USA > Pennsylvania > Luzerne County > Families of the Wyoming Valley: biographical, genealogical and historical. Sketches of the bench and bar of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, vol. II > Part 1
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M. L.
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
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FAMILIES
OF THE
WYOMING
VALLEY Pennsylvania
BIOGRAPHICAL, GENEALOGICAL, AND HISTORICAL.
SKETCHES OF THE BENCH AND BAR
OF LUZERNE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
PUBLIC 2
GEO. B. KULP. BRA
HISTORIOGRAPHER OF THE WYOMING 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 xxviii : 3, 5, 0.
" Those who do not treasure up the memory of their ancestors, do not deserve to be remembered by posterity."-Edmund Burke
IN THREE VOLUMES.
VOL. II.
WILKES-BARRE, PENNSYLVANIA.
1889.
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1555755
Copyright 1889 by GEORGE B. KULP.
E. B. YORDY. PRINTER, Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
TO MY FRIEND
HON. LAZARUS DENISON SHOEMAKER,
WHOSE PATERNAL GRANDFATHER. LIEUTENANT ELIJAH SHOEMAKER, WAS SLAIN, AND WHOSE MATERNAL GRAND- FATHER. COLONEL NATHAN DENISON, GALLANTLY LED THE LEFT WING OF THE AMERICAN ARMY AT THE EVER MEM- ORABLE BATTLE AND MASSACRE OF WYOMING: AN HON- ORED MEMBER OF THE LUZERNE BAR, WHOSE PUBLIC AND PRIVATE LIFE HAS SO CREDITABLY FULFILLED THE PROM- ISES OF SO DISTINGUISHED AN ANCESTRY, THIS VOLUME IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED BY
THE AUTHOR.
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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, Catlin, 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 living 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
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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
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PREFACE.
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.
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FAMILIES
OF THE
WYOMING VALLEY.
OSCAR JEWELL HARVEY.
Oscar Jewell Harvey was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., September 2, 1851. He is a descendant of Turner Harvey, an Englishman who lived in the reign of Henry VIII., 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.
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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, Elizabeth, 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
507
OSCAR JEWELL HARVEY.
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, 1800, at the age of forty-two. The Wilkes-Barre Gasette 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 1, 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, 1815, 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
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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, 1787. 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 1816, 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 Harveyville, October 1, 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
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OSCAR JEWELL HARVEY.
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 Wesleyan 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, he 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
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OSCAR JEWELL HARVEY.
years, achieving much success, yet, from the start, he was almost 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
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OSCAR JEWELL HARVEY.
was fought, at which time a requisition was made by the national government on the state of Pennsylvania for the immediate ser- vice of its " Reserve Corps." The regiment left West Chester July 22, 1861, 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 proximity 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
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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 he was 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 of 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 1860 collector of taxes of Wilkes-Barre borough; from 1857 to 1860 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
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OSCAR JEWELL HARVEY.
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. Colone! 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.
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