrie, of Fenwick, author of
the "Trial of a Saving Interest in Christ," and daughter of the Rev.
Patrick Warner, of Ardeer, Ayrshire, and minister of Irvine.
Sixteen children were born of this marriage, of whom four sons
and five daughters survived their father. Robert Wodrow, his
eldest surviving son, was born December 21, 171 1. He was
educated for the ministry and succeeded his father in the parish
of Eastwood in 1735. In 1757 he resigned his charge and took
up his residence upon the island of Little Cumbray, which is
situated just off the shores of Ayrshire, in the firth of Clyde.
It used to be said of this devout man that even in public he
prayed first for the little Cumbray isle, and then for the realm of
England and the rest of the world. He died January, 1784, and
is buried in the Little Cumbray churchyard. He was twice mar-
ried, his second wife being Ann Ruthven, by whom he had several
children. His eldest son, Andrew, settled early in America, and
left descendants who are still living at Romney, West Virginia.
Mary Ann Wodrow, daughter of Robert Wodrow last named
and paternal grandmother of R. W. Archbald, was born June 24,
1764. She was married August 4, 1789, to James Archbald,
who, though inferior in social station, amply repaid her in the
depth and tenderness of his attachment. But little is known of
the family of the elder Archbald. His father was named James,
and he had two brothers, John and William. The father lived
on the main land at Knockendon, in Ayrshire, and had a cattle
farm on the big Cumbray island, and a sheep farm on the little
Cumbray, the latter being in charge of his son James. After
her marriage Mrs. Archbald continued to reside on the little
Cumbray isle. In the seclusion of this spot, with the busy
commerce of Glasgow and the Clyde sailing by in sight through

Robert Wodrow Archbald. 1023

the waters of the firth, she found leisure to develop and gratify
the literary and poetic tastes with which she was naturally gifted.
Here was born, March 3, 1793, James Archbald, the revered
father of the subject of this sketch. A second son, Patrick (or
Peter) was born at Stevenson, in Ayrshire, in 1805, while Mrs.
Archbald was on a visit to her uncle James Wodrow, min-
ister of that parish, to whose family she was warmly attached.
Two daughters, Margaret and Helen Louisa, were also born
to her. With this family she removed with her husband, in 1807,
to America, and settled at Auriesville, Montgomery county. New
York. Having purchased a farm in the charming Mohawk Val-
ley, it was found that Mr. Archbald, as an alien, took but a de-
feasible title to the land. This led to a correspondence with
Dewitt Clinton, already prominent in public life, in which the
gifted pen of Mrs. Archbald enlisted him in her behalf, and
through the influence of Mr. Clinton a special act was passed
which confirmed the title to her husband. It is said that upon
this occasion Mr. Clinton was so impressed with the literary
talents of Mrs. Archbald that he urged her to undertake the his-
tory of the state of New York. Amid all her household duties Mrs.
Archbald found time to record the doings of each day in a diary,
which still exists in manuscript, and which reads with the charm of
a story, and often contains important reference to public events of
the day. She kept up a regular correspondence to the end of
her hfe with her relatives in Scotland. She has left a volume of
paintings in water color, mainly of flowers exquisitely painted
from nature ; and though distant from literary centers, she gath-
ered about her a library of twelve hundred volumes, each one of
which bears evidence of having been carefully perused and
digested. Her husband died suddenly August 3, 1824, aged
sixty-one. Mrs. Archbald survived him several years, and died
January 3, 1841, in her seventy-seventh year. It is of more im-
portance to inquire who was the mother of a man than who was
his father, since the qualities of the former are more likely to be
reflected in him than those of the latter, and this seems to be ex-
emplified in the life of James Archbald. Born, as we have seen,
on the little Cumbray isle, on the west coast of Scotland, and on
the shores of the Atlantic, his early years were spent away from

1024 Robert Wodrow Arch bald.

the busy haunts of trade, with only the cultivated mind of a
mother to foster his ambition. The eldest of his father's family,
he naturally and early became the dependence of his parents ;
and, apt in all the consequent minor duties of the house and farm,
he might often be seen diligently knitting socks for the family
while watching the sheep of his father grazing about him. Upon
his removal to America, to the farm at Auriesville, N. Y., a new
life opened before him. No railroads or canals then offered
means of transportation, and the great Mohawk valley turnpike
was the main artery of travel. At the age of fourteen young
James, to whom thus early was committed the transaction of
such business, might be seen driving his wagon load of wheat
down the turnpike to Albany, some forty miles distant, where
he sold his grain with the good judgment of maturer years. As
he advanced toward manhood he became engaged in the varied
pursuits of farming, lumbering, and finally trading to the then far
distant Canadian line. While there he received an offer from the
Northwest Fur Company, which he came near accepting, and
which would have entirely changed the course of his life. It
must not be supposed that while thus actively engaged the cul-
tivation of his mind was entirely neglected. He eagerly seized
every opportunity for reading and study; became an ardent ad-
mirer of poetry, and could recite even in his later days lengthy
quotations from Burns and Byron, as well as most of the British
poets. The intervals of labor were employed to gratify his inher-
ited taste for reading, and often while resting at the plow the few
spare moments were spent in perusing a book produced from his
pocket. In the summer of 1817 the construction of the Erie
canal was begun. This great work, which has linked to imper-
ishable fame the name of Dewitt Clinton, its projector, opened a
new field to Mr. Archbald's energies. He became a contractor
and built that section of the canal which destroyed the symmetry
of his own beautiful farm. His work as a contractor was well
done ; much to the surprise of the engineer, there were none of
those attempts at cheating so common on politically managed
improvements. The engineer in charge was the celebrated John
B. Jervis, who, feeling pleased with the young man's faithfulness
and capability, offered him a position in his engineering corps.

Robert Wodrow Archbald. 1025

Mr. Jervis was soon after offered the charge of the newly begun
Delaware and Hudson Canal, and in the year 1825 Mr. Arch-
bald was employed by him upon it. He was placed under an en-
gineer somewhat noted for his fast qualities, who, not finding any
congeniality in the straightforward plodding assistant, asked his
removal on the ground that he would never make an engineer.
Mr. Jervis at once assented, and to the general surprise made him
resident engineer in charge of that division. In 1829 the newly
opened mines and railroad at Carbondale being in their incipient
stages of existence, the directors elected Mr. Archbald super-
intendent, and from that time his life was principally passed in
the Lackawanna vallev. His mother was still living at this time
on the farm at Auriesville, and such was his devotion to her that
several times he walked the whole distance from Carbondale, by
way of Rondout and the banks of the Hudson, to his old home
to cheer her with a visit. Some seven or eight years after this
W. C. Bouck, canal commissioner, and afterwards democratic
governor of the state of New York, offered Mr. Archbald the
position of engineer in charge of that portion of the Erie canal
enlargement lying between Troy and Utica, a distance of one
hundred miles. This he accepted and left Carbondale, much to
the regret of the company and of the citizens of the place. But
he did not stay away long. The strife and trickery of politics
which prevailed among the canal authorities disgusted him and
at the earnest solicitation of the president of the Delaware and
Hudson Canal Company he once more took charge of the road,
after the absence of a year. In 1847 the Pennsylvania Coal
Company commenced building their gravity railroad from Pitts-
ton to Hawley, and this too was placed in charge of Mr. Arch-
bald and constructed upon his plans. In the prosecution of this
work he was subjected to extreme fatigue and frequent expo-
sure, and on one occasion he lost his way and spent all night in
the woods near Jones Lake. Often at the end of the week's work
he would walk home to Carbondale, several miles, over the
mountains. The mines and works at Carbondale, Honesdale
and Hawley were at the same time in his charge, and the conse-
quent physical and mental strain upon him were too great. In
the spring of 1850 he was taken with erysipelas, and for several

I026 Robert Wodrow Arch bald.

months his Hfe was despaired of. So important to the enterprises
in his charge was his supervision considered to be, that a physi-
cian was sent from New York city by the company, and one of the
directors took his place at the bedside of Mr. Archbald to help
nurse him back to life. In 1851 Carbondale was made a city,
and the citizens thereof, to show their respect and attach-
ment, elected him mayor, which office he filled for four succes-
sive terms, and until he removed from the place. In 1854 Mr.
Archbald was chosen vice-president of the Michigan Southern
and Northern Indiana railroad, and he once more and finally
dissolved his connection with the Delaware and Hudson Canal
Company and the Pennsylvania Coal Company, and took per-
sonal charge of the western railroad. His stay in the west,
however, was limited to a year, when he received his final
recall to the scene of his earlv labors. A new railroad was in
progress and mighty changes were taking place in the valley.
The extension of the Delaware and Hudson railroad had built
up the village ( now the borough ) of Archbald, named in his
honor; the business of the Pennsylvania Coal Company had
made Dunmore and the enterprises of the Scrantons had made
Slocum Hollow (which is now transformed into the city of
Scranton) the center of the coal trade of the valley. The Dela-
ware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad having been estab-
lished, George W. Scranton was compelled by ill health to
abandon his position in the employ of that company, and by the
general voice of the directors Mr. Archbald was appointed gen-
eral agent. He now moved his residence to Scranton, leaving
Carbondale (after a sojourn of about thirty years), much to the
regret of her people, and followed by the good wishes of the
entire population. In 1858 Mr. Archbald was appointed chief
engineer of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad,
and subsequently president of the Lackawanna and Blooms-
burg, both of which positions he held at the time of his death.
He had a competency — the proceeds of a life of industry, not a
dollar having been made in speculation — but his active habits of
life still forbade his retiring from his customary pursuits, and until
near his death he possessed the elasticity and industry of younger
days, rose with the early dawn, and on a tramp over the moun-

Robert Wodrow Archbald. 1027

tains could rarely be tired out by men who were much his junior
in years. Esteemed most by those who knew him best, Mr.
Archbald had the entire confidence and affection of the railroad
managers and employees. The simplicity of his character, the
purity of his life, and the uprightness of his dealings, have made
his name a synonym for honesty. Ne never failed in his word ;
he never refused a favor nor harbored an enmity ; he never so-
licited an office. In 1866 Mr. Archbald reluctantly accepted the
unanimous nomination of the republican party for congress. Per-
sonally his inclinations were averse to running the gauntlet of
the campaign, but the clamorous entreaties of his friends over-
bore his better judgment. Even with the powerful assistance of
Susquehanna county, which was then attached to this congress-
ional district, he was defeated by his opponent, Charles Denison.
James Archbald died at Scranton August 26, 1870.

The wife of James Archbald was Sarah Augusta Temple Froth-
ingham, daughter of Major Thomas Frothingham and Elizabeth
Frost. Thomas Frothingham was descended from William Froth-
ingham, who, as appears from the town records of Charlestovvn,
Mass., came from England and settled at that place in 1630.
The second son of William Frothingham was Nathaniel, born in
1639. There were two other brothers of the original family,
Peter and Samuel, and Nathaniel had a family of seven children
who came to ages of maturity, so that early foundation was thus
laid for the spread of the Frothingham name, a geneological
history of which has been compiled in recent years by Richard
H. Frothingham, a member of the family. A curious relic has
come down to the present generation from this time and source.
It consists of a small box or trunk about twelve by eighteen
inches in size and six inches high, covered on the outside with
black leather, patched in many places, and having on the lid the
date of 1678, marked in brass headed nails. The inside is lined
with what is supposed to be a kind of wall paper of that day.
Rude figures, outlined in black upon the white ground, and
looking almost as though made with a burnt stick, alternate in
lines with several oft repeated pious texts, such as :

GODS WOKD IS PVKE A SHIELD MOST SVRE.
THE PAIXF^T. HAND SHAL KVLE THE LAND.
SAVE VS O LORD FRO^I HETHEXS SWORD .
FROM EVEL STRAY AND LIVE FOR AYE.
AN EA'EL WOIVIAN IS LIKE A SCORriON .

I028 Robert Wodrow Arcmbald.

These would seem to betray a Puritan origin, and the box is
reputed in the family to have been brought over from England.

The oldest son of Nathaniel Frothingham was also named
Nathaniel, and was born July 2, 1671. His wife was Hannah
Rand. Nathaniel Frothingham — third of the name — eldest son
of Nathaniel and Hannah, is next in succession. He was born
December 7, 1698, and died May 7, 1749. He married July 27,
1721, Susanna Whittemore. Their second son and third child
was William, who was born October 16, 1729, and was married
October 16, 175 1, to Hannah, oldest child of Charles Hewson
and Hannah White. Of this marriage was born January 27,
1755, Thomas Frothingham, maternal grandfather of the subject
of this record.

Thomas Frothingham was born at Charlestown, Mass., and
was the second son of his parents. He was apprenticed at the
age of fourteen to learn the trade of cabinet maker. Early in
1775, the danger of hostilities with the mother country being
apprehended, he formed with other young men a company of
artillery. Secret meetings were held and a wooden gun, mounted
on a carriage, was used to drill with. On the 19th of April, hostili-
ties having been begun at the battle of Lexington, he enlisted in
the artillery for eight months under his master, Lieutenant Benja-
min Frothingham, and subsequently, in January 1776, reenlisted
for a year longer. In April following he went with the army to
New York, and was there under Captain Corsen, "one of the
most experienced fire workers," as he says in a letter to his son,
"to be found in -the then colonies." Upon the retreat of the
army from New York in September, 1776, he was appointed con-
ductor of military stores, and in September, 1779, deputy field
commissary, with the rank of major. He was assigned a post
at West Point, and remained in this office and service till the
close of the revolution. In 1784 he entered into a partnership
with Benjamin Gorton, and opened a store at Claverack landing,
on the North river, now incorporated in the city of Hudson.
In 1790 the firm was dissolved, but Mr. Frothingham continued
the business until the fall of 1805. From Hudson he removed
to Sand Lake, a village twelve miles east of Albany, and there
took charge of the construction and management of a glass fac-

Robert Wodrow Archbald. 1029

tory, in which position he continued until his death, January 25,
1827. Major Frothingham was a gentleman of the old school.
He was tall and dignified in his bearing, and courteous in his
manners. He was a prominent mason, and served a term in the
state senate of New York in 1821 and 1822. The senate at that
time sat as a court of errors and appeals, and the position of
senator carried consequent importance and dignity. On Septem-
ber 27, 1785, he married Efizabeth, daughter of Gideon Frost
and Sarah Ireland, of Cambridge, Mass. Gideon Frost was de-
scended from Edmund Frost, who was born July 12, 1672. The
line passes down through Ephraim, the son of Edmund, born
January 12, 171 8, and a second Edmund, the son of Ephraim,
born November 6, 1752. Edmund Frost married Hannah Coop-
er, and from them was born, June 24, 1724, Gideon Frost, the
father of Elizabeth. Sarah Ireland, the wife of Gideon, was the
daughter of John Ireland and Sarah Shepherd, and was born
August 26, 1728. Part of the land over which the grounds of
Harvard college, at Cambridge, now extend was originally in
the Frost family, as well as a large part of that on which the
village of North Cambridge has grown up. The old Frost house,
in the latter place, over two hundred years old, is still standing.
Its long sloping roof, low ceiling and old tiled fire places would
delight the antiquary. It was kept up in the old style by the
late Mrs. Susan Austin, a descendent of the family, until her
death recently.

Elizabeth Frost, the wife of Thomas Frothingham, was born
November 15, 1760. She was a woman of peculiar mould, and
some of the characteristics of the mother have descended to her
children. One of these certainly deserves mention. Even at
that early day she was one of the few who espoused the cause of
the negro against his master. The state of Massachusetts then
afforded a safe refuge for the escaping slave, and the village of
Sand Lake, N. Y., a few miles from the state line, was the last
station upon the underground railway. While living at that
place Mrs. Frothingham frequently harbored and concealed mem-
bers of this persecuted class, and when the way was open, helped
them on to the white stone which marked the dividing line of
the two states, and made the slave a freeman. Mrs. Frothingham

1030 Robert Wodrow Arch bald.

did not rise with the dawn, but, on the contrary, when the neigh-
boring blacksmith began to stir his morning fires, this was her
signal for retiring. Nevertheless, she lived to a good old age,
dying December 26, 1843, at the ripe age of eighty-three.

The youngest child of Thomas and Elizabeth Frothingham
was Sarah Augusta Temple Frothingham. She was born Sep-
tember 14, 1805, ^^ Hudson, N, Y., but while still an infant her
parents moved to Sand Lake village, already mentioned, and
there the whole of her early life was spent. Upon the occasion
of a visit to Auriesville she met James Archbald, ten years or
more her senior, and still living with his mother on the farm.
Seven years later, November 27, 1832, she became his bride,
and removed with him to the then seeming wilderness of Car-
bondale. Pa., where meantime the mines and works of the Dela-
ware and Hudson Canal Company had been developing under
his superintendency. Her life from this time on mingles with
that of her husband, and but little is to be said of it. A dutiful
daughter, a faithful and loving wife and mother — how brief, how
simple the record, yet how important ! She made a place for
herself, while she lived, in the hearts of her friends and family,
and passed to her rest July 5, 1874, in the sixty-ninth year of her
age, having survived her husband nearly four years.

James Archbald left to survive him five children — James, Mary
Wodrow, Thomas Frothingham, Augusta, and Robert Wod-
row. James was born February 13, 1838, graduated at Union
College in i860, and succeeded his father as chief engineer of the
Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad, which position
he still holds. He married, January 25, 1865, Maria H., daugh-
ter of the late Joseph J. Albright (one of the pioneers, and prom-
inent in the later development, of Scranton), and has several
children. He was captain of Company I, One Hundred and
Thirty-second Pennsylvania Volunteers, in the late war, and was
present at the battle of Antietam. His engineering skill is at-
tested by the new Bergen tunnel of the Delaware, Lackawanna
and Western Railroad, at Hoboken, N. J., with its approaches,
and the Buffalo extension of the same railroad, over two hundred
miles from Binghamton to Buffalo, N. Y. He is at present the
general and energetic manager of the Barber Asphalt Paving

Robert Wodrow Archbald. 1031

Company, and resides at Scranton. Mary W. was born June 16,
1840, and married, September 4, 1867, George H. Catlin, of
Shoreham, Vermont. Tliey now reside at Scranton, Mr, Catlin
being vice president of the Third National Bank there. Thomas
F. was born July 23, 1843, and died February 17, 1882, leaving
a daughter, Sarah Elizabeth. Augusta, born March 19, 1846;
deceased March 9, 1873 ; unmarried and without issue.

Robert Wodrow Archbald was born September 10, 1848, at
Carbondale, Luzerne (now Lackawanna) county, Pa., where he
lived until near nine years of age, removing in August, 1857.
with his parents to Scranton. He attended the public schools of
the latter place until 1864, when he began the pursuit of civil
engineering, intending to make that his calling. A road to be
known as the Wyoming Gravity Railroad had been projected at
that time from Wilkes-Barre over the Pocono mountains to
Stroudsburg, Monroe county, to connect at the latter place with
the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad and give an
outlet for the transportation of coal in that direction. The work
was in charge of his eldest brother, James Archbald, and the
summer and fall of 1864 were spent by him in the field as one of
a corps of engineers under his brother. Following the same de-
sign, in January, 1865, he entered the Polytechnic Institute, at
Troy, N. Y., but, under some discouragements at the outstart,
was diverted from the idea of becoming an engineer, and returned
home. For a few months in the spring and summer of 1865 he
took his place again in the field upon the Wyoming Gravity road,
but in the fall of that year, having determined upon taking a clas-
sical course at college, he entered Flushing Institute, a prepara-
tory school, at Flushing, Long Island. From there he successfully
entered the academic department of Yale College in September,
1867, and graduated four years later in the class of 1871. No
special honors fell to him at college, save a declamation prize,
an oration at the junior exhibition, and a place on the famous
wooden spoon committee. He was also leader of the class glee
club. In senior year he was a member of the so-called Scroll
and Key society. Returning to Scranton in 1871, he took up
the study of the law in the office of Hand and Post. That firm
was composed of Alfred Hand — subsequently one of the law

1032 Robert Wodkow Archdald.

judges of Luzerne and Lackawanna counties — and I. J. Post,
Esq., since deceased. Mr. Archbald was admitted to the bar of
Luzerne county September 17, 1873, and began the practice of
the law at Scranton. The disadvantage of practicing at such a
distance from the county seat was keenly felt by him, as by
others, and while the division of the county was being strenu-
ously urged, there seemed for the time very little likelihood that
it would be accomplished. Taking this view of things, Mr.
Archbald removed, in January, 1878, to the city of New York,
intending to cast in his lot there. He soon returned, however,
and resumed practice at Scranton, and in August following had
the satisfaction of aiding in the establishment of the new county
of Lackawanna. In February, 1883, he was mentioned for the
position of city solicitor of Scranton against I. H. Burns, Esq., the
incumbent of the office, who had then successfully held it for
three terms. The election was by the city councils, of whom a
majority were republicans, the same as Mr. Archbald, Mr. Burns
being a democrat. The first ballot was a tie, but on the second
a change of two votes gave the election to Mr. Burns, and he has
held the office ever since. In 1884, as the term of Hon. John
Handley, president judge of the Forty-fifih Judicial District, com-
posed of the county of Lackawanna, drew towards a close, Mr.
Archbald was favorably mentioned as a candidate upon the side
. of the republicans. His nomination was contested, however, by
H. M. Edwards, Esq., who is now serving his second term as
district attorney of the county, but Mr. Archbald was chosen by
a vote of about two-thirds of the nominating convention. The
position and popularity of Judge Handley, who was the antici-
pated candidate of the democratic party, made the nomination seem
at the time a barren one. But dissensions having sprung up in
the ranks of the opposition, Edward Merrifield, Esq., was nomi-
nated as the regular candidate of that party, and Judge Handley
became an independent candidate. After a spirited canvass, the
result of which was to the end extremely doubtful, Mr. Archbald
was elected, November 4, 1884, by a plurality of about two thou-
sand votes. On January 5, 1885, at the age of thirty-six, he took
his seat upon the bench as additional law judge of Lackawanna
county, Hon. Alfred Hand, by the retirement of Judge Handley,

Robert Wodrow Arch bald.

1033

becoming at the same time president judge. He continued in
this position until August 2, 1888, when, upon the elevation of
Judge Hand to the Supreme Court by the appointment of Gov-
ernor Beaver, Judge Archbald became in his turn president judge
of the courts of Lackawanna. Three judges now compose those
courts, the associates of Judge Archbald being Additional Law
Judges John F. Connolly and Frederick W. Gunster. In reli-
gious belief Judge Archbald is a Presbyterian, and he is a mem-
ber of the First Presbyterian church of Scranton. Mr. Archbald
was married, January 21, 1875, at Oxford, Chenango county, N,
Y., to Elizabeth Baldwin, only daughter of Benjamin Cannon and
Anna Miller. Four children have been born of this union —
Robert W., Jr., January 10, 1876; Anna, August 22, 1878; Hugh,
October 30, 1880, and a child which died in infancy. Mrs. Arch-
bald was born at Oxford, N. Y., May 29, 1850, but at an early
age removed with her parents to the village of Cannonsville, in
the same state, and upon the election of her father to the county
clerkship of Delaware county the family took up their residence
at Delhi, the county seat. In 1859 they again returned to Can-
nonsville, and finally removed to Oxford in the summer of 1873.
Owing to the deficiency of schools at Cannonsville, where her
girlhood was mainly spent, Mrs. Archbald was sent away from
home from time to time, to Cooperstown, N, Y., East Green-
wich, R. I., and Oxford Academy, finishing her studies at the
well known school of Miss Porter, at Farmington, Conn.

Benjamin Cannon was a native of Cannonsville, N. Y., where
he was born June 17, 1818. He was educated at Oxford aca-
demy and Union college (Schenectady, N. Y.) from which he
graduated in 1840. After finishing his college course he spent
a year in the law office of Judge Amasa J. Parker, at Delhi. He
was admitted to the bar of New York city in 1843. He was
county clerk of Delaware county, N. Y. from 1853 to 1859. He
died at Oxford December 19, 1877. He was the son of Benja-
min Cannon, a native of and the founder of Cannonsville, where
he was born in 1776. He died there in 1839. The wife of
Benjamin Cannon, jr., was Anna Miller, the daughter of Epaphras
Miller and his wife, Elizabeth Baldwin. Mr. Miller's grandfather
was William Miller and his father was Matthew Miller, who was

1034 Robert Wodrow Archijald.

born in Glastenbury, Conn., July 7, 1732. He married Alice
Stevens, granddaughter of Timothy Stevens, a Harvard graduate,
who was the first minister settled at Glastenbury in 1693. The
father of Alice Stevens was Benjamin Stevens. Mis wife was
Dorothy Olmstead. P^paphra Miller was born in Glastenbury
June 2, 1778, and removed to Oxford in 1800 [as the agent of
General Hovey, the owner of the town site of Oxford. He was
a merchant and for nearly fifty years pursued the same employ-
ment. He was identified with many plans for the growth and
prosperity of the place of his adoption, and was one of the earn-
est and active men of the village.' None were more zealous to
advance the standard of education, to open public thoroughfares
and add to the beauty of the village. The wife of Epaphras
Miller was Elizabeth Baldwin, a native of West Stockbridge,
Mass. They were married at Wilkes-Barre July 14, 1810, by
Rev. Ard Hoyt. Her great-great-grandfather was one of three
brothers who came from England in 1645 and were the first
settlers of Milford, Conn. Her great-grandfather was Joseph
Baldwin, her grandfather was Ebenezer Baldwin, and her father
was Samuel Baldwin, M. D. The latter was born November, 1756,
in the town of Egremont, Berkshire county, Mass. At the age
of seventeen he was one of the drafted militia of his native state
and served in the continental army at different periods for thirteen
months. In the year 1775 he was a "minute man," being called
into active service soon after the battle of Lexington, on April
19 of that year. He joined the continental troops at Boston,
where he remained three months. In 1775 he was one of the
volunteers who marched into Canada in prosecution of one of
the most difficult and perilous enterprises undertaken during the
revolutionary contest. Besides suffering from an attack of small-
pox at Montreal on his way to that place, he marched in one day
sixty miles on the ice of Lake Champlain. In the spring of
1777 the army under General Gates was obliged to retreat be-
fore the combined British forces of the north. Mr. Baldwin
returned to Egremont much reduced and enfeebled by the hard-
ships and privations which he had endured. He was drafted
ao-ain in the following September and once more joined the army
under General Gates. He was present at the battle of Saratoga

Silvester Bristol. 1035

and witnessed one of the most important events of the revolution,
the surrender of Burgoyne on October 17, 1777. After this Mr.
Baldwin devoted himself to study and succeeded in acquiring a
substantial education in the ordinary branches of English learn-
ing, together with a sufficient knowledge of the languages to
enable him to begin the study of medicine. At the age of
twenty-eight he entered upon the practice of his profession at
West Stockbridge, Mass., where he continued for sixteen years,
during which time he was twice elected a representative to the
legislature of the state. In the year 1800, after the death of his
wife, he removed to the Wyoming Valley, Pa., where he resided
at Wilkes-Barre, and Forty Fort (with the exception of two
years spent in Ohio), until he removed to Oxford, N. Y., in 18 19.
He enjoyed an unsullied reputation as a man of integrity and
good morals. He died in Oxford September 2, 1842.

The two following named persons are the only associate judges
of Luzerne county, Pa., that are now living : ^r^

SILVESTER BRISTOL. \^,

Silvester Bristol, who was commissioned an associate judge of
Luzerne county. Pa., November 10, 185 i, for five years from the
first Monday of December, 185 1, is a native of Washington,
Dutchess county, N. Y., where he was born July 12, 181 3. He
is the grandson of David Bristol, a native of England, whose wife
was Mabel Thomas, of New Haven, Conn. His father, Samuel
Bristol, was a native of Dutchess county, N. Y. Silvester Bristol
emigrated, when a young man, to this county, and in 1842 was
elected a justice of the peace for the township of Providence, now
a portion of Scranton, Pa. Mr. Bristol was for many years engaged
in the hotel business — the Bristol House in Scranton and the
Luzerne House in this city being among those he was proprietor
of The Bristol House in this city derived its name from him.
Mr. Bristol married, in 1838, P^lizabeth Daw, a daughter of Isaac

1036 Daniel Kiktland Morss.

Daw, of Connecticut. His second wife, whom he married
March 21, 1866, is Sarah Wright, a daughter of Job Wright, of
New York state. Mr. Bristol has six children living, five by his
first wife and one by his second wife — four daughters and two
sons — Samuel A. Bristol, of Asbury, N. J., and George Bristol,
of this city. Judge Bristol resides in West Pittston, in this
county.

DANIEL KIRTLAND MORSS.

Daniel Kirtland Morss, who was commissioned an associate
judge of Luzerne county, Pa., November 23, 1871, for a term of
five years from the first Monday of December, 1871, is a resident
of Moss Side, near Carbonda!e, Pa. His grandfather, Asa Morss,
was a native of Methuen, Mass., whose wife was Hannah Austin,
of Dracut, Mass. The father of D. K. Morss was Foster Morss,
also a native of Methuen. His wife was Roxanna Kirtland, of
Durham, Greene county, N. Y., a daughter of Daniel Kirtland, of
Saybrook, Conn. His wife was Lovesa Lord, of Saybrook. D. K.
Morss was born January 27, 1 821, at Windham, N. Y., and was
educated at the Delaware Academy, Delhi, N.Y. He has filled the
offices of justice of the peace and assistant United States assessor in
addition to his being associatejudge. He was elected a justice of
the peace three times, but took his commission out but once.
Mr. Morss removed to Carbondale in 1844, and followed the
mercantile business until 1861, when he retired from that busi-
ness and removed to his country seat. Moss Side, about a mile
from the centre of the city of Carbondale. He has been proprie-
tor of and ran a half dozen dairy farms, and the Lenoxville mills
at Lenoxville, Susquehanna county, Pa. He is also a director in
the Carbondale Miners' and Mechanics' Savings Bank. Mr.
Morss enjoys the distinction of being the last associate judge
in this county. On December 8, 1876, we wrote the following:
"Our last associatejudge, Hon. D. K. Morss, on Wednesday of
last week retired from the office of associatejudge of Luzerne
county, which position he has held during the past five years, it

Daniel Kirtland Morss. 1037

is universally admitted that no public officer ever vacated his
position whose official acts met with greater and more unqualified
approbation than those of Judge Morss. He was accommodating,
obliging and gentlemanly in the extreme, and most thorough
and exact in the performance of his duties. We unite in the
common sympathy of the bar and people of Luzerne county, and
mingle our regret at the retirement of Judge Morss from the
bench, and express the general sentiment of his numerous friends
in wishing him a long life and the highest prosperity in whatever
sphere his lot may be cast in the unknown future. Under the
new constitution the office of associate judge is abolished in this
county." We also append the proceedings of the members of
the bar of Luzerne county on Judge Morss's retirement. On
Wednesday, November 29, 1876, a meeting was held in the bar
office, and tributes of a very complimentary nature were paid to
Judge Morss's official relations while attending to the duties of
his office, his general upright bearing, and his congeniality in
social relations. Hon. E. L. Dana, A. Ricketts, Esq., Hon. L.
D. Shoemaker, W. S. McLean, Esq., and others made short ad-
dresses. The following resolutions were passed unanimously :

Whereas, At a meeting of the members of the bar, held at the
court house, in the city of Wilkes-Barre, the 29th day of No-
vember, 1876, the fact being announced from the bench that the
term of office of the Hon. D. K. Morss as associate judge expires
with the present sessions of the court, now about to adjourn, it
was, upon motion of Hon. L. D. Shoemaker, duly seconded by
A. Ricketts, Esq.,

Resolved, That we hereby express our appreciation of the up-
right, impartial and straightforward course of the Hon. D. K.
Morss while upon the bench, and of his uniform courtesy and
urbanity, as well as promptness and readiness in the discharge of
his official duties.

Resolved, That while we regret the separation from Judge
Morss in an official capacity, we at the same time express our
satisfaction that the office of associate judge in Luzerne county
is closed by so excellent an example. And we respectfully pray
the court that this preamble, and the resolutions therewith, be en-
tered upon the minutes of the court.

1038 Daniel Kirtland Morss.

Judge Dana then endorsed the action of the court as follows :
Now, November 29th, 1S76, fully concurring in and approving of
the foregoing preamble and resolutions, direct that they be filed
and entered at length upon the court minutes.

Judge Morss married, December 30, 1863, ICmiiy Gertrude
Mott, a daughter of James Mott, a native of Dutchess county,
N. Y., and his wife, Mary Ann Barber, a daughter of Calvin Bar-
ber, a native of Connecticut. Mr. and Mrs. Morss have one
child — Alice Minerva Morss.

APPENDIX.

Biographical sketclies of the following named persons are con-
tained in tins volume. ' For general index, see end of third volume.

« Page.

Adams, Henry Clay bo/

Amerman, Lemuel 979

^ Anderson, James Noteman 712

Archbald, Robert Wodrow 1016

^, Atherton, Thomas Henry 516

^ Atherton, Thomas M 867

Babb, Edmund Burke 834

Bailey, Albert Marion 896

Bangs, A. W 866

^Banks, Cecil Reynolds 713

Barnes, Frank Vaughan 958

Baumann, Anthony looi

Bennett, Nathan /^ >s, ;6i

Bentley, George P^ f-< -Ci. i/A .982

Bohan, Cormac Francis . . . . \rji. '^ 625

Brace, Burrell .\. 901

Breck, Charles du Pont 890

Bristol, Silvester 1035

Bunnell, Lewis Martin 927

Burnham, Horace Blois 840

Burke, Martin P'rancis 568

Burns, Ira Hale 912

Burr, J. E 990

Burrows, Francis E 936

Butler, Francis Lord 848

Butler, George D 928

Butler, George Hollenback 606

Byrne, M. J 904

' Campbell, Anthony Charles . 698

Chapin, Alfred Eugene 709

Page.

Chase, Aaron Augustus 899

Cohen, George t^ugene 801

Collins, Francis D 905

Collings, John Beaumont 931

Connolly, Daniel Ward 935

Connolly, John F 959

Cooley, De Witt C 903

Coston, Herbert H 978

Coughlin, Dennis O'Brien ^ 615

Creveling, Darryl La Porte 814

Creveling, John Quincy 694

Dean, Arthur Denorvan 961

Derr, Andrew Fein 73^

De Witt, George B 950

Dickinson, Wharton 9^8

Dimmick, Edward C 97°

Dunning, Henry White 671

Durand, Silas H 889

Edwards, Henry M 93^

Ellis, Howard 902

Espy, John 916

Everhart, John Franklin 804

Evans, Robert Davenport 571

Fell, Daniel Ackley 687

Fisher, George Hollenback 675

Fitzsimmons, Frank Joseph 996

Flick, Liddon 692

Foley, Thomas J 95°

Foster, Thomas Lansford 837

Frisbie, Hanson Zebulon 849

Fritz, James Madison 802

Fuller, Frederick 887

Fuller, Henry Amzi 575

Gabriel, Charles V. 1014

Garman, John Montgomery 666

Gearhart, Wesley H 922

Gibbons, William Robert , 573

Page.

Gritman, Philo Callender 848

Gunster, Frederick William 917

Halsey, Harry 753

Hand, Alfred 875

Handley, John 883

Hannah, Daniel 908

Hannah, Hugh Moore 931

Harding, Henry 983

Harding, John Slosson 618

Harrington, David Chase 874

Harvey, Oscar Jewell . . , 505

Hawley, Charles L 993

Hayes, John David 574

Hedian, George Drum 725

Heery, Michael 9^4

Hill, John Nevin 997

Hillard, Lord Butler 800

Hillard, Tuthill Reynolds 798

Hines, William Henry 610

Hitchcock, Frederick Lyman 879

Horn, George Scranton 944

Hotchkiss, Albert Beecher 898

Hottenstein, Allen S 937

Hoyt, Abram Goodwin 934

Hoyt, Edward Everett 627

Ho>t, Henry Martyn 1013

Hull, Harry T 923

Hughes, Thomas Roger 995

Hughes, William Jay 569

Jackson, Ernest 53^

Johnson, Wesley 775

Jones, Harvey J 948

Jones, Lewis 826

Jones, Meredith Lewis 1 928

Jones, William Gibson 890

Kahler, Oliver Charles 949

Kauffman, Percival Coover . . , f 680

Page.

Keck, Charles Edmund 700

Kinscy, Lconidas Campbell 980

Kline, Clarence VVinfield 549

Knapp, Henry Alonzo 967

Lamb, Charles Loren . 960

Larned, Frank Warren 808

Lathrop, Charles Edward 857

Lathrop, Wilbur F ' 969

Lathrope, William Wurts 901

Leach, Harold 994

Leisenring, Jacob Shindel 945

Lenahan, James L 558

Lewis, William 817

Lindeman, Henry Richard 1008

Little, Ephraim Henry 85 i

Loomis, Francis Edgar 906

Loomis, George Peck 771

Lusk, William D. .• 937

^'Magee, Henry Coffin 532

Mahon, Peter A 959

Mapledoram, Eugene C 970

Martin, Thomas Rebaugh 556

Mathers, Ziba . 626

Maxwell, James Lee 836

McAlarney, Charles Wesley 533

McAtee, Benjamin F'ranklin 676

McCoy, Edward I 981

McDivitt, Samuel P 987

McDormott, Samuel F 910

McGahren, John 535

McGove'rn, Edward Frank 773

McManus, Bernard 553

Meixell, Peter Augustus 729

Merrifield, Edward -853

Mills, John B 905

Miner, William Beatty 1007

Mitchell, Ira Canfield 897

Moore, Joseph • 617

Page.

Morss, Daniel Kirtland 1036

Murray, Thomas Sharp 832

Myers, George Peck g^r

Myers, Philip . 856

Nesbitt, Thomas ^24

Nichols, Emmett De Vine 55^

Nichols, F. H 1007

O'Boyle, Peter Aloysius 659

O'Flaherty, John ^69

O'Hanlon, Philip J p^o

-'Orr, George Merritt 1015

/ Orr, Nathaniel Marion gy^

Paine, William Lee 1003

Painter, Emerich Harrison . . y'oSTO^\ 921

Parke, Samuel Maxwell . . . . f^,^'Qi.\c) 719

Parsons, Lewis E W/B'BN'^"^ ^^9

^Patrick, Horatio Nicholson . . . .' 996

Patton, Henry Dudley 750

Peckham, Danforth L. 852

•Perkins George 849

Peters, William Allison 1008

Phoenix Charles Matthew 1002

Pitcher, Charles R 965

Plumb, George Henry Ruggles 603

Price, Samuel Britton 95 i

Price, William Carroll 65 1

Pursel, Benjamin Franklin 872

Raeder, William La Fayette 788

Ranck, John McGinnes 913

Rank, Daniel Webster 939

Regan, Jeremiah D 911

Regan, Michael 904

Reynolds, Sheldon yyy

Rhodes, John B 903

Rhodes, Joseph Clubine 835

Rhone, Samuel Matthias 984

y- Ricketts, Alexander 816

Page

Robinson, William C 900

Royce, Clark Ezek King 920

Sanderson, George 936

Scouton, James Robinson 735

Shaver, James Buchanan 696

Shonk. George Washington 541

Shortz, Edwin 564

Smith, Andrew Jackson 869

Smith, Cornelius 924

Snyder, Jacob Byron 926

Spratt, Orlando Wellington 911

Squier, George H 948

Stanton, William H 919

Staples, Charles Boone 658

Stark, Jasper Byron 566

Stephens, Marlin Bingham 769

Stewart, Franklin ... . 844

Stiles, Milton 961

Stoutenburg, James Emmett , 929

Sturges, Edward Baker 925

Sturdevant, Edward Warren 551

Taylor, Nathaniel 537

Thorp, Moses M 949

Todd, Charles Wesley 873

Torrey, James Humphrey 985

Ulman, Joseph E 904

Unger, David 939

Umstead, Thomas Chalmers 767

Urquhart, George 1015

Van Fleet, Charles Graham ...*... 919

Vickery, Lorenzo D 930

Wadhams, Moses Waller 755

Wadhams, Samuel French 990

/Waller, George Grant 842

Ward, Walsingham Griffin 852

Ward, Zebulon Marcy 900

Page.

Weaver, Philip Velasco 788

Weitzel, Paul Ross 864

Wells, Thomas Fenimore 97^

Welles, Charles Hopkins 908

Welles, Henry Hunter 660

Welter, Joshua Lewis • 686

Wheaton, Frank Woodruff 654

Wheeler, Orsemus Hard 832

Wilcox, William Alonzo 74-

Willard, Edward Newell 862

Williams, Anthony Lawrence 653

Wilson, Henry 867

Wilson, Milo Jones 9H

Winton, Aretus Heermans 883

Woodward, George Abisha 868

Woodward, John Butler 690

Wright, Caleb Earl 824

Wright, Robert Hunter 554

"■JI-XIV

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Full text of "Families of the Wyoming Valley: biographical, genealogical and historical. Sketches of the bench and bar of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania"

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